The Virgin

We went for a walk with Sadie and Leo and Harper near the old part of Quito on Saturday. It was a lovely day so we decided to head up to the Virgin, which over looks the whole of Quito. We had never been up to the view point as it is notorious for pick pocketing and guide books say not to walk up as it is too dangerous. After following a local's directions, we reversed down a one way street and manoeuvred over a main road, just avoiding a policeman. Leo also proceeded to push the window of our car so hard that the fixing broke and I had to hold the window the entire journey for fear of the whole thing falling out - all very amusing! It was a lovely night, we ended up with great views of the snow capped volcanoes sitting in Pimms watching the sunset.

Lago Banos - Papallacta

We went on a day trip to the lakes above Papallacta with Orlando and some of his volenteers. The lakes are beautiful and are located in a protected area. Tommy and Orlando had a go at fishing. Orlando was the only one to catch anything the whole afternoon. It was a great day trip though, the views were stunning.

Otavalo August 2009

We took Ewan and Miranda to Otavalo for the day so they could buy some bits and pieces for their lovely new house. They have found a place overlooking El Canyon de Chiche. They were staying with us for a while whislt they were house hunting. We went on a Sunday so they could see the famous market and see the locals wearing their traditional costume. Here are just a few pictures.

Pululahua

We visited Pululahua, a crater, near to Mitad del Mundo for a day trip. People normally just look at the view and leave, but we decided to walk all the way down and have a picnic at the bottom before trekking back up again. Tom decided to wear his trainers with no grip and proceeded to slide the whole way down because he was insistent on carrying his umbrella the whole way so he wouldn't get burnt! I laughed a lot trying to watch him hold the umbrella in one hand and Harper in the other. It was a great walk, but very dusty. Harper was brilliant and we eventually just let him off the lead. I got a great picture of a local old guy who was having a rest on the way back up to the top.

Summer holidays - Argentina & Chile

During our summer holidays we visited Argentina and Chile. It was their winter so in Patogonia it was freezing at times! We started out in Buenos Aires, which is really interesting city. It has a real European feel about it. We really enjoyed seeing the brightly coloured corugated iron buildings in La Boca.



We then went on an overnight bus to Mendoza, which is the wine region. We hired bikes and cycled around the vineyards sampling the various wines, it was lots of fun. We also went on a high Andes tour, where we got some spectacular views.



From there we headed south to Bariloche, which was our favourite place. It is known as the lake district and is beautiful. We managed to ski for a couple of days as it was the start of their season. We also did a brilliant 25km cycle ride called the 'circuito chico' cycle. It has the most incredible views. We also had a meal at 11pm, true Argentinian style - Tom had the famous steak and I had serious indigestion afterwards! From Bariloche we caught a coach to Puerto Madryn, where we picked up the Navimag Ferry.








We then travelled through the Chilean fjords. It was absolutely freezing but we saw some incredible views. The ferry would normally be really busy in the summer months but there were only 12 tourists on it.






We arrived in Puerta Natales 3 days later and stayed for a night before heading south to see the glaciers in El Calafate. The glaciers in El Calafate were incredible. We spent the first day on a tour boat navigating around the bottom of the glaciers, the most impressive of them was called the glacier Perito Morena. The second day we walked around the top of the glaciers and got the most spectacular views.



From El Calafate we took another night bus up the East coat to Puerta Madryn where we went whale watching. We were really lucky and managed to get on the last tour. We actually managed to see a whale swim under our boat, it was a brilliant experience. We then took a 20hour bus North back up to Buenos Aires where we finished our holiday!!!

Guango Lodge - Hummingbirds

We went for a day trip with Sally-Anne, Orlando, Dani and Debbie to a hummingbird lodge just south of Papallacta. There were hundreds of hummingbirds living around the lodge and I was snapping away for ages. We could have sat there and watched the birds for hours, they were incredible and so beautiful.