You are being neglected, dear blog readers, not out of disrespect, but out of internet inavailability. I´ve just arrived in Baños after a few lovely days hidden away at a vegetarian permaculture hideaway in a place called Chugchilán. Yes, I know, me and permaculture. And the flushless toilet was quite delightful, but something in the food didn´t agree (the lack of meat, I´m assuming). Which did get me out of a day of hiking that left my travelling comrades somewhat destroyed. Apparently the natural wonders were overcome by the extreme hiking conditions which left some in tears, others merely miserable with exhaustion. Still, I had a nice day reading magazines and looking at the still-impressive view from the cabins. However it was a slight shock for all of us to find the usual travel mix of Brits, Euros and Aussies almostly completely replaced with North Americans. College students, no less. Earplugs were often necessary. It did shatter the tranquility at times. [Disclaimer: this slight malignment of North Americans in no way applies to any that I am actually friends with, so don´t bother with the complaint emails.]
There was also a six hour horse ride which was beautiful, if a little challenging by the end of the fifth hour. I´ll attempt to stick a photo up tomorrow.
I realise that I haven´t described Galapagos in much detail, so I might try to put some thoughts together offline and paste them in tomorrow.
Will spend a few days here in Baños hoping the local volcano doesn´t explode whilst enjoying hot springs and then I head to Guayaquil on Thursday to catch my flight to Cuba on Friday.
