16th Oct - White Water Rafting

We got up real early and headed down to the tour operator to be met by a chap who was going to be our giude for the day. He took us to meet the others in our group, only two people, both Spanish, neither with much English and us with little Spanish - the giude looked worried. Into the minibus and off to the Rio Urumbamba where we were to take our first forrage into White Water Rafting. A while after leaving Cusco, Carlos (the guide) points out the river to us and it looks OK unfortunately we carry on up the hill and the rapids take a decidedly more white look aargh!!
We got off at a lodge, in an idylic setting, to donn our wetsuites, which even on the fit young Spanish Girl with the great body still look terrible. We get back in the bus, for another 15 minutes watching the rapids go by until the bridge where we are to enter the water. Life jackets on and a wee talk from Carlos on safety and we´re in the boat and off. The first section is really easy so we can practice paddling properly and not splashing like girls and get used to the comands which first Carlos tries in English but it´s all too complicated for the two Spanish so Mairi and I suggest doing them in Spanish after all we are taking lessons. So Adalante - forward, Atras - backwards, Derecho - right and Izquierda - left and off we go. I never can remember left and right in English so theres no harm in doing it in Spanish! The only other comand we were told was Inside which means there´s a danger of the boat flipping so jump to the other side of the boat - easy.

The first real rapid - probably a girly one in reality but massive for us was a bit scary and I think we lost all rythym and got a few stern words from Carols.The real fun was only just begining as the big rapids were to come with our little boat plunging down white water betweeen rocks, getting soaked into the bargin, furiously paddling and listening for instruction.

What a rush as we descend each rapid getting more confident and capable, starting to enjoy the ride, paddling in unison and celebrating when safely at the other side.

Near the end Carlos asks if we want to flip the boat and all but Mairi agree but with a little coaxing she too agrees, we all sit at one side of the boat paddels in the water and next thing I´m under the boat, freezing cold and panicing. I remember to push away from the boat and can feel air and sunshine on my face - I´m alive.

That was a rush especially trying to swin against the rapids back to the boat and elegantly being pulled on board - Ok not elegantly at all - more like a walrus flopping on board, fat and wet.

Back on dry land we are allowed in the sauna which was really great and I´m not just talking about the body of Carlos the instructor which both Mairi and I had to contain our drools.

Lunch at the lodge, at the side of the river, in the valley, surrounded by massive mountains, feeling very pleased with ourselves and enjoying the sunshine - a very nice end to the morning. The trip back into town was interesting as Carlos and the safety guy (we think was called Noel) tried to chat the two of us up and get us to go out with them that night. Unfortunately we´re off to Macchu Piccu tomorrow very early so even the pull of Carlos´s body can´t sway our decision.

We do however go to the Irish bar for a few celebratory drinks before going back to the hostal and find out the Celtic scores - surprisingly they won again.

17th - 18th Oct - Macchu Piccu

We get picked up at 6 for the 6:15 backpackers special to Macchu Piccu. The train is fairly packed and pretty cramped. Calling it the backpackers special is a misnomer as it´s full of ageing touritst not grungy travellers.At Agus Calientes 4 hours later the mad scramble off the train to find our hoistal does not bode well for our tour. The hostel is on the train tracks and nothing is organised. As we dump our bags the woman bnuys our bus tickets to MP and a giude for the morning - not what we expected.

Th bus takes 20 minutes to get to the ruins, winding back and forth up the steep mountain it´s quite impressive. The wait outside for 1 hour the complete lack of info and the totally unorganised manner of the guides is not impressive.we can see a tiny piece of MP peaking out the side of the car park buts it´s no consolation in the confusion. Eventyalkly 40 of head into MP for the tour with thousands of other day trippers. I´ve never felt more like cattle being hearded or more unimpressed. The tour guide is about as animated as a wet sock and as imformative as a description written oin the back of a postage stamp. It´s hot and we´re really pissed off even the amazing riuns around us can´t take the edge off.

We abandon the tour and have lunch trying to calm down. After lunch we decide to walk the 1 hour up hill to the Sun Gate where the 4 day trecking tours arrive for their first glimpse of MP.The hike does us a power of good, the exercise starts the heart beating and with each successive yard farther away from the throng of people the views are better and the crowds less. At the top a few walkers and a few other day trippers exhange views. They are so elated at finishing the walk and finally seeing MP their enthuaism rubs off and finally we can appreciate it ourselves.

14th - 15th - Cusco

Arrived by flight to Cusco and the airport is on the outskirts of town in not a very nice area but things start to look up soon as the taxi speeds off to the old town full of Spanish Colonial buildings built on top of Inka foundations. Again there´s a massive square with a huge cathedral on it but this square also has another church cos one is never enough and lots of colonial buildings with fab wooden fretwork overhanging balconies.

Our hostal is lovely all exposed wooden beams only one problem it´s at the top of a flight of stairs on a really steep road which is normally a problem for the unfit Flora but when we´re at this altitude it´s really bad.

We take a tour of Cusco taking in the Cathedral, Santa Dominica Monestry and a few Inka Ruins. The first place we visit is the monastry which was built over (and using) the main Inka temple of Coriancha which was covered in gold when the Spanish arrived and funnily enough the cathedrals 14 alters are covered in gold and guess where they got it - correct - they stole it from the Inkas melted it down and decorated their churches.

Coriancha was the finest Inka temple in Inka land and as a testament to it´s builders the Monastry fell down in an earthquake in the 18thC but the foundations (all Inka) and the remaining walls of the Inka temple were totally untouched. The mortarless stonework is so fine a single sheet of paper cannot be pushed into the spaces between the stones.

We also visited Tambo Machy where a 500 year old Inka viaduct still supplies water to a couple of fountains known as the fountain of youth. We drank the water and splashed it on our faces. I already look 10 years younger but better was to come as we were then told the local brewery uses this water to make it´s beer which if you drink it you get the same youthful effect. Sad to say we now look so young we cannot get into any pubs.

13th Oct Ariquipa

We arrived in Ariquipa high in the Peruvian Andies at 7 in the morning and headed off to our hostal who had a room ready for us at this early hour - thankfully. After a couple of hours kip in a bed and not squeezed into a bus chair we went into Ariquipa. What a nice change from the awful desert of Nasca, this is an old colonial town with a lovely main square, lots of nice restaurants and things to see and do, all in the view of El Misit a snow covered mountain high in the Andes.

After lunch sitting in the balcony of an old Spanish colonial building overlooking the main square and cathedral we ventured out into the town. First we visit a convent and for the first time ever I think I could join. The Santa Catilina Convent was started in the 16th C by a rich Spanish and lots of other rich Spanish sent their unmarried (or unmarriable) daughters with a massive dowary, lovely furniture and arwork and a couple of maids or slaves to the convent. The nuns recruited local musicians to play most nights at their parties. I decided not to join after I heard the pope (old stick in the mud) put a stop to all the partying in the 18th C. The convent still has all the original furniture, arwork and building from the 16th C and is really spectacular, load of little courtyards and passageways which looked very mediterranean.

We frequented a few of the churches in the area, the beautiful Cathedral and the strange Santa Fransica church which the happy clappy brigade seemed to have taken over for the afternnon all singing and tambourine waiving - we made a quick exit.

I watched the sunset from the rooftop of the hostal which was beautiful over the red tiles roofs, an showering El Misit in pinks and oranges. We had dineer and fantastic cakes in the town before heading off to bed for our flight to Cusco and Machu Piccu.

I wish we had stayed longer in Ariquipa as it`s so nice and we could have gone to the nearby Colca Canyon (deeper than the Grnad Canyon) to see the Condor fly or up El Misit - now I`m a dab hand at mountain climbing.

12th - 13th Oct - Nasca

Got the bus down the coast for only 6 hours to Nasca sight of the famous lines. We arrive after dinner, so hungry we venture out of our very nice hotel to the dusty nowhere which is Nasca. We dine in one of maybe three options and the chips are Ok but we don`t complain as we are here for one reason and one reason only - no not that - to see the lines.

Next morning very early we are taken to the airpost or rather the air strip with a few small building dotted around. We watch a video about the origins of the lines. The theories are 1. ancient shamen (off their faces on drugs) dreamed these figures and got them made in massive relief in the desert, 2. it was part of some religion now lost 3. aliens came down and made them!

Our plane is a 4 seater which includes the pilot. We take off and head for the first lines - just triangular shapes and lines, then head off to see the differnt animal shapes, condor, humingbird, spider, puma. What is really strange is from this height it`s difficult to get an appreciation of the size - even though you know they are massive. One of the wierdest lines is called the austronaut - which does look like a giant space man or diver can`t really think what the off the face shaman could think this was. The pilot tipped the wings one side, circled then tipped the other to make sure everybody got a good view of the lines, but it`s really difficult to think too much as the plane dives from side to side as you desperatly click at the camera. All too soon it was over and we were back on terra firma.

The images that will stay with me the most are of the hundreds of lines crisscrossing the desert, some across the animal figures, which nobody has been able to come up with an explanation. Why would some ancient people creat so many lines if they don`t have some meaning? a bit too intelectual for most of you.

The rest of the morning I spent on other tours seeing how they mine gold using mercury - which I thought was fab and seeing how they make traditional pottery, while Mairi spent the time in bed recovering from the plane diving from lines to lines.

In the afternnon I went to an ancient Nasca cemetry. Well less a cemetry now, as grave robbers unpolitely stole everything worth knicking and left the mummified corpses on the ground. For the past years archiologists have been putting the bones and partly mumified bodies back together for tourists to get a goulish treat. I felt it all a bit yucky - most of the mummies still had hair and clothes on and as the mummification process had been a natural one due to the dry air and complete lack of rain they still had remnents of internal organs and flesh on their bones. I know they are able to find out lots from these finds but is it right to leave the bodies, even though 500 year old, in the open air for tourists to gawp at. Does dignity in death stop after a certain date?

That night we got the bus to Ariquipa. the usual mellay in the bus station as our bus didn`t arrive but we got on another lesser class bus - not the Royal class we`re used to, took as few motion sickness tablets and were knocked out for most of the monotonous journey through the dark desert.

7th - 11th October - Lima

We passed the next few days in Lima - Peru`s capital city. We stayed in Miraflores the touristy area full of cafes, bars and restaurants - which we frequented a lot - only for comaprison purposes.

We had a big Friday night out and ended up in a Irish bar, where a terrible Peruvian rock band were playing. I couldn`t resist, and went up to the lead singer who loved himself, and told him I thought they were great. His over inflated ego took it all in and he gave me his autograph. I am keeping that forever just in case he`s the new Ricky Martin and I could sell it on ebay for 25p.

Mairi and her new friend Mark saw a woman living down a man hole in the middle of the road - better than sleeping on the ground I suppose.

We went to Pachacama (still can`t pronounce this and call it PacMan). Pre Inca ruins a couple miles outside Lima. They are fairly extensive but not very nice as they are in the middle of the desert (which Lima is in). They are made of adobe - mud bricks - which gives them the appearance of the views we get of Afghanistan and the places Osama lives. We kept expecting him to jump out any minute - can`t say we were too impressed.

We also went to the old town, again lots of Spanish Colonial building and hundreds of churches. The best was San Fransisco where you can go down to the catacombs where you can see hundreds of skeletons all piled up. The people used to believe that if you are burried in the church you`ll get to heaven quicker. What they didn`t know, probably, was that the bodies were placed in lime for a few years until the flesh had been stripped off, then the bones were put into massive crypts one on top of another. What a nice job I thought!

We went down to the Larcomar area perched on the cliffs 100 feet above the sea and had lunch watching the mad people surfing. Lima is a strange place cos most of the year it`s grey, covered in mist and quite cold. Couldn`t live here would be too grey and depressing and that`s something from somebody from Scotland to say.

06th October - Old Town Quito & Going to Peru

Our flight to Peru is late in the evening which gives us lots of time to go the Old Town which we`ve only just glimpsed until now.

We visit a few churches, all very ornate and rather goulish - Mairi is quite freaked by one which is really dark and has many very realisitic images of Jesus on the cross and martyred saints. It`s not the nicest church I`ve ever been I must admit. The Basillica on the otherhand is fantastic. It`s the largest church and inside is unlike the other dark and scary churches, it is brighter and lighter. The best bit is you can climb up to the bell tower and clock tower. An actual climb it was. Access to both are gained only through a series of ladders. The bell tower is the scariest as the ladders are on the outside of the tower hundreds of feet above the courtyard. We climb out onto the first external view point and it starts raining. I gingerly make my way up the next leaving Mairi behind. I didn´t make it to the top, the height was scary, the fact that you`re on a ladder on the outside of the tower is scary, but the real problem is the rain making the iron foot hold very slippy so I go back down defeated and relieved.

The clock tower at the other side of the Basillica is somewhat easier - inside all the time and not so procariously balanced outside the building. The view across the rooftops of Quito to the massive mountains and valleys is fantastic. Quito is built on the sides of a few mountains and grows ever upwards, perched on the volcanos. It makes for a fantastic backdrop to photos which we can`t really take today as it`s misty - pity.

The flight to Lima was delayed but only takes a couple of hours so we get there at midnight. We had arranged to be met by the hostel. A woman was holding a sign with our names on it so I went up and said hello. She just nodded and said follow me. She then darted off and made a phone call while we stood about looking a bit lost. She came back and motioned to follow her and never really spoke again. She met up with another woman with a car and they started to get in - I asked if they were taking us to the hostal and they sort of said yes so we got into the car and sped off into the night - all very strange. Mairi and I kept looking at one anther wondering if we were being taken into white slavery (not that they would get much for either of us)!

We drove for ages - Lima is really huge - and were starting to get a bit worried, then we stopped and got out. The place had no signs to say hostel etc. so again we were a bit dubious. A guy came out and greeted us - thankfully it was the guy we had been emailing and we were safe.

04 - 05 Oct - Father Colin

After our adventures at Cotopaxi, Father Colin MacInnes, a priest from South Uist who has lived in Quito for 20 years helping in one of the shanty towns, met us for dinner. We went to a Pizza place and discussed what we would like to to the next day.

He picked us up at midday to take us around the Comitte del Pubelo, a shanty town on the outskirts of Quito, his home for a long time now. Mairi remembers many a fundraiser for Father Colin and Quito so it will be strange for her to see first hand where the money went. The Comitte Del Pubelo is run by Marxists who all call one another Comrade which is great for Father Colin as he`s not great with names, but who wouldn´t allow him to biuld the church within the actual Comitte area and is on the edge.

We first visited his church and flat which are both very nice. As he attends to a parishoner the phone rings a few times - obviously urgent so we don´t answer. When he comes back the phone rings again and it´s a rather agitated person at the other church where he´s due to say a funeral. We all jump into his car and get our first views of the Comitte. It´s quite a contrast to LA MAriscal or "El Gringo" area we´re staying in, no flash bars and restaurants, no corporate building, in their place small houses made out of breeze blocks with corrugated iron roofs, and this is infinitely better than the shacks and unpaved roads which were here when he first arrived.

The funeral was interesting, Don Raffael, pulled quite a crowd of wailing women, no stiff upper lip on show here, quite different from a funeral back home. After the service the congregation dispersed with the coffin and headed off to a private burial with no priest. The catholic church leave some of the more traditional aspect of life alone - they know their boundaries!!!

We were take around some of the places which he has helped build. We were shown around the hospital like some important people, taken in to meet the sick and the workers. Half of the equipment came for Scotland the xray machine from Fort William, still had the Belview Ward written on it, and was probably the same machine which had xray´d my sister Shona´s head over 20 years ago when she fell off a motorbike in Fort William - very strange.

We also visited a couple of schools, a drop in centre and a credit union (which at one point was the 10th largest in the country). It`s totally amazing to meet somebody who has achieved so much when the rest of us do nothing at all.

It was nice to see that some of the young people working in these places would have initially benefited from his charity work. The area is now reletively well off, paved roads, schools and a hospital but is still incredibly poor, it only makes you very glad you wern`t born into this.

We headed back to the posh area where half of the people of the Comitte could never afford to come.

We met up with Matt and Sahra (from the Galapagos cruise) and go for drinks and a curry - it`s odd doing something so normal and yet so out of reach of most of the population of this incrediblely interesting city.

04 Oct - Drop the Dead Donkey

We organised a tour to the active Volcano and Glacier Cotopaxi - one of Ecuadors highest mountains way up in the Andes. We were met by Javier at 8:30 and were the only people on the tour and set off for the Volcano.

There are two entrances into Cotopaxi and our guide took us the less touristy, more scenic back road which was only partly paved but he was able to show us the halucinogenic plants of the Andes along the way. They have massive flowers which look like giant trumpets and, he told us, if you eat them you get off your face - he had tried it once but didn´t like it.

We all got on like a house on fire talking about Jesus and fungus (both him and me had studied fungus at Uni and he was particularly interested in my study of the Plasmids of Aspergillus Nidulans - Mairi was slitting her wrists in the back).

Other views along the way were sheep, pigs, cows, llamas, and donkeys. One donkey was lying at the side of the road sort of motionless and as we approached it from it´s rear we all wondered if it was alive, and the fact that the head was almost entirly missing and in it´s place some congealed blood, gave us to believe it was in fact dead.

Our first stop was at about 3500 meters where we visited a lake infront of Cotopaxi. Unfortunately the clouds were hiding the summit from us but we could still see part of the Glacier on the mountain.

The lake had a few birds able to live at this high altitude with little to eat, and was surrounded by strange vegetation all adapted to living in such inhospitable surroundings. On we ventured to a Muesum about the Volcano and it´s last eruptions - it hasn´t erupted for a couple of hundred of years so hopefull it won´t today.

Finally we drove up to the car park at 4500 meters for our walk to the Refuge, a building for the crazy people who want to climb to the top (5700 meters) for aclimitizing.

At 4500 meters we are already in altitude sickness territory but neither Mairi or I are feeling anything yet. We start the 500 meter climb to the Refuge (an increase in altitude of 300 meters so it´s quite steep).

With every breath our lungs are filling with non existant oxygen and every 10 steps we have to stop to get our breath back. It doesn´t really help that the mountain side is covered in 6 inches of volcanic ash so every step you take, you slip back half a step. At half way I have to sit down for 10 minutes as I can hardly regain my breath and am feeling shaky. The guide, good guy that he is, gets chocolate out, and it does the trick. I only had 1 wee roll for breakfast at 8am and it´s now nearly 2pm. A wee rest, some chocolate and water and I´m ready to try the last 250 meters - doesn´t sound a lot but at this altitude it´s incredibly hard.

In total an hour passes before we reach the Refuge, but we did reach it and have lunch at 4800 meters, Everest base camp is 5000 meters so this is pretty high and causes a lot of people altitude sickness. Although we are knackered from the lack of oxygen there are no altitude sickness signs - thank God.

After lunch we wander back out and the few hundred feet across (no more up) to the Glacier. A 30 foot wall of ice clinging to the mountain side. Dig down a couple of inches of top soil (or more volcanic ash) and it´s total ice. We slip and slide around for a while impressed that we got here and touched a Glacier.

The discent was just a tad easier, with every footstep down you could get a bigger breath of oxygen until we were almost running down the slopes (well it was easy in the 6 inches of ash).

Javier took us to see some fresh mountain springs lower down and on our drive we say another dead donkey - this time with a head but it had started to decompose and the teeth were sticking out - nice.

The mountain spring was beautiful, gurgling out of rocks into a small loch filled with tiny plants and lots of rabbits. Sitting in the shadow of Cotopaxi, which was still surrounded in mist, in total silence, nobody for miles, it was really beautiful.

We started the long drive back to Quito when Mairi schreeched "STOP" both Javier and I jumped - what on earth had happened - The clouds had lifted giving us the perfect photo opportunity to see the summit over 2000 meters above us. It was quite spectacular glistening in the sun - well worth the views of the dead donkeys.

02 & 3rd Oct - Otavallo and out on town

We got a local bus to Otavallo, a town way outside Quito with one of the largest local markets in Ecuador. The bus journey was eventful, a tyre blew and the bus skidded all over the road, how the bus driver managed to avoid the oncoming cars and keep us on the small windy road, I`ll never know, but he did. After a short delay we were back on the road with new tyre in place and eventually, unscathed made it to Qtavallo.

The market is massive and these days is no more than a tourist market selling all sort of painting, weaving, carvings and of course tat to us stupid tourists.

Thankfully Mairi and I didn`t bring too much money so could only buy a couple of things but really wanted to buy lots of tat.

The bus journey home wasn´t very eventful except we were sitting on a seat beside the driver and a woman and annoying child sat beside us actually on the dashboard. forget seat belts and health and safety.

We had a really nice dinner in one of the trendy cafes and made our way up the road to the Scottish Pub "The Turtles Head" the rough guide said that you know you`ve been to a Scottish Pub by the end of the night! so we had to see what they meant. It was pretty empty except for a few old expats being chatted up by young local girls - I suppose one of them is better than poverty - not much.

It was pretty crap - no Irn Bru or anything - maybe that`s what the giude book writer thinks of Scottish Pubs. To be fair to Scottish Pubs a new owner has taken over and it`s quickly becoming an English or British pub a lot of the Scottish Flags have been painted over - so maybe that explains why it was so bad!

We then went to a really nice trendy place Sutra where Performance Artists were Performing. Well I suppose they must have been performance Artists and their juggling, head stands, swimming movements and hat exchanging some would call performance. Mairi and I sat is quite disbelief drinking our Mora Dakiri`s which more than made up for the art.

Sunday we had a lazy day - hangovers at altitude is not much fun I can tell you. We didn`t have that much to drink but my head thinks we did and somebody then took a hammer to it, worst of all the hostel curtains are really thin and the light streamed threw really early and continued all day - Oh for a dreary rainiy Scottish summer day.

29th Sep - Back to dry land.

Arrived back in Quito and was very sad this was the first time I really didn`t want to move on the Galapagos were so fab. We hitched a ride to a hostel with Matt and Sahra and got a room pretty cheap. We met up with another few from the boat and had curry for dinner - well we are all British and curry is the great british food!

I acutally felt more land sick than sea sick - I think I had got quite used to the rocking of the boat and felt strange on dry land. I had to sway from side to side just to say upright.

La Mariscal - the area we`re staying in, in Quito is really fantastic. Lot´s of bars and restuaurants and people. It has a really European feel to it and not at all poor - it´s hard to belive your in South America here.

22 - 28 Sep - In the Galapagos

I will not do a day by day account of the Galapagos neither will I do an animal by animal account cos then I would be here forever we saw so much.

Would you believe it, I come half way round the world to sail in a tiny boat only for there to be another person on board called Flora. Yes two Floras in one boat in the Galapagos what are the chances of that. She is English and has a very good right hook from hitting all the idiots who made fun of our fabulous name.

The 7 nights of the cruise were spent sailing between 8 of the Galapagos islands. We saw lava fields, mangrove lagoons, tropical beaches, Volcanoe craters, the highlands with forrested areas and lots of mad cactii all over the place.

Each day we would have two shore visits at different locations on the various islands. The first day was spent on the main island Santa Cruz at the Darwin Centre, which luckily they stopped their strike for one day, for us to go (well I like to think it was for us to go but probably completly unrelated).

The museum at the Darwin Centre gives you a feel for what you are about to see, giant tortoises, green and yellow land iguanas, and many birds flying around.

The town Porto Ayora wasn`t what I expected. There were tourist shops but they were really tasteful, full of really nice ornaments, jewelry and fantasic wooden carving of the animals some 3 feet tall - couldn`t carry, or afford such luxuries so had to leave the giant wooden tortoise behind calling after me to give them a home.

That afternoon we went to the highlands where we saw the giant tortoises in the wild, just munching on some grass. Obviously they didn`t run away from us but neither did they hide in their shells, I suppose at nearly 5 feet long and 4 feet wide, weighing up to 600 lbs it would have taken a lot to shift one of these things.

They are prehistoric looking, watching then walk is hilarious cos not only do they go so slowly but they also make amazing noises. The grunts are expected but the creaking of the shell and the leathery skin is somewhat of a surprise. Then exausted, after walking at least 2 steps they flop onto the ground with a heavy sigh.

I had to appologise to one that I wasn`t laughing at him I was laughing with him.

We spotted the red vermillion fly catcher a tiny bird with a bright red chest, and the yellow wareller as the name suggests bright yellow.

Other bird watching trips we watched the mating dance of the albatros. These are huge birds in flight are very elegant, however on the ground prancing around, slapping beaks and ducking and diving they aren`t so glamerous. We watched numerous boobie species, the blue footed ones with mad bright blue feet, Nasca boobies which have green feet but alas we didn´t see the red footed ones.

Following the ship, and perched upon the mast were magnificient friggate bird, huge black birds, the male with a red pouch under it´s beak. When flying it`s wings resemble a teryadactyl - quite frightening the first time you see them.

One evening sail the boat crossed the equator twice, once going from South to North then round the island and back over again (I put that in just in case you thought the captain was a bit drunk on the cocktail we enjoyed while crossing the equator). We all crammed into the bridge to watch the GPS go to down 0.00.000 and then back up to show us crossing the great divide. We even got a wee certificate, signed by the Captain, to prove we have crossed the equator - I`ll treasure that forever.

For me the highlight of the trip was all the snorkling - most days we got to snorkle off a beach or the pangas and each time we saw completely different things. The coral, brown, pink, yellow, orange and purple was amazing, so amazing that I banged my head on an overhang as I gawped at brightly coloured coral on the other side.

Hundreds of different fish of every colour swam past. Shaols of tiny silver fish glinting in the filtering sunlight like a massive glitter ball. Fantastic black, blue, purple, orange, pink and that`s all on one fish swimming by. I got a bit excited at one particularly ugly green bladder fish with spiky teeth I nearly choaked on water pouring in.

There were many different star fish and sea urchins. One star fish was yellow with brown blobs on it and is imaginatively called the chocolate chip star fish. The sea urchins were as varied as the fish, white, green, brown and my favourite the black pencil urchins, which have 8 inch long spikes which take on a bluish colour in the sunlight.

The sea lions would positively frolic in the water with us, getting really close and actually nipping the other Flora, fortunately she had a wetsuit on so no damage. We all wore wetsuits cos it was really cold in the water. I don`t know why but I thought islands on the Equator would be boiling, not so as for 6 months of the year the ocean currents are from the Antartic and the water is cold - it`s not cos we`re big girls.

The highlights must have been the giant sea turles, as big as the tortoises on land, swiming past us unconcerned by our presence, chomping on the coral. If you got too close they would, with a flick of a flipper, zoom away far too fast for us to follow.

The first time we saw a shark was really quite scary. Monica, the guide, took us to an area known for white tipped reef sharks (they are about 5 feet long and look pretty menacing), she went into the water first and told us there were two. Matt one of the guys on board was worried that he had cut his finger on his flipper and the shark might smell the blood - none of us could see the cut! However, into the water we all went and the sharks were hidden under some rocks - a safe distance for me. However Monica dived down to them and frightened them into storming off towards us sending us all into a panic. Fortunately they were more scared than us (if possible) and they swam around us and off into the deep.

We got to see many more sharks both snorkling and from the pangas - they are so cool I must have taken hundreds of photos.

A mention has to be made of the Galapagos Penguins - they are tiny only 2 feet tall and out of the water very timid running (or rather waddling) into the caves in the lava formations when we approached. Quite a different story in the water, they pecked at our flippers and caused quite a storm. While snorkling back to the beach round a rock outcrop, I turned the corner only to be met by 20 pengiuns swimming past. These guys can really move and those wee sharp beaks zooming towards you at speed are really quite scary.

On our last morning we went for a panga ride in a Mangrove Lagoon and as usual saw sharks and turtles lounging in the warm shallows, however we also saw an Eagle Ray which was small, with the square ray shape, it was black with tiny white spots all over it`s back - it was really graceful and beautiful a lovely end to our cruise.

The cruise had been fab, the crew were really nice, Richard the waiter and general attendant kept the place really nice making oragami animals out of the napkins and our towels. Monica the guide was great, she really knew her stuff and all the best places to snorkle and see wild life. I also must mention that we were really fortunate in the others on board. They were all really nice, one day we bumped into a group of really loud hideous Americans and we all counted our blessing that we didn`t end up on that boat - I would have thrown myself overboard rather than go through all the group photos they insisted on taking.

If you have the chance go to the Galapagos they are the best.

22nd Sep - Arriving at the Galapagos

We got off the plane and boarded a bus to a wee harbour where half a dozen boats bobbed up and down on the water. The 16 of us (one oldish Canadian couple, one youngish Swiss couple, one English mother and daughter and the others, other than one Welsh girl were all young English) speculated which boat was ours. A dinghy (called a panga) collected us and took us to a really nice looking sail boat. Inside a large common room and downstairs a tiny cabin and ensuite toilet and shower, with not enough room to swing a cat but hey we`re in the Galapagos so who`s complaining.

The boat took off for our first sailing and most people felt a bit sick and it wasn`t even rough. After lunch of lots of salad and pasta washed down with a bright orange juice drink, I sat up top and watch the sea sparkling in the sunshine. We disembarked on a small island met by hundreds of sea lions and sea iguanas - ugly black and red spiky things - I thought they were amazing. The island was like a mad SiFi set. Red low lying cactus and green high prickly pears and every so ofter a sea lion or iguana for company. There were no building on the island and no other people. You really felt out in the wild. We watched Galapagos Gulls, and tropic birds flying in and out of the cliffs. We got so close you could almost touch them, the wildlife is totally unscared of humans and just ignores us. I kept expecting a couple of aliens to land or Captain Kirk but only more sea lions chasing one another over the rocks.

Back on board for a long sail to our anchor point for the night. At first I felt fine then as each sucessive person ran green from the room I started to feel a bit sick and eventually sucumbed and was sick a nice bright orange with carrots (which had been served for lunch). I lay down on my bunk which was a bit difficult - climbing into the top bunk while the boat is moving - and felt better. Mairi came in really sick and exclaimed that she was getting off tomorrow and not getting back on.

I left her sick on the bed and went to dinner. The crew were introduced to us and we all had to introduce ourselves - in Spanish - and were served with a cocktail made of sugar cane rum and bright blue stuff. I´ll not go into detail of the colour of sick after that.

I went back to bed and slept fine after my first sea sickness tablet.

The rest of the sail was fine no more sickness - one tablet a day sufficed for me but a competition was on - who could consume the most sea sickness tablets - Mairi, Christie the girl withher mother and Paul an English guy vied for first place. At one point we think Paul was taking more than 6 a day (you are only supposed to take 1 every 6 hours). The crew eventually ran out and said we won the award for the most sea sickness tablets consumed ever.

19th - 21st Sep - Going to Quito

I realise I have three days for our journey to Quito but it did take that long - you`ll see.

19th we left Campeche and got the bus to Merida, thankfully only 3 hours and got to the Hostel we booked - starting to economise. The hostel was a bit of a laugh although the windows had mosquito nets on them the wall didn`t go all the way to the ceiling and there was a massive gap with no mosquito net! also the windows didn`t lock - very secure.

We walked back up to the main square and there was lots more dancing going on this time professionally done. Eight couples dressed in local garb, men in white trousers and shirt and the women in white dresses with brightly coloured embroidered flowers around the square neck. They first did a few numbers to the salsa beat swinging in and out of one another very in time. But then the real fun started. They were standing at the side at the end of a dance and all took hold of beer bottles - I thought I could take this up. But none of them were drinking, instead they made their way onto the dance floor with beer bottles in hand - odd I thought. Then to our surprise they balanced the bottles on their heads and started another dance swinging their pants, hips and shaking their feet, bottle firmly balanced on the head. We were sure there must be something holding it in place but just to prove us wrong a few bottles slide somewhat and were caught just in time.

The next set of dancers to put the bottle balancers to shame, not only had a bottle filled with water, but also a tray and three glasses which as you can guess they balanced on their heads and danced their little socks off water splashing everywhere. Thank god we weren`t in the front seats.

After the dramatic dancing we made our way down the Paseo de Montejo where huge colonial houses are still standing harping back to the towns past. These are beautiful building unfortunately so many have been knocked down to make way for hideous concrete and glass office blocks. We sat in a wee cafe and had cake with all the other Sunday afternoon wanderers. I stopped to get some money in one of the faceless modern buildings and then back to the hostel for a flee infested night. At last our mosquito nets came in handy.

20th we made our way to Mexico City this time staying in the trendy Zona Rosa - which has lots of wee cafes and bars and lots of good clothes shops.

We got to the hostel and it all looked very nice then I noticed I didn´t have my credit card - panic, panic more panic. The guy at the reception, and Ozzie, was very helpful and nice. I phone the Credit Card company and they cancelled the card. I realised it had not been stolen but I had left it in the cash line machine the evening before in Merida. Fortunately nobody had found it and used it so panic over. The CC company were really good and would be able to get me an emergency card out - all I needed was an address - bit of a problem there - the address - somewhere in a boat sailing around the Galapagos. So I would have to wait until I got back to Quito after the cruise.

We went out in Zona Rosa and had Italian - a change from Mexican food was soo welcome.

21st we got a really early flight from Mexico City to Miami and then onto Quito - a bit of a round about way to go but the only one our ticket would allow. We arrived in Quito at 8:30 and made our way to the Hotel (booked as part of the Cruise).

Quito at first glance was so different from Mexico, very clean, wide open streets with many high rise modern buildings. It looked really modern and nice. The hotel was amazing, the Cafe Cultura, an old colonial building beautifully decorated. None of the faceless corporate hotels here. The lobby had a roaring log fire beside a beautiful wooden staircase with murals on the wall. Our room was fab, a double bed, single bed, a couch, table and chairs all in an attic room with exposed wooden beams. The room was painted a darkish green with flowers painted in the corners. The bathroom had a massive rolltop bath. The attention to detail with little flowers, vases and giant terracotta pots gave it a really homely feel. Both of us agreed this would be a great honeymoon destination - pity we were with each other!

We were to be served a continental breakfast at 5:15 cos we were being picked up at 5:50 to go to the Galapagos. So we went straight to bed and didn´t get to explore Quito.

14th-19th Sep Campeche

After our night on the hurrican coast we head off to the other side of the Yucatan which we think is safe from harms way. We get the bus, another 7 hour journey to Campeche, a small City on the Gulf of Mexico. Campeche is quite a rich place in contrast to the other places we have visited in Mexico. This town has an almost Caribean feel with brightly painted houses everywhere. It is right on hte coast and lovely traditional boats bob up and down on the water front.

We go to a nice hotel in need of some comfort - I never said I was slumming it around the world. The first 2 days I only see my bed cos the dust allergy has finally hit and I cannot move. Mairi tells me the town is really nice, very near by is a large square and the main part of the town is encircled by a wall 10 foot high and very old.

I eventually make it out of bed as far as the pool but only last 1 hour. Bang goes the tan.

The day before we leave I do manage out and have a walk around. This is a lovely place, the sea front loaded with people out on a stroll and lots of little restaurants inside the walls. We eat in a nice wee place and Mairi orders the fish which is brought uncooked to her for examination. We, not speaking very good Spanish and the Waitress not speacking very good English nod at one another - not at all sure what we have just agreed to we speculate whether Mairi is going to see the exact smae fish, head tail and all cooked in a few minutes. Our wait wasn´t too long and indeed she was served same fish only cooked. Neither of us really wanted to star at the dead eyes so Mairi politely removed the flesh and eat it from a seperate plate.

Must learn more Spanish - at least be able to say - please remove the head and tail.

Other than some more sunbathing we were a total washout in Campeche and did nothing.

13th Sep - Back to Mexico via Belize

We get the bus very early again - this is not fun. At least it's clean and on a proper road. The road from Flores to Melchor de Mancos on the Belize border is, according to the guide book, bandit country a fact not lost on either of us, but we were too tired to really care and doze most of the way with no incidents.

The immigration on the Guatamala side is again just a room - this time you pass your Passport through a window to get stamped. However on the Belize side it's a much bigger affair with a massive building and lots of officials - probably the British influence. We pass through and get back on the bus. The bus sits for ages waiting for one of the group, the driver finally goes to immigration to find her to find out she didn't get into the country, she was Argentinian and didn't have the correct visa or something. How horrible would that be - we all felt really sorry for her, so made up stories how she was actually a drug smuggler and worse.

The bus toured through Belize and it was really funny to see all the signs in English and lots of chineese restaurants and shops. The bus stopped off in Belize City for a while so we were able to get off - I think that counts as visiting a country?

Both rural Belize and Guatamala seem more affluent than rural Mexico. Really quite large, nice houses line the roads unlike the tiny shacks in Mexico.

We head through Orange Walk in Belize (nice name - don't think it has the same connotations as back home) where there''s a community of Germans - the Menonites - who live a bit like the amish. I really hoped to see them in their simple dress in a horse and cart but alas it was not to be.

We crossed back into Mexico and had to pay US$15 each to get out of Belize even though we had only been there for a couple of hours - rubbish.

Back in Mexico we get off the bus at Chetumal and go to the bus station to get a bus to Playa Del Carmen up the coast near Cancun. An english guy on the bus tells us about a hurrican in the Carribean but we ask about it when buying the ticket and they don't seem too concerned.

Waiting for the bus Mairi over hears a bunch of tourists talking about the hurrican and how you cannot go to Cancun so we join the conversation only to be told people are being evacuated and there's basically been a state of emergency called. Oh dear! Mairi goes back to the ticket desk and pleads ignorance till they give us our money back - imagine they were going to send two wee Scottish girls into the path of a force 5 hurrican (thats one of the most severe).

We get a taxi with a mad German woman to a hotel in the town. I call it a hotel but hovel would have been more apt so we plod through the rain drenched streets to another hotel - totally soaked by the time we get there but they have a room and it's clean.

We wander around Chetumal for dinner and it's a nice wee town much more affluent than the Yucatan with nice shops and bars and have pizza for dinner - getting a bit sick of Mexican food - something I never thought I would say.