The South American Dream

Photos: Cornwall

moomazza — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:02:00 GMT

Way out Westival Festival in Cornwall

Baños, a spa to remember and the last stop before home!

moomazza — Tue, 7 Jun 2011 23:05:00 GMT

I arrived tired and looking forward to a good rest in the hostel I'd booked about a week before. Colin, my new Irish friend, and I walked to the place I was recommended and I asked to check in. However, something was amiss, they didn't have my reservation and they were saying they didn't have a bed for me. Over the past 5 days I had probably had only one complete nights sleep in total, having just finished the Quilatoa Loop the day before, I was exhausted and couldn't take much more. After some huffing and puffing, I didn't blow their house down, but we were given a dorm room at a very good rate, at the front of the hostel at the main road. After checking with someone else who was staying, although it was noisy in the day, it was supposed to be quiet at night.

After some really good food at a place called Cafe Hood, which was on the main square, Parque Central, and had amazing food. I had the Tacos, which were fabulous and then ate the Chickpea and Spinach curry the following day as well! I've also heard amazing things about the Paad Thai.

We had a wonder around Baños, which is a really nice place. Baños is a spa town so there are natural spas to visit. There are also a number of other beauty salons which offer a range of beauty treatments with varying prices, perfect for any girl!! It is also a pretty town, with green, leafy squares, like Parque Bolivar...

Or Parque Central...

surrounded by mountains,

offering numerous activities to take part in; hiring push bikes, quad bikes, motorbikes, going rafting, and other tours, which make it an excellent place for boys to visit too. Great for everyone really!!

We also had a look around the cathedral, which was massive and really beautiful:

I checked out several beauty salons that afternoon, I was hoping to have a few beauty treatments as it was my last stop of the trip and I was under my trip budget! I also felt I deserved a rest after all the hard work on the farm and the trek round Quilatoa!!

That night I had the most amazing night sleep, I'm not sure if it was because it was a lower altitude, a smaller, quieter room, or the thought that I didn't have to trek the following day!!

I awoke at around 7.30am, which was a much more reasonable hour that I was used to. I was keen to go to the local hot spring spa and I knew it was best to go early so, I persuaded my fellow dorm mate to get up and head straight there. It wasn't far, about a 10 minute walk to what looked like a swimming pool. We paid our $2 entry fee and headed in, already ready, we put our valuables in a box we were given and took it to the safety deposit box counter. There, we exchanged our things for a band and we were ready to go. There were a lot of Ecuadorians there already!! We were the only gringos!! I was glad to have gone with someone.

There were three pools, a really hot one, a normal one and a cold pool. Not many people were in the cold one, there were a fair few in the really hot one, but most people were in the middle, normal temperature pool, where people were even learning to swim! I knew I wanted to head straight for the hot one but Elizabeth was keen on going in the normal one, so after showering off, I took the plunge. It was really hot, and I had to go in slowly, but once I was in, it was lovely. The Ecuadorians looked at me and thought I'd be getting out again pretty quickly, but I managed to stay in for a good while, maybe 20 mins, before showering in the showers which had water coming straight from the volcano, unfortunately or maybe fortunately they were cold showers, great for the circulation and no fear of burning! Elizabeth ended up joining me in the hot pool fairly quickly, although she didn't last even half as long as I did, and could completely dip. I love the heat though so for me, it was perfect!

After, we went to see the waterfall at the side of the Hot Spring Spa. The water, again from the volcano, was freezing, but we didn't go right in!

Following breakfast I decided to book in for my first treatment. I was going to have a Hot Stone Massage and a facial and wanted it that afternoon. It was really lovely. I've not had one before but it was really relaxing and I'd hope it would loosen me up for the deep tissue massage I was hoping to book for the following day.

Following my massage and facial, I headed to Casa Hood, who play movies every Saturday and Sunday at 6pm. Today was The Shawshank Redemption, which I hadn't seen in a long time. The film was a gem, as usually and I managed to drink a lot of tea and eat cake too which was a bonus as well.

Monday was a new day, and it was my last day in Baños so it was crucial I manage to have a few more treatments that day. I managed to book in a deep tissue massage, a detoxifying foot spa and a manicure and pedicure for that afternoon! Time to chill out and read my book on the 360 degree terrace on our hostel rooftop before a long afternoon of treatments! A tough life.

The deep tissue massage went on for about an hour and a half, for once I felt like she really started getting into my shoulder and neck issues, which seem to be constantly there but varies in severity. Again, I promised myself I would continue on my massages on a monthly basis on my return home...we'll see!

Following the massage, I had the foot detoxification.

Before:

After:

I had some time to do some last minute shopping that afternoon before my manicure and pedicure, so popped to the array of many tourist shops and got the last of my presents. I restrained myself against buying lots of sugar cane based sweets, there were so many though and the sweets were quite good.

Once that was complete I headed to my manicure & pedicure. The beautician was no-where in sight, but there was a procession on for the 14th anniversary of the school (they seem to party for every/any reason here in Ecuador!!) so I watched the pupils put on a show, each class with different outfits and different dance routines.

Once I eventually got hold of my beautician, I decided it was best to re-arrange the appointment for later, rather than just hanging out, hoping she would turn up at some point. She showed at the later time which was great, and I did wonder if she'd turn up at all. I was really keen to get a mani/pedi too as it would cost a fortune at home. It took about an hour and a half, and I nearly didn't have any finger nails left, but on the plus side, I had flowers added to my big toes and fourth fingers. Finally, this is what I'd been waiting for in South America!

I met up with some friends from the farm for a drink that evening. It was a lovely send off and we went to the Leprechaun bar, which had a massive open fire in.

We hid from the rain that night in there, the fire, luckily had a roof over and an area of ventilation was by us - it was set in a big, warehouse type of area. It was raining quite a bit, but I'm sure you'll agree Baños is very pretty at night.

The final morning I woke up at 5am and managed to leave to Guayaquil by 10am which was good. When I arrived at the bus station I found out it was a 7 hour and not a 5 hour bus ride! It was a longer journey than planned however, as it had been raining all night. We set off on a bus heading through the mountains

And soon came across a river of water, which was heading, with great speed across the road. We had no choice but to turn back and go in a different direction, luckily we only lost an hour or so in terms of journey time which was good.

The journey was probably the best one I've had on my trip. The views were amazing, of the mountain ranges including the highest peak in Ecuador, the volcano, Chimborazo. Through the hills and the mountains, we eventually came to lower grounds, across the fields of corn, and bananas including the famous Chiquita banana company until we got to Guayaquil where the sun was setting.

I arrived in Guayaquil just before the sun set at around 5.30pm. I went to the taxi rank and took the first cab there was to the hostel. It took a while, I accidentally picked somewhere the other side of town, not very sensible if you are only staying there for about 10 hours! I also saw a Burger King sign along the way, I was still craving a burger and I did wonder whether to stop by and pay the driver extra, I decided in the end I couldn't actually do that so I carried on. The taxi got lost, they found out they didn't actually know where it was and so we stopped, asked a lady, phoned the hostel and after a 20 minute conversation (I kid you not) we headed off again towards the hostel. We eventually arrived and I was shown to my room, which I promptly asked to be changed. I knew if I was splashing out $40 on a room, I expected more than to be put in a basement in a cramped room. Instead I was moved to room with views over Guayaquil, a double bed, en-suite and television...definitely moving up in the world! Although the hostel was miles away from where I came from (the bus station) and where I was going (the airport - which is actually next door to the bus station) I was on a hill with the most amazing views over the city.

The sun had set by then, and I ordered some food again, which never came, re-packed. throwing what I could whilst watching Spanish cartoons. I was tired and went to bed pretty early. I had to leave at 7.15am to get a cab to the airport and to catch my flight!

An early start, I had some food and headed straight for the airport, managed to pick up some duty free Ray-Bans, and a Spanish magazine to help me to practice my Spanish at some point, before I headed off to get my plane!

Quilotoa Loop - volcano in the sun!

moomazza — Sat, 4 Jun 2011 09:14:00 GMT

I jumped on a bus leaving Quito for Latacunga, the main point of departure for the Quilotoa Loop, straight away. I was pretty excited about doing the loop as I´d heard lots of good things about it, and its one of the top things to do in Ecuador, along with the Galapagos and the Galapagos was amazing! It took about 2 hours to get to Latacunga on the bus, I then jumped into a cab and before I knew it I was shivering in a Latacunga hostel. It was pretty cold even there, and I knew it would be getting much colder, the higher in altitude I went!! Luckily I had been given a set of recommendations for hostels and places to stay along the way so I didn´t have to think, just check in and have another snooze!

Before long, a German guy walked in, Yan, he had been working on an Organic Farm that produced chocolate for the last 5 months and was keen to do the loop as well in preparation for Cotopaxi, he was way out of my league in terms of trekking but he was happy to join me in my expedition to see the volcano that is Quilotoa. Don´t worry, it is not active but has a massive lake in it so no harm was likely to come!

We had a wonder around the town of Latacunga and it was pretty nice place...

even the bank was nice...

Other colonial buildings were pretty good too...

After filling up on chicken, an early night was needed for our trek out to the starting point of the loop, Isilivi. Luckily the bus didn´t leave until 1pm so it gave me time to go and get a warm hat, I bought with me all my warm clothes, unlike the last time I went trekking in Nepal...Annapurna trek, highest point 5416m and the warmest thing I had with me was a long sleeved t-shirt...oops!

The bus journey to Isilivi was a scenic one as we headed into the mountains, the roads got narrower, as more and more people got on the bus. We were heading into the clouds. Now, I´ve always been excited about being in clouds, firstly because I thought you could live in them up in the sky (e.g. with no ground, just in the clouds) and secondly that they´d be warm and flurry. Let me get this straight, you can´t live in them in the sky but you can live in them very high up in the mountains, however they are in no way warm and fluffy. Clouds are cold and wet, a bit like cold dew on a winters morning really, and you can't really see anything much in-front of you!

Our journey was a good one and we arrived safe and sound. I´d been advised the only hostel there was $18 but you could stay with a local family for $9 (inc dinner and breakfast - bargain). We opted against the hostel and went to find the local family, we found them after inquiring around, well, Yan did (luckily he spoke a lot more Spanish than I did). The family was a couple, a local school teacher, who taught woodwork and had a small farm with sheep, pigs, and corn and the loveliest house and his wife, who cooked for us the most delicious Almuerzo (South American set meal of soup, juice and chicken or fish with rice, potatoes and a small salad).

It had a great view...

Inside the house was amazing, they had an annex perfect for guests to stay...

We left our stuff and headed out to explore the village and the surround farms...

The village...

The church was lovely

Inside Isilivi church

I also picked up some peanuts which I thought may be good sustenance for the journey which lay ahead.

Finally we came back to wrap up warm before dinner was served. We had dinner with the wife, unfortunately I can't remember her name, which is frustrating as she was so kind. It was very lucky I was traveling with someone who spoke great Spanish as I would´ve struggled to get by as conversationally, Spanish isn't my strong point. I understand more than I can say, even though its still limited. Thank goodness for the Germans!

Next morning we got up earlier, although not too early as we understood the trek should be 3-4 hours that day, so headed off about 9am past the hostel, and down a track towards the river.

Past the river, we went through a few farms

before heading up a hill, and round a corner, where we got the most amazing view...

We continued on and the path led down past some more farms, before heading round another corner and to a cliff.

We walked along a cliff for a while, just before a pile of mud I saw a path down which looked promising but Yan was convinced it was the other way. As I hadn't been getting directions from people and knew little Spanish I took his lead. We also didn't have a detailed map so headed on along the cliff, we kept going along the top of the steep cliffs...

...and met no-one. Once we did and they confirmed we were going in the right direction. Heading on for a while longer I realised we must be really near as it had been just under 4 hours, we then found someone else to ask and he said we were going the wrong way!! He said we'd been going the wrong way for a while and we should go back and find away across the valley. The edges were long and steep and the prospect of having to go down, across a fierce river on a broken bridge and then back up the other side wasn't great, but it was what we had to do. So we set off again...

Back along the cliff, and found a route down, although it was definitely not a route usually used by many, progress was fairly swift, although I did slow us down, being a girl and generally a bit slow. We eventually found our way to the bottom through a series of higldy pigldy paths. Once at the bottom, the next challenge was the river. We saw the broken bridge, and the crazy river, far too strong to cross without one, we headed along the river in the direction we wanted to go and found a log. This reminded me of the last trek I was on, in Colombia, however I had no choice but to go over this one.

The German took my bag and I crawled across the log, I was exhausted, we both were, so we took a break and my bag rolled away, nearly falling into the river but Yan saved it just in time!! A close call as it had ALL my important things in!!

The next step was to climb the other steep edge of the valley. It took over an hour and was exhausting, the combination of walking a long time, much longer than expected, and the altitude made it difficult. We kept nearly reaching the top and then seeing someone who told us it was just a bit further,

this happened twice before finally meeting another helpful Ecuadorian. He said we were about an hour and a half off form our destination, Chungchilan and that it was back the way we came!! This wasn't what we hoped for or expected and we had then been walking 6 hours so were getting quite tired. He suggested instead of going to our original destination, to go to San Pedro, a place not on our terrible map, but only half an hour's walk away. We thought we could always stay at someone's house again, and the thought of having to climb down that hill again (and then up again the following morning) really persuaded us to follow this new, unknown route!

So, off we went, on another journey, this took us along much flatter ground around the other side of the valley

And through trees and flowers

We were walking for about 45 mins before we met someone, knowing Ecuadorian time was always inaccurate I knew we were still on the right track, and this person confirmed it would be another 20 mins, so we continued on. We were exhausted and both stopped taking photos a while back. Another 40 mins later, I was nearly starting to loose hope and that's when I had my trekking revelation, a song to pull me through, last time I had Spandau Ballet's 'Gold'
Gold, always believe in your soul, you've got to the power to know your indestructible.

This time, it was good old George Michael 'Faith'
Coz I gotta have faith, I got to have faith.

I could tell Yan was on thin ice but I was happy and content, knowing everything would be OK. Good old George!

We carried on walking and soon after I asked about whether he would want to go straight to Quilatoa if he could today. I certainly did, I was exhausted and not near anything I saw or knew, I was ready to come home but stuck in the most amazing place surround by beautiful scenery and nothing else. Luckily we were both in agreement. Soon afterwards I heard a bus and I knew it would be the answer. I saw a road and almost ran, nothing in sight, so we kept walking. Then, a bus came round the corner, stopping to drop someone off, it had a sign to Quilatoa in the front window, I suggested we go to meet it, too exhausted, we decided to let it come to us. We jumped on and headed off. The bus went for about another 15-20 mins before arriving at a village, San Pedro!! The rumours were true, it did exist, but now we didn't want to stop there, we didn't know what was there, and another day in the cold, walking so far, really wasn't our top priority. The bus then stopped. They thought they'd dropped everyone off and then saw us, luckily they agreed to take us to Quilatoa!! So, after stopping in the town for 20 mins, and an hour and a half by bus through the clouds and the cold, we arrived in Quilotoa. We even paid the bus guys an extra dollar to avoid the park entrance fee (their idea).

I was looking forward to a shower, some food, and resting. I'd been recommended a place to stay there as well so we headed straight there. There was an option to upgrade to a room with white linen, a fire in the room and no need to go outside for dinner, this was an essential for me, a broken woman; Yan, on a tight budget, went for the cheaper option.

The shower was great, the food amazing, the fire fabulous and all the tea you can drink. The hostel itself was very sociable, lots of kids and people popping in and out. An Argentinian and an Italian came in to join us, they'd just come straight from Quito by bus that day. They seemed really friendly and we even agreed to walk round the volcano the following day, I'm not really sure how that happened as only an hour or so earlier I had sworn I would not be doing that! Also, if I had known how tough it was going to be I would never have done it either.

The last bus back to Latacunga the following day was at 3pm so we needed to get up at 7am and leave by 8am to complete the 4-5 hour walk around the lake (and the rumour of half an hour each way to the volcano). I once again, didn't get a great night sleep but got up anyway, raring to go!

At first the walk was gentle, the volcano was right by us, we were walking on the rim, but we couldn't see in it because of the cloud, but slowly this cleared up, revealing a beautiful lake underneath...

The outside of the volcano had a clearer view over the surrounding country

And the wildlife

There was also plenty of flowers round the volcano, the soil seemed quite fertile

The journey got tougher, the walk was very up and down, not just slight inclines and descents but decent climbs and drops. We were high altitude, 3914m, so this made things much harder, on-top of the trekking we'd done the day before.

However, once the cloud had disappeared from the volcano the views were amazing. I had achieved my goal...

And made some friends along the way...

We carried on, the journey got easier although the clouds got thicker again, it seemed we'd reach a point where we were just going along the flat until the end so I was really pleased, we were nearly back, and were doing it in pretty good time. Then the guys started to descend. I was sure this wasn't the way, but they were too far ahead, we were heading to the middle, towards the lake, that was supposed to be a different route. However we were going downhill so it wasn't too bad. Then the path disappeared, before we found the route again, climbing through a barbed wire fence and back heading upwards again, along a track less than half a metre wide, I wasn't convinced we were going the right way, then I slipped, luckily not far, as the drop was steep and I needed a break. I stopped in my tracks, not able to move any further, no energy, only a few peanuts left and no songs to pull me through. This was a dire time, this was also a time when I realised I never wanted to do this again, and what I really wanted was to be at home with a mundane life, taking enjoyment out of the small things. Why was it I had always felt the need to go round the world, go on crazy trekking hikes, climb mountains, bungy jump or even jump out of a plane? Why couldn't I just stay at home, cook, go to art galleries and enjoy the small things. This is what I decided to do when I got out of this mess I had got myself in but not really thinking about what it meant or entailed.

So, I got back up, went to catch up with the boys, who had kindly made me a walking stick, like the old woman I was and carried on. The trail headed straight along for a while and then slightly further down before eventually heading uphill. I didn't think it would actually happen, but it did. It took a while to go up, although only about an hour or so, much shorter than I'd imagined. A few breaks were needed, including a peanut break, where I was also able to trade some peanuts for some hot, sugar filled coffee...perfect! Bless the Italians!!

We eventually arrived back to Quilatoa village,

bumped into the English couple who'd been on the bus on the first day, shared our tales, and headed for lunch, happy I'd done it but would never have to do anything like that again. The bus back to Latacunga was good and soon after I arrived I met up with Colin, who I'd met at the centre of the earth, just back from Cotopaxi. He was trekked out like me, happy not to do something like what he'd down, which sounded way more hardcore, which involved hiking at night with crampons on snow and ice to see sunrise at 6am! Still, happy to be back in civilisation we agreed we'd get the bus the following day to Banos, my final stop before heading to Guayquil where I was catching my flight home.

Banos was going to be a good resting/recovery point as it is a spa town and the amount of beauty treatments on offers is amazing!! I couldn't wait!

Quito....the centre of the earth!

moomazza — Tue, 31 May 2011 01:46:00 GMT

The bus ride was pretty unexpected,the usual journey from Cañoa to Quito takes 10 hours... this one took 5 hours! The driver was a maniac and drove like a loony, I was nearly throwing up withing 10 mins of the journey, the coach was flying off the road at every available moment...it was also like a freezer on the bus, I wore leggings and jeans, and I think about 4 layers on-top including my fleece for trekking...only warming up when I got into my trusty silk sleeping bag liner, an essential for anyone traveling I believe. Apart from those 2 downfalls, the coach itself was pretty nice, actually I´d probably go to say it was the nicest bus I´d been on in Ecuador!

So arrival in Quito was at just before 3am and I managed to grab a cab straight to the hostel in the new town, where I was staying and sleeping in until a much more reasonable hour. I only had 2 days in Quito so it was important I wasn´t too lazy in my snoozing! I was also meeting up with my dear friend Jamie who I´d traveled with into Ecuador and to the Galapagos and Puerto Lopez. So I was pretty excited about seeing her! She had also been ill so I wanted to make sure she was OK and cheer her up, its not great traveling or being alone when you're not well. I actually bumped into Jamie as soon as I awoke and she promptly directed me to a very good breakfast place, The Magic Bean, where I dined at all three days I ate breakfast in Quito!

After breakfast I wanted to spend the day checking out the old town, I managed to persuade Jamie along too which was a nice surprise as I didn't think she'd be up to it and it was great to have the company too. We walked all the way there through a busy park...Parque El Ejido. I was Sunday so there were a lot of people out.

Heading up to the old town we went past a sculpture in the park...

Before heading up to the grand plaza...

And to a church just north of the plaza...

We decided to do the Lonely Planet walking tour around Quito, it seemed like a quick and easy way to see the old town, whilst being safe. I'd been told by a few people that Quito wasn't a safe place, although I had no problems there.

So, heading east of the grand plaza...

We went through the gate...

And through a tunnel before we headed down Calle de la Ronda...

Looking up at the sprawling city spreading up in the hills...

We even saw a rainbow on our tour...

As well as the Basilica del Voto Nacional...

Before heading through back through another park, Parque la Alameda...

and heading back to the hostel.

The following day I headed out alone after another tasty breakfast, this time to Mitad al Mundo, the centre of the earth! The Ecuadorians claim it is, because Ecuador has the highest mountains of any country on the equator and therefore it is closest to the sun.

I ventured by public transport, taking the metrobus, a tram system, and then onto a normal bus. This is where it went wrong, I didn´t know where to get off, and wasn´t told, which is surprising as I was the only foreigner on the bus, and it was the only tourist stop I believe, so I ended up at a bus station in the middle of nowhere! Luckily there are some very kind bus drivers in Ecuador and I was put straight back on another bus and directed back to where I needed to go.

Arriving at the original equator line, I say this as it was actually re-measured at a later point and found to be incorrect, I decided to take a look around before heading round the corner to the actual line!

The original, which is the official one, is very grand and full of touristy shops and various museums which I avoided as they were one room entities and there was an additional cost on-top of the entrance fee I'd already paid! The original equator line was quite cool though, I think you'll agree...

I was wondering about and I bumped into someone I had been working on the farm with and Jamie knew as well, its a small world! After spending a little more time checking out what was there, we headed round the corner to the actual equator line! This was far more interesting, although much smaller and a lot less touristy, it housed a collection of interesting information and artifacts about indigenous Ecuadorians and a hive of science activities linked to the equator line...

Telling the time using different sundials - Ecuadorians have a different set up to the norm. They can do this because of where Ecuador sits...on the Equator, this type of sundial wouldn't work for us. One side of the sundial is used when north of the equator line, one, south of the equator line.

We saw which way the water went down a plug hole

on the line - straight down
Southern - clockwise
Northern - anti-clockwise

There was also an experiment to try and balance an egg on a nail...you get a certificate if you can manage this, about half our group managed this, I wasn´t one of them unfortunately.

We also saw the real equator line, a red line going through this point...

After the tour I´d made some friends with some other people too and headed back to Quito with them, little did I know but I would meet one of them again in Latacunga, following my trek and travel to Baños with them! Its a small world.

That evening, Jamie and I thought we´d head out for dinner on our last evening before heading off in separate directions again, however, we were both having to stick to strange diets which really didn´t mix, I was still craving meat, and there was only certain things Jamie could eat (vegetables mainly). Luckily enough Quito restaurants cater for us strange ones and we were able to order food from 2 different restaurants for takeaway before heading back to the hostel and eating together! Perfect!

I ummmed and ahhhed whether to leave the following day to go on the Quilotoa Loop as I was still tired from the farm, and starting to feel extremely lazy! We headed to an art gallery/exhibition/site of a famous Ecuadorian painter and sculpture, Oswaldo Guayasamin, named La Capilla del Hombre about the harshness of the Latin American lifestyle. It was pretty tough going but I´m really glad we went.

In the end I took the plunge, grabbing a cab to the bus terminal at 32 times the price ($8 cab vs 25 cents on the bus) and heading off to climb a volcano!

Farmer Carolyn...Rio Muchacho!!

moomazza — Sat, 28 May 2011 08:53:00 GMT

So I arrived in Cañoa in order to be picked up and taken to the farm with half an hour to spare...great timing on the buses and a crazy ride with copious amounts of coconut water to keep me company!

There was time for a quick cerviche before heading off to my vegetarian diet....I went to the beach shacks, no walls, straw roofs and a small hut for a kitchen...the cerviche was the best I´d had yet on my travels...mmm!

Arriving back to the Cañoa office, I met up with three other people who were also going to the farm, our pick up truck took us off, away from the town, along the main road and then off roading and into the jungle, bumping along in the back of the truck, standing up and clinging on so we didn´t fall off as we went up and down some small hills, crossed a couple of rivers and headed deeper into the unknown, the scenery was immense and when we eventually arrived at the farm, it was picture perfect!

After being shown to our quarters; the penthouse in the farm house, we had a quick tour of the essentials, the only drawback I discovered was that it took about 15 mins to walk to the toilet from the penthouse! Not something you want to do in the middle of the night, or at 3am or 4am or 5am or 6am in the morning!

We had dinner soon after, it was unfortunately one of the few times they served pasta, which I can´t eat, so was left with salad and pesto...obviously the message hadn´t been passed on that I can´t eat wheat so it was a good job I had the cerviche! The owner did come to the rescue later offering to cook me fried plantain, I was fine though as the cerviche saw me though...mmm...so good! The food on the farm was generally pretty good, although, as with everywhere in Ecuador its very heavy on the carbs and light on the salad and protein...opposite to my diet really, and most others too. It was all vegetarian too, which I don´t mind, as long as there is some protein!

That evening we had our introduction and briefing for the farm, we were assigned our morning routine for the week and found out a bit more about the plan of each day which was...

6.30-7.30am Morning routines
8am Breakfast
8.30-11.30am Morning gardening
11.30-1.30pm Lunch break
1.30-4.30pm Afternoon projects/course
6pm Dinner

Both weeks on the farm I had great morning routines. The first week I was on chickens and harvesting. This entailed feeding the chickens:

Chicken feeding...

Baby chickens...

and then going up to the garden and harvesting the food we needed to eat over the next few days...

Really hot chillis:

The harvest box....

We had a great team...

The second week I was in the kitchen, preparing the food for breakfast which involved wiping down the tables, cutting fruit, making bread and other wierd and wonderful foods, like peanut and plantain balls.

Again, we had a great team...unfortunately I don't have a photo...one to hopefully follow!

Other morning jobs were:

Pigs - cleaning out the pig pens and feeding the pigs
Cuy - cleaning out and feeing the guinea pigs
Caballos - horses, clearing out the stables and collecting new hay as well as washing the horses

Anyway, I think you´ll agree I got off pretty lightly!!

The rest of the morning was spent in the garden...off to work we go...

we prepared beds, and re-planted some food e.g. lettuces

planted new seeds...

watering, raking, hoeing and generally helping out the farm workers to the best of our abilities! The farm boys were ledgendary, their skills and helpfulness was amazing, whilst our skills and helpfulness varied, I of course, probably sat somewhere near the bottom as I hadn´t really done much gardening or farming before, I got better over time though and have learnt some new skills as well as increased my strength...although people still laughed at me near the end when I was trying to big up bags of manure!!

The afternoons were taken up with project, there was updates to the school that were needed and we spent a lot of afternoons doing our apprenticeship course (and some mornings). The course was really good and really interesting, we learnt a lot about the methods used in organic farming including the main principles, the importance of the moon, composting and worm farming to name a few of the topics.

The setting was great too:

We also got the chance to see a whole heap of films about sustainability and agriculture, they are mostly American based but I would suggest watching all of them, they are a real eye-opener:

The story of stuff
The Story of bottles
Food Inc.
The Future of Food
Dirt
The Power of the Community (based on Cuba)
The Nature of Things
The Farm of the Future

Wednesdays were cultural afternoons, unfotunately I was ill the first week and couldn´t attend the shrip fishing, but I did get involved in the face-painting:

x face-painting

In the second week, we went off in search of monkeys! This involved four wheel driving further into the jungle for about half an hour and heading up a vertical cliff into the jungle (with one of the farm guys)..it was great fun and we found them after getting covered in dirt!

More monkeys...

The rest of the farm guys worked hard and cleared a massive area of grass and other plants in the shortest time...these guys are machines!

On the way back we stopped off at a lagoon for a swim, perfect after the trek up the cliff!

The farm didn´t have internet or phone access so it was pretty chilled in the evenings which was nice, films and reading and making rings were the main activities in the evenings, as well as walking 20 mins to the local shop (someone´s house which looked like a shack) for a beer and a muffin. I didn´t partake in the shop walk usually as I was detoxing! The ring making was great and I made a ring from a coconut shell.

We also got the chance to make organic chocolate, it was great fun and really tasty..

1. Roast the cocoa beans

2. Peel the bean shell off

3. Grind the beans

4. After melting them down, enjoy!

On the weekend we were desperate for the internet and protein so we headed into Cañoa for some cerviche, ice creams, an internet session and some beach time. On the middle weekend there happened to be a party in the local community, it was 3 people´s birthdays so they were having a joint celebration! We were invited so we dressed up in our finest gear

and walked the hour it took to go down the dirt track to the party. Being foreigners we turned up way too early at 9pm but hung out with the small ones..

before the rest of the community came along and took to the dance floor to show us how it was done

I retired early, about 3am, after falling asleep (I wasn´t used to staying out so late, usual bedtime on the farm was about 8.30-9pm!). So a couple of us walked the hour back before raiding the garden banana stash for a midnight snack (sorry, it was only a few we took).

The final Saturday we also had an internet session, and I managed to have my first red meat in 2 weeks in the form of a cheeseburger (very bad but I was in desperate need of protein and we all started craving cheeseburgers!). There was a local football game on between the communities and we managed to catch part of that (they play on hard ground, which seems crazy) before I jumped on a bus to Quito.

At one point I was going to need to get a bus from the next town but further investigating, an Ecuadorian managed to by-pass the scary shop assistant in the pharmacy, (where you buy your bus ticket) and bought a ticket directly from Cañoa. I then managed to do the same thing, with a little help from my friend, which meant I could travel with someone I knew and stay in Cañoa to enjoy my last night with the great friends I´d met at the farm.

Motañita...learning spanish in a surf town!

moomazza — Sun, 15 May 2011 08:56:00 GMT

I arrived at about mid-day in Montañita, having taken a bus from Puerto Lopez, it only took an hour which was great, an unusually short journey for South America! However on arrival I was still in search of a cab to take me to my final destination! But with no cabs in sight I was forced to walk to the canbanas where I was staying; luckily it wasn't far. I was greeted with various people guessing that I was Swedish or Australian, my tan and blonde locks was a dead giveaway! It was probably the easiest journey yet and the destination and greeting better than any before. The setting of the cabanas was fabulous, based just passed a river at the north end of the town, far enough away from Montañita town not to be drawn into the parties and constant bussle but near enough to pop in and enjoy it! The cabanas themselves were great, surrounded by a pool area with palm trees, and a kitchen/communal area for general hanging out.

Once settled in, I had the chance to look around the town, I say town but its more like a village, basically the main streets are approx 3 across by another 6 or so in a grid-like pattern. The rest of Montañita is residential.

Its a hippy surfing village, with jewelery stalls lining the streets

lots of bars, restaurants, juice stands and a couple of bakeries thrown in for good measure, all located by the beach which had white sand, good surf and a look-out point.

Beach view

Look out point

Sunday evening I was invited for some food at the Dive Shop owners house, most people from the cabanas were going so I saw it as a chance to meet everyone properly and not have to think about dinner on my first day there! The dive instructor and an intern at the Spanish school were cooking stir-fry complete with egg-fried rice and two other veggie dishes...mmm, better than I could cook for sure!

I didn´t stay late as I needed to prepare for the spanish classes I was taking which were due to start the following day, Monday morning, bright and early at 7.40am, the earliest I´d been up to start work in 2 months!

I was given a test first thing, a shock to the system but I was able to skip the first two stages, which gave me confidence in my terrible Spanish abilities, I was intermediate, which was great news as I thought I´d be starting Spanish lessons again from the start, I had some experience in school with Spanish, but as with everyone else traveling had no practical experience of it and found it nearby impossible to get into it straight off. My classes for the week would be 8am-10am and 1pm-3pm, which meant early starts but gave me the afternoon to learn more Spanish and to try to learn to surf too!

The Spanish school was located up a hill, looking over Montañita and the class setting were a great learning environment

And classes

My main priotiy here was to learn Spanish and secondly to try to surf and work on my salsa moves if I had the time...definitely not to party too much...little did I know about Montañita!

Montañita is a great party place, and I realised this was a good mix to working hard, as going out to bars is a good way of speaking to the locals and practising Spanish as you don´t normally get into many conversations with the locals otherwise. The downfall of the party town was that there wasn´t much in the way of restaurants open until midday; food in restuarants generally takes about one and a half hours so it was impossible to get food between classes! We got into the habit of heading to the super cheap fruit and veg stalls (5 cents for a banana etc) and with a kitchen at the cabanas we could prepare all our own food. Some people also cooked at night too which was great, I was pretty lazy, as the food was so cheap ($4-8 for a main course), and food in Montañita was pretty varied. Favourites included an Italian place called Carpe Diem and a pizza place I can´t remember the name of. I also tried out the Thai food and a couple of the more generic places. Another great place to eat at night was the street food stalls, offering Burritos for $2 or hamburgers, chips and the like.

There were two main nights out in Montañita, Thursday, which was ladies night, where there was free drinks from 10pm-midnight, it was cheaper for ladies to get in too! And Saturday night, because of the weekend.

During my first week in Montañita I was very much looking forward to ladies night, the previous one had been good and my expectations were high, however unfortunately when it came to Thursday, after we´d dressed up, gone out and were eating dinner at Carpe Diem, the police came along and asked the restaurant not to serve alcohol anymore because of the election day due on Saturday, two days later!! They were banning people from drinking over this period to encourage attendance and to make sure everyone gives an accurate vote! So they were actually stopping anyone (including us foreigners) from buying alcohol Thursday evening right up until Sunday. Usually on Sunday you can´t but alcohol either in Ecuador, to stop the large amount of drink driving. This was something that was bought in about a year ago and has apparently been working.

However, in true European style, the ban on alcohol didn´t stop us, we were up for a good night out, so we had all stocked up on alcohol prior to the ban and headed for the beach on Thursday night instead, as this is where people usually went. There was still hope for my Spanish!

Unfortunately we didn´t find many others on the beach with the same idea, so we created our own party, which was not part of the plan but fun never the less. One amusing idea was to climb the life-guard tower and pretend to be a lifeguard!

However, this didn´t work out for one of my dorm mates who was actually afraid of heights, so we spent about 2-3hrs trying to bring him down, eventually we got him to jump but as was completely tensed up, he hurt himself and we were worried he´d broken his neck/back....oops! After calling on various people and waiting several hours, a fire engine turned up (apparently it was a busy night) and six strong lads took my dear friend on a stretcher to the fire engine, placing him ontop of the fire engine to be taken to the hospital!!

It was fisher price hospital and the verdict came back in the morning of 6 broken ribs and a compressed spine! It wasn´t until after he´d cancelled his Galapagos trip and spoken to his family did he go back to a bigger hospital where they said that the previous verdict was wrong and no ribs were broken and that he was just a bit battered and bruised. Still, he managed transfer his Galapagos trip to another day and normality was restored, minus a slightly sore neck and another eventful ladies night!

Saturday meant the surf trip, we went to a different place than planned because of the elections, everyone had to return from where they were from originally to vote so a lot of people had to travel some distance to vote and the roads are pretty crowded! We saw some cars/trucks along the way with up to about 30 people in the back or maybe more, which put our jeep in Solento to shame!

The first surf spot was a bit crazy, so we moved and went to Las Tunas, which was fun and had fabulous cerviche! I got totalled by a massive wave just before lunch which was quite funny too, I´m only a beginner and I went out a bit too far! That´ll teach me! However I think surfing suits me:

The evening was a slow evening, with drinks and food at the cabañas, we decided we´d try to go out late at night, hoping the alcohol ban had been lifted, we succeeded in our plan and was served on cocktail alley ($2 cocktails) and hung out on the beach. I thought it would be fun to run to the sea, but someone thought it would be even funnier to drag me right in. I got pretty drenched, but felt I should make the most of the weekend, and put the Spanish I´d learnt into practice, so we hit Caña Grill, an open air club with a mix of salsa and modern classics (and too much black-eyed peas).

It was a good night and I managed to practice my Spanish and my salsa! I also got offered a job at the hamburger van for $1 a day, this however wouldn´t have afforded me even a hamburger at the stand so I politely declined the offer deciding it would be to much of a drain on resources to stay on in Montañita too long, even if it would help my Spanish.

Sunday we had the pleasure of going to the Dive Shop owners house again, this time for a BBQ, it was amazing, burgers, chicken, steak, massive prawns...mmm...the party was started hotting up and it looked like it was going to be a late night, which is when I left, like the geek I am.

The second week started well, I had been crowned the geek as I constantly had my head in a book, we said goodbye to some people, and there were new faces to join the crew! Monday went well but on Tuesday, when I had been given my terrible results of an impromptu test, my teacher hadn´t been pleased and I would need to re-learn a lot of past work. I lost my confidence and decided Tuesday was the new Thursday, which meant I went out and missed Wednesday classes...oops! However, on the plus side I did decide to return to that teachers class and keep up my Spanish. Starting Thursday afresh I worked hard all day and with Ladies night on, practiced my Spanish and my salsa that night too which was great even making Friday´s classes to learn all about the small words in Spanish...por, para etc...

My favourite word in spanish is still Zumbido (it means the humming or buzzing sounds bees or humming birds make) and Zanahoria (carrot)...although I now have a new one/two now...en serio (Seriously)!There are some great words in Spanish.

Friday was the bi-weekly Spanish school BBQ, more chicken, giant prawns, steak and lots of salads, rice and potatoes...always lots of carbs! There was a fire show and we had a small salsa class...the Latinos put us Europeans to shame as usual! Afterwards, we hit the town but there was a power cut so we selected one of the few places with power to go out to...Nativa Bamboo, there was an acrobatics show downstairs and a club upstairs, looking over the sea...I wish I´d bought my camera! It was another picture perfect moment!

The weekend was fun, Saturday sunbathing on the beach and heading for a walk with Andrea, my Swiss friend to the look-out point at sunset!!

Saturday night was a big one as it was my last night, we put on our dresses and went out to cocktail alley again...

and onto Caña Grill, our favourite dancing spot, we got free drinks when the band was playing, who were really good and played spanish songs and rock classics too!

I stayed out a bit too long so the 7.30am start to head to the organic farm was not an easy one. It was going to take up to 8 hours so I had no choice but to get up...at least I had a cow on the road to keep me company whilst I was waiting for the bus!

Photos: Ecuador

moomazza — Sat, 14 May 2011 08:40:00 GMT

Photos from my travels in Ecuador

Puerto Lopez...small, smelly and a bit fishy

moomazza — Sun, 1 May 2011 08:39:00 GMT

Despite getting a bus straight away from Guayaquil we arrived to Puerto Lopez in the dark. The journey was only about 3 hours although we were on one of my craziest bus rides yet. For example, there was a blind guy walking up and down the bus for most of it playing the marracas! Just what you need.

On arrival in Puerto Lopez there was a power cut, luckily we got a moto/taxi to the hotel so we had no problem finding it.

Our room was basic and the moquito nets rang bells for trouble! However it wasn't too bad, even the room we moved to after the second night, which was even more basic and had holes all over the shop didn't allow too many mosquitos in.

Dinner was at a restaurant, I still hadn't eaten properly since the Galapogas and after such a full on day, and being able to digest plantain (a bit like banana) on the plane opted for chicken and rice for dinner. This didn't go well but luckily the next day we spent resting. Jamie wasn't well either so it was a good job we spent time relaxing.

Puerto Lopez is a fishing village/town with a fish hook bay. Its quite pretty and there are lots of fishing boats that go out from there.

This however, also mean they come back too and are quite smelly. There are also a lot of birds around!!

We booked a trip to Isla de la Plata. We were told there were lots of Blue footed boobies and also some red-footed boobies. There was also a chance to see turtles again so we were keen to go as we felt like we'd partly been cheated out of these in the Galapagos.

Friday was a bit cloudy but we were excited about the trip. We weren't disappointed, there were lots of blue-footed boobies...I've got sooo many photos of them now!

Blue footed boobies hanging out:

A blue footed Boobie in all its glory:

Over lunch the turtles came and I managed to get a decent photo of them too which I was really pleased about.

I didn't snorkel much in the afternoon as I was still fairly fragile and the water was freezing, as it was a cloudy day this didn't help. However I did jump in quickly with a school of fish which were pretty cool:

The rest of the time in Puerto Lopez we ate in nice restaurants...

Drank in the bars on the beach every evening...

Went on the internet when there wasn't an internet outage, and tried to be in the right places when there was an electricity outage.

I generally chilled out for a few days, knowing Montañita would be crazy. On Sunday I went to go to the bus but the moto taxis were in a procession so unforunately I had to carry my bag! Montañita was only an hour away by bus so I knew the journey wouldn't be too bad.

Galapagos...after the cruise

moomazza — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:18:00 GMT

After the cruise we headed back to Purto Ayora, taking a private car instead of the bus, living it up again. We negotiated with our driver to take us to see the Giant tortoises in the wild and to go to the lava tunnels in the highlands.

The giant tortoises were in a national park, it started raining part way through our exploration but we headed for cover in the trees and came across the tortoises in a stroke of genius (or luck).

They were so cool, very chilled out and very big! They were happy munching passionfruit as we watched them and took their photos.

They also had a tortoise shell that you could climb in. Here I am as a tortoise, I think I make a pretty good one!!

It rained pretty hard in the highlands and we got soaked but headed to the lava tunnel anyway. The tunnel was formed by molten lava and walking through, more and more rocks appeared in our pathway, some climbing was required but we weren't worried until we got to a point where you had to crawl along the ground...the floor was pretty muddy and we were wet anyway but we decided to venture on anyway. The boy with us went first, followed by the three girls. It was quite a squash especially as we had our day bags full of essentials such as books and passports etc with us too!!

On our return to the port we realised some of our bags had got soaked in the back of the truck whilst it had been raining...most of my clothes were wet and my bag weighed a ton because of all the additional water in it. We got dropped off at a restaurant and I managed to hang some clothes out to dry, we also decided to stay at the same place as before which helped as it was just round the corner. Luckily they had a laundry and the weather was pure sunshine on the coast so my clothes dried pretty quickly.

The rest of the day we relaxed and looked into other tours...we now had a thirst for exploring the Galapagos and some extra time on the islands. I was also keen to extend the trip and stay for longer. No other day trips took our fancy though and we decided to explore ourselves instead and check out the possibility of voluntering on the Galapagos. Sam our guide had given us the name of someone to speak to and said we may be able to volunteer for 10 days.

The following day we went up to the national park headquarters to enquire about the voluntering. They said the minimum time to volunteer was 3 months, which wasn't an option for us. Since speaking to Sam our guide again, it seems its a case of who you know not what you know which is a shame as it would have been good. Still, it did mean I could (try and) improve my spanish in school in Montañita instead.

The Charles Darwin centre was our next stop to seek out Lonesome George. On our arrival we discovered they also look after baby giant tortoises...which are the sweetest things!

And more...

We also found the bigger female tortoises before treading on some thorn bushes and finding a snake! We didn't find Lonesome George. We believe he was hiding in the undergrowth and that he actually liked his space, which is why he doesn't want to mate with anyone! He wants to be lonesome.

After stopping off for a dip in the sea on the way back we enquired about changing our flights but discovered it was going to be too expensive so I hatched an alternative plan to head to Puerto Lopez for a few days on arrival back in mainland Ecuador before I went to start Spanish school in Montañita on the Sunday, a few days later. This decided we went into action mode as Puerto Ayora has great tourist shops, so it was the perfect place to buy our gifts for people back home. We had both woken up ill and my stomach was playing up, obviously this wasn't ideal but we soldiered on and selected what we needed. My rucksack was also 2 kg heavier I discovered on the plane back as well!!

I even managed to find some postcards and send the ones I'd been carrying since my first two weeks in Colombia! And a postbox to post the couple I'd written!!

The flight back to mainland Ecuador was good and no delays, we landed in Guayaquil and went straight to the bus station for our next adventure!!

The Galapagos islands...The Cruise

moomazza — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:47:00 GMT

Welcome to Ecuador!!

Arriving in Quito it was way too cold to stay for any length of time! So, we headed straight to the Galapagos islands! We booked flights for the following day at 9.15am which was fantastic! I had been so cold for about 2 weeks that I thought I´d turned into an ice cube. The flight went via Guayaquil and we landed in 30 degree heat on the Galapagos...perfect!

The airport looked like a shed, it was really funny!! We took a free bus to the boat taxi and saw that even the water there was a bluey turquiose colour...clearer than anything I'd seen before. I knew this was going to be good (as if I needed convincing).

We spent the afternoon looking for boats...there were a few about and after further investigation and some negotiation we settled on a boat called the Millenium. It was leaving the following day and the trip was for 5 days on a tourist class boat which was up a level from the usual economy class backpacker style...it looked amazing and we were excited! I´ve never done something so posh!! We'd get to see Isabella and Fernandina too which not a lot of people go to so that was pretty exciting as well!

Puerto Ayora is a small port on Santa Cruz where the main set up to the islands is. There are quite a few travel agents, restaurants and hotels...we found a great hotel deal too, having a 5 bed room to ourselves including a bathroom and a lovely terrace ontop! That night we had some food in a lovely restaurant and fell asleep about 8.30pm (Galapagos is 1 hour behind mainland Ecuador) - I was exhausted from so much travelling over the past few days from Cali and down through Ecuador itself. Breakfast was included and the morning was spent sorting the last bits for our trip - sea sickness tablets, anti-histamine for mosquito bites and of course a manicure so we could look our best on the boat. We also saw the local fish market.

A speedboat took us over to the bottom of Isabella island to meet our cruise ship, before being met by a zodiac (dingy to you and me) and taken to our ship. As soon as we arrived we were wisked off to a snorkelling session, getting straight in there! We were taken along the edge of the black lava island and the well known Blue-footed Boobies were hanging out (they look like normal black and white birds but have blue feet and people in Galapagos love them), below them were sitting these bright orange crabs. I only wish I had my camera with me to take a photo! Still I was told I would see more on our cruise so I wasn't worried too much, we didnt actually see them on the rest of the cruise (apparently they were flying around but we didnt notice them), it became our goal to find them!

The water was cold for the snorkelling, we saw a lot of sergeant major fish among others, they were amazing! There were also some pink and purple fish that shimmered a silvery translucent colour which were more unusual and quite intreging too.

Back on board we explored the boat and found our room, which was fablous and allowed us to have a shower in full view of the Galapagos!

Watched the sun set:

And welcome drink followed before dinner...

All the food on the ship was great, buffet style, there was always a good selection and I never went without carbs despite avoiding wheat the whole time...we didn't have pasta once! There were even a few crazy desserts and a massive birthday cake thrown into the mix for a fellow passenger!

We travelled at night to make the most of our days in the Galapogas and went to walks and snorkelled each morning and afternoon. Our guide was really informative and was always full of useful facts if we were interested.

Day 2 - Good Friday

7am rise before a Lava walk at Punto Moreno, on the lava island of Isabella, there were lagoons with fish in including some mullet

A few cacti and other species of plants indeginous to the Galapagos.

We also saw flightless cormorants, seals, a lava lizard

2 flamingos

and a land iguana. Unfortunately my camera battery ran out on that one!

More snorkelling followed, more sergeant major fish as well as many other fish that I don´t know the names of, and a stone fish! I kept well away from that one! Visibility wasn´t great to be honest, similar to the day before, but it was warmer than the snorkelling the day before and I knew the best was yet to come.

After more food, we went on a zodiac ride to Punta Mangle, on the Isla Fernandina, which has just been opened up to tourists so it was a special treat. The guide had only been twice in his 22 years of guiding! It was like a lagoon, with a group of sea lions playing, we even saw a sea turtle which was enormous but very hard to photograph!

There were many birds too including a pelican.

More snorkelling followed and we were with the sea lions which was fun! More sunbathing, another gorgeous sunset and dinner on the ship followed.

Day 3 - Easter Saturday

We woke up with no-one in sight, it was amazing!!

For our first stop we landed on a small peninsular and headed through some undergrowth where we found a seal asleep under a tree...very cute...

Turning the corner we saw the biggest collection of marine iguanas I think I´ll ever see! They were all standing to attention staring at the sun, soaking up the heat as they hung out. It was a real sight.

There were so many iguanas around, it was difficult not to step on them!! They are very funny!

They were actually quite hard to see as well so we had to be careful not to stand on them! A baby seal also walked past...so sweet!!

Further on there were more seals playing around in the water...I´ll upload some videos when I get a moment.

The Lava Herons were out in force....

And I loved the crabs...so colourful

We also saw a whale carcus...which had been left there, it was so big!!

Snorkelling followed and this was much better visibility than before, I don´t have the words for it!! We swam with turtles, seals and a lot of different fish which I don´t know the names for...there was massive schools of fish and so many different colours it was unreal. This is what Galapagos was all about!

In the afternoon we went on a hike at Darwins Lagoon (technically its a fake one and not the one Darwin went to but no-one is allowed to that one so they named this one Darwins Lake too - very strange!)

It was supposed to be a two hour hike but we smashed it in an hour and got to do more snorkelling too!! :)

The snorkelling again was out of this world. We swam with sooo many turtles, star fish, pufferfish, and unfortunately some jellyfish too!

Following snorkelling we watched the sunset again and saw dolphins swimming by the boat as well. Perfect, another great end to a fabulous day.

Day 4 - Easter Day

We started off with a wet landing on James Bay, the forna and scenery were once again outstanding and there was only one other boat that we saw...although it was slightly more civilisation than we were used to it wasn´t too bad!

The walk took us to see more iguanas, lagoons with turtles swimming in.

There were fur seals were sleeping in the shade before dipping into the water, floating...I´ve got a great video I will upload at some point of that. And we saw some more birds.

We also saw our first Galapagos penguin, they are tiny. He was just lying on his tummy on the lava.

We went snorkelling off the land this time. It was like ridiculous!! We swam out amongst lots of coral and many many fish - barracudas, tropical fish and sting rays. We were alerted to a reef shark too and went to check it out, it was sleeping, then someone saw another swimming around so we went to chase it....it was so cool! Good job they don´t bite people!!

We also found a spot where the fur seals were feeding. There were many fish clustered around and the seals with trying to catch the fish under the water before ocassionally coming up for breath every now and then. It was an amazing sight to see!! Someone else even saw an octopus too!

Just before lunch a flock of birds also flew across the sky, I felt like I could nearly touch them!

In the afternoon we went to Sombrero China for another lava walk, the baby seals wouldn´t leave us alone! And there were more iguanas to try and avoid - they are easily mistaken for rocks as they are black to camoflarge themselves into the land. I was just worried I was going to step on one!!

More snorkelling ment we swam with the tiny Galapagos penguins...they are very surpring creatures. Moving slowly and hanging out on the rocks. Swimning slowly with their tiny wings ontop of the water but then underneath the water going as fast as a rocket!! We saw lots of starfish, sting rays, many different fish and someone saw a white tip shark too! Glad I missed that one!! We did see a lot more of the Galapagos penguins though...they are so sweet, very small, standing very still on the rocks, swimming slowly with their wings on waters surface and then swimming as fast as a bullet underwater...amazing!!

The day was finished off with Caprinihas, as our last evening on the ship.

Day 5

We got up early and went on a zodiac ride through the mangroves at Black Turtle Cove.

The aim was to find turtles. However initially all we saw were small hammer-head sharks! They were tiny but very cool and came in a school. We also saw a couple of turtles which was great. The zodiac we were on actually broke down though!! This was slightly worrying as some people had to catch flights that morning! Luckily the other zodiac was working and could pull us along.

The ship dropped us off at the airport and Sam, our guide, took our passports so we could get a Galapagos stamp in them!

Im going to add the next few days on Galapagos in another post as Ive already probably added too many photos to this page! I cant tell you how amazing Galapagos was though.

Salsa capital of the world...Cali

moomazza — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:41:00 GMT

Cali is my last stop in Colombia before I head to the border and in to Ecuador...it was also due to be one of the craziest as it has the reputation of Salsa capital of the world.

I arrived late at night with a friendly welcome...nearly ending up in a dorm with 9 other boys, another girl came to the rescue and promptly moved a boy out of her room and swapped me into it, a smaller dorm with a group of her mates! I was also in search of food but was told not to expect much in Cali, so ordered in, it didn´t even turn up so definitely not a good start on the food front!

The following day, I knew I had to keep moving as I just wanted the weekend in Cali before heading to Ecuador and everything would be shut the following day as it was Sunday (and I might also be a little tired from my salsa night out). Firstly I headed for the post office to send the coffee I had got from Salento at the coffee plantation. I ventured on the bus, a system of a bus crossed with a tram, the bus has specific, raised platform stations but the bus is not on tracks. I made it there easily enough but once I got to the post office ludicrious charges put me off sending the coffee (30 pounds for each 250g bag of which I had three!!) so I tried to send my postcards...they suggested envelopes and didn´t really understand I just needed stamps, so decided to leave it as I was pretty sure that Ecuador would know what postcards and stamps were. I really shouldn´t have been surprised as I had only found one place that sold postcards in the whole of Colombia.

So I decided to return to the hostel and go on to discover what the town had to offer. After checking which bus I should get on, happily jumping on the one advised, I suddenly realised part way through my journey I´m going in the wrong direction!! Checking again, I find out I am actually going in the wrong direction!! An hour later and a chat with a friendly bus driver who used to live in New York and I´m back where I´m started! Correct instructions in hand, I eventually find my way back to the bus stop near my hostel, however, this is only to find out I´ve forgotten where my hostel is and in my haste to leave and get to the post office early, that I don´t have the address either! After some hunting around, and asking a few people I eventually find a local to take me back to the hostel.

Still hungry (no food as yet) and having not seen Cali yet, I decide to head out again fairly swiftly after I got back so I could walk around the centre. Jumping on the bus, confident I could get to town, I arrived not too long after to find a hustling, bustling place, much like the working town I was told Cali would be. The plaza was amazing, as was the ornate church nearby.

There were many markets full of all sorts of wears such as mobile phone covers as well as many other gadget and bits and bobs. Other than that there wasn´t much to see and still no food!! Only fried chicken, which didn´t seem that appetising! So I headed back and eventually found a restuarant that took my fancy, only to find out I had to battle with my nemesis, wheat! The spag bol was falling off the plate...and didn´t taste anything like it should. Oh well! At least I had low expectations.

There were a group of us at the hostel keen to go out and sample the Cali nightlife and why it is Salsa capital of the world. So, after a rest, some pizza, and some more rest (people don´t go out until midnight usually), we headed off to the big salsa area. The first place we went to reminded me of one of the places in the movie Goodfellas, with red velvet chairs, and lamps with low lighting, it was quite exquisite. We ordered our bottle of rum (you buy bottles not glasses of drink here) and some coca cola, settled down to watch some of the locals get into action, and when the rhythm took us, we hit the dancefloor and started to show what us gringos can do (Gringo is the name of a foreigner here - actually Americans but used as a general term too). We faired well I think but we weren´t being asked for dances yet.

At about 3-4am, we decided to try some different clubs, this was quite easy as there were a few about. Most of the salsa-techs as they are known have the same set up, an oval dance floor with booths of tables and chairs around so you and your friends can watch the dancing and join in if you´d like. The first place was definately the best but the others were good too, with a younger crowd and we were even being asked to dance by the locals, something that hasn´t happened up until now where I´ve been in Colombia (apart from those I´ve known before). It was great fun!! I only wish I had some photos to show...didn´t want to loose my camera whilst out and about.

After getting in at 6am I had a few hours sleep and decided I didn´t want to rush off to Ecuador until Monday anyway. I bumped into someone from the night before, we went for breakfast where I found a friend I´d met in Cartegena who I was due to meet up with for the day. After catching up I started to persude her to come to Ecuador and the Galapagos with me which was fantastic news! She also found a ´Crepes and Waffles´outlet (http://crepesywaffles.com/websiteftp/index1.html) so I could hit the salad bar and finally have some good food!! Perfect!! The rest of the day was spent resting.

On Monday we checked out and went to Crepes and Waffles again. Our bus wasn´t due until 8.30pm so we had time to sort things that day. I booked myself in for a last minute salsa lesson as well, I figured I should learn where they do it best!! We ended going across town to a dance studio, there were 3 American boys also doing the lesson and we joined a group of Colombians who were already practising and very good!! After a warm up, I was partnered with a professional dancer name Stephan, we learnt 7 different steps and 7 different turns. I was keen to learn the turns as I knew this was a weak area of mine! At the end of the class I was told I was very good (not just good for a European!) but I think they probably say that to everyone!!

We finished the class much later than expected so I went into panic mode that we´d miss the bus and have to stay another day!! I eventually got back to the hostel at 7.45pm (an hour later than expected), quickly grabbed my things and cleaned up before jumping in a cab 10 minutes later! Luckily the bus station wasn´t far away and we made it in record time. It was only after we´d queued up to get our tickets did we find out all the tickets from the only bus company we were advised to use were sold out!! It was Semana Santa, which is the Colombian Easter holidays where they get a week off so everything was booked out. The bus company suggested we take Super Taxis, they were going at the same time but as we were going against advice from the guy who owned the hostel. We were already travelling at night, which is usually warned against but was actually the only option.

We decided to take the risk, and luckily it paid off, the bus was extremly unorganised but got us where we wanted to go in one piece...Ipiales at 6am!!

Ecuador was in sight (well, nearly!), a cab ride, a money exchange, 2 border checks, duty free, another cab ride and onto another bus to Quito for a budget price ($4 for a 4 hour ride), although the bus was definitely budget and a bit different from what we´re used to - no movie playing or air con, instead, windows open and music blaring! Record timing through the border and on to Quito...

Quito turned out to be freezing and having checked on flights we decided it was best to head straight to the Galapagos islands the following day. I managed to pick up a cold that night so its a good job we did....next stop paradise!!

Solento...coffee, pineapples, bamboo and really tall palm trees

moomazza — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:34:00 GMT

I arrived in Solento late, much later than planned. The taxi to the bus station in Quito took a while and when I eventually arrived, I was promptly sold a ticket going to a different destination. I had said I didn´t mind paying the 3 pounds more to go direct and decrease my journey time but it took a policeman to sort it out. I ended up not travelling with that bus company and ended up with a cheaper option with a more reliable company and great buses. Great news all round, even if I was runnning really late! The journey itself took longer than expected too! There were delays all the way to Solento due to the bad weather, there have been severe flooding and some of the roads had mud slides, so only one stream of traffic was allowed at a time.

By the time I got to Armenia, where I picked up the local bus to Solento it was getting slowly dark but I managed to get a bus quite quickly. On arrival it was dark, luckily I had a map, but the hostal was quite a few blocks away and there were no cabs! I walked with my backpack through the town and down the dirt track to the hostal, which used to be a coffee plantation. I was keen to stay where all the coffee was grown. However, I was told my reservation was cancelled despite already flagging I might be later than 6pm, their cut off time, and there was no room at the inn!! I was told I had to go elsewhere, and was advised on a place to stay. The same thing had happened to a Dutch couple in reception and they kindly escorted me to the alternative accommodation. They had a friend who was staying in the dorm there. I think my luck was definitely in, there was a dorm, with a tv, and ensuite with hot water (even though I couldn´t work it out), breakfast was included and it was less than the other place! Perfect!!

I met the other guy staying there and we went for dinner, we both wanted to hike and see the 60m high palm trees the following day and the coffee tour on the Friday, so a plan was now in place.

We got the 9.30am jeep the following day up to where the palm trees grow, I think there was 16 people on it at the busiest point!

The sky was clear but it was likely to rain later, it had been raining for days and the Colombians warned us from taking the route through the palm forest, so we went the other way through the jungle however, we did get to see the palms too...

We trekked through the jungle, across a dodgy bridge with a rail

and along numerous path, navigating our way, climbing when needed, and trekking along for an hour and a half until we came to a fork in the road. We headed uphill and as the water was pouring down the slope, decided on taking another route, then we hit a bridge with no rail which was a fun one to cross!

before climbing a steep slope and trekking on further and further, it was like something out of lord of the rings! We eventually reached another sign, which said we´d only gone half a km, on this news, which we knew to be false, we turned back arriving back at our starting point just before the heavy rains started. Perfect timing!! On getting the not so busy jeep back, we had a hot chocolate and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday was a day I´d been waiting for a while, I really was excited about visiting the coffee farm, I like good coffee, and I was keen to find out where it had come from and how it was produced. The tour was run by the hostel owner who also owned the plantation. It started raining just before we left - great timing!! But decked out in my North Face jacket and a pair of wellington boots on loan, I was ready to go!

The tour was good, and informative. We walked down to the plantation via what used to be the road to Bogota but which looked like a very wet and muddy path, not that wide and tricky to navigate! We learnt about the two types of coffee Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is the best type of coffee and this is the one we should be using. There are modern and traditional versions too. The modern brings higher yields but doesn´t loose the taste value so seems like the best option all round really.

We walked around the farm and saw the different stages of plant growth...

as well as learning about what happens to the coffee beans afterwards they´ve been grown.

The farm also had pineapple trees which were really interesting sight.

And a bamboo forest, I also found out that bamboo is surprisingly sustainable so growing and building with it is good.

At the end of the tour we drank some of the coffee...mmm... and I warmed up before trekking off into the rain to Cali, the home of salsa!!

One or two days in Bogota

moomazza — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:33:00 GMT

So I arrived early at 6am and after another night bus and a very long queue for the taxis and went to my hostel before going back to bed for more sleep!! I eventually got up at 10am only to bump into a friend I had been hanging out with in Taganga, good times...he and one other friend was there for the next two days!

My original intention was to stay in Bogota for one day, doing the things I needed to do...buying a dictionary, seeing the Botero museum and seeing if I could get any other English books, as well as checking out the main square Plaza de Bolivar.

My friends were going on the cable car to see the city so I was easily persuaded from my original plans as I didn´t know there was one and cable cards are great fun, I also thought I might be able to get books later...so off we went...

We saw nearly the whole city from the top! It is a massive sprawling city stretching in all directions...although the weather wasn´t great, there was some mist and rain clouds around, it was pretty cool to see and definitely worth going.

We then got lured into a posh restaurant at the top...

and after realising the price but also that we really actually should order something we settled on sharing a bottle of wine and not eating...very sensible when hanging out with the Irish and its past midday! It was pretty good wine too. I realised soon after that I was also going to need to stay in Bogota one more day as the tasks I had hoped to complete were not going to get done. With that realised we had more cocktails...and went for Mongolian at dinner later...what fun in the capital on a Monday!

The following day was a slow start but was an action day....

A hangover breakfast followed by the search for the bookshop...after going to the nearest one on the list I found there were no English books so headed further afield on the tram/bus system! It was straight forward enough and I found another bookshop...not completely content I went to find the other one nearby which I couldn´t find...heading back to the other bookshop I purchased a spanish/english dictionary but avoided the other books for 20 pounds a piece!! However, I realised my purse was missing!! Luckily I had stashed my cash and cards so the damage was minimal...also a good excuse for a new purse I´d been promising myself for a while.

It is cold in Bogota and rained the whole day but I managed to successfully negotiate my way back to town and to the Plaza...

The Botero museum was actually closed that day so unfortunately I missed that though I´m still in awe of the musuem in Medellin which has the biggest collection anyway....just no tourist tat to take home unfortunately! And no postcards again!!

The night was uneventful, a rest was needed and more movie watching, which is actually quite educational as the Spanish subtitles are always on so its great for learning Spanish.

Next stop Solento.

Adventure capital of Colombia...San Gil

moomazza — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:24:00 GMT

I arrived here rather unamused after a 17 hour bus journey....I always knew it would be a killer as I'd gone such a strange route across the coast and back. The road was bumpy and the suspension squeaky....goodness knows how I got any sleep at all!

However, San Gil is the adventure capital of Colombia, and is quite picturesque, set on a hill with several rivers running close-by. The houses are white and the rooftops red. Note Colombians pronounce 'G' as 'H' so Hill is actually in the name...the roads are very steep..a bit like San Francisco in a way!

Most people come for the adventure sports...caving, paragliding, rappelling (abseiling down a waterfall), hydospeed (body surfing down a river with flippers on), hiking and rafting (grade 1-5).

On arrival I had a day of rest and met some people at the hostel that evening, unfortunatley most people had left that day (about 25 people apparently) but there were a couple of English guys who were sticking around until after the weekend which was great news for me so I wouldn´t be the only one there!

The people who were leaving did make a great dinner suggestion though...Gringo Mike´s (http://gringomikes.net/) even if it was salads/sandwiches for dinner which seems like a strange concept at first...I was sold on the fact it sold salads which can be a rarity in South America! Even the boys were full up after a salad...lots of meat I think was the winning combination! There was an added bonus of adding rum to the fruit juices to make a nice evening tipple.

Everyone was also raving about the rafting so I realised I had to do that the following day, its something I´ve never done but always thought of as fun and something I´d want to do.

Woke up for 9am the following day, the rafting was cancelled due to heavy rain, the river was too high! After chatting about my options, rappelling seemed like the best alternative, I always like the abseilling part of rock climbing. Off I went on a local bus, meeting a group of French guys along the way before taking the 45 min hike to the top of the waterfall. The hikes and parks can be different from the UK in that there are a lot more of an adventure...rocks, muddy paths and dodging trees, walking over small rivers and waterfalls are all the name of the game. We didn´t actually get to the top of the waterfall...I think its 180m high but looking up it was amazing!

The rappelling guys were well equipped though...lots of ropes, people at the top and the bottom, instruction in Spanish as well as English. The height was the main issue...I knew 60m was high, and learning from my bungy jumps I knew not to look down! Progress was slow and I kept slipping, the water was cold but refreshing after the hike up. It was only nearer to the bottom when I started to get into it more, so I wasn´t slipping and just guiding myself down...I seemed to forget everything I had learnt from rock climbing!!

After the climb, the guys walked me down and stopped to climb trees and pull off fruit to eat, it tasted sweet, and was good to have a bit of energy back after the rush of the rappelling. I also saw an amazing peacock...what an adventure!

That evening was dinner at Gringo Mikes again...another day another salad...

The following day we went to Barichara, which is a small colonial town with whitewashed buildings and cobbled streets....very beautiful!!

We were going for lunch pre-ordered at a chef's house. They usually had a restaurant, but it was closed for re-furbishment. It was going to be a treat as the restaurant was supposed to be the best in Colombia and served Colores Hormiga ´translated as Big Arsed Ants!!

After an hour bus ride we met George, who was our chef, after a choice of walking or a lift, unfortunately we decided to walk. The 15 min walk ended up over an hour climbing up 4 hills in the midday sun...not ideal really, we nearly gave up! Luckily someone came to find us and took us to the most idealic setting, it was peaceful and beautiful...a small hostel with an open kitchen, on a small Ant farm...amazing trees and fabulous birds.

George the Chef told us about the Ants and microwaved them which is the modern way of eating them (they used to put them on the hob and cook them for an hour and a half). You only eat the Princess ants, and not the others. They taste a bit like peanuts...great for Antony who has a nut allergy so doesn´t usually have the pleasure of eating them!! Our full menu was...
Tamarind juice
Aubergine pate, cream cheese with ants and pearl barley with parsley & bread appetisers
Beef medallions wrapped in bacon with potatoes, salad and rice main course
Finally some Coffee which was good.

We also tried the tangerine jam which they had made from what they had been growing...it was delicious, I don´t usually like marmalade but this was different...mmm...

We went for a walk back to the town and went out later to play Tejo...the national game in Colombia. Its a bit like bowling, except you have a 50 or 100 kg weight which you aim to hit one of two packets of gunpowder to make them explode. They are set in a block of clay. You don´t directly pay to play but instead buy drinks to continue playing...after a while we all got the hang of it, although I was the worst being a girl and not being able to throw very well!!

My last day in San Gil I wanted to go rafting, unfortunately it was raining again so the day was spent chilling before I got the bus to Bogota that night. It was good as I got to go to the amazing food market again, ate breakfast, cook my own lunch (for the first time in my trip) and take photos despite the bad light!!

In the evening I finished off my time in San Gil off nicely with another trip to Gringo Mike´s...and another salad...I tried all of them...mmmm....and we played a game of poker which I was actually doing quite well in before I had to leave...shame really! Beginners luck most likely and big risk taking as I was running out of time!!

Next stop Bogota.

Will I ever leave Cartegena?

moomazza — Sat, 2 Apr 2011 02:44:00 GMT

Feeling the need for more beach time, I decided to head back to Cartegena and go to Playa Blanca again...white sand, blue water...what more could a girl want?!

I arrived in Cartegena 45 mins before the `party bus` was going to leave...good timing especially as I didn´t even know that was the plan for the evening!! Luckily through help of friends I managed to check in to my hostel, book in for the bus, change and get ready as well as eat dinner!

The promise of as much free alcohol as you could drink didn´t actually come true, there were many who were disappointed with this. However, the group was good and the party bus had a live band complete with an acordian, cheese grater and a drum! The sides of the bus were open and the bus colourful...a good night was had by all as we had our cultural view of the city with a local beverage in hand (ocassionally).

On the Monday our merry gang of 9 headed out to Playa Blanca...we managed to avoid the port tax by going via a beach instead and haggled our way to a fairly good deal and a slow boat over (good job we were all staying over night!)

We found a lovely place to stay with the best lighting and a great toilet with shells in...really good if you are living with no electricity, running water etc. It was family run and the kids were funny...the banana and chocolate pancakes were fantastic too I was told.

The main aim of our days was suntanning, reading, having a dip in the sea, fending off the salesmen (pina colada man, massage ladies, fish/lobster/prawn men, ice cream man, jewellery men, shell men, mango lady - you could basically get what you wanted and not have to move) as well as eating.

On our first night we stayed in a hammock, after that, we realised that the idea of staying in a hammock on a carribean beach sounds amazing but in reality its difficult to get a decent night sleep...you can´t get flat, I kept waking up because my heels were hurting...very strange! It is nice and cool and refreshing in the heat though.

The following nights Kelly and I shared a tent...it got very hot but there was a mattress, pillows, sheets...and we did get some cool air in!

The sunsets varied as there was some cloud but they were a highlight of the day, along with lazing on the beach and having ever whim catered for...except for the large amounts of sand which get EVERYWHERE!!

When the sun went down everything was dark as there was no electricity, only generators. Food took a while as it was cooked on open fires, but it always came together and was tasty. The food was usually fish, rice and salad but there were some delicacies of pasta and pizza to be sought out. I also had lobster on the last day....5 pounds for 2 baby lobster loving prepared in front of me...yum...such a tough life!!

Our boat journey back was less eventful as the last one but it was still rough and I didn´t feel well (its a good job I´m not taking the 5 day trip to Panama!!)

I have come back with a lovely tan, and a smile from a(nother) relaxing break! The plan was to go south straight away but when a friend says they were flying across the continent to visit how could I refuse? This did give me a chance to eat the ice cream my friends had been raving about....

...check out the local clubs...

Spend some more time in the squares...

And drink some more cocktails at Cafe del Mar at sunset....perfect!

I finally leave Cartegena today, well I should be getting the bus later...

Photos: Colombia

moomazza — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:11:00 GMT

Taganga... sleepy little hippy village

moomazza — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:24:00 GMT

I´d heard great things about Taganga so my expectations were high, I was also meeting up with friends from home on holiday so it was always going to be good.

When I arrived, it took me a while to find my friends, but it did give me a chance to wander around this sleepy little village in the meantime. There is a main strip along the beachfront with a few other streets off it. If you walked up the hill, to the top of the village there is a football pitch and if you carry on going up you´d get to where we were staying.

Its fairly easy to bump into people in Taganga, due to its size and that there is only about 10 restaurants there....I think we tried nearly all of them including eating at our hostel which produced some amazing food (the owner was french and the chef Polish).

We had 2 rooms between 5 of us, one with a balcony and a fridge, great for storing drinks including the much needed water and ice, both with en-suite. The weather was a constant 30 degree heat, sometimes hotter, it rained a bit one night, but when I say rained I mean it spat a bit.

The days were mainly spent waking up late, about 10.30, partly due to the fans not being amazing in the room, partly because of the late nights! Heading for breakfast...eggs, coffee, juice were the order of the day before heading to the beach to chill out (its a tough life). I´m still waiting for good coffee in Colombia though, I thought I´d be living off it, surprisingly its hard to find! I will let you when I finally find some good coffee....maybe when I hit the coffee region?

Reading books on the beach and snoozing before sunset and early evening drinks.

Heading out for dinner and more drinks later on was the order of most days. I think I ate and drank more in Taganga than I have before in Colombia!! I think this is classed as an actual holiday rather than travelling...remember I was with people on holidays!!

The restaurant highlights were...

...the hostel, the Polish chef whipped up a storm - fish wrapped in bacon, thai curries, etc. I also hear the brownie and the fillet mignon was amazing!!

...Pachamama....fabulous tapas and good main courses...also does amazing cocktails made from fresh ingredients...2 for 1 as in most of Taganga in the evenings. They also had a live band one night who were great! Lots of classic rock covers, played acoustically.

...the restaurant which I dont remember the name of but which had a crazy menu...check out some of the translations:

The nightlife was hit and miss. A hit for most was Sensations however our group were unimpressed, bad music and very busy!! We prefered Mirador which had a great view overlooking Taganga, better music and space to dance! Its a shame we didn´t find it until the last night though!

One day we took a boat trip to Playa Grande, this was a much nicer beach, but as you can only get the boat back at 5pm we only did it once. However I´m told we could have walked back (it takes 20 mins)...sounds like far too much effort though!

We also celebrated James birthday on the Thursday, a very relaxed day and celebratory drinks.

So I´d love to tell you more about what we did, but that was about it. It was a change from the usual travelling and nice to be in a group of friends from home but it was back on the road again....and heading back to Cartegena and Playa Blanca, in need of beach.

Cartegena....Shakira, Shakira!!

moomazza — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:27:00 GMT

So I arrived to Cartegena feeling like I´m starting my trip again, not knowing anyone and looking to find out what this romantic city has to offer. Cartegena is a walled city, with tiny streets, with lots of pretty flowers and a fort. Its on the coast and is beautiful.

I found an amazing hostel, a fabulous pool with 2 x fountains, a bar, an island kitchen and whitewashed dorms with a big enough space to swing a few cats (I was top bunk so it was a climbing adventure too.)

To explore Cartegena the best thing to do is to wonder around the city, which I was quite happy doing lots of. Lots of textile shops, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and everything else one might want. One highlight has to be Cafe Del Mar, with great views across the sea and along the coast, at sunset.

On the Friday night a chef was cooking dinner, cerviche (fish with lime, chilli and maybe a few other things, served cold) and thai chicken curry...mmm...so much food, so delicious!

On Saturday we heard that Shakira was playing a concert in Bogota and they had screens up in Cartegena. After watching the sunset at cafe del mar, we headed for the concert. It was outside the clocktower and the local media were there. Some friends I was with were filmed for television and I, along with some of our merry group ended up in the local newspaper:

http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/sociales/concierto-en-la-plaza-de-la-paz-14232

We did have a merry group, Irish, English, Australian, Swedish and American.

After the excitement of Shakira it was a late night...not the best preperation for Playa Blanca on Sunday but at 7.30am we all (well 6 out of 8 of us) got up and headed for the port. We took the boat as we were told this was the quickest way. Our engine broke on the way there and it took much longer than planned.

When we arrived it was like paradise on earth, the beach white, the sea blue. Diving straight into the sea, the cool fresh water was amazing and they heating up again on the white sand with the sun beating down.

Lunch was included and those selling their wares were few and not too invasive. We treated ourselves to a Pina Colada, served in a coconut and made infront of us from coconut water this was fabulous! Like nothing I´d tasted before...like when I tasted real coffee and realised the difference between that and instant.

We had the craziest journey back, because our boat broke on the way there, the boat men picked us up later, although the waves were much rougher. It was like a rollercoaster rie crossed with a grand canyon, rapids ride!! So much fun, we laughed all the way, although the other people on our boat weren´t as happy about the ride as us!! Haha!!

I also went to a mud volano whilst at Cartegena. This was 2300m deep and although you couldn´t touch the bottom, you also couldn´t sink either!! You were like a cartoon, suspended in space! It was hard to move around in the mud, but between us all we managed it. The mud is apparently good for the skin too!

Barranquilla Carnival

moomazza — Wed, 9 Mar 2011 12:37:00 GMT

The carnival has been amazing...four days of crazy Colombian mayhem. I have been very fortunate to have spent it staying at a real Colombian family´s house (thanks Ruiz family)and with hang out with Colombians and a couple of very lovely German boys.

My story doesn´t start so well though, arriving in Barranquilla after a 14 hour bus ride to get ripped off by a cabbie on the way into town and be dropped at a hotel with a room that can only be described as a prison cell. I nearly left straight off to be honest, but felt I should take a deep breath and see how it went. I showered, went for a brief walk to pick up some cheap tropical fruit from the street (watermelon, ready cut for me and costing 50p if you would like to know) before promptly messaging my contact here (thanks Rodrigo, again!) and resting by the pool, the only saving grace of the hotel. I started to chat to Marius and Daniel who became good friends over the next few days. They´d come on a whim and didn´t know anyone, I knew someone but wanted traveller companions as I knew my friend here didn´t actually want to do the carnival bit. So we joined forces. I heard from Diana my contact and friend...and we then went on a wild goose chase before meeting up 4 hours later than excepted...god bless Colombia, directions, Spanish speakers, non-spanish speakers and everyone else inbetween.

After finally hooking up we all went to a local festival in prep for the main carnival activities (the whole town comes to light at carnival with many activites going on arond the town and lots of parties. We ate local street food called Papa Rellena (stuffed potato with meat etc in) and drank the local beer whilst sampling the local spirit consumed by the gallon at the carnival ÁguaDiente (translated as Burning Water). There was music and lots of dancing, some were allowed to dance in a circle round the stage whilst others watched, we got involved and I realised for the first time in my life and well Latin American men can move their hips. I was also told I couldn´t dance and was laughed at a lot by the locals, however, I picked it up fairly quickly and am now told I dance well for a European! The partying continued into the night with another local street party. I was also told I wasn´t allowed to stay in my prison cell and had to go and stay at my friends house, which was amazing.

The following day, we got palco (theatre seat) tickets for the carnival. These tickets were for 3 days - the battle of the flowers on Saturday, the busiest and most commercial day, also the one with the most fake boobs and loud music. Strangely enough we only saw about 20 flowers.

Then the grand parade on Sunday, the traditional parade, which included traditional dress and music.

Finally the fantasy parade on Monday, this was with amazing costumes and like Sunday was much less crowded. My favourite day was Monday. The costumes were amazing.

Don´t forget the carnival queen either

In the evenings, Saturday we went to a concert, which was very loud so we ended up at another street party, dancing, drinks and much frivolity. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we were at a small street party by the house I was staying, very handy and not as many people knew about it so felt very safe. We did go to busier parts but they weren´t as good, you didn´t feel as safe and we never stayed that long.

Tuesday was no carnival so we went to the beach and saw street acrobatics in the evening, every night was music (salsa, merenge, traditional music....) and my dancing got better by the day. Thank you for helping me learn...

This is the bus we went on to the beach...it was amazing and played Colombian music...who can be sad on this bus? Notice the gear stick!!

I had an amazing time and can´t thank both the Germans and all the Colombian people who took me out, fed me, translated for me and generally made the Barranquilla carnival amazing!!

Medellin

moomazza — Fri, 4 Mar 2011 13:09:00 GMT

I arrived at about 1am, got my baggage quickly but when I went to tried to get money the ATM didn´t work (this is normal apparently) and I was uncertain my hostel kept my reservation from the day before and turning up so late tonight. I was unable to check so as you can imagine I was slightly concerned about this. To make things worse the Kindle I bought with me had also stopped working (so no guide book, dictionary or reading material).

A cabbie, although not speaking much English offered me his mobile phone to call but the number I had didn´t work. By some stroke of luck or as I see it, great planning, I had American dollars with me and the cabbie accepted them, before promptly taking me to the hostel where they welcomed me with open arms and sparkly lights. The cabbie stopped on the day and I took photos of Medellin at night, its an amazing city. How nice is this place?

The following day, I had a tour of the local ATMs, apparently they sometimes don´t work, but had a local guide so that was helpful, another nice Colombian. I then managed to fix my Kindle, well Amazon did by promptly phoning me straight away and assisting me - very efficient. I then managed to sample the local tropical street fruit...its peeled, chopped and sold for next to nothing (about 50p usually) and can consist of melon, watermelon, Guava, or pineapple. Mmmm....

The Jardin de Botanica was fabulous, as they always are, and I listened to an orchestra practice in what looked like a church for about an hour though I could´ve stayed for longer. There were a few of us around. I also hit the bus station to make sure I could get to the Carnival in Barranquilla OK. There was about 40 different companies to choose from with about 60 counters..and no-one spoke much English....I managed to book OK though. a helpful English driver got me to book with their firm but it looked big, reputable and they spoke some English so that was good.

There were a couple of other highlights in Medellin, the Francesco Batero paintings and sculptures were fabulous!! Lots of voluptuous people (not fat) developed that way to show sensuality.

Also, the cable car, which I accidently went too far on and ended up going into what can only be described as Jurrasic Park. Its a long story and maybe one for another day.

I didn´t go out and try the famous Medellin nightlife as the discoteques shut at 10pm in the week, as I wasn´t around at the weekend, although I may head back after Bogota as I also missed the Pablo Escabar tour...it kept getting cancelled when I was there. I also had to head off for Carnival.

I would say that Medellin is a fantastic place, lots of greenery, it seems like an oasis with building squashed inbetween the tropical plants and trees.

Until another time...