La Llama Loca

We are on our way home!

2008-01-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

We are currently sitting in an internet cafe in Santiago awaiting our flight to Panama and eventually home to Canada! We have completed most of our blog entries, but have yet to write the ones for Mendoza and Santiago, so stay tuned for those entries even though we will be back in Vancouver. We have had a fantastic trip, and can´t wait to see you to tell you all about it face to face (we have purposefully left out some of the juicier stories to retell in person). Thanks for reading and your comments, and we look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Cheers!

Katie and Timb

Mendoza

2007-12-31T06:52:00.000-08:00

One of the two reasons that Mendoza is famous is that it is the center of Argentia´s wine district. While Argentina wine isn´t exactly world renowned, it is a very fast growing industry and Mendoza has done its best to capitalize on that fact. The popular thing among backpackers, is to rent a bike and ride to a bunch of wineries. A few routes have been set up in areas where there is a fairly high concentrations of vineyards.

So we got on a bus that would take us to the outskirts of Mendoza where we would begin the tour. It turned out to be a bit tricky to pay for the bus as, it is very difficult to get change in South America and it only took exact change. After trying to pump the ticket machine full of coins, it finally spit out one ticket. I am not sure if the driver even noticed or cared but we got a ride out to Mapu, a small town outside of Mendoza. Here we payed for our bikes, and set out down the road.
Our first stop was at the Museo del Vino. This was a small muesum set up at a vineyard, which had a collection of wine making equipment streching back to colonial times. We were given a good tour, in english, that explained how the equipment was used and how it had evolved from collecting graps in baskets made from hide, crushing grapes with their feet and storing it in clay vessels to the modern stainless steel vats and pneumatic press used today. After a tour around the museum, we were taken into the modern winery and given a tour of their current operations. It was all very impressive and I actually learned a little about wine making. After the tour we were given some wine to sample, a chardonnay, which wasn´t too bad, although whites are not the regions specialty.
After the museum we got back on our bikes and headed off to the next stop, a winery called Vina el Cerno. This winery was a few kilometers away, and by the time we arrived we had discovered how increbily uncomfortable the bike seats were. I have ridden quite a few bikes and nothing compared to how hard and lumpy these seats where. Luckily, we were on a wine tour so we head to the tasting room to dull the pain. At this winery we sampled their chardonnay, cabernt sauvignon, syrah, and their malbec, the varitey the region is famous for. Malbec, is actually the variety looked down on by the French (Mal meaning bad and bec meaning kiss.) I thought it was pretty good but Katie prefered the syarh and the cab sauv. After the wine we got back on the bikes, the seats seamed to be a bit better by then, and headed to our next stop, a winery by the name Bodega Carinae. We arrived just in time to join an english tour that had just started. This winery had just been restarted a few years ago, after being abanonded for a generation. Appartently the son had not want to continue the family business and after the father had died, the vineyard just sold their grapes to other wineries. In 2002 or so a couple had bought the land from the son and started the up the current operation, which had already won a couple of international contests. We tasted several of their varieties and bought a couple of bottles to bring back with us. We also had a picnic lunch in the the vineyards.
After that we went across the street to visit an olive plantation. We wandered around a bit and sampled some olives and oil in their gift shop but decided not to take the tour. It was getting late and we still had one more winery to visit.

The last winery we visited was called Familia Di Tommaso. We took a short tour of the facilities, which were no longer be used to produce wine. We were able to walk into one of the large storage barrels, which had been cut open for the public to view. The ceiling of the barrel was coated with crystals, which had formed during the many years the barrel had been used for storing and fermenting wine. They were quite beautiful. We tasted a couple of wines, and bought a bottle of Malbec. Then we biked back to the rental place and caught a bus back into Mendoza.

The second trip we did from Mendoza was the Alta Montaña Tour. We had heard from several people that the road from Mendoza into Chile was spectacular and we wanted to see more of it than just from the bus window. We found a tour that would take us to see most of the sites we wanted to visit.
The trip started off with a surprise, due to a unforeseen time change. We were informed, five minutes after waking up, that the tour group was downstairs waiting for us, and that it was eight o'clock, not seven. We threw our stuff together as quickly as possible and headed off for the mountains. The first stop was at a reservoir that supplied Mendoza and the surround vineyards with water. The drive up there reminded us how dry this region was and how important this water was in maintaining the productivity of the surrounding area. The reservoir and irrigation system was originally built by the natives, but since had received considerable modification to keep up with modern demands.We continued on stopping at the small town of Uspallata for a snack and Los Penitentes Ski Resort. The next stop was the one I had been looking forward to the most, Aconcagua. At 6962m it is the highest mountain in the Americas and the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. We were able to hike for about an hour on a loop out to a lookout point and back to the park entrance. It was nice to get out of the van and stretch our legs after all that driving. It was a beautiful, clear day, and we enjoyed the chilly sunshine. It was the first time we had to wear jackets for a couple of weeks.

Following our short hike around Aconcagua National Park, we drove off to Las Cuevas, a town close to the Chilean border. We drove through the town and began to wind our way up a switchbacking gravel road up the side of the mountain. We were climbing to a monument called Cristo Redentor de los Andes monument located at 3800m above sea-level on the Argentinean-Chilean border. The road was once the only way to cross the border, but now a 3km international tunnel cuts through the mountain, eliminating the need to take the winding road over the pass.
The top of the pass was freezing and the wind was blowing hard, chilling us to the bone in seconds. The view, however, was amazing! The snow capped peaks of the Andes stretched out before us in all directions. After snapping a few photos, we were quite cold so we piled back into the van and headed down the mountain.

The last stop on our tour was the Punte de Inca, which despite its name, was not built by the Inca. It is a natural bridge formed from sulphurous deposits spanning the Vacas river. Their are hotsprings located under the bridge, but after an earthquake in 2005 , the bridge was closed as it was unsafe to cross.The bridge was the last stop of the day, and we all piled back into the van for the drive back to Mendoza. After spending a lot of time in big cities was nice to get back out into the mountains and stretch our legs a little.

We chose to spend New Year's in Mendoza, as it would be considerably more expensive to spend it in Chile. We decided to head out to the bar district only to find everything closed. There was only one bar/restaurant open and it was packed with tourists. Apparently, residents of Mendoza do not go out for New Year's, although I think they tend to have private family parties. One thing they do like to do is light off fireworks, loud fireworks. We had a mediocre meal, a good bottle of wine and rang in the New Year as explosions rattle the window panes around us.

Buenos Aires - The Good Stuff

2007-12-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

We spent a week in Buenos Aires around Christmas. It was swelteringly hot almost everyday, and was honsetly one of the strangest Christmases I have ever experienced. Timb and I both agreed that Christmas lights and decorations in 30 degree heat and bright sunshine felt unnatural. We enjoyed ourselves exploring the city, which is that largest we have encountered on our journey thus far. Here are some highlights from our experiences...

Puerto Madero:
We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning of a bright sunny day and decided immediately that we had to be out exploring the city on foot. We directed ourselves towards the waterfront and headed out into the warm morning. Puerto Madero is a newly revived area, running alongside the old dikes of the port on the Rio Plata. There are four dikes, filled with murky brown water, surroundedby old warehouses that have been transformed into upscale apartments and restauraunts. It rather reminded us of Yaletown. We wandered in the hot sun along the side of the dikes, pausing on shady benches, and to take a photo in front of a rather magnificent footbridge. We crossed the foot bridge and wandered through the neighbourhood towards the waterfront. We strolled along a long footpath running alongside a salt marsh. The whole waterfront area has been revitalized and is now an Ecological Reserve. We intended to explore the reserve, but it was just too hot, so we headed into the Plaza de Mayo for lunch. The plaza is surrounded by some important historical buildings, including the Cathedral and the Casa Rosada, the residence of the president. It is also the site of regular protests, so it is gated across the middle, and around the key buildings. We headed back to our hostel along the pedestrian thoroughfare, called Florida. It is a busy mall, lined with shops and people passing out flyers advertising everything from leather goods to strippers. It was packed with people commuting to and from their jobs in the downtown core around Plaza de Mayo.

Recoletta Cemetary and the Museo de Bellas Artes:

On the second day of our time in Buenos Aires we headed to Recoletta Cemetary, a famously elaborate burial grounds filled with the tombs of the Argentinian elite. It was an amazing experience, like walking through a city of the dead. The tombs were all intricate constructions, some of which still fared well due to continuing maintenace, and others which were crumbling into disrepair. Some of the coffins actually hung out of their stone receptacles, like something out of a Halloween movie. We took some amazing photos of the crypts and enjoyed exploring the cemetary to find my ultimate goal, the grave of famed Evita, Eva Peron. We discovered it at last, as we suspected, surrounded by a group of tourists snapping photos and paying tribute to the sweetheart of Argentina.

Following our trip into Recoletta Cemetary, Timb and I headed to the Museo de Bellas Artes. This museum was quite large, containing a vast collection of Argentinian art, as well as several travelling exhibitions. It took a couple of hours to explore the whole thing, but was well worth it for me to see a couple of pieces by Monet, Velasquez, Goya and Picasso.

Parks and Palermo:

On our third day we headed to Palermo and it´s praised parks. We took the Subte, or subway, which was an adventure in itself, as we had to work out how the system worked, and arrived at Plaza Italia in hot sunshine. We wandered from their through the botanical gardens, which had lovely sculptures, but had fallen into a decaying state with the collapse of the Argentinian economy. It was nevertheless a lovely green space, oddly filled with stray cats, a lot of stray cats. They seemed to be congregating there, in liu of other spaces to live. After the botanical garden we headed up to the Japanese Garden, which was well maintained due to the entry fee charged. It had large ponds, bridges low green hillocks and rock statues, with the biggest coy fish I have ever seen inhabiting the ponds. They honestly looked as if they could take off your hand if you were to dip it into the water. The children would feed them, and they would crowd together under the bridges when you went to cross them.

Finally that day we went to do a little shopping, or rather I went to do some shopping while Timb patiently waited for me to make up my mind. We headed to an area called Palermo Viejo, or Palermo Soho, which is home to a number of trendy boutiques. This area of Palermo was absolutely gorgeous, with cobbled streets and big trees over hanging the sidewalks. Ladies, I am telling you, it was fantastic! It was like shopping in New York with all of the fabby designer clothes, shoes and bags, but better because the prices were so low. I was in heaven, but had to control my spending as I didn´t have a lot of room to bring things back. I would love to go back with an empty suitcase and fill it up, but until that time I will have to be content with my gorgy, green suede bag that Timb bought me for Christmas :) We wandered around Palermo for a while, admiring the boutiques and trendy cafes before treading back to the Subte station and the hostel.

San Telmo:

San Telmo is a wonderfully unique area of Buenos Aires, and we were lucky enough to be able to explore it on Sunday when the streets are lined with bohemian and antique markets. The building here are lower and older thn in other parts of the city, and the main street is linded with antique shops filled with some really unique objects. When the economy crashed, people began to sell off their possessions to make some money. They sold everything with value, and therefor the antique shops are packed full of everything you can imagine. The whole thing is incredible, and also rather sad, as these people sold their family heirlooms to survive. We wandered down to the main plaza, which turns into an antique market on Sundays, and explored the stalls. It was fun and interesting, but Timb and I both decided that there is a fine line between antique and junk. We ate lunch at a notable restaraunt called Desnivel, an Italian place famous for its delicious steaks. And they really were amazing. The most tender steak I have ever had, though they need to work on their sauces and marinades. We left the restaurant absolutely stuffed, and wandered back, through the rather empty Sunday streets of the rest of Buenos Airies, to our hostel to digest.

Christmas Day and the day that followed:

This year was my first Christmas away from home, and as a result I was rather homesick on Christmas Day. Timb did a great job of trying to cheer me up. He made me a stocking out of one of his socks, with candy and an orange inside, and bought me a rose. We exchanged a couple of presents and went down to have coffee and breakfast. We made a huge breakfast omlet, and checked our e-mails for Christmas greetings. Then we headed out into Buenos Aires to make some phone calls and explore the Congresso area, which we had yet to see. It was a long walk, but worth it, as the archtecture around the plaza is rather spectacular. The government house is massive, and the plaza contains a wonderful large sculpture and fountain. We walked back to the hostel, where we spent the rest of the day hanging out with others in the hostel and watching movies on TV. We made a huge Christmas dinner that night, and all ate and drank together. It was nice to spend the day with new people, and I ended up really enjoying myself on my first hot and sunny Christmas day.

The next day was our last in Buenos Aires, so Timb and I decided to cross off the last few activities we had on our list. We had to check out of our room rather early, afterwhich we walked down through Puerto Madero again to reach the Ecological Reserve. This time we headed into the reserve and walked out to view the Rio Plata, the closest point we could get to the Atlantic Ocean. We have now been from coast to coast on the South American continent. The reserve was large, full of low, flowering trees and marsh land grasses. It was nice to feel a bit like we were out of the city. It was a hot day, and we both got rather sunburned walking around in the open.

Later in the afternoon we headed to the Buenos Aires Zoo, which we had heard contained amazing animal houses. They were quite amazing, as they were old, and architecturally elaborate, but they were not the ideal homes for these animals, and as usual the zoo was a bit depressing. Some of the animals had lovely large habitats, but others were not so fortunate. I particularly felt for the polar bear, who must´ve been boiling hot. The zoo was large and it took us a while to make it all the way round to all of the exhibits. I think that the best thing we got out of our zoo visit was a feeling of accomplishment of our trip in general; of having been able to see many of these animals in their wild habitats, something that many of the other zoo visitors hadn´t done and possible would never see. We had been to the jungle, desert and high altiplane, and those experiences stood out especially with our zoo visit.

Later that day we left Buenos Aires for Mendoza, and further adventures...

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

Hello family and friends!

Timb and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas from sunny Buenos Aires! We are enjoying our stay here very much, and have been out exploring the city everyday. It is a much different Christmas experience to what we are used to, but it is an enjoyable one none the less. We hope that you all are enjoying your own Christmas holidays, wherever you might be. Eleven more days and then back to the rain. We will see you all soon!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Katie and Timb

Water Falling in the Jungle

2007-12-24T08:09:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu in the late afternoon heat, and stripped out of our warm clothes before setting out to find a place to stay. The town is small and pleasant, shaded by large trees, and surrounded by jungle and a river bearing the same name that passes alongside it. We selected a hostel, which seemed nice enough, and headed into town to find some dinner. We ate our usual healthy dinner of pizza and beer, and returned to the hostel exhausted from the long bus journey that we have just completed.

Unfortunately, whilest Timb was in the bathroom having a well deserved shower, I discovered that we were not as alone in our room as one would have hoped. I picked up my bag to discover a large black cockroach huddled beneath it. I let out a shriek and it ran, and i jumped back against the wall. As I did so, I spied another cockroach scampering into our room from beneath the door. It was all I could do to keep my composure, as I had never seen a cockroach in real life before, and I am sure Timb would say that I didn´t do a very good job of remaining calm. He emerged from the bathroom, quite confused as to what the problem was, and proceeded to heroically squash all the cockroaches that he could find. I think there were only about 8 in total, but that was enough to make me sleep with one light on, very uneasily. The next morning we made the decision to switch hostels, to a cleaner, bug-free environment.

I got to pick the next hostel, and we treated ourselves to a well-deserved four star hotel suite, with a lovely balcony, and jacuzzi tub! I felt this was well justified, and we did not have any problems with cockroaches in our new hotel room.

We set out for the falls that afternoon, taking the local bus to the national park entrance. It was a scorchingly hot day. We took the passenger train out to the path to the biggest set of falls, called Garganta Diablo. A boardwalk through the jungle and over the widely flowing upper Iguazu river lead us out to the waterfall view point. You could hear the water falling before you could see it. The river pounded over the face of the cliff, and incredible amounts of water rushed over the face. It was an amazing site. We took many photos, and then headed back to the train.

Timb at Garganta Diablo

Before we left the park that day, we explored the second of three trails to the water falls, the upper trail. Another boardwalk followed along the upper portion of the falls, which spanned a large distance. The Garaganta Diablo was just the largest of the falls, there were many other smaller falls, following the cliff face. It was incredibly beautiful. The water flowing out over green, jungle rock faces made it a unique experience, and I was happy to have made the long journey just to see the falls.

The next day we returned to the park under a cloudy sky to complete our trip along the third and final path to the water falls. This was the lower path, and the longest of the three. It took us down to the base of the smaller falls, above which the upper boardwalk followed. It was a cloudy day, and we were able to make it most of the way around the lower trail before it began to rain. The views from below the falls were spectacular, the best being from an small island that we reached by boat. We snapped a few good photos, and then headed back up the path for the train, dripping wet.

A view from the lower trail.

The next day was our last in Iguazu, and it was a hot one. We walked the long street, aptly named Tres Fronteras, to the confluence of the Rio Igauzu and Rio Paraña. Here there is a viewpoint and a monument errected to mark the Argentinian border. Similar markers are visible across the rivers, marking the borders of Paraguay and Brazil.

It was an interesting feeling, standing on the edge of the country, it gave me a sense of our trip and how far we had travelled to arrive at this spot. Later that day, we gathered our bags and caught a bus to Buenos Aires. Like usual, we were moving onward to explore a new place and experience new things. How lucky we are...

On the road in Argentina - San Pedro to Salta and onward

2007-12-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

Our bus from San Pedro was one of the nicest buses that we had yet to ride on. We lucked out and got the seats by the emergency exit window, with a little extra leg room. The bus was packed with tourists on their way out of Chile. We left San Pedro and Chilean customs without incident, and made our way out onto the highway into Argentina. The rode cut back up the steep hill that we descended on our way out of Bolivia. We passed by the Bolivian frontier once again before setting a course for the Argentinian border.

Formalities at the Argentinian border were long and arduous. Many people were crossing the border from buses and private vehicles, a long line of people wound its way out of the customs office into the glaring sun. We waited for almost an hour, with several people going in and out of the office infront of us with different forms. At long last our passports gained another stamp from the officials, and we were on our way into Argentina. We climbed further into the mountains, and then began to descend a long, winding road cut through a mountain valley. This was one of the most amazing roads I have ever been on. Timb longed to have his longboard to sail through the many hairpin bends. [Editor´s note: It was sweet!] We descended into the night, and arrived in the Salta bus terminal to a dark, rainy night.

The next day we awoke to find the rain still flowing vehemently. Despite Salta´s lovely architecture and leafy streets, we decided to leave that evening to escape the endless rain. We walked over to the bus station to purchase our tickets, and on the way picked up a following of stray dogs. We started with one, and then as we walked through the park, another one joined. It was funny, because we couldn´t get them to leave us alone. They just trailed after us until we went into the bus station, at which point we lost them. We bought our tickets to Iguazu, via Resistencia, and headed back into town to check out of our hostel.

We stowed our bags safely in the hostel, and set out to find a suitable cafe in which to spend the rainy afternoon. We walked along the pedestrian streets, bustling with activity, and found a nice cafe overlooking the main plaza. We spent a couple of hours here, enjoying the Argentinian cafe cortados, watching the foot traffic of the plaza out of the window. After a while, the rain let up a bit, and we decided to go out and explore the city a bit more. We discovered a free exhibit of pre-Columbian artifacts at one of the old buildings around the square. It was an interesting exhibit, in a darkened room with magnificent architectural details. We lingered there for a while, and then headed to find a internet cafe to do some photo downloading and trip planning.

Two hours later we were on an overnight bus bound for Resistencia, where we hoped to take a break for the day and catch another overnight bus to Iguazu. The rain flowed heavily as we pulled out of the bus station. We seemed to circle Salta, as we travelled between small towns picking up more passengers. At each bus terminal individuals selling food products to the travellers would call up the stairs of the bus, attempting to entice us into a sale. At one stop Timb and I purchased our first onboard cuisine, two carne empanadas, that I mention here because they were the best ones that we had on the trip thus far. We munched happily on them as the bus pulled away from the station and towards the highway.

The bus journey from Salta felt excruciatingly long. We seemed to stop in every little town along the way, winding through its streets to the bus terminal, and waiting with the interior lights blaring in your eyes as you tried to sleep. It was not one of our best bus journeys.We arrived in Resistencia quite exhausted, and decided to forgo our planned trip into the town and head straight on to Puerto Iguazu. We purchased our tickets, resupplied our snacks and beverages, and waited for our next bus to arrive.

San Pedro de Atacama

2007-12-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama to find it brilliantly sunny and scorchingly hot. We went through Chilean customs without incident, and ventured into the town on foot to find a hostel. I had booked one in advance but it turned out to be much different than the website suggested, so we wandered around to find a new place to stay. It was hot and we were sweating carrying our heavy bags around, and by the time we finaly decided on a hostel we were both rather cranky. We soon discovered that San Pedro is a very expensive little town to stay in, and decided that the best thing to do would be to get out as soon as possible. Two bus companies run buses to Salta, our next destination, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. As it was Monday, we were hoping to get a space on the Tuesday bus, but it was not to be. We were two people too late in the line, and were therefor going to have to make do in San Pedro until Friday.

San Pedro is a rather nice town despite it`s very touristy roots. The streets are small and dusty, with low adobe buildings, and large green trees in the plaza. We wandered the streets for a little while, poking around the market, and admiring the gigantic Christmas tree in the main plaza (for me a rather odd site in the middle of the desert, as I am used to white Christmases). We found a restaraunt for dinner, and enjoyed the set dinner menu of salad, dessert, and a damn good steak.

The next day we spent lazing around. It was my birthday, so we went out for a good breakfast and then spent some time at the internet cafe, so that I could get in touch with my family. Timb and I had a couple of gigantic empanadas for lunch, and played cards in the afternoon, as I attempted to get my tan back. For dinner we went out to a restaraunt with a fire pit and open air patio. We could see the stars as we ate. It was another great meal, though not a cheap one.

The following morning we initiated our budget plan, and after one last breakfast out, we moved to a less expensive room at our hostel, and went out to buy some groceries to cook the meals for the next couple of days. We had a siesta that afternoon, and then headed out to rent some bikes for a tour of La Valle de la Luna.

We were told that the best way to tour the Valle was to do the circuit, starting with a big uphill climb, but ending rather easily with downhill and flat sections for the most part. The beginning of the ride was fine, we stopped at the top and took some photos of the valley from the cliff viewpoints dotted along the road. When we crested the hill and began to descend the other side, trouble began. A head wind picked up, and as we pedalled vigourously as we descended the hill. It was actually faster to bike up the hill, we discovered than to continue down it. But we pressed on, and after about an hour of hard riding we came to a fork, with a field of land mines one way and the entrance to the Valle the other. We pressed on into the Valle, bu by this time we were quite exhausted. We stopped and took a few photos of the rock formations, and the red desert sands, but we had rather lost our enthusiasm for the trip. We biked through the Valle, forgoing the stop to climb the dune and watch the sunset, as we had to conserve our energy for the journey back to San Pedro. We pedalled our way through the rest of the Valle, and back into San Pedro, arriving quite exhausted. We dropped off our bikes and headed back to the hostel to cook dinner and fall into bed.

The day before we left was once again spent lazing around the town. As nice as it was to be in the quiet little town of San Pedro, there wasn´t much for us to do that we could afford. We spent a lot of time wandering around, playing cards, and reading. The next day we left for Salta, Argentina, and it felt good to be on the road once again.

Salar de Uyuni and the Atacama Desert

2007-12-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

Throughout our travels we had been hearing from other travellers about a 4x4 trip through the salt flats of southern Bolivia and into the Atacama Desert. The stories had varied from person to person and many were quite eventful. It seems the trip is entirely dependent on the driver you get and some are not very good. We heard about drivers falling asleep at the wheel, giving all the food away to their families, selling the gas and then running out in the middle of nowhere, and lots of flats and breakdowns. Surprisingly, despite all these tales of misfourtune, everyone said we should go. Katie, who believes vacations should be about beaches and relaxing, was a little hesitant about going, but I talked her into it. We booked with a company in La Paz, which was supposed to be pretty good, and set out for Uyuni via bus and train. There was an awesome movie on the bus, Boa vs. Python, about a giant snake (not sure where it came from) that escapes so the FBI gets a snake guy and some hot girl (not sure what her role was other than she could hold her breath for a long time) to breed another giant snake, equipped with a built in head-cam, which they release into the sewers to kill the other snake. Meanwhile, the original snake owner hires a muscle car driver, a couple of duck hunters, a cowboy and an indian to go and kill the first snake. Anyway, I digress, but it was a hilarious movie even though it was dubbed in Spanish.

The train ride was very nice, as we were in the executive car ($10 a seat.) It started out by crossing a seasonal lake that had thousands of flamingos. We arrived in Uyuni, late that night, and crashed at a local hotel near the station. The next day we met with the local tour operator who took us to the truck that would be our ride for the next three days. The vehicle was a toyota landcruiser, perhaps a couple years old, and looked to be in good shape and well cared for. We would be travelling with the driver, his wife and son and two other couples. They all seemed friendly, which was an encouraging start to our journey. It was a little crammed, with nine people in the car, and we would end up rotating through the back seat, as it was the most cramped.

Our first stop was a train graveyard just outside the city. Uyuni was once the train center of Bolivia due to booming mining industry in the surrounding hills. As the mines began to dry up, the trains were left to rust in the desert, making for a very interesting junkyard.

After the graveyard we went to a nearby town on the edge of the salt flats to see how the locals processed the salt. It was interesting to see, and they had all sorts of souviners made of salt that you could buy. We left the town and entered the salt flats. Since it was the begining of the wet season, the salt flat was covered by up to a foot of water in places, but we just drove right on through. I hate to think what all that salt does to the poor trucks. The flats were blinding white and as expected, perfectly flat. It was a little surreal, driving for miles and miles across an unchanging landscape. In the middle of the flats is a hotel that is built entirely from salt. It is made up of blocks of compressed salt and has furniture carved out of chunks of salt. We also took advantage of the completely white landscape to take some trick photos.

After that we piled back into the truck and head for Isla Incahuasi, a chunk of volcanic rock and coral in the middle of the flats. The entire salar was once an inland sea, and so this island had an extensive petrified reef. It was now inhabitated by giant cati and a surprising number of birds. We went for a short hike over the island, which at 3800meters and 30 degree heat, was quite a challenge. After lunch, it was back into the truck again for a long drive across to the far edge of the salar. Here we taken to a comfortable little hotel, again built from salt blocks, nestled in the cati covered hills at the edge of the salt flats. After a great dinner, we went to bed early as we were getting up early to see the sunrise over the salt flats.

The sunrise was very nice, although it was rather difficult to get up that early. Post breakfest, it was back into the truck for a long drive across several more salt flats before we began to climb up into the surrounding hills. Our first stop of the day was in a rocky area that looked very much like the American Southwest. There were a network of canyons carved into the sandstone bedrock, and rock formations of all sorts of shapes. It would have made for some good climbing but the rock was pretty friable and kept coming apart in my hands. There was a large volcano, Ollague Volcano, nearby that was midly active and steam plumes could be seen eminating from the summit. We barely had time to strech our legs before we were back in the truck heading off through the desert again.
The next leg of our journey took us by an array of different coloured lakes. The surrounding hills are very rich in minerals and different salts which accumulate in the lakes giving them very interesting colours and textures. We stopped for lunch at the Laguna de los Flamingos, which definately lived up to its name. There were three different types of flamingos: andean, Chilean and James, although they were all fairly similar looking. There were also foxes and vicuna (the wild relative of the llama) hanging around the laguna. After lunch, we passed several more lakes of different shades of green and red, with many more flamingos before we started to climb up into the high desert of the Atacama. By now it was really looking like the desert, with nothing but sand and rocks streching as far as the eye could see. We continued to climb up and the air got colder until we reached a broad, high pass at over 4800 meters. Definetly the highest I have ever driven to. We got out to pose for a picture but the air was bitterly cold and the wind was relentless so we quickly piled back into the truck and set off again.
Our next stop was group of wind sculpted rock monoliths. They were particularly stricking as they were all by themselves in the middle of a a great sand field. They were carved into the most unbelievable shapes, some sitting on little pilars that looked as if they were about to fall over. The amount of bouldering here was amazing, I wish I had brought my climbing shoes and a crash mat with me. Again, the rock wasn´t the best, but there were still some good routes that avoided the bad rock.
We continued on to our last stop of the day, a small refugee where we would spend the night. It was just inside the national reserve Eduardo Avaroa, on the edge of Laguna Colorada. This laguna was a bright red, with sections of white salt flats, set against a backdrop of volcanoes. The lake was fed by a series of hot springs that welled up along the edge, and was again, full of flamingos. It was also incredibly windy, which we did not really notice until we were heading back to the refugee, walking into the wind. We had to tuck our arms behind our backs, pull our toques down over our faces, and lean into the wind in order to not be blown off into the Atacama Desert.
After dinner we went to bed early, as we would be getting up very early the following day to get to the geysers by sunrise. We awoke to a very cold and dark morning. The sun had not yet begun to light the sky and the stars were absolutly amazing. We were still at 4300 meters above sea level so it was very cold. Our guide said that it had dropped to -16C over night. We all piled back into the landcruiser and proceeded to race the sun all the way to the geysers, making it there just in time. It was pretty cool to see them at sunrise, but I wasn´t sure if it was worth the 4am wake up. All the other geysers I have seen were in Yellowstone, and it is all very regulated. There are boardwalks and you can´t get to close to the geysers. Here in Bolivia, you can wander right up to them and peek inside. Apparently every once in a while the crust breaks and someone plummets into them and is instantly steam cooked. This has only promted the Bolivian Park officals to put up a few signs that simply say ¡Peligro! but don´t specify any more than that. Luckily, no one fell in that day.

After the geysers we drove to Laguna Blanco, which had a small hotspring and a little pool built where we could have a dip. The air was still very cold and the laguna surrounding the hot spring was still frozen solid. The flamingos actually get frozen in place each night, I don´t know why they haven´t figured out that they could spend the night in the hot springs. We had a great breakfest at the edge of the hotsprings, which was much needed considering we had been up for about four hours at that point. After breakfest we went for a short hike across the desert to Laguna Verde, while our guide cleaned up. The laguna is located right at the base of the perfectly shaped Lincancabur Volcano, making for some great reflection shots. The laguna is also full of sodium bicarbonate, which is left in odd looking deposits along the lakeshore, and the green colour is from dissolved copper minerals.
From there it was about an 40 minute drive to the Chilean border which consisted of a couple buildings and a gate, sitting by themselves in the middle of the desert. Here we parted ways with our guide and the others and boarded a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. I am glad we did not have to do the marathon drive (960km through the desert) back to Uyuni. Soon the bus was driving down a paved road (the first in three days) towards civilization. The road itself would be awesome for longboarding. It drops 2000 meters in about 30 or so kilometers. The only problem was the pavement was so hot, I´m sure you´d burn through your urethane in no time.

Overall, it was an amazing adventure. We were lucky and got a great driver, who was very friendly and didn´t steal our food (we had great meals everyday.) We didn´t have any flats or breakdowns or get stuck in a mud puddle in the middle of nowhere. Even Katie had to admit that she enjoyed it for the most part, although she was really looking forward to having a shower in San Pedro.

More photos here:
Album 1
Album 2

Blog Catch Up!

2007-12-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that we recently added a bunch of posts. Sorry, to do it all at once but we are trying to catch up. Currently, we are in northern Chile, having just completed a 3 day 4x4 trip through the Atacama Desert from Bolivia (blog entry coming shortly, hopefully.) It is very expensive here so we are heading to Argentia as soon as possible.

Stay tuned for our adventures in the desert!

La Paz and surrounding area

2007-12-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the edge of La Paz, running into the usual chaos of South American cities. La Paz, although it is the world´s highest capital, is built in a crater. It is also one of latin america´s fastest growing cities, and the sprawl is spilling over the edges, like adobe lava, out of a volcano. The fact that it is in a crater also means that you almost always have to walk up a hill to get somewhere, which at 3660m, is a work out. We stayed at the hostal Loki, which is a good place to party but not to sleep. I can not say that La Paz is very high on my list of favorite South American cities, but we found some good coffee, which was much needed after a prolonged stint of Nescafe. We took advantage of the cheap prices in the markets and did lots of shopping for presents. One intersting area was the Witches´ market, where you could buy dried llama fetuses (Peter, guess what your Christmas present is!) and other unidentifable items. There was also a large balck market but we were unable to find anything remotely illegal. I think we just didn´t go down the right alleys.
We needed to relax a bit so we went to see a movie at the cinemas. In La Paz you are actually assigned a seat in the theatre but no one seems to pay any attention to this system and sits where ever they want. We saw Lions for Lambs, the only movie playing that was not dubbed. We had not idea what it was going to be about, but ended up enjoying it for the most part. I felt like it was trying to make a point, but the director wasn´t quite sure what that poinst was.
After the movie, we witnessed a fender bender, where one taxi driver cut off another. With the way South American´s drive, I am surprised I haven´t seen more crashes. I was curious to see what would happen next and how this sort of thing was resolved. The resolution process involved both drivers duking it out in the middle of the road. The driver who had cut off the other had a signigicant size advantage and quickly took out the little guy. I guess in La Paz, Might is Right.
We also went to the Contemporary Art Museum, which had some really interesting art. There was a very interesting exibition on, but I will have to get back to you on the artist´s name.

Disclaimer: Roxana should not read any further than this.

Just outside of La Paz is the World´s Most Dangerous Road (you can google it to get some pictures.) It has become a major mountain biking destination, I had beeen considering riding down it since we set out on our trip. I felt rather conflicted about biking down a road, that the locals had to use and claimed so many lives. Upon arrival in Bolivia, however, I learned that a new road had been opened last year, and the World´s Most Dangerous Road (WMDR) was now almost solely used for biking. This was the deciding factor for me, as I felt a bit morally better knowning that I would not be creating unneeded traffic on an already dangerous road. I decided to go with Gravity Assited Biking, the original company to start touring the road, which was more expenisve but also the only company reccomended by the Lonely Planet. Once out on the road, I was definetly glad I had not gone with one of the copy cats, as they looked like quite sketchy operations.
The ride starts out a 4800 meters, at a high pass 45 mins outside of La Paz. We were given our gear (pants, jackets, helemts, gloves and gogles) and a new full suspension Kona mountain bike. I took it for a few laps around the parking lot, and jumped it off a few drops, only to be left gasping for breath. At 4800 meters, downhill is the only direction to ride a bike. The first section is along a paved road, still in use by traffic. It would be a crazy longboarding road, as it is full of hairpins and winding s-turns. We also passed through a drug checkpoint, designed to look for materials used for making cocaine. It was the beginning of the rainy season, so we quickly dropped into a cloud and the visibiliy was awful. Personally, I thought this was the most dangerous part, as passing large trucks on a wet, cloudy, windy road is a little scary. Technically, however, this is not the WMDR. The WMDR started about an hour down the road, splitting off the main road onto a narrow gravel road. We were given another saftey talk and headed off down the road. As a mountain biker, I actaully found the road pretty tame, although with traffic I would say it would be much scarier. I would say the road itself is about equivalent to a logging road on Vancouver Island. Not particularly bad, but you don´t want to go over the edge. I think the road claimed so many lives mainly due to the driving habits of South American drivers, which is really something that needs to be witnessed to understand. Everyone drives around corners as if they know they are the only car on the road. The other reasons that so many people have died is that it has become a large attraction for people who really don´t know how to ride a bike that well. Really, it is not hard to keep your bike on a road a car and half wide, yet people still ride off the edge, the last one being in March. The fact that most companies do not give good bikes (failing brakes, etc) and are not prepared for any sort of crash, does not help. On the day I went, a rider in another group managed to hit one of the five signs on the whole 40km road and went over the edge. He was lucky enough to land in a tree, otherwise he would have been the latest life claimed by the road. We only had one crash in our group, just a simple front wheel washout resulting in some scraped up arms. Our company had the training and equipment to clean the scrapes (or deal with something worse), something others did not.
After dropping down 3000 meters we arrived in a small animal rescue center in the Bolivian jungle. We had hot showers and a buffet lunch, while other groups were left at small shacks along the road to buy something that didn´t smell too goodlook that edible. After that we boarded the bus for the 3 hour drive along the new road (which is a year old and already falling off the mountain) back to La Paz. Overall, I would have to say that I did the ride simply to say to rode the World´s Most Dangerous Road. It was not nearly the most dangerous ride, or even the most memorable ride I have ever been on. As Damon, our guide said, it is the most boring ride they offer (they have a two-day downhill single track ride!) All in all, it was still a lot of fun and I got a free t-shirt. They just need to build a few kickers to make it more interesting!

Note: I only shot a couple photos on the ride as it proceeded to get very wet and muddy. I have some pictures that were shot by the guides that I will upload shortly.

Lake Titicaca

2007-12-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

We decided to send a bit extra on the bus trip to Puno from Cuzco, so we took the Inca Express. The Inca Express is a tourist bus that stops at a couple locations between the two cities and includes a lunch buffet. It was very touristy, and made us realize how those with money explore South America. I prefer our way, although the lunch buffet was nice (next time we will remember to bring some tupperware.)

Our first stop was at an old church called San Pedro. It was built on Inca foundations and had a lot of really old paintings. It was interesting to see how they had incorporated Inca beliefs into the Christian paintings in order to help convert the Inca. Apparently, the restoration was being funded entirely by the tours going through the church.

The second stop was at an Inca ruin called Raqchi. Although we had seen many ruins, this was still somewhat interesting as it had a 12meter adobe and stone wall that used to support the temple roof. They also had 156 round store rooms, of which a couple had been fully restored. An intersting site, although we were hurried through fairly quickly. Another reason I am not a fan of these package tour sort of things.

Our next stop was at the top of the pass between Cuzco and Puno at an elevation of 4300 meters. We piled out for the obiligatory shot in front of the sign (with llamas!) and the all piled back in the bus.

The third stop was at a museum at Pucra. It contained artifacts from a nearby excavation of a pre-inca city and temple. This was a little disapointing as I thought we´d be going to the actual site, not just the museum. A museum can be anywhere in the world but there is only one excavation site. Nonetheless, it did have some cool stone statues and examples of the Inca Cross, which pre-dated Christ.

After that it was non-stop to Puno through the altiplano. The scenery was very beautiful, and as we pulled into Puno, we got our first views of Lake Titicaca.

Puno, itself was not very impressive, kind of just a dirty border town that once a year has some crazy festivalsin Feburary. We, however, were there to see the floating reed islands, which we set out to see the next day. These islands are entirely made of torta reeds that grow in the lake and are world famous. Too famous actually, as they have turned into something of a floating tourist trap. The islanders originally started living on these island to avoid conflict with the Inca and other hostile tribes. We were there in the low season, yet there were still at least 30 or so boats making trips out to the islands. There were at least a hundred more boats moored that were all used during the peak season. Apparently, there are still some reed islands that have escaped the hordes of tourists, and I hope they stay that way. I make it sound like it was all bad, but it was cool experience and not something you can do anywhere else in the world. It was interesting to see how they had been living for hundereds of years as well as the modern adaptions they had made (note the solar panel next to the reed house.)

We had had enough of Puno so the early the next morning we caught a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. Much to our surprise, the two names on the registar above ours were Luke Pretty and Laura Lambert. They happened to be making a trip down to Bolivia before their hike on the Inca Trail, and had decided to go to the same town as us.

After a little confusion at the border we were across into Bolivia. I am glad that I am travelling under my Canadian passport as the border gaurds had decided to charge all Americans $100 for a visa. Other Americans, who came into Bolivia a different way said they didn´t have to pay but it may have been a new tax. Their were a few Americans on our bus who were surprised by this and ended up being held and the bus went on without them. Not a fun situation for them.

The town Copacabana was nice, especially after Puno. It is fairly small and is nestled in between some hills right on the lake shore. We checked into our hotel (90 bolivianos a night which is only $12!), explored the markets and hiked up one of the nearby hills. All along the trail are crosses that pilgrams place rocks at the bottom as they hike up. At the top are a bunch more crosses, an amazing view and a bunch of vendors selling miniture items. It is traditon to buy these small items (eg. toy cars) and have them blessed in the hopes that you will receive a real life one in the following year. An interesting tradition that has done wonders for the toy trade.

The next day we caught a boat out to Isla del Sol, a small island that is believed to be the birth place of the first inca, Manco Inca, and the sun itself. We had been recommend a small family run hostel just outside the main town which turned out to be an amazing little place. The family was very friendly and a night´s stay, dinner and breakfest was only 120 bolivianos($16!!) for both Katie and I. I had the most amazing rainbow trout, which the stock apparently originated from Canada. The four of us also went on a 14km trek around the islands, which was very tiring as the elevation ranged from 3815m (lakeshore) to over 4000m. Along the hike we were met by many local children who all wanted our cookies. Katie, being a sucker for small children, gave them our precious cookies and bought some candies to hand out. We visited a couple more ruins including them Temple of the Sun, which had an amazing view of lake. We also found, with the help of an Argentian women, the Rock of the Puma, which is were Manco Inca and the Sun were born. The views along the hike were breath taking, I can understand why the Inca believed that this was such a special place.
The next day we boated back to the mainland, said goodbye to Luke and Laura, who were heading to Cuzco and boarded a bus to La Paz.

I have some more photos posted here:

Inca Express

Lake Titicaca

Day 3 of the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

2007-11-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

Day three began early, and we crawled out of our tents to sunshine although we were still drying out. After breakfest we began to immediately to climb up to the second pass on the trail. The clouds were lifting a little bit and we were able to get a glimpse of the surronding mountains. Before reaching the summit of the second pass we stopped at the first ruin of the day, Runkurakay, which means basket shaped ruin in Quechua. This small outpost was believed to be reststop or perhaps a watchtower as it had a commanding view of the valley below. We continued up, past a few small lakes and down the other side. The next ruin we came across was called Sayaqmarka. This was one of my favorite ruins on the trail, as we were able to see some of the clever inventions the Incas created. These included... doorhinges carved into the rock, a water level used to level their floors and terraces, steps integrated into the retaining walls and an amazing network or fountains running through the site.

This ruin also had an amazing view of the river valley below and the a smaller ruin, believed to be a store house, below it. After a tour of the ruins we continued on to lunch. By this time we had descended into the cloud forest and the vegetation had changed dramaticlly from the high grasslands. The trees were now of considerable size and covered in moss. In many places the trail was simply a tunnel through the vegetation. After lunch we continued on up to the third pass. The cloud forest lived up to its name, so we did not get to see any amazing views but the trail continued to provided enough to see. The work that the Inca put into the trail was amazing and it was all still in excellent shape. In some section they had cleared away the vegetation so that you could see the foundations of the trail, which in some places went down over 6 meters. They also created several tunnels through natural fissures in the rock, where it would have been difficult to build around the outside of the cliff. The views at the top of the third pass were supposed to be amazing but we only got glimpses through the clouds but we still got a peak at the mountain Macchu Picchu. From the thrid pass the trail drops, almost vertically in sections, down 1000 meters to the final camp. Along the way we went through Phuyupatamarka, an Inca temple with some amazing stone work. From here on the steps got even steep and in places were cut right into the bed rock. Before the last camp, the trail split into two, one heading directly to camp, the other through Intiputa. Katie, lured by the promise of hot showers, went down to camp and I continued on to Intiputa. This site was composed of a huge number of terraces over looking the Urabamba River was believed to be an agricultural site for suppling Machu Picchu with food.

After a snack, our assistant guide, Ceaser, took a a small group of us to see one last ruin, Winay Wayna. I was glad I dedided to see this last extra one as it was by far one of my favorites. It had a room known as the temple of the Rainbow, as it had seven windows, one for each colour of the rainbow, looking out over the Urabamba valley. Supposedly there are often rainbows there and the Inca believed that by worshiping them, it would bring good rain for there crops. There were also a series of fountains, that were still working, that ran through the site. Our guide told us that traditionally, pilgrams on there way to Machu Picchu would stop here to cleanse their souls by placing their head in the fountain before continuing to Machu Picchu, so we all cleansed our souls before heading back to camp.

The next day started early, 3:30 am early. This was partly to get to the sungate at sunrise and to give our porters enough time to make it down the mountain in one peice to catch their train back to Cuzco. There is a gate at the campsite and no one is allowed to leave for the sun gate before 5:20 am so a large line builds up and everyone goes charging off at once. We were warned of people running and pushing and shoving but were lucky to avoid any of that. We arrived at the Intipunku, the sun gate an hour later, right when the sun is supposed to shine through the gate and onto Machu Picchu... or at least that is what would have happened if we could have seen anything through the clouds. It was a little dissapointing, but we posed for a group photo and continued on. As we descended into the lost city, the clouds began to lift and we were rewarded with an amazing view of the city. After posing for a few classic photos, we began a tour of the city. The scale and gradeur of ruins is impossible to explain in words and pictures do not do it justice. It is something that you simply need to experience. Washington gave us an excellent tour, explaining the history of the city, its discovery by Hiram Brigham and the archelogical work that has happened since. We toured through the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Three Windows(very original name), the main plaza, and Intihuatana, the Hitching Post of the Sun. Although this has been mistakenly called a sun dial, a calender would be a more accurate description as the Inca used it to figure out the solstices and equanoixes, not the time of day. After the tour we said goodbye and thanks to our two awesome guides, and were let loose to explore the ruins on our own. I decided to climb Wayian Picchu, but Katie, tired from the hike chose to wander around the ruins some more. Wayan Picchu towers over 300 meters above the ruins, so I stuffed a wad of coca leaves into my mouth and set off at a good pace to the top. Thirty mintues later I was standing above the Lost City of the Incas, having climbed a trail that seem merely carved into the edge of the cliff. The view was amazing. I could see the Urabamba River snaking its way around both sides of the city, the mountain Machu Picchu towering behind the ruins and snow capped peaks behind. Well worth the climb. Since Katie was waiting below, I snapped a few pictures and started down the mountain at what some would call a frightening pace. The steps leading through the ruins at the top were nearly vertical and only large enough for about half of my foot. Twenty minutes later I was back in the main ruins. Apparently the record is seven minutes to the top, but I find that hard to believe. Katie informed me that she had been witness to some rather naughty llama behavior that caused quite a stir among the tourists. What is a trip to Machu Picchu without some llama lovin' ? By this time the crowds of tourist groups from the train were beginging to fill the ruins so we decided to head back down to the town of Agua Calineties for some lunch and wait for our train back to Cuzco. We met the rest of our group at a resturant for a well earned celebratory beer. ( one liter of beer for only $2!!)
The train ride back along the Urabamba River snaked along the canyon floor and past more ruins. It was almost ten by the time we arrived back in Cuzco, too tired to do anything but fall asleep. It seemed that we had passed a major milestone in our trip, and the second half of our trip waiting ahead of us.

I have posted more photos here:

The Inca Trail

Machu Picchu

The Inca Trail - Part 1

2007-11-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

We awoke early on the morning we began the Inca Trail. We were told to be ready to be picked up at 5:30am, and our ride was pretty much right on time. We hopped onto the bus and drove around Cuzco until we had filled it up with fellow hikers, our two guides, and a few of the porters. We headed to Ollaytantambo. There we stopped for breakfast and some supplies (I bought a new hat at last!) before heading to the trail head. We stopped in a small town just before the trail hesd to find a few more porters. As it is the rainy season, it is hard to find enough porters for the number of hikers doing the trail each day, as the porters are working on their family farms instead. 200 people start the trek each day, and around 200 porters are needed to carry all the gear utilized, meaning around 400 people are hikin a given section of the trail everyday. It is quite amazing, I have never done a hike with so many people at once.

We began the hike at around 10:30, after passing through our first check point. The trail on the first day was quite mellow, a good warm up for the days to come. We hiked slowly uphill, on a gradually inclining path along the river into the mountains. We got to know our fellow trekkers, as we hiked next to different people. Our group was composed of 15 travellers, and it was nice to have different people to talk to and pass the time. Before lunch we stopped at our first Inca ruins of the trip, Llactapata. We could only view the ruin from above, but we took lots of photos, and sat to listen to our guide, Washington, explain the significance of these particular ruins and the Inca culture in general. That is until we were interrupted by the rain. We put on our rain jackets and ponchos and pressed on to our lunch spot.

We arrived to find lunch being prepared by the porters, and the lunch tent already set up, complete with folding stools and tables. As we waited for lunch to be ready, Washington took us through the rest of his explanation of the ruins, and a bit of Inca history. He was very passionate about the subject and it was good to have such an enthusiastic and interesting guide. He finished just as lunch was being served. It was an amazing 3 course meal, with tea to finish. I have never eaten so well on a hike before. We left for our campsite full to the brim, and exicted to see what was next.

We passed through several settlements on the way to camp that day. There were lots of Peruvians out selling bottled water, beverages and snacks to the hikers. We climbed higher into the Andes, I felt a bit out of breath as I lugged my pack up the hill. By the time we arrived in the campsite, I was ready to remove my boots and relax. It was incredible to arrive in camp to find all the tents set up and dinner already underway. It was the most deluxe camping I have ever experienced. Our campsite was perched on a hill over looking yet another Inca ruin. We had a beautiful view down the valley we had just hiked up, as well as a view up the pass that we were to hike the next day.

Before dinner that night, we were introduced to the porters, and introduced ourselves to them. It was a good way to form a bond in the group, and gain better appreciation for the porters. From then on we could use their names and greet them as they passed us on the trail lugging much heavier loads than we were burdened with.

Dinner that night as just as spectacular as lunch. We went to bed that night in good spirits, ready to tackle Dead Woman´s Pass the next day, our most challenging day on the trail.

We awoke early the next morning to tea served to us in our tents. We packed up our gear and got ready for the day. I had hired a personal porter for the day to take my heavy bag over the pass, so Timb traded me his sleeping bag for some of my things. We ate a delicious breakfast, and started out for the day, climbing steadily up to 4200m.

It was a constant upward climb, and as we reached the summit of the pass I was glad to not have my heavy bag to hold me back. It began top rain as we climbed higher, but when we reached the top, the rain ended for a brief moment and allowed us to take some celebratory shots. The good weather did not last long, however, and we quickly began to descend to our campsite, as the rain became harder. Timb sprinted down the backside of the pass, but I took my time on the slick rock stairs. By the time I reached camp that night everythig as thourougly soaked, including, unofrtunately, my camera. We did our best to dry things out, and luckily the rain stopped or a while to allow us to wander around camp without being soaked. The kitchen tent became a sort of drying center, with people drying clothes and shoes over the gas burners. I held my camera over the burners at a good distance in order to dry out the inner components, but sadly was not able to use it for the rest of the trip.

We were all thoroughly exhausted by the days hike in the rain, and relaxed by playing some cards before dinner. We were lucky to have a group of hikers that all got along rather well, and it was nice to socialize with everyone after a long day of hiking.

We still had two days of the trail to go, but it felt good to be half way there. I was excited for more ruins and spectacular views on the days to come.

Strolling into the Sacred Valley

2007-11-22T04:37:00.000-08:00

We left Nasca at 8:30pm, taking an overnight bus to Cusco. From the moment we hit the winding road outside of Nasca, I was motionsick. The road wound its way up switchbacks, climbing higher and higher into the mountains. As we rose in altitude, it became harder and harder for me to maintain composure, and I slept rockily, waking every half hour or so, as Timb slept calmly next to me. We arrived in Cusco at 10:00am the next morning, and it was a relief to disembark from the bus.

We headed to our hostel, and then out into the city to find a restaraunt for lunch. We ate at a place called Victor Victoria, which has amazingly large portions. Timb had an alpaca steak, and I had a Peruvian dish called aji de gallena. Both were quite good, and we left stuffed and ready to explore.

Cusco is rather touristy, and as we ventured into the center at Plaza de Armas, we were accosted by many vendors on the street, selling paintings, postcards, and trying to convince us to eat at their restaraunts. We took some photos around the plaza of the amazing churches built atop Incan foundations, and explored some of the pedestrian-only side streets, surrounded by 2 meter high Incan walls.

The Cathedral in Plaza de Armas, Cusco

We went to go view the famous 12-sided stone, however it was surrouned by a large tourist group, who were also being hassled by locals for tips because they had pointed out the easily locatable stone. We were able to see it much more clearly the next morning, and it really isn´t anything that special. We set off back to the hostel to clean up and wait for the Peru Treks office to open, so that we could pay the balance of our Macchu Piccu trip.

After finishing up the formalities at the Peru Treks office Timb and I headed for our first Cusco museum. We purchased a Boleto Turistico using our student ID´s and were determined to see most of the sights that these tickets gave us entrance to. The first museum we went to was housed in the former home of an Incan activist, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. It held some interesting Incan and pre-Incan artifacts, but nothing too special. It also displayed furnishings and art from when the house was originally possised by Vega. These were interesting most particularly due to their ornate decoration. I especailly liked the intricately carved wooden trunks. The museum was closing and we were rushed out of it after 45 minutes of looking around.

We headed to a cafe on the plaza for dinner, which had an amazing view of the cathedral and the fountain, elegantly lit up. The cafe was especially good because of its coffee. Timb was delighted to discover that they had bodems of coffee, and thoroughly enjoyed his with his meal. It was a relaxing way to end a rather tiring day.

Timb dunking a biscuit, enjoying his bodem of coffee.

The next morning I awoke to find that Timb had arisen hours earlier and had already formulated a complete itinerary of events for the day. We started by packing up the buns that our hostel supplied as continental breakfast for lunch, and then headed to a cafe in San Blas to get some real food. We had some amazing eggs and waffles, and then grabbed a taxi to take us up the hill outside of Cusco to see our first Incan ruins. We had read in the guide book that we could walk back into town from the farthest of four ruins in about 4 hours, so we started at Tambomachay and worked our way back into town passing through Puca Pucara, Quenco, and Sachsaywaman. The ruins themselves were quite amazing, expecially the still functioning fountains at Tambomachay, and the large scale of the walls and fortifications at Sachsaywaman. We enjoyed our walk down from the hills, and it made for a good warm up to the Inca Trail.

The working fountains at Tambomachay

Timb and I on our Incan ruin dayhike, with Cusco in the background.

Timb on some Inca stairs at the ruins of Sachsaywaman.

On the way back to Cusco from Sachsaywaman we took a detour up to the Cristo Blanco, a huge white statue of Jesus that I had to have a picture with.

Blanco Cristo

We returned to Cusco down some rocky Inca stairs, and found a cafe in which to have a snack before heading back to our hostel to pack and prepare to leave for the Inca Trail the next day.

Sidenote: When we returned to Cusco following the Inca Trail and Macchu Piccu, Timb decided that he had to try cuy (roasted guinea pig). We went to this great restauraunt recommended in Lonley Planet; I had cheese and brocoli soup, and Timb had cuy. I tasted a bit, and it wasn´t that great to be honest, but Timb seemed to enjoy it. It was more bones than anything else, and the spicy sauce was key.

Timb digging into his cuy, if you look closely you can see the legs.

Alien landing strips and Mummies

2007-11-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

After an interesting ride through the desert from Lima, we arrived in Nazca, which is located in southern Peru in the Atacama desert. We disembarked from the bus into a crowd of taxi drivers and hotel promoters, all trying to get us to go with them. We had been warned that now we were on the ¨Gringo Trail¨that this would get worse. We were staying at the Hotel Alegria, and there was actually a Hotel Alergia II that several taxi drivers tried to get us to go to. Our hotel was quite nice, and had a pool which proved to be vital for an enjoyable day in the desert. Upon arrival we booked a flight for the next morning over the Nazca Lines.

We arose at 6:30am the next day to get out to the airport for the flight. The lines are best seen when the angle of the sun is low and there tends to be strong winds in the evening that blow up dust, decreasing visibility. After a short video on the history of the lines and possible theories to there purpose we were escorted out to a small four passenger cessna. A short taxi and sprint down the runway and we were airborn, the Atacama Desert streching out under us. The pilot then took us over a dizzying run over all the Nazca Lines, which are shaped as animals, geometric shapes and other designs. In order to allow for good photos the pilot would pull into a sharp turn and spiral around the geoglyph, so that the ground was below one wingtip and the other pointed towards the sky. To be fair to passengers on both sides this was executed in both clockwise and counter clockwise directions. Katie was glad that we hadn´t had the chance to have breakfest yet.

That evening we had an amazing meal at a local resturant. We had a pollo causa to start, which is a sort of potato and chicken cassarole/cake. For my main I had lomo saltado, which is like a beef stir fry but is seasoned with a local sauce. We had pisco sour, a grape liquor drink made with egg whites and lime juice, and tres leches for desert. One of the best meals so far this trip!

The next day we spent a lazy morning enjoying the pool in the hot desert sun. We decided to got to a local chicken joint for lunch and ordered a platter of different bbq meats. I really wish my spainish was a little better as in addition to chicken kabobs , the platter included beef heart kabobs and beef sweetbread (i.e. cow brains.) I managed to eat a squewer of the beef hearts, which had a very distinct taste and texture but the brains were way to chewy for me. Katie looked as if she had just gone for another flight over the lines.

That afternoon we headed out on a tour of the Chauchilla Cemetery. The cemetery contains bones, skulls, and mummies dating back to the Nazca culture around 1000 AD. The site had been thourghly sacked by grave robbers and the remains left scatter in the desert until recent efforts had restored some of the tombs. We had a good guide who gave us a detailed tour of the tombs and explained about what was known about the people. The mummies were pretty cool and very well preserved. Apparently having very long hair was a sign of success or prestige in their culture so many of the mummies looked like rasta skeletons. Some of the tombs also had "trophy skulls" that were buried with them. Very morbid but very interesting.

After the cemetary we went to a local potter who was still using traditional techniques to create some amazing artwork. We were given a demostration on how it was done, which included using paint brushes made from baby hair and polishing using a stone and oil from the side of your nose. After that we went to see a local gold processing plant. It was a very primitive operation were raw ore was crushed under a stone by rocking it back and forth. Mercury was then added to the paste, which was then put in mesh bags and the mercury was squeezed out by hand. Not a very healthy method, and only extracted about 60% of the gold. The leftover slurry was then left for the owner of the plant who sold it to larger companies (like Tom´s?) who used more sophisticated methods to retrieve the rest.
After our tour we headed back to town and caught the night bus to Cuzco. It was one of the windest roads I have ever been on and went over a pass over 4000 meters high. It was quite a bus ride but we arrrived safely in Cuzco at 10 am the next morning.

I have some more photos on facebook and you can see them by following the link below:

Photo Album

Loco Lima

2007-11-20T17:52:00.000-08:00

We headed for Lima on a night bus, leaving Trujillo at 10:00pm. The bus was packed, and we had tickets on the first level, with larger, more comfortable seats. I am blessed with the ability to sleep relatively peacefully in moving vehicles (actually, I find it rather hard to stay awake when travelling for long periods), and for this reason the journey to Lima went very quickly. I fell asleep shortly outside of Trujillo (much to Timb's chagrin as he doesn't sleep well on buses), and didn't awake again until he nudged me as we entered the bus terminal in Lima. We had approximately 7 hours to explore Lima, and we didn't waste a moment.

Lima is a crazy city. We arrived early on a Sunday morning, and after dropping our bags off at our next bus terminal, we headed into Central Lima. We had previously decided that the one thing that we had to do in Lima was see the Iglesia de San Francisco, an old church and monastery that also sits atop vast catacombs. We hired a taxi to take us into town, and we arrived at the Plaza de Armas to find that the streets to our destination had been blocked off. The driver gave us some brief directions and shunted us out of the car and into the street next to the Plaza. It was still very early, but the square was fairly busy, occupied by crews setting up for a charity event, apparently a road race in support of breast cancer research. There was music playing, and a large stage and finish line erected, decorated with pink balloons.

We took some photos around the plaza and headed to find a restaraunt to have breakfast in. Along the way we ran into a large Catholic Mass taking place on the street infront of one of Central Lima's many churches. Emotional disciples lined the street for the service, and we only lingered for a short time, as our stomachs were growling.

We were rather unlucky in locating a place to eat, and were growing rather grumpy. We wandered around the streets for almost an hour before we located a suitable restaraunt, and satisfied our stomachs with our typical breakfast of eggs and bread. Feeling much better, we headed for the church.

The church and monastery sit a few streets off of the Plaza de Armas, housed in beautiful yellow buildings. Many of the historical buildings in Lima are meerly reconstructions of their former sleves, as the region ins plaugued by earthquakes, and the church has managed to maintain much of its ancient structure. We arrived just in time for the start of an English tour, which began in the monastery. Both the church and monastery were constructed and altered over the course of several hundred years, and therefor they contain many different building styles. The most prevalent influences were Moorish and Boroque, though the interior of the church was most recently redone to reflect the Neoclassical leanings of one particular Peruvian leader. I enjoyed the Moorish aspects of the monastery the most, especially the elaboratly created cedar wood ceilings. One particular domed ceiling looked like a net of stars. I found the monastery to be more interesting than the church, and it was here that we had most of our tour. We began in the large library, which houses hundreds of ancient texts that look as if they are falling into disrepair. We then moved to the choir loft, with elaborately carved seats, and then into the gardens and the rooms surrounding them. One of the more interesting of these chambers was known to be a dressing area, and displayed gold leafed carvings of certain monks in the order. The best part about these carvings was that they depicted those monks that had been martyred in the manner in which they had been killed. The most amusing were the monks with heads flopped over to the side. After exploring the monks chambers, our guide led us down into the catacombs. This was the best part of the tour. The catacombs used to be a cemetery, which was originally only used by the monks, but was eventually used by everyone until it was closed in 1821. Approximately 25000 bodies were thought to be buried there, and the amazing thing is that there remains are still present there today. In 1947 the catacombs were excavated, and the graves disrupted. In an attempt to put things right, the individuals involved in the excavation organized the bones they discovered. They initially did this by size, the largest bones all grouped toigether in one grave, followed by the smaller ones in the next, and so on. Later, the organization became more elaborate, and the bones were organized into patterns, particularly in the circular wells of the catacombs. It was a rather unnerving experience being surrounded by all those bones. Our guide told us that people used to steal the bones, and take them home for soveniers, before the graves were covered by glass. Ugh, can you imagine? Our tour of the church ended with the catacombs, and I was happy to be out in the street with the living again.

We left the church, and to our amazement found ourselves in the middle of a religouis procession. We were literally stuck on the street, unable to move in either direction for several minutes. It was amazing, just like you see on TV, with hundreds of people following a statue of St. Martin, carrieds by several porters. The people are very devout, and it was interesting to witness their religious rituals.

When the procession finally moved on, so did Timb and I, heading for the bus station and our bus to Nazca.

Huanchaco

2007-11-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Chuanchaco is a small beach town on the coast of Northern Peru. A pretty chill place, with good surf and some pretty cool ruins. We arrived and check into Naylamp, a really nice hostel located right on the beach, complete with roof top patio, resturant and internet access. The town is a popular beach destiation for Peruvians and since Trijouli (population 700,000) is only a 15 minute drive away, it gets pretty busy on the weekends.

The main strip of the town winds its way along the beach and is populated with resturants speciallizing in Ceviche, a dish composed of fish, squid, octopus and other marine life, marinated in lime juice and onions. It is a typical Peruvian dish and Huanchaco is supposed to have some of the best in the country so I gave it a try. I guess not all ceviches are made equal and the resturant we were at was not among those suggested in the guide book. My stomach didn´t feel very good for the next few days.

One of the cool things about Huanchaco is that the local fisherman still go out to fish in traditional reed boats, as they have been doing for thousands of years. You can see them lined up along the beach and heading out through the surf for the daily fishing.

Just inland of Huanchaco is the acient adobe city of Chan Chan. It was once a very large city of over 24 square kilometers, although only 14 are left today. As you can imagine, adobe does not stand up against the tests of time as well as stone, so much of the city is just lumps of dirt now. There has been an extensive effort to restore a large area of it and many pieces were buried in the sands and therefore protected. By duplicating what they found preserved they have recreated a section that gives you a pretty good idea of what the city was once like. We went on a guided tour, which was very informative. There were some very cool frescos that were well preserved of different animals important to the Chimu people. The size of some of the structures was amazing, some walls were well over 5 meters, especially considering they were only made of adobe. The Chimu even created their own pools by digging down until they reached the water table. After exploring the ruins we went over to a near by muesum that had lots of artifacts and pottery that the grave robbers had missed. All very interesting and a great introduction into acient peruvian life.The other thing that Huanchaco is famous for is its surf, so we couldn´t leave town without heading out to the breaks. We rented boards from a local shop and headed out to the beach. Before we could make it to the water we were swarmed by groups of Peruvians who all wanted to take our picture. We posed for the first few groups but when people started running down the beach towards us, cameras in hand (I am not exagerating here) we made a break for the ocean. I am not sure if it was because we were a couple of fair haired north americans or there is a website out there where Peruvians try to get gringos to pose for them, but it was a little odd to receive all that attention.

It turned out that our surfing skills had not magically improved since our previous attempts, so after a while our arms were too dead from paddling to do anything but float in the surf. We managed to catch a few waves between us, but nothing crazy. The water was actually pretty cold (damn those cold currents) so I didn´t even notice that I stepped on a sea urchin until we start to thaw out.

One of the other places we visited was an old church up on the hill above the town. It is the second oldest church in Peru, although not particularly spectacular. There was a nice view of the town, however, from the top.

We were getting used to the lazy days on the beach, the great food and amazing sunsets, so it was with a little hesitation that we packed up, and headed for Lima and the rest of our Peruvian adventures.

Passing through Peru

2007-11-17T04:51:00.000-08:00

So after two week unbelievable weeks in the Galapagos, Katie and I split off from the group and headed for Peru. We got off the plane in Guayaqil, on the coast, while Rory, luke and Laura continued on to Quito. We grab a cab to the bus station, which turned out to be only a block away and boarded a bus heading for the border. It was an interesting ride, cutting through Dole and other fruit plantations, but very slow so we arrived at the border way after dark. This particular crossing has the reputation of being one of the worst in South America, but I have been hassled more crossing into the states at the Peace Arch. We arrived in Tumbes late at night, so we just took one of the many rickshaws that were assutling the bus for passangers. Despite our requests to go to our hostel of choice the driver took us to some random place. It looked clean enough, was centrally located and it was late, so we decided to go with it. That was a mistake. Outside our window was at least four or five rosters who seemed to beleive that it was their job to crow all night. They seemed to not have got the memo that they are only to crow in the morning. It was a sleepless night. We got up the next morning and set out to find a bus to Trijouli, our first stop in Peru. It turned out that all the bus were full until that evening, so we had a day to kill in Tumbes. Tumbes is a nice enough town and the people were friendly but there is not a lot to see. We changed our money and were happy to find that you get about 3.3 Peruvian soles to the dollar, and you can get the set lunch at a resturant for about 5 soles. We checked out the Plaza de Aramas, the old church and some crazy scultpures, all done in over the top art deco style.

It was a nice day so we had a little nap in the plaza and then headed out to catch our bus. We were booked on a cama bus, which is unlike anything I have ever been on. It is more like first class on a plane. The seats fully recline (with a pop up foot rest), there are movies, meals (better than any airplane food) and a stewardess. The bus is also a double decker so you get a pretty good view from the top. It was a good thing that the bus was so comfy as it turned out to be a long journey. The guide book said ten hours, the ticket guy said twleve, but it took fifteen. The first delay was due to a provincal border crossing, where we were unloaded at gunpoint and they proceed to search the bus and the baggage. Our bags, perhaps due to our awesome potatoe sack disgues, were not inspected. After about an hour delay we were moving again. The next delay was a breakdown heading up the hill out of Mancora. I think the engine over heated as there was smoke or steam pouring out of it. After about an hour of roadside we work we continued on at a snails pace until we got to a serivce station were another hour of repair took place. So when we finally arrived in Trijouli, we were glad to get off the bus and the head to Huanchaco and the beach. And that is where I am now... I am almost caught up on the blog entries!

Galapagos!!

2007-11-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

So we have been in the Galapagos since the 31st of October but it has been so crazy, I haven´t had a chance to catch up with the blog. It would be impossible to give a detailed account of all our activities so I will give you a summary of our adventures thus far.

Upon our arrival we moved into an apartment that Dani arranged ahead of time. It worked out to be cheaper than a hostel as Jess is staying there for the whole month so we just paid her for half. It is an awesome place, very funky and has a great roof top patio.

We all rented bikes as the town is pretty small and you can bike pretty much everywhere in five minutes. Just down the road from our apartment is the Darwin Research Center. They have a tortoise breeding program there and you can go right into the pens with the large tortoises. It is pretty crazy to be right next to something that big and that old. They don´t even seem real, like something out of Jurassic Park. You can see all the tortoises at different ages and learn all about the work they are doing there. They also have a few land iguanas, which are fairly rare and hard to see in the wild. At the center is a beach with excellent snorkeling. I have seen all kinds of crazy fish, manta rays, golden rays, sting rays and sea turtles when I have been snorkeling there.

Down the hill from our apartment is the fish market where the daily catch is brought in. This attracts quite a variety of birds and animals making it one of the best places to see frigate birds and pelicans. There are also herons, seals, and rays that come to get scraps. It is actually quite a feeding frenzy and almost unbelievable to see. Behind the fisherman a flock of pelicans gather, snapping up anything that falls and fighting the sea lions for scraps. At the same time frigate birds, who have a wingspan of over four feet, continually swoop through the area grabbing anything they can. They can almost hover in one place without flapping, and try to grab fish off the table. The fish itself is amazing and super cheap (a couple bucks for two kilos of sea bass and $20 for a huge lobster.)

Across town is Tortuga Bay. A 2.5km hike through cactus forest takes you out to a huge white sand beach, with 1.5 meter lizards cruising up and down it. The marine iguanas can be found all over but Tortuga Bay has some of the biggest we´ve seen yet. The beach is also a pretty good spot for surfing as well. Down at one end of the beach is a sheltered lagoon which is good for floating around in, but the water is very murky so you can´t see anything. Apparently, it is also a popular spot for sharks but I didn´t see any. Out on the point by the lagoon a short trail takes you through a forest of huge cacti. There are so many iguanas that you have to walk around them as they are lying all over the trail in large piles to keep warm. Blue footed boobies sit on the rocks scoping out fish. The amount of wildlife is a little overwhelming.

Since we weren´t on any sort of package tour or cruise we organized a few trips on our own to explore the Galapagos. Having such a large group definitely helped.

One of the first tours we went on was the Bay Tour. It started out by going to an island sea lion colony but the swell was so big our guide didn´t think we should go in or we´d be thrown into the rocks. So we motored on to our next stop, the shark channel. This is a narrow channel cut into the cliffs that sharks supposedly like to rest in. I started to swim in but the water became so murky that I couldn´t see my hand in front of my face. Since I wanted to see sharks, not run into them, I backed out. There was really good snorkeling around the entrance though and we saw tons of fish, rays and eels. After that we went for a short hike over the headland where we could see the shark channel from above, but still no sharks. Our last stop was out in Academy Bay where several large sea turtles were hanging out. I jumped in right away and bee lined it for the turtle. It was huge, almost 2 meters long but it spooked when it saw me and took off at high speed, almost running over Sam. There were several more turtles in the area and a white tipped shark which gave me quite a surprise when it swam over to check me out. All in all, a good tour especially considering it was just around the bay.

The second tour we went on was around the island of Santa Cruz. We hired a couple of cabs (four door pickup trucks) and headed out. The first place we went to was Las Gemelos, a pair of massive craters that were believed to be involved in the formation of the islands. They were so massive that the forest growing in the bottom looked like shrubs. The second stop was a tortoise reserve. This area had many more large tortoises than the Darwin Station and they were all freely roaming around. You were allowed to go and walk right up to them. It was pretty cool to see these massive animals cruising around. After that we went to visit a lava tube. It was pretty long, maybe close to 750 meters and you could go in one side and out the other. In the middle was a pinch point you had to crawl on your belly to get past.

Another trip we all went on was a snorkeling trip to one of the nearby islands, Floreana. After a two hour boat ride we arrived at a small volcanic island, with black sand beaches. A short hike took us to a bay with a sea lion colony protected by male sea lion. He was not happy to see us and kept charging us, but our guide showed us that if you just clapped your hands, he would back off. We cautiously got into the water, a little unsure how much clapping would do for us underwater. I´m glad I went in as with two minutes I spotted a group of sea turtles grazing. They were smaller than others I had seen, only about a meter in length but they let me get close enough to touch them (they are slimy.) It was a good snorkeling spot and three female sea lions came out to play with us. They are as playful as dogs and love to swim all around you and blow bubbles at you. I was later told that if you bring a piece of rope they will grab the other end and tow you around. After that we boated off to our next snorkelling spot and highlight of the trip, El Corona del Diablo, an old underwater volcano. We jumped outside the rim and were immediately swept around to the other side by very strong currents. It seemed that fish loved this area as it was full of massive schools of fish. I saw two different types of sharks, a large brown one with a rounded nose and one that had strips, almost like a tiger shark. I am not sure what they were but I was told it probably wasn´t a tiger shark. Once on the other side of the volcano the currents were weaker and we were able to swim into the crater. On the edge we ran into a white tipped reef shark, about 7 feet in length. Inside the crater, it was much shallower so it was possible to dive down to the bottom and check out all the coral and fish. There were also several caves that led back out to the outside but would have required scuba gear. There was massive school of silver fish in the crater and you could swim into them and they would surround you. I was like something off of National Geographic or Planet Earth, it didn´t even seem real. After that spot we headed off to the third and final location, which while not as impressive as the first two had some very playful sea lions. I was bluffed charged by a male sea lion in the water, which was so big I thought it was a whale coming at me. Pretty scary. Tired and happy we boarded the boat and headed back to Santa Cruz.

Our time on the Galapagos was coming to an end and I still wanted to see more islands. Other people who had done cruises all said that Bartolome was their favorite, so Katie and I wandered around to all the tour agencies looking for a trip. Because it was last minute I was only able to find a boat with room for one more. Katie, kindly let me have it so the next day I left at 5am, busing across the island and then boarding a small cabin cruiser to Bartolome. After 2hrs on the water we arrived at a small volcanic island sitting off the coast of Santiago. First we hiked up a small volcano, through splatter and cinder cones to a view point that our guide said was one of the best in all of the Galapagos. I´d have to agree with him. After that we boated over to a crescent beach that we could see from the viewpoint. One side of the beach was a small penguin colony, the most northern penguins in world. They are not very big, about a foot tall, but they are super fast swimmers and impossible to keep up with when you are snorkeling. The bay had some really good snorkeling, especially below Pinnacle Rock, and I saw tons of fish, sea lions and another white tip reef shark. Across on the other side of the island is another bay that sea turtles and iguanas like to use for grazing seaweed. After that we headed slowly back to Santa Cruz, partly due a mid voyage repair (a theme of this trip?) It was an awesome trip and I would have to agree, one of the best places I visited on the Galapagos.

I can´t seem to get my photos to work here but I have most of them on facebook already. I have put links below here and will add the ones from Bartolome soon.

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Album 4

The Wedding

2007-11-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

I have fallen behind in my postings and as Timb is threatening my blogging privileges, I am obliged to send you this account of the big day, the reason we all came to Ecuador, the wedding...

The day started out quite early in our hostel, as 11 wedding invitees were staying there. The showers began around 7am, and the women took over the living room, doing our hair and make-up. The men disappeared to buys shoes at the very last minute, and didn't arrive back until 30 minutes before the ceremony was set to begin. Little did we know, as we rushed to get to the church on time, that punctuality is not a virtue many Ecuadorians possess. We arrived and the church was still quite empty, with the foreigners who had showed up on time constituting the majority of guests.

Jess, Laura and Carla outside the church in their bridesmaid dresses.

Timb and I in our wedding finery.

The wedding party was organized, and the march down the aisle. Jess was quite appalled to find herself forced into the role of bridesmaid due to an absent member of the wedding party. It was quite amusing for me to watch Timb, Jess and the rest of the wedding party march down the aisle.

The inside of the church.

The ceremony was given in a mix of Spanish and English, though the priest's accent was quite thick, and I had a tough time distinguishing anything that was said. The already ornate church interior was decked out beautifully, with white roses and candles on the pews, and large bunches of white roses at the alter. Daniela looked amazing in her off-white gown, and Sam looked amazed at his luck. The church slowly filled as the wedding progressed, and by the time the wedding party exited, it was full of applauding Ecuadorian relatives.

The wedding party.

Then it was off to the reception at the Quinta, the family farm situated 45 minutes away from Quito. We arrived to cocktails in a reception area, with live music and appetizers. The dinner tents had been erected, and were bustling with catering staff organizing the tables and food. The tents were beautifully decorated, with green and white adorned tables surrounding a dance floor, with a stage for the band up front. I have never been to such a swanky occasion. It was amazing to be waited upon in such an attentive manner, they even had porters carrying large umbrellas to escort you to the bathrooms through the afternoon rain. The Canadians clustered together at a pair of tables, and had a great time savouring the amazing meal.

Timb, Rory and Sam, looking very handsome in their suits.

The bridesmaids and Sam.

The men with their whiskeys.

After dinner came dancing, and the party commenced, to last the rest of the afternoon and on late into the night. The bouquet was tossed twice, as Daniela's cousin Fillipe thought it would be a laugh to grab the bouquet away from the group of unmarried women. The garters were removed in an amusing tradition in which a few of the unmarried male guests are paired up with an unmarried female guest. The garters are removed one by one, off of Daniela's leg by Sam, and are put on the unmarried female guest by the unsuspecting male guest. Apparently it is quite a controversial tradition, but I found it to be quite funny, especially as Timb was chosen as one of the male participants.

Timb politely placing the garter onto Stefi's ankle.

It was an awesome party, with lots of salsa music and dancing. My feet were killing me by the end of the night, and I was wearing flats! Everyone took advantage of the open bar, and we were all pretty tipsy as we stumbled to the bus back to Quito.

Mindo Madness

2007-10-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Mindo, in the middle of dense fog, not knowing where to go or anything about the town other than it was in the cloudforest. Luckily, an owner of local hostel was at the bus station and offered to drive us to her place, El Rocio. It turned out to be nearby and not too bad so we decided to stay. Mindo is famous for its birds, over 400 species, and I saw many just sitting in the hammock deck in the early morning. They would wake us up every morning, very early, with all their calls and chirping.

The next day we set out to the forest reserve to hike to the many waterfalls. We went with a couple of American girls who were staying in the hostel with us. The park is accessed via a cable car that sends you flying several hunderd meters up in the air across the canyon. The cloudforest is a very interesting environment. The vegetation looks very much like the jungle only it doesn´t grow as high. There is also not the same amount of diversity and no monkeys. :(

We first hiked out to the largest waterfall, a good 45 mintues one way. Saw lots of bugs and crazy plants. After that we hiked down to another group of falls that had some pretty good swimming. It was sort of like the potholes but in the jungle. We hiked back up to the cable car only to find a large group of school kids ferrying across, so we sat down to wait our turn. After about 10 or so crossings the pulleys on the cable car began to smoke and we were informed that was it for the day. So we had to hike back down the canyon and up the other side. Not too bad but we were pretty tired and hungary by this point. We caught a ride back into town in the back of a truck and had a an awesome meal at a local resturant.
The next day we decided to go do the canopy ziplines, a dozen or so cables, streching 1.7km above the forest. It was pretty crazy, but I didn´t bring my camera so no pics, sorry. After this we decided to head back to Quito on the afternoon bus rather than the 630 am bus the next day. This would give us more time to prepare for the wedding and hangout with everyone else who had arrived in Ecuador since we left Quito.

I am getting way behind in my postings now as we have had the wedding and now been in the Galapogos for a few days. Its awesome... so many crazy animals.

A Tena Adventure

2007-10-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, time seems to be flying by and I am getting way behind on these posts. We had an awesome time in the jungle but it seems like that was months ago now. We went on a rafting trip with a company called the River People, run by a couple of Irish brothers who moved to Ecuador with their parents when they were 14 and started a rafting company. A great company and I would highly recommend them if you are ever visiting the area.

We met early in the morning and found that there were a bunch of Canadian who were doing volunteer work going rafting as well. We drove out to the end of the road were we had to hike half an hour down a mud hole of a trail to the river. Not an easy feat in flip flops, and I had to resort to bare feet several times. We arrived at the river and our guide Alex told us we were going to go hike up a canyon for a swim while they prepared the boats. It turned out to be one of the coolest swimming holes I have ever seen. It was located in a deep canyon, cutting through the jungle floor. We had to scramble along the sides until we got to a wide pool were the creek poured in from a cave in the side. You could sit under the small waterfall and watch the water pouring down in front of your face. You could also climb up into the cave, up another waterfall and get to a cliff above the pool were you could jump back in. The canyon was pretty dark, so the pictures didn´t turn out to well. You´ll just have to trust me that it was awesome.

After the swim we returned to the river and loaded up into the boats. The trip we did went down one very techincal river, to join up with another which had bigger rapids. (If i remeber the names I´ll post them.) The river quickly dove into a deep canyon, with the jungle rising up on both sides. At fairly regular intervals, waterfalls would pour from vast heights, blown into mist by the time they reach us at the river. Through out the entire trip we were constatly being buzzed by all sorts of birds and butterflies. No large animals though. There was lots of paddling in the first river to avoid all the rocks, but the rapids were not too crazy. Our boat was pretty good at working together by the time we pulled out for lunch. We had an amazing meal at the confluence of the two rivers and then set out to tackle the big rapids. They were crazy

but our boat paddled well and we made it through them all including the Wafflemaker. This rapid consited of several house sized boulders to dodge followed by a river wide hole that just swallowed our boat.We escaped with our flipping and contiuned down the river. There were also several waterfalls that you could swim under. The water was super warm as it was all rain fed. A great day, although I got a pretty bad sunburn.

The next day we headed out early to the Shangrila Jungle lodge for a jungle hike. The lodge was located high on a cliff above the Napo Rio, and had amazing views of the jungle below. After breakfest, we headed out with our guide to explore the jungle. He told us about all the different uses for the plants, climbed trees to pick fruit for us and showed all sort of crazy bugs. This yellow grenade looking fruit had a very slimey, sweet meat. It was really good but it grossed Katie out.One type was the lemon ant, which lives in a certain type of tree and tastes like lemons. They were indeed very sour but hard to eat as they kept crawling everywhere. There were all kinds of bugs and I got lots of pictures. Here is one of a crazy looking spider, they were pretty common. I did get to see one monkey in the wild. A small cappuchin, but he was too quick and I didn´t get a picture. I was happy to actually get to see a monkey, even if it was briefly. After a while we started hiking up a small creek and into a tiny slot canyon. It got very narrow in places, so much so that you could only fit sideways. Several sections involved a fair bit of climbing, but nothing too crazy. In one section the roof covered the top and it became very cave like. There were bats roosting on the roof and would swoop down over our heads as we passed. The whole hike took all morning and we arrived back at the lodge in time for a late lunch. After lunch we went inner tubing down the Napo Rio. I didn´t take my camera, so no pictures. It was nice to cruze down the river but after rafting it seemed a little dull at times. I had hoped that we´d see some more animals, but Tena is not deep enough into the jungle and most of the larger animals have been driven away. After tubing we returned to the lodge, were we hung out on the hammock deck, watched the sunset, and had an exellent dinner.I got some good pictures of some of the strange bugs that were also hanging out with us.

The next day we caught an early bus back to Quito, had lunch and then caught another bus to Mindo, a small town on the west side of the Andes in the Cloudforest. That will have to wait for the next post, as well as the details from the wedding.

A few jungle photos from Cuyabeno...

2007-10-19T17:20:00.001-07:00

Jess on the ride into the jungle, looking blissfully happy at the prospect of leaving Quito.

Our cabin, bug free thanks to the lack of thatched roof.

A baby tarantula (it was the size on my hand!). These live in the thatched roofs, another plus of not having one.

Sunset on the Laguna Grande.

Mountains to the Jungle

2007-10-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I have been pretty busy since the last post so I have a lot to fill you in on. Since the last post I have climbed several more mountains. Sam and I tried to climb Guagua Pinchicha via the telefriqo but arrived to find it closed for repairs. We decided to try to hike up from the base but were blocked by a guard. Another guard told us that we could get permission at the main office. After a drawn out conversation, mostly limited by our Spanish, another guard was found who spoke a little more English. Apparently, hiking from the bottom pretty much guarantees you´ll be mugged, or as he put it ¨You could be dead!¨ Instead we went for a hike in another park were we scrambled down into a pretty crazy drainage. The soil was very erosive so the creek
quickly became very entrenched and we had to scramble down the canyon spider man style. It was a lot of fun but I didn´t have my camera so no pictures until I get Sam´s. The hike ended in climbing up an old rockwall that was about 20 meters high and started as a slab then you had to transfer on to an arete. I´d say it was about a 5.4 which is plenty hard when its wet and you have no rope.

Having done all the hikes on our own we hired a guide, Caesar, for a 4 day trip to climb three different mountains. The first we climbed was Illinzas Norte, about 5126 meters. We drove out to the base and started the climb in good weather.
The Norte is the one on the right.

A close up of Illizinas Sur, a more technical peak... looks like it had some good lines up it.

We made good time to the refuge and started up the face of the mountain. As we started to climb a thunderstorm rolled in and began to crash around our heads. I have never heard anything like it. We could hear the lightning as well as the thunder. It sounded like giant springs or some electric machinery. It was really crazy. We got to about 50 meters below the summit but from there we need to to follow the ridge up to the summit, where we would be very exposed to lightning strikes.

Sam ¨The Lightning Rod¨ Lambert´s toque was sticking out in all directions so we decided to not risk the last bit and be satisfied with almost the top. Caesar told us that no one had been killed on the climb by lightning in two years and he didn´t want to change that. As we started to descent, the hail started and by the time we were down it looked like it had snowed. Overall, a pretty fun climb even if we didn´t summit.

We spent that night at El Chupi in a small ranch/hostel. It was bloody cold but they had a ping pong table and a pool table so we had lots of entertainment. The next day we set out to Cotopaxi National Park were we climbed Rumihuhui, which is about 4600 meters. It was a nice day although there were some clouds at the top. It was nice hiking through the high altitude grasslands as the views were unblocked in all directions.
The landscape could easily pass for something from Mars due to all the volcanic activity. There was not much wild life due to the altitude but we spotted a few hawks and there are a few wild llamas in the park. That night we slept in some cabanas in the park and were treated to an amazing sunset.

The next day we set out for the climber refuge on the Cotopaxi at about 4800 meters.
It was a fairly tame hike up though a little slow as it was through volcanic sand and we were weighed down with all our climbing gear. We settled into the refuge and then headed up to the glacier so Sam could get some practice in crampons. It was a little cloudy but despite the whiteout Sam decided he felt good to climb. We returned to the refuge to hydrate and try to sleep. It turns out that at 4800 meters it is very hard to sleep as it feels like you are suffocating. Caesar said that it gets better with time but it was not long before we started our summit attempt. We left at 2am under cold, clear conditions the sky only lit by starts. At about 5000 meters there is a large sand patch as the volcano is heating up and melting the snow in places. Climbing a mountain of sand at 5000 meters is brutal. Luckily this only last a couple hundred meters before we were back on the snow. As we reached the last section the sun came over the horizon and illuminated some amazing snow features. Huge icicles and windswept formations surrounded us. We pushed on to the summit. The last few sections seemed to go on forever but soon we were on the top, 5897 meters. The crater lay below us and the view in all directions was unlimited. There was a faint smell of sulphur in the air as well to remind us we were on a volcano. We did the climb in 5 hours and it is supposed to take 6 to 8, so I think we did pretty well. There was only one other group on the mountain that day and they were in worse shape although they did make it to the top.

The climb down was very hot and sunny but soon we were back at the refuge, tired but happy to have made it to the top. Originally, I had planned to climb Chimbarozo as well, but I decided that there was too much else to see and I didn´t want to commit more time to climbing. So after a day of rest in Quito we set out for Papallacta, a hot springs in the cloud forest east of Quito.

Gonzolos and Michelle, Dani´s parents, treated us to an awesome time at the Thermas, a very nice resort. (Thanks so much!!) We rode out in the back of a truck, regular form of transport here, which allowed for amazing views along the way. We went on a short hike when we arrived through the surrounding cloud forest which could best be described as a mini jungle.

It is very lush and there are many flowers, birds and plants. It is still fairly high up so it is cooler and doesn´t grow as high. The trail went on a loop up along a creek where we saw lots of orchids and hummingbirds.

Flora podula (sp?) flower, apparently if you sit under them you´ll fall asleep. They can also be used to make some crazy drugs.

Katie, Carla and Andres on the hike.

We had amazing meals at the restaurant and soaked in the hot pools. It was nice to relax after all the climbing.

The next day Katie and I set out on our own to Tena, a town on the edge of the Amazon Jungle. The bus ride out was a little crazy as the road was pasted on to the side of the mountain and wound its way into the jungle. The fast paced music blasting in the bus only seemed to make the driver go faster. On top of that he was racing another bus to beat him to the towns to get passengers first. We some how managed to arrive in one piece in Tena, which is very hot and muggy.

Today we went for a walk in a nature reserve located just across the river from our hostel. It was pretty cool to see all the plants and they had several animals as well. Some had adequate pens or were free to roam, however, the cats (a jaguar and an ocelot) were in cages way too small. I felt pretty bad to seem them like that. It wasn´t clear if they had been caught for display or It wasn´t the same as seeing them in the wild but still pretty cool to get to see monkeys and other animals. From what Katie has told me from here jungle trip, it may be the only chance I get to see them.

We also have booked a rafting trip down 40 km of class III and IV rapids for tomorrow. It also includes a jungle trek and canyoneering. It should be interesting. We are also going on a guided hike through the jungle on Sunday. Hopefully we will have a good guide and learn lots of interesting things about the jungle plants and their uses. I´ll leave you with a bunch of pictures from our walk in the reserve. I´ll try to make another update after this weekend.

Katie in the Nature reserve. The trails wandered through 27 hectares located on across the river from our hostel. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, apart from a few workers doing some maintenance. There were lots of cool plants although some areas seemed artificially maintained.

A cayman lurking in a pond at the reserve. Katie didn´t believe it was a cayman and thought it was a log.

A squirrel monkey (the little one) and some other monkey (should have taken a photo of the sign. These guys were free to roam around but there were two other monkeys that were caged.

A small toucan that was flying about.

Some of the colourful vegetation. There were so many crazy looking flowers and plants. Hopefully I will know more about them after our guided hike.

The leafs here come in so many shapes and sizes. Some of the stuff growing in the wild here looks exactly like house plants I have seen sold in Canada.

Into the Heart of Darkness.... well sort of...

2007-10-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

Reflections from my week long excursion into the Amazon jungle at the Cuyabeno River Lodge in the Cuyabeno nature reserve....

We flew out of Quito last Monday, and were very impressed with our airline. Our flight was early in the morning, and we were surprised to find the waiting lounge supplied with coffee, juice and snacks, all free. Our flight was delayed half an hour, and after finally taking off, we circled around Lago Agrio and could not land due to the fog, so we headed right back to Quito. Good thing it was only a 30 min flight. We waited around in the lounge again, with more snacks, and after another two hour delay we successfully made it to Lago Agrio. We had met some other travellers on the flight, and were able to get a ride on their private bus to the Cuyabeno reserve from the airport. It was a long and rather bumpy journey, the first half being paved and the last on gravel roads. I got quite motion sick near the end. It was a relief to reach the river and set out in our motorized canoe for our lodge.

I have to admit, when we reached the lodge I was rather shell-shocked. I think the whole concept of being in the jungle hadn´t sunk in, and I am not sure I was properly prepared for the whole thing. I had nothing in my previous life experience to compare the place to, and I was nervous. To be truthful, I was pretty terrified for the entirety of the first day.

We arrived at the lodge late and didn´t have much time to settle in before we undertook our first foray into the jungle. We set out in canoes to explore the river. It was beautiful, green and lush. We paddled under a nest of marching wasps, and were able to listen to their noisy defence mechanism; they sounded like marching soldiers, it was very cool. We paddled further up the river to a swimming spot, but I was not yet ready to plunge into the murky river. Neither were many of the other girls who were there. In fact, four British girls who arrived there the same morning we did, failed to last long in the jungle at all, and left after spending only one night.

Over the next few days I warmed up to the jungle. We went for a rainy jungle walk and saw some interesting insects, plants, and even a monkey. We took the motorized canoe to stay at a camp near the larger laguna for a night, and explored the area. It was full of tour groups, but despite that we still managed to see a decent number of jungle animals. We saw monkeys, macaws, lots of insects, and many other birds. There were quite a few fish as well, we went piraña fishing, and caught some pirañas and a catfish. We inadvertently caught a fish when it jumped into our boat. Unfortunately I became ill, nauseous and over heated, and couldn´t participate in the caimen hunting on the night of our laguna trip.

Overall, I ended up having a good time in the jungle, and I eventually found it to be more beautiful than scarily unknown. The one hitch in our jungle adventure came in the form of our overly friendly guide, who thought it was more his job to try to get into the pants of female travellers rather than show us the animals properly. Oh well, I suppose no trip comes without its problems. We flew back into Quito, and strangely enough it felt almost like coming home.

Photos of the jungle to come...

What you have all been waiting for... photos!

2007-10-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

So I finally figured out a way to get my photos up here. I had several problems with the size, damn those 12 megapixels. Added captions but the layout is still pretty crappy. Anyway, you can figure it out. I can´t be bothered to try and fix it now.

Shot of Cotopaxi on the fist day here. One the two times I have been able to see it.

Jess and Sam heading up the TelefriQo.
Sam at the base of Ruca Pinchicha.
A small section of Quito from the summit of Ruca.
Looking back along the summit ridge of Ruca.
Sam on the summit.
Summit shot (much easier than with a manual SLR)
A nice cave to rest in on Ruca.

Pasochoa from the farm outside Quito.

Sam exploring an old ruin we found near the farm.

Abor de Tomate... makes a good juice!

Some cool palms at the farm.

All the gargolyes on the

Basillica are animals from the Galapogos.

Basillica

The old bank in Old Town Quito.

The base of Cayambe near Otovalo.

Quito day trips

2007-10-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we decided to go to Otovalo, a market town north of Quito. The whole inner city becomes a street market on Saturdays and they sell all kinds of stuff. I managed to bargin myself (in my broken spanish) a few deals so Christmas shopping is almost done. They bus ride out there was an experince in itself. We managed to avoid a scam to steal our bag, thanks to a warning from someone who had his bag stolen on his trip to Otovalo. Through out the ride vendors would hop on and sell all kinds of snacks and drinks. This country must be one of the most well supplied with gum. The drive was through some very crazy country side not unlike southern Idaho. Lots of gulies and volcanic deposits. We had one exciting moment when another bus decided to pass us on a blind corner and our bus wouldn´t let him by. Never a dull moment on these Ecuadorian buses.

On Sunday we tried to catch a train to Cotopaxi that lets you ride on the roof. After a confusing converstaion with a taxi we discovered that the train no longer runs from Quito (and I am not sure if it even runs at all any more.) So that was not nearly as exciting a day as I had hoped.

Today Sam and hiked up Ruca Pinchicha (to the top this time... about 4800 meters). We lucked out and the clouds lifted while we were on the summit so we had some decent views. On the way back down we found that the cable cars had broken down so we had to wait a couple of hours until they were fixed. A bit of boring end to an awesome climb.

Still In Quito - Mitad del Mundo

2007-10-05T12:18:00.001-07:00

One week of our South America adventure has passed and we have yet to venture far outside the city of Quito. On Wednesday we took a cab to the Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador's monument to the Equator. The monument is a large square pyramid topped with a sphere. Each side of the square faces one of the four compass points, and a line painted on the ground through the middle of the east, west half of the monument, supposedly divides the north and south hemispheres. It was rather tourist-trap-esque, with booths selling t-shirts and equator key chains. I think it would have been more exciting for us if the monument had been located on the equator. In actual fact, the Mitad del Mundo was built in error by the French explorers, about 240m away from the real equator. So though it was slightly amusing to walk back and forth over the painted dividing line, we felt a bit ripped off by the whole experience. After the disappointment of the monument, we headed next door to the Museo de Cultura Solar. This was a much more rewarding experience. A small, rather intense, man presented us with his research project into the solar culture of the Ecuadorian natives, and showed us a picture of the ancient monument on the actual equator. It was very interesting, apparently the natives built their own monuments to the equator and other specific locations, based on the solar calender and equinoxes. It was worth the 5 minute walk and was free, which is always a plus. ´

We took the bus back into Quito, which was an adventure in itself, with crowds of people, and individuals hopping on and off of the moving bus. All in all I was quite relieved to be off the bus in Quito walking back to the hostel.

The weather has taken a turn on us, and currently we are experiencing intense thunderstorms each afternoon, so I must sign off now in order to beat the rain. More tales of dazzling adventure to come, as Timb sets out on his climbs next week, and Jess and I venture into the Jungle on a tour of the Cuyabeno Nature Reserve.

Ciao!

In Quito

2007-10-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Quito after a long but uneventfull flight at 11pm and were met by Jess, Sam and Dani. We spent the first night at Dani´s grandparents, which is a pretty nice place. They have a driver and two maids. Not quite what I was expecting when I arrived. The next day we moved into our hostel, La Casona de Mario, a pretty nice place run by an Argentina guy. We then set out to explore the city and checked out a couple of the markets. Lots of stuff but I am waiting for this weekend when we visit Otovalo to buy anything. Driving around in the city is insane although I am getting used to it already. Horns are used as a form of echo location rather than to warn other drivers. Lines and signs appear to be mearly a suggestion rather than absolute rules. Suprisingly I haven´t seen any crashes yet, although banging sideview mirrors is a regular occurance. It makes cab rides much more exciting. The buses also seem to all be burning bunker diesel so it is pretty smoggy. It also seems that the flight paths for the airport cover the entire city, and the planes need to take off and land at higher speeds due to the thin air. Combined with the horns it makes the city pretty noisey. We also went to a park where I saw my first llamas. The next day we headed out to explored NewTown Quito and I began my search for a climbing guide. There are a ton of companies but not all are equal. It is difficult to decide who to go with but I got some reccomendations from some other people so I have narrowed it down to a couple companies. Later on Saturday we went out to Gonzoles´s (Dani´s uncle) farm which is an hour out side Quito. After a crazy ride out there in the back of a pickup we arrived at what would more acutately be described as an estate rather than a farm. Sam and Dani´s wedding reception is going to be out there so they had to tend to wedding duties while we explored the area. It was nice to get out of the city and see the country side. It is near Pasochoa which I hope to climb later this week or next. On the way back into the city Gonzoles gave us a tour of Old Town at night which was pretty cool to see. The next day we decided to go back and explore it during the day. The lonely planet guide said that cars were forbiden on Sundays but this turned out to be wrong. We toured around and checked out all the old Colonial buildings. It was pretty cool to see buildings that were close to 400 years old.
On Monday we took the telefiqua up to Ruca Pinchicha. It is basically like the gondola on grouse but cost $4 instead of $30. The top is also at 4100m, which makes hiking around fairly interesting. I hadn´t really noticed the elecvation in Quito but up here a little hill left you gasping for air. We did a 3 hour hike up the volcano but ran out of time so we didn´t make it to the top. I will have to go back earlier in the day. It was also very cloudy so we couldn´t see much. I will have to figure out a way to upload some pictures. That is about all for now. I am going to be doing acclimitization climbs over the next few days in preperation for Cotopaxi and Chimbarzo. Chimbarzo is going to be pretty expensive as I have yet to meet anyone who wants to climb it as well, so I would be paying for the guide by myself. I´ll wait to see how Cotopaxi goes and then decide. We are heading out to see the park this weekend via the El Boche train which you ride on the roof. We are also going to be heading out to the Equator and the markets at Otovalo so I will lots more to write about. Hopefully I will also be able to post pics by then.

Chow

Packing

2007-09-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

This is going to be my travel blog. I don't know how often I will be updating but I will try to post fairly regularly. Katie will also be posting so hopefully there will be new posts fairly often.

Still trying to decide how much gear to take. I think I am just going to take a 8mm rope and try not to take any major falls. Since it will mostly be snow and ice pitches I think I will be alright.

We fly out tomorrow at 7am, so by this time tomorrow I should have something more interesting to post.