Gone walkabout

Photos: Nepal

coggos — Wed, 4 May 2016 21:23:00 GMT

Annapurna Circuit

Peru

coggos — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 02:21:00 GMT

We were sad to leave Bolivia but excited to visit our last country in South America- Peru.

Our night bus to Cusco allowed us a few hours on Puno to visit the floating villages . These really are extraordinary but you do get the feeling that the whole thing is a set up for tourists.

We are told the indigenous live on the islands but as we were the last trip of the day we watched as they jumped into their motor boats ( hidden behind the reeds) and headed for home. I know I sound sceptical but we still enjoyed the trip and were entertained watching a couple of Japanese being pressured to buy overpriced trinkets. The floating islands are remarkable in the sense that they are entirely built from the long reeds that grow in the bays surrounding Puno. Layers and layers of reeds are used to form small islands upon which small reed huts are erected for basic housing. History tells us the indigenous people escaped from the Puno mainland and built these floating islands so the marauding Spaniards couldn't reach them. Well, it worked. They still exist today.

We arrived on Cusco at 4.30 am and found a hostal for a few more hours sleep.

Cusco is a charming vibrant tourist town. We do a fabulous free walking tour and move ourselves to a more upmarket Guesthouse that has hot water !!!!! and a great breakfast and clean white sheets…..luxury for $50 bucks a night. We love exploring Cuscos market and plazas and people watching…haven’t seen this many tourists for a long time. Most people seem to herded around in tour groups.

We are so undecided as to how to get to Machu Picchu so we do the rounds of a few agencies. Salkantey is a rigorous trek that we are leaning toward but after a few days in Cusco enjoying the lovely city, walking tours, museums and the inca culture we decide to head to the Sacred Valley and inch our way to the pinnacle of this trip Machu Picchu.

Pisaq - a lovely village with a permanent artisan market is our first stop on the local bus. We drop our bag at a hostal, eat a quick "Menu " (daily lunch ) for 1.80 two coarses at the market and head up the steep trail toward the fort 4 km up hill.

The Incas really knew how to use every inch of land. They were skilled builders and engineers using rock as their main building material. The never ending terraces and trails reach skyward as we huff and puff our way from one spectacular vista to another. The sun gate, sun and moon temple, aqueducts are all spread over a huge site. Up and down we go along trails and through tunnels, until we reach the entrance where most visitors start. ( those that choose the easy bus option, that is). Here we see many hundreds of holes in the hillside which are tombs that the Spanish conquistadors raided. Some still have skeletal remains but no golden jewellery or relics remain. The Spaniards cleaned up everything. We see a small arrow with a sign saying Pisaq! Great, a shortcut back down the mountain to town. The wind had whipped up and we galloped down like a couple of mountain goats. After 10 minutes or so we come across a local man with his load on his back. After the usual greeting of 'hola, buenos tardes' he offers us some coca leaves. Now this is a first as it's usually us doing the offering. We each take a small handful, fill our mouths with the dull tasting green leaf, and part ways continuing the fabulous hike with no one to set the pace but ourselves and taking a break to enjoy the pan piper music wafting through the valley. The coca kicks in to help us enjoy the hike more!

Funeral Caves

Next stop Ollantaytamo ( or Ollanta for short) further along the valley this pretty town is in danger of being loved to death as most trains for MP leave from here.

Our gorgeous hostal is beside the river and we head up to the impressive ruins perched above the town . There are some serious tour groups here and we partake in one of our favourite pastimes tour group evesdropping. Now don't start thinking we are freeloading on other peoples tours but it is almost impossible not to pick up some great tidbits when the groups stop next to you. We manage to climb as far as allowed ( watch out for the whistle blowing guards if you put a foot wrong) and scope out some great hikes for the next few days.

Hey Leeanne we should walk up there .......

We climb to the opposite mountain to visit the grain storage ruins and the the ultimate hike to the Canteras (quarries) where the great Incan stones were pushed down the mountains. This was a serious hike of 15 km of which 6 k was uphill. More huffing and puffing boy were these guys seriously fit we have spectacular vistas of the sacred valley, gigantic sleeping rocks which never made it down the valley and an impressive stone wheel. We enjoy our avocado and boiled egg lunch with a view to die for and rustle up the energy to return to town.

are you sure this is the path????

The time has finally come to head to MP. The weather is perfect, it is free entrance for Peruvians on Sundays so we head off using the die hard travellers route via hydraelectrica and a 3 hour walk. This trip normally entails numerous bus / taxi changes but as luck would have it when we get to the square to wait for the bus an excited taxi driver tells us he has two passengers already for the complete trip. He wants to fill his car so we negotiate a discounted price which is still too high but is comfortable and very quick. The two shy Japanese boys jump in and we are off on another beautiful, thrilling, cliff hugging, journey. We are both in hysterics laughing at these two as we ride along negotiating death defying gravel roads, listening to them going "aawwh" round every corner with their 'you beaut' Canon cameras and GoPros clicking away

It is only 28 km from Ollanta to MP by train but they want a whopping $80 - 120 for the pleasure. Our route is 5 hours by car and 3 hiking but it feels like an adventure and we are happy with our decision to hike days but enjoy the comfort of hostals at night. We pass the beautiful Salkantay mountain winding up and over the Andes and down to Hydroelectrica where we walk for 3 hours along the railway line to Aguas Calliente- or Machu Picchu Pueblo. After hunting around for a reasonable room and purchasing our tickets for the next day we are excited and set for an early start .

Machu Picchu Mountain is behind me

Watch out Coggo

the things you see!

We opt for the bus up to Machu Picchu so we can enjoy the site without being too tired. It still means queuing up at 4.30 am for the first buses at 5.30. We are inside just after opening at. 6. We climb straight up behind the caretakers cottage and wait for the sun to rise. It truly is a spectacular sight.

Sunrise

As with Iguassu Falls - Machu Picchu does not disappoint. The location alone is spectacular, perched on a ridge high in the mountains, surrounded by dense jungle it emits an ethereal spiritual quality. The beauty of being an independent traveller allows you to find secluded spaces to sit, watch and contemplate at your own leisure. We spend the whole day on the site hiking to the Sun Gate ( where the Incs trail enters the site), the Inca Bridge,

Inca Bridge

chilling on high terraces and feeding the llamas bananas which they are allowed.

We are truly grateful and satisfied with our experience. we walk down the mountain on a high and shout ourselves a few Pisco Sours to celebrate. Next morning we retrace our steps walking out along the rail lines, taxi and bus to Cusco. A freak storm hits just before we arrive in Cusco and we go from 30 degrees to about 5 and there is even ice or snow on the cars. We were intending to get a night bus to Arequipa that night but decide to have another night in the lovely guesthouse and sort it out manyana.

Arequipe is a lovely white city and we arrive the day before Arequipe day, so of coarse there are parades and music and parades and drinking. The town reminds us a lot of Sucre in Bolivia. We organise a few forward travel arrangements and enjoy the festivities.

Sitting in the deepest v canyon in the world a few hours out of Arequipa. This is Colca Canyon. People come here to either catch a glimpse of the flying condors or trek down into the canyon. We choose to do both. After getting picked up at 3 .15 am we drive up into the mountains for 3 hours to the small town of Chivay at the head of the Canyon. Breakfast is a stale bread roll and tiny portion of cold scrambled egg. Coffee 'sorry, no milk here'. Next stop Cruz de Condor where the condors are gliding effortlessly through the slipstream. Unfortunately 500 or so other people are doing the same thing . Everyone with cameras clicking away! The condor is worth seeing, especially if they fly close to the viewpoint. With a wingspan of an incredible 3 metres, and standing 1.2 m tall they are huge creatures. They mate for life and amazingly if one partner should die the other bird will soar to heights of 7000m and then plummet to earth in a suicide dive. How romantic.!!!

so we're going down there ????? and back up again ?????????

An hour down the road we meet Nelson out guide for the next 3 days. He points to the bottom of the canyon and tells us we will have lunch there. 3 1/2 spectacular hours straight down ...eeek. It is hot, yes hot and we are all glad to finally cross the river to our camp for the night. Accommodation is basic dorm beds with 'tipica' Peruvian meals dished up. Locals grow fruit and veggies in their small villages at the base of the canyon . Electricity is a new convenience to these people . A crude road is being painstakingly cut into the mountainside .Landslides are common, earthquakes also occur causing damage to buildings and roads. Cars will eventually replace the traditional mule transport which is such a traditional part of Peruvian mountain life. The 2 Nd night is spent at a beautiful oasis, swimming and relaxing.

rest these feet

The next day it's time to head back up to the top . Nelson, our young guide, wakes us at 4.30 am to start the long uphill climb. Head torches a needed for the first hour until the sun peaks over the distant mountain range. The scenery comes to life as the morning sun lights up the canyon. Another magic moment. We reach the top, feeling exhausted and relieved, just before a group of locals with mules make their way past us . Some gringo tourists are riding mules, camera around their necks, not sweating a bit. Leeanne and I are dripping as we sit at the top finishing our last water bottle, still mesmerised at this awesome canyon below us.

Back to Arequipa and a night bus north to Nascar, straight aboard a small 5 seater plane, and a 30 minute joyride. We are about to see the world famous Peruvian pre Inca lines. Gigantic lines and various shapes of birds, monkeys, astronauts, and compasses cover the flat desert plains only visible from the air. Many theories about their origin and meaning still leave us mystified as to what they really represent and how and why are they here?

This sight seeing wonder done, we travel further north through Peru’s desert wasteland until we reach Huacachino, a real life desert oasis town. Sitting in the middle of vast sand hills is a small water hole approx. 200m long. The town is built on its shoreline inside a bowl of 100m high sand hills. Gotta see this place to believe it. Apart from the oasis, sand boarding and buggy rides are the main attractions here. For about $12 we get a 2 hour ride in a V8 purpose built sand buggy taking us over and through the surrounding dunes. Great fun and totally exhilarating, giving us a much needed adrenalin rush! We stop the buggy on top of enormous sand hills, look over the edge, jump on a sand board and slide down to the bottom…really fast. Biggest sand hills I have ever seen and so steep. The next day we climb to the top and agree it was a lot easier in the buggy.

Once again we move on north in an attempt to reach the Pacific coast for our last week in Peru. Our time is nearly up in this action packed country. We skip straight through Lima (capital city) and get a connecting bus up to Huanchaco, a surf town we have been dreaming of for months. It is still winter here but with the sun setting most days we manage to soak up some rays, chill out and relax for the next week. Our hostel, Casa Amelia, is a perfect choice. With only 3 rooms, communal kitchen, cold beer and friendly people, we settle in way too easily. I find a board shop up the road and negotiate a good price on a board and wetsuit for the week. The waves here are so consistent, with the swell coming up from the South Pacific, hitting the small point and providing perfect left-handers towards the jetty. The locals are good surfers and know the break so well. They whistle, they joke, they joke, they laugh lots. This place is really a surfer’s dream town. Most travellers we meet here all seem to have the same opinion. Our host at the hostel is a Dutch bloke that arrived here 2 years ago and hasn’t left. He manages the hostel, surfs every day and shares a beer with fellow travellers. Not a bad life!

WE buy veggies and fruit from the market, cook, do yoga and chill with some great people.

Our time here in Huanchaco gives us time reflect on our last month in Peru. We are happy we have visited and explored many of the famous world heritage sights and Natural wonders on offer, taking in the contrasting natural landscape of the Andes to the vast desert plains, and meeting and communicating with local Peruvians, some very traditional and others very western.

We often think about home, we think about our kids, our family and friends. It is countdown time. We will see them all soon. The time is right!

What a ride…. after 2 + years on the road it is time to hang up the backpack for a while and become “Australian” again. We are satisfied and satiated by this journey, it has exceed our dreams. Our lives are forever improved and nourished by the places, experiences and people we have encountered during our travels. We are truly grateful. Our love for each other is immense! !

Old dude backpacker

best saleswoman.......of coarse we bought the weaving.

Erotic Pottery

Photos: Peru

coggos — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 02:22:00 GMT

Photos: Bolivia

coggos — Tue, 5 Aug 2014 07:28:00 GMT

Bolivia

coggos — Tue, 5 Aug 2014 07:23:00 GMT

This country is full to the brim with so many adventures and experiences. It is raw, honest and exciting. Probably not for the faint hearted. We saw so much celebration and dancing in every town we visited. They have a rich culture, which they are rightly proud of and are working hard to maintain. Here is just a little of what we experienced.

A night bus brings us to the Bolivian border. We say goodbye to Argentina and prepare ourselves for the next month in this exciting country. Bolivia is steeped in history, culturally rich and maybe a bit rough around the edges. We have heard so much about this developing country. We are keen to see for ourselves.

It's 6am. It's cold and we wait in line to get our passports stamped. Before we know it we are sharing a taxi to Tupiza, an hour or so north. The change in socio economic differences is evident the minute we cross into Bolivia. Our taxi is a beat up old 70's Corolla in need of new tyres and suspension. The drivers original seat has long been replaced with a plastic mesh garden seat. He is happy as he bounces along and gets us to our first hostel without too much drama.

Tupiza has all the hallmarks of a cowboy town. Dusty and dry. Men on horseback chewing on coca leaves, women dressed in traditional bulky pleated skirts, legs and feet dirty under old stockings and sandals. Their long black hair is plated in pony tails under a strange looking undersized bowler hat. Over their shoulders they carry brightly coloured striped rugs fall of fruit and veges and a small child. Some smile to reveal a mouthful of gold and silver teeth, usually indicating wealth. Most people are missing several teeth, still smiling. The sight of traditional Bolivian women quickly becomes a regular occurrence and unique part of of our daily travels.

It is here in Tupiza we book our first of many adventure tours. ( Bolivia has heaps on offer) . The world famous Salar de Uyuni is a vast expanse of white salt flats. To reach this incredible sight firstly we must wind and climb our way through rugged landscape, crossing frozen rivers, passing broad dusty plains home to countless llama and indigenous communities. Our transport is an ever reliable Toyota landcruiser driven by our trusty local guide, Bernado.

Dont think they pay as well as Australia!!!!

Our companions are a young Aussie couple, Dave and Row plus our young Bolivian cook. For the next 4 days we rough it together, the six of us, traversing at 4000m above sea level through some of the harshest, yet most beautiful landscape imaginable. Our routine involves driving 6-7 hours each day until we reach an indigenous outpost. Our backpacks, along with food and supplies, are unloaded from the roof. Everything is covered in dust,

Paul helping the little Llama lady after I volunteered his services haha!

This beautiful family loved their Koalas and Kangaroos.

The sun goes down and the temperature drops dramatically. We make up our beds in the basic concrete rooms using every possible blanket available. Night temperatures drop to -15degrees. We sleep in a sleeping bag, three blankets, thermals, jeans, jumpers, gloves, beanies and 2 pairs of socks. And still we freeze! Never been so cold in our lives.

The Bolivians wanted a photo with the funny Gringa lady.

Morning sunlight can't come quick enough and we load the 4wd and venture further toward the salt flats. We pass other vehicles along the way, some needing assistance stuck in river crossings or others broken down, flat tyres etc. We stop to help another vehicle that has faulty brakes. Our driver quickly finds the problem..... low brake fluid. So he promptly takes off a small section of radiator coolant hose from our 4wd and uses it to suck out a mouthful of brake fluid to fill up the other 4wd. He coughs and spits in the process. I have trouble explaining the risky move he just pulled off as I don't know the Spanish words for 'poison' or 'toxic'.Only in Bolivia!

Not our 4WD but our driver loved helping every truck that broke down.

We brave the freezing weather and strip off for a soak in the thermal baths. Finally we are warm until we have to get out at least.

Beautiful Laguna Verde.

Pink flamingos feed in the shallow lakes, llamas with their thick winter coats graze on the parched land as we cross the alto plane, Zorro’s are a small fox who scavenges around lunch spots and finally we reach the never ending whiteness of the salt flats.

Leeanne loves LLamas and they love me back. xxx

Zorro!

Driving on it is a blessing after 3 days of bumpy off-road stuff. The obligatory stop to take funny photos is a must and a visit to the cactus covered island in the middle of the salt lake sees us finish the tour in Uyuni, exhausted and dirty.

Straight onto another overnight bus to Sucre, arriving at 3am.( supposed to be 6am). An old taxi driver finds us walking aimlessly around the streets and takes us to a local hotel occupied mainly by Bolivians, no other gringos. The room is clean, the bed is warm. We sleep for half a day. A hot shower never felt so good!

Sucre is a beautiful old city with hundreds of white colonial buildings. The climate is warm and spring like. The gardens and parks offer perfect places to soak up some sunshine and watch the locals go about their daily routine. Men sit on park benches reading newspapers, an ice cream cart is wheeled around offering fresh helados in a cone for 20 cents. Young boys shine shoes and sell a local educational magazine in an attempt to earn a few coins. New lovers embrace in a quiet corner. And then, a marching band will appear from nowhere practicing their routine for an upcoming festival. Bolivia is a great place for 'people watching'.

We quickly find the cheap meals at the local market. Sitting side by side on long tables with locals we have our regular almuerza which is usually a vege/ chicken soup followed by a plate of meat or chicken with rice and potato. All for just $2.

Sucre offers plenty of hiking trips through the surrounding mountain ranges. We book a 3 day hike up to Managua crater with Condor Trekkers (a local not for profit agency who also run a great vegetarian restaurant). Our guide, plus our two new Slovakian friends share this next adventure together.

The boys from Slovakia such fun!!!

The track follows ancient Inca paths through spectacular mountainside. We have a lunchtime swim in a waterfall before tackling the uphill slog. We pass many indigenous homesteads along the way. No running water, no electricity. The people in this part of the world live at such a basic level, they are extremely shy until we offer them coca leaves.... everyone's favourite.

A lunch time cool of in the waterfall.

We reach the huge crater measuring 8 km in circumference. Today, a small town exists within its walls. Our small hostel is cosy and we quickly find a local lady selling beers from her 3m X 3m shop. The Slovak boys like a beer, so does our guide. So we have a bit of fun this night exchanging stories and learning a little about each other's country. Once again, the people we meet along our travels make the experiences priceless.

The last day hiking we get to see real dinosaur footprints. Discovered and uncovered in 1993, to me this was one of the most impressive thing I've ever seen. The tracks in the hardened lava rock are perfectly shaped formed by a huge 3 toed carnivorous dinosaur escaping a volcanic eruption. To try an imagine this moment in time millions of years ago is surreal.

Cant be bothered to shoo them away from nibbling my toes, I'm stuffed.

We finish the trek with a hair-raising bus trip back to Sucre and say farewell to everyone as we board a bus to Potosi. It's only 3 hours uphill, but the bus blows a radiator hose and we are stranded for an extra couple of hours on the side of a really steep road. Potosi is a cold place due to its high altitude (4000m). Why do we keep venturing to these freezing places? We grin and bear a few days in Potosi to check out the infamous silver mines in the nearby hill. From 1545 onwards lots of silver has been extracted from this rich mountain, making Potosi one of the richest cities in all of South America. The boom years have finished but still hundreds of mine shafts are still in operation. The mining techniques used, as we find out first hand, are still very primitive, dangerous and labour intensive. The conditions and the wages the miners receive are very poor. They get through each day chewing mouthfuls of coca leaves and drinking high % alcohol. Not exactly a safe place. We buy gifts of juice, coca leaves and alcohol for the miners and count our blessings that no one has to work under these conditions any more. We were happy to see the light of the tiny mine entrance after 2 hours underground!

Like the outfits? Thats dynamite available for $2 in the miners market.

2 nights in Potosi is enough and we make our way to La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia. We don't have a hostel booked as we plan on staying just the one night before heading off on our next adventure, namely a 6 day raft trip down river to the edges of the Amazon.

Right so let me get this straight there are 7 of us plus our packs and food on here for 6 days???

This turns out to be one hell of a trip, not knowing what we were in for. Day one we jump on a bus taking us from La Paz climbing higher across the snow covered Andes and slowly down along notoriously dangerous gravel roads with sheer drops to our doom if the driver makes a small error in judgement. 10 hours later we arrive at a small riverside town, meet our guide and he escorts us to our hostel for the night. A quick beer to introduce ourselves with our fellow 'rafters' and off to bed in preparation for our days ahead.

We wake to see our guide putting the final touches to our raft. He has used 6 truck inner tubes, cut lengths of branches with his trusty machete and lashed it all together with old rope to build a floating contraption to transport us 5 days through the Bolivian jungle to our destination, Rurrenabaque.

7 of us make up the travel party. Leeanne, myself, our guide Rueben, a mum and daughter from the US, and a two funny blokes from Belgium. Wym, with his binoculars strapped around his neck is a keen bird watcher, and finally Arnie, is happy to smoke pot, chill and solve all the worlds problems. We all learn a lot from each other, and become good friends along the way, laughing lots. While Wym is spotting rare birds, Arnie and I are practicing our bird calls. The sounds echo through the canyons scaring all the birds away! The river is home to caiman crocodile, piranha, catfish, numerous exotic birds and millions of blood sucking sandflies. We simply cannot escape these pesty insects. Every part of our bodies are covered to avoid the bites, but it doesn't help much. Make sure you are really quick when going to the toilet!

Its never too early for warm beer hey crew???

Our guide, Rueben, has lived in the jungle most of his life, and shares his knowledge of the region as he navigates our flimsy vessel through small rapids, canyons and open expanses of river. Our backpacks double as seats, all tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and food is crudely tied down on the raft. We always get wet as we speed and bump our way through the rapids.

So do our packs and much of our bedding. This is no 'pleasure cruise'.

I just spent 6 days in a leaking Raft!!!

We pass many indigenous Bolivians living on the banks of the river panning for gold living under makeshift plastic lean-tos.

After many hours each day we pull up at a suitable camp spot for the night. I quickly get a fire started which helps keep the sandflies at bay, and is our communal area for dinner and beers. More stories are told and more laughs with the boys.

You'll have to do better than that if we're to survive!

On day 5 we have an unexpected highlight. Rueben spots a three toed sloth clinging to rocks and clinging to life on the river bank. We paddle vigorously against the current to reach the stricken animal. He must have fallen out of his tree kilometres up river and struggled to get out of the cold fast moving water. He is waterlogged and cold, unable to move. We pick him up and wrap him in an old piece of plastic, lay him on the raft as we head further down river to our nights campsite. We lay him near the fire, next morning he was gone. Hopefully he has found a new tree with lots of juicy leaves. There are jaguars and king eagles lurking nearby. We gave a cheer for "Orio" (his pet name) and wished him luck in his new home.

Oreo the hypothermic Sloth we saved.

As we approach the small town of Rurrenabaque a large storm cloud approaches. We stop to walk up to the jungle zip-line (included in our tour). The rain starts pouring down and the strong wind makes the trees sway as we stand high above the forest floor on small flimsy platforms harnessed up ready to zip from tree to tree. The local guide doesn't care much for safety ( zip-lining in the rain should be a no-no). He hurries us through the process. Leeanne does really well on her own for the first few runs until nerves took hold and she wisely opted to double up with the guide to reach the end. Using our hand brakes was difficult in the wet. Controlling our speed as we approached each platform was almost impossible. Our young American friend, Sunny, crashed on the final platform, hitting her legs so hard throwing her almost upside down. We got her back down to the river and finally to town to recover. She put on a brave face but I knew she was in pain. Luckily, nothing broken, but some heavy bruising to tell the tale.

Our stay in Rurrenabaque is brief. The weather here is usually warm and often hot but this Amazonian town at the moment is unusually cold. We didn't expect this, so we say our goodbyes to our 'raft team' and catch a cheap flight back to La Paz. We opt for the short 45 minute flight rather than the arduous 24 hour bus trip on dangerous roads.

The flight is spectacular as we follow the Andes and land at 4000m at La Paz airport, the highest international airport in the world, We spend the next few days exploring the city, checking out museums, cafés, and people watching. The free walking tour is recommended. Shopping is good at the 'witches markets'. After wearing the same clothes for the past 2 months, we decide to buy a new alpaca jumper each.

Llama fetus' from the La Paz Witch"s Market, we are assured they all die of natural causes and are used in offerings when building a new property.

Not sure if they will get much use back in Australia, but they are useful in the cold weather in this part of the world. A short bus trip takes us to Lake Titicaca, were we spend our final days in Bolivia. A perfect ending to this stage of our journey. Isla del Sol ( the north end) is so chilled and relaxing.

Beautiful Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca.

Our basic hostel is so cheap, food here is good value so we scoff ourselves on fresh trout (truncha) 5 days in a row. The Incans believed this was the birthplace of the sun and the island has some powerfully sites that ooze energy and spirituality. Hikes across the island are easy and a must to take in the beautiful views over the vast expanses of this large inland lake. No cars, motorbikes. Indigenous locals are relaxed and go about their lives at a nice slow pace. The cows, pigs, burrows and chickens are chilled like I've never seen before.

A night in Copacabana, on the mainland, prepares us for our exit from Bolivia into Peru. The town of 'Copa' is bustling with festivities, as tourists from Peru come over to party at this lakeside resort town. A type of pilgrimage is taking place combined with an obvious religious undertone sees hundreds of cars lined up, colourfully decorated, and then blessed by young priests. A strange ritual we find really amusing. One of the many weird rituals we have witnessed during our travels. We watch, scratch our heads in wonder, but always show the respect it deserves.

Going across the border into Peru should be easy ....wrong! The Bolivian immigration official refuses to stamp our passports because the green form we were given on entry a month ago wasn't stamped. The police took us aside, accusing us of falsely hiding the original stamped form. We stood our ground, avoided the fine they tried to pull on us, and tried to explain it was not our fault, but the fault of a lazy official at our original entry point. We finally get our passport exit stamp and hightail it out of Bolivia as quick as we could. Our only drama the whole time in this fascinating country. We wish we had more time to explore other parts we missed out on. One month just not enough. Our memories of Bolivia will be wonderful. The sights are unforgettable. The people are unique, so humble and shy, yet so generous and friendly. Bolivia, we say "ciao" , hopefully to return to your beautiful country one day.

Argentina, Chile & Patagonia

coggos — Tue, 1 Jul 2014 03:02:00 GMT

Ranking among the Seven wonders of the natural world it's not hard to see how Foz de Iguacu or Iguassu Falls earns it spot. We are absolutely mesmerised. Following all the excellent advice we receievd we view the falls from Brazil first and the vista and walkways out are brilliant. ( beware you will get wet). I have my happy shoes on. I am a giggling school girl. Running out and letting the spray wash all over me, drinking in the hundreds of rainbows.

We cross paths with a young Aussie couple whom Paul recognises from kincumber soccer. Dave story jnr is on his was to the World Cup so we chat and exchange hints, tips etc. after 3 or 4 hours being awed by the majesty of this wonder ( actually over 150 falls joining together) we pick up our packs and catch a bus across the border wondering if we really need to see any more.

Argentina feels different straight away. Our little wine bar charges us $8 for 2 litres beer, a bottle of nice Mendoza Malbec and a jar of olive. Very happy. We try our luck exchanging US dollars on the blue market. Takes a bit of work but a tour operAtor gives us 10.5 / 1 instead of the ATM giving us about 8. This automatically makes Argentina around 25 % cheaper thank goodness.

We make a latish start to the Argentinian side of the falls as it is not a great day but within an hour or so the clouds part, mother sunshine returns and we embrace this wonder again. I think I actually prefer this side, kilometres and kilometres of awesome up close trails and walkways give you unbeatable access to the falls. A highlight here is the boat trip under the falls. It is a pure adrenaline rush and we are absolutely soaked. Happy and satisfied we are ready to move on.

Arriving in Buenos Aires gives us time to unpack, wash some clothes and settle down for the next 5 or 6 days. This capital city is steeped with old European buildings, organised transport and lots of traditional cafés. The city comes alive at night. We stay at the home of Ignacio, a really nice bloke willing to offer plenty of information. His English is good too, which is a bonus. The house is 120 years old and so comfortable we know we will have trouble leaving. I'm loving having a 6 foot long hot bath to soak in after a long day walking the city.

Sundays are best to head to the SanTelmo area. It's our first real taste of Argentinean street markets along with buskers and tango dancers strutting their stuff. We walk around and watch the whole day, still a little anxious of pick pockets and scammers. It's easy to appreciate the passion of the locals. They are proud people. They love eating steaks and drinking red wine. They love football. They don't care much about their neighbours, namely Chile and Uruguay. And they are addicted to sipping on their hot herbal 'mate' drink. ( a small wooden bowl/ cup filled with a green herb. Poor in a little hot water and sip through a thin metal straw. Tastes a bit like lawn clippings!)

Another day is spent walking to Recoleta, famous for its cemetery. Never quite seen one this impressive. Large monumental tombs are resting places for many Argentinean dignitaries.

We settle into Buenos Aires easily, becoming more comfortable navigating the city, exchanging money ( getting the black market exchange rate) and catching the odd bus or subway train. Apart from dodging all the dog shit on the footpath and street walls covered in graffiti we like Buenos Aires as a city. Time to move on down through South America. To reach our destination in Southern Patagonia means another 2500 km travel, using buses and boats. We start with a 20 hour bus trip down and across to Bariloche.

The scenery changes as we approach Bariloche. With the Andes mountain range on our doorstep we know we are about to enter snow and ice country. Bariloche is reminiscent of a Swiss town, with stone and wood chalet style buildings. If you like chocolate this is the place for you. I've never seen so many chocolate shops! Buy it by weight, fill up your plastic bag and pig out!

To try and burn off all these excess calories we climb Cero Camponiero Through snow and ice we reach the summit to be welcomed with fantastic views of snow capped mountains and clear lakes all around. Then, it all disappears, as a snow blizzard cuts visibility to zero. Luckily, we are in the cafe, sipping on hot chocolate. 2 hours later we are advised to get the chairlift back down, as walking the track would be a bit dodgy. Probably get lost and freeze to death!

Our hostel in Bariloche is a party hostel. I think I'm getting too old for 3.30am bed time. It's the norm at this place... 3 nights is enough!

Which direction do we head from here? We want to head way down South Patagonia and see landscape full of ice and glaciers. Not sure if it's a good idea with winter starting to hit, and we hear many places and roads are closed already. Decide to do it, and we leave Bariloche, Argentina, and after a truly wonderful night in Villa de angostura where we wished we spent more time in this picture postcard setting we cross the border into Chile and head for Puerto Montt.

It is winter and we are finding logistics with transport and accommodation less reliable. After arriving in Puerto Montt, Chile, we book a cabin on the Navimag ship down to Chacabuca. Every piece of clothing and blankets are used in an attempt to try and keep warm as we wait to board. Hours of waiting at the dock while they load the ship. It is 3am before we walk up the truck ramp into the bowels of the ship and find our cabin. The ship is predominantly a cargo vessel carrying trucks and containers. Only a handful of passengers aboard. Sure thing, we are the only non Chilean people aboard. We carry on our own food for the 2 night trip and settle into our comfy warm cabin. (Once we turned the heater on that is) Snow covered mountains and vast expanses of icy water are all around as we make our way down through Patagonia.

After landing in Chacabuca we need to take 2 buses to reach Coihaique, a major town and hopefully find accommodation for the night. Many of the hostels are closed for winter but we manage to find one with a TV. No heating, but a TV. Australia play Chile in the World Cup tonight, so we buy a $5 bottle of rum, rug up and settle in to watch the game. The result wasn't good for us. It was, however, good for Chile as the sounds of trumpets and car horns in the streets and shouting from the other rooms testified.

The next day we are treated to one of the most breathtaking bus rides down to Rio Tranqillo, through ice and snow on mostly gravel road. The alps of the Andes are all around... simply spectacular.

We reach the small outpost, step straight off the bus, and welcomed by the lone tour operator and before we know it we are strapping on our bright orange life jackets and climbing into his small boat to head across the lake to check out these famous marble caves. Impressive rock formations with clear aqua coloured water make for a photographers dream. It is bitterly cold as we head back across the lake into a strong headwind until we reach the small village and find a small cabana for the night. Privacy at last and before you know it I've got the combustion fire blazing and a cheap bottle of red wine 'cracked' open! Sweet dreams!

To find our way across to the border back into Argentina is a bit tricky. Because it's winter, roads further south through Chile are closed. We manage to get rides with 2 seperate mini vans, a night at a dodgy overpriced hostel in Chile Chico, and pass through the simple border post into Argentina arriving in Los Antiguos. Our plan was to catch a bus south on Ruta 40 for our final leg of our Patagonia adventure, but sure enough, the roads closed until maybe October. Well, I don't reckon we can hang around for 4 months, so we decide to take the long bus ride right back across Argentina and down the Atlantic coastline and try and reach El Calafete, almost to the bottom of South America.

Arrived at last and trudge our way from the bus terminal to the Calafate hostel. It is our base for almost a week as we set out to explore the winter wonderland on offer around us. Frozen lakes offer endless playgrounds for novice ice skaters. Dogs and kids on bikes also have fun sliding around on the ice. We just do our best to stay upright!

The highlight of any visit to El Calafate is the day trip to Perito Moreno glacier. Unlike most glaciers in the world, this one is advancing at a rate of 2 metres per day, and also breaking off about 2 metres every day. So it remains pretty much in the same place. You get up nice and close and witness the roar of large chunks of ice breaking away and crashing into the water below. I was lucky enough to capture a magic moment on video. An avalanche of ice breaking off the glacier sent out this tremendous roar. This glacier is huge. 35 km long , 5 km wide and about 80 m high. It is one of those natural wonders you simply stand in front of, transfixed, watch and become mesmerised by its majestic beauty.

We are acclimatising to the below zero temperatures in this part of the world and decide to leave our big backpacks at the hostel in El Calafate and catch a bus a short 3 hour trip to El Chalten. Weather is on our side for the next few days and we get to hike through Argentina's treasure. Parque Nacional Los Glaciers, a national park with mountain views to die for.

We manage to chalk up nearly 40km over the next 3 days, much of it through snow and ice tracks. Hardly anyone here. Mount Fitzroy looks down upon us with condors circling above. Bright blue glaciers, frozen lakes and rivers and scattered pine forests all around. Silence. Maybe the sound of a woodpecker tapping away on a nearby tree trunk. Our bodies are sore and tired by day 3, so we treat ourselves to a couple of thick steaks and more red wine. It is Argentina you know!

There are definite benefits travelling during the off season. Buses are nearly empty. Apart from many hostels and shops being closed, we find it less crowded and so much cheaper. Rather than paying for a double bed room, we usually opt for a cheaper dorm bed, knowing we will have the room to ourselves, at half the price. The kitchens allow us to self cater and often provides entertainment, rather than being waited upon all the time. Younger backpackers become our brief friends as we go from one hostel to the next. It is good to share travel tips and stories along the way. My Spanish is still terrible so I'm happy to let Leeanne do most of the talking. We always manage to find our way around without the need for English. (But it's good when it comes along, especially when we come across fellow Aussie travellers )

We are not quite finished with our Patagonia adventure just yet and decide to head to Puerto Natales Chile to see the famous Torres Del Paine national park. After arriving at the bus station we walk around the quiet streets for an hour or so looking for an open hostel. The town feels like a ghost town... Everything closed, people inside watching Chile play Netherlands in the World Cup. This is important stuff, and they don't want to be disturbed! We finally find a homely, warm hostel , opt for a cheap form room, and settle in for 3 days to explore the natural wonders on offer in this isolated part of the world.

We team up with our new friends, a couple from Basque Country (Spain).

The 4 of us hire a local guide for the next 2 days. He takes us into the national park and shows us caves featuring prehistoric archeology. We stop lots to take in the magnificent views if the mountains, lakes and huge rock towers( from which the park is named). Snow and ice and strong winds are the norm here. We are rugged up to keep warm, our guide doesn't wear gloves and his hands still stay warm. After a lifetime growing up in this climate he is not fazed by the cold. I watch him as he casually opens his beaver skin sack in which he carries his 'mate' drink kit. The wooden cup he uses is 15 years old. Tastes better with age, he explains. He offers me some and I politely decline. Looking above us we spot numerous condors gliding by. They have 3 metre wing spans, huge birds.

The highlight of our tour is the walk out to Grey Glacier. The glacier itself is difficult to reach but we do get up and close to the huge icebergs, broken pieces of glacier. which have floated down the lake until they become beached in the volcanic black shoreline. The colour is intense. Bright blue caused by thousands of years of ice compression. I take off my gloves for a brief few minutes and walk to the shoreline and pick up a chunk of ice. Not everyday you get to chew on a piece of glacier ice!

Leaving the park and heading back to Puerto Natales we see wild llamas, skunks and more condors. Not to mention the 2 large hares we run over ( more road kill for the condors to feed on).

Our time is up in Patagonia. We say our goodbyes to our travel friends, and jump on a flight north to Sandiago Chile and straight on an overnight bus to Copiapo, why? because it breaks the trip up. We arrive at 8am and it's cold at the bus terminal. Next bus to San Pedro de Atacama isnt until 10.30pm so we buy our tickets, store our backpacks at the terminal and head over to the coastal town of Caldera to fill in the day. A fishing port with real Chilean fisherman. The boats are unloading massive swordfish onto the docks, with dogs fighting for scraps and fisherman laughing and joking with each other. Wish I could understand what they're saying!

The day warms up and we soak up the sunshine and shed layers of clothes, it feels good after weeks of cold. The Chilean climate in winter is dry and warm during the day and really cold, almost zero, at night. The landscape is arid and dusty, with the Andean mountain range always just over your shoulder.

Finally arrive in San Pedro. It's been 3 nights without a bed or shower. Feeling exhausted. We can't check into our hostel quick enough and clean up and jump into bed ( it's midday!). 3 days here gives us time to enjoy this small Chilean desert town, an outpost offering unique tours to surrounding sights including salt lakes, geysers, coloured rock formations and volcanoes reaching almost 6000metres. This is the driest desert in the world. Hard to find any vegetation here. So barren and harsh. but still increibly beautiful. A religious festival is happening for the few days we are here. We get to watch dancers and drummers and flute players doing their thing through the narrow dusty streets. Everyone is encouraged to join in. A happy, fun celebration. We feel like arkward school kids forced to learn folk dancing in a PE lesson.

Our last day here and we decide to do a day tour to the nearby Luna Valley and Death Valley. An eerie landscape gives us plenty of photo opportunites. After walking to the top of a gorge we come across a huge sand hill, maybe 200 metres to the bottom. We run, slide and roll down getting covered in sand and dust. Reaching the bottom we dust ourselves down and look back up at this awesome sand dune. A bit further on we climb another ridge and stay until sunset and take in the 360 degree view...Andes, volcanoes, red ochre rock formations, dusty dirt tracks and little life. So quiet and surreal.

We leave San Pedro and say goodbye to Chile. A great place to visit from one end to the other, although we do find Chile more expensive than expected. Hostels and food we believe are are a little overpriced, tours arent really cheap, but bus transport is reasonable. The people are very friendly and easy to approach, and patient when it comes to communicating in our mixed 'Spanglish' language.

The bus trip over the border back into Argentina and down to Salta was worth every cent. Crossing the Andes we were treated to views to die for, for 8 hours straight! Travelling at altitudes of 5000 metres the bus winded it's way through deep canyons, perfectly shaped volcanoes, and magical coloured mountains highlighting the vast array of minerals embedded in the earth. Greens, browns, yellows, reds and oranges. It doesn't look real. A great way to arrive back in Argentina and spend our last few days in the Salta region. The small city of Salta is modern with good cheap eats ( yep, steak and red wine!). We straight away notice the cheaper prices in comparison to Chile. For a good view of the city we walk up to hundreds of steps to the lookout, stay till sunset, then head back down. Our dodgy knees are feeling a bit stiff so instead of using the stairs we decide to use the road back down. Bad move. An hour and half later we arrive at the bottom in a part of the city we a re unfamiliar with. Its dark, so we flag down a taxi and say to the driver " centro, por favor" and a few k's later we are back in familiar territory, body feeling a bit stiff.

Our only tour here in Salta is a long minivan trip to Cafayate, home of many vineyards. We dont like being cramped in a small van for a 10 hour day, but we do get to see some cool mountain ranges, colourful rock formations, and lots of tobacco farms along the way. The long trip back to Salta was painful, cramped and forced to listen to the other 12 people on board talking non stop for 3 hours, loud and in 3 different languages. Aghh!

Its our last day in Argentina before we head north over the border into Bolivia. Time is right to move on and explore a new country, one we have heard so much about and keen to experience. Since arriving in Argentina at Iguazu falls we have covered a great deal of southern South America (during winter) and feel totally in awe with the natural wonders on offer in this unique part of this amazing world. The people, the passion, the raw natural beauty is something we will never forget. "Gracias" and "Chow" Argentina and Chile. We will return!

Photos: Argentina, Chile, Patagonia

coggos — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 23:55:00 GMT

Brazil May 2014

coggos — Thu, 5 Jun 2014 00:50:00 GMT

After returning to Australia for 6 months over the Summer we have hit the road again. With no actual plan we land in Sao Paulo, Brazil - a city that has nearly the same population as our entire country (22 Mil) - and it was proving to be a bit of an obstacle to our relaxed idea of travel so we stayed the night in the airport until the buses opened at 6 and were whisked away by 7 am.

After 36 long hours we head for the coast to a lovely Colonial Coastal town called Paraty. Ankle breaking cobblestoned streets that double as giant drains when the tide comes in paired with really lovely beaches.

A great day out at Trinidade where a hike along the beach took us to huge natural rock pools. A few beers in the beach bars with our South African friends watching Brazilians party finish off a lovely day.

The whole coast line between Ubatuba and Rio is called the Costa Verde and is quite a spectacular drive. Our lack of Portugeuse is no real hindrance, even fluent Spanish speakers are struggling so our non verbal communication and our Spanglish gets us by. Its amazing how easy it is to order a beer anywhere in the world.

Next stop is Ilha Grande, a huge protected Island with no motorised transport. The hundreds of stunning white sand beaches, clear clean water, even surf are connected by beautiful challenging trails through the Atlantic rain forest. The trails are magnificent and there are many large & small chunks of crystals to be found along the paths. We even get to swim in a beautiful waterfall.

We spend five days exploring trails, trying to improve our fitness, swimming, reading, taking a boat and enjoying a Caprinha or two ( the national drink of Brazil…consisting of Lime, sugar, ice and the local white rum called cuchaca). Our pousada (Guesthouse) has a great breakfast which includes mountains of cakes so we stock up for the day and although Brazil is twice as expensive as any other country we have visited we use some our old tricks and avoid the expensive waterfront bars, by buying beers in the supermarket and enjoying them on the beachfront, following the locals who are watching futbol on the TV screen at the bottleshop under our window.

Time to leave this little paradise and head for that long dreamed about, top of the bucket list city of Rio de Janiero. Travel is a funny thing, everyone has their own expectations and the internet has presented us with so very many opinions and warnings. I love to get hints and tips but am always reading between the lines when people “Advise”….I think if you have always wanted to visit somewhere you must do it, don't listen to dangers or annoyances but keep them in the back of your mind and stay street smart. We have been robbed in the safest locations and in Rio although there is definitely a very very sleazy and dangerous side, most tourist areas are well policed and protected. We fall in love with the scenery, the energy the Vida loca.

Arriving at our Air bnb apartment, we meet Christopher our American host who is starting up a sportswear company in Brazil. We soon discover he has a perfect market, we walk two blocks to Copacobana and witness hundreds of Carioca (local Rio inhabitants) enjoying their jog, walk, futvolley, you name it they are on the beachfront enjoying it. We walk, share a bucket of beer and pinch ourselves …we are in RIO.

Rio has always conjured thoughts of parties, festivities and scarcely cladded beautiful people parading on the beaches. But, things are not that rosy here in Brazils Carnivale capital. With the 2014 soccer World Cup a few weeks away and the 2016 Olympics around the corner, a growing unease of social unrest is unfolding. So much money is being spent to host these sporting events, that most people feel there is nothing left to provide essential public amenities for the people, especially those in need, the poor.

I ask locals on their thoughts on the upcoming World Cup and I get the same response. " a waste of money" and if Brazil don't win, run for cover!

The divide between the rich and the poor is highlighted when you look at the urban sprawl of Rio from one of the magnificent lookout points. The famous white beaches, the endless coastline and waterways, the city high rise buildings. Then look around all the hills and you see thousands of small ugly brick and concrete boxes housing millions of poverty stricken locals .

So we decide to get a closer look at this side of Rio and hire a local guide named Rodrigo. He is 24 and recently started his small tour business, taking people into his home territory, Rocinha, a typical Favela, perched on the side of a hill overlooking the sights of the city. A few years ago it would be unsafe to venture into these areas, but since the police “pacification” campaign the favelas are a much safer for the outsider. Rodrigo takes us to his mother and fathers house, through the hidden lanes, passing locals going about their day to day lives. we walk through a narrow lane only 1 metre wide and come across 2 guys playing samba on home made drums made from old 20 litre oil cans. The rhythmic beat of the drums draw a small group of young girls from their hidden doorways to start dancing to the beat. It is mesmerising. Music and dance plays such an integral and historic part of these people lives.

Rodrigo explains the recent violent history of the favela. Drug lords were, and in some way still today, in control of the favelas. Gun battles were common amongst gangs. If you got in the road of the drug lords you could end up in the “microwave”. Rodrigo distinctly remembers seeing smoke come from the hillside during his youth. Somebody being executed placed inside a stack of tyres and set alight. Not only was life tough in the favela, it was very dangerous.

This contrast’s so distinctly with the magnificent twin lookouts of the Corcovada, or Christo as he is fondly named and Sugar loaf. We set off by Public bus the first morning to see Christo it is a brilliant day but by the time we ascend the mountain by train the cloud has blocked the wonderful view. So we take funny photos, stare open mouthed at the huge Statue guarding the city and wait and wait for the cloud to lift.

It didn't so we head back to Copacabana and by the time we go to Sugar Loaf there’s not a cloud in the sky, its balmy and a perfect Rio evening…..perfect for sunset.

We explore the city on the great public transports systems. There is a free walking tour of the city (they are never free but you pay by donation or tip) and wander past beautiful old buildings, see the Arches and Lapa steps ( a chilean artist spent his last 20 years covering the steps outside his home, he was found dead on the steps covered in paint thinner .

That night we decide to head back to Lapa, the suburb in Rio famed for the night life. Here, people congregate in the square and along the streets outside bars and bottle shops, all drinking copious amounts of beer and capiriahanas (local rum lime and sugar) . The atmosphere on the streets starts to build as the night goes on. Musicians start everywhere, and we are soon inside a low key restaurant watching old time Brazilian “musos” playing cool music. Before we know it the locals get up from their tables and start to dance. Samba is the dance here. Its a really fast Latin dance. They are good dancers, I mean really good, and so natural. We haven't got much choice but to join in. Didn't quite have the same moves as the locals but got away with it some how. When they started the Conga line around the restaurant we joined in before retreating to our table, both of us sweating heaps and ordering more beer to quench our thirsts. Brazilians really know how to party, and they do it regularly, always coming back for more! We manage a beach day, people watching at Ipanema our local beach and keep pinching ourselves ..We are in Rio.

The food here is interesting. There are a lot of per kilo buffet restaurants so you pay for what you eat. Keeps you honest and you are less inclined to waste food, just choose what you want. Oh and by the way they eat cake for breakfast…….lots of cake everywhere.

Our 24 hour bus South to Foz to Iguazzu is uneventful and we manage to catch some sleep. We have had a taste of Brazilian culture and experienced the passion of its people, its an immense country but every bit as expensive as Australia to travel in, we have experienced what we wanted to and although it would be amazing to stay for the world cup the prices are prohibitive. After checking out the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls (we will talk about the falls in the next blog) we cross the border into Argentina knowing it's going to get colder as winter looms. Hope we've got enough warm clothes!

Photos: Brazil May 2014

coggos — Wed, 4 Jun 2014 23:14:00 GMT

Ecuador and The Galapagos Islands

coggos — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 08:04:00 GMT

Ecuador

Finally, we arrive in Ecuador. Our last week has been spent trying to get out of Colombia and across the border. It hasn't been easy, with the farmer's protests in full swing, the roads out of the country have been blocked and far too dangerous to try and get through. We resorted to catching a flight into Ecuador landing in the capital city, Quito.

Arriving late, we opted for a hostel called Secret Garden. It's not a secret and there isn't any garden! Our room was so squeaky.....I mean every step you took on the old timber floorboards squeaked like crazy. The bed squeaked and the door squeaked. We left the hostel first thing in the morning after less than 12 hours in the place, costing us $33. Round the corner we found a cheaper, cleaner and 'squeak - free' room called the San Blas hostel. We settle in and plan our short stay in Quito. A free guided walking tour of the old town is on offer, so we join the group and take off down the street stopping at the many large squares and old churches along the way. Our guide tells us to watch out for pickpockets and bag snatchers, and places to avoid going to, day or night. Apparently, Quito had a high crime rate a few years back, so they bought in heaps of police to help solve the problem. We see police everywhere, just look for the bright green vests standing on every corner!

We are so close to the equator and think it would be cool to stand on it. Well, at least as close as possible to this line that separates the two hemispheres. A couple of buses and a couple of hours brings us to a touristy town cashing in on being located right on the equator, called Mitad del Mundo. A painted line on the concrete path allows you to stand with one foot on either side. Gotta do it...and take a photo to prove you were there!

Next day we book a trip to Cotopaxi volcano. An old land cruiser troopy, driven by 'the flying D utchman' takes 8 of us on a day of adventure out to this majestic mountain. It takes about 2 hours drive to reach the bottom of the volcano, and we still drive up another 20 mins or so to reach the car park. From here we walk up for an hour to reach the shelter hut, with snow capped Cotopaxi looking down on us every step we take. The track is like climbing a sand hill, loose volcanic rubble makes it really slippery. At nearly 5000metres, the high altitude makes breathing difficult and I start to experience 'cotton mouth'. Leeanne is going well, just a little short of breath. It seems everyone in our group feel the same way, so we slowly climb another 45 mins from the hut and finally reach the glacier and get to touch the ice and snow atop Cotopaxi. The view from here is awesome. It's cold, but we feel exhilarated. Lots of photos, and down we go back to the hut for a hot chocolate, then slide down the steep volcanic rubble to the car park, where our vehicle is waiting. On the roof of the 'troopy' is our transport back down to the base of the mountain. We strap on our helmets and optional protective gear, and jump on our bikes and roll downhill for the next 12 km. The view is spectacular as we race downhill with both brakes tightly squeezed dodging small rocks on the gravel road. After a late lunch at a remote mountain outpost, we throw the bikes back on the roof and head back to Quito feeling buggered but happy with ourselves. It is always good to get back to a comfortable bed after a day of adventure and hard leg work.

We prepare ourselves for the next adventure. A place which we all have talked about, a place I studied in geography at high school, such a unique part of the globe, a place called the Amazon. Our appreciation of the Amazon has grown immensely during the short time we have spent touching and exploring the upper reaches of this wondrous ecosystem. Our trip into the Amazon basin began with an overnight bus from Quito winding our way over the Andes and east to the edgy frontier town called Lago Agrio. So much rain falls on the eastern escarpment of the Andes mountain range, resulting in hundreds of finger like streams and rivers joining up to create the monster, the Amazon River. Arriving at Lago Agrio we get our first dose of torrential rain. The bus pulls into the small terminal and we scramble to grab our backpacks from under the bus getting soaked by the second. The town is starting to flood, with streets barely visible. We have been told to get to a certain meeting point in town. Simply grab a taxi they say. But, there is so much water in the streets, the small taxis struggle to handle the high water. We eventually get to the meeting point, have a half cooked breakfast and cold coffee, and meet our new travel group for the trip into the Amazon. Everyone is wet, but keen to get into the jungle. A minibus takes us for another 2 hours overland and down towards the Cuyabeno river where our longboat awaits. It's still raining as we head down river. Backpacks are stored under plastic tarps, we have ponchos which barely keep us dry. The water is chocolate colour with lots of fallen trees and logs making it a challenge for our young boatman to negotiate each bend. After a couple of hours we finally reach our lodge called Guacamayo. This is our accommodation and base for the next 4 days. It is a well run ecolodge set right on the banks of the river, costing about $230 each for the total package. Money well spent....would do it again in an instant!

We are in the jungle, and for next few days here we are treated to a real taste of the Amazon. Our guide takes us in the boat exploring the maize of waterways searching for animal life. Beneath the surface lurk many caiman, pirahna, unusual types of fish and turtles. The trees are home to spider monkey, sloths, snakes and countless species of birds, including our all time favourite toucan, his beak is so big, must weigh him down. The reason he doesn't fly real well, unlike the falcons or humming birds he shares the forest with. We search for anaconda, but no luck. Our guide is so persistent, looking in every fallen tree, close to the waterline, searching for this giant snake. he tells us they only feed a couple of times each year. The rest of the time they find a hiding place and 'chill' hoping no tourists find them!

The sounds of the jungle are really something. Especially of a night when you can here thousands of insects and frogs calling each other. Tarantulas are plentiful, huge and hairy! We share our room with a few....they usually keep to themselves up in the roof feeding on smaller insects.

Our lodge has a 25 m bird viewing platform. We climb up at sunset, look over the jungle canopy and simply listen and look......look at the all the green jungle that stretches for as far as the eye can see. The brown river snakes its way below us. No swimming allowed at night....we might get eaten by something, we swim during the day, a better chance of survival....you reckon crocs and pirahna really care. If they are hungry, you are on their menu! I found a pole with a short line and hook, added some chopped chicken, and fished off the jetty for some pirahna. Only caught a couple of small catfish, and missed out on landing the famous Amazonian killer fish.

We get the chance to travel down river and visit a local village and experience a taste of life through the eyes of an indigenous Amazonian. The Ecuadorian government allows them to live in their traditional way with few restrictions, as it should be. The Amazon region is so fragile, with modern man's impact drastically changing this balancing ecosystem. During our visit here a national issue arising in Ecuador is the debate on oil extraction in the Amazon basin....sadly, the desire for oil and its income is prevailing. They are drilling under the jungle to extract the oil from the Yasuni National Park. The indigenous people are protesting but unfortunately for countries like Ecuador the need for infrastructure outweigh environmental concerns.

The Amazon basin contains 60 % of the worlds fresh water and overlaps six South American countries.

The Siona tribe live off the Amazon growing many fruit and vegetable and fishing for their own needs as they are not allowed to trade from what is produced. We are shown how to make Yucca bread, the Shaiman shows us many herbs and spices grown for medicinal purposes. He is the centre point of the tribe not only as chief Medical Officer but also provider of Rituals. It takes years of study and as this Shaiman explains he became interested at age 9 but was not ready to practice until age 39. 30 years of learning and practice. He describes the taking of the Ayasa and how the Shaimans use it to connect to Mother Earth (Pachamumma) and to help them see what ails them. Many backpackers are seeking out this hallucinogenic experience but it is not something to be considered lightly.

The Shaiman asks for a volunteer to take part in a ritual and I ( Lee) raise my hand. He explains it is for a stomach and internal cleansing ritual well it can't hurt can it? The ritual starts with hypnotic chanting and cleansing of the aura with the smoking bush. Then we move on to the whacking the back direct on to the skin with what I later find out to be poison ivy. Initially there is a sharp pain but this quickly vanishes. After the ritual my back is inspected by two doctors in our group. I have angry red welts but no itch or pain at all.

The Shaiman has a wonderful gentle mannerism even his voice is soothing. It is a far cry from the picture we get in the movies although the traditional dress isn't.

We meet a beautiful young Kiwi/Canadian girl named Asha and once again our faith in the future generations of the world is restored. We have met so many intelligent, caring young people who are interested in giving back to the world rather than taking all the time. It is truly one of the things I love most about travelling, connecting with a generation as an equal without a label such as Mum, Dad, Boss etc.

We sadly leave the Jungle (dreaming about returning and travelling down the River by boat) and head to Banos. We arrive at 1.30 am and lucky for us their is someone waiting for the bus that has a guesthouse so we decide to go with him. Banos is a cool little town very popular with travellers and Ecuadorians alike. It has hot springs, volcanos, good food. We decide to board a Chiva (like a chicken bus but with no windows or sides) and tour the route de Cascada. The are 10 impressive waterfalls along the route with loads of adventure activities thrown in. We cross the canyon in a cage attached to a wire to get a close up view of a waterfall. Next is zip lining superman style along a canyon and finally the largest and most powerful Pailon de Diablo where you can feel the power of the waterfall from underneath it.

We spent a relaxing afternoon in the hot springs and eat the yummy taffy which is being pulled all along the street. It starts off as a gluggy, sticky black mixture, which is hung on a wooden peg on the wall. It is constantly pulled and thrown back over the peg, stretched ,pulled and thrown over again until it changes into a golden silky colour. Roll it up and chew away, and be careful not to break your teeth in the process.

It is time to head to Guayaquil and find a flight to Galapagos. We are both a bit excited to finish our trip in this way. After nearly a year and a half, we are on the doorstep of one the world's most famous wildlife destinations. We gotta do it. After landing in Santa Cruz, Galapagos, we find a cheap hostel and spend the first couple of days on foot checking the place out. Sea lions greet us at the pier, the water is clear, birds everywhere. Why are the animals so tame? They don't seem to be worried at all with human presence. Something I have rarely seen anywhere else. Time for wildlife later, we are on a mission to find a cheap 'last minute' cruise. In and out of travel agents, ask questions about boats, prices, schedules, dates etc. Perserverance pays off, and after a few days we book a 6 night/7day cruise on a luxury catamaran called Treasure of Galapagos, at a third of the usual price. Now the pressure is off, and we have this sorted, we still have 3 days to kill before the cruise starts, so we jump on a small boat and head to San Cristobal, an island famous for its large population of sea lion. They are everywhere you look. Walking down the footpath you are likely to trip over one having a nap. Try sitting on a park bench, and be prepared to share it with a friendly sea lion. Over the course of the next 10 days or so we lose count of the number of these creatures we come across, both on land and in the water. To snorkel amongst playful sea lion is an experience we will never forget.

Our cruise turns out to be an amazing adventure. We are given 1st class treatment on board a luxury 100foot boat with only 16 passengers. It's easy to form new friendships with the others and we manage to play up the best we can, especially with the mad Irishman, Colm, who provided hilarious entertainment.

Each day we cruise to a new island in the Galapagos, going ashore in the zodiacs, and exploring beaches, volcanos, lava fields, and many inland lakes.

Animal life is prolific. Blue footed boobies nest on rock ledges, marine iguanas lie around on the warm rocks before crawling into the sea to feed on weed. You rarely see one, they are usually in their hundreds, and some are one metre long or more.....huge black prehistoric monsters. Giant Galapagos tortoises walk slowly through the undergrowth. These harmless animals live more than 100 years and grow to about one and a half metres.

Pink flamingos feed in the shallow inland lagoons, while the bright orange coloured land iguana guard their territory, they are bloody big and look mean. We witness the flightless Cormorant protecting their nest from the swooping Frigates and the small finch bird is everywhere, so tame you could catch them with your hand. Charles Darwin studied these birds as part of his research towards his 'theory of evolution'. The islands have changed little in the 150 years since Darwin arrived on these shores. The water surrounding the islands are full of marine life. We get to snorkel every day with penguin, sea turtle, manta rays, reef shark, heaps of different fish and our favourite sea lion. What a buzz! The babies are especially playful and provide hours of enjoyment.

We leave Galapagos with great memories. From a nature / wildlife perspective, the Galapagos is truly up there with the best....an awesome place.

Time to reflect on our time in Ecuador as we make our way to Brazil for our flight home to Australia. An easy place to travel through, Ecuador has it all, from the Pacific coast (Galapagos out there somewhere) across the snow covered Andes mountains and down into the Amazon jungle. Ecuadorian people are traditional yet embracing and welcoming. Until next time, gracias Ecuador. Time to get home ......time to see the kids, family and friends. Excited.

Photos: Ecuador

coggos — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 01:25:00 GMT

Colombia

coggos — Sun, 1 Sep 2013 22:58:00 GMT

I think we are both quite surprised by the size and modernity of Cartegena when we arrive. We have just spent 5-6 days sailing from Panama to Colombia and because we have arrived late we decide to spend our last night on the boat and go ashore to the old town of Getsemani the next morning. This is the heart of backpacker land, mingled with locals it is a vibrant sea of activity whereas the beautiful fairytale walled old city could have been pulled straight from Disneyland.

We walk the 6 miles of walls but it is too hot in the day and have to return the next evening when the breezes are up. On the first evening we reunite with our shipmates and share beers and pizzas at the local cultural centre which has a flower laden beer garden and we are treated to traditional dancing. Nowadays I usually avoid a lot of traditional dancing as they can be a little long and repetitive especially in Asia but here in Columbia with their African roots and amazing costumes it I was quite a feast for the senses.

About 40 km from Cartegena is a 15 m mud volcano where you can enjoy a massage and a good soak. It is a funny feeling as there is zero gravity and we lol around for an hour or so before being unceremoniously washed down by the local ladies in the lake. Mud in every crevice and they were determined to get it out. Ears, boobs, you name it they cleaned it haha.

We quickly adapt to the new continent of South America mainly as it is not that much different to Panama and the people are incredibly friendly. We catch our first local bus to Santa Marta and are transferred to an alternative bus just as the lady behind us threw up all over the floor. Paul was convinced the driver was falling asleep and kept jumping up to save the day, I think he just had a nervous tic. We eventually make it to Santa Marta and realise it is Columbia national day. The local collectives won't take us and keep pointing to our bags so we get a cab to Taganga. Driven by Michael Schumacher around the bends on the wrong side of the road we are thankful to have survived our first full day of travel in Columbia. We are in Taganga, a small fishing village growing faster than it can handle. Crime and drugs are rife, if you look for it!

We find a great hostel called Moramar, friendly family run and good price, first five minutes there I'm washing my face in the sink only to watch a scorpion crawl out from the drain hole. This is our home for a while, scorpions and all!. A short walk to the beach front for a beer and wonder how much it has changed in the four years since Sophie was here. The beach front is teaming with happy, drunk Columbians celebrating their National day not unlike Australia Day really. National flags flying high, eskies full of beer and Latino music blaring from large speakers. We do witness one lady drop a bundle of cash and a young girl casually put her foot on it then retrieve it later. Paul wanted to confront the girl but she was with family and a lot of alcohol was being consumed. We decided to stay out of it for safeties sake.

Sunday was more celebrating, cervezas and salsa, with a few swims in between. We decide to do the 5 day trek to Cuidad Perdida leaving Tuesday.

This trek takes us up into Sierra Nevada mountains which overlook the Columbian Carribean coastline. After our initial orientation meeting with our tour group we head off into the jungle hills. We share the track with pack horses carrying our food for the next 5 days. The trek takes us through dense jungle paths, steep cliff side rocky sections and across crystal clear river crossings. We sweat so much that we are literally water logged for the entire 5 days. Swimming in the water holes along the river course provides us with a freshness we constantly relish. Our accommodation along the way is usually a hammock or a mattress with mosquito net. At the end of each days walking we are fed copious amounts of carbohydrate food. One dinner comprised a plate of rice, pasta and potato! Talk about energy food.... Plus our guide constantly handed out chocolate bars along the way just to give us that extra kick!

The culmination of the first 3 days of trekking rewarded us with our first glimpse of the ancient "lost city" . Approx. 700 years ago a civilisation of indigenous Tayronna people lived here. Their homes perched on the narrow mountain ridge high above the Caribbean. Today, the city is made up of many circular stone foundations where once wooden and thatched roof houses once proudly stood, with thick jungle all around. The indigenous Kogi people are still present, often living in remote hillside villages, away from modern civilisation. Some, however, have adapted to the tourist invasion and allowed us to be part of their daily lives. They are extremely shy, inquisitive and humble. They grow their black hair long, representing the flow of the waterfalls which cascade around them. White clothing, almost sacklike, show the stains of mud which is ever present after rain. Boys carry traditional handwoven shoulder bags while girls wear long beaded necklaces. It is usually the only way to separate gender as they all look so much alike. The men carry a small pottery vessel and stick to grind their coca leaf which they constantly chew. The coca plant is grown in these hills, much of which ends up in the hands of the Columbian drug barons and processed for the international cocaine trade. It is sad to think that much of Columbia has been built on the back of illegal drugs.

To finish any trek is always gratifying as we look forward to a comfortable room to sleep and tend to our swollen knees and many insect bites and blisters collected over the past few days.

Back to our hostel in Taganga. We are welcomed by the family, our hosts, who have kept a watchful eye on our big backpacks. It is always good to step back into a familiar hostel, a home away from home. Like many hostels we have stayed in, this one has its quirky side....so many weird and wonderful ornaments, paintings, colour seem to decorate every wall. I must have counted at least 8 clocks hanging around the walls, not one working. 2 days later we are refreshed, laundry done, made contact with the kids at home, and ready to head off on a short loop with only day packs needed. Tayrona Park is another favourite place for backpackers in these parts. An hour bus ride and a short hour or two walk takes us into a beach paradise. Unfortunately, the word is out, as the crowds here make it overbearing. We have the choice of hammock or tent for accommodation, we opt for the tent with thin mattress, no bedding or pillows. It's like 'tent city' with all the gringos ( including us) living on top of each other all in the name of 'camping'! 2 nights in the tent was enough. The days, however, were great, as Leeanne and I would walk around headlands until we found secluded patches of beach away from the crowds. Carrying in our own food and water saved us a few bucks, as prices in the 'restaurant' are high. Coconuts are everywhere and free....just takes patience and determination to open them with only your hands.

We decide to keep going on our loop to Palomino, a small beach town another hour up the coast towards Venuzuela. 2 blokes on motorbikes greet us as we get off the bus. Next minute we are both on the back of the bikes zipping down dirt tracks towards a hostel.....no idea where we are heading....our instructions were simply 'economica' cheap hostel. We arrive at Finca Escondida, get a dorm bed each for COP 25000 ($13), and jump straight in the Caribbean Sea to cool off. This place is your typical chilled hostel, with lots of chilled people, an easy place to relax and do nothing. I did manage to burn up some energy with a game of beach volleyball and a bit of bodysurfing. They rented boards here but the surf was too messy. Leeanne gets talking to a girl in our dorm, an Aussie chick from the Gold Coast, only to discover that Leeanne was a really good friend of her father in high school 34 years ago. Talk about a 'small world'!

We arrive back at our hostel in Taganga, for the third time, do the washing again, and relax for a day before leaving the Carribean coast and making our way down through Columbia. Here we sit in the Santa Marta bus station waiting for our overnight bus to San Gil. It is 5.30pm....but the bus doesn't leave til 9.30pm....hope we get some sleep on the bus.

Sam's VIP hostal is one of the nicest setups we have seen, right on the ParqueCentral, it is a great place to base ourselves for a few days of paragliding, hiking, waterfall rappelling, and visiting the beautiful original colonial towns of Barichara and Guane.

What a shock to get off the bus to Villa de Leyva in our shorts and thongs only to find everyone in coats and woollen ponchos and its bloody cold!!! This town is a lovely larger version of Barichara which reportedly has South Americas second largest square. About 120 metres across.

We exit the bus station, strap on our packs and walk through town. First stop, the local supermarkado, and stock up on fresh food, milk and water before we look for a hostel for the night. Our choice is the Renacer hostel, about 1 km out of town, but a good base. 'Cheapskate Tours' kicks in here. We share a dorm room for 3 nights and cook most of our own meals, free coffee is a bonus. We spend most of our time around the town walking ( some call it trekking) anyway, we walk lots, following a dodgy hand drawn map. Of course, we get lost. Not the first time! We did get a chance to see a 120 million year old dinosaur fossil, still intact in its original place of discovery in 1977 . A huge 12 metre long marine monster....a cross between a croc and a great white....it's teeth were the size of a 12" cucumber. Impressive! Along our walk we also see the blue pool or Pozo Azul and tour an amazing Terracotta house straight out of the Grimms Fairytales.

The temperature here is the coldest we have experienced in over a year. We dig deep to the bottom of our backpacks to find our warm clothes, can't find many! We are definitely not prepared for the high altitude weather we are entering. After living in thongs, shorts and singlet tops for so long, we feel so uncomfortable. Wish I had a beanie!

Our last night in Villa de Leyva was fun. We walked down the hill into town, bought a 1 litre carton of cheap red wine , sat on the steps of the cathedral in front of the large square and watched the locals having fun trying to fly their kites. No wind....they just run round and round the cobblestone square with a kite in tow, running in to each other, strings tangled, kids falling flat on their faces, with the church choir music echoing from the walls of the old cathedral. Moments like these are priceless. We have been so fortunate and grateful to experience life in and amongst other cultures during our travels. Photos cannot capture most of these precious moments.....we simply store them in our memory banks!

It is one of the best things we have noticed about Central America and Columbia. They isnt the isolation of the suburbs of western cities. The towns are built around a Parque Central usually with the grandest church and everyone gathers around gossiping, eating, enjoying life and as in Columbia having a few beers. It is a wonderful atmosphere watching family's come out of church, buy the local street food specialty and a beer and enjoy an afternoon with family.

We excitedly leave Villa de Leyva for Bogota after making arrangements to meet our extended family. Diego's mum and younger sister live in a small apartment on the north side of Bogota, the capital city of Columbia. We walk in the door and are presented with a gift each. Slippers...mine are blue, Leeanne's are pink. From that moment on we are spoiled rotten with hospitality beyond belief, to the point it is somewhat overwhelming. The generosity and friendship is gratefully accepted and we both feel so humble. The comforts of a home are lapped up by us both, but we need to explain often to Nubia to slow down on the constant flow of food in our direction. I think she feels we need fattening up!

We are lucky to see Bogota from both a tourist level and also a local level. Sightseeing takes us into Centro, and on a Sunday it is the perfect day to walk around watching street entertainment at its craziest. Every Sunday about 70km of roads in the city are closed to traffic, with only bikes and pedestrians allowed.....a great idea, as it brings everyone out from their hideouts (namely their apartment houses). Some cool museums are on offer to visit, plus the Cerro de Monserratti atop the cliff side is a must. Cable car up, see spectacular views of the city from the cathedral, and ride a steep rail carriage back down, or you can walk if you feel energetic. Not today, we get our fair share of walking as it is.

The legs have never moved so much as they have over the last 16 months! Each day we venture out and explore some new part of the city, negotiating the complex bus system ( very well organised, actually) and return tired to our home away from home, complete with a lounge and large screen TV with lots of sports channels....I feel spoilt !

Leeanne enjoys the pampering, and carefully researches our next destinations...more to see in Columbia, and make our way into Ecuador before heading home to Oz....only 6 weeks to go!

We leave Bogota, and say our goodbyes to our family hosts, Mumma Nubia and 15yr old Laura. We are eternally grateful for their open warm hearted welcome. They took us into their home and catered for our every need...in true Colombian style. Bogota, as a capital city, doesn't have a lot to do or see. We did manage to master the TransMilenio system and explore most of the inner city on foot and finally get our Brazilian visas (only had to wait 6 working days to be processed !). Laura's birthday celebration at Andres Carne de Res was amazing with a Cirque de Soliel feel, with crazy actors and musicians.

Other highlights were the Botero Museum and Museo de Oro.

Our first stop after Bogota is a small sleepy country town called Solento. A comfortable 9 hr bus ride lands us here. The landscape is spectacular. I guess we will see plenty more mountain roads as we follow the Andes down into Ecuador. The buses here are modern, unlike the chicken buses of Central America, but the drivers are just as radical....hang on for a crazy ride!

This is coffee country....Colombia ranks as either 3 or 4 th in the world for coffee production depending on the harvest. We do a fabulously comprehensive tour with Tim, an expat Englishman and his Colombian staff. We cover everything from planting, picking, cleaning, drying, roasting and grinding the beans plus lots of tasting. We cover the town on foot, not an easy task due to its many hills, find a fabulous restaurant where we eat 3 nights in a row for 3 bucks each for three coarses including the local specialty truncha or trout. We set off early for a jeep ride to the Valle de Cocora. Ancient 80 metre high palm trees stand straight up in the foothills of the Andes. The 5 hour trek turns to 7 as we traverse the river at least 8 times and feed funny little animals queso (cheese), spot 8 different varieties of hummingbirds and marvel at the incredible palms.

A horse ride was also in order and Don Alvaro is recommended for his well looked after horses and tranquilo attitude. We didn't expect to be descending 500 metres through a narrow canyon, or passing through old railway tunnels to an amazing hidden waterfall. It was an incredible ride which reaffirms our thoughts that Salento is a beautiful location.

We decide to move south toward the Ecuador border but Colombia has other plans for us. We arrive at the Armenia bus station.....no buses to Popayan due to the Campesino blockades......more on this later. We make a spur of the moment decision to head south west to the Tatacoa Desierto. Numerous changes of transport find us in the unusual moon like landscape. We stay in a little hospedaje where they rustle up a plata del dia and we go for a pitch black walk to the astronomical observatory only to find the Astronomer didn't turn up so we walk the kilometre back, it is sososo dark in the desert, no lights anywhere. The next morning we get a motorbike to tour around the crazy place and then take a collectivo to Neiva. It had the usual delays, you know loading 2 boats on the roof whilst the fisherman all jump on board and we detour to drop them off at a river to fish. Apparently this happens todo los dia (every day).

We arrive in Neiva and get on a bus to Pitalito for the trip to San Agustine. It is after 3 by the time we leave as one man is demanding his numbered seat whist everyone else sat wherever. He turned out to be the biggest 'pain in the arse'. Anyway, this was to be an exciting trip as we passed many Campesino camps where the farmers have set up blockades to protest the prices they are getting for their produce. It has been disrupting the traffic for over a week all over Colombia and we are delayed several times following the protesters, we are told to close all windows and draw the blinds in case of rocks being thrown. The bloke opposite me is hiding low in the aisle. There are army and police everywhere but they are not interfering. We arrive thinking we would miss the last collectivo to San Agustin but were thrilled to see a lone truck waiting for us. It is late when we knock on the locked doors of El Jardin hostel. Our hosts come to the door, an elderly couple, she is dressed in her PJs and he is wearing his poncho and large white cowboy hat. They have a collection of animal skins nailed to a wall, a clock with loose hands spins out of control. We wake in the morning to the sound of large parrots talking and squawking in the hostel, noisy bloody pets. The old lady gives them more attention than us...and we are the only guests in the place.

The archeological sites are worth a visit here in San Augustin. 2 nights in 'faulty towers' hostel is enough and we decide to move on. Not sure which direction, as the farmers protests have closed many roads towards Ecuador. We are forced to backtrack to Popayan. We are getting a taste of Colombian civil unrest, making us even keener to reach the Ecuador border. 3 days later we are pretty much stuck (trapped) in Popayan, so close to the Ecuadorian border, but impossible to reach by land. The anti-government protests have escalated to the extent roads are blockaded and no bus companies risk driving on them, especially to where we want to go, namely Ecuador. We sit it out at a nice hostel called Parklife, right on the main square. We are lucky to have a room overlooking the park and square, and we spend much of our time watching the mass protests below. Paint bombs are being thrown in our direction, time to close the windows! We spend a lot of our time in the hostel researching the protest situation and catch up on new developments with other backpackers and staff....lots of guesswork and speculation. We make a calculated decision (and expensive) to buy plane tickets to Ecuador. This means trying to backtrack 3 hours to Cali airport. We are told the road should be open. We arrive in Cali after passing only a couple of minor blockades, tree branches, boulders and fires on the road. Cali itself is trouble free. A large city, home to Salsa dancing, it gives us time to relax and stay safe until our flight in 3 days to Ecuador. We walk and explore the area around our hostel each day. Cali seems very modern, with lots of shopping and modern buildings. The older part of town still retains the buildings and culture of days gone by.

We are ready to leave Colombia, and venture into Ecuador, our final country on this amazing journey. Despite the civil unrest we have witnessed in the last 2 weeks, Colombia remains one of our favourite countries we have visited. The people are passionate, warm and extremely friendly. Willing to talk and listen to us on almost every occasion. Our Spanish has improved thanks to the many inquisitive Colombians we have met over the last 7 weeks. We have felt safe here, the food and accommodation excellent, and fairly cheap too. Transport is easy, buses are well organised and usually trouble free. From the northern Caribbean coast down through the high mountain ranges of the Andes, the Colombian landscape is spectacular. Coffee plantations are scattered across the green slopes as many rivers and streams wind their way down towards the coastline. A beautiful country and one one we will return to again, one day.

Photos: Colombia

coggos — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 05:16:00 GMT

Photos: Costa Rica aand Panama

coggos — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 23:19:00 GMT

Costa Rica and Panama

coggos — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 00:01:00 GMT

Costa Rica and Panamania

20th June 2013

Once again we are surprised how much crossing a border -just 15kms in a little boat but a world away in development- can feel so different. We leave Nicaragua and make our way into Costa Rica. From San Carlos (Nicaragua) we head down the small Rio Frio passing local villages and military huts camouflaged on the muddy river banks, howler monkeys jump through the trees and the birdlife is extraordinary. We have travelled about an hour and we round a bend as a package tour boat with about 40 gringo tourists heads our way. Some are bird watching with high powered binoculars, most have expensive cameras around their necks, all on big budget vacations. Welcome to Costa Rica!

Our boat arrives on the muddy steps of the immigration town of Los Chiles. It takes no time at all to get our passports stamped. No we didnt have to prove onward travel here thank goodness. This is a relaxed friendly crossing - just our style. We walk a few hundred metres up the road to the bus station. The country already has has more civilised feel to it in comparison to neighbouring countries to the north. More signs, modern cars, some kerb and guttering and even rubbish bins, not a 'chicken bus ' to be seen. After months up north, we have grown to love the old chicken buses. The driver or the conductor will always tell you when to get off. Well, our first bus ride today in Costa Rica we get on and tell the driver we would like to go to La Fortuna. This means stopping and getting out at Florencia and catching another bus. Sounds simple! After driving straight through Florencia I walked to the front of the bus and reminded the driver where we wanted to get out, he just said we missed our stop and to get off at the next town. First thing we learnt, don't rely on Costa Rican bus drivers to help you find your way. Often, it seems the people in less developed countries will offer more assistance. Just an observation! Another big contrast between the northern neighbours and Costa Rica is the hustle on the bus isn't there. No loud whistles or banging to stop the bus, people climbing over you, hurrying you on or off the bus. Here you push the buzzer and after the bus stops you leave your seat, no pushing no squeezing through.

Finally, we check in to Gringo Pete's hostel in La Fortuna. We have read that his place is cheap ($14/room). It turns out to be a good starting point for this country. With a good kitchen, it gives us a chance to save some money cooking our own meals, plus plenty of time to meet and talk to other backpackers. We scout out the cheap or free things to do and find a great swimming hole about a 20 minute walk from town. Local and gringos alike jump from rock ledges and swings, we even witness "Solo" man traverse the waterfall in a small kayak. Costa Rica has more rivers per square mile than any othe country and most have beautiful clean unpolluted water. You can even drink water from the tap here a first in 14 months of travel.

We team up with an Aussie couple and head up the small volcano next to Volcan Arenal for a days adventure. The hike up is fairly challenging, with lush rainforest and muddy tracks to negotiate. When you reach the top, it's worth climbing down into the lake filled crater. The track is horrendous, though. A quick swim in the crater to cool off. Most of the time the crater is covered in cloud, but if you wait long enough you might get to see across the lake as the cloud moves away. Sure enough, as we start to head back down the sky opens up and heavy rain turns the track into a small muddy stream. It's not bad going, really, as there are enough wooden steps and tree roots to help us down. A couple of snakes are spotted on the track down, plus we get to see some toucans close up in a tree. They have enormous heavy beaks, and as they take off and fly they have to work their wings hard to keep in the air. A great bird to watch. On the way down the mountain we met a tour guide and his small group. We got talking and when he realised we were from Australia he told us that he became a naturalist after watching Skippy on TV for years and years as a small child. There we were on the side of a volcano in Costa Rica with half a dozen Costa Ricans singing Skippy the bush Kangaroo.

Next morning we leave the mountain town of La Fortuna and head across towards the Carribean coastline. On the way we manage to have a splurge, and spend$80 each on a white water rafting day trip. We needed an 'adrenalin rush' activity. We weren't disappointed! The Pacuare River is ranked number 5 in the world for rafting. After 3 hours of rapids we got our money's worth. With quality breakfast, lunch and transport it turned out to be a great day.

The added bonus was we got dropped off closer to our destination of Tortuguera, on the Carribean coast.

To reach Tortuguera we need to travel down river for 1.5hours passing through amazing jungle with abundant wildlife. It reminds us of a Disneyland ride only this is real . They call this part of the river the mini amazon. The main reason people come here is for the giant sea turtles. For a few months every year these large turtles come ashore to lay their eggs on the beach. It costs us $15ea for a guide to witness this event. Strict rules apply: guides are mandatory and the beach is only open for viewing between 8-12midnight. No lights or flash cameras allowed, and don't expect to hang around and watch the laying for long. A quick look, then you are whisked away. Between 80-120 eggs are laid by the female turtle. She buries them and makes her way down the beach into the welcoming ocean. The whole process takes 3 hours. After 60 days the eggs hatch and the babies make their way straight for the ocean. As you can imagine, the survival rate for the baby turtles is really low. Dogs, jaguars, birds, sharks, barracuda and humans are all predators of this little creature. The next morning we wake up at our beachfront hostel and look out into the water and watch turtles mating. They look like floating boulders as the giant male clambers on the back of the female, hangs on for grim life, and does his business. It's hard not to be intrigued by the life cycle of the sea turtle here in Tortuguera. We are told that last night a mother turtle was killed by a jaguar. We are keen to check it out, so we leave our hostel and walk along the beach, following turtle tracks and looking for jaguar footprints in the sand. Less than a kilometre we see about 30 vultures in the coconut trees marking the spot. Large jaguar footprints are evident. The turtle had been dragged out of its nesting hole, turned upside down and decapitated. It is 4pm and we decide to get out of there, because shortly the jaguar is likely to return for its night feed. The locals tell us the jaguars here are well fed. Plenty of turtles, plus the odd dog is eaten. Not many humans, thankfully!

It was another early start to catch the 5.30 commuter boat and 4 different buses in the rain to arrive in the tiny rasta town of Cahuita. Think Jurassic Park meets Bob Marley and you get the picture. The rain has stopped and we venture into the National Park. The jungle literally falls into the Caribbean Sea here and we have white sand again........and a reef with good snorkelling. The howler monkeys are screeching, a guanacaste peeks out through the bushes and butterflies as big as your hand flutterby.

There is no one around and it's not hard to imagine a T-Rex bounding through the lush rain forest. The next day we hike 10 km along the shore path. We are rewarded with sightings of crocodiles, three different snake, one enjoying his iguana lunch, another a bright yellow can kill in 45 minutes, little raccoon type animals, possums, and the icing on the cake a very chilled 3 toed sloth (when are they not) hanging from a tree at eye level.

All this in a free Nat park without a guide. No wonder we are a little dubious about forking out for guides unless compulsory.

We also run into Marlene whom we first met in Puerto Escondido Mexico back at Christmas time. Cook up a meal of sausages, pasta and egg plant? its such a pity that food is so expensive in Costa Rica. We haven't eaten out since we arrived but have managed to keep costs down with the help of low season prices. Most hostels have kitchens which really come in handy.

We take a quick 30 min trip to Puerto Vieja de talamenca, the so called party capital of the Carribean coast. I get used to being approached by the rasta dudes asking if I want to buy 'weed'. The town has a real cruisy vibe to it. Hiring a bicycle is a good idea here, and its a great day out riding the 13 km through to Puerto Uva and Manzanillo. The road is good, little traffic and lots of shade from the lush vegetation. This place is definitely one of those we could easily stay for a while ( we even checked the real estate prices....not bad at all) . The tropical forest again seems to simply fall into the shores of the Carribean waters. They get surf here as well.....what a bonus! A must thing to do in Puerto Vieja is to walk through the national park. At Manzanillo, taking you down the coastline along a well used track. We made a day of this, stopping at secluded beaches for swims and exploring the shoreline. The jungle is right behind you all the way. And with most jungles comes the unreal animal and bird life on offer. Gotta love the Carribean!

We decide to leave Costa Rica as our time in this part of Central America is running out. Time to head across the border into Panama, leaving us only 12 days before we board a catamaran to sail across to Columbia.

Panamania

So happy we are back on a chicken bus. A pretty cool border crossing at Sixoala the banana capital of the world. An indifferent Costa Rican immigration officer all but yawns and exit stamps our passport on the very first page.... How lazy can you get... We walk across the rickety bridge and are stamped into Panama. All good as we ignore the usual touts trying to double the shuttle bus price. We hail our own chicken bus! $1 no problema!

Another bus and a water taxi finds us at another Carribean gem, Bocas del toro, not before we buy 14 mangoes for $1 from the old man in a canoe.... Rule no. one, always follow the locals. Watch how much they pay and get the same deal as them.

We arrive on Colon Island and step into Bocas town, with its true Carribean feeling. The rubbish on the streets reminds us of the less developed countries further north. (apart from Costa Rica) . We soon get used to the rubbish again, as you do, and take in the colourful buildings and colourful people. Everyone rides bicycles at a really slow pace, nobody is in a hurry here. I am offered 'weed' by the same guy 3 times a day. Doesn't he understand the word "no"! The town itself doesnt have a beach so we catch a collectivo out to Playa Estrella (Starfish beach). beautiful white sandy Cayes, palms swinging overhead, crystal clear waters and literally hundred of giant orange coloured starfish in the shallows.....you get the picture. We are lucky as the weather is amazing and we spend a relaxing day swimming, reading and trying to open coconuts with our bare hands. I spend an hour opening one only to find it is starting to go off. That has happened plenty of times, though. Its worth it when you get a good meaty coconut...a good chew and the best snack on beach!

Out to ladies night with Marlene and a couple of English girls. Sitting on the dock/bar the water is so clear as we watch sea snakes and hundreds of fish and squid attracted to the lights of the bar. This is a good place to do a day boat trip, so we hook up on a tour and explore some outer islands. On the way across the bay our boat driver lost concentration and we nearly run over a local fisherman in his dugout canoe. We were travelling at probably 50kph and missed him by inches. The poor bugger. He almost tipped over and ended up with a boat full of water, plus a a shit or two in his pants!

The best part of the day was the underwater towing device. You hold on to a small perspex shaped sled and get towed behind the boat across the reef. Great fun and lots to see. Leeanne saw a turtle, I missed it, too busy trying to do barrel rolls. We were the only non-Spanish speaking people on the boat, so we didn't get much info during the day and had to listen to fast speaking Spanish coming at us from all directions. We still find it amusing to be a monority here and have a better understanding of how it must be not to speak English in Australia. it is such a fast language you pick up words and context but it will take a while to become fluent. We grab our snorkel and goggles and go talk to some fish! Snorkelling here is great and loads of dolphins cruising around the bays.

We shop at the local supermarkets in Bocas town. These are on every corner, owned and operated by rude Chinese. Usually filthy, they sell just about everything. It's the first time I have needed to wash a bottle of rum after buying it.....I saw rats running through the shelves behind all the bottles, the shop stank of ratshit. No health inspectors here. Our hostel, luckily, is clean and comfortable, which we are grateful.

Next day we hire bikes and follow the coastline past surf breaks and explore small beaches before finding a beach bar, listen to some chilled music and a couple of cold beers before heading back to town. Our favourite food on the island is the meat skewers cooked by the old bloke on his mobile bike/bbq. $1.50 ea , so good! He gets to know us, we exchange smiles, and that look of appreciation in both directions is evident.

We catch an early boat back to the mainland, and after a couple of buses and a ride through some increbible scenery a few hours later we arrive in the hillside town of Boquete. The weather is pleasantly cooler here, and perfect for trekking and exploring the surrounding countryside. A must day trip is the natural hot springs and granite boulder river, about 12 km from town. Leeanne and I find a nice little rock pool to soak in, all to ourselves, until a school group wander by, stop, surround the pool, peering down at us, notebooks in hand, as the teacher gives them a 15 minute lesson on the geological wonders of thermal pools! Fair dinkum! I was so close to giving them my 'lizard impersonation', only Leeanne stopping me from embarrassment. 4 nights in Boquete are really relaxing, combined with some really long walks and cooking fresh pumpkin soup in our hostel. One walk took us on long loop up into the hills and back into town, passing coffee plantations and crossing small rivers with crystal clear water. We stumble across a shop in the middle of nowhere. Not your average shop. This local bloke has set up a tiny roadside stall in front of his house, we are offered coffee which is served cold in second hand polystyrene cups. Leeanne notice her cup had teeth marks in it and a piece chewed off the rim. He tried to sell us everything on offer from over-ripe bananas to second hand shoes. He got so excited when Leeanne showed interest in some handmade bags made from natural fibre. He got even more excited when we offered him $5 for a bag. He didn't stop talking the whole time we were there. Non stop Spanish, all the time with a happy smile on his face.

Next day we lash out and fork out $25 for 4 hours hiring a scooter. Prices for scooter hire are expensive compared to SE Asia, so we don't get much of a chance to use them here in Central America. It's always good to jump on one and explore the area with freedom. We're not disappointed with our half day trip here in Boquete, either. Rugged mountain roads with little traffic. We are given a map with suggested routes to take. Sure enough, we end up off the map. Should have realised as the road got really dodgy, slippery and steep. Leeanne walks some of the way as I bring the bike back to safer territory.......gotta love scooter hire adventures!

Next day we leave Boquete and make our way to Panama City. We spend a little more and catch a shuttle bus and save some time. We both agree that shuttles aren't great. Usually you are cramped and have to listen to foreign speaking tourists of hours on end. I know I prefer local chicken buses, sitting with and listening to locals. Anyway, 7-8 hours later we arrive at our cheap hostel in the old part of town in Panama City. The modern city with its tall skyscrapers are just across the bay. We don't even go there, no real reason to go, as we only have a few days here. We walk lots and explore the colonial area of the city. Beautiful old buildings and streets, filled with history and character.

The highlight of our stay in the city is a day trip to the famous Panama Canal. A couple of local buses gets us to the Miraflor locks, where they have a great viewing points to watch the canal in operation. An engineering marvel, to say the least! Watching huge cargo ships squeeze through the canal with only inches to spare is mind blowing. Once in position, the locks are closed, the water level lowers about 10 metres, and the ship moves slowly through to the next lock, only to repeat the procedure. The total operation getting though each set of locks takes only one hour. A smooth professional operation. The canal has provided Panama with a reliable source of income, and the wealth is spread throughout the country indicative of the good roads and infrastructure in the country. A visit to Panama is not complete without having a look at the Canal. You've just got to see it working!

Now, for some more excitement, we leave Panama City to start our 6 day sailing trip down to our next country, Columbia. We are required to find our own way to the boat, which takes us 4-5 hours on and off buses to a sleepy port town of Portobello. There is some confusion as we were originally told to arrive by 11am and at two we were still the only gringos around. No Captain, crew or other travellers.

Eventually by around three thirty people start arriving and tell us the time was changed by email. Somehow we didn't get it but it didn't matter we enjoyed the day anyway. Our home for the next 6 nights seven days is a 41 foot catamaran called Nacar. It costs us both $550 for the trip. to get from Panama to Columbia is not cheap. Fly or catch a boat, it is difficult to go overland as the Darien Gap is regarded far too dangerous as you will be sharing the non existent road with many drug traffickers and there is no border crossing here.so we splurge......

The sailing trip takes us through the Carribean sea dodging the 365 small islands of San Blas. Picture postcard stuff!

The islands are owned and managed by the Kuna tribe and have been preserved in near pristine condition. No resorts, no mass tourism, just lots of boats and perfect white sand, aqua water coconut laden Islas to fall upon after snorkelling in. We swim, eat and drink with a wonderful bunch of people. As usual we are a little worried about the reaction of the others regarding our age but we hold our own and age and country of origin are soon forgotten as friendships forged and memories made.

We volunteer for night watch on the first evening from 3-5 am and love the solitude it brings. The huge ocean, dense black sky and billions of stars.

One night on one of the islands Paul suggest we have a fire and we seek permission from the Kuna family who live there. They agree and even come along to share our fish dinner cooked on the fire. They want to be entertained and keep asking us to Cansada (sing) or bailer ( dance). We have amazing lobsters one night for dinner bought fresh from the canoe.

Swimming, snorkelling, reading, eating, drinking and lying around contemplating your naval are all the activities pursued in the first four days then we have the 33-36 hour sail in open waters. This is the fun bit where it is difficult to move around the boat and if your gonna get sick it will happen here. Most people pop a Dramamine or two and no one is really sick but a lot of lying around is done, staring out to sea. On the second morning sitting at the front of the boat we see our first dolphin swimming toward us, within minutes there are 20-30 dolphins swimming, playing and dancing with the boat, entertaining us for more than an hour. These magnificent creatures welcome us to Columbia and are a highlight of the crossing.

Entering Cartegena Harbour in the evening, dodging the big cargo ships we are mesmerised at the size and modernity of this beautiful city. It is hypnotic in a way after two days of big waves we are still watching the twinkling city lights

We have finally made it to South America and our 18 th country on this voyage.

We have loved every minute of Central America and feel so much gratitude to the beautiful people who welcome you and share their lives and wonders with you. Muchas gracias and Adios.

Nicaragua

coggos — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 07:59:00 GMT

Nica

We land on a deserted beach with an abandoned boat pier alongside. "Is this Potosi?" we ask the boatman. "Si" ...yep we have landed in Nicaragua. Just the two of us.The immigration office is a short walk up a track, no one around, stinking hot! The immigration official comes out of the shadows and checks our passports, we pay our $12, and we are allowed to enter the country. Of all the CA4 countries (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua) this was our most expensive border crossing. Most are a couple of dollars or often nothing at all.

As it is getting late, we spend our first night in Nicaragua here on Potosi at a small family run guesthouse a couple of hundred metres down the road. It looks like the only choice we have. Straight away we sense a more relaxed vibe in this country. Reminds us of some of our favourite SE Asian countries, like Laos or Cambodia. Unfortunately, poverty is prevalent. Fishermen provide the basic income for families. Women work tirelessly behind the scenes. Children follow their parents stereotypical roles. Girls help their mothers, care for younger siblings, and often fall pregnant at a young age. Boys are generally lazy, hoping to become fishermen one day and quite often fall victim to the bottle and become 'drunks' along the way!

We spend our first few days on the coast near Jiquillo, a small fishing village with a relaxed hostel called Rancho Esperanza. Leeanne and I celebrate our 'one year' anniversary here. Can't believe we have been on the road for a year! So many places, so many adventures!

Who would have thought 365 days, 12 months, 15 countries, hundreds of different beds, tens of thousands of kilometers and still we haven't hit the wall. It has helped that we were able to spend incredible quality time with our beautiful family, visits from dear friends and a quick visit to oz to recharge the emotional batteries! In the words of a great man " our gratitude cup floweth over"!!!

Our new hostel friends are more than happy to share a beer or two with us as we watch the sunset in the Pacific. Australia is over the horizon somewhere. I'm lucky enough to get a fun 2-3foot surf right in front of our hostel. Remains of former buildings are in the water. A recent tsunami wiped out 6 blocks of houses and pushed the coastline back hundreds of metres. It's amazing how many disasters have happened here which barely register in Australia. Leeanne spends her time reading. With the large library the owner has built up, she has plenty of books to choose from and for something a little more strenuous she relearns to hula hoop. "Good for the waistline" I tell her. Lying around in hammocks occupies much of our time. I borrow a machete and cut open coconuts when I get bored or pick up a guitar and have a strum. I even sing "Seagull" to our new friends. Most of them weren't even born when I wrote the song back in 1979. It still brings a smile to many faces! There are some talented musicians here. We walk 5 km along the beach to the next village, it feels very remote here. Fishermen, dogs and people lying around in hammocks doing little.

A few days later we make our way to Leon. A simple trip lasting no more than 3 hours but lots of bus/taxi changes to reach our hostel, chosen because it has a pool....bloody hot here!

Leon is an easy town to walk around, although the unbearable heat restricts our sightseeing to mornings or late afternoons. The cathedral is awesome, being the biggest in Central America, its easy to find in front of the parque central. Street food is excellent, plus we manage to make our own granola, fruit and coffee each morning for breakfast. We only have 2 cups so its usually a 'cuppa' first, followed by granola in a cup, then another coffee to wash breakfast down. Our electric hot water element gets plenty of use ( this is number3, as we the first one self destructed and lost the second). We leave Leon, after learning a little more about the town's revolutionary past, with heroes and martyrs remembered in museums. Time to escape the heat as we head up into the hills of Esteli. We end up staying in this area for nearly 3 weeks. Leeanne does her research and we find a Spanish teacher in town. Norma, our host lets us stay at her house for the first week as she teaches us some more Spanish. 4 hour lessons per day, coupled with continual conversation, no English. Total immersion! Surely we have to improve! My Spanish is still really dodgy, but Leeanne is going great. She talks and understands general conversation well and seems to enjoy it, too! The experience at the home stay turns out to be much more than learning Spanish. We find ourselves totally immersed in Nicaraguan life. Norma's house is unique, as she lives alone, but has a constant stream of people visiting, staying, eating, cleaning, you name it! She has opened her house to many locals wishing to improve their education. Norma's passion is education. Most nights, after a full days work at home she walks to a local school or uni and teaches more classes. Some nights she studies herself to further her own education. An inspirational woman, with liberal views and ideas, trying to stay one step ahead of traditional warped Nicaraguan values. She reads and learns as much as possible about our western way of life, hopefully to help improve the lives of those around her. The streets here are mostly rocky, dusty with little vegetation. The sound of dogs barking, roosters crowing, bus horns in the distance, someone riding by on a bicycle through the gravel street is what I here as I wake every morning inside our concrete bedroom. Norma's stamina is remarkable as she teaches us then feeds us amazing local food, cleans and fits in tourist sights as well. We visit cigar factories (homes with the garage full of tobacco leaves, one guy raking them up, in another room 2 guys rolling cigars by hand, and a girl collects finished cigars and packs them in bundles ready to sell, we are behind closed doors......locked doors, of course!), paper making workshops and two glorious days are spent in the mountains. On a visit to Tisey National Park we visit the finca of a 74 year old man Don Alberto who had a vision to carve sculptures into the rock ledges on his farm. 35 years later on his amazing pineapple/ coffee finca he still manages to guide the occasional tourist who make the 1km downhill hike over his farm as he points out all the organic produce and his amazing art works. We bring along a packet of cigarettes to give to him, apparently that's what he likes. He eagerly accepts the smokes, then proudly continues to tell us about his life, all in Spanish, of course.

There are many incredible hikes around the area and on a visit to Serva Negra we manage to see howler monkeys, the national bird and hear the leopards roaring across the valley from their rocky hideouts. On the way back to Esteli we drop in to the Sunday afternoon cock fights, not my cup of tea at all!

We say goodbye to Norma, promising to return in a few days time.

Other travellers tell us about this amazing place to visit nearby called Somoto Canyon. It turns out to be a highlight of our Nicaraguan adventure. The home stay we choose is right on the main road at the entrance to the canyon. A family of eleven live here. The 6 boys (all over 25 but seem much younger) work as guides into the canyon. The girls work at home cooking on the traditional open fire. Everything we eat is grown here on their farm. Our canyon trip was unreal! Trekking, climbing over river boulders, jumping off cliffs into water holes (some as high as 20 metres), swimming, floating down over shallow rapids. All the time we are enclosed within the walls of a gigantic canyon. Often the cliff walls are vertical reaching over 100 metres high. The gorge itself is sometimes less than 10 metres wide. Nowhere to hide if a flash flood heads our way.

Most people come here on day trips, we are lucky because we have time on our side so we decide to stay with the family for 3 nights, enjoying the company of Mumma, Pappa and the 9 grown up kids. Leeanne gets a ride on a burro (donkey) owned by one of the boys. He is so proud of his 4 year old donkey and tells us how he saved for ages to by a saddle for $70.

The boys have been bought up really well, as they are so polite and helpful. They still have that youthful 'cheekiness' about them. They are only allowed 2 beers a day each at home, they play up when they go to town!

We return to Esteli (minus a small backpack stolen on the chicken bus to Somoto Canyon...sorry Josh, your camera went. Some bloke pretended to be the bus conductor, found us seats and promptly took off with the bag) We again stay with Norma at her home for 2 nights before leaving for Masaya. Our last day in Esteli turns out to be action packed! A fair/ fiesta/whatever has arrived in town, bringing thousands to watch men and women on horseback parade down the streets. The horses are groomed, and the riders dressed in traditional clothes, as they prance and dance along the crowded streets. Brass bands seem to compete with the modern Latin music blasting out of large speakers in the back of utes. Everyone is drinking cans of beer, lots of it. As we walk along with the parade, finishing our third beer we start to sense danger. The crowd is getting really wild, the music really thumping, horses knocking us over, fights in the street. Time to get out of there and head back to our quiet home stay. What an experience! They don't have parades quite like that at home.

One thing about Nicaragua is the genuine character of the people. They are friendly but still reserved. It only takes the smallest of eye contact to make some sort of connection......mostly positive. We practice our Spanish with the locals every day. Some days we speak no English....just me and Leeanne. You kind of get used to it after a while.....but when you get together with other English speaking travellers you kind of let loose. Exchange travel tips, tell adventure stories (exaggerate a little to scare the shit out of them) , have a couple of beers with them and eventually say 'adios'. You really do meet some amazing people travelling, all ages, all nationalities, all with their own take on life, all of us moving like ants around the globe.

Masaya gives us our first taste of the wet season. It is the end of May 2013. Storms build every afternoon producing torrential rain for a few hours or nothing at all. Finally got to see a baseball game. We are the only gringos in the crowd, drinking beer and eating many of the tasty snack foods prepared by the local women wearing their trade mark aprons.

A storm approaches before the end of the game so we make a dash back to town, just making it to a restaurant near our hostel before the skies opened up. The streets flood within an hour. Everything is clean and fresh the next morning. The highlight of Masaya was our trip up the local volcano, it is active and still very dangerous. You are only allowed to stay at the top and look into the sulpherous smoke filled crater for 10-15 minutes before they send you back down. The smell of sulphur is often overpowering. Only 6 months ago a small eruption threw thousands of tennis ball size rocks across the top directly onto the viewing spot. The plastic orange safety hats they make you wear wouldn't help much I don't think! The countryside around the volcano is covered with dark jagged rocks, remnants of lava flows from eruptions 300 years ago. Geologists and scientists spend a lot of time in this region. If you love volcanoes, active ones, Central America is the place to come.

We head down to the bus terminal, and wait (as patient as possible) for a chicken bus to Laguna Apoyo. It is stinking hot, we are dripping with sweat, and open mud filled, rubbish infested bus terminal at Masaya is one we are glad to leave.( an interesting observation here as many times we have been in the same situation and loved the vibe, today we were hot and cranky) Our home for the next 4 nights is Paradiso on the lake edge of beautiful Laguna Apoyo. An extinct volcano crater with crystal clear fresh water rimmed with tropical rainforest, hosting a few species of fish found only here in the world. Some are yet to given names! We meet some really cool backpackers here, and the new owners, a young French couple, make our stay here comfortable and chilled. They have free kayaks to use plus a couple of tubes to float around in. The water temperature is perfect, the beer is cold the scenery breathtaking. The jungle is all around, and we share it with countless birdlife and families of howler monkeys that let out this amazing 'howl' each sunrise and sunset. We don't need an alarm clock to get up before 6am.....the monkeys do their job! One day we volunteer and join a local organisation trying to create environmental awareness, through rubbish collection and promoting clean habits to the local community. We walk along rainforest tracks, filling bags with rubbish, practicing our Spanish with local kids, as we take in this amazing countryside we are in. Nicaragua is fast becoming one of our favourite countries.....it seems to tick all the boxes as a budget travel destination.

We leave Laguna Apoyo, and after lots of fresh water swimming we are really clean and so is the lake. It's time to head down to the Pacific coast in search of some waves and salt water, but first we need to see the town of Granada. We book into the Oasis Hostel and get a reasonable room with fan. Free, all you can eat pancake breakfast, is a bonus. The colonial town of Granada is popular with tourists. Beautiful colonial buildings and architecture, coupled with its revolutionary history, make it an interesting place to see. It's easy to walk around and see most sights on foot. Exploring the ropa segunda ( op shops) we find some bargains for 10 c each or under 50cents.

A couple of days here is enough for us and we make our way to San Juan Del Sur, the surfing centre of southern Nicaragua. First impressions aren't great as a huge swell has made the bay and beach area really filthy with logs, debris and rubbish. There are quite alot of Surfers here many from the US and Canada. It is so hot but we don't risk swimming here because of the dirty water. We settle into our accommodation well. An old historic pub overlooking the bay. We jag the upstairs balcony room and spend lots of spare time sitting on our balcony watching the world go by while sipping on rum and cokes. 4 days later we are still doing the same thing. We are starting to like the place. The swell has dropped off a bit, the water has cleaned up and the waves are good. I borrowed a nice longboard off an American guy. It felt good to ride a decent board. So many of the rental boards a dodgy. They have usually been snapped at least 3 times, repaired, lots of dings, fins missing, you name it!

We take the daily shuttle out to explore the local beaches everyone is raving about. Playa Maderas is about 20 minutes north through lush countryside. The main break is nice and has good waves but the real star here are the beaches that lay to the north. Walking around the rocks we discover magnificent white beaches and rocky headlands. There are some great places to stay at Castaways or Matilda's. We enjoy the swimming and eating mangos and papaya straight from the trees. Never seen so many mangoes, ever! Walk along and pick one up, have a chew, sometimes skin and all, keep eating mangoes, all for free!

There is a bit of a traffic jam back in town and we discover that the Dakine world juniors ISA surfing titles are on and there is a parade of all the surfers. First ones we spot are the ubiquitous green and gold uniforms con Akubras. Bleach blonde larrikins busting with excitement. An afternoon shower doesn't dampen their spirits and we get talking to a few Aussie parents following their kids. Eli Stone and Matt King are two names to follow in the future. What a thrill for them to be representing their country surfing in Nicaragua, so far from home, and so so different.

Time is starting to run out for our visa stay in Nicaragua. Only 2 weeks left. So we leave the coast and make our way towards Costa Rica. First, we must see the famous Ometepe. Imagine two volcanoes joined together sitting in the middle of a huge inland lake. Check it out on a map, it is a huge landmark here in Nicaragua. We catch a chicken bus, taxi, ferry across to the island landing at Moyogalpa, the main port town of Ometepe and two more chicken buses. We have already done our research and decided to stay on a permaculture farmstay called Zopilote. A little bit alternate with free yoga each morning, amazing fresh food, salads and whole grain breads we haven't had for a long time. We visit Ojo de Agua, beautiful clear swimming pools in a rainforest setting. The whole island is an abundance of nature growing wildly. Both volcanoes here have tracks up and manageable to climb, but expect a hard slog for the best part of a day. Volcan Concepcion, the biggest, takes at least 8-10 hours up and back. It is constantly active and ready to erupt again one day, just not sure when! The. Transport system is pretty dodgy here every time we ask what time the bus is coming we get a different answer but eventually after an hour or so one way come.

We leave Zopilote on a sour note. Leeanne's mobile phone is stolen from our room the day we plan on leaving, and we try our hardest to insist that it is only another material possession but this hurts.. It's our main communication link to the kids and home. Paul offers rewards, going and speaking to gardeners etc. we have lost our two cameras in two weeks now and are reduced to the dodgy underwater camera that may or may not turn on depending on its mood.

We wait for a bus that doesn't arrive so have to pay $12 for a taxi to a secluded port, for a ferry that changed its timetable so we wait 5 hours with a French couple playing the universal traveller card game of shithead. At 9 pm we are on the night ferry to San Carlos. We are assigned the upstairs room ( double the price to $6 lol) long padded benches, quite cosy and the only ones here. I actually sleep through the night much to my surprise and we wake at 5 am in the remote south eastern corner of Lake Managua where the Río San Juan runs from the lake to the Caribbean. It is a historic day as this very day Nicaraguan parliament approves a Chinese plan to build a canal in this very area. Most people are not happy as they believe they will benefit little and the environment will be adversely affected forever. 10 years from now this place will be so different. With a new canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, so many large cargo ships will pass through Nicaragua. With the Chinese in control expect to see lots of concrete and environmental damage!

After a huge $2 breakfast on the riverfront in San Carlos watching the town awake we take another small boat down stream for 3 hours to El Castillo. A beautiful little village with a fabulous fort guarding the bend from pirates and invaders. No road acces means no cars, nor motorbikes it is quite save the roar of rapids under our veranda.

The French couple are here too and we team up with about the only other tourist in town a Swiss NGO worker for a rainforest tour. Note RAIN ..... Lol poison dart frogs in bright colours of red and green, killer mosquitos, killer thorns, killer ants and mud to our knees. Thank goodness they insisted on us renting gumboots haha.

All in all we struggle with these sort of trips. We know at home we can do similar walks for free in many parts of the country. But a guide is handy to find and identify the finer details of the forest even if it is all in Spanish.

El Castillo is our home for a couple more days. We explore the town on foot. No roads, no cars, not even a motorbike to be seen. Only the odd "pushy" horseback riders. The old fortress is a must to visit. $2 entry gives you a fantastic view of the town overlooking its river and rapids. We discover that many pirates tried to pass this spot, including Lord Horatio Nelson, Dampier and Henry Morgan. Funny, I'm sure at school we were taught that these guys were famous explorers, not 'pirates' !

It's Sunday and many locals are at church listening to the Evangelist Minister going hard. Some older locals are relaxing in rocking chairs chatting to those that walk by. Some men are drinking 1 litre bottles of beer with mates and talking noisily. I watch as the soccer players pass by on their way to the local footy field. I follow them and get entertained with a great game of soccer. Talk about local rivalry. In front of a reasonable crowd these guys played hard. Skill level was pretty good, too. Craziest thing was when the ref blew full-time, nobody shook hands. They all simply picked up their bags and walked off home. The field was deserted within 10 minutes. Not even a post game beer! Not like home.

We keep stalling on entering Costa Rica. We can see it, so close, but we know once we leave Nicaragua the costs are going to skyrocket. It will be a real test for "Cheapskate Tours", which so far our budget has been pretty much on track. Our total costs per day are still around the $45. Still a bargain by anyone's standards. During our last week in Nicaragua we have been surrounded by jungle with no roads or motorised transport, no Internet, very little electricity, only boats. We head back to San Carlos on the morning ferry and promptly take the afternoon boat to the Solentamine Islands. Very remote cluster of islands. Only a handful of people live on San Fernando Island. It rains at some time on most days with humidity levels really high. This region on the bottom edge of Nicaragua Lakeand is unique. The many species of bird life, howler monkeys, crocodiles and bull sharks add to the ecosystem to the point you feel totally isolated from civilisation. 3 nights here was great. I could live here if I could buy one of the small islands, some of which are up for sale, and cheap! We headed out on a fishing trip here with local boatman, Jose. Within half an hour I caught 3 fish, one a real beauty about 1 kg. We ate it for dinner, so good.

We say goodbye to our island paradise and head back to San Carlos for our last night in Nicaragua. We find a clean guesthouse with comfy beds, no mosquitos, plus wi-fi. Finally a chance to contact the family and read the mail. We enter Costa Rica tomorrow by boat at the river border. We leave behind the beautiful country of Nicaragua. So diverse in may ways, with so much to offer the keen traveller. The people are genuinely friendly, landscape spectacular and costs minimal. Just days ago, however, the Nicaraguan government signed a deal with the Chinese. They plan on building a super canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific. A huge project which will change the face of Nicaragua forever. Our island paradise won't be the same with countless cargo ships cruising by.

Photos: nicaragua

coggos — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:54:00 GMT

El Salvador

coggos — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:42:00 GMT

El Salvador

Time to head deeper into Central America. We get mixed reports about El Salvador from other travellers and many precautions to take to keep safe, but we need to see it for ourselves.

We leave Honduras at a small border crossing at El Poy and spend our first night in La Palma, a little town famous for street murals. Walls, buildings, street poles are decorated in colourful artworks.

But, that is about all the place has to offer, unless you venture up into the hills for some serious trekking. Trying to find something to eat at night is difficult, as most places weren't open. Accommodation is dodgy here, also. Only one night and we move on with the expectation of getting down to the Pacific coast for some well earnt beach time. It's a long day travelling, on and off 4 chicken buses until we reach a piece of paradise on the coast, El Zonte. The trip down here took us through the capital, San Salvador. In fact, one chicken bus we caught right through a market. Imagine the chaos of a busy market place with a brightly painted old school bus barely squeezing through all the stalls, cramped in our seats, with music blaring out of the large speakers. I can't see Leeanne, we are separated on the bus. I know she is up the back somewhere hugging her backpack with her handbag tied round her wrist like her life depended upon it!

One thing is evident in El Salvador. That is the high security everywhere. I have never seen so much razor wire in place to protect buildings and property. Every second bloke is carrying a shotgun or hand pistol. When you see a bloke sitting on top of a truck with a shotgun as it is being loaded with only building materials you know that crime control is still paramount in this country. It is definitely safer today as compared to 10-15 years ago.

El Zonte is a small fishing village facing Australia somewhere over the horizon. I think of home when I'm on the ocean, family and friends back home. We find a cool beachfront guesthouse called casa de Frida. Only 4 rooms, a bar, restaurant, plenty of hammocks. Leeanne is happy, and so am I. Finally get to surf after almost a year without quality waves. I meet a local who rents me a board for a week. I negotiate a good price and he throws me a new block of wax to see me through. After my first 4 sessions the body is weary, shoulders ache, ribs are really sore, a couple of rashes developing, but feeling bloody good. Enough solid waves with no crowd to keep me happy. Leeanne is content lying half in the sun and shade, reading. The water is warm, sand is black. A land of volcanoes, lava once spilled into the ocean. Today, coconut trees shade the coast and dogs and cows roam free along the beach.

A week at our Casa in El Zonte is enough time to recharge the batteries. Our hosts are Fernando and Lucas. An adventurous young couple, looking for a challenge in managing a guesthouse in El Salvador. Lucas is from Argentina, Fernando a former Guatemala City disco owner. Fernando leaves us to go to hospital. he explains all the scars on his right shoulder. Well, he still has 2 bullets to be removed after getting himself caught in the crossfire of a gun battle at his disco in Guatemala. Maybe a beachside guesthouse business will be a little more chilled!

Most days are spent exactly like the one before. Wake up, make our own coffee in bed, a swim, then decide on what to have for breakfast.....traditional puposa is usually good washed down with a strawberry smoothie! The whole day is spent reading in a hammock, intermingled with short walks and swims. The last 2-3 days the surf got huge.....bit big for me, but at least I had enough sessions to satisfy the soul (and the body).

Today is the 16.04.13 and we are leaving El Zonte to head back up the coast looking for a new beach somewhere. Our new friends from San Francisco have offered us a ride so why not? Joel and Justine are a bit younger than us and have a 7 yr old boy named Theo. On a 2 week surf vacation, i think after a few days of talking with us it plants a seed for more extended travelling, they decide to get a car and driver and head up the coast and invite us to hitchhike with them.

It is a nice little luxury to get off chicken buses for a few days and be able to go in and see all the beaches that are so difficult with your backpack. We decide El Zonte had been a good choice and spent the night in Los Cobonos. Now each country has it own little idiosyncrasies but in El Salvador the locals really enjoy spending time looking around their own country. This means our lovely little guest house on the beach wants to charge us $25 for the night then $25 for the day then $3 each to have a swim in the pool. You have got to be joking so we stay the night refuse to pay for the 2 min swim after coming out of the surf and head up to Juayua on the Ruta de Flores.

It is the fruit and coffee centre of the country. Cooler and has a lovely feel about it. Lots of waterfalls and viewpoints, really nice hostels and on the weekend a fiesta gastronomy or food fair, with lots of strange food like iguana, guinea pig and frog! Dogs scavenge for food, lots of dogs. We are walking through the park with street sellers and buskers around and come across what looked like performing dogs. 2 dogs standing on hind legs holding each other up. Leeanne says " oh, how cute, dancing dogs!" Next minute they are at each other in one huge fight. And so the 'dancing dogs' take off down the street still going for each other. We spend a few days exploring the region. Quaint towns walls covered in beautiful murals, good food and great coffee. We do a $1 tour to the waterfalls and our young girl guide beckons me to follow her. Climbing a sheer wall we disappear into a black hole and traverse through a 40 metre tunnel, pitch black only a few inches of clearance to breath, we certainly didn't expect that!

As we travel, we are always reminded of the opportunities and choices we have at home. Simple things we take for granted are luxury to people in this part of the world. As we talk to and spend time with both locals and travellers, a genuine connection always seems to unfold. Children are often on the street selling 'whatever'. Look closely, the dirt under their toenails, clothes that have been handed down, sadness in their eyes....we always give them respect, talk as much as we can, smile lots, but usually buy little. That's the way it is.

Santa Anna is our next town to visit. We arrive on a local chicken bus and step into a busy street and take a guess that the hostel we are looking for is 5 or 6 blocks away. We head off down the road and Leeanne slips on something and goes down 'like a sack of spuds'. She is sprawled out face down in the gutter as 2 local men quickly come to her rescue, one holding her sunnies that flew off down the street. With a sore foot and bruised knee, we make it to Casa Verde, our hostel (and home away from home) for the next 6 nights. Really clean, 2 great kitchens, a pool, wifi, TV, the works! This becomes the perfect place to relax and give Leeanne's foot time to heal. We get really excited just to use the kitchen and cook our own meals. I shop at the local market, and stock up on fresh fruit and veges, eggs and fresh chicken. The BBQ meal was so good. I really miss my 'barbie'! Santa Anna is famous for its magnificent cathedral and of course the nearby lake and volcanoes......a must to climb.

After a few days of recovery, aided by some strong anti-inflammatory drugs, Leeanne gives the OK to tackle the volcano climb. (Gosh she's a trouper inserted by Leeanne) It turns out to be a really fun day. A chicken bus leaves town at 7.30 and takes about an hour and a half to reach the base of the Volcan Santa Anna. We are entertained on the chicken bus with a 20 minute preaching session by a local evangelist. As he finishes, he does a quick lap down the aisle, hand out collecting a few coins for his efforts...a bit more cash to put in Gods coffers. A guide up the volcano is mandatory and trips leave only at 11 am, only if they have enough people. As it turns out, we are the only tourists their, but luck is on our side. 2 bus loads of 15 year old school kids are ready to do the climb. A policeman tells us to join the big group. So off we go, up, up up. The climb wasn't too hard as we had several stops and lots of time to talk with the kids along the way. They were so keen to practice their English. Really polite and so curious. Accompanying our group were 4 policeman and 5 army soldiers, all heavily armed! Bandits are notorious on the track and responsible for many armed hold ups and muggings. We felt relatively safe with so many guns on our side!

A highlight of Santa Anna is a night at the theatre. For just $1 each we get to see the National Symphony Orchestra. They were bloody good, and to sit in such a historic building was a bonus. Another day of relaxing, swimming in our pool, and cooking in a real kitchen and we are ready to leave and make our way down to the east coast.

A full day on and off lots of buses, we arrive in El Cuco. We only have to mention our hostel name La Tortuga Verde, and we are driven the short 3 km to our beachside stay. American Tom, the owner, is well known in these parts for his turtle conservation and employment of many locals in his guesthouses. He is a real life "Willie Wonka", the resort is his factory, and his many staff are his 'oompa-loompas'! He buys turtle eggs off the locals and reburies them in the sand in an attempt to keep the turtle population healthy. The locals unfortunately eat them!! We are a couple of weeks too early to see the mass movements of large turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs on the beach. Should we hang around? Our accommodation is a beautifully decorated dorm room, which we have to ourselves. $10 each a night and we get clean sheets, towels, fly screen walls, a fan, and old circus posters advertising "alive reptiles", and classic wooden horses from a children's merry-go-round strung around the room. We sleep comfortably,apart from a few mozzies, and listen to the sound of the surf and the sound of ripe mangoes finishing their life cycle as they fall from their branches. Each morning I collect as many as we need, a quick rinse, then devour them with our granola breakfast. ( my hunter and gatherer?... We love free food)

6 days later......still here! Surfing up the beach about 4 km at Le Flores, a nice right hand point break. Got plenty of waves on the 9foot longboard I rented off Tom. One night, a huge lone turtle came ashore and laid about 50 eggs. They were re buried in a turtle sanctuary in front of the hostel. Save the locals from eating them!

Tom seems to attract all sorts of characters. one day we are treated to a performance by the philanthropic arm of the cirque de soliel, they have been touring El Sal and Honduras spreading the message that Men should help their wives more around the home. the men in Latin America are generally very Male Chauvinistic and don't like to do women's work whilst the woman do everything. there are some dignitaries arriving to watch and local school kids. turns out the dignitaries are oxfam supporters and we watch them scoff beer and lobster on the donations of others!

We meet some interesting travellers here too. An Aussie bloke sailing his yacht around the place calls in. He and his young crew (other backpackers) all stay at the hostel and end up staying as long as us. The yacht is sailed up from its original mooring to be anchored in the Pacific Ocean right here in front of the hostel. Those on board need to be transported back to the beach. Now for the fun bit! The local boatman, a Canadian guy, and myself put the fishing boat in and attempt to head out to the yacht through the surf. The sets were a solid 5-6 feet and breaking on a shallow sand bar. The boatman worked the 60hp motor hard as we punched through each wave. The boat was a decent length, maybe 20 foot, fibreglass, and heavy. The 3 of us sat right at the back as we hit each mass of white water, with the boat getting almost vertical, the boatman ended half out the back of the boat. I hung on for grim life. The boat took a lot of water, but we got out through the set and completed our mission of bringing the yacht crew to shore. We retold the story plenty of times over a few beers that night! It was just the adrenalin rush I needed!

We plan on heading into Nicaragua next. A land crossing means a full day of buses, crossing back through Honduras, then into Nicaragua. We have another option, a boat crossing across the Gulf of Fonseca, avoiding Honduras, and starting our adventure in a gorgeous little place in Nicaragua, called Potosi, close to beaches, volcanoes, and mountain retreats. 3 days later, still at La Tortuga Verde hostel, waiting for a boat ride. Hopefully tomorrow we get to Nicaragua!

Once again, as we leave a country, ready to move on and explore the next, we reflect upon the people, places and memories of our last month. El Salvador is well worth visiting for any keen traveller. The people are genuinely friendly and hospitable. Transport is cheap, food good, accommodation easy to find( although more expensive than its neighbouring countries) . Got some decent surf here, with plenty of chilled time along the coastline. We tended to avoid bigger cities, especially San Salvador, as they are notorious for crime once the sun goes down. The high presence of security just about everywhere in the country reminds us of the tumultuous past that has gripped El. Salvador for so long. That said, we had no dramas, kept our heads low, and enjoyed our time here! Gracious El Salvador!

Finally get the nod from 'loco' Tom that we have a boat organised to get us out of El Salvador and across the gulf into Nicaragua. We have 15 minutes to pack, pay our bill and jump in the taxi (a ute really, Leeanne in the front, me in the back with the bags and the dust) . An hour up the road to La Union, the small port town where we are met by a local guy and shows us the immigration office. A short time later we walk through the muddy water carrying our backpacks and jump in a small fishing boat with 3 other locals and their groceries and off we go at full speed across the gulf passing many islands, stopping at one to drop off the locals. Hondurus is a short distance up the gulf to the left and Nicaragua an hour and a half ahead of us. ............

Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras revisited

coggos — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:21:00 GMT

Semana Santa - Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras revisited.

It was a culture shock to return to Cancun after 3.5 weeks in Cuba but lovely to see Tamara before she returned to Australia. Finally went to the beach which is really an amazing color although so built up it is like the Gold Coast on steroids. Everything seemed so modern and advanced compared to Cuba. We had a great night dancing in Centro and scoffing wonderful Mexican street food after the blandness of its Carribean neighbour. We farewell Tamara and unloading our packs again ( sorry Tam) we hop on a second class bus and head to Valladolid.

We really didn't have any expectations. Just to get out of package touristville and see some more Mexican countryside. A pretty little town with two nice hostels where all private rooms were taken due to the spring equinox happening in a few days at the granddaddy of all Mayan ruins Chichen Itza. Looks like we will stay for that. It's hot and dry so we hire bikes and head out to the Cenotes. These are dotted all over the Yacatan peninsular and are huge beautiful underground caves filled with aqua water, stalactites dropping into the water, vines hanging from the roof and even a natural sky light.

We have a great time swimming and snorkelling looking at the cat fish.

We have an interesting couple of hours the next day as one of Paul's fillings has fallen out and the tooth crumbled. We think we have found an Enlish speaking dentist who was young, well equipped and scrupulously clean. communication is difficult but through charades and our fluent Spanglish he does a great job for $38.

We arrive at Chichen Itza early to avoid the crowd and it turns out a good move. It is by far the busiest of all Mayan Ruins and between the tour groups and vendors it does not have the atmosphere of Palenque, Tikal or Copan de Ruinas. It is pushing 40 degrees with little shade but a non chalant stroll into an adjoining 5 star hotel allows us a swim and a rest on the sun lounges. The shadow of a serpent can be seen down the side of the main pyramid at about 4 pm. It is a extraordinary site which happens just twice a year during spring and autumn equinox.

We visit a beautiful Casa de Los Venales in Villadolid. A Chicago business man and his wife retired here and have the largest private collection of Mexican art in the country. It is a wonderfully generous gesture which raises money for local charity. You can ring the bell any time you like or take their tour at 10 am each day.

Next stop is Merida and we finally scored the hostel jackpot with a private room overlooking the Plaza Grande. French doors open onto a Juliette balcony where the mariachi singers serenade the horse carriages. it is a great place to watch the world go by. We witness at least 2 parades from here and enjoy a liquid refreshment or two. Merida is a beautiful town with grand buildings but the temperature is rising and we endure quite a few days of extreme heat. We do as the locals do and siesta during the day and venture out in the evening when it is cooler. Lots of music here but the thing that impressed us most was every Sunday they close all the streets for over 5 km and families can cycle or walk the dog.

As it is the weekend before Semana Santa the cathedral is a busy place and we decide that we really should go to Antigua Guatemale for one of the best Easter festivals around. Only problem is lack of accommodation and after looking for a few days we finally get a cancellation for 2 nights. Wow now we have a big week of bus travel.

An overnight in Campeche ( the pirate city where we finally get a sea breeze ) on the Gulf of Mexico. A pretty little fairytale old city we enjoy the night with a big walk along the Malecon and a great fish cerviche dinner. .

Next stop Palenque and would you believe it's raining again so an overnight to San Christobel. The buses are busy with families heading home for Semana Santa as is the town with many Mexicans on Holidays and cannons booming throughout the town in preparation for this Holy celebration.

After another couple of days of buses sitting on plastic seats in the aisle....bloody uncomfortable! and we leave Mexico and cross into Guatemala for our second visit. At the border crossing we walk into the Mexican immigration office to get our exit stamp. They will try and get 300 pesos out of us ($24) . There is a bit of a queue, so I look at Leeanne and point back to the door. Lets keep going, we don't really need that stamp.....do we? Before we know it, we are in Guatemala with a new entry stamp. You beauty, 3 more months to explore Central America with a stern warning from the Guatemalans that if we go back to Mexico we may have a problem. We have hooked up with Jamahl a gorgeous African American guy with dreadlocks who creates quite a stir wherever he goes just by his physical presence. We share a typica menu for 1.50 with him and retire to our $2 per night flea bitten jail cell oh I mean room haha but it was close to the bus terminus for a quick escape in the morning.

Imagine our surprise when we walk out at 7 am and the usually frantic chicken bus/people/collectivo filled terminus is empty save for one lonely bus. Semana Santa had started and we were lucky not to be stranded in Hue Hue for the weekend.

5 hours with an overpacked bus Paul and Jamahl reduced to plastic stools in the aisle being climbed over by everyone at each banyo stop.

We only have about $2. Enough to get to Antigua, but not enough for the yummy food offered on the bus so we eat saladas and persevere.

Antigua for 3 nights gives us the chance to witness the mother of all Easter festivals. Semana Santa includes many organised street processions involving many thousands of Catholic devotees. They say this one of the biggest events of its kind anywhere in the world. I don't doubt it at all. We arise at 2.30 am and head for La Merced to watch the beginning of one. We pass many families making their Alhambras ( coloured sawdust picture carpets which line and decorate the streets for the procession to march through.)

Picture Roman soldiers on horseback, thousands of purple robed devotees accompanying or carrying the huge floats which were carried by 50 or 60 men. In was a solemn and haunting experience and obviously very moving for the believers.

We again run into this procession still marching around noon on its way back to the church. Typically they last for up to 10 hours with people leaving and joining the procession in some sort of organised chaos. The 30 piece band played the funeral march over and over with the noise of drums trombones and tubas punctuating the air. The music is played in an unusual off- key note which makes its sound more haunting! Incense is burned along the route from large vessels until the street is covered in smoke. There are three or four of these processions every day over the weekend with slight changes from purple to black robes. There is a woman's procession as well and finally on Sunday there is a more joyous march with dancing and colourful clothes to commemorate Christ rising again.

This has been a memorable way to celebrate my 51st birthday and revisit Antigua but we need a well earned rest so we head up to Earth Lodge for a few days to clear our heads, relax and plan a forward route.

This is very easy to do watching the volcanos puff away, swinging in a hammock, enjoying good company. We do yoga every day and get some good advice about the beaches and decide to head for El Salavador but first we want to visit the family in Honduras to see how they are going.

We retrace our steps and cross into Honduras, staying in Copan. Everything seems so easy to visit a place second time around. Same people,going about their daily routine with little fuss. Women serving cheap meals in the market, men dressed like cowboys. Boots, hats and big buckled belts holding up their denim jeans. The sound of horses on the cobblestone streets.

We prepare for the long walk out to see Sophie's adopted family. Empty out a backpack, buy as much maize, frijoles, and fresh fruit we can carry. Spontaneous smiles all round when we arrive at the humble home of Teresa and her 6 kids. They never thought they'd see us again, or perhaps they believed there was a chance we would come back, because we said we might. Even for a brief visit.

We spend the next 2 days with them, sitting, talking, reading school books, eating tortillas and frijoles, and playing with the younger ones. The oldest daughter explains she has a school project to do requiring Internet research. How unfair for her, as the family have never had a computer, or rarely any form of electrical appliance for that matter. She hasn't used the Internet before, so we offer to take her into town, find a nice lady with a computer and printer, and at least give her a finished project for school. Both she and her mum are grateful, we buy them both a coke. We watch as they saviour every mouthful. To say goodbye is always hard. Hugs all round and a few tears are shed.......until next visit...one day.

Photos: El Salvador

coggos — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:55:00 GMT