Santa Marta to Palimino

14/07/13 to 20/07/13 - We left the south of Colombia and flew to Santa Marta on the north coast, facing the Caribbean Sea. It was a relief to be back in a hot, tropical climate after months up in the cold Andes. We would need to acclimatise again though, and we soon regretted going for the cheaper, fan room… the temperature was back up above 33°C, and didn’t seem to cool much by night. At last, we were thankful for cold showers.

After breakfast, struggling all morning to cope with the heat and realising that S.M wasn’t really a place to stick around in for long, we hopped on a bus to Tayrona National Park. After avoiding the midday heat with a shady lunch, we walked the 4km to a lovely campground called Castilettes, complete with its own beach where turtles come to lay eggs. The owners of the campground were a lovely couple with two cute girls, a garden full of lizards and a parrot. Despite the hazardous coconut trees, we decided to stay the night here by hiring two hammocks to sleep in. We had a nice fish dinner prepared by Esther and then watched a bit of TV with the couple on a 12-inch TV on the patio. Then we saw some familiar faces as a host of Colombian ex-footballers, including Carlos Valderama (of big hair fame) and René Higuita (of Scorpion kick fame), appeared on the most popular soap opera.

We fell asleep in our hammocks to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and the odd gecko chattering away in the roof above us. At breakfast the owners were nursing a bat that had damaged its wing (not surprising as they were flying around like nutters the night before). After waking to the view of the sea and having a quick dip, we walked along the trail through the jungle to some more beaches, all of which were more popular than Castilettes. On the way we passed several egg-shaped rocks. These were create by indigenous folk a long time ago, and they used to look through the small holes made in them to see the future (no doubt they must have chewed too many coca leaves).




It was cooler by the sea, but the afternoons were still hot, and after walking most of the day, we were relieved to cool off in the sea again. We finally camped in the busiest place of all at Cabo de San Juan, which was full of backpackers and was pricier than some of the other options we had walked past earlier (a bit annoying). We didn’t want to back track though, so we hired a tent, which was sticky hot and not as comfortable as the hammocks.

The next morning we trekked up to the lost city of Pueblito, a ruined city of which once housed 2000 people in pre-Hispanic times. The trek was tough as it was mostly uphill and over big rocks, and we were sweating the whole way due to the humidity. We did spot some interesting wildlife though, including a tiny snake, big fat noisy locusts and some big red-headed woodpeckers jumping from tree to tree. 

After the lost city we stopped at a small village inhabited by some Kogi people (descendants of the Tairona people), all dressed in white cloth with long black hair and cloth hats. They were selling some cold drinks and we asked if they had any lunch, and they didn’t, but one of the guys was really nice and gave us some bananas to keep us going. We made it to the village of Calabazo on the main road and waited for the bus back to Santa Marta, where we stayed the night (and took a room with air-con this time for an extra pound) and somehow ended up buying a hammock (as we now love them) from a street seller, which we would now need to carry for the rest of trip.

The next morning we caught a bus, which broke down. We waited by the side of the road for another bus, which took us to the beach-side village of Palomino. The beach was very long, and there just a couple of guesthouses and campgrounds. We went for hammocks again, and were even closer to the sea this time, which was very rough and not really for swimming, but good enough to have a quick dip and cool off. There wasn’t much to do but relax, cope with the heat and watch graceful pelicans flying millimetres above the waves in perfect ‘V’ formation. We were treated to a local band, glass ball jugglers and fire-twirlers (the usual hippy stuff) on a beach front café in the evening and there seemed to be nearly a hundred people that had flooded this otherwise quiet beach. They had all disappeared again by the next day, and we spent one day relaxing and enjoying the beach.

Otavalo to San Agustin to Cali

07/07/13 to 14/07/13 - We arrived in Otavalo, now firmly back in the Northern Hemisphere. We stopped here to break the journey to the border, but also to visit the market here.  We found mostly the same stuff we'd been finding at other South American markets, but also some fake Panama hats and cheap-looking hammocks.  We enquired about a few items, but it seems the market's popularity with tourists has led the sellers to become deluded over their pricing, with most things being way more expensive here than in Bolivia, or even Chile.  Luckily the food market was better value and we tried the traditional Equadorian dish of Llapingacho.

We hit the road again heading for the Colombian border.  We were let off the bus a good 30km from Rumuchaca, where the border is, and jumped into a cab to make it to the immigration offices.  After spending just 5 minutes to get our Ecuadorian stamps, we walked over the bridge and waited another 15 minutes for our Colombian stamps, and we were off in another cab to the town of Ipiales, where we got on a bus bound for Popayan.  After a full day's travelling it was a relief to get to Popayan in the evening, and we found a nice hostel to sleep.

After a traditional breakfast (soup with chicken feet for starter, eggs with rice, plantain and chips for mains), we spent the next day by going to a small town called Silvia, about an hour from Popayan, and we saw lots of locals wearing traditional blue skirt. We heard it was once a week, worth it and that only a few tourists go there.  The market was good and traditional and we got a look at the many unique fruits and colorful potatoes that are native to Colombia.

After couple of hours or so we were back to Popayan to explore the old colonial city in more detail.  It is known as the 'White City', and looks nothing like its Shepherds Bush namesake.  The city wasn't so big, and we saw most of the streets in one afternoon. However, we visited the old house of  Guillermo Leon Valencia, a former Colombian president.

We tried the local Empanadas de Pipuain (deep-fried empanadas with spicy peanut sauce) for breakfast and then a tedious, bumpy bus journey along pot-holed mud tracks passing around mountains and sheer drops was waiting for us.  After 5 hours our bottoms were bruised from all the bumps.  When we arrived in the town of San Agustin, the rain had been pouring all day long and we checked into a hostel with great views (of the mist).  We found some fellow travellers playing cards to pass the time and joined them.

The next day the weather was much better, so we walked to the Archeological park on the edge of town which has many statues dating from between 800 BC to 3300BC.  The majority of the statues are of figures and are believed to be representations of the people’s social status and were placed in front of funerary pits where their remains were buried along with ceramics and gold objects.  However, as the these tribes of indigenous people were gone long before the Spanish arrived and didn't keep any records, then little else is known about them... other than that their stonework was very good.  The statues were carved from big rocks that were left strewn over the landscape following volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago.

After the park we visited two more sites which, in order to reach, we had to walk through some really wet and muddy paths (should have taken the horses).  The statues were mystical, in amongst jungle, with banana and coffee trees spread across on the hillsides and with panoramic views of the Magdelena river valley and numerous waterfalls.  We went back to our hostel with its interesting mud walls filled with wine bottles, which acted as tiny coloured windows, letting light in.

Our bus ride back to Popayan and then to Cali was eventful. We hailed the bus from the side of the road at La Cruces written “Cali”. The minibus stopped and we asked the price which really seemed to be a bargain.  The minibus was full, or so we thought… the driver managed to sneak us in, sitting us on two tiny wooden stools just inside the door, which was really fun over the mud and bumps.  Luckily, we were given plenty of breaks to stretch our legs, the first due to a couple of trucks getting stuck in the mud, then for almuerzo (lunch), sugar cane soup with cheese and deep fried bread, then again because of a landslide/roadworks (it was difficult to tell).

The ride was kept entertaining by salsa music and then a stand-up comedy show on the radio.  We couldn't understand a word, but everyone else on the bus found it hilarious, and we could laugh at them cackling away, a bit like the Laughing Policeman.

After a while it was all rather tedious and we were cursing the lack of asphalt.  All the rain of the last few days had made the mud roads virtually impassable.  The first 126km to Popayan took 7 hours, whereas the next 126km took just 2 hours.  No hold ups, but we did pass a dead horse in the road and two timber trucks which had toppled over and caused a fair bit of damage to surrounding vehicles.  We finally arrived in Cali that night, and after a bit of a merry go round we were given an address of a really nice and cheap guesthouse (by another guesthouse who only had one expensive room left).  We had the place to ourselves, and the hosts were really into kitesurfing and really friendly.

The next morning we had a breakfast in a bakery, and had a good chat with Paul (the owner who was holding a large wooden stick) and Nicholas (a man in his 70’s, who'd fought malaria 3 times after picking it up hunting on the coast).  They were really warm and friendly, as most Colombians have been so far and good characters too.

We strolled around the city, relaxing after the nightmare of the previous day.  Cali is a nice place, very relaxed and feels like a small town rather than a big city.  It's a colourful place with friendly characters.  Cali is hosting the World Games in a few weeks; unfortunately we were a bit too early.

We went out for the evening in search of Salsa, as it’s a big thing in Cali.  Sitting in the outdoor cafes with a TV screen in the pavement playing Spanish/Colombian music videos, we saw several party buses go past. The first couple were full of teenagers / students, then there was a bus full of older couples dancing Salsa.  Unfortunately, the Avenida 6 was pretty straight, so we didn't get to see them all fall over as they went round a corner.

Summary of Ecuador

REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR

Distance travelled: 1,112 km

Waterfalls encountered: 9

Guinea Pigs eaten: 1

Hats tried on: 50

Hemispheres encountered: 2
Plugs pulled: 100+
Heads scratched: 2

Modes of transport: bus, jeep, trek, plane.

Conclusion: the water spins clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere. It also spins anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. The coriolis effect is too small to have an effect compared with other forces present, such as air flow in a room, shape of the drain or position of the taps.

Our Route:

Quito and Mitad del Mundo

04/07/13 to 06/07/13 - We arrived in Quito and took a trolley bus to the New Town where we stayed the night. The next day we explored the Old Town on foot. Unlike most South American cities, which put a huge statue of Christ on top of the nearest mountain, Quito is different. It has a huge angel statue instead. The highlight of the old town was the Basilica. We climbed the towers and had good views of the city as well as a glimpse of the inner workings of the basilica’s clocks.

Now what is Ecuador most famous for?

1. Offers of asylum to leftist whistle-blowers and wiki-leakers?

2. Panama Hats (yes, they really are from Ecuador, not Panama)?

3. Being situated on the Equator?




We’ll let you decide, but we had a disagreement between the two of us over the legitimacy of the old belief that the water spins in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. We all remember the Simpson’s episode where Bart phones a kid in Australia to do the test and he runs 2 miles to the outside toilet (or dunnie) and the water spins the other way. Being just 30kms from the Equator, we thought Quito the perfect place to do the first of our experiments to see if the ‘Coriolis effect’ really has an effect in reality.


To make this a fair test we bought a small round bucket and made a hole in the bottom. We would use the same bucket in both hemispheres. In the kitchen of our hostel in Quito, we filled the bucket with water, with our finger over the hole in the bottom. We released the finger and the water drained. After a second or two we could clearly see the water begin to spin anti-clockwise. Like true scientists, we had to repeat the experiment several times to make sure it was no fluke. Sure enough, every time the water span anti-clockwise. Dave was sceptical (surprise!) and suggested trying a different corner of the room, away from the sink. To our amazement, the water span clockwise… twice. We tried a third time. This time, the water span anti-clockwise again. We scratched our heads to explain why as we’d been careful to hold the bowl level, and took turns holding it to eliminate any bias. We went to bed convinced that the effect was an urban myth, we had disproved the Coriolis effect… or had we?

The next morning we hopped on a bus (or rather 4 different buses) and paid a visit to the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). This was a monument and tourist site dedicated to the line of the Equator. We wandered around the museums which explained how scientists first calculated the dimensions of the earth on this site, and the monument was erected here in the 1930s. We took a few photos like everyone else, with one foot either side of the equator line… only it wasn’t the ‘real’ Equator line.

GPS technology has since proved the original calculations incorrect by about 300 metres, but the Ecuadorian government had already built a new monument and lots of tourist infrastructure on the old site, and were reluctant to move it (it would be too expensive), so they left the monument and ‘fake’ Equator line here. However, a private company has seized the opportunity and set up a new monument and museum 300m away, they charge an extra dollar, so you can say you’ve stood on the ‘real’ Equator. They also go one better than the government site and show a series of demonstrations and experiments… one of which, was the water down the drain experiment. We were interested to see how everyone would react when it was all proved to be a myth… BUT… somehow we were the ones who were dumbfounded.

The guide first took a sink of water standing directly over the equator line. She pulled the plug and the water drained, but with no visible rotation at all. Then, she moved the sink to the south, repeated it, and the water drained clockwise. She then moved the sink to the north, and surprise, surprise, the water drained anti-clockwise. We were completely at a loss to explain how she had managed to prove this when our own experiment couldn’t even get a consistent result in one hemisphere… she had managed to do it just by moving a few yards either side. We were convinced she had faked it somehow, but we struggled to see how she could have done it so reliably. Completely confused, it was time to send an email to Flora’s dad (a physics professor) to find out just what was going on.

By the way, we also did some other experiments that ‘proved’ that it’s easier to balance an egg and that it’s harder to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed on the Equator.  Well, that’s enough science for one week… next time... How to lose 1 kg in just a few hours!

After all the fun was over… we jumped onto another couple of buses to the town of Otavalo, 2 hours north of Quito.

Latacunga and the Quilotoa Loop

01/07/13-04/07/13

We spent a quick night in Latacunga, where we grabbed our first Chifa (chinese) in 9 months. True to South American form the portions were huge and we couldn't eat it all. 

The next morning we jumped on a bus full of locals in nice green velvet hats and with plenty of gold teeth, and travelled 2 hours to the village of Quilotoa, next to Laguna de Quilotoa, a huge crater lake up on top of the mountain. We began walking around the lake and followed a group of small kids (one carry and old fashioned metal jug of milk) who we thought were walking to the same village as us, but we soon got lost in the clouds which had overcome the mountain, and ended up following them to their house in the middle of nowhere. One of the kids asked Dave where he was coming from. When Dave told them “Inglaterra” and one of the kids said “is it a village nearby?”.
After that, they pointed us back on track (sort of) and we made it to the village of Chugchilán before dark (just). After a lovely scenic walk, down into the valley and through fields of maze and lupin flowers, we found a lovely hostel with nice hot showers, dinner and breakfast all included like the other two hostels you could find in the village, as there is no restaurant. We ate loads (as we didn’t really bring any good lunch with us) and had a good night's sleep.

The next morning was much brighter and we left Chugchilán heading for another village called Isinliví. The walk was different, much hotter in the lower altitude, and we passed through a large canyon and along a river, where we crossed the scariest bridge in the world (twice, as it wasn't on our way, we just did it for fun).
After making our way up the other side of the valley, being chased by dogs and getting lost again, we made it to Isinliví in the early afternoon. We saw the whole village in about 10minutes, so we put our feet up and had a game of cards with a cup of tea.



After a hot meal in front of the fire (we were up at a chilly 3000m again), we got a bit of sleep before waking up at 4.00am to catch the bus to the relatively nearby (3hrs) town of Saquisili for the local market that takes place there every Thursday. Unfortunately we missed our stop, and returned to Latacunga, where we had to change to another bus to go back to the market.



The market itself was spread across 3 markets in the town. One selling cheap clothes and the local velvet hats, one selling more clothes and vegetables and a final one selling chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits. All very interesting, but none of the food stalls looked appetising in the slightest. Back to Latacunga again to pick up our bags and head to Quito.

Cuenca to Banos

Cuenca to Banos 27/06/13 to 01/07/13.

We decided to cut several days of buses up the Peruvian coast, and instead we flew from Cusco to Guayaquil in Ecuador. We landed in Guayaquil and in the queue for immigration everybody was wearing sunhats and flip-flops. It was good to be down at sea level again, even if it was to be only briefly. We hopped straight into a shared jeep (where we quickly learned how the Ecuadorians drive) which took us about 4hours to the small city of Cuenca, up in the mountains again but not so high (just 2500m) and it was still nice and warm despite the altitude.

Cuenca was a nice laidback city, and seemed to have a fair amount of Americans around the place. It had a few churches like most colonial cities, and plenty of restaurants too. We were asked by a group of students if they could interview us in English for their coursework assignment. We were videoed and Dave was asked if he planned to marry any Ecuadorian girls!
The traditional meal in Ecuador (and also in Peru) is Cuy (Guinea Pig). They call it ‘Cuy’ because this is the noise it makes. We gave it a go that evening and although it tasted nice, there's not much meat on a Guinea Pig, just plenty of skin to chew on... we're not sure it will be something we try at home. We hopped on a bus the next morning for a long journey north.



The more we saw of the Ecuador countryside, it looked uncannily English. Rolling hills covered in a patchwork quilt of farmer's fields and green, green grass with cows dotted around. Here we are, almost on the equator, and it’s hard to believe the land looks like some parts of England. The altitude of around 3500m keeps the air cool, and being on the equator means much more rain than the dry Altiplano of the Andes further south.
Then, suddenly we saw the towering Volcan Chimborazo. Rising up to 6,800m, if you were to stand on this behemoth you would be further away from the earth's core than anywhere else on the planet... even the top of Everest. The top was shrouded in cloud, but the steepness of its sides hinted at just how big this thing was.  

Our bus continued on past to Ambato, where we changed to the lively bus that took us to Banos before nightfall. The combination of a footy match on the radio and several teens getting ready for Saturday night gave the bus an atmosphere of its own.

Banos literally means "Baths". We think they should call it "Showers" as it rained a lot on our first day there. It’s usually the place for adventure sports, like rafting, biking and hiking, but on our arrival the town was full of kids riding around the streets on off-road buggies trying to kill each other (and any pedestrians that might get on their way). The town itself wasn't so pretty, despite being cited at the bottom of a volcano (which you can't see from the town). We attempted to walk up to the Mirador of the Virgen, which we did but it was too cloudy and rainy to enjoy the view (we're not sure it would be much better in blistering sunshine). So we trudged back down the hill thoroughly soaked hoping for some sun the next day.

Luckily, the forecast was completely wrong and the sun was shining, so we hired some bikes and took off down ‘La Ruta de las Cascadas’. The road was a nice route through tunnels, around the side of mountains and passing several waterfalls, most of which had zip-lines set up for people to throw themselves head-first over the abyss. We opted for the slightly more hair-raising open-top (and open-sided) cable car, which went across the ravine to a waterfall, stopped there a few moments, before accelerating back to where it began. It doesn't sound that scary, but if you saw the quality of the engineering involved, you might gulp too.

At the end of the 20km route, we were pretty warm and down in the jungle again. We walked down to a waterfall for a swim but the current was too strong and all the spray made us cold before we even got in the water. Then we caught a lift back in a guy’s with a truck, all the way back up the hill to Banos.

Well, we couldn't leave without trying out the hot baths that Banos is famous for. We went for a dip in Virgin Springs, which were lovely and warm, and very popular with the locals. We grabbed a Pizza Kono, (which has the shape of a cornet ice cream filled with pizza topping), and jumped on a bus to Latacunga, a couple of hours to the north.

Summary of Peru (the little bit of it we saw)

REPUBLIC OF PERU

Distance travelled: 2,348 km (639 km overland, 1,708 km by air)

Lost cities encountered: 1

Wild Maracuya (Passionfruits) eaten: several

Emergency horses ridden: 1

Modes of transport: bus, trek, plane, horse.

Our Route:

Cusco and Machu Picchu

18/06/13 to 27/06/13 – When we arrived in Cusco we thought we had arrived during Gay Pride week, as thousands of rainbow flags were about and there were lots of parades taking place throughout the city. Actually, the rainbow flag is the Cusco regional flag, and the parades were for the festival that takes place around winter solstice every year. Cusco was quite touristy, but the festival meant we got to see some locals in traditional dress about the place too. There were also some odd guys with scary masks who were literally ‘whipping’ misbehaving cars in a forlorn attempt to get them to obey pedestrian crossings.  Cusco was different to other colonial cities we'd visited, mainly because the Spanish used the existing Inca walls and ruins as foundations for their churches and villas (rather than just smashing them up, like they did elsewhere).  You can still see the Inca walls at the base of many of the buildings.















After a couple of days in Cusco to get to know the town we embarked on another trek. The Salkantay trail is an alternative to the long sold out 'Inca Trail' and takes 5 days. In fact, it follows the route of another old Inca trail to Machu Picchu, but most of the trail has been eroded due to the use of horses (the Inca's only built the trail to withstand llamas).

Unfortunately we didn't get a good night's sleep before we left Cusco (at 4.30am!) as the Cuscenos were partying all night for the festival (and we mean ALL night). They were still going at it in the squares as we caught the bus just as the sun was rising.  We traveled for 3 hours to a village where we began our trek. Unfortunately Dave had to stop the bus for a private moment after several switchbacks left him feeling pretty poorly. We started walking, along with two Swiss tourists, our guide, one chef, one porter, a horseman and 7 horses carrying our belongings, food, tents, cooking equipment, etc. The chef and the porter soon raced past us (as they would every morning to come) in order to get ahead of us and to give them time to prepare us lunch, which would be ready when we arrived at each lunch stop.

Dave still wasn't feeling well (we realised it was actually a stomach bug and not travel sickness) and ended up riding on the ‘emergency horse’ for an hour and a half of the trek after lunch, where we made our way up to 4800m and the Salkantay pass. It was cold and although he was too dizzy to walk, he was shivering and felt sea-sick from the motion on the horse. It didn't help matters when the horse dropped some 'fertiliser'. We spotted a couple of huge Andean Condors flying high above us.

We made it through the cold night at our campsite down at 4200m and continued the next day descending down a muddy track through trees and more small villages. We saw several nice plants and fruits, some of which we sampled (including passion fruits and avocados). After 10 hours of hiking we were glad to rest at a village called La Playa (with no beach) for the night. Our chef cooked some amazing food, with a banquet which seemed impossible to prepare on his tiny camping stove. He picked up fruit on the way, like avocados and potatoes (Peru has over 1000 native varieties of potatoes) and made some awesome guacamole and quinoa soup, as well as pasta, chicken stew, goat steak, chips... the list goes on. Dave was feeling better by this point and was able to tuck in and enjoy the food.

The third day was more interesting as we descending into the warm jungle, passing oranges, lemons, papayas, coffee trees and more passionfruits, as well as the hallucinogenic, but beautiful, ‘Angel's trumpet’. After visiting an Inca archaeological site, which the Incas had fled to when they left Machu Picchu, we finished up early to have lunch at an amazing spot overlooking the sacred valley and with an excellent view of Machu Picchu perched high on the mountain in front of us, with the 'Happy Mountain' just behind. We had lunch before relaxing there with a little boy called Manuel and the dog, enjoying the view and finally camping the night there. Before dinner we had another chance to stargaze and our guide, Sabino, explained to us some of the constellations the Incas used to use and we showed him the malfunctioning Google Sky app on our smartphone.

The next day we trekked down into the valley and along the river to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Macchu Picchu. We stayed in a hotel after we had said goodbye to our porter and chef earlier in the day. We would wake up very early (4.30am again!), to make our way up the mountain to see Machu Picchu city before sunrise (and before it got too crowded). The next morning Sabino showed us around the whole city with great explanations of all the buildings, and it was amazing to see the quality of the stonework remaining from the Incas time (around 600 years ago). After the tour we walked alone up to the Sun Gate for a different perspective of the city and then walked to see the Inca Drawbridge, which was designed to stop the Spanish getting in, should they ever discover Machu Picchu city (which luckily they never did).

After a lot of walking we returned down to Aguas Calientes and caught the train to Ollantytambo (with free snacks and tea), then a bus took us back to Cusco, where we would spend one more day strolling around Cusco, enjoying the unique Peruvian food and resting from the trek.