2 great days in San Augustin

11,12 Jan 2007

Once up and mobile we decide to go straight to the archeological park, where the famous stone statues are.

Once there we are met by Carlos the guide. He speaks excellent English but quotes us 30,000 for his services.. along with the 7,000 entrance each. We hum and har, then say so. But once entering the park and just staring dumbly at the staues, I change my mind and we return to find him.

By this time he has found two young American guys, but we agree to all go together. Carlos turns out to be an incredible character. His guiding is supposed to last 2,5 hours, but we spend the entire day with him. Admittedly we spend the latter part of the day discussing life in Colmbia, buying land in Colombia, and his aspirations more than the actual acheology.

Once he hears that I too am a tour guide he takes quite a shine to me, and he actively tells me that Colombia needs more foreign investment in the tourism sector. Hes almost read my mind, cos Im constantly looking for opportunity, and before I know it he has me talking to locals about buying land nearby. One character tells me his 2.5ha farm with all services will set me back around $17,000US. I hesitate, and he almost immediately follows up ¨but you can haggle¨... Interesting.

Carlos himself is pretty well read at 29. He quotes passages from ¨rich dad, poor dad¨and says he wants to be the richest man in Colombia. Thats why he hasnt married yet. Hes pretty intense....

As for the actual archeology, there are hundreds of statues of heads that were buried by an ancient civilization that dissappeared around 900 ad. Nothing is kown about them as fact, but the various theories extrapolated from the statues are pretty interesting. Of particular note is a small waterfall feature with carvings. The water passes thru carved channels etc, and makes quite an impresive sight.

The next day we go horse riding, again with the Americans, after negotiating a better deal with 4 of us. The horses are on a ¨Mexican Mount¨which is new to both me and Sara. Shes too used to British mounts and doesnt like it. I though, really do enjoy it. The saddle is further forward and its easier to get my legs around his gut. This beomes important, cos these horses just want to gallop... hard. Theres a few steeps which are thankfully taken slowly, but in general we motor. Its great fun.

Along the way we check out a few more statues, some with colour which is pretty cool. The guide is pretty hopeless, but we heard most of the archeological history yesterday.

In the eve we consider staying for another day, but now our hearts are set on the Carribean, so we decide to bail in the morning.

the slow road to San Augustin

10 Jan 2007

After doing little in Popayan yesterday we decide to move on to a town with attractions. The ride to San Augustin is only 100km, yet costs 25,000 pesos... And somehow it is going to take us 6 hours...

Once we get going it becomes obvious why. The road is rough as, and we move at an average speed of 20km/hr. I know this for fact as public service vehicals here have to display the speedo for all to see. It just makes it more frustrating!!!

On a good note though, we dont get ambushed by guerrilas, which was a very serious probability 2 years ago. And the scenery is amazing... its just like NZ!!! To start its bright green fields with cows, then as we climb high we get into thick rain forrest exactly like the West Coast. It brings me memories of Franz Josef... which is what basicaly paid for this trip... sweet..

After almost 8 hours we get in. The Israeli boys came yesterday and we bump ino them almost straight away. They reccommend a pizza restaurant, and indeed the pizza is bloody HUGE!

We choose a basic but friendly place to stay 20 mins walk up the hill, and plan for some horse riding and stone statue watching tomorrow..

on to Popoyan

8,9 Jan 2007

Getting out of Pastos proovs to be a mission. We havent realised what a big deal the festival here was, and the bus station is crowded beyond capacity with all the Colombian heading home. The busses are beyond full. Not good.

After queing for a while Sara talks to some others in line who come up with a plan. If we can get 11 of us we can hire our own mini van. We pull it off, but it costs us 45,000 each. Ouch (again)...

The ride is 7 hours, and the van is small. But we meet 3 Israeli kids unlike any I have met before. Naturaly, they have just finished their army time, but are actualy nice guys! We yarn for ages about where we've all been. They are coming down so we swap notes. I also ask them a lot of questions about life in Israel, the army etc. And their answers are honest and very interesting.

We all stay at a simple hostel in Popoyan. Again, the town is all but closed, but we find a cheap spot for a small dinner

The highlight of the night is in the huge Exito supermarket.For a prize they have a very cool electic assisteded bycicle. Its shaped like a chopper... and I love it!! I take a photo... and get told off by the security guards..(???)

Amazing church.. thru to not amazing town

7 Jan 2007

Having seen photos of the nearby Las Lajas church we are pretty excited to be going there today. Its Sunday, and a long weekend, so its going to be crowded. The hotel owner says the cheapest way there is to catch a local bus to the top of the hill, then walk down the last 3kms.

Of course, he insists, we will have to use a taxi to get back. When we ask what wrong with the bus to come back he looks at us like we are mad and says, but you would have to walk up the hill first.....

Sure enough, its packed. All Colombians, we are the only foreigners.(again). And yes, it is bloody beautiful. Pure Gothic style, and on a cliff over a river, with a massive brick bridge to connect. It looks like something out of a ferry tale. We take a quick look inside with the crowds ofworshippers, and enter the museum underneath the church, complete with two scarey stuffed animals.

These mutants are displayed as evidence of Gods wrath. A goat with two heads, and a sheep with 4 front legs. Siamese twins perhaps???

We take loads of photos, then finaly walk up the hill. Its pretty warm by now (after a chilly morning), maybe we should have cabbed it.

Back in town we grab a fruit smoothie, which sets us back 5000 pesos...$2.25US each..... and feel a pinch of concern about costs in Colombia, which we have aleady heard are higher than where we camne from.

The bus thru to Pastos confirms it. 6000 each for a two hour ride... its not a total fortune, but certainly more than before.

Pastos feels weird. Its a medium sized city centre, but is totaly deserted, and very dusty, despite being all sealed roads. We discover later that the famous carnival finished last night. The dust we see is flour which everybody throws at each other, and everybody is now in bed recovering....

We finaly find an open diner for a very basic (and expensive) lasagne, and crash.

Into COLOMBIA.. at last!

6 Jan 2007

We start the day early, and are at he South American Exploers club just as they open to see if the Colombia guidebook is still there. The othe two travellers bookstores we visited yesterday arvo told us that Colombia guidebooks are in hot demand over here, so we're not hopeful.

Yet sure enough there it is. We manage to convince the boy to swap our Peru Lonelyplanet for it. Its a good deal for them, its a LP, which are more po. The manager we spoke to the other day said she'd do the swap AND $5... so i guess we got off lightly this morning..
pular, and its almost brand new. The Footprints we pick up is fromm 2000ad, and is pretty shabby

Straight onto a bus to the North we bypass Ovantalo, with its famour markets (we've seen plently alread) and other sights which are evidently very popular for travellers in the north. We have heard so many great things about Colombia, and have been really looking forward to this moment for ages. The bus ride is long, and we get to the border town around 4pm.

The one attraction here according to the guidebooks is the cemetry... and its cool shaped trees. This might sound a bit lame, but we wander there to check, and are actualy bloody impressed. Its huge and the upkeep must take forever. Shapes of animals, geometric patterns etc. The locals call it a cemetry so beautiful it makes you want to die there. Not too sure about that.. but its certainly pretty cool.

A short mini van to the border itself where we have to que for half an hour to exit. Getting in to Colombia takes all of 30 seconds though, and all the issues of absolutely requiring an onward ticket (which we dont have) seem to have been forgotten.

Its dark by now and we mini van thru to Ipliales, find a hostel and crash alsmost immediately.

Finaly we are here...

The REAL middle of the World

5 Jan 2007

The standard "must do" day trip from Quito is to head 45 mins Norht of the city and see the monument to the Equator... the reason behind this countries name.

Now I'll be brief. We bus it out there, pay outragous entrance fee, take photos "on the line" as you do... and are generaly pretty unimpressed. There are other special interest rooms here, but they all cost extra too. A tourist scam.

I am amused at the concept of weighing yourself ON the equitor. Because right on the spot there is a perfect balance of the North and South Coriolis effects.. you weigh less. Cool. SoI get weighed and indeed it says I am down to 85.5kg... from 92 when i left NZ. (Less beer might have helped recently too, just thinking about it..) Evidently the effect for my weight has dropped 2.5kg, so I guess I'm still 88kg.... not bad..

So things are slightly looking up. Next door though is a little museum... which turns out to be Excellent!!! The family who oned the land there decided to set up a museum a few years ago, mostly about native cultures etc. By co incidence GPS was developed a few years later. And then by an extroidinary stroke of luck, the US miliatary were nearby on excercise, testing their new fangled GPS system (well before they went public).

Wouldnt you know it... the Ecuadorian government had blown it when they erected the statue.. and put it in the wrong place! Halarious.... It is actualy on the property of the private museum! What a windfall! We learn all of this cos the nice girl who shows us around eventualy admits to being the daughter of the owner, and once that secret is out she spills on the whole history.

They have set up some cool experiments to show the lack of coriolis effect. Hardest is balancing an egg on a nail head. Quite tricky but we both pull it off, and even get a certificate for doing so!

But the funiest thing is watching the water go down the plug hole in a bath tub. Now I always thought it was Bullsh*t about it going down in oppossite directions. But wouldnt you know it... IT WORKS!!!!!! And when it is right on the equator there is no whirlpool at all.... I am genuienly impressed.

So we leave in a good mood. The day turned out well after all. As we board the bus I suddenly realise that the scales I stood on were NOT on the equator.. so does this mean I really weigh only 85kg?? I make to note to eat a decent dinner...

Quito

4 Jan 2007 - 5 jan 2007

As we rise relatively early in the morning we are very pleased to see blazing SUN! I was starting to wonder about its lack of appearance in this country. The hostel is slighly elevated so we can look down over the city, which is nice. Admitedly its a lot nicer after the layer of brown smog burns off. We decide that we'll change hostels and get a few errands done this morning.

Our main errand is toobtain a guide bok for Colombia. We go to the South American Explorers club, and get a mixed recption from the yanks who work there. THey have a 2nd hand guide book. Its a footprints... from 2000. Not too sure on that one. They too repeat the current staory doing the rounds that the latest Lonely Planet is a joke. (As it turns out I get to see this LP in about a week from now. Its unreal.. word for word from the shoestring guide from 2003.. no new info or nothing...)

Finding a hostel turns into a minor mission. The 1st place we walk into quotes us a good rate, then suddenly adds "it more if you want to stay the whoel night".... We say no to the by the hou/brothel... Finaly we give up on new town where supposed "most travellers" stay, and find a big deserted old hotel in the old town.

Its from here our day gets better. The old town is very impressive. Not much traffic and loads of beautiful old buildings. Again, the final appearance of some sun helps too.

There are loads of famous old churches, but its the HUGE Cathedral that grabs our attention. Going inside the church itself is almost spooky. Its roof is soo high above us and the tall walls are surprisingly featureless concrete. The Gargoyles on the outside are local animals instead of the usual dragons. There are Iguanas, Pelican etc and its a prett cool touch. For a couple of dollars we can climb the towers. THis turns out to be excellent. The access takes us on a thin boadwalk suspended literally over the churches massive high ceiling. The ladders for the final assent are pretty steep, with minimal guard rails. The view is great.. right over the city. Get some cool photos too...

While eating lunch we

notice a slighly random thing. The coke bottle I am drinking from. Over here they recycle the bottles, which can only be a good thing. But unlike home nowadays where the glass is melted and production starts over, here they just clean the bottle and refill it. All good. We notice my bottle looks very old and worn,a nd upon close inspection has the old logo. It also has a date.. Feb 1992!! Thats a lot of refills over 15 years!

In the eve we end up in the new town, right where we started thsi morning. Its remarkable how different it looks now after dark. The restaurants are full and theres lots of em. OIts al quite flash really, though its again more locals than foreigners. We go to an Indian place which looks authentica and serves food which looks great. Somewhat bizzarrely.. there is no spice in it at all.. so its a pretty bizzaree immitation of Indian food, despite it being Indians who run the show...

Train ride mishaps

3 Jan 2007

We made our way to Riobamba yesterday intent on riding the roof of the Devils Nose train. Its supposed to be an engineering masterpiece, with switchbacks allowing the train to shunt foward and back down a vertical cliff.

The mission starts suspisiously... The train itself is not being used just now, so we start the morning on a bus, at 7am. I didnt sleep well last night and pass out on this one instead. Its pretty odd cos i cant normally sleep on busses, and this one has us jammed into tiny little seats. (bloody midgets over here..). We get into a half way town at 9, and are told to wait till 11.15. Why we had to leave at 7am is anybodies guess...

The "train" is a bit of a joke really. Its only one "carriage" with its own engine, and looks more like a truck, which just happens to run on tracks. Its crowded so the roof space fills quick.. I just get a spot.

So down we go. I had immagined a seriously bloody huge drop when it cam eto the famous vertical section, where roof riding would be perilious (ie fun) with the possibility of slipping off resulting in a major fall. As it turns out there are all of three switchbacsks.. the total vert would be 150m at the most.... and being in a dinky one carriage vehical the shunting at each switchback takes all of five seconds.

I am not amused.

Sara though is fuming. Unfortunately this was my idea... the guidebooks made it out to be about 1000 times cooler than this. Buggar.

Back at the top we jump on the first bus we see to Quito, the Capital city. Evidently you drive past around 11 volcanoes on the stretch of road, several of them active and smoking. Yet again Ecuador treats us to a fine display of low clouds... quite normal it would seem. We do see one of the volcanoes in a rapid break in the clouds, and it is indeed snowy white and semetrical, like a bigger version of Ngarahue. If we were more enthused, and still had any warm clothes with us we should probably climb one of them. But at this point it doesnt feel like an encouraging idea.

Into Quito just after dark, and its immediately obvious that its bloody HUGE! Given that we passed straight thru Lima, and La Paz not being overly big, we realise this is our first genuine big city experience since Santiago, some months ago now. There is traffic everywhere and the bus station is like a small city in itself.

We jump on the tram, which is actualy a bus with its own private roads. Quite a cool concept really, with stations more like a train.

We stay in a "Swiss" hostel which is quite expensive for what it is. It somehow reminds me of some of the early hostels in NZ ten years ago, which is quite a nice memory jog. A dilapidated mansion with loads of rooms, and not enough bathrooms. Admittedly it has a bit of character. (Unlike the modern hostels in NZ which i have been complaining about for a few years now...)

We crash out after a quick pizza

Banos..nice

29 dec 2006 - 2 jan 2007

Its only a couple of hours to get to Banos. The town certainly has a nice reputation, so we are a bit excited to get there. This is Ecuadors premierre tourist destination, mostly for Ecuadorians. And being the weekend of New Years eve it is seriously packed. Its nice to feel the town buzzing, though the famous hot pools are rediculously packed to capacity when we visit in the evening.

We hope to see the volcano looing over the town, but its generaly clouded over. A pretty regular occurance in Ecuador it would seem...

The downhill biking to Puyo some 60km east is not quite what we expected. Theres quite a bit of uphill too! But we cant complain about hiring mountain bikes at $5 for a whoñe day. And they are brand new! Somewhat fortunately neither of us goes arse over tit with the brakes being rigged back to front.

Along the way I do a bridge swing set up by some local entrepaneurs. At around 30m its pretty tame having done so many bungeys back home, but for $10US its a very cheap thrill. I actualy go for the lesser done higher option. THis costs $15 cos they have to re rig the gear. I am most amused that they throw one of their own guys over to check its all working fine! It does..

On new years eve itself we hire some dirt bikes and head into the hill for the afternoon. This starts badly. We hire a quad for 4 hours, only to have it cut out within 10 mins and need to be crash started. We return it and get into a blazing argument with the owneres whether we should pay for the time we used. Poor sara has to do most of the explaining and in turn cops most of their abuse. Not good.

So back to our friendly (super friendly) bike hirers from yesterday who get us some decnt bikes, albeit a bit more expensive. I get a 2 wheel 250cc, and Sara gets a quad. The ride is very cool. We get right up into the hills and around the back and beyond. A lot of it looks surprisingly like NZ. But there the bikes would have cost a fortune, and come with all sorts of legal disclaimers, rules etc..

Come night time its heaving in town. 99.8% are Ecuadorians. For days now we have seen effigies made by locals of themselves and their friends (or enemies?) to burn tonite. Its all a bit massochistic really. We spend from 9pm till 11pm up one of the hills again, this time going up in a truck. the view over town is great once again. We have a few songs sung around a bonfire, and some nice warm sugar can drink, made terrible ifthe local alcahol is added.

Back in town the fireworks go off a couple of mins early, and the effigies are set alite. The town feels like it is being looted with a bonfire every 10 m or so. The official fireworks are big and high, but only one at a time, a display of the finacial differences between home and here. The locals set more off in the street. A blonde family (who look scandanavian) are the biggest pyros, throwing bangers, settingoff roman candles, and generaly casuing mayhem..especialy the father. Its a miracle no one gets burned...

We meet some others from NZ who we bumped into back in Cusco. Lurking around till 2am yarnign away, then beddie boos. A pretty mellow night in terms of drinking, but a nice way to start 2007 I´m sure..

The next day we head for the local zoo. We dont expect much so are pretty stoked to find a very cool set up, and some trippy animals. My absolute favourite are the Cappiburros. They are the world largest rodent, but look more like a cute guinea pig than a rat. And they are Bloody HUGE!! Weighing up to 50kg, and standing up to my knees. Thats a damn big hampster. Photos dont really do them justice unfortunately...

High hills to shithole city

28 Dec 2006

We take off around 10am. We are taking the direct but much less used ¨direct¨route up into the mountains, and the Latacunga loop. Our highest point will be around 3,900m.. the highest we´ve been since La Paz.

While Bolivia was certainly high, it wasnt overly cold. Somehow......despite being loads closer to the equator, its damn cold up here!!

The drive up is nice. The clouds hide a lot of the views, but sure enough the fields are green and rolling. The campesita clothing is back in as well. Its only the women folk who are really dressed traditional, and indeed it reminds us of Bolivia a lot.

Once we get off the bus we negotiate hard with a passing camion to take us 18km to the famous lagoon, the highest in the world. Its seriously cold now. We hadnt really expected this, and having posted opur warm clothes away from Cusco are now regretting theat decision...

The lagoon looks prett impressive, but with gray clouds overhead, freezing high winds, and few clothes to wear in the on and off rain, we cant quite find the enthusisam. So we take a few photos, have a blazing row over whethere we should stay or not and hope tomorrow the weather is better... then leave. Awesome...

Another camion, another bus, and into Latacunga around 7.30pm.

We find the cheapest hostel in town (which later deprives us of any sleep with the worst bed ever) and eat some hot chicken hoping to warm up a bit.

Its an odd wee town ,and I think we dont see any of its good points. MOst bizarre is that all the businesses in town are closed by 9pm. Totaly deserted like theres a cerfew. Not cool. We cant wait to leave...

bus racing..scarey stuff

28 Dec 06

As a ¨bus man¨I cant help but watch other bus drivers perform. Over here (and indeed all of the developing world in my experience) its always terrible. But our ride today is so full on its right up there with the psycos in India.

We are the only passengers for most of the journey due east inland. There is not one but two conductos, and along with the driver they are in a serious RUSH.... They actualy lean into corners.. Im amazed the bus doesnt skid off the road. (see driver banking his body nicely in photo.)

We fly around blind corners just praying that no one is coming the other way. The two condutors scan the horrizon while constantly screaming GO.. GO!!!

We are too nervous to comment, concerned that they might get even worse out of spite..

The highlight I have on video, and its impressive. We have been following another bus for maybe 7 mins. Its also going damn quick but its full of passengers so our guys are determined to overtake. Several attempts are aborted at the last moment, then they go.... and go.. we are neck in neck for over 40 seconds... driving well over 100 kms, around three blind corners.

Finaly our guys give up when a huge truck is seen aproaching us, also rather quickly. No sooner are we behind them the other bus violently skids across the road blocking it. Their driver and conductor gets out and a screaming match ensues. Both party blames the other fully. It finaly fizzles out, then as we drive off one of our conductors calls the police and complains that there is a dangerous bus on the road!!

And, yes I have all of that on camera.... a nice punch up finish would have been a better climax though!

We spend the night in a pretty average place called Quevedo. Supposedly the Asian capital of this country. We see all of two Asians.. who run the chinese restaurant where we have dinner...

Puerto Lopez

26 Dec 06

Puerto Lopez is only 1.5 hours north of our last beach, but feels completely different. Its bigger to start with. From a distance the beach looks great, but turns out to be covered in rubbish.. sigh.

The real reason to be here is to see the islands nearby, known as the poor mans Galapagos. We spent several hours recently trying to decide if the real thing was worth it. We were both keen, but it would have worked out at $1800 US for 8 days or so. Evidently the prices have gone up 25% in the last 12 months. So we figure that will be a mission for when we are sailing around the world in our own boat in 10 years or so.

Anyway, the Isla de Plata we end up flaggin as well, as we are met by a very charasmatic local named Winston Churchill (??). He has a trip to a nearer island where he insists we will have more time to snorkel etc due to its closer proximity. The snorkelling is qiuit fun, as is the fishing. Its most successful when i combine the two, and direct other peoples lines towards the fish as i snorkel above them.

We "catch" a turtle, which is just floating on the water surface. Unfortunately thats cos its dead... But I do see one swimming below me while snorkelling.. alive this time.

Admittedly out exploration of the island itself is a write off, and the promised cerviche lunch is bloody tiny! But we have a good time out, and our hostel is damn nice too..

The other phenomenon we see for the first time is a New Years Eve tradition here where all the town folk make effigies and faces of friends and family. Evidently they torch them at midnight on the 31st. Just now they look more amusing lining the streets..

Montanita, more beach time

20 Dec - 25 Dec 2006

These five days are planned to be spent doing little, enjoying some sun and surfing.

Neither of these work out overly well, but its a well deserved time of rest all the same. After being on the road for three months a holiday from aholiday seems in order.

It is muggier here than Mancorra, and the water is much warmer. Surprising seeing its only a few hundred km further north. This is on the cloudless days... which are few.... and when the clouds are out its warm but not hot. At night its actualy cold!!

We stay on the top floor (fourth) of the highest building in town. Our room is a shoe box, but has nice views over the beach, and hammocks, where we end up spending most of our time, reading loads.

The town itself reminds me of Kuta or Haad Rin,just smaller. The cool bars etc are on a stip all of 100m long. There are locals hippies selling necklaces etc along the strip and over five days we recognise all of them. Its a small town all right.

I cant help but think after a couple of days that we might be better off back in Thailand really... Its nice here, but as said its cloudy, and the surf is never that great. But when i think about it for a while, its comparitively expensive.. for example (all in US$)

room
here $10 Thai $2.50

breakfast
here $2.50 Thai .50c

fruit shake

here $1 Thai .25c

etc,etc

We end up moving on on Christmas day... which feels remarkably like any other day.

Its been nice, but left us hanging for a REAL beach up in the Carribean...