Volcanic Adventures

Dylan writes: So the plan was to climb up the highest active volcano in the world and we can at least say that we have done it. There is just no corrobrative proof that we actually made it to the top. Cotopaxi is 5,879 metres or there abouts and is deemed as an active volcano because nobody really knows when it is going to errupt again. We figured we would go up for the first days hike, but after seeing the photographs of the summit, and all the cool kit you get to wear I convinced Kat it would be a good idea to do the whole thing. After yet another grueling 4X4 drive, we set off on foot with full backpacks and much excitement. Within 20 steps we were exhausted and dripping with sweat. We still had another 20 minutes to go before reaching the refuge. We quickly remembered never to underestimate high altitude.

After dinner we tried to get some sleep, tricky at 7 p.m. and with a dorm of the rudest "fellow" climbers peeing all night. Nethier of us managed a wink, and by midnight we were pulling our wet clothes back on to begin the hike to the summit. We started pretty well, but it soon became apparent that climbing mountains is not as easy as the tour operator was lamely trying to convince us. Within two hours we were wondering if it was possible for anyone to make it at all. Our guide uttered the words Kat was waiting for, and I didnt want to hear, "its impossible tonight". Damn!

We (well I) was a bit saddened to hear the news as I really thought we could do it, but the guide continued to tell us that the snow was too deep and loose and it would only get steeper the higher we climbed. We hade made 5,300 meters up a 45 degree slope in drifting snow and cramp ons, we were exhausted, and it would take at least another 4 hours in harder conditions to reach the ice wall before the summit. We decided to call it a day (about 2.15 at night actually).

Going down was great fun, and I still couldnt believe we made it as far as we did. In the darkness we could make out the ice structures and glaciers that we had been too preoccupied to notice on the way up.

So although we didnt get to wear tweed and caps, I feel I can, in some way at least, sympathise with George Mallory (who I still believe made it to the top of Everest first). Why did we climb Cotopaxi? "Because it's there."

The next day we made our way south to the town of Baños, a wonderful looking town surrounded by steep green cliffs and waterfalls and a very active volcano. On the outside it appears to offer so much, but for some reason we struggled to find anything to do. Perhaps we are running out of things left to try, perhaps we were just tired. However off road quad bike riding was perfect for me, so we hired one and headed for the active volcano Tungurahua. I dont think I will persuade Kat to come "quading" again with such ease in the future. We struggled to reach the summit this time as well, and had to give up when we reached warning signs and an absence of track.

Now we are in Riobamba and I hear there is some decent downhill mountain biking and a pretty hairy rooftop train ride through the Andes to look forward to..........

Galapagos Islands

Kat writes: We finally made it to Ecuador after an 11 hour wait in Lima airport! We had to stop in Guayaquil over night. We stayed in a hostel that had a variety of animals living there (not sure how legal it was). As well as a macaw and 4 parrots they also had a few of these tiny monkey-like creatures. They don´t look totally like monkeys but they are obviously related.

Some odd small monkey type creatures

The next day we arrived in Quito. We had a wander around the Old Town which was nice. The Lonely Planet had "bigged it up" so we expected a lot more. Lesson learned. The next day we started our Galapagos Island tour. What I didn´t realise is that the islands are 1000km from the mainland so it´s quite a hike.

Upon arrival at San Cristobel airport (on San Cristobel island obviously) we met our fabulous guide Hansel (as in Hansel and Gretel, he told us). Hansel is a real character. He was in the navy for most of his adult life and spent a lot of time in the US where he learned English. He has a degree in biology as well as extensive knowledge of all sorts of weird and wonderful things (such as explosives?!). Hansel is a very funny man, a very knowledgable man, and even after 15-20 years of being a guide in the Galapagos, very enthusiastic about the islands and the animals. He took us to our home for the next week, a lovely boat called the Cruz del Sur. I was really impressed with it. The cabins were bigger than I thought they would be and the beds more comfortable.

The animals of the Galapagos took no time in making themselves apparent. On the dinghy ride from the dock out to the boat, we saw sealions lounging all over small boats (apparantly a problem for the very small boats, as they tend to sink). Our group of 16 were a great group so it was shaping up to be an excellent week. That afternoon we went to a different part of San Cristobel called La Loberia and saw more sealions and our first marine iguanas.

A Sea Lion Pup feeding

Another Sea Lion Pup

A Marine Iguana

Just before dinner on the boat Hansel had the crew introduce themselves to us. I must say that the crew was excellent - everything ran like clockwork. A special mention goes to the chef. Every meal we had was restaurant standard. He baked, made ice cream - you name it, he made it. The best part about it was that you could eat everything without worrying - they are catering for tourists so everything is washed in treated water. We all took advantage of this and ate everything (plus a bit more).

The crew of the Cruz del Sur

Over night we travelled to Espaniola Island and in the morning, we went to Gardner Bay, a gorgeous beach of white sand and aqua blue water. It was there we had our first close up experience with the sealions. They were all over the beach. We were soon to discover that you can´t take too many photos of sealions, especially of sealion pups. They are soooo gorgeous. It took all I had not to put one in my bag to take with me. The wonderful thing about the Galapagos is that the animals have no land predators so they have no fear of humans. This means that they don´t mind you coming right up close to them. Even better, they come up to you, whether you like it or not. It was an amazing experience. The sealions in particular are so playful.

That afternoon we went to a different part of the island called Punta Suarez. To say there were lots of marine iguanas here is an understatement. The "jetty" where you get off the dinghy was so covered in iguanas that it was quite difficult to find a spot to put your feet. These too are amazing creatures, some are over 3 feet long and very fat. Although they live on land they feed in the water for an hour a day (they can hold their breath under water for that long). Seeing them swimming is great. (Dylan says: Not so much swimming as floating between waves, but as Darwin correctly observed, they appear completely indifferent to the waves, no matter how fierce the swell. They can grip onto rocks on the sea floor in the strongest currents, something as we were later to experience ourselves, is no mean feat.)

Kat continues: We also saw lots of lava lizards, tiny lizards that unlike the iguanas, are very quick moving and much smaller. Along our walk we also saw lots of Nazca (or masked) boobies and some tropic birds (very pretty birds with long white feathers). We also saw some albatross birds. They are excellent. These were the smallest of the albatross species but still pretty big (7" wing span). Their babies are huge! There was also a natural blow hole on this island which made for a very nice view. One particular inhabitant of this and other islands is the mockingbird. At first we thought they were just very friendly - they follow around the island, chirping away. Later we found out that the reason is that they want water and recognise the plastic water bottles. Apparently years ago tourists used to give them some water in the bottle caps. The island authorities tell tourists now not to do this as the birds should be finding the water themselves. If you happen to get out your water bottle for a drink you are usually dive bombed by several birds.

There was one little bird that appeared to be not only interested in water but in being a film star. For a while there, every time Dylan tried to take a photo the little guy stuck his head in at the last minute. We now have lots of photos of iguanas and other animals with a small mockingbird head in the bottom corner.

A mocking bird steals yet another picture

Marine Iguana mountain

Marine Iguanas digesting their breakfasts on the hot rocks

The Blow Hole at Punta Suarez, Espaniola Island

A mocking bird looking for water bottles and more photos to steal

The Albatross ritual beak slap dance

A "baby" Albatros

We moved through the night again and woke up at Floreana Island. In the morning we visited Punta Cormorant. More sealions (they are everywhere - no complaints there), pink flamingos (pinker than the ones we saw in Bolivia) and best of all, blue footed boobies !! These birds are the best fishing birds out of all boobies. Seeing them fishing is a sight to behold. They hit the water at very high speed then pop out again on the surface with their catch.

A blue footed boobie

Blue footed boobies high speed diving

After that we had our first scuba dive in the Galapagos, at a site called Devils Crown. We were quite nervous as we´d only done a couple of dives before and that was a year and a half ago. Still, after a small hiccup (caused be me having a slight panic about the strength of the current), we stayed down there and saw lots of wonderful things. The varieties and colours of the fish were breath taking, not ideal when underwater! There was at one stage a "wall" of fish slowly moving to wherever they were going. Hansel saw a white tip shark tail sticking out of a hole so he pulled me down to see. Then he started slowly pulling the shark out of the hole by its tail!!! I mean, what???? After the dive he said it was fine, white tip sharks aren´t interested in humans. Well that´s ok then I guess?? Thankfully, the shark merely looked grumpy.

about to dive for the first time

In the afternoon we went to Post Office Bay which is where the pirates that used to sail amongst the islands would leave messages to be picked up months later. It is now a place where tourists leave postcards for other tourists to deliver for them, if they happen to live near the addressee. Great idea. A Californian man on our trip found one addressed to a person who lived down the road from him so he took that to deliver.

The oldest post office - and its free!

The rest of the afternoon we sailed to Santa Cruz island. On the ride we saw a whale and dolphins - wow. On Santa Cruz island the next day we visited the Charles Darwin Research Centre. We learned a lot about the work they are trying to do to conserve the islands and the animals. They also have lots and lots of Giant Tortoises that people had kept as pets and now can´t be released into the wild as they wouldn´t survive. When the tortoises have babies, they release the babies into the wild. These creatures are truly amazing. They´re huge for a start. The way they move is so funny. We also saw Lonesome George, a giant tortoise who is the last in his sub-species. They have been trying furiously to find a female but to no avail. Old George isn´t interested in females of other sub-species so it looks like his will die out when he goes. Very sad.

In the afternoon we went to a private park where giant tortoises are left to roam and do their thing. Then we walked in a lava tube - cool!

Underground Lava Tube

The next morning we woke up at North Seymour Island. Lots of sealions (yes, more photos), swallow tailed gulls, blue footed boobies and frigates. The frigate males puff out their red chests to attract females - they were doing a lot of that but none appeared to be that successful. That afternoon we did some snorkelling at Sombrero Chifa island (Chinese Hat Island - yes, it does look like one). There were 5 very playful sealion pups in the water making the most of our presence. They really are amazing in the water - so agile compared to their movements on land (which are very funny). They swim round and round you and sometimes come full speed right up to your face only at the last second to via off to the side. Also on this island there were lots of Sally Lightfoot crabs - really like them too.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs

An Adult Pelican

Sea Lion Pups playing

A Male Frigate looking for a mate

Land Iguana

The rest of the afternoon we sailed to Bartoleme Island. The next morning we went onto the island, which is quite amazing. It´s how you´d imagine the surface of Mars to look. We climbed to the top of the island for a gorgeous view. Saw a couple of Galapagos Hawks up there too. We then went for a dinghy ride around the island - saw some very cute penguins. One in particular was very playful off the back of the boat. Then we went for our second dive. This time it was more about the underwater landscape than the marine life. There were lots of ledges and holes to swim through. We of course had the playful sealion to accompany us (he liked nibbling on our flippers the most). Dylan and I came up first and the sealion came with us, waiting for us to come back down to play. When we didn´t, he left.

Pinacle rock, Bartoleme Island

A Cute Gapalpogos Penguin

All he wants is someone to swim with

The boat then sailed to Santa Cruz island again (the north side) and we went for a dinghy ride through lots of mangroves. In the water we saw lots of sea turtles, eagle rays and a carpark of seven white tip sharks. Not very easy to get photos (Dylan says: Although I was the only one to have polarized filters on my sunglasses which made seeing them a doddle).

Giant Sea turtle

The next day we were at South Plaza Island in the morning. This island is covered in cacti. More sea lions (and therefore, photos), land iguanas, swallow tailed gulls, nesting troipic birds and a sealion bachelor colony. The males (bulls) usually have a harem each and all day, the bull stays in the water making loud noises, guarding his gals and pups. There are of course those bulls that lose the fight for a harem, hence, the bachelor colony. It was quite sad really. All the males there had war wounds from their fights.

Cactus landscape

A nesting tropic bird and egg

Apparently the oldest cactus of the islands

That afternoon we went to Sante Fe island to take yet more photos of sealions, cacti and land iguanas. Then we did some snorkelling - saw some sea turtles and of course, sealions to play with. That day there had been the opportunity to dive at Gordon Rock (apparantly a very famous dive site) where you usually see lots of hammerhead sharks. We had heard that you need quite a bit of diving experience to dive here because of the strength of the currents, so we gave it a miss. I´m glad we made that decision because when the other divers came back they said the current was incredibly strong (it was even hard for them to hold onto rocks) and they only saw a couple of sharks.

The next day was our last one, back on San Cristobel island. We visited an information centre there and then got our flight back to Quito. We were quite sad to leave the boat - we´d felt very much at home there and it was sad to say goodbye to Hansel too. It was in all a totally amazing trip. The different landscapes on each island, the animals, the boat - everything was perfect.

So now we´re back in Quito. We did the tourist thing and visited the equator line, which is in fact not the true equator line. Apparantly the monument and line were put there by the government when some French scientists estimated the location of the equator (they were there for a different reason, not to locate the equator). That spot is not accurate yet for some reason the government has not moved the monument and no one tells you it´s wrong (no doubt because they have built a complex of shops around the monument). We only found out by going to a small museum run by a private group of scientists. We real equator is 200-300m north of the spot. So we went and found another museum sitting on the correct equator line (a GPS was used for accuracy) and they proved it by doing the plughole test. It´s quite amazing really. Right on the line a couple of small leaves in draining water went down the hole straight. Moving the sink 2m south, the leaves went down clockwise and then 2m north of the line, anticlockwise.

Yesterday we managed to score tickets to a soccer game, Ecuador v Brazil. It was a World Cup 2006 elimination round. Great game (Ecuador won, which was a good thing for us I guess) and great atmosphere. Now we´re about to head off south to see some big volcanos.

It´s a Jungle out there

After our below ground experience in Potosi, we decided it was time to spend a few days above ground. Firstly,we went to Sucre (only over night) and had the best steaks ever. The cook had a HUGE BBQ (even by Aussie standards). He could even adjust the level of the grill. Anyway, these steaks were melt in the mouth quality and deserve a mention.

We then went to Santa Cruz where we got quite a shock at the change in the weather. For so long we have been in cool to cold conditions and all of a sudden we are sweltering in the humidity. I liked Santa Cruz. It´s a laid back place, probably because it´s too hot to do anything anyway.

We arranged to do a 2 day trip into the Amboro National Park (the beginnings of the jungle). You start from a small town near Santa Cruz called Buena Vista - another very laid back and pretty place. We set off with our guide (nicknamed "Chicken"??), a driver and a lady from the office(?) in another knackered 4WD. The drive to the park was cool, if you like being thrown around in the back of a 4WD, which we do. However, we came to the river that you normally take a canoe across and due to some
recent heavy rains, the river had risen too much and was moving too rapidly for a canoe to cross. We were pretty disappointed about aborting the mission but had no choice. So back to Santa Cruz.

Fortunately, 2 days later the river had gone down and the company did us a deal so off we went to try again. This time we were successful in our mission. The drive from Santa Cruz to Buena Vista was memorable thanks to the gas station we went to. The attendants (you don´t put the petrol in yourself) are all young females dressed in short white skirts/tight white trousers and tight red halterneck tops??!! Classic. Very practical attire for filling up cars. What year are we in? We even caught one touching up her makeup.

Anyway, in Buena Vista we jumped again in the 4WD and went a different way this time. The "track" (if you can call it that) was, well, ridiculous. There was no track. However, our slightly insane driver would not be put off by huge boulders in the way nor large ditches, he simply giggled and drove straight over them. Dylan kept saying, "there´s no way he´ll get up there", only to be proved very wrong.

After our somewhat bumpy drive we came to the point where we started to walk. The park is beautiful- lots of streams you walk through, waterfalls, trees, amazingly coloured butterflys etc. This may sound weird but it felt liberating to be walking across streams in my sandels. Must be all those years working in an office...

We saw tiny frogs all over the place, lots of different birds and some very noisy monkeys. The highlight for me was when we were having dinner around the camp fire and a large frog hopped up alongside us. He seemed to be ignoring us and it became clear why this was so when we saw a large black beatle in the frog´s line of vision. All of a sudden the frog nabbed the beatle with his tongue - it took about half a second. The frog then hopped around us for a while and then left. Very cool.

Next we moved onto Rurrenabaque, right in the Amazon jungle. Part of the flight up there was via an old DC3 plane. Dylan tells me they used them in the 2nd world war and that airlines stopped using them in 1947! I was slightly concerned about this but was assured that the planes were fine. The plane was, I must say, gorgeous (even to a non-plane spotter). It was in excellent condition and I felt like I was in an old movie. The inside was totally refurbished too. The flight was much smoother than I thought it would be and we landed safely. The pilots were even wearing the old style leather pilot jackets.

Dylan says: Today, the DC-3 is still finding its greatest use in specialized roles with some third world military forces and is commercially useful in some back country and bush areas particularly because of its operating costs, its ability to perform from rough fields and with its low maintenance, these are virtues to be considered ahead of the modern designs.

Kat says: thanks for that. Now, I thought Santa Cruz was humid. It has nothing on Rurrenabaque. I thought I was going to melt into a puddle. I have discovered that I don´t do extreme humidity very well. Rurre is another laid back (it has to be) town with a good pub with very cold beer (which we drank lots of). This is where we ran into Steve and Jane (for those who know them). The world is definitely a small place. We had also met a really nice Aussie guy called Dwayne (who is a friend of one of my old friends from law school - Rod). So it was beers all round.

The next morning we left (with Dwayne) in yet another 4WD on a pampas tour. It was just the 3 of us and our guide Carlos. Carlos was great - he didn´t speak much English but with my limited spanish we got by. Also, he was so enthusiastic about all the animals that it didn´t matter about the language barrier. Carlos had eagle eye vision and could spot an animal miles away. On the way, he spotted in the trees on the side of the road a sloth carrying a baby sloth. God knows how he spotted it but we were glad he did. We had never seen a sloth before!.

The area you go into isn´t what you´d call strict jungle, more like wetlands. We stayed in a lodge the company has which was very peaceful. We spent the couple of days in a canoe going along the river looking for animals. We saw lots too. There were hundreds (or so it seemed) of aligators of various sizes. They all seemed to enter the water as we passed them (yes, I almost pooed my pants on a number of occasions). At one stage we found a gang of squirrel monkeys - they are gorgeous. So small. We stopped next to the tree they were in and they all came down to see us. It was amazing to be so close to them.

There were also lots of small turtles sitting on branches in the water and when they are in the water they pop their tiny heads up to have a quick look and disappear again - so cute!! Also in this river there are pink dophins! We saw quite a few of those too. All in all, a great trip (except the billion or so mossies).

Next, we went on a 3 day tour into the jungle. We stayed at a beautiful place called the Chalalan Lodge. The lodge was built and is run by the local Chalalan community, with all profits going back into the community. This has made them self sufficient (so they don´t have to argue for government assistance for running a school etc).

The lodge is stunning, right in the middle of the jungle sitting alongside a lake. Our guide was excellent - very knowledgeable and very concerned about conservation etc. We went on a number of walks on different trails through the jungle with our guide (can´t recall his name) telling us all about different trees/plants and their medicinal uses. We saw less wildlife here but the plant life made up for it. We did see a couple of Toucans (which was my main aim - they´re great), macaws, lots and lots of monkeys, various birds, caymans, more frogs and a number of large ugly looking spiders. The spiders did not concern me as much as the enormous ants called 24 hour ants (named so due to their sting lasting 24 hours). They were huge and they were everywhere. I kept my boots on at all times!

We then flew back to La Paz (this time in a 12 seater Cesna) and from there to Lima where we are now waiting for a flight up to Ecuador. Our plane was due to take off at 10.55am and has been delayed to 3pm. We´ve been at the airport since 8am. Aarrgh. Oh well,we got a free lunch voucher from the airline, may as well go and use it...