The Further Adventures of...

Photos: Ecuador

beckandphil — Fri, 3 Aug 2012 03:40:00 GMT

Cotopaxi, Quilotoa Loop, Otavalo, Mindo

Ecuadorean Highlights

beckandphil — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 23:52:00 GMT

Cotapaxi and the Quilotoa Loop

After arriving into Ecuador, we realised that our time was short and we still had to see Ecuador! The schedule for Ecuador was based on the fact that we had to be in Otavalo for the Saturday market, reputedly the biggest in South America. Luckily Ecuador is pretty small compared to the rest of South America, and most places are only a few hours by bus from Quito.

We headed South to Latacunga and the volcanic landscape around there. Cotopaxi is the 2nd tallest volcano in Ecuador, at 5,897 metres, and is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. It is a huge, perfect cone, and dominates the landscape south of Quito. It's possible to climb it (/walk it) but we'd been told the success rate is low, so we contented ourself with a day trip to the park and a trek up to the refuge, at about 4,800 metres above sea level. The car park was above the plant line, but with the swirling dust shooting past at high speed, you could see it was very windy. As I stepped out of the jeep, I was blown about 10 metres downhill before I worked out how to walk in the wind. It wasn't just dust that was being picked up by the wind - it was strong enough to whip up small pebbles into your face. It was a type of exfoliation my face could have done without! I had noticed that the supermarket had a large display of kites - apparently it is the windy time of year.

We then spent 3 days walking the Quilotoa Loop, which walks through some villages and canyons in the mountains near Latacunga. In the morning at the hostel, we had met two Spanish ladies who were heading out onto the Loop on the same day, so we did the walk with them. We started with a local bus, and then a jeep transfer (sitting on the back) out to Quilotoa Lake, another active volcanic crater. We began by walking around the rim of the crater, which was quite a narrow path to be attempting in high wind, but it gave lovely views. The path went through little native villages, where we were often escorted by the local kids, as it was school holidays. Each day we crossed the canyon, sometimes following the river. On the first day it steeply down, then straight back up the other side. Walking the Quilotoa Loop was really dusty. I thought it was sand, but apparently it was all ash from a huge eruption hundreds of years ago, which churned out enough ash to completely fill all of the valleys and canyons. The walking days were quite short. At other times of the year the cloud comes in for the afternoon, and they are keen for everyone to reach their destinations early. We stayed at some lovely hostels on the walk. One of which had a designer composting toilet, with a large glass window looking over the hill side, a flower bed, and a family of kittens living in the cubicle too.

Otavalo

Otavalo is on the Andean plateau, and is famous for its Saturday market, but the town itself is nothing special. As it was Phil's birthday we stayed in a lovely hostel perched on the mountainside a few kilometres out of town. Apparently you can see 4 volcanos from the hostel - we could mainly see cloud! Otavalo is such a big tourist drawcard that some touristy stalls are there all the week, and on the Friday we went into town to assess the goods and get an idea of the starting prices. We are not good shoppers, and it's actually meant to be cheaper in the week as there are less rich American tourists/buyers, so we bought a few things on Friday. On Saturday the first point of call was the animal market, but you have to get there before 8 or you miss all the fun. Phil would not let me buy anything, despite how cute some of the puppies were, and I wouldn't let him buy a llama! The pigs seemed to be particularly problematic, and we saw plenty being dragged along as they locked all 4 legs and refused to budge. There was a line of ladies in traditional dress with large sacks. As I brushed past one of the sacks, it started to squeak. The bags were full of guinea pigs that were unceremoniously lifted out by the scruff of the neck for inspection and sales. We walked back into town through the real bit of the market, the part for locals, not tourists: fake Gap hoodies (presumably because this is a very easy logo to copy), lots of tupperware, and then onto the centre of the craft market. We had been told to bargain hard, but this was challenging when the American tourists just paid the first asking price! Why sell to us, when you can sell to them for more!

Mindo

From Otavalo we were heading to Mindo on the Western slopes of the Andes. Another group at the hostel were paying for a direct private transfer (rather than 2 taxis and 2 buses) and we were able to help with the cost by taking up 2 spare seats. We got it at a good price as the driver brought all of his family along too for a Sunday day trip! Mindo is a small town nestled in cloud forest surrounded by exclusive lodges. The area is famous for its bird watching. Apparently there are more than 400 species in this area. We did a birding tour, which started at 5:30am. After a short transfer and a 20 minute walk uphill, through thick forest, we found ourselves at a Cock-of-the-Rock Lek for sunrise. A cock-of-the-rock is a bird with very red colouring and a comedy red crest. Every day the male birds perform and sing for the females. For some reason they all go to the same place to display, a lek. Although there were a dozen birds within 5 metres of us, the forest was so thick you could barely see them. The guide then took us to another part of the cloud forest, and with the help of his telescope, we found birds of all colours and all sizes, and had an amazing crystal clear view through the scope. If we'd been by ourselves we may have found 5 of them, but he found toucans, hawks, bright blue and golden tanagers, and many many more.

The landscape around Mindo is generally steep forested valleys, and we also did another canopy tour. 13 zip lines covering a distance of 3.5km, the longest of which was 400m long high over the valley and tree tops! Our last day in Ecuador we went to the cascades near Mindo. The cascades were nestled in lush tropical forest at the bottom of one of the steep sided valleys that cut through the area. To get there you have to get a mini cable car across the valley, the engine used for the cable car is taken straight out of a truck with accelerator, brake and a gear stick.! In the afternoon we headed back to Quito for our flight back to London the day after. After 5 months I am definitely ready for a cup of Tetley tea!

Photos: Colombia - Heading South

beckandphil — Thu, 2 Aug 2012 23:32:00 GMT

Around Salento, San Agustin, Sanctuary Las Lajas

Southern Colombia

beckandphil — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:53:00 GMT

Wax Palms, Coffee and proof the world is very small

After flying back to Bogota from the rainforest, our first stop was Salento, a small town of about 3,500 people in the coffee growing region of Colombia. We stayed in a lovely hostel run by a modern day English Eccentric gentleman who had also bought a nearby coffee farm. He recommended a restaurant round the corner, he mentioned that the couple had moved from London about a year and a half ago, and their names....and it all started to sound far too familiar to Phil whose ex-boss had moved back to Colombia recently. We went into the restaurant and yep, Phils old boss, Elena was running a restaurant in this small village with her husband Jesus! It was very good. The best curry we have had in South America, and a very good Paella too! As Salento is in the coffee region, we also did a coffee plantation tour and learnt all about the process, though Phil was not converted and I had to finish his coffee at the end of the tour. His comment was "I'd rather have tea".

The area is also famous for its ridiculously tall wax palms, which grow up to 60m tall. We did a day walk in the Valle de Corcora, which included a stop at a cafe with hummingbird feeders. This was our first lot of hummingbirds, and we spent ages trying to get a good photo (ideally without the red plastic feeder on it) - they move bloody quickly! On another day we did a guided tour to the next valley, Valle Carbonera, to see even more wax palms in an even more spectacular setting. We booked the tour late and had to stand on the foot plate at the back of the jeep all the way, hanging onto a thin metal bar, on 90 minutes of bumpy unsealed road. I couldn't uncurl my fingers when we got there as they were so stiff from clinging on for dear life!

As Salento is quite a small town there was not a lot to do in the evening, so we found ourselves at the local Tejo venue. It's free to play Tejo as long as you keep buying beer. It's a little bit like the French game petanque. However it is played on a longer court, the weight is heavier and is thrown a lot higher, and you are always aiming for a metal bullseye embedded in a rectangle of clay. To add a little more excitement to the combination of beer and throwing heavy metal weights, they tack little packets of gunpowder onto the bullseye, and if you make these explode you get bonus points. The full court was probably 12m long, but we played on the beginners/gringo court which was about 5m long.

The stone statues of San Agustin

San Agustin is a small town surrounded by (UNESCO world heritage listed) archaeological sites dating from 0AD to 700AD. The sites are characterised by stone carved statues, which usually guard a tomb. There are plenty of them, scattered across the countryside, though most of the tombs that are open for display are the ones that grave-robbers had already plundered. When the Spanish arrived, guns and disease wiped out 95% of the indigenous population, which is why no knowledge remains of these ancient civilisations.

From San Agustin it was one final trip across the Andes, on an unsealed road, and then down to Ecuador. We stopped just north of the border to go to Sanctuary Las Lajas. This is a reasonably modern church, built over a steep gorge, where the Virgin Mary apparently appeared to a local girl halfway up the gorge wall. Now people flock there for the Virgin Mary to perform miracles on their behalf. It's apparently second only to Lourdes for the number of miracles attributed to it, and the walls of the gorge leading down to the church were covered in hundreds of plaques giving thanks for the miracles.

Photos: Amazonas

beckandphil — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:19:00 GMT

Photos: Central Colombia

beckandphil — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:48:00 GMT

Around San Gil, Villa de Leyva and Bogota

Central Colombia and Amazonas

beckandphil — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:41:00 GMT

Around San Gil

From the coast we headed down to San Gil in Central Colombia. It was a holiday weekend in Colombia, and in the evening the plaza was filled with people drinking and socialising. They don't really have bars here, there are shops that sell beer and booze, with a few plastic chairs outside, so you take your beer bottle to the nearest park bench and return it when it's empty. From San Gil we went up to the colonial towns of Barrichara and Guane in the nearby hills. Barichara is at the top of a canyon, Guane on a ledge half way down, with the canyon bottom out of sight a long way below. They are joined by an old track, made of stone (age not specified anywhere!). Most people walk down from Barrichara to Guane, but then you are stuck in the tiny hamlet of Guane, waiting for the transport back, which only runs every few hours. Instead we walked up the hill, in time to get to Barrichara for lunch. There we went to a restaurant that served the local speciality: Ants! Luckily the restaurant wanted to stay in business, so it served a pleasant plate full, with an ant sauce! The ants were more palatable than expected - more of just a crunchy/cripsy texture than a flavour.

Villa de Leyva

Next we went to another of Colombia's 'unmissable' colonial gems, Ville de Leyva. Apparently it has the biggest plaza in South America. Most South American plazas are like gardens, but this one was just a big stone open market place, with a token fountain in the middle. This town was clearly a long holiday weekend favourite for people from Bogota, with lots of gift shops, cafes and restaurants all nestled in beautifully restored colonial courtyards. It also had an English themed restaurant (run by an English gentleman and his Colombian wife) though the only English things on the menu were fish and chips and a Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding (they only did the Sunday roast at a weekend, but unfortunately we were there in the week).

We hired bicycles from Villa de Leyva and went to a couple of the historic sites around town. 'El Fosil' is a 7 metre long fossilised Kronosaurus, like a cross between a crocodile and a dolphin. The teeth were huge, the head itself was probably just 2 metres long. He should be 12 metres long but the tail didn't survive. Instead of moving the fossil they just built the museum around him. Another few kilometres down the road was a series of monoliths that the indigenous people, the Musica, used to tell the changing of the seasons. On the same site there were also approximately 30 giant stone penises! Apparently the Christian Spanish colonists were very offended by this site, and used some of the stone penises in the construction of the nearby convent.

From Villa de Leyva we did a day walk up in the nearby "Santuario de Fauna y Flora Iguaque". Given that we had only been at sea level a few days before, it was hard work to walk up to 3,600m altitude. The highlight of the walk was the freaky plants that grow high up on the paramo, called Frailejon, with furry yellow leaves and flowers. It was really cold up there. With the wind chill it was probably only a few degrees C - definitely not into double figures. It is also famous for its sacred lake, the Laguna Iguaque, where the indigenous people believe mankind originated, and from here populated the whole earth. Unfortunately, when we were there it was very cloudy, so we only caught brief glimpses of the lake when the swirling cloud cleared for a few seconds.

Bogota

Bogota was grey and dreary, and some of the buildings in the centre looked like the run down bits of any major city. The old centre is not as pretty or as well preserved as some we´ve been too. However, what we found really disconcerting was the security. We went to a restaurant in the evening and the door was locked. They let us in and then locked it again behind us. It didn't seem particularly rough, though Colombians in general do seem a little paranoid, which I guess is understandable after so many years of trouble. The Colombia that we've seen so far seems very friendly and safe.

Bogota's big tourist drawcard is the Gold Museum. After visiting this I now understand why all the churches are completely covered in gold - there was just that much of it lying around. It was used for jewellery, for everyday wear, and ceremonies, by all communities all over the country.

Into the Amazon

We wanted to do more one more trip into the Amazon, but deeper into the rainforest this time, as we've previously just been to where the jungle begins at the foot of the Andes. So we flew to Leticia, down in the extreme south-east corner of Colombia. It is on the Rio Amazonas, on the borders of Brazil and Peru. We opted for a tour to the 'flooded forest', as we thought this would be the most different to the areas of jungle we'd seen before. We visited Zacambu Lodge, which was actually in Peru. To get there, we took a taxi from our hotel, in Colombia, to the river port in the next town, Tabatinga, which is actually in Brazil. From there the boat went up-river and into Peru. The border crossings are very relaxed here - Phil didn't even notice when we drove across into Brazil from Colombia. No passports required.

In this area of the Amazon, the water level varies by 15 metres over the year, between the dry season and the wet season. The water was at its highest this year on June 10th, and is now slowly going down. It has currently fallen about 7 metres, with another 7 still to go. We were still able to explore some of the bigger channels by boat, and the smaller channels by canoe, although the guide did have to use his machete frequently to clear the way.

Now that the water level has dropped, we could explore large parts of the rainforest on foot. In this area, there was very little undergrowth, because for 3 months of the year the ground is a few meters underwater, and all the animals live high up in the canopy. The rainforest floor was very wet under foot, and there were plenty of muddy puddles hidden under a thick layer of rotting leaf debris. Luckily the lodge provided wellies! This is meant to be the 'best' time of year for mosquitoes (i.e. there's less of them, but still plenty!) and it was unseasonably cool while we were there (mid twenties) which was good for us.

We were also able to camp out overnight in the jungle. They have a number of 'campsites' that they regularly use on rotation, so when we got there there was a frame setup for the tarp roof, and a bench, all made out of macheted branches from the nearby trees. The rest we took with us, although we didn't need any rope. Everything was tied up using a natural yarn from the forest. For beds we had very nice hammocks, with integrated mosquito nets, that also included a sealed groundsheet, to prevent nighttime invaders from the forest floor. We did a night walk to look for tarantula, and saw very little. Just a couple of frogs and a mouse. Sods Law ensured that the biggest spider we saw was less than 5 metres from camp.

We also did a canopy/zip wire course in a small reserve near Leticia. We knew it was 35 metres high, but hadn't really given much thought to how we would be getting up/down. I think we thought there would be steps or ladders like on the 'Go Ape' equivalent in the UK, but I guess they are rarely more than 8 metres off the ground, rather than 35. We were attached to the rope with a pulley and harness system, and had to monkey ourselves up. On this day it was a bit warmer and more humid, and we were both dripping by the top. It was such hard work that we hadn't really taken in our surroundings yet at all. Luckily there was a bit more time on the platforms at the top. Just don't look down! I thought we would slowly zip wire all the way down, but after a few intermediary zip wires, high up in the canopy, it was just a vertical rope all the way back down to the bottom!

Colombia's Caribbean Coast

beckandphil — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 02:02:00 GMT

Cartagena

Cartagena is a walled city on the Caribbean Coast. It was an important port for the Spanish when they ruled South America. Consequently it was often attacked. Following Francis Drake's successful attack on the city, Spain began building serious fortifications, a wall all the way around the city (the city is pretty much surrounded by water anyway) and some rather intimidating forts. Although the historic centre remains pretty much unchanged, Cartagena has expanded and modern sky scrapers line the water fronts.

We spent our time wandering round the old town and melting due to the high heat and high humidity, with occasional retreats into our nice air conditioned room. The cheapest way to eat was the 'set menu' which always started with soup. Why would anybody want soup when it's over 30 degrees and 90% humidity?!

From Cartagena we took the bus to Santa Marta, further East on the Caribbean coast. During the drive some enterprising locals took the opportunity of a capitive audience to try to sell Chanel perfume, Calvin Klein belts, and watches. It was like aggressive sales pitch from the Duty Free trolley as the goods were placed on your lap so you could inspect them. We decided to base ourselves in Taganga, a small fishing village/beach resort, nestled in the hills just a few kilometres along the coast from Santa Marta. From here we have done a few little side trips in the surrounding region.

Trek to the Lost City

I don't know why it sounded like a good idea to do a 5 day hike in these temperatues and humidity, but we signed up just the same. Ciudad Perdida, or the Lost City, is a complex of indigenous ruins, up in the rain forests of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, built by the Tayrona people. The trek wasn't that long, only 45km in total over 5 days, but it was absolutely necessary to stop at every possible water hole for a swim/soak to stop over heating!

The trek was better than expected. The hills of the Sierra Nevada are where the end of the Andes tumble into the Caribbean. They were steep and forested, though this did mean there was considerably more up and down than we had been expecting. On days 1 and 5, the steep hills were a patchwork of forest and more open farm land, so you got good expansive views of the surrounding landscape. On the other days, the path was deeper in the forest, often along rivers, with beautiful waterfalls and rapids. Everything was green, even the tree trunks were covered in green, wherever the bromeliads could get a hold. A few people still live and farm in this area and lived along the trail in indigenous villages.

The only way to get to Ciudad Perdida is this multi day walk. After another river crossing, and 1200 very tiny slippy steps up, our group had Ciudad Perdida to ourselves. Unfortunately, as was often the case in the afternoon, there was a heavy rain shower while we were up there. Ciudad Perdida, ("Lost City" in English) is called this because by the time the archeologists found it, the city had been so badly looted by grave robbers they didn't think they would be able to retrieve anything of historical importance. It was founded in around 800AD and abandoned when the Spanish came. The Spanish traded food and clothes with the Tayrona people for gold, however the clothes were infected with Western diseases (on purpose) and devasted the local population. When the Tayrona people realised what was happening, they buried a lot of the gold, abandoned their city, and retreated higher up into the more remote parts of the mountains.

The walk was disgusting! Within 20 minutes of walking you were sweating from everywhere (places I didn't even know I could sweat from), sweat dripping off your elbows, from your forehead into your eyes (mixing with insect repellent and sunscreen to give a real sting). We used a bottle of insect repellant between us in 5 days. The sand flies were mercenary, and the insect repellent soon came off with the sweat, river crossings, and jumping into the river to cool off. Nothing dried, and if you left it out over night it just ended up wetter. It's a godsend that photos can't capture smells too... though by the end of the trek we smelt more mouldy and damp than anything else!

Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park isn't what you'd really expect from a National Park. It's privately operated with a series of camp sites and restaurants at various 'resorts' along the coast. However like a National Park, no cars are allowed so you have to walk into the park (mule transfer is available at extra cost). The rain forest runs right down onto the beach. The beaches are beautiful white sand, palm fringed, and at almost all of them the water is too dangerous to swim - a helpful sign tells you how many people have died at each beach! We'd decided to go to one of the furthest campsites in the park, as it was one of the few places where you could go in the sea. This meant a rather scenic 2 hour walk through the park and along the beaches. Along the way there were plenty of people selling cold drinks and snacks out of cool boxes slung over their shoulders.

The beach we went to, Cabo San Juan, does have a reputation for being like a festival campsite and I have to agree. 4 toilets, 4 showers, and plenty of people and tents pitched one on top of the other. We hired hammocks, and we got there early enough to secure hammocks in the hut up on the headland. At night all you could hear was the crashing of the waves - though it was quite a walk back to the toilets, and there was a risk you got your feet wet as the waves broke over the sand bank at high tide! There wasn't a lot to do here, dip in the sea, sit on the beach, sit in the bar/restaurant, sit on the rocks watching the waves. It was a tough day!

Instead of walking out the same way, we had heard that the walk out via Pueblito (which translates as 'little village') was worthwhile. I have now learnt that words like "worthwhile" and "rewarding" never mean easy. The sign at the trail head said the walk was suitable for children over the ages of 5 - I couldn't make it up some of the perfectly smooth, rather steep boulders without a push, so goodness knows how a 5 year old is meant to manage it. It was a good walk up to Pueblito, with lush rainforest, rock hopping across boulders, beautiful enormous buttress roots, though quite steeply up, and in places it was definitely necessary to climb using all fours. Pueblito is another village from the Tayrona people, from the same time as Ciudad Perdida. From there it was another 3 hours across hills, through forest, back to the main road to catch a bus back to Taganga.

Photos: Caribbean Coast of Colombia

beckandphil — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:35:00 GMT

Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida and Tayrona National Park

Photos: Quito and the Galapagos Islands

beckandphil — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 03:05:00 GMT

Photos: Ouro Preto & Petropolis to Teresopolis Trek, Brazil

beckandphil — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 01:10:00 GMT

Ouro Preto & Petropolis to Teresopolis Trek, Brazil

Trekking near Rio and the Galapagos Islands

beckandphil — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:58:00 GMT

Petropolis to Teresopolis Traverse

As we had a couple of days to spare in Brazil, we thought it would be nice to do a couple of days walking in a National Park. The Parque Nacional Serra dos Orgaos (Organ National Park, presumably because the towering peaks look like a pipe organ?) is only 90 minutes from Rio, and contains a multiday walk across the park. We arranged a guide by email. He had warned us that the walk was hard. We thought he was just saying that to scare off inexperienced walkers, but it transpires that the walk was actually quite hard!

Before the walk we spent the night in Petropolis in a fabulous new hostel, Samambaia Hostel, a converted colonial farm house that previously hosted parties for the likes of Errol Flyn, Bridget Bardot and Eva Peron. It was more like staying in a National Trust house than a hostel. We got a bus out to the National Park the next morning, carrying all we needed for 2 days, plus my Spanish dictionary that I had forgotten to remove from my pack. The landscape was an extension of the towering granite pillars that makes the views of Rio de Janeiro so famous, but just on a much bigger scale. The walk went up, along the top and then down the other side into Teresopolis. It was impossible to work out how the path would ascend up these hunks of granite, but somehow it did. We started in Atlantic rainforest, which was very humid. The path wound up to the grasslands on the top of the plateau. The wind whipped across the top, and it was often in cloud, though we did get hazy views out across the bay down to Rio. The refuge for the first night was at 2,150m, next to Castelos do Acu (castles of big rock). The refuge was very nice, very new, with hot showers and they even provided all your cooking utensils. Before the refuge was built, you camped in make shift shelters under the granite rocks.

Day 2 was much longer and a much more gruelling affair. The walk can be done in 3 days, but we were doing days 2 and 3 together. We naively thought we would walk along the plateau and then walk down, however the walk along the plateau also consisted of a lot of up and down over the granite peaks. I now know exactly what gradient of granite my boots will grip onto, both wet and dry. There were also nice sections of mud overgrown with long grass so you couldn't see what you were stepping into. Everyone ended up on their arse at some point, even the guide. For some sections we were just advised to go down on our bum in the first place!

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, we stopped and the guide got some climbing accessories out! They were only needed for 2 short sections on the last climb to the highest peak in the park. "Just put your left foot there", "....I can't reach! My legs aren't that long", "now just swing your leg over like you're mounting a horse (and don't look at the 50m sheer drop just off to your left!)". We all made it with no injuries, maybe a graze or 2, though there were quite a few expletives. In the morning (6am) there had been good views, but the wind picked up and the cloud soon came in. There was some fabulous cloud forest nestled into the valleys up on the plateau, with some crazy coloured flowers (they were bright blue and looked like they were plastic).

We got the bus back to Rio that night (unfortunately no time for a shower or a change of clothes, so we were quite muddy and smelly on the bus - that is how backpackers get a bad name!). On our last day in Rio we went up to Copacabana and had calamari and caipirinhas on the beach.

The Galapagos Islands

From Rio we flew up to Quito in Ecuador. We had a couple of days in Quito which we used to explore the old town. Given that boats tend to make me sick, we opted for a land based trip in the Galapagos, which spent time on 4 islands: San Cristobel, Floreana, Isabela and Santa Cruz. There were 11 of us in the group, and we had to go to all the visitor sites with a National Park guide. Our guide was Zambo, who introduced everything as "beautiful", and "endemic", "native" or "introduced" as appropriate, which became a running joke of the trip.

The trip started with lots of snorkelling which was amazing. The only problem with swimming with balls of sardines is the risk of being hit by pelicans as they dive in for a mouth full (no closer than 1 metre, but that is still a shock). Also the baby sea lions were a delight everywhere - desperate to play, they would dive if you dived, turn if you turn, and swim into your face diverting at the very last centimeter. Plenty of big turtles too (one was too busy eating to care about the tourists less than 1 meter away), eagle rays, a few sharks, though I missed the head of the hammer head shark!

The trip ended with an overdose of giant tortoises - you have to smile when the guide tells you that the tortoises can travel up to 500m a day as though that is something impressive! Each island, and in some cases, each volcanic cone, has its own distinct sub species, though some were driven to extinction as the tortoises were a good source of food for passing boats (and given how speedy they are, they were very easy to catch). In the tortoise centre on Santa Cruz you can see Lonesome George - the only remaining tortoise of his sub species. They are trying to get him to breed, but he doesn't seem very interested!

The animals really have no fear of humans. You were told to not go within 2 metres of the animals, but with the iguanas they are quite camouflaged, and there was a real risk of treading on them when you walked across the rocks. I had a baby iguana trundle across my sarong as I sun bathed on one of the beaches. Also sea lions were a bit of a trip hazard on some of the waterfronts in the evening. While taking a photo of a pelican I obviously got too close to a blue footed booby (that I hadn't noticed) - he nipped my toe!

Iguassu Falls, Brazilian Coast and Ouro Preto

beckandphil — Sat, 2 Jun 2012 06:35:00 GMT

Iguassu Falls

Iguassu Falls are on the border of Argentina and Brazil. The number of actual waterfalls that make up Iguassu falls varies between 150 and 300 depending on what you are reading (and I guess whether they counted in the wet or dry season)! The falls need to be viewed from both the Brazilian and Argentinian side apparently – so we were quite happy to go back to Argentina for another steak and some good red wine.

The Argentinian side has a full day’s worth of walkways that go right in, under and over a significant number of the cataracts. As well as the cataracts trails there are nature trails which we did, but we inevitably saw more wildlife around the cafeteria! The coatis (South American raccoon) were particularly over friendly, being pushed out the café with a broom, rummaging in the bins, or standing up to sniff at your bag. The Brazilian side gives a better overview of the falls but was not such good value for money with only 1 main walkway, and we were done by early afternoon. So we went into the bird park next door, which had large aviaries in a lovely rainforest setting, with plenty of tame toucans. Toucans prefer the tops of the canopy so although we’ve seen quite a few toucans before, we have not been able to get any good photos until now.

Near Iguassu Falls is Itaipu dam, which is built across another river that joins with Iguassu just below the falls. Prior to the 3 Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China, this was the biggest dam in the world, though they still had some dubious statistics about why Itaipu Dam is still the biggest dam in the world (highest production level across all months of the year, and area destroyed vs energy generated!). This river is the border between Paraguay and Brazil and the project was a joint venture. We did the technical tour with a group of German engineering students who couldn’t comprehend that some efficiencies had been sacrificed for the sake of politics!

The bus from Iguassu Falls was an eye opener. It seems most Brazilians don’t go to the falls, instead they go to Paraguay or Argentina to buy cheap electricals, toys, and animal print bed linen and lots of it. People had 4 or 5 times the size of our backpacks and the coach company had scales to enforce their 32kg limit. We travelled to Sao Paulo, and got the next bus straight out to our next destination!

Paraty

Paraty is an old colonial town located on the coast. The buildings are white-washed, the streets are cobbled and closed to modern traffic, though horses and carts are still allowed. Behind the town rise forested hills, along the coast there are lovely beaches, and a bay dotted with islands. We had a couple of days there exploring the town, walking to the next beach and a day on a schooner cruising around the bay.

Ilha Grande

From Paraty it was not too much further along the coast to Ilha Grande. Until recently the island hosted one of Brazil´s most notorious prisons and consequently large parts of the island were never developed for tourism and now the forests are protected. We got a lovely pousada (guest house) at a bargain rate as its low season, up the hill away from town with a beautiful rainforest garden! There were quite a lot of English people on the island. It’s winter now and the temperature is only in the high 20s, which the Brazilians think is way too cold for the beach, but for Brits it’s perfect. We had a day on Lopes Mendes Beach (getting there involved a boat trip + 20min walk), which according to the information on Ilha Grande is the best beach in Brazil. We did a speed boat ride around the sheltered side of the island with some great snorkeling (too much snorkeling to take photos). The islands, and surrounding landscape are based on underlying granite, and Ilha Grande has a very distinctive peak called ‘Parrot peak’, so we did the trail up to the top of that on our 3^rd day. It was 1,000m up as we started on the seafront, and given the relative high humidity the walk was very sweaty! The views across the island and the bay from the top were superb, even if the drop was a little dizzying (no hand rails!)

Rio de Janeiro

We arrived in Rio in time to make it to Sugar Loaf Mountain for sunset. The sky was a lovely red colour - looking across the pollution of Rio de Janeiro! The summit is 400m above the bay and reached via 2 cable cars. It’s necessary to ‘change’ cable car at an intermediary hill. I made Phil walk up the first hill. It’s not possible to walk all the way up – there are only rock-climbing routes to the very top. From the top you can see that Rio really is squeezed in between the ocean and the high mountains rising behind. In the centre of town there was a concrete monstrosity lit up in multi-colours at night, which we assumed must be a casino, however it turns out that this is Rio´s modern Metropolitan Cathedral.

We stayed in Ipanema, a couple of blocks back from the beach. We did a few tourist-tastic things in Rio: caipirinha on the beach at sunset watching a no-hand volley ball match(?!), coconut water from a coconut, and a churrascaria rodizio, which is an all you can eat buffet with freshly cooked meat on skewers brought round to your table, for you to accept or turn away depending on a card you’re given which you turn over on the table (or alternatively how many spare notches you have left on your belt!)

Ouro Preto

We are now in Ouro Preto, which is Brazil´s answer to Potosi (big mining city in Bolivia, the source of the Spanish Empire’s silver). Ouro means gold! This is a lovely colonial town nestled on a hillside. It hasn´t changed much since the gold ran out around 1900. It’s full of overtly decorated churches – obviously paying to decorate a church was the way to demonstrate your wealth. One small church that we looked in today contains 434kg of gold. It is in the state of Minas Gerais which is famous for its hearty food: the porky bean stew is ok but the chocolate, strawberry pizza served with ice cream for dessert was definitely my favourite!

Photos: Coast of Brazil

beckandphil — Sat, 2 Jun 2012 05:54:00 GMT

Paraty, Ilha Grande and Rio de Janeiro

Photos: Iguasu Falls and around

beckandphil — Tue, 22 May 2012 04:53:00 GMT

Photos: Bolivia into Brazil

beckandphil — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:07:00 GMT

World's Most Dangerous Road and Coroico in Bolivia, then the Pantanal and Bonito in Brazil

The Yungas in Bolivia and the Pantanal in Brazil

beckandphil — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:22:00 GMT

Cycling the world's most dangerous road

One of the popular activities from La Paz is to cycle what used to be the world's most dangerus road. However due to how many people died (cars, minivans, etc that went off the side) they have built a new road and the cyclists generally have the road to themselves now so its not quite as dangerous as it once was.

You start off at 4,600m at the top of the pass out of La Paz and at the end of the day you've descended to 1,200m at Yolosa, in the Yungas, cycling about 64km. Much to our disgust it wasn't all downhill - there were a few sections in the day where we did have to pedal a little bit.

The first section of the road was on a good wide tarmac road high in the mountains. The wind was pretty chilly at that height and that early in the morning. You could only see cloud below you, and I´m sure as we cycled down the cloud came up to meet us. The dangerous part comes when you turn onto the old road. The area where the mountains drop steep down into the edge of the Amazon is called the Yungas and is cloud forest which means cloud, rain and poor visibility, as well as steep hills and vertical drops off the side of the road. The old road was a good gravel track, though in some places barely 3m wide which would have been problematic when it was being used for 2 way traffic. There was the added hazard of waterfalls just dropping across the middle of the road in places too. There is no fence and the road just drops away for 100s of metres ... just don´t take those corners too fast! The scenery on the cycle ride is meant to be spectacular but I spent most of the day looking at the road.

The Yungas

At the end of the cycle we were going to stay in the Yungas for a couple of days. I had high expectations of a pleasant climate so we stayed in a nice hotel with a patio and pool, but I didn´t realise the place was plagued with sand flies. Within minutes I looked like I'd been attacked by a red biro (teeny blood dots)! Coroico also had the best food we'd had in Bolivia: German breakfasts and French run restaurant for dinner (no wine though). One day we walked to 3 cascades but the path had been closed just before the 2nd cascade (actually to shut the path in Bolivia is unheard of, even if the cliff had collapsed) - the cause of the closure: bloody capitalism! You had to pay to view the falls now - 10p! We had to back track and take some miscellaneous tracks down to the road we could see below and the car park. The other day we walked up the ridge behind Coroico giving views of the valley bottom at 1,100m up to snow capped peaks at 5,000m. The landscape is a patchwork of cloud forest and farms, coca leaf plantations on the higher slopes, and bananas or coffee in the low lands. The Spanish brought in African slaves to work in the mines of Potosi, and when they were freed they moved to the warm climate around the Yungas. You could see elderly black African ladies in full High Andean outfits, bowler hat and all.

Another day another strike in La Paz

From the Yungas the plan was to go back to La Paz and get the first bus out of there to Santa Cruz...however this is Bolivia and there's always protests in La Paz! The drive into La Paz was a little strange, we left the main road before we got into La Paz and bounced along a dirt track in a canyon instead (where they were mining the river stones). The driver was stopping to talk to the people going the opposite direction. There was a big strike in La Paz and every intersection was blocked by mini vans...the driver was trying to get as close to La Paz centre as he could on whatever roads were still open. We had to walk 4km across La Paz with all of our stuff - at least La Paz is really easy to navigate as it's in a canyon. We couldn't leave that night as the roads were still closed, a lost day in La Paz. I had to console myself with one last visit to Alexandar coffee (cinnamon roll and chocolate submarino). We had a couple of long travel nights. The bus from La Paz left at 14:00 drove through the night to arrive at Santa Cruz at 8:15 the next morning. We had a day in Santa Cruz and then got the night train to the Brazilian border town of Quijarro. As soon as we were off the train we got a taxi to the border, and walked across the bridge into Brazil.

Crumbly Corumba and the Pantanal, Brazil

We entered Brazil at crumbly Corumba. Find it on the map....it's in the middle of South America but it was one of the busiest inland ports in its day. The port was lined with crumbling old colonial buildings. The whole town had a feeling of decay, the heat and humidity probably don't help. It was a Friday night and we found a busy local restaurant. The standard plate in a restaurant is big enough to share so you have to agree on a meal between you. The meals actually are too big for even Phil to polish off by himself! We also had our first Caipirinha, sugar cane, lime, sugar and ice - they are pretty potent, I guess ice doesn't really count as a mixer? After Bolivia it was really nice to be in a restaurant that was heaving with locals and had a good atmosphere. Through Bolivia it had been shoulder season and the only restaurants for evening meals are really just for tourists. Brazil is also famous for it's 'per kilo' restaurants - we discovered that this principle extends to ice cream shops: 3 freezers of ice cream flavours, shelves of sauces and toppings.

The next 2 days were spent in the Pantanal. The Pantanal is an area approx 10,000km2 of wetlands that flood annually, a swamp really. I don´t think we really saw much of it. There was only one budget option in the Pantanal (sold by different companies, at different prices) and at best you could describe the guides at disinterested. Despite the guides efforts we did see quite a lot of wildlife including giant otters, monkeys, caimen, capybara, and plenty of birds, and clouds and clouds of mosquitos. On the drive in to the Pantanal, a local stopped us: there was an anaconda under his house (the houses are on stilts). He really struggled to pull it out of its hidey hole, and even though they are constrictors he was very careful with the head. I think this was uncommon as the locals were alongside the tourists doing happy snaps with the anaconda. I think it was a small anaconda but it was still long enough that the guy could have used it as a skipping rope. The poor snake was given a 'leg and wing' into the river.

Our piranha fishing was much more successful in the Pantanal, I got a 1.5kg beast. The fish were taken back for lunch too...and the extra ones we caught were released. Again the steak used for the bait was better than the food they gave to the back packers, and I think Phil would rather have eaten the steak, rather than the piranha!

Beautiful Bonito

In the Southern part of the Pantanal is a town called Bonito, which is the Spanish word for pretty. This was tourist-tastic - the shops on the main street were selling "someone went to Bonito and all they bought me was this lousy t-shirt" t-shirts. It's a big Brazilian holiday destination so you're expected to have your own car to get to the attractions. To keep the transfer costs down you just have to see what trips the hostel is running and go with that. We went to two lots of cave: Logoa Azul (blue lake) was pretty good, the other was crap but they did feed some macaws.

What Bonito is really famous for is its crystal clear river waters that are full of fish (something to do with springs and mineral deposits). We cycled out to the municipal pool early one morning and had the snorkelling all to ourselves. The fish seemed pretty big there (40-50cm) and came rather close (I definitely kicked a couple when I was swimming). We also went to the privately owned and run Rio Da Prata (River of Silver). It was a little pricey but it was AMAZING! To be honest where you start snorkelling is little more than a stream but full of fish, 50 different varieties apparently, some teeny, some up to 60cm in water that was only waist deep in places. The water is fed by underwater springs - at times you can see the spring bubbling up below you. You float 3km down stream and you did not kick as this disturbs the fish and the sediment. The last section is in a bigger colder murkier river with bigger fish. I can't believe this place is not world famous. If Disney did an aquarium it would be like this - but this was real, and quite frankly I don't think a static aquarium could support that many fish!

Photos: Rainforest and Pampas in Bolivia

beckandphil — Sat, 5 May 2012 05:24:00 GMT

Chalalan and Mashaquipe Lodge near Rurrenbaque

Photos: La Paz and trekking in Cordillera Real

beckandphil — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:41:00 GMT

La Paz and 4 day trek in the Cordillera Real

Trekking in Cordillera Real and the Bolivian Amazon

beckandphil — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:09:00 GMT

Trekking in the Cordillera Real

La Paz is situated on the high plateau in Bolivia, at 3,500m above sea level. The airport is at 4,000m. To the East rises the Cordillera Real which drops steeply into the Bolivian rainforest. There are a few recommended walks that start high and drop through the cloud forest into the rainforest. However, I seemed to end up doing a 4 day high altitude trek in the Cordillera Real mountain range, all over 4,400m, with freezing nights and a dash of snow. Our friend Colin joined us - as both him and Phil have some sort of mountain addiction, I think the choice of trek is their fault!

The 4 day trek was part of a longer 12 day traverse along the whole mountain range. Our walk started with a paddle across a freezing cold mountain stream. It was a ford which meant it was shallow (calf deep) but about 20 metres wide. The walking was very slow and tiring due to the altitude. Days 2 and 3 didn't drop below 4,700m. We crossed three 5,000m passes and reached a new personal maximum height of 5,300m, all the more impressive because we walked up. The weather is meant to be settled from April, but it's in the mountains where anything can happen all year, and the spectacular views we were promised on Day 3 were a white out. The weather wasn't very settled at all and the tops of the peaks appeared and disappeared through the day. We didn´t have to walk in rain, it was either hail or snow! The views were still spectacular from time to time though (see the photos!)

Some of the terrain was very much like the Lake District....but a lot bigger and without any bridges across the streams (I had to run and jump or paddle!). The paths were a little precarious in places too, in other places the path was just non-existent. We just went straight down a couple of very steep scree slopes - I´m glad I didn't know what was coming in advance.

The area is very remote so it was a wild-camping trip. Between me, Phil and Colin we had a guide, a trainee guide, a cook, a muleteer and 2 mules. It was also very chilly. In the morning the ground was frozen solid, with ice on the tent, and on the last morning a good covering of snow. We've never trekked wearing so many warm clothes. At times it was: T-shirt, then jumper, then fleece, then waterproof jacket, with hats and gloves, in the middle of the day.

Bolivian Amazon

From La Paz we flew to Rurrenbaque (45 mins in a plane or 20 hours on the bus). The plane was a 19 seater (even I couldn't stand up) and you could see straight into the cockpit and hear a worrying number of warning bips throughout the flight. The landing was a little turbulent as we went through a large storm cloud - the end of the rainy season. There was no sign of an airport terminal just a little transfer bus waiting for us at the end of the runway. I tried to take photos but the camera lens fogged up in the humidity! Welcome to Rurre!

Chalalan Rainforest Lodge

Rurrenbaque sits at 200m above sea level, where the last low hills of the Andes meet the flat plains that continue Eastwards into the Amazon. To the west of Rurrenbaque is Madidi National Park, a park that includes the 6,000m peaks of the Andes then down to the rich rainforest along the River Beni near Rurrenbaque. Because of this wide range it is one of the most bio-diverse national parks in the world and our lodge was situated well within the park.

From Rurrenbaque we boarded a long motorized dugout canoe to begin the 5 hour journey upstream to Chalalan Rainforest Lodge. It´s the end of the wet season and this morning there was one last deluge. We somehow managed to get the seats at the front of the boat. We had our water proofs on but the lodge staff insisted we needed ponchos as well and they were right! At the times I peaked out from my waterproof hood visibility was about 100m....just enough to see the 2 sides of the river zoom past and see all the tree debris coming right towards the boat, and to get a bit more rainwater in the face. After two hours of this we turned off the main river channel (the water became fast and grey, with less tree debris, rather than the rich brown from before) and the rain stopped and we could enjoy the end of the ride. Clay cliffs topped with thick forest, a wall of green alongside the river.

The lodge is a series of huts nestled in the rain forest, situated by a lake, 30 mins walk from the river. We went on a series of walks from the lodge though animals were hard to see...though not hard to hear! Wherever there was a bit of land there was something growing up from it. It was a riot of green foilage, you could see maybe 4 or 5 metres into the undergrowth but nothing more. The guide kept taking us off the paths for a bit of bush bashing to try and see the animals. We were rewarded with some silhouettes of spider monkeys and some wobbling branches but no photos. We saw other monkeys, plenty of birds, a few too many caiman and spiders for my liking and many mosquitos! We had a swim in the lake having been assured that the caimans in there were too small to be any threat for humans. It wasn't that hot but it was definitely humid. Anything left out ended up being damp, nothing would dry. It is also worth mentioning that the food was amazing. 3 course lunches and dinners, and lots of freshly squeezed juices.

Mashaquipe Lodge - Pampas tour

To the East of Rurrenbaque the land is flat and a patchwork of water ways, water logged grasslands and some farmland. It has many of the same animals as the thick rainforest but its easier to see as there is much less undergrowth. When we pulled up to the lodge you could see pink river dolphins in the river right in front of our accomodation, as well as plenty of water birds: cormorants, and plenty of herons.

The wildlife viewing on the pampas was a much more relaxing affair. There was no need to tramp through a muddy forest, instead you motored around the water ways watching the river banks and the tree tops, lazing back in a motorised canoe. Lots of water birds (but bizarrely no ducks), lots of birds of prey and vultures as well as 4 different types of monkey, caiman, alligator, turtles, capybara (pig sized rodent) and a green mamba too. We also went fishing for piranhas. The meat they gave us for bait was better than the meat they were serving at dinner! Our meat kept getting eaten, but we didn't catch anything. Our guide caught a couple though. As it's the end of the wet season, the water is high now. In a month or more the water level will have dropped 6 to 7 metres and I guess the area will look very different.

Please note we have not uploaded any pink dolphin shots because we didn't get any good ones, just a greyish/pinkish smudge and dirty brown water ripples! If you put your foot or hand in the water off the canoe they would come up and nudge it, sometimes giving you a great view down their mouth, their teeth and their faces, but we were too busy enjoying it to take photos! We also got to swim with the dolphins, though this was more like them swimming with us than the other way round. They kept stealing our ball, and it would then pop up somewhere else a few minutes later!