Matt and Paul's travels

Hong Kong: July 2010

2010-08-02T19:03:00.001-07:00

Yay, we’ve moved into our new apartment and it is truly amazing – such a nice space with fantastic views – we both feel very lucky! We’ve been here for 3 weeks and have settled in nicely. The lions-share of the furniture is rented by Matt’s work, so was already in place. We’ve finally been re-united with all of our paintings and ornaments that we had shipped over from England. We hadn’t seen most of the stuff for over a year due to our travels, so it felt a bit like Christmas unwrapping everything!

We’ve also been shopping to buy some new furniture – an antique cupboard from Tibet as well as a couple of Chinese style reproduction pieces. I’ve also been back to the flower market and bought plants for both terraces, which now look super!

The weather is still very humid, although we’re both coping better now – we’ve definitely acclimatized! There have also been a couple of typhoon warnings which have been a bit scary – being 35 floors up and half way up a mountain is not ideal for a typhoon - fortunately both passed by several hundred kilometers away so we were unscathed!

Other than settling in to the new pad highlights for July have included:
A Sunday trip to Lamma Island – this is just to the South of Hong Kong Island, and like Cheung Chau, which we visited last month, Lamma has no roads or cars, but a couple of nice beaches. It’s bigger than Chung Chau and is well known for its great hiking routes – unfortunately we found it just too hot to take a hike, so we just walked along the waterfront, checked out a small temple and then sat in the shade in a harbor-front café!

I spent a Monday afternoon with Khim and Nita from my photography course looking at the famous ‘Lovers Rock’ which protrudes from the jungle half way up the mountain over Wan Chai – with spectacular views of the city below.

The rock is famous for its ‘phallic’ shape, which the locals treat as a fertility symbol – apparently it has magic powers! On the 6th, 16th and 26th day of each lunar month, the local women come from all over Hong Kong to light incense and receive blessings at the various small alters dotted around the hillside – in the hope they’ll meet the man of their dreams or solve their boyfriend/marital issue – sweet!

We also had a visit from our friend Shirley whom we met in Siem Riep, Cambodia last year. She’s currently living in the Philippines and was attending the dive show as part of her job. She and I went out for drinks in Wan Chai on the Thursday and then she came round on Saturday night for dinner and She, Matt and I ended up clubbing which was much fun – especially the pole dancing!

I met up with Khim and Nita again to photograph the sunset from Pokfulum, on the Eastern side of Hong Kong Island, where Nita lives – this was followed by an amazing Indian meal at Nita’s, cooked by her 2 helpers. Nita has lived in HK all her life but is of Indian origin and knows how to put on a feast!

One of the main highlights of the month was our Junk boat party in Clearwater bay and Victoria Harbour.

We were invited by Kate, who is the sister of Bianca, an old colleague of mine and we were celebrating the upcoming birthdays of her friends Tessa and Paul – we had an absolute blast drinking cocktails, eating yummy food, jumping off the boat and dancing…lots of dancing! We made some great new friends too!

After the trip several people came back to ours where we had more drinks and dancing on the terrace – the perfect end to a perfect day!!!

Hong Kong: June 2010

2010-08-02T03:24:00.000-07:00

So Matt and I have now been here for 2 months. We’re still in our temporary apartment next door to the botanical gardens but luckily we move to the new place in a few days – we can’t wait! I’ll post some pics here next month. We’ve managed to get ourselves into a nice routine, going out for dinner 2 or three times a week, shopping and mooching around Central on Saturdays (Matt has had 2 new suits tailor made!) and exploring new areas on Sundays.

We’ve also started to make new friends, although obviously we miss all of our great friends and family in London. We’ve even been out clubbing a couple of times – for the first time in ages!

Matt has fully settled into his new job now and is in need of a holiday again. I’m working on music, having bought myself a keyboard and now a guitar. I start the guitar lessons next week which should be fun!

Earlier in the month Matt bought me a new Digital SLR camera – so I went on a three day photography course to learn how to use it properly.

It was fab – the teacher taught us all about apertures, ISOs and shutter speeds – and we practiced on a field trip around town as well as studio portraits. I have well and truly learned how to ‘drive’ the new camera! The rest of the people on the course were great fun, and some of us have met up a few times since to practice our skills.

A few highlights of the month include:
Matt and I visiting Cheung Chau, a small Island, 45 minutes ferry ride from Central. It’s very charming in an odd, slightly scruffy way. The Island doesn’t have any roads, so no cars and the local population are mainly fishermen and the odd hippy.

It’s known for its harbour, which is really quite pretty and home to hundreds of traditional fishing boats and house boats. Along the sea wall are dozens of outdoor cafes selling the daily catch of fish, crabs, squid and other things I’ve never seen before. It also has some great beaches with golden sand and blue seas – at the end of one is a rock carving thought to be 3,500 years old!

The Island is also home to the Pak Tai temple – one of the oldest in Hong Kong and beautifully restored 15 years ago.

Every year it plays host to the ‘famous‘ Cheung Chau bun festival, where huge towers of bread buns are arranged in front of it on big frames – up to 20 metres high, and the local young men fight their way to the top trying to get the most buns on the way. Very odd!

Another Sunday visit was to Ocean Park, a huge theme park on the other side of Hong Kong Island – it was the biggest theme park in Hong Kong until Disneyland opened a few years ago. It’s famous not just for its roller coasters and thrill rides, but also for its animal exhibits.

I’m not a big fan of zoos – during our travels Matt and I have seen so many amazing animals in the wild that we find it sad to see them in captivity – however Ocean Park does have a good record for animal welfare and research.

We went to visit the panda enclosures and one was totally mad (in a good way) having a great time! He’d literally run up his slope, look at the crowd below and then launch himself, turning somersaults rolling back down the hill – hang around for a bit of applause and do it again for another bit of the audience. It was so surreal, he clearly loved it but at one point I though it must be a midget in a suit - he was practically dancing for the crowd – very funny!

We also saw the dolphin show, which we both found sad – the dolphins were amazing jumping out of the water in co-ordination, but it just didn’t really feel right. There’s no way there can be enough room for them in that pool!

The highlight of our visit though (aside from a trip on the log flume) was a visit to the aquarium which was simply spectacular – it was massive, full of all sorts of animals and you could see it from three different levels. We only saw 2 huge aquariums but have since found out there is another one, even better – must go back!

We’ve visited Stanley, on the South of the island a couple more times. There’s a big old colonial building there called ‘Murray House’ This used to stand in Central, on the site of the bank of china tower. When they decided to build the tower they transported the building brick by brick to Stanley and re-assembled it – it’s currently home to a maritime museum and loads of restaurants, where we’ve enjoyed nice long Sunday lunches.

With my friends Tom, Khim and Nita from my photography course I’ve visited several markets, parks and gardens to take photos.

These included Cat Street Market, famous for its antiques. It was really odd as it had lots of statues of Chairman Mao everywhere – he really was deified in China – his image was in every home and they’re now sold on as kitsch to Western tourists – I think it’s in very bad taste myself – almost like selling statuettes of Hitler (although you can’t say that out loud as HK is part of China, where Mao’s ideology is still to a great extent revered). We also visited the Man Mo temple, which was amazing – and the aviary at Hong Kong park again to ‘shoot’ the birds – in a nice way of course!

So all in all a busy month – the one negative is it’s getting VERY hot and humid – almost too hot to be out for more than a couple of hours at a time. Luckily all shops and restaurants are air conditioned, but it does prevent long walks in the countryside – there’s some excellent hiking around HK, but that will have to wait for now! July and August are the hottest months – September can also be uncomfortable, but then it’s plain sailing, warm and sunny from October through to May – phew!

Hong Kong, May 2010

2010-06-02T08:07:00.001-07:00

So here we are in Hong Kong and as expected, we’re loving it! I’ve decided I’ll update the blog occasionally as the area is very photogenic, so if you’re interested, check back every month or two and you can see what we’ve been up to.

We arrived in the last week of April and moved into our temporary accommodation, a serviced apartment, adjacent to the botanical gardens and just a few minutes walk to the center. The views from our room are amazing – we can see lots of the big sky scrapers and occasionally catch a glimpse of a parrot or flamingo in the aviaries down below across the road.

Matt started work a week after we arrived – his office is based in Kowloon and it only takes him 20 minutes door to desk. A couple of times a week he’s based at the main head office which is just 5 minutes away. He likes the job - it’s a challenge, but very interesting and the people are lovely. He’s been taken out for a lot of lunches by his colleagues so is becoming somewhat of an expert on Chinese cuisine!

I’m busy settling us in and have bought myself a keyboard as I used to play the piano when I was younger and want to get back into it. I’m also working on a couple of projects and will do a photography course next month.

Early in May we started looking at permanent apartments, and saw about 12 – many were lovely, but we fell in love with one half way up the peak, at the top of a 35 story tower, with 2 outdoor terraces. Unfortunately the kitchen was a bit dated, so they’re replacing it – that’s great news, but it means we can’t move in for weeks - 17th July – we’re very excited about it though!

Most of our spare time is spent mooching about, getting to know our way around and exploring the city, islands and beaches. Over 60% if Hong Kong is made up of green spaces and national parks, so it’s very easy to escape the hubbub whenever you want to! Highlights have included:

Visiting the botanical and zoological gardens, and Hong Kong Park, which has the largest aviary in Asia with some beautiful birds.

Taking the tram up to the peak for the spectacular panoramas of the city.

Visiting Macau – an amazing place – we had to go to activate Matt’s work visa – it’s an hour away on a ferry. It was occupied by the Portuguese in the late 1500s so has lots of colonial/European history and recently it’s become the Las Vegas of the east, with lots of gaudy casino contrasting nicely with the World Heritage sites! For the past couple of years it’s been the gambling capital of the world, generating more money than Las Vegas itself! Now there’s a fact!

Walking through Central on a Sunday – All of the Filipino maids have their day off and meet their mates all over town for picnics on the pavements – their incessant chatter is known as ‘the tweeting of the maids’!

Visiting the town of Stanley where we had a great Sunday lunch by the sea!

Visiting the furniture shops in Aberdeen – over 70 shops based in one 27 storey tower, tres strange! And then lunching at the famous Lotus floating restaurant.

Visiting the famous Hong Kong markets – they have them for everything, Antiques, Gold Fish, Flowers and ‘Small birds in cages’!

Having a night out with the very glamorous Nicole Reboe, one of my Sister’s best friends who is currently based in Singapore.

Visiting Lantau Island to see the largest outdoor sitting Buddha in the world, and getting there on an amazing glass bottomed cable car!

Other than that we’ve been enjoying lots of nice meals out around Soho and are getting used to being in the same place for more than a week! We’ll update again in the next month or two!

London: 23rd – 25th April 10

2010-05-31T07:46:00.000-07:00

We arrived in London on Friday morning – it’s weird to be back and knowing that we’re leaving again so soon! Matt had some meetings arranged with his old colleagues around lunch time so I went with him to Canary Wharf and had a stroll around checking our old stomping grounds.

We then returned to our hotel in Covent Garden, just by Seven Dials to prepare for our party in the evening – as we’re only in London for a couple of days we thought it best to get all of our friends together in the same place so we reserved half of a basement at a bar in Fitzrovia.

The venue was cool – lots of space and a good atmosphere and we had about 35 people turn up. It was great to see everyone, although as always with these things you don’t get to speak to everyone as much as you’d like to.

We had all of our old friends there, as well as lots of Matt’s HSBC colleagues and my old Rapier colleagues and Clients.

Tania, whom we travelled with around Bolivia also made the trip over from France to attend! Everyone had a great time and we all managed to get very drunk – which, lets face it, was the intention!

On Saturday Matt and I were feeling worse for wear. Luckily our friend Penny had bought us Glee on DVD as a leaving present, so we watched 10 (yes, 10!) episodes – it’s a great hangover cure!

Unfortunately some of our peace and quiet was disturbed by Palestine and Israel kicking off outside our window – a demo of a whole 12 people - that’s central London for you! We did manage to leave the hotel for dinner – just about.

The next day was marathon day so we met up with Obe for lunch and then headed down to the Mall to meet Rosie and Chris. Our friend Jonny was running the marathon so we cheered him on (at least the others did – I’d gone for a pee break and missed him – typical!). That was followed by afternoon tea at the National Gallery – very cakey!

It was great to spend our last day in London on Marathon day – all of the flags were out and the streets were buzzing – despite a bit of rain it was largely bright and sunny – infact we’ve been very lucky as for the 3 weeks we’ve been in England we’ve had sunshine and blue skies every day!

In the afternoon we took a taxi to Heathrow to start our new life in Hong Kong! We have a week to settle in before Matt starts work – watch this space!

Melton Mobray: 20th – 23rd April 10

2010-05-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

We’ve spent the last few days staying with Matt’s Mum in Melton Mowbray. We’ve had lots of roast dinners – I think she’s fattening us up for HK! We’ve also visited the famous Melton Mowbray cattle market and had a couple of nice walks in the countryside around their house!

Oakham: 15th – 20th April

2010-05-31T07:33:00.001-07:00

We’ve spent the last few days in Oakham staying with Matt’s Dad. It was Matt’s birthday on Friday so we took a trip to Leicester to visit Pauline, a family friend, and had lunch in a converted farm house. Fish and chips again – yum! In the evening we went out with Matt’s Dad to the local Indian restaurant – very tasty!

On Saturday we met Uncle Pete and his new wife Annabelle for lunch and then spent the afternoon with Matt’s brother Chris. We spent hours playing ‘Rock Star’ on the playstation – it’s so much fun!

On Sunday we chilled out for the day and had a visit from Matt’s grandad.

Monday we had our stuff picked up to be shipped to Hong Kong – we’re leaving next Sunday, just 6 days away, it’s really exciting! Our stuff will take 6 weeks to get there so we’ll have to continue living with just the amount of stuff we can carry for the next few weeks – at least we’re used to it having had to do so for the past 9 months! On Monday evening we met Matt’s cousin Sarah for a meal.

Norwich, UK: 12th – 15th April 2010

2010-05-31T07:15:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday Mum drove us from the Wirral to Norwich to see Matt’s brother Mike, his wife Jess, and their 4 kids, Annabelle (4), Brandon (2) and the new twins, 10 day old Naomi and Jacob.

Mimi and Nicky came to see us off, with Mimi in a full-on Indian Sari and funky shades!

On the way we stopped for lunch in Melton Mowbray at Matt’s Mums and then popped in for 5 minutes to see Matt’s Dad at work in Oakham.

Matt, Mum and I are staying at the Maids head hotel, which is the oldest in Norwich with parts of the building dating back to the 14th century – it’s adjacent to the cathedral. Mum has been stuffy in getting upgraded to a massive suite!

On Tuesday evening we popped in to see Mike and Jess and the kids. Annabelle was shy to start with but soon became more lively when she remembered us – and Brandon had just had his tea, so was asleep, sitting up in his high-chair!

The twins are adorable – tiny but beautiful! It was really nice for my Mum to meet them as she’d brought with her a whole load of clothes that the kids on our side of the family don’t need anymore.

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Mum and took the kids to the park – they loved it on the swings and slides, although I think Matt and Mike enjoyed the slide more - they went on it over 20 times each I reckon!

On Thursday we spent the morning with the kids again and then headed to Oakham to spend a few days with Matt’s Dad.

Wirral, UK: 11th April 10

2010-04-16T14:56:00.001-07:00

Today we got up early as Stasia and Soraya are back at school, and then joined Nicky, Mimi, Gigi and Mama on a walk around Eastham Country Park again. The weather is still lovely!

In the afternoon we had dinner with the kids, Colly, Nicky, Mama, Mum and Dad and said our goodbyes as we’re off to Norwich tomorrow.

We’ll miss everyone and we’ve had a great week, with brilliant memories to keep us going until we’re be back again at Christmas!

Wirral, UK: 10th April 10

2010-04-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

We spent this morning playing with the kids at Colly’s, then went to Brotherton park for a walk with Mum, Dad, Mimi, Gigi and Stasia. We visited the tunnel under the railway where Dad did his Giant impression “Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell the…etc.” – he used to do it for us when we were kids, so it’s funny to see him doing it for the youngsters!

We also visited Saint Patrick’s well - according to local legend Paddy stopped off here on his way to Ireland!

In the evening we went to Nicole’s house to celebrate Mimi’s birthday – she’s 2 next week. The weather has been lovely so we sat in the garden and ate LOADs of food, joined by the whole family including Eileen, known as Mama, who is the grandma of Colly’s kids – and Eileen McDonald, a family friend who lives a few doors down from Nicky.

Mum had bought Mimi a bubble machine which was a great success – the kids loved it!

Bromborough, Wirral, UK: 8th – 9th April 10

2010-04-16T14:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we returned from Blackpool to Colly’s house in Heswall where we spent a few hours playing with the kids – then had lunch of fish and chips and ice cream at Park Gate, which is on the banks of the River Dee. We spent the rest of the day chilling at Mum and Dad’s.

Today we went shopping in Birkenhead as Matt needed to get some new glasses, followed by a quick visit to our family friend Sheila, who is now in her late 80s.

In the evening we had a family dinner to celebrate Matt’s birthday which is next Friday, complete with cake and candles!

Then we all went to watch Dad play the piano, in his regular Saturday night slot at a nearby hotel – on the way Soraya amused us by miming to Barbara Streisand records in the car!

Matt and I spent the night at Colly’s which was fab.

Wirral to Blackpool, UK: 8th April 10

2010-04-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

Today we drove the hour and a half to Blackpool to join Colette and her 3 kids Stasia (10), Soraya (6) and Gigi (2) at the haven holidays caravan park where they’re spending a few days as it’s the Easter holidays.

The whole family came, Dad, Mum, Richard, Nicky, Mimi, Matt and I. We had lunch of Mum’s famous green pea soup with sausages and then went for a game of mini golf – the kids loved it, although Gigi and Mimi thought picking up the balls and putting them in the holes meant that they won – little cheats!

After the golf Dad and Richard left and Nicky went for a kip, the rest of us went to play on the arcade games and rides, and then hired bikes to cycle around – 2 adults per bike and 2 little ones on front – much fun!

That was followed by swimming and bingo, which was great, if slightly stressful – they read those numbers out way too quickly for me! Stasia very kindly spent some of her pocket money on a toy ‘Super Bradley Bear’ for Matt and I and then the girls got their photos taken with Rory Tiger!

After that Mum, Nicky and Mimi headed back to Bromborough. Matt and I are staying in the caravan for the night – it’s a bit cramped so Gigi is staying in the perfect toddler sized bedroom, known more commonly as the wardrobe!

We had fish and chips followed by a puppet show by Soraya, using some knitted finger puppets of condors and llamas that Matt and I had brought back from Peru. Soraya wanted us all to concentrate but when we got a bit excited she popped up from under the table and shouted ‘Just Calm Down Everyone!’ A true Scouser…

Colly and I finished the night by tormenting Matt with her Hello Dolly DVD!

Wirral, UK: 7th April 10

2010-04-16T02:49:00.001-07:00

So we’re back home and staying with my Mum and Dad. Colly and the kids are on a little break in a caravan in Blackpool so we’ll go and visit them tomorrow.

Today we spent the day with Mum, Nicole and Mimi, who is 2 next week. We went for a walk through Eastham Country Park which is a few minutes from Nicky’s house. We walked the sculpture trail and visited the bear pit which I used to be scared of when I was little. They have a statue of bears in there now which is very cool!

We spent the night at Nicole’s house, which she moved into just after we left for our travels – she’s made it lovely and it has an amazing garden. We were joined for the night by Nicky’s best mate Debbie and sat around drinking and chatting whilst Mimi was passed out on the sofa next to us!

Rio, Brazil to Bromborough, Wirral, UK: 5th-6th April 10

2010-04-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

So our travels are over and we’re back in England. We nearly missed our plane as there were very heavy rains in Rio – the roads flooded and the traffic came to a stand-still, so it took 3 ½ hours to get to the airport instead of ½ an hour. We’ve woken up this morning to the news that over 11 inches of rain fell in the few hours after we left, the heaviest rain for 50 years - resulting in huge mudslides and the deaths of over 100 people. 14,000 are homeless.

We thank our lucky stars that we got out when we did – another few hours and we would probably have been stuck for several days, but our thoughts are with those that were hurt or killed.

It’s hard to sum up the last 9 months – we’ve had the most amazing time. Of course we’re glad to be back and see our families – and most of you know that we’ve got lots more excitement coming up in the next few weeks with our move to Hong Kong, but it’s sad to end such an adventure. A lot of you have shared in the amazing times we’ve had, via this blog, but we wanted to summarise some of the highlights - just because it’s fun!

So here goes…some of the best things we’ve done/seen/experienced (although by no means everything!) and some amazing contrasts too!

We’ve visited 23 countries on 3 continents, some of the richest and poorest places on earth.

We’ve been skydiving over Namibia, micro-lighting over Zambia and paragliding over Lima. We’ve been white water rafting, dune surfing and quad biking. We’ve taken the world’s highest zip wire off a mountain and a hot air balloon over the Serengeti. We’ve hiked over the mountains of Vietnam, the deserts of Africa, the islands of Lake Titicaca, the glaciers of Patagonia, amongst the Inca ruins of Peru and the jungles of Bolivia. We’ve scuba dived at 12 metres below sea level and walked amongst Guisers 4,900 metres above sea level!

We’ve walked with lions and been charged by elephants; swam with sea lions, sharks and turtles; we’ve petted tigers, been scared by tarantulas and entertained by monkeys; we’ve tracked leopards and hyenas and worked to help the cheetahs; we’ve had bins raided by porcupines, tables raided by raccoons, kitchens raided by baboons - and ourselves raided by lots of mosquitoes!

We’ve visited ancient ruins and hyper-modern cities, Buddhist towns, floating forests and tribal villages, colonial cities and the occasional shit-hole!

We’ve seen Apsara dancers in Cambodia, drag queens in New York, half-naked tribal dancers in Namibia, fire dancers in Thailand and tango dancers in Argentina. We’ve experienced Carnival in Lima, vehicle blessings in Bolivia, city-wide water fights in Peru, alms ceremonies in Laos and freaky weddings in Tokyo. We’ve stayed with a village chief in Malawi and had a Royal encounter in Vietnam. We’ve seen Masai warriors, girls in kimonos, ladies in bowler hats and saffron robed monks!

We’ve eaten crocodile, kudu, ostrich, spring bok, guinea pig and the best steaks in the world - not to mention snake wine!

We’ve experienced typhoons and earthquakes and had a close call with a Tsunami!
We met our friends, Paul and Sharazed in Thailand, Dan and Kathleen in New York, Obe and Penny in Rio and made lots of new friends…Rick, Jill, Emma and Leeanne amongst many others in Africa; Shirley Girly, Jehan & Sam in Cambodia; Linda and Rebecca in Ecuador and Tania in Bolivia.

Phew! What was the best thing? Waking up excited every morning!

Rio, Brazil: 4th April 10

2010-04-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Today is Easter Sunday, the last full day of our travels as we’re heading back to London tomorrow.

In some ways it’s a sad day, but we’re looking forward to seeing our families and we had some fab news this morning! At 3.22am and 3.39am Matt’s brother Mike and his beautiful wife Jess were delivered of twins – a boy named Jacob and girl named Naomi. What a great thing to happen on our last day!

We spent today hanging around the local area, taking in the coffee bar where ‘The girl from Ipanema’ was written. Penny acted out the part to perfection!

We then walked the length of the beach, which was busy as it’s a Sunday.

Then we had lunch in Leblon, followed by a siesta and our final dinner together, complete with a champagne toast to our new niece and nephew!

Rio, Brazil: 3rd April 10

2010-04-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

This morning we chilled out around Ipanema, and in the afternoon we walked to the botanical gardens.

The gardens were beautiful, with huge trees, fountains and streams.

We saw some giant lilies, humming birds, orchids, turtles and monkeys!

In the evening we headed into Lapa, an area famous for samba clubs.

We had dinner and sat listening to the music, watching the people pass by – some of whom were quite colourful!

Rio, Brazil: 2nd April 10

2010-04-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

This morning we visited Sugar Loaf Mountain, which is one of the icons of Rio – it’s a huge rock, over 1,000 feet tall that juts out over the city.

You have to get 2 cable cars to the top and once there the views are spectacular.

There were tonnes of tourists as it’s Good Friday so everyone is off work, so we had to do a lot of queuing - good for people watching though!

In the afternoon we spent a couple of hours on Ipanema beach where Penny and I went for a swim - the waves are pretty big and nobody swims out very far as the currents can pull you out to sea. ‘Ipanema’ is actually the indigenous word for ‘dangerous water’!

Whilst on the beach Penny and Obe both bought sarongs – Obe’s is the Brazilian flag, and Penny’s replicates the design on the pavements around the area – a black and white squirly pattern – very pretty!

Rio: 31st March – 1st April 10

2010-04-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the bus back to Rio – it was raining as we arrived but has been beautiful since!

We’re staying in a guest house 3 blocks from Ipanema beach in one direction and 3 blocks from the lagoon in the other. The area is quiet, but has great bars and restaurants.

It’s really weird as it feels like you’re in a normal city and then you come across the beach and the ocean and it’s like being in the tropics again – a real contrast. The beach is beautiful, golden sand and blue water – it’s wide and very long so you can always get some space and there are some very dramatic mountains nearby.

In the evening we took a walk along the beach as the sun went down and then explored the local area.

The following morning we took a tour of the favelas. Rio has one of the biggest and most obvious divides between rich and poor of any city in the world and we wanted to learn how this had come about and what was being done about it.

The favelas are notoriously crime-ridden, but we’d been advised that we’d be safe on an escorted tour.

The guide told us how the they came into being - when there was a mass-influx of population from the country to the cities, shortly after the abolition of slavery. Brazil was actually the last country in the world to abolish slavery – as late as 1888.

We learnt all about how organisations are trying to improve the lives of the residents, but are often hampered by government corruption – and we saw some projects run by NGOs, as well as walking around and generally getting a feel for the area. It was certainly an eye-opening experience!

For the rest of the day we chilled out and then went to a local Japanese restaurant for sushi in the evening – apparently Brazil has a higher proportion of Japanese people than anywhere outside Japan!

Buzios: 29th – 30thMarch 10

2010-04-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the day on the beach again, played cards in the evening and then went out for late dinner and drinks in town.

Today we joined a boat called ‘Lory Queen’ to cruise around the peninsula and a couple of islands and snorkel off the beaches.

Unfortunately there weren’t any fish to see, but Obe entertained us with star-jumps off the deck!

After a morning of cruising we landed back in the main town where we checked out the statue of Brigitte Bardot, who made the town famous.

The afternoon consisted of chilling and reading on our balconies overlooking the sea, and then a fab ‘fusion’ dinner in town in the evening.

Tomorrow we head back to Rio, where we’ll stay by the famous Ipenema beach for 5 days!

Buzios: 28th-29th March 10

2010-03-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Today we hung out on the beach reading our books and (subtly) checking out the world renowned Brazilian beautiful people! Oh the joy of zoom lenses!

We had a gorgeous fish lunch on the beach and headed into the town in the evening!

Rio to Buzios, Brazil: 27th March 10

2010-03-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today we took the bus for 3 hours from Rio to Buzios, where we’ll spend 4 days.

Buzios is known as the St. Tropez of Brazil, and was relatively obscure until Brigitte Bardot came here in the 60’s. She was pictured walking along the palm-fringed beaches and the international jet-set soon followed!

We’re staying in 2 beautiful bungalows as part of the ‘hibiscus beach’ resort, up on a hill just 100 metres from the beach, surrounded by gardens and flowers. The views are amazing – a really nice surprise.

The beach has fine golden sands and blue sea, lined by palm trees and beach bars. It’s crowded, but still lovely! In the evening we ate at a local restaurant and then headed into the main town, 5 minutes away. It’s a nice town, very up-market with tonnes of boutiques and nice bars and restaurants – we whiled away the hours drinking cocktails on the beach!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 26th March 10

2010-03-29T13:03:00.001-07:00

Obe and Penny are here! It’s brilliant to see them – nice to have familiar faces around!

Today we started our exploration of Rio. We’re staying in a lovely guest house in the Santa Teresa area, which is known for having great views of the city and lots of old run-down mansions, now populated by artists, writers and trendy bars.

We climbed up the hill and then took the tram down to ‘centro’, the central commercial area of the city. The tram was a bit mad – really old and noisy, and the rule is that if you don’t sit down, but just cling on to the side, then you get a free ride! Lots of people took this option – cheap but dangerous!

The commercial center was full of contrasts, modern office blocks next to familiar shopping streets, but peppered with beautiful churches and squares. It’s even home to a Royal Palace – the Portuguese Royal Family fled here in 1807, escaping Napoleon, and made it their base for several years, until they returned back to Lisbon - then one of the Princes made himself Emporer of Brazil. They had their own crown Jewels and everything and the monarchy lasted over 80 years!

We had lunch on the street where Carmen Miranda used to live and then visited the Mosteiro de San Bento, which has a famous baroque interior – very impressive!

We then took a cab back to Santa Teresa and visited the Parque das Ruinas – an old ruined mansion set in parkland with a stunning view over the city. You can climb to the top and see right over centro in one direction and over the bay to Sugar loaf Mountain in the other. You can also see the famous statue of ‘Christ the Redeemer’ which is on the highest point at the edge of the city. Unfortunately it’s currently under scaffolding – bummer!

In the evening we went for a meal at one of Santa Teresa’s most famous restaurants!

Iguaçu, Argentina to Rio, Brazil: 25th March 10

2010-03-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the early morning walking around the Argentinean side of the falls, this time on walkways over the falls themselves – again they were breathtaking. On the way we saw monkeys, lizards and more raccoons, one of which came and sat on a bench next to Matt!

Later in the morning we crossed the border to Brazil and had a look at the falls from that side. 80% of the falls are in Argentina, and 20% in Brazil, but the best views by far are from Brazil as you look over from a hill side to a stunning panorama.

There are 270 falls in all – each cascading through the jungle at different levels – now we understand why this place is loved by so many people – it’s truly awesome.

At one point we crossed a walkway at the bottom of the biggest falls and got a major soaking – and then stood right next to them - the volume of the water is incredible!

Afterwards we popped for a snack in an adjacent café where we were entertained by dozens of Racoons raiding the bins and jumping on the tables to nick people’s food!

Having finished in Iguacu we took the 2 hour flight to Rio, where we met up with our friends Obe and Penny, who had just flown in from London. It’s great to see them – we’ll spend the next 2 nights in Rio, before travelling to Buzios, the St. Tropez of Brazil for 4 nights, then back to Rio for 5 nights. Yay!

Iguaçu, Argentina: 23rd - 24th March 10

2010-03-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about Iguacu falls is the number of butterflies you see – literally thousands of them.

They come in all shapes and sizes, from a couple of centimeters to several inches.

They’re generally very difficult to photograph as they flit around so much, but occasionally they land on you and stay there for a while!

They were so beautiful that I wanted to include some of my favorites here!

Iguaçu, Argentina: 23rd - 24th March 10

2010-03-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we travelled back from El Calafate to Buenos Aires where we stayed in our fab room again at the Bo Bo and went for a fab meal.

Today we flew to Iguaçu, where we’re staying in a hotel with a room overlooking the falls. It’s ‘silly expensive’, but we only have a day here so thought we ought to stay as near to the falls as possible!

Iguaçu falls are famous for being one of the most beautiful places on earth and they really are quite special. They’re surrounded by jungles, full of animals – and we’re had close encounters with toucans and raccoons - literally the raccoons were walking right up to us on the footpaths!

We started off with a trip on a small train and then walked along several walkways across the Iguaçu river to the ‘devil’s throat’ view point where we got completely soaked by the waterfall spray.

We then went on a short ‘jungle safari before boarding a speed boat and went rapidly up to the falls – they are stunning to look up at, and we got very wet when they sailed into the spray streams – it was fun – lots of rainbows!

We’re very excited as tomorrow morning we cross to border to Brazil – 20 minutes drive, spend another couple of hours looking at the falls and then meet 2 of our best mates, OBE and Penny at the airport in Rio for 10 days of fun!

El Calafate, Argentina: 21st – 22nd March 10

2010-03-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

Today we went for an 8 mile hike on the Pereto Moreno Glacier.

We started off by taking the bus to the view points – a set of balconies on an opposite hill where you get a panoramic view of the North and South faces of the Glacier. We saw some amazing ice falls, very cool!

We then walked through a beautiful forest at the glacier’s edge, passing waterfalls on the way.

The entire Glacier is apparently the size of Buenos Aires, but we didn’t walk the entire length – phew!

We had to wear ‘crampons’ - like knives strapped to your shoes so they can grip onto the ice, and we hiked for 4 hours in a circular route to the center of the glacier and back.

We saw loads of unusual sights, big crevasses and ‘sink holes’ which were so vibrantly blue – amazing!

We walked in a glacier in Iceland last year, which was very different as it had huge ice caves and amazing sculptural formations - the big difference with this one was the sheer face into the lake – the Iceland glacier disappeared gradually onto the coast, so the Iceland glacier won hands down for amazing ice formation, but this one won for sheer drama!

On the boat on the way back we were treated to a couple of glasses of whiskey with glacier ice- super trooper!

El Calafate, Argentina: 19th - 20th March 10

2010-03-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we flew to El Calafate, the gateway town to the Los Glaciers National Park in Patagonia. On the way we had to stop at Ushuaia, which is the most southerly city in the world, and the launch point for trips to Antarctica!

El Calafate is a nice town on the banks of Lake Argentina, the largest lake in the country.

Today we visited the park, taking a boat trip to see 3 different glaciers. It was amazing as enormous bright blue icebergs were floating around the lake! We saw blue ice in Iceland last year, but these icebergs surprised us as the colour was much more vivid - very beautiful.

We visited the Upsala Glacier, but didn’t get right up to it as huge icebergs were blocking the path of the boat.

We then visited the Spegazzini glacier, which was spectacular as it flows dramatically down a very steep mountain before meeting the lake with a huge wall of ice.

Finally we visited the Perito Moreno glacier, which is famous as it is the only glacier in the world that is advancing – up to 2 metres per day! It’s MASSIVE – where it reaches the lake it’s 5km wide and 60 metres high – a wall of sheer blue ice, breathtaking!

Because the glacier is advancing large blocks of ice regularly break free, causing mini tidal waves (not again!) on the lake - whilst sailing along the front we saw some huge chunks of ice fall off, with really loud cracking sounds, and even louder splashes!

We’re coming back to this glacier on Monday to hike across the top – can’t wait!

Buenos Aires, Argentina: 18th March 10

2010-03-19T15:15:00.001-07:00

Today we walked from our hotel through Palermo to Recoleta which is one of the wealthiest areas of town. It’s full of beautiful mansions, parks and gardens, with statues and fountains aplenty.

It’s also home to one of Buenos Aires’ most famous attraction, the Recoleta cemetery.

It may seem an odd ‘attraction’, but the cemetery really is a sight to behold, full of ornate tombs of many of Argentina’s wealthiest families, presidents, artists and poets.

Many of the tombs are very elaborate with intricate carvings and dramatic statues – but some areas of the cemetery are pretty creepy as you can look into the tombs and see coffins - not a place I’d like to be alone at night, but on a sunny day it’s spectacular.

The most famous tomb - quite plain and not nearly as ostentatious as some others is the Duarte family tomb, where Evita is interred.

After Recoleta we headed for Boca, which is one of the poorest areas of town and home to lots of artists and musicians – many of the buildings are brightly painted and make a pretty sight.

We then walked to San Telmo, another poor yet bohemian area of town, famed for its crumbling mansion blocks, cobbled streets and antique market. We walked for miles soaking in the atmosphere.

We leave here tomorrow to head to the Glaciers National Park in Patagonia and will return next Tuesday for the afternoon before continuing to Iguaçu. Matt and I have both fallen a bit in love with Buenos Aires – we reckon it would be a great place to live and would definitely like to come back to experience more.

Buenos Aires, Argentina: 17th March 10

2010-03-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

We started today with acute ‘steak and champagne’ hangovers!

Late morning we headed out to explore the local area, Palermo, which is one of the trendiest areas in town. We had a great long (and sober!) lunch, followed by a trip to the Evita museum - it’s based in one of the mansion blocks that her foundation used to house the poor and was really interesting. The Argentine are still divided over whether she was a goody or a baddy, but I think she did some good, and she had nice dresses so she’s OK by me!

Buenos Aires, Argentina: 16th March 10

2010-03-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

We spent today looking around the center of Buenos Aires and we’re both very impressed. It’s a beautiful place, full of classical architecture, like a cross between Paris and London but without the French people (yay!). It’s much bigger than we expected – 13 million people, so almost twice the size of London.

We had a look at the cathedral, Plaza de Mayo and the pink presidential palace – the ‘Casa Rosada’, where Evita used to appear to the massive crowds. We also went to check out the water-front which has been rejuvenated with lots of bars and restaurants and a very funky bridge. We even found some time for some clothes shopping!

In the evening we went to a famous restaurant called La Brigada, where we had the biggest steaks ever. Argentina is famous for having the best stakes in the world, as all of their cows are fed on grass instead of grain, making for very lean and tasty meat. I went for the T-Bone and it was actually as big as my plate – and came with…nothing, there wasn’t room, no tatties or vegetables, just pure meat and it was delicious!

After dinner we went to a tango show – it was fascinating to watch, the music was great and some of the dancing couples were very intense – tres sexy! Free champagne was included with the show and a waiter took a shine to us and made sure our glasses were never empty. We had a fab night but were a little worse for wear at the end!

Mendoza to Buenos Aires, Argentina: 15th March 10

2010-03-16T15:02:00.001-07:00

Today we flew to Buenos Aires, having to pass through Santiago in Chile on the way due to a restriction on the way our ticket was booked. Although this meant a 40 minute flight became a 6 hour journey, it did mean that we had to fly over the Andes twice, which was amazing – no clouds and just tonnes of mountains. We could even see the road that we travelled on 2 days previously, winding along below.

We’re staying at a fab boutique hotel called Bo Bo, short for ‘Bourgeois and Bohemian’ – naff name, but cool place! Our room is called the Techno room, god knows why…but we do like it!

Mendoza, Argentina: 14th March 10

2010-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Today we were picked up at our hotel at 8.30 for a tour of the wineries in the Uco valley, about 1,600 feet up in the foothills of the Andes. Mendoza has over 800 wineries surrounding it and we visited 799 (just kidding, it was only three). The Uco valley is an amazing place set between foothills on one side and mammoth snow capped peaks on the other. The countryside in between is so pretty - full of vines, orchards and enormous poplar trees.

At the first 2 wineries we were given a tour including an explanation of the wine making processes, we then got to try the wines, 5 in each! You only get a small glass (obviously or you’d be legless after the first!), but it’s enough to get you very tipsy! At the first one Matt had a black fly in his Chardonnay – isn’t that ironic!

At the last winery we had lunch which consisted of 6 small starters, a main course followed by deserts – absolutely beautiful!

There were 6 other people on the tour with us, 4 Brits and 2 yanks – all really good company so there were lots of giggles along the way.

On the way back to Mendoza we stopped to photograph a shrine to a chap called Gauchito Gil. He’s a kind of Robin Hood for Argentina, venerated by the poor as a saint. The tradition is that truck drivers leave small gifts and red flags for him along the roads in the hope that he’ll keep them safe – sweet!

Mendoza, Argentina: 12th – 13th March 10

2010-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we travelled 8 hours by bus from Valparaiso in Chile to Mendoza in Argentina. The journey involved crossing the Andes which was very dramatic, with windy roads and steep cliffs all around.

Mendoza is a beautiful green city, which is surprising as technically it’s in a desert. They’ve built dams to catch the snow-melt from the top of the Andes which they channel through the town to keep the trees lush!

The city was destroyed in an earthquake in 1882, and re-built along European lines with long tree-lined boulevards and many public squares. Each square has statues and fountains, and the main central square is beautiful, more like a park really. There are loads of pavement cafes everywhere so it feels more like being in Paris than South America.

We spent today wandering around the squares and boulevards and had an early night - we have a big day tomorrow, a full day wine tour around the local vineyards – Yay!

Valparaiso, Chile: 10th – 12th March 10

2010-03-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

On Wednesdsay we took the bus for 2 hours to Valparaiso, Chile’s second city. It’s in a beautiful setting, on a large bay on the coast, with hills all around. The city has lots of interesting architecture and is a UNESCO world heritage site – it’s also known as Chile’s bohemian and cultural center.

Whilst exploring on Thursday we took an old ‘ascensior’( i.e. lift) up one of the hill sides. These lifts are dotted all around the city as the hills are so steep, and many of them date from the early 1900s. As it started to make its way up it swung violently from side to side, and both Matt and I thought “creepers, they really need to oil the gears on this thing”! I remember thinking you really wouldn’t want to be in this if there’s an earthquake. Hmmm. Turns out that violent swinging was actually a 7.2 scale earthquake!

At the top of the hill we walked around for a while admiring the ‘wall art’ of the open-air museum. In London we would call this graffiti! As we were approaching the lift again a couple of old women standing outside their house started speaking to us, waving their arms in the air. We didn’t understand a word they were saying so carried on. In the lift on the way down there were more violent shakes – again we thought it was a dodgy gear shaft – turns out it was the 2nd earthquake of the day. Again we were oblivious.

Returning to the city center we discussed what the old ladies may have been on about – maybe it’s an earthquake again, we thought – after all, the big one was only 10 days ago and there are often after-shocks. We weren’t sure though, but suddenly realized there were lots of people on their phones. “Something is afoot” said Matt. “If it was an earthquake, there might be a Tsunami, and we’re on the coast – maybe we should go up a hill” said I. We carried on though, oblivious, heading back to take another lift up to our hotel.

Turning onto the main city center street we walked for a few yards until we suddenly saw a slightly disturbing sight. Round the corner from the harbour front came running a man, then another, then about a hundred men, women and children. They weren’t just running, but proper sprinting! “Why are people running” says I. ”Why are people running” says Matt looking more worried.

An overweight man in his 50’s reached us, stopped, panted and shouted “TSUNAMI – RUN”! Eh?

Arrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! We both looked at each other, looked at the hundred or so people running down the street at us – and ran, ran like the wind! (or a stiff breeze in my case!).

We were at the head of the crowd with a few people overtaking us when we rounded the corner into another main shopping street. All of the shoppers stared at us and the crowd around us as we ran through, some people shouting ‘Tsunami RUN’! I’ve never seen such terrified faces. Like us, they thought a Tsunami was about to come crashing round the corner any second. Women screamed, scooped up kids and ran – others just stood routed to the spot agog.

Luckily the town has many hills, so there’s always a steep slope nearby – hundreds of us headed for the nearest one and ran up it – looking back at the sea as we went.

The rumours were flying around…The tide had rapidly gone out – a sure sign of a Tsunami…The president had declared a state of emergency – he was actually being inaugurated a few minutes down the road at the time! Some people said it was just a precaution, but the first Tsunami warning they’d had in the city for years.

Everywhere we looked, on every hill top people just stood staring out to sea, waiting for something to happen. It was truly dramatic.

Luckily the Tsunami didn’t come – thank God! Still, it was scary enough to have to run through a city with hundreds of people. I love a good drama and a good disaster movie – but I don’t want to star in one!

The rest of the day was spent recovering from the shock – and having a nice dinner overlooking the sea – safely high up on a hill and thanking our lucky stars that things had turned out OK!

Santiago, Chile: 7th - 9th March 10

2010-03-12T16:57:00.000-08:00

At the weekend we said our goodbyes to Tania who is staying in Bolivia for another couple of weeks before heading home - and we flew from La Paz to Santiago, the capital of Chile. The area was hit by a huge earthquake 8 days ago but we haven’t seen much damage – we have felt the odd aftershock though!

The city is a huge contrast to La Paz – much more modern and clean. Chile is the richest country in South America, and you can really tell – for a start people actually finish buildings here!

We spent Monday and Tuesday exploring the city. We visited various plazas and the cathedral, which was magnificent. We also popped into the Pre-Columbian museum which displays artifacts from all over central and South America - very interesting.

On Tuesday evening we went to Santiago’s top restaurant ‘Astrid y Gaston’ which is run by Peru’s most famous chef. We had the tasting menu of 11 courses (all very small) which was beautiful!

Afterwards we went for some drinks where we were joined by a local chap called Enzo. He was in love with our barmaid Cecila. So we taught him the Neil Diamond song “Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart”! Something got lost in translation as next time she came over he grabbed her and sang “Cecilia, you’re breaking my house”. Cecilia looked puzzled and Matt and I laughed (a lot)!

Southern Bolivia to Uyuni: 4th March 10

2010-03-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Well, we survived the creepy hotel and had an early start today – 5am. Ugg!

We started the day by driving south to the Eduardo Avaroa Fauna reserve. On the way we passed some freaky rocks, very Dali-esque with bizarre shapes.

We then spent some time walking around some Geysers, which looked amazing in the early morning light. The steam was reminiscent of the dry ice used in pop videos, so Matt practiced his Kate Bush Wuthering Heights moves!

Later we reached a hot spring – we’d intended to go in for a dip, and had our swimming suits at the ready, but unfortunately the place was swamped with smelly hippy traveler types, and there were no showers – as we had a long journey ahead of us we thought we’d better give it a miss! It was a beautiful spot though, so we sat and had breakfast watching the hippies splashing around!

After breakfast we started the drive back north and stopped at the Laguna Colorado, home to thousands of flamingos.

Lunch was spent at a beautiful spot – a green glade with streams running through it and grazing llamas, set amongst miles of huge freaky shaped rocks. It was an inspiring sight.

The remainder of the day was spent driving back to Uyuni, where we arrived at 5pm – 12 hours of driving during the day plus another 12 hours on the night bus back to La Paz – bummer!

Uyuni to Southern Bolivia: 4th March 10

2010-03-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Today we continued our tour of Southern Bolivia driving from Uyuni heading south toward the Argentine border.

On the way we stopped to see several interesting sights including strange rock formations and different coloured lagoons with flamingos. We also saw the volcano which marks the border with Chile.

For lunch we stopped by a beautiful stream adjacent to snow-capped mountains and grazing llamas – very pretty.

The evening was spent in our hotel, which is literally in the middle of nowhere – surrounded by massive barren hills that look like sand dunes. The hotel is creepy but cool – there are only a couple of other guests so it feels like we’re in an Agatha Christie novel. Bagsy neither Matt or I get bumped off! (sorry Tania!)

Salar da Uyuni, Bolivia: 2nd – 3rd March 10

2010-03-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took the bus and train for 12 hours from La Paz to Uyuni, in the south of Bolivia. Today we joined a three day private tour which will take us through the local sights.

We’re travelling in a 4 x 4 with our driver Sebastian and his wife Louisa, who will cook our lunches – so with Matt, Tania and I there are 5 of us.

The town of Uyuni is set in the middle of a huge plain, about 3,300 metres above sea level and you can see snow-capped mountains on the horizon all around. The town itself is dull, with not many redeeming features, but it attracts a lot of tourists as it’s the nearest town to the largest salt lake in the world.

We started this morning by visiting the ‘train cemetery ‘on the edge of town – it’s a weird place, where the train companies have dumped their disused trains over the years – most of them are old steam engines from the late 19th and early 20th centuries when they used to run through here carrying salt and other minerals. Now they are all rusted but make an interesting, if slightly spooky sight.

After that we visited the Salt Lake, aka the Salar da Uyuni. For most of the year it is a huge white expanse, stretching as far as the eye can see.

However, we’re lucky as we’re visiting in the rainy season which means the entire lake is covered in about 3 inches of water – this give the miraculous effect of a huge mirror, with the mountains on the horizon and the clouds up above all reflected perfectly for miles and miles around. Truly awe inspiring – it feels like you’re on a different planet.

The Salt Lake is also famous as the home of wacky photos! It’s perfectly flat and the horizon merges with the sky, so you can get some really interesting shots playing with perspective.

None of the photos are faked, they’re just us standing at different distances, and the effect becomes so surreal due to the lack of horizon.

We’re staying in a hotel made entirely of salt blocks and complete with a salty gravelly floor - every room has its own lounge, all of which are interconnected. It’s very cool!

This evening we drove back to the lake and watched the sunset with a glass of wine and toblerone, lovely jubbly!!

Amazon Basin to La Paz, Bolivia: 27th Feb - 1st March 10

2010-03-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we returned to Ruranabaque for our flight back to La Paz.

We’ve rented a small apartment in an ‘apart-hotel’ for a couple of days as we intend to hibernate and recharge our batteries – it’s really nice being able to cook for ourselves for a change!

We’ve eaten nice food, slept a lot and watched a lot of films on HBO – like one of our proper lazy weekends back at home! Our only excursion has been to see the local mirador (view point) and buy a roast chicken! Tomorrow we’re hooking up with Tania again to visit southern Bolivia.

Amazon Basin, Bolivia: 26th Feb 10

2010-03-01T12:22:00.001-08:00

This morning we did another 5 hour trek through the jungle, but in a different direction. We had to cross several roughly created wooden bridges straddling streams. We reached one, over a dry stream and both Tania and I were surprised that Alejandro walked over it so gingerly, almost as if he thought it was going to collapse under him. Hmmm. So I followed and as I was in the middle there was a huge cracking sound and the whole bridge collapsed under me.

Thankfully I managed to keep upright so didn’t hurt myself, and as mentioned the river bed was relatively dry, so I didn’t get a soaking – I was quite stunned though! And I had quite a job convincing Matt and Tania that the brown stain on my trousers was actually mud!

In the afternoon a troop of monkeys came to the camp again, so we spent some time watching them and then rowed across the lake and walked up to a couple of miradors (view points) set high on the hill.

The views were amazing, across the lake and the jungle to the mountains in the distance – it looked like we could see the whole national park, but Alejandro pointed out that we were only seeing a small fraction, the entire park is actually twice the size of Holland!

In the evening we had a ‘cultural’ experience. All of the Lodge’s staff came to the dining area and started playing music. Alejandro got out a huge pile of coca leaves and explained to us the tradition of chewing the leaves in Bolivia – the peasants do it to give them energy when they’re working in the fields. It’s from the coca leaves that cocaine is derived, hence they are illegal in most countries, but they aren’t addictive, and they don’t really give you a high. They are actually quite disgusting to chew, but I guess people get use to it!

The leaves were accompanied by cigarettes, which are also traditionally smoked prior to working in the fields, and the local tipple - a hot milk drink with cinnamon and alcohol, known as ‘Puma Milk’!

The ladies from the lodge encouraged us to dance, and we did something akin to the Hokey-Cokey with the kids joining in too – much fun!

Amazon Basin, Bolivia: 25th Feb 10

2010-03-01T12:02:00.001-08:00

We started today with a 5 hour trek through the jungle. On the way Alejandro pointed out all of the interesting plants and told us what they’re used for. He also ‘spoke’ to the birds! Making noises spookily the same as theirs so they came and took a closer look at us – thinking he was trying to mate with them!

At one point we had to cross a river – wading through in our bare feet – luckily there were no leeches, although the rocks were very slippy – no mishaps though! The reason for crossing the river was to get to the home of some monkeys – but they weren’t there, Matt reckons they’d popped out to do some shopping!

About 4 hours into the trek it started to rain - this is a rain forest after all! Walking in the rain in a rain forest is a surprisingly pleasant experience – the canopy holds most of the water, so you don’t get drenched, but the rain strips the humidity out of the air so makes it altogether more pleasant!

We got back to the lodge as a full on torrential downpour started and had a few hours relaxing in our hammocks. In the afternoon we were due to do a canoe trip around the lake, but the rain put off our plans for an hour or so.

As the rain began to stop those elusive monkeys arrived – there were dozens of them, small ‘brown monkeys’ and even smaller ‘cappuccino’ monkeys. They swung through the trees around the lodge, looking cute and raiding the trees of their fruit – nice that we didn’t see them this morning so they came to see us!

Once we’d seen enough of the monkeys we headed off in the canoe around the lake – where we saw several large Watsin birds – they look like large pheasants, but have strange blue faces and are apparently quite rare – they make the strangest sounds for birds, a bit like a low growl!

In the evening we went for another canoe trip – this time in the dark, with the goal of hunting out some cayman. We used our flashlights to search the bushes, and the cayman’s eyes would jump out bright red, catching the lights – we saw dozens of babies, so knew that the large (10 foot!) mother wouldn’t be too far away!

After hunting for another 15 minutes or so we finally saw her huge red eyes catch our lights and quietly rowed towards her – she didn’t seem bothered by our presence at all! She just wallowed in the water whilst we sat a few feet away taking our photos!

Amazon Basin, Bolivia: 24th Feb 10

2010-03-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Today we travelled in a motorised dug-out canoe for 6 hours up the Beni and Tuchi rivers into the Amazon Basin. Our destination is the Chalalan Lodge, in the Madidi National Park. The park is famous as it has the highest concentration of bio-diversity of anywhere in South America. The lodge is owned by members of the local community, so all of the money stays to help the locals. Since the ten years that it’s been open it’s been responsible for the building of a secondary school, amongst many other projects.

The river was lined by jungles on both sides and we saw lots of birds, including Macaws, and also some giant rats! They really were huge, and strangely cute!

One dramatic moment came when the boat hit a submerged log and we all lurched forward. We turned around to see the driver struggling to keep the motor on board, and then realized we were heading at full speed straight for a cliff. Arrggghhh! Luckily we managed to get straightened up and carry on – but I do love a good drama!

We arrived at the lodge in the afternoon and after a quick lunch headed into the jungle. There are 7 guests at the lodge – it takes 20, but this is the quiet season. We’ve been split into 2 groups, so Matt, Tania and I have our own guide, a local chap, aged 30, called Alejandro.

You can imagine our surprise when after walking for about 10 yards into the jungle, we stumbled across my worst nightmare, a huge tarantula! It was literally about 6 inches across and really hairy! Alejandro had spotted its legs sticking out of a small hole at the base of a tree and coaxed it out. I HATE spiders but for some reason since starting this trip I’ve become a lot less squeamish, so I wasn’t too freaked out!

We also saw some ants over an inch long, which apparently have a nasty bite – we’ll be avoiding those!

After a while we heard some grunts and a wild pig appeared on the path ahead of us – we all stood really quietly as more and more pigs appeared – they seemed oblivious to us until one stopped and took a look at us – he then made some really loud clicking noises – then suddenly we were affronted with the most terrible smell! It turns out they have glands, rather similar to skunk and can release a pungent odour when they feel threatened – it really did reek, not pleasant at all!

Alejandro had told us that when they are threatened they can be very dangerous and surround their attackers, before launching a coordinated attack. At one point we saw pigs running in all directions and suddenly feared that they were surrounding us – a large noise from behind really freaked us out and Tania and I grabbed hold of each other and got ready to run –Alejandro reckoned it was okay so we continued our walk.

Chalalan lodge is located on the edge of a large lagoon, so in the afternoon we went for a swim. It’s very hot and humid here in the jungle so any opportunity to cool down is welcome. We were unaware at the time that the lake is home to 10 foot Caymans (the cousins of alligators) and also a large school of Pirhanas. When we found this out later we were a bit freaked out but were ‘re-assured’ with’ “oh, they only attack if they’re hungry, but they have lots of food here”. Hmmm, needless to say swimming in the lagoon was henceforth off the agenda – I don’t want to become a snack to any curious omnivores!

In the evening we went into the jungle again for a night walk, for which we had to bring our torches. We saw 2 more tarantulas, as well as several species of amphibian, from a huge grey toad 10 inches across, to a small cute green tree frog about 2 cm across – and a tiger toad, which are quite rare to see!

We also saw a sleeping kingfisher – and a huge 8 foot Amazon Boa! This snake is apparently very had to spot as it normally lives high up in the tree canopy, Alejandro was beside himself when he saw it, declaring it to be his favourite snake – and as it was hanging in a branch at eye level he said the snake must be very hungry and we were very lucky!

We’ve had a great day today and look forward to seeing more beasties in the days to come!

Rurranabaque, Bolivia: 23nd Feb 10

2010-03-01T11:08:00.001-08:00

Today we flew from La Paz to the small town of Rurranabaque on the edge of the jungle. Getting to the airport was a fairly stressful affair as there had been rains in Rurranabaque so the flight was delayed – the airfield there is covered in grass, so the slightest rains can delay flights – with it being on the edge of the rain forest this isn’t too practical!

We finally had a call at our hotel at 10.30 telling us to leave immediately as our flight was leaving at 11am – eh? Needless to say we weren’t too impressed and used the word ‘bugger’ a lot. Luckily the airport was only 20 minutes drive, and the flight eventually only left at 12 noon, with us safely on board. Phew!

The plane was a tiny 20-seat jobby, which you couldn’t stand up in. We flew over the mountains which looked amazing, and made us both think about that film ‘Alive’ where a very similar plane crashed in very similar mountains and people end up eating each other. Luckily that didn’t happen to us! The landing was fine although we did a small skid on the grass which made everyone a tad terrified!

Rurranabaque was a nice surprise, much more rural than we’d imagined. It looked, smelt and felt very similar to many Asian villages we’d been to, and made us realize how much we’d loved Asia. Tomorrow we head for the jungle!

La Paz, Bolivia: 21st – 22nd Feb 10

2010-03-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

We’ve spent the last couple of days wandering around La Paz, and hooked up again with Tania, the Dutch girl we met at Copacabana. Highlights have included:

- Visiting the Witches market: This is a small street lined with stalls selling oddities such as dried frogs, and dried Llama fetuses – really grim! The Llama fetuses are used throughout Bolivia to bring good luck to new buildings – they are buried in the foundations to stop the buildings being damaged in earthquakes and bring good luck to the residents.

Some fetuses were small and looked like dried up twigs – others were larger and looked like they’d been plucked from the womb just before birth – there were dozens of stalls selling them, all doing a roaring trade – tres bizarre!

- Visiting the monastary of San Fransisco – the best bit was going into the crypt in the pitch dark and the guide showing us the various tombs with her small flashlight – very creepy!

Other than that we’ve just hung out taking it easy!

La Paz, Bolivia: 20th Feb 10

2010-03-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Today we took the bus from Copacabana to La Paz, Bolivia’s capital. The journey took us along the banks of Lake Titicaca with spectacular views.

On the way we passed through many villages, which all seemed to be having celebrations of one type or another, with everyone dressed up in costumes – this seems to be a very regular occurrence around Bolivia.

At one point we got off the bus to cross the lake by boat – the bus followed on a makeshift barge and crossed the water at a very precarious angle – we honestly thought it was going to fall into the lake along with our luggage.

We drove on into the mountains – we’d read that La Paz is spread along the slopes of several mountains, so after driving across a plain for a while we thought we’d have to head upwards into La Paz. We were totally surprised when we rounded a corner and La Paz was laid out on slopes below us – we’d actually been driving across a high plateau, not a low plain as we’d thought.

The sight of the city took everyone’s breath away, La Paz is the highest city on earth and it really does look amazing when seen from above. Closer inspection however reveals that this is the capital city of a very poor country.

Despite the often dilapidated and scruffy appearance, the streets were buzzing and atmospheric, there seem to be market stalls along every street, with people plying their goods – we’ll be here for a couple of days before heading into the jungle and then we’ll come back for a couple of days before heading to the salt flats of Uyuni.

Copacabana, Bolivia: 18-19th Feb 10

2010-02-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we chilled out in Copacabana, reading our books and catching up on sleep.

Today was much more action packed as we visited Isla Del Sol – this is an Island on Lake Titicaca, an hour and a half sail away from Copacabana.

Isla Del Sol is famous as the Incas believed it was the birth place of the Sun God, where the beginning of all creation took place.

We arrived at the north of the island around 11am, the idea being that you then visit the Inca ruins and hike across the Island to the South, to be picked up again by the waiting boat. Unfortunately they only give you about 4 hours for the trek, which is about 8km up and down hills, so you really don’t have time to dilly dally!

We were joined on the walk by Tania, who is Dutch and Lex, a chap from London who builds charity web sites.

The walk was beautiful, often with views for miles of Lake Titicaca on both sides of us – it was very sunny and the hills could be quite grueling but we managed to get back to the boat in time - even with a short stop off for our packed lunch in a ruined farmhouse.

In the evening Matt and I had to change guest houses as the first one had messed up our booking – our new room in the adjacent guest house was excellent – complete with an indoor garden, hammocks and a 20-foot window over- looking the bay!

Tania and Lex joined us for drinks on our terrace and then dinner in town. Lex leaves for Peru tomorrow, heading the way we’ve already been, and Tania is moving on to La Paz in a couple of days where we’ll meet up with her again!

Copacabana, Bolivia: 17th Feb 10

2010-02-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Today we crossed the border into Bolivia. We’ve really enjoyed Peru, it’s been a blast. Bolivia will be different as it’s the poorest country on the continent and Peru is one of the richest.

At mid-day we reached the village of Copacabana (not to be confused with the famous beach in Rio). The village sits between beautiful hills on a lovely bay on the banks of Lake Titicaca.

Although much of the village itself is very scruffy – suffering the familiar scourge of half-finished buildings, it does have its charms and is blessed with a stunning colonial style cathedral. All of the women wear traditional dress but it differs slightly from Peru and Ecuador – here they all wear bowler hats!

We’re staying in a great guest house with amazing views from our room over the bay and across the lake to the horizon. The local women use the gardens for grazing their herds of sheep.

We had lunch on the lakeside of locally caught fish (aka Titi-trout) which was delicious and then wandered up to have a look at the cathedral – only to be confronted with a most bizarre sight! It transpires that the cathedral is famous around Bolivia as the home of ‘vehicle blessings’. So at 9am and 2.30pm every day people travel from all over the country to have their new vehicles blessed. Not just cars, but vans, trucks , tractors and JCB diggers!

They all park up outside the cathedral and deck out their vehicles with garlands of flowers and streamers. Then the owners, some of whom bring instruments such as drums and trumpets start playing music and dancing in circles around the square, covering themselves in streamers as they go.

On one side of the square we saw a monk blessing a huge pile of potatoes and beans on the floor, which the hungry travelers then tucked into!

At 2.30 the blessings start – a lone monk (strangely wearing a baseball cap!) comes up to each vehicle, says a few prayers and circles it, splashing holy water. At the same time the owners let off very loud fire crackers. Then a couple of local women walk around the vehicle throwing petals – and finally the owner christens the vehicle with bottles of champagne and beer.

Matt and I watched the festivities for ages, mesmerized by the crazy happenings – we think we’re going to like Bolivia!

Cuzco to Puno, Peru: 16th Feb 10

2010-02-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Today we took the bus from Cuzco to Puno, stopping at various sites along the way.

First up was the village of Andahuaylillas, which has a spectacular church, complete with amazing frescoes.

Next up was the village of Raqchi and the ruins of the temple of Viracocha, which once had the largest Inca roof ever.

Then we stopped at a viewpoint at the highest point on the route – 4,335m above sea level – where we saw snow-capped mountains.

Feeling slightly breathless our final stop was a small village which is home to one of the oldest Inca sites, and a run-down but very atmospheric church. It’s also the place where they make ceramic pigs which the indigenous people all over Peru put on top of their houses - we never did find out why!

We arrived in Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the early evening. It’s in a beautiful setting, in-between hills and the lake, but the town itself is UGLY with a capital Ugg. It looks like there’s been a war here – with lots of the buildings unfinished and looking like they’re about to collapse. We also ate the worst meal ever in the town’s ‘best’ restaurant - a very odd place indeed! Tomorrow we’re off to Bolivia!

Cuzco, Peru: 15th Feb 10

2010-02-20T17:38:00.001-08:00

Today we spent the day looking around the town, visiting the Qorikancha, which was once the most important Inca temple and was covered inside with Gold. Unfortunately the Spanish converted it into a monastery and took all of the gold away!

We also walked around San Blas, which is to the North of the main square and consists of lots of narrow winding alleys, with loads of character.

Following that we popped into the Inca museum and had a tour of the cathedral – all very impressive.

This is our last day in Cuzco and we’ve both loved it – we’ll definitely come back one day.

Cuzco, Peru: 14th Feb 10

2010-02-15T14:58:00.001-08:00

Today we had a tour of the Sacred Valley.

First stop was the typical Andean village of Cinchero, which has some Incan ruins, a beautiful colonial church, and a very colourful market where we bought scarves made from Alpaca wool - we have some cold places coming up in the next few weeks!

Next up was the village of Taramba and the Inca terraces of ‘Moray’. The terraces were used by the Incans to cultivate and experiment with crops at different altitudes.

The final stop was the huge Inca city of Ollantaytambo, which is set amongst the hills where 3 valleys meet and is very beautiful. The walk up the hills was quite tiring as we’re over 3,500 metres up here and the air is thin, but we managed just fine!

Unfortunately we couldn’t visit Cuzco’s most famous sight ‘Machu Pichu’ as there were very heavy rains a few weeks ago and the train tracks and roads were washed away by landslides – the walking trail had also been partially destroyed. We count ourselves lucky though as we may have been stranded if there at the time – 3,000 tourists were stuck for up to 10 days and had to be airlifted out! Although we’re disappointed not to see it, it’s always good to have a reason to come back.

Aside from seeing the amazing Sacred Valley and ruins, today was special for another reason – it’s Carnival time in Peru! This isn’t the type of carnival you get in Rio or London – it’s actually a HUGE water fight that takes place all over the country!

Everywhere we drove the car was pelted with water balloons or buckets of water. When we got back to Cuzco we sat in a café with a great view over the main square and watched for hours as hundreds of people of all ages soaked each other with water and foam – it was great fun!

Cuzco, Peru: 13th Feb 10

2010-02-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

This morning we drove into the hills on the outskirts of the city and walked back into town, visiting 4 Inca sites on the way.

All of the sites had amazing views across hills and valleys, or the city itself.

We visited Tombomachay, which used to be baths; Pukapukara, which scholars think was used as a hunting lodge and Q’enqo, which was a sacrificial temple.

The last place we visited was a huge complex called Saqsaywaman (humorously pronounced ‘Sexy Woman’).

It was a defensive part of the capital city, consisting of temples, store rooms, an amphitheatre and many other structures. There are even some creepy tunnels that we walked through in total darkness.

It was here that the Spanish had one of their major victories over the Incas, resulting in a huge massacre.

The views from the complex are amazing as it’s right next to the city, high up on a hill. Infact, Cusco was originally planned to take the shape of a puma, when viewed from above, and ‘Sexy Woman’ was intended to be the Puma’s head. Some huge walls are in a zig-zag shape and were meant to represent the Puma’s teeth!

We were joined on our walk around by 2 gorgeous dogs (there are many dogs without owners in Cusco) that stayed with us for an hour and a half and walked with us all the way into town afterwards – cute!

In the evening we went to one of Cuzco’s top restaurants called ‘Fallen Angel’ where we ate our dinner off a glass-topped bath-tub with fish swimming in it –cool!

Cuzco, Peru: 12th Feb 10

2010-02-14T16:15:00.001-08:00

Today we flew from Lima to Cusco, which is the oldest inhabited city in South America. It was once the capital of the Inca Empire and is surrounded by beautiful hills and mountains, and lots of Inca ruins.

Much of the City is built on Inca ruins, so you can walk along the streets and see Inca walls with colonial buildings popped on top!

After arriving we headed to the main square which is fabulous - it houses a cathedral and massive church on 2 of the sides – the other sides consist of beautiful colonial buildings with a slightly Moorish feel.

Most of those buildings are now cafes and bars and they have balconies looking out over the square – great for people watching!

Nazca, Peru: 11th Feb 10

2010-02-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

This morning we boarded a very small 6-seater Cessna plane (smaller than the inside of a Ford Fiesta) to fly over the Nazca lines. The last time we were in a Cessna plane we jumped out of it at 10,000 ft!

The lines were created by the Nazca people almost 2,000 years ago by moving the red rubbly rocks from the desert plain to reveal the white earth below.

Nobody knows why the lines were created, but there are several theories: It was a huge astronomical calendar; a tribute to the gods; a huge weaving loom (yeah right, grip? Get one!) or my favorite…an alien landing pad.

As well as hundreds of lines and trapezoids (the technical word for rectangularytriangles) there are images of animals - a monkey, an eagle (with 100 metre wing span!) a whale, a dog, a humming bird, a flower and…a spaceman, or maybe just a man, who knows! And many more.

The pilot had to make a lot of twists and turns to make sure everyone got a good view of the lines which made Matt feel like he was going to hurl, he had to lie down for two hours afterwards!

In the afternoon we drove back through the desert to Lima!

Ballestas Islands and Nazca: 10th Feb 10

2010-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Today we visited the Ballestas Islands which are part of Paracas National Park and nicknamed ‘The Galapagos of Peru’. You can’t walk on the Islands as they are protected, so you just sail around them.

On the way we saw a pod of dolphins - they jumped out of the water all around the boat – it was tricky to capture them on photos as they were so fast!

We also saw loads of pelicans flying alongside the boat, which were very impressive.

Whilst passing the passing the tip of the Paracas Peninsula we stopped to admire the ‘candelabra’, a huge image carved into the rock, thought to be almost 2,000 years old. Nobody knows why it’s there, but it’s thought it was made by the Nazca people, whom we shall learn more about tomorrow!

When we reached the islands themselves we were just gob-smacked. They were covered in birds - and cormorants were taking off to fly out to the sea for their lunch – literally tens of thousands of them swooping around the island and flying off. A truly awesome sight.

The Islands are formed of bays and coves, and have many caves and natural archways - really pretty. In most of the coves and under the archways there were thousands of sea lions – much bigger and uglier than the ones we encountered on the Galapagos! The noise they made was like the screams of hell – really chilling!

We also saw loads of penguins (yay, so cute!) and boobies. It was amazing that the small penguins and boobies hung out with the Pelicans, which are about ten times the size – they all just live together in harmony.

On the way back we found out where all of the cormorants had gone, as we passed by their feeding ground – in the middle of the sea where they’d obviously found a load of fish – it was spectacular watching them dive into the water, and even better when another pod of dolphins joined in the feast!

We both thought the Islands were spectacular and really enjoyed the morning – nature at its most intense!

After the boat trip we drove for 3 hours to Nazca, where we visited the Chauchilla cemetery which features 1,000 year old mummies, really well preserved.

What a contrast! We’d seen so much life in the morning and now we were faced with death.

The mummies were really creepy, complete with hair and original wrappings, surrounded by pottery and foodstuffs. We both felt a bit creeped out – let’s hope we don’t have nightmares tonight!

Paracas, Peru: 9th Feb 10

2010-02-10T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today we began a 3 day trip which will culminate on Thursday with a flight over the Nazca lines. We travelled all morning by bus to Paracas, 3 ½ hours south of Lima. The landscape here is completely different to our expectations – we’re actually in a desert - we didn’t even realize they had deserts here in South America!

After lunch we went for a tour of the local National Park, just outside the gates of our hotel. The guide explained about the local birds, and how the area developed its unique features – very good!

After the tour we returned to our hotel and sat on the beach reading our books – a nice lazy time!

Lima, Peru: 8th February 2010

2010-02-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

Today we mooched around Miraflores waiting for the wind to pick up. Why? Because we were going paragliding!

Paragliding is like Sky diving, as you’re attached to a parachute, but instead of jumping out of a plane, you fly off a cliff – and Lima has cliffs all along its coastline.

So we walked along to a cliff-side park and met our ‘tandem jumpers’ – there was no way we were going to take off on our own!

We’d both been expecting an adrenalin filled experience, so were really surprised by just how lovely and gentle the flight was – and how amazing – not only did we fly by the cliffs and the sea, but we rose up and flew over the city - over skyscrapers - and next to huge residential blocks where you could look straight into people’s living room windows – loads of fun!

We were up in the air for 15 minutes and it really felt like we were floating, or soaring like a bird – just so relaxing. At one point I told the chap that I was attached to that it felt like being a Commodore. When I mentioned this to Matt later he collapsed in hysterics and pointed out that I meant to say Condor.

Hmm, that’s right…It didn’t feel like a 70’s funk/soul band, but more like an Andean breed of Eagle! Hey- ho, I’m Once, Twice, Three times a numpty!

Lima, Peru: 6-7th February 2010

2010-02-08T08:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we left Ecuador to fly to Lima, the capital of Peru. Lima is a huge city of over 9 million people; it’s based on the coast, so has lots of beaches, and is hot and bustly. We’re staying in the Miraflores district, which has lots of nice bars and restaurants.

Today we went to the central area of the city, a couple of kilometers away, starting off in the Plaza del Armes, which is home to the cathedral and President’s Palace.

Our timings were immaculate as we arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards – and then a huge parade!

We still don’t know what the parade was for (maybe to celebrate our arrival?), but it seemed that half of the city’s inhabitants had dressed in amazing costumes and turned out to entertain the other half – it was spectacular, a riot of music and colour – and it went on for hours, with different groups of people dancing around and around the square.

After an hour or so we left to check out the San Francisco monastery, where we had a tour of the church and old cloisters – and the catacombs, home to 25,000 skeletons – a real contrast to see this after having seen such a party a few minutes before! We then went to the Museum of the inquisition, and saw the torture chambers where people were bullied into Catholicism by the Spanish (nice…).

After those we returned to the Plaza del Armes to find the Parade still in full swing and stayed for another couple of hours watching the handsome men and tarty girls living it up!

Cuenca, Ecuador: 5th February 2010

2010-02-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Today we took a day-trip out of the town to visit the Inca ruins at Ingapirca. On the way we saw lots of mountains and people in their traditional outfits tending sheep and llamas - and the women washing their clothes in the rivers. It really was pretty.

We also stopped at a church high up on a hill with a magnificent view.

The ruins themselves were pretty cool – they were the Inca Temple of the Sun dating back 600 years and also a Temple of the Moon from a much older civilization, dating back 3,000 years. From the air the 2 complexes form the shape of a puma!

We also visited the ‘Inca Face’ which is hewn into the Cliffside a short distance from the temples. Nobody knows how old it is, or if indeed it’s Inca or from an older time.

We were joined on the trip by 2 lovely Norwegians, Linda, 42 and her daughter Rebecca, 17, who are spending 9 weeks in Ecuador learning the language and working on various animal conservation projects. We got on well so invited them to join us for dinner back in town in the evening.

We’d decided that as we were in Ecuador we ought to try the local specialty of Cuy…that’s Guinea Pig – yep, the cute cuddly type that people keep as pets!

They come roasted and taste a bit like chicken crossed with Pork. They’re also quite greasy, chewy and gristly – so not particularly pleasant to eat – but when in Rome!

We followed the main course with a dessert of cheese in treacle, which was odd, and the local tipple ‘Canelazo’ which is served hot in a tea pot and drunk out of shot glasses – it was really strong and made us all quite merry – the tea pot lasting out to 4 or 5 shots each, a $5, bargain!