Hey ho,
How be thee smee?
I´m actually quite chuffed with myself just now; i am writing yet another blog only days (ok, maybe weeks, but who´s counting), since my last blether. We have been quite busy actually, infact we´ve been in four countries in the past four days, but that somewhat glamourises the whole adventure as all we´ve really expereinced is the stale air of airports and aeroplanes.
Since the last post from San Gil, we have actually been pretty busy making up for the lazy days spent on the beach over christmas and new year. In San Gil alone we went absailing down a massive waterfall, rafting down some massive rapids and i had a massive game of football with some not so massive columbian locals whichr esulted in me getting two wacking great massive blisters and me wee dainty tootsies. And that was all just in two days ç. Not bad going i´m sure you´ll all gracefully agree.
The rafting was really cool. We spent three hours battling a crazy river much to our enjoyment. Or at least I think me maya enjoyed herself. She promises that she did, but all i could her on way merry way down stream was her incessant cries of óh shit´, óh fuck´etc etc. There were indeed some pretty big waves but quite frankly i do find such language dispicably crude and rude. Feckin tart that she is.
Our next stop after San Gil was an uniquely beautiful wee town called Villa de Leyva. Basically this is wee town in the hills just north of Columbia´s capital Bogota. It has been ´preserved´so to speak, meaning that no new buildings have been built 300 years or so. (i have no idea how many years it is to be honest. I´m not a guide book. All i know is that what was there was old.) The streets were proper great big cobbles and the houses were small and white washed. It was just such an addictive place that i quite frankly could have spent a very long time there (sorry mum). At least i could have but i think Maya would have undoubtedly put a stop to that with her shopping tendancies. fair do´s to the lass she´s been well restrained over the past five months, but you know what, as soon as i loosen the reighns on the old girl a wee bit she goes shoppy hoppy. Spent a bloody forune she did. But it made her smile again after the new year blues so i guess i have to admit it was worthwhile.
The first night in Villa de Leyva was probably the most notable for us as we got very drunk, and for once, i have to admit, that it was maybe myself that was the worse for wear. In my defence i was only being socialable. The drinking started early as myself and the maz shared a half bottle of wine for an early tea. We then bumped into some friends from the coast who persuaded us that more wine was a good idea. So more we had and then a wee bit more and then red wine became aguila, the local beer. It was about this point we headed to a really cool wee bar which was blasting out the clash and other such musical masterminds. It was here that the trouble started for me as i somehow got talking with a group of columbian students from Bogota. I don´t know if you all know this, but i actually speak fluent spanish when i´m drunk, so much so that after 10 minutes of converstaion with the aforementioned students, they all smiled at me sypathetically at my valient efforts to cuçommunicate in their local tongue, and in unison they all promptly began conversing in incredible english. Bloody smug buggers!! Anyhow, i shouldn´t complain as the whole point to all of this ( i´ll get there soon enough, don´t worry) was that they had a bottle of the local brew, agua deliente (i think). Anyhoo this stuff is strong, and i mean blow your bloody mouth off with a hydrant type of strong. And them being Columbians, the friendliest people on earth, they saw it as their honour, no duty, to bestwo and maintain a steady flow of rocket fuel upon me. I was holding my own watching the bottle slowly empty, thinking to myself just a couple more and that will be that. Hopw wrong i was. The buggers went and bought another bottle!! Needless to say i was utterly pished. Apparently, so says maya although i´m sceptical, it came to leaving time and my new best friends were going to sit on a bench with yet another bottle of the devils mouthwash and wile away the night and into sunset with drinks and banter and the likes. They invited me and thought this was the best idea i have ever heard. Maya did not. In her state of rational thought she asked me a tricky question, how and why was i going to get home? In my drunken wisdom i promptly replied, ´i might just not come home!´ Maya was not amused and her face said all the words she needed to say. Needless to say i quickly pulled myslef together. So much so that i did my best to ingratiate myself back into maya´s good books by letting her carry me home. Aren´t i just the best boyfriend?!
The next day wasn´t so pretty, but in our stubborn determination to make every day count we managed to scale the nearest big hill in order to see yet another waterfall and an overview over the town. It was nice, no more tho.
Time was ticking fast and the days were wizzing by leaving our departure flight looming ever closer. In total we only managed to have two days in Bogota, which is a shame because it looksas though its a really really cool city. It has the most amazing array of bars and cafes that are packed full of columbian character and intrigue. We did our best to see as many as possible but unfortunately there just wasn´t time for them all. And so it was that on wednesday morning we left Columbia to head back down south, hence how i am writing to you now from Santiago in Chile. It was a truly memorable experience in Columbia and i´m so glad we´ve seen the country now before it gets too touristy and all the friendly people get fed up of the gringo´s trampling all over the goodwill. The ountry itself it just a beautiful, diverse landscape, while the cities all have a unique intrigue to their history and an appeal that is so addictive. I realise that i´ve pretty much always declared the last country we´ve been to as my favourite, but i honestly think Columbia will remain longer in my memory than anywhere else. If anybody told me that they had the time and money tovisit only one country in south america and would immediately encourage them to forget the hysteria and hype and visit Columbia. Yes there are problems still. There are areas that gringos and locals must stay well clear of, but the areas that are accesible more than make up for the forbidden zones. I loved it there and would happily spent much longer exploring its mystery if it wasn´t for the deadline of a flight cutting our trip short.
As i said we are now in Chile heading towards Patagonia, something i´m very much looking forward to. It will be a very different climate as we trek through glaciers and thermal springs but one that promises to be nothing but spectacular.
Hope all is well back there for you all. We too will be in freezing cold conditions from now on!
I will write again soon
Rob
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
an alternative christmas and new year
Ay up,
I trust everybody is full of new year optimism and determination after excessively gorging yourselves over the festive period.
We have finally left the coast and arrived this morning at a laid back wee town in the mountains called San Gil. The town itself is ok but the main attraction to come here are the range of activities available. Over the next few days we shall hopefully experience some more paragliding, rafting, trekking and maybe rapelling down a 180m waterfall. That is the plan anyhoo.
Columbia is pretty chaotic just now as the locals here make the most of the festive period and use it as their main vacation time of the year. It seems they make the celebrations a month long and everything will be pretty much packed with Colombian tourists until roughly the middle of January. Christmas seemed to follow much the same path as back home. New Year was slightly twisted in that most people seemed to remain fairly sober new years eve and then drink themsleves into a wobbly stupor on new years day. A novel and perfectly reasonable way of bringing in a new year i suppose. For us, new year was pretty cool. We just got drunk with some pals at our hostel early doors, then headed down to the beach for the bells, where we sang [old langsyne (sp)] much to the puzzled amusment of the locals. After the beach we headed back to the hostel for a few more cheap and cheerful rum and cokes before hitting the towns' one and only late night drinking den, El Garaje. A name which seems to be quite popular here. I think we lasted until day break before stumbling home and nervously awaiting the hangover to welcome us into 2008. Which by the way is a bloody scary thought. Its 2008!! I'm going to have to start believing these old people when they tell me how much time flies. Its incredible. My decade of carefree debauchery is nearly at an end.
New Years day was spent in the usual fashion of lightly mumbling forced conversation but it was decided the second day of 2008 was to be productive. So in our aforementioned new year optimism and determination to make every day count we headed off to the nearby national park, Tayrona. This place is incredible and is exactly what i expected of the carribean coast. It reminded me of seeing old pirate films with whoever was the fancy don of the day washing up on some deserted island of paradise complete with hula girls and fresh rum. This was where they must have landed. The park is basically a stretch of light jungle hiding the most picturesque beaches i have ever seen. Skegness has its nice spots i know, but this place was fresh from disneys imagination. We spent two nights there, the first was spent with maya and myself in rather cramped fashion as we had to share a one man tent. The second however was much more exotic as we were rocked to sleep by the wind safely tucked inside our stripey hammocks. There wasnt a great deal to do there other than admire the scenery and play in some of the most enormous and powerful waves imaginable. Some said it was a bit dangerous but i looked on the ocean as a challenge and duly conquered it. Well that maybe something of a lie as the sea totally flattened me in humerous ways on several occasions but it was quite a hoot and finally washed away any remaining rustiness from the new year celebrations.
Two nights was enough there so we headed back to our old haunt of Taganga for one more night before braving another night bus to wind up here in San Gil. Hopefully our time here will be pretty action packed. Spending Christmas and New Year up on the coast was a really good idea, we both really enjoyed ourselves up there. But i'm not much of a sunbather and it soon seemed as though we were wasting money and days needlessly. Consequently the next ten days in Columbia should be pretty busy as we've got a lot to see and not a great deal of time, but thats cool with me. After here we are heading to a wee town called Villa de Leyva for a couple of nights then onto to Bogota to see what this amazing countires capital has to offer. After that its off to Patagonia and i can't wait.
Hope all is well and the January blues don't hit anyone too hard.
Rob
I trust everybody is full of new year optimism and determination after excessively gorging yourselves over the festive period.
We have finally left the coast and arrived this morning at a laid back wee town in the mountains called San Gil. The town itself is ok but the main attraction to come here are the range of activities available. Over the next few days we shall hopefully experience some more paragliding, rafting, trekking and maybe rapelling down a 180m waterfall. That is the plan anyhoo.
Columbia is pretty chaotic just now as the locals here make the most of the festive period and use it as their main vacation time of the year. It seems they make the celebrations a month long and everything will be pretty much packed with Colombian tourists until roughly the middle of January. Christmas seemed to follow much the same path as back home. New Year was slightly twisted in that most people seemed to remain fairly sober new years eve and then drink themsleves into a wobbly stupor on new years day. A novel and perfectly reasonable way of bringing in a new year i suppose. For us, new year was pretty cool. We just got drunk with some pals at our hostel early doors, then headed down to the beach for the bells, where we sang [old langsyne (sp)] much to the puzzled amusment of the locals. After the beach we headed back to the hostel for a few more cheap and cheerful rum and cokes before hitting the towns' one and only late night drinking den, El Garaje. A name which seems to be quite popular here. I think we lasted until day break before stumbling home and nervously awaiting the hangover to welcome us into 2008. Which by the way is a bloody scary thought. Its 2008!! I'm going to have to start believing these old people when they tell me how much time flies. Its incredible. My decade of carefree debauchery is nearly at an end.
New Years day was spent in the usual fashion of lightly mumbling forced conversation but it was decided the second day of 2008 was to be productive. So in our aforementioned new year optimism and determination to make every day count we headed off to the nearby national park, Tayrona. This place is incredible and is exactly what i expected of the carribean coast. It reminded me of seeing old pirate films with whoever was the fancy don of the day washing up on some deserted island of paradise complete with hula girls and fresh rum. This was where they must have landed. The park is basically a stretch of light jungle hiding the most picturesque beaches i have ever seen. Skegness has its nice spots i know, but this place was fresh from disneys imagination. We spent two nights there, the first was spent with maya and myself in rather cramped fashion as we had to share a one man tent. The second however was much more exotic as we were rocked to sleep by the wind safely tucked inside our stripey hammocks. There wasnt a great deal to do there other than admire the scenery and play in some of the most enormous and powerful waves imaginable. Some said it was a bit dangerous but i looked on the ocean as a challenge and duly conquered it. Well that maybe something of a lie as the sea totally flattened me in humerous ways on several occasions but it was quite a hoot and finally washed away any remaining rustiness from the new year celebrations.
Two nights was enough there so we headed back to our old haunt of Taganga for one more night before braving another night bus to wind up here in San Gil. Hopefully our time here will be pretty action packed. Spending Christmas and New Year up on the coast was a really good idea, we both really enjoyed ourselves up there. But i'm not much of a sunbather and it soon seemed as though we were wasting money and days needlessly. Consequently the next ten days in Columbia should be pretty busy as we've got a lot to see and not a great deal of time, but thats cool with me. After here we are heading to a wee town called Villa de Leyva for a couple of nights then onto to Bogota to see what this amazing countires capital has to offer. After that its off to Patagonia and i can't wait.
Hope all is well and the January blues don't hit anyone too hard.
Rob
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Ecuador to Columbia
p.s apologies for the lack of puntuation and spelling atrocities. The keyboard is abit lacking in fundamental letters and symobols.
Ay up,
Well peeps it seems as though its been something of a while since my last update. This weekly task has become monthly, but i guess it takes a while to read my ramblings and ive not exactly had anybody banging down the doors begging for more, so i´m not too concerned.
As you are probably all aware we are currently on the north coast of Columbia in a wee party town called Taganga. It is actually the Carribean coast, although it doesn´t like any place i have seen Carol Smiley or Gloria Hunniford in the past. The beaches are pebly and full of stray dogs pissing on peoples bags but apart from that its all good. Theres a fair few gringos here, most of whom only intended to be here for two or three days but got a bit stuck, hence while they´re still here three or four weeks later.
Partly the reason for my lack of correspondence (hark at me, i sound like bloody Graham Greene or somebody (iwish!) is that ther isn´t really alot to tell and hence tonights rambling wil be kept fairly short. Also it is nearly 10pm here and i have a cubre libra in my hand and theres more waiting outside so i dare say there call will be stronger than this. Basically since the last post we studied more spanish in Quito and did very little else. We were on a mission to spend as few pennies as possible so found a supermarket, which was more like a marks and spencers rather than the local asdas, stocked up on food and didnt really leave our hostel for a week other than to spar in espanol with our enthusiatic lingo tutor. The lessons certainly helpèd although i have to guiltily confess i haven´t looked at the books since, although the other night after several of the aforementioned cubre libras i was speaking fluently spanish, the stiff of enrique´s dreams i dare say. Its just a shame that i´m a bit cinderella ish and as soon as morning breaks i´m back to the stumbling tourist of the past five months.
Anyhow i digress, after Quito we had some luxury in a flight to Bogota although the plane was delayed for five hours and throughout the airport all that was audible was the angry cries of protesting locals doing what the locals do best here and venting their anger in a organised fashion against no person in particular. In fact the protests this time rounmd were aimed at the weather as the sudden mist caused the closure of Quito airport (as often happens due t the cities altitude).
I just want to use this point to reassure everyone that Columbia is pretty safe. Yes theres areas you cant go, but where we´re heading is as safe as any other country in south america. We have to be careful clearly, and touch wood we´lñl be fine, but theres no reason why more harm will come to us here than anywhere else. The places we´ve been are packed´with the friendliest people we´ve experienced so far on our travels. I think they are just so happy to have tourists and desperate to prove that columbia is a safe and beautiful country that they take it on themselves to be ultra friendly and nice. The country itself is possibly the most developed we´ve seen and is incredibly beautiful to match. All in all, all is well. Yes we´re going to be on our guard but i´m confident all will be fine.
This time around we only had the pleasure of one night in Bogota but we will be returning as we have a couple of friends there that we want to catch up with, one columbian and one australian. After Bogota we had the pleasure of a nine hour bus ride to Pablo Escobars old city Medellin, where i got to watch some more football, in which only one spectator died which is something of a good result. The atmosphere was just what you´d hope for, flares, bangers, riot police etc. Quite a hoot. The funniest thing was probaly how the riot police had to hold the sahields over opposition players taking throw ins or corners. Also everyone who stands around the touchline, photographers,. police, medical people etc all wore hard hats. The only people that werén´t provded protection were the poor ball boys who were subjected to torrents of missiles. I´m abit pissed off also, (just a wee rant i promise) in that ive come to south america the home of attacking football and sen only one goal in three games. Whats that about. I dont understand.
After Medillin, which not only is the former home of the most famopus drug barron, is also the worlds capital for plastic surgery. Just a wee fact for you. I didnt really see too much evidence what with being at the football and all, but Maya siad that at thge bars most of the girls were somewhat less than 100% natural. Anyhow, after Medillen we headed on a 13 hour bus ride for Cartegena which is renowned for its beauty and is kind of like the paris of south america in its reputation for romance. It is indeed pretty stunning, lots of old buildings and what have you. Was cool, but we could only afford to use it as a quick stop off point as we needed to get to where we are now as accommodation is scarce and books up fast. We will probably head back for another look after new year.
We have a flight back to quito from Bogota on the 16th Januray, and the a flight the following day to Santiago in Chile in order for us to head down to Patagonia before our money runs out. Aftyer that, which will probably be just the beginning of Feb, we will be heading to Buenos Aires to try and find work. From what peo`ple have said it shoulñdn´t be too difficult to find teaching work, so i guess ill have to don my best cardigan and begin to educate the world. The prospect doesn´t scare me, but it by no means thrills me, but its all about breaking out of the comfort zone i think.
Anyhow, i hope thats something of an update. Hopefully now ive done some catching up ill be inclined to keep updodate more in the near future. I sincerely hope everybody had a lovely christmas and wish you all the best for the new year. It was a bit bizarre being away from everyone, especially being on a beach in mid 30 degrees of heat. But it was a new experience and thats why we came here after all.
Hope all is well
Rob
Ay up,
Well peeps it seems as though its been something of a while since my last update. This weekly task has become monthly, but i guess it takes a while to read my ramblings and ive not exactly had anybody banging down the doors begging for more, so i´m not too concerned.
As you are probably all aware we are currently on the north coast of Columbia in a wee party town called Taganga. It is actually the Carribean coast, although it doesn´t like any place i have seen Carol Smiley or Gloria Hunniford in the past. The beaches are pebly and full of stray dogs pissing on peoples bags but apart from that its all good. Theres a fair few gringos here, most of whom only intended to be here for two or three days but got a bit stuck, hence while they´re still here three or four weeks later.
Partly the reason for my lack of correspondence (hark at me, i sound like bloody Graham Greene or somebody (iwish!) is that ther isn´t really alot to tell and hence tonights rambling wil be kept fairly short. Also it is nearly 10pm here and i have a cubre libra in my hand and theres more waiting outside so i dare say there call will be stronger than this. Basically since the last post we studied more spanish in Quito and did very little else. We were on a mission to spend as few pennies as possible so found a supermarket, which was more like a marks and spencers rather than the local asdas, stocked up on food and didnt really leave our hostel for a week other than to spar in espanol with our enthusiatic lingo tutor. The lessons certainly helpèd although i have to guiltily confess i haven´t looked at the books since, although the other night after several of the aforementioned cubre libras i was speaking fluently spanish, the stiff of enrique´s dreams i dare say. Its just a shame that i´m a bit cinderella ish and as soon as morning breaks i´m back to the stumbling tourist of the past five months.
Anyhow i digress, after Quito we had some luxury in a flight to Bogota although the plane was delayed for five hours and throughout the airport all that was audible was the angry cries of protesting locals doing what the locals do best here and venting their anger in a organised fashion against no person in particular. In fact the protests this time rounmd were aimed at the weather as the sudden mist caused the closure of Quito airport (as often happens due t the cities altitude).
I just want to use this point to reassure everyone that Columbia is pretty safe. Yes theres areas you cant go, but where we´re heading is as safe as any other country in south america. We have to be careful clearly, and touch wood we´lñl be fine, but theres no reason why more harm will come to us here than anywhere else. The places we´ve been are packed´with the friendliest people we´ve experienced so far on our travels. I think they are just so happy to have tourists and desperate to prove that columbia is a safe and beautiful country that they take it on themselves to be ultra friendly and nice. The country itself is possibly the most developed we´ve seen and is incredibly beautiful to match. All in all, all is well. Yes we´re going to be on our guard but i´m confident all will be fine.
This time around we only had the pleasure of one night in Bogota but we will be returning as we have a couple of friends there that we want to catch up with, one columbian and one australian. After Bogota we had the pleasure of a nine hour bus ride to Pablo Escobars old city Medellin, where i got to watch some more football, in which only one spectator died which is something of a good result. The atmosphere was just what you´d hope for, flares, bangers, riot police etc. Quite a hoot. The funniest thing was probaly how the riot police had to hold the sahields over opposition players taking throw ins or corners. Also everyone who stands around the touchline, photographers,. police, medical people etc all wore hard hats. The only people that werén´t provded protection were the poor ball boys who were subjected to torrents of missiles. I´m abit pissed off also, (just a wee rant i promise) in that ive come to south america the home of attacking football and sen only one goal in three games. Whats that about. I dont understand.
After Medillin, which not only is the former home of the most famopus drug barron, is also the worlds capital for plastic surgery. Just a wee fact for you. I didnt really see too much evidence what with being at the football and all, but Maya siad that at thge bars most of the girls were somewhat less than 100% natural. Anyhow, after Medillen we headed on a 13 hour bus ride for Cartegena which is renowned for its beauty and is kind of like the paris of south america in its reputation for romance. It is indeed pretty stunning, lots of old buildings and what have you. Was cool, but we could only afford to use it as a quick stop off point as we needed to get to where we are now as accommodation is scarce and books up fast. We will probably head back for another look after new year.
We have a flight back to quito from Bogota on the 16th Januray, and the a flight the following day to Santiago in Chile in order for us to head down to Patagonia before our money runs out. Aftyer that, which will probably be just the beginning of Feb, we will be heading to Buenos Aires to try and find work. From what peo`ple have said it shoulñdn´t be too difficult to find teaching work, so i guess ill have to don my best cardigan and begin to educate the world. The prospect doesn´t scare me, but it by no means thrills me, but its all about breaking out of the comfort zone i think.
Anyhow, i hope thats something of an update. Hopefully now ive done some catching up ill be inclined to keep updodate more in the near future. I sincerely hope everybody had a lovely christmas and wish you all the best for the new year. It was a bit bizarre being away from everyone, especially being on a beach in mid 30 degrees of heat. But it was a new experience and thats why we came here after all.
Hope all is well
Rob
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Erupting volcanoes, cyrstal clear lagunas and a peeing mud man.
A wee lady to start todays rambling.
Hola, Que tal?? (See ive got this lingo sussed, so long as no-one replies anyhow)
So how are we all today? I don´t know about where you are, but here the weather is a little bizarre. There seems to be frequent gusts of incredibly strong winds, which are causing small amounts of chaos, bins all over the place, young children falling to the ground, that sort of a nuisance. A phenomenon that wouldn´t normally be of much concer, however just now we are in a small town called Banos, which is situated in a small crater surrounded by a huge active volcano. When i say active, i mean actually physically erupting. Its the first time in roughly six years, (i think) and the locals assure me it isn´t dangerous just now, although they are on permanent red alert and always have a ready suitcase prepared for the moment when the spillage gets a little too close. We went to a nearby viewpoint and managed to see it spilling lava last night. A truly remarkable sight to witness first hand. It sounds cheesy to say, but was incredible to see the power of nature at work. It was an unexpected experience, and one that will definitely remain one of my highlights long after the trip is nothing but memories.
In reality the most dangerous part of viewing the volcano was actually the journey up to the viewpoint. Our vehicle was a converted truck which basically had a roof and a wooden bench nailed to it. The locals told us o get up top for the best view, we duly obliged and headed on our way. Everything was fine until we realised that power cables were sufficiently low to behead us if we didn´t react quicken enough and hit the deck and the right times. I`m not exaggertating in any way when i say some of those cables were merely inches from my crouching torso. And the stupidest thing about it all? After we made to the top alive and had spent some time viewing Tungahua in action, we all headed back up on top for a second ride. Just crazy!
I´m gonna backtrack a few days just now and tell you about our wee adventure to the Quilotoa Loop. As mentioned in the previous post, we set off from Latacunga headed towards the small town of Quilotoa, which is situated on the banks of an amazing volcanic crater, known as Laguna Quilatoa. It was a spectacular sight, it really was. We arrived and at about 3pm to the pishing rain and quickly headed to the nearest accommodation which was a wee hut which charged ten dollars for the night, complete with a free evening meal (advertised as guinea pig, or chicken although they only offered chicken. We were relieved) and breakfast. It was here that we met our new travelling companions, Aaron and Liz, the most un-american americans i have ever met, Which is funny becuase in the past couple of days we also met The most american americans, a couple of rednecks from Tennessee (sp), complete with southern drawl. A unique accent that was pretty damn bizarre to hear first hand.
Maya crouching for some unknown reason by the laguna.
Anyhow, after our first night we headed off on the second day with a new friends for 13km walk, starting around the laguna, then heading down into a canyon, and back up the other side to arrive at a wee town called Chugchillan. The walk was pleasant, made difficult by the terrain, all in all we started at 4200m, dropped down to a low of 28oom then headed back up to roughly 3800m. The altitude played its usual draining part, but all in all in was very spectacular with yet more inspiring scenery to help us on our way. We weren´t helped either by the fact that all the markers that were supposed to direct us had been removed by local guides who would prefer you to get lost so that you have to pay them to find your way back again. Bloody nuisance.
We went for a second walk the following day, with the intention of heading to a cloud forest. I think we found it, we certainly found clouds, but it was difficult to make out eactly what we were supposed to be looking at when you can only see 5metres in front of you. Still it was nice to be out the house and walking about.
To get away from Chugchillan was always going to be the most awakward part of the journey. There are only buses running on certain days of the week at strange times of the night. There was also the option of flagging down the local milk cart, which will apparently take you to the next biggest town, where there are more buses for a dollar. We were waying up our options when a kind german offered a lift with his tour group, so ultimately we made it back to Latacunga (or near enough), with a bus load of inquisitive Germans, all being very nice and offering us food and drink all the way. The eveidently though of us as impoverished travellers and were determined to fatten us up, which was a nic ething for them to do.
Once we arrived back at Latacunga we hopped straight on a bus to Ecuadors capital, Quito, although only spent one night there as the sole purpose of the unplanned detour was to buy a new camera as our one got busted with sand and the likes. Quito seemed ok, but we will get a better look when we return after our jungle tour, which we begin tonight. In total we will have five days in the jungle, staying with a wee group of indiginous folk and venturing out on walks in the day and night to see the wildlife. Should be good fun.
Just to fill in the blanks, we left Quito on Monday to arrive here in Banos. While here we passed the days with our american chums seeing the volcano, going on yet another walk to a high point, and yesterday was passed with mountain bikes and a huge waterfall, 30km away. All the exercise is really satisfying me just now. I haven´t been so keen to walk, and run and bike since i was about twelve. Which by coincidence was about the first time i got drunk (sorry Mum), bit of a coincidence don´t you think.
The view from the viewpoint over Banos. Check out the mud man peeing in the background.
Maya looking super sexy in her special helmet for the bike ride.
So thats about everything to say just now. Tonight we have a 11 hour bus journey, followed by a jeep ride and then a canoe to get to our jungle home for the next four nights. Should be good fun, i´m sure.
This is a lovely and im sure perfectly safe bridge we had to cross to see the waterfall on our bike ride. No more than five people are allowed at once. As if that makes a difference.
These are our new companions. Liz is sat with Maya on our transport back to Banos, which was a lovely open top type pick up truck. Nothing like the VIP treatment. And at the bottom is a lovely action shot of myself and Aaron trying to fix the 1960´s bike pump that was provided for us on our journey. It was a catostrophic piece of equipment which was unfrtunate as Aaron picked up a puncture. Ultimately through frustration at the piece of junk, we headed to a nearby house to ask if they had a bike pump we could borrow only for them to produce a defunct tubu with a spindle rattling inside that was surely a throughback, from Victoria`s reign. It was hilarious, but very kind of them to try and help. Its just a shame they offered us something akin to a straw.Thats all for now.
Hope all is well
Rob
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Discovering what lurks beneath
Hola Amigos,
Being over a week since my last update, i guess it is long overdue for the latest installment what with this supposedly being a weekly blog and all.
Today we are tired, (altogether now, ahhhhh) its a shame for us, i know. The reason for our flagging bodies is that yesterday we spent from 8am until 11.30pm on three different buses, as we weaved, or more precisely zig zagged our way, from the coastal haven of Puerto Lopez, back centrally into the mountains to our current destination, Latacunga. We expected the journey to be a little awkward as its not really a common route, but i´m not sure i was expecting quite such a long time staring at the back of somebodies head. Thankfully all the buses were reliable and motored along without problem, the only annoyance for us was the young girl in the seat behind, who couldn´t keep her hands off our hair, for roughly 6hours. At first you smile and giggle, then you try to ignore, then you plead with the mother, and finally you just block out all existence or sense of being on a bus at that particular point. Personally i chose to fully immerse mind and body in the calming waters of Carribean waters, with a cool beer in my hand and only the worries of Derby County and Steve McLaren to occupy my mind. It was bliss. I imagine Maya picked a similar spot, although maybe without the tactical conundrums.
Anyhow, moving on, our time on the coast was incredible. All in all i managed to fit in three or four days surfing, which is like a totally far out scene man. Its such an addictive sport, similar i suppose in satisfaction to ski ing or more directly snowboarding. Its sufficiently hard to be challenging, but still achievable. I could quite easily have spent a few weeks, with the days consisting of a relaxing morning, surfing in the evening, then a few socialable drinks to while away the evening. Quite pleasant i can assure you. And in a seemless link, that was exactly how my birthday was spent. Tackled the surf and then got drunk with a group of Irish. Was a good giggle.
The next day wasn´t too bad considering. Which was a good job really as firstly i had to endure the bumpiest bus journey imaginable. It was similar to spending an hour and a half on a bouncy castle with Andy Fordham and Jo Brand for company. Holy moly. But the reward for making it to Pueto Lopez with last nights frivolities still firmly rooted in my stomach was the first day of our scuba diving course. I´m not sure if i´ve explained this fully, but basically myself and Maya decided to tackle a diving course as a wee treat for my birthday and with Ecuador being a known hot spot for the activity, it seemed like a good time to see what lurks beneath. It was a three day intensive PADI course (normally it is usually spread into at least 6 or 7 days), and ultimately it was pretty knackering. On completion you become a fully qualified scuba diver, which in practice simply means that we are now able to arrive anywhere in the world, hire some equipment and toddle off on our tod in the great unknown. In reality i think both myself and the Maz would like to have at least a couple more supervised dives before we venture off on our own.
Over the three days, we completed a practice session in a hotel swimming pool and four dives of between 30 and 40 mins at roughly 10-15 metres in the Pacific Ocean. The dives were so amazing, you left the water feeling so privilidged as well as with bundles of excitement and exuberance. The tiring part of the course was just trying to learn all the theory, as we had daily tests and a final exam to pass on the sunday night. The final days dives were spent at the island de la plata, which is known as the ´poor man´s galapagos´. It was absolutely incredible. I think the highlight for both of us was diving with a group of turtles. The were quite inquisitive and not in the least bit afraid of us, meaning we could get a great view of these perculiar creatures in their natural habitat. We were diving around coral which was just packed full of life. There were moray eels hiding in the rocks, sea snakes and stingrays on the sea bed, and countless different types of fish, in all shapes and sizes and packed with all the colours of the rainbow. Puffer fish were fantastic to see, as the inflated and just floated about. Shoals (sp?) of fish would come wizzing by as your just floating about trying to take it all in. It was just a fantastic experience, and since we both passed with flying colours, its something we would both love to tackle again sometime, with Columbia being our next posible dive site. I can´t wait.
That was passed on the sunday, and we basically spent monday just chilling and catching our breath back before we headed on. From here in Latacunga, tomorrow we are going to head to the Quilatoa Loop, which is basically a scenic road that circles around some supposedly beautiful lagunas and volcanoes. We are probably going to try and stop off at a wee town along the way somewhere and spend a couple of days doing some walking to see if it lives up to its reputation. That should take us to the weekend when we are going to head back south a short way to explore more volcanoes and slowly work our way east to wards the jungle. I´m really excited about that actually. Also pretty soon we will be in Quito, hopefully at a time when it is the cities annual festival, much like the one in Cuenca only on a much bigger scale. It would be nice if we can be there for that to see some more crazy antics, there also a big bullfighting festival apparently, so there might be a chance for me to satisfy my curiosity.
All in all, we should probably have another two or three weeks in Ecuador, especially if we take another spanish course in Quito, which i would like to do. Another three weeks in this particular country suits me just fine. In the words of Ronald McDonald, `im loving it!`
Hope all is well back home. I´m off now, hopefully to watch the England game so long as ESPN stick with their planned schdule and don´t just decide to throw out whatever they fancy as they have done before.
All the best
Rob
Being over a week since my last update, i guess it is long overdue for the latest installment what with this supposedly being a weekly blog and all.
Today we are tired, (altogether now, ahhhhh) its a shame for us, i know. The reason for our flagging bodies is that yesterday we spent from 8am until 11.30pm on three different buses, as we weaved, or more precisely zig zagged our way, from the coastal haven of Puerto Lopez, back centrally into the mountains to our current destination, Latacunga. We expected the journey to be a little awkward as its not really a common route, but i´m not sure i was expecting quite such a long time staring at the back of somebodies head. Thankfully all the buses were reliable and motored along without problem, the only annoyance for us was the young girl in the seat behind, who couldn´t keep her hands off our hair, for roughly 6hours. At first you smile and giggle, then you try to ignore, then you plead with the mother, and finally you just block out all existence or sense of being on a bus at that particular point. Personally i chose to fully immerse mind and body in the calming waters of Carribean waters, with a cool beer in my hand and only the worries of Derby County and Steve McLaren to occupy my mind. It was bliss. I imagine Maya picked a similar spot, although maybe without the tactical conundrums.
Anyhow, moving on, our time on the coast was incredible. All in all i managed to fit in three or four days surfing, which is like a totally far out scene man. Its such an addictive sport, similar i suppose in satisfaction to ski ing or more directly snowboarding. Its sufficiently hard to be challenging, but still achievable. I could quite easily have spent a few weeks, with the days consisting of a relaxing morning, surfing in the evening, then a few socialable drinks to while away the evening. Quite pleasant i can assure you. And in a seemless link, that was exactly how my birthday was spent. Tackled the surf and then got drunk with a group of Irish. Was a good giggle.
The next day wasn´t too bad considering. Which was a good job really as firstly i had to endure the bumpiest bus journey imaginable. It was similar to spending an hour and a half on a bouncy castle with Andy Fordham and Jo Brand for company. Holy moly. But the reward for making it to Pueto Lopez with last nights frivolities still firmly rooted in my stomach was the first day of our scuba diving course. I´m not sure if i´ve explained this fully, but basically myself and Maya decided to tackle a diving course as a wee treat for my birthday and with Ecuador being a known hot spot for the activity, it seemed like a good time to see what lurks beneath. It was a three day intensive PADI course (normally it is usually spread into at least 6 or 7 days), and ultimately it was pretty knackering. On completion you become a fully qualified scuba diver, which in practice simply means that we are now able to arrive anywhere in the world, hire some equipment and toddle off on our tod in the great unknown. In reality i think both myself and the Maz would like to have at least a couple more supervised dives before we venture off on our own.
Over the three days, we completed a practice session in a hotel swimming pool and four dives of between 30 and 40 mins at roughly 10-15 metres in the Pacific Ocean. The dives were so amazing, you left the water feeling so privilidged as well as with bundles of excitement and exuberance. The tiring part of the course was just trying to learn all the theory, as we had daily tests and a final exam to pass on the sunday night. The final days dives were spent at the island de la plata, which is known as the ´poor man´s galapagos´. It was absolutely incredible. I think the highlight for both of us was diving with a group of turtles. The were quite inquisitive and not in the least bit afraid of us, meaning we could get a great view of these perculiar creatures in their natural habitat. We were diving around coral which was just packed full of life. There were moray eels hiding in the rocks, sea snakes and stingrays on the sea bed, and countless different types of fish, in all shapes and sizes and packed with all the colours of the rainbow. Puffer fish were fantastic to see, as the inflated and just floated about. Shoals (sp?) of fish would come wizzing by as your just floating about trying to take it all in. It was just a fantastic experience, and since we both passed with flying colours, its something we would both love to tackle again sometime, with Columbia being our next posible dive site. I can´t wait.
That was passed on the sunday, and we basically spent monday just chilling and catching our breath back before we headed on. From here in Latacunga, tomorrow we are going to head to the Quilatoa Loop, which is basically a scenic road that circles around some supposedly beautiful lagunas and volcanoes. We are probably going to try and stop off at a wee town along the way somewhere and spend a couple of days doing some walking to see if it lives up to its reputation. That should take us to the weekend when we are going to head back south a short way to explore more volcanoes and slowly work our way east to wards the jungle. I´m really excited about that actually. Also pretty soon we will be in Quito, hopefully at a time when it is the cities annual festival, much like the one in Cuenca only on a much bigger scale. It would be nice if we can be there for that to see some more crazy antics, there also a big bullfighting festival apparently, so there might be a chance for me to satisfy my curiosity.
All in all, we should probably have another two or three weeks in Ecuador, especially if we take another spanish course in Quito, which i would like to do. Another three weeks in this particular country suits me just fine. In the words of Ronald McDonald, `im loving it!`
Hope all is well back home. I´m off now, hopefully to watch the England game so long as ESPN stick with their planned schdule and don´t just decide to throw out whatever they fancy as they have done before.
All the best
Rob
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Time to tackle the Pacific Ocean
HI HOOOOOOOO!!
Hello all, i hope all is well. Clearly this is a difficult time for the Derby County readers out there. I share your pain. Thankfully, there aren´t many forest/ leicester or leeds fans out here, so if you need a break from the inevitable taunting then Ecuador is a good hideout. Just a wee hint for you there.
We are currently inspecting the surfers retreat of Montanita, which so far seems pretty damn cool. This afternoon we are set to join the long haired, chilled out dudes that reside here and become surfers ourselves with our first lesson planned, and the Pacific ocean readying itself to be our classroom.
We arrived yesterday from a coastal city of Salinas. The bus journey from there to here should only have been an hour or so, it is only 50km after all, but once again we found ourselves aboard a perpetually collapsing bus and despite the frantic efforts of the driver and passengers alike, no amount of tenderloving care was able to return the old work horse to life. So for us, it was a matter of flagging down the next bus to come along and continue our journey without further hitch.
On arrival we did what we usually do and will continue to do as it is a good idea; find accommodation. Our home for this particular weekend is a lovely beach side hostal called Las Palmeras. The only issue is that it hasn´t actually been fully built yet. When we arrived to have a look at the rooms, two guys were putting the final touches to our window and bathroom. But as it is still a work in progress, the benefit for us is that its nice, new and cheap. And it seems they are in the final stages so it isn´t as though there´s too much noise from the guys painting the walls and finishing off the finer points to what will be a lovely place to stay.
I think i last left you a message from the party town of Cuenca, where the people love nothing more than a good old game of ¨dodge the Kathryn Wheel¨. The festivities continued throughout the weekend with the highlight, from a spectators view, possible being the soapbox derby, which was utterly hilarious solely due to the complete calamity of it all, from organisation to the carts themselves. Great fun to watch but íll be damned if you ever got me in one of those races without a suit of armour and Richard and Hyascinth Bouquet as my co drivers.
After the weekend we headed to the nearby national park ´Cajas´, pronouned CA-ghhhghghgjjgg-AS, which was just Scotlands long lost twin brother and should have been called Mackay & Macdonald´s Highland Park, complete with ginger bushes and marroading haggis. It was identical, complete with heather and pishing rain. Was nice, but nobody wants to travel thousands of miles for a different view of what feels like their own back garden.
We left Cuenca on the Tuesday as we decided to delay more spanish classes until we reach Quito in a couple of weeks, with the intention of using the time to really brush up on some vocab and the basics that we learnt three months ago. We originally planned to stop in Ecuador´s biggest city, Guayaquil, but it was manky and had a comedy bus station, (You arrive to a strip of tarmac akin to a runway, then have to walk for 5 minutes to a metro bus, which takes you from one side of the road to the other, i kid you not. As the crow flies, the bus probably moved us 10 meters closer to the where we wanted to be) so we headed on to the coastal city of Salinas, which was ok, but we wanted to head north after a couple of nights to here where its is much cooler and we can transform ourselves into ´surfers dudes´. Maya has even treated herself to some baggy shorts to aid the morphing process.
That is about all there is to tell you just now. We will be here for the weekend and then will maybe head north or south, we´re not sure where yet as we want to take a scuba diving course somewhere around here and we´re not sure if we´re best headed 3km south to Manglaralto or about 40km north to Puerto Lopez. Its not a bad choice to have either way.
Anyhow, i hope all is well. For those of you who are unaware that there is an important date approaching in your calender, ´shame on you´, as wednesday 14th Nov is to be my 24th birthday and i expect love and goodwishes from all.
Bye bye for now.
Rob
Hello all, i hope all is well. Clearly this is a difficult time for the Derby County readers out there. I share your pain. Thankfully, there aren´t many forest/ leicester or leeds fans out here, so if you need a break from the inevitable taunting then Ecuador is a good hideout. Just a wee hint for you there.
We are currently inspecting the surfers retreat of Montanita, which so far seems pretty damn cool. This afternoon we are set to join the long haired, chilled out dudes that reside here and become surfers ourselves with our first lesson planned, and the Pacific ocean readying itself to be our classroom.
We arrived yesterday from a coastal city of Salinas. The bus journey from there to here should only have been an hour or so, it is only 50km after all, but once again we found ourselves aboard a perpetually collapsing bus and despite the frantic efforts of the driver and passengers alike, no amount of tenderloving care was able to return the old work horse to life. So for us, it was a matter of flagging down the next bus to come along and continue our journey without further hitch.
On arrival we did what we usually do and will continue to do as it is a good idea; find accommodation. Our home for this particular weekend is a lovely beach side hostal called Las Palmeras. The only issue is that it hasn´t actually been fully built yet. When we arrived to have a look at the rooms, two guys were putting the final touches to our window and bathroom. But as it is still a work in progress, the benefit for us is that its nice, new and cheap. And it seems they are in the final stages so it isn´t as though there´s too much noise from the guys painting the walls and finishing off the finer points to what will be a lovely place to stay.
I think i last left you a message from the party town of Cuenca, where the people love nothing more than a good old game of ¨dodge the Kathryn Wheel¨. The festivities continued throughout the weekend with the highlight, from a spectators view, possible being the soapbox derby, which was utterly hilarious solely due to the complete calamity of it all, from organisation to the carts themselves. Great fun to watch but íll be damned if you ever got me in one of those races without a suit of armour and Richard and Hyascinth Bouquet as my co drivers.
After the weekend we headed to the nearby national park ´Cajas´, pronouned CA-ghhhghghgjjgg-AS, which was just Scotlands long lost twin brother and should have been called Mackay & Macdonald´s Highland Park, complete with ginger bushes and marroading haggis. It was identical, complete with heather and pishing rain. Was nice, but nobody wants to travel thousands of miles for a different view of what feels like their own back garden.
We left Cuenca on the Tuesday as we decided to delay more spanish classes until we reach Quito in a couple of weeks, with the intention of using the time to really brush up on some vocab and the basics that we learnt three months ago. We originally planned to stop in Ecuador´s biggest city, Guayaquil, but it was manky and had a comedy bus station, (You arrive to a strip of tarmac akin to a runway, then have to walk for 5 minutes to a metro bus, which takes you from one side of the road to the other, i kid you not. As the crow flies, the bus probably moved us 10 meters closer to the where we wanted to be) so we headed on to the coastal city of Salinas, which was ok, but we wanted to head north after a couple of nights to here where its is much cooler and we can transform ourselves into ´surfers dudes´. Maya has even treated herself to some baggy shorts to aid the morphing process.
That is about all there is to tell you just now. We will be here for the weekend and then will maybe head north or south, we´re not sure where yet as we want to take a scuba diving course somewhere around here and we´re not sure if we´re best headed 3km south to Manglaralto or about 40km north to Puerto Lopez. Its not a bad choice to have either way.
Anyhow, i hope all is well. For those of you who are unaware that there is an important date approaching in your calender, ´shame on you´, as wednesday 14th Nov is to be my 24th birthday and i expect love and goodwishes from all.
Bye bye for now.
Rob
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Some photos
Ay up
Just a few photos to interrupt the manic typing!!
Just a few photos to interrupt the manic typing!!
Skulls in a fish tank in a monestery in Lima. Not sure why but it makes for an interesting tourist attraction
Check out the wee one hanging from his mothers back, second from the front.
More bones from the monestery. This time in a big pit that was apparently 20ft deep.
Me!! In the main square in Lima
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