Apr 11 - Quito

Apr 11 Quito

As Steve was still suffering from the effects of altitude, we decided to explore Quito today 

We headed into the Old Town in Quito which is a UNESCO World Heritage site with some beautiful churches and white stucco colonial architecture, green squares and palm trees.

Cathedral in Plaza Grande

From there we headed to the Casa del Alabado pre- Columbian Museum which houses over 5000 pieces of art from this period. The museum itself is housed in a Spanish Colonial mansion and the layout is lovely with a  little courtyard café. The works were beautiful with some really compelling pieces. Amazing to think they have survived in such good condition. Favourites below !!

Off to the hat shops next to get a Fedora for Steve to add to his collection. We discovered he has a large head…………..no comments please

Back to La Mariscal area and on to the Artisan market which looked very much like the Cusco and Machu Picchu handicrafts with different place names on them !! 

Bought a postcard and then wandered round to the Hilton Colon to see if it brought back any memories from Janette’s last trip to Quito for the opening of the hotel ( approx 25 years ago?) which at the time was the first international chain to open here. it didn't..........

One for the Hilton Crew - Babs especially !!

At this point the weather broke, thunder & lighting started & the heavens opened. I was soaked in seconds..........

Back to the hotel to catch up with Paul and Mandy and pack up for us heading out on our across Ecuador train trip tomorrow.




Apr 11 - SHEENA and EILEEN - Last Day !!

Our last day in the jungle saw us frantically packing and squeezing damp clothes (nothing ever dries here) into already over-stuffed suitcases. Coming from Scotland we thought we knew about rain but last night and this morning has surpassed all expectations.  

Our final trip was to a butterfly house.  Apparently 1260 different species of butterflies have been found within 5.5 square km of the Tambopata national reserve.  Beautiful and unusual to our eyes but tricky to capture. 

Finally we said goodbye to the jungle and canoed back to Puerto Maldonado for our final flight to Lima which was surprisingly only 25 minutes late on take off this time.  

For our final day in Lima we might head back to Baranco for more last minute shopping - perhaps a bottle of Pisco which no doubt will taste different when we get home. 

Pisco purchased !!

Our trip has been a fantastic experience thanks to Paul at Journey Latin America who knew just how much we could fit in, in the time we had available. 

Happy Days

60 .........not so bad after all......

Best wishes to Janette, Steve, Mandy and Paul for the rest of their trip. 
Sheena and Eileen x

Apr 10 - Onwards to Ecuador

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 !!  

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.

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 !!  

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.

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.

Does my head look big in this ?

Steve had decided to use some of his 60^th 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. 

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. 

Watch out for those teeth !!

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.