Country

Ecuador

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So the main highlight of Ecuador was obviously Galapagos, but before we went there we spent two nights in Cuenca. We stayed at La Casa Cuencana which we both highly recommend (just make sure you don’t stay on the bottom level – quite noisy). The room was lovely, and the hostel was central. We didn’t do a lot, half because we were knackered from two long travel days, and half because there isn’t a heap to do. But we were just around the corner from an awesome cafe called Windhorse run by an American couple. It served delicious meals, coffee, kombucha, and freshly baked cinnamon scrolls. The town was cool, with cobblestone roads and some nice cafes and museums.

The bulk of our time in Ecuador however, apart from Galapagos was spent in Banos and a fantastic little place  called Black Sheep Inn.

Banos

I went to Banos with Brooke and Tamsin after Galapagos while Scott made the annoying but necessary journey to London to pick up his visa. We were in Banos for three nights, which I think is definitely enough time. I wasn’t overly fussed on it, but it was nice and quiet and let us chill out for a bit. If you are into things like canyoning, mountain biking, abseiling and white water rafting, there is a lot for you here. Having just spent a lot of money on Galapagos, we weren’t keen to spend too much so just hired bikes and rode the 15km to Diablo waterfalls. On the way we did what was touted as the fastest and longest zipline in Ecuador. It was about 1km long and really fast, buuuuuut we also saw an extremely dilapidated restaurant that said ‘best service in the world’ soooo pretty sure you can say whatever you want *an advertiser’s dream. The waterfalls were awesome. You can stand literally right under them which puts you about a metre away from a seriously powerful and mesmerising beast.

Other than that, we just ate a lot, went to the public hot springs, and visited the insta-famous Banos swing (see below). Yes, the picture looks cool but i’ll be honest and tell you it’s not really that cool in real life. Gotta be done though right? Get them likes.

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The Black Sheep Inn

From Banos we went to a very small town called Chucchilan. Very small meaning a population under 100. There is nothing to do in this area but go for hikes, and the hikes are beautiful. Our main reason for coming here however was to stay at The Black Sheep Inn. Look it up if you have a sec. It has been voted in the top eco lodges for a while now, and on arrival it was easy to see why.

You are greeted and hosted by Edmundo who gives you a sandwich using the local Swiss cheese factory’s cheese. Swiss cheese factory in the middle of nowhere in Ecuador? Why not.

There are single, double and four person rooms, but we were staying in the bunkhouse. There are 9 beds on three levels and I picked the very top (it was as close to fort as I could get). Every night I went to sleep with moonlight on the wall, and every morning I was woken by stunning sunrises over the mountains. The beds were so comfortable and the place was silent – bliss 🙂 We only ever had about one other person in the whole house so it was perfect.
To stay in the bunkhouse it costs $35USD a day, but that includes an awesome breakfast, lunch, and insane vegetarian dinners. Also there is an unlimited supply of brownie, cookies, banana bread, tea, and coffee. The grounds are so beautiful, with a yoga studio overlooking the valley, lots of little places to sit in the sun, and an overall eco-vibe. That pic of me below is the reflection of the outdoor bathroom’s mirror.

We ended up staying here for 6 days, one of which was my birthday. On that day we did the 5 hour hike up to the Quilotoa volcano which is filled with sparkling azure water, and after I had an awesome massage, cheese platter, and red wine. Not bad.

Quito

From there we took two buses to Quito, the nation’s capital, where we spent two nights before heading into Colombia. Scott and I had gifted Brooke a voucher for high tea in Ecuador at a beautiful place called Casa Gengotana, so me Brooke, Tamsin and Scott got dressed as fancy as we could (without an iron, or anything other than jandals) and headed there. We were given coffee and hot chocolate and an array of sweet treats and delicious savoury morsels. It was so cool to do something a little different and a bit luxurious. And it was pretty cheap! So cheap in fact that we needed to pad out Brooke’s Christmas present a bit. After high tea we went to an awesome little local brewery/bar called Banditos where we had a few beers before heading to Shibumi. Shibumi is rated the number one restaurant in Quito on Trip Advisor and serves insanely fresh and delicious Japanese food.

We had actually turned up at lunchtime but they were only doing dinner so we made a reservation. This was very lucky as the place is literally run out of a converted single-car garage and seats about 10 people. Us four were lined up along the ‘bar’ where we were mesmerised watching the chef’s amazing knife skills and flavour combinations.

We got the equivalent of a chef’s menu and you can choose how much you want to spend. For just $15 each we got to try plates of nigiri, sashimi and sushi that were among the best I’ve ever tried. My personal favourite were a salmon and coffee nib nigiri, and a sushi roll using salmon, cacao, walnuts, cucumber, avocado and sesame leaf. SO GOOD. The food, combined with the service and unique environment made Shibumi the number three food experience Scott and I have had on this whole trip (after Tegui and Gran Dabbang.)

We spent our last full day  walking around the town visiting really beautiful churches and finished it by seeing a movie – ‘Youth’ – and eating gelato. I implore you to go and see Youth, at the movies. I haven’t been that emotionally affected by a movie since Mufasa died. And the soundtrack is epic.

The next day we took a bus from Ecuador to the border and crossed over into Colombia, (do this in the day time to avoid danger.) I loved watching the town of Quito go by, seeing the community vibe that South America does so well. It was Sunday, everything was closed, and outside the churches big groups of families were chatting and buying food and coffee from the local vendors. I think we stay in our own little worlds a lot in NZ. I love seeing the South American locals just hanging out on the street together, watching the world go by, saying hello to strangers just to say hello. I would love to make Sunday more of a family day, like it used to be when my parents were younger.

 

I know people will disagree with this, but Ecuador overall wasn’t that amazing for me. The people are friendly, and getting out into the country was great, but I don’t know – if I wasn’t doing Galapagos I don’t know if I would come. That’s the problem with growing up in paradise; your expectations tend to be quite high. To be fair, we only did a tiny bit of it and I have heard Montanita is very cool. Plus, if you are going to come to one place, Ecuador does have beaches, mountains and the Amazon, so it’s good for that.

On to Colombia – our last country in South America!

The Galapagos

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We just finished one of the best weeks of our lives.

Diving the Galapagos was always one of the things we were most excited about for this whole trip. It was also (by far) the most expensive thing we booked.

Having just finished the week, I can tell you it was worth every penny and more.

The Galapagos are a bunch of volcanic islands sitting right on the equator. Due to its location it gets a number of different winds and currents which result in a unique ecological site and a mecca for divers.

After meeting up with Scott’s sister Brooke and Brooke’s friend Tamsin, we all flew from Guayaquil to The Galapagos and stayed a night on Santa Cruz island. (Great sandwiches at the Galapagos Deli by the way). The next morning we were greeted by Jimmy and taken to get all our gear and board the boat.

We were on board the Nortada and had two dive gides – both called Jimmy – and six other crew for eight guests.
We were on the boat for 8 days but the first day was just the check dive and the last we visited the Darwin centre on land. So overall there were 20 dives over 6 days.

Day 1 we boarded, did a check dive to make sure our gear was all good, were welcomed that evening by the crew and some pina coladas, and settled into our cabins.
I won’t go into mega detail about the dives themselves but more on the animals we saw – ‘give the people what they want’ and all that.
The days generally went like this:

6am wake up
Dive #1
8:30am Breakfast
Dive #2
Snack
Dive #3
1pm Lunch
Dive #4
But on day 2 we just had two dives and the second to last day we had three.

Day 2 we did a couple of dives at the Northern end of Santa Cruz where we saw reef sharks, turtles, sting rays, moray eels, parrotfish (which are hilarious and look like absolute goobers), and after the dives we saw mantarays jumping out of the water to catch their fish.

That night we sailed 15 hours through the night to get to Wolf and Darwin Islands which have the very best diving. During the months of August – October this stretch of sea can be extremely rough so we/I was very lucky we weren’t there then. We spent two days at Wolf and one at Darwin and the diving was insane.

Day 3 was at Wolf, and we had four dives. We saw over 30 hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, Eagle Rays, massive schools of all different kinds of fish, morays, stonefish, and lots of swimming turtles. The dives were all about 30 metres and about 50 minutes long. They were so fun and interesting I recorded in my dive log as ‘the best dives I have done to date.’ That night I did my first ever night dive. It was a bit more chilly and we didn’t see as much but it was a cool experience and is pretty crazy looking at everyone suspended in what looks like mid air. The stars when we surfaced were some of the best I have ever seen. Very magical.

Day 4 was Darwin, named obviously after Charles Darwin who came up with his theory of evolution after visiting and studying species that live in The Galapagos. Again we had four dives at the Darwin Arch. On our first dive we descended straight into a school of large silver fish which was really cool. During the four dives we saw lots of hammerheads, tropical fish, and morays. We had a sea lion dive for fish right infront of us which was awesome.

…Oh, and we saw a WHALE SHARK. Yep, dreams do come true people. It was our third dive of the day and we hadn’t even got to our meeting point at the bottom when YOURS TRULY spotted the spotted legend. I turned to my right and honestly didn’t know if I was seeing things. It was like ‘ís it real if no one else sees it?’ So i powered over to Scotty pretty much whacked him on the arm and pointed. We both gunned for the big fella. Well actually it was a wee fella in Whale Shark terms but big for us. We all spent the next 15 minutes (!!) swimming with it, watching it get cleaned by other little fishies and generally just looking at each other and shaking our heads in disbelief. This is not the season for whale sharks, and even when it is you’re lucky to see one. To have stumbled upon a baby (which again we were told it’s very rare to see babies) and have it stay with us for 15 minutes was an experience I will never forget. Needless to say we were buzzing…kind of still are.

Day 5 was back at Wolf and over the four dives there we had lots of Hammerheads swim close to us, a school of Galapagos sharks, and red lipped batfish which look like characters from that TV show Real Monsters. Also I had a moment with a very cute little fish who was chasing its own tail and then it looked at me and swam away – very cute. One of the dives also had a few caves and swim-throughs which were fun.

Day 6 was Puerto Vicente and over the three dives here we had sea lions playing with us while we descended, bullhead sharks, and lots of fish. We also had two other highlights. The first dive we went looking for the Sunfish, which we were told was quite rare. Not even 10 minutes into our first dive, and there it was! One time one of them came right through the middle of our group. The Sunfish was something I really wanted to see – I like how it looks unfinished – so I was stoked. The second highlight was dive three, which was all about Marine Iguanas. These are one of the attractions of Galapagos as they are native to the area and are quite frankly just so weird. We spent 45 minutes watching them swim, dive, and eat algae underwater. It was also quite funny watching them get swept off their little rocks by the surges… The last dive of that day was supposed to be looking for Sunfish again but since we had seen them we asked if instead it could be a snorkelling trip with the seal lions. We also had a Panga (a runabout) ride around and saw the Blue-footed Boobies, Iguanas, Penguins, and a bunch of other cool birds. Seriously, I don’t really like birds but Galapagos has some goodies.

Day 7 was two dives, both of which I skipped because of infections in both my ears. Classic me. Quietly relieved though because the group saw absolutely nothing. The goal was to look for Mantarays but they didn’t find any. Scott did see some White Tip Reef Sharks sleeping under a rock. After the dive though they went snorkelling with a baby sea lion which everyone raved about 🙂

Day 8 was a visit to the Darwin Centre which was ok. Massive tortoises. Often having sex with each other. Standard.

So yeh, an insane week. The boat itself was perfect for 8 people; clean, spacious, with a deck on top and loungers out the front. The food was fantastic and plentiful (nearly had to chuck an extra weight on the weight belt) and the service was pretty faultless. It is expensive, but if you can do it, do it. And we highly recommend Nortada. On a persoanl note I am very proud of myself as boats and their tendency to rock isn’t really my jam, also I had a touch of anxiety on the first couple of dives but pushed through and I can comfortably say it was one of the best things i’ve ever done and I will never forget it.

The day after the dive charter ended we took a two hour ride to Isabela Island where we spent two nights. Isabela is a very relaxed beachy little town. One of the days we did a hike up a volcano whose crater has the second largest diameter in the world. It wasn’t overly spectacular but was satisfying and felt good to do some exercise. That arvo and the next day we swam at the beach and chilled with the roaming iguanas.

From Isabela we went back to Santa Cruz for one more night and then boated to the island of San Cristobal where we had breakfast, went to the airport, and left the Galapagos as very satisfied customers.

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Machu Picchu

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There are three main ways you can do Machu Picchu; The Classic Inca Trail  – 4 days of walking, sleeping in tents along the way, Salkantay Tour – 5 days of intensive hiking,  at least 20km a day, sleeping in tents, and The Jungle Trek – 4 days of mixed activities, sleeping in private hostels.

We ideally wanted to do the Classic Inca but didn’t have exact dates so couldn’t book in time (you need to book about 6 months out), so we did the Jungle Trek. Verdict? Awesome.

Day One

We did our tour through Loki Travel (another branch of the hostels by the same name), so met at their office at 7am. We only had 6 people for the first day and then two were leaving us, so 4/6 people with two guides. That was really good as it ended up meaning we moved fast and all got quite close. The day before us though they had 20 people so it’s all luck.

We bused about 1.5 hours to breakfast and then another 1.5 to the top of our bike ride. We got all geared up as you can see below, and started our 2 hour downhill ride. We went from the mountain tops, through what they call the cloud forest and into the rain forest. I wasn’t overly stoked on being back on a bike again but this was a smoother ride and we went slower. However, with massive trucks speeding past you and other bike tours causing a bit of congestion at some points, it actually felt a bit more dangerous than Death Road at times. The best times of the ride were definitely when there wasn’t any other groups in front of us. The views were amazing. We later learnt that road is one of the main roads used to take Cocaine in and out of that area, so some of those trucks that passed us were definitely carrying.

We got to the end of the cycling road, hopped into the van and were driven to the accomm for the night in a tiny town called Santa Teresa. After lunch there we had a choice of white water rafting. I was being a bit of a wimp and already pushed myself with the biking (The saying is do ONE THING everyday that scares you, not two.) So Scott and I just chilled. But annoyingly the group came back and said it was fun. So if you do this, do the rafting. Silly me. Two of our group left after the rafting so we were left with one other couple who are leaving the UK to move to NZ, while we are doing the opposite. We had a beer with them, had dinner and went to bed.

 

Day Two

Day two is the big walking day of the Jungle Trek. You walk about 16km which doesn’t sound too bad but you climb pretty high and if it’s hot, it’s hard. Lucky for us it had rained the night before and a heavy mist shrouded the rain forest for pretty much the whole walk so walking conditions were perfect..and beautiful. Also, depending on what order you do the countries, you might find some altitude issues here, because we did La Paz before, we weren’t affected by it at all.

The hike led us up deep into the mountains. Our first stop was where our guide explained the business of Coca leaves. He started by telling us how there is a government sanctioned organization that allows each farmer to legally produce 5,000 kgs of Coca leaves a year. They are paid for these and it goes to making Coca Tea (which by the way is great for altitude sickness). In my mind i’m waiting for the ‘buuuuut’, and it came.

Buuuuuut, said the guide, nearly every farmer grows an extra 15,000kgs of Coca leaves a year, for the drug makers. ‘And why wouldn’t they?’ he said. The drug industry pays these farmers far more, pays them advances, and looks after their families. Peru is now the highest producing country of Cocaine in the world. Some of the top generals, police, and government officials are involved. There are rumours  that one of the ex-presidents who is now in prison used the Presidential jet to transport cocaine out of the country.

I couldn’t really figure out the guide’s opinion of Cocaine. On the one hand he explained the Coca plant is actually sacred to the Inca people and it shouldn’t be abused and that its addictive nature ruins people, BUT he explained how the farmers chew coca leaves all day to give them energy to tend to their farms, and it seems it pretty much drives Peru’s economy. This wee conundrum is nothing new obviously. As a side note, that night the other guy in our group was talking to the other guide about cocaine and the guide got quite emotional saying how he hated it and what it has done to their people and the reputation of Peru.

After that little chat we hiked another couple of hours to a little hut in the middle of nowhere where we had the native fruits and plants of that area explained to us. We then continued walking and came out onto an extremely high, narrow track as you can see below. At our next little rest we had traditional Inca patterns painted on our faces and bought some banana chips.

Another few hours and we were at lunch where a 4 course meal was waiting. Fresh guacamole from jungle avocados, an amazing chicken salsa thing, a delicious quinoa soup that they have with every meal and spag bol! We had a siesta in the hammocks and then hopped in the car and were taken to natural hot springs for a well-deserved dip.

After our soak, we had a few beers and got our bus back into the little town called Santa Maria. We had a shower and went out with our couple friends for some Pisco Sours. Little did we know this would be the start of quite a big night out…

We went to dinner where three people joined us for the next two days. They were a dad, his daughter and his daughter’s friend. The daughter and her friend have been travelling for 3 months and the dad came over to meet them for the Machu Picchu trek. They were very cute. So we had dinner, and about 4 Pisco Sours each. Then me, Scott, the other couple, and the dad all went to this hilarious bar. We downed about 7 more very strong Cuba Libres each, danced A LOT, talked a lot of shit, and went home. Good times.

Good times, that is, until the next morning.

 

Day Three

Breakfast was at 7 and I attended with my sunnies on.. Scott was still drunk. The other couple didn’t show till 7.45, they were still drunk too. And then we went zip lining.

The zip lining was really cool – 6 zips criss-crossing across a gorge. The hangover seemed to subside and I tried a few funky upside down things which was fun.

Buuuuut then we had to get in a van and drive an hour to the next point. I struggle with motion sickness at the best of times – combine that with a hangover? Woop woop. But I made it. And we walked 30 minutes along a really beautiful train track to a jungle lodge where we had lunch. One of our guides called me over and took this little bottle of flower essence of out his medical kit. He rubbed it on his palms and put it on my forehead and through my hair. Holy. Moly. It instantly made me feel better. I need to find this stuff and bring it back to NZ, maybe sell it at Maccas drive-thrus after 1am for your inevitable hangover.

From this lunch spot we could see the top of Machu Picchu. The guide told us a really beautiful story about a 75 year old woman who he took up earlier in the year. She took a very long time to get to the top but refused his help to carry her back pack. When she got to the top she took out two small urns and they were the ashes of her husband and daughter. All three of them had vowed to do the hike together, and then their daughter suddenly passed away. The husband and wife promised they would do it to honour her memory but a week before they were supposed to leave, the husband died. She did it on her own. It was such a sad beautiful story. The guide said ‘so if you find tomorrow hard, just know that you have the strength inside of you and you are doing what many people wish they could do.’ It was a really nice moment.

After lunch we continued 3 hours long the train track which was a seriously stunning walk. We could see Machu Picchu mountain from all angles, were sheltered in dappled sunlight and had a river rushing past us the whole way. We finally arrived in Aguas Calientes which is the cool little town everyone stays in the night before they go up the mountain. We had a nice last dinner all together, bought some filled rolls to take up with us the next day (it’s very expensive to buy food up the mountain) and went to sleep due to our EXTREMELY early start the next morning.

 

Day Four

Our alarm went off at 3.45 am. Told you it was early. We walked with our head torches down to the gates at the bottom of the mountain and were four people from the front! The gates open at 5am and by that stage there were about 50 people lined up. We had our passports checked, and off we went. It was quite surreal. Pitch black, no noise but the puffing of a bunch of strangers and birds slowly waking up, and you’re about to be at Machu Picchu..

Apparently it is 2000 steps up, and takes people around 1 hour 15, it took our group 45 mins which our guide was very proud of 🙂 We ended up being among the first 10 people into Macchu Pichu. Uuuuunfortunately it was very cloudy when we got there. We were pretty disheartened but held on to the hope it would clear. Our guide met us and took us for a tour which to be honest was a bit disappointing. The facts were a bit muddled, and it felt like he really was just going through the motions. The most interesting thing was learning how they used hot and cold water to split the massive rocks and create bricks. And also that the Machu Picchu ruins are sinking by 5cm a year  – due to human impact and also the soft ground – and will quite possibly close and people will only be able to view from a balcony. So get in quick!

After our guide left us we all went out of the gates to get a hot drink (you can’t eat or drink on the ruins) and wait for the mist to dissipate which took a looooooong time but did happen!

We went back in and spent the next 3 hours exploring, wandering, wondering, climbing, patting llamas, running away from llamas, and generally just trying to take it all in. Though there was a lot of mist when we first arrived, it was amazing being up there relatively alone. We really begun to appreciate this as the place got more and more crowded = a lot of selfie sticks.  Machu Picchu was never a massive bucket list thing for me, but it is truly spectacular seeing this ancient mini civilisation in what feels like the middle of nowhere surround by sheer cliffs, and rolling mist.

Once we had had our fill, we walked back down (which was actually harder than going up) and went  back to the town for a shower and something to eat. That was right about the time I started feeling sick. We had a 2 hour train ride and a 2 hour bus ride back to Cusco, which I imagine would have actually been quite pleasant if I wasn’t vomming all the way.

Anyway. Made it back to Loki Hostel, and fell asleep after our 18 hour day.

The next morning I recovered, we did some laundry and started our 3o hour travel day to Cuenca in Equador (plane, plane, bus, walk across border at midnight, bus).

I would highly recommend the Jungle Trek. The variety of activities keeps it interesting and not too tiresome. You definitely feel like you’ve worked hard to get to Machu Picchu while still having fun on the way. Fun fun.

Cusco

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We weren’t in Cusco for very long, and one of the days Scott was ill and another I was ill so we didn’t explore as much as we wanted to but I feel like I should write about it because I loved it so much.

It is my favourite town or city we have been to so far. The Spanish influence is evident all over South America, but none (so far) as much as here. Cobblestone streets, beautiful tree lined plaza squares, cafes, quaint alleyways, and lovely little boutiques. It’s a little like Uruguay without the water-side vibe.

We stayed in a great little hostel called La Boheme run by some French expats. It was nice and small and every morning for brekky we had a choice of crepes and fresh bread with butter and jam. The first day we got there was after an overnight bus ride and Scott wasn’t well so we chilled in the room most of the day. I did pop down the road to get some lunch and found an awesome little french bakery where I got to practice some of my French 🙂 That night we just watched Game of Thrones and slept.

The next day we did a free walking tour. It wasn’t as good as the La Paz one, but it’s still cool to see the city that way, and it finished off with a ceviche cooking lesson. They only leave their fish to marinade in lime juice for 5 minutes, which for anyone who makes ceviche/kokoda is about 5 hours and 55 minutes less than usual. But it was delicious. We learnt there are 3500 different types of potatoes in Peru and 350 types of corn. And we saw skinned guinea pig ready for boiling at the market – teeth and all. yum. Cusco was and still is considered the epicenter of all things Inca so I felt a little disappointed that we didn’t get much info about the history on the tour due to our guide’s poor English, but oh well.

For lunch we went to a freaking good burger place called Fuego Burgers. Go if you can. Epic lamb patties.

That was Cusco really, fleeting, beautiful, and burgers.

 

Isla Del Sol

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Yes, yes, and yes. If you got the gist that I was pretty over La Paz at the end of it, you wouldn’t be wrong. Leaving the city was exciting.

We got on the bus and drove what was supposed to be a 3 hour trip but ended up more like 5 to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. You can stay here but we had heard great things about Isla Del Sol, so when we got off the bus we bought ourselves two ferry tickets, and made the 2 hour boat ride to the island.

Isla Del Sol is where the Incas believe the sun was born, and after seeing the beautiful sunrises and sunsets – it’s almost believable…almost.

We arrived at the little harbour not having booked any accommodation, and were greeted by a man yelling ‘hostel?!’ ‘Si’, we replied and we began the 20 minute uphill hike to the accommodation. You can stay closer to the water but the views from higher up are worth it. Isla Del Sol is about 3,900m above sea level so the altitude was making the hike tough. The guides ended up taking both our packs while we wheezed our way up.

We had no idea what the rooms would be like so were blown away when we were shown to our baby blue cabana, with private deck, an completely unobstructed views of the lake, surrounding snow-capped mountains and sunrise. The best accommodation so far by a long long shot.

We dropped our bags, said ‘holy shit this is awesome’ about 10 times, and then walked up to find somewhere to get a drink. We crossed over the top of the island and found a little place where we ordered a Pisco Sour and a beer and rocked on little outdoor rocking chairs overlooking the sunset on the West side of the lake.

On our way back we got pizza – which was very average, bought a bottle of red wine and a Kit Kat and watched The Revenant in bed while drinking out of the bottle. 🙂

The next morning we woke to the first light of the day creeping through our little curtains. We both got up, rugged up (it’s very chilly), and sat on our deck watching the famous sunrise as the birds, donkeys and llamas of the island also woke.

We hopped back inside and watched the day unfolding from our cosy beds until we got a little knock at the door from a very sweet lady offering us breakfast. Our limited Spanish meant we didn’t really know what we said yes to, but turns out it was eggs, bread, jam, yoghurt, and coffee. We ate this on our deck, repeating the ‘holy shit this is awesome’ line a few more times.

After breakfast we chilled a bit more then headed down to the water to get a ferry to the North of the island so we could walk the 3 hours back to where we were – the South. Buuuuuut we got there at 11.30 and the only ferry to the north was at 10.30. So we hiked the 25 minutes of steep steps back up and did our own walk. We walked out to what was one of the highest points on the island and could see sparkling blue lake and snowy mountains in all directions – the area around Isla Del Sol looks a lot like Queenstown.

We walked for about 2.5 hours and headed back for a beer and some fries. The worst fries we have ever had. They tasted like fish haha.

For lunch we got some Pringles and a Snickers-  #cleaneating – and went back to our little paradise to chill for the afternoon.

For dinner we went with Trip Advisor’s number one recommendation on the island and it paid off big time. The place was called Las Velas and it stood on its own at the Southern tip of the island. It was very small with seating room for about 15 and no electricity, so we ate stone-fired pizzas and trout by candlelight. It was so delicious, as was the bottle of red wine that went with it. From our table we watched the stunning sunset be replaced by the most stars and one of the brightest full moons I have seen in a while which lit our cobblestone path home. It was such a nice night, that capped off one of our favourite days of the trip so far.

The next morning we were again greeted with breakfast, packed our bags and headed down to the water. We ferried back to Copacabana to wait for our 10 hour bus ride through the night to Peru!

Death Road

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So far, this was the most challenging thing for me on this trip. Give me a bungy jump or sky dive any day. Biking down something called ‘Death Road’ at speed, over loose rocks along a 600m drop – not so much.

We had heard a tourist died a week before we were doing it, and one also died a few days before Scott’s sister did it, soooo needless to say I was a bit nervous and I didn’t tell mum and dad I was doing it till after the fact.

We met our group for the day and were taken by our chosen company – Barracuda – to the start of the road, about 45 mins out of La Paz. We were given our gloves, helmets, pants, jackets, and bikes, rode around for a little bit and we were off. The journey itself goes from 4700m above sea level to 1100m. The first 24km was sealed road which gave us a chance to get used to the bike but also meant it was freaking fast, and a little scary when big trucks and vans are passing you in both directions. We made four stops on the way for our crew to regroup. Apparently most times they are waiting about 15-20 mins for the last people to catch up. But we were all within about 5 mins of each other. There were four Danish guys who literally didn’t use their brakes the whole time out the front and then four of us girls who were fast but cautious 🙂 Scotty was being nice at the beginning and hanging with me but then I said he could go and he disappeared into the distance.

After the first 24km we got back in the bus and were driven the next 8km which is uphill, to the start of the real Death Road.

I will tell you now that my jaw, my fingers and my forearms were already seizing up due to being so tightly clenched. Also, I had to keep reminding myself to breathe…

So we got to the beginning of the next 32km which is a gravel road with a sheer drop off the side. Hurray.

It was actually wider than I expected which was nice, but there were some tricky parts with a lot of loose stones, pot holes, and waterfalls landing on the road…

One of the girls in our group came off her bike and grazed her chin but she was all good. And a few of the Danish guys also bailed when they were taken on the single track for the last 10km. But they were fine too.

When we reached the end a clever Bolivian entrepreneur was there selling ice cold beers out of his chilly bin – the perfect way to finish.

From there we were taken to a cool little restaurant where Scott and I swam in a river while waiting for lunch. Then we all got back in the bus for the 3 hour ride back to La Paz, during which I found a little satisfied and proud smile creeping across my face 🙂

I really enjoyed Death Road and highly recommend going with Barracuda. Their mantra is ‘no bullshit’ and it really was. Stay safe, have fun. It was an awesome day out, and despite the stories you will most definitely hear about it, I feel like if you just refrain from being a dick, you will be safe.

Death Road – been there, got the t-shirt.

…literally, they give you a t-shirt.

The Amazon

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We have just got back from a 3 night/4 day trip through the Amazon. There are many different tours you can do and obviously you can go into the Amazon from a number of different countries in South America, but for price, experience, and service I would highly recommend what we have just done.

We flew from La Paz on THE TINIEST PLANE. You can see a picture below. I felt quite claustrophobic when we first boarded but the fight itself was fine and affords some spectacular views of snowy mountains (which you get very close to) and helps you begin to comprehend the size of the Amazon as you come in to land.
Side note; as the air is so thin in La Paz the runways are extra long. I was a little worried about how long it was taking us to take off before someone told us that…

So we landed in Rurrenebaque to a welcome humid heat. That might sound a little strange but I have been quite sick with a cough and moving out of the dust bowl that is La Paz pretty much instantly fixed me and I had my first actual sleep since we left NZ. Yay.

Anywayyyyyyy. Rurrenbaque is a little islandy town on the Beni River. We were met by lovely Salim from our tour provider, Mashaquipe. I will say now that their service was exceptional – from the moment we landed till the moment we took off – highly highly recommended.

We were taken to our hotel – Hotel Maya – had a swim in the pool, had a few very cold beers and went to find the famous French Bakery everyone talks about. Yep, a French bakery in the middle of the Bolivian Amazon, who would have thought. Before we left Rurrenbaque I had about eight pan au chocolats.

So the next morning Salim picked us up and we met our guide Domingo and the two other American girls who would be with us the next four days. You can do a jungle tour, Pampas (which are like the Florida Everglades where you boat through little foresty canals), or a combo of both. We did the combo. Yolo.

We got on our little boat and travelled to our lodge. On the way we stopped at a family’s settlement where we made sugar cane juice which was seriously yum.
From there we arrived at our lodge where we were welcomed with cold juice (the first of many), and a delicious lunch.

We had asked if we could spend the first night in the jungle so after lunch it was a four hour hike through the freaking Amazon to some mattresses on a bench. We saw Spider Monkeys and Cappuccino Monkeys. Lots of awesome birds. Jaguar footprints. Beautiful butterflies. And my favourite part – learnt about all the amazing medicines that naturally occur in the plants and trees of the Amazon. We chewed on some natural anaesthetic and our tongues went numb. Sniffed some natural nose spray and my clogged sinuses instantly cleared. Nature, you so clever.

The hike was actually really tough. I think it’s a combo of me not being overly fit at the moment and having to wear long sleeve tops and long pants to protect from mosquitoes in probably 28 degree, 100% humidity.

We got to our camp for the night and Scott and I popped down to the river and bucketed cold fresh water over ourselves – it was magical.

Our beds, like I said, were mattresses on a wooden bench with mosquito nets in the middle of the jungle. We had a great dinner and actually slept really well.

The next morning we were up at 5.45 and off for a 3.5 hour hike from the camp but didn’t see too much. Domingo made me a back pack out of vines so I didnt have to carry my drink bottle. Classic Domingo.
We got back to the camp for lunch, then headed off with all our gear to the river. This was another 3 hours and on the way we visted Macaw Mountain where, you guessed it, is a mountain where lots of Macaws live. Again a tough walk with the heat.
We got to the river and put our bags in the boat to go back to the lodge. What about us you ask? How did we get back? Well, we made a raft and floated down a river in the Amazon. Complete with mini rapids.

It was awesome.

Halfway down we jumped off and swum beside it. Apparently ‘there are ónly small alligators in that river’ – quote from Domingo. Rafting through the Amazon on four wooden logs tied together with rope was a very cool experience.

We got back to the lodge around 6pm, showered, ate dinner, got introduced to the resident Tarantula that lives, lol, 20 METRES AWAY FROM OUR BED, and went to sleep. It was a full on two days. If you are going to do it, invest in some really good quality BREATHABLE long sleeve tops and full length pants.

The next morning we had to leave at 6am (lots of early mornings). We got back on the boats and went back to Rurrenebaque where we got in the jeeps and headed to the Pampas.

On the 2.5 hour drive I spotted a Sloth in a tree which we watched for awhile. So cool. We also pulled over for a stop at a very small village and saw a Jaguar skin hanging in a shed. Apprently ‘it’s legal outside the national park’, ummmm is it?

We got to where the roads end and the Pampas start and boarded the boats to take us to our lodge for the next night. As soon as we got in the boat we saw the Amazon pink dolphins – they are so cool but so weird. They got there by literally coming in from the sea and getting stuck. The pink colour comes from their diet.

Sitting on the small boats with a welcome breeze, after two full days of hiking I felt more relaxed and happy than I have the whole trip. The Pampas are awesome.

We were greeted at the lodge by smiling faces and more juice and were shown to our rooms. Our cabana was large, clean, and beautiful.

We had an amazing lunch (the food has been really good) Scott was happy because there was lunch dessert. Then we headed back out to cruise through the Pampas looking for animals. We did this a few times, and over the two days we saw heaps of animals.
Including;
Monkeys – lots of them – some of which ran all over our boat.
Sloths
Pink dolphins – One of the trips was to go swimming with them. The dolphins eat piranha and the alligator are scared of them, so if you are surrounded by dolphins, you are safe. We jumped in the river (this being the river where anacondas and alligators live) and had the pink dolphins swim around us. At one point we all heard a quick splash about 15 metres away from us and Domingo looked over. He then slowly started making his way back to the boat, not taking his eyes off that spot. We were worried. That night at dinner he just smirked when we asked if it was an alligator…
Speaking of alligators – the night of our dolphin swim we headed out on a night cruise and saw a total of probably 50 alligators about, ohhhhh i don’t know, EXACTLY WHERE WE WERE SWIMMING.
Capybaras – On the same night cruise right by the alligators we saw a big family of Capybaras which was soooooo cool. (Scott thinks they look like me, but they are the biggest rodent in the world so i’m not sure how I feel about that.)

We also did a cruise to watch a sunset and woke early (again) on the last day to see the sunrise. Sitting in silence on the water as the Amazon world woke up around us was a very special experience.

That day we did another animal cruise, slept in hammocks, had lunch and headed back to Rurrenebaque.
Right back to the French Bakery.

That night we stayed in a real shitter of a hostel called El Curachel (or something similar). Avoid it. But that’s all I am going to say about that because I don’t want it to taint what was a bloody awesome experience.

I can’t recommend Masahquipe as a company enough. And Domingo was fantastic.

The jungle trek was hot, hard, and rewarding. Realising you’re walking through the Amazon doesn’t get old, and staying the night in the middle of the jungle is pretty great. Also the rafting was epic.
The Pampas were so good. So many animals, super chill, great accomm and food. If you can only do one, I would do the Pampas for the animals. But it depends what you’re into. Also we have heard others saw more animals than us in the jungle, so just do both if you can.

Got back in the tiny plane, and back to La Paz. Keen to get back out of the city already…

DCIM100GOPRO
DCIM100GOPRO

La Paz

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From Buenos Aires we flew to La Paz, and the instant I got off the plane I felt dizzy. It’s not overly surprising as we went from sea level to 3700m above.

Luckily, the dizziness dissipated pretty quickly, and we were in a taxi to Loki Hostel. The service at Loki is really good and our room which is a matrimonial room (the name South American accommodation gives to its double bedrooms) is really clean and comfy. And the shower pressure is epic.

Loki is very central and the rooftop bar/restaurant/common area are has amazing views of the city. We are spending a total of 5 full days here with Uyuni Salt Flats, Death Road, and a 4 day Amazon Trip in between.

Food

So far we have visited a few good restaurants – the best being Kolkaditas a really cool Mexican place, and Mozzarella which was an awesome pizza place. We left a little napkin with our names on it under one of the tables there, so if you go, have a wee lookie.

Walking Tour

We took the walking tour of La Paz with Red Cap tours which was really good. The guides were great and we were taught about a bunch of interesting topics. My top two facty things were: 1) San Pedro prison and the way it works. If any of you have read Marching Powder you will understand our fascination. The guide pointed out a little hole in the roof where inmates launch baby’s nappies filled with cocaine out of into the public square, where someone is waiting to catch it and run. 2) The Bolivians believe burying a llama foetus under a building construction is good luck for future business as it is an offering to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). But guess what Pacha Mama likes more? Human offerings. So if the building construction is important enough, one of the witches goes out and finds ‘someone whose family or friends won’t miss them’ (that was an actual  quote) preferably a passed out drunk or drug addict, offers them a drink which is 96% alcohol, waits till they pass out and throws them down into the building foundations to be covered in concrete WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE. No joke.

Also there was a lot of really interesting political history stuff, and we could see bullet holes in the facades of government buildings. And the guide told us about this drug you can get from the witches market called FollowMeFollowMe dust, which guys can blow on to the backs of girls’ heads and they will go home with them. A couple of the Brits and Aussies and us, were looking at each other thinking, soooo a date rape drug?

So yeh, three things: 1 – Do the walking tour. It’s $4NZD. 2 –  Don’t try to catch a baby’s nappy flying from the roof of San Pedro prison, 3 – and perhaps most importantly, don’t pass out on the streets of La Paz, Pacha Mama apparently loves gringo offerings the most. Yuck.

NB: I am now writing this part as we leave La Paz for Lake Titicaca. La Paz overall was not my favourite place. The way the city is formed is like a natural amphitheatre of houses creating a sort of bowl which is very unique but it also means the pollution and dust are quite overpowering. That combined with the altitude makes walking around the city not overly pleasant. It is a great base for the trips that we did, but I wouldn’t come here for the city alone. We might have put too many days aside between activities, and did plan to go out but I wasn’t well so that didn’t happen. It is worth saying that I didn’t feel unsafe here and there were some yum food options 🙂

 

Salt Flats

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So we had been tossing up doing the Salt Flats pretty much up until we got to Bolivia. We’d heard good reviews, but it was a 10 hour bus ride there and back, and honestly, how amazing can some big white plains be?

Pretty amazing, is the answer.

We got a taxi to the bus station in central La Paz, found our bus company, and were given seats 1 and 2, which was awesome because we got bulk leg room. At 9pm we were on our way. The bus trip itself wasn’t actually too bad, the service was nice, seats were comfy and the road was smooth…the couple of Codral night time pills I had didn’t hurt either.

We arrived at Uyuni around 7am. Uyuni is a pretty nothing town, but it’s relatively clean, and it feels safe. We met our guide and our little group for the day and headed to the train cemetery. Here we saw a group of around 100-year old trains left for dead, when it became easier to transport goods by truck rather than train. It was cool, but nothing mind-blowing.

We then headed to the Salt Flats. They really are quite remarkable, and to state the obvious – unlike anything I have ever seen, or will see anywhere else in the world. We stopped for lunch in a ‘hotel’ which was a stopping point for the Dakar Rally, and then went to a little island the Incas used as a rest stop on their journeys across the playa.

This island was my favourite part because of how surreal it was. A small island populated only by little salt huts and towering cacti..and a llama. The views from the top were amazing, and worth the climb even though I was coughing the whole way up. It was so silent and all you could see in every direction was white. The Salt Flats are over 10,000kms squared which is quiiiiiite big.

After the island we sped back across the flats in our jeep to take the obligatory photos then headed back to Uyuni where Scott and I ended up having burgers with our guide before our bus ride home (seats 1 &2 again – boom).

I would recommend making the effort to go to Uyuni – it”s quite special. There are 1 -3 days tours, and we have heard either do one or three, as two isn’t that much better than one.

And we would recommend Todo Turismo for the bus and Got Salt for the tour 🙂