So far we are loving Columbia. Guerilla warfare of recent years is no longer a common threat in most areas, and due to a huge amount of money spent by the government, the police presence is strong and combat ready and very visible. This has pushed the guerillas further into the jungle, making the country accessible to travellers. Army and police walk the streets everywhere in groups with weapons slung over their shoulders, making things seem safer rather than scary.
Added to this, Columbia is generally a really clean, hygienic, organised country with the friendliest people who will go out of their way to assist travellers and be helpful. The weather is hot, facilties are good and its not over-run with tourists. We are glad we changed out plans to come here.
We spent 2 nights in Cali, Columbia´s third largest city which is centred around a river and the Avenue Sexta which splits the city in half. Its a big city with big buildings, big banks, big roads. Cali is not necessarily beautiful, nor does it have many sites to check out, but its hot and sultry and vibrant and is the home to salsa music. So when in Rome/Columbia...i learnt to salsa. Sexta Ave is lined with large clubs and discoteques and salsateques and whilst Tuesday is the quiet night in town, we hit the busiest club where lots of young Columbian men and women were on the dancefloor. With a few Aguadientes under my belt (the main drink around here, it´s similar to Sambucca but not quite as potent and drunk as a shot with salt and lime), i was encourgaged on to the dancefloor with 2 Columbian guys from the hostel. We danced to salsa and also merengue which is a 2-step style dance and much easier. As they told me, everywhere dances here. This is what you do when you got out, and its the means for being social with the opposite sex. I cant say i was great at salsa, but it was a fun night til the music changed and loud techno music belted out and a crazy funny strip show thing for the ladies occured which is all apprently very common.
Whilst in Cali, we visited the Zoologica or simply Zoo, which was really well laid out and maintained in lovely grounds and featured lots of pumas and big cats, plus the whole gammet of zoo animals including even kangaroos. It was a really nice day til we reaslied we had been bitten by invisible midgies again and were now in for a few days of excricuating itchiness.
We hit the road again, heading for the Zona Cafetera region and a small town called Salento. We stayed in a great hostel on an old restored coffee plantatation and realxed for 3 days in the tranquil setting. The landscape in this region is beautiful and there are rolling green hills reminiscent of Scotland or somewhere, plus lovely farmhouses and green trees everywhere. We walked through the coffee plantation and were explained the processes involved, and also saw the many blackberry and banana plantations interwined between coffee plants. And of course we drank loads of delicious coffee which we have been lacking throughout our Sth American sojourn so far. As is often the way, the best local products get exported and until now, our caffiene addiction has been quenched by instant coffee or bad tea. So we rejoiced and drank it up.
Salento is a cool little town with a spacious main plaza with a few restuarants and bars and arty shops around it, and 1 main street. The style is colourful and like a Western saloon. The local characters in this story wear gum boots and somberos for working in the plantations. There are 2 billard bars, and also a venue for playing a game called Tejo. The game is played undercover and involves throwing a metal disk or puck along a kind of playing alley. You aim for a clay pit where there are pieces of gunpowder in the middle which explode when you hit it and is the ultimate score. For those who know our Sunday Games in the Park days, its similar to Bocci Golf, but with gunpowder and a similar amount of disregard for safety. With unspoken experience in this kind of game, the locals were suitably impressed at Jebs aim and ability to hit the gunpowder.
Just outside Salento, we set of for a hike through the Valley Cocora and witnessed the huge wax plam trees scattered throughout a stunning area of farming and hillsides. The wax palms are unique to this region and grow to about 70m and are now protected. The hike ventured out of open surrounds, and into a beautiful, lush rainforest trail and ended up at a house where we were served coffee by the owners and watched the hummingbirds flitter all around us. They are super fast birds and taking a picture was a challenge but you could get so close to them as they drank from the bird feeders filled with panela syrup water, which Columnians also substitute for sugar in coffee and a straight hot drink too. We rode back in the jeep which serves as a kinda of bus, but obviosuly with alot less seats and Jeb gladly snatched up seat on the roof making for a thrilling ride.
Off next to the town of Medellin, Pablo Escabor territory.
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Mancora, Peru and Vilcabamba, Ecuador
Mancora is small beach town set amongst some fairly arid scenery. The desert landscape on the bus trip here was stark and arriving in Mancora was a relief to see that there is actually a beautiful blue water coastline here. The surk break is small but perhaps it was just during our stay. Restuarants and bars line an area of the beach and whilst this is a tourist destination for gringos and Peruvians alike and there is lots of development in the works, it is still a small town with alot of space to yourself. We stayed at a very cool hostel at the far end of the town which had its on private beach and bamboo cabanas right on the sand. You take motorised scooter taxis to get around, in between lazy about at the beach in the perfect sunny weather. Sacrificing the hostel pet for a travellers feast, we enjoyed a pig on the spit, complete with salads, rum punch, good company and special memories. And then we changed countries again.
Taking another overnight bus (although this time, not quite so comfortable and with some unexpected lag time in between), we took off for Ecuador crossing the border after midnight. As we approach the equator, a few things have become noticeable. The promotion of biodiversity in both plants and animals, and green lush humid scenery is now all around us. And then of course, the feeling of getting asconded by mosquitos. Our first point of call in Ecuador is the very chilled out town Vilcabamba. The valley here is renowned for its water source which is really high in magnesium and other minerals and is said to responsible for the longevity of its residents who often live beyond 100 years. We hiked today to find the source called Agua de Hierro, however a big flood in the recent rainy season has washed away the end of the trail and we were not able to access it. But no worries, as we have been staying in a Ecolodge here which comes complete with a jacuzzi with natural herbs, a steam room filled with pine, sauna, swimming pool, and hammocks and needless to say, we are chilling out and increasing our lifespan at the same time! And all for the very reasonable backpacker price of $9 US a night. We have also been enjoying some other thrills here like homemade Snake Juice which is 80% alcohol and distilled in a jar with a venomous snake. You drink it like Tequila with lime and salt...i was hesitant (Jeb obviously was not..."snakes and alcohol together!!!") but it really was ok and we are still alive.
Another good point to Ecuador so far is the existence of brown bread! For our whole trip, we have only been getting white bread filled with air, so im very happy about this. Sometimes, its the small things...
Taking another overnight bus (although this time, not quite so comfortable and with some unexpected lag time in between), we took off for Ecuador crossing the border after midnight. As we approach the equator, a few things have become noticeable. The promotion of biodiversity in both plants and animals, and green lush humid scenery is now all around us. And then of course, the feeling of getting asconded by mosquitos. Our first point of call in Ecuador is the very chilled out town Vilcabamba. The valley here is renowned for its water source which is really high in magnesium and other minerals and is said to responsible for the longevity of its residents who often live beyond 100 years. We hiked today to find the source called Agua de Hierro, however a big flood in the recent rainy season has washed away the end of the trail and we were not able to access it. But no worries, as we have been staying in a Ecolodge here which comes complete with a jacuzzi with natural herbs, a steam room filled with pine, sauna, swimming pool, and hammocks and needless to say, we are chilling out and increasing our lifespan at the same time! And all for the very reasonable backpacker price of $9 US a night. We have also been enjoying some other thrills here like homemade Snake Juice which is 80% alcohol and distilled in a jar with a venomous snake. You drink it like Tequila with lime and salt...i was hesitant (Jeb obviously was not..."snakes and alcohol together!!!") but it really was ok and we are still alive.
Another good point to Ecuador so far is the existence of brown bread! For our whole trip, we have only been getting white bread filled with air, so im very happy about this. Sometimes, its the small things...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru
One of our highlights of this trip, and the only real thing we had booked, was the 4 day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu. It did not disappoint. After spending several days in Cusco checking out the Inca ruins around the city, we set off with our tour agency and 14 fellow trekkers in the early hours of Friday morning. It takes a couple of hours drive to the start of the trek where there is a bit of official paperwork required and passport stamping, and porter weigh ins. And then we were off for the first day of quite easy hiking. Spending several weeks at altitude and hiking the physically gruelling Colca Canyon had certainly improved out fitness levels and we cruised through the day passing Andean wilderness and other Inca sites along the way. The weather was perfect, warm during the day, cold at night but with an abundance of stars and a feast of food perpared for us the chaskis ...aka the fleet foot runners... who carry everything from the tents, food, chairs etc.
Day 2 was the toughest day with a mostly uphill climb covering 1200 ascending metres that day, and going through the pass known as Dead Womans Pass. It was hard going, but again, our new healthy bodies carried us through leading the group to the top. The campsite was at 4200m so it was a cold night but in such a beuatiful valley with high Andean mountains surrounding us.
Day 3 was the longest day but walking through cloud forest and several Inca sites was fantastic and we could walk at our own pace for the most part and so we often found ourselves alone to appreicate the stunning mountain scenery which at times verges on rainforest with varying degress of humidity.
Up early on the last day...4am...to join the line of other hikers waiting at the last checkpoint of the Machu Picchu National Park. On our way at 5.30am for the final hour or so hike to the famous Inca city...althougb it should be said that it is neither the biggest or the lost or the last city of the Incas. The biggest site is in the same general area although another good 5 or something days hike and not promoted well. The lost city is still lost and though to possibly be in the Amazon basin. But Machu Picchu is the most well known and were stoked to be there and so it was slightly disappointing to wake after 3 days of perfect weather hiking to discover rain and cloud and when we finally reached the Sun Gate for the ´postcard photo´ of Machu Picchu...there was nothing to see...thats right...nada. Continiuing on, we hiked down to the main centre and took a break and prayed to PachuMama ...Mother Earth in South America...for some clearance on the clouds...and it soon happened, yeah!!! and we set off to explore the site.
Machu Pichu is bigger than i expected and so perfectly preserved. The Incas really were smart guys as the buildings they made in the 15th century have withstood several earthquakes and remain today as an outstanding relic of architecture and workmanship. We learnt from our great guide David, and saw for ourselves that the Incas knew about toilets and drainages systems, we saw their lock systems and housing for the noble plus the villagers, watch towers and ceremonial rocks. It was so rewarding to be there, until the hoards of tourists started to arrive on the buses, and having been there since 6am and perhaps unfairly feeling like we deserved the place to be less packed after 4 days of hiking, we took in the site and retired down to the town of Aguas Calientes for lunch and then a soak in the hot springs with a pisco sour brought to us the pools. Ah...so well deserverd.
All up, we hiked 42km and by the 4th day, my body was feeling weary. The Inca Trail is well worn and for the most part fairly easy underfoot, however I enjoyed it more than i thought as I had a feeling there may be too many people on the trail. The Peruvian government has strictly limited numbers on the trail nowadays, however, they could do with limiting the numbers at Machu Picchu as well. But its a prime tourist attractrion and the cost of a coffee alone was an slap in the face reminder that they are raking it in here. Intersting to see what happens in the next few years as Machu Picchu is sinking at a rate of 1cm a year and there is talk of building viewing bridges around the site to prevent people walking on it. But if its cloudy like what intially happend to us, then you cant see anything til it lifts and you walk lower.
Anyways...we left very satisfyied and tired and I thoroughly enjoyed my massge the next day back in Cusco before taking an overnight bus to Lima the following night. The 18 hour bus trip was more than 22 hours but Lima is not really that nice a city and my bout of food poisoning was probably well timed as there is little we want to see here anyway. Feeling better now, but spent most of the day in bed except to venture out into the weird of blanket that coats this city, and book another bus ticket tommorrow night. Another 18 hours, but this time we get off close to the Ecuadorian border at a beach town called Mancora. No more mountains for awhile...should be a nice change.
Day 2 was the toughest day with a mostly uphill climb covering 1200 ascending metres that day, and going through the pass known as Dead Womans Pass. It was hard going, but again, our new healthy bodies carried us through leading the group to the top. The campsite was at 4200m so it was a cold night but in such a beuatiful valley with high Andean mountains surrounding us.
Day 3 was the longest day but walking through cloud forest and several Inca sites was fantastic and we could walk at our own pace for the most part and so we often found ourselves alone to appreicate the stunning mountain scenery which at times verges on rainforest with varying degress of humidity.
Up early on the last day...4am...to join the line of other hikers waiting at the last checkpoint of the Machu Picchu National Park. On our way at 5.30am for the final hour or so hike to the famous Inca city...althougb it should be said that it is neither the biggest or the lost or the last city of the Incas. The biggest site is in the same general area although another good 5 or something days hike and not promoted well. The lost city is still lost and though to possibly be in the Amazon basin. But Machu Picchu is the most well known and were stoked to be there and so it was slightly disappointing to wake after 3 days of perfect weather hiking to discover rain and cloud and when we finally reached the Sun Gate for the ´postcard photo´ of Machu Picchu...there was nothing to see...thats right...nada. Continiuing on, we hiked down to the main centre and took a break and prayed to PachuMama ...Mother Earth in South America...for some clearance on the clouds...and it soon happened, yeah!!! and we set off to explore the site.
Machu Pichu is bigger than i expected and so perfectly preserved. The Incas really were smart guys as the buildings they made in the 15th century have withstood several earthquakes and remain today as an outstanding relic of architecture and workmanship. We learnt from our great guide David, and saw for ourselves that the Incas knew about toilets and drainages systems, we saw their lock systems and housing for the noble plus the villagers, watch towers and ceremonial rocks. It was so rewarding to be there, until the hoards of tourists started to arrive on the buses, and having been there since 6am and perhaps unfairly feeling like we deserved the place to be less packed after 4 days of hiking, we took in the site and retired down to the town of Aguas Calientes for lunch and then a soak in the hot springs with a pisco sour brought to us the pools. Ah...so well deserverd.
All up, we hiked 42km and by the 4th day, my body was feeling weary. The Inca Trail is well worn and for the most part fairly easy underfoot, however I enjoyed it more than i thought as I had a feeling there may be too many people on the trail. The Peruvian government has strictly limited numbers on the trail nowadays, however, they could do with limiting the numbers at Machu Picchu as well. But its a prime tourist attractrion and the cost of a coffee alone was an slap in the face reminder that they are raking it in here. Intersting to see what happens in the next few years as Machu Picchu is sinking at a rate of 1cm a year and there is talk of building viewing bridges around the site to prevent people walking on it. But if its cloudy like what intially happend to us, then you cant see anything til it lifts and you walk lower.
Anyways...we left very satisfyied and tired and I thoroughly enjoyed my massge the next day back in Cusco before taking an overnight bus to Lima the following night. The 18 hour bus trip was more than 22 hours but Lima is not really that nice a city and my bout of food poisoning was probably well timed as there is little we want to see here anyway. Feeling better now, but spent most of the day in bed except to venture out into the weird of blanket that coats this city, and book another bus ticket tommorrow night. Another 18 hours, but this time we get off close to the Ecuadorian border at a beach town called Mancora. No more mountains for awhile...should be a nice change.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Isla Del Sol - Bolivia. Puno, and Arequipa - Peru
We have been busy since the last time i wrote...changed countries, diets and currencies, hiked canyons and visited floating islands. Here´s an update...
From the coastal town of Copacabana, we took a boat for an hour and half to the tranquil island of Isla Del Sol which sits in the middle of Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. It was a beautiful blue sky day and we walked around this big island which has remained fairly unchanged by tourism. Villagers seve coffee in their front yards alongside their llamas, and trails are rocky leading through hills of sheeps and donkeys and plantations of quinoa which is kind of like couscous or rice and is added to soups and mashed like potato. Famous for trout, i enjoyed a change of diet from the regular Bolivian dishs of rice and chicken, and ate trout for 4 days straight. The island was really realxing so we stopped and just sat for a couple of hours on a cliff side in the sun. Being Easter Sunday, or possibly for a wedding celebration or something, there were fireworks over the lake at night before the skies turned and a tremedous storm took place overnight. We left the next day for a 3 hour bus trip across the border to Peru which was a simple process, and this is where we are now.
Arriving in Puno we could see the change in lifestyle quickly. Peru is more accustomed to tourism and people are a little more forward and friendly with travellers. Roads are more likely to be paved, toilets come equip with toilet paper (although not always), and things are just a little more organised. The food so far has been fantastic (alpaca meals have been suberb, and just new menu and market choices...woohoo), and we are throughly enjoying pisco sours which is a alcholic beverage made of pisco (white grape brandy), egg white, sugar syrup and...? Delicious.
We stayed in Puno and visted the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, which is the floating islands of Uros. Super touristy, but something to be seen regardless. People live and make a living on approx 80 reed islands on the lake. Its quite fascinating to get off the boat and be on a island made entirely of reeds which is soft underfoot. People fish for trout and make crafts and build reed boats as part of a very old culture and lifestyle which has been monopolised by tourism, but is still really special and intersting.
Off to Arequipa next which is where we are now. Arequipa is really quite stunning. It is the nicest city we have been in so far, however more Spanish than indigenous Sth American. Surrounded by huge snow capped volcanoes and mountain ranges, the city centre is remininscent of somwhere in Europe. The plaza is super clean with palm trees and gorgeous churches, the people and restuarants are trendy and the climate is warm.
About 6 hours from Arequipa, lies the worlds second deepest canyon called Canon Del Colca. We have just completed a 2 day/1 nights trek into this canyon (15km all up). It begins at an elevation of 3280m and plummets to the river at 2160m. So the first day is a steep drop of over 1000m, crossing the canyon and walking through local villages which are really quite remote. There are no roads here, so everything is transported by foot or mules or produced locally. We stayed overnight at the bottom in a lodging with a pool but with no electricity, and then of course...what goes down, must come up (the reverse of this saying still works here!) The trek up is said to take about 3 hours and we completed it in about 2 hours, 15 mins which is damn good going if i must say myslef, however my calves are definitely feeling it today! At the end, we visted the hot springs which, at a toasty 39 degrees, was good for the muscles. Another very cool part of this trip was a stop off at the Cruz Del Condor where condors glide through the valley and make spectacular viewing. Their wing span grows to up to 3 metres long and they come really close to the viewing point. We saw several cruise by, very impressive.
Tommorrow night, we are taking a bus to Cusco where we will spend 3 nights before beginning the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
From the coastal town of Copacabana, we took a boat for an hour and half to the tranquil island of Isla Del Sol which sits in the middle of Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. It was a beautiful blue sky day and we walked around this big island which has remained fairly unchanged by tourism. Villagers seve coffee in their front yards alongside their llamas, and trails are rocky leading through hills of sheeps and donkeys and plantations of quinoa which is kind of like couscous or rice and is added to soups and mashed like potato. Famous for trout, i enjoyed a change of diet from the regular Bolivian dishs of rice and chicken, and ate trout for 4 days straight. The island was really realxing so we stopped and just sat for a couple of hours on a cliff side in the sun. Being Easter Sunday, or possibly for a wedding celebration or something, there were fireworks over the lake at night before the skies turned and a tremedous storm took place overnight. We left the next day for a 3 hour bus trip across the border to Peru which was a simple process, and this is where we are now.
Arriving in Puno we could see the change in lifestyle quickly. Peru is more accustomed to tourism and people are a little more forward and friendly with travellers. Roads are more likely to be paved, toilets come equip with toilet paper (although not always), and things are just a little more organised. The food so far has been fantastic (alpaca meals have been suberb, and just new menu and market choices...woohoo), and we are throughly enjoying pisco sours which is a alcholic beverage made of pisco (white grape brandy), egg white, sugar syrup and...? Delicious.
We stayed in Puno and visted the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, which is the floating islands of Uros. Super touristy, but something to be seen regardless. People live and make a living on approx 80 reed islands on the lake. Its quite fascinating to get off the boat and be on a island made entirely of reeds which is soft underfoot. People fish for trout and make crafts and build reed boats as part of a very old culture and lifestyle which has been monopolised by tourism, but is still really special and intersting.
Off to Arequipa next which is where we are now. Arequipa is really quite stunning. It is the nicest city we have been in so far, however more Spanish than indigenous Sth American. Surrounded by huge snow capped volcanoes and mountain ranges, the city centre is remininscent of somwhere in Europe. The plaza is super clean with palm trees and gorgeous churches, the people and restuarants are trendy and the climate is warm.
About 6 hours from Arequipa, lies the worlds second deepest canyon called Canon Del Colca. We have just completed a 2 day/1 nights trek into this canyon (15km all up). It begins at an elevation of 3280m and plummets to the river at 2160m. So the first day is a steep drop of over 1000m, crossing the canyon and walking through local villages which are really quite remote. There are no roads here, so everything is transported by foot or mules or produced locally. We stayed overnight at the bottom in a lodging with a pool but with no electricity, and then of course...what goes down, must come up (the reverse of this saying still works here!) The trek up is said to take about 3 hours and we completed it in about 2 hours, 15 mins which is damn good going if i must say myslef, however my calves are definitely feeling it today! At the end, we visted the hot springs which, at a toasty 39 degrees, was good for the muscles. Another very cool part of this trip was a stop off at the Cruz Del Condor where condors glide through the valley and make spectacular viewing. Their wing span grows to up to 3 metres long and they come really close to the viewing point. We saw several cruise by, very impressive.
Tommorrow night, we are taking a bus to Cusco where we will spend 3 nights before beginning the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Tiahuanaco, Sorata, and Lake Titicaca - Bolivia
Feliz Semana Santa...or Happy Easter! For this holiday period, we find ourselves in Lake Titicaca - along with the majority of La Paz residents who escape to the seaside (well, lake) for a 4 day break. The timing was not something we had planned, but its been entertaining in many ways. Arriving here on Good Friday was an adventure in itself as we scrambled along the roads with thousands of other vehicles crammed with as many people as there is physical space. With only milimetres spare, drivers would barge on through, and the dual lane road became just one direction with every leaving the city. Intially coming the other way, we were literally run off the road in our bus (which is really a van with seats in it which somehow can fit up to 18 or so people), and got directed on a detour through peoples fields and paddocks kicking up a storm of dust and rocks along the way. The second bus trip enroute to Lake Titicaca was better and we overtook everyone before arriving at the lake where we had to get off the bus so it could get carried over on a barge with the hundreds of other holiday-goers cars. We got on the people barge and then only just found our bus on the other side. A close call.
Lake Titicaca is a place where Catholic pilgrams flock to so on Good Friday evening, there was a candle parade through the town. Cars here get blessed here everyday, not just Easter, so there are cars everywhere sprouting colourful flower decorations. People camp out anywhere and bring their pets along for the holiday season too, including monkeys and llamas. The lake is filled with paddle boats, row boats and kayaks, and so we thought we would holiday with the Bolivians and hopped in a lovely swan paddle boat for some fun this afternoon. Tommorrow we are heading across to the Isla del Sol for the day and night.
Before arriving here, we spent 3 nights in Sorata which is a zen like town surrounded by lush green mountains of plantations and farming families. Great hiking, and we did a full day hike to a place called Gruta San Pedro. It was a huge cave with a biug underground lake and small bats that live inside.
Another day trip in the past week was a venture out of La Paz toTiahuanaco which is Bolivias most significant archaelogical site. A civilisation thought to have risen about 600BC and is older than the Incas. The site is still very much being excated, and it was great to see a work in progress with local people carefully sifting though the site which already has uncovered large and well preserved pyramids and ceremonial grounds.
We are heading to Peru in 2 days so will write next from there.
Lake Titicaca is a place where Catholic pilgrams flock to so on Good Friday evening, there was a candle parade through the town. Cars here get blessed here everyday, not just Easter, so there are cars everywhere sprouting colourful flower decorations. People camp out anywhere and bring their pets along for the holiday season too, including monkeys and llamas. The lake is filled with paddle boats, row boats and kayaks, and so we thought we would holiday with the Bolivians and hopped in a lovely swan paddle boat for some fun this afternoon. Tommorrow we are heading across to the Isla del Sol for the day and night.
Before arriving here, we spent 3 nights in Sorata which is a zen like town surrounded by lush green mountains of plantations and farming families. Great hiking, and we did a full day hike to a place called Gruta San Pedro. It was a huge cave with a biug underground lake and small bats that live inside.
Another day trip in the past week was a venture out of La Paz toTiahuanaco which is Bolivias most significant archaelogical site. A civilisation thought to have risen about 600BC and is older than the Incas. The site is still very much being excated, and it was great to see a work in progress with local people carefully sifting though the site which already has uncovered large and well preserved pyramids and ceremonial grounds.
We are heading to Peru in 2 days so will write next from there.
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