Final thoughts on South America

The 4 months of our trip have sped by so quickly whilst at the same time it feels like our arrival in Argentina was an age ago. We have dipped our toes and sometimes much more in 7 different countries.

Starting in Argentina with the first month in Buenos Aires, we felt almost like locals by the time we left. Our Spanish had improved somewhat thanks to Verbum Spanish school but our main memory is of the good friends and companions that we made during our time in BA. Highlights from Argentina include the wild drumming of Bomba de Tiempo, lazing in the magnificent parks , eating empanadas, media lunas and having our first taste of Pisco Sours!

Uruguay: our limited visits to Uruguay include a visit to the main port town of Montevideo and a visit to the beautiful town of Colonia where John first started to meet his doggie friends. I think Uruguay would be worthy of a much longer visit.

Brazil: This really should not count as we literally just hopped across to border to see Iguazu Falls from both sides but is an opportunity to mention the magnificent beauty of the falls.

Falkland Islands: Although brief, we both enjoyed our visit to these very English Islands and although somewhat emotional, we were struck by the friendliness of the locals as well as the great fish and chips and beer.

Patagonia: Although not a country in its own right, it is a distinct region spanning the far south of Argentina and Chile. Taking to the high seas, we saw the variations in Patagonia from the more barren lands to the ice capped mountains, and visited small German and Welsh Hamlets as well as seeing a range of stunning wildlife and lots of penguins. 

We sailed round cape horn and saw amazing ice glaciers en route.Chile: We really did see the range of lands in Chile from Arty Valparaiso, to the elegant city of Santiago and northwards to the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama where we particularly enjoyed the night time star gazing. However for me the highlight still remains the beautiful Easter Island with its stunning coastline, fascinating moai statues and Polynesian culture

Bolivia: What a change Bolivia was as suddenly this country felt much more Latin American compared to its more European neighbours. Staring in Uyuni, we were awe struck by the stunning salt flats and I still remember the brightness and whiteness of this incredible day of driving through the salt flats. La Paz was totally different and we enjoyed exploring the chaotic and hilly narrow streets and taking our lives in our hands as we crossed the roads. It was interesting to see the Cholitas in their traditional costumes selling their wares on the pavements. Then another change to the more tranquil Lake Titicaca and its Islands.

Peru: the country we spent the longest in and got to know the most. What a varied country! Colonial Cusco known as the belly button of Peru and the entry point to Machu Picchu which is indeed a magnificent site but we visited so many more equally incredible Inca sites such as Pisac, Sacsayhuaman (pronounced "sexy woman"and my favourites Tipon and Olyantambo.

 Moving on from Cusco, en route to Arequipa, we were lucky to see so many condors close up over Colca Canyon. The White city of Arequipa was a gentle colonial city and provided a rest for us before our stomach churning Nazca flight, sand boarding and dune buggying in the desert and rocky boat trip to view wild in the Ballestas Islands. Finishing in Lima, we were pleasantly surprised by this interesting and varied city. However a highlight for us remains the fascinating week in the Amazon Rainforest where we could get up close to nature and communities.

We have felt blessed and privileged to have had these life changing adventures, to have seen new sights, experienced new experiences but most of all to have met some wonderful people en route who have helped us, looked after us, travelled with us , laughed with us and have made this journey a memorable one. Thank you to you all.

To finish with one of my favourite travel quotes: " Wherever you go, becomes a part of you somehow"

Adventures in the Amazon Rainforest

We hadn't really thought too much about this part of the trip as it is towards the end. However we were totally amazed by all the wonderful experiences that we had in the Amazon. 

We took a 2 hour flight from Lima to Iquitos in the Amazon which is the largest city in the world not accessible by road. You can only get here by plane or boat. Once in Iquitos it was a further 1.5 hours before we reached our lovely wooden river boat which would be home for the next 5 days. The boat itself was simple but the 11 staff treated us like royalty with delicious food, clean and comfortable cabins, a well stocked bar and they all multi tasked by playing a variety of musical instruments and entertaining us with songs pre dinner each night. 

However the highlight was exploring the rainforest itself. During early mornings or late afternoons when it was cooler ( although still a humid 30 degrees!) we boarded motorised skiffs along to explore the Amazon river by water as well as by trekking through the jungle, visiting local communities. This included a visit to a female shaman who with the aid of an interpreter told us about her skills and experience as a community Shaman.

It was fun sailing along the river and spotting various wildlife such as squirrel monkeys, bats, a whole variety of birds whose names we can't remember and the most stunning pink dolphins. Yes they really were very pink and came and went so quickly that we couldn't take any decent photos. 

We returned to the skiffs at night in search of nocturnal wildlife but most mesmorising was the sounds of the jungle at night and the beautiful clear night time sky.

 We learnt about the vegetation in terms of what is good to eat but also of the medicinal uses of many of the plants. Sadly we also learnt about how the jungle is disappearing due to government demands to develop and how it will not look the same in several years time. 

We visited communities and saw how self sufficient they were living off the land and combining old ways of living with the new. Although electricity was still not fully functioning, one household had got a generator and a satellite dish and were gearing up to watch the world cup. We visited a local school which was attended by 27 children aged from 5 to 12 and had 2 teachers. We arrived at lunch time to see very happy children tucking into a hearty lunch and learnt that the children were provided with a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner every school day. We sweltered in the little shade of the midday sun as the children raced around playing football - like children the whole world over.

 The following day We visited one of the main towns of Nauta where locals come to trade in the massive market. 

One evening Eva decided to take it easy while I headed out on the skiff racing down the river at breakneck speed. As we passed villages the children and adults would wave from the lush green river bank. Eventually we arrived at a small hamlet and glided in to the rivers edge. We were each handed a wooden pole with fishing line and a hook attached with a supply of meat scraps for bait. Adults and children lined the bank to watch Gringos fish, laughing at our attempts and shouting encouragement and advice.

Meat on hook I lowered it into the water. My battle with the piranha fish began. I could feel the fish nibbling the bait. Time and time again the hook came up with no bait. The same was happening to everyone, this was not fishing it was fish feeding. This was war, me versus the piranha and I was going to win. I put less bait on the hook and next time the line tighten I struck, yanking the line on the end of which was a honest to god piranha fish complete with vicious looking teeth. After taking a fisherman’s photo of the small fish, I proceeded to catch two more.

After the excitement of the piranha fishing we moved on to wooden canoes, something which will soon be a thing of the past as locals replace them with fibre glass ones. Gingerly three of us get Into the canoe . Ours is rowed by a man but most of the others canoes carrying our group are rowed by the village children one of whom looked about three. The boat felt slightly unstable and we tried not to move as the slightest movement caused alarming rocking. We sang ‘Michael row the boat ashore’’ to calm our nerves to the bemused looks from our boat rower. 

Just as we manage to convince our rower to turn round a thunder storm sends lightning through the sky and ominous clouds gather. Not a moment to soon the skiffs arrive to rescue us and we clamber precariously from the canoe to the more stable skiff. Soon we are racing off back to our river boat for a drink followed by dinner.

It has been an amazing privilege to be welcomed into the hunter gatherer communities on the amazon. Sadly it is a lifestyle that is about to change. A growing population means that the rainforest can no longer sustain the hunter gatherer lifestyle . Animals are getting rarer and fish smaller due to over fishing as spears are replaced with nets. Illegal logging even in national reserves is putting the Amazon rainforest at even greater risk. I will leave this place with the happy faces of the children and the friendly waves and smiles of the adults as a lasting memory but sadly it is a lifestyle soon to be consigned to the past and the world will become poorer place as these people leave the garden of Eden. 

Adventures in Peru

 As we drove up the coast towards Lima, we enjoyed a variety of adventures an route.

First up was a night under canvas camping just a few meters from the ocean at Puerto Inca.

 It was easy to drift off to sleep with the sounds of the waves.

We wake early to see the dawn. After packing away the tents we eat a quick breakfast before getting underway.

Next up was Nazca, most famous for the Nazca lines that strangely nobody really knows what they represent.

However first we visit the very scary Nazca cemetery. Here the mummified remains of the Nazca people sit in a feral position awaiting rebirth. Sadly over the centuries the cemetery has been repeatedly ransacked by treasure hunters and everywhere human bones and thousand year old remnants of clothing litter the ground, preserved by one of the driest places on earth.

We walk around looking at intact mummies marvelling at clothes still preserved after a thousand years, along with disconcertingly well preserved feet. 

I am not superstitious normally but having taken several pictures of mummies on my iPhone one image kept jumping around my screen on its own. I am sure there is a rational explanation but I deleted them all to be on the safe side. 

 

Following a picnic lunch amongst the dead we head off to see some amazing aqueducts build by the Nazca as their once fertile land dried out. 

Next we head off to the airport to fly over the Nasca lines. We have to wait until lighter people than John can be found to offset his excessive weight in the eight seater plane.( John is slightly offended by this comment to the amusement of our guide)

Now these flights historically had an appalling safety record with some operators crashing on average one in a hundred flights. In recent years stricter regulation has significantly improved this. Not only are pilots now required to wear smart uniforms, every flight has to have two pilots,  an impressive ratio on our flight of one pilot per three passengers.

As we enter the Cessna plane We cannot help feeling the similarity to an old vintage car. 

Soon the plane takes off banking steeply to show us the Nasca lines. We look amazed out of the window for the first 10 minutes, trying to take pictures until the heat and stomach churning turns make us both start to feel sick. For the last 20 minutes all we can do is to pray our torture will be over soon.

 

Our next stop in the desert oasis of Huacachina was much more exciting than we had anticipated and after some initial reservations,  Eva particularly enjoyed the wild roller coaster style sand dune buggying and also sand boarding down the dunes.

 The day ended by sitting on top of a sand dune, watching the sun set on the desert and then after an outdoor bbq and free flowing pisco sour, we slept out under the stars in just sleeping bags and no tents.

The Ballestas  Islands, or Poor Man's Galapagos as they are known was not a disappointment.   Located at Paracas beach, we zoomed out on speed boats around the Ballestas Isles where we could spot Humboldt penguins,  sea lions and an amazing range of birds such as tendrils and boobies, all resting on the interesting rock formations.  It wasn't clear if it was us watching the wildlife or them watching us as hundreds of birds,  penguins and sea lines appeared to be queuing up to look at us.  We also learnt that the bird poo: guano was collected and exported to Europe and other countries as an effective fertilizer. 

Lima: full of surprises

Throughout our entire trip, no one has had a good word to say about Lima.   From people who are from here, have lived here or travelled through here, the comments are similar and usually revolve around Lima being dangerous, chaotic, noisy, dirty and uninteresting. As time went on we were beginning to wonder if a week in Lima would be a week too long!

As we arrived in Lima we were greeted by gridlocked traffic, hooting horns and indeed traffic chaos. However there was something exciting about this, and we enjoyed watching the cars all jostling for space as we trundled through from the relative safety of the enormous Dragoman truck that we have recently been travelling in.

As we arrived in the street of our hotel we were surprised to see that the street only contained shop after shop of opticians and nothing else. We queried whether that many opticians were really needed given that so few people appeared to be wearing glasses. Very strange!

The historic centre was like many others in terms of being slightly run down but during our walking tour the following day we were shown some beautiful colonial style architecture. We stopped in the main square for some time to listen to a military band play at the palace and then were surprised to see them all pile out into a row of waiting coaches. We were just beginning to think how pleasant Lima was and seemingly safe until a whole troop of riot police in full riot gear with shields etc emerged right in front of us and lined the streets. I asked our walking guide if we should still be standing here and if it was safe. He seemed totally non plussed and continued his speil about the history of the city. John asked a question as to what the riot police were there for but failed to get much of a response. We were relieved to move on from this spot though.

The next day we moved from the historical centre to the more touristy district of Miraflores for the rest of our stay in Lima. Miraflores is bright, shiny and touristy and has some high end shops and restaurants at the waterfront. Our first stop and priority was to find the Paddington Bear statue which was located near the waterfront but seemed of little interest to anybody other than the few English tourists gathered there.

We also visited the pre inca civilisation site at Huaca Pucllana which was within Miraflores and the more extensive  inca and pre inca site of Pachacamac.  Both  were interesting and certainly worthy of a visit.

We were staying near Kennedy Park which seems to be the centre for hundreds of stray cats. For the first time in our journey throughout South America we were suddenly aware that there were no stray dogs around but instead loads of stray cats. Even our hostel had adopted a cat called Pablo. To support the stray cats, Lima has set up a number of cat charities. Kennedy Park is peaceful in the day but particularly comes alive at night with a range of activities for all ages from salsa dancing couples in the amphitheatre, card swapping youngsters and techno music for the younger generation surrounded by an array of food carts selling everything from churros, popcorn,  filled rolls and rice pudding!

A highlight for us was the Circuito Magico del Agua in Parque Reserva: a spectacular park full of stunning water fountains which particularly come to life at night when there is a wonderful show of water, images, lights,  lasers and music. It is described as  the largest electronic water fountain compound in the world and is definitely worth more than the 87 pence entrance fee we paid.

So to sum up our view on the parts of Lima we saw: yes it is chaotic, noisy and undoubtedly dangerous in some places but it is also a varied,  interesting and a beautiful city and we really enjoyed our time here.