Big Small Journey

Byebye South America - Yay Hurray!!!

luchinko — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:15:00 GMT

Hopefully I didn´t speak too soon. I´ll be crying lots if I don´t get on a flight tonight.

The funny thing about Ecuadorians is they´re SO pround of their country. Almost anybody I meet wants to know if I liked it, how long I spent here, whether I spent more time here than other countries, and when am I coming back. They´re always full of stories about the incredibly nice people, and the wonderful food, women, music, parties etc. Anyways, I argued with a taxi driver yesterday. I got fed up with being asked how much I like Ecuador, whether it´s better than Australia, etc etc. I told him I don´t like Ecuador because the people are annoying, the food too rich, the music stupid, and the things too expensive, and the cities polluted and ugly. Oh man you should´ve seen his face. From happy jolly to murderous shades of red. I also asked him why everyone wants to know where I´m from, how superficial they were they can´t see below the skin, just because I´m Asian in appearance says nothing about who I am. Blahblahblah. My usual racial stereotyping spill. Not sure if he understood what I was talking about, but my angry tone was unmistakable.

So. Ecuador, nice, well set up for tourism, lots of stuff to do, good climate, food not too bad, people nice. But home is still better. Miss you Sydney!!

Never believe a travel agent

luchinko — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Its been a rather stressful 24 hours. I did massive amounts of shopping yesterday morning, after a bumpy and sleepless night on the bus from Lago Agrio. I sent some stuff back home to the folks, and also had a lovely seafood meal with crab. I get to the airport, check in everything fine, but at the boarding gates, they call my name on the intercom, and tells me I´m not allowed to board the plane until I produce my paper ticket. I didn´t have a paper ticket, travel agent (damn you Newtown Student Flights!) told me the tickets were electronic and didn´t give me anything for the Ecuador-Madrid-London flight. So, 4 hours I spent in the Iberia office, calling all sorts of people, to see if I can get a ticket number. It´s really screwed up. The only thing they can think of, is for me to say I´ve lost the ticket, go tell the police and get a denounciation report, and pay for a ticket re-issue. Meanwhile, my flight was jetting off to Madrid without me.

I was very angry about it all, having to pay for another day in Quito, wasting another day running around getting shit organised that´s not at all my fault. The guy I talked to at the student flight centre even had the guts to joke about it: Oh, you just need to buy another flight, pay a cancellation fee, and hopefully we can give you some of your money back ... it´ll just about 1 grand maybe.

Right now I´m trying to decide if I want to chase this up, follow the paper trail so they say, to see if I can prove that Student Flights never gave me the paper ticket at all. And the annoying thing is I had sent them emails trying to get a reservation number and they never responded at all! I feel particularly indignified when they won´t admit any responsibility and in return accuse me of having lost the ticket. Screw them I say! I´m going to start an Anti-Agents of All Types club, who´s in!?!??!

Today I went to do some shopping, thinking maybe retail therapy will ease the hurt a little. It didn´t. God I´ve put on lots of weight whilst I´ve been travelling! Will have to do something about it when I get to London.

Gallery: Jungle Amazonas

luchinko — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:51:00 GMT

Stories from the jungle

luchinko — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:13:00 GMT

It was deliciously good. All of it! Yeah there were bugs everywhere, buzzing around my ears, swimming in my soup, bouncing off my eyeballs, but some of them, when you eat it, tastes like lemon!

Sunday night, after leaving the internet cafe where I wrote my last entry, I had a scary walk through dark and dodgy old town, trying to find a place to eat. No luck because there was a soccer match on (Ecuador vs Argentina, tied until the last few seconds, then Argentina scored and won 2-1). Not many taxis around either, and when I did hail one, they wanted double the normal price. Anyhow, I got to the bus terminal, but finding there was nothing to do or eat there, walked a scary 3 blocks to a KFC.

The bus ride to Lago Agrio was uneventful, slept soundly. However, what I didn't know on my way there was that Lago Agrio (meaning Sour Lake) was very near the Ecuador-Colombia border, a definitely no-no place to go with the guerilla activities and cocaine mafia flexing their metal muscles. When I got there (am here now in fact), people look at me strangely - few gringos come here.

Another 6 or 7 hours later, after another bus and boat ride, we arrived at the cabanas. There we were first greeted by the baby woolly monkey, Pancho, the camp pet and pest (very cute at first, then proceeds to pee and poo on you). It had been raining on and off all day, but the night walk was cool. We saw caimans, spiders, a dwarf boa, little frogs and caught a catfish for bait for tomorrow.

In the morning the following day, we went on a 3 hour jungle walk. The group was consisted of 4 girls, all single travellers, from Belgium, Germany and Finland, and 3 guys, 2 from New York and 1 guy from Spain. A fairly easy-going group, although some of the girls (not me!!!) were a bit afraid of spiders. During the walk and canoe ride we saw: hairy eagles (extremely rare in these days, one of the most powerful hunters in the world), tucans, a 3-toed sloth (being extremely active for their kind, moving a whole 10cms), ruby poison-dart frog (Indians use them for poisoned darts), monkeys (black mantle tamarins and yellow-handed titis), a little bull frog, lots of hoatzons (aka stinky turkey), menelaus' morpho butterfly (beautiful electric blue), leaf cutter ants (they ferment the leaves with acid to make fungus, which they eat), and greater yellow-headed vultures.

In the afternoon we went pirhana fishing. I wasn't too keen on it at first, thinking they'll keep and cook the victims for dinner, but these people were really eco-friendly, all the fish caught were released back into the water (no kissing the pirhanas, sorry Rex). And to top it off, of the 4 caught by our group, I caught 2!!!! Yay me :) We also spotted the other type of sloth, Hoffmans 2-toed sloth, bat falcons, a ferdalance snake, cormorants, kingfishers and caciques. It was also a pretty sunset over the lake.

The most amazing event of the day was of course a display by a school of pink dolphins. 8 or 9 of them were swimming around our canoe, popping out their dorsal fins every 10-15 seconds, sometimes more frequently, showing us their pink bellies, and twice, even leapt out of the water (I filmed it!!!!!!). It was amazing, even the guide who had being guiding for 8 years was amazed and touched by the display.

Ecuador, by the way, apparently has 1640 species of birds, almost half the species in the world, and is the most diverse place on earth for bird watching.

The second day, we rode the canoe further down the river and visited an indigenous village, and a Shaman. Saw cuckoos, lots of beautiful macaws, tucans again, and 3 other species of monkeys: common squirrel, saki, and a pigmy marmoset (smallest monkeys in the world). We also sighted some Amazonian river turtles, and lemon ants (really lemony in taste), bullet ants (one of the most dangerous animals in the world, apparently the bites feel like bullet wounds), a pit viper (venomous!), marching wasps (make marching sounds with their wings when threatened), and fresh footprints of an ocelot and jaguar.

Also almost saw a paca (funny looking large mammal), giant otter, and tanager.

The Shaman was interesting, wears lots of colourful necklaces and feathers, and goes about curing uncurable diseases, including paralysis and cancer. We were introduced to one plant, which has pollen, when powdered and drunk, renders a person mindless for days; capable of withdrawing money and handing over all valuables, signing cheques etc, but no memory. We were also offered hallucinogenic drinks, but nobody wanted it.

During the night walk, we saw a wolf spider, massive tarantula (size of an outstretched hand), lots of dwarf speckled caymans, an amazon tree boa, spot-legged poison-dart frog, and a smokey jungle frog (which I found!).

Today we had an early morning bird watching boat ride, but didn't see much. I did spot a red-capped cardinal, which was exciting.

On the ride back to Lago Agrio, we spotted an anaconda, a baby one, maybe 2 meters long, about 2 years old. But seriously - rare birds, insects, 6 types of monkeys, and then an anaconda - what more can I ask for from a 4 day trip in the jungle?

Maybe one thing, good food. Which we had at first, but the quality faded when a large group arrived the next day. I will never forget the banana bread/cake thing though we had that first morning... a cross between a pancake and french toast, amazingly delicious, will have to try it at home. And the aji (chilli) sauce Nazer (our guide) made... droolicious!

Gallery: Galapagos 2

luchinko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:24:00 GMT

Gorgeous gorgeous Galapagos

luchinko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

The place is soooo pretty. Last time I wrote I had just done some diving and seen Isabela, after that I boarded the Eden yacht (first class, very fancy and comfortable). The food was really good, fruits, juices, meats, seafood, pasta, rice, and all sorts of Western accompaniments. Table service! First night we just got to know each other a bit, and went to bed early.

Day 1: Breakfast at 6:45, in a boat by 7:30 to James Bay (on Santiago/James island). Here we walked along the coast for a couple of hours, looking at the sea lions, marine iguanas, crabs, and lots of birds. The guide was very interesting, has millions of stories and seems to know everything about the animals and plants. We weren't allowed to touch the animals but could get as close as 1 metre. Afterwards we snorkled alongs the bay. There were MILLIONS of fish, big ones and small ones, colourful ones and ones that blended in with the water, occasionally flashing silver in the sun. The highlight was definitely swimming with a young sea lion. It was so curious about me, and me about him. We swam around each other, chased fish, dived, flipped water at each other. It was sooooo awesome. I also swam next to a fully mature bull sea lion. It was over 2m long and scared the crap out of me when I saw it gliding besides me. That must've been the dominant male in the area.

Had lunch back on the boat, then everyone found a spot for siesta. Later, we went for another walk and snorkle at a different bay. This time there were lots of people, and I avoided them. Swam with a sea lion and penguins for a little bit but they left the water, being hasselled by dozens of tourists. I went looking for sharks and turtles but didn't find any. The visibility wasn't very good, but did see a massive manta ray. It was circular in shape, will have to find the specific name for it.

In the afternoon, we walked up Bartolome island, which is a relatively young volcano that has almost nothing living on it. Beautiful sunset view.

Day 2: Another early morning dingy ride and walk, this time at Genovesa island. We had sailed for many hours during the night to get to one of the most far North Eastern islands in the archipelo. We saw lots of birds, including the red footed boobies, and frigates who don't fish themselves, but hassel other birds, throwing and attacking them until they throw up, then the frigates eat up the half digested fish. Nasty little things, but the males have very pretty red breast. It't bright red and blows up like a balloon. They hang around nice bushes until females fly past, then they spread their wings, shake about and make a gobbly sound, a bit like a turkey. That's their mating dance. We also saw Galapagos fur sea lions, they weren't friendly as the common sea lions.

We snorkelled again looking for hammerheads, or any old sharks, but the visibility was so poor we didn't see anything. I did get stung by blue bottle jellyfish though.

After lunch, we watched a movie, Trade (my choice). Later we went for another walk on Genovesa, seeing HEAPS of the frigates and boobies. Then went for a snorkel. Saw some huge parrotfish but that was about all.

In the evening, watched a bit of Superbad, had dinner, and I laid out on the top deck, looking at the stars, and waiting to cross the ecuator back into the southern hemisphere. The moon was very bright, and there were some pretty birds flying with the boat, fishing in the illuminated water.

Day 3: Up at 5:40am, went for a dingy ride around Black Turtle Cove, near Baltra island. We were looking for turtles, sharks and rays, but the visibility was poor again. We did find turtles, some tiger rays, and saw 2 sharks frollicking in the shallows, but no as many as we should've. It was a lovely sunrise though, the ocean as calm as a baby pool.

We got shipped to the airport where I managed to move myself to an earlier flight, and now I'm back in Quito, all is arranged for the jungle trip leaving tonight!

Gallery: Galapagos Islands 1

luchinko — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:19:00 GMT

Gallery: Quito

luchinko — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:39:00 GMT

Galapagos - still awesome!

luchinko — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:25:00 GMT

Despite the shitty visibility of the water, I'm having lots of fun. Yesterday on Isabela Island, I climbed Volcan Cerra Negra (Black Hill Volcano?), the worlds 2nd largest volcano crater, and the oldest active volcano. Also walked over the crater/lava area of Volcan Chico (Little Volcano), there were rocks of lots of different colours; red (oxidised iron), yellow (sulfer), white (magnesium), blue (colbol)... Later in the afternoon did a brief tour of the bay, snorkelled with penguins and sea lions. They don't care about me at all, as they dash about catching fish. They're soooooooooo cute.

Today, early boat ride back from Isabela, and then went to Tortuga Bay, there I snorkelled too, but didn't find anything amazing, lots of little fish and box fish. There was one bit when I was swimming over deep water (5 to 6m) and there was suddenly a huge puff of sand, as if disturbed by something resting on the bottom of the bay. It must've been a big one too. Didn't see what it was though because of the shitty visibility.

This avo I go on a boat! yay! Can't wait for it. 3 days of someone else telling me what to do, when to do it, and how. Time to turn my brain off (except I need it to update my CV so I can find a job!)

Galapagos is pretty Whao

luchinko — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:06:00 GMT

Arrived in town yesterday, went diving at Gordons Rock today, looking for hammerhead sharks. Unfortunately I didn´t see any! Other people in the group did though. Bit disappointed, "close enough" just isn´t close enough.

Tomorrow I go to Isabela Island in the afternoon, hoping to go snorkel at Tortuga Bay here on Santa Cruz in the morning, and spend 2 nights at Isabela, and come back Thurs morning to hop on a cruise boat for 3 nights and 3 days. It´s all sorted. Very happy. Many many photos to come!

Ecuador (13 days left!)

luchinko — Sun, 8 Jun 2008 08:29:00 GMT

In these 13 days I plan to go to the Galapagos Island, leaving tomorrow, back on the 15th. Then, take a night bus out to the jungle. Spend 4 days there, come back to Quito, fly out the next day.

Today I saw a bit of Quito, old town is Colonial, atmospheric, but dodgy. Newtown is pretty, slight bohemian feel, but dodgy too. It's a shame I don't have more time, really wanted to visit the Banos, and do canyoning and paragliding.

Gallery: Cali

luchinko — Fri, 6 Jun 2008 11:27:00 GMT

Cali´s saucy salsa sangre (blood) and byebye Colombia

luchinko — Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:59:00 GMT

Happy and a little sad to be leaving Colombia. Was a bit indifferent to the food here, except for the fruits and juices, which were amazing. I´ve been walking around the area I´m staying at, Avenida 9 Calle 22, there are lots and lots of salsa clubs. Monday afternoon, I went to the zoo, and really enjoyed the butterfly room. At night, went out with some people from the hostel, and 2 Colombia girls to a pizza place. Felt like I was back home or in any Western country. Tuesday and Wednesday during the day I just chilled out the hostel, and read lots (3 books in 3 days!), last night however, a group of us went out to a salsa club. It was packed for a Wednesday night. We drank sufficient amounts of aguaqiede, this popular local spirit. Even danced a few dances but found I had very little rhythm for the type of salsa people were dancing.

One thing of note however: haven´t been in a more smelly hostel room ever. The guys I shared a room with all had BO and feet odour issues. And at the last hostel a cat peed on my bag so I made my contributions as well. All in all, after a really late night out, and getting up early in the morning, I didn´t go back to bed, instead tried to sleep on the bench on the hostel porch, but not much success.

So... almost 3 weeks in Colombia, aside from the annoying men, and somewhat shitty weather (very overcast, daily rain for a couple of hours), Colombia was expensive, but I liked it for the warm weather. People are always helpful when I approach them, but I get stared at too much so preferred the shyer populations of Peru and Bolivia. And I guess when people think about Colombia, they think about drugs. It´s not as prevalent as people think. Of course if you go looking for it I´m sure you´d find it easily, but that´s the same in most countries I´ve travelled through.

Gallery: Medellin

luchinko — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Gallery: Taganga & Tayrona

luchinko — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 06:28:00 GMT

Gallery: Cartagena

luchinko — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 06:15:00 GMT

Medellin - home to the plastically beautiful

luchinko — Sun, 1 Jun 2008 03:36:00 GMT

Colombians are really good looking, especially in the big cities. Many of the women I've seen are beautifully done up, perfect hair, attractive (if sometimes gaudy) clothes. The men here are okay too. I'm staying at a hostel in the Poblado area, there are about 5 cosmetic surgery clinics just on my street. That kinda gives you an idea of the culture here, people's priorities. Girls really do get boob jobs for 16th birthday presents.

Went out Friday night, first to this punk/sca gig, then to the hip and happening bar area of town. The gig was in this house-like place, band was set up in the living room, the kitchen was a bar. Not particularly into the music but it was fun, there were crazy head bangers in the front. The bars area of town is very nice, but it wasn't very packed last night. Someone said it's too cold to go out for the beautiful girls, so the guys don't go out much now either. Its probably true.

I've decided I really like big cities. Definitely can't live in a small town. I like having new streets to explore and new stuff to do all the time. Living in Tayrona and Taganga made me very bored and boring.

However, I haven't seen any other asians yet, getting lots of stares everywhere I go. Very very over this aspect of travelling. But I've only been here a day, I'll give it a chance, I might even find a Chinatown!

... Later ...

Spent most of Saturday out wandering around town. Went to this area near Universidad where there are technology parks and botanic gardens. I sat eating my fusion Japanese and Thai noodles with seafood and watched kids playing in the fountains and sand pit, while the parents made out under the shade of the trees. It was a very nice moment.

Later on when I got bored of screaming kids, I took the metro to the end of the line to Itagui, where there is a factory outlet place. Didn´t find any clothes that I liked and could afford, but got a few names of clubs to try out with electronic music. I went into a store and liked the music they were playing, so asked the shop keepers for suggestions on where to go on a Saturday night.

Went to Octava again for a few drinks with a bunch of people from the hostel, then we went to La Kasa House. Unfortunately they were playing really hardcore progressive/trance music, we didn´t get too into it. And my vodka and orange costed 12,000 pesos, which is about $8. A total rip off.

I´ve decided to leave Medellin today. Tonight I will bus to Cali. I´ve bought myself some sleeping pills so hopefully all goes well. Planning to be in Ecuador this Thursday! Last country to visit, yay! :)

Got distracted at the beach

luchinko — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:09:00 GMT

Originally I planned to be there for 1 day. But it wasn´t enough. So next time I went, I planned for 3 days, but at the end, I spent 1 week there. Tayrona National Park is a very pretty place, people are nice, but in the end I was glad to leave. So this is what happened. On that first day, Wednesday, I went with 2 guys from the hostel to Tayrona, they were visiting a friend who was volunteering there, and we brought him a case of beers. Whilst we were there we checked out the main beach, Arrecifes, it was looooovely. Big, wide, edged with creepers, then palm trees, then jungle. The sand was white-ish and soft. Water was clear and warm, but strong currents so no good for swimming. It really looked like the paradise I had imagined in my head.

The next day, we went back there packed to stay 2 nights. I brought some fruits with me, all was good. On the way I separated from the 2 guys, arranged to meet them at the beach, but after waiting for 2 hours they didn´t turn up. It was getting dark and I had to get accomodation. I went to the shabbier camping/hammock renting place on the beach. A guy came running up to me before I was even close, to talk to me (let me give you some background, many guys in Colombia try very hard to talk to me, go out of their way, follow me, offer me all sorts of gifts to get my attention). Anyways, I got involved with these 3 old Colombian men all trying to get my attention and favours. None of them succeeded of course, but their attempts really made me feel seedy. It was nice to be invited to homecooked meals, and given local delicacies, but in the end I wandered if I was taking advantage of their hospitality, or if I was being compromised. Hmmm.

On the other hand, I do have an amazing tan, lost some weight due to not eating much whist at the beach (just wasn´t hungry), and have read a really good book called Middlesex by the guy who wrote Virgin Suicides, who´s name I have forgotten.

Next stop, Medellin! Apparently a really cool city. Can´t wait. Tomorrow I go diving. Yay!

Coloooombia

luchinko — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:16:00 GMT

So far so good. I´m in Santa Marta at the moment, going to Taganga to spend some time chilling out on a Carribean beach. Weather has bee pretty shitty; overcast, periods of rain and thunder, rare patch of blue sky. It´s also humid and very warm, which I don´t mind. It´s a nice change from being cold all the time.

Cartagena didn´t excite me too much. Spent 3 hours wandering around the old city and that was enough for me. Not much of a beach there right in the city. At night, the city, or atleast the area I stayed in, felt super seedy. During the day when people whistle and call out at you, you ignore them and move on. But at night the tone of othe whistles and calls change and it can get pretty grotty. You regularly see skinny older men and women in no shoes wandering the streets. The derelicts of society. It´s very sad.

Anyhow, Tagang should be nice. Wondering right now if I should do the 6 day expedition into La Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City), a pre-Colombian fortress, in ruins now, discovered in 1976. So it´s relately unexplored compared to Machu Picchu, which was discovered in 1911. I see Machu Picchu as a massive money making cow, not interesting for that cultural-shudder.

The beach calls....

Gallery: Lima

luchinko — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:20:00 GMT