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
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!
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