South America (Part IV)
My time in South America ends today and finally something bad has happened on my trip... the dog has lost an eye!!! I don´t know how but I´m hoping he can have corrective surgery upon my return to Oz. Seriously, that is the worst thing that´s happened - no problems with sickness or safety.

Huaraz
Unfortunately for us the weather was absolutely miserable while in Huaraz so no ice-climbing or glacier walks for us. Two of the boys did a mountain bike ride and got soaked in the freezing rain (it had been bright sunshine when they left). So we pretty much all just relaxed in our warm beds - catching up on sleep and reading books. We did have Halloween while in Huaraz though and some of the group got into the spirit and wore masks for a good minute or two (not very comfortable apparently). Other than that Huaraz wasn´t anything exciting.

Halloween in Huaraz

Huanchaco
Next stop was the beach town of Huanchaco where you can watch locals ride the surf into the beach on reed surf skis. We didn´t see any though :-( We did have a very cool campsite though - we pitched our tents on the roof of a hostel! Huanchaco is on the itinerary because of Chan Chan - the mud city. It´s a pre-Inca ruin and the whole city is built from mud. It was far more interesting than expected (I mean how interesting can mud be right?). The civilisation that built it did lots of decorating - carving fish and cormorants into the walls as well as building the walls in a fishnet pattern.

The dog (now one-eyed) at Chan Chan

We also visited the Temple of the Moon which only started being excavated in 1991. It´s special because of the decorations all of which are in colour, the colour having survived all this time buried underground.

Punta Sal
Really long drive day to Punta Sal on the north coast of Peru. Finally into warm weather and a bit of sun. There was a total vegetation change along the way too with cane fields and palm trees and general greenness replacing the barreness we´ve mostly had. Punta Sal is just a beach place where we get to relax and defrost. We were all so busy relaxing in fact that no one even took a photo! It´s a really nice place and we camp on the beach. It´s a nice idea but the wind was a bit strong and sand doesn´t offer much purchase to tent pegs - my tent kept moving but not too far so it was ok. We even found a place that did gluten free biscuits and bread so I had food!!

Cuenca (Ecuador)
After a few days lazing on a beach we crossed the border into Ecuador for the final part of the trip. The border crossing was smooth if slow and we had a smooth drive into Cuenca. Cuenca is a colonial city and has a huge cathedral on the main square. They actually never built the spires of the cathedral because they realised while building it that the building couldn´t actually support them. It does have blue domes though and you have to be happy with that. I really liked Cuenca not because of the Spanish colonial influence but because of the fantastic ice-cream parlour, awesome one pound steaks and of course the panama hat factory.

Weaving a Panama Hat

Panama hats are in fact Ecuadorian hats (not as catchy sounding though) and are all woven by hand from a particular palm frond. For those that aren´t familiar with the Panama hat it´s the kind of hat that dodgy drug barons wear in movies and ladies wear to the races. It´s pretty cool to see it done but the best part is trying on all the hats in the show room at the end. The ladies races type hats don´t suit me at all but I look way cool in the cowboy hats. The dog looked good too.

The dog at the Panama hat factory

Baños/Rio Verde

We were lucky to get to go to Baños as there´s been a volcano erupting here this year. Fortunately for us it stopped. We actually stay in Rio Verde not Baños which is safer in terms of a possible eruption and it´s closer to outdoor activities. I was psyched to do the bridge swing but it´s not safe here so had to content myself with jumping off a waterfall instead. Yes, I went canyoning. It´s great fun and our guides were brilliant and very safety conscious. We only got to do one waterfall jump as there was not enough flow in one spot and too much on the big 8 metre jump. No jumping meant more abseiling which is fun too.

Me jumping off the 3m waterfall

Me catching the flying fox down

It rained heaps while we were in Rio Verde so it was a biot damp in our tents but it didn´t rain so much as to ruin our days. Me and some of the others did a big walk from Rio Verde to some waterfalls and the cable car (tarabita). The cable car takes you across the valley then you walk through bush on the other side of the river before catching another cable car back. The cable car is more of a basket on string than an actual cable car. It was a long walk that unexpectedly turned hot but we made it into Baños then back home again easily enough.

The cable car near Rio Verde. Safety plus!

Jungle Trip

dusk on the Napa river

We left Rio Verde in the rain and mist and headed into the jungle. Unfortunately the premier jungle spot in Ecuador has a government warning on it so Kumuka aren´t allowed to take us there. Where we went was very good too. Very little wildlife though. I´m sure the louder members of our group contributed to that too. We stayed at a place called Anaconda Lodge on the Napa river which is a major tributary of the Amazon. We did lots of walks in the jungle (only one snake) and the highlights for me were chocolate in it´s natural habitat and the leaf cutter ants. We also visited a local village, animal sanctuary and had a visit from a shaman. I didn´t get cleansed of evil spirits by the shaman though - there wasn´t enough time (hehehe).

Squirrel monkey

I really enjoyed the jungle and seemed to be clicking away with my camera the most. Unfortunately the light in the jungle isn´t conducive to photography so not many came out. Loads of pictures of local kids though. They were fascinated to see themselves instantly.

a local boy in the village we visited

Otavalo

We were supposed to leave the jungle, overnight in Tena nearby then drive to Otavalo but our driver noticed a broken spring on the back wheels near Quito so we changed plans to be safe. All it meant was that we had to catch local transport to Otavalo the next mornign to go to the markets. The markets were pretty good but no where near the size of Chichicastenango in Guatemala. Most of the really cool stuff is wooden which kind of sucks for us Aussies with our stringent customs.

On the way back I stopped off at the equator. There´s a huge monument and a tourist "city" at the site of the equator. Only problem is it´s actually in the wrong place. Whoops!!! They have a second smaller plaque 300m or so further north where you can see the water go straight down the sink and stuff like that. I only took the dog to the fake equator though because you lose a kilo standing on it and he´s only little and might cease to exist! (hehehe) Didn´t get heaps of time here and I left my other memory card at the hostal so can´t put photos up.

Leaving Quito tonight. Next stop Samoa!!! Hello lazing on the beach.