This Desert Life

After some imensely amusing arguements about seats on the bus, in which a Ecuadorian man threaten to call the police over a dispute about seat reservations we departed the Ecuador -Peru border and travelled for two hours through some impressively, expansive and vacuous desert land, strangley enough arriving at customs. Why customs is located two hours from the border baffled me - if anyone can throw some light on this, I would be most grateful.

Our first stopover in Peru, was two nights in the beautiful beach town of Mancora. Mancora is apparantly Peru's principle beach resort, which makes it all the more surprising that it was such a laid back little village. Being still relatively near the Equator the weather was perfect beach weather. The hotel/hostel we stayed in was a series of lovely wooden huts, and has Luke spent the majority of our time in Mancora in bed with a bug, I spent most of my time (when I wasn't mopping his brow) either relaxing in our hammock or swimming in the pool. Due to Luke's illness and my laziness, we missed the first drunken madness amongst our fellow travellers on our intrepid trip. I won't mention names, but the gossip I heard involved some nudity, some fist waving and teeth nashing, and security guard watching over a sleeping drunk by a pool til 4am.

Before and after his 24 hour bug Luke did manage to join me for Mancora's highlights. The first being a fantastic fish restaurant where we had huge steaks of fortuna a local fish, during a blackout. The second highlight was, for me, a highlight of our time in South America so far. Setting off at 7am Luke and I, along with three others and the lovely Intrepid guide Daniela, took a small boat with a captain and a whale expert out on to the pacific ocean, in search of whales.

And we weren't disappointed, we saw dolphins, turtles, sea lions, blue footed birds and pelicans, but the real highlight was the humback whale and it's baby. I'd like to say that it was my quick and brilliant photography which captured the beautiful animal's tail, but I will credit Jen, the lovely Kiwi travelling with us, the credit she deseres for her good photography. The trip was made all the better by the enthusiastic and knowledgable Chichi.

After a wonderful trip out on the boat, and a return trip in the odd but charming moto-taxi, we set off on a relatively painful 10 hour bus journey to Huanchanco. I had the only seat on the bus where you couldn't see the telly, but was sat under a very loud speaker. I was assured by others that Spanish dubbing didn't make Poltergiest 3 any better. The only stop the bus driver allowed was at a grubby bus station in the outskirts of a small town. There were two small shops, one of which you could only order through a barred windowed. That shoud have been enough of a clue as to the kind of area we were in, but if that wasn't enough, the hooded man with a knife who was shopping at the same time as us was.

Huanchaco, a traditional fishing village, come tourist destination, was our next destination on the Northern coast of Peru. With a lovely sandy beach and a sea dotted with traditional fishing boats, it is a picturesque town. Made famous, for it's Chan Chan ruins. A pre-Inka civilsation the Chan Chans built a whole city out of adobe (fancy mud) in basically desert, and were into fishing. Whilst some of the ruins have been "restored" (what we would call rebuilt), they were still impressive, if only impart for their vastness and remoteness.

After visiting the ruins we had a great night out in Huanchaco. Barbequed fresh fish washed down with a couple of litres of cheap wine on the beach, where there was a local festival involving dancing, fishing boats and fireworks. After the local festivities were over, we had a campfire and music played by local musicians, organised by the wonderful Daniela.

It was then like a little piece of paradise when, accompanied by hangovers, we bordered the luxury bus for the eight hour journey to Lima. It was truly magnificent. The seats were similar to club class on a plane - like sitting in a comfy armchair and fully reclining. We got pillows, blankets, films and food. To be honest I didn't want to get off!

On our first night in Lima we went to the centre of Miraflores, the Gringoland of Lima, it has a whole street of pizza restuarants where we enjoyed pizza and pasta. Considering the wine consumption from the night before we could've done without accidently ordering two jugs of beer instead of two glasses, but we soldiered on with a little help from our travelling companions. It's a tough life!

Finally I should say that after three weeks it was our last day with Daniela, so thanks Daniela for being so great!

Lots of Love,

Louise & Luke

(Posted by Louise)

Jungle Boogie

There are some things in life that you just don't say in public, for fear of outing yourself as an utter tit. "Two And A Half Men just cracks me up", for example, or "The best way for the Labour Party to reconnect with voters across the country is to tack to the left." You know the sort of stuff.

Until our recent visit there, I'd have certainly had "Our visit to the Amazon rainforest was such a crushing disappointment" on that list. But, if asked for two words to sum our time in said forest, I'd plump for "disappointing" and "crushingly", though possibly not in that order. That there was pumping dance music blaring from a nearby swimming pool when we arrived at our 'secluded jungle lodge' didn't bode particularly well, though when next door finally turned the speakers off our cabin was serene and restful, all fireflies and oil lamps with a hammock slung across the patio.

But our 'Amazon trek' the next day was, by any marker, a real downer. Though our local guide was knowledgeable, and the animals and plants undeniably fantastic (the baby tarantula was my personal highlight), we weren't trekking the Amazon at all. We were just walking in someone's - pretty impressive - back garden wearing matching wellies and pretending that this was what we'd shelled out a couple of grand for. There are even fences in a few of our photos. Cap it all off with an utterly abysmal 'traditional' dance and shaman show back at the lodge that evening (highlight was the shaman cleansing me by... er... blowing fag smoke in my hair), and our visit to the Amazon was a crushing disappointment. There - said it again.

But a seven hour ride on ramshackle local bus later and we arrived in Banos, a little gem of a town apparently dropped by the Gods slap bang in the middle of the Central Highland's mountainous ranges. Arriving a little jaded by the jungle and still a little wires by Quito, Banos seemed purpose-built to ease our bodies, rest our minds and generally make me fall in love with South America all over again. Though it's fit to burst with hostels and eateries amid squarely at the backpacker crowd, Banos remains a functioning community in its own right,. Indeed, the ruinous effect that intensive tourism can have in many places is notable by its absence here; if anything, the fifteen thousand or so people who live in Banos seem to enjoy a quality of life that the millions living in Quito's suburbs would give their eye teeth for.

We spent our three days in Banos walking in the hills and trying to look at volcanoes (damn you, clouds), eating surprisingly good Italian and Mexican, wandering around the endearingly bonkers Cathedral enjoying the best breakfast of the trip so far on the sun-kissed roof terrace of the ininfinitely recommendable Plantas Y Blancos hostel. We also spent more time than was strictly necessary luxuriating in the natural thermal springs on the edge of town. We visited a few times with Zara, Dave and Leigh, but went the extra mile and got up to watch the sun rise with the locals on our last morning in Banos. Sitting in a giant steam bath, listening to Louise practise her Spanish while the sun flooded corn-gold beams across the valley was just as blissful as it sounds. Just as much as our jungle trip had failed so badly, our time in Banos was all the sweeter because I'd not really given it two seconds thought before we arrived.

En route to Cuenca, we took a small detour to spend some time with a local family who maintain a relatively traditional lifestyle while running a hostel in a converted railway masters house. Truth be told, I was more interested in the railway line - sadly no longer in use - than the sweet but somewhat affected show they put on for us. Lou and I also had our first taste of Guinea Pig, a staple for families in Ecuador and parts of Peru. Eating it was painless enough. Splitting the bill with a minibus full of people you don't know that well was another matter entirely.

Cuenca, our last stop in the country before heading over the border to Peru, was a charming place to while away a few days. Though undeniably smaller than the capital, the fact that almost all city life takes place in a UNESCO listed colonial old town makes for a more relaxing visit. The main plaza is Spanish to the core, while the Cathedral - topped outside with a blue-dome triptych and dominated inside with an altar that was a little to gold for my protestant tastes - certainly catches the eye. We spent an immensely enjoyable morning at the Museo del Bacno Central, where decent enough collections of religious art and historical coins and notes serve as a decent entrée for the fantastic ethnographic exhibits and the ghoulishly engrossing collection of shrunken heads. Even more impressive is the excavated pre-Inca town centre of Pumapungo at the rear of the museum, with a lovingly recreated garden and collection of endangered birds. The ice-cream parlour on the corner of the main plaza is also worth a visit of six - the servings are enormous, the ice-cream fresh, and the hoops you have to jump through to buy the damned thing delightfully South American.

And, with the taste of my double-cherry ice tub still tingling on my tongue, we were back on the bus and headed for Peru. The change in terrain as we headed from Ecuador to her bigger, poorer neighbour was striking. After driving through banana plantations for what seemed like hours, we hit  desert. Border control was a wonderfully messy affair, which seemed to annoy some of fellow travellers more than us. That was, perhaps, because while the queuing system was certainly not British in style, neither Lou or I felt in imminent danger of losing our lives or our wallets. Which is more than can be said of some of the bus border crossing we did in Europe. And that was that. So long Ecuador, Hola! Peru. More of which shortly...

Hasta la vista,

Luke and Louise

(Posted by Luke)

Spanish Is The Loving Tongue

We had a five hour stop over at Bogota airport on our way to Quito, but weren't able to go through security, so unfortunately we didn't get to see any of beautiful Bogata (sorry Bryony). I can only report that Bogota has a relatively nice if simple airport. Following a local beer, I started to feel dizzy and light headed and aware that I couldn't breath. It turns out Bogata is the third highest city in the world, and some people can feel unwell due to the altitude -only Quito and La Paz are higher.

Needless to say we spent the first few days in Quito, not drinking, sleeping a lot, and getting out of breath when we walked up the stairs!

We had just under a week in Quito, and spent that time in the lovely and homely Tutamandu hostel. The hostel is part of Cristobol Colon Spanish School, where you can do one to one lessons in Spanish. Both Luke and I took lessons, and both our teachers, Solange and Roxanna, were fantastic. Though we were only able to do five days, but both our Spanish has improved and I was able to read a whole Dora the exploradora book.

In between lessons, doing homework and and sleeping Luke and I did manage to get out and explore a bit of Quito. The old town is old colonial grandeur at its best, with streets of colourful buildings, laced with extravagant balconies, and an array of European style squares each with a more magnificent church. The grandest of the squares was the Grande Plazza, with impressive buildings all around, including the Palacio del Gobierno (a government building used by the President) and the Cathedral. The Cathedral was vast and empty and very beautiful -a highlight of which was the painting of the last supper, where the meal is guinea pig (a local dish).

Other church highlights in Quito include La Compañia de Jesus, which is literally dripping in gold, and many claim is the most beautiful church in Quito. I have to disagree, and say the most beautiful church is the more mordern Basilica del Voto Nacional. This vast gothic edifice, with enchanting stained glass stands on a hill and the views from the towers are impressive. I'm proud to say I managed to clamber across the rickety wooden plank in the Cathedral roof, and up the first ladder, to the souther tower and was delighted to find myself looking out across the roof, and out at a beautiful view of Quito. I was, however horrified to find that the next step was t climb two ladders which stuck out off the building, where one wrong step, would definitely result in death -I'm sad to say I chickened out of that bit.

Anyone who knows Luke will know that he feared the much talked about crime in Quito. His fears were not alleviated by the warnings plastered all over the hostel to be careful, or the stories of increased knife crime, muggings and bag slashing that were rife amongst travellers there. It also didn't help that the president was kidknapped by the police a few days before we arrived and had to be rescued by the military. Ecuador had declared a state of emergency. The hostel owner emailed to say “don't worry whilst yesterday was bad everything's fine again today.” We were told “these things happen in South America.” More worrying still when we arrived in Quito we were told there was no need to worry, because it wasn't political it was just a pay dispute. A dispute which resulted in lootings and tourists being robbed at banks, mainly because the police were too busy kidnapping a President to arrest anyone.

During our week in Quito we heard a variety of stories as to what really happened. One version is that the police are all right wing crooks, not supported by the nation, in their money grabbing criminal ways and the other end of the scale, is the version in which the president staged the whole thing to increase is popularity. Who knows where the truth lie -but we should thankful for our stable (if comparatively boring) democracy.

One afternoon we were eating chicken and rice in a chicken restaurant by the Grande Plazza, when the restaurant suddenly appeared to be surround by military (some of whom were also eating chicken), all of whom had very large guns. As we were walking out, men speaking into their sleaves appeared. Having worked in politics I knew this could only mean one thing, Hero or fraud I was still very excited when the President walked past.

Whilst on the subject of chicken and rice, it is impossible to be in Quito and not have a meal involving rice and chicken. The best we had was in the small cafe opposite our hostel, where chicken and rice soup followed by fried chicken, rice and lentils, with a fresh fruit juice was $1.65 -about £1.10. The fresh juices in Ecuador are amazing, and I never tire of them, though it's fair to say after a couple of weeks you can tire of rice and chicken.

We spent our last couple of nights in the Mariscal, which is the main tourist area,and known locally as Gringolandia. Gringolandia has an array of nice bars and restaurants, but my advice to anyone planning on visiting Quito would be to stay elsewhere and if you go out in Mariscal pay the two dollars to get a cab home. A lot of people seem to find comfort in its Western feel, but it is more expensive than everywhere else in Quito and is actually very dangerous at night, being a tourist mugging hotspot.

On our last day in Quito we got a cab out to the Equator. There are two places you can visited at the Equator, the official equator where the big statue marking the equator is. This is the spot where, over 200 years ago they “found” the equator. You can have your photo taken on the line, and have a very reasonably priced burger. Then you can go 10 minutes up the road to the real equator, which was found years later-using GPS. We did both, and the real equator was more fun. Dave and Zara, two lovely fellow travellers from Northern Ireland who came with us, would agree. Those people who shell out for the fake one and think they've seen the equator - but actually haven't - probably wouldn't...

Did you know?

1. You can balance an egg on a nail on the equator.
2. It's really hard to walk along the equator with your eyes shut without falling over, because of the gravitational pull
3. You're weaker when you stand on the equator.

And of course we did the exciting water experiment, and the water really does go straight down on the equator, and in opposite ways North and South.

Lots of love,

Louise and Luke

(Posted by Louise)

First we take Manhattan...

...and, truth be told, apart from brief sojourn over the Brooklyn bridge, Manhattan was about all we managed to take during our two days in New York en route to South America.

After a surprisingly pleasant flight over, we arrived at our Park Avenue hotel just before ten, utterly knackered and starving hungry. The ensuing  
trip to an all-night deli convinced me of three things. One, these guys make the best burritos I've ever tasted. Two, I want to live in New York. Three, if I did actually live in New York with easy access to said burritos, I'd catch fat and die within a month. All of these thoughts receded from my mind pretty quickly, though, as we ate our take-out dinner on the bed and chanced upon the headline news showing the Ecuadorian President crawling through the middle of a gun fight as streets burned around him. Never a good thing when Quito is your next stop...

After ascertaining that the kidnapping of a president, closure of an airport and declaration of a state of emergency is nothing to worry about in Quito (in the words of our presumptive Spanish teacher, “there was a little trouble yesterday, but now all is good and happy again”), we dived into New York, New York for the next two days, walking mile after mile and drinking in every sight, sound and smell that this majestic city had to offer.

We crammed a huge amount in, thanks mainly to Lou's unerring ability to read maps, plan routes and indulge my whims. Times Square enthralled by day, but truly dazzled by night as caricaturists and food vendors hustled for sidewalk space with the hustlers, ticket vendors and other 'tradesmen' who seemed to operate with impunity inside a ring of New York City Cops.

A stroll down Fifth Avenue, meanwhile, throws you in a million different directions all at once. Beautiful churches, designer stores, public libraries – it's like a city-in-a-street, with the pretty impressive money shot that is Central Park at the top. It also has the the unspeakably glamorous, beautifully Art Deco narcissistic ego-trip through architecture that is the Rockefeller Centre. The whole complex has to be experienced to be believed, with black marble poured like liquid night over walls and floors, and a mezzanine area so damn glam it makes the Starbucks look good.

Shopping wise, Macy's was everything you'd expect of the world's largest department store and more, while Wall Street merits a mention mainly thanks to the cherry-dip ice-cream cone bought from a vintage van at the top of the world famous paean to all that is greedy, mercenary and downright bad about the world of finance.

Chinatown put its London cousin firmly in the shade; we felt as though we were back in Shanghai, with the enchanting street stalls, constant hum of deals being made and laws being flouted and some of the best Shanghai cuisine we've ever eaten. Little Italy, meanwhile, was certainly little, just not hugely Italian. Almost a polar opposite of Chinatown's gauche authenticity, it seemed full of out of towners paying top whack for average fayre. The red, white and green colour scheme in the kids park was a nice touch, though. 

The East Side and Lower East Side were tantalisingly brilliant – we just didn't have the time to eat, drink and pseud our way through the cafés, bars, galleries and poetry slams as we wanted to. We did, however, find an hour to immerse ourselves in The Strand second hand book store. It's a bit like all of Hay-on-Wye, but in a strip-light lit downtown building in New York. Magic.

The return trip on the Staten Island ferry, with up close and personal views of the Statue of Liberty and NYC skyline shots to die for, was a real highlight, and must surely rank in any Top Ten of amazing free things to do while arseing about the world for a year. The geek in me loved our time in Grand Central Station more than anything else during our New York Stay. Lovingly restored and without a sodding Upper Crust in sight, it's a truly beautiful reminder of days gone by when New York was all old school glamour and when the railways really did rule the world. Though we couldn't quite stretch to the Oyster Bar (next time, next time), the Mexican we had there was pretty fine, as were the two pints of Samuel Adams served - without irony – with lime.

But even the train lover in me couldn't really deny that the real highlight was a late-night trip to the top of the Empire State Building. The Grande Dame of New York skyscrapers proved that the old ones really are the best, from the achingly elegant lines of the building itself to the unsurpassable view from up top. Kissing Louise is always a pleasure, but doing it with Manhattan twinkling in the distance seemed  just that little bit sweeter.

And that was about that. With the lights of New Jersey still sparkling in my eyes, we slept for a few hours then jumped in a cab for JFK for our morning flight to Colombia.

And if you're wondering, yes we did have a McDonald's (or two) during our stay. And yes, they taste a whole lot better.

Luke and Louise

(Posted by Luke)