Francisco 1 Y 2 Salinas

... a few buses a day around the loop, and if you miss those its utes or milk trucks which charge gringos a fortune, so best to get the bus!<br><br>Sunday 27th September<br>Dawned on me when I woke up that I had just hit 6 months on the road! Half way! WOO HOO!!! Dont get too excited though folks at home, theres every chance Darryl could pull a shifty and extend the trip beyond this, depending on my own cash and a possible loan from the Bank-of-Dad!!! (joking Dad, calm yourself).<br>Anyway, I ...

... metres, a dry and very windy spot. By the time we arrived at Hostal la Chosita we were bloody freezing, having stood on the back of Manuel's truck for approximately 26 kms in our cycling gear. The sun was dropping fast and so was the temperature, by the time we got everything off the truck and into our room we were like blocks of ice. our room was one of a new block that Manuel had recently built, in fact, they weren't finished. In the UK health and safety ...

... place in the book, residencial America. It was 3 usd each and a very sorry affair. We decided to head for something a little more salubrious and found the Hotel del Sol. The Savoy it is not, but it's ok. We'll be venturing out in a while to get something to eat and have our usual wander around. There's not much here to interest the tourist, but, there is a very nice little parque across the road and we're right next to the central market.<br><br>laters

... cool huge locomotive engine and all that good stuff. Now I'm back in town, and kind of relaxed a bit, since I have a pretty bad cold right now. :( I should be leaving for Baños early in the morning, and the next day to Quito. Everyone says Baños is beautiful and that has lots to do... We´ll have to see how much energy I have though... Till' next time... I hope I feel better. :(

... everyone's entitled to a little indulgence now and then, right? I really wanted to get to the top. During our stay at the Cotopaxi refuge I had begun to have a few minor stomach issues. These obviously hadn't impacted me on my climb there and when we arrived at Hosteria La Cienega I still felt relatively well. However, over the course of our rest day my "issues" became somewhat more significant. I popped a few pills and tried to keep my diet ...

We were hoping to spend some more time in Salinas but we got screwed up on several spots. The bus leaving for Salinas didn't come for a long time, so our time got minimized largely by that. Second, we were hoping to catch this supposedly cool ass train which only leaves on certain days of the week, so we had to make it up to Salinas and back down to Guardanda to catch the last bus at ...

... I set a blue and white squid out on a 3 inch long J hook. I had three bites before I could hook a small Dorado. It quickly broke the line. After looking over the reel, I determined that the line was old, and I reloaded the reel with some new 40 pound test. Then I set a large green squid on a wire leader. I quickly got a bite from a 15 pound Dorado. It was fighting away on the end of the line, and jumped a few times. I gave the reel to Bill to bring in ...

We are wrapping up our vacation here in beautiful Salinas, Ecuador soon. We only have two and a half more days and then we´ll be flying home. On Saturday, Juan participated in a beach volleyball tournament and he won! The tournament was in honor of the Fiestas de Salinas, or annual party for the founding of the city of Salinas. There was a big parade also that went right along the waterfront and it was a lot of fun to hear the bands and see ...

... in a speedboat, looking for boobies (blue footed) and pelicans!!! The 2nd day in Salinas was the 1st proper day of sun on the beach and we were perfectly happy to lie there and make the most of it!!! Apart that is from having to say "No Gracias" about 100 times to the beach sellers who were selling all of the following: coconuts, jewellry, sarongs, swimwear, hammocks, ice cream, beer, sweets and drinks and loads more!!!! Finally some sun!!!!!!!!!!!!

... Neptune appearing and all the 'equator virgins' telling their sins, closely followed by baked beans on the head &amp; a hearty handshake. Well, we did things a little differently... Once we got close, we all got ready to take a swim over the equator. Armed with lifejackets, masks &amp; nervous smiles we stood ready on the bow waiting for Jason, the captain, to give the signal. About 1 mile before, we noticed a group of marine ...