I nearly missed my flight to South America. I arrived at Panama City airport with barely 1 hour to go, but was fortunately allowed to check in. It helped that my backpack could go as …
Continue reading21. Through Colombia
22. Ipiales and Las Lajas
On the morning of 7th December I headed to Popayan post office to send off some letters and postcards, and walked back to the bus terminal to get a ticket for Ipiales (the last town …
Continue reading23. La Esperanza and Imbabura Volcano
Having expressed to the 2 Israelis my interest in climbing the nearby volcano, at 6 am I was duly woken by one of them: Yossi, an amiable albino with a mass of frizzy white hair. …
Continue reading24. Ibarra to San Lorenzo by Train
I had been warned that I might not get a seat reservation on the train, even if I queued very early for at ticket (which I did, following a 5am alarm call). But in some …
Continue reading25. Atacames to Quito
With all the late night beach activity, late starts are the thing in in Atacames, and 15th December was no exception…. a leisurely breakfast on the little balcony at the hotel, doing some reading, writing …
Continue reading26. Quito to Baños
My last day in Quito started late – I didn’t have much else I wanted to see. I mailed to the UK 3 Fujichrome slide films that I’d had processed the day before. These are …
Continue reading27. Tungurahua
On 21st December I got up early and woke Cesco up. Though not a mountaineer, Cesco had shown interest in coming some of the way up the volcano, at least far enough to enjoy a …
Continue reading28. Baños to Lima
On Christmas Day I could barely walk. It wasn’t clear if the near agony in my leg muscles was due to the ascent of Tungurahua, the decent of Tungurahua, or to chasing Swedes around the …
Continue reading29. Lima to Cusco
Lima being the second city on my Poste Restante list, after a good night’s sleep my first priority was to go the post office to see if there was any mail. There was loads! It …
Continue reading30. To Aguas Calientes by Train
I was up at 5:30 to make sure I got to the station in plenty of time. At the station I had to search for the travel agent to make sure I got on the …
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