Boobies and Volcanoes

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Only a few minutes after arriving in Ecuador we knew we would like this country, partly it was the beautiful night view we had flying in to Quito, partly the friendly customs people and taxi driver, partly the lack of military presence after Venezuela but mostly it had to do with the tiny people in traditional dress with their smart green hats. They look so wonderfully cute.

FIRST DAYS IN QUITO

Our arrival was late in the evening and Quito was supposed to be a dangerous place, so we thought we had booked a hotel with a taxi pick-up, but unable to get to internet café due to political rally in St Elena I was unable to confirm the reservation. Thus the taxi was not there, “No hay problema” as there was a friendly lady at the exit who directed us to the taxi rank and told us what to expect to pay. The 20-minute ride through the city was full of new and different looking places which were almost deserted at that time of night. We arrived at our hotel to find that taxi driver did not have change and we only had a $20 bill. Eventually after much stressing over bags and ringing of the hotel doorbell, Carl managed to get him to give us $15 change (we scored a dollar off the tourist fare of $6).

Thankfully they had our reservation but as we had not confirmed it they said they did not have any rooms for the next night. We would need to check with reception in the morning as they often get free rooms. While we were checking in a couple with really strong South African accents arrived. We have not encounters many South Africans on our travels and got chatting. The lady claimed to be from Swaziland not South Africa although she told us she had been heavily involved in the ANC during the struggle. (The next morning they sat next to us at breakfast and without ever pausing for breath she launched a tirade against everything South African. She had many conspiracy theories and Carl found her so annoying he faked stomach troubles as an excuse to leave.)

The room was clean and the sheets smooth so I slept really well even though I needed to get up early to ensure that we did not have to move hotels the next day. I left Carl in bed and went to sort out the room. Thankfully one had come available and it had a private bathroom for $4 more. This room was at the top of 3 flights of stairs, which left us feeling the affects of altitude and out of breath each time we returned to out room (Quito is 2900m above sea level).

In the afternoon we decided to explore the town a bit and the same South African couple recommended the Artisans Market, which seemed to be the only thing open as it was a public holiday (The real holiday was 2 days earlier but to make a long weekend they decided to move it to a Friday!). We enjoyed the people and colours of the market and looked at every stall although most sold exactly the same thing. After our bit of Window shopping we felt a little peckish and found a funny circular shopping centre which had a huge spiral staircase up the middle around which the shops were located. As I was getting grumpy and ready to head home we spotted a little café type place which served Almuezo (lunch - which usually consists of 3 courses and tea) for $1.20. As I do not like soup (Carl hates hearing about my dislike of liquiefied food!) I decided to go Al Carte with a very non-traditional Hamberguesa and Carl went for something that sounded more adventurous but turned out to be a Hamburger pate without the roll and garnish on a plate of chips. After 2 coffees we ended up paying an extortionate $2.80 for the both of us.

We returned to market where after a little encouragement Carl decided to buy a Panama Hat which I think it looks great. (Andy/ Rich - No comments on what kind of Character it makes him look like - I am still trying to get Carl to wear polar-necks after your Eastern European Taxi Driver comments). The people in Quito speak clear and slow Spanish which is much easier to understand so we made a big effort to speak to everyone we met.

JUNGLE TOUR FROM TENA

After a major reorganisation of our baggage so that we only needed to take a single bag we got an early morning ride from Quito to our Jungle Lodge. Driving out through Quito we found just how hilly the city is. Parts of the city must be half a kilometre lower than others and there are some cliffs and steep ravines.

Initially we descended but then we began climbing up and up until it got really cold, the taxi driver told us the altitude was 3500m at the highest point but other people have since informed us that it is 4200m. On route we had a really good view of snow-capped Cotopaxi, the worlds highest active volcano. After reaching the highest point on the pass we began descending and continued to do so for the next 4(x4) hours.

The road down towards Amazonas was a patchwork of tarred sections and heavily eroded gravel sections. This we are told is because the contracts for road construction are split into small sections and allocated to different companies. Some companies have completed their work and some haven’t, also the companies leave a patch between their zones so that it is easier to measure how much they have done.

After 6 hours we finally arrived at our jungle destination, Cotacotcha Lodge, and realised that we were not going to get quite the pristine jungle experience we had hoped for. We were only a 20km from the very large town of Puerto Napo and the road to the lodge appeared to be very busy.

The lodge itself was very smart and we were given a tastefully decorated room overlooking the river. It seemed we had paid for luxury as opposed to remoteness, not something we would generally go for.

Two hours later we were called to go on a tour to an indigenous village and trekked off down the main road escorted by the cook as he could speak English. The village did not look all that traditional as it had corrugated iron roofs and the timber all clearly came form a saw mill, the people also all wore T-shirts with political slogans on them. At the village we also met our guide for the next 5 days, a Dutch girl called Marika who had recently completed hotel school. At the village they showed us how they pan for gold, make pottery and brew Chicha from Yucca. We ate some Yucca and drank some of the foul tasting Chicha before having a go with a 2m long blowgun. We were not allowed to shoot the chickens and had to make do with wounding a terrified banana palm.

“Remote Waterfall” and Butterfly Farm

The next morning we got up for our excursion to a remote waterfall. This involved crossing the busy road on the opposite side of the river, passing a small drinks shop, a bar with booming music and then trekking up through some coco and coffee plantations. Jungle?

When we returned to the Lodge we decided we needed to get on another trip as this was not what we wanted. Unfortunately though the only way we could get to a phone was to go back to Puerto Napo and that would only be possible the next day, in which case we would have to miss any excursion. This place had all the disadvantages of being remote but none of the advantages.

The afternoon excursion was a tube ride down the Napo, during which I managed to loose my prescription sunglasses, and a visit to a butterfly farm. The butterfly farm was run by a Man who started breeding butterflies as he wanted to know more about them. He had no books or people to ask so he had to find out all about them himself observing them in the wild to find out which plants they liked the most. It was pretty impressive for a personal science project.

Jungle Walk

The next morning Nicola was not well. She had a very bad case of Diarrhoea and was not going to be able to do anything. It seemed there was no point in trying to reorganise the trip if she was not going to be able to enjoy it so we resigned ourselves to staying at Cotacotcha.

That days excursion was a jungle walk to a deep pond that was good for swimming. Marika was not coming on this trip so I got to talk Spanish with the local man who was to be our guide. He showed us lots of different plants and we got to eat some lemon flavoured ants. Yum! On route I also tried swinging from a Liana Tarzan style. This walk did not go through agricultural land and was much more enjoyable than the previous days experience.

Rafting

With Nicky heavily dosed with Immodium we started the next day bright and early for a days rafting on the upper Napo. The Jatun Yaku as it is known in the local dialect is only a class three river but there had been a bit of rain the previous two nights so it was pretty exciting. Our guides were completely loco (crazy) and kept us busy with all sorts of crazy stunts and inter raft wars. On one of the rapids 4 of us got thrown and the Canadian Man opposite me claimed that I hit the base of his neck as I went overboard. He moaned about how sore it was for most of the rest of the trip.

For lunch we stopped at a large beach were a group of local children had gathered anticipating our arrival. Turkino, our guide, had brought a Frisbee and football and I spent the next hour playing with the kids until I ran out of energy.

In the afternoon we stopped at a place where a very narrow ravine joined the main river and went for a walk inside. There were different coloured clays in the ravine so the guides decided to paint everyone with the clays. George, the other guide, even went as far as making himself a beard out of moss. It was a laugh and a good reason to jump into the river and get wet again.

AmaZOOnica

Armed with a couple anti- diarrhoea of tablets from Marika I decided to risk a visit to an Animal Sanctuary called AmaZOOnica as I definitely did not want to miss out on seeing animals (even if we make it to the primary jungle we would only hear them and not see them). The rest of our group for this trip was 2 Dutch Families with very enthusiastic kids. On the way we stopped at a museum which contained traps used by the natives to catch the animals we were about to visit. The traps in the museums were smaller scale working versions, which caused much amusement among the younger members of our group when triggered. After blow-pipe tryouts we carried on to AmaZOOnica. As we climbed up from the river bank Carl was greeted by a woolly monkey who was lounging around the top of the stairs. He got up and came over to investigate Carl until the Ducth kids came careering up and he retreated up the stairs at pace.

Kayaking and the trip back to Quito

Still suffering from the dreaded runs I could not go far from the toilet and feeling rather weak from lack of food I decided against the Kayaking trip, which was the last day of our Jungle itinerary. Instead I stayed in Tena where I read my book, practiced my Spanish at the Internet Café, Bus Station and the Bank. I had some small wanders round the town on each of the above missions and came across some baby chickens in an incubator in the hardware store and piles of crates stuffed with adults (still alive).

Without Nicola, I set off for a private kayaking trip with a Guide called Gino. I told him that I did not wish to speak English that day so we conversed in Espanol. The river we paddled was only a class 2 so it was really easy and I spent the time perfecting my Eskimo rolls whenever we passed through a deep section. On route we passed through an area where the locals spearfish for a really ugly looking fish which was mostly head and very little body. At the end our warm clear river joined up with the cold silt laden Jatun Yaku and it was interesting to see how long the waters remained separate downstream.

Carl arrived earlier than expected, but I had been too efficient and bought our tickets back to Quito so we had a couple of hours to kill. After ordering Pizza we realised the couple of hours had almost gone and we ran to the main road with out Pizza in take away boxes and managed to flag down our bus after being directed to the correct side of the road. We were lucky we had reserved seats as the bus was packed!!

QUITO AGAIN - THE DOCTOR

It was now five days that Nicola had been sick for so I insisted that she go see a doctor as it would be terrible to be ill in the Galapagos. The trip to the doctor verified that our efforts at learning Spanish had been of some point as we were able to describe her symptoms and understand the doctor’s advice even though she spoke not a word of English. The doctor was very thorough and only charged us $10 for the consultation.

As we are very far behind Don and Bob on the Volcano stakes, we though we would organise a cycle trip for after the Galapagos, which would take us to the Cotopaxi (Worlds highest active volcano), Chimbarazo (Highest Mountain in Ecuador) and Quilatoa (Large collapsed volcano which has formed a crater lake - Caldera). The company we chose was the Biking Dutchman.

GALAPAGOS

Skipping breakfast to get an extra 45 minutes sleep, we headed to the airport to embark on our most expensive journey yet, the Galapagos. We had opted for a 5 day cruise as we wanted to make sure we were on a good boat to ensure safe diving and could not afford to go for longer at that price. Considering how cheap the rest of Ecuador is the Galapagos is definitely an anomaly, it costs US$500 per person just to get there (US$400 flight and the US$100 park entrance fee), then once you are there you need to be on a boat (which is expensive at the best of times) as you are not allowed to stay overnight on most of the Islands. The operators have no problem filling the boats and discounts are few and far between especially when you have specific requirements, such as itinerary and diving.

After landing and paying our entrance fee ($100) and collecting our bags from a jumbled pile, we excited the airport wearing our Guantanamera passenger stickers so the guide could identify us. Our Guide quickly spotted us and introduced us to some of our fellow passengers that he had already rounded up and then he set off to find the rest of his flock. Our Guide’s name was Jorge (Spanish for George) he was very bossy from the outset and as we were to experience throughout our trip, a control freak who loved to hear himself speak. Carl was the first to experience his tyranny as he had decided that is was not possible to the diving that we had booked 3 months in advance as he was not happy with Carl’s childhood Asthma. After much arguing we negotiated that we would sign a waiver and he would take us diving…

A bus took us from the airport to an aquamarine bay choked with boats of various shapes and sizes. From the dock we could see sea lions that had jumped up and were sleeping on some of the unmanned boats. The coastline alternated between white beaches and volcanic rocks and was littered with sea lions and the occasional pelican. Every now and then a bird would come darting at high speed from above us and dive into the water to try and catch fish, these were our first blue footed boobies.

Guantanemera was a “Tourist Superior” class and met our expectations exactly, it slept 16 tourists and had a crew of 6 plus our despotic guide. The cabins were clean and had private bathrooms, there was a dining salon and bar, an area up top for relaxing under a shade cloth, and a sun area with loungers in front of the bridge. Six of the passengers were already on the boat having opted for a 8 day cruise that started three days earlier. Our neighbours in the downstairs cabins, which had smelly aircon instead of windows but double beds) were Lars (Denmark) and Mojabeng (from Lesotho but Studying in the US), in the worst tourist cabin on the boat, no window and short beds, the party animals, Andy (Australia) and Matt (Canada). The upstairs the cabins were inhabited by a German couple, a Danish Couple, 4 Oregonians (Alan, Nancy, Andrew and Lauren), Seela from San Francisco and Sam a fellow long-term traveller from England.

After being fed and watered, we were given an illustrated overview by Jorge (He had quite talent for drawing) of our plans for the next few days and the rules of the boat and the National park. I decided it was time for a rest, not sleeping well the previous night due to an all night party near to our hostel, which lasted until 6am. While I was sleeping Carl said that a giant sea turtle swam under our boat.

Our first trip was to the Interpretation Centre for an overview of the Galapagos. Jorge could certainly confer a lot of information on the natural history and other facts about the islands (Too much according to Carl). He then left us to wander round and take in the rest of the display ourselves. Carl and I keen to see the animals, rather than read about them, decided to rush through and rather sped our time wandering along the shoreline.

After chasing lizards and crabs and clambering over rocks, we came across a beach where a couple of sea lions were lazing under a palm tree in front of a dive shop. One very noisy one kept on barking, much to the annoyance of its sleeping companions who would roll over and bite it to try shut it up. After watching for a while, Carl suggested I sit on a rock close to the sea lions for a picture as the seemed not to be taking any notice of our presence. The minute I sat down one of the smaller ones came running towards me and I had to jump up quickly to escape. We were not sure if it was being friendly or aggressive.

Further along where the beach turned to volcanic rock again we found a pelican that posed very nicely for our photos and our first marine iguana. We arrived at the pier, where we were to be picked up, with an hour to spare so we spent the rest of our time looking at postcards and trying to pose with a very large sea lion who had climbed up onto the harbour wall. We were not the only people with this idea and each time someone got a little too close he would give a loud warning bark sending people running. Carl however managed to get rather close without a single bark.

That night we were regretted not opting for a longer trip, there was so much to see and so little time. It seemed that Galapagos was filled with all the elements of our ideal travel destination. It had history, it had beautiful scenery, we could do walks, swim in the sea, dive, and we could get really close to wildlife without them seeming at all that bothered. We really loved the co-existence of the animals and tourists and the diversity of the islands landscapes, plants and animals. We managed to cram a lot into our 5 days, 3 full days and 2 half days either side. Below is a brief description our experiences on the different islands.

San Cristobel

Airport, main dock and Interpreation Centre. Lots of sea lions, boats and tourist shops. You can stay on this island and there are hotels and dive shops in abundance.

North Seymor

This small island is completely national park and not populated by humans - tourists all have to leave at sunset.

We saw: 2 species of Frigate Birds, Boobies, Land and Marine Iguanas, and the ever-present sea lions.

We never tired of seeing sea lions as they were so photogenic and full of character and provided you gave them a meter of space they were completely unperturbed by our presence. The Frigate birds are the stars of this island, the male of one of the species has a large red pouch, which he inflates and makes a funny clattering noise to try and attract a female as she flies over. They are very vulnerable when they have their pouch inflated because if punctured they will not be able to attract a mate until it heals and sometimes they can die. They have the pouch for the breeding season only. Jorge told us that many males die in the breeding season and the many carcasses and skeletons were evidence of clumsy birds that got their pouches punctured or themselves tangled in the bushy shrubs that they nest in. Jorge dragged us reluctantly back to the boat as we wanted more time just to watch.

South and North Plaza

This small island was Carl’s favourite. There was a red plant covering most of the ground (it goes red in the dry season to stop photosynthesis and therefore conserve water), tall cactuses and prickly pears and the rocks had been turned white by years of guano accumulation. We were introduced to our first Beach-Master (When Jorge says Beach-Master it sounds like “Bitch-Master”, but he was quick to clarify that it was indeed a Beach-Master), which is a very large male sea lion that owns an area of beach where his harem of females live. He is constantly patrolling and keeping it safe for his harem and also guarding it from hopeful bachelors who try and sneakily mate with his females. The defensive duties of the Beach-Master make him the grumpiest of the sea lions and the one animal in the Galapagos that has been know to injure people. The poor bachelors who don’t make it to Beach-Master are relegated to the cliffs on the other side of the island and are not allowed to cross any of the Beach-Masters’ territories.

After lunch we prepared for our first dive, it was a spot called Gordon’s Rocks which was a submerged volcano crater famous for Hammerhead sharks. This is a technically difficult dive as there are very strong current sweeping through the centre of the crater and strong wave action at the surface that can drag you onto the tips of the taller crater pinnacles that are above the water level. Another difficulty is that the whole aim of the dive is to search for the hammerheads so it can require many changes in depth. That day the waves were huge so huge that little dinghy we were diving from could not stay still for very long, we all jumped very quickly and almost immediately we went down. The plan was to wait for a while and if the Hammerheads did not appear to swim along the inside of the crater until we saw them. We were lucky as they our first hammerheads appeared pretty quickly. During the dive we saw quite a number of them and some came really close, some Jorge thought were over 4m in length. It felt surreal to be finally seeing this strange looking creature that we had only seen in books and on TV right in front of us and we needed to remind ourselves that it was real. Exhilarated we surfaced and clambered onto the dinghy in the huge chop and went back to the boat. We did not bother to take our wetsuits off as almost immediately we were to join the rest of our group to go snorkelling with sea lions. Despite a huge headaches caused by the unusual profile of the dive we could not pass the opportunity to go snorkelling with sea lions.

We jumped in off the dingy and Jorge told us to swim up to swimming sea lions and play with them as they will play back if encouraged. Armed with underwater camera, Carl was trying to get good sea lion swimming shots, when a huge Beach-Master came to investigate. I got the shock of my life and tried desperately to get out of his way, he did not seem to be aggressive but his size was intimidating. The smaller sea lions were really playful and would swim right up to us before darting off in another direction. Their agility in the water was quite a contrast to their clumsiness on land. Once we rounded a point and the number of sea lions decreased we entered an area where a whole lot of sea turtles were grazing. As with the land creatures on land the underwater creatures seemed most unperturbed by our presence and we were able to get really close to them. Cold but very happy, we got back onto the boat where everyone was animatedly describing what they had seen.

Espanola

Our morning walk on Espanola took us to see Blue-footed Boobies, Nasca Boobies, many pairs of Galapagos Albatrosses and with the standard Sea-Lions and Marine Iguanas. The boobies are really photogenic and the young stare at you with their cute faces as if they have never seen a human before. We settled for a while by an Albatross runway, where Albatrosses land and take off as they needed and area clear of trees. We saw a couple of failed attempts to land, the Albatross would come in and then decide not to land for some reason, and no take-offs. We did however see many examples of the Albatross dances, which the birds use to demonstrate affection and cement their monogamous relationships. There was also a blowhole that emits a jet of water when a larger wave crashes into an underwater cave. Jorge told us that occasionally, once a month, he saw flying Iguanas come out of the hole along with the spray, as at low tide the Marine Iguanas graze on the algae in the cave and sometimes get caught in a big wave which drives them up into the air through the hole in the roof of the cave. We unfortunately were not lucky enough to see these flying Iguanas.

The ultimate dive
Preparation for our second dive included Jorge bringing along a long stick (broom handle without the broom), as last time he did this dive and enormous Galapagos shark had seemed to attack the diver he was guiding before changing its mind at the last moment.

This dive was the most AWESOME dive we had ever done. We were supposed to diving off a reef but the current was so strong that we did not see much of the reef as we were washed off it pretty fast. But we saw the most amazing amount marine life. There were huge turtles everywhere, like cows grazing in a field. We saw many groups of Eagle rays with some of the biggest individuals we have ever seen, huge shoals of fish, snapper, wahoo, and many other species of fish which we could not name, many sting rays and star fish. We also encountered a shimmering vertical inversion layer where the temperature was 12 degrees Celsius colder. Swimming through it was like diving into a swimming pool.

We had luckily / unluckily had not encountered the enormous Galapagos shark, However, as we headed towards the surface for our safety stop we looked down to see more than 30 Galapagos sharks circling below us. Carl had almost run out of air and unfortunately there was no going back, we had to admire them from above.

Turtle Rock snorkelling
Back on the main boat we had lunch and described what we had seen before heading off for some snorkelling off Turtle Rock. Turtle rock is so named because it looks like a giant turtle floating on the waves. This time we did not wear wet suits (too buoyant) so when we found a group of Reef sharks sleeping on the sandy bottom we were able to swim down to them to get a closer look. In one area we also found a group of Stingrays which Ceela tried counting but stopped at 40. The underwater world of the Galapagos is comparable with the above water world for brilliance of wildlife sightings.

After our Snorkelling we had some beach time where we could relax on the white sand among the Sea-lions, swim, snorkel or investigate the rocks at the end of the beach. I decided after a couple of Sea-Lion photo-shoots that it was time to take advantage of the sunshine (of which we had had very little since arriving in the islands), so I settled down to read my book. Carl decided to take some photos and see what was happening at the rocks. There he found a large number of turtles were feeding and kept popping their heads up to breath and spent a good while trying to catch them in mid breath. This was no easy task as they only need a second in which to take a breath. The resulting photos were not all that great but it was a pretty fun game.

That night before dinner Jorge subjected us to a half hour lecture on tipping. No one was impressed.

Floreana

As we had wanted to visit the Darwin Station to see the giant tortoise (For some reason people kept calling them land turtles, which we made every effort to correct) breeding station we had to get up really early. This to us was a bonus as we would get to the island before any of the other groups and have it all to ourselves.

It was still slightly dark when we set off in the dingy towards shore. When we arrived there Jorge showed us some green crystals on the beach that look really nice, we were told, when the sun shines before taking us to a lake where there are a number of Galapagos Flamingos feeding on the rich waters. After a brief talk on the flamingos Jorge started telling us about some Germans that lived on this island at one point. The story went on and on until we could see other groups arriving on the island so that we no longer had it to ourselves. No one was in the least bit interested in the story and the non-English first language people were looking particularly unimpressed. When Jorge had used up nearly all our time on the island he told us that we would have to rush through the rest of the island. To make matters worse we now had other groups in between us and the other sights so we had to wait for them before progressing.

The other major attraction of this part of Floreana was a beautiful sandy beach with aquamarine waters. If you stand in the waters you can see young stingrays swimming across the bottom. No sooner had we arrived there before Jorge was trying to get us to leave. The Germans in the group were furious and in protest stood firm on the beach muttering something with a lot of “sheizer” in it. Eventually they relented and we were marched back to the dingy. The light at this point was really beautiful but Jorge would not let us stop to take pictures of the flamingos.

Post office bay
Our next destination on Floreana was Post Office Bay, this is where old whaling ships left their mail to hopefully be picked up by another passing ship heading towards their intended destination. Tourists now leave postcards there in the hope that other tourists will provide a similar service.

We still seemed to be behind schedule and Jorge made us rush up and kept telling us that we needed to be quick. We found a postcard for South Africa but did not take it as Jorge insisted that we had to take it right to the persons door (According to the guide books you only need to take it to the destination country before mailing it.) and we had no plans to go to Durban in the near future. We also left a post card for our two sets of parents.

Last Dive
Just 20 minutes after visiting post office bay we found ourselves wet-suited up and ready to see what lies below in the deep. This dive was near to the shore of Floreana and the current was tremendously strong. Almost immediately after submerging we saw some Galapagos sharks and at one point there was a really large one that swam by. We saw a really big sleeping turtle and lots of other active ones. There was also an abundance of eagle rays and stingrays and group of ten sleeping white tip sharks.

The rocks were covered in a large variety of nudibranchs, urchins and crustaceans but it was difficult to look at them as Jorge was swimming so fast, I tried to signal him to swim slower but he seemed to indicate that I should be finning harder. There was no way to voice my displeasure so we continued with our high speed traversal of the ocean floor. Soon the current brought us to another thermocline but unlike on the previous dive we could not stay on the warm side. Very quickly we began to get much colder and Nicola had to ask Jorge to end the dive. When we got out of the water I told Jorge he should be moving slower so we can also look at the smaller things. Later I came to the conclusion that he had been unable to fight the current as he had quite small fins.

Darwin Centre

After a four hour boat trip we arrived at the Island of Santa Cruz where we were only meant to re-supply but had persuaded Jorge to allow us to visit the Darwin centre (This was on our itinerary). The Darwin Centre is an internationally staffed and funded research station, which studies the natural environment of the Galapagos and provides information to the government to help in its management.

At the Darwin Centre there is also a giant tortoise and land iguana breeding program, this is what we had come to see. Land tortoises are very slow growing and have suffered greatly at the expense of introduced species. Rats eat the eggs and young, pigs the smaller tortoises and goats out compete them for food. The centre collects the newly laid eggs from the islands and raises them until they are sufficiently large to handle the introduced pests. All the tortoises from the different islands are labelled with a different coloured paint blob so that they can be returned to their islands when grown up. One of the stars of the tortoise breeding centre is Lonesome George, the last surviving example of a particular island’s subspecies. There has been a massive effort to find him a compatible mate but none has been found. The centre has even tried to get him to breed with a different subspecies but he is just not interested. It seems the last surviving member of his subspecies is gay.

That night we had feedback forms and tip envelopes waiting for us on our beds. On the forms we said that we thought Jorge would do well to break his talks into smaller chunks so that we would have more time to look around and take photographs. Pretty much everyone came to ask us about these forms as they wanted to say the same thing.

San Cristobel Again and HOME

After a very rough nights sailing, we arrived in San Cristobel in time for breakfast, packing and a short walk to Frigate Bird Hill which was rather uninspiring compared to the rest of the trip as we had already visited this island and as it was inhabited by humans (and therefore Cats and dogs) had very few birds left. The most exciting element of the walk was when Jorge decided to lecture the whole group on their feedback forms. He even went as far as pointing us out and saying that backpackers don’t really care about nature. Carl had finally had enough of Jorge and decided to explain what the group was really trying to say. Without losing his temper over something that had been brooding for days, he was very calm and collected and explained that it was not the information that we wanted less of but that we wanted shorter sessions broken up by walking rather than listening to the entire day’s lecture at once and then having to walk fast and spend less time at other places. Jorge did not take well to this and went on disparaging about how backpacker types just did not want to know anything but other people did. Carl also explained to Jorge that if he wanted to explain tipping to us he should keep it really short and simple as most people found it offensive. Jorge’s response was that he had been a guide for sixteen years and knew what he was doing.

The opinion of the entire group as we had a debriefing session after Jorge had left us to our own devices was that he was a tyrant of note and we all felt the same way about how much information he imparted at a time and how long he took to impart it. They were very happy that Carl had spoken up.

There was time for a super delicious passion-fruit shake and then onto the airport for our flight back to Quito.

When we returned to Quito we confirmed our trip with the Biking Dutchman and then went on to reorganise our bags. That night we met up with some of our new friends from the Guantanamera and went out for dinner.

3 Days - 3 Volcanoes

Cotopaxi (5897m) - Worlds Highest Active Volcano

The next morning we were up early and it was clear that we had not adjusted all that well to the change in altitude between the Galapagos and the Mountains, it was a bit worrying that we were about to gain another 1700m in the next four hours. For the first two days we would be cycling with a Swiss girl (Christina) who was working at a lodge in the Jungle, a really nice young man from Colorado (Michael) and two Londoners (Gideon and Katie) who want to go live in Spain.

Soon after setting off in the Landcruiser with the bikes mounted on top the clouds closed in and shut off our views of the Avenue of Volcanoes. On route we stopped briefly to pick up the Londoners and to eat a Diarrhoea inducing breakfast that troubled Carl for the rest of our cycle expedition. When we entered Cotopaxi National Park the clouds were so thick that we could barely see more than 50m in any direction, it seemed would have to rely on the postcards sold at the museum to have any idea of what we were really doing.

When we reached the top of the trail where we were to start our cycling it began to snow and Beto, our guide, suggested that we go drive down a bit before starting as it would just be unpleasant. We were not that happy as we felt that it was bit like cheating so we decided to wait a little while to see if the snow cleared. Almost immediately it stopped so it was all systems go. Beto issued us with knee pads, elbow pads, helmets, gloves and bikes and then gave us a safety briefing, “Stay on right, use back breaks more than front, lean back, look out for cars!” and then we were off. The road was steep and heavily corrugated with lots of very tight bends, it was hard work and the most severe body shakings you could devise. Seven days later I am still rubbing Voltaren gel into my right wrist to ease the pain. After about 600m decent we reach the plateau where for the first time we had to pedal, at 4000m flat feels like uphill.

When we reached the half way point Nicola lay flat on her back (a common pose these days) and I had some diarrhoea issues to deal with. Lunch looked great but I could not eat and the altitude made me want to curl up and go to sleep (Near a toilette). After lunch we had another 20km to go, mostly downhill but with killer hill one and killer hill two to deal with. My competitive instinct overwhelmed my altitude and stomach troubles and soon I was racing Michael down the volcanic trail. There are some purple and yellow flowers and some pretty unusual plants that grow on Cotopaxi’s slopes but all we saw were blurs as we zoomed down (Sorry no photographs). Michael and I reached the end together but it was quite clear that he had a lot more in reserve.

Once we had reassembled and racked the bikes it was off to mighty Chimborazo, 6310m. The top of Chimborazo is the point furthest from the centre of the earth, 2220m further than the summit of Everest (No need to climb that now). On route we stopped at a petrol station where Nicola was accused of stealing a coke. She walked in picked up a coke, realised she had left her money in the car, returned the coke to the fridge, fetched her wallet and then tried to buy coke. They claimed she had taken a coke when she left to fetch her wallet. Would she really return to pay for another if she had?

Chimborazo - Point Furthest from the Centre of the Earth

That night we stayed in an old railway station on the lower slopes of Chimborazo that had been converted into a guesthouse. Around the guesthouse were a number of llamas, which we tried to stroke with no luck, and a security duck that hissed at everybody. Nicola loved the place and set about photographing all the furniture and particularly the masks they had decorating the dinning area. We had our first taste of Coca Tea to help with altitude sickness and I played cards with the Gideon, Katie and Michael and lost horribly.

Beto advised us that the sight of Chimborazo at sunrise is well worth getting out of bed for so we set our alarm for 05:30 before going to bed. At 04:00 someone’s alarm went off and as we knew it wasn’t ours we waited for someone to turn it off. This did not happen and eventually we got up and found someone’s mobile phone in the kitchen was responsible. At 05:30 our alarm went off but it was still pitch black so we dozed a bit waiting for the sun to come up. At 06:00 dim light began filtering in to our room so we got up to find that we were in very thick mist and that Chimborazo was completely obscured. All that sleep disruption for nothing.

After breakfast we loaded up the Landcruiser and set off for another days adventure. On route the clouds briefly lifted off the mountain and we screeched to a halt to take pictures. The lower slopes of the mountain are a patchwork of agricultural plots of different colours and textures and the upper slopes are red rock and ice. Set against a blue, blue sky it more than made up for the no show of Cotopaxi the previous day.

When we reached the top of the road I was pleased to find that I had adjusted to the altitude and felt much more energised than the previous day. This was a good thing as we would be hiking to the second base camp of Chimborazo at 5000m before our cycling. When we started the hike we were quite shocked to see Beto, Michael and Christina bounding up at high speed as we have always been told to keep things slow when at altitude. We stuck to the slowly, slowly approach we learnt in Kilimanjaro and were not surprised to find Beto complaining of a headache we finally caught up with them at the base camp. After a group photo we headed back down to start our cycling.

The road down Chimborazo was a little less steep than Cotopaxi and had fewer corrugations the weather was also significantly better which made for a really enjoyable cycle. No racing this time as we kept stopping to take photos. When we reached the end of the first part of the days cycle a dust storm picked up and we decided to lunch later at the start of the next cycle leg.

The second cycle leg was on the lower slopes and we cycled through an area where all the people seemed to be living a traditional life with ancient farming methods and everyone was dressed in traditional outfits with smart black hats. The surface on which we cycled varied constantly; sandy at the top which became muddy when rain started falling, cobbles which just about shake the bones out your body and a tarred section at the bottom. Nicola had a very slow fall on the muddy section. On the tarred section some of us formed a small peleton and slipstreamed each other so that we could go really fast with a minimum of effort. At the end everyone was out of breath and covered in mud but feeling very pleased with what we had seen and done that day. The Chimborazo cycle day is highly recommended.

Quilatoa - Crater Lake

As we were the only members of our group going on to Quilatoa we said goodbye to the rest of the group and headed off with Beto for the third of our volcano adventures. With the group down to the three of us I decided to sit up front. To get a conversation started I mentioned to Beto that there appeared to be a big difference between the rich and the poor in Ecuador. It seemed like I had opened a set of floodgates and all his disillusionment with governmental corruption and international involvement in Ecuadorian politics came pouring out. It was clear that Beto had been fairly political in his youth and had thought long and hard about why Ecuador is the way it is.

He discussed the banking collapse of 2001 which resulted in all the Bankers leaving with 40% of the countries assets to go live in Miami and the then president in becoming a business lecturer at Harvard. How the percentage of people under the poverty line has accelerated since the discovery of oil in the Amazonas. The war between Peru and Ecuador which Ecuador won but ended up loosing territory due to US pressure and a large amount of money changing hands. However, Beto was happy to tell us, the village we were heading was one place which was an exception to this decline. The villagers of Quilatoa gave up on waiting for the government to provide them with services so they collected money from the community and set about bettering their situation. They build a tarred road connecting themselves with the main road network and built some hostels to service the tourist industry. We would notice, he told us, how happy this community was and how everyone was always smiling.

When we arrived there this was indeed the case and Beto was clearly energised by the progress the hostel was making and was proud to point out to us that the electric lighting in the hostel was a new addition since he had last visited. While we enjoyed a dinner of what may have been Guinea Pig we heard all about how things had changed over the last few years and how some of the village children were now able to attend school. It seemed that in this situation tourism was a definite force for the better.

After a diarrhoea interrupted sleep we woke up for the third in our series of volcano adventures. In the morning we walked to the crater rim for a spectacular view of the green lake a few hundred meters below before walking down to see it up close. The walk down although spectacular was fairly treacherous so we were quite pleased that Nicola had organised some mules to carry us back up to the rim. My mule was amazing, it never stopped unless I asked it to and seemed to know the most optimal route to the top. Nicola’s mule was both hungry and lazy and she had quite a job persuading it to keep going.

On route, at the narrowest point on the whole trail, we ended up in a complete log jam with a flock of sheep coming into the crater to graze. The path was way to steep for my mule to reverse and the sheep were afraid of the mule and did not want to walk past it. Traffic jam Quilatoa style! As my mule advanced the sheep bunched closer and closer together looking absolutely terrified until they were on top of each other. In the end my mule herd picked up the sheep and forced them down hill until about half the sheep were on behind us and the herding instinct took over and they decided to run past the mule as quickly as they could.

Back on top it was time to get back on the bikes for a scenic ride to the neighbouring village. This included a punishing uphill which we were both quite proud to have managed especially considering we were 3800m above sea level. Afterwards we ascended by Landcruiser to a where we had a great view of whole avenue of Volcanoes. There were very few clouds so Beto was able to point out at least 16 different peaks, the most impressive of which was our shy friend of two days earlier, Cotopaxi.

After a lunch of Guacamole and Bean Burritos watched the whole time by three generations of locals we got on our bikes for the final time. This time we would be descending a little over 1 km on 22 km of tarred road with not a single up hill. It was great fun and when the wind was behind us we must have reached some very high speeds. I rode in front for most of the way so I was quite surprised when at the bottom Nicola complained that she would liked to have gone faster. Seems she was not as worried as I was about the traffic coming from the opposite direction.

On the drive back to Quito the South American driver in Beto emerged and at one point I am sure we would have had a collision had the other driver not pulled off his side of the road and onto the verge. The sky was clear with only enough cloud cover to make the scenery all the more beautiful and we were able to see as far as the mountains in Columbia. The beauty put Beto in a very patriotic mood and he spent this journey telling us all the good things about Ecuador and all the things we should have seen while we were there; the real jungle with its spectacular biodiversity, Banos for hot Springs and Erupting Volcanoes, the old city of Quito, the beautiful beaches to the North of the coast, the trek to Altar Crater and all those islands in the Galapagos we didn’t see. We should be spending more time in Ecuador as Peru and Bolivia would be disappointing after it, too much desert and poverty. You’ll have to wait for the next instalment to see if he’s right.

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Photos

Galapagos Greeting
One of our most photographed animals, decided to say hello.

Panama Hat
After a little encouragement Carl decided to buy a Panama Hat which I think it looks great.

Big Bug
Carl had to pose with this bug in the butterfly farm )one of our excursions on our jungle trip.

Not Jungle Monkeys
We did not see any of these guys in the jungle as they were all they were all in the towns.

Lemon Ants
On the Jungle walk Carl got to eat some lemon flavoured ants. Yum!

Rafting
Quite nervous about the grade 3 rapids, Nicola ended up really enjoying the day after learning how to stay on the raft.

Face Paint
Our River rafting guides decided to paint everyone who let them with the many different coloured clays found on the side of the river.

Agoute
This little friend followed us around AmaZOOnica, much to Carl´s delight. This was a rare moment when his nose was not buried in the vegetation.

Guantanemera
Our home for 5 days met our expectations exactly, it slept 16 tourists and had a crew of 6 plus our despotic guide.

Carl and the Giant Sea Lion
Each time someone got a little too close this aea lion would give a loud warning bark sending people running. Carl however managed to get rather close without a single bark.

San Cristobel Cactus
On our first day in the Galapagos, after a short visit to the Interpretaion Centre we decided to explore along the shore back to town.

Baby Sea Lion
We could not tear oursleves away from this cute little baby.

Frigate birds
The Frigate birds are the stars of North Seymor island, the male has a large red pouch, which he inflates and makes a funny clattering noise to try and attract a female as she flies over.

South Plaza
This small island was Carl’s favourite. There was a red plant covered most of the ground (it goes red in the dry season to stop photosynthesis and therefore conserve water).

Sea Lion in the water
The sea lions are so playful in the water and love to frollic with the snorkelling tourists.

Albatrosses
These guys were a delight to watch giving each other affection all the time.

Stars and Rays
The Galapagos has the most amazing amount of marine life, who often arranged themsleves in wonderful patterns to boot.

Galapagos Flamingoes
We got up really early to see these beautiful birds, which are apparently almost orange in the sunlight.

Flamingoes´Friend
While prentending to listen to Jorge´s long explanation on the German´s of Floreana, I amused myself by taking photos of the water birds co-habiting the Flamingoes´ Lake.

Footprints
Due to our guide´s verbal Diarrhoea, we did not get to spend very much time on this wonderful beach.

Post Office Bay - Floreana
This is where old whaling ships left their mail to hopefully be picked up by another passing ship heading towards their intended destination. Tourists now leave postcards there in the hope that other tourists will provide a similar service.

Giant Land Tortoise
The Galapagos Land tortoises are very slow growing and have suffered greatly at the expense of introduced species. Rats eat the eggs and young, pigs the smaller tortoises and goats out compete them for food.

Cotopaxi with the Biking Dutchman
Preparing for our downhill ride from the first refuge of Cotopaxi (4600m). We had just waited out a snow storm and it was freezing.

Llamas
Llamas in the foothills of Chimborazo.

Carl Cylcing Down Chimborazo
Chimborazo is the point furthest from the centre of the Earth due to its position very near the Equator. After our hike we cycled down Chimborazo starting at 4800m.

Cycling from Quilatoa
Back on the bikes for a scenic ride from Quilatoa. This included a punishing uphill which we were both quite proud to have managed especially considering we were 3800m above sea level.

Sheep Jam
Riding a mule up from Quilatoa crater, at the narrowest point on the whole trail, Carl and his Mule ended up in a head to head jam with a flock of sheep coming into the crater to graze.

Chimborazo
After a short and tiring hike to the 2nd refuge at 5000m, the mountain decided to show herself.

Quilatoa Crater
The walk down to the lake although spectacular was fairly treacherous so we were rather pleased that Nicola had organised some mules to carry us back up to the rim.

Cotopaxi
Our shy friend, Cotopaxi, finally revealed herself on our way back to Quito. She is the world´s highest active volcano.

Galapagos - Sea Lion 1
Our favourite Galapagos subject - there were so many in such cute poses we could not resist putting in a few of our snaps.

Galapagos - Sea Lion Suckling
These guys try to not give up suckling as it is easier than catching fish.

Galapagos - Marine Iguanas
These smelly creatures were also fascinating, they have adapted to living in a marine environment and frequently squirt salt excretement out of their noses all over the tourists.

Galapagos - Marine Iguana 1
These guys were also great to photograph.

Nicola and the Sea Lions of Espanola
We had some beach time where we could relax on the white sand among the Sea-lions

Galapagos - Pelican
We were continually amazed by how close you could get to the birds and animals in the Galapagos.

Galapagos - Blue Footed Booby 1
We did not see enough of these amazing dancing birds. The ones we did see as with everything else in the Galapagos did not seem at all bothered by our presence.

Galapagos - Blue Footed Booby 2

Galapagos - Nascar Boobies
These used to be called Masked Boobies but recently it was found that they were different enough from the mainland species to get their own name.

Galapagos - Nascar Booby
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