In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, experiences a modern-day hacienda and the grandeur of the Andean Condor at the Hacienda Zuleta - Where the Condors Are. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to Ecuador.

Hacienda is one of those words that just slips off your tongue and evokes images of bygone romance in colonial Latin America. I first fell in love with it as a kid watching the great Guy Williams as Zorro in the series set in pre-independence from Spain southern California. His father owned a large hacienda and brought his son back from Spain to fight injustices imposed upon the poor people by the 'authorities'. Thus my first impression of hacienda owners and haciendas, in general, was that they were good things. Later in life, I learned that the opposite was the case. Haciendas were for the most part instruments for squeezing as much out of the land as possible at the expense of the common people, usually Indigenous or Mestizo. If Zorro had been reality based, it would have been the hacienda owners using the authorities to support their oppressive regime, not the other way around. There are exceptions to the rule and in those posts from my recent trip to Ecuador with Adventures Abroad, we will visit Hacienda Zuleta where the Lasso family has for over a century been a benevolent force for both the local people and endangered Andean wildlife. It should be an eye-opening experience.

Read more

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, will be at 11,782 feet above sea level at Jungfraujoch - The Top of Europe. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to Switzerland.

In my last post from a June 2022 trip to Switzerland with Canadian tour company Adventures Abroad, our group took a gondola up from Grindelwald to First where we did an alpine hike to Bachalpsee and experienced the Cliff Walk. In keeping with the one day on one day off hiking schedule of this tour, today our tour leader Victor Romagnoli will take us to the highest elevation most of us have ever been, the 3,571 (11,782 feet) summit of the Jungfraujoch. Amazingly we won't be getting there by tram or cable car as you might expect, but on a train that will take us to the highest rail station in Europe. This is something I have been looking forward to since signing up for this trip. It should be a blast so I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Read more

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, has an exceptional hiking day as he experiences Grindelwald - First Gondola to the Cliff Walk. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to Switzerland.

In the last post from this Adventures Abroad tour of Switzerland led by veteran tour leader Victor Romagnoli our group transitioned from Zermatt to Wengen by way of the very interesting small city of Interlaken. As I noted in that post, the itinerary initially had us staying in Grindelwald for three nights, but instead, we went to the much smaller village of Wengen and I think that was a wise decision. While Grindelwald is definitely the hub for all types of excursions into the Bernese Alps, it is also pretty crowded and noisy. Wengen is the opposite, with no motorized vehicles and a small pedestrian main street that is lined with interesting shops and restaurants. This is some of our group walking toward our hotel after arriving, but I'll backtrack a bit.

Read more

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, finds some wonderful and awe-inspiring places in Quito - Walking the Historic District. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to Ecuador.

This is my first in-depth post from a recent trip to Ecuador with Adventures Abroad. In a previous post, I gave my top eight reasons why Ecuador should be high on every traveller's list of places to visit in 2023. In this post, we'll accompany our AA guide Alfredo Meneses on a walking tour of the historic centre of Quito. In a subsequent post, I'll suggest a few other places in Quito you might want to consider visiting on your own as well as a few safety tips to make sure your trip to Ecuador gets off to a great start. So put on your walking shoes, sunblock and Panama hat and let's get going.

Read more

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, continues on his tour of Switzerland and stops in at Interlaken - Bollywood in Switzerland. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to Switzerland.

This is my latest post from last summer's visit to Switzerland with Adventures Abroad. It will feature our transition from Zermatt to Wengen with an extensive stop in the lovely little city of Interlaken. In the last post, I wrote about the absolutely once-in-a-lifetime day we had hiking down from the Matterhorn to Zermatt. Reflecting back, it was probably the highlight of a trip that had many, but there is much more to see and do on this trip led by our good friend and tour leader Victor Romagnoli so let's find out why I call Interlaken the Bollywood of Switzerland.

Read more

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, shares plenty of reasons of why you should travel to Ecuador with Adventures Abroad. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to Ecuador.

Alison and I recently returned from yet another fabulous destination with Adventures Abroad's Experiential Ecuador, the country of Ecuador which despite its relatively small size, has an incredible variety of ecosystems. From the Galapagos Islands to the towering volcanoes of the Andes to the UNESCO World Heritage cities of Quito and Cuenca to the truly staggering diversity of life in Amazonia, Ecuador has more than enough to keep the visitor enthralled for a month or more. Here are my top reasons why Ecuador should be the next place on your must-visit list.

Read more