Megan Campbell 的个人资料Megan's Central and Sout...照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
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7月31日 The Devil´s Nose Railway and Peru so farBefore we got to Vilcabamba, we did make a stop in Riobamba in order to go on the train and travel the ´Devil´s Nose´ Railway – a rather amazing engineering feat in that they constructed a railroad from Quito to Cuenca through the Andes back at the beginning of the 20th century, but one of the problems they encountered was the massive difference in altitude betweeo Simbambe and Riobambe, and the ´Devil´Nose´which is a massive mountain of rock that they somehow had to navigate. So what they did was design a series of switch backs, so that the train zig zags forwards and in reverse to slowly edge down/up the side of this cliff face. And the fun part is that you get to sit on the roof of the train whilst it´s travelling.
The only problem was that we got to Riobambe on the Saturday afternoon, only to find that due to landslides, the train was only running from Alausi to Simbambe (a town 2hours further south). Anna and I decided to call it a night there (having already flown back from Lago Agrio and 4hrs to Riobamba), found our hotel and a great little bar, and would get to Alausi first thing in the morning.
This turned into a pretty epic day, on the 6.30 bus to Alausi, to then wait 1 ½ hours (at least) for tickets, to then find that we couldn´t do the ride until 1 in the afternoon! So we had time to kill in Alausi, but when we did finally get on the train (NB Ecuadorian people do not know how to queue), I thought it was pretty magnificent. Admittedly the ride was much shorter than what it should have been, but the scenery was unbelievable, huge, steep peaks rising up and up towards the sky, green but windblown mountains, and an immediate drop off right next to the traintrack. Obviously everyone wanted to ride on the roof, so which had to switch half way, but the conductor was very kind and let me ride in the open doorway whilst we were sitting below, and then we had the ´wind in our hair´up on the roof on the way back! The switch back was really only a series of three or four zig zags, but it was interesting to experience, as the track had to be switched manually (the conductor jumping off to change), and looking at the rock they had to cut through to make the railway, it was pretty amazing. Really pleased that I did it.
Vilcabamba was a lovely place to stop for a few days – a great hotel with beautiful views of the valley, a fantastic restaurant and plenty of hammocks for reading, lazing and watching DVDs. The only bad thing about this stop was the excruciating pain we were left in after going for a 3 hours horse ride, which turned into 4 hours, and horses that had a mighty strange way of cantering and galloping (Anna and I are convinced the horses had to have something to do with the world´s most uncomfortable horse ride!). Fortunately, the hotel where we were staying did offer $18, 75min massages, so we at least had enough foresight to book in for that before going for the ride!
We took some overnight buses to get to Piura in Peru, and we can categorically say that was one of the worst bus rides ever! The driver was unbelievably heavy on the breaks and took corners really heavily, so it was difficult to sleep. Thrown in the fact that the computer system was down on the border, and it was pretty much disasterous! We did finally get to Piura, and embarked on another big journey down to Trujillo, further down the coast of Peru. Rather than staying in Trujillo, we stayed in the little surf/beachside town called Huanchaco, which wasn´t a particularly traditional Peruvian town, given that everyone was getting around in Billabong and Ripcurl clothing, but a nice spot nonetheless. I had a couple dips in the water, though the sweep was incredibly strong, so it wasn´t much fun, and we discovered some brilliant eating spots. Anna and I were a little extravagant, ordering lots of seafood, including cebiche (raw, marinated seafood – actually pretty tasty), tried this delicious dish (purely by accident), which was this moulded, layered stack of potato, avocado and crab meat (I´ll be raving about this for years to come), and we found what I have deemed to be unequivocally the best Mexican restaurant outside of Mexico! The 28th was also Independence Day, so there were celebrations and street parties everywhere, and Anna really lashed out and at one of the stalls (run by beauty college trainees) had a manicure/nail art done! Actually pretty cool/cute, but I don´t think Anna will be running out to have it done regularly!
We spent a day visiting some of the Moche and Chimu (native Indian) sites around Trujillo, including Chan Chan, which was the biggest indigenous city in all of the Americas. All in ruin now, but they are slowly excavating bits of it. I was impressed by all of the motifs which had been painted on the walls and by the sheer size of all of the buildings, and I was not overly impressed by the hairless dogs which are native to the area, and really quite ugly. The males did gain some credibility, however, as they tended to have mowhawks!!
After the horrendous bus ride to Piura, we decided to lash out and take an executive class bus to Lima. This meant that we had fully reclining seats, a hostess and a little snack box – much better! And then we had a flight to Cusco.
So we are now in Cusco, and getting a little nervous because we are starting the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu tomorrow, and know that the second day is pretty touch and I´m definitely not overly fit at the moment. Come to think of it, I should probably be worried about the other three days also! But we´ve had three days here, basically all full of market shopping and finding delicious restaurants/cafes. Off to the post office this afternoon to post some more things home…
Wish us luck for the trek!! 7月22日 The Galapagos Islands and the JungleAnna and I have just had a jam-packed last 10 days of so, and the first stop was the Galapagos Islands. We flew from Quito to Balta Island on the 10th, and after a couple of hiccups with issuing tickets and playing ´who we hoped would not be on our boat´ (of those who were on the plane), we arrived and we greeted by someone from our tour company, wearing a t-shirt of another boat which made him a little tricky to identify. We then had to wait for 3 other passengers, but there was a mix up somewhere along the way and they were already at the boat, so despite Anna and my amazing packing and only having carry on luggage and being the first ones out of the airport, we ended up being the last ones on the boat! Oh well.
The first afternoon we visited Santa Cruz island and saw some land tortises, but not Lonely George, the most famous Galapagos Tortise, as he lives at the Charles Darwin Research Station, and had photos taken in a huge tortise shell. We also visited an underground tunnel created by lava flow, which I didn´t like so much b/c I don´t much like being underground, but it was still interesting.
The food on the boat was great – lots of fresh vegetables, and plenty of everything, so we certainly didn´t starve! So the day ended well with a yummy dinner.
During the next 3 ½ days we visited a number of islands, including Floreana, Santa Fe, North Seymour (sorry, they´re the only ones I can remember off the top of my head) and saw all of the animals that you read about and see on documentaries and in books about the Galapagos Islands. We saw lots of blue footed boobies, whose feet where really bright blue, sea lions, albatrosses, masked boobies, frigate birds, land iguanas, marine iguanas, lava liazards. Although they were incredibly ugly, the marine iguanas were my favourite – mean faces, spikes down their back, patchy grey and red colouring. They go out to see to feed, and so at the time we saw them, one afternoon, they were all surfing back into the beach, and it was funny to see these little heads bobbing in the water! The amazing thing was that we could get so close to these animals without bothering them, and it was incredible to see all of these animals, many of which are so different to anything anywhere else in the world, and to see how perfectly adapted they are to their remote environment.
One of the other interesting places that we visted was Post Office Bay, which is where people can leave postcards, and the idea is that when you visit, you sort through the cards, and if there are any from your hometown or nearby, you take them with you and drop them to the addressee. Unfortunately there were none for Brisbane or Adelaide, the closest were Port Douglas, Bondi or Western Australia. Not that it would have really matter b/c I am not going back.
We had a really nice group of people on our boat – all Europeans except for us. A couple from Belgium, some Germans, some Danes, some Dutch and a Scottish couple, and everyone seemed to get on pretty well. The boat was a converted sailing boat (now motorised) and fortunately I didn´t experience any motion sickness because there was a fair bit of movement when the boat was on the move. The only thing that was a little bit disappointing about the trip was our guide. Unfotunately his English was a little hard to understand, but I don´t thing that was the main problem. More so, I think it was that he was going on holidays as soon as our tour ended, and so he was simply going through the motions and couldn´t wait to finish. But I saw everything that I wanted to see, and might like to do a bit of reading now, but all in all, it was definately worthwhile.
The other great thing that we got to do whilst in the cruise was lots of snorkelling – and there were some brilliant things to see. We saw sea turtles, sting rays, mata rays, angel fish, parrot fish, trumpet fish, sea cucumbers and lots of other creatures that I would have no idea of their names! But the view under the water was unbelievable. The water wasn´t particularly warm, though we didn´t need wet suits, and out of the water it was sunny most days and so we were able to spend some time lazing on the deck of the boat sunning and reading.
The Jungle
We flew back to Quito on the Monday morning after one last early morning walk to see the frigate birds (the ones with the bright red ´bag´thingy under their chin), and straight away had to get laundry done and pack for our trip to the jungle the following morning. We managed to find a laundry that could do our washing for pick up that night, and so managed to dash up to Parque Itchimbia for a view of the old town and for a coffee at Cafe Mosaico, also with a great view of the old town.
It was another early start at the airport to fly up to Lago Agrio, about 15kms from the Colombian border (all´s fine, we made it back safely with no sighting of guerillas), followed by a 3 hour drive in an open air bus/truck and 2 hours down the river to Jamu Lodge, where we would stay. When we arrived at the airport, we found that Galiya, one of my friends from school was also coming with us, and another couple from my school, Scott and Sara who had changed dates and were now with us. Add to that a family from France, a girl from Scotland and a lady from Canada (not the sharpest tool in the shed, as they say), and that made our group of 11.
It was a very bumpy drive to the river, leaving everyone with very numb butts, and we had a packed lunch before travelling down the river in a motorised canoe. It was great going down the river, surrounding by so much green-ness – trees and vines and palms and all sorts of other tropical plants. We also spotted a few types of monkeys and birds like toucans and macaws (brilliant colours of aqua and yellow). Surprisingly, it was not as hot as I might have expected, and I hardly got bitten by mosquitoes at all – the mossies were actually far worse in Mindo!
The lodge was a series of little wooden, open air huts on stilts surrounding a communal eating and relaxing area (a bigger hut), and Anna and I had ½ of a bigger hut with our own bathroom. What we decided here was that the lack of hot water in our accommodation is becoming a bit of a theme for us! Despite paying the extra 10 dollards for hot water, I think we actually only got it on too occasions! Oh well, worse things have happened.
So the first afternoon we went out to the Big Lagoon to go swimming – so very refreshing after a long day of travelling, and to much relief, we were not eating by caimans or piranhas nor did we have leeches attached themselves to us. In fact, there was not even a nibble! The only problem that we did encounter that night was when we learned that dinner would not be served until 8pm and there were no snacks between meals! After being spoilt in the Galapagos, none of us knew what to do, and most were ready to naw off another´s arm! But we survived.
The second morning we took a hike through the rainforest, and whilst we didn´t see any Jaguars or big animals like that (the saying is that you are more likely to see a Jaguar in Quito city (the car) than in the jungle, they are so rare), we saw some more types of monkeys, all sorts of birds – the most strange of which were the prehistoric or stinky birds, which honestly looked like they had skipped a few steps in the evolutionary process and belonged more in the era of dinosaurs-, a sloth (one of my other favourite animals b/c they are just so lazy – it takes them 5mins to move 1 metre!), some spiders, bugs etc. We also saw how the indigenous people make rain protectors and ´jungle sleeping bags´ out of palm leaves and got very muddy!
That afternoon we went piranha fishing from our canoe, and we, well actually Anna, had some success in that she caught a red piranha! It may not have broken any records size wise, but nonetheless, a catch is a catch and it was definately a piranha!! Two others from our group also caught piranhas, and we saw how easily they can chomp off someone´s finger with their teeth... no, not really, but they were pretty efficient at chomping through a twig!! They had a serious set of teeth!
The following day we visited a local community and saw how they made yucca bread (a root vegetable/plant thing), which in reality was pretty darn bland, but because we were all so hungry from not snacking during meals, it seemed like the best thing ever at the time. They also made this brilliant chili chutney to go with it, and that spiced things up a bit! We also a visited a ciabo (oops, I´ve already forgotten the name of them, and I think that is wrong!) tree, one of the massive trees that towers above everything else in the rain forest, which has a massive root system, and the particular one we visited requires 23 people standing fingertip to fingertip to circle it – it was huge! We then were supposed to visit a sharman and let him work his magic (or at least demonstrate it) – one of the things they are know for it a potion they make with mushrooms... but unfortunately he didn´t turn up (who knows) so we toddled back to the Lodge and for a swim in the lake again. At some stage during one of our journeys along the river, we also saw an anaconda resting in one of the trees on a banks!
That night we did a night walk through the jungle, and while we coule hear bull frogs talking to one another, we mainly saw spiders – scorpian and wolf spiders, AND a couple hairy taranchulas!, preying mantises etc. On the way back we briefly spotted the eyes of a caiman lurking near the bank of the river. Wouldn´t have liked to have fallen in at that point! On the way back, Washington, our guide, also found for us a boa resting in a tree. Not a constrictor and not very big, but a boa none the less!
Our final morning we went birding watching, and I´m having a mental blank and can´t think of any of the names of what we saw, perhaps could have something to do with how early we had to get up! We then had to make our way back up the river and back to Lago Agrio. What we did see on the way back was an awesome display or acrobatics by a group`of monkeys who were swinging from tree to tree and jumping from side of the river to the other!
We had a mad mad of a driver taking us back to Lago Agrio, and while I should have been terrified for my life, it actually made from an interesting ride. Overtaking on blind corners whilst going up a rise, barely avoiding tumbling off the side of the road and almost colliding with both oncomnig and same direction traffic, but we made it in record time. Now Lago Agrio is not really somewhere I would recommend that anyway puts on their ´to visit´list, b/c pretty much it sucks, but we had a good night with those of us who stayed to catch the flight the next morning.
Now, I can´t bear to write any more at the moment (and this is already more than enough), so I will fill in the past few days at a later date, but we are now in Vilcabamba where we are having tarot card readings, massages and going horse riding and will be heading to Peru in the next few days. This is the life!!
7月8日 The end of school and OtovaloSo Anna arrived almost a week ago, and it´s been great to see a familiar face. She arrived on Tuesday night to an airport absolutely choc a block full of Ecuadorians also waiting to greet the arrivals and it was hard work to navigate through to find each other!
Wednesday afternoon we met up and went up to El Panecillo, a massive statue of a Virgen who towers over the old town, had a few drinks to catch up, and watched most of the South American Club Champions Final of the soccer. I say most b/c between jet-jag and general tiredness, I think that we barely made it to half time. That said, I was very aware when the game ended (even though I was at home) b/c there were car tooting their horns and playing loud music and screaming for hours afterwards – The team from Quito- Liga- won!
Thursday was my final salsa lesson, and it was great because Anna was able to come along also, and then an uneventful farewell get together with a group of other students from the school. There were a few of us leaving the following day, but I´m afraid to say that I was not feeling all that sentimental b/c I was more excited about starting the next part of our holiday! I was, however, sad about saying goodbye to my lovely teacher, Amparo, who was just the best.
Friday afternoon I was out of school as soon as my final lesson was done and we made our way up to Otovalo (about 2 hours north) for the big markets the following morning. They are the biggest markets in Ecuador, and although they are terribly overrun with tourists, they were pretty great. ie we brought a fair bit! Where I did the serious damage, however was when we went across to Cotacachi, a little town about 18kms away which is famous for its leatherwork. I (unfortunately) managed to justify the need for a beautiful pair of chocolate brown leather boots which hardly fit in my pack, but I figure will be great to a winter in London….. we´ll see how the parking goes! But they were a steal!
We are now in Mindo (again for me!). We decided that it might have been a little tricky to do the Latacunga loop and be back in time for the flight to the Galápagos, so we decided on an extra day in Otovalo (time to see the Peguche waterfalls) and then 2 ½ days in Mindo. There are a few things that I didn´t get to do last time, including tubing (down the river) which we are about to do, and visiting some different (and apparently more beautiful waterfalls). Needless tos ay, I am really pleased to be back in this paradise which is Mindo.
So from here we have 5 days in the Galápagos, backed up the following day by 5 days in the jungle. This is the life….! 7月1日 Mindo is one of the greatest places in the world!Time is still flying by here, and now it’s only one sleep until Anna arrives!
I have had quite an amazing past few days, starting with the Papallacta Thermal Springs last Wednesday night. The springs are about 2 hours from Quito, further south east into the Andes, so they are up high and the road wound its way through the mountains to get there. It wasn’t quite as high as Quito, but it was absolutely freezing by the time we got there at about 8.00pm. The springs are totally different to those in Banos, in Papallacta, as there are about 6 or 7 pools, all of which are of differing temperatures ranging from super hot to freezing cold (plunge pools). The amazing thing was that we went up on a Wednesday night, so there was the group of 6 of us and then maybe only 10 people in the rest of the springs - essentially we had the place to ourselves. It was bitterly cold out in the air, but as soon as we jumped into the water we were warm, and it was a funny sensation to be in the warm water - your ears and cheeks to be tingling b/c they were just about frozen. It was also pretty cool to look up and see so many stars amongst the steam from the springs.
Thursday was great, mainly because we went out for dinner for Mike’s birthday (one of the other students) and I had the most amazing, proper steak from and Argentinian Grill restaurant. Mmm...I miss steak!
Then on the weekend I went to Mindo, a town about 2 hours north west of Quito and it was magical. We were supposed to have a school trip there, but only 3 of us signed up, so it was cancelled, but I’d heard so much about it that I didn’t want to miss out, so I decided to go alone. It turned out perfectly.
I arrived there about 10ish and found some brilliant accommodation, recommended by someone in Quito. It was called La Casa de Cecilia and it was just one massive wooden, open plan stilt house with lots of little rooms. I chose a room that was up in the attic, so to get to it I had to climb up a little ladder and then once up there I had the peak of the roof for walls and windows at both ends, though only one frame had a glass pane in it, so it was like sleeping outdoors, but still being snug!
First things first and I had breakfast when I arrived and during this I met two girls from the UK who were doing a similar thing to me for the weekend. So I ended up spending the weekend with them (Holly and Jane) and we had a marvelous time. We walked to the butterfly garden on the Saturday (the area is renowned for its butterflies and bird species) and saw all of these beautiful bright blue, big butterflies which were impossible to capture a good photo of, but seem happy enough to land on anything and anyone. We also discovered a delicious fruit juice bar which served only juices (in every flavour imaginable) for 50c. So we may or may not have gone back a few times, and between the three of us tested just about every flavour! There are some delicious fruits and juices in Ecuador that I have not seen anywhere else, like tree tomatoes, naranjilla and guanabana. Later that evening we also found a brilliant little dessert only café where we had a beautiful mora cobbler (mora is like a native raspberry).
Sunday was action day and we were on the go the entire time. We left our hotel at about 8.30 in the morning and the first stop was the canopy zip ride, which was a series of about 10 cables that you crossed like a flying fox. It was amazing whizzing above the beautiful cloud forest, though a bit hairy at the same time when the guides made us hang upside down or not use our hands. And it was a little disconcerting when we noticed about halfway through how hung-over one of our guides was! But we made it back safely! We then hiked up to a series of waterfalls. Well actually, we hiked to a cable car which took us across a valley and from there we hiked down to the waterfalls. It was a decent hike, so by the time we go there, we were boiling and so went for a swim, but it was absolutely freezing in the water. Definitely felt refreshed afterwards. From there we hightailed it back to town (catching a lift with a local farmer in the back of his ute for the grand price of one dollar per person) just in time for a late lunch of trout (typical of the area) and to jump on the bus back to Quito.
A brilliant weekend, and somewhere that I wish I could have stayed at for longer. But for now, it’s time keep learning Spanish –I only have 4 more days in which to become fluent….. |
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