Having survived the snorkeling trip to Los Túneles without a relapse in my illness, for Christmas Day I headed out on the second tour I’d organized for Isabela Island – a hiking tour to Sierra Negra and Volcán Chico. Once again, the day began overcast and, as we bused to the starting point of the trail, […]
Hiking Galapagos – Sierra Negra and Volcán Chico – Isabela Island Read More »
In order to protect the environment and the animals, the number of excursions you can undertake independently in the Galapagos is quite limited. One of the longer ones is the ~15km return journey out to the Muro de las Lágrimas (Wall of Tears) on Isla Isabela. Almost everyone does this on a bike (and that’s
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Most people arrive to the Galapagos Islands via Baltra airport near the island of Santa Cruz. When I first visited 14 years ago, we essentially went straight from the airport to our cruise boat (it was not possible to travel independently in the Galapagos at that time), and didn’t see anything of Santa Cruz beyond
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If you are after relaxation, the Papallacta Hot Springs (Termas de Papallacta) are a very easy day-excursion from Quito, and a really lovely experience. Investigating how to get there on public transport, I decided it would be simpler to head to the Quitumbe terminal to catch the bus, rather than trying to pick it up at
Termas de Papallacta (Hot Springs) – Quito – Ecuador Read More »
One of the most popular day-tours from Quito involves hiking to the glacier of Cotopaxi – the second highest volcano in Ecuador. I’d never done it, despite spending a significant amount of time here over the years, so when Pedro and Raúl came to visit, this was high on the list. Similar to the day I
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My original plan last year was to travel from Cuenca to Loja and Vilcabamba in southern Ecuador before heading to Peru. That was scuppered when I had to hightail it to Peru directly from Cuenca to arrive in time to do the incredible 10-day Huayhuash Circuit trek. So when my friends Pedro and Raúl decided they wanted
Hiking Ecuador – Podocarpus National Park near Loja Read More »
Along with Volcán Pasachoa, the other mountain that for some reason I desperately wanted to climb while living in Ecuador this year was Fuya Fuya. It was actually for this reason that I decided to base myself in Otavalo for a week – the Cascada de Peguche, Laguna Cuicocha and the Día de los Difuntos were just
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Most people come to Otavalo for the enormous Saturday market on a day tour. They catch the bus up from Quito early in the morning or the night before, shop, and then catch the bus back, without ever stopping to explore the surroundings. Which is a shame, because Otavalo is ringed by volcanoes and there is
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I finally managed to extract myself from Quito after 3 months of living there and becoming very comfortable indeed! Given that I hadn’t done much hiking for quite a while, I decided to base myself in Otavalo for a week to do at least 2 of the hikes around that area – the Laguna de
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There are several hikes that are within reach of Quito on a day trip, but the main issue is getting to the trail-heads on public transport. Given that I’d already hiked to the summit of Rucu Pichincha last year, the one I particularly wanted to do was Volcán Pasochoa, but it seemed like it was going
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