Peru has been living up to the high expectations which were set in Mancora. After another day of the sunshine city, we jumped on a night bus (and were highly entertained by Spanish Jackie Chan) and headed down to the arid desert of Trujillo. Here it is perpetually hot, getting a mere half an inch of rainfall in the average year, but gets a deluge of rain every 40 years or so called El Niño. The rain is apparently comparable to the flash floods Britain has been getting recently, or so said our guide, and it´s every bit as destructive. Nonetheless, the ruins of the ancient Chimu culture we checked out were being well conserved and were fascinating. We got to see the palace of Chan Chan on the first day, which is an enormous maze-like structure - we would have got very lost without our guide Michael (who originally came from Yardley, so we had a good bit of Brummie chat). From ceramics and textiles found there archeologists have been able to find out a lot about the culture and religion, including a gory penchant for human sacrifice. In the site of El Brujo, the remains of a Moche shrine which we visiting the following day, we were treated to some incredible wall art which depicted the ritual slaughter of teenage girls and slaves which was supposed to appease the rain gods to prevent the onset of El Niño. Apparently the Moche culture (which came after the Chimu) drugged their human offerings with psychedelic drugs so that they haemorraged, thus providing more blood, and hallucinated, thus being unable to distinguish between reality and their induced delirium. Great stuff!
The next day was less bloodthirsty. We got a day bus to a beautiful town called Caraz, which is set amongst the great black mountains of the Cordillera Negra and is a stone´s throw away from the Cordillera Blanca. The journey there was very scenic if longer than we expected. The driver fell off the roof while loading bags onto it, so we had to wait a bum-numbing extra 2 hours on top of a 7 hour journey while a co-driver was found. Still, I think he was alright (if a bit peaky) as he managed to drive us half way there (true hard-core Peruvian style). After an evening of Independence Day festivities in Caraz, the next day was spent trekking around an incredible mountain lake called Lago Paron. I have never seen any natural wonder so beautiful. The water of the lake was bright azure blue and crystal clear, and was set like a gem in the centre of looming snow topped mountains and dazzling white glaciers. The sky was cloudless and pure blue and the air was as fresh as a super fresh daisy. Thanks to a mate de coca (a Peruvian speciality tea meant to help with altitude sickness and made from cocaine leaves - yes, grandma, it´s legal here!) the first 2 hours of walking were a piece of cake. The following 2 hours, however, had us seeing spots, gasping for breath like asthmatic goldfish again and staggering around in state of perpetual bloodrush. It was fun - sort of! Unfortunately that night we had to leave Caraz on the night bus so that we could meet Matt and Pete in Lima. Not having accounted for the Independence Day holidays we couln´t get a bus-cama (sleeper bus) so had an ordeal of a journey on a tiny, freezing, packed, noisy, bumpy bus sat at the back right next to the vomit-inducingly-smelly toilets. It was foul. And there was no Jackie Chan.
Having arrived 2 hours early, woken the guys up at 5am, kipped on their floor and forgone breakfast in order to book bus tickets for the next few days, our one and only day in fog-filled Lima wasn´t the best. We did get to meet Hannah though, who accompanied us for the next leg of our travels, and we found ENGLISH TOFFEE! Real, pedigree, original English Toffee. Well, so the packet said. Anyway, in addition to the camera, credit card, deet and MARMITE the boys brought with them, this eased the pain of the day somewhat. We hotfooted it out of Lima that afternoon to get to Pisco, where we went on a boat trip to the Balletas Islands to see sea lions, penguins, various birds and a national park whose desert landscape was rather reminiscent of being on Mars. Not that we have actually been to Mars, you understand, but it was red, rocky and pretty cool. We entertained ourselves by taking ´space´pictures of us, climbing mountains, staging the death of Matt off a precarious looking cliff edge, and acquainted ourselves properly with Klaus, a lovely Austrian guy who shared a dorm with us and consequently made our group up to a numerous six. Pisco and Paracas, no matter how diverting, were no match for the following day´s activities. The six intrepid explorers journeyed yet further south, braving death by eating suspicious mystery chicken dishes, defying all laws and common sense by squeezing into just one taxi and risking developing nausea through drinking luminescent Inka Kola (it´s bright yellow, tastes like rotten irn-bru, is definitely not cola and was absolutely definitely not drunk by the Incas), and reached the town of Ica. In Ica we drank yet more Inca Kola, found some salty tasting Fanny jam (this is seriously it´s brand name, and it does taste salty), and happened upon some ´Traditional English Cola´ which was red and, again, tasted like off irn-bru. (Fact fans, Peru is the only place in the world where something sells better than Coca Cola, and it is Inca Kola. Makes you wonder. Another fact, in one square metre of Peru you can find more species of ant than in the whole of England...interesting stuff...) From Ica we went to Huacachina. And this is where it got very, very cool. Cooler than Mars (so to speak), cooler than the mountains of Caraz (in terms of fun-factor) but hotter than Brad Pitt eating vindaloo on a hot day (in temperature). Huacachina is an oasis in the middle of some superb desert sand dunes, and we went dune buggying, driving down vertical dune slopes in a pink and yellow dune buggy, and sand-boarding. It was an amazing experience...´supergeil´, as Klaus called it (he was pretty darned good at it, having done a lot of snowboarding in Austria, and with a pretty darned buff body to prove it) or ´awesome´, as we called it. Later Klaus and I climbed to the top of a dune to take pictures of the oasis before running barefooted down again and burying ourselves in the sand, just to make sure it had got into every conceivable crevice and orifice before jumping into the nearest sqimming pool. Awesome :-) !!!
Sadly our next stop in Nazca had a lot to live up to and failed to provide the highs of Huacachina, despite us being up in an airoplane as our main activity. We flew up in a teeeny 6 seater plane to see the Nazca lines, which are various designs etched into the desert floor thought to have been created by the Nazca people and only visible from the air. The lines might have been great, but I wouldn´t really know as I got horribly travel sick and hated every second of the 35 minute flight. I managed to get a couple of pictures of the monkey, condor and astronaut before losing all feeling in my limbs, but the rest of the lines I can only experience vicariously through postcards. A shame, and all in all it wasn´t worth the $50, but Pete, Matt and Klaus loved it. I, however, am NEVER going in a small plane EVER again. That night we got a horrifically hot night bus to Cusco, where we are now, and chilling out for a few days before hitting the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. Hannah has returned to her school, and we have a new adition to the group in the shape of Patrick, a German from Stuttgart. So for the next few days I´m going to soak up the sun by day, freeze by night, and immerse myself in Inca culture while proudly wearing my new alpaca sweater, hat and gloves.
Laters...xxx
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Friday, 20 July 2007
¡Chicos!
Since the wonderful waters of Baños, Ruth and I have spent a bit of time slumming it. Our first endeavour was to trek the Quilotoa loop, which is a trail connecting several tiny villages in the central highlands of rural Ecuador. From the Lonely Planet´s description it sounded pretty darn good; remote indigenous villages where homestays are the norm, treks of only a few hours to get between villages, picturesque mountain scenery complemented by deep canyons and an akaline though magnificent lake formed in a volcanic crater. Obviously, as two girls on a tight budget the homestays would be fine and the trekking would be simple - we are officially Jungle Ruth and Mountain Helen, after all. However, it was problematic. First problem - transport. There were pretty much no buses, and for some unknown reason those buses which did run left at the obscene hour of 3am. This meant we had to hitch some rides with guys who tried to overcharge us ridiculously. Second problem - homestays. While very interesting to see the cultura differences between urban and rural Ecuador, our mediocre spanish prevented easy communication with our hosts. And we got fleas. Or at least we think we did. And still have. Nice. Third problem - treks. The altitude as simply too high after living it up as jungle warriors in the Amazon basin and we spent about two hours staggering up a slight incline gasping for breath like asthmatic goldfish out of water. So yeah. Bit of a disaster really. Despite the fact that we cut our trip from 3 days to 1 and a half, we did get to see some awesome scenery though in Zumbahua, Quilotoa and Chugchilan.
Following our aborted trekking trip, we thought it best to nurse our mosquito and flea bites in Riobamba for a couple of days while waiting to take the infamous Nariz del Diablo (devil´s nose) train from Riobamba to Alausi. I have to say, for a town where ´not much happens´ (Lonely Planet), Riobamba was a good place to chill out for a couple of days. We were transported there in a bus presided over by a huge poster of Jesus (most of them are!), which meandered through mountain tracks, by the side of which the occasional shrine to Mary appeared (they are all over the place - bus stations, roadsides, hotels, swimming pools...these people take their Catholicism seriously). In Riobamba itself we encountered no less than three parades. One, continuing in the religious theme, which was in homage to Mary and Christ, and had dancing, singing, chanting, buses topped with shrines, kids kneeling in prayer, and took a good 30 minutes to pass. Another was something to do with the hospital. And one which we have no idea about. It was colourful. The shoe shiners on the street that we encountered in Quito resurfaced, still pursuing Ruth and I down the street with a plaintive ´por favor´ (even though Ruth was wearing flip flops and I was wearing gold ballet shoes - what on earth did they think they could polish? Our toenails? Honestly!) Other than the parades, Riobamba seemed to have a superfluity of trainers shops, pharmacies and photocopying shops. We are not sure why, but the best theory is that they do a lot of sport, repeatedly injure themselves and have to go to the pharmacy, then have to photocopy the documents to send to the insurance. If they have insurance, that is...hmmmm. There were many singing rubbish trucks (really) which, like the deathly buses of Quito, announced their arrival cheerily with a tune. There were also two impressive snow topped volcanoes in Riobamba. And, of course, the main reason for being there, the train. The train took five hours, zig zagged through mountains, and had to perform a switchback (whereby the train goes forward on one track, then reverses up another track in a ´devil´s nose´ style (?)) to get up a fairly sheer rock face. Ruth and I sat on top of the train :-) Fun!
From Alausi we went straight to beautiful Cuenca, which is a colonial town and utterly gorgeous. Unfortunately we spent very little time there in our hurry to get to Peru, but both of us said we would love to return. The route across the border was an interesting experience. The bus from Cuenca to Machala, then Machala to Huaquillas was uneventful. But getting from Huaquillas (Ecuador) to Tumbes (a mosquito filled hole of a town in Peru) was a pain in the proverbial backside. Firstly we had to get a taxi to the immigration office with the only taxi driver around, who did not have a marked taxi and swore he would only charge us $1. This resulted him recruiting his friend, a plain clothes immigration officer, who insisted on ´helping´us by doing our forms for us, at which point I panicked about not trusting them and demanded to stand in line like everyone else, then I confiscated the taxi driver´s car keys so he couldn´t run off with our stuff. After immigration, we ended up in the taxi again (there were no others!) trying to get to Tumbes to catch our bus to Mancora, when the driver tried to get us to pay $30 for the journey (the guidebook says it should be $5-7), which we managed to get down to $18. And when we arrived in Peru he demanded it in soles (Peruvian currency), not dollars, then drove us to a cash point so I could pay in soles. By this point we knew we could trust the guy, but still knew he was going to rip us off. We thought our troubles were over, but Peruvian buses are an ordeal too! We had to wait half an hour to have seats allotted, then had fingers prints takes, video footage made, *and* had to stop at a checkpoint to have our bags searched!! At least we know we weren´t on a bus with muggers or smugglers. A really annoying experience, but hey, we got here.
Our first stop in Peru is Mancora, Peru´s answer to Ibiza. It´s hot, sunny, sandy, full of backpackers, surfers and westerners, and jam-packed with mototaxis and seafood. Loverrly. Today we chilled on the beach, tonight we´re going out (a novelty as it´s the first place safe enough for us to go out on our own at night) and I am loving it. I´m a little sad to leave Ecuador, land of singing rubbish trucks, but very excited about Peru...more to come soon!
Hasta luego xxxx
Since the wonderful waters of Baños, Ruth and I have spent a bit of time slumming it. Our first endeavour was to trek the Quilotoa loop, which is a trail connecting several tiny villages in the central highlands of rural Ecuador. From the Lonely Planet´s description it sounded pretty darn good; remote indigenous villages where homestays are the norm, treks of only a few hours to get between villages, picturesque mountain scenery complemented by deep canyons and an akaline though magnificent lake formed in a volcanic crater. Obviously, as two girls on a tight budget the homestays would be fine and the trekking would be simple - we are officially Jungle Ruth and Mountain Helen, after all. However, it was problematic. First problem - transport. There were pretty much no buses, and for some unknown reason those buses which did run left at the obscene hour of 3am. This meant we had to hitch some rides with guys who tried to overcharge us ridiculously. Second problem - homestays. While very interesting to see the cultura differences between urban and rural Ecuador, our mediocre spanish prevented easy communication with our hosts. And we got fleas. Or at least we think we did. And still have. Nice. Third problem - treks. The altitude as simply too high after living it up as jungle warriors in the Amazon basin and we spent about two hours staggering up a slight incline gasping for breath like asthmatic goldfish out of water. So yeah. Bit of a disaster really. Despite the fact that we cut our trip from 3 days to 1 and a half, we did get to see some awesome scenery though in Zumbahua, Quilotoa and Chugchilan.
Following our aborted trekking trip, we thought it best to nurse our mosquito and flea bites in Riobamba for a couple of days while waiting to take the infamous Nariz del Diablo (devil´s nose) train from Riobamba to Alausi. I have to say, for a town where ´not much happens´ (Lonely Planet), Riobamba was a good place to chill out for a couple of days. We were transported there in a bus presided over by a huge poster of Jesus (most of them are!), which meandered through mountain tracks, by the side of which the occasional shrine to Mary appeared (they are all over the place - bus stations, roadsides, hotels, swimming pools...these people take their Catholicism seriously). In Riobamba itself we encountered no less than three parades. One, continuing in the religious theme, which was in homage to Mary and Christ, and had dancing, singing, chanting, buses topped with shrines, kids kneeling in prayer, and took a good 30 minutes to pass. Another was something to do with the hospital. And one which we have no idea about. It was colourful. The shoe shiners on the street that we encountered in Quito resurfaced, still pursuing Ruth and I down the street with a plaintive ´por favor´ (even though Ruth was wearing flip flops and I was wearing gold ballet shoes - what on earth did they think they could polish? Our toenails? Honestly!) Other than the parades, Riobamba seemed to have a superfluity of trainers shops, pharmacies and photocopying shops. We are not sure why, but the best theory is that they do a lot of sport, repeatedly injure themselves and have to go to the pharmacy, then have to photocopy the documents to send to the insurance. If they have insurance, that is...hmmmm. There were many singing rubbish trucks (really) which, like the deathly buses of Quito, announced their arrival cheerily with a tune. There were also two impressive snow topped volcanoes in Riobamba. And, of course, the main reason for being there, the train. The train took five hours, zig zagged through mountains, and had to perform a switchback (whereby the train goes forward on one track, then reverses up another track in a ´devil´s nose´ style (?)) to get up a fairly sheer rock face. Ruth and I sat on top of the train :-) Fun!
From Alausi we went straight to beautiful Cuenca, which is a colonial town and utterly gorgeous. Unfortunately we spent very little time there in our hurry to get to Peru, but both of us said we would love to return. The route across the border was an interesting experience. The bus from Cuenca to Machala, then Machala to Huaquillas was uneventful. But getting from Huaquillas (Ecuador) to Tumbes (a mosquito filled hole of a town in Peru) was a pain in the proverbial backside. Firstly we had to get a taxi to the immigration office with the only taxi driver around, who did not have a marked taxi and swore he would only charge us $1. This resulted him recruiting his friend, a plain clothes immigration officer, who insisted on ´helping´us by doing our forms for us, at which point I panicked about not trusting them and demanded to stand in line like everyone else, then I confiscated the taxi driver´s car keys so he couldn´t run off with our stuff. After immigration, we ended up in the taxi again (there were no others!) trying to get to Tumbes to catch our bus to Mancora, when the driver tried to get us to pay $30 for the journey (the guidebook says it should be $5-7), which we managed to get down to $18. And when we arrived in Peru he demanded it in soles (Peruvian currency), not dollars, then drove us to a cash point so I could pay in soles. By this point we knew we could trust the guy, but still knew he was going to rip us off. We thought our troubles were over, but Peruvian buses are an ordeal too! We had to wait half an hour to have seats allotted, then had fingers prints takes, video footage made, *and* had to stop at a checkpoint to have our bags searched!! At least we know we weren´t on a bus with muggers or smugglers. A really annoying experience, but hey, we got here.
Our first stop in Peru is Mancora, Peru´s answer to Ibiza. It´s hot, sunny, sandy, full of backpackers, surfers and westerners, and jam-packed with mototaxis and seafood. Loverrly. Today we chilled on the beach, tonight we´re going out (a novelty as it´s the first place safe enough for us to go out on our own at night) and I am loving it. I´m a little sad to leave Ecuador, land of singing rubbish trucks, but very excited about Peru...more to come soon!
Hasta luego xxxx
Friday, 13 July 2007
Hey hey,
As predicted, Mitad del Mundo was a knockout experience. The northern and southern hemisphere collided dramatically, marked out by a line painted on the gound in a theme park style get-up with a massive monument of the world right in the centre. We soaked in the party atmosphere while drinking cervezas (beers) and listening to a 9 piece salsa band on the Mitad del Mundo central stage. We just about caught the quick sunset too before we got on the 90 minute long bus ride (which costed a measly 40p) back to Quito.
Our last morning in Quito before heading down to Tena was equally dramatic, but for totally different reasons. After an early morning salsa lesson (still the Meaning of Life), we chanced upon a procession in town rather like the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. There were soldiers everywhere, a brass band which included saxophones and some large circely instruments I didn´t recognise, and an appearance from Ecuadorian President Rafael Carea himself. Pretty exciting for a Monday morning. But, to add to the dramatic procession and a dramatic church I visited where the entire interior was gold (seriously, 17 tonnes of the stuff!), I had a wonderful and dramatic experience with an Ecuadorian man. Quite often, being white, blonde and western, Ruth and I get people staring at us, saying ´hi´, ´hello´or ´hey baby´, or whatever English they know (sometimes it´s quite rude!). This particular man, however, walked up to me, took my arm, and said in a delightful manner, ´Luke, I am you father´. How hilarious is that!? Hahaha.
Anyways, Quito behind us, we took a rather rickety 7 hour bus journey on chillingly precarious mountain roads down to the depths of Tena. Here we booked a jungle tour which started the following morning and was for three days. And. It. Was. Awesome. Utterly awesome. And I am proud to say I have emerged alive, if ravished by millions of mosquitos (40 plus bites on my legs alone!), and have honed some valuable skills to assist me in my piratical mission to captain the seven seas. The lodge we stayed in for the first 2 days consisted of wood cabinas built on different levels right atop a cliff overtowering the Rio and Napo rivers. Just looking down made me feel very Indiana Jones, but the first morning´s activity almost convinced me I had accidentally fallen into an adventure film. We trekked through the rainforest, were taught by our guide, Alex, about medicinal plants and materials used by indigenous Quechua tribes, encountered yellow spiders with spines and shimmied around poisonous snakes. We made crowns from jungle plants, were given ´earrings´ (really just spirally tendrils which stayed on your ears) by Alex and ate lemon ants (yes, I really ate ants and they really tasted like lemon :-) ). We also did some canyoning, which involves using your hands and bum and legs to lever yourself up between tiny rock crevices. Very exhilirating. And I think there might be some truth in karma, as I ripped my trousers, probably in payback for setting fire to Ruth´s pjs :-S
That afternoon we went swimming in the river and panned for gold. We posed for a few photos in the style of a Herbal Essences advert (for this is exactly the kind of setting we were in). The following day involved a trek through torrential rain to an indigenous community and a hair-raisingly scary boat trip back across the swolen river to the lodge (Alex crossed himself and looked skywards before rowing us across a phenomenal current). I tried some traditional foods such as chicha, a drink made from yuka, and boiled plantain, and I had my face painted warrior-style with the juice from a flower´s seeds. In the afternoon we went tubing (drifting down the river in big inner tubes) and the high water made for some great white water fun. All memorable experiences, but one thing I will never forget was the sky on the first night. Without any light pollution at all, I was shocked at how many stars there are in the sky that we don´t usually see. The milky way was clearly visible, the plough was the wrong way up (because of being in a different hemisphere) and stars actually twinkle!!! I spent at least 2 hours just marvelling at the twinkling little lights in the velvety black sky, singing ´twinkle twinkle little star´ to myself in a hammock. Stunning!
The last day involved a change of scenery as we went to a rustic family owned lodge 40 minutes away. Riding in the back of a truck, Ruth and I got a pretty bumpy ride there, but it was worth it. There were dogs and kids running all over the place, 2 parrots who chose not to imitate words but the screaming cries of the 2 month old baby. The two of them squarking in unison was hysterical. That morning we went on another trek, I ripped my trousers and lost all the remaining dignity I had, we climbed up vertical waterfalls (honestly) and descended the rainforest slopes in a the manner of a Tarzan-esque ´controlled fall´, swinging between trees and gripping onto roots for dear life. The afternoon was spent at a laguna, posing for more orgasmic Herbal Essences photos, jumping off rocks 10 feet above the water and sliding down fast-moving waterfalls on our bums. We have video footage to prove it. Oh, yes :-) Yesterday evening we went out in Tena with Alex (the guide), drank more cervezas and piratey cocktails and had 2 hours sleep before catching the 6am bus to Baños, which is where my fabulously exciting tale is being penned (or typed, to be more accurate). I´ve spent most of today in the naturally occurring hot volcanic mineral baths after which the town was named. I showered under another waterfall, and slept, and wandered around a bit. And now I am just about to finish this entry and have some dinner. Lovely.
xxxxxxxxx
As predicted, Mitad del Mundo was a knockout experience. The northern and southern hemisphere collided dramatically, marked out by a line painted on the gound in a theme park style get-up with a massive monument of the world right in the centre. We soaked in the party atmosphere while drinking cervezas (beers) and listening to a 9 piece salsa band on the Mitad del Mundo central stage. We just about caught the quick sunset too before we got on the 90 minute long bus ride (which costed a measly 40p) back to Quito.
Our last morning in Quito before heading down to Tena was equally dramatic, but for totally different reasons. After an early morning salsa lesson (still the Meaning of Life), we chanced upon a procession in town rather like the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. There were soldiers everywhere, a brass band which included saxophones and some large circely instruments I didn´t recognise, and an appearance from Ecuadorian President Rafael Carea himself. Pretty exciting for a Monday morning. But, to add to the dramatic procession and a dramatic church I visited where the entire interior was gold (seriously, 17 tonnes of the stuff!), I had a wonderful and dramatic experience with an Ecuadorian man. Quite often, being white, blonde and western, Ruth and I get people staring at us, saying ´hi´, ´hello´or ´hey baby´, or whatever English they know (sometimes it´s quite rude!). This particular man, however, walked up to me, took my arm, and said in a delightful manner, ´Luke, I am you father´. How hilarious is that!? Hahaha.
Anyways, Quito behind us, we took a rather rickety 7 hour bus journey on chillingly precarious mountain roads down to the depths of Tena. Here we booked a jungle tour which started the following morning and was for three days. And. It. Was. Awesome. Utterly awesome. And I am proud to say I have emerged alive, if ravished by millions of mosquitos (40 plus bites on my legs alone!), and have honed some valuable skills to assist me in my piratical mission to captain the seven seas. The lodge we stayed in for the first 2 days consisted of wood cabinas built on different levels right atop a cliff overtowering the Rio and Napo rivers. Just looking down made me feel very Indiana Jones, but the first morning´s activity almost convinced me I had accidentally fallen into an adventure film. We trekked through the rainforest, were taught by our guide, Alex, about medicinal plants and materials used by indigenous Quechua tribes, encountered yellow spiders with spines and shimmied around poisonous snakes. We made crowns from jungle plants, were given ´earrings´ (really just spirally tendrils which stayed on your ears) by Alex and ate lemon ants (yes, I really ate ants and they really tasted like lemon :-) ). We also did some canyoning, which involves using your hands and bum and legs to lever yourself up between tiny rock crevices. Very exhilirating. And I think there might be some truth in karma, as I ripped my trousers, probably in payback for setting fire to Ruth´s pjs :-S
That afternoon we went swimming in the river and panned for gold. We posed for a few photos in the style of a Herbal Essences advert (for this is exactly the kind of setting we were in). The following day involved a trek through torrential rain to an indigenous community and a hair-raisingly scary boat trip back across the swolen river to the lodge (Alex crossed himself and looked skywards before rowing us across a phenomenal current). I tried some traditional foods such as chicha, a drink made from yuka, and boiled plantain, and I had my face painted warrior-style with the juice from a flower´s seeds. In the afternoon we went tubing (drifting down the river in big inner tubes) and the high water made for some great white water fun. All memorable experiences, but one thing I will never forget was the sky on the first night. Without any light pollution at all, I was shocked at how many stars there are in the sky that we don´t usually see. The milky way was clearly visible, the plough was the wrong way up (because of being in a different hemisphere) and stars actually twinkle!!! I spent at least 2 hours just marvelling at the twinkling little lights in the velvety black sky, singing ´twinkle twinkle little star´ to myself in a hammock. Stunning!
The last day involved a change of scenery as we went to a rustic family owned lodge 40 minutes away. Riding in the back of a truck, Ruth and I got a pretty bumpy ride there, but it was worth it. There were dogs and kids running all over the place, 2 parrots who chose not to imitate words but the screaming cries of the 2 month old baby. The two of them squarking in unison was hysterical. That morning we went on another trek, I ripped my trousers and lost all the remaining dignity I had, we climbed up vertical waterfalls (honestly) and descended the rainforest slopes in a the manner of a Tarzan-esque ´controlled fall´, swinging between trees and gripping onto roots for dear life. The afternoon was spent at a laguna, posing for more orgasmic Herbal Essences photos, jumping off rocks 10 feet above the water and sliding down fast-moving waterfalls on our bums. We have video footage to prove it. Oh, yes :-) Yesterday evening we went out in Tena with Alex (the guide), drank more cervezas and piratey cocktails and had 2 hours sleep before catching the 6am bus to Baños, which is where my fabulously exciting tale is being penned (or typed, to be more accurate). I´ve spent most of today in the naturally occurring hot volcanic mineral baths after which the town was named. I showered under another waterfall, and slept, and wandered around a bit. And now I am just about to finish this entry and have some dinner. Lovely.
xxxxxxxxx
Saturday, 7 July 2007
¡Hola mis amigos!
I have arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and it is amazing! The journey here was fairly eventful, involving sitting next to an Israeli tour guide called Moshe for a 12 hour flight, who advised me of Peru´s unmissable sights, and befriending a rather befuddled and flustered American named Paul who had lost his group and spoke no Spanish. Paul and I wiled away 8 freezing night-time hours in Quito airport while I waited for Ruth´s flight to arrive and he waited for the phone booths to open. I bought him hot chocolate with my scanty Spanish and he made me a wire sculpture of a dragon fly in return. What a story, huh?! The best bit of the journey, however, came just as I was flying into Lima airport. It was 5.30 pm and suddenly the massive red rock tips of the Andes loomed up above the clouds, every fold and crevice of their magnificent mass catching the late afternoon sun. I am really looking forward to seeing them properly in a couple of weeks when we head down to Peru.
But for now, back to Ecuador. The Ecuadoian Andes may not be as stunning as the Peruvian, but Quiot is AMAZING! The city itself is comprised of a colonial old town and bustling new town nestled in amongst the Andes and three volcanoes. The people are exceptionally friendly and the food is great. It tends to revolve around chicken and rice, but there have been some interesting surprises, such as chicken feet in soup, cheese and banana toasties and fried green banana salted crisps. Surprisingly tasty actually, in case you were wondering :-) We chose to splash out a bit for the first few days while we acclimatise and recover from jet lag. We are staying in a hotel in the old town called the hotel San Francisco de Quito. It has a jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, lovely rooms, internet access, and the best eggs i have tasted in a long while for breakfast. And all for the equivalent of 7.50 a night. Bargain! We are using it as a base until Monday, and have so far seen the various cathedrals of Quito, heard the marching band which only seems to play in the middle of the night, had near death experiences with the buses which only signal their lethal proximity at the last second with a siren resembling a curious blend of ´Three Blind Mice´ and ´Blind Date´, been to the Plaza Grande, and seen the Virgin on the Panecilla (a statue of Mary with eagle wings, a crown of stars, standing on a globe which is chained to a dragon, as you do, and all atop a mountain which translates as ´the bread roll´). We also headed up Quito´s answer to Notre Dame - possibly the deadliest overhead view of Quito to be braved. The gothic basilica cathedral is decorated with, not gargoyles or saints, but, wait for it...iguanas and tortoises. Despite this amusing Latino architectural twist, we still felt rather Quasimodo-ish as we clambered through the eaves of the cathedral on a rickety wooden causeway, and climbed the vertical steel ladders to the top of the bell towers. The view was stunning. The Cotopaxi volcano shone bright white in the distance, framed by the mountains and slopes on which the outskirts of Quito are built. As a little gift to celebrate our safe return to firm ground, the entrance guide made us friendship braclets from what he assured us was marijuana (otherwise known as hemp). Other highlights have been the weather - gorgeous, but then we are on the equator pretty much - seeing shoe shiners on the streets of Ecuador, and salsa dancing. And, after very little consideration or reflection, I can declare confidently that Salsa is the Meaning of Life. Fact.
Apart from sightseeing in Quito, there have been a couple of other exciting stories to report. Yesterday saw our first small disaster in the form of me setting fire to Ruth´s pj bottoms. It was an accident, honestly, and it is only mildly possible that the alcoholic blackberry smoothie I drank caused this rather tragic occurrence. It really wasn´t my fault that Ruth left her trousers in the lamp and told me to leave the light on, and it wasn´t really my fault that we had a small fire to deal with and the smell of burnt toast to inhale all night. Obviously Ruth will propagate the story in the fashion of ´Helen was blind drunk and set fire to my trousers in a fit of inebriated rage´. But you know it isn´t true. You heard it here first.
Today brought the second disatser of the trip, in that my camera and purse were stolen. They were in my bag when we were on a bus to a town to the north of Quito called Otavalo. They must have been taken by an extremely skilled thief as we were being careful - but obviously not careful enough! Fortunately there were only 20 dollars in the purse and the camera can be claimed for on the insurance. Still, a lesson learned the hard way, unfortunately. I am not even cross at losing possessions, as the people here really are significantly worse off than us Brits. I am more annoyed that I feel I have now lost trust and confidence in the people, who have otherwise been absolutely wonderful. Even so, I tried not to let it ruin my day in the massive indiginous markets of Otavalo. We saw some intricately made crafts and indiginous vendors in traditional clothes, and even had to stop the bus on the way to let past a group of marching indiginous tribes people who were protesting to save their territory. I bought some lovely stuff, and the end of today saw Ruth and I honing our somewhat inept Spanish skills at the Police Station when reporting the theft. Up until today we had only managed to perfect our Spanish swear words and Catherine Tate impressions ( - am I bovvered? Look at my face. Do I look bovvered? Bovvered - ¡estoy molestardo? regarde mi cara...etc.) but now we are fluent in criminal language of a different and more acceptable kind :-) Hopefully tomorrow won´t bring any more mishaps. We are going to see the Equator. The Ecuadorians call it the Mitad del Munde, the middle of the earth, but I shall affectionately bestow it the Tolkien title of Middle Earth, and tomorrow I shall knock myself out with the excitement of hopping between hemispheres.
All for now - love as ever...
I have arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and it is amazing! The journey here was fairly eventful, involving sitting next to an Israeli tour guide called Moshe for a 12 hour flight, who advised me of Peru´s unmissable sights, and befriending a rather befuddled and flustered American named Paul who had lost his group and spoke no Spanish. Paul and I wiled away 8 freezing night-time hours in Quito airport while I waited for Ruth´s flight to arrive and he waited for the phone booths to open. I bought him hot chocolate with my scanty Spanish and he made me a wire sculpture of a dragon fly in return. What a story, huh?! The best bit of the journey, however, came just as I was flying into Lima airport. It was 5.30 pm and suddenly the massive red rock tips of the Andes loomed up above the clouds, every fold and crevice of their magnificent mass catching the late afternoon sun. I am really looking forward to seeing them properly in a couple of weeks when we head down to Peru.
But for now, back to Ecuador. The Ecuadoian Andes may not be as stunning as the Peruvian, but Quiot is AMAZING! The city itself is comprised of a colonial old town and bustling new town nestled in amongst the Andes and three volcanoes. The people are exceptionally friendly and the food is great. It tends to revolve around chicken and rice, but there have been some interesting surprises, such as chicken feet in soup, cheese and banana toasties and fried green banana salted crisps. Surprisingly tasty actually, in case you were wondering :-) We chose to splash out a bit for the first few days while we acclimatise and recover from jet lag. We are staying in a hotel in the old town called the hotel San Francisco de Quito. It has a jacuzzi, steam room, sauna, lovely rooms, internet access, and the best eggs i have tasted in a long while for breakfast. And all for the equivalent of 7.50 a night. Bargain! We are using it as a base until Monday, and have so far seen the various cathedrals of Quito, heard the marching band which only seems to play in the middle of the night, had near death experiences with the buses which only signal their lethal proximity at the last second with a siren resembling a curious blend of ´Three Blind Mice´ and ´Blind Date´, been to the Plaza Grande, and seen the Virgin on the Panecilla (a statue of Mary with eagle wings, a crown of stars, standing on a globe which is chained to a dragon, as you do, and all atop a mountain which translates as ´the bread roll´). We also headed up Quito´s answer to Notre Dame - possibly the deadliest overhead view of Quito to be braved. The gothic basilica cathedral is decorated with, not gargoyles or saints, but, wait for it...iguanas and tortoises. Despite this amusing Latino architectural twist, we still felt rather Quasimodo-ish as we clambered through the eaves of the cathedral on a rickety wooden causeway, and climbed the vertical steel ladders to the top of the bell towers. The view was stunning. The Cotopaxi volcano shone bright white in the distance, framed by the mountains and slopes on which the outskirts of Quito are built. As a little gift to celebrate our safe return to firm ground, the entrance guide made us friendship braclets from what he assured us was marijuana (otherwise known as hemp). Other highlights have been the weather - gorgeous, but then we are on the equator pretty much - seeing shoe shiners on the streets of Ecuador, and salsa dancing. And, after very little consideration or reflection, I can declare confidently that Salsa is the Meaning of Life. Fact.
Apart from sightseeing in Quito, there have been a couple of other exciting stories to report. Yesterday saw our first small disaster in the form of me setting fire to Ruth´s pj bottoms. It was an accident, honestly, and it is only mildly possible that the alcoholic blackberry smoothie I drank caused this rather tragic occurrence. It really wasn´t my fault that Ruth left her trousers in the lamp and told me to leave the light on, and it wasn´t really my fault that we had a small fire to deal with and the smell of burnt toast to inhale all night. Obviously Ruth will propagate the story in the fashion of ´Helen was blind drunk and set fire to my trousers in a fit of inebriated rage´. But you know it isn´t true. You heard it here first.
Today brought the second disatser of the trip, in that my camera and purse were stolen. They were in my bag when we were on a bus to a town to the north of Quito called Otavalo. They must have been taken by an extremely skilled thief as we were being careful - but obviously not careful enough! Fortunately there were only 20 dollars in the purse and the camera can be claimed for on the insurance. Still, a lesson learned the hard way, unfortunately. I am not even cross at losing possessions, as the people here really are significantly worse off than us Brits. I am more annoyed that I feel I have now lost trust and confidence in the people, who have otherwise been absolutely wonderful. Even so, I tried not to let it ruin my day in the massive indiginous markets of Otavalo. We saw some intricately made crafts and indiginous vendors in traditional clothes, and even had to stop the bus on the way to let past a group of marching indiginous tribes people who were protesting to save their territory. I bought some lovely stuff, and the end of today saw Ruth and I honing our somewhat inept Spanish skills at the Police Station when reporting the theft. Up until today we had only managed to perfect our Spanish swear words and Catherine Tate impressions ( - am I bovvered? Look at my face. Do I look bovvered? Bovvered - ¡estoy molestardo? regarde mi cara...etc.) but now we are fluent in criminal language of a different and more acceptable kind :-) Hopefully tomorrow won´t bring any more mishaps. We are going to see the Equator. The Ecuadorians call it the Mitad del Munde, the middle of the earth, but I shall affectionately bestow it the Tolkien title of Middle Earth, and tomorrow I shall knock myself out with the excitement of hopping between hemispheres.
All for now - love as ever...
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Getting set to jet across the ocean blue
To all my lovely friends and family (and any other randomers who wish to read),
Finals came and went, graduation has been and gone, and now, with memories of Girton already dwindling into the vaguery of nostalgia, I am just about to set off on yet another gap year. Having sent and received endless travel emails in the past (endless in frequency and length!), largely filled with inane anecdotes few care to read, I decided this time to write a blog. It may also be filled with endless inanity, but you can at least choose to log in when you wish, if you wish (or not, as the case may be), to keep a track on me and my travels and keep in touch...
...I am officially ready to go. The tickets are booked, the travel guides bought, I have hassled the post office for travellers' cheques and dollars three times, and I have endured multiple jabs for various diseases and have attained superwoman status (well, maybe not superwoman, but as I can no longer get typhoid, hepatitis A or B and maybe C, and will not become rabid or yellow with fever, I figure I am as near to invincibility as I'll ever get). I have more or less everything I need. Probably more, in fact. I say this as I am still currently surrounded by an assortment of odd-looking contraptions (such as my beautiful red 'spork' [a spoon, knife and fork in one multi-purpose piece of plastic - snazzy!]) which I have not yet managed to fit into my annoyingly unexpandable 70 litre rucksack. Once I have resumed and won the fight against the bag, however (while continuing the ongoing fight against anti-malerial-tablet-induced-nausea), I will be properly ready to get set to jet and sail the seven seas.
Tomorrow I fly to Ecuador, where I will spend two weeks salsa-ing around with Ruth before heading into Peru. After meeting Matt and Pete on 26th in Lima (Peru's capital), Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uraguay and Chile are on the itinerary. After this, Pete and I will carry on to New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Fun, fun! I'm a little bit scared, quite sad to leave family and friends for so long, but very excited! If it all goes to plan, in a year's time I will come back suntanned, proficient in Spanish and ready to kickstart my career in consulting with Deloitte. If I do not return, however, it is probably because I will have become pirate somewhere off the coast off Australia and will be pursuing my mission for world domination through various piratical endeavours. I will let you know if this is the case and send you pictures of me in a hammock with rum.
I think I'd better go and battle the bag again...but watch this space for more news soon - and do email/post in response. Emails make me happy :-)
Lots of love to all...
Finals came and went, graduation has been and gone, and now, with memories of Girton already dwindling into the vaguery of nostalgia, I am just about to set off on yet another gap year. Having sent and received endless travel emails in the past (endless in frequency and length!), largely filled with inane anecdotes few care to read, I decided this time to write a blog. It may also be filled with endless inanity, but you can at least choose to log in when you wish, if you wish (or not, as the case may be), to keep a track on me and my travels and keep in touch...
...I am officially ready to go. The tickets are booked, the travel guides bought, I have hassled the post office for travellers' cheques and dollars three times, and I have endured multiple jabs for various diseases and have attained superwoman status (well, maybe not superwoman, but as I can no longer get typhoid, hepatitis A or B and maybe C, and will not become rabid or yellow with fever, I figure I am as near to invincibility as I'll ever get). I have more or less everything I need. Probably more, in fact. I say this as I am still currently surrounded by an assortment of odd-looking contraptions (such as my beautiful red 'spork' [a spoon, knife and fork in one multi-purpose piece of plastic - snazzy!]) which I have not yet managed to fit into my annoyingly unexpandable 70 litre rucksack. Once I have resumed and won the fight against the bag, however (while continuing the ongoing fight against anti-malerial-tablet-induced-nausea), I will be properly ready to get set to jet and sail the seven seas.
Tomorrow I fly to Ecuador, where I will spend two weeks salsa-ing around with Ruth before heading into Peru. After meeting Matt and Pete on 26th in Lima (Peru's capital), Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uraguay and Chile are on the itinerary. After this, Pete and I will carry on to New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Fun, fun! I'm a little bit scared, quite sad to leave family and friends for so long, but very excited! If it all goes to plan, in a year's time I will come back suntanned, proficient in Spanish and ready to kickstart my career in consulting with Deloitte. If I do not return, however, it is probably because I will have become pirate somewhere off the coast off Australia and will be pursuing my mission for world domination through various piratical endeavours. I will let you know if this is the case and send you pictures of me in a hammock with rum.
I think I'd better go and battle the bag again...but watch this space for more news soon - and do email/post in response. Emails make me happy :-)
Lots of love to all...
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