Location: La Paz, Bolivia
Concerning our mountaineering adventure, where we scale a peak of over 6,000m.
There are very few places in the world with 6,000 metre mountains, but the Andes is full of them. There are also very few 6,000m mountains that are accessible to inexperienced tourist punters like us, and not just for the pros who travel with all their own kit. And most of the people we saw did have all their own kit.
We hadn’t been thinking of mountaineering, and hadn’t even been aware of the possibility of an “easy” mountain until we met a Dutch bloke when we were in the Pampas. So having done a bit of limited research into just how difficult it was, we took the plunge and booked it.
From La Paz it’s about 90 minutes to the start point, at about 4,700m. Whereas for our trek in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru we had donkeys to carry most of the stuff, leaving us to walk with little more than water and camera, here everything had to be carried by us and the guides. It was about 2 hours up to the point where we camped, at about 5,300m. Not too tough, but made slightly harder by carrying about 15kg of kit. Also the boots we had, designed to take crampons, were a cross between a walking boot and a ski boot, though nearer to a ski boot. So with fairly inflexible boots we had to walk up over very rocky terrain, and near the top it was icy and snowy, and some of you will know what it is like to walk over ice in ski boots. We were lucky with the weather since it had snowed the day before but was fine and sunny for us on both days.
Great views from our campsite, a rocky and breezy, exposed ridge. We arrived about 2pm, and there is little to do but wait until the next morning. We had to be up at 1am, so it was an opportunity to try to get a bit of sleep. But sleep is hard to come by at more than 5,000m, and the rocky ledge, what sounded like a howling gale and a poor sleeping bag didn’t help (nor did the whiff of the soap-dodging French bloke in our tent).
Then up in the middle of the night and we set off a bit after 2am. Luckily the wind had calmed down, but even without much wind hill it was still bitterly cold. The walking at night was not like the trekking we had previously done. This was proper climbing. Proper, hard-core mountaineering. Crampons on, with ice axe in hand, and roped up with our guide, we set off up the first slope that was about 45 degrees. With head lights to guide us the early part was not too tough. Having been at around 4,000m for a while now we are fairly well acclimatised to the altitude, and walking slowly means that you don’t get out of breath. But it is slow progress.
After a couple of hours we had the first tough bit. We had been warned when we booked that it was mostly easy, but that there were two slightly more difficult parts. The first was about 80 degrees for 10 metres, then 60 degrees for another 20 metres. It doesn’t sound much, but when it is icy then it takes some effort to hack up it with the ice axe.
The night sky was amazing, as it is in many places here, where there is little light pollution combined with clear skies at altitude. We also saw the moon rise, which added more light to climb by. Later on we saw a truly amazing sunrise, being at such altitude means that you can see a massive amount of the horizon ablaze with orange and red, rather than the more limited view of the sky you normally get from the ground. Difficult to appreciate the sunrise after having been walking for about 4 hours, and it was behind us which meant turning round, and stopping to gaze is not an option when you are all roped together.
As we neared the summit we could see that the last part, another one of the hard parts, really was quite steep. And quite long. It was about 200m long and 60 degrees all the way to the top. Although the sun was now up, it hadn’t yet really warmed us up, and with the coldest part of the night being just before sunrise we were pretty cold. It was cold enough for the water in our bottles, whiuch were in our rucksacks, to freeze. We had been going for about five and a half hours when we reached the bottom, so were already tired. Phillippa in particular was quite tired and this last bit was going to be the hardest by some margin. Having got about a third up the final slope we had to stop and wait for the guide to sprint (in comparison to our more steady progress) up the slop to attach a rope higher up. So we were left standing on the slope for what seemed like ages. Although it was very cold whilst climbing your body heat is enough to stay warm. But once we had stopped for about 10 minutes the cold set in. Hands went first, in particular the one holding the axe, which, as it was metal, was very cold. After going cold, then numb, they became extremely painful. Without knowing what the symptoms of frostbite are it was hard not to think that it may be setting in. So we are both banging hands together whilst wiggling toes, whilst hanging on to the side of the mountain, hoping the guide gets the rope secured as quickly as possible.
The last 200m took a very long time. But we both made it to the top. I’m particularly proud of Phillippa, since she really struggled up this last climb. But with a lot of guts and determination, a fair amount of swearing, and a few tears she conquered her tiredness and made it to the summit.
The sky, as viewed from 6,088m is a very deep blue, almost purple. I’m not sure it is possible to see sky this colour anywhere else than from mountain peaks. The summit wasn’t a classic point that we could stand on for photos, but a ridge made of snow. Being careful not to get too near the edge, which was melting and crumbling in places with holes of views down the other side, it was possible to see a great panoramic view. The rest of the mountains in one direction, Lake Titicaca in the other, with the city of El Alto just about visible in the gaps. In all it was about 7 hours, with only a few small breaks, to reach to top. A long day, but there was still a lot of walking yet to do.
But then, of course, you need to get down. Apparently more accidents happen on the descent than the ascent, which is nice to know as you set off. Going down a 60 degree slope in crampons is almost as hard as going up, but luckily doesn’t take quite as long. The views of glaciers, snow caves and crevasses on the way down were very interesting. It was possible to pick out some of the crevasses on the way up in the dark, but only in daylight can you see just how deep they are. We had to cross a few, and generally there was only a narrow “bridge” to cross over. No time to stop for photos these were parts that, understandably, had to be crossed quickly. The journey back to camp was about 3 hours, making 10 so far. We were all quite knackered and were given 20 minutes to rest before continuing on back to the 4x4. But we took more than this and the guide would just have to be late for his dinner. Almost as soon as we got back Phillippa managed to fall asleep curled up on a nice comfy slab of rock. The final part was another 90 minutes back to the jeep, back down over the boulders in uncomfortable boots, this time with blisters from the rest of the climbing.
Neither of us had any problems with the altitude, of course it slows you down, but we didn’t have headaches or other symptoms. But alot of people probably did. There were many people at the campsite, but probably only 20-30% of them managed to get to the top. We could see, from the summit, people turning back when they saw the last 200m ice face loom into view. So that makes it even more rewarding that we are in the minority who succeeded.
So there it is, our most extreme adventure yet (of those we have voluntarily undertaken!). A 6,000m peak scaled. And we are both pretty chuffed. There is nothing higher in Europe, it’s about 200m higher than Kilimanjaro and about 100m less than Mt McKinley. But, unlike Kilimanjaro, this is real mountaineering, rather than just a walk uphill at altitude!
In May 2004 Phillippa and I resigned from our jobs to set off on a year long grand tour. This will be updated sporadically and will serve as a permanent record of what should be an extremely memorable year. Of course, it also keeps us in touch with those of you back in the UK, and enables you to follow our progress.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Thursday, August 05, 2004
The Bare Necessities
Another interesting bus journey, the second instalment of our Jungle Book story, and a trip to the Pampas in search of anacondas and pink dolphins.
Our few days around Lake Titicaca were wonderful. Our first evening in Copacobana we saw a fantastic sunset followed by a great view of the night sky, including the Milky Way.
We took a very slow boat over to the Isla del Sol, and then walked for a few hours along the ridge that is the backbone of the island. Views of the lake on both sides and the mountains beyond La Paz in the distance. We were lucky to have clear, bright blue skies all day, with little cloud on the mountains. After a night on the island we found a bloke to take us across the water to the end of the mainland peninsula. From there it was another scenic 4 hour walk back to Copacobana.
The bus trip to La Paz was interesting. We should have known that the buses were very disorganised when we bought a ticket from our hotel and there were no seat numbers. Lo and behold it was heavily overbooked, with about 20 people more than the bus could take. But there is another bus! Fine. But it was a crappy local bus, not a larger coach. We all piled in anyway, apart from an Israeli family who ranted and refused to get on.
The bus engine sounded a bit dodgy, and that is from someone who knows little about engines. We joked about how we would probably break down. About 40 minutes from La Paz we did break down. At about 4,000m it was a very scenic spot with mountains, and it was not raining so it could have been far worse. None of the passing traffic would stop, nearly all the buses were full anyway. But after about 30 minutes a bus did stop and we grabbed the bags and ran down the road to ensure we were among those who could get on. Only after a while did we realise that our driver was a 14 year old boy. Just before the suburbs of La Paz, where there was a police check point, he pulled up to let his Dad (we presume) get in to carry on driving.
The original reason for booking the bus we did was that it would take us directly to a hotel in the centre. Thus avoiding the bus station which we had heard a few horror stories about. But this second bus just dropped us at the bus station. Great. So after a taxi to the centre we wander around looking for a hotel. Because it is almost dark we end up at the one place we swore we would not stay at: the place we would have gone to had the bus company not overbooked. But circumstances, and nightfall, mean that we don’t want to wander around with all our stuff anymore. It wasn’t even that great a hotel.
The following day we jetted off in a little Cessna to Rurrenabaque the jumping off point for the jungle and the pampas.
The jungle
We had previously been to the jungle in Ecuador (see Fri 18 June), and this is part two of our Jungle Book adventure. Bolivia has some regions with the highest bio-diversity in the whole of South America and has the advantage of being cheaper than Brazil or Peru (eg Manu Biosphere).
We went to Chalalan Lodge, an eco-lodge in the Madidi National Park, although most places use this tag as it is the latest trend in tourism. But Chalalan truly is an eco-lodge.
It was conceived, designed, built and is now fully staffed by people from one small community further upstream. Previously they were engaged in illegal logging, but now have a much more sustainable source of income. In the last 10 years the money from the lodge has provided drinking water to every house, a school, a doctor etc.
Chalalan is about 4 hours up the Beni river and Tuichi river. It is now the dry season so the rivers are low. This meant that at times it was too shallow to run the outboard motor and the crew had to punt against the current. At one point they had to leap out to push.
When we were there the weather was very poor, it rained heavily for about 18 hours day for 2 of the 3 days. It was also very cold, and we were wearing almost as many clothes as we did on our Andean trek. This meant that much of the wildlife was being sensible and taking cover. We also took cover, but only after a 4 hour walk in torrential rain that meant we got soaked. My boots, which had never yet failed me, ended up quite soggy and took 2 evenings by the camp oven to dry out. Although the animals were not visible there was still a wealth of information on the plants from the guide: which were used as medicinal plants, which for producing hair cream, which for building houses etc.
We saw a large number of bird species, including a "pre-historic" bird that has a stomach closely related to that of a cow and has chicks that are born with claws. There are 4cm long ants that can put you in bed for 24 hours with a fever and great pain, and a spider that can do the same. We saw a large stoat-like creature, 2 varieties. On a night paddle round the lake beside the lodge we saw a number of caimans (like alligators). The ones we saw in Ecuador were only about 1m long, and we thought that this was about as big as they get. But apparently they can grow to about 6-7m, but are only dangerous above about 4m. As we slowly approached a pair of red eyes, light by our torches, it suddenly took fright, its tail having been caught by the back of the boat. With a thrash of the tail that rocked the boat it was gone. All very Crocodile Dundee. We didn’t see any man eating wild pigs (peccaries) though, or a jaguar (which are only spotted about 5 times a year).
For those of you with access to back issues of National Geographic there are some interesting articles on the Madidi Park, including details of the man eating pigs and other jungle hazards.
Then back to Rurrenabaque for a night of cocktails, before heading off to the pampas.
The Pampas
It was a bumpy and very dusty 3 hour trip in a 4x4 to the Yacuna river. I had thought that maybe the pampas, an area of wet grassland and swamp, was the result of deforestation over previous years. But it is entirely natural.
Most of the trips we did here were on the river. The wildlife is much more prolific than in the jungle, or at least much easier to spot. Lots of caimans, mostly around 4-5 foot, but the odd six-footer. A vast number of species of birds, including rheas, lots of different herons, egrets, vultures etc. On 2 occasions we saw pink dolphins, (really grey with a pinkish tinge). Luckily for us there was just our boat with a few people on board, we had heard tales of 4 boat loads of tourists all swimming with dolphins.
We also went searching for anacondas, but sadly didn’t find any (though we did see an anaconda cobra). The weather was much better in the pampas. Before going to the jungle we were looking forward to a few days of sun and heat, having been cold for most of the last 2 months. The jungle disappointed in this respect, but the pampas was a success.
Then back to Rurrenabaque for a few more cocktails to celebrate one month to the day since our release! And on to La Paz.
Our few days around Lake Titicaca were wonderful. Our first evening in Copacobana we saw a fantastic sunset followed by a great view of the night sky, including the Milky Way.
We took a very slow boat over to the Isla del Sol, and then walked for a few hours along the ridge that is the backbone of the island. Views of the lake on both sides and the mountains beyond La Paz in the distance. We were lucky to have clear, bright blue skies all day, with little cloud on the mountains. After a night on the island we found a bloke to take us across the water to the end of the mainland peninsula. From there it was another scenic 4 hour walk back to Copacobana.
The bus trip to La Paz was interesting. We should have known that the buses were very disorganised when we bought a ticket from our hotel and there were no seat numbers. Lo and behold it was heavily overbooked, with about 20 people more than the bus could take. But there is another bus! Fine. But it was a crappy local bus, not a larger coach. We all piled in anyway, apart from an Israeli family who ranted and refused to get on.
The bus engine sounded a bit dodgy, and that is from someone who knows little about engines. We joked about how we would probably break down. About 40 minutes from La Paz we did break down. At about 4,000m it was a very scenic spot with mountains, and it was not raining so it could have been far worse. None of the passing traffic would stop, nearly all the buses were full anyway. But after about 30 minutes a bus did stop and we grabbed the bags and ran down the road to ensure we were among those who could get on. Only after a while did we realise that our driver was a 14 year old boy. Just before the suburbs of La Paz, where there was a police check point, he pulled up to let his Dad (we presume) get in to carry on driving.
The original reason for booking the bus we did was that it would take us directly to a hotel in the centre. Thus avoiding the bus station which we had heard a few horror stories about. But this second bus just dropped us at the bus station. Great. So after a taxi to the centre we wander around looking for a hotel. Because it is almost dark we end up at the one place we swore we would not stay at: the place we would have gone to had the bus company not overbooked. But circumstances, and nightfall, mean that we don’t want to wander around with all our stuff anymore. It wasn’t even that great a hotel.
The following day we jetted off in a little Cessna to Rurrenabaque the jumping off point for the jungle and the pampas.
The jungle
We had previously been to the jungle in Ecuador (see Fri 18 June), and this is part two of our Jungle Book adventure. Bolivia has some regions with the highest bio-diversity in the whole of South America and has the advantage of being cheaper than Brazil or Peru (eg Manu Biosphere).
We went to Chalalan Lodge, an eco-lodge in the Madidi National Park, although most places use this tag as it is the latest trend in tourism. But Chalalan truly is an eco-lodge.
It was conceived, designed, built and is now fully staffed by people from one small community further upstream. Previously they were engaged in illegal logging, but now have a much more sustainable source of income. In the last 10 years the money from the lodge has provided drinking water to every house, a school, a doctor etc.
Chalalan is about 4 hours up the Beni river and Tuichi river. It is now the dry season so the rivers are low. This meant that at times it was too shallow to run the outboard motor and the crew had to punt against the current. At one point they had to leap out to push.
When we were there the weather was very poor, it rained heavily for about 18 hours day for 2 of the 3 days. It was also very cold, and we were wearing almost as many clothes as we did on our Andean trek. This meant that much of the wildlife was being sensible and taking cover. We also took cover, but only after a 4 hour walk in torrential rain that meant we got soaked. My boots, which had never yet failed me, ended up quite soggy and took 2 evenings by the camp oven to dry out. Although the animals were not visible there was still a wealth of information on the plants from the guide: which were used as medicinal plants, which for producing hair cream, which for building houses etc.
We saw a large number of bird species, including a "pre-historic" bird that has a stomach closely related to that of a cow and has chicks that are born with claws. There are 4cm long ants that can put you in bed for 24 hours with a fever and great pain, and a spider that can do the same. We saw a large stoat-like creature, 2 varieties. On a night paddle round the lake beside the lodge we saw a number of caimans (like alligators). The ones we saw in Ecuador were only about 1m long, and we thought that this was about as big as they get. But apparently they can grow to about 6-7m, but are only dangerous above about 4m. As we slowly approached a pair of red eyes, light by our torches, it suddenly took fright, its tail having been caught by the back of the boat. With a thrash of the tail that rocked the boat it was gone. All very Crocodile Dundee. We didn’t see any man eating wild pigs (peccaries) though, or a jaguar (which are only spotted about 5 times a year).
For those of you with access to back issues of National Geographic there are some interesting articles on the Madidi Park, including details of the man eating pigs and other jungle hazards.
Then back to Rurrenabaque for a night of cocktails, before heading off to the pampas.
The Pampas
It was a bumpy and very dusty 3 hour trip in a 4x4 to the Yacuna river. I had thought that maybe the pampas, an area of wet grassland and swamp, was the result of deforestation over previous years. But it is entirely natural.
Most of the trips we did here were on the river. The wildlife is much more prolific than in the jungle, or at least much easier to spot. Lots of caimans, mostly around 4-5 foot, but the odd six-footer. A vast number of species of birds, including rheas, lots of different herons, egrets, vultures etc. On 2 occasions we saw pink dolphins, (really grey with a pinkish tinge). Luckily for us there was just our boat with a few people on board, we had heard tales of 4 boat loads of tourists all swimming with dolphins.
We also went searching for anacondas, but sadly didn’t find any (though we did see an anaconda cobra). The weather was much better in the pampas. Before going to the jungle we were looking forward to a few days of sun and heat, having been cold for most of the last 2 months. The jungle disappointed in this respect, but the pampas was a success.
Then back to Rurrenabaque for a few more cocktails to celebrate one month to the day since our release! And on to La Paz.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Back to Normality
Location: Copacobana, the shores of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
Lima, the Nazca Lines, Cusco and Machu Picchu
The whole hostage thing was a few weeks ago now, and I´ve been a bit slow in commenting on what has happened sicne. But here it is.
We didn´t see much of Lima, since we spent a fair amount of time in police stations and at the Amex office. (Don´t believe the adverts of the smiling family who had their traveller´s cheques replaced in 24 hours with no stress!) Fortunately Amex came through in the end and replaced all the losses. Central Lima seems very oppressive, a bit aggressive, and slightly lacking in charm. But that is the view from a taxi between police stations. There are some lovely colonial buildings etc, but we didn´t see them. We also missed all the good museums.
We stayed in a suburb called Barranco, which used to be a separate seaside resort until it was engulfed by Lima. Charming old colonial architecture, nice restaurants, less of the hustle of the big city, definitely a good recommendation from fellow our hostage, the doctor who lives in Barranco. Miraflores is where a lot of the tourists stay, but it is a modern suburb lacking in charm or personality.
After a few days we headed off to Nazca, about 6 hours south of Lima. About 1 hour out of Lima we saw a big bus crash, 2 buses had collided almost head on. In each bus, about the front 70% of the seats on one side of the aisle had been completely obliterated. No trace left. The crash happened about 7 hours before we passed through in heavy early morning fog. It really was truely horrific. On the evening news we saw that there were 36 fatalities, and more injured. It was reassuring in some ways that this featured as a leading story, emphasising that although there are a lot of accidents here ones on this scale are newsworthy and hence rare.
In Nazca we took a flight over the famous Nazca Lines. This was one of the highlights of the 2 1/2 months so far. The lines are truely remarkable. The scale is staggering, both of each individual design and the area over which they can be seen. Still nobody knows quite why there were made, what they signify, or even when they were made (at least not that precisely). Absolutely fascinating. Any trip to Peru just to go to Machu Picchu would be incomplete without a trip to Nazca.
Also in Nazca we had a trip to a pre-Inca cemetary. Most of the region has suffered from grave robbing over the years. However, there are some reconstructed graves, complete with mummified bodies. Quite interesting, but not worth a trip to Nazca alone for.
After a trip back to Lima, through the early morning fog, we had an evening to relax before flying to Cusco. One of the national airlines (not ours) was suspended the day before, so it was a bit manic at the airport. Cusco is a very attractive city, many squares surrounded by collonades and imposing churches. But also very touristy, as you would expect for the starting point for all things related to Machu Picchu. A pleasant place to relax for a few few days, although a spot of food poisoning was unwelcome.
We saw a few museums and sites (though the "10-day Cusco museum ticket" didn´t seem to include any of the decent sites we wanted to see). There was one museum of pre-Colombian art that had an amazing collection of ceramics, wooden objects and gold and silver. Sadly though it was set out more as an art gallery than a museum, so there was little historical information to put items in context. There was a load of pretentious twaddle, of the type found in Tate Modern, about the artist engaging the viewer, creating pieces that transcend time, using the space of the sculpture... etc etc. Interesting artefacts spoilt by art critic nonsense.
We didn´t manage to organise a trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, even though we tried about 5-6 weeks in advance. Recent changes to the rules have made the waiting list longer and it harder to arrange. So we took the train, with all the fat Americans and other disappointed backpackers. Before going to the site itself we climbed a nearby hill for a view of the ruins from a distance. Spectacular. This walk (only about 1.5 hours) doesn´t seem to be in any of the book but the tourist office in Agua Calientes can tell you where to go.
The following day we spent about 5 huors at the site, wandering around. The setting is stunning, and the size of the ruins is also impressive. Having heard so many people rave about it over the years I was prepared to be a bit underwhelmed and disappointed, but it is really impressive. (Not as impressive as Pompeii in my opinion though.) Luckily by getting there very early it was not too busy, which was a concern since this is peak season. Sadly we only have a cheapish camera to last us until we get to the US and can replace our stolen stuff at a reasonable cost, so the photos may not be as good as they would have been. Never mind.
Then from Cusco we toojk the train to Puno. A big mistake, since the bus is much quicker, but interesting nonetheless. After 10 hours (for what is only about 300km) we got to Puno on the shore of Titicaca, a sprawling mass. No intention of staying there, and we came to Copacobana, just over the Bolivian border, today. The views of Lake Titicaca are beautiful. Yet another place that feature in geography lessons, and yet here we are.
Lima, the Nazca Lines, Cusco and Machu Picchu
The whole hostage thing was a few weeks ago now, and I´ve been a bit slow in commenting on what has happened sicne. But here it is.
We didn´t see much of Lima, since we spent a fair amount of time in police stations and at the Amex office. (Don´t believe the adverts of the smiling family who had their traveller´s cheques replaced in 24 hours with no stress!) Fortunately Amex came through in the end and replaced all the losses. Central Lima seems very oppressive, a bit aggressive, and slightly lacking in charm. But that is the view from a taxi between police stations. There are some lovely colonial buildings etc, but we didn´t see them. We also missed all the good museums.
We stayed in a suburb called Barranco, which used to be a separate seaside resort until it was engulfed by Lima. Charming old colonial architecture, nice restaurants, less of the hustle of the big city, definitely a good recommendation from fellow our hostage, the doctor who lives in Barranco. Miraflores is where a lot of the tourists stay, but it is a modern suburb lacking in charm or personality.
After a few days we headed off to Nazca, about 6 hours south of Lima. About 1 hour out of Lima we saw a big bus crash, 2 buses had collided almost head on. In each bus, about the front 70% of the seats on one side of the aisle had been completely obliterated. No trace left. The crash happened about 7 hours before we passed through in heavy early morning fog. It really was truely horrific. On the evening news we saw that there were 36 fatalities, and more injured. It was reassuring in some ways that this featured as a leading story, emphasising that although there are a lot of accidents here ones on this scale are newsworthy and hence rare.
In Nazca we took a flight over the famous Nazca Lines. This was one of the highlights of the 2 1/2 months so far. The lines are truely remarkable. The scale is staggering, both of each individual design and the area over which they can be seen. Still nobody knows quite why there were made, what they signify, or even when they were made (at least not that precisely). Absolutely fascinating. Any trip to Peru just to go to Machu Picchu would be incomplete without a trip to Nazca.
Also in Nazca we had a trip to a pre-Inca cemetary. Most of the region has suffered from grave robbing over the years. However, there are some reconstructed graves, complete with mummified bodies. Quite interesting, but not worth a trip to Nazca alone for.
After a trip back to Lima, through the early morning fog, we had an evening to relax before flying to Cusco. One of the national airlines (not ours) was suspended the day before, so it was a bit manic at the airport. Cusco is a very attractive city, many squares surrounded by collonades and imposing churches. But also very touristy, as you would expect for the starting point for all things related to Machu Picchu. A pleasant place to relax for a few few days, although a spot of food poisoning was unwelcome.
We saw a few museums and sites (though the "10-day Cusco museum ticket" didn´t seem to include any of the decent sites we wanted to see). There was one museum of pre-Colombian art that had an amazing collection of ceramics, wooden objects and gold and silver. Sadly though it was set out more as an art gallery than a museum, so there was little historical information to put items in context. There was a load of pretentious twaddle, of the type found in Tate Modern, about the artist engaging the viewer, creating pieces that transcend time, using the space of the sculpture... etc etc. Interesting artefacts spoilt by art critic nonsense.
We didn´t manage to organise a trek on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, even though we tried about 5-6 weeks in advance. Recent changes to the rules have made the waiting list longer and it harder to arrange. So we took the train, with all the fat Americans and other disappointed backpackers. Before going to the site itself we climbed a nearby hill for a view of the ruins from a distance. Spectacular. This walk (only about 1.5 hours) doesn´t seem to be in any of the book but the tourist office in Agua Calientes can tell you where to go.
The following day we spent about 5 huors at the site, wandering around. The setting is stunning, and the size of the ruins is also impressive. Having heard so many people rave about it over the years I was prepared to be a bit underwhelmed and disappointed, but it is really impressive. (Not as impressive as Pompeii in my opinion though.) Luckily by getting there very early it was not too busy, which was a concern since this is peak season. Sadly we only have a cheapish camera to last us until we get to the US and can replace our stolen stuff at a reasonable cost, so the photos may not be as good as they would have been. Never mind.
Then from Cusco we toojk the train to Puno. A big mistake, since the bus is much quicker, but interesting nonetheless. After 10 hours (for what is only about 300km) we got to Puno on the shore of Titicaca, a sprawling mass. No intention of staying there, and we came to Copacobana, just over the Bolivian border, today. The views of Lake Titicaca are beautiful. Yet another place that feature in geography lessons, and yet here we are.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Kidnapped
Location: Cusco, Peru
In which we are taken at gunpoint, asked for $50,000 and held for about 5 hours before being released.
The previous post on the first 5 days of our trek failed to mention the 2 Brits who joined us at the start in Llamac: Rod, working as a doctor in Lima, so speaks good Spanish, which later was to prove invaluable; Paul, out visiting his mate from school days, a lecturer in Philosophy. Very friendly, affable and interesting.
We all got on extremely well and enjoyed their company, although during the day they tended to be a bit ahead of us, or off on a bit of extra curricular, off-route hill climbing. Sadly the cold prevented us from sitting out in the evenings. No stereotypical chatting round a campfire. Once the sun goes down, about 6:20, the temperature drops quite quickly. So although it`s too early to go to bed, it`s also too cold not to. So sleeping bags by 6:30 every night.
On the morning of the 6th day, whilst packing up the kit, the other two were approached and asked for a fee, since they had been protected the night before by this bloke in a house 50m away. We weren`t asked, and it may be that this was a payment to cover the cost of the booze drunk by the guides and donkey-boys the previous evening.
It was another cold night, lots of frost on the ground and tent. It started snowing as we left, and got heavier the higher we went. As we stopped for a break mid-morning we also had a snowball fight.
Not long after continuing on after the snowball fight, the action started. A bloke with a balaclava and a .22 rifle appeared, from nowhere, and started letting of rounds. In fact Phillippa got a small wound in her arm from what we think must have been a piece of rock. Not quite a bullet wound, but real nonetheless, but not serious. Phillippa and I were at the back and we hadn`t heard any gunfire before, or seen anything untoward. Though, towards the top of a 4,800m pass you tend to look less at the surroundings and more at your feet, as you plod on upwards.
I automatically assumed that this was nothing to do with us, and even said good afternoon to him. After all, there´s no reason for a British chap to forget that good manners count when abroad. I thought maybe he was out nicking sheep or cows, but you probably don`t need a balaclava to hide your identity from a sheep. He was gesturing up towards to top of the pass, where we were heading anyway, so I plodded on. Rounding a large rock I saw Rod sitting on the floor, with another bandit by him. Even then I still had to ask what was going on, "I think we`re being mugged".
Great. So us 4 Brits are herded up to a point that is slightly higher than the pass itself. We can see the locals who were travelling with us ahead, and they have their hands tied behind their backs. When we get to a small encampment, we can see that our guide has blood from his nose and has clearly had a bit of a beating.
We then spend about 40 mins sitting down outside, still with rucksacks on and all just looking at our feet. Partly not to antagonise them and also to avoid seeing anything particularly nasty, if they start on the guides again. Which I don`t think they did at that point.
It`s difficult to quite believe what is going on, it`s one of those situations that your brain is so unprepared for that you wonder whether it is actually occuring. The bandits seem quite civil, making the whole experience rather surreal. They moved us, whilst we were outside, to suggest we sit on a drier area.
We were then moved to a large tent, where we met a couple of other Brits, Michelle and Thomas, who had been taken about 45 mins before us. The guides and donkey-boys were being held elsewhere and we had no real idea of what was happening to them.
They then offered us lunch and asked if we would prefer soup or pasta. Very civilised. And after soup and tea, the big cheese came over and spoke with Rod, whose Spanish was at this point fairly crucial to the group as a whole.
They wanted $50,000 and although I think Rod quickly said that was impossible, we were given 30 minutes to discuss it together. There is a commonly held belief in parts of South America that foreign tourists are not just just richer than they are (which of course we are) but that we are absolutely dripping with money. We all pooled the cash we had, which didn`t amount to much. Michelle had about 20p in Vietnamese Dong, which we explained was about $100, which helped to up the total.
The amount offered, which was probably about $350, was deemed to be an insult. At this point I thought they might take one of us outside for a pasting, to show how serious they were. They wanted to know why we didn`t have more, where we were all going next and how we would manage to get there. They didn`t seem to understand that cash has limited value on an 8-day mountain trek, and that the odd fresh fish and a tip for the guides was all the cash we needed. They seemed to believe that our entire trip was funded by cash, although we tried to explain that tourists are aware of the dangers of being robbed and so carry little cash.
Throughout Rod had been at pains to explain that we would help in any way we could. We had already mentioned expensive items that they could have but they didn´t really seem that interested.
They had already started talking about whether we could spend the night here, at about 4,850m. The guide with us had suggested that it would be too high and hence too cold. We were keen to move, even if it still meant spending the night with our captors. But clearly, an overnight stay suggests a longer term problem. If all they want is our stuff then they don`t need us overnight for that.
We saw 4 of them, but they claimed to be a group of 10.
The bandits did know of a larger group that were 1 day behind us, and we also told them about this group. We think maybe we their plan was to hold us so we couldn`t warn them, and they would be grabbed in a similar way the following day.
We talked to them about credit cards, but told a little white lie about only being able to get $100 per day, per person. And of course this involves a trip to a town, a couple of days away. They didn`t seem to believe that we couldn`t just get $50,000 on a credit card very easily, so we had to explain that the card companies have limits in the event of loss or theft, to prevent robbers taking too much from them!
They then seemed interested in all the stuff in our daypacks. So one by one we were taken from the tent and were body searched, though in a farily amateur fashion. At this point I lost a few things, most importantly a Swiss penknife that was a present from some ex-colleagues at SG. They then went through the rucksack. I had already removed the memory card as soon as we were first placed in the tent. But actually they asked everybody to remove film or memory cards, not sure whether this was a concession so we at least had some photos of the trip. So then went the camera, which was also partly funded by some contributions from ex-colleagues.
When Michelle`s turn came they found an old $10 bill than was in an obscure pocket and had been through the wash numerous times, and they weren`t happy that this had been held from them, although we couldn`t see what was going on. At this point we started thinking about a small amount of cash we had in our main bag, carried on the donkey, and presumably already being searched by one of the bandits. We also had quite a sizable amount of travellers cheques, and it was a dilemma whether to declare these or not.
We`ve since met up with all 4 of our fellow hostages, and they`ve all asked why we didn`t. With hindsight, given the replaceable nature of them, it perhaps seems obvious that we should have offerred them up, especially given the amounts concerned. But, given they were not interested in credit cards and they had already claimed to only live in the mountains Amex travellers cheques are of limited use. Yes, there probably is a market for them, but I was prepared to tell them I thought that they would have not value for them.
We were all asked the size of our boots, but I think all the men had sizes too big and some sense of fair play stopped them from taking boots off the girls, they knew none of us has spare footware.
On a few occasions they "reassured" us by telling us that nobody was going to get killed. These are not the kind of people you can necessary believe though! Although this had clearly gone through my mind, I never saw it as a serious threat, or likely possibility. It was merely theoretical in the way that them giving back my camera remained a possibility. But the fact that they wished to say it wouldn`t happen clearly meant that it was on their minds as an option. Although I never saw this as an eventuality, having spoken to the others since, it appears that this was a much more real threat for them.
We then had a question and answer session, mainly on people`s backgrounds, jobs ie wealth and status. We reverted to being students again, and everyone else downsized their jobs accordingly. Working for any kind of bank was not the answer to give, even if they had understood the idea of an international investment bank. And what did our parents do? Well, funnily enough, most people`s parents ended up being teachers or otherwise connected with education.
We were then rounded up for a group photo. Maybe they have a HQ with a rogues gallery of tourists on the wall of the bosses office. They told us that as they now had our photos they could track us down in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia. On the way out I think most of us had the thought, though for me very fleeting, that maybe this was going to be a line up similar to the one at the end of The Great Escape, when the escapees are let out of the back of the truck for a stretch and then gunned down. But it was just a photo, 2 in fact. For some bizarre reason most of us were smiling like we would for any other holiday photo, but better to play along rather than some defiant gesture to camera.
And then, fairly quickly, it was clear that we were going to be released. So no overnight stay. The locals had packed up the stuff, the donkeys were loaded, and whilst being watched from the hills, we were allowed over the pass to continue on our way.
The relief was, of course, huge, but there was no looking back, just keep walking. After a couple of hours, and the last 20 minutes in the dark, we reached a place where we thought of camping. We stopped to see what other stuff they had taken from the main bag: a couple of pairs of trekking trousers, decent walking socks. And rather oddly my swimming trunks. We had thought about just walking through the night, since we`d lost sleeping bags and mats etc... In the end we stayed, and that was a good decision, even though it was a very cold night.
We found out that our guide and arerio had been given quite serious beatings and both had, at some point, really thought they were going to die. Luckily for the tourists, we didn`t get this treatment.
Then about 8 hours the following day, with our big bag, Rod & Paul had their main bags too, (though of course without our small rucksacks!). We finally reached Cajatamba late afternoon after a very draining day since we`d not eaten well for a couple of days. Luckily we were saved by having some dollar notes in clingfilm under the inner sole in my boot, and some in Phillippa´s boot too. We were fairly sure that this wouldn`t be found, and was too valuable to give up. This let us get a hotel, meal, and bus out of their the next day. We had thought about trying to get a pickup truck to take us to a town, but it was rainign and bouncing around in the back of a truck for many hours all night was losing it`s appeal the longer we had to wait for the bloke we had been negotiating with. Rod & Paul did in the end take the truck, but only got to the town at 2am. They also came across a traffic accident and, being a doctor, Rod was requiredto help certify the dead etc... A ghastly end to a ghastly couple of days for them.
We finally got to Lima the evening of the day after the long walk back to civilisation.
We have since found out that after we were released, the bandits rushed off down the other side of the hill and dragged about 15 tourists from tents and took stuff from them over the course of about 90 minutes.
We went to the British Embassy in Lima and they took it quite seriously. They have not been reports of such trouble in the region for a couple of years. In fact the UK Foreign & Commenwealth Office have updated their travel advice as follows.
There have been reports of two armed hold-ups in the Huaraz area in early July. There occurred on the Huayhuash trekking circuit approximately six days travel from Huaraz. Six British nationals were involved in one incident. You should exercise caution when travelling along this route and check with your guide/organisers before setting out.
Sadly a trip to the Embassy wasn`t quite as I`d been led to believe from watching too many James Bond films. The Deputy Head of Mission even has to make his own coffee. I first asked for a tea, that seemed more British somehow, but was going to be more hassle than just an instant coffee. The odd picture of HM ERII dotted around, but far from lavish surroundings, just like any office really, with extreme security.
And that is the tale of our kidnapping. We are both entirely unhurt, as are the other 4 Brits. Pretty shaken by the whole thing, but things are getting back to normal now. The trip goes on, and this whole episode will just become a pub anecdote.
Bet your glad you`re stuck at a desk reading this rather than living it!
In which we are taken at gunpoint, asked for $50,000 and held for about 5 hours before being released.
The previous post on the first 5 days of our trek failed to mention the 2 Brits who joined us at the start in Llamac: Rod, working as a doctor in Lima, so speaks good Spanish, which later was to prove invaluable; Paul, out visiting his mate from school days, a lecturer in Philosophy. Very friendly, affable and interesting.
We all got on extremely well and enjoyed their company, although during the day they tended to be a bit ahead of us, or off on a bit of extra curricular, off-route hill climbing. Sadly the cold prevented us from sitting out in the evenings. No stereotypical chatting round a campfire. Once the sun goes down, about 6:20, the temperature drops quite quickly. So although it`s too early to go to bed, it`s also too cold not to. So sleeping bags by 6:30 every night.
On the morning of the 6th day, whilst packing up the kit, the other two were approached and asked for a fee, since they had been protected the night before by this bloke in a house 50m away. We weren`t asked, and it may be that this was a payment to cover the cost of the booze drunk by the guides and donkey-boys the previous evening.
It was another cold night, lots of frost on the ground and tent. It started snowing as we left, and got heavier the higher we went. As we stopped for a break mid-morning we also had a snowball fight.
Not long after continuing on after the snowball fight, the action started. A bloke with a balaclava and a .22 rifle appeared, from nowhere, and started letting of rounds. In fact Phillippa got a small wound in her arm from what we think must have been a piece of rock. Not quite a bullet wound, but real nonetheless, but not serious. Phillippa and I were at the back and we hadn`t heard any gunfire before, or seen anything untoward. Though, towards the top of a 4,800m pass you tend to look less at the surroundings and more at your feet, as you plod on upwards.
I automatically assumed that this was nothing to do with us, and even said good afternoon to him. After all, there´s no reason for a British chap to forget that good manners count when abroad. I thought maybe he was out nicking sheep or cows, but you probably don`t need a balaclava to hide your identity from a sheep. He was gesturing up towards to top of the pass, where we were heading anyway, so I plodded on. Rounding a large rock I saw Rod sitting on the floor, with another bandit by him. Even then I still had to ask what was going on, "I think we`re being mugged".
Great. So us 4 Brits are herded up to a point that is slightly higher than the pass itself. We can see the locals who were travelling with us ahead, and they have their hands tied behind their backs. When we get to a small encampment, we can see that our guide has blood from his nose and has clearly had a bit of a beating.
We then spend about 40 mins sitting down outside, still with rucksacks on and all just looking at our feet. Partly not to antagonise them and also to avoid seeing anything particularly nasty, if they start on the guides again. Which I don`t think they did at that point.
It`s difficult to quite believe what is going on, it`s one of those situations that your brain is so unprepared for that you wonder whether it is actually occuring. The bandits seem quite civil, making the whole experience rather surreal. They moved us, whilst we were outside, to suggest we sit on a drier area.
We were then moved to a large tent, where we met a couple of other Brits, Michelle and Thomas, who had been taken about 45 mins before us. The guides and donkey-boys were being held elsewhere and we had no real idea of what was happening to them.
They then offered us lunch and asked if we would prefer soup or pasta. Very civilised. And after soup and tea, the big cheese came over and spoke with Rod, whose Spanish was at this point fairly crucial to the group as a whole.
They wanted $50,000 and although I think Rod quickly said that was impossible, we were given 30 minutes to discuss it together. There is a commonly held belief in parts of South America that foreign tourists are not just just richer than they are (which of course we are) but that we are absolutely dripping with money. We all pooled the cash we had, which didn`t amount to much. Michelle had about 20p in Vietnamese Dong, which we explained was about $100, which helped to up the total.
The amount offered, which was probably about $350, was deemed to be an insult. At this point I thought they might take one of us outside for a pasting, to show how serious they were. They wanted to know why we didn`t have more, where we were all going next and how we would manage to get there. They didn`t seem to understand that cash has limited value on an 8-day mountain trek, and that the odd fresh fish and a tip for the guides was all the cash we needed. They seemed to believe that our entire trip was funded by cash, although we tried to explain that tourists are aware of the dangers of being robbed and so carry little cash.
Throughout Rod had been at pains to explain that we would help in any way we could. We had already mentioned expensive items that they could have but they didn´t really seem that interested.
They had already started talking about whether we could spend the night here, at about 4,850m. The guide with us had suggested that it would be too high and hence too cold. We were keen to move, even if it still meant spending the night with our captors. But clearly, an overnight stay suggests a longer term problem. If all they want is our stuff then they don`t need us overnight for that.
We saw 4 of them, but they claimed to be a group of 10.
The bandits did know of a larger group that were 1 day behind us, and we also told them about this group. We think maybe we their plan was to hold us so we couldn`t warn them, and they would be grabbed in a similar way the following day.
We talked to them about credit cards, but told a little white lie about only being able to get $100 per day, per person. And of course this involves a trip to a town, a couple of days away. They didn`t seem to believe that we couldn`t just get $50,000 on a credit card very easily, so we had to explain that the card companies have limits in the event of loss or theft, to prevent robbers taking too much from them!
They then seemed interested in all the stuff in our daypacks. So one by one we were taken from the tent and were body searched, though in a farily amateur fashion. At this point I lost a few things, most importantly a Swiss penknife that was a present from some ex-colleagues at SG. They then went through the rucksack. I had already removed the memory card as soon as we were first placed in the tent. But actually they asked everybody to remove film or memory cards, not sure whether this was a concession so we at least had some photos of the trip. So then went the camera, which was also partly funded by some contributions from ex-colleagues.
When Michelle`s turn came they found an old $10 bill than was in an obscure pocket and had been through the wash numerous times, and they weren`t happy that this had been held from them, although we couldn`t see what was going on. At this point we started thinking about a small amount of cash we had in our main bag, carried on the donkey, and presumably already being searched by one of the bandits. We also had quite a sizable amount of travellers cheques, and it was a dilemma whether to declare these or not.
We`ve since met up with all 4 of our fellow hostages, and they`ve all asked why we didn`t. With hindsight, given the replaceable nature of them, it perhaps seems obvious that we should have offerred them up, especially given the amounts concerned. But, given they were not interested in credit cards and they had already claimed to only live in the mountains Amex travellers cheques are of limited use. Yes, there probably is a market for them, but I was prepared to tell them I thought that they would have not value for them.
We were all asked the size of our boots, but I think all the men had sizes too big and some sense of fair play stopped them from taking boots off the girls, they knew none of us has spare footware.
On a few occasions they "reassured" us by telling us that nobody was going to get killed. These are not the kind of people you can necessary believe though! Although this had clearly gone through my mind, I never saw it as a serious threat, or likely possibility. It was merely theoretical in the way that them giving back my camera remained a possibility. But the fact that they wished to say it wouldn`t happen clearly meant that it was on their minds as an option. Although I never saw this as an eventuality, having spoken to the others since, it appears that this was a much more real threat for them.
We then had a question and answer session, mainly on people`s backgrounds, jobs ie wealth and status. We reverted to being students again, and everyone else downsized their jobs accordingly. Working for any kind of bank was not the answer to give, even if they had understood the idea of an international investment bank. And what did our parents do? Well, funnily enough, most people`s parents ended up being teachers or otherwise connected with education.
We were then rounded up for a group photo. Maybe they have a HQ with a rogues gallery of tourists on the wall of the bosses office. They told us that as they now had our photos they could track us down in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia. On the way out I think most of us had the thought, though for me very fleeting, that maybe this was going to be a line up similar to the one at the end of The Great Escape, when the escapees are let out of the back of the truck for a stretch and then gunned down. But it was just a photo, 2 in fact. For some bizarre reason most of us were smiling like we would for any other holiday photo, but better to play along rather than some defiant gesture to camera.
And then, fairly quickly, it was clear that we were going to be released. So no overnight stay. The locals had packed up the stuff, the donkeys were loaded, and whilst being watched from the hills, we were allowed over the pass to continue on our way.
The relief was, of course, huge, but there was no looking back, just keep walking. After a couple of hours, and the last 20 minutes in the dark, we reached a place where we thought of camping. We stopped to see what other stuff they had taken from the main bag: a couple of pairs of trekking trousers, decent walking socks. And rather oddly my swimming trunks. We had thought about just walking through the night, since we`d lost sleeping bags and mats etc... In the end we stayed, and that was a good decision, even though it was a very cold night.
We found out that our guide and arerio had been given quite serious beatings and both had, at some point, really thought they were going to die. Luckily for the tourists, we didn`t get this treatment.
Then about 8 hours the following day, with our big bag, Rod & Paul had their main bags too, (though of course without our small rucksacks!). We finally reached Cajatamba late afternoon after a very draining day since we`d not eaten well for a couple of days. Luckily we were saved by having some dollar notes in clingfilm under the inner sole in my boot, and some in Phillippa´s boot too. We were fairly sure that this wouldn`t be found, and was too valuable to give up. This let us get a hotel, meal, and bus out of their the next day. We had thought about trying to get a pickup truck to take us to a town, but it was rainign and bouncing around in the back of a truck for many hours all night was losing it`s appeal the longer we had to wait for the bloke we had been negotiating with. Rod & Paul did in the end take the truck, but only got to the town at 2am. They also came across a traffic accident and, being a doctor, Rod was requiredto help certify the dead etc... A ghastly end to a ghastly couple of days for them.
We finally got to Lima the evening of the day after the long walk back to civilisation.
We have since found out that after we were released, the bandits rushed off down the other side of the hill and dragged about 15 tourists from tents and took stuff from them over the course of about 90 minutes.
We went to the British Embassy in Lima and they took it quite seriously. They have not been reports of such trouble in the region for a couple of years. In fact the UK Foreign & Commenwealth Office have updated their travel advice as follows.
There have been reports of two armed hold-ups in the Huaraz area in early July. There occurred on the Huayhuash trekking circuit approximately six days travel from Huaraz. Six British nationals were involved in one incident. You should exercise caution when travelling along this route and check with your guide/organisers before setting out.
Sadly a trip to the Embassy wasn`t quite as I`d been led to believe from watching too many James Bond films. The Deputy Head of Mission even has to make his own coffee. I first asked for a tea, that seemed more British somehow, but was going to be more hassle than just an instant coffee. The odd picture of HM ERII dotted around, but far from lavish surroundings, just like any office really, with extreme security.
And that is the tale of our kidnapping. We are both entirely unhurt, as are the other 4 Brits. Pretty shaken by the whole thing, but things are getting back to normal now. The trip goes on, and this whole episode will just become a pub anecdote.
Bet your glad you`re stuck at a desk reading this rather than living it!
Monday, July 12, 2004
Touching the Void
Location: Lima, Peru
Some notes on our trek in the Andes.
Almost immediately after our trip to Chavin, we set off on our Andean adventure. For those of you that haven´t either read the book by Joe Simpson, or seen the Bafta award-winning film, Touching the Void then I suggest you do so. Even for people with no interest in mountaineering, it is a gripping tale of human endurance in the face of enourmous adversity. And it all takes place in the mountains where we have just been.
After a 5am bus from Huaraz, we had to change in some small village after a few hours. A bloke was working on the reaer right wheels, I think he was changing them round. After nearly 90mins of hanging around we were off again. About a further 90mins into the trip, in the middle of nowehere, disaster struck. The wheels literally fell off the bus. The bolts on both rear right wheels had sheared off, and with a clunk, the outer wheel went first. Luckily we were going uphill, slowly round a hairpin, at the time.
So we´re stuck in a valley, about 40min drive from our destination. The driver of the bus heads off to get help, and the rest of us can only wait. About 2 hours later he was back with a minibus. The original plan was to load on all the heavy bags, provisions, food, gas etc, so that we could at least start walking with the daypacks we each had. Unfortunately, about 3 Israelis decided they must get on the bus, meaning that there was not wnough room for all the kit. So all the rest of us (about 15) had to wait for the bus to return. It must be a burden being God´s chosen children at times, though with the knowledge that you are more important than everyone else it certainly helps make their time in this life a bit easier.
So we get to Llamac, a small village, about 4 hours after we had planned to. There´s not enough time to get to the intended place to camp, so we walk for just 3 hours, up from 3,200m to about 4,100m.
The daily routine is broadly: 1 pass per day, normally 6 hours walking, though the second day we were trying to make up lost time and did about 7.5 hours with only avery short stop for lunch. Usually we camp about 4,000m, sometimes a bit above or below this. The passes were normally above 4,600m, with the highest at 4,900m. Although we didn´t have problems of altitude sickness (headaches, nausea etc) we did have a few problems just due to the lack of air. It is sometimes very slow progress up the final few hundred metres, and this is where it is steepest and the path can be rocky and narrow etc.
Day 2, the long day, involved a climb of about 1,000m that was very draining.
But the scnenery is stunning. People say that this route is second to a trek in Nepal, and those of you who have trekked in Nepal can perhaps agree on this. Sadly the weather was unseasonably poor, it is supposed to never rain this time of year, be clear blue skies, perfect views of the mountain peaks. We had cloud most days, some hail and some snow.
The scale of the mountains is hard to express in words. Even without the postcard weather we had some stunning views, which make the effort worthwhile. Huge, sheer cliff faces. Snowy caps peeking through the tops of the clouds. Long valleys, with ribbons of water flowing off to the distance. Glaciers slowly griding down mountainsides.
Every now and then it´s possible to hear a lound groaning and rumbling sound. Occasionally this was my guts, since we were not being fed the most generous portions. But more often this was the sound of huge chunks of ice splitting from the body of the glacier. Then there is the noise of all the ice tumbling, often hundreds of metres. Appearing very similar to a waterfall, but of snow and ice. Awesome at night when huddled in a tent and the surroundings are very quiet.
We saw condors circling. We saw some odd little villages in the middle of nowhere, and wondered how they survive. We chatted to one local woman, who told us that she was 2 hours by horse from supplies. They have a lot of trout in the lakes, and cows, but little in the way of vegetables. She was very keen to flog us some fish and chips! But we declined. 10 minutes later someone was keen to sell us a beer, but after a day´s walking and still at over 4,000m that was also probably a bad idea.
The other memorable thing about day 2 is that the only water supply available tasted of cow pats, and although the water purification tablest no doubt removed the nasties, it couldn´t take away the taste! Uuurrgh.
Generally the provision of kit was OK, we have nothing of our own for camping, it´s not worth lugging it around the whole world for the odd trek. But, as mentioned before, the rations were really not enough. It´s extremely cold at night, often there would be ice on the tent in the morning. With second rate sleeping bags and mats, even with all my clothes on, hat and gloves, it was still chilly. This means that a lot of energy goes on just keeping warm. And with a big climb every day I think I was in a bit of a calorie debt. In fact at one point I had a dream that I looked in a mirror and saw a very skinny, concentration camp reflection. I think my sub-concious was aware of the food problem!
All the slogging up steep hills also raised the same question that Phillippa and I argues about when we were training for the marathon. Is it an advantage to have legs about 10% longer? Yes probably, but is this outweighed by the problem of being about 75% heavier? Almost certainly! If there are any specialists in bio-mechanics who can resolve this then please email me. The obvious and easiest answer seems to be found if we turn to evolution, most apt having recently been to Galapagos. All the Andea races are small and, in the main lightly built. Indeed, all successful marathon runners are small and very lightly built. Suggesting that perhaps that, over the years, the lanky and heavy Andean folk didn´t win the genetic race for survival.
I think I commented on their tiny buses in another post. But there was one hotel, where the staircase ceiling was so low it was like being in a scene in Being John Malkovich.
There is more to the Andean trek, as some of you already know, and the final instalment will appear here soon....
Keep checking back for updates.
Some notes on our trek in the Andes.
Almost immediately after our trip to Chavin, we set off on our Andean adventure. For those of you that haven´t either read the book by Joe Simpson, or seen the Bafta award-winning film, Touching the Void then I suggest you do so. Even for people with no interest in mountaineering, it is a gripping tale of human endurance in the face of enourmous adversity. And it all takes place in the mountains where we have just been.
After a 5am bus from Huaraz, we had to change in some small village after a few hours. A bloke was working on the reaer right wheels, I think he was changing them round. After nearly 90mins of hanging around we were off again. About a further 90mins into the trip, in the middle of nowehere, disaster struck. The wheels literally fell off the bus. The bolts on both rear right wheels had sheared off, and with a clunk, the outer wheel went first. Luckily we were going uphill, slowly round a hairpin, at the time.
So we´re stuck in a valley, about 40min drive from our destination. The driver of the bus heads off to get help, and the rest of us can only wait. About 2 hours later he was back with a minibus. The original plan was to load on all the heavy bags, provisions, food, gas etc, so that we could at least start walking with the daypacks we each had. Unfortunately, about 3 Israelis decided they must get on the bus, meaning that there was not wnough room for all the kit. So all the rest of us (about 15) had to wait for the bus to return. It must be a burden being God´s chosen children at times, though with the knowledge that you are more important than everyone else it certainly helps make their time in this life a bit easier.
So we get to Llamac, a small village, about 4 hours after we had planned to. There´s not enough time to get to the intended place to camp, so we walk for just 3 hours, up from 3,200m to about 4,100m.
The daily routine is broadly: 1 pass per day, normally 6 hours walking, though the second day we were trying to make up lost time and did about 7.5 hours with only avery short stop for lunch. Usually we camp about 4,000m, sometimes a bit above or below this. The passes were normally above 4,600m, with the highest at 4,900m. Although we didn´t have problems of altitude sickness (headaches, nausea etc) we did have a few problems just due to the lack of air. It is sometimes very slow progress up the final few hundred metres, and this is where it is steepest and the path can be rocky and narrow etc.
Day 2, the long day, involved a climb of about 1,000m that was very draining.
But the scnenery is stunning. People say that this route is second to a trek in Nepal, and those of you who have trekked in Nepal can perhaps agree on this. Sadly the weather was unseasonably poor, it is supposed to never rain this time of year, be clear blue skies, perfect views of the mountain peaks. We had cloud most days, some hail and some snow.
The scale of the mountains is hard to express in words. Even without the postcard weather we had some stunning views, which make the effort worthwhile. Huge, sheer cliff faces. Snowy caps peeking through the tops of the clouds. Long valleys, with ribbons of water flowing off to the distance. Glaciers slowly griding down mountainsides.
Every now and then it´s possible to hear a lound groaning and rumbling sound. Occasionally this was my guts, since we were not being fed the most generous portions. But more often this was the sound of huge chunks of ice splitting from the body of the glacier. Then there is the noise of all the ice tumbling, often hundreds of metres. Appearing very similar to a waterfall, but of snow and ice. Awesome at night when huddled in a tent and the surroundings are very quiet.
We saw condors circling. We saw some odd little villages in the middle of nowhere, and wondered how they survive. We chatted to one local woman, who told us that she was 2 hours by horse from supplies. They have a lot of trout in the lakes, and cows, but little in the way of vegetables. She was very keen to flog us some fish and chips! But we declined. 10 minutes later someone was keen to sell us a beer, but after a day´s walking and still at over 4,000m that was also probably a bad idea.
The other memorable thing about day 2 is that the only water supply available tasted of cow pats, and although the water purification tablest no doubt removed the nasties, it couldn´t take away the taste! Uuurrgh.
Generally the provision of kit was OK, we have nothing of our own for camping, it´s not worth lugging it around the whole world for the odd trek. But, as mentioned before, the rations were really not enough. It´s extremely cold at night, often there would be ice on the tent in the morning. With second rate sleeping bags and mats, even with all my clothes on, hat and gloves, it was still chilly. This means that a lot of energy goes on just keeping warm. And with a big climb every day I think I was in a bit of a calorie debt. In fact at one point I had a dream that I looked in a mirror and saw a very skinny, concentration camp reflection. I think my sub-concious was aware of the food problem!
All the slogging up steep hills also raised the same question that Phillippa and I argues about when we were training for the marathon. Is it an advantage to have legs about 10% longer? Yes probably, but is this outweighed by the problem of being about 75% heavier? Almost certainly! If there are any specialists in bio-mechanics who can resolve this then please email me. The obvious and easiest answer seems to be found if we turn to evolution, most apt having recently been to Galapagos. All the Andea races are small and, in the main lightly built. Indeed, all successful marathon runners are small and very lightly built. Suggesting that perhaps that, over the years, the lanky and heavy Andean folk didn´t win the genetic race for survival.
I think I commented on their tiny buses in another post. But there was one hotel, where the staircase ceiling was so low it was like being in a scene in Being John Malkovich.
There is more to the Andean trek, as some of you already know, and the final instalment will appear here soon....
Keep checking back for updates.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Reflections on Ecuador, and Chav culture
Location: Huaráz, the Andes, Northern Peru
Thoughts on Ecuador, contrasts with Peru and the rise and fall of Chav culture.
After about 6 weeks in Ecuador, I have to say that it´s a fascinating country with much more on offer than most people realise. The well trodden path in South America involves Peru and Chile, (and more recently Argentina, with their financial crisis). But there is a wealth of diverse opportunities in Ecuador. Obviously the Galapagos islands are the country´s most revered tourist site. But the countryside is amazing: from the jungle to the highlands, mountains, volcanoes... ... It´s a shame for the people that they don´t have the same level of exposure or recognition as other Latin countries, in particular Peru and Chile. A trip to the Galapagos is clearly unique, however anyone coming to Ecuador for that alone would be missing out on other opportunities.
Everywhere in the highlands the mountains bear scars of landslides. We passed about 10 that would have each closed a road in 30 minutes on one journey, and on the way south from Cuenca to Loja there was one that would have originally covered about 150m of road. The scale of the vistas is awe inspiring, the distancers across valleys is huge. Sometimes it is hard to remember that we´re at >3,000m when the surrounding hills look more like hills than mountains, with agriculture, villages etc, and not jagged snow-capped peaks.
The people have been friendly throughout, though as one of my teachers said, people want to help and would rather tell you fictitious directions than tell you they didn´t know the answer! Friendly, but not always useful! The various indigenous groups still retain a lot of the identity that you can see on postcards, and their dress is not just for tourist appearances in markets, but an everyday occurance. There have been some great photo opportunities that I´ve had to let slip past, since apparently Andean people are not normally happy about be snapped, which is a great shame. Some interesting markets scenes have had to be missed to, it´s difficult to take photos surreptitiously, and I don´t wish to offend the locals.
Now having got to Peru, there are differences that are readily discernible. The infrastrucutre seems of slightly better quality here. The buses are better (marginally), though it still feels a bit like I´ve arrived in Lilliput. The local transport tends to be small mini-buses, or VW camper vans, crammed with seats so close together that the distance between them is a good few inches less than the length of my femur. But generally the longer trips have not been quite a cramped as I had feared they might. We´ve had the pleasure (?) of a few films to entertain us, usually with the radio on too to enhance the experience.
The towns seem busier, frenetic almost. Our first evening in Peru, in Chiclayo, the town was like the West End on a Saturday night, and this was mid-week without one of the many festivals that occur. It may be a slightly richer country, or may be a difference in diets, but people here are a lot tubbier than their counterparts in Ecuador. We´re struggling to find meals that don´t come with chips, and fried chicken appears to be the national dish.
Chav Culture
Chav culture is on the rise in the UK, as mentioned in the Sunday Times and discussed at length with the Quintons (when there were but 2 of them) and the Claytons at a dinner party!
However, Chavin, near to Huaraz, is the original home of Chav culture. Circa 1200-200 BC, it is one of the earliest civilisations in the Andes. Sadly not a lot is left of the site, but it is well worth the 3 hour trip. They had extensive underground drainage systems, and had even diverted a river to create more space for the town. Few monuments are intact, and the original pyramid is in a bad way. There were 203 heads, carved in stone and similar to gargoyles found on Gothic churches, around the 4 sides of the main temple. Today just one remains in situ, with others in various museums. It must have been an impressive, imposing and slightly threatening sight for vistors.
Given the popularity of tracksuits for school uniforms here, perhaps Chav or Scally culture is making a comeback near to its ancestral home, here in the Andes.
Thoughts on Ecuador, contrasts with Peru and the rise and fall of Chav culture.
After about 6 weeks in Ecuador, I have to say that it´s a fascinating country with much more on offer than most people realise. The well trodden path in South America involves Peru and Chile, (and more recently Argentina, with their financial crisis). But there is a wealth of diverse opportunities in Ecuador. Obviously the Galapagos islands are the country´s most revered tourist site. But the countryside is amazing: from the jungle to the highlands, mountains, volcanoes... ... It´s a shame for the people that they don´t have the same level of exposure or recognition as other Latin countries, in particular Peru and Chile. A trip to the Galapagos is clearly unique, however anyone coming to Ecuador for that alone would be missing out on other opportunities.
Everywhere in the highlands the mountains bear scars of landslides. We passed about 10 that would have each closed a road in 30 minutes on one journey, and on the way south from Cuenca to Loja there was one that would have originally covered about 150m of road. The scale of the vistas is awe inspiring, the distancers across valleys is huge. Sometimes it is hard to remember that we´re at >3,000m when the surrounding hills look more like hills than mountains, with agriculture, villages etc, and not jagged snow-capped peaks.
The people have been friendly throughout, though as one of my teachers said, people want to help and would rather tell you fictitious directions than tell you they didn´t know the answer! Friendly, but not always useful! The various indigenous groups still retain a lot of the identity that you can see on postcards, and their dress is not just for tourist appearances in markets, but an everyday occurance. There have been some great photo opportunities that I´ve had to let slip past, since apparently Andean people are not normally happy about be snapped, which is a great shame. Some interesting markets scenes have had to be missed to, it´s difficult to take photos surreptitiously, and I don´t wish to offend the locals.
Now having got to Peru, there are differences that are readily discernible. The infrastrucutre seems of slightly better quality here. The buses are better (marginally), though it still feels a bit like I´ve arrived in Lilliput. The local transport tends to be small mini-buses, or VW camper vans, crammed with seats so close together that the distance between them is a good few inches less than the length of my femur. But generally the longer trips have not been quite a cramped as I had feared they might. We´ve had the pleasure (?) of a few films to entertain us, usually with the radio on too to enhance the experience.
The towns seem busier, frenetic almost. Our first evening in Peru, in Chiclayo, the town was like the West End on a Saturday night, and this was mid-week without one of the many festivals that occur. It may be a slightly richer country, or may be a difference in diets, but people here are a lot tubbier than their counterparts in Ecuador. We´re struggling to find meals that don´t come with chips, and fried chicken appears to be the national dish.
Chav Culture
Chav culture is on the rise in the UK, as mentioned in the Sunday Times and discussed at length with the Quintons (when there were but 2 of them) and the Claytons at a dinner party!
However, Chavin, near to Huaraz, is the original home of Chav culture. Circa 1200-200 BC, it is one of the earliest civilisations in the Andes. Sadly not a lot is left of the site, but it is well worth the 3 hour trip. They had extensive underground drainage systems, and had even diverted a river to create more space for the town. Few monuments are intact, and the original pyramid is in a bad way. There were 203 heads, carved in stone and similar to gargoyles found on Gothic churches, around the 4 sides of the main temple. Today just one remains in situ, with others in various museums. It must have been an impressive, imposing and slightly threatening sight for vistors.
Given the popularity of tracksuits for school uniforms here, perhaps Chav or Scally culture is making a comeback near to its ancestral home, here in the Andes.
Friday, June 25, 2004
The Kraken Wakes
Location: Trujillo, Northern Peru
Concerning UFOs and lots of fireworks, plus a border crossing, pre-Inca civilisations and another disappointment.
Whilst we were in Cuenca (southern Ecuador) we saw some UFOs. Too slow to be planes, also they had a path that was not straight enough. Too orangey-red to be stars, and the movement also meant the lights were not celestial. Not satellites. In fact watching 4 orange lights move in an almost random way would almost be enough to convince a rational person that something odd was afoot. It was very reminscent of the opening part of Wyndham`s "The Kraken Wakes", hence the title here. So truely they were Unidentified Flying Objects.
Had this been Smalltown in the southern US, they´d already be planning a documentary on it. But more of that later.
Friday June 18 was some kind of big festival here. It seemed to involve lots of fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. Ecuador doesn`t have the same approach to health and safety as Europe. So there were lots of rockets being let off from the pavement by the main square. You just had to be aware when they were being lit, which was about every 45 seconds, meaning careful timing to walk past. From inside the town hall a bloke carrying a large paper-mache bull, complete with horns appeared.
He then ran around, through the large crowds. And the bull had a fuse on it, so would sporadically set off fireworks, some in the air and some into the crowd. Some were fizzling away on the floor as people leapt about to avoid them. Then, for his finalé the horns started to emit a thick flow of sparks, and with glee he showered the crowds. This part we watched from a safe distance!
There were also 4 large scaffold towers with numerous catherine wheels and rockets attached. These were lit at intervals, again (of course) in the middle of the crowd. When I say the middle of the crowd I don`t really mean right in the middle, with just one metre clearance. Generally the distance was about 5 metres, which is probably not much less than that recommended by whichever part of Brussels bureacracy deals with such H&S matters.
This festival also seemed to involve eating lots of sweets, at least it did for us. Lots of stalls by the main square, all with a huge array of fudges, cakes, sweets etc and it was too much to refuse. In fact one of us even decided to forgo a proper meal and just concentrate on stuffing sugar down!
As for the UFOs, well there were tissue paper lanterns with a small fuel supply hanging below, creating mini hot-air ballons. Most were 1m across, but some were the size of a small car. We saw them in the sky the night before actually finding out what they were, but you won`t be surprised to know that I didn`t become a convert to the sort of theories you may get on The X-files in the interim.
The newspapers here have had a story saying that Charles has married Camilla, but the BBC website doesn´t seem to show anything of the kind. It seems unlikely to be a scoop of the century for a Peruvian tabloid.
We are now in Peru, a long trip to Chiclayo, with an uneventful border crossing. From Chiclayo we visited two important pre-Inca sites, one at Sípan and the other at Túcume. Sípan is a site of the Moche culture, and Túcume is from the Lambayeque people. The sites themselves are not overwhemingly impressive, but at Sípan they have found a number of important tombs. And, critically, they were not subject to looting prior to excavations starting in the early 1990s. The artefacts are now in a museum, and are amazing. Gold jewellry, ceramics, sacrificies buried with the main body. The pyramids themselves are made from adobe bricks, and are reasonably complete. However, they don´t look like pyramids, but large mounds of mud. But on closer inspection you can see the original bricks in places.
After travelling down to Trujillo, where we currently are, we´ve been to see the temples of the Sun and Moon, mislabelled since the Moche people didn´t worship the Sun. The Incas did, but the pre-Inca cultures, especially those on the coast where it is sunny every day, didn´t. Estimates suggest that the temple of the Sun, the larger of the two, was made of c. 150,000,000 mud bricks, and it is a massive structure. In the temple of the Moon they have uncovered painted frescoes still showing original colours. (NB these are not my photos!) The temple was rebuilt on top of the previous one every 100 years, so there are about 6 or 7 main structures, on top of each other. The outer structures have protected the inner ones.
We´ve also been to Chan Chan, a massive complex just outside of Trujillo. There´s not much left, due to erosion over the years. But the scale of the city is very impressive. One of the palaces has been partally reconstructed, which is slightly odd: if gives a better idea of how it may have been, but it´s not original.
Some people say that Northern Peru is the Egypt of South America, and so much of it has only been investigated recently. No doubt there is much more that lays undiscovered. Those of you who have been to Egypt will have to come here to validate that claim.
Unfortunately we have missed Jon & Morag, we took slightly longer than anticipated to get to Northern Peru, and they flew up to Quito slightly earlier than expected. Shame we couldn´t meet for a beer with them, given they left the UK in spring 2003. Hopefully their Galapagos trip will not be disrupted by protesting fisherman.
The disappointment is, of course, the result against Portugal. We did watch it, all bar the first 4 minutes. At least we are insulated from the media hype. And I´d be lying if I didn´t say that the result of the second QF lifted our spirits slightly! Hello to all my French ex-colleagues at SG.
;-)
More football. After the Ecuador v Columbia match we now may try for tickets to the Copa America, the South American equivalent of Euro2004, taking place here in Peru. Not sure we´ll be in the right places at the right time for the matches, but, of course, match reports here if we do go!
Concerning UFOs and lots of fireworks, plus a border crossing, pre-Inca civilisations and another disappointment.
Whilst we were in Cuenca (southern Ecuador) we saw some UFOs. Too slow to be planes, also they had a path that was not straight enough. Too orangey-red to be stars, and the movement also meant the lights were not celestial. Not satellites. In fact watching 4 orange lights move in an almost random way would almost be enough to convince a rational person that something odd was afoot. It was very reminscent of the opening part of Wyndham`s "The Kraken Wakes", hence the title here. So truely they were Unidentified Flying Objects.
Had this been Smalltown in the southern US, they´d already be planning a documentary on it. But more of that later.
Friday June 18 was some kind of big festival here. It seemed to involve lots of fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. Ecuador doesn`t have the same approach to health and safety as Europe. So there were lots of rockets being let off from the pavement by the main square. You just had to be aware when they were being lit, which was about every 45 seconds, meaning careful timing to walk past. From inside the town hall a bloke carrying a large paper-mache bull, complete with horns appeared.
He then ran around, through the large crowds. And the bull had a fuse on it, so would sporadically set off fireworks, some in the air and some into the crowd. Some were fizzling away on the floor as people leapt about to avoid them. Then, for his finalé the horns started to emit a thick flow of sparks, and with glee he showered the crowds. This part we watched from a safe distance!
There were also 4 large scaffold towers with numerous catherine wheels and rockets attached. These were lit at intervals, again (of course) in the middle of the crowd. When I say the middle of the crowd I don`t really mean right in the middle, with just one metre clearance. Generally the distance was about 5 metres, which is probably not much less than that recommended by whichever part of Brussels bureacracy deals with such H&S matters.
This festival also seemed to involve eating lots of sweets, at least it did for us. Lots of stalls by the main square, all with a huge array of fudges, cakes, sweets etc and it was too much to refuse. In fact one of us even decided to forgo a proper meal and just concentrate on stuffing sugar down!
As for the UFOs, well there were tissue paper lanterns with a small fuel supply hanging below, creating mini hot-air ballons. Most were 1m across, but some were the size of a small car. We saw them in the sky the night before actually finding out what they were, but you won`t be surprised to know that I didn`t become a convert to the sort of theories you may get on The X-files in the interim.
The newspapers here have had a story saying that Charles has married Camilla, but the BBC website doesn´t seem to show anything of the kind. It seems unlikely to be a scoop of the century for a Peruvian tabloid.
We are now in Peru, a long trip to Chiclayo, with an uneventful border crossing. From Chiclayo we visited two important pre-Inca sites, one at Sípan and the other at Túcume. Sípan is a site of the Moche culture, and Túcume is from the Lambayeque people. The sites themselves are not overwhemingly impressive, but at Sípan they have found a number of important tombs. And, critically, they were not subject to looting prior to excavations starting in the early 1990s. The artefacts are now in a museum, and are amazing. Gold jewellry, ceramics, sacrificies buried with the main body. The pyramids themselves are made from adobe bricks, and are reasonably complete. However, they don´t look like pyramids, but large mounds of mud. But on closer inspection you can see the original bricks in places.
After travelling down to Trujillo, where we currently are, we´ve been to see the temples of the Sun and Moon, mislabelled since the Moche people didn´t worship the Sun. The Incas did, but the pre-Inca cultures, especially those on the coast where it is sunny every day, didn´t. Estimates suggest that the temple of the Sun, the larger of the two, was made of c. 150,000,000 mud bricks, and it is a massive structure. In the temple of the Moon they have uncovered painted frescoes still showing original colours. (NB these are not my photos!) The temple was rebuilt on top of the previous one every 100 years, so there are about 6 or 7 main structures, on top of each other. The outer structures have protected the inner ones.
We´ve also been to Chan Chan, a massive complex just outside of Trujillo. There´s not much left, due to erosion over the years. But the scale of the city is very impressive. One of the palaces has been partally reconstructed, which is slightly odd: if gives a better idea of how it may have been, but it´s not original.
Some people say that Northern Peru is the Egypt of South America, and so much of it has only been investigated recently. No doubt there is much more that lays undiscovered. Those of you who have been to Egypt will have to come here to validate that claim.
Unfortunately we have missed Jon & Morag, we took slightly longer than anticipated to get to Northern Peru, and they flew up to Quito slightly earlier than expected. Shame we couldn´t meet for a beer with them, given they left the UK in spring 2003. Hopefully their Galapagos trip will not be disrupted by protesting fisherman.
The disappointment is, of course, the result against Portugal. We did watch it, all bar the first 4 minutes. At least we are insulated from the media hype. And I´d be lying if I didn´t say that the result of the second QF lifted our spirits slightly! Hello to all my French ex-colleagues at SG.
;-)
More football. After the Ecuador v Columbia match we now may try for tickets to the Copa America, the South American equivalent of Euro2004, taking place here in Peru. Not sure we´ll be in the right places at the right time for the matches, but, of course, match reports here if we do go!
Friday, June 18, 2004
School´s out for summer
Location: Cuenca, southern Ecuador
Concerning tarantulas, venomous snakes, toucans, macaws, tapirs, capybaras, caimans, landslides, active volcanies, Inca ruins and a book review.
Following from the last entry entitled "Gooooaaaaaal Ecuador" I had planned to title this with "Goooooaaaaal Lampard". However, the plans changed, literally, at the last minute.
In the last two weeks we have had our final week of Spanish lessons and are now on our own. Many thanks to all the staff at La Lengua, but in particular to Nacho, who acompanied us the jungle near Coca for our final week, and Paul who we both spent a lot of time with.
Jungle trip to Coca
After out trip to Mindo, we got back and wrote up the previous week. We were due to leave that night at 9pm on a 12 hour bus journey. However, once at the bus station it became clear that due to landslides and some protests and roadblocks by indigenous people no buses had run that day and none would run the following night or day. So Monday morning we decided to fly, with a 40 minute short hop replacing a long overnight session of sleep deprivation. More pricey, but the only real option, and we didn{t want to stay in Quito any longer.
In the jungle, we were an hour up the Rio Napo from Coca, at Yarina Lodge, the Napo is the largest tributary of the Amazon. Every day there were excursions, often day and night. Sadly we never saw a large tarantula near to the Lodge, or our cabaña. We did see a baby one, (approx. 8cm across, including legs). We also saw a venomous coral snake, not far from where it was suggested we may like to have a dip in the river. We didn´t see any piranhas, unfortunately we didn´t go fishing for them as some people did. It was too steamy whilst we were there, but the last day and a half the sun was fierce and the humidity was up.
Nearby is a protected area, where animals are rehabilitated. I was here that we saw both a tapir and a capybara. They are not truely wild, and are partially domesticated, but to see a rat the size of a big dog was still interesting. On an evening paddle in a canoe, we saw some caimans, which are similar to small aligators, only about 1m long.
Eraly one morning we were up a 40ft tower above the canopy of the forest, birdwatching. Not something I´d usually be that interested in, being a twitcher, but here when you can see spectacularly coloured parrots and toucans it´s a bit different from sparrows and finches.
The place we stayed was very relaxing, and we´d recomend it, however, further up the river is supposed to be better and compared to other people there we were lucky with what we saw.
The jungle wasn´t as teeming with wildlife in the way that Uncle Tan´s in Borneo was, but just walking through dense, lush green, and invariably very wet, surroundings was interesting. And whereas the mozzies in Borneo were like toy helicopters, these were a little less aggressive and a little less itchy!
Then time for a long bus trip back, not back to Quito, but to Baños, a spa town, in the same vein as Royal Tunbridge Wells, but without the underage drinkers with cans of Stella in the main shopping areas. 11 hours bouncing along an unpaved road, with stunning scenery, and we knew we made the right choice to go by day and not by night. Sleeping on buses designed for locals is a problem at the best of times, but when there is no road it would have been impossible. Apparently it is equally "safe" day or night, though the drivers tend to work long hours, and aside from a breakfast stop just after we set out, we kept running straight through the day.
Baños is pleasant place in the shadow of an active volcano. A few years ago the town was evacuated, and although it is still classed as active there´s not rivers of lava heading towards the town square. We didn´t actually manage to see the volcano, Tungarahua, due to cloud. The place we stayed has steam baths, so we indulged there and missed the public ones in town.
After a 4hr walk in ther morning, on to ropey mountain bikes for a 16km cycle along a "route of waterfalls". Pickup truck back though!
Devil´s Nose Train
The 7.01am from Riobamba was certainly more diverting that the equivalent from Commuterville to Waterloo. Sitting on the roof, along what is supposed to be the most difficult train line in the world. 2 V-switchbacks, where you have to reverse out to continue going downhill, and some big sheer drops, luckily the side we were on. Due to the early start, and 3,000m altitude it was certainly very nippy for the first 2 hours. A bit like being on the first ski lift, before the sun has peaked out over the mountains, with a stiff breeze. But in this case it was for 2 hours, with no intermittent exercise to get the blood flowing. After about 4 hours we came to the most impressive part, although the views of the surrounding hills (or are they mountains?) was awesome throughout. Well worth doing.
Inca Ruins at Ingapirca
Earlier today, before the bus to Cuenca, we started out early on a 16km walk to Ecuador´s most important Inca site. It should have been 16km, but we had to walk from town and then took the wrong road, so it was about 20km in the end. All at about 3,000m and there was a lot of up and down! Worth the trip though. The main building is an elliptical shape, reflecting their knowledge of the earth´s orbit. There are some problems with the excavation, due to bureaucracy, but what they have uncovered is a good introduction for us to Inca sites.
As for the book review, the first of the long novels is now finished, Don Quixote. A tad repetative at times, though midly amusing throughout. A tale of a very mediocre bloke suffering from self-delusion on a scale never seen nowadays outside of London´s Square Mile.
Currently wondering why I didn´t think to pack a birthday card for Phillippa, oh well, we´ll see what Saturday 19 brings!
Concerning tarantulas, venomous snakes, toucans, macaws, tapirs, capybaras, caimans, landslides, active volcanies, Inca ruins and a book review.
Following from the last entry entitled "Gooooaaaaaal Ecuador" I had planned to title this with "Goooooaaaaal Lampard". However, the plans changed, literally, at the last minute.
In the last two weeks we have had our final week of Spanish lessons and are now on our own. Many thanks to all the staff at La Lengua, but in particular to Nacho, who acompanied us the jungle near Coca for our final week, and Paul who we both spent a lot of time with.
Jungle trip to Coca
After out trip to Mindo, we got back and wrote up the previous week. We were due to leave that night at 9pm on a 12 hour bus journey. However, once at the bus station it became clear that due to landslides and some protests and roadblocks by indigenous people no buses had run that day and none would run the following night or day. So Monday morning we decided to fly, with a 40 minute short hop replacing a long overnight session of sleep deprivation. More pricey, but the only real option, and we didn{t want to stay in Quito any longer.
In the jungle, we were an hour up the Rio Napo from Coca, at Yarina Lodge, the Napo is the largest tributary of the Amazon. Every day there were excursions, often day and night. Sadly we never saw a large tarantula near to the Lodge, or our cabaña. We did see a baby one, (approx. 8cm across, including legs). We also saw a venomous coral snake, not far from where it was suggested we may like to have a dip in the river. We didn´t see any piranhas, unfortunately we didn´t go fishing for them as some people did. It was too steamy whilst we were there, but the last day and a half the sun was fierce and the humidity was up.
Nearby is a protected area, where animals are rehabilitated. I was here that we saw both a tapir and a capybara. They are not truely wild, and are partially domesticated, but to see a rat the size of a big dog was still interesting. On an evening paddle in a canoe, we saw some caimans, which are similar to small aligators, only about 1m long.
Eraly one morning we were up a 40ft tower above the canopy of the forest, birdwatching. Not something I´d usually be that interested in, being a twitcher, but here when you can see spectacularly coloured parrots and toucans it´s a bit different from sparrows and finches.
The place we stayed was very relaxing, and we´d recomend it, however, further up the river is supposed to be better and compared to other people there we were lucky with what we saw.
The jungle wasn´t as teeming with wildlife in the way that Uncle Tan´s in Borneo was, but just walking through dense, lush green, and invariably very wet, surroundings was interesting. And whereas the mozzies in Borneo were like toy helicopters, these were a little less aggressive and a little less itchy!
Then time for a long bus trip back, not back to Quito, but to Baños, a spa town, in the same vein as Royal Tunbridge Wells, but without the underage drinkers with cans of Stella in the main shopping areas. 11 hours bouncing along an unpaved road, with stunning scenery, and we knew we made the right choice to go by day and not by night. Sleeping on buses designed for locals is a problem at the best of times, but when there is no road it would have been impossible. Apparently it is equally "safe" day or night, though the drivers tend to work long hours, and aside from a breakfast stop just after we set out, we kept running straight through the day.
Baños is pleasant place in the shadow of an active volcano. A few years ago the town was evacuated, and although it is still classed as active there´s not rivers of lava heading towards the town square. We didn´t actually manage to see the volcano, Tungarahua, due to cloud. The place we stayed has steam baths, so we indulged there and missed the public ones in town.
After a 4hr walk in ther morning, on to ropey mountain bikes for a 16km cycle along a "route of waterfalls". Pickup truck back though!
Devil´s Nose Train
The 7.01am from Riobamba was certainly more diverting that the equivalent from Commuterville to Waterloo. Sitting on the roof, along what is supposed to be the most difficult train line in the world. 2 V-switchbacks, where you have to reverse out to continue going downhill, and some big sheer drops, luckily the side we were on. Due to the early start, and 3,000m altitude it was certainly very nippy for the first 2 hours. A bit like being on the first ski lift, before the sun has peaked out over the mountains, with a stiff breeze. But in this case it was for 2 hours, with no intermittent exercise to get the blood flowing. After about 4 hours we came to the most impressive part, although the views of the surrounding hills (or are they mountains?) was awesome throughout. Well worth doing.
Inca Ruins at Ingapirca
Earlier today, before the bus to Cuenca, we started out early on a 16km walk to Ecuador´s most important Inca site. It should have been 16km, but we had to walk from town and then took the wrong road, so it was about 20km in the end. All at about 3,000m and there was a lot of up and down! Worth the trip though. The main building is an elliptical shape, reflecting their knowledge of the earth´s orbit. There are some problems with the excavation, due to bureaucracy, but what they have uncovered is a good introduction for us to Inca sites.
As for the book review, the first of the long novels is now finished, Don Quixote. A tad repetative at times, though midly amusing throughout. A tale of a very mediocre bloke suffering from self-delusion on a scale never seen nowadays outside of London´s Square Mile.
Currently wondering why I didn´t think to pack a birthday card for Phillippa, oh well, we´ll see what Saturday 19 brings!
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Gooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaal Ecuador!!!
Location: Quito, Ecuador
In which we see our first South American football match, have a weekend break in a cloud forest, and I reveal the winner of Miss Universe.
Well, despite not having won against Colombia for 39 years (in a competitive fixture), Ecuador won 2-1. A fantastic spectacle, a riot of colour and sound, as you would expect from a South American match.
Ecuador and Colombia are both near the bottom of the SA group, for qualification for Germany 2006, so it was a critical game for both. Both also have near identical flags, near identical home and away strips, which means that all the fans look the same. The stadium was yellow, in the same way that it orange when The Netherlands play. We were advised to arrive early, so got to the ground about 2 hours before kick off. It was already difficult to get seats, so we wandered about a bit looking for space for 2, which we finally found. However, after a couple of minutes we realised that we were in a Colombian contingent, so off we went again.
The 2 hours before kick off were spent watching the crowd, the drummers, listening to the singing etc. A bit of vocab that they don´t teach you at the school cropped up too.
We chatted in broken Spanish with some of the people next to us and generally had a great time. First home goal inside 3 minutes, just in front of our end, and the crowd went mad.
Vamos Ecuatorianos
Esta tarde
Tenemos que ganar
Somehow football matches abroad always have more excitement that matches at home. Please, no emails me to say that this is more due to West Ham than anything else. I think (and hope) that Antoine enjoyed the match we went to in London, and can see why because it is something different it adds to the occasion. However, a South American World Cup qualifier is probably a better event that West Ham v Crewe on a dark Wednesday night.
After the match we found a bar to watch the Brasil v Argentina match, which is always one of those huge games. Ronaldo managed to persuade the ref on 3 occasions that he was genuinely fouled, and converted all 3 penalties, 3-1 Brazil.
We did have tickets for the match on Sat 6 June v Bolivia, which they won 3-2. But we sold them to the Danish girls who were in the same house as me, so we could go away for the weekend. After these 2 games Ecuador are now 5th in the SA Group table, so maybe there is a chance of them reaching Germany. It would be only their second WC finals, having gone to Korea-Japan.
Still on the subject of football, we are very much aware that next weekend (Sun 13 June) is the game v France, and will maybe try to find somewhere to watch it if we are still in Quito, which is a possibility.
So, for what did we give up the game v Bolivia? Mindo. About 2.5 hrs North West of Quito, a cloud forest, similar to a rain forest but with slightly less rain and more clouds!
We went walking up to some waterfalls, which were frankly a little disappointing. But the walk there was fantastic: hummingbirds, lots of butterflies, tropical flowers and very lush green scenery all around. A very peaceful couple of days, and a pleasant change from Quito, which I think, I´m ready to leave. One definite highlight of the mini-break to Mindo was a great (and cheap) steak. A nice change from the perpetual diet of chicken and rice, or thin but tough meat. A massive thick slab of steak for less then $4.
Miss Universe was won by Miss Australia, to much disapproval from everyone we spoke to who thought Miss Paraguay was really the top choice, out of the final 10. Anyway, I imagine that the arm of the Stobo clan that has relocated down-under must be extremely proud!
Now that the eyes of the world´s media are no longer on Ecuador, there is talk of unseatign the president. People aren´t happy and have been puting on a brave face for the benefit of showcasing their country. The indigenous population are starting to block roads and there are strikes planned for the coming week. Many people are predicting a change in the next couple of months. Unlike their neighbours it is unlikely to be a bloody coup, so it would be very interesting if it happened whilst we are here. However, since we are likely to get to Peru in about 2 weeks we´ll probably miss any civil unrest.
I think future postings may be less frequent, being here in Quito with the odd free hour after lessons has offered multiple opportunities for the odd hour in an internet café. This will not be the case in the future.
In which we see our first South American football match, have a weekend break in a cloud forest, and I reveal the winner of Miss Universe.
Well, despite not having won against Colombia for 39 years (in a competitive fixture), Ecuador won 2-1. A fantastic spectacle, a riot of colour and sound, as you would expect from a South American match.
Ecuador and Colombia are both near the bottom of the SA group, for qualification for Germany 2006, so it was a critical game for both. Both also have near identical flags, near identical home and away strips, which means that all the fans look the same. The stadium was yellow, in the same way that it orange when The Netherlands play. We were advised to arrive early, so got to the ground about 2 hours before kick off. It was already difficult to get seats, so we wandered about a bit looking for space for 2, which we finally found. However, after a couple of minutes we realised that we were in a Colombian contingent, so off we went again.
The 2 hours before kick off were spent watching the crowd, the drummers, listening to the singing etc. A bit of vocab that they don´t teach you at the school cropped up too.
We chatted in broken Spanish with some of the people next to us and generally had a great time. First home goal inside 3 minutes, just in front of our end, and the crowd went mad.
Vamos Ecuatorianos
Esta tarde
Tenemos que ganar
Somehow football matches abroad always have more excitement that matches at home. Please, no emails me to say that this is more due to West Ham than anything else. I think (and hope) that Antoine enjoyed the match we went to in London, and can see why because it is something different it adds to the occasion. However, a South American World Cup qualifier is probably a better event that West Ham v Crewe on a dark Wednesday night.
After the match we found a bar to watch the Brasil v Argentina match, which is always one of those huge games. Ronaldo managed to persuade the ref on 3 occasions that he was genuinely fouled, and converted all 3 penalties, 3-1 Brazil.
We did have tickets for the match on Sat 6 June v Bolivia, which they won 3-2. But we sold them to the Danish girls who were in the same house as me, so we could go away for the weekend. After these 2 games Ecuador are now 5th in the SA Group table, so maybe there is a chance of them reaching Germany. It would be only their second WC finals, having gone to Korea-Japan.
Still on the subject of football, we are very much aware that next weekend (Sun 13 June) is the game v France, and will maybe try to find somewhere to watch it if we are still in Quito, which is a possibility.
So, for what did we give up the game v Bolivia? Mindo. About 2.5 hrs North West of Quito, a cloud forest, similar to a rain forest but with slightly less rain and more clouds!
We went walking up to some waterfalls, which were frankly a little disappointing. But the walk there was fantastic: hummingbirds, lots of butterflies, tropical flowers and very lush green scenery all around. A very peaceful couple of days, and a pleasant change from Quito, which I think, I´m ready to leave. One definite highlight of the mini-break to Mindo was a great (and cheap) steak. A nice change from the perpetual diet of chicken and rice, or thin but tough meat. A massive thick slab of steak for less then $4.
Miss Universe was won by Miss Australia, to much disapproval from everyone we spoke to who thought Miss Paraguay was really the top choice, out of the final 10. Anyway, I imagine that the arm of the Stobo clan that has relocated down-under must be extremely proud!
Now that the eyes of the world´s media are no longer on Ecuador, there is talk of unseatign the president. People aren´t happy and have been puting on a brave face for the benefit of showcasing their country. The indigenous population are starting to block roads and there are strikes planned for the coming week. Many people are predicting a change in the next couple of months. Unlike their neighbours it is unlikely to be a bloody coup, so it would be very interesting if it happened whilst we are here. However, since we are likely to get to Peru in about 2 weeks we´ll probably miss any civil unrest.
I think future postings may be less frequent, being here in Quito with the odd free hour after lessons has offered multiple opportunities for the odd hour in an internet café. This will not be the case in the future.
Monday, May 31, 2004
Back to school
Location: Quito, Ecuador
In which I go back into the classroom for the first time in a few years, a few further thoughts on Galápagos, the current Ecuadorian obsession and a big disappointment. And, of course, being British, a comment on the weather.
It´s now been just over 1 week into the Spanish lessons, at La Lengua, which we would recommend as a place to learn. The few tapes that I listened to before leaving London have helped ease the transition slightly but clearly the learning curve is quite steep. It is, however, fun to be learning something again. The last vestiges of French are being rinsed from the memory. Though the odd word keeps appearing at inopportune moments, when the brain at least recognises that an English word just won´t do.
The teachers have been good, and in the afternoon (we're doing 6 hrs per day, 4 + 2) we've been on some trips, with the teachers, around Quito.
We´re both staying with families, though separately to encourage a bit more Spanish speaking in the evenings. There are, I think a few Americans with Phillippa´s family, and two young Danish girls with me, which is perhaps a better result!
The current obsession here is Miss Universe, hosted here in Ecuador, ending on Tues 1 June. This is not an Arnie-type body-building competition for women. Nor should it be confused with the misogynistic and rather tacky affair that is Miss World. No, this is altogether more wholesome entertainment. Where the contestants not only have lofty ambitions to work with deprived children and create a better world, but also wish to have jobs in the media and television. Ahh, so 21st century, out of the kitchen and into marketing & publicity.
The media is neglecting any existing governmental crisis, and even football is taking a back seat. People are taking it very seriously as an opportunity to showcase what Ecuador has to offer. Miss Ecuador also has a reasonable chance of winning too. Presumably the fact the Miss World is owned and controlled by a Brit is the reason why there is no home nation representative.
Galapagos...
On the last full day on Santa Cruz we walked from Puerto Ayora up to the highest point on the island, but unfortunately clouds obscured the view above about 600m. A huge proportion of the fauna on the island is endemic, though some of the ferns looked a bit like bracken and we could have easily been in Knole Park.
One other thing to mention from the Galápagos is the wonderful seafood we had: cerviches. Squid, prawns, lobster and fish marinaded in lime with onions and herbs. very similar to the "kinilau" [or something similar]I remember having with the Garrods in the Philippines many years ago. It's not recommended to have too much seafood here in Quito, but in Galapagos it was very good.
The food has been generally OK, aside from their love of deep fat frying. One speciality is pork deep fried in lard! We´ve also has cow leg soup, which is really cow hoof soup. Not much meat on that! They have a love affair with rice that is only surpassed by that of SE Asia. So far no rice for breakfast, but pretty much every other meal is rice based. Which is fine by me.
We seem to have brought some unseasonally cold weather with us. Last week here in Quito was cold (c. 10-12 C). And, as my ex-colleagues at SG know very well, such terribly nippy conditions can only mean scarves, big jumpers, hats, winter coats etc... Though people aren't so keen on wearing scarves indoors, however I have spotted some fake Burberry, so it's almost like being in SG's offices!
The big disappointment alluded to above is that the Hammers haven't managed to reclaim their rightful place in the Premiership. On the plus side, at least I only miss a season of Div. 1, it would have been gutting to miss a whole season if we were challenging for the title.
On the subject of football, we've got tickets to see both the imminent World Cup Qualifiers: Ecuador v Colombia on Wed 2 June, and v Bolivia on Sat 5 June. Both big games for Ecuador. At USD 10 per game, each, it's not bad value. And at least they have a stadium unlike England at present. And on Wednesday evening, after the Colombia game is the big one: Argentina v Brasil. That match is attracting almost as much attention, as the major clash in South America. So straight to a bar afterwards for that then. I may try to get a chant of "It's just like watching West Ham" going. Japan Korea 2002 was the first time that they qualified, and the Colombian manager is a hero here since. But this time their chances look slimmer. Match report to follow in future reports.
You should also now be able to see a few photos from Galápagos that I´ve uploaded. Hopefully the links in the post below also work. They are all low resolution since uploading takes ages. The general address is
http://photos.yahoo.com/andell_n
In which I go back into the classroom for the first time in a few years, a few further thoughts on Galápagos, the current Ecuadorian obsession and a big disappointment. And, of course, being British, a comment on the weather.
It´s now been just over 1 week into the Spanish lessons, at La Lengua, which we would recommend as a place to learn. The few tapes that I listened to before leaving London have helped ease the transition slightly but clearly the learning curve is quite steep. It is, however, fun to be learning something again. The last vestiges of French are being rinsed from the memory. Though the odd word keeps appearing at inopportune moments, when the brain at least recognises that an English word just won´t do.
The teachers have been good, and in the afternoon (we're doing 6 hrs per day, 4 + 2) we've been on some trips, with the teachers, around Quito.
We´re both staying with families, though separately to encourage a bit more Spanish speaking in the evenings. There are, I think a few Americans with Phillippa´s family, and two young Danish girls with me, which is perhaps a better result!
The current obsession here is Miss Universe, hosted here in Ecuador, ending on Tues 1 June. This is not an Arnie-type body-building competition for women. Nor should it be confused with the misogynistic and rather tacky affair that is Miss World. No, this is altogether more wholesome entertainment. Where the contestants not only have lofty ambitions to work with deprived children and create a better world, but also wish to have jobs in the media and television. Ahh, so 21st century, out of the kitchen and into marketing & publicity.
The media is neglecting any existing governmental crisis, and even football is taking a back seat. People are taking it very seriously as an opportunity to showcase what Ecuador has to offer. Miss Ecuador also has a reasonable chance of winning too. Presumably the fact the Miss World is owned and controlled by a Brit is the reason why there is no home nation representative.
Galapagos...
On the last full day on Santa Cruz we walked from Puerto Ayora up to the highest point on the island, but unfortunately clouds obscured the view above about 600m. A huge proportion of the fauna on the island is endemic, though some of the ferns looked a bit like bracken and we could have easily been in Knole Park.
One other thing to mention from the Galápagos is the wonderful seafood we had: cerviches. Squid, prawns, lobster and fish marinaded in lime with onions and herbs. very similar to the "kinilau" [or something similar]I remember having with the Garrods in the Philippines many years ago. It's not recommended to have too much seafood here in Quito, but in Galapagos it was very good.
The food has been generally OK, aside from their love of deep fat frying. One speciality is pork deep fried in lard! We´ve also has cow leg soup, which is really cow hoof soup. Not much meat on that! They have a love affair with rice that is only surpassed by that of SE Asia. So far no rice for breakfast, but pretty much every other meal is rice based. Which is fine by me.
We seem to have brought some unseasonally cold weather with us. Last week here in Quito was cold (c. 10-12 C). And, as my ex-colleagues at SG know very well, such terribly nippy conditions can only mean scarves, big jumpers, hats, winter coats etc... Though people aren't so keen on wearing scarves indoors, however I have spotted some fake Burberry, so it's almost like being in SG's offices!
The big disappointment alluded to above is that the Hammers haven't managed to reclaim their rightful place in the Premiership. On the plus side, at least I only miss a season of Div. 1, it would have been gutting to miss a whole season if we were challenging for the title.
On the subject of football, we've got tickets to see both the imminent World Cup Qualifiers: Ecuador v Colombia on Wed 2 June, and v Bolivia on Sat 5 June. Both big games for Ecuador. At USD 10 per game, each, it's not bad value. And at least they have a stadium unlike England at present. And on Wednesday evening, after the Colombia game is the big one: Argentina v Brasil. That match is attracting almost as much attention, as the major clash in South America. So straight to a bar afterwards for that then. I may try to get a chant of "It's just like watching West Ham" going. Japan Korea 2002 was the first time that they qualified, and the Colombian manager is a hero here since. But this time their chances look slimmer. Match report to follow in future reports.
You should also now be able to see a few photos from Galápagos that I´ve uploaded. Hopefully the links in the post below also work. They are all low resolution since uploading takes ages. The general address is
http://photos.yahoo.com/andell_n
Saturday, May 22, 2004
The Magic of Galapagos
Location: Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador
The first couple of weeks. Just over a week in Quito and about 12 days in the Galapagos Islands.
After an interesting non-smoking flight from Madrid, where the crew regularly sneaked down to the galley at the back for a cheeky fag, we landed in Quito on May 6. It was the rush hour and so, like anywhere, took a fair while to get across the city to the hotel.
Quito is more developed than perhaps I´d expected. Lots of quite expensive cars, no real problems with the infrastructure, i.e. roads are well maintained etc. The city sits in a valley, but is itself still at 2,800m. This means that bounding up stairs is harder than it should be (even allowing for the fact that the days of marathon-level fitness are well behind me now).
Quito is home to some of the oldest churches in South America, many of which are built on pre-Inca (and pre-Colombian) sites. When the Spanish came the local labourers managed to insert some traditional touches into the Catholic churches, unseen by the conquerors at the time. So you can see images of the sun in some doorways and the statue overlooking Quito, of Mary, is a more energetic pose than you would normally expect, because it is based on a traditional indian dance movement.
We´ve also been ot the Mitad del Mundo, the equator. It is the only place on the globe where the equator is in a mountainous region, leading to early the indians´ solar astronomy. The monument where everyone has their photo taken, astride the hemispheres, is actually in the wrong place. It´s about 200m out. The monument replaced an original one htat was built in 1936 to commemerate the 1736 French expedition that concluded that this was where the equator was. Not a bad effort for the early eighteenth century. (Some charming yanks whooped and hollered when they were told that the Frogs had got it wrong, so I suppose that French fries are still Freedom fries. Still Paris can do without hundreds of such visitors this summer.)
After a weekend when very little could be achieved, we finally booked our Galapagos trip, and arrived in the islands on Wed 12 May.
The flight down from Quito to Guyaquil (all Galapagos flights from Quito are via here) gave us some great views of Cotopaxi. It is an almost perfectly symmetrical volcanic cone, just under 6,000m high. We may go walking there during the journey south from Quito to Peru.
It´s not cheap, but is well worth every penny. Booking from Quito enabled us to get on a much better class of boat on a last minute deal, but even so it´s a lot of cash to hand over to a company whose reputation is unsure, (though of course we had recommendations). We booked with Safari and ended up on a boat called Coral II.
It really is as stunning as you would imagine it to be. At times it is quite surreal, as you try to avoid tripping over blue-footed boobies that have nested on the path, or marine iguanas sunning themselves, to get warm enough to go fishing. It is like being in your own David Attenborough documentary. All the clichés are true, and all the superlatives that spring to mind still cannot do it justice.
The 7-day itinerary took us to a number of islands, each of which is quite distinct. There are many species that are endemic to just one island, and the evolutionary processes can be quite clearly seen. The cactus has many spines on the trunk: land iguanas are present. Another island nearby has no land iguanas and the cactus has very soft, hair-like spines. The creationists should come and spend some time here, it may illuminate their minds a little.
It would take far too long to detail all the wonders that we have seen but below is a summary.
- Swimming with sea lions, where they come right up to you and look you in the eye
- Sea lions suckling young on a blood red, ferrous volcanic beach
- Many sea turtles, some quite large (1.5m)
- Thousands of bright orange crabs
- Flightless cormorants nesting (only about 400 pairs in the world, all on one island here)
- White tip sharks
- Blue footed boobies with eggs or very recently hatched chicks
- Frigate birds, with splendid inflated red neck pouches
- Pelicans nesting, and diving for fish
- Albatross pairs courting, and other females on eggs
- Watching penguins "fly" underwater, fishing by swimming around using their wings (and not their feet as most birds do), again about 400 pairs here.
- Giant tortoises in the wild, with some males up to about 1.6m (5´)
- Huge schools of golden rays
- Flamingos
- Land iguanas and marine iguanas, which are endemic
...the list goes on.
The guidebooks say be prepared to take a lot of photos, and the beauty of digital is that you can. So every evening editing was required to delete those that didn´t quite make the grade. However I´ve still managed to take a couple of hundred in the last week. So you can all look forward to sitting through all of them once we get back home! I may try to put some of them up on a website somewhere, maybe even with links to this blog.
All the animals are phenomenally "tame", although tame is the wrong word since fear is a behavioural response and not a genetically determined characteristic, and suggests a degree of domestication. Many seem almost curious, but it´s important not to attribute human characteristics to the wildlife, although it is difficult not to do so.
After getting off the boat we´ve had a few days in Puerto Ayora, on the south side of Santa Cruz. On Fri 21 May we went diving at Gordon Rocks and then North Seymour. We didn´t see any more than we had previoulsy done whilst snorkelling (which we did most days on the boat). The divemaster saw a hammerhead on the first dive but I missed it. So it was a bit of an anti-climax, and we got out of the water feeling a bit disappointed. But 5 mins after getting out we spotted 4 killer whales, just off the boat. At one point a large one (about 4-5m) was only about 6-7m from the boat. Truely amazing and it more than made up for the lack of hammerheads. Orca are quite rare near the coast here, so we were very lucky and very priviledged. A special moment, to add to all the others listed above.
Back to Quito on Mon 24.
The first couple of weeks. Just over a week in Quito and about 12 days in the Galapagos Islands.
After an interesting non-smoking flight from Madrid, where the crew regularly sneaked down to the galley at the back for a cheeky fag, we landed in Quito on May 6. It was the rush hour and so, like anywhere, took a fair while to get across the city to the hotel.
Quito is more developed than perhaps I´d expected. Lots of quite expensive cars, no real problems with the infrastructure, i.e. roads are well maintained etc. The city sits in a valley, but is itself still at 2,800m. This means that bounding up stairs is harder than it should be (even allowing for the fact that the days of marathon-level fitness are well behind me now).
Quito is home to some of the oldest churches in South America, many of which are built on pre-Inca (and pre-Colombian) sites. When the Spanish came the local labourers managed to insert some traditional touches into the Catholic churches, unseen by the conquerors at the time. So you can see images of the sun in some doorways and the statue overlooking Quito, of Mary, is a more energetic pose than you would normally expect, because it is based on a traditional indian dance movement.
We´ve also been ot the Mitad del Mundo, the equator. It is the only place on the globe where the equator is in a mountainous region, leading to early the indians´ solar astronomy. The monument where everyone has their photo taken, astride the hemispheres, is actually in the wrong place. It´s about 200m out. The monument replaced an original one htat was built in 1936 to commemerate the 1736 French expedition that concluded that this was where the equator was. Not a bad effort for the early eighteenth century. (Some charming yanks whooped and hollered when they were told that the Frogs had got it wrong, so I suppose that French fries are still Freedom fries. Still Paris can do without hundreds of such visitors this summer.)
After a weekend when very little could be achieved, we finally booked our Galapagos trip, and arrived in the islands on Wed 12 May.
The flight down from Quito to Guyaquil (all Galapagos flights from Quito are via here) gave us some great views of Cotopaxi. It is an almost perfectly symmetrical volcanic cone, just under 6,000m high. We may go walking there during the journey south from Quito to Peru.
It´s not cheap, but is well worth every penny. Booking from Quito enabled us to get on a much better class of boat on a last minute deal, but even so it´s a lot of cash to hand over to a company whose reputation is unsure, (though of course we had recommendations). We booked with Safari and ended up on a boat called Coral II.
It really is as stunning as you would imagine it to be. At times it is quite surreal, as you try to avoid tripping over blue-footed boobies that have nested on the path, or marine iguanas sunning themselves, to get warm enough to go fishing. It is like being in your own David Attenborough documentary. All the clichés are true, and all the superlatives that spring to mind still cannot do it justice.
The 7-day itinerary took us to a number of islands, each of which is quite distinct. There are many species that are endemic to just one island, and the evolutionary processes can be quite clearly seen. The cactus has many spines on the trunk: land iguanas are present. Another island nearby has no land iguanas and the cactus has very soft, hair-like spines. The creationists should come and spend some time here, it may illuminate their minds a little.
It would take far too long to detail all the wonders that we have seen but below is a summary.
- Swimming with sea lions, where they come right up to you and look you in the eye
- Sea lions suckling young on a blood red, ferrous volcanic beach
- Many sea turtles, some quite large (1.5m)
- Thousands of bright orange crabs
- Flightless cormorants nesting (only about 400 pairs in the world, all on one island here)
- White tip sharks
- Blue footed boobies with eggs or very recently hatched chicks
- Frigate birds, with splendid inflated red neck pouches
- Pelicans nesting, and diving for fish
- Albatross pairs courting, and other females on eggs
- Watching penguins "fly" underwater, fishing by swimming around using their wings (and not their feet as most birds do), again about 400 pairs here.
- Giant tortoises in the wild, with some males up to about 1.6m (5´)
- Huge schools of golden rays
- Flamingos
- Land iguanas and marine iguanas, which are endemic
...the list goes on.
The guidebooks say be prepared to take a lot of photos, and the beauty of digital is that you can. So every evening editing was required to delete those that didn´t quite make the grade. However I´ve still managed to take a couple of hundred in the last week. So you can all look forward to sitting through all of them once we get back home! I may try to put some of them up on a website somewhere, maybe even with links to this blog.
All the animals are phenomenally "tame", although tame is the wrong word since fear is a behavioural response and not a genetically determined characteristic, and suggests a degree of domestication. Many seem almost curious, but it´s important not to attribute human characteristics to the wildlife, although it is difficult not to do so.
After getting off the boat we´ve had a few days in Puerto Ayora, on the south side of Santa Cruz. On Fri 21 May we went diving at Gordon Rocks and then North Seymour. We didn´t see any more than we had previoulsy done whilst snorkelling (which we did most days on the boat). The divemaster saw a hammerhead on the first dive but I missed it. So it was a bit of an anti-climax, and we got out of the water feeling a bit disappointed. But 5 mins after getting out we spotted 4 killer whales, just off the boat. At one point a large one (about 4-5m) was only about 6-7m from the boat. Truely amazing and it more than made up for the lack of hammerheads. Orca are quite rare near the coast here, so we were very lucky and very priviledged. A special moment, to add to all the others listed above.
Back to Quito on Mon 24.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Welcome
Location: London, UK
Welcome to this blog, which will contain details of, and thoughts on, the forthcoming year. It promises to be interesting and extremely memorable.
Those of you sitting at a desk, reading this at work, can enjoy, vicariously, a life far removed from the London rat race that we have just left behind.
There is a permanent link on this page to Phillippa's diary, no doubt the events and experiences may be interpreted and documented in a different way, so I recommend to you all that you read her thoughts too. For those of you who know Ian McLelland, there is also a link to his blog on this page, (covering his travels from April 03 onwards).
I will try to send an email to alert people when this is updated, but I wouldn't rely on this alone. Please feel free to email me, news from home will be very welcome.
First stop Quito, Ecuador on Thurs 6 May 2004.
Welcome to this blog, which will contain details of, and thoughts on, the forthcoming year. It promises to be interesting and extremely memorable.
Those of you sitting at a desk, reading this at work, can enjoy, vicariously, a life far removed from the London rat race that we have just left behind.
There is a permanent link on this page to Phillippa's diary, no doubt the events and experiences may be interpreted and documented in a different way, so I recommend to you all that you read her thoughts too. For those of you who know Ian McLelland, there is also a link to his blog on this page, (covering his travels from April 03 onwards).
I will try to send an email to alert people when this is updated, but I wouldn't rely on this alone. Please feel free to email me, news from home will be very welcome.
First stop Quito, Ecuador on Thurs 6 May 2004.
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