South America

Barb -- Ushuaia, Argentina

2005-11-30T14:00:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,

Just a quick note about my last few days in South America... after a very brief but very happy reunion with Jon and Ave in Puerto Natales, Hannah and I headed down to Ushuaia, Argentina to see the pengiuns! Ushuaia was really beautiful, down in Tierra del Fuego (the bottom of the world!), and actually kind-of reminded me of banff in a lot of ways! We were able to meet up with Attila there, and stuffed ourselves at an all you can eat buffet for US$8. Tasty! So I then headed back across the border to Punta Arenas, Chile, and caught a flight up to Santiago. Tomorrow I say goodbye to South America, and head up to Texas... looking forward to some warm weather for a change!

See you all soon...

Phil and Andrea - Fitz Roy!

2005-11-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

From El Calafate we took a 5 hour bus trip to the cool little mountain town of El Chalten. For those Canadians, El Chalten is like a small, way less developed Argentinian Canmore 20 years ago. From El Chalten you can take a bunch of nice walks to get views of the mountain range out there, namely the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. The walks are great because they are right from the edge of town, are fairly level (no crazy elevation gain like the Inca Trail) and can afford some wicked views. Sadly, our main hike sounds a bit like Barb´s trip in Torre del Paine - cold and wet. We did a nice short hike to a waterfall on the first day which was fantastic (1 1/2 hours). The next day we did a longer 6 hour hike but got rained out and arrived at our lovely B & B with soaking feet and looking forward to a shower. That hike was supposed to have the best views of the Fitz Roy but we saw nothing but clouds. The last day had clear blue skies and Phil did the full hike to see the glacier. Sadly my knee was hurting so I only did the first third of it, still I saw more that day than I had on the previous one and the whole trip was more than worthwhile!

Andrea and Phil - Moreno Glacier

2005-11-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, after Buenos Aires, we took a flight over to Rio Gallegos, then a quick bus over to El Calafate. From there you can take an amazing day trip to see Moreno Glacier. It´s reputed to be one of the most active glaciers on earth, it´s still growing!

The ice stands 60 m tall and I forget how far back it goes (kilometers and kilometers!), but it´s truly spectacular. You can hear it binding and compressing from the walkways, just across a bit of the lake - it sounds like a shot gun going off. After the sun heats it up a bit, you can see pieces of the ice fall off and crash into the lake - it always sounds so much more impressive than it looks. Unlike the glaciers I have seen in Canada, the top of this one is really jagged with big icy peaks all over the place - really cool. The lake is filled with icebergs, big and small, from chunks of the glacier that have fallen off. We took a boat trip around the lake from 11:30 - 12:30 , getting about 150 m from the glacier. The sun hadn´t heated it up enough, so we didn´t get to see any pieces falling but it still looked great and was a wicked way to see our first major views of the glacier.

Phil and Andrea - Buenos Aires

2005-11-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have a bit of catching up to do. Buenos Aires was amazing, I have never been to a city like it. Usually when you get to a big capital city like that it is very hectic and busy, filled with pollution and people brushing past you to get where they´re going. The Buenos Aires that I saw wasn´t like that at all. There wasn´t too much pollution, people generally strolled wherever they went and there was barely a car horn to be heard. There were gorgeous street side cafes where you could sit and have a beer and watch the city roll by. The shops were very nice and the restaurants were amazing. The architecture was fantastic, big tree-lined boulevards with these 10 story buildings on each side of the street (like the pic on the right) - all with these cool balconies. The other picture is the world´s widest avenue. I think it´s 14 lanes wide or something and we had to cross it each morning to get to the supermarket. Still, even that was very civilized.

For our last afternoon in Buenos Aires, Phil and I took a trip down to the old harbour area called La Boca. There is a wonderful artists neighborhood called El Caminito where we spent hours wandering around looking at the brightly coloured buildings and cool paintings (reminicent of vaudeville or a carnival) and poking around shops and hippy stalls. My favorite part of El Caminito were the heaps of cool little cafes, all with tables, chairs, umbrellas and even big potted plants sitting out on the street - and best of all they almost all have a free tango show going on all day with a live band! Anyway, we enjoyed a nice, cold bottle of white wine, some tapas, a few hours of tango and the weather - a great way to spend our last day in Buenos Aires!

Barb -- Torres del Paine

2005-11-24T05:44:00.000-08:00

Well, after hiking in Torres del Paine national park for five days (the classic ´W´ trek), I can safely say I am glad to have a warm bed to sleep in at night!

The trip was absolutely amazing, spectacular views (the ones we could see, anyways!) and a mix of weather.

The first day we hiked up to camp just below the actual Torres, and it snowed. We woke up in the morning and hiked (through the snow!) up to the lookout, and were able to see ... snow. Ah well, what can ya do! It continued to rain and snow on the second day as we hiked through the big valley, along glacial lakes, to our second camp. Despite the weather and the long hike, it was a good day, as we saw lots of wildlife (9 condors!!!).

The next two days were gorgeous, we were in the Valle Francés with giant glaciers and beautiful sunny weather, and then into the next valley over where Gray Glacier comes right down into the lake. Very beautiful!

Our last day, Hannah and I pleaded tired feet (and backs... okay tired everything.. I am definitely out of shape!), and took the catamaran across the lake to meet our bus, while Attila braved it out (that is a polite way of saying he´s cheap!) and hiked the last 3.5 hours to the park administration office to catch a later bus.

We arrived back in Puerto Natales not too much worse for wear, but very glad to see a warm meal and a warm bed! The photos included here are ones that hannah took ... enjoy!

Today I´m off to Punta Arenas, then to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina for a couple days before I fly back to Santiago for my trip back to North America... the weather in Dallas is going to be a treat between the snowy cold here and the even snowier cold that awaits in Calgary!

Barb - Patagonia!

2005-11-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

Chile is fantastic! I spent an amazing couple days in Coyhaique, relaxing with the Ellentons and enjoying their warm hospitality, visiting with the Otarolas, and loving my first non-hotel bed sleep in months!! Thanks, Gary and Louise!

I then hopped on a plane to Puerto Montt, and caught the ferry that travels along the Patagonian coastline for four days, heading south to Puerto Natales. The ferry trip was gorgeous, with amazing scenery the whole way, despite some rain. We motored all the way up to the Glaciar Pio XI, the largest glacier in south america and the only advancing glacier in south america. (most glaciers these days are retreating). So that was pretty fantastic!

I have met up with a couple other people, one girl from Saskatchewan and a Hungarian guy who is now working as a ski guide in Revelstoke, and the three of us are going to start a five-day hike in Torres del Paine national park tomorrow. I am pretty excited, since this is something I have been dreaming about doing since I was thirteen!

More after the hike....

Phil and Andrea - Iguazu Falls

2005-11-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

After 25 hrs on the road (not continuous) we finally arrived at Puerto Iguazu, the town on the Argentinian side of the falls. The town itself was nice enough and we stayed in a very clean and friendly hostel for 3 nights, then moved to a slightly less friendly hostel with an absolutely amazing pool where we got to chill out all day by the pool (in the shade, of course).

The falls, as you can see, are spectacular. They are bigger than Niagra falls and set right in the jungle, so while you're walking between them, you are surrounded by gorgeous plants, hundreds of spectacular butterflies and some very curious mammals called coatis that look like racoons, but with small, ant-eater snouts. There are usually several walking trails available but the water levels were up enough that only two trails, the upper and lower circuits, were open. We got a great view of the San Martin falls but missed out on the highlight, The Devil's Throat. Still, the trails take you to some great lookouts and provide amazing views of the falls and the surrounding land.

We decided that we'd take one of the boat rides offered, and decided on the Adventure Ride. From what we could see, the boat would take you closer to the falls so you could get a better view. What we didn't realize was that the boat would take you directly under the falls and soak you to the bone, which they did. It was heaps of fun and very refreshing, though eating lunch in wet pants maybe wasn't so fun. Anyways, the falls were amazing and I'm very glad we made the trip over.

Phil and Andrea - Photos

2005-11-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

We tried a film experiment and got one of Phil´s rolls developped onto CD. The first picture, though sideways (this blog site is very limited for photo manipulation) is of one of the brightly dressed women on the floating islands, near Puno, Bolivia.

The second photo is of Barb and I on our walk from the North to the South of Isla del Sol, near Copacabana, Bolivia. The sites were amazing there, and we stayed overnight to watch the sunset.

This picture is Phil modeling the nice poncho from our hotel balcony in Copacabana, Bolivia (lake Titicaca in the background).

I was planning on putting up a few more, but the computer here is very slow and it´s taking forever, so this will have to do for now. I hope everyone is well!

Phil and Andrea - Argentina

2005-11-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!

We are, as Barb said, currently in Argentina and loving it. We arrived over from Chile by Salta, a great town with a very cosmopolitan feel (and some fantastic steaks and great red wine!). We are currently in the little town of Corrientes which is midway between Salta and Iguazu falls - a 14 hr bus ride here and a 9 hr bus ride still to look forward to. We are heading to the falls, then taking a much-deserved flight to Buenos Aires, then a flight right down to the bottom (Rio Galegos).

Chile!

2005-11-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a map of Chile, so you can follow my progress. I am sure that Andrea will post one of Argentina, so you can follow them too! I am currently in San Pedro de Atacama (northern Chile, near Calama), and I have just seen Andrea, Phil, Jon, and Ave off on the bus to Salta, Argentina. Tomorrow I hop on a bus to Santiago, and from there I fly to Coyhaique on friday. I spend the weekend there, and then get on a boat-ferry thing in Puerto Montt that travels for four days along the Patagonian coast to Puerto Natales. I will likely be able to have a happy reunion with the others somewhere in southern Chile in about two weeks...hooray!

Salar de Uyuni and Southwest Bolivia

2005-11-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

Upon arriving in Uyuni (an hour and a half earlier than expected! what a treat!), we were able to meet up with friends Mike and Penny, and book a three-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni with them! Nine people (the seven of us, plus a driver and a ´cook´) crammed into a jeep for three days, and it was actually more comfortable than it sounds!

The salar tour was absolutely amazing, i have never seen such a variance in landscape in such a short amount of time, where the landscapes have only one thing in common -- a seemingly otherworldly quality. As Phil said, it was a bit like something you would expect to see on the moon!

We first drove across the salt plains, which used to be a saline lake during prehistoric times. We drove to the Isla de Pescado (doesnt look anything like a fish, despite its name...), which was rocky and covered in huge cacti.

We then continued out of the salt plains and into the mountains. The entire trip was above 4000m, which likely contributed to the barren appearance of the landscape. We saw lots of Vicuñas (the ´wild, delicate´ cousin of the llama and alpaca) and lots of odd rock formations from wind.

We then visited a museum and archaeological site with some mummies buried in rock caverns, from about 1200AD. crazy! the climate has preserved some of them incredibly well.

The next day was laguna colorado (red lake) and... something else I cant remember. (sorry!) Oh flamingos! yes, flamingos. We saw lots of really cool flamingos.

Our final day was an early start, to see some active geysers and then to Laguna Verde, right on the Bolivia-Chile border. The mountains all throughout the region are gorgeous, with multicolored rock and often some snow (!).

Dino Tracks in Sucre

2005-11-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I am a bit behind here in the blog... last week we were in Sucre and in Potosi. Sucre is a gorgeous town that seems really international and ... well, relatively wealthy for Bolivia. While there, besides stuffing our faces with gorgeous food, we hopped on the Dino Truck, which took us out to a nearby cement quarry. They have discovered a bunch of dinosaur tracks there, from both herbivores and carnivores, large and small, and it was really incredible to see! Quite a change from most of the things we have been doing and seeing here in South America. The unfortunate thing is that they are still dynamiting rock out of the quarry, and the prints are located on a really soft layer of sandstone... so this means that they are being eroded relatively quickly... not something that would occur if these prints were found at home, but that is Bolivia for you. (who knows, the cement quarry is probably owned by an international company or something!).

After a lovely time in Sucre, we moved on to Potosi (the highest city in the world, at about 4500m or something like that). Jon, Phil, and Andrea did a tour of the cooperative silver mine in Potosi, while Ave and I had a lazy, relaxing morning and did odds-and-ends jobs. Potosi was cold! We then hopped on a bus to Uyuni.

Bolivia - Maps and pictures of the Pampas

2005-10-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

Hey kids!! Barb is going to use her fantastic writing skillz to fill you in on our trip to the Pampas, but I thought I would upload some pictures since it always takes forever to do so. Here is a map of Bolivia so you can follow along if you´d like. We crossed the border around Lake Titikaka, headed to Copacabana, then to La Paz. We flew to Rurrenabaque for the Pampas trip (very scary flight, with lightning flashing outside of our window when we were in the air, Phil´s arm was probably tingly because of my amazing grip on it), then yesterday we flew back to La Paz. We are taking an overnight bus to Sucre (dinosaur footprints!!) tonight, then going to Potosi (the world´s highest town), then to the Salar de Uyini to do a 3 day tour of the Salt Plains which lets us off right down by Laguna Verde so we can cross into Chile. From there, Barb and I set off in different directions, Barb is going down through Chile and we´re going right over to Argentina to check a few things out.

Okay, picture time! We saw heaps of wicked animals in the Pampas. First off is my personal favorite, the capybara. They are about 1 m high and are the biggest rodents in the world. When we were cruising down the lake, we saw two big ones come tearing out of the woods and dash directly into the water at top speed, about 3 m from our boat. It was awesome. We saw heaps of aligators (we even went on a night cruise where you can see hundreds of their eyes reflecting the light off the flashlights) and loads of different birds. We saw a tree full of spider monkeys and had a group of howler monkeys sit in a tree directly above our bathrooms and howl for about half an hour. Anyway, it was a wicked trip and well worth the state of complete ming we were in when we got back.

Isla del Sol

2005-10-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Bolivia!
We made it to Copacabana, still on Lake Titikaka, with a very painless border crossing (the boarder guard guy who stamped our passports was actually chair dancing!). We hung around Copacabana for an afternoon, met up with Jon and Ave for a drink and dinner (they were on their way to La Paz), and enjoyed the beautiful scenery that the lake creates! Copacabana is a great little town, small and very touristy but with a laid-back attitude and lots of freindly people.

The next morning we hopped on a boat for Isla del Sol, and hiked from the north end of the island to the south... took about three hours at a VERY leisurely pace. The views were absolutely gorgeous, as you can see from the photo above, and we got to the south end of the island around 2pm, where we promptly parked on a balcony and drank wine and beer and ate snacks until the sun went down. Very relaxing! The sun was shining, and we were sitting around in t-shirts -- very much a luxury these days, being at such high altitude and all. Of course the nights are still very very chilly. The next day we caught a boat back to Copacabana and spent some more time... yes, that´s right... relaxing! We were catching up on journal-writing and book-reading and all that very important stuff!

Today we caught a minibus to La Paz, where we´ve met up with Jon and Ave once again, and tomorrow we head up to Rurrenbaque for a pampas tour! (grasslands, rivers, and wildlife). It´s supposed to be 20 to 30 degrees up there all the time, so we´re all anxious to soak up some more warm weather!!

What else to say about Bolivia... the people so far seem very friendly, and man oh man is it cheap! That´s all for now...

Islas Flotantes - Uros

2005-10-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning we went to the Floating Islands of lake Titikaka (we learned "Titi" means "puma" and "kaka" means "rock" - ouuu, ahh, what a wealth of information, I know). The Uros people made and moved to these islands in the time of the Inca, but according to our guide a big reason for staying on them was to avoid having to work in the inhuman silver mines in Potosi (Bolivia) in the time of the Spanish Conquistadors. The islands are made up of reeds that grow on the lake. The Uros people harvest the reeds "roots" (about 1.5 m deep) and pile another 2 m of cut up reeds on top, giving the islands a depth of 3.5 m (the water around there is about 15 m deep). Walking on the islands is pretty funny, very spongy and I was glad to hear they´re are deep as they are because it feels like, if you stomped, you would punch right through and end up with a foot in the lake. About 10 families live on each island, living off of fish, water fowl and the white parts of the roots (which is probably similar to sugar cane). The islands are tied to wooden pillars, but they´re untied and move around the lake each year (pulled by motorboats). They make these cool reed boats each fashioned with a puma head at the front - I think Phil took half a film of just the boats! Some of the heads used the bottom of pop bottles as eyes, really cool. The tour was pretty good, though the guide wasn´t great and the last two islands were just places to buy handicrafts (needless to say, we all came away empty handed). There was also this hilarious museum that had a collection of poorly taxodermied birds with their eyes rotting out - another classic example of non-first world museums. One of the little girls on the first island took quite a shine to Jon´s sunglasses and wore them around for about 30 minutes, getting her sticky hands all over the lenses. Cute. I hope everyone is well! Andrea

Colca Canyon

2005-10-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

We took the bus from Arequipa to the tiny town of Cabanaconde. The town was great, I have rarely ever been somewhere so friendly. All the people would say hello and wave (even from inside their little stores!). The main draw is the steep walk down Colca Canyon to the little oasis at the bottom. The walk down gave great views (a bit better than the continuous fog of the Inca Trail!) but took ages. I must have strained my knee on the Inca Trail because after about an hour it was complianing loudly and had to take a mule (Paloma) the last 15 mins down and all the way back up. The oasis was awesome (as can be seen in this photo, though of course this isn´t any of us and is just lifted from the web). The water was gorgeous - nice and cool and a way to wash away some of the dust we got covered in from the trail. For the low price of 10 soles (about 3 dollars) we got to swim in the pool and got a nice two course meal. The walk up looked hot and sweaty (my poor mule wasn´t even too happy about it) but everyone was thrilled to get back to our gorgeous hotel for a hot shower/bath and a few drinks (the usual price was 170 soles but we got rooms for 40 soles! Well done, Ave!).
We made it to Puno, a city on Lake Titicaca after a long 8-10 hr day in rickety buses on dirt roads. We will be touring around the floating islands tomorrow, then heading off to Bolivia (Copa-Copabana). Much love from all of us!!

More maps and photos! (not ours though)

2005-10-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

So, the first night we camped at Wayllabamba, which was about 3000m. After climbing over the first pass on day two, and coming down a very steep trail, we camped at a very muddy riverside base, 3700m. Day three we climbed over two passes, to descend 1000 stone steps (hard on the knees and feet!) to Wiñaywayna and a beer and lukewarm shower, for those so inclined. This camp was at 2600m. The last day started at 4am, and we hiked along a relatively level trail to the Sun Gate, where we had great views of Machu Picchu! And on down to the ruins for a tour and a well-deserved sangwiuche (sandwich).

Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail

2005-10-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

We did it !!!!!!!!! And aren´t we glad we did! It was an amazing four day trek. It did rain pretty much the entire time, however the weather cleared on our last morning, when we hiked the final two hours to Machu Picchu, and the SUN! was actually out for a few hours while we had our tour of the ruins. Couldn´t ask for anything more! Our group consisted of ten people, us five, plus a couple from England and three American gentleman. The three americans were just on vacation for 10 days, so they inevitably ended up having a bit of trouble with the altitude, and with their knees. We all had our complaints, of course!, but all in all it was a wonderful four days. We had porters to carry all our stuff (except for a day pack with water and a sweater), which made all the difference. One of the highlights was that, because of the rain, everyone was wearing these cheap, brightly coloured plastic ponchos -- so seeing all these ant-like people in plastic ponchos below you from various viewpoints along the trail was pretty neat. Our porters were amazing, they´d come barrelling down the trail past us and breakneck speeds with giant loads on their backs, wearing sandals no less. We took every opportunity to give them sweets and fruit when they were resting along the trail. The food was amazing, and our guides did a good job as well.

Machu Picchu itself was amazing, I was glad we were able to spend some time there! The Incas certainly sound like they were cool people ... they had a sundial which told them when to start planting and harvesting, and the stonework was absolutely amazing.

that is all for now, we are off to Arequipa (the white city), and I will likely write more from there!

Nazca Lines!!

2005-10-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

We were indeed following just a day behind Barb, Jon and Ave. We saw the Poor Man´s Galapagos, and as Barb said, it was great. There were hundreds of thousands of birds and thousands of sea lions, you could see them popping up everywhere in the water, it was amazing!
We were planning on heading back to Lima Oct 3 and having a day in Lima to check out a few museums, but on the way to book our bus ticket, we saw a few pictures of the Nazca lines which are located about 3 hrs away from Pisco. We´d heard the flights to see them (they can really only be seen from the air) were over $100 so we´d never considered going, but we found out that they were being offered for the low, low price of $40. We decided to head on over and it was well worth it. The lines were amazing, as clear as the pictures. We flew in a little 5 person cesna. We´d cruise around the lines in tight circles until everyone had had a good view (and I wasn´t even sick!). Anyway, well worth the time and the money (what made it even better was that you could take these old American cars from the ´60s as cabs from Nazca to Ica, about 2 hrs. We fit 6 people, plus the driver, very comfortably - sweet ride).

Huaraz and Pisco too!

2005-10-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Can you believe we´ve been gone for three weeks already?! I can´t. I know that Andrea told you tidbits about Huaraz, I will fill you in on the overnight hike we did to Lake 69, which Andrea most unfortunately missed in order to recover and be in tip-top shape for our Inca Trail trip next week.

The mountains around Huaraz are two ranges called the Cordillera Negra (no snow on these because they get the pacific winds off the ocean) and the Cordillera Blanca (with snow and glaciers, because they are blocked from the pacific winds by the cordillera negra). We were hiking in the Cordillera Blanca. First we did a day trip up to a glacier (I stink because I can´t remember the name of it ... sorry!), which was very high altitude for us (over 5000m, i do believe!). It was a great day but sure knocked our socks off with tiredness.

Then up to Lake 69, with our guide Hilbert. The first day was a ride on a tourist bus (not the quickest way of getting anywhere... lots of peruvian tourists who think the idea of a good bus tour is to stop somewhere every hour at least), and then a hike up to a viewpoint. For all you philfolks it was comparable to schwacking up the Copper Park side of Baldy, but at 4000m altitude, and with slippery bunchgrass underfoot instead of talus! Definitely a good way to break us in, thank goodness we didn´t have to wear packs! It hailed and rained on us that night, and apparently the guide (who was hiking down from the veiwpoint in the rain with us) was the one who knew how to set up the tent, because upon our arrival back at the camp we discovered an extremely wet tent.... i guess the cook should really just stick to cooking!! So we fixed the tent up as best we could (granted it was quite a complex tent), and had some dinner in the smokey cookhouse (a treat, out of the rain!). The next day we did a leisurely 3 hour walk up to lake 69 (we got to use a trail this time, quite a treat when you are gasping for everybreath -- okay okay, so I am a little out of shape!). The views were absolutely stunning, I can honestly say these are the most majestic mountains I have seen, the glaciers are fantastic! And the lake was also beautiful (I´d like to say I´ll post a picture, but I think we all know my capabilities don´t range that far just yet.... patience, my friends, patience!).

Andrea managed to get on a day tour that day, she was feeling well enough, however she didn´t end up on the day trip she signed up for.... she was hoping to see the glacier and the 10-ft tall flowers we saw on our day trip, however she ended up on a trip to Lake 67.... pretty funny! It was great to meet up with her after two days apart, see her looking so chipper, and catch up!

After another recovery day in Huaraz, Jon, Ave, and I hopped on a night bus to Pisco to check out the Islas Ballestas and the Paracas national marine reserve. Phil and Andrea will follow us, I think just a day behind. The Islas Ballestas are known as the poor man´s galapagos, and made for a great, relaxing day! We saw sea lions (apparently they are also known as sea wolves here...), cormorants, boobies, terns, dolphins, and the cutest penguins ever! All in all a great day, the desert here is beautiful especially with the contrast of it meeting the sea.

Tomorrow we are off to Lima (yikes big cities are scary!), and then fly to Cuzco on tuesday to acclimatize and get organized for our Inca Trail trip! Okay, enough yammering from me...

Map of Peru

2005-09-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

Barb summed that all up pretty well, I'd say! I just thought I would add the map of Peru so people could follow along our fast-paced progress. We arrived in Huaraz Sunday at 5:15 am and managed to find a hotel room in which to crash. After we woke up we poked around the city to find some good tours of the mountains around here that are gorgeous. We managed to find a nice one day tour that would take us up to see these 10ft flowers and an ice cave. Sadly, that night I came down with a flu (now chest cold) so I wasn't able to go, but it sounded wicked (I am thinking about going tomorrow). Phil, Jon, Ave and Barb left this morning for a 2 day trek up mountain 69, which sounds wonderful. I am sure Barb will have a lot to share when she gets back on the blog!

I also wanted to add a picture of the wicked boats they had at Huanchaco. The fishermen would paddle out past the surf to fish, then head back using the waves a bit (the book made it sound like they surf in, but they just use the waves to ease themselves in). The're about 10 ft long and made of what looks like two bundles of reeds tied together. The town was nice, though cold, a great place to chill out (and it had amazing apple pie).

The plan is to head to Lima the day after tomorrow on another gorgeous night bus (the seats almost fully recline!). From there, we're going to spend a few days in the "poor man's Galapagos", then catch our flights. Hope all is well with everyone! Andrea

Peru!

2005-09-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! We're in Peru, in a town called Huanchuco (about 20kms west of Trujillo). It's a nice little beach town, and I'm sure it's nicer when its warm out! Right now it's cold and cloudy. We are trying to make our way to Huaraz, in the Cordillera Blanca, to do some day hikes and take in the beautiful mountain scenery. Unfortunately there's been a bus strike here in Peru, so things are a bit backed up. Not too bad, we were hoping to get on a bus tonight but we have to wait until tomorrow -- only one day, so it's not too bad.

We arrived in Peru on ... tuesday? I think? By bus, and let me tell you the border crossing was a treat. It brought back fond memories of trying to get stuff done in India, let's just say that! But we made it to Machala that night, a touristy beach town with a slow pace, lots of great food, and LOTS of surfers. The weather, once again, is not all that beachy this time of year, so we didn't hang around.

Nothing terribly exciting has happened... while in Cuenca, we checked out a museum of skeletons -- all kinds of mammals, birds, and reptiles. It was a really cute, kitschy (umm, no idea how to spell that) museum and they had some crazy skeletons (hummingbird!!). Well worth the $1 it cost to go through.

So I'm trying to figure out how to post a map of Peru on here, so you all can follow our progress, but the page is in spanish so I am experiencing difficulty... i may have to get Andrea to do it!

So, it's off to Huaraz on a night bus tomorrow (hooray, my favourite). We've booked flights from Lima to Cuzco on the 4th (me, Jon, and Ave) and 5th (Phil and Andrea) of October, which cuts a tasty 30 hours off our bus trip time in Peru -- well worth the $$, let me tell you! So we'll be in Cuzco with plenty of time to acclimatize for our Macchu Picchu/Inca Trail trip... so exciting!

Fun and random detail of the day:
While eating ice cream in a shop in Cuenca, this guy comes up to us and is all "do you speak english?" to which of course we reply yes, and he asks to know what a word means, this word printed on some papers he produces. the word is 'mutilated'. Understandably, we are all a bit taken aback, and not too willing to tell him what the word means without a context.... turns out his passport had got wet, and the picture was falling out, so the US embassy was telling him he couldn't travel with it anymore... i guess this guy did business in ecuador and the states, and he clearly had a good grasp of conversational english ("and i was like yo, man, give me back my passport, i don't have $97 to pay for a new one, this one is good until 2008. you know? i mean, i was kindof getting pissed off."). anyways it was totally random.

that's all for now!

Quilotoa Loop - Phil and Andrea

2005-09-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

I know I am getting a bit behind, but we've been traveling like maniacs lately. Phil and I went up to the Quilotoa Loop last week - absolutely gorgeous. It is in the highlands so all the views are amazing. The bus trip was fantastic, we got on the bus and saw nothing but the typical bowler hats from wall to wall - I think we were the only ones without! The towns were incredible, very traditional. After several hours we ended up in Laguna Quilotoa which is about a 5 min walk from this gorgeous view of the crater lake. The place we stayed was a hostal but more like a house - we ate in the dining room at the same time as the family, etc. It was great. We took a bit of a stomp around the lake - you could walk down to it (about 1.5 hrs up and down) or around (5-7 hrs) so we opted for around since the views would be better. The track was a bit rough at times, but the dog from our hostal kept us company (he kept eating the sticks we would throw). We ended up walking (and getting a bit lost) for about 2-3 hrs, then got back to the hostal and ended up getting a camionetta to Zumbahua and a bus to Latacunga. After that we went to Baños to meet up with Jon and Ave and Barb - all of which I think has been written about by Barb. Hope all is well with all of you! Andrea

And today, Cuenca

2005-09-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well today we are in Cuenca, a big city in the south of Ecuador. The past couple days have been jam-packed fun-filled with exciting events. Phil and Andrea spent some time in Latacunga, which I am sure she will tell you about. I met up with Phil, Andrea, Jon, and Ave in Banos on the 16th. We had some beers and reminisced about the galapagos -- very fun! Great to catch up, and for me to meet Jon and Ave finally. On saturday, Andrea, Phil and I rented bikes and headed towards Puyo t check out some waterfalls. We rode a cable car across a huge gorge, which was a great rush (and only cost $1!), and biked 22kms (mostly downhill!) to the Pailon del Diablo, a very powerful looking waterfall. It was a gorgeous sunny day with breathtaking mountain views and it felt great to get off the bus-boat-train and DO something for a change!

We then hopped on a bus to Riobamba, which was an adventure in itself. Crazy winding roads, high high along mountainsides, teeny bridges that looked too narrow for the bus but somehow we got across! Breathtaking views, when I could pry my eyes of the crazy roads! Got into riobamba for a bite to eat and hopped into bed, to get up at 5:30 on sunday morning to catch a train down towards Alausi, and see the Nariz del Diablo (Devil´s nose). It was a five hour train ride, and we were on the roof the whole way -- very cold in the morning and once noon rolled around it was very hot!!! We had great weather, making it possible to catch all the amazing views. The train only derailed twice (dont worry, we were going really slow!), and the train fellows seemed to have quite a good system worked out to get the cars back on track -- they would dig the dirt out from under the wheels that had come off, and put a metal bar underneath so that when the train moved forward again, the wheels would head back onto the track. very effective. The best part was the switchbacks down to the Nariz del Diablo, at the very end -- the train did switchbacks down this steep mountain side by actually reversing directions at the crux of the switchback! It was totally crazy.

Then hopped on a bus to Cuenca, where we are now. Tomorrow we´ll head down into Peru, and see if we cant find a little beach town on the coast to relax in for a couple days. It is a LOOONG way down to cuzco from here (where our Macchu Picchu/Inca Trail trip starts from), probably about 70hours by bus, so we need to get moving! Have to be there in just over two weeks.

Some random favourites:
the poster of John Stamos in Quito (who knew that the full house episode with the beach boys would lead to a music career in s. america!)
the policemen in quito who wore shoes, but then wore these ... cuff thingys.. over their calves so that it LOOKS like they are wearing boots.
the picture in my hotel room right now, which is a painting of a town, with mountains in the background, a few giant zebra-striped easter eggs that are bigger than the houses, and a flying train engine.

thats all for now, folks...

Galapagos!!!!

2005-09-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

I am back in Quito after 5 days in the galapagos. Pretty amazing! I went on a boat tour for 5 days and four nights, onboard the Yate Rumba. There were 10 others along, plus five crew members. The landscapes are amazing, as are all the animals, most especially the birds and iguanas. There are about a bajillion sea lions that provide hours of entertainment if you watch them while sitting on a beach. I will try to post some pictures soon, i need to find a place with a card reader or something. my camera is currently having it´s battery charged....

Some highlights of the trip: my favourite were the giant land tortoises, they are so amazing looking! And I snorkeled with a sea turtle, also very big! One of the people I was traveling with, a crazy Austrian guy who builds and restors organs (pipe organs, not livers and hearts) grabbed onto the shell of a sea turtle and tried to get it to swim with him! Needless to say the turtle was none to pleased. The people on the boat were a great mix, very interesting and kind.

Lowlights include incredibly rough seas (well, rough for this landlubber anyways!), as at one point I was lying in my bunk , gripping the edges so as not to fly out of it, and opening my eyes to see that the boat was sooo horizontal that the curtains on the window were hanging directly towards my face!! The guide and crew seemed to think it necessary to adhere to such a rigid schedule that we always traveled at night, making it difficult to stay in our bunks let alone get any sleep!! Needless to say I am quite happy to be sleeping on land in a normal-sized (well, for ecuador anyway) bed tonight!

THe other unbelievable thing that happened was that one of the other tourist boats sank on our third night out -- we were in the port at the island Santa Cruz, the town is called Porto Ayora, and I guess this boat, called the Darwin Explorer, was quite an old boat so that a big wave came and the boat landed really hard on top of another wave, tearing off the back landing deck of the boat. It had sunk within one minute (so fast!), luckily all the passengers and crew got off safely. I think everyone in the port was feeling glad to be safe that night!

That´s all for now, I will head down to Banos tomorrow to meet Andrea, Phil, Jon, and Ave. I am sure I will describe more about the galapagos when I post pictures!

hasta luego

Quito - Basilica

2005-09-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

Yesterday Phil and I went to the Basilica in the Old Town of Quito. Now, I´m not one for churches, but this one was amazing. You can climb about 6 flight of regular stairs which then takes you to 3 floors of circular stairs (a little scary for me who isn´t too good with heights) and for the final 3 floors you have to climb some sketchy rebar ladders (needless to say I made it up the first one and gave the other two a miss, though Phil went righ to the top). I felt compelled to go up at least one ladder since these 16 year old girls in huge heels weren´t having any troubles going up and down. Anyway, you get an incredible view of the whole city.

We met up with Jon and Ave yesterday and heard all about their adventures (some sounded pretty scary with a near robbing in Nicaragua and Jon having to give mouth-to-mouth with a near fatal drowning victim). The Galapagos sounded amazing - all the animals are supposed to be incredibly friendly and the scenery sounds lovely. I have to admit I am more sold than ever on going - another time.

Today we´re going to the Equator - there is a little museum with some experiments outlined that you can only do at the Equator! Tomorrow we start heading South to Latacumba then off to Baños - you can follow along on the map in the first posting if you desire.

Then ankle is doing well (no flippers for me, though) and I´m sure Barb is great - I can´t wait to hear all about her trip!

Quito - Old Town

2005-09-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!
Barb took off this morning headed for the Galapagos, she is going to have a wicked time no doubt. We´ll try to insert a few pics when she returns so you can see a bit of what she did.

Yesterday was our first day poking around Quito. We took a cab to Old Town which is much more colonial. The streets are steep with heaps of long, colonial buildings lining every street (see the photo). We went to the La Museo de la Ciudad (the museum of the city) which was fantastic - there were two great art exhibits and a visual history of Ecuador. Today Phil and I are heading off to the Basilica (also in Old Town) then likely out for Thai food - get it while you can.

In other news, the night before last I tripped on the second last stair at our hostal and either sprained or twisted my ankle. I am happy to report that it´s not that bad, though it´s cutting down on the amount I want to walk (read: hobble) around. Also, all three of us are feeling the effects of altitude, we´re all a bit worn down and hitting the hay early.

In Quito!

2005-09-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived safely in Quito, with a fairly uneventful set of flights on the way down (the most exciting thing we saw was definitely a guy doing crunchies on a luggage belt into a plane....guess he hadn´t got to the gym yet this week...). Today I booked a trip to the Galapagos Islands, heading out on sunday sept 11 and returning on thurs sept 15. So i will have a lot more interesting things to say after that, I´m sure.... other than that nothing too incredibly exciting going on. Andrea and Phil had a very happy reunion, and we saw a guy playing a smallish saxaphone made out of ... something like bamboo. didn´t sound too bad, acutally! More soon.... :)

Our English/Irish Counterparts

2005-09-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Phil, Jon and Ave (in that order) who we'll be meeting up with in Ecuador. They have been traveling in Mexico and Central America for roughly the past 2 months, so their Spanish should be superb.

Map of Eucador

2005-08-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

This lovely map of Ecuador, taken off the Lonely Planet webpage, is so you can all chart our Ecuadorian progress. Barb and I will be arriving in Quito September 8 and will hopefully be greeted by Phil, Jon and Ave.