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

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

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

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

Some photos

Ay up


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

The Colca Canyon in Arequipa where we did our trek.

"Come ere luv, and giz us a smacker"

Maya can never resist my gentlemanly charm

Our friends for the Machu Picchu trek and the Colca Canyon trek. The hairy one is Shaun, the other is Maria. They are from Leeds but were still good fun.

parties, fireworks, freak shows and fiestas

Ay up,

Well peeps, how are we all coping as the cold dark nights draw in?? Here in Ecuador, there is no such thing as a cold dark night. Just thought i´d let you all know that.


Its a while since i have wrote anything substantial, and i seem to remember that the last post was a lot about nothing. So in todays presentation i shall do my damdest to entertain you with witty anecdotes, detail daring adventures and accurately describe the past two weeks for myself and my dearest chucka.


I´ll pick up the story where i last left off. Lima, and i believe it was on the eve of Englands gubbing in the final on the Rugby world cup. Despite our fears it turned out that alcohol was indeed permitted on the saturday of the game, it was on the sunday it was banned, so we gleefully and excitedly hopped our way to the English pub prompt and early ready to enjoy the afternoons events. Unfortunately, as you are all very much aware, England were a bit pish, and rather than celebrate victory i found myself sat drinking in the company of the only South African in the pub and my scottish girlfriend who began the game cheering on her neighbours from down south, but then some posh, Eton type insulted Scotland, so she understandably realigned her allegiance to her traditional scottish viewpoint of "f**k the english." For me, the day wasn´t quite as i had hoped, but at least i was able to drown my sorrows sufficiently.

The following day was just a little bit bizarre. As i mentioned previously, alcohol was banned due to a census. That was fine by me i was in no state for more beer, but what was weird was that Peruvians weren´t allowed to leave their homes between the hours of 8am and 6pm, leaving us turista´s bewidered by the sight of deserted streets in a city of 8 million people. It was a bit creepy.

Eventually the day came when Maya and myself were finally ready to leave Lima. The city is a bit shite really, but we decided to hang on to watch the rugby, something of a mistake but nevermind. Lima is just too big, with very little to actually do there. But hey, its all an experience.

Our next destination was to be the mountain gateway of Huaraz. From this average town great exciting adventures can be organised into huge glaciers and snow capped mountains, which were the setting for "Touching the Void". Unfortunately it was just abit too expensive for myself and the Maz to readily justify another trek to more mountains in Peru. It was a shame because the scenery was quite spectacular from the ground, so i can only imagine how beautiful it would have been from up high and in amongst them. Ultimately the best thing about Huaraz for us was a restaurant there called ´Chilli Heaven¨. Maya was indeed in the proverbial palace in the sky when she received her best Indian meal in months. In fact it was so good we went back the second night. Another bonus for me was the fact the restaurant was joint owned by a man from Blackburn, that in itself didn´t exactly get me leaping for joy, but what it did mean was that he had a varied selection of traditional english ales, so i treated myself to a lovely pint of Abbot Ale. A nice blast from the past from my working days at the Dead Poets Inn in Derby.

By the time we left Huaraz we were both getting a wee bit fed up of not actually doing anyhting. In totoal we had spent about 8 days in Lima and now another three in Huaraz doing nothing but passing the time. We were both desperate for some excitement, so we headed for the beach and a lovely coastal town of Huanchaco, where we spent another three days. In the end, once again we did very little, but it was a least a change to be doing nothing in coastal surroundings with a nice beach and cold beers for entertainment. In fact our final night there was something of an event. We somehow ended up getting adopted by some locals who were determined to show us a good time and we were more than eager participants. I´m pretty sure we saw every bar the small town had to offer and had a fair few drinks in each one, but the night just doesn´t end like it does back home, it just goes on and on and on. So much so that we ultimately found ourselves in a wee bar at 5am, where Maya was being taught the salsa by two guys that were both just a bit shorter than her. Very amusing for myself, who by this time was casually slumped in a chair in the corner wondering when it is a might actually be allowed to see my bed once again.

The night was a hoot, but the next couple of days were most definitely not. The following day was without doubt our worst hangover so far in South America.

We said goodbye to Huanchaco with stinking hangovers and had the pleasure of crappy buses to look forward to. First it was a taxi ride back to the city of Trujillo then a bus north to a town called Piura, which i can´t really comment on as we only saw the bus station there. If i was to judge the town on its bus station then a would not reccommend it unless you like pish stinking rooms, with plastic chairs and stray dogs for company. Anyhow we only had to spend roughly an hour there before we where able to catch a nightbus that would carry us over the border, terminating at a small city in Ecuador called Loja. In total the journey was roughly 15 hours and wasn´t a great deal of fun, but it was nice to finally arrive at a new country with much to explore.

We spent a couple of nights in Loja, still doing very little other than recovering from the journey to get there. Loja itself is a fairly average town with not a great deal to offer other than the surrounding mountains and national parks. Rather than explore them from there we decided to head south on a local bus for roughly an hour to a one horse town known as Vilcabamba. This was a great idea as it is a beautiful place, that is perfectly setup to provide nice walks during the day, prior to nice food and relaxing beers in the evening. We found a lovely hostel, which i think Maya would gladly have made her home, mainly because each room came complete with a hammock on its outside terrace. Also the hostel had some pretty cool gardens, which isn´t really something that gets me drooling but i have to admit the plants were pretty i guess and it was cool to see huge banana and avocado trees.

In total we stayed for three nights and during the two full days we spent there, we undertook two different walks that were both equally satisfying for various reasons. The first was a sufficiently taxing four hour hike to a waterfall. The second was to the highest point in the area and was supposed to be abit shorter although we got abit lost and wound up walking along mountain peaks for a hour or two longer than anticipated. What was most memorable about the second days adventure was the vast amount of humungous spiders. I discovered how huge they were in quite an unfortunate fashion; i.e. i was walking along quite happily when all of sudden i had a spiders web smeared all of my face and arm. That in itself was uncomforting but nothing too alarming. My heart started to beat a little faster however when i looked down to see a huge black and yellow spider crawling back up its web to my arm. Now, i´m not especially frightened of spiders in any way, in fact i quite like the wee buggers. However, i don´t particularly like big ones crawling all over me. After that point we had to continue walking through various bushes and trees and soon discovered that there were loads of creepy crawlies to keep an eye out for. A fact that certainly did not please Maya. I´ve never seen her sprint down a mountain at such a break neck speed.

After three nights we said goodbye to Vilcabamba, known as the valley of longevity as it has an dis-proportionate number of people who live over 100 years of age, and we left with good memories. It was a great place to be active during the days and be able to enjoy the satisfaction of a well earned beer in the evening. The bus journey away was also memorable for slightly different reasosn. We hopped on a bus no problem, a bus that was intended for roughly 20 or so people judging by the number of seats. How wrong we were. After about 15minutes of tootling along and picking people up, the seats were taken and the isle was full of standing passengers, myself being one. By that point i counted at least 35 people on the bus and assumed due to how tight and compact it was that that would be the limit. How wrong i was. It seems their is no such thing as a full bus and at least another ten people bordered after i thought there was no more room. People were hanging out the windows and doors and everything. Quite amusing.

Anyhow, it was only for an hour or so, after which we were back at a familiar place; Loja´s bus terminal. We booked a bus to Cuenca and had roughly two hours to wait at the station until it left. It was to be two hours spent living the life of a goldfish as so many kids just walked up to us and stared at us for minutes at a time. It was quiet a bizarre sensation to be the reason for such attention. We couldn´t move without some children just observing our every move. I think the goldfish lifestyle started to grate on Maya pretty quickly, which was understandable, but i found quite intriguing to watch the kids as much as they watched us and wonder why we were quite so interesting to them.

Anyhow, eventually our time acting as a circus freak show was at an end as it was time to board our rickety bus, which in six hours was to take us to the city of Cuenca. We arrived here on the Friday night of a celebratory weekend which encomposses a whole host of feista´s, parades, parties and fireworks in aid of the annual celebration of the cities independence, from what i do not know.

Soon after we arrived we headed for the main square, which is understandably where most of the festivities take place. We were greeted by a host of bands and performers strutting their stuff for a packed square of spectators. What became obvious is the lack of any sense of safety concern when it comes to fireworks. In the middle of the packed square, rockets were being set off with no specific direction intended. If they went skyward, then grand, but it didn´t seem to matter too much if they went into the crowd. One even was set off straight into the bandstand! And what was even more bizarre was that nobody seemed to mind too much. And i´ll admit this, firework displays are normally abit tedious to me, but when there´s a danger of getting hit they´re a hell of a lot more exciting!!

We made through the celebrations safe and sound. Today there were huge parades, much like the cavel cade in Edinburgh, only alot more Ecuadorian. One thing that really amused me is that all day there has been low fly overs by fighter jet planes, which entertains no one and simply scares the living bejeesus out of every man, woman and child.

Currently i have no idea what tonight has install, but i would say its a fair bet that it will involve more extreme fireworks and drinking and dancing until the early hours of the morning. Activities that i´m quite happy to enjoy.

And that is about all there is to say just now. Congratulations to anybody who stuck through all of that. It seems i´m not quite succeeding in my promise to keep these babblings short and succinct. I guess i just get a bit carried away.

Hope all is well
Rob

Ecuador

Hello all,

We are now in Ecuador. We´re botth pretty knackered, it was a bit of a gruelling 15 hour journey on crappy buses to arrive here at 4.30 in the morning, but it is all good. We are currently in a small town called Loja. So far, everything seems pretty similar, although the internet here is a pish and people so far speak in an accent that my limited spanglish cannot comprehend, which is a bit of a nuisance. Really chuffed to finally be in Ecuador however, looking forward to some more adventures, possibly some scuba diving, whale watching, more trekking over mountains and most exciting of all is the supposedly amazing Jungle. Can´t wait to get to the Oriente, as it is known, and have a good lengthy adventure into the unknown. Will be very cool indeed.

Peru was great. We did some really cool things, but were both just ready to see somewhere new. I will fill you in on the last week of Peru at a later date. Today is a day to catch up on sleep and food and water, in no particular order of preference.

Hope all is well.

Rob

Reborn

Well friends, there is nothing to update you on yet. We have still done nothing, although i do have good news for those who have commented on my unruly appearance the past weeks. Not only have i had a good, thorough shave but i also have now had a haircut and somehow managed to not wind up looking like Forrest Gump. Its a miracle!!!

Anyhow, we´re still just hanging about for the Rugby tomorrow. It will be a bit odd tho, as there is some election/ census type thing which prohibits the sale of alcohol for the whole weekend. Apparently there quite strict about the whole thing, so we´ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Hope all is well.
Rob

A day in the lives of two tight wanderers

Ay up,

Its a change of pace for todays update. It kinda of has to be really as nothing has happened.

We are still in Lima and we will be until Monday solely for the purpose of being able to watch the rugby final on Saturday. Before England triumphantly gubbed the french we were planning to leave for Huarez tomorrow (Thursday), but what with their being a english pub on our doorstep here we thought it might be worth hanging around a little longer. The only problem is there is nothing, or at least very little to do here. Well i´m sure there´s probably plenty to do but we have no money to do any of it, so that is why todays blog is aptly titled, A day in the lives of two tight wanderers.

The title does lie slightly as it will actually be two days in the lives of skint wanderers, but that is a mere techniacl point that i´m sure all you kind people will forgive me for. The day starts in our hostel. Which is a good sign; i´m not too fond of that panic awakening you get when you realise you have no idea where you are or how you got here. Thankfully that hasn´t occured in a while hence why i was aware of where i woke up the past two mornings to be described in this blog. So as i was saying the day begins in our hostel. A reasonable place that is actually quite useful at helping us to pass the time as it has its own internet, pool table and even a collection of dvd´s that you can freely watch on a big telly as and when you please. Facilities that will be mentioned later after we have been to the cafe below to claim our free (or at least included in the price of the room) breakfast which consists of egg on toast, tea or coffee and the juice of the day, which was pineapple today and yesterday. All in all its a sufficient start to a meaningless day.

From there, we left at about 9.30am. Not a bad time i reckon for two dossers with nothing to do. We even showered and everything before we left just to keep up appearences. Our main task for yesterday was to accomplish a laundry. Clean clothes had ran out long ago. Doing a luandry simply meant finding a launderette, haggling for a reasonable price, then leaving it in their capable hands and hoping for the best. A task that was accomplished by 10am, meaning we had a free day until roughly 6.30pm when we needed to back to pick up our clean clothes.

So what to do we ask each other.
"What do fancy today doing chucka", said Rob to his beloved, Maya. To which she replied "I don´t mind chucky, what do you fancy doing¨. "I don´t really know" said Rob, "What do you reckon we should do" and so it goes on and on and on and on, until we have passed at least 30 mins sat in the cafe (where we ate breakfast, for those of you struggling to keep with the break neck speed of events). Eventually we came to the grand decision we should walk somewhere. "where do you fancy walking" said Maya. "I don´t mind, where do you fancy wlaking" said Rob. And you see how things go from there.

Anyhow, all funny jokes aside, eventually we walked about 5km along the coast of Lima, to another area called Barrancho. This is actually quite a picturesque area with lots of colourful houses and a famous wooden pedestrian bridge. It is lovely, but there is nothing to do there but sit in the square and watch the world go by. Which we did until the time came where we had to have the great converstaion once again, "What do you fancy doing now then chucks", said Rob to his beloved, Maya. "I don´t mind", she replied. "What do you fancy doing". And so it goes. Eventually the great plan is to walk back. Which we did. And a lovely walk it was to.

On the way back we stopped at a cookie type sandwich place and each picked up lunch, which was to be a salami and cheese sandwich and a cookie each, and a shared bottle of Inca Kola, which is bright yellow in colour but tastes abit like Dandelion and Burdoch and Vimto combined. Despite its description it is actually quite nice.

So, we are back in Miraflores (where are hostel is), and the time on the clock is reading roughly 3pm. So far we´re doing pretty well. Thats half a day past already, but we are now entering the dangerous hours. Late afternoon to early evening is always the hardest time to fill as the easiest and most tempting thing to do is just to go to the pub for a few early drinks. The problem is not only expense, but also the fact that two drinks inevitably becomes three and when you drink with Maya, three swiftly becomes six and the night disintegrates from there.

So to avoid temptation we swiftly head for the most depressing of modern institutions, the internet cafe. We have become quite adapt at killing time in these darkened rooms, me with this kind of drivel (God knows why), and Maya does what ever she does for so long on bebo and the likes.

After an hour or so we decide to head back out to the living world and re-enter the darkening streets of Lima, making sure to stare only at the pavement or each other on the 50metre walk back to the hostel which is laid with tempting drinks offers from lively bars all the way to the hostels front door.

This time we make it safe and sound. The hours of 4 to 6/7 have become nap time and reading hour. I tell you this, travelling lifestyle can really take it out of you. For those of you who like details, I´m currently reading a really good thriller called Firewall by a swedish author, whilst Maya is reading The Alchemist, by Paulo Couello. In 12 weeks of travelling we have probably read at least 10 books each, so you can see we have a lot of time to kill.

At some point we have to venture back out onto the streets to find some supper. There isn´t really any take-aways as such and we havent yet found any kitchen facilities in the hostel, facts which combine to mean we have to do one thing; eat at a restaurant. We fancy pasta so find a wee Italian called Glorietta´s on a street known as pizza street because of all the italian restaurants that exist in the one place. Its kind of the South American way in that you get a whole cities quota of Italians all sitting next to each other in the one street, competing for the same custom. Why not just spread out a little. But its just the same with all other outlets. Just as a you get a street with off-licences, printers, shops selling solely light bulbs, whatever it may be. Their motto is stick together.

So we find a nice place anyhow, get some free manky Sangria and enjoy a nice meal with little to say other than comment on the passers by that are of interest. As time passes we decide to leave and head for the English bar, just for one mind, and then we make it back home for about 9pm. We enjoy a quick game of pool and then decide between a film or reading time once again. As i currently have a good one, i choose reading for an hour or two before bed. Plus there are people sat on the sofas by the dvd collection and neither of us can be bothered socialising. I know you´ll all be reading this and tutting, but believe me we do a hell of a lot of scoialising with some very lovely people as well as some very bizarre people; we do not discrimate. But when you are in the situation every night there are inevitably occasions when we just look at each and go "i can´t be arsed tonight luv, can you?".

And that is it my friends. The exciting lives of two skint wanderers in its sheer beauty. I´m only joking at how mundane it can all be at times. I wouldn´t swap it for anything just now.

Today it is much the same, only i had the misfortune of seeing England effectively elimate themselves from the European Championships with a dismal performance against the ruskies. I at least have the consolation of seeing that Scotland are currently 1-0 down as i type. From here, back in the internet cafe, todays task is solely going to the nearest supermarket to buy fruit. I miss good fruit.

After that who knows what wil adventures we will encounter. Rest assured i let you know what happens in every pain staking detail i can muster. Although i can probably save both of us the bother and tell you that we will return to the hostel after the supermarket. Read a little. Maybe have a game of pool and then snooze a little. Then re-check internet then find soime cheap grub for tea. Read a little more then go to the land of nod early in preparartion for another hectic day tomorrow. Which actually, i just remembered, is going to be slightly eventful. I´m probably going to try and get a haircut that is different from the seemingly óne size fits all´mentality that appears to exist here. I will do my best to avoid a short back and sides but a feel my fate is inevitable.

Anyhow, be sure to check out here again soon for a humerous picture of me proudly displaying my fabulous new barnet. I here they love it in the army.

Chau for now amigos.
Rob

trekking, mummies, Lima and luxury

Ay up

Well, since the delights of Machu Picchu we have maintained a fairly steady flow of activity. We spent another three or four nights in Cusco and would have stayed longer but it was bleeding us dry financially. It is so expensive compared to anywhere else we have been and money was just disappearing at an alarming rate. So it was time to move on and Arequipa was to be our next destination. We took another night bus, only 9 hours long, not too bad by south american standards and arrived in the ´white city´ bright and breezy at 6.30 am. We have some friends who arrived here the night before us and told us of a cool hostel so we headed there and sure enough it was a nice place although more importantly for us, it was cheap. Arequipa itself is a fairly nice place, the centre is at least, which is dominated by a massive cathedral as well as a monestry. Its become quite clear to us on our travels that neither type of building holds much appeal to either of us. It seems every place we have been to has had an ummissable church or catedral that we simply must see, but we havent been in any yet and i can´t really see that changing any time soon. Maybe we´re just abit spoilt by them all.

What we did see tho was a frozen mummy named Juanita. She was discvered frozen in a recently extinct volcano in the early 90´s. It seems she was a Inca sacrifice 500 odd years ago, and the freexing temperatures had preserved her body. The museum itself that housed her was fairly interesting, just displaying other sacrificial pots and things that were beside her, but Juanita herself was really cool to see. She was in a glass case and is still largely covered in ice but you can clearly see her skin and what have you. She was very intriguing, i could have sat and looked at her for ages.

Anyhow, i was eventully dragged away in order organise a trip for the Colca del Canyon, which was our main reason for coming to Arequipa. The canyon itself is pretty much just as it sounds, just a big canyon, (ive no idea how it compares in size to the grand canyon), but apparently its pretty big. We decided upon a three day trek where you basically walk into the canyon on the first day. Walk about abit on the second and then walk / climb out on the third.

Day1

It was a bit of an early start, 1am, to be precise, followed by a five hour bus journey to a supposedly prime viewing spot for condors. We, being myself and Maya as well as our new friends Shaun and Maria and our guide Pepe, arrived there at about six am and waited until about 10am, but saw nothing in the way of condors. Would have been nice obviously but we weren´t too upset.

From there it was another 30mins or so on the bus to our starting point, a small town called cabanaconder, (I think). The firstday was supposed to be fairly steady although proved to fairly challenging. It consisted of a 1300m walk down to the floor of the canyon. The walk was steep and the surface was so dusty it was like walking on a beach at times. Once we reached the canyon floor it was a another couple of hours walking to our first nights accommodation which turned out to be an amazing bamboo hut type place which was situated at the meeting point of three valleys. The hostel was alone and as well as a cool hut for a bedroom it also had the delights of two hot springs to relax in. I can think of no better way to nurse tired feet than relaxing in a natural hot spring with a cold beer surrounded by incredible scenery. Quite a treat can tell you.

Day2

On day two we had to walk back to the top of the canyon, along its edge for a while and then back down to the base again to a place aptly named Paradise. It was another bamboo hut type place with its on swimming pool and what have you, out on its own in the middle of nowhere. Once again it was quite spectacular and ample reward. At night we managed to get some beer and rum and had a nice evening soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the alcohol.

Day 3

The day began early once again, 4.30am to be precise, and it wasn´t a friendly start as the final stretchto walk was back up 1300m out of the canyon. Itwas hard going, the path was pretty much straight up and little else, but we managed it two hours and even overtook some people who left thecamp at three am.

I really enjoyed the trekking once again. Its nice to be doing exercise and feeling pretty fit. I´m thinking of finding a mountain over 6000metres and tackling it as my next challenge. There is one in Arequipa, Misti, but i was abit short on time, but hopefully soon i will find one to conquer.

The canyon itself was pretty cool, but what made the trip for was the accommodation and the company we shared. We had a good laugh on our way around and made sure we had a giggle to pass the nights away.

After the trek we arrived back in Arequipa pretty knackered but were soon to be rewarded as myself and Maya treated ourselves to a lovely luxury hotel for the night to celebrate our two year anniversary. Such luxury was very welcome.

The following day we packed our bags, and fled for the capital, Lima, which to be fair, has been better than expected so far. We arrived on Saturday and promptly found an english pub to watch the rugby. We made some new friends then ended up back at the hostel playing drinking games with put and take. Was a very drunken night and consequently Sunday was something of a write off.

Today we have done culture and low and behold we even stepped inside a cathedral. Not sure why. I didn´t really like it. Too much decadence and grotesque wealth for my liking. (ooohh get you i hear you all saying). After that we went into a monestery also, which was more of the same, apart from a really creepy crypty which is full of bones, which are on show in organised trough type things. Very bizarre but the best thing i saw today.

I think we will be here for another couple of nights before we head off to the north of Peru and probably find our way to Ecuador reasonably soon. We´re both ready for a new country now.

I will try to put up some photos soon of the canyon to illustrate my tales. I hope all is well back there.
Rob

Arequipa

Ay up,

Just a quick note to let you know that we are currently still in Arequipa, although we are getting a 14 hour bus ride tonight to Peru´s capital, Lima. The city itself isn´t supposed to be all that much fun, but i think we´re going to be arriving at a big festival time where everybody parades around in purple. I don´t really know much more than that, but it sounds pretty interesting all the same.

October is also a big month for bullfighting apparently. I might try and see a fight, match, game, tussle, event ....... i´m not really sure what you´re supposed to call such a cruel activity. Not sure that i agree with it, but i think as a spectacle the whole event, atmosphere might be an experience worth encountering.

We still don´t really have any plans for after Lima just yet. There´s a few coals in the fire to quote every cliche ridden football manager there has ever been, but we will just have to take one day / game at a time and see what happens.

Arequipa is a pretty cool city, or at least the center is. It is known as the white city and is pretty much dominated by a cathedral ( as most cities are here) and a massive monestery. Whilst here we undertook a three day trek to the Coca del Canyon, saw a 500 year old mummy named Juanita and stayed in a very posh hotel for our anniversary. But i will tell you all more about it very soon in my next installment which should appear within a day or two.

Hope all is well with you all
Rob

From Bolivia to Peru

Hello people.

By now, i guess you will be all a little tired of my incessent drivelling, but fear not for today i have great tales of wonderous adventures through the famous Lake Titicaca, where the Inca´s believe the sun was born and life began. From there we will move onto Machu Picchu. A mysterious place that requires no build up. So get yourselves comfortable with a nice cup of hot cocoa, wine, Old Peculiar, buckfast (for the scottish readers), meths (for the scottish readers), what ever you are into, we all friends here......

Our journey began in La Paz upon a very untrustworthy bus which was to be our transport for the next three hours. Everything was tootling along just fine until we came to a large expanse of water that was not Lake Titicaca. We were a bit confused but we and all the other passengers were quickly ushered off the boat by a man in military uniform with a large machine gun. It soon became apparent that everything was standard procedure and we were to board a boat to the other side of the water. Simple enough for people, only the bus had to do the same. We weren´t allowed to take our ruck sacks off the bus before it boarded a rickety raft (it can be described in no greater terms), so we had to watch all our worldly possesions bob along side us across the water. It was an interesting experience although not one i would wish to repeat. We rejoined the bus at the other side and promptly resume our journey to the cheerfully named Copacabana without incident.

The town itself is quite interesting although is very touristy. It does however have a very bohemian hippy type vibe which Maya found very alluring. Our plan was to take a small hike the next morning further up the coast of Lake Titicaca to a smaller town, from where we would cross the water to a small island on the lake, Isla del Sol, or island of the sun. We left our ruck sacks with the hostel and just took bare essentials in our small bags. We had no map, but followed the coastal road, passing one or two small villages and little else along the way. The views were incredible. On one side we had the beautiful blue lakes and mountaneous terrain on the other. The joint was hard and hilly but great to be off the beaten track, free to wander where we please amongst small communities of Bolivia. The lives of some of these people are incredible. You see them farming by hand much in the same fashion in Britain in the times before the industrial revolution. We´re not talking twenty or thirty years behind but decades and decades. Anyhow i digress once again.

After about 3/4 hours of walking, we were suitably tired and arrived at another typically small town still about an hour from our planned destination of Yampuputra (or something similar). Just as we were coming out of the town a wee man came running up to us asking if we want to be rowed across the Lake. Floating along in a boat sounded better than walking further in the heat so we agreed. On first discussions i was under the impression he and a friend were going to row us across but it turned out to be just the one wee man and his wee rowing boat as our transport for the hour long crossing to the island. It was really cool just to be having a wee adventure. After about half an hour Maya decided to turn on her mobile to pass the time. We hadn´t really had any signal in Copacabana or while we were walking, but low and behold we had signal. And then just as we were half way across the lake where the Inca´s believe the sun was born and life began we got a wee beep beeep which turned out to be a message from me mum to let us know that i was now an uncle and my sister had had a wee healthy baby girl named Matilda. Obviously this didnt come as a total surprise. We did know she was pregnant after all but it had been a few days since the due date and it was still a nice coincidence.

Congratulations !!!!!!!!!!

After hearing the news it was time to start the celebrations so quickly found a place to stay on the island and headed to a restaurant which had beautiful sun set views over the Lake. We ordered a lovely bottle of Chilean wine and promptly wet the babies head in style. A very pleasant day and night indeed.

The island itself is just a lump of uneven rock. Everything is either steeply uphill or downhill, there or no paths going flat. We found this out the hard way as we spent the next day walking all the way around the island which in total took a very gruelling 9/10 hours. The views are incredible however and its difficult to stay mad at the hills for too long. We stayed there for a total of two nights just enjoying the atmosphere and the sheer blueness and beauty if the lake. But time was ticking and we needed to get to Cusco to prepare for our five day trek culminating in Machu Picchu.

We hopped on a motorised boat this time for the journey back to Copacabana where we stayed another night before embarking on a ten hour bus ride to Cusco. Before we left for Peru i did manage to treat myself to a couple of Bolivian football shirts. They are cool.

We landed in Cusco fairly late at night but managed to find our accomodation fairly quickly. We had a three nights to chill out and prepare before setting off and just planned to relax. Cusco is a beautiful city. Really old and charismatic with tiny wee streets and interesting buldings. It is obviously very touristy given its close proximity to Machu Picchu, but still retains sufficient credibilty to be considered very cool. It is however very expensive, especially compared to Bolivia, so we will have to be careful with our money while we are here. Luckily we have found an incredible bakery just near our hostel which has the best bread and pasties (empinada´s) you could wish for at a very reasonable price so we are happy.

We set off on our Salcantay Trey last Thursday morning at 4.30am. It was a crual time to start and one that we saw a lot of over the coming five mornings. We had a short bus ride to a small town in the middle of nowhere where we were introduced to the rest of our group of about 13, a quick breakfast before the walking began at about 7. The trek itself is four days of hard walking to a sacred mountain called Salcantay. The fifth day is spent at Machu Picchu itself. It soon became very clear that the trek wasn´t going to be just a simple walk in the park. It was hard going usually walking from 7 in the morning to at least 5 at night. The first day was spent covering the largest distance although was fairly steady going. We were always walking uphill but at a fairly steady incline so it didn´t feel too tough. The weather was hot and the bugs were biting which all contributed to feeling pretty knackered as we rolled out the sleeping bags for camp that night. The first night was spent at the base of some incredible scenery with many a snow capped mountain nearby for pleasant viewing, it was however bloody freezing. I donned all the clothes i had with me, resulting in two thermal shirts, a t-shirt, a woolly jumper, jacket, and woolly cardigan complete with two pairs of socks, boxers, shorts, and trousers, woolly hat and gloves. I was still freezing inside a sleeping bag and liner. Didn´t get much sleep but never mind. Oh i forgot we had also had a reasonable amount of rum to try and keep the cold out. It seems i didn´t drink quite enough.

Despite the cold we still awoke the next morning in fairly high spirits and set off for what was billed as the hardest days walking at about 6.30am. It was cold and the days target was to be our highest point of about 4600m at the base of the sacred mountain of Salcantay. That required a predicted five hours of severe uphill walking before another four down the other side to where our camp was to be based for the second night. The day was hard going. It was difficult to get warm after such a cold night and the sheer steepness of the terrain was difficult, but we powered on and actually made the ascent in about three hours. It was abit strange as we were supposed to be celebrating, but a i lacked a sense of achievement somwhat as we were nowehere near the highest point of the area. We were at he peak of a valley that had huge mountains surrounding it. I didn´t much fancy attempting to scale the mountains but clearly our highest point felt a bit unsubstantial when dwarfed by its surroundings. Once we got to the other side of the valley the weather warmed up and camp wasn´t so bad the second night. The third and fourth days were more like jungle treks. The terrain completely changed from harsh mountainous rock, to lush green flowers and fauna. And the heat!! Phew it got hot and consequently the walking became hard er and harder. The tiredness began to tell with the heat and lack of sleep and the waling became harder and harder as the days went by. The fourth day wasn´t helped by a stinking hangover from a really cool party on the third night. We had a good group to walk with and enjoy a drink with which made the trip a really cool few days. On the third night we had a treat with a trip to some hot springs. We got there at dusk and were left splashing around with our first taste of hot water surrounded by stars and distant mountains. Really quite cool. It was that the put the group in a good mood and hence why we all set off walking on the fourth day with stinking hangovers.

The fourth night was spent in a small town at the base of mountain Machu Picchu called Aguas Calientes. Its where everybody stays before they had up to the ruins and is just a town established purely for tourists. Our camping days were over and we provided with a nice hotel for the night although it was another 4am start on the fifth day. Our early start was to incorporate a gruelling hour long hike up steep inca steps to Machu Picchu in time for the sun rise. Bearing in mind we had spent the past 4 days covering at least 90km, this was a hard hard climb, but it was soon to be worthwhile when we finally arrived at the Lost city at about 5.30am. Machu Picchu is an unbelivable place and an incredible experience. The ruins itself are obviously amazing but it is the setting that is just awe inspiring. The whole sity is on the point of a mountian with drops either side and spectacular views of other pointy mountains all around. We had a wander around the ruins and then headed up another nearby hill called waymapichhu which was a great point to get a great view point of Mach Picchu. It was an incredible day spent just gazing at the ruins and their surroundings. We were all really knackered just from the previous days exursions but just sat and chilled and basked in the beauty of the place. The Inca´s were clearly nuts to build such a place in such a remote spot but it makes for cracking tourist attraction now. The ruins itself are about 70% original and 30% repaired, but that doesn´t diminish the impressiveness of the place at all.

We got back to Cusco late on Wednesday night and have just slept for about 12 hours. I´m still tired but am off to meet our trekking group for a few celebratory drinks tonight. The Salcantay Trek was a demanding alternative to the Inca Trail and was a pretty testing experience. The final day is the reward for both and Machu Picchu as a spectacle is worthy of many a hard days trekking. Unfortunately I think of few words to describe it, but it is indeed an incredible sight that everyone must try try to see at some point.

As for me and Maz, with no have no plans. Since we arrived that only mark on the calender has been this trek so now we´re footloose and fancy free. I think we´re probably going to head around the south of Peru for the next couple of weeks ending up in Lima, hopefully in time for a big festival/ carnival which i think takes place on the 18th October. From there who knows, but that is a lovely freedom to have. We can probably have a couple more months travelling about but then it will probably be time to try and find some work. We have been very busy doing lots of stuff for the past six weeks and it is probably time now to just chill and enjoy travelling without doing too much stuff.

Anyhow its all good. Travelling life is suiting us both well and its exciting to hjave no idea of where we might be in a week or two.

I hope all is good back there, and i hope to hear from you all soon. Feel free to pass a comment on anything you´ve read (all you need to do is click the comment button at the bottom of the text). It´s nice to hear your news as well as me blabbing on about my´n.

Best wishes
Rob

p.s. I think Maya has promptly whacked up some photos on her site of Machu Picchu so you can get a good gander on there. I will try and put some up on here as soon as possible.

Bolivia Part Two

Hola amigos,

I hope the first installment was pleasant enough. I will now try to accurately portray to you kind people the details of our adventures after we left the quag mire of Potosi and arrived in the eventful city of Sucre.

We arrived in relative peace to a nice wee hostel complete with a courtyard to relax in which was handy because it soon became a bit too dangerous to go outside into the city. It was apparent that we had arrived in Sucre at a time of political unrest resulting in 24hour protests culminating in riots complete with tear gas, tyre fires and many many load bangs which to the untrained ear sounded uncannily like gun-shots. We were repaetedly assured that it was just dynamite being set off, but that did little to comfort us.

At first i have to admit that i was a bit bullish about the whole situtaion and promptly persuaded Maya that we should go and get a closer look as most of the action was coming from the main square. It didn´t take long to realise that the protesters were very serious about their actions and it was a bit scary. For those of you interested, from what i understand, the protests were very much aimed at the recently appointed president, Evo Morales, who is unique as he is the first idiginous chap to take control for years and years. He has been trying to implement plans to redistribute land away from the rich Europeans descendants, back into the hands of the indiginious people. A plan that has understandly irked those currently in possesion of the land.

Welcome back to those who swiftly side stepped the poltical mumbo jumbo.

It sounds daft to say it, but Sucre was and is in fact one of my favourite places so far. Putting the riots aside the city really was pretty cool and i would happily return there for longer in more peacful times. Ultimately we could only stay for three of four nights as the city was to be shut down to disuade further protesters arriving. Shut down in the sense that all water, gas, electricity, would be shut off along with all public transport being suspended and all roads being blocked into and out of the city. It was an action that was sure to anger the protesters and therefore we figured it best to get away before things really kick off.






Check out this crazy man. We saw him whilst wee were sat at a very high point in Sucre, the mirador or viewpoint. It was roughly lunch time and as we sat looking over the city all you could here was a multitude of bangs whether they be gun shots or dynamite they were incredibly loud whatever. This guy must have nerves of steal to calmly sit there with no safety gear. Numpty.





So after four nights we begrudgingly had to leave. I have to admit i was kinda curious to stay and see what would happen. I´m sure there would have been a story in there somewhere but Maya correctly convinced me that it wasn´t a place for tourists to be so we headed onwards and upwards to a cool sounding city, Cochabamba.

Unfortunately Cochabamba has litte going for it than its name. Thats´not to say its horrible it was just distinctly average. It is Bolivia´s second or third largest city behind La Paz and maybe Santa Cruz but has little to offer. It does have the largest statue of christ in the world (apparently), but i´m sure you all know me well enough to know that thats not really what gets me going. We did climb over to 1200 steps to see it first hand (there wasn´t much else to do), and this is what we saw.




I´m the one at the bottom.
















I think we stayed in Cochabamba for just two nights before heading off for what became a weeks relaxation in the small jungle town of Villa Tunari, which is pretty much halfway between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. When we got there we quickly found a decent hotel with its own swimming pool. A luxury we were able to afford due to our stringent efforts to save money in the previous weeks where we frequently only spent 2-3 pounds on a nights accomodation for the both of us. The rooms were always very basic but not too bad and it was made worthwhile to be able to enjoy six nights in a nice hotel, complete with that swimming pool i mentioned earlier.

Villa Tunari was our first real blast of proper sunshine as well as on our travels. It had been warm elsewhere in Bloivia but the altitude always made it a fairly average temperature. With Villa Tunari being only a couple of hundred metres above sea level it was hot hot hot. Muy bueno!!

The first couple of days were spent duly relaxing reading, playing cards (mostly an Isreali game the dutch people taught us called Yanuff), although crib did feature also. The hotel also had a pool table with the tightest pockets i have ever seen so that was interesting to try and master, something i duly managed leaving Maya and our dutch companions sulking in defeat, which was a little confusing as i was typically gracious in defeat.

After two days honing the card skills and perfecting an all over tan (I have latin blood don´t forget) it was agreed we should finally get off our buttocks and do some of the cool stuff we came here for. First on the list was a animal sanctuary that gets girls all gooey over the cutesy animals, although i have to admit i very much enjoyed being tickled and groped by numerous monkeys. There was also a tortoise there who i felt i had a certain rapport with. Here is some eveidence to prove to you I tell no lies.

Eventually we had to say goodbye to the monkeys although Maya is adament we will see them again. Something I am yet to be convinced about. From what i saw volunteering as a guy leads to shifts of very hard manual labour whereas the girls are left to cuddle monkeys all day. I´m not sure i want to pay for the privilidge of busting a gut in jungle heat thank you very much!!

Anyhow the next day we went on a jungle walk which was really good fun. I think Maya has put up some good photos of that already so i won´t put up any of those. It was a really good day spent mostly walking through Jungle rivers dodging snakes and other kinds of scary jungle type creatures. Maya did a very funny thing although it was perhaps understandably unnerving for her. At numerous points along our walk we came across quicksand. Maya got a little stuck in one patch and in her wisdom decided the best way out was to run as fast as she can. Unfortunately running in quicksand is not the solution. She just sank further. He He. We pulled her out in the end and all had a good giggle at her expense He He again.

We also went rafting which was really cool, but doesnt ned much explaining. Eventually we had to leave our luxury and decided to head onto La Paz where we encountered the worlds most dangerous road on mountain bikes. Pretty scary at times but really good fun. La Paz itself was ok, didn´t really go out and see too much of it tho. In total i think we only stayed three nights there as we were a bit short for time and wanted to spend more time around Lake Titicaca than in a big city.

I´ll leave this post here, as i´ve made a resolution to try and keep these a bit shorter and in more bitesize chunks. Clearly i have failed here, but i reckon that once i get up do date it will be easier to explains things in a more engaging manner.

Next time i will probably write about Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu in one. Keep all the spiritual stuff in the one place.

Hope you are all well.
Rob

Bolivia part one

Ay up.

This is the first post of my brand new blog. It may seem a bit strange to begin telling you what we have been up to after over two months of travelling but that is just the the south american way. Things may be a bit late and may not be exactly what you were either anticipating or hoping for but they will always arrive eventually, in some dishevelled form or other.

So we are now in Cusco in Peru which is beautiful to be quite honest. Very touristy but with enough bars and restaurants and old buildings and things to not notice too many over grown americans or australians barking their instructions to the locals. It´s nice to be able to just relax in nice surroundings after a month in Bolivia. That is not to say Bolivia wasn´t incredible, becuase it truly was, but it is just such a contrast and can be quite hard work travelling through it.

I´m not going to go back to day one of our travels and our arrival in Buenos Aires, as quite frankly thats too much effort. But for those of you willing to read more i will attempt to paint you a lovely picture of our expolits through the mountains and valleys of Bolivia not forgetting to mention the odd incidence of burning tyres and tear gas explosions just to keep you nicely perched on the edge of your wee squeaky seats.

Bolivia to date was my favourite country, (I know there has only been two but i´m still allowed to pick favourites). It was such a huge contrast from anything in Europe, everything was different. People, buildings, roads, landscape and most definitely the smell which at times could get slightly over-bearing, but quite often it just turned out to be Maya and another of her little accidents. She always had a smile on her face tho so she must have enjoyed them!!

We started in a really quaint wee town called Tupiza where there were very few tourists and very little to do other than enjoy the sunshine with a cool cold pint of Taquina or Hauri or whatever other rocket fuel, amonia like beer they gladly sell you. Saying that i did go horseriding and managed to complete the task looking like the man from Del Monte much to the amusement of my darling girlfriend. Who by the way had a shetland pony compared to my stallion. The riding itself was very serine and calm as the horses knew the way and just led us through some amazing landscape which mainly consisted of large rocks. You will soon gather that Bolivia is largely dominated by large rocks. There doesn´t appear to be any flat land in the country. Which is kind of why the bus rides similar to that of a day at Alton Towers.

Anyhow i digress. Something i might do frequently. Also be wary that my vocabulary is slipping a little hence the over use of 'incredible' and 'amazing'. I hope this doesn´t become to grating.

Back to the story.....After i leaped off my stallion taking minutes to reach the ground and lazily stepped over Maya´s My Little Pony we set off on an incredible four day adventure culminating in the awe-inspiring Solar de Uyuni, or salt flats to you and me.

We weren´t alone on our expedition as sat in the rickety 4x4 were no other than our Dutch travelling companions for Bolivia, Robert and Rianne, who were typically tall although left the tulips and clogs at home which was a shame. Also there was our driver cum guide, Juan Carlos and his aunty Margerita who was to be our cook for the trip. Although her finest hour probably came when she fully chomped down a huge apple despite having only one tooth. It was a sight we all cheered and will probably never forget. They were both really cool actually and knew the area really well. They had previously lived in one of the tiny isolated villages we passed after a days driving and we might Margerita´s grand-mother, who was in her 90´s. Was nice to see.

The four days were fairly contrasting. The first was pretty much just a case of getting to where we needed to be which meant it was largely spent trundling through the middle of nowhere on dirt track roads with Celine Dion flexing her troat muscles from the CD player. Not nice. The day was still cool tho as we saw some cool wee villages that were truly in the middle of nowhere and were just great to witness first hand.

On the second day things really hotted up, although may sound a little repetitive written down here. It largely consisted of Laguna´s whether they be red or green and just normal water coloured Bolivia has them all and we saw a fair few of them on day two. For me Laguna Verde (aptly named as being indeed a laguna and green) was the most incredible. It´s backdrop of the mountains and just the intenstity of the colours were just from picture postcard. It could have lost a bit of its magic when Juan Carlos told the it is that the water is that colour because its toxic due to porceline and magnesium or some other chemical element . My spanish isn´t quite up to the periodic table just yet. Most of the laguna´s come complete with cool pink flamingo´s which are funny wee creatures but really interesting to watch close up. I liked to watch them run before they take off; they kind of run with the necks pulling their bodies along and their spindly legs struggling under the wait. Very amusing. Other than that there was a really cool hot spring which was nicely deserved after two days in the jeep. The water was incredibly warm and cosy and i didn´t want to get out. We also saw some natural geysers which were cool to see but really stank.

Congratulations to those who are still with me here. This could take a while longer yet....

Day three was pretty much more of the same with similar equally incredible scenery and a few more laguna complete with flamingo´s just incase we hadn´t had our fill. The highlight of day three was definitely seeing a proper real live volcano which was quitely smoking away. The landscape around it was intriguing what with all the dried lava and what-have-u.

After three days came the big finale which thankfully wasn´t staying in a hotel made (supposedly) entirely of salt as that was a bit pish but the salt flats themselves. It´s a bit difficult to explain why they are so cool because they are really just a flat fields of salt, but they are really good fun. Because they are totally flat you can take loads of weird pictures whcih mess with perspective and things. Anyhow we were on them for the sunrise which was nice, although the reflection off the slat is a bit bright. Because they are so flat you can also just about make out the curvature of the earth which is nice, if thats how you get your kicks.

That pretty much sums up the four days which landed us in a crappy place called Uyuni, which is where most people set off from to do tours of the salt flats and hence it is a town which is totally dedicated to tourists which makes it just abit character less and depressing. So we sharply exited their after one night to head for the city of Potosi, which for us was a bad idea as it was grotty. I think i have mentioned to some already that Potosi is disgusting. It is famous for its mines and the atrocious condtions that the workers wotk within. A great reason to be famous i´m sure you´ll agree.

The city and its skankiness was just a testiment to its claim to fame. Men go there to work in the mines, which gives them a life expectancy of roughly ten years after they start working. Soon enough they die and leave families without an income and poverty ensues. The city it self is the highest in the world of its size but has very narrow streets and dirty smog laiden walls. Really wasn´t very nice and on our last night we saw a guy pissing on an elderly crippled tramp much to the hilarity of his mates. Pretty much summed up the place for us.

I think that will do as a first installment. Congratulations again to those of you who managed to stick through it. You´ll get your reward in heaven i´m sure. Please feel free to comment on anything if things aren´t clear or if you have questions then please ask. Doesn´t mean i´ll answer but there´s no harm in trying.

I will try and write more before we set off for Machu Pichu on the 28th. Just for those impatient readers out there i´ll give you a sneak preview of part two which will include tales of mass protests in Sucre complete with riots and tear gas, the mediocrity of Cochabamba and then the cool delights of snakes, monkeys, jungles and rafting in the jungle village of Villa Tunari. Should be a pleasant read even if i do say so myself.

Anyhow I do hope you are all well and that this little installment finds you in fine fettle. I do miss family and friends back there in Britain, but be assured that I am indeed having the time of my life and its nice that i can sit here and drivel on about it to anybody who will listen.

Bye Bye for now
Rob

p.s for those of you who have not noticed we have finally managed to put up some more pictures on Maya´s bebo site so take a look if you can.

Me in a short bed. It was muy frio!!!
The dutchies we travelled Bolivia with. Here we are drinking coca tea to keep the altitude and cold at bay. Was very effective.
Bolivian animals.
Me and Maz sat in a hot spring in the middle of the Bloivian desert. Was very cosy after a day sat travelling in a jeep on unpaved roads.
Me and our tour guide(Juan Carlos) gazing across Laguna Verde, which was aptly named as it was both a laguna and incredibly green. Very beautiful.