Hola! from Peru

Birthplace of Paddington Bear and Land of the Incas, our first encounter with Peru was an adventurous trip to the hotel dodging other vehicles, narrowly missing bumpers and weaving between lanes – both real and invisible. We arrived safely, but exhausted after what amounted to a 22 hour trip and enjoyed a well-earned sleep.

 

The first morning, waking at a respectable time, we wandered round the new commercial area where our hotel was located – Miraflores. Part of the walk took in small bits of green (parques), busy roads and a seaside promenade looking out onto the Pacific Ocean (with an outdoor shopping mall).

After our group introductory meeting where we met our fellow travellers – our guide Holga (pronounced Olha, Olly for short), two other Brits (though of South African and Slovak origin), two Americans, two Canadians, two Irish lads and two French Canadian sisters.

 

The afternoon visit was to the historic centre of the city including the main square with its Cathedral, Archbishops Palace and Presidential Palace, the square dedicated to one of Peru's liberators, (Jose de San Martin) and a tour of the Franciscan Monastery and its underground catacombs containing lots and lots of bones. Many of the poor in the city were buried here in chambers clothed then covered in sand for the next one to be buried on top. A few mausoleum-type chambers existed for specifically wealthy families who had been benefactors to the monastery. My first dinner was Lomo Saltardo – Stir-fried fillet of beef with onions, tomatoes, chips & rice; Andy had Taco Taco Seafood, a rather orangey coloured sauce with seafood served with rice.

 

Day 2 was a 4am start for the 3.5-4 hour trip to Paracus town and nearby Pisco Port, the gateway to the Ballestras Islands (pronounced Bayestras). Pisco shares its name with one of the national drinks, which I'll come to shortly. Known as "The Poor Man's Galapagos" or "Peru's Galapagos", the Ballestras Islands are home to the Peruvian Booby, Turkey Vulture, South American Sea lion (known also locally as 'common sea wolf'), Humboldt Penguin, Guanay Cormorant, Red-legged Cormorant and Peruvian Pelican. It consists of 22 islands, islets & groups of dung islands and 11 coastal guano concentrations which are all protected. On the outward boat journey, we also saw a three-pronged "Candelabra geoglyph" 150m high and 50m wide, a taster of what exists at Nazca.

 

Via Bodega El Catador where we had a tour of a vineyard, showing the traditional way of making wine and pisco, followed by tastings of pisco sour, local wine, pisco shots, Peruvian baileys and different jams made using pisco (the national alcoholic beverage made with grapebrandy ), we headed to Huacachina (pronounced whatchachena), an oasis in desert for lunch. It had a large picturesque if smelly lagoon surrounded by towering sand `dunes. My lunch was "Arroz con pollo", green rice with chicken. Here we also tried Inca Kola, a national non-alcoholic drink drunk instead of Coca Cola. It has a nuclear waste yellow colour but with a taste that resembles bubble gum. Andy & I both really like it, but some of the group don't.

 

Back on the Pan-American Highway, we stopped at a lookout near Palpa to view the Palpa Lines and a second lookout 20km north of Nazca to view some of the Nazca Lines (tree, hands and bisected lizard – cut in half by the highway before the lines were "discovered"). The Nazca Lines, made into a World Heritage site in 1994, contains 800 straight lines, 300 geometric shapes and 70 animal, plant and humanoid figures or glyphs. There are a number of theories on whom, what and why, which we listened to at the Planetarium Maria Reiche in Nazca. Whilst we were there we also got the opportunity to view the moon and Saturn through one of their telescopes. Some of the moons craters and seas could be clearly seen while Saturn along with its rings and moon Titan was visible.

 

The day was wound up with dinner of "Chicharron de Pescado" - Peruvian Fish & chips for me and Chilli Chicken with potato & rice for Andy. One of the others had goat which I also tried. The meal came with complimentary Pisco Sour and we also sampled some Cerveza Premium (local beer).

 

Yesterday we started the day with a visit to the local fruit and "super" markets in Nazca for some fruit, snacks and water before an excellent visit to the Chauchilla cemetery. The cemetery dates back to pre-Inca civilisations of Wari & Ica-Chincha cultures (around 1000AD). Mummies, some a little grotesque, can be seen arranged in a dozen or so tombs. However, the history and archaeological finds to date were fascinating and it is a shame that they have little funds to do more in-depth work such as DNA analysis etc. A lot of the tombs were damaged or destroyed by grave robbers so there are numerous bits of bone debris spread out along the landscape.

 

From there, we drove to Puerto Inka or Puerto Inca (lit. Inca Port). Just two minutes' walk from the hotel was an archaeological site from where (fresh & dried) fish were sent to Cuzco during the Inca Empire. Runners used an Inca highway to carry messages and goods. Although Incas are the best known cultures in Peru prior to the Spanish Invasion and one of the greatest empires that has existed, the Empire period was a mere 85-100 years and some of the Pre-Inca civilisations including Paracas, Nazca, Wari and Ica-Chincha are emerging to be a lot more fascinating. That said Machu Picchu is on our itinerary so I may not think that at the end of the trip.

 

The Hotel Puerto Inka was set into the hillside overlooking a very pretty horseshoe shaped bay. Accommodation was on several levels / terraces overlooking the bay. Dinner consisted of "Pescado al Ajo" – Fish with garlic sauce  served with arroz (rice), papas fritas (chips) and ensalada (veg consisting of beans, carrots and broccoli) - for me and "Pescado a la Chorrillana" – fish with onions, peppers, sweet corn – for Andy, washed down with the now obligatory glass of Pisco Sour. We went to sleep with the sound of very large waves crashing against the shore.

 

We awoke early this morning again to the sound of these waves and wandered around the hotel & ruins site watching the sunrise and taking photos before breakfast. Then we set off on one of the longest drives of the trip from Puerto Inka to Arequipa.

 

As I type this, we are travelling along the Pan-American Highway. The road has ranged from long straight drives to winding roads clinging to vertiginous mountain edges, long expanses of coast, beach and lofty sand dunes to vast plains of dry arid terrain as far as the eye could see, snaking through small villages, townships and communities to large cuttings in the Andean hillsides. The 38,000km Pan-American Highway stretches all the way from Alaska in the north of the Americas to Chile in the South, a journey that would take around four months to complete top to bottom. However, we are leaving it at Arequipa, where I hopefully will be sending this from.

 

Arequipa, at an elevation of around 2,300m, is where we may feel some symptoms of altitude sickness before we acclimatise. Fortunately we were prepped at the beginning of the trip so we know what to expect and how to deal with it, so hopefully not too many problems there

 

Anyway, I say Adios for now and will write later when we've had further adventures.

 

Mundo de viaje (I think that's how you say it!)

Kath & Andy

PS Made it to Arequipa OK. Had a quick walk round then found a nice restaurant round the corner from our hotel. I enjoyed a lovely meal of Alpaca Lomo Saltado – stir fried alpaca with onions & tomatoes, served with papas frites and arroz (chips and rice).

 ---------------------------------------------------------
"Don't ask what the world needs - ask what makes you come alive and then go & do that.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive" Howard Martin
---------------------------------------------------------

Unleash the passion, indulge the dream
www.passion4travel.co.uk

---------------------------------------------------------
If you have received this email in error, no longer wish to receive these emails, or would prefer to read the blog, please email me. I will not be offended. Absence of such emails presupposes that you still wish me to send them.

I will never pass your details onto unrelated third-parties.

To stop my emails being seen as spam, please add me to your email account's address book.

If I've missed anyone who would like to read this, feel free to forward it on.

Kimberley Walkabout

Originally written 13th June 2010:

Three times the size of the UK, the Kimberley region is one of the remotest parts of Australia - and we were heading there! The journey from Broome to Darwin through the red dirt, open eucalypt forest, savannah woodland, tropical monsoon rainforest, semi-arid desert of the Kimberleys past termite mounds and lumps of spiky spinifex grass was via the unsealed dirt track called "The Gibb River Road" (The Gibb), originally a cattle droving track to move cattle from the stations in the Kimberleys to the port at Derby. It is approx the equivalent of travelling from northern Scotland to northern scandinavia (the Perth to Broome flight was approx like flying from Spain to north Scotland by comparison) - and with added little side trips something in the region of 2000-2500 km! We were told that we were particluarly lucky. Unusually they'd had torrential rain storms which didn't normally happen in "The Dry" which meant that the area was going to be lush green and the waterholes flushed out with fresh water. Most of the waterfalls and streams would be flowing. Also fortunately the rains had stopped which meant The Gibb was open and we'd be able to see all this!

We had a lovely mixed group, approx 50:50 male:female with ages ranging from 20 - late 60's and several nationalities represented - 1 Canadian, 1 French Canadian, 2 French, 3 Dutch, 1 German, 1 Japanese, 2 Americans and 6 Aussies including the driver. We gelled together well which was good considering we were stuck in the middle of nowhere together!

Our first day was Broome to Windjana where we learnt the story of a local outlaw / hero (depending which side you're on) Jandamarra. We saw the Boab Prison Tree (boabs are huge with hollow trunks, many of the bigger ones were used as a jail with this particularly one reputedly being able to hold 12-14 aboriginal prisoners - wouldn't have been a comfy nights sleep I'd imagine) which he was held in overnight, and Tunnel Creek which was his hideout for three years. Tunnel Creek was formed by a creek carving out a tunnel (hence the name) through an uplifted limestone reef. Its big enough to walk through, with some wading (up to waist deep in places) to emerge on the other side to a small swimming hole and gorge. On the cliff face was an example of local aboriginal art - Wandjana Spirit. There were fruit bats in the dark part of the cavern screeching at us as we trudged past. We camped out at Wyndjana Gorge and after a honey & soy vegetable stir-fry, we did some star gazing up at the immense ceiling of stars.

We woke with the sunrise approx 5.45am (maximised daylight hours as it was pitch black by 5.30pm at night) with the first visit of the day to Wyndjana Gorge, a steep walled limestone gorge with devonian fossils. Ibis flew overhead and a flock of white cockatoos squawked at us friom the trees. Then, heading through the Napier Ranges, we were aiming for the King Leopold Ranges and Bell Gorge - a 3km hike each way to a swimming hole at the base of a picturesque waterfall. We spotted a monitor lizard enroute. We had to wade through a river part-way along but it was only ankle deep. It was mostly uphill coming back and I desperately fancied an ice-cold coke, icecream and a shower but I had to content myself with an apple! We camped out on a large layby in a saddle of the King Leopold Ranges, watching controlled bushfires burning in the distance, This was a minimal facility campsite i.e. none - a true bush camp! So if nature called, one was required to find a bush!!! In the middle of nowhere we enjoyed pasta bolognaise for tea and enjoyed the twinking show of stars above us!

Probably some of the best sites we visited were on the third day. Breakfast was bacon & egg sandwiches with the bacon & egg cooked over the campfire. After stopping at the Iminji Roadhouse owned by and adj to one of the local aboriginal communities we had a 20min walk to an absolutely beautiful horse-show shaped gorge surrounded by palms with another swimming hole / waterfall plunge pool where we spent quite some time swimming. It was refreshing to say the least and gave us all a good wash! From there it was onto Manning Gorge Campsite. The 6km return walk involves swimming across a billabong at the beginning and end using polystyrene boxes to float walking boots and rucksacks etc across. It was very hot and the quartzite boulder & rock track was open with little shade. We climbed an escarpment overlooking the valley for miles around. There was bush, bush and more bush. We eventually climbed down into a beautiful gorge with another waterfall and plunge pool / swimming hole. Dinner that night was roast lambs, veggies and jacket potatoes cooked over the campfire. Its amazing what you can cook in the middle of nowhere!!!!

From Manning Gorge we were headed for El Questro through more savannah woodland and open eucalypt forest. After passing the Kalumburu Turn for the remotest part of the Kimberley (Mitchell Plateau & Falls, Drysdale River Station & Bradshaw Aboriginal Paintings which we unfortunately weren't seeing on this trip), we had to cross the infamous Pentecost River. We were warned not to go within 5m of the riverbank (we stpped for piccies) as we might become crocodile dinner. Saltwater Crocs (aka Salties) inhabit this river. Incorrectly named - they should be called Estaurine Crocs as they live in both fresh & salt water, they will take humans for lunch, they're not fussy!

El Questro Gorge was a 2.5km walk each way over very rocky terrain with some scrambling over bounlders through a narrow gorge lined with palms giving plenty of shade. Unfortunately the swimming hole, though refreshing, didn't match up to those we'd visited prior to this on the trip. We stopped overnight at El Questro Station, which had preiovusly been a fully working cattle station (still partly doing it), but had been mostly coverted to a luxury tropical resort. After thai green curry & rice we headed up to the bar to enjoy a few chilled drinks and local entertainment!

Zeberdee Hot Springs was our first stop on Day 5 - a stream with a series of pools fed from a hot spring, only 10-15mins from the campsite and a short walk along a dirt track shaded with palms. After an hour playing in the springs we set off to Emma Gorge 15-20 mins away from that. A 3.2km part-shaded walk predominantly surrounded by lush palms over large boulders and rocks bought us to a large plunge pool at the end of the gorge with steep-sided (50m+) walls surrounding the pool in a semi-circle. The pool was very deep and cold and fed a small stream down the gorge which was choked with rocks and boulders. Most of the water was supplied by a waterfall which was dripping rather than flowing over the walls into the pool. Under the waterfall if was like having ice crystals hitting you on the head, but on the other side of the pool we discovered a small hot spring also feeding into the pool and the water was more pleasant to swim in. Then it was an afternoon driving leaving the Gibb and heading to The Bungles where we arrived after dark to pitch our tents. The drive involved a 50km track through Mabel Downs Cattle Station which was pot-holed and rutted and worse than anything we'd driven over on The Gibb. Burritos with sweet chilli sauce, sour cream, onions, peppers and salad was tea for the evening. The Bungles were only "discovered" in 1982 when the farmer collared a TV crew filming geological features in the area and asked them to see what was on his station...

Day 6 was spent in Purnululu World Heritage Area aka The Bungle Bungles. I did a flight over them when I was here on my working holiday 12 years ago. Since then the area has become world heritage listed. Formed 360mya this ancient sedimentary rock was eventually eroded to form the landscape we see today - domed beehive shaped banded mounds dotted across the landscape. We did several walks through the Bungles including a lookout over the Bungles, Cathedral Groge, a Domes Walk and Echidna Chasm, a lot being trails winding through or round the mounds or through narrow chasms.

We had to come out of The Bungles the same way we'd come in along the 50km bumpy track. There were a lot of people feeling green & queasy by the end of it. This was a long driving day to Lake Argyle though we did have a quick stop in Kununurra, the main township in the East Kimberley. At Lake Argyle we did a boat trip on the lake and saw short-eared rock wallabies, archer fish which would shoot water at a piece of bread held in your fingers. Mostly they were accurate but sometimes they'd miss and shoot you in the eye instead! Also catfish and silver cobblers shoved with the archer fish to get the bread crumbs. On one of the islands in the lake we saw the nests of Whistler Kites and Golden Orb Web Spiders. Lake Argyle is a 80x40km body of water that holds 20x the water volume of Syndey Harbour and if required can hold up to 53x. Built between 1969-1971 it is mainly used for irrigation and hydro-electric. Back at the campsite we enjoyed a sweet chilli stirfry round the campfire after a hot shower!!! The campsite facilities were excellent, some of the best (in terms of showers etc) that I've probably ever seen.

From Lake Argyle it was 1/2hr to the Northern Territory border & putting clocks forward by 1.5hrs before another long drive to Katherine. We had a few stops along the way including Bradshaw Bridge over the Victoria Rover where we spotted a huge saltie on the riverbank, Timber Creek lookout and a couple of roadhouses. Katherine is NT's 3rd largest township and is at the intersection of the Victoria & Stuart Highways (we were on the Victoria, Stuart Highway comes from Alice Springs). We stopped at a permanent campsite between the town and Katherine Gorge where we enjoyed barbequed kangaroo with mashed potato, coleslaw & veg round the campfire. Dessert was a chocolate damper, a bush loaf made of flour, beer & chocolate & cooked in the camp oven on the campfire.

Our last day started with a 2km return trip to a lookout over the 1st of the Katherine Gorges. Although called Katherine Gorge there is in fact 13 separate gorges carved out of the Arnhemland plateau. It is also technically incorrect to call it Katherine Gorge because it has been renamed back to its original aboriginal name of "Nitmiluk" meaning Circada Place. We also had a stop at Edith Falls (correctly called Leliyn) with a 2km return walk over an escarpment to a plunge pool and Adelaide River, home of the now-deceased (but stuffed and stood on the bar of the pub) Charlie The Water Buffalo who starred in Crocodile Dundee. If I recall rightly, last time I was here 12 years ago he was still alive & signing autographs!

Then we arrived in Darwin. After checking into our various hostels, we met at The Jetty for A Steak & Seafood All You Can Eat buffet with the rest of the group before saying our goodbyes.

So we've been (and still are) enjoying a bit of chill out time in Darwin. We've done a Heritage Walk though a lot of the place was either bombed in 1942 or destroyed by Cyclone Tracey Christmas Eve 1974. We had barramundi & chips for tea one night. Yesterday was a free tour of the Parliament House & a walk round the Botanic Gardens before having a free backpacker tea at The Vic, one of the few places to survive the bombing and cyclone! Our final plans include the Wave Pool at the harbour, Darwin Museum and Mindl Beach Sunset Market today. Tomorrow we might go to Crocodylus Cove, home to all things crocodile where you can allegedly swim in a pool next to the croc pool or go down in a cage in the croc pool itself. Maybe not eh...?

Back Down Under...‏

Originally written Monday 31st May 2010:

We arrived in Perth just after midnight last Tuesday morning which meant that once we'd got back to Andy's friend's house in Duncraig, a suburb in the northen part of Perth, and had a Welcome to Aus beer we could head straight off to bed!!!

Suffice to say our first day was not an early start but after sleeping like a log we headed into Perth City Centre which had changed dramatically - as had the prices of everything! A beer in a pub now costs on average 6 pounds sterling each. Long gone are the days of the $2 schooner (which was less than 1 pound back then). Most people buy from the bottleshop (off-license).

We had been hoping to go swimming with the bottlenose dolphins at Rockingham during our time in Perth but disappointingly there were no dolphin swimming trips running during the duration of our stay. Last time I was here I'd been hoping to do that but didn't have the extra day I needed. Looks like we'll have to come here again ;-)

Otherwise the first day was pretty quiet. We met Andy's friend John after work and went for a beer with him before heading back to his place to spend the evening with himself, his wife Vikki and daughter Milly for pizza and beer.

Day 2 saw us visit Hilary's Marina, a shopping complex and tourist attraction with lots of sporting, sea-related and souvenir shops. We enjoyed breakfast at a little cafe in the sunshine. It was probably the warmest day in Perth as the temperature never really exceeded 20'c and being as it is their winter went dark & cold early, but not really any different to much of the weather we had at home in May. Anyway back to breakfast: crepes with icecream, strawberries & bananas. Yum! We spent most of the day strolling down the harbour breakers and along the beach but eventually took the bus back to the City Centre to arrange an alternative trip to do instead of the dolphins. We checked out a few other Perth landmarks before heading back for home-made Shepherds Pie - and beer!

The third day we were treated to some Perth winter weather and had heavy showers all day. Undaunted we headed off on the train to Perth's port - Fremantle, known as Freo to the locals - for a look around and to meet up with some friends. Despite the weather we enjoyed a delicious Shark & Chips (yes as in Jaws) at the Sweetlips Cafe in the Fishing Boat Harbour. Unfortunately the History Museum (still in brochures and the Lonely Planet) was now gone and the markets were closed. Despite that we wandered down Cappacino Strip and around the town. We sampled a glass of Pale Ale from the popular Little Creatures Pub which has its own micro-brewery. Later we met up with Jim & Tash at Mad Monks Bar, another pub & restaurant with its own micro-brewery. We first met Jim & Tash in Egypt in 2007 and it was good to catch up with them again. They took us out to dinner at the "Norfolk Pub" where Andy had a good steak burger and I enjoyed a smoked salmon pasta dish.

Our final day in Perth started with a stroll round Kings Park - a city nature reserve with a lot of original native bush still surviving. We are both sure its been developed a great deal since our last visits but must check the photos! ;-) From there we caught a tour bus which took us out to the Swan Valley. Caversham Nature Park was our first stop where we got up close and personal with several native animals including laughing kookaburra, red kangaroo, western grey kangaroo, wombat, blue-winged kookaburra, dingos, echidna, potaroos, koala and Tasmanian Deveil. They also held a farmshow demonstrating sheep shearing Aussie style, swinging the billy, whip cracking and the like. The Swan Valley arm of the Margaret River Chocolate Factory was next. Though the stop was brief it did allow an indulgence in a little chocolate tasting. Margaret River Chocolate is re-refined Belguim chocolate. Our final visit was to the Sandleford Winery for some wine tasting. Here we managed to arrange a very short & sweet meet-up with Rod & his girlfriend Cathy. Rod & I were part of a group that travelled together in Canada in 2005. Dinner that night was from the Carilion Food Hall - a number of food companies have stalls around and share the seating area including Red Rosster (Aus version of KFC), Hungry Jacks (Aus version of Burger King), fish & chips, carveries, chinese, thai, mexican etc.

An early start the next morning for our flight to Broome. Proving that I still have a dynamite character, I was checked for explosives at the airport!!! Once in Broome a courtesy shuttle dropped us at the "Beaches of Broome" backpacker hostel and after checking in we wandered down to Cable Beach which is all of 10 mins away from here! Along the way we spotted a black-headed ibis, magpie larks and wedge-tailed eagles.

At 5-ish we joined the throng that was catching the bus to Town Beach for the phenomen known as "Staircase To The Moon". Given the correct weather conditions and tide levels etc this can happen up to three times a month between about March & October. The Staircase is an illusion created as the full moon rises over the mudflats of Town Beach in Rowbuck Bay at low tide giving the appearance of a staircase to the moon. Did exactly what it said on the tin! Was phenomenal! Before jumping on the bus back, we wandered round the Town Beach market which appears on the Staircase to the Moon nights with its food stalls, jewellery, nicknacks etc.

Yesterday we did some Broome sightseeing. I can only describe Broome as what I thought every Aussie town would be like before I actually came here. Its very close to nature and the outback here with boabab and eucalypts lining the streets. Town Beach by day was our first stop. Apparently the bay is littered with flying boat wrecks which were distroyed by the Japanese Air Strikes in 1942 and on shore is the Pioneer Cemetary. Jutting into the sea is the remains of the old jetty. We learnt more about this at the Broome History Museum which covered the local history of the area particularly the pearling history of the area as well as shell collections, geology, white fella artifacts, information on the aboriginal tribes of the area.

We washed our history lesson down with a sample of Ginger Beer made by the Broome micro-brewery Matso's. In addition to Ginger Beer, this brewery makes chilli beer and mango beer amongst its collection. The ginger beer came chilled with ice. Was delicious & very refreshing :-)

Pearl Luggers is a shop that also offers trips to a pearl farm & its own local talk/tour. However within the grounds of the shop are two dry-docked pearl luggers (boats) which are free to walk around. Displays provide further information on the boats, their crews and more history of the pearling industry.

Then it was back to Cable Beach for a 1hr Sunset Camel Trek. Seeing Cable Beach from atop a slow-moving dromedary is an interesting and enjoyable experience (though there is some saddle soreness by the end of it! ;-)). We were paired up to ride the camels. We have both previously ridden a camel in Egypt but had our own camels. Here we "shared" a camel called "Lazy Daisy". Mr Daisy, for it was an 18-year old boy camel, actually got the name from his racing days - as a racing camel in his youth he won many trophies. The sunset was gorgeous with fiery reds, oranges and yellows piercing the sky across the sea whilst other colours were brush stroked across the sky above us as it slowly turned dark and the horizon crimson.

We left the beach once the sun had completely gone down. Twilight here is very short or non-existent and once the sun has gone it quickly goes dark. We had dinner at the hostel - a seafood basket for me with fish, prawns, crab, squid and chips - washed down with WA-brewed Swan Draught Lager. Fortunately the hostel food is relatively cheap, as are the beers (similar to British prices).

Today we went out to Gantheaume (Gan - the - am) Point 5km south of Cable Beach where cliffs have been eroded into all sorts of curious shapes and show beautiful layering of reds, yellows, oranges, blakcs, whites and greys. I would imagaine that it would be particularly stunning at sunset, but with only one (very early) bus to the point each day, we had to see the early morning sun on it. This is also home to 120million year old dinosaur tracks - there are concrete casts on the cliff top as the real ones are usually only revealed when there's a low tide - and Anatasia's Pool, an enlarged pool built by the first resident of the old Lighthouse Keepers Cottage after the lighthouse was automated and the cottage sold off. The resident's wife suffered with arthritis and bathed in the pool to ease her joints.

In between some dips in the sea, we walked the 5km beach walk back to Cable Beach before heading to the hostel for lunch and a cold refreshing dip in the pool. We did wander back down to the beach when it got cooler to see another gorgeous sunset.

Today we are off into town for a wander round. Tonight we have to get packed up and have an early night as we have a 6:30am pick-up for our trip to the Kimberleys.

Land of FIre & Ice

Somewhere in the North Atlantic lies a 103,000 sq km island known as Iceland. Despite the name, only 10-15% of the country is covered by ice of which the majority is by Vatnajökull reputedly the world´s 3rd largest icecap after Antarctica and Greenland. However, this is also a country of geothermally active hot spots, of geysers, hot springs, volcanos and lava flows. Then theres the highlands, river valleys, farmland and harbours. Despite this I think the most appropriate name would be Icy_Cold_Wind_&_Rainland!!! It might give a hint to the predominant weather conditions during my visit

Iceland has a population of approx 320,000 of which more than a third live in Reykjavik City and nearly two-thirds live in the Greater Reykjavik area. It was here in Reykjavik where I began my adventure...

On arrival in Reykjavik on a drizzly Sunday afternoon, there was a somewhat desolate-looking drive to the city. Once there and settled into the hotel, Peggy (who I´d met on the flight - and turned out to be a few doors up on the same floor of the same hotel!) and I walked down to the Nautholsvik geothermal beach. The beach was a nice sandy yellow, but the geothermal bit, the small constructed area of beach fed by a hot spring, was on winter hours and closed. We used the complimentary shuttle bus into town to try out the locally recommended "Cafe Paris" for the meat dish of the day, roast pork.

My first full day there started with a walk up Öskjuhlid Hill to the Perlan. Here 6 big thermal tanks hold the 4 million litres of thermal water for the city. On top of these is a big glass dome holding a gourmet restaurant and a cafeteria. It was in the latter I sampled Pönnukökur, a stuffed savoury pancake. V filling. The Perlan also has an artifial geyser that spouts every 4-5 minutes. In the afternoon I enjoyed a highlight of the main attractions of Reykjavik on a "Grand Excursion" including the tallest building Hallgrimur´s Church, the Old Town, Harbour and National Museum. The evening meal was Fish Meal of the Day at Cafe Paris again. This was Plokkfiskur - a traditional icelandic fish pie.

Tueday was the trip to the Golden Circle. First stop was the Hellisheidi Power Plant where electricity is produced from geothermal energy for Reykjavik. Then it was onto Gulfoss (The Golden Waterfall), a double waterfall that cascades 11m and 21m respectively into a steep sided canyon kicking up a huge amount of spray in the process. On a nice day you can apparently see a rainbow in the spray, but that´s on a nice day. It was very cold and very wet so I didn´t benefit from the full wonder of the occasion.

Geyser Geothermal Field was our lunchstop. Featuring the now inactive "Great Geyser" Geysir and its faithfully spouting buddy Strokkur which spouted and soaked an already wet me! At least the water was warm! I sampled a traditional icelandic lamb stew at the somewhat tacky tourist complex to warm myself up after!

Our last stop of the day, where I had almost dried out was þingvellir National Park where the first national parliament (Alpingi) in the world was created. It first convened in AD930. þingvellir also sits on the mid-Atlantic Ridge where the continental plates of Eurasia and North America are pulling apart creating earthquakes and volcanic activity. This is causing Iceland to grow. Indeed the land in the Almannagja Fissure where the Alþingi met literally sits between the two continental plates.

Take a walk on the ice side was the theme of Day 4. This was a guided glacier hike on the glacial tongue of Solheimajökull off the main icecap at Myrdalsjökull reputedly Iceland´s 4th largest, with the dormant volcano Katla lying underneath. Our guide cheerfully explained that Iceland usually gets an eruption every 2-5 years before quietly adding that there had been none for 5 years so "we´re due one now"! We had an exciting walk up the icefield viewing ice ridges, sculptures, crevasses and cauldrons. It was an "easy" walk for about 3.5hrs but I´d recommend it to anyone needing a good workout! We stopped off at Skoafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls on the way back to the city.

Yesterday afternoon I went Whale Watching out in Reykjavik Bay where we spotted Minke Whales, White-Beaked Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises. As Iceland does still hunt whales, supporting whale watching does help with keeping the whales alive rather than them being eaten. It was an excellent trip despite the sea being rough and the ever present cold wind and drizzle being ever present. We were out at sea for about 3 hours so feeling somewhat chilly, I had a small stopoff at a minute seafood cafe called Sea Baron on arrival in the city. This was almost a greasy spoons version of a seafood cafe but good nonetheless and relatively cheap. Lobstersoup and Grilled Shrimp Kebab were on a special and they were hot!!!

By then the rare sunshine had decided to make an appearance and the relatively warm evening was ideal for a walk round the postmodern City Hall and Tjörn Lake (the pond). The lake is apparently visited by over 40 species of migratory birds and laps at the base of the City Hall. Inside the City Hall is a huge 3D map of Iceland.

Last night I was hoping to go on a Northern Lights viewing trip. Unfortunately the weather put paid to that option and the trip was cancelled. I don´t hold out much hope for tonight either, especially as it is raining again (which is why I am in here typing this and not outside getting wet! )

Today I´ve been for a walk round Laugardalur Park & Sports Grounds and the Botanic Garden, about 10 mins by bus from the city centre. Back in the city I´ve sampled Pylsur (an Icelandic Hot Dog) before writing this. This afternoon I will be checking out the shops (though judging by prices, it´ll be more window shopping than buying!)

Tomorrow I head home, but not before I´ve had a long dip in the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal pool created from wastewater from the nearby Power Plant. Its suppsed to be very therapeutic and great for poor skin conditions.

Well that´s about it for this trip. Before I go you will have noted that I have tried to sample a range of local foods during my stay here. However there are a few tastebud teasers that I´ve decided not to munch on (hope you´ve not just had lunch or about to eat as you´re reading this):

Lundi - Puffin
Grilled Minke Whale Steak - exactly what it says. I´ve seen it on offer in quite a lot of restaurants.
Svið - Singed sheeps head complete with eyes but minus the brain, sawn in two and boiled. It can be eaten fresh or pickled.
Slatur - Mishmash of sheep leftovers tied up in a sheeps stomach
Sursaðir Hrutspungar - Ram´s bits (I´m talking Crown Jewels here!) pickled in whey and pressed into a cake.
Hakarl - Putrefied Shark Meat

Yum!!!! Anyone brave enough to try these is a braver person than I, so drop me a mail if you´re one of those rare beings!

On that note, and until the next globe-trotting adventure,

Bless (as they say in Iceland)

Kath

Ireland 2009

Not so exotic this year, but I'm on my travels again with a little trip across the puddle that they call the Irish Sea, to Ireland.

Almost immediately after arriving in Dublin, I met Tess, one of the c.20 people on the same ten-day trip as myself. She is from Washington State in the US. Quite handy that. At first we had a big bus with the 3-day north, 6-day north and 10-day trips combined before splitting off from the 3-day on the morning of Day 3 and 6-day on the 6th day. While all together we counted 13 different nationalities aboard the bus inc American, Australian, Belgium, Catalonian, Canadian, Dutch, English (myself), French, German, Hong Kong, Irish (the driver), Kiwi and Spanish.

Day 1 and our first stop was St Peters Church in Drogheda where we saw the preserved severed head of St Oliver Plunkett enclosed in a brass & glass case within the church. This was the first Archbishop of Armagh, the very place where we stopped for lunch after a visit to the monastic ruins of Monasterboice and the area of the Battle of the Boyne which is celebrated on the same day as my birthday no less. Long story but William of Orange & the Prostestants defeated James II of England and the Catholics in 1690. We overnighted in Derry / Londonderry with a walking tour around the area of the Bogside etc. Our hostel was on Asylum Rd, opp the RUC station formerly a lunatic asylum!

The following day we headed for the Giants Causeway with a stop to photograph Dunluce Castle (or what remains of it on the cliff edge) near Portballintrae. We chose the Clifftop walk along to The Organ & Amphitheatre Viewpoint before descending the Shepherd's Steps to the actual causeway. There was a short sharp shower while we were out there, but pretty much that has been the only one we really got caught out in. We've been very lucky with the weather and usually when it has rained we've been in the pub, on the bus or in bed!

After lunch in Ballintoy we headed over to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge which allows you access to an island used by fisherman during the salmon spawning season. The current round the island provides a natural funnelling effect where they can drop their nets. The island affords views across to the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland and Rathlin Island. Overnighted in Belfast.

One of the highlights of this trip must be the Black Cab Tour of Belfast that we did on the morning of Day 3 viewing the murals on the unionish/loyalist side (Shankill Rd), Peace Wall, International Wall, Sinn Fein Office and the Republican murals / Falls Rd. Our driver was stationed in Bridgnorth (where I live for the non-locals amongst you) when he was in the army in the 60's. From there we visited Glenveagh National Park and Castle gardens before returning to Derry for another night.

Day 4 we travlled from Derry in Northern Ireland to Cong in the Republic of Ireland via several interesting stops. The first of these was Grianan Ailligh, a stone fort on Grianan Hill which had been the seat of the O'Neils many moons ago. From there it was onto Drumcliff, where the grave of WB Yates is located. Not a long stop and a bit damp there too. The best stop of the day would have to have been the Seaweed bath in Strandhill nr Sligo. Here in your own private room, there is a bath of freshly pumped hot seawater with freshly cut seaweed in it. The hot seawater causes the seaweed to release its oils and minerals into the bath water. After a short time in a steam room (to open up your pores), you gently climb into the bath and allow the oils and minerals to soak in. Very good for eczema and other skin conditions, relaxing and a detoxifier too apparently. From there is was a quick stop in Knock where an apparition of Mary was seen by 15 credible witnesses at the gable end of its church there.

For anyone reading this who has heard or watched the film "The Quiet Man" staring John Wayne, our fourth night stop was in Cong where this was filmed. There was the Pat Cohen bar that was in the movie, The Quiet Man Hostel, The Quiet Man Restaurant type of thing. Aside from that are very interesting abbey ruins with a monks' fishing house and a dry canal.

Croagh Patrick (Cruach Padraig), the Holy Mountain of Ireland and home to the National Famine Memorial was our first stop of Day 5. Lunch and a reasonably large chunk of the day was visiting Westport before travelling to Galway via the Erriff River & Aasleagh Falls. We got to Galway early which gave us plenty of time to wander around and check out the shops etc before checking out the nightlife later on!!!

Day 6 involved a lot of driving but we also managed quite a few stops. First was Dunguaire Castle near Kinvara which was home to a kindly landlord in his time who helped people in life and continues to help them in death. If you have a (reasonable) question (i.e. not the lottery numbers) then you go to the gate and ask it, walk clockwise round the castle then say thanks at the gate as you leave. Your answer should be revealed by the stroke of midnight.

The Burren is a protected area, a haven for botanists and geologists in particular due to its ecosystem and rocks. This was our first main stop of the day which was followed later by the Cliffs of Moher, a contender in the 7 wonders of the Natural World competition which may still be running online. Other stops included Lisdoonvarna which has an annual matchmaking festival (basically for the local farmers to find themselves a wife) and Adare, before arriving in the tiny little village of Annascaul - home to the South Pole Inn, a pub that belonged to Tom Crean who travelled 3 times to Antarctica both with Scott and Shackleton.

Annascaul is on the Dingle Peninsular which is where we spent our day yesterday. Firstly we followed the Slea Head Drive around the end of the Peninsular visiting the beach where Ryan's Daughter was filmed and Clogher Head Beach where Far & Away was filmed. We then took a 1 hour boat trip into the Dingle bay to spot Fungi the Dolphin, which we did. Fungi appeared 25 years ago, frollicking near fishing boats and in the harbour. He's remained a local resident here ever since and now boosts the local economy by providing an almost 100% guaranteed dolphin sighting (they are so confident that you'll see him that you don't pay for the trip if you don't). We also got chance to catch the end of a Gaelic Football game before heading for Killarney. Along the way we passed "Inch Beach" which is a mile long - we were in the Kingdom of Kerry where a rose is a pretty woman (Rose of Tralee), a dolphin is a mans best friend (see above) and an inch is a mile! For Coldplay fans Inch Beach was featured on their video for Yellow.

So now I'm back in Killarney tonight after we've driven round the Ring of Kerry. Tomorrow we go onto Cork and then the following day we return to Dublin. Somewhere along the route we kiss the blarney stone, so if you think this email gabbles on, wait until you get the next one! ;-)

Until the next time

Globetrotter Kath

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you all a wonderful festive season & health, wealth, peace & prosperity for 2009

Feliz Navidad & próspero Año Nuevo

Fröhliches Weihnachten & Glückliches Neujahr

Joyeux Noël & bonne année

Buon Natale & l'anno nuovo Felice

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Best Wishes,

Kath

Scotland

Four months on from our trip to South America and Andy & I headed off to Scotland with four friends for a week away. We stopped in a little cottage in the picturesque village of 'Bonnie Strathyre' (from the Gaelic 'sheltered valley'), situated at the head of Loch Lubnaig ('Crooked Loch') below Beinn an t-Sithean (pronounced Ben Shean - 'Mountain of the Fairies' or 'Fairy Hillocks') in the heart of the Trossachs National Park. The area of the Trossachs is from Loch Earn in the north to the Lake of Menteith in the south (the only lake in Scotland – the rest of the bodies of water are lochs) and from Doune in the east to Loch Lomond in the west.

It was near Strathyre (Doune) that Monty Python & Holy Grail was filmed and the village isn't far from Dunblane or Stirling. Also unbeknown to us when we decided to do the trip we got to learn some Scottish (& English) history and learn more about the local Scottish heroes William Wallace, Robert the Bruce & Rob Roy Macgregor, but on our first night we simply enjoyed the hospitality of a local pub for food and drinks! J

The following day the sun was out so we wandered around the village, as there was direct access to woodland with walks from the cottage through which we could take a scenic walk into the main part of the village. The village shop and 3 pubs in village were within easy walking distance. Then after a hearty home-cooked Sunday lunch at the cottage we decided to venture up Beinn an t-Sithean through the woodland. That was enough for one day and we settled in for the evening in the lounge with its cosy open fire to watch a spoof version of the Talent Show mania currently on TV.

The Monday bought with it grey skies and some slight drizzle but we decided to be brave. Going further a field to Loch Lomond, we set off (on what I found to be a relatively arduous and very tiring journey) up to the 3,192 ft summit of Ben Lomond. The Ben had been named after Laomain, a legendary hero of the Celts. Apparently the song "The Bonny Bonny Banks O' Loch Lomond" was associated with the last Jacobite Rising of 1745 & the words were reputedly said by a Jacobite soldier before his execution to his sweetheart who'd walked all the way from Loch Lomondside to Carlisle to bid a sad farewell. At about 24 miles long & 700 ft deep at the deepest point, the loch is the largest freshwater loch in Scotland and the largest inland water in Britain. Although we were back late from our walk, we still managed to join the other four down the pub for a couple of drinks while they finished off the pub quiz they'd joined in with!

After a late start and a long sleep Tuesday was a relaxing day visiting Callander with its coffee shops, crafts outlets and a Rob Roy & Trossachs National Park Visitors Centre. It was made famous as Tannochbrae in the BBC TV Series "Dr Finlay's Casebook". It appears that it used to be a favourite meeting place for drovers, bringing cattle from the highlands to the markets of central Scotland. We also visited Balquhidder just a couple of miles north of Strathyre where Rob Roy's family grave is situated. Dinner was cooked at the house.

As the saying goes, "To take Stirling is to hold Scotland" and no less than 6 major battles that changed the course of history took place in or near Stirling: 2 of the most famous being the Battle of Stirling Bridge (William Wallace) and the Battle of Bannockburn (King Robert the Bruce, 1314). Close to the heart of the nation geographically, historically and tourist literature has it, emotionally, Stirling was Scotland's ancient capital, seat of Kings and parliament. In 2002 it was granted city status to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II

So while the other four opted for a day out to Edinburgh (Andy & I have both been to Edinburgh before), we opted for a visit to Stirling Castle. The castle whose origins date back centuries – it was a meeting & crossing point over the river of the four main routes from north, south, east and west respectively - has apparently been attacked or besieged at least 16 times and a number of Scottish Kings & Queens have been baptised, crowned or died within its walls. The current remains of the castle though mostly only dates back from 1496-1583 as the castle was burnt to the ground by Robert the Bruce after his success at Bannockburn. There is more to see here than just the castle, with exhibits on past, present and future renovation works, a townhouse outside the walls (available on a tour) and a museum for the Sutherland & Argyll Highlanders Regiment. Suffice to say, we spent a great deal of the day there and returned late enough (the others were back late too) to have the excuse of eating down at the local pub again!

Within a short drive you have Loch Katrine & what we felt would be an easy walk for the day up Ben A' an. However the road was closed off for tree felling so we had to take option B that was the medium-hard walk up to the 2,874ft summit of Ben Ledi that stands majestically overlooking Callandar and Loch Lubnaig. Not so bad as Ben Lomond, the worst part was a section of the walk, which is neither way marked, nor has trails. A combination of that and the late start due to its being Plan B, we were back late again. Fortunately although our friends weren't in the walking mood, they were in the cooking mood and dinner was waiting for us on our return!

Since we'd only seen Stirling Castle on our previous visit to the city, we decided to revisit Stirling and walked through the Old Town & along the route besides the Old Town walls. We also visited Stirling Old Town Jail where an actor re-enacted what it would have felt like to be a prisoner in those walls at various times of its history. We hadn't planned to, but with time on our hands we also went up the Wallace monument – a tower & viewpoint erected as a national monument to William Wallace in 1869 and exhibiting Wallace's sword & life story as well as other Scots in the "Hall of Heroes". We visited another pub in the village for a final eat & drink session before the end of the holiday.

All of a sudden we were setting off back to England again. On the way we visited Bannockburn Heritage Centre where you can "relive the action of Scotland's most famous battle – Bannockburn". We also stopped at the Falkirk Wheel – the world's first and only rotating boat lift that links the Forth and Clyde Canal, which lies 35m (115ft) below the level of the Union Canal. Historically, the two canals had been joined at Falkirk by a flight of 11 locks that stepped down across a distance of 1.5km, but these had been dismantled in 1933, breaking the link. The journey starts by sailing into the bottom gondola of The Wheel in a basin of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which then makes a graceful sweep, lifting the boat up to join the Union Canal 35m above. The ascent takes approximately 15 minutes. Another stop was the renovated woollen mills of Lanark at the New Lanark World Heritage Site.

In Darwin's footsteps

Near the intersection of the equator and 90' west of the Greenwich Mean Line, 1000km west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean where four ocean currents meet lie the isolated group of volcanic islands known as the Galapagos.

The 13 major islands, 6 small islands and scores of islets are spread over 400km of ocean with a land mass covering approx 7,882km2. The highest point is Volcan Wolf on the Equator line on Isabela, the largest island in the archipeligo and the 12th largest in the South Pacific Ocean.

Known as the Las Enchantadas (Enchanted Isles) by early explorers, the earliest of the islands was formed 4-5 million years ago by underwater volcanos erupting and rising to the ocean surface on an endless geological conveyor belt that will ultimately see them die beneath the waves.

The Galapagos was the catalyst that led to the 1859 publication of On The Origin Of Species By The Means Of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin (Shropshire lad), with the mockingbirds and tortoises not the finches elicting the revelation that was to start the ball rolling. The phrase Darwin's Finches was coined by a David Lack some years later for his book and the name stuck.

The first national park was formed in 1959 and then the Charles Darwin Research Station, based in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, was inaugurated in 1964. There is a captive breeding programme for tortoises, after which the islands were named. 97% of the Galapagos is now a National Park, though only about 3% of that can be visited by tourists. The fauna is famous for being relatively fearless of humans and at times it was difficult not to trip over them. They would have no qualms about crossing the trail in front of you and making you wait for them. Tortoises, blue-footed boobies and lava lizards have come right up to me, sea lions play with you in the ocean and a hawk ate breakfast just feet from where we stood one morning.

Getting to and from the Galapagos is a bit of a pain. Flying via Guayaquil on the coast, the journey takes some six hours or more travelling from the hotel until we finally got to the boat in Academy Bay in Santa Cruz. Arrival at Baltra airport was bedlam and chaos, then there was a bus ride to the ferry, a short ferry ride across the passage between Baltra & Santa Cruz and finally an hours bus ride more or less to Puerto Ayora where we got a panga (dingy) out to the small/medium sized motorised yacht that was to be our home for the next few days. Although a large part of the day had been taken up with the transfer, we had a late lunch and then did have time to visit El Chato near Santa Rosa in the Highlands (highest point is Cerro Crocker at just 864m - remember we´ve been at almost 3,000m in Quito) to see Giant Tortoises in the wild. While waiting for the panga ride back there were Sally Lightfoot crabs, pelicans and blue-footed boobies (they´re seabirds for anyone whose wondering) near the jetty. Unfortunately I missed dinner the first night: one of life´s great ironies - I may travel the world but get travel sick and this particular night there was a lot of swell with the boat rocking quite profusely. The drugs worked eventually though and slept ok until the engines started at 3.30am to travel to the next mornings destination.

Must have gone to sleep again though as the following morning we found ourselves in a nice quiet bay and breakfast was an altogether much better affair. Our first stop of the day was a wet landing on the island of Santa Fe (also called Barrington), a fairly small island but great for watching sea lions - well tripping over them on the beach. Along the island´s northern shore is the forest of giant 10m high Opuntias (Prickly Pear Cactus). Here we got to see the endemic subspecies Santa Fe land iguana, a Galapagos Hawk, Galapagos Mockingbirds, pelicans, blue-footed boobies and lots of colourful lava lizards. Snorkelling in the bay we saw some rays and fish. The afternoon visit was to South Plaza. At only 1km long and 100m wide, it is one of the smallest islands in the Galapagos but has one of the largest populations of Land Iguanas. It also hosts a large number of Marine Iguanas and even hybrid land-marine iguanas that occurs nowhere else in the Galapagos. We saw more sea lions, blue-footed boobies, gal shearwaters and lots of other seabirds.

Cerro Dragon (Dragon´s Hill) on another part of Santa Cruz was our first stop on Day 2. It has a population of giant land iguanas hence the name. It is also home to marine iguanas, sally lightfoot crabs, galapagos pintails, various finches (of the famous Darwin´s Finches collection) and other birds. The land iguanas were like little dragons and we watched a couple of males having a bit of a brawl at each other for some time. The afternoon was a dry landing at Bartolome Island (also called Bartholomew) - created by two volcanic cinder cones with a sandy inlet (double-sided beach) in between. A hike to the summit of the island (one of the cinder cones) provided a panoramic view of the island and Santiago in the distance. Andy particularly liked this island because it was a fantastic example of various geological features common to several of the islands including spatter cones and lava tubes. Personally I thought it was like a moonscape. There wasn´t much life surviving here that we could see apart from the rugged lava cactus. We took a panga ride along the coastline around the base of the volcanic tower of the other cinder cone where we came across a few of the rare Galapagos Penguins. There are only 800 pairs and we saw about 1/2 dozen of them. Under the base was also good snorkelling, plenty of fish and a few people got a glimpse of the expert swimming penguin as it rocketed past at high speed.

Day 3 started in Rabida Island´s Red beach where we had our daily interaction with sea lions. A short trail leads to a salt water lagoon which used to be used by flamingos but not anymore. Juvenile sea lions now occupy it for playtime and we watched a couple of them frolicking in the water. Back on the beach amongst low-lying bushes were nesting Brown Pelicans. At one point as if on cue, two of the pelicans started mating! It was very short and not so sweet! There were also a few finches. Santiago or James was our afternoon stop. This has a raised beach, now protected by a lava flow which through weathering has lots of grottos and caverns connected to the sea. Here was where fur seals hauled themselves onto rocky ledges to sleep during the day or cool off in the grottos. The grottos provide protection from their predators during the day as fur seals are night hunters. We got another snorkel again today. Plenty more fish in the sea and some were the size of dinner plates!!!

Located on the second-largest island in the archipelago of Isla Santa Cruz is the picturesque Black Turtle Cove, mangrove fringed lagoons providing nurseries for a large number of animals. We could only negotiate this by panga but on our way into the lagoons we witnessed a Blue-Footed Booby feeding frenzy where there were literally hundreds of boobies diving for fish and other prey, the sort of scene that you would only see on something that David Attenborough had done! Even the guide said it was unusual to see one of these kind of sights and he´s been doing this for some 19 years. It was very peaceful cruising through the lagoons and we got to see plenty of sea turtles (even one couple trying to mate), a large school of golden rays and baby sharks. In the afternoon we continued onto North Seymour, which is home to abundant animal life including swallow-tailed gulls, magnificent frigate birds, great frigate birds and blue-footed boobies. This is where alot of the aforementioned birds nest and we were able to walk within a metre of sitting birds. We watched a couple of male blue-footed boobies performing their courtship ritual to females without success. One was particularly persistent and the pair came within our circle to do their performance. Even then the female was having nothing of it and eventually flew off - we all pitied the male as he had made a great effort. Some of the male frigatebirds were desperately trying to attract females and had their red throat pouches extended. There was a small number of land iguanas on the island. They don´t naturally occur here but were bought from Baltra (also known as South Seymour) as part of an experiment. During WWII when Baltra was used as an airbase (why there is an airport there today) all the naturally occuring iguanas were killed out and the population has been re-established from the thriving iguana population on North Seymour. A few are kept on the island today incase of any disasters at the airport wiping out the population again.

A rough 10-hour overnight bumpy rolling rollercoaster of a boat ride landed us in the rather quieter Garner Bay on Espanola Island the next morning. Espanola is the oldest and southernmost of the islands, 61km2 in size and estimated to be 3.5 million years old. We first went for a walk up the white sandy beach avoiding sleeping sea lions up to the mid-beach rocks which are as far as we were permitted to go. Here Hood Mockingbirds, a subspecies of Mockingbird endemic to just this island, were picking flies off the sea lions. On the rocks were Sally Lightfoot crabs and a unique subspecies of marine iguana. Only on this island are the marine iguanas black and coloured, usually red but sometimes green or other colours. On every other island they are totally black. We had two snorkels, one off the beach where we saw a sting ray as well as lots more dinner plate sized fish and a second off the panga where a couple of sea lions came and played & swam with us in the water for a good time. The afternoon, still on Espanola but on the western side, we stopped at Punta Suarez where we followed a 2km trail through the rookery of the Waved Albatross, one of which was nesting right on the edge of the path. Espanola is the nesting site to vitually the entire worls population of these birds and its the only albatross that nests at the equator and in the tropics. Large numbers of the yet unseen Nasca Boobies (formerly known as Masked Boobies) were seen nesting as well as other seabirds including our old friends the Blue-footed Boobies. Red-billed tropic birds were also quite abundant as were more of the red-coloured marine iguanas and yet more sea lions. A huge blowhole where the surf is forced througha natural rock formation (spraying the cliffs with water and keeping it green during the dry season) spouting seawater 15-20m in the air was also here. If you´ve ever watched the BBC Galalpagos Series they showed it on there. We also saw Galapagos Doves, a Striped Galapagos snake and a Galapagos Hawk. Here the Tortoise breeding programme will eventually indirectly help the hawk increase its numbers. The young, forced from their parents territory when they are old enough due to lack of space, have no food in the highlands because the giant tortoise was almost wiped out. With the captive breeding programme the first rehabilitated tortoises will soon be breeding and therefore providing a source of food for the hawks.

The final day around the islands we went to Floreana Island. Firstly a panga ride brought us into contact with more of the rare galapagos penguins, turtles and yet more sea lions. We stopped at Post Office Bay to drop off postcards. Early British Whalers set up a barrel to leave messages for ships returning to England to take home and picking up messages from those on their way back. Although the barrel has been changed a few times, the mail system has been more or less in continuous use since then. Leave a postcard and pick one up to hand deliver to someone near you. Eventually I will have one hand-delivered to me! Then we had 3 snorkel points around the Corona del Diablo (Devil´s Crown) where we saw several sharks including my first Hammerhead Shark, sting ray, spotted eagle ray, sea lions and lots more fish. I was fine until the third drop where the surge and currant was just too much and I started feeding the fish and had to be plucked out of the water. but I´d seen everything everyone else had seen. Our final stop was Cormorant Point, home to Greater Flamingos and where the Galapagos Green Turtle nests, before heading off for a very bumpy 6-hr ride back to Santa Cruz.

Yesterday, off the boat and on our way back to the chaos and bedlam that was Baltra airport, we stopped at the Charles Darwin Research Station to visit Lonesome George, the last Giant Tortoise of the subspecies from Pinta Island. We saw hatching tortoise eggs, the nursery which cares for young tortoises until they are about three years old and corrals housing female and male adult tortoises - some of the males weighing a ton each of both the domed and saddleback varieties.

It was an interesting time for us to pick to visit these islands being:

• The 199th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin
• The 149th anniversary of the publication of Origin of The Species
• The 49th anniversary of the founding of the Charles Darwin Foundation in Galapagos and the Galapagos National Park

Due to 2009 being a significant year for the Galapagos a collaboration of organisations across the UK has been set up, called Darwin200. They are all celebrating Darwin's 200th birthday in February 2009 with an exciting programme of activities starting from July 2008 to the end of 2009. For more information about Darwin200 and to view some of the activities, please visit www.darwin200.org.

We made it back to Quito late last night. We moved back from the hotel to our original hostel who are dropping us off at the airport very early tomorrow morning for a very long journey back home. I hope you´ve enjoyed the chronicles nearly as much as I´ve enjoyed the actual trip.

Until the next time, adios

Kath & Andy

Hola! from Ecuador

Buenos nochas from Quito...

Welcome back to all you regulars and a big Hi to all you newcomers. This year´s trip is to my 6th continent - the only one I´ve yet to visit now is the last great wildlife wilderness, the big white continent that is Antarctica!!!

Approx the size of the UK, Ecuador straddles the equator on the pacific coast of South America; the Andean range running north to south splits the country into the west coastal lowlands, highlands and the eastern jungles of the Amazon. Ecuador is one of the most species rich countries in the world with over 20,000 species of vascular plants, 1,500 species of birds (apparently twice as many as North America, Australia or Europe), 300 species of mammals and thousands of species of insects.

At 2,850m above sea level San Francisco de Quito - otherwise known as Quito - is the second highest capital in the world. It is located 22km south of the equator in a valley flanked by mountains (volcanos) which are visible on a clear day. Named after the Quitus (early inhabitants pre-inca), it was founded on the ruins of an Inca city in 1534. In 1978 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site (well the old town was as it´s divided into new and old towns).

When we first arrived we spent our first two days in Quito - recovering from the 24hrs of travel to get here and mild symptoms of altitude sickness due to Quito´s high altitude. We visited some parks and generally got a feel of the place (New Town) including our first tentative steps speaking pigeon latin american spanish such as trying to order food! We also visited the small but excellent Museo Etnografico de Artesania de Ecuador - about the artwork, clothing and utensils of Ecuador´s indigenous people.

On our third day we joined a Footloose trip via a local company - Ecuador Odyssey - for an 8-day snapshot / taster of what the country had to offer, starting with an historic walking tour down the cobbled streets of the Old Town, popping into several cathedrals and churches and other important sites such as Plaza Grande with the Presidential Palace where we caught the changing of the guard. The oldest church in Quito is the monastery of San Francisco from where it gets it´s name. From there it was up to "El Panecillo" (The Little Bread Loaf), a small rounded hill with a statue of The Virgin of Quito on top with panoramic views of the city and surrounding volcanos.

Just beyond the small village of San Antonia, 22km north of Quito is Mitad Del Mundo (the official government equator monument) which was our afternoon stop. The monument is a 30m high stone trapezoid topped by a brass globe 4.5m in diameter. This is where a French expedition did some measurements (in 1736 I think?) which resulted in the invention of the metric system and where they discovered that the Earth wasn´t entirely round but bulged at the equator. From there it was onto our night stop of Otavalo via the little village of Peguche where we visited a local family that made (and played) musical instruments such as various types of panpipes, guitars, drums etc.

Otavalo is a famous indigenous market dating from pre-inca times. The food market for the locals was an interesting experience to visit as there was more to see than your normal butchers!!! From there it was onto the main craft & handicrafts market for which Otavalo is best known to buy a few goodies and do some bargaining. Peguche Waterfall was our next stop where we got soaked as the rain was bucketing down also, but it was a terrific little waterfall. The area around the waterfall is dense with eucalypts - aliens to this country but not eradicated as they grow quicker providing wood and firewood many years sooner than native trees.

If Otavalo is famous for handicrafts then Cotacachi is famous for it´s leather goods. It was also the place that we tried the national delicacy "Cuy" - spit roasted and served with fried beans, boiled beans, potatos, cooked veg and salad. I thought what little meat it did have on it tasted like over-cooked chicken; Andy said his was like an anorexic dessicated rat! Suffice to say, it was an experience but not one that either of us is intending to repeat. For those who don´t know, cuy is guinea pig!!!

Still with taste of rodent in our mouths we moved onto the Cayambe Mitad Del Mundo - the little-known but correct equator monument called "Quitsato" (http://www.quitsato.org/) in the shape of a huge solar clock which has been confirmed as precisely on the equatorial line by satellite technology. It was better than the more famous official government site as it was also more informative. Our final stop for the day was "El Quinche", another cathedral, before passing over the 4100m pass of the Cordillera de los Andes (rim of Amazon basin) and arriving to Papallacta (pronounced Pa-pa-yac-ta) for our second night stop. This was the worst hostel we stopped in and was nicknamed Faulty Towers, with it´s own ecaudorian version of Basil Faulty. It was also freezing cold, but we were high up in the Andes after all!

The hostel might have been dodgy but the reward for staying there the next morning was an early dip in Papallacta´s hot springs. It has various pools of different temperatures and there was an icy cold plunge pool for those of us brave (or stupid) enough to try it out... Then it was onto the warmth and humidity of the Amazon Jungle or Amazon Rainforest by paved road, then rough bumpy pot-holed road and finally motorised canoe to our jungle lodge. One of our stops was a visit to a little town with Capuchin monkeys running wild down by the riverside - you have to hang onto everything as they are not worried about running off with anything.

Yacuma Lodge is in it´s own area of primary and secondary rainforest on Chontayacu River, a tributary of the Rio Napo, the largest tributary of the Amazon River (http://www.yacuma-lodge.com/). It was dark by the time we got there the first night so our only contact with the jungle was being soothed to sleep by the sounds of the rainforest. Next morning though after a hearty breakfast we set off on a 3-3.5hr jungle trek to be taught about the medicinal properties of plants and those used for building etc. It was hot, sweaty and at times almost treacherous underfoot as heavy rain overnight made the paths slippery. Even the "main highway" between two villages was a muddy donkey track. In the afternoon we visited "Amazoonico" (http://www.amazoonico.org/), an animal rehabilitation centre in Selva Viva, a 13km2 reserve of primary forest, 1.5hrs away from the lodge by motorised canoe. This is where we came face-to-face, albeit often with wire between us, with ocelots (wild cats), tortoises, terrapins, various birds, monkeys, jungle fowl, wild pigs etc etc. Then it was back to the lodge for dinner and a soothing sleep to the chorus of frogs and grasshoppers.

Rainforests are important in their own right for a number of reasons - great biodiversity: half of the 2 million known species live in them and many more possibly yet to be discovered; tropical plants provide habitat, food and medicines; disease-resistant strains of wild crops can be bred with commerically-raised to provide an eco-friendly way of providing disease resistance to cultivated crops; they are still the home to indigenous peoples such as the Quecha who rely on the rainforest to maintain their cultural identity and way of life; they globally moderate climatic patterns. By protecting the rainforests in national parks & reserves and making them accessible to tourists and travellers, they provide an important income for the country. However in Ecuador there is a constant threat from the petrolum industry which has opened up the rainforest for mining and created roads through indigenous communities that in turn create knock-on effects distroying more rainforest.

A very early start the next morning and we retraced our steps in motorised canoe and by bumpy pot-holed road to Puyo. Here we stopped to see bolsa-wood carvings being made (by hand) and painted. From there we followed "La Ruta de Las Cascades" (the road of the waterfalls) that snakes parallel to the Rio Pataza canyon from Puyo in the Or¡ente (the Ecuador name for the Amazon jungle) at 950m to Baños in the central highlands at 1800m. Lunch was in Rio Verde (the Green River - village on river of the same name) with a hike down to "Pailon del Diablo" (the Devil´s Gorge) waterfall which could be viewed from a suspension bridge and/or tunnel that came out almost underneath the falls. Manto-de-la-Novia was our next waterfall stop; a tarabita (open cable car) ride 500m across the gorge 100m up took us above the waterfall. Agoyan was the final waterfall before we arrived in Baños. Sitting in the foothills of the active volcano Tungahua, the first task was to give us the emergency evacuation procedure in the event of an eruption: run like hell over the bridge across the river... This is a reality as the volcano erupted only last year destroying a little village on it´s slopes.

We had a full free day in Baños so we hiked up the nearby mountains to La Virgen del Agua Santa, a viewpoint over the town, and then onto Bellavista, another viewpoint looking over the town from the other end. Since the name Baños means baths and it has thermal baths, we thought we´d have a nice warm bathe to ease the aching muscles before bed. We ended up in a writhing soup of (mainly latino) bodies sharing the murky-looking waters with more closeness than I´d intended to get with the locals. It wasn´t a patch on the springs of Papallacta. Baños also means toilet and it would have been more appropriate in this case, although the murkiness of the water is due to the minerals it contains apparently.

We spent our last two days visiting volcanos. On our route out of Banos we stopped at San Martin (The Black Saint), a deep river gorge cut into lava from previous eruptions and up the road, the site of the most recent eruption where the village of Las Juntas was destroyed with only part of one hotel and one house remaining. Nearby was the meeting of two rivers - Rio Chamba from Volcan Chimborazo and Rio Patate from Volcan Cotopaxi - which became the Pataza river, the one we'd been following from Puyo. Via Pelileo, a town famous for it's jeans (and not so famous for it's freakish mannikins) and the Gardens of Benigno Velo in Ambato, where Cypress trees have been fashioned into all manner of figures such as Mickey mouse, Humpty Dumpty, Galapagos animals etc we headed off to the snow and ice-peaked volcano.

At 6310m Chimborazo is the highest mountain & (considered extinct) volcano in Ecuador. It is also the farthest point from the centre of the Earth due to the Earth´s equatorial bulge and it is higher than any other mountain in the Americas north of it. We drove up gradually worsening roads til we were onto bumpy potholed gullied tracks up to the hut at 4,800m. From here we hiked very very slowly up to the hut at 5,000m where climbers and mountaineers spend a few days acclimatising before ascending the mountain further. At this altitude it is easy to get out of breath very quickly and become dizzy. Half-way up my legs turned to lead and it was all I could do to shuffle one in front of the other. Slowly but surely we plodded on until we´d reached the hut ok. Our descent was much more rapid and although I felt like I´d just done a marathon, one of our co-travellers remarked that we looked like we´d just walked round the block!

Our overnight stop was an old hacienda converted into a hotel a short ride from Cotopaxi volcano near a town called Machachi where we stopped the following morning to buy lunch before heading off to the Cotopaxi National Park. First we visited Lake Limpiopungo for a short walk before heading off to the volcano. At 5897m Cotopaxi is Ecuador's 2nd highest mountain and the world's highest active volcano. We arrived at the hut at 4,500m but the cloud and mist decended rapidly accompanied by horizonal ice-sleet and very cold temperatures. Other people who had started hiking up to the acclimatisation hut at 4,800m were turning back so we decided not to bother. Just a quick walk in the near-blizzard conditions left you breathless and hacked by ice particles.

So it was back to Quito where we've also spent today visiting another park in the north of the city complete with a small natural history museum, botanic gardens and vivarium where we both ended up holding a snake!!!

The weather has been so-so, Quito was like a typical wet British spring, the northern highlands were wet and cold, the rainforest although hot, humid and sticky was also wet on occasions (hence being a rainforest) and the central highlands were warmer with more sun but also some (at times heavy) showers and so you have a general reoccurring theme here.

Having a fantastic time though as you might have guessed from yet another epic.

Tomorrow we meet the Galapagos trip group and then it's a island-hopping trip round the Galapagos which you'll no doubt hear about on our return.

Adios and good night from Quito

Kath

Da Kowias khalas

Salaam'alaykum

I'm writing this from an Internet Cafe in Dahab on the Red Sea, where we have been since Monday relaxing and enjoying the weather - and the pool! :-) I hope the previous email made sense as the computer kept crashing so I sent it with fingers crossed!

Following my last email, the adventure continued with a Horse & Carriage ride to the Temple of Karnak or more precisely the Karnak temples as it is a huge complex of temples, oberlisks, sanctuarys and a hall of 134 massive hyperstyle columns (seen on films such as James Bond). This was started and built upon by many Pharoahs including Seti I, Ramses II, Hapshetsut and Tuthmosis III. Some of the areas have been damaged by an earthquake and post-pharonic reign damage. We spent quite a bit of time here exploring before visiting a papyrus museum to see how the papyrus paintings are made.

Then it was time to move on to Dahab; the first leg of the trip by convoy to Hurghada on the coast. I'm glad we didn't spend much time here. The hotel offered the best breakfast selection out of all the hotels we've stayed in but otherwise it was like being in the Russian Blackpool of Egypt! There were hotels upon hotels upon hotels and in between were all the hotels under construction; our hotel was on the outskirts surrounded by what seemed to be a construction site.

The following morning we caught the bumpy Red Sea Jet Ferry from Hurghada to Sharm El-Sheikh, but rather than stay here headed for the more relaxed "backpacker nirvada" of Dahab. It's been pretty relaxing compared to the rest of our hectic schedule but we have been quad biking through the desert on a sunset ride and did have a day snorkelling in the Red Sea yesterday at a place called the Blue Hole.

The Blue Hole is an amazing dive and snorkel site - or rather it would be if it isn't accompanied by litter, rubbish, broken coral and who knows what else floating around. The coral garden is stunning, the fish numerous and colourful but in places the coral is damaged; the very thing people are going to see is being damaged by the people seeing it. Although its a conservation area, there's a long way to go to reach the same standard as other conservation areas. Fortunately we opted for an early schedule; by the time we left the wall of coral was swarming with people. But I guess the Great Barrier Reef is similar. We are planning to go snorkelling again today off the beach outside of the hotel, but so far there's been a lot of swell and the water is very rough so we're waiting to see if the sea calms down and the wind drops. Otherwise (or maybe also) we're off for an Egyptian Massage. :-)

Food is cheap here (compared to the UK) so we've eaten out. We tried fresh Lobster. Unfortunately I was a litle disappointed with it - I was expecting it to be very sweet and succulent but found it to be very bland and dry. The large prawns were better. Still I've tried it now ;-)

Tonight we are heading for St Catherine as we are climbing Mt Sinai in the early hours of the morning to see the sunrise - this is supposed to be really spectacular. Mt Sinai is the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. If we're still awake when it opens we're also going into St Catherine's Monastery where the Burning Bush (or its descendant) is surrounded by its high walls, though there is some speculation as the bush doesn't even smoulder these days! ;-)

From St Catherine & Mount Sinal its back to Cairo for one last night before flying out. It's definitely been one of the best trips I have done with one of the best groups (up there with the Moosers!). Everyone hit it off straight away and have got on fantastically. Egypt is definitely an experience and cultural learning curve but its been great! I would recommend anyone to give it a go.

Ma'is salaama

Kath & Andy