Ecuador

9th June. We wake up this morning to a view of North Seymour Island. This island is covered both on land and in the air, by Frigate Birds. It´s a short journey back to Baltra and then a flight back to Quito. Notice the Baltra runway lifts up like that on an aircraft carrier. Our private Quito taxi arrives 30 minutes late. Apparently there is a new regulation where the last number on the registration plate determines what days you can drive during peak hour and her car wasn´t allowed to be on the road today. For dinner I have an Ecuadorian dish which starts with ll... and ends with ...panchos. All I know is, it was fabulous. The beer is not bad either.

10th June Woken up by noisy tourists dragging baggage and speaking loudly. Did I mention this all happened before 6am. Had a great breakfast, once the sun appeared. Arranged for a lift to the Equator, about 20 kilometres north of Quito. A large building, lots of monuments and a thick yellow line indicating 0 degrees latitude. Or is it? Seems someone with a GPS reckons it's 200 metres north of all the tourist stuff. Wandered into old town from our hotel. This is a really pretty city. Lots of old colonial style buildings and a huge park with families enjoying the green space. We fly out to Santiago late tonight.

11th June. Arrive at a very cold Santiago airport about 5am. There are the usual hangers on who want money for being up at that hour. I can't be bothered and tip a local so he'll get out of my way. Check in to our hotel at 6am. It's really nice but it's in the middle of nowhere. Paddocks on one side and factories on the other. Stay at the hotel all day eating, drinking and sleeping. We leave a very cool Chile around 11:30pm. The plane taxi's so long I thought we were driving to Auckland.

12th and 13th June. At sometime we crossed the International Dateline. I take my final opportunity to drink Cristal Lager. Have breakfast and then land at Orcland Airport, 4am on Sunday. A couple of hours later we catch an almost empty plane to Melbourne and have second breakfast. Here's a customs tip. Declare something, food, mud on your shoes, whatever. You go to a very short queue and when you are cleared you go to the front of the line where those who say they have nothing to declare are still waiting.

Ecuador

8th June. We travel overnight to Isla Floreanna. It's there outside our cabin window. In cricketing terms this journey had a bit of sideways movement. There is a wet landing this morning. On the journey to the island we see turtles and of course sea lions. We walk across Cormorant Point and past the lake that doesn't have flamingos. On the other side of the point there are small sting rays in the shallows and we watch a Brown Pelican and a Nazca Booby fishing. There is also a penguin wandering around. Later in the day we post a card at the island ¨post box¨. It´s about 20 degrees C and I don´t go swimming today. Despite being almost on the equator, the water is surprisingly cool and most of those who do swim are wearing wet suits.

Ecuador

7th June We look out from our cabin to see Isla Espanola. This is a dry landing, meaning we don´t have to jump into the water from the zodiac. There are sea lions everwhere. On the island we see Nazca and Blue Footed Boobies (my personal favourite) dancing. There are Wave Albatrosses(?) nesting, Frigate Birds hovering and Marine Iguanas sunning themselves.You have to be very careful where you are walking because the animals pay you no heed what so ever. What a great day.

Ecuador

6th June 5am wake up call and we go downstairs before 6am. It´s dark in the lobby and it seems I have disturbed the guard who is sleeping on the floor with his pistol on the bench next to him. It´s about a 2 hour flight to Galapagos and the runway on Baltra Island takes up most of the available land. We bus, boat, bus to the Darwin Research Station to see tortoises including Lonesome George. To reach our pleasure craft anchored in the bay, the Coral 1, we travel by zodiac (powered dinghy). We leave for Espanola Island at 8pm.

Ecuador

5th June Another day another country. We fly to Ecuador and land in Quito early afternoon. It may have been my imagination but this was not the most comfortable flight I can remember. And where did all the stewards disappear to for the last 20 mins? Our hotel is ok though not to the same standard as the night before.

Peru

1st June. We visit the Catedral. Lots of gold and silver. Imagine if this place was run by a charitable organisation that could sell these precious metals and with the profits assist all the poor people. We also visit a couple museums before going out to dinner. Try some guinea pig, but still prefer alpaca.

2nd June We fly to the jungle and land at Puerto Maldonado International Airport. Bus, bus, riverboat up the Rio Tapatambo to a jungle lodge. No electricity and our room has 3 walls with 4th side being an open space looking out into the rain forrest. Go for lots of walks and climb a 37 metre high tower to see above the canopy.

3rd June. There were some monkeys hanging around this morning. Tamarins and another type that I just cannot remember the name of now. Another boat journey, then a walk followed by a leisurely cruise around a lake where we see macaws, giant river otters and cayman. Later on we also see capybarra.

4th June. Hear crunching during the night and wake up to find the remains of a rat near the bed. Yum. Back to the international airport and we arrive in the Grey City, Lima late afternoon. This is the end of the tour and we say our goodbyes. After a slow start, everyone seemed to warm to each other, particularly after sharing the trekking experience. Lyn would like it on the record that she was the oldest female in our group to complete the trek. Our Hotel, at the Lima airport is fabulous. Somewhat better than the one we stayed at in Melbourne.

Peru

27th May. Went to the Sacred Valley today. Inca buildings etc 20 to 30 kilometres outside Cusco with great names like Sexywoman (my personal favourite). There seemed to still be a lot of damage from the recent floods that require repair.

28th May. The fun begins as we head off by bus to Kilometre 82 to start the inca trail. Recent rain prevents our vehicle getting to the starting point so we have to walk a kilometre before we can begin. It is strange walking on the track, all decked out in hiking gear and walking poles as we pass local people using the same path to walk home.

29th May. Whose idea was this? Today was very hard climbing dead womans pass to 4200masl and then a very steep decline on uneven steps and shale. We learned a new phrase today, Inca Flat.

30th May. Today was supposed to be the Gringo Killer, but after day 2 nothing could hurt us. In fact, the few hours up to lunch was a very pleasant stroll. We could see the town of Aguas Callientes a thousand metres below in a steep valley with the Rio Urubamba flowing through. No wonder this place was flooded a few months ago. The water had nowhere else to go. Can you believe it, there are showers at this campsite. The toilets were also voted the most revolting on the trail.

31st May. Woken up at 3:45am and headed off an hour later, only to be stopped, along with everyone else at the check point. No one is allowed through until 5:30am. So why did we get up so early? Our first view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate is of course amazing as is everything about this site. I think we used a memory card on this site alone. Bus, train, bus, bus and we are back at Cusco at 11:30pm. We did it, YEAH! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ