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Published: September 14th 2006
Quilotoa Lake
It was windy and cold up there, but the views were stunning!Hello all,
Well, from the messages we have received so far, it would seem that our first blog entry went down really well with you all, so we hope this one does not disappoint!
So, what have we been doing these past 3 weeks or so?
After the Amazon, we headed south to a tiny little village called Chugchilan, which is high in the Andes and located on the so-called Quilotoa Loop. It is one of those places that has only one road and one shop and about 20 inhabitants! Fortunately, it also has a fantastic little hostel called Mamma Hilda´s, which is where we stayed for a couple of nights. There were no English speakers here, so our "pigeon" Spanish was severely put to the test! The highlight was a wonderful 6 hour walk from Lake Quilotoa back to the hostel, including a hair raising scramble across a 10 metre section of still moving landslide - certainly got the heart rate up! The lake is formed in a huge volcanic crater and is absolutely beautiful. To get the lake in the photo, we had to make ourselves very small, but we hope the picture gives you some
The Valley
Down below, we were to encounter the landslide. No time for vertigo! idea of the beauty!
After Chugchilan, we headed further south to Riobamba. This is a town currently being cleaned up as it got covered in ash when the Tongaruhua (or some similar spelling) volcano erupted a few week´s back. The air was pretty dirty, so we did not stay here for very long.
Our next notable stop was Ecuador´s biggest city, Guayaquil, where we indulged in some much needed western style fast food, before heading east to the coast and Puerto Lopez. It was from here that we did a whale watching tour and were fortunate enough to see 3 hump back whales, one of which was spectacularly breaching out of the water for fun - a wonderful sight.
Then it was back to Quito in time for our 8 day Galapagos trip. Without doubt, this has been the highlight of our travels so far. The islands are not only beautiful, but a wildlife haven. As you may well know, it is here that Darwin did a lot of his research that would later go on to help him devise his evolutionay theories. The reason - the vast numbers of endemic species, which often vary from one
Galapagos Sealions
Sue and Mark get up close and personal! island to the next. The most famous must be the "Blue Footed Boobies". Sue was very keen to buy me a t-shirt sporting the slogan "I love Boobies", but in the end she resisted the temptation!
Other highlights of the Galapagos would be the many sealions, the giant turtles and the iguanas. The beaches, swimming with sealions and snorkelling with sharks, were also fantastic. The worst moment - the constant threat (in Mark´s case) of sea sickness, but hey, what do you expect spending 7 days on a boat touring around the Galapagos?!
Well, we are now in Cuenca, which is in the south of Ecuador. Within the next 2 days we will be crossing the border to Peru, and the strenuous Inca Trail will be just 10 days away!! Collective fingers crossed please that Sue´s knee holds up!
That´s all for now folks!
All the best,
Mark and Sue
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Tracey
non-member comment
It looks and sounds fantastic - great photos! My news is, I played a good game of tennis on Tuesday... doesn't quite compare, eh?! Enjoy the Inca. x