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Familia Part 3

Another early morning saw us off to glacier capped Cotopaxi, the world's largest active volcano. Hannah and Sharon displayed some impressive hiking skills as we made our way past tricky ledges to the waterfall, bravo ladies. Wanting to go higher, but with a few extra legs, we rustled up some brave ponies. Six hours in the saddle will make anyone but a true cowboy a little sore. And watching sisters race their trusted mares was eventful to say the least. Thankfully, our windy mountain digs had a real hot tub under the stars to soothe bruised bums and battered egos.

Familia Part 2

We put Sharon and Hannah's metal to the test with a rough, over-night bus ride to Lago Agrio. Where we hung out on the street for five wee hours. Waiting to be picked up by our transport to the river, to start our jungle journey. Lago Agrio is suppose to be a bit of a rough town. Luckily, a local motorbike cop took a shine to Hannah, and shooed away unsavoury characters with throttle revs and a can of mace. And yes, Señor Officer, she can dance.







We encountered our first wild animal right at the entrance to the Cuyabeno Reserve — Parajito — one of our guides with a truly Tarzan like gift (you gotta watch the video below). The next three days we boated and sloshed around the Ecuadorian Amazon, spotting prehistoric-looking pink dolphins, caymans at night, and an endless slew of monkeys. We even braved a sunset swim in waters filled with piranhas, electric eels, and the legendary urethra fish — whatever you do, DON'T go pee. Aside from the last day, we had unusually great weather, and the comfort of the lodge surpassed expectations. Just ask the fat cockroach that bodysurfed from the juice spout into Sharon's glass. It was a special time and we left the jungle in style, taking the friendly skies back to Quito. Thanks, mom!

Familia Part 1

The plane landed. Heather's mother and sister, Sharon and Hannah, flew in to Quito for 10 days of Ecuadorian adventure. We celebrated in new town, toured the sites in old town, ate at the city's most famous sea bass stall, and bought donkey butter moisturiser from nuns through a face concealing turn-style. You know, a little bit of everything. Before heading south to Tena to get our collective travelling feet wet with some choice white water rafting.

Regressamos a Quito

We don't normally spend so much time in large cities, but Quito's central location made for a convenient home base to explore Ecuador. In between nights of ping pong and beer, sometimes free beer when you spank your British opponent (in your face, John), we took in sights from flashy Foche Square to a suicidal — climb of faith — to the top of Basilica del Voto National Church.

The Quilotoa Loop

Shortly after checking into Pasado de Tigua, an organic farm turned fancy guesthouse (after Ecuador switched to the US dollar and their milk business hit the skids) we wandered up the hill to search for the mysterious High School Band music booming from a collection of small indigenous houses. Turns out it was day two, in a four-day wedding celebration. We were quickly forced to dance and plied with their local hooch. At any given point there could be five glowing men, each with their own bottle and a shot glass clamouring to give us a mouthful of gritty fire. SSSSSaaaahhh. It was a fun way to warm up for an absolutely gourmet, organic meal back at the farmhouse that evening.



Fresh cheeses, milk and homemade coconut yogurt powered us through the first leg of our Trek. The scenery far more impressive than expected. We stopped to chat, look at some tradition deerskin art and enjoyed more local tunes. Well on our way, we met a tipsy fellow who convinced us to take a path that differed from our hand drawn map. After an hour of gorgeous views, it looked like we might have to backtrack. But that's not really our style, so we consulted a 200 year old man that pointed down the gorge. We took that as affirmation there actually was a way up the other side, even though our eyes swore every path ended in a sheer face. Plenty of razor grass kept us company as we worked our way down the gorge and scrambled along the bank looking for a place to cross the river. On the other side, we began exploring a path that held promise — or at least an ample dose of wishful thinking. So we pushed forward despite the absence of people to ask or any sign of footprints. Steep, skinny and crumbly was wearing us out when we got so close we could taste our victory and began to bask in our adventurous spirit. But our hopes were drained. Our way ended with an impossible 50 meter cliff between us and the top. As we began our retreat and mentally prepared for spending the night in a tiny abandoned hut at the bottom of the gorge, a new path taunted our legs and lungs. It was a slope of pure exhaustion that dashed hopes once again with a sheer rock face (#%&*)!!! However, this time, a few extra cliff hugging steps revealed a hidden path on the backside of the wall. Rolling over the top lip, we savoured the absolute beauty of getting lost. (Not realising we had another three hour, post-sunset journey before we found a place to crash.)



The break of day surprised us with more than a mountain of rice and potatoes prepared in our host families' bedroom, turns out, we were only a tiny tumble from the crater's rim. The view was sublime. We circled half the ridge. Were escorted for an hour by a young, crocheting girl who just finished checking on her llamas. Pounded through another gorge (following a proper path) and arrived in the town of Chugchilan with plenty of sunlight to spare.

Another day hiking through dynamic mountain fresh, landed us at Lulu Llama, a cute hostel where we made ourselves at home cuz nobody was there. It was a mistake not to stay an extra night, but we forgave ourselves since we opted to hop on the Lechero (milk truck) out of town. It was hands up, hands down, the best ride we've ever had. Sitting atop giant milk jugs we bounced around the mountain's dirt road dangling over the edge. We couldn't stop laughing and smiling. It was a total thrill ride, with brief stops to allow local farmers to climb aboard and contribute to the big blue drums sloshing with fresh squeezed Betsy Juice. And that's the Quilotoa Loop.

 

More Cute Animals

Despite the thousands of tourists that descend on the Galapagos each year, you're still tripping over animals. It's easy to understand why these islands were the inspiration for Charles Darwin's Origin of Species.

At first, we were just trying to capture everything on camera. Then the objective became to get two or three wildlife examples in one shot. Or the ultimate: wildlife riding other wildlife. So much fun.

1. Sleepy Sea Lion
2. White-tipped Reef Sharks with Marine Iguana
3. Lava Heron
4. Baby Giant Tortoise
5. Flamingo
6. Marine Turtles
7. Pelican in a mangrove
8. Marine Iguana swimming. This is the only lizard in the world that lives in the ocean.
9. Bird (do you know what kind?) with a crab
10. Creepy iguana fingers
11. A mad crab
12. Sea Lion, Pelican, Iguana, Crabs and a Sea turtle. (BAM!)
13. Blue Footed Boobie. They're incredible divers, plunging to a depth of 8 meters to catch their prey. And the inspiration for all the “I LOVE BOOBIES” t-shirts in town.
14. Sleepy Sea Lion with lava lizard
15. Napping Fur Seals
16. Starfish
17. Marine Turtles. Incredibly peaceful to swim with.
18. Penguins. This is the only penguin found in warm equatorial waters and the most northerly in the world.
19. Baby Sea Lion
20. Galapagos Snake
21. Cormorant. The only flightless cormorant in the world. Over years, it evolved into a great swimmer, losing the capacity to fly.
22. Six hungry flamingos
23. Mound of Iguanas
24. And finally, Baby Marine Iguana riding Papa Marine Iguana

The Millennium

We flew to the Galapagos with wild  hopes of scoring a real, last-minute cruise deal. And boy did we score. $900 to hop aboard the Millennium Yacht for a 6-day journey around the western islands, everything (except libations) included. It was the route we crossed our fingers for. Only a handful of luxury vessels have permits to cruise those particular waters. So we found ourselves in a tropical wonderland, with just a crowd of creatures for company.

Snorkelling (playing) with sea lions was incredible. Sometimes it would be an intimate one-on-one, other times six or seven sea lions at once gracefully whipping around us. Holding eye contact with a curious and intelligent wild animal is beyond compare. Even if it happens to be an extra giant bull (they have killed before) that makes you drop a load in your shorts. It's an experience we didn't tire of and one that could temporarily make us forget about all the other wonders lurking in the reefs. Monster lobsters, stingrays, schools of tiny krill that looked like they were running in place. Prowling around with white tipped reef sharks, getting whiplash trying to follow penguin torpedoes, and gently floating with countless sea turtles. Not to mention schools of fish so thick they could be mistaken for a solid object that parts only a split second before you, or a sea lion, crashes into it. And that's really the magic of the Galapagos, hoards of different species co-existing so close, and often, right on top of each other.

As for the ship, it was amazing. Although, we became overly accustomed to the little ringing bell that signalled it was time for a new adventure or gourmet meal. Sure our guide was a bit of a boob and left a snorkeler behind, but considering the lot of shipmates we had, we couldn't have been luckier. Becoming land lubbers once again, we spent the next 10 days bumming around San Cristobal, adhering to a strict, ice cream rich diet, in order to help us adjust to our harsh, Post-Pavlovian reality.