COLUMBIA … for a day … as you do …
You might want to accuse us of just trying to bag another country and get another passport stamp.
And you would be absolutely right! Yep! Guilty as charged!
We have had many discussions on what constitutes "bagging a country". Over 24 hours, slept one night, stepped out the airport, bought some coffee. However you calculate it we have done Columbia!
For the second time in our 7-month trip we booked our accommodation in advance! It was great to be picked up at the airport and we had fun chatting in broken Spanish on the drive to the hostel.

The next morning Jonny went off to the gold museum and in true Latin American style was given some very unrealistic timing. The museum was very interesting and Bogota itself seemed quite a friendly and un-touristy place, the latter probably more down to the reputation is has got. Arriving back to the hostel over an hour late was not good for Nats serenity, especially with this reputation that Bogota has. So we headed straight off to the airport where we planned to check in, get some lunch and sit out the remaining few hours before our final two flights back to the UK.

After some indecision between various officials, it was decided that we would have to pay the airport tax as we had been in Bogota about 25hours and you only were given exemption if it was less than 24hours. Anyhow after the security checks, much queuing and a rushed bite to eat we dashed for the departure lounge to meet the boarding time. This itself was two hours early of the flight departure time and as the time grew closer there was still no plane in sight. Departure time arrived and then security turn up to put everyone back through a portable luggage scanner before boarding the Iberia airlines plane that has finally arrived and we leave Columbia an 1hour and 20mins late. The plane was ok if a little unclean and the food was edible. The entertainment it has to be said was pretty dire, the hostess was miserable and along with the lack of sleep we tumbled into Madrid having caught up a little time with the tail winds.

After a seamless transfer and a short hop back to the UK (where you had to pay for food or drink!?) we arrived only 10mins late and miraculously our bags appear in the carousel. This might sound a little grouchy but during the last few weeks we have found only 2 people who havn’t lost baggage, been delayed or generally had a bad experience with Iberia airlines.
So what was our experience of Iberia … well it was ok … but … with the pleasant flight with B.A., the awesome service and quality of Qantas and the charming service of LAN … well … Iberia really lets the OneWorld team down.

Anyhow we are back on UK soil and, gor blimey love, its colder here than Patagonia. And down there they have winds that blow off the Antarctic!

So its time to go hunting for jobs, a house, a car and some new clothes.
At some point we should reflect on our travels and put down some thoughts as to what we have learnt and how this trip has enriched our lives. Certainly our marriage is stronger and we are abundantly closer than before.

We look forward to catching up with all our friends soon … if your still travelling then make the most of it and enjoy your time.

ECUADOR ...
Our penultimate country and less than 4 weeks till we return to the UK … scary.

After an uneventful flight it was wonderful to be met by Beth and Ossie at the airport. Their 5th floor apartment is almost in line with the end of the runway and from 5:45 every morning they get the international planes taking off and landing. After a couple of days we soon got to used to the rumble and roar of their engines and it was quite pleasant to look out of the window and guess the airline as it thundered in.

Quito is known, at least locally, as “the navel of the world”. So after a couple of days relaxing we took a trip to this “middle of the world”, or “Mitad del Mondo”. There is a large monument here which was erected by a French guy who, through the use of celestial navigation and technical wizardry, deemed this to be the Equator line. Whilst the museum inside gives a fascinating description of all the various Ecuadorian cultures and history, the location is essentially wrong. If you take a walk 200m north you find the real equator line, as found by GPS, where you can do a number of experiments to prove the location is correct. One of the most fascinating is the old plug-hole experiment where water flows down the plug-hole anticlockwise to the north of the equator and clockwise to the south of the equator. This was very interesting to watch and whilst it is widely believed to be an urban myth, using the same bowl, same water and same plug, the experiment did seem to work. The other trick was balancing an egg on a nail which we've still yet to try here in the UK!

Quito, at 2700m altitude, is a very long and thin city that is sat in the base of a valley. Behind Beth and Ossies apartment is one of the mountain ranges that flanks the city at over 4000m. Looking out the back you could see a Teliferiqo (gondola) that carried people to the top to get the views. Each day we would look out and decide whether today was the day but by 9am the top was always in cloud. Finally, 4 days before we left we took the plunge and went up with Beth and Ossie. Whilst it was quite cloudy we did get some magnificent glimpses of the city below us until it started to hail and we ran for cover.

Another major touristy thing we did in Ecuador was to visit the Otavalo market where there are all sorts of Ecuadorian, Peruvian and Bolivian handicrafts on sale. We managed to find quite a few nice little pressies for people back home and some souvenirs for ourselves including a couple of hammocks!! The markets are a real hive of activity and are very bright and colourful.

We were introduced to Marlene, who is Beths Spanish teacher, and had a wonderful time with her. She took us round some of the sights and was a fantastic guide. We had lots of fun in the Spanish lessons and enjoyed picking up a little more of the Spanish language.

It was lovely to spend time with Beth and Ossie and to experience a bit of their lives in Ecuador. Their lab is coming along and we were very privileged to be able to help with a little painting and cleaning. Ossie explained some of the research they are going to be undertaking and it was really great to hear them so passionate about something that will be able to make a real difference to the lives of the Ecuadorians.
We enjoyed visiting their church too, which was really lively and felt very homely.
Ossies parents were very welcoming and, along with Beths lovely home-cooking we experienced some delicious Ecuadorian dishes. It was nice to eat good quality food too, which was rewarded by our stomachs settling down. The BBQ we had on our last Sunday was delicious and typically British – it rained, torrentially!

Unfortunately we have no readily available photos as our wretched Canon has decided to pack itself in and refuses to turn on. A disposable has had to suffice for a couple of weeks and at some point the photos might be scanned in and put on here.

So we have had a wonderfully relaxing time in Ecuador and feel ready to tackle the challenges facing us back home…

The Inca Trail
Jonny spent the 3 days on the run up to the Inca trip convincing me that the walk would be fun and enjoyable and in not such a loud voice, challenging. I was a little nervous as my usuall strategy of running up hills when they get difficult, would not be appropriate at altitudes of 4300 meters. I knew I was going to have to learn to plod!
We set off for our four day walking adventure bright and early on Wednesday morning. We sat in our bus for 2 hours, mostly in silence, surounded by 12 other walkers, 22 porters, 2 guides, 1 cook and 2 monkeys, contemplating what we had let ourselves in for.

This is Monkey our team mascot who was later called 'Maureen' ('Milly' was the monkey that rode on her back).

We had a hearty breakfast and began the walk, stopping to get another stamp in our passport on the way (now if I had known this was going to happen I might have been a little more enthuisiastic at the thought of doing this walk. I love getting passport stamps!) Our fellow walkers were a lively and lovely bunch, our guides were enthusiastic and knowledgable and our porters became our heroes!
The porters carried 25kg each and would run past us, smiling, wearing sandles, as Jonny and I were puffing and panting up the hill. They were amazing ...

Caption Wanted!!! What's Nat thinking??

Day 1 was definately do-able. We admired beautiful views on our way and went to an interesting Inca ruin. We were surprised to find that during the day, the porters would run on ahead, set up a temporary camp so that we could eat or drink in the dry. We felt very spoilt.

Day 2 was tricky! We walked up "dead womans pass" very slowly for 3 hours and descended for 2 hours. I had got the plodding motion down to a fine art. Many people suffered from altitude sickness on this day although only 1 person from our team. Our guides were very pleased with our progress and we spent the afternoon recovering from our climb.

That's one beast of a hill!!

We made it!!

Day 3. I spent the early hours praying hard about the drumming rain on our tent roof. We put on our attractive ponchos and tried to smile. However, Walking up Inca steps that are narrow and steep in mid flow of a water fall, isn`t easy. The rain subsided at lunch time. My prayers were answered! The rest of the day the sun shone and we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the walk.

Day 4 we were woken at 4am (lovely and early!). We started walking under torch light to get to the gate of the sun, where we would see our first view of Machu Pichu. Our guides were very speedy, setting a cracking pace. It was exhausting, and my eyes were very stingy. But I was suported by my best friend all the way who offered constant encouragement. When we got to the gate of the sun we were blown away by the sight of machu pichu. It was well worth our tiring walk.

Sacred Valley
We really enjoyed our full day tour of a number of Inca ruins and learnt lots of interesting facts. Our guide was very impressive and it seems like we got a better deal than our friends Lisa and Jo!


At every stop there were Children and Adults trying to sell us their wares. They were very brightly and beautifully dressed in their national garb that they wear each day.


We bought a couple of rugs depicting the Inca calendar.
They are very beautiful and its nice to be able to help the local economy.
We couldn't decide which rug we liked the best so there'll be some lucky owner of a new Inca rug soon ...


This is a picture of our new Alpaca jumpers.
I'm not sure whether this is the altitude or the jumpers ...