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Hola! (Thát´s still pretty much the extent of our Spanish!)
We are writing this from the most beautiful city of Quito, capital of Ecuador. We are SO glad we decided to head up here as this city, in a valley surrounded by Andean mountains and volcanoes is quite stunning. We decided to come here to try for our one luxury event of the trip, that being the Galapagos Island cruise and we we leave for that on 29th May. Its an eight day cruise and although we aren´t on a top class boat, we´re still very pleased with the deal we have booked and we got in just before the high season starts, which was the reason for our rush to get to Quito.
Before flying to the Islands, we leave tomorrow on an overnight bus which will take us near the Columbian border. Here we head off on a five day Amazon Jungle trip. We decided to do the trip here, rather than Bolivia (as many people do), on the recommendation of an American guy we met, who worked for the same company we have booked with as an interpreter. He felt they were more environmentally friendly towards the animals, although the trip sounds similar to the Bolivian one.....eg. piranna fishing, anaconda spotting, monkeys, dolphins, caimans etc. We are so looking forward to both trips and feel our South American experience really starts here. Although five countries in two weeks so far is fairly frantic, it has been a great experience.
Since we last wrote in Mendoza, Argentina, a quick run down of our trip has been-
# Amazing bus trip over the Andes into Chile where we had the front seat and had brilliant views of the snow capped mountains, lakes, tunnels and hair pin bends. The Chilean border crossing was easily the strictest either of us has experienced, situated in a Bond like 007 location in the mountains. You should have seen the guards face when he suspiciously sniffed our jar of vegemite (fortunately, we were able to keep it!).
# Had a day in Valparaiso, Chile. A frantic Pacific Port town built on a steep hillside, great setting.
# Headed into Santiago from here, expecting to spend a few days but after going to the bus station, we discovered there were only two buses a week up North to Lima, and if we didn´t leave the following day - we´d be stuck there for around five days. So booked our tickets for the next morning and headed on a frantic two hour tour of Santiago. Checked out the Presidential Palace, museum with ancient mummies (older than Eqyptian) and the strangest coffee shops in the central business district....imagine woman in stacks of makeup, mini skirts, very busty tops, high heels...serving up latte´s!!
# Marathon Bus trip No. 1! This was a 53 hour epic, taking us through the dryest desert in the world in Northern Chile with massive sand mountains all around. Our first stop was after 22 hours (two rules on the bus are no solid waste and you can´t take off your shoes!!). Usual delay at the border with Peru was massively increased by the comical amount of luggage on our bus. It appeared like some of our fellow passengers (we were the only travellers and English speakers on board!) were moving house from Chile to Peru! They had soooo much luggage and this all had to be put through customs! No one helped take it off the bus or pack it back on. Southern Peru was similar to the Great Ocean Rd with again, massive sand mountains. Our last twenty hours in Peru, we were not fed (as we had been in Chile) and as we didn´t have the currency (and didn´t stop at an ATM), we survived on choc chip buscuits and Pringles!!
# Lima not nearly as dangerous as we were led to believe, althought the shanty towns on the outskirts of the city was the worst poverty we have seen. Spent the day checking out the main sights.....a very Monty Python morning with the Spanish Inquisition Museum and the most comical changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace. The choreographed marching display was more fitting to a musical with some outrageous moves almost moon walking, throwing gun, shouting out and the band holding music whilst playing at the same time!
# Bus Trip No. 2. This was a mere 38 hours, however, the condition of the bus was far worse. We´d booked front seats intending to look out at the view, but all we saw were the curtains behind the drivers seat! Fortunately the bus wasn´t very full so we could move around and we met an American and Canadian guy who both spoke a bit of Spanish and were good value on the trip. Having arrived into Quito at 4am in the morning (with our last 68 km taking three hours!), we´ve all bunked in together for the past few days for US$6 a night each...not bad!
# Having organised our trips, we´ve spent today wandering around the beautiful Old Town of Quito. Have been doing this quite slowly, particularly when climbing the many stairs around due to the altitude. It certainly has us a little out of breath at times. Have done a few monastries and the highlight being a personal tour of the Presidential Palace which we just happened upon. Climbing up the bell tower of the cathedral would certainly have had the insurance agents frowning as the lack of precautions at times in the steep staircases were comical!
That´s about it from us. Definitely looking forward to our next couple of weeks here with our upcoming trips. With the money we saved on our Galapagos trip, we have booked a flight from Quito back to Lima (to avoid the 38 hour trip back) as the next chapter of our trip will be in Southern Peru and we wished to avoid wasting days.
Thanks to all have been emailing as we love to hear your news. Keep in touch.
Love Nat and Mal
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