D is for Darwin...and Dogs

18 hours, that's the amount of time we have left on the bus we are currently on, having already watched two average films. I say bus but it's more like a fully reclining luxury leather sofa on wheels... with a stewardess. It's basically a business class flight - the only problem being the maximum speed is 90 KM/H, as opposed to 900 KM/H.

We are travelling from Lima to Cusco, and this is the last leg of hopefully our longest journey yet, consisting of 4 buses ever-increasing in duration, 5, 9, 15 and now 22 hours, from Cuenca in the south-ish of Ecuador to Cusco in the south-ish of Peru all - without stopping in a hotel. Unfortunately (and fortunately) we're in this huge rush because we somewhat underestimated the time required to get from Cuenca to Cusco, and we need to be in Cusco good time for our Machu Picchu / Inca Trail trek in a few days. The casualties being the north, middle and coast of Peru, which we have only seen by bus.

Since my last update we've swam with turtles/lots of other marine beings, played with sea lions, seen a few volcanoes, done some 'serious' hiking and tested Ecuador's healthcare system (and our Spanish)... oh and I turned 28. We've also discovered some handy photo-stitching software which allows us to show you some of the breathtaking views we've seen.

As always, I've included a few photos in this update but all can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/fernando.nilanga

I'll start in Quito, Ecuador, which is where we arrived slightly jaded on the 4th September, ahead of our trip to the Galapagos Islands. We were to come back to Quito (more than once it conspired!) so we just chilled and ATE SOME CURRY... which was actually really good - thanks to a Pakistani restaurant, whose owner surprisingly did not want to talk about Pakistani cricket... wonder why?!

The Galapagos Islands

The next day saw the start of our 8-day Galapagos cruise, something we had been looking forward to for a good few weeks and something we'll be paying for for a few more yet!

A snip of context first (for those who are not familiar with the islands' attraction). The Galapagos Islands are 600 miles away from the Ecuadorian mainland, have seen many different uses and inhabitants (from prisons to Norwegian fish factories) and were the inspiration to Darwin's crazy theory of evolution through natural selection / survival of the fittest. I'll get Jo to summarise what inspired Shropshire's second finest Pillow...

"His observation of the large number of closely related but reproductively distinct finches was one of the inspirations behind his theory of evolution and speciation i.e. all the different finches he saw evolved from a single species that had arrived on the islands and subsequently diversified, each taking advantage of a different food source/habitat to avoid competition".

Well put.

It's difficult to describe the whole experience without use of superlatives, so please excuse...

After our flight to the islands (which was in itself a bit of a novelty after so many buses), we boarded our boat, the Galapagos Vision - a small catamaran which miraculously, through some kind of illusion, slept 10 guest and 5 crew. The miracle was actualy a cabin and toilet that gave me back spasms, but it was worth the pain.

Each day essentially took the same form: An early rise to a great breakfast; a walk around one of the islands with our nature guide; a delicious lunch back on the boat; snorkeling, walking or sailing in the afternoon; a scrumptous dinner back on the boat and then after a few hours of near sickness, bed - whilst the crew sailed to the next island.

The experience was special for more than one reason, but the most striking feature, as people always say, was the fearlessness of the animals on the islands. The lack of land-based predation and very controlled human expansion (recently) has led to the animals really not giving a crap about humans walking up to / over / into them (well, maybe not into them). If a sea lion / iguana / bird of some sort is on the path, it doesn't move out of the way ... you do.

In the same way, the animals do not change their behaviour when humans get close, so we were able to experience a handsome blue-footed booby court his next 'victim' with a dance, turtles grazing underwater, sea lions playing, sea lions fighting, sea lions STINKING ... you get the point. The wealth of bird, reptile and sea life was stunning, with amazing sightings each day, both above and under water.

Albatross couple

Booby!

Pals

Not only was the wildlife stunning, the landscapes were sometimes equally breathtaking: taking in black, red, yellow and white beaches; crystal clear water; volcanoes; newly formed islands and stunning sunsets. I also celebrated my birthday on the boat complete with cake, made by our hilarious chef.

Sunset over two volcano islands

Spot our boat

A quick shout out to all the people on our boat; our friendly crew (I managed to get in on a game of football against another boat - and walked away, just, with a few good bruises) and our fun fellow guests.

Saying that, 8 days 'at sea' was just the right amount of time to see what we needed to see and get our land legs back, so we headed back to Quito for a couple of days of Colonial sightseeing - and a bit of a rush to get down to Cusco in less than 2 weeks.

Quito

Ecuador's capital, but not largest city - behind Guayaquil, has a very well preserved colonial old town and a new town with every modern european amenity. It's also set in the shadow of some fairly impressive volcanoes and mountains - allowing for some great hiking and views.

A couple of days was enough time to take in all the colonial architecture and some pretty stunning views as well -we climbed up some church towers, ascended the ludicrously expensive teleferiQo up Mount Pichincha (it did rise 1km I suppose) and went up 'El Panecillo' (Quito's much smaller version of Rio's Christo Redentor). I'm told Quito has a great nightlife too, but our splurge in the Galapagos meant no nights out for a while...

We were eager to see as much of Ecuador as possible in now ten days, so made haste, said goodbye to Quito (though unwittingly we were to see it again) and headed south for some rural hiking.

Quilotoa...

...is a tiny village famous for its volcano crater-lake, and is apparently an ideal place for some rural hiking and authentic andean village-life.

After an overnight in an uninspiring town called Latacunga, we set off in a car for Lake Quilotoa (quite a sight) and a subsequent 3-day village to village trek, carrying essentials only, that lasted about one hour. This was thanks to (excuse my french) a bastard dog that managed to bite Jo on the ankle! Totally unprovoked...

Following the use of said essentials (soap, water, disinfectant) we managed to hitch various rides back to Latacunga, and then the next day back to Quito for some rabies jabs and a good exercise in 'survival spanish'. Anyway, our plans had to change as we needed to be back in Quito in another three days for the second jab, so we decided to 'sack off' our planned beach trip and head to the touristy but lovely Banos (yes, bathroom) for a few days - within 4 hours of Quito.

Banos (means Bathroom)

Banos is a lovely small town famous for its thermal springs and outdoor activities. We were there for three nights - dog free (almost). The days were filled with mountain biking - which was thankfully mostly downhill, and hiking - which was mostly uphill.

There's not a huge amount to say other than it was a really refreshing few days of fresh air and exercise - amid some stunning scenery. Aside from this, we got to enjoy our first bottle of wine for months (it's getting cheaper the further south we go...), dominate some locals at pool (they really are that bad) and experience a hangover for the first time in ages. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Quito for the second jab - from where we took the night bus to the city of Cuenca.

Cuenca and Surroundings

We arrived in Cuenca as the city was waking - the date now being Monday 20th September, and had a couple of days to enjoy before we were to embark on our current journey. Cuenca is a really beautiful city, famous for its colonial architecture, lovely climate, Inca ruins, strangely tranquil river and some stunning nearby scenery. Our time in the city was spent wandering through cobbled streets and checking out some of the Inca ruins.

The next day we took the bus to nearby Parque Cajas - a national park about an hour away by bus, which has literally hundreds of lakes. We decided (as always) to go for the toughest hike possible in 4 hours, and it was pretty tough - both going up and down. However, the views really were worth it - I've said this before on this trip, but it really was some of the most stunning landscapes I'd ever seen.

I'm not sure if we've done Ecuador justice as we've mainly travelled through the central mountains, missed the beaches and jungle, but seen the Galapagos Islands. I've found the people slightly more reserved than the raucous Colombias, and the landscapes just huge but incredibly beautiful. We certainly haven't (yet) done Peru justice, which brings us up to the present.

The journey we started on Wednesday is now nearly complete... on Saturday (I've slept on the bus since I started). In 4 days time (29th September) we'll be setting off for the 4-day Inca Trail, and then... who knows? Taking our time a bit more through to Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, hopefully no more dog-incidents, and surely more amazing cities, landscapes, wildlife and people!

4 Buses, 3 Cities, 2 Guitar Heroes and 1 Volcano

It has been quite a while since our last update as I've been far too busy having fun, but enough is enough and as our time in Colombia is coming to an end it's an appropriate moment to sit down and put things together. This is a bumper issue so make yourself a cup of tea and settle in...

Some photo highlights are included but all can be found here (in various albums): http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/fernando.nilanga

Medellin (7th to 13th August)

I'll pick up where I left off, in Medellin - also known as the City of Eternal Spring due to its perfect all-year round weather. First, a small amount on Medellin's notorious modern history. This is a city that 20 years ago saw 60 bombs exploding in a three month period, this was the centre of the world cocaine trade for 15 years and the playground of the infamous Pablo Escobar - a man with the blood of thousands on his hands yet his legacy still commands respect from many of Medellin's poor.

We arrived early in the morning from Cartagena into a city at the crescendo of its biggest festival of the year - The Feria del Flores, or Festival of Flowers. Medellin is the capital of Antioquia, Colombia's richest and I think largest department, home to the 'Paisa' - who have a reputation for entrepreneurism, hard work and hard drinking! The city over the final weekend of the festival was one huge party, coming to a peak on Sunday 8th August with the Silleteros Parade, when hundreds of Paisas decend into Medellin to parade huge wooden constructions each containing thousands of flowers through the city.

This sounds rather strange but the spectacle was magnificent, some of the silleteros being over 10 feet tall, and some of the weight-bearers being small, old but clearly incredibly strong women! It was great to be there in the city's biggest moment and revel in the atmosphere of collective celebration.

Medellin has, in the style of Alan Partridge, Rolf Harris and Dennis Hopper, really bounced back from its dark modern history. It is beatifully set within a huge valley, with progressive architecture, a great modern Metro system, cable-cars to connect hillside slums to the city centre, great museums and an exhilarating nightlife.

We had to do the obligatory Pablo Escobar tour which was brought to life by our savvy and very amusing guide - who seemed to hate all the major players in Colombia's recent political and social history - politicians, guerillas, drug cartels and paramilitaries. It really was hard to fathom the extent of his power and control, rising to the top of the Medellin mafia at the age of 29 (I have 1 year left...). Not even he knew how much money he had but some accounts say up to $20bn.

On visiting his grave we met two locals in their 60s who were visiting his cousin (and major right hand man), it was intruiging to hear them almost praising Escobar - who was known to hand out money within poor slums, but who also never hesitated in murderous acts against the very same people to reach his enemies...

After 6 days in Medellin we decided it was time to move on, we were sad to leave such a fun (and surprisingly clean) city but we were to find paradise in our next main stop...

Zona Cafetera (13th to 20th August)

We left Medellin for Colombia's semi-mountainous coffee growing region, via a one night stop at some thermal springs for some much needed rest, recouperation and relaxation at Santa Rosa de Cabal. The next day (Saturday 14th August) we took the bus to Salento - a beautiful little town set in the heart of rolling green hills, coffee plantations and rushing streams and waterfalls.

The countryside truly was spectacular - no overstatement. We took a jeep (riding on the back and hanging on for dear life) out to the Cocora Valley, a unique place with huge palm trees that seem like they are not real. After a stiff 2 hour climb through jungle we were able to take in some breathtaking views and then stroll through the valley, walking among these strange, for-no-apparent-reason-ridiculously-tall trees.

Spot me at the bottom of the tree

We stayed in a phenomenal 'hostel' - basically a new eco-farm 1km out of town with incredible views, a chef from Barcelona who nightly prepared 8 course feasts and great fellow guests who we got to know well. We ended up staying a week in Salento, passing the time by walking in the hills, eating, reading and visiting coffee plantations. We were also fortunate enough to cross paths with two musicians from New Zealand (check them out: http://www.myspace.com/themaproomband) who led two great sing songs, one including a full rendition of the Dark Side of the Moon, fuelled by wine out of a box.

Don Elias - Don of Coffee

Again, we really didn't want to leave Salento but it was time to move on and we got the night bus to Bogota on Friday (13th!) night. Typically Colombian bus journeys have been at least 2 hours longer than the scheduled time, but this one really was a shocker... an 8 hour journey that eventually lasted 15 hours. Twas alright for me as I was mostly asleep however Jo was fuming and unfortunately mostly awake.

Bogota (21st to 25th August)

After resting for the first day we took to Bogota on foot - a city with a great number of museums, churches and cultural activities. In three days we managed to watch three different musical acts - one was part of the 'Salsa in the Park' festival (incredible dancing, some ridiculously cheesy), one was a trumpet quartet in a museum (oh how cultured) and the best was a threesome of young traditional Colombian guitarists.

We took in a couple of arial views from Colombia's tallest skyscraper and from Cerro Montserrate (one of the mountains overlooking Bogota).

Plaza Bolivar

Bogota is cool but regretfully I'm not sure we made the most of it - both were feeling a bit burnt out so we took it really easy. I was impressed with some of the museums, particularly the Museo Del Oro (Gold) - which was incredible, basically a chronicle of Colombia's pre-conquistador history told through the use of gold and other precious metals by indigenous tribes, many of which date back thousands of years and most of which are rather strange...

Roland Rat?

We continued on the theme of ancient cultures by heading from Bogota to San Agustin on the nightbus (again the theme being that I sleep and Jo doesn't) on Thursday 26th August.

San Agustin (27th to 29th August)

San Agustin is a small town nestled into a valley near the Rio Magdelena - Colombia's main river from south to north. It's famous for archealogical remains left by a mysterious and ancient indigenous tribe who did not leave behind any scriptures (but existed up until the 15th century) - hence are known as the 'Agustinians'.

The next two days were spent staying in a lovely countryside retreat and taking jeep tours / walking tours through beautiful scenery a large number of stone sculptures and burial mounds. Apparently the Agustinians mummified and buried their dead together with some great statues (some of which have been looted but many of which remain).

A happy statue

After a few days in San Agustin we decided to head north-east to Popayan, a city about 5 hours away by bus on a ridiculously bumpy road (that's only been free from landmines/guerilla activity for a couple of years). I say free from land mines but a friend we met saw one go off a few days before on the side of the road... EEEHH.

Anyway, the bus journey was a unique experience - an hour and a half in we encountered this:

What followed was 7 hours of standing still, waiting for parts for the lorry on the left (which had lost its rear axel), watching people unloading huge chunks of wood to stabilise the lorry on the right, and (me) discussing - in very broken Spanish - Colombia's recent political history with a crazed local who seemed to get a bit more passionate that I expected. Anyway, 7 hours later than expected we reached Popayan - a city famous for its white-washed colonial buildings.

Popayan and surroundings (29th August to 3rd September)

We arrived in Popayan at about 11pm and went straight out with our friends Denise (Aus) and Michael (UK). We bumped into some Colombians who plied us with Aguardiente (local anaseedy liquor), got us into a club then asked us to pay for their beers!

The next few days were spent chilling and wondering around the beautiful old town in Popayan - with two notable exceptions. One was a trip to a weekly indigenous market about an hour away from Popayan, in a small town called Silvia. I would loved to have taken some photos as it was a lot of fun but apparently it's an insult to the locals, so the camera was kept firmly in our bags.

The second exception was probably THE BEST thing I've done in Colombia (so it's really fitting that we did it on one of our last days here) - we hiked up and down a massive dormant volcano in Parque Purace - about an hour and a half from Popayan.

We woke up at 03.50am to get the bus to the park (a hugely important park in Colombia - source of its main rivers), and went up to 3,300m from where we started our 4 hour climb to the summit, at 4,850m. It was pretty tough but we made it up there in under 4 hours (YES!) - despite the altitude giving us pounding headaches and empty lungs.

We took in numerous different micro-climates on the way up, and some pretty horrendous cold weather and howling winds - but it was well worth it. As we got to the top we could see nothing... but after 20 minutes of walking around the crater the clouds were blown away and it was really quite weird to be looking across a volcano crater! One of the best things is that for the whole day, we were the only two people on the whole hike - so it was quite scary in terms of our isolation from any kind of assistance if anything went wrong, but all was good and we made it back down in time for the last bus to Popayan.

The start...

Strange plants...

So that's what a volcano looks like!

Which brings us up to the present. I am writing this in our bed in Popayan, with my body in pieces but feeling a good sense of having done something worthwhile. Tomorrow (3rd September) we are flying down to Ecuador and then bussing it to Quito, from where on the 5th September (Sunday) we depart for an 8 day cruise around the Galapagos - likely to be one of the highlights of our travels!

We've really enjoyed Colombia - it's a beautiful country with incredibly diverse landscapes, from white beaches to green valleys, from huge mountains to thick jungles. The people are insanely friendly and are so eager to banish the reputation of Colombia being a dangerous place to visit.

From what we've seen we can only agree with them and encourage other travellers to come and explore this incredible country.