I am back in Cusco, Peru for a few days. So I figured I would give you a wrap up on Ecuador…
Ecuador in a nut shell… Go. Simple as that. Ecuador is great, it has everything you could want to see or do, and it’s small. So if you only have a few weeks to travel, and you don't want to waste half you time and money getting around, it perfect.
A few things I forgot to mention…
A) Don’t drink Ecuadorian fire water. I don’t know what it is really called, but I call it fire water. At around 80% and 15 cents US a shoot, it is lethal. The old man who sold it to us poured some on the floor and lit it up. It burned for ages! Lethal.
B) When your guide book or whatever recommends not walking in a certain area in the afternoon as there maybe drunks about. Heed the advice. I didn’t. I went for a walk through the old part of Quito at about 4.30 on a Friday afternoon. Not the nicest part of town at that time of day...
C) If the bus seems too cheap. It is too cheap! Don’t take it. You are not getting a good deal; you are getting a crap bus.
I am sure there should be a few other things on this list, but I am kind of out of it. I have just arrived in Cusco after spending 40 odd hours in transit, 3 different busses and a plane. After 2 nights and a day on busses I couldn’t face the thought of spending another 25 hours on a bus to get from Lima to Cusco, so I took the soft option and flew. My spine is fussed together, my knees are aching, and I smelt rank (not any more, thank you). Riobamba (Ecuador) to Cusco (Peru) in just under 48hours. My advice, don’t do it.
I am going to bed.
Zac
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Fishy fishy fishy....
Back from the Jungle… But where am I? Not in Peru… That didn’t work out quite as planned. I made it is far as Coca in Ecuador, I even had a boat ticket to the border. But when we went to catch the boat in the morning they told us it was broken and there wouldn’t be another boat until the next day. Meanwhile we had been speaking to this guy who was telling us that the only boat from the border back into Peru took something like 15 days to make it to Iquitos. Now I am not sure if he was telling the truth or trying to sell me a Jungle tour, because the whole time he keep offering to take us on a jungle tour leaving that morning. Well no one else was able to provide us with more accurate information so, I let my plan of catching a river boat down to Peru slide, as I didn’t have 15 days to spare. But I haven’t give up on the idea, before I leave South America (yes, I will leave some day) I am going to take a river boat to somewhere. Mark my words…
So, what did we do? Well we signed up for the jungle tour. Sounded like fun and fun it was! 4 days and 3 nights in the Jungle, what more could you want. Day one was spent on a canoe heading down river to the lodge, I think in total around 7 or so hours on the boat. By the end my legs were red. Yes, Mum I had sunscreen, but there is only so much that can do. Lucky I had a hat…
2nd day we went traipsing off into the jungle looking for monkeys and what ever else we could find. Well we saw some monkeys, a tiny little frog. Then I found a little bit of snake skin, which turned out to be a lot of poisoness snake skin. Then, well then we found a real snake. A dirty great Boa Constrictor. The thing was huge, over 3 meters long, and so fat. Then…. Then our fearless guide picks up a stick and starts to poke the damn thing. I was getting a little worried at this stage, but hey, I am sure he knows what he is doing… But then, he picks it up, grabs the head, and we all had to grab the rest of it to stop it "constricting" him. That thing was strong, there were 4 big guys holding on to that thing and it was still struggling like demon. It also smelled bad, real bad. Somehow I ended up down the smelly end, and the snake didn’t really like being picked up like that so it shat itself. And I got it all over my hands, it took days to wash that off. I couldn’t bring my hands close to my face with out gagging for the rest of the day. It was rank…
That night we also went out in the canoe spotting for crocodiles. Again all good fun until our fearless guide decides it’s time to catch one and drag it up on the shore so we can all take a photo of the thing. Well the one he caught was about a meter and a half long. Big enough to put up a fair bit of a struggle. But I did get a nice photo of it. We also saw a heap of monkeys and birds a few spiders. Oh yeah we also went fishing for piraña! And I caught 2! Now normally I hate fishing cause I suck at it. But this was easy. Every time I threw the line in I got a bite. Most times they just stole my bait, but I managed to catch a little one, an then a real big one! We took the big one back to the lodge and they cooked it up for me. Tastes ok, but too many bones. They also took the bottom jaw off the thing and gave it to me. Though I left it behind as I wasn’t too keen on the idea of travelling around with that in my pocket.
And that was about it for my jungle trip. We caught our little boat back up to the main river and from there a fast boat back to Coca. But… the fast boat broke down 5 minutes out, so we spent the next hour floating back to the little village we set out from. Then spent the afternoon waiting for another boat which we were assured was coming. And come it did, it came, it towed the other boat away, and left us behind… Not impressed. So we spent a night staying in a little village on the Rio Napo. Next morning we were told there would be a boat. But by now I know that when they say there will be a boat, they mean, there might be a boat. This little village was pretty much cut off from the outside world, no phone or anything. So next morning a military boat with about 70 conscripts rocks up, and our fearless guide negotiates with them to take us back to Coca. He told us this was the only boat going that day. So on we get. What took us about 4 hours on the first day going down river, took around 8 coming back up river. Ok so we picked one of the slowest boats going, but I was just happy to be going somewhere.
So where am I now? Back in Baños, and the place is covered in ash, turns out the volcano is getting a little restless. Not to worry as I am off tomorrow, heading back down to Peru.
Later
Zac
So, what did we do? Well we signed up for the jungle tour. Sounded like fun and fun it was! 4 days and 3 nights in the Jungle, what more could you want. Day one was spent on a canoe heading down river to the lodge, I think in total around 7 or so hours on the boat. By the end my legs were red. Yes, Mum I had sunscreen, but there is only so much that can do. Lucky I had a hat…
2nd day we went traipsing off into the jungle looking for monkeys and what ever else we could find. Well we saw some monkeys, a tiny little frog. Then I found a little bit of snake skin, which turned out to be a lot of poisoness snake skin. Then, well then we found a real snake. A dirty great Boa Constrictor. The thing was huge, over 3 meters long, and so fat. Then…. Then our fearless guide picks up a stick and starts to poke the damn thing. I was getting a little worried at this stage, but hey, I am sure he knows what he is doing… But then, he picks it up, grabs the head, and we all had to grab the rest of it to stop it "constricting" him. That thing was strong, there were 4 big guys holding on to that thing and it was still struggling like demon. It also smelled bad, real bad. Somehow I ended up down the smelly end, and the snake didn’t really like being picked up like that so it shat itself. And I got it all over my hands, it took days to wash that off. I couldn’t bring my hands close to my face with out gagging for the rest of the day. It was rank…
That night we also went out in the canoe spotting for crocodiles. Again all good fun until our fearless guide decides it’s time to catch one and drag it up on the shore so we can all take a photo of the thing. Well the one he caught was about a meter and a half long. Big enough to put up a fair bit of a struggle. But I did get a nice photo of it. We also saw a heap of monkeys and birds a few spiders. Oh yeah we also went fishing for piraña! And I caught 2! Now normally I hate fishing cause I suck at it. But this was easy. Every time I threw the line in I got a bite. Most times they just stole my bait, but I managed to catch a little one, an then a real big one! We took the big one back to the lodge and they cooked it up for me. Tastes ok, but too many bones. They also took the bottom jaw off the thing and gave it to me. Though I left it behind as I wasn’t too keen on the idea of travelling around with that in my pocket.
And that was about it for my jungle trip. We caught our little boat back up to the main river and from there a fast boat back to Coca. But… the fast boat broke down 5 minutes out, so we spent the next hour floating back to the little village we set out from. Then spent the afternoon waiting for another boat which we were assured was coming. And come it did, it came, it towed the other boat away, and left us behind… Not impressed. So we spent a night staying in a little village on the Rio Napo. Next morning we were told there would be a boat. But by now I know that when they say there will be a boat, they mean, there might be a boat. This little village was pretty much cut off from the outside world, no phone or anything. So next morning a military boat with about 70 conscripts rocks up, and our fearless guide negotiates with them to take us back to Coca. He told us this was the only boat going that day. So on we get. What took us about 4 hours on the first day going down river, took around 8 coming back up river. Ok so we picked one of the slowest boats going, but I was just happy to be going somewhere.
So where am I now? Back in Baños, and the place is covered in ash, turns out the volcano is getting a little restless. Not to worry as I am off tomorrow, heading back down to Peru.
Later
Zac
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Which way does it flush?
Quito at last!!! And it only took 2 weeks and 9 different busses… Now I have to turn around and head all the way back down to Santiago again…
But first an update. I spent my last day in Baños wandering around the hills. Started out at about 10ish in the am, and made it back to my hostel by around half 5 in the pm. Wore myself out well good and proper. I had a headache for the next day, combination of too much sun and altitude. But I had fun, I even had tea with some old dairy farmer in his little shack up in the hills. I was walking along minding my own business when this guy came running out and invited me in for tea. So I spent a good hour or so having tea and chatting away in Spanish with this old guy. He kept trying to feed me, I had to physically stop him from cooking me up some eggs. Crazy, but fun.
Quito! The northern most point of my journey, and the farthest north I have ever been. Quito sits across the equator so I am no sure if I have crossed into the North Hemisphere yet, would be the first time for me. I’ll have to check which way the toilet flushes when I get back to the hostel.
Today I went out to Otavalo to see the market out there. Absolutely amazing, this was by far the biggest craft market I have ever seen. Fortunately I went on my own, so I was able to wander through, make a purchase or two and be done all in about an hour. Pretty good huh? I reckon if I had of had female company (i.e. Sophie, Mum) I would never have made it out of there.
Anyway I’d show you my new groovy hat I bought, but the computer here doesn’t like my new camera. I blame the computer, it can’t be the camera, it’s new!!! And boy do I love it, though I haven’t a clue what half the buttons do, yet. But fear not I have a week on a river boat ahead of my to work it all out. And when I do I’ll put up a photo or two of me, in my brand new Roy Ban sun glasses. I look like a pimp in them, they are great! The guy who sold them to me said they were Ray Ban, but I figure for $12 there is no way they are, so Roy Bans it is.
Anyway have to go, much to do and so little time. Tomorrow I am off to the Jungle to try my luck catching a river boat back into Peru. Could be quite the adventure.
LaterZac
But first an update. I spent my last day in Baños wandering around the hills. Started out at about 10ish in the am, and made it back to my hostel by around half 5 in the pm. Wore myself out well good and proper. I had a headache for the next day, combination of too much sun and altitude. But I had fun, I even had tea with some old dairy farmer in his little shack up in the hills. I was walking along minding my own business when this guy came running out and invited me in for tea. So I spent a good hour or so having tea and chatting away in Spanish with this old guy. He kept trying to feed me, I had to physically stop him from cooking me up some eggs. Crazy, but fun.
Quito! The northern most point of my journey, and the farthest north I have ever been. Quito sits across the equator so I am no sure if I have crossed into the North Hemisphere yet, would be the first time for me. I’ll have to check which way the toilet flushes when I get back to the hostel.
Today I went out to Otavalo to see the market out there. Absolutely amazing, this was by far the biggest craft market I have ever seen. Fortunately I went on my own, so I was able to wander through, make a purchase or two and be done all in about an hour. Pretty good huh? I reckon if I had of had female company (i.e. Sophie, Mum) I would never have made it out of there.
Anyway I’d show you my new groovy hat I bought, but the computer here doesn’t like my new camera. I blame the computer, it can’t be the camera, it’s new!!! And boy do I love it, though I haven’t a clue what half the buttons do, yet. But fear not I have a week on a river boat ahead of my to work it all out. And when I do I’ll put up a photo or two of me, in my brand new Roy Ban sun glasses. I look like a pimp in them, they are great! The guy who sold them to me said they were Ray Ban, but I figure for $12 there is no way they are, so Roy Bans it is.
Anyway have to go, much to do and so little time. Tomorrow I am off to the Jungle to try my luck catching a river boat back into Peru. Could be quite the adventure.
LaterZac
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The wheels on the bus...
I've moved on up into
First
Anyway after
So I am in Baños, which seems to have it all. You can go rafting, kayaking, cayoning, bungee jumping, horse back riding, mountain biking, hiking, trekking. You can take a tour of the Volcanoes or a 1 day to 1 week tour of the Jungle. This place has it all, if you have the money... I do, but I hate to spend it. So I am enjoying myself by doing the walks around the valley, free and spectacular. They also have a bunch of thermal baths, hence the name "Baños" so I might check them out as well.
Oh and I have a question, what the hell is a dime worth? They use US$ here, along with a bunch of coins which are only good here in
I have to say,
Later
Zac
Saturday, February 04, 2006
You'd think I'd know better...
Time for an update. I am in Chiclayo tonight, seems like a cool place, but I don’t plan on being here too long. Though I will hang around long enough to check out the witchdoctors market tomorrow…
Ok so after Huaraz, I caught the night bus down to Trujillo. Trujillo, very cool place. I could see myself living there. Great weather, and the ladies… Well I’ll leave that to your imagination. But the weather, it doesn’t get cold in winter and not all that hot in summer and I was told it hardly ever rains. Maybe I am just unlucky, but it rained the whole night last night. I woke up this morning to find the hostel half flooded with water due to the lack of a full roof over the place. They say they don’t really need a full roof as they get an average of 6mm of precipitation a year. They are on the other end of that wonderful el nino/la nina weather system that we are all so fond of in Australia. Though where as we get drought at home they get floods over here. Doesn’t sound too bad to me, until they explained that the last time this happened it washed away the paint from a 2000 to 3000 year old temple. Now my question was obviously, if the painted had been there for more than 2000 year, why would it wash away so easily with a little bit of rain. Surely it has rained at least once or twice maybe even thrice in the past 2000 years. Come on… Well the explanation for this was that for most of that time the site has been buried under the desert. It was only excavated sometime during the past 10 years and they didn’t have any serious rainfall until la nina came along and wreck the thing. Bit of bad luck I say. But I am getting ahead of myself again.
The reason I stopped in Trujillo was to see Chan Chan and the pyramids of the sun and moon. These are archeological sites that predate the Inca empire, by a lot. I think Chan Chan is around 3000 years old. Though I don’t really remember and I don’t have my guide book with me (feel free to correct me if I am wrong). Chan Chan is a massive adobe city with a total of 9 palaces. It is really impressive, I was blown away by this place, absolutely incredible. I might be able to get a few photos up of it in a month or so. Sorry, still waiting on the new digital camera, but I snapped a few shots with my high tech disposable number. The pyramid of the Moon was also incredible. These places are built total out of mud bricks and then painted over with some amazing images. Which have managed to survive for 2000 to 3000 years, until someone came along and dug them up… The current idea is to excavate some areas and then recover them with sand as this seems to be the best way of preserving them. It is also interesting to see the damage done to some of these sites by grave robbers. When I hear the word “grave robbers”, I think of a bunch of guys sneaking in at night and stealing a few things. Not quite. When you see the damage some of these guys do… They were not exactly sneaking around during the night. The pyramid of the Moon has a massive tunnel dug through the side by people searching for buried treasure. And at the pyramid of the Sun and entire side was washed away with permission form the Spanish, so that they could look for gold. Apparently they found quite a bit.
Huanchaco is a little beach village just outside of Trujillo. Apparently it is a popular spot for surfing. Well on the way home from our tour of Chan Chan we stopped by to check out the beach. To be honest, it wasn’t that impressive. The sand was grey, the water freezing, and dirty. The whole beach just felt dirty. Call me a snob, but I like the beaches in Australia better. I’ve yet to see a beach in South America that even comes close to those at home, though I haven't been over to Brazil yet. So I wont write them off completely just yet. Anyway on the road to Huanchaco you have to pay a toll. It’s to help fund the clean up of the beach as basically everyone comes down from Trujillo for the day, leaves the place a mess and buggers off back home in time for tea. Not cool. Well when we arrived with our little combi full of gringos, our wonderful guide tried to tell them that we were all friends of the local lady who we were giving a ride. She sat there straight faced and tried to argue with this guy. Absolutely hilarious. The guys keep point to us in the back saying “gringos, gringos” and she is sitting telling him “no, amigos, amigos”. I was cracking up, eventually we paid and did a little tour of the beach town.
I’ve also been putting my stomach to the test, trying to toughen it up for what is to come on this trip. How you ask? I’ve been hooking into the Cheviche with reckless abandon. Reckless abandon? Eating at the market, and this morning I bough a cup of cheviche off some lady on the street. That one had my stomach in knots for a while. Cheviche for those who don’t know is a raw fish dish. The fish sits in this lemon juice mixture which in theory cooks the fish. Though you should always be a little careful with this kind of stuff. I wouldn’t exactly call eating of street vendors careful, but I think my stomach can take it. Though check back tomorrow and I’ll confirm that, or maybe not. You’d think I’d know better by know…
Later
Zac
Ok so after Huaraz, I caught the night bus down to Trujillo. Trujillo, very cool place. I could see myself living there. Great weather, and the ladies… Well I’ll leave that to your imagination. But the weather, it doesn’t get cold in winter and not all that hot in summer and I was told it hardly ever rains. Maybe I am just unlucky, but it rained the whole night last night. I woke up this morning to find the hostel half flooded with water due to the lack of a full roof over the place. They say they don’t really need a full roof as they get an average of 6mm of precipitation a year. They are on the other end of that wonderful el nino/la nina weather system that we are all so fond of in Australia. Though where as we get drought at home they get floods over here. Doesn’t sound too bad to me, until they explained that the last time this happened it washed away the paint from a 2000 to 3000 year old temple. Now my question was obviously, if the painted had been there for more than 2000 year, why would it wash away so easily with a little bit of rain. Surely it has rained at least once or twice maybe even thrice in the past 2000 years. Come on… Well the explanation for this was that for most of that time the site has been buried under the desert. It was only excavated sometime during the past 10 years and they didn’t have any serious rainfall until la nina came along and wreck the thing. Bit of bad luck I say. But I am getting ahead of myself again.
The reason I stopped in Trujillo was to see Chan Chan and the pyramids of the sun and moon. These are archeological sites that predate the Inca empire, by a lot. I think Chan Chan is around 3000 years old. Though I don’t really remember and I don’t have my guide book with me (feel free to correct me if I am wrong). Chan Chan is a massive adobe city with a total of 9 palaces. It is really impressive, I was blown away by this place, absolutely incredible. I might be able to get a few photos up of it in a month or so. Sorry, still waiting on the new digital camera, but I snapped a few shots with my high tech disposable number. The pyramid of the Moon was also incredible. These places are built total out of mud bricks and then painted over with some amazing images. Which have managed to survive for 2000 to 3000 years, until someone came along and dug them up… The current idea is to excavate some areas and then recover them with sand as this seems to be the best way of preserving them. It is also interesting to see the damage done to some of these sites by grave robbers. When I hear the word “grave robbers”, I think of a bunch of guys sneaking in at night and stealing a few things. Not quite. When you see the damage some of these guys do… They were not exactly sneaking around during the night. The pyramid of the Moon has a massive tunnel dug through the side by people searching for buried treasure. And at the pyramid of the Sun and entire side was washed away with permission form the Spanish, so that they could look for gold. Apparently they found quite a bit.
Huanchaco is a little beach village just outside of Trujillo. Apparently it is a popular spot for surfing. Well on the way home from our tour of Chan Chan we stopped by to check out the beach. To be honest, it wasn’t that impressive. The sand was grey, the water freezing, and dirty. The whole beach just felt dirty. Call me a snob, but I like the beaches in Australia better. I’ve yet to see a beach in South America that even comes close to those at home, though I haven't been over to Brazil yet. So I wont write them off completely just yet. Anyway on the road to Huanchaco you have to pay a toll. It’s to help fund the clean up of the beach as basically everyone comes down from Trujillo for the day, leaves the place a mess and buggers off back home in time for tea. Not cool. Well when we arrived with our little combi full of gringos, our wonderful guide tried to tell them that we were all friends of the local lady who we were giving a ride. She sat there straight faced and tried to argue with this guy. Absolutely hilarious. The guys keep point to us in the back saying “gringos, gringos” and she is sitting telling him “no, amigos, amigos”. I was cracking up, eventually we paid and did a little tour of the beach town.
I’ve also been putting my stomach to the test, trying to toughen it up for what is to come on this trip. How you ask? I’ve been hooking into the Cheviche with reckless abandon. Reckless abandon? Eating at the market, and this morning I bough a cup of cheviche off some lady on the street. That one had my stomach in knots for a while. Cheviche for those who don’t know is a raw fish dish. The fish sits in this lemon juice mixture which in theory cooks the fish. Though you should always be a little careful with this kind of stuff. I wouldn’t exactly call eating of street vendors careful, but I think my stomach can take it. Though check back tomorrow and I’ll confirm that, or maybe not. You’d think I’d know better by know…
Later
Zac
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