Goodbye Ecuador...

I`ve done a few uncharacteristic things over the last few months, like; climbing muddy, very active volcanos, crawled on my stomach through small underground tunnels, hiked all day, waded through amazonian mud swamps (full of leaches), swam with electric eels, stingrays, anacondas and sharks, found tarantulas in my bedroom, cockroaches in my lunch, fished (caught my first one - a piranha!) visited a shaman, ate lots of soup containing popcorn and chips, molycoddled monkeys, fed lions, bears and jaguars and shouted `Goooooooool!' at the top of my voice when Ecuador score at the beautiful game...

Two and a half months in Ecuador may have changed me. Certainly some of the experiences I`ve had here have been some of the best so far. But the fact you never get what you pay for is driving me slightly insane. My friend told me that her friends had recently come to Ecuador to cash in on the opportunity for cheap plastic surgery. Fine, if you're happy to risk the fact you want wrinkle reduction but actually come out with smaller boobs. That`s how it is here. Get used to it.

I`ve just come back from 2 glorious weeks in the Galapagos (would`ve been a whole lot less stressful if the airline hadn`t cancelled both of my flights and I hadn`t had to be rescued at sea because both motors on the twin engine boat conked out!) But I already miss the fish market in Pelican Bay where sealions and pelicans beg for fish scraps like a pack of hungry dogs. I`m convinced Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz is the most beautiful beach in the world, with huge marine iguanas and small white tip reef sharks basking in the shallow surf...

I`ve said enough. On to Colombia tomorrow....until next time....