Ecuador – thwarted day by day

We turned up to our hostel in Guayaquil to find that they wouldn't let us in. Literally - we waited on the street talking to someone behind metal bars at the entrance to the building. Whilst Bernard talked to someone on the phone when we realised that there was double booking, the hostel was completely full and we were on our own to find a suitable alternative. We were feeling particularly on edge having read that Guayaquil isn't particularly safe at night, wondering around from hotel to hostel in search of a place to stay. We eventually found a room at the Hilton. Naturally we paid much more than we intended, but we got a fantastic room, the last they had available. We asked why the city was so full and found out that a medical conference was taking place in the city – with 2500 delegates and only 1500 rooms in luxury, first, second and third class lodgings. We at least had a comfortable place to stay – nay, luxurious place to stay for a night. We watched TV – ordered room service (I had a salad – a luxury in south america) and hoped that we would find somewhere else to stay the next day.

It didn't happen. The city was full. So we booked cheap flights to Quito, found a place to stay there and headed off without further delay. We got a free transfer to the airport and were bumped onto the earlier flight.  Our luck is changing, we though.  Then we arrived in Quito, took an expensive taxi to our hostel through what looked like an incredibly grim part of town. We walked around Quito to find somewhere to have lunch – it was Saturday afternoon, many shops were closed, locals were out in force (a signifnant enough number were intoxicated) and the entire time didn't see many other tourists and were constantly stared at and were even called gringos to our faces. My blond hair seems to draw some attention. It did make us slightly nervous and wondered why Quito is hailed as such a lovely place to visit. We ordered pizza that night – simply unable to face walking around for somewhere to find dinner.

But after good sleep and hearty breakfast at our friendly hostel, we set off in search of last minute Galapagos tours. We soon realised that on a Sunday the town was pretty much closed, even for tourism, so we wondered around Quito “New City” and discovered that the city really does have some rather nice parts. The next day we booked a last minute cruise to the Galapagos – OK the last minute price was an absolute bargain, but still broke my budget for Ecuador. But we are hopeful that it will be one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and worth every penny.

We then wanted to get to Banos (a town I had wanted to visit for some town) only to find out from the owner of the hostel that the Volcano Tungurahua had been active the last few days and had perpetually covered Banos in thick layers of ash. We were informed the area was not safe to visit which put a real spanner in the works. Great. The only place in Ecuador I really wanted to visit I can't. So we changed our plans once again and booked another three nights in Quito and decided to take day-trips to other spots as we felt like it. Ecuador really wasn't showing us its best colours. Later that day we headed off to a western style supermarket – could have spent $100 on all the fantastic cheeses, meats and other luxury items from home. Instead we bought all one needs for a super veggie pasta. My body in particular was delighted with such a feast.

Heading North – Lima, Piura and crossing the border

We flew from Cusco to Lima, a pleasant hour or so trip much shorter than the 20hr bus ride, and only $30US more each. We arrived to a sunny Lima into the Miraflores district (aka gringo central). We only had a day in Lima and in the end we didn't leave Miraflores – we were planning on heading into historic centre, but time just got away from us. We had a lovely day relaxing in town and by the beachfront.

We took our next flight to Piura – a working class town in far north Peru. With hindsight we should have flown into a more touristy spot closer to the coastal Ecuador border, as it would have signifiantly reduced our travel to the border. We arrived around 8pm, took a taxi to our hostel which was comfortable enough – complete with copy of Mona Lisa and other intersting paintings (see Bernard's blog). We had outstanding value Chinese food for dinner – I order prawn noodles, and were given close to two dozen large size prawns in my dish. Piura is not a touristy place, so everyone in the restaurant looked at us with some amusement. Even finding a suitable hostel took some research. But in the end we had a good sleep, awoke at 7am to watch parts of the royal wedding (I got to see the balcony kisses live) before heading off to catch our bus into Ecuador.

We arrived good and early for our bus - the terminal of which wasn't in the safest part of town. The the security of the service in Peru was outstanding – fingerprinting, camera footage of who was in the bus. The bus did take a lot longer than expected. We didn't reach the border until well into late afternoon. We hadn't had any lunch stops either so we braved a local chicken and chip stall but fortunately didn't experience any tummy upsets. We crossed the border to Ecuador and realised we weren't going to arrive in Guayaquil until 9pm. We weren't particularly impressed with security in Ecuador – they picked up passengers everywhere along the road regardless of whether seats were available and several local men gave Bernard and I particuarly filthy looks and made us very wary. But fortunately we arrived safe and sound in Guayaguil and ready to explore Ecuador.

Cusco – birthday antics and friends

We arrived back in Cusco on Easter Sunday, the same day as my dear friend Mark Nisbett arrived in town with his parents and our friend Julie Barnes. It was just wonderful seeing people we knew so well. And Mark came with a care package of all sorts of things we needed from the UK which was greatly appreciated. My Wild Rose Beauty Balm from Neal's Yeard (they should pay me for this) is heavenly!!! 

That night I went to Easter mass at San Blass church – the service was entirely in Spanish but was exactly the same as catholic services from home that I said all the right responses in English, much to the amusement of those around me. I took the Gideon's bible with me from the hotel (as it was in English) which was handy. I was mightily amused when Bernard told me later that somebody had stolen the bible from the room – it was a favourite hiding spot of his. It didn't occur to him that I might take it with me to church.

Afterwards I caught up with Mark and Julie B. We went out to dinner every night they were in Cusco but consumed a restrained number of alcoholic beverages given the altitutde. Although in altitude it really dosn't take much to bring on a hangover. On the 25^th we had a special dinner to celebrate my birthday on the 26^th which was just lovely and we stayed out until 12.30am which is impressive for me. During the days we went to visit various Inca ruins around town and soak up the last of Cusco's offerings. I even had an interesting time getting my legs waxed. It took such a long time and was painful enough for me to ask her to stop after an hour and half. Procedure done correctly, just wrong type of wax for the altitude etc. Lost in translation methinks. Eventually, after eight days in Cusco (in total) it was time for us to leave – we headed north whilst Mark etc headed off to do the Inca Trail. Fantastic catch up, and can't wait to see Mark again in April 2012.

Easter in Cusco and the Sacred Valley

After getting back from the jungle we spent a few days reaclimatising to the altitude in Cusco. We also realised that it might have been worthwhile prebooking our activities to the Sacred Valley because Cusco was inundated with tourists for Holy Week. We rearranged our plans entirely to suit the train availability (we refused to pay $300 each for a 3 hour journey) but in the end things worked out really well.

The Monday after Palm Sunday is what those in the highlands of Peru consider the beginning of holy week – so we were able to witness the joy of a huge wooden crucafix being carried around the plaza and into the main cathedral. We happened upon this by chance, in trying to meet some friends in the pub we were blocked by parade of people and not five minutes later this huge black Jesus on a cross appeared in front of us. It took 22 men to carry the thing. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Women around us were weeping, and because we were so tall we lifted up local children around us so they could see. The entire plaza was filled with people – it was magical.

A few days later we set off with our small daypacks to find a local bus to the sacred valley. We were the only gringos in the bus – filled to the brim with locals, dogs, children and all. We spent the night in Ollantaytambo, visited the ruins and had one of our best value meals to date (fantastic mexican). The next day we spent the morning playing scrabble before heading to Aguas Callientes on the train. The journey was lovely but arriving in the town was like arriving in a circus. Our accommodation was overpriced but comfortable, and finding somewhere to eat was even more of a drama. Bernard's portion for his $10 meal was so inadequate that it felt like a joke. Welcome to the world of “rip of those visiting Machu Picchu”.

Being Good Friday I visited the church for about 20 minutes of reflection – and then during dinner much to my amazement locals brought another statue of Jesus through the town to do the stations of the cross. It was very special moment. The next day we woke early to take the bus up to Machu Picchu – but clearly not early enough. The queue for the buses up to the site for first light was over 20 bus loads long. Many had queued since 3.30am. But we were on the site by 6.30am and just like last time, it was cloudy and grey. We spoken to many exhausted folks who had completed the inca trail, and then pottered around the amazing sight. And, like last time, the clouds burnt off by 9.30am and everything looked spectacular – but with the site being full of tourists at this stage, we decided to take our last photos and go back to town. On our way out we saw a llama give birth – it was pretty amusing watching others try to absorb stuff like this – I'm a country girl – animals giving birth are par for the course. We spend the second night in town, having learned our lesson had a much better experience for dinner, before taking the second train out of town the following day.

A jungle under threat - drilling for oil and logging

That said, we did watch a film about Hunt Oil (an American company) that is heading into the area that borders Manu bioreserve in search for cheap oil. Their tactics are successful but despicable – they go into the indigenous communities, tear it apart by offering money to those susceptable to want of material goods – and wait for the community to implode. The national politicans are generally corrupt so I'm sure someone is benefiting from Hunt Oil's presence in southern Peru. Without strong national or local leadership they can waltz into the region promising new jobs, pay locals a pittance, and destroy the jungle because they don't have any environmental ethics. This isn't Shell we are talking about, but a low cost operator – they remove oil as cheaply as possible. It made me sick to my stomach – so sign any petitions you can to oppose Hunt Oil – not all oil companies are this ruthless. The amazon is too important for any of us to sit back.

The other negative side effect was seeing a logging path on one of the walking trails at Pantiacolla lodge. Darwin our guide grew up in the lodge – one of six lively boys and it is still owned by his family. The look on his face when he saw the truck tyre tracks heading from the mountain range to the river made my heart stop. Disappointment. Worry. Sadness. Uncertainty. He didn't speak for 10 minutes later – just trying to take it in. We were a bit more outraged and said such people should be punished if they were caught. Darwin takes a much more philosphical perspective – there isn't enough education for people in the jungle. They are poor and often desperate. Many just want an “easy life” - not to be rich as such, but they don't want to have to fight to survive every day of their lives. He was once a logger – not for long mind you – he quickly turned his knowledge of the jungle into something he can share with others through ecotourism. He hopes that others become educated enough to be able to do the same, but obviously quickly enough to maintain the pristine virgin rainforest of Manu. Later that night we talked about what we saw. There is practically no more mahoganny in the Amazon, and cedar is right up there in the endagered list. So next time you buy furniture, refurbish you house etc, be absolutely sure of the origin of your wooden products.

Manu cultural zone

Manu cultural zone is much larger than the reserved zone. The reserved zone is pristine virgin rainforrest with very controlled levels of eco-tourism and scientific research permitted. In the cultural zone and wider range of activities can be conducted and land is owned by others besides the State of Peru. Our days required longer times on the boat as going upstream takes considerably longer than our first day which was mostly downstream. We did see a Capybura on the river banks though. We stayed in a lovely cabin near the local airfield and did some wonderful spotting of frogs, spiders and other insects in their lush garden area.

The next day we stayed at Pantiacolla lodge, the family home of Darwin our guide whose family still owns the lodge. Bernard wasn't too impressed at an unexpected guest in our bedroom – a tarantula the size of his hand (Bernard would argue it was the size of your head). The young caretaker of the property was lovely and kindly removed the spider from its spot high on the roof beams, barefoot and all.

Pantiacolla lodge had some wonderful trails – it is a part of the jungle that is the border of the tropical and sub-tropical zones of species and animals. Here we saw the very smelly Peccary (like a warthog but without the big teeth), had to fight our way through bamboo trails complete with machete, and saw leaf-cutter ants moving vast amounts of debris to their desired destination. Anther highlight was seeing the Harpee Eagle. Darwin was terribly excited when he saw the bird in his binocs – he hadn't seen this Eagle for at least five years. We had had a brilliant morning watching Saddleback Tamarin monkeys and various species of birds, and as we were in the process of doing so everything around us began to sound distressed. We knew something significant was happening. We saw this large bird land in a tree nearby and moments later everything else around us disappeared. Moments later, the eagle soared off into the distance in search of prey – an impressive sight to behold. Harpee eagles are the most fearsome preditor in the jungle – they reguarly eat sloths, large monkeys, and other birds and mammals.

After our final trek near Pantiacolla we took the route back to the cloud forest. We stayed another night in the cloud forrest, went for our final walk and then took the long road back to Cusco. This time the roads were much drier and I was able to enjoy the trip back. At the top cloud forest we were amused to find that the road we had built a week ago was still holding on strong and that the only possible landslide disruption was cleared just moments before our approach.

The wider jungle – Macaw clay lick and canopy viewing platform

We left the reserved and cultural zone to go down stream to a privately owned part of the jungle. I know, its weird to comprehend that people can own parts of the jungle like any othe real estate, but a particular European bought a remarkable part of the jungle. What is interesting to note though, is that we didn't see any monkeys in this area – for everything it has to offer, there is something to be said for Manu Biosphere (ie the reserved and cultural zone). Manu has been protected for over 30 years, and as such the animals clearly know terrain where they can co-exist peacefully with humans.

In this other part of the jungle we went Piranha fishing (Bernard caught 2) on a lovely lake and admired the sights and sounds of many birds. At dusk we went to a viewing platform approximately 70m tall. We saw a very rare “The Great Patoo” owl which looked like part of the branch. It didn't flinch the entire time were we in the tree until we started to leave and then we saw it spread its wings and fly off into the darkness. Viewing the jungle from those hights was fairly awesome. Walking back to camp made Bernard slightly uncomfortable. We spotted many species of spider – most of which were the size of your hand or bigger and hairier. No snakes thankfully. Horrible accommodation – we were bitten alive by bugs. But the next day made it worth it.

Every year as the wet season ends the Macaws and parrots need to eat seeds and other sources of food besides fruit. As a consequence these birds eat particular type of clay to filter the toxins of these food sources. The Clay Lick we visited is an impressive sight – during the height of the dry season, many hundreds of parrots and Mackaws visit the Lick. As we were on the beginning of the dry season we were lucky with our viewing as those who turned up a week ago saw nothing. Each species takes its own turn on the clay lick – the parrots first thing in the morning, and the Macaws later on. We saw over 100 parrots on the clay lick at around 6.30am. They left in a heart-stopping flurry of feathers that brought tears to my eyes - spooked by the Titi monkeys a few metres away. We then waited over three hours for the tentative Macaws to reach sufficient numbers to nibble at the Lick. Watching the Macaws was fascinating bird behaviour. They went down two by two, ever so cautious, always listening for preditors and communicating with each other. There were maybe 20-30 birds in the area, but they averaged only 12-14 on the Lick at any one time. The swark of parrots and Macaws reminded me of home – and for the first time on my trip I felt overwhelmingly homesick.

Manu Reseved zone

Manu reserved zone was clearly one of the absolute highlights of my travels to date. Nothing can quite prepare you for how it feels to be walking through virgin rainforrest. The smells, the sounds, the sights and the heat/humidity are overwhelming. Early wake-up calls were par for the course, but of course the Howler monkeys did a pretty good job of letting you know at 5.30am that it was time to get up. The first time you hear the howlers it sets your hairs on end – so powerful for so small an animal. Our first walk for the day included visiting an Oxbow lake for some giant otter spotting (they put on an incredible performance for us), seeing different species of monkeys and learning all different types of flora and fauna in the tropical rainforrest. Strangler figs, walking pines and the vines were particularly impressive. We wore welly boots/gumboots as the trails were particularly muddy. Walking in the morning was particuarly lovely, until about 9am when the heat and humidity become noticable. By 11am we were back at camp, stripped down to minimum clothing, resting before our afternoon walk.

The afternoon walk was perhaps the highlight of my trip. We spotted very early on a very healthy group of woolley monkeys. I was the first to have the pleasure of being pelted with fruit pips and other debris by the woolleys. At first Darwin our guide said, “Oh they are just eating” but as hard as we tried to get out of their way, they always let us know who was the dominant species in that territory. Fruit thrown at you from 30m can sting a little, but it was better than them urinating on us – a trait for which woolleys are well known. After being bitten by mosquitos for the 100^th time, we eventually left the woolleys to walk in the late afternoon light. The sun flowed in from the river and lit up the forrest in the most beautiful colours. We marvelled in biodiversity of the jungle, and even had to cross a temporary lake showing just whose welly boots were waterproof and whose weren't. (Mine were, Bernard's weren't). That night we feasted and marvelled at all we had seen.

The next day we visited another Oxbow lake viewing platform, saw an incredibly impressive 500 year old fig, sybiosis of animals and plants (ants and trees in particular) and were amused by the Brown Capuchin monkeys and Bernard's particular highlight, the antics of the Squirrel monkeys. These little charmers peered down at Bernard through palm fronds – peering not once, but twice, in a clear display of curiosity before deciding whether to move on. These same cheeky creatures would jump onto a palm frond, look at me for a few moments, and before I had a chance to take a picture would sprint off to another tree. Each of them did exactly the same thing before moving on. Hilarious. Upon leaving the reserved zone we saw monster size Caimen basking in the sunshine on the riverbanks and number of turtles lined up in a row. I never was quick enough to get my camera out to catch the turtles, something I'm rather disappointed in.

A long day on the river to the reserved zone

The next day was an early departure – a 2.5 hour drive and then a 11 hour boat ride to get into Manu's reserved zone. The boat was basic but suited our needs. We sat 2 by 2 with plenty of leg room, with a roof-type shelter and could take in the jungle and mountain surrounds. The river went from fast moving and icy in the cloud forrest (sub-tropical) to slower paced and muddy once we hit the tropical rainforrest zone. We had breakfast, morning snack, lunch and late afternoon snack on the boat. Time passed quickly enough – our enthusiasm at seeing different species of monkey (Bernard spotted Howler monkey – a great find so early on), birds or little turtles sunning themselves in the sun was enough to sustain us during the long day.

We arrived at dusk to our cabins which were mesh windows (so no privacy) but allowed maximum air flow in the high humidity. After quick refreshment we headed off for dusk walk. Hearing the sound of the rainforrest was amazing – a big bunch of squirrel monkeys weren't particularly happy to see us – but put on an impressive show as they bounced over our heads from branch to branch. We arrived to an Oxbow lake for a little caimen spotting, but when we arrived the boat was full of water and took our lads a full 15 minutes to empty the boat. We only saw a few younger caiman as the water level was exceptionally high but we did get to see a prehistoric catfish that can live out of water for hours (ie in evolution terms, its an example of a species moving from fish to amphibian).

Into the Jungle – or not

Going into the jungle at Manu was one of the biggest decisions we made. Whilst others go the jungle in North of Peru, Ecuador, Brazil or even Bolivia where it is still relatively pristine and cheap, we decided to go into Manu Biosphere Reserved zone as so much of the jungle is virgin rainforrest. We had read many good things about Manu, and when we made contact with Pantiacolla tours, we knew we had made the right decision. Maryanne is a passionate Dutch biologist who fell in love with Manu so much so that she married a local and has stayed here for the past 20 years. Manu has been a heavily protected zone for well over 30 years, and as such the wildlife viewing is amongst the best in the world. The animals are not frightened of humans, and will take you in with much curiosity.

That said, we were not informed until the day before departure that there had been some pretty horrendous landslides on the road to the jungle. But we were assured that it shouldn't be a problem and we would depart as planned. Well, we got 3 hours into our tour, reached a town of Paucartambo, and heard that 7 landslides were still in need of clearing. It was election day, so the machines were unlikely to be deployed on the road. So rather than push ahead, we stayed the night in this little town. It could have been worse – election day was rather interesting – indigenous people came into the town in their traditional dress from miles and miles away and stayed well into late evening.

The next day we set off early – but were still thwarted. We waited for the machines to arrive some two hours later and one by one the landslides were cleared. We got stuck on a “river crossing” at one point and needed a truck to pull us out. We waited hours for a massive landslide to clear as machines from both directions were utilised. Just when we thought the worst was over, we crossed the other side of the Andes and into Amazon terrain and of course there was another landslide. This time there was no machine, just lots of man power. The road was so eroded that people had to strategically rebuild the road wide enough for traffic to pass. It was too much for my nerves by this point – I really needed a Valium and a lie down. But needless to say we eventually made it to our first lodge, safe and sound and in time to see the “Cock of the Rock” birds at pre-dusk.