Hotel Miconia San Cristobal

... to replenish ourselves. The weather was looking dodgy and it was getting late so we ended up going to the Internet and then having dinner at a restaurant on the square known for traditional Ecuadorian dishes. It turned out to be a bit of a gringo place because we ran into the other Lucy again, who we´d met in Quito and was on another tour.<br><br><br>The next afternoon after class and going "home" for lunch, we went to Plaza San Sebastian and admired the church and fountain there. Then ...

Today we needed to be at the tour office at 8-50am so we got up at 7am and filled ourselves with porridge, cereal and fruit, and packed our day bags. At the tour office we picked out some snorkeling gear and headed to a small boat that would take us to several sites around the north of the island.<br><br>We first headed for Punta Carola to view some blue footed boobies and some frigates, then to Cerro Las Tijeretas where there was a statue of Darwin ...

Today we were in no hurry to do anything, Niamh was going to avoid food for most of the day, and we were all a bit travel weary. We rose around 9am, Christie went out for a 40 minute jog and returned red faced but feeling good nonetheless. We ate breakfast around 11am. Christie went out to look for some running shorts and returned excited to say that she had agreed a bargain price with a guide for a tour this afternoon but we had to return in 15 minutes to the tour shop ...

Well I cant believe we have been travelling for 100 days already. Today we were just going to have a chill out day. We slept in until about 10am. Christie felt the urge to go for a run, and sure enough donned her gear and was gone for about 45 minutes returning red faced. After a shower and breakfast we went for a walk along the harbor front. The whole esplanade is being developed and there is evidence of a lot of investment. The road along the front is being tiled with bricks ...

... to the usual stuff (descriptions of habitations, pottery etc) but most interestingly where the Shrunken Heads. Actual, heads of men, long since removed from their owners and shrunk (don´t ask me how) as some kind of ritualistic rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. The hair isn´t real, but I kid you not, they are real heads. And we think adolescents in our country have issues? <br><br>Toodle pip!<br><br>L<br><br><br><br><br><br><b r><br><br>

... in nearly 2 months...hilarious experience as always... only foreigners in there but all the locals very friendly... we both got to dance with the locals... only problem was i cant drink beer and the wine is **** here so decided whiskey would be a good idea.... enough said....<br>

... ausgeschildert sind und einer fuehrt in drei Stunden an verschiedenen<br>Lagunen vorbei, durch maerchenhaft scheinende Waelder und durch Pampa<br>durch die Berglandschaft. Ich war die einzige weit und breit - es war<br>ja waehrend der Woche, am Wochenende kommen wohl sehr viele Angler -<br>und es war schoen sich wieder die Beine zu vertreten. <br><br>An einem<br>anderen Vormittag war ich in einem Dorf, in dem sehr viele ...

... because the water was freezing (even though he assured me that they had hot water) and the bathroom was grimmy. i got to the train station at 6am to see that all of the ticket booths for Alausí were not even open. after asking around i figured out that alausí is actually on the way to cuenca and i could get off at alausí. but, the next bus for cuenca was 7:30am. i wanted to shot myself. i hung out in the cold bus station ...