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After a couple of incredible weeks in the Galapagos, we’re now off for another week that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. My Dad has always been into natural history and we watched all the wildlife programmes at home as children. But one ecosystem has always intrigued me more than any otherContinue reading “Our Amazon adventure”

We return back to Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz the same way that we came – on a very bumpy 2-hour boat ride. It’s quite extraordinary – despite the severe bumps, all 3 of our children sleep most of the way! We have just one night on Santa Cruz, in a basic but clean hotel.Continue reading “Reflections on Galapagos”

The boat ride from Santa Cruz to Izabella is not the most comfortable! It’s a fairly small boat, at its maximum capacity of about 25 people. It has three Yamaha 250 hp outboard motors and so is no slouch. There’s a gentle swell out in the ocean but the boat really slams back down ontoContinue reading “Incredible Galapagos wildlife”

Nicky Lodge A few precious moments in a hammock, Jemima is reading The Witche to M and G   The Amazon is the antithesis of the Galapagos, it’s imposdible to see anything. ( unless you are Diego)he creature I am most afriad of is the bullet ant. Diego has been bitten twice, once it fellContinue reading “Ecuador – The Amazon”

A few years ago I answered a questionnaire; one of the questions was: “if you only had one holiday left in your life and you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”. My answer was the Galapagos Islands. So to say I’ve been looking forward to this chapter is a bit ofContinue reading “Walking in Darwin’s footsteps”

The second week we stay in a B& B come hostel called the Galeta Iguana, with a kitchen where we can prepare picnic meals. Carlos greets us warmly when we arrive. It’s close proximity to the sea and the beach, which means that at high tide, the sea ferociously laps the wall sides of theContinue reading “Ecuador – The Galapagos – a wonderful symbiotic relationship”

Not bothered that I am in the way The heat hits you as you get off the plane on to the melting tarmac as though a hair dryer has been blasted in your face. Hot sea air. It puts a smile on our faces. We have been following the rains throughout Ecuador and it feelsContinue reading “Ecuador 10 – All very Spoiling”

Vilcabamba is as far south in Ecuador as most tourists go, unless they’re going on to Peru by road. It’s renowned for its fabulous climate and people that live to a great age, after a Readers Digest article in the 1950s. The road down from Cuenca passes a surprising amount of planted pine forest thatContinue reading “Stress-free zone”

We while away quite a bit of time, in one of the numerous cafes in Vilcabamba. Pen and paper always to hand… We leave the lovely town of Cuenca and head South to Vilcabamba, the last town on the Ecuador border before Peru. This place is famous for its purported longevity. It’s a five hourContinue reading “Ecuador 9- Time glides by in Shangri la”