Photos from the Galapogos Cruise and the Diving are Available for viewing

Ladies and Gents

The long awaited photos from the Galapogos cruise and the diving are now available online, so feel free to feast your eyes on them. I have far too many to put online so its only a snap shot of the sights that were beheld. Alot of the photos from the Galapogos cruise are from a fellow traveller, Sheila from Vancouver Island in Canada. We swapped alot of photos, I traded my underwater photos for her close ups.

I hope you enjoy

I am now back in Quito, it was sad to leave Puerto Ayora and the Galapogos, it was such a chilled out way of life that I really became accustomed too.

I´ll have to start trying to ween myself off afternoon siestas, its gonna be tough...... And I might have to ween myself off of Caprihina´s too (a cocktail made from alcoholic sugar syrup, lime, vodka, and brown sugar) ummm they are tasty!

Tomorrow I am off to Cotopaxi, a large snow capped volcano to do some downhill mountain bike riding. I start riding at 5000m above sea level and finish around 3000m, should be a bit of fun!!

Then on Wednesday I´m off to visit the equator and do a touristy city tour of Quito, should be interesting.

Thats it for me, check out the photos.

Hasta Luego
Craig

Hammer heads, yeah baby!

I went diving again yesterday (sat 29/10, first dive was thurs 27/10) with scuba iguana, this time out to Gordons rock for 2 dives.

Wow the dives would have had to been some of the best I've ever done! There was soo much diversity of fish, sharks, turtles and sea lions it wad amazing

The currents were supposed to be quite strong, but on the day they werent too bad.

The first dive was fantastic with soo many tropical fish everywhere, I was completely surrounded. There were massive sting rays, large, green turtles everywhere, and we even found some painted crays.

One of the highlights of the first dive was a massive school of baracuda, maybe 500+ fish which cruised past. It was like a moving silver wall of baracuda, awesome! We also were lucky to see a school of about 16 spotted eagle rays swimming in formation, looked like they were flying. But the absolute highlight was seeing 2x hammer head sharks about 8m away swim past as we were doing our ascent. The sharks were about 3m long and moved soo gracefully from side to side, great to watch.

The second dive we stayed at gordons rock cause it was good on the first dive. The second dive was even better with a school of 12x hammer heads coming in close and circling us. We also had large black tip reef sharks come to check us out. Awesome, I could have watched them all day long if I had the air....

Sea lions were around on the second dive and it was great seeing them herd up fish. They were so agile and playful underwater. One came right up to my mask and then glided around me.

A manta ray made an appearance on the last dive but unfortunately I missed it....

I really recommend diving in the galapogos to anyone who's keen on diving, its amazing!

It's sad, but I only have one more day here in Puerto ayoro before I head back to the main land of Ecuador.

Anyways breakfast is calling, hasta luego.
Craig

Diving at bartolomea and cousins

Today I went out diving with Scuba Iguanas for 2 dives, first to bartolome in the morning, and the second to cousins in the early afternoon.

I got a bargain last minute price of $165 for the 2x dives, all gear, and food and drink on the dive.

The first dive to bartolomea started off a bit slow and shallow at 5m for a quick equipment and skills test, then we moved deeper to look for critters. It wasn't long before we saw green sea turtles and white tipped reef sharks, plus the plethora of standard tropics fish.

My main hope for this dive was to see a manta ray and it wasn't long before a massive one came gliding by soo elegantly. The manta was about the size of a vw car, huge. The ray moved so slowly and gracefully through the water, it was a pleasure to watch.

After 60 minutes we ascended and jumped back on the boat for morning snacks. It took us about 45 minutes to motor over to cousins dive site, the water had started to get a bit choppier.

It wasnt long into the cousins dive that we see a group of green turtles feeding on the weedy bottom. Such beautiful animals! The bottom at cousins was like a pyramid, with defined steps going deeper into the water. There were turtles everywhere at this dive site....

We were also lucky to see a big school of spotted eagle rays cruise by. The school would have been about 20 strong. It was great seeing the rays swimming in unison, it looked like they were flying.

We saw the standard white tipped reef sharks and tons of the smaller regular tropical fish such as angel fish, parrot fish, trigger fish, etc

So all in all the two dives were great! The dive masters were good, with clear instructions in English. And the food on the boat was good.

Unfortunately I didn't see any hammer head sharks but there is still saturdays diving to come....

Hasta luego
Craig

Ps ill upload dive photos when I get back to quito in a few days time.

Adventures in Galapogos

I've just arrived back on shore in Puerto Ayora after spending 10 days cruising around the galapogos islands. The islands were amazing and I loved living on the boat and spending soo much time on and in the ocean.

The daily routine was pretty standard, awake and have breakfast at 7 am. Then do an island visit and hike around 8:30 for an hour or so. A snorkel either from the zodiacs or the beach followed at 10am. Lunch back on the boat was a 2 course affair at midday. An afternoon siesta normally ocurred from 1-2 then we were off again on another island hike and explore followed by another snorkel. Back on the boat around 5 for snacks and afternoon drinks. Dinner was 3 courses at 7p, and most nights ended quite early afterwards.

There was soo much life to see in the galapogos. Seemed that everywhere you looked there was something new to see.

I had many great experiences, swimming and playing with sea lions, watching green sea turtles graze on sea weed, trail a white tip reef shark as it patrols for food. There were also many terrestial experiences which I highly value, watching blue footed boobies, galapogos hawks, frigate birds, albatrosses, giant land tortoises, marine iguanas, land iguanas and many other animals.

I've got 5 days here in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz before I fly back to the main land and Quito. I'm off scuba diving tomorrow and Saturday. Hopefully see some hammer head sharks and manta rays.

Well its time for my afternoon siesta, I hope your all doing great :).

Huesta luego amigos

Craig Carpenter

All Quito ed Out

Its now my 3rd day in Quito and I´m ready to move onto the next place. I have a meeting tonight to discuss the details of the Galapogos trip which I fly off to tomorrow morning early for the next 9 days.

I´ve just uploaded some photos from around the old quarter of Quito, its quite pretty with lots of spanish influences in the architecture. I found its very easy to get lost in Quito, the streets seem to wind all over the place!

I went into a dive shop today and made some enquiries about diving on the islands, sounds like it should be pretty straight forward to organise when I get there. I´m pleased to say that my cold is finally starting to clear up.

I share my room tonight with a fellow gap tour member, it´ll be nice to meet some new people. Hopefully they are nice and we all get on well.

Well I think its almost beer o clock.

Hasta Luego Amigos
Craig

Galapogos Weather

The 10 day weather forecast looks pretty good for the the Galapogos, fingers crossed it stays good.

Slight Change of Plan

Some of you guys might have heard that Im coming back to Australia a little sooner that I originally planned,  everything is fine so please dont worry.

Theres a few reasons why Im coming home early, firstly im keen to see Erin and all you guys, and I also need to start putting some cash away for the future.

So Ill be kicking around perth as of the 8th of November, about 3 weeks away.

Not feeling the best

After returning back from the salt desert I haven't been able to shake this damn headache.

While in Salar De Uyuni I think my eyes over exposed my brain and as a result got 2 migraines. After 4 quick panadol I was back on the road. But those panadol in quick succession made me a bit sick that night.

I also popped a couple of imodium, I didn't want anything shaking loose on the bumpy 12 hr bus ride back to la paz. Worst bus ride I've experienced without a doubt. Without having using imodium before I wasn't real sure how many to take, so I figured id er on the side of caution and had 3 of the lil tablets... I think that was probably too much. I've been back in la paz for almost 12 hrs and things are working again. Amazing lil drugs.

I'm back in la Paz with all its modern conviences like toilets and showers, aghh the creature comforts. I've just been down the witches market and got a few lil things, space in my pack is becoming a bit of an issue...

Tomorrow Im off on a tour of La Paz and then onto the airport for my flight to Lima and then quito, equador and my galapogos adventure. I've still got this blasted cold so probably won't be able to do any diving but it'll be great just to be in the water.

All the best
Craig

Relaxing Copacobana and lively La Paz

I spent 2 days in copa copacabana, sleepy lil lakeside town. The bus from puno to copacobana was only 3 hrs so pretty good. All except I was seated next to a chick with food poisoning, so she was throwing up most of the way... Let's just say it wasn't the nicest smelling bus trips I've taken...

Crossed the border from Peru into Bolivia around 1000. It was an interesting experience, the military officials seemed to like australians and immediately lightened up when finding out I was Australian.
After a few stamps I walked across the border and got my boliviano paper work authorised. Finally Bolivia here I am!

I arrived into copocabana late in the morning on Sunday 9/10. And settled into to my accomodation which looked out over lake titicaca, sweet!

I jumped on a tour to Sun island in the afternoon. The island was great, touted as having the fountain of youth. I didn't try the water, but many tourists did. The island was a previously a pilgrimage site for incans chasing good health and youth.

After returning from the island around 1800 I was feeling a lil sleepy so had a doze. When I awoke I saw an awesome sunset over lake titicaca with a storm front coming in with lightning and thunder. Beautiful to watch from my bed.

Monday I jumped on another bus bound for La Paz. Luckily this time without any spewing neiggbours.

Yesterday late in the afternoon I arrived into La Paz and was pleasantly greeted by my guide Edwin at the bus stop.

I had a bit of an explore round the main tourist drag and found nice lil cafe called sol and Luna and had an awesome French inspired chicken dish with a few glasses of red. I still cant get over the cheap prices here, last nights meal cost me $12 for a restaurant quality meal, bargain!

Today I visited the san Pedro prison which I have been reading about in "marching powder". I only visited the outside, wasn't brave enough to go inside and do a tour. I'm pretty sure the tours were canned a few years ago.

Anyways I also visited the witches markets and talked with the shop owners. Found some interesting stuff, dried llyama foetuses for sale to be used in offerings. Don't worry lyn I picked you one up for the coffee table... :)

This afternoon I've been hanging out in a funky lil Mexican bar / restaurant.

Tonight I'm off to uyuni on a 10hr night bus to start my solar de uyuni tour for the next 3 days visiting the salt flats.

I hope everyone back home is doing well. My next entry won't be for a few days time.

Huesto luego
Craig
Ps ohh I'm a bit behind uploading photos as none of my recent accommodation has had computers.

Home stay on lake titicaca island

I've just returned from two days I'm lake titicaca.

I set off early on Friday morning with a group of about 15 tourists in a 15m ferry to get to the reed islands. The floating islands were literally build ontop of the buoyant root mass of the reeds. The root mass was then over layed with fresh reeds about 1m long in a criss cross pattern about 60cm in depth. The final result was a floating island which people could build reed huts and live upon.

I stayed with a local family on Amantani island. The family were soo warm and generous. They had such a tight family unit, there were 3 generations all living and working in the same house. The family were farmers who primarily grew potatoes. They produced approximately 150 kg of various spuds / year, which was enough to feed the family and trade some for other items such as oil, fish, and other vegetables.

There were 3 of use solo tourists allocated to the family. Luckily one of the tourists, Clare could speak great Spanish so she was our interpreter. The grandmother only spoke ketchawan and no Spanish so it was manly charades with her to communicate. There were 2x boys aged maybe 12 and 10 and a lil girl aged 4. The lil girl wore traditional dress the whole time and was soo adorable. The tradition on the island is that girls wear brightly coloured clothing while the men dress quite plainly.

That evening the island put on a fiesta for the tourists and we all got dressed in traditional clothing and danced around like idiots being lead by the older woman from the community.

I wore a plain grey poncho which was quite heavy and warm, while Clare got dressed in a bright skirt, colourful top and wore a veil / shawl that the men make for their wives with quite colourful and detailed embroidery.

The family cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for us on an open fire in the kitchen / eating hut. The mother did all the cooking and was the last to eat. The food was primarily vegetarian with lots of different  potatos in both soup and main form. The food was jummy and very healthy.

The next day we left the island and our home stay famalies quite early at 8am. From the amantani we visited another island which was notorious for having the best male knitters in the world. This is primarily as the male is required to make the brides dress, so the better a guy was at sewing the better chicka he could attract.

The boat ride home was slow and we eventually pulled into dock at 1730. I had a relatively quiet night, dinner with a few people from the tour, then an early night.

I would really recommend the link lake titicaca home stay, it was a fantastic experience.

Craig out.

First Day in Puno

Well I´ve been potering around in Puno today, theres not a real lot to do here I´ve found. I wandered into the main square and had a bit of a poke around the shops. Nothing I hadnt already seen...

I am running out of clean clothes so everything went to the laundry today and i bought a new shirt, an "Inca Cola" t-shirt, it had to be done. Inca Cola is an iconic drink that was produced in Peru which the locals absolutely love. Coca Cola came in and couldnt compete with the local drink so they bought it out. The drink itself is a radioactive yellow with a taste similar to creaming soda, very sweet. The peruvians definately have a sweet tooth!!

Tomorrow (Friday 7/10) I´m off to visit the reed islands on Lake Titicaca and I will be staying overnight on one of the islands with a local family. So my spanish will be put to the test..... I´ve been running around also today getting a few supplies like water and snacks in preparation for the 2 day visit to the Lake Titicaca islands.

So I will return back to Puno on Saturday 8/10 and maybe check out the local museum, I missed it today due to a mid afternoon siesta....

Anyways I´m uploading a few more photos from the Amazon, and I will also upload photos from the Colca Canyon and the Condors we spyed.

Ohh by the way for those who I said I will send postcards too, well I´m finding the postal service a lil tricky over here so dont hold your breath for postcards....

Hasta Luego Amigos
Craig

Colca Canyon

Yesterday morning (4/10) we set off on a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon. On the way from Arequipa we passed through a few reserves and saw vicuna, similar to the alpaca and llyama, but the vicuna is totally wild and hasn't been domesticated. We also stopped at the highest point in the roadtrip for some panaramic viewing at 4800 m

In the afternoon we visited a hot spring at Chivay and I went in for a dip, it was quite warm at 38 degrees celcius heated by the nearby volcanic mountains.

The Colca canyon is quite a large agricultural area dating back to pre incan times. The soils are very fertile given the volcanic activity and many terraces can be seen along the hill sides.

This morning (5/10) we set off at 6 am to head out to condor point to look for condors. We were lucky enough to see 3-4 condors. Magnificant birds, reminded me a bit of wedge tailed eagles.

After the condors I jumped on a bus bound for Puno on the worlds highest lake, lake titicaca. The 7 hr bus ride wasn't too bad thanks to my book, "Marching Powder" about a westerners experience in the San Paulo jail in La Paz after being imprisoned for cocaine trafficing.

Anyways I'm sleepy, its been a long day

Hasta luego amigos.
Craig

Frozen Incan Mummy "Juanita"

I've spent today in Arequipa, it was a bit of a mission getting here but hopefully the Colca Canyon will be worth it that I start tomorrow.

I spent the night on a Cromotex bus for 9 hrs in a Karma reclining chair from cusco. I found out I can't sleep on planes or busses.

Anyways I arrived into Arequipa at 0530 to unfortunately not be greeted by the transfer I had organised... So after waiting 40 minutes i jumped in a taxi and made my own way to my accommodation. Not a real good start to the day, ohh well I was half expecting it given my lack of forward planning and trying to organise things over email a few days beforehand.

The morning was spent sleeping, but I finally awoke at 1400 and decided it was time to explore.

Id heard from another back packer in Buenos Aires of an interesting frozen mummy that was stored in Arequipa that was discovered in the last 10 years after a volcano had erupted and melted the snow surrounding the mummy.

It turns out the mummy was a 12 year old girl who was sacrificed to the mountain to appease the mountain gods and prevent a volcanic eruption some 500 years ago. The young girl "Juanita" had been raised from a young age to be sacrificed, seems this was a common practise at the time. So a procession started in Cusco and trekked almost 600 km and up to the top of Picchu Picchu mountain some 5500 m above sea level. Then she was smashed on the head and buried with a heap of offerings. Given the height she froze and majority of her body, skin, organs have been preserved.

Anyways long story short archeologists are discovering quite a few similar sacrifices throughout the andes from Columbia down to chille.

Tomorrow I start a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon and hopefully spy a condor or two, and finally end up in Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Well that's me done for the day, adios muchachos

The guinea pig experience

When in Rome you do as the Romans, well I've done just that...

One of the traditional dishes in Peru is cuy, or guinea pig. Given I'm a man to try new things cuy was on the list of things to try.

And try cuy I did a few days ago. Let me tell you it wasn't the most appetising thing that has been put down in front of me. It looked like a large rat with big chompers. I took some photos which you can see what I mean.

After the photo opportunity the waiter grabbed the cuy and took it to cut it up into managable pieces.

When he returned he instructed that cuy is to be eaten with your hands. So that I did....

The cuy was chewy, sort of like pork crackling which hasn't fully crackled. The skin was tasty, and the meat was sweet. Unfortunately there wasnt a lot of meat on the lil guy. Reminded me a bit of rabbit, all bones.

The stomach of the cuy had been stuffed with some sort of green seasoning, maybe coca leaf? I didn't really like the green stuffing.

Along with the cuy was a stuffed chilli which was delicious (rocoto) and some fried potato.

The rocoto over here have been delicious, I'm half tempted to try and get some seeds..... ;)

Overall I would suggest people try cuy, but I don't think I would order it again, too much work for little meat. But if it was a life or death situation, lookout cuy!

Another day in Cusco

Well I've had a quiet day in Cusco today, tried to get some details finalized for the next 2 weeks travelling to Arequipa, Puno, Copacobana, and La Paz.

Unfortunately despite my efforts I didn't really make any progress in confirming booking details.

I also visited the inca museum today. Was quite interesting, but most of the descriptions were in Spanish.... Bugger. I found the deformed skulls quite interesting, the skulls were deformed at birth to pay homage to the gods. Sounds like something from x files to me.....

So tomorrow is my last day here in Cusco. I checkout of my hotel at 0930 and don't jump on the bus to Arequipa till 2000. So ill have a day kicking around Cusco, probably end up hopping from cafe to cafe.

I hope everyone back home is doing well.