Ecuador - Peru - Bolivia

Hi Everyone,

Our blog posts have been few and far between lately as you´ve probably noticed! Unfortunately there are no photos for this one as it takes a long time to upload them and we´re having difficulty at all the internet cafes we go to.

But we wanted to let everyone know we are safe and well and loving South America. We arrived in Ecuador (Quito) late on a Monday night and checked into our accomodation. We spent two and a half days with our cousin´s brother-in-law, Charlie, who drove us around and showed us the sights of Quito. Highlights included the ´centre of the world´, which is one of the points on the equator line, a drive up El Panecillo hill to the Virgin Mary statue which overlooks the city, driving around the old town and the delicious Ceviche, a seafood type of soup made with citrus fruits... amazing. Unfortunately after only a few days in Quito we had to make a bee-line for Lima in Peru to start our Machu Picchu tour, so we did two nights of overnight buses, about 25 hours in total and arrived in Lima on the Friday exhausted.

Lima was beautiful by the sea side, but very touristy, we did enjoy strolling around the markets and beachside cafes though. Central Lima was a little different, obviously a lot poorer and felt a little less safe. We saw people strolling through the streets with guns hanging out of their pockets and consequently we felt a lot more guarded.

Anyway, we met our group on the Saturday in Lima and began our 8 day tour for Machu Picchu. We flew to Cuzco on the Sunday which is at an altitude of 3400m and this really hit us hard. It´s a difficult feeling to describe this altitude having never experienced anything like it before. We found ourselves out of breath if we walked up 5 or more steps, we were a little light headed and the occasional stomach ache. After one steep climb in the streets of Cuzco I felt so breathless and sick I started to panick. Some people carry oxygen cylinders to have oxygen shots when it gets too much. After the first night in Cuzco I woke up with a sore chest and throat as though my chest had been constricted all night. Luckily these symptoms wore off after almost 48 hours and we adjusted to the altitude.

Our actual 4 day Inca Trail trek began on the Tuesday. We would get up at 5.30am each day and start walking around 6.30. For 3 days we hiked roughly 6-8 hours a day. The first day was relatively straight forward, lots of flats and breaks, but the second day was when the going got really tough. We climbed for almost the entire day to the highest point, Dead Woman´s Pass which is 4200m. This day was the most challenging as the altitude makes everything twice as difficult. But after a few tears (from James and Stu, not Claire) and encouraging words, Claire was carried up the mountain. The third day was also difficult as it was entirely downhill which was so hard on the knees. By the fourth day when we actually walked into Machu Picchu we were so sore and so tired. One of the most amazing elements of the trek were the porters that are employed by tour companies to carry 7kg of each of our belongings, plus our tents, food, mattresses and all cooking gear. The porters carry a load of almost 25kg each and run the trail ahead of us so that when we arrive to our campsite each afternoon everything is set up, our tents are ready and there is hot coffee and food on arrival. These men are local farmers who work for these tour companies when the farming season is at a low. They were really remarkable.

So... Machu Picchu... we woke up at 3.30am on the morning of the final trek into Machu Picchu. We set off at 4am to line up at the gate which doesn´t open until 5.30am. The point of being there so early was to be the first in line of all the other tour groups so that we could make it to the sungate first, and of course we did being up at that ridiculous hour. As we waited in line for the gate to open the porters brought us hot coffee and breakfast... amazing. And finally the gates opened and we bolted through like caged animals for the 1.5hr sprint to the sungate. It was pouring with rain but we were determined to be the first to arrive so we set a mean pace, sore muscles or not. By the time our group arrived to the sungate we were drenched, sore and tired, but so excited! Unfortunately our excitement soon subsided as we realised we were not going to see the spectacular sunrise over Machu Picchu from the sungate as it was completely overcast and misty, we couldn´t even see Machu Picchu. So we plodded the extra 40 minutes down to the site and by this time it had started to clear and we caught our first glimpses of the remarkable Inca ruins. They are truly amazing, drenched or not, tired or not, we were soon picked up in the buzz of being in this beautiful place with so much history.

Later that day after a tour and some exploration around the ruins we caught a bus into a nearby town and waited for a few hours before our train back to Cuzco. Whilst waiting we went to some hot springs for our first soak in warm water for 4 days... lovely. Back in Cuzco that night we celebrated our victory over the Inca Trail by hobbling to a nice restaurant and then a great bar. Our tour group was great fun, predominantly Aussies, but a great Dutch couple and some Pommies. For the next couple of days we hung out in Cuzco with the people we´d met until we had to move onto our next destination, Puno on Lake Titicaca.

Georgie and Aaron, two people we met on the tour, also from Melbourne were travelling in the same direction as us so we went as a group. We caught a bus to Puno and on arrival discovered we had caught the first day of a week long fiesta! Being the opening night there were street parades, bands, singing and dancing everywhere! We arrived at about 4pm and most of the locals were severely intoxicated by that stage so we joined in the festivities, dancing in the street parades and drinking with the locals until all hours. It was a fantastic night.

The next day we went down to the port to see if we could catch a boat out to one of the islands on Lake Titicaca. We managed to get a boat to the ´floating islands´, which are islands made out of reeds many years ago by the local people who wanted to isolate themselves from the dominating Inca people and later the Spanish. Generations of people still live on the islands today and it is quite remarkable how they have set up their lives there. We were able to stay the night on one island in a home-stay from where we went fishing with the locals, they cooked for us and we swam in the lake. We felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and could have stayed at least a week. But the next morning we caught another boat back to Puno and then a bus to Copacabana on the other side of the lake and over the border into Bolivia.

From here we decided not to stay but to catch the next bus to La Paz, so we went to the local tourist centre where they told us there were no more buses that night. After a few negotiations they found us an alleged 5 seats on a bus with the band who had been in Copacabana that day for the fiesta. We agreed to the tickets and were told that the two girsl would have to sit with the driver at the front of the bus as all the men were intoxicated and the boys could sit in the back, but one on a fold out chair in the isle. That bus ride was the longest 4 hours of our lives, but a very memorable trip. Our luggage was strapped to the top of the bus and we stopped what seemed like every 10 minutes for someone to get off at their house. Whilst the girls were removed in the front, the boys were being harassed by the locals to sing songs and play music with them. They were so relieved when the band members finally passed out one by one, but are still a little traumatised by the journey.

We´re in La Paz now, we´ve been here for 3 nights and we´re just taking it easy. Things have been pretty hectic for the last 2 weeks so we´re happy to have some down time. We´ve wandered around the markets, visited some galleries, eaten at nice restaurants and been drinking at the local bars. La Paz is a great city, although it´s supposed to be one of the most dangerous, we´ve felt safe and had nothing but fun so far.

Tomorrow we are heading 3 hours north to an animal refuge where we can stay in a cabin and visit the animals. After that we´ll travel south to the salt lakes in Bolivia and then onto Chile.

Sorry for no photos everyone, but they´re on facebook now.

Goodbye for now.

New York

Hello again everyone, since we last wrote we have been to Philidelphia and New York and now we´re in South America. Our first weekend in the US was spent in Philly with our family friends, David and Theresa. They picked us up from the airport and we spent a great weekend catching up, seeing the sights of Philly and going out for drinks. On Sunday night we caught the train to New York and to our accomodation in Times Square (thanks to Theresa)!Times Square

On our first day in New York we went up the Empire State building to take in the amazing views of NYC. We then wandered past St. Pat´s Cathedral, an amazing architectual structure in which you can go in during church service and take photos! Bazaar! We then walked through central park on our way to the Museum of Natural History. Central park was beautiful, covered in snow with frozen lakes and little furry creatures scampering about. The museum was incredible and huge; we needed at least a week to take it all in, only managing to see a few sections within the four storey building.

St. Patrick´s Cathedral

Central Park

Alice in Wonderland
Museum of Natural History
Strawberry Fields - John Lennon memorial

The next day we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which again was spectacular, showing works by Van Gough, Picasso, Pollock, Manet, Monet, Dali, Warhol and many more. Amazingly you were allowed to take photos of the art as long we didn´t use a flash. So as wrong as it felt, we managed to get some great pictures!

Artwork from the Met

That night we booked cheap tickets to a show called, The Garden of Earthly Desires. The show was experimental physical theatre and it was great. Afterwards we decided to seek out some jazz and followed the crowd to a place called, Fat Cat´s. Not only did we find jazz here but a huge games hall with table tennis, pool, chess and checkers. You could choose to play til your heart was content or sit in the cosy lounge area and listen to the relaxed tunes.

The next day we checked out of our accomodation in Times Square and met Theresa for lunch at Ruby Fooz, a lovely Japanese restaurant. Then we headed for a quick fun fix at the giant Toys ´R´Us store.... amazing! The T-Rex from Jurassic Park resides here, donated by Steven Spielberg and there are many amazing leggo structures, not to mention the ferris wheel inside the building.

Toys ´R´Us

That afternoon we headed to our accomodation in Soho, also organisd by Theresa (thankyou!). James and I then walked around trying to find op-shops to replenish our clothes supply. We did find a few but it took us hours of walking. In the meantime Stuart walked around to several theatres trying to find himself some volunteer ushering positions. Unfortunately you have to register for this in advance but he did find $5 tickets to a show called Surrender for that night.
The next day after an epic walk around Wall St, the financial district and past ground zero we made our way onto a ferry to Statten Island.We cruised past the Statue of Liberty and from a distance witnessed the commotion on the Hudson River. A man informed us that a plane had crash landed in there 45 minutes prior after hitting a flock of birds.

Brooklyn Bridge
On our last night in New York we sampled a couple of the local bars (Mercury Lounge and Pianos), caught a bit of live music and some 70´s - 80´s classics. Before heading Back to Philly the next day we squeezed in a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, a slice of pizza from Grimaldi´s and a hot chocolate from Jaques Torres. A quick taxi up to Williamsburg for some scrummaging through classic vintage attire and some not so classic op shops. After our expensive vintage shopping we decided to save on a taxi and leg it back to Soho via the chilly Williamsburg Bridge. We collected our luggage and made a bee---line for the train back to Philly at 5pm.

Safely back in Dave and Theresa´s nest, the five of us went out for a few drinks and came back drunk in the wee hours of the morning. Saturday consisted of water, greasy food and movies. The last day in Philly we spent packing and organising the next leg of our journey. The only exception was an interval of football at Tir Na Nog´s, the local Irish pub for the big Philly versus Arizona game. Philly lost but we weren´t to talk about it in the house! Our last night was spent drinking at the renound in-house bar and saying good bye to everyone.

Supporting the Phillidelphia Eagles - Sav Rocker

Now we´re on our way to Ecuador - thankyou to Dave, Theresa, George and Patsy for making us so comfortable in their home, waiting on us hand and foot. We will be back soon!

Goodbye Canada

This is a quick blog post as we're at an internet cafe in Vancouver, killing time before we catch our flight to New York. We just wanted to say that we had a great last week in Canada and we're very sad to say goodbye. Our New Year's was really nice as we spent it with our family at a house party. One of the highlights was bubble blowing in the snow to figure out whether the bubbles freeze in the air or not... and they do! When we arrived home late that night James and Stuart decided an appropriate way to kick off 2009 was by doing nude snow angels in the minus 30 degree snow (Pauline encouraged this). They screamed like hairy little girls, disturbing all the neighbours, but made it back inside everything intact and only slightly hypothermic.Bubbles Frozen in 2008
We did some more shovelling at the house and uncovered a relic from the past,

Ted's evil twin brother.

And we had enough time to get down to Pauline and Ted's cabin at Lake Tagish again, despite temperatures around minus 35. Most of the time was spent indoors, but we did manage to nip out and create snow chairs on the lake.
Other last week adventures have included more sledding, in which Stuart came close to paralysing. He decided it was a good idea to sled headfirst on his back on a thin slip mat down a steep descent. He went plummeting past us and we could only watch as he met a snow jump at the bottom and made air before landing a couple of meters away on his neck. We all heard the 'thwup' as he hit the hill and were pretty sure he would never walk again. But he did.

We also managed to hit the town with friends we've met along the way. After a great gig at 'Flippers Bar' we continued the evening at a friends basement apartment downtown. Unfortunately someone left a tin of brown paint at the top of white stairs and of course this was soon kicked over, only to go cascading down the stairs. The group soon decided it was easier to paint the stairs brown than clean up the mess... disaster, but a great night.

Hoarfrost tree by the river in Whitehorse

So, goodbye Canada, it's been fun. Thanks Pauline and Ted for everything you've done for us. We'll see you again sometime soon.

Christmas and the Cabin

Right, so since we last dropped in a post we have tasted a few more of Canada's delights.

First things first Stu had his big performance on the longest night of the year. We have testament from everyone we know who saw it that he stole the show! Apparently the best sheep that's ever hit the stage of Whitehorse. And not just any sheep, but flock leader as well!

In the new found free time with the show over we made our way out to the Takhini hot springs, a German run winter wonderland where natures extremities clash. Here we could relax in the 35 degree water and watch each others hair freeze in the -35 degree air.

Our first white Christmas snuck up on us and cracked us right on the back of our heads with a stocking full of joy. A great day full of sledding, presents, hot tubbing and the biggest meal we've ever seen! We donned our gorgeous Christmas vests purchased from the local thrift store and embraced the festivities.

Boxing day we packed up and headed for Tagish and the cabin. Ted's pride and joy, the cabin is exactly as you would picture it; no running water, candles, outhouse, roaring fire and 42inch plasma tv all on the banks of a 75 mile frozen lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. Here we were lucky enough to get our hands on some snow shoes, a couple of four wheelers and a skidoo so we could burn around the ice lake.

We have also had the chance to try our style on the cross country skis a bit more as well.