Otavalo´s famous market

Yey! I finally left Quito. I arrive in the town of Otavalo, about 2 hours north of Quito today to check out one of South America's most famous and biggest outdoor market.

It is certainly big alright! Stretching out from the main plaza (town square) out to adjacent roads all around town. The stores were full of handicrafts, artworks, clothing's and jewelry. But you know what? It wasn't as mind blowing as I thought it would be. I dunno whether it is coz I have seen that many outdoor markets or that I was sore from bouldering yesterday or... That I wasn't planning on buying "nada" (nothing) since I still have so much time to travel. However I enjoy people watching, and seeing locals from the villages in their traditional costume and jewelry, gave me countless Kodak moments.

In the evening I had plans to see the cock fight in a local ring, but the rain put an end to that idea. I was soaked, not from above, but from below. The problem was the road, it's puddles and the passing traffic. My pants are right now being dried at the fireplace.

Speaking of which, anyone who visits Otavalo should check out the hostel I stayed at. It is call Hotel Riviera Sucre and features big rooms, tv, comfy beds, fireplace and hammocks. Tomorrow I will be crossing the border into Colombia. I am looking forward to seeing this country as I have met countless travelers whom have raved about this country to me.

Quito Climbing

I finally baptise my zapatos de roca (climbing shoes) on Tuesday. After buying those beautiful babies (La Sportivas) from LA I have been wanting to use them.

So I found this bouldering place call MonoDedo (One Finger) near La Coruna Calle (road), about 20 minutes walk from home. Inside there were all these monkeys climbing everywhere.... I felt like a bloody pig compare to them. I SUCK and am sad to think that I have lost all my form (what form LOL) after 4 months of absence.

But Al / Steve / Anna / Nick and the rest, I am still gonna KICK your asses when I return! :b

One week in Quito

This is me studying Spanish with Floro. And as you can see I am so good at Spanish that she didn't need to write anything on the board. :b

My week in Quito has been awesome. The school has arranged for a home stay for me. So I have my own room, a big bed, bathroom and 2 meals a day. It has bought some sort of normality back to my life and I love it. Today I even went to Quito's big shopping mall call Centro Commercial Jardin (Park Central) and sat at Mr.Book (Border's Like bookstore) reading English materials. It felt great!

And as for cost? My one-to-one Spanish lessons is 4.50usd an hour and the home stay is 12usd per day. A bargain!

I shag Turtles...

I see Turtles too... Ooooooo La La!

The Galápagos Islands

I spent an incredible 6 days out in the Galapagos last week and I want to rave about it!

I spent most of it on board this sail boat name "Merak". It is a smallish, carrying 4 crews and 8 passengers. Wel actualy it is pretty tiny, as upon arrival at the dock the Merak was the smallest ship of the lot by far! The crew included one naturalist guide name Cesar, the captain Teto, first mate Lenin and the cook Jamie.

We had a good group of people on board which was nice as the boat was too small for any sort of difficulties. However we did not have an auspicious start as the American Pete (on the left of the photo) left his backpack on board the bus and we were all delayed from starting out on the cruise. He apparently saw the basking sea lions at the dock and got so excited with taking photos that he forgot all about his backpack - what a dumb arse! But we soon forgave him and forgot about the incident. :)

Cesar our guide is the best guide I have had so far in this trip. This old man who turns 70 next year, is one exceptional guide. Seriously! Cesar is a joker and can take as much himself as he dishes out. He tells us his favorite position is '69 LOL! This was after we saw this big male bull sea lion gave it to his lover (in the only style they can master - guess). Cesar must have a pretty long love life as he has 5 ex-wives along with 12 kids from past marriages. But he told us when the tax man came they told him he had 6 ex-wives so he is still looking for the last one! hahaha

Cesar is also strong for his age, always being the first on our inflatable, standing up to help with the navigation. As for his guiding style he would just walk off when he wants to, so if you do not want to hear his explanation you don't have to. He has been guiding for 30 years (including 2 as a cook!) so he can tell us anything and everything we wanted to know without a book. I love this old man and will rave about him to other travelers. So it is only a pity that Cesar plans to retire at the end of the year. Salud!

The Galapagos archipelago is actually a group consisting of 13 main Islands. And in our tour we only visited 5 Islands. They are:

Baltra - which everybody visits upon arrival as that is where the airport lives. We visited a beautiful beach near by on our first day, and saw ruins of a pier left by the American GIs station here during WWII.

Santa Cruz - the mainland hub which has the largest human population (20,000 and counting) and home of the famous Charles Darwin Research Station where massive land turtles can be observed.

Santa Fe - A small-ish Island full of cactus trees along with a whole host of lizards including the Land Iguana and Lava Lizard.

Espanola - My favorite Island for it's terrain and animals! It is full of bird species such as the wave Albatross, Hood Mockingbirds, Blue footed Boobies, Swallow-Tailed Gulls and Finches. There are also spectacular blow holes and loads and loads of Marine Iguanas (and we observe them swimming in the ocean!).

Floreana - Another beautiful Island with beautiful beaches where you can observe (and feel!) stingrays swimming at your feet on the beach, see pink flamingos in the lake and leave mail for someone to post at "Post Office Bay". The "Post Office Bay" is name after barrels of mail left by whalers back in the 18th century as a means for ships destined for the USA and Europe to deliver their mail home. Floreana had the best snorkeling around it's offshore Island called the "Devils Crown". It is actually a submerged volcanic cone full of coral and fishes.

On the left this is a Land Iguana, chewing on it's favorite food from the cactus tree. This big lizard was lazing around beforehand but move fast when Cesar cut and drop this cactus at it's feet. I am guessing it hasn't eaten in a while! The photo was taken at Santa Fae Island.

Sea lions abound in every Island we visited.
From the moment we arrived at the dock in Baltra we found these lazy creatures on land. However in water they are a different story. Garret, Dave, Bos and I had the most exhilarating experience underwater at Espanol Island, because the teenagers came underwater to play with us! They would swim right up to us, blow bubble in our face and swim off, one swam so close to me I got to touch it´s rubbery skin! They were so playful that they disturbed a white tip shark whom was basking beneath the rocks!

The Galapagos visit was an incredible experience for me because these animals weren't afraid of human presence. I guess they have no fear for us because they were never hunted by human beings like elsewhere. So we could get very close to these wild creatures. And some of them like the finches and baby sea lions would hop up to investigate or to play with us.

Blow Holes at Espanol Island

The landscape was also very beautiful, from big cliffs with blow holes, dried out windswept terrain, humid and wet forest, perfect sandy beaches to rising volcanic cones all devoid of human habitation. 97% of the Galapagos is protected and this is the largest marine reserve in the world.

I only hope that with the increasing human presence (both locals and tourist) that the Galapagos can maintain it's uniqueness, and that one day my kids will be able to see this landscape and animals in the same way that I saw it.

Cuy

Looks good innit? This is a "Cuy" slow roasting under charcoal fire. It´s skin popping and crackling with a layer of hot oil brushed upon.

I tell you what, the "cuy", or guinea pig is one dish I have been looking forward to tasting, as I have seen it all over Peru, and have heard about it from other traveller´s experience.

Though most of my fellow travellers whom have tried it found it disgusting. But I was willing to give it a go to find out for myself what it taste like.

To be fair, most travellers found it disgusting because of the way the cuy was served. Everything is intact, including the head, it´s little feet with bits of hair stuck to it (as you can see on this photo - how cute!!!!), and all it´s intestine.

It was fascinating to watch the cooking process. I could smell the suckling crackling aroma (which reminded me very much of Chinese style roast pork), and choke on the smoke which fires out when the cook applied more oil.

The cuy was served after 30 minutes of slow roasting. The cook cut mine into half as I could only afford to eat half a cuy. Plus, the whole thing looks too big to consume for lunch! It was served on a plate of roast potatoes and half an egg. The sides were salsa sauce and boiled corn.

And what about the taste? Well the skin was beautiful! It tasted almost like roast pork, but less fatty, thinner and crispier. The meat was interesting. I can´t say I have tasted anything quite like it. It is white meat, taste sort of sweet and doesn´t taste fatty at all. A lady in Huaraz once boast to me that cuy has zero cholesterol so maybe that´s the reason. I must say though there were less meat in my cuy then I expected. I wanted to try it´s little feet but there was hair on it. Yuck! I also tried a little bit of the black stuff inside - either the kidney or the heart, I wasn´t sure, but that was very GROSS! Did manage to mouth it down with a bit of Fanta though!

Now that I have tried cuy I don´t know if I want to experience it again. I mean, it wasn´t disgusting, but the meat really is an aquired taste. I also think seeing those cute guinee pig throughout my trip so far has effected my taste bud. And today, having seen it prepared and served with everything intake has made it slightly harder to eat, like I had to turn the head over before starting to eat.

Maybe they should start looking at packaging cuy fillet? ;)

Hello Ecuador

I have arrived in Ecuador! Cross the border yesterday (Sunday), after a gruelling 3 days bus journey.

I left Huaraz on Friday, caught a night bus to Trujillo, followed by another night bus to Piulla. Then on Sunday morning I caught an 8 hours bus across the border to Ecuador and onwards to Loja. And today, I caught another bus north to Cuenca, a pretty little colonial city, recognize by UNESCO for it´s beautiful buildings.

What a journey! I am shagged, and need a good bed to sleep. The reason I travel so rapidly north is due to the fact that I have a flight to catch from Quito on Friday. I do regret not seeing more of Northern Peru though, as there are some pretty chill out places and interesting ruins to see. Oh well...