Quit(o)ing South America

For our last three days in South America we decided to take the plunge and have some Spanish classes. Our Spanish teacher (Jaqui, see middle below) was excellent and we both now speak fluent Spanish (many thanks to the Baird family).

Quito was a fun city due to the annual "founding of Quito" celebrations, leading to marching bands and lots of activity.

As the curtain came down on our explorations through South America we enjoyed some cerviche (the national dish of Ecuador, a cold fish snack made with chilli and limes, delicious http://tinyurl.com/2budc9) and home made sorbet from the oldest ice cream shop in Ecuador.

Saying our last (Spanish) farewells to South America we took the plane to another continent vowing to come back and check out the countries we missed at a yet to be decided date...

Galapa-geekos

For our final couple of days we caught up with the rest of the attractions on Santa Cruz, huge lava tunnels to walk through, giant tortoise in the wild and a visit to the beautiful beach of Tortuga Bay with fine white sand and rolling surf.

In summary an amazing place with the friendliest wildlife on the planet highly recommended to anyone planning a holiday. Just bear in mind the place is absolutley teeming with photography and naturalist geeks (and many fat americans). Ugh!

Muchas Gracias to Jonny and Brigs for the park entrance to a trip we will never forget.

Cruising - Santa Fe & Santiago Island

Santa Fe Island is home to a huge cactus forest, but whilst it's flora was quite inhospitable, the animals were lovely! The sea lions here were great posers & didn't mind us even taking a lie down next to them (if you don't mind the barking, smelly breath when they woke up!).

Next day commenced with snorkelling at the "Chinese Sombrero", a volcano next to Santiago Island. We were most excited when we swam with the marine igunanas & watched them tearing away at the algae on the rocks (seriously pre-historic looking!). On land we saw lava tunnels & lizards.

Another landing spot, Puerto Egas, was where we watched a sea lion catching dinner (massive silver fish which it just attacked ferociously). Then peeking in the lava formed sea caves we came across an orgy of marine iguanas!

The most unusual landscape of the entire trip was found at James Bay where the volcano here errupted just 120 years ago & life on the land is yet to return. In its place were amazing lava rock formations, a perfect place if you were shooting a sci-fi movie...

Bartholome was one of our final destinations, this is where the standard Galapagos postcard shot is taken (see below). But also where we were lucky enough to swim & hang out with (very very cute) penguins!

Before heading back to port on our last day we went to a beach/lagoon where flamingoes hung out - a very chilled out place to end this fantastic trip.

Seymour Island and Las Plazas

After the delights of Isabella we spent a few days taking first class luxury boat trips to some un-inhabited islands (thanks a million Uncle Michael & Auntie Jacinta).

Seymour Island
Saw loads of amazing birds... got up close to the blue footed boobies & we were lucky enough to witness their mating dance (very similar to Mike whistling/dancing in blue flippers, with arms outstretched). Saw lots of frigates, also ready to mate, displaying their red balloon-like chests.
After a gourmet lunch we went snorkelling with more sharks & this time mantra rays!

Las Plazas Island
Early morning we snorkelled in crystal clear water with more friendly sea lions & a multitude of tropical fish. Then onto land where we saw at least ten plus sea lion colonies. Needless to say it was pretty stinky, but well worth it as we got close to many baby sea lions (sooo cute, they yelp like little lambs!).

Isabella Island

Taking a rough high speed boat over to Isabella Island we checked into a cool apartment overlooking a secluded beach. We found a cosy little beach bar where despite fancying a G&T, decided to order something more Southern American in flavour... why not a caipirinha? This resulted in a clueless barmaid making me the most disgusting cocktail ever - a large rum with creme de menthe (no limes or sugar & why minty??!), really gross!

The following morning we hired bikes & followed the trail to the Giant Tortoise Breading Sanctuary where we had another mini photo-shoot with these amazing creatures.

Next stop was the Playa d'Amor - a beautiful beach, perfect for honeymooners wanting a swim... anyway, moving on it was time to bike to the Wall of Tears (built by convicts).

One of the highlights of this island was the snorkelling trip to Las Tintorerras, where we swam inches over seven white tipped reef sharks (yes Mike pooed it!).

Back to the beach next to the apartment & fun was had swimming with some friendly sea lions...

Welcome to the Galapagos

Touching down in Santa Cruz, the main island, within 1 minute of getting off the bus we had seen marine iguanas, pelicans and crabs just a tase of what was to come.

We got our bearings and went to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see some land iguanas and giant tortoises being bred. We also got a look at Lonesome George (the last of his species), apparently he refuses to mate even though he has been given two females to "have fun with". Natural selection will probably take care of his species shortly, the fussy tortoise.

We then booked some trips to the different islands...

Operation Quito

Arriving in Quito we decided we needed a plan:

Plan.

1. Get parasites out of Mikes Feet

2. Get to the Galapagos

So straight onto phase 1 of the plan. After calling the insurance company and getting the recommendation "go to hospital asap", we found the best hospital in Quito we could (one where you are not means tested upon arrival).

Asking for an appointment with a doctor we were directed to casualty after Mike showed his toe to the receptionist...

Once they had Mike's passport and got some basic details, it was on with the hospital robe (cool)!

First the head surgeon, then a procession of 5 other doctors were called to examine the feet. They all defered to the head of dermatology who was having his lunch.

Upon arrival he laughed and told us everything was going to be ok... some antibiotics and a quick cleaning of the infested areas should do the trick, sounds easy...

So after three very painful injections of local anasthetic into his toes the surgeon (another one) got out what looked like a massive DC electric convertor and proceeded to cut and burn his way through Mike's toes. Stopping only for a "wow, esta une grande worm!".

1 hour later and with some large plasters on his feet, Mike is parasite free... now comes the 4 weeks of healing for the massive holes in his toes and various antibiotics to avoid infection. "That's the last time I play football in bare feet in the Bolivian jungle".

Booked Galapgos trip for asap (tomorrow) and very excited...

Lima just passing through

Hola Lima...

Adios Lima.

Nazca Lines

After finally leaving Cusco we took an excutivo bus to Nazca, a strange little desert town which used to be a major place for the Nazca people (a pre Incan civilization). As it turns out they loved graffiti and in the desert next to their town they drew loads of pictures that you can only see from the sky (strange for a people who were around 2000 years before airplanes). We decided to fit as much fun into 1 day as possible so here it goes...

9am. Get into mini plane fore trip over the lines, little 6 seater pulling bit corners as we swoop over the desert seeing massive strange drawings.

10am. breakfast

11am. Mike saves a dove from certain doom with Baywatch moves in the hotel pool

12am. Shopping for shorts

1pm. Lunch

2pm. Sandboarding & Sandbuggy in the desert dunes

6pm. Beers before night out

8pm. Cockfighting and beers

10pm. Pool and beers (Lisa had to sit and watch as no girls were allowed)

11pm. Nightclub...

3am. Very exciting day over...

Inka Trail

The Inka Trail to Machu Picchu!

After a couple of days recovering from the partying in Cusco, we set off on the much anticipated Inka Trail, having booked this nearly 3 months in advance we were really looking forward to this. Along with 14 others and 19(!) porters to carry all our tents and food we set off along this 49km 13,776 ft trail which rises and falls for 4 days of intense walking along the Sacred Valley of the Inka´s to the city of Machu Picchu one of the wonders of the world.

A porter carrying 50 kg

The first day was quite easy and the biggest surprise didn´t come from the amazing pathways the Inka´s built for miles and miles but from the amazing cooking for the entire trip. We even had bowls of warm water and soap to wash our hands before our three course meals (including breakfast). The little porters would pack up, run ahead of us and then set up for the next camp/meal before we even got close!



The second day was hardcore, an ascent of 1200 m when you are already at 3000m is quite breathtaking (literally). Uneven Inka steps all the way did not make it the easiest climb and some of the group really suffered with the sun and altitude. After reaching the Dead Woman's Pass (see below profile) at 4200m one of the group was really struggling (nose bleeding and oxygen etc..), but with the help of a nurse on our trip and some handy porters acting as mules she was carried down to the camp.

The third day ended up being a little longer than originally planned as we were catching up for the emergency conditions the day before. Setting out at 7am we finished walking at 5pm with only a 45 minute lunch breaking the day. Needless to say everyone was completely knackered at the end. The scenery and perspective however made up for any tiredness, with insightful talks along the way by the guide. We also got to see lots of nature with cloudforests, humming birds and medicinal plants.

Mike in an Inkan Tunnel

Lisa on the trail with walking stick

On the final day we were woken at 4am to get all our gear together to hike up to the Sun Gate before all the tourists got to the city so we could get the famous postcard photo. After 2 hours of walking we managed to get the the gate only to find that we were in the middle of a cloud and could see nothing (reminding us of the time we went to see the Christ the Redeemer in Rio!). The weather was changable with one minute it being hot & sweaty and the next needing all layers including waterproof ponchos. As we got closer to the city however the cloud started to break and give us fleeting views of the ancient ruins. By this time Lisa had caught a chill/virus from the others on the trip and was not relishing the idea of a whole day walking around some old bricks.

Lisa forcing a smile after being sick on "Makes-ya Pukeu"

After breakfast Lisa managed to puke in front of some Americans and then after a few boring talks about how clever the Inkans were (they loved the stars and invented everything apparently) she decided to take on the new role of tramp of Machu Picchu (click on above photo to view). So while Lisa was sleeping with llamas, Mike went exploring these amazing ruins.

Enough exploring, we both headed down to the town of Aguas Calientes for a coca tea for Lisa and many beers and a dip in the hot springs for Mike. After a long train ride back to Cusco we both slept very, VERY well. Many thanks to Chris and Jen for this experience, one we will never forget.

Halloween

The talk of the town for the 31st was Halloween, and especially the party being thrown at our hostel. Being a very professional affair everyone decided to get some serious costumes prepared, which entailed a visit to the markets and second hand clothing shops of Cusco. Walking around the shops we learnt some interesting new vocab, including the words for "wig, white dress, veil, face-paint and bolts" (see below photos for end results).

Before getting ready some final touches were required and the excitement of Cusco at Halloween was revealed, with fire works and hundreds of kids chanting "Halloween" in order to get sweets from the shop keepers.

After the messy business of getting ready, we were not let down by the excellent party with lots of comedy costumes, banging house music and drinking. By sunrise the energy had left us and we had to pass out leaving some crazy ghosts going for it after 7am.

After a rather large week we decided to check into a 'normal' hotel and get some much needed rest prior to the Inca Trail, phew...

Back to the Point!

So after surviving the rafting we headed back to Cusco and straight to the doctors to check that Mike's feet were not going to turn into an alien creature farm. After a brief consultation we received some cream for the parasites (the doctor offered to cut open Mike's feet if he wanted but after explaining it was actually not required Mike turned down his offer). He also gave us both some cream for the bites (now numbering in the hundreds!) to ease the itching slightly.

After a day of relaxing (and viewing the video of the rafting in a local bar - leading to yet another 6am night) we decided to do some culture and went to visit Sacsayhuaman which is amusingly pronounced "sexywoman". A huge cluster of Incan remains on top of the hill overlooking Cusco. Using stone weighing upto 130 tonnes fitted togheter with impossible accuracy. We climbed up the hill (as usual breathless due to the altitude) and were greeted by bus loads of Peruvian school children who found the idea of a picture with a gringo as interesting as a picture of some rocks. Hence after forming orderly queues and having individual pictures we were finally released to explore the ruins.



They were impressive (in a big rocks and walls type of way). At the very top we met a young Shaman (in training), 24 and studying tourism at the local university. He proceeded to chat to us for 20 minutes giving us the insight into the life of a young Shaman and the local way of life. After giving peace to mike's soul (apparently it was still a bit frightened after the tumble in the raft) he was promptly chased off by the tourism police!