No Worries

2 years, 3 months and 4 days in the life of...

ryanandjo — Sat, 2 Apr 2011 00:48:00 GMT

From Phoenix we handed back the car at the airport and, although we never expected to see snow in Arizona, we knew where we were heading next had a lot of snow and as we flew north we started to get some idea of what was in store for us, as everything below was pure white. Where better to experience a real US winter than in the middle of nowhere, well the middle of the US anyway. We were on our way to Pierre, South Dakota, the second smallest state capital, to see our wonderful friends Martyn and Hilary, who were kind enough to offer us their spare room for as long as we wanted!

South Dakota is a lot bigger than England but only has a population of 800,000 so there is a lot of free space, which makes it a great place for owning and walking dogs. With so much room to roam Kaanu took us for walks more than the other way around, which included walking alongside the frozen Missouri river that runs through the town.

The state is famous for its wide expanse of prairie lands and you can drive for hours without seeing another soul or house, as was the case on our trip to the Badlands National Park in which we passed only 5 other cars during the 2 hour journey. Generally, where there is a lack of humans there is an abundance of wildlife but our first sighting of a prairie dog wasn’t exactly the most authentic of experiences.

But it wasn’t long before we got our first sighting of the cute little burrowers, and realised although there was nobody else around on this particular day they obviously saw other humans, as they were so tame they came right up to us looking for food.

We had visited most of South Dakota’s attractions on a previous trip to the region, but we decided to return to the Badlands so we could compare it to where we had just visited. It certainly lived up to the other US national parks with it’s dramatic formations and colours, and was made even more exciting because we decided to go trekking despite the warning signs.

And there's no better way to finish a hike then with a helping of good ole American Pie at the famous Wall Drug Store.

Due to the lay of the land South Dakota is a good place for farming and Hilary’s Uncle Brad is a farmer and invited us over to see the family cows calving and mess around on the farm machinery including the ATV’s, which we managed to get up to 70 mph, and I even managed to get mine wedged into a snow drift when trying to ‘bust on through’ the snow, which, as Jo frequently reminds me, she had to pull me out of with her ATV :)

Out in this remote part of the states anything goes, so don't be surprised to see a dog drinking beer at a bar, set inside a church!

With lots of farms it’s very easy to get hold of good quality meat, and we were treated to some fabulous meals at both Martyn and Hilary's and in the local restaurants, so what better way to celebrate and say goodbye to our friends than with some South Dakota steak and some local brews, just don’t overdo the Old Rasputin as at 9% it will leave you groggy the next day (hey Martyn!)

We were as sad to leave for our next destination as Kaanu was to see us go...

Washington DC

We missed most Central American capitals due to the lack of interesting attractions and the high crime rates, and while the latter may still hold true in Washington DC, the former certainly does not. We enjoyed the various landscapes on the first part of our American adventure, but now it was time for us to take in some history.

We based ourselves in the Dupont Circle area of the capital, a lovely, safe area to stay, only a 15 minute walk from possibly Washington's most recognisable attraction, the White House, which appears to be very small from the vantage point miles away down the lawn.

The first thing we noticed about the White House was the snipers on the roof and as a helicopter flew over our heads we realised they were waiting for the President who was about to arrive on the lawn. Although we didn’t see Obama in person, that didn’t stop Jo giving him a wave!

Although not technically correct we dubbed D.C, the Marble City, as no matter which attraction you were visiting you could almost guarantee its colour would be white, including the Capitol, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.

This colour theme continued with the Monuments and Memorials of distinguished past Presidents, many of which were made more picturesque due to the fact that we happened to be visiting during the annual cherry blossom bloom.

All of the above are policed by very officious airport style security and it wasn’t long before we learnt not to wear watches and belts when out sightseeing. This security continued in the many great museums the capital has to offer, many more than we were able to see and all of which are free. We opted for the fabulous Air and Space museum where you can see Apollo 11 and other historic craft from the world of flight, with the exception of Enola Gay. We also paid our respects at the Holocaust memorial museum, a very fitting tribute to all those that suffered.

We had only planned to spend 3 nights in D.C, but there was just too much to see and do so we decided to stay an extra day. Our decision was helped by the fact that, although accommodation in Washington seems to be expensive across the board, we found a website that allowed us to choose a mystery 4 star hotel for half price, which meant that we stayed in a couple of hotels not remotely in our price range but great fun to enjoy even if they both came with some dodgy dressing gowns.

We decided to use our extra day to cross into the state of Virginia and visit the world's largest office building by floor area, exciting stuff! Okay you’ll probably know it better as the Pentagon, where we paid our respects to those that lost their lives during the attacks of 9/11.

From the Pentagon, you can see Arlington Memorial Cemetery, so we visited some more famous people from the past who are no longer with us, including the Kennedys.

Washington is a great city for walking, and we continued our walking tour by heading to Georgetown, to take in the university, and relive some films from our childhood, including standing on the Exorcist steps next to the house where it was filmed.

After all the walking we decided to treat ourselves and what better place than at Georgetown Cupcakes, home of the T.V show D.C Cupcakes, even if we did have to queue 45 minutes just to get in...Viva the cupcake revolution!

New York

And then it was time for us to take our last ever bus ride on this trip, and after 3 hours we arrived into the bitter cold of the Big Apple. Unfortunately, this name for the city is totally lost on the younger generation who think there are apple themed souvenirs in the shops, not because of the nickname but because of the Apple store, as one seven year old decided to inform me!

We walked around Washington feeling like we were walking through a history of the country, but in New York it was like walking onto a film set as almost everything has been shown multiple times on both the big and small screen. Almost everyone has visited or seen pictures of New York so you probably can guess what we got up to on our last week of our travels, but here are a few pictures from our time to jog your memory.

It was a great city to end the trip in and say repeatedly, “Wow we made it, we really made it!!!"

The Big Summary

No. of hotel rooms = 291

No. of bus journeys = 206

No. of train journeys = 8

No. of flights = 19

No. of taxis/tuk tuks taken = Thousands

No. of taxi kidnappings = 0

No. of muggings / attacks = 0

No. of thefts = 1 (from a room in Nepal)

No. of times we had Delhi Belly = at least 10 times each!

No. of visits to a doctor or hospital = 0

No. of photos taken = over 20,000!

No. of times we said Awesome, Wow, Amazing = Countless

Favourite Countries - Thailand, Nepal, Bolivia (Jo) Laos, Ecuador (Ryan) China, Colombia (Both)

Favourite Cities - Luang Prabang, Kathmandu, La Paz (Jo) Bangkok, Havana (Ryan)

Favourite Colonial City - Bogota, Granada (Jo) Arequipa, Ouro Preto (Ryan)

Favourite Place - Capurgana, Colombia (Jo) Galapagos Islands (Ryan) Ko Lipe (Both)

Favourite Attractions - Great Wall of China, Salt Flats (Jo) Annapurna Circuit (Ryan) Macchu Picchu (Both)

Favourite Food - Satay Chicken, Indonesia (Jo) Panaeng Curry, Thailand (Ryan) Beijing Duck and anything Mexican (Both)

Favourite Beer - Brahma Maltzbier, Brazil (Jo), Beagle Fuegain Red Ale, Argentina (Ryan) BeerLao, Laos (Both)

So after 2 years, 3 months and 4 days our travels have come to an end and we have a head full of memories to keep us going for a lifetime. We hope that you enjoyed reading about our travels even a fraction as much as we enjoyed doing them and if you're thinking about travelling, just do it, you will not regret it!

Ryan & Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Roadtrippin’ USA

ryanandjo — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:54:00 GMT

We arrived in Los Angeles in time for Oscar night, and even though I was incredibly excited to be there, I had forgotten my award-winning frock, so we decided to pick up a rental car and head out of town. After taking a few wrong turns out of the airport and finding LA’s beaches, we drove for a couple of hours out of the city and found a place to watch all the Oscar action in style...in a motel room with a Taco Bell big box meal to fill us up (not recommended)!

Death Valley

The theme for our planned road trip was to take in some of the country’s National Parks, so we drove a few hours east towards Death Valley. We were warmly welcomed into the park with a fighter jet fly by as it shot over our heads and swept down into a canyon, twisted, turned and then disappeared as fast as it arrived. The views as we drove down into the valley were awesome, a word I repeated all day long. I wouldn’t want to be there in the summer when temperatures can reach over 45 degrees daily and the highest ever temperature in the USA was recorded here, 56.5 degrees, after someone saw birds drop dead from the sky and wondered why.

The park has sand dunes, canyon treks, salt flats, the lowest land point in the western hemisphere and a harsh history, not to mention the fantastic views over the valley from the mountains above.

We stayed the night in a small town in Beatty, crossing the state line into Nevada. At night there was an eerie red glow coming from behind a mountain range and after wondering if it was a nuclear bomb from the Nevada test site or an alien invasion from Area 51, we realised the sky was lit up by the lights of Las Vegas that was over 100 miles away!

We returned to Death Valley and back into California at sunrise and loved the fact the we could see that the Nevada state welcome sign was riddled with bullet holes, and the sunrise views were awesome too.

Mojave Desert Reserve

After a long, lonely drive, we took a detour into the Mojave Desert, a free park with a great drive through a Joshua Tree forest.

We then hit the interstate and there was nothing along the roadside until we hit the state line where there was a huge Nevada Welcome Centre sprawled along the road, with casinos, hotels and rollercoasters of all things, maybe a taste of things to come further down the road!

Las Vegas

Arriving in Vegas made my jaw drop. It was fascinating to see the lights of the casinos that we had seen many times before in movies but it was also great for people watching to see who was in town to have a good time and who was down on their luck.

It was exactly as we expected it to be; materialistic, over the top and tacky, but you kind of have to get in the spirit of sin city and just enjoy it.

We spent hours getting lost in the rabbit warren casinos and shopping malls that have ceilings painted to look like the sky so you think you are outdoors and with no exit signs anywhere, it’s easy to get trapped inside. We walked the whole length of the strip, which is a long way, passing by Venice, Cairo, Paris, New York, along with pirate ships, erupting volcanoes, flamingoes and roaring lions, and the highlight was the famous Bellagio fountains.

So was Vegas lucky for us? Well after a round of poker for Ryan and an attempt to conquer the slot machines for me, we left with zero winnings.

Hoover Dam

Just outside of Vegas is the famous dam, so we took a quick tour inside and felt the power of the Colorado river rushing through it’s pipes and were very impressed with it’s size and engineering skills.

We then crossed the border over to Arizona and headed down the historic Route 66, which had wonderful scenery and cute small towns full of old style motels and diners, before we took the long drive to the edge of the rim.

Grand Canyon

This had been high on our list of places to visit for a long time but we arrived just after sunset so we had to wait until the next morning to get our first view. We were so eager to see it we left our room in darkness and caught the shuttle bus to the rim were it was still pitch black and freezing cold. As the first rays of the sunrise hit the canyon it revealed it’s true size to us and even though we had seen many pictures of it before, it really was amazing to see in person.

We spent the whole day taking in all the different view points by trekking along the south rim and as the sun rose and set we saw the whole canyon under different light. It really was Grand!!!

Zion National Park

The great thing about road trips is you never really know where you will end up each night. Often plans work out well, but after leaving the Grand Canyon we had to drive through a couple of towns on the map that we thought would have motels, but had nothing to offer us, so we had to keep driving late into the night, but thankfully we found a nice place in the end.

The next morning we headed further north and crossed into Utah to explore some of the canyons this region is famous for. Zion National Park runs deep inside a canyon and has great rock faces, river scenes, treks and a scenic drive with impressive tunnels through the canyon wall.

Our favourite part was the wavy rock surfaces that were fun to climb all over.

Panguitch

Utah is full of national parks so we drove north to visit some more of them but after passing through a few tiny towns that were mostly closed for the season, including their petrol stations, we took a diversion to a larger town to find some gas as we were running low. As the sky on the horizon looked dooming and it was getting late we decided to stay there the night. When we set off early the next morning a light snow shower started and as we drove south it started to get very heavy and there was no one else on the road so we had no tracks to follow, so we had to turn back and wait it out in Panguitch.

Waiting it out meant we had to stay another night as the storm was big and moved through the state making travel too dangerous for two inexperienced winter drivers without snow chains. Luckily the town was a lovely place to stay as it had lots of wild west charm, classic American diners with cowboys sipping coffee at the bars and ordering pumpkin pie, plus a wonderful smokehouse that did a great bisket for dinner, if you didn’t mind the moose head watching you as you ate!

Bryce Canyon

The next morning the sun was shining so we could hit the road, if a little slower than normal as there was still some ice around and eventually we made it into Bryce Canyon national park. Most of the park was still closed as they were clearing snow from the scenic drive, but we could still access the main part of the park where there is an amphitheater full of Hoodoos.

It was very picturesque covered in snow, even if it was freezing cold!

Capitol Reef

Heading north the roads cleared up as the sun came out and we had a fantastic drive up over a high pass and then down into more canyon land, passing through the Capitol Reef national park, where the earth was as red as the outback and the air is some of the clearest in the whole states.

Arches

After a couple more hours through the middle of nowhere, trying not to run over Prairie Dogs, we reached the town of Moab that is next to the Arches National Park, which contains over 2000 natural sandstone arches, the most in one area in the world, and the afternoon sun really lit up the parks highlights in another amazing setting. Utah is fast becoming our favourite state.

The unusual formations and gravity defying rocks, really made me think I was on the set of a western movie and it was even the film location for the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, so we really could feel like Indie here!

The final arch we visited was the landscape arch that is the length of a football field and is very fragile. There was a huge crash some 10 years before and it’s not known when the rest of it will fall.

Dead Horse Point State Park

This park is so named because cowboys used to corral wild mustang horses at this dead end point and fence them in and one time they left a herd there that died from thirst while overlooking the Colorado river. We toyed with not driving out into America’s last uncharted land as we thought we may have seen too many canyons and red rocks, but yet again Utah just stunned us when we drove up to the view point and saw the view from this tiny but amazing park. It’s also the film location for the opening of Mission Impossible II and, more importantly, it’s where Thelma and Louise drove off the cliff at the end of that movie!!! Cool.

Monument Valley

If you really want to feel like you are on a movie set, especially a western, then Monument Valley is for you. It has been the setting for four John Wayne films among many others and it is part of the Navajo Nation Tribal Reservation, where many Navajo Indians still live amongst the buttes and mesas. With the sun setting on the buttes, they glowed orange and were gorgeous to look at.

Flagstaff

We didn’t spend long here, but it was a real warm hearted place in a great location and the old historical part of town was charming, along with the hickory smoked pulled pork plate we had for lunch! Sometimes you just have to indulge in some of America’s best cuisine.

Phoenix

Arriving in the city at 4pm allowed us to enjoy the classic grid locked roads as we had to drive through the city, because everyone drives here in big cars, no matter how far. We didn’t see a single bus on the road in the two hours we drove around.

Being spring time meant it was Spring Training time for the major league baseball teams, so we caught a game between the White Sox and the Chicago Cubs and enjoyed it with a classic hot dog.

And that was it for our road trip. The next day we drove to the airport to drop off the car and head to...

Jo y Ryan

Tip

Buy the National Parks annual pass if you plan to see more than a few in a year. It costs $80 for entrance for one car with up to four people in it, for all the national parks. It saved us money on the entrance fees that are around $20 per park. Also, all the parks are easily accessible to all, whether you just wish to drive to a few scenic view points, take a quick stroll to a monument or lookout, or hike for 2-8 hours. With good planning you really can make the most of this excellent national park system.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Food Glorious Food

ryanandjo — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:58:00 GMT

We had a near miss on our return to Mexico. At the check in desk in Havana we were told that our flight was delayed 5 hours and were given food vouchers as compensation. At the time our flight was meant to depart we decided to use our food vouchers to grab a bite to eat when we noticed that there was a line at our boarding gate. It turns out that our flight was no longer delayed, but nobody had thought to mention it either in Spanish or English over the tannoy. So in the end we were delayed 30 minutes and then only because we had to wait for the luggage of four unfortunate passengers who had checked in, but not realised that the flight was now leaving on time, to be removed from the plane! We arrived in Cancun and quickly got on an overnight bus to the town of Palenque.

Palenque

The archeological site named after the nearby village was probably known to the Maya civilization as Lakamha, meaning big water. While not a huge site, it has a impressive array of palaces, temples, tombs and living quarters. Unfortunately due to an overcast day our pictures don’t really do the site justice.

Along with its impressive architecture and glyphs, what makes Palenque so special is its location in the jungle. While some of the site has been cleared, most remains hidden in the jungle which is teaming with wildlife, such as the howler monkeys that can be heard throughout the whole complex. We were quite thankful that not all the site had been reclaimed from the jungle as what there was gave us enough of a stair master work out.

San Cristobal de Las Casas

San Cristobal is a popular tourist location due to it location in the hills and its preserved colonial architecture. It is also one of the poorest regions in Mexico and the amount of children working on the streets, cleaning shoes or selling sweets for a living as well as those begging for a peso, was really noticeable.

Ten kilometres from San Cristobal is the town of San Juan Chamula, which is known for its colourful church and ceremonies which mix aspects of different religions. Inside the church, the floor and tables were filled with thousands of candles, with the smells of incense and burning coal filling the nostrils. We walked among people kneeling on the straw covered floor praying, as well as watching two small children participating in the sacrifice of a chicken, by ringing its neck and then rubbing it all over a sick elderly relative. Unfortunately due to the strict religious nature of the ceremonies, photography is not allowed inside the church, however it seems that Shamans deep in religious prayer can stop to take a call on their mobile!

In the search for real Mexican food at local prices we struck gold in San Juan as for our lunch we found our cheapest tacos yet, 3 pesos or about 15 pence each, where we got to sit with locals who liked to question us and tell us about the church and the best times of year to visit to experience the ceremonies for which the town is famous throughout Mexico.

Oaxaca

A voyage of food discovery in Mexico would not be complete without a visit to Oaxaca, pronounced Wah-hah-kah, which is home to the seven moles, pronounced mo-lay. Mole is a thick, rich sauce, of which the most famous is Mole Negro that is made from chillis, fruits, nuts, spices & chocolate!

In Oaxaca we also went searching for our first crispy tacos in Mexico. Known as Tostadas they are nothing like the shell shaped tacos that we are used to and are completely flat, and they’re not a small meal either, if the ones we had in Oaxaca are anything to go by, which were huge.

There is a lot more to Oaxaca than just food, it’s a beautiful colonial city with a huge plaza surrounded by historical buildings and mariachis playing for your attention and money.

Just outside of Oaxaca is the ancient Zapotec capital of Monte Alban. It’s has a significant setting high in the hills with impressive views over modern day Oaxaca. For over a thousand years it was the centre of the Zapotec empire full of buildings and ball courts, tombs filled with finely crafted gold jewelery as offerings to the gods. The huge main plaza was one of the biggest we have seen and showed how the occupants would have lived.

Our drive to the capital of modern day Mexico was how we pictured Mexico to be, with vast expenses of arid land covered with cacti.

Mexico City

We arrived at one of the many bus stations in the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City, the third largest city in the world. We quickly worked out the metro map and took the tube during rush hour, where at every stop a new vendor came on selling the usual goods, such as sweets, pens and chewing gum. At 3 pesos, or 25c a ride, it’s certainly an economical way to get around.

We based ourselves in the Coyoacan district, which is a slightly more upscale area in the capital. Our hostel was a lovely converted home with nice rooms and great breakfasts. The area was home to one of Mexico’s most famous artists, Frida Kahlo. The blue house in which she was raised and lived her life has been converted into a museum of her and her husband Diego Rivera’s work. Frida’s fame came almost entirely after her death, and I was surprised how little of her work she actually completed, but the house itself and the interior design were delightful, including the garden.

The blue house was also the home of another famous occupant, as it was here that Leon Trotsky lived when he first arrived in Mexico after he was exiled from his homeland. After a falling out with the Kahlo’s, Trotsky moved out but remained in the Coyoacan area, and his home and the place of his brutal death have also been turned into a fascinating museum.

The are many museums and other attractions to see in Mexico City, but unfortunately we were struck down with a bout of Montezumas revenge, and as we had already booked onward bus tickets and wanted to continue with our plans we had to decide what we most wanted to see before we left and we opted for....

Teotihuacán

Despite being a centre of the Aztec kingdom and its sun temple being the third largest surviving pyramid in the world, we were left somewhat underwhelmed by Teotihuacán. From on top of the sun temple you could gain a perspective on the vast size of the complex and the surrounding countryside, from which you could see all the sites plazas and pyramids.

The city and the workmanship involved in creating it was magnificent, but it was here we both agreed that we were officially templed out for the Americas and it was time to head on to...

Guadalajara

This city runs pretty close to Oaxaca as our favourite food location in Mexico. We managed to find delicious foods that we hadn’t found anywhere else, such as slow roasted goat and stewed lamb that could be eaten alone or rolled into a customary tortilla.

In Guadalajara we also felt that we were in the real Mexico, or more specifically the Mexico that you hear about in the news. Locals didn’t shy away when you caught them staring at you, and some people also made a overly concerted effort to get out of the way of the camera when we were taking pictures of buildings they were walking by, as if they really didn’t want to be caught on camera. And while we were experiencing a traditional Mexican breakfast of Chilaquiles, tomato and bean smoothered nachos with eggs, a customer ordered his breakfast while showing the waiter some cryptic codes on the palm of his hand, which the waiter quickly jotted down, all very odd. There were also hoards of armed policemen cruising the streets in jeeps and surrounding official buildings, looking very mean.

It’s safe to say that Guadalajara is a little rough around the edges, but with an authentic feel and plenty of charm too. Despite feeling that we had found a more real side to Mexico we made a last minute decision to skip our plans for northern Mexico and head straight to Los Angeles, on Oscar night no less! Thus, bringing an end to our tour of the Spanish speaking world (although Spanish is now the most spoken language in the United States too) so Adios Latin America, te encantamos!.

Mexico Summary

I was really looking forward to Mexico and the food, and it turned out to be everything that I hoped it would be and more, and the pre-Colombian ruins were great, as were the beaches and the diving. However, the everyday attractions are similar to those in Central America and we just stopped appreciating those sights as much as when we first saw them, which is one of the reasons we decided to push on early to the US. Despite the escalating stories about gang crime and the war on drugs that is spreading throughout the country, we felt safer in Mexico than in many places in Central America and can highly recommend it.

Highlights

Favourite Place - San Cristobal (Jo) Tulum (Ryan)
Favourite Attraction - Snorkelling in the cenote, Chichen Itza (Jo) Palenque (Ryan)
Favourite Food - Sopes (Jo) Tacos al Pastor (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Negro Modelo (Ryan)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $15-40 for a room
Restaurant meal - $2-8
330ml Bottled Beer - $2
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $1
Bus - $4 /hour

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

The Cuban Way

ryanandjo — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:53:00 GMT

We headed west from Havana towards the main tobacco growing region of Cuba. We had to take the Viazul tourist bus because its not possible to get cheaper tickets on second class buses as there is a ‘no tourist’ policy in place and travelling about the country is hard enough for Cubans so they keep all the tourists on the more expensive buses to ensure there are enough seats for locals to travel. The tourists in Cuba are different to standard backpackers in Central America, there are virtually no Americans, lots of Canadians, Norwegians and Germans, with a few Russians thrown in, and, in general, an older crowd, so it was nice to mix with different nationalities for a change.

The soviet built highway we drove along was in good condition but was pretty empty, we only passed by a few old lorries, cars and other buses and at every junction there would be, alongside a socialist slogan or two, lots of Cubans waiting on the side of the road to be picked up by a lorry or waiting for a hitchhikers car to go past. It’s a moral obligation in Cuba for certain cars to take hitchhikers, especially ones with blue or orange number plates.

When we arrived in Viñales there was a hoard of casa owners waiting for their guests to arrive and our casa in Havana had prearranged another casa for us so we didn’t have to worry about searching for somewhere to stay. Our Mum from the new casa had a sign with our names on it Rayan y Yobanna! Isabelita was absolutely lovely and instantly made us feel at home in her 1950’s built and styled bungalow complete with rocking chairs on the porch. All the casa particulares offer breakfast and dinner for guests so you can eat good quality food freshly prepared. To eat in the casa is the same cost as a restaurant meal, but it’s better value and home cooked, rather than some of the restaurants that can feel very institutional. Our food experience in Havana was hit and miss, so we thought we would try the home cooking for a change. We weren’t disappointed as Isabela’s dinners were huge as she laid out a spread of pork, congri (mix of rice and black beans), salad, chips, crisps, and fruit salad, with all plates being refilled before we could say no!

The area around Viñales is full of karst hills called mogotes and as this is prime tobacco country, the fields are dotted with tobacco farms and farmers inviting you into their homes to show you how they make cigars. It was really interesting to be shown the process of tobacco from a local farmer and, of course, it helps them to make a few extra dollars on the side when they sell Ryan cigars to give him his first taste of real home grown Cuban cigaros. He wasn’t disappointed with their suave taste that comes from the way they are freshly made without any chemicals or additives, so they are very organic, apparently!

To explore the region we hired bikes for the day, although my bike had dodgy brakes so I ended up walking down all the hills to stop myself having an accident. We cycled up to a hotel that was ordered to be built by Castro because of the great view it has of all the karsts.

Some of the local attractions were slightly dodgy, including a prehistoric themed mural that’s meant to show evolution, which was painted in the 1960’s on the side of a karst. We thought it was a bit weird and really not necessary in this beautiful countryside.

Overall Viñales had great scenery, friendly locals with straw hats and cigars hanging out of their mouths and a great little plaza in town that was perfect for a post-cycle beer or two.

Cienfuegos

When we arrived in Cienfuegos, 8 hours east of Vinales via Havana, we were met by our next casa, which again had been prearranged for us. We were taken to a lovely colonial home with huge rooms and a courtyard, where we stayed with Miriam and Gladys, two old school teacher sisters. Again, we were treated really well and fed too much. We have noticed that all the casas seem to have a textbook way of welcoming guests. They all tell you what the area has to offer and how they can help you arrange any tours or transport, they also all have plastic flower arrangements and photos of family on display and a living room area that is never used, as if it’s just there to show that the houses are nice and homely in Cuba, just how they want foreigners to perceive them to be. We were always asked the same questions about ourselves, what we do, what we think of Cuba, as if they were reciting from a list of recommended questions. It reminded us again that even though everyone is extremely friendly and kind, they are only doing this as a way to make money after the heavy taxes imposed on them.

Cienfuegos is a sleepy town with all the historical buildings surrounding the main plaza, so it was easy to see all the sights in a short time.

The town’s highlight is the 3km malecon on the Punta Gorda stretch of land that sits alongside the Bay of Cienfuegos. It’s the perfect place for a long walk, people watching and enjoying the sunset with a cigar, if you are called Ryan!

Cienfuegos is only 15km from the coast so we thought we might as well enjoy one of the beaches this Caribbean island is so famous for even if we would have to brave the harsh Cuban winter for a beach day. Luckily the winter is still at least 25 degrees and the sea was perfect if we ignored the fish that liked to nibble the dead skin off our feet. We learned the lesson of not ordering anything for lunch that says it comes with ham as it will only turn out to be spam again!

We took an illegal taxi back to town, one that is not licensed so they don’t pay tax and if they are caught they are heavily fined, but the driver offered to take us back and it was fun for us to ride in a 1970’s Lada, even if we did nearly fall through the worn out seats and could see the road through holes in the floor. It had no working speedo or fuel gauge but got us from a-z just fine. It’s funny how long these old cars can last if there are no rules, regulations or annual checks saying how safe they should be.

Trinidad

Just an hour away by bus, Trinidad is the prettiest and most colonial city in Cuba and along with that comes the tourists and the hoards of jinateros (hustlers) who follow you around offering cigars, taxis, restaurants, etc.

It is very pretty and the views from the museum bell tower at sunset were worth the climb.

We then climbed a hill to a run down church to watch the sunset. There were lots of locals here asking our nationality so they could exchange CUCs for any foreign coins they had from our country. We were used to this so we lied and told the begging ladies that we were from Bulgaria, so eventually they gave up and sat down and chatted with us in between bugging other tourists. Of course they knew all about Bulgaria, if you are going to lie to them, don’t pick an old socialist country they know all about!

The next day we headed out to explore more of the town but this only lasted about thirty minutes before we realised the scorching heat and lack of air conditioning meant we would wither before the morning was complete. So we escaped to the local beach at Playa Ancon, which was beautiful and the sea was very still, cool and refreshing. Playa Ancon was long so there was plenty of room to find shade under a palm tree or sneak onto a resort sun lounger without paying, along with picking up a pet to keep us company.

Unfortunately, Trinidad just kept annoying us with continuous hassle on the street and even though we were staying in a lovely casa with our own roof terrace, our casa momma couldn’t leave us alone and insisted we stay longer in her house even though we told her numerous times we only wanted to stay two nights. You also have to check your change whenever you buy anything as they will always short change you and in one supermarket we were obviously overcharged as the final bill did not add up anywhere near the prices on the shelves, but when we asked for a receipt they refused to give us one, even though there was a big sign over the cashiers head telling customers to request their receipt! There is too much competition here that it is turning the Cubans into mini capitalists and thieves. We needed to get out of this town and go somewhere quieter so we headed to...

Sancti Spiritus

This town was described to us as the complete opposite of Trinidad so we couldn’t wait to get there but it turned out to be too true, there was nothing much to see or do and everything in our guidebook took less than an hour to see and nothing was worthy of a photo, so we spent our day in the El Rapido 24 hour cafe that of course is not 24 hours only maybe 4 hours a day.

Santa Clara

This is the home of the final battles of the revolution that secured Fidel his victory. It was here that Che commandeered a troop of soldiers who derailed an armoured train carrying over 400 soldiers and ammunition and was the final act that made their opposition, Batista, surrender. The box car trains are on display and are now an interesting museum. The Santa Clara Libre Hotel in the centre of town still bares the pock marks from bullets that were shot by Che, or, as our lovely casa owner Auturo would say, ”It’s a very famous hotel you know, bang bang bang Che, bang bang bang Che”!

The city is also the final resting place for Che himself as his remains were buried here in 1997 after being recovered from Bolivia. The museum, mausoleum and monument all in his honour on the outskirts of the town are a fitting status for this hero of socialism and we loved being bossed about by the stewardesses who made us queue up in a very particluar spot before entering and then would follow you around the museum making sure you looked at everything in the right order!

Santa Clara turned out to be the first time we could spend national pesos on two beers, whoo hoo, seems that the Santa Clarans are too honest and not as CUC hungry as the Havaneros. I think Santa Clara seemed to be a really authentic Cuban city, mainly because it didn’t have really pretty buildings, no beaches nearby and not a great deal in the way of tourist attractions, so it was definitely worth a visit to escape the crowds and hustlers.

Playas del Este

We then had a few days left before we needed to return to the airport so we headed to the Playas del Este region just 17km east of Havana. This 5km stretch of beach is the cheaper option for having a beach break without staying in a resort. We stayed at the far end of the beach in the town of Guanabo in a nice casa up on a hill above town, so we had sea views. The weather was slightly against us and we didn’t have the warmth to laze on the beach all day, but it was a perfect place to unwind, stroll around and let Cuba settle into our heads and really analyse what we thought of the country.

Cuba summary

Cuba is a country that makes you think. It’s a country that offers its people free health care, free education up to university level, free child care for all working parents, encouragement of sporting achievements, free or heavily subsidised cultural events, free concerts every week in most towns and it only costs $1 to go to the theatre for Cubans or $0.04 to watch the baseball. Cuba’s a beautiful Caribbean island with free housing, so no mortgage or rent worries, free food rations every month, a place where people share with one another if they have more than their friends and family have. A country where there is no advertising or marketing anywhere, just a bit of propaganda to read. A place where there is virtually no crime and no guns because if you steal from someone you are really just stealing from yourself. It’s a country where every car stops to let you cross the road so there is no danger of being run over.

Wouldn’t we all like to live in a country with these pluses? Your answer would probably be yes if you’re happy to pay 80% of your wages as taxes and never have the ability to be an entrepreneur or better your living standards. Probably yes if you’re happy to wave your right to vote democratically and have freedom of speech against the government and probably yes if you are willing to have the amount of food you can buy dramatically cut when there are food shortages and if you don’t want good quality food. Cuba made me feel like there is nothing wrong with socialism/communism except that at the end of the day it doesn’t really work because you can never get a whole country to think and act the exact same way. Cuba is slowly opening up to capitalism and private business licences are being offered although with high taxes. Cubans want to have all the benefits that their relatives living abroad have and you can understand why because the grass is always greener on the other side. But I can’t help thinking that maybe they will regret longing for capitalism when the country is full of fast food joints taking over local restaurants, when advertising takes over every spare space and persuades them to spend their new found wealth on products they really don’t need, when crime increases because the difference between the haves and have nots becomes to great to resist resorting to crime.

Cuba is cigar smoke, jazz music, cadillacs, murals, socialist slogans, old fashions, crumbling buildings, white beaches, blue sea, poor people, it has so much to offer that we haven’t found in any other country we’ve visited, in all Cuba is an experience, even if you can't work out if you agree with it or not!

Highlights

Favourite Place - Vinales (Jo) Havana (Ryan) Playa Ancon (Both)
Favourite Attraction - Biking around Vinales (Jo) Che Memorial(Ryan)
Favourite Food - Isabel’s dinner (Jo) Congri - rice & beans (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Mayabe (Ryan)
Favourtie Drink - Papaya juice (Jo)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $25 for a room in a casa particular
Restaurant meal - $4-7
Casa Particular breakfast and dinner - $4/$8
330ml Bottled Beer - $1.50
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $1
Bus - $4 /hour

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Havana Highs

ryanandjo — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 01:53:00 GMT

The flight from Cancun to Havana was an experience. The Cubana airlines plane was a very old 1970’s Yakovlev YAK-42 Russian plane with too many rows of seats squeezed into it so we didn’t have any leg room or a window in our row at the very back of the plane. All the seats fell forward if you leaned on them, the arm rests fell backwards on to other peoples legs, there were no fasten seat belt signs, all signs were in a cyrillic language and when the jet took off it rattled, shook and filled with vapor from the freezing cold air that was furiously pumping in around our feet. Thank goodness it was only an hour long flight we had to endure and we were happy when the stewards offered us our first taste of Havana Club with a Cuba Libre. The plane does sound terrible but it was the smoothest take off and landing I think I have ever had on a plane.

Havana

Cuba’s not a cheap place to stay and there are no hostels available for backpackers so we chose to stay with Daniel and Fina who run a ‘casa particular’, a home where people apply for a license to offer rooms for rent to tourists at a much lower cost then staying in a state run hotel or resort. It was a beautiful apartment on the third floor of a building in Havana Centro, where one of the original members of the Buena Vista Social Club still lives, and our room had a little balcony overlooking the street and rooftops of Havana.

It was a great experience to live in a local neighbourhood and see how Havaneros really live and the casa was in easy walking distance to Old Havana, the Malecon and the Vedado suburb, which was a welcome relief to us as it turns out Havana is a very safe city to walk around even late at night, which was so unusual to us after Central America where you can’t wander to some places in daylight without an armed guard with you. So with that in mind we set off on foot to explore Havana’s many highlights.

The Plaza de la Revolucion is a huge open area where rallies and historical speeches have been held and where Castro has stood to address the masses on many occasions. With the giant Jose Marti monument (the founder of the original revolution movement) towering above, it felt very important and we took the elevator to the top for a birds eye view of Havana and a look down onto the offices of Castro.

On the other side of the plaza is the Ministry of the Interior building with a picture of Che looking over the area.

Some wouldn’t call our next stop a highlight but when we headed to the Cristobal Colon cemetery to take a tour of the graves it was like walking around a history book. The cemetery is special because it’s the largest in the country and 1 in 5 Havaneros are buried there, that’s over 1 million people so far and it’s the only place in the whole of Cuba where there is private property (the state owns everything else). We took a tour with a funny lady who liked to whisper jokes at Castro’s expense but who was also a huge fan of Simon Cowell, go figure. She told us the history of the important people who are buried in the grounds including past presidents, the inventor of the mojito, famous musicians and the grave where Castro made his first ever political speech, kick-starting his career, along with miracle graves and fascinating stories from Havana’s past.

When we were walking around Havana we always came across murals of revolutionary slogans, propaganda and pictures of Che and Castro, reminding us of the socialist state the people live in.

All the walking would make us hungry but we were disappointed when we had our first taste of bad Cuban cuisine that we had been warned about. We ordered a fried rice that was being cooked outside a state-run cafe and it looked quite tasty, but it turned out to be cold, bland and I think it involved some spam...oh right we had just eaten spam fried rice, yuck!

The state run restaurants and museums all have women attendants wearing what looks like a 1960s air stewardess outfit with beehive hairdos, it’s very easy to feel in a time warp in Cuba, especially when every one in three cars in Cuba were built in the 1950’s giving a glimpse of what life was like back in those days.

The old cars would always honk at us asking if we wanted a taxi even though it is illegal for them to pick up foreigners, we should only take state run official taxis that cost more, but the illegal ones still try their luck because they know they can make a few CUCs out of tourists. Sometimes we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to jump in an oldsmobile and go hurtling along in a huge lump of metal whilst we sunk down into the seat. The buses are also very old but are slowly being replaced by new Chinese buses and the city is famous for it’s little balls of sunshine, the coco taxis beep beeping down the road.

Strolling down La Rampa main avenue in Vedado was a highlight for spotting art deco buildings and we overtook queues and queues of people lining up to buy anything and everything. Only so many people can do something at once, like enter a store or bank, so everyone has to queue and wait their turn and there is definitely no pushing in allowed as you always hear calls for ‘el ultimo’ (the last in the queue).

We thought we would try out the institutional ice cream parlor that every Cuban had recommended as a highlight to us, Coppelia’s Ice Cream store, the most famous and delicious ice cream in Cuba (though the standards are not very high). We wanted to join the peso queue with everyone else and wait our turn to be told what flavour of ice cream we had to have as there’s only one or two flavours on offer each day, but instead the security guard wouldn’t let us through and showed us to the foreigners section where we had to pay in CUC because we were tourists although we could sit and order what we wanted from an array of flavours.

We were fast learning that there is a two tier system in Cuba, them and us! If you work for the state you get to pay cheap prices but the quality and choice is considerably less. If you don’t work for the state you get a huge price increase but the quality is much better and there are more options. You feel like you are being put on a pedestal but really you are just a commodity for the country to make more money, which it desperately needs.

There are two currencies in Cuba and most Cubans use pesos or CUP and are paid with this, but there are also CUC convertible pesos that foreigners use for hotels, dinner, museums etc, which were brought in to replace the use of US dollars. If you go to a place where they sell food and drink in pesos it’s very hard to pay using that currency because they always give tourists a menu with prices in CUC even though they have the peso menu on the wall and you can see what something is really worth. The interesting thing about Cuban currency is that it’s the only country we’ve visited that has a 3 denomination note in the system.

Havana has hundreds of museums and galleries but the must visit museum in the city is the Museo de la Revolucion based in the old presidential palace that was stormed in 1953 by students and still shows bullet holes from the event. It was really interesting and full of artifacts and photos showing how Castro won the revolution and came to power and the centrepiece is the shrine they have built that holds the original boat, Granma, which brought Castro, Che and the other revolutionaries to Cuba from Mexico.

The best view of Havana can be seen from the Castillo that looks across the harbour over all of the city and the malecon. No wonder Che used part of the building as his headquarters in Havana, definitely a prime location.

The main tourist draw of the capital is Havana Vieja (Old Havana), which is full of cobblestone plazas lined with churches, fancy colonial buildings and posh hotels, people hanging their laundry out to dry on the balconies overhead, book bazaars selling history books...

...men playing music and women dressed up in fancy costumes smoking fat cigars, all trying to make a CUC or two for a photo opportunity.

But we were a little underwhelmed by this part of town. It was the area where you got hassled the most to buy cigars, to eat in a restaurant, take a horse carriage ride, mainly because Cubans are desperate to make more money then the state pays them and tourists are the easiest way to make some hard cash. We much preferred the other suburbs of Havana as you could wander around with much less hassle, people didn’t turn their heads at two tourists walking around they just let you fit in and it didn’t seem so fake. We really liked the colourful Callejon de Hamel in the Vedado district that has been turned into an art and music project that hosts street concerts every weekend.

My personal highlight of Havana was the Malecon, especially when the winds picked up and sent waves crashing down onto the road and pavement as the sea pounded the Malecon wall and occasionally soaking a tourist who was getting too close to take a photo. They even have to close the road when the conditions are too bad.

To see a different part of Havana we took a long, long walk to the baseball stadium to watch Cuba’s equivalent of the Yankees, the Industriales vs Isla de la Juvented. Raul, the cook at our casa, had recommended we go to see them as they’re the best team in Cuba. We weren’t allowed to buy a ticket at the regular ticket office so we were escorted around the corner to buy tickets from the foreigners window for a 750% mark up on the ticket price. Ok so cubans only pay 1 peso to enter ($0.04) and we paid $3, which is kind of fair and still very cheap for us. Let’s face it, if it cost Cubans any more to go to a game they wouldn’t be able to afford it, the game would have no crowd and possibly no supporters so there would be no point in having a national sport to boost moral. Final score? We don’t actually know the final score because we only watched five innings, which took over three hours. It was a slow game but with lots of scoring and we were lucky to see a very rare occurrence in our first inning where an Industriales player hit an inside the park grand slam, something you could go to thousands of games and never see happen. It was a great atmosphere and there were some very heated discussions going on around us, which you would expect to break out into a riot if it was a football game, but it’s just the flair and passion Cubans have for their teams and they all end up hugging when they eventually agree to disagree. It was a bit out of the way but it turned into the highlight of our visit to the capital and was worth the effort.

To relax in the evenings after all the walking we did, we would partake in one of Cuba’s finest past times...Mojitos and Jazz, need I say more!

We were fascinated by Havana and Ryan has claimed it as his favourite captial city in Latin America. It attacks all your senses at the same time. Just wandering down a street you can’t help but look up and down at all the architecture styles, whether they are still intact or looking like they will collapse if the wind blows too hard. It’s difficult not to peer into peoples windows and doorways and marvel at the antique furniture that looks in pristine condition, the size of the rooms and the number of people all living together. You can’t help but take clandestine peeks at peoples outfits and hairdos, some from another era, some way too tight and some that are old but so well cared for they could last a lifetime. You can’t help but stare at the queues of people lining up at tiny windows waiting to buy a pizza or bread or waiting to pay a telephone bill, they make you want to join the queue just to feel part of the system. You feel your head turning as a 1950’s American beast of a car rides by full of people trying to get some of their way home for the evening. Your ears fill with the sound of jazz music as it floats down from an apartment window above and your nose fills with the sweet smell of cigar smoke you can’t help but inhale on every street corner. With everyone relentlessly fighting for your CUC there is quite a bit not to like about Havana, but there is also so much about the city that you can’t help but fall in love with it. We’re glad we got to see it as it is today and experience its charms along with it faults, as it may not remain this way for very much longer.

And then we headed to...

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

A-Maya-zing Mexico plus some Tacos

ryanandjo — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:17:00 GMT

After slightly over two months in Central America we crossed into Mexico and were promptly handed a 6 month visa and allowed to pass into the country without having our bags searched. We have managed to travel all the way from Panama City, through nine border controls without being searched or scanned once!

Before we started the trip, Mexico was the country that I was most looking forward to visiting, but then I had been looking forward to Vietnam too, so my excitement at reaching this milestone was slightly tempered. I’ve always loved spicy food and that has only been enhanced throughout the trip, and as Mexico is known for its spicy salsas and our first region is famous for it’s habanero peppers, I think I might just have arrived in heaven!

Tulum

The most noticeable thing at our first bus station was the lack of chicken buses, they had been replaced by Pullman coaches where you get assigned a seat that you don’t have to share with anyone else and all the people with their market goods aren’t crammed into the aisles, but this privilege comes with a hefty price tag. Arriving in Tulum we quickly went about finding our first taco stall, which came complete with a salsa that was satisfyingly spicy.

Did I mention we had been looking forward to Mexican food? The next day rather than exploring Tulum, we decided to go on a self-guided food tour, trying the different types of antojitos (snacks) on offer, including sopes, gringas, burritos and panuchos, topping off the evening with fajitas and enchiladas and finishing a bowl of salsa that I had been warned was ‘muy muy picante’.

Realising that if we tried to eat our way around Mexico it could lead to serious waistline problems, we decided to broaden our Mexican horizons outside of food and as this region was once the heartland of the Maya civilisation it wasn’t too hard to find some culture. If I was around in Maya times then I would have wanted to have been situated at the Tulum complex. Even though it’s not as extensive or impressive as some of the other Maya sites we’ve seen, it has the perfect location!

The beach and the colour of the sea made for an amazing setting and somewhere as good looking as this is understandably followed by crowds of tourists over the busy holiday period, but it was still great to cool off in the huge waves and become pro wave jumpers.

Whilst at the ruins we got to see the Danza de los Voladores or Dance of the Flyers, performed by the Maya as a gesture to Itzamna their creator god. Not for those who are scared of heights, five men dressed in traditional costume climb a pole, then, while one plays a flute from the top, the four others spin around a pole upside down with ropes bound to their waists and wrapped around their ankles until they reach ground.

The Yucután Peninsula was created when a giant coral reef became exposed to the atmosphere. Gradually the coral limestone was dissolved by rainfall and created a massive cave and underground river system. Many of them collapsed creating sink holes or became flooded, creating Cenotes where fresh water floats on top of sea water. We signed up to a snorkelling trip that included a trip to the 3rd longest underwater cave system in the world, Cenote Dos Ojos. The water was spectacularly clear and the stalactite and stalagmite formations provided a fascinating snorkel as we swam through the formations and dived down through them, occasionally swimming under very low ceilings to enter caves, such as the Bat Cave, which despite having bats in had no sign of Batman. It was an eerie but highly recommendable experience and it was easy to see why it was chosen as the location for the horror film The Cave.

Our next site was Yal-Ku laguna which is comprised of fresh water run off from Cenotes that merges in the laguna with sea water. Again there was an opportunity to swim through rock formations as the porous rocks have created tunnels as well as being able to see an abundance of fish under the mangroves that were protruding into the laguna. We returned to Tulum to see in the New Year, happily sampling many of the local brews on offer.

Valladolid

Next we headed inland to use Valladolid as our base to visit the most recognisable Maya site in the Yucután Peninsula. While exploring the city’s central plaza we came across a local food court where we would eat all our meals over the next three days and where I took on an assumed name. On our first visit, when writing out our order we forgot to write down a name and when I told them my name it was written down as Frayman, so that became my name in Valladolid, and the owner of the restaurant would beckon us using it every time we walked into the food court. Despite trying as much as we could we didn’t even make a dent on the extensive list of regional foods on offer, but managed the spicy stuffed jalapeno peppers.

Chichén Itzá

Meaning at the mouth of the well of the Itzá, referring to the sacred cenote within the complex grounds, Chichén Itzá is the the most visited attraction in the Yucután province and one of the most visited sites in Mexico. So to beat the crowds we arrived early, but we weren’t expecting to be the first people in line to buy tickets, which meant that we were the first to see it’s most photographed landmark, the Kukulcán Pyramid or El Castillo. The temple has been beautifully restored on three sides but perhaps our favourite aspect of the temple was the side that is yet to be restored.

Despite the impressive nature of El Castillo our favourite part of the complex was the great ball court, the largest of it’s kind in the Maya world. Not much is known about the exact rules of the game but the inscriptions on the walls of the court give some details to the rules of the game which involved getting a ball through rings located 30ft in the air, with the losers like in most Maya contests losing their heads.

The Maya are well known for their human sacrifices and at Chichén Itzá, they even had a platform on which to display the heads of the decapitated, which is easily recognisable from carvings of skulls along its base.

We were slightly concerned that Chichén Itzá wouldn’t live up to the hype as the Maya site that made the new seven wonders of the world list amongst all others, but it was a grand and colossal structure that left us in awe of this wonder.

Playa Del Carmen

We headed back on the coast for some beach time. Most of this region is pretty developed, but we had managed to miss the ‘in your face’ mass tourism aspect of it, but in Playa Del Carmen it was inescapable. Aside from the advertisements for Tequila, Corona and Tacos it didn’t feel like Mexico, with its North American stores, fast food outlets and prices displayed and quoted in US$, it could be anywhere in the world. It’s the sort of place where you come for a drinking holiday and have a good time on the beach.

However, for backpackers the accommodations are expensive and not worth the money, the food portions are large but expensive and there is nothing authentic about it. However, there is a reason why so many people come here and that’s due to its fabulous coastline and the activities along it, and we are no different so we decided to head over to Isla Cozumel 20 kilometres away to see if we could find it more to our liking.

Cozumel

Although still very touristy, we preferred Cozumel to Playa as most of the tourist industry is based on resorts dotted around the island, not in the main town where we chose to stay. Even though the first couple of streets from the shore where filled with shops and touts leaping onto day trippers, when they returned to their hotel or cruise ship in the evening the numbers died down and it didn’t feel so touristy, and just heading inland a few streets back you could find a real Mexican town and all the places where the locals eat and drink.

Cozumel is the largest island in Mexico and is rumoured to have some of the best diving and snorkelling in the world. Although more expensive than in other countries I've dived I decided to see for myself. Despite strong currents of around 4 mph where we got pushed where the current wanted to take us, it lived up to the hype and as probably the last diving that I’ll do on the trip, it was nice to have saved the best to last, but I wont be a dive bore this time and will leave the fish descriptions to your imagination!

After ten days discovering what our taco limits are(Jo = 3, Ryan = 5), we decided to set off from Mexico’s largest island to the biggest island in the Caribbean, but more on that next time.

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Short but Un-Belize-ably Sweet

ryanandjo — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:35:00 GMT

We crossed into Belize and despite the landscape being exactly the same as northern Guatemala we could tell that we were in a different country, but we weren’t expecting to find England! When we tried to speak Spanish to the first few people that we met they all responded in English, in fact it was hard for us not to say “gracias” rather than “thank you”. To confuse matters further the Belizian notes that we changed at the border all had a picture of the Queen on them.

Just as we were wondering if somehow we had magically returned to blighty for Christmas, we were reminded that we were still in Central America by our old friend the rickety chicken bus, but then just to throw doubt into our minds it was playing English Christmas songs on the radio.

Belize City

We continued our run of not visiting the majority of Central American capitals by bypassing Belmopan. Although Belize City was once the capital, due to the frequent hurricanes that cause havoc and wide spread damage during the hurricane season the capital was moved to Belmopan in 1970, which is the geographical centre of the country. Belize City is a small city in relative terms, where nothing is higher than 3 stories, in fact nothing in the whole of Belize is more than 3 stories, and it is believed that the tallest structure in the country was built by the Maya. Even the giant cruise ships that sit on the horizon would shadow the whole country if they were allowed to dock any closer! What there is to that city has a real Caribbean feel, from the people, the foods and smells of creole cooking on the streets. It may no longer be the capital but many consider it to still be the heart and soul of the country. We enjoyed watching the locals boat up and down Haulover Creek, which divides the city in two, even stopping at supermarkets to ‘dock and shop’.

From here we jumped in a taxi to head to our next stop...

Caye Caulker

Belize is home to the second largest reef in the world, so we went to Caye Caulker for a wet Christmas, that being it didn’t involve either rain or snow, just blue waters! Due to the high season there were a lack of cheap accommodation available, so we treated ourselves to a room with all the trimmings. The room even had good wifi to use Skype to call family and friends over the holidays, and you all probably know how that turned out! To say that Caye Caulker is laid back would be an understatement, the islands motto is Go Slow.

The island is divided up by three sandy paths, simply called front, middle and back street and the locals seem to just hang around the streets on their bikes, bottle of beer in hand not really making much of an effort to sell the goods they have on sale.

Tourists sunbathe on the docks or swim in the ‘Split’ between the two islands, which was caused by Hurricane Hattie, drinking cheap rum cocktails, until Cake Man Errol makes his rounds at 4.30 selling delicious freshly made cakes.

From the Caye you can also go on any number of tours to the surrounding reef, so we signed up with the cool sounding Ragamuffin tours for a snorkelling trip. The second site we visited is known as Shark & Ray Alley. We realised when we signed up that the nurse sharks and southern stingrays that the site is famed for would be fed by the guides to encourage them to come where we were would be snorkeling, but we were horrified and refused when the guide man-handled and held the animals so that we could touch and feel them. It wasn’t just our tour either, every tour boat we saw was doing the same thing. It seems that the tour companies feel that they have to deliver on the promise of the site’s name, and although the animals obviously come to the site to get an easy feed the handling of them isn’t a fair trade off. Our final site was in the confines of the Ho Chan Marine Park. The area has been protected for longer than other parts of the region and although the coral wasn’t as abundant as I would have expected there were plenty of wildlife to see, including tarpons, barracudas, turtles, eagle rays and a moral eel, thankfully none of which were touched.

If you’ve ever seen a picture for Belize tourism then you’ve probably seen it’s most famous attraction, the Blue Hole, an underwater sink hole around 300 metres across and 124 meters deep. The Blue Hole lies in the Lighthouse reef atoll around 43 miles from Belize City, so in Caye Caulker I signed up with Big Fish Divers to dive this natural wonder. In 1971 Jacques Cousteau declared it one of the top 10 dive sites in the world and he even dynamited the reef to provide entrance and exit points for his boats, so on our dive we were able to drive into the hole.

However, Cousteau spent weeks exploring the hole and due to the 40 metre depth of our dive we only had 25 minutes under water. The lack of sunlight prevents coral growth inside the hole, which means there is little in the way of fish, but at about 130 feet down we swam through an impressive stalactite formation, with some being over 20 feet in length. I knew that we may not see a great deal, but sharks are regularly found in the hole and the chance of seeing one and specifically a hammerhead was too good to pass up.

Thankfully all Blue Hole trips include two other dives and Half Moon Wall was a far better dive site with huge corals and an abundance of marine life, including a pair of turtles. For lunch we stopped on Half Moon Caye and had the traditional Belizian meal of stew chicken, which is the same as stewed chicken but there’s just no past tense in Creole English.

Walking around the island after lunch I was treated to a mini Galapagos, as it was breeding season and the magnificent male frigate birds had their red throat pouch inflated like a balloon and were using it to try to attract females. The island is also home to red footed boobies, which we didn’t see in the Galapagos either.

Our final dive was at Long Caye known locally as the Aquarium, and after descending it was easy to see why. We were surrounded by hundreds of different varieties of fish, including queen trigger and angel fish and a group of sargent majors and snapper engulfed the group swimming centimetres from our faces and followed us around for the whole dive. It was a great final dive and although the actual Blue Hole dive is probably not worth the hype and prestige, combined with the other two dives it was a great experience.

And that was it for Belize for us. There are more beaches and cayes to explore and there are a lot of Maya sites too, but as we have seen lots of those recently and have more to come in our next country, we decided we would push on to Mexico!!!!!!

Highlights

Favourite Place - We only went to Caye Caulker but it was great (Both)
Favourite Attraction - Snorkelling (Jo) Diving (Ryan)
Favourite Food - Cake Man Chocolate Cake (Jo) Anything with Marie Sharps Hot Sauce (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Belikin (Ryan)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $25-50 for a private room in hostel
Restaurant meal - $5-10
330ml Bottled Beer - $2
500ml Soft Drink - $1
1.5l Bottle of water - $1.5
Bus - $ 2 /hour

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Tikal'd Pink

ryanandjo — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:22:00 GMT

After crossing the border into Guatemala we jumped on a bus heading towards the capital. The ride took longer than expected because we had to wait two hours in a small town to pick up new passengers. This meant we had all sorts of opportunities to buy from the local vendors who sell anything they can from plastic buckets, hemorrhoid cream, chillies, nail clippers, tomatoes, marshmallows, toothbrushes, you name it, we were offered it.

Driving around the mountains we saw the view down the valley across the whole of Guatemala City, known just as Guate to the locals, and we were shocked by the size and sprawl of it. For a capital in Central America it was big, much bigger than the others we had passed through and we couldn’t help but gawp out the window as we crawled through the rush hour traffic. There were tall buildings and international companies with large headquarters, every brand of fast food joint we have ever heard of, drive through pharmacies, mega malls and a lot of traffic running through dual carriageways of all things, when was the last time we saw one of those? We decided against spending a night there, just because we thought it would take over an hour to get through all the traffic to a hotel so we jumped straight on another bus to head over to...

Antigua

Guatemala’s colonial gem and the previous capital of the country is one of those towns that has been nicely renovated to show the traditional character of buildings but unfortunately it does not really feel lived in. It’s very pretty, clean and quiet, it’s safe for tourists and has lots of restaurants and cafes catering to all the needs of foreigners and as a first base in Guatemala it’s a good place to get an introduction to the country and people. It was also cold in Antigua and I started to regret throwing away my fleece a few weeks earlier thinking I wouldn’t need it again, doh!

Almost 60% of Guatemala’s population is made up of Maya tribes and the streets of Antigua were full of women in wonderful traditional costumes, selling wares on the streets and washing clothes in the public wash baths.

There is a huge market with everything you can think of to buy and thankfully a cable that replaced a broken cable for our camera battery charger. The new cable was $2, we thought we would have to pay $90 for a new charger that we probably wouldn’t have been able to find in any shops.

Antigua is surrounded by four volcanoes, with the most famous one, Volcan Agua, looming over the entire town along with Volcan Acetenaga and Volcan Fuego, the latter which erupts every 15 minutes.

Volcan Pacaya

We decided to visit Volcan Pacaya, which is not as active as it used to be but was still a great volcano to visit. It took us 2 hours to walk up the volcano, around the rim and down into the basin to find some lava. At the start of the path there are horses with their owners who annoyingly following groups up the path in case it is too tough for them. As one of our group decided to take a horse they seemed to think the rest of us would cave in too, but it was quite funny to be walking up the narrow path hearing calls of ‘Taxi’ behind you. Thankfully they gave up after half way and we could enjoy the walk in peace.

It was really cold on the edge of the caldera but when we descended it became a lot warmer. It was fun trying to get down into the basin as it was very steep and made up of volcanic sand so we had to surf down on our heels.

As we started to climb over rocks we found out that if we spilled water on the ground it sizzled because the rocks were so hot. At the end of the path we found a cave that felt like a sauna, it was so hot it was difficult to breath and we could only stay in there for 30 seconds at a time. Some stray dogs had a good idea to live up there as it’s much warmer for them to sleep there at night.

When we arrived at a crack in the crater the heat coming out of it was immense. Our guide held a branch over the gap to show how hot it was and it caught alight instantly.

We stayed in the caldera until it became dark so we could see the lava glowing.

On the way back down we had to spend an hour walking back along a narrow path in the dark. Some of our group had torches so we could see a little of the way, but apart from that we just had to follow close to the person in front and hope no one slipped over the edge.

The volcano was a good hours drive away from Antigua so by the time we returned we were very hungry. To our surprise there was a Christmas carol concert taking place in the main plaza and there were hundreds of people sitting around eating meals. When we saw the food stalls and the long queues we realised the food was being given away for free, so we lined up and tucked into tamales, bread and soup for nothing while listening to Christmas songs, what a great idea to boost community spirit.

Lago de Atitlan

The road to Atitlan is lined with groups of Maya children waving at every bus and car that passes by. This was a little surreal at first and Ryan started to tire of waving back after we passed by the tenth group but then we realised it was Sunday, and the biggest market day of the Maya week, so all the children have to sit by the side of the road waiting for their parents to return from market. Maybe they tell them, ‘Just keep waving, we’ll be home soon’

After arriving in the main town of Panajachel we took a boat across the lake, which is surrounded by hills and volcanoes, over to Santiago, one of the most authentic towns on the lake as most of the people here dress in their traditional costumes. The male costume consists of a cowboy hat, a nice shirt decorated with hand sewn patterns, stripy shorts and a sash belt that they fold and tie around their middle so they can carry things in it rather than using pockets.

Santiago is also home to Maximon, the deity of the Maya people. He is paraded around the town during Easter week each year, but for the rest of the year he lives in the caretakers home, which changes location every year. It's okay for tourists to visit him but to find him you can pay a guide to escort you or wander around asking the locals for their help. We asked our hotel owner where he lived but his instructions were a bit confusing, so after asking another three people in the streets we eventually found him down an alleyway and in a room at the back of someone's house. His chamber is decorated with balloons and candles and the incense they were burning immediately reminded us of Tibetan monasteries. There was a ceremony under way when we arrived, but once we had made our offering to Maximon ($3) we were allowed to enter and take photos. He’s a great looking icon, covered with scarves, ties and hats that have been offered to him, but his favourite offerings are rum and cigars. He usually sits with a cigar in his mouth but during the ceremony the caretaker gave Maximon a cigarette and lit if for him, it wasn’t just for show.

We feel we should tell you about the showers we often have to use in South and Central America. They are given the nickname of ‘Suicide Showers’ because you can buy a shower head that you connect directly to the mains electricity so it can heat up the cold water. After the first time you get an electric shock from this you quickly learn to never touch the shower head to make any adjustments when the water is flowing. Often you can feel the tap buzzing when you turn on the water, it’s a little scary! It’s easy to tell when someone in a hotel is having a shower as the lights usually dim and buzz when a shower is turned on. The shower we had in Santiago was a particularly good example of this.

San Pedro

When we arrived by ferry in San Pedro it immediately sent us back to Thailand. The town was full of narrow alleyways and streets similar to Chiang Mai and Ko Phi Phi, which were lined with guesthouses, internet cafes, restaurants, bars, even massage parlours all just catering for tourists. The specials dishes on the menus were even pad thai and green curry and we even saw people watching The Beach in one of the cinema rooms on offer, we were suffering from serious traveller confusion and I thought we may have travelled too much as we just didn’t know where we were. The one difference that bought us back to reality was the number of Spanish schools on offer because it’s a very popular place to learn the lingo, but we gave that a miss here and just enjoyed Gringoland and the banana pancakes on offer.

We then spent a night in Pana, which again is just a long street catering for tourist needs. Apart from the local market there doesn’t seem to be any reason for some of these towns to exist or make money apart from tourism. The kids who wander the streets trying to sell keyrings, purses, handmade toys etc can speak a number of different languages to impress the tourists and when that doesn’t work they just start begging. It’s quite a sad affair really and left a bitter taste in our mouths as there were plenty of good kids who really should be at school or at least just being kids and not working all day for little money.

Chichicastenango (ChiChi)

Getting to ChiChi was a bit of an experience. Our motto usually is why pay ten times more for a tourist shuttle bus when you can jump on a couple of chicken buses for $1. After the first bus climbed it’s way up into the highlands we were dropped off at a crossroads where we had to wait for the next bus. Being half way between two towns the bus was jam packed when it arrived and the only ‘standing’ room was on the stairs by the front door. Then the bus stopped for some more passengers and they had to stand in the same place as us. There was only room for about three people but with six people squeezed in I was somehow still upright even though my feet weren’t on the floor, I think my shins were holding me up against the steps. Chicken buses are always driven far too quickly, but they just don’t have the maneuverability to take corners the way the drivers make them and in this case I seriously thought it would be the day we met our match with dodgy buses. The ticket collector was screaming for people to move down the bus as he hung from the outside by one hand. If anyone let go on any of these corners we would all have fallen out the door. It was chaos but after a while the bus emptied a bit to let us stand inside, which was so much better.

In the town of ChiChi there is a large Maya population and at both churches around the plaza you can witness Shaman carrying out Maya ceremonies. Shaman pray on behalf of families who have to stay away from the church when the ceremony is underway. The main church is half Maya and half Catholic, mainly because the Spanish built a church on top of a Maya temple when they invaded the area, but now they have integrated both religions into the one place.

We were there for the weekly market that is one of the biggest in the country. We saw families head into town the night before with bundles of wood poles to make their stalls with, carrying their goods in shawls on their backs or heads. They then sleep in the streets so they can set up their stalls early the next morning.

Coban

We decided to head to Coban on the back roads of the country and we knew it would be a bumpy ride squished into small vans but we didn’t know we had to cross a huge landslide along with plenty of small ones that had occurred during the rainy season. At least it was the dry season and roads have been haphazardly built through the rubble, but it was still a little nerve wracking. We planned to do some sightseeing in the area but I ate something dodgy and got sick so we just spent a couple of days enjoying free wifi and cable TV in our room so we don’t actually have anything else to report from there.

Tikal (Star Wars Rebel Base)

We arrived in Flores after three mini bus rides and a river boat crossing. Flores appeared to be a pleasant town at first but it soon revealed that it was just another tourist bubble that Guatemala seems to excel in. This little town on a island in the Lago de Peten Itza has been renovated just for hotels and the usual tourist followings, but we couldn’t find any locals eating anywhere so trying to find a cheap place to eat was impossible. It was a good job we didn’t travel all the way into the Peten Jungle just to visit here, but just to use it as a base to visit Tikal. We had an early start as we wanted to arrive in the park for opening time at 6am but that meant we were up in time to see the luna eclipse.

We hooked up with a couple of Israelis to explore the ruins with and they helped to keep us awake for the day. The ruins are set deep in the Peten jungle so walking between each site you walk among soaring trees with thick roots, filled with Howler monkeys who howled away as we passed underneath them.

Tikal was probably the most important Maya city from around 250 to 700 AD with the biggest population and was built for business and religious purposes, and probably to chop off a few heads too. It is set on a hill in the jungle so the pyramids that can reach up to 60m high climb out of the canopy to give you a view of the jungle for miles and miles around. The ruins and pyramids were very impressive and very steep and were unlike anything we have seen before. Climbing each one meant climbing up big steps or staircases to reach the tops, but there was always a great view over the plazas below and you could see other pyramids poking out of the canopy and usually a handful of monkeys in the trees next to you.

Some of the pyramids have not been excavated and are covered in jungle apart from when you look through the tree tops and you can see the peak of the pyramid in all it’s former glory. The view from Temple IV was perhaps the most talked about temple during the day as it was the location and film set for the Rebel Base in Star Wars. We’ve been on the set of Star Wars, how cool is that!

Summary

And that was it for Guatemala. We both agree Guatemala is a great country for someone to start a backpacking trip because it's set up to get tourists around the country easily and it has all standards of accommodation, transport and food options. For us, we know we would have loved it at the beginning of our trip but for now it was just a ’Guatever’ experience. But before you think we are ungrateful, luckily we have learned to still enjoy places and find the little exciting things that are different to everyday life even if they don’t impress us as much as they should do at first. There were little glimpses of wonderful everyday in Guatemala, the community spirit in Antigua was uplifting, feeling the heat of lava almost burning your hand, meeting Maximon was completely surreal, morning commutes across the still Lake Atitlan was the perfect way to start each day, seeing Maya ceremonies and shaman at work was mystical and the pyramid heights of Tikal and stepping foot onto the set of Star Wars was unico!

As you wander around towns and villages you hear the slapping of hands everywhere as someone prepares tortillas to go with every meal. Listening in on conversations we discover we can’t understand a word because the Maya dialect is commonly spoken with it’s punchy, stuttering tones we haven’t heard anything like before. Seeing a row of seats on the bus crammed with a family of 6 all staring up at two strangers hanging on to the rail for dear life as we round a corner on two wheels always gave us a smile, and eventually they would smile too as they realised we were friendly and nothing to be afraid of. It’s a colourful, busy country packed with people of vastly different classes and there’s plenty of things to see and do. Just remember to ask the tour touts lots of questions to make sure they aren’t trying to swindle you!

Highlights

Favourite Place - Chichi (Jo) Lake Atitlan (Ryan)
Favourite Attraction - Maximon (Both)
Favourite Food - Free tamales in the park (Jo) Mayan Curry (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Moza (Both)

Lowlights

Too many touts trying to get you to stay in their hotel, to take their shuttle bus, to eat in their restaurant etc, it was just tiresome.

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $12-15 for a private room in hostel
Restaurant meal - $3-4
1L Bottled Beer - $2
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $0.80
Bus - $ 0.75 / hour

Until next time

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Peace, Paint and Pupusas

ryanandjo — Wed, 8 Dec 2010 09:38:00 GMT

Despite some stiff competition El Salvador, due to gang violence, has a reputation as being the most dangerous country in Central America. However, you wouldn’t realise it from the people that we met making our way from the border to our first destination because they were some of the friendliest we’ve met. As there was no direct service we had to take 3 buses and on our second bus the whole bus in unison screamed ‘gringos’ at the bus conductor when he forgot to tell us when to disembark, it was as if everybody on the bus had made it their personal duty to make sure that we got to where we needed to be. A lovely couple even waited for us to get our backpacks so they could walk us to the correct roadside location where we needed to catch the next bus from. After our tenth transportation of the day, a pick-up truck, we arrived in our final destination of Perquín.

Ruta de Paz

The Salvadorian Civil War was fought between the military-led government backed with $6 billion dollars in financial and military aid from the US against the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The FMLN, named after Farabundo Martí who was executed after leading an uprising of indigenous farmers and peasants against a military junta in an attempt to transform Salvadorian society in 1932, formed in 1980 when five guerrilla groups united against the military junta that had overthrown the government in 1979 when it failed to improve living standards as promised. In the twelve years that followed around 75,000 people perished, with the majority being killed by military death squads that were sent to wipe out entire villages believed to be assisting the FMLN efforts and targeted anyone they suspected of supporting social and economic reform.

As one of the poorest areas in the country the Morazán department was heavily targeted during the war, and it became a strong hold for the FMLN, but after peace accords were signed in 1992, all armed FMLN units were demobilized and their organization became a legal political party, and today they hold many political posts including the Presidency and the area around Perquín has become a living legacy against war.

Today the road leading up to Perquín is known as the Route of Peace, where each village seems to have had an atrocity committed against it worse than the last. In a hope that education will prevent anything like it ever happening again, as well as memorials, statues and placards remembering those that lost their lives, murals depicting the events of the war have been painted on walls and the lamp posts have been painted by the local children with emblems of peace.

Perquín is home to the Museum of the Revolution, which contains artifacts and exhibits related to the war. Our guide was a former guerrilla who lost 15 family members during the fighting including his sons. He only spoke Spanish and we realised that our Spanish doesn’t yet cover the words associated with war atrocities but it was a sombre experience none the less and a reminder of the tragedy and loss of war. The museum also houses one of the bases used by Radio Venceremos, the FMLN radio station that was broadcast throughout the country and rebroadcast via short wave radio throughout the world during the 1980s.

Despite the history, the people of Perquín seemed to have moved on and were very friendly and the region was a good introduction to El Salvador and we looked forward to seeing more when we returned from our time in Honduras.

San Salvador

From Honduras we were only planning to head just over the border into El Salvador, but when waiting on the highway for a bus to come along thinking we were going to be hopping on and off chicken buses all day long, the first bus that arrived was a luxury express going directly to the capital, what a treat for us! Having avoided all Central American capitals with the exception of Panama City we decided that we would go to the most dangerous capital in the region, with at least 10 violent murders a day. El Salvador is a very small country so it’s easy to get about without having to take long bus trips. The journey from the border took us two thirds of the way down the country in an interesting 90 minutes, weaving our way through the colourfully decorated town of La Palma while getting great views of Suchitlán lake, before driving through the run down outskirts and then past the historic sights in the capital.

The disparity between between the rich and the poor that lead to the Salvadorian Civil War still exists today, but today the war is between rival maras (gangs) which has lead to El Salvador being the most dangerous country for homicide rate in the world. Despite this we decided to stay in the capital, and found ourselves a safe neighbourhood to spend a night. The main avenue in the city, Boulevard de los Heroes, has some of the biggest fast food stores we’ve ever seen and sometimes the same company has another outlet just three doors down. It was also home to one of the largest malls in Central America that we managed to get lost in. We never felt unsafe here and we could walk about our hotel area at night but we decided to leave the next morning, having only seen the city from the bus, partly because accommodation was quite pricey, even a bit luxurious for our standards and we wanted to head to our next destination in time for the weekend festivities.

Ruta de las Flores

This is a 36km stretch of road in the west of the country that winds it’s way over hills and through rural villages and is so named because of the explosion of colour caused by wild flowers blooming in the region each winter.

It was here that we realised that although the subject matter of the murals in Perquín were distinct, the painting of murals is not, making El Salvador one of the most colourful countries we have visited. It seems that Salvadoreños love to cover any dull space, and not just with brand advertising or political slogans like in other countries. Every street has a painting or mural done by local artists or children and I think if we’d stood still for long enough they would have painted us too, even baby chicks aren’t allowed to keep their normal colours!

We stayed in the town of Juayúa (pronounced why-you-uh) and explored the other villages by jumping on and off the chicken buses that chug up and down the route. Juayúa is renowned for its weekend food fair where the local restaurants set up food stalls around the town’s plaza and streets making the biggest food fair in El Salvador, cooking up such local specialities as rabbit, frog and snake.

Not quite having the stomach for it, we opted for our latest local culinary addiction, pupusas.

If eating exotic animals isn’t your thing then the weekend is also home to a huge market, where local vendors come from the surrounding villages to sell their wares and, at this time of year, there is a huge selection of Christmas gifts on offer. Salvadoreños come from all over the country to try and pick up a bargain.

Our accommodation in the Hostel Anaháuc was a perfect example of the love of artistic expression in El Salvador. It was the best hostel that we have stayed in so far in Central America and one of the best on the trip, even if the funky wall painting gave us psychedelic dreams.

Parque Nacional Los Volcanes

Nearby to the Ruta de las Flores is the Parque Nacional Los Volcanes, so we decided to put our trekking boots on once again and climb one of the volcanoes in the park. We nearly didn’t make it as the bus kept breaking down, with the driver getting seriously dirty trying to fix it, but he managed to get it to the local mechanics, where after half an hour of welding and doing various flammable things to the engine inside the bus while we were still on-board, we were able to continue with our journey.

The road leading up to the park was lined with coffee trees bursting full with red coffee beans that were being picked by whole families working together. Inside the park we grouped together with some other travellers to organise a guide and some guards for our trek. Due to the security situation in the region you can only trek if you have two armed policemen with you to protect you from bandits! There have been stories in the past of people being robbed here of everything including their clothes while trekking alone.

Despite the security situation it is easy to see why people come to Los Volcanes with its three volcanoes dominating the skyline. We decided to climb Llamatepec, also known as Santa Ana, the tallest volcano in El Salvador. We started our trek on another of the volcanoes Cerro Verde, which as the name suggests was very forested and green, before crossing to Llamatepec, where we became more exposed to the sun as we followed the rocky path through spiky plants and shrubs.

One advantage of getting above the tree line was that the views opened up and as we rose we got to see the whole landscape of El Salvador and across to the Pacific Ocean as well as being able to see the perfect cone of the other volcano in the park, Izalco.

It was a fairly easy trek and the ascent to the summit followed a scree path before flattening out to follow the rim of the caldera with a great view down into the hot and steaming 300m deep laguna.

There was also an unexpected and fantastic view of the ancient caldera lake of Coatepeque. In all it was, as Jo would describe it, a very satisfying volcano climb.

Santa Ana

Our base for the trekking was Santa Ana, El Salvador’s second largest city, and our home was in the Casa Frolaz, another great accommodation set in a beautiful large home in the suburbs with great facilities and fancy rooms. The owner Javier was literally opening up his home to backpackers, letting us use his kitchen, garden and lounge to relax in. In general, the accommodation in El Salvador is a little bit more expensive than the rest of the region and there aren’t the numbers of hostels to choose from that more visited countries have, but we loved all of the accommodation that we stayed in and they were really great value for money.

Santa Ana was quite a large town, but we could walk around quite freely without having to worry about crime, there are even street signs reminding people to leave their guns at home. The town’s chaotic market sprawled for blocks and blocks and had everything you could possibly need.

On our last morning in the country we took a walk to the city’s plaza, which was surrounded by a cathedral, theatre and the usual government buildings that you can find in these places, along with festive Christmas decorations. And, as a last hurrah, we were treated to the best pupusas in the country called Revueltas that are filled with cheese, beans and pork.

El Salvador Summary

Due to the security situation and because there was nothing that seemed outstanding to see in El Salvador we nearly didn’t come, but we’re really glad that we did. It is true that the Maras are a problem, but this is also true of many other countries in Central America. If you take the same precautions you do elsewhere then you’re no more likely to run into problems. El Salvador, although on the rise, is still pretty untouched by tourism, which also made it enjoyable to travel around and despite not knowing much about the country before we arrived, there are definitely some outstanding things to see and the Salvadoreños themselves are a real highlight.

Highlights

Favourite Place - Juayúa (Jo) Perquín (Ryan)
Favourite Attraction - Parque Nacional Los Volcanes (Both)
Favourite Food - Pupusas (Both)
Favourite Beer - Pilsener (Ryan)
Favourite Drink - Good coffee (Jo)

Lowlights

Saying goodbye to pupusas!

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $25 for a private room in hostel
Restaurant meal - $2-4
Pupusas - $0.30-0.50
330ml Bottled Beer - $1
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $0.80
Bus - $0.50 / hour

Until next time

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

In Need of a Life Saver

ryanandjo — Thu, 2 Dec 2010 08:04:00 GMT

We said that we would let fate decide where we went next and it decided that it was going to get all schizophrenic on us and send us to Honduras, via El Salvador, which, as only Honduras shares a border with Nicaragua, is geographically impossible. One of our options in Leon was to get a Tica Bus, Central America’s equivalent to National Express/Greyhound to take us to San Salvador. But after a quote of $35 per person we decided to mock fate by doing a short loop into eastern El Salvador before heading back up into Honduras to see its sites. However, fate isn’t going to make it easy for you when you taunt it, so after 12 hours of travel, 10 changes of transport through 3 countries but at a cost of only $17 between the two of us we arrived at .......... well this is the Honduras blog so you’ll have to wait until the El Salvador blog to find out where we went first ;)

Ruta Lenca

Our route into Honduras took us through the region of the indigenous Lenca people who are known for their colourful head scarves. The region was certainly off the beaten track and the only fellow travelers we saw were the ones that we had met in El Salvador and were making the journey with. The locals, who probably don’t see many tourists, thought three 6 foot plus men were modern day giants, but that didn’t stop them squeezing us along with another 20 people into a 13 seat mini van! It also didn’t help that the roads were some of the worst we have seen since Asia, but the scenery through the mountains was spectacular as were the colourful market towns of Marcala and La Esperanza.

Gracias

Despite the cramped conditions we arrived safely in Gracias, which, when known as Gracias a Dios ‘Thanks to God’, was the capital of Spanish Central America. Maybe the almighty took exception to the name shortening as today its no more than a slightly run down colonial hill town. Its claim to fame should be the worlds coldest showers outside of the Arctic. At Hotel Erick, I think they chill the water as it is so ice cold it burns and takes your breath away when you finally brave the water. But it was in Gracias we became reacquainted with an old friend, the tuk-tuk moto taxi.

From Gracias we again had our pain thresholds tested when the conductor decided that the already over filled mini van was able to squeeze another two very large ladies onto our row of seats. Then with no room to move, he decided to let the obligatory fried chicken seller on too! Again when I could open my eyes from the pain and see through the mountain of bodies, the views as we wound our way through the hills and a national park were breathtaking, or maybe I just couldn’t breathe due to being squashed. Thankfully I was revived by the local brew, a real lifesaver!

Copán Ruinas

Archaeological evidence suggests the Maya civilization, one of, if not the greatest civilization in the ancient world, started building ceremonial architecture approximately 3,000 years ago and from about 400-800 AD Copán was a capital city of one of its kingdoms. Like many Inca ruins Copán was reclaimed from the jungle and the ruins made from volcanic tuff follow the Maya tradition of architectural relationships built to mirror their cosmos, building repeatedly on the same spot, using similar patterns and rituals.

Copán contains the most elaborate sculptural style known of the Maya world, with its sculptures depicting the royal genealogy, history and rituals of its 16 rulers. Most depict the 13th King under whom the Copán kingdom came to prominence, Uaxaclahun Ubak K’awil thankfully also known as 18 Rabbit.

It also contains the most extensive example of Maya hieroglyphic writings and perhaps the sites most impressive attraction is a stairway of 63 steps, containing over 7000 glyphs immortalising the achievements of Copán’s realm. Even though it was sheltered under a tarp to protect it from the elements, you could still appreciate the workmanship that went into it and how magnificent a structure it is.

The site also contains a ball court where a traditional Maya game was played, although the rules and object of the game are unclear, what is known is that the loser lost their head, literally! Despite the gory and bloody nature, Copán was a great introduction to Maya civilization and the other ruins we're looking forward to visiting in the region.

While in Copán, Jo heard good reviews about the Guacamaya Spanish School, so she decided that she would stay in the sleepy town to go back to school for a week to iron out a few bad language habits and improve her conversational skills, while I headed north to improve my diving skills.

Utila

Columbus named Honduras, meaning ‘depths’, due to the waters off its north coast. This topography has made the Bay Islands one of the worlds premier dive destinations, so I went to Utila to see them for myself. I left early in the morning to try to avoid the crowds, but thankfully the transport was a proper coach with plenty of leg room, which was needed for the 10 hour journey. After catching the hour long ferry I set foot on Utila and any thoughts that it was going to be like Little Corn quickly disappeared when I was nearly run over by the many scooters, quad bikes and golf carts that plow down the main strip, despite the islands small size.

I haggled with Utila Dive Centre for 12 dives for the price of 10, with free accommodation and although the accommodation was only a dorm bed, for all but the first night I had a room to myself. Due to the deep channels around Utila it is known to be a reliable spot for seeing whale sharks and although I knew before heading to the islands that it wasn’t the right season I was told there had been a couple of sightings in the days leading up to my arrival , so I got up every morning at 6.30 to go diving. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, but I still had some great dives and got to see lots of other aquatic life, including but not limited to Eagle Rays, Green Moray Eels, Cow fish and also doing my first wreck dive.

I also teamed up with some Germans and a Dutch group that I met on the ferry and played an afternoon game of pick up football with some local lads.

The beach on Utila was small but was also used by the local girls to teach young pups how to swim!

Most of my evenings were spent fishing with Felix and Frieder over a few beers. We were hoping to catch some bonito (tuna) that we could turn into a cheap dinner but all we caught were some small bait fish, along with a moray eel and a southern stingray that we needed a locals help with setting free, although we’re all glad that we didn’t catch the huge porcupine fish we saw angling for our bait one evening.

After saying goodbye to Utila I headed back to meet Jo in Copán so we could continue our travels back into El Salvador.

Honduras Summary

The food in Honduras, once you manage to get your head around the fact that breakfast and dinner are the same meal, deserves a special mention. The pupusas and baleadas eaten at all times of the day are deliciously addictive, and where else in Central America do bus food vendors sell complete meals on a plate wrapped in cling film?

There's a lot of gang and gun crime problems in the whole of Central America, but it was in Honduras where we encountered or first gun and gun repair shops, which was slightly unnerving the first few times we saw them. But seriously who needs to buy a gun at a bus station?

I don’t think that I have felt scruffier in any of the countries we have visited than I have in Honduras, where, despite the heat, the locals all wear trousers with nice polished shoes. Along with wearing cowboy hats and carrying machetes they all wear the customary bigotes (moustaches) even when some of them look more like a fuzzy caterpillar on their top lip.

Highlights

Favourite Place - Copán (Jo) Utila (Ryan)
Favourite Attraction - Copán Ruinas (Both)
Favourite Food - Pupusas (Jo) Baleadas (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Salva Vida (Ryan)
Favourite Drink - Horchata - a rice and cinnamon cold drink (Jo)

Lowlights

Being kneecapped on each bus journey

For those of you thinking of possibly traveling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $10 for a private room in hostel
Restaurant meal - $3-4
330ml Bottled Beer - $1.25
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $0.75
Bus - $ 1.5 / hour

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Welcome to the Lifestyle of the Chosen Few

ryanandjo — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:19:00 GMT

In the end we had no problems leaving Costa Rica, Ryan even managed to make the whole immigration team laugh when under ‘flight number’ on the immigration form he wrote ‘a pie’ (on foot) and the officer joked that that’s certainly one flight that never fails to take off. The friendly officer then decided to talk us through the Nicaraguan border crossing, telling us to ignore anyone who offered to help us in anyway. He then found a trustworthy money guy we could exchange money with and bid us adios with a ‘keep on walking’ farewell.

It was a smooth crossing but Nicaragua instantly felt different. There were crumbling buildings, very old buses and lots of hawkers around trying to sell us something or offering to help us. They try to insist that you have to buy the entrance immigration form from them, but as always at any border, you never have to pay to fill in a form and there are always forms for free if you go to a counter and ask for them. The only unfortunate part of the process was having to queue up behind two bus loads of tourists who had arrived just ahead of us, it was a very long queue standing with our backpacks on in the sun for over an hour.

We had to catch a bus to Rivas and the first bus heading in that direction was a clamped out old yellow school bus that had seen much better days. The windows had to be tied up for them to stay shut and the seats had holes in the thread bare padding, pieces of metal sticking in you and were so ridiculously close together that if you are over 5 foot tall you have sore knees after the trip. From Rivas we had to catch a taxi to the port of San Jorge because it was a Sunday and no buses were running. Taxis in Nicaragua are also in the same sad state as the buses and if you want to check it’s a legitimate taxi you have to look for the very thin stencil of the word ‘taxi’ on the side otherwise it could just be any old car. The taxi driver of course tripled the price of the journey but he seemed trustworthy, promised us he wouldn’t pick up any other passengers on the way, so we couldn’t be bothered to barter him down from $3 to $1.

Isla de Ometepe

San Jorge sits on the edge of Lake Nicaragua and from there you can catch a ferry over to Isla de Ometepe. We crossed the lake to the island on the Che Guevara Ferry which is adorned with his image, reminding us of Nicaragua’s close links to Cuba.

It was a smooth crossing and it gave us a fantastic view of the island, which was formed by two volcanoes, Conception, which is still active, and Maderas.

We headed over to Bague on the far side of the island to stay at the Finca Magdalena. The Finca is run by 14 local families who all live on the land, take care of the day to day running of the hostel in the main farm building and farm the land together, sharing in the profits.

The finca has access to a path to the top of Volcan Maderas at 1390m. We hired a guide, one of the finca members, to show us the way. Elio was a funny old fellow who had lived in Bague all his life. We were a bit worried when we saw him turn up with a machete tied to his hip as we suspected the path was going to be rough going, but he assured us the way was fine and the machete was just to ward off any snakes that might get in our way! The first two hours of the walk were relaxing and we saw and heard the cacophony made by hundreds of Howler monkeys who sound so much fiercer than they look, before reaching the halfway point lookout for a great view of the tallest volcano, Volcan Conception at 1610m.

How I wish we had turned back at that point but we were foolish enough to keep heading up to the top and instantly the path took a turn for the worse. It was muddy, rocky and very slippery because it had rained heavily the night before. We had to scramble over huge boulders and pull ourselves up using whatever we could grab hold of. Elio decided we wouldn’t need a break so just kept chugging up the route until we reached the top. I say the top but you would never know it because the top was surrounded by trees and clouds so you just felt like you were anywhere in the forest, it was not a rewarding end to the climb. To top it off, we couldn’t see down to the laguna in the crater as it was so cloudy and the conditions were too dangerous for us to climb down to it. After a ten minute break we started to head down again, which was even worse as it felt like every step we took was precarious and could land you on your bum, which it did several times. We were so relieved to back it back to the Finca in one piece, even if we were covered head to toe in mud and Elio had grown a moss beard because it took us 8 hours to get up and down.

After a relaxing couple of days at the Finca, we returned to the main town of Moyogalpa so Ryan could organise a climb of Volcan Concepcion. After asking around and receiving quotes for $25 per person, we met another Ryan in the street who told us he was climbing with a group the next day and they had bartered for a guide at a very cheap price. I’m sorry but I’m now about to moan about one of my pet gripes of travelling, people who barter far too hard. This group had bargained with the guide to get his price down from the already low price of $15 per person to $8.50 each. After Ryan was introduced to the group, one of them decided this gave them even more bargaining power and set about getting a further $1 discount and was very pleased they only had to pay $7.50! What annoys me is that there really is no difference in a dollar or two for someone who can afford to take time off work to travel, can afford a flight to Central America to have an adventure in a far flung country where the guide will never have the money or opportunity to do so for himself because Nicaragua is a very poor country. We have travelled around a lot now and we know a fair price when we see one but some people have to take it to extremes and undermine the poor people who will take what they can get for a days work. I bet none of the group would agree to be paid half of their wages for a day. The guide admitted to Ryan that he had never taken a group to the top of the volcano for so little money before but he just wanted to work and didn’t want to lose the money the group would pay. He then had to pay a commission to the hostel where the group were introduced to him so he got even less money in the end. On top of that the group didn’t even tip the guide for his service, which was expected of them, so Ryan decided to pay him the original $15, which the guide was very grateful for, but still probably wasn’t enough to cover the work he did.

Anyway, Ryan really enjoyed the climb even if it did test his fitness to the max. After half the group dropped out en route as the going was hard and quick, the remaining three managed to do the round trip in 7.5 hours, the usual time is quoted at 8-10 hours! They had a bit of a shock whilst posing for pictures at the top when the volcano burped at them! The guide’s face suddenly turned to horror and shouted ‘Vamos, Vamos!’ They had to quickly scramble down the scree to get away from the top or they risked being asphyxiated by the fumes the volcano emits, leaving them all cut up by the lava rocks as the fell over to get away from the sulphur.

Granada

We left Ometepe very early the next morning and made our way over to the colonial town of Granada. By now you will know that we have visited thousands of these old colonial towns in our time but instead of getting bored by them they are starting to feel like returning to a home away from home. They are all, to quote that great Asian adage, same same but different, but it is always a pleasure to stroll around the colourful streets admiring the different architecture inside and out, watching the locals sway away in their rocking chairs and climbing crumbling bell towers to get a view over the roof tops.

Granada, sitting on the edge of Lago Nicaragua with volcanoes looming nearby, was a really lovely city to relax in for a few days before we headed over to the airport.

Little Corn

We often wondered what it would be like to live on corn for a week, so to discover for ourselves we flew over to Big Corn island just off the coast of Nicaragua. From there we caught the daily lancha ride for 30 minutes across to Little Corn, and what a journey that was. This is the ride across the sea where the locals study the weather forecast in detail for 3-4-days to decide when the best time to cross will be because usually it is rough. When I opened my eyes and saw the waves that we were riding between I thought we were goners and considered jumping off. It didn’t help when you could hear the driver cut the engine down just before the boat was about to hit a big wave and heard all the locals going ‘sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttt’...and then BANG and OUCH as the boat slammed down on the sea, you lifted off the seat and fell down very hard. I had to just close my eyes, pretend I was on a dune buggy or rollercoaster ride and somehow we arrived on the island in one piece but wondering how on earth we could ever leave again if that was the only way to return to the airport. However, when we wandered over to the east side of the island to find a beach hut for the week and when we saw the turquoise water, the white sand and found the perfect little hut just ten steps from the sea, we knew it was worth the journey.

So how do you live on Corn for a week, this tiny island that you can walk all around in under an hour? Well if you’re a diver like Ryan, you go diving everyday, discovering new depths and helping to spear the invasive lionfish. If you’re a non-diver like me, you explore the hammock, turn a few pages of a book before getting distracted by the waves and the sun, waving to locals strolling past who always say hello, and watch the fishermen bring in dinner for the evening. The biggest decision of the day would be contemplating what to have for lunch when a local boy or girl would come up to the hut selling empanadas, chicken pies, ginger soda cake or coconut bread making the decision much easier.

Little Corn felt like the real Caribbean and we completely forgot we were in Nicaragua. The locals all spoke English with a heavy Caribbean accent, which took some getting used to as they also mix up a lot of English and Spanish words. The way of life is very laid back, things happen when they happen. A restaurant or shop is open one day then not the next. They have menus on offer but they will make you anything you want if they have the ingredients. The island doesn’t have any all inclusive resorts, just basic wood cabins made well enough to keep out the rain but not well enough to keep out the ocean breeze and the sound of the waves, thank goodness. I think the sign at Carlito’s Place where we stayed summed up the life here pretty well and the sunsets weren’t half bad either.

Thinking we could easily stay another week or two on Little Corn, reports of an approaching hurricane were fast spreading around the island so we decided to head back to the dock to catch the lancha again and head back to the airport. Fortunately it was a much smoother ride this time, we should have known by the amount of locals crammed into the boat that it was a good day to cross.

Leon

Our next stop was Leon, once the former capital of Nicaragua and meaning ‘lion’ in Spanish and fittingly there are a few of the beasts roaming around the city, most of them surrounding the largest cathedral in all of Central America.

Leon was once the heart of the Sandinistas revolutionary movement and today is still very much in support of the FSLN party and is considered to be the most liberal city in the country. It’s hard to ignore Nicaragua’s history of the civil war here, which raged from the late 1970’s and throughout the 1980’s after the Somoza dictatorship reigned for over 40 years. The city’s walls are strewn with murals depicting the revolution and the faces of the heroes and martyrs lost along the way.

The Galeria Heroes y Matires is a gallery and remembrance room for all the sons and daughters from Leon who died fighting against the dictatorship and US led Contras and is affectionately run by the Mothers who lost their children during the war.

We spent a lot of time in Leon discussing where we wanted to head to next and what we wanted to see in the rest of Central America. We leave tomorrow to head to the border with Honduras but whether we stay in that country or make our way into El Salvador is still not certain for us. We’re just going to let backpacker fate decide!

Nica Summary

Nicaragua has the coldest beer ever, with each bottle pulled out of the chiller almost frozen it’s so cold!

We can’t remember what it’s like to have a hot shower as every one we take is so cold. You have to remember to have a shower as soon as you return to the hostel when you’re hot from walking around otherwise it’s a challenge to get under the stream.

Nicas are tough looking people at first, many men have gang style tattoos on their hands and sit around drinking rum and playing pool all day. There’s even a ‘Macho’ breakfast option available for them; a black coffee, a cigarette and a shot of rum!

Generally everyone we’ve met has been friendly towards us, even the overly persistent taxi drivers calm down and relax once you ask them their name. I think we could have stayed longer in Nicaragua if we had arrived here earlier in our trip, it would be a great place to learn Spanish and explore the far reaches of the Caribbean coast. It's a pretty country with rolling green hills and farmlands divided by volcanoes and grand lakes that sparkle under the sun (YES the rainy season is over!!!) But just seeing the highlights of the country has left us satisfied, maybe we’ll be back one day!

Highlights

Favourite Place - Little Corn (Both)
Favourite Attraction - Hammock time (Jo) Climbing Volcan Concepcion (Ryan)
Favourite Food - Coconut bread (Jo) Chicken in jalapeno sauce (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Toña (Ryan)
Favourite Drink - Macua - national cocktail of rum, guava and orange juice (Jo)

Lowlights

Cccccold showers

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $15 for a private room in hostel, $20 for a beach hut facing the sea
Restaurant meal - $2-4
1L Bottled Beer - $2
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $0.75
Bus - $0.75-1 / hour

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Where The Wild Things Are

ryanandjo — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:22:00 GMT

With active volcanoes, dripping cloud forests and palm tree lined beaches on both coasts it’s easy to see why Costa Rica is a popular travel destination. It’s home to a huge variety of wildlife with some 228 mammal, 10,000 plant and 36,000 insect species, all in an area roughly two-thirds the size of Scotland, a quarter of which is safeguarded by more than 75 National Parks, reserves and protected areas. However, as we knew that we would be arriving during the rainy season we struggled to work out how to make the best of our time and whether we would get to see any wildlife at all, in the end we decided to just cross the border and see where our travels took us.

We arrived at Panamanian immigration and despite stories of long queues we quickly received our exit stamps. Outside of immigration we were told by an American, that we would need to prove onward travel arrangements to be able to enter Costa Rica. A lot of countries we’ve visited have this rule, but with the exception of Indonesia its never been enforced. He told us we would have to buy a return bus ticket to Panama and where we could purchase it. As border crossings are the perfect place for scams we weren’t sure if the guy was being genuine or working in conjunction with the bus company to sell us tickets they knew we wouldn’t use. As we weren’t tied to time or transport we decided to cross no mans land and see what happened. At Costa Rican immigration depending on your cynicism, we were surprisingly / unsurprisingly not asked for any documentation and were given our entry stamps hassle free. Although, we’re now not sure that we did everything we needed to to be officially in Costa Rica, as everyone else seemed to have all their belongings searched, which could make our next border crossing interesting.

Dominical

After spending time on the Caribbean Coast in Colombia we decided to head to the Pacific Coast where the first thing that we noticed was how much rougher the sea was, which is probably why the Pacific Coast here is so popular with surfers. The water was also noticeably colder, but as it’s still hot during the rainy season it’s not such a bad thing when you need to cool down.

Dominical is one of the bigger towns in the area, but in what was to become a re-occurring theme we were surprised by how small it was. With no other attractions other than the ocean, we would head to the beach before the heavens opened around lunchtime sending us scurrying for cover to play cards and hope that the rain cleared up in time to catch a famed Pacific sunset.

It also didn’t take us long to see our first wildlife as a huge iguana strolled passed our window, having a peak in before climbing the tree behind our room. Later in the evening we also found a golden monkey in the supermarket!

Quepos & National Park Manuel Antonio

Having ‘whet’ our appetite for wildlife we decided to see if the rains would hold out enough to let us see some wildlife at Manuel Antonio National Park. We stayed in the town of Quepos as it’s much cheaper than staying in the town of Manuel Antonio and because I couldn’t resist the opportunity to stay in the Wide-Mouth Frog hostel, one we can highly recommend. It had everything that you would expect from a hostel with the added luxury of a pool, while reminding me of the wide mouth frog joke that was a favourite of my pops during my childhood.

Our first experience of a Costa Rican national park certainly lived up to expectations, as it wasn’t very long after arriving at Espadilla beach that we saw a trio of racoons climbing a tree to try and steal another visitors food, before one of them set about digging in the sand hunting for its natural food, crabs.

I then went for a swim is some serious swell which was totally unsuitable for the snorkeling that we had planned to do, but we were easily compensated by the appearance of some white headed capuchin monkeys who, like the racoons, were on the hunt for food.

It’s a shame that the animals at Espadilla beach are on the point of becoming a menace, too many humans have either fed or left food lying around that the monkeys and racoons now expect an easy feed. I even had to squirt water in racoons face after it starting eyeing up our lunch.

At the other beaches in the park, the animals where making an honest living searching for food on their own. The coutis were digging for crabs, while lizards basked on the rocks and tiny agoutis hid in the undergrowth out of camera shot.

Of course the rain came pouring down in the afternoon, but not before we had seen more wildlife in a couple of hours than we could have possibly hoped to see.

(Do you know the way to) San Jose

From Quepos, we could have headed to the capital but from everything we’ve heard it’s not a nice place due to the crime and apart from a few museums there are very few attractions that warrant a visit, so along with Napyidaw and Brasilla, San Jose can go down as a capital city we didn’t go to, although that list could get longer very quickly as most of the capitals in Central America sound similar.

Monteverde & Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve

We decided to head inland to see a different side of Costa Rican life, as well as hopefully seeing some more flora and fauna. Monteverde is perhaps Costa Rica's most famous wildlife location and although we’d been warned that the wildlife is difficult to spot, we decided to go an see what we could find.

In the town of Santa Elena we found a room in the newly opened Sloth Backpackers and went to the supermarket to buy our dinner. While searching the aisles, Jorle the hostel owner came looking for us as she wanted to show us the three toed sloth in the trees outside her hostel, but we should finish our shopping first because as it was a sloth it wasn’t going anywhere fast.

The next day we decided to hike the Cerro Amigo trail where on a clear day you can see both the Atlantic plains and the Pacific Ocean. But what we wanted to see was the perfect cone of Volcan Arenal less than 20 kilometers away. After a steep 2 hour trek we arrived at the summit, where we were met with a blanket of white clouds. I suppose that’s what you get for hiking into a cloud forest in the wet season to try and get views!

Rather than heading to the Monteverde Reserve we decided to go to the quieter Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, in the hope of spotting some Howler monkeys and the Resplendent Quetzal. It’s also said that on a clear day you can see Volcan Arenal from the parks viewing platform. We ended up spotting none of the three but really enjoyed our hike through the dripping cloud forest.

On our last evening we visited a frog farm and as well as catching up with our old friend the black and green poison dart frog, we saw lots of other frogs, including the most popular red eyed tree frog and the lesser known 'Stuck on Glass' Frog.

Montezuma

Montezuma is more renowned for its beach life than it’s animals but staying at our hostel you would have hardly known it, as the area around the Luna Llena was teaming with wildlife, with coutis and monkeys roaming the grounds around our cabin and a racoon that loved to raid the rubbish bins. One evening out of the corner of our eyes we caught something running in the kitchen from under the fridge, at first we suspected a rat, but it turned out to be a small skunk that was using the fridge as a hiding place after stealing the cat’s food, while the cat was busy interrupting a beer blogging session.

In Montezuma, lizards laze in the shade on top of road signs, snakes sleep in potholes in the road and odd coloured squirrels run around the town. All the animals more than made up for the fact that the rainy season meant we couldn’t spend as much time at the beach here than we hoped to. After a few days we thought it was time to head into Nicaragua and just hope the border crossing would be hassle free.

Costa Rica Observations

We immediately liked Costa Rica and received more smiles from the locals in 2 minutes than we received during all of our time in Panama. We were worried that due to the weather we wouldn't get to see much of the wildlife the country is famed for, but we shouldn’t have been concerned it is literally everywhere and you don’t even need to go to the National Parks and Reserves to see them.

Due its tourist infrastructure and popularity with US retirees and travellers Costa Rica is more expensive than its neighbours, almost everything is quoted in US$ and the conversion rate to the local Colon can vary wildly. We managed to get lots of good deals on our accommodation due to the low season, although one hostel owner offered us a whopping 12 cent discount per night that we politely declined. Food is expensive, with the continent standard rice, beans and meat meal costing nearly four times what it did throughout South America, but the local sodas were nice places to eat and interact with the locals, while being a lot cheaper than restaurants. We also found bus travel to be almost criminally cheap even if you do have to wait 2 to 3 hours to catch a connecting bus in each town. Despite the influx of Americans here, the country is not teeming with McDonalds and shopping malls as we expected, there are a few gated communities and golf clubs dotted around, but apart from that it still felt Costa Rican to us.

Highlights

Favourite Place - Monteverde (Both)
Favourite Attraction - N.P Manuel Antonio (Both)
Favourite Food - Casado con Bistec (Jo) Casado con Carne en Salsa (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Imperial (Ryan)
Favourite Drink - Aguadulce (Jo)

Lowlights

Having to wait for hours to change transport in Puntarenas, on three separate occasions!

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $20 for a private room in hostel (Double in high season)
Restaurant meal - $5-7
1L Bottled Beer - $2.25
500ml Soft Drink - $1
1.5l Bottle of water - $1.25
Bus - $0.75-1 / hour

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Smile...you're in Panama

ryanandjo — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:53:00 GMT

We had to get up at 5.30am to leave Capurgana but even at this early hour our new Colombian friends came to wave us goodbye, along with the hostel owner who wanted to wish us a buen viaje. It wasn’t difficult to find which boat we were catching as the Captain was waiting by his lancha at the dock waving hello and showing us onto his boat, which we only had to share we one other passenger.

Puerto Obaldia

The hour long journey we were expecting over choppy seas only took 20 minutes over some very calm water, so we arrived with plenty of time to catch our flight. Puerto Obaldia is another Darien town than is only accessible by sea or air, so to make it all the way into Panama we would have to cheat a little.

Our welcome into Panama was not quite as warm as the welcome we had received at La Miel a few days before. First there was the cleaning of our flip flops and feet at quarantine, which was just a very large sponge we had to walk over in a bamboo hut. Then we had our whole backpacks searched in minute detail. If only the officer had known how smelly our clothes were he might not have been so thorough! Once we were given the nod, we walked down the road to immigration where we had to wait until 8am to enter. After waiting for the first person in the queue to finish the process, the immigration officer then told us we had to get copies of our passport for him, why couldn’t he have told us half an hour earlier? He had to fill in forms for both of us by hand, asking lots of questions and checking we had enough money for our stay in Panama, making us show him our cash and credit cards to prove it. Then he gave us the entry stamp. I’m not surprised that is was such a strict process, the border is located in a notoriously dangerous area where it’s common to smuggle drugs, so they have to be careful who they let in.

Next we wandered down the road looking for the Air Panama office, which had no signs at all and we only knew it existed when someone shouted at us to turn around and go into an abandoned looking building on the corner. It’s not possible to book this flight in advance, you just have to hope they have spare seats when you arrive. We were so glad when our names were added to the passenger list otherwise we would have had to wait 4 days for the next flight in perhaps the worst town we have seen for a very long time, there would have been absolutely nothing for us to do.

After all our bags were weighed the baggage guy started leading us towards the scales because he had to weigh us both as well to see how much fuel they would need for the plane! Then we walked up the only path in town towards what we thought was the airport. When we got to the end there was just a runway and a construction site. It turned out the airport was still being built so the departures lounge was adorned with planks of wood with nails sticking out of them for us to sit on and for departures information you just had to watch the sky and wait to see the plane coming in to land.

We could hardly stop laughing when our luggage was laid out on the runway for the drug sniffer dog to check. He had no interest at all in the baggage and was only good at nipping the ankles of his guard. The overseeing commanding officer just shook his head in dismay and gave up after three unsuccessful attempts to get some obedience from the young pup.

Finally our plane arrived and for the first time at an ‘airport’ we had to put our own luggage on the plane, boarded without having to be called to the gate, there was no gate after all, and got to choose our own seats.

The plane ride was very scenic and we flew very low over the coast and through the San Blas islands, even stopping to pick up a couple of extra passengers at another tiny airport. We then flew over the mainland of Panama, which is so narrow we could just about make out both coast lines at the same time. When we arrived in Panama City we flew over the entrance to the Panama Canal and could view all the containers waiting to be loaded onto ships.

Throughout the entire process in Puerto Obaldia we did not get a single smile or ‘your welcome’, even the pilot ignored our Gracias when we landed!

Panama City

After leaving the plane the domestic airport experience turned into a complete shambles. We landed at 11am and departed the airport at 1.30pm, with the whole process taking over double the amount of time the flight took. Why? To be fair, first up we had to pay for our plane tickets as there was no payment method process in Puerto Obaldia, but then the endless bureaucracy began. We had to fill in customs forms again and have our luggage searched a second time even though we had already done this at the border. Then we had to collect our baggage, have it weighed again, and pay for excess baggage. We had to pay for an extra 12 kilos but luckily for us the price was only 50 cents per kilo over the limit. Then we were called into an office one by one just to tell a guy our profession while he filled in another form. Just as we think are going to get our passports back, an officer leads us to an upstairs waiting room where we are left (6 foreigners) wondering what is happening. When someone finally comes out I was the first person to be called up, by this stage seriously fearing we were going to be body searched. It turns out we had to fill in another paper trail, where we had to be interviewed and answer all the same questions that we had been asked earlier that morning and yet again prove we had the funds for our stay in Panama. We never expected so much repetition, this was a domestic airport after all. Sitting in the office with a bunch of very serious police officers all listening to my conversation in stunted Spanish, felt like I was being interrogated in a cop show or on Prison Break. I really had to stop myself from giggling just at the absurdity of it all.

Finally after giving them my finger prints I was released and allowed to go back to the waiting room to warn the others about the paper trail ordeal they were about to experience. An hour later everyone was finished and we were all waiting to be released when we found out we had to wait another 30 minutes to get our passports back because they had been sent over to the Tucuman International Airport, 30km away, to be checked by Interpol because they don’t have access to a computer system at the local airport! By the way, to enter the immigration area the staff have to scan their fingerprints, so they do have some high tech equipment, just not the sort you would expect to find in an airport for processing passengers! What a joke and to top it all off, in our whole time in the airport, we didn’t see a single person smile. This doesn’t mean people are not polite, we received a fare few ‘buenos dias’ but none were accompanied by any facial warmth or meaning at all.

We were very relieved to arrive at our hostel, Mamallena’s, which was a welcome relief when it only took 2 minutes to register and get us to our room. We were both hungry so we set off down the main avenue to see what we could find. It was a pretty dire result. The avenue was full of run down fast food joints lined up one after the other, rubbish everywhere and homeless people talking to themselves on every corner. If this is as good as it gets for capital cities in Central America, I think we will happily be skipping the rest on our way north.

We didn’t want to write Panama off so soon, so decided to try and discover more about the people and their customs. The first thing Panamanian we decided to experience was the beer, what a surprise, which we discovered was very cheap but strangely named. Any beer with the word ‘Sober’ in the title has to be a contradiction.

Panama has a large Chinese population and there’s even a Chinatown in the capital, so we headed to a Chinese restaurant for the night. It was a very lively place and everyone was drinking beer with ice and watching baseball on the tv and being very vocal whenever they disagreed with a call. Baseball is Panama’s first sport after it was introduced by the Americans when they took control of the canal zone in 1903. When the jukebox sprang to life so did a number of diners who danced and sang along to ‘Macho macho man’, it was like eating your dinner in a disco!

The next day we strolled over to the Casco Antiguo (old town) passing men playing dominoes on the street. These actually turned out to be nice guys who recognised us over the next couple of days and one of them even gave us a smile, we nearly fainted!

We also caught up with a Sunday morning parade where the traditional Panamanian costume, the Pollera, and the real Panama Hat were on display.

The old town was a mix of restored buildings and ones looking like they are about to fall down while they wait for restoration. It wasn’t too impressive but it did give us a good view of the city skyline. It looks quite grand from a distance, maybe a bit like Hong Kong, but when you get closer it’s not so glitzy, it’s quite run down and just full of banks and casinos.

We could also view all the container ships on the horizon, lining up to make their way through the Panama Canal.

Panama City is definitely not Paradise City, the grass isn't green and the girls aren’t really very pretty, but the name did get the Guns n Roses song stuck in my head for four days.

The Panama Canal

How could we forget the Panama Canal. We couldn’t, not when I had been looking forward to seeing it for a long time, I'm a bit of a big boat spotter. It’s Panama’s most famous attraction and a huge feat of engineering, but maybe I will spare you the historical details. When we arrived at the visitor centre at Miraflores Locks I was a bit disappointed to see I had just missed a big Ro-Ro going through but luckily I had lots of Lo-Lo’s to entertain me (Lisa, I know you understand me!)

I found it quite pleasing watching the bulkers rise up and pass through the locks, watching the water levels rise and fall and the gates open and close. However, Ryan decided, that for him, this process was on the same entertainment scale as watching paint dry.

After one of us enjoyed the presentation video and museum, the rain came down and completely soaked us on our walk back to the bus stop. It rains 9 months of the year in Panama with the most rain being thrown down in October, which is not so great for us and it possibly explains why no one ever smiles here.

We then had even more fun when it took us 2 hours to get back to our hostel, which was only 10 km away. We hopped on a bus we thought was heading down the main avenue only to realise it was heading in the wrong direction and out through the suburbs. We kept thinking the bus would turn around soon and head back to town, but it just kept getting further away. We didn’t want to get off in case we got stuck somewhere random with the only option to get an expensive taxi back, so we stayed on the bus right until the end. The driver thought it was hilarious we were still sat there, the last ones on the bus, but he spoke good English, drove us to a bus stop so we could easily get back into town and started giving us lots of travel advice for Panama. It may not have been a very exciting ride, but we did get to see some more of the city and all for just 25 cents!

Boquete

We arrived in Boquete after 6 hours on a bus and then an hour on a local bus that Ryan was excited to see was a traditional yellow school bus from the states, he’s always wanted to have a ride in one of them!

On the journey I discovered there was something I liked about Panama after all, which was seeing the different indigenous cultures who have autonomous zones throughout the country. The women all wear very different clothes from each other. The Kuna ladies dress in colourful hand sewn tops and skirts and wear strings of beads wrapped around their arms and legs along with a headscarf and a gold ring through their nose. The Ngobe Bugle women dress in long, single colour dresses with frills along the shoulders and hems, which reminded me of outfits from The Mysterious Cities of Gold.

We were met at the bus stop by Pancho who owned a hostel across the street. I think this guy had been storing up all his energy for a year because he exploded into a conversation in Spanglish and 30 minutes later, after drawing us an incomprehensible map of the area, we were sat in a room of his hostel wondering what on earth had just happened because a) it was completely unexpected for someone in Panama to act like that and b) we had just paid for a room that was dark, dank and smelled of mould. (Len I think you know this guy!)

After a walk in the rain around the sleepy retirement town of Boquete, we decided the weather was probably going to ruin any chances we had of seeing the nearby volcano and attempting the local treks would be pretty miserable. The next morning, after taking advantage of the hot showers (we hadn’t had hot water since Bogota), we got out of there, managing to avoid Pancho and hopped on a bus straight to David.

David

We didn’t need to stop in David for the night as we had plenty of time to travel further north, but we just couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to stay at the Purple House Hostel. We had heard about this place from our friend Len and just had to see for ourselves this hostel saturated by purple belongings from top to bottom. The walls, kitchen, cups and plates, all the signs, beds, telephones, just everything is purple. We were actually the only people staying there so we got to have long chats with the lady who runs the place, a New Yorker who has lived in Panama for 10 years, and once you get past the matronly rules and regulations, she was actually very friendly towards us and helped us to plan our travels in Central America, plus she had a soppy dog that helped to win us over too.

There is absolutely nothing to do in David, apart from explore the supermarket filled with American brands. It’s just a convenient town to catch onward transport and to realise we really should cut our losses short and head straight on to Costa Rica rather than wasting any more time in this land of rain and frowns.

I think when the USA left Panama to it’s own devices in 2000 they took the ‘Have a nice day’ with them or maybe we were we just too used to the cordial hospitality we had experienced in Colombia, with continuous ‘con mucho gustos’ and ‘a la ordens’. It was going to be a hard act to follow. In the shops all the cashiers would completely ignore any salutations you gave them. People do offer you seats on buses and give you helpful directions, so they are kind, they just never smile or acknowledge your thanks to them. I know we haven’t really given Panama a chance to show us what it does have to offer, but I think our time would be much better spent in countries we are looking forward to visiting.

The funniest thing that did happen in our week in Panama was Ryan deciding to ‘borrow’ someone elses shampoo that had been left in the shared bathrooms at our hostel. The next morning, to his horror, he saw the hostel owner in the same shower room washing his dog from the same bottle. Ryan had washed his hair with dog shampoo and he had a nice glistening coat to him for days afterward!

Highlights

Favourite Place - La Miel (Both)
Favourite Attraction - Panama Canal (Jo) Nothing (Ryan)
Favourite Food - Subway (Both)
Favourite Beer - Atlas (Ryan)

Lowlights

Please refer to the blog above

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $17-30 for a private room in hostel
Restaurant meal - $3-5
350ml Bottled Beer - $0.70
500ml Soft Drink - $0.70
1.5l Bottle of water - $0.80
Bus - $1.5 / hour

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Summing up the South

ryanandjo — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 03:15:00 GMT

We can speak Spanish. Not fluently, but yes, we can make ourselves understood, even if it’s not grammatically correct and we stumble over pronunciations and tenses, we do get there in the end. We’ve had a great time in South America with plenty of highs and some lows too, so here’s a summary, mainly to help us get our head around the huge milestone in our trip we have just reached by crossing into Central America.

Brazil

Expensive. That’s the first thing I remember about Brazil, but then we were comparing the costs to Asia when we arrived. It was of course cheaper than Europe, but only just. The Brazilians have a good standard of living but then, just to shock you, there is the complete contrast and danger of the favelas you can’t ignore. We would have liked to have seen more of the country, just to get a more complete view of what it has to offer, but what we did see we enjoyed. The fact that any face can fit into Brazil, anything goes on the beaches of Rio, the rhythm of the music makes even the most left footed dancers want to start swaying their hips shows that Brazil is full of energy and, yum, churrasco.

Best moment: Visiting Senna’s grave for my brother

Uruguay

There is nothing to see or do here. It’s true. In comparison to the other countries Uruguay has nothing spectacular, outstanding or world class to see, but that is what makes Uruguay what it is. A really mellow, friendly, 'take us for what we are', mate addicted nation. It’s a ‘pleasant’ place, with ‘nice’ beaches, parks and plazas and if that’s what you need at the right time, Uruguay is perfect. We loved it there for the fact that sometimes a country doesn’t have to have anything to offer you for it to be worth visiting. It’s a country to feel completely safe in and a place to just see ‘normal’ life for a change rather than travelling to find something extreme or completely different to back home.

Best moment: Going back to school to learn Spanish

Argentina

We had a love/hate affair with Argentina, but that’s not Argentina’s fault. We got sick, sick again and sick of travelling and we kind of took it out on Argentina in the end. We hit the backpacker wall and had to really fight to get past it. We had been travelling for a long time and were constantly asking ourselves whether it would be best to stop travelling completely or carrying on travelling with no enthusiasm. But, looking back now, I have forgotten the low times and only have affection for Argentina. There’s Buenos Aires, the one huge tango’d and busy city with everything on offer, but once you leave there everywhere else in Argentina is calm, peaceful, moving at a slow pace and is a very long distance from anywhere else you want to go! We loved the comfort of the sleeper buses, dulce de leche, your dinner plate turning up with just a huge steak on it. When I think of Patagonia I can only sum it up with ‘There’s nothing out there!’ it’s a big, wide, silent, barren land but it’s stunning. Ice trekking was unique and filling the lungs full of clean air to reach fantastic mountain views was so rewarding. It’s a place to enjoy all things outdoors and the good things in life, plus some more dulce de leche.

Best moment: Opening the door to the Otto Meilling Refugio on Mount Tronador realising we had beaten the battering winds and made it to an unexpectedly chilled out haven

Chile

Thanks to Chile we also had an excuse to visit the South Pacific as part of this trip, we were intrigued by those stone statues and imagined them trying not to break into big smiles when no one was looking at them. It seemed hard to find Chile’s heart and soul. The towns are rather drab and lack any outstanding cultural features, the weather was either bleak, smoggy or blisteringly cold, but being hugged in the pouring rain by a mother and daughter combo who were complete strangers to me less than 2 hours before made me feel all warm and fuzzy and showed be that maybe Chile’s personality lies in the heart of it’s people, and the recent mine rescues seems to prove my point, even if they do talk at a speed of a million words per hour.

Best moments: Sunrise on Easter Island and playing with Pepe

Paraguay

We get frustrated when we ask ourselves “Why didn’t we visit Paraquay?” We planned to and then cut it out because we thought we had to ‘push on’, which is rubbish because you should just go where you want to go, you’ll reach your final destination in the end. Oh well, I guess another colonial capital wouldn’t have made that much impact to our view of South America and the only way to cross the country is on a night bus, so we wouldn’t have seen anything anyway. However, if you remember back to February, we did actually step foot on Paraquay’s soil when we visited the Itaipu Dam, the joint venture with Brazil, so Paraguay can be ticked of the list, if not really done and dusted.

Best moment: errmm, we only had one moment

Bolivia

Bolivia, Bolivia, I think I left my heart in Bolivia, in a bowler hat somewhere in the high altiplano. I LOVED Bolivia from start to finish and would return there in an instant. Bolivia gets such high praise from us as it seemed to save us from our traveller woes from Argentina. We needed a complete change of scenery, food, way of life and Bolivia threw it at us at full force with an added back-handed slap just for fun. We hadn’t felt happier than when we were bouncing around in a suspension-less bus along a bumpy road getting covered in dust. No it wasn’t semi-cama, but it was a first-class backpacker ticket to travel heaven. We couldn’t stop smiling. We met such good people including the Sucre teachers and the kids we helped to learn a few new words of English. We all know they taught us much more. We saw harsh living and working conditions and marveled at how people just take it all in their stride. The traditional costumes that fill the land with lines of pink, purple, blue and green along with the premature ageing lines, the wind burnt, coca filled cheeks that represented the highest heights of the Andes. The noise of the brass bands, firecrackers and protests and the calm still waters and pan pipe mellow tunes of Lake Titicaca. What more can I say.....loads more if you want to listen!

Best moments: Tupiza tamales, sunrise on the salt flats, Potosi parades, settling down in Sucre, lazing in La Paz, trekking in Titicaca.

Peru

If there’s only one attraction people can name for South America it would have to be Machu Picchu, that mother of all things Incan and boy did it live up to the hype. We found ourselves dreading the visit there, but it was beautiful. Fill it with 2000 visitors and it doesn’t change, it’s still stunning. But there’s more to Peru’s empire than just Machu Picchu. It has it’s own flavour, maybe even the best culinary delights in South America, along with the most stunning section of the Andes, towering sand dunes, long surf pounded beaches, and windswept deserts, not forgetting all the other ancient cultures that left there mark here long before the Incans arrived. You could get a taste for all things South American in this country alone, it seems to have it all.

Best moment: Realising we were the first people to reach the Caretakers Hut for the picture postcard view of Machu Pichhu

Ecuador

A magical country that was full of big ticks for us. The Galapagos Islands were unique, inspirational and full of wonderful wildlife encounters and were even worth facing my boat fears by living on a yacht for a week. The Amazon was much better than we expected and left us in awe of it's size and complexity. How do you stay calm when your guide finds a tarantula in the jungle? You just do even though you always thought you would freak out and run. South America is full of once in a lifetime opportunities and if you take them in Ecuador it just makes you adore everything you do even more. I felt sorry for the poor shoeshine kids in Loja, I felt a bit too scared in the streets of Quito and I felt sorry for myself in Banos, but I’m certainly not sorry I went to Ecuador.

Best moment: Swimming with sea lions and turtles in the Galapagos

Colombia

I have just decided that all great things begin with a C; Chocolate, Coffee, Caribbean Coastlines and Coconut Cocktails, and guess what, all of them can be found at the highest quality in Colombia. The only other country we have visited with as much military presence as Colombia was Burma, so it was refreshing to find that here they help to keep the peace rather than create the suffering. Colombia is: green and khaki camouflage uniforms covering the rolling hills of the south, glistening gold in the museums, coffee plantations on misty hummingbird filled hills, 'con mucho gusto' repeated a hundred times a day with meaning, check point after check point, azul seas lapping the golden beaches lined with swaying palms, dynamite pub games, friendly faces, big smiles and a firm handshake welcoming you to their land. Te Quiero Colombia!

Best moment: Final day swimming at sunset with lots of fun happening around us on Capurgana beach.

Venezuela

Why didn’t we go? We just didn’t fancy it and from what we’ve heard on the road, it’s not really a pleasant place to visit. The people aren’t friendly, the police are corrupt, the capital is Dangerous and the currency isn’t good value for foreigners unless you carry wads of dollars into the country to exchange on the black market. Over half the population abhor their egomaniac president, so we don’t regret rescheduling our planned two weeks there to have more time in Colombia.

Guyana, Suriname & French Guiana

You just can’t do it all, maybe we’ll save those for a later time and date.

Goodbye South America, it’s been a wonderful 9 months.

Jo y Ryan

Mind the Gap

ryanandjo — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:30:00 GMT

To get to the Caribbean Coast we had to take our first overnight bus in Colombia. Throughout South America we had been warned of arctic overnight buses caused by powerful air conditioning, but having never experienced anything other than the natural cold on the journey to La Paz we dressed light in hopeful preparation for the warmness of the Caribbean. Needless to say now was not the time to be getting smart and we froze for the whole journey and got no sleep. Even changing seats to get away from the air vents and Jo wearing a spare pair of trousers on her arms didn’t help. Thankfully the heat in the north was everything that we expected it to be and we soon warmed up, then some and then some more.

Our first stop on the coast was at Santa Marta, which is the place of Simon Bolivar’s death and is known as the Pearl of the Americas. I’m still dumbfounded as to how it got this name, the towns main beach made me long for beaches of ........England! The beach and the water were dirty, probably due to the sewerage pipe pumping god knows what into the ocean. There really isn’t much to see and do in Santa Marta except get reacquainted with our arch enemigo, the mosquito. However, it is a good base to explore some nearby attractions.

Taganga

is just a small fishing village located about 10km from Santa Marta. Well it used to be a fishing village but now it seems to be overrun with backpackers and every business seems to be set up to cater to the influx with prices to match, sadly seeming to have lost it's traditional ways, apart from the sale of shark oil perhaps.

To escape the oppressive heat I decided to get underwater for a couple of days and do an advanced diving certification. Many, both reputable and disreputable, dive shops have opened in Taganga, so after some research I decided to go with Aquantis. Things got off to a great start when my dive instructor Desi turned out to be a local who looked like Easy-E but thankfully without the squeaky voice.

As part of the certification we had to do a night dive, which didn’t start out too well as there was no visibility and it was like everything you would fear being underwater in pitch darkness would be. But after passing through the murky first five metres, the vis improved and we got to see a whole different world. Fish that we had seen during daylight were sleeping and it was quite funny to see some of them bumping into the coral and rocks as they slept. As coral changes at night different fish come out to feed and work, so we got to see many different species of fish as well as lobsters and crabs. After learning to trust the equipment it turned out to be one of the best diving experiences I’ve had, especially the buzz of not knowing what could be lurking just out of the range of the light!

Tayrona

We returned briefly to Santa Marta to catch transport to Tayrona National Park, which as well as having the usual flora and fauna found in tropical settings is also home to some stunning beaches. We had been warned by fellow travelers that due to the rainy season the trek within the park was pretty muddy, but with little other choice I decided to tackle the trek in thongs/flip flops. It’s safe to say that it was totally inappropriate footwear and I spent most of the time slipping and squelching around and then having to stick my hand into a combination of mud and horses doofus to retrieve a lost flip flop.

This made it a tough and very sweaty walk, and then much to our horror after arriving at the first beach we were met with no swimming warning signs due to strong currents and rips. We had been looking forward to being able to cool down in the sea but we could only look but not dip, this must be what torture feels like!

We continued our trek which got worse due to horses churning up the path and despite taking more than twice the amount of time suggested it was all worth it when we arrived at our final destination and the beach of Cabo San Juan de Guia.

As it had taken so long to get there we decided to stay the night and not wanting to pay the exorbitant room prices we decided to have our first venture of sleeping in hammocks. It was a little strange at first but I could certainly get used to falling asleep to the sounds of frogs croaking and waves breaking on the shore.

After a couple of days relaxing and swimming in the stunning surroundings, we decided to head back to one of the beaches we had passed on the way in and again spend the night sleeping in hammocks. Our time and the beaches in the National Park certainly made up for the rather disappointing beaches in Santa Marta and Taganga and were everything we were looking forward to in the Mar Caribe.

The next day we had an early morning dip before slip sliding our way back through the muddy trail, where we were lucky enough to see a pack of wild monkeys playing in the trees, even daring to come quite close to us, probably to check out the awful sound Jo was making in an attempt to imitate their calls.

Cartagena de Indias

We’ve seen a fair few Spanish colonial cities during our time in South America, and while we were surprised by the architecture in Bogota, I think we saved the best until last, as nothing compares to the beauty of Cartagena’s walled city. The city’s best attraction is simply walking around the old part, along its fortified walls and reliving a time from yesteryear.

Outside of the old city is Castillo San Felipe de Barajas where we were able to get up close to the huge Colombian flag which adorns the fort, as well as exploring it’s labyrinth of tunnels which are not suitable for the claustrophobic amongst us and gave us an idea of how the fort was defended and why nobody was ever able to capture it during battle.

Cartagena’s history is filled with tales of pirates of the Caribbean, attacks against Spanish rule and attempts to control one of the most prosperous ports in the Americas. So no trip would be complete without visiting its slightly creepy Inquisition Museum with all its torture apparatus, which was made all the more spooky because the museum was housed in the building where the torture took place. After all that gore we needed a coffee from one of the many coffee vendors that can be found on the streets of Colombia, armed with their thermos flasks full of tinto. Is there anywhere else in the world you can get an expresso for 10p?

Darien Gap

Although South and Central America are connected by land, there is no road between them due to the almost impassable 100 by 30 miles of swampland and forest known as the Darien Gap. Most people wanting to get to Central America either fly or get a sailboat from Cartagena to Panama. We prefer not to fly due to the environmental footprint and because you miss the scenery, which in Colombia has been particularly spectacular. We have also recently heard horror stories from other travelers of drunk captains, insufficient food and water, getting lost at sea for days and terrible sea sickness on the sailboat cruises. As the Darien Gap area is controlled by FARC guerrillas and drug cartels, it is considered lunacy to try and cross to Central America here...

However, we decided we wanted to see some of this famous hinterland and one of the last frontiers of the Americas for ourselves (and it’s a much cheaper way to get to Panama). To get to the Darien Province required two long bus journeys, which included being told by the bus conductor after 13 hours of travel that he had forgotten to tell us to get off the bus. Maybe this was karma for getting an advantageous free ride in Ecuador the last time a conductor forgot to tell us we had reached our destination! Dusty, hungry, aching and tired we were dropped off on the side of the road in pitch darkness and had to try and catch a bus back to our destination an hour away. Catching a bus was no problem as all buses seemed to be heading to our final stop of Turbo. However, the sole purpose of our new bus seemed to be shuttling drunken revelers between drinking establishments on the journey. Lets just say that we stuck out like sore thumbs and received our fair share of strange looks and leave it at that :)

With nothing of interest to see in Turbo, the next day we got up early to buy tickets for the launch boat to Capurganá. We were told the journey can be rough and the earlier you get your tickets the more chance you have of getting the better seats at the back of the boat where the ride is less bumpy. Thankfully we managed to get some good seats, although it turned out the journey was quite calm anyway. The only problem was the blistering heat that we could feel burning us every time the boat stopped at destinations along the way and we weren’t allowed to jump into the clear waters of the Gulf of Urabá to help cool off.

Capurganá

Just as you were thinking we’d lost our minds, we’re not really adventurous or crazy enough to attempt to travel through the thick of the Darien Gap, we merely decided to skirt around the edges of it. The situation in Capurganá has improved greatly in the last few years and the area is now under government control and is considered safe to travel to. With no roads or cars and with it’s beach and all sides of the town surrounded by the jungle, it felt like we were on an island despite still being on the mainland.

Due to the regions previous problems there is a strong military and police presence in Capurganá and we certainly felt sorry for the soldiers who patrolled the beach in full army gear, including boots and guns, in the sweltering heat while we lazed on the beach, cooling off in the cerulean waters and enjoying coco loco’s, which are a mixture of fresh coconut milk, rum, rum and more rum.

In the next bay along from Capurganá is the small town of Sapzurro, which is Colombia’s final frontier town before Panama. You can get there by boat but as one of the reasons we had come was to see the Darien we decided to take the 3km trek through the jungle. Now 3km doesn’t sound very far but this trek was through really thick jungle and it took us nearly 2 hours to complete. Along the way, as well as seeing many lizards, giant mosquitoes and bugs of all kinds, we encountered a snake on the path, some sprightly spider monkeys and lots of green and black poison dart frogs.

From Sapzurro you can cross into Panama to the tiny hamlet of La Miel, but you can’t stay there because it’s not an official border crossing so you have to register and return the same day. To get there you have to walk up a series of steep stairs to the border checkpoint.

This, in our book, is how we lay claim to crossing from South to Central America on foot via the Darien Gap!!!

At the check point we noticed that while the Panama flag was proudly flying there was no sign of the Colombian flag. When we asked the Colombian guard where his flag was he explained that their flag pole was broken. When Jo asked if we were allowed to take pictures at the border, he decided to get the flag out of storage and make us pose with it.

The two guards, who were extremely friendly, then wanted us to pose for photos with them all kitted up in their uniform, Colombia and Panama united, before they would let us pass. This must be the friendliest border crossing in the world!

We then spent a couple of hours relaxing at La Miel beach, which had even bluer Caribbean waters than we had seen before, before returning back into South America and on to Capurganá by boat.

Capurganá is a very laid back place but all that suddenly changed when the weekly beer delivery arrived at the docks, filling up the port area with crates of beer that were speedily carried on shoulders to waiting horse and carts that galloped around the town delivering the bottles to the waiting bars and restaurants.

There should have been a ‘Cheers’ themed bar in Capurganá , it would certainly be appropriate in a place where, after a day or two, everybody knows your name or at least your face. We would meet somebody once and they would remember us, greet us and make us feel so welcome in their town for the rest of our stay. Capurganá is popular with Colombian holiday makers who all make a beeline straight to the only resort complex in town, but apart from them there are hardly any other tourists, especially not foreigners, so even though you do stand out a little you are warmly received by everyone. One of our favourite friends was 5 year old Juliana, who’s parents run the Coco Loco shack on the beach. Every afternoon she can be found playing in the sand and sea (what a way to grow up!) and when she spotted me she was fascinated by my Chico Blanco skin and always wanted to tickle me and play with us in the waves and she had an infectious little giggle that she would frustratingly squeal every time we couldn’t understand her Spanish.

After meeting him at the border control we kept bumping into Alberto the Colombian border guard and on our last night he invited us out for farewell drinks to say adios to both Colombia and South America. This was a real test of our Spanish as he speaks no English, but we spent the evening having a great time and lots of laughs when we couldn’t quite understand each other. I’m not quite sure how the conversation got onto “breaking the seal” and to whether nudist beaches really exist in Europe and where the best ones are to be found! And we’re not still sure if it’s true that his police colleague who joined us, Juane, was really Pablo Escobars nephew. He was from Medellin and didn’t seem too happy when Jo proclaimed how crazy she thought Roberto Escobar was, with him then deciding to tell us that he was an Escobar himself! But the evening was a fitting send off to our time in both Colombia and America del Sur.

Colombia has had and still has many publicised problems, however it’s tourism slogan - “The only danger is.... not wanting to leave” - certainly rang true for us. It was hard to leave Capurganá and even as I write this part of me wishes we were still there.

Colombia summary

Colombia really does have a bad reputation outside of South America and it is pretty unfitting and unjust. There is so much more to this beautiful country, much more than we could fit into our six weeks. It is full of welcoming, warm, friendly locals, great food, coffee, art and wildlife, mixed in with cosmopolitan cities and old time country towns that haven’t changed for years. We had such a wonderful time there that we can not recommend it enough. We never felt unsafe or worried about being kidnapped or running into cocaine barons (oopps). There are still problems in the country with narcotics and the FARC, which will not disappear in a hurry, but as long as you don’t hire a car and drive off on random back roads to uncontrolled towns never visited by foreigners, you shouldn’t have any problems at all. We even heard from some backpackers who’s bus was stopped by the FARC just two weeks ago, but they only wanted to talk to people about their political views, claiming that they want peace and don’t want to harm anyone and they only deal in the cocaine business because it’s they only way they can make money to support their cause. I’m not saying we support them but isn’t it about time that we heard all sides of the stories here?

Highlights

Favourite Place - Capurganá and Salento (Both)
Favourite Attraction - Valle de Cocora walk and swimming in the Mar Caribe (Jo) Night Diving (Ryan)
Favourite Food - Arepa con Huevos Pericos (Jo) Bandeja Paisa (Ryan)
Favourite Beer - Club Colombia, but for the photo opportunity, Poker (Ryan)
Favourite Drink - Colombiana (Jo)

Lowlights

Our laundry taking so much longer to dry than the hostels told us it would take (and we had to dig really deep to find that one bad thing about Colombia)

For those of you thinking of possibly traveling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $20-30
Restaurant meal - $3-5
330ml Bottled Beer - $1
500ml Soft Drink - $0.75
1.5l Bottle of water - $1.5
Bus - $3-4 / hour

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

All things sweet and plump and slightly surreal

ryanandjo — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 12:21:00 GMT

Medellin was notoriously known for being the most dangerous city in the world during the 1980’s and 90’s because it was ruled by Pablo Escobar's Medellin cocaine cartel. Today the city is a thriving place and safe for travellers and the crime rate has decreased tremendously since the Escobar days. Before arriving, we had heard about backpackers visiting Pablo’s grave and I was appalled that someone would take the time to visit a dead drug baron. The next thing I know we have met some great people in our hostel and my arm has been twisted to go on a Pablo Escobar tour! I have no idea what I was thinking by agreeing to it but decided to give it a go anyway, if only to learn more about the notorious gangster. It was to be a very surreal day.

Our guide, Isabelle, filled us in on the background of the Escobar family and how Pablo became a drug baron, one of the richest men in the world and a notorious outlaw, along with telling us that the tour is approved by the Escobar family who receive money from the tour company much to my horror, what a great start.

During the tour we visited Pablo’s former house in the centre of Medellin, a huge complex that was filled with luxury goods and art work that also had his surname displayed down the side of the building in big letters to let everyone know he lived there.

We were also taken to view the building where Pablo was shot dead on the rooftop in 1993 after hiding for 500 days from the police and the CIA after escaping from house arrest, although it’s still unclear whether he was killed by the police or by a bullet from his own gun. Our guide said she doesn’t know who to believe. Most of the stories she told us were from the Escobar family’s point of view, but she thinks the family are full of lies and doesn’t believe what they say.

We were then taken to Pablo’s family grave site and it was here that we discovered that the driver of our tour, Mario, who didn’t want any pictures taken of himself because he is a very discreet man, worked for the Escobar cartel for 30 years and as Pablo’s personal driver for the last 5 years of Pablo’s life! This was turning into a surreal day just knowing that the person driving you around had not only driven for Pablo but had also driven assassins and huge quantities of drugs around for the cartel. We showed this man a lot of respect and laughed at all his jokes, I think out of fear. Mario showed us the graves of other people who worked in the cartel, especially one of a man who became Pablo’s head of assassins and chief torturer just at the age of 16 because he was good at killing! Mario told us stories about all the men buried around us in the cemetery, most of who died in their twenties either by torture or in gunfights, all very surreal.

To his credit, the driver admitted that if he had known how dangerous his work would have become he would never have joined the cartel and he was shot and wounded on numerous occasions. His biggest regret was driving an assassin to kill his best friend who had betrayed Pablo. He really wanted to warn his friend but knew he would also be killed if he did so. When Pablo died, he approached the Cali cartel, the Escobar’s rivals, and told them he didn’t want to work for them or any other cartel anymore and if they didn’t like that then they could kill him. They let him go free, and today he is a family man and drives a school bus for a living when not working on the tours.

The finale of the tour was to visit the home of and meet with Roberto Escobar, Pablo’s brother and the accountant for the cartel!!! This just topped off the surrealism of the day. There was Roberto on the door step waiting to greet us into his home. He took us on a tour of his house and showed us furniture with false backs where they hid money from the police. He showed us cars with double chassis that they used to hide drugs in and a bullet proof Chevy with holes inside the doors for them to fire their guns through.

Roberto, who used to be a world class cyclist and trained the Colombian Tour de France team, even showed off a bike he owns that is made with gold parts. His proudest moment seemed to be when he showed us the false bookcase with a safe room hidden behind it, where he happily posed for photos with the other tourists.

Then we sat down in his lounge and had the opportunity to question him. Our guide and driver told us to ask any question we wanted and to challenge his answers, most of which they think are lies as his usual response is that they didn’t do something or the police did it to set them up. Among the many questions put to him, we asked him why did he blow up a plane of 300 innocent people, does he regret being in the cocaine business and what was the worse thing he did in his time? He always gave unsatisfactory answers, but seemed to relish the attention he was receiving. He enjoyed telling us tales about all the methods they used to smuggle cocaine into the United States and of his time hiding in the jungle with Pablo whilst trying to evade arrest. Our guide would translate our questions to him but she had to shout because his hearing and eyesight are really bad as he was sent a letter bomb while he was in prison which exploded in his face.

All we could think about after our visit ended was what a sad old man he was, trying to make some money and have some fame as Pablo’s brother. The fact that he has recently written a book that is available outside of Colombia, not inside, meant he was trying to promote himself, and now I've just done it for him! It seemed he never really was a major part of the clan because he probably wouldn’t be alive today. He thinks he is still alive because he gave himself up to the Cali cartel and provided them with inside information in exchange for a quiet life, a life where today he’s too scared to leave Colombia and hardly ever leaves his own house. I was hesitant to go on the tour but I guess in the end Pablo Escobar was a huge part of Medellin’s and Colombia’s history. Meeting Roberto felt like being invited to meet Hitler’s or Al Capone’s brother, someone who was part of something criminal and evil but something that has become important history that will not be forgotten in a hurry.

After that completely bizarre day, we were thankful for Medellin’s other attractions to take our minds of the Escobars and replace it with the world of all things plump thanks to Botero’s works of art. Botero is one of Colombia’s most famous artists and the Museo de Antioquia and Medellin’s main plaza are surrounded by his bronze sculptures, where he likes to chubbify everything from people, animals and everyday objects.

Medellin also has the worlds only metro cable car system linked to the underground metro. You can change platform on the metro and hop on a cable car, which travels for several stations over the poorer slum area of Medellin and was a great way to view all aspects of the city.

After treating ourselves to a fancy meal for a friends birthday in one of the many great restaurants Medellin has to offer, we decided it was time to head over to the Capital.

Bogota

We were pleasantly surprised by Bogota, yet another city with an undeservedly dodgy reputation. We weren’t looking forward to visiting the capital because we were enjoying the countryside life in Colombia much more than it’s cities and because it also has the worst climate in the whole country being about 2800m above sea level with constant rain and cold days. However, it was a really charming place and soon had us pronouncing it as our favourite colonial capital in South America. We stayed in La Candelaria district, the oldest part of the city, which is full of historical and important buildings surrounding the Plaza de Bolivar, and also full of groups of school children trying not to lose each other.

When the rain stops the first place to head is up the top of Monserrate mountain, where, if the clouds stay thin, you can just about make out a view of the city below.

And who couldn’t love a city where there are countless confectionery shops selling calorific but delicious goodies to warm us up. If you remember our love for dulce de leche in Argentina, you will be happy to know the Colombians eat the same gooey goodness but call it arequipe and is the main ingredient for most of the treats on offer.

Choosing to stay in the Chocolate Hostel wasn’t going to make for a bad city experience either. They made us freshly melted hot chocolate for breakfast every morning, which could only be a great way for us to start the day.

Bogota's most famous museum is the Museo de Oro, which is full of pre-Spanish gold artifacts made by the indigenous tribes that used to live in the region. There were some very expensive and unique pieces on display behind a set of very thick and secure looking doors.

There are some excellent free art galleries in Bogota including another Botero museum, where you can see more of his famous pictures including a plump version of the Mona Lisa.

San Gil

After five days in Bogota we headed six hours north to San Gil which sits on the powerful River Fonce. Next to the river is the Parque El Gallineral that could be the setting for the Lord of the Rings. It's full of bearded trees that give the forest a mystical, fairytale feel, where you almost expect to see elves roaming around and lost hobbits looking for somewhere to dispense their ring.

San Gil sits at a much lower altitude than we had been in for a while and along with the tropical climate we were greeted by the return of our old friend the gecko and the squeaky little chirrup they let off to let you know they are around. Oh how we have missed that sound! We also experienced an odd breakfast custom. In the town’s main market, we ordered what we thought would be a healthy fruit salad but were presented with a heap of chopped fruit topped with ice cream AND grated cheese. A slightly odd combo but it tasted good, so we weren’t complaining.

We also discovered San Gil is home to the best chicken restaurant in the whole of South America, and that is really saying something for a continent that adores its fried, roasted, broasted or grilled pollo from chicken restaurants lined up along every street. I can’t remember the name of the place, but our exclamations of ‘muy rico y muy delicioso’ impressed the owner so much, he gave us a fridge magnet as a present!

Barichara & Guane

Just half an hour by bus over the hills from San Gil is Colombia’s most filmed town because this very picturesque town has been restored to it’s cobble-stoned, red tiled, white washed original colonial standards making it perfect to film the tv novelas that the Colombians love to watch. These are generally like soap operas but only run a for a year and you can often hear people gasping at the tv each time there is a doof doof moment, it’s all very dramatic!

There is also an ancient stone road built by the Guane indigenous people linking Barichara to the tiny hamlet of Guane. The two hour walk, which we wouldn’t recommend doing under the blazing midday sun, had beautiful scenery and the hamlet was equally rewarding.

Guane was a real one horse town, where the plaza doubles as the school playground and the centre point of all local activity. The great thing about visiting plaza after plaza throughout South America is the insight it gives you into the cultures and customs of the people. The plazas are always full of life whether it be families having an afternoon stroll and kids playing in the fountains, girls wandering around eyeing up the guys, old men playing chess and dominoes, ladies chatting away to each other, food vendors on every corner selling the national snack and local fruit juice, business men getting their shoes shined by the shoeshine kids and that’s just to name a few sights you can see. One of the best tips we can give for travelling in South America is to spend an hour sitting in the main plaza just to see what walks past.

After returning to San Gil for a day we decided it was finally time to head north to see the Mar Caribe (Caribbean Sea) for the very first time! Whoooo hoooooo, I’ve been longing for this moment since Argentina, but will we enjoy it?

Until next time...

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Sleepless in Salento

ryanandjo — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:45:00 GMT

Ecuador sent us out with a huge party in our honour, well actually they were celebrating something completely different, keeping us awake with music blaring until 3.30 in the morning in the towns main square. Unable to sleep we set off early for our last country in South America, Colombia.

Sanctuario de Las Lajas

After crossing the border we made a slight detour to visit Sanctuario de Las Lajas, a cathedral financed by local churchgoers built in the spectacular setting of a bridge over the Guaitara river. We were lucky to attend the cathedral on a Sunday and witness all the well wishers paying their respects, so many that they were spilling out of the auditorium onto the bridge.

The journey to Popayan is considered to be unsafe to travel at night due to bandits, so we got a bus that allowed us plenty of time to arrive safely and received added security when our bus seemed to be some kind of bus tank hybrid. An hour into the journey we came across our first military check point where everybody's identification was checked and every nook and cranny both inside and outside the bus was searched. After checking the date of our visas the soldier offered us a friendly ‘Welcome to Colombia’ and allowed the bus to continue. We encountered many more security checks along the way, so much so that our plenty of time to reach Popayan turned out to be about 3 hours later than told! But we arrived safely without encountering any bandits.

Popayan

is known as Colombia’s ‘White City’ due to the number of white buildings built during Spanish colonial times, rather than as a reference to Colombia’s best known narcotic. It was another quaint colonial town to add to our list of many we have visited, although we did feel a strong sense of deja vu here, the Colombian culture shone through to give it its own identity.

Popayan is also famous for its food and is the only city in Latin America to be awarded a UNESCO City of Gastronomy title, so we spent a day trying as many foods as we could along with the local speciality, Bandeja Paisa.

San Agustin

The road to San Agustin is billed as one of the worst in Colombia, and taking 5 1/2 hours to cover 125 kilometres was pretty slow going. The scenery along the route is meant to be spectacular and make up for the bumpy journey, and we weren't disappointed, passing through National Parks and seeing Volcan Purace looming overhead.

Not a great deal is known about the two ancient cultures who lived around present day San Agustin other than that they lived over 5 thousand years ago, they had no written language and vanished without a trace many years before Europeans arrived. What they did leave behind from their existence was around 500 life sized statues or Mesitas, which scatter the hills around San Agustin.

Along with one that looked a little like Ben Stiller

The setting was spectacular, with colourful flora and rolling hills along with the convergence of two rivers where both the cultures would meet to trade and barter goods and worship their gods, but then again the scenery from our hostel wasn’t too shabby either.

In the afternoon we went to the local market and ended up practicing our Spanish with a fruit & veg seller who asked us lots of questions about what we thought of Colombia and its people, whether we were enjoying our time and if we had encountered any problems, which we told him we hadn’t and that we had loved what we had seen of Colombia so far and the friendly people.

Cali

On the way to Cali we encountered another search but this time we were asked to leave the bus and had our bags searched. The males on the bus were also frisked. I’m not sure if the soldier took a liking to me or not, but lets just say his hands wandered further than they should have!

Cali is a hot and steamy party town which is famous for its Salsa dancing. It’s a city that feels a little out of place for South America, where everybody dresses to impress in designer gear, the women seem to have had plenty of plastic surgery and Porsches can be seen on the streets driven by teenagers.

In Cali the disparity between the haves and the have nots reminded us of the major cities we visited in Brazil. Although we felt completely safe, the high cost of accommodation and eating out, along with not being very good dancers at the best of times meant that we soon decided to leave Cali, but not before adding to the beer collection with a strange beer and cola combo!

Salento

Salento is one of the three points that make up the Zona Cafeteria or Coffee Axle region in which almost all of Columbia’s coffee is produced and there certainly wasn’t a problem finding good coffee in Salento. In fact the main problem was finding a way to say, no. Coffee comes with every meal and the main instigator in my new coffee addiction was the owner of Hostel Casona de Lili. Lili is one of the nicest hostel owners you’ll ever meet, genuinely friendly and interested in the day you’ve had. Her converted home is one of our favourite accommodations on the trip, but it was just so hard to say no when she offered you a ‘cafecito’, which she did every time she saw us, leading to a few nights of coffee induced insomnia.

Despite the sleepless nights we couldn’t come to the region and not visit a coffee plantation. Opting for a small family run business offering Spanish only tours, we were treated to a tour by ourselves. Don Elias runs an organic farm which also grows a variety of fruits. Our tour guide, Don’s grandson Jose, walked us around the plantation picking coffee beans, showing us how the beans were processed and dried, before grinding some beans to treat us to the freshest cup of coffee straight from the source. When we asked how much coffee Jose drank each day he could only offer us a ‘Mucho’ with a big smile - translation ‘a lot’!

But Salento is so much more than just coffee and at the weekend the town took on a different feel when the farm workers came down from the hills and Colombians came for a weekend getaway. As well as drinking some came to play the traditional game of Tejo which involves throwing a 2kg weighted metal disc at mechas (packets of gun powder) placed on a metal ring set in a clay mud target. When the weight strikes the gunpowder and metal ring together it creates an explosion.

We decided to give it a go, but as the distance involved is 18 metres we decided it would be safer for all if we played the childrens version of the game, Mini Tejo, which is played over half the distance with a 1kg weight. We managed to set off the gun powder 4 times, but none of the explosions were as satisfying or as loud as the bangs produced by the pros along side us playing the full sized version, although the loudest noise of the day was possibly Jo’s scream the first time the pros connected with the gunpowder.

If Colombians can handle their coffee they certainly can’t handle their drink. On a Sunday morning we saw someone passed out asleep on a bar table before 11am and could only hope for his sake that he had been out on an all night session!

But that was nothing compared to the carnage that evening when drunk cowboys and farm workers dropped like flies in the main square. When Colombians drink they drink to get drunk, very, very drunk but unlike elsewhere there wasn’t a hint of aggression and everyone just seemed to be having fun, creating a great atmosphere in such a small town.

Valle de Cocora

Close to Salento is the Valle de Cocora, which is home to the worlds tallest palm tree and Colombia’s national tree, the wax palm.

We started in our trek in the valley between the hills on which these huge trees sit, before entering a cloud forest and ascending to a traditional farm that’s surrounded by hummingbirds, where the owner treated us to a local drink, chocolate and cheese!

After climbing further up into the hills, we descended out of the clouds, where the view of the wax palms was spectacular and we could get up close to the giants. If you don’t believe how tall they are, try to spot me in this picture!

We really loved Salento and the region and stayed for longer than we had planned, it was a great place to relax and experience Colombian life. However, as well as a coffee addiction I noticed that Jo had picked up another more colourful habit, the full extent of which can be seen here, so I decided that it was time to leave Salento before things got really out of hand.

Until next time

Ryan y Jo

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Return to Middle Earth

ryanandjo — Sun, 5 Sep 2010 14:08:00 GMT

So we didn’t get off the bus in Puyo and ended up in Baños, which, to those of you untrained in the Spanish language, means bathroom or toilet! Ryan made a joke that you can pee anywhere you like here as the whole place is a toilet. I refrained from laughing everytime he tried to crack this joke...it’s not funny.

It’s not surprising that the prime reason to come to Ecuador’s most touristic town is to take a bath. The surrounding hills and valley have access to hot thermal springs that are full of healthy minerals, so the town has a number of baths and pools to help rejuvinate tired travellers.

For some reason Baños has an obsession with sweet things. Along with rows and rows of sugar cane stalls, every corner store is selling taffy candy made from boiled sugar and butter that is pulled and twisted until it’s fluffy enough to make sweets from.

It’s also home to Ecuador’s Best Ice Cream, but such a claim can not be taken lightly, so I donned the “Jo vs Ice Cream” hat and gave it a go with a blackberry and choc chip double scoop combo. The conclusion was: “I Agree”, but I haven’t actually eaten enough ice cream in Ecuador for it to be a true verdict. Must try harder.

I refused to don the “Jo vs Cuy” hat when we saw these poor fellows roasting away in the market. We’re clearly not true meat eaters, guinea pigs are far too cute to eat, obviously before they are skinned.

Baños turned out to be an apt place to pick up a bout of the amazon belly, which saw me retreat to the ‘baños’ every hour convinced I had contracted cholera, or had we just been reading too much Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

Guayaquil

Down in the coastal lowlands and amongst the banana plantations is Ecuador’s biggest city by population and also labeled the most liberal city compared to Quito’s conservative ways. Guayaquil is definitely livelier than it’s great rival, purely because the heat means there are more people outdoors having fun and there is a lot more flesh on show here.

When we visited the Parque Bolivar in the downtown area we started to wonder why we paid all the money to go to the Galapagos when this park was full of turtles and iguanas! Although I would not recommend pulling the tail of an iguana. One little boy couldn’t keep his hands of the tails and kept pulling iguanas along but he was soon chased down by a whistle blowing policeman, armed with a shotgun, who told him the law and made the poor boy cry.

The Malecon is the place to stroll along by the Guayas river. The boardwalk stretches the length of the city and is lined with parks, restaurants, theatres and museums.

At the end of the Malecon is the Las Peñas hillside area, which has been restored to show the traditional colours and designs of the neighbourhood and at the top of Santa Ana hill you get a panorama of the city.

Guayaquil is meant to be the most unsafe city in Ecuador (we like to live dangerously), but it’s an undeserved reputation if you stick to the tourist zones. There are so many armed guards about watching every move that nothing could happen to you here. As we walked around the Las Peñas hillside it seemed that every guard was radioing ahead with the message “Two gringos heading due south, let me know when they reach your zone”, and as we got to the next guard “Copy, two gringos now heading west”. We give Guaya the thumbs up.

Middle Earth

It was then all the way back to Quito to finish off the sightseeing we had missed the first time around and to finally return to the Northern Hemisphere. The Mitad del Mundo is where you can stand over a faded yellow line to claim you have stood in both hemispheres at once. It was cliched to say the least but you have to visit just for the photo opportunities to prove you have conquered Middle Earth and to see if the water really does go down the plug hole in different directions. We also both weighed less at the Equator because of the changes in gravitational pull or something like that, or the scales were just adjusted to fool gullible tourists like us.

After a couple of days in Quito doing backpacker chores, we caught a bus up to the border town of Tulcan. When we got on the bus in Quito there was a very nice man trying to show us to our seats, even though we didn´t have seat numbers, and he was insisting we put our day packs in the overhead rack or under our seat. We had been warned about these people on buses so we knew this was a con and that if we left our bags out of sight they would be stolen before we left Quito, so we sat with our bags on our laps or between our legs so no one could have access to them. After a couple of hours on the bus another backpacker suddenly realised his bag had been taken and he had fallen prey to the same guy, losing his passport just before he wanted to cross the border to Colombia, what bad luck.

Anyway, if you haven´t guessed by now, the next country for us is Colombia, and as usual, more on that next time!

Evaluating Ecuador

Want a beer on a Sunday? Hard luck. There is no way to buy a beer on a Sunday and there are signs in all the shops and supermarkets reminding you of this, much to Ryan’s annoyance when he forgot. But if you persevere, and your hostel has a fridge with cold beers, you will Conquer!

We were thinking of skipping Ecuador at one point, the Galapagos islands were giving us a headache and crossing from Peru to Colombia via the Amazon was becoming a viable trip. But we’re so glad we didn’t. It’s so diverse here. The country is split into three distinct zones, the lowlands, the Andean highlands and the Amazon and each strip of land has it’s own personality, food, people, and climate and the country is tiny in comparison to it’s neighbours, so travelling around is quick, easy and cheap.

Highlights

Favourite Place - Cuyabeno and the Galapagos Islands (Both)

Favourite Attraction - Piranha fishing (Jo) Swimming with Anacondas (Ryan) Snorkelling with sea lions (Both)

Favourite Food - Menestra con Pollo from a hole in the wall restaurant in Cuenca (Both)

Favourite Beer - Club (Ryan)

Favourite Drink - Jugo de Mora (Jo)

Lowlights:

People who recline their seats all the way back on the bus, there is no need!!! (Both)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $12-16

Restaurant meal - $2-4

750ml Bottled Beer - $1

500ml Soft Drink - $0.50

1.5l Bottle of water - $0.50

Bus - $1.2 / hour

Hasta luego

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Welcome to the Jungle

ryanandjo — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:54:00 GMT

Having passed up the opportunity for various reasons to go the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, in Ecuador we finally decided to venture into one of the defining features of the South American Continent. The Amazon Basin comprises of 8,235,430 km² in 8 South American countries, with Brazil having the largest coverage at 67% and Ecuador being one of the smallest at around 1.5%.

La Reserva de Producción Faunística Cuyabeno

The Amazon Rainforest is thought to be the oldest tropical forest area in the world, as much as 100 million years old and our journey was to take us into the primary rainforest of the Cuyabeno Reserve. We boarded a 12 person motorised canoe to head down river, the hour long journey took 3 hours to complete as we were constantly on the look out for wildlife, none we would have seen on our own if it were not for our guide Juan who had the eyes of a hawk, well in fact his nickname amongst his peers was Gato as his eyes looked like a cats.

Unlike the Galapagos where the wildlife is both abundant and easily visible, photographing moving animals in trees from a moving or at least rocking boat is not easy, so for some of the animals you’ll just have to take our word that we saw them as we have no photographic evidence. Our first sighting was of monkeys feeding high in the canopy, before we came across a snake sunning itself above the river as we passed by it in the boat.

Along the way we saw lots of beautiful butterflies and even saw a two-toed sloth slowly making its way along the upper branches of the trees. When we finally arrived at the lodge we were showed to our accommodation which was basic, but then in the middle of the jungle with no electricity it was more than we could have expected for such a remote location.

Our first real excursion was to the black waters of Laguna Grande where along the way we saw a couple of rare pink river dolphins that come to feed near the laguna at this time of year.

Then we set about searching for the biggest snake in the world, the Anaconda. While searching through the mangroves and hollow trees that the huge constrictors use as a home, Juan and Anaconda Hunter Jo, saw the distinctive diamond pattern of an anacondas skin poking out under the water next to a tree. By the time we had turned the boat around, the snake had retreated further into it’s home, but that didn’t stop our guide and driver trying to see if it wanted to come out to play!

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, the anaconda stayed in it’s tree and we went to watch the sunset from the lagoon. What do you do after driving 30 metres away from an anaconda sighting during their prime feeding time? Why you go for a swim of course!

After the sunset, when most of the animals in the Amazon come out, we went for a night walk in the forest and it wasn’t long before we came across this fellow...

To make the walk more “exciting” for us (read as nerve wracking), Juan decided he didn’t wanted to follow the well trod path but would give us an “extreme” experience by making us walk off the path through the thick foliage and trees with just our small headlamps to light the way, knowing that a whole heap of deadly creatures lurked all around us. We soon encountered Cappuccino and Scorpion spiders, Leaf cutter ants and a snake to top it off. It was quite a rush not knowing what was out there and what we might discover, but thankfully we survived without incident.

It was now time to head back for dinner and with no lights other than a torch that Juan was using to search for wildlife, our driver Miguel somehow managed to navigate his way through the rivers, but not before Juan managed to spot a few giant Caiman by the rivers edge with his torch.

We arrived back at the lodge safely for dinner, amazed by how much we had managed to see in just one day in the wild. After thoroughly checking our room with our head torches for any uninvited guests, we retired for the evening. Our next day started with another jungle walk but this time in the daylight where different kinds of equally dangerous animals come out to hunt, as well as finding a scorpion having its breakfast, we encountered some poisonous but very colourful frogs.

The trek also involved wading through a swamp which at some points came up to our knees, countless times we nearly fell flat on our faces or thought that we were going to lose our rubber boots, so we used the trees to support ourselves, until we both got bitten on the hands by ants! But that was not quite as bad as when Juan told us to be careful of the snake that was prying around the swamplands, but eventually we made it out safe and in one piece.

After lunch and chilling out at the lodge for a few hours we went out on the boat for our evenings activity, fishing. I’m sure nobody on the boat would have taken up the offer if you had asked them if they wanted to spend the evening fishing, but with the word Piranha added before it we couldn’t get enough of it. The most spectacular catch of the day belonged to Jo, who with her first catch managed to somehow land a piranha without the use of a hook, scaring the bejesus out of everyone as the piranha danced freely around the bottom of the boat. The fish kept getting bigger in size and while fishing over different sides of the boat we managed to catch a couple at exactly the same time, before setting them free once more.

After the fishing was over there were strangely no takers for swimming that evening! So we spent longer searching for caimans, again driving around in the pitch darkness we still weren’t sure how Miguel managed to see where he was driving. While we were out at night it certainly hit home that if anything was to happen on the river, the boat wouldn’t stand much chance of survival and we were always relieved to return to the safety of the lodge, where we only had to worry about these things crawling about our heads at dinner.

The next day our first port of call was the Samona tree for which our lodge was named and the largest tree in the Amazon.

We then called in at local indigenous village. Well as indigenous as a village can be when they have tour groups visiting all of the time. Despite my usual cynicism for these types of excursions this one was worth while. The village lies in a national park but the villagers own the land and a great deal of oil has been found in the area, which means that large oil companies have offered the villagers a lot of money to sell it to them, which would inevitably lead to the destruction of the ecosystem in this beautiful area. Although making a lot less than they could through selling the land, by accepting tours they can lead a more sustainable living for themselves and future generations while helping preserve the flora and fauna. The lodges also hire the locals as guides and drivers to ensure the work is kept within the community.

At the village we helped to prepare a traditional desert made from the Yucca plant, well the meal was for us after all and in reality we did very little leaving the majority of the work to our cook Gabriella, who knew how to use a machete.

While we were supposed to be helping the majority of us were playing with Nacho the monkey who had paid us a visit, although of course Nacho knew that food was being prepared and was looking for a free feed.

In the evening we went searching for anacondas again, as well as one last swim in the laguna, before cruising for caimans once more. We also managed to be scared half to death when Juan decided that it would be a good idea to bring a snake onto the boat, so that we could take pictures of it, at which point a fellow traveller so frightened bit her boyfriend who was shielding her from the Boa.

After returning to the lodge we went on a more sedate walk in the area around our accommodation looking for different species of frog that would serenade us to sleep each night, including the tree frog

On our last morning we got up at 5.30 to catch the earlier risers and were treated to toucans, stinky turkeys, cormorants, a sloth and some monkeys, as well as a morning caiman who was waiting to see if the monkeys would come too low into the branches when they were feeding.

After breakfast it was then time for us to catch a boat upriver to leave the reserve. We were surprised by the amount of wildlife that we were able to see. We saw pretty much everything that we could have hoped to see but the most surprising thing, along with the fact that it wasn’t as hot and humid as we had expected, was that, despite the location, we didn’t get a single mosquito bite between us!

Tena

Is a large jungle town about five hours south of Cuyabeno and it was here that the heat and the mosquitoes finally caught up with us and we were also struck down with a severe case of beer ‘o’ clock

After a few days of relaxing and catching up on the events of the world we decided to travel to...

Puyo

We never actually made it to Puyo. Buses in Ecuador tend not to stop at the main terminal but just anywhere in town or at the bus company’s office. Normally the bus conductor will tell us when it is time to disembark, but not this day, so we just sat there unaware of where we were heading. A new passenger asked for a ticket to Baños, which was due to be the next town we visited anyway, so we just stayed on the bus, kept quiet and got a free ride all the way there, but more on that next time.

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

8 Days Living in a Whale

ryanandjo — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:29:00 GMT

So we finally made the decision to go to the Galapagos Islands, having found a great last minute deal giving us a 40% discount on a 8 day cruise aboard a first-class yacht called the Cachalote, meaning Sperm Whale in Spanish. It can hold up to 16 passengers and when the group all met up at the airport it was a nice mix of Brits, Canadians and Aussies with the odd Irish, American and one lone Frenchman thrown into the bunch.

Arriving at the airport we were met by our guide, Monica, who, with over 16 years experience, turned out to be a fountain of Galapagos knowledge, there was nothing she didn’t know about the islands and it’s inhabitants. She took us over to our yacht and we met the crew and had our first panga ride (zodiac or dingy to most people), boarded the boat and took in the luxury settings we had signed up for, wow, we really aren’t backpackers now!

After lunch we set sail towards our first landing, spotting jumping manta rays, turtles and having the Magnificent Frigate bird sail along right next to us.

South Plaza

If you were wondering how much wildlife you actually get to see in the Galapagos, you can rest assured that on our first landing we were literally stepping over sea lions, land and marine iguanas, sally lightfoot crabs and lava lizards, just to get ashore. They are scattered all over the walkways and can go wherever they like, not to mention the gaggle of birds that live along the cliff top. This area gave us our first insight into nearly all the wildlife we would encounter throughout the Galapagos along with scenic views and landscape.

After leaving South Plaza we had a 4 hour sail to Puerto Ayora bay where we would anchor for the night. However, after a few hands of cards with our shipmates and the rocking of the boat, we both had to head down to our cabin to enjoy the delights of sea sickness. After we anchored we felt much better and could enjoy our cocktail welcome dinner with the Captain. We could get used to this standard of travel, apart from the vomit!

Santa Cruz

After a hearty breakfast (the chef really did feed us well throughout the whole cruise, think Christmas Day standards), we visited the Charles Darwin Research Centre, which is home to Lonesome George, the last surviving tortoise of his species from Pinta Island. Each island has it’s own species of tortoise and even though they have tried to get George to mate with the two ladies he shares his pen with, he has never been able to reproduce, so his particular species is in danger of becoming extinct. Well at 100 years old, he still has another 100 years to go, so he will probably out live us all.

It is somewhat strange to name the main research centre after someone who broke nearly every rule the Galapagos Islands have today, like eating and riding giant tortoises! However, Darwin was and probably is still the Islands most famous visitor and he himself called the Islands the origin of the Origin of Species. Indeed all of the animals here have adapted and evolved to enable themselves to survive on these Islands alone, which means that everything is endemic and called the Galapagos something or other, which our guide Monica was very quick to pick us up on if we forgot to use the word Galapagos when naming anything. For example, the Galapagos Yellow Warbler (Rav's Fav!)

We had a chance to wander around the town of Puerto Ayora and visit the fish market, where a scoop of pelicans along with a curious sea lion await any left overs from the fish gutting tables. You can also find iguanas roaming down the streets and sea lions taking over the promenade benches.

In the Santa Cruz highlands we went Giant Tortoise spotting, but that’s not really too difficult because a) they don’t move very quickly and b) they tend to stay in the same place most of the year. But we found a few friendly giants who were happy to have us watch them racing around for a few hours.

Española

To get to Española we had to sail all night long. We left the bay at 10pm and anchored at 7am. We were dreading the return of seasickness but found that the sound of the engine and the rock and roll of the waves sent us into a nice deep sleep.

We landed at Gardner Bay shortly after 8am, which is home to a colony of sea lions. We found one little baby sea lion that was only 3 hours old and was making it’s way down to the sea for it’s first ever swim. Muy bonito!

We then had our first snorkelling excursion at Gardner Islet, and even with wetsuits on none of us could stand the freezing water for the whole hour. At this time of year the Antartic Humboldt current sweeps through the Galapagos, supporting an abundance of marine life and making life uncomfortable for snorkellers. Determined not to let the cold get to us, Ryan and I let the others shiver on the panga while we stayed as long as we could (we have to get our moneys worth!) and were rewarded when a sea lion pup came to play with us and just seeing his big curious eyes as he darted right at us made us instantly forget the cold water.

At Suarez Point we were initiated into the Bird Spotters club where a huge variety of birds awaited us, alongside hundreds of Blue Footed Boobies looking after their young and doing their sky pointing mating rituals, and they really do have blue feet!

This area is also home to the Waved Albatross, the only place to find them in the Galapagos Islands, which were an amazing sight to see when they launched themselves off the cliff to go fishing, leaving their cute chicks behind for prying photographers.

Floreana

After another night sailing we arrived at Cormorant Point on Floreana, where we could get up close to the frequently encountered Sally Lightfoot Crab, whose bright red and blue colours always add a dash of brilliance to every volcanic landscape.

We then sailed around to the Post Office Bay where there is an old mariners post office barrel that is still in use today. The idea is to add any post you need sending around the world, and if a sailor or boat is heading in the same direction, they will pick it up and deliver it for free. Nowadays, the majority of mail is from tourists sending postcards to relatives, hoping another tourist is from the same town. Even though we didn’t find any addresses we knew, one of our team from London found a card marked for only two streets from where she lives, so can deliver it by hand. We left a couple of postcards there for our nephews and nieces, so we can see how long it takes for them to be posted, if ever.

We also had a couple of snorkelling expeditions around the coastline and came face to face with Pacific Green Turtles, who happily munched on algae and glided along gracefully while we swam along with them. Wow! This became a daily occurrence for us, braving the cold waters once or twice a day and every time finding turtles, sea lions, rays and even a sea horse amongst the schools of coral fish.

We then had to leave earlier than usual to make our way over to the western islands but this gave us plenty of ocean watching time and we saw some whales too, including the spouts of some Blue Whales. Unfortunately, the sea was pretty rough and the evening soon saw the numbers dwindle. At dinner when Richard the waiter brought out the sticky table cloths we knew we were in trouble. With four people missing from dinner (including poor Ryan) the rest of us could hardly finish a plate of food and no one returned for seconds. Soon the dining room was empty as we all retired early to bed. I’m sure I was on the verge of falling out of bed a few times.

Isabela

At Punta Moreno bay we had to trek over Panhoe-hoe lava fields that are only two hundred years old and the lagoons hidden amongst the rippling black lava threw a few surprises at us including a trio of White Tip Reef Sharks and Flamingos.

Elizabeth Bay is surrounded by red mangroves so we spent the afternoon in the panga boats sailing around and met our first Galapagos Penguins, Flightless Cormorants and Galapagos Tree Sea Lions, which are really just regular sea lions which like to climb up into the mangrove branches for a rest!

At Urbina Bay we found more wild giant tortoises and the land iguanas that live on every island plus a few lava lizards on the lava of all places.

Fernandina

The youngest of all the islands at only 6000 years old, which sounds old until you compare it to Española that is nearer 5 million years old. The landscape is just a hardened flow of lava that came from the volcano towering overhead. The Galapagos sits above the Pacific Ring of Fire and a hot spot in the Earth’s crust meaning all the islands were formed from volcanic eruptions and its an ongoing process with new eruptions happening constantly in the area. To make matters more interesting the islands are moving east towards the mainland, about 1 meter each year, to the extent that Española is gradually disappearing under the sea.

At Espinoza Point we were able to catch up with our friends the Marine Iguanas for about the sixth time, but this time we had the joy of watching them swimming into shore after grazing on algae under the sea. This exhausts them so much that they spend the rest of the day lazing around all over one another, snorting out the salt they can’t digest, pleasant creatures!

Our afternoon sail gave us more ocean watching time and when we caught sight of several splashes on the horizon the Captain sailed us nearer. It turned out to be a pod of over 600 common Dolphins fishing for their dinner. As far as the eye could see and riding the crest of every wave were dolphins jumping and flipping about, a spectacular sight I never imagined witnessing.

Later on that night just as the sun was setting we crossed the Equator and heard the official beep as the radar read 0 degrees on every level, marking our return to the northern hemisphere, but only for about 3 hours while we sailed around the top of Isabela to get to our next island, which was back in the southern hemisphere.

Santiago

Arriving at Egas Port we were introduced to the Galapagos Fur Seal, which is actually a type of sea lion wrongly named, but equally cute in appearance. Even though it was a very cold and blustery day the hardcore snorkellers, Myself, Ryan and French Freddie, decided to give it a go and were rewarded with some of the best underwater views and a playful young sea lion who played with us for ages swimming right up to our faces and curving over our bodies.

Bartolome

Later in the afternoon we arrived at our last destination and our last chance for snorkelling and this time we were joined by a penguin. Afterwards, we took a short hike up to a view point to get a panoramic view of the islands and Pinnacle Rock.

The evening and cruise was brought to a conclusion with a farewell cocktail dinner presented by the Captain and all the crew, who were all great guys and tolerated our dodgy Spanish practice on them.

What a fantastic time we had. It is an expensive trip to take, especially for backpackers, but it’s worth every penny. A unique wildlife experience never to be forgotten.

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

I think we’re going to Ecu-adore it here

ryanandjo — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:05:00 GMT

We arrived at the Ecuador border town of Macara where, with the heat and humidity, we could have been fooled in to thinking that we had somehow been transported back to South East Asia. Despite the sticky bus journey the change in weather was something that we had been looking forward too, not least as it will mean that subsequent photos will involve me wearing something other than my green fleece!

Loja

Our first experience of Ecuadorian life was in the southern provincial capital of Loja which is famous for its cuisine. Thankfully the city’s signature dish, Cuy (Guinea Pig) is only widely available on Sundays, so we were able to stick to more traditional local fare, such as Tamales, Humitas and Empanadas.

Strolling around the city it was nice to find a central square named something other than Plaza de Armas and we also stumbled across some great murals of Bolivar and Sucre. However, it was from the lookouts of the castle like gate to the city that we received the best views of the Venezuelan liberators of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia and their native Venezuela.

Loja was a nice staring point for Ecuador, but it wasn’t long before we moved on to...

Cuenca

Cuenca is a city in southern Ecuador today known mainly for its colonial architecture. However, the people of Cuenca would rather they were known for their traditional local hat, the Montecristi. In the 1800’s the Spanish liked the sombrero de paja toquilla (Toquilla straw hat) so much they started to export them back to Spain via Panama. Workers on the Panama Canal started to wear the hats as they were light and durable and protected them from the sun, and thus the Panama Hat was born. To make things worse for the people of Cuenca, today in order to sell their Monticristi they have to brand them as Panama hats to help them sell!

There is no danger of going hungry in Cuenca or the region as every morning in the towns and villages you pass people roasting pigs on spits and by lunch time the whole pig is laid out on a slab in the market for a pork lunch that can feed hundreds.

The city’s architecture is stunning but we didn’t spend as much time exploring the city as we could have done, as most things were only open for a half day on Saturday and closed for the rest of the weekend. As our next destination was another colonial city that is said to rival Cuenca for its beautiful buildings we decided to push on so as not to get too ‘colonialised’.

Quito

The Capital is divided into a New Town, Mariscal known to the locals as ‘gringolandia’ due to the amount of tourists that roam the streets and the amount of establishments that cater to their every need, and the Old Town with its beautiful, yes you’ve guessed it "colonial" architecture. However, it was here that we decided to base ourselves to see Quitos historic sites. On our first venture out to the main square the Plaza Grande we bumped into the Ecuadorian President, his full entourage and adoring public before we managed to escape the crowds to the more tranquil Plaza de San Francisco.

Much like with Cristo Redentor in Rio when walking around the Old Town your eyes are drawn towards a statue that adorns the skyline, that of the La Virgin de Quito.

So we decided to head up El Panecillo that lies behind the ‘Pueblo Viejo’ to get a closer look at the Virgin Mary herself.

From the summit you get an idea of the sprawling nature of Quito which lies between two 400km volcanic mountain ranges, but rather than building up the sides of the valley like in La Paz it has remained along the valley floor which makes it a very long and narrow city, which can take a long time to traverse in local transport!

My favourite attraction in the capital is probably the Gothic Basilica Del Voto Nacional, which rather than being adorned with the usual gargoyles has been decorated with local animals such as iguanas, turtles and ducks. Within the Basilica there are also some rickety walkways and steep climbs that take you into its towers, which also provide views of the Old Town.

However, despite all of the historic attractions the main reason for heading to Quito was to finalize our plans with regards to the Galapagos Islands. Heading to Quito we had 3 options and our minds changed almost daily as to which we would do. Our options were to sign up on a yacht tour, see the islands independently or skip them altogether. We had researched endlessly online and weren’t getting any nearer to making a decision and hoped heading to the hoards of travel agencies in gringolandia would help us decide what to do, so that we could enjoy our time in the rest of the country. It soon became apparent that signing up on a boat tour would cost the equivalent of 2 to 3 months travel elsewhere and seeing the islands independently although viable would only allow us to scratch the surface of what the islands have to offer and if you can’t do something right then why bother at all. So we narrowed the field down to a choice of the boat tour or this being the closest we would get to the Galapagos.

In the end we decided......

Until next time

Ryan & Jo

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Scream If You Wanna Go Faster!

ryanandjo — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:19:00 GMT

16 hours overnight from Cusco and we arrived in Huacachina, and quite a pleasant bus ride it was. Yes, it was full of Israeli backpackers (make your own judgment if that would be a good or bad experience) but they did come armed with a selection of decent dvds they insisted the bus conductor play, rather than the usual Jean Claude van Damme trilogy or ”Ballads en Ingles” we are usually treated to.

Huacachina

No more than a tiny town encircling a desert oasis, but towered over by giant sand dunes which gives this place it´s reason for visiting.

The only way to experience the dunes in full is to sign up to a dune buggy and sandboarding tour. The experience was Screamtastic! Our driver, Jesus, was crazy and took us on a real life rollercoaster ride across the desert. You could see the tracks left by other buggies in the sand and the only thought you could have was we are not driving up and over there, that is impossible, but yes Jesus sent us on a thrill ride that had the eight passengers screaming for more, nearly tipping over sideways and making air on several occasions, this had all the guys dreaming about buying their own buggies.

Then it was the sandboarding turn. I was going to chicken out of this when I saw the size of the dunes, but after I saw a 6 year old girl go down and survive, I thought I can’t let her get the better of me, so gave it a go. I didn’t try the snowboarding technique but opted for the faster, flat on the belly technique that filled every fillable nook and cranny with sand and left a few purple souvenirs to show off the next day.

This is usually the type of place we avoid, only existing to cater for tourists and full of touts trying to sell you a tour, but once we barged through all that we had no regrets here, it was an adrenaline rush we can highly recommend.

Lima

Grey, grey, grey and a bit more grey. That’s the only shade Lima has during winter time, when the clouds roll over from the ocean and settle in a thick coat of fog permanently across the city.

Lima is a huge sprawling, commercial city, bustling with traffic and taxis that like to add a gringo tax on to every ride. But the question is ‘How long do you have to wait for a bus in Lima?’, the answer is about 5 seconds. There are thousands of minibuses roaming the streets that will take you where you want to go, or if they’re not going exactly in your direction they will drop you as near as they can. A seemingly chaotic system that works smoothly, once you get the hang of it. The city didn’t have much to offer us apart from some ghoulish catacombs located under one of the biggest cathedrals in Lima, which originally held 25,000 corpses which all decomposed on top of one another in giant wells, nice! We are in danger of becoming obsessed with anything skeletal or mummified.

Lima did turn out to be the perfect place for Ryan to celebrate his birthday though, when he became reacquainted with an old friend of his.

Huaraz

10 hours overnight from Lima and we crawl back up into the high altitude of the central Andes. Huaraz is a great place to explore the Cordillera Blanca from, the most impressive section of the Andes, often likened to Switzerland, and according to specialists, containing THE most beautiful mountain in the world, Alpamayo, alongside plenty of stunning lakes.

Yungay

One thing you can not avoid in Peru is a Plaza de Armas because every village, town and city contains one. They were used as a place to gather arms in the event of an attack so are often surrounded by grand cathedrals alongside military and government buildings. The most interesting or thought-provoking Plaza de Armas we encountered was in Yungay, just outside Huaraz. In 1970 a huge earthquake hit the coast of Peru sending shockwaves up into the Andes. Yungay sits directly below Huascaran, the tallest mountain in Peru, and a huge avalanche of ice from the glacier slid down the mountain creating a landslide of granite at the same time, which completely buried the town under 8-12m of rubble, along with 18,000 residents. Today, a new town has been built down the road but the Plaza de Armas remains a reminder of the tragedy. The top part of the cathedral is all that remains, poking out of the soil, along with some huge boulders that show the size of the rubble that devastated the area.

The residents built a replica of the cathedral frontage in honour of the dead and will not build on top of the old town site. Huascaran, dominating the background, still bears the scar from that day.

Chavin

In the nearby town of Chavin we put on our Indiana Jones hats to explore the ancient ruins of Chavin de Huantar built from 1200 BC. It seems to have belonged to a bunch of crazy cats as the keystone heads were carved to represent the transformation of man into an animal, which took place to them under the influence of hallucinogens.

But it was the ladies of the town that turned our heads with their traditionally decorated hats and outfits.

Trujillo

Another cold overnight bus and we arrived very weary in Trujillo and proceeded to look for accommodation. Unfortunately, every decent room in town seemed to be taken as there was a national holiday approaching. Fed up and needing to catch up on some sleep, we opted for one of the worst rooms we have seen in a long time, but after finding used condoms in our room and establishing that we were possibly staying in a brothel, we checked out after only 20 minutes, jumped in a taxi and got the hell out of town.

Huanchaco

Luckily for us there is a lovely little seaside town just a $5 taxi ride away with plenty of accommodation on offer, we should have just headed here in the first place! The Peru coast doesn’t have much to offer in the winter, apart from surfing, as it’s too cold to swim and there’s generally no sun, but it’s still a nice place to relax, eat some seafood (if your into that kind of thing) and watch the local fishermen heading out to sea in their traditional reed canoes.

Just down the road is another archeological site for budding Indie’s, the complex of Chan Chan. Built by the Chimu empire around the 14th century, it’s the largest adobe city in the world, filled with labyrinth style passages and courtyards decorated with friezes depicting sea otters, fish, pelicans and other characters that would have been part of the daily life here. Although interesting, after here we finally agreed that we were “ruin’d out” for a while.

Piura

This town was just a short stop-over for us, arriving late at night and leaving early in the morning to make our way to Ecuador. However, it saw us sink to new lows in the accommodation stakes. The town was packed due to the national holiday and most hotels were booked up, but instead of traipsing around looking for a good room, we opted to share a single room at a ridiculously low cost. It actually wasn´t as bad as we thought and could be a good way to cut costs for the rest of the trip!

Peruvian Points

Can I have a bottom sheet that stays on the bed so I don’t have to keep making the bed all night long?

Can I have a toilet seat to go with the toilet please?

Can I get a taxi that doesn’t cost double the recommended price please?

Can I have a treat from the swinging snack machine please?

Ok, we liked Peru, just not as much as we liked Bolivia, but we always had an underlying feeling of mistrust when dealing with anyone who was in the tourist business, especially taxi drivers and tour operators. Peru has many interesting and spectacular attractions on offer, but the success of Machu Picchu seems to have spoiled the rest of the country who try to take advantage of the influx of tourists. Peru was in danger of becoming a Vietnam of South America for us, but of course we still met some friendly people, had some great food and still can’t believe how amazing Machu Picchu was!

Highlights

Favourite Place - Huanchaco (Jo) Nazca (Ryan)

Favourite Attraction - Sandboarding (Jo) Nazca Lines (Ryan) of course Machu Picchu (Both)

Food - Lomo Saltado (Jo) Arroz Chaufa (Ryan)

Beer - Cristal (Ryan)

Drink - Chicha Morada (Jo)

Lowlights

Gringo Tax (Both)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $7-20 for private room

Restaurant meal - $2.5-5

Set menu - $1.25-2

1L Bottled Beer - $1.25

350ml Soft Drink - $0.5

2.5L Bottle of water - $1

Bus - $1.5 / hour

Hasta luego

Jo y Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Inca-redible

ryanandjo — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:31:00 GMT

After some shady bus dealings by the bus company for our journey between Bolivia and Peru we arrived in our first Peruvian destination of Arequipa where our first attraction was the Museo Santuarios Andinos, to visit another of the ‘ice’ children. Inca civilisation was the largest empire in Pre-Columbian America starting around 1200 and coming to prominence around 1440 before dying out in the early 1600s. The Incas worshiped the mountains as gods and sacrificed children whenever there was a earthquake, volcanic eruption or natural disaster, believing that the sacrifice would appease the gods and thus lead to the Incas protection.

Due to a warming of the climate and other external factors sacrificed children preserved in ice throughout the years are starting to be found on the highest peaks in the Andes. We´re becoming quite addicted to these Ice Children and in Arequipa we went to see Juanita known locally as the Ice Maiden, who was found atop Mount Ampato in the Peruvian Andes. She wasn´t as well preserved as ‘El Nino’ whom we saw in Salta as she had fallen out of her ceremonial grave when a volcanic eruption from a neighbouring peak melted the ice on Mount Ampato, but it was interesting to hear her story none the less. It was considered an honour to be sacrificed to save others and the children believed they would pass into the after life and be an icon, and as tourists like us go to visit her, in many ways she is.

In the evening we went about keeping the David´s happy by having my first Peruvian beer and Jo trying the local tipple the Pisco Sour, both with a backdrop of Cerro El Misti that dominates the skyline in Arequipa and was probably the cause of a few of the Inca sacrifices in the region.

We also explored Monesterio de Santa Catalina a huge citadel of a Spanish monastery that would have had us completely lost if it were still two stories. Like in much of Arequipa the buildings are no longer more than 2 stories due to the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that have levelled the city over the years. The damage and rebuilding has made for an interesting mix and contrast of styles from different time periods.

Nazca

We decided to head to Nazca next and rather than heading straight to the towns main attraction we decided to first visit the Cemetery of Chauchilla. The Nazca civilization is believed to have thrived between 500 BC and 600 AD, some 600 years before the Incas. The cemetery has been looted by treasure hunters and although many of the bones are still spread out around the site many of the ancient mummies remain in their original graves along with ancient artifacts.

But the real reason for coming to Nazca was to visit the 300+ figures and 10,000+ Nazca lines covering an area of 525 kilometres in the desert just outside of modern day Nazca. The desert is thought to have been a place of religious ceremony where the Nazca people smashed pots (rather than the heads of children) as an offering to their gods who they believed were in the sky. Many of the ceramics and textiles found in the Necropolis in Chauchilla bear the designs etched into the sand in the desert.

To see the lines properly you have to take to the sky, so we booked ourselves on a flight in a four seater plane. The first 10 minutes or so were stomach churning while my body adapted to such a small aircraft. As we flew over the desert, we started to wonder if we would get to see anything, but as the lines started to appear we forgot about our stomachs and enjoyed the view. Although many were smaller than expected from the air, you could gauge their size especially those with the Pan Americana highway running next to them.

With the Monkey being a favourite of ours.

Cuzco

From Nazca we took an overnight bus to Cuzco, which was the centre of the Inca Empire and today is perhaps the centre of the South American tourist industry, with touts lining every street and endless offers for massages and tours. The area around Cuzco is known as the Sacred Valley and there are hundreds of sites to visit and explore. However, we went to a few and were somewhat underwhelmed so we decided to head straight to the areas most famous site and one of the new seven wonders of the world.

Rather than paying a lot of money to get the main train to the town of Aqua Calientes, we decided to take the 12 hour back route involving a bus, two taxis along precarious roads and a 3 hour hike along train tracks.

The next morning we got up at 3am and started a 90 minute uphill trek to get to the entrance gate. We managed to be one of the first twenty people into the site and the first to reach the Caretakers Hut of the Funery rock for this photo

In the Quechua language Machu Picchu means old mountain and the site takes its name from the mountain that lies out of shot behind the complex. To think that we were worried that it would be an anti climax due to the fact that we considered it a huge milestone of the trip and due to its over saturation in Peru, where it is literally on every poster in every shop, we were actually rendered speechless by its beauty.

The site was never discovered and therefore never destroyed by the Spanish and although abandoned and overgrown when it was revealed to the outside world in 1911, it was still in good condition mainly due to the strong construction without the use of any cement.

One of the reasons for getting up so early was to receive one of the 400 tickets given daily to climb Wayna Picchu, the famous mountain which sits behind the main complex.

The steep climb was well worth it for a different perspective of the site and to see the surrounding valleys and mountains that we had spent 3 hours walking around the day before speculating where Machu Picchu may lie only to see that we had walked almost 360 degrees around the site without realizing it’s existence until very near the end of our trek.

We also went to the Inca Bridge which was used to stop trespassers reaching the complex from one of the eight known trails to Machu Picchu. The most famous of which is the most popular trek in South America, the Inca Trail. As we decided not to do the trek ourselves as we didn’t want to commit ourselves to a specific date as you need book about 3 months in advance, we decided to walk up to the Sun Gate for which the Inca Trail is the only trail to go through.

As the day went on the site got more and more full with visitors, our favourite time was early in the morning when it was less crowded and you felt you were only sharing the site with these fellows.

It was everything we hoped it would be and so much more, we loved it so much that we spent over 8 hours at the site exploring every nook and cranny, it’s safe to say that it wasn’t an anti-climax.

Until next time

Ryan & Jo

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

1, 2, 3...At the Copa...

ryanandjo — Sun, 4 Jul 2010 02:44:00 GMT

We had been warned about the overnight buses in Bolivia, but we couldn’t avoid taking one from Sucre to La Paz as it was our only option. It was freezing cold and even though we were promised a toliet and blankets they did not materialise so we literally froze all the way and couldn’t sleep at all.

La Paz

We arrived in La Paz in time for the Andean New Year, Happy 5518 everybody!

La Paz seems to have the strangest location for a city ever, spread up and down and all over a canyon with the altitude ranging from 3600 in the centre, to 4100m where the poorer people live in the high altitudes at the top, to only 3000m where the rich live in the lower valley, with Illimani mountain towering over the city in the distance.

The centre of La Paz lies along the bottom of a valley so as soon as you head east or west from the main drag you have to start climbing uphill and that means getting out of breath very quickly. This makes La Paz a tough city to naviagte but thankfully the streets are safe and easy to cross due to all the zebra crossings.

We were told there wasn’t much to do in the city but we found lots to entertain ourselves and even over indulged in some western food at all the excellent restaurants at great prices. The Witches market area is full of llama fetuses for sale that are usually bought and then burnt as a sacrifice to Pachamamma, alongside plenty of Gringo souvenirs to keep the shoppers happy.

The dead centre of La Paz and seemingly Bolivia is the Plaza Murillo where all roads in the country lead from. It’s also surrounded by Palacios and government buildings with a heavy military presence, along with the odd bowler hat or two!

We decided to culture ourselves by visiting some of the hoards of museums on offer, including a quirky but highly informative museum on the Coca leaf and all it’s uses and forms, along with an exhibit cocaine factory demonstrating how they make the drug in the jungles of Bolivia! The Contemporary Art Museum had some excellent pieces of work by local artists that were actually affordable for the standard, just a shame we have no where to hang a picture or we may have purchased a few. The main exhibition was littered with art inspired by the hero Che and his life, including one made of dominos.

Tiwanaku

Just an hour outside of the city high on the altiplano are the ruins of the ancient Capital of the Tiwanaku culture. It was once one of the longest running Pre-Incan civilisation in Latin America as it’s existence spread over 2600 years, much longer than the Incas, Aztecs and most other civilisations from the region. Today, the main ceremony site is still under excavation and renovation ‘Bolivian’ style (read: lots of tools and machines but no work being done), and much of the site was destroyed by the Spanish so there isn’t a great deal to see. But our guide for the day was really informative about the culture, indigenous languages and the art and ceramics that we learnt much more than we ever expected to.

Is that a takeaway coffee cup the monolith is holding?

Coroico

2 hours south of La Paz is the tiny town of Coroico, a tropical paradise compared to the cold heights of the city. The drive took us down a steep and ear popping 2600m in altitude, where we could welcome nice deep breaths and a warmer climate. Along with the jungle comes the torrential rain and we worked out it was the first time we had seen rain in over 2 months. The surrounding countryside is known as Las Yungas and is the principle Coca growing region for Bolivia. Home to the first Indigenous president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, a previous coca farmer and llama herder himself and very popular with the voters today.

We hiked out into the surrounding hills and cloud forest to find some coca fields which we found after a couple of hours, along with some cute villages and smiley kids, plus a few nasty dogs that made Ryan create a makeshift weapon to keep them at bay. We considered getting a local taxi back to town but thought twice about it when every parked taxi in the villages was outside a local fiesta with all the men drinking beer. A very kind minivan driver offered us a lift back whilst swigging on a bottle of cerveza, so we politely declined! No wonder there are so many tales of bad drivers in Bolivia!

Copacabana (at the Copa, Copacabana)

Can you believe it? Two Copacabana’s in one trip!!! Let the Barry lyrics flow!

Copacabana is just a small town on the edge of Lake Titicaca but with a lot of potential singing power. The cathedral, which was on a different scale to any other we had seen gracing a plaza in Bolivia, was a shock to our system and sent us packing to the Crisp market where you can buy any variety of crispy and puffy snack you may desire.

Lake Titicaca

There are a number of ways to get out onto the lake so we took the longest way possible. We trekked 4 hours east along the shoreline to the small town of Yampupata, through tiny villages and past floating islands. With no other gringos around and only a few cars it turned out to be one of the quietest and prettiest treks we´ve ever done, it was just brilliant.

We stopped to have our lunch outside a house where there were some cut up logs that looked like perfect picnic stools. A little girl, Maria, 5, came out to say hello and to ask if we had any “galletas” (cookies), but soon disappeared when we said no. Two minutes later after we heard her have a talk with her dad, she was back demanding 1 boliviano for us to sit outside her house!!! After discussing with her that this was very expensive (about 10p) we gave in and handed over the picnic tax and she skipped off to the shop to buy some cookies!

In Yampupata we caught a private boat over to the north of Isla del Sol and found a room for the night. Isla del Sol is the birth place of Incan creation, the place where the Sun and Moon where born in their legends. We took a walk along our first Incan trail to the Titicaca Rock and the ceremonial ruins for the island.

Where we just had to try our first taste of Inca Kola!

The island was so peaceful especially after the tour boats had left leaving only a few gringos to stay on the island. You only have to share the beach with some piglets while you watch the sunset.

The next day we walked south to the other end of the island along more Incan trails and past a few makeshift tax stalls where local kids demand a tax for walking through their village, we weren´t falling for that trick again, so much so that when the official ticket kids approached us and we reneged them they followed us for ages pleading with us until we realised we really did need to buy a ticket to get to the south. We took the right direction on the island as the last section to get to the boat ramp was a very steep Incan stairway that I would much rather walk down then up.

And that was it for Bolivia. This area was probably the friendliest part in Bolivia with everyone chatting to us and being friendly and not all for a tax, and having learnt Spanish we could actually have a good conversation back with them. After planning our retirement to Isla del Sol, we sadly had to leave the lake and the country and head over to Peru.

So what’s Bolivia all about?

Fiestas for any occasion, demonstrations in every plaza, the sound of marching brass bands, firecrackers banging at every hour, the hustle and bustle of market life where you can buy anything you need, colourful costumes and traditional looks, landscapes that take your breath away, literally, big big drinkers. Bolivia is one of the liveliest, noisiest and entertaining countries we’ve visited...hasta la vista Bolivia!

Music - Brass bands march everywhere. We see and hear them virtually on a daily basis. Stop in the quietest and remotest village on the altiplano and suddenly a brass band appears from nowhere when you least expect it.

Food - Carbs, carbs and more carbs then add a bit of meat. Go for a roast chicken meal and it comes with rice, pasta and boiled potatoes. Salchipappas, a national dish that consists of sliced hot dog sausages over chips smothered in mayo, ketchup and mustard! We ate this twice, can you believe it!

Costumes - Over half the women in Bolivia wear traditional indigenous costumes. My particular favourite is the bowler hat look that was introduced to Bolivia by British railway workers in the 1920s. It’s worn by Quechua and Aymara women and is locally called a Bombin.

National holidays - there is literally one a week, from Corpus Christi day, to Teacher’s Day, to the Andean New Year....you name an occasion and they will have a day off work for it. Ok, so Bolivians don’t get any annual leave, so I would celebrate anything if it meant I didn’t have to work.

Che - Bolivia made him the icon he his today when they executed him deep in the jungle here. He’s everywhere and they love him!

And just for the two Davids, the obligatory beer photos!

Highlights

Favourite place - Lake Titicaca (Jo) Isla del Sol (Ryan)
Favourite attraction - Salt Flats tour (Both)
Food - Pollo a la Canasta (Jo) Papa Rellanas (Ryan)
Beer – Paceña (Jo) Huari (Ryan)

Lowlights

Cold bus journey (Both)

Prices

Accommodation - $8-20 per night for private room
Local restaurant meal - $2-3, Set menu - $1.5-2
Internet - $0.25 per hour
Bottle of cerveza - $1
Soft drink - $0.40
2L bottle of water - $0.60

Until next time

Jo y Ryan

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Getting High in Bolivia

ryanandjo — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 08:15:00 GMT

It was when we arrived at the bus station in the Bolivian border town of Villazon that it became obvious we would have to get used to less luxurious forms of travel from now on. Our bus had no suspension or shocks, the seats were broken and on our journey we got covered from head to toe in dust on the bumpy gravel road. Thankfully it didn’t rain as it would have leaked like a sieve. Despite all this it was probably the most fun journey we’ve had in South America, especially as at every stop along the way singers jumped on the bus trying to make a BOB or two, BOB being the abbreviation for the local currency the Boliviano.

Tupiza

We arrived in Tupiza and it felt like we had gone back in time to the wild wild west, all that was missing were cowboys and tumbleweeds bouncing down the street. In fact if you want to believe Hollywood and the local tourist industry, it was near here where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise.

The most noticeable thing in Tupiza was the amount of people imitating hamsters. The chewing of coca has been an important Andean tradition for centuries and today you will often see people with their cheeks stuffed with coca leaves which is said to help deal with the high altitude. Even without its derivative cocaine you can experience many highs in Bolivia, one off which is the...

Salar de Uyuni

The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world, created when the Andes formed, draining a sea of all it’s water and leaving the salt behind. We signed up for a 4 day jeep tour across the Bolivian altiplano from Tupiza to arrive at the Salar on the final day. Our group of four was completed by the crazy cats Jelte and Jojanneke from the land of Orange, cue sugar and butter on bread for breakfast! (A very Dutch thing to do!)

Our journey took us through some fantastic scenery laced with high altitude. In fact, during our first week in Bolivia our average sleeping height was around 4000m above sea level. Due to this and the tough climate that comes with it there was not much civilisation to see outside of the small villages we slept in.

The adults we saw all looked so much older than they actually are due to the harsh climate and tough working conditions. The children, however, were as photogenic as always.

On our second day we arrived at the Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina and were met by a wall of rubbish. Inside, huge lorries used the park as a highway to get to the salt and other minerals that they were extracting from the lagunas within the national park, transporting it through to Chile. It appears the concept of National Parks as being areas designated for protection is somewhat lost on Bolivia. Despite these flaws you can see why the area would be declared a wildlife reserve, with its beautiful scenery of volcanoes and mountains, Lake Colorado filled with Flamingos and the llamas and vicunas roaming freely throughout.

We spent our last night in a hotel made of salt next to the Salar

Before getting up early to catch sunrise on the salt flat.

We had a spectacular day on the Salar, visiting Isla Incahuasi, a random Cactus covered island.

And taking perspective shots of the never ending crystal white salt. Note to oneself, if you see a crack in the salt don’t step near it as it may break and then you end up shin deep in salt water, which will leave your shoe whiter than white with salt residue!

The Salar was the perfect way to end a great tour. We had heard some horror stories of drunk drivers taking tours out on the flats and jeeps breaking down all the time. Our driver Javier had one beer on day 3 and even that was alcohol free, although that didn’t stop him driving us into a snow drift we had to be pushed out of! Christina, our personal cook, woke at 3am everyday to prepare our breakfast and lunch and kept us well fed with a variety of delicious meals. We could have hired an English speaking guide but it wasn’t necessary as the scenery spoke for itself. However, if we weren’t high enough from our trip, we were about to get much higher.

Potosi

Potosi was founded in 1545 due to ores found in Cerro Rico, which forms the cities backdrop and by the end of the 18th century it was one of the wealthiest and largest cities in the world. The silver found within Cerro Rico is said to have underwritten the Spanish economy for two centuries. Today, the city’s claim to fame is as the worlds highest city at 4060m above sea level.

We arrived in time for the traditional annual Pachamama (Mother Earth) festival. In the city troupes, made up mainly of children, danced in the streets along to the music produced by a brass band that followed each group. It was an eclectic experience with all the groups wearing different coloured traditional costumes.

At Cerro Rico it is considered good luck to sacrifice a llama and bury its remains near the entrance to the mines as a way of winning the blessing and protection of Pachamama and to stop the devil spilling human blood within the mines. Sacrifice is an important element of all traditional Andean festivals and special occasions and is still widely practised. It was interesting to see a traditional ritual firsthand, although we weren’t as keen to be smothered in llama blood and sprayed with beer as some fellow travellers.

Whilst there we met Marvin, a 14 year old local who helped show us around. He was not old enough to drink beer yet as the legal age is 15, but he was already old enough to work in the mines. It is estimated that 1000 children between the ages of 8 and 10 make up the 8000 people that today work in the mines and the life expectancy for a miner can be as little as 10 years from the day they start working. It’s estimated that 8 million men have lost their lives in the history of the mine due to accidents, the lung disease silicosis and mercury poisoning from the extraction process.

Mine tour

Despite the dangers and the fact that all the valuable minerals were long ago extracted mining is still the main profession in Potosi. With the average wage in the city being 500 Bolivianos a month or the equivalent of US$70, in the mines they can make up to 50 Bolivianos a day. With Jo sitting this one out due to claustrophobia I signed myself up to find out more about the mines.

Our guide Efrain’s father took him out of school at 10 to start working in the mines. He has since learnt English and now works as a guide, meaning that he only spends a couple of hours a day in the mines rather than the 24 hours that can be spent working in the hazardous conditions. Although in the low season when there are no tourists he again joins his family in the mines to make a living.

Our tour started by sexying ourselves up with our safety equipment before making our way to the miners market to buy equipment for the miners. For US$3 you could buy dynamite, a fuse and accelerant. It was strange walking around the streets with dynamite and with no regulations i’m sure that I could have walked off with it if I had wanted. It certainly would have made our next border crossing eventful :)

It was also suggested that we buy the miners some coca leaves. Because of the dust the miners do not eat anything when working, instead they chew coca leaves to suppress their appetite.

When we arrived at the mines it was obvious that this wasn’t going to be a typical tour. Entering the tunnel the dust that fills the air burnt the back of my throat and nose and continued to do so for every breath. Due to the size of the tunnels I spent most of the time hunched over, that was when I wasn’t crawling on my hands and knees over the sharp rocks and rubble or squeezing down a shaft on a rickety ladder .

Despite all of this it was a great experience, although at times, after the exertion of crawling into a small space and not being able to breath clean air, it left me feeling claustrophobic. If finding work is an issue when we finish travelling I think I can safely cross Miner off the list of possible jobs.

Sucre

Sucre is still the judicial but no longer the governmental capital of Bolivia. It has some spectacular colonial architecture from its days as the capital.

It also has a huge market where we bought practically every meal of the day, from the fruit salads and saltenas for breakfast, to the chorizo sandwiches for lunch, to the variety of fry-up meals you can buy for 10 BOB for dinner, mixed in with a good amount of fruit shakes.

In Sucre we decided to learn more Spanish. We signed up at Fox Language Academy and were assigned Bertha as a teacher and we couldn’t have asked for a better profesora. She even gave us a cooking lesson where we learnt to cook the traditional Picante de Pollo (Spicy Chicken)

Fox is a non profit organisation and they use the money from Spanish lessons to subsidise English lessons for locals. We signed up to be volunteers to help out the local teachers with their English classes in the evenings. We were assigned to different teachers and at the beginning of the first lesson my teacher Jamile, asked the class for an example of a compound noun. Cue blank faces from all the students, at which point she turns to me for an example, I think I maybe on the wrong side of the classroom! After she gave the definition I was able to come up with bus station, I think I learnt English as much as I did Spanish!

We certainly got better at teaching, so much so that Jo and I were asked to cover a class on our own. As you can probably imagine a group of 10-14 year old Bolivians ran us absolutely ragged for an hour! In the lesson one of the girls asked me a question I didn’t understand and I made the mistake of saying ‘Si’. Only to realise in horror that she had asked my permission to hit a boy at the back of the classroom, and I had given it!

I also had another lucky escape when Bertha also asked us both to help out with some of her English lessons as she was having trouble translating pop songs. I managed to develop a dodgy stomach that made me miss the lesson where Jo had to translate and sing My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion! Lucky escape!

We also got to learn of the tensions between Sucre and La Paz as during our last days there were huge demonstrations in the town against the newly appointed Mayor by officials in the Capital. Apparently it’s not considered a real protest in Bolivia unless there are tear gas, rubber bullets and burning tyres involved!

We only planned to spend 2 weeks but after nearly a month we finally had to say goodbye to our students and get back on the road. Of all the highs we have experienced in Bolivia, so far the best have been in Sucre due to the students and the hospitality we experienced from the school and all the teachers there. It was nice to call somewhere home for a while and get to know Sucre properly, and to watch a few games from the Copa de Mundial too!

Until next time

Ryan & Jo

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

The Last Days of Dulce de Leche

ryanandjo — Sat, 15 May 2010 03:02:00 GMT

It was our fifth time crossing a border into Argentina. This time we had to traverse the Andes along a switchback road with twenty bends to get us up over the natural boundary, passing Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas and outside the Himalayas at 6960m. The landscape reminded us of parts of China and Tibet and afterwards we discovered this is where Seven Years in Tibet was filmed. Brad, where are you Brad?

Mendoza (aka Curse of the Dodd)

The Mendoza region is famous for its wine and the most popular trip for tourists is to spend a day cycling around the wineries. We intended everyday to do this. However, first Ryan caught a cold, then everywhere was closed for a national holiday, then it was Sunday and the wineries were only open for half a day, then we over-slept so didn’t have enough time to do a full day, then I caught Ryan’s cold, then, then...we gave up. By the sixth day we realised wine tasting was not going to happen for us so left it at that. Sometimes you just have to know when something has beaten you, or you have been cursed, and have a beer instead!

Salta

Catching our last long overnight bus in Argentina, we moved on to Salta, 18 hours into the North West corner of the country. Our hostel was putting on an Asado in the evening so we signed up for a feast. The night was shared by the 18th birthday party of the hostel owners granddaughter, so we were treated to local entertainment of Folklore dancing and singing. The adults and children where really talented and the young boys did a ‘dance off’ where they slowly build up momentum to a thigh slapping, boot stomping, leg kicking finale that was fantastic.

The lady dancers even managed to get some of the crowd to join in. Ryan tried to abstain but with two ladies on either side he couldn’t resist their charms.

Unfortunately, the curse of the Dodd returned with a vengeance when I woke in the night with a bout of food poisoning. After suffering all day, it was suddenly Ryan’s turn to come down with the same symptoms, only a lot worse and whatever it was we had eaten left us holed up in our room for the next three days. Thinking we were better, we would venture out into town only to find 10 blocks down the road that we were exhausted and needed to rest much more, so it was back to hostel until we were fully recovered. But what we did see of Salta was really lovely, the town has many original colonial buildings still intact.

Salta is home to the MAAM museum that contains the Llullaillaco children, three Inca children almost perfectly preserved after they were led to the highest mountain in the region and left to die as a sacrifice to the Incan gods. The high altitude and cold weather kept their bodies intact, so when they were discovered 10 years ago and moved to the museum in their mummy state, they still eerily look exactly as they did 400 years ago. Apparently, there are still hundreds of sacrificed children in the Andes today, which may never be discovered.

Salta sits in a valley on the edge of the Puna, the high altitude area of the Andes. To counteract the effects of the altitude you can find Coca and Bica on sale. Coca leaves are chewed in the mouth then Bica (like bicarbonate of soda) is added to increase the stimulant effect that helps reduce altitude sickness. It’s not addictive and only has mild effects, but of course the coca leaf is what cocaine is extracted from, so it’s not the most legal practice either.

Cafayate

Eventually, after days of recuperation we felt much better and decided to see the Cafayate region. The drive from Salta took us through the Valle Calchaquies, filled with rock formations created when two tectonic plates collided a few million years ago. The colours were remarkable along with the different views around every bend.

We even got up close to a few iconic llamas! But beware, do not pat them on the head or ears as that will make them spit at you. Luckily we were warned before we got too close.

But the highlight of the tour was finally shaking off the ‘Curse of the Dodd’ and being able to visit some of the regions wineries at long last!

Humahuaca

The Humahuaca region north of Salta is one of the most historical of Argentina. It is said that every Argentinean has a part of them that comes from this North West corner because it’s the area where the war for Independence was fought and won in 1810. The area has great scenery including the Pumacara seven colours hill, the colours appearing from different stages of oxidisation of various minerals.

Quebrada de Humahuaca is a ravine leading up to the altiplano high altitude land with the town of Humahuaca based at the top. The town is full of cobbled lane ways lined with adobe houses made from mud and straw. The hillside is adorned by a giant bronze statue for the great leader of the Humahuaca people. The town also gives us a taster of things to come, with a large Bolivian population the changes of faces was notable. There was street food on offer on every corner along with pan pipe players tootling out familiar tunes. And we welcomed back street sellers trying to off load sombreros, ponchos and coca leaves at any opportunity.

So after just one night here, we board a bus to La Quiaca, the border town with Bolivia, over 5000km north of Ushuaia. Argentina is certainly one very long and changing land, but as we say Adios with a tear in the eye, I think I hear the pan pipes calling us to experience something new.

Argentina Observations

Dulce de Leche - Our first introduction to this was at our first breakfast in Argentina and I believe my words may have been ‘I can’t eat this everyday for breakfast it’s far too sweet’. 60 odd days in the country and we are addicted like the rest of the population. It’s everywhere, in liquors, cakes, biscuits, pancakes and of course ice cream. It’s caramel, it’s sweet, it’s gooey, it’s delicious. We are already wondering how we’ll cope without it when we leave, eyeing up 1kg tubs of the stuff in the supermercado and wondering how many we can squeeze it into our backpacks.

Ice Cream - Yes the ice cream here is amongst some of the best in the world, but don’t bother trying all the flavours, when the vendor asks what three flavours you want in the tub, the only answer is ‘dulce de ’leche, dulce de leche and dulce de leche’

Dogs - these are the coolest dogs in the world, including Scooby Doo dogs. They do have owners but are allowed to wander free in the streets and play their favourite game of chasing cars. We still haven’t worked out which particular car will make them bark; ten cars can pass by then suddenly the eleventh is the one that has the dog up at high speed barking at the top of its lungs running down the street. The nasty barking dogs are always chained up, thankfully, but do make for a good game of ‘how many dogs will scare the bejeezus out of me today’ Top score 7.

Islas Malvinas (Falklands) - we have mentioned this a few times and it’s a hard topic to to avoid as a Brit travelling this country, but whatever the islands mean to Britain, you can guarantee they mean 100% more to Argentina. It’s their land that’s for sure.

Meat - is always overcooked. We should learn to say ‘Please don’t overcook it’ in Spanish, but even over cooked it tastes good, just imagine what it’s like done properly.

Buses - These have to be the most comfortable buses in the world and it is worth spending the extra money to experience executive class, it’s so comfy you could tackle a 70 hour journey on one of those babies!

H’s - everytime we learn new words in Spanish that begin with H we forgot to pronounce it without the H, everytime! How many times in English are you told to pronounce your H’s properly but here that rule goes straight out the window. Just when we think we are mastering the language another Argentinean looks confused and says, oh you mean Elado not Helado (ice cream), Ambre not Hambre (hungry), Uevos not Huevos (eggs). We even met a lovely foreign coin collecting shop assistant called Herbert who would rather pronounce his name Erbert!

Mate - a traditional green tea drink, drunk from a specially made cup through a gauze. We have heard it is addictive, so much so that people carry flasks of hot water around under their arm all the time to ensure they can continually top up the drink. It’s also a sharing thing...pass it around.

Gauchos - we’ve seen real ones of these and they are cool dudes. They have perfected the weather-beaten look, donning berets and riding horses. I was too intimidated to ask any of them if I could take their photo, you’ll just have to imagine them for yourself.

Piercings - everyone under the age of 25 has a piercing, but none are the conventional ones you are used to, more like someone has their cheek pierced, or their forehead or shoulder, it’s really strange. Or you see someone with what looks like a bunch of map pins of different colours dotted around their face. Is this catching on in other countries?

Music - every other day Rick Astley’s ‘Never gonna give you up’ comes blasting through a public speaker in a shopping centre or bus station. If not Rick, then it’s Belinda Carlisle or, a personal favourite, A-ha! Maybe they have Now 12 stuck in a tape deck somewhere in the system, but it’s always good for impromptu dancing and warbling in the supermarket aisles.

Argentina Summary:

Highlights

Favourite Place - Salta region (Jo) El Chalten (Ryan)

Favourite Attraction - Evita Museum (Jo) Mount Fitzroy (Ryan) Perito Moreno Glaciar (Both)

Food - Birthday Waffle* (Jo) Patagonian Lamb (Ryan) Dulce de Leche in any form (Both)

Beer - Iguana (Jo) Beagle Fuegian Red Ale (Ryan)

* It did actually come with dulce de leche, que surprise!

Lowlights

Welsh Settlements (Both)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $25-50 room in hostel (depends on season)

Restaurant meal - $4-10

1L Bottled Beer - $1.50-2

500ml Soft Drink - 75c

1.5l Bottle of water - 50c

Bottle of wine - $3

Bus - $3 / hour

Until next time,

Jo & Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/

Ioranna Rapa Nui

ryanandjo — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Our next destination was one of the world's most isolated inhabited islands, originally know to the locals as Te Pito o Te Henua, meaning navel of the world or the ends of the land. Today it’s known as Rapa Nui (Polynesian), Isla de Pascua (Spanish) or Easter Island.

Almost everything about the island and it’s history is contentious, including when settlers first arrived. Local oral tradition supported by scientific consensus suggests that they arrived from South East Asia via Polynesia rather than from South America. However, in 1888 despite lying 3,510 km (2,180 m) west of the mainland it was annexed by Chile, which means that we can visit it as part of the South American leg of our trip :)

When you mention Easter Island, one image immediately comes to mind, that of the large stone statues or Moai. Like the island itself much of the Moai’s history is unknown and under great debate so we set about trying to discover more about them for ourselves.

After checking into a hotel we went for a walk about the only town on the island Hanga Roa and got to see our first Moai up close, that of Ahu Ko Peka Ta’e Ati, after we almost immediately stumbled across it.

The next day we set out to explore more of the island. We had decided that as the island wasn’t very big, we would use our hiking skills to get ourselves around. In chilly Santiago this had seemed like a good plan, however now deep in the South Pacific with heat and humidity it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t going to be a viable option, so we quickly found an alternative.....

It was rusty, rattled, didn’t lock and the key even fell out of the ignition when driving, but it did the job and allowed us to visit some of the distant sights on the island. Having not owned or driven a car for over 5 years, it took a while to get used to everything, especially as i’d never driven a left hand drive manual before.

When the island was discovered by Europeans in the 17th century all of the Moai had been toppled as a result of tribal warfare

Only a few sites on the island have been restored and our first of those was around Ana Kena beach, to see Ahu Nau Nau the first Moai's to be reerected.

Our next stop was Ahu Tongariki the largest and perhaps most well known of the ceremonial platforms and burials called Ahu on which the Moai sit. After being raised they were again felled by a tsunami in 1960, before being restored to their current positions in the early 1990’s

Which also look very enchanting at sunrise.

The island of Rapa Nui was formed by 3 volcanos and almost 95% of the Moai were carved out of the volcanic rock at Rano Raraku. It is not yet known how the Moai were transported to their Ahu, but nearly half the Moai remain in the quarry at the volcano and only a quarter made it to their intended sites, while the other quarter were on their way to but never made it to their final locations.

For centuries, the religious belief of worshipping ancestors was the focus of life for the islanders, which manifested itself in the building of Ahu and the carving of Moai. Each Moai is believed to be a depiction of an ancestor or deceased line of lineage. Each Ahu and Moai are oriented astronomically, with all the Moai facing inland with the exception of those at Aku Akivi which face out to sea.

The eye sockets of the Moai were not completely carved out until they were erected on their Ahu. During ceremonies the "eyes" were placed on the statues and today only one example of this remains at Ahu Ko Te Riku

But Rapa Nui is not just about the Moai. During the 16th Century islanders adopted the cult of the Make-Make god, resulting in an annual ceremony called Tangata Manu or ‘Birdman’, which was a leadership competition to obtain the first egg of a sooty tern from an islet off the coast, with the winner becoming the chief of the cult for that year. It’s believed along with tribal warfare between the 10 or so tribes on the island, that the changing of religious beliefs and the cult of the ‘Birdman’ led to the toppling of all the Moai from their Ahu. The main area for this worship was on the Rano Kau volcano, with the Orongo village on it’s slopes being used for the ceremony along with being decorated by Petroglyphs.

Like with many national parks there are rules on how to treat the attractions, along with not touching the Moai and petroglyphs and not walking on the Ahu, we were told to respect the Moai. I’m not sure if this counts as disrespecting them but like other visitors we couldn’t resist an imitation pose.

Although i’m not sure that either of us could have achieved surfing on a Moai even if we had wanted to.

We wondered whether as ‘budget’ travellers we should come, but if you’re thinking about it we would definitely recommend it. The island with it’s beautiful flora, crystal clear surf and horses roaming freely has the South Pacific feel we were looking for, something completely different to mainland South America.

Despite almost everybody on the island making a living through tourism the island didn’t feel ‘touristy’. Only one plane lands each day keeping the quota of tourists at around 300. There is a certain relaxed detachment about the island and it’s inhabitants, who like elsewhere, love their soccer and a local brew. There is a real sense of community about the island, which we were made to feel part of during our stay.

While the debate still rages about the history of the island and it’s Moai, what can’t be disputed is that both are spellbinding.

So now we're returning to Santiago, before crossing back into Argentina.

Until next time

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/sets/72157623966716518/

Chile Country Summary

Highlights

Favourite Place - Easter Island (Both)
Favourite Attraction - Santa Lucia Park (Jo) Torres Del Paine (Ryan)
Food - Mashed potato with mustard chicken (Jo) Lomito (Ryan)
Beer - Rapa Nui Pale Ale (Both)

Lowlights

Valparaiso (Both)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $30-40 room in hostel
Restaurant meal - $6-12
1L Bottled Beer - $2
500ml Soft Drink - $1
Bus - $4 / hour

Fear and Loathing in Valparasio

ryanandjo — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:00:00 GMT

We arrived in Pucon as if by magic! Well, actually we arrived by our usual form of transportation after crossing the Andes, I just don’t want to start another blog writing about another bus journey :)

Pucon

Volcan Villarrica stands at 2,840 meters (9318 feet) above sea level and dominates the skyline around Pucon and can be seen from all around town, when it isn’t surrounded by cloud.

It was dark when we arrived at our hostel so we weren’t able to see it at all, but we heard from other guests that the volcano was ‘lavaring’ for the first time in 3 years. As Villarrica is one of only four volcanoes worldwide known to have an active lava lake within its crater, we wandered into town the next morning and made sure to take a note of the evacuation signs and procedures and to familiarise ourselves with the light warning system in case of an eruption.

Pucon also has a black lava sand beach beside a lake, which only reminded us of past eruptions. Should we be getting nervous?

In the evening I had the most horrendous experience of our whole trip, when I could not buy a beer for love nor money!! In both Argentina and Chile they have a bottle return policy to encourage recycling. If you don’t have an empty to return they charge you $1 extra for your beer. It’s a good policy, although rather than carry beer bottles around with us between locations we start the process again in each new town. When buying our dinner I picked up a beer, however, it turns out that the beer that I was trying to buy did not come in a recyclable bottle so the cashier would not sell it to me. You’ll just have to imagine my sarcastic tone, that they would stock it and refrigerate it, but would not sell it! That is if I could even begin to convey any of that in Spanish :)

To make matters worse on our way back to the hostel we passed a bottle shop, so I decided I would not be thwarted. However, they wouldn’t sell me anything as I didn’t have a bottle to return. So I returned to the hostel with my tail between my legs, where thankfully the owner had an empty bottle I could use to exchange to get myself a hard earned beer. I only had one beer but I think I would have had more luck pronouncing the name of our next destination if I i’d had a few more! In Spanish H’s aren’t pronounced and QU is said as K and we were headed to...

Parque Nacional Huerquehue

We’ve been spoilt with both destination and weather recently and although Huerquehue was nice it wasn’t in the same league as Parque National Los Glaciares. The weather was overcast, which meant that the main attraction, its four lakes, didn’t look as good as they might on a clear day and Volcan Villarica didn’t reflect in their waters as it was shrouded in cloud. However, we were able to get close up to the monkey puzzle trees within the park and it was good to get the lungs working again as we decided to race back to the entrance to catch an earlier bus back to town.

Having done Thorong La pass and been ice trekking, what could we do to increase our trekking status? Climb a ‘lavaring’ volcano of course! Troubled by a cold Jo decided that she would sit this one out, a wise decision as it turns out. Having climbed vertically for an hour our group took a rest, had something to eat as well as taking pictures of the view.

However, despite the weather looking calm and being the clearest day so far, when we started the climb the wind at the top of the volcano had picked up and we were told that to get to the top we would have to deal with strong cold winds and sulphur, so we aborted our attempt, leaving our trekking status at just Ice Trekkers.

Santiago de Chile

Rather than attempt the climb the next day we continued with out plans to head to the capital. We arrived early in the morning and immediately felt that something had changed, and it didn’t take long to realise that we had that ‘big city’ feel again. In the five weeks since leaving Buenos Aires we had spent our time in relatively small locations, but now it was back to the hustle and bustle of big city life (without the work, of course!) and we were both looking forward to the change. Perhaps it would have been better experiencing the metro system outside of rush hour, although i’m sure the other passengers felt that way about our huge backpacks too.

After checking into a nice hostel with a cute dog named Pepe,

we dropped our backpacks off and went out to explore the city which turned out to be a good size for walking around and was particularly colourful.

We climbed Santa Lucia hill with it’s ornate facades, staircases, and fountains for a birds eye view of the capital. It’s a shame that the city was so ‘cloudy’ and that we couldn’t see the Andes as clearly as we had hoped. It seems Santiago has a smog problem similar to Chengdu's.

After the thirsty work of climbing Jo decided to treat herself to a drink and feeling adventurous she opted for a 'Rico Mote Con Huesillos' that we had seen advertised about town, which turned out to contain dried prunes and barley oats, it wasn’t quite the refreshing drink she was expecting, but apparently still quite nice.

We also took time to explore the museum of precolumbian history, which was a good introduction to all the civilisations of the continent and not just those from Chile and the Andes region.

We didn’t have any trouble finding the museum, but if we had we could have always asked the helpful tourist information guide in the Plaza de Armas, who scoots around on a Segway!

Santiago was also the scene of my first seismic experience when I was awoken early one morning by a shaking, or maybe it was just Jo prodding me to tell me she had felt an earthquake. There was nothing in the news about it so it must have been a regular occurrence for Chileans due to Chile's proximity to the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, two of the fastest converging plates in the world. However, after the magnitude 8.8 quake that hit Conception on the 27th February we were a little concerned.

Valparasio

Ah Valparasio, where do I begin? My mother always told me if I didn’t have anything nice to say then I shouldn’t say anything at all. That wouldn’t make for much of a blog though, so here we go........

The guide book describes Valparasio as a photographers dream, with its colourful mix of houses and hilly surroundings along with an aging hillside lift system, if not a little rough around the edges. A more appropriate description would be a giant smelly flea market of a town with paint peeling houses piled unsightly on the hillsides, with rusting lifts dotted around, with a feel of La Boca meets a Rio favela, which you wouldn’t want to photograph even if you didn’t feel too scared to get your camera out, unless from the safety of your hostel.

Valparasio was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2003, it just doesn’t look like anyone has bothered to clean anywhere since, or maybe nobody ever came here and they awarded the status based solely on the translation of the cities name, Valley of Paradise!

I’m not a dog person (unless it’s Pepe) and in Valpo they seem to be as sacred as cows in India. Dogs are free to roam, sleep and do as they please. The city offers a beach area that is meant to be pleasant to stroll along, but all we found was a dirty dock area that had us choking on it’s mini dust storms. Often in city parks we get to see locals playing various games, but in Valpo we got to witness two bare chested homeless men thrashing each other with their belt buckles, gladiator style, to the entertainment of more people than I care to mention.

The cities main attraction is a 30 minute boat ride around the port, where they cram the boat full just so people can get up close to the container ships and docks, while making sure not to photograph navy vessels. Thanks but I think we'll pass!

As the city is the countries major port and naval base you would expect it to have a bit of an underbelly, but we just never felt safe and can safely say that we’re glad to be moving on next to somewhere hopefully much much nicer.

Ice Ice Baby

ryanandjo — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:13:00 GMT

After a quick bus ride over the border from Chile we were back in Argentina. El Calafate in the south west of Patagonia is a one horse town. There is only one reason why people venture to this remote part of Argentina and that is to access the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and to see Perito Moreno, one of the most famous and accessible glaciers in the world and something high on our list of things to see.

Glaciar Perito Moreno

We were disappointed when we left the sunshine over the town, heading west towards the dark clouds and rainfall over the park. However, on first siting of the glacier, which made our Argentinean bus companions clap wildly with joy, we knew the weather, no matter how bad, would not spoil this day. The glacier looked just as spectacular in the rain as we had expected and on cloudy days the glacier appears even bluer than on a clear day.

Who would have thought watching ice melt would be so much fun! When the glacier moves, approximately 1-2 meters per day, the loud sounds of the cracking and ice carving from the front can be likened to gun shots and thunder. Environmentalists use Perito Moreno to demonstrate global warming, but it is one of the only glaciers in the world not changing as it regains as much ice each year as it loses. It takes 300-500 years for the ice to reach the front of the glacier and when it does the ice moving behind it pushes the front against rocks on the lake bed, causing the front to fall. We never knew where or when the ice carving action was going to happen, but every time a huge chunk fell from the front it sure was a crowd pleaser.

After only 2 hours of ice melting action it was time for us to get a closer inspection. We had signed up to do an ice trekking trip, which involved a boat trip across the south face of the glacier to get nearer to the ice and give us a different perspective on the monster, which is bigger than the size of Buenos Aires.

Once we had sailed across the lake, managing to miss the icebergs floating in the water, we landed and took a short hike over the rocks and beach, getting up even closer to the glacier.

Then it was back to school with a Glaciology 101 lesson on the beach where the highlight was catching a massive chunk of ice slide into the water and seeing the iceberg pop back up on top moments later. Our group was all stunned but our guide had obviously seen this a thousand times when he exclaimed rather mundanely ‘yeah, nice’

Before hitting the ice we had to put on crampons and have an ice walking lesson, learning to walk in a monkey like fashion, digging our feet into the ice to ensure that we wouldn’t fall into any crevasses!

Wow, it was awesome to get up close to the peaks of ice and be able to trek all around it, seeing ice tunnels and deep crevasses, even taking drinks from the pools of fresh water. It was easier to trek on the ice than we thought, raising our trekking status to Pro Ice Trekkers now!

To top it off, the trek ended at Perito Moreno ice bar. There are ice bars in Sydney and London where you pay for the privilege to drink in a -5 degree bar made of ice. Some of our blog readers may be more familiar with the famous Club Ice Bar in St Ives...however, this ice bar is the real deal...a shot of whiskey with ice axed straight from the glacier, a perfect way to end an excellent day!

El Chalten

is a frontier town set up by Argentina in 1985 to fend off the Chileans claim to the land when the countries were not the best of friends. Luckily, everything is all quiet on the western front now. It’s a very small town with little else to do but look after the hoards of trekkers and climbers that base themselves here to explore the northern section of the Parque National Los Glaciares. The town is located within the national park so before entering you have a diversion through the park rangers office for a talk on the do’s and dont’s of the area, plus lots of helpful tips. We found ourselves a hostel and planned our trekking itinerary for the next few days.

First up was the 7 hour round trip to see Cerro Torres. The walk started off steep but luckily for me (I hate the uphill bits) it flattened out until we reached the laguna at the end and a close up view of the spikey mountain and the Grande glacier next to it.

The second day we took on the Fitz Roy range, an 8 hour trek on a rare beautiful day for this region. With no clouds in the sky we were able to really appreciate the beauty that is Fitz Roy, from the first observation point, from the lake and from all the way up the top after an hour of vertical trekking that Ryan managed to run up in 30 minutes!

The next day we were rained in so we had to call off our final trek but we felt lucky to have had two great days for the best treks in the park. Unfortunately, our bus out of town was not leaving until 11.30pm, so we had to spend ALL day sitting in the hostel watching tv and films, eating, chatting with fellow trekkers and using the free wifi...travel can be so hard sometimes.

Ruta 40

From here the bus took us north for 30 hours, yes 30 hours and 2 sleeps, up the famous Route 40. It’s the route that formed part of the road trip Che Guevara took in 1952 on a motorcycle through South America, now widely known as the Motorcycle Diaries. I’m sure today the state of the road is much better than Ernesto would have endured, but still only around 40% of the road is tarmac, with work slowly continuing to get the rest of the road to the same level, with the remaining being a bumpy gravel road with a maximum speed limit of 40km per hour. The driving was slow and the change in scenery even slower, just an uninterrupted view of nothing, like the outback of Australia, just not red. But that’s what is great about it. Occasionally we would pass some work men preparing the road for a new surface, miles from anywhere just living in a little hut. We passed by long stretches of new tarmac but just had to drool at their smoothness as we bumped along on the gravel only allowed to look not touch.

We stopped for breakfast in a small town of about 10 houses, a lone petrol pump and one hotel and saw a boy with his satchel on his back walking to school. Thinking life is normal out here after all, we then realised he would probably be the only pupil in class that day, what an isolated life. Halfway through the trip we had a two hour lunch break so we could stretch our legs and get some proper food rather than delving into our dwindling snack bag that had been keeping us going. Eventually, after a number of annoying heating changes within the bus, shiver, sweat, shiver, sweat, we were chucked off at our destination at 5.30am. Thanks for the ride Ruta 40.

El Bolson

This town is overflowing with the hippy vibe, a magnet for artists, craftsmen, or just anyone wanting to get away from hustle and bustle. It’s famous for it’s arts and craft market, where vendors can only sell items that are handmade, including beer, chocolate and ice cream, the perfect place to recover from Ruta 40! The market is a great place to pick up an afternoon snack made from fresh produce. We opted for the waffle covered with dulce de leche, raspberries, strawberries and cream, so naughty but so good.

We happened to be here for my birthday so as well as relaxing, we hiked up a mountain to see a natural stone carving that resembles an Indian head

This helped us work up an appetite for a birthday dinner of steak, Patagonian lamb and mash potato.

Bariloche

Just 2 hours up the road, Bariloche is the tourist capital of the Lake District of Patagonia. It is also the Chocolate capital of Argentina and with every other shop selling chocolate coupled with us arriving on Easter Sunday, it was only appropriate for us to do some taste testing of samples and purchase ourselves a treat.

The next day we needed to burn off some calories so we decided to get a view of the Nahuel Huapi lake from Cerro Otto. There is a Teleferico (cable car) to the top of the mountain but there is also a path you can take to trek up to the summit. We kind of lost our way, or realised later on that we never took the right path in the first place, so we ended up on the steepest path with only one way up. My suggestion of ‘why don’t we just walk down and take the cable car?’ was met with disdain from Ryan so we started the gravel slipping climb up. This was not fun. You must have seen the pathway under a cable car before, it’s the way maintenance guys reach the pylons and the way idiots, like us, trying not to spend money on the cable car get to the top. The saying of the day was ‘I am NOT having fun!’, followed by Ryan laughing hard and then me saying ‘Seriously, I am NOT having fun at all!’ followed by screams and shouts as I slipped and scrambled by way up the mountain. We made it to the top, only because it was too steep to go back down, and caught our breath whilst enjoying the view, which kind of made the hard work worth it!

Not put off by that mountain experience we arranged a trek to Mount Tronador within the Nahuel Huapi National Park. This was a 6 hour climb over 18km, which started nice and flat and then slowly winding up the mountain over 6km until we got to the snail climb, a steep climb to cover 500m in 1km. This got us above the tree line on the mountain and to the final stretch of 3km over rocks to the snow line at the top of the mountain. The last part felt like being on the moon and the trail was hard to find especially with strong, cold winds hindering us. But we made it to the warm and cosy Refugio Otto Meiling at the summit.

With only 10 people staying there that night there was plenty of room and a really nice ambience with good company and music for the evening. The bedroom was one big room in the loft with a pile of mattresses to lay our sleeping bags on.

The refugio sits next to two glaciers, one of which you can walk right up to but don’t want to step on in case you slide down it and right off the mountain. The location was perfect for sunset and sunrise, giving a great view all across the valleys and national park.

And with that we returned weary to Bariloche, bought our bus tickets, ate more chocolate and found the house we would like to live in...a hobbit house!

Our stay was completed with a typical Argentine asado (BBQ) skillfully organised by a friendly couple from Rosario who were also staying in our hostel. Ariel was a pro at the asado and even cooked eggs in the grilled peppers.

So now we’re back off to Chile.

Until next time

Jo y Ryan

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157623413970640/

Yes, it's Chilly in Chile!

ryanandjo — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:16:00 GMT

Punta Arenas was our first stop in Chile but luckily, with the country being over 4000km long we were very far south of the earthquake damaged region. The town sits on the Magellan Strait in Chilean Patagonia, and the winds and temperature coming up from Antartica were a shock for us, I can safely say it is chilly in Chile!

Arriving at the bus station I was introduced to the warmth of the people when the mother and daughter I had been sitting opposite to on the bus came up to me to say goodbye, giving me hugs and kisses and hoping I would enjoy my stay in Punta Arenas. I had hardly spoken to them but the girl spoke a little English and she hoped I wouldn’t be too cold there. How lovely is that! I can safely say, it’s also warm in Chile.

The town has one of the ‘must see’ cemeteries in South America, which, kind of spookily, was located right opposite our hostel. It has an eclectic mix of tombs for the wealthy, plus cheaper versions at the back of the site, a cemetery estate, where you better hope you like your neighbours.

Our hostel wins our award for the cutest one we have stayed in so far, with a little kitchen area for us to cook our dinner. We have started to cook for ourselves now mainly to save some money as eating out is not cheap in this part of South America. Of course the winning choice for the meal was the obligatory hostel pasta dish.

That’s not to say we don’t eat out at all, but after trying the national dish, a hotdog completo, we wished we had stuck with the supermarket offerings. It comes smothered in avocado, tomato and way too much mayonnaise. It should come with a health warning sticker on it.

And that is really all Punta Arenas has to offer, it’s a sleepy fishing village and a gateway into Chile, with a snoozy lifestyle.

Puerto Natales

Our next stop in Chile is home to a famous human sized sloth discovered in 1896, some believe a real life Chewbacca and something the town is very proud of, displaying the image all over the town.

The town is very quiet and has a real frontier feel to it. Apart from the odd fishing boat waiting to be fixed, the weekly Navimag ferry sending passengers off through the Chilean fjords, and an excellent standard of hostel rooms, there is nothing else to see or do in the town itself.

But what it does offer is a gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park and a place to get information and geared up for trekking adventures. It was going to be where we took our trekking to another level by carrying our beds on our backs for a camping expedition. However, rather disappointingly, I managed to hurt my neck and was unable to carry a backpack just one day before we planned to set off, so we had to minimise the five day trip to just one day.

The name of the park means Towers of Pain and we chose to do the tough 8 hour trek to get up close to the main feature of the park.

And it lived up to it’s name causing us both pain. The trek was uphill all the way for 4 hours with a back breaking scramble over rocks and boulders to top it off whilst being snowed on. On top of that the park is famous for it's howling winds that often are strong enough to knock trekkers right off their feet and we felt the full force of these in the exposed areas.

But it was worth it despite the bad knees and aches we both suffered the next day, it managed to get the trekking blood flowing back in our veins, with claims of “I’m sure I can conquer Everest” being heard. It was a long day but it was topped off by seeing the park at sunset and meeting a skunk, thankfully not close up.

And that is it for Chile, a very brief encounter for the time being. We met a guy from Santiago who told us about the damage he has seen but he said that Chile is opening up to tourists now, except for the areas badly damaged by the quake. So hopefully, after another stint in Patagonia across the border, we can head back into Chile in a few weeks time.

Oh I forgot to mention the beer. This time we were treated to a Calafate berry flavoured ale...a fruity little number!

Until then,

Jo & Ryan

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157623648048574/

It’s the end of the world as we know it (and we feel fine)

ryanandjo — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:03:00 GMT

We returned to Buenos Aires but having already seen the delights of the Argentine capital we only stayed for a night before starting our journey south, way south. After the short distances in Uruguay it was back to the long hauls. However, as Argentina has the best sleeper buses we’ve been on this wasn’t going to be an issue. That said we had been told to try ’Coche Cama’, a class above our usual fare at least once while in Argentina, so we decided that our journey to Puerto Madryn would be the one in which to try it. With wider seats that recline further and with less passengers onboard it was certainly worth the extra pesos and we both had a great nights sleep.

Puerto Madryn & Peninsula Valdes

The reason for travelling to Puerto Madryn is to visit Peninsula Valdes, a nature reserve famed for the Southern Right Whales that come to the peninsula to mate and give birth in the areas warmer waters. However, we arrived a couple of months too late for the show and the whales had continued their migration south. Thankfully we knew that this would be the case, but the whales are not the only fauna to see on the reserve, as the peninsula is also home to penguins, elephant seals and sea lions.

Not wanting to hire car we were advised that the best way to see the Peninsula was as part of a tour. It turned out to be one of, if not the best tour we’ve been on, with both the guide and the driver genuinely enthused by every siting of local flora and fauna. We managed to catch sight of all the other wildlife the peninsula is known for including Guanacos (llamas), Nandos (emus), Mara (giant hares), Grey Foxes and even one born with no ears. But perhaps our favourite siting was of a cheeky armadillo.

The peninsula is a real haven for nature and animals, but even though it attracts major tourism the protection of the wildlife is the first priority, with signs like this to help keep the wildlife happy.

Welsh Settlements

Although we didn’t get to see any whales, we did get to see a little piece of Wales as Welsh settlers first arrived in Puerto Madryn in 1886 looking to create a ‘little Wales beyond Wales’.

Rather than trying to subjugate the native Tehuelche people the Welsh left them alone. When they did make contact with the Tehuelche after a year, it was to ask for their help, as many of the settlers were dying as they had been unable to grow crops and raise cattle in the inhospitable conditions. The Tehuelche taught them how to survive in Patagonia and today in return they have given them tea shops and tourists!!

Welsh heritage lives on in Patagonia and being able to speak Welsh carries a certain cachet. Many tourists flock to Trelew (town of Lewis, in Welsh) and Gaiman to see a Wales of yesteryear. If you’re not Welsh it may all be lost on you. If you’re Welsh and thinking of visiting, we’d suggest giving it a miss, I’ve never been to Wales but it has to be more interesting than this! ;)

Thankfully they know how to make a good brew though!

Back on the road

Once you’ve been ‘coche cama’ it’s hard to go back! With another long bus journey ahead of us we again opted for the comfier bus. Our journey again took us through the nothingness that makes up a third of the worlds eighth largest country, that’s not to say that it’s not beautiful in its own way. Most of the land is made up of Estancias (farms) and is flat and barren with the odd sheep, nandu and guanaco roaming around.

Giving me a bottle of wine with dinner isn’t going to help me go back to lower standards either!

After another comfortable night we arrived in Rio Gallegos, which a fellow blogger had warned us wasn’t even worth a nights stopover, so we immediately booked ourselves onto a journey to the end of the world. But not before sitting in the bus station for 6 hours waiting.

Tierra del Fuego

The end of the world is located in Tierra Del Fuego an archipelago shared between Argentina and Chile and our journey would involve a bus, a ferry and 2 border crossings. From Argentina we would have to cross into Chile before crossing to Tierra del Fuego on a ferry

passing a typical traffic jam for the island (this lorry had shed it's load of wool!)

and crossing back into Argentina and down the end of the world. Well maybe. As with in the northern hemisphere the most southerly point in the world is under some dispute. Whether we are at the end of the world depends on your views whether the victor should be a city or merely a settlement, and even then what population classifies a city? Lets just say that both Chile and Argentina lay claims to the monkier ‘the end of the world’ and leave it at that.

Ushuaia

Argentina lays it’s claim to the title with the southern most city in the world of Ushuaia, and the 61,000 locals are very proud of their claim to fame, with all signs, souvenirs and clothing touting Ushuaia as the ’Fin del Mundo’.

The fact that Ushuaia is only as far south as Belfast is north, means that the claim is not as impressive as they would have you believe. At least we know from the demonstrations, protests and statues, where we stand on the issue of the Islas Mavinas, they belong to Argentina!

The issue is at its most fervent in Patagonia and the Tierra del Fuego due to their proximity and because the majority of the people who fought in the war were from these regions. However, the people have shown us none of the hostility we had in BA and some even excitedly asking if we are going to visit the Falklands (their choice of words), which we can only do from Chile or the UK.

We managed to do some fun activities in Ushuaia, including a trip on the Beagle channel, where we got to see the 'end of the world lighthouse'.

As well as taking in some more wildlife.

And trekking on the ‘Isle of Bridges’, a small island that used to be the home to the Yamana indigenous people, who wore no clothes and just rubbed oil on their skin before swimming naked in the freezing waters. Here’s a picture of us at the island...

And we were still freezing and suffering despite our many layers! On the island we also got to try the local Calafate berry, which once eaten is said to guarantee a safe return to Patagonia. Back on the boat we were also treated to a local brew, and probably the best beer I’ve had in South America.

Ushuaia like Australia used to be a penal colony, only much much colder and being sent there often meant never returning as repatriation back home after your conviction was not paid for, leaving many stuck on the island with no way home and no means of escape. Today the jail is used as a museum explaining Ushuaia’s past.

Another highlight was the Tierra del Fuego national park, where you could post a letter from the southern most post office in the world. (Please do not expect to receive a letter or postcard from us, as you will be disappointed!)

Before setting out on a scenic hike through the native forests, getting up close to the waters, with views of the Andean range in Chile.

If we thought the cars in Uruguay were ancient, at the end of the world they're still stuck in the stone age!

Until next time

Ryan y Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157623413970640/

Uruguay the Underdog

ryanandjo — Sat, 6 Mar 2010 06:29:00 GMT

We left Buenos Aires by ferry and spent 4 hours sailing across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay to the cute little town of Colonia del Sacramento. We had planned to spend two days sightseeing but after an hour of walking around we realised we had pretty much covered the whole town, it really was that small. But what it did have on offer was pleasant little cobblestone streets within the well preserved UNESCO world heritage area.

Colonia is perhaps a great place to pick up a classic car as the streets are full of run down ancient relics of yesteryear. We even considered buying one to get ourselves around the country, but we thought it would probably break down after a day.

Montevideo (killed the radio star)

The good thing about Uruguay is that it’s a small country. The capital Montevideo is only 2 hours away from Colonia by bus, so not one of the long journeys we're used to. Montevideo is considered to be the safest city in South America with only 1.1 million people in the capital, so we enjoyed a few days wandering around the centre and historical parts of town taking in the sights and museums.

The best place to head for dinner was the Mercado del Puerto where you have 'muchas' parillas competing to tantalise your tastebuds with all the succulent meats they have on offer.

Montevideo definitely stands apart from its neighbour Buenos Aires as it’s much more laid back with no one rushing around the capital and the people were all very friendly towards us. However, it highlighted our lack of Spanish as we couldn’t communicate back as well as we wanted leaving us frustrated. So we took the plunge and contacted a Spanish teacher to arrange lessons for the next week. With a few days to wait until we headed back to school for the first time in ten years, we decided to give ourselves a break from the city.

Punta del Este

While heading over to Punta del Este on another short bus journey we found that the surroundings started to look very familiar, long coastal roads, wind swept beaches and eucalyptus trees lining the way, the only thing that was missing was a koala. It looked just like the New South Wales coastline and on further inspection of a map we realised both Uruguay and NSW sit on the same latitude and are so similar they could be twins!

Punta del Este is Uruguay’s equivalent of the Gold Coast in Queensland, a weekend play area for the rich and famous of South America. We didn’t recognise anyone, although Shakira is known to have a penthouse in the region but the only thing we spotted was a giant hand in the sand.

Along with a great idea on how to avoid embarrassing towel moments on the beach...changing rooms!

Ryan decided to take up surfing, well just body surfing, and of course he was the first to succeed in catching a wave that day showing the locals how it was done in style. Just don’t ask him how he got all those grazes on his chest! Did the waves dump you under a few times Ryan?

Back to MVD

Back in the capital we located ourselves at the beach side suburb of Pocitos rather than in the centre of town. It was nearer for us to walk to our lessons and meant we would have somewhere to unwind if school was too stressful.

So with first day nerves we headed back to school armed with our new notebooks and pens and to meet our teacher Anna. She was very kind and showed a lot of patience with us both. We had three hours a day for five days, and after each lesson we needed a siesta and a beer before tackling the homework that we had to do! I don’t know how we will ever cope working 8 hour days again, but at least we made it through without dropping out!

By the end of the week I think we both had improved greatly and had definitely learnt the importance of pronouncing the funny squiggle accent over the n, as in años and anos. Hearing Anna say “No Ryan you are 32 years old, you do not have 32 assholes” was the funniest moment!

And that was our time in Uruguay...short and sweet. We only spent time in the three most touristy areas of the country and to be honest I don’t think there is much else on offer here apart from a few more beaches and farmland, but it is certainly a great country for it’s attitude, people and way of life, even if the national dish, a Chivito (very hearty steak sandwich), nearly gave us heart attacks.

And with that, armed with our new Spanish phrases “Mi español es terrible” and “No entiendo nada” we are now heading back to Buenos Aires to start making our way to the End of the World..via Wales perhaps?

Jo & Ryan

Uruguay Highlights

Favourite Place - Pocitos (Jo) Montevideo (Ryan)
Favourite Attraction - Montevideo Parks (Jo) Running along the Rambla (Ryan)
Food - Chivito (Jo) Meat Stuffed Pumpkin (Ryan)
Beer - Patricia (Both)

LowLights None (Both)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $30-40
Restaurant meal - $10
1 litre of Bottled Beer - $2
500ml Soft Drink - $1
1.5l Bottle of water - 50c
Bus - $4 / hour

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157623489813654/

Don't cry for us, we're in Argentina!

ryanandjo — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:38:00 GMT

We caught a 17 hour bus to our next destination and as destinations go this was one we had been particularly looking forward to. Translating as Good Air or Fair Winds, Buenos Aires had always been high on our list of must visits. Our long journey started out well on the top deck of probably the most luxurious bus we’ve been on. However, unlike in Asia the bus didn’t stop to get lunch and so we were very hungry by the time it stopped to pick up passengers after 6 hours. Having made sure we had enough food for the rest of the trip, 3 hours later dinner was served on the bus. In a country famed for its beef and ice cream, I ended up with chicken and cold custard!

We arrived in B.A on Valentines Day. What would you do for your loved one on this most “special” of days? At least a box of chocolates, right? Well I decided to go another route and not only did I go to a football game, on my own, I went to a stadium known as the chocolate box, Shanks would be proud!

Seeing a soccer game in South America was an absolute must and having missed the opportunity to go to the Maracana in Rio, I seized the opportunity to go to the Bombonera. Other than pure football, one of the reasons for wanting to go to a match on this continent is due to the passion of the fans, and Boca Juniors fans are among the most intense.

Thankfully the crowd with their terrace songs and chants were very entertaining as St. Valentine or maybe karma won the day and the game was a damp squibb, the first 0-0 draw between the 2 teams in 22 years!

The next day we set about exploring some of the cities more conventional attractions, the most famous of which is probably the Casa Rosada.

From its rear balconies leaders have preached to their adoring public in the Plaza de Mayo.

The Plaza de Mayo is also the location for the public to protest against injustices, and it is here that women protest every Thursday for their husbands and sons lost in the country's ’Dirty War’. It was here that we learnt that our respite from hearing about the bad British was limited to one country, as there is a permanent demonstration about the Falklands.

Ever since the re-establishment of British rule in 1833, Argentina has claimed sovereignty for the Islas Malvinas, a claim that is rejected by the islanders. In 1982 this led to an unofficial war between the 2 countries and the Belgrano affair. Today it is a hot topic again due to British plans to drill for oil off the archipelago. It's safe to say that we're not the most popular visitors, to the point where one taxi driver felt the need to tell us "no like" when we responded to his question of where we were from.

Perhaps the most famous speeches made from the Casa Rosada, were by Juan and Eva Peron. The Peron’s are perhaps Argentina’s most iconic non sports personalities, loved and despised in equal measures. The Evita (meaning little Eva) museum is full of memorabilia from her relatively short life, including the dresses that she wore during formal occasions.

We also visited her final resting place in the wonderful Recoleta Cemetery. It's strange that a cemetary would be a major attraction but on arrival in was easy to see why.

Despite not having heard of any of the other inhabitants, the architecture and designs of the individual crypts was stunning and elaborate.

Buenos Aires has lots of museums and other attractions, but the most interesting is walking around all the different barrios (districts) that make up the capital, but be sure to avoid the mess made by these fellows.

From the cobbled streets of San Telmo, where you can catch a free tango show in the Plaza Dorrego

To the colourful streets of Caminito in La Boca, a visually stunning area of the capital.

Walking off the beaten path in La Boca isn't advisable due to its publicised crime rate, however sometimes you stumble across a gem like this, displaying the passion of the area.

Although walking wasn’t always possible in Palermo due to the weather. During our week long stay the city was subject to 2 flash floods. One evening we had to wade through a foot of water to get back to our hostel after a 30 minute downpour. According to the locals the capital used to suffer from flash flooding but the issue had been resolved. That was until the new mayor appointed his brother’s company to clean the drains in the city at which point flash floods started to occur again.

Having missed out on beef and ice cream on the bus, we set about rectifing the situation. The national parilla dish (BBQ meat) was a little over cooked for my liking but the ice cream lived up to the hype, although I think we may have to learn how to ask for smaller portions in future!

It seems it's a case of another capital, another song, with this time Jo breaking out into Lloyd Webbers 'Don’t Cry for me Argentina' every 5 minutes, for my ears only so as not to offend anyone. I'm hoping I will be safe in our next stop, Montevideo.

Until next time

Ryan & Jo

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/sets/72157623482342516/

Bring on the Buffet

ryanandjo — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:37:00 GMT

It was our first night bus journey in Sud d’America and the standards were set high with plush seats, lots of leg room, a toilet big enough to swing a tiger in, generally much more elegant than the average bus we have travelled in. After hundreds of journeys across Asia watching the locals get motion sickness and laughing at their weak stomachs, it was time for Brazil to get it’s revenge. The extra comfort and high speed was a shock to the system and I had a terrible journey and longed for the driver to slow down to under the 40km /hour we were used to in Asia.

After 8 hours we arrived early in the morning, so we caught up on some sleep before exploring the town of...

Ouro Preto

The province of Minas Gerais is scattered with colonial towns, with Ouro Preto being the most significant, due to its famous history as a gold mining centre (Ouro Preto translating as Black Gold), and for the important role it played in the Independence movement and finally for it’s torturously steep cobblestone streets.

The town has no 20th century buildings so is unbelievably quaint, with the centre piece being Tiradentes Square.

The highlights are the churches designed by the architect Aleijadinho, who sculptured the facades in his unique Baroque and Rococo styles.

The hilly lanes and roads give your legs a good work out leaving you needing refreshment more often than usual, so we opted for a local brew that turns out to be one of the best beers I have ever tasted...girls it tastes just like chocolate!

From the old fashioned delights of Ouro we caught another overnight bus to the Urban jungle that is...

Sao Paulo

The journey took us through countryside and all the towns we drove through seemed to have a Christ Redeemer statue lit up and looming from a hillside...maybe Hio is not so original after all.

Sao Paulo is the largest city in Brazil with over 12 million residents, and of course the worst crime rate in the country. There are reports of muggings abundant in a city where it has been made legal to drive through red traffic lights at night due to the number of car jackings that occur. A place where the rich fly in and out of the city to work, shopping centres and restaurants, by helicopter to avoid being kidnapped! So why did we choose to come here? Well the thanks goes to my Brother, a huge Formula 1 fan, who put in a request that we visit somewhere in Brazil associated with Sao Paulo’s favourite son, the late, great Ayrton Senna. After a bit of research and translation of numerous Portuguese websites , it seemed the only ‘attraction’ was to visit his grave. So we located the cemetery in the suburb of Morumbi and caught a train over there.

Sao Paulo’s metro and train system is great. You pay one entrance fee of R$2.55 to get on and can then get off wherever you like, no matter how far away. At the station we met a man (who spoke English, yeah!) who was intrigued why two obvious ‘out of towners’ where sightseeing in Morumbi. When we told him our plan to visit Ayrton Senna’s grave he was overjoyed stating how he was ‘simply the best’ F1 driver ever and proceeded to discuss the F1 season with us. He then helped us get a taxi to the cemetery and back, instructing the driver to show us exactly where the grave was. The taxi driver was very happy to do this and gave us lots of thumbs up at the mention of Ayrton Senna’s name. So, here you go Jim...

Morumbi turned out to be a very safe and affluent area with grand condominiums towering over the parks and the local shopping centre full of expensive stores and business types enjoying a sophisticated lunch, we obviously felt right at home!

Downtown Sampa (Sao Paulo’s nickname) is a sprawling metropolis, a huge hodgepodge mix of tall buildings, with the odd historic building and leafy park scattered around. We took a ride up the art-deco Banespa tower to get a view of the land and the helipads and choppers circling above like a pack of vultures.

We did little else in the city, due to thunderstorms each day, so we created a Brazilian Beer Festival for ourselves, to celebrate the fact that we only saw the best of Sampa. There’s a great vibe to the city and maybe it’s not so scary after all.

Foz do Iguacu

Waiting around all day to catch a 17 hour overnight bus ride is never fun, but thankfully when the bus arrived it was only half full, or half empty, so everyone got two seats to themselves, which meant we could spread out to sleep properly!

As it turns out it was a good job we got some sleep, as we got none the next night at our hotel. We were given a huge room with four beds in and just before midnight, about to go to sleep, I spied a bed bug crawling out from a pillow on one of the beds. Oh why oh why do I have to spot them? As soon as I see them I can not sleep knowing that they could start crawling all over and biting me. By 4am I had found over 20 of the buggers on 3 of the beds and in the bathroom. It was gross, and when you squish them to keep them as proof for the hotel owner, they smell really bad. Oh, the joys of backpacking! The hotel owner was very apologetic and found us a new room that turned out to be bug free, and the owner even fumigated our backpacks along with the room to make sure none had got on our bags, how kind.

Foz is a frontier town which borders Paraguay and Argentina, with two major rivers converging here. What happens when rivers collide? A spectacular amount of waterfalls are formed, otherwise known as the Iguazu Falls. But rather than rushing to see them we decided to visit the ‘environmentally friendly’ Itaipu Dam located up stream.

The hydroelectric dam is the world's largest and is run equally by Brazil and Paraquay and supplies clean electricity to both countries, 20% of Brazil’s total use and 90% of Paraguay’s.

The tour began dubiously when were played a propaganda film that was spoken in Portugeuse and subtitled in Spanish, so we could only enjoy the pretty pictures. The continuing excitement of the tour climaxed when a huge tropical storm came through and soaked everyone to the bone. After drying off we headed back to town by local bus only to find out the bus shelters were built to provide protection from sun rather than the rain, when gale force winds (almost) blew another tropical storm in sideways at us leaving us soaking wet and very cold once more.

The next day we headed over to the Cataratas (that’s Waterfalls in Portuguese & Spanish) The name Iguazu means ‘Great Waters’ and they are indeed, if not a little awesome too. They are surrounded by a beautiful natural reserve area, with wild birds, animals and butterflies. A trail led us down to our first view of the falls.

The falls can be seen from both Brazil and Argentina, and the sheer number of falls and dramatic drops are spectacular. If you view it from the Brazilian side in the morning you can view a number of rainbows emerging from the mist.

The climax of the falls is the Devil’s Throat, proving why these are the world’s largest waterfalls by volume. You can walk out to a platform that overlooks the fiercest part and yet again get drenched, but it was a welcome relief on a mucho hotto day.

After a day trekking through the undergrowth, we had worked up an appetite so headed to one of the many buffet restaurants in town. In Foz the buffet selections have taken a turn for the better, or worse depending on your view point, as they now include dessert buffets, with this particular joint providing all you can eat ice cream AND chocolate pizza! What would you do in that situation, try all 10 flavours to get your money’s worth or just have one scoop? We moaned and groaned all the way back at the hotel wishing we hadn’t eaten so much.

The next night, seemingly forgetting the stomach pains from the night before, we headed to a fancy Churrasco restaurant, sat down, asked how much the buffet was, realised we were out of our depths budget wise, but decided to tuck in and try to get our money’s worth again. The selection of meat was mouth watering, apart from the turkey’s testicles on offer, but the different cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and BBQ pineapple were exquisite...along with another dessert buffet, doh. Brazil certainly knows how to feed people!

Puerto Iguazu

It takes less than 20 minutes to cross from one side of the Iguazu river to another and pass through two immigration offices using the excellent public bus service on offer, and just like that, we’re in Argentina! And why did we stop in this border town? To see the Iguazu Falls of course. Yes, we have already seen them but Argentina’s side has a different view point, which some say is better than Brazil and some say is not. So we thought we would discover for ourselves which side was best.

The Argentine side gets you right up close to the power of the falls, rather than showing the full panoramic view Brazil does. A walkway leads over the top of the river to the rim of the Devil’s Throat, and it was truly powerful!

There are more options on this side, with more walkways getting you up close to the top and bottom of the falls.

I think the Brazil side was still winning the wow factor game, but then again nothing is ever as good the second time around. That was until the Coatis turned up. We had seen one hiding in the forest in Brazil but in Argentina there were about 100 of the playful, cheeky, and very cute racoon like creatures, which will try to steal your food if you have any.

Back in town you can visit the Three Frontiers, where you can gaze across the Rio’s Parana and Iguazu to view both Brazil and Paraguay in one blink, with each frontier sporting a rather underwhelming concrete post painted in national colours to mark the spot.

It was a place we just had to visit, but almost wished we hadn’t, until we realised it’s not everyday you can stand in one corner of a country and point to two other countries at the same time now is it!

Brazil Highlights

Favourite Place - Copacobana Beach (Jo), Ouro Preto (Ryan)

Favourite Attraction - Iguazu Falls (Jo), Christo Redentor (Ryan)

Food - Chocolate Pizza (Jo), Feijoada - bean and meat stew (Ryan), Churrasco (Both)

Beer - Brahma Malzbier (Jo), Brahma Chopp (Ryan)

*Special mention to Copacobana Caipirinhas*

LowLights

Bed Bugs (Jo), Expensivo (Ryan)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - $50-70 (private room in hostel)

Restaurant meal - $10-20

Mug of Draught Beer - $1.75

620ml Bottled Beer - $2.50

330ml Soft Drink - $1

1.5l Bottle of water - $1

Bus - $5 / hour

So from the very north of Argentina we now head south to explore the country with a few essential Spanish phrases under our belts, including Hasta la vista baby, La isla bonita and un cerveza por favor, we should fair well!

But now it’s siesta time.

Jo y Ryan

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157623326525946/

And the winner is ...........

ryanandjo — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:30:00 GMT

Having won the right to host the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016, Rio won its most coveted prize when we chose it as the destination to return to our travels. Having had a great, albeit very cold time, catching up with family and friends (apologies to those we missed) over Christmas and putting on more weight than I care to mention, for some reason we decided that we would go to a city famed for it’s sun, beaches and beautiful people. What were we thinking?!

The first thing that we noticed on the beach is that the Cariocas (locals) dress differently to their Asian counterparts. In much of Asia people would go for a dip fully clothed, here people wear much, much less which is not always a good thing! Probably nowhere is this more true than at the huge Copacabana Beach which is where we decided to base ourselves.

The area isn’t without it’s drawbacks, it has a very publicised crime problem like a great deal of Brazil. However, perhaps the areas biggest drawback has been my Barry Manilow loving partner breaking out into his hit of the same name every five minutes :) We also ventured to the equally famous Ipanema Beach where it quickly became apparent that apart from the title line we didn’t know any other words to the ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.

The beaches may monopolise the streets of Rio but it’s the skyline that holds the cities most dominant feature. On top of Corcovado hill (710m) stands one of the seven wonders of the modern world, a 38 metre high statue of .....

Cristo Redentor/Christ the Redeemer that can be seen day and night from all over Rio. Although the statue is not a big as we first thought, he always had your attention and your eyes were drawn towards him from all over the city.

Pao de Acucar or Sugar Loaf Mountain also gives a spectacular view of Rio and apparently it’s so named as it resembles the packages that the Portuguese used to send sugar back to Portugal in, in the 1600’s. If this is true, what were they thinking?

Although more glaring is the fact that when they arrived in January 1502, they confused the sea with a river and hence the name Rio De Janeiro or River of January. Maybe I’m just being ignorant, although I must admit that it’s a nice change to hear about someone other than the British running roughshod over the countries we’ve visited.

Speaking of ignorance......Brazil is famous for its Carnival and before researching Rio I was unaware that it is a competition and the the festivities are held in a purpose built ever present stadium called the Sambodromo rather than just in the closed streets of Rio, as it is in other locations around the country.

Liking a good party but not liking the expense associated with Carnival, and being particularly bad at dancing, we thought that it would be good to come to Rio and experience some of the build up to the festivities.

As well as loving Carnival while in Rio we discovered that Brazilians are quite enamoured with a game called futebol! Until recently Rio was home to the largest football stadium in the world, the Maracana which held 200,000, but often more. However, due to all seating requirements to win the World Cup 2014 bid, the Maracana now only holds a mere 100,000. We tried to go for a look around but unfortunately it closed early due to a game in the evening.

Like young boys the world over children in Rio dream of being a footballer and of one day playing at the Maracana. Approximately one sixth of the population of Rio live in favelas (slums) almost all with no access to sanitation and hot water. In most places in the world, hillsides which provide great views are prime real estate, but in Rio due to landslides, it's where the favelas are built. Like being born in the Indian caste system, favela children have little prospects of betterment from the life to which they were born and many join gangs and turn to a life of crime, leading to Rio’s dubious reputation. The social inequality here is as stark as anywhere we've seen.

As budget travellers we’ve found our first days in Brazil expensive but nothing compared to what those in the favelas must feel. The accommodation, transport and food is certainly more expensive than in Asia (Toto, I have the feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!) but the transport has been good and the food is spectacular, if not a little salty. The churrasco (slow cooked scewered bbq meats) and per kilogram buffet meals have not been good to the ever increasing waistline, and i’m sure the Caipirinhas on the beach aren’t going to help either!

Despite adjusting to some changes to life on a different continent we’ve had a great time in Rio, although the language has also proved a bit of a problem. Brazil is the only nation that we plan to visit in the region that speaks Portuguese rather than Spanish, so we didn’t think lessons would be cost effective, which much like in China has lead to some strange looks.

It seems that we can’t even say Rio correctly as it is pronounced He-o and Janeiro is Haneiro. I’ve learnt now that if you get a strange look when attempting to speak to locals change a few letters for H’s and see how you go!

Tchau

Hyan and Ho

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/sets/72157623326531346/

Conmen, Cowpats and Corpses

ryanandjo — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:42:00 GMT

After all that trekking we headed back to Kathmandu for some more relaxation, shopping and to reunite with our Tibet team mates who corrupted us to attend a ‘two for the price of one’ cocktail evening...

And we even managed a bit of sightseeing in the streets of Old Kathmandu to escape Thamel for a day

Including Durbar Square, one of the centrepoints of the city, surrounded by temples, sacred cows, pigeons and marigolds.

The Indian Embassy

It was at the Indian Embassy we were introduced to the term Indian Efficiency, which does not take a leaf out of the Efficiency 101 book! We applied and obtained a transit visa giving us enough time to catch a flight we had booked from Delhi, but not before queuing up outside for an hour, queuing to get a Queue ticket, and then queuing again once the ticket number had been called, even though anyone could walk straight up to the window at any time to push in. This tested our British queuing principles to the limit! Unfortunately, we had to repeat the process a second time the next day as we had arrived a day too early to be valid for a 15 day visa, although on collecting the visas later that day, they had given us a 16 day visa which meant we could have got the visa the day before after all, how efficient of them!

Getting to India

Travel to the border took longer than the 7 hours we’d been quoted due to the bus having no passengers other than us, so it crawled around Kathmandu for 2 hours searching for fares to make the journey worthwhile. We then encountered Maoist protests and strikes outside of Chitwan which caused a traffic jam and a burnt down bridge, so we had to detour to a shallower part of the river to get across, passing a bus that had broken down half way across. 12 hours later we arrived at the border town and decided to save the crossing for the morning, it was time for our last Nepalese beer, but from the taste of it we should have stuck with an Everest beer.

We took a rickshaw each to get to the border but Ryan’s driver was slightly too short to reach the pedals so it took ages for him to catch up to me. It turned out to be the easiest border crossing in the world, with one quick stamp out of Nepal, a 200m walk down the road under a ‘Welcome to India’ banner, one arrival immigration form filled out and we were on our way. No bag searches, no H1N1 checks, no x-ray machines, no custom officials...a smugglers dream, why didn’t I buy that Gurkha knife in Kathmandu after all? Of course, it was all too easy, things were about to head down hill rapidly.

SCAM

We’ve been aware of numerous scams on our trip and have always done our best to avoid them, even though a few rip off merchants got the better of us in Vietnam (yes we are still sore about that place), but we consider ourselves pretty savvy after a year in Asia. Did that sign really say Welcome to India? Walking down the road towards the bus station, we get the first-time jitters and excitement all over again that you get at the onset of a new country, and we were all prepared to deal with everything we have heard India has to throw at you. Little did we know how quickly things can go wrong when a Scammer gets wind of you.

I’ll do my best to cut a long story short but it’s not always easy...the story involves two Brits, two Irish, two Italians and a Korean and India’s answer to the Mitchell Brothers. We were all heading to Varanasi, but thinking we had missed the last morning bus we were happy to meet a ticket man (enter Thug 1) who ensured us there was a bus leaving in that direction in 30 minutes. We all followed Thug 1 to the bus waiting in the station. Alarm bells should have started ringing when we found out the ticket price was an extortionate 500 rupees each (I can hear the gasps from travellers of India) and we should have refused to pay and got a cheaper bus right then, but we know that tourists are generally charged more at border crossings and we were being lazy and thought we would rather pay more for one bus ride rather than trying to change buses in Gorakphor, a city 2 hours away. Ryan went off to buy the tickets just as thing started to go awry when Thug 2 entered the scene. The Korean girl said she wanted to sit on the front seat but he point blank refused it to her and when she pleaded with him he pushed her off the bus and told her to F#$k Off and she couldn’t travel on HIS bus. The rest of us couldn’t believe what happened and we didn’t want to take the bus anymore. I asked if we could get a refund on the tickets but Thug 1 said he wouldn’t give us our money back. The Irish couple had already bought tickets for the bus from a travel agent and the Italians persuaded the Thugs to let the Korean girl on, so we decided to all stick together, maybe it was just a misunderstanding?

The bus set off with a ticket collector and a bus owner joining the crew, who proceeded to ask us to pay for bus tickets. Hang on a minute, we’ve already paid haven’t we? Thug 1 told us we also had to pay the conductor for a ticket. We said no way we’ve already got a ticket, but the Thug started shouting and swearing aggressively but we still refused. In the end the bus owner told us to sit down and he would give us the tickets for free, he obviously didn’t want them to cause anymore trouble. Thug 2 asked to see the Irish couples tickets, which turned out to be useless according to him and he demanded they pay him 700 rupees to upgrade their tickets for his bus. After a very intimidating and threatening verbal battle with him saying ‘Get the Eff off my bus’ every time they refused, they had to give in to him and handed over all their cash to shut him up. But that wasn’t good enough, he then said they had to pay another 600 rupees as an extra fee, and it soon became apparent that this was daylight robbery. The Irish had no more money left and couldn’t pay him so he moved on to Ryan and I demanding we pay him 200 rupees each as a luggage fee, which is ridiculous! He was getting no more money out of us so we told them to stop the bus so we could get off, we were only about 2 km out of town so we could walk back or flag down a bus.

Thug 1 came back on the scene and said he ‘worked for the government’ and he wasn’t stopping the bus for us. When Ryan said he didn’t care who he worked for, what does working for the government mean in India after all, Thug 1 then started to crack his knuckles and dust off his fists and told Ryan to shut up and sit down. The bus eventually stopped and when I said we were getting off the Thugs said we could this time but we would have to pay to take our bags with us, Thug 2 was blocking the pile of bags at the front of the bus. We were all getting really worried as we couldn’t do or say anything to get out of the situation, and the Thugs just shouted, swore or pushed us around as soon as we said a word. To top it off we couldn’t be sure where they were taking us, was this turning into a kidnapping??? Eventually I said we would give them money to let us off the bus, we just wanted to get out of the situation as quickly as possible, but at that point the two Thugs decided they had had enough fun terrorising 7 helpless foreigners, laughed at us all and got off the bus themselves, leaving us all relieved to see the back of them. They actually got off just before the bus drove near a police station and started to pick up legitimate passengers in the next town.

What a SCAM! If anyone is crossing the border between Nepal and India do not get on a bus to Varanasi or Gorakphur unless there are also a number of locals already on the bus and only pay the conductor on the bus, don’t buy a ticket from anyone else beforehand. A bus to Gorakphur should cost 70 rupees and all the way to Varanasi is about 200 rupees. Thugs wearing leather jackets do not work on buses. Welcome to India? I don’t think so. I actually dreamed of being reunited with Hanoi it was so bad.

Once the bus started filling up, we got chatting to a friendly local and discovered the bus was only heading to Gorakphur so we told him of our ordeal. At Gorakphur bus station, he told our story to the conductor of the Varanasi bus, who kindly let us travel on it for free! The local even made changes to his travel plans so he and his wife would travel some of the distance on the bus with us, to make sure we were safe. How kind is that? We have discovered there are both good and bad people in India.

About 10 hours later we eventually arrived in Varanasi, covered in dust and mosquito bites but safe and well. After seeing a mob of monkeys playing alongside the road, eating a bag of piping hot samosas, and overtaking one GIANT Indian elephant (in India of all places!!!), we soon forgot about the scam and started to take in the country for what it is...

First impressions - Lots of cows on low fibre diets equates too sloppy, runny, stinky cowpats left wherever they roam and they roam everywhere, no place is cow free. Ryan (My bum is sore from sitting on this bus so long) obtained first foot knowledge of the squelch factor when he stepped straight into a pool of poo at the bus station.

Luckily, one of the Italians had stayed in Varanasi before, so we all followed her to a great guesthouse with a peaceful garden and a ‘off the records’ Kingfisher beer, which we all desperately needed!

Varanasi

Famous for the holy Ganges river running through the city, it’s one of the most religious Hindu locations in India, a place people come to die so they can be cremated on the banks of the Ganges at one of it’s many Ghats.

There are piles of wood towering high over the Ghats waiting to be weighed according to the size of the corpse needing to be cremated. The relatives carry the corpse down the streets and steps to the river and wait their turn to pay respect to their loved one, so the funeral is very much a public affair.

It’s also a place to bathe, do laundry and take a stroll, even though the pollution levels are unimaginable, it’s very peaceful.

The river front is a great place for people watching, from spotting which tourists have been in India longest by the length of their dreadlocks, to watching holy men apply their face paint, the bathing men in their tiny loin cloths, women in all colours of saris, watching the boats fill up with locals and a young boatman trying to hitch a ride off the back of them to get out of rowing himself along!

We lunched at a roof top restaurant where we saw men training their pigeons, kids flying kites, monkeys jumping from roof to roof and the extremes a cricket loving nation will go to for a game...kids playing cricket on a roof top...yes really...the ball is attached by a piece of string to the roof so that when it flies over the wall for a six a kid runs up the wall and retrieves it back by hauling it up on the string. What a great invention.

At night the Dasaswamedh Ghat puts on an engaging puja ceremony with fire and dance on show.

We took a walk along the river to the Ramnagar Fort and finally understood why Indians don’t eat with their left hand after seeing a man do a number two on the bank, then waddle down to the river side to wash his behind with his hand...an image I wont easily forget.

Crossing a rickety old pontoon bridge we arrived at the crumbling fort of the local Maharaja, which contained an eccentric museum that included an huge elephants crown from the 19th century, very cool to see.

I may have accidently accepted a marriage proposal from a little boy whose mother really wanted him to meet me, even though he was startled by my foreign look, he happily gave me a kiss when his mother prompted him too, I hope I don’t have to pay a dowry now? We also had our first invite to an Indian wedding, but it was on the day we were leaving Varanasi so sadly we had to decline.

Agra

We took a 12 hour sleeper train to Agra, venturing for the non AC 2nd ‘bring your own bedding’ class, which turned out to be a fine and cheap option, not quite up to China’s standards but with 6 tourists in one cabin we had safety in numbers.

Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal, but as we arrived on a Friday, the only day it’s closed, we had to settle for a breakfast view from the roof of our hotel, which we followed by a visit to Agra Fort.

The creator of the Taj Mahal was imprisoned here after it’s completion and he could only view it from the window of the tower prison cell until his death. I guess he wouldn’t have had to put up with pollution spoiling the view like it did for us that day.

Taj Mahal

Who needs an alarm clock to get you up for sunrise at the Taj Mahal when the local mosque next to your hotel calls you for morning prayer at 5am? We stumbled down to the Taj ticket office in the dark only to find the place doesn't open until after sunrise, but we joined the hoards of disappointed tourists queuing in the dark! The first view promised us a magical time as the famous image we all know appeared hazy and surreal through the gateway.

Wow, Awesome, Spectacular...

There was nothing here to disappoint, it really lived up to the beauty you expect to see and getting up close to the towering mausoleum and seeing the detail and craftsmanship involved could only improve the first impressions. Stunning.

It’s creator, Emporer Shan Jahal, obviously put all his heart into this monument for his second wife who died during child birth. We couldn't resist a comedy pose photo!

Agra has another less famous Taj, known as the Baby Taj or Itimad-Ud-Daulah, the tomb of a Persian nobleman, built 30 years before the bigger version. Although not as stunning from the outside, up close and inside the detail was striking and much quieter than the Taj.

Just down the road is the Chini-Ka-Rauza, mausoleum of the Emporer’s president and the architect of the Taj Mahal. It’s quite run down but some of the old detail can be seen, it just needs a good restoration project to make it more appealing to the masses. We had fun meeting some local kids here who followed us around pleading to have their picture taken.

There was also a rubbish dump in the grounds that had 16 puppies sleeping around the bins, who were very cute but it’s a shame they can’t have a good home, Ryan refused to let me take even one of them with us, bah humbug to him!

Fatehpur Sikri

A 40km bus ride away from Agra, which nearly didn’t happen as the bus was an hour late and even though there was a bus load of passengers waiting and plenty of buses the bus station manager refused to put on another bus. One local man decided to kick up a fuss, and told everyone waiting to question the manager, who was soon surrounded by a crowd of angry Indians and tourists alike. It seemed to work though as 5 minutes later he was shouting angrily at everyone to ‘Get on the bus, I hope you're satisfied’!

Fatehpur Sikri is home to a 16th century mosque called Jama Masjid and the Palace of Jodh Bai, but to be honest it was a let down, with a lack of information and detail it wasn’t worth the entrance fee, we were more enthralled by the spicy vegetables we had for lunch...

Delhi

We caught a train up to Delhi, but after seeing the crush of passengers in the unreserved seating carriage, we quickly jumped onto the sleeper carriage to upgrade our tickets to get a seat, a wise move. That’s how most Indians seem to travel by train, buy a cheap ticket then slip the conductor a ‘bakseesh’ to let them stay in a nice seat for a while. Another type of Indian who likes a bakseesh on the trains are the transvestites who seem to earn quite a bit in backhanders by annoying passengers so much through touching them and frolicking about that they pay them 10 rupees to go away.

Dehli was more cosmopolitan than we had imagined, for India anyway, with wide avenues and park areas, but then we arrived in Paharganj, an uglier and dirtier version of Khao San Road with lots of seedy hotels down alleyways lined with latrines, copulating dogs and dead rats. Luckily we met a nice French couple who showed us to a hotel that was clean and quiet and a relief to stay in.

With only two days in Delhi and a day marred by rain and mud filled streets, we didn’t really get to see all the city has to offer, only the place where Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, Gandhi Smriti.

Of course, we couldn't leave Delhi without a celebratory drink, but can you guess what it is?

So after a whistle stop tour we have to say Tata India.

Observations:

STARES - you will get them unless you cover up. Dress like the local women, don’t look men in the eye and you can avoid any unwanted attention. And get ready to slap away wandering hands.

ALWAYS watch where you step, if it’s not a cowpat, it’s a human pat or a dead puppy or a pile of burning rubbish or something equally squalid.

MEN are everywhere...they run all the shops, all the hotels, all the restaurants, all the street stalls, they lounge around all over the place when not working, but where are all the women? Hidden away I guess, looking after the family. Equality? Not in India.

FOOD - Do I really have to mention how good the food is and how much we enjoyed all the delicious curries, breads, and street food we tried? Adventurous we were, even with Dum Aloo Kashmiri that turned out to be Potato and Banana curry!

So where to next? We’ve decided to head back to the UK for Christmas to meet Ryan’s nephew Charlie for the first time and for some long awaited home cooking. We’re not sure if the next blog will come from India, if we return in January, or from South America, we’ll decide in the New Year. So that’s it for our travels in 2009, we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have!

Jo & Ryan

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157623021150806/

Himalayan Heights

ryanandjo — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:24:00 GMT

Crossing the China - Nepal border it was quickly obvious that things had changed. After the over efficiency of hand checking everybody’s luggage on the Chinese side, we would have walked straight past the Nepali Immigration office if it were not for the helpful locals pointing it out. However, it was on the bus that we really noticed that we had crossed into the Indian subcontinent. Every space on the bus was utilised, including the roof, women were dressed in colourful saris, the housing had changed from concrete boxes to wooden shacks, the Nepali / Bollywood music was a delight to listen to after too many months of Chinese/Thai pop and the smells of cumin, coriander and other spices wafting into the bus in each village were a joy to the senses.

We arrived in the Thamel area of Kathmandu and if it weren’t for the distinct smell and chaotic traffic, we could have been fooled into thinking we were back on Khao San Road in Bangkok, with hundreds of touts and shops selling identical goods. The area is completely set up to cater for tourists and isn’t a true reflection on Nepali life and culture, but since over 100,000 people a year come to Nepal to go trekking, it’s a good place to base yourself to be able to get all the equipment that you need, whether it be a genuine brand or a knock off.

We had intended to do the Everest (Sagarmatha to the locals) Base Camp trek, but having visited the North Face in Tibet we decided that we would rather experience something different and after a week of purchasing our trekking equipment and deliberating, we opted for investing 3 weeks in the Annapurna Circuit.

Having practically no experience in trekking we were apprehensive about what to expect, but things quickly fell into place as we soon learnt that the key to a good days trekking was a hearty breakfast.

Followed by a generous lunch and a Dal Bhat for dinner

Mixed in with the odd Snickers or two!!!

The standard of accommodation was very basic, but better than we had expected and for 100 rupees a night (about 85 pence!) we really couldn’t complain. We were also able to occasionally shower if there was enough sun to power the solar showers, otherwise it was a bucket of freezing cold water for a wash. Views from some of the guest houses would have cost more than 100 times as much elsewhere in the world.

The culture and scenery on the trek was diverse and we started off passing rice fields and Nepali villages and crossing hundreds of wobbly suspension bridges over the Marsyangdi Khola river.

We shared the trail with pony trains, who would occasionally forget they had a wide load so would knock you off your feet while carrying goods to villages further up the trail. It’s wise to remember to stand mountain side not valley side of the ponies to avoid getting pushed off the edge!

But they were not only carrying perishable goods as some were carrying dynamite!!! Like all treks in Nepal the Annapurna Circuit is shortening, with some treks disappearing altogether as trails are turned into roads. From purely a trekking point of view it’s sad to see the trails disappearing, but for the locals the choice of being a days road journey away from a hospital rather than a seven day trek then I can understand the need for the road.

So the first few days we had to contend with loud explosions, seeing and crossing precarious landslides created by the building of the road. We also shared the trail with many porters who are also used to carry goods to villages and by tour groups to carry tents and camping equipment. Porters are also hired by independent travelers to carry their backpacks.

We decided that we wanted the challenge of carrying our own luggage but understand that the trekking industry provides a livelihood for a great deal of people in Nepal. What we couldn’t understand however, was perfectly able tourists completely overloading their porters with a ridiculous amount of equipment they really shouldn’t have had on the trek. Porters are NOT animals and you wouldn’t treat people in such away in your home country, so why should you when you’re in Nepal? If you couldn’t carry your own luggage for 1 day then you shouldn’t expect a porter to carry it for you for the best part of 3 weeks.

Our first days on the trek we were treated to blue skies and bathed in hot sunshine and it wasn’t long before we were treated to our first 8000m+ peak, Manaslu

And before long we would also see our first Annapurna peak, Annapurna II

Ascending to greater heights gave us better views of the Himalayas but with the rise in altitude came colder weather and we were also met with rain and a fluttering of snow. The further around the circuit we traveled the more villages started to take on a Tibetan influence.

At the end of the first week we encountered our first real problems. Although not superstitious on Friday 13th I fell ill with a severe bout of travelers sickness, but it turns out that Saturday 14th was a more inauspicious day. Having been confined to the room for the majority of the day I found the strength to go to the guesthouse restaurant for something to eat. Returning from dinner we were shocked to find we had been robbed, the thieves making off with my rented sleeping bag,

a medical kit, head torch, alarm clock and warm weather gear amongst other things. It could have been a lot worse though as we had taken the camera to dinner with us and they didn’t find the money or passports that had been left in the room. Rather than letting the thieves defeat us, the next day we replaced the stolen sleeping bag with an inferior quality but more expensive one, but one that would keep me warm at night and allow us to continue the trek.

Later in the day when acclimatising to 4000m high,

we visited a monastery and were blessed by a '100 rupee' Lama in an attempt to change our fortunes, especially for the upcoming Thorong-La pass. Thorong-La is the worlds widest pass (whatever that may mean), it also lies nearly 5 1/2 kilometres above sea level and although we had been this high before in Tibet, we had been driven in a car and now we would have to get their under our own steam.

Our blessing seemed to be working as the weather cleared and in the days leading up to Thorong-La we once again had blue skies, but now the scenery was covered in a blanket of snow as the temperature continued to drop.

The day of crossing the pass was no different, although that’s not to say that the day was going to be easy. We would start the day at 4450m above sea level and would climb to Thorong-La at 5416m before descending to an elevation of 3800m on the other side.

The day was hard going despite the fantastic views.

With the altitude came the thinner air, being about 40% less than at sea level, and the most noticeable problem was gasping for breath after short distances.

But we slowly made it up to the pass for a quick celebration.

The trek down was steep, icy and hard on the knees and we ended up walking the last 30 minutes in the dark after the accommodation we had planned to stay in was full. But after a 12 hour day of trekking we made it to our destination and I rewarded myself with a beer.

The area we had descended into had a distinct lack of vegetation and was an arid dust bowl, completely different to anything we had seen before.

It was here that we were treated to our first views of the Dhaulagiri range, another 8000m+ peak.

And the Nilgiri range.

But the most pleasing difference was the temperature, although not barmy it was a lot warmer than the days leading up to and over the pass.

After a couple more days walking we realised that our visas were due to run out on a weekend and we had a couple less days to complete the trek than we had planned. Luckily, the whole of what is also the Jomson trek can be completed in a mixture of buses and jeeps, so we were able to jump onto a bus and make up 2 days walking to get back on schedule.

The reason for continuing the trek was to go to Poon Hill which gives a fantastic view of the Himalayas. Although having lost altitude we would again have to climb a grueling two kilometres up, but the views were worth it and a great finale to the trek

Having spent 20 days on the trail, we headed to Nepal’s second city Pokhara for some well deserved R&R...

Having enjoyed a memorable 3 week experience, the views from here weren’t bad either.

With my personal favourite Machhapuchhare or Fishtail mountain dominating the skyline

Until next time

Ryan & Jo (Pro Trekkers!)

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/sets/72157622794042013/

On Top of the World

ryanandjo — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:23:00 GMT

Travelling to the “roof top of the world” wasn’t one of the easiest decisions we’ve made. It’s a place of constant religious and political tension, so the Tibet ‘story’ is a fascinating one. China has always considered Tibet to be part of its Empire, but the Tibetans with their own language, distinct way of life and religion have always, on some level, fought Chinese occupation. In the early 20th century the Tibetans enjoyed a period of de facto independence, until the 1950’s when the Chinese decided to liberate the Tibetans from their supposed poverty and feudal lifestyle. Many Tibetans view this as a destruction of their culture and heritage and tensions continue to run high many years later.

For a budget traveller Tibet is an expensive place to visit because you need a special permit to visit the region on top of a Chinese visa. The only way to obtain this permit is to sign up to a tour with a private guide, driver and car to get you around. You’re not allowed to travel independently, which we have become used to, so choices are restricted. So, why go to all this trouble when you can just fly across Tibet to get to the sub-continent? Hopefully this blog will answer those questions for you :)

Having met a pair of Perthites looking to do the same journey at the same time while in Laos, we teamed up with Catie and Lindsay to cross the Tibetan wilderness together. (Yes, Lindsay is a man’s name too you know!)

The Qinghai - Tibet Railway

was completed in 2006 and is a massive feat of engineering. It’s the highest railway in the world and includes sections of land that have to be frozen all year round to support the track. The journey was 25 hours and extra oxygen is piped in to cope with the altitude climb that peaks at 5100m high.

However, it’s not a great idea to crack open a beer at this altitude as the gas can’t wait to rush out, as the boys soon discovered! Vast plains and snow capped mountains lined the route along with ice flowing rivers.

The track also passes by the highest freshwater lake in the world

and some of the remotest train stations in the world, including a poor guard who had to stand on duty for 30 mins while the train was restocked and he didn’t move an inch!

We arrived in Lhasa late at night and were met by our guide for the week, Chong La, an adorable 20 year old keen to use her English to teach us about her culture. I did feel guilty for travelling to Tibet by the train as it felt intrusive arriving at a huge concrete station that is obviously out of place for Tibet, but it’s the most sensible way to travel there for altitude reasons.

Lhasa

Our itinerary for Lhasa covered the main temples and monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism. The timeless Jokhang temple in the Barkhor district of town was a blast to the senses. The kora is packed with pilgrims walking clockwise around the temple with prayer wheels and beads in hands, chanting mantras to themselves, all wearing amazing traditional outfits. The front of the temple was full of pilgrims prostrating themselves on the ground over and over again, in what is considered the spiritual centre of Tibet.

There were many more pilgrims queuing outside because a local Lama had passed away four days before, so people were praying for the peaceful passing of his soul. Inside, the temple was full of small, individual chapels. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside but even a picture couldn’t capture the smell of the yak butter candles, the burning incense, the sound of chanting, drums beating, horns blowing, people pushing past with handfuls of small currency to give as offerings, trying to touch columns with their foreheads, reaching out to encased Buddhas to pray for family and loved ones. The atmosphere was intense but so peaceful and we felt honoured to witness this. No photo could ever show what it actually feels like to be inside a temple of this importance to the Tibetans.

We headed to the roof top area to get some perspective of the temple and that’s where we caught our first glimpse of the famous Potala Palace.

The military presence was a stark contrast. Chinese troops marched around the narrow cobblestone streets in groups of 6 and pairs of soldiers observed from roof tops. The night before we could only drive near to our hotel and had to walk some way because the soldiers block off roads in the Tibetan district to quash disturbances and protests, which last occurred in 2008.

At the Sera monastery we witnessed the Monks’ debating court, where they smack their hands together and point to someone to answer a question, it’s very vocal and exciting and they have to answer the question correctly or they quickly get shouted at!

Norbulingka was the Summer Palace retreat of the Dalai Lama. The grounds contain temples each containing thrones with the outfits of the Dalai Lama’s that used to sit there. One temple contains sedans and carriages offered to the Dalai Lama as gifts, including one from Queen Elizabeth 2. There is also a small tricycle just visible under one carriage, which we discovered ,from the monk who looks after the collection, was a birthday gift to the 14th Dalai Lama from his English teacher when he was 7 years old, our guide didn’t realise this and you could see how special it was for her to be so close to one of his possessions.

The 14th (current) Dalai Lama built a new palace within the grounds in the early 1950’s, and it still contains the furniture he used and the clock on the stairway is stopped at 9 o clock, the time he had to leave the palace to flee Tibet in 1959 as the Chinese were going to kidnap him. It’s a beautiful building but so quiet and as our guide said, ‘it’s a place full of beautiful things, but so empty’.

This palace is also the only place in Tibet where you can see a picture of the 14th Dalai Lama, on a mural behind his throne when he was in his twenties. He has no glasses on but it’s still recognisable as the man we see today. When we mentioned this to Chong La she didn’t know what we meant as she had never seen a current image of her leader.

After a taster of the Potala Palace the day before we were looking forward to climbing up the 13 stories to see inside this impressive structure from the 17th century.

It’s separated into the White Palace for government use, where you can view the room the Dalai Lama used to meet with high officials, along with his personal waiting room.

The Red Palace is the religious section and contains over 1000 rooms, including the funeral stupas of the 5th to 11th Dalai Lamas. These are where the holiest men of Tibet are laid to rest, so it’s a sacred site for all Tibetans. Again, we could take no photos inside but it was a never ending maze of temple after temple, ancient wooden doors hiding stupas, thrones, guardians and Buddhas and an endless stream of pilgrims making melted yak butter offerings. It was fascinating and felt like stepping back into mediaeval times. The Tibetan style of architecture has been kept the same throughout the centuries, they are proud of their culture and see no need to modernise like many other cultures.

To help us reflect on the visit to this powerful building, we tried a Tibetan speciality, yak butter tea, hmmmm sounds bad...yep it is bad...better to stick to regular tea from now on.

Drepung monastery was much quieter on the outskirts of town, but again had something new to offer, especially when one pilgrim nearly set fire to the temple when his one yuan offering caught alight in a candle, he looked very worried but gave a quick prayer and it went out, he looked very relieved!

One aspect of the monasteries we couldn’t quite fathom out was the wall painting technique, which involves getting a bowl full of paint and just throwing it at a wall or stupa, no paint brushes involved. Another version is to pour paint down a hose from above and aim the end over the top of a stupa hoping it will run down the correct side. If this wasn’t bad enough they don’t stop to let pilgrims walk past, so most people get splashed with whitewash as well.

The Tibetan Plateau

After four days in Lhasa (we could have stayed a week) it was time to jump in the Land Cruiser and meet our driver Tenzing (what a cool name) and what a cool guy he was too, leather jacket on, dark sun glasses and slick back hair and he turned out to be a good driver, especially when we got stuck in a traffic jam and he just drove all the way down the outside of it to beat the crowds. Go Tenzing Go

The drive across Tibet to the Nepal border was to take 4 days and it was full of beautiful scenery, barren land and high passes over 5000 meters high. Yamdrok-tso Lake looked like someone had coloured it in blue, it almost seemed fake but was beautiful.

Further along we found more lakes and some literally breathtaking scenery, as trying to climb a hill at 5000+m high is hard work, the oxygen is thinner and when you realise you’ve lost your breath it can take a while to get it back again.

We overnighted in Gyantse, a town with another impressive monastery with Nepali influences and this time we got to visit the library, something maybe only a Librarian can get excited about.

The downside of being at the top of the world is that it’s much colder, the air is drier and I woke up in the night with breathing difficulties. So I had to take it easy the next day when we travelled to Shigatse and had Tenzing chauffeur me across town while the others had to walk, he he.

Shigatse is the home town of the Panchen Lama, second to the Dalai Lama in the most followed (Gelupa or yellow hat sect) form of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery contained the tomb of the 10th Panchen Lama, as well as the tallest bronze Buddha in the world, but as usual no photos were allowed, you will just have to imagine it. The current Panchen Lama was chosen when he was 6 years old but he was not the choice of the Chinese government so he was ‘taken’ to ‘live’ in Beijing at the age of 6 and has, along with his family, never been seen or heard from since.

So you may wonder how well we are getting on with the Aussies on the trip? Well, dorming together, eating copious amounts of of momo’s (yak meat filled parcels), experiencing Lhasa beer, playing game after game of Yanif, 21 and Uno seems to be working out well. I’m not keeping score but I think the Brits are winning :)

After a bad nights sleep for all, as the air was so cold and dry and everyone kept waking up thirsty, we started the long drive to visit the most sacred monastery of the Sakyapa or the red hat sect. We thought we had seen it all but each monastery always has something new to offer and here was no different. It was nice to see the contrasts between the different sects of Tibetan Buddhism.

Everest

After another day of fantastic scenery we entered the Qomolangma area (Tibetan)at 5250m...read as Mount Everest!!!!!!! Guess what? My breathing cleared up completely, I must be a high altitude dudette and just suffer mid-altitude sickness, bring on the Everest peak climb I say!

Our first view of Everest was a wow wow wow moment, and we were all awestruck. It was amazing to see the highest point in the world and a memorable experience that probably ‘tops’ everything else we have seen this year.

We drove further into the Everest area and picked up our permits in Shergar, a town we were happy to leave because of the packs of Tibetan Mastif dogs roaming the streets and guarding the toilets, growling at us to get back in our car! It was a 3 hour off road journey to the base camp. The scenery was from another planet, Mars perhaps, so dry, rocky and desolate, no life out there at all, until you bump into a yak or goat herder miles from anywhere just wandering around!

We made it to Everest base camp at 9pm and stayed the night in a 4 bed dorm with no heating at -10 degrees, thank goodness they gave us two heavy duvets each and a blanket, plus we all slept in our clothes to keep warm, there was no way we were getting undressed.

The only problem was the toilet...the outside toilet with no light. It was so gross that people chose to pee in the car park in the dark rather than venture to the unstable hut with a few holes in the ground, mainly because no one wanted to fall through into the cesspit below.

It was quite an experience peeing in the dark covered by thousands of stars and a moonlit north face of Mount Everest staring down at you, one number one we will never forget.

Next morning we somehow managed to crawl out from under the warm duvets to see sunrise on Everest, although due to China having only one time zone across the whole country, the sun didn’t rise until after 8am so it wasn’t so early.

We stayed at base camp for 30 minutes before we all had to give up the awesome view in the hope of rescuing our frozen toes...the question, ‘how soon does it take for frostbite to set in?’ had us all running for the car and at -15 degrees the view was beautiful but dangerous. I have no idea how people can climb further to the peak and deal with the elements, so no peak climb for me, crazy people!

On our way to the border we drove through small villages where all the kids stop and wave incessantly, happy to see some strangers whiz through. The best part of the drive was when we approached and then crested the Tong La pass at 5000m with the most amazing view I have seen, the Himalayas spread out over the horizon.

It was so cool to see them as a group rather than an individual like Everest. You can really appreciate how this range of mountains divides up the world.

We then started the 3000m descent to Zhangmu on the Nepal border, a strange town built along a switch back road that is full of Chinese and colourful Nepali Tata trucks taking up half the road so that chaos followed as soon as someone tried to overtake, which is pretty normal for Chinese roads.

But we made it to the bottom and finished our trip off in a ‘lovely’ 4 bed dorm (or maybe a taster of room design to come in the sub-continent) and a dinner with the compulsory Lhasa beer to celebrate.

We made it, we loved it, we have had experiences in one week that equal the experiences we have had so far this year and that’s saying something. Everest is Awesome!!! Good work team!

Tibet observations:

Dedication - I have never seen, up close, religious dedication to this extent, people walking the kora always an odd number of times, prostrating themselves on the ground all over Lhasa. It’s a place for pilgrims, amazing to watch and you can’t help but respect these people. Some of them travel on foot from Qinghai, over 1800kms away!

Tibetan Buddhism - just when you think you are beginning to understand it, another aspect is revealed that you need to get your head around. Really need a Buddhism for Dummies guide!

14th Dalai Lama - it is a shame that he may never be able to return to Tibet, for him and the Tibetans, we hope we see this change to at least some extent in the future. The Potala Palace is empty without him.

Food - Tibetans eat good, hearty, ‘keep you warm’ food, from thick noodle soups, big chunks of yak meat and momos, 3 of the group became obsessed with these! However, if you order potato stew, be prepared to eat a whole plate of boiled potatoes, something was lost in translation on one menu!

Music - travelling in a Land Cruiser across the Tibetan plateau, having the driver put on a Movie Soundtrack ballads cd (read as Titanic, Bodyguard and Lion King) with the four of us crooning along in the back, making the guide giggle, was hilarious! Then they put the Tibetan songs back on...much better than Thai and Laos pop though.

And lastly...Tibetans - these are some of the coolest people we have ever met. There are big, burly, butch men, with huge yak fur coats with swords hanging from their hips, definitely not to be messed with! The women all dress in traditional costume and even though they look much older than they are because of the weather, they always smile and look beautiful. They live in a land with some of the harshest elements around, freezing cold winters, barren wind swept plains with no one in sight for miles, yet they just deal with it like they have for centuries. They are hardcore and inspirational.

What a blast...

Jo & Ryan

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157622730909694/

And if you want to see more about Tibet, here’s the link to Catie & Linds pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catieandlinds/ and their blog: http://beyondbagot.wordpress.com/

Go West

ryanandjo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:41:00 GMT

From Beijing we decided to head to Xiahe and as the train didn’t leave until the early afternoon we decided that I would try to complete a communist leader tri-fector. Having seen an embalmed Lenin on a school trip and visited Uncle Ho while in Hanoi, it only seemed right to visit Chairman Mao before leaving Beijing. The 60th anniversary celebrations meant the Mausoleum had been closed for most of our stay. We had tried to visit the previous day, but were thwarted by government officials delaying the re-opening to see their revered leader. As the mausoleum is only open for 4 hours and the queue was at least that long we decided we would try the next day. The following day we arrived early, only it seems that we were not as eager to see the Chairman as his still adoring public, Tiananmen Square was already packed and they had stopped letting people join the queue half an hour before opening.

Not seeing Mao didn’t stop us completing a tri-fector though as on the train we had managed to book ourselves into bottom bunk hard sleepers. Bottom bunks are considered the most luxurious as there is enough space between the bunks to be able to sit up and no climbing is involved. However, it seems that when you have the bottom bunk everybody else sits on your bed too! Maybe it was due to us filling the higher bunks previously that we had not seen this before, but our beds became the seats for everyone in our cabin. We felt a tinge of guilt for those on the bunks above us though, as one lady on the middle bunks fell onto Jo’s bed when trying to get down from her bunk and then in the morning I was awoken by the gentlemen from the top bunk accidently standing on my foot. Having completed the hard sleeper tri-fector we both agree that we would choose the top bunk for the privacy and the ability to escape the goings on below.

The 17 hour train journey to Lanzhou was only part of the journey to Xiahe as we still had a 4 hour bus journey to get to our final destination.

Xiahe

Arriving at the bus station in Lanzhou they wouldn’t sell us tickets for the bus until we provided photocopies of our passports and visas. Not having any we set about finding a photocopying shop, luckily there was one close by. The bus journey went smoothly and we arrived in a decidedly chilly Xiahe, so cold that we went straight for the fleeces and thermals and even bought some hats.

Our first impression was that it was a huge contrast to the capital, while obviously smaller, the cult of Mao was no where to be seen.

One of the most noticeable things about China is that each new province is like a new country and the people from province to province, dress distinctly, look different and have differing customs, and Gansu province is no different. Xiahe or Labrang as it is known to the majority Tibetan population, also comprises of Han (Main Chinese) and Hui (Muslim) ethnicities, as well as Mongolians and Nomads who wander around the streets with huge swords attached to their hips.

The mix of ethnicites doesn’t always mix well, in fact Xiahe has only recently re-opened to tourists. Riots and demonstrations in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in March 2008 led to conflict in Xiahe, where 19 people died. Which we assume is why had to provide photocopies to come to the area. Tibet is a controversial subject in China probably more so than Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), with the Tibetans considering themselves a separate country from China, with China considering Tibet to be part of it’s realm, disallowing the Dalai Lama to visit his adopted homeland forcing him to live in exile in India.

Despite all this internal conflict the people we met in Xiahe are the friendliest that we have met in China and that is quite something. One of my concerns with visiting China was the language barrier and whether we would be accepted by the locals, but I needn’t have worried as the Chinese have been some of the friendliest people we have met. Even though most don’t know any English they are always willing to help out and whenever you show the most basic language skills, they will get excited and talk as if you are a fluent native speaker, to which you have to shrug your shoulders and laugh, to which they laugh back. Of course it has been the children that have been the most fun, as all are intrigued by us, while some are scared most are cheeky and offer a ‘Nihao’ or 'Hallo'.

However, the friendly people were not the reason we came to Xiahe, we came to see Labrang the biggest Tibetan monastery outside of Tibet.

During the cultural revolution between 1966-76, much of the monastery was destroyed and has been rebuilt, the number of monks that live in Labrang was also reduced from 4000 to 1200 today.

We started our day walking the 3km kora or pilgrimage path around the outside of the monastery walls, adorned with 1174 prayer wheels.

Along the way we saw many pilgrims, spinning the prayer wheels and praying.

We then took a tour led by a Tibetan novice monk, who spoke perfect English, to see inside of the monastery buildings, where we got to see the fascinating philosophy school and prayer hall, along with some interesting sculptures made from yak butter. They had a funny smell to them!

Ganjia Grasslands

Xiahe lies in an area of expansive grasslands so we decided that we would organise a visit to the Ganjia Grasslands, pronounced with a silent ‘i’. Not many places in the world can you walk around freely asking” Ganja, how much?” But that’s exactly what we did in asking the local taxi drivers how much a trip to the grasslands would cost.

We managed to agree a reasonable price with a driver named Gayou, who didn’t speak any English but was fluent in the language of laughter and smiles that Chinese have perfected and that we love so much.

We drove to the grasslands and were met with stunning vistas of the surrounds.

Before visiting Bajiao, a 2000 year old Han dynasty village, protected by a 12 sided mud wall, which we were able to climb to get a better view of the village.

From here we headed to Baishiya to visit the Trakkar Gompa, against a back drop of vertical rock formation.

There were many nomads roaming around on their horses, looking like they could have stepped out of a history book.

After a long day we decided to have an early night and went to bed, only to be awoken at 10 pm by a knocking at the door. Opening the door, we were met by a member of the guesthouse staff and two very stern looking policemen, who wanted to see our passports and visas. After presenting them and them checking our details they didn't arrest us and moved on to the next room. The staff member was very apologetic and said that it was a common occurrence and there was nothing for us to worry about.

Tongren

The next day we caught a bus to Qinghai province and the village of Tongren, which took us through more impressive scenery and a red rock valley.

At the first toilet stop of the day, a wall in an small alley, which actually is preferable to the standard public toilet in China. They usually consist of a trough with a slight gradient, which is full of ‘people waste’ and smells to high heaven and is separated into half cubicles with no doors that you have to squat in, very public indeed! I decided to get off the bus to stretch my legs while nomads got on to the bus to sell yak yogurt. After a while a white yak appeared in the middle of the road with it’s herdswoman not far behind. The yak looked at me and started to walk towards me, the herdswoman shouted some command at the beast and it looked back at her and then decided to charge at me, forcing me to run and jump back on the bus. I’m not sure what objection the yak took to me, whether it was that fact that I hadn’t purchased any yogurt or if I had eaten a relative the evening before.

It seems that most people had used the stop to stack up on cigarettes and everyone around us started to chain smoke, filling the bus with a cloud of thick smoke. In the cities people no longer smoke on public transport but in the rural areas locals still puff away. I now have what only can be described as a smokers cough and I shudder to think about the poor children on the bus that were subjected to the same smoke cloud. This girl was the daughter of the bus driver so she probably takes the journey all the time.

Despite this we arrived in the village Tibetans call Repkong and booked ourselves into the worst accommodation we have had on the trip. It was one of those rooms that looked a little rough around the edges but ok and then after we had paid seemed to get worse and worse. Nothing worked, everything was falling or fell of the wall during our stay and it was dirty. The long dark corridor and atmosphere reminded us of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, we both agreed we would only stay one night not two!

Happy to leave the squaller for a few hours we bartered for taxi to take us to Wutun Si, to visit some monasteries. First we visited the Mango (Lower) Monastery, which had some impressive temples outside the monastery.

However most of the chapels inside the monastery were closed and we were only able to see the outside.

Heading to the Yango (Upper) Monestary we were able able to see the impressive chorten from the outside and were able to go into the monestary after the monks saw us and said 'money, money, money' to indicate we had to buy tickets.

In one of the chapels, we were honoured to be able to watch monks during their school of philosophy and prayer, which is very rare, seeing them all sat on floor cushions chanting away.

Xining

Having survived our night at the Overlook Hotel, we caught an early bus to Xining and booked ourselves into a nice hostel with a huge room with a view for our last days in China.

On our first evening at dinner we met a nice Tibetan monk whose English name was Victor and as he left the restaurant he wished us........sweet dreams! How nice. Dinner was like every other meal we’ve had in China, excellent. Before coming I was worried about the food as I’ve never been a fan of Chinese food. Again I needn’t have worried as the food is some of the best we have had on the trip and is so much better than the ‘Chinese’ food served outside China and not a mushroom in sight!

The reason for choosing Xining as a place to spend our last days in China is that it is the staring point of the Qinghai - Tibet railway. Tibet is officially part of China but we’re considering it a separate country despite needing a China visa to visit Tibet, it’s probably best not to get into the politics :)

So now we're off to Lhasa.

Ryan & Jo

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157622494295083/

China Summary

Highlights

Favourite Place - Tiger Leaping Gorge (Jo), Jiuzhaigou (Ryan)
Favourite Attraction - The Awesome Wall of China (Jo), The Great Wall of China (Ryan)
Food - Beijing Duck (Jo), Anything from Sichuan (Ryan), Mapo Dofu (Both)
Beer - Harbin (Jo), TsingTao Stout (Ryan)

Lowlights:

Yangshou (Both)

For those of you thinking of possibly travelling to the region: Costs in USD

Accommodation - Rural $6-15, Cities $12-30
Restaurant meal - $3-5
Food stall meal - $0.50-1
620ml Bottled Beer - $0.75 -1.50
285ml Soft Drink - $1
1.5l Bottle of water - 30c
Bus - $2-3 per hour
Train -$3 per hour

On The Right Track

ryanandjo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:24:00 GMT

At last we do a long overnight train journey in China...Hong Kong to Shanghai in 19 hours. We decided on the hard sleeper option rather than soft sleeper, the difference being there are 6 beds per cabin rather than 4, a little less comfort and privacy but the hard sleepers were half the price. The only beds left were the top bunks, which presented a few challenges to us as there was virtually no head room so you can never sit up properly...

and they are high up so climbing required some gymnastic ability and grace that neither of us really had. The bonus was we had lots of storage room and it’s easy to sleep up there without being disturbed as you can’t see anyone else in the carriage being in the roof of the train. Why didn’t we do this earlier? A great journey that left us looking forward to another train ride.

Shanghai

After working out the metro system and finding our hostel, we headed down to the famous Bund area only to discover that major road works and construction are underway for the Expo in 2010, which seems to be taking over the city. There no longer is a riverside walk along the Bund to see the city’s skyline, but luckily we found one place to stop and take pictures before I started to panic, phew.

We wandered down Nanjing Road, famous for it’s shopping where there were lots of people milling around enjoying Golden Week, you could feel the holiday atmosphere in the air.

The next day we took in some of the cultural highlights Shanghai has to offer, including the site of the first Chinese Communist Party meeting in 1921 and then over to the Shanghai Museum of History to take in many ancient sculptures, jades and calligraphy, quite riveting stuff but not enough seats for my liking, museums make my feet ache!

Then we headed over to the Pudong area to get a close up view of the Oriental Pearl TV tower,

and to ascend the Jin Mao tower for the observation deck. Shanghai’s skyline is filled with skyscrapers and has a very futuristic look.

It also has a view down into the lobby of the worlds highest hotel, the Grand Hyatt. It uses the 53rd to 87th floor of the building and the view down looked like something out of Star Wars.

And that was it for Shanghai, just a whistle stop tour to get a view of the city.

Nanjing

Next morning we headed back to the train station to travel to Nanjing and I accidently forgot to ask for hard seat tickets so we ended up in the soft seat carriage (read as first class!!!) on a very swish and luxurious train, I could certainly get used to that kind of travel.

Nanjing used to be the capital of China, so it’s a city with lots of history, but we were there for only one day so decided to visit the Memorial Hall for the Nanjing Massacre.

The memorial is comprised of fantastic architecture and statues, plus a museum recounting the atrocities that took place. In the lead up to WW2 Japan invaded China and by December 1937 they made their way to Nanjing and massacred and murdered over 300,000 people during a 6 week period as well as raping over 20,000 women.

Although very informative, the museum forgets to mention that the Chinese government of the time fled Nanjing before the Japanese arrived to set up a new capital in the West of China, locking the gates of the city wall, apart from one, making it impossible for the all the citizens to escape, resulting in the massacre...minor detail though maybe?

A viewing hall is built over a mass grave of the victims, which still contains the bones of people killed on that spot and you can see how each body was killed, some with crushed skulls, some with long nails still sticking in their bones, and even one with it’s skull resting on it’s chest. Certainly one of the most disturbing places we have both visited.

Nanjing was another city enjoying the Golden Week and 60th anniversary celebrations, with the streets filled with lanterns and lights, people having fun enjoying the last day of the holiday. We’re really glad we returned to China for the last few days rather than sitting it all out. Seeing most of the population celebrating shows a different side to a country that you don’t usually see.

When we were sitting in Nanjing train station the next day, I made a trip to the toilets but was unfortunate to witness an old lady, half naked, relieving herself all over the bathroom floor, while three of her relatives struggled to hold her up by the arms and legs. There was obviously something seriously wrong with her as they were all shouting at her to get her attention but she didn’t seem to be conscious. About 10 minutes later back in the waiting room, we noticed, just a few seats down from us, someone had collapsed on the floor and staff were trying to resuscitate them. It was the same old woman I had seen and after 30 mins the paramedics turned up and pronounced her dead, she had passed away right there on the train station floor.

After that sombre experience, we caught the 18 hour train to Beijing, another sleeper but this time we had the middle bunks, which came with a little bit more room and were not so difficult to climb into.

Half our carriage was taken by the train staff, so we got to witness a lot of men walking around in their white vests and chequered underwear, getting ready for bed after their shift had finished, plus the women staff in uniform tops and pyjama bottoms, great looks! This also meant that when the shifts changed at midnight they made loads of noise getting ready and talking to the guys who had just finished their shift, please shut up!!!! At one point our four cabin mates were all snoring, each at different times and speeds creating a snore chorus to lull us to sleep. Another great nights sleep and a nice lie in too, no point in getting out of bed until we arrived at 10am! We love travelling by train and don’t want to get back on a bus!

Beijing

The first place we headed to was Tiananmen Square, which was so crowded. The area was still decorated for the huge 60th party and military parade they held on the 1st October, with giant screens replaying the events of the day. Patriotic music piped through out the square and there were floats on display from the parade. Everyone was buying ‘We Love China’ stickers, waving flags and looking very happy.

Nearly as abundant as tourists were men in uniforms, both military and police. I think it is safe to say we were being watched. We waited around to see the lowering of the flag ceremony where all the traffic was stopped to let the guards ‘goose’ march across the road and back again all in perfect marching unison.

Just outside Beijing is the Summer Palace, which was once the country retreat of the Ming dynasty. It’s a grand collection of temples, pavilions, living quarters, theatres and the centre point is a temple high on a hill overlooking Kunming lake, plus a 1km long outdoor wooden walkway, known as the ‘long corridor’, decorated with intricate paintings. Everything in Beijing looks grand at the moment as all the tourist attractions were redecorated for the Olympics, so even though the sights are impressive, it’s hard to get a sense of how ancient they really are.

We couldn’t resist a visit to see the stage of the Olympics, as we both loved watching the games. The Birds Nest stadium is a peculiar structure but striking too, although it’s grey colour blended in well with the grey sky of the day.

The Water Cube looks cool from the outside and we took a tour inside to get up close to the structure. It’s only a shame the swimming pools are not in use for the public but just there to view, which seems a bit of a waste.

The Forbidden City takes up a large area in the centre of Beijing. It’s fronted by the Gate of Heavenly Peace, recognisable for the picture of Mao that hangs over the middle arch.

It’s also the location of many famous speeches and declarations in China’s history. You can tour around the gate and get a good view of Tiananmen Square from the top, making it easier to appreciate the size of what is the world’s largest public square!

The Forbidden City is made up of a series of gates and temples all in a row, with courtyards around the outside containing living quarters. It does feel quite forbidden, named so as no one was allowed to enter for 500 years unless invited, the punishment being instant death if caught doing so.

The neighbourhood we stayed in felt like a true reflection of Beijing, with a mixture of new housing and old hutongs. A Hutong is a grey walled area with narrow lanes filled with housing, although not many remain in the city. They are a good place to enjoy the peace and quiet away from motorised transport and they are filled with bikes, there are lots of bicycles in Beijing apparently!

Beijing is a fan of big grey walls and one day we tried to visit a temple in the south of the city. We managed to find the right area but we spent an hour walking along side a never ending, high, imposing grey wall looking for the entrance to get inside. It was so depressing trudging along, never finding a gap. Eventually we found it but it started to pour down so we just gave up defeated.

Beijing was one of our favourite places in China. Even though it’s the capital and a huge sprawling city, it’s not full of skyscrapers overpowering the landscape or shopping malls lining every street corner, it doesn’t feel ‘westernised’ yet. The heart of the city lies in it’s history, no matter if it’s good, bad, factual or pure propaganda. It feels like a city that is really lived in. Everywhere you go you are surrounded by portraits of Mao, large or small. For the people of Beijing, I can imagine it’s hard to escape the ways of the government or the propaganda that still exists, if recognisable. Each underground train has televisions in the carriages showing the images from the Golden Week celebrations, they never stop showing it! Is it propaganda or is it just patriotism, it’s hard to judge but whichever it is, it’s difficult to ignore or maybe easy to absorb. The people have a different attitude to those in the other big cities, a slightly ‘rugged’ feel to them as if they have seen and lived through many changes right there on their doorstep, but again they are as friendly as ever.

Of course no visit to Beijing is complete without mentioning the most famous food from the area. BeiJing or Peking Duck. There are duck restaurants all over town, but we chose one near our hostel that was full of locals all eating the duck, a good sign of quality we think, and it tasted good, so good we went back the next night for more. (Sorry duck lovers!)

We saved the best until last...

The Great Wall of China

To start with it should be renamed the Awesome Wall of China, Great doesn’t even begin to describe what you see. I think this little old wall over some rolling hills in the backyard of China has to be one of the most impressive places I have ever been to. A ‘pinch me, am I really here?’ experience.

We decided to visit it on our own rather than with a tour group, and went to a quiet section of the wall, 90km outside of Beijing, where you walk 10km from Jinshanling to Simatai. We got up at the unearthly hour of 5am to catch the first bus out of Beijing and arrived in Minyun at around 7.30am. At the bus stop we met a driver who said he could drive us to the start of the walk and pick us up at the end and return us to the bus stop. His prices were steep so we asked how much it would be just to take us one way to Jinshanling. His reply has to be one of the best lines we have been given so far and one that we repeat often - ’Me, I’m a two-way man’. After that classic line and still giggling, we bartered him down to a reasonable price and headed off to the wall. Our driver turned out to be a great guy, speaking some English and offering us lots of advice and stopping at fruit stalls and supermarkets on the way so we could buy some breakfast and lunch.

The wall itself was magic.

I always thought you would have to share the wall with crowds of people, but we had it all to ourselves. There were hardly any tourists, only a handful we passed on the way plus a few local hustlers selling drinks and postcards, but apart from that it was just us and the wall. Some sections of the wall have been repaired so are easy to walk on but other parts are in ruins and covered in rubble. It’s very steep in places so it’s a very slow walk as you have to watch each step you take and use your hands to help get up some sections, in all a Great hike.

To be on the wall and see it curving over the hills around you and vanishing off in the distance is just remarkable. To think it was built around the 14th century and the number of people it took to build it and who died in the process, part of the wall is said to be supported by bones of the dead!

Trying to imagine the people running up and down it each day, sending messages and looking out for the Mongolian enemy really makes you feel like you are somewhere very special, a part of history.

When we got to the end 4 hours later, we didn’t want to leave, we wished we could have hiked it for days rather than hours, but we had to meet up with our ’2-way man’!

And that was it for Beijing...so until next time take care of yourselves and each other ;-)

Jo & Ryan

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/dojo77/collections/72157622214754286/