The little village of San Lucas Toliman rambles up the hill of a small bay on Lago de Atitlan, almost directly across the lake from Panajachel.  There are two choices for getting there.  You can try to organize a ride in one of the few lake-worthy boats with reliable motors and an owner who not only agrees to take you where you want to go but also actually starts the motor and leaves the dock before it’s too late to go anywhere.  And then of course there is the weather.  On a sunny still day the lake can look calm, but winds, waves and sudden rain storms can spring up out of nowhere.  The middle of the lake can be a perilous place.     The other option is to catch a bus from Panajachel.  It’s about an hour’s ride – depending... .  I chose the bus.  It was supposed to leave at 7 am, but it left late, as usual.  Because it wasn’t full to over-flowing, the bus was circling around the to...

Today is market day in San Lucas.     It’s a much smaller one than in Panajachel –mostly fruits, vegetables, household wares and fabrics.     I went there to get some fruit – in particular I was on a hunt for zapotes.     Zapotes are a little smaller than an avocado.     Their outer skin looks almost like a peanut shell – the same colour, and just as tough.     I cut through it with my ever-ready Swiss Army knife and split it in half.     The flesh inside is coffee-coloured and very, very rich.     Richer and sweeter than a mango.      I was lucky today – there were lots of ripe zapotes.     I bought a half-dozen.     My next most favourite fruits here are the little red bananas – they’re shorter and fatter than the ones we get back home, and much sweeter.     And the tiny mandarin oranges, again sweeter than most other varieties. I bought some bananas and mandarins.  ...

 

Almost two months and $700 later, I have finally arrived in South America.     I landed in Quito a couple of days ago and got a room at the Hotel Gran Casino, also known as the Hotel Gran Gringo, for obvious reasons.     Although there are lots of gringo freaks here at the hotel, I saw almost none yesterday when I was doing a walk around.     So I had lots of opportunities to use my ‘Spanish’, such as it is.     The locals don’t seem to have any problem understanding me, but, perhaps on the assumption that I can actually speak Spanish, when they respond to my queries they speak so quickly I can only catch the odd word.     Sometimes it’s almost enough... ,    Quito is a beautiful city – perched high up in the mountains where, despite its location almost on the equator, it is cool and refreshing.  There’s an ‘old city’ in the centre with cobblestone streets and lots of old colonial buildings – stately white or stone ed...

Yesterday’s train ride from Quito to Guayaquil was long (14 hours) but spectacular.     Starting in the mountains we descended onto the high central plateau, a beautiful green landscape of gently rolling hills. The majority of Ecuador’s population lives here, growing crops of corn and beans.     We passed through lots of little villages, primarily indigenous, stopping once or twice.     We then crossed another set of mountains, closer to the coast, and began our real descent, traveling back and forth, frequently in reverse, across a series of switchbacks – a true feat of railroad engineering.     We emerged from the green, forested hills into a vast yellow-grey desert – barren, desolate and wholly uninviting – mile upon mile of sand and cacti.     Every now and then there was a pocket of green, a little slope that catches the dew from passing clouds, or perhaps an irrigated field.     As we neared the band of jungle that encirc...

 

The Galapagos Islands are a set of volcanoes, over 700 miles west of the coast of Ecuador.     It took us (me and about 50 other tourists) three days to get there by boat (an older vessel with a very loud engine).     The islands are somewhat protected, although it’s pretty clear that the increasing numbers of tourists – and residents – are having an impact on the environment and the many unique species of flora and fauna that are found there.     Most visitors come with guides, who try to ensure that they stay on the well-marked (with stones and little wooden stakes) paths, and that they do nothing to harm or disturb the wildlife.     No picking flowers, no patting seals, no feeding the animals and no leaving anything behind – except footprints.     Our tour operator organized us into small groups of 10-12, each group going ashore for a couple of hours while the rest of us stayed on the boat and heard talks or watched movies about the G...