Bolivia

To La Paz

We cruised over to Bolivia on Hydrofoil and stopped off at Sun Island, spiritual home of the Incas. All potential Inca kings had to spend 3 weeks here being prepared for leadership and examined by the high priests that used to live on the island. If the priests thought the future king unfit, then he would be killed and sacrificed. If passed OK, the king would be crowned and would return to Cusco to rule.

Our guide told us that immigration into Bolivia used to be a real hassle as the officials always wanted money. Eventually, the travel agency gave in and agreed to pay them. So now we get 5 star service. 2 officials came up to us during lunch and politely asked for our passports and then retuned them 10 minutes later duly stamped. Now that’s service. I think we’d all pay a little extra for that.

We cruised over to the mainland for a 90 minute drive to La Paz over similar terrain to the high plateau that we crossed on our train journey to Cusco. Our guide, Raul, had great fun terrorising us with tales of revolution. The locals don’t really recognise the government. Every time they find something not to their liking they take the law into their own hands and start to blockade the roads. On one occasion, his driver was whipped for trying to break a blockage to get a guest to the airport in time for his plane.

We approached La Paz from high on the plateau, and the first view of the city as it nestles in a canyon below is very impressive. It has an amazing location, with the ever present Illampu Mountain standing proudly over the city guarding its people. There’s 9 million people in Bolivia and most of them live in La Paz or its neighbouring overspill city El Alta, where most of the workers live. Countless minibuses deliver the people into La Paz each morning.

Next day, we embarked on the obligatory city tour. There’s not much to see in the way of architecture. The Spanish seem to have been particularly uninspired here. Still, there’s a really nice atmosphere, the residents managing to be frantic and laid back at the same time.

La Paz is consumed by a gigantic market that takes over half the city. You can buy anything here as long as it’s counterfeit. From CDs, designer wear and watches to Inca relics. All ridiculously cheap. I bought a copy of windows XP for less than 1$, hoping to use it to revive my ailing laptop. With all Nike, Reebok, Adidas and co gear now being made in China, I don’t think there’s any difference in quality between the copies and the real thing.

Something went badly wrong with our agency booking as, having just spent a day cruising lake Titicaca on our private hydrofoil, we found ourselves travelling from La Paz to Uyini by public bus and train. PUBLIC TRANSPORT. IN BOLIVIA. ARE YOU SERIOUS? Actually, it wasn’t too bad. The 3 and a half hour bus journey took us to Oruro without breaking down, where we boarded a super slow train for 7 hours and finally arrived in Uyini at 2:20 a.m. On the train I had what must be the worst meal of the trip (please), Spaghetti Bolognese. Imagine a tin of Heinz Spaghetti heated up with diced beef checked in, served with a side dish of soap shavings pretending to be Parmesan.

Uyini is home to the largest salt lake in the world. One of two facts that Bolivia is famous for; that and for having more presidents than anyone else in the last hundred years. How did all this salt get here, I hear you ask. Well, it wasn’t an EU salt mountain that was dumped in South America to placate Saxa. No, it was formed by minerals washed there from the surrounding mountains. The rain water has nowhere to go and is evaporated by the strong sun leaving a massive plateau of almost pure salt.

We paid a short visit to a salt factory. These are all small family run businesses. The salt is cut from the lake in blocks, smashed up, and then ‘cooked’ over an open fire to remove the impurities. The salt crackles as it cooks sounding like popcorn. It’s then ground and bagged by children – 2000 bags a day. All of Bolivia’s table salt is produced like this, costing 1 Boliviano a bag – about 6p

The lake really is large, like a skating ring for giants, an enormous latte (Imagine a size up from Venti), Pete Docherty’s cocaine stash, Mama Cass’ bed sheets. OK, it’s big and white. It’s fringed by mountains and volcanoes on all sides giving an otherworldly feel. Those mountains again – we must be in the Andes. The reflected glare from the sun is extremely powerful and ‘snow’ blindness is a real possibility here. Sun glasses are an absolute must, preferably two pairs together. I had to adjust the camera to reduce the exposure as otherwise all the photographs came out as white. The salt dries in hexagonal plates; something to do with the molecular shape of sodium chloride, so the guide told us, but that could have been made up on the spot.

Nothing can live in this environment. No vegetation, no animals, birds or insects – nothing, nada - absolute desert. It’s not a great environment for vehicles either as the salt rots them petty rapidly. I imagined our land cruiser dissolving in front of our eyes leaving us sitting in the middle of the lake with nothing left but the rubber wheels. 4 wheel drive is mandatory here as Bolivia only has 6 roads and they’re all in or into La Paz.

In the middle of the lake is a rocky atoll called Fish Island, named due to its appearance from a distance. Unbelievably, this is covered by giant cactus, up to 10 metres tall, with rabbits , mice and birds all somehow scraping by.

We stayed near the lake in a salt hotel built of, yes you guessed it, salt. This is obviously a bit of a tourist gimmick, but the salt blocks used are surprisingly durable, having similar characteristics to concrete blocks, and a similar appearance too, except white of course.

As usual we were the only guests. This was typical of our stay in the Bolivian desert. We felt more like travel ambassadors than tourists. Hotel managers were weeping when we left, not knowing when their next guests might arrive.

This part of Bolivia is a truly wild, desolate, remote and staggeringly beautiful place. We left the salt lake in our 4 wheel drive which finally gave way to scrub, a barren, rocky landscape punctuated by a few grassy stubs and yellow, green short bushes supporting the occasional Vicuña that peered at us inquisitively as we drove past in a cloud of dust. We were heading to a series of about a dozen mineral lakes clustered together, each with different colours caused by the predominant mineral deposited in the water. There’s red lakes, green, blue, pink – most are populated by thousands of pink Flamingos that somehow find something to eat in the heavy, acrid waters.

The most astonishing lagoon is Lake Colorado which manages to be blue, green, red and white all at once; a photographers’ wet dream. This really does look like another planet, with no sign of vegetation here, just dazzling colours reflecting the stark, lifeless mountains. And of course, just us. I’ll put some pictures on the blog and I promise that I haven’t doctored them. It really does look like this.

We finally took leave of this awesome landscape and swapped transport and took the road to Chile. We were soon back in the first world, and we both cheered as we came to a real, metal road after about 5 kilometres. This is the main haulage route in the north between Chile and Argentina, where the three countries meet. There’s a forlorn looking signpost for Bolivia pointing to the dirt track that we had just traveled, like an after thought as if the Chileans can’t understand why anyone would want to go there. After all, they couldn’t be bothered to invade past this point.

The road plummets alarmingly downwards from over 4000 metres to our destination 45 minutes away at Atacama at 2400 metres. The road is littered with car and lorry wreckage accompanied by roadsides shrines to lost loved ones, but we managed to navigate it safely enough.

Overall Boliva Ratings

People 8
Landscape 10
Food 5
Coffee 0
Roads Not Applicable

Peru

Lima
We didn’t spend much time in Lima as the guide book description gave us the impression that it is a bit of a shit hole. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the old town. There’s a lot of impressive colonial architecture adorning the large squares, and of course, plenty of churches. It also felt safer than billed, although we didn’t wander away from the well policed main areas.

Our hotel was a beautiful, grand building in one of the richer suburbs overlooking the Lima golf course. Unfortunately, it was a hugely popular place for weddings, and our two nights there were interrupted by the constant celebrations of the various wedding parties.

In the bar we were treated to the worst female singer in the world, who was masquerading as the evening’s entertainment. We’ve never heard anyone so poor, even in Kareoke bars, if you exclude me, that is.

Lima is a massive city, home to 8 million personas (notice the Spanish, we’re practically fluent now. Dos cerveza, vino blanco, vino tinto, gin y tonic.) – most of them living in shanty towns clinging to the surrounding hills, and occasionally glimpsed through the smog, dust and mist.

The poverty is never far away. We were approached by one desperate man for money who was literally crying for mercy, poor soul. Our guide called over the police who moved him on. Moments later we were inside an opulent colonial house that had been in the same family for generations. The contrast between rich and poor couldn’t be sharper than here.

Cusco
Cusco is now home to 800,000 people following a population explosion in the last 10 years, but manages to maintain the feel of a small town. In part, I think, to a policy of not allowing buildings to be constructed over six stories high due to concerns over earthquakes. All of the buildings are roofed with the same terracotta tiles, making it very picturesque.

Cusco is our base for exploring the remains of the famous Inca civilisation which was brought to an abrupt end by the Spanish in the 16th century. We didn’t have to travel far for our first glimpse as many of the buildings in the old town where we were staying are built on top of Inca ruins, the dark, smooth granite blocks making up the first few rows.

We spent some time touring the surrounding area visiting Inca rest houses, Inca terraces, and ruined temples. There really is a lot to see. Many of the terraces are still in use today by farmers growing corn or potatoes.

One site, the Zig zag remains, is a major attraction. It has been named “Zig zag” because of the topography of the remains. All of the original names have been lost as the Incas left no written record.

Most of the ruins, except Machu Picchu, have been destroyed by the Spanish, particularly the temples as they were trying to promote Catholicism.

We spent a few hours at a market at Pisac, which was a little disappointing, with everyone selling the same factory produced stuff for tourist consumption. Alpaca jumpers, hats and gloves, Machu Picchu t-shirts, jewellery etc.

Near Cusco is the sacred valley, a fertile farming region and home to lots of ruins. There’s lots of small villages here all making a living out of farming corn or potatoes. The valley is extremely fertile so crops are grown all year round. The buildings are all built from mud bricks, called adobe houses. You’d think that they would wash away in the rainy season, but they are more durable than you would think. They still apparently need fairly major maintenance once a year.

Machu Picchu
Of the many ways to travel to Machu Picchu, including the famous Inca trail, we chose the Hiram Bingham train, named after the American who rediscovered the ruins in 1911.

The trip from Poroy, near Cusco, to Machu Picchu is only 75km, but the train contrives to make this last 3 and a half hours, and you wouldn’t want it to go any quicker as it ambles through some breathtaking scenery. The route runs alongside the Urubamba river as it tumbles violently and impatiently towards the Amazon.

The train is fabulous, all wood paneling and brass. There are only 4 coaches; 2 for the passengers, 1 for the kitchen where the chef knocks out wonderful food, and the last carriage is a lounge and bar with an observation deck. Give the designer a medal.

Feeling wonderfully pampered and privileged, we arrived in Machu Picchu town, and embarked on one of the many coaches that wind their way up to the ruins. Twenty minutes later and we were passing through the entrance gate to receive our first glimpse of this breath-taking place.

Despite its world renown, Machu Picchu surprised us. The first surprise is that it is located in the rainforest, so back into mossie territory. Although considerably lower than Cusco, it feels higher due to the immense, vertical mountains that surround it. It’s a huge site, with terraces stretching to the limits of the mountain that it sits on. Even in the off season, it attracts 1200 visitors a day. Despite this, it is not crowded at all. The other surprise was that it isn’t a let down. It’s hyped so much that we were worried that it wouldn’t live up to expectations, but it is a really miraculous place. If it wasn’t here, for real, you wouldn’t believe it was possible.

It’s actually situated on top of a mountain. God knows why they built it there, as there’s a perfectly good valley floor with accompanying river below. The reason the ruins are so intact is that the Spanish never found it. Apparently, they weren’t too keen on venturing into the jungle.

The Incas liked a step or two, and getting around can be quite tiring, especially given the altitude. Day 1 was OK and we were feeling not too puffed. You need to take great care at the edges of the site as the terraces drop away vertically hundreds of metres to the valley floor below. There’s no safety railings here. God knows how many tourists they ‘lose’ each year. Our guide, the lovely, diminutive Adriana, encouraged us to take on one of the two popular walks that start from the ruins. So, day 2, full of Adriana’s misplaced confidence, we commenced our ascent of Wynu Pichu, which is the mountain that is in the background of all the postcards. It’s not a serious climb requiring rope and tackle, but it is bloody steep, and you need a head for heights. We finally made it to the top after many stops to catch our breath. The views at the top were indeed spectacular, and there are more Inca ruins and terraces here. The archaeologists think that the Incas used it as a look out point. Imagine having to walk up that every day to clock on.

The descent nearly killed us as our legs started turning to jelly, but we eventually made it back to the starting point to proudly enter our names into the log at the gate.

Lake Titicaca
I’ve had a stomach ache for 3 weeks now, and I’ve become fairly well acquainted with Messers Armitage and Shanks. Still, small price to pay for being in such wonderful scenery. My laptop us refusing to boot, making strange clanking noises as if it, too has ingested something it can’t get rid off. It has since made a partial recovery but is still a bit flakey, so if you’re trying to contact us, it’s probably best to copy emails to garyandmags@hotmail.co.uk

We left Cusco by train headed for Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Yes, I thought it was fictional too. This is a wonderful, all day train journey climbing up into the Andean highlands above the tree line, where the only vegetation appears to be a sinewy grass that somehow sustains herds of Alpaca and Lama. The route is guarded on both sides by colossal mountains. We passed through a desperate, half built city in the Altiplano called Juliaca, which allegedly is the commercial centre of the region. All of the buildings are unfinished with steel rods poking skywards from the concrete building blocks to support future floors that will never be built. Peruvians pay more tax on finished buildings, so this is a common site. Mortgages are also extremely rare, so people start building before they have enough funds to finish their home. They build one floor, and then build the next when they have saved up enough funds a few years later. This half finished look makes the place look like a ghost town, expect that the residents forgot to leave.

Lake Titicaca lies between the Andean mountain ranges where they split in two at the Sothern end of Peru. All the rain falling on the mountains runs into the valley between the mountain ranges where it is trapped to form this huge lake.

The lake is shared by Bolivia and Peru, with a maniacal border running across the water. There’s a natural harbour at Puno which is 60% covered in reeds. Some of the people have taken to living in these reeds on floating islands. We visited a couple and were amazed to find a real, working community. We’d expected to find a few families hamming it up for the tourists, re-enacting a lifestyle long since extinguished by modern ‘progress’. But there’s actually 30 or so families living on these reed islands, sustaining themselves mostly by fishing.

Next stop Bolivia which is economically on a par with Tower Hamlets.

Overall Peru Rating

People 7
Food 7
Scenery 10
Inca Ruins 10
Andean Flute music 1

The Amazon Jungle

We’re in the Amazon, and its raining.

The journey to our lodge was an adventure in itself, starting with a short 30 minute flight from Quito. On our way into land we had a good view looking down on the rainforest. The canopy is packed so densely that it looks like an enormous broccoli floret from the air.

We landed at Coca, a ramshackle, frontier town built on the proceeds of oil exploration in the region. We hopped into a motorised canoe on the Napa river, imagining a relaxing chug downstream. Actually, this canoe really motors, and it needed to as we had a 60km journey ahead of us that took 2 hours. So we both increased our lifetime canoe miles by, well……………. 120 kms. We probably should have joined a canoe miles programme. The Napa river is one of the major tributaries of the Amazon, and is a significant river in its own right stretching from 1 to 2 kms wide and running for 700 kms. We disembarked and hiked through the jungle for 30 minutes before arriving at a canal. Here we piled into more canoes, but hand powered this time. After 100 metres the canal opens up into an impossibly scenic lagoon, like a secret Elven hideaway from a Tolkien novel.

The locals describe the water in the lagoon as black water, and it is indeed black. The colour is a result of all the leaves and dead wood that falls into it, which rots releasing tannins. This also makes the water acidic and Mosquito lava can’t survive there – hurrah!
The Napa river itself is described as white water, but it is actually mud brown with all the silt.

Our guide surprised us on the first night at the end of dinner by suggesting we take a night walk. Let’s go into the jungle full of scary creatures, known and unknown in complete darkness. Great idea, we’ll lead the way. Yes, we’d had a few glasses of wine by then. The walk was probably the best we did, as a lot of the wildlife is nocturnal, and the cacophony of sound in the jungle at night is amazing.

Our native guide was called Seconda, a hard, wiry man of incredible strength. He carried a gigantic machete that he used to clear the path at the head of the group. If Paul Hogan had shown Seconda his knife, Seconda could have replied “That’s not a knife”

His wife makes bags from fibers of a particular palm tree. Incredibly strong and decorative. 10$ each. “Absolutely” we enthused. “We’ll take two”, seriously anxious not to piss him off.

The lake is inhabited by Piranha and Caiman, although it’s apparently safe to swim in. Like the intrepid travelers we are, and having just swum with Sharks and Sting Rays, we jumped straight to the bar.

The jungle is full of natural medicines. Here’s just 3 of the ones that were mentioned to us.

- The bark of one tree that accelerates child birth
- The jungle rose that is used as a contraceptive by women – this is boiled and the resultant liquor drunk providing 4 months respite, but too much can cause sterility.
- The red sap from the bark of another tree that is good for healing cuts and sores, ingested it is good for stomach ulcers, and is also applied to mosquito bites. Mags rubbed it on a cold sore and it really eased the throbbing.

Our English speaking guide was a biologist from Quito called Oscar – Oscar of the Wilde. He’s definitely a glass is half full person, usually beer.

Everything we spotted was “Good for you, guys”.
“Hey Oscar, look at that blade of grass!”
“Good for you, Guys”

Oscar was telling us about his trip to London one night over dinner and Mags actually said to him, “Good for you, Oscar”. I nearly choked on my fried plantain, but Oscar didn’t seem to notice.

It is the rainforest and water lovers will not be disappointed. In the brief periods in between downpours, steam rises up from the tree tops. It’s so humid here that the air is literally wet and nothing dries. We were reading in bed on the first night and noticed that the pages of our books were beginning to get damp. Showers are available, but not really necessary.

Naturally, we saw lots of creatures during our stay, although the wildlife is not as accommodating as the Galapagos. (Ok, David Attenborough, it can be tricky sometimes.). We did manage to spot the following animals, although sometimes it was only a fleeting glimpse.
- Tarantulas;
- 3 kinds of monkeys. Just small ones but superb athletes jumping from tree to tree;
- Spiders;
- Leaf cutting ants. These are amazing creatures. You see them marching to and fro between trees and their nest carrying leaves 4 times their size. They don’t actually eat the leaves, but grow fungus on them, and they eat that; fungus farmers. Try saying that after a few beers.
- Dozens of species of birds including pigeons, a stinky turkey so called because it eats, regurgitates its food and eats it again. The food starts to ferment, hence the smell and the name; swallows, toucans, vultures. It’s a real bird twitchers paradise. Bill Oddie would have kittens here, or at least chicks;
- Bats;
- Dozens of different ants, some of which were scary large;
- A cuddly toy (Gift shop).

On our last night we were treated to a barbecue on the terrace overlooking the lagoon. Being so close to the mosquito free lagoon, we foolish donned our shorts. Not a good idea as we were soon slapping our lags like a demented Austrian folk dancer. G’day mate.

Overall Ecuador Rating

People 9
Food 7
Wildlife 10
Scenery 9
Flamenco dancing 2

Quito Take 2

A short stop in Quito on the way to the Amazon, but enough time for a day out at Otavalo, a native Indian market. Otavlao is a small city to the north of Quito, largely populated by native Indians who, unusually for an indigenous people, are relatively prosperous with average wages higher than the rest of Ecuador. They are famous for their textiles which they export internationally. We’d decided that no circumstances would we be tempted to buy anything, as we were determined not to add to our baggage. So we bought a Panama hat, a shirt, a necklace, bracelet, and a table cloth. Iron wills, us. Its great fun bargaining as the initial asking price is typically double what you end up paying. I’m sure the wily Indians got the better of us anyway.

Galapagos

Day 1
Finally, a place where there is no Starbucks. Galapagos, so remote that your average Kiwi would feel right at home.

Now for the geology bit…… The Galapagos consist of 13 volcanic islands, 600 miles to the west of Ecuador, on the equator. It has been formed over millions of years due to a hot spot in the earth’s crust that precipitates underwater volcanoes from time to time. Occasionally, these volcanoes are so great that they break through the ocean surface and create new islands. Galapagos is situated on the Nazca plate which moves steadily eastwards and is dragged under the South American plate. The islands move east with the plate, but the hot spot remains put. Thus, several new islands are formed over time rather than just one large island, and some, of course, are lost to the east as they are pulled back under the ocean. All of this takes gazillions of years, so don’t expect to be hearing about new islands appearing overnight on the news. There are still plenty of active volcanoes located to the west where the hot spot is.

We arrived in San Cristobal, one of 4 inhabited islands, via a short stop in Guayaquill. The harbour is only minutes away, and before long, we were embarking onto the Alta, a 3 masted yacht that would be our home for the next week.


After a short cruise, we anchored near a beach, piled into wet suits and flippers and jumped into the water, which we shared with some playful and inquisitive sea lions and a ray. The sea lions swim up to you quickly and come very close. Just when you think that they are going to collide with you, they veer gracefully away. They’re amazing swimmers. One of them came out of the sea at the same time as me, and waddled along side of me for a while on the sand. “Not so clever on dry land are you?” I taunted.

Just a great feeling being in the sea – it’s been a long time for us land lubbers.

Over cocktails before dinner we had to undergo the cringe making, self introduction routine. Our group consists of 5 English, jolly good chaps; 4 Dutch, herdy gerdy, 2 Americans from North Florida, y’awll; 1 Scot, aye, with his Ecuadorian toy boy, si; and 1 Aussie, strewth its Mags.

We started getting to know each other after dinner when Martin, our Scot, let slip that he used to teach salsa and them gave us an impromptu beginner’s lesson in Salsa dancing. Strictly come dancing – I don’t think so. But at least we could blame the rocking of the boat for our dodgy footwork.

Martin is a really interesting and charming person. He works for the development agency, attached to the foreign office. After a three year stint in Angola, he has now started a new posting in Nicaragua which he was planning to resume after his holiday and a conference in Barbados. He wasn’t fooling us though – definitely a spy.

There were also two lovely American ladies, Suzie and Jackie, who are well traveled, which let’s face it, is unusual for people from their neck of the woods. They have a home in Florida, but are now living in a ginormous motor home in Phoenix, where Jackie works. They take off traveling most weekends.

Day 2
We sailed all night to reach our next destination, Genovesa..

When we booked the cruise, we imagined being gently rocked to sleep as glide smoothly over the Pacific Ocean. That’s what the brochure said. The reality was everyone over to the left side of the bed, followed a few moments later by everyone over to the right side of the bed. Our cabin was also situated above the engine room so we didn’t get much sleep on our first night.

After breakfast, we all jumped into the launch and headed off for a walk on the island. We landed on to some rocks at the waters edge and climbed a few steps where we caught our first glimpse of the Galapagos seabirds up close. An incredible sight as the area was filled with birds sitting around oblivious to our presence. We seemed to be invisible. The birds let you come within inches to photograph them. They are not at all afraid. In fact, we discovered during the week that all the wildlife on the islands is like this. So, David Attenborough, the game is up. Trying to con us into thinking it takes weeks of patience and dedication to film wildlife. It’s easy.


Genovesa, like many of the islands is incredibly dry. Being on the equator, the Galapagos doesn’t have 4 seasons, just 2; wet and dry. We arrived at the end of the dry season so much of the habitat hadn’t seen rain for six months. In many of the islands, areas just don’t receive any rain all year round. Where there are volcanoes, the rain falls on one side of the mountain and gets trapped, never reaching over to the other side. This makes for some astonishingly barren landscapes, - luneresque. Nevertheless, vegetation still manages a foothold in most places. On Genovesa, red footed boobies nest in leafless, white, dead looking bushes that have developed a way of photosynthesising using only their bark.

The Galapagos are famous, of course, for inspiring Charles Darwin to formulate his theory of evolution through natural selection, first proposed in his seminal work, Origin of Species. Genovesa is completely pristine and looks today just as it would have done to Darwin in 1834.

Day 3
Another overnight journey, but we are now sea salty old hands and made sure we had extra wine with dinner. Knocked us out a treat.

We arrived at Isabela, the largest island on Galapagos, and headed off for a walk up the side of Lake Darwin, a collapsed volcano. We encountered some dragon flies, bees, and a beautiful, multi coloured painted locust.

Isabella has 5 active volcanoes which could be a bit of a worry, but the Galapagos volcanoes are not as dangerous as others as they are not explosive, spewing out lots of burning ash. Eruptions just bring lava flows, which is obviously not good news if you’re in the way, but can easily be avoided.

In the afternoon we cruised over to Fernandina, a short distance to the west of Isabella for a walk around iguana central. There were hundreds of marine iguanas lying on the solidified lava flows, baking in the sun, These incredible, prehistoric creatures grow to about 60cm in length and, when sufficiently warmed up, swim around in the shallows feeding in the algae that grow on the rocks. Ugly buggers.

Also on the island were some flightless cormorants. These weigh 4 to 6 kilos when fully grown and would need a 3 metre wingspan if they were to fly. Instead, they have taken to the seas and are now expert swimmers, diving for fish. Their wings are now short, stubby and useless.

Later on, after dinner, we starting chatting away to Bob and Bren, 2 of the English contingent. Anyway, we were enjoying ourselves supping a few brandies, but the barman was nowhere to be seen, so we decided to help ourselves. I think the measures were a tad larger the standard. After a couple of rounds we realised that two thirds of the bottle was gone - so we thought we’d better finish it.


Day 4

Day 4 was a quiet day for us. We had a lie in - I wonder why, and decided to skip the breakfast and the morning activities. Just as well as 2 of the girls got stung by jellyfish, and Mags would definitely have copped it, turning instantly into elephant woman.

I did manage a little light snorkeling in the afternoon, and found myself swimming with the cormorants and a penguin. The Galapagos penguins move incredibly quickly, flying through the water.

We also swam into a cave that was turtle city. These quiet, placid creatures glide gently through the seas and are content to cruise along side swimmers and divers. I swam with one for a full 3 minutes.

Day 5
We spent day 5 on Santiago and embarked on a hill climb before breakfast. There was absolutely negligible green, and it was probably the driest and most desolate place we visited. This island has had relatively recent volcanic activity and has black lava fields where the elements have yet to oxidize them and turn them brown. Subsequently, hardly anything can grow here. Conversely, its waters are rich with plankton, and this attracts numerous fish which, in turn, sustains a large population of sea birds.

The walk to the top wasn’t too strenuous and we were rewarded with magnificent views of a number of volcanic craters.

Back at bottom, w e saw a Pelican eating a fish whole. This was hilarious, as the fish was almost too large for it to swallow, so it had to make several attempts to get it down.

More snorkeling after breakfast. The sea was clear and provided probably the best visibility of the trip. There were lots of fish, and we saw a reef shark – harmless, but quite scary to be in the water with it.

We then swam to the beach, and walked a short distance across sand dunes through mangroves to a second beach, where there were 4 white tipped reef sharks swimming in the shallows, with two turtles mating. A conversation I had with an Australian lady at the beach who I’d never met before.

“You English, right?”
“Yes”
“See those turtles over there, one on top of the other?”
“Yes”
“Well, when one gets on top of the other like that, it means they’re mating. You wouldn’t know that being English”

Day 6

We spent the entire day on land at Santa Cruz, the most populous and developed island.

We had a fellow Chelsea fan on-board, Mike who, like us, had been sweating on the Man United versus Chelsea result all week. Mike has a few season tickets for Chelsea and has promised to let us know if and when he has any spares. Mike, if you’re reading this blog, you’re a top bloke. I don’t care what the others said. We came across an internet café in the town centre and popped in to find the result. 1-1, but we were away, so a good result. Unfortunately, we also found out the cricket score which had been looking bleak for England when we left. Australia won by, well, a cricket score. Mags was insufferable.

The highlight on Santa Cruz was the Giant Tortoises. These were hunted mercilessly by pirates and early settlers. No surprise, they’re not difficult to catch. Some sub-species are extinct as a result but, thankfully, they are now protected. We visited a farm in the highlands where we saw about 20 of these magnificent creatures lazing about. They appear to spend all their time sleeping or eating slowly.

We visited the Charles Darwin centre in the afternoon, where they run a breeding programme to try to increase their numbers and reintroduce them to islands where they have been wiped out. There’s one poor tortoise there, lonesome George. He’s the last known individual of his sub-species so, unless they find another or clone him, that sub species will be extinct too.

Day 7
Our last day was a real highlight, on Espanola island. This is the only breeding ground for the wave albatross. It was the end of the breeding season when we visited. Most of the mature birds had left for the high seas, but there were a smattering of juveniles still there and some fledglings. These are large, heavy birds with a comical face and an even funnier walk. We were lucky to see one taking off close up. An incredible sight as it needs a fair run up to get enough speed and lift for take off. Although clumsy in the ground, they are awesome in the air, hardly needing to flap their massive wings to stay airborne.

Espanola is also home to a colony of blue footed boobies. Yes, they really do have blue feet. Like the albatross, they dance to attract a mate. Dance may be putting it a bit strong, they sort of lift one leg up, put it back down, then lift the other leg. Very entertaining.

The boobies are all expert fishermen. There are three, the Nazca, the red footed and the blue footed. They dive headfirst into the sea to catch their prey. The Nazca is the fastest, reaching speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and diving up to 30 metres. The Nazca boobie can become punch drunk from the repeated diving into the sea at high speed.

We had one last snorkel where we saw three sting rays, like the ones that did for Steve Irwin. We didn’t get too close though.

Finally, we had to leave. What a fantastic and enthralling place. We had a great crew who looked after us. Our guide, Nicolas, answered all of our stupid questions patiently and even made a souvenir DVD for us, for a few dollars naturally. So you can see for yourselves when we get back, if DVDs are still in use by then. Our fellow passengers were all lovely and interesting people. That is, except Heine. Well, there’s always one, isn’t there? This Dutch lady just wasn’t happy about anything. The food, the air con, her cabin, having to get up too early. I thought she was a little strange during the introductions when she insisted in the guide trying to pronounce her name correctly. Now I know that it’s not great when your name is mispronounced, but she’s Dutch, she should be used to it. The rest of us just don’t have the vocal skills. She soon became known as HF, for Hatchet Face. We all had great fun bitching about her. Everyone kept saying that they felt sorry for her husband. I wasn’t. He married her.

The Galapagos is a hassle to get to but well worth the effort, and more. I think everyone who visits (except HF) must have a terrific time, even people not that interested in wildlife. The scenery is stunning and the snorkeling is jaw dropping. If you still don’t fancy it, you can just lay about sun bathing in the perfect climate.

Oh, and I didn’t even mention the whales and dolphins swimming alongside the boat.

Off to the Amazon next. It’s a hard life. 

Quito

We left behind the land of the free and set off for South America, first stop Ecuador. So, goodbye to New York and hello to Quito where the first language is Spanish. No change there, then.

Quito is the capital of Ecuador, situated in the Highlands, nestling at 2800 metres high in a valley between a volcanic mountain range. It’s the first time I’ve arrived by plane where we didn’t descend. We just flew in and landed.

The altitude takes a while to adjust to. It takes a few days for your body to manufacture extra red blood cells to compensate for the lack of oxygen. Even at rest, you need to breathe more often to begin with.

Day 1 commenced with a morning tour of the old town. This was built by the Spanish during colonial rule commencing with the conquest in 1534. More accurately, it was built by the natives with the Spanish supervising.

No surprise that there are churches everywhere. The Spanish tried to get the locals to build classical Catholic churches, and generally succeeded, but our guide pointed to several symbols and decorations that the natives managed to sneak in from their own religion, with the Spanish clueless at the time. In the seventies and eighties, this quarter was abandoned by the wealthy as security deteriorated. Now, it t is undergoing a renaissance, with the old, grand houses being restored as smart new hotels or restaurants. It was declared a world heritage centre in the seventies and is well looked after by the government. The place is well policed and we felt very safe there.

We visited a number of churches to look at the art work, the highlight if which was the Jesuit, “gold” church. This is an incredibly ornate building with every square inch decorate in gold leaf. A place clearly designed to induce awe in visitors, and to demonstrate the extreme wealth of the Jesuits. Indeed, the Jesuits became so powerful that the King of Spain banished them from South America and they all had to leave. There’s a moral to that story, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it” – or maybe not.

We discovered that we had arrived in Quito during an election campaign. There is a run off between a very wealthy businessman and an ex professor to be the next president. One very right wing and the other very left wing – guess which is which.

Our guide is a little worried in case the businessman wins, and not just because he’s a fascist, but that people are not sure how he’s going to take it if he loses. So we could end up in the middle of a revolution. Well, I suppose that’s par for the course for a trip to South America.

During the election, Ecuadorian law forbids the sale and consumption of alcohol two days prior, and during the election day itself. Voting is compulsory so presumably the law is designed to ensure that the populace is not too pissed to take part. One of the pleasures of traveling is to experience new things, so we duly walked upto the hotel bar on the first day of prohibition and ordered a fruit juice.

We’ve also been trying the local food, although we have yet to come across the infamous roasted guinea pig. Our guide recommended an authentic Ecuador restaurant a short walk from our hotel which had the advantage of an English menu. Unfortunately, the translation was not always accurate, as we both went for the Beef and bean soup to start which turned out to be tripe. Actually, I thought it was quite good.


We set off the next day through the avenue of Volcanoes. 13 volcanoes of which 3 are still active. We were heading to the highest active volcano in the world, Cotopaxi, at 4500 Metres. And It’s overdue for an eruption – Is this really a good idea? Mags asked the guide how much notice there would be before an eruption, seeking some reassurance. Our guide, Mery, explained about the seismic centres that are stationed at strategic points, but didn’t actually answer Mags’ question.

Cotopaxi national park is truly beautiful, wild, scenic, and deserted. There had been a recent snow fall, which is unusual apparently, and the volcanoes peaks were covered. We were lucky that the weather was reasonably good to give us a glimpse of the volcano as it is shrouded by clouds most of the time.

There are very few animals that are prepared to tuff it out in this harsh habitat and altitude but we managed to spot Llamas, wild horses and, perhaps more surprisingly, feral cattle.

We continued upwards in our four wheel drive and stopped for lunch at a lonely restaurant anchored to a hillside with spectacular views of Cotopaxi.

After a few minutes we were joined by a group of climbers who had just completed the ascent, and descent of the volcano. This has to undertaken at night to avoid the fierce sun. 5 hours up, and 3 back down, starting at midnight. I think they deserved their lunch.

On the way back, we stopped at a Hacienda. These are the old colonial houses that were built under the feudal land system. The favored Spanish noble would be granted land for farming, and they built beautiful large houses to live in.

Many still exist and some of them are open to tourists. They clearly take a lot of maintenance and the tourist dollar must be welcome. The one we saw was in need of some major work, with damp running throughout the buildings. It is till the centre of a working farm rearing cattle and thoroughbred horses. It was filled with antique furniture, tapestries, and paintings with large rooms decorated with colourful tiles. It certainly gave us some sense of what life must have been like in 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

New York

We arrived in New York and headed straight for a show called Her Song at Birdland, a collection of music written by women from Billy Holiday to Carole King, sung by 4 talented, enthusiastic young women accompanied by a three piece band. Great way to start our trip. We had a table right in front of the stage, and the seafood gumbo was good too.

We spent the Sunday with Mags’ Aunt, Bridgette and her husband Andrew at their home in Yorktown Heights, New York state. We caught the train from Grand Central Station, which has been completely restored and looks magnificent, to Croton Harmon where they picked us up. The line runs up and alongside the Hudson for most of the way, which is surprisingly largely undeveloped, so it was a picturesque way to travel. Bridgette cooked up a storm and we had a traditional Sunday lunch and generally caught up with family news.

We were staying in Greenwich Village for the first time – very trendy and happening. A bit like Upper Street in Islington times ten. Every place is a restaurant or bar, with many having one establishment downstairs and another upstairs. All have late licences and most have live music every night. We survived on a mixture of live blues and bourbon, which was great fun at the time but don’t ask me to remember what happened.