25 mayo 2006

A Sense of Wonder

After a few days on Isla Santa Cruz, the main island of the Galápagos, a ´sense of wonder´ is the best way to describe Señor Hans´s mood. The town where I am staying, Puerto Ayora, isn´t your tropical island fantasy resort and the surrounding landscapes are interesting but not that impressive. No, there is something else here that brings about that Sense of Wonder: the beasties ...

My first afternoon was spent scouting out the town and visiting the Darwin Research Center, where they also study and grow giant tortoises ("reuzeschildpadden"). It is hard to describe the feeling of just walking down a path and all of sudden seeing a giant tortoise lumbering towards you. They are such gentle and beautiful creatures.

The next day was for Tortuga Bay, where, although it is a 30 minute walk, the best beach is for some quality sun and swim time. And sun and swim time I had ("burnt to a crisp"), but the real quality was to be found in activities by others; right, the animals. Where to start ... pelicans were soaring overhead all the time, diving kamikaze-style whenever they saw a juicy snack in the water. One of them crashed a few meters from me ... the "Blue-Footed Boobies", weird birds. They are about halfway between a pelican and a seagull, but with big bright blue webbed feet. The sea iguanas, about as long as Señor Hans´s lower leg; their favourite activities are swimming and doing group hugs. The 1.5 meter shark that came for a visit (I wasn´t in the water at the time, I was I were!). The little finches ("musjes"), eating bread crumbs out of your hand ... and it is unbelievable how tame all these animals are. You can get close, and then closer and closer, and while the Sense of Wonder is building on your face, they look at you as if it´s the most normal thing in the world.

Yesterday was just swim time, but with a special twist. Taking a short water taxi ride to the other side of the bay, and a short walk further on, was supposed to be a place where you can swim in "natural pools". Now I have this crazy thing about swimming in natural pools, I love it. And these did not disappoint me. There was a long canyon, about 20 meters high, which was filled with crystal clear, soothingly cool water (nice for the crispy shoulders). It consisted of three parts, one shallow part in the middle, and two 50 meter long and 5 meter wide canyons to swim laps in. And for most of the time I was alone there. And if there is one thing Señor Hans likes better than natural pools, it is PRIVATE natural pools :-D

More private stuff this morning. I rented a bike and went to another beach, about 1 1/2 hours away. It was tough going with the heat, the hills and my current conditional dip (which is relative of course, Señor Hans will still bike the pants off anyone who reads this). But wherever there is pain, there is usually a reward. Mine was ... a private tropical beach ! Actually two of ´em. I felt as giddy as ... well, as yesterday and the day before. My friends the pelicans were there as well, doing their dive-bomb routine again. It would have been perfect if not for the pesky stingy flies that kept using me for target practice.

Now for some education. As some of you may know, Charles Darwin´s visit to the Galápagos as a young man on the "Beagle" provided him with many insights that eventually led him to publish his natural selection and evolution theories. I am actually reading his diary of the time (1830s), "The Voyage of the Beagle", which is must-read for anyone that visited the places he visited with the Beagle (Rio de la Plata, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, Galapagos and more). See the links on the right pane for some more info on this.

As for the Voyage of Señor Hans. It continues tomorrow with an 8 days cruise around the islands here. But here are some more pictures to keep you busy for a bit:
















Next to showing you my butt again, this last one is mainly for making you feel envious (while I still can) ... :-p

21 mayo 2006

Quito

Ecuador was never really high on my "I want to see these countries list". The main reason I am here, actually, is that my Lima return flight became half as expensive if I added a Lima-Quito return to the ticket ... (and I had to really take the flight, or my flight home would not be valid. Don´t ask).

And that is why I spent the last few days in Quito. I must say, I do not regret it. As South American capitals go, it is on the good side of the dividing line, (together with La Paz and Buenos Aires. Montevideo and Santiago are on the bad side, Asunción and Lima can go either way). After spending a day (re)discovering the near-total organisational incompetence of the airlines and booking my Galápagos tour, I checked out the old colonial city centre. I liked it. In the mid-morning I was sitting in the Plaza San Francisco looking at the pigeons and tour groups, when a friendly Ecuadorian named Carlos started a conversation (I have this a lot lately. I used to be good at setting up a ´I am not fun to talk with at all´-face). He was very interested in politics and we discussed both our countries´ current laughable governments.

I checked out an impressive museum in the afternoon, where again I was not allowed to take any pictures. Why can´t I take pictures in the best museums ?!? (see the right pane for a list, btw, no pictures in numbers 1,2,3 and 5). Do I look like one of those dodos that has the ´flash´ always turned on my camera ? (sorry, dodos). Pfff. But it was good anyway, loads of old pottery and gold.

Yesterday and today I was on a tour with an agency aptly named ´Biking Dutchman´. Considering my forthcoming return I thought I would get in the Dutch mood a bit (too bad the owner was from Amsterdam though). Anyway, except for the general wetness, the tour itself had nothing Dutch at all. High altitude, jungles, waterfalls, hot springs; and most of the biking was razorfast/head-first/no-breaks downhill. I was respectfully dubbed "Flying Dutchman" by the others, although I believe I overheard something more like "Deathwish Dutchman" behind my back ;-)

Gotta go pack. Have some islands to visit.

16 mayo 2006

Full Circle - Ten out of Ten

And then I was back in Lima ... it feels a bit different than my arrival 7 and a half months ago. I remember thinking I could see all I wanted to see in South America in 7 or 8 months ... yeah right, it didn´t take long for *that* bubble to burst. I could have spent 7 months just in Peru and never be bored !

Anyway, take a look yourself what happened ...



So, what about the other half then ? Maybe some other time, maybe never. Who knows ? As for now, I feel the mission accomplished; my overland journey completed, all of almost 35000 kms of it. I have finished the main course, and I am still licking my fingers (and will be for as long as I can remember). But then, there is always ... dessert :-)

If all goes well, after a few days in Quito, Ecuador´s capital, I will be overthinking the sins of the last months cruising the Darwinian islands of evolution for a week or two, Las Islas Galápagos ...

However, I will not leave you without sharing some of the wisdom I gained during my travels. Despite the differences in the countries visited, Señor Hans - human as he is - cannot help but generalise and complain. So, here are the Ten out of Ten on "South America":

1. The universal South American snack is ... the Empanada. A savoury half-circle bread roll, usually filled with cheese, chicken or meat, but also egg, vegetables, mais, and anything they can think of. Yummy !

2. Very convenient for the traveller is the general town layout. The ol´ Spanish may have been a bunch of rotten greedy no-good euro-trash, but I thank them from my heart for their city planning skills. In nearly all towns and cities the streets are formed to a square grid, all converging onto a central Plaza. And after the Spanish left, all countries renamed all these streets after war heroes and independence dates, just to show ´em.

3. The "cutting in line" ("voorpiepen") ... the most annoying and rude social tick of South America. They try it everywhere: shops, post offices, ticket counters; and the people attending think it´s the most natural thing, until you say something of it and then everyone is sorry and didn´t mean to do it. A more entertaining sign of the natural impatience is that whenever the bus stops for a moment, half the people start yelling "vamos! vamos!" ("let´s go!").
The thing is, these parts here are not for the impatient ones. You wouldn´t believe how long it takes for a South American to buy a single bus ticket.

4. The two types of animals that you see everywhere: from high to low, from the jungle to desert and the towns to the sea, are not native of South America. Can you guess ? They are our beloved Canis Canis (the Dog) and Bos Taurus (the Cow).

5. Another social trend: when two people walk towards each other on the street, it always ends up in a contest of "chicken". Never once have I seen a preliminary tactical evasion, as I am used to in the Old World. Not long after the beginning, I got fed up of always being the one to step aside and I started charging into the little people, but that was only fun for a short while. The trick is to keep walking and look somewhere to the side. When the South American native pavement walker sees that you, the giant, are not looking, he/she will always steer away at the last moment.

6. The environment. Without a doubt, South America has the most beautiful natural landscapes I have ever seen, nothing less than mindblowing. That´s why it is the more a pity that the environmental conciousness is so low. When you buy something in a shop, you get buried in little plastic bags (I refuse them whenever I can). Even worse is the throwing away of anything anywhere. The biggest carbage bin is an open bus window.

7. School uniforms. From the training suits of northern Peru to the little white Argentinian doctor´s coats and the almost full navy uniforms of southern Chile, the kids here wear school uniforms.

8. Wherever there are two houses together, you will see two goals as well. "Futbol" is everywhere. And as Holland is the most sympethatic football nation on earth, the (male) population invite you with open arms when they know they are dealing with a Dutchy. In the cities, I have seen someone walking in some or another orange Holland-related shirt almost daily. Older men get all teary-eyed when they are reminded of the "La Naranja Mechanica" of the seventies.

9. Catholic Religion. People making crosses when walking past the church; cars and buses stickered senseless on the inside with religious messages hoping for protection from harm; the numerous little chapels by the roadside commemorating that harm. You find religious texts in the weirdest places. And in spite of all of it, the people are as deceptive, rotten and corrupt ... wait, let´s rephrase that ... are as honest, loving and friendly as anywhere else ;-p

10. Public Transport. There is a lot of it everywhere and it has served me better than I had ever dreamed. They have three things in common in all the countries visited: 1. In one form or another, it is a land-based vehicle making use of the public roads (bus, combi, auto, colectivo, taxi, coche, flota, mototaxi, moto, and a million more names); 2. Whenever possible, people jump in all of a sudden, hold a sales pitch (anything goes), hope to sell as much as possible (again, anything goes), and jump out again; and 3. As long as the vehicle will not immediately sink through to the center of the earth, any number of passengers and any cargo is allowed. The *average* cargo a Bolivian mountain woman is waiting next to for the bus, is three multi-coloured bags of 100 kgs each.

And there you have it. What are you waiting for then ? Come on over. I will tell you about the general noise level, smog and lack of good cheese after you get here ... ;-p

15 mayo 2006

La Paz to Lima - Impressions














12 mayo 2006

The (Near) Marriage of Señor Hans

Two mountain towns were visited by Señor Hans and if it wasn´t for my highly tuned sense of survival, I would have been married in both of them !

Ayacucho was a both a very friendly and very historical place, always an interesting combination. On my first day I was wandering a bit outside of the center when out of nowhere I was attacked by a horde of knee-high little girls in school uniforms, shouting "Gringo! Gringo! Vuelta! Vuelta!". They grabbed both my arms and wouldn´t let go until I had swung them around ... a bit later I walked into one of the many churches. In the darkness inside I was spotted by a musty old crone who asked if I had a coin for her. I gave her 1 sol and before I could run away she gave me dusty hug and a slobbering kiss ...

In the afternoon I was sitting on a bench in the plaza when a middle-aged woman and her father joined me. We had a conversation about Peru and Holland, very friendly and all. After they asked me my age, they went into a frantic conversation between themselves, in which, if my Spanish didn´t betray me, they discussed marrying me off to some family member. The problem was that she was 37 and the old man said that it was not correct, the woman being older than the man. But his daughter replied that that didn´t matter these days, especially not with Europeans. Anyway, I escaped unharmed again.

Like I said, Ayacucho is more than a ´marry a gringo´ trap. Between the 6th and 10th centuries AD it was the center of the Huari (or Wari) civilisation, which dominated much of Peru at the same time as the Tiwanaku from Lake Titicaca. I went to see the remains of their capital, but it still needs a lot of excavation work for which the funds are missing (like many other sites in Peru).
In 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho was fought outside of the city, in which Spain was finally defeated by an army lead by the Antonio José de Sucre (remember him?). It paved the way to the independence of all Spanish colonies in South America.
And more recently, Ayacucho was the birthplace of the Sendero Luminoso movement, probably familiar to most of you under the name of "Shining Path" or "Lichtend Pad". In the 80s, the civil war between the movement and the Peruvian army, extremely brutal from both sides, lead to almost 70000 deaths or disappearances.
(See the links on the right panel for more info).

So, on to Huancayo then. Bigger than Ayacucho, but not as attractive. I went to visit an interesting, almost Gaudi-like park in the outskirts of town. A girl there asked me if I wanted to be on a picture with her (I am going to miss this kind of attention when I get back ...). Sure. She then asked if she could guide me through the park. Why not. And walk back with me to the city center. Better than walking alone. Then she asked me to go out with her tonight. I had to end it there, I´m afraid. My wary old bones were aching for a nice and early 9.30 sleep, but I didn´t bring it like that, or she would have wanted to tuck me in herself ! No, she has to find another gringo to marry.

Anyway, Señor Hans married ... it´s preposterous, not ? Inconceivable, right ?

07 mayo 2006

The Last Night Bus ?

*** WARNING ***
If you care at all for the well-being of Señor Hans, do NOT read on !
*** END OF WARNING ***

This is a feel-good story for all of you readers who feel extremely envious of the adventures of Señor Hans - and rightly so - and have been waiting for something rather sucky to happen to him ... however, I must disappoint you in that regard :-p as my general good luck prevents rather sucky things happening to me, but the last few weeks I have spent more time in transportation than is required for a good nature and a happy smile.

After the jungle, I wanted to get back into the Peruvian mountains to spend my last week-and-a-half there in a relaxed fashion, like I did at the beginning of the trip. The town of Ayacucho in the central highlands was to be my destination.

Leg 1: Bus from Rurrenabaque (Bolivia) to La Paz. I have seen some buses and some roads here, but this was my worst trip of South America. I had taken the gamble of selecting one of the front seats in the bus. Usually you have more leg room, but not always ... and Bolivians are already a head shorter than I am, if the tall ones that is ...
20 hours across gravelly dirt roads from 100m to 4700m and then back again to 3600m above sea level. I arrived in La Paz at 6 in the morning, having slept about 4 hours in total during the night, generally feeling I just ran up and down South America´s highest mountain, Aconcagua.

Leg 2: It was good that I knew La Paz. Took a taxi with the other gringos from the bus to the city center, then a collectivo to the ´cemeterio´ from where the buses to Copacabana leave, which is at the Titicaca lake and the Peruvian border. I was in luck. At 7 the bus left. I saw the lake one more time on the way there, an awesome sight again, and was across the border, and on a bus to Puno in no time, arriving there around one in the afternoon.

Leg 3: The thing with overland travel in South America, is that 99.9999% is on buses. They used to have trains here, but they could somehow not compete with the numerous bus companies, so one by one they went out of service. What is left is mainly tourist trains, and one of those happens to go from Puno to Cusco, and on the day after I arrived in Puno too. So I spent a day full of altitude-sickness-headache in 3800m above-sea-level Puno and was on the train to Cusco the next morning.
It was good fun. Señor Hans really likes trains and I was getting so fed up with those buses that this was a more than welcoming change. I had some nice conversations with Ted from Minnesota (all US travellers you meet apologise for Bush, I love that), the mountain views were great, and the little Peruvian kids - without a doubt the cutest kids in the world - were waving to the gringo train every town it passed through. I arrived in Cusco at 6pm.
Leg 4: According to my information, a night bus straight through the highlands to Ayacucho would leave the bus terminal at 6.30, so I was in hurry. Surprisingly, a local taxi driver took full advantage of that and brought me to the terminal as if it was a taxi trip from the airport.
Two buses actually left at 7pm, but both were ´completo´... drats ! I didn´t want to spend the night in Cusco, so I thought I would just go as close as I could and took the night bus to Lima at eight, wanting to get off in Pisco at the coast south of Lima, were a road branches off into the mountains again to Ayacucho.

Leg 5: 17 hours and one night with hardly any sleep later, the bus brought me to the branch-off to Ayacucho, 10 kms from Pisco, where I found out that the next bus was at 9 in the evening. It was 1pm ... sigh ... and another night bus!
Ok, give me a ticket then. With 8 hours to spare, I was soon on a collectivo to Pisco, where before I fled into this internet cafe here, I took a little look again at the barber shop where I had my first South American haircut (see the November archives for that bloody gory story).

Leg 6: Night bus to Ayacucho ? You never know around here, but I have been told I am pretty sure to arrive in Ayacucho tomorrow morning around 5 ... yippie ...
It will be my third night in a bus in the last four nights, my fifteenth night during the whole trip and it will very surely be my last here !

And I want a bed !!

(Feel better now?)

05 mayo 2006

Tropical Lowlands - Impressions












03 mayo 2006

A Jungle Boy Not

In these here travels Señor Hans has had to overcome mountains, cloud forests, canyons, and deserts; salt lakes, normal lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, and seas; volcanoes, temperate (rain)forests, savannahs, pampas and swamps ... but one still remained: the jungle ... it was from the quaint little frontier town of Rurrenabaque, Bolivia that this adventure was to commence. A river lancha up the Beni river, a tributary of the mighty Amazon, and three hours later civilization was no more.

Armed mainly with mosquito repellent, our little troup of would-be vine-swingers were led by an ever-smiling guide (dressed in camouflage colours) into the rainforest for three days. Although there was no rain, there sure was a whole lot of forest. Green was everywhere, from trees up to 40 meters high and a thousand years old to small bushes ad plants near the ground. I guess you could see for about 20 meters into the forest on the average, but hardly any further.

There was much walking through the trees, mostly on paths, and pointing out the live-giving and dead-dealing plants (about 50-50), my favourite being the "Palo del Diablo". The animals didn´t show themselves much though; apart from a young anteater at the guardaparque and a deer and a group of wild boars in the forest, it was all about insects. The mosquitoes were not so bad, altough I got bitten by some flying thingy in both ears (three seconds apart) which stung like hell. The big bugs were pretty cool though and a froggy here and there made Mr Kikker very happy.

The first night we stayed at the "base camp" near the Beni river, but the second day we hiked deeper into the jungle, having to cross streams by balancing on fallen trees, towards a a tiny camp next to small stream, where we could finally bath and wash off our thumb-thick layer of sweat. "Don´t go to the deep end", we were warned, and 15 minutes later the guide returned with three pirañas impaled on a sharp stick ...

The night sounds were almost deafening here and it was as black outside as I have ever (not) seen, but the main animals kept alluding us. Footprints of a tapir and the south american tiger, the jaguar, was all the proof that they were among us, but no more.
The last day, trekking back to base camp, we had two more interesting encounters, a huge three-legged tree, and a face-colouring plant ... but it was enough for Señor Hans. It is clear now that I am not made of jungle boy stuff; a mountain man is what I am ! Commanding views and dry cool air is what I want !! Therefore, back into the mountains I will go !!!

Oef !