Galapagos

The Galapagos Islands. (edit: backed up photos link below)

Well what can I say, definitely one of the highlights of the trip so date. I think this place makes you think differently about the world.

these extraordinary island feels like you've stumbled upon another planet. Its literally full to the brim with plants and animals, some endemic to the islands, and found nowhere else on earth. Amazing stuff. (yes photos will follow.)

Things like Blue-footed boobies (birds), sea lions, gecko's and prehistoric land iguana's, and they all act so friendly and relaxed, as if humans are nothing more than photo crazy onlookers.

getting on these islands was prity sore on the pocket mind you. But we didn't go for the 'cruise package' option, and decided to do it our own costumed way. Which i think worked out great, and not near as expensive as some people paid. (1400 pounds? Ouch!) we paid a fraction of that! So it was good choice for us budgeting folk.

we landed on the main island; Isla Santa Cruz. And went to see the Bahia Turtuga (Turtle Bay). Here we seen loads of iguana's, pelicans and flamingo's living freely on this dramatic but people free beach. Then went to see the Charles Darwin research centre, where the current studies are the Galapagos Turtle's their behavior and development. Interesting.

we moved onto the next Galapagos island called Isla Isabella. went on a tour with a few other travelers. First up was a visit to the still currently active volcano of Sierra Negre, we traveled here by horse back, which was a good laugh. We walked through some lava tunnels that were about 15 feet high. These are underground tunnels that lava once flowed through when the volcano erupted. Was cool to see the markings the lava made on its way downhill from years back. very interesting indeed.

lastly we landed on the last of the human inhabited islands called San Cristobal. giant turtles everywhere! went snorkeling after and swam with young seal lions, there very playful.

over all we squeezed in as much as possible in the 6 nights we planned for. And it worked out really well, as we basically done most of what the cruise would have seen with the exception of some smaller non-human inhabited islands.

so from here we're going down further south, and crossing the boarder to Peru, to meet up with people we met in Rio. I smell an Inca trail...

travel cd005 backup -- Galapagos

Catching up in Ecuador

Well i guess i haven't been so good in keeping you folk at home updated on on my where abouts and ongoings for the last wee while, but it can be difficult at times to get time & space to yourself when moving around and hitting the road so much. Have been out of action for last few days as I've been bit sick. Prob got some dodgy food/drink along the way somewhere, but sure thats to be expected at stages on the trip. Anyway the last month or so was prity jam packed, so here's a brief catch up...

After recovering from rio madness we went up to northern Brazil up to Salvador, nice city, but can be quite dangerous in places. Chilled out on a few nice beaches, as we needed a timeout after Carnaval. We then hit an island off the Brazilian coast called Ilha Grange. This was amazing! Very tropical like, lots of cool smaller islands and not many people about. Didnt get the chance to stay there too long unfortunately :-(

we headed down to South America's largest city; Sao Paulo for a very short stop off to catch a flight to the west coast; Ecuador. From my very brief look Sao Paulo was just enormous. Has something like over 15million people in the city. Crime there is a serious issue. Car-jackings and red light robberies are supposedly common, and i heard its even illegal just to slow down at red lights late at night; therefor no traffic, then drivers keep going. Crazy roads in this country too.

Well onto Ecuador after our flight from Brazil..
first impressions, an interesting place indeed, Quito the capital was a v.cool city but quite cold. Its something like over 3k+ meters above sea level, so i felt a little breathless at times with the altitude, and the lack of oxygen in the air.

we went down to Latacunga, just south of Quito, to a v.very remote village called Chugchillen. It had absolutely beautiful landscapes. Stayed in a wood cabin 4500 meters above sea level, basically in the midst of fantastic mountains, rivers and generally stunning scenery. As cool as it was, i still don't think it was as nice as Tores Del Paine national park in Argentina/Chile. That still blows me away. You fall in love with the picturesque views. Just amazing. I'm trying to imagine training in these surroundings back home, instead of running around the concrete city.

Next up in Ecuador was Banos further south. A very tourist orientated place, but great night life. And a good buzz around the place, with lots to do. Banos is positioned at the base of the (currently active) volcano; Tungurahua. It had a major eruption in 2006, and only a few months ago the town was on red alert for another, so we're a little apprehensive going there, but all was well. Though smoke is still coming out of its Crater. Met up with some sound English lads, and went whitewater rafting, canyoning down the sides of waterfalls and jumping into plunge pools from roughly 10 meters high, all great laugh! Really enjoyed Banos. Would definitely go back.

Oky, over and out for now. Next stop Galapagos Islands - an animal and nature heaven. This, I cant wait for!