Quito to La Paz via Peru

Preamble

Shortly after returning from Istanbul I received an offer from Dragoman for some trips in South America for half the normal price. I have long wanted to visit the continent and decided to invest a couple of months in visiting part of it.

The trip consisted of two segments, the first started in Quito, capital of Ecuador, and ended in Lima, capital of Peru. The second segment continued from Lima on to La Paz, Bolivia.

Compared with travelling in Central Asia everything was a doddle to arrange, no visas required and plenty of flight options. Similiarly no problems with restrictions from the FCO, or at least that is what I thought until I got there and had to sign some disclaimers because we were going to travel around the Tungurahua Volcano which was erupting and the FCO advice "against travel to the surrounding areas of the Tungurahua volcano" invalidates travel insurance.

Volcanos! who'd have em? The disruption caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland almost impacts me. The UK airspace is closed for some time leading up to my departure but my luck holds and I get to fly out of Heathrow on the first full day after flights are resumed! My first leg to Madrid includes a spectacular sunset which I presume is thanks to the ash cloud from Eyjafjallajökull. Then it is across the Atlantic to Quito with a brief stop at Guayaquil.