Hotel El Mirador Puerto Lopez

... that looked like real fishermen with scars and wrinkles and tattoos.

The line of cocktail bars on the beachfront were deserted and it was grey and and began to rain. The only bank machine in town was knackered and we realised we had 10 dollars to last us the night and no way of booking the trip to the second poor manīs Galapagos island, Isla de La Plata. Things were looking bleak.

After chewing on some weird curried meat fat and chips and ...

... choice. WE got a taxi to the main street and got a cheap, windowless cell for quite cheap. We slept for a couple of hours and then went to find somewhere to book our jungle tour. Well, Quito was dead...completely - we went for a wander through the old town to see if anything was open there, apart from fried chicken joints and churches, nothing was open. We found a cafe and had a very expensive snack and then wandered back looking at some of the sites the book ...

... official looking guys to fill out forms (which they did for us...) seemed a bit odd, but you dont like to argue with "official" looking people in the middle of the night... that is, until they try and rip you off... they told Al he had to pay 10 dollars... this is where I started my rampage.... bearing in mind it was 2am, and I was exhausted having dozed off for a few minutes here and there of the extremely bumpy bus (as we got the back seat AGAIN ...

... look at you like, am I bothered! We then come across other stunning birds, which you get to about within a metre of before they even seem to registrer that you are there. Including an albetros which our guide (affectionally named manuel (FT referance) by Phil due to his unwavering enthusiasm, manarisms and exceptional tash) got extremely excited about before it flew off and said it was a very rare bird. Felt like a little bit of a smart ...

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The Internet has been rather slow so we have been putting off uploading pictures but may do so after Duncan has recovered from the bus journey (he is currently napping!) and we have had our fill of freshly caught fish, yum!

Oh, and a very Happy Birthday to my sister!! We shall shortly be having a cocktail on the beach in her honour... Prost mein Schwesterherz!

Hasta luego, N&D

... u wc na brodicu (minijaturni wc sa zavjesom). Dok je sjedio na wc-u, vikao je "oh my god" te je zena koja je bila s nama na brodicu cudno gledala i pitala se sta se dogada dok smo nas troje umirali od smijeha. Jadan Neil! Ne samo da se pokenjao na brodicu, nego i u autobusu te je zbog toga morao platiti kaznu od 10 dolara te je bus morao stati na 20 minuta da ociste wc, te poslije toga u wc-u od policije u Ekvadoru. Presmijesno. Nakon 5 dana muke napokon je uzeo neke lijekove :D

... near the island in hopes to return for it one day. It has never been found since. 2) Fisherman began to realize that in the moonlight the island has a silvery appearance on the water and that’s how boats know where they are and which island they were approaching.

After walking around the island for a few hours and narrowly avoiding a few bomb drop attempts by the birds we began to notice how much white bird poo they put out with each dump. Once we were aware of this we ...

... and a general enclosed common area with chairs, tables and a DVD player. There were 5 of us in our cabaņa. We met loads of nice people there, most of whom were doing the Spanish and Surfing course, and we all went out together most nights. In particular I would mention Jason (from NZ) an all-round lovely guy whoīd been travelling loads, raced motorbikes back home and had lots of stories to tell, and who also moved into our cabaņa on the second night; Sarah (from near Leeds) who I ...

... to have a good head on his shoulders and a healthy fear of plunging into the abyss, which kept us from ill-advised driving acrobatics and safe from oblivion.

Unfortunately, the exciting descent could not last forever and the last ten hours of the trip seemed interminable. I read two books from cover to cover as the bus collected assorted passengers from the sides of countless roads and spent ten, twenty, or thirty minutes at makeshift bus stops ...

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We spent a few hours there wishing we had beach towels so we could lie down properly. Little travel towel does not cut it on the beach! Very nice day.

Tomorrow I think we will move on. Find somewhere where you are not woken at 7:30am by brass bands in the back of utes... Seriously, they could have at least been in tune!