Our journey to Cajamarca started at 4am, and neither of us are particularly good at that hour of the morning (except when I´ve been out all night and I´m still dancing of course), so it is little wonder that I left my passport and credit card in the hostal room and had to run back, wake up the lovely man who ran the joint and retrieve the aforementioned necessities from the bedroom. A little spot of early morning panic. Lovely. We had tried for a few days to suss out a night bus to Cajamarca with no success, but when the sun came up at 6am or so and we got to spend several hours driving through the Andes, we realised why a night bus would have been a terrrible shame. I can´t really describe the views, they´re absolutely incredible and the immensity of the ranges was breath-taking - loads of photos were taken and I have just realised how to upload images! (Unfortunately I don´t have the pics to hand right now but I swear there will be lovely pictures to accompany our scintillating text before this trip is done).
We got to Cajamarca just as a torrential rainy season downpour began, and we were too tired to think about hostels so we ducked into the nearest nice looking cafe for a spot of coffee and salad to hole up while the rain poured down. And it was there that we received yet another amazing invitation from the locals. At the cashier we started chatting with a man called Carlos and his sister Rita, both in their 70s, and before we knew it, Carlos had thrust his address into our hands and insisted that we come for breakfast at his house the next morning. We were both very tired and quite dazed so we weren´t entirely sure how this transaction had eventuated or what to make of it. The next morning we trooped off to Carlos and Rita´s house after leaving the address with our hostal and strict instructions to call the police if we weren´t back by lunchtime (just in case!). Of course when we arrived at their house we realised how totally genuine and lovely they were. Carlos had made some amazing tea from fresh herbs and set the table with a lovely spread of breads and tiny, delicious avocados (paltitas). After breakfast we had a tour of the house and a long discussion about life and politics (directed mainly by Sue since my Spanish is restricted to ´how many brothers and sisters do you have´and ´could you pass the salt?´. Turns out Carlos and Rita are just a bit lonely (and of course our company is totally amazing) so it took a couple of hours to extricate ourselves and we agreed to come back for coffee later that evening. We also left with a gift of a large number of avocados and lemons, several of which squished themselves into unimaginable corners of our food bag. When we popped back later for coffee, we gave Carlos and Rita a copy of the photo we´d taken together earlier in the day and some yummy cakes to say thank you. We had a lovely time, but to avoid yet another invitation to breakfast, lunch and dinner, we told our new friends that we were leaving on a bus for Trujillo that night, which was nearly true but not quite. The next day we popped off to the thermal baths, Baños del Inca, for a bit of a soak and had just stepped back out of the baths when we heard a voice calling us ¨Maria! Maria!¨(That´s me by the way) and saw Carlos waving at us from the other side of the baths! By this stage we had gotten a little bit over the whole thing so we said a quick hello and then really did dash off to the bus station to hit the road for Trujillo. Most of the time you can rock up to the bus stations and there are no shortage of buses, but this time we had misjudged the departure times and spent an hour trudging around different companies in the stinking heat, before realising that there was no way we were leaving for Trujillo until the evening. As often happens, what looks like a big pain in the bum turns out to lead to a lovely experience, and in this case, we spent a delicious afternoon in a beautiful little plaza, lying under a tree eating icecreams and discovering the delights of a local bakery, which also sold the best olives we had eaten since forever. So we headed off to Trujillo new and refreshed women!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Journey to Cusco
(Note, the blog entry below was only posted on 10 November though a draft was started a few weeks earlier - just to explain if the sequencing seems a little confusing)
We are trying to create the illusion with this blog that we´re recounting things as they happen but to be honest, we´re about a month behind now. The last few weeks of our trip have been busy and stressful. Jumping out of bed at the crack of 9 or so, a bit of yoga and meditation and then we´re ready to stroll down to see the little peruvians that have been up since about 4 in the morning and inquire: breakfast? They look at you like you´re from another planet sometimes and in lots of ways you are.
We reflected on this today as we sat and drank coffee on the balcony of a swanky cafe and looked down at a little lady dressed in madly colourful clothing leading her llama down the streets of cusco (llamas really have no business being in the city but these ladies make a living by pouncing on anyone that takes a photo of them and asking them for a sol). She probably makes only in a day what we spent on two coffees, doesn´t really seem right somehow.
We got a particularly strong reminder of the poverty here during our journey to Cusco when we got caught up in protests and roadblocks made by starving (and pissed off) campesinos (country people). This particular protest took the form of loads of different villages around Cusco blocking up the main roads with rocks, stones, wood and bodies.
The first we knew was that our bus stopped at 3 in the morning in the middle of nowhere. Although quite a few of the peruvians on board left the bus to start walking we decided that bumbling around in the countryside in the dark with a lot of angry people around probably wasn´t the way to go so we settled down in the bus and tried to get a few more hours kip.
By 7 in the morning the sun was blazing and we got up and wandered out to see a huge line of buses and trucks behind us and quite a few villagers and loads of rocks on the road in front. We wandered up to talk to the villagers and they seemed quite fine and happy at that stage, like they were just having a street party that we´d happened to crash. An old guy called roberto, who had his cheeks stuffed with coca leaves, came up to talk to us and did an impressive pantomime act of how the villagers had thrown the rocks down onto the road from the hills above. We gave him our water and wished everyone luck and wandered back to the bus to have some breakfast, trying hard not to think about all of the hungry people around us.
By about 10 in the morning lots more people were milling around and nobody seemed to have a clue what was going on. Meg and I, along with quite a few others, set ourselves up in one of the fields beside the road to get a little sun and got chatted up by a couple of peruvian lads who insisted on taking our pictures and introducing themselves. We were a bit icequeenish for the start but mellowed out and got chatting to Marco and Ronald to pass the time. They totally won our hearts a little later when they went and got some hot drinks for us from a local house and then Marco produced a set of taro cards (quite unexpected because he seemed rather solid and sensible) and gave me a tarot reading in the middle of the field. That was all quite good and then Meg was about to have her reading when things over on the road seemed to explode into quite a bit of turmoil.
We scrambled for our buses and were confronted by the sight of police in riot gear and villagers going for gold. There were rocks flying and villagers disappering into the hills and fields near by and we were a bit shocked when we realised we were all being tear gassed. We jumped on the bus with eyes and nose streaming and burning and then had to quickly get down in the isle and put blankets over oursleves as the windows on the bus were being pelted with rocks. A few windows were smashed and little local ladies on our bus were screaming in terror as well as screaming out obscenities to the rock throwers who they didn´t seem to sympathise with at all.
After an hour or so the police got the upper hand and the whole thing seemed to calm down into a sort of equilibrium. We got off the bus to compare rock throwing and tear gas action with tourists from other buses with a bit of a wary eye in case there were any more stray villagers hanging around with sling shots.
Four hours later nothing seemed to be any clearer about what was happening. The roadblock was there to stay for the meantime and it appeared there were heaps of roadblocks all the way to cusco. Nobody really knew what they should do but it seemed to us we didn´t want to sit around on the side of the road for two days so we and one of the peruvian guys decided so start walking.
It´s a pretty long story the rest this story, but really one of the most amazing experiences we´ve had on this trip. It took us about 13 hours to get to cusco with a combination of motorbike taxis, mini vans and walking. There were zillions of roadblocks of all sorts, mainly rocks that had been placed for 100s of metres in places but even kids were getting in on the act and making their own little roadblock creations with any crap they could lay their hands on.
We were lucky to find quite a few motorbike taxis on the way but everytime we got to another roadblock we´d have to get out and pass on foot. This was a little daunting in places because some of them looked like they were eyeing us up for target practice, but we just tried to look like dumb tourists and that did work mainly, especially after dark when we just slipped past people doing our best phantom impression. We did run into a bit of trouble at one roadblock where there was a particularly angry man with a bullwhip. He wasn´t happy with our presence and probably a bit toasted on Chica (corn alchol) because he started lashing out with his bullwhip. Meg copped a fantastic whack (and lovely bruise) from him on her thigh and Ronaldo also got a good crack. We´d have probably just run away at this stage but the calm Ronaldo (who I think is just used to this sort of thing becuase he´s peruvian) calmed things down and kept guiding us through.
After that bit of excitement we struck a bit of road where there were no motor taxis or any transport and we had to walk about 25 kms (good fun with 20 kgs strapped on your back). By this time there were 6 of us because we´d also gathered into our troop a lovely NZ couple, Ngaire and Wyatt, and a young peruvian girl. The walk would have been reasonably unpleasant in any other circumstances but with the happenings of the night as well as the most beautiful night sky full of stars we´ve ever seen, it somehow kept us in good spirits.
When we did finally make it through all of the protests we were still about 2 hours from cusco and for a while it looked as though we were all going to have to hole up in a barn for the night - complete with fresh straw and a manger (ok, maybe not a manger), but then a very lovely man pulled up with his pickup truck and offered to take us to Cusco. He already had 7 people on board but where there´s a will there´s a way. We ended up 8 people and our packs on the back of the pickup truck thanks largely to skillful stacking and organisation by Wyatt and not minding too much about personal space. It wasn´t the most comfortable time ever but we didn´t really care by that stage and were delerious with happiness when we swung into cusco at about 3 in the morning and were able to make our way to the comforts of a shower and bed.
So that was getting to cusco.
More soon. :-)
We are trying to create the illusion with this blog that we´re recounting things as they happen but to be honest, we´re about a month behind now. The last few weeks of our trip have been busy and stressful. Jumping out of bed at the crack of 9 or so, a bit of yoga and meditation and then we´re ready to stroll down to see the little peruvians that have been up since about 4 in the morning and inquire: breakfast? They look at you like you´re from another planet sometimes and in lots of ways you are.
We reflected on this today as we sat and drank coffee on the balcony of a swanky cafe and looked down at a little lady dressed in madly colourful clothing leading her llama down the streets of cusco (llamas really have no business being in the city but these ladies make a living by pouncing on anyone that takes a photo of them and asking them for a sol). She probably makes only in a day what we spent on two coffees, doesn´t really seem right somehow.
We got a particularly strong reminder of the poverty here during our journey to Cusco when we got caught up in protests and roadblocks made by starving (and pissed off) campesinos (country people). This particular protest took the form of loads of different villages around Cusco blocking up the main roads with rocks, stones, wood and bodies.
The first we knew was that our bus stopped at 3 in the morning in the middle of nowhere. Although quite a few of the peruvians on board left the bus to start walking we decided that bumbling around in the countryside in the dark with a lot of angry people around probably wasn´t the way to go so we settled down in the bus and tried to get a few more hours kip.
By 7 in the morning the sun was blazing and we got up and wandered out to see a huge line of buses and trucks behind us and quite a few villagers and loads of rocks on the road in front. We wandered up to talk to the villagers and they seemed quite fine and happy at that stage, like they were just having a street party that we´d happened to crash. An old guy called roberto, who had his cheeks stuffed with coca leaves, came up to talk to us and did an impressive pantomime act of how the villagers had thrown the rocks down onto the road from the hills above. We gave him our water and wished everyone luck and wandered back to the bus to have some breakfast, trying hard not to think about all of the hungry people around us.
By about 10 in the morning lots more people were milling around and nobody seemed to have a clue what was going on. Meg and I, along with quite a few others, set ourselves up in one of the fields beside the road to get a little sun and got chatted up by a couple of peruvian lads who insisted on taking our pictures and introducing themselves. We were a bit icequeenish for the start but mellowed out and got chatting to Marco and Ronald to pass the time. They totally won our hearts a little later when they went and got some hot drinks for us from a local house and then Marco produced a set of taro cards (quite unexpected because he seemed rather solid and sensible) and gave me a tarot reading in the middle of the field. That was all quite good and then Meg was about to have her reading when things over on the road seemed to explode into quite a bit of turmoil.
We scrambled for our buses and were confronted by the sight of police in riot gear and villagers going for gold. There were rocks flying and villagers disappering into the hills and fields near by and we were a bit shocked when we realised we were all being tear gassed. We jumped on the bus with eyes and nose streaming and burning and then had to quickly get down in the isle and put blankets over oursleves as the windows on the bus were being pelted with rocks. A few windows were smashed and little local ladies on our bus were screaming in terror as well as screaming out obscenities to the rock throwers who they didn´t seem to sympathise with at all.
After an hour or so the police got the upper hand and the whole thing seemed to calm down into a sort of equilibrium. We got off the bus to compare rock throwing and tear gas action with tourists from other buses with a bit of a wary eye in case there were any more stray villagers hanging around with sling shots.
Four hours later nothing seemed to be any clearer about what was happening. The roadblock was there to stay for the meantime and it appeared there were heaps of roadblocks all the way to cusco. Nobody really knew what they should do but it seemed to us we didn´t want to sit around on the side of the road for two days so we and one of the peruvian guys decided so start walking.
It´s a pretty long story the rest this story, but really one of the most amazing experiences we´ve had on this trip. It took us about 13 hours to get to cusco with a combination of motorbike taxis, mini vans and walking. There were zillions of roadblocks of all sorts, mainly rocks that had been placed for 100s of metres in places but even kids were getting in on the act and making their own little roadblock creations with any crap they could lay their hands on.
We were lucky to find quite a few motorbike taxis on the way but everytime we got to another roadblock we´d have to get out and pass on foot. This was a little daunting in places because some of them looked like they were eyeing us up for target practice, but we just tried to look like dumb tourists and that did work mainly, especially after dark when we just slipped past people doing our best phantom impression. We did run into a bit of trouble at one roadblock where there was a particularly angry man with a bullwhip. He wasn´t happy with our presence and probably a bit toasted on Chica (corn alchol) because he started lashing out with his bullwhip. Meg copped a fantastic whack (and lovely bruise) from him on her thigh and Ronaldo also got a good crack. We´d have probably just run away at this stage but the calm Ronaldo (who I think is just used to this sort of thing becuase he´s peruvian) calmed things down and kept guiding us through.
After that bit of excitement we struck a bit of road where there were no motor taxis or any transport and we had to walk about 25 kms (good fun with 20 kgs strapped on your back). By this time there were 6 of us because we´d also gathered into our troop a lovely NZ couple, Ngaire and Wyatt, and a young peruvian girl. The walk would have been reasonably unpleasant in any other circumstances but with the happenings of the night as well as the most beautiful night sky full of stars we´ve ever seen, it somehow kept us in good spirits.
When we did finally make it through all of the protests we were still about 2 hours from cusco and for a while it looked as though we were all going to have to hole up in a barn for the night - complete with fresh straw and a manger (ok, maybe not a manger), but then a very lovely man pulled up with his pickup truck and offered to take us to Cusco. He already had 7 people on board but where there´s a will there´s a way. We ended up 8 people and our packs on the back of the pickup truck thanks largely to skillful stacking and organisation by Wyatt and not minding too much about personal space. It wasn´t the most comfortable time ever but we didn´t really care by that stage and were delerious with happiness when we swung into cusco at about 3 in the morning and were able to make our way to the comforts of a shower and bed.
So that was getting to cusco.
More soon. :-)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
New friends and discotecas
So last we left you we were in Chachapoyas, which is a lovely black and white city, almost a little Tudor-influenced. Chachapoyas is famous for Kuelap, a huge fortress and city set high in the mountains. It's inacessible as it is, involving a 2-3 hour drive into the Andes, but this has been compounded of late by the ridiculous roadworks going on outside Chachapoyas. Okay ridiculous for us because they only open the road from 4am-7am and then again from 4pm-7pm each day, and we happened to arrive a little late - not our fault for those who might immediately assume it was the infamous Meagan Stephenson tardiness. Probably not so ridiculous for the locals who are going to get a massively improved road out of it. But we had to sit for two hours at a roadblock while Carlos, our tour operator and local big man about town, negotiated with (bribed??) the chief engineer. A lovely bonus however, was that we got to know Jenny and Ant (hi!) who were on our tour and near the end of a magnificent trip (over a year on the road, which impressed us no end!) So we had a really great day touring around the ruins and then enjoying dinner and excellent conversation with new friends. They hoofed it off to the jungle after that and we very nearly joined them before deciding that we really wanted to see some more of the Andes in Peru before we went back to the coast. We had planned to go straight to Cajamarca after Chachapoyas but were redirected by the lack of buses to Leymebamba first. And it was there that we met the lovely Rosio, Roger and Carlos and had our first discoteca experience in a very long time. Rosio started chatting to us in the plaza almost straight after we arrived in Leymebamba and invited us to lunch with her and her friends. She's a tour guide and so was great to talk with about our travels thus far. After a yummo lunch and fantastic tropical torrential rain and lightening display (Chachapoyas and Leymebamba are part of the alto selva, the highest parts of the jungle), Rosio invited us out for her birthday celebrations that night - and she's a bit of a disco queen that girl. We had a brilliant time at the local discoteca which seemed to play a mixture of south american music and early 90s clubbing music...think Ace of Base and Snap. Great night though and the next day we went to Yerbabuena to a market day...bulls and horses everywhere and the most enormous amount of pooing. Even a wee boy dropped his pants for a toilet stop in the middle of the market! After sharing a bottle of chicha, a drink made from fermented cane sugar (yum) we said farewell to our new friends and headed back to Chachapoyas to get ready to catch our 4am (!!!) bus to Cajamarca. Oh! And i nearly forgot our visit to the museum...loads of extremely ancient mummies found in graves built into the hills around a beautiful lake in the mountains..very eerie and very interesting! But enough for now!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Marching bands and welcoming committees
Well, I feel like I'm fronting up to confession...forgive me padre, it has been at least two weeks since my last blog entry. Sue and I have been having marvellous fun though, visiting ruins and getting a feel for the incredible layers of history still being discovered in Peru. But I think what might have held us back from heading to the internet cafe is that we've been rather busy of late hanging out with the fantastic people we've met in the last wee while. Which I know is a pitiful excuse, but it just seems that the desire to write and a decent internet connection haven't coincided in a long time!
We arrived in Chiclayo, Peru after a fairly long but well-run trip across the border. We'd just spent at least 12 hours on various buses so weren't really sure where the hell we were, it was darn hot and we were humping our packs around looking for a hostel when we accidentally ran into a huge fiesta (another one), this time displaying the talents of the local kids marching bands. We of course interpreted this as a very special 'Welcome to Peru' for us. There was absolutely no chance of avoiding the parade so we hung about for a look and we pretty much swarmed by children within 30 seconds, all wanting to practice their English by interviewing us. We also attracted a young dude who wanted to show off his amazing English skills to the girls who were interviewing us by reading to us from our guide book in, well, pretty average English really. So after about 15 minutes we finally managed to shake them off, although in the end we had to make up a story about having a hostel very close and kind of slip away in the crowd. Still, it was a beautiful welcome to a new country! While we were in Chiclayo, we joined a tour to one of the old Moche pyramid sites and met a lovely travel agent called Augusto, who convinced us that a trip up into the mountain villages of Chachapoyas and Cajamarca would be a fabulous idea...so after a day of trekking around some fantastic old burial sites and museums, we jumped on a night bus to Chachapoyas....more later!!
We arrived in Chiclayo, Peru after a fairly long but well-run trip across the border. We'd just spent at least 12 hours on various buses so weren't really sure where the hell we were, it was darn hot and we were humping our packs around looking for a hostel when we accidentally ran into a huge fiesta (another one), this time displaying the talents of the local kids marching bands. We of course interpreted this as a very special 'Welcome to Peru' for us. There was absolutely no chance of avoiding the parade so we hung about for a look and we pretty much swarmed by children within 30 seconds, all wanting to practice their English by interviewing us. We also attracted a young dude who wanted to show off his amazing English skills to the girls who were interviewing us by reading to us from our guide book in, well, pretty average English really. So after about 15 minutes we finally managed to shake them off, although in the end we had to make up a story about having a hostel very close and kind of slip away in the crowd. Still, it was a beautiful welcome to a new country! While we were in Chiclayo, we joined a tour to one of the old Moche pyramid sites and met a lovely travel agent called Augusto, who convinced us that a trip up into the mountain villages of Chachapoyas and Cajamarca would be a fabulous idea...so after a day of trekking around some fantastic old burial sites and museums, we jumped on a night bus to Chachapoyas....more later!!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Hazy lazy days...
For those of you who are awaiting news of mountains we have climbed, rivers we have rafted, and snakes we have wrestled, you´ll be a little let down. Vilcabamba is the kind of town where you can walk down the middle of the street with no fear of traffic, but maybe having to dodge the odd donkey poo. There are only about ten streets anyway, and while we thought we might be bored, we found we settled right in. Lots of good food and good people, including a very interesting woman shaman who lives on the edge of town with her menagerie. So we spent some time hanging out with her and her four dogs and four cats, as well as her muy guapo scarlet macaw, Pepe, who waved to us from the trees and did everything he could to attract our attention. This included assuming numerous poses to show off his gorgeous feathers. He used to get kidnapped from time to time, including a trip to the local whorehouse where he was held to ransom for $30, but apparently he sticks to his own back yard these days. We´ve been here about six days and tonight we´re heading off to Piura, to start the Peruvian leg of our adventure. Ecuador has been brilliant and beautiful, and we´re looking forward to what´s to come. Lots of Incan ruins in the near future we suspect.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Colour therapy
So, what was going to be a few days in Baños turned into a week of relaxing and merry-making. We followed our fantastic waterfall escapade with a tour of the local drinking establishments. And I´m not sure if Sue mentioned the fabulous yellow poncho she purchased following our drenching in La Pailon del Diablo cascada, but it was beeeaautiful and has now become our source of happiness on off-days. Sue might need it now because she has yucky flu. It may be the result of our visit to the local drinking establishments, but it might just be one of those things. So we´re holing up in Cuenca for a couple of days. Anyways, I digress. The other form of colour therapy we indulged in involved several cocktails of all the colours of the rainbow, yellow piña coladas, green mai tais and red strawberry somethings, mixed by the expert hands of Susanna, our favourite bar keep. We took our friend Marg out for her last night in Baños, supposedly for one drink, which turned into several, which resulted in Marg not actually leaving the next day. So we all went to Cuenca together the day after. And the night after our first trip bender, Sue hiked up to the Statue of the Virgen to pay her respects (or penance) at 8am after which we headed to the local thermal baths to sweat out the toxins. A soak in the ultra hot baths, followed by a dousing under the icy cold waterfall, followed by subsequent dips in the hot and cold water was just the ticket. No hangover! Amazing! Either that or Sue´s trip to see La Madre worked a treat. Baños was lovely all in all. We stayed in a fantastic hostel (Timara), owned by a lovely ex-pat Brit called Paul who is about the most helpful and kind hostel owner I think we´ll ever meet. We didn´t want to leave but as Marg put it, it´s not really travelling if you don´t go anywhere. Although we seem to have adventures plenty even when we stay in one place. Oh, I also went to a spa for the afternoon and paid to be shut in a steam box and periodically doused in icy cold water by a lovely lady called Estella. After the steaming I had a massage from another lovely lady who was a bit older and farted quite a lot during the session, but perhaps it was all part of the service!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Getting wet
It´s a struggle staying here in Baños. How do you decide between hotpools, facials, massages, and about a million outdoor activites? We´re pretty close to the jungle too so you can dart off into the amazon for a few days and swim with the barracudas, have your face painted by tribesmen or whatever takes your fancy.
Our adventure yesterday was slightly more sedate but lots of fun. We ran into a dude called Mario, who hooked up his brother Angel to take us on a jeep ride along the valley running out of Banos towards Puyo. It´s surrounded by volcanoes here, some of them quite active, and the countryside is incredible, lots of deep river canyons and the most amazing waterfalls, especially after quite a few days of rain.
We took our chances on a cable car ride across a ridiculously deep river canyon. After a couple of weeks observing the languid approach to health and safety here you find yourself hesitating and tossing up the odds about doing these sorts of things but a sense of adventure won the day. The ride was very fast and we shared it with half a dozen large planks of wood that were loaded on. This mystified us a little, until a little old lady showed up at the other end of the cable car ride and unloaded them. We helped of course but i think she could have managed it quite nicely herself.
We drove a bit further after this and Angel provided us both with a pair of gumboots and guided us down a very steep walk to the Devil´s palion (the religious overtones of this weren´t lost on us) , a very spectacular waterfall. Meg was then foolish enough to ask whether we could go behind the waterfall which made Angel smile quite excitedly and indicate that indeed yes we could. So we ended up scrambling around some rocks and through a very narrow rock tunnel until we ended up in a little refuge under a thundering wall of water. The waterfall was periodically throwing off huge surges of water so parts of it were a bit like running the gauntlet. We were wearing our little semiwaterproof jackets, while Angel was wearing a big plastic poncho down to his knees. We were wet to the bone - he was fine. He giggled and said the waterfall wasn´t normally anywhere near that big.
Anyway, we discovered afterwards that it´s quite a lot of fun to climb for 20 minutes up a steep track dripping wet with gumboots full of water. We then sat dripping in the restaurant at the top and had the three course menu of the day which cost the grand total of 2.20 NZ each.
Such are the small adventures we are having. Our highlight adventure on the previous day had been a jaunt in a kiddy type ride (with a rhinohead at the front, rock music blaring and a bunch of carts behind). We thought it might be a sedate ride through the town but the driver was a maniac, we lurched from side to side in our little carts while he zig zagged through the streets and took 90 degree turns at the last possible minute. Petrol´s quite cheap here...
Anyway we´re chilling out here for a few more days and then we´re thinking of heading to Cuenca which is 7 0r 8 hours south of Banos.
Enough for now. Hope you are all doing well.
Meg and Sue
Our adventure yesterday was slightly more sedate but lots of fun. We ran into a dude called Mario, who hooked up his brother Angel to take us on a jeep ride along the valley running out of Banos towards Puyo. It´s surrounded by volcanoes here, some of them quite active, and the countryside is incredible, lots of deep river canyons and the most amazing waterfalls, especially after quite a few days of rain.
We took our chances on a cable car ride across a ridiculously deep river canyon. After a couple of weeks observing the languid approach to health and safety here you find yourself hesitating and tossing up the odds about doing these sorts of things but a sense of adventure won the day. The ride was very fast and we shared it with half a dozen large planks of wood that were loaded on. This mystified us a little, until a little old lady showed up at the other end of the cable car ride and unloaded them. We helped of course but i think she could have managed it quite nicely herself.
We drove a bit further after this and Angel provided us both with a pair of gumboots and guided us down a very steep walk to the Devil´s palion (the religious overtones of this weren´t lost on us) , a very spectacular waterfall. Meg was then foolish enough to ask whether we could go behind the waterfall which made Angel smile quite excitedly and indicate that indeed yes we could. So we ended up scrambling around some rocks and through a very narrow rock tunnel until we ended up in a little refuge under a thundering wall of water. The waterfall was periodically throwing off huge surges of water so parts of it were a bit like running the gauntlet. We were wearing our little semiwaterproof jackets, while Angel was wearing a big plastic poncho down to his knees. We were wet to the bone - he was fine. He giggled and said the waterfall wasn´t normally anywhere near that big.
Anyway, we discovered afterwards that it´s quite a lot of fun to climb for 20 minutes up a steep track dripping wet with gumboots full of water. We then sat dripping in the restaurant at the top and had the three course menu of the day which cost the grand total of 2.20 NZ each.
Such are the small adventures we are having. Our highlight adventure on the previous day had been a jaunt in a kiddy type ride (with a rhinohead at the front, rock music blaring and a bunch of carts behind). We thought it might be a sedate ride through the town but the driver was a maniac, we lurched from side to side in our little carts while he zig zagged through the streets and took 90 degree turns at the last possible minute. Petrol´s quite cheap here...
Anyway we´re chilling out here for a few more days and then we´re thinking of heading to Cuenca which is 7 0r 8 hours south of Banos.
Enough for now. Hope you are all doing well.
Meg and Sue
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Getting high
Aloha,
We have just spent a few days in Cotopaxi National Park, staying in an adobe mud house near Cotopaxi Volcano. So beautiful. We did a few walks to check out the local flora and fauna, but didn´t venture up the volcano because...well because we couldn´t be arsed. Just seemed like exercise on that scale didn´t appeal and that we were far better off with chilling out and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Strangely, aside from the view of the volcano, it reminded us of New Zealand, and even the volcano and surrounding farmland bore a resemblance to Taranaki. We were staying at 3 500 metres though, and we definitely noticed the effects on our lungs and heads...a bit spacey and a bit out of breath at times, but very good practice for Machu Picchu I guess! We´re now in Baños, a town famous for it´s mineral baths and hot springs. Which seems like an excellent place to relax for a little while. So far we´ve done a walk up a hill to see a statue of Mary overlooking the town and discovered a magical health food shop in the middle of town, where we found brown rice and fresh spices. I know, not exactly party central but it could be that, dare I say it, we might be past that!
We have just spent a few days in Cotopaxi National Park, staying in an adobe mud house near Cotopaxi Volcano. So beautiful. We did a few walks to check out the local flora and fauna, but didn´t venture up the volcano because...well because we couldn´t be arsed. Just seemed like exercise on that scale didn´t appeal and that we were far better off with chilling out and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Strangely, aside from the view of the volcano, it reminded us of New Zealand, and even the volcano and surrounding farmland bore a resemblance to Taranaki. We were staying at 3 500 metres though, and we definitely noticed the effects on our lungs and heads...a bit spacey and a bit out of breath at times, but very good practice for Machu Picchu I guess! We´re now in Baños, a town famous for it´s mineral baths and hot springs. Which seems like an excellent place to relax for a little while. So far we´ve done a walk up a hill to see a statue of Mary overlooking the town and discovered a magical health food shop in the middle of town, where we found brown rice and fresh spices. I know, not exactly party central but it could be that, dare I say it, we might be past that!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Fiesta Loco!
We were pleasantly surprised with the magnificent welcome that the residents of Otovalo put on for us last night. A small welcome committee would have been enough, but we really didn´t expect a full parade, complete with dancers from Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, as well as some startling body-builders and Miss Otovalo contestants distributing roses. The streets were thick with Ecuadorians, many of which Meg was delighted to discover only came up to her waist. An uncommon experience for her. The prize for the most bizarre float went to the scantily-clad nurses (mini skirts and red stilettos), accompanied by a very large papier mache Egyptian cat. They were advertising something, it was either bikini waxes or viagra. By the looks of the number of babies in the crowd, it should have been contraceptive pills.
Everywhere we looked there were squat Ecuadorian women with tight baby bundles strapped to their backs. Looks like a fantastic way to get around. We´re thinking of finding a couple of Ecuadorian women to carry us around for the rest of the trip. They seem built for carrying heavy loads, we saw a little old man yesterday who came up to our knees, but had a large bundle on his back about four times as big as he was. Made us stop complaining about our packs for five minutes.
We´re so glad to be out of the city. We´re staying in a fantastic hostel (http://www.rosecottageecuador.com/) with a family who speaks no English so it´s a Baptism of Fire with our spanish. Much fun. Sporting a little bit of sunburn after a fantastic jaunt in the countryside yesterday. Life is beautifully slow here. Everyday we see a little man sitting by the side of the road while his herd of 6 cattle grazes - he looks happy as Larrio. Our next-door neighbour is a farmer who we see ploughing his field with his oxen in the morning. We´re pretty sure he´s not just doing this for our photo opportunities. Chilling here for a couple more days before heading south, we hope on another bus with as much character as that we arrived on.
Chau for now!
Everywhere we looked there were squat Ecuadorian women with tight baby bundles strapped to their backs. Looks like a fantastic way to get around. We´re thinking of finding a couple of Ecuadorian women to carry us around for the rest of the trip. They seem built for carrying heavy loads, we saw a little old man yesterday who came up to our knees, but had a large bundle on his back about four times as big as he was. Made us stop complaining about our packs for five minutes.
We´re so glad to be out of the city. We´re staying in a fantastic hostel (http://www.rosecottageecuador.com/) with a family who speaks no English so it´s a Baptism of Fire with our spanish. Much fun. Sporting a little bit of sunburn after a fantastic jaunt in the countryside yesterday. Life is beautifully slow here. Everyday we see a little man sitting by the side of the road while his herd of 6 cattle grazes - he looks happy as Larrio. Our next-door neighbour is a farmer who we see ploughing his field with his oxen in the morning. We´re pretty sure he´s not just doing this for our photo opportunities. Chilling here for a couple more days before heading south, we hope on another bus with as much character as that we arrived on.
Chau for now!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Estamos Aqui!
Contrary to what some of our more doubtful friends might have thought, we managed to meet in Quito on the right day, in the right place and with very little stress. And yes, even we were surprised. So we´re just hanging out in Quito for a day or two more, before heading out into the wilderness to chill out. Neither of us are city girls at heart, especially given the manic-ness of crazy Quito, and we´ve found a couple of lovely places to rest for a while.
We´re heading up to Otovalo tomorrow, two hours north of Quito, where there is a huge market on a Saturday and a fiesta happening this weekend. We´ll be staying outside of Otovalo with views of the volcanoes. Should be great! So tomorrows job is tackling the south american bus system for the first time... might need a couple of coffees beforehand.
Hope everyone is well and happy...chau for now! Meg and Sue
We´re heading up to Otovalo tomorrow, two hours north of Quito, where there is a huge market on a Saturday and a fiesta happening this weekend. We´ll be staying outside of Otovalo with views of the volcanoes. Should be great! So tomorrows job is tackling the south american bus system for the first time... might need a couple of coffees beforehand.
Hope everyone is well and happy...chau for now! Meg and Sue
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