Copacabana was a lovely small town, with nothing in it but dirty hippies making bracelets and bad cafes filled with gringos, but it was a great place to catch a boat to the Isla del Sol, an island on Lake Titicaca. The main purpose for visiting this island is to hike all around it along these small trails, and see inca ruins. Unfortunately for us, there was no ATM in Cobacabana, and we did not have enough Bolivian money to stay the required two nights, so instead we took the boat out in the afternoon and returned early the next morning, having done no hiking. Very efficient trip. It was definitely worth going, even for just one night. The town there had no cars, only small pathways. Instead of cars honking non-stop we got to hear donkeys hee-hawing. We did go for a small walk just outside of the town in the evening, watched a gorgeous sunset and then realized we were completely lost! Actually technically we thought we new excatly where we were until a farmer and his family come over the crest of the hill, and informed us that it was three hours to the next town if we kept heading in the same direction. We got back to our hostal safely, and enjoyed a good nights sleep on a saggy mattress (which we would find to be the norm in Bolivia) sitting on a bed made out of dried reeds! We then headed down this old inca staircase to catch what we thought would be our large boat home, instead we found a dinky boat fitting only 8 people. As we settled in (below water level) for our 2 hour ride to the mainland, we realized that the boat was leaking from on the the front windows. The seas...er lake was rough that day, knocking us back and forth as we tried desperately to hold our backpacks above the inch of water collecting in the bottom of the boat. Then a sputter, motor is out.....a few stressful moments later our captain had her up and running.....and by that I mean still coninuosly sounding like it was going to die. Finally we made it a shore and caught a bus to La Paz.
In order to get to La Paz from Copacabana you have to cross a section of Lake Titicaca. I had seen this on the map and had foolishly assumed that this would involve a bridge or a large ferry.......apparently not. As we pulled up to the edge of the water we were ordered off the bus, and told to buy tickets to cross. As we were buying the tickets we realize the ticket was for us to take a small passenger boat across, and our bus (with all of our belongings) was already driving on to a bus-sized raft powered by a small outboard motor. A slightly nerve racking boat ride, but enjoyable nontheless.
As we drove through El Alto (suburb area surrounding La Paz) I was unimpressed, until suddenly the earth drops away, displaying a giant crevass, every square inch filled with buildings of various quality. It was a beautiful site to see a city built up and down such steep hillsides, however it also meant a hot and sweaty trek to find a hostal. Finally we settled in...and settle we did. After an amazing, busy two weeks with my parent we were ready to get back to our leisurely long-term travelors pace. We spent 5 days exploring the city. We saw miles and miles of street markets, visited a great museum of musical instruments (they let you play them!), ate lots of fried chicken (a favorite fast food of Bolivians), drank a few litres of freshly pressed orange juice from street vendors (so delicious, and so cheap - only 50 cents a glass), and went to a wrestling match where women (wearing traditional Quechua dress) wrestled. Our hostel had a kitchen (although no dishsoap or fridge), so we were able to cook a few meals and meet some cool people. I think we both really enjoyed La Paz, but were ready to explore a little deeper (and lower) into Bolivia.
We took a small van to the city of Corroico, a small mountainside town. We found a great hostel which had a beautiful view of the surrounding valley and mountains, and a pool!!!! We spent the day by the pool reading and then headed into the town in the afternoon. I think my favorite local interaction happened in this town. Pretty much every town in South America has a Plaza de Armas (a central city square), a relic left from time of spanish conquest. The really cool thing about these plazas, is that people actually hang out in them. Especially in the early evenings you will find people of all ages out and about, socializing. This town had a particularily large number of kids playing in its' square. As we settled down to play some cards we were approached my a little boy, who didn't say anything, but just kept edging his way closer and closer to us, until he was right squished next to me. We thought he was so interested in our card game, I kept showing him my cards, Matt telling him how he was beating me by so much.......then I noticed how close our bag of cheezies was to the cards. I offered him some, he grabbed a handful and gleefully ran away. He came back again and again, even once the bag was empty he still hung around. Also joining our posse was two scary looking dogs who settled in for a good nap amongst us, and followed us around town for the entire rest of the evening. Later another little girl came up to us and starting asking all sorts of questions, and proudly telling us "teacher", the only english word she new.
From Corroico we hopped in the back of a pick-up truck with a bunch of local school kids and made our way down the 8km cobblestone road to a junction where we waited for our bus to Rurrenbaque. It was incredibly hot, and we found the only spot of shade next to a concrete ditch, and parked our stuff. After a few moments the stench of hot drying urine became overwhelming. We stayed put, not wanted to stand in the sun, that is until a bus stopped on the side of the road letting all the passengers off for a quick break. About 20 men then headed just passed us and proceeded to all pee on the side of the ditch. All of a sudden a little urine-free sun didn't seem so bad.
You may have heard that Bolivia is home to the famously dubbed "worlds most dangerous road". This winding dirt road (from La Paz to Corroico) has now been bi-passed by a new paved highway, and is typically only used for mountain biking tours. No one mentions that past Corroico the road continues, but the new highway does not. I have never been more terrified in my life. For a solid two hours the road is barely wide enough for one large vehicle, but there are trucks and buses going both ways. Everytime we ran head on with another vehicle we would stop and back-up until in a curve wide enough to pass, all the while monitering how the tires were mere inches from the 200m+ drop off. As the terror wore off, the monotony of the 15hr+ bus ride settled in. We popped a few Gravol, and had a restless uncomfortable sleep, interrupted by midnight security checkpoints forcing everyone off the bus. We arrived in Rurrenbaque at 7 in the morning, and headed for the hostel for a well earned nap. Our main reason for going to this town because it is a good base for Jungle and Pampas tours of the Rainforest.
Our tour left the next morning, started with a 4 hour drive in a land cruiser in the muddiest road I've ever seen. It felt like you were in a video game, with the truck careening every which way in the mud. I think that Disneyland should make a ride called "Traveling in Bolivia", and you would be in a car like the Indiana Jones ride going across all of the worst road conditions with blaring salsa music, and it would smell like baby urine and sweat! It would be perfect, because as you were waiting in line for the ride to start you could have guys walking along saying "cinqo minutos, uno momentito amigo".
Ok, I got a little off topic. It was wet season when we were there, so the Pampas were covered in water. For three days we rode in a canoe along "pathways" through the tops of trees. We saw so much wildlife, it made a recent trip to the Santiago zoo seem pretty pathetic. There were three types of monkeys there, the most friendly being these really cute yellow guys who would climb right onto our boat for bananas, one actually bit Matt on the hand!!!! I'm pretty sure he has ebola now, hahaha. Ebola is not a laughing matter. Other highlights of the trip included swimming with fresh water dolphins, holding an anaconda, having alligators crawl right up to our cabins, and spotting tons of birds, including toucans and storks!!!! It was definately worth the terrifying bus ride. The bus back to La Paz took us 18hrs, and arrived at 6am in the morning, ugh!
Since then we have taken many more buses, and seen many more things. Unfortunately (or not for you) I have to go now. Matt and I are in Santiago, Chile, about to go to a farm and volunteer (with the WWOOF program) for a few weeks. Once we get back to civilization we will have a mere few week left in our trip........but hopefully still have time for some updates. Thanks for checking the blog. Hope you all are well
-Caroline
From C
Friday, April 10, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
More pics from Ecuador
Cooling off after our hike up the waterfalls
Enjoying the hammocks
View from our jungle lodge in Tena, Ecuador
Matt, wedging his way through the canyon
Yucca juice, made for us by a Quechua familyPictures from Ecuador
watch out!!!! there´s an ostrich behind you!!!!!
If only guinea pigs were better pets....we wouldn´t of had to roast them
War paint for our jungle hike
mmmmmm.....guinea pig head!!!!
Baños, EcuadorPeru, Part Two.
Hello from Bolivia! We are in the capital city of La Paz right now, our last day here before heading south, and figured it was time for another update. Only twenty days between posts.. not bad! In the last post, Caroline covered up to our time in Lima, Peru.. so I will continue on from there, and see how far I get before my hands get sore!
Caroline's parents met up with us at a beautiful little bed and breakfast in a suburb outside of Lima- our cab driver had to stop to ask directions three times to find it, but we got there eventually, and it was well worth the drive. Caroline's parents arrived there that evening, and the next day we spent relaxing by the pool, they recovering from the full day of flying the day before. The next morning, the owner of the bed and breakfast drove us into the city, and we caught a bus to a town further down the coast called Paracas. Paracas is a nice little town with a waterfront lined with seafood restaurants- the local specialty is a dish called ceviche, which consists of pieces of raw seafood mixed with red onions and vegetables, served cold. It's extremely popular along the coasts of both Equador and Peru. Paracas is nearby a national park, which is all desert but still has a surprising amount of wildlife living in it, and covers a long area of the coastline and ocean as well, although coming from Canada it's strange to see a national park with absolutely no vegetation! We took a boat the next morning to a group of islands called the Ballestas, around a half hour from the coast. These islands consist of huge rock formations sticking out of the ocean, and the rocks are covered in thousands of seabirds, so many that in some places you can't see the rock beneath them. At the base of the rocks, there are beaches which are covered in gigantic sea lions sunning themselves and rolling around all over the place- we could hear them as we approached the islands. It was quite an amazing sight, the boat drove around the islands and at times pulled up quite close so we could get a better look. That afternoon, we toured the national park. There wasn't too much to see there other than sand, but the coast of the park is mostly high stone cliffs, which provided some incredible views when we weren't rubbing the incessant sand blowing everywhere out of our eyes!
The next day, we took a cab from the town up to the main highway, flagged down a bus, and headed inland to the city of Ica. Just outside of Ica, there is a small town called Huacachina, which is a famous location in Peru (it's featured on the back of the S/50 bill) because it surrounds an oasis in the middle of the desert. We spent some time sitting by the lagoon, which is surrounded by restaraunts, hotels, and a stone walkway. At one time, this area was a resort for Peru's elite class, most of the buildings around the lagoon are colonial in style and have been restored, so it's a beautiful place, although now it is used by families from the nearby city. We hired a dune buggy and driver later in the day, and went for an adrenaline pumping drive through the mountain-sized sand dunes that surround the oasis, and spread out for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. We stopped a few times in the dunes to try "sandboarding", which consists of using a snowboard-like board to slide down the huge dunes, which was kind of scary, but a lot of fun!
The day after, we headed back to Ica and visited a vinyard just outside the city that makes pisco, which is made from grapes in a process similar to wine making, but it is further distilled into a strong, clear liquor. The most popular use of pisco is in the making of the "pisco sour", the national drink of Peru, which is pisco mixed with raw egg white and lime juice, and blended. (They're actually surprisingly good!) We were taken around the vinyard and shown the pisco-making process, and of course did some sampling! After this we headed back into Ica and caught a bus to Nazca, the home of the famous Nazca Lines, and booked a flight over the lines for the next day.
The next morning we waited for our hour-late shuttle to the airport (not an uncommon occurance) and when we finally got there, we boarded a 6 seater light aircraft, and got to see the Nazca Lines as the people who made them never could. It's an amazing sight, even more so because no one knows why the Nazca people made them, or what they mean. We got a great view, because the pilot would circle around each design a few times, but unfortunately this was a little much for those of us who suffer from motion sickness (i.e. Caroline). But even she agrees that it was well worth it. (If you're curious... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_lines)
The day after we headed back to the coast to the small town of Camana for a day at the beach, where we found a nice little hostel with a pool and a five minute walk to the beach, and we spent the next day reading, relaxing, and soaking up some rays on la mar Pacifico.
After our day at the beach, we hopped on a bus to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. We spent an evening there, and the next day headed to the village of Chivay in the Colca Valley, about four hours away from Arequipa. Chivay is the village nearest the Colca Canyon, a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The four of us took a tour first thing in the morning of the canyon, which was unfortunately on that day completly full of clouds, and might as well have been 50 feet deep for all we could tell. But the incredible views of the valley and surrounding mountain ranges and the hike along the edge of the canyon, as well as the visits we made to a couple of indigenous farming settlements in the valley made the tour well worth it.
From Chivay, we booked seats on a bus to the city of Puno, on the western shores of Lake Titicaca. Our hostel had phoned the bus company, reserved seats, and told us that a van would come and pick us up, which we assumed meant to take us to the bus terminal. When the van arrived (three hours late), he proceeded to drive right past the terminal, and all the way to Puno (a six hour drive), which we assume was because they didn't end up getting us seats on the bus, or the bus didn't come, or something like that.. but we ended up having our own van & driver, which was quite nice.
We ended up spending three nights in Puno- we planned to spend two, but were informed on the second day when we went to the bus terminal to buy tickets to Cusco, our next destination, that there was a one day strike (?) affecting the road and that we had to wait until the next day.
The first day that we were there, we went to visit the "floating islands" off the shore of the lake called the Uros, which are exactly that- floating islands made of layer upon layer of the reeds that grow in the shallow parts of the lake. It was quite an experience, we were taken to visit a few of the islands, which have small buildings made from the same reeds that the islands themselves are made of, and communities of the Uros people living on each one. The rest of our time in Puno was spent exploring the streets, which was especially interesting in the evenings, as we happened to be there during Carnival, and the streets were filled with locals celebrating, running around, and spraying these cans of white foam at each other.
We took a bus from Puno to Cusco that stopped at a few places along the way, including a museum and some Inca ruins. We were heading to Cusco primarily as a launching point to visit Macchu Picchu, and the day after we arrived Caroline's parents caught a plane to the town of Puerto Moldonado in the Amazon Basin to spend a few days on a tour of the jungle, and Caroline and I made the arrangements for our trip to Macchu Picchu, which ended up being somewhat complicated. The town at the foot of Macchu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, is accessible only by train. We wanted to arrive into Aguas Calientes in the evening, stay the night there and then head up to Macchu Picchu first thing in the morning and beat the crowds. But, unfortunately for us, the direct train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes only leaves in the mornings, which explains why our guidebook warns that Macchu Picchu gets most crowded between 10:00 and 2:00- that's when the train arrives. We discovered that there is an evening train between the town of Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes, so we found a bus company (located in a wooden shack in a gravel lot) that goes to Ollantaytambo and were able to take the evening train from there. So as Caroline's parents explored the jungle, Caroline and I spent the next few days exploring Cusco, which is a beautiful valley city that was once the centre of the Inca empire, and a large portion of the colonial city, built on the ruins of the Inca's, follows the Inca's original city plan, so it's quite unique as a result. When Caroline's parents arrived back from the jungle, we headed on our (hot and crowded) bus to Ollantaytambo and at around 8:30, our 7:00 train to Aguas Calientes left, and a few hours later, we found a hostel, slept for a few hours, and Caroline and I managed to get up at 5:00 the next morning to hike up to the top of Macchu Picchu from the town. Caroline's parents made the civilized (and probably more sane, at 2,500m above sea level) trip up to the top of the mountain on one of the buses that head up and down all day long, and we met them at the top. Macchu Picchu is an incredible sight- no amount of photos can prepare you for the experience of seeing it with your own eyes. Perfectly preserved, only missing the thatched roofs that topped the stone buildings, you can picture a thriving Inca community living there. It's really like stepping back not only into another time, but another world, since it was built before the Incas were aware of the Western civilization that would later discover, and conquer them. We spent most of the day there, and then headed back down to Aguas Calientes to catch our (direct, thankfully) train back to Cusco.
Caroline's parents flew back to Lima the next day, to make their connection back home, and Caroline and I got a bus back to Puno. There, we got on an "international bus" heading to the Bolivian border town of Copacabana, also on the shores of lake Titicaca, and crossed into Bolivia, which is where we are now, and will be for a few more days, before we head to Chile.
Well I think that is a good place to leave it for now, we're going to head back to our hostel and make some dinner before our 8:30p overnight bus to the town of Potosi, which you'll hear about, along with the rest of our Bolivian adventures, on the next post. Hope all is well.. if any of you have a minute, drop us an email and let us know what's going on at home!
-Matt
Caroline's parents met up with us at a beautiful little bed and breakfast in a suburb outside of Lima- our cab driver had to stop to ask directions three times to find it, but we got there eventually, and it was well worth the drive. Caroline's parents arrived there that evening, and the next day we spent relaxing by the pool, they recovering from the full day of flying the day before. The next morning, the owner of the bed and breakfast drove us into the city, and we caught a bus to a town further down the coast called Paracas. Paracas is a nice little town with a waterfront lined with seafood restaurants- the local specialty is a dish called ceviche, which consists of pieces of raw seafood mixed with red onions and vegetables, served cold. It's extremely popular along the coasts of both Equador and Peru. Paracas is nearby a national park, which is all desert but still has a surprising amount of wildlife living in it, and covers a long area of the coastline and ocean as well, although coming from Canada it's strange to see a national park with absolutely no vegetation! We took a boat the next morning to a group of islands called the Ballestas, around a half hour from the coast. These islands consist of huge rock formations sticking out of the ocean, and the rocks are covered in thousands of seabirds, so many that in some places you can't see the rock beneath them. At the base of the rocks, there are beaches which are covered in gigantic sea lions sunning themselves and rolling around all over the place- we could hear them as we approached the islands. It was quite an amazing sight, the boat drove around the islands and at times pulled up quite close so we could get a better look. That afternoon, we toured the national park. There wasn't too much to see there other than sand, but the coast of the park is mostly high stone cliffs, which provided some incredible views when we weren't rubbing the incessant sand blowing everywhere out of our eyes!
The next day, we took a cab from the town up to the main highway, flagged down a bus, and headed inland to the city of Ica. Just outside of Ica, there is a small town called Huacachina, which is a famous location in Peru (it's featured on the back of the S/50 bill) because it surrounds an oasis in the middle of the desert. We spent some time sitting by the lagoon, which is surrounded by restaraunts, hotels, and a stone walkway. At one time, this area was a resort for Peru's elite class, most of the buildings around the lagoon are colonial in style and have been restored, so it's a beautiful place, although now it is used by families from the nearby city. We hired a dune buggy and driver later in the day, and went for an adrenaline pumping drive through the mountain-sized sand dunes that surround the oasis, and spread out for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. We stopped a few times in the dunes to try "sandboarding", which consists of using a snowboard-like board to slide down the huge dunes, which was kind of scary, but a lot of fun!
The day after, we headed back to Ica and visited a vinyard just outside the city that makes pisco, which is made from grapes in a process similar to wine making, but it is further distilled into a strong, clear liquor. The most popular use of pisco is in the making of the "pisco sour", the national drink of Peru, which is pisco mixed with raw egg white and lime juice, and blended. (They're actually surprisingly good!) We were taken around the vinyard and shown the pisco-making process, and of course did some sampling! After this we headed back into Ica and caught a bus to Nazca, the home of the famous Nazca Lines, and booked a flight over the lines for the next day.
The next morning we waited for our hour-late shuttle to the airport (not an uncommon occurance) and when we finally got there, we boarded a 6 seater light aircraft, and got to see the Nazca Lines as the people who made them never could. It's an amazing sight, even more so because no one knows why the Nazca people made them, or what they mean. We got a great view, because the pilot would circle around each design a few times, but unfortunately this was a little much for those of us who suffer from motion sickness (i.e. Caroline). But even she agrees that it was well worth it. (If you're curious... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_lines)
The day after we headed back to the coast to the small town of Camana for a day at the beach, where we found a nice little hostel with a pool and a five minute walk to the beach, and we spent the next day reading, relaxing, and soaking up some rays on la mar Pacifico.
After our day at the beach, we hopped on a bus to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. We spent an evening there, and the next day headed to the village of Chivay in the Colca Valley, about four hours away from Arequipa. Chivay is the village nearest the Colca Canyon, a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The four of us took a tour first thing in the morning of the canyon, which was unfortunately on that day completly full of clouds, and might as well have been 50 feet deep for all we could tell. But the incredible views of the valley and surrounding mountain ranges and the hike along the edge of the canyon, as well as the visits we made to a couple of indigenous farming settlements in the valley made the tour well worth it.
From Chivay, we booked seats on a bus to the city of Puno, on the western shores of Lake Titicaca. Our hostel had phoned the bus company, reserved seats, and told us that a van would come and pick us up, which we assumed meant to take us to the bus terminal. When the van arrived (three hours late), he proceeded to drive right past the terminal, and all the way to Puno (a six hour drive), which we assume was because they didn't end up getting us seats on the bus, or the bus didn't come, or something like that.. but we ended up having our own van & driver, which was quite nice.
We ended up spending three nights in Puno- we planned to spend two, but were informed on the second day when we went to the bus terminal to buy tickets to Cusco, our next destination, that there was a one day strike (?) affecting the road and that we had to wait until the next day.
The first day that we were there, we went to visit the "floating islands" off the shore of the lake called the Uros, which are exactly that- floating islands made of layer upon layer of the reeds that grow in the shallow parts of the lake. It was quite an experience, we were taken to visit a few of the islands, which have small buildings made from the same reeds that the islands themselves are made of, and communities of the Uros people living on each one. The rest of our time in Puno was spent exploring the streets, which was especially interesting in the evenings, as we happened to be there during Carnival, and the streets were filled with locals celebrating, running around, and spraying these cans of white foam at each other.
We took a bus from Puno to Cusco that stopped at a few places along the way, including a museum and some Inca ruins. We were heading to Cusco primarily as a launching point to visit Macchu Picchu, and the day after we arrived Caroline's parents caught a plane to the town of Puerto Moldonado in the Amazon Basin to spend a few days on a tour of the jungle, and Caroline and I made the arrangements for our trip to Macchu Picchu, which ended up being somewhat complicated. The town at the foot of Macchu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, is accessible only by train. We wanted to arrive into Aguas Calientes in the evening, stay the night there and then head up to Macchu Picchu first thing in the morning and beat the crowds. But, unfortunately for us, the direct train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes only leaves in the mornings, which explains why our guidebook warns that Macchu Picchu gets most crowded between 10:00 and 2:00- that's when the train arrives. We discovered that there is an evening train between the town of Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes, so we found a bus company (located in a wooden shack in a gravel lot) that goes to Ollantaytambo and were able to take the evening train from there. So as Caroline's parents explored the jungle, Caroline and I spent the next few days exploring Cusco, which is a beautiful valley city that was once the centre of the Inca empire, and a large portion of the colonial city, built on the ruins of the Inca's, follows the Inca's original city plan, so it's quite unique as a result. When Caroline's parents arrived back from the jungle, we headed on our (hot and crowded) bus to Ollantaytambo and at around 8:30, our 7:00 train to Aguas Calientes left, and a few hours later, we found a hostel, slept for a few hours, and Caroline and I managed to get up at 5:00 the next morning to hike up to the top of Macchu Picchu from the town. Caroline's parents made the civilized (and probably more sane, at 2,500m above sea level) trip up to the top of the mountain on one of the buses that head up and down all day long, and we met them at the top. Macchu Picchu is an incredible sight- no amount of photos can prepare you for the experience of seeing it with your own eyes. Perfectly preserved, only missing the thatched roofs that topped the stone buildings, you can picture a thriving Inca community living there. It's really like stepping back not only into another time, but another world, since it was built before the Incas were aware of the Western civilization that would later discover, and conquer them. We spent most of the day there, and then headed back down to Aguas Calientes to catch our (direct, thankfully) train back to Cusco.
Caroline's parents flew back to Lima the next day, to make their connection back home, and Caroline and I got a bus back to Puno. There, we got on an "international bus" heading to the Bolivian border town of Copacabana, also on the shores of lake Titicaca, and crossed into Bolivia, which is where we are now, and will be for a few more days, before we head to Chile.
Well I think that is a good place to leave it for now, we're going to head back to our hostel and make some dinner before our 8:30p overnight bus to the town of Potosi, which you'll hear about, along with the rest of our Bolivian adventures, on the next post. Hope all is well.. if any of you have a minute, drop us an email and let us know what's going on at home!
-Matt
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Equador, and then into Peru.
We are alive!
It has now been over a month since our last blog, and I can only attribute this to the ease with which we have fallen into a lazy lifestyle, where even sitting on the computer for an hour seems like too much work. We have been having a wonderful time, and I cannot believe we have already been gone for almost 2 months. We are now in Cusco, Peru. Tomorrow we are taking the train to Agua Calientes, and will spend the next day exploring Machu Picchu, probably with 1000 other gringos. In grade 3 I did a "research" project on Peru, which entailed cutting pictures out of National Geographics and gluing them onto a poster. I therefore have all my life considered myself an expert on Peru.....we'll see if Machu Picchu impresses me.
Alright, my plan is to write a brief description of our trip since we last wrote.....we´ll see if I am able to get up to date. We left the jungle in Ecuador and headed again to the highlands. Ecuador´s train system has been almost completely left in disrepair, due mainly to damage from El Niño and lack of funds for repair. There is however a small stretch which leaves from the city of Riobamba and travels along a length of tracks called "El Nariz Del Diablo" (The Devil´s Nose), which has been maintained as a tourist attraction. It is a series of switchbacks down the side of a mountain, and it is a little bit terrifying, especially since we were "enjoying" the views from the roof of the train!!!. Apparently last year there was a fatality, and the authorities decided it was wiser for all passangers to remain inside the train. However, the conductors decided it would be wiser for them to go around the corner from the train station and then charge everyone an extra $1 to illegally climb up top. Honestly though it was no scarier than the many bus rides we´ve been on in the Andes!
We then decided it was time for some relaxation- you know, travelling can be quite exhausting! We headed to the Ecuadorian coast, visiting the modern city of Guayaquil, the small surfing town of Montañita, and the fishing port Puerto Lopez. We spent about a week lying on the beach with gorgeous weather. Except for some unwanted intestinal cleansing it was wonderful week! We then decided it was time to say goodbye to Ecuador and forge onwards.
I was incredibly intimidated by the thought of crossing the border into Peru. Mainly because of my good friend Lonely Planet, which described it as one of the worst border crossings in South America. It also didn´t help that I had read about how there are still landmines in the area, leftover from a war with Peru. Of course everything worked out fine. It was actually one of the coolest border crossings I´ve ever seen. We had to hop off a bus 3km from the border town to get our exit stamp from Ecuador, then flag down another bus on the side of the highway to get a ride to the border town. From the bus station we had to navigate a busy market street (full of sketchy men with briefcases offering to exchange money) in order to cross "the border", aka a small bridge over a small river, and tada! we were in Peru! We then had to take a moto-taxi (the front half of a motorcycle towing a little cart that holds two people) to the Peruvian cutstoms office, naturally located 2km away from the actual border! It was quite the experience.
Since we had relaxed in a small surfing town in Ecuador, we figured we´d better do the same in Peru, you know to accurately compare cultural differences! We spent two nights in Mancora, were we soaked in the overcast sky, and tried our first Pisco Sour, a tradional Peruvian cocktail. It is made with Pisco (made from distilled grapes), lime, and raw egg whites, delicious!!!!. After a horrible 4 hour wait for a bus in a hot shack, and another 5 hour bus ride, we arrived in the city of Chiclayo, where I proceeded to spend two days sick with a cold watching Dr. Phil! Once I recovered we travelled to the city of Trujillo, and visited some ruins of a temple. I am not really a "ruins" kind of gal, but it was pretty amazing to see the huge temple that was only partially excavated, and over 500 years old. The most incredible part was that every hundred years this culutre would fill in the temple with mud bricks and build a new identical one on top of it. In total there were 5 temples, which proved to be quite annoying for excavation, as to see lower temples they would have to destroy the higher temples.
Then..... it was Matthew´s birthday!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! 27!!!!! What better way to spend a birthday than with an 8 hour bus ride to Lima!!! He survived, and we celebrated by going to a restaurant from the "splurge" section in our Lonely planet, where the waiters serenated him with english and spanish happy birthday, gave him yummy soggy cake, and a mystery shot. I´m sure it was nothing compared to spending the day with his family and friends, but a crackly pay phone and a family on speaker phone had to do. We spent the next day walking around Lima, and even enjoyed some Starbucks coffee, particularily appreciated since Ecuadorians and Peruvains consider instant coffee the norm- gross.
Next stop: Family vacation with my parents! I figured the best way to prevent my parents from trying to discourage me from going on this "dangerous" trip, was to invite them along!!! We have been travelling with them for the past two weeks, and it has been awesome! They have been an invigorating addition to our travels. We have done so much with them in the past two weeks, and I want to make sure I do the experiences justice. I fear that my tired little typing hands would likely gloss over exciting activities, so I will sign off for now. I promise to update again within at least the next two months!!!!! Thank you all for checking out the blog, and hope everything at home is well!!
-Caroline
It has now been over a month since our last blog, and I can only attribute this to the ease with which we have fallen into a lazy lifestyle, where even sitting on the computer for an hour seems like too much work. We have been having a wonderful time, and I cannot believe we have already been gone for almost 2 months. We are now in Cusco, Peru. Tomorrow we are taking the train to Agua Calientes, and will spend the next day exploring Machu Picchu, probably with 1000 other gringos. In grade 3 I did a "research" project on Peru, which entailed cutting pictures out of National Geographics and gluing them onto a poster. I therefore have all my life considered myself an expert on Peru.....we'll see if Machu Picchu impresses me.
Alright, my plan is to write a brief description of our trip since we last wrote.....we´ll see if I am able to get up to date. We left the jungle in Ecuador and headed again to the highlands. Ecuador´s train system has been almost completely left in disrepair, due mainly to damage from El Niño and lack of funds for repair. There is however a small stretch which leaves from the city of Riobamba and travels along a length of tracks called "El Nariz Del Diablo" (The Devil´s Nose), which has been maintained as a tourist attraction. It is a series of switchbacks down the side of a mountain, and it is a little bit terrifying, especially since we were "enjoying" the views from the roof of the train!!!. Apparently last year there was a fatality, and the authorities decided it was wiser for all passangers to remain inside the train. However, the conductors decided it would be wiser for them to go around the corner from the train station and then charge everyone an extra $1 to illegally climb up top. Honestly though it was no scarier than the many bus rides we´ve been on in the Andes!
We then decided it was time for some relaxation- you know, travelling can be quite exhausting! We headed to the Ecuadorian coast, visiting the modern city of Guayaquil, the small surfing town of Montañita, and the fishing port Puerto Lopez. We spent about a week lying on the beach with gorgeous weather. Except for some unwanted intestinal cleansing it was wonderful week! We then decided it was time to say goodbye to Ecuador and forge onwards.
I was incredibly intimidated by the thought of crossing the border into Peru. Mainly because of my good friend Lonely Planet, which described it as one of the worst border crossings in South America. It also didn´t help that I had read about how there are still landmines in the area, leftover from a war with Peru. Of course everything worked out fine. It was actually one of the coolest border crossings I´ve ever seen. We had to hop off a bus 3km from the border town to get our exit stamp from Ecuador, then flag down another bus on the side of the highway to get a ride to the border town. From the bus station we had to navigate a busy market street (full of sketchy men with briefcases offering to exchange money) in order to cross "the border", aka a small bridge over a small river, and tada! we were in Peru! We then had to take a moto-taxi (the front half of a motorcycle towing a little cart that holds two people) to the Peruvian cutstoms office, naturally located 2km away from the actual border! It was quite the experience.
Since we had relaxed in a small surfing town in Ecuador, we figured we´d better do the same in Peru, you know to accurately compare cultural differences! We spent two nights in Mancora, were we soaked in the overcast sky, and tried our first Pisco Sour, a tradional Peruvian cocktail. It is made with Pisco (made from distilled grapes), lime, and raw egg whites, delicious!!!!. After a horrible 4 hour wait for a bus in a hot shack, and another 5 hour bus ride, we arrived in the city of Chiclayo, where I proceeded to spend two days sick with a cold watching Dr. Phil! Once I recovered we travelled to the city of Trujillo, and visited some ruins of a temple. I am not really a "ruins" kind of gal, but it was pretty amazing to see the huge temple that was only partially excavated, and over 500 years old. The most incredible part was that every hundred years this culutre would fill in the temple with mud bricks and build a new identical one on top of it. In total there were 5 temples, which proved to be quite annoying for excavation, as to see lower temples they would have to destroy the higher temples.
Then..... it was Matthew´s birthday!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! 27!!!!! What better way to spend a birthday than with an 8 hour bus ride to Lima!!! He survived, and we celebrated by going to a restaurant from the "splurge" section in our Lonely planet, where the waiters serenated him with english and spanish happy birthday, gave him yummy soggy cake, and a mystery shot. I´m sure it was nothing compared to spending the day with his family and friends, but a crackly pay phone and a family on speaker phone had to do. We spent the next day walking around Lima, and even enjoyed some Starbucks coffee, particularily appreciated since Ecuadorians and Peruvains consider instant coffee the norm- gross.
Next stop: Family vacation with my parents! I figured the best way to prevent my parents from trying to discourage me from going on this "dangerous" trip, was to invite them along!!! We have been travelling with them for the past two weeks, and it has been awesome! They have been an invigorating addition to our travels. We have done so much with them in the past two weeks, and I want to make sure I do the experiences justice. I fear that my tired little typing hands would likely gloss over exciting activities, so I will sign off for now. I promise to update again within at least the next two months!!!!! Thank you all for checking out the blog, and hope everything at home is well!!
-Caroline
Monday, February 2, 2009
Photos from our first week in Equador.
Dinner back up on the road.
The crevice we crawled through to get underneath the waterfall.
El Pailon del Diablo.
Standing beneath El Pailon del Diablo.
One of the many waterfalls on the way.
One of the tunnels on the highway outside of Baños. (We had to bike through this!)
View of Quito from the foot of La Virgen.
Mountain biking through the mountains outside of Baños.
Watching people puenting off of a bridge in Baños.
Dinner sans kitchen in the hostel.
La Virgen de Quito.
View of La Virgen de Quito from our hostel.
TeleferiQo (a gondola ride up the side of a mountain outside of Quito)
4,100m above sea level. (The top of the gondola ride.)
The real Mitad del Mundo.
Lunch Time.
Quito- The Old Town.
"Caliente" Shower/Electrocution Device.
Funny, none of our hostels since the Hilton have provided us with slippers.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Equador, in the Jungle.
The bus from Banos to Tena was a terrifying, sweltering hot 4 hour journey which started with standing room only. The bus rocked back an forth constantly as the road went from paved to unpaved, and back again. It was a beautiful drive, and as the mountains melted away, so did we. Appartently a full bus, and high humidty is no incentive for Ecuadorians to open their windows. We arrived in Tena, a small riverside city serving as a gateway to the jungle. We booked a 3 day stay at a jungle lodge with the Amarongachi Tour company. We left at 8am in the morning for a 20min drive to the lodge. I was at first disappointed by its proximity to the city, but all my reservations quickly drifted away as we began the short hike down to the isolated lodge. The lodge itself was a wonderful open air design, complete with bar, eating area, and an entire floor of hammocks! Nothing could compare to the view, sitting 120m above the rio Napo, the rainforest stretched out for miles before us with the Andes lining the horizon. However, there was no time to relax, we were off to visit a traditional Quichua village. First we climbed down the steep steps to the river, which we crossed in a Balsa wood canoe. We then started straight into the woods, stopping every few minutes for our guide to explain the traditional usage of a certain plant, make me a ¨crown¨ out of palm leafs, or to paint our faces with the inside of a spiney looking fruit. We trekked in the stifling heat for nearly an hour, until we started to cross signs of cultivation; yucca, cocoa, papayas, bananas trees, and of course mais. Finally we came upon the village of Santa Monica. With about 100 inhabitants, the town has a small school yard, an access road built only 5 months ago, and electricity installed only 1 year earlier. The Chief of the community and his wife (Monica, of Santa Monica) welcomed us into their home with barely a nod, as she continued cleaning her yucca roots. It was amazing to see how comfortable this family had become with letting strangers into their simple home. And I mean simple, the main room had one shelf for preparing food, a few benches, and a fire pit for preparing food (and waterproofing the palm ceiling). Oh wait, I forgot the large flatscreen tv sitting in the corner. It was a bit strange, but I guess opening your community to a reputable tour company has its perks!! It was weird to think about how the new addition of road access, electricity, and money will change this town in the coming years. We were served fresh bananas, and "chica de yucca" (water mixed with mashed up yucca root). As we sat in the shade, a baby slept in a hammock next to us, children ran in and out (getting treats from some of the other people in our group), puppies played, and our guide described the Quichua culture, showing us various different tools made from forest materials. Our visit ended with an oppurtunity to buy jewellary made from seeds from the forest. It was really a great experience. The walk back seemed a lot shorter, until we hit the 120m staircase up, its always a good stategy to pick a spot behind someone slow, and then just pretend like they are the reason you are slow ;)
After a cold shower we were served a traditional lunch of soup, chicken, rice and beans. Then it was siesta time!!! There were about 17 guests staying at the lodge, and it seems like we all had the same idea - hammock time. It was a great group nap! In the afternoon, we again took the canoe to a beach across the river, and just relaxed. Unfortunately the sun had disappeared, but the water was still warm enough to venture in. Matt was first to take the plunge, and I couldn´t be out done by him, also I had to pee like a pregnant racing horse, however had been scared by tales of this small insect in the Amazon which finds your stream of pee, swims up it, into your urethra, and then sinks its barbs in. EEK!!! I convinced myself that this bug was only in the Primary Rainforest, and not the Secondary one in which I was peeing!!!! After some gentle swimming, we grabbed our life jackets, and headed up stream to do some body rafting! It was very relaxing to float down the river, just by yourself, staring up at the beautiful setting, spying a few birds, WAIT! those aren´t the colourful parrots I was promised, those are vultures circling above!!! Still cool to see some wildlife other than insects! While we were swimming, our guide was roasting some bananas for us on a small fire, I never thought warm banana would taste so good!!! After dinner that evening we spent the evening talking to the other guests at the bar, inspecting the various gigantic insects which stopped by to say hello (ie scare the living crap out of me). I had so many bug dreams that first night, it was almost worth putting up the mosquito net we´ve been lugging around (just for peice of mind), not quite worth it though, haha We were up the next morning at 7:30am for a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, Matt really enjoyed those,) We were then driven to another lodge an hour away, part of our journey had us driving right in front of the police, who seemed to care less about the 6 of us piled into the back of the pick-up truck!! At the other lodge, the old people went off for an easy walk to a local lagoon. We, the "young and able" were off for a hike to a waterfall, four Chilenos were with us, and very helpful in translating the guides´· comments into english. It turned out to be not as much a walk to the waterfall, as a walk UP the waterfall....should have realized as soon as the guide headed out with a long rope, that something was up! It was really really cool, the first half of the hike had us walking up the creek bed, hopping on stones, or just wading through the water in our rubber boots. Small falls, were surmounted by climbing up logs with small notches in then, and covered in sand for traction. At the first majour falls we all stopped to stand in the massive downpour, and pose for the appropriate pictures. As we moved on we were slightly less concerned with finding dry spots to walk, as we were soaking from head to toe, having to stop every five minutes to pour the water out of our boots. Then we came across this waterfall about 7m high. Our guide disappears up it like spider man, a few minutes later a rope is dangled down! WHAT?!?! yes, our path was straight up the waterfall. As our guide is explaining (in spanish) how to "walk" up the waterfall, he motions to the pool of water collecting at the bottom of the falls, and warns not to step in it, as it is 6m deep. Immediately he jumps in and completely disappears down this narrow pool for a full 30s!!! crazy. We then each take turns pulling, and hoisting ourselves up the rockface, all the while heavy water thundering down on us. It was incredible!!!!!! So much fun. there was one more smaller falls which we climbed up, feeling like pros after the first!! It was then a short distance to the largest of all the falls, in which we all swam and tried to see how long we could stand under the water. One of the coolest things about the walk up the river was that the dog from the lodge had come with us the whole way, scaling many of the slippery ledges better than us. Every time we would go up a rock face too steep for him, he would circle around and be at the top waiting for us! Getting back to the lodge required a bit more hard work, climbing almost straight up the side of the mountain, before heading straight down it.....some bums may have gotten a little dirty. It was a really great morning!
After a deserving lunch, and a short 20min siesta, we headed out again, this time carrying large inner tubes with us. Ok well...maybe some of the girls only had to carry paddles............ after a long, hot walk down the dirt road in our rubber boots with no socks we left the equipment at the side of the road and headed to a natural lagoon. It was probably the most beautiful swimming pool you could ever imagine. The water came down in rapids from up stream and pooled in a small pond, set next to trees, and large rocks, perfect for diving (ahem...canonballing). The entire pool varied with different strength currents, either lapping you gently, or pulling you steadily to the natural infinity pool-like edge that lead to a 10m waterfall into the river below. The rocks above the pool provided a nature-made waterslide, so much fun and a little scary!!!!!! We hung out here for a while, lying on the warm rocks, before heading back to our gear. We then hiked about a 100m down to the riverside (good job carrying those tubes guys,)). Our guide then tied them all together, and we headed down the river into the rapids. They were just big enough to provide a bit of an adrenalin rush, and to get enough cold water on us so that our heads didn´t get jealous of our butts which were squarely in the cold water the whole time! The slow moving water in between the rapids provided the perfect time to enjoy the beautiful jungle surroundings, and reflect upon how lucky I feel to be on this trip. Its an amazing journey, and I´m so glad to be sharing it with Matt. He is a great travelling companion, and is even willing to apply afterbite to the multitude of bites I incurred during that lazy trip down the river! We returned to our lodge after dark, four of us being guided down wet steps by one flashlight. Half way through the hike down to our lodge, I grabbed the rope railing at the side of the trail. Our guide yells "don´t grab the rope, there are ants" he then proceeds to shine the light on the rope, and show us these monsters. Seriously, I´ve never seen anything like it, they were about 1.5cm long, at least 1cm tall, and apparently their bites give you a fever!!! yikes! As we arrived at the lodge we realized that we and another older couple from Montreal were the only guests in the entire lodge, it was kind of weird and cool!
The next morning the four of us, plus our guide, went on a hike to a canyon. On the way we spotted a small baby monkey, way up in the trees!!!! So cool! Our guide then proceeded to throw small sticks at it to try and make it move. awesome. We hiked down the side of a small mountain to reach the entrance to the canyon. The walls of rock were at least 20m high, the opening just barely big enough to squeeze your body though. Bats flew at us from every direction. Matt showed his appreciation of the wildlife by cowering with his head covered, he's a true animal lover. A small stream ran through the canyon, and when it eventually opened up, you could see small fish in it. We came upon a large cave in which hundreds of bats were sleeping, but not for long thanks to the flash of our travelling companion´s camera! We moved on to a section of the canyon that became so narrow at the bottom, that we had to climb up it. Pressing our bum on one edge, and our feet on the other, we edged our way up. It was soooo cool!!! It almost made me want to become an oudoorsy person!!! After lunch a heavy downpour put the kibosh on our plans to tube down the river, but we were happy to spend the afternoon sleeping and reading in the hammocks overlooking the view, enjoying the sounds of the forest. In the evening we were driven back to Tena. Today we left Tena, taking a 6 hour bus ride to Riobamba (back in the mountains). I was sad to leave the Oriente behind, but excited for what lies ahead. Only a couple weeks left in Ecuador! Hopefully we post again soon. Thank you all for checking out our blog. Being away from home is weird, and it´s nice to think about all the people at home wishing us well!! Take care!!
-Caroline
After a cold shower we were served a traditional lunch of soup, chicken, rice and beans. Then it was siesta time!!! There were about 17 guests staying at the lodge, and it seems like we all had the same idea - hammock time. It was a great group nap! In the afternoon, we again took the canoe to a beach across the river, and just relaxed. Unfortunately the sun had disappeared, but the water was still warm enough to venture in. Matt was first to take the plunge, and I couldn´t be out done by him, also I had to pee like a pregnant racing horse, however had been scared by tales of this small insect in the Amazon which finds your stream of pee, swims up it, into your urethra, and then sinks its barbs in. EEK!!! I convinced myself that this bug was only in the Primary Rainforest, and not the Secondary one in which I was peeing!!!! After some gentle swimming, we grabbed our life jackets, and headed up stream to do some body rafting! It was very relaxing to float down the river, just by yourself, staring up at the beautiful setting, spying a few birds, WAIT! those aren´t the colourful parrots I was promised, those are vultures circling above!!! Still cool to see some wildlife other than insects! While we were swimming, our guide was roasting some bananas for us on a small fire, I never thought warm banana would taste so good!!! After dinner that evening we spent the evening talking to the other guests at the bar, inspecting the various gigantic insects which stopped by to say hello (ie scare the living crap out of me). I had so many bug dreams that first night, it was almost worth putting up the mosquito net we´ve been lugging around (just for peice of mind), not quite worth it though, haha We were up the next morning at 7:30am for a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, Matt really enjoyed those,) We were then driven to another lodge an hour away, part of our journey had us driving right in front of the police, who seemed to care less about the 6 of us piled into the back of the pick-up truck!! At the other lodge, the old people went off for an easy walk to a local lagoon. We, the "young and able" were off for a hike to a waterfall, four Chilenos were with us, and very helpful in translating the guides´· comments into english. It turned out to be not as much a walk to the waterfall, as a walk UP the waterfall....should have realized as soon as the guide headed out with a long rope, that something was up! It was really really cool, the first half of the hike had us walking up the creek bed, hopping on stones, or just wading through the water in our rubber boots. Small falls, were surmounted by climbing up logs with small notches in then, and covered in sand for traction. At the first majour falls we all stopped to stand in the massive downpour, and pose for the appropriate pictures. As we moved on we were slightly less concerned with finding dry spots to walk, as we were soaking from head to toe, having to stop every five minutes to pour the water out of our boots. Then we came across this waterfall about 7m high. Our guide disappears up it like spider man, a few minutes later a rope is dangled down! WHAT?!?! yes, our path was straight up the waterfall. As our guide is explaining (in spanish) how to "walk" up the waterfall, he motions to the pool of water collecting at the bottom of the falls, and warns not to step in it, as it is 6m deep. Immediately he jumps in and completely disappears down this narrow pool for a full 30s!!! crazy. We then each take turns pulling, and hoisting ourselves up the rockface, all the while heavy water thundering down on us. It was incredible!!!!!! So much fun. there was one more smaller falls which we climbed up, feeling like pros after the first!! It was then a short distance to the largest of all the falls, in which we all swam and tried to see how long we could stand under the water. One of the coolest things about the walk up the river was that the dog from the lodge had come with us the whole way, scaling many of the slippery ledges better than us. Every time we would go up a rock face too steep for him, he would circle around and be at the top waiting for us! Getting back to the lodge required a bit more hard work, climbing almost straight up the side of the mountain, before heading straight down it.....some bums may have gotten a little dirty. It was a really great morning!
After a deserving lunch, and a short 20min siesta, we headed out again, this time carrying large inner tubes with us. Ok well...maybe some of the girls only had to carry paddles............ after a long, hot walk down the dirt road in our rubber boots with no socks we left the equipment at the side of the road and headed to a natural lagoon. It was probably the most beautiful swimming pool you could ever imagine. The water came down in rapids from up stream and pooled in a small pond, set next to trees, and large rocks, perfect for diving (ahem...canonballing). The entire pool varied with different strength currents, either lapping you gently, or pulling you steadily to the natural infinity pool-like edge that lead to a 10m waterfall into the river below. The rocks above the pool provided a nature-made waterslide, so much fun and a little scary!!!!!! We hung out here for a while, lying on the warm rocks, before heading back to our gear. We then hiked about a 100m down to the riverside (good job carrying those tubes guys,)). Our guide then tied them all together, and we headed down the river into the rapids. They were just big enough to provide a bit of an adrenalin rush, and to get enough cold water on us so that our heads didn´t get jealous of our butts which were squarely in the cold water the whole time! The slow moving water in between the rapids provided the perfect time to enjoy the beautiful jungle surroundings, and reflect upon how lucky I feel to be on this trip. Its an amazing journey, and I´m so glad to be sharing it with Matt. He is a great travelling companion, and is even willing to apply afterbite to the multitude of bites I incurred during that lazy trip down the river! We returned to our lodge after dark, four of us being guided down wet steps by one flashlight. Half way through the hike down to our lodge, I grabbed the rope railing at the side of the trail. Our guide yells "don´t grab the rope, there are ants" he then proceeds to shine the light on the rope, and show us these monsters. Seriously, I´ve never seen anything like it, they were about 1.5cm long, at least 1cm tall, and apparently their bites give you a fever!!! yikes! As we arrived at the lodge we realized that we and another older couple from Montreal were the only guests in the entire lodge, it was kind of weird and cool!
The next morning the four of us, plus our guide, went on a hike to a canyon. On the way we spotted a small baby monkey, way up in the trees!!!! So cool! Our guide then proceeded to throw small sticks at it to try and make it move. awesome. We hiked down the side of a small mountain to reach the entrance to the canyon. The walls of rock were at least 20m high, the opening just barely big enough to squeeze your body though. Bats flew at us from every direction. Matt showed his appreciation of the wildlife by cowering with his head covered, he's a true animal lover. A small stream ran through the canyon, and when it eventually opened up, you could see small fish in it. We came upon a large cave in which hundreds of bats were sleeping, but not for long thanks to the flash of our travelling companion´s camera! We moved on to a section of the canyon that became so narrow at the bottom, that we had to climb up it. Pressing our bum on one edge, and our feet on the other, we edged our way up. It was soooo cool!!! It almost made me want to become an oudoorsy person!!! After lunch a heavy downpour put the kibosh on our plans to tube down the river, but we were happy to spend the afternoon sleeping and reading in the hammocks overlooking the view, enjoying the sounds of the forest. In the evening we were driven back to Tena. Today we left Tena, taking a 6 hour bus ride to Riobamba (back in the mountains). I was sad to leave the Oriente behind, but excited for what lies ahead. Only a couple weeks left in Ecuador! Hopefully we post again soon. Thank you all for checking out our blog. Being away from home is weird, and it´s nice to think about all the people at home wishing us well!! Take care!!
-Caroline
Equador, in Baños.
We're now sitting in an internet cafe in the city of Riobamba, and thought it was time to post another update on what we've been doing down here. We caught a bus in Quito to Baños, which is where we were when we wrote the last post. Baños is a beautiful little town in a valley surrounded by tall, green mountains, and a (recently active) volcano. The name baños means baths in Spanish- there are natural hotsprings around the town heated by the volcano. It's a haven for tourists both local and international, and it's a centre for tour and adventure companies, whose businesses line the streets and offer whitewater rafting, mountain biking, ATVing, trekking, and all kinds of other things. One of the latest things they have come up with is what they call "puenting"... puenta means bridge in Spanish, and what they do is attach a rope to the middle of a bridge over a deep canyon, of which there are many in the area, attach the rope to a harness, and jump off the bridge, free fall for a second or two, and then swing on the rope like a pendulum under the bridge. It's kind of like bungie jumping, except that the rope isn't elastic, except for a little bit on the end so your spine doesn't snap in half when the rope grabs the harness. Sounds like fun, hey? For our first outing in Baños, we rented mountain bikes and rode out of town along the carretera heading east, which runs along a spectacular canyon, making a few stops along the way. The first was a bridge, where I tried some puenting, which really got the adrenaline going.. we made a couple of stops to enjoy the view as well. Our eventual destination was a waterfall called the "Paillon del Diablo", which we hiked down to the bottom of from the road. It's an incredible sight- 100m high. There was a narrow space in the rocks below the waterfall that we climbed through, which places you directly under the falling water... an incredible experience. After that we hiked back up to a small village, and were looking for some dinner when we were approached by a woman who brought us to her front yard, where she had a makeshift store set up with a table and chairs (this is very common in Equador) and made us a great dinner, after which we jumped into the back of a pickup truck with our bikes and a couple of German tourists and hitched a ride back into town. We visited the town's most popular thermal baths that evening, called "La Piscinas de Virgen" (you'd be amazed at the kind of things that get named after the virgin Mary here!), which were crowded with locals, but great. We were lucky during our time in Baños to have a great hostel to unwind in, with a great rooftop patio filled with interesting characters to talk to, not to mention $1 bottles of beer! The next day, we hiked up the mountains to the south of the city.. it was a steep trail and a hot day, but a great hike.. and the lookout points along the way, and at the top of the mountains, were well worth it, with a view of the entire valley. We were exhausted, so another trip to the baths was definitely in order. The day after, we got up early and went to an agency where we had booked a whitewater rafting trip, where we were met by a couple of British guys who were staying at the same hostel we were, and two girls from Montreal. The six of us got into a van with a couple of guides and drove to the river outside of town, where after a brief tutorial we were quickly into some harrowing class IV rapids... an incredibly challenging, terrifying, and yet incredibly fun experience which I definitely want to try again back home. That evening we went out to a bar with our rafting crew and a few others from the hostel who tagged along. We had a fun evening and got to know some great people. The next day, we took it easy at the hostel in the morning.. one other great feature of the hostel we stayed at is the steam baths they have.. the bath consists of a combination of sitting in a wooden box pumped full of steam with just your head sticking out of a hole in the top, and being doused with ice-cold water in between.. a great way to wake up in the morning! Caroline could only handle one.. but I made it part of my daily routine! We took it pretty easy that day, we went out for a walk in the afternoon, and found a spa that offered $20 massages.. the perfect end to a action-filled week. We met up with our friends from the hostel one last time that evening, and headed off to the city of Tena, in the amazons, the next morning. As I write this, Caroline is sitting at the computer next to me writing a post about what we did after that.. we figured with the amount we had to cover we would both go at it at once! We're unfortunately not going to be able to post photos now, since the computers at this internet cafe keep having strange spanish virus alerts pop up every few minutes and we don't want to risk messing up the camera. We'll go to another place and upload some photos soon. Thanks for reading, hope everyone is well back home, and we'll try to keep the posts coming.
-Matt
-Matt
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Equador, the first Week.
Hola
So we have now been in Ecuador for 1 full week, and figured it was time to start our blog (also our hostel has free internet). We arrived in Quito a mere 14 hours later than planned, due to bad weather. The good news is we were put up in a wonderful room in the Hilton in Guayaquil (a town on the coast), where we enjoyed a full 3 hours of sleep before we had to be back at the airport. Nonetheless we made it safely, and spent 5 stressful days in Quito, trying not to be hit by the crazy drivers, who announce their arrival into busy intersections with a honk, but no deceleration. The busy city grew on us as we learned to navigate the bus system ($0.25!) and did some exploring.
Our first major outing was to the city of El Mitad del Mundo, through which runs the supposed equator. We visited not one, but two museum/theme parks which both claim to showcase the real equator (the proof is in the paint on the sidewalk). One of them was quite cool, giving a tour with lots of experiments ¨proving¨ its latitude, including tubs with draining water and eggs balancing on nails, although no gps. It was actually a cool tour, also giving lots of info on Ecuador´s history and Quechua culture. The whole day was really nice, and also our first day with sunshine (that´s right all you Vancouverites, you needn´t be too jealous, we had a good 3 days of steady rain).
The internet here is free but it is not unlimited, and sadly that is all we can post for today. Although the adventures we´ve had since the equator trip have been far greater, one of us is a slow typer....grrr. Alas, we will return with further updates. Thanks for checking our blog! More photos to come as well... they take a long time to upload so we could only do one today, but there´s many more to come!
So we have now been in Ecuador for 1 full week, and figured it was time to start our blog (also our hostel has free internet). We arrived in Quito a mere 14 hours later than planned, due to bad weather. The good news is we were put up in a wonderful room in the Hilton in Guayaquil (a town on the coast), where we enjoyed a full 3 hours of sleep before we had to be back at the airport. Nonetheless we made it safely, and spent 5 stressful days in Quito, trying not to be hit by the crazy drivers, who announce their arrival into busy intersections with a honk, but no deceleration. The busy city grew on us as we learned to navigate the bus system ($0.25!) and did some exploring.
Our first major outing was to the city of El Mitad del Mundo, through which runs the supposed equator. We visited not one, but two museum/theme parks which both claim to showcase the real equator (the proof is in the paint on the sidewalk). One of them was quite cool, giving a tour with lots of experiments ¨proving¨ its latitude, including tubs with draining water and eggs balancing on nails, although no gps. It was actually a cool tour, also giving lots of info on Ecuador´s history and Quechua culture. The whole day was really nice, and also our first day with sunshine (that´s right all you Vancouverites, you needn´t be too jealous, we had a good 3 days of steady rain).
The internet here is free but it is not unlimited, and sadly that is all we can post for today. Although the adventures we´ve had since the equator trip have been far greater, one of us is a slow typer....grrr. Alas, we will return with further updates. Thanks for checking our blog! More photos to come as well... they take a long time to upload so we could only do one today, but there´s many more to come!
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