Start of the South American Trip

We have completed the 14-day cruise on the Island Princess and done all things "cruisingly". Made nice friends at our dinner table, avoided the man in the hot tub who talked politics and religion and generally relaxed our bodies and overeaten. My facebook friends will have seen the ports we stopped at, and noted that my opinions during such short visits to each place were pretty much worthless. We have very much enjoyed the luxury, especially after such a long spell of relative discomfort in Mayto.

The most amazing experience by far was the transit through the Panama Canal. I cannot overstate it. We arrived at the first locks at about 5.30 a.m. on the 15th December and had the thrilling experience of feeling our huge ship being gradually lifted in three stages and deposited into the canal approaching the Gatun Lake and down by three locks into the Atlantic on the other side. We moved to various points on the ship to get the full impact of this phenomenon and Jon has taken more photos than we will ever need to remind us. The whole transit takes about 10 hours and we didn't move away from the side of the ship for the whole time. The man-made Gatun Lake was very water logged due to heavy rain, and had actually, historically, closed for one day, 3 days before we arrived. The effect was that the ship was actually cruising through a swamp-land with submerged trees and grassland either side. I saw crocodiles basking on the banks and iguanas sunning themselves at the very top of the trees right beside the slow-moving ship. There is a lot of construction going on as there is a larger, wider canal being constructed. This will be capable of transporting the new 'post panamax' cargo ships through the Canal in the future. It is pleasing to note that the use of existing water in the area is managed in an environmentally friendly way, and not wasted.

Our cruise completed, we were transfered by coach and dropped at Miami Airport where we were due to fly to Equador the following day. A bit dazed and disorientated we battled with unhelpful and patronising staff at the 'information desk', and stayed the night in a bland and forgettable hotel near the airport. This is unfair, I know, but what we saw of Miami has not encouraged me to visit again in the future. It came over as a bit like Bournemouth on a good summer's day with nothing particular to justify a long journey by air.

We arrived in Quito late last night. The information desk at the airport helpfully directed us to a cheap and clean hostal, in the centre of town, where we have checked in for 3 nights until we have got our bearings. The first thing I can say is that it is freezing cold. We hadn't expected that and were are not equipped with the right clothes. We are walking around town wearing several layers and looking like we have just landed from somewhere warm (which of course we have). We met a helpful man at the cafe where we had breakfast and he directed us to the South American Explorers Club which is where I am sitting now. We have received some good advice on how not to get robbed and a lot of other necessary information, most importantly - where to buy some cheap warm clothes.

We plan to stay in Quito for Christmas Day and then move on.

Last stop Mexico

We have arrived in Cabo St Lucas. After a week of travelling we are quite weary and looking forward to boarding the Island Princess on Tuesday.

Our bus journey through the night from Puerta Vallarta last week (terrifying due to the fact that we were watching a disaster movie on the video screen), brought us to Matzalan bus station at about 2.3o in the morning. We decided to sit out the night there and nodded off in the seats in the lobby. In the morning a taxi took us to a moderately priced hotel on the beach-front and we had a pleasant day relaxing and swimming in the sea. The next day we took a bus to the ferry port with our heavy backpacks and I slipped and fell over on the uneven pavement when we got off (at the wrong stop). I hurt my toe and broke my glasses and we hobbled the 1km distance to the terminal to catch the ferry to La Paz. I have been hobbling ever since and keep having to superglue my glasses together.

The ferry trip introduced us to the high security, with marines, which surrounds the ports, and we had to put our luggage on the ground for sniffer dogs to examine. Our dog seemed to be quite interested in the food people had packed, so the message is; if you want to smuggle drugs into America, hide them in with some empanadas with fricoles because no-one checked the food packs. Our drug-free status secured we joined the general mexican passengers and had another uncomfortable night sitting up, having decided we couldn't really afford a cabin.

After more checking of our luggage from marines at La Paz, we joined a mini bus into the town where we spent the night in hostal style accomodation. In the morning we started our journey down the peninsular by bus and stopped for a couple of nights at Los Todos Santos. Here we gave ourselves a bit of luxury in a nice hotel as we felt we deserved a comfortable bed and enjoyed our stop very much. Los Santos is famous for being a hippy town in the 70's and the Hotel California, from the Eagles song, is still there, though a little more pretentious these days as a tourist attraction.

We arrived in Cabo St Lucas yesterday. Israel's mother, Miriam, had very kindly booked us 4 nights in the Santa Maria Elena hotel as her sister lives here. Yesterday we took a taxi straight there and peeled off our backpacks thankfully when we got to the room, (after a brief wrangle with the owner over the nightly rate). My mission now is to buy some new clothes to board the ship with. Everything I have is shabby and worn-out and can be thrown away. The town is full of markets and I am looking forward to SHOPPING!