Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 19

Woke up this morning at 05:00 as the body clock was still on Chile time, so lay in bed for one hour before getting up to finish yesterday's blog. Internet was a bit slow but managed to get it all done before checking out. The Nice Inn was very cheap $AU45 for the night but is quite modern and clean. Only drawback was no lift and our room was on the third floor. Daisy had a great idea which was to leave our big bags downstairs and we just carried up what we needed for the night. None of the staff spoke English but with Google translate we managed to get the receptionist to book us a taxi transfer to the airport and also to add 20 soles to our bill so we could pay for ... read more

Having completed a fantastic trip to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, I have decided to do a motorcycle trip from Osorno, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina. Adventure Pantagonia 21 days elapsed,19 day riding route DAY 1:Arrival in OsornoDAY 2:... read more

As always, my low-key semi-retired life ends up getting more busy than I expect! In the past two months I've received several visitors (back-to-back visits from two of my closest Ecuadorian friends!). I've driven back and forth to Quito half a dozen times (helping my friend Shana renew her passport and visa, picking up donations, transporting friends' family members to and from the airport and driving the volunteers from Engineers Without Borders). On one of my airport runs we stayed the night in a hostel near the airport and then I drove my friend's brother to the terminal at 4:30 am for his early international flight. I had donations to collect but couldn't arrive before 7:30 am -- just my luck, my good friend Betti who lives 2 hrs north of Quito was staying at Hotel ... read more

Our last full day in Galapagos and it really is a full day. We start with a steep walk up the volcanic Punta Pitt on Isla Cristobal. we are rewarded with plenty of photo opportunities of the Red and Blue footed boobies. This is quite a busy spot with lots of tourists. We have been spoilt up until now by having each stop more or less to ourselves. We find these intruders rude and noisy. On the way back I see the very rare Blue Footed Australian Booby and it’s smaller mate with darker plumage - also known as Wayne and Narelle. The landscape is striking with high, very steep volcanic rocks, stark flat areas and a few scrubby bushes. After we clamber back down to the golden beach, it is time for another snorkel. The ... read more

Early in the morning we cruise to Sante Fe and after a hearty breakfast head to shore. There are plenty of sealions to greet us. Alexis, our guide, explains the differences between sealions and seals but we get interrupted by the arrival of a young hawk. We walk up through the scrubby rocky low lying neighbourhood and see plenty of lava lizards and several land iguanas. Another young hawk also appears. The frigate birds fly overhead, they have long forked tails and the males have that impressive bulging red throat when excited. Near the end of the walk - and no surprises I am near the back again - a hawk lands on a branch right besides the track. Nothing seems to have any fear of us. The sealions lie across the path and just walk ... read more