Galapagos

Well, Quito has surprised us with its lovliness. We made it from the airport to our hotel without being robbed, mugged, or otherwise ripped off, and found we had a beautiful view out over the city to a snow-capped volcano in the distance.
Our Galapagos adventure started with an early flight from here to Puerto Ayora, a town of about 12,000 people. I was surprised to find out so many people live in this supposed wildlife wilderness! Our wildlife spotting began straight away as we saw lizards and big red crabs in the town before we'd even boarded our boat. We settled into our cabin then went on our first outing: back on land to the Charles Darwin reseach Centre, which is where they are raising baby tortoises for release back onto the islands once they're big enough to fend for themselves. We saw lots of these cute babies, then moved on to the fully grown giant land tortoises; these guys are truly huge, weighing in at 250kg!!
Back to the boat, which sailed overnight (our cabin next to the engine room meant we didn't get much sleep!) and next morning were taken by IRB to North Seymour, which had our jaws on the ground in amazement at the amount of birds and reptiles we could see: completely unfazed by our presence, sealions literally had to move out of our way as we disembarked, land iguanas wandered across the trail, enormous Frigate birds continued their mating ritual of inflating their red throat sacs, and of course we saw the famous Blue-footed Boobies, tee hee.
The afternoon was set aside for snorkelling. As soon as we hit the water, right below us was a group of about 20 eagle rays, gracefully swimming past. There were hundreds of beautiful tropical fish (water temperature was a balmy 21 degrees) and we got out of the water buzzing at this amazing experience.
Our second time into the water that afternoon was even better: a big male sealion swam right between me and Aaron, rolling on his side to check us out on the way past. We spotted a sea turtle, and followed it as it came to the surface for air. There were marine iguanas on the rocks just under the surface munching on algae. Then we saw 2 white-tipeed sharks just a few metres away! They were about 1.5 metres long, just cruising along underneath us. We were both so excited at this incredible experience, all within an hour, and didn't think it could get better until the crew served us up the best-ever Ecuadorean hot chocolate when we hopped back on board. :-)
Next morning, we started out on Bartolome Island and climbed to the summit of its volcano, looking down to the bays where some of Master & Commander was shot. Another snorkel that morning, and we found a turtle feeding, again we were able to watch for ages as it was totally disinterested in our presence. We had a bit of a beach siesta, then in the afternoon we took the IRBs to Black Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz Island, where baby sharks come for protection in the mangrove forest. Here we saw a beautiful Blue Heron, and had to manoever the boat past, because it was standing its ground! More turtles, a few fleeting sharks, another eagle ray, and pelicans divebombing around us while hunting fish. The sun was setting as we got back to the boat, and lots of Frigate birds decided to fly alongside and catch a ride. Magic.
South Plaza was first stop on day 3, a unique landscape for such a small island. On this island, the 2 seperate species of iguana (land and marine) sometimes get confused and mate. Even more rarely, this results in a baby hybrid iguana. There are only 3 of these hybrids in existence in the universe, and our guide was extremely excited when we saw one of them - 33% of the population! You can imagine his reaction when a second emerged from behind a rock! 66%!
That afternoon we sailed to Santa Fe Island and snorkelled with baby sealions, and found a local hangout for turtles: there were 7 of them milling around this one spot, and you had to be careful you didn't bump into one! This was our last full day in the islands, but we could have stayed another week, month, year - every time we put our heads under water, something amazing was waiting for us. Next morning we came back to reality in San Cristobal, the capital of the Galapagos, looked in a few naff tourist shops, and thanked our lucky stars for the brilliant journey we'd been on. People told me this would be the trip of a lifetime, and now I know why.

Jungle Boogie

We didn´t quite know what to expect from the jungle part of our trip: it was only two days, and sandwiched between the Inca Trail and Galapagos Islands, we hadn´´t really thought too much about it.
We flew to Puerto Maldonado, in inland Peru - kind of a frontier town that reminded us of Nadi in Fiji or Port Moresby..... everything looked to be made out of cardboard and corrugated iron, and it was hot, about 30 I´d guess, with 90% humidity. From there we got into a motorised canoe and travelled up the Tambopata river for 3 hours to get to our lodge, dropping off some locals at seemingly random points along the way. Our rooms were brilliant: high-roofed thatched bungalows split into 2 rooms but with the insidewalls only halfway to the ceiling, meaning you could hear EVERYTHING your neighbour was doing. There was no electricity, just candles and kerosene lamps, mosquito nets over the beds, and pictures of scary jungle wildlife on the walls. We loved it. Our first outing began with a boat ride, and we were lucky enough to see some Capybara on the riverbank.These are the world´s biggest rodents, so imagine coming face-to-face with a metre-long guinea pig and you get the picture!
We then walked through the rainforest to a small lake where we went fishing for piranhas - our guide caught one and let us all get close-up photos of its teeth before returning it to the water to terrorise another day. Back to the lodge, and when it got dark we went on a night walk and spotted, among other things, a tarantula in her burrow and a boa constrictor coiled around a branch. All this within 1km of the lodge!
The next day we went on another forest walk and learned about some of the incredible plants in the rainforest; one that can ´walk´, one that strangles its host over 100 years or more, one that has a special relationship with the Fire Ant, and heaps of amazing medicinal plants and trees. We visited a riverside farm and tasted some weird and wonderful tropical fruits, thenit was time for another night trip, this time by boat to try and spot caymans, or alligators. Well, we saw heaps, got really close to a few, and saw some more capybara feeding by moonlight.
There were macaws and monkeys in the trees around us, and Aaron and I came across a parrot just outside our room. We were able to get really close to it and were taking photos and warning everyone to be quiet so as not to disturb it, when one of group strode up and said loudly,´´oh yeah, that´s Veronica´´. Apparently she has a broken wing and has been in that tree for weeks, unable to fly away. The lodge staff look after her and she has picked up a bit of Spanish, as well as mimicking the laughter coming from the bar bungalow nearby.
The noise around the lodge was constant and incredible: so many birds and animals calling at the top of their voices, yet we slept better than we have on any other part of the trip. We didn´t want to leave this amazing part of Peru, but alas, it was time to return to big, bad Lima, from where we fly to smaller, badder Quito in Ecuador today. The only good thing about this is that it´s our starting point for the Galapagos trip. Bring it on!

Conquistadores of the Mighty Andes

First of all, Happy Birthday Mum! Sorry we couldn´t get in touch on the day, but as you will see, we were far from any means of communication..... We got a bus to the starting point of the Inca Trail - the so-called Km 82 - and got our first look at our amazing porters; not only do they carry duffel bags of our clothes etc, they bring tents, seats, cooking gear, food, gas bottles, therma rests, sleeping bags, etc. Our group had 16 people and we had 22 porters to carry all that stuff. We had our day packs, and set off along the trail, which was gently downhill to start with. We were all feeling pretty happy with our progress when we recognised our porters passing us on the trail, running ahead to get to the campsite before us and set up our tents. The first day we were on the trail for about 5 hours, making lots of rest stops and thinking this was pretty cruisy. At camp, the crew had pitched our tents and set up a dining tent where we ate our 3-course dinner of soup, rice, potatoes, battered trout, and warm apple pudding. These guys were amazing, rushing over to shine a torch on your tent if they saw you having trouble unzipping it, filling your water bottle with boiled water, offering cups of coca tea when they came around to wake you up in the morning - which brings us to day 2. A leisurely start at about 7am to be on the trail at 8-ish. We had heard day 2 was the hardest, and boy, was it! Almost straight away the track went steeply uphill, and stayed that way the whole day. There were lots of big, uneven Inca stone steps to climb and it was tough going for me, and Aaron found it a real challenge. The altitude means you get out of breath really quickly and your heart pumps faster to get the smaller amount of oxygen around your body. A couple of times I looked back and thought he was going to die, as he leaned on his tripod for support! It took about 4.5 hours to reach the highest point of the trek, Dead Woman´s Pass (named for the shape of the mountain only!) at 4,215m above sea level. We stopped for a brief celebration, then continued downhill for another 1.5 hours of steep steps; (so it took 4.5 hours to ascend 1000m, and 1.5 to descend 700m.) It was the least scenic day, and the most challenging. The campsite looked pretty good that afternoon as we walked in on jelly legs! We had a fantastic local guide, Percy, (English names were popular here until a few years ago, now apparently everyone´s naming their kids after Brazilian soccer stars) who recommended we get an early start on day 3 so we could get ahead of the other groups on the trail. So we got our cup of coca tea at 4:45 and were on the move by 6. It was a beautiful trek; we went up through another mountain pass and down through green ´cloud forest´ stopping at some ruins along the way. Percy is a native Qechua, a descendant of the Incas, and he really knew his stuff about the mountains and sites we visited. We got the impression he was one of the best guides on the trail, certainly one of the most experienced, with 12 years on the job. We arrived at our 3rd camp, Wiñay Wayna, after about 7 hours walking, and at this site there was a lodge with showers and, joy of joys, COLD BEER! A brew has never tasted so good, although we were so tired it practically put us to sleep. We visited some ruins nearby the camp, and when thunder and lightning started to boom and flash around the massive mountains and valleys, most people rushed back to camp. We stayed behind (ever-cautious Aaron had insisted we bring our wet weather gear, YAY!) and were rewarded with the most amazing experience of being alone in the ruins, surrounded by huge claps of thunder and a sky full of purple storm clouds. Brilliant, the highlight so far. This was our last camp before Machu Picchu, so the campsite was full, and everyone wanted to get to the final checkpoint (an hours walk away) first. Percy reccomended we get up at 3.30am to be the first in the queue for the gates opening at 5.30. This is important because whoever gets through the checkpoint first, gets to the Sun Gate first. This is the site that overlooks the city of Machu Picchu, and is your first glimpse of it. Well, Percy was right on the money, and we were first in the queue so were rewarded with a beautiful view and lots of great photos. It was a cloudless morning, so we were able to watch the sun come up over the mountains and light up the city, then started our tour with Percy, who gave us a really good explanation of the Inca Empire, why they built this amazing city, and why it was ´lost´ for so long. It was the hottest day so far, and by about 12 o´clock the place was crawling with people - mostly CHEATS who got the train or bus up that morning. We took a million photos, and after a snack in the shade, left this incredible place and went to the nearest town to soothe our aching muscles in the hot springs at Aguas Calientes. Sooooooo Goooooooooooood. We met up with our group, who are all lovely people, mostly around our age and good value - more beer and guinea pig were consumed before the train and bus ride back here to Cuzco where we fell into bed and had our first really good nights´ sleep in a week. It has been an amzing few days, a real achievement and so rewarding. Now we´re looking forward to our next adventure, which is into the Amazon rainforest.

LiquidHotMagma

From the Coast to the Andes

Hola from Ollantaytambo! The last couple of days have started to feel like a holiday - we've done and seen a lot of different things since leaving Lima. We flew from there to Cuzco for our first inkling of how we might cope with altitude - Cuzco is 3,350m above sea level and if you're going to get altitude sickness, you'll probably find out here! We seemed to cope alright, apart from huffing and puffing up the 4 flights of stairs to our room, but since the highest point of the Inca Trail is 4,200m (higher than Mt Cook), the bigger challenge is yet to come.
Cuzco is the original centre of the Inca Empire and still has lots of 5-600 year old foundation stones, often topped by grand colonial Spanish churches or buildings. It's a really pretty and vibrant city, everyone is friendly, even when you refuse whatever it is they're trying to sell you! (There are heaps of tourists and everything that springs up around that industry). We found a little restaurant on the main square with a view of the cathedral and surrounding buildings, and Aaron's one wish for this trip came true: he got to eat the famous local delicacy of Guinea Pig. He described the taste as being quite beefy, but the method of eating it was like chicken, as it was served as a hindquarter complete with bones. Not delicious enough to try again. Today we moved on to the Sacred Valley, stopping in a tiny village to see some of the locals spinning alpaca wool. One of the drawbacks of being on a tour is the unadvertised stops to buy things, but this was actually really cool, so many unbelievably cute children wanting photos taken and llamas and alpacas wandering through the village.
We saw the ruins at Pisac and Ollantaytambo, which is an unfinished Inca temple; we imagined what the Inca workers might have been thinking when the Conquistadors arrived - the enormous stones they were dragging to the site were left where they lay, and where we saw them today.
Tomorrow morning is what we've really been excited about: we begin the Inca Trail! We got a taste of what it might be like today hiking around the ruins, but from tomorrow we'll have packs on our backs, we'll be walking for 8 hours a day, and we'll be at altitude. Lucky we bought a huge bag of coca leaves for the journey!
Wish us luck!

Buenas tardes

It´s been a long road getting here, but we are here in Lima, Peru!
After an early flight to Auckland, where we had a day to kill (3D Superman Returns at Imax, woohoo!), we boarded our 11 hour flight to Santiago, Chile. As usual, on these long flights, it was almost impossible to sleep, so we were pretty knackered on arrival. The flight was a good opportunity for me to do some last-minute studying of our Spanish phrasebook, which came in handy when we wanted to organise a driver to take us around Santiago. The airport officials were all very friendly and helpful, trying to find us an English-speaking driver, and the one they found showed early promise, but we ended up relying on hand signals and pointing quite a lot. Santiago is a HUGE city of 6 million people - the word sprawl could have been invented for it - it stretches from the Pacific almost all the way to the Andes, which tower over everything and remind you that you´re just a few miles away from some of the tallest mountains in the world. After we´d been to Santa Lucia park, (on a hill where the first Spanish conquistadors planned their new city, and defended it), and to the Plaza des Armas (the main square with some huge and beautiful colonial buildings), our driver clearly ran out of things to show us. We stopped on the side of the motorway overlooking the industrial/residental suburb of San Cristobal, we had to wade through the piles of rubbish lining the road. He then showed us the cemetery where his wife and son were buried, before cheerfully dropping us off back at the airport. Lovely man.
It was an interminable wait for our next flight, I´m already sick of the sight of airport lounges, and added to that therewas a mix-up with our gate number so we trekked from one to another before being told to back to the original one - all good though, because walking around was all that was keeping us awake at that point, having been up for 30 hours or so. The flight to Peru was a mere 3.5 hours, and joy of joys, there was someone there to meet us and take us to our hotel. (We´re doing a GAP/Intrepid tour which begins tomorrow.) Aaron was in rapture when he saw our room; we were expecting very simple accommodation, which I´m sure is to come, but this place has all the comforts of home: even a hairdryer! (OK, I admit Aaron wasn´t as excited about that as I was.)
We slept like the proverbial logs, and got up late this morning and headed into town to join the locals watching Germany play Portugal in a pub just of Lima´s main Square Plaza San Martin. (Well, no, they weren´t PLAYING in the pub, that´s where we went to watch.) We were treated to a Pisco Sour (Peru´s national drink) by the friendly bar staff and had fun joining in when the commentator shouted ¨Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!¨
So now it´s a bit of relaxing time before we meet the other people on our trip - I wonder what sort of people they´ll be?
We leave Lima for Cusco in the morning, and will try to update again from there.
Yay All Blacks!