Matt & Ash in the Americas

Photos: Patagonia!

ash-clarey — Sat, 6 Feb 2010 03:40:00 GMT

From Mendoza, Argentina down to beautiful Patagonia inc. Torres Del Paine in Chile

Patagonia

ash-clarey — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 11:50:00 GMT

Hey Hey

I know it’s been a while, but I will try to be brief (we all know how that has gone in the past). So last you heard we were in Mendoza. We rented bikes for a day and were given a map containing an 11km ride (one-way), 2 delicatessens, a wine museum, a chocolate and liquor shop and 12 wineries with tours. We met a bunch of people and dashed through the museum for our first tasting, followed by another quick ride down the street to somewhere making chocolate and flavoured alcohol. Thus, at 10:30am with one glass of wine down I found myself with a fully prepared shot of 70% absinthe in my hand, while looking across at Ash licking at a delicious spoonful of Dulce de Leche (may even taste better than nutella). I have certainly felt better in my life as I got back on the bike, but we had a full day ahead so I sucked it up and off we went. As a group of about 10 we decided tours were for non-wine-buffs, so we only made it to 3 wineries, and simply bought a few bottles in each place as our ‘samples’! It was an awesome day which finished when we checked our watches and realised we had to dash back to base if we didn’t want to pay a late fee on the bikes.

From Mendoza we went south to Bariloche, a stunning ski village (which I fully intend to return to when the snow arrives!) right on a lake and surrounded by snow capped mountains. This was our first taste of Patagonia and we were impressed. We did have to pay US$20 for our campsite but as we were now in Argentina, prices were starting to become more noticeable. We had a few days in the town and didn’t really achieve anything. We wondered around, didn’t go to any of the tourist sights and still spent a fortune … so we left in search of bigger mountains and less chocolate shops.

We arrived early in El Chalten to clear blue skies, a rare commodity in the area, and an awesome view of the Fitz Roy range which are the most impressive mountains I have ever seen. To summit the main mountain is effectively 2km of vertical ice climbing in 100km+ winds; I decided not to add to Huayna Potosi. The camping here was pretty brutal with our tiny little tent impressively holding up in huge winds that had it bent at angles not even Michael Jackson can lean at. We did a really cool day hike in the area that took us to a lake overlooking Fitz Roy Mountain and drank in a great little German microbrewery … not the cheapest but definitely the best tasting beer I’ve had in a very long time (sorry to all the ‘Gold’ drinkers reading). It’s made with unfiltered glacial melt-water which gives a cloudy look to the beer, but a tip-top taste.

From here we headed to El Calfate for only one reason, Perito Moreno Glacier. We have been told that after the two Polar Regions, the Patagonian Ice Field is the most crucial area of the world regarding weather and climate change. This glacier is its show piece and it really is impressive. We booked on a cool day trip so we would get to walk on the glacier, Ash would get to try crampons and we would both get a glass of whisky with ‘natural ice’. Unfortunately a rather retarded booking system meant we woke up and were not booked onto the trip. Rather pissed off but without another option we simply took a bus to the glacier, did a boat trip and then sat with sandwiches to watch bus-sized chunks of ice fall off into the lake. The whole lake was a turquoise colour from all the minerals and the glacier was massive. 60m tall in the middle, and went back a lot further than the eye can see. It was an awe-inspiring thing to just sit in front of. We could hear it constantly cracking and creaking and were lucky enough to see a huge piece fall off from very close up.

From El Calfate we headed to Puerto Natales to get our wilderness fix with a 5 day hike through Torres Del Paine National Park. We decided to do it the ‘hardcore’ way and camp, carry all our food, clothes and equipment. This way we finished with the ability to look down our noses at the people simply making a day-trip out there and talk under muffled voices about how pathetic tourists can be! The hiking was amazing, first night we were camped alongside a glacier lake with mini icebergs floating past our tent while we cooked dinner. I was amazed how many other campers had no idea what they were doing! I put up around 5 tents that night and others had to help with dinner cooking etc. We were freezing though so moved ourselves into the local Refugio for a cheeky beer in front of the fire. Day two brought some of the weather the park is notorious for and we arrived in camp in good spirits, but wet and freezing! We quickly changed into dry clothes, cooked dinner and hit the hay. Day three had us hiking up the best valley I have ever been through in my life. Imagine Scottish highlands, but with much bigger mountains, a huge glacier and lots of snow. It was the highlight of the trip, and the day was made even better with almost a full day of great weather, a number of Andean Condors swooping around over head, no rain while we set-up the tent, a hot shower, and dinner and drinks with friends in a lovely warm Refugio. We did 4 nights of camping in total, 2 nights next to refuges and 2 nights free camping in the middle of nowhere. The last big day brought more great weather and we were wondering what all the fuss was about. Our packs were starting to lighten as we had eaten most of our chocolate and meals and we were looking forward to an early start the last day for a sunrise view of the Torres Massif. By the last morning we had met a bunch of really cool people, two Swiss with uncountable languages spoken who were rather more used to the whole outdoors thing than others. We had also happened across Sarah … Sarah was not exactly used to the whole trekking and camping thing, and had brought about 5 kilos too much food and snacks. It is also fair to say she was a little bit mental, but she stuck with it, had a class spirit and provided an uncountable number of laughs. She also cooked everyone a breakfast of frankfurters and porridge with all her left-over food on the final morning while sat in the wind and rain, while everyone else hid behind rocks. Sarah if you are reading this you are an absolute legend and we hope all is well! We arrived back in Puerto Natales slightly wishing we could have spared more time to keep hiking but also glad to be back in a bed.

We then planned to head down to Punta Arenas to see some penguins, but we had dinner out with everyone and Ashlee simply couldn’t resist a pisco sour. This is a drink made with raw egg and while we’ve had loads of them in the past I guess this made her ridiculously sick for a couple of days, so instead of heading down to see penguins we stayed in bed, and I was serenaded to sleep with rather loud spewing and groaning. We are now back in El Calafate as we fly to Buenos Aires from here in a few days. We are both absolutely gutted that our trip is now in its last week, but duty calls (for Ash at least) and we are both rapidly running out of money. I scored an addition to my trip and so get to go up to Salvador and meet my family for Carnival. After a year and a half I am very excited to see them, but super disappointed that Ash can’t come. We can’t have it all I guess so I hope everyone will welcome her home with open arms and I will see you … when I see you.

Hope all is well

Matt and Ash x

ps. Hang tough for photos hopefully in the next few days

UnBoliviable....Chile....Argentina!

ash-clarey — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:35:00 GMT

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Since we last wrote we have come through Bolivia, a short and horrendously expensive stint into Chile and across into Argentina. I think the last photo album had a couple of pics coming into Bolivia (Lake Titicaca and La Paz) and Matt is putting up all of our Bolivia pictures right now :)

La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is a pretty intense sort of city (to cross the road you just have to run out in the traffic, for example!) - at least the bit we were staying in! We made it there for New Year's Eve hoping to catch up with some friends we met for an hour or so in Medellin, Colombia. Unfortunately as we arrived, they were leaving and our search for New Year's friends remained fruitless. We still had a couple of bottles of Christmas wine left over from Peru(we were too sick to drink them at Christmas! Plus they tasted like shit… Peruvians like their wine sweet and nasty!) so we tucked into these and sat in the kitchen waiting for random people to make friends with us. Anyone who’s travelled in hostels will know that this is a pretty failsafe method. After a couple of hours, we’d made friends with a French couple who were nice enough to go out of their way to speak English with us even though every other person in the room was French. This trait always impresses me about Europeans and I’m always grateful. There were a big group of Japanese backpackers using the kitchen to make a complicated meal and after a while one of the girls came out with a heaping platter of spicy vegetables and Japanese salad which she sat down in front of us and told us we could tuck in. This took care of dinner and we headed out for not exactly a wild and crazy New Year’s but definitely a fun night. The Frenchies introduced us to an English couple down the pub and we hung out with them until about 1am, when we returned to the hostel and Matt spent the first few hours of 2010 lying on the floor throwing up into a rubbish bin and moaning pitifully.

The next day La Paz looked like a nuclear bomb had hit it. We saw people falling into piles of rancid food scraps, a man in a suit pissing on the footpath at midday with his willy flinging about, and a taxi drive directly into a gaping hole in the middle of the street that wasn’t there 24 hours earlier. We took it easy, ate at a Dutch restaurant to ease our tummies into Bolivia and generally wandered about seeing the sights. The most interesting part of La Paz is also the most touristed – the Witches’ Markets. Local women in tiny bowler hats and full skirts sell all sorts of weird shit here from New Years’ lucky potions, herbs and decorations to dried llama foetuses, as well as the usual touristy faff. We also visited the Coca Museum which detailed the history of the coca leaf and the subsequent cocaine boom in the Western world.

The following day Matt set off to climb Huayna Potosí, a mountain outside La Paz rising to 6088m. Check out the pictures he’s posted as he looks like a proper hardcore mountaineer with his ice axe etc! I’m very impressed with his efforts as it was a three-day trip, the summit attempt on the last day leaving at 1am in the morning (his head torch fell down a crevasse at 3am!), 6 hours up and 4 hours back down. The base camp on the first day is at about the same altitude as Mt Blanc, just to give you an idea how high this is! His group got to play around on a glacier testing out their axes and crampons and I think Matt was really having fun until the last day – I don’t think it’s an experience he’s willing to repeat any time soon. Out of the 6 guys on his trip, only Matt and another English guy plus the guide they were roped to made it to the summit and out of about 30 people trying that same day, around 10 made it in total so he did really well. When he reached the bottom he found out one of the other guys in his group had stumbled and fallen through a hole in the path, wedging himself by his backpack at about chest deep – when the guide and the other guys pulled him out of the hole, they looked down to see it was about 100m deep!

The other cool thing we did in La Paz was the ‘Death Road’! A few years ago there used to be a lot of traffic on this narrow, windy, muddy road and bikers and drivers would plunge off the side to their deaths fairly regularly. Nowadays, probably due to the amount of money coming in from the tourist industry, the authorities have built a schmick new road for traffic, leaving the Death Road as a friggin awesome day trip on a mountain bike from La Paz. I really didn’t think I’d have fun but once I had all the gear on (full motorcross stuff!) and went over a few rocks with the amazing suspension on the bikes I was feeling more confident and although I was the slowest in the group I still had a great time. Matt of course is a bit of a psycho and kept up with the guide the whole way with glee, while I trundled along with the safety van right behind me the whole way! It was awesome though, 65km and downhill the entire way, amazing scenery and a brilliant experience. Bolivia is such good value, we paid $48 each and got the trip, all food, gear etc, buffet lunch and a swim and shower at a hotel at the end then back to La Paz.

Right so we FINALLY got our arses out of La Paz and headed south to Uyuni for a three day 4WD trip through Salar de Uyuni and the desert beyond, through to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. The huge, bright white expanse of the salt flats was really awe-inspiring and trippy and we took lots of silly pictures and had a great time. We were on the trip with four people I can best describe as internationally roving bohemians…two of them lived in Barcelona and made enough money busking on the street (up to 100 Euros in one night!) to not only live comfortably but to save up for a huge South American trip. The rest of the trip we spent driving around the desert looking at cool windblown rock formations and visiting some amazing lagoons filled with hundreds of bright pink and white flamingos. The most impressive was Laguna Coloradas, an important wetland system, that had a brilliant red tinge in stripes across the water. The best experience of the trip was on the last day – after setting off at 3:30am and driving through a spooky geyser field filled with steam, we arrived at dawn at the most beautiful hot springs you can imagine, steam rising up and flamingos wandering around with the rising sun in the background. Awesome. The hippies loved it and so did I.

Arriving in San Pedro we were instantly shocked by the price of everything. Comparing Chile to Bolivia is like comparing Norway to India or something. We broke out our brand spanking new camping stuff for the first time, hoping for a bargain, and paid the rock-bottom price of TWENTY AMERICAN DOLLARS FOR AN UNPOWERED CAMP SITE IN A BACKYARD. Holy shit. In La Paz we were paying $8 for a private double room, and that's not even cheap there! Needless to say were were out of there like a shot. It was a shame because the town is really cool, all earthy colours and packed-mud streets and set on the northern tip of the driest desert in the world. We’d done all the ‘desert’ stuff in Bolivia, so opted instead to take a really interesting astronomy tour with an entertaining old French astronomer at 1:30am in the morning. The stars are stunning in the desert and it made me homesick for Kingaroy, you don’t realise how much you don’t see when you live in a city.

Next day a 24 hour bus ride to Santiago, capital of Chile, and diverted across to the coast to the coolest city ever, Valparaíso. Everything is art here – neighbourhoods of coloured houses sprawl up hills around a naval port, steep staircases and furniculars connecting the streets, tiny cafes and art galleries stuck in random corners and everywhere, on every wall, graffiti artwork and murals. We had a brilliant afternoon just walking around, taking photos and eating Española empanadas (tomato and hotdog slices in pastry – suprisingly delicious). The next day we retardedly missed our bus to Mendoza, Argentina and had to fork out $48 for another one :(. Got here eventually though, after a long but stunning bus ride over the border, and have spent the last couple of days camping outside of Mendoza in an awesome shady campground with an outdoor movie screen, cooking steak and eggs over a fire and generally chilling out. Mendoza is a very Western city with hundreds of pavement restaurants and wide shady streets. Tomorrow we are renting bikes to do a big day cycling around the wineries in the area, which I’ve been looking forward to for a while now (the wine here is delicious and very, very cheap). Next we’re shooting down to Bariloche in the Lakes District and then on to Patagonia.

Sorry guys that was another long one, but it’s very hard to fit three countries into one blog :) I hope everyone is well. I’ve only got a few weeks left before returning to the real world, but Matt has changed his flights to the 28th of March and will get to see lots of Brazil lucky bastard!!!

Cheers,

Ash and Matt

Photos: Bolivia and Chile

ash-clarey — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:38:00 GMT

Photos: Peru Part 2, a little Bolivia

ash-clarey — Sat, 2 Jan 2010 08:56:00 GMT

From the Andes to the Amazon.

ash-clarey — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:17:00 GMT

Hi Again

So just finished an amazing few weeks of both the Inca Trail and a trip into the Amazon. I will do my best to sum it all up in not so many words, here goes ...

The trip started in Cusco where we arrived early in the hope of acclimatising and therefore not dying in our sleep during an encomfortable night in a tent at altitude! The first day or so went fine until I started hearing vague complaints from Ash about not getting to see the ´real´amazon and only going to the wet-lands in Bolivia. We had decided on half a day of running around the tacky tourist shops in Cusco to get each other a few fun but cheap presents for Xmas. As the second day in Cusco grew longer Ash couldn´t stop feeling bad about missing the ´real´jungle. So, in an attempt to lighten her own spirits she did what I fear any normal female would have done and carried out a bout of retail therapy. First she bought some cool drinks mats (number one present crossed off my ideas list!). Next she bought an Alpaca jumper (number two crossed off my ideas list!). Thus, all I was left with for ideas were some crappy candle holders that were impossible to find and a cheap watch which was meant as a joke.

The Xmas shopping commenced and, as I´m sure she had hoped, I could think of nothing else but to blow my bank account and buy us a trip into the Amazon for her Xmas present (naturally she still had to have some smaller things to open on the big day!). So yes, in one day we paid off more than half the price of our Inca Trail trip and paid for a 4 day forray to a lodge on an Amazon Tributary in Southern Peru ... as usual, Ash had done rather well for Xmas.

To start with I should explain we paid for a fairly expensive Inca Trail trip. We were being responsible tourists and ensuring our guide and porters were not treated like crap. This left us with a rather spectacular, fairly luxuary, camping trip! We recieved 3 course meals for both lunch and dinner, and after leaving camp with all out shit everywhere (we only had to carry our clothes, days water bottler and sleeping bags), the porters promptly break camp for us and run along the trail to ensure the pass us with sufficient time to greet us at the next camp with tents and all set-up, and a fresh glass of juice! Not bad for what was supposed to be a gruelling 4 day trek where we learned what it was really like to be an Inca!

Anyway Day one was a fairly leisurly day. We were picked up at 5:30am and set-off for the start of the hike. We arrived in Ollytaytambo to stock up on the necessities of a painted walking stick for Ash, some gloves and some Coca leaves for the altitude. We finally started walking and the day proved to be a very managable 12km without too many hills. Part way along we encountered our first Incan Ruin site, this looked really cool and served to raise hopes of what may be to come. This was all merely preparation for day 2 which is supposed to be the truely testing day.

Day 2 was a fairly early breakfast and off we went for a 4 to 6 hour uphill slog, encountering over 3000 stairs and a vertical climb of 1.2km over an 8km distance. This was really tough and towards the top it became a case of resting every 10 steps to catch our breath! Luckily we were all stuffing our mouths full of Coca leaves to ebb the effects fo altitude and give us a little extra energy (It really works and sucks that the leaf is illegal elsewhere because it makes a damn good tea!). With the climb finished we stood at the highest point on the Inca Trail (Warmiwanusca Pass, 4200m). From there it was a really nice hike down to camp 2 in a spectacular valley (Pacamayo). From our camp we had views through the clouds of Glacier so I went to sleep dreaming of skiing!

Day 3 is the longest day of trekking (16km) but also offered the best views. We count ourselves very lucky as we didn´t get too wet, unfortunately the ´rainy season´provided constant clouds so the stunning views of surrounding snow capped peaks came reluctantly. We did manage to get a few really amazing views though with the only signs of civilisation the Trail made 500 years ago by the Incas which was still in really good condition and the numerous people we shared the trail with (500 new people each day!). After an early morning pass we dropped down by a lake the shape of South America and came across our third lot of ruins at Sayacmarca. You wouldn´t believe the places the Incas decided to build small communities but it makes for good viewing. We welcomed teh sight of our final camp and the chance to have a shower, although it was a shame to be back amongst power lines and hoards of people after 3 days of fresh air.

The final day was a super early start to beat the crowds into Machu Picchu. We waited and waited at the ´Sungate´ for birds-eye views of Machu Picchu but the clouds were holding fast. Finally we all got what we had sat for an hour for, and it was definitely worth it. For the next 3 hours the sun shone giving us awesome views of the ruins. They are undescribable so you will just have to check out our pics. But to give an idea, they are perched on the top of a really steep mountain, with an even bigger, steeper one just behind it. We had a great day there and finished it off with pictures of Llamas before heading on a SLOW train back to Cusco. It did make us feel rather self-rightious being on the train with all the lazy people who had bussed their way there though.

Back in Cusco we had a celebratory beer before hitting the hay. We were utterly knackered and had a night bus into the jungle the next day! The bus was one of the worst yet! Rather cramped and really hot, but we made it none the less and set off up the rivier for 3 nights in a jungle lodge. The lodge ws great, bamboo lodges with cool high thatched rooves gave us nice views of the surrounding jungle and allowed us to be woken up to the cacophony of different birds flying around. We had 3 full days in the jungle and saw loads of cool animals. Unfortunately Xmas day brought with it horrendous stomach íssues´ for me so I had to struggle through the trip! We saw 4 different types of monkey (Dusty Tinted, Red Howler, Brown Capuchin and Saddlebacked Tamarin) which were really cool, bats, parrots, macaws and so many more the list could be endless. The guides are amazing, not only being able to tell birds apart from their song before you see them, but even being able to make a lot of the sounds with various whistles! Our guide grew up in a local community and after studying tourism at uni had decided to become a guide. When he realisde 4 months ago he could make more money speaking english he started studying, he is now fluent and starting German! 4 MONTHS! This is the same guy who has been no farther from home than the 12 hour bus ride to Cusco and has only seen the ocean on the TV. It certainly puts our efforts in Spanish to shame. So yes, Xmas in the Jungle was really cool and certainly not a festive season I am likely to forget, no matter how much I would have liked to be home for the first white Xmas in as long as I can remember.

Apologies for the spelling mistakes and the length of the article!

Feliz Navidad and Feliz Ano Nuevo.

Love to all

Matt and Ash.

Photos: Peru Part 1

ash-clarey — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:05:00 GMT

more to come tomorrow. internet broken!!

'Woolly Beannies and Chicken Feet' or 'Our Life on a Bus'...Ecuador and Peru

ash-clarey — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:02:00 GMT

Hey all

Just realised that we've come through two countries without updating the blog so here goes avid listeners!

After our legendary Galapagos 'holiday from travelling' we flew back to Quito, the largest city in Ecuador and home to the biggest concentration of travellers I have ever met who had all manner of elaborate mugging stories. In Quito we spent a couple of days exploring the unique Old Town. There was a great buzz in the city as it was Quito Day (ok I made that up, but it was some kind of special Quito holiday with bullfighting and general mayhem to celebrate) and a Quito football team had just won some kind of South American cup. We bussed south to Banos (´Baths´) and enjoyed the, um, baths, along with seemingly the entire population of Ecuador. We also biked down a steep mountain highway to visit a stunning waterfall and dice with death riding through a pitch black road tunnel.

We made a quick stop in the pretty colonial town of Cuenca before an overnight bus to the Border From Hell. Ecuador and Peru historically do not get along (we're talking full on invasions here) and possibly for that reason the borders are 4km apart. The bus drops you off somewhere...are you in Ecuador? Are you in Peru? You don't know but there are a million guys willing to take your money to 'help you out'. To cut a long story short we went back and forth between borders and eventually got tricked (seriously) into taking a taxi 20km out to a sign that said Estacion Autobus. It was just a sign. There were no buses. At this stage we had not eaten or drank water for over 12 hours. We had no Peruvian money because of the trickery and tomfoolery of the dude who brought us here but eventually we found an old man who was willing to accept American dollars to drive us 5 hours into Peru in his car. Let me just say that when we arrived in Piura and I saw my first toilet for 24 hours I could have kissed it.

Having made it this far we pushed on, arriving in Huanchaco on the north Peruvian coast at 6am. We hung out here for a while watching the hostel's pet tortoise march round and round all day long trying to break into rooms (I have a great photo of Matt retrieving him, hissing and wobbling his big feet, from under my bed).

Next on to Huaraz, in the Cordillera Blanca - the highest mountain range in the world outside of the Himalayas. The town, like a lot of towns through Ecuador and Peru, mostly consists of ugly rectangular, half-finished besser-block buildings, due to a combination of a couple hundred years of earthquake damage and ever-present poverty. Despite this these towns are filled with colour and interest. Indigenous ladies here wear awesome brightly coloured full skirts and fuschia pink cape jackets with little hats - in Ecuador they are bowler hats with peacock feathers, in Peru sort of fedoras with tall crowns. We bought two beannies for $2 each from a lady knitting them in the street. In Huaraz we stayed in a really nice homestay where we were plied with mate de coca (tea made out of cocaine leaves...it's not dodgy don't worry just green tea that helps you with your energy levels, digestion and altitude sickness) and an amazing mountain lodge in the Cordillera Blanca itself. The lodge, called the Way Inn, was in its low season and we were the only guests, it was very cosy.

From Huaraz we took a long night bus to Lima and stayed for one day....in a mall. Yep, we went to the Quiksilver shop, ate Chinese at the food court, ahhhh new experiences and cultural enrichment... I needed a bit of Western consumerism after a rather traumatic experience the day before, anyway. We were in a local restaurant and ordered the cheap Menu Del Dia. The soup arrives, noodle soup, yum. I tuck in. I have maybe 5 or 6 mouthfuls when suddenly uncover an entire chicken foot, nails and all. I let out a traumatised gasp/whimper while Matt giggles like a small child...further investigation reveals neck parts and an internal organ of inconclusive origin. People at neighbouring tables chomp their internal organs and neck parts with delight but as lunch doesn’t pick up from there, I insist we decamp to a soft gringo café for avocado sandwiches to recover like the ball-less tourist that I am! Theoretically, OK, the animal is dead, right? The least we can do is use all the parts. That doesn’t make me feel better.

Anyway so from Lima yet another overnighter to Arequipa. We take them for granted now but these buses are quite amazing with full reclining seats, pillow and blanket, dinner and even herbal tea included. When you get on they record your passport, take fingerprints, pat-down and metal detector and even film you in your chair as some kind of security measure or perhaps to identify the bodies.

Arequipa is fantastic. It is quite a big city but interesting, easy and safe to walk around with beautiful colonial buildings. We went to a university museum to inspect the frozen body of a 12 year old girl sacrified by the Incas on a volcano outside the city, before chomping some local alpaca steaks and just a few glasses of the Peruvian national drink, Pisco Sour – highly recommended! We took a bumpy but scenic bus trip through the altiplano, spotting alpacas and vicunas on the way. A vicuna is a smaller, prettier type of llama – in the old days they would chase them until they were exhausted, pluck the soft fibres from their bodies and then let them go. When the Spanish arrived, they decided it was easier to just kill the vicunas (kind of like shooting your entire flock of sheep each year instead of shearing them…) and because of this retardedness vicunas are still a protected species.

We stayed in a small village and visited Colca Canyon early the next morning in the hope of seeing Andean Condors. The Canyon itself is amazing – more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon - and when the sun hit the bottom over 3km below and the condors began floating upwards on the warm draft it was pretty exciting. We were extremely lucky and saw at least 8 or 9 condors, including two that swept past within a few metres of my face. These birds are just massive, huge vultures with a wingspan of over 3 metres. The lookout was filled with school kids who seemed to think Matt was some kind of international celebrity. (He thinks Johnny Wilkinson. You be the judge.) They lined up to use our binoculars, asked him over and over where he was REALLY from and then he had to pose for photo after photo - group photos, photos with the teacher, close-ups on camera phone, it was hilarious. On the way out Matt bought an alpaca wool beannie and a jumper with a llama pattern knitted on from a really sweet local lady.

It’s so hard to know what to leave out and what to include here so sorry that this one was so long – I had some free time to write it as it is pouring with rain and hailing outside! We’ll do a nice short update after the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, which we are starting in a couple of days. Currently in Cuzco in a party hostel full of Aussies who are too cool for school in their ugg boots and aviators.

Hope all is well whatever you are doing, and happy birthday Bob for the 17th love!

Xxxx

Matt and Ash

Photos: Galapagos Photos

ash-clarey — Sat, 5 Dec 2009 09:50:00 GMT

Sharks, Turtles and loads of boobies ... our time in the Galapagos

ash-clarey — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:59:00 GMT

Hi all

It´s Matt this time so I apologise in advance (especially to you Michelle) for the numerous spelling and grammatical errors that will surely follow. Last time we wrote we were in Bogota and heading south towards the Galapagos Islands. We arrived back yesterday and it was amazing.

On the way down to Quito we stopped at the border. Here apparently someone a long time ago spotted an image of the Virgin Mary on a rock! So, in the bottom of a very deep and very steep valley they have built an absolutely stunning bridge and church.

Then we flew out to the Galapagos for what was to be 10 days of luxury. We were off to a great start when we had to get off the plane for it to be cleaned in-between connections. We were swiftly moved into the posh lounge for our troubles with free internet, juice, fruit and croissants. We started to think we could get used to this! Upon arrival we confronted our first problem … it costs $100 per person to step off the plane in the Galapagos. This is only payable in cash (which was all handily in our checked bags) and so our passports were commandeered. We arrived in Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz with nothing booked and hoping for a last minute deal with 2 weeks of the ´down season´ left. We quickly found out this was not going to be so easy. As we landed on a Sunday, everything was closed, and with the cheapest room available at $25US per night we started to worry! We did however get offered a rather stunning deal of 8 days on a tourist superior cruise for a mere $650. Ash wanted it straight away, I was more suspicious. A quick Google search later revealed the cheeky shit was most definitely lying and it was a rather shit boat.

Next morning I left Ash in bed and went in search of a decent cruise and our passports. We had also hoped to fit in some diving now that we were fully fledged professionals! A number of hours and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later and all was sorted. Ash was found meandering through tourist shops and I had paid a small (although not that small) fortune for an 8 day cruise aboard The Floreana. We also decided on two days of diving first and so had to push our flights back a few days!

Next morning we were up and off early for our first day of diving around Floreana Island. Hoping to see Green Sea Turtles with the possibility of Hammerheads! With the water really quite cold we had full body wet-suits on, but the diving was unbelievable. Huge schools of hundreds of Barracuda swimming just past out heads, lots of King Angel Fish and many more. On our first dive we caught or first glimpse of the grand prize, yes a Scalloped Hammerhead did swim past, but I only saw the tail end with the visibility not so good. Second dive of the day was after lunch and literally seconds after jumping in there were two big Green Sea Turtles mating about a foot in front of us. It was an amazing day of diving where the fish are massive; there are so many fish you don’t know where to look!

Day two of diving brought more and more fish and then I saw it, two rather large and rather scary looking Hammerheads less than 5 meters away. It was so cool, we literally set off as fast as we could to catch them up but with annoying effortlessness they were gone! The diving had been great and we were very very happy!

So it was onto the cruise where we were relieved to find everyone was backpacking and there were no golden oldies around (sorry grandma). The boat had plenty of room and the beds were comfortable, we even had our own shower! We got 2 land trips and 2 snorkel trips each day and we were fed lots and lots of really good food. The trip was class, it´s amazing how close you can get to all the animals and they hardly move a muscle. There are sea lions everywhere and they were having pups. This was great because we got to snorkel with them and they can be really playful. The blue and red footed boobies were in their thousands the pelicans everywhere and the Magnificent Frigate Birds had their bright red puffed up chests out attempting to attract a better half. By the end of the trip we had seen it all … Giant Tortoises were cool to see wallowing in the mud, face to face with Marine Iguanas (feeding underwater!) and loads of Sea Turtles, So many different fish I lost count and the same goes for the birds.

Really cool things to note were a few schools of Eagle Rays on our last day. There was also one cool island with no animals on. It´s all very strange as the entire Archipelago is made of Lava, so this island has a much more recent lava flow on it. It was covered in these little Volcanoes which looked so weird! From the top of this island we looked out to sea to find lots of strange splashing. It turned out to be Manta Rays jumping out of the water to dive down and catch fish. With these things growing up to 6 ½ meters across I had no idea they could jump at all, so it was a pretty impressive sight. Also, one night a small boat turned up to sell us fish. They all sat on the boat gutting the fish and poured all the blood into the water at the end. We were sat watching it all from the top deck and within minutes a huge Hammerhead turned up and thrashed about, apparently annoyed at the distinct lack of an easy meal in the presence of about 5 liters of fish blood!

There was one ´issue´ too! On day 5 of our cruise we were sailing at night (done so we woke up in a new place each day) and it went very still, and very quiet all of a sudden. The next morning we found out we had blown an engine cylinder and that we couldn´t go anywhere! Luckily the ´company´ had rented us a speedboat for the day so we could still do something, but it meant we had to leave the boat where it was for a few days whilst a mechanic flew out from the mainland to fix it. This also meat we would have to change out trip so we wouldn´t be sailing up the channel where we might see Orcas. We were pretty gutted but just got on with it as we couldn´t do anything about it and still had an amazing time.

All in all it was a really good few weeks; we saw virtually everything to see on the islands, got fed lots of good food, met lots of good people and saw lots of cool stuff. It is definitely a place worth the cost, and we will definitely be going back when we win the lottery!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying work!

Oh yea, we must be doing ok with this blog because it was featured on the website a few weeks ago!

Matt and Ash x

PS. Last night, without the help of the all knowing Ashlee, I won my first ever pub quiz. Please send your congratulations as I am rather proud!

Gallery: Central To South America

ash-clarey — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:25:00 GMT

Tarantula-Spotting, Octopus-Eating, Mud-Swimming and Hummingbird-Poking!

ash-clarey — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:22:00 GMT

Hi All!

Sorry about the gap between posts - it's difficult to score a computer for long enough in a hostel to write anything of substance! Got a bit to catch up on so we'll try not to bore you with too many details, just the fun stuff.

Where we left off: Monteverde, Costa Rica. This place is great, it's really a town purely for tourists but is beautiful and fun enough that it doesn't matter. We took a canopy tour through the cloud forest, including an absolutely amazing Superman-style zipline that you strap into lying face down, you zoom about 80m from the valley floor for a full kilometre! Also went on a night walk where we spotted a big fat sloth very slowly eating leaves, a porcupine, a kinkaju and best of all a huge, flouro bright orange-kneed tarantula.

Next it was into Panama - we really rushed through this country unfortunately. We had a short stop in the pretty coffee-town of Boquete where we sampled deep-fried banana stuffed with mince! Then it was on to Panama City. We stayed in the interesting old section of the city for a couple of days before taking a 4WD trip across to the Carribean coast and the San Blas Islands. The islands are technically part of Panama but are completely self-governing by the Kuna people - they have their own laws and have managed to retain a relatively traditional way of life which is really interesting to experience. We stayed one night on a densely inhabited tiny island in the loft of a local's house. The most interesting thing about this house is the toilet - check out our newest pics (probably going up tonight) to see what I mean!

The next day we boarded the yacht Ave Maria along with four really nice English girls, a bearded and dreaded Aussie chef, a 71-year old partying couch surfer who buys and sells hundred-thousand-pound number plates in Scotland for a living, and our captain, Paul. The yacht itself is really nice, 50ft sailing boat that used to belong to the San Diego yacht club and once opened the America's Cup! We spent the next 5 days sailing through the San Blas, snorkelling every day and visiting tiny islands that were less than 100m in diameter. The water was amazing and we took a lot of gratuitous palm-leaning-over-water photos! Local Kuna people would paddle up to the boat in dugout canoes and sell langostines, octopus and tuna and we got to try the amazing local King Crabs! We saw a water spout (full-on tornado that sucks water up from the ocean!) and loads of dolphins.

Finally arrived in Colombia to what must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world - Cartagena - on coincidentally the biggest party of the year, their Carnaval. Had a great night out with everyone from the boat, visited a salsa bar, ate the best kebabs and sushi I've ever tasted and explored the beautiful and romantic Old Town. We also visited a volcano about an hour and a half outside of Cartagena - this was a pretty unique experience - it's basically a 15m mound full of lukewarm mud with the consistency of cream. You just sort of climb in and flounder around for a while! After the mud starts to freak you out a bit (it's kind of bottomless, and even though you float it's still weird) you climb back down to a lagoon. A little tiny local lady grabs you by the hand, drags you into the lagoon and literally strips off all your clothes and scrubs you down before you have a chance to react! I managed to keep my bikini bottoms on (washer lady was NOT happy) but Matt had no problems getting his whole kit off! It's really hard to describe properly so you'll have to wait for the photos and have a look!

A couple of days later we arrived in Salento, a small town in the Zona Cafetera (coffee district). This is probably one of the highlights of our trip - we hiked through a valley filled with huge tall wax palms to an elderly local couple's house. They give you a bowl of boiling water with dark chocolate pulverised into it, with a chunk of stinky cheese that you crumble into the chocolate and eat with a spoon! The lady has set up a bunch of feeders with sugar and water, and her garden is absolutely filled with hummingbirds - probably thirty around the feeders and maybe a couple of hundred in total. We took one of the bowls out of the feeder and the hummingbirds were landing on our arms and fingers to drink from the bowl. There was at least 6 different species, it was just amazing.

We are now in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and are heading to the Ecuador border on a 23-hour bus tomorrow morning. Then it's on to Quito and a flight to the Galapagos Islands!

Sorry that was a bit of a long one, thanks for sticking with us if you've gotten this far! I hope all is good and everyone is happy and well.

Pura Vida!!

Matt & Ash

NEW PHOTOS, leaving Nica and through Costa Rica

ash-clarey — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:47:00 GMT

Hey all

Just a quick one to let you know we've added some more pics so check them out!

Have spent the last week in Costa Rica, very expensive after Nica where we were sleeping on camp beds for $3 a night. Since last updating we have done three hikes (all prep for the Inca Trail!), one really kinda hard one up a volcano for 8 hours which served to help us appreciate the little things in life, like lying down.

Since arriving in Costa Rica we have visited Tamarindo (very Americanised holiday town) in an unsuccessful search for turtles, and are now staying in Montezuma where we've seen loads of monkeys, hummingbirds and an armadillo....have met some really cool people here and having fun :) Also working on our Spanish after we both mistook 'quince' (fifteen) for 'cinco' (five) and ended up paying for a fifteen-thousand colone taxi ride (THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!). Needless to say that is not a mistake I'll make twice.

Next stop Monteverde, a famous national park (backtracking a little as we are unfortunately unable to visit Corcovado, a properly wild peninsular down south, due to the torrential rains in October). After that we'll speed through Panama to Panama City, hopefully joining a boat trip to Colombia by next week.

Hope all's well! Sorry that we can't really email people very often but please send us any news you may have (we will reply!)

Matt and Ash

Gallery: Central America Part 2

ash-clarey — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Buses, Boats, Seafood and Scuba.

ash-clarey — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:13:00 GMT

Buenas Dias!

We have a bit to catch up on as we have been out of touch for the last week or so!

After Antigua, where we last updated, we chicken-bussed it west to Lago de Atitlan for a couple of nights. The lake was formed by a massive volcano and is quite beautiful, especially the views of the surrounding towns and volcanoes driving in and out. Here we hung out at an Israeli hostel (this place is full of Israelis) and learned a very serious card game called Yannif. We visited the famous and colourful highland markets at Chichicastenango where we spent the day insisting that no, we really can't fit a 5kg embroidered tablecloth or a huge rusty machete into our backpacks, and eating unidentified mushy chicken something-or-other wrapped in banana leaves. The next day we swam in the lovely warm and clear lake and then set off back to Antigua for a mammoth trip to the Corn Islands, Nicaragua.

We basically spent the next four and a half days travelling on buses and boats - all the way from Antigua to Guatemala City through El Salvador and the southern tip of Honduras to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. From here we caught another bus east to El Rama, a river port town, then a boat to the Carribean town of Bluefields where we boarded a 7-hour ferry from hell to Big Corn Island, then a panga to Little Corn Island, where we collapsed in relief!

Luckily Little Corn Island was a chance to stop for a while - we spent the next six days there, learning to scuba dive and hanging out with pretty much the entire traveller population of the island (it´s low season, luckily, so everyone gets to know each other) plus some awesome local guys including our legendary scuba instructor Karl. One night the dive shop put on a $2 BBQ with unlimited fresh fish and salad - we got to try delicious meaty barracuda that had been caught only hours earlier. We scored a great, cheap hotel room after staying in a rat-infested hut for the first couple of nights and generally just had a good time. It was very relaxing (apart from the fact the island had no running water and very little electricity due to a broken generator - we had to draw water with a bucket from a well which was fun!) The highlight of course was the diving - just awesome - we got to do 4 open water dives as part of the PADI certification and on the last day the visibility was 30m, which was brilliant. Saw some really cool stuff including a lot of nurse sharks, huge elk horn coral formations, a porcupine fish plus lots of other fun stuff.

I´m ashamed to say we are not made of very stern stuff...we decided to give the ferry from hell a miss on the way back and flew back to Managua instead, saving ourselves a couple of days. That day we travelled to a colonial town called Granada which we explored for a day before getting a boat to Isla Ometepe, an island made up of two volcanoes in huge Lago Nicaragua. We are currently in a small village called Balgue, on Ometepe, staying on an organic coffee farm at the base of the smaller volcano.

We´ll try to add some more photos in a few days. Please email any news you might have :) Over the next two weeks we will be making our way through Costa Rica and toward Panama City.

Matt and Ash

xoxoxo

More in Guatemala, plus pics added

ash-clarey — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:05:00 GMT

Hey guys

Just a quick update to let you know that Matt´s added about 50 photos from the first stage of our trip. For the more technologically challenged among us: to get to them, look down the right-hand side to 'Photos - Week One'. If you select the first one you can then click 'next' to get to the next one, you don`t need to click each one individually.

I think Matt last wrote from Lanquin, a small town in an area with a lot of Mayan villages set in some really beautiful countryside. The Mayan people here wear traditional clothing and speak Spanish only as a second language if at all, v. interesting to drive through the villages and get a glimpse into their lives. The following day we set off for Semuc Champey with a group from the El Retiro hostel (otherwise known as Vegetarian Buffet River Paradise!) Semuc Champey is a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere - a rushing river flowing under a 300m long limestone bridge, with beautiful blue pools sitting on top of the bridge. We took a brilliant tour through a cave which involved swimming, wading and scrambling through the dark with only candles to light our way, very exciting! The water was really rushing through the caves and the whole thing was quite thrilling. The rest of the day was spent hiking to a lookout in the pissing rain, swimming through the pools and tubing in the river.

Stayed for one more chillout day and then on to Antigua, a journey of about 9 hours by bus. This town is quite touristy, v. pretty with cobbled streets and colourful houses. A lot of people live here for weeks or months as there are 40 Spanish schools to choose from. Yesterday we hiked up an active volcano (Matt´s put lots of pics of this up, we got a bit over excited and really snap-happy here). Raining as usual but that couldn't put a dampener on how awesome it is to be a few feet from a lava flow with chunks breaking off and hurtling downward every few seconds. There´s obviously some real danger here but the guides seem oblivious as they whip out their machetes to sharpen sticks and urge you closer to the lava to toast your marshmallows! The last person to be killed here was a Canadian tourist struck by lightening in 2002, something that seems a bit too likely for comfort as you watch thunderstorms gather around the summit of Volcan Pacaya. We were lucky enough to be up there for sunset and saw the lava glowing in the evening.

Still in Antigua today as I had to sort out some uni stuff, we've explored the markets and coffee shops here and still practising our rather painful and stuttering Spanish on everyone around us! Tomorrow we are heading to Lago de Atitlan. Will probably write again in a week or so.

Hope all is good in Aus and the UK. And France or wherever you may be!

Note for parents and grandparents: Please dont be alarmed by news reports re Honduras. We have decided to reschedule our diving trip to the Corn Islands in Nicaragua as the borders to Honduras keep opening and closing unpredictably.

Cheers,

Ash & Matt

Mexico to Belize to Guatemala - Week One!

ash-clarey — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:49:00 GMT

Hi All

We are having an absolute blast! This is most definitely the life.

Since our last message we have been through Belize and into Guatemala. Belize is an amazing country but just too expensive for us. We were on the islands in the Carribean Sea for 2 days, chilling out under palm trees, snorkelling, listening to Rastas sing very loudly along to Reggae, drinking Rum Punch and eating the best Lobster ever! We left Tulum after a few days to cross the border into Belize. The buses in Mexico were the best I have ever seen! We crossed the border at Chetumal and into Corozal. From here we took a water taxi to San Pedro on Abmbergris Caye. We stepped off the boat and into Rasta Land! Dreads everywhere and loads of multi-coloured buildings! We got approached by a bunch of guys a skeptically walked on the other side thinking they would try to sell us something! They only yelled to us anyway in the thick rastafarian accent “ya’right mon”, then pointed us nicely is the right direction! From then on the people were all ridiculously nice! We spent one night in San Pedro an moved onto Caye Culkar. This place was great! We stayed on the beach around 3m from the water! On the island we did a snorkel trip and in 1 day saw Manatees, Reef Sharks, Loads of cool fish, Turtles and Stingrays. We actually sailed back to the island listening to reggae, drinking rum punch and eating raw conch that our guide just grabbed from the ocean and expertly whipped out of the shell with his big knife! He threw the remains back into where we were smimming so I actually got to hand feed this big fish! Yes, we could probably have set up shop for a long time, but on we went!

Next stop was El Remate and Tikal which was amazing. From Belize city we took a chicken style bus to the border, rammed with people, but no chickens. The ruins are just massive. We got some great pics! We walked around from 6am so there was no-one there! We even had the 'grand plaza' totally to ourselves for a little while! That day we saw Spider Monkeys and 2 types of Toucan! Very Cool. We also saw a little croc that I nearly stood on without seeing it! It didnt look real until it snapped its mouth shut and ran into the water! We also met a famous National Geographic photographer who said the Croc was really cool (Mark Costidge)!

From El Remate we took colectivos via Coban to Lanquin. They are basically like 10 seater taxis with a roof rack. You nervously watch the guy tie your pack to the roof praying that it doesnt fall off or get nicked! Then you set off thinking its great with at least two seats to yourself. Before long there has been numerous stop-off’s at definitely NOT designated stops and there are a lot more people on board (yesterday we counted 28 in our 9 seater and 3 more on the roof!!)

We are now in Lanquin, a very small town in the heart of Guatemala near Coban. It is a backpacker heaven here, loads of them are around! There seems to be a definitive trail that everyone follows in both directions through Central America, which nice as it means we keep bumping into the same people. Its just unbelievable here, surrounded by mountains, they are very strange shapes too! Today we are doing a trip to Semuc Champy, much talked about among all travellers in Central America so we are very excited.

I will keep you updated as regularly as possible and try to update our blog too and add pictures. For now we are staying at El Retiro Hostel in Lanquin, check it out im sure it has a web page. Its unbelievable here!

Cheers

Matt

PS. Happy Birthday Catherine!! I hope you have a great day :) Thank you to Nic for going to the bank for me. And cheers for the emails/comments everyone keep them coming :) - Ash

Gallery: Week 1

ash-clarey — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:24:00 GMT

Mexico-Belize-Guate

OUR FIRST FEW SLEEP-DEPRIVED DAYS

ash-clarey — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:34:00 GMT

Hey all!

Have finally sort of recovered from the drawn-out process of getting here! In Brisbane airport we were told that (despite us confirming earlier that week) Matt´s ticket had been cancelled by STA Travel in July. Thank god for QANTAS who, after 20 nervous minutes, told us that as it wasn´t our fault we could both get on the plane anyway.

Arrived in LA after 13 hours (thanks for the neck pillow mum!) and spent the day walking around Santa Monica and LA. Unbelievably you can catch a bus from LAX to Santa Monica for 75c - in your face, brisbane air train.

Hadn´t really slept for more than 24 hours when we boarded our next flight to Atlanta and by the time we arrived in Cancun it was more like 40 hours. Of course, we got hopelessly lost trying to find the hostel and after walking for more than an hour, Matt realised that all the people who told him he didn´t need a million changes of clothes were correct and he´s unloaded a bunch of stuff in the hostel kitchen with a sign saying "gratis ropa! mi equipaje es pasada ;(" (our attempted Spanish for ´free clothes, my bag is too heavy!´). I also shed a tear as I parted with my beloved neck pillow...

Anyway we´ve had an 18 hour sleep, washed out our sweaty clothes and are ready to actually start our trip! Leaving Cancun for the white sandy backpacker haven of Tulum in half an hour.

Hasta Luego amigos!!!!!!

Ash and Matt xoxoxo