rakish richard's rants...

Aw Poo...

Loyal Readers,

A short post to let you know of an unexpected change of plans. We woke up this morning to see an updated warning for travel within Ecuador:

There is extreme risk to your security in the north-eastern areas of Ecuador that border with Colombia and Peru because of the risk of kidnapping and danger from organised and drug-related crime. We advise against all travel to the town of San Lorenzo in Esmeraldas province, the provinces of Carchi, Napo, Sucumbíos and Orellana.

Not exactly a softly worded warning, but one that gave us a bit of a fright - our 5 day jungle tour begins bang smack in the middle of Sucumbios province. It's a classic case of the old "tiny risk/enormous consequences" equation, and while we might be able to live with being mugged, neither of us fancy being kidnapped. Also, and realistically the most influential factor, our insurance would be completely invalid if we travelled to this area.

So, we've decided to take the safe decision and cancel that trip, boo :(

Definitely a conservative decision, but a safe one, and we're now just thinking what we'll do next. There might be a chance to get into the jungle again somewhere out of the trouble area, but we'll just have to see. We both know our Mums would have conniptions if they knew we'd travelled in spite of the warnings!

OK then, that's all from this end, we'll keep you posted.

Yours in great safety,

A

posted by Arch @ 12:20 AM