Condors in flight.

Our latest stops on the tour have been Chivay & Racqui.  Chivay is near Colca Canyon, it's a small town with some local markets and hot springs as well as the amazing Condors flying about the canyon.

We got up early and spent an hour bumping around on the truck to get to the lookout where the Condors usually are.  We saw a heap of them flying around and landing quite close to us which was pretty cool.  The canyon is a sight in itself; huge towering mountains and terraced valleys as far as the eye can see.  After the canyon we went to some nearby hot springs.  These were much nicer than in Banos; hot hot water and few people; but still in a big complex of pools.

Condors at Colca Canyon

After Chivay we had a leisurely 12hr bus trip to Racqui where we went off in little groups to stay with the locals.  We were taken in, fed & clothed and shown a traditional ceremony giving thanks to Pachamama who is like the earth goddess.  It was great fun.  We got to wear big frumpy skirts, bright jackets, this crazy hat that didn't want to stay on my head and a blanket on my back to put my baby in.  We then danced with the locals in a big circle.  There were some real cute kids running about and Anne, one of my roomies on the tour, had this mad dancer swinging her about so much her snazzy new outfit was nearly falling off. 

Dressed to impress in the local Peruvian outfits.

Now we are in Cusco and preparing ourselves for the big trek up to Macchu Picchu.  We did some training to get used to the altitude which involved ripping it up on the dance floor in a Cusco club called Mama Africa til 6 in the morning, followed by a day of tramping about the town looking for hiking poles and new socks, then carbo loading in the evening at a local restaurant.  We are well prepared - bring it on!

Flapping about

The winner of my little comp was 'Anonymous' for 'These ain't hotsprings'.  I thought anonymous was maybe Krichelle, but she usually signs in and spells devil with a 'b', so my second guess is Nic.  Tell me if I'm wrong.

So I've now arrived in Peru and after a couple of days in Lima have begun the Lima-Cuzco Intrepid tour which has been great so far.  We've got a bit of a mixed bunch, but fun people, our 11hr day on the truck went pretty quickly.  Our designated event manager, Laurence & Sharon his 2IC made us a quiz, I know know at least three different versions of 'shithead' and on our lunch stop we made friends with some local school kids and talked them into helping us flap our dishes dry - anyone who's done an overland trip before knows about the flapping.

Huacachina was our first stop.  It was ace.  We arrived at this little oasis out in the Peruvian desert where we climbed aboard the sand buggies and took off into the desert.  The sand dunes are huge and steep.  The buggies go pretty damn quick and between your screams and giggles you're wondering how much can these things take before they roll.  When you stop it's like being somewhere where there is a rollercoaster nearby; you keep hearing these screams in the distance.

When we stop it was not just to admire the sensational view of giant sand dunes in all directions, but for sandboarding down what looked like the hugest ones they could find.  I'm quite happy to admit that I was feeling nervous wees when looking down.  But then you're on your way; it's really fast, with the wind in your hair and the sand in your eyes, mouth, nose, ears, then you hit the bottom and and jut-jut-jut-jutter over the hard sand.  It was fantastic.  The sandboarding award went to Janet though, who came off, got back on and then came down the slope in an absolute avalanche of sand.  She has an awesome purple hand so show for it.

That night we camped in the desert.  A toasty camp fire, great bbq dinner, full moon, loads of stars and just us and our sleeping bags with a few pisco & colas.  Pisco & colas taste like rum & coke, so a few of those down the hatch and night sand boarding seemed like a great idea.  Ok, so the sand dune wasn't quite as big as the ones in the day - we did have to walk up these ones - but it was a pretty cool thing to do anyway.

Huacachina desert at night

Our next big stop was Naza, for the Nazca lines.  Half a dozen of us went in the little 8-seater plane for the fly-over.  I've never been in a little plane before and it was fun, but I was feeling more than a little queasy by the time it was over.  And it was over pretty quick; we saw alot of the Nazca lines, but it was 'quick look left', 'oh it's gone', still amazing to see though.

On the way out of Nazca we stopped at the Chauchilla cemetary.  Our local guide Juan was one of those funny fellows who still loves cracking the same old jokes and thinks he's funny.  He was good value and the tour of the cemetery was pretty cool.  Lots of old tombs from a previous civilisation just sitting open in the desert - mummies, well preserved for a 1000 years, just laying there amongst the rubble.

These ain't hot springs

I thought Banos was Spanish for toilet, so I was like 'hmm doesn't sound like a nice place, why would you call a place Toilet?' (ha, says me who spent a year living in Inaloo).  So it turns out I was a little mistaken and Banos means bathroom not toilet and is named such because of the hot springs in the area.

I didn't spend much time in Banos, went for a wander about the town and visited one of the hot springs.  I'm always disappointed when I go to hot springs.  I'm all excited, then I get there and it's like 'oh, it's a heated pool'.  I don't care where the water's come from, it's still just a heated pool.  I imagine hot springs to be hot water bubbling up amongst rocky pools, or steaming lakes interspersed between mountainous regions.  Not, sitting in a small concrete pool with 100 Ecudorians who can't swim and are kicking water in your face as they dog paddle past in their blow-up swim rings.

Banos 'hot springs'

Around Banos there are a lot of cool things to do; hiking, mountain biking, canyoning, etc.  But I didn't have time for this stuff.  I misjudged how far it was from Quito to Lima so am on a bit of a mission to get there.  Pity, I wanted to do the fun stuff in Banos, check out Rio Bamba and the Devil's Nose train ride, and spend a few days in Cuenca.  Who would have thunk it, six whole months and I keep running out of time :(

Ok, so I was lacking imagation today and have no title for this post.  So comment with your ideas for a title and the winner will receive a free beverage of their choice next time I see them.  Wow, I can't wait to see the ideas rolling in!

Number 2's with a view

I've now gone fron the depths of the Amazon jungle to the high mountain ranges of Ecudor  via a 2 hr canoe ride, 2 hr bus ride, an overnight bus and finally a 2 hr trip in the back of a ute with a half-drunk yankee.  Totally worth it.  The weather has been fine and views of Volcan Cotopaxi amazing.  Especially when you can see it from everywhere in the hostel, ie: from the window when your lounging by the fire, getting out of bed, in the shower, the jacuzzi and the special number 2's toilet.

That's right.  There's a special composting toilet just for number two's and it's high up on the hill and looks out over the mountains.  Pretty cool.

The ride to Cotopaxi.

The view from the dorm window

This hostel (The Secret Garden, Cotopaxi) is definately up there as one of the best hostels in the world.  And it's not even because you can always get decent hot water!  Did I already mention the jacuzzi?  The manager Carolina is a crack up and makes a mean mulled wine.  The meals were also fantastic and I liked the whole 'everyone sits down to dinner together' thing, it was nice.  And then there were the activities, I did the climb to the waterfalls, the Cotopaxi refuge, biked down from Cotopaxi and the hike to the Pasachoa summit.  The altitude was killing me, but ah well - harden up Kelly.  The views from both mountains are just amazing.  I wish I'd had enough time for the Cotopaxi summit.  There was also a horse riding excursion, but horses don't really float my boat so I gave that one a miss. 
So 5 days there and apparently I'm part of the furniture and all the eucayplts and dairy cows make me feel right at home.  I would have been happy to stay another week - I never did make it to the trout farm, and there's a rodeo on on the weekend.  But I have a tour to meet in Lima - so onward and upward!  ... or is is downward as I'm heading south?

Hey Dad, check out the portable dairy.

Girls & Guides

So we did spot the elusive pink dolphins, but they're a little different to your average ocean dwelling dolphins.  They're quite shy and hard to spot in the black waters of the rivers and lagoons here.  They have no dorsal fin either so you can't really spot them until they surface, and they really don't surface much.  So when we did spot them we couldn't get to close because we weren't sure where they'd pop up next.  We paddled around after them for a while.  Claudia & I would have been happy to chase them around all day trying to get just one decent photo, but it wasn't to be :(

The best I could do :( sneaky dolphins.

The guides on these tours in Ecudor have been really good, except when they think it's a good idea to carry a tarantula around your small canoe.  I'd prefer a caiman any day and was pretty close to jumping in when the guide on the other canoe started dropping this huge-arse spider all over everyone.  They're usually local to the area, really well informed and seem to love their jobs.  However, they seem to have some pretty crazy schedules; things like 22 days on, 5 days off or 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off; sounds just crazy to me.

Back in Lago Agrio, after the jungle tour and waiting for the night bus, Dagma (a friend from the tour) & I were accosted by some young Spanish girls in need of some poor sucker for their english homework.  Dagma kindly offered my services.  So the three girls wanted to interview me, asking questions about where I'm from and what I've been doing in Lago Agrio in english.  And they wanted to video it - I told them not a good idea as I hadn't done my hair (for at least a week) - but they were not to be dissuaded.  So now there are these poor Ecudorian students watching a video of me and thinking they're learning English when they're really just getting some bad Australian :(

The shamen and the monkey

Today we did a village tour.  A local woman named Olga took us through the process of bread making.  First we went out to their yard and dug up what looks like a big sweet potato.  Then it was grated into a big trough.  Followed by being put onto a big weaved mat which has a loop at the top to hang it and a loop at the bottom to put a stick through so you can twist the mat up and squeeze all the water out.  Then put through a seive to make it flour-like.  The squeezed potato is put onto a big hotplate, and Olga used the bottom of a round bowl to compress the flour.  Then she waited a minute and flipped the whole lot.  Another minute and it was ready!  A hot flatbread made with nothing but a bit potato.  And it tasted good, we had jam and tuna and ate a whole lot of it. (Note; the jam and tuna were eaten seperately except for one crazy bastard)

Potato bread

While watching the bread making the village monkey came to play.  He was a baby woolley monkey and when you touched him he felt just like a lamb.  He was pretty funny, jumping all over everyones heads, stealing peoples bread and trying to eat one girls earring. 

Woolley monkey

After baking and playing with the monkey we went to visit the shamen.  It was one moment where I wished I could understand Spanish.  He was telling the story of how he became a shamen and was happened the first time he drank the hallucinagenic drink they drink.  I could understand bits and pieces, but he was having such a good time telling the story and had such a great smile - you know when you read about someones eyes twinkling, he really had that.  After talking to us he did some cleansing rituals on volunteers.  For Anna he waved some leaves around her and hummed away while he did.  For a couple of the guys he slapped them for five minutes with stinging nettles which made all their backs blister up, gee it was funny and the old shamen was having a great time.

Oh stinging nettles are fun.

Spiders, piranhas and bees, oh my!

Our first forest walk was good fun.  We stomped around the jungle in our gumboots and Jairo showed us lots of things we could eat, use as medicine and smoke.  Then we had to walk through a swamp where the mud was thick and the water higher than our gumboots in places.  I hate to admit it, but I was acting like a bit of a girl about falling in, but in my defense you all know I'm all up for getting a little wet and dirty. I was just concerned about my shocking sense of balance and my camera.

So just as we were getting towards the end of our trek something flew into my ear!  I absolutely flipped out and began turning in circles like a dog chasing it's tail trying to get it out.  I didn't realise I was in a swarm of small bees and they all started getting stuck in my hair!  So I was trying to shake them out of my hair when something started biting my legs.  I was now standing in a bloody ants nest!  So there I was standing in the forest with ants in my pants and slapping at my legs while two guys picked bees from my hair like a couple of monkeys picking for lice. 

At least the afternoon was a little more successful. We went piranha fishing and I caught the biggest one!  He had parasites though so we couldn't eat him and had to throw him back.  Piranha fishing was fun.  We had 1 1/2 metre long poles with about a metre and half of line attached.  We put some meat on the hooks and threw the line in, then we slapped at the water with our rods to make noise to attract the fish.  Within seconds we were getting bites, however it took a little longer before we actually got one in the boat.  Once we did Jairo showed us how you can use a piranha like a pair of hedge clippers which was pretty cool.

< doh, awesome piranha video should be here >

After the fishing we did a night hike to look for tarantulas and bugs.  There were some cool orb weavers out making webs, we threw a bug to one and watched him kill and wrap it up.  Jairo found a big skinny legged spider the size of your hand and one of the girls let him put it on her head!  It ran all over her face and she just stood there calmly while I was trying not to freak out!  We also a cicada the length of your hand and we found way too many huge tarantulas which the sight of made me want to vomit.

Wooley monkeys, stinky turkeys

This week I am out in the wilds of the Amazon jungle.  It was an adventure getting here; overnight bus from Quito, then another 2 hour bus, followed by a 2 hour canoe ride in the rain.  The accommodation is small huts on the river, built on stilts and connected by small wooden platforms.  There is no power, so it's dinner by candlelight, but the showers are warm - for a minute at least :(  It reminds me of when Stilly and I went to Kinabatangan River in Borneo.  Except here we get to go Piranha fishing!

The first day was pretty good.  We saw caiman crocodiles, wooley monkeys, stinky turkeys and sloths in the wild.  The sloths are much more fun in the sanctuary; in the wild they are just a big ball of hair in a tree.  The stinky turkey is a funny looking bird with a mo-hawk. The reason it's called stinky is because when you cut them open they reek because of some bacteria in one of their stomachs. That's right.  One of their stomachs.  Like cows and sloths, stinky turkeys have four stomachs.

We also went to a large lagoon where our guide Jairo informed us that the caimans, electric eels, piranhas and all other nasties like to hang out by the riverbanks so it was perfectly safe to swim.  I'm not exactly sure this is 100% true, but the water was warm so I jumped in anyway.

After our swim we went looking for caimans.  We found one pretty quick and boy was he a big one!  I, for some reason, thought caimans only grew to a metre or so, this guy was at least two metres and when the guide fed him and I got to see his big crocodile smile, he looked even bigger.  Still, it hasn't been enough to put our group off swimming.

I like the nightime here.  You can hear the forest animals.  The beds are clean and comfortable, the nights are cool enough that you can cuddle up in a blanket.  This may be a false sense of security but, with the mosquito net down and the ambience created by a single candle, I feel like I'm in a cocoon, all cosy and safe from all those nasty nighttime bugs, cockroaches and arachnids.

Caiman crocodile

Wooley monkey

Stinky turkey

Sexy new blog & market madness

Howdy everyone, what do you think of the new look & feel for my blog?

Today I am back in Quito, leaving this evening for an overnight bus to Lago Agrio where I begin a 5 day tour of the Amazon.  Here we stay in the jungle in huts, look for anacondas, caimans and pink dolphins, take canoe rides and fish for piranhas.

Yesterday I did a day tour out to Otavalo to check out the largest markets in South America.  They were pretty big and there was some fantastic stuff there.  I could easily have gone nuts if I didn't have to lug everything around for another 3 months.  However, there wasn't quite as much variety as I was expecting, as with markets in most places there were alot of stalls with the same stuff.  You were also expected to haggle for things, but that was fun as the people running the stalls were all lovely, although admittedly I didn't really haggle to hard everything was already pretty cheap.  The other thing was I had heard about the animal markets there were supposed to be good to have a look around, but those markets are actually in a different place and our tour didn't go there which was a bit disappointing, it would have been great for a little photo taking.

The other place we did go to was a little town that specialises in leather goods.  There was this long streets just chockers with stores selling cheap leather bags, jackets, gloves, etc.  So yes, the amazingly soft and fantastically red leather jacket was a necessary purchase.

The markets themselves were also a great place for photos taking.  When we arrived our guide told us 'make sure you use your zoom to take photos because sometimes people don't like their photo being taken or will ask you for a dollar'.  But I found the people to be nice and not mind.  I asked some people if I could take photos of their stalls and they didn't care or ask for money.  But the photos look great, there are all the people in their traditional dress and the stalls are just bursting with colours.

Penguins amongst the mangroves.

Funny.  There are a lot of amazing things to see in the Galapagos, but one thing that really seemed bizarre to me was watching penguins swimming around amongst the mangroves on one of the islands.  Penguinis and mangroves doesn't seem quite right.

The Galapagos has a fantastic history as well.  The Galapagos have been a haven for pirates, the source of Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species', home to numerous of unique animals, a US army base in WWII, an Ecudorian prison up until the 60's (or 80's? can't remember) and the location for a bizarre real-life murder mystery surrounding a wealthy German and her two lovers.

Today was my last day so I decided to go diving again.  To tell the truth the morning was a little bit of a let down compared to my other dives.  There were only two others on the dive and they were both inexperienced and a but useless; taking ages to get down, kicking silt up everywhere and banging into things, swimming on top of you, etc.  I guess everyone has to start somewhere, but it's still frustrating.  However, we did get to see a lot of sea lions and swim about with them and swim through a small cave which was pretty cool.  Now, fingers crossed my blocked ear clears up before I have to fly out tomorrow.

Food glorious food

Food-wise some of the local soups here have been my favourite things.  As well as the posole which I think I've mentioned previously,  the Mexican 'Sopa Azteca' is awesome and the Ecudorian 'Locro de Papas' I've just ordered now.  Yummo!  The avocados here are amazing and have some much flavour, maybe that's why these soups are so goo.  Anyway,  I've had a google and found a couple of recipes for these soups and I'll definately be trying these out when I get home.



Locro de Papas



Sopa Azteca

This delicious soup has fried tortillas in a tomato broth.

Ingredients:

6 Tomatoes

2 Garlic cloves

1/4 Onion

8 Cups stock

2 Tbsp oil

2 Avocado leaves

2 Pasilla chiles

12 Day-old corn tortillas

1/2 Cup oil for frying

1 Avocado

1 Cup Cheese (preferably Oaxacan cheese)

Preparation:

1. Cut the tortillas into strips and fry in high heat until the tortillas are golden brown. Remove the tortilla strips from the oil with a slotted spoon. Place on paper towels.
2. Roast the tomatoes until the skin blackens, peel off skin.
3. Roast the garlic, onion, chiles and avocado leaves in a pan for about 3 minutes. Puree these ingredients with the tomatoes and half a cup of water in the blender. Strain.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a pan and add pureed mixture. Boil until the puree thickens and turns dark red (about 5 minutes).
5. Add the stock and salt to taste. Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally.
6. To serve place tortilla strips in each bowl and pour the broth on top. Garnish with cubed avocado and cheese.

Locro de Papas

Locro de papa is a classic Ecuadorian potato and cheese soup.

Ingredients:

10 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped into small and large pieces

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 white onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp achiote powder

7 cups of water

1 cup of milk or more

1 cup grated or crumbled cheese (mozzarella or monterey jack)

1 bunch of cilantro, leaves only, minced

Salt to taste

1 cup of feta cheese

Chopped scallions

Avocados, sliced or diced

Aji or hot sauce

Preparation:

1. Prepare a refrito or base for the soup by heating the canola oil over medium heat in a large soup pot; add the diced onions, minced garlic cloves, cumin, and achiote powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the potatoes to the pot and mix until they are coated with the refrito. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, stirring a every couple of minutes.
3. Add the water and bring to boil, cook until the potatoes are very tender. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the pot, don’t mash all of them, the consistency of the soup should be creamy with small tender chunks of potatoes.
4. Turn the heat down to low, stir in the milk and let cook for about 5 more minutes. You can add more milk if the soup is too thick.
5. Add salt to taste
6. Add the grated cheese and cilantro, mix well, and remove from the heat.
7. Serve warm with the avocados, scallions, feta cheese and aji or hot sauce.

Pirate post office

Another place we went to on the cruise was  Post Office Bay.  It's one of those postcard perfect beaches, but the interesting thing about it is just off the beach is an old barrel which is a relic from back in the days when the Galapagos islands were used as a port for whalers and other sea faring folk, as well as a refuge for pirates.

The barrel was used as a post box.  People would leave messages in the barrel and other people coming through would go through the box and take anything that they could deliver.  Now the tradition lives on through numerous travellers who come through the Galapagos.  We wrote our postcards and put them in the barrel.  Then looked through the 100's of other letters and postcards for ones that were close to home.  Written on the cards were lots of promises of homemade treats or meal for a message hand delivered. 

I could only find three cards that were from Australians, and only one of these was in Victoria.  I think Beechworth is up north somewhere; but I figure it can't be anymore than a weekend roadtrip and I love the thought of turning up on someones doorstep, in this case Bev & Mick from Beechworth, and delivering a postcard written in the Galapagos six months ago.  Someone suggested they could take a postcard from their country and post it when they get home; but that just didn't seem in the spirit of things to me.

Putting my postcards in the barrel.

Shake it baby.

One of the places we stopped on the cruise was Cerro Dragun which means dragon hill - named after the land iguanas which live there.  They are pretty damn big for a lizard, but not quite dragon sized.  They grow to about a metre long (tail included).  On our walk around the island we saw about a dozen big males, a couple of the females disappearing into the bush (they're a bit shy) and one baby.  The babies are blue and for some reason he was just sitting in the top of a bush waiting for me to spot him. 

Towards the end we came across two large males having a face-off in the middle of the track.  It was amazing.  They were nose to nose starring at each other and shaking their heads.  Apparently, best head shaker is the winner and the other has to get off his turf.  And they don't shake side to side it's more of a head fit -  up-up-up up-up-up down up-up-up up-up-up down - sorry not enough internet to upload the video, but you get the idea.

Shakey shakey

Just cruisin'

The weeklong cruise seemed to go awfully quick, but we did get to see and do a lot.  We visited various islands, went snorkelling most days and got up close and personal with giant tortoises, sea lions, marine iguanas, land iguanas, turtles, penguins, lava lizards and blue-footed boobies.

On one of our first snorkels I was about to dive down to take a look at something when I heard someone call out 'Shark!'.   I turned and two feet behind me a metre and a half long reef shark was swimming by.  I started swimming as fast as I could.  My little chicken legs pumping and my arms splashing about as fast as they could, but damn, there was no way I could keep up with him and he swam off into the distance.

The turtles were a little easier to keep up with.  They can swim fast when they want to, but they've kind of got this blase, 'yeah whatever' kind of attitude.  You swim up close and they don't care, they don't leave, they don't pay any attention to you either; they just keep on being a turtle and just doing what turtles do.

Penguins are like the reef sharks, you don't have a hope in hell of keeping up with one.  Sea lions would be the same except they are curious creatures and like to play.  So they'll come up and check you out.
Penguins mini torpedoes and sea lions a little curious.

Admittedly we didn't see a lot of reef sharks while snorkelling and we would have loved to see more penguins and sea lions, but in all the snorkelling was pretty good.  The mix of warm and cool currents made it a bit of a mystery everyday as to what the water would be like.  Would it be warm or cool?  What would the visibility be like?  How tough would the current be?

Out of the water the number of tortoises, marine iguanas, land iguanas, birds of all sorts and sea lions we saw was fantastic.  I was averaging about 300-500 photos a day.  So you're probably lucky that it takes too long to upload them and I can't put lots up!

Land iguana

Blue-footed boobie

Our boat, the 'Angelito'

Hammerhead hijinx

Finally the big guniea pig thing...

Agouti - the big guinea pig thing.

I arrived on the the Galapagos Islands Monday and it's been great.  It's either the start or end of the wet season as it's still hot, but it seems to rain most evenings.  But it's ok in the day so that's good.

In my first day or so I met a small but good crew of people to hang out with.  A few people from the US, Israel & Switzerland.  We checked out some beaches, have been diving, seen the giant tortoises, marine iguanas and lava tubes.  All this and I've only seen part of 1 island!

The first night, myself and Richard - a New Yorker I met getting off the plane, went hunting for a cheap hotel and managed to talk a lady down from $45 to $30 a night each for rooms.  We thought we had done well until we met a girl, Sasha, who was staying the same place as us and paying $15 a night.  Ripped!  The next day we asked the guys we were diving with how much they were paying and they were paying $15 and $12 a night!  Obviously we must look like suckers.  That was it, we got off the boat and followed our new friend, Gilard (can you believe I kept forgetting his name), an Isreali dude, to his hotel.  We had a look at the rooms and the standard was the same as our $30 a night rooms, so we switched hotels, never to return, except when I've gone back to the restaurant next door so I can steal their wi-fi ;)

The diving, although somewhat expensive has been amazing.  Turtles, reef sharks, muebla rays, blue-spotted eagle rays, sea lions and hammerheads as well as all the usual small reef fish.

So our second dive on Wednesday was not only one of the best dives I've ever done, but my 50th dive ever!  Towards the end of the dive we saw this big school of hammerheads, then as we were watching them a school of muebla rays swam past, then a huge turtle came swimming through the rays right past us. 

There was so much going on I didn't know where to look.  I probably should have been looking at my air gauge :(  When I finished the dive it was on 0 and my dive buddy, Richard, he had to share the guides air for the last couple of minutes.

We went through air quick in that dive because we went quite deep and there were a lot of strong currents which we had to swim against.  At the end our guide was a bit far away so he banged on his tank to get our attention and for us to follow and then took off.  He was almost out of sight when Richard and I went to go after him, then I realised that the other girl was still watching the sharks and going the opposite direction.  I wasn't sure whether to go after her or get richards attention first, but turned around and saw her and I was low on air so left him to chase her.  So I was left danglling in the middle, trying to wait where they could see me and I could see where the guide was disappearing to.

So we all got back together in a group and did our 3 minute safety stop.  But Richards dive computer said we had to do extra time because we'd gone too deep.  So the guide took the other 2 to the surface then came back to Richard and I who were just hovering in the water waiting to see how long his air would last.  The guide came back just as Richards air ran out, so they shared and I got to keep my diminishing resources to myself.  Longest 9 minutes ever.  Perhaps a little excessive for a safety stop, but better safe than sorry. So yeah, exciting 50th dive.

Turtle

School of blue-spotted eagle rays

School of hammerheads

A quaint town called Quito.

Oh yeah, found out the big guinea pig thing is called an Agouti.  Poo, tried to upload a pic for you, but the internet is too slow.

So after Monteverde I spent a couple of days looking around Quito and thought it was a cool little city.
Except for the repeated warnings from the hotel guy about catching taxi's everywhere after dark.
So during the day I wandered about, but my evenings were pretty quiet as I was staying in a hotel, not a hostel so didn't really meet anyone.  Although a room to myself was nice for a change - and $7 a night, who can argue with that.

One day I went on the Teleferiqo which is a big ski-lift thing that goes to the top of a mountain called Cruz Loma which overlooks Quito.  Amazing views and from the top of the Teleferiqo you can hike to the peak of Cruz Loma.  Hiking to the peak had been my original intention, but I should have given myself a couple of days in Quito first to get used to the altitude.  The top of the Teleferiqo is 4100m and when I got to the top and had a bit of a walk around I found myself getting a splitting headache and out of breath all the time.

So no hike to the peak for me.  Instead I had a walk round for a couple of hours then went back down into the city and went to check out the 'Jardin de botanico'.

The Quito markets are also amazing.  A lot of fantastic knitted ponchos and jumpers, all made with soft snuggly wool, not itchy wool and seriously cheap.  I thought I would have my bucks until I got out of Quito to Otavalo which is a couple of hours away and apparently has the coolest markets.  As well as hand craft there are food and animal markets and all the locals dress in traditional dress.  It sounded good for a look, but was not to be as when I got out to the bus terminal there were no buses.

So instead I went to the National Museum and had a wander about the Old Town of Quito.  The Museum had a great history of the area and the development of the various cultures and how they made things ie. gold, silver, copper, ceramics.

Really there is a lot to do in Ecudor and I would have liked to go to the Amazon, Otavalo, Cotopaxii, Banos, etc.  But I was just getting a little impatient about the Galapagos as it's somewhere I've ALWAYS wanted to go. I will fly back to Ecudor to go overland to Lima so should be able to check out a bit more of the country then.

I ain't no Jane.

Monteverde is a beautiful place.  High up amongst the clouds, serene forests and an abundance of wacky birds and animals, it's the kind of place where 2 weeks isn't long enough, let alone 2 days.  But 2 days was all I had.

The first day I got up early (still on sloth time I guess) and watched the day break over the mountains from the kitchen of the hostel where I was having a lazy breakfast.  I followed this up with a wander about town and in the afternoon I did a canopy zipline tour. 

It was pretty fun.  I don't think I've ever done big ziplines like that before.  Some of them were pretty quick and some went out over the valley which was pretty high and the wind had you rocking all around too.  The last thing on the tour was a tarzan swing.  I don't think I actually knew what it was.  I just though big swing, cool.  I was wrong.  Fuck-off sized swing is more like it.  It was like 40m!  But there was another girl on the tour who was all gung-ho and her boyfriend wouldn't do it with her, so she was like are you going?  And I was all 'yeah, I'm tough.'  And I was until I got to the edge.  And at the edge I was pretty nervous.  Then I jumped.  Then when it was just that little bit too late I was like 'oh shit I don't want to do this!'  But it was too late.  And it was awesome.  Except for that bit where I nearly crapped myself.  After that I was like 'oh my god' but it was fun.  Although I did have the shakes up when I got to the ground, the other girl was all 'Wow you didn't even scream.  I screamed the jungle down' and was like 'I think maybe I was too scared to scream.'

The second day I got up early for the 6.30 tour at the Santa Elena Nature Reserve which is a beautiful bit of cloud forest.  The tour went for about 3 hours and the guide showed us lots of plants, bugs and birds, including a Quetzal - a bright blue and red bird, which apparently is pretty rare.  After the tour I did one of the hiking tracks.  I heard a hummingbird and went to take a photo only to find out it was not a hummingbird, but a big beetle the size of a humming bird.  Later down the track I heard the big beetle and turned around to find it was actually a hummingbird.  I also almost stood on two snakes.  Stupid things what are they doing in the middle of the path anyway?  It's a walking track - they don't even have legs.

The next day I had the morning to explore before heading back to San Jose.  I went to the Sanctuario Ecologica and did a couple of the tracks there.  I was pretty excited when I saw one of the big guinea pig things.  I tried to get some photos but he was hiding in amongst the trees.  However, later I came out into a clearing and there were about half a dozen of them all wandering about and chasing eachother.  I still gotta find out what those things were called.

WTF? Week 9 already?

I've now left the sanctuary and sloth-filled days and am heading off to the other side of Costa Rica to Monteverde for a few days.  Monteverde is cloud forests, canopy tours, lots of wildlife and supposed to be a beautiful place, so can't wait.

My last day at the sloth sanctuary was good.  I did get to play with Roly-bear, and he tried as usual to bite me but succeeded in only scratching the hell out of my boobs.  He's so cute though so he's forgiven.

I'm also going to miss the little old ice-cream lady.  Today I had 2 ice-creams after lunch because I know I'm not going to get any more.  The little old ice-cream lady is tiny and about 100.  She lives in a house as old and as tiny as her and it is surrounded by lots of flowers and at footpath entrance is a little blue sign that says 'Se vende helados c200'.  You go in and ask her for her homemade ice-cream which comes in 3 flavours - coconut, peanut or this strawberry condensed milk thing.  They cost the equivalent of 40c and ice-cream is in little plastic bags that kinda smell a bit fishy from being in the freezer, but that doesn't matter, you just bite off the corner and get into it.  It's so good, we've been dropping in on her pretty much daily, so the sloth volunteers must be a fantastic source of income for her.

After work we went into Cahuita for a couple of beverages at the Reggae bar which was fun, and then were home about 8pm.  Another big night out partying for the volunteers.

It's a bit sad leaving the sanctuary as I would have liked to have spent another couple of weeks there.

But this week Beth arrived who has recently come from Ecudor and the Galapagos Islands.  She gave me heaps of info and tips and told me how fantastic it is, so now I'm getting pretty excited about that.  I fly out Thursday to Quito, Ecudor and have about six weeks to see Ecudor, the Galapagos and then get to Lima.

Random slothy facts

- Sloths have four stomachs, but they don't regurgatate like cows, it just goes straight through
- It takes about 25 days for sloth food to digest
- Sloths supposedly poo/wee just once a week and always go down to the ground to do it  - except for two in my section who decided to poo & wee 3 times this week.  And do it in their container for me to clean up.
- A sloths sense of smell is their best sense.
- Surprisingly, sloths aren't very smelly at all.  It's a part of their camoflage, they
take on the scent of their environment. 
- The sloths at the sanctuary do not have fungusy-stuff growing on them as they do in the wild.  This is something they pick up from their environment. Another of their devious ways to blend in with the environment.

Yay. Play date with Roly-bear.

Today is my last day here and I'm just waiting down on the dock for baby time.  There is a caiman crocodile laying in the water just below the deck.  But the waters a bit deep so it's hard to get a pic.  Today at baby time, as it's my last day, I'm going to play with my favourite Rolo, who I like to call Roly-bear.  He's so cute, and a little fiesty.

Baby-time

Roly-bear playing on the jungle gym

I've been here for two weeks but I guess I haven't told you a lot about sloths themselves.  There are two types, three-toed and two-toed.  However, both have three toes on their back legs, it's just hte front that changes.  The two types are quite distinguishable.  The three-toed are smaller and look like ewoks, they are also very friendly and like to crawl all over you when you get in their cage.  The two-toed are larger and look more like little pig-nose bears. 

3-toed sloth

2-toed sloth

Sloths are not at all related to bears though.  They are more closely related to armadillos or something like that.  They live to about 20-30 years.  The two-toed eat leaves and fruits, the three-toed only eat leaves.  Big leaves covered with bitey ants.

If you want some more reading material and little more sloth fact you can check out the sanctuaries web site http://www.slothrescue.org/ or the blog of Becky who is a researcher here at the sanctuary http://beckycliffe.blogspot.com/

If you have any more slothy questions ask away!

:( sad face, my sloth days are numbered.

Time here has gone so fast.  My two weeks are almost up.  This is such a great place for taking photos.  As well as the fact you can never take enough pictures of sloths because they are so cute the sanctuary is just abundant with photo opportunities.  The flowers, trees and the lagoon.  The birds, crabs, lizards, bugs, iguanas, nests of baby humming birds and howler monkeys.  The place is just fantastic.

Sloths, like a lot of animals, have their own personality.  Some are love-junkies and always looking to climb all over you.  Some love a bit of attention and being hand-fed.  Some come running (or the sloth-climbing version) when they see food.  Some just give you a dirty look and pull the towel up over their head.  So pretty quickly you get your favourites.

I like Jasper and Tuffy.  Jasper is a hungry boy who is always hanging off the door before you even get there with his food.  Tuffy is in the last cage in the row and just looks at you with big sad eyes because he's had to wait til last again.  Sometimes I take him his first and he just looks at you all confused like 'what the hell?' 

Piphany and Zoe are cute, they're really light, almost white in colour and all smiley.  And the little brady's (the 3-toed sloths) are cute.  They come and try and crawl all over you as soon as you open the door of the cage.

Of the baby's I love Poco and Rolo.  Poco looks like a little fluffy possum.  Roly-bear looks like a tiny bear and is so feisty.  He loves running around on the jungle gym and eating dirt.  He also doesn't like sharing so will bite anyone who gets put on the jungle gym with him.  The first time I had him at baby time he got shitty because I took him off the jungle gym, so he bit me on the arm.  It was pretty funny. He hasn't bit me again yet, but not through lack of trying!

I've just got back from being taken to the incubator room.  Those babies are so so tiny.  Like the size of your hand.  Baby sloths are born fully formed with hair, claws everything.  Just damn tiny.