Lima, Peru

Second South American city...done! Hardest thing: Deciding whether to splash out and buy 18 instead of 17 tops at S/.5 a pop!

Hopped on a bus (which we only JUST made due to an interesting breakfast) and hurtled our way towards Lima. Was a beautiful journey...though i actually slept for most of it...but we travelled along the Pan American through the sprawling mass of desert which is Peru! (actually saw a guy watering a row of bushes..in the middle of the desert!!) Lots of dunes, lots more dunes and a fair amount of sand! And then a matter of 500m away is the ocean....
The bus pulled into the sprawling metropolis of Lima in the evening...and I woke up in time to see lots and lots and lots of people (officially there are 10 million people...but reckon there are more) Almost as many people as there was desert! Was definitely a bit of a shock to the system seeing as I had been working my way through small towns....but I liked it!!
A particularly funny sight had got to be the numerous glass fronted buildings knocking about...and as it was pitch black when we rolled into town...we were able to check out a variety of people working away in office blocks, a very energetic aerobics sess, and better than all of that a three storey, dentists´ surgery where a couple of unfortunate sods were being worked on in the dentist chairs!!
So once at the terminal terrestre (bus station) we grabbed a cab and I discovered that Rebekah was absolutely brutal when it came to haggling with prices...i thought i was a tyrant?! Settled ourselves into the backpackers haven which is The Point in an arty suburb of Lima called Barranco.... We kept ourselves to ourselves for the first few nights and we being thoroughly anti social, until we realised that as The Point has its own bar, which is open until 1am...and from there everyone heads out to one of the many heaving, sweaty, Reggaeton blaring nightclubs just around the corner, trying to cop a semi early night was definitely a lost cause, due to the level of noise in the dorms, therefore decided to embrace the situation and one mad night all hell broke loose and the three of us wreaked yet more havoc for the next three days. Kept ourselves to ourselves.....for first few days...then...all hell breaks loose as the three of us wreak yet more havoc!!
There was a fair amount of drinking....the national drink: Pisco Sours is def the way to go (despite it having raw egg white in it)...
Lots of dancing.....
Umm...a bit more of the ole drinking....
A severe lack of sleeping....I think I managed about 7 hours in three nights...
Plenty of eating...(mainly consisted of a diet of instant noodles...mmm)
And on and on and on it went.....
We did manage a few productive days in the city though, in between all the madness. Rebekah introduced us to the greatest shop of all time...you walk in and it has about 20 gigantic piles (piles taller than me...which isn’t doesn’t sound high but it sure as hell makes it difficult to pick stuff off the top...tricky!!) of tops and tops and tops...lots of fun colours, shapes and sizes...all for s/.5 a pop....thats way less than a quid!! So we managed to restrain ourselves and Beks and I bought 18 each, whilst Eeva trailed a bit with 12!!
Umm..we also managed to drink some coffee, eat some food, drink some more coffee....good times, good times!!
Sadly however, the time came for us to wave our little white hankies as we saw off Rebekah (she really needed to head back to Quito) and so for the first time in a fair while, I found some peace and quiet...usually the sound of our cackling is definitely polluting the tranquillity of the place!! Never fear, will be spending a couple of months travelling around Colombia with her...so there will be alot more madness to come!! Did I mention that I think she is my Transatlantic twin..we are freakishly similar...which is definitely alot for people to take....
Off to Huaraz we go...yes that would be 9 hours north of Lima...despite having worked our way down the coast....we managed to miss Huascaran, the highest mountain in Peru and the Cordilleras Blancas mountain range!

Trujillo and Huanchaco, Peru

Hardest thing: Convincing Rebekah to come to Lima (a city that she has already travelled around extensively!) with Eeva and I, Actually...that was prob the easiest thing!!

So the original plan was that Eeva and I travel South to Trujillo, check out a few ruins near the city, get a bus to Huaraz to do some trekking in the mountains and then after all that was said and done, grab a bus to Lima. While we were doing that, Rebekah (who travelled extensively around Peru two years ago) was meant to grab a bus in the opposite direction to Tumbes, then another to Guayaquil and finally end up in Quito (after a glorious 38 hour journey no less!!)

However, there was a slight change to our foolproof plan...as we stood on the side of the road waiting to hail down a bus for Rebekah, we were informed by the bus company that the bus was indeed full...this meant that Rebekah would have to spend a night in Guayaquil (not the prettiest of places) as she would miss her Quito connection. So....why spend a night in Guayaquil, when you can spend an extra night in Mancora...and more to the point, why travel North when you can travel South!!

So...after (not much) persuading a new plan had been formulated....
Eeva would head to Trujillo (7 hours South) that evening, Rebekah and I would spend an extra night in Mancora and join her two days later. From there, the three of us would grab a bus straight to Lima and make the most of our own personal city guide...perfect!

Trujillo and Huanchaco:
Arrived bright and early in the morning after a fairly uncomfortable bus ride. Grabbed a taxi to Huanchaco, (another beach town with great surf, though it was a bit on the chilly side!) head straight to the hostal where Eeva was staying...had a joyful reunion and hit the town for some brekkie. The rest of the day was spent milling around and eating and wandering around aimlessly and eating...and eating...and....yeah, you see where this is going...!

Trujillo in home to the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan which covers an area of approximately 20 sq. km, Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor (the kingdom of the Chimú), a late intermediate period civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. The vast mud city of Chan Chan was built between c.850 and c.1470 and was the imperial capital until Chimor was conquered by the Inca in the 15th century. It is estimated that 30,000 people lived in the city of Chan Chan.

Chan Chan was added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. The city is severely threatened by erosion from El Niño, which causes heavy rains and flooding on the Peruvian coast. Present-day visitors to Chan Chan can enter the Tschudi Complex, believed to be one of the later citadels built in the city. There are also several other Chimú and Moche ruins in the area around Trujillo.

So...while Eeva was doing the cultural thing and visiting Chan Chan and some other ruins nearby, Rebekah (who had already seen the ruins) and I were making nuisances of ourselves (seems to be the long running theme here!) We managed to do one productive thing with our day and buy our bus tickets to Lima for the following morning.

And here endeth a truly wonderful 24 hours in Trujillo/Huanchaco! (Bet yáll are glad you bothered to read this posting!)

PS For a more interesting read, you could always look up the history of the ruins of Chan Chan (the extract above is courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page!!) and the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna which I didnt visit!

Mancora, Peru

Second real beach time...done! Hardest thing: Having to decide between shrimp pasta and a teriyaki tuna salad!

So...
Left Ecuador on the 9th March (wow...I cant believe that time has flown so quickly!!!) by way of a fair few horrendous, long bus journeys. Crossed the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border by land, which was fairly easy, though when you have to jump out on either side to get your passport stamped, you are savagely attacked by swarms of mosquitos!!

Travelled about 5 hours South from the border to a beach town called Mancora. Was fantastic to set up camp and chill, chill and chill just a little bit more by the sea!!

Stayed in a fantastic hostal called El Pirata, where we were the only ones and the owner was a narcotics dealer who was fairly well armed...interesting!! But we made ourselves at home, were able to have full use of the kitchen...not that we actually used it to cook in, but rather to play music, drink and dance around!!

Mancora is said to be one of Peru´s best surfing spots, (never actually got round to putting that theory to the test for myself) but was fairly quiet at the best of times, (I think we went out of season) however, with the arrival of me and 3 other equally loud and hyperactive girls, we managed to liven up the place significantly...

Had to make a few fairly tricky decisions throughout the week: whether to lie in the hammocks or venture to the beach for a swim. Whether to eat immediately or wait for an hour. Whether to put on factor 25 sunscreen or factor 35.....need i say more!! So it was certainly a testing time!

Had a brilliant time though, got to know a few of the local surfers and body boarders...though didnt take advantage of their offer of free surf lessons! Had some fantastically, fresh and tasty seafood...actually lots of fantastically fresh and tasty seafood. Hung out at a couple of bars, but one in particular where I was able to smoke shisha until my heart (and lungs) were content!!

Highlights:
Having a wonderful dinner, then heading to Iguanas for a couple of drinks (of the banana smoothie variety) and shisha...started to feel fairly woozy and lightheaded...decided I needed some air, so got up and walked out into the street, got up a bit too quickly and before I knew it had blacked out for a few short moments. Had def been a combination of too much sun and not enough water...had people rush to my side, got bundled into a little tuk tuk taxi and within 5 mins felt right as rain again...the drama!!

Hitting the town on Saturday night and tearing up the dancefloor and generally wreaking havoc...Rebekah (my partner in crime) and I, were the last ones still standing by 5.30am...!! The next day as we walked through the town, we got heckled left, right and centre about when we were leaving town etc...did we overstay our welcome?!

Just generally making the most of the great weather, amazing beach and super comfy hammocks!!

Think i shall leave off there.....xxx

ECUADOR DOWN...PERU, BOLIVIA, ETC TO GO!

Baños, Ecuador

Hardest thing: Attempting to do some kind of 3 day triathalon...

Folks!!!!

So I (finally) left Quito after a weeekend of party, party, party-ing!! Found a fantastic club which played hiphop on Saturday night, so was in HEAVEN!!! The novelty of listening to this Reggaeton malarkey really starts to wear thin after a (short) while!!!

Anyway, jumped on a bus to Baños on Sunday morning, which took a couple of hours and was an experience in itself...on the bus, I had the cutest little indigenous woman come and practically sit on my lap and then her son sit on hers...not sure why she opted to share my one seat with me as opposed to picking any of the other 30 free seats, but no bother!!

Cycling from Baños to Puyo
Cecily (someone I met while climbing Volcan Corazon) and I decided to rent some bikes on Monday and cycle the 62kms from Baños to Puyo! I was told that we should carry out a thorough inspection of the bikes as they can often be in fairly poor condition. So I did the old brake check, had the tyres pumped up and away we went!! I opted to join Cecily in this adventure because I was told that the road is mainly downhill....what I think should have been specified is that there are downhill sections, but nowhere near enough to warrant going on the ride!! It was a tough tough tough ride...with its fair share of uphills!! Also as we we riding in a valley, we had a fairly strong wind to battle against too. Also, our ´bike check´ hadnt actually been very effective as Cecily was riding with a flat tyre...I thought it was a bit strange that the lady was so insistent that we carry a pump (not a compact one either), puncture kit, allen key and spanners!! There was no way that either of us would be able to replace the inner tube...and so we figured that we´d just keep pumping it up in 30min intervals...which meant she rode on a flat for about 25 of those 30mins!! She was working very hard!! After about 20 (painful) kms, we came to a beautiful waterfall called ´El Pailon del Diablo´ -it was absolutely massive and incredible to watch!! In order to see the fall, we had to leave our bikes and hike for a couple of kms!! Urgh!! Back on the bike we continued towards Puyo, for another 22kms before Cecily´s tyre gave up and popped!! It refused to be pumped back up, so we admitted defeat, flagged down a bus, chucked our bikes on the roof and hurtled our way back to Baños. Shame we didnt make it all the way after 42kms, we were so damn close!! (well...sort of!!)

Climbing Volcan Tunguruhua
On Tuesday, we decided to hike up Tunguruhua which is currently a very active volcano...from good vantage points on a clear day, you can see plumes of smoke coming from the crater of the volcano and by night the red lava (I didnt get to see either of these as the weather was too cloudy, so I decided to climb it instead!!)
So, Cecily and I set off fairly early in the morning, with another girl too...opted to save ourselves $35 each and head up without a guide! Caught a cab to a small town near to Tunguruhau called Pondoa and then from there began our hike to the refuge which sits at 3800m. The hike was tough going...it was a really steep path and seemed to be neverending. It took us just over three hours to get to the refuge and once there we admired the views (of clouds!!) and then head off home!! The hike down was quite fun although it had been raining so it was a pretty muddy affair!! Once back at Pondoa, we decided to just walk back to Baños....! As soon as we made that decision a pick-up pulled up along side us and shouted ´Baños´at us...hmmm...what to do...stupidly we turned down the lift and proceeded to walk!! We seriously underestimated the distance...and rolled back into town at about 8.45pm after about 9 and a half hours of solid walking...what were we thinking!!

Canyoning down Waterfalls
On Wednesday afternoon, we decided to do something, which we thought would be a bit more relaxed...hmm...well....that didnt work. The three of us (from the previous day) signed up to go Canyoning down some waterfalls nearby. Canyoning involves being strapped into a harness and rappelling down the fall. The three waterfalls that we were going to attempt were 8m high, 12m high and 45m high. We started on the 12m fall...it was fairly tricky to have the faith to step backwards over the edge of the fall and make your way down it. The pressure from the water, the slippery moss on the rocks and the strength needed in one hand to hang on, regulate speed and maintain balance, makes it all quite hard work!
We started off with the 12m high fall, and once I got into the swing of it, it was quite fun although about 2m from the bottom of the fall we were required to hurl ourselves off the face of the rock and land on our backs in the water below....was a shocker with the freezing water!! Next we used a rock about 6m high, as a slide and slid into the bottom of the fall (that was fun) and after that some people took running jumps of the rock into the water below...I was really geared up for the jump, but the guide was a bit shocked at my decision to join in (?!) and so I lost my nerve!! Gutted!!
The 8m fall came next..by that point i felt like a pro....hmm....it turned out to have really slippery rocks and the water flowed alot faster...I was the only one who wiped out on the rocks and hurtled my way down!! Thats whats you get for becoming lax about the whole thing!!
The 45m fall was obviously the last and best fall....it was fantastic, only had about 2m worth of scaling down rocks to do and then the rest was a free fall to the river below!! It was really fun and amazing to look up and have all that water gushing over the edge above you!!

Three hours later, once we had all cleared the falls, we head back to town and got ourselves ready to jump onto a night bus to Guayaquil (as from there I was catching an international bus to Peru!)

Anyway...am sat in an internet cafe in the Beach town of Mancora, Peru as I write this (after a series of extremely long and uncomfortable bus rides!!)...havent been up to very much...but will be sure to let y´all know how the next installment goes!!

All for now, xx

Galapagos Islands II, Ecuador

First real beach time...done! Hardest thing: Chilling in a hammock (it's a hard life!)

Folks,
Im back in Quito, the sun is shining, the birds are singing but I already miss the sound and smells of the ocean (that of the buses isnt quite the same!!)

So....hopefully this WILL be a fairly short email (though no promises!!), as I didnt really get up to much over the last week!

Thursday. Santa Cruz to Isabela Island.
The last stop of my boat tour was the inhabited island of Santa Cruz. I chilled there for a few hours, and then caught an afternoon ferry to Isabela (although when I say ferry, it is more like a teeny,weeny speedboat which sits about 8 ppl!) Took a couple of hours to get to Isabela and once there I found myself a hotel and saw a few more penguins (highlight!!!) It was carnival weekend, so the place was fairly chocka and I was lucky to find a room!

Anyway, didnt do much on the Thurs, just orientated myself with the town, which took all of about 5 mins as the town literally consists of about 8 businesses (ie bakery, shops, bars etc) on two streets....job done!!

Friday. Sierra Negra Volcano.
Got myself up and out and joined a group of ppl going up to see the Sierra Negra Volcano on the island. There are five active volcanoes on Isabela (the largest island) and Sierra Negra is one of them...it last erupted in October 2005!!
So, we took a pick-up to an area known as El Cura about an hour out of town and from there got allocated a horse.... Rode the horses for about 2 hours, past the absolutely HUGE crater!! I dont really understand the way the volcano works and if that is the main crater or one of many, but this crater was gigantic!! It is said to be the second largest crater in the world (the largest is in Africa?!) and measures about 10km from North to South and 9km for East to West. You can still see the fumaroles smoking, its was beautiful.
Anyway, so we carried on with our horses (which were being super slow!!) and eventually got to a part where we had to walk. Needed to walk about 45mins to get to Volcan Chico (which is a volcano within the Sierra Negra) At first the path is quite grassy, then outta nowhere you find youself walking on lava rocks and its almost desert like!! A few cacti about, but nothing more. The terrain gradually changes again as does the colour of the rocks....and before you know it, its like walking on Mars (well, what I imagine the planet to be like!!!) It is truly unbelievable!!
What is really great is that there are lava tunnels, that if you put you hand in, you can feel the hot air!! And in the landscape, you can see sections which are like waterfalls, (ie. where the lava would have cascaded over the edge of rocks etc) among other things. Also, from the differences in colour and size of rocks etc, you can see where the lava flowed on each of the last three major eruptions...1973, 1979, 2005...so the difference between old and new lava is apparent!! Fantastic.
So after we had a walk about, and climbed to the summit of Chico (obviously!!) We head back to the horses. There was a threat of rain, so we were attempting to hurry the horses along a bit, but mine would do no more than trot...which is bloody uncomfortable!! And then outta nowhere, me being the expert horserider that I have now become, managed to double up the reins as a crop and got my horsey to canter...woohoo!!! What fun!! So there i was...cantering...with the volcanoes in the background, the sea in the distance and the threat of rain in the air...and outta nowhere my bloody horse buckles and wipes out, taking me with him!!! What?! Anyway, I came out unscathed as did my horse, seeing as he got straight up and galloped off!! Then the heavens opened up and I find myself horseless, groupless (we were spread out all over the place) and drenched!! A guy comes up round the corner sees me and starts laughing...he cant make out what ive done with my horse!! I asked him to head off to try and catch the damn thing for me, so off he went...but in the meantime, I had to start walking!! Classic!! Eventually some other guy came back with my horse in tow...and I got back on and WALKED him home!!!
What a day!!

Saturday and Sunday.
Didnt do much except hit the beach by day and carnival by night. The beaches were unbelievable....white sand which never seemed to end and beautiful (fairly warm) blue water!! And hardly any ppl around, so literally found myself alone on the beaches a few times!! (The surfers all hit the beaches at 4-6am and then 6pm ish...so the place is deserted). Amazing!

Monday. Isabela to Santa Cruz.
Got up and onto a ferry back to Santa Cruz which left at 4am!! (not sure why I chose that one over the 6am...but hey, whats two hours in bed!) The sky was incredible at 4am..it was pitch black and the stars were beautiful!!
Was on the boat with a group of Canadians among others who I had met at my hotel. We all dozed off for most of the journey, including the driver...hmm....
Woke up and watched the sun rise over the ocean....
Got to Santa Cruz and found ourselves some brekkie, then headed off to Tortuga Bay, which is yet another huge beach with white sands and crystal blue waters!! And there is also a beautiful lagoon nearby which was perfect for swimming in.

Tuesday. Santa Cruz to San Cristobal.
Took the afternoon boat to another of the inhabited islands (there are 5 in total) of the Galapagos. Chilled there for the next three days, messing about in the village, shooting pool, chilling on the beach etc.

Thursday. San Cristobal to Quito.
Left paradise on Thursday afternoon and am now just chilling in Quito...gonna tie up a few loose ends then hopefully be on a beach in Peru by the end of next weekend...

Here endeth yet another loooong saga.....more soon!!
Love to all...xxxxxxx