Sailing the Galapagos

My last few days of my trip were dedicated to the Galapagos. The first day I went diving. The scenery under water is not fantastic: mainly volcanic rocks and stones - no corals and not many small fish around. However the "big stuff" is simply amazing: white tipped reef sharks, galapagos sharks, sea lions, mantas and turtles were swimming around with us. Unfortunately I did not get to see the hammerhead sharks - can't be lucky every time!

Then I joined a 5-day cruise around several of the many islands. What probably impressed and surprised me most, is how different the islands are: not only is the vegetation very different on each island, but the animals living on them change also from island to island.

Before I go into the details of all I did see, I just wanted to mention a big THANK YOU to our guide Fatima and to my fellow travellers. We were a small group of 9 people and I very much enjoyed our days together!

On the first day we admired the giant land turtles living on Santa Cruz islands. They just walk around the fields and eating their grass. Some of them stand in the middle of the road - then you just have to wait until you can drive around them. They also defend their territory and when another turtle comes to close suddenly they can move very fast. Although it was raining I had a very good time just watching them.

Having sailed all night, we arrived close Isla Floreana in the morning. There we went to see the local post office - an old barrel where people used to deposit their mail to be picked up from other sailors travelling back home. Today many tourists continue this tradition and have postcards hand delivered from fellow travellers who go to the destination of their messages.

In the afternoon we got to see a wonderful lagoon with plenty of pink flamingos - the colours were just amazing.

Highlight of day three, around Isla Española were in the morning the magnificent beach were plenty of sea lions were already waiting for the tourists. In addition to the sea lions there were pelicans and plenty of marine iguanas.

In the afternoon we did a lovely walk, seeing blue footed boobies and land iguanas, as well as a sea lion kinder garden. This is a quite zone were all the sea lion babies can safely play around, well guarded by large sea lion males, making sure that no enemies come and take the babies. We did also see some albatross babies learning to fly - as they have such a wide wing span, they need quite some training before they can take off!

Main attraction on day four on Santa Fee and Isla Plaza were again iguanas and sea lions. Amazing here were especially the country side: red plants, blue sky, green trees, light grey rocks - wow!

On the last morning we went to Isla Seymour Norte, were we watched many birds. Highlights were frigates and the blue footed boobies.

Every day we also went snorkeling, were we could admire the underwater world. Not that many fish and corals around, but I had a lot of fun swimming with the sea lions and the turtles.

With regards to the sea lions: they are on every island and I enjoyed watching them a lot. They lie around in the sun, play together or swim in the water. Amazing is how little they take notice of the people walking past. All animals on the islands are absolutely not afraid of the people and the visitors have a huge responsibility to make sure that it remains this way!

Below are many of my pictures, probably too many, but I found it very difficult to make a smaller selection as I had sooooo many nice pictures.... so here we go:

Guayaquil

From Cuenca I travelled to Guayaquil. It was a bit a strange feeling to walk around in the place I was born and not recognising anything. I had not learned much about Guayaquil from my fellow travellers, except that it had a reputation of being unsafe! So I booked myself into a nice hotel in the center of town, close to the Guaya river and started cautiously to explore....the riverfront, El Malecon 2000, has been redeveloped as a recreational area with parks, play grounds and even a shopping center.

Just north to the Malecon is La Peñas: a small area which has been restored and renovated and which is a delightful place to walk around and discover. The houses, all very colour full, the art galleries and the views over the city and the river from the light house at the top (444 steps to get to the light house, all of them numbered). The area is very safe, there are so many security guards around that you always have one in sight - that felt very good!

One morning I went to see the area and the house were I lived the first three years of my life: the house is in a richer area of the city and all houses have lovely gardens and trees - but all well hidden behind high walls and lots of security guards around. I even had to explain to one of them why I was taking pictures of this one particular house...



Otherwise I went to shopping malls and to the artisans market....it was time to think about all the Christmas presents to be organised!

Riobamba, Baños and Cuenca

From Quito I travelled to Riobamba, where I had planed to take the train to the devil's nose. Unfortunately this was already fully booked. As Riobamba is a middle sized city with a few lovely colonial buildings - but otherwise not much more to offer I decided to travel to Baños.

Baños seems to be one of the major get aways to the tropical forest and as added to the tourist trail in the last few years. There are plenty of hostels and nice restaurants which cater for the tourists all needs. But as I did not fancy any jungle adventures combined with wild river rafting or bungee jumping, I soon left Baños as well for Cuenca.

Cuenca, 3rd largest city in Ecuador after Quito and Guayaquil, has a beautiful historical center. I slept in the Hostal Colonial, an old an lovely colonial building overlooking a small square. The first evening I was treated with music and dance from Cuba which I could enjoy directly from my balcony!

The next evening I experienced the city with full power cut for several hours (in these moments you are very happy that you always carry your head lamp with you). Although there was no power they life goes on and the dinner I had that evening (thanks to generators and candle light) was excellent!

The following day I travelled to Guayaquil via the Caja national park.

Quito and Otavallo

From Arequipa I did fly to Quito as I was starting to run out of time and really want to visit Ecuador. On my first day in Quito I got my camera robbed - in the middle of the day with lots of people around me. All just watched, nobody tried to help me or stop the thief. So here I was again without a camera for a few days....

I went to Otavallo, small city north of Quito, which is famous for its markets - rightly so. Spent a lot of time walking around both the food market, as well as the handicraft market, selling many beautiful items. Stayed one night in Otavallo before heading back to Quito.

Colca Canyon - where are the condors?!

A popular place to visit from Arequipa is the Colca Canyon - the world's deepest canyon according to the locals - and a good spot to see condors fly!

So off I went on a two day tour to this region. The tour was very excellent and our guide, Yrene, did an excellent job explaining everything in both Spanish and English. This was great, because this was free Spanish lessons on top of the tour!

Anyway, back to the Colca tour: we there is quite a bit of traveling involved from Arequipa, but the landscape is great and Yrene explained us a lot about all the differences between Viguñas, Llamas and Alpacas - who were all well represented along our journey.

In the afternoon of the first day we went for a nice walk to see the views and the agricultural terraces, which the farmers have been using even since pre-Inka times. The walk was followed by a visit to the local thermal bath (very nice and warm!) and then by dinner with a some folkloric dances and music.

The next morning we did set off early to travel into the Colca Canyon - all the way to the Condor's view point. Needless to say, that this again was a point where many, many tourists were gathered - all hoping for some condors to fly. And fly they did! We did get to see 5 - 3 of them quite far up in the air, and especially one did fly pretty close. In that moment I got to appreciate how big they are - and they are! Next to the Condor we did get to see giant Hummingbirds fly - they as well were lovely to watch.

After our morning watching the condors, it was time to travel all the way back. I enjoyed the tour, but was disappointed that the way home was the reverse of the way there. And the canyon is maybe very deep, but as we were all a long traveling at it's top we had no way of really appreciating that it is a canyon and how deep it really is.

PS: the dot on one of the pictures - it is not dirt, it is, yes it is a condor....!

Arequipa and its Santa Catalina Convent

Having arrived in Arequipa on a night bus form Cusco, I was a bit tired and looking for some quite and relaxation, which I found in a marvellous place - the Santa Catalina convent. This convent, today a museum, covers a large area in the center of town and was built over centuries. For each nun who joined the convent, her family built her accommodation - luxurious or simple depending on their wealth. The convent has so grown to a city within the city - quite, with beautiful architecture and simply a marvel for everybody to enjoy today. (A small part, not accessible to the public is still a convent). It also houses a small cafe set in a small patio, which serves the most delicious jacked potatoes - I can highly recommend the museum just because of its cafe!

As you can guess from the above, I loved my morning in the Santa Catalina convent - it is among the best places I have seen over the last months!


In the afternoon I did a 2hours sightseeing tour by bus of the city and its surroundings - ok, but by far not the best tour I have ever done...

Machu Picchu

So the day to visit Machu Picchu had arrived. As advised I headed up early morning and started the visit just after 7 in the morning. This was a good decision because there really are less people around in the morning and on that particular day fog came along and it started raining sometime between 9 and 10!

What to tell about such a famous place, what pictures to show?! No I don't have any new angels or shots than what all the million of other tourists have taken. The fog is probably a bit different - that was interesting to watch, how suddenly the whole valley and archeological site were swept in fog and nothing was left to see for a while!

Watching my fellow travelers is also always of interest - especially in so popular places as the Machu Picchu. Check out the pictures below and see what all is included in the services guides provide!

And about Machu Picchu itself? Well the site is imposing: its location, its size and the magnificence of all the buildings or their foundations. The views are stunning and it is hard to imagine how the Inca built this whole city stone by stone - it is soooooo huge, and the mountain sooooooo steep!

All in all, and despite the rain, an interesting visit, but not the most amazing or fabulous place I have been too. Probably because it is so very touristy and everything is so smooth and well prepared to handle the thousands of tourists streaming up to the ruins every day! I also think that the famousness of the place creates such high expectations, which are hard to be fulfilled once you are there. But maybe all looks very different when the sky is blue?!

Ollantaytambo - Inka city in the sacred valley

On my way to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu I also visited Ollantaytambo, one of the many Inca cities in the sacred valley. The ruins and city were interesting and well worth stopping for. Unfortunately the weather was not the best, but hey I can't have a blue sky everywhere!

After the visit of the Inca ruins I walked around the village and in the early evening took the Machu Picchu ChuChuChu to Aguas Callientes, where quickly found a nice little hostel and spent the night.

Cusco - not only getaway to Machu Picchu!

Cusco is a lovely little town where loads of tourists come to because it is the starting point to exploring the Sacred Valley and especially Machu Picchu. But Cusco in itself has plenty to offer: it is full of nice small hostels, bars and especially restaurants (have not eaten so well and in nice places as since I have been in Cusco). But it also has plenty of historical buildings and museums to explore: it was the center of the Inkan administration and was taken over by the Spanish as cultural and clerical center in South America. The cathedral of Cusco is very imposing and definitely worth a visit!

From Puno to Cusco with the Inka Express

Cusco, 7 hours away from Puno, is the getaway to Machu Picchu and my next destination. To render the trip interesting for tourists, there is the Inka Express, which stops a few times and allows tourists to see different attractions on the way. First stop was Pukara a small town famous for its pre-Inka archeological findings.

Next stop is La Raya - where the road moves from one valley into another valley at 4335m. From here two rivers start in opposite directions, it is possible to see white coated mountaintops and of course there are merchants around to sell the tourists whatever they need (or don't need).

Lunch was in Sicuani and was accompanied by lovely local music. After lunch came the most interesting stop: Raqchi, an old Inkan city and archeological site. The scenery here was great, with farmers working their land just next to the Inka ruins.

Last stop before arriving in Cusco was the church of Andahuaylilllas, which is famous for its mixture of European and local cultural features and is one of the churches her around, which features the "Cusco School of Art".

All in all a very pleasant way of travelling to the next destination and getting some culture at the same time!