Machu Picchu

Building Detail, Machu Picchu

Detail on Huayna Picchu



Gasp!

Chico Morales

Surrounding Scenery

 

 

This was a bucket-list destination, and one that I've wanted to visit since I was a child. I saw Machu Picchu featured in a film, Secret of the Incas, and was smitten. It's only taken 50 years to get here.

The trip involved catching a train from just outside Cusco and travelling for about 3 hours to Agua Calientes. Then into a bus and up a zillion hair-pin bends to the entrance. We decided to ditch the guide and do it on our own, which was a wise move. Sadly, we only had about 3 hours there, and didn't have time to get up to the sun gate. Next time?

Did it live up to expectaions? YES!!!!!!

 

Sun Gate

 

 

                                                                                               
                                                                                    Cliche (but cute)       
 

Galapagos, Day 8

I don't really want to write this - it was our last day in the Galapagos. No more snorkelling, no more roaming the Galapagos, having fun, no more meeting unique critters, no more great meals prepared by someone else. Sigh.

Another, shorter transit in the night to San Cristobal island, where we were leaving Coral 1 and flying out at 2pm. A reward for the last day was a half hour sleep-in. We were woken by Alex's dulcet tones at 7:30. We had a final panga ride to the administrative capital of the Galapagos, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, to be greeted on the dock by sea lions lounging - everywhere! Even on the seats on the dock. We were taken to the San Cristobal interpretive centre, which documents the cultural history of the Galapagos. There was also a good walk to nearby bays and a hill with good views over the bay. We watched 5 big, burly blokes pick up and weigh a 140kg land tortoise, too.

Tortuga wrangling

State-of-the-aart airport, San Cristobal

Our depature plane - note iguana and frigate bird decals - cute

 

We then wandered around the town for a while, souvenir shopping and feeling sad. At 12:30pm, it was off to the airport. A final goodbye to Victor Hugo and the 6 lucky people who were staying on for the next 4 days, and it was off to the sirport, 5 minute's drive away. Alex had sorted all our boarding passes and checked-in our baggage, so all that was left was to wait. Alessandro stayed with us until we passed through into the secure area. I almost blubbed when I said goodbye to him. The plane arrived and left on time and that was it - farewell to the Galapagos and a truly wonderful time.

I always hoped it would be the highlight of the holiday, and it  surpassed expectations. I didn't expect to see and have access to so much wildlife. On Day 1, when we saw marine iguanas and sea lions, I thought they would perhaps be the only sightings. No. It just got better and better. Life on the boat was fun and neither of us was seasick. Some of the company was extraordinarily good - thanks particularly to Chuck, Sally, Peter and Giselle. The panga drivers were talented and skilled and I always felt safe snorkelling knowing they were nearby. Victor Hugo and Alessandro were good company and knowledgable guides. Santiago, Vicente and Mosquito made sure we had access to beer and coffee at the right time and the chefs always fed us well.

What a trip. When can I go back?

Galapagos, Day 7

We had a long voyage overnight from Floreana to Espanola. It was quite rough, and for once I had difficulty sleeping. Patrizio later informed us that there was a 2 metre swell. We woke up at the idyllic Gardener Bay, where we could see a long, sandy beach adorned with sea lions. We set off towards this after breakfast, and walked amongst the sea lions, who didn't seem to care about us.Here reality hit home to me in a big way. I was almost reduced to tears, as there was a new-born baby that couldn't find its mother - doomed. It followed us around, pathetically bleating. And there was another almost dead one. More trouble in paradise. I was so sad and so powerless to do anything.

There were many mocking birds, finches, plummeting boobies and pelicans, lava lizards and pigmented marine iguanas, a reddish colour rather than the normal grey. We also saw a lava heron catch a finch in is beak. We don't know whether it intended eating it or was just annoyed by it, but it was quite inpressive, and Alessandro and Victor Hugo said it was behaviour they hadn't seen before.

We snorkelled off the beach, towards a rocky formation off-shore and 4 young sea lions frolicked with me for a while. I was quite wary of the large male that swam by. The numbers and colours of fish were astounding. I spotted a couple of rays on the way back to the beach.

Sadly, that was the final snorkel, and all the gear had to be returned. Sad also knowing that this is the last full day.

We then motored around to Suarez Point, where we were promised the most challenging but rewarding walk on the galapagos. The challenge was the uneven, rocky terrain, but it was not too bad. Bruce had convinced Chuck to try, and despite his age, he coped better than sme of the younguns.

Blue Footed BoobyNazca (masked) Booby

                                                    Lava Heron with Darwin Finch in beak

And the rewards? Waved albatross (adults and chicks), a huge colony of Blue-footed boobies and Nazca boobies, more iguanas and sea lions, Galapagos Hawks, Frigate Birds, swallow-tailed gulls, a blow hole, tropic birds.............so many birds, it was all covered in poo and smelled bad. Wonderful.

Big Chicken (Waved Albatross)

Galapagos, Day 6

Diving Pelican

Preening Pelican

We motored for many hours during the night to Floreana and Cormorant Point. We disembarked and walked on a greenish beach composed of a lot of olivine and walked past a lake containing one flamingo - somewhat disappointing for the newbies who hadn't already seen them - and over to a beach on which sea turtles lay their eggs. It's a bit too early for the eggs to be laid, but we did spot turtles mating in the water offshore. We also saw heaps of sting rays in the shallows.


After the walk, some of us did a deep water snorkel off Devil's Crown. This was very enjoyable, but quite challenging, with strong currents and rough sea. We then moved to calmer water and promptly were stung by jelly fish! I was stung around my mouth, which was initially sore, but got better quickly. Oh well, some trouble in paradise is to be expected.

Devil's Crown

In the afternoon we motored the short distance to Post Office Bay to visit the famous Post Office barrel. Floreana is one of the only islands with a source of fresh water, so sailors often visited. Someone installed a barrel in the 1700s into which visitors could place their letters, to be picked up and delivered by those going to the countries to which the letters were addressed. The tradition still stands, though the original barrel has been replaced several times. We posted some cards and picked up some Oz-addressed cards to send on our return.

 

 

Post Office Bay

We also went for a short walk up the hill to a lava tube and then went snorkelling off the beach. This time there was a feeding tortuga to watch.
POSTSCRIPT
The postcards that we placed in the box at Post Office Bay all were delivered to our children several months later! And we delivered ours, so it shows the system works.

Galapagos, Day 5

 

 

As mentioned in the last blog, we motored all night for about 12 hours, across the equator twice - once on the way north past the northern tip of Isabela and once south on our way back to Baltra. Most of our cohort were leaving - only Sally and Chuck; Giselle and Peter and us were staying on. More travellers would join us later. I was sorry to ssay goodbye to a few people, but on the whole I was happy that most were leaving. There was the expectation that the newcomers couldn't be worse! In the meantime, we disembarked at Baltra, met a temporary guide and travelled over to Santa Cruz and up into the highlands to a tortoise sanctuary. This was fairly impressive, with large numbers of the critters just roaming freely. They were everywhere - even on the sides of the roads. And we thought it was bad to hit wombats with cars!


Roaming Tortoises

We also ventured into a lava tunnel. Bruce and I have always wanted to explore a lava tunnel, and the Galapagos is riddled with them..


Lava tube

A brief drive, and we joined our new cohort for lunch at a retaurant in the highlands. We now had some more Australians, a partially sighted English girl (why?), some Germans and Austrians, New Zealanders, young Americans, and some Argentinians. Oh dear - some smokers. No-one from the last lot smoked!

We also swapped guide Whitman (who was a bit of a pain) for Alessandro, who was really, really knowledgable and nice. The duo of Victor Hugo and Alessandro proved to be excellent.

After lunch we traveled to Pueto Ayora, the biggest town in the Galapagos and visited the Charles Darwin Research Centre. This was a bit ho-hum after all the liberated toroises we'd seen in the morning, so when Alex offered us a lift back to the boat, we gladly accepted. It was also incredibly hot. There were sea lions lounging about the dock area and we saw further evidence of the changes in beaks of the Darwin finches. All 6 of the old cohort travelled back to the boat along with partially sighted Sally, and we had a relaxing few hours before the newbies joined us. Poor Sally was really challenged by the circumstances - the panga, getting on and off Coral 1 and getting about the boat. Most people helped, but I sometimes wondered what she gained from the experience. She was a lovely lady, though and good company.

Memorial to Lonesome George

 

We had welcome cocktails with the newcomers. Some of the crew had changed as well, and our new barman was Roberto aka Mosquito. It was revealed that Alessandro's nickname was Turkey and Alex's was Chicken. A bit of an animal theme going on here. And, of course, Victor Hugo was Iron Man!

Galapagos, Day 4

Further motoring in the night delivered us to Tagus Cove, Isabela, which is where many sailors have grafitteed the rocks with their boats' names. It is no longer allowed, but there are many, many boats' names and dates written on the rocks. It is a beautiful spot, with high walls and a deep, incised cove. What a beautiful spot to wake. First activity was a walk to Darwin Lake and to a lookput overlooking three volcanos - Darwin, Wolf and Alcedo.We could also look over to Fernandina, the youngest island, and its volcano, La Cumbre. As well as our encounters with penguins, flightless cormorants and sea lions, we saw a land iguana (our first and only wild land iguana) and many finches and some mocking birds.

We snorkelled around the bay.

In the afternoon, we motored around to Espinosa Point on Fernandina, where we walked around huge colonies of marine iguanas. There were many sea lions, including a newly born pup with its umbilical cord still attached. The view across to the volcanos on Isabela was spectacular. We also glimpsed Galapagos Hawks, perched on some of the outcrops, waiting for unwary iguanas.

View from Fernandina of Isabela and Darwin Volcano. Rocks in foreground are covered in iguanas

Whales were spotted in the distance. We had to motor for 12 hours to go around Isabela and back to Baltra to offload most of the passengers the next morning. We crossed the equator twice.

Battle of the Bands

Just a bit about Lima - flat, sprawling and perched on the Pacific Ocean coast, it has the feel of a city going places. There is obviously a quite affluent part of Lima - good houses and cars and a cosmopolitan feel. It seldom rains, but has constant mists, called garua. Houses and streets don't have drainage, so it could be difficult if they do ever have significant rain. Water comes from a river originating in the Andes, so there is no shortage of water, despite the lack of rain.

The coast has 60 foot high cliffs of unconsolidated river sediments, a testament to the significant uplift occuring. Unfortunately, these cliffs are getting built on. This could be quite grim in an earthquake. There is also reclaimation of the coastal area below the cliffs, with large amounts of building rubble being dumped into the sea. Unfortunately, lots of garbage also gets dumped along with the rubble, so the sea was a roiling mess of plastic.

Sadly, it looks like the building rubble is coming from extensive demolition of housing around the airport. I hope there's some greater plan, as it must be difficult for the people evicted from their homes.

We did a fairly ho-hum tour of Lima on the day after we arrived for the first time (we actually end up in Lima 4 times during the trip). In the main square, which was quite spectacular (fountain with copulating critters all over it - WTF?), and had the President's House on one side, police and security began to congregate, giving us a hint that there might be something going on. Next thing, two heraldic trumpeters on either side of the main entrance to the President's House began playing. I spotted a band lurking in the shadows. After the fanfare, out came the band, strutting around the courtyard enthusiastically playing a jolly tune (possibly the Peruvian national anthem - I heard it a number of times during the trip), and lined up just inside the perimeter fence to continue playing. I love a good band. The security were equally entertaining. The head honcho was grinning and winking at the crowd - no Queen's Guard stoicism here. Unfortunately the tour nazis made us leave before the playing had finished.

We moved a short distance up to the Church of St Francis Asissi, and.............more band music! It was St Francis day or something, so there were bands, a special church service and much frivolity. We did a tour of the church and catacombs, and at various times were able to listen to the glorious chanting of the priests and the equally glorious pipe-organ playing. Even in the catacombs you could hear it every now and then, which added an eerie dimension to the tour.

When we emerged after the tour, the effigies of St Francis and two other bods were brought out of the church. By this time, there was another band playing and people dancing - including quite old ladies, who were having a great time. Sadly, we were dragged off again to be dropped at either a restaurant or a market. Boo hiss. I would've rather stayed to watch the festivities.

As we drove back through Lima, there were protests going on. Some students and academics were protesting against privitisation of education. There were mounted police and big armoured vehicles and lots of police. I don't think the police were too worried, as we saw them being fed by sreet vendors and laughing along with the protessters.

I like Lima.

Galapagos, Day 3

We travelled further around Isabela to Moreno Point . Here we did a walk across old lava flows to a pool where there were two flamingos. We walked past brackish pools with huge mullet and a monstrous toad fish!




We then snorkelled amongst sea turtles, and I saw a marine iguana feeding. The sea wasn't very clear, so with my limited vision, it wasn't as enjoyable as previous times. At lunchtime we travelled around to Elizabeth Bay and had another snorkelling opportunity. The sea was much clearer this time and there were many sea turtles, fish, sting rays.







 Afterwards, we took a panga ride into the mangroves and observed turtles, flightless cormorants and sea lions. Unfortuntely, we were in the panga with some of the Ugly Americans who insisted on wafting their ipads in front of everyone and semiingly deliberately blocking others' views of wildlife.
I hate ipads, especially when they're held up in front of everyone and used as cameras.

 

We spotted whale spout and dolphins.

Galapagos, Day 2

The noisy engines woke me, but I managed to sleep off and on until they stopped some time in the early morning.

We were close to a town - shock! The bay in which we were moored was calm and had abundant sea lions and turtles. We took the pangas to shore, then transferred to buses and off to a farm, part way up Sierra Negro volcano. If the weather cleared, there would be the option of climbing to the top. We encountered our first land tortoises at the farm - delightful creatures, in enclosures, but large enough so that there was plenty of green grass and lots of room.

The weather cleared, and the volcano climb was on, or a visit to lava tubes for those not fit enough. About 10 of us opted for the volcano, so Victor Hugo was our guide. He was thrilled, as it was the first time in 6 months that he'd had fine, clear conditions for the volcano walk.

It was a steady but easy climb that took about 30 minutes. We had an excellent view of the huge caldera. It last erupted in 2006 and is considered the most active volcano on Isabella.

After the walk, we were taken to a restaurant in the highlands for lunch. We met Giselle and Peter, from Sydney, who were bike nuts! We spent lunch talking about the Lance Armstrong controversy.

We were then taken to the Villamel Point tortoise centre where we met more tortoises, both huge and only weeks old. We also had our first encounter with flamingos. Spectacular! We walked through some wetlands and met more flamingos, lava lizards, saw an iguana swimming, met more iguanas and many finches. A further walk along the beach took us to back to where we'd disembarked in the morning. Unfortunately, we were given free time to go swimming or go to a bar, but it wasn't warm enough to swim, so most of us just wanted to go back to the boat, which wasn't an option. Victor Hugo is training for an iron man event so he went for a run and Whtman disappeared.

Galapagos Day 1

Out of Quito, after the disorganised chaos of the airport, in a plane about 3/4 full of adventure-clothing-clad tourists off to the Galapagos and 1/4 business full of passengers in their working finery off to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. Our flight touched down there, but we didn't disembark - just disgorged the business types and added a few more Galapagos tourists. 1000km out into the Pacific Ocean, we landed on Baltra, a small Galapagos rock on which the USA built an airfield in the 2nd World War. It's a small, primtive, open air terminal in the middle of barren cactus and low bush. Somehow, it was what I expected. Unfortunately, they are building a new terminal, but it does look like it may be sympathetic to the environment, and the current terminal is too small for the needs.

Once through customs and immigration (having had our passports stamped with Parque Nacional de Galapagos), the well-oiled machine of Klein Tours sprang into action. We were greeted by Alexander, Victor Hugo and Whitman, put on a bus and transported to the harbour to embark on Coral 1. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some people to whom  I took an immediate dislike. Was the term loud-mouthed Americans coined for these people? However, there were some nice people, sisters Ruth and Concha, who we met at Quito airport, plus some Aussies and some Swiss and a couple of very pleasant older Americans from Virginia, Sally and Chuck.

Coral 1 is a lovely, spacious ship with a back deck for sitting and getting on and off the pangas (local term for zodiaks), a nice sitting area inside with bar, a restaurant,. and about 18 well-appointed cabins with ensuite. There are two observation decks, with the top one having sunbeds and a BBQ. After a briefing, we got underway, had lunch, did an emergency drill and headed for a small island off Santa Cruz where there would be a panga ride or a snorkel off a panga. I opted for the snorkel. We did a small trip around the island and saw blue-footed boobies, herons, sea lions, iguanas, frigate birds. Frigate birds play around the Coral 1 and perch on the antennae, so we'd become a bit blase about them. Only a few people had opted for snorkelling, and with some trepidation I slipped into the water off the panga. It didn't take me long to get the hang of it again. A young sea lion swam with us, and actually touched my hand, there were so many fish it was extraordinary, a few sea turtles and I glimpsed some small white-tipped sharks below us. It was wonderful. We stayed in the water for about 30 minutes, until Victor Hugo told us it was time to go back to Coral 1.

There was a welcome cocktail,and the captain, Patrizio introduced the crew, followed by dinner. We would travel in the night for about 3 hours from 1am to the bottom of Isabella.

'ello, my name is Oswald Suarez

We were in Buenos Aries for my birthday. We did a city tour in the morning, and visited President Christina's pretty pink house. We joked that she should've baked me a cake for morning tea.

One of the saddest things about Argentina is the impact of the 'missing people' - those who disappeared during the unpleasant regime during (i think) the '70s. There are posters at airports with missing people's photos and relative's contact details. It's very poignant.
The main square, close to Christina's joint, was full of protesters. The military personnel who didn't go to the Falklands were discriminated against by not being paid the same as those who travelled to the Falklands.
We also visited the cemetery and saw Evita's tomb.
In the evening, we went to a tango show and dinner. We were shown to our table and a very dapper, elderly gentleman sauntered over and said ''ello, my name is Oswald Suarez. I will be your waiter for the evening'.
He was the highpoint.
We sat through a show that went for bout 2 1/2 hours. I am now seriously traumatised by tangos. And gauchos. There was one good, sensuous, impressive tango, and then they embelished by adding dancers, jazzing it up, making it silly. I nearly went to sleep.
The gaucho came out, banged a drum a bit and then whacked the floor with two ropes with percussive bits on the end. I had a headache by the end and wanted to throttle him with his ropes.
There was an awesome dude playing a small wooden stringed instrument similar in sound to the one at the start of Simon and Garfunkel's El Condor Pasa (don't EVER play that to me again - I've heard it a gazillion times over the past few weeks). He was a true virtuoso. How he could get the sounds he did from his tiny little 12-stringed gizmo, I'll never know.
Meanwhile, Oswald Suarez made sure we were plied with food and drink.

Puno

Don't fly from sea level to 3900m. It's silly. There's not enough oxygen.
We arrivesd at Juliaca airport and immediately noticed the thin air. The colour of the sky and the intensity of the sun was different, too. A peruvian pan pipe band was playing in the airport - so wonderful i bought their CD!
Edgar met us and drove us to Sillistani, an archaelogical ruin of funeral towers. It was really impressive, and Edgar was a great guide. He lived just down the road and his natve language was Quecha. We also bought some cloth from a lady who lokked about 110. And stopped at one of Edgar's friend's houses to see their guinea pigs (cuy) and see their way of life.
Their stock is well cared for - all tethered, bght in at night and seemingly well-cared for. If you have stock, you're considered rich.
When we got to Puno, i was suffering. It just got worse, to the point where i could barely function. We went out for a feed of guinea pig, but I didn't have an apetite. By the morning i knew i couldn't go on the Lake Titicaca excursion. I stayed in the hotel drinking coca tea.
So, 50 years of wanting to go there, and i only saw it from a distance.
I cried.

I also got better when we moved 400m lower to Cuzco.

Preconceptions - Misconceptions

One of the good things about travel is that it challenges and educates.

So far, wherever I've travelled in South America, I've found that my many preconceptions are totally wrong. For example, Rio de Janeiro is a flat city with two big pointy bits. Wrong. Rio is a hilly city with many big peaks, of which two are renowned for the huge statue of Christ and the other for its shape like a sugar loaf (harks back to sugar production and the way it was left to dry) and the cable car that goes to the top. With its challenging topography, it couldn't possibly be a planned city. It does have a huge, very good harbour with a defendable entrance, which is probably why it turned from a small fishing village in the 16th century to a huge city today.

Preconception 2 - Brazil's interior is flat, similar to Australia. Wrong. Well, at least the bits of the interior that we visited. There's a barrier range just inland from the coast, reminding me of the Blue Mountains and the Great Dividing Range, which then drops away to rolling, often hilly topography. Even Belo Horizonte (Spanish for shit hole - sorry - Beautiful Horizon - hah!), which was supposed to be flat, was hilly.

Preconception 3 - Lima is a small, third-world town. Wrong. It's a city of 9 million people and is amazingly cosmopolitan! We stayed in Miraflores, which is the knob-head part, close to the sea. and ate at cafes that would've fitted in well with Manuka, albeit with aji sauce and empanadas.

Hopefully there'll be more challenges to my narrow views as the trip continues.

Poster

Talking about the poster with the sampling guru, Mike Ramsay

Buzios Revisited

                                              

A sleepy little beach town on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic, Buzios was isolated until the big bridge across the harbour in Rio was built. After that access to the coast north of Rio became easier and  more people visited and development started. Bridget Bardot discovered Buzios in the '60s (she apparently had a Brazilian boyfriend) and made it famous. There's a bronze statue of her on the waterfront. The peninsula is quite narrow, so it's easy to walk from one lot of beaches to the other side - and more beaches. 

                                                   Bronze Statue of Bridget Bardot, Buzios

 

Ferradura, the location of the conference, is situated on a small enclosed and sheltered bay. Unfortunately, it's lined with beach houses and new resorts and buildings are going up all over the place. One good thing - restaurants and bars are right on the beach! However, the pressure of all the people will eventually see it become less appealing and more polluted. The Brazilians said that a lot of the building was unregulated and corruption allowed building where it had been banned. I hope they don’t ruin it any more.

                                                         Searching for blue kyanite

The ½ day field trip took us to sights around Buzios, which has high-grade metamorphics and has been seriously messed up. We found blue Kyanite (you had to peer really closely), a pink beach composed entirely of garnet sand and lots of bendy bits. The backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean and soaring frigate birds was truly magnificent. I found myself scampering up a cliff face at one point to see some amphibolites and thought ‘Hmm, how am I going to get down?’, but thought my two rock climbing sons would be proud of me. And it was easy getting back, so there was no need to worry.

Bad Hair Day

 

                                                         

Bendy Bits