As a keen Scuba Diver i'm very happy to find myself in this part of the world. Certainly a lot of decent diving opportunities to be had - not all in the warm waters of the Caribbean either. Despite the cold waters of Patagonia, the diving with Sealions in Puerto Madryn will always remain a fond memory.

However, one of the highlights of this South America trip (and I must admit there have been many) was planned to be a diving trip to The Galapagos islands. The trip was scheduled for September and was to be 8 days diving around Darwin & Wolf islands - famed for prolific numbers of Hammerhead Sharks and, particularly in September, a large number of Whalesharks. In the 10 years i've been diving, despite my best efforts, I have never seen a Whaleshark. Diving at Darwin and Wolf islands in September is just about as close as you will ever get to a guaranteed sighting of a Whaleshark. A fairly recent diving/travel blog I was reading reported sightings of 52 (!!) Whalesharks in a 3 days period at Darwin. Well, i'd be happy with one!

However, the bad news is that there have been recent changes to the licencing of dive operators in Galapagos - at least as far as access to Darwin and Wolf goes and of 14 operators only 2 can now operate in this area. So in short, the Galapagos diving trip is cancelled :-(

This is one very disappointed diver. Maybe i'm just not meant to see a Whaleshark? Maybe its just a reason to come back again when the licencing is all sorted out? I'll keep you posted...

Posted by Russ Jones at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well i've been in South America for just over a year now and i'm starting to feel a bit 'jaded'. I'm beginning to take the place for granted and it feels like its lost a bit of its 'sparkle' and excitement....

So, i've decided to take a 'holiday' as it were. A chance to rest, see friends, take a break from all that is Latin America. I'll be flying out tomorrow and heading to a very different part of the world.

I'll let you know when I get there.

Adios Latin America, Its been fun :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Having passed a very pleasant two and a half months in and around the USA - covering many sights, many miles and spending far too much cash (more than a healthy bite from the travelling budget!) I find myself (with Chika) back in South America. Quito, Ecuador to be exact. Sitting in the same Hostel that I left behind last November and planning the route ahead. Given that i've already spent quite some time in the areas to the South and East of Ecuador and the country is on the west coast, it looks like we'll be heading North into Colombia.

I'm currently trying to assess the situation at the Ecuador/Colombia border as there have in recent weeks been real serious issues between the two countries – verging on warfare! So, not wanting to take too many chances with that one. Of course, I’ll keep you all posted. Worst case I’ll fly from Quito into Bogotá.

My flight from LA to Quito involved a transfer through Bogotá Airport. The photo in this post is a list of the items that you are NOT allowed to carry on flights from this airport – it was a LONG list. As well as the usual items such as Golf Clubs, Firearms, Knives, Sharp Objects etc. they felt it necessary to explicitly list items such as:

Bow and Arrows
Stun Guns
Harpoons
Hitting Clubs
Daggers
Dynamite
Ninja Stars
Tear Gas
Hand Grenades (or grenades of any kind)
Axes
Flame Throwers
Machetes
Brass Knuckles
Chainsaws
Neutralizer Gas

Certainly a thorough list and I felt fairly certain that I didn’t have any of those items in my hand luggage. Is this the kind of stuff that Colombians typically carry? Do I need to stock up before I venture back into Colombia??

Welcome back to South America.

Posted by Russ Jones at 1:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Just a quick entry to say that I am safe and well in Ecuador and wasn´t involved in the bus crash which you may have heard about on the news.

Currently back in Baños and having fun. Hope you all are too.

Posted by Russ Jones at 3:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Amazon

I’m still in Ecuador and I’ve just come back from the Jungle area around the town of Tena. As with previous jungle trips, I’d like to think that I put up a good fight against the various deadly bugs – but ultimately they won again!

Anyone who saw the aftermath of the Brazil Amazon trip will have seen what a hit I was with the mosquitoes there. This time it wasn’t the mosquitoes but the tiny flies with the ‘big teeth’ that were the problem. They’ve made a right mess of my legs and every bite (plenty to choose from!) is insanely itchy.

Whilst I was in the jungle one of the local guides gave me something called ‘Sangre de Drago’ (Dragons Blood) which is the BLOOD RED sap of a particular Amazonian tree. It is pretty odd to see a tree ‘bleed’ when it’s cut. Anyway, strange as it may be, it’s something of a miracle when it comes to soothing the bite of the ‘Killer Amazonian Big Toothed Death Fly’ (don’t think that’s the official Latin classification but it works for me.)

Ailments aside, the jungle trip was great. Covered a lot of miles wandering through primary Amazonian forest, climbing through canyons and up waterfalls, swimming in Lagoons and floating down rivers in inner tubes. Learned quite a lot about medicinal plants too. Who knows when this gradual buildup of Jungle knowledge will come in handy?

So now, I’m back in Tena and getting ready to go White Water Rafting. Tena is Ecuador’s rafting capital and we’re taking on some Class IV rapids tomorrow. Should prove an exciting day. I’ll let you know.

Anyway, here are few more photos from the Ecuadorian Jungle:

Posted by Russ Jones at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

White Powder Anyone!

Well we’re still in Ecuador, at least until tomorrow anyway when we’ll head for the Colombian border.

We’ve spent a few relaxing days here in Ibarra and yesterday, being Saturday, we ventured to the nearby town of Otavalo for the indigenous market. This market is considered by many to be one of the most important markets in South America, dating back to pre-Inca times. It certainly is a BIG market and it drew the crowds. We missed the livestock part of the market as that area finished its trading by 8am and it was 10:30 before we even arrived in Otavalo. Great shame really because I quite fancied owning a Llama! I priced one up in Peru and for around $250 - $300 a Llama could be yours (one careful lady owner and low mileage.)

I made just one purchase at the market – a Hammock! Seemed like a great idea at the time, but unfortunately it’s quite heavy and a bit too bulky to carry around with me. That’s were a good pack animal would come in handy! I guess I’ll just have to post it home … the Hammock, not the Llama (don’t worry Mum!)

Anyway, tomorrow we’ll be leaving Ecuador behind and crossing the border into Colombia. In preparation for moving on we were sorting through our bags, a bit of a Spring Clean if you like. Certainly easier to Spring Clean a backpack than my bedroom. Anyway, Chika came up with a couple of items that seemed to be causing her a bit of concern. She likes to travel with food items from home and who am I to complain about the occasional Miso Soup or Curry Udon. The items she’d pulled out this time were a small clear plastic bag filled with pancake mix and another containing loose green tea. Innocent enough I guess until you look them as a large bag of ‘white powder’ and a bag of mysterious green leaves AND THEN try to imagine how you explain these item, in your broken Spanish, to the Colombian Military on the border as they search your bags!

Well, it looks like we’re going to be eating a LOT of pancakes and drinking a LOT of Green Tea today. Still, there’s torrential rain outside and it sounds like a nice way to pass a lazy Sunday.

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:55 PM | Permalink