The South America Chronicles - Dos

Brad and I are wyling away an afternoon in Quito so time for an update....

First with the good stuff. The 4 days we had at the Black Sheep Inn were awesome. The place is situated in the middle of nowhere. If World War 3 broke out, I am sure we would have been the last to know. Getting there was interesting. It took two bus rides, the second being along a dirt track, in some amazing scenery, and with a lot of locals. The bus was crammed, not helped by our packs in the aisle. And just when you thought it would be emptying out, on would come a whole set of locals, with sacks of all sorts of things - from potatoes to (live) chickens. They were even riding on the roof at some stage. After 4 hours of this we finally arrived at the serenity of BSI.

The BSI is all about sustainability and environmentalism, and they do it pretty well. The views across the very seismic-inflicted countryside were brilliant, and the vegetarian food wasn´t far off as well. We spent the three days getting out and about and hiking, including the Quilotoa Crater Lake. There were lots of interesting guests to meet up with at the end of the day, also good for collecting tips about travelling through South America. Even with the hiking, it was all very relaxing, and we all agreed we could easily have spent more time there.

But we had other things to do - for the boys, we were due to climb Mt Cotopaxi (5897m)and the girls were going on a 3 day horseriding trek. We are still waiting for thr girls to return this afternoon, so I can´t tell you much about that, but the attempted climb was last night/this morning, so I can fill you in on all that drama!

It all started yesterday morning, when we were picked up and driven up to the refuge on the mountain, which is already at 4800m. Now you might be asking what acclimitisation we had been doing for this. Not a lot (the BSI was at 3200m and the Crater Lake we hiked from it just short of 4000m) - but the climbing guide company we had booked with assuredus that that should be enough. However, there was still plenty of trepidation on our part.

Though it all started fairly well, with our practise with the crampons and ice picks on the nearby glacier at 5000m going well. But it was only after this that Brad started to ge a very painful headache at the back of his neck. He did his best to ride it out and got up at the appointed time of midnight, but ultimately made the wise decision that attempting the climb wouldn´t be a great idea in his condition. So this left me to slog it out with the othr 4 climbers who had booked in with our guide company. And, at this stage I felt pretty good, not feeling any effects of the altitude. But is wasn´t the altitude that finally got me....

It might have been the meat platter the previous day, of the meal cooked up for us at the refuge, but early on in the climb I realised something wasn´t quite right ´down there´. And with my history with the D-word, this wasn´t a good sign. However, along with my guide and my new partner (Matt), we started up the mountain at 1am, making good time - but damn it was hard. Despite it being a beautiful night, a clear sky full of stars and a near full moon, it was quite windy, and trying to push yourself up the mountain was really hard. Early on there was a long slog up quite a slushy slope, and it seemed that for every two (small) steps, you slid back one. But with no apparent effects of altitude sickness I was prepared to slog it out in my typical stubborn self. But it ws now that I really needed to do what you don´t want to be having to do in the dark, on a freezing cold and windy 45 degree glacier. But such things don´t care about such logic, and when nature calls it is hard to deny. Especially when it calls three times! And it was this that finally defeated me. After about 5 hours of slogging up that dan mountain, and just 150m from the top, I couldn´t go any further. I was simply drained (literally) of any energy and quite dehydrated as well. It was a pretty sad decision to make, especially as it meant my climbing partner had to turn around as well, but I couldn´t see myself making it to the top in my condition. Very frustrating, as I wasn´t beaten by the altitude, but by some dodgy meal. I even found it hard to appreciate the stunning sunrise on the descent.

Anyway, we came, we saw, but we definitely didn´t conquer. It still makes for an interesting experience, but I don´t think either of us will be hurrying back to mountainairing any time soon. It must be the hardest thing - physically and mentally - I have ever attempted. The Ironman in March might seem easy by comparison.

But don´t fear, we now have 10 days in the Galapagos to looks forward to (though also then biding farewell to Brad and Sharon and having to take on South America on our own) and then the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. Look forward to updating you from Cuzco, Peru.

P.S. I am also 9-5 up over Brad in the Great Ecuadorian Euchre Champonships.

The South America Chronicles - Uno

Just a few days into the trip and there has been plenty of drama so far. It began with a 4 hour delay on our flight from Madrid to Lima, which meant we missed our flight through to Quito. The result being hat we had to spend an unplanned night in Lima - which after plenty of stress, worked out OK with us being able to organise another flight the next morning. Ironically, it also mean that we missed the huge earthquake in Peru - that you have probably heard about - being in the air when we were supposed to be at teh airport. In fact, we didn´t learn about the earthquake until the next morning, but by all accounts it has been quite a bad one.

But since all that drama, things have gone well. We have just spent the weekend up at the market town of Otavalo. Markets were very cool, a lot less touristy than we thought it would be. We went for a walk in the surrounding hillsides for some good views - it is an incredibly vlcanic country.

It is also incredibly cheap. We´ve just been out for a night on the town where dinner cost us $10 each and cocktails were $1.50 each. Though this is not necessarily a good thing as the girls are struggling to handle their drink at altitude!

We are off tomorrow to the Black Sheep Inn for four days, looking forward to some relaxing time - reading, cards, and eating & drinking. We may even manage to fit in some hiking and mountain biking as well. And then Brad and I embark on our climb up Mt Cotopaxi - I´m not looking forward to that, much!! Will update you on it all next time we come into contact with the ínterweb´.

The South America Chronicles - Cero

Anna and I are just about to head off on our South America adventure. We some regret, we finally leave London on August the 15th, and we arrive back in Auckland November the 7th.

Firstly, we fly off with Brad & Sharon, first stop Quito, Ecuador. We spend the first week or so travelling around the Ecuador, including visiting the market town of Otavalo, before heading down for 4 nights at the (what looks awesome) Black Sheep Inn in the Quilotoa region. For Brad and I, this makes up our acclimatisation for our attempt to climb Mt Cotopaxi (on August 24th/25th), a 6000m metre high volcano! Amateur climbers can do it, though it still requires ropes and crampons, and how the altitude will affect us is still an unknown. However, the guides we have booked - Moggely - come high recommended, and seem confident that we wont have any problems. After our conquering of the mountain we meet up with the girls - who are going on a 3 day horse trek around Cotopaxi National Park - and head back to Quito for another couple of days.

On August 27th, we then fly out to the Galapagos Islands for 10 day, including an 8 day cruise of the boat Diamante, where we explore the islands and will do lots of amazing stuff - swim with sea lions/dolphins/penguins, see giant turtles/iguanas, etc. On the September 5th, we leave the Galapagos and say farewell to Brad & Sharon - who are travelling for longer than us and hence are moving slower than we are. But Anna and I fly down to Cuzco, where we are booked to do a 4 day walk along the Inca Trail, finishing at Machu Picchu on September 13th.

And then this is the end of our booked adventures, we have the next 7-8 weeks to travel as we wish.We have a good idea of what we want to do though. Next we will travel across to La Paz, Bolivia by way of Lake Titicaca. In Bolivia, we will mountain bike down the world's most dangerous road, visit the Amazon, and the Salar de Uyuni salt flats.

Next we plan to travel down through Chile, through the Atacama desert, and down to the Lake District, which is about 3/4 down, tasting a few Chilean reds along the way.

From the Lake District, the plan is to cross over into Argentina and make our way up to Buenos Aires - where we will want to make sure we have enough time to really enjoy. We have a few things on the list we would like to do in Argentina - go up to the Iquazu Falls, the wine region of Mendoza, eat as much Argentinean steak as humanly possible - but some of this will depend on how much time we have.

It is a big adventure for Anna and I and we are hoping that it all goes smoothly and that we have a great time. I will look to post a few entries on my blog site as we travel, updating you where we are and what we have done.

Adios amigos!

Pub Watch: The Bricklayer's Arms, Putney (London)
Before I left I had to post a blog about my favourite local bar in Putney - The Bricklayer's Arms. Tucked down a little side street, I didn't actually know about this pub for my first year here - despite only being a 5 minute walk from my place. However, when we found it, it instantly became my favourite.

It is nothing like most of the other bars/pubs in Putney, which while many are good, cater more for the young crowd. Nothing flashy inside or out, The Bricklayer's is most definitely a 'beer pub' and excels at this by having the whole Timothy Taylor range on handpull (the only pub in London to do so). And not only is this selection good, the ales are always in tip top condition - some of the best I've found in London. So it is not surprising that the Bricklayer's recently won the Greater London Pub of the Year, a huge achievement for a small Putney pub.

I know I will certainly miss being able to pop down there for a good pint of Landlord or Ram Tam.

Therapy - part deux

Another year and another 10 days relaxing on Anna's father's boat in the Med (see last year's trip) - life's not too tough I guess. With our imminent departure from London getting closer and closer, it probably wasn't the best timing for taking 10 days out, but it ended up being just what we needed to get away from the stress of getting ready to leave. And it was also very welcome to actually experience a bit of summer this year.

This year we took Rich & Titch down, meeting up with Martin & Viv (Anna's parents) on the boat in Villefrance, which is a small old town just east of Nice. For the next week, we didn't get up to too much, the recipe was pretty much the same each day - get up, go for a swim, eat, take the boat out and anchor for the day in a small bay, swim, lie down, eat drink, swim, come back to the marina, eat and drink some more - I think you get the picture. And we had some beaut weather, I don't think we saw a cloud the whole time, and boy was it hot (the one day we did see a temperature reading, it said 39 degrees!!).

Rich & Titch really loved the boat, despite Rich getting massacred by the odd mosquito. He also went down in Euchre 'championship' as well. By the end of the week we were all looking pretty brown (and also a little 'thicker').

Luckily for Anna and I, we stayed on for a few extra days after Rich & Titch left, catching up with my parents who were coming to the boat for 10 days themselves. All the in-laws in one place went smoothly and when we finally left, it looked like the cards would be coming out often for some late night rounds of 'Arsehole'.

Coming back to London, the task in front of us was no different, but we were certainly in a better frame of mind to attack it.

You can see our pictures here, and Rich & Titch's pictures here.