Friday, June 27, 2008
24th - 27th June - Easter Island
25th We headed off on the Te Ara O Te Ao trail to Orongo that took us to Rano Kau, the big volcano. Our first stop was the standing Moai at boat harbour called Hanga Piko. We then walked to a cave to view rock paintings and then to Manavai exhibition gardens, to see how they used to grow their plants inside rock circles. We passed through grass lands and eucalypt forest with good views back to Hanga Roa and up to the creater of the volcano. From the volcano it was a short walk to Orongo where we paid our $10USD to walk around the ancient birdman site. There was a complex of 54 restored stone houses in the ceremonial village and also petroglyphs which were carved into the rocks during the ceremonies. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the way back at around 4pm, stopped by the supermarket to buy some water and headed back to our room for the evening.
26th It was windy and raining all night but when we finally woke in the morning it was just howling wind. We decided to hire a car for 24 hours to see the other Moai around the island. The first sight of the day was Ahu Vinapu, being the site of 3 Ahu(platforms), near the airport runway. One of the Ahu has perfectly laid stone like in Cusco and Machu Pichu. It started to rain heavily, with gale force winds as we visited the ruins of Hanga Hahave, Hanga Poukura and Hanga Te'e. We got absolutely drenched through our "water proof ponchos", but we were not fazed and still managed to take a few photos. We then drove to Rano Raraku, the stone quarry where all the Moai were carved. We were amazed to see how many were cut from the side of the hill, there was even a 20m one joined to the volcanic substrate. We also saw a kneeling Moai called Tukuturi. The weather started to clear again and we could see Ahu Tongariki in the distance, being 15 reconstructed Moai, ranging from 5.6m to 8.7m high. We drove to Tongariki and took a few photos and a video
and also found some petroglyphs on the ground thanks to a French tour guide, who we followed around after that. We then went to the largest statue placed on a platform, 10m high, 85 ton Moai Paro. Here we touched the navel of the world that was brought to the island by Hotu Matu'a (the King who colonised the island). We next saw the 5 restored Moai Nau Nau at the white sandy beach. These all have pukao (top knots) and are decorated with petroglyphs on their backs. In the late afternoon we drove back through the middle of the island to Puna Pau, a secondary creater used as a quary for the top knots, then on to Ahu Akiui where we saw 7 moai that were restored in 1960.From there it was on to the underground garden and back along the coast where it started to pour down with rain again. We were dry at the time, but had one more photo to take of Kote Pu Hake Niai Mako'i. We got absolutely saturated again and had to head back to the hotel to change.We went out to dinner and also took a night shot of Hango Piko, who was lit up.A huge day considering the weather. We had a great day.
27th Had set the alarm to see sunrise over Tongariki but woke to howling wind and torrential rain, so went back to sleep until 8am. We had breakfast and returned the car and update the blog. The weather cleared and we were able to go for another walk to see the inland Ahu Huri A Urenga, an important astronomical marker with 11 spots related to the solstices and equinoxes. The Moai there has 4 hands.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
16th - 23rd June - Quito & the Amazon Jungle
17th Headed off for the airport for our short flight to Colca. We boarded a 70 seat Focker F-28 jet for the 25 minute flight over the Andes to the Amazon Basin. With these small planes they have to calculate the weight for the atmospheric conditions, the temperature increased markedly from the time of everyone checking in to when we were due to take off so they had to get someone to volunteer to get off the plane.
The flight was good, only a little turbulance when we were above the mountains in the clouds. We were picked up at the airport by a big open bus and taken to the dock where we caught a motorised longboat for a two hour cruise down the Napo river. The river was murky brown and flowed very fast, there were many logs and other debris in the water that the driver had to navigate around. The river was very wide, around 400m, but only a couple of metres deep. When we arrived at the shore we had a 15 minute walk along a slipery moss covered boardwalk made of bamboo,then a ride in a long canoe to reach the La Selva jungle lodge. We were greeted with a tropical fruit drink and nibbles of cheese and biscuits, empanadas, salami & chicken pieces. We were then shown to our lodges (Huts built from palm and bamboo).
This is our hut which had a warm shower and two beds with mosquito nets and a hammock on the veranda. We had a trip on the lake in the afternoon on a long canoe looking for wildlife. We saw a few birds and they showed us the cats claw plant used in herbal medicine. The highlight of the trip was to watch the squirel monkeys having their last feed for the day on their way to their nights resting spot. They were jumping from tree to tree and some of the smaller ones missed their targets and did a bit of a free fall to catch a lower branch. Unfortunately the battery in my camera died and I did not have the spare with me. After dinner we did a night time insect walk around the gardens. We saw insects, frogs, a snake and a couple of huge tarantulas, this one was bigger than our hands.
18th 6am wake up call for breakfast at 6.30am. We set off on the long canoe at 7am for our walk to the native house.
We had a 30 minute walk through the jungle along the river bank. We say many pretty flowers, ferns and fungi. We also encountered a 1metre long poisonous snake that the native guide had to pin down with a stick he had made a little V at the end of, so we could pass.
At the house our guide picked a cocoa pod and we all had a taste of the fruit inside. The seeds are what they make cocoa out of. Catriona bit hers in half to have a look and it was purple. The father who lives in the house with his wife and some of his 9 children (the older ones are married and have their own huts on the property) was in the hut making a fishing net, he stopped when we arrived and we all introduced ourselves. We were given a taste of the drink they have in the morning to give them energy. It was made from alcohol and a mixture of plants that our guide said was like natural red bull. We then painted each others faces. See Davids art work on Catriona.
We were then show how they catch the animals with a blow gun and were all given a go. Amanda was the only one in the group who managed to hit the target which was a cocoa pod about 10 metres away.The father of the house is wearing the blue cap and holding the darts. We caught a motor canoe back to the dock where we walked back along the bamboo walkway and were paddled back to our accommodation . We then lay around in hammocks until lunch as it was very hot and humid. After lunch we again rested and at 3pm we went for a walk to the butterfly farm. We were shown all stages of the production from the eggs to the larve, catapillers and finally the butterflies.
After dinner we went for a night canoe to try to spot Camen but as the water level was so high they were hiding closer the the banks under the bushes. We did however spot a very large snake high in the branches of a tree and a frog on our canoe.
19th 5.30 am wake up call for 6am breakfast. This shot is of the lake at 6am.
After breakfast we went for a walk in the jungle to a observation tower built around a huge tree. The platform is 35metres high, the tree being 45metres is approximately 200 years old.
We had 360 degree view, giving us a fantastic view of the jungle canopy below. We were able to see many birds from our vantage point. Some of the birds we took photos of were the golden collared toucanet, yellow tuffted woodpecker, plumbeous pigeon, grey capped fly catcher and the forktailed wood nymph (humming bird) below.
We also saw many other birds including toucans and macaws. After a couple of hours bird watching we went on another walk through the jungle. Our guide pointed out interesting trees and ferns showing us the different medicinal plants along the way. Many of the plants are now commercially produced by drug companies. A group of small squirell monkeys and capouchian (not sure of the spelling) monkeys passed by overhead high in the tree canopy. We then rested again before and after lunch as it was another hot day and in the afternoon we went on another jungle walk where we met tarzan and took a picture, see below.
When we got back Catriona went for a dip in the lake with the piranhas and anacondas. Maren actually caught a piranha and had it for dinner.
20th 5am wake up call as we had to catch a 10am flight back to Quito. Our powerboat ride took a couple of hours as we were going up stream and the water level had dropped considerably from our journey down leaving many exposed sandbanks. The driver at one point had to double back to find deeper water. The flight back was smooth and the landing was good. Had lunch at a place near our hotel $1.50 each for soup, main, desert and drink, what a bargain. In the afternoon we caught a taxi with Gui and Victoria to the equator. Very touristy where we had fun taking pictures of the two of us standing either side of the equator line and also straddling it.
We had our final group dinner at Q resteraunt and bar. We had a few tapas dishes, our mains and some coctails/ beers. We said fairwell to Julio and everyone at around midnight and walked back to the hotel with Gui and Victoria.
21st Saw Gui, Victoria and Julio at breakfast and said our farewells again. We went to a camping shop and purchased a few pairs of hiking socks before checking out of our hotel and catching a taxi to our new hostel. We then went for a walking tour of the old town to take some photos. Our first stop was San Francisco Plaza and Church which is being renovated. Next was the cathedral where there was a baptism taking place. We walked to the Plaza Grande and the Presidential palace where the guards are dressed in little soldier costumes (like the nutcracker).
We then walked the unfinished Basilica. We bought our tickets for $2 thinking we had to pay to go inside the Basilica, however the ticket was to climb the tower. We climed to the top of the bell tower, where 1/2 way up there was a cafe that we stopped at and Catriona had a hot chocolate and David had a beer. We also walked across through the roof cavity of the basilica to climb the steeple.
It was quite scary on some of the ladders.
We were absolutely amazed at the places we were allowed to go and the excellent views of Quito we had. For dinner we caught a local bus back to where we had been the previous night. We went to the Vino i Tapas restaurant and had the $16 all you can eat and drink menu.
22nd We went for another walk around the old town to try to have our photos burnt to DVD, however being Sunday almost everything was closed. We caught a local bus to the Quicentro shopping mall to try to find Catriona some joggers however they only had up to size 9 and she takes 9.5, so no luck. It was raining when we left the mall so we got wet getting back to the hostel.
23rd Last day in Quito. We woke to a sunny blue sky so decided to go to the telerifico (Cable car). We checked out of the hostel and caught an electric bus to Santa Clara stop and tried to walk up to the base station. We stopped to ask directions and were told it would take 2 hours and we would be better off getting a cab. We managed to hail a cab and found that we had been walking in the wrong direction. While waiting in line for the car we chatted to an American guy from Los Angeles, who´s wife was from Ecuador. As usual half way up the car stopped and we were left swinging for about a minute.
At the top the clouds started to roll in, but we had a few sunny breaks as well.
Headed back down and walked back to the area we originally stayed in and had all our cards burnt to a DVD. On the way we stopped at McDonalds for lunch, reminded us of McDowells from comming to America.
Catriona had a wash, cut and blowdry for $5 USD, what a bargain.
We walked back through the park
and arrived back at the hostel where we had left our bags at around 5pm, picked up our bags and headed off to the airport. Found internet kiosk at the airport to update the blog.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
12th - 15th June - Cuenca & Baños, Ecuador
When we arrived we were very shaky and not feeling the best. We settled into our rooms and then headed out for dinner. We arrived during happy hour so that made us feel a little better after Catriona had a pina colada and David had a local beer.
13th Spent the day relaxing, trying to get over yesterdays bus journey. We had a wander around the town. Checked out the Cathedral where there were a group of people praying and singing while the host was on display. The stained glass windows were beautiful and the alter was another big gold display.
14th We were dreading the bus journey today. We had a 6.40am departure from our hotel so we were up at 5.45am. We had to catch 2 buses today, the first one was a 7 hour journey and the second only 1 hour. We were very surprised to find that this bus driver did not think he was a rally car driver, nor a formula 1 driver. We had a good trip up until lunch time, after that we found that a few people had been sick on the bus and Laura and Maren had vomit all over their bags. Also after lunch the driver drove much faster, but nothing like our previous driver. We arrived in Banos at around 4pm. We had a little walk around the town then met back at the hotel to plan our activities for the next day. We had a choice of 1/2 day rafting, 2 hours horse back riding or 1/2 day canyoning. The reason for only 1/2 day activities was that there were 2 world cup qualifying matches being played in the afternoon and no one wanted to work in the afternoon when there was a futbol/soccer game to watch.
15th 8.30am pickup for our 1/2 day of canyoning. David, Gui, Victoria, Laura and Catriona set off to be fitted out with wet suits, jackets, harnesses and shoes. We set off in a mini van to the start of the trip. The guides helped us on with our gear, and then it started to rain. We took one last shot before heading off on our journey. Unfortunately no one had a waterproof camera so we were not able to take any photos of our adventure.We started the trip by jumping 1.5m into a pool. Then we had to absail down our first waterfall. Surprisingly it was not that bad and David did it well. We then had a swim though the rapidly flowing water and a few more absails. We had to hurry as the rain started much heavier and the guides wanted us out of there before the water got much higher. The last part was supposed to be a 3 meter jump into a pool but we ended up absailing down to make it quicker and safer. We walked back up past a trout farm to a restaurant where we had freshly caught BBQ trout for lunch. We headed back into Banos to watch Paraguay beat Brazil 2-0 ane Ecuador and Argentina have a 1 all draw.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
8th - 11th June - Huanchaco & Mancora, Peru
9th Set off for a full day tour of the archealogical sites around Trujillo today. We started at the temple of the moon which was built by a pre incan civilization dated at around 100BC. This is a shot looking toward the temple of the sun in the distance.They were all built from mud bricks, but it was amazing to see the colours of the painting that would have been on the outside of the pyramid shaped temple still visible. We also saw our first native Peruvian dogs. Ugly little things aren´t they?Next stop was the rainbow temple, called this as many of the decorations had pictures of rainbows. Not much colour left in the paintings, only a little yellow. We stopped off at a small museum and then off to our last stop for the day, the Chan chan complex. Another mud brick city that took a couple of hours to walk around. It was very interesting to see the archeologists at work repairing the structures.We set off at 6pm for our last nightbus, thank God. The worst one yet.
10th We arrived in Mancora at 4am, we were supposed to arrive at 5am but the bus driver had driven very fast and made up an hour. We found our way to the hotel in the dark and had a few hours sleep. In the morning we found our hotel was right on the beach and they offered surfing lessons. So we had breakfast on the veranda cafe before heading out to look around.Had a nice walk along the beach and did some yoga. Then we walked along the main street where Catriona bought a new sun dress. Then we had a relaxing lunch by the beach where Catriona sent a txt message to Lianna.In the afternoon David hired a board for an hour and Catriona had a lesson with Gui, Victoria and Simon. Have a look at the new Gidget here.
We spent the afternoon lazing around the hotel, having a few drinks with everyone before heading out to a restaurant for dinner.11th Spent the day relaxing and letting Catriona get over drinking too much the night before. Went for a dip in the ocean to cool off before heading to the main street for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant caled Angela´s Place. Fantastic food that included wheat and gluten free bread. We liked it so much we went back for dinner and ordered food to take with us for the next days bus journey.