Riding in Bosco de Pumac near Batan Grande, North Peru

After a day's tour discovering all about the Lord of Sipan, we return to the agency and find , as agreed, Andrea ... a small blonde Swiss woman and her monosyllabic Peruvian husband (very swarthy but with blue eyes!) and their little daughter, josephine. They don't have a vehicle and the ranch is an hour away. They came into town to visit relatives and to pick me up. We get in a taxi and go to where the combis set off - these are small buses which stop and start along a route depending on who wants to get on or off. We then pile into one going in our direction and I am put in the front while they all squeeze somewhere in the back. I get cross questioned by a young woman beside me who is training to be a primary school teacher ... and via her I get loads more questions from the driver. It is quite hard work as I don’t understand everything she asks me.

We eventually arrive in Pacura at about 8pm and I am taken to a large house apparently built by someone whose daughter married a Belgian and it has lots of rooms and I think acts as the only place she can put me up ... she has not room on her ranch and she says the only hotel only rents out rooms by the hour for sex!

I am clearly the only person staying there and am put in a very sparce room with two large beds with very dubious mattresses. I have to have the shower explained to me an alarmingly dangerous contraption. Anyhow she says she will call for me at 8.15 next morning. Despite the strange surroundings I sleep quite well and am ready for her on time. While waiting I havea long conversation with the old lady brushing the area around the empty swimming pool. She explains all about her ailments, the plans for the fiesta area ... etc etc. She seems content that I just smile and make the right noises ... not understanding half of what she has said. Anyhow Andrea arrives in due course with her bike. We decide to leave my backpack so that I can come back and have a shower before going back to Chiclayo.... great idea. So off we go down the back streets to her ranch... just a few blocks away. There she and Manuel and the girl live in just one large room/hut, another hut acts as the shower and for the loo there is a long drop about 50 yards away. Then another hut is the kitchen. There are about half a dozen cows (a mixture of Jerseys and Holsteins) all looking very thin. There is no grass at the moment so they are living on mashed sugar cane. While Andrea gives me breakfast Manuel is saddling up two horses. So a little while later Manuel and I set off. It is not a very chatty day as he has virtually no conversation and this is all in Spanish but after an hour he asks me a few questions and I ask a few questions back.... but that is enough. I am content to just trail behind on my stead.


The navigation of my horse is quite simple but the reins are bound together at the whithers and then you have a single rope that hangs down one side with a loose knot. This is suppose to hang neatly behind your right foot until you need it as a whip ... but I found it difficult to keep it in position and it kept falling forward. We keep to a walking pace which is very comfortable... the saddle is very nice and the horses skinny but bouncy. They are what they call pacing horses which I think means they do a very fast walk. I notice Manuels horse does the flicking of the hooves as it walks forward.

We set off around the back of local fields of sugar cane, beans, mango tree etc. There was an unbelievable amount of plastic rubbish littering the path. Andrea tells me this is because the local people are not prepared to pay 2 soles a month for it to be collected. She has been complaining to the mayor and hopes she will have more luck after the elections.

I see various interesting looking birds: a middle sized orange one, another brown and white one with quite a long tail, and a little bright red one. Manuel told me the names but I have completely forgotten them. Then out of the blue a fox just strolls by and then an owl appears standing by the path....both bold and fearless in the midday sun. After about an hour, we pass a few houses and enter the forest. It is one of the largest dry forests in the world - meaning it gets no water at all from rain only from waterever grond water makes its way down from the hills. The trees all look virtually dead but there is a tinge of green cover - they are very spaced out.

In the distance we could hear a car going around with the a loudhailer going on about the elections that were due in early October. As it got nearer it turned out not to be a car but a tuktuk with a guy lounging in theback shouting his head off!!! It looked ridiculous but I suppose a good way to do campaigning to those who are working in the fields.

So we pick our way along the main track in the forest and a few pickups pass by ... and then we pass some cows grazing... some more foxes and owls too. We arrive at the base of one pyramid, dismount and walk up it.... it is intriguing but quite basic but what is more impressive is looking down over the forest and seeing the expanse of it and where the other tombs stick out.

We have little drink and I eat the cheese buns that Andrea has given me. We then set off for a few more and then the final one is where there are several archaeologists working ... lonely painstaking work in the heat of the sun. We make our way back more or less the same way ... coming across a man collecting honey from wild bees.

The whole day was a real slow look at local life as well as a great way to see some archeological sites. Back at base, Andrea had just had a shower and then dished up some lunch for the two of us. She then walked me back to the hostal and we said goodbye. I had a quick shower and then walked down to the high street to catch a combi.

I was the first person in the combi and they offered to put the pack inside as well.... only to find that they charged me for two seats... still it was very cheap 2.40 soles all the way to Chiclayo. All the way along the conductor was touting for customers... people on the side of the road who didn’t look the slightest bit interested would somehow suddenly decide to hop on board. It was end of shift time as we got nearer town and there are lots of agricultural related business there .... sugar and rice mills etc. So we get to the terminal as it was dark and I got a taxi directly to the bus station for my overnight bus to Chachapoyas.

So what does the Amazon look like?

1st October back in Lima

Well, I can’t say what other parts of the Amazon look like but I have spent two weeks in a part of the Peruvian Amazon called the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve – an area the size of Wales. The name reflects the names of the two rivers that run through it ... both of which are tributaries/loops coming from and flowing back into the Rio Maranon . The Maranon joins the Amazon real about 100 km further east. The reserve is an area that experiences enormous changes of water level through the year and so is known as flooded forest.
Clearly the level of flooding relates to the amount of water coming off the Andes. Right now it is experiencing the lowest water levels since records began (about 100 years ago) and last year during the rainy season it experienced the highest recorded levels. As you are probably aware there was a very high level of rain last year ... hence the closing of Machu Picchu earlier this year for a few months as landslides had swept away part of the railtrack into the valley. There are always fluctuations that relate to the occurrence of the El Nino current (supposedly about every 7 years) but these recent high and low levels indicate that there are things are afoot with the climate in general, too.

Most of our time here has been spent doing surveys in boats: dolphins, fish, wading birds, macaws and caiman but we also did jungle transects which involve walking along a 2.5 km path that has been previous established and noting down any terrestrial mammals you see. So this has been a real opportunity to see the jungle close up.

Well, my initial observation was that it is not as noisey, colourful or luxuriantly verdant as you would imagine. As Kevin, another British volunteer said on coming back from the first transect: “It is not that different from walking through dense woodland at home” . But, it clearly is different ... in a British wood you are unlikely to come across anything that would harm you. Here, however, benign as it might seem, it is dangerous. We wear wellies ... not just against the occasional soggy area .. but to protect against ants and snakes that may be lurking. Then you need to take care not to touch the trees as you trog along .... quite a number have some scary looking thorns .. just at arm level. When we stop and wait for an hour at the end of a transect you need to look carefully where you park your bum, so you don’t get ants in your pants ..... and check you backpack before you pick it up again .... big bugs may be attached.

So, you start off walking looking hard for any movement ..... keen as mustard and tense with expectation ... 40 minutes later your mind begins to wander and then the guide, local chap with a machete, stops and points up in the trees .... about 4 minutes later after a lot of pointing you just about make out a monkey miles up in the canopy. How the hell did he know it was there? He then tells you that there are 15 of them up there .... my god I only saw one! Well, you quite soon realise that he often hears them rather than sees them initially. So, you need to know the difference between primate, bird and squirrel sounds (yes they have squirrels in the jungle). And this is not easy ... there are birds that sound to me like primates and monkeys that sound like chattering squirrels. And howler monkeys ‘howling’ sound more like a large cat roaring. It is a confusing place. So in the end you allow your mind to wander whilst casting your eyes around just to enjoy what you see rather than have any expectation that you will spot anything other than a ‘lower storey’ bird. However, we are not recording the birds ...only terrestrial mammals. So in any one transect of about 2 hours walking you many see a few monkeys, a squirrel and a wood rat – possibly a sloth but they don’t move much so less likely to spot him. The wood rat (also know as the window rat) sits in a hole about 20ft up a tree trunk unmoving (having a kip?)... like a bored shopkeeper waiting for some trade). They are nocturnal so they are usually spotted every time on transects where their holes are near the path.

So what does the jungle itself look like? The ground is covered with rotted leaves and it is consistently soft underfoot. You are walking on layers and layers of leaves and wood that has been underwater for several months of the year. There are no stones here... the whole area is created from soft alluvial sediment washed down from the Andes. So the only obstacles in your path are tree roots, new saplings growing up, and various types of vines, thick and thin, that wind their way around trees and logs. Some of these vines form intriguing sculptures on their own. Oh and there are quite a lot of holes you can fall into!

Also there are long thin threads hanging down which are terrestrial roots finding their way down to the jungle floor level – I presume usually formed when the forest is flooded.

The trees are mostly tall with large branches only forming quite high up but as you look up you see different levels. For scientific purposes they divide it into three levels: the upper canopy with only the occasional tree standing proud of the others .. these are often where the monkeys are and also some of the large birds like Macaws, the next level down is more dense and often the trees have great swaths of vines covering them .. and then there is the under storey with rather small thin trees with not a lot of leaf on them but this is where you find the wood creepers, woodpeckers, ant birds and hummingbirds ... as there are lots of insects and bugs at this level. The humming birds sounding like very loud wasps or flying beetles... and you whisk around because you think it is going to hit you and you see this small body just hanging in space with apparently no wings ... they are going so fast you can barely seem them.

The trees are not close packed but if a path had not been cut you would spend quite a lot of time negotiating your way past vines etc. So you can see to a depth of about 12-20 metres. When you look up ... you often see bromeliads growing on branches of trees particularly where two branches met.

Some of the trees have these enormous buttresses so they look like tripods ... apparently this is because the soil is so soft and the roots don’t go down very deep and so this supports them. As there is major flooding of the forest floor every year. Well I could go on but here are some pictures.

Hats, moustaches and knitting

Sunday 12th September – Leymebamba
As I sat outside the market square cafe where I had just had breakfast ... waiting for my 8am bus to Cajarmarca (9 hours ... more anon), I get to thinking about what distinguishes Peru – at least visually –from the other countries I have visited this year. And one very noticeable thing is the hats. There seem to be different styles in different areas – the most noticeable are those worn with the different local costumes by the really local people. However, even in the cities men and women are into hats. Susan, my sister in law, succumbed to buying (and wearing) a very fetching black hat with red embroidery all over it. I wonder what wedding that will be worn to?

Here in the northern highlands they wear the most remarkable straw sombreros ... worthy of the most outrageous cowboy film - very high and often with enormous brims. You see them on both men and women .. though they seem to have slightly different styles. I suspect that the older and more respectable you get, the bigger you buy your next hat ... at least that is what I deduce.

I look across the square and as usual there are bunch of men chatting and they sport a variety .. a baseball hat, a homburg and then the magnificent sombrero – only young men and women go without.
This hat thing is most noticeable here because I am in the countryside and it is obvious that this straw sombrero is ‘country’ headwear – not something you wear in town unless you have come into town to sell your wares in the market or on the street. It will mark you out as coming from farming stock no doubt.

So, as I sat on the bus . winding its way through the mountains this hat appeared walking beside a couple of cows, sitting by the doorway of a hut, walking along a pathway.... and when finally we stopped for lunch an elderly couple with lots of produce for market got on ... with their hats! They were bound for Celendin ... what seemed to be the epicentre of straw hat wearing.

As we drew in to town at about 2.30pm and the bus driver said we had a half hour break, I decided to try and find a shop where they were being sold. I was directed to a shop just off the market and had a sweet, if hurried 5 minutes, trying them all on. I didn’t dare buy one of the most outrageous ones (when would I wear it and how would I get it back?) but I returned to the bus a happy bunny and the other passengers inspected it carefully to determined if it was of good quality.... it appeared to pass muster. They are made to the same fine mesh as a panama but bigger.

So what about the other hats .... well there are ones like upside down soup plates with tassles hanging from them. There are others that look like wedding cakes ... they are a delight and I have only managed to ‘capture’ a few without being to intrusive on the wearers.

So to moustaches.... well there were a lot of them in Argentina and Chile ...it seemed to be the norm for anyone over 30 and very smart they were too. It is funny how unusual they are in UK (Dave Munson sports the only one I see around Brill). Here in Peru they still feature but not nearly so much. And one possible reason may be that with a higher number of people with indigenous genes in them... they may not have as much facial hair. When I went on a tour of the tomb of Sipan, the young guide there was at pains to help us imagine what life was like then and one of the things he mentioned is that there was little evidence of much facial hair in the images on ceramics and also on the skin of those bodies of the mummies found. And he then said that this was the same now: that those people who come from more indigenous origins usually have less body hair. I presume he knew what he was talking about ...intriguing.

And ....knitting. Well, I haven’t seen a lot of this going on but in my travels I have always noted that as you go around less wealthy or remoter communities ... you will sooner or later find ladies knitting. I say ladies because it is nearly always women who do this ... but we found on the Island of Tequile Island on Lake Titicaca it was the men’s job! Groups of them stood in the shade and clicked away making quite fine hats and scarves). In several countries in Africa I have been to you often see people standing by the road knitting ... chatting, waiting for a bus ...or whatever. And in parts of South East Asia too. I suspect if it weren’t so cold and wet you might see this on the Scottish Islands too!
Here in Peru I have more often seen ladies walking along with a roll of carded wool under one arm and a spindle hanging from the other .... spinning yarn as she walks along. My belief is that this is all destined for weaving .... I wonder whether all of it is for the tourist industry ... I suspect so. I have also noticed quite a number of shops and stalls in marketplaces with loads of brightly coloured wools ... but on closer inspection these are all synthetic... so clearly there is quite a bit of knitting going on but I think most of it is being done in the dimly lit shops in town ... while they wait patiently for customers or by grannies sitting on the doorsteps of houses in the countryside.
So, why does one never see any evidence of knitting among the textiles one sees in museums? When was knitting invented? Is it a modern thing? Or does it come unravelled and disintegrate and therefore is not found in tombs and other archaeological sites? I suppose fishing nets are the nearest one gets to knitting? Why did this not transfer to clothing – when it is now seen as such a useful way of creating warm clothing? Having visited the precolombian and Inka museums in Cusco and the museum in Ica which had some beautiful woven cloth dating from the Nascan period (Dates 100-750 AD) .. and then in the North of Peru seeing the magnificent artifacts of gold, shells, ceramic that came out of the Moche, Chimu and Lamayeque tombs... one wonders whether they also did have knitted products but that they just didn’t survive.
Well we are pretty sure that the precolumbians and Incas didn’t have moustaches, they definitely would have had hats. They didn’t have the wheel, any animal that they could ride on (the horse arrived with the Spanish) or any form of sophisticated writing (only systems of strings and knots which possibly served as calendars or accounting system) .... so what about knitting? Did they or didn’t they have that before those Spanish ladies arrived? This brings me back to hats .... the classic hat that every tourist buys to take home is the knitted hats with earflaps with tassles hanging from them. When did that become the classic hat associated with the Andes ... and in particular in Peru?

Nearing the end

Here I am at the end of October with just over 24 hours to go before I start my journey home. I have still not blogged much. I am back in Quito after spending a week in Galapagos (more about that latger). I arrived in Quito at the beginning of the month and spent two weeks in and around the area - Ecuador is a really wonderful place ...full of variety from volcanos to jungle to cloud forest. You can be any one of them all in one day!

This journey has been wonderful.... different from the last that I have done quite a bit less solo travelling with three weeks with my brother John and his familiy, two weeks on the Amazon with Earthwatch, and now a week on a boat around the Galapagos. I have nevertheless had my adventures: scary bus rides in the Northern Highlands of Peru, mountain biking down Cotopaxi volcano and whizzing over the cloud forest canopy on a high wire. I am now trying to prepare myself mentally for the sedate life of winter in Brill. Will have to plan some Christmas parties immediately.

So I have now posted a couple of bits of writing that I have had on my computer for a while waiting for an opportunity to get loaded onto the blog with pictures. Yes, I have been clicking away though I had to buy a new lense as various things went wrong with my normal lense. It has been rather frustrating but I still think I have managed to capture some goodies. What I fail to do is to take pictures of myself .... people offer but I am usually holding my SLR and they find that daunting. So here are a few that have been taken of me - all hideous but it proves that I was there!

Here we go again - Peru this time

Yes I know ... I set off a month ago and not a word on this blog despite my promising to do so. Well, this travelling thing takes up a lot of time, you know!

I finally set off on this second part of my South American Ramble on 14th August. There was all the usual fiddling about making arrangements and lists etc. It was much easier this time as I had made a good list on returning last time and also I knew what I hadn't used last time. The only issues were really what the weather and my the activities involved would require. Its winter now ... so a sight chillier but on the other hand I am not walking in glacier parks. Also this time I am going to the Amazon and they say I must have wellies ... of course I had bought special cold weather wellies for Antartica but these were hardly appropriate for squelching through the jungle. Apparently they are also needed to protect against snakes!!! So Wellies I have tucked away in my backpack ... taking up far too much space!

Anyhow, despite having the time, it still takes the pressure of a take-off date to get things finally sorted. I got around to checking my camera too late. The flash pop up doesn’t work any more and when I had tracked down a helpful chap (not Canon who cannot answer me directly or sort me out for about 6 weeks) I was still told it woudn’t been mended in time.... So no flash photography ... not really an issue and I had thought/intended to bring my flash attachment but of course forgot.

I have taken more books this time and few more nice clothes. I still set off with too much - but I have had the luxury of being able to send things back with John and co. So now, I am almost streamlined ... except for these wellies!!!

This journey is rather different. I am spending 7 weeks in Peru ... 4 of them almost gone now.. and then another 4 in Ecuador. The first three weeks in Peru was a jolly family affair as John, my brother, his wife Susan and children Harry, Emma and Mark were all game for a South American adventure too. Quite rightly with so many of us we couldn't really take any chances on ad hoc travelling so we had a progamme arranged for us with hotels, bus tickets and guides all prearranged ... though we had made sure we had time to ourselves in between the pre-arranged activites. So it was a whistle stop tour of the key places in South Peru. I won't try and describe it all now but having touched down in Lima we set off for:

Paracas - relaxing by the sea, visiting islands inhabitted by pelicans, seals, penguins, sea lions and 'boobies' (birds not the other type!)

Ica - fascinating museum of precolumbian culture, and joyful afternoon sandbuggying!

Nasca - flying over the strange lines drawn in the desert. Look carefully at the picture.

Arequipa - lovely easy-going city with good restuarants and a beautiful convent founded in 1580 . which was a like a small town in itself with brightly painted courtyards and little 'homes' for the richer nuns. It now has a cafe where you can buy cakes named 'jealousy' or gluttony!

Gradually getting higher and higher we reached Chivay (3630 metres)on the altoplano from where we went on a trek down the Colca Canyon - the third deepest canyon in the world and twice as deep as the grand Canyon in US. Oh what a trek! It was spectacular but we were shattered by the time we got to the bottom after 5 hours and we were struggling for breath for the half hour climb up to the nearest village. Given that we had not long been at this height long we just couldn't get enough puff to go more than a few yards without having to stop. Anyhow, we did it and after a night in a local village, we took the climb back up at an easy pace playing word games most of the way up. The reward for finishing was a second visit to some wonderful hot springs where we dabbled happily for a while.

Then on to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca (highest navigable lake in the world) - visitied the floating islands and went aboard an old boat that is being restored. It was originally built in Birmingham in 1862 and shipped out in pieces and taken up in bits by mule over 6 years and then assembled. Was in service on the lake for about 100 years.

Then on to Cusco ... a lively, colourful place just lifting with everything touristy but still lovely. From there we went mountina biking, temple visiting, white water rafting (I ducked out of that one!) and then finally to Macchu Picchu ... sadly it poured with rain the day we got there and was still at it the next day ... so not the glorious experincee we hoped for but all the rest had been good andwe had had a happy time all in all.

So then it was time to part and at Lima airport they got picked up for the final night in town and I went straight onto another plane for Trujillo. I'll stop there for now ... but suffice it to say Trujillo smells of fish and is covered by a gloomy grey cloud ... not a place to stay long. More anon with pictures.

My birthday weekend

This was back in mid February and I have already described the outing to the Fiesta del Guacho . The day before I had decided to take myself out to a ‘proper’ meal to celebrate my birthday. Having put on my only skirt and a clean T shirt I set out at about 8.30pm to find a good restaurant. San Martin de los Andes is a very trendy place so there was bound to be a good choice. However, I had completely misjudged how the different meal time culture was from the south. In Patagonia everyone is out hiking and ravenous at the end of the day and intending to get up early. So, meals were being served at pretty ‘normal’ time ie 7.30 onwards but here the Spanish type timing had come into play.

I wandered around town looking into windows of restaurants that were all set up but definitely not expecting anyone yet. So I window shopped for an hour!! By 9.30 I had done a complete survey of what this small town had to offer!! Eventually, I saw other people peering at menus and decided it was now ok to be seen entering a restaurant. I was ravenous but I had of course been able to do a very thorough survey of which restaurant I was going to eat in. Delicious meal during which some guy came up to me calling me Julietta ..... he was convinced I looked like someone who was a friend of his sister's. Quite genuine ... not a local chat up line.

The other joy of the weekend was a day’s riding with Yvonne Corbett. Once again I have Harry Hastings to thank for my introduction to Yvonne. He said I had to make contact because we would get on. And, of course, he was right. Yvonne is an anglo argentine based in San Martin and organises riding trips. She was just back from a long trip into Chile so I was lucky to catch her. We met for a drink and in between lots of people passing by and greeting her, we agreed that I would join her for a day out on Sunday.

She picked me up at about 10.45am ... with Raoul her business partner. Roaul was a delightful chap, an Italian-argentine, who very soon was giving me his life history. While he did this, Yvonne popped into various shops collecting things for our lunch. Eventually, we motored out of town a bit to Raoul’s ‘property’. This was a set of old barns and one small new house that he had just built surrounded by a plantation of trees and various fields – with the horses in. He used to run a nursery providing trees for the municipality so he is happy amongst his plants. He seems also to have fingers in other pies .. including a business in Chile that makes some kind of electronics for buses.

While Raoul shows me his property .. including the accommodation they have prepared for riders in the old barn, where he intends to build his new bigger home, and his strawberry patch, Yvonne catches the horses and prepares our saddlebags (lunch!). Finally we saddle up, I borrow a pair of riding chaps and a nice broad brimmed hat from Raoul, and Yvonne and I set off.It was a glorious day: sunshine but a good breeze too. We wound our way through lovely woods and meadows, whilst having slow chats about all sorts of things. Yvonne was very good at pointing out all the trees and flowers ... lots of them ... including blankets of the astrameria and clouds of a white flowers... also some enormous purple thistles. Yvonne did all the opening and closing gates and fences (we were crossing quite a lot of neighbouring properties). I felt I should have helped but I knew I would have difficulty getting up and down – she was much more nibble. Her horse was called Bandiera and was a grey/dappled horse. I was on Colorado ... which is what they call bay horses. The riding was not challenging so I felt quite at ease – we did a few canters but I could hold on to the pummel quite easily. The horses are controlled like polo ponies by just flicking the reins forward, backward, left and right - very easy. Colado was much more responsive than the horses at El Condor.

In a clearing in a wood, we stopped for a lovely lunch of tomato, avocado, egg and meat with delicious bread... and wine. Much more chatting and talks about changing tack in mid age, divorce, business partnerships, etc. A very happy time. Then a long ride further around the hill and eventually back to Raoul’s place by 6pm. He wasn’t there but had picked strawberries for us so we sat in the sun and had gin and tonic and strawberries until he rocked up. It was all very laid back .... and they eventually dropped me off at my hostel at about 8pm. I was setting off for Pucon the next day and rather regretting leaving San Martin after such a lovely time: fiestas, riding, ..... Perhaps I will go back for a longer riding trip sometime.

El condor photos

A trip to the end of the road - photos to follow

On this journey my priority has been to my diary rather than putting postings on this blog. And even that has become quite difficult to keep up to date. So, inevitably I have missed out describing some key parts of my journey. So, I will try to do some filling in now.
My visit to El Condor Estancia was just for three days but I am so glad it went .... even though it cost me more to get there than to be there. I had been told about it by Harry Hastings a friend of my goddaughter Alice. He told me I just had to go and he was so right. The trouble was it was at the end of a very long valley with no public transport going anywhere near. Taxi would have cost the earth and so I hired a car.

I set off with a photocopy of a bit of a map from the car rental people. They told me to go to Tres Lagos (proper tarmac road) and fill up at the petrol station. Then it was unpaved road from there. “just be careful there are a few rivers you need to go through but the car should be OK” It was a fiat uno ... I wondered what kind of rivers they were talking about but it was their car not mine, so I took their word for it. So feeling a bit nervous of the city traffic I find my way out of town. They had said there was nothing particular I had to remember except to keep my headlights on while on the main road. I decided to do it all the time.
Driving to Tres Lagos was fine. It took about one and a half hours. There were very few cars or lorries on the road despite it being the main trunk route north. Passed the edge of Lago Argentino which was a milky turquoise colour as it is fed by the glaciers and then passed the turning to El Chalten where I had been just the previous day or two. When I got to the petrol station I was greeted warmly by the pump attendant ... who thought I was Italian from the way I was speaking Spanish and was a bit surprised I was travelling alone. Que Valiante! He pointed me onto the right track ... literally and off I went ..... very stoney road but soon I got the hang ...much like driving in Kenya or Malawi but much better graded road.

So on and on I went ... no other car in sight. I had seen at the beginning a small sign saying El condor 116 km.... blimey.... all the way juddering along. But slowly I was managing about 50 km an hour mostly managing to judge where to drive and occasionally hearing a tremendous thud as a large stone hit the bottom of the car. The road went straight through the middle of the wide, wide brown valley. It must have been about 10 miles wide and I wouldn’t really have been surprised if I had seen a dinosaur grazing in the distance. it felt elemental ... particularly when you could see in the distance an great black plug standing out in the middle. The sides were escarpments of streaked brown and white layers and at the top there was a dusting a snow. So on I went for mile after mile... past a large sluggish brown lake and eventually came to a turning. In all that time I had passed one car and seen one lone guanaco. So the junction showed El Condor to the left ... 86km. Off I set again this time winding my way along the side of a river eventually coming to a gate ... the first estancia which had a sign requesting you shut the gate behind you ... El Condor still 26 km to go.... I go through several more estancias.... and come across my rivers . They were actually mountain streams nastily disguised as bumps in the road – I practically flew over the first one! After the shock I got to be able to see when another one was sneaking up on me. After 3 hours (yes 3 hours) of this road I arrived at about 6.30pm at El condor ... literally at the end of the road. You could not go any further and it was beside another azure lake nestled beneath an escarpment and a valley leading up to snow clad mountains (I realised we must be right by the Chilean Border as there is a Gendarmaria station just before El Condor).

So there I was ... pretty shattered ....and no one comes out to greet me. I see a family sitting playing cards in the first building and kind of gesticulate to them . They come out and after some awkwardness they realise I am also a guest and welcome me in and show me what must be my room as it is the only empty one. They offer me tea and start chatting..... delightful people Alberto, Marion, Sophia, Juan and Sante..... Alberto is a shareholder in the ceilos patogonicos group which owns El Condor .
I took the opportunity to have a bath (! yes first one for I don’t know how long.) and then I heard people coming back from a ride - quite cold by the looks of their faces and clothing. I gathered that dinner wasn’t until 9.30 so I sat and read my book and then I found myself in conversation with an English couple in their late 40s/early 50s who were on a 9 week honeymoon. Eventually a happy supper with theArgentine family, a very interesting photographer called Celine and the honeymooners.
The couple running the place Gwen (Dutch) and Nico (Argentine) appeared and discussed what I and the others wanted to do. Agreed that we would all go on a ride the next day to la Laguna de Corazon. So a good night’s sleep ... the electricity went off at 11.30.
A gentle start and then we went to the stables around 10 and set off with Carlos the gaucho in the lead ....spurs and all. His smart dog constantly moving up and down the line checking we were all there. Bringing up the rear was Katya an enthusiastic girl from near Buenos Aires who had just joined them for a month or two. We wound our way up through open meadow and then through lenga wood and occasionally into areas where the wood had been burned to make more meadow for cows. This is something that the current owners of the estancia (cielos patagonicos) are taking action to restore. They have not managed to eliminate the cattle which are now very wild but have been able to fence them into a peninsular at the far end of the estancia. They occasionally go and kill one for meat. It was a magic day and not demanding at all in terms of the riding. The horses were sluggish but sure footed and so we plodded up and down happily. The two young boys from the Argentine family 8 and 12 yrs old on possibly the biggest horses..... but still very confident riders. Tired and happy we had a wonderfully jolly meal and went to bed.

The next day was just me for the day as the others were all leaving. I went on a ride with Juliet and Katya up to the condor cliff. Katya was very chatty ad explained about her studies, how she was fed up with private education and was going to a state university. Then on to politics and how unpopular the president was.... pretending to take from the poor and give to the rich but seemed to have fingers in a lot of pies where the money did not actually go to the poor. Her mother runs a 1000 head dairy farm and will soon have to give up .... taxes so high not worth doing it. I heard the same about the beef. The managers of the beef estancias are refusing to produce enough beef preferring to kill it rather than send it to market... so now they are importing beef from Brazil!!!

The two girls were charming and when we got to the top the condors did their thing --- at least 10 of them circled directly around us.... just superb!. With the blue lake and white mountains behind and the craggy rocks and woods below us. So after lunch we had a steep descent going below the cliff we had just climbed up. By the time we got back two other argentine families had arrived and got themselves ensconced. They were not as forthcoming as the others but at supper did their best to include me where possible. I was outnumbered.

The return journey was just as magical... starting at 7.30 in the morning. This time a rather misty morning with a bit of drizzle but this made the colours all the more lovely. Saw guanaco, hares and rhea as I bumped along ... oh and about 4 cars – two of which were police vans!

I was just a magical time and I would return like a shot for a longer stay.
Photos will follow but take an age to upload so will wait until I have better internet connection with time.

Catching up post earthquake and Easter Island

I’m afraid I have been a bit quiet since the earthquake drama...but I have been on the road. Flew out of Easter Island on the day I was meant to arriving into Santiago airport on Thursday 4th at 8.30 in the evening. As you probably know the terminal had been damaged by the earthquake so they could not use it. After a bit of wait in the plane while they took off our luggage, they bussed us to the far side of the terminal where our bags where all lined up on the tarmac. We picked up our luggage and walked to the car park which was empty apart from taxis, buses and hotel reservation tents.
I had decided to stay the night rather than risk being in one of the bus terminals late at night waiting for a bus to Argentina. So I took a taxi to the hostel I had stayed in before. They were rather subdued, there had been a bit of damage but nothing major. I was given the same room as before and noticed that there were large cracks in the corners where the walls should meet. Were they like that when I was last there ... I just don’t know.
I had a shower and went straight to bed... having my grab bag ready by my bed in case of another emergency. I lay there wondering whether I was safe .... and as I dozed off there was a tremor with the glass rattling..... then again about an hour later but eventually I just fell asleep. Woke at 7,dressed, got a taxi and was on an 8.30p bus to Mendoza. I was so relieved .... but felt guilty that all I could think of was to get out. Tourist trade pretty well dried up in central Chile I imagine.

More news from Easter Island

Well it has felt like a week but actually on a few days. I feel we are in a kind of little unreal bubble sitting out in the middle of ocean ... but I then think back to early Saturday morning and it was very real.
Today I went on a 7 hour hike with an American couple who are staying in the same place as me and we walked along the north coast spotting where there were fallen Maoi (these amazing statues) or Ahu... the platforms they stood on... all right on the edge of cliffs. The sky was beautiful blue, a few fluffy clouds, the sea stretching to the horizon and you know there is NOTHING for miles.... with magnifcent waves crashing against almost jet black volcanic rock cliffs. All this while there is fighting and looting on the streets of Conception .

When we got to end of our walk ... we arrived at the only sandy beach on the island and you could see the high water mark left by the tsunami .... although it was around the headline from where the wave had arrived. It was quite high but had not reached the statues that stand just above the sand. So not too bad but everyone who had been camping there had been evacuated at the time.

When we got back from our hike there was news that a plane had come in. The first since all this happened. It came from Santiago .. which means that the airport must be operating again ... and they are taking out those people who should have left on Saturday .... no commitment as to when other flights will come. However, I was not due out until Thursday so I may leave about Saturday on this basis if they continue.

At least this means there may be some replenishing of fruit and veg ... shop shelves are getting a bit low on certain things.

OK on Easter Island

As everyone now knows there was a massive earthquake in Chile early this morning - I am writing late at night. By some extraordinary stroke of fortune I had booked my trip to Easter Island and flew out yesterday morning arriving here in the afternoon. I had spent the previous 24 hours in an over night bus to Santiago going past many of the places that have been so badly affected.

So at 6.15am we were woken by a car going by with a loudhailer announcing that every one living along the coastal roads had to go as fast as p[ossilbe to the church (on higher ground) because there was a risk of a tsunami. Sharon, who owns thje cabin I am staying in understood as it was in spanish and immediatley was shouting to get us up, I quickly dressed grabbed money, passport, specs, camera and computer and we got in Sharons car (I and two other guests ... two others had a hire car). The church was only a few streets away. There a crowd was forming and some kind of bush telegraph of instructions was that they expected a wave to hit the other side of the island at about 7-8 but that it may ripple around the island and come quite high up the coast - possibly over the road ... and the cabins are just the other side of the road. So as the sun rose there were people just hanging around for more news: people sitting on the roadside, milling about, cars, horses, dogs,,,,,,

News slowly trickled through about the earthquake .... as you probably know Easter Island is part of Chile so many people here have relatives onthe mainland. Alll very worrying and even now Sharon has not heard from her great friend who works with her running the cabins who was visiting her family in Conception and was due to fly back here today.

So, I am all right and feel blessed that I am here rather than in Santiago or anywhere else there.There are no flights in or out of the island at the moment until LAN who have a monopoly on the flights here has anything today.... website jammed and office closed. Airport has no info either. While Santiago airport is reportedly closed for 72 hours.

I am due out on a flight on Thursday .but there are loads of other people due out before then. Not sure what will be on offer as alternatives. There are rumours that they are diverting people to Mendoza in Argentina. That would be fine by me as I have decided that is where I would be aiming for now.

So as long as the food lasts here this is where we stay. Sharon made us go straight to the supermarket to stock up ... found it very difficult to decide what to buy... so I have spaghetti and porridge ...oh and I found some coffee which is a rarity anywhere in Chile who seem to live off nescafe and the boring thin powder stuff at that.

Finally it was deemed safe to return to the cabins and so we had a late breakfast and just slowly came to over what had just happened. It was a glorious day with beautiful blue skies and seas ... it seemed hard to believe that such devastation was unravelling across the seas.

Finally I put on my boots and set off to hike up one of the craters and see the ceremonial village of the birdman rituals. I felt I should celebrate being safe in a positive way. It was hot and the crater itself was magnificcent. Pictures later. Must got to bed.

Fiesta de los guachos

Yesterday was the first time in these travels that I experienced some real local colour. I had arrived in San Martin del los Andes on Thursday (my birthday !) which is in the Argentine lake district. I got a tip off that this weekend was when all the gauchos from the local estancias (and beyond) come into town for an annual shop and to have a general knees up including various competitions. This would be in Junin de los Andes (about an hour away) and so I set off on a bus arriving about 2 in the afternoon.

I spent a little while going around all the stalls in town selling everything from smart neckties, knives, hats, belts, ponchos, saddles, ...in fact anything that a gaucho may want.

Gauchos, in case you don't know, are the equivalent of american cowboys.... farm hands who work on the estancias or even polo teams! Anything that involves horses and probably cows. They are not indians and from what I can gather by tradition many of them came from Chile in search of work. Most of them look very weather beaten and much older than they are as a consequence of their constant life outdoors. It is a tough, rough life but apparently one that most of them choose and love. I am told that some of the gauchos in the north - in Corrientes - go barefoot:riding and walking.

As the bus drove into town it was clear that something was going on as there were bands of chaps riding horses through town, laughing and joking and dressed in their best clean shirts, smart hats or large berets, a thick leather belt with various decorations on it and a red sash and a knife stuck in the back of the belt.

Lots of battered old cars and 4x4s lined the main road. So, I followed the buss and found myself at an arena with the proceedings just starting: loads of guachos and their friends and families already in the stands, lots of icecream and chip stalls and a bar around the outside. A compere doing the most elaborate introductions of the events which started with the national anthem (I presumed as everyone stood up and sang along) followed by some other songs sung by a lady ... and then a great parade of people on horseback with banners from each of the estancias or settlements. It felt like the opening scene of an opera!!

I wandered slowly among the crowd trying to work out a good place to take up position for a good view of the arena..... it was delightful to see all ages dressed up.. little gauchos (boys of about 10 upwards and some girls), big gauchos with their small children in front of them on their horses, groups of young men, groups of old men greeting each other ...others on their mobile phones whilst leaning on their horses!

After speeches from all sorts of notables, the activities started. The first was a slalom race where the guys had to weave their horse through some sticks, turn and go back through again, gallop forward,turn, gallop back and return to the middle with a sudden stop (dust flying!) Great roars from the crowd when someone's horse was particularly nibble. I have no idea who one but it was certainly ages before it was announced.

Then there was a mass lassoing of some pretty fiercesome cattle. They were driven up to one end of the arena and the middle of the arena was filled with chaps arranging their lassoes around them in readiness .... lots of waiting and chatting and then the cows were driven forward, they all swung their lassoes everywhere and from what I can see the cattle won the day .... chaps, hats, dust and lassoes all over the place and I think only one cow trapped. It was hilarious. This was followed by letting young steers out of a corral one by one with two chaps at a time with lassoes trying to get them before they bolted. Again lots of posturing and then whoops the steer gets through in a flash ... if they did catch it between them one of them has to get on the steer and ride it for a little distance. So that is pretty hilarious too. More roars from the crowd!

Finally..... well for me because I had to catch the 7pm bus, there was bareback rodeo! They had to stay on for about a minute I think. Again pretty dramatic and action packed ... see photos. One chaps horse just reared straight up and fell backwards onto him .... intake of breath all around, much prodding of the guy and he eventually gets up and limps off. Miu Macho!!

It was a such a colourful and vibrant day ... a completely change

from hiking and m

ountain gazing. I completed the day by buying a delicious icecream before getting on the bus and was chatted up by a very handsome Argentine architect on the bus ..... a very satisfactory day!!!

Patagonian photos

Mountains, Lakes, Glaciers ... and buses

I can hardly believe that it is almost two weeks since I set off northwards from Ushuaia. My first step was to catch a bus ... or rather 3 buses for a 15 hours journey to Puerto Natalies in Chile via Punta Arenas.(I should really find out if I can put a map with little progress tags so I can show you where I am going but that is all too technical for me at the moment)

The journey started at 5.15 in the morning with a minibus picking me up from my B&B for the first stage of journey to Rio Grande. Then just as I was boarding the next bus at 8am to go to Punta Arenas I realised I had left my ski/waterproof jacket on the previous bus... I am now resolved not to put anything in the overhead rack. But a quick explanation (!!! with gesticulating to describe my problem) to someone who looked efficient at the bus station and he was immediately on his mobile phone, said that the bus was still in town and 10 minutes later it arrived by taxi. No one too fussed about the bus leaving late and everyone so quick to help ... that has really been my experience all the time I have been travelling ... in Argentina in particular. That was a good lesson and I am now much more organised!!!

So we moved from the mountains and woods that surrounded Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego into the wide open pastureland that stretched across into Southern Patagonia...Scrubland as far as the eye can see with bi, big skies. The buses are really very comfortable (with allotted seats) and the bus conductor hands out cups of coffee and doughnuts at strategic stages. He also shepherded everyone through both the Argentinian and Chilean border posts making sure we all had our correct papers and stood in the right lines depending on whether we were locals or foreiners. All very efficient.

Finally arrived at Puerto Natales, a small town on the edge of a lake which is where the Navimag ferry sets off (taking 3 days) through the Chilean fjords which make up a large part of southern Chile. I had decided not to take that trip as I had spent so much time on a ship already but I wanted to go to Torres del Paine National Park which is famous for its great peaks and glaciers. They say that the Torres themselves are actually not part of the Andes and are quite a bit younger but it is very close to them as the other side of the glacier park is in Argentina and I believe they are definitely part of the Andes range.

Finally arrived at 10.30pm at the bus station in Puerto Natales, I took a taxi to the backpacker hostel I had booked into. I will describe my initiation into the 'backpacking culture' in another tale! Anyhow, I spent the next day sorting out a plan..... Most people come to Torres del Paine to do either the circuit (7 days hiking and camping) or the 'W' (5 days hiking and camping). I did not intend to do any camping or challenge myself with the rigours of the mountains.... I saw some people returning after walking continuously through rain and snow for 3 of the 5 days! Soakedm, muddy and exhausted. So I decided on 3 days: the first a touristy day tour which then left me in the park to catch a ferry across a lake to spend two days at a refugio from which I could hike (or not depending on the weather). The first day was rainy and overcast so no great view of the Torres (peaks) but I did see my first guanacos and rhea wandering about the foothills ... and I made friends with a lovely German girl and her mother. Then as I was queuing up to catch the ferry I met up with two other solo women travellers: an English woman called Lindsey taking 7 months off work and an Austrian woman called Marguitta who was travelling for 3 months. So, as happens a lot, we teamed up the next day and did a hike .... Lindsey carrying on to another refugio while M and I returned to base. The next day M and I hiked up to a glacier and back.

The mountains were spectacular when eventually the clouds cleared ... we were walking very close to them so you felt the cold wind whistling down the valleys. The paths are narrow going through wooded areas, up craggy areas and through streams: lots of lovely wildflowers and the occassionaly bird. At one point we came across a group of magellanic woodpeckers quite oblivious of the people hiking by. They are big with black bodies and bright red heads. We also came across a young owl (see my next set of photos).

You are always passing other people either coming up or down the path and everyone says hola! as they as each other. I found I got quite hot as a lot of it was pretty steep but as soon as you got out of the sun or out of a valley when the wind caught you we got pretty cold and were glad of down jacke, lined craghopper trousers,fleece had and scarf. However, I was very pleased with myself ... did about 7 hours on the first day and 8 hours the next... no blisters even! Many of the hikers seem just to be steaming along as fast as they could but luckily M was as keen as I to take our time to walk up to the viewpoints, take photos and just take in the whole 'big experience. Most of the lakes were the most amazing milky turqoisey blue... like porcelain. This is apparently caused by sediment brought down by the glaciers. The lakes formed from river were a completely different colour.


So I left M to go a bit further on the last day while I zipped back and caught the 6.30pm ferry back across the lake. There were a series of buses waiting for people going in different directions and as my bus wound its way out of the park I looked back over the spectacular sunset over the mountains. It had been well worth it and I met some lovely people on the path.

So my next step was to go back into Argentina to El Calefate ... a town on the other side of the glacier park where you can see a magnificent glacier called perito merino at very close quarters as it actually meets a peninsular within the lake it feeds into. So up early again and on a bus ... the change in scenery was quite marked as soon as you go back into Argentina. From green pastureland in the Torres park to wide open quite brown Patagonian steppe. The visit to the glacier was very touristy but it was still magnificent. I took an hour's trip on a boat that went quite close to the face of the glacier. From there you could see the occassionaly bit fall of (sounding like a house collapsing even though it seemed very small) but you could also hear the glacier cracking ...the sounds very much like the sound of a gun firing. Of course as you looked into the cracks in the glacier you saw the most intense blue while the face and top of glacier were white.


So I checked into my next hostel and started to prepare the next stage ....

Some photos

Back from Wonderland

Here I am back on dry land. After 26 days on board ship, I found my bed and breakfast room gently rocking for while. Anyhow I am rested up and got my next stage sorted ... at least the bus ticket - not got anywhere to stay yet!

So...I really don't know where to start. It has been the most wonderful trip. The sheer enormity of the ocean, the variety of birds, the closeness to such wonderful creatures:penguins, seals, albatrosses and whales, has been magical. And then the scenery was magnificent - particularly once we arrived in South Georgia and we saw great glaciers sweeping down to the sea and felt the cold wind blowing off them. Then once we arrived further south to the South Shetlands, the Weddell sea and the antarctic peninsular the scenery was breathtaking .. with ice and icebergs, mountains and glaciers everywhere. So much to tell. I will try and get oome photos up to give a taste of it. And slowly I will try and say a bit more about each aspect of the voyage... got paragraphs to tell you about penguins!!

On the lifestyle front, living with 94 other passengers was much better than I expected. I had a delightful room mate called Maryellen, a doctor, who was as good at losing various things in a small place as me and very easy going. Life was go, go, go from the start even when we had days at sea: lectures on how to deal with seasickness, the breeding cycle of penguins, how to take good photos, how to adjust them in photoshop, the background to the Faulkland war ... you name it they did it. We had pretty early starts and a three full meals a day plus cookies at tea time and permanant access sto tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Disastrous for my figure!

So now my land advenure starts. It has been great to catch up with friends and family at length thanks to Skype and have a general sort out in preparation for the next leg of my journey. Sent most of my cold weather gear back home but keeping long johns and down jacket for hikes on the glaciers at Torres del Paine in Chile where I am off to by bus tomorrow.

I realise that all of you in UK have been having your own snowy adventures - hope all is well with your pipes and central heating. My Brill Guardian Angels have been checking on mine and all is faring well I understand.

Hasta Luego amigos y amigas ... starting to get to grips with speaking spanish .. the locals are very kind and helpful as I struggle for words.