Apr 10 – Onwards to Ecuador
Early start today as we left at 7am for the airport. The
reason we had to leave so early for a 10.30 flight we discovered was the Lima
traffic !!
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| 7am - Solid traffic for miles..........fortunately the opposite direction to us ! |
Lima has no underground
(apart from one small section) and so the 10 million people all commute into
work using collective mini buses, taxis and car. It is a complete zoo !! There
is no bus timetable so they never know when the next bus will come. There are
queues of people at the roadside waiting to get on buses and when they come it
is a complete rugby scrum to get on. No queuing here……….survival of the
fittest.
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| How many people can you get in a minibus........... |
The roads are completely solid with traffic heading into
town, it make London rush hour look like a walk in the park………
This flight was with Avianca our first with them and Paul
and Mandy discovered their Turkish Airline gold card would work here as it is
part of Star Alliance !!
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| Add caption |
They signed
their two poor economy muckers into the VIP lounge and we all sat drinking Inca
Cola (which was a major discovery as it tastes like Irn Bru !!) Very nice too……………thank you.
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| A good Irn Bru subsitiute !! |
Steve is not looking forward to the next few days as we are
heading back up 2800m.
We arrived in Quito in a massive thunder & lightning
storm and the rain was bouncing off the streets. Having checked in to our hotel
in La Mariscal, first priority was to track down a genuine Panama Hat for
Steve. Ecuador (not Panama) is the home of the Panama Hat and where the finest
ones are made. There is a city in the south Cuenca, where the main production
is, but apart from that the best shops are in Quito.
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| Does my head look big in this ? |
Steve had decided to use some of his 60th
birthday money on a genuine Panama Hat and the concierge at the hotel packed us
off in the direction of a specialist shop. Having tried on hats of all
qualities, he found the perfect one, chose the band colour and waited while it
was stitched in place.
Happy hombre !!
Apr 10 - SHEENA and EILEEN
A much more relaxing start to our third day in the rainforest with a visit to a farm first then on to a botanic garden.
The farm is owned by a native family who mostly grow plantain and bananas of different varieties although we also sampled lemons, peppers, a papaya/ mango cross fruit to name a few. Native people in this area continue to live by traditional means to some extent e.g. visiting a shaman for medicinal purposes or fortune telling is common practice.
Our guide also referred to 'non contact' people who still live in the jungle such as at the Manu Biosphere Reserve where there is an area of human settlement for controlled traditional use. An afternoon shared canoe trip on the lagoon saw Eileen and Sheena fishing for the first time and although we'd like to take credit for catching the baby piranha in this photo, we can't.
The good news is that it was released back into the river after its photo shoot! In the evening we went on a guided torchlit walk and spotted owl monkeys, a tarantula, a poisonous snake (can't remember which type) and various insects.
Sadly no photographs exist due to the darkness and distance. It is policy at the reserve that no tourist is allowed to walk unaccompanied and we both agree that it would be terrifying to be out without our expert guide.
Apr 10 - SHEENA and EILEEN
A much more relaxing start to our third day in the rainforest with a visit to a farm first then on to a botanic garden.
The farm is owned by a native family who mostly grow plantain and bananas of different varieties although we also sampled lemons, peppers, a papaya/ mango cross fruit to name a few. Native people in this area continue to live by traditional means to some extent e.g. visiting a shaman for medicinal purposes or fortune telling is common practice.
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| Using a machete to break open the brazil nut shell. Around 15-20 nuts in each shell |
Our guide also referred to 'non contact' people who still live in the jungle such as at the Manu Biosphere Reserve where there is an area of human settlement for controlled traditional use. An afternoon shared canoe trip on the lagoon saw Eileen and Sheena fishing for the first time and although we'd like to take credit for catching the baby piranha in this photo, we can't.
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| Watch out for those teeth !! |
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| If it wisnae for yer wellies..... |
The good news is that it was released back into the river after its photo shoot! In the evening we went on a guided torchlit walk and spotted owl monkeys, a tarantula, a poisonous snake (can't remember which type) and various insects.
Sadly no photographs exist due to the darkness and distance. It is policy at the reserve that no tourist is allowed to walk unaccompanied and we both agree that it would be terrifying to be out without our expert guide.
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