With a quick stop over in Puno, Peru we are now enjoying the music, tastes, intense sun and winding cobblestone streets here in La Paz, Bolivia. The route from Puno to La Paz was an adventure in itself but we made it in the knick of time before Jill fell ill to every travellers bug you can get.
In Puno, we were so lucky to be able to climb up to and enjoy the challupas (Incan ruins) completely alone, with our own private taxi driver who actually took us there, sat at the bottom of the hill and waited for an hour for us and then returned us to the city ... all for 40 Peruvian dollars (which equalled about $12). We then discovered that Peruvians in touristic towns have a real passion for pizza and so we indulged in 2 large pizzas and our first bottle of Peruvian wine ... a nice rose served at room temperature.
The next morning we caught our first mini bus (which seem to be the way to travel, at least in Peru and Bolivia so far) which is essentially an 8 passenger van filled with 10 people. We zipped along the coast of Lake Titicaca, stopping in the town of Juli, which is said to be Peru´s ¨Little Rome¨due to the 4 large churches there. This may have been where the Dengue Fever started working on Jill´s core temperature ... or maybe it was the altitude. Nonetheless, we knew we needed to cram back in the next van and head for the border. The trip was far from over, but after a transfer in a town with a name something like ¨Chungachunga¨ and then to Yunguyo we were in Bolivia. Yunguyo seems to exist only due the fact that it is on the border, and so the town may have solely been made up of Ian, Jill and the border crossing guard at that time. Into another van and onward to Copacabana where we were greeted with a stunning view of Lake Titicaca, spotted with little sail boats and islands. Jill did not see sunlight for the next two days so Ian strolled through the town, enjoyed some trout and watched the millions of stray dogs (in between delivering Jill with juice and any sort of nourishment that could be tolerated). The people were very welcoming and the hostel that we stayed in was very warm and friendly ... and of course with an amazing view. One of the Bolivian women in the hostel was even kind enough to treat Jill´s diseases with some herbal remedies and sure enough, the next day Jill was back on her feet.
Onwards to Isla del Sol, to explore the wonders of Lake Titicaca at a different angle ... we took a small boat to the island, about 1.5hr away and checked into a small cabaña with a great view. We spent the day wandering around the island on foot, climbing up the terraces and enjoying 360 degree views. Women leading their llamas and donkeys and men tending their sheep made our stroll feel authentically Bolivian. At the top of the island, we had a traditional dinner of trout, rice, potatoes and vegetables with vegetable soup to start. Watching the one women cook in the kitchen was quite amazing, as it was about 8ft x 8 ft and no running water. The trout was fantastic ... perfectly baked, grilled, seasoned and salted. It possibly tasted that much better, just knowing it came right from the lake. We were also in the perfect spot to enjoy the sunset, and watch the lightning storm that pursued.
From there, we took another boat back to Copacabana and then onwards to La Paz, where we arrived Thursday evening. Although not traditional in style, we found a great little Thai restaurant where we shocked our palates with the lack of potatoes and rice. It was so good we returned Friday night as well. The Bolivian´s do good Thai!
Our time here has certainly been more hectic than the lazy days of Copacabana but not surprising seeing as the city is absolutely buzzing at all hours of the day. We found a great little spot to watch the Bolivian football team (ranked 115th) tie Argentina (ranked 10th) yesterday which seemed to do well for the Bolivian´s spirits as we were told often people don´t watch because they always lose. After dinner we stumbled upon Gato de Agua which we equated to a Blue´s on Whyte feel ... Bolivian style. The only beverages available were grande cervezas and premixed vodka and orange tang. We opted for the cervezas and perched beneath a massive papier-mache sculpture of some sort of war god and watched the entertainment unfold ... (hope to be able to post a video of the music and dance we watched).
La Paz has been a great place to do some shopping (we have to go pick up Jill´s custom made Alpaca skirts soon) as well as lounge in the very intense sun and enjoy the parks. Tonight we hop on an overnight bus to Uyuni where we will start a 3 day tour of the Uyuni Salt Flats, making our way down to Laguna Verde, where we will then cross over to Norther Chile!
Will try and post some photos now to show Lake Titicaca and our time so far in Bolivia.
Hope all is well at home - ciao for now!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
and then there were two...
Hola everyone!
As of about 6 days ago I have been lucky enough to join lovely Jill way down here in sunny Ecuador and it has been absolutely wonderfull!! My tour guide has been just suberb - we have managed to find our way to many very interesting and unique areas, have eaten great food (including fruits that neither of us know what to call) and caught a few very interesting rides along the way.
Late Saturday night I arrived to meet Jill at the airport without a hitch and we found our way to a lovely little cafe/hostel in the heart of Quito. After an excellent breakfast the next morning we were off to the Teleferico cable car that took us to the top of Mt. Pichincha which is just outside the city. There we enjoyed the view and the street food kebabs. We found our way down and into the old part of the city for a great meal on a rooftop patio surrounded by the city lights, churches and the sounds of the city.
After a visit with Jill´s host mom Martha on Monday it was off to Papa Gayo hostel located in the magnificent hills around 20 kms outside Quito. There we enjoyed the surroundings, went for a few walks, ate some wonderful food and headed out on a hike Tuesday morning to Mt. Pasechoa. With a group of eight other touristos we ascended this beautiful peak right to the top. The view was superb with Mt. Cotopaxi and several other grand mountains in the surrounding area. From there you could also see Quito in its entirety. Simply spectacular. After dinner and another evening at Papa Gayo we were off on an epic journey on Wednesday morning.
After a nice breakfast an a short walk out to the highway we managed to flag down a taxi who took us to the bussling little town of Latacunga. We managed to catch an early lunch and a local bus headed to Quilotoa Laguna. For the next hour and a half we careened, swerved, honked and more or less raced through construction zones, around cows, dogs and children, and bumped our way to a little village and magnificent volcanic lake. Again, the only word I can think of to describe it is stunning. Needing to get back to Latacunga and on to Banos for the night, we headed out to the road leaving town at around 3 in search of a lift. Since the days busses had long left, we managed to catch a ride with a family in their small car for the 15 kms into the next largest town, Zumbahua. From there we hopped in the back of a little truck taxi to get to the main highway and managed to catch another Bus/Racecar back to Latacunga. As it turns out it was probably the worst day to travel in Ecuador as well since it was the begining of their national holiday celebrating ´the day of the dead´ so traffic was horrendous. Arriving in Latacunga after dark (around 7) we managed to find the highway where the Banos busses stop and jumped on (literally, the busses like to start moving while loading passengers for improved efficiency). Tired, bums a little sore and quite hungry - we arrived at our wonderful lodging in Banos at around 10. What a day!
So, today - after a long hike above the hills of Banos, we are surrounded by the sounds and smells of the Ecuadorian holidays. It has been absolutely wonderful. We have been blessed with superb weather, wonderful people and a little good luck. Jill has absoluetly impressed me with her keen guiding... you would never know she has only had 2 weeks of spanish lessons. She arranges our transport, barters for taxi fare, pays for everything and has just been the best travel partner a person could ever ask for. We are doing great and have been capturing may pictures to share and stories to tell when we get back.
Hope all is well at home!!
Love,
Ian and Jill
As of about 6 days ago I have been lucky enough to join lovely Jill way down here in sunny Ecuador and it has been absolutely wonderfull!! My tour guide has been just suberb - we have managed to find our way to many very interesting and unique areas, have eaten great food (including fruits that neither of us know what to call) and caught a few very interesting rides along the way.
Late Saturday night I arrived to meet Jill at the airport without a hitch and we found our way to a lovely little cafe/hostel in the heart of Quito. After an excellent breakfast the next morning we were off to the Teleferico cable car that took us to the top of Mt. Pichincha which is just outside the city. There we enjoyed the view and the street food kebabs. We found our way down and into the old part of the city for a great meal on a rooftop patio surrounded by the city lights, churches and the sounds of the city.
After a visit with Jill´s host mom Martha on Monday it was off to Papa Gayo hostel located in the magnificent hills around 20 kms outside Quito. There we enjoyed the surroundings, went for a few walks, ate some wonderful food and headed out on a hike Tuesday morning to Mt. Pasechoa. With a group of eight other touristos we ascended this beautiful peak right to the top. The view was superb with Mt. Cotopaxi and several other grand mountains in the surrounding area. From there you could also see Quito in its entirety. Simply spectacular. After dinner and another evening at Papa Gayo we were off on an epic journey on Wednesday morning.
After a nice breakfast an a short walk out to the highway we managed to flag down a taxi who took us to the bussling little town of Latacunga. We managed to catch an early lunch and a local bus headed to Quilotoa Laguna. For the next hour and a half we careened, swerved, honked and more or less raced through construction zones, around cows, dogs and children, and bumped our way to a little village and magnificent volcanic lake. Again, the only word I can think of to describe it is stunning. Needing to get back to Latacunga and on to Banos for the night, we headed out to the road leaving town at around 3 in search of a lift. Since the days busses had long left, we managed to catch a ride with a family in their small car for the 15 kms into the next largest town, Zumbahua. From there we hopped in the back of a little truck taxi to get to the main highway and managed to catch another Bus/Racecar back to Latacunga. As it turns out it was probably the worst day to travel in Ecuador as well since it was the begining of their national holiday celebrating ´the day of the dead´ so traffic was horrendous. Arriving in Latacunga after dark (around 7) we managed to find the highway where the Banos busses stop and jumped on (literally, the busses like to start moving while loading passengers for improved efficiency). Tired, bums a little sore and quite hungry - we arrived at our wonderful lodging in Banos at around 10. What a day!
So, today - after a long hike above the hills of Banos, we are surrounded by the sounds and smells of the Ecuadorian holidays. It has been absolutely wonderful. We have been blessed with superb weather, wonderful people and a little good luck. Jill has absoluetly impressed me with her keen guiding... you would never know she has only had 2 weeks of spanish lessons. She arranges our transport, barters for taxi fare, pays for everything and has just been the best travel partner a person could ever ask for. We are doing great and have been capturing may pictures to share and stories to tell when we get back.
Hope all is well at home!!
Love,
Ian and Jill
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Into the Jungle
I finished up my two weeks of Spanish lessons last Friday, and so have carried onto my second part of the Ecuadorian Adventure! To celebrate our completion of school, as well as say good bye on a high note, Katharina (the girl who I studied with at Ecole Idiomas) decided to skip out of Friday´s class a bit early and head to Bahia, a small beach city about 8 hours directly west of Quito. We arrived with hopes and dreams to soak up some sun and thaw out after Quito´s chilly evenings but were disappointed to learn that Bahia was experiencing an uncharacteristically cold spell during the week. Dang. It didn´t stop us from exploring the sleepy (when not sunny) city and venture a bit farther up the coast to Canoa, via a small boat and another bus. Unfortunately Canoa too had grey skies and gusty winds, so our time on the beach was more of a declaration of our will to enjoy a beach as opposed to the relaxing time we had imagined. After donning all our layers and sitting in a lounger for an hour, we decided that we had been defeated, although our long beach walks were quiet and lovely anyways. No sooner than when I boarded the bus (later to break down for two hours on the highway of death) back to Quito, the sun decided to return from its hiatus which was of course nice for Katharina, as she was spending a couple more days there prior to returning home to Germany.
I have now been at the Yana Cocha Animal Reserve, 3km outside of Puyo, for one week and have been basking in the weather as it is exactly what I naively hoped all of South America might be ... 25-35 degrees and intense sunshine. Yana Cocha currently has about 40 animals, ranging from rodents, birds, monkeys, fox like animals and turtles. The majority of the animals have been given to Yana Cocha after they were apprehended from illegal activites such as holding monkeys as pets, and therefore are often unlikely to return to the wild as they are unable to find their own food. I hope to learn more about Yana Cocha´s goals and mandate as I am unsure of how I am feeling about the operation and its impact. It has become profitable in the last couple of years as it is now a tourist attraction and so I can´t help but feel that I am in a zoo. I do think that their hearts are in the right place and the animals are more than cared for and loved. I suppose I just have some questions that I would like to ask. The setting is beautiful, nonetheless, and the Amazonian landscape is definitely something I could get used to. Lush trees and flowers are everywhere and the colours are unbelievable. The family has built two gorgeous homes on the property, one for the husband and wife, as well as one for the son (about 30 years old and dating the volunteer coordinator). There is also a pool with a hot tub (a bar is currently being built on top of its shelter) and so we often spend our time between morning and afternoon shifts splashing and lounging. The work is hard though, the majority being manual labour to keep the operation running smoothly. The heat has certainly added alot to the work load but it still feels fantastic to be sweating in October.
Upon my arrival to Yana Cocha, I experienced my first pang of home sickeness as it seemed that every volunteer (there are about 15 right now) either came with a group or at least a friend. It seemed a bit clique-y (which I will explain later) and nobody was terribly friendly. On top of that, since I was the last to arrive that week, I was put in a cabana with 3 males, which never really makes a girl feel instantly comfortable! It has been good though, the ages of the males range from 17 to 42 (the 42 year old is the only volunteer older than me) so it has been interesting. It has certainly gotten a lot better though, and I have really been getting along with a girl named Rose from England who is my age. Rose just finished studying Occupational Therapy and so thought she would head out on her first big trip alone. She has organized her trip with an organization in the UK that arranges volunteer holidays so she is travelling with a group for 3 months (and happens to be the only female in it as well). Maybe we got on well together due to our related occupations, or our solo-female experiences, or our apparent elder status amongst 95% of the volunteers .... or maybe it was our mutual affinity to street food vendors after a couple of $1.25 (700ml) beers. Nonetheless, we have had a great time being the old ones, watching the cliques clash and the devestating love triangles unfold. Wednesdays and Fridays seem to be the big nights to go out and so we headed out with the 17-20 year olds, salsa-d away and felt proud (and oh so mature) when we were the only ones who didn´t proceed to vomit at some point in the night.
This weekend I headed into Puyo as the majority of people went to Banos instead. Ian and I will be in Banos for 4 days so I figured I would enjoy exploring all of Puyo´s quirks instead. It´s an awesome city ... fairly small but exactly what it seems a South American city should be. It´s bustling and certainly ramshackled but colourful, loud with upbeat music and millions of chickens and stray dogs running around. I found a really quaint little hostel with hammocks and a garden. I inhabit the room with the anteater figurine on the door. I think I covered every inch of Puyo today, the best part being walking along the river and coming upon a little beach where a bunch of Ecuadorian children, teens and adults were cliff jumping and floating on inner tubes. I sat there for quite awhile, maybe getting a bit too much sun, but enjoying the authentic, Saturday afternoon activities. The water was amazing and I could hear music in the background as we all splashed around in our underwear. I then had probably the best pineapple juice I will ever have in my life and enjoyed my first hot shower since arriving here when I returned to the hostel.
It´s time for dinner now ... with a trip to ¨Nice Cream¨after for my first ice cream in 3 weeks!
I am looking forward to Ian making his way here next Saturday although it is hard to believe I am already half way.
I have now been at the Yana Cocha Animal Reserve, 3km outside of Puyo, for one week and have been basking in the weather as it is exactly what I naively hoped all of South America might be ... 25-35 degrees and intense sunshine. Yana Cocha currently has about 40 animals, ranging from rodents, birds, monkeys, fox like animals and turtles. The majority of the animals have been given to Yana Cocha after they were apprehended from illegal activites such as holding monkeys as pets, and therefore are often unlikely to return to the wild as they are unable to find their own food. I hope to learn more about Yana Cocha´s goals and mandate as I am unsure of how I am feeling about the operation and its impact. It has become profitable in the last couple of years as it is now a tourist attraction and so I can´t help but feel that I am in a zoo. I do think that their hearts are in the right place and the animals are more than cared for and loved. I suppose I just have some questions that I would like to ask. The setting is beautiful, nonetheless, and the Amazonian landscape is definitely something I could get used to. Lush trees and flowers are everywhere and the colours are unbelievable. The family has built two gorgeous homes on the property, one for the husband and wife, as well as one for the son (about 30 years old and dating the volunteer coordinator). There is also a pool with a hot tub (a bar is currently being built on top of its shelter) and so we often spend our time between morning and afternoon shifts splashing and lounging. The work is hard though, the majority being manual labour to keep the operation running smoothly. The heat has certainly added alot to the work load but it still feels fantastic to be sweating in October.
Upon my arrival to Yana Cocha, I experienced my first pang of home sickeness as it seemed that every volunteer (there are about 15 right now) either came with a group or at least a friend. It seemed a bit clique-y (which I will explain later) and nobody was terribly friendly. On top of that, since I was the last to arrive that week, I was put in a cabana with 3 males, which never really makes a girl feel instantly comfortable! It has been good though, the ages of the males range from 17 to 42 (the 42 year old is the only volunteer older than me) so it has been interesting. It has certainly gotten a lot better though, and I have really been getting along with a girl named Rose from England who is my age. Rose just finished studying Occupational Therapy and so thought she would head out on her first big trip alone. She has organized her trip with an organization in the UK that arranges volunteer holidays so she is travelling with a group for 3 months (and happens to be the only female in it as well). Maybe we got on well together due to our related occupations, or our solo-female experiences, or our apparent elder status amongst 95% of the volunteers .... or maybe it was our mutual affinity to street food vendors after a couple of $1.25 (700ml) beers. Nonetheless, we have had a great time being the old ones, watching the cliques clash and the devestating love triangles unfold. Wednesdays and Fridays seem to be the big nights to go out and so we headed out with the 17-20 year olds, salsa-d away and felt proud (and oh so mature) when we were the only ones who didn´t proceed to vomit at some point in the night.
This weekend I headed into Puyo as the majority of people went to Banos instead. Ian and I will be in Banos for 4 days so I figured I would enjoy exploring all of Puyo´s quirks instead. It´s an awesome city ... fairly small but exactly what it seems a South American city should be. It´s bustling and certainly ramshackled but colourful, loud with upbeat music and millions of chickens and stray dogs running around. I found a really quaint little hostel with hammocks and a garden. I inhabit the room with the anteater figurine on the door. I think I covered every inch of Puyo today, the best part being walking along the river and coming upon a little beach where a bunch of Ecuadorian children, teens and adults were cliff jumping and floating on inner tubes. I sat there for quite awhile, maybe getting a bit too much sun, but enjoying the authentic, Saturday afternoon activities. The water was amazing and I could hear music in the background as we all splashed around in our underwear. I then had probably the best pineapple juice I will ever have in my life and enjoyed my first hot shower since arriving here when I returned to the hostel.
It´s time for dinner now ... with a trip to ¨Nice Cream¨after for my first ice cream in 3 weeks!
I am looking forward to Ian making his way here next Saturday although it is hard to believe I am already half way.
Monday, October 10, 2011
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