Saturday 25th January - Homeward bound

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Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th January 2025 - - Whaley to Salta

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We dropped off Fuchsia at 4 Paws and the Meezers at Mrs Harris' on Friday.  Our friens, Anne and Nick are looking after Clementine. Having packed, we left home at noon.   The roads were icy and the fields were still covered in snow. The journey to Heathrow was uneventful, except a 30 stoppage near Luton. We are leaving our csr at the Sheraton Skyline.  Built in 1971, it was one of the first hotels to cater for mass tourism by plane. In its heart is what was called El Caribe Paiio, a whimsical fake tropical garden, replete with bamboo shack and pool.  It features in the Status Quo video for Marguerita Nights. The area was closed for cleaning, but Joan got a few snaps. We booked an Uber to Terminal 3 for £15 via a machine in the hotel lobby.   It was several hours before our hysical chevk- in opened but there were machines in the terminal where you could print off your own baggage labels. We cleared securit...
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Tuesday 13th January 2026: Up to Cotopaxi

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A faint rainbow where a volcano should be! We're sad to leave Quito as there is so much more we could have done.  However our whistlestop tour won't let us linger for long. Today we are moving on to Cotopaxi which is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.  We're staying in a lodge in Chasqui which is reknowned for its views of the mountain.   Chasqui isn't really a town and our hotel is 500m off the Pan-Americana, so the thought of catching a bus and then having to walk with big suitcases to the lodge did not appeal.  So we messaged the hotel and they arranged a lift for us. Cotopaxi is in an area called the Avenida de los volcanes, a name given by Alexander von Humboldt.  It runs for 200 km and has several active volcanoes en route.  Situated in Ecuadorian altiplano, Joan imagined a bare and desolate landscape, with barren snow capped volcanoes, like those in the north of Chile and Bolivia.  It was nothing like it. Our driv...
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Saturday 10th January 2026: Ecuador - finally

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A few days ago a Facebook memory came up from January 2020.  We,d just got back from a three week holiday in St Kitts and Joan had already bought guidebooks for Ecuador, planning our Christmas 2020 adventure. Well, what a year that was, and little did we know world travel for us would be put on hold for four years. Since then, Ecuador has destabilised due to narcotic gangs and some areas are no longer safe to go to, but the lure of the smoking Andean volcanoes and the magical Galapagos Islands was still there. So, in June, we took the plunge and bought flights to Quito.  In between there have been some petrol blockades, four controversial referenda and night time curfews to muddy the waters, but our resolve was steadfast. For the record the four votes were: - to allow foreign countries (read the USA)  to have permanent military bases in Ecuador, including the Galapagos - ending state funding for political parties, which would disadvantage parties from poorer communitiess,...
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