As some of you may be aware, Claire and I have done something in a previous life to annoy the volcano gods!
Having dodged the Icelandic Ash Cloud Take II in early May and having managed to get out of Baños two days before Tuanghura started erupting again, we have been foiled by Volcano Pacaya in Guatemala!
It has been erupting since last Friday but the thick ash has blocked the runway in Guatemala City. Combined with a massive tropical storm that has washed away roads and villages, we fear that Guatemala may be a no go for the time being. Plans are up in the air but we are hopeful that we can get to Costa Rica at least and then rebook the Costa Rica - Guatemala City leg at a later date.
Who said that travelling was predictable...
Monday, 31 May 2010
Munched in Mindo
The complete FAILURE of Riobamba to provide any diversions worthy of Claire and I has meant that we have been able to spend a little more time in Mindo than we had planned. Described by the Rough Guide as 'an alpine village nestled in the cloud forest' we were very excited about the various 'activities' on offer, especially the promise of home-made manjar (condensed, condensed milky caramel -like a runny toffee!)
Mindo has been fun as it has a very chilled out vibe and over the weekend was full of Ecuadorians heading out from Quito to traipse around the cloud forest and bird watch.
We decided to, erm, go for a slightly more adrenalin filled weekend that involved us battling white water rapids in tractor inner tubes, roped together with a group of evangelicals from Texas (more later...) and hurling ourselves off the tops of trees on ziplines a la Superman.
The overwhelming theme of the last few days has been the complete ravaging of our legs thanks to the very vicious Mindo mosquitos. Claire summed it up by saying that it looked like we had the plague...
These were yesterday's offering - we are even more ravaged today! Our Spanish has improved enough to go to chemists so we are now the proud owners of some medicinal liquid which we have no idea about but is being liberally applied left right and centre.
The tubing was Milla's idea after having done something similar in Laos and involved us whizzing down the river here on 5 tractor inner tubes lashed together. What we hadn't expected that we would be joined by a group of evangelicals from Texas who had spent the last 10 days in Quito 'healing the poor.' We managed to keep straight faces, which is hard for Claire at the best of times thanks to The Elastic Face, when the rather large woman next to me kept on shouting 'Glory, glory, glory to God in his greatness' whenever we got a bit wet. As we were clambering out of the river, a girl about my age who had seemed rather friendly , told me that I had 'a child-like faith ' (makes a change from child-like FACE) and that she wanted to heal me and open up my ears and mouth to God. Of course the British politeness held firm and I have been duely blessed. Now why didn't she approach Claire....
Ziplining was incredibly good fun but SCARY. Trusting the harness around your waist to prevent you from falling 250m into the bowels of the forest is a big ask but we survived! Claire even went backwards and upside down. I however was somewhatmore restrained. No photos though!
Hasta Luego!
Mindo has been fun as it has a very chilled out vibe and over the weekend was full of Ecuadorians heading out from Quito to traipse around the cloud forest and bird watch.
We decided to, erm, go for a slightly more adrenalin filled weekend that involved us battling white water rapids in tractor inner tubes, roped together with a group of evangelicals from Texas (more later...) and hurling ourselves off the tops of trees on ziplines a la Superman.
The overwhelming theme of the last few days has been the complete ravaging of our legs thanks to the very vicious Mindo mosquitos. Claire summed it up by saying that it looked like we had the plague...
These were yesterday's offering - we are even more ravaged today! Our Spanish has improved enough to go to chemists so we are now the proud owners of some medicinal liquid which we have no idea about but is being liberally applied left right and centre.
The tubing was Milla's idea after having done something similar in Laos and involved us whizzing down the river here on 5 tractor inner tubes lashed together. What we hadn't expected that we would be joined by a group of evangelicals from Texas who had spent the last 10 days in Quito 'healing the poor.' We managed to keep straight faces, which is hard for Claire at the best of times thanks to The Elastic Face, when the rather large woman next to me kept on shouting 'Glory, glory, glory to God in his greatness' whenever we got a bit wet. As we were clambering out of the river, a girl about my age who had seemed rather friendly , told me that I had 'a child-like faith ' (makes a change from child-like FACE) and that she wanted to heal me and open up my ears and mouth to God. Of course the British politeness held firm and I have been duely blessed. Now why didn't she approach Claire....
Ziplining was incredibly good fun but SCARY. Trusting the harness around your waist to prevent you from falling 250m into the bowels of the forest is a big ask but we survived! Claire even went backwards and upside down. I however was somewhatmore restrained. No photos though!
Hasta Luego!
We LOVE the disco
As promised, here is the evidence of just HOW fun disco buses can be...
Not the best photo ever taken of us, but still... Claire has been giving me lessons in Gaga pouting. I like to think that I am making progress... My ghetto impressions however still leave a lot to be desired
Adios y hasta luego
Thursday, 27 May 2010
The Sultana of the Andes. Or not quite.
Less than 24 hours after arriving in Riobamba, we found ourselves on a bus heading to Quito. It's really not like we didn't TRY to do stuff in Riobamba, it just seems like a bit of a faded glory type town. Pretty, if you like rundown pastel colours...
On the plus side, I did teach Milla how to play Gin Rummy. And we ate lunch in a house once lived in by Simon Bolivar. Also our dinner was served pretty speedily (taco pizza, anyone?). And we ate Galak, similar to MilkyBar but with crunchy rice bits in it. NOM.
On the downside, the first two cafes we tried to lunch at were both closed. Not ideal. The following morning, we thought "hmm let's head to the old bit of the town, and have a nice breakfast on the square with the palm trees." Epic fail. No cafes in sight. We managed to finally find somewhere which would sell us a limonada and then decided to go visit the Basilica and the Cathedral.
The Basilica had a rather nice dome. But it was the least inviting building, given the number of chains and padlocks. So we decided not to try to go in. The Cathedral had a good facade, recreated in approx 1800 from when the original cathedral, 20km away, was destroyed in 1797. Sadly, the inside looked like a 1960s wooden modernish church. Disappointing.
At this point, we decided to cut our losses and head out of Riobamba. En route, we did go to a supermarket and purchase some actual breakfast (yoghurt drinks and raisins). The supermarket turned out to be one of the top features of Riobamba.
Needless to say, there are no photos of Riobamba. The Beast stayed firmly in its case.
On a separate note, TANWATCH. Milla is currently a shade of golden brown with some darker freckles. Think a chicken´s egg. I am still ghostly, admittedly with a smattering of freckles (cream) and a slash of blancmange (I think I must have caught my arm against something after applying the factor 30).
On the plus side, I did teach Milla how to play Gin Rummy. And we ate lunch in a house once lived in by Simon Bolivar. Also our dinner was served pretty speedily (taco pizza, anyone?). And we ate Galak, similar to MilkyBar but with crunchy rice bits in it. NOM.
On the downside, the first two cafes we tried to lunch at were both closed. Not ideal. The following morning, we thought "hmm let's head to the old bit of the town, and have a nice breakfast on the square with the palm trees." Epic fail. No cafes in sight. We managed to finally find somewhere which would sell us a limonada and then decided to go visit the Basilica and the Cathedral.
The Basilica had a rather nice dome. But it was the least inviting building, given the number of chains and padlocks. So we decided not to try to go in. The Cathedral had a good facade, recreated in approx 1800 from when the original cathedral, 20km away, was destroyed in 1797. Sadly, the inside looked like a 1960s wooden modernish church. Disappointing.
At this point, we decided to cut our losses and head out of Riobamba. En route, we did go to a supermarket and purchase some actual breakfast (yoghurt drinks and raisins). The supermarket turned out to be one of the top features of Riobamba.
Needless to say, there are no photos of Riobamba. The Beast stayed firmly in its case.
On a separate note, TANWATCH. Milla is currently a shade of golden brown with some darker freckles. Think a chicken´s egg. I am still ghostly, admittedly with a smattering of freckles (cream) and a slash of blancmange (I think I must have caught my arm against something after applying the factor 30).
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Baño! Baño! Baños!
And......we're back. Live and on your screens from Riobamba, Ecuador!
The last few days have been extremely relaxing and chilled out for various reasons. The main one being that Baños is in itself a spa town of some renown which may have explained our difficulty in finding anywhere to stay on our first night. The comment from the slightly crusty hippy who told us, upon seeing us struggle across the road from the terminal terrestre with all of our worldly belongings on our back, a la Esio Trot, that he wished us 'Good Luck' in finding a hostel shouls have warned us I suppose.
Baños is most definitely a party town. Disco buses roam the streets at night and there is no shortage of gringo bars offering 2 for 1 cocktails and film evenings. Although this made life very 'easy' when finding anywhere to eat or drink, there were far too many gap yah tragedies and aging hippies! Our second hostal (Milla's first night's efforts were deemed rather pricey - Ed. the only other alternative was sleeping on the street) was cheap and cheerful with lovely hammocks and luscious gardens. Milla enjoyed the hammocks to their full extent during her convalescence, of which more later
Baños itself is at the foot of an active volcano which has lead to the town's evacuation several times. Perhap this explains the festive atmosphere - with a smoking volcano just above them, its inhabitants just want to relax and enjoy life. This joie de vivre was certainly encountered at one of the many hot springs that surround the town.
Claire and I decided to head to the Piscinas de la Virgen in the evening to enjoy a nocturnal dip in the volcanic waters undisturbed by fellow travellers. What we hadn't reckoned on was that the entire population of Baños would be there too! With her auburn locks and pale skin, Claire was the centre of attention, particularly from the young men. Never mind that her most ardent suitor was about 5 and his idea of flirting was to splash his beloved! The water was a wonderful hot bath temperature but did leave us smelling a little of sulphur.
Other diversions included a nighttime trip on one of the ubiquitous disco buses up to the viewpoint over the town. For at least half of the year this also includes a view of the wrupting volcano but, fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn't cooperating when we went up. The view over the town and the surrounding mountains, shrouded in cloud, was still pretty spectacular. The best bit? Definitely the disco bus. Our cameras bear testament to this but the internet is currently too slow to upload. We promise to do a photo post soon!
As for the title of this post? Thanks to Claire's earlier adventures at trying to avoid losing Milla on the Panamerican Highway, we now know what the Spanish for 'loo' is. This was lucky as one of our party was hit badly by that scourge of travellers - delhi belly, a dicky tum - take your pick. All fine now thanks to careful nursing and much Dioralyte. Eurgh. NOt what we wanted at all.
We've now made it to Riobamba where we had hoped to go on the famous Devil's Nose railway (Nariz del Diabolo) Unfortunately, we went to the train station to buy the tickets but found out that it is closed for repairs! Oh no! Plans have thus been changed and we are heading to Mindo and the cloud forest a day earlier.
I can't believe that we've only got a week left to go in Ecuador. It seems like no time at all since we jetted off from Heathrow, and yet we've done so much in the past three weeks.
Missing you all, and bye for now
The last few days have been extremely relaxing and chilled out for various reasons. The main one being that Baños is in itself a spa town of some renown which may have explained our difficulty in finding anywhere to stay on our first night. The comment from the slightly crusty hippy who told us, upon seeing us struggle across the road from the terminal terrestre with all of our worldly belongings on our back, a la Esio Trot, that he wished us 'Good Luck' in finding a hostel shouls have warned us I suppose.
Baños is most definitely a party town. Disco buses roam the streets at night and there is no shortage of gringo bars offering 2 for 1 cocktails and film evenings. Although this made life very 'easy' when finding anywhere to eat or drink, there were far too many gap yah tragedies and aging hippies! Our second hostal (Milla's first night's efforts were deemed rather pricey - Ed. the only other alternative was sleeping on the street) was cheap and cheerful with lovely hammocks and luscious gardens. Milla enjoyed the hammocks to their full extent during her convalescence, of which more later
Baños itself is at the foot of an active volcano which has lead to the town's evacuation several times. Perhap this explains the festive atmosphere - with a smoking volcano just above them, its inhabitants just want to relax and enjoy life. This joie de vivre was certainly encountered at one of the many hot springs that surround the town.
Claire and I decided to head to the Piscinas de la Virgen in the evening to enjoy a nocturnal dip in the volcanic waters undisturbed by fellow travellers. What we hadn't reckoned on was that the entire population of Baños would be there too! With her auburn locks and pale skin, Claire was the centre of attention, particularly from the young men. Never mind that her most ardent suitor was about 5 and his idea of flirting was to splash his beloved! The water was a wonderful hot bath temperature but did leave us smelling a little of sulphur.
Other diversions included a nighttime trip on one of the ubiquitous disco buses up to the viewpoint over the town. For at least half of the year this also includes a view of the wrupting volcano but, fortunately or unfortunately, it wasn't cooperating when we went up. The view over the town and the surrounding mountains, shrouded in cloud, was still pretty spectacular. The best bit? Definitely the disco bus. Our cameras bear testament to this but the internet is currently too slow to upload. We promise to do a photo post soon!
As for the title of this post? Thanks to Claire's earlier adventures at trying to avoid losing Milla on the Panamerican Highway, we now know what the Spanish for 'loo' is. This was lucky as one of our party was hit badly by that scourge of travellers - delhi belly, a dicky tum - take your pick. All fine now thanks to careful nursing and much Dioralyte. Eurgh. NOt what we wanted at all.
We've now made it to Riobamba where we had hoped to go on the famous Devil's Nose railway (Nariz del Diabolo) Unfortunately, we went to the train station to buy the tickets but found out that it is closed for repairs! Oh no! Plans have thus been changed and we are heading to Mindo and the cloud forest a day earlier.
I can't believe that we've only got a week left to go in Ecuador. It seems like no time at all since we jetted off from Heathrow, and yet we've done so much in the past three weeks.
Missing you all, and bye for now
Thursday, 20 May 2010
One long bus journey and a pretty colonial city later...
Cathedral NuevoWe left Quito with plans to mosey up Andean Ecuador from Cuenca northwards back to Quito. However, this did mean getting to Cuenca first. A 10 hour bus journey faced us. Despite the sweltering heat, a couple of Ecuadorians felt the need to close the window. All journey. NOOOOO.
Ecuadorian buses are interesting - they stop ALL the time to pick people up. By stop, I mean slow down and keep trundling at a very slow pace (particularly for the people selling food and drink), which means there's a lot of potential for people to fall over. I've only seen it happen once though.
Getting the balance between drinking enough so one didn't expire and not drinking so much that one doesn't have to go to the toilet every half hour is a tricky one. I personally failed on this front, being about as dehydrated as I've ever been (despite the 5 bottles of water consumed en route) at least learning from the trip that thirst is my big weakness.
Trying to deal with toilet stops was also interesting. Latacunga came around, a reasonable sized town about 2.5 hours from Quito. The bus stopped for a bit of time and Milla asked the conductor about the bano. Fine, pointed her out towards them. Whilst Milla was in the bathroom, the driver decided he would pull away. I panicked somewhat, the bus stopped for a minute and then carried on. Milla was running towards the bus and I was desperately shouting in crap Spanish. Thankfully the bus driver did not leave her behind.
The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful. We got to watch Casino Royale in Spanish (yey for Bond films being easy to understand!) whilst the sun was setting and we were driving through the Andes at cloud level. Two very tired girls arrived in Cuenca, chose a hotel at random from the Rough Guide and made it. Thankfully, it has turned out to be rather nice (admittedly they made us change rooms last night, telling us that there'd be two boys so could we have the double bed? This turned out to be a lie...).
Cuenca times - we've mostly been chilling out. Cuenca is a much nicer town than Quito, by a long way. We have spent a day or so reading and relaxing and wandering around Cuenca getting to know the area. The Cathedral Nuevo is a very large Cathedral which is so large that it doesn't feel as ornate as a typical Catholic church. Two very unusual features - an incredibly ugly statue of Pope Jean Paul II and a statue of "Disco Jesus". We're talking metallic blue and silver robes with a halo with gold stars coming off it. BRILLIANT.
Ugly JP
Disco JesusWe made friends with one guy, Ed, who's spending a month out here, a break from his uni course of Animal Behaviour and Welfare. Interesting chap, travelling with two friends who don't want to do the same things as him, so we suggested he join us on our trip to Ingapirca.
Ingapirca is a set of Incan ruins about 2 hours from Cuenca. Some travel agency said they could organise a tour (not including entrance fees) for $45. Ummm, no. So we got the bus ourselves (return for $5) and spent a couple of hours there. No more required. I have purchased a mini-Ocarina so I can be closer to the spirits like our guide in Pullulahua and also a shawl that I can say I got on my Gap Yah.
It struck me on the trip up how traditionally people still dress. There is classic Andean dress everywhere. I managed to sneak a few pics from the bus, since it's taking a while to upload, I think I'll not bother putting those ones up yet.
Splash jacket goes to the Inca ruins
Milla models in a very strong Incan door frame
I'll crop this later. It's in the Sun Temple at the top of IngapircaMeals have been slightly more expensive than I initially thought, but the cheapest one (a Columbian cafe) was SOOOO good. On a wheat-intolerance note, a lot of the South American places do use corn. I had a corn pancake in the Columbian place and the Mexican place we went to specifically says "corn tortilla" or "wheat tortilla". Bloody marvellous.
DO NOT (if you're ever in Cuenca) go to Cafe Eucalyptus. The food was nice if a bit expensive. The atmosphere was also pretty good. However, the service left A LOT to be desired. They took a long time taking our order, fine. However, my meal arrived first (and it was Ceviche, so cold) in two parts. The ceviche arrived with some popcorn, then the rice came 15 minutes later, along with the other 2 meals. One meal was fine. However, Milla had asked, in Spanish, for her Pad Thai to not have shrimp in it. It had shrimp. It then took a further 20 minutes for her new meal to arrive, putting time at at least 50 minutes since her initial order. We did not pay service and Milla did not pay for her meal. Absolutely atrocious. Not what's expected given it's double recommendation in the Rough Guide (and, I hear, in numerous other travel guides). I am of a mind to email the English owner to inform him, and to inform Rough Guide as well.
Nevertheless, Cuenca itself is a very nice city, which is why we've spent almost a week here! Next stop - Banos.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
A few Galapagah photos
Finally! I have internet that is (only slightly) faster than dial-up so I can get a few photos up! This is only a selection of the 350 I took in the Galap and since a facebook album is inevitable when I get home, these focus more on Milla and I, to show you we´re alive. Less wildlife, more WildClique.
If there happen to be giant tortoise shells hanging around the tortoise reserve, there´s no option other than to try them on for size, right?
The colours of this one have been muted somewhat by the rubbish Blogger upload thing. Nevertheless, I´m kissing the gun which says "Galapagos Islands 2010" on a background of gorgeous white sands and blue seas. You should see the Poker Face beach photos.
Milla makes friends with a sea lion.
Our trusty boat. Can´t remember its name, something like Santa del Cruz.
Mamma Mia was our inspiration for these snorkelling shots. We´re so cool. Dad, this one´s for you!
I did say that Galapagos Penguins existed!
Mahoosive tortoise, probably 120 years old and weighing approx 250kg (600lbs).
If there happen to be giant tortoise shells hanging around the tortoise reserve, there´s no option other than to try them on for size, right?
One of the recently hatched sea turtles I wrote about in a previous post (short lived, but everlasting in the photos).
The colours of this one have been muted somewhat by the rubbish Blogger upload thing. Nevertheless, I´m kissing the gun which says "Galapagos Islands 2010" on a background of gorgeous white sands and blue seas. You should see the Poker Face beach photos.
Milla makes friends with a sea lion.
Our trusty boat. Can´t remember its name, something like Santa del Cruz. 
Mamma Mia was our inspiration for these snorkelling shots. We´re so cool. Dad, this one´s for you!
I did say that Galapagos Penguins existed!
Mahoosive tortoise, probably 120 years old and weighing approx 250kg (600lbs).
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Two hemispheres but one hive mind
The original title of this post was going to be `Quito : not so neat-o´ but today has been fantastic fun after a rather draining day yesterday.My ambivalence about Quito started at about 10.01 yesterday morning when we left the luxurious confines of Casa Foch and were sent on our way to find somewhat cheaper accomodation. No cockroaches have been spotted at Hostel Camena but there may be some lurking under our beautiful navy loo! As natural social beings we do like being where the action is, but not necessarily right outside our window until 2am. It turns out that the hostal is more-or-less in between two of Quito´s busiest clubs and yesterday being a Friday night... Luckily the police arrived at 2am and it quitened down after that*
(* note to concerned parents = we are fine so don´t inundate us with concerned emails. Unless you want to of course. We like emails. Hint hint)
Yesterday morning was spent to find the Peruvian Embassy due to Milla´s sudden realisation that she might not in fact be allowed into Peru due to a short period of illegal immigration 6 years ago. Claire conceded that this might cause problems in getting to Guatemala. A short trip across town with a rather chatty taxi driver later, and the airline confirmed that this shouldn´t be a problem. They also told us that we hadn´t paid for the tickets so I guess we´ll see whether Milla is persona non grata amongst Paddington´s friends and relations.
The Old Town in Quito is stunning. With its colonial architecture and snowy walls, the main square is a tourist destination in itself. After a quick nod to culture we headed there for a well earned rest and managed to shake off the numerous shoe shine boys. Feeling rather jaded we headed off to meet Peng, Rosanne and John (who share nothing with some of our other fellow Galapageans - see Claire´s previous post) and from thence to the TeleferiQo which is a cable car that goes up one of the mountains behind Quito. We were very excited about it.
We managed to get there to watch the evening sun over the city and then watch as the sun set over the snow capped mountains behind. Just stunningly beautiful. What wasn´t so nice was the bitter cold up there at 4150m!
Today has been somewhat more enjoyable. After a quick fact finding mission to Happy Gringo, a misonomer if ever, Claire and I decided not to follow the well trodded tourist route to El Mediad del Mundo and to make our own way by local bus which was an experience in itself.The Mediad del Mundo is a massive monument and associated tourist trappy shops on the Equator itself. Today´s main attraction there? Claire and I taking monumentally silly photos and generally making idiots of ourselves. All good fun though. After having saved $29.20 on getting there (Tour company - $30. Local bus - $0.80. Getting one over on Happy Gringo - priceless) we decided to go on a trip to the nearly volcano crater and the cloud forest. Having picked up a lone American in Quito, the three of us set off with the guide, through a barbed wire fence, through a field of cows and down an inpenetrable path. What we hadn´t expected to see was the largest inhabited volcanic crater in the world. We got there just in time before the clouds closed over it. Photos will follow!
Our guide was very into spiritual stuff and told us loads of interesting stuff before playing his ocarina into the winds and praying to Pacha Mama and asking us to keep quiet and offer our prayers and thanks to Mother Earth.
Claire and I were struck by a sudden feeling of awah-ness of the awesome power of Mother Nature. It was, like, almost enough to make us forget about the awesome lash of the Sloaney Pony. I looked into our guide´s eyes and felt an immediate connection with his Quechua forebears. Then Claire chundered everywhere* (*Apologies to The Unexpected Items)
Back to Quito and planning to head to Cuenca tomorrow. A 13hr bus journey awaits us....
And just to make you jealous.....
Friday, 14 May 2010
Galapagos Part 2 : "Interesting" Characters
As at time of last writing, we gained a whole load of new travellers (and lost some lovely ones, booo). We went from our cosy, youthful group of 9 people to a somewhat, er, more experienced group of 16. Most of the newcomers were interesting and completely pleasant but there were certain characters who were rather less fun.
1) Tweetie Pie aka Budgie Smuggler - a German fellow the colour of Milla´s Mulberry handbag who wore matching speedos and bandana. Had a rather nasty bout of BO and sweaty feet following him, meaning we tried to remain upwind of him. He´d been travelling for 8 months and ALWAYS slowed us down taking thousands (seriously, I thought I was bad) of photos. Despite never snorkelling even once, he felt the need to remove his trousers to reveal the speedos at every possible opportunity. He also made the sweeping assumption of "Oh you don´t speak a word of German do you?" when speaking in German with the Painted Lady in front of me. Actually matey, my speaking is not up to scratch but I did in fact understand most of what you said.
2) The Painted Lady - another German (I´m not racist), this lady had the build of a channel swimmer, and a face drawn on. I´d love to say perfectly but it was quite... different. As condescending regarding our life choices (I know, having a job? Disgusting.) as Tweetie Pie, she was, admittedly, one of the less annoying members of the three I´m writing about.
3) Bahn-nie - Pretty much everything I despise about Americans in one package, minus the obesity (she had at least taken care of herself that way). The most definining characteristic? Money-obsessed. Seriously, about half of the questions she asked were about money. "How much did you pay for the trip? Was that included? How much will you earn when you start? How much did you pay for dinner? How much was this? How much do you plan to spend per day in the rest of your travels?". Loud, obnoxious, very self-centred when not asking about money. I think the realisation came to me that she was a few dollars short of a wallet when she said "Oh I didn´t think you could do ANYTHING with a physics degree!".
ANYWAY - the rest of the Galapagos!
Espanola Island was our next stop, we spent the morning doing a 3 hour walk around the island. Despite it being 7.45-10.45, we were SO hot. Easily the hottest day on the tour, Milla and I drank a good 2l of water between us on the walk alone. I´m sure it would have been better if we´d not stopped for 7 years to allow 4 millions photos (I may be exaggerating a little). The effecyts of the water were felt by Milla but bizarrely not by me... somehow I´ve held on to a LOT of water. Afternoon was a smidge more snorkelling - I know, our lives are so tough - but we mostly messed about on the beach after discovering that the marine wildlife was fairly minimal.
Floreana was our final full day of tour - luckily it was considerably cooler than the previous day. We visited post office bay in the morning, where travellers leave postcards and pick up those from the place where they live, meaning that postcards could take a long time to arrive, but it´s all free. We then snorkelled a lot in the water with our guide (that´s how you know it´s a good snorkelling area, if Hansel gets in the water too!) around "Devil´s Crown", a submerged crater, and saw LOADS of things - sea lions playing, sharks and a whole swarm of golden rays. We walked on a beach as well in Floreana and saw two baby sea turtles, recently hatched, make their way to the ocean. In true natural selection style, they were eaten by frigate birds once they got to the water (well, stupid turtles for hatching in the middle of the day!).
The very last day of the tour involved getyting up early to go to see Lonesome George, the last Isla Pinta giant tortoise and then having a slight nightmare with flights being super delayed. Nevertheless, despite being trapped with Bahn-nie for 4 hours longer than anticipated, we made it to Quito in one piece.
A marvellous trip all in all, despite a few bouts of seasickness and some colourful characters.
Special mention goes to Miguelito - engineer on the boat who was a particular fan of Milla´s chest (well, why not?) and to whom we grew quite friendly. Bless. He did have a rather obscene tshirt which translated roughly as "I´m no gynaecologist, but I wouldn´t mind checking you out". Lovely. Weirdly he did have a girlfriend who´s a partner in a London law firm.
1) Tweetie Pie aka Budgie Smuggler - a German fellow the colour of Milla´s Mulberry handbag who wore matching speedos and bandana. Had a rather nasty bout of BO and sweaty feet following him, meaning we tried to remain upwind of him. He´d been travelling for 8 months and ALWAYS slowed us down taking thousands (seriously, I thought I was bad) of photos. Despite never snorkelling even once, he felt the need to remove his trousers to reveal the speedos at every possible opportunity. He also made the sweeping assumption of "Oh you don´t speak a word of German do you?" when speaking in German with the Painted Lady in front of me. Actually matey, my speaking is not up to scratch but I did in fact understand most of what you said.
2) The Painted Lady - another German (I´m not racist), this lady had the build of a channel swimmer, and a face drawn on. I´d love to say perfectly but it was quite... different. As condescending regarding our life choices (I know, having a job? Disgusting.) as Tweetie Pie, she was, admittedly, one of the less annoying members of the three I´m writing about.
3) Bahn-nie - Pretty much everything I despise about Americans in one package, minus the obesity (she had at least taken care of herself that way). The most definining characteristic? Money-obsessed. Seriously, about half of the questions she asked were about money. "How much did you pay for the trip? Was that included? How much will you earn when you start? How much did you pay for dinner? How much was this? How much do you plan to spend per day in the rest of your travels?". Loud, obnoxious, very self-centred when not asking about money. I think the realisation came to me that she was a few dollars short of a wallet when she said "Oh I didn´t think you could do ANYTHING with a physics degree!".
ANYWAY - the rest of the Galapagos!
Espanola Island was our next stop, we spent the morning doing a 3 hour walk around the island. Despite it being 7.45-10.45, we were SO hot. Easily the hottest day on the tour, Milla and I drank a good 2l of water between us on the walk alone. I´m sure it would have been better if we´d not stopped for 7 years to allow 4 millions photos (I may be exaggerating a little). The effecyts of the water were felt by Milla but bizarrely not by me... somehow I´ve held on to a LOT of water. Afternoon was a smidge more snorkelling - I know, our lives are so tough - but we mostly messed about on the beach after discovering that the marine wildlife was fairly minimal.
Floreana was our final full day of tour - luckily it was considerably cooler than the previous day. We visited post office bay in the morning, where travellers leave postcards and pick up those from the place where they live, meaning that postcards could take a long time to arrive, but it´s all free. We then snorkelled a lot in the water with our guide (that´s how you know it´s a good snorkelling area, if Hansel gets in the water too!) around "Devil´s Crown", a submerged crater, and saw LOADS of things - sea lions playing, sharks and a whole swarm of golden rays. We walked on a beach as well in Floreana and saw two baby sea turtles, recently hatched, make their way to the ocean. In true natural selection style, they were eaten by frigate birds once they got to the water (well, stupid turtles for hatching in the middle of the day!).
The very last day of the tour involved getyting up early to go to see Lonesome George, the last Isla Pinta giant tortoise and then having a slight nightmare with flights being super delayed. Nevertheless, despite being trapped with Bahn-nie for 4 hours longer than anticipated, we made it to Quito in one piece.
A marvellous trip all in all, despite a few bouts of seasickness and some colourful characters.
Special mention goes to Miguelito - engineer on the boat who was a particular fan of Milla´s chest (well, why not?) and to whom we grew quite friendly. Bless. He did have a rather obscene tshirt which translated roughly as "I´m no gynaecologist, but I wouldn´t mind checking you out". Lovely. Weirdly he did have a girlfriend who´s a partner in a London law firm.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Galapagos Episode 1
This is a scheduled post, so we´re actually probably on a boat in the middle of the Pacific right now, pèrhaps sipping a tasty juice, waiting to get onto our next island...
A pair of very tired girls landed in the Galapagos and were immediately assaulted by tropical views and muchos wildlife. We´re definitely not in London any more... Our boat is small but pretty nice, the food is good and the climes are super hot. Equatorial life isn´t it!
Apparently, I now suffer from seasickness - an unexpected discovery, since I never USED to get ill on boats! Still, lying down makes me feel much better. Sometimes the boat is so rocky that even Milla, Queen of the Sea, isn´t quite at her best, only reaching the second-to-top deck.
So far we have visited several islands and snorkelled a lot as well. I know it´s a cliche but the islands really are teeming with wildlife. On our first day, we visited the giant tortoise reserve. And those things are HUGE. Apparently they can weigh up to 250kg (600 lbs). Pretty incredible. We managed to get pictures of us with them (pretty close!) so you´ll be able to see the true size soon enough.
We´ve snorkelled with sharks, starfish, tropical fish, stingrays, Galapagos penguins and playful sea lions, but the highlight for me was swimming in the immediate vicinity of a sea turtle. Amazing.
Bartoleme Island was also pretty cool - we trekked up a volcano and gazed upon a moonscape - those of you who´ve seen the film Total Recall - this is where Arnie escaped on Mars or something. Master and Commander was also filmed there.
I´d say that from a wildlife perspective, North Seymour Island was incredible - frigate birds with big red inflatable pouches, land and marine iguanas, sea lions, blue footed boobies... beautiful. Everything stays pretty close too, the animals haven´t had time to develop fear of humans in the same way as they have in the UK (or anywhere else I´ve visited), meaning we get some incredible (sorry, am overusing this word but it´s hard not to!) photos. So glad I got the Beast for this trip.
Tan watch - Milla is just coming through the initial phases of "pink with a tinge", whereas I am still predominantly a pale shade of lily, with occasional pink tones. Neither of us are even approaching the mahogany/tango shade of orange that Dan is able to within a couple of days. It will be some sort of miracle if I ever even look vaguely golden. Just gotta keep slapping on that factor 50!
I´d upload pictures but this connection is pretty slow.... needless to say, both Milla and I have gone a bit snap happy. Pics to follow.
A pair of very tired girls landed in the Galapagos and were immediately assaulted by tropical views and muchos wildlife. We´re definitely not in London any more... Our boat is small but pretty nice, the food is good and the climes are super hot. Equatorial life isn´t it!
Apparently, I now suffer from seasickness - an unexpected discovery, since I never USED to get ill on boats! Still, lying down makes me feel much better. Sometimes the boat is so rocky that even Milla, Queen of the Sea, isn´t quite at her best, only reaching the second-to-top deck.
So far we have visited several islands and snorkelled a lot as well. I know it´s a cliche but the islands really are teeming with wildlife. On our first day, we visited the giant tortoise reserve. And those things are HUGE. Apparently they can weigh up to 250kg (600 lbs). Pretty incredible. We managed to get pictures of us with them (pretty close!) so you´ll be able to see the true size soon enough.
We´ve snorkelled with sharks, starfish, tropical fish, stingrays, Galapagos penguins and playful sea lions, but the highlight for me was swimming in the immediate vicinity of a sea turtle. Amazing.
Bartoleme Island was also pretty cool - we trekked up a volcano and gazed upon a moonscape - those of you who´ve seen the film Total Recall - this is where Arnie escaped on Mars or something. Master and Commander was also filmed there.
I´d say that from a wildlife perspective, North Seymour Island was incredible - frigate birds with big red inflatable pouches, land and marine iguanas, sea lions, blue footed boobies... beautiful. Everything stays pretty close too, the animals haven´t had time to develop fear of humans in the same way as they have in the UK (or anywhere else I´ve visited), meaning we get some incredible (sorry, am overusing this word but it´s hard not to!) photos. So glad I got the Beast for this trip.
Tan watch - Milla is just coming through the initial phases of "pink with a tinge", whereas I am still predominantly a pale shade of lily, with occasional pink tones. Neither of us are even approaching the mahogany/tango shade of orange that Dan is able to within a couple of days. It will be some sort of miracle if I ever even look vaguely golden. Just gotta keep slapping on that factor 50!
I´d upload pictures but this connection is pretty slow.... needless to say, both Milla and I have gone a bit snap happy. Pics to follow.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Mission Get through US Immigration : Completed
Wednesday 5th May 2010 if you cast your minds back was a very good day for Super Clique (apologies to Flanders and Swann, Lucy and Belinda) The LPC had been put behind us, no emails had been received from any law firms and that silly Icelandic volcano had decided not to drift southwards and annoy Heathrow.
An early start for all, meaning a fond farewell to a certain person on the District Line platform at Earls Court and a very excited greeting on the Picadilly line platform of the same. There was no official handover of Milla, but Claire has been told to look after me!
Continental Airlines, we have decided are NOT a Good Thing. An inbound flight delay meant that we were an hour late taking off, leaving us 45 mins to clear US Immigration, grab a Starbucks and nip onto the Quito flight. Some time was made up but Milla still had to bat her eyelashes at the flight attendants to get us off the plane quickly! This tactic seems to work on immigration officers too as they let her through, even though technically she had never left the country.... ( Note to self : please make sure that you hand in that little green card next time)
A second hurdle was encountered when we were told that Quito airport was shut. This would have caused problems as it was already midnight and we were supposed to be leaving for the Galap at 7am. All fine though.
We are currently sunning ourselves in San Cristobal in the Galapagos, but for more info on that, you´ll have to await Claire´s magnum opus.
Farewell and adieu. xxx
An early start for all, meaning a fond farewell to a certain person on the District Line platform at Earls Court and a very excited greeting on the Picadilly line platform of the same. There was no official handover of Milla, but Claire has been told to look after me!
Continental Airlines, we have decided are NOT a Good Thing. An inbound flight delay meant that we were an hour late taking off, leaving us 45 mins to clear US Immigration, grab a Starbucks and nip onto the Quito flight. Some time was made up but Milla still had to bat her eyelashes at the flight attendants to get us off the plane quickly! This tactic seems to work on immigration officers too as they let her through, even though technically she had never left the country.... ( Note to self : please make sure that you hand in that little green card next time)
A second hurdle was encountered when we were told that Quito airport was shut. This would have caused problems as it was already midnight and we were supposed to be leaving for the Galap at 7am. All fine though.
We are currently sunning ourselves in San Cristobal in the Galapagos, but for more info on that, you´ll have to await Claire´s magnum opus.
Farewell and adieu. xxx
Monday, 3 May 2010
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go...
Less than 48hrs until we will be leaving on a jet plane, but the difference between Claire and I and John Denver is that we DO know when we will be back again. There is a little something called WORK to get back for. Freshfields and Norton Rose would not, I fear, be too pleased if we decided to throw all the funding that they've given us away and turn our gap yah into a permanent one*
(* as in they'd ask for all that cash back! I for one do not have a spare 35k hanging around!)
Yep, as our faithful followers will have seen from Claire's post, the horror that was the Accelerated LPC can now be put behind us and we can set off for faraway lands with a light heart and, I hope, light rucksacks.
My marks were,erm, close to the wire to say the least but the most important thing is that they were all over the required 50% and so it's a good 'un. The sense of relief is enormous and we can now get on with enjoying ourselves without the threat of an early flight home to revise and to bury our heads once again in the LPDT rules, the Combined Code or Butterworth's. There'll be time enough for that once we are proper working girls who solicite for our daily bread.
Although last Friday produced a massive high, it was tinged with sadness and overshadowed somewhat by the dreadful news that there had been a catastrophic fire at the boatyard where my father kept Makai, his pride and joy, and that she had been inside.
It seems trite that in a world where so many terrible things happen to people to say that I am bereft but it does feel like a bereavement. She (as boats are ALWAYS female) was such a huge part of all of us, not least my father. Not for nothing was she referred to amongst friends and family as 'Mark's floating mistress' for the amount of time, love, affection and I dare say money that was lavished upon her!
She was a Bombay Tomtit and was built before WWII very close to where she was sailed on the East Coast for many years, she was an extremely handsome wooden day boat and had been a part of river life for many many years. My father 'rescued' her several years ago and restored her to her former glory. Seeing her make her way down river, her white sails filled with the wind, the sun glinting off her teak decks and her white hull slicing through the water, she was a joy to behold and joy to us all. Not to mention a VERY sucessful racer - the Bombay Bowl was a feature on our dining room table for several years.
This however, is NOT Makai, as it is somewhat difficult to photograph a boat when you're in it! But apart from the decking, she looked identical. It was a terrible terrible shock and so unexpected.
The Tomtit fleet at Orford was made up of 4 boats, Nadya (4), Hebe (5 - pictured), Tania (8) and our darling Makai (9).
I heard today that come next summer (we hope!) there will
once again be 4 Bombay Tomtits at Orford as my father has decided to ask the boatbuilder in whose shed she was to rebuild her. A brave decision and one that I am absolutely thrilled about.
It was the thought of 'bits' of her being left (we still have her sails and mast) that was the heartbreaking thing, but as some parts of the old Makai will be be part of the new Makai, she will still be with us and will continue to sail on the River Ore.
Not to mention the fact that I reckon that the Bridges' should have first dibs on the Bombay Bowl for the next few years....
(* as in they'd ask for all that cash back! I for one do not have a spare 35k hanging around!)
Yep, as our faithful followers will have seen from Claire's post, the horror that was the Accelerated LPC can now be put behind us and we can set off for faraway lands with a light heart and, I hope, light rucksacks.
My marks were,erm, close to the wire to say the least but the most important thing is that they were all over the required 50% and so it's a good 'un. The sense of relief is enormous and we can now get on with enjoying ourselves without the threat of an early flight home to revise and to bury our heads once again in the LPDT rules, the Combined Code or Butterworth's. There'll be time enough for that once we are proper working girls who solicite for our daily bread.
Although last Friday produced a massive high, it was tinged with sadness and overshadowed somewhat by the dreadful news that there had been a catastrophic fire at the boatyard where my father kept Makai, his pride and joy, and that she had been inside.
It seems trite that in a world where so many terrible things happen to people to say that I am bereft but it does feel like a bereavement. She (as boats are ALWAYS female) was such a huge part of all of us, not least my father. Not for nothing was she referred to amongst friends and family as 'Mark's floating mistress' for the amount of time, love, affection and I dare say money that was lavished upon her!
She was a Bombay Tomtit and was built before WWII very close to where she was sailed on the East Coast for many years, she was an extremely handsome wooden day boat and had been a part of river life for many many years. My father 'rescued' her several years ago and restored her to her former glory. Seeing her make her way down river, her white sails filled with the wind, the sun glinting off her teak decks and her white hull slicing through the water, she was a joy to behold and joy to us all. Not to mention a VERY sucessful racer - the Bombay Bowl was a feature on our dining room table for several years.
This however, is NOT Makai, as it is somewhat difficult to photograph a boat when you're in it! But apart from the decking, she looked identical. It was a terrible terrible shock and so unexpected.The Tomtit fleet at Orford was made up of 4 boats, Nadya (4), Hebe (5 - pictured), Tania (8) and our darling Makai (9).
I heard today that come next summer (we hope!) there will
once again be 4 Bombay Tomtits at Orford as my father has decided to ask the boatbuilder in whose shed she was to rebuild her. A brave decision and one that I am absolutely thrilled about.
It was the thought of 'bits' of her being left (we still have her sails and mast) that was the heartbreaking thing, but as some parts of the old Makai will be be part of the new Makai, she will still be with us and will continue to sail on the River Ore.
Not to mention the fact that I reckon that the Bridges' should have first dibs on the Bombay Bowl for the next few years....
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