Cordillera Blanca, Temples and Flights

Well as we are busy acclimatizing to dizzy heights again in Cuzco, ready for the 3 day walk along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu on Saturday, it seems a perfect opportunity to let you all know what we have been up to. And it has been indeed been a manic 1.5 weeks. We have covered thousands of miles (2/3rds of Peru!), culminating with a 14 hour bus ride here last night. Fortunately we decided to treat ourselves to the ´luxury´ seats this time after having done 2 other night buses and feeling like zombies the next day. And we think the extra space was worthwhile. However despite our section only having 8 people in it, one had to be a chronic snorer. Even during the films this morning he was still asleep merrily snoring away and driving everyone else insane! The trials and tribulations of traveling eh? Are you feeling sympathy?!! ;o)

Other than long bus journeys though we have fitted in plenty of sightseeing – seen some of the famous temples – the Moche Pyramids – Temple of the Sun and the Moon (a bit like the Egyptian Pyramids (photo above)), Chan Chan and another temple called Tucume. A lot of them looked rather liked heaps of rubble from the outside to be honest. But inside, where excavations have been done, there were some fantastic carvings and paintings. I would say that my favourite was the Moche Pyramids and Mark´s was Chan Chan.

Also visited a few North Peruvian towns and were initially sure that everyone was being suspiciously friendly and chatty. They were also very keen to shake our hands. However in fact they just do seem to be friendlier people than the Ecuadorians and sincerely interested in chatting to us. Especially the little kiddies who get well excited to be saying Hello in English. How sweet!
Also visited Lima – the capital city which we had heard bad reports about and so thought we would not like. However we were pleasantly surprised. It had a lovely square and quite a few very pretty buildings. Miraflores the tourist area was nice and we did a tour which took us very high up to look over the city. There were a lot of Shanty Towns but they very intriguing. The only thing not to like about Lima was somehow I picked up a bug/food poisoning etc which I am hurriedly trying to shift as I don’t think it´ll help much on Saturday! Oh dear! Feeling better today though so fingers crossed.

Yesterday we were in Nasca doing an early morning flight to see the Nasca Lines - drawings of a huge monkey, spider, dog, etc in the middle of the desert. Don´t know whether you´ve heard of it? Was very interesting.
But the highlight of the last week or so was the 4 days we spend in a town called Huaraz (pronounced Awaz!) located in the Cordillera Blanca, a huge mountain range that has over 50 mountains of greater height than 5700m and the highest tropical mountain in the world, Hauscaran at 6800m. It was absolutely fantastic. We did a walk through a gorgeous valley in the Hauscaran National Park, up the mountains past waterfalls and streams, with huge snow tops towering above us until we finally reached Lagoon 69, a gorgeous bright blue lake, nestled beneath the snow topped mountain Piscan. It really was awe inspiring and oh such a relief to get there!! Hot hot hot!!
Then the next day we mountain biked down the Cordillera Negro mountain range, which is a slightly smaller range and runs parallel to the C. Blanca. Therefore we had fantastic views of the C.B and also of the Cordillera Huaylash – another huge range close by, which for those of you have seen the film or read the book ´Touching the Void´, is apparently where that took place.

So there you are, that´s us up to date and attempting to psyche ourselves ready for our huge hike/camping/possibly getting very wet (its rainy season) experience over the next few days. But hey we all love a challenge?!! It was rainy season in Huaraz too and yet it was gorgeous weather so fingers crossed. Then on our return from Machu Picchu we are looking into our first Amazon experience. Should be fun?! We saw lots of photos of all the gorgeous?! creepy crawlies we could possibly see today. Tarantulas, Coral Snakes, humungous caterpillars …. Yurkkk!
Remember you guys you are all very welcome to join us on route. We must have half persuaded you that there´s so much to see out there?!! Well until that last sentence anyway?!
So for now we will say ´Buenos Noches´or ´Good Night´

Hello from Peru!

Well here we are again. Have finally made it to a computer for an update and we have made progress with our travels too. As from yesterday we are in Peru! And a very clammy Peru it is too.

Since our last communication we have seen so many sights and have so many photos – again! Plus we have been very energetic too. Perhaps we will be okay climbing the Inca Trail yet?!

Our first adventure since the last update was to climb and bike down Cotopaxi which was absolutely fantastic but also freezing when you were near the top of the mountain. The walk to the refuge was really hard and as we were gasping for air and sliding back down in the ash, I was thankful that Mark had talked me out of climbing to the top (which would occur at midnight so not even the views to make up for the cold or energy consumption!) Fortunately when the cloud cleared we were able to see the snow and glazier at the top of the mountain which was amazing and made the effort well worth it. Then the cycle down which was fun to and Mark managed to crash into a rock and fly off his bike to land running! Apparently the acrobatics were most impressive a fellow cyclist said. (I missed them – shucks!)

We have also been exploring local markets which was most interesting. We went to an animal market where sheep, cows, goats, llamas etc were for sale, a guinea pig market (hard to stomach after having so many as pets but they were still alive at this point and oinking like they do!) and a couple of other normal markets too. The markets were all really colourful and Mark did well at making friends with the locals as per the photo!!

We have also seen loads of rural Ecuadorian countryside and are amazed at how much litter they chuck everywhere. Especially as they seem to live off the land so it’s hard to understand the use they have for so many plastic containers? We also cannot believe the size of the houses – tiny with little bare yards around them and no gardens and yet they do seem very content especially the babies who sit on their mothers back quietly even when she is busy digging the fields!

However they do have some really spectacular countryside (where there aren´t towns and hence litter!) As sampled near Vilcamba when we went on a 2 day horse tour up to the Podocarpus National Park (one of the last places the Spectacled bear is found). The ride was fantastic, right up into the mountains with no car access. We were riding on the edge of a steep drop along the river and the horses were so good. Thankfully! We then stayed in a little lodge up in the mountains. It was definitely one of the best things we have done so far this trip.

Several of the towns in Ecuador have turned out to be very interesting. Riobamba had a big carnival going on whilst we were there and it really did put English carnivals to shame. So many people were dancing and had fantastic costumes. Cuenca was Mark´s favourite town and had some pretty, old buildings. However my lasting memory of Cuenca (and maybe Mark´s too) was attempting to go to the Cahas National Park and getting all set up with our walking gear, then getting to the park but not knowing where to get off the bus, eventually asking the conductor who did not know where we were either and by this time being totally surrounded in fog so staying on the bus a while longer before finally jumping off the bus, waiting for 15 mins in the fog to then get on another bus to drive for an hour back to where we should have got off the bus (we think – still aren´t sure!) How confusing and very frustrating!

So anyways all in all, it has been an interesting time. With several ups and downs – the Devil´s Nose train ride being one of them (the railway that is on a vertical slope) and here we are now planning what to get up to in Peru. So far it has shown several differences from Ecuador but we will see soon enough so until next time, take care and have fun!

Cloud Forests, Equator, Galapagos and New Years Eve in Quito

Hi All. We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year?! For us it was very good although somewhat strange. You just can’t quite imagine its Christmas Day when you are sat in the blazing sunshine surrounded by blue sea and sea lions! (not to rub it in or anything!! ;o))
Anyway as you may have gathered we are back from the Galapagos and had a fantastic time but we have so much to update you on that we’d better start from the beginning!! Hope you don’t nod off? So where to start . .

Since we arrived in Quito almost 3 weeks ago (time flies!) we have visited a local market to see the way things are done out here and despite already having overflowing bags there was so much lovely stuff that a few bargains just had to be had! We’ve braved the local buses which are very cheap, about $2 for a 2 hour bus ride and most interesting too. Generally they have loud salsa music playing in them as they often do when you walk round the streets too. Ray and Caro you’d love it. You’d be boogying all the time!

We spent a relaxing couple of days in the Cloud Forests about 2 hours out of Quito just before we went to Galapagos. Our accommodation was a treehouse which was pretty cool and there were also hot pools too which were most relaxing too. We did dwell on you guys back home for a while you’ll be pleased to hear. And then breathed a sigh of relief that we are here!! :o) However you will be pleased to hear that we did have to get up for a 6 am birdwatching tour. (See its not all easy?!) Although it was worth it. Saw loads of very pretty birds – toucans, parrots, parakeets and hummingbirds (which are tiny and so cute, and fast!!) Also saw an Armidillo which unfortunately ran too fast and blurred.

The next day we went to Galapagos which was a long haul – 2 flights, 2 bus journeys and a ferry ride. When we finally arrived though we were so impressed. The boat was lovely, the sun shining, and the sea blue and it was warm 27C . (Quito was about 20C most of the time in the day). Our group were really nice (there were 16 of us) but the most surprising thing was just HOW close the animals would get to you. They were everywhere. Sealions lazing across the boats, pelicans all around, and Iguanas just laying in your path. It was amazing.
They really were not phased by our presence. During the week of sailing around 9 islands we had seen countless sea lions and giant tortoises, Iguanas – marine and Land, Flamingos, Blue-footed boobies (so cute and did a most amusing dance), Frigate Birds with huge inflating red chests, Galapagos Penguins (really cute too), Masked Boobies and many more birds. Plus did some fantastic snorkelling so saw sharks, Sea Turtles, Sting Rays, heaps of colourful fish and swam with Penguins and Sea Lions. For anyone who loves wildlife we would definitely recommend it. We were also lucky enough to have dolphins swim with the boat twice. They were so fast and had great fun racing the boat and leaping out of the water.
The crew were even nice enough to do a ‘half’ Christmas dinner on Christmas eve so we even had turkey and champagne to celebrate. It was great. As they say a once in the lifetime experience.

So here we are now back in Quito, having had a great New Years Eve yesterday. They have a great big street festival from about 12 midday that goes on until well after midnight. Fireworks are everwhere (a vast improvement on Paris last years lack of fireworks!) although you did fear for your head slightly! Then they burn puppets at midnight to start the year anew. The city did look at one point rather like a scene out of the film War of the Worlds!
Also we were able to spend New Year with Sophie and Jose who were on the Galap tour with us which worked out really well.

We are preparing to leave Quito tomorrow and hopefully doing mountain biking down the highest active volcano in the world, Cotopaxi. There are heaps of these volcanos all around here. They look amazing with loads of snow on the top.
We tried to climb a slightly smaller volcano that overlooks the city on Saturday.
There is a cable car that takes you part of the way up, from 2800m to 4100m. Then you can walk for 2.5 hours to get to the very top which is 4700m high. Not an easy feat considering the altitude sickness. We were doing really well and were within 30 mins of the top when the cloud decided to come in so you could barely see 5m in front of you. Not the best on the side of a mountain and certainly not ideal for seeing the views from the top?! It looked like it was going to hang around and did for 1.5 hours so we turned back. One day I’ll get to the top of a mountain!?!
So there you go. That’s the mega update. Hopefully things will continue as they have been. We did have one minor hiccup yesterday when I discovered that my walking trousers had not been returned from the laundrette. That was fun trying to explain to the staff?! They were eventually returned to me 3 hours later. It turns out from speaking to a tour operator that this often happens as the trousers can be sold on the black market for a large amount here and staff generally only earn about $6 a day.

Anyway take care all and Happy New Year 2007! Hopefully you will be able to view all the photos so far on kodakgallery.co.uk. very shortly. However they are taking a long time to download and we have to work out to invite everyone to view them too! Fingers crossed . .