The Long Goodbye

The only ways to get from South America to Central America are either by plane, or by sea ….because there simply aren’t any roads, or even trails …..just disease-infested swamps, mountains, jungle, armed rebels, and drug smugglers! So we decided no, perhaps we wouldn’t try …maybe next time!

So, we drove down past the volcano Cotopaxi (no smoke or flames, very boring), then over the mountains through tiny villages to Manta, a town in the north of Ecuador, on the Pacific coast ….beautiful bays and little fishing villages ……to wait for a cargo boat which would take our car to Panama. The procedure is relatively simple, but the timing is triiiiicky! ……

The cargo boat only takes vehicles, not passengers, so we have to fly. But we can’t fly until we have a document called the Bill of Lading for the car …which is only issued once the car is safely loaded on the ship …..and the ship’s sailing schedule is notoriously unreliable!
We were first given a date of December 15th for the arrival of the ship in Manta …then Dec. 17th …..then 19th ….then 21st ….and finally Dec.22nd! So we couldn’t really reserve any plane tickets till the last minute!

However we found a cheap campsite just overlooking the beach outside of Manta, and spent our time swimming, and watching the local fishermen; they were catching mainly sardines and tuna (average weight 160lbs!), and chatting to our fellow campers …a German couple with two little dogs in an enormous off-road truck. They have been travelling for 3 years already, and don’t intend to stop. We spent Christmas day with them.
I also had to spend quite a bit of time and effort ensuring that the car plus contents were as « thief-proof » as possible (because you have to leave the car in the docks, and give them a key! ….and we had heard quite a few horror stories from other travellers!). Finally our car left on December 24th ….and we got plane tickets to Panama for December 26th.

On the morning of December 27th we went to the docks in Balboa (Panama City) ….and there was our car sitting in the customs yard waiting for us!! No damage, nothing missing!
All we had to do was complete the customs procedures and drive away ….sounds simple doesn’t it!
First, there is no written procedure to follow ….
Second, there are at least 9 little offices to visit …two of which are in other parts of the city several kilometres away! …and none of the offices have any signs to say what they do.
And of course nobody is really in a hurry ….. So after 4.5 hours (in the blazing sun), we finally got the keys to our car!

We decided we couldn’t leave Panama city without visiting the famous Canal, and the time was just right to see some cargo ships coming through the locks. Unfortunately we got completely lost (surprise, surprise!) trying to find the locks, and ended up stopped on the side of the road looking at our maps. Two police motorcyclists stopped and came over to ask us if we had a problem …and when we told them we were trying to find the Miraflores Locks, they just said …. « No problem, follow us » ….and took us all the way there! Yet another example of the kindness and helpfulness of people over here.
We didn’t realize just how much revenue the Canal earns for Panama …on average 25 to 30 ships pass through every day …..for which Panama charges between 3 and 4 million dollars!! ……each day!!! ….365days per year!!! But as they point out, if the ships have to go round Cape Horn, it takes two weeks longer, and costs 10 times as much!
The Canal locks are just 33 metres wide …and the largest ships measure 32 metres wide! So they are very carefully guided through by electric trains (or mules as they are called) which keep them in the middle, and help them to stop. Afterwards we set off to find a campsite for the night. When we eventually found it late at night it was well worth it; beautiful tropical garden with parrots, toucans, monkeys, swimming pool, cheap restaurant, 10 minutes walk from the beach …
We are now taking a couple of days to relax and catch up on things. I have several repairs on the car: we nearly lost the front suspension because two bolts had unscrewed themselves and dropped out! …and we almost had a fire inside when a reading lamp burst into flames!!
But everything is now under control, and we’re ready to set off again …once I’ve changed the rear tyres which are almost completely bald!

So …. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY, AND BEST WISHES FOR 2008!!

Next update soon.

Ciao

Ushuaia ... El fin del mundo

Ushuaia …..El fin del Mundo ….or Bergs and Beavers

From Galapagos in the north, we flew down to Ushuaia …the most southerly town in the world. The total flight time was 17,5hrs! …leaving from Quito, and changing at Lima, Santiago, and Punta Arenes before finally arriving at Ushuaia. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, having read in some of the guide books that Ushuaia was « over-rated ». So it was a wonderful surprise to find the town nestling in scenery that looks just like a little Switzerland; snow-capped mountains, huge lakes, forests, and the famous Beagle channel to the south (named after Darwin’s ship). The weather is equally spectacular; changing every few minutes. You can have brilliant hot sunshine one second, then a torrential downpour the next. With temperatures ranging from 25degrees C with no wind ….to several degrees below zero when the wind blows! …and when the wind blows ….it BLOWS!!!
The port is full of small yachts, Antarctic cruise ships, cargo vessels, ice-breakers, and two magnificent old three-masted sailing ships. Actually there is one cruise ship less now ….while we were there the « Explorer » sank after hitting an iceberg …with 151 people on board! Fortunately everyone was rescued.
We rented a small car to drive around from a local company called « Localiza ». We’ve never had such amazing service; incredibly enthusiastic, gave us addresses of local campsites, restaurants, and places to visit. Even lent us some music CD’s for our travels (Paul Anka and Rod Stewart?!!) Plus the rental rates were way below all the other companies …..Hertz look out!!! Talking about restaurants, if you’re basically a carnivore like me, Ushuaia is a paradise; there are several restaurants with huge barbecues and « All You Can Eat » menus for just 10euros!!! ….and the meat is just the best you ever tasted!
After visiting and camping in the Tierra del Fuego national park (lots of rabbits, beavers, rabbits, hawks, wild horses …and more rabbits …oh, and a glacier that you can’t actually see because its buried under 10metres of snow), we set off for the Glacier national park further north. To get there we had to cross the Straits of Magellan on a little ferry. We almost got stuck in the car while we were waiting for the ferry to arrive ….the wind was so strong we couldn’t open the car doors!!!
The object of our visit was the Perito Moreno glacier …. Now that is one impressive glacier!! …an enormous 14km long, 2,5km wide wall of glistening blue/white ice. This glacier is actually getting bigger! It advances several metres per year!! So much for global warming! You can hear the cracks and groans as it pushes forwards against the rocky shoreline; it has already cut Argentina’s biggest lake in two!
We took advantage of our last days in Argentina to eat steak, barbecued by chef Willett at the campsite. 1kg of prime beef steak at a time (for just 5euros!) …..mmmmmm
On our way back to Ushuaia we stopped at a penguin reserve. Actually we slept overnight in the car in front of the gates ….we got a few strange looks from the wardens when they opened up in the morning …but we’re getting used to that by now! The Magellan penguins live in burrows just like rabbits, about 100metres from the beach. They look so comical waddling along their little paths to and from the sea (each penguin always uses the same paths), just like a little village of very small people dressed in dinner jackets, stopping to chat to each other, and poking their beaks into each other’s burrows … »Hey Fred, I’m just popping down to the beach for a quick sardine, are you coming? »
In 1940 the Argentines introduced beavers into Ushuaia, to provide extra employment (hunting) for the local people. However, as the beavers had no natural predators, things got a bit out of hand. From an original 50 beavers, there are now 120 000!! …and to make things worse, nobody wears beaver skin clothes any more ….ooops! They are very shy creatures, but we managed to find a fairly isolated beaver « house » and dam, and got some movie film of them.
We are writing this back in Quito, It was sad to leave Ushuaia; an incredibly beautiful place, wild and lonely, with days that last from 5:30am to 10:30pm …and even during the night it doesn’t really get very dark.
We soon say goodbye to South America; in a couple of weeks we’ll be writing our next update from Panama.

Hasta luego!!

Blue Boobies and Red-throated Frigates

Blue Boobies and Red-throated Frigates

Galapagos …..a collection of volcanic islands 1000km off the Ecuadorian coast ….home to an amazing collection of wildlife that has no fear of man.

We flew from Quito to Baltra, the only island with an airport. After landing we took a bus to the bay where the boat was waiting ….except that we took the wrong bus ….to the wrong bay! Our reputation for getting lost remains untarnished!!

We finally caught up with our guide and the 14 other members of our group. Our boat resembled a large floating bathtub …and sailed rather like one as well! But it was clean, and the food was really excellent.

We sailed mainly at night, and visited the islands during the day - Santa Maria, Hood, Santa Fe, Plazas, North Seymour. Each island has a different flora and fauna. Because the birds, animals and reptiles have no natural predators, they have no fear of man. We had mocking birdshop up to us on the beach and perch on our hands, sealions came and sniffed at our feet ….but most of the creatures were just supremely indifferent to our presence. They carried on nest-building, courting …or just sunbathing as if we didn’t exist …even when we almost trod on them! A sealion less than a metre away would just open one sleepy eye, yawn, then roll over and go back to sleep.

The blue-footed Boobies were the most comical, especially when doing their mating dance; slowly stepping from one foot to the other, and picking up little twigs to offer to their mate. The male frigate bird blows up a bright red bag like a balloon under his chin to attract a female. Baby albatross looking like big balls of fluff sit on nests that are far too small for them.

We visited areas full of giant turtles, both land and sea varieties, some of which were almost 200 years old.

There were red, yellow and black iguanas, some of them 2 metres long, eating the cactus or just sunbathing after a long chew. These creatures are so amazingly adaptable to changing environments that they are still around after many millions of years!

The sea life is also very rich; with sea turtles, dozens of vaireties of brightly-coloured fish, white-tipped sharks, barracuda, rays, sealions, groupers ….plus beautiful coral, sponges and sea anemones. We went snorkelling three times which was quite an experience for us (the first time we had really snorkelled properly) It opened up a magical world where we followed groups of golden rays, marble rays and stingrays « flying » majestically through the shallow water. Then sealions would dive in alongside us and take great delight in zooming round and round us ….even poking their faces right next to ours and blowing clouds of bubbles at us!

Sadly it came to an end all to soon ….we had to fly back to Quito.

Hopefully the Galapagos islands will never change. Great efforts are being made to preserve the environment. Not a trace of litter, carefully controlled access. it’s a magical place to visit ….do it if you can while it is still possible.

Next update in a couple of weeks, when we get back from Ushuaia.

Hasta luego

CloudForest and RainForest

Cloud Forest and Rain Forest

The ecosystem at Vilcabamba is called « Cloud Forest » …lush, semi-tropical vegetation often shrouded in mist, and ful of very exotic birds (feathered variety!) …not many animals. After a few days in the Podocarpus bird park we moved on. We drove through Zamora and Bombuscara to a hostel called Copalinga, run by a Belgian couple. Beautiful surroundings; very much « bird-oriented ». We met a group of American birdwatchers …strange creatures who spend their days rushing round the forest, dragging huge cameras, tripods, notebooks and binoculars with them. The objective seems to be to see the maximum number of species possible during the day …then spending the evening ticking them off on enormous checklists, and twittering about « Crimson-crested, Lesser-spotted Frooble Warblers » ….a bit like train spotters, but without the plastic anoraks …
Our next stop was supposed to be a little hostel on a riverbank in the forest. However, when we saw it we changed our minds! Picture if you can a derelict wooden hotel, falling to bits …with a dead rat on the front doorstep …chickens running about in the kitchen …and a humidity of around 120%! So we drove back to Zamora and on up to Cuenca …an uneventful trip until we decided to continue from Riobamba to Banos … we were warned that the diect road ran next to an active volcano (Tungurahua), currently on yellow alert, but a different surprise awaited us when we drove round one bend at the foot of the volcano …an enormous gaping chasm right in front of us! Heavy rain cascading down the volcano had taken the trail away completely. We had to return to Riobamba and take a more round-about road to Banos. The excellent and cheap little hostel in Banos is run by an English guy and is complete with three talking parrots who have learned to giggle exactly like a group of drunken teenage girls ….and they didn’t stop all day long! The hostel organised our Amazon trip …and a visit to the local steam baths! You sit in a sort of closed box, filled with eucalyptus leaves, and with just your head sticking out of the top …and there are steam pipes inside! The torture consists of 10 minutes steam, then ice-cold water is sponged over you …then another 10 minutes steam, followed by buckets of ice-cold water poured over you …then 5 minutes steam followed by sitting in a tub of ice-cold water …and finally another 5 minutes steam followed by a high-pressure, ice-cold jet of water sprayed all over you!!! …….AND you have to PAY for it!! We came out looking like boiled lobsters, and smelling like menthol throat sweets!!! Oh the things we do for fun!!
On our last morning, just before we left, we actually caught a glimpse of the summit of the volcano between the clouds …huge plumes of grey smoke pouring out of the top!
Living in Banos is like sitting on a time bomb …you know the volcano will explode …but you don’t now when!!
After banos we went on our 4-day Amazon Rain Forest trip (Rain Forest is like Cloud Forest ….but much wetter!) We drove deep into the jungle to the Gareno Lodge. We had to leave the car on a trail; the last part was on foot through the forest. We stayed in a wooden cabin surrounded by dense jungle; the home of lots of birds including toucans, humming birds and Harpy eagles, butterflies, …and of course snakes, spiders, centipedes, giant worms (we found a very large Tarantula in a tree), …and jaguars and pumas. We spent our time on jungle treks with a guide and a native from the Houarani tribe (only discovered 40 years ago) The Houarani was naked except for a sort of narrow belt that held his « dangly bits » in place …to stop them from dingly-dangling. He walked around with a huge blowpipe and a quiver of poison arrows. In the course of our short stay, he taught us how to use the blowpipe, prepare curare poison for the arrows (we tasted it, a sort of liquorice flavour but very bitter), made us taste Lemon ants, how to climb enormous trees to gather fruit which he put in a palm-leaf basket he made. We tasted the fruit later. All very impressive but I think I’ll stick to McDonalds!
We also had a trip down the Napo river in a large pirogue propelled by a duff outboard motor that kept stopping! I wouldn’t have minded but the river was in full flood after heavy rain, and was full of huge tree trunks!! We visited another village downstream where we sampled cocoa beans, various herbs, and a drink made from bananas and manioc roots (no ill-effects so far!) The natives made us headdresses to wear, plaited from palm leaves …they said the hunters wear them for camouflage in the jungle. I reckon they just do it to make the tourists look stupid! …so they can have a good giggle!
Now we’re relaxing in a village called Misahualli on the banks of the Napo river. They have tame Cappucin monkeys in the village square. One of them spent 5 minutes looking for fleas in my hair! …and pulling hairs out with his teeth!!! (I don’t have a lot of hair left anyway …even less now!!) Got to go now ….off to the beach to soak up the sun!
The next blog update will probably not be before November, when we get back from Galapagos.

Hasta luego!!

Jungle Jingle

Jungle Jingle

Deep in the jungle where nobody goes,
Where Creepies and Crawlies nip at your toes,
Where Lizards and Serpents slither past on their bellies,
Our Intrepid Explorer …….in her Bright Pink Wellies!!!

Anon, circa 2007

Inca Land

Inca Land

At the end of our last update we were about to set off for the Amazon …. Well, we didn’t quite make it. We drove through La Paz (getting lost of course …. We get lost in 9 out of 10 towns!), then started down a mountain valley along a road that drops from 3800 metres to 300 metres in about 150km. It has earned the dubious title of being the « most dangerous road in the world » (an average of 26 people killed per year) But we weren’t worried because we were assured that a new road had been built alongside the old one … no problem. Indeed, we went down about halfway with no trouble, to a village where we stayed overnight … super road. Next morning we set off again …..only to find that they hadn’t yet built the second half! ….it was still the old road. It is very narrow, with enormous drops (see picture), but the reason it is so dangerous is because hundreds of huge trucks thunder up and down it every day ….and you have to pass them!! Anyway, we got to the bottom safely, but then found that the « road » to our Amazon town, 400km away, was a diabolically bad mud trail. After adding up the days to get there and back, we decided to postpone our Amazon trip till Ecuador. So we turned round and drove back up the road again (ok, ok ….some people just look for trouble!) ….and headed for Lake Titicaca.

At an altitude of 3800metres, Lake Titicaca (see picture) is one of the highest large lakes in the world (176km long and 50km wide) To get to the town of Copacabana, on a peninsula, we took a ferry …..basically a large, flat-bottomed barge ….with huge gaps in the loose floor planks (see picture) …..great fun! We found a cheap hotel overlooking the lake, where they served free tea and biscuits all day. The tea is a herb tea ….made from coca leaves. It is perfectly legal to use the coca leaves in this way (see picture), and it’s a stimulant, and cures altitude sickness (actually, it doesn’t cure altitude sickness, but if you drink enough, you don’t care any more! …. Whoopeee!!) A 3-course meal at the hotel cost 2 euros!
We crossed over from Bolivia into Peru, and stayed in a village called Chivay in « Condor Canyon ». Next morning we drove up to a viewpoint overlooking the canyon …. And at 8am the condors arrived!!! El Condor Pasa!!! Magnificent birds with a 3.5metre wingspan, gliding on the thermal currents just a few metres over our heads (see picture). We were very excited because this was one of our main objectives in visiting South America. We watched them for about one hour, then they glided off to hunt for breakfast. We set off for Cusco over the mountains, a long, hard drive (getting lost again), and ended up sleeping the night at a toll booth on the main road. The guard at the toll booth gave us excellent advice on the route to MachuPichu ….so we drove through a beautiful green valley to a village called Ollantaytambo, where you can get a train to MachuPichu (no ….sorry ….we didn’t walk the Inca Trail) The little hotel where we stayed had an enclosure full of guinea pigs …..not for pets …..to eat (see picture) We caught the train to MachuPichu and climbed up to the ruins.
What can you say ……magnificent …..an incredible achievement by the Incas when you consider that they didn’t have any machinery or cranes ….just sheer manpower! They terraced and farmed all the mountainsides, even when they were almost vertical! One false step when you’re weeding your carrots and you suddenly find yourself in somebody else’s garden 2000metres lower down! When you look at all the Inca ruins (and there are plenty, not just MachuPichu) you realize that they are ALL built on the tops of incredibly steep mountains ….. WHY! There is plenty of land in the valleys ….but no ….they preferred to climb up the mountains and build in the most inaccessible places possible! When you think of all the hundreds of thousands of tons of stone they had to move …..
Anyway, we set off for Cusco ….with our car making more and more noise. When I looked underneath, the exhaust pipe was completely broken in two (thanks to the Bolivian « roads »). So we had to make an unscheduled stop in Cusco where a garage repaired it (one whole day’s labour by several mechanics ….and it only cost 16euros for their time ….ridiculous!) Next stop was the Nasca lines ….slightly disappointing as they are deteriorating rapidly …there is even a main road right through the middle! Then we drove past Pisco where they had the earthquake a few days ago. It’s tragic …..once again it’s the poorest people who suffer the most because their little mud houses can’t stand up to earthquakes. We saw whole families eating meals in their «dining rooms » which had no roof or walls. Some were living in tents.
The rest of the journey north towards Ecuador was uneventful. We crossed the border with no problems (the border police were even handing out tourist brochures!) and stopped in a valley called the « Valley of Longevity » because they claim some of the inhabitants are 120years old! …..its not done much for my wrinkles yet! We’re staying in a little wooden cabin on a site run by a real laid-back American. Perfect place to live if you want to opt out of society …. Just beautiful, lush green, semi-tropical vegetation with parrots, wild bananas, a river, hammocks ….and a local booze brewed from Yucca plants …..
Bye for now, I feel sleepy.