We arrived in Melbourne, Australia one week ago and have been busy looking for work and a place to rent. As the subtitle suggest this is the end of the travelling. Thanks to all that followed the story I hope you enjoyed it. We certainly has a fab time doing it.
I'm still waaaaay behind with the photo uploads. Managed to do a few while back in the UK and will definitely finish uploading the travel photo highlights. Keep checking out the Flickr page.
Louise and Stuart
Friday, 12 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Saturday, 16 May 2009
In Transit
On the first live blog post in ages I can tell you we are sitting in Miami airport waiting for a flight connection back to the UK. We spent last night in Belize City before catching a flight to Miami this morning.
As you will see there are a bunch of posts that takes the blog right up to date, finally! The first of the new ones is Inca Country. Hopefully they came through in the correct order.
As you will see there are a bunch of posts that takes the blog right up to date, finally! The first of the new ones is Inca Country. Hopefully they came through in the correct order.
Friday, 15 May 2009
You Betta Belize It
Placencia, although connected to the mainland, has the look and feel of a tropical island paradise - white sandy beaches, blue sea and palm trees. Does anything say paradise like a palm tree? The town has two streets, well one road and a footpath, lined by colourfully characterful wooden houses. It's hot and humid, but things are kept relaxed by a welcome sea breeze, and this place is relaxed to the max. This place is sooo laid back opening times are merely a suggestion.
There are dive operators here running trips out to the reef and other activities like manatee and whale shark dives. The whale shark dive is very tempting, but don't start for two days. It's coming up for a full moon which is a good time to see them here this time of year, but the best chance is in five days, two days after the full moon. We think about staying, but want to head north to spend a week on Caye Caulker. In the end we are happy to stay for two nights not doing very much and stick to the plan vowing that one day we'll see them possibly even from up north.
Early starts are a feature of travelling in Central America and leaving Placencia is no exception. We are taking the 5:50am bus north to Belize City. It's good to get on the road early when there is a travel day ahead. You never know what may happen and if that is nothing then there is more time to relax once there. The bus travels up the spit towards Dangriga where we must change. Except we meet the B.C. bus leaving town and switch on the road side. Remember what I said about connections happening. The new bus driver is a nutter! He drives the fastest yet, which is fine until it starts to pound with rain and he doesn't ease up. There is a near miss while attempting to overtake and we know it's crazy when even the locals look nervous. One woman shouts "Mr bus driver man, please slow down. You ain't in no hurry". The driver is heedless. We do make it to Belize City without further incident where we walk to the water taxi terminal catching the noon ride to Caye Caulker.
A member of a chain of islands running parallel to the mainland coast inside the barrier reef, small Caye Caulker is a much anticipated tropical island destination. Sadly we are disappointed! We get a nice condo with kitchen, but the supermarkets are badly stocked, especially for the price. Our first dives, to the Turneffe Atol, are unimpressive, as is the dive operation - Frenchies. Their attitude appears disinterested and the divemasters obviously think they are far cooler than we do. We begin to wish we had stayed in Placencia.
Thankfully, after a bumpy start, Caye Caulker grows on us and we fall for it's charms. The palm trees, blue seas, sandy lanes, golf carts and bicycles. The local dialect sings caribbean, it's english but not as we know it. We sus the food shopping. We do more diving with a different outfit to the famous Blue Hole. The dive is deep and pretty dark, but the limestone stalectites are awesome. The Caribbean and grey reef sharks top it off! The other two dives at lighthouse reef are good too, we see dolphins above us. A first for us. We do a great trip snorkelling the local barrier reef seeing plenty of life including Nurse Sharks and stingrays. We wanted to see Manatees, but no sign. There wasn't enough people to run a trip to the reserve at Swallow Caye as things are a bit slow on the Caye right now. Well things are always slow here, in fact a plaque on arrival instructs you to 'Go Slow', but with the season ending and the world economic situation things are slooow. Nevermind, another time.
By the end of our week here we don't want to leave, but this is the end of the travelling. The finale. It's a strange feeling. Like the end of the summer holidays, seemingly endless and suddenly it's school tomorrow. Ok, so our adventure isn't really over as a new life in Australia awaits, but the month of travelling in Central America has been amazing and leaves us wanting more. We would come back and there are still new countries to visit. Until next time...
There are dive operators here running trips out to the reef and other activities like manatee and whale shark dives. The whale shark dive is very tempting, but don't start for two days. It's coming up for a full moon which is a good time to see them here this time of year, but the best chance is in five days, two days after the full moon. We think about staying, but want to head north to spend a week on Caye Caulker. In the end we are happy to stay for two nights not doing very much and stick to the plan vowing that one day we'll see them possibly even from up north.
Early starts are a feature of travelling in Central America and leaving Placencia is no exception. We are taking the 5:50am bus north to Belize City. It's good to get on the road early when there is a travel day ahead. You never know what may happen and if that is nothing then there is more time to relax once there. The bus travels up the spit towards Dangriga where we must change. Except we meet the B.C. bus leaving town and switch on the road side. Remember what I said about connections happening. The new bus driver is a nutter! He drives the fastest yet, which is fine until it starts to pound with rain and he doesn't ease up. There is a near miss while attempting to overtake and we know it's crazy when even the locals look nervous. One woman shouts "Mr bus driver man, please slow down. You ain't in no hurry". The driver is heedless. We do make it to Belize City without further incident where we walk to the water taxi terminal catching the noon ride to Caye Caulker.
A member of a chain of islands running parallel to the mainland coast inside the barrier reef, small Caye Caulker is a much anticipated tropical island destination. Sadly we are disappointed! We get a nice condo with kitchen, but the supermarkets are badly stocked, especially for the price. Our first dives, to the Turneffe Atol, are unimpressive, as is the dive operation - Frenchies. Their attitude appears disinterested and the divemasters obviously think they are far cooler than we do. We begin to wish we had stayed in Placencia.
Thankfully, after a bumpy start, Caye Caulker grows on us and we fall for it's charms. The palm trees, blue seas, sandy lanes, golf carts and bicycles. The local dialect sings caribbean, it's english but not as we know it. We sus the food shopping. We do more diving with a different outfit to the famous Blue Hole. The dive is deep and pretty dark, but the limestone stalectites are awesome. The Caribbean and grey reef sharks top it off! The other two dives at lighthouse reef are good too, we see dolphins above us. A first for us. We do a great trip snorkelling the local barrier reef seeing plenty of life including Nurse Sharks and stingrays. We wanted to see Manatees, but no sign. There wasn't enough people to run a trip to the reserve at Swallow Caye as things are a bit slow on the Caye right now. Well things are always slow here, in fact a plaque on arrival instructs you to 'Go Slow', but with the season ending and the world economic situation things are slooow. Nevermind, another time.
By the end of our week here we don't want to leave, but this is the end of the travelling. The finale. It's a strange feeling. Like the end of the summer holidays, seemingly endless and suddenly it's school tomorrow. Ok, so our adventure isn't really over as a new life in Australia awaits, but the month of travelling in Central America has been amazing and leaves us wanting more. We would come back and there are still new countries to visit. Until next time...
Three Country Hop
We leave Roatan on the early ferry to La Ceiba and get a taxi to the bus station. We arrive at the bus station just after our bus has left. The taxi driver speaks to a bus employee who calls the bus. The taxi driver then drives us to the bus just on the edge of town. That's the thing about Central America, connections happen. The bus is going to San Pedro, one of Honduras's biggest cities. From there we get a micro bus to the port town of Puerto Cortes. It's a packed bus and just outside the town at a police checkpoint the guys on the bus are scanned for firearms. Apparently women don't carry guns!!
We find a basic, but fine, hotel and take the air con this time. It's acceptabley only a few bucks more. We are here to catch the tuesday ferry to Belize early the next day. Thing is there doesn't appear to be a ferry on a tuesday anymore, as the guidebook suggests. There is however a bloke with a pick-up. He offers, for a fee, to take us to Puerto Barrio in Guatemala to catch the ferry there. The crossing there is shorter and cheaper, and we could get there by bus for cheaper than the bloke, just not in time for the crossing today. He does say it's free if we don't make it. Thus we take the offer beginning our most epic journey.
Speeding towards the Guatemala border in the back of a pick-up we can't help wonder if we've been had. The guy said some things that we didn't completely belive, but if the truth is he's just a bloke with a truck who has seen an opportunity to make some dollars then you have to appreciate that. Anyway the journey is pretty cool experience. Just outside Puerto Cortes we pick up another person.
We clear border control easily, this guy appears to do this run alot as he seems to know the people here, and carry on to Puerto Barrio in plenty of time for the ferry. We are stamped out of the country after all of an hour in it and wait for the 10am crossing. The extra person turns out to be Tim from Germany who is on a short break from volunteering in Honduras. We are travelling to the same place.
When we say ferry we really mean water taxi. It's not a big boat. It is fast though and blasts across the calm waters of the caribbean sea to Punta Gorda in southern Belize. Whether lucky with the weather or what we are glad of the fine short crossing. The longer trip in a similar sized boat had the potential to be much lumpier.
The late morning day is a beautiful one, if a tad humid, when we clear the none to busy Belize border. It's a short sweaty walk to James bus station where we catch the noon bus north to Mango Creek. Again it's old American school buses. Our final destination for today is Placencia which occupies a position on the southern tip of a sand spit running down from the north. Mango Creek is a stop where we catch the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi to Placencia. About the same size as the international boat this morning, this time it's a short zip through mangroves to the west edge of town. We walk to a hotel and take a room. Our travelling for today is done.
We find a basic, but fine, hotel and take the air con this time. It's acceptabley only a few bucks more. We are here to catch the tuesday ferry to Belize early the next day. Thing is there doesn't appear to be a ferry on a tuesday anymore, as the guidebook suggests. There is however a bloke with a pick-up. He offers, for a fee, to take us to Puerto Barrio in Guatemala to catch the ferry there. The crossing there is shorter and cheaper, and we could get there by bus for cheaper than the bloke, just not in time for the crossing today. He does say it's free if we don't make it. Thus we take the offer beginning our most epic journey.
Speeding towards the Guatemala border in the back of a pick-up we can't help wonder if we've been had. The guy said some things that we didn't completely belive, but if the truth is he's just a bloke with a truck who has seen an opportunity to make some dollars then you have to appreciate that. Anyway the journey is pretty cool experience. Just outside Puerto Cortes we pick up another person.
We clear border control easily, this guy appears to do this run alot as he seems to know the people here, and carry on to Puerto Barrio in plenty of time for the ferry. We are stamped out of the country after all of an hour in it and wait for the 10am crossing. The extra person turns out to be Tim from Germany who is on a short break from volunteering in Honduras. We are travelling to the same place.
When we say ferry we really mean water taxi. It's not a big boat. It is fast though and blasts across the calm waters of the caribbean sea to Punta Gorda in southern Belize. Whether lucky with the weather or what we are glad of the fine short crossing. The longer trip in a similar sized boat had the potential to be much lumpier.
The late morning day is a beautiful one, if a tad humid, when we clear the none to busy Belize border. It's a short sweaty walk to James bus station where we catch the noon bus north to Mango Creek. Again it's old American school buses. Our final destination for today is Placencia which occupies a position on the southern tip of a sand spit running down from the north. Mango Creek is a stop where we catch the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi to Placencia. About the same size as the international boat this morning, this time it's a short zip through mangroves to the west edge of town. We walk to a hotel and take a room. Our travelling for today is done.
Honduran Bay Island
Our first mission in West End is to get sorted with some diving. We choose Reef Gliders, a pleasant little operator with a couple of small boats which zip out to the reef just off the coast. Journey times are no longer than 15 minutes. The reef is part of the world's second largest barrier reef that stretches all the way from Mexico and here is a protected marine park The diving is nice and easy, but not fantastic. There is not much life or colour compared to the Red Sea for example. There is consistently good condition coral including fans and tube sponges.
We still do ten dives each over five days out of our seven on the island. West end is a great place to be with it's single sandy street lined with restaurants, dive shops and palm trees. The mini supermarkets have enough stuff to get by with fruit and veg sold from the back of pick-up trucks. The self catering probably does cost less, but it's actually just nice to make our own food without having to go out and find places everyday. Our studio is also a very pleasant place to hang out.
We take a walk down the picturesque coast to West Beach. It has a beautiful beach good for swimming, but is more resorty. We prefer the easy going, relaxed caribbean vibe of West End. It's character and charm simply draws people in. The kind of place where three days turns to ten months! It happens to many who stay and do their divemaster course. Reef Gliders had a bunch of trainees. The instructors are happy because they don't have to lug gear anymore.
We drag ourselves away after a week, a long time in one place for us. Could we have stayed longer. Without plans and a booked ticket home I think we would have.
We still do ten dives each over five days out of our seven on the island. West end is a great place to be with it's single sandy street lined with restaurants, dive shops and palm trees. The mini supermarkets have enough stuff to get by with fruit and veg sold from the back of pick-up trucks. The self catering probably does cost less, but it's actually just nice to make our own food without having to go out and find places everyday. Our studio is also a very pleasant place to hang out.
We take a walk down the picturesque coast to West Beach. It has a beautiful beach good for swimming, but is more resorty. We prefer the easy going, relaxed caribbean vibe of West End. It's character and charm simply draws people in. The kind of place where three days turns to ten months! It happens to many who stay and do their divemaster course. Reef Gliders had a bunch of trainees. The instructors are happy because they don't have to lug gear anymore.
We drag ourselves away after a week, a long time in one place for us. Could we have stayed longer. Without plans and a booked ticket home I think we would have.
To the Islands
Five in the morning and it's quickly getting light on Ometepe. We are already standing at the bus stop. The taxi here was too expensive and there is a direct cheap bus to the ferry port at Moyogalpa. Twenty minutes later the bus arrives and we are on our way for the first leg of a two (and a bit) day journey north to the Bay Islands of Honduras. The bus takes two hours and we get the 7:30 ferry with a few minutes to spare. It's a passenger ferry and the crossing is lumpy. At the San Jorge terminal a direct bus to Managua is waiting. It's an express bus and the journey is pretty smooth. Luckily a woman selling Pan de Queso gets on and we have a cheap breakfast. These well worked connections mean we arrive in Managua by eleven. Taxis wait at the bus station, it's funny how a simple "No" halves the opening price. Once a price is agreed we go to the Tica bus station and walk round the corner to a hotel and get a room. Our bus from here leaves in the morning, so we have an afternoon to kill. The area is called Barrio Martha Quezada and has no street names. Instead addresses are given relative to the Tica bus station! Near the hotel is Loma de Tiscapa, a hill topped by a black iron silhouette of Sandino (a liberal revolutionary) although it looks a bit like a giant wild west motel sign. There is a good view over the city to lake Managua. The hill is deserted apart from two snoging couples and a guy that blows a whistle at you if you stand on the concrete benches.
We kill some time in a nearby mall. It's a pretty basic, but at least it has food. And air con, unlike our hotel room. Well, it does, but it doubles the price to plug it in! It didn't seem worth it, until maybe in the hot night when the draft from the fan gave the impression the big ants (from the bathroom) were crawling on me! Not the best night sleep.
Five am on a sunday morning and the coach leaves the Tica bus station on it's way to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. The journey takes about eight hours and is fine. The are announcements, but entirely in Spanish leaving us in the dark for the two stops we make. One at the boarder and one a police check. We just copy everyone else and nothing major happens. Arrival in Tegucigalpa begins the usual taxi negotiations. It's not too far too our hotel, but I was beginning to wonder if the taxi, or at least the exhaust, were going to make it!! They did. We are just killing time here. Our destination in Honduras is the island of Roatan, part of the bay Islands off the north coast. In the morning we take a small turbo prop aircraft, via a quick touch down in La Ceiba to Roatan airport. From there it is a taxi ride to the small town of West End where we find ourselves a nice self catering studio including a balcony with table, chairs and a bay view. We are here for a week. It's feels like the travelling has stopped and a holiday has begun.
We kill some time in a nearby mall. It's a pretty basic, but at least it has food. And air con, unlike our hotel room. Well, it does, but it doubles the price to plug it in! It didn't seem worth it, until maybe in the hot night when the draft from the fan gave the impression the big ants (from the bathroom) were crawling on me! Not the best night sleep.
Five am on a sunday morning and the coach leaves the Tica bus station on it's way to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. The journey takes about eight hours and is fine. The are announcements, but entirely in Spanish leaving us in the dark for the two stops we make. One at the boarder and one a police check. We just copy everyone else and nothing major happens. Arrival in Tegucigalpa begins the usual taxi negotiations. It's not too far too our hotel, but I was beginning to wonder if the taxi, or at least the exhaust, were going to make it!! They did. We are just killing time here. Our destination in Honduras is the island of Roatan, part of the bay Islands off the north coast. In the morning we take a small turbo prop aircraft, via a quick touch down in La Ceiba to Roatan airport. From there it is a taxi ride to the small town of West End where we find ourselves a nice self catering studio including a balcony with table, chairs and a bay view. We are here for a week. It's feels like the travelling has stopped and a holiday has begun.
Nicaragua
The flight lands at the capital's, Managua, small but nice airport after a short flight. Formalities done we are greeted by the official taxi 'salesmen'. Knowing we can get a regular taxi across the highway the price is quickly reduced to an acceptable amount and we get in.
We are not staying in Managua, but heading straight to Granada so our destination is the microbus station. Only the cab driver takes us to a regular bus station. We are a bit out of practice on this and before we can explain the trunk is open and the touts (for want of a better word) have our rucsacks out and are moving towards the buses calling Granada. The rickety old yellow school buses do go to Granada is just that the microbuses would be faster and more comfortable, but we are here now. We get our bags back and agree the price in US and we are on. There is no malice here it's all just a bit fast and in your face, although the guy does try a fiddle with the exchange rate as we pay in Cordoba, but we are on to that. From this point on we are in control of our bags, although this turns out to be the most chaotic experience. It's an express bus which really means direct as it stops frequently leaving Managua, the conductor leaning out the door shouting the destination - "Granar, Granar, Granar".
Arrival in Granada after about an hour is a calm affair. This is fitting of the towns relaxed vibe. We sling on our packs and walk to our accomodation. We booked a private room with bathroom in a hostel, but when we arrive it's not available. The room that is, is grim. We hear a couple next door whacking a cockroach. I go across the road and check out another place, it's twice the price, but five times as nice. We move! Then it is time to relax.
Founded in 1524 on the banks of Lake Nicaragua Granada has a wonderfully restored colonial center with bags of charm. Rustic roof tiles on warmly painted building house stylishly characterful bars and eateries. Ironwork doors allow a view of elegant villas, the living rooms just on the other side, open to the refreshing breeze. The town is popular with north americans, more than expected, some or all ex-pats who have started businesses. It's sensitive though, we see no MacDonalds or Starbucks here. Just wandering the streets is pleasant. The leafy main plaza has a good craft market. The only disappointment is the lake side, a walk from the center it is lifeless, an area of restaurants and playgrounds is empty, possibly popular in season with families.
I don't think eating out is cheap by Nicaraguan standards, but at 5US$ for a good main there are no complaints. In one place we pick for a beer the chef gets chatting to us over the spelling of Mozzarella for the menu he is printing. Upon learning where we are from he quizzes us about what good whisky he should get for the bar. We give him our opinion and in return he gives us some tips on our next destination. His beer was more expensive so maybe the advice is included!!
Our next destination is the Isla de Ometepe, twin volcanoes rising from the waters of Lake Nicaragua a few miles apart and joining together. It's a chicken bus ride south to Rivas and a taxi to San Jorge to catch a ferry to the island. It's a car ferry over choppy water, the TV shows the worst Latino R&B I've heard along with cringe worthy videos. We suffer this for an hour, but the goal is worth it. We get a water side cabin in Playa Santo Domingo, a short row of building lining the dirt road between the volcanoes. It's so relaxed, waves constantly lap the black sand beach giving the feeling of being at the seaside. Food options are limited and more expensive than Granada, but we get by!! We do a couple of things in our two and a half days here other than relax on the veranda! We visit the Eye of the Water at the center of the island and a popular swimming spot with locals. It's a short walk away, but we get rained on along the way. We also take a trip to Finca Magdalena to see the petroglyphs - old indigenous rock carvings. We are underwhelmed, but the bus journey there over poor dirt roads is fun and the clouds lift over the volcano peaks revealing the highest near perfect cone.
We are not staying in Managua, but heading straight to Granada so our destination is the microbus station. Only the cab driver takes us to a regular bus station. We are a bit out of practice on this and before we can explain the trunk is open and the touts (for want of a better word) have our rucsacks out and are moving towards the buses calling Granada. The rickety old yellow school buses do go to Granada is just that the microbuses would be faster and more comfortable, but we are here now. We get our bags back and agree the price in US and we are on. There is no malice here it's all just a bit fast and in your face, although the guy does try a fiddle with the exchange rate as we pay in Cordoba, but we are on to that. From this point on we are in control of our bags, although this turns out to be the most chaotic experience. It's an express bus which really means direct as it stops frequently leaving Managua, the conductor leaning out the door shouting the destination - "Granar, Granar, Granar".
Arrival in Granada after about an hour is a calm affair. This is fitting of the towns relaxed vibe. We sling on our packs and walk to our accomodation. We booked a private room with bathroom in a hostel, but when we arrive it's not available. The room that is, is grim. We hear a couple next door whacking a cockroach. I go across the road and check out another place, it's twice the price, but five times as nice. We move! Then it is time to relax.
Founded in 1524 on the banks of Lake Nicaragua Granada has a wonderfully restored colonial center with bags of charm. Rustic roof tiles on warmly painted building house stylishly characterful bars and eateries. Ironwork doors allow a view of elegant villas, the living rooms just on the other side, open to the refreshing breeze. The town is popular with north americans, more than expected, some or all ex-pats who have started businesses. It's sensitive though, we see no MacDonalds or Starbucks here. Just wandering the streets is pleasant. The leafy main plaza has a good craft market. The only disappointment is the lake side, a walk from the center it is lifeless, an area of restaurants and playgrounds is empty, possibly popular in season with families.
I don't think eating out is cheap by Nicaraguan standards, but at 5US$ for a good main there are no complaints. In one place we pick for a beer the chef gets chatting to us over the spelling of Mozzarella for the menu he is printing. Upon learning where we are from he quizzes us about what good whisky he should get for the bar. We give him our opinion and in return he gives us some tips on our next destination. His beer was more expensive so maybe the advice is included!!
Our next destination is the Isla de Ometepe, twin volcanoes rising from the waters of Lake Nicaragua a few miles apart and joining together. It's a chicken bus ride south to Rivas and a taxi to San Jorge to catch a ferry to the island. It's a car ferry over choppy water, the TV shows the worst Latino R&B I've heard along with cringe worthy videos. We suffer this for an hour, but the goal is worth it. We get a water side cabin in Playa Santo Domingo, a short row of building lining the dirt road between the volcanoes. It's so relaxed, waves constantly lap the black sand beach giving the feeling of being at the seaside. Food options are limited and more expensive than Granada, but we get by!! We do a couple of things in our two and a half days here other than relax on the veranda! We visit the Eye of the Water at the center of the island and a popular swimming spot with locals. It's a short walk away, but we get rained on along the way. We also take a trip to Finca Magdalena to see the petroglyphs - old indigenous rock carvings. We are underwhelmed, but the bus journey there over poor dirt roads is fun and the clouds lift over the volcano peaks revealing the highest near perfect cone.
Panama City
It's about 9am on the 16th of April when we arrive at Panama airport. We have a hotel and transfer booked. Our original hotel was upgraded a while ago because of complaints, but the new one turns out to be a bit snooty and stiff. I get told I can't wear flip-flops to breakfast, although I see a guy the next day wearing Tevas! They do however let us check in early and we crash in our room believing we are just too old. The day is a write off basically, but it's ok as we have two more and only 'Thee' canal is on the list.
It's about half ten the following day when we arrive by taxi at the Canal, Miraflores Locks, visitor centre. Taxis in Panama City have no meters, so it's a case of asking the price and saying yay or nay. There are three sets of locks on the canal (two here in the south and one in the north) and the Miraflores lock visitor centre features a museum/exhibition, cinema showing a canal doco, a restaurant and a locks viewing platform. To small boats are traversing the locks when we arrive. There is live commentry as it happens! The announcer proudly stating the locks fill by gravity alone. There are two locks in parallel looking smaller than we expected. We take in the museum and then learn that a cruise ship will be traversing the locks an hour early at 2pm. It's a bit of a wait, but we do it to see something big go through. It's only 15mins early, but it is huge. A Panamax, we learn, squeezes through with only two feet a either side. Four 50 ton locomotives chained to the liner at each side keep it in straight. Passengers line the deck and cabin balconies, some with banners which the announcer excitedly reads out.
It's a slow process and we leave after a while. We walk to the highway to catch a bus. Eventually one actually stops and the waiting crowd gets on. We hope it's going to the center. The buses here are old american school buses, pimp'd with colourful paintjobs, bigger(well louder) engines and pumping a stereo blasting out latino grooves. We arrive somewhere we think is close to the old center, but somewhere we don't really want to be and everyone gets off. We do to and them jump in a taxi. We get the bus experience and save five bucks!!
We get the cab to a mall near our hotel. This and other elements of Panama are very american with all the usual trappings like big name food chains all over. Apparently there is a big US ex-pat community here. The currency here is the US dollar with the country making good amounts from the canal. The cruise ship we saw paid $230000. If I remember correctly the average is about $80000 and the record $32000. One guy swam the canal for $0.36 if you fancy that!
New Panama City is seriously highrise, but a small old centre still exists. Occupying a headland jutting into the Pacific, Casco Vieja has a mini Havana look about it with newly restored period building standing next to crumbling old ones. Views stretch down the coast to the contrasting skyline of modern Panama. It's quiet down here, we wander for a bit until I annoyingly get grit or something in my eye and we in back to the hotel. Later we make like the locals of the area and in to a well known american style restaurant. The menu is american, but the service needs a little work. Tomorrow we have an early(ish) flight to our next county, skipping over Costa Rica to Nicaragua.
We get a transfer to the airport from the hotel, probably a rip off but it's easy. The driver who is Panamanian talks, with an american accent, to us about whisky after asking where we are from! Tell me, does anyone in Scotland drink Johnny Walker??
It's about half ten the following day when we arrive by taxi at the Canal, Miraflores Locks, visitor centre. Taxis in Panama City have no meters, so it's a case of asking the price and saying yay or nay. There are three sets of locks on the canal (two here in the south and one in the north) and the Miraflores lock visitor centre features a museum/exhibition, cinema showing a canal doco, a restaurant and a locks viewing platform. To small boats are traversing the locks when we arrive. There is live commentry as it happens! The announcer proudly stating the locks fill by gravity alone. There are two locks in parallel looking smaller than we expected. We take in the museum and then learn that a cruise ship will be traversing the locks an hour early at 2pm. It's a bit of a wait, but we do it to see something big go through. It's only 15mins early, but it is huge. A Panamax, we learn, squeezes through with only two feet a either side. Four 50 ton locomotives chained to the liner at each side keep it in straight. Passengers line the deck and cabin balconies, some with banners which the announcer excitedly reads out.
It's a slow process and we leave after a while. We walk to the highway to catch a bus. Eventually one actually stops and the waiting crowd gets on. We hope it's going to the center. The buses here are old american school buses, pimp'd with colourful paintjobs, bigger(well louder) engines and pumping a stereo blasting out latino grooves. We arrive somewhere we think is close to the old center, but somewhere we don't really want to be and everyone gets off. We do to and them jump in a taxi. We get the bus experience and save five bucks!!
We get the cab to a mall near our hotel. This and other elements of Panama are very american with all the usual trappings like big name food chains all over. Apparently there is a big US ex-pat community here. The currency here is the US dollar with the country making good amounts from the canal. The cruise ship we saw paid $230000. If I remember correctly the average is about $80000 and the record $32000. One guy swam the canal for $0.36 if you fancy that!
New Panama City is seriously highrise, but a small old centre still exists. Occupying a headland jutting into the Pacific, Casco Vieja has a mini Havana look about it with newly restored period building standing next to crumbling old ones. Views stretch down the coast to the contrasting skyline of modern Panama. It's quiet down here, we wander for a bit until I annoyingly get grit or something in my eye and we in back to the hotel. Later we make like the locals of the area and in to a well known american style restaurant. The menu is american, but the service needs a little work. Tomorrow we have an early(ish) flight to our next county, skipping over Costa Rica to Nicaragua.
We get a transfer to the airport from the hotel, probably a rip off but it's easy. The driver who is Panamanian talks, with an american accent, to us about whisky after asking where we are from! Tell me, does anyone in Scotland drink Johnny Walker??
Quito
There are two main areas to Central Quito, the New Town and the Old Town. The New Town has most of the services and the Old Town is historic colonial. We are staying in the Old Town in a guest house we booked a long time ago when still working and it is NICE! A beautifully restored and converted colonial villa run by a mexican born, US citizen and his partner. The breakfast was superb and filling. The roof terrace complete with fantastic views over the old town and surrounding hills. Also the Cerro Panecillo with the Virgen de Quito statue atop. We visit this Mary statue during our time here. Apparently it's not safe to walk so grab a taxi, once we find one prepared to use the meter. The weather is threatening and the top all but deserted, so we ask the driver to wait while we have a quick view of the city
Quito isn't reportedly the safest city. Central areas during the day are fine. There is a massive armed police presence on the streets and security guards with pump action shotguns at banks and shops. At night however the old town virtually empties and taxis are essential, and don't they know it. Taxis are plentiful, but the meter is off and the price inflated. Negotiating with the drivers is a pain, but that's what we do for the three nights we go to the new town for food. The first time for one last meal with the overland gang.
The well preserved/restored Spanish colonial streets and plazas of the old town are a great place to wander and watch the world go by. Quito is a long thin city. Expansion in width prevented by mountains. A cable car leads up from the city for views of Quito and the nearby volcanoes, but the cloud hangs too low. We content ourselves to visit Parque Itchimbia, with it's elevated location and 19th century german glasshouse. Once a market now an exhibition space. A nearby cafe has an excellent view of the new and old towns and we sit and listen to the thunder and watch the rain roll in. Our room is a nice place to be so we head back to kick back before our last night in South America. We are meeting Riki and Renee, it's Riki's 30th birthday the following day. We have a fine meal and wine and then in to a bar. We have fun playing pool with the locals, but time evaporates. We have a 4am flight to Panama. We make it ok, but it's our first all-nighter of the trip.
Quito isn't reportedly the safest city. Central areas during the day are fine. There is a massive armed police presence on the streets and security guards with pump action shotguns at banks and shops. At night however the old town virtually empties and taxis are essential, and don't they know it. Taxis are plentiful, but the meter is off and the price inflated. Negotiating with the drivers is a pain, but that's what we do for the three nights we go to the new town for food. The first time for one last meal with the overland gang.
The well preserved/restored Spanish colonial streets and plazas of the old town are a great place to wander and watch the world go by. Quito is a long thin city. Expansion in width prevented by mountains. A cable car leads up from the city for views of Quito and the nearby volcanoes, but the cloud hangs too low. We content ourselves to visit Parque Itchimbia, with it's elevated location and 19th century german glasshouse. Once a market now an exhibition space. A nearby cafe has an excellent view of the new and old towns and we sit and listen to the thunder and watch the rain roll in. Our room is a nice place to be so we head back to kick back before our last night in South America. We are meeting Riki and Renee, it's Riki's 30th birthday the following day. We have a fine meal and wine and then in to a bar. We have fun playing pool with the locals, but time evaporates. We have a 4am flight to Panama. We make it ok, but it's our first all-nighter of the trip.
The Overland Ends
Otavalo lies a short distance north of the capital Quito and also a little north of the ecuator, our first venture into this hemisphere on this continent. We are back in the fresher climate of the mountains at 2530m and the weather is stormy. The nighttime brings thunder and lightning with rain crashing down minutes after us returning from our evening meal. We have eaten in an Italian called Fontana di Trevi, recalling our visit to the real thing in Rome which seems so long ago now.
The town itself is a bit concrete, but the market here in Otavalo is regarded as one of the best in Ecuador. We have intentions to peruse after an 'admin' morning, but rain in the afternoon dissuades us. This is our final full day of the overland also, so must pack everything once again. This includes all our camping gear which has lived on the truck for three months. We don't have much extra stuff and the packing goes surprisingly well. Craig is going home from Quito and we take the offer of sun, insect and bite cream as he clears out a few things.
It's a few hours drive to Quito, but first we must stop off at one more thing - The Ecuator. The line runs just north of Quito and is marked by two sites. The Mitad del Mundo, a leisure complex of restaurants and gift shops and the huge ecuator monument and line as determined in 1736 by a french expedition. There is also the Museo de Sitio Intinan which has original and replica building featuring indigenous customs. Oh, and it also has the actual ecuator!! The Mitad was close, but GPS revealed the line to pass a couple of hundred meters away here. The guided tour includes some ecuator related experiments including: balancing an egg on a nail, it's supposed to be easier-the successful get a certificate; a strength test where someone can pull your raised arms down without resistance on the ecuator but not off it-this amazingly happens; the coriolis effect draining water experiment where the guide admits we are too close to the ecuator to see the real effect. It's a fun place. We visit the Mitad after for lunch, but it's a bit lifeless. Apparently it's still popular with locals, maybe not today because it's Easter monday?
We arrive in Quito around 4ish on the afternoon of the 13th of April just over 3 months from starting in Rio. We have travelled 13768km since Ushuaia and a total of 21341km on Guss from Rio. We stop at a truck park on the outskirts of the city and get taxis to our respective accomodation. This is officially the end of the overland trip. Riki, Renee and Guss are getting time off before doing it all again. Craig, Uli and Yana are going home and Nora flys to Rio. We are going to Central America, but first there is Quito.
The town itself is a bit concrete, but the market here in Otavalo is regarded as one of the best in Ecuador. We have intentions to peruse after an 'admin' morning, but rain in the afternoon dissuades us. This is our final full day of the overland also, so must pack everything once again. This includes all our camping gear which has lived on the truck for three months. We don't have much extra stuff and the packing goes surprisingly well. Craig is going home from Quito and we take the offer of sun, insect and bite cream as he clears out a few things.
It's a few hours drive to Quito, but first we must stop off at one more thing - The Ecuator. The line runs just north of Quito and is marked by two sites. The Mitad del Mundo, a leisure complex of restaurants and gift shops and the huge ecuator monument and line as determined in 1736 by a french expedition. There is also the Museo de Sitio Intinan which has original and replica building featuring indigenous customs. Oh, and it also has the actual ecuator!! The Mitad was close, but GPS revealed the line to pass a couple of hundred meters away here. The guided tour includes some ecuator related experiments including: balancing an egg on a nail, it's supposed to be easier-the successful get a certificate; a strength test where someone can pull your raised arms down without resistance on the ecuator but not off it-this amazingly happens; the coriolis effect draining water experiment where the guide admits we are too close to the ecuator to see the real effect. It's a fun place. We visit the Mitad after for lunch, but it's a bit lifeless. Apparently it's still popular with locals, maybe not today because it's Easter monday?
We arrive in Quito around 4ish on the afternoon of the 13th of April just over 3 months from starting in Rio. We have travelled 13768km since Ushuaia and a total of 21341km on Guss from Rio. We stop at a truck park on the outskirts of the city and get taxis to our respective accomodation. This is officially the end of the overland trip. Riki, Renee and Guss are getting time off before doing it all again. Craig, Uli and Yana are going home and Nora flys to Rio. We are going to Central America, but first there is Quito.
Welcome to the Jungle
We leave Pequeno Paraiso at head down out of the cloud forest towards the rain forest. It's raining still, the wipers pack up and Riki stands in the rain to fix them. On the stereo is Welcome to the Jungle, The Lion sleeps Tonight, Jungle Boogie etc. This is fun. The thought of the jungle trip isn't! I don't know if anyone is really looking forward to three nights in a rain forest lodge with the possibility of tarantulas falling out of the thatched roof onto our heads in the night!! We arrive at the river and load our bin bags of clothes into long narrow boats. Called canoes, they are wooden with a cover and small bench seats. It's a short ride to the lodge on the boat, the outboard nipping us through the water quite fast. Cruising the light brown Rio Napo is enjoyable and we use the canoe many times over the next two and a half days.
The lodge itself is a bit disappointing, but the jungle trip turns out to be very good as is Fausto, our guide. He plays darts like he is throwing a spear. He has fun and turns out to be pretty accurate in our nightly darts games. The upside to the lodge is our room has a sealed wooden roof and therefore no tarantulas. Surprisingly, and thankfully, there are no mosquitos here either.
Trips from the lodge include: a rain forest walk where Fausto shows us the native flora explaining the uses by indigenous people and fauna including lemon ants and a poison arrow frog; an animal sanctuary featuring monkeys and two Ocelot amongst others; a local museum where we see more local objects and have a go of a blowpipe, none of us hitting the target in two attempts; a visit to a village shaman who performs a clensing ritual on Yana; on a plantation where we see the process for collecting the Yucca root and making the beverage Chicha.
The highlight is rafting back down the river from the plantation on a homemade balsa wood raft. The river flows quite quick with some fun low grade white water in places. Halfway down Fausto sends the boat to get us each a beer. We cruise the rest of the way beer in hand, the sun even comes out, jealous looks received from another raft.
Returning to Guss to head to our next destination a big spider crawls out from behind a sheet on the truck noticeboard! Luckily we are giving Fausto a lift and he removes the unwanted stow away for us. Even he uses a plastic bag, apparently it bites!
The lodge itself is a bit disappointing, but the jungle trip turns out to be very good as is Fausto, our guide. He plays darts like he is throwing a spear. He has fun and turns out to be pretty accurate in our nightly darts games. The upside to the lodge is our room has a sealed wooden roof and therefore no tarantulas. Surprisingly, and thankfully, there are no mosquitos here either.
Trips from the lodge include: a rain forest walk where Fausto shows us the native flora explaining the uses by indigenous people and fauna including lemon ants and a poison arrow frog; an animal sanctuary featuring monkeys and two Ocelot amongst others; a local museum where we see more local objects and have a go of a blowpipe, none of us hitting the target in two attempts; a visit to a village shaman who performs a clensing ritual on Yana; on a plantation where we see the process for collecting the Yucca root and making the beverage Chicha.
The highlight is rafting back down the river from the plantation on a homemade balsa wood raft. The river flows quite quick with some fun low grade white water in places. Halfway down Fausto sends the boat to get us each a beer. We cruise the rest of the way beer in hand, the sun even comes out, jealous looks received from another raft.
Returning to Guss to head to our next destination a big spider crawls out from behind a sheet on the truck noticeboard! Luckily we are giving Fausto a lift and he removes the unwanted stow away for us. Even he uses a plastic bag, apparently it bites!
Into Ecuador
Entering Ecuador is straight forward even though the boarder town here is rammed with shops and people, definitely the busiest we've seen in South America. The landscape changes quickly from the desert into lush tropical vegetation. This begins to change soon too as we climb back into the Andes, the tropical vegetation giving way to, the still lush, but cooler sierra. We, again, see women in Andean dress similar to Peru. Houses and vehicles display boards bearing the pictures and slogans of electoral candidates. We learn later that voting is compulsory and drinking alcohol is banned for 48 hours prior to voting day!!
Our first stop is the city of Cuenca with it's well preserved colonial centre. The town lays at 2530m and has a pleasant climate of warm in the day and cool at night. Other than the centre the attraction is the hat makers, for it's here that the Panama hat is made. We visit a workshop where the hats are made by hand, each one starting the same before being pressed into various shapes. The shop sells the traditional style hat ranging from 15 to 200 dollars!! The difference in quality is obvious. The officiall currency of Ecuador is the US dollar by the way.
Moving on from Cuenca we follow a winding road through the always green Andes to the town of Banos. The name means baths in Spanish and is from the local thermal pools provided courtesy of the still active Tungurahua volcano. We are not staying in Banos, but 17km east near Rio Verde at the small resort of Pequeno Paraiso. Located on the edge of the Rio Verde river canyon it occupies a beautiful cloud forest location. It's part run by Rich, an ex-Drago driver from Dundee. It's a camping spot for our tour, but Lou and I upgrade to a room and are glad we did as it rains heavily at night. We have three nights here, but you could easily spend five doing any number of activities from canyoning to white water rafting, mountain biking to climbing. We are not doing any of these (I'm resting my shoulder) instead doing a couple of the many walks available in the area.
The first is to the Pailon del Diablo a short walk away. The tall thin jet like stream of water crashes into the pool below. A series of viewpoints allow you to get up-close-and-personal. For the second walk we catch we catch a lift in the back of Rich's pickup to the start point up the valley. The walk is on the other side of the canyon and is accessed by a tarabita. Think glorified shopping trolley on wires spaning the gorge. Not one for vertigo sufferers it zipps along at a fair ol' pace, stopping three quarters of the way to admire the nice Manto de la Novia waterfall. We return further down by similar, though calmer paced, means and catch the bus back to Pequeno Paraiso for some chill out time. We had caught the bus previously on a trip into Banos and they certainly don't hang about. You know it's fast when the locals look concerned! Flagged down anywhere on the road it's off almost before you are on and barely stops for you to get off!
Our company for the chill out time are three lovely dogs, three generations, all different. The grandma with three newly born puppies... Ahh. The mother (affectionately nicknamed Tripod) a shaggy, last of eleven, furball that hops along on three legs, the fourth a short birth defect. The black son completes the unexpected family.
Our first stop is the city of Cuenca with it's well preserved colonial centre. The town lays at 2530m and has a pleasant climate of warm in the day and cool at night. Other than the centre the attraction is the hat makers, for it's here that the Panama hat is made. We visit a workshop where the hats are made by hand, each one starting the same before being pressed into various shapes. The shop sells the traditional style hat ranging from 15 to 200 dollars!! The difference in quality is obvious. The officiall currency of Ecuador is the US dollar by the way.
Moving on from Cuenca we follow a winding road through the always green Andes to the town of Banos. The name means baths in Spanish and is from the local thermal pools provided courtesy of the still active Tungurahua volcano. We are not staying in Banos, but 17km east near Rio Verde at the small resort of Pequeno Paraiso. Located on the edge of the Rio Verde river canyon it occupies a beautiful cloud forest location. It's part run by Rich, an ex-Drago driver from Dundee. It's a camping spot for our tour, but Lou and I upgrade to a room and are glad we did as it rains heavily at night. We have three nights here, but you could easily spend five doing any number of activities from canyoning to white water rafting, mountain biking to climbing. We are not doing any of these (I'm resting my shoulder) instead doing a couple of the many walks available in the area.
The first is to the Pailon del Diablo a short walk away. The tall thin jet like stream of water crashes into the pool below. A series of viewpoints allow you to get up-close-and-personal. For the second walk we catch we catch a lift in the back of Rich's pickup to the start point up the valley. The walk is on the other side of the canyon and is accessed by a tarabita. Think glorified shopping trolley on wires spaning the gorge. Not one for vertigo sufferers it zipps along at a fair ol' pace, stopping three quarters of the way to admire the nice Manto de la Novia waterfall. We return further down by similar, though calmer paced, means and catch the bus back to Pequeno Paraiso for some chill out time. We had caught the bus previously on a trip into Banos and they certainly don't hang about. You know it's fast when the locals look concerned! Flagged down anywhere on the road it's off almost before you are on and barely stops for you to get off!
Our company for the chill out time are three lovely dogs, three generations, all different. The grandma with three newly born puppies... Ahh. The mother (affectionately nicknamed Tripod) a shaggy, last of eleven, furball that hops along on three legs, the fourth a short birth defect. The black son completes the unexpected family.
North Peru
Out of Lima the desert continues as we follow the coast north to the surf town of Huanchaco. We arrive as the sun is setting over the ocean. It's a pleasant beach, traditional reed fishing boats are stacked against the beach wall, the black shapes of surfers speckel the waves.
Near here in the desert we have more pre-Inca ruins. Peru had more than just Inca and Nazca we learn! We visit one of the nine compounds that formed the once great adobe city of Chan Chan home of the Chimu people. They were conquered by the Inca in the late 1400s. Further inland are the Huacas del Sol and de la Luna, once great Moche pyramids now erroded ruins. Built layer over layer, the moon temple has preserved brightly painted wall carvings between them, the only archeological site we have seen with colour.
In the afternoon a few of us go surfing. I've not surfed for ages, but start well catching a few good waves. Renee does the best overall, catching more waves overall.
The morning brings an early start with a breakfast stop along the way in a deserted car park. It's a long drive to Punta Sal in north Peru. We detour via the Museo de las Tumbas Reales de Sipan containing good displays of artifacts recovered from the nearby Moche site of Sipan - a tomb of the Lord of Sipan. We take a guided tour, but only have an hour. A fact the guide seems disappointed at, but she does a good job rattling through the information.
Another sunset heralds our arrival in Punta Sal. Julian and Louise are also staying here in the beach front accomodation. It's scorching hot for our free day. We try to play beach volleyball in the morning, but the sand is just too hot. Later we play for about two hours before sunset. We cook of the truck for what will be the last time. We make chicken fajitas which seemed fine, but later a few of us visit the toilet a bit more than desirable and Riki is sick on the beach!
In the morning I wake up with an intensely painfull right shoulder. Not entirely sure why, a combo from surfing, volleyball and sleeping on it badly is the only guess I have. Can you pull a muscle sleeping??
Near here in the desert we have more pre-Inca ruins. Peru had more than just Inca and Nazca we learn! We visit one of the nine compounds that formed the once great adobe city of Chan Chan home of the Chimu people. They were conquered by the Inca in the late 1400s. Further inland are the Huacas del Sol and de la Luna, once great Moche pyramids now erroded ruins. Built layer over layer, the moon temple has preserved brightly painted wall carvings between them, the only archeological site we have seen with colour.
In the afternoon a few of us go surfing. I've not surfed for ages, but start well catching a few good waves. Renee does the best overall, catching more waves overall.
The morning brings an early start with a breakfast stop along the way in a deserted car park. It's a long drive to Punta Sal in north Peru. We detour via the Museo de las Tumbas Reales de Sipan containing good displays of artifacts recovered from the nearby Moche site of Sipan - a tomb of the Lord of Sipan. We take a guided tour, but only have an hour. A fact the guide seems disappointed at, but she does a good job rattling through the information.
Another sunset heralds our arrival in Punta Sal. Julian and Louise are also staying here in the beach front accomodation. It's scorching hot for our free day. We try to play beach volleyball in the morning, but the sand is just too hot. Later we play for about two hours before sunset. We cook of the truck for what will be the last time. We make chicken fajitas which seemed fine, but later a few of us visit the toilet a bit more than desirable and Riki is sick on the beach!
In the morning I wake up with an intensely painfull right shoulder. Not entirely sure why, a combo from surfing, volleyball and sleeping on it badly is the only guess I have. Can you pull a muscle sleeping??
A Line through the Desert
The journey away from Arequipa descends from altitude towards the coast. As we drop the landscape changes dramaticaly, gone are the green Andean hills replaced by desert. This is the coastal desert of Peru a continuation of the Atacama from north Chile which stretches north to Ecuador. It's a long drive through the sand and rock to the small bay of Puerto Inca. There is little more than a small resort here, but it's a pretty bay. We camp on the beach. The Inca in the title refers to some ruins visible on the bay's rocky coastline, but no-one makes the trek, instead content to chill out and play volleyball in the morning. We play against a Tucan group who we have seen occasionally over the last few days. It's one all by the time we leave at 1pm.
Back out on to the desert highway, sometimes half buried by drifting sand, we head to the town of Nazca. Famous for drawing lines in the desert, the Nazca are Peru's other well known civilisation. We are there to see the lines from the air in the morning. A little before Nazca town we stop at something else they did. Mummify bodies! These visible, along with random bones and artifacts, in open tombs recovered from the desert after grave robbers had their pick. Hair is still preserved on many skulls. The tour is good and interesting, but also a bizare and almost comical sight. It all looks a bit too naff to be real.
The Nazca flight is good, but not for the sensitive of stomach as the pilot pitches the plane from left to right to allow a downward view for the passenger on either side of the light aircraft. It's good to see from the air and get a perspective on the number and size of the various parallel and trapizoidal lines. Big, but still smaller, are the drawings including a humming bird, Orca and monkey. The childlike drawing of the, so called, Astronaut doesn't seem to fit and amuses our group. Leaving Nazca we stop at a viewing platform for another glimpse of two designs. Obviously limited compared to the air it's still good to see both and it's only 1 Soles!
Heading north the rocky desert changes to sand dunes as we approach the oasis town of Huacachina. We are here for sandboarding, well Lou and I are skipping this optional activity and wave goodbye to the others as they leave for a night in the sand. The town is the very definition of oasis. A small lake, lined by palm trees, surrounded by sand dunes. The dunes rise steeply up from the edge of town suggesting a lack of permanency to the place. I climb a big dune for sunset, my altitude training helping with the climb!!
North along the highway to Lima we detour to Paracas National Reserve. We rest the night in a resort style hotel, but not before getting bogged in sand for the first time, and this in a town street. Sandmats and a local digger are employed to free Guss!! Paracas is a coastal reserve and includes the Ballestas islands which are the destination for a morning cruise. Well not for me as I feel sick with an upset gut. A temporary side effect to the anti-malarials we recently started taking in preparation for Ecuador. Lou goes and enjoys the trip. The islands are home to many seabirds and sealions. The downside is the smell!!
One last stop before hitting Lima is the town of Pisco (the namesake of the national drink - Pisco). Well not Pisco exactly but close for a distillery tour. Less obvious than Capel in Chile Renee spends a while at the solid gates before we are allowed in and taken on a tour followed by tasting.
Arrival in the Peruvian capital is late afternoon. By all accounts Lima is unsafe at night, but taxis are cheap and plentiful. We go out, as a group on foot, to a nearby square for a leaving the tour dinner for: Julian & Louise, Jacqui, Brianny, Bec. We don't really have much to see here so the following day Lou & Renee go shopping for a long sleeve top in preparation for the Jungle and I sit in the Mall and try to blog. In the evening we join the local well off locals in well off Miraflores doing the 'western' thing and go bowling.
Back out on to the desert highway, sometimes half buried by drifting sand, we head to the town of Nazca. Famous for drawing lines in the desert, the Nazca are Peru's other well known civilisation. We are there to see the lines from the air in the morning. A little before Nazca town we stop at something else they did. Mummify bodies! These visible, along with random bones and artifacts, in open tombs recovered from the desert after grave robbers had their pick. Hair is still preserved on many skulls. The tour is good and interesting, but also a bizare and almost comical sight. It all looks a bit too naff to be real.
The Nazca flight is good, but not for the sensitive of stomach as the pilot pitches the plane from left to right to allow a downward view for the passenger on either side of the light aircraft. It's good to see from the air and get a perspective on the number and size of the various parallel and trapizoidal lines. Big, but still smaller, are the drawings including a humming bird, Orca and monkey. The childlike drawing of the, so called, Astronaut doesn't seem to fit and amuses our group. Leaving Nazca we stop at a viewing platform for another glimpse of two designs. Obviously limited compared to the air it's still good to see both and it's only 1 Soles!
Heading north the rocky desert changes to sand dunes as we approach the oasis town of Huacachina. We are here for sandboarding, well Lou and I are skipping this optional activity and wave goodbye to the others as they leave for a night in the sand. The town is the very definition of oasis. A small lake, lined by palm trees, surrounded by sand dunes. The dunes rise steeply up from the edge of town suggesting a lack of permanency to the place. I climb a big dune for sunset, my altitude training helping with the climb!!
North along the highway to Lima we detour to Paracas National Reserve. We rest the night in a resort style hotel, but not before getting bogged in sand for the first time, and this in a town street. Sandmats and a local digger are employed to free Guss!! Paracas is a coastal reserve and includes the Ballestas islands which are the destination for a morning cruise. Well not for me as I feel sick with an upset gut. A temporary side effect to the anti-malarials we recently started taking in preparation for Ecuador. Lou goes and enjoys the trip. The islands are home to many seabirds and sealions. The downside is the smell!!
One last stop before hitting Lima is the town of Pisco (the namesake of the national drink - Pisco). Well not Pisco exactly but close for a distillery tour. Less obvious than Capel in Chile Renee spends a while at the solid gates before we are allowed in and taken on a tour followed by tasting.
Arrival in the Peruvian capital is late afternoon. By all accounts Lima is unsafe at night, but taxis are cheap and plentiful. We go out, as a group on foot, to a nearby square for a leaving the tour dinner for: Julian & Louise, Jacqui, Brianny, Bec. We don't really have much to see here so the following day Lou & Renee go shopping for a long sleeve top in preparation for the Jungle and I sit in the Mall and try to blog. In the evening we join the local well off locals in well off Miraflores doing the 'western' thing and go bowling.
South Peru
We depart Cuzco with a suitably enthusiastic send off from Team Canada. Hilda comes with us for one more day to take us round one last Inca site - The Viracocha Temple, with mostly only one major wall standing it is however the only Inca site we've seen with surviving adobe bricks built on the classic stone blocks.
The temple is right on the outskirts of the adobe village of Raqchi where we are spending the night with the local community. We are split amongst a few families, Lou and I stay with Delores. We have a few reservations about the stay as we are staying in someones house, eating with them, but unable to have a conversation. In the end the stay turns out ok. The area produces pottery and Delores gives the group a demonstation in the traditional method. In the afternoon her son takes us to pick corn. Scheduled for the evening is a gathering and dance. Just as we are about to leave Delores dresses us up in traditional dress. Lou gets layers of skirt, tops and a nice hat. I get a wool poncho and hat. She then leads us to one of the other houses in almost total darkness! We arrive early and are sitting wondering if we are the only ones who will be dressed up, maybe the joke is on us? Thankfully everyone else arrives in similar get up and looking just as daft. You need to be local to pull it off we thinks. A well wishing ceramony is followed by dancing around a fire, a circle is formed and and the ladies pull the guys into the middle and then proceed to take out the rope and whip the blokes! Apparently it's a cheeky dance for naughty men, and it is a good laugh.
We all get small pottery gifts when it's time to leave the village and drive the mountain road and 4400m pass to the town of Chivay. It's a long drive with freezing pee stops and arrival is after dark. Chivay is just a night stop with an early rise to see Condors in the Colca Canyon. We collect a guide, but no expected transport, so take Guss on the beautiful if somewhat precipitous drive. The canyon is the deepest in the world, but our destination lays short of that. Instead stopping at a Condor viewing point. The valley is green from the rains and cloud hangs in the valley. The best sighting, of course, happens when Lou and I are in the toilet, but we do eventually briefly see these huge birds. May to December is apparently the best time though.
We retrace some of the mountain road on the way to Arequipa in south Peru. Retaining some colonial charm the cities center piece is the Santa Catalina Content. Founded in the 16th century it's walled 2ha of colourful, spanish looking, streets allowed visitors in 1970. We take a very good guided tour learning about the fascinating completely secluded lives of the nuns. The living quarters, paid for by the large dowry required to enter, preserved in time. After the tour our guide suggests a place for local Peruvian food.
Lovers of the cute and furry may wish to skip this paragraph... for the local delicacy is cuy - guinea pig! Not fancied as an evening meal it is recommended as a lunchtime bite. Served deep fried it is flattenned, but otherwise whole, ours was male!! The limited meat is like dark chicken and the skin like pork crackling and goes well with a beer.
It's in Arequipa that we say goodbye to Emma. It's not an official section end, she tagged along for a few extra days.
The temple is right on the outskirts of the adobe village of Raqchi where we are spending the night with the local community. We are split amongst a few families, Lou and I stay with Delores. We have a few reservations about the stay as we are staying in someones house, eating with them, but unable to have a conversation. In the end the stay turns out ok. The area produces pottery and Delores gives the group a demonstation in the traditional method. In the afternoon her son takes us to pick corn. Scheduled for the evening is a gathering and dance. Just as we are about to leave Delores dresses us up in traditional dress. Lou gets layers of skirt, tops and a nice hat. I get a wool poncho and hat. She then leads us to one of the other houses in almost total darkness! We arrive early and are sitting wondering if we are the only ones who will be dressed up, maybe the joke is on us? Thankfully everyone else arrives in similar get up and looking just as daft. You need to be local to pull it off we thinks. A well wishing ceramony is followed by dancing around a fire, a circle is formed and and the ladies pull the guys into the middle and then proceed to take out the rope and whip the blokes! Apparently it's a cheeky dance for naughty men, and it is a good laugh.
We all get small pottery gifts when it's time to leave the village and drive the mountain road and 4400m pass to the town of Chivay. It's a long drive with freezing pee stops and arrival is after dark. Chivay is just a night stop with an early rise to see Condors in the Colca Canyon. We collect a guide, but no expected transport, so take Guss on the beautiful if somewhat precipitous drive. The canyon is the deepest in the world, but our destination lays short of that. Instead stopping at a Condor viewing point. The valley is green from the rains and cloud hangs in the valley. The best sighting, of course, happens when Lou and I are in the toilet, but we do eventually briefly see these huge birds. May to December is apparently the best time though.
We retrace some of the mountain road on the way to Arequipa in south Peru. Retaining some colonial charm the cities center piece is the Santa Catalina Content. Founded in the 16th century it's walled 2ha of colourful, spanish looking, streets allowed visitors in 1970. We take a very good guided tour learning about the fascinating completely secluded lives of the nuns. The living quarters, paid for by the large dowry required to enter, preserved in time. After the tour our guide suggests a place for local Peruvian food.
Lovers of the cute and furry may wish to skip this paragraph... for the local delicacy is cuy - guinea pig! Not fancied as an evening meal it is recommended as a lunchtime bite. Served deep fried it is flattenned, but otherwise whole, ours was male!! The limited meat is like dark chicken and the skin like pork crackling and goes well with a beer.
It's in Arequipa that we say goodbye to Emma. It's not an official section end, she tagged along for a few extra days.
Inca Country
We weren´t holding much hope of liking Cuzco as we approached from Puno. The description "Gringo Capital of South America" conjuring the wrong impressions. Thankfully then the actual Cuzco was a pleasant surprise. Yes, it has all the trappings of a major tourist centre - Tatt shops, street hawkers, fast food, Irish Bars, but the city center has retained some character, charm and subtlety combined with great independent cafes and restaurants.
Once the centre of the Inca world, Cuzco city center features Inca stonework along many streets, these now used as the basis for newer buildings. Spanish colonial features strongly too giving Cuzco the most complete old town character we´ve seen in South America this far, with the Plaza de Armas the centre piece with it´s Cathedral and Colonnades.
Of course it´s Inca the brings the gringos here and we are no exception. Our itinerary includes the Sacred Valley, a community trek and the icon of Peru that is Machu Pichu. Joining us are three guides: Hilda, Fernando and Luis.
The first stop out of Cuzco, overlooking the city is the Inca site of Sacsayhuaman. Probably a temple it has fine examples of Inca walls made of massive stone blocks cut perfectly to fit together without mortar. Next are the ruins of Pisac featuring tombs cut in the cliff face, fine terraces and the Hitching post of the Sun. The later used a in winter solstice ritual performed to keep the Sun from leaving the planet all together.
After lunch in Pisac town Louise gets a white knuckle taxi ride back to Cuzco as she is not doing the community trek. With no desire for high altitude walking she is looking forward to a few days in Cuzco. The rest of us continue on to our first camp on the trek at the community of Quisharani. We are not doing the classic Inca trail, instead a trek over four nights visiting remote Andean communities finishing by getting the train to Machu Pichu.
The trek features a very remote (we are the only ones on it) trail with three days of walking, two taking on high passes of 4400m and 4800m. It´s camping, but easy camping with pack horses and llama carrying the equipment, our stuff other than day packs and the crew setting up the tents and doing the cooking. We don´t go hungry that´s for sure. Riki and I are tent buddies again.
The mountainous landscape is sparce, but green and in that respect not too dissimilar to the highlands of Scotland, scale and altitude aside. Straw roofed stone huts adorn the valley sides and floors. Most people handle the altitude walking fine, even still there are plenty of breaks. The most breathless is the 4800 pass where drinking and walking are one or the other activities. Almost from the get go out of the first camp we have an extra walker join us, a dog appears from somewhere and follows us the entire way to our pickup point. The so named "Bob Barker' gets plenty of tip bits and rests the instant we do.
Dragoman started the trek with Andina Travel. The aim to assist the communities with improvement projects. Our first camp is at the community of Quisharani where we get a lesson in the local language of Quechua. It's even in the local school house. In the morning we get involved in varnishing some new tables until the young kids take over! After a 5 hour walking day we arrive at Cuncani. The local football side recieve new football shirts and some of us play against the team. Altitude and the lumpy muddy pitch may not be a good excuse for losing, but I'm going to use it anyway. Ok, they were better too!!
The third day is the longest walking at 8 hours and includes the highest pass finishing at the remote speadout community of Paccha. The fourth day takes us, past an Inca Tambo (travel Inn!), to our pickup in Urumbamba where we say our sad farewells to Bob Barker. We assume that he will walk back, maybe with another group. We travel to the town and Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo. The Inca ruins cling to the steep valley walls rising up from the town. Like many Inca sites they are unfinished (the Spanish cut that short) and works in progress can be viewed for an insight into the construction process.
In the morning it's an early rise to catch the train to Machu Pichu. Well, the train travels a valley to Agua Calliente where a bus traverses multiple switchbacks to the lower entrance. The landscape here is very different to our trek. Steep sided valleys and blunt cone mountains are covered with thick lush cloud forest. It's hot too, but a good day for views. Wanna Pichu is completely visible as the classic backdrop to the dramatically situated ruins of Machu Pichu. We do a good three hour tour. It great to be here, but something lacks. I begin to wonder if I should have done the classic trail and walked here.
Returning from Machu Pichu we take the train back to Ollantaytambo. Bizarrely the train staff put on a Alpacca knitware fashion show as we travel. Unexpected, but funny. We finish the day with a bus transfer back to Cuzco where we have two nights.
Once the centre of the Inca world, Cuzco city center features Inca stonework along many streets, these now used as the basis for newer buildings. Spanish colonial features strongly too giving Cuzco the most complete old town character we´ve seen in South America this far, with the Plaza de Armas the centre piece with it´s Cathedral and Colonnades.
Of course it´s Inca the brings the gringos here and we are no exception. Our itinerary includes the Sacred Valley, a community trek and the icon of Peru that is Machu Pichu. Joining us are three guides: Hilda, Fernando and Luis.
The first stop out of Cuzco, overlooking the city is the Inca site of Sacsayhuaman. Probably a temple it has fine examples of Inca walls made of massive stone blocks cut perfectly to fit together without mortar. Next are the ruins of Pisac featuring tombs cut in the cliff face, fine terraces and the Hitching post of the Sun. The later used a in winter solstice ritual performed to keep the Sun from leaving the planet all together.
After lunch in Pisac town Louise gets a white knuckle taxi ride back to Cuzco as she is not doing the community trek. With no desire for high altitude walking she is looking forward to a few days in Cuzco. The rest of us continue on to our first camp on the trek at the community of Quisharani. We are not doing the classic Inca trail, instead a trek over four nights visiting remote Andean communities finishing by getting the train to Machu Pichu.
The trek features a very remote (we are the only ones on it) trail with three days of walking, two taking on high passes of 4400m and 4800m. It´s camping, but easy camping with pack horses and llama carrying the equipment, our stuff other than day packs and the crew setting up the tents and doing the cooking. We don´t go hungry that´s for sure. Riki and I are tent buddies again.
The mountainous landscape is sparce, but green and in that respect not too dissimilar to the highlands of Scotland, scale and altitude aside. Straw roofed stone huts adorn the valley sides and floors. Most people handle the altitude walking fine, even still there are plenty of breaks. The most breathless is the 4800 pass where drinking and walking are one or the other activities. Almost from the get go out of the first camp we have an extra walker join us, a dog appears from somewhere and follows us the entire way to our pickup point. The so named "Bob Barker' gets plenty of tip bits and rests the instant we do.
Dragoman started the trek with Andina Travel. The aim to assist the communities with improvement projects. Our first camp is at the community of Quisharani where we get a lesson in the local language of Quechua. It's even in the local school house. In the morning we get involved in varnishing some new tables until the young kids take over! After a 5 hour walking day we arrive at Cuncani. The local football side recieve new football shirts and some of us play against the team. Altitude and the lumpy muddy pitch may not be a good excuse for losing, but I'm going to use it anyway. Ok, they were better too!!
The third day is the longest walking at 8 hours and includes the highest pass finishing at the remote speadout community of Paccha. The fourth day takes us, past an Inca Tambo (travel Inn!), to our pickup in Urumbamba where we say our sad farewells to Bob Barker. We assume that he will walk back, maybe with another group. We travel to the town and Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo. The Inca ruins cling to the steep valley walls rising up from the town. Like many Inca sites they are unfinished (the Spanish cut that short) and works in progress can be viewed for an insight into the construction process.
In the morning it's an early rise to catch the train to Machu Pichu. Well, the train travels a valley to Agua Calliente where a bus traverses multiple switchbacks to the lower entrance. The landscape here is very different to our trek. Steep sided valleys and blunt cone mountains are covered with thick lush cloud forest. It's hot too, but a good day for views. Wanna Pichu is completely visible as the classic backdrop to the dramatically situated ruins of Machu Pichu. We do a good three hour tour. It great to be here, but something lacks. I begin to wonder if I should have done the classic trail and walked here.
Returning from Machu Pichu we take the train back to Ollantaytambo. Bizarrely the train staff put on a Alpacca knitware fashion show as we travel. Unexpected, but funny. We finish the day with a bus transfer back to Cuzco where we have two nights.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Update
Arrived in Belize yesterday.
As for the story, I have done loads of it on my phone, but have been unable to send them since arriving in Central America. In about ten days hopefully a bunch will appear. I'll keep doing the map though.
As for the story, I have done loads of it on my phone, but have been unable to send them since arriving in Central America. In about ten days hopefully a bunch will appear. I'll keep doing the map though.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Central America Begins
Two days ago we arrived in Panama City to begin the Central America leg of our trip. There is a new map in the style of the Europe one. The journey will be filled in when we do it. There is no definite plan yet, just a rough one in our minds. As long as we are in Belize in under four weeks that is.
There is a big chunk of South America missing from the blog of course. I will endeavour to complete the blanks very soon and hopefully get up to date by the time the travels are finished. Oh, and maybe some photos :-)
There is a big chunk of South America missing from the blog of course. I will endeavour to complete the blanks very soon and hopefully get up to date by the time the travels are finished. Oh, and maybe some photos :-)
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Update
Been working on getting the Blog up to date, but for now some current location info! Lou and I are still on the move and yesterday entered Ecuador. Currently in the town of Cuenca.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Lake Titikaka
Leaving La Paz we are heading North East to our final destination in Bolivia. We are staying high all the way to the 3800m Lake Titicaca and the town of Copacabana. To get there we must cross a narrow part of the lake. The vessel looks like nothing more than a wooden platform with a tiny outboard. Twenty tons of Guss drive on and the slow crossing begins. We take a regular boat and watch from the shore. Apparently there is an Exodus overland truck at the bottom here. Riki has drawn the short straw, but he and Guss make it no worries.
There is not much happening in Copacabana it's shops strangely dominated by snack stalls in turn dominated by Pringles. After a ropey lunch we veg out in the hotel room watching TV and eating snacks. This is not something we have done in South America so far. It's quite nice actually, until ants infest our Toblerone!!
We are here to visit the Isla del Sol. The mythical birthplace of the Inca. It's a slow boat to the Island where a guide takes us round the beautiful coastal trail stopping along the way to see the sacrifical table, some ruins and the Puma Rock- the meaning of Titicaca and mucho imagination required.
Returning to town, bellies rumbling, we head for the shore side fish shacks. A woman entices us in with a tray of the raw specialty, trout. It looked good and didn't stink and, served expertly filleted and fried in garlic, was very nice. Even for a non fish lover like myself. From there we head to a cool bar where we are slowly joined by the rest of the gang. It's our last night in Bolivia, so Bolivianos must be spent. Nick exclaims excitedly to the rest of team Canada that they have the "Perfect financial situation" - exactly enough for a Tequila shot and beer each!! Weirdly, but just as well, the hotel has an 11pm curfew. It's an early start. Bolivia has been good. Much less western and less touristy with traditional character.
Staying by the lake we cross the next morning into Peru hitting the town of Puna around lunchtime. We have little time to get money and food before heading out onto the lake once more. This time to the well known floating reed islands. It's a short journey. It used to be longer, but the islands were moved closer to Puna for the benefit of tourism. It's likely the islands' sole purpose will be tourism before long. Even still it's a pleasant excursion with a light hearted lesson on the islands and a trip on a reed catamaran. A couple of guys have a go at rowing, but look pained compared to the local woman and boy!
There is not much happening in Copacabana it's shops strangely dominated by snack stalls in turn dominated by Pringles. After a ropey lunch we veg out in the hotel room watching TV and eating snacks. This is not something we have done in South America so far. It's quite nice actually, until ants infest our Toblerone!!
We are here to visit the Isla del Sol. The mythical birthplace of the Inca. It's a slow boat to the Island where a guide takes us round the beautiful coastal trail stopping along the way to see the sacrifical table, some ruins and the Puma Rock- the meaning of Titicaca and mucho imagination required.
Returning to town, bellies rumbling, we head for the shore side fish shacks. A woman entices us in with a tray of the raw specialty, trout. It looked good and didn't stink and, served expertly filleted and fried in garlic, was very nice. Even for a non fish lover like myself. From there we head to a cool bar where we are slowly joined by the rest of the gang. It's our last night in Bolivia, so Bolivianos must be spent. Nick exclaims excitedly to the rest of team Canada that they have the "Perfect financial situation" - exactly enough for a Tequila shot and beer each!! Weirdly, but just as well, the hotel has an 11pm curfew. It's an early start. Bolivia has been good. Much less western and less touristy with traditional character.
Staying by the lake we cross the next morning into Peru hitting the town of Puna around lunchtime. We have little time to get money and food before heading out onto the lake once more. This time to the well known floating reed islands. It's a short journey. It used to be longer, but the islands were moved closer to Puna for the benefit of tourism. It's likely the islands' sole purpose will be tourism before long. Even still it's a pleasant excursion with a light hearted lesson on the islands and a trip on a reed catamaran. A couple of guys have a go at rowing, but look pained compared to the local woman and boy!
La Paz
Much to the relief of everyone the road from Potosi to La Paz is tar sealed. A small landslide over the road early on gets us thinking "Here we go", but it's the only cause of concern on the otherwise scenic drive, and as always on the Altiplano, no matter how high the pass we are always ringed by higher peaks in the distance.
The empty countryside of the Altiplano ends almost instantly as a diversion takes us into the jammed streets of El Alto, the upper suburb of La Paz. It takes Riki a while to negotiate the traffic finally breaking through to the road taking us down into the centre.
Occupying a bowl descending 1000m to it's deepest point, La Paz is a chaotic visual assault. So this is where the Bolivian people are! Colonial buildings sit amongst random 'new', but action is at street level. Women in their layered traditional dress, street markets lining almost every street and Plaza, you name it's available, the hum punctuated be the shouts of collectivo conductors calling out their routes. It's fun to stroll the streets rather than hit the sights. We do visit the Coca museum. A few boards detailing traditional use as well as it's use in pharmaceuticals and the soft drink Coca-Cola. It's our wedding anniversary here and we celebrate with a candle lit dinner, the only light available, in a great old building adorned with a mash of antiques. Bolivia has pleasantly surprised on the dining front.
Just outside of La Paz beginning at the 4660m La Cumbre pass is the La Cumbre road leading to the town of Coroico. Once officially the worlds most dangerous road it features 63km of road over a drop in altitude of 3400m most of which is dirt/gravel clinging to the mountain side. Oh yeah, lets not forget the occasional 800m vertical drops down the sides! How would you travel this road? 63km of downhill... by mountain bike of course!! Riki, Craig, Tom, Hugo, Nora and myself choose to do just that and sign our lives away with Gravity Assisted. Reportedly the best company operating the run. This is not something to do with a dodgy operator. They kit us out with Kona full suspension bikes complete with hydraulic disk breaks. Craig has been talking about this since joining the tour. It's snowing at the pass so we have to start lower down the top tarred section. We layer up, but are soon stripping layers off as we descend into the subtropical climate. It's a fun and beautiful ride. Our Swedish guide sets a moderate pace followed closely by Craig, me, another Kiwi guy then Riki. There are plenty of stops. On the third last section the guide really lets rip and we fly down for the most fun of the day, cornering quick and overtaking other riders and support vans. Having faith in the good bikes really allowed fun to be had. Lunch at the end is at a wildlife sanctuary where we relax with a beer and buffet, watch the photos, receive the T-Shirt and laugh at a monkey chasing a cat! The bus takes us back up the same road, there is not much traffic these days, but we really appreciate what we just did.
Louise takes a tour of the Moon valley which she describes as a small Bryce Canyon. Back in La Paz a couple tries the old 'fake Undercover Policeman scam' on her. A 'tourist' asks Lou to take a picture at which point the 'cop' shows up and asks to see passports and money. The 'tourist' complies of course. Lou refuses, drops the camera in the tourists bag and walks away without chase. Scam foiled!
That night we have a welcome / leaving dinner. Leaving is Tom and Hugo. Joining is Emma, Brianny, Bec, Yana, 'other' Louise and Julian from England.
The empty countryside of the Altiplano ends almost instantly as a diversion takes us into the jammed streets of El Alto, the upper suburb of La Paz. It takes Riki a while to negotiate the traffic finally breaking through to the road taking us down into the centre.
Occupying a bowl descending 1000m to it's deepest point, La Paz is a chaotic visual assault. So this is where the Bolivian people are! Colonial buildings sit amongst random 'new', but action is at street level. Women in their layered traditional dress, street markets lining almost every street and Plaza, you name it's available, the hum punctuated be the shouts of collectivo conductors calling out their routes. It's fun to stroll the streets rather than hit the sights. We do visit the Coca museum. A few boards detailing traditional use as well as it's use in pharmaceuticals and the soft drink Coca-Cola. It's our wedding anniversary here and we celebrate with a candle lit dinner, the only light available, in a great old building adorned with a mash of antiques. Bolivia has pleasantly surprised on the dining front.
Just outside of La Paz beginning at the 4660m La Cumbre pass is the La Cumbre road leading to the town of Coroico. Once officially the worlds most dangerous road it features 63km of road over a drop in altitude of 3400m most of which is dirt/gravel clinging to the mountain side. Oh yeah, lets not forget the occasional 800m vertical drops down the sides! How would you travel this road? 63km of downhill... by mountain bike of course!! Riki, Craig, Tom, Hugo, Nora and myself choose to do just that and sign our lives away with Gravity Assisted. Reportedly the best company operating the run. This is not something to do with a dodgy operator. They kit us out with Kona full suspension bikes complete with hydraulic disk breaks. Craig has been talking about this since joining the tour. It's snowing at the pass so we have to start lower down the top tarred section. We layer up, but are soon stripping layers off as we descend into the subtropical climate. It's a fun and beautiful ride. Our Swedish guide sets a moderate pace followed closely by Craig, me, another Kiwi guy then Riki. There are plenty of stops. On the third last section the guide really lets rip and we fly down for the most fun of the day, cornering quick and overtaking other riders and support vans. Having faith in the good bikes really allowed fun to be had. Lunch at the end is at a wildlife sanctuary where we relax with a beer and buffet, watch the photos, receive the T-Shirt and laugh at a monkey chasing a cat! The bus takes us back up the same road, there is not much traffic these days, but we really appreciate what we just did.
Louise takes a tour of the Moon valley which she describes as a small Bryce Canyon. Back in La Paz a couple tries the old 'fake Undercover Policeman scam' on her. A 'tourist' asks Lou to take a picture at which point the 'cop' shows up and asks to see passports and money. The 'tourist' complies of course. Lou refuses, drops the camera in the tourists bag and walks away without chase. Scam foiled!
That night we have a welcome / leaving dinner. Leaving is Tom and Hugo. Joining is Emma, Brianny, Bec, Yana, 'other' Louise and Julian from England.
A Silver Lining - Part 2
After the Mint tour we in for a catch up coffee with Dave. We send Dave and co to San Francisco while Uli, Nora, Lou and I in up the cathedral tower for an alternative view of the city. San Fran is slightly better, but the guide here is chatty and a good laugh. If recommends a place next door for a beer to watch the sunset, so we do just that. The Mirador Cafe has a small roof terrace accessed by a narrow stone stairway and a trapdoor! We watch the sun setting and the traffic snarling. Collectivos (minibuses that do a set route) seem like 90% of the traffic. One behind another tails up the street. Surely it must be quicker to walk.
Potosi has been a pleasant surprise after not knowing what to expect and possibly not having high hopes.
Potosi has been a pleasant surprise after not knowing what to expect and possibly not having high hopes.
A Silver Lining
Post awesome American breakfast we mount up on Guss and take to the road. Potosi is the destination and it's not far as the crow flies, but the road is anything but straight. The winding road starts ok but soon deteriorates into a mud track. Work is going on building what looks like a new road, with much machinery lining the way. In places the new road looks like it has washed away. We pull an estate car from a muddy ford. Relief from the twisting comes in the shape of chicken sandwiches in a layby. Local buses hoot as they pass. The road is climbing now, precipitous drops growing on the outside edge. It's a tight squeeze to pass oncoming vehicles. Despite all this the mountain and plains scenery remains beautiful.
Suddenly the truck is breaking, wheels locked on the mud, and sliding towards the edge. I see the drop coming. I stand to move away from the window. It's a reaction, there is nowhere to go. Louise has a full view out the front. She has seen the digger arm swing out leaving Riki no choice but to break. We don't connect, but slide towards the cliff. "Everyone get out", is the command from the front. Later we find out Craig uses the window. We move away nervously watching the truck. The front wheel just inches from the drop only soft mud seemingly preventing the fall. Riki and Renee must step up and save Guss. We can only watch. A tow rope is connected to the very same digger. First the cable comes loose, second time the wheel ploughs closer to the edge. Riki is in the cab. A third attempt and Guss moves away and into the middle of the narrow road. Relief, applause, but we must get back on. Waiting cars impatiently hoot! They are ignored. A truck coming the other way can't wait and attempts to pass on the inside mud and gets bogged. We drive past, slowly. It's a long, long, long drive the remaining distance to Potosi. Jokey chat tries to break the tension.
The first welcome sight is a tar sealed road, but the way is still high and winding. Eventually arrival and a small basic hotel room that has never seemed so welcoming. Someone prayed and we made it to Jeruselem. Well, the Hotel Jeruselem anyway!!
Potosi is known for it's silver mine which is evident in the mountain that dominates the city's backdrop. Mined, even before the Spanish took control and founded the city in 1545, it is now run by a co-operative. Apparently working conditions little changed. A tour of the claustrophobic mine shafts can be taken. Lou doesn't do 'pot holeing' and I'm not in the mood for any more excitement, so we decide to simply potter about Potosi.
First up (that's 4060m.a.s.l up by the way!) is the Plaza 10 de Novembre. Many square/street names use dates for whatever reason in South America and this one features some colonial architecture and large Cathedral frontage. A side street from the Plaza leads to the church and monastery of San Francisco. Work is underway on the main entrance, but having read there is a good view from the tower we poke our heads into a nondescript side entrance. A guard/policewoman greets us and we ask about the tower. She takes us through the church and into an office labelled Secretary where a woman sits. She tells us the tower is 15 Bolivianos (there is about 9-10 to the pound) or the 40 minute tour, including the tower, is 15 Bolivianos! We go for the tour. We pay and ask when it begins. "Now" is the reply as she gets up, walks out of the office, beckons us to follow, stops just outside, asks if we speak spanish and to our negative response simply begins the tour in English! Thus starts our private tour of the monastery, church, catacombs featuring a chest full of bones and the highlight - the roof view. A series of steps leads, not to the tower, but to the many domed rooftop where a superb 360 view of the city and surrounding mountains awaits. Once down she thanks us for taking the tour and ushers us out the the main door. We avoid the workmen and stroll back to the plaza, around a bit, to a diner for lunch, before our date with an english speaking tour of the Casa Nacional de Moneda or Mint to you and I. Also taking the tour is, that's right, Dave, having made it to Potosi on the local bus without major incident. Founded in 1572 by the Spanish to mint coins from the local silver it was used until the 1930s. Various machines from donkey driven silver presses to electric equivalents are present. After independence Bolivian coins were still made here with the amount of silver per coin dramaticaly reducing over the years. The currency name also changed from Sueldos to Bolivianos to pesos and back to the current Bolivianos. It's ironic, given the vast quantities of coins once shipped to Spain, that Spain now makes Bolivian coins! Not all the coins made it to Spain however. A model shows a ship that sank off the coast of Florida. It was salvaged by an American. Two coins and one ingot were all that were donated to this museum. A fact that seemed to grate on the guide!
Suddenly the truck is breaking, wheels locked on the mud, and sliding towards the edge. I see the drop coming. I stand to move away from the window. It's a reaction, there is nowhere to go. Louise has a full view out the front. She has seen the digger arm swing out leaving Riki no choice but to break. We don't connect, but slide towards the cliff. "Everyone get out", is the command from the front. Later we find out Craig uses the window. We move away nervously watching the truck. The front wheel just inches from the drop only soft mud seemingly preventing the fall. Riki and Renee must step up and save Guss. We can only watch. A tow rope is connected to the very same digger. First the cable comes loose, second time the wheel ploughs closer to the edge. Riki is in the cab. A third attempt and Guss moves away and into the middle of the narrow road. Relief, applause, but we must get back on. Waiting cars impatiently hoot! They are ignored. A truck coming the other way can't wait and attempts to pass on the inside mud and gets bogged. We drive past, slowly. It's a long, long, long drive the remaining distance to Potosi. Jokey chat tries to break the tension.
The first welcome sight is a tar sealed road, but the way is still high and winding. Eventually arrival and a small basic hotel room that has never seemed so welcoming. Someone prayed and we made it to Jeruselem. Well, the Hotel Jeruselem anyway!!
Potosi is known for it's silver mine which is evident in the mountain that dominates the city's backdrop. Mined, even before the Spanish took control and founded the city in 1545, it is now run by a co-operative. Apparently working conditions little changed. A tour of the claustrophobic mine shafts can be taken. Lou doesn't do 'pot holeing' and I'm not in the mood for any more excitement, so we decide to simply potter about Potosi.
First up (that's 4060m.a.s.l up by the way!) is the Plaza 10 de Novembre. Many square/street names use dates for whatever reason in South America and this one features some colonial architecture and large Cathedral frontage. A side street from the Plaza leads to the church and monastery of San Francisco. Work is underway on the main entrance, but having read there is a good view from the tower we poke our heads into a nondescript side entrance. A guard/policewoman greets us and we ask about the tower. She takes us through the church and into an office labelled Secretary where a woman sits. She tells us the tower is 15 Bolivianos (there is about 9-10 to the pound) or the 40 minute tour, including the tower, is 15 Bolivianos! We go for the tour. We pay and ask when it begins. "Now" is the reply as she gets up, walks out of the office, beckons us to follow, stops just outside, asks if we speak spanish and to our negative response simply begins the tour in English! Thus starts our private tour of the monastery, church, catacombs featuring a chest full of bones and the highlight - the roof view. A series of steps leads, not to the tower, but to the many domed rooftop where a superb 360 view of the city and surrounding mountains awaits. Once down she thanks us for taking the tour and ushers us out the the main door. We avoid the workmen and stroll back to the plaza, around a bit, to a diner for lunch, before our date with an english speaking tour of the Casa Nacional de Moneda or Mint to you and I. Also taking the tour is, that's right, Dave, having made it to Potosi on the local bus without major incident. Founded in 1572 by the Spanish to mint coins from the local silver it was used until the 1930s. Various machines from donkey driven silver presses to electric equivalents are present. After independence Bolivian coins were still made here with the amount of silver per coin dramaticaly reducing over the years. The currency name also changed from Sueldos to Bolivianos to pesos and back to the current Bolivianos. It's ironic, given the vast quantities of coins once shipped to Spain, that Spain now makes Bolivian coins! Not all the coins made it to Spain however. A model shows a ship that sank off the coast of Florida. It was salvaged by an American. Two coins and one ingot were all that were donated to this museum. A fact that seemed to grate on the guide!
Monday, 23 March 2009
Salar de Uyuni
As good a reason the pizza is for visiting Uyuni the star attraction is most definitely the Salar de Uyuni. The highest and largest salt flats in the world. We can't take the truck onto the flats for safety reasons, so we load up into three 4x4s and take to the, well, roads. Four wheel drives are not just a luxury around here and are practically required for simply leaving the town.
The brown soon turns to white which stretches away into the distance. The outskirts of the flats are worked by salt collectors, their cone shaped piles of salt waiting for transport to the local processing workshop. We move further in, glass-like standing water from the last nights rain reflects the blue and white sky as we drive past. It is vast out here. The white stretches unbroken to the distant mountains and sometimes to the sky. There is a fascinating beauty to the intense white salt and the blue sky now above us.
The continuous flat white allows for some fun with tricks of perspective photography. A person standing a distance away appears small rather than behind an object or person in the foreground. We have fun experimenting with various props and poses with varying results. After this we drive still further to an 'island' covered Cactii that grow so slowly a few meters takes hundreds of years. The Isla del Pescado is a small old coral reef and is our spot for lunch as well as a viewpoint over the surrounding flats. In the distance dark clouds and rain obscure the horizon and it is this rain we drive into on the way back. The land and sky blur into one and we are now driving into the grey, our faith firmly in the hands of the driver. There are stories of vehicles flipping out here. We make it off the salt without incident stopping along the way at a hotel made of salt. Oddly it's here we pick up three lost travellers looking to get back to Uyuni. Although it turns out they are travel 'know it alls' chancing for a free lift after only taking a one way bus ride! This prompts Renee to collect money from them at their drop off and puts it towards the drivers' tips. We have one more stop before pizza, sorry, arriving back at the hotel. This is a train 'graveyard' or dumping ground for old steam locomotives depending on your point of view! It's fun to climb on them and take a few pictures.
Back at the hotel we have pizza and Riki puts together a slideshow of the funny pictures of the day. The restaurant has great examples on the walls. Dave, Nev and their tour group are in the restaurant, so we have a catch up and luckily the girl who hit her head is ok. Dave is also travelling to the town of Potosi in the morning!
The brown soon turns to white which stretches away into the distance. The outskirts of the flats are worked by salt collectors, their cone shaped piles of salt waiting for transport to the local processing workshop. We move further in, glass-like standing water from the last nights rain reflects the blue and white sky as we drive past. It is vast out here. The white stretches unbroken to the distant mountains and sometimes to the sky. There is a fascinating beauty to the intense white salt and the blue sky now above us.
The continuous flat white allows for some fun with tricks of perspective photography. A person standing a distance away appears small rather than behind an object or person in the foreground. We have fun experimenting with various props and poses with varying results. After this we drive still further to an 'island' covered Cactii that grow so slowly a few meters takes hundreds of years. The Isla del Pescado is a small old coral reef and is our spot for lunch as well as a viewpoint over the surrounding flats. In the distance dark clouds and rain obscure the horizon and it is this rain we drive into on the way back. The land and sky blur into one and we are now driving into the grey, our faith firmly in the hands of the driver. There are stories of vehicles flipping out here. We make it off the salt without incident stopping along the way at a hotel made of salt. Oddly it's here we pick up three lost travellers looking to get back to Uyuni. Although it turns out they are travel 'know it alls' chancing for a free lift after only taking a one way bus ride! This prompts Renee to collect money from them at their drop off and puts it towards the drivers' tips. We have one more stop before pizza, sorry, arriving back at the hotel. This is a train 'graveyard' or dumping ground for old steam locomotives depending on your point of view! It's fun to climb on them and take a few pictures.
Back at the hotel we have pizza and Riki puts together a slideshow of the funny pictures of the day. The restaurant has great examples on the walls. Dave, Nev and their tour group are in the restaurant, so we have a catch up and luckily the girl who hit her head is ok. Dave is also travelling to the town of Potosi in the morning!
Thursday, 12 March 2009
On to the Bolivian Altiplano
We leave Chile at border control on the outskirts of San Pedro, but the tar-sealed road continues for 40km climbing 2000m up onto the Altiplano, imposing peaks rising from the brown earth creating the horizon on both sides. Leaving the tar it's a short dirt road to the remotest border post yet. A solitary square building 4500m above sea level with nothing but the mountains for company and the blind side of a bus shell for a toilet. One wonders who you need to piss-off to get posted here! For us though the remoteness is fantastic and the start of a new country to explore. It's here also that we pick up Bralio, an experienced Bolivian guide who will take us across the Altiplano to the town of Uyuni. Further down the road a ranger station marks the Begining of Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa, 714000ha of outstanding natural beauty. Remote, little travelled only by 4x4 tours and on a multitude of un-signed tracks, it's easy to get lost and stranded out here. Hence the guide. Now this IS overlanding! Our first stops are the opaque waters of Laguna Blanco and the pale green waters of Laguna Verde both watched over by the 5868m Volcan Licancabur. The waters of Verde never freeze despite ice cold winters and contains no life due to the high concentration of substances including arsenic. It's nice to look at though. We meet Dave and Nev (and not for the last time this day) here on their tour to Uyuni. Climbing again we reach the 4900m geysers of Sol de Manana. A small patch of holes containing bubbling mud. Altitude is starting to make people feel pretty groggy, but not as bad as a girl on Dave's tour who faints, the fall gashing her head. Lucky we are there as the Bolivian tour carries no first aid kit!!
It's higher still for us as we stop for a toilet break at a customs office! The sign proclaiming the height as 5020 meters above see level. This is the highest point we'll reach today we start to descend to our accomodation at 4400m. Along the way we stop at Laguna Colorado, a beautiful white rimmed lake of pastel pinks and blues, flamingos feeding in the shallows. Sadly the lake doesn't gain full appreciation with the altitude still affecting most. Louise is feeling quite bad here, but it's the severely bumpy final drop into the tiny village of Villa Del Mar, where we are staying, that makes me feel awful. Lou and I go straight for a lie down heads pounding and stomachs churning. Pain killers and a specially brewed Coca tea drink later and we're all feeling much better in time for food. Even with a patchy nights sleep we feel much better in the morning and set off towards Uyuni on a thankfully improved road, which takes us first to erroded rock formations where Bralio shows us 'things' in the rocks and some local Flora. Everyone has fun scrambling on the rocks in the fine weather happy for feeling better I suggest.
Progressing on towards Uyuni some plains become wet and green. It's here we start to see grazing Llama and Alpaca. Some stare at the truck as we pass with expressions suggesting there is not much rattling around inside their heads. Some panic bolt at the last minute as if an approaching 20 ton truck is somehow a surprise!
These parts are rich in silver and the Bolivian goverment, lacking the resources themselves, contracted a North American company to run the mining operations. We stop in the town of San Christobal. In it's new location. The whole town and it's people were moved due proximity to a big mine, including the 17th century church which was rebuilt stone for stone.
We pull into Uyuni in good weather, but that shortly turns to heavy rain. Lucky then we are staying in a nice hotel with a funky restaurant which sells great pizza. Definitely the best in South America so far. The place is run by an American man married to a Bolivian woman combining the best of both worlds. No need for getting wet outside.
It's higher still for us as we stop for a toilet break at a customs office! The sign proclaiming the height as 5020 meters above see level. This is the highest point we'll reach today we start to descend to our accomodation at 4400m. Along the way we stop at Laguna Colorado, a beautiful white rimmed lake of pastel pinks and blues, flamingos feeding in the shallows. Sadly the lake doesn't gain full appreciation with the altitude still affecting most. Louise is feeling quite bad here, but it's the severely bumpy final drop into the tiny village of Villa Del Mar, where we are staying, that makes me feel awful. Lou and I go straight for a lie down heads pounding and stomachs churning. Pain killers and a specially brewed Coca tea drink later and we're all feeling much better in time for food. Even with a patchy nights sleep we feel much better in the morning and set off towards Uyuni on a thankfully improved road, which takes us first to erroded rock formations where Bralio shows us 'things' in the rocks and some local Flora. Everyone has fun scrambling on the rocks in the fine weather happy for feeling better I suggest.
Progressing on towards Uyuni some plains become wet and green. It's here we start to see grazing Llama and Alpaca. Some stare at the truck as we pass with expressions suggesting there is not much rattling around inside their heads. Some panic bolt at the last minute as if an approaching 20 ton truck is somehow a surprise!
These parts are rich in silver and the Bolivian goverment, lacking the resources themselves, contracted a North American company to run the mining operations. We stop in the town of San Christobal. In it's new location. The whole town and it's people were moved due proximity to a big mine, including the 17th century church which was rebuilt stone for stone.
We pull into Uyuni in good weather, but that shortly turns to heavy rain. Lucky then we are staying in a nice hotel with a funky restaurant which sells great pizza. Definitely the best in South America so far. The place is run by an American man married to a Bolivian woman combining the best of both worlds. No need for getting wet outside.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
The Atacama
We are in the Atacama desert now. The driest in the world. The barren, rocky landscape certainly appears to testify to this. Breaking the wilderness is the Hand in the Desert. Rising out of the dust and rock at 1100m it is the creation of a local Antofagasta artist and is a funky distraction along the Pan American highway, stopping for photos with the group and truck.
San Pedro de Atacama could be in a different country. Where the rest of Chile (and Argentina) are very western, here the people are much more Spanish-Native and the buildings square mud brick of the Adobe style. The town has a funky quaint vibe with some stylishly characterful eateries. San Pedro lies at 2500m and is a base for multiple activities and trips. The trip we do is to the El Tatio Geyser Fields. The highest in the world at 4300m and the 3rd largest in the world. The geysers are most active at sunrise so it's an early start from San Pedro for the two hour, 90km journey over a bad road. The scenery at the geysers is amazing. The redish brown crust of the large plain, stained and streaked silver and green by mineral deposits, is surrounded by the still higher peaks of mountains and volcanoes. Punctuated by many bubbling craters of water and mud, the steam rises into the cold morning air. On cue the main geyser sends hissing steaming water a couple of meters into the air. This is our first taste of the high altitude that is to come in Bolivia. Everyone is fine aside from shortness of breath. We set off to marked sights at our normal quick walking pace only to ease off almost immediately, lungs quickly reminding us about the thin air. We also bump into Canadian Dave who has travelled independently with Nev to San Pedro.
After a few hours break back at the campsite in San Pedro we head off in the truck to Valle de la Luna (Moon valley), named for it's supposed likeness to the surface of The Moon. If this is the case then book with NASA now for it is a beautiful place of pale yellow, brown and red erroded rock bridged by sand dunes. We plan to eat using the truck kitchen before the recommended dune top sunset. We set up in the required carpark below thee dune, but get told to move on for apparently taking up too much room! The mexican wraps are great, but the delay means we miss some great light on the rocks. The sunset still delivers in spades mind you. The landscape appearing subtlely illuminated in the afterglow.
San Pedro de Atacama could be in a different country. Where the rest of Chile (and Argentina) are very western, here the people are much more Spanish-Native and the buildings square mud brick of the Adobe style. The town has a funky quaint vibe with some stylishly characterful eateries. San Pedro lies at 2500m and is a base for multiple activities and trips. The trip we do is to the El Tatio Geyser Fields. The highest in the world at 4300m and the 3rd largest in the world. The geysers are most active at sunrise so it's an early start from San Pedro for the two hour, 90km journey over a bad road. The scenery at the geysers is amazing. The redish brown crust of the large plain, stained and streaked silver and green by mineral deposits, is surrounded by the still higher peaks of mountains and volcanoes. Punctuated by many bubbling craters of water and mud, the steam rises into the cold morning air. On cue the main geyser sends hissing steaming water a couple of meters into the air. This is our first taste of the high altitude that is to come in Bolivia. Everyone is fine aside from shortness of breath. We set off to marked sights at our normal quick walking pace only to ease off almost immediately, lungs quickly reminding us about the thin air. We also bump into Canadian Dave who has travelled independently with Nev to San Pedro.
After a few hours break back at the campsite in San Pedro we head off in the truck to Valle de la Luna (Moon valley), named for it's supposed likeness to the surface of The Moon. If this is the case then book with NASA now for it is a beautiful place of pale yellow, brown and red erroded rock bridged by sand dunes. We plan to eat using the truck kitchen before the recommended dune top sunset. We set up in the required carpark below thee dune, but get told to move on for apparently taking up too much room! The mexican wraps are great, but the delay means we miss some great light on the rocks. The sunset still delivers in spades mind you. The landscape appearing subtlely illuminated in the afterglow.
North from Santiago
A new leg of the tour starts in Santiago finishing in La Paz, Bolivia. Here we say goodbye to: Jordy and Anna, Dave and Aissa, David, Rob, Rosanna, Sarah, Rebecca, Karen and Neville. And we say hello to: James, Justin, Nick and Will from Canada; Dave, Hugo and Tom from England; Nora from The Netherlands.
Leaving Santiago on the 21st Feb we head west towards the coast and the port town of Valparaiso, but this is also Chilean wine country so we stop by a winery on the way for some tasting. It's an organic estate producing mostly white and has a neat method of pest control. A particular bug climbs the vine puncturing the stem which can allow fungus to grow. They coat the stem base with a homemade paste which acts like a glue that the bugs stick to. They then run chickens up the row which get a meal out of the stuck bugs!
Historically a major port town, Valparaiso has since fallen into decline for various reasons including the opening of the Panama canal. It's still a working port and navy base however. Covering a series of hills rising from the ocean, the city is a seemingly ramshackle collection of streets with varying house styles in varying colours and states of repair. The city organises itself into three zones representing the lower coast side, mid level hills and the higher reaches. Some historic late 19th century neighbourhoods lie in the mid level and are reached using steep short Ascensor (funicular) runs that don't appear to have changed since construction. Think garden shed on rails, complete with creaky wooden floorboards! The fittingly bohemian hostel throws a barbeque out on the street. With no backyard this is common practice and an experience enjoyed by all.
Further up the coast we hit the town of La Serena. We don't see much of the town as we camp at the beach 3km out of the centre. We really just have an easy day here although unfortunately the volleyball courts we see on the beach coming in are not there the following afternoon. In the evening we take a tour to a nearby observatory climbing into the hills of the Elqui valley. The region is a major worldwide centre for astronomy owing to the clear skies and altitude. We are over 2000m at the observatory. It's not in use other than for tours, but it's still worth the visit for the interesting facts about the night sky delivered by the knowledgable and humourous guide.
The Elqui valley is also a major Chilean centre for the producting of Pisco. This is the national alcoholic beverage, with Pisco Sour the national cocktail. It's Pisco mixed with lemon, sugar and sometimes beaten egg whites for a frothy head. Peru also claims the same and there rivalry between the two countries as to which is better. We detour to the Capel distillery for a tour and tasting with the toffee blend proving popular.
Moving on up and staying with the coast we hit the popular Chilean beach resort of Bahia Inglesa. The camp site is an extension of the beach. Sand does get everywhere, but makes a great surface to camp on. Riki is a guitar player and has a guitar with him. He seems like the master of camp fire singalongs. Team Canada, as the Canadians are known, are also musiciains and play together at home. It used to be Death Metal, but has since switched to Prog/Jazz Fusion! Now they like nothing more than to burst into falseto harmonies, to comic effect!! The guitar and some beers are thus taken to the beach, only to discover that it stinks of sewerage! Overpoweringly so.
In the light of day there is no evidence of this, but noone has any desire to go swimming any more! It's not a beach that lives up to it's hype anyway. Not a problem as the campsite has a volleyball court taking care of most of the groups afternoon. Louise goes for a stroll along the shore to the village finding much better bays and locals enjoying the sea. We have a big drive to The village of San Pedro on the Bolivian border, so to break up the drive we leave after supper and put in some miles, bush camping under fantastic clear skies.
Leaving Santiago on the 21st Feb we head west towards the coast and the port town of Valparaiso, but this is also Chilean wine country so we stop by a winery on the way for some tasting. It's an organic estate producing mostly white and has a neat method of pest control. A particular bug climbs the vine puncturing the stem which can allow fungus to grow. They coat the stem base with a homemade paste which acts like a glue that the bugs stick to. They then run chickens up the row which get a meal out of the stuck bugs!
Historically a major port town, Valparaiso has since fallen into decline for various reasons including the opening of the Panama canal. It's still a working port and navy base however. Covering a series of hills rising from the ocean, the city is a seemingly ramshackle collection of streets with varying house styles in varying colours and states of repair. The city organises itself into three zones representing the lower coast side, mid level hills and the higher reaches. Some historic late 19th century neighbourhoods lie in the mid level and are reached using steep short Ascensor (funicular) runs that don't appear to have changed since construction. Think garden shed on rails, complete with creaky wooden floorboards! The fittingly bohemian hostel throws a barbeque out on the street. With no backyard this is common practice and an experience enjoyed by all.
Further up the coast we hit the town of La Serena. We don't see much of the town as we camp at the beach 3km out of the centre. We really just have an easy day here although unfortunately the volleyball courts we see on the beach coming in are not there the following afternoon. In the evening we take a tour to a nearby observatory climbing into the hills of the Elqui valley. The region is a major worldwide centre for astronomy owing to the clear skies and altitude. We are over 2000m at the observatory. It's not in use other than for tours, but it's still worth the visit for the interesting facts about the night sky delivered by the knowledgable and humourous guide.
The Elqui valley is also a major Chilean centre for the producting of Pisco. This is the national alcoholic beverage, with Pisco Sour the national cocktail. It's Pisco mixed with lemon, sugar and sometimes beaten egg whites for a frothy head. Peru also claims the same and there rivalry between the two countries as to which is better. We detour to the Capel distillery for a tour and tasting with the toffee blend proving popular.
Moving on up and staying with the coast we hit the popular Chilean beach resort of Bahia Inglesa. The camp site is an extension of the beach. Sand does get everywhere, but makes a great surface to camp on. Riki is a guitar player and has a guitar with him. He seems like the master of camp fire singalongs. Team Canada, as the Canadians are known, are also musiciains and play together at home. It used to be Death Metal, but has since switched to Prog/Jazz Fusion! Now they like nothing more than to burst into falseto harmonies, to comic effect!! The guitar and some beers are thus taken to the beach, only to discover that it stinks of sewerage! Overpoweringly so.
In the light of day there is no evidence of this, but noone has any desire to go swimming any more! It's not a beach that lives up to it's hype anyway. Not a problem as the campsite has a volleyball court taking care of most of the groups afternoon. Louise goes for a stroll along the shore to the village finding much better bays and locals enjoying the sea. We have a big drive to The village of San Pedro on the Bolivian border, so to break up the drive we leave after supper and put in some miles, bush camping under fantastic clear skies.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Update
Today we are moving up into Bolivia. We'll be travelling high up onto the Altiplano reaching heights of 4900 meters! The north Chile blog will come soon, depending on signal.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
To Santiago
Bariloche is our final destination in Argentina with the trip now turning west and back into Chile. Due to the issues from Puerto Natales Renee is taking the local bus across the border where she will join us again in Santiago. Our immediate destination first though is Pucon and it's me who volunteers to navigate up front. The dirt road is slow and takes much longer than the Drago crew notes suggest giving us a late arrival in Pucon. It's therefore a mad rush to get to the activity bookers. We have two full days here and need to make the most of the time, especially as the star attraction is a volcano climb that insists on good weather. We book it for the following day. Then it's a mad rush to the supermarket to grab lunch stuff as the tour pickup is at 6am. To add to it all Riki and I can't find the campsite so it's extra late by the time we get to sleep.
Pucon lies at the northern reaches of the Chilean Lake District which is also dotted with a number of volcanoes. The one we are tackling is the active Volcán Villarrica. A 2840m cone rising in solitude from the landscape, banks of snow covering the sides. All kit, including ice axe and crampons, is provided for the obligatory guided hike to the top. There is a transfer to the base 8km south of Pucon and a chairlift which takes care of 400m of scree. This leaves about 1000m straight up, but about thrice that walking the zig-zag over rock and snow. The going is steady and well paced by the guides who do a good job throughout the day. We are simply blessed with a perfect cloudless day giving us amazing near total 360 view of the surrounds including a few other solitary volcanoes, only a small inaccessible section of the crater rim breaking the panorama. It stinks of sulphur of course, but the fumes are acceptable for a decent time at the top. It's a long way down into the crater, but the lava could not be seen as it may have once been, it could on occasion be heard releasing a big bubble. The great feature of this hike is the lack of walking back down! Instead we slide down the snow on our bums for the majority of the way. This is in itself enormous fun. Louise makes great chili beef nachos for supper, during the eating of which Riki's camping stool collapses leaving him sitting on the ground bits of tomato clinging to his bare chest! Riki saw the funny side as we all of course did. Later in the evening we visit some outside thermal pools to relax.
We realise how lucky we were the next day as the Volcano is obscured by cloud. This is ok as I go white water rafting. It's a fun few hours, but not full-on enough for me even though it's supposed to be a grade 4. Next time grade 5. Unlike most of South America so far Pucon does serve up some good pizza mind you. Pucon's suprise is a very nice lakeside beach, black sand from volcanic rock. A pretty easy day all in all.
We spent extra time in Pucon, but this leaves us a 6am start for a12 hour drive to Santiago the next day. Well, Riki has a 12 hour drive, we sleep in the back! I take over from Craig in the front and help Riki get to the hotel. This time it's much smoother arriving at the hotel in good time. It's the last night of this leg, and it's nice to not rush before we head out for a meal. This gives Louise time to hand wash her fleece which turns the water black four times!! The meal is at a fancy seafood restaurant. The food is good, but the service is average and there is a hassle over the bill where we get charged for the supposedly free pickup. Should have seen that one coming. We all have a good night out though hitting a club after and getting back to the hotel at 4am. When Louise makes me wash my fleece, again turning the water black many times! The following day is a quiet one. The city is modern and feels really safe to walk around. We don't have any sights we particularly want to see in Santiago, but one task here is to get a hair cut, so we go in search of a barbers. Happening upon an arcade full of ropey looking joints intermingled with sex shops we move on and get a place in the looks reasonable bracket. As in Naples there is a language barrier, but no Angelo when you need him! The hand gestures not working so well this time. I then get shown a photo book of gents styles, all 'interesting'. It works out fine in the end after a nervous few minutes as he sets about my head with unguarded clippers. I'm not a complex haircut, but I'm not ready for a skinhead just yet!
Pucon lies at the northern reaches of the Chilean Lake District which is also dotted with a number of volcanoes. The one we are tackling is the active Volcán Villarrica. A 2840m cone rising in solitude from the landscape, banks of snow covering the sides. All kit, including ice axe and crampons, is provided for the obligatory guided hike to the top. There is a transfer to the base 8km south of Pucon and a chairlift which takes care of 400m of scree. This leaves about 1000m straight up, but about thrice that walking the zig-zag over rock and snow. The going is steady and well paced by the guides who do a good job throughout the day. We are simply blessed with a perfect cloudless day giving us amazing near total 360 view of the surrounds including a few other solitary volcanoes, only a small inaccessible section of the crater rim breaking the panorama. It stinks of sulphur of course, but the fumes are acceptable for a decent time at the top. It's a long way down into the crater, but the lava could not be seen as it may have once been, it could on occasion be heard releasing a big bubble. The great feature of this hike is the lack of walking back down! Instead we slide down the snow on our bums for the majority of the way. This is in itself enormous fun. Louise makes great chili beef nachos for supper, during the eating of which Riki's camping stool collapses leaving him sitting on the ground bits of tomato clinging to his bare chest! Riki saw the funny side as we all of course did. Later in the evening we visit some outside thermal pools to relax.
We realise how lucky we were the next day as the Volcano is obscured by cloud. This is ok as I go white water rafting. It's a fun few hours, but not full-on enough for me even though it's supposed to be a grade 4. Next time grade 5. Unlike most of South America so far Pucon does serve up some good pizza mind you. Pucon's suprise is a very nice lakeside beach, black sand from volcanic rock. A pretty easy day all in all.
We spent extra time in Pucon, but this leaves us a 6am start for a12 hour drive to Santiago the next day. Well, Riki has a 12 hour drive, we sleep in the back! I take over from Craig in the front and help Riki get to the hotel. This time it's much smoother arriving at the hotel in good time. It's the last night of this leg, and it's nice to not rush before we head out for a meal. This gives Louise time to hand wash her fleece which turns the water black four times!! The meal is at a fancy seafood restaurant. The food is good, but the service is average and there is a hassle over the bill where we get charged for the supposedly free pickup. Should have seen that one coming. We all have a good night out though hitting a club after and getting back to the hotel at 4am. When Louise makes me wash my fleece, again turning the water black many times! The following day is a quiet one. The city is modern and feels really safe to walk around. We don't have any sights we particularly want to see in Santiago, but one task here is to get a hair cut, so we go in search of a barbers. Happening upon an arcade full of ropey looking joints intermingled with sex shops we move on and get a place in the looks reasonable bracket. As in Naples there is a language barrier, but no Angelo when you need him! The hand gestures not working so well this time. I then get shown a photo book of gents styles, all 'interesting'. It works out fine in the end after a nervous few minutes as he sets about my head with unguarded clippers. I'm not a complex haircut, but I'm not ready for a skinhead just yet!
Monday, 23 February 2009
Argentine Patagonia
The is no time to relax and it is aching legs back on the truck and back on the road heading for Argentina once more, via the remotest looking border crossing this side of Africa. El Calafate is only a few hundred km past the border. It's a remote tourist town, here to service visitors to the Los Glaciares NP and specifically the Moreno glacier. This is also the source of our interest in being here. A surprisingly good hostel is our base for a couple of nights providing a welcome change from the Thermarest. Not that the Thermarest is uncomfortable, it's just not as comfortable as a good mattress. I'm not sure of the connection, but there is a Rick's Cafe and a Casablanca Bar in town!! We eat eat in neither finding a great Parilla next door.
For some reason (money?!) we can't take the truck into the NP, so we have to take a mini bus tour to see the Glacier. It's an impressive site all the same and walkways allow a really close view of the ice face. A 5km wall of ice split between two fronts rising up to 60m directly out of Lago Argentino. A boat trip on the lake provides a closer view still. The 3km north face has a scale that is difficult to grasp, looking smaller than the figures suggest. The patchy cloud creates a shifting light on the face's white and blue tones. The glacier until recently was one of the few in the world still advancing, but is now stable. Chunks fall of at the same rate as the ice advances. The falling ice is spectacular to witness, but somehow the loudest cracks happen out of sight!
A short drive, by our standards, north of el Calafate lies the small town of el Chalten. A small town sitting in a picturesque valley in the same Los Glaciares NP as the Marino glacier. This is the northern access point into the 724000ha park, 40% of which is ice fields. We are camping here for three nights with time to spend walking, ice climbing or chill out. Although the legs are still feeling the Torres aches we get the boots back on for a trek to Laguna de Los Tres for more stunning mountain scenery in the shadow of the Fitzroy Massif. The walk is mostly easy apart from the last hour which is a steep rocky slog exposed to the howling wind. It's an impressive view at the top though and one we see in the nick of time before the weather closes in. On the subject of howling wind it's definitely a feature of our stay in El Chalten. The campsite is exposed to the wind as it rips down the valley. The heavy duty Dragoman dome tents shake and bend in the wind, but stand up to the test. Bill has his own lightweight V tent pitched and tethered, but the wind shows it no mercy, lifting it up and playing it like an accordian. The Drago truck has a big heavy-poled 'cook tent' for windy and rainy conditions, but even this is too unstable to use on the last night. No matter as we dine on fine empanada and chocolate brownie washed down with fine beer from the local microbrewery followed up later with more fine empanada and chips. With this being the only real access to the park there is potential for there to be an overpriced ok-ishness about services here, but the places we went had a homely good quality about them.
In the morning we pack the tents in horizontal rain driving north. Once again leaving the mountains for flat barren landscape. Thankfully we leave the rain behind too before finding a great little estancia with a sheltered camping area complete with kitchen. The tents dry quickly in the warm dry evening.
Our next destination is Bariloche (or San Carlos de Bariloche to give it it's full title), an Argentine ski resort that has gone for a Swiss influence in a big way, even down to the making of chocolate! It's summer, so we're not here for the skiing instead the chance to explore the region of Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. Many of the group decide to hire bikes to get around, but we go for the less strenuous use of the bus network with the first destination a serene chair lift up to great views of the mountains and lakes. Irritatingly the bus system doesn't work out to well and we don't get to our other intended viewpoint, instead wasting time waiting for buses that don't arrive or just sail past. We reckon the bikes were the best option after all and lucky for those guys they get back just before the rain comes.
For some reason (money?!) we can't take the truck into the NP, so we have to take a mini bus tour to see the Glacier. It's an impressive site all the same and walkways allow a really close view of the ice face. A 5km wall of ice split between two fronts rising up to 60m directly out of Lago Argentino. A boat trip on the lake provides a closer view still. The 3km north face has a scale that is difficult to grasp, looking smaller than the figures suggest. The patchy cloud creates a shifting light on the face's white and blue tones. The glacier until recently was one of the few in the world still advancing, but is now stable. Chunks fall of at the same rate as the ice advances. The falling ice is spectacular to witness, but somehow the loudest cracks happen out of sight!
A short drive, by our standards, north of el Calafate lies the small town of el Chalten. A small town sitting in a picturesque valley in the same Los Glaciares NP as the Marino glacier. This is the northern access point into the 724000ha park, 40% of which is ice fields. We are camping here for three nights with time to spend walking, ice climbing or chill out. Although the legs are still feeling the Torres aches we get the boots back on for a trek to Laguna de Los Tres for more stunning mountain scenery in the shadow of the Fitzroy Massif. The walk is mostly easy apart from the last hour which is a steep rocky slog exposed to the howling wind. It's an impressive view at the top though and one we see in the nick of time before the weather closes in. On the subject of howling wind it's definitely a feature of our stay in El Chalten. The campsite is exposed to the wind as it rips down the valley. The heavy duty Dragoman dome tents shake and bend in the wind, but stand up to the test. Bill has his own lightweight V tent pitched and tethered, but the wind shows it no mercy, lifting it up and playing it like an accordian. The Drago truck has a big heavy-poled 'cook tent' for windy and rainy conditions, but even this is too unstable to use on the last night. No matter as we dine on fine empanada and chocolate brownie washed down with fine beer from the local microbrewery followed up later with more fine empanada and chips. With this being the only real access to the park there is potential for there to be an overpriced ok-ishness about services here, but the places we went had a homely good quality about them.
In the morning we pack the tents in horizontal rain driving north. Once again leaving the mountains for flat barren landscape. Thankfully we leave the rain behind too before finding a great little estancia with a sheltered camping area complete with kitchen. The tents dry quickly in the warm dry evening.
Our next destination is Bariloche (or San Carlos de Bariloche to give it it's full title), an Argentine ski resort that has gone for a Swiss influence in a big way, even down to the making of chocolate! It's summer, so we're not here for the skiing instead the chance to explore the region of Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. Many of the group decide to hire bikes to get around, but we go for the less strenuous use of the bus network with the first destination a serene chair lift up to great views of the mountains and lakes. Irritatingly the bus system doesn't work out to well and we don't get to our other intended viewpoint, instead wasting time waiting for buses that don't arrive or just sail past. We reckon the bikes were the best option after all and lucky for those guys they get back just before the rain comes.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Torres del Paine
The Torres N.P. has been on our minds for the last couple of weeks as we decide what walking we want to do. Well, the treks are an easy choice, going for the main events, but it's the options that required the thought. Day walks or the W trail, camping or Refugios (a mountain hostel), take all food or buy along the way? Louise (and most others) opts for the day hikes and I go for the W trail taking all kit and food with me. We arrive at Puerto Natales to prepare ourselves for the walks, a town that seems to exist solely for this purpose.
We arrive during the typically long siesta and the town is dead. Even finding somewhere open for a late lunch is a search. This however is the lull before the storm as it all gets a bit hectic after that. The five people doing the W need to shop for food and hire equipment, but first get roped into helping our cook groups shop for meals even though we wont be there to make or eat it. This takes ages. During this time Renee gets questioned by the Chile police! Her papers say guide, but to them this means she is working illegally in the country. They take her passport and she must visit the police station in the morning. By the time we get to the hire stores they are all out of one man tents. Riki and I had initially slightly different plans for the W, but team up to rent a super lightweight two man. The Drago tents are too heavy to carry any distance. It's late, but the guy is good and keeps the shop open for us even though tiredness and a lack of spanish is making us look like a couple of numpties. We have to fetch Louise for the credit card deposit and just about wreck his roller blinds on the way out! It's into the small hours before the bag is packed and we're asleep. Not the evening you need before a four day hike.
In the morning Renee still has no passport back, but is allowed to go into the Torres NP. However she will not be allowed to travel with the truck while in Chile. We are due to re-enter Argentina after Torres, but we are not sure what will happen when the tour comes back into Chile. It's possible Riki will have to lead the tour to Bolivia himself. Right now though we are in the NP and ready to start the walking. The W is thus called because the route is roughly the shape of the letter W, featuring three valleys as the main attractions. One to the Torres (towers) viewpoint, one through French valley and the other to the viewpoint overlooking glacier Grey. The day walkers do the same valleys, but just using two campsites as bases. Riki and I sharing the two man tent works well in the end as we are well matched on pace and gain motivation. We stay in basic campementos twice and Refugio campsites twice which is a happy compromise to both our original plans. Suprisingly good food is available at the Refugios which we have the two times we are there. We push on to a campemento near the Torres viewpoint for the first nights camp. The idea is for an early start giving us the chance of sunrise light on the Torres. Except it's cloudy! As it unfortunately is for all the groups on their visits. We wait and the cloud lifts enough for a more than pleasing glimpse before it's time to push on. Next day we meet Louise in the French Valley. She has been walking it alone as the second day walk, the rest of the group too tired after the first day... The wimps!! It's their loss as the valley is the most consistently stunning of the three. Small glaciers hug the steep mountain sides, the frequent ice falls, followed by the loud crack and rumble, adding to the spectacle. There's more though, as the valley's bowl end delivers a near 360 panorama of mountain peak vista.
The four days walking in the park has been really enjoyable. There is a good vibe too, saying Hola to almost everyone and seeing the same faces day to day, in various states of fitness. The good weather certainly helped the enjoyment. Cloudy and not great for photography, but it didn't rain. It's been tough on occasion too, carrying heavy packs, as this is not something we are used to, but we somehow manage enough energy to march confidently to the finish Refugio to wait for the other W walkers and the boat which takes us over the lake to rejoin the others after the Torres day walk, a whole lamb being barbequed for the celebratory meal.
We arrive during the typically long siesta and the town is dead. Even finding somewhere open for a late lunch is a search. This however is the lull before the storm as it all gets a bit hectic after that. The five people doing the W need to shop for food and hire equipment, but first get roped into helping our cook groups shop for meals even though we wont be there to make or eat it. This takes ages. During this time Renee gets questioned by the Chile police! Her papers say guide, but to them this means she is working illegally in the country. They take her passport and she must visit the police station in the morning. By the time we get to the hire stores they are all out of one man tents. Riki and I had initially slightly different plans for the W, but team up to rent a super lightweight two man. The Drago tents are too heavy to carry any distance. It's late, but the guy is good and keeps the shop open for us even though tiredness and a lack of spanish is making us look like a couple of numpties. We have to fetch Louise for the credit card deposit and just about wreck his roller blinds on the way out! It's into the small hours before the bag is packed and we're asleep. Not the evening you need before a four day hike.
In the morning Renee still has no passport back, but is allowed to go into the Torres NP. However she will not be allowed to travel with the truck while in Chile. We are due to re-enter Argentina after Torres, but we are not sure what will happen when the tour comes back into Chile. It's possible Riki will have to lead the tour to Bolivia himself. Right now though we are in the NP and ready to start the walking. The W is thus called because the route is roughly the shape of the letter W, featuring three valleys as the main attractions. One to the Torres (towers) viewpoint, one through French valley and the other to the viewpoint overlooking glacier Grey. The day walkers do the same valleys, but just using two campsites as bases. Riki and I sharing the two man tent works well in the end as we are well matched on pace and gain motivation. We stay in basic campementos twice and Refugio campsites twice which is a happy compromise to both our original plans. Suprisingly good food is available at the Refugios which we have the two times we are there. We push on to a campemento near the Torres viewpoint for the first nights camp. The idea is for an early start giving us the chance of sunrise light on the Torres. Except it's cloudy! As it unfortunately is for all the groups on their visits. We wait and the cloud lifts enough for a more than pleasing glimpse before it's time to push on. Next day we meet Louise in the French Valley. She has been walking it alone as the second day walk, the rest of the group too tired after the first day... The wimps!! It's their loss as the valley is the most consistently stunning of the three. Small glaciers hug the steep mountain sides, the frequent ice falls, followed by the loud crack and rumble, adding to the spectacle. There's more though, as the valley's bowl end delivers a near 360 panorama of mountain peak vista.
The four days walking in the park has been really enjoyable. There is a good vibe too, saying Hola to almost everyone and seeing the same faces day to day, in various states of fitness. The good weather certainly helped the enjoyment. Cloudy and not great for photography, but it didn't rain. It's been tough on occasion too, carrying heavy packs, as this is not something we are used to, but we somehow manage enough energy to march confidently to the finish Refugio to wait for the other W walkers and the boat which takes us over the lake to rejoin the others after the Torres day walk, a whole lamb being barbequed for the celebratory meal.
Tierra del Fuego
After the bush camp we make our way to the Chilean border. Our destination of Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego is in Argentina, but the island is roughly halved between Chile also. To get there we must enter Chile, take the ferry to the island, drive a bad gravel road, leave Chile, enter Argentina and complete the journey on a proper road. The initial approach is flat and featureless, but as we approach Ushuaia the landscape rises up into mountain scenery. Much to the delight of everyone. It also starts to hammer down with rain! We pull up outside the hotel the new starts are staying in so Renee can go in and leave a note. The rest of us stare longingly at the hotel out the truck window. Someone likes us though as literally minutes before we have to pitch camp it stops raining. There is no camp cooking either as it's Renee's birthday so we all head into town for a slap-up meal. Louise and I have excellent squid and fillet steak with chips and peppercorn sauce. It's possibly the best steak we've had in Argentina!
It's here in Ushuaia (The worlds most southerly town, staging point for trips to Antarctica and 7173km travelled since Rio.) that we say hello to the new passengers for the next leg to Santiago. The new group is 16 strong, but it's the combination of both that take a afternoon tour of Terra del Fuego national park. It's nice to see some mountains, but we get the impression that the best is yet to come. Dave is having a bad day. He really wanted to take a boat trip on the Beagle channel and due to the the lack of time here only had this morning to do it. Unfortunately there is a one day port strike on. He has also picked up the wrong disposable camera and has no film to take pictures of the N.P. Other Stuart decides to make some nasty comments about a conversation piece of Dave's. Now, Dave has his peculiarities, but as least he's not a total gobshite unlike other stuart who has the worst case of verbal diarrhoea possible. Not exactly the sharpest tool either (making his attack even more irritating), but still finds the gall to talk it up. A friend back home has a saying for people like stuart and jane: if you have been to Tenerife they have been to elevenerife! I could go on, but unlike them I wont.
In the evening there is a hello/goodbye Argentine BBQ featuring enormous steaks. Leaving are John, stuart and jane. Joining are: Bec, Craig, Karen, Neville, Rob, Rosanna, Sarah from England; Dave and Aissa from Canada; Ulrike from Germany; Bill from America.
There are three Dragoman trucks at the campsite in Ushuaia. One has no passengers and is waiting for instructions. The other leaves the morning before us, but breaks down 50km over the Chilean border! The spare truck is robbed of the part required and we deliver it to them on our way. The Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego is savagely remote and the other Drago truck has been stuck here for a day by the time we reach them. Incredibly they broke down next to the only thing around for miles and miles, a quarry and an old bus converted into a kitchen and dining area. It looked like some quirky retro diner and provided a welcome break from the truck. The 15 minute, never going to happen, fix didn't happen so we used the bus diner for our food and stuck with the stranded truck amusing ourselves with frizby and a game of football. The football was the other trucks, but somehow left on our truck after bush camping there that night!! The other truck was finally fixed at 5am! We head away towards Torres del Paine N.P. and the other truck towards Rio.
It's here in Ushuaia (The worlds most southerly town, staging point for trips to Antarctica and 7173km travelled since Rio.) that we say hello to the new passengers for the next leg to Santiago. The new group is 16 strong, but it's the combination of both that take a afternoon tour of Terra del Fuego national park. It's nice to see some mountains, but we get the impression that the best is yet to come. Dave is having a bad day. He really wanted to take a boat trip on the Beagle channel and due to the the lack of time here only had this morning to do it. Unfortunately there is a one day port strike on. He has also picked up the wrong disposable camera and has no film to take pictures of the N.P. Other Stuart decides to make some nasty comments about a conversation piece of Dave's. Now, Dave has his peculiarities, but as least he's not a total gobshite unlike other stuart who has the worst case of verbal diarrhoea possible. Not exactly the sharpest tool either (making his attack even more irritating), but still finds the gall to talk it up. A friend back home has a saying for people like stuart and jane: if you have been to Tenerife they have been to elevenerife! I could go on, but unlike them I wont.
In the evening there is a hello/goodbye Argentine BBQ featuring enormous steaks. Leaving are John, stuart and jane. Joining are: Bec, Craig, Karen, Neville, Rob, Rosanna, Sarah from England; Dave and Aissa from Canada; Ulrike from Germany; Bill from America.
There are three Dragoman trucks at the campsite in Ushuaia. One has no passengers and is waiting for instructions. The other leaves the morning before us, but breaks down 50km over the Chilean border! The spare truck is robbed of the part required and we deliver it to them on our way. The Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego is savagely remote and the other Drago truck has been stuck here for a day by the time we reach them. Incredibly they broke down next to the only thing around for miles and miles, a quarry and an old bus converted into a kitchen and dining area. It looked like some quirky retro diner and provided a welcome break from the truck. The 15 minute, never going to happen, fix didn't happen so we used the bus diner for our food and stuck with the stranded truck amusing ourselves with frizby and a game of football. The football was the other trucks, but somehow left on our truck after bush camping there that night!! The other truck was finally fixed at 5am! We head away towards Torres del Paine N.P. and the other truck towards Rio.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Just to let you know...
...we are still travelling around South America. The blog will continue. It's just more difficult to find the time / ability. We do spend a fair amount of time on the truck, but unlike the trains in Europe I don't find this a good environment to do the blog. So it takes more time. Sleeping on the truck is much easier for some reason!! I'll post the story in chunks as they are written and I have a signal and you can work out when it all happened!!
See ya.
See ya.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
South South South
Leaving BA we head south once again. Our next destination is Puerto Madryn, but it's a long hot drive for two days. Sat in the back everyone continually nods off to sleep. It passes the time, however an ache in the neck is the unfortunate consequence. This region is The Pampas and is initially a continuation of the cattle country giving way to crops including huge fields of sunflowers. The crops eventually fade away to be replaced by, not a lot actually. The Patagonian steppe, a vast, flat, dry, treeless, featureless scrubland as far as the eye can see. For miles and miles and miles. It's windy too which whips up the dust. At one point visibility is down to only several metres.
The wind is still blowing strong when we reach the camp site in Puerto Madryn which makes cooking a little more challenging. With the addition of Jordy and Anna the cook groups have been mixed up. This is a shame for me as John and I worked well together, although Dave is a willing assistant! Louise on the other hand is delighted as other Stuart is "useless", irritating her with an inability to even chop an onion and not without drama, given that he has been on these overlands before!
Puerto Madryn was originally settled by Welsh immigrants in 1865, but the supposed Welshness doesn't seem evident to us. It's not why we're here anyway. It's the wildlife on nearby Peninsula Valdes that is our focus. The sea lions are good to watch, the males grunting and squabbling. The elephant seals are huge by comparison, but would only move less if dead! We see a cute hairy arrmadillo foraging in the car park. The area is good for whale and Orca spotting, but we are too late and too early in the year respectively. In fact it was here that the Blue Planet footage of the Orca beach attack was shot. To make up for the lack of Orca we take a Dolphin spotting boat trip the next day. For this the timing is spot on with plenty of Dolphin action. The challenge is to get a good photo.
Further south along the coast the landscape changes from flat to undulating. This may not sound like much, but is a source of great interest to us after days of nothing. The pretty coastline is revealed as we drive close and onto unsealed roads to visit the penguin colony at Cabo Dos Bahias near Camarones. It's a great site, not people busy and very close to the Magellanic penguins! There is another penguin of a different breed on the beach looking completely lost and confused! We can't help feeling sorry for the poor thing. Leaving the colony Jordy, Anna, Dave and I use the roof seats. It's much less dusty than last time which is good as we bush camp that night for the first time on the trip. We find a great spot and are rewarded with a clear view of a nice sunset on a pleasant evening.
It's an early start as we hit the road continuing south through Patagonia. The landscape varies between undulating and flat. At the end of the day we visit a petrified forest which is more interesting than it first sounds. The landscape is barren even compared to the scrubland on route. Scattered around lay the trunks of 150 million year old trees, now turned to stone with eroded escarpment as the backdrop. We camp nearby at a campsite with a wild west quirkyness. Route 3 from BA feels the truck tires once more as we head south towards the Chilean boarder where we will camp before making the crossing to Tierra del Fuego tomorrow.
The wind is still blowing strong when we reach the camp site in Puerto Madryn which makes cooking a little more challenging. With the addition of Jordy and Anna the cook groups have been mixed up. This is a shame for me as John and I worked well together, although Dave is a willing assistant! Louise on the other hand is delighted as other Stuart is "useless", irritating her with an inability to even chop an onion and not without drama, given that he has been on these overlands before!
Puerto Madryn was originally settled by Welsh immigrants in 1865, but the supposed Welshness doesn't seem evident to us. It's not why we're here anyway. It's the wildlife on nearby Peninsula Valdes that is our focus. The sea lions are good to watch, the males grunting and squabbling. The elephant seals are huge by comparison, but would only move less if dead! We see a cute hairy arrmadillo foraging in the car park. The area is good for whale and Orca spotting, but we are too late and too early in the year respectively. In fact it was here that the Blue Planet footage of the Orca beach attack was shot. To make up for the lack of Orca we take a Dolphin spotting boat trip the next day. For this the timing is spot on with plenty of Dolphin action. The challenge is to get a good photo.
Further south along the coast the landscape changes from flat to undulating. This may not sound like much, but is a source of great interest to us after days of nothing. The pretty coastline is revealed as we drive close and onto unsealed roads to visit the penguin colony at Cabo Dos Bahias near Camarones. It's a great site, not people busy and very close to the Magellanic penguins! There is another penguin of a different breed on the beach looking completely lost and confused! We can't help feeling sorry for the poor thing. Leaving the colony Jordy, Anna, Dave and I use the roof seats. It's much less dusty than last time which is good as we bush camp that night for the first time on the trip. We find a great spot and are rewarded with a clear view of a nice sunset on a pleasant evening.
It's an early start as we hit the road continuing south through Patagonia. The landscape varies between undulating and flat. At the end of the day we visit a petrified forest which is more interesting than it first sounds. The landscape is barren even compared to the scrubland on route. Scattered around lay the trunks of 150 million year old trees, now turned to stone with eroded escarpment as the backdrop. We camp nearby at a campsite with a wild west quirkyness. Route 3 from BA feels the truck tires once more as we head south towards the Chilean boarder where we will camp before making the crossing to Tierra del Fuego tomorrow.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Four Nights in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires sears with the heat of unbroken sunshine. Sticking to the shady side of the Europeanesque streets is a must at almost all times during the day. Even late into the evening the temperature is still up near the thirty mark. We still decide to walk about anyway as it is easier and we have done a lot of sitting on the truck recently, so a bit a exercise is required. This all makes the hotels cold shower, due to a broken hot water boiler, unimportant. We get a discount and breakfast all the same, for the 'trouble'!
Our first walk takes us to the well-to-do area of Recoleta to see the even more-well-to do Cemetery of Recoleta. Graveyard to the rich and famous it is like a miniature city of mausoleums in a grid layout. It could feel morbid, but is fascinating instead. Moving on to Palermo we finally find a place to eat lunch and after a huge steak sandwich we instantly understand the siesta. The heat compeling our eyelids together. We take the metro back.
The barrio of San Telmo retains some colonial architecture, now inhabited by cafes and antique dealers. It is quiet on this early wednesday afternoon. We relax in a square over some juice. Nearby a gentleman pedals kitchen knives sharp on a converted bicycle. We take an advised taxi to the old port district of La Boca. Apparently it is not safe to walk there, but is ok in the tourist Caminito streets. It is touristy, but we still liked it. The is a buzz here from the music and the brightly coloured buildings, the paint originally pinched from the shipyard in a bid to liven up the poor neighbourhood. We sit and people watch over a couple of cerveca; the Tango dancers making extra cash posing for photos, the Maradona lookalike vying for business. The downside is we get slipped a fake 20peso bill in change at a store. The return taxi driver is the one who points this out to us.
Every thursday the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo walk around the plaza with a small group of followers. They hold banners and where head scarfs or miner helmets in rememberance of their children who vanished during Argentina's Dirty War of the 70s! Some mothers hold pictures. It's a sombre affair, but the crowd is small and mostly tourists with the odd hawker.
Obviously a trip to Argentina will involve proper steak and we oblige in an old time Parilla. Right in the window a huge log burns on a fire, cuts of meat hang on posts around the edge. My sirloin is good, but not the best I've ever had. It is however the biggest. It's enormous! The other requirement is Tango. So on the last night the overlanders, including our new travellers Anna and Jordy joining us from the Netherlands, go to the grand Cafe Tortini for dinner and a show in there small back room theatre. Everyone seemed to like it alot more than we did rating it as average. I didn't 'feel' it and Louise reckoned her old dance teacher would have some stern words with the two dancers.
We decide that BA is a good place for people watching from any number of pavement cafes. Oh, and watching the buses which look cool in 50s retro style some even with white walled tires.
Our first walk takes us to the well-to-do area of Recoleta to see the even more-well-to do Cemetery of Recoleta. Graveyard to the rich and famous it is like a miniature city of mausoleums in a grid layout. It could feel morbid, but is fascinating instead. Moving on to Palermo we finally find a place to eat lunch and after a huge steak sandwich we instantly understand the siesta. The heat compeling our eyelids together. We take the metro back.
The barrio of San Telmo retains some colonial architecture, now inhabited by cafes and antique dealers. It is quiet on this early wednesday afternoon. We relax in a square over some juice. Nearby a gentleman pedals kitchen knives sharp on a converted bicycle. We take an advised taxi to the old port district of La Boca. Apparently it is not safe to walk there, but is ok in the tourist Caminito streets. It is touristy, but we still liked it. The is a buzz here from the music and the brightly coloured buildings, the paint originally pinched from the shipyard in a bid to liven up the poor neighbourhood. We sit and people watch over a couple of cerveca; the Tango dancers making extra cash posing for photos, the Maradona lookalike vying for business. The downside is we get slipped a fake 20peso bill in change at a store. The return taxi driver is the one who points this out to us.
Every thursday the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo walk around the plaza with a small group of followers. They hold banners and where head scarfs or miner helmets in rememberance of their children who vanished during Argentina's Dirty War of the 70s! Some mothers hold pictures. It's a sombre affair, but the crowd is small and mostly tourists with the odd hawker.
Obviously a trip to Argentina will involve proper steak and we oblige in an old time Parilla. Right in the window a huge log burns on a fire, cuts of meat hang on posts around the edge. My sirloin is good, but not the best I've ever had. It is however the biggest. It's enormous! The other requirement is Tango. So on the last night the overlanders, including our new travellers Anna and Jordy joining us from the Netherlands, go to the grand Cafe Tortini for dinner and a show in there small back room theatre. Everyone seemed to like it alot more than we did rating it as average. I didn't 'feel' it and Louise reckoned her old dance teacher would have some stern words with the two dancers.
We decide that BA is a good place for people watching from any number of pavement cafes. Oh, and watching the buses which look cool in 50s retro style some even with white walled tires.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Through Cattle Country
Leaving Iguazu, after a nights camp near the falls national park, we head south. Our next destination is the wetlands of Esteros del Ibera, near the town of Carlos Pellegrini, for a bit of wildlife spotting. First we have a stop in the town of San Ignacio Mini for a look at an old Jesuit mission and lunch. Built in the 17th century and now in ruins the site and history somehow fails to catch our interest. Maybe the baking midday heat is also a factor that drives us to lunch sooner.
As we travel further south the landscape changes, the hills reducing and the trees thinning until we are travelling though vast flat open vistas under a huge sky. This is cattle country.
With most of the afternoon gone we turn off the main route and on to a dirt road. This is the first opportunity we get to use the Drago' truck roof seats. A raised bench and roof hatches allow passengers to sit half out the truck for a 360 view. Louise, John, Stuart and I take the chance. It's hot and dusty as we occasionally disappear into the dust trail of passing vehicles. We get filthy, but it's still good fun. The idea was to bush camp and go to the lakes the day after, but the plan is changed and we push on to the lakes in one day. We're back inside as Riki puts in a full-on drive along the sandy road. It's a beautiful evening as we race into the sunset. Now this is why we have a truck. We reach camp as night falls. The noise here from the insects is incredibly loud and the site is swarming with bugs. They fly into your face as soon as the head torch goes on! Irritating! The camp site lays at the edge of Laguna Iberia and we get up early to take a boat trip on the calm waters. We are looking for specific wildlife and we succeed. Much bird life, Caiman, Marsh Deer and our favorite the Capybara, a massive, but cute rodent that sort of looks like a big otter. As the day progresses it gets hotter and hotter. Everyone does little else except sweat, even well into the night!
The following day is a drive day with added police check points. This is normal on the highways here. Also standard practice seems to be the 'problems' they find with the truck. Riki and Renee end up paying a fine, but not as much as first suggested!!
The destination for this drive is Buenos Aires(BA), but it takes a day and a half driving. Riki and Renee fine a good campsite. Mercifully cooler and bug free. It's a big site and is very nice. Some of us play volleyball with some Argentine kids and carry on by lantern light into the night!
The journey to BA is completed the next day. We spend a while driving round the city unable to turn left then find out the hotel's hot water is broken. We decide to stay anyway and get a discount and breakfast into the bargain. It's so hot here that cool showers aren't a huge issue. It's not like the UK where the water would be unbearably icy. We have four nights and three days in BA to do our own thing.
As we travel further south the landscape changes, the hills reducing and the trees thinning until we are travelling though vast flat open vistas under a huge sky. This is cattle country.
With most of the afternoon gone we turn off the main route and on to a dirt road. This is the first opportunity we get to use the Drago' truck roof seats. A raised bench and roof hatches allow passengers to sit half out the truck for a 360 view. Louise, John, Stuart and I take the chance. It's hot and dusty as we occasionally disappear into the dust trail of passing vehicles. We get filthy, but it's still good fun. The idea was to bush camp and go to the lakes the day after, but the plan is changed and we push on to the lakes in one day. We're back inside as Riki puts in a full-on drive along the sandy road. It's a beautiful evening as we race into the sunset. Now this is why we have a truck. We reach camp as night falls. The noise here from the insects is incredibly loud and the site is swarming with bugs. They fly into your face as soon as the head torch goes on! Irritating! The camp site lays at the edge of Laguna Iberia and we get up early to take a boat trip on the calm waters. We are looking for specific wildlife and we succeed. Much bird life, Caiman, Marsh Deer and our favorite the Capybara, a massive, but cute rodent that sort of looks like a big otter. As the day progresses it gets hotter and hotter. Everyone does little else except sweat, even well into the night!
The following day is a drive day with added police check points. This is normal on the highways here. Also standard practice seems to be the 'problems' they find with the truck. Riki and Renee end up paying a fine, but not as much as first suggested!!
The destination for this drive is Buenos Aires(BA), but it takes a day and a half driving. Riki and Renee fine a good campsite. Mercifully cooler and bug free. It's a big site and is very nice. Some of us play volleyball with some Argentine kids and carry on by lantern light into the night!
The journey to BA is completed the next day. We spend a while driving round the city unable to turn left then find out the hotel's hot water is broken. We decide to stay anyway and get a discount and breakfast into the bargain. It's so hot here that cool showers aren't a huge issue. It's not like the UK where the water would be unbearably icy. We have four nights and three days in BA to do our own thing.
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