Last night saw a restless sleep. The gentle rocking punctuated by a bump and the constant thrum of the engine was much the same as sleeping on a plane. We awoke to an orange sunrise against an island of red rock. Rabiba is red because of the iron content of the rock. It is the result of a volcanic explosion where the lava was exposed to oxygen in the seawater and the air, oxidising the iron.We went for a short walk along the cliff and looped back inland to the beach. The main plant was the cactus and the wildlife included lizards, sea lions, penguins, pelicans, frigate birds and finches. For what looks like a barren island there is a surprising amount of wildlife.

On leaving the island we saw dolphins and some large fish jumping out of the water. A pair of frigate birds accompanied the boat. The female was sitting on top of the boat and the male was hovering above and occasionally circling.

After lunch we anchored off the west coast of Isla Santiago, at a place called Puerto Egas. There were ruins of a house and some of the buildings which used to be used by salt miners. We did another inland-beach loop with enough marine iguanas to sink a ship. They are almost the same colour as the volcanic rock on which they bask and I almost trod on one on several occasions. There were also crabs, oyster catchers and sea lions.

Another two ships pulled into the same beach and one of the ships held about 80 passengers. It was a task keeping away from the big group, but we managed and finished the day with what will probably be a hundred pictures of iguanas. There must be at least one good one among them.

The plane stopped off in Guayaquil which I think is the other big city in Ecuador. After landing in Baltra we took a squashed standing room only bus to a small ferry followed by a not quite so crowded bus to Puerto Ayora, the main settlement on Santa Cruz.

We dropped our gear on the boat (via a Zodiac IRB transfer), then back on land for a walk around the Charles Darwin Research Station. Here we saw some of the 13 species of tortoise that inhabit these islands, including “Lonesome George” the last male of a particular species of tortoise, who refuses to do the manly thing with either of the two remaining females. With such a small gene pool the species is probably doomed anyway, but it is both eerie and disturbing to look upon the last example of a living creature.

We returned to the boat for a lovely meal before a briefing on tomorrow’s activities and an early night.

Our cabin is below deck and the sound of the engine is a constant companion. Our twin bunk cabin with private bathroom is about the size of our walk-in wardrobe at home. My bunk is so close to the roof, I am afraid that if I get an erection during the night I will be pinned to my bed.

We “sail” (an unusual term to use for a stink boat) at midnight, so if I do get used to the engine enough to get to sleep, it will probably wake me them. We shall see.

The shiny tiles, the uncomfortable seats, and a PA system that sounds as if it was constructed from poly-pipe – we must be in an airport. Luckily it is only 15 minutes till boarding although I still might have to be woken before we leave. We are now more than half way through our trip and have almost seen the last of the big cities (airports and one night in Quito excluded).
We are flying TAME, which I think is our fifth airline for the trip, having flown Air Tahiti, LAN, Star Peru and Air Peru. It is a four hour journey so hopefully we get fed at least once.

This morning we went to the Telefériqo, which is a cable car to the top of the mountain behind Quito. The top is 4100m so it literally left us breathless. It seems like there were big plans for this place, but there were few people there and many of the areas allocated for shops and food stalls were empty. It did give us a wonderful view of the city in the moments when the cloud cleared. From here we went to “Cuidad Mitad del Mundo” which is a low rent theme park built around the equator (well actually 240 metres south of the equator). There is a tower built on the Equator which has a lift to the top, from where you can see that at least at this point, the Northern Hemisphere is just as crappy as the Southern Hemisphere.

We had a huge lunch at one of the many restaurants here including (strangely enough) a bottle of wine we would not have been able to buy in the city. We had a lot of Spanish practice with the waiter, and at one stage I was explaining the Australian political system which was no mean feat.

A long drive back to the city then saw us exploring the delights of cable TV while resting off the big day.

Wow, we are just south of the Equator, but at 2800m and stuck between two mountain ranges, the weather is not that tropical. Flying into Quito the countryside looks lush and green. The houses are more modern than in Lima, the air is cleaner and the traffic much better. The hotel is in one of the main streets in the new city and only a short walk to a large park that had a handicraft market in it.
On the way to the hotel, our transfer guide Jorge, told us that a referendum was being held on Sunday and for three days before it the sale of alcohol is forbidden. Most bars in the city were closed as there was no pint in opening, however, we were able to buy beers in our hotel and drink them in our room.

Tonight we went to dinner at a place called “Spicy”. The “i” in Spicy is a stylised chilli and I think it was the only chilli in the restaurant. When Sue told the waitress she was allergic to garlic, the reassurance came back that no item on the menu had garlic in it. The meal had been cooked in a way that managed to remove every vestige of flavour from it. I am now in the situation where my stomach says it’s full, but my mouth hasn’t registered anything going past.

Our tour officially starts tomorrow with the activity being “Arrive Quito”. In the evening we should have a meeting with the tour leader. Tomorrow morning we shall try and find what pleasures Quito has to offer.

By the time our transfer to the airport arrives, we will have been in the hotel for only 13 hours. Our 1515 flight eventually left the ground at 1715, stopping at Arequipa on the way. Arequipa sits at the bottom of two massive snow capped mountains in the middle of what seems to be a desert. It is the stop-off point for Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world and the next stop for the rest of the group we left in Puno, although they were going by bus.

We are back at sea level now which would make it easier to breathe were it not for the additional oxygen being matched with additional levels of pollution. It was another interesting ride from the airport, with the driver at one stage requesting Sue to take her bag off her lap and put it out of sight. I had tried to give Lima a second chance, but my first impressions remain. Sorry to all the citizens of Lima.
The room in the hotel is huge and easily 3 times the size of the room we had on our first visit and features a king-size bed. However it is at the front of the hotel, above a busy intersection with only a thin pane of glass between us and the mobile cacophony. Diagonally opposite us is a modern looking office block belonging to a government ministry. Across the street we look down on the unfinished rooftop car park of a bank where a woman is doing her washing in a plastic tub. It is somewhat of a contrast.

Another day, another airport. Officially our “tour” ends tomorrow, but the sightseeing finished yesterday. Today is designated as travelling to Lima and tomorrow the itinereary is ‘Depart Lima’. Check out of the hotel was 1100 so we slept till 1000, checked out and walked to the main street for breakfast before returning at 1230 for the transfer to the airport.

Puno doesn’t have an airport so we had to go to Juliaca. The best attribute of Juliaca is that it is the ‘Gateway to Puno’, while in turn Puno is the ‘Gateway to Lake Titicaca’. Without the lake, neither is worth visiting. It is still an hour and a quarter before the plane leaves and I have sampled all the airport has to offer. There are two men getting a shoe shine in different parts of the airport. Shining shoes is big business in Peru. As we walked through the Plaza de Amas this morning there were five people getting their shoes shined and a sixth shiner was having a rest. Had I known this before, I might have worn my business shoes just to save me cleaning them myself. It looks as if our 1515 flight is boarding at 1345, but I have run out of things to write.

The plane has not arrived, but I just had a packet of snacks that are perfect for the indecisive. There were chips, doritos, twisties and another crispy snack all in the one packet. It’s lik when you walk around the house the morning after a big party and pour all the left-overs into one bowl. I hope they start selling them in Australia.

We slept in until way after the sun came up (ie 0630) had breakfast and headed down the steep hill to our boat for the 1 hour trip to Taquile Island. Like all of the islands in the lake, Taquile is quite hilly. A long slog up hill followed by a longer traverse landed us in the Paza de Amas where we could view some of the unique handicrafts before lunch featuring the Andean staples of rice and potatoes (because one carbohydrate is never enough).

The boat came around to the other side of the island and there were 550+ steps between us and the boat. All down hill luckily. This was followed by another 3 hour boat trip back to Puno. We had dinner at another nice restaurant before having an early night.

Having seen the ‘local family’ in the jungle and the ‘local family’ on the reed islands, we were wondering what sort of accommodation the ‘local family’ on Amantani would provide. We were told there was no electricity, that although the sheets were clean the blankets were often dusty and a few other things that led us to believe the conditions would be quite primitive. We arrived at the island to be greeted by a dozen women dressed in bright red skirts, white embroidered blouses and black embroidered shawls. We all stood in a circle and one by one were introduced to our ‘mamas’.

Our mama was Ana, and between her English and our Spanish, we managed to communicate quite well. Her house was in the second of two communities on this side of the island and seemed to be about 100 metres above the lake. The steepness of the hill and the lower levels of oxygen made it hard work. We had lunch of potato soup, followed by fried cheese and salad. We also had Coca tea. We ate in the kitchen which was separate to the house. The food was cooked on an open fire or sort of. The fire was burned in an oven shaped clay structure with holes in the top to place cooking pots. The kitchen itself was a mud brick building with a tin roof and a single compact fluorescent light run by solar power. Read the rest of this entry »

We had another early start today leaving the hotel at 0730. Our ’special transport’ to the port was via tri-shaw or tricycle. The driver sits at the back so the passenger bears the brunt of most impacts. Although we had what we would refer to as ‘close-calls’, all drivers on the road seemed to adhere to the ‘inch is as good as a mile’ philosophy and it seems to work. We boarded a motor boat and were subject to a surprise seaworthiness inspection by the navy, before heading off to one of over 30 floating islands on the lake.

The Uros islands are man-made from the floating root clumps of reeds. Partions of these are tied together and eventually become a single mass. Successive layers of reeds are placed on top unti lit is a metre or so above the water. The island is anchored in place with ropes and houses are built on top. We were given a talk about how the islands are made and in the centre of the area was a hatch. Below this was an ‘honesty hole’, a hole that went through the whole island. Here it was demonstrated that the island was 2 metres thick and floating in 25 metres of water.

The locals lead a simple life here, based on fish and reedswith a great portion of their income derived from tourism and selling handicrafts. The one room house we looked in had glass windows and lighting provided by solar power. It is uncertain how long this lifestyle will continue as the younger genereations gain an education and head off to the cities to work.

We then boarded a reed boat and rowed to a nearby island before rejoining the motor boat for the 3 hour journey to the next location. Adull trip and a good time to catch up on the diary.