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Mr Warren's Travel Blog!Mr Warren is taking a year to travel the world. Follow his journey and his exploits through his regular blog.... Click to read about our previous experiences! Sunday 10th July So the bonus of travelling for so long, and meeting lots of people along the way, is that we have had plenty of offers to visit people along the way. Way back in Boco Del Torro, Panama we met two girls from New York who said you must come and visit when passing through. So we did, and this allowed us to stay in Manhattan New York, the most expensive neighbourhood in the whole of the USA, for free! Happy days! We have been to New York before, and both loved it, so it felt great to be back. It is a true melting pot of a city, every culture can be found right next door to each other. Of course there are so many sights to see. The Empire State building, Times Square, Central Park, the Flatiron Building, Grand Central Station, Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, the list goes on and on, here is a few snaps of the above. To be honest, with our return imminent, we saw as much as we could to keep our minds from the fact it would soon be over.
So after sight-seeing we spent the last week we had in New York, reviewing all we have done and all we had seen these past 10 months. It has been the trip of a life time, and something I can only try to sum up in words. We have learnt a great deal about the places we have visited, we have seen the beautiful and the strange, met some great characters; and have completed a lot of what we had dreamt about in the 3 years we spent planning this trip. Highlights? Well if it made it into this blog, then it was a highlight. It has been exhausting, constantly on the move, and living out of just one rucksack, but would I do it all again? In a heartbeat. I hope you have enjoyed my blog, and maybe it has inspired you to think about travelling when you are older, there truly is a whole world out there to explore. Saturday 3rd July Arriving in New York, we spend a night in the neighbourhood of Queens, before catching a bus from the Port Authority Terminal to the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was the early capital city of the United States of America back in 1790, and is the site of Independence Hall, where the declaration of Independence was signed – separating the US from the Great Britain. Along with this declaration, the Liberty Bell was rang across Philadelphia, and it is now a symbol for freedom and independence. Around the old town, we visit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall (although covered in scaffolding) – but the city is just full of so much history it is at every turn.
Betty Ross’ house, now a cafe, is where the first post-independence Stars and Stripes flag was designed. Elspeth Alley is the oldest, continually populated street in the States, and people still live and work on these quaint streets. Probably most recognisable, for men of a certain age, is the steps that Sylvester Stallone runs up in the Hollywood movie Rocky.
I found Philadelphia a really cool place. The city has a great vibe, people socialising in the parks and cafes, enjoying the famous Phillie Cheesesteak (a rather fattening but incredibly tasty sandwich). It also has a thriving art scene. Many shops and houses are decorated by local artists, even the adverts are hand painted on the sides of shops. We spend five days in Philadelphia, relaxing in the parks and enjoying the museums and shopping for souvenirs, which means we’ll be heading home soon...boo...well only one place to finish, New York!
Monday 27th June Our last road-trip in the States...Boooo! We needed to get back to Los Angeles from San Francisco – and the choices were a long bus journey and two days in LA or another road trip, take our time and no days in LA. The second option involved more scenery, less time on a bus and less time in LA – which to be honest, I had no desire to see – I don’t know why, but everyone we had met said “Don’t bother with LA”, so we didn’t – road trip it is! Picking up the car, we find Pacific Highway one, which was to be the only road we needed, and what a road it was. If Top Gear ever need a place for a feature on a car, this should be it. The road winds along the coastline, close to the edge of steep cliffs and at every turn there are just spectacular views of the Big Sur coastline. We were also fortunate enough to stop and spot the American Condor – and incredibly rare North American bird, with a huge wingspan of over 9 feet! They were gliding pretty close by to where we had stopped, it was great to watch. Further down the coast, past more pristine beaches such as Pismo (what a cool beach) we find Elephant Seals basking in the early evening sun. Playful (or aggressive) as always, with the usual interesting array of bodily noises coming from them – great to watch! It is such an amazing coastline, and the jealously keeps seething through me about how great it would be to have such places nearby back home...anyway onwards – from a quick overnight stay in LA, it is time to head to the East Coast of the USA!
Friday 24th June We arrive in San
Francisco after dropping off the car, and choose to stay in
Chinatown, the largest outside of China. In fact, it attracts more
visitors in San Francisco than the Golden Gate Bridge.
Down at Fisherman’s Wharf fresh catches of the day are still served up fresh onto your plate, my favourite the clam chowder soup hmmm... It is also a great place to snap famous tall ships that used to navigate their way along the Pacific coast. But the highlight at Pier 39 is undoubtedly the Sea Lions that hop on and off the floating platforms – barking, burping and making other interesting noises. There used to be many more in this area but at the start of 2010 they disappeared, for more information, click this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8437395.stm
We spent another
day strolling around the city centre, taking in the sights. Three
things are striking about San Francisco. Firstly, their love of
sports. The San Francisco Giants are currently the World Series
Baseball Champions, and everyone in the city seems to either be
wearing a part of their kit or discussing the latest game.
Last day, and
the two most recognisable places in San Francisco left to visit.
Firstly the Golden Gate Bridge, which spans San Francisco Bay. I was
going to spend ages telling you all about it, in my nerdy way (any
of my previous classes know how I love to build bridges from one
side of my classroom to another) – but in the visitors centre, I was
given this web address, so here it is for you guys – really
informative with some great facts:
http://www.skyriderforkids.com/doubletakes/yellow/dt_yellow_golden.html
Finally, our last stop in San Francisco, the famous Alcatraz prison. Known as The Rock, this prison sits in the middle of San Francisco harbour, a mile from the shore. Around 300 inmates were held in this prison at any one time, including such famous criminals as Al Capone, “Machine-Gun” Kelly and Robert “Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud. Each cell was 5 feet by 8 feet, had cold running water, a bed/cot and a toilet, and in some cases men were confined to their cell for 24 hours. It was a grim place to look around, but utterly fascinating. Here the true nasty people of America were held incarcerated, murders were committed inside the prison and prison guards constantly dealt with riots and escape attempts. It was these escape attempts that intrigued me. My favourite being a group of four prisoners, who using crudely made tools to dig through the cell’s six by nine inch vent holes, while leaving in their beds ingenious life like dummies – making it look like they were asleep. The heads were crude but lifelike, and were constructed from a homemade cement-powder mixture that included such innocuous materials as soap and toilet paper. They were decorated with flesh-tone paint from prison art kits, and human hair from the barbershop. See if you can see the dummy heads in my photos. A great afternoon trip out on The Rock, a horrible place - but most the inmates deserved to be there – so with that thought we headed back to the comfort of our hotel to plan our next road trip – The Big Sur!
Sunday 19th June Time to collect
our next car, and as luck has it, we end up with a luxury, huge car
– not the economy cheap car we reserved. Result! We decided we were
going to take our time on this road trip, after racing around on the
last one. In the States you look at a map and think it won’t take
long from one place to another – but it is such a HUGE country! Time
to take things slow!
As an added bonus just outside Death Valley was the ghost town of Rhyolite. A town that in 1905 had nearly a population of 5000 due to the rush to find gold in the region. Due to the close of the nearby mine, a result of lack of funding, the out of work miners soon disappeared elsewhere in search of their bounty. By 1920 the population had hit zero, and the remaining town was looted and left to rot. What remains is a few structures, bank, school, train station etc – but a really cool place to investigate.
After a long
evening drive, we awake to find that the snow-capped Sierra Nevada
mountains were right behind our motel, nice place to have breakfast.
The plan was to head towards Yosemite National Park, so we head up
towards a town called Mammoth Lakes, just outside the eastern
entrance to Yosemite. It was a really cool little town, absolutely
covered in snow – we couldn’t believe that it was only 2 hours away
from Death Valley. We spent time walking around the lakes, and
planning our Yosemite visit.
Up at 4:00am the following morning, after dreams of giant bears, to catch the sun rising over Yosemite. We get to the turnoff, and the road is closed! Grrr... We speak with one of the guys at the barrier and he tells us that the snow is nearly 15 ft deep on the road in parts, yeah right we think. His advice is to drive around Yosemite and come in from the western entrance...another 5 hours on to our journey! Double Grrr... So we take it on board, and agree that we have to see it. Soon after heading off, we realise from some of the surrounding roads that are cleared, that this region gets a LOT of snow, but is utterly beautiful. Her e is some shots from our journey on highway 108 around Yosemite, the snow on the side of the road is twice the size of me!
Extra driving
done, and we arrive at Yosemite National Park at noon, not sun rise
– but there may still be time for an afternoon hike. Descending down
into the valley was stunning, high cliff walls, lush green
vegetation and cascading waterfalls. The drive was worth it for this
view alone. What was not worth the drive, was how crowded the park
was. It receives a huge number of visitors a year, mostly by car,
which is fair enough. But the hiking trails along the valley floor
were right next to busy roads, and it was difficult to get away from
crowds jumping out of their cars for a photo. Next time we visit,
we’ll hike up the valley sides, for a bit of peace and quiet. It
was, again, a glorious national park, on the scale we do not see in
the UK.
Sunday 12th June Just a short drive from the Hoover Dam, we arrive at Las Vegas, Spanish for “The Meadows” – but known in American as “Lost Wages” due to the amount of money lost each day in the city’s vast casinos. There is a lot of money on show in Las Vegas; it boasts 14 of the top 20 biggest hotels in the world. New hotels that are built have to be more flamboyant and more outrageous than anything that already exists. Most of these hotels/casinos are located on a 2 mile stretch of road, known as “The Strip.” On this short piece of road you can walk past a copy of the New York Skyline, the Eiffel Tower, an Eygptian pyramid, Venice, a Roman Palace, a fake erupting volcano, a sinking pirate ship, lions in cages, Elvis impersonators etc. It is one of the bizarre places I have ever seen, but do not be mistaken, all these gimmicks have one thing in common, they are all there to tempt you into their hotel/casino to spend money. So inside the hotels, usually on the ground floor, there are the casinos. Hundreds of machines showing possible winnings, flashing bright lights and playing catchy music. There are also people in smart clothes gambling small fortunes, alongside some pretty sad cases who seemed to endlessly gamble for 24 hours– seriously, we noticed a guy at the same machine when we went out for breakfast, in the exact same spot when we returned from our evening meal. The casinos are an interesting place to observe, they have no windows, no clocks and fresh oxygen pumped into their atmosphere – why do you think that is? After a while, it was beginning to wear thin to be honest. It all seemed a bit too surreal, and a bit sad in a way. I am glad we saw it, but the place does not sleep – and it was time for a bit of peace and quiet. Time for road trip number two!
Tuesday 7th June Road Trip 1 –
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Continuing down the old Route 66, we stop in Winslow for lunch, made famous by the Eagles song Take it Easy (not heard it, ask your parents, or Mr. Anderson) before continuing into American Indian land – that of the Navajo tribe. Here we stop to view Window Rock, the centre point of Navajo council, and visit the Navajo Museum to understand more about the struggles these native people have had to endure over the last few centuries, and continue to do so. Window Rock itself is naturally formed by wind and rain.
Day Three
Day Four
Tuesday 31st May After a long journey from Belize City to Los Angeles, we catch a train south to San Diego, California - to begin our time in America. San Diego lies on the Pacific Coast, close to the Mexican border, and pretty much has glorious sunny weather all year round. So we chose to spend a week here, adjusting to the American way of life, seeing some sights and doing practical boring things like buying new clothes etc. Staying at Ocean Beach, we fill our time by watching sunsets over the Pacific Ocean and enjoying a good book (plus I get to pretend to be a lifeguard). But San Diego has much more to offer than just the glorious sand.
Northeast of downtown San Diego, Balboa Park is a huge complex of museums, recreational areas, gardens, restaurants and a world famous zoo. It is enormous, and after a few hours of walking we realise that we haven’t even covered close to a quarter of it. But during this time we visit the Botanical Gardens, situated in a beautiful building, which house some amazingly colourful flowers, along with the Venus fly trap. We take in a gallery of photography, stroll through a cactus garden, and watch an outdoor musical performance while sipping coffee. The park is so vast that we truly lose a day, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.
Across the bay from downtown, on an isthmus, we visit the famous Coronado Hotel. A huge Victorian hotel, complete with turrets and towers made famous by the film Some Like It Hot, which starred Marilyn Monroe. But the hotel has also hosted many other famous guests, including a lot of Americas presidents. We also get the chance to see lots of local bands that play all over San Diego. Country music is popular in this neck of the woods, not my normal choice, but after a few minutes in with the whooping crowds, my toe begins to tap and we have a really good time (or maybe I was still happy from seeing my own bench in downtown).
On our last day in San Diego we get up early to play some disc golf. Never heard of it before? Neither had I. Basically you have a Frisbee and you have to throw it in to a chain-bin. Doesn’t sound too difficult and I thought the same until I saw the course. Eighteen holes that included water, bunkers, trees etc. And some of the holes are up to 100 metres long. It was great fun, but not being much of a professional, a lot of my time was taken up shouting “Duck!” at other players as my Frisbee careered off the course numerous times towards their heads, or climbing trees! Time up in San Diego, one last fantastic sunset, before the next part of our trip – hiring a car and heading out on a week long road trip to Las Vegas!
Thursday 26th May Apologies for the wait for this blog update, couldn’t find decent wireless internet anywhere, but sorted now so here goes... Again we are up early in Flores to catch our bus to cross the border from Guatemala to Belize. A straight forward affair, apart from the standard bribery attempt by the border officials, who seemed to shy away when we asked for a receipt of the money they were after. We spent a day in Belize City while we waited for two friends who were visiting us from Manchester. It is a scary and unattractive place. I have never seen so many people in handcuffs being led around by the police. Poverty is everywhere, and beggars lurk quite menacingly on every street corner. We were advised not to leave our hostel from about 6pm onwards, we listened to that advice, and ordered in pizza. Our friends arrived the following morning and we jumped on a water taxi to take us to Ambergris Caye. The ocean alongside the coast of Belize is crystal-clear and azure-blue, due to the second largest reef in the world running adjacent to the land. This means the large waves break at this reef, leaving gentle lapping water which is abundant with sea life. San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, was a relaxing place with great beaches. A sudden uptake in retirement apartments and homes has led to it becoming quite developed, but the whole town is still tiny. We spend our days on the Caye relaxing on the beaches and visiting the reef to search for wildlife, and we certainly discovered plenty of it.
Snorkelling trips are a must in Belize, and we visited four of the five main snorkelling spots off San Pedro: Hol Chang, Mexico Rocks, Shark/Ray Alley and Tranquillity Bay. The two days we spend on board the boat we hired we brilliant. Our captain Caesar was an excellent guide, showing us all the different marine life, as well as letting us sit on the front of his speed boat while he raced full throttle across the bays (we had to hang on for dear life). Now as with snorkelling in Bocas Del Toro, we didn’t have an underwater camera so to show you what we came across I have selected some photos from the internet.
Shark/Ray alley is self-explanatory as to what we would find, and I was quite sceptical about jumping in when I saw the size creatures in the water. The Nursing Sharks are big, but totally harmless – we checked before we jumped in – but the Stringrays can be dangerous, but are very shy creatures. However the sheer size of them is unbelievable! They look effortless in how they manoeuvre themselves though the water, plus they have huge alien-like eyes that seem to fixate on you. It didn’t help that the biggest one we saw dived to the sandy seabed and covered himself effortlessly. All we could see was his eyes and the barb/sting on the back of his tail. Our guide Caesar made a popping noise underwater and the ray flew past us in cloud of sand; it was pretty hair-raising (if I had any). Mexico Rocks and Tranquillity bay provided much of the same, but the coral was more colourful. Here we saw more and more stingrays (smaller ones though, so we relaxed a bit), a Stoplight Parrotfish (amazing colours) and countless other amazing marine life. It is also where I was stung by quite a nasty jellyfish, a Portuguese Man’O’War. Thankfully it was only one of its tentacles that covered both my hands and arms, as they grow humongous and people’s entire body’s can be stung, which is pretty dangerous. So white vinegar was poured over my arms, and slowly they began to regain their feeling, although I’ve had some pretty cool scars for the past ten days.
Now we thought Ambergris Caye was laid back, the next caye we visited, Caye Caulker was truly lying down and asleep. No traffic, sandy streets and plenty of cheery locals to chat to. It was still surrounded by the brilliant ocean and white sand, but just felt like more our cup of tea. During our time on Caye Caulker we fished for Barracuda and spent time cycling the island looking for Wish Willies (the local name for the lizards on the island).
Searching for the Wish Willies was great too. They like to sunbath during the mid-day heat, so not too hard to find. For me, the best part was being on the bikes casually cruising along chatting to all the locals and stopping at the different piers over the ocean to take a refreshing dip. We finished off by watching the sunset from the other side of the island.
Back on the mainland and we had one more day in Belize City before we left, and we were not going to spend it sat inside our hostel fretting, so we hired a guide for the day, and he whisked us off to visit one of Belize’s most impressive Mayan ruins, Altun Ha. On arrival we were greeted by quite an added bonus, no one else was there at all! Our guide Blaine said that the day before there had been 40 coach loads of people, well today there was nada. It was beautifully peaceful (and with no-one else around, I could lie on the sacrificial stone without people thinking I was weird). It was not on the same scale as Tikal in Guatemala, but it was probably prettier. A similar fate caused Altun Ha to self-destruct, the inability to retain fresh drinking water during droughts, along with in-fighting amongst many of the different Mayan factions. The trip was improved even further when we came across a troop of howler monkeys, who were not bashful at all, and quite keen for us to pick them fruits to eat. All-in-all another great day in Belize.
Belize City aside, we had a fantastic time in Belize. Everything moves at a snail pace, known as Belizean Time, the Caribbean seafood was delicious, setting was just perfect, I could go on... I also liked the people’s attitude to life, summed up by my favourite sign post on the island of Caye Caulker...
Next stop, America. We fly into Miami again, then onto LA, before catching the train down the Pacific coast to San Diego. Will be in touch soon... Sunday 8th May Arriving in Flores, Guatemala we plan our stay in Guatemala. A couple of days by the lake, discover the history of the Maya people at Tikal, get lost in the highlands looking for Semuc Champey and finally relax in the beautiful city of Antigua. Being based at Flores for the start of our Guatemalan experience was pefect. A relaxing island spectacularly placed in the middle of Lago de Peten Itza. It was in fact the last mayor Mayan ceremonial centre and was at once covered in pyramids and shrines; sadly there is no sign of this now, as it was destroyed during the Spanish Conquest. It offered beautiful views however, and plenty of choices to visit Tikal. Set in vast jungle, surrounded by howler monkeys, toucans and giant tarantulas – the vast complex of Tikal emerges into sight. Steep sided temples, some up to 60 metres high, peep above the towering trees. We arrive early in the morning and dawn mist gives the complex a pretty eerie feeling. The Maya people settled here in 700BC, mainly for defensive purposes. The site is on a hill, and would have been surrounded by swamp, there was also an abundance of flint for making spears and arrowheads. The Maya people are remembered for their particularly brutal and clever methods of warfare which allowed them to conquer many other kingdoms in the region, and make them the dominant force. The Maya’s ruled the region from this site up until 900AD, when according to historians there was a long period of drought and the Mayan’s were unable to keep vast quantities of fresh water to support the population. The kingdom then dispersed throughout Central America, before being conquered by the Spanish. As you can see from the photographs, it was quite an awe-inspiring place, all the better that you could climb up the many temples to get a great view of just how big the site was.
So with Tikal done, we head South, towards the tiny village of Lanquin, the gateway to Semuc Champey. Wow, what a place! The village is set in a valley of lush green mountains that nestle beside the Rio Cahabon, our hostel by the river was amazing – the kind of place I could have stayed for weeks (months possibly), check out the view on the first photograph. Nine kilometres south of Lanquin is Semuc Champey. One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The raging, white-water river that runs through the valley disappears underground, for around 300m before reappearing. What remains above this river is a 300m slab of limestone that has naturally formed into a series of huge steps. Each of these steps is then filled with crystal-clear water that flows down the limestone mountains either side, forming beautifully coloured, freshwater pools which were amazing for swimming in. My friend Luke and I looked like prunes when we eventually clambered out. Just perfect. We arrived super early expecting to stay for a couple of hours – eight hours later we left when the park was closed. We hiked up to the lookout, so hopefully my poor explanation will become clear if you look at the photo we took looking down onto the pools. A truly wonderful place.
Waving bye-bye to Lanquin was tough, but we need to keep on the move. So we bypass Guatemala City, famous for gang crime and slums (not needed on anybody’s reasons to visit a place) to the old capital city on Antigua. Again, another beautiful place. Brightly-coloured, cobbled streets offer a fantastic setting. Added to that is that the city is surrounded by four volcanoes, the most beautiful and dominating is that of Volcan Agua. Sadly it is too dangerous to climb (you need policeman with shotguns to walk it with you), but the city itself is bustling and friendly.
Monday 26th April Miami was only two hours away, so a perfect choice. After landing we headed to the famous South Beach district. Wow! What a place! I can certainly see why the rich and famous choose to live here. The Art Deco buildings are fabulous, the beach is prefect white and they have everything you could ever need on their doorstep. Everywhere was open...for 24 hours! Who decides they need a new pair of Converse at 4am? People in Miami obviously do. Our three days were spent walking around the Art Deco district, marvelling at all the beautifully designed buildings from the 1930s, people-watching on the beach (boy do they like to pose, and everyone is attached to their phone all the time) and car-spotting (Rolls Royce Phantoms, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsche etc). Check out the picture of the sports cars outside just one restaurant, yellow must be a popular colour. It was a huge shock to us after over 6 months in South and Central America in many respects. Of course the wealth, everyone has designer this and that, drives the luxurious cars etc (we did get some funny looks when we first arrived, tired from an early flight, bedraggled and carrying our backpacks). Also the urgency, nothing is done at a leisurely pace, which is what we have become used to. But I’m not going to lie to you, for 4 days it was great to have air conditioning, not have to speak Spanglish (our version of Spanish with English) and be able to choose from all the types of food (including proper cheese! Although who needs 19 different types of omelette?). But Easter Weekend was over, our trip to Miami too. Still a few places to see in Central America before we head back to the States in June...but for 4 days it was great fun! So the plan now, fly two hours to Belize City, Belize – stay for one night (we will return to Belize) before departing to Guatemala to discover some history on its most famous ancestors...the Mayans!
Thursday 21st April After Leon, we
hit the beaches at Las Pintas, where the heat during the day makes
walking on the sand unbearable, and even a beach towel can’t stop
you feeling like you are baking on the sand. The waves coming in
from the Pacific Ocean are also incredibly strong, so taking a dip
means returning battered and bruised. The town itself was great,
relax during the day, fresh fish for dinner and then join in with
the locals for a game of street football (they all wanted to be
Ronaldo, so there wasn’t much passing of the ball). Then after four
days we headed to the capital Managua.
Saturday 16th April Another part of Ometepe, (Santo Domingo) and another volcano. This one is called Maderas, and doesn’t have the traditional cone shape like that of Conception. After a couple of days on the beach, we hear rumours that, even though this is a smaller volcano, it is incredibly difficult to climb, so we remain in Santo Domingo for another day, before looking to travel to find a different volcano experience. As you can see from the first photo, there really isn’t much of a beach at Santo Domingo. Well due to an incredibly bad rainy season last year, where five times the normal rainfall washed over the lake and island, the water level in the lake rose rapidly, taking with it nearly 40m of beach. Currently the locals are desperately building defences against the rising lake water level, should it happen again next year, global warming pretty much on their doorstep. So a day of travelling ahead of us, we leave Ometepe behind (sadly), and begin the taxi/bus rides north to the town of Masaya. On the ferry across the lake, I finally managed to get a photo of the two volcanoes side by side that make up Ometepe.
We stopped in Masaya for two reasons. Firstly it has one of the best National Parks to view the inside of a volcanic crater. Secondly, and less important to you, it is a good place to do some shopping – finally, being able to buy some new clothes (if I could find any that fit)! So back to the Volcano Masaya...we decided to visit this volcano at night for a different experience, and we were glad we did. On arrival just before sunset, we could gaze into the crater of the volcano while it bubbled and burped 4 km below the surface. Strange, strange noises! More importantly, the gasses being emitted from the volcano were asphyxiating, and beginning to irritate our throats pretty badly. So after twenty minutes of snapping the sunset of the volcanoes of Nicaragua, and into the crater of Masaya, we headed underground into the old lava tunnels.
The lava tunnels were a great experience. During the last great eruption in the 17th Century, white-hot lava raced underground through these tunnels, as well as through the top of the crater. The near perfect circular tunnels now offer sanctuary to thousands of bats. When we arrived at the entrance to the tunnels they were all leaving in large numbers to do their evening business, and we got to sit there as they whizzed past our ears – never once hitting us, even though it was pitch black – do you know why? So once inside there were only a few “hanging about”, but I managed to surprise this little fellow. Out of the tunnels, it was time to see if we could see into the inner-crater now that it was pitch black. Gas masks were donned (could have done with that earlier to be honest), and we were led to quite a rickety looking viewing platform. We could see a faint glow from the lava way down below, but it was incredibly hard to get a photo of, however once our eyes had become accustomed to the dark, it really was an amazing scene, breath-taking.
Time up in Masaya, and another taxi/bus combination gets us to the other great colonial city of Leon. Leon has had a difficult recent history. For most of the last century it was the centre of great violence, as civil war broke out in Nicaragua, between two different political sides. Leon at the beginning of this violence, was a poor city whose people were literally starving after being forgotten by the government who favoured other parts of the country. Under a group called the Sandanistas, a revolution took place that lasted many years and cost over 300, 000 lives approximately. Only concluding in 1988, and the scars are still very visible around the city, murals decorate the cities walls, remembering the lost, and there is a clear generation of people that are missing from the city. Nearly 70% of its residents are under 30, and the rest are in old age. We visited a couple of museums in the city to learn more about the history of this war, including a poignant museum run by mothers of the lost, and the museum of the revolution which is run by a few of the surviving soldiers from the conflict. So sad to hear all the details from the people who were directly affected, but many of them agree that the country is united in becoming a better place for all. One last volcano trip had to be planned while in Leon, as it is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. This time Volcano Cerro Negro, a hugely active volcano that erupts every ten years (although the next one is overdue), and from first impressions it is clear to see that it has been recently active. Huge piles of ash and rubble, and no signs of life growing nearby. We begin our ascent; a delicately trodden path for an hour leads us to its peak where we see the line of ten volcanoes that are along the tectonic plate that runs through the region. Also, we see down into the sulphur-ridden crater that is sure to erupt soon enough in the future. But we were not here to climb this volcano, it was all about how we got back down. A quick outfit change (that makes me look like a mad-mechanic) and I collect a piece of timber. Time to sand-board down the 41 degree slopes of ash and rocks. It was crazy! So steep that we almost had second-thoughts, they didn’t last for long, because when else would I get to do this. We zoomed down, the average speed is 60kmph, which I suppose is fast, but when a piece of wood separates you from having a serious accident, it seems much faster. It was all over in 30 seconds, a true adrenaline buzz! From the bottom I grabbed a few shots of some other people doing it, including a guy (who was showing off trying to do it one handed) who lost control and tumbled down for over 100m (maybe you can see him spinning if you zoom in). Needless to say, he was in a pretty bad way, with a possible broken wrist, painful!
Tuesday 5th April So after a pretty hectic border crossing, we arrive in southern Nicaragua. A quick taxi ride takes us to the beach town of San Juan Del Sur. A fishing town that has grown quite rapidly due its relaxed beaches, which offer a great place to hang out, play some beach football and enjoy the sunsets over the Pacific Ocean. All of which we duly did for a few days. San Juan also benefits from the local birdlife, which are abundant at dawn and dusk, and we grabbed a shot of a green Macaw that was just perched on a fence near the beach. Already it has become quite clear how friendly the Nicaraguan people are. I think nearly everyone I have walked past has always said a friendly “Buenas”, and asked how we were etc.
From San Juan, we jumped on a “chicken bus” to Rivas, and then another one to the city of Granada. The buses here are the old American School buses, and they seem to get more memorable each journey. Each bus is decorated differently, but it is standard to have disco lights and music inside, plus they seem to throw you off, or grab you as they pass, rather than actually stopping. Not easy to do when carrying a large rucksack, maybe it could become a new Olympic Sport? We arrived in downtown Granada, amidst all the mayhem of a Central American market. You could probably buy anything in there. Amazing fresh fruits and vegetables, leather goods, mobile phones, get you haircut, have you bike fixed and buy some rather suspect trainers. Funny watching the cobblers at their stalls taking random trainers and sewing on Nike Swooshes or three Adidas Stripes. We decided to stay around the market, which was a good choice in the end, as central Granada was unbelievably quiet. Beautifully clean streets, lined with bright coloured adobe and colonial buildings – but apart from a few other tourists, it was empty. This made a great place to stroll around, taking photos and stopping for coffee, but I kind of missed the hassle that you normally have to put up with in large Latin American cities (then again maybe I didn’t...no I did). Granada has had a tough past. It has always had issues with another city in Nicaragua, Leon, mainly about which was the true capital, differences of opinion politically etc. So much so, that the government actually created a new capital city (Managua) bang in the middle between the two of them, to stop any further arguments.
We left Granada after a few days (and after a disappointing tour to the nearby Volcano was cancelled) to head towards the Island of Ometepe, which is located in the middle of the huge Lake Nicaragua. Ometepe Island itself is two giant volcanoes that erupted underneath the lake, and rose rapidly, creating an island of two volcanoes that are joined together by a small isthmus. The ferry across was great, the two volcanoes looking pretty menacing against the cloudy skies (our camera was stowed away with are bags on the ferry – so I’ll get a picture as we leave of the two side by side). We docked in the town of Moyogalpa, and found a hostel with a great view of the bigger of the two volcanoes, Volcano Conception. Our plan, to cycle around this part of the island, then climb up Conception, before heading towards the isthmus for some beach time. Again the friendliness of the people on the island is just brilliant. Everyone, old or young, says hello. Families sit outside their homes at night talking to each other and invite you to join them for a chat over some ice tea. It’s great! So after some cycling around we booked a local guide, Johan, to lead us up Conception. Glad we did so as it was a pretty tough climb, and we encountered a pretty aggressive Brown Vine snake that was not so pleased to see us. Apologies for how horrible the photo of it is, but I was holding its tail while Johan had to distract it from striking. It was as mean as it looks, trust me. The rest of the climb was ace, howler and white-faced monkeys made their usual appearance, but we also discovered some cool insects. The best being a horned beetle, which was unbelievably strong – when you pressed your finger on his head he pushed up with his legs and knocked it off. Crazy strength from such a little creature. So we made it two thirds of the way up the volcano, couldn’t get to the top, as the path is too dangerous when there is cloud cover. So rather than risk getting lost or falling, we headed back down, and with our time on this side of the island done. Tomorrow a trip to the beaches in the middle, and trying to find some ancient petroglyphs that are scrawled on the mountains somewhere nearby.
Thursday 24th March Cahuita, Southern Costa Rica was only a short trip from the border with Panama. Here the Caribbean vibe continues, will nothing being done in a hurry and plenty of images of Bob Marley in every hostel, restaurant and shop. It is also the sight of the Cahuita National Park, one of Costa Rica’s most visited parks, with the main attraction being the wildlife. It is also on the Caribbean coastline, so a welcome break can always be taken on the golden sands. Our plan though was to get in there for a few days and try our best to spot as much wildlife as we could. It did not disappoint. White-faced capuchins and howler monkeys (which became our alarm call each morning) swung from the trees above and at times came quite close, very inquisitive animals. Take it from me, never stand under a monkey in a tree – hope I don’t need to explain. We also found a couple of snakes, the coiled yellow snake I know is the Eyelash Palm Pit Viper. A pretty dangerous snake, very good at sensing heat and with a particularly venomous bite. We found this out after we had pulled back leaves and twigs near it, to get a photo. Great colouring though don’t you think? The other snake I couldn’t recognise, so maybe again, if you find out its name and any information, put it on the website guestbook for me to read. This snake was less happy at us being around. It thrashed and attempted to strike a few times – and believe me it was quick! Added to that, it was so hard to spot once it had moved, we grabbed a photo and were on our merry way – slightly more wary of what lay in the bushes. We came across a few more animals – a tiny green lizard - that looked straight out of Jurassic Park, a HUGE iguana sunning itself on a branch across the river and plenty of Racoons, which I thought were pretty hilarious in their attempts to take our lunch. Friendly and timid enough to not be annoying – but they certainly were not going to give up (turns out they don’t like tuna and cucumber sandwiches anyway). So we start heading back when... ...SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Finally...a SLOTH! Swinging high up in the trees, a three-toed sloth! Slowly and lazily, picking at the leaves of a huge Almond tree. Such a strange body shape, completely different to how monkeys move from branch to branch. Really difficult to get a photo for you guys, but maybe you can see its silhouette. Then in the next 500 metres we see two more...right up at the top of humongous trees. Impossible to photograph with the midday sun behind them. So although spotted...and extremely happy...we still struggled to get any photographic evidence...until... ...finishing dinner in our hostel, we are walking back to our room when I spot a sloth climbing across the entrance, upside down, heading for an Almond tree in the garden. I sprinted to our room for the camera and managed to get a couple of close-up photos, although he was incredibly shy and didn’t show his face. Within 20 seconds, he was right at the top of the tree and out of sight. An amazing experience. We could have stretched out an arm and touched him. Looking back on the photos now, it looks like someone has taken Chewbacca out of the Star Wars films and dropped him in Costa Rica. So we left Cahuita in high spirits, and headed through the country towards the border with Nicaragua. We have limited our time here in Costa Rica for two reasons. Firstly, we have been here before on holiday and seen quite a bit of the country, and secondly, it is incredibly expensive now. There seems to be a large population of retired Americans and Europeans here, which seems to have driven the price of everything up. So Nicaragua by the weekend...and looking forward to seeing some Volcanoes!
Friday 18th March With Boquete behind us, we travel north to an area known as Bocas Del Toro, a collection of islands set in the Caribbean Ocean just off Panama’s mainland. After a pretty rapid boat ride, we arrive at the largest and most developed island – Isla Colon. Although one of Panama’s biggest draws for tourists, the Islands maintain their laid-back Caribbean feel. Also helping this is the islands dense forests, mangroves and forest palms – which make the islands difficult to navigate, and therefore less likely to be covered in huge hotels and apartment complexes (or so we thought). Isla Colon
however, was really only our base for travel to the other smaller
islands, which are all part of a Marine National Park. After a night
on Isla Colon, and a trip to its beautiful beach of Boca Del Drago –
we decide to head to Isla Bastimentos. During our time on Bastimentos we paid our local guide Antuan, to take us to the many different islands and bays that surrounded us. Visiting Dolphin Bay to spot the Bottle-nose Dolphin up close, the National Park to see its empty beaches and also to snorkel among some of the most beautiful coral I have ever seen. Sadly, my camera is not waterproof (or at least I didn’t want to try to find out it wasn’t), so I could not get any snaps from our time snorkelling – however some friends we were travelling with did have one, so maybe they will email me the photos for you. But the highlight was seeing a Stoplight Parrotfish – unbelievable colours (you must do a Google image search). The colours seemed to change as it moved – amazing. Our final trip on the Island was to walk across it to visit Red Frog Beach. Beach life had clearly clouded my judgement, as I set off in flip-flops – but this was not to be a trouble-free, relaxing beach stroll. The waves whipped up under a storm and the four of us who had chosen this walk, had to head inland to the jungle to get to Red Frog Beach. Cue a huge torrential downpour and all of us being up to our knees in a strangely coloured blue/grey mud. The 1.5km walk took almost 3 hours as we slipped, squelched and ‘motivated’ each other through the jungle. However, it was all worth it, as the jungle location and rain made Red Frog Beach live up to its name. Alongside the ‘path’ we spotted many of the tropical frogs we were looking for – famous for their colour, but also their use in native hunting. Inside they contain incredibly dangerous poison – we were only at risk if we were to lick the frogs – which I can assure you was not going to happen in a million years. For me, I could not get over their size; some were the size of my little-finger nail, truly incredible! So after some photos, we squelched our way to Red Frog Beach, only to be confronted by hundreds of people. In the past two years, against the will of the residents of Bastimentos, a huge hotel had been built and we were surrounded by large groups of sun-worshipping tourists and loud music from the hotel's many bars. Not the idyllic beach we were looking for, and we certainly didn’t look the part, as we all looked like the ‘thing from the swamp’, nearly head to toe in mud. Sadly, our time in Panama was at an end, and I will certainly miss Bastimentos in particular. The following morning, we headed north to the border, and into Costa Rica, and the small coastal village of Cahuita. Close to a National Park famed for it’s...you guessed it...sloths! Wish me luck!
Monday 14th March From Panama City, we take a 8 hour bus, and arrive in the mountain-valley town of Boquete. The town has the crystal-clear Rio Caldera running through its centre, and is surrounded on all sides by mountains which contain some of the richest soils in the country. Flowers, vegetables, citrus fruits and coffee flourish in this fresh climate, and it is the latter that we have come to Boquete to learn about. The coffee plantation we visited was owned by a retired American called Richard, and was only in total six and half acres. After ten years of trying to produce a profit for the coffee they make, they finally gave up, and now only sell their coffee to friends in the town, or to visitors like us. Richard told us how the price of coffee fluctuates so much, as does the weather in Boquete from year to year, that each year’s harvest could either make him a great deal of money, or he would lose the whole year’s work. The plantation itself was beautiful, high up on the steep sloping hills. We were shown the process right from hand-picking of the coffee fruit itself, the separation of fruit, the selection of the good beans and seed and then the drying process. All done by hand at this plantation, as you can see from the photos, a tiring task. The trays of beans then dry in the sunshine for up to four weeks, before they are ready to be roasted. Now this was the best bit, we could roast two pounds of our own coffee. Firing up the roasting tin, and pouring in the beans, we had to keep a close eye on the temperature of the furnace, the colour and size of the beans as they roasted away. The smell (if you like coffee) was unbelievable. Richard’s coffee achieved an international award for its flavour – 91 marks out of 100, and now we could see why. As our roasted coffee beans cooled, we tasted some of the coffee he had roasted earlier in the day, and it was lovely (although I always prefer a cup of tea, which I didn’t tell him). All in all, a great day out, but important to know that this was a fair-trade and organic plantation, where local people are paid fairly. From talking with Richard we learnt that worldwide coffee workers are among the poorest paid, even though coffee is now being sold at record prices. In fact some coffee from the ‘Geisha’ plant is sold for $360 a pound – although the workers are paid $6 to produce it. Quick question for you, children. On the way back, we finally encountered a snake, but I have no clue as to what species it is. Can you find out what type of snake this is from the photo? Found in Boquete, Panama in Central America. Would like to know if it was venomous, seeing as I foolishly followed it to get a photo.
Thursday 10th March On our approach into Tocumen Airport, Panama City, we can see from the skyline that this is one of the most cosmopolitan cities we have visited in a while. Skyscrapers cover the landscape, mainly huge international banks, but recently large hotels have also sprung up. Panama City stretches 20km along the Pacific Ocean, and is the isthmus that joins North America and South America. Our first day and we visit the old town region Casco Viejo. Now you may think of Pirates of the Caribbean as total make believe (certainly parts of it are), but this part of Panama City was built after the original site of the city was destroyed by a man named Henry Morgan 1671. You probably know him as the infamous ‘Blackbeard’. Casco Viejo was therefore surrounded by a huge defensive wall, to stop these kinds of pirate attacks occurring anymore. After years of neglect, it is now home to some of the city’s most beautiful architecture and famous historical landmarks. It also houses the Panama Canal Museum, which leads nicely into our next little excursion.
Because of its
narrowness, the country is famous for the canal which passes through
it, allowing large container ships to pass from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean (and vice versa), without having to go around the
whole of South America and its many dangerous seas (Cape Horn). This
saves the ships up to a month in travel time, along with the extra
costs of travelling so far. However the canal itself is not cheap to
pass through. The highest ever paid to pass through was $200,000 –
by a 90,000 ton French cruise ship called Infinity. The lowest
however, was paid in 1928 by Richard Halliburton, who paid $0.36 to
swim through the canal. When we arrived at the Miraflores Locks, we
were lucky enough to see two huge cargo ships pass through, I hope
you get the size of ship from the picture of it passing the two
storey canal office.
Now left over from South America was our desire to see a SLOTH. So we headed to the Parque Metropolitano, a huge 265 hectare park, within throwing distance of the busy city below. On our four hour stroll we spotted howler monkeys scratching away in the tree tops, Capuchins leaping from tree to tree and countless colourful insects and lizards. But NO SLOTH AGAIN! It doesn’t help that they like to be in the tallest trees and sleep for 23 hours a day! Never mind, because I think I may have seen something cooler. On the way out the park, we went to visit a pond which housed different types of turtle. Creeping along the edge I disturbed a ‘Jesus Christ’ Lizard which sprinted across the pond on its back legs – yes, running on water! It was over in a flash, but incredible to see. Maybe worth a Youtube visit to see it in action.
So the rest our time in Panama City was spent visiting Carnival. Normally in the UK people have Pancake Tuesday to celebrate the six weeks of Lent before Easter; here it is done on a slightly bigger scale. For five whole days the city grinds to a halt, and the residents throw one big party celebrating their culture with music, dancing and general boisterousness. It starts at 10am each day and finishes around 5am the following day. During this time the Carnival Queens are paraded, neighbourhood bands compete to attract the biggest following, live bands play at three stages and everybody is intent on having a good time. It is also a time to not wear your favourite clothes. Why? Well...trucks towing water tanks soak the crowds to keep them cool, all children carry water pistols/confetti/snow spray (which usually is aimed at any unknown adult aka me) and when the crowd’s favourite song is played, it is usually greeted by throwing whatever drink is in your hand, into the air.
All in all, a great time had in Panama City. But it has been a tiring week, trying to cram in carnival and the city’s history. So it is time to move on. Next, the mountain town of Boquete, to enjoy a good hike and try some of the region’s fantastic coffee! Wednesday 02 March Today we fly to Central America and Panama. Arriving in the capital Panama City, giving ourselves a few days before the beginning of the fiesta: Carnival. So just a brief catch up on what we have been up to. Back from the rainforest, we decided we needed some drawn out time on a good beach, to catch up on sleep lost from those early starts in the jungle. We headed on a 35 minutes flight from Quito to Puerto Lopez (meaning no bus break-downs). Puerto Lopez is based in the Machanilla National Park and between July and October, it is one of the best places in the world to spot Humpback Whales. At this time of the year the weather is great, the Pacific Ocean is warm and flocks of Pelicans come to fish – throwing themselves in the water like giant darts! Great to watch! While here we visited Los Frailles, a protected beach within the National Park – and it was a beautiful place to relax and enjoy a good book. Sea eagles, giant land crabs and lizards adorned this part of the coastline (much to our annoyance, as we forgot our camera). After 5 days, much relaxing and great seafood, we headed back to Quito. With only one day left, we chose to visit the convent of Santa Catalina in the Old Town. Here the nuns that reside inside only speak for one hour a day, spend their time decorating the adjoining church (which was amazing), and create lots of different products (beauty products, honey, wine etc) from which they sell behind a spinning wall – as you are not allowed to see the nuns face to face! One of the nun’s there entered the convent at the age of 8, she is now 93! Also, from the top of the bell tower we had a great view of the Virgin Mary statue that overlooks the Old Town. A great insight into the influence of religion on South America. So our time in South America is over! Boo! We really have had nowhere near enough time to see all we wanted to see. Even all the places we have been to, we have felt rushed and constantly on the move. Just too much to see and not enough time. Brazil and Columbia will have to be for next time around! Have to say though, still thoroughly enjoying this whole experience. Would recommend this part of the world to anyone!
Tuesday 01 March 2011 After an excruciatingly torturous bus ride, involving two break downs, landslides and our passports being checked by the gun-carrying Ecuadorian army, we arrive near the Colombian border at Lago Agrio. A pretty hideous town, containing some very dodgy characters. Thankfully, we were only there one night, so a good sleep in preparation for an early pick up to head towards the Cuyabeno National Park, Ecuador’s second biggest slice of the Amazon Rainforest (yet in total, Ecuador only has around 2% of the total Amazon Rainforest left). Amazon Rainforest Day One Bus journey again, break down again! Are we jinxed? Half our tour hitch-hikes, leaning out the back of pick-up trucks. We decide to catch the local ‘chicken’ bus, always a good experience. This particular bus had flashing disco lights and was playing old 70s disco music (Boney M and ABBA if you’re interested). Happily we sang along with the locals as our semi-awake driver rattled through the mountains to our boat pick-up and the entrance to the National Park. The boat, our
transport for the next five days, raced through the primary
rainforest, down many of the tributaries of the Amazon, here we
spotted monkeys and many birds. We arrived at the Samasoa lodge,
where we would stay over the next 4 nights. To our surprise, the
huts we open to the elements, pretty much a reed roof and short
walls, meaning anything could creep into our room, and over the
course of the next 4 nights, they certainly did, more on that later.
Day Two After a partially sleepless night, due to sightings of tarantulas in cabin ceilings, we were up early for a morning hike through the rainforest. This took us through difficult terrain, swamps and plenty of dangerous plants lay in our way at every stage (the defence systems on some of the plants was crazy, spikes spewed out of tree trunks at every turn). On our hike we spotted praying mantis, bullet ants (again HUGE, and so called as their bite is comparable to being shot...nice!), venomous frogs and caterpillars, plus, again some amazing birdlife – toucans, woodpeckers and parrots – all too difficult photograph.
Returning mud covered and sweating heavily (the heat was crazy) we settled for an afternoon of swinging in a hammock with a book, ready for an evening on the rivers and lake searching for Caiman, the alligator of the Amazon, after hopefully a pretty good sunset. The sunset was as amazing as expected, but the search for Caiman was pretty tricky. The torches we used reflected two beady red eyes back, just above the water. But, as to be expected, when we approached in our boat, the Caiman disappeared silently into the depths of the river. We managed to capture a glimpse of the smaller Speckled Caiman; maybe you can see what I mean about the eyes from the photo. Hopefully later in the week our luck would change for a big one! Returning to camp, after a pretty good dinner, I headed to our cabin to notice that the door handle was moving!?! Nope, it was the HUGEST stick insect I have ever seen side-stepping across our cabin door. To give you a clue to its size, the sign in the background is the size of my outstretched hand, unbelievable.
Day Three Another ‘steady’ night’s sleep, and today’s itinerary was to visit a local Amazonian community, a couple of hours down the river. On arrival, we were greeted by a member of the community who showed us the fruits and vegetables they harvest from the forest. This included yucca potatoes, wild grapes and plantain. We picked and plucked sufficient for our lunch and together with the community, we created a lunch of fruits and potato bread, which was delicious. No sooner was lunch finished, when we were rudely interrupted by a Woolly Monkey which had descended down from the trees for the leftovers. He wouldn’t leave us alone, so the only option was to take him for a stroll for his own food, which he enjoyed picking while being perched on my shoulders. Not to be out-done on the monkey front, one of the ladies from the community appeared from her house with the smallest monkey in the world, the Pigmy Marmoset, balanced on her head like some kind of hairpin. It was the craziest thing I’d seen, incredibly tiny, and quite happy there balancing on her head.
Continuing further downstream, we reached the house of the local Shaman (the people of the Amazon’s doctor). Here he showed us all the weird and wonderful plants we grew, telling us of their medicinal power, and the fact he could cure most types of sickness and pain with a concoction of seeds, leaves and plants. Being married to a doctor didn’t make this easy, as I was very sceptical that a tea-like drink could help with a broken leg, but I respected what he was showing us. On our return to camp I finally grabbed a photo of some parrots, and even better they seemed to be kissing, along with another good photo of a tree frog outside our cabin. The frog (or maybe it was a friend of his) then became a permanent fixture in our cabin, taking up residence on top of our sink, and then in the bottom of our shower. At least it kept the mosquitoes away.
Day Four Up incredibly early – 5:30am! – For an early morning bird watching session. A great time of the day in the rainforest, birds up and calling, river dolphins were popping up (although never enough to photograph) and Caimans still slinking around. We were fortunate enough to get really close to a wonderfully coloured Toucan, who seemed quite proud to be photographed. The Caiman that were around were still only the smaller species, but the rest of our day was to be spent paddling the rivers, rather than in the noisy motorboat, so fingers crossed we could maybe get close to a big one! Maybe even an Anaconda? After breakfast we rowed across the lake towards the swamps. Now this was a creepy place to be. We were told that the Anacondas and Caiman during the day would not be visible, but if we were lucky (?) we may tread right next to one, as they like to cover themselves in mud! I have never watched my footing so much in my life! Sadly no Anaconda or Caiman were to be found but we did come a across a HUGE two metre long electric eel. It was enormous, and thankfully it sank away into the water, rather than hanging around too close to us!
Safely back in to the boat, we paddled out of the swamp and towards the main river again. Here we had the chance to go fishing...for piranha! If you haven’t heard of piranha they have a pretty bad reputation as one of the most dangerous fish in the world! They are aggressive, love the taste of blood or flesh, hunt in packs and have a pretty dangerous set of teeth. The fishing technique involved using cuts of beef as bait, dropping it into the river then thrashing the end of your fishing rod into the water to sound like a fish in distress. To be fair it worked! As soon as the meat dropped into the water they scrambled around it, chomping and gnashing at it in a bit of frenzy, but they were still pretty tricky to hook. Thankfully a mix of patience and stickability meant I caught a few, and a pretty big one in the bag to boot! I took a photo of its teeth to give you an idea of their bite, which made a rather creepy mechanic sound! On returning to the lodge, now in darkness, we spotted a massive Black Caiman! We edged closer, maybe a little too close, to get a photo. The whole time he stared at us, unmoving, clearly ready to have a go if we became too close for comfort! We got the shot, and paddled away nervously, one eye on the Caiman, and another making sure we didn’t bump into any of his mates. All-in-all, a really great day, paddling ourselves was a much better way to get up close to the animals we had come to find.
Day Five So our time in the rainforest was up, left only now was to return to the ‘joys’ of Lago Agrio. The boat journey back was early morning and pretty swift. We did see some squirrel monkeys, again up close which was great, a river dolphin swimming around our boat (could only catch it breaching in a photo – apologies) and apart from that it was uneventful. The elusive sloth which we were hopeful of seeing had avoided us, as had many of the rainforest’s snakes, not sure if that was a good or bad thing. Ecuador is a poor country, and has been for a while. A few decades ago they allowed America oil companies to extract the oil from the rainforest – much to its detriment. Of all the oil they extract, the company only uses 10% of it to produce its petrol etc. The rest is called crude oil and is usually used to make other products or removed carefully to places of safety. This was not the case here and in other parts of Ecuador. The companies basically dumped it back in to the rivers, causing wild scale damage to the ecosystem and the people who live inside it. As you can see from the article, the Ecuadorian people still struggle to receive the compensation they deserve for the effects on the health of many of its communities members. Important to understand why areas like the one we were lucky enough to visit should be maintained as they are. Plans for the upcoming seven days left in Ecuador? Time to find a beach I feel. So off to the Machalilla National Park, on the Pacific coast. Find a spot to relax and maybe see some more wildlife before we head to Panama for Carnival.
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