[Rio Bamba - Ecuador]
Sunday, 26 September, 2004
Hi there
This is just a quick email to say hi, and all is well.
We are now in Ecuador in a city called Rio Bamba and
tomorrow are about to head off to climb Volcan
Chimborazo. I wrote a long email this afternoon to
you, but somehow managed to lose it (very pissed
off!). So will write it all out again later when I
have more time and we are in Banos (a small town a few
hours from here with hot pools!).
Basically we had a fantastic time at the beach in
northern Peru. Hot, sand and surf. Went swimming and
relaxed for two days. Excellent and cheap.
We then had a hellish trip over the border to Ecuador.
A trip I would definitely not recommend anyone to do
- at least the way we did it. This is a story in
itself which I will explain later. Fortunately we
made it along with all our stuff - but we did wonder
for a while. It was the most stressful day of our
whole trip so far I think - and that combined with
jumping onto the wrong bus and gonig 6 hours in the
wrong direction didn´t help. Eventually we made it to
Rio Bamba at 4am after a day and a night on buses with
no sleep. Decided not to go to bed at all that day
and instead jumped on the tourist train from Rio Bamba
that goes through farm land and down a spectacular
gorge and everyone sits on the roof. A great trip and
amazing how they built the line. By the time we got
back to our hotel that night here we were totally
exhausted. Since then we have slept and ate almost
constantly - Ecuador has copious amounts of amazing
fruits and vegetables - lots of fruits I have never
seen before. And they are all cheap. The pineapples
are my favourite. We´ve already eaten a whole one
today.
Next, the mountain. We are crossing our fingers for
good weather and taking 4 days food. It has a
reputation for being cold and windy. As soon as we get
back from that, we will head to Banos.
Lots of love
nicola
* Chinnoble Adventures #9
Tuesday, 21 September, 2004
Well well well, what have we done since the last
email...
We left Bolivia and hung up the ice axe and crampons
to head for the warmer temperatures of the city of
Arequipa that sits in the middle of the Peruvian
coastal desert. There isn't much there except a
volcano that a few people were sacrificed on a few
hundred years ago. There's also some great colonial
architecture and cheap eating places so its not all
bad.
We spent a day wandering around the streets and trying
to keep out of the baking sun before zooming over to
the Colca Valley and the Colca Canyon. This is the
second deepest canyon in the world and is popular for
trekking, rafting, local rural culture and condor
spotting. We went with the intention of getting close
to the condor and thats exactly what we did. At a
lookout point high above the valley floor every
morning almost religiously between 8 and 9am the
condors come to soar, catch thermals and have a good
time. They swoop close to the cliff giving viewers
great chances to see these huge creatures really
close.
After Arequipa we took a cheap local smelly and
uncomfortable bus 10 hours through to Cusco. Famous
for of course, Machu Picchu. Cusco is very touristy
and hence significantly more expensive in the main
area of town. We spent a day finding our feet and
finding out the cheap places to stay and eat.
The area is rife with inca ruins - a lot of them
nearly as impressive as Machu Picchu itself and
significantly cheaper to visit. We decided not to
walk the inca trail mainly due to its ridiculous cost.
Instead we took local transport over to the Sacred
valley spending a couple of days exploring the inca
fortresses and ruins around the small towns before
catching the train up to Agua Calientes from where you
visit the Machu Picchu site from. If for nothing
else, the area of Machu Picchu is worth visiting for
the mountains and views. Truly impressive with huge
peaks towering above the valley floor. Very similar
to Fiordland in NZ.
We camped a couple of km out of town and spent one day
wandering around the site which sits high on a saddle
above the valley floor. The prices of everything at
the site are insane. $20USD to get in, and you still
have to pay to use the toilet on top of that! Drinks
and food are at least 4 times the price compared to
just an hours walk down the hill in Agua Calientes.
The site itself is mind boggling. We walked up to a
couple of view points during the day as well as
exploring the ruins inside and out. Sometime in the
afternoon a tropical downpour ensured almost all of
the other tourists left so we had the site to
ourselves.
Back in Cusco we decided to splash out and booked
ourselves on a 3 day rafting trip down the Rio
Apurimac. This river is famous for being the upper
part of the Amazon River. It has impressive gorges
and consistant grade 3-5 rapids along the raftable
section. It is also famous for being one of the most
dangerous rivers to raft - mostly due to the numbers
of people rafting it and the rapids being 'technical'
rather than just big water.
Throughout our three days rafting down the river our
guide pointed out every rapid and rock that a tourist
has drowned in. Its easy to see why it is dangerous
when you look at the figures. Due to this, our
rafting company (being one of the better ones)
portaged some of the more dangerous rapids. It was a
truly amazing three days on the water with a warm wind
blowing, a great bunch of people, comfortable
campsites, fantastic food and fun water. We had a
couple of spills where we flipped the raft, but only
because our guide thought we needed a 'present'. The
other raft, which was not overall as powerful as ours
had a spill in a hole at the bottom of a grade 5 rapid
on the last day. Fortunately everyone popped out ok,
and it was caught on video for all to see.
During the trip we saw locals in the middle of nowhere
panning for gold on the riverside, as well as a local
guy floating down the river in a truck tyre inner tube
chasing his logs that he had spent 3 weeks collecting
to sell in Cusco. They had become pinned at the top
of a grade 5 waterfall and he was unable to free them.
Thats where we came in useful, freeing them after a
bit of mucking around. This man was incredible. He
had a dodgy (probably home made) torn life jacket on
and a kind of paddle made out of sticks. That was it.
He would work alone like this for 3 hard weeks, and
would sell his wood for $70 soles in Cusco at the end
of it (thats about $35 NZ dollars).
After Cusco we leapt on a long distance bus to Lima.
We thought we had booked on a direct bus to Lima via
the shortest distance, and were disappointed and
confused when our bus spent 8 hours driving in the
complete wrong direction. We ended up back at
Arequipa before we actually started heading towards
Lima via the coastal route. A man on the bus insisted
that this was the 'normal' way to get to Lima from
Cusco as the other route is slow and windey. Not only
did we not get to see any new scenery (we drove up the
entire length of the coast in the dark) but the food
that was dished up during the journey was bad. By the
time we arrived in Lima we were feeling a little yuck
in the tummy and after a day resting it was all on.
Thankfully we were staying with a good friend of
Andrews working over here who has a nice apartment in
a flash suburb of Lima which cames complete with
internet access, cable TV and unlimited toilet paper.
Once recovered it was off to Huraz. A thriving
tourist town in the mountains with so much exploring
to do in the surrounding area. We had heard so many
stories of how amazing the place was and how many
backpackers constantly flocked the area. So it was a
surprise to us when we got there and it was raining,
freezing and we didn't see another backpacker for a
whole day.
We headed straight into the hills - taking a 6 hour
bus trip through dramatic scenery to the rugged
mountains of the Cordillera Huayhuash. We stopped
along the way a few times for everyone to get off and
help clear slips that had come across the road from
the rain the night before. Then before we knew it, we
stopped in a wee village and the driver told us it was
the end of the road. Bugger, now we walk.
Before leaving Huarz we had decided we should ease
ourselves into the trek because it had been a while
since we were at altitude, and because we were
carrying 9 days food with us. So our first day of our
proposed route was a complete shock to the system.
The minute we walked out of the town of Llamac we had
to climb 1000m to get over the first pass. A lot of
sweat saw us get over the pass and down the other side
to a nice campsite next to a roaring river just on
dark.
Feeling tired from the first day, the second day was
just as hard. We detoured to some nearby lakes to get
some impressive mountain scenery and to visit some
locals gutting a freshly killed sheep (surrounded by
drooling dogs), then another 1000m climb to nearly
5000m before droppig into a high alpine basin for our
second night.
So much for easing into it! This might be the reason
why we are the only ones in the entire park that arn't
using donkeys to carry our stuff. We decided not to
continue to the third pass for the night as a thunder
storm had hit and we didn't fancy being perched high
on a ridge hiding under nylon while there was
lightning outside.
Our third day only included a small climb to our third
pass before a huge decent through a heavily farmed
valley where childen chased us wanting lollies and
chocolate.
We continued down the valley and by afternoon were
slogging up another in unbearable heat. At some
random place in the upper reaches of the valley we
camped, completely exhausted. We had the company of a
few donkeys for the night, and had a young boy try to
sell us a trout he had just caught. Only problem was
the trout was about 100mm long.
The next day was spent wandering around the upper
valley gazing at the surrounding peaks and exploring
the upper glaciers and lakes. We camped on the last
patch of grass before the moraine under the shadow of
the highest mountains in the Cordillera Huayhuash and
spent the rest of the afternoon fending off curious
cows and donkeys.
Our last day of the trek was one to remember. We
covered a lot of distance as it was mostly downhill
passing through farms and remote villages that see
little visitors. We stopped for a rest in one small
village and after a few minutes of being there we were
surrounded by locals all starring. They spent a bit
of time trying to sell us beer - it seemed to be the
only sort of liquid they were able to offer us.
We continued up another valley for a couple of hours.
Suddenly a little man (all the men seem little here to
Nic) came running down the track towards us yelling
something incomprehendable. We thought it had
something to do with getting us to pay our track fees
(which we already had) so we told him and tried to
pass to continue up the track. He leapt in front of
us and wouldn't let us pass. As we stood there in
confusion, we heard a massive explosion and felt its
shock wave. Then our little man smiled and said 'its
ok now' and gestured for us to continue up the track.
We were left wondering what would have happened to us
if he had chosen to run up the track instead of down
it, towards us!
The explosion was from workmen building a new road
which we soon joined. We walked up the road wondering
what the chances of a vehicle going our direction
would be when we heard a front end loader chugging up
the road below us. As it approached we optimistically
put our thumbs out. If we could get a ride, we would
save at least a day more of trekking. The driver
refused, but his passenger (who was hanging out the
side of the cab) leapt off and said yes if we gave him
fizzy drink. We had no drink but money and settled on
a price of NZ$2.50 each. Our packs were thrown in the
bucket up front and we jumped on a tiny platform on
the side and clung onto a handle on the roof. And
thats where we stayed for the next 2 and a half bumpy
hours. The road was nothing more than a bulldozer
track the same width as the digger cut into the steep
mountainside. We passed over a couple of sections that
were so narrow the outside wheels were crumbling over
the edge of the cliff. All rather harrowing while we
hung over the edge on our wee platform getting ready
to jump.
We also hadn't had time to grab jackets, hat or gloves
when we got on, and neither of us realised just how
far it was and that the road passed over a pass 1000m
higher than where we started. As we slowly bumped
along, we got higher, it got darker and the
temperature plummeted. The last half of the trip was
spent with arms, legs and teeth chattering desparately
trying to warm up one hand while holding on by the
other. By the time we arrived in Cajatambo we were
exhausted, blue and chilled to the bone. Nothing a
greasy street burger and a down jacket couldn't fix
though.
The next day saw us catch a two buses through amazing
scenery eventually taking us back to Huraz 12 hours
later. This in itself was not with out its own terror
as our driver tried to pass a van on a blind corner (a
normal procedure over here). This time however,
something came around the corner the other way. Our
driver managed to lock up the wheels of the bus and we
screached down the wrong side of the road towards the
oncoming vehicle. Somehow it all worked out ok with
all cars, buses and vans ending up on the right side
of the road and travelling in their respective
directions without mishap.
Now we are back in Lima enjoying a warm apartment, TV,
good company and a shower every day (which does seem
excessive given what we have been used to..).
In two days time we are off to Ecuador.
Bye for now
Andrew and Nic
[in Lima again]
Monday, 20 September, 2004
Hi
...The Buenas Aires up to Rio de
Janiero section of our trip will be tourist sight
seeing and no tramping. We are thankfully leaving all
that gear in santiago and will fly to Buenas Aires
with just day bags if possible. Just a change of
clothes and a sleeping bag each. We will be in a
hostel every night and will not need the cooker or
anything like that so travelling will be easy with
just a few things. We want to have bags small and
light enough so we an wander around town with them
during the day and it not be an issue. That makes us
more flexible with when we move in and move out of
hostels and saves a lot of time. We are really
looking forward to it because it will be 'easy' after
here.
Yesterday I went to a mall here in Lima with Mick and
bought a pair of jeans. Andrew is going to buy some
in Buenas Aires so we have some city clothes to wear.
Its nice to have some normal clothes to wear rather
than our casual pants that are starting to look pretty
scruffy after wearing them for almost every day for
the last six months. I will also buy some nice tops
and perhaps some black pants in buenas aires because I
have heard it is all very cheap. For example
yesterday I bought my Levis jeans for NZ$60. The same
thing in NZ would have cost me NZ$130. The other
thing I did on Friday was get my legs waxed. Most
hair salons do it and its amazingly cheap. I paid
NZ$10 for a leg wax. The same thing in NZ costs
between $50-80 NZ. So I am starting to feel more like
a girly girl again (this is good!). I am looking
forward to getting back to Santiago where I left my
jewellery and some makeup. Then I can really dress
up!
Last night we went to a party with Mick and some of
his friends. There was about 40 people there and it
was held on the top of an apartment building. Almost
everyone there spoke english, and maybe half of them
were expats working on the upgrade of Lima airport.
...You would think that Lima being at sea level and so
close to the equator would be warm. No. Its freezing.
During the day it gets to about 14 degrees max and at
night about 8 degrees. There is this horrible sea fog
that decends on the city in March and it doesn't lift
until November which is why its so cold. Apparantly
their summers are warm.
(re the planned sailing trip) ...We will sail during
the day and will go ashore for the nights to sleep on
the beaches. When we cross the Golf of California it
might take a few days (I really have no idea) but we
will probably run a shift system so there is only two
people sleeping at one time (3 max on the boat because
there isn't room for anyone else). Apparantely there
is great snorkelling around the area and Keith has
spotted whales, dolphins and seals while sailing. I
guess we will be eating a bit of seafood too, so I
will have to start liking it.
Sunday today. We are going to try and get another
group email away, and will get our bus tickets for
tomorrow. Its another 22 hour bus ride to the border
of Ecuador and then a further 5 or so to where we want
to stop in Ecuador. We are going to stop at a town
just before the boarder to sit on a beach for a day to
break up the trip. Then to a city called Rio Bamba in
Ecuador. There, we will do that famous train ride
where you go down spectacular gorges and sit on the
roof of the train (do you remember seeing it on a
travel program in NZ just before we left?). Its very
touristy so hopefully prices arn't too high. We will
also try to climb the volcano Chimborazo which is
6300m high. Its a famous mountain here because it its
summit is the furtherest away from the centre of the
earth out of the whole world (including everest) -
this is due to the equatorial buldge. All trivial
really, but still I think its a nice volcano to wander
up. Not sure what the weather is like at this time of
year there though.
Thre rest of today we will just be relaxing. Might go
and get a video or DVD out for tonight. Its good that
DVDs are everywhere. You can always watch them in
english!
love and hugs
nicola
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