The mighty Cotopaxi

Arrived in Latacunga to a lovely, but very quiet hostel. Pretty deserted. So went on a city walk, first to the cemetery which totally freaked me out, think the lack of sleep and too much booze had given me the Vulnerable Effect. Then to the market where the locals play volleyball for money, and then to the museum of culture, which was closed but you could walk around the small gardens. This I did, only to come back to the gate to find it CLOSED and LOCKED. Well, due to the claustrophobic issues I have, along with the fact it was a Sunday, I tried really hard not to panic, but after 30 seconds I was screaming out to passing cars with my hands waving through the iron gates. NO ONE stopped and my panic increased as I realised I wouldnt even be able to climb over the railings cos there were spikes, plus, it being Sunday, who on earth would know how to contact the owner of the keys?

My face was getting hot and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Then, about a minute later, I leant on the gate and it opened ;) JESUS. OK so the interior door of the gate was the part that was locked, the gate itself had just been pushed to....I was shaking for about half an hour afterwards ;). Think I need vertigo and small space therapy.

So, got back to the hostel and got chatting to a Dutch girl called Nikki and a couple Kriss and Will. I wanted to walk the Quilotoa Loop, but James had said for me not to do it on my own. Disappointingly Nikki had already done it by bus and Kriss and Will weren´t planning on doing it. What was lovely was that Nikki said to me, oh I wish you had been here a day or two ago we could have done it together. She is such a lovely person and the way she said it was so sweet.

Anyway the next day we got chatting again and she said she was having a lazy day cos she wanted to rest before she climbed Cotopaxi. I said there was no way on earth I would be doing that and she looked at me and said "but you have to try, if you dont make it, it really doesnt matter" and that was it.

From there everything sort of fell into place. She was planning to climb it the following day, but needed another person to go with her (if you go alone with a guide its more expensive), but I wasn´t acclimatised enough to go. So we agreed if no one else came along, she would come back to Quilotoa with me to walk part of the loop and then we could climb Cotopaxi together.

We spent the day watching movies and fantastically no one else came along to climb Cotopaxi with her, so we agreed we would leave early the next morning to go to lago Quilotoa. In the meantime American Dan :) and pilot Jasper checked in and the next morning we all got on the bus....

More later as have to sort out our guide for our jungle trip ;)

Behaving badly in Baños

Well I arrived in the pissing rain (a theme appears to be ocurring here) and was unsure what everyone was raving about. Very touristy and very cloudy was all I could conclude. No one in my tiny dorm apart from a teetotal American lady who I obviously had nothing in common with. Found a cafe for dinner where they showed Last King of Scotland and booked myself on canyoning, which was terrifying me a bit cos I had no real idea what it actually was, but the man selling it was very enthusiastic so I thought there wasn´t much to lose.

Arrived in the morning and thank god there was only one other girl, Natalie, doing it and she had no idea what it was either. So we headed off with our guide and it turns out that canyoning is abseiling down waterfalls, which is great! Really loved it, although its very scary and you have to put a whole lot of faith into the rope and the guide. Its not a good idea, halfway down, to start thinking....what if the rope snaps, will I die etc etc. Better to think, this is amazing, this guide has done it hundreds of times and if I let go I really really wont fall...look no hands!

Natalie was great, loads of energy and although we hated the first couple of waterfalls, we really loved the last ones despite the fact we were going down ridiculously slowly, only to be shown up by the guide who came down head first.

On the way back to town the guide was talking about paragliding. It terrifies, but fascinates me and within about 10 minutes of discussing it I thought, fuck it, am going to do it....and so did Natalie...

So, two hours later I found myself on the edge of a cliff, absolutely bricking it, waiting for my turn. Dan, the head of watches in Harrods ;), went first and loved it. He came down buzzing. I, on the other hand, didn´t have such a lovely time;). JESUS, paragliding is not for me...quite frankly I was terrified....despite saying to myself (whilst millions of miles up in the air, attached to a very professional guide)...the ropes wont break, the guide has done it hundreds of times, if I fall I really wont die...all I was thinking was...for the love of god GET ME BACK DOWN TO EARTH NOW. No matter how hard I tried to conquer my fear, I discovered that my body does not like to feel weightless, it does not like to be floating around aimlessly, it likes to be on the floor or coming back down to the floor ASAP. This all culminated in me coming down to the ground a bit too ASAP and dragging myself and the guide through a potato field. Covered in earth from head to toe and feeling totally peculiar, I then had to pretend to Natalie how amazing it had been in order to not freak her out just before she launched herself off the cliff. Unfortunately I had to pretend for about an hour cos the wind picked up and she wasn´t able to take off safely. She told me later, thank god, that I had successfully lied to her and she had no idea how much I hadn´t enjoyed the experience. Despite all this I would like to add that I still would like to do a tandem parachute jump....reason being....will be hurtling back down to earth quite quickly ;).

Needless to say stiff drinks were in order and I went out for a few and some dancing and finished my night having a pash (new favourite NZ word) with the watch man from Harrods. Stumbled in at 3am and think I thoroughly poisoned the air cos the next day the American lady had checked out and I was sure she was planning to stay for a few more days....oops.

Well, spent the next day DYING and did bugger all apart from blogging and self loathing. Then went to meet Dan and the group he was travelling with for a Salsa class. Turned out Dan had got lost on the way home the night before and then nearly knocked the guide out with fumes of booze the next day. Salsa was cancelled, thank god, so we went out for dinner and then....a few more cuba libres. Why is it hair of the dog works? Its really not fair. Did more misbehaving and rolled home at 5am. Things were deteriorating.

Next day got up and made myself go on a tour of the waterfalls on one of these hideous touristy buses which blast out loud pop music for the duration....just what I needed. But I was brave and tolerated it and it pissed with rain (no comment) and I met a lovely Ecuadorian family who looked after me and fed me crisps.

Was on the internet when I got back and Barbara messaged me to say Scottish Rob was in Baños, so I got in touch with him. He had had his bag nicked from the bus and was in need of a beer (oh god, you can see where this is going). So we met for a beer, and a lovely dinner which he treated me to, and then some wine and then some cubas and then it was 4am and then I needed to get to my bed before more misbehaving occurred.

IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE. Quite frankly I am easily lead astray and I have to remember that I am travelling to enjoy the experience of seeing the country and not getting twatted at every opportunity (Reynolds style).

So I got on a bus to Latacunga....

Galapagos continued...

So the next day Fran, Ross and I booked ourselves on a boat to San Cristobal and that morning I sent Barbara an email saying that I hoped she would come to the island when she got back from her trip so that we could celebrate her birthday. Ended up bumping into her before we left and she said she was going to Isabella (in the opposite direction) and that we may not get to meet up. Was gutted, but had already got my boat ticket and wanted to spend last night with Fran and Ross, but also wanted to celebrate Barbara's birthday. Anyway, I worked out it wasnt feasible for me to go to Isabella and San C in the time I had left so we parted and Barbara said she may come over to San Cristobal, but was unsure.

So, the boat ride was bumpy and made us all feel sick but we got to the island and checked into our hostel. Sea lions everywhere and we watched them for a while and had some dinner, but we were all shattered (the heat and the curse of the two day hangover) and went to bed. Next day was their last day and we got up v early to go snorkelling. Was disastrous....sea too choppy (I got in, saw a couple of turtles, but visibility poor and was very rocky), then it started to piss down with rain and we all got the hump and went for breakfast. Fran and Ross left. I was bereft. Went back to the beach to see if the tide had come in and sat in the pouring rain watching their flight take off and waving to the plane...all so tragic, like a scene out of Castaway or similar.

Felt miserable, rain got worse, so went back to hostel for a shower and was forced to have a chocolate Magnum with nuts (NOT peanuts, but walnuts... delicious and dangerous) to cheer self up. Sat watching the sea lions for over an hour cavorting, fighting and barking at each other on the beach, and decided to change my flight for fear of throwing self off the pier in sheer boredom and loneliness.

Was just walking back to the hotel, when who should be walking by but Barbara! Was delighted. She´d changed her flight so she could fit in San Cristobal. Everything was right in the world and I was no longer verging on ending it all. So we booked a snorkelling trip and the next day headed out to Kicker Rock on a shitty and very unsafe boat in the hope of seeing hammerheads. Boat was dangerous, no ladder to get back on, but loved the snorkelling because have never snorkelled anywhere so deep before...no hammerheads to be seen and current was ridiculously strong, but was an experience, despite having to be hauled back onto the boat like a beached whale and nearly losing bikini bottoms in the process. An utter rip off at $50, and ALL of us ended up with food poisoning afterwards. Nevertheless had a nice day and eventually got back on land despite both the motors on the boat packing up.

Next day was Barbara´s birthday and we spent a lovely day on a beach called Loberia. Got there super early and got straight in snorkelling. Saw 5 huge turtles dozing on the bottom of the sea, a real treat, they let us get right up close. Beach was deserted and we ate our salami sandwiches and put the world to rights. Then the beach filled up (only a bit) and we got a lift back to the town and tucked into Mojitos to begin birthday celebrations. So, I got locked in the loo...only for seconds, but its my worst ever fear in the whole world....small spaces, no windows...and had a panic attack for all of 30 seconds before someone heard me banging and let me out. And we met Scottish Rob who had a beer with us and Swiss Harry and went off for dinner, followed by pool and cuba libres. Bought Barbara a badge saying "I love boobies" (v touristy I know, but had to be done in light of the blue footed ones) for her birthday and learnt about the potato famine, some of which is a bit blurry now. Had to say our goodbyes that night as was flying out the next day. Was sad to leave, but have made another very lovely friend, really good fun. So strange when you are travelling how you get to know people so very quickly in a very short space of time and do such cool things together.

So I flew back to Guayaquill, my most unfavourite city quite frankly and spent one night there before getting on a bus the next day to Baños....

Things I forgot.....

Firstly, did you know that Panama Hats aren't made in Panama at all? They're made in Cuenca in Ecuador and Simon and I went to the factory and decided we couldnt really tell the difference between the hat that took a year to make and cost $1000 and the one that takes a minute to make (well a bit longer than that) and cost $15. Anyhow, its an amazing art and I tried on a gorgeous one that was out of my price range at $100, but looked lovely from the neck up and not so good from the neck down with my muddy trousers and hiking boots. (need to try and post the picture, will do so after this blogging session).

Another forgotten thing...a very sad moment on the Galapagos when we came across a mummy seal on the beach with her baby. Mum had literally just been attacked by sharks and had a chunk taken out of her bottom, her flipper (you could see the muscle beneath) and her eye. Think she had been protecting her baby and in the process been savaged herself. Anyway, the baby was crying and coming right up to us on the beach, almost asking for our help and the mum was lying in pain, barely able to move. Our useless guide said he thought she may not survive, one of the only times I guess he was right. Anyway, eventually she got back into the sea and the baby followed. Who knows what happened next, but let's hope she was OK. The captain of the boat wouldn't let us snorkel near her, because it was likely she would attract sharks (may I point out here that our guide was very happy for us to go in, but the captain wasnt....more uselessness), so we went round the bay and that's when we found the baby seal who was trying to steal my flippers....

Cotopaxi Conquered

I received news from Jo and I am sure she wouldn’t mind me sharing this with you all….

“I managed Cotopaxi, but not all the way. Was the most amazing, but possibly the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life! Met a lovely girl from Holland and 2 boys, but the Dutch girl and I paired up to do it. Climbing up the volcano starting at 1 am with crampons etc in high altitude. We started at 4800 metres and the summit was 5900 and we made it to 5550! In the pissing rain and wind, but was fantastic.

Currently recovering in a hostel then going to meet James in Tena tomorrow....”

I am certain there is more to come so watch this space.

Thanks Matthew

Galapagos...yum, yum, yum

Amongst great dilemmas about how to get to Galapagos cheaply, unnecessary stressing (Reynolds style) whether I should be going or not or got a serious grip and got myself onto a very straightforward and to be honest, rather dull, bus journey to Guayaquill....otherwise known as the hottest and most scary city that I have been to. I arrived oblivious to these things, got off the bus and nearly passed out with the humidity and went off to find a cab. Was safely taken to the hostel, which was in the nicest area of the city and was still covered in burglar bars and barbed wire.

Had a good chat with the owner who could arrange Galapagos trips, got totally confused about what to do, which boat to go on, which islands to visit and started re stressing cos had no idea what was supposed to be doing (Reynolds style...how I manage to travel alone is beyond me), so decided to go out for a walk and a think. Quite frankly was terrified to leave the place, but hid 40 dollars in my bra and went off to the mall for the air conditioning and the security guards.

Two steps at a time and sweat pouring off me. Anyway, wandered around the mall and went back to the hostel for a shower. As was taking clothes off in the bathroom nearly had a heart attack as I saw something crawling up my boobs, only to realise it was the 40 dollars I had hidden there earlier. Too many nerves, too paranoid, too indecisive ;).

Finally (and this was after much deliberation and mind changing) thought would go for the tourist superior class boat to the north islands of the Galapagos and went to book it. Met lovely Fran and Ross who (woohoo) also decided to go on the same boat and all was looking up until we found out we had to pay for the trips in cash....having to withdraw 1000 USD in the most dangerous city in the world. Needless to say was filled with horror, but Fran and Ross came too and between us we managed it one way or the other without being mugged, murdered or developing severe anxiety attacks.

Although my trip didnt start for a couple of days, I took the first flight out the next morning, planning to stay on the island for a night beforehand. Was lucky again and met a gorgeous Irish girl, Barbara. Found a nice hostel, had lunch and then we walked to Tortuga Bay where sea iguanas are chilling out on the beach and the sand is like white powder and the sea is turquoise blue and, well, what more can I say? In the evening we had dinner, fun chats and then went to a cool Ecuadorian jamming session. Had to get up early the next day, managed a few cuba libres ;) and agreed to meet up with Barbara for her birthday celebrations when we both got back from our cruises.

Well I could go into so much detail in between, but lets say arrived back at the airport to meet the guide and Fran and Ross. On the boat over to the airport was a sweaty, overweight, rather lecherous man who did a bit of eye grooming of me and made me feel a little queasy....so you can imagine my delight when, who was our guide?!!!! Yes! The delightful sweaty scenario I had encountered on the boat. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather....I tried not to look horrified, and we all headed off to the cruise.

The boat was decent, I had my own cabin, which was great, and we all had the loveliest time, despite the fat, sweaty excuse for a guide, who, rather unsurprisingly, turned out to be lazy and useless.

However, the Galapagos are glorious and the people on the boat were all lovely and despite me spending the first night projectile vomiting (the cause of which is still a mystery to me - it was like something out of the Exorcist, thank god I had my own cabin) I had an amazing time.

The first night we had a black tip reef shark circling our boat and things just got better and better from there.

The animals on the islands are as fearless as everyone says, you can get right up close to them and they barely flinch. A truly amazing moment was when we went snorkelling and a young seal started playing with me and chasing me and trying to steal my flippers (there is picture evidence which I will try to post up), such a treat! Then blue footed boobies, more iguanas, more seals, finches, turtles, parrot fish, lizards, frigates and more and more and more.

Was quite sad to leave the boat (my trip was 4 days) but the guide was seriously cocking me off by then and Fran and Ross were leaving too, so we spent our last day seeing the giant tortoises (whose size and age really is quite staggering) and trudging through mud and lava tunnels and then checked into our hostel. Went out for some serious misbehaving and dancing with Fran and Ross to the only disco on the island and had such fun and was glad to be back on solid ground.

Needless to say was fragile the next day, but took myself off, in the seering heat, to some canyon that was very beautful, but difficult to walk to when still pissed and nearly killed self walking over the rocks in flipflops, but with hindsight was worth it....and then went back to Tortuga Bay, another marathon walk, during which I thought I might die.....honestly thought I was still on the boat, path was swaying and so was I....but bumped into Fran and Ross on the beach and had a giggle as inadvertently poisoned Ross with my lukewarm water which quickly regurgitated itself into the turquoise sea (sorry Ross ;)).

To be continued.....this blogging is tiring :)

Oh, so I missed out the vomiting kids on the bus....

How quickly we forget.....bus journey to Cuenca not as straightforward as I have led you all to believe. So, feeling decidely dodgy due to a v small hangover, v strong antibiotics (I know, I know, shouldn´t have been drinking) and weird tummy I took the executive decision to leave Vilcabamba and head to Cuenca. Got to Loja bus station, bought a ticket, went to have some chicken, chips and coke, which, unbelievably, sorted me out and went back to wait for the bus. Seemed that I was a local attraction and two Ecuadorian girls wanted their photo taken with me, then the lady walking round taking people´s blood pressure wanted to take mine, but I felt knowing what my blood pressure wasn´t going to change my life. They have a weird obsession with their health and weight here, tonnes of chemists, people with scales on the street wanting to weigh you(not a chance, they are those shitty scales which I know just lie, like all scales ;)) and lots of opportunities to buy very attractive suck-me-in corset type scenarios - anything to make a quick buck I suppose.

Anyway, I digress.....so I get on the shitty bus (not nearly as good here as in Peru) and was pleased that the seat next to me seemed to stay empty. No such luck, just as the bus was pulling away, a girl comes along with two little kids. Plonks them in the seat next to me with some nice greasy sausage, chips and fizzy drink and then proceeds to rest a piece of sheet glass (3ft x 2ft) wrapped in a blanket, on their knees (so, imagine....its resting on the floor and on their knees). She flashes me a smile, says ciao to the kids and disappears, NEVER TO RETURN.

So the kids are all huddled up eating their chips etc and proceed to get all greasy, so I gave them a tissue and they were all shy at first, but I asked them lots of questions and we started chatting. The little girl was 8 and her brother 5, they had been put on the 5 hour bus journey by their aunt, back to their home in Cuenca. I was shocked, it being a shitty local bus that stopped everywhere and them being all alone, but this is Ecuador I suppose and I thought best to just get on with it.

As the bus started to climb higher and higher I started to feel a touch nauseas, what with the bumping around and the windy roads. We went very very high above the clouds at which point the little girl poked me to show me that she had vomited all down herself (greasy chips, sausage etc), with a little bit on her brother for good measure. Well, what could I do? I produced my wet wipes, cleaned her up as best I could and said to both of them that if they were going to vomit they should tell me first because we needed to get a plastic bag. This was how the journey went. Plans of sleeping were out of window, every half hour or so I´d get a nudge and have to scrabble around to find a plastic bag which hadn´t been torn up by one of them (cos let´s face it, 5 hours is a LONG time when you are under 10 and bored)and hold it whilst they spewed. I have never seen so much vomit in my life. Made all the worse because I was trying to control my own nausea. Anyway, they were such sweet kids and we chatted a lot and I taught them some English and the time passed and we almost made it to Cuence when the little boy vomited again and I went to adjust the piece of glass and it BROKE. Well, I was mortified, having made 99% of the journey with this fucking piece of glass intact, only for it to break right at the end. (I refuse to take full responsibility due to the ridiculous situation I found myself in ;)). I acutally started to worry what the mum would do to me when she found out the glass was broken, but on the other hand I was composing in Spanish in my head how to tell her off for abandoning her tiny kids. Reallistically ANYTHING could have happened to those kids and she had just stuck them on a bus all alone with no one to care for them and their puking.

So we arrived at the bus station and the mum was about 15 and I just said I was sorry the glass broke, that the kids had been vomiting, said goodbye to the kids and got myself in a cab and as far away as posssible. Totally shattered but only to check myself into a hostel that played blaring music until 1am every night. Began to wonder if Chinese water torture was potentially a preferable option to travelling, but decided to grin and bear it and that´s when I got chatting to Simon and we went on the museum adventures and to the National Park.

A very delayed continuation....

Yes, so Nathan said something along the lines of, I know I have only known you for a short time Jo, but we have shared quite a lot of things (many bottles of wine, steaks and almost a few waiters ;)) and I think I have something on my belly button and I think it might be scabies. Well, I pondered how he knew anything about scabies and he said a friend of his had had it a few years ago. I thought it was crabs, but apparently not. There was a short silence and then he started worrying that I was freaked out. I pointed out my various experiences of personal afflictions and some experienced by friends (wont go into details) which set his mind at rest, and we headed to a cafe to goolge scabies and for me to have a closer look at his belly button. He had a red mark on the side of his belly button and needless to say, having googled it, we were diagnosing him (and me) with it, amongst various other illnesses. We did come to the conclusion, however, that if it was scabies it would be very itchy, which he said it wasnt, but proceeded to start scratching it as you would. So the day went by and we drank hot chocolate and waited to say goodby (my bus for Ushuaia left at 3am). I said to him if he wanted I we could go to the doctor cos I knew where it was (ha ha ha). So, he was very brave, but he kept picking and poking it and I kept looking at it very closely without touching it cos the website (with revolting pictures) said it was contagious. By the afternoon he could take it no more, so off we went to the hospital. I was praying it would be a different doctor for fear of being accused of having Munchausens by Proxy. I was saved, it was a lady doctor who was very sweet, took one look at the alleged scabies and declared it to be an inflamed follicle. Off we went to drink wine and eat more steak.

It was painful, had to sleep for an hour then get up and get on a bus at 3 to Ushuaia and say goodbye to Nathan which was emotional and a bit drunken. The bus journey was a journey from hell, went on for about 17 hours and we had to get on and off to go in and out of chile, have sniffer dogs on the bus to make sure we weren't taking fruit or meat products into the country (I successfully smuggled peanuts through which Nathan had hidden in my jacket ;)) plus was sitting next to a Spanish guy and we said nothing to each other for the whole journey, despite the fact I was debating if it would be wrong to go in for a cuddle as I was dozing off.

Eventually we arrived in The Southern Most City of the World and what a shithole it was. Please never go there. It rained for most of the time. I did meet a lovely girl called Jo. She had fallen out with her travel buddy, so we spent a day visiting the prison (what fun), eating and drinking and she was trying to set me up with her 46 year old uncle, who, I fear is a little old for me, but who knows, perhaps he is the man of my dreams. Yet to meet him as he is a) in the UK and b) still married ;). Anyway, Jo left and things went from bad to worse. I met a sweet couple from home and we went on a lovely walk, but then they left and it rained and rained and all the weird shops (duty free scenarios) closed and I honestly felt like I was back in the winter of the UK. Why oh why people think Ushuaia is nice is beyod me, its an ex penal colony for christ's sake, does that not say it all?.

So, I was being a spoilt, miserable, wet brat and was wishing the time away until I could get on my plane back to BA (my favourite place in the whole world). And so the time came and I had to pay tax at the airport to get out of that place, which I did with satisfaction. I would have paid ANYTHING to leave. On the plane got a bit homesick and was a bit jealous of the people on the plane who were going back to their own apartments, beds and duvets. But arrived in the sweaty heat of Buenos Aires all smiles and familiarity. Went to the hostel and celebrated with 2 beers and some lovely Brazilians and went to bed. Found an even more gorgeous part of the city the next day, Palermo. Wish Jen and Diasy had seen it cos its beautiful and right up Jen's street, all arty and bohemian ;). Had a gorgeous lunch and really missed them a lot. Then that night met up with Amy and Aiden who Nathan and I had met on the bus and went to La Bomba, a funky night of African drumming, which ended in the pissing down rain. I kid you not, it was so torrential it was up to my knees, no storm drains to take the water and no taxis to get home. Somehow we made it on a bus which we got for free cos none of us had any change and I went back to the lovely flat they were staying in and slept on the sofa.

Next day I fed my hangover with steak and got on the plane to Lima. Was meeting Maddy (to say goodbye) and James (to go travelling with). Had a couple of days to kill, so booked into hostel and thought would get on with updating emails etc, but was so exhausted when I woke up in the morning, I had breakfast and went back to the dorm to lie down, which is when I met Canadian Nathan. We chatted for ages and he was all into natural healing and ayahuasca which he had been takin almost on a daily basis for a month. Was the skinny as anything, but sweet and suggested we go for lunch. Having declared he fasted and abstained from alcohol, he managed the pisco sour and beers OK and then we went for ice cream and watched the world go by. It seemed he wanted to spend the day with me, which was lovely and then he said he would cook us dinner. Well it was all very charming and I thought nothing of it as we walked round the supermarket like husband and wife picking veggies to go with the fish he had bought and we checked out the cinema times on the way home cos I wanted to go and see Invictus. Well he cooked up a lovely dinner, producing asparagus and mushrooms which he cooked with fish and homemade pesto with pasta. I was quite blown away, but still thought nothing of it and we ran to the cinema and got in just as the film had started. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather as, 10 mins into the film, he put his arm around me (27 years old this time ;)). Apparently he had been sitting there deliberating whether to do it or not and decided he didn't have a lot to lose and the worse that could happen was that I would hate him. Well, being Jo Reynolds and loving a cuddle at the best of times, I happily gave in and enjoyed the rest of the movie ;).

So, we went and had a few beers or more and went back to the hostel, where I declared in no uncertain terms my new year's res, which he said was a shame but he would happily take a cuddle and off we went to bed. No one else in the dorm! Never happens! But I stuck to my guns and we cuddled. HOWEVER, the next morning I decided that I might change the wording of my new years res to "no more casual sex....when drunk" and in my sobriety I happily broke it ;). And so lovely Maddy arrived with her man (well, boy) and the four of us had a very cheesy but lovely day eating ice creams and wondering around markets in Miraflores. And Nathan slept in my bed for anther two nights even though the dorm was full, but I figured as long as we kept very still no one would notice (even though they totally did notice, but didnt seem to mind). And James arrived and we went out and celebrated (although Miraflores is shite for nightlife), but we had fun and the next day we all had to say our goodbyes. Nathan was trying to justify our time together and saying things like, it would never have worked, we are too different etc etc. Was very sweet, I think he was seriously considering us being together, and to be honest, it would have been fun, but these things happen and you have to part.

Was sad saying bye to Maddy. So funny, am literally old enough to be her mum, but we got on sooooo well and had such nice times together in various hospitals and on countless gossiping sessions, god she kept me sane many a time ;).

God why are these postings sooooo very long, I must keep more up to date, this one is a mission.....

Yes, so said bye to Maddy and James and I got on a bus to Huaraz. Stayed in a vile hostel which I hated, but went on a great hike up to a lake which I never saw cos we got totally lost. Ended up climbing up a sheer moutain face (an exaggeration, but almost) and James with a broken thumb (god knows how he did it). What it did make me realise is that I like climbing and promised myself I would do some (not yet happened). Was an exhausting and at times frustrating day cos took ages to find the path, and I got cross cos my walking boot got wet and I got the hump and sat down and made sandwiches surrounded by cows whilst james legged it up to the lake. So we made it back to Huaraz eventually and the next day went on an equally exhausting but exhilarating bike ride, which involved very steep, bumpy and scary downhills (still dont know how James did it with broken thumb)with a Russian guy who worked for Freddy Mac so I took naughty delight in blaming him for the recession, which he got very defensive about and then told me his boss had a bonus of 16 million USD last year mmmmmmmmmmmmm no comment.

So James and I left Huaraz and Peru and went on a huge bus journey mission up to Vilcabamba, stopping for a walk round the lovely colonial town of Trujillo on the way. But I was ill, I had a bad tummy and was feeling rough (not ideal on bus jouneys, thank god for immodium) and by the time we got to Vilcabamba, which is just beautiful, I was shitting through the eye of a needle and had to go to the doc, only to find out I had amoebas again (size zero here I come). We were in thee most gorgeous hostel, with pool, massage, amazing breakfasts, so all in all wasnt in a bad place to be ill and James looked after me and was an angel and I slept solidly for a whole day. I had, by this time decided that I was going to go my own way. James was going off to meet his mate and I didnt want to intrude, plus the whole point of me travelling is to do it alone and as much as I liked travelling with him, I thought it best we split up. Plus I was ill and he had to get to a city to get the pins in his thumb taken out.

So more goodbyes were said and I stayed another night in Vilcabamba and managed to have a few cuba libres and went off for a pedicure the next day and looked at the stunning mountains and all the very old people in the town (lots of expats there, apparently people live to a very old age in Vilcabamba, a marvellous thing, butnot so good when you are very old but cant walk or do anything). Got on a bus to Cuenca the next day. Very pretty, 52 churches, one for every week of the year, just perfect for the millions of Catholics here to go and confess their sins (which are many when you are a LatAm man).

So, in my dorm was a boy called Simon from Germany. A botanist and PASSIONATE about it. Was great, spend the first day going round museums with him, history of ecuador, history of medicine (all kinds of horrendous objects that my cousin Dr Daniel would have loved to see) and the next day went on a trip to El Cajas national park. So we had an official guide, but Simon was soooooo much more knowledgeable (and only in his 20s) and spent the day going into graphic detail about the biology of all the plants we saw, none of which I can remember other than 2 things: 1) a daisy is not just one flower, its hundreds of flowers and 2) the part of a mushroom that we see that sticks out of the ground is its genital parts (think of that next time you tuck into your garlic mushrooms stuffed with cheese).

OK enough enough, my head hurts. I still need to write about adventures in the Galapagos and the snogging of the head of watch dept in Harrods with whom I am having a salsa lesson tonight, but that's it for now.....

Galapagos

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2 hospitals, a beach, a broken New Year´s Resolution and more amoebas

Sun 28/02/2010 18:21

Sooooooo, this is going to be a long one. Its been a long time and quite a lot has occurred.

So, Jen and Daisy came. It was just amazing, I nearly burst into tears when I saw them. Can´t believe a year has passed since I saw them and Daisy has changed so much! She is just gorgeous and so much fun to be with and so patient with Jen and me when we launch into our gossiping sessions.

Buenos Aires was hot hot hot and we sweated buckets in between having the most fun ever. Its such a beautiful city and we spent our days walking (a little bit), going to hairy swimming pools, eating steak, trying to eat ice creams that were melting at record speed and collapsing in the shade of the Banyan tree ....sounds so romantic, but that is what we did. We saw Tango in La Boca, an Andy Warhol exhibition (with Marilyn Monroe - a real treat), white tigers in a gorgeous animal park (for Daisy´s birthday) oh and meerkats (her favourite) and the time just flew by.

It seems my inability to add up and my ability to dilly dally and faff around have reached phenomenal levels, much to Jen and Daisy´s amusement. Although I feel this is rightfully tempered by the fact I can walk very fast in the hottest and sweatiest temperatures (which, quite frankly, is all that is required when travelling). Sadly my sense of direction seems to have plummeted too and Daisy caught onto the fact that when i said "its only one more block away" I didnt really know what I was talking about ;).

So, what with Jen getting locked out of the flat in the middle of the night, a taxi driver trying to tell me it was 10 dollars, not 10 pesos for our 2 min taxi ride and a lot of sweating, laughing and eating, the 6 days vanished.

When they left, i was utterly devastated. I honestly felt bereft and didnt know what to do with myself. 6 days quite simply is not long enough. I saw them off at the airport and, on the long journey on a local bus back to the centre, got a serious grip and decided I had to plan my next couple of weeks before I flew back to Lima. I was worried that goign to Patagonia was too expensive, but, as Jen pointed out, being at this end of the world is a once in a life time scenario and you have to make the most of it. (I think part of it was fear of travelling alone). Anyway, I got a serious grip, found a cool hostel (literally, with aircon) and they were thee most helpful ever and (after much stressing about how expensive it was or wasnt (faffing, dilly dallying)...(bearing in mind I have been living in Soles, not Pounds, so everything in Argentina seemed pricey) I booked a flight into Bariloche and a flight out of Ushuaia.

Arrived in Bariloche (a bit nervous, worried I wouldn´t meet anyone, all alone etc etc). Got to the hostel a girl had recommened to me and the place was just amazing. Views over lakes like you have never seen and the town made up of sort of log cabins....people say its very much like Switzerland and I reckon it totally is. Walked into my dorm and met Nathan....ah lovely Nathan. He is just great. Got chatting, and we just got on really really well. Turned out he lived up the road from me. Anyway, so it all began. Went out for dinner that night for steak and red wine. Had the best steak ever, real melt in the mouth... Whilst we were enjoying i pointed out that our waiter was quite fit ;). Nathan was in full agreement and so we carried on our meal. Then, having had a few wines, I went off to the loo. On the way back from the loo the aforementioned waiter appeared and pulled me into the boys toilets (!). Well, when does that ever happen?! He was trying his best to pash me (my new favourite Kiwi word), but I was having none of it, but loosely agreed to go dancing with him when his shift ended.

Went back to the table and relayed the story to Nathan who found it hilarous, and after a lot more dilly dallying we decided I should go dancing. Off i went, only to find myself at the bloody beach with this waiter who clearly had NO dancing (or some kind of Argentinian dancing that I know nothing about) in mind. So (bearing in mind the New Years Resolution) I swiftly rejected his charms (and I mean charms in the loosest sense of the word) and went back to the hostel.... only to find one of the boys from my dorm sitting there looking bored and we decided to go off for a beer. Well, a few beers later, where did I find myself? Only back at the bloody beach, although this time there had been no promise of dancing. Well after much manhandling, I declared my New Years res once again (this time out loud) and went back to the hostel. I would like here to point out that these boys were under 30. I am now unsure if I am just a lucky 37 year old or if I have EASY written all over my face. Either way, I woke up in the morning very proud of myself for remaining intact...something a former Jo Reynolds would never have done ;).

Nathan and I went horseriding that day, gorgeous horses, and I sort of managed a trot and maybe a gallop, although I am hoping to this day that the poor horse still has his spine intact because I did an awful lot of bouncing. Was a lovely day though and had a huge parilla (Argentinian BBQ) with more meat and wine.

Then went white water rafting, which I just love and will be doign again for sure....and went walking up mountains to see the 7 lakes, had cheese and salami picnics, thought we´d broken the record by getting up a mountain in half the time of everyone else (including the hardcore hikers), only to find out when we got back down that we had only gone halfway up ;), and spent the rest of our time in the AMAZING choc/ice cream shops of Bariloche which are to die for.

Nathan was planning to leave and I was going to stay, but we got on so well I decided to go with him and we set off on our 30 hour bus journey to El Calafate. incredibly not a bad journey cos we were quite hungover and frankly a bus journey is the best hangover cure ever....reason being: you are lying around feeling a bit worse for wear, BUT you are actually doing something by going somewhere, therefore not wasting any time....

Plus Nathan had an itouch (they are fab) and we watched a film and south park and met a lovely Kiwi couple, Amy and Aiden, who kept us entertained.

Arrived El Calafate to find that Nathan didnt have a bed in the hosteI was in, so he went off to find another hostel and I managed to get myself in a right situation with a Dutch hypochondriac.

Was just checking in and this girl (who i recognised from the bus) was crying in reception. I asked if she was ok and she said she had sore boobs (no word of a lie). She said they were painful and she hadnt been sleeping and she was worried she had cancer. So i pointed out to her that I was no doctor but breast cancer wasnt painful. She looked so upset that I said to her if she wanted I would go to the hostpital with her. BIG MISTAKE. On the way it turns out she had already been to see two docs in Arg and had a mammogram and both docs had siad it was inflamation nothing more. We went in to see the doc, she whipped her top off and insisted he check out her boobs. She wasnt happy with how he did it so I had to ask him to do it again (her spanish wasnt great), this time all over because he had only examined her on the sides. He said nothing was wrong, it was benign inflammation. She didnt believe him and said was it cancer. He said no, and so we had a small stand off when he then prescribed her some anti inflammatory gel and sent us for an x ray. OUtside the x ray she asked if i thought he may have made her cancer worse because he prodded her very hard in the boobs when examining her....i said i doubted it. Then she was worried that having an x ray here was dangerous, I said probably not, but that we could leave and go back to the hostel if she didnt want it done. And so it went on. she had the x ray, which of course was clear, and left the hospital. By this time i wanted to kill her. She still didnt believe the doc and i said to her that if she felt that bad she sould simply get a flight and go home. She was driving herself mad and that she needed to get a serious grip cos what is the point in coming all this way and stressing like this. The girl was a bloody psychologist.....god help her patients. Anyway she insisted on buying me lunch, i really wanted to get away and find nathan and scream but i couldnt, so we went for lunch and to cut an even longer story short, she paid 20 pesos of my 60 pesos lunch....so much for charity. I avoided her for the rest of my stay.

So Nathan and I went off to the Perito Merino glacier, the world´s second only advancing glacier, which is ENORMOUS, we walked on it with crampons and drank its crystal clear water and then had a whisky and a chocolate at the end, was magical.

That night I met a HUGE south African who lived in Angola, who was very sweet and we chatted until 3am, I seem to remember he was a bit boring, but our conversation is hazy and I may well have scared him off cos when we bumped into him again he didnt seem quite as interested ;). Oh the joys of Argentinian red wine....

And then we headed to El Chalten.....Where we climbed up to see condors (saw two, or maybe the same one twice) and a turquoise lake and ate ice cream and the next day we
climbed up the Fitz Roy Massif and believe me, its MASSIVE and WINDY up there (I met a girl who had been blown over and broke her knee). Never have I experienced wind like it, with little hail stones blowing into your face just to add to it....how Scott of the Antarctic did it I will never know. Anyway, we made it up and down and managed to keep each other sane cos it was a LONG way and i was rapidly losing the will to live. And we spoilt ourselves in a microbrewery with beer and pizza for dinner (El Chalten is tiny, only 25 years old) and saw the HUGE south african who came over for a short (!) chat.....

Then Nathan and I went back to El Calafate and were preparing to go our separate ways when he declared that he thought he may have scabies and could I check his belly button.

and the rest will have to wait cos my fingers hurt from typing and I have a pedicure booked ;)

xxxx