our RTW trip

The Amazon Jungle (30 June - 5 July 2008)

I am sure, like me, you have also watched TV programs about the Amazon. And so we have an idea of what to expect - a dense jungle with some spiders, snakes and a huge river…But the Amazon jungle turned out to be far more than just that.

It took a three hour 4×4 ride from Lago Agrio (close to the Columbian border) to the river and another four hour canoe ride to get to Dracaena the camp. Before getting onto the canoe, we had a quick lunch and some wildlife introductory action: the local kids found a small (just over a meter) anaconda. They found it somewhere near the house and brought it home for the visitors to see. No one seemed to be too bothered by it - except the paparazzi visitors.

We arrived at our camp at 19:00 - it was already dark, exactly the situation I was hoping to avoid, because how am I suppose to check our room, toilet, bed, etc for spiders without light (there was no electricity)? After the long ride on a small wooden bench, our bums were numb when we stepped onto dry land. We were introduced to our guide, Paula, who took us through the basics of the camp. She first showed us around the social area where we were to have our meals and all day coffee, tea and hot chocolate. When she pointed to the cups with her flashlight a spider, the size of my hand, caught my eye. He was sitting next to the cups…Paula must have seen the horror on my face, because she gave an embarrassed giggle and said not to worry; she’ll chase the spider to the rear of the cupboard. CHASE it AWAY?! NO! I would prefer it to be eliminated or taken far, far away.

Needless to say, I was very jumpy the rest of the evening and poor Eon had to check every nook and cranny before I was able to fall asleep under the safety of our mosquito net. But before bedtime, we had a delicious dinner and Paula gave us the rules for the next few days:
1. When walking in the jungle, do not touch any animals, insects or plants. Many of the trees are poisonous and others are hosts to fire ants (fire ants - the name says it all - do not get bitten by them!).
2. We are allowed to swim (and bathe - which we did) in the river, but only in the big strong-flowing part of the river where it is more difficult for the piranhas and caiman to attack us.
3. When swimming, do not pee in the water - the toothpick fish can crawl up your urinal canal and attach itself there. Apparently it is very painful and it has to be surgically removed.

We were lucky to have a small and nice group of people - a couple from France, a couple from Belgium and two American girls.

After dinner we did a short night walk around the camp. We were instructed to use our flashlights to help look for tarantulas…it was then that I started wondering how I got myself into this…It was Eon! He just has a way of putting things in such a way that I think “this sounds like such a good idea” and before I know it, I find myself slap-bang in the middle of the Amazon jungle - searching for my biggest fear around our camp.

The walk was actually very interesting. We found a tarantula, but it was a “small one”. We also stumbled across bullet ants - their bites are apparently the most painful insect bite in the world. According to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index on Wikipedia, the bullet ant’s bite is described as: “Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.” The pain can sometimes last up to a week and causes a bad fever as well. And this is where I realised that the spiders are the least of my problems…

The Belgium guy, Jan, had an early introduction to the creatures of the Amazon when he stood on an ants nest while looking for the tarantulas - he was doing a little rain dance when the little buggers started biting him right through his trousers. Luckily for him, it wasn’t the poisonous type and he got away with some stinging, itching and a bruised ego.

We had an early rise the following morning to make a quick canoe trip to the canopy tower for an overall view of the jungle from above. On the way back to camp, we were instructed to shout ‘march!’ as loud as we can…on which we had a reply sounding like an army marching towards us. It was no army (thank goodness), it was the marching wasps - when they feel threatened they make this sound to scare away the enemy. Back at camp, after breakfast, Paula gave us some info on where exactly we were. The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve - located in the northeast section of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. Over 500 different species of birds live in the Cuyabeno Reserve. One hectare of the Cuyabeno Reserve can contain over 240 different species of plants, each one with a specific practical or medicinal use. We were each handed a very thick poncho (it is not called a rainforest for nothing) and a pair of rubber boots and then we set off into the jungle.

The wildlife in the Amazon jungle is obviously very different from that in Africa, I found it odd that the mammals are smaller and the insects and plants are much bigger. It was also far more difficult to spot any wildlife than back in Africa. But it turned out to be very interesting. On our walk, trudging through deep mud and following the ‘path’ that our native guide were making with his machete, we were introduced to so many weird and wonderful things. Some of the things we saw were oropendola birds, chestnut fronted macaws, blue morpho butterflies (very big with amazing bright blue wings), spiders, squirrel monkeys and many enormous trees and plants. Besides the beauty of the jungle, it was also amazing to just stand still and listen to all the sounds.

In the late afternoon, we took two canoes and rowed into one of the many river branches of the jungle. Unfortunately, our driver had no idea what he was doing and he kept crashing our canoe into the overhanging trees. Eon had to take over to help guide us back to camp. At least we had the opportunity to see some insects and spiders up close - the poor things fell into our boat from their homes that were destroyed by our bad driver.

The next day was a long day out on the canoe. We visited the Shaman who informed us on the many medicinal uses of the plants found in the jungle. From there we stopped over at a local village to see how yucca bread is made - from pulling the roots from the earth, to cleaning, grating and baking the bread. And then it was off to the Laguna Grande. On the way we saw red howler monkeys, toucans, black mantel tamarind monkeys, stinky turkeys, blue and yellow macaws and rain, rain, rain. It was still pouring when we arrived at the lagoon after three hours.

When the rain finally stopped and we set foot on land at another camp, we were fortunate enough to come across six spectacled caimans - I never knew that they can grow just as big as crocodiles. As if this was not enough scary entertainment for one day, we then went fishing for piranhas. The gear was simple: line and hook with meat on a stick. We sat on the canoe, cast the line into the water and then slammed the end of the rod on the surface to resemble an ‘animal in distress’ to lure the piranhas.

On the way back to camp, we came across some pink river dolphins. Unlike the ocean dolphins, these dolphins are shy and not as playful. They only surface to breathe, so we only saw the fins. But it was still a spectacular sight.

The following morning, half of our group headed back to Quito - they had a four day trip. We still had one day left before heading back and we were to spend it with a walk in the jungle. We set off with Paula and our native guide, Donfelix, on the canoe. On the way we saw a group of capuchin and squirrel monkeys. As we were watching them from the canoe, a hawk flew in and caught one of the squirrel monkeys right in front of us. We were all stunned - Eon and I for knowing how lucky we were to witness something like this; and the American girls for the poor monkey.

We entered into a very dense part of the jungle - this time Donfelix had to chop his way through the jungle to make a manageable path for us. We had an amazing experience on this walk. We came across lemon ants - they live in a specific tree on which they feed and this causes them to taste like lemon. How do we know? Because we licked them! Donfelix chopped off a branch from a guarumo tree and we all drank the fresh water dripping from it. One of the branches that Donfelix chopped off looked like it was bleeding - turned out it was sap, something that the monkeys are very keen on.

Next up was the surgeon ants. These ants have very big jaws as defence mechanisms, and therefore the natives can use them as stitches: the ant is placed over the gaping wound and when it bites into the flesh, the body is removed from the head. The jaws stick and viola - stitches!

Eon and I were brave enough to try a local speciality - living larvae. The native guide used his machete to chop open a type of palm nut from which he produced these white, fat beetle larvae (coroso larvae). Paula told us it tastes like coconut….Eon tried it first. On his confirmation that it does indeed taste like coconut and after a bit of his convincing charm, I decided to give it a try. And yes, disgusting as it may sound - I ate a live worm and it tasted like coconut Click on the YouTube link below to view a video clip of me eating the worm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yAf0hcr1LA

On returning from the walk, I finally had the courage to get into the river for a wash. Eon had already done this the day before and survived it with no piranha, caiman or toothpick fish incidents. By this time, I was in desperate need of a wash to get rid of the layers upon layers of sun block, mosquito repellent and mud. We could have taken a very cold shower, but the combination of freezing water and spiders hiding behind the shower curtain just did not inspire me. The swim/bath in the river was quick and painless and very refreshing.

And so I survived the Amazon - yes, there were more spiders than I have ever seen and yes, they were enormous. But for some reason, they did not bother me as much. Maybe it was due to all the other distractions, all the other dangerous and intriguing insects, plant and animals. All and all, this was a wonderful trip.

Click on image below to view the gallery for The Amazon Jungle:

Quito (26 June - 29 June 2008)

From the plane, Quito did not look like the typical capital city. It was nestled in a valley between mountains and it was green and lush. Here and there some high risers towered over the rest of the urban city and there were many parks scattered around. When the plane landed, we tried to get some info on how to get to the centre of Marsical, the tourist accommodation hub, without taking the expensive taxis. But no one seemed to think it was a good idea for us to go by metro or bus. So we ended up taking the $7 taxi.

We checked into Hostal Nassau (a cheap and cosy option), handed in our laundry and immediately went on a search for a tour operator to book a tour into the Amazon Jungle. In the end we booked a five day trip with Dracaena to start on 30 June. This meant that we had a couple of days in Quito before heading to the wilderness.

Our sightseeing took us to the Old Town of Quito to the Plaza de Indepencia, surrounded by a multitude of old colonial architecture. We were very impressed by the city’s public transport system; the metro busses run frequently and are easy to reach from anywhere in the city (it also runs on an environmentally friendly electronic system). This made the exploration of this use city very easy and affordable. After marvelling at the beauty of the old town, we stopped at the Museo del Banco Central. Completing the walk through this massive museum was exhausting - we felt like we have not slept in days! So we dragged our feet back to the hostel for an afternoon nap.

We could not resist the urge to visit “The Middle of the Earth” - it has a sci-fi sound to it…’we are going to middle earth to slain the dragon’…or like something from Lord of the Rings. But actually it is a small complex, about 20 km from Quito, positioned (almost) on the equator. Modern GPS readings have revealed that the monument is seven seconds of a degree off the true equator, roughly 215 meters. Technology can be such a fun-spoiler So, if we do not look at it too technically, we can say that we have been to the middle of the earth and back! See the silly photos as proof…

The rest of the afternoon was a preparation for the Amazon - physically and mentally. The physical preparation included the endless search for long sleeve, cotton shirts to keep sun, animals (mostly insects) and dangerous plants at bay. We were advised that cotton is the only way to go - it is light, not too warm and dries quickly even in the ever wet rainforest. We also went to pick-up our clean laundry, only to find the laundromat was already closed! This meant that we did not have enough underwear for the Amazon trip and even worse, because we finally decided to hand in Eon’s daypack for a desperately needed wash, we did not have a daypack for him. I figured if Paris Hilton could go to a farm in heels and Gucci, then we could go to the jungle with my shoulder bag/handbag from China

The mental preparation was far more challenging. You see, I am exceptionally scared of spiders. Any other bugs are no problem; cover me in snakes - no problem. But those eight legged freaks have a way of creeping me out. I break out in a sweat when I spot one…I even have nightmares about them! So WHAT was I thinking when we booked the trip to the Amazon?!

Sometimes one just has to jump into the deep end, I suppose. So on the Sunday morning we took a bus to the small town of Lago Agrio, from where we would start our trip into the Amazon basin the following morning.

Click on the image below to view the gallery for Quito:

Galapagos Islands (21 - 26 June 2008)

We had great internal turmoil about visiting the Galapagos Islands. You see, the tenants renting our house back in South Africa had decided to vanish into thin air. So for the last three months, we had to cover the bond payments - an expenditure that we had not planned for. So with this in mind and knowing that the Galapagos will cost around R2000 per person per day for a week, we had some serious doubts.

In the end we did our calculations and decided that an opportunity like this comes around merely once in a lifetime and so we jumped at it.

TAME Air delivered us safely to the Islands that spurred Charles Darwin to formulate his theory of evolution. The Galapagos Islands are scattered over the equator in the Pacific Ocean. There are 13 large islands and over 40 small islands and islets. The Galapagos Archipelago is purely volcanic in origin, with the latest eruption on Isabella Island in 2005. These islands draw 70 000 visitors annually due to its matchless wildlife and natural history.

When Charles Darwin set foot on the islands in 1835, he was taken aback by the tame behaviour of the animals. And the animals still behave in the same way today - Eon’s zoom lens was a bit of an ‘over-kill’ for this trip, because the animals were to close for the lens to focus. Eon had to stand way in the back of our group to get the perfect shot Interesting fact is that more than half of all the land species in the Galapagos are endemic!

Our first taste of the wildlife was in transit, while crossing the bay on a ferry. We were amazed by the amount of sea birds we saw dashing in to the water or flying low above our heads. We started our trip on Santa Cruz Island, visiting the Highlands.

First up was a crawl through a lava tube and then a visit to the Giant tortoises. I could not believe the size of these things! On the way we also saw many birds, coming within inches of us. The landscape was barren lava rocks covered with elephant grass and cactuses. From the highlands it was down to Puerto Ayora to board our ‘cruise-boat’, The Free Intrepid.

We had quite a bit of excitement the first night. We checked into our cabin and when leaving for dinner, I asked Eon to lock the cabin door. He pushed the button on the lock and we went onto the main deck for a lovely dinner with the rest of our group. When we returned to our cabin, we asked the tour guide for the key (I thought it was a bit strange that they did not hand out the keys when we checked in…). Surprise, surprise - there were no keys for the cabins! The crew had to struggle until midnight to break into our cabin. In the end, Eon intervened by braking the lock. And who said crime doesn’t pay?

Every morning was an early start on the Free Intrepid. We got up at 6:30, had breakfast at 7:00 and went on island expeditions at 7:45. When returning from the islands, we first had an hour for snorkelling, swimming and sunbathing (or in my case - for taking a thousand photos of the Sally Lightfoot crabs) before returning to the boat for lunch. After lunch we set sail for the next island. At 14:00 we explored another island, followed by snorkelling and then back on the boat for dinner and socialising. What a life!

After Island Santa Cruz, we sailed to Isla Rabida. When stepping off the boat, we had to circle around a big male sea lion lying on the beach. They are quite tame, but could be aggressive, so we could no closer than two meters from it. Ridiculous, where have I ever been only two meters from an enormous sea lion?! Then we went to look at the pelicans that were nesting right on the beach. A little walk up to a viewpoint on the island introduced us to the red-faced Lava Lizards. They mark their territory by doing a sequence of little push-ups - quite an entertaining thing to watch. Then we stumbled onto something straight out of a National Geographic scene - a Galapagos snake caught a lava lizard right in front of us. They rolled down into the footpath and we watched the kill from centimetres away. The constrictor won the battle and we watched as it slowly fed the lizard down its throat.

During the snorkelling session, Eon had the privilege to see a shark up close and personal. Apparently, the girl next to Eon freaked out, the shark gave her a curious look, turned and swam away. Reminds me of that comic strip years ago on ‘Good Morning South Africa’ where the shark swam up to the humans and screamed: “Het jou!!!”

After lunch we sailed to Puerto Egas on Santiago Island. Here we saw marine iguanas - not the most attractive thing I have ever set eyes on! Their black spiky skin blended so well with the lava rocks that we had to watch our step as not to step on one. As we were walking to the snorkelling spot, we had to make way for a sea lion couple waddling out of the ocean to soak in the sun on the beach…it was as if they thought of us as some other animal; they are not threatened by humans at all.

The snorkelling was fantastic! Not only did we see a huge variety of fish, we also had a young sea lion swim with us.  I am not sure who had a better time - the humans or the sea lion? I swam up to a rock protruding from the water to find myself face to face with two penguins. It was such an amazing experience - these animals don´t even notice that we are in their presence, they just carry on with their doings as normal.

On day 3, we visited the landmark of the Galapagos Islands, Pinicle Rock on Bartolome Island and afterwards went snorkelling from Golden Beach where I also had the thrill of seeing a White Tip shark! This time the penguins were swimming with us, but they are so fast that you hardly get them in view before the dart into another direction.

After lunch, we set foot on the a lava paradise - Sullivan Bay. The volcano on this island errupted quite recently, leaving a shimmering black surface with harldy any vegetation.  There are two sorts of lava: lava Aa - the sharp-edged lava and lava Pahoehoe - the flowy, rubbery type. The snorkelling was a bit of a let down, so I had a crab-photoshoot instead.  And the crabs worked it! I saw a mating ritual, it looked something like a crab karate dance

On the last morning of the cruise, we visited the North Seymour Island. We loved this island the most - there were animals everywhere! We had do walk around a huge male sea lion lying in the footpath. We saw the Swallow-tailed gulls with their red feet and matching red eyes. Eon´s favourite animal of the Galapagos is the Blue Footed Booby, and this island were crawling with them. They are such comic looking birds with bright blue feet. The strangest bird was the Magnificent Frigatebird with a bright-red inflated inflated throat pouch hanging from its chin.  The males inflate these pouches during the mating season to attract the females - show-offs! They have a wingspan of up to 2,4 meters - quite magnificent indeed!

I absolutely fell in love with the fur seals! They all look so loving and cute, I might just move to the coast and adopt one. Other animals on North Seymour included marine iguanas, land iguanas, pelicans, penguins, finches and other birds.

Then it was time to leave our boat behind and explore Galapagos on our own for two days. So back in Santa Cruz, we spent the rest of the day at the Darwin Station. The main attraction is the incubation of giant tortoise eggs; the project was intorduced due to the near extinction of the species. After incubation, the eggs hatch and the tortoises are raised to a reasonable size and then placed on the other islands where they can survive on their own.  We were excited when we saw two gianted tortoises in mating, but we were quickly pulled back down to earth when the guide explained that it was two males going at it….Gaylapagos?

The next morning we walked to a nearby white beach called Bahia Tortuga. The highlight of this beach was seeing a sea gull atacking a baby iguana. Eon got a great shot of this! After lunch we took a water taxi across the bay and then walked to Las Grietas with its two freshwater pools. Eon was brave enough to snorkel in the icy water, I rather waited until we got to the German Beach to do some snorkelling.  Unfortunately, the visibility was very poor and we could not see a thing! What a waste of renting the snorkelling gear…$12 down the drain!

And that was the last day on Galapagos. The next mornig was a mix of running, taxis, busses and water taxis to get to the Baltra airport for our flight back to Ecuador…We will never forget the time on the island, it was amazing!

Click on the image below to view the gallery for The Galapagos Islands:

Riobamba and Cuenca (17 - 20 June 2008)

The shaggy city of Riobamba is famous for the start of the Devil’s Nose train journey. Besides the beautiful landscapes visible on this journey, another attraction is the method of riding this train - all passengers sit on the roof of the train! This was the reason we decided to visit Riobamba.

We arrived via bus from Banos and went on a hostel search that delivered a very basic room for the night. Then we set off to the train station to book our tickets fro the following day. Unfortunately, there was a landslide somewhere between Alausi and the Devil’s Nose section and we could only cover about a third of the original journey. We booked the tickets nevertheless - we still had the opportunity to ride on the roof of a train!

We spent the rest of the day browsing through the colonial buildings of Riobamba. But by this stage we felt a bit fed-up with colonial buildings so we cut the walking-tour short and spent the night watching movies on our laptop. Sometimes I feel so guilty when we do this, but then again - “we are on holiday”.

5:30am…Rise and shine! Pack the backpacks; try to find some breakfast but with no luck, apparently the rest of Riobamba was still sleeping and then head to the station. We rented square, leather-covered pillows to soften the tin roof under our bums and then the journey began. The train departed at 7:00am and at first it was quite nippy. Luckily there were hawkers about selling hot coffee to the “loco gringos” on the roof.

The train meandered through different landscapes….villages, fields, valleys, mountains….and the impressive snow-covered Chimborazo volcano. It was such a thrilling experience! We disembarked after three and a half hours - how unfortunate that we had to miss out on the most spectacular section of the journey due to a landslide. We would have to return one day to do the full journey to Sibambe.

From where the train dropped us, we took a bus to Cuenca. There were more landslides on the way and we had to do a very scary detour - a huge bus navigating down a single-lane dirt road with a 100 meter drop to the valley below is not my idea of fun! But alas, we arrived in Cuenca in one piece (except for my shattered nerves!).

According to our guidebook, Cuenca is Ecuador’s most beautiful and seductive city. We stayed in Hotel Milan, a beautiful hotel and slightly too pricy for our budget. Our room had a balcony, overlooking the Iglesia de San Francisco and the plaza below. We took long walks through the cobblestone streets and marvelled at the cathedrals, churches and plazas. An interesting accolade for Cuenca is that it is Ecuador’s most important export centre for the Panama hat.

The fresh produce markets had some interesting products. For one, the enormous bananas that were about twice the size of my (enormous) hands. It also had red bananas, but apparently they are not called bananas and they taste totally different. There were baskets full of live cuy (guinea pigs) and adorable, fluffy chicks. I still feel guilty about eating the cuy in Peru, especially when I see the furry little creatures at the markets.

Yes, Cuenca was indeed a beautiful place. But our time here was limited - we had to get back to Guayaquil to catch a flight to the Galapagos Islands.

Click on the image below to view the gallery for Riobamba and Cuenca:

Guayaquil and Banos (12 - 17 June 2008)

The Peru Lonely Planet calls the border crossing between Peru (Aguas Verdes) and Ecuador (Huaquillas) “the worst border crossing in the whole of South America”. And the guide book was spot-on. Besides the fact that it was chaotic and extremely filthy, it was also crawling with cockroaches. Now when I say cockroaches, I mean it in both ways - the insects and the infestation of scammers waiting to do you in, in some way or another.

We arrived at the Peruvian border and went through all the normal immigration activities. When we walked out of the office, a guy pointed us to a taxi to take us to the other side of the border. Next thing we knew, the guy was in the taxi with us. He introduced himself as Enrique. We were not totally sure what his agenda was, so I asked him what he does. I could not make out everything he said, but it was something about him helping tourists get across the border safely and he has been doing this for the last seven years. I asked him if he needed to be paid for this, because we really did not need his help (this was the seventh over-land border crossing for us - no sweat!). He said we could give him a tip if we wanted to. No harm in letting the poor guy walk with us to the bus station on the Ecuadorian side, right?

We sped through the town to the bus station just to get away from the chaos and dirt - Enrique still by our side… After buying the bus tickets to Guayaquil, the only thing on our minds was to get some breakfast. When we sat down in the restaurant, I finally scraped up enough courage to tell Enrique that we really do not need his help (we still had to go to the Ecuadorian immigration) and that we would be fine without him. He calmly said he understood and that we owed him $20 for his service! What?! $20 for walking next to me for a kilometre?! Did he think he was Brad and Angie’s bodyguard?! I laughed out loud and told him he was ‘loco’. He knew he was pushing his luck - he probably succeeded in this trick with some uninformed Americans before. We decided to be fare and gave him $3. The last we saw of Enrique was when he walked away with his tail between his legs…

Our main reason for going to Guayaquil was to book a tour to the Galapagos Islands. We were debating whether to do this trip to the Galapagos for quite a while, because it is quite an expensive tour and we were far over budget for all the South American countries. But we figured ‘what the heck, we’ll probably never get a chance like this again’. Guayaquil is the biggest city in Ecuador, even bigger than Quito, the capital. And by this time we know not to expect too much from the cities. and we were right - Guayaquil was not much to write home about - just a massive rat-racing city with crime and pollution.

We found a company and booked our Galapagos tour - starting on 21 June with three nights on a boat and two nights on the main island. So we had a week to kill before flying to Galapagos and we were not planning on spending it in Guayaquil. The next morning we checked out of our hotel (who boasted about their hot showers that was actually non-existing) and took a bus to Baños.

After about five hours we arrived in Ambato from where we could see smoke rolling out the top of the Tungurahua volcano. What a sight! I never thought I would actually see an active volcano with smoke and all! This volcano towers over Baños and contributes to the name of the town - the volcano heats the underground water, creating many thermal pools. The volcano is as much an attraction as the thermal pools are. The volcano has actually been active since 1999, when the town was declared in an orange zone of danger and the entire town was evacuated. But when nothing happened with the volcano, the residents moved back to town against the authorities will. And since then they have been closely monitoring the smouldering volcano and they implemented a detailed evacuation plan to residents and hotels.

Unfortunately, the view from Ambato was the only view we had of the volcano for our time in Baños due to bad weather. But even though it was overcast and drizzling most of the time, we still managed to have a great time. The Casa Blanca Hotel was such a treat; there was a lovely old lady helping with what ever we needed - she even made us some popcorn to go with a movie on a rainy day. We visited the local zoo with its many exotic animals. We even got to see a jaguar and the toucans! We also spent some time in the thermal pools - they were so hot that we could not stay in the pool for longer than five minutes at a time

A local speciality in Baños is the delicious toffee made from sugarcane and is called melcocha. They make it in these small street shops and it is quite a sight to see this tedious and tiring manual procedure - the toffee is hung from the wall and stretched into long golden strips before being sold in small plastic packets on the street.

Interesting fact, well not so much interesting as funny… the Spanish word for ‘toilets’ is ‘baños’. So we actually spent three days in the toilets and enjoyed it

Click on the image below to view the gallery for Guayaquil and Baños:

Geographical:

We entered Peru from Bolivia overland at Lake Titikaka from Copacabana to Puno where we spent one day visiting the floating islands. From there we took a bus to Cuzco where we did a four day mountain-biking and hiking tour to Machu Picchu. We took an overnight bus from Cuzco to Arequipa where we did a rafting trip and then took short bus ride to get to Nazca for the famous flight over the lines. From Nazca we took another overnight bus to Huacachina where we did some sandboarding and then it was off to Lima. After some time in the capital we took yet another overnight bus to Huaraz to do some trekking and then another overnight bus to Trujillo. The last overnight bus was to the Peru/Ecuador border at Aguas Verdes.

We had great weather in Peru. It was much warmer than in the other South American countries we have been to - No rain and a lot of sun but not too hot though.

Peruvian favourites:
-    Machu Picchu
-    The 65km downhill with a mountain bike on the Machu Picchu trip
-    The Corpus Christi festival in Cuzco and eating the local speciality called chiriuchu (that included eating guinea pig)
-    The class IV rapids on the Rio Chili in Arequipa
-    Flying over the Nazca lines
-    Sandboarding in Huacachina
-    Trekking to Lake Churup - we need to return to this part of Peru for some more trekking, ice climbing and biking
-    The friendliness and helpfulness of the Peruvian people
-    Splurging on accommodation in Arequipa
-    The floating islands at Puno

The ‘not so cools’:
-    Loosing our new Ecuador Lonely Planet
-    The noisy Israelis in the hostel in Cuzco
-    Peru not being the safest place (but we are getting used to this - same same in all South American countries)
-    Overspending on our budget - Peru was far more expensive than we thought
-    Dropping my camera on Huayna Picchu and cracking the glass
-    All the overnight busses due to great distances

Overall:

We had a blast in Peru - not to mention blasting away our budget! We had an adventure in every place we went to - trekking, rafting, biking, sandboarding, etc. All the historical sites were also amazing. And the people were super-friendly. Overall, my number one South American country!

Huaraz and Trujillo (7 - 12 June 2008)

Huaraz was not in our original planning for Peru, but everyone said that it was such an awesome place for hiking and biking that we had no choice but to check it out. It is nestled in the massive mountains of the Cordillera Blanca. A recent earthquake destroyed most of the original colonial buildings in town, so the town itself was a sight for sore eyes. But the surrounding mountains were breathtaking, even from the window in our hostel.

We checked into Hostal Tany. We had only two days in Huaraz before heading north toward the Ecuador border. Eon wanted to go ice climbing very badly, but it was very expensive and they only offer tours of multiple days. So we settled for a day hike. Seeing that there was no tourist information in this tiny place, we asked around and gathered as much information on the hike we had in mind as possible.

So the next morning we checked out of the hostel, stored out big backpacks and took a taxi to a nearby village called Llupa. From here it was a one and a half hour walk through the village and through fields and mountains to the next village called Pitec. Here we started the gruelling ascend up the mountain to Lake Churup. We finally reached a thin but high waterfall. We had to climb over the mountain where the waterfall was streaming from. There was no clear path and at times we had to literally rock climb over huge boulders. I had a near-death experience when my feet slipped and I was hanging in the air, holding on with only hands. Eon was the hero saving the damsel in distress - he grabbed onto my hands and pulled me up to safety. I know it does not sound very scary, but hanging there knowing that if I fall it might be my last breath was absolutely petrifying. I had no “life flashing before my eyes” or any clear moments, all I could think off was how the heck I was going to get to safety! A true survivor, aren’t I?

After all the blood, sweat and tears we finally arrived at the lake. And what a view! There was the crystal clear Lake Churup with Mount Churup’s snowy reflection on the surface. It was breathtaking!

We did the same route back to Huaraz and hopped on the bus to our final destination in Peru - Trujillo. The bus to Trujillo was our fourth overnight bus within about 10 days and we were really not looking forward to it. See, an overnight bus has the pro of saving a night’s accommodation, but you hardly get any sleep and feel like a zombie the next day. So the two zombies arrived in Trujillo at around 6:00. We took a taxi to Hotel San Martin, but this was too expensive for us. We walked down the street and found Hostal Korona for only 40 Soles per night.

This is another thing about the overnight bus - you are so tired that the only thing on your mind is to find a bed. You do not properly investigate the hostel, if it looks good, you take it. So we ended up with a very noisy room and a shower with no hot water. Trujillo is about five kilometres from the ocean, but we had no interest in spending time on the beach. We wanted to see the nearby ancient ruins of Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (the Temples of the Sun and the Moon).

The temples are set in the desert and today look like broken pyramid figures, covered in sand. These ancient temples were built around 2000AD and are attributed to the Moche period. The Huaca del Sol is the largest pre-Columbian structure in Peru although about a third of it has been washed away. The structures were built with mud bricks, made with a combination of sand, rocks and egg whites. The temple of the Sun was used for everyday activities - social gatherings, markets, etc. and the temple of the Moon was used for sacrificial purposes. The temple consists of five levels - it started out with only one level and then every one hundred years, a new level was built on op of the previous one. The previous level was totally filled up with mud bricks to support the upper new level. The excavations have only partially uncovered three of the levels, decorated with brightly coloured murals.

We had a personal guide who took us through the Temple of the Moon, telling us the most amazing stories about the temples and the people who used to live here. The inhabitants’ religion included a very important human sacrifice to the gods which resulted in a sacrificial combat between men. The winners would become soldiers and the defeated would be imprisoned until it was time to be sacrificed. Several graves have been uncovered, but many have been destroyed by grave robbers. It really was an unexpected interesting tour.

That evening we took our last overnight bus for Peru. We paid an extra R30 to get a cama bus, rather than the semi-cama. This was the best R30 I have ever spent - we had big leather seats that reclined almost fully. It was just a pity that the passenger in front of us was a curious 4 year old, who had nothing better to do than to stare at us. When I finally out-stared him, he figured out how the reclining of the seats worked. He kept flipping his seat back and then flipping it back up - how many times could this be funny to him?!

We were sad to leave Peru, because we had such a great time here with so many adventures! But it was time to see what adventured awaited us in the wilderness of Ecuador.

Click on the image below to view the gallery for Huaraz and Trujillo:

Huacachina and Lima (2 - 7 June 2008)

For a change we did not need to take an overnight bus to get to our next destination. It was only a two hour ride from Nazca to Ica and then a 10 minute taxi to the small town, Huacachina. Huacachina is a tiny oasis set amongst towering sand dunes. This destination was a very specific one - we came to Huacachina to do sandboarding.

We checked out a couple of hostels before settling into Casa de Arena. This hostel had a lively atmosphere and a crystal clear swimming pool. It was already 7pm when we checked in, so we had just enough time for a drink at the poolside bar and a movie on the laptop before bedtime.

It was only when I woke the next morning that I really understood the rave reviews for sandboarding in this location - the sand dunes were enormous! They were more like mountains if you ask me. We had the usual hostel breakfast - bread, jam and coffee and then approached the hostel staff for info on the sandboarding tours. The next tour was in ten minutes; we had just enough time to put on proper shoes (flip-flops were apparently not ideal) and to grab a bag and camera. We were totally unprepared for what was laying ahead.

We were strapped into a dune buggy - a steal-frame beach-buggy equivalent of a vehicle. Because we were so last minute, we were the unfortunate fools to get the seats right in the back of the buggy. The buggy pulled away at the speed of light, g-force sucking us into the seats. It was literally a roller-coaster ride! And the mountains that I referred to before was the track - there was no dune too big or too steep for the buggy.

And then the buggy came to a stop and we were told that it was time for boarding… “Are you insane?! Down here?! Down this sand mountain?!! Oh my…..” Within seconds I found myself flat on my belly, clinging onto the sandboard’s straps. Then the guy pushed me down the down screaming at me to keep my legs apart. WOW! I cannot remember when last I had such a thrill? Maybe two days ago on the raft down the class IV rapid? Yes, yes it’s a tough life travelling

When I finally came to a halt at the bottom of the dune, I spat the sand out of my mouth and wiped the sand from my eyes. And then I turned around to find that Eon was attempting to go down the dune standing up. Has the insanity of the guide teleported to Eon? He has not done this before; he has not even skied or snowboarded before. Oh boy…. I watched him struggle down the hill. On the second hill he had the hang of it and I was very jealous - the belly-method might be easier, but it sure is a lot faster and very tough on the arms, knees, stomach…just about every part in my body was already aching. So after a lot of convincing from Eon, I decided to try the standing up thing on dune three. It went very slowly, but I got the hang of it - well, sort of. The remaining hour and a half was smooth sailing and we had a lot of fun. The only downside was the exhausting walks back to the dune buggy.

That afternoon, we walked up one of the giant sand dunes to watch a golden sunset over the desert. The walk up was gruelling but worth it! The walk down was super-fun! It was more like running on the moon. On a sadder note, I had to bid my shoes farewell. My Merrel’s have seen better days and it was time to replace them - I contemplated having them bronzed, but Eon though it would be a bit freaky

The next day we took a bus to Lima, the capital of Peru. Now, like any other capital city, Lima has a bad reputation for its pickpockets and thieves. We heard really bad stories about travellers being robbed in various ways - bags being nabbed or slashed, tourists attention being diverted and then robbed and even people being in a car crash and then robbed during the chaos. So we were on full alert when we arrived at the bus station.

We decided to stay in the pricier, but safer area called Miraflores. I used the security excuse to convince Eon to stay in Miraflores, but the real reason I wanted to stay here, was due to the Lonely Planet’s detailed description on the various delicious foods available here We had a look at a couple of hostels and then picked a small hostel named Albergue Verde. The owner and his staff were so friendly and it was the most decent option within our budget. After living like kings in Arequipa, we had a hard time to adjust to staying in dorm rooms and using shared bathrooms

It finally feels like we have adjusted to the South American way. We are more confident in exploring the areas and not constantly worried about our safety and belongings anymore. So even though it was already dark outside, we ventured into the streets of Lima (or rather, Miraflores) to grab something to eat.

I never thought the day would come that I could say I felt the earth move. We were still in bed the next morning when the earth started shaking - it was a 10 second tremor, but it felt like a life time. Quite scary! This area is very prone to earthquakes so it worried me a bit. But luckily that was it for the time we were in Lima.

Day two in Lima was the usual sightseeing day. We managed, with quite a bit of effort and about four Peruvian helpers, to get onto the right bus to Lima central. We could have taken a taxi, but they overcharge foreigners like mad. There is no way we are paying R75 for a 20 minute taxi-ride! The bus-ride is an experience on its own - strangers hop on and off the bus at any given time and then they start to entertain the passengers with singing, a drumming performance, telling some story or speech or even selling odd things like toffees and cellphone calls. Our Spanish has improved immensely and we managed to have a decent conversation with the curious locals on the bus.

There were three sights lined up for the day: First up was the Plaza de Armas with the Cathedral and the Palacio de Gobierno, residence of the Peruvian president. We had good timing and got to witness the elaborate changing of the guard. Next up was the Monasterio de San Fransisco, with its catacombs and remarkable library with thousands of antique text. It was quite freaky walking amongst the bone-filled crypts. Last up was the Museo de la Inquisicion with its vivid waxwork exhibits on the torturing methods the Spanish used on the locals during the Spanish inquisition.

The rest of our time in Lima was spent on strolling through the Parque de Kennedy, looking at photo exhibitions and trying out the culinary delights of Miraflores (including spare ribs and McDonalds - how original of us!). We also had a guidebook search to replace our lost Ecuador book.

We had an interesting last night in Lima, sitting in the hostel corridor, drinking beer with the two Peruvian guys working in the hostel. We had a good laugh about all the linguistic differences between English, Spanish and Afrikaans. Example: embarazada is Spanish for pregnant, not embarrassed…imagine the trouble you could get into….

Click on the image below to view the gallery for Huacachina and Lima: