Shopping Sao Paulo

The shopping trip is amazing, all the finest stores, plus zany party shops with every kind of dress up clothes you could ever want (or not want!). Four employees from the hotel take us under their wings and show us the sights.

The market was just incredible, pigs ears, pig snouts, trotters, fish, spices, cheeses herbs, vegetables and huge bolognia sandwiches!

20 minutes to the shops and 3 hrs back… the traffic was horrendous. Now we know why there are so many helicopters on the top of buildings.

Hey we are in Sao Paulo

Flew back to Quito, Galapagos Life Hostel for the night. Amazingly our bags are still there after our three week trip around. We made a quick stop to the hospital, to get rid of those damned parasites!

Farewell to Ecuador as we are off again. This time a flight to Lima and then onto Sao Paulo. Our arrival at the hotel was horrible… room not ready, surly staff and filthy dining room. So of course we complained… we were used to clean $10 a night hostels and a crappy $130 per night hotel was just not on.

The manager, was not available till the next day… more complaints from us. Suddenly not only is the manager available but so is our room. Apologies all around would we accept free tours during our stay… “sure” we say.

Having looked at the security on our way in from the airport we think an escorted tour might be a good idea!

cuenca

Cuenca

We ventured out a few times and found a city full of music, markets and religious festivals. Not sure what this festival was but the young people in the church wore almost military uniforms. Enormous wealth in the churches which contrasted with the poverty of the streets!

Sleepy buzzy Cuenca

Loved the sleepy side of Cuenca, shopkeepers taking a nap, empty barber's chairs cos its siesta time! The city was still full of music, markets and cooking!

Cuenca

Cuenca was full of city life... musicians, markets, panamas and barbers shops... unfortunately for us also parasites... started to feel ill! Leaving the room was a bit of a gamble!!! Ho! Hum!

On the road to Cuenca

Our 4hr journey to Cuenca is the usual fascinating snapshot of life. Our journey is much enhanced by the "door to door" salesmen and women who jump on the bus and give their speil .... will try to update movie.

Devils nose

We had been tempted to break our six hour journey by the temptation to ride the Nariz del Diablo train (The devil's Nose). An opportunity to do the ridiculous - ride on top of a train - guess too many have toppled off as the service has been cancelled.

Instead we stayed at a great little $10 night hostel, had a great BBQ dinner toute seule in a lovely restaurant. Guess we are just destined to enjoy S America as a twosome!!! Not complaining.

Went along to battle the usual mayhem to buy our tickets to Cuenca ... another 4hr bus journey. Met this lovely lady.. so proud of her cooking!

Purgatorio

Yeah! Purgatory, just what we needed! Juan in the jungle had told us about a spa that he said was fantastic. Mmmm, well actually it WAS great but it had its moments. When we arrived the first thing was to take our shoes away. "Walk down the path" they said. "Yikes!" Even my Catholic upbringing hadn't prepared me for this! The stones were small and spiky and they HURT!

Up the hill to a small hut. "SCREAM and YELL" they said and we did till our lungs ached! Great fun!

"Walk down the hill to the valley" they said "In your hands pick up all your regrets, hates and grievances and throw them over the hill" And so we did!

With relief we arrive back at the spa ready to be pampered.

OK first thing they put us into a box, turned up the heat and let us sweat.. and sweat and sweat. "Oh no!" Ice cold water is poured over us .. gasp! The macho guys next to us just laughed at our squeals!

Back to the heat and steam and until it was time to beckon us out to deep baths full of ice cold water and yes they did pour it over our heads....two more lots of heat and cold dousings an icy shower and then it was time for the massage.

Trepidation is the word BUT it was sheer bliss! Warm oil, gentle massage and warm stones placed down the spine mmmmm. This travel thing aint bad!

Bizarre Banos Bus Business!

Bizarre Banos Bus Business!

Our enthusiastic hosts had persuaded us that we needed to go on an open air bus trip. We were reluctant as we had planned to climb up to the top of the ridge and do a mountain walk that skirted the town BUT we succumbed. We rushed into town and couldn’t find the bus stop. Convinced the bus had gone we asked in the tourist shop…. After politely declining, the volcano tour, the horse riding, the trip across the gorge, the visit to the zoo, the bungy jump etc etc we found that the bus had not gone.

To our amazement, we were the ony two people on the bus. So we settled in … our guide next to us, his wife and two kids, plus the driver in a 40 seater bus! We visited all the sites - the volcano tour, the horse riding, the trip across the gorge, the visit to the zoo, the bungy jump - declining to go into each one for just a few more dollars!

The scenary was spectacular, but our guide really didn't know what to do with us.....4hrs later back at the hostel we just shook our heads... what a bizarre experience.

Banos in the Andes

A 4hr, bumpy trip in a local bus brings us to Banos high in the Andes Mountains. Along the way we have seen tired workers with their machetes thrown nonchalantly on the floor; football teams in raggetty clothes, travelling for miles to a remote village for a local game; women & children with baskets of food. All crammed next to us. The scenery gradually evolves into beautiful mountains with streams cascading down.

Arriving in Banos we immediately felt the change in climate. Cool clear air.The small town is crammed with colonial buildings and greenparks. We have chosen a $6 a night hostel Princessa Maria. When we asked the cab driver what it was like , he just rolled his eyes! But we loved it.

Generous hosts only too willing to chat and give advice. Huge room with own balcony, shower and toilet. It also had a kitchen where we could cook and a dining area where we could meet up with other guests. Like Quito there were lots of Israelis on leave from the army. Always a bit confronting for us! Roger had a bit of a political discussion but luckily it was ok......

The other guests in hostels are often a worry but apart from a frenetic woman from Belgium and a really weird family from Alice Springs......they were all really good .

Tena

And so it was time to leave… A boxed lunch is handed to us as we board the canoe for the last time. We really have been well looked after here and my what an experience. We are heading off to Tena where we will stay overnight before heading off to Banos in the Andes mountains.

Tena was really a pretty rough place, the river had flooded two weeks previously displacing the cobblestones on the street. Our main purpose was to have a quick laundry stop as well as exploring a “jungle” town.

It really was quite small and poor. A young boy of about 10 competently organized our laundry and I was really pleased to find it all beautifully clean and ready the next morning……..problem was to avoid pickpockets I had put $40 in a safety pocket …. Of course the pocket was empty when we got back.

One thing we enjoyed was a restaurant overlooking the river which swirled and raged. Various vessels tumbled down through the roaring eddies. It must have been an incredible sight when the storm had raged leaving behind twisted balustrades, bridges and a thriving ferry service across the river. A tribute to human enterprise.

There was a rather sad looking “zoo” full of animals from the jungle…. But we felt that we had enough close encounters of the jungle kind!

So it is the bus to Banos... who knows what is in store there!

Last night at the lodge

Apart from our last night at the lodge or the evenings when Katie joined us we were usually the only two people on the glorious deck overlooking the river. Occasionally one of the teachers from the secondary school would make the twenty minute walk along the dark muddy path to make use of the limited electricity. The school had been donated a number of generators, but lack of training meant that they regularly broke down. Electricity was definitely not the norm.

Our only other companion was the caiman whose red eyes gleamed at us from under the bushes at the edge of the lake.. Strangely the caiman was the only creature that Freddie was afraid of!

River leaping!

In the afternoon Freddie had plans for us to don life jackets and leap intothe river but we were exhausted. and so decided to have a rest, our hammock had been sorely neglected and we had to pack of our journey to Tena and Banos.

Katie couldn’t believe we passed up on the experience, but I had no regrets, We had seen the murkiness of the river and the thought of what was lurking their was enough for me!

Night walk jjjjjungle style eek!

Now if walking in the jungle during the day is scary, you should try it at night. Katie and her friend joined us, amazingly they hadn’t been on a night walk so they were more than happy to follow Freddie through bushes, across streams, up muddy banks … well the intrepid Katie was, we were a bit more reluctant to have Freddie put spiders on our head and face. (Make that we refused point blank!)

I think the photos say it all… a truly fantastic experience!

Butterflies in the jungle

We saw some amazingly beautiful butterflies in the jumgle but it was often just too difficult to get a shot. Lucky with these ones. Took a couple of shots in the butterfly "tent" at Yachana!