Adios Ecuador - Hola Peru!!!

So in a couple of hours we fly from Quito to Lima and then tomorrow head by bus to a small town on the west coast of Peru called Pisco.

In Aug, 2007 an earthquake (7.9 on the richter scale for the A Level Geography students!!) devastated the town, destroying 80% of homes and killing around 600 people. We are going there to work with a charity called Pisco Sin Fronteras who work to improve the living conditions of the families affected by the earthquake by building houses, building and working in schools, building sanitation units and they are also working on a bio-diesel project. They have a website - www.piscosinfronteras.org - where you can find out more info on the organisation and the town if you want :o)

We are going to be there for 2 weeks and we are not sure how the internet access will be so we may not be able to contact you until start of dec.

So as we leave Ecuador - a few observations:

- The people are very friendly and helpful even if language is a barrier, when we braved the local bus to try and get to the 'Mittad del Mundo' a few women on the bus could see we were a bit lost when we had to change buses and practically took us by the hand onto the right bus - they just looked so happy to be helping!!

- There is no such thing as sexism here - the woman do as much work as the men and the whole family pulls together to get things done. In the markets we saw men and women selling animals and carrying heavy loads and when we stayed with Delphins family in the Jungle every member of the family was helping out to feed us and make sure we were happy!!

- People are very industrious and entrepreneurial - they make and sell what they can from local materials and crops to make a better life for themselves. There was lots of small businesses and innovative ways of doing things.

- The country is so varied in its landscape. The fact that we were in the jungle, climbing volcanoes, sailing the seas, chilling on beaches, relaxing in natural hot springs etc etc etc was amazing. So many totally different experiences in one country!! 

- The cities are pretty developed - internet is fast, most people have mobiles and the cars are pretty good!! When you head to the country things look a bit less developed but most people still have mobiles and Coke is everywhere!!!! Cuenca was the most affluent looking city that we visited. Its where the Spanish landed first when they invaded and they built some very impressive buildings that you dont see in other cities!!

- Health and Safety clearly hasnt hit Ecuador!! When we went to the fireworks in Cuenca the display was huge. The picture (right) shows the structure that the fireworks were built into and people stood only about 1/2m away from it!! A piece fell off and came pretty close to us but there didnt seem to be that much of a fuss!!!
There was also lots of travelling in the back of pick up trucks - clearly no seatbelts required and we saw lots of trucks with as many kids and animals as you could pack into the back of the truck on the way back from the market!!

- Tom spotted a useful trick for referees when we were watching a few matches which he thinks would go down well in the Premiership!!! When a free kick was awarded outside the box the first thing the referee did was spray a circle around the ball at the location of the free, he then sorted out the wall and sprayed a line for the players to stand behind - all very clear and efficient and no room for cheating!!!

The Galapagos Islands - AMAZING!!!

Apart from us, the Galapagos´ most famous visitor was Charles Darwin in 1835. He spent 5wks making notes and collecting specimens that provided important evidence for his theory of evolution.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Charles Darwin

The time we spent there was amazing. We saw so much wildlife on land, in the air and in the sea. Our days included two walks and two snorkels on various different islands of the Galapagos. Each island was very different; the sand could be red, white, black or even green; the landscapes varied from volcanic to desert like to colourful and full of life; there was new animals to be found on each island. 

We took LOTS of pictures - until tom fell into the sea with the camera in search of the perfect turtle picture!!! But its ok the heat of the engine room brought it back to life - lucky for him!!! Heres the best of the best!!! 

The Sea Lions - you could get very close to them on land and there were hundreds of them! But they were definitely best under water when the pups would come to play with you!!

The Iguanas & Lizards - they came in a multitude of colours and were very slow moving and lazy. They were mostly found on the rocks pointing their heads towards the sun to dry off or warm up! They nodded their heads to defend their territory and spat to get rid of the excess salt in their bodies.

 

The Birds - there were loads of different types of birds which you would never see at home! By far the best was the Blue Footed Booby but the Frigates were pretty cool on the last day when we saw them with their red sacks inflated to attract the females!! The baby Albatross (middle left) was pretty cute too and the tropic bird (bottom left) was very elegant with its long feathered tail but hard to get a good picture of.

The Crabs - we are sure there was more than two types but we only remember the Sally Light Footed Crab and the Ghost Crab heading towards his hole in the sand.

The Tortoises - there were two types of Tortoises in the Galapagos, the Saddle Backed Tortoise and the Domed Tortoise. Lonesome George is the famous Saddle Back. He is the only surviving member of his sub species so they have been trying to get him to breed for 35yrs. He lives with 2 female "friends" but isnt interested in either!!!

Under Water - The Snorkeling was amazing!! An absolute pain in the ass to get the wet suits on but worth it once you were in the water!! We were swimming with Sea Lions, Penguins, Turtles, Sting Ray, Sharks, Marine Iguanas and lots of different fish!! We dont have a huge amount of pics but our trusty under water photographers, Hans-Christian and Brett are going to send us some on. Here are a few we've borrowed from Bretts facebook!! 

 

The Lava Tunnels - these tunnels were formed when lava erupted from the volcanoes, the outer layer solidified when it met the cold air and the inner lava continued to flow leaving an empty tunnel when it reached the sea. Some of the tunnels were huge and Tom went swimming in a pool in one of them. When the tunnel opening was close to the shore it made blow holes. The sea would crash into the tunnel and be forced out in big waves!! I stood in front of one and got soaked!!!!

The People

  

The Crew - Jimmi the Bar Man, Andreas the Engineer, Alex the Dingy driver, Captain William and our guide Super Diego

Salsa dancing with Andreas and Sarah is dancing with Diego in the background!!

Me and Tom on the beach...

Hans-Christian being attacked by the Sea Lion Pup - well actually he was just playing!!

Galapagos Post - On the second last day of our Galapagos adventure we visited Post Office Bay. It is a small post box on one of the islands that was used by the sailors on the Whaling Ships back in the day!! When the sailors were finished their session at sea they would stop by the post box and bring home any letters that were addressed close to where they lived so now the tourists do the same. I sent a postcard to Keeva and Tom sent one to his mum so hopefully they will arrive some day and we picked up a postcard for James OKane from Derry - Angela any relations up that end of the country??!!! Hopefully we will deliver it when we get home - it was the closest address to Downpatrick or Doneraile!!  

The final evening of the trip was fantastic. When we were out walking on one of the Islands, Emma the Aussy spotted what she thought was a Whale in the distance. The guides didnt really believe her but finally gave in and had a look through their binoculars!! It was a whale!!!! So we got back on the boat and the captain kept an eye out for them and eventually caught sight of them!! Apparently it was really rare to see Orca's - Killer Whales in those waters but we managed to get really close!! There was two of them fishing for food and they were amazing!!

After this trip we said goodbye to Chris, Anna-Lena and Anders who we had been with for 24days!! We are really going to miss you guys and really hope we can catch up in Canada and Sweden some time in the future (if we ever have enough money to travel again!!!) Brett cant wait to catch up in Australia in March. Hans-Christian and Signe - hope the stomachs are a bit better and you survive the Jungle!!! Safe trip home Sarah and Alison :o)



Overland Ecuador

OK so first we need to update you on our 16 days touring Ecuador over land!!!
We had a fantastic time visiting cities, towns and villages from the north to the south of Ecuador. The group was amazing and we made lots of new friends from all around the world and from every walk of life! Our original group included people from Canada, America, Germany, Sweden, Greenwich (the other middle of the world!!) and Scotland and of course our guide Giovanny from Ecuador. Thanks guys for making our trip so memorable we had a great time with you all and look forward to the reunion!!

Its hard to remember the amount of things that we did but heres a few!! We trekked in the jungle, took part in some local jungle traditions, white water rafted, panned for gold, slid down local waterfalls and chilled out in the natural pools, visited the local school to play games with the kids, saw Liga v Cuenca in the Ecuadorian league, visited local farming markets, partied with the locals in Cuenca for their All Souls day/Independence Day celebrations (amazing fireworks!!) and Hiked a few Volcanoes!!!!

In the Jungle:

White Water Rafting:

In Baños we tried the local dish Cuy which is Guineapig (well Tom did and decided he would stick to steaks!!). We also played a local game with some kids we bumped into - you had to bet 5cent coins on odd or even marbles falling into two holes! We also had the energy for a wee nite out, a few beers and a bit of salsa!!

On the way to Cuenca we stopped on top of a mountain for lunch with a view! In Cuenca we bought some Panama hats and really enjoyed the fireworks and celebrations for All Souls Day and Independence Day but forgot the camera!! We also visited the local graveyard which was being decorated for All Souls celebrations. Very interesting to see whole families out helping to paint, clean and decorate the family graves.

After that we headed to the local markets in Otavalo. There were lots of tourist stalls selling jewellery, art, rugs, ponchos and funky pants (i think im wearing mine in some of the galapagos pictures in the next post!!). But the big recommendation was to get up very early to see the local farming market!! The smell was stinking, the noise of squealing pigs was disturbing, the sight of animals being dragged on ropes to the pick trucks of their new owners was interesting but it is all under E for experience!!!!

Finally we made it back to Quito were we started our trip and headed out to watch a local football match. It was between La Liga (one of the teams from Quito) and Cuenca. They are the top two teams in the Ecuadorian league but the match was pretty one sided with the home team winning 2-0. The atmosphere was good and it was definitely an interesting experience queueing to get into the match with the locals! Kids got in free so it was nice to see so many local kids there and we only had to pay $6!!

After the match we were sad to say goodbye to Neil & Caroline our super DHLers, Andreas the kid (hopefully we will meet him again in Peru!), Donna the legend an example to us all, Katja the shopaholic (we hope u made it onto the plane with that bag of yours!!) and Lija the massage Queen. Chris, Anna-Lena and Anders came with us for the next adventure to the Galapagos :o)