In The Jungle...

As if I hadn't travelled enough last week, I thought I'd cram it all in again this week! The bus ride to Lago Agrio last Sunday night was relatively straightforward, although it has been a while since I have been on a road quite that bumpy! I managed to get a bit of sleep, in between remembering about a bus crash in Ecuador on the news last year and wondering which road in particular it involved... Sorry Mum! We arrived a little before 7am and it was absolutely heaving it down! I was well prepared though, and I immediately put on my Vietnamese poncho to protect me and my bags as I walked to the tour meeting point. Believe me, it did in fact feel as if I was back in Hanoi last November again!!!

At the hotel, I met Doris (Switzerland) and Connor & Al (USA) and we chatted to pass the time until someone came to meet us. None of us knew at what time that would be, but we agreed that it would most likely be at least an hour after that, even if we did know! Luckily, the rain had eased off and the sun had come out by the time the bus arrived. It took a few hours to then make it to El Puente, at the Cuyabeno Reserve entrance. There are extensive road constructions in progress all the way there, so it was another bumpy ride! We paid our park entry fees, gratefully utilised the bathrooms, had a boxed lunch and loaded ourselves and our bags onto motor canoes. We were given large ponchos at that point, but the rubber boots would come later on, so I made sure I was armed with polyethene bags to cover my shoes if necessary. Well, they are my only pair and they have to last another couple of months yet!

It was a pleasant journey downstream, which I spent chatting with Connor, and we were lucky to only get rained on for the last stretch! The poncho was appreciated, but not entirely efficient, so I ended up with a wet backside, but it could have been worse. I then caused great amusement amongst my companions when I swathed my feet in plastic! Erika had told me that there would be a fair walk from the canoe to the lodge, and that sandals would be inadequate - as it turned out, the jetty was part of the lodge itself and everything was connected by boardwalks, but I was determined to use the bags after all the effort I had gone to to obtain them!!!

It was mid-afternoon by that point and we had free time to settle into to our huts. Just before sunset, we boarded the canoes again (which was to become a very regular part of our routine for the week) and headed to Laguna Grande. There we saw river dolphins and Hiram, one of the lodge's guides, enticed a large caiman close to the other canoe with so meat! Because we were going to swim in the lake afterwards, I didn't bother to take my camera, much to my annoyance as there was a spectacular sunset on one side of the sky, with an amazing rainbow on the other! So amazing, that there were 3 rainbows visible, something that I have never seen before! it was rather chilly by that point, so I wans't going to bother to swim after all, but once everyone else from the canoe had jumped in and assured my that the water was lovely and warm, I caved! Wel, how often do you get to swim in a black lake, complete with caimans and piranhas, in the Amazon rainforest!!! It was still quite cold, so I didn't last long, and then the heavens opened again, so I threw the poncho over my bikini and shivered all the way back to the lodge before towelling off!

At dinner, we met our guide, Lenny, for the first time as he had been out all day with the group we would join for the rest of the tour. Connor and Al were also booked in for five days, so we would spend the rest of the week together and we also met Javier (USA), whose travel plans that day hadn't gone quite a smoothly! The food was good and it was a really enjoyable meal... until I looked up! Right above where I was sitting was a large tarantula on the ceiling! Trust me to find one on the very first day! Luckily, it didn't move, but I was certainly ready to make a hasty exit if necessary!

Damn Big Caterpillar!!!

On Tuesday, we covered ourselves in mosquito repellent and walked through the forest for a few hours. Lenny was a great guide and we spotted night monkeys, howler monkeys and a sloth! Admittedly, the sloth looked like a nest, then (with binoculars) a huge ball of wet fur, but it was great to see one in the wild! I also saw a toucan, just seconds before it flew away over the trees. That afternoon, we took to the water again for a spot of piranha fishing! I had several bites, but each time, my line came up empty, so at first, we were simply feeding them! However, I eventually felt a huge tug and I began to haul in something rather heavy! We were all stunned when I finally pulled it above the water level - I didn't realise piranhas grew that big, although we only had enough time to say "Wow!" as it then wriggled free! It was probably a good 30cm in length. Our luck soon changed and we all eventually managed to catch at least one or two, taking several photos before putting them back into the river. As you would expect, they have a lot of teeth, but several sets which go all the way down their throats. Don't put your finger down there is all I can say! It was then time for another sunset (with camera, but not as impressive) before heading back.

On Wednesday, we had a full day ahead of us, visiting a local community. The weather was glorious as we set off downstream in the canoe and we had been extremely lucky so far. It had rained on and off but never when we were in the middle of an activity, and we had got back from our walk on Tuesday mere minutes before it really poured down. Hiram's group weren't so lucky... As we made a pit stop en route to the village, I unfortunately felt quite weak. A nasty headache had settled in and my muscles felt trembly. I didn't really want to admit it to myself, but it felt like the start of a fever, and of course, my first thoughts were about Dengue! Of course, what a story that would make for the grandkids, but really not something I wanted to go down with! I kept my fingers crossed and tried to make the most of the day.

Once at the village, we just had enough time to put on our ponchos and make it to shelter before another huge deluge. It was clear to see why it is called rainforest! Once it had eased off, we watched a village girl (whose name I have forgotten) uproot a manioc tree and harvest the tubers. Back in her hut, she then showed us how it is then prepared to make cassava, a kind of flatbread that is an important staple of indigenious Amazonian communities. It was fascinating, although by this point, my head was exploding and the smoke from the fire was making it worse. Please, please, don't be ill in the middle of the jungle!!!

Making Manioc Bread

That afternoon, Lenny guided us through a different part of the forest where we saw different plants and some more animals. we also saw a lot of mud - thank goodness for the wellies - and becuase I was getting rather weak by that point, my co-ordination had gone and so I walked right into an overhanging branch, Of course, my instant reaction was to grab the branch to protect my head, shame it was covered in 3 inch thorns! Ouch! I was glad to make it to the end of the walk where we visited a local shaman. He explained how he became a shaman and demonstrated a ritual for identifying illnesses, for which I volunteered. I'm not sure if he picked up on my banging headache or not! Luckily, we didn't have to take the same path back through the mud to the canoe, as we were now further upstream and the boat was waiting for us. Back at the lodge, I knew that things were bad as I had very little appetite and struggled to finish dinner. I went to bed early and then awoke a few hours later with a burning temperature... please, don't be Dengue fever!

On Thursday morning, I was till feeling quite rough, the headache was still hanging around but I managed to eat breakfast. Thankfully, our day was to be quite leisurely. We tok the motor canoe back to the lake, where we switched to dug-out canoes and then paddled around for a few hours. It was very peaceful and Lenny spotted more sloths and birdlife. I felt much better by that point and that evening, we watched sunset again before searching for caimans after dark. We were all armed with torches and we soon spotted pairs of red eyes moving towards the boat. After a few minutes, a rather large caiman surfaced next to my seat, less than a metre away!

White Caiman, Laguna Grande

Today has been a long day! I woke up at 2.30am with a strange feeling and I couldn't decide whether I needed to vomit, or, well... the other end! Our room in the lodge had a private bathroom, but being a simple hut, it was barely partioned off. Also, all the rooms in our hut were separated only by thin wooden panels that didn't reach the ceiling, so I was practically in a room with at least 8 other people. Not convenient. Not wanting to cause any noise in the hut (and not wanting to be overheard either), I armed myself with a toilet roll, put on my wellies and crept out into the jungle... like a bear in the woods! That wasn't a success and so I just had to return to the bathroom. It was about 4am by this point and I needed to sleep, but I couldn't get my wellies out, not without making a lot of noise as they had suctioned themselves onto my feet! I therefore couldn't get back into bed (which was a good job really, as I had noticed a cockroach crawling in earlier on), so I got into the hammock hanging in the porch.

I'd barely managed to get to sleep when I was awakened at 5.30 to go birdwatching! Drat it! Off we set at sunrise to the lake for the last time, before returning for breakfast. As I was packing, I then managed to bang my head on the bunk above my bed FIVE times, at which point the jungle air turned blue! I also managed to obtain some Imodium from another family as I was not looking forward to the journey ahead: 1½ hours in the motor canoe, 2½ in a bus back over the bumpy roads to Lago Agrio and then an overnight journey to Quito before then taking yet another bus to Tulcán at the Colombian border!

Anyway, the day hasn't been too bad, just a little arduous and no accidents thus far! The tour driver dropped us off at the bus terminal, where I was pleased to find that there was a direct service to Tulcán, saving me a fair bit of time and money! Unfortunately, I now have to wait 7 hours before it departs! So, I have managed to find an internet cafe and the owner has very kindly let me leave my bags here while I wait. Good job really as I have heard that Lago Agrio is Ecuador's second most dangerous town and I didn't fancy a trip to the cash machine loaded p with all my bags! He closes at 7pm though, so I will still have a fair wait, but the bus company's office is next door, so I can wait there. I now just have to survive the overnight ride to the border... and then make it across in one piece!

Baños & Otavalo (and a little more Quito!)

My trip to Baños was relatively brief, but I managed to pack most of the main sights in! After tucking into a lovely breakfast of pancakes for the second time this week, I met Batia (Israel) in my dorm. She said that she knew me from somewhere, but I was certain I'd never seen her before! "Are you sure it was me, I was a brunette a few days ago?!" I asked! It turns out that we'd been at the same hostel in Cuenca, and although the rest of the gang had met up with her, I only knew of her as "The Israeli Girl!" After finally becoming properly acquainted, we met up with Nick (USA) and Eeva (Finland) and hired mountain bikes. It took a while to get organised, but eventually we were off on the road towards Puno. This road winds down through the mountains past several waterfalls - many people bike most or all of the way, then come back on a bus with the bike strapped to the roof! I wasn't convinced I'd make it all that far, especially as it was gone noon before we set off, but I was certainly up for the ride!

The scenery was beautiful, although there were more uphill sections than we had anticipated! I was surprised by how far we'd gone in an hour, and I decided to continue on to the main waterfall ahead of the others, while they took a cable car across the valley. I made it to Rio Verde just as it started to rain, so it seemed a perfect opportunity to stop for a cheese toastie, and with my new-found Spanish skills, I managed to ask if it was possible to have some tomato on it as well! After lunch, despite being right at the start of the path to the waterfall, I decided I couldn't be bothered with it after all and so I took a truck back to Baños! Well, I'd had a nice ride and got some fresh air, what more did I need? Besides, I'll be at Iguazu Falls soon enough, and that'll certainly tick the waterfall box!

Baños

That evening, I met Dena and Lorna (USA) and we all headed out for dinner. It turned out to be one of those typical travelling moments when the group is bigger than 3 - no one can agree on where to eat, so way too much time is wasted wandering around aimlessly! Eventually, we found a hole-in-the-wall that served tacos and burritos. After my splurging in Cuenca, it was good to find a cheap place for dinner, but I enjoyed my beef taco so much, I ordered a chicken burrito as well! Good job they didn't sell desserts!

On Thursday, I went to the hot springs with Dena and Lorna, a must-do for any trip to Baños! It wasn't particularly scenic as I had expected, but the water is pumped in directly from the volcanoes nearby and is naturally hot (and yellowish-green from all the minerals!) We spent some time in the hot and warm pools, taking a freezing cold shower in between each. Well, I certainly went right in under the cold water, but the others kind of tickled their arms a bit under it! I even managed four laps in the the coldest pool, which made my neck ache a bit! It was good to jump back into the warm one again! After a hour or so, we were nicely relaxed and headed back to the hostel. We passed a massage place on the way, and agreed to come back later for a bit of pampering!

That afternoon, I tried to organise a white-water rafting day-trip, but I had no luck! This was something that I really wanted to do in Baños as Anh had done it here and had a great time! Plus, if I could raft here, I meant that I could skip Tena and get to Colombia sooner! Unfortunately, since Anh had been here, the water level in the river was too high and that section was now closed! That meant I could only take a half-day trip and at a maximum of Grade III. Now, I tried Grade III in New Zealand and it was way too boring, I NEED adrenalin these days! In fairness, in NZ the water level was extremely low, so hopefully it would be more exciting in Baños during the rainy season.

Now that I knew that the full-day option was out of the question, it meant that I could go that afternoon and leave for Quito on Friday morning! But there weren't enough people around to warrant a trip. Eventually, I managed to find some people who were interested but they chickened out when they realised there would only be three of us, plus the guide, in the raft. Wimps, they thought it would be too much hard work with just 4 people! So, I could only go on Friday morning - damn it, had I have known, I would have gone that morning instead. The pressure to move fast again has been mounting as I want to have as much time in Colombia as possible. Plus, once in Quito, I would need time to visit tour operators to organise a trip into the jungle, and then set off as soon as possible. I want to go deep into the jungle and that always requires a minimum of four days. Of course, the easy option would have been to take a trip from Puyo, but that would be into secondary forest only - I had decided that, as I have seen rainforest before in Thailand and Australia, that if I was going to do it over here, I should do it properly!

Anyway, I spent the rest of Thursday afternoon hanging around in the hostel and wandering around the town. That evening, we did go out for a massage; eventually, once the girls had got back from their canyoning trip and the pizza that was supposed to take 15 minutes (but took 30!) finally arrived! It was very enjoyable, although I was a little concerned by their choice of relaxing music. At first, I thought that I could hear roadworks, until it became clear it was on a CD! It did change into birdsong (crows???) and then more soothing rainfall. Shame it reverted back to farmyard animals by the end!

On Friday, I had another lovely breakfast, checked out and took all my belongings to Geotours. Once we had been given our equipment, off we piled into a pick-up truck, with me in the front squashed between the driver and guide, trying to avoid the gearstick at all costs! Ah, the joys of backpacking! It took quite a while to get to the river, and it was gone 11am before we actually made it into the water, but it was clear from the speed of the river that it wouldn't be boring! In fact, I was glad at that point that I hadn't been able to go higher than Grade III! It was good fun and the scenery was great, but I was disappointed to be finished after only 50 minutes! Once on terra firma, I decided that it was still too tame after all, and now I will not raft agin until I can do at least Grade IV!!!

I made it back to Baños just after 2pm. The next bus to Quito was at 2.30, the next one at 3.50. Of course, I'd spent most of the return journey clockwatching, in the hope I'd be able to get the earlier one. After stopping for one of the group to jump off a bridge, my hopes faded! Imagine my glee, when after getting changed at Geotours and collecting my bags, I had ten minutes to make it to the bus station round the corner! I arrived there and was immediately greeted by touts for the Quito bus. I made it onto the 2.30 service with no problems, and despite being warned that that company takes 5 hours to Quito, I was there in 3½ as promised! Then, it was easy to take the Ecovia service to my hostel, guided by GPS as I had forgotten the name of the stop I needed to get off at!

Once I'd checked in again at the Blue House, I dropped off my stuff and headed straight to Gullivers Expeditions! They had been good for my Galápagos trip, so I hoped that they also organised jungle tours! Indeed they did and I found out that the soonest that I would be able to go would be Monday morning, and that applied to all the operators. Phew! I hadn't missed out by spending that extra morning in Baños! I took a leaflet to browse and asked for directions to Otavalo for the next day! That had also been something that was playing on my mind. I wanted to go there to see the famous Saturday market, but that would mean only getting to Colombia next weekend on Sunday. Then I had a brainwave - rather than stay there next week en route to the border, I could just go for the day as it is only a few hours away by bus! Brilliant, more time saved!

So, I got up early yesterday morning, walked to the Trole line, got lost as I was improvising without a map again, found the Trole stop, got to the terminal and was on my way by ten past seven! I arrived in Otavalo by 9.45, and although I was dropped off in the middle of nowhere, rather than at the bus terminal, the driver pointed me in the right direction! Soon, I was at the market but really needed to eat and use the bathroom by this point! Me being me, I didn't ask for help, but wandered around like an idiot for over an hour, finding neither a restaurant or a bathroom! Where are the humitos street-vendors when you need them??? I eventually bought some bread rolls, and as I sat eating them, a lady started to chat to me. I managed a decent conversation with her with my new Spanish skills and asked her where I could go to the toilet. She also warned me that there were many thieves in the market and to take care. I assured her that I always did, and in fact, I had my camera down my jumper, tucked under my arm.

Otavalo Market

At last, with directions, I could relieve myself and then start to really enjoy the market! It was hot and sunny by now, so I had tied my jacket around my waist. As I walked along, I got a strange feeling. It was like when your blood runs cold, but I was hot instead. There was a girl next to me who seemed to be too close, and so I instinctively held on to my coat pocket. She then seemed to be on my other side, so I grabbed that pocket to and promptly crossed the road away from her. I was probably imagining it, but I decided to wear my coat again, depsite the heat.

Once relieved (in a typically dirty South American public toilets, but of a standard I had not seen since Bolivia!), it was time to enjoy the market properly! I wandered around the stalls of fruit, vegetables, chickens, dreamcatchers, friendship bands, jewellery, baggy trousers, tablecloths, pan pipes, tapestries... so many colours!!! I spent way too much time procrastinating over some pan pipes, but I decided that the cheap ones were too tacky, and the professional ones were too expensive, especially as they would never be played but probably hung on a wall at best!

I didn't bother buying them in the end, and when the rain started just before 1pm, it was time for me to head back to Quito, with only photos as souveniers. Or so I thought... on the bus, I noticed a rip in my jacket. I thought that I had caught it on the luggage shelf, but then I realised... the girl in the market had slashed my pocket with a knife! She hadn't got through the lining and therefore hadn't been able to swipe my GPS, but I was so annoyed! I was lucky, but she'd ruined my raincoat from New Zealand and now I would have to buy some heavy duct tape to repair it!

Back in Quito, I headed into Gullivers again to book the jungle trip and to see Erika (as she wasn't there the day before). She nearly didn't recognise me with blonde hair! She was again very helpful, and when I found out that I would be back in Quito late at night after the trip, but could then take a night bus directly to the Colombian border, I booked a full 5 day tour, which includes a visit to a shaman, deep in the forest! I then needed to buy tape to fix my coat, batteries for my torch and plastic bags to put all my stuff into (and to wear over my shoes before I get given a pair of rubber boots!) Of course, by this time on a Saturday afternoon, everything was shut, so I had to take the Ecovia line to the other end of Quito to a big shopping mall, an hour before it closed! Luckily enough, I found the right batteries and bought some bin bags and ziplock bags to hopefully keep everything dry in the jungle!

Today has been one of those hanging-around days! I've managed to kill most of the time before I catch the night bus to Lago Agrio, where my tour starts tomorrow, by spending over an hour reorganising my bags, and then another 5-6 hours online getting all my computing up to date before I am without technology for another week! Next time I am online, I hope I will be in Colombia, although I am not 100% what the bus situation will be in Quito on Friday night. In Tuesday, two new modern bus terminals will open, but no one can tell me which one I will arrive at once I am back from Lago Agrio, nor which one the bus to the border will operate from. That could pose a major problem as it is a long way between the two, and if the inter-terminal shuttle is not yet operational, it could be $20 in a taxi! Forget that! Anyway, I'll be deep in the Amazon from Monday afternoon until Friday afternoon, and then hopefully in Colombia by Saturday at the latest!

Watch this space - the next blog entry is likely to be quite interesting...

On The Move Again!!!

After a restless night of worrying about what time to get up and which bus to catch, I cracked at 5.50am, crept out of the dorm, collected my belongings from outside the door and got dressed in the bathroom! I grabbed a taxi outside and was in the bus station by 6.13am! As luck would have it, the next bus to Guayaquil was at half past and so I was soon on board and on my way! I was hoping to make it to there before noon, in order to then get to Puerto Lopez as early as possible, but I wasn't holding my breath... the supposed "4 hour" journey to Cuenca lasted for 5½, so imagine my surprise and delight when we reached Guayaquil on time! Then like clockwork, I was able to board a direct bus to Puerto Lopez leaving within half an hour, I couldn't have planned it any better (so once again, all that stress for nothing!) Look, I've said many times that I have changed on this trip... but I haven't had a personality transplant!!!

The next bus to Puerto Lopez was fine and by 3.30, I'd arrived, found a hostel and was off on the search for a whale-watching tour for Tuesday. The timings were perfect - the boat would leave at 10am and be back by 2pm - meaning that I could then take a bus back to Guayaquil that same day, and then overnight it to Baños! No need to stop in expensive Guaya again... and maybe I would have time to stop off at the cinema and catch Transformers 2!!! So, one I'd booked a tour, I wandered along the beach for a while, bought in some proviosns (i.e. a loaf and Coke, as per usual!) and returned to the hostel to chill out and watch a bit of Family Guy in Spanish... weird!

At the recommendation of the Lonely Planet, I had breakfast on Tuesday at The Whale Cafe in order to sample their apple and cinnamon pancakes! At last, an LP tip that didn't disappoint! After wolfing down both of them (well, I thought that a half-portion of one alone wouldn't be enough but I was wrong), smothered in real maple syrup and butter, washed down with passion fruit juice, I was pretty much set up for the day! I checked out of my hostel, put my bags into storage, ran around the town looking for someone to change a $10 note... seriously, Ecuador really needs to sort out its change issues! Fausto at the tour office kindly let me hop online to chek cinema times in Guayaquil. There was an 8.20 showing and and if I couldn't make it back for then, one at 10pm, so at least I'd get to see the movie, and then take a later bus to Baños. Excellent!

Once everyone had arrived at the office, we headed down to the beach to catch the boat. I wasn't quite sure what was taking so long though, as it wasn't there when we arrived and we seemed to wait for ages before we could then board. I was starting to worry - it was around 11am before we actually left the bay, the guide only spoke Spanish and then we seemed to be heading in the opposite direction to where I was expecting... oh no, not another tour that was going to be a let-down! We did seem to be making an effort to find some whales at least and of course I knew that with wild animas, there are no guarantees. Eventually, we saw our first whale, far off in the distance! I was pleased but secretly hoping that we'd get a closer look at some point, although from then one, every time we spotted one, but the time we'd turned the baot around and headed that way, it had disappeared from sight.

We then headed north toward the area I was expecting we'd visit but time was ticking and I had a terrible feeling that I'd not get a good look at these amazing creatures. Thank goodness our luck changed as we sighted one much closer to the boat and out it jumped of the water, just like on documentaries! From then on, we were much more successful and I spent a good hour videoing them - well, it was nearly impossible to photograph them as I needed to be zoomed in as far as possible and there was no way of knowing where they would surface. Besides, a photo cannot to justice to the way they move, it was incredible. Before it was time to head back, we were lucky enough to see a pair surface close to the boat and I managed to catch it on video. Yes, you guessed it... I got a bit choked up again and had to really concentrate on keeping my camera still! I was so pleased that the trip had been worth it.

Once back at the beach just after 2pm, I raced back to the hostel to collect my bags and then off to the bus terminal to catch the next bus back to Guayaquil. I had originally planned to take the next direct bus, but on reflection, it seemed better to take the first one to Jipijapa and change there as the buses to Guaya are so frequent, that would be the quicker option in the end. Imagine my annoyance when, after choosing not to take the 3.30 direct bus, the 2.45 to Jipijapa, that I had boarded, was still in Puerto Lopez at 3.20! Damn it, only 10 minutes ahead! However, I still had luck on my side as once I got to the terminal, there was fast bus to Guaya about to leave and off I went again! It was a really nice bus too, they even gave me a tag for my bag for the first time in Ecuador! As it made no stops or pick-ups along the way, I reached Guaya just after 7pm. Perfect, enough time to store my bags, find out about night buses to Baños and take a taxi to Cinemark!

Things then started to unravel slightly at that point - Guayaquil bus terminal has no left luggage facilites, so I would habe to take my backpack to the cinema! There were overnight services however, but the last one was at 11.30pm. Not ideal, as I would have little leeway with the film finishing and making it back again, but then I found one company that had a 1am service - a backup plan!!! The information kiosk had told me that a taxi to the cinema shoud be about $2, so off I went to flag one down and was quoted $4!!! No chance! As I started to walk away, he dropped to $3, but no lower, and despite being in a bit of a rush, I wasn't having any of it! So once again, I found myself wandering down Avendida de las Americas loaded up with all my belongings! However, once away from the terminal, I flagged down a taxi for $2 and was at the cinema in no time!

Imagine my horror, when at 7.40pm, I arrived at the box office to find that the showings in English that night were at 7.10 (not 8!!!) and 10.10! Damn, I had checked the times just that morning... but then I realised they were for the cinema at Mall del Sur, not Mall del Sol. Just 2 letters out! The 10.10 showing was due to finish at 12.45, giving me just 15 minutes to leave the cinema (with all my bags, assuming that I would even be allowed in with them), get back to the terminal, buy my ticket and board! Phew! It was a dilemma, as I didn't fancy the prospect of being stuck in the terminal overnight, but then again, I'd come all that way especially to watch Transformers. I threw caution to the wind and bought a ticket depsite having to then wait for 2½ hours and maybe having to spend $15 on a hostel in Guayaquil, should I get stranded!

The wait wasn't all that bad. Pizza Hut kindly spent over 30 minutes preparing my order that should have taken 5, so that was some time killed, and then I spent the next 2 hours writing my diary, that has been neglected for way too long! Unfortunately, in that time I also found that my Panama hat doesn'tkeep its shaped after being rolled up after all, and the huge queue that had formed behind me outside the cinema was for Transformers. I was so engrossed in my diary writing that, despite being at the cinema 150 minutes early, I was now at the back of the line, loaded up with my bags, hoping that I would be admitted and then be able to find a decent seat!

Thankfully, the queue was fast-moving, the ticket attendant didn't bat an eyelid at all my luggage, and I found a seat in the middle that was next to an area where I could put my bags and no-one would trip over them in the dark! All I had to do now was watch the film, not the clock, and make it back to the terminal by 1am! Fingers crossed! Now, I had been waiting for 2 years to see this film, ever since I saw the first one and loved it, but someone on Facebook very kindly told me it was rubbish. Not a good move as I am unfortunately influenced by bad reviews and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would in the end. I don't know if that is becuase I was expecting it to be poor, or if it genuinely was, but I will be haunting that guy from Facebook for spoiling it for me!

I usually watch the credits of films, but in this case, once the director's name appeared, I was loaded up and out of the theatre in seconds, throught the mall at full pelt and in a taxi within minutes! At that hour, there was little traffic and I actually made it back to the terminal with 15 minutes to spare! Success, I wouldn't be stuck in Guayaquil any longer! Then it turns out that the bus would be leaving at 1.15 after all and there had never been any need to rush! Furthermore, the other it never occurred to me that although the last night buses from the other companies departed at 11.30 that there would then be morning buses starting after midnight, so I was never going to be without options!

Oh well, after running up to the second floor of the terminal (as the escalators AND lifts were no longer operating), my bag was soon loaded under the bus and I was ready to board! Thankfully, a kind guy pointed out that I had put it onto the wrong one - even though it was the right company, the right bay and the right destination, there were two services operating at 1.15 and I was supposed to be on the second one! Anyway, it all worked out in the end, the ride to Ambato was fine and I managed to sleep for most of it! There I had to change buses and take a local service to Baños, but I got here just after 9am this morning, found the hostel I wanted and they had dorms available! Yippee! Unfortunately, the dorm now STINKS as somehow, overnight, my backpack got soaked in fish juice again! What are these people transporting? Some things may always remain a mystery...

Cuenca Part Two

From Wednesday onwards, the week continued in much the same way. We took our city tour which I enjoyed a lot, despite the weather being overcast and grey again and that James was stood up right in front of me the whole time!!! I therefore abandoned taking any pictures and just sat back to enjoy the ride! It was great fun, especially when the guide sounded a siren so that we knew it was time to duck down in our seats! You see, the bus had to travel down some roads with low-hanging wires and that was our cue not to get decapitated!!! At one point though, I was too busy looking at some people looking at a bus full of gringoes, and I was promptly smacked on the head with a cable! It didn't hurt and was really hilarious! That would never happen in the UK!

Mi Amiga Anh!

My Spanish lessons continued to go well, although I seemed to be getting a lot of homework for a beginner and Mery was teaching me loads of grammar and not so much vocabulary! I soon realised though that she was giving me a crash course in the basics and that I could teach myself vocab in my spare time. I'd never bother to learn the grammar by myself! I also enjoyed my first salsa class, even though it was quite fast and furious! I loved it, there I was dancing salsa in South America! The part where we had to partner up and move our arms as well as our feet wasn't quite so much fun as I just could not get the hang of it at all!!! It's surprisingly complicated! The second lesson wasn't any easier and I had to try to press on with a stitch in my ribs, I have no idea how South Americans move their hips like that!

On Thursday, I spent ages burning my photos onto DVD. Anh had kindly let me borrow her laptop to reorganise all my memory cards, and her 16GB flash drive to copy them onto. That meant that I could go straight to the internet cafe with them all ready to burn, and it saved me so much time as to take the photos directly from the camera takes hours and hours! My memory cards are just so big and I'm not sure that I have enough space left for the rest of my trip, especially as I took over 1,000 shots on the Galápagos!!! Thanks to Anh and the internet cafe, I now have a lot more space on my cards and back-up copies of the last 5 months!

On Friday, it was my last full day with Anh, so we got up early to make the most of it! However, most things don't open very early in Cuenca, so we just had to go to the German bakery again to kill some time! Whoops, I somehow ate yet another danish pastry! After that, we bought ourselves some rather fetching Panama hats (complete with "Genuine Panama Hat Made in Ecuador" labels! Then it was time for the main event of the day - getting my hair bleached blonde!!! As luck would have it, the hairdressers opened at 8am, so we could have gone there first thing! I had been thinking about doing it for months and, with only 12 weeks of travelling to go, I thought it was now or never as this is the time to be crazy! A little over an hour later, I emerged with a platinum-blonde do that had been blowed-dried into the most ridiculous style ever!!! Nobody on Earth has had their hair like that since 1960, all I was missing was some rollers, hairnet and a fag! I loved the new colour, but I just had to go back to the hostel at once to wash it and put some gel in!!!

For my last Spanish class that afternoon, Mery and I spent the second half in the town looking for traditional street food. Her usual vendor wasn't where she expected her to be, so it took a while to find another, but it was worth the wait! I tried tortillas and humitos, which are made from minced corn, cheese, onions and butter. The tortilla version is fried on a griddle, similar to a potato cake, and for the humitos, the mixture is wrapped inside maize leaves and then steamed. Both were absolutely delicious and I enjoyed an afternoon outside, speaking Spanish! Well, it's now not bad for a beginner at least, I am able to string sentences together and my understanding has greatly improved. It was certainly worth spending some time in one place to take lessons.

Over the weekend, I have mainly been relaxing (and stressing out a bit, but more of that in a moment!) Anh's friends from Quito came to the hostel on Friday night and so, she decided to stay for a few day's more, yippee!!! We went out to try guinea pig on friday night, but Scott had selected the most expensive restaurant possible! I have heard there is practically no meat at all on a guinea pig, and as much as I wanted to try this traditional Andean food, there was no way I was going to spend $19 on one! I settled for a nice bottle of Coke instead while Anh, James, Scott, Adam (Australia) and Jorg (Germnay/New Zealand) opted for slightly less expensive options! on Saturday, we headed to the market to buy meat and veg for dinner as Jorg is a professional chef! I also tried to find the humitos lady again, so off I went with Anh so she could sample these delicious snacks as well. Unfortunately, she was closed and we had practically walked to the opposite side of town just to buy them! Not to worry, we stopped at a little knick-knacks market on the way home, only to find a lady right opposite or hostel who sold humitos!!! They weren't as good as the ones the day before though!

Last night, the meal that Jorg cooked was absolutely amazing! The beef was juicy, pink in the middle and melted in the mouth, accompanied with perfectly cooked vegetables! it was a miracle we had any room for the main course as we'd eaten so much of the delicious homemade guacamole and chips that the guys had prepared for starters! Of course, I still made sure I had room for dessert - delicious fresh fruit! It was great to have a fantastic meal like that! This morning, however, we all felt a little bit... well, I don't know how to put it tactfully, but let's just say that the caramelised onions and garlic were quite rich!!!

The guys headed to some local markets for the day, but as iut has been my last full day in Cuenca, I decided to stay here and actually get some photos of the town! My week has been so filled with lessons and eating and relaxing, that I haven't anything to show for it! Well, to be honest, I needed to take a break and relax and I really love this town. I would definitely come back to Cuenca again in the future and could easily spend a few months there! I did get some nice pictures as the sun finally came out this morning and I also took a video of a very interesting perfomance in the main square - in a nutshell, young head-banging Ecuadorians, wearing rainbow-coloured balaclavas, playing flutes and panpipes, plus a demented local man doing what can only be described as a 'trolley dance'... I've spent the remainder of the day using Anh's laptop again, trying to get all my computing up to date!

Cuy (that's roast guinea pig to you and me)

I finally had guinea pig earlier! It was still expensive at $7, but that's not a bad price! I'm glad I did it, but I did go all nauseous at first, maybe it was the sight of a whole rodent on my plate. Once I'd binned the head, I felt better and tucked in! OH MY GOSH, whoever said there wasn't much meat on them was no wrong, I would say there was literally 4 tiny mouthfuls on the whole thing, one from each leg! Taste-wise, it was like gamey chicken, but with the texture of thighs rather than breast meat. I hate chicken thighs, so it wasn't the best thing I've ever eaten. Oh well, box ticked! Now though, I'm stressed about leaving tomorrow. It's been 10 days since I was last on a bus! Of course, I will be fine, but I want to go to Puerto Lopez to see humpback whales. To do this, there is no direct bus from Cuenca, I have to go via Guayaquil. It will be a long day and I will need to get to Puerto Lopez at a reasonable hour in order to book a tour for Tuesday morning.

I will have to set off really early in the morning from the hostel, but I don't want to be wandering around town in the dark with my backpack. I should get a taxi, of course! Then, once I have been to P.L., I will need to go back to Guayaquil in order to then travel on to Baños and I'd like to get there as soon as possible, so I can be in Quito by next weekend. I have had a wonderful time in Cuenca, but I have stayed here longer than I originally planned, so I feel a bit of pressure to getting moving fast again! I'm not 100% sure why I am so stressed about it, I think it is becuase I have to go back through Guayaquil twice more and I am proably going to have to spend at least one more night there! It is so expensive there and the bus terminal is so far out of the main city! Oh well, on the bright side, if I do need to spend the night there, I can go to the cinema to watch Transformers 2! It was released here in Cuenca on Thursday, but only in Spanish. My lessons were good, but not that good...

Cuenca Part One

I had woken up early after spending the night in the expensive, hot & noisy room in Guayaquil, so there was no need to hang around! I took a cold shower, got my things together and walked to the bus terminal (which of course, I had stumbled across the day before during my insane wanderings!) I found the ticket desks and within minutes, I'd bought a ticket, made it up to the second floor of the terminal and had boarded the bus! Perfect timing, in four hours I would be in Cuenca! 5½ hours later, I finally arrived, in a less amiable mood! Well, in my book, a spade is a spade, so if it is going to be a longer journey, just tell me! It didn't help that after 3 hours, the bus was completely full and the guy stood in the aisle next to me thought it was acceptable to lean on me. Not just my seat, on ME, and no amount of huffing and puffing and jerking of my chair made any difference!

It was good to get off the bus in Cuenca and of course, I did my usual trick of walking straight out of the terminal, avoiding the taxis and touts! I took out my GPS so I knew which way was north, and thus I set off in a westerly direction. I was off my map and so had to wing it at first, but soon I was on the right street and found the hostel I was looking for. It was a bargain, just $5 a night and after an easy check-in, I went out looking for Spanish schools! It was only after I left the hostel that I spotted the one I shoould have checked into across the square... I meant to go to Hostal Norte, but I'd seen Hostal Estrella del Norte first and went there! Well, the "Estrella Del" part was in miniscule letters! Oh well, the right one looked much nicer, but probably more expensive, so I'd be better off in the wrong one after all!

The lady in the Tourist Information centre was really helpful and gave me a list of all the recommended Spanish schools in Cuenca. They were a little more expensive than I had anticipated, but I went along to Simon Bolivar Spanish School, as their Quito branch had been highly recommended. To study individually, it was going to be 60% more than I had budgetted for, but they were running a promotion whereby it was half price for lessons for 2 people, making it 40% less!!! However, it would all depend on another guy sharing with me and he would only be in Cuenca on Saturday, so until then, I was unable to book anything!

I then had some time to kill, so I thought I had better check the damage to my bank account after my Galápagos trip! To my absolute amazement, I was considerably better off than expected and so I decided that I would return to the school the next day and book the individual lessons and treat myself! Well, the school also offered free internet and free salsa lessons as well! I then had a lazy afternoon wandering around Cuenca, I instantly liked the town and I also found a lovely hostel to move to for the rest of the week. That evening, I had a great chicken kebab and corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor and felt really quite good about the week ahead!

The New Cathedral

On Saturday, I headed back to the school to organise my lessons, but it was closed. Oh dear... well of course, it was the weekend, but Pamela (the girl I'd spoken to) never mentioned that! I had a few hours to kill before I could move hostels, so I started the mammoth task of uploading my Galápagos photos, before collecting my bags. The hostal had been fine, a bit on the shabby side, but I think it may have doubled as a brothel as well! There were some interesting noises coming from the adjacent room and there was a random guy hanging around in the lobby, outside the door - must have been the pimp, and all at 11.30am! It was good to move to Posada del Rio, an absolutely lovely little place with friendly staff and a nice, cheap dorm! There I met Scott (USA) and spent the remainder of the day bending his ear (no change there then) and fretting about my Spanish lessons as the school didn't open that afternoon either! How was I supposed to start first thing on Monday morning???

Sundays in Cuenca are completely dead, so I stocked up on food the night before from the nearby supermarket and decided to use the free time to finish uploading my photos. Luckily, I had received an email from Pamela saying that I could come along to the school on Monday afternoon to register and start classes, so that was a load off my mind! It then took four hours to get all the photos onto my Flickr page AND I had found a computer with a DVD burner that I was able to use myself! Fantastic, as I would now be able to back up all my photos from February onwards!! Not fantastic, I would have to return later in the week and spend several more hours doing that! Once back at the hostel that afternoon, I was shattered and took it easy. A new girl, Anh (Germany), had checked into the dorm. I was supposed to be cooking dinner that night, but I spent the next few hours bending her ear instead!

On Monday began a week of studying, eating, wandering, relaxing and having a genuinely great time! I'd had a bowl of granola (the same as on the Darwin!) for breakfast, but I joined Anh and James (USA) at a German bakery. Of course, I had to have a danish pastry, it would have been rude not to! We then headed to Bananas Cafe next door to the hostel, where everyone who stays there tends to hang out! James and Scott have been helping the lovely ladies there to develop their menu, and so I had my third breakfast of the morning!!! I then got ready for the rest of the day, and headed to the school to register and begin my lessons!

My first lesson went well and my teacher, Mery, was lovely. I had ideally wanted to study in the mornings, but I'd enjoyed the class and decided to stick with her in the afternoons. However, after a little confusion as to whether or not that would be possible, it transpired that Mery also teaches privately. In order for her to continue with me in the afternoons, she would have to come into the school and be paid much less and it would also be costing me much more that way as well. Unfortunately, our hands were tied! If only I had known about her before I had committed to 20 hours at the school - and she even had adverts in my hostel that I hadn't noticed!

Tuesday was another lovely day, and the sun was out! Cuenca is one of Ecuador's rainiest places and so far, I had been lucky for it just to have been mainly overcast. James, Anh and I headed to the main square (which is my favourite in all of South America so far) to take an open-topped bus tour of the city. Unfortunately, all the top deck seats had been reserved and so we decided to go the next day instead, rather than be sat on the bottom deck inside the bus! That gave Anh and I some time to kill before my class. We headed to the main market and then treated ourself to lunch in an Indian restaurant. I had a chicken madras with rice and a naan, washed down with a Pepsi, all for only $5.55!!! That night, back at the hostel, I met up with Scott and Anh and we went out for sushi! A beautiful friendship was forming between Anh and myself, but it was starting to become expensive!

Parque Calderon

Anyway, we all had an absolutely lovely evening! I tried Norimake (I think) which is raw tuna wrapped in rice and seaweed. I have to be honest, the first bite was squishy and a bit tasteless, although it was reminiscent of Grimsby docks! However, which each bit it grew on me, especially after a liberal dunking in soy and wasabi with a piece of ginger on top! I had been wanting to try sushi for a long time and so it was good to finally do it and, as Anh assured me, in a good restaurant! That was enough splurging for one day, but then Scott asked to see the dessert menu... oh dear, I had soon comitted to a chocolate volcano and vanilla ice cream! Yikes, I had only take out a $10 note (thinking that would be more than enough) and I had accounted for most of it! In fairness, although an expensive meal by my usual backpacking standards, it was still very cheap compared to the UK and it was worth it! We did get a bit of a shock though when the bill arrived - we expected to tip but they had added on a staggering 22% for tax and service! My $10 bill was no longer adequate!

Cruising Around on the Darwin!

WHAT A WEEK! Goodness, I thought I only needed to visit the Galápagos Islands once in my lifetime, but I have to go back, it's not enough! Well, this blog entry will have to be similar to the one about Fiji, otherwise you will get bored if I tell you all about the snorkelling, swimming, eating, sunbathing.... in too much detail!

In fact, I will have to come to you with the details at a later date, but to whet your appetite, here are some photos of the most wonderful place I have ever visited:

Brown Pelican, Bachas Beach

What are YOU doing in my lagoon?

Friday 12th June - Islas Plazas & Santa Fe

Land Iguana, Plaza Sur

Sea Lions, Santa Fe

Saturday 13th June - Isla Española

Gardner Bay, Española

Albatrosses, Española

Sunday 14th June - Isla Floreana

Post Office Bay, Floreana

Sunset over Puerto Ayora

Monday 15th June - Isla Santa Cruz

Giant Tortoise, Charles Darwin Station

Tortoising Around!

Tuesday 16th June - Islas Rabida & Santiago

Red Sands of Rabida

Fur Seal - it's not a Sea Lion, honest!

Wednesday 17th June - Islas Bartolome & Sombrero Chino

Isla Bartolome

Lava Heron, Sombrero Chino

Thursday 18th June - Isla Seymour

Frigatebirds, Seymour

Blue Footed Boobies, Seymour

Glorious Galápagos!

The day had arrived and I had to get up at 4am for it: my flight to the Galápagos Islands!!! I'm not sure why I had been told to arrive at Quito airport 90 minutes before departure, when the check-in desk didn't even open for nearly an hour after that! Once through security (after having my bags examined an extra time because I was headed to the Galápagos), I bought myself some breakfast and boarded the plane. The crew served us a little choc chip muffin and soon we landed at Guayaquil, the transit stop that all flights to the Galápagos make. I had 45 minutes to wander around and pop to the loo, before reboarding.

The plane was now full of American tourists on a group holiday - I could tell because they all had engraved name badges! Goodness help me if I ever go on a trip where I have to wear a label like a 4-year old!!! Breakfast was served and it was really good, although I was so annoyed that the majority of the other passengers left most of their meals which I could have eaten three times over! After an hour or so, we began our descent and I got my first glimpse of the islands. As the plane landed on Baltra Island, I got quite choked up and was practically in tears as I walked across the tarmac - I was on the Galápagos!!!

I met Hans and Christal at the airport and we shared a taxi to Puerto Ayora, the main town on Santa Cruz. As I had taken the earliest flight possible, I'd arrived just after 9am. This was ideal, as I then had plenty of time to get over to the town to look into diving trips and to buy a ferry ticket over to Isla Isabela that afternoon. The weather was lovely; it was great to be back in a sunny place by the sea once more, especially one where pelicans, iguanas and sea lions were walking around in the fish market, hoping to steal some scraps!

That afternoon, I took a boat over to Isabela, the largest of the islands. It wasn´t the best journey I´ve ever had, and after over 2½ hours of banging up and down over big waves, trying to keep nausea at bay, it was great to disembark! I quickly found the hostel that Erika had recommended and finally had chance to rest after a day of travelling! The next day, I took a trip to Sierra Negra, the second largest volcanic crater in the world. We rode horses to the top - I WILL NEVER RIDE A HORSE AGAIN!!! Nothing major happened, but after three horse-riding excursions in 18 months, I have finally realised that:

(a) The horses are uncontrollable and only do what they want to do, especially when they only understand Spanish
(b) It is quite boring being stuck on an animal that only walks
(c) It is quite scary being stuck on an animal that only runs
(d) It really makes your bottom sore!

I think I've had a romantic notion in my head about what horse-riding should be, and only now is that ideal firmly dispelled! Anyway, after an hour of being dragged through a hedge, pushed into other horses' bottoms and, at one point, having my ankle caught in the reins of another horse at full gallop (OUCH!), we reached the summit and had a great view of the crater.

Sierra Negra

We then walked to Volcán Chico and learned about the landscape, various types of lava and how the islands were formed. It had been misty and drizzly all the way up to the summit, but as the guide has promised us, the other side of the volcano was hot and sunny... in fact, so much so, that the walk back to where we would have lunch was a little tortuous in the heat and I was glad to finally stop and take out my sandwiches! Then is was time to ride back down to the jeep, on the same horses! I swear, I am never doing it again! On the way back to Puerto Villamil, we stopped at a tortoise sanctuary where they have a breeding program.

It was then time to visit Las Tintorellas, and there we saw white-tipped reef sharks, penguins, sea lions and marine iguanas - and so close to us! Unfortunately, I hadn't realised that when I had booked a "snorkelling trip" it was actually a "lot of walking and then a tiny bit of snorkelling at 5pm when it is too dark to see much!" Nevertheless, I was much happier when I spotted some sea lions in the water and managed swim within a few metres of them, that was quite special. That night, I was quite tired and so I reorganised my backpack and had an early night, after all I had to be up at 5am the next day in order to catch the return ferry to Puerto Ayora.

Well! Let's just say that the return ferry was worse, because at 6am, your body is simply not built to cope with such upheaval. I swear, I could feel my liver and stomach banging into my intestines as we slammed over the waves! I was glad to get back to Santa Cruz and quickly found a hostel and some bananas for breakfast. I then had 3 days in Puerto Ayora to relax before my cruise and to go diving. On Monday, I hired some snorkelling gear and walked to Turtle Bay, a beautiful stretch of white sand. However, it really isn't a good place to snorkel, so there wasn't much to see! It was really chuffed though when an iguana went swimming by... you don't see that on the Med! It was a cloudy day, so I found it quite easy to fall asleep on the beach, only to be awoken when a little finch landed on my chest! First time that's happened!

Is he smiling at me?

That evening, after returning to my hostel and seeing that I'd really caught the sun, I booked a diving trip for Wednesday and wandered around the town. I bumped into Hans and Christal and joined them at their table whilst they had dinner. They are a lovely couple from Germany, now living in Canada, and I found Christal's stories to be hilarious! Hans very kindly bought me an ice cream afterwards and invited me to meet up with them again the following day. On Tuesday, I hired the snorkelling gear again and went to a new spot that I'd been told was actually good for snorkelling in!!! This time, I needed to take a water taxi across the port and walk from there. So, I waited at the pier and a dinghy sailed up. On I hopped and asked how much it cost. "Nothing!" came the reply - it was a boat from one of the cruise ships moored in the harbour and they just decide to give me a free ride as the went past!

Back on dry land, I began to walk to Las Grietas, the area to snorkel in. Luckily, I had chosen to wear my walking shoes as the path was over irregular volcanic rocks, and it took longer than I had anticipated to get there, due to having to really watch where I was walking! Once at Las Grietas, I was surprised to find a pool at the bottom of a large gorge in the rocks. It was quite a challenge to get down into the gorge, and then a greater one to get into the water without falling on the sharp lava or losing a sock/shoe/flipper down a gap between the boulders! The water was quite chilly, but incredibly clear, and it was quite special to be snorkelling in such an unusual place. Quite special until I realised that there were only about 5 fish in total in the whole pool and once again, I'd gone snorkelling in a place with nothing to see! After an hour at most, despite it being a beautiful spot, I decided it was way too cold to stay in the water with nothing to see, so I eventually managed to get out of the pool and to get dressed again, without losing a sock/shoe/flipper! I chilled out on German Beach for a little while, before taking the water taxi back again.

Today, I went scuba diving! I chose to dive at Gordon's Rocks as this is the site that is most reliable for sightings of... hammerhead sharks!!! I had three dives. I spent the first one trying not to drown as I had too many weights on my belt! Even with a fully-inflated BCD, I was still sinking and so I was using my air extremely quickly! I was worried that I would make the group have to end the dive early, but as it happened, I was still the one whose air consumption was the best! We did see two hammerheads swim past and so I can honestly say "Box ticked!" but as I was concentrating so hard on trying to breathe, I can't remember it all that well! The remaining dives were much more better as I took a weight off, but unfortunately, there were no more hammerheads! We did see an eagle ray, turtles and five large white-tips hiding in a cave beneath us!

Tonight, I've had another lovely meal with Hans and Christal, and Rune (Denmark) who I met diving today! I've also just gone to the shops to buy some food for breakfast as I will have yet another early start tomorrow, but I completely forgot that it was too late and they would be shut! I did find one that was open and I bought some Sprite for the boat trip. It took a while and a lot of confusion over the cost of the drink and the cost of the bottle deposit, but I got there in the end! Now, I don't think I will have much time back here, so I went back to the hostel to get an empty Sprite bottle that I already had, so I would at least get some money back! Well, stupid me, just because the shop was open when I went there, it didn´t mean that it would still be open when I returned, not at that time of night! So I just managed to to flag the shopkeeper (and his entire family) down in their car as they were pulling away from the store, all for 50 cents!

Well, every penny counts... I'm off on a cruise tomorrow...

Emma at the Equator!

After going to airport in Lima THREE HOURS before check-in even opened, I was relieved to finally make it through to the departure lounge! I had chosen to arrive so early, just so I could share a cab to there with some other people from my hostel, all to save a few pounds. However, I then had leftover soles which I had to change into dollars at the airport, but luckily, I actually got a fair rate on them! I then spent this on a stupidly expensive sandwich and a bottle of Coke, completely negating the benefit of sharing a taxi after all! Oh well, I was in such a good mood, I even splurged out on a huge Toblerone - maybe I was pleased to be leaving Peru? Anyway, the flight to Quito was fine and the views of the city from the plane as we approached the runway were amazing - I knew it was situated high in the Andes, but it is built on flat areas between the peaks, rather than clinging to the mountain-sides like La Paz.

After exiting baggage claim, it was obvious that the official airport taxis into the New Town were way too expensive, so I left the terminal and managed to negotiate a better deal outside. The driver, Jorge Washington (I kid you not) was friendly and we enjoyed a conversation in Spanglish on the way to my hostel. I must admit, even though my Spanish is atrocious, I am surprised by how much I have absorbed in South America so far, and we genuinely were able to communicate! Once at the hostel, I dropped off my bags and met some British guys who that day had booked a trip to the Galápagos Islands. Great! I then proceeded to pick their brains for tips and recommendations! Off I set to the nearby tour agencies to get ideas - at that stage, my plan was to take a bus to Guayaquil, flight out to the islands from there and then to just on a boat at the last minute in order to get a good price.

To cut a potentially long story short, it turned out that it was only $20 more to fly there from Quito and that I may get a cheap deal on the islands, but it may take days to find space on a boat and there would be no guarantee of getting one of a decent standard. I also found out that high season would start on June 15th and as long as I booked everything before then, it would not matter that my return flight would be after that time, it would not be any more expensive! The pressure was off! I'd heard about a standard class boat (i.e. slightly better than basic backpacker class) that would be sailing on June 11th for 8 days and it was at a great price. Admittedly, it was still much higher than I initially wanted to pay, but after checking my bank balance, I decided that for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I should probably treat myself and splash out a bit!

On Thursday morning, I went to Gulliver's Travels to see Erika, who had been so helpful the evening before, to go ahead and book it! She seemed really genuine and I had a good feeling about going with that company. I had intended to pay for everything using my credit card, but then it turned out that there would be an 8% fee. Now 8% of a Galápagos trip is nothing to be sniffed at! So then I had to get hold of enough cash... what a palaver! For three days, I had to go withdraw as much money as possible from 2 different accounts to get enough cash. Unfortunately, in Ecuador, my daily limit is stupidly low and then my back-up account was frozen as HSBC thought it had been fraudulently used. Well, it was me, trying my card in 4 different ATMs!!! In the end, I used my emergency stash of traveller's cheques and finally got enough together to pay Erica. It was certainly interesting walking around the most dangerous area of Quito with a moneybelt the size of a house stuffed up my t-shirt! Panic not, I was absolutely fine and during my time in Quito so far, I have never felt unsafe at all, but should I have been one of the unlucky ones, that mugger would have had all his Christmases at once!

Today, after I'd taken the plunge and booked my flights and cruise, I then had free time to visit the Equator! Erika had given me clear instructions on how to get to Mitad del Mundo, but me being me, decided to walk the first section and skip the first short bus journey that would take me to a place to catch a second bus to the monument. Well, I couldn't find the bus stop and rather than ask for directions, I wandered around aimlessly for too long! I decide to walk back and perhaps follow Erika's instructions after all! Then I noticed a bus with Mitad del Mundo on the front so I asked if it went there - on I hopped, and the conductor then told me I would have to change buses. As is turned out, "Mitad del Mundo" was the name of this particular bus company, not the destination!!!

Of course, I had no idea where I would need to change and after paying the fare (which at least was very cheap), I hoped that at some point, the conductor would tell me where I would need to disembark. After an hour, I was still quite concerned but resigned myself to simply taking the same bus in reverse if I was genuinely lost, and I would then at least end up back where I started... in theory! Eventually, the conductor told me to get off and to take the bus behind us, so within seconds I'd boarded a new bus and was at last on the right one! After I got off, I then had to find out where the real Equator was - the monument at Mitad del mundo marks the official one, as designated by the Spanish many years ago, but it is no longer zero degrees latitude due to the shift in the Earth's poles. Of course, wanted to visit both! First, I visited the official one, but later I found the real Equator as confirmed by military GPS...

You put your left leg south, your right leg north...

There are a few other attractions at Mitad del Mundo, but they cost extra and didn't really appeal to me - once I had planted one foot either side of the line, that was box ticked for me! Then off I went up the road to visit the real Equator and a little museum called Intiñan. I took a guided tour around the museum and I really, really enjoyed it! Our guide was lovely and she explained a little about the history of the area and the indigenous people from there. I was particularly fascinated with her tale of shrunken heads and how they were made... gruesome stuff, although I was that enthralled with it all, I did have thoughts about having myself shrunken after I die. I'm not sure who will want to keep me on their mantlepiece though!

We then were shown some experiments to demonstrate how water drains in different directions on either side of the Equator. I had read that this is an urban myth, but lo and behold, it did indeed work, I was gobsmacked. In hindsight, even though I videoed each demonstration as proof, I didn't notice how the water was poured into the sink before the plug was pulled... maybe she set it in motion first? Either way, it was still great fun. I then finally managed to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail, which is allegedly easier to do on the Equator. It took a while, but imagine my glee when it balanced! I have a certificate to prove it!

Eggcellent Emma!

Once back in Quito this evening, I needed to get ready to be up at 4am tomorrow to take my flight to the Galápagos! Unfortunately there was a power cut at the hostel and so I had no light to organise my backpack! I had also been left a voicemail on my mobile phone. Not good as my answerphone very clearly states NOT to leave a message after the tone, as I will not be paying to check my messages while I am away! So of course, I thought it was the bank and I needed to email home to get my Mum to contact them and tell them it was me who had been trying to use my card all day! So, with no power, no email and I couldn't even send a text message as I only had enough battery on my phone for my alarm the next morning. I had a flight to catch, and one I REALLY did not want to miss! So, off I went in the dark to find a block that still had power in order to send an email. After I'd walked one block I then realised that I was walking alone in the most dangerous part of Quito at night in a power cut. Not clever! Nothing happened and I returned to the hostel, but I realised that nowadays, I am a little TOO fearless!

Anyway, the power eventually came back on and I was able to pack and send the email! I've only been in Ecuador a few days, but I've really enjoyed it so far, a far cry from the past few weeks! What a relief! I think that now I have organised my Galápagos trip, I can relax, the pressure is off! In fact, once I am back here in the mainland, I may even stay in one place for a while and study Spanish as I do have the time to spare. I'm very excited about the next few weeks here... especially as the greatest adventure begins tomorrow morning. Galápagos, here I come!

What To Do In Peru?

After Machu Picchu, I decided that it was time to take things easier. Admittedly, because of the planned strikes in Cusco last week, I didn't imagine that I would be able to leave until Friday anyway, but it at least gave me an excuse not to rush off onto the next town (which I probably would have done otherwise!) On Monday evening, I met up with Alice again, from Arequipa, and we had a genuinely leisurely day, just what the doctor ordered! We wandered around the town, trying to avoid pushy touts as much as possible (i.e. not at all) and then stopped off for a massage, which after my Herculean hiking efforts the day before, was well needed! It was hilarious, 45 minutes later we emerged like giggling schoolchildren, and I would have been concerned that someone had slipped something into my drink... had I had one! We then found a cool little cafe that served chai tea and shisha and another hour was whiled away chatting and relaxing.

Wednesday and Thursday were much the same - I would wake up at 6am as usual, despite being tired, I´d get up for breakfast and eat a stupid amount of bread rolls, way more than my quota I am sure, and drink several cups of Tetley tea. Thank goodness I'd been given a packet of teabags by a fellow backpacker in Potosí as I had at last found a hostel that supplied milk at breakfast! On Wednesday, the strike was in full flow and so there was no way to leave the town. We visited the museums that were included in the Tourist Ticket, so it made sense to make the most of it. Shame they were really quite poor, one seemed to exhibit strange dolls that I could only imagine had come from someone's recently deceased great aunt's attic!!! Thursday was even less productive, I think we only stopped eating breakfast and got dressed sometime after noon!!!

On Friday, I decided that I should be a little more productive, so Alice and I planned to visit the nearby ruins in the Sacred Valley, again to use the Tourist Ticket. Unfortunately, Alice had had a big night and wasn't quite up for it anymore. Now, I´ve been on my own for months now, so buses and getting around is child'd play for me, but for some reason, I was hesitant to go off alone. I don't know why, maybe just because I've had a rougher patch recently. After procrastinating too much, I eventually plucked up the courage to find out where the little local buses departed and to just do it! I took a local service out to the furthest of the nearby ruins, Tambomachay, and from there I walked back through the valley towards Cusco, about 8km in total I think, taking in all the ruins in that area.

It was a lovely day, in fact I was pleased that I had my back to the sun or a burnt nose probably would have resulted! The ruins were, well... disappointing really, and not just because I'd now seen Machu Picchu, but I was pleased that I had made the effort to see them. Saqsaywaman was however, quite impressive - I'd wanted to see this Inca fortress inparticular as this is the one that has walls made of interlocking blocks of stone that you can't even fit a sheet of paper between the cracks. I'd seen it on TV and so being in the area, I had to see it for myself!

Saqsaywaman

On Saturday, I decided that it was definitely time to leave Cusco. I think I needed to have a decent period of rest, but I was ready to continue. I had phoned Qantas in the week to move my flight to Quito forward to June 6th and I immediately felt better about that. OK, I had rushed through Peru, but I haven't really developed an affinity for it at all. It is a country that I have wanted to visit for a long time, but after seeing Machu Picchu, I felt that was enough for me. I don't know what it is, but I just haven't found Peru all that amazing otherwise. I can't put my finger on it... it would'nt be quite fair to say that it is the people, but let's just say that Argentina was the place that the people made the experience.

After another lazy morning, I spent nearly 2 hours in an internet cafe, just to get my photos OFF my camera, never mind uploading them, and then I took a taxi to the bus terminal. I didn't bother buying a ticket in advance like usual as I had enquired about prices to Nazca when I'd arrived in Cusco the week before. I was pleased that everything walked smoothly - I walked in, bought a bus ticket, grabbed some snacks and had boarded after seeing my backpack safely stowed under the bus. This is how real travellers do it, they just turn up without stress, buy a ticket and off they go! At last, I was on a bus in Peru withouit feeling nervous! In fact, I was so calm that when the driver put on some AWFUL music that sounded like bad Bollywood in a blender, I just popped in my earplugs and was rather amused!

My enthusiasm wore off a few hours later though, when the radio was still on and the temperature started to drop. The Lonely Planet had warned that this would be a cold route through the mountains and I had come prepared with many layers, my usual hat-scarf-glove combo and a blanket, but it was REALLY cold. Really, really was. I did sleep overnight, on and off and it could have been worse, but I was glad to arribe in Nasca just before 7am on Sunday morning. Once again, I had not planned in advance, I just knew that I was there to see the famous Nazca lines and that it should be fairly easy to organise once everything actually opened that morning!

Now, I don't know if I have a sign around my neck that only the locals can see, but I'd barely started off up the street when a woman was trying to get me to her hostel, then off on a tour over the lines. Her English was poor, but I tried to tell her that I'd just got off a long bus journey and I wanted to relax before making any decisions. She was the pushiest person I think I've met on my travels so far (and perhaps that's why I don't like Peru much, it feels really pushy). She soon had me bundled into a taxi into a hostel (even though she had actually told the driver to take me to the airport, until I realised that we were going in the exact opposite direction to the town centre!) I didn't even know if I would bother staying the night there once I'd seen the Lines! The thing was, as nothing was yet open, I couldn't even research an alternative tour operator.

I decided that if she was so desperate for my business (as she kept going on there were 2 other people booked into a plane and how I would "complete" the tour) that she should knock $5 off the cost. She wouldn't budge and started to walk off! To cut a long story short, I decided to just get out on a flight straightaway while the skies were clear and after we had sort of chased each other around the plaza, with me begging her to stop being so damn pushy! Then, after telling me the price in soles (as I had no dollars on me), she then started to insist I pay in US - by this point, I decided to call ths shots, she'd get soles or nothing at all!

Phew! Once I'd been whisked off to her office to pay and stow my bags, I was taken back into town to collect another person and then she vanished out of the van, without giving me a ticket or receipt. Oh dear, not again! It was fine however, I was taken to the airport checked in with no problems. It was there that I read the signs stating "You have the right to buy a flight from whichevr company you choose in the airport. Do not go through a middle agent." Why do I keep doing this? In the end, I decided that if I had paid too much, it probably wasn't by much and at least I was there.

The flight was brief, only 30 minutes, but it was one of those things that I just had to do. As we took off, Iagain had Mysterious Cities of Gold on my iPod and I got all choked up again, pretending to be flying off in the Golden Condor with Esteban, Zia and Tao. Well, I'm a child of the Eighties, Google it! I sat up front next to the pilot and soon we were circling over the Whale, Spider, Spaceman, Condor, Hummingbird and so on. The Lines were a little smaller than I expected and perhaps not all that impressive really, but I was glad I had seen them, it was a box I needed to tick!

Afterwards, I was dropped off back in the town and saw that there was a bus departing for Ica in 15 minutes time. I would have had to wait until that evening to take a direct bus to Lima, so on the spur of the moment, I bought a ticket to Ica where there are frequent services bound for Lima. So, I'd been on a bus for 14 hours overnight, then I'd wandered around Nazca playing cat and mouse with Miss Pushy Peru, I'd taken a quick Cessna flight over the desert and then I was back on a packed, hot bus by 10am! At this point, I realised that I was trying to get out of Peru as soon as I could! Once, in Ica, I then bought a ticket to Lima (eventually as they spoke no English and did not understand that I wanted to know how often the buses left as I needed to get some lunch first). After gobbling down a portion of fried rice that could have catered for the Sermon on the Mount, I was back in the bus terminal, waiting to board my bus to Lima.

This was another 5 hour journey (but I didn't have a fat man and his daughter spilling into my seat this time, unlike the one to Ica) so it was pleasant enough and I finished reading my book. I was parched by the time I arrived in Lima that evening though, and I couldn't believe my luck - I hate it when sellers board the bus, trying to sell drinks and snacks at every stop, but what do you know, the one day I was dying of thirst, no one got on to sell anything! When I arrived in Lima, I had no idea where I had been dropped off and it had started to get dark. I refused all offers for a taxi (stupid, I know, but I just couldn't take anymore touts) and I walked up the road towards a neon hostel sign. Once I was eventually buzzed in, I simply wanted to ask where I was on my map, in order to get my bearings. This was a difficult task as the guy spoke no English and was behind a sheet of mirrored glass. Where the hell had I ended up? So, like a prat, I just kept saying (in English) "I can't see you, I just want you to tell me where I am!"

Eventually, a woman who spoke some English appeared in person, after I demanded that I needed to speak face to face, and I decided to stay there for one night - I got 5 soles knocked off the price and had my own room with a TV, just what I needed after nearly 24 hours on the road! I did wonder after a while if I had somehow checked into a brothel... there was a lot of neon outside, there was a large mirror in the room and a poster of a young model in only underwear next to the bed... oh well, I had earplugs! But why did the staff insist on hiding behind a mirrored kiosk in reception???

On Monday, I woke up unscathed after a decent sleep. Well, I was technically rudely awakened by the sounds of at least a dozen cockerels... in the middle of Lima!!! I'd booked a new hostel in Miraflores online the night before and so I flagged down a taxi and after telling him that 10 soles was not acceptable and that 6 was fair, off I sped to a location the driver didn't seem all that sure about. Once again, I did wonder what they hell I was thinking, as I later read in my guide book that you should never flag taxis down in Lima, especially in the area that I'd stayed in, but in fairness, I arrived at my new hostel and he did give me my 4 soles change!

My new hostel was lovely, decetn location with nice staff. Once I'd checked in, I decided that I didn't need much time in Lima at all. Well, it doesn't seem to be that great a city and at this time of year, the weather is pretty rubbish - cold, misty and damp as the clouds roll in from the Pacific. I found a cheap call place, phoned Qantas AGAIN and moved my flight to Quito to tomorrow! That gave me yesterday to chill out and get my laundry done and today to explore the main city sights! Well, I found a geocache yesterday and today I did... erm, nothing! It was another grey day and I just decided that I had no interest in seeing yet another plaza and a few churches! Well, I'm genuinely past the point where I feel guilty if I haven't explored a city.

In fairness, I did have cerviche for lunch, which is a very traditional Peruvian dish of raw fish "cooked" in lime juice, and it was alright really! So, tomorrow I am off to Quito in Ecuador, which should now give me enough time to get out to the Galapagos islands before the high season starts. It will still be incredibly expensive, but I'm hoping that it will be worth it as eveyone who has been over there says it is fantastic. Everyone also said that NZ was fantastic too... fingers crossed I guess!

So, I have rushed through Peru in 2½ weeks when I had originally had 4 here. I´ve rushed through 4 countries in 6½ weeks - Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru - and that's way too fast, but I think that the thought of getting to the Galapagos has been playing on my mind the whole time. Once I've been there, I'm planning to slow it down as the only thing I have to do after that is fly home! Once the pressure is off, I am hoping that I'll be able to enjoy Ecuador and Colombia a lot more. So, the new plan is to study Spanish for a while in Ecuador and then spend some time up on the Colombian coast in the Caribbean scuba diving. I may even take the next PADI qualification while I am there, I´ll be a Dive Master before you know it! The thing is, I've realised that fast and furious is just the way I travel and although everyone else goes slower and probably gets more out of it, that's not the way I work. I'll have plenty of time to really enjoy the remaining countries and if I genuinely cannot slow down and I skip through them as well, I'll just take an early flight home. Who knows? I don't! We will just have to wait and see...