A life in Colombia
“Bad things go in threes,” Pippa muttered to me gloomily as we walked across the playground. The family had lost Hernan’s grandfather and, with the timing so typical of fate, Camilo’s two-month-old puppy had followed shortly afterwards. It was a beautiful morning, our little school was soaked in the late dawn sunshine, but her words […]
MoreIzzy is our lovely new volunteer. She is 31 and although she is originally from Colombia, she now lives in Boston. For the next three weeks she’s volunteering at tiny San Cristobal hospital. Unfortunately, the poor girl’s first day was the worst it could possibly have been because an elderly man passed away on the […]
MoreBefore I explain about our entanglement with the Galapagos police, I should describe my life prior to landing on this idyllic island. I lived in Liverpool. Liverpool, as many people know, is a beautiful city in the north of England stuffed with culture, humour and fun. But it is still home to around 430,000 people. […]
MoreGalapagos is a damn good place to take a holiday. As soon as we managed to grab three days leave ahead of the Ecuadorian bank holiday, we jumped on a four-day trip with Sharksky, one of the local operators. We could not have been busier. First we sailed to Enderby and Champion islands, near Floreana, […]
MoreWhile I was as weak as a newborn kitten for the first few days after my illness, I soon made a full recovery and island life settled into its familiar routine. Lucia is absent from school, which makes it all very peaceful. The supply teacher, Jenny, doesn’t speak English and doesn’t seem to like teaching […]
MoreI have discovered there is something annoying about writing a blog. Unfortunately, if you write a blog, you have to make a vague stab at being truthful even when you’ve plumbed previously inconceivable depths of idiocy. This blog should be about the Saturday I spent snorkelling with baby sealions and ploughing through dark and choppy […]
MoreI was in the highest of spirits that afternoon as I walked to the beach to meet Pam. Now, there are two beaches we frequent on San Cristobal. Playa Man is your typical hangout. It is still smothered with sea lions and you can watch the blue footed boobies diving – but it just has […]
MoreIt would be an understatement to say that, as I walked to school the next day, I had no idea how things were going to unfold. Joss advised me to take my laptop – “If there’s no-one to help, you can always find a quiet corner,” she advised – which seemed eminently sensible. But I […]
MorePeople are usually reasonably easy to read, aren’t they? If they dislike you, disapprove of you or generally feel unable to tolerate you, they’ll give themselves away. It might be a comment or a gesture, but it will be there. Similarly, if they like you, well, that’s normally pretty obvious too. I have no idea […]
MoreIt first happened in Spanish class. “Do you have a boyfriend in South America?” my teacher asked, innocently enough. “No,” I replied. But it was Spanish class, so I elaborated. “Men here are too short,” I smiled politely. “Noooooo,” my teacher responded, mouth agape. She then spent the next 15 minutes listing all of her […]
More
Banana Skin Flip Flops 