South America

We are writing from Quito, Ecuador; thin air, ladies wearing funny hats and guinea pigs are preferred on a spit. We are just back from the Galapagos. We flew to the Galapagos 3 weeks ago (1,000 miles off the coast) and spent 2 (painful) days forming a group and "fixing" a boat. Our multi-national group of 8 chartered the "Daphne" for 9 nights/11 Islands. It was a smallish vessel, good food/crew, traveling at a roaring 7 knots per hour between islands (mostly at night) and it took us all awhile to gain our sea legs. Only Frank (a guy from Germany) "fed the fish".

From the deck of the Daphne, we saw sperm whale, dolphins, turtles and flying fish. The islands themselves are volcanic with some fine sandy beaches, some incredible lava fields (lunar landscape), plenty of shrubs and some cactus forests.

On land, the main attraction are the fearless seabirds-when approached they hold their ground and stare up at you. Blue/red footed boobies, masked boobies, albatross, frigate birds, tropic birds, gulls were sometimes in huge colonies and we watched them courting, building nests, nesting, chick raising and just plain hanging around. Sheila taught a young boobie how to dance. There are also good sized iguanas including marine iguanas which feed underwater.

Each day we snorkeled at least once in the unseasonably warm waters (as a result of el niño). We spotted sharks, rays, copulating turtles, eels while pelicans and boobies dive bombed above us. At a couple of sites we were able to watch penguins in the sea: they are awkward on land, but "masters of their domain" underwater.

However, the star attraction of the Galapagos are the seals. Colonies of upto 1,000 seals (what a stink!) lazed about the beaches and rocks with the occasional mammoth bull chasing us off, we would play with them while we snorkeled, sometimes with as many as 10 at a time. The juveniles were sometimes cheeky: charging us then altering direction at the last second. Sometimes, there were too many seals buzzing about, scaring the fish off!

And the giant land tortoises that live up to 150 years: we visited some breeding stock and saw one in the wild: the balance of the population was off-limits (mating season). We flew back to the mainland after 16 days on the islands.

We rode the roof of the train from the coast up to the mountains (sea level to over 3200 metres; impressive engineering) and watched the not-quite-in-time rail maintenance as our train derailed. It took the crew an hour to get our train back on the rails. We are now adjusting to the cool and thin air of the Andes after 5 months of coastal climates. Next we buy a llama; Sheila already has a name picked out.

From Quito we headed north to begin our altitude acclimitization. On our first volcano climb we huffed and puffed our way to the top and met a lady there doing her embroidery. Heading south, a kid crawled into the bus luggage compartment and went through our packs- amongst our losses; Sheila's bathing suit for a 2nd time on this trip. We slept at 3800 metres on the edge of the Quilotoa volcanic crater (filled with emerald colored lake) and visited the nearby Zimbahua (say that fast 3 times) Saturday market and marveled at the llama parking lot (used for carrying the shopping home) but didn't buy a llama in the animal market as all the good ones had been bought up by someone else.

Further south, we experienced Baños, a fun (tacky) Ecuadorian bath (hot springs) resort with many parallels to English seaside resorts without the pebble beach or rock candy, but with taffy & trinkets. We rode the Big Dragon road train,complete with flashing lights, through the town. Later we mountain biked down 1,000 metres in elevation, then climbed up to the top of the 5,000 metre peak of Tungurahua. There was snow down to 4,400 metres (we wore crampons on the glaciated top) for a splendid view of a white-out; it could have been Scotland in winter. We then discovered a new sport; lava scree running. The 2,200 metre descent meant tender muscles the following day.

Heading south, we stopped in Cuenca, an incredibly nice colonial city, with bags full of guinea pigs for sale on market day. We visisted Cajas National Park- beautiful, rounded grassy mountains, rocky summits, a plethora of shallow lakes- with the mist and drizzle it could have been Scotland in summer. Our damp night at 4,000 metres was our coldest of our trip so far. Brrrr....

Second to the Galapagos, our highlight of Ecuador was a week-end of bullfighting we chanced upon in a small town (Cañar). We stayed for both days of the fiesta (no killing of the bulls). One matador was kicked down 4 times, one was trampled (badly injured) and one drunk wanna-be matador jumped out into the plaza, stared down the bull, then was knocked unconcious by the bull. All the toreros (matadors, peons-assistants and clowns including dwarf) stayed at our dumpy, but only hotel in town. The dwarf clown had the toughest job; he kept getting knocked over the bulls.

We then crossed over the border into Peru. Here we feel like lemons, always being squeezed for more money. It's a step down from Ecuador. The diarrhea returned as did the garbage. Nice to know that somethings haven't changed since our last trip here. The coast is a real desert-it feels like Egypt but we headed straight for the Cordillera Blanca with its glaciated peaks over 6,000 metres. We did one trek-our highest campsite a mere 4,100 metres and crossed a 4,750 metre (apologies for all the "metres"). Plenty of emerald coloured lakes and spectacular views. The bus rides are amazing and nerve wracking. The downside to the beauty are the cows that graze upto 4,400 metres; e.g. we reached a beautiful meadow only to be greeted by the smell of cow shit.

Yesterday, we visited the Chavin ruins- interesting exploring the inner chambers of the temple complex dating back 3,000 years. Alpacas outnumber llamas on the hillsides. Peru wins worst coffee award, but 'sublime' brand chocolate really is sublime. Tomorrow we are off to do another trek, then we head further south to the Nazca lines, Northern Chile and into Bolivia.

We last left off in Peru whose biggest tourist attraction is not Machu Picchu but should be the 3-wheeler motorcycle taxis found in most towns. On our 2nd Cordillera Blanca trek, we encountered two vicious dogs guarding the corpse of a half-eaten horse before reaching a beautiful lake beneath the towering Mt Huantsan with glaciers tumbling down into the water: almost as impressive as Berg Lake and Mt. Robson in British Columbia.

In Lima (not one of our favourite cities), Sheila flew to Montreal as her mother had an unfortunate fall resulting in a broken hip. Sheila set off to help out, leaving me on my own for a month. So as not to disappoint our newsletter readers, I continued on....

Further south, the next stop was to see the ultimate cosmic billboard: the Nazca lines. The 4 seater airplanes used to view the lines spin around the lines, leaving most tourists' stomachs in knots (there is a job opening for you JD). I reckon that if you look at the lines from outer space, they say "Drink Inca Cola". They no longer draw lines in the Nazca desert; they have switched over to lines in the cyberspace. From Nazca, I headed straight to the Chilean border, leaving the generally nice Peruvian people, but a very screwed up country, behind. It was at this point that I was abducted by aliens, but that's yet another story!

I crossed into Chile, in style, by shared taxi in a Ford LTD (Wayne, I know where your car ended up, and she is doing fine). Chile is a 2nd world country; well organized, buses stop at railway crossings and you can drink the water (though the tap water does smell like a swimming pool in places). I headed east to the high altitude desert of Lauca National Park and worked my way up to one of the world's highest lakes (and beautiful) at 4600 metres, shadowed by the spectacular Mt Parinacota, "Mt Fuji like" volcano. Hundreds of vizcuñas (wild precursors to llamas) roamed on the high pampas. Nights were cold and the air was thin.

From the Chile/Bolivian border area, I caught a bus onto LaPaz. At our breakfast stop, the bus driver disappeared into the kitchen and knocked back a couple of "Inca" brand beers: welcome to Bolivia! In LaPaz, Dr. Fernandez explained to me that I had developed a mild case of hemarroids (too many scoops of chile on my cornflakes?). I began treatment and concurrently set out to climb Huayna Potosi, a 6088 metre high mountain. It was a unique experience, inserting a suppository at our tented camp atop a glacier at 5500 metres in the minus 10 degree temperatures. In any case, I reached the summit wearing crampons, with ice axe in one hand and a tube of Preparation H in the other. It sure made me feel middle aged! Enroute to the summit, I stumbled across the solution to the Canadian identity crisis. Alexandre (from Quebec) and I stomped across the glaciers, conversing in Spanish. So dust off those Spanish texts; it's time to learn Canada's new first language.

From the glaciers and the altiplano, I headed down to the Amazon on a white knuckle (18hr overnight) bus ride along a single lane dirt road. Apparently, 26 buses dropped off the road in one year but since then, they have 'improved' the road. I saw no young bus or truck drivers on the road. Our driver was a Michael Schumacher wannabe, chasing and passing anything that moved. We passed through a coca growing region where you can pick up a huge bag of coca leaves for less than a dollar.

Out on the Amazonian pampas (grasslands), I took a 3 day tour. We (Rocky, Javier and I) travelled by motorized canoe and on foot. Although we saw hundreds of crocodiles, scores of capybaras (gigantic guineal pig like animals), pink river dolphins and countless birds, the theme of the tour was "look, capture and hold". By night, we successfully hunted 2.5 metre crocodiles (mesmorized by flashlights) and by day, we captured Anaconda and Cobra. It was all strictly "catch & release". We also spent an afternoon piranha fishing, but we ate them.

In the same region (a mere 4 hours away along very bad roads), I visited the Beni Biosphere Reserve. There, I saw the amazing fishing bats and then arranged for a Chimane Indian guide and a 3 day Amazonian jungle hike with a volunteer at the reserve. Monkeys and tapir were sighted. We also observed two large groups of pecarries (wild pig) close at hand. I paid the price and was subject to savage attacks of chiggers, ticks and other nasty insects. Each of the hundreds of bites all over my body called out to me to be scratched (especially when I lay in bed). I did not disappoint them.

It is Monday morning. I am fresh off a 20 hour bus ride. I've come from 225 metres to 3800 metres above sea level, so I feel I little dizzy. I could use a coca tea right now (supposed to help with altitude acclimitization). Our bus driver consumed half of a huge bag of coca leaves on the way up. Tomorrow, the General (Sheila) returns. She will whip this unit back into shape. No more pub crawling or loose women. We'll be heading through southern Bolivia into Brazil where it will be time for a crash course in Portugese.

Picking up the trail where we left off in Bolivia......Sheila returned from Montreal with a bag full of newspapers. We stopped off in Cochabamba to take in the festival de la Virgen de Urkupiña; people queued for hours to have miniature versions of household items (e.g.laundry soap) blessed by a priest. For a small sum, two priests blessed cars and trucks. There is no need for Formula Shell gasoline in Bolivia as the clergy look after it: the priests insisted that the engine hoods were opened to ensure trouble free motoring.

A little later, we were back on a brutal overnight bus ride (cold, washboard dirtroad) so that we could pound on hotel doors, looking for a room at 4:00 a.m. in Uyuni. From there we ate dust for 4 days in a Landcruiser with Gary, Nicky and two lads from Barcelona. The Uyuni Salt Lake looks like a snow covered frozen lake, except it is 9-12 metres thick with salt. It´s the largest in the world. We were amazed by the blood red waters of Laguna Colorado (4800 metres elevation) and the aquamarine colours of Laguna Verde. We saw heaps of flamingos, vicuñas, vizcachas and plenty of llamas & alpacas in this SW corner of Bolivia.

Then it was off to the highest city in the world: Potosi at 4070 metres. At the miner´s market, we picked up some dynamite (1USD including fuse) and coca leaves and headed for a visit of a Cerro Rico mine. What we experienced was staggering:archaic, small crawl spaces, men hauling 40 kg bags of ore up near vertical shafts, our only lighting was calcium carbide lamps, donkeys are no longer used as men are cheaper.

On we went to Sucre, a gem of a colonial city (our favourite in Latin America) and enjoyed vegetarian food, Argentine steaks, espresso coffee and croissants. We couldn't resist the cheap airfares and skipped an 18 hour bus ride "experience " and flew to Santa Cruz where the temperatures were in the mid 30´s (Celsius). Sloths live in the main plaza while a couple of toucans lived in our hotel. Over at the zoo, the over-dressed llamas had pink dye stained mouths from eating junk food provided by the Sunday crowds. Whilst we ran into the President of Bolivia twice in as many weeks, the top sight was a belly dancing contest in Santa Cruz. Most of the Santa Cruz taxis originate from 2nd hand car lots in Japan: the steering wheels are switched over to the left-hand side, leaving a gaping hole in the dashboard on the right.

We visited the relatively nearby Amboro National Park for 4 nights with Stephane (France) and walked up a stunning river surrounded by lush jungle and steep 2-300 metre high canyon walls. There were hundreds of fish in the deep pools but our makeshift dental floss line and wire hook did not produce any fish dinners. Navigation was straightforward: follow the river, even the LMC (London Hiking Club) couldn´t get lost.

After a 21 hour train ride, we entered SW Brazil. We felt the 40 degree heat and admired the cylindrical styrofoam coolers that beers are served in to keep them cool. Portuguese is utterly incomprehensible (so much for the theory that it is almost like Spanish). Brazil is not the place for vegetarians; the BEEF is excellent, copious and cheap. We met 2 Brits on a round-the-world drugs and alcohol tour who introduced us to the sugar cane alcohol which is raunchy but cheap at 2USD a litre.

We visited the Pantanal (endless wetlands, half the size of France) and walked to a lagoon and camped there for a couple of nights. Glenn hooked a caiman crocodile while piranha fishing. Later, while swimming in the same spot, we kept a wary eye on the nearby caimans. We did see an incredible array of birds including the abundant blue macaws. Capybaras, armadillos, monkeys, fox, deer, coati and agouti were all seen close at hand. The nights were unbearably hot with the constant drone of mosquitos outside our tent.

We left off in Asuncion, Paraguay, a dump, but a good place to buy tummy trimmers and plastic flowers. We re-entered Brazil to view the amazing Iguazu Falls. It was there that a band of coati (racoon like animals) attacked Sheila in search of her Paraguayan cheese bread. The real entertainment in the city of Foz de Iguazu were the transvestites who wandered the streets at 4:00 a.m. (don't ask what we were doing at that hour). By day, we indulged all-you-can-eat Brazilian beef for less than 4 dollars.

Across the river on the Argentine side, we found the relaxed Brazilians were replaced by uptight Argentinians who, by contrast, seemed wear their underwear too tight. Whilst Iguazu has no wax museum or House of Mirrors (viva Niagra Falls), the falls themselves were overwhelming: endless falls surrounded by jungle with toucans and parrots. They are the best falls in the world.

From the falls, we headed off to NW Argentina for a magnificent walk over spectacular passes and through remote Indian villages constructed of stone. It was of a Himalayan scale: it took us 1 1/2 days to climb the first pass. On the first night we burned cactus wood in our campfire amongst 4 to 5 metre high cactus and 4 days later arrived at an outrageously beautiful green valley where parrots replaced condors as the most abundant birds.

From Argentina, we passed over into Chile by bus to the Atacama desert, the driest in the world; so dry that nothing grows there. Nearby, we visited the "big hole", a huge open pit copper mine 2km by 4km and 750 metres deep; they wouldn't let us drive the giant trucks.

We jumped onto a bus bound for Santiago some 1500 kms away and played bingo on board. Further south, bridges on the Pan-American Highway were washed out by an El Niño storm and we felt an earthquake while in Santiago. The city itself feels much smaller than a city of 5 million people. Snow covered mountains tower over the city, though they often disappear in the smog. The droves of men walking in business suits gave us the shivers, so we headed further south to look down the throat of El Niño, experiencing horizontal rain on a very wet coastal walk along deserted, uninhabited beaches in the Lake district. We found out how remote our hike was when we had to walk out along a 55km road without seeing a single vehicle.

We fled El Niño and headed even further south by boat from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales on what we called the "fleece and Gortex cruise" (so named after the passengers' attire) through fjords and narrow channels for 3 days (it looked like unlimited sea kayaking opportunities along the coast). The normally "unfriendly climate" eased for our 10 days of hiking in Torres del Paine National Park. There we sat below the gigantic granite towers thrusting into the sky, we glissaded down snow covered snow passes, gazed at glaciers tumbling off the huge continental ice cap (3rd largest ice field in the world after the Antarctic and Greenland) and watched calving icebergs the size of trucks slide into glacial lakes and admired the huge iceberg parking lots/cemeteries at the end of the lakes. One iceberg was the size of two aircraft carriers.

Later we crossed the Argentine border and today we visited the Perito Moreno glacier (4 1/2 km wide) with its ice walls of 50 metres high slowly sliding into the lake; touristy but a "must see". We have seen a number of amazing sites in Patagonia: not one but three backpackers with hair dryers and flocks of 40 parrots roosting outside the door of our cabin within a couple of kilometres of the ice cap. And now we are enjoying the late 10:00 p.m. night falls, Argentine wine and steaks.

More magnificent granite mountains of Fitzroy and Cerro Torre which attract world class climbers and greenhorn hikers alike; we watched one Israeli try to start a fire by wrapping a wet twig in toilet paper and light it without success. What do they learn in their 3 years of military service?

The penguin rookery near Punta Arenas in Chile which had signs "por favor, no tocar (touch) los pinguenos".

Twin otter flight over Tierra del Fuego to Isla Navarino and Puerto Williams, the world's most southern town. No e-mail services down there, but lots of daylight (4am to 11pm in November).

Sheila modeled her new footwear (rubber boots) in our aborted attempt to do a 5 day circuit cut short due to a blizzard-we were waist deep in snow. The island is beaver heaven. Beavers were introduced to Patagonia (no predators); they have slaughtered the trees to build their dams (hydro-electric power for TV's in beaver homes?).

After almost 13 months heading south, we turned around by sailboat to Ushuaia Argentina across the Beagle Channel. We saw no beagles, but plenty of seals, penguins and albatross.

We rented a car with Julie, Stephanie and Philippe near the Valdez peninsula in Argentina to see; whales up real close- Frenchman said "zut alors".... felt very much like like an African safari with 3 boats surrounding mother and calf who were minding their own business.... elephant seals - fat and happy- can belch louder than any creature on earth, including Peter O.

We continued on to Punta Tombo with its 240,000 penguins : a German tourist exclaimed "wunderbar".

Another mere 40,000 penguins awaited us at very scenic Camarones. The penguins were amazing. Their communities were high density nurseries, seas of burrows. After each babysitting change (lasting up to 6 days), the couple greet each other by heavy squawking, the returning parents is left to regurgitate fish bits to the screaming fuzz balls while the relieved parent makes a bee-line down one of the many well worn pathways to the sea. Without any hesitation, they dive into the waves, to wash their dusty dinner suits and play in the water. Hovering gulls dive down on unattended nests for a free meal of penguin 'veal'.

Other penguin couples were beak clacking in courtship and some undergoing the delicate act of copulation. All in all, an amazing experience, but don't get too close as they have sharp beaks!!

We headed back to Puerto Montt Chile to meet up with friends Andrew and Laura but we found out that Glenn's mom is very seriously ill (recently diagnosed cancer), and we jumped on the next available plane; what took us over 13 months to travel took about 30 hours on the return. So, we are here in Sylvan Lake, mid-winter. The weather has been kind (15 degrees on a few days) giving us a chance to thicken our blood. We are trying to provide as much support as we can.... postscript: Glenn's mom passed away January 8th, 1998.