Hospedaje Yemeyá, Nazca (leaving)

The day began early: we started our sandboarding trip at 3 a.m. We were picked up at the hotel and drove for about 30 min into the mountainous region. We started hiking at an altitude of 1400 m. Luckily it was not pitch dark at this early hour, because it was full moon. So most part of the hike we did not even need our flashlights. The hike took us 3 hours. The first hour was going up very steep on a rocky surface with many different cactuses. The area is a desert, so either there is no vegetation or only such succulent pants can be found here. The second hour was more or less flat, with little elevation and the third part was the toughest, because then we have reached the sand dunes. Climbing on a sand dune is very exhausting. We reached the top for sunrise and finally we saw clearly the surroundings. They were bare mountain peaks. And in the middle of it was our giant sand dune. It is a very weird sight, but also amazing. No clue how such a huge amount of sand could have gotten here. Why is there no sand in the neighbouring area? Where did that sand come from? Please tell us!!!

The sandboarding was not as much fun as it was in Namibia. The equipment was basically a wooden board with textile straps screwed to it as bindings. As for boots we used our hiking boots and as for waxing we had to rub candles to the bottom of the boards. The main problem was that the wax did not last long, so after sliding down some 50 meters the board got stuck on the slope, no matter how steep it was. And believe me the final stretch with an altitude difference of 800 meters was very steep!!! Even if you just sat on the board and tried to use it as a sledge it got stuck... The other problem was that making turns with such an equipment was impossible, not only for us but also for our guide. He actually told us that turns don't work... Not that he was such an expert, but still was more experienced on that terrain.

Although the sandboarding part was disappointing the trip provided many breathtaking views, so it was worth it. We even saw a desert fox in the morning and a small scorpion on the dunes. After the sandboarding finished we hiked back to the main road where we were picked up and taken back to town. The rest of the day we spent relaxing at a swimming pool of a hotel.

And once again our bonus question: how was that giant sand dune of Cerro Blanco formed?

Hospedaje Yemeyá (still), Nazca

Spent the whole afternoon arranging a sandboarding trip to Cerro Blanco (2072m), the highest sand dune in the world. It took so long because for some reason Nazca doesn't really have a sandboarding scene (e.g. there are no sandboarding shops here), and the tour companies all use one and the same guide (Richi), who today wasn't reachable on the phone.
Finally another guide was found. The trip starts tomorrow at 3AM as one cannot do the 3h hike to the top of Cerro Blanco during the day as it would be too hot. So will go to sleep now. Tomorrow evening will go on to Arequipa.

Hospedaje Yemeya, Nazca

Having breakfast. Going to see the Nazca lines in a couple of hours. The sky is foggy at the moment, hope it clears up soon.
In the afternoon will visit a pre-Inca cemetery, ceramics factory, gold processing factory, and an aqueduct. So today is full of activities.

Hostal San Isidro, Pisco

We have spent the night in Pisco. It is quite an ugly, dusty small town. Not much to do here. The only thing is to go to the cemetery and pay a visit to the grave of a suspected vampire called Sarah Ellen. She must get a lot of gringo visitors because in the cemetery the locals kept asking us whether we want to see her grave and gave us directions. She must be also popular among the locals because her grave was the one with the most flowers. There were also many small thank you notes hanging on her grave, as if she had been a miraculous healer or something. Nevertheless she cannot be so miraculous, since opposite to her prediction, she failed to resurrect in 1993, 100 years after her death.

The other activity in Pisco is to book a trip to the Ballestas Islands which is also called the Galapagos of the poor man. There are large guano producing bird colonies there and many sea lions. On the way one is also shown a big cactus like drawing on a rock, similar to the Nacza lines. After this boat trip we will go to Nacza and try to book a flight over the real Nacza lines.

Cruz del Sur bus station, La Victoria, Lima

Arrived in Lima at 7 o'clock (one hour ago). The bus ride was very
comfortable. Several films with English subtitles were shown.
Unfortunately the on-board WiFi did not work and I was one number
short of completing the Bingo! in the on-board bingo game.
Now sitting in the Cruz del Sur cafeteria, having breakfast. There is
a TV here, informing us that heavy rainfalls have blocked the Inca
Trail as well as the train line to Machu Picchu. Tourists are being
airlifted to Cusco. We planned to arrive there after visiting the
Nazca lines. Now it's unclear how much sense would it make.
Will try to go to Pisco now.

Internet place, downtown Piura

Arrived in Piura at 9 o'clock, 2 hours later than originally hoped. The main reason for the delay was that it took more than 1 hour to get the Ecuadorian exit stamp. There seemed to be some problem with the computer, the border guard kept checking it, clicking the OK-button on the error message, didn't work, went back to the Discovery Channel that was running on his TV. So several times. I fell asleep in the line, it was 2 o'clock in the morning.

Finally the long line of people needing the stamp must have gotten angry and restless, so the border guard decided to fall back to the manual method of recording each person's ID on a piece of paper.

The busride was horrible too. One had to change to a different bus in Machala (the CIFA bus that takes one across the border stopping at both migration offices). This bus was overbooked. Unlike British Airways the CIFA bus company doesn't pay you 800 euros and book a nice hotel for you in Machala. Fortunately some people got off soon, so in the end I only had to stand for about 30 minutes.

At 15 o'clock (in 2 hours) going to Lima (15h ride) with Cruz del Sur, which should be a reasonably good company (we alredy took them from Lima to Trujillo). From Lima we go straigth to Pisco. The tourist information in Piura claimed that there are buses every 10 minutes from Lima to Pisco, so should be there tomorrow afternoon. (Btw, the tourist information in Peru is excellent.)

Can't wait to take a shower and drink some Pisco Sour.

Internet place close to Terminal Terrestre, Cuenca

In 3 hours (21 o'clock) leaving on a night bus to Piura, Peru. At 7 o'clock should be there. Haven't decided yet if we go to Huaraz next or rather straight to Pisco.
Spent the last two nights in Cuenca, first in the stylish El Cafecito (which everybody recommends, but which was expensive, 25 USD for dbl with bath, and loud) and then in Hotel Pichincha (11 USD for dbl without bath).
Cuenca is a nice little town with lots of cute cafeterias and many churches. All the museums are closed during the weekend (why?), so there was not much that we could have otherwise done, but luckily Pedro, an old friend from the Zurich days, drove us around showing Cuenca at night (good views from Turi and Baños), and the villages around Cuenca (highlight: the church of Biblián).
Ecuador in general has been great, although we had to cancel some planned mountain climbing and wasted a lot of time doing nothing in Baños. Galapagos was probably the highlight, more about it in another post.

Across the street from Cafe Hernan, Puerto Ayora

Yesterday, in the morning we hiked a few kilometers out of town to a lava tunnel. The hike itself was not anything spectacular, as it went along the main road with quite busy traffic. Nevertheless it was quite surprising to see giant tortoises foraging right next to the road. Welcome to Galapagos!! :o) After a short photo break we continued and a few hundred meters further found the tunnel. Such tunnels form when the outside part of the lava flow solidifies fast and the inner part simply flows on, leaving a tunnel behind. Unfortunately the ceiling of the tunnel we visited was collapsing, so we did not go inside. The part that one could see was also quite short (there are much longer ones around Bellavista, stretching even 1 km long), but still it looked quite cool, as I have never seen anything like that before.

In the afternoon we took a water-taxi to Punta Estrada Beach and walked to an other volcanic formation, called Las Grietas, which is basically a gorge . The interesting thing about it is that it is filled with water coming from two different sources. One is the freshwater and the other is sea water, both filtered through the rocks. The water was very clear and many people were snorkeling, although as the water is filtered through the rocks and is mixed brackwater, I doubt that one can see any animals there. For most of the people the main thing there is cliff diving, as the water is quite deep at certain part.

Today will go on a 4-day trip around the Santiago Island. For the boat and the detailed itinerary see http://www.galapagos-cruises.ca/yate/nuevoflamingo.htm.
The boat will cruise around the island Santiago. We expect to see a lot of birds (most interestingly the magnificent frigate bird which has a big inflatable throat poach, flamingos, Galapagos penguins which are the northernmost living penguins and some more booby species) and lots of marine life during the ample snorkeling opportunities this trip offers.
(This post was originally written on the roof of Hotel Lirio del Mar, but there the wireless didn't support posting into blogger.com for some reason.)

Cafe Hernan, Puerto Ayora

Having Desayuno Criollo and Desayuno Ingles at Cafe Hernan.
Yesterday visited the Tortuga Bay, 45-minute-walk from Puerto Ayora. The beach had white sand and was extremely flat. So it was reflecting nicely. Other parts of the beach had black lava rocks with thousands of crabs and marine iguanas on them. The crabs can be easily spotted because they are very shy and start clumsily to move (making a lot of noise) when a human gets closer. Many of them are also bright red (Sally Lightfoot crab), I previously thought that crabs get red only if you boil them.
The iguanas move slowly or don't move at all, so often you spot them only when they are 10cm away from you. They are not aggressive though, feeding only on algae.
On the beach we also saw two blue-footed boobies, one of the bird-watching goals on Galapagos.
Later yesterday evening visited the Darwin Research Center where some Galapagos tortoises and land iguanas are kept.
Today will check out the lava tunnels.

Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos

Sitting at the port and watching the pelicans fishing.
Earlier this morning landed at the Baltra airport and took a ferry+bus through the Santa Cruz Island to Puerto Ayora. Very expensive and touristic here. (Everybody is selling "I love boobies" T-shirts.)
Being an inhabited place, Puerto Ayora is not the best place for wildlife spotting. Nevertheless we have already seen frigatbirds, pelicans, finches, a heron, lizards, crabs, sea lions, and marine iguanas.

Guayaquil Airport

In 30 minutes flying to Baltra, Galápagos Islands. Will spend there a week. On Tuesday will join a 4-day trip around the Santiago Island.

Blue boobies, here we come!

McDonald's, waterfront, Guayaquil

Arrived yesterday in Guayaquil. Staying in Hotel Ecuador (11 USD per dbl with bath). Today exploring the possibility of going to the Galapagos Islands.

Hostal Transilvania, Baños (leaving)

Today finally leaving Baños and going to Guayaquil. Will look for a cheap tour to Galapagos there.

Activities done in Baños:

• 2010-01-05 Arrived in Baños, checked in at Hostal Plantas y Blanco (9.50 USD per person, no TV, no breakfast, wireless barely worked), had a pizza
  
• 2010-01-06 Slept, took ibubrofen and Neocitran, slept some more
  
• 2010-01-07 Slept, took ibubrofen/Neocitran, visited the church, slept
  
• 2010-01-08 Visited the doctor (he spoke a little German, so didn't really understand what the sickness was, something with tonsils, his diagnosis was confident though: the tonsils were all covered with white puss), moved into Hostal Transilvania (7 USD per person, incl. TV, breakfast, free wireless)
• 2010-01-09 Watched TV (Lost, Friends, American Wedding, ...), took antibiotics and paracetamol, slept
• 2010-01-10 Watched TV (Lost, Friends, ...), took antibiotics and paracetamol, slept
  
• 2010-01-11 Viewed volcanic activity on Tungurahua from Bellavista (400m above the town), took antibiotics
  
• 2010-01-12 Viewed volcanic activity on Tungurahua from down-town Baños, took the last set of antibiotics
  
• 2010-01-13 Biked to Mera, viewing the many waterfalls on the way, took a bus back to Baños (tracklog: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://files.dropbox.com/u/1397729/trip2009/kml/20100113.kml)
  

Biggest highlight: volcanic activity (see more at http://files.dropbox.com/u/1397729/trip2009/south_america/stories/surprises.html)
Best hostel in Baños: Hostal Transilvania
Best restaurant in Baños: Pizza restaurant Garfield

Hostal Transilvania, Baños

Biked from Baños to Mera today, about 45km downhill, and then took a bus back to Baños. Originally hoped to reach Puyo (65km away) but it was getting late and we got worried that we wouldn't make it to the last Puyo-Baños bus (at 6 o'clock). The whole trip took longer than expected because the road contained many uphill parts, although descending some 700m in total.



There are many waterfalls along the first 20km, most impressive being the Pailón del Diablo.

Baños, Ecuador

Came down to the small town of Baños, located at 1800m in the Andes. The surroundings are amazing, high mountains, very green, but unfortunately since 3 days not really visible, as it is always cloudy and since yesterday it has been raining on and off. Rather on than off... We chose this de-acclimatization because Kaarel felt sick and probably it is not the best option to cure a cold or a flu at 4000m high in the hidden village of Quilotoa with an average temperature of 10C. 
Actually I think Kaarel is just faking this sickness because he was too lazy to hike. :o) It is really a pitty, as the landscape was truly amazing. Quilotoa is located on the rim of a crater with a beautiful green-blue crater lake in its perfectly round full caldera. The lake is some 400m lower from the rim and is about 250 m deep.

The water is salty and sulfuric (the vulcano is still active), so it is not potable and has no fish. The weather was not really good and unfortunately we could not see most of the surrounding mountains, including the two most famous vulcanos, the Cotopaxi and the Iliniza. There are several hiking options in the area, but we only hiked down to the lake and back up to the village. Still that hike was pretty awesome, especially when the sun came out from behind the clouds and made the lake change its colors.
The locals in the village were very friendly, they clearly live on tourism, as every second house is a hostel  and the rest are "art galleries" or small grocery stores. Still the local women kept their traditional wear of black shoes, white stockings, knee-high dark skirts, blankets around their shoulders and small hats sometimes decorated with peacock feather. Even young girls wear this outfit, but the boys and men do not seem to care that much about tradition and run around in normal clothes. Occasionally some of them do wear a poncho though.

So unfortunately we had to leave this Andean paradise and now we are waiting for better weather in Baños, so we can do some downhill mountain biking to Puyo which is 60 km away. The route should be spectacular, passing by many waterfalls in a beautiful valley as it arrives to the steamy jungle. As its name suggests, Baños is also famous for its thermal water. But as it is pretty wet outside, it does not make much sense to visit the spas until the weather gets better.

Wilson y 6 de Diciembre, Quito (leaving)

Leaving Quito and start going South. First stop Latacunga from where we plan to visit the Quilotoa crater lake and climb the Cotopaxi volcano.

Activities done in and around Quito (will write more about them later):

1. Visited the old town (e.g. the San Francisco church)
2. Visited Mitad del Mundo, where two fake and one real equator line pass through
   
3. Climbed the Pichincha mountain (4700m), turned around 50m from the top though (unlike Humboldt who reached the top in 1802)
   
4. Visited Otavalo, at the market bought a sombrero de paja toquilla, pants, and a bag for cables, and later in the night saw a cock fight
5. Visited the basilica del voto nacional in down-town Quito, climbed to all the towers (highest was 310 steps)

Some photos are available here.

Feliz Año Nuevo!