Shrunken heads and Lagunas

So Baño, Ecuador was our recovery station for bloated stomachs and congested heads. Luckily for us it was raining and cloudy most of the time so that gave us a good excuse to stay indoors. I managed to drag myself away from cable TV to get a massage and facial and we also did a bike ride down a hill and a few tunnels to an impressive waterfall with enough force to break bones.

After about 4 days we moved on to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We swapped a few books and caught up with a couple we met in Huaraz, Peru. We went on a day trip to the Equator and visited the native Indian complex. Whilst there we took a look at the water draining demonstrations (aka The Simpsons), egg balancing on a nail and "why I am I weak right on the equator?". Kind of felt like going on a school excursion but we did get to see a "genuine" shrunken head the size of a golf ball. This was apparently a war trophy that was made by removing all bone and fat in the head and filling it with hot stones then boiling it in a special fluid...nice.

We are now in Otavalo, still Ecuador and went on a 4 hour hike around a volcanic laguna this morning. We desperately needed the excercise as the only decent thing for breakfast in Ecuador is pancakes. We'll be hanging around for tommorrows colourful indigenous market and then flagging down a bus on the PanAmerican Highway to get to Colombia by the afternoon. Can't wait. Seeya Ecuador!

Frickin' Tweenies

We arrived in Montañita, a seaside surftown after crossing the Peruvian border (not as dangerous as it's said to be). Glen managed to go for a couple of surfs but is still not feeling 100%. Our first hostel was in the heart of gringo land and was sooo noisy with real bad reggatoni music playing until 3am so we quickly moved out of there to a beachside hostel with views of the break from the toilet. We did alot of reading and hammock laying and I even went for a few runs along the beach. We bumped into our Swedish mate Kalle for some "shit on" action but decided to move on as the waves weren't picking up. Yesterday we did a mammoth 12 hr bus extravaganza to reach Baños, a mountain village in the Ecuadorian Andes. All our buses miraculously fitted in perfectly but I knew it was to good to be true. We had no time for lunch so Glen grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the bus terminal and I definitely hit my lowest point about 2 or 3 hours later. Its one thing to feel ill at home but vomiting every half hour on a bus when you still have 5 hours left till your destination is torture. The one skill I do posess though is to be a neat spewer! The Ecudorians would of labelled me as the mad Gringo after I got kicked out of my seat for a hoity, toity tweenie and I had to get them to open the front door in a cold packed bus so I could vomit out of the door. Oh well. We've just managed to keep down some plain bread and here's hoping that we'll feel better in the next couple of days to take advantage of the mountains. I'm even thinking of booking in for a massage or facial. Hope everyone else is feeling well and its official, we're at our South/Central American half way mark of 3 months.

Sun, surf and sand

We ended up spending 5 nights in the sleepy (not over easter though) beachside town of Huanchaco just north of Trujillo. We both got ill, Glen a little more, so it was lucky our hostel had that lovely hospital feel about it. We headed to Chicama for a couple of days to check out the surf that Scott still dreams about, but despite numerous attempts, Glen was still too weak to make the most of it.

Next stop was Mancora. Another beachside town close to the Ecuadorian border. We bumped into not 1 but 4 couples that we've met on our trip so far! The beach is wonderful and the waves are enough to satisfy any surfer- not huge but fun! Our accomodation is simple but just on the beach and right next to a great beach shack with a surf school, great breakkie and dinner spots. And the Maracuya juice (passionfruit slushy) is to die for!

So we've had 3 days of relaxing on the beach, drinking cocktails, eating seafood and chasing waves. Off to Ecuador tomorrow to follow the sun!

Reality Check

Don't get me wrong, I love travelling South America but we've had a bit of bad luck the last couple of weeks...
* We walked through a crowd of people in a village and our back pack was opened and our camera stolen just before Machu Picchu
* We were lucky enough to travel to Machu Picchu with our mate Kalle who took some awesome photos as it was a perfect weather day. We got back to Cusco to download his photos onto a disk when the photo shop guy ly erased all 600 of his photos of his 3 month trip. Luckily our jugle trek guide had downloaded a few of our shots from the Amazon so they'll be emailed out soon.
* I lost my credit card despite it living in my money belt.
* Glen had his thermals stolen. Luckily we're heading to the coast. He also lost 2 pairs of sunnies
* We've just come back from a trek where our tents filled with rain and saturated our dry clothes and sleeping bags.

So... its not always easy to travel but I'm glad I'm here and if thats the worst that happens then we have good luck.

So we've just completed a 3 day trek (supposed to be 4 day but we gunned it back after all our clothes and equipment were soaked) in the Cordillera Blanca/ Santa Cruz trek. It's situated in the north of Peru and is made up of 50+ peaks >5000m in an 180km long area. Its the mountain range next to the one that Joe Simpson climbed. If you've ever seen Touching the Void then you'll know what I'm talking about.

We were joined by a French/English couple, a Spanish guy, a guide/cook, 3 donkeys and their driver. Our main aim was to reach a snow covered pass between 2 peaks that was 4800m above sea level. The day that we climbed that was the hardest thing I've ever done physically due to the altitude, snow/ice terrain, rain and cold. The donkey driver sped up the mountains with sandals and his pants rolled up. Apparently this is the way he prefers it as he's been doing it his whole life. Reaching the pass was magnificent and the views were terrific (photos to come soon) but given the choice, I couldn't put my body through that again.

Glen booked the BEST hostel I've stayed in this whole trip once we returned from the trek. Big brownie points for the hot shower and flowers in the room. We've now got 2 days in Huaraz to do washing, watch DVD's, drink herbal teas at Cafe Andino and rest our blistered feet and Glens dodgy foot. We think that the trek may be the last altitude trek for our trip as Glen's ankle is quite tender and I nearly came close to crying like a baby.

We hope everyone is well and a big shout out to all my work mates who need to catch me up on all the gossip.