5th
Breakfast and then our pick up for the trip to Uros Island. Turns out we could see it from our hotel J About a 10 minute trip to the harbour where we boarded our boat and found out we were the only ones on the trip! So had the whole boat, crew and guide to ourselves for the morning. Boat was pretty dodgy though as there was no throttle control so we were either going or not. First island we visited was being built as they had had a family feud – so simply chopped part of the island off and moved. Walking on the new island was like being on a water bed as parts of it were still in construction. The islands are made from reeds, the base is about 1 to 3metres depending on how long they have been living there. Each year they have to add more reeds as they start to decompose, they arrange the reeds in a criss-cross pattern which works really well. On to the next island where we met one of the locals called David, his English was as good as our Spanish but it seemed to work quite well. Our guide left us to it and we wondered around the island and then were invited into his house. His house now has solar panels thanks to the government after a couple of the islands have been destroyed due to the use of candles falling over in the night. He even had tv, a radio and a light – although we were jokingly told that the tv is a good contraceptive as the average family has decreased since the introduction of the solar panels J After chatting for a while in his house we were asked to put on their traditional dress – best not to offend so we put on all this stuff and looked rather silly – Sandy didn’t last long in it as we found out she is allergic to Alpaca and Llama wool too! Had a look at the arts and crafts and shown how they create the islands. Were then challenged to guess how many metres deep the water was – Chris was closer with 15m but it was about 16m deep. As we can’t take anything with us we decided to help the community by taking a reed boat trip or taxi as they call it. Quite amazing you sit quite high up from the water but it is rather slow going. Chris gave it a go but really difficult to move anywhere. Finally got across to another island and said goodbye to David. Wondered around the next island which had a geese pen and a little trout farm in the middle of the island. Back on our boat and back to the harbour. Loads of coots, iris and other sea birds about on the lake. Camera lens has started playing up again so made a quick stop to get some screwdrivers again in the Puno market – really cheap even our guide was amazed s/ 3.00 for a pack of 6 approx NZ$1. Didn’t feel like doing much else so lounged about our hotel until dinner and then bed.
6th
We weren’t sure about our pick-up time as we had been told two different times either 6am or 6:30am so aimed for the middle. Except our guide was there earlier – wolfed down some breakfast and got on the bus only to wait for an hour at the next pick-up because the people had gone to Uros islands in the morning and taken longer than expected – grrrr! Finally on our way – 2 and a half hours to the Bolivian border – we exchanged our Peruvian soles for Bolivianos about 2 to 1. Walked across the border and back on to the bus. Stopped in Copacobana where we catch the catamaran, we were asked if we wanted to go to the church – but we really had had enough of churches so opted out and went for a walk around the town. Found the market where we bought giant popcorn with sugar for about Bs8 but the bag was the size of a shopping bag. Then decided to head for the chocolate café – had a hot chocolate and a lemon tart – really good! To our bus and down to the jetty to board our catamaran. Found out we are the only ones staying overnight on the catamaran – insane! An hour and a half later we were at sun island. Walked halfway up the island to the start of a small reserve and museum. At the halfway mark there is a natural spring which is suppose to give you eternal youth but you aren’t allowed to drink it. Walked through a terraced garden showcasing the different types of medicinal plants in the region. Had a cup of coca tea and tried a cup of tea with cinnamon, honey and something else which was regional – can’t remember. Walked to a great outlook of the lake where we were blessed by one of the priests in a Pachamama ritual. The offering to the pachamama consisted off coca leaves, wine, sugar candies and dripping some water on our head and hands with a daisy. The museum was quite interesting as they showed some of the carnival from Bolivia and explained what each dress represented. We were shown the priests chamber with all the different types of herbs, snakes, frogs and candies that are used in sacrifice or as medicine. A lot of the snakes and frogs were used for concussion or dislocations – so don’t break anything over here ! Apparently a llama foetus is given as an offering once a year in August to the pachamama in order to bring fertility to the soil for the next years crop.
Back down to the jetty and we took a catamaran reed boat similar to those used to try and navigate the pacific ocean. It did however have an outboard – not very authentic – but there were also four people rowing. Stopped at another point to see an old Inca palace before getting on our catamaran to go to the upper part of the island. Lunch was served as we motored our way up. When we got to the small village we took a fishing boat across to some other ruins. Felt sorry for the guy rowing us to the other side of the island it must have taken about an hour – as I managed to get quite comfortable in the little boat with the sun. Once we got ashore a short but steep incline to the ruins which feels worse because of the altitude. Wondered around the ruins with a beautiful view of the shoreline and lake. The water is crystal clear if it wasn’t so cold I would want to go for a swim but apparently the water can be anything between 8 and 13 degrees. Walked along the ridgeline back to the small fishing village via some stones which apparently look like a puma – I swear these people drink too much cactus juice and think all stones or mountains look either like a condor or puma or human face. Once in the village we were invited into one of the Kwechwa ladies houses to be shown how they live. Not much different to other places but the company we have used donates money to the village to allow them to build bathrooms and develop their houses further. However they are only given the materials and someone comes to inspect whether they are actually building or not.
Back to the boat for dinner – candlelight dinner for two! After dinner we were treated to a show from the local village with a band including pan flutes and two dancers. Two songs in and we were pulled up to dance – at least Chris isn’t petrified of getting up anymore to dance and gave the women a few twirls with cheers from the crew. A long day and early to bed.
7th
8am wake up for breakfast. Before motoring back to Copacobana. The two of us had a briliant sleep only woken by thunderstorm in the middle of the night which was great to listen to. Once ashore we took a bus from Copacobana to La Paz. The bus ride takes just about the whole day. It includes an interesting ferry ride, where you get on a barge made of a few planks of wood and a 55hp motor. The barge is suppose to be able to carry buses and trucks – don’t know how and wouldn’t want to be aboard if it did. We hid in the car until we were half way across before we got out and enjoyed the last bit of Lake Titicaca, apparently the locals get upset if they see people on the barge and not taking the boats. We were allowed to stay onboard as there were only five of us. On our way to La Paz and we got stopped by the narcotics police for a random check – not the friendliest bunch – chris got frisked and some of our bags got checked and I got away with just standing there J Go figure ? As we got closer to La paz the view of the Andes mountains disappeared and more smog loomed. Arrived in La Paz, and stopped at the top of the city to look down. The city is located in a valley or caldera – very strange looks like a bowl shaped city. As we got to our hotel we realise this city was JASH – our new acronym “just another s$%&hole” its very dirty and smelly – cars don’t obey any road rule whatsoever and it is absolute chaos. A four lane road is reduced to barely one lane because a taxi or bus will just stop out of the blue in front of you. Sometimes they put on hazard lights J Once at our hotel we check in and discover that the demonstrations we were warned about are happening outside our hotel. About three of them in total – I guess because it is Friday afternoon. We were told not to go near them or through them so pretty much just stayed in our hotel. Decided to have dinner in our hotel, it has a great view of the city from the 16th floor.
8th
Early wake up for our city tour. First stop is a park which is called the love park although only saw one couple. Then on to the moon valley which is situated on the outskirts of the city. This place is amazing like something out of a movie, the clay looks like stalagmites which can have holes that seem to go down forever. Spent about an hour walking around having a look around the park. Apparently some developers were trying to build on the land so the La Paz Mayor declared it a national park. There is still part of it which is owned by a private investor so not sure what will happen to that part. Back to the city and we did a drive through the streets where the witch doctors market is located not much open yet as it is Saturday. We then drove to the main square which is only about 3 blocks from our hotel. They had a riot here a couple of years ago where the police actually started shooting people. They killed 25 people in 2 hours and you can still see the bullet entries on the walls and street posts. Also a number of presidents have been killed in the government house located in the square so probably not a safe place to be. The square has tons of pigeons with people still feeding them – quite humerous to see people getting covered with pigeons although the children really freak out. Next our guide took us to a museum of gold and silver, this museum still has some of the inca gold and silver headpieces retrieved from the ruins. The museum is one massive vault – the door is almost half a metre thick steel – not allowed to take photos but it was quite impressive and would be even better if they kept the jewellery polished. Last part of our city tour was a trip up to a viewpoint of the city took some photos and then we were taken back to our hotel.
Mom and Craig are arriving in La Paz today at about 12 so after our city tour we decided to walk down to their hotel. Quite a long way down the road but probably a good idea as when we got there they had only just checked in. Was great to see them again and seeing them in La Paz was unexpected. Decided our tummy’s were calling and made our way to a Japanese restaurant for lunch – amazing how much food you can get for so little. With full tummies we decided to walk up to the witch doctors market and have a decent look. A bit disappointing really as we thought you would see a lot more – I think I have seen worse markets in Africa. Mom bought some crazy stuff for people back home and then on to the coca museum. The coca museum is tiny and lots of reading! Quite interesting though apparently you need a ton of coca leaves to make a kilo of cocaine. Also had the history about coca-cola and how it still had cocaine in the mixture until the 1900’s. Apparently there is still coca leaves in the mixture but just for flavouring. Traded a few things with mom to take back to NZ before we walked down to Mango’s restaurant for dinner. Lots of chatting, drinking and eating with mom and some of the people from her tour group. After dinner walked back to our hotel and said our goodbyes to mom and Craig – will be another 10 months before we see them again.
9th
Slept in today and basically just watched TV and did nothing all day. La Paz is pretty much closed on a Sunday so not a lot to do. Had room service for dinner but decided to go up to the bar for our complimentary drink and some dessert.
10th
Breakfast and then hopped into our bus for our transfer to the airport. A long day today as we fly from La Paz to Lima and then Lima to Quito. We arrived in Lima about 30 minutes earlier than planned so quickly made our way to the LAN desk to see if our camera package had arrived as DHL had arranged. But NO! Nothing, decided to find an internet café after some negotiating about not buying a drink to use the internet – we found no useful information other than our payment was pending. Got the phone number and called them – got a very useless women on the other end which wouldn’t put our contact on the phone. Pretty much it wasn’t going to come because they needed a payment voucher – what the hell is that ? We are paying by visa – I really didn’t think it should be this difficult how hard can working a credit card be! Anyway after lots of screaming at useless people and getting very upset we have decided to send it home – really just had enough of the whole process. Our flight from Lima to Quito was shorter than we thought only about two and a half hours. Got transferred to our hotel – Quito is really pretty lots of green and very clean in comparison to other south American countries. Our guide recommended the local shopping mall which was about 5 blocks from our hotel. So dumped our bags in our room and walked to the mall. The Quicentre mall is big and very modern – had a look for a camera shop but they didn’t have the lens we wanted but amazingly they did have lenses – first place yet! Had a naughty dinner of KFC and bought some more socks at one of the local shops. Back to our hotel – not a good night for Sandy – was sick the entire night not much fun!
11th
Transferred from our hotel to the airport for our flight to Cuenca. We have no idea where we are going or what there is to do there so hopefully will be ok.
Arrived at our hotel which is about a block away from the main square. Cuenca is actually a UNESCO heritage site and the cathedral in the main square is huge! Sandy still not feeling good so slept most of the day. Chris ventured out and explored the city with the intent of finding a laundry. After an hour and a half he had found 4, so went back and got the washing. The cheapest one was about 6 blocks away, but was worth it. $4.5 for 8kgs and in 5hrs. Took a different way back and got distracted so nearly got lost. Was interesting walking around and looking at the different shops trying to sell an array of items. There were a few camera shops but nothing that we wanted. Back to the hotel for a late lunch of lamb and salad where the chocolate milkshake had to be tried and was very refreshing. Back to the room to check on Sandy to find her sound asleep still, so messed around on the internet and computer to keep occupied until 4:30 to go get the washing. Sandy decided to come for a walk so off we went. Stopped at the reception to book some activities for the next two days on the way. Sandy was still rather tired so straight back to hotel for some dinner and more sleep.
12th
Early wake up of 5am for a 6am pick up. We have a very long drive today to get to the Chiva express train ride. Our guide Carlos was excellent – fantastic English so could actually have a normal conversation. We feel a little bad not knowing much Spanish, but it’s the best we can do at the moment. Carlos also brought along his wife and 2 year old son as they had not been on the train and the train is not busy at this time of the year. We drove for about an hour and a half to the Ingaperca ruins. A small area of ruins used by the Incas for administration purposes. After half an hour wandering around we got back in the car for the main drive – 3 and a half hours to the train. The roads are good in places, and REALLY bad in others. Ecuador has had twice the amount of rain this season and it has caused much damage. There were 7 new land slides blocking parts of the road from the previous night alone. Many times we had to hit anchors to stop for a sharp subsidence, or large pot hole. Carlos was in a hurry so was an interesting trip – perhaps the rally should be held here in the future J It got really interesting once we got to the last 45mins where it was gravel. The rule is the road is yours until a vehicle approaches where you have to return to your side of the road. Sometimes it felt like playing chicken, but we got there safe. The train was running late due to another tour operator booking it, so an hour wait after the mad dash. Oh well, time for a drink and got to meet some other people from Russia. They had 4 children under 5, so they had their hands full! The train turned out to be a bus on railway wheels. It included a steering wheel and gears! The steering wheel actually did steer the main wheels so that no one was needed to change the points at intersections. The rail was built to join a number of cities some time ago and at the time was the most technically challenging and dangerous rail section to be built. Many people lost their lives building it due to the dangerous terrain and also diseases. The tracks follow the edge of a cliff and works its way towards the base of the valley. The main section, knows as Devil’s Nose, is where the train has to go forwards and backwards to make its way down a very steep section. When you looked out the window, you could see the next set of tracks below you. We stopped a couple of times for photos before reaching the bottom. More photos and then back the way we came. The ‘train’ was great when going forwards, but reverse was another story – it was still the original bus gearbox, so reverse was walking speed! We hadn’t noticed on the way down as they put it in neutral and rolled. After finally finisheing the reversing section it was a fairly quick trip back to the town at the top. By now it was after 1pm, and definitely time for lunch. A stop at a restaurant overlooking the city for soup and a piece of steak – can’t wait to get home for a real one! Still, it filled the stomach ready for our long trip back to Cuenca. We hoped to get a great view of the valley and also Devils nose but the clouds had come in and in places we could only see a few meters in front of the car! Carlos could be the next rally champ as we negotiated road works, pot holes/craters and other “cow boys” on the road. There are still people walking their small group of animals on the road, or even tying them to the road sides to graze, or sit in the middle as some do. I am sure the asphalt is a very warm place to sit, but rather dangerous!
We got back to Cuenca around 6pm, which is dark here due to being 2 degrees from the equator. Couldn’t be bothered looking for a different place to eat in order to save a couple of dollars, so had dinner at the hotel again. This time we had a very nice chocolate brownie and ice cream.
13th
Yay a bit of a sleep in today – pickup is at 8:45 so plenty of time for breakfast and check out. Our guide arrived in a 4x4 which has seen many better days – broken windscreen, missing panels, no seatbelts etc… but after a few minutes inside we were slowly put to sleep by the pleasant smell of CO. Ahh, happy times today. Actually it was pretty good – Sandy still has an upset stomach so is taking things real easy. We headed west from Cuenca into the national park – Caja, which is home to over 200 lakes. We headed straight for the highest point at 4300m where we took an hour walk to a nice viewing point. There are many types of small plants growing at this altitude and many were flowering so was rather interesting. From here we headed a few hundred meters down to a large lake where Chris and the guide went to a 2hr walk. Sandy slept in the car hoping to feel better. The walk went around the edge of a lake to a small group of paper trees with boulders covered in mosses. From here it was downhill to another lake with many small streams and small waterfalls. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down, unfortunately the reverse is also true in some cases. The walk back wasn’t too bad, but being at 4000m takes a bit of the bounce out of ones step! The exercise was good however as there is a lot of time sitting down when travelling. Back to the car and now time for lunch – stopped at a small restaurant on the way – had trout and soup + a Red Bull ! $2 so real happy and we both have a bit more energy. It was starting to rain and we wanted to be back at the hotel by 4pm so decided to head back to Cuenca – 45min drive – and go to a lookout point where we could see the city. Was interesting to see – very spread out throughout the valley it is situated in. Cuenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador. It has 4 rivers flowing through the city. Back to the hotel and sort our bags out, then wait until 5 for our ride to the airport – time to catch this up!! Running late – traffic s crap, shuttle service is held up so hotel said to take a cab. Made it to the airport with 45mins before our flight is leaving and find the line for check in is a mile long! Eek. Finally got to the counter with 30mins to spare and find our flight is delayed. Can breathe easy again! Flight was delayed an hour and 30 minutes. Finally got to quito and grabbed a taxi van to the hotel. Checked in and got our red bag to put all our stuff in we wanted to take to the Galapagos. Packed our bags and then down for some very late dinner.
14th
Early wake up at 6am for a 7am departure. Met some of our group on the way in the minivan to the airport. Checked in our bags and then went though to board our plane. It’s a 45minute flight to Guayaquill where we stop to load and unload passengers. Then on to Baltra which takes about an hour and a half. Flying out of Guayaquil we noticed the amount of area that has been flooded recently. Arrived in Baltra airport which is a military airport so things aren’t quite that smooth. You go through an immigration point which is interesting as you haven’t left Ecuador but anyway another stamp in the passport. Through customs and our bags take forever to arrive – the airport is not big by any stretch of the imagination it has one tiny runway and can probably only hold about 3 planes. Finally get our bags and then sit around and wait while we try to figure out what the guide wants us to do. Three full buses later and there is hardly anyone left at the airport so we got a bus to our group of 8 people. About a 5minute drive to the pier where our first introduction to the crazy wildlife is sitting on the pier deck – lots of sealions and marine iguanas. We all get onto the zodiac to be taken to our boat. Lots of pelicans and seabirds bombing around us – feeding on the plentiful fish. Somehow Chris and I have scored a room at the top of the boat so we have a view from our cabin. However it is bunkbeds and has been a while since I slept in one. We get our first run down of events for the day and then lunch.
After lunch we have about an hour to sort ourselves out before our first excursion. Today we are going to North Seymour Island for a walk and then a snorkel afterwards. A dry landing onto North Seymour and lots of blue-footed booby’s around. North Seymour is the only island with nesting frigate birds so we were in for a treat. They are amazing birds that use a red flap on their throat to attract the male during nesting season. Very strange to see these birds with this inflated neck which is almost larger than they are – loads of frigates nesting or trying to attract partners and so close to the path! Saw our first marine iguanas which look very prehistoric – they were on land so no swimming yet. As we walked through the centre of the island we spotted some baby frigate birds which don’t really look that small. And we came across a very large land iguana which was feeding on some nice green foliage. Saw a couple more smaller land iguanas as we approached the boat and nearly fell over one that was on the path and quite happy with all the tourists going past and taking a million photos of him. Back to the boat and past some beautiful blue-footed boobys and a very friendly sealion. On the boat and a quick change into our togs for our snorkel. Went for a snorkel near the island and got to swim with some sealions. Also saw loads of starfish, parrotfish, two octopus, pufferfish – the normal kind and a very bright yellow one. Had our briefing for the next day, a welcome cocktail and then dinner. Really tired so fell asleep so quickly.
15th
Today we had breakfast before an outing to Rabida Island. It’s a wet landing so you get your feet wet J This island used to be infested with rats but have since been eradicated. The sand is red from the oxidation of the iron in the sand and is quite amazing to see. On our way to the beach we saw a two penguins, some brown pelicans, blue-footed boobys and two turtles swimming past our zodiac. On the island and it is really hot and only about 9am in the morning! Our walk has many cactus plants and you walk past a lagoon that sometimes has flamingos but not today. Some amazing scenery from the top of the viewpoint we climb to – the water is so clear and blue. Back down to the beach and a quick strip down to the togs before flinging yourself in the water it is so hot! Lots of marine iguanas bathing and lying in the sun by the shoreline. We swim around the point and see two white tipped sharks, some more sealions that swim with us in a cave and two sea snakes. Back to the beach via zodiac to pick up the others and the cameras. There are two sealions hiding in a cave by the beach and lots of iguanas swimming which have kept them occupied on the beach. On board and lunch time before motoring on to the next island stop. The next island is Santiago island which is a rather large island and we stop in the bay of Puerto Egas. Our walk on the island is along the shore with so many marine iguanas you just about trip yourself up for not standing on them. Amazing crabs with red and yellow in colour and a blue bib. A number of pelicans and seabirds, and a very happy sealion frolicking in the water. Also got to see a couple of fur seals and a pup although they are not as people friendly as the others and run away before you can get close. We did see one that was quite happy lying about in water hole caused by the volcanic eruption. Also saw a Galapagos shark sitting at the bottom of a rock pool. The volcanic eruption happened 2 million years ago but you can still see how the lava has flowed down to the sea – quite amazing. Spotted an orca or killer whale off the shore but quite far away to identify properly. Back to the beach where we started for a snorkel. This time the beach is black and as you get into the water you have to be careful you don’t sit on a flounder. A snorkel around the rock pools and there is so much life and millions of fish. We finally got to swim with a green sea turtle – wow amazing! Saw two stingrays and two white tipped sharks – the second one was really huge and went right underneath me about half a metre below – a little worrying but he didn’t seem fussed J Back to the beach and on the zodiac to the boat. Pizza awaiting us at the boat – fantastic! Back to Rabida Island for our overnight stay. On the way to the island we saw a killer whale by the side of the boat but still a couple hundred metres away. But the best was seeing a manta ray jump clear of the water and back in again – breathtaking. Downloaded the photos and went downstairs for our next day briefing and dinner. Sat talking with Jane and showing photos before going to bed – much needed today J
16th
Motored to Sombrero Chino or Chinamen’s hat this morning for our walk. The first white beach but lots of volcanic rock too. Saw pelicans, sally lightfoot crabs and sealions. The funniest moment was when our guide, Luiz, started imitating the sealion bull again and got chased about three times – really funny. But apparently quite dangerous as there teeth are quite sharp and they have attacked people in the past. After the walk we jumped off the boat for a snorkel – really strong current and you disappeared quickly from the boat to the shore about 10km/h. We kept in the channel between sombrero chino and Santiago island and saw about seven Galapagos sharks all in the same spot – a bit worrying! Lots more stingrays and one that was about 3m long and 1m wide also saw an eagleray. As we neared the end of the snorkel there were a few tunnels under the water that Chris decided to dive into – I wasn’t so brave. But apparently lots of sealions inside, instead I stayed outside and swam with the penguins that were hanging around looking at the tourists. Also had an iguana swim past us J Got to hold the different types of starfish on the way back as we let the current take us back to the boat. One of the starfish is called a chocolate chip starfish – very well named J Back on the boat and our captain made a small detour to an old volcano that had a number of flamingos in its lake. You can’t access the island so we just hovered near by and took photos from the top of the boat. Such a small barrier between the lake and the sea wake but apparently the lake is still fresh water.
17th
Coming – still on paper !!!
18th
Coming – still on paper !!!
19th
Coming – still on paper !!!
20th
Coming – still on paper !!!
21st
Coming – still on paper !!!
22nd
Chris was feeling better this morning, still a little weary but had a bit of cereal for breakfast. Had booked in a trip to the equator at 10am. We asked the hotel to have the room until the evening as our flight was not until 9pm which was great as it meant we didn’t have to repack our bags before our tour. The guide was a young guy with good English and was happy to talk about different things. We had another person with us, a Canadian woman so it was an interesting day. The equator was about 45mins drive north from Quito, but the roads are good and we had a new 4x4 Cheverolet. There are 2 sites people visit at the equator, the historic place created by Spanish explorers which is 250m away from the true magnetic equator line. We stopped at the actual equator first at a small museum. A local guide took us around and showed us some historical things relating to Andean people before letting us loose on a number of experiments. Our favourite was the classic water down a plug hole. A tub was placed on the equator line, with a bucket under it. The plug was removed and the water simply fell out the hole, no swirling motion at all! That was cool, but then by simply moving the tub 2m North or South, the water would spin in the corresponding direction. We were amazed that only 2m made such a difference! The second experiment was to balance an egg on the head of a 4inch nail. Chris did it in less than 10seconds, but unfortunately Sandy was shaking a bit today so kept bumping it as she let it go. No certificate for her L Can’t help genetics. Another experiment which surprised us was a resistance test – the physical kind, not electrical. On one side of the equator, squeezing our thumb to forefinger, the guide would try and separate them. When moving to the equator, our resistance to this was much less?? What the?? Also, holding hands in a fist above our heads and trying to stop the guide from pulling our hands down was much more difficult on the equator. She even did it with one hand! Maybe it was in the mind as she said it would be easier, or maybe it just is that way, can’t explain it. Apparently you weigh about 1kg less when on, or near, the equator due to being on the bulge of the planet. Alas no scales so we couldn’t feel good for a day. We were there until almost 12, so it was unusual for us to be almost without a shadow. They have a sun clock on the equator line, running parallel to the equator. In the summer the shadow is on one side, and in the winter it is only on the other. Today is the day after the salstas, so the shadow was actually on both sides. This is only visible for a day either side so it is fortunate we are here today. After this we went 10mins to a crater where people actually live inside farming. It is normally covered in cloud, however we were lucky to have 5mins where we got to see most of the inside. Back for a quick photo of the historical equatorial site, none of us really wanted to see more of it as it is quite touristic now, then back to the hotel.
We
23rd
Landed in Santiago at 6am, got a transfer from the airport to the Raddison Hotel eventually. The hotel is a long way from the airport, about 30mins drive, but it was a nice hotel and we slept through until 3pm when we had a shower and watched TV until 6pm for our transfer back. Checked in our luggage to Ushuaia and waited for our flight. Chris was real hungry after not eating much, only a small bit of cereal for breakfast today. Found a place to eat, talking with a guy from Utah, at the end of dinner found they wanted US$90. Chris nearly had kittens, “dinner” was no more than a burger, some sushi and chicken nibbles. Airports!! Raced to our departure lounge to find that our flight is delayed until, well who really knows. Still, we would only be sitting in Buenos Aires instead so no real worry yet. Finally left Santiago at about 11:45pm
24th
Arrived in Buenos Aires at about 2:30am, customs form as usual is interesting – you have to declare your cellphone! Not sure why but another customs form to laugh at. Through the gates to find the domestic terminal for our flight to Ushuaia. After locating the information desk we find out that the domestic terminal is in another airport and you have to take a bus to it. Fine, shouldn’t be far away – but after getting on the bus we find out it is on the other side of the city and an hour away!!! Eeek……. Don’t think our bags will follow us but on the bus now so too late. Get to the domestic airport and wait until the LAN desk opens at 4:30am, no time to go back, and the women behind the counter looks horrified – not a good sign! Apparently not the first time this has happened but they will try get our bags on a flight tomorrow – so no luggage for a day. Catch our flight to Ushuaia with a stop in El Calafate but the flight is only about 3 and a half hours in total much shorter than we thought. Arrive in Ushuaia at about 11am and off we go to the LAN desk to report our baggage lost as instructed when we were in BA. It takes the women about an hour before she even considers us worthy of her time and then a long process to get the bags sorted to go on the next plane tomorrow. They should arrive at lunchtime – fingers crossed. It is freezing in Ushuaia and the landing into the airport was very bumpy due to the strong winds. So strong that it was blowing bags off the conveyor belt that takes bags off the plane! Only had some flimsy polar fleeces on so need to find some warmer clothes.
Grabbed a taxi to our hostal in town, arrive to find out they think we only have the room for one night – even though our voucher still says three! However we only need two but trying to communicate this in our limited Spanish is not worth it, apparently they are going to talk to the boss to sort it out. Wondered down to the main shopping street but not much is open until 4pm as they have siesta’s in Ushuaia from 12 to 4pm generally. Found a camera shop, that wait for it……. Actually sells the lens we wanted – amazing a tiny place at the end of the world – also known as this “Fin del Mundo”. Couldn’t resist and after all the trouble we caved in and bought the lens after a bit of a walk around town to decide. Jumped on the internet to print off some of my sister’s stuff. Found some lunch at a small café which had been open since 1951, had some chicken and mashed potato J Chris is eating again – yay – but our stomachs have shrunk so can’t really finish the meals. Back to the hotel, watched some TV and had some much needed sleep.
25th
Finally got up and had breakfast by 10am, still really tired but have lots to do today. Checked e-mail and tried to find out where to buy gumboots and where to find a notary to get my passport photocopy verified. Luggage arrived at about 12pm so really happy!!!!! Yay new clothes to wear and a hairbrush! Wondered around the main streets trying to find a place to photocopy my passport – you would think this is an easy task – but no everywhere that said they could do it on the front window – couldn’t! Finally found a place at the edge of town that could photocopy but this took us nearly 2 hours to find! Had lunch at an all you can eat buffet where you can see the pig on a spit in the front window – really warm and the food was good! Dropped off our underwater photo cameras at the local store will be ready at 6:30pm. Then wondered down to the other side of town to where we were told there was a place to get gumboots. They are really expensive and a lovely bright yellow colour so we decided to keep looking. Finally found a place on the other side of town again and at a more normal price about US$20 for two pairs, much more like it compared to the US$50 for one pair. Back to our hotel where they have found notary for us to verify my passport, find the place but the guy is still on siesta and we have to come back in 2 hours. Off to find a place that sells some warm pants and balaclavas. The balaclavas are easy they are sold everywhere but the pants are a different story it takes us the 2 hours to finally find some and the balaclavas. Back to the notary to receive the verified passport – yay – my sister will be happy. Find the post office and send all the stuff for her – cost US$35 for five pieces of paper express! And this took about an hour to sort out as trying to fill out the paperwork to send stuff is always fun – the translation book we have, is a bit limited and there is always a line for everything. But still we got there and it has finally been sent. Picked up our photos from the camera store – there are some amazingly crap photos inside – including one roll that was extremely over exposed and couldn’t be developed. I think we will give up on the underwater happy snappy cameras and try find a housing for my one when we get to the USA. Walked down to the pier and took a photo of the Rotterdam which was in port again J Although really just an excuse for Chris to try out the new lens! Really nice though! J Bought some coke and bread at the local bakery and back to our hotel to watch some TV and try to sleep. Body clocks are a bit confused and we only got to sleep at about 1am.
26th
Up at about 9am still feeling tired though, breakfast and then checked out of our hostal. Wondered down town to the bank to change travellers checks – expecting our courier of the DVD’s to cost a bit after yesterday. To the post office and thankfully talked to a lady that told us which line to stand in and helped with the translation at the desk – yay!!! Got given about 5 forms to fill out for one package – decided to just do surface mail as it was getting too difficult to split up the package and too much paperwork! Plus trying to fill out the paperwork was a lot of fun – and we forgot the translation book, although I don’t think it would have helped. Did as much as we could and took it back to the counter – we got most of it right just needed some extra signatures J Amazing our nearly 2kg package cost the same as my sisters 5 documents. Asked the local camera store about computer hard disks and got sent to the other side of town again. But they did have them – and a 160GB external drive at that! Really cold this morning and lots of snow has fallen overnight on the mountains. Sandy is really cold and wearing a polar fleece so off to find a warmer one. Also decided to get some sea sickness tablets at the pharmacy – Chris is getting good at shirades and within 5 seconds we have the tablets. We can see our boat from the pharmacy and it looks pretty good but a lot smaller than the Rotterdam. J We finally find a jersey for Sandy that is reversible and double polar fleece – nice and snugly. Across the street for lunch at a popular café. And we find out why when we order the special of the day. It is beef schnitzel and fries – but the schnitzel is huge and overflows the plate plus the chips cover the plate and are the best yet! After trying to eat as much as we could the waiter laughs at us and tells us we should only have gotten one to share J You never know though and the meal was still really cheap about $7 each. Got about 3 hours to spare before we have to be at the pier so head back to the hostal to update this blog J
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