Got up v gingerly after last night's nonsense. Went for disgusting chop suey in a Colombian restaurant with the dulcet tones of Enya as accompaniment! Didn't work.
Went back and met the French lads again. They were utterly shattered too, which was good, I wasn't suffering alone! Listened to Ireland v Australia in the Compromise rules at 2pm Colombian time - Micheal O Muircheartaigh's last ever match. Still don't believe it though!
And met the Yank lad in my room again. Bit of a knob this lad. He was telling me that he's only been here a week (moved down after 3 yrs in Medellin) but he's already got 3 women on the go. Turns out that one of them, by his own admission, he hasn't even met yet! He's chatted to her on Facebook. Ah sure yeah, that's the same thing. Another girl is actually a doctor don't you know and is super hot. But there's a problem - "There's only so much making out you can do in a car" - oh so this girl's a doctor driving a convertible and what, she doesn't have a bedroom that you can go back to? And all that stuff about how much money you have and you can't afford a hotel room for a night? Oh that's right, you haven't even kissed her yet, have you chief? If she even exists like...
He had a rant about black people, with unacceptable liberal use of the N-word, then he turned to me and said:
"Irish people are very serious. I hate to generalise but you guys need to lighten up. You've no sense of humour. Hey man, I'm from Chicago, I just tell it like I see it."
Mmm... it could be because us Paddies don't really want to engage in banter with you, you self-important, full of shit, racist prick. Or yeah, you could be right, we're all a mad boring race.
Went for a delicious dinner later on, and ran into the lad from the tourist office who works in a restaurant near the hostel. Fierce nice lad, bit of a chat, couple of pints and a much quieter one than last night!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
29th Oct - Cali Day 1
Shattered today and I needed a bank. No joy in the first couple and fear was it wouldn't work in Colombia. That would be an utter disaster as I've only one card left! Eventually I found one to work which was brilliant.
Walked around town for about an hour, eventually found a small place that did fruit juice. Started chatting to a few girls who were in there on their lunch break. I needed a new pair of shoes and wondered if they could point out a shoe shop. With typical Colombian hospitality, they insisted on walking with me for over an hour, going to different shoe shops, advising on what was nice and eventually I got a lovely pair of shoes and a lovely photo. Brilliant girls!
Everyone in Cali is so sound. No one points out directions. Everyone walks with you. I asked a security guard at a school where the tourist office was. Walked with me for a couple of blocks and he kept looking back with a guilty look on his face as if to say "yeah, I should be guarding the kids really!"
So a good day spent wandering around the town. One bizarre thing I've begun to notice is that mobile calls are v expensive. So people on the street set up stalls and sell mobile minutes. This is bizarre to me but it's quite common to see 2 or 3 people at a stall making calls to mobiles! Like this woman here, she's talking on a phone owned by the lad in the flourescent jacket. The phone is attached to his jacket by a wire. These lads are absolutely everywhere ie every 50 metres or so in places!
Had a bite to eat later and in the hostel, I ran into two French lads who I played poker with back in La Paz, my 3rd night in South America! Gas lads, we ended up going on the lash. The lads had heard about this great place but we'd to get a taxi there, drove for about half an hour, lost, eventually found it! It was pretty much empty! Nightmare! Drove for another half an hour somewhere else, empty. A dreadful old man was giving a "concert" in this disaster of a place we ended up in! Empty except for old girls in their 60s. So so bad that it was weirdly enjoyable!
Different club then which was almost as bad. I hit the wall then and taxied home. A hilarious disaster of a night!
Walked around town for about an hour, eventually found a small place that did fruit juice. Started chatting to a few girls who were in there on their lunch break. I needed a new pair of shoes and wondered if they could point out a shoe shop. With typical Colombian hospitality, they insisted on walking with me for over an hour, going to different shoe shops, advising on what was nice and eventually I got a lovely pair of shoes and a lovely photo. Brilliant girls!
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| Lovely girls and lovely shoes! |
Everyone in Cali is so sound. No one points out directions. Everyone walks with you. I asked a security guard at a school where the tourist office was. Walked with me for a couple of blocks and he kept looking back with a guilty look on his face as if to say "yeah, I should be guarding the kids really!"
So a good day spent wandering around the town. One bizarre thing I've begun to notice is that mobile calls are v expensive. So people on the street set up stalls and sell mobile minutes. This is bizarre to me but it's quite common to see 2 or 3 people at a stall making calls to mobiles! Like this woman here, she's talking on a phone owned by the lad in the flourescent jacket. The phone is attached to his jacket by a wire. These lads are absolutely everywhere ie every 50 metres or so in places!
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| Quick phone call! |
Had a bite to eat later and in the hostel, I ran into two French lads who I played poker with back in La Paz, my 3rd night in South America! Gas lads, we ended up going on the lash. The lads had heard about this great place but we'd to get a taxi there, drove for about half an hour, lost, eventually found it! It was pretty much empty! Nightmare! Drove for another half an hour somewhere else, empty. A dreadful old man was giving a "concert" in this disaster of a place we ended up in! Empty except for old girls in their 60s. So so bad that it was weirdly enjoyable!
Different club then which was almost as bad. I hit the wall then and taxied home. A hilarious disaster of a night!
28th Oct - Quito to Cali, Colombia
So got the bus at 1am from the station. It was fine though, it left at about 1.30 and there were a couple of Kiwi lads in the seat behind me. Slept a bit and then we stopped for breakfast at one of those usual roadside dinner places. Met another kiwi lad from the bus there, seemed a grand lad too.
Got to the border and despite the fact that I didn't have some piece of paper I needed to leave Ecuador they waved me through no hassle. The kiwi lad I met at breakfast got stopped though. Turned out that he was a bit of an odd fish. He had a 3 month visa for Ecuador but had stayed for over 4 months. He told the lads that he'd been "sick" when they asked him why he stayed so long.
He spoke absolutely zero Spanish so insisted on shouting at the border guards in English. Ah yeah, sure that's just a super idea! He also brought zero cash with him to the border, so couldn't even bribe his way out of the situation! He was kicked off the bus anyway and detained in Ecuador. Bizarre lad.
I went over to get my passport stamped at the Colombian side - no problems. Then a lad who was selling Colombian pesos came up and started chatting. Normally this is a shake-down to get to know you, then pounce selling his wares. This lad just wanted banter cos he seemed genuinely interested in banter. Even after I told him that I'd already exchanged my cash earlier he still just wanted to chat away! Good first impression of the Colombian people!
We stopped a couple of hours later for lunch. There was a mad rush as everyone on the bus ran to shower when they had the chance. Myself and the kiwi lads had no notion of it! There were a couple of sound Peruvian birds on board and they were doling out the savage abuse back on the bus! These poor girls live in Venezuela and were on the bus for 5 full days to get home and 5 more to come back! Brutal. They've a good excuse to take showers anyway!
The bus turned out to be a 21hr trip. I don't usually mind the long bus journeys too much. I write this blog, watch tv, listen to music, read a book, research the next place I'm going to but this was a tough journey.
Got in anyway for 11pm, taxi to the hostel recommended in the book that Mike and Sam wanted to go to. Welcome to Colombia!
Got to the border and despite the fact that I didn't have some piece of paper I needed to leave Ecuador they waved me through no hassle. The kiwi lad I met at breakfast got stopped though. Turned out that he was a bit of an odd fish. He had a 3 month visa for Ecuador but had stayed for over 4 months. He told the lads that he'd been "sick" when they asked him why he stayed so long.
He spoke absolutely zero Spanish so insisted on shouting at the border guards in English. Ah yeah, sure that's just a super idea! He also brought zero cash with him to the border, so couldn't even bribe his way out of the situation! He was kicked off the bus anyway and detained in Ecuador. Bizarre lad.
I went over to get my passport stamped at the Colombian side - no problems. Then a lad who was selling Colombian pesos came up and started chatting. Normally this is a shake-down to get to know you, then pounce selling his wares. This lad just wanted banter cos he seemed genuinely interested in banter. Even after I told him that I'd already exchanged my cash earlier he still just wanted to chat away! Good first impression of the Colombian people!
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| Colombia... nice |
We stopped a couple of hours later for lunch. There was a mad rush as everyone on the bus ran to shower when they had the chance. Myself and the kiwi lads had no notion of it! There were a couple of sound Peruvian birds on board and they were doling out the savage abuse back on the bus! These poor girls live in Venezuela and were on the bus for 5 full days to get home and 5 more to come back! Brutal. They've a good excuse to take showers anyway!
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| Friends! Friends! Bus friends! |
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| One of the 2 drivers came down the back to chat to my new bus friends. And of course to do his classic porn star pose! |
The bus turned out to be a 21hr trip. I don't usually mind the long bus journeys too much. I write this blog, watch tv, listen to music, read a book, research the next place I'm going to but this was a tough journey.
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| 19 hours into the 21 hour journey. Utterly shattered. |
Got in anyway for 11pm, taxi to the hostel recommended in the book that Mike and Sam wanted to go to. Welcome to Colombia!
27th Oct - Quito
Did very little today as I was absolutely shattered after the week in the Galapagos. An admin day. Got up early enough, packed, sorted out laundry, rang home for an hour. Then went to buy my bus ticket in the bus station for tonight. Bus delayed for a few hours - could leave at anytime tonight. Nightmare. Had a good walk around town for a few hours and decided to copy all my Galapagos photos on to disc just in case anything went wrong. Well wrong it bloody went, my 2Mb card no longer works. Hopefully I'll be able to sort something out when I get back home but it's a disaster for now!
Headed back to hostel and pottered around for the evening. Got very lucky that when I was on the Galapagos, Hester the Dutch girl asked if she could copy a load of my videos on to her laptop. Of course she could! Luckily we were still in the same hostel, and i was able to copy all those videos back on to my working memory card! Which was good. Treated myself to another steak dinner, then got a taxi to the bus station at 12.30.
Headed back to hostel and pottered around for the evening. Got very lucky that when I was on the Galapagos, Hester the Dutch girl asked if she could copy a load of my videos on to her laptop. Of course she could! Luckily we were still in the same hostel, and i was able to copy all those videos back on to my working memory card! Which was good. Treated myself to another steak dinner, then got a taxi to the bus station at 12.30.
26th Oct - Galapagos to Quito
Went to Darwin reserve in the morning. We were up earlier than usual cos the 4 of us catching the flight had to leave the reserve by 8am to be safe to make the flight.
Went to see Lonesome George and other giant tortoises. George is the only one of his species of tortoise still left - I hadn't realised but the giant tortoises from different islands all look different.
I detest zoos but I suppose they're acceptable if survival of the species at stake which it is here!
Then again there was a lonely iguana there as well, just kept around so that tourists who come all the way to the Galapagos but who are too lazy to leave Santa Cruz can have a look at him in his cage. Ridiculous.
Anyway, it took him a decade or so, but George eventually mated with the two tortoises in his pen with him. These lads work slowly! Unfortunately the eggs haven't hatched the last 2 yrs so George is still all alone!
Moved on and saw a fight between a pair of tortoises! Two of them tried to bite each other. I just caught the end of it on video. Here's the loser sprinting away in disgust.
And here's the victor celebrating:
No problems getting to the airport, got on the flight and turned out that we'd been bumped up to first class without being told! Nice one!
Stopped in Guayaquil for half an hour to pick up more passengers, I love this shot of the city with the 2 sports stadium among the urban jungle.
Got to Quito for 4, investigated flights to Cali cos otherwise it's an 18hr bus but they were $400 one way. No thanks!
Went back to Secret Garden cos I loved the staff so much! Only joking, I travelled back with Hester, the Dutch girl, to Quito and stayed in a different hostel. Swiss-owned. Very far up its own arse, no bar, but it's grand.
Ate a delicious dinner. Watched a bit of the World Series. Shattered and off to bed. Only bus to Colombia is at 11pm tomorrow night so I'll get that.
Went to see Lonesome George and other giant tortoises. George is the only one of his species of tortoise still left - I hadn't realised but the giant tortoises from different islands all look different.
I detest zoos but I suppose they're acceptable if survival of the species at stake which it is here!
 |
| Baby Giant Tortoises in the breeding programme all have numbers on their shells to identify them. Some of these lads (and they're tiny right now) will probably still be alive in 2200! |
Then again there was a lonely iguana there as well, just kept around so that tourists who come all the way to the Galapagos but who are too lazy to leave Santa Cruz can have a look at him in his cage. Ridiculous.
Anyway, it took him a decade or so, but George eventually mated with the two tortoises in his pen with him. These lads work slowly! Unfortunately the eggs haven't hatched the last 2 yrs so George is still all alone!
Moved on and saw a fight between a pair of tortoises! Two of them tried to bite each other. I just caught the end of it on video. Here's the loser sprinting away in disgust.
And here's the victor celebrating:
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| VICTORY!! |
No problems getting to the airport, got on the flight and turned out that we'd been bumped up to first class without being told! Nice one!
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| First class... <swishes hair>... because I'm worth it. |
Stopped in Guayaquil for half an hour to pick up more passengers, I love this shot of the city with the 2 sports stadium among the urban jungle.
Got to Quito for 4, investigated flights to Cali cos otherwise it's an 18hr bus but they were $400 one way. No thanks!
Went back to Secret Garden cos I loved the staff so much! Only joking, I travelled back with Hester, the Dutch girl, to Quito and stayed in a different hostel. Swiss-owned. Very far up its own arse, no bar, but it's grand.
Ate a delicious dinner. Watched a bit of the World Series. Shattered and off to bed. Only bus to Colombia is at 11pm tomorrow night so I'll get that.
25th Oct - Floreana to Santa Cruz
Up earlier than usual as it was the last day. Plus the crew wanted to get to Punto Ayora as quickly as possible as it's their only night off every week and they wanted to spend as much time as possible on shore. No fault.
First we went to the oldest postbox in South America. No stamps needed, the trick here is that the next visitors to this spot take your postcard and hand-deliver it to your home address. I'm sceptical but left a postcard there anyway. Took our only group photo of the tour, we decided to go Japanese-style.
Then we went down another lava cave. This was great. Only walked about 200m along and it was dark and silent. When we turned off flashlights, it was just pitch black. Our eyes had nothing to work with to adjust. Fun.
Went for a walk then but it was v dull. Flamingo pond with no flamingos is apparently meant to be the highlight! Walked to a nice beach though and mooched around. Then watched some crabs mating, then back to the boat. I decided to opt out of the snorkelling today, I'd have to jump from the little boat and apparently there would be v strong currents. Not good. Plus only a few were going and the rest were going to laze around the boat. Sounded good to me! When the lads came back they said that it was just as well I didn't go as the current was ridiculous and v little to see! So a good call!
Lunch at around 12, then we set sail for the final stop Punto Ayora. I spent the afternoon trying not to get sick and copying the best photos from everyone else's memory card.
At one stage a pretty alarming siren went off. I was hopeful that this wasn't a fire siren because we were in the middle of the ocean and I've explained already that I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world! Thankfully it was just to let us know that dolphins were around. 3 of them up the front at one stage swimming along with the boat. Superb. Here's a video of one of them milling around:
They're an amazing animal. Katja got this photo of one of them:
Landed in Puerto Ayora and had our final dinner on board. Delicious as ever and there were goodbye speeches and emotional scenes with the crew. In fairness to the cook, he had a tiny kitchen to work with and cooked up 21 different meals - usually with more than one course - for 15 staff and passengers over the week. He was a bit choked up when we praised him! All good stuff. We then went into the town and had a few drinks, 2 for 1 Caiprinhias in the pub we went to like! I was up for staying out for a good while, but one of the girls, Jamie, had a panic attack about losing her wallet and it killed the mood a smidgen! We were all back on board before midnight.
First we went to the oldest postbox in South America. No stamps needed, the trick here is that the next visitors to this spot take your postcard and hand-deliver it to your home address. I'm sceptical but left a postcard there anyway. Took our only group photo of the tour, we decided to go Japanese-style.
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| Mushi Mushi!! |
Then we went down another lava cave. This was great. Only walked about 200m along and it was dark and silent. When we turned off flashlights, it was just pitch black. Our eyes had nothing to work with to adjust. Fun.
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| Looks like I'm lost in the dark. I'm not really, the whole group was there! |
 |
| See? Here I am with Hester and Jamie! |
Went for a walk then but it was v dull. Flamingo pond with no flamingos is apparently meant to be the highlight! Walked to a nice beach though and mooched around. Then watched some crabs mating, then back to the boat. I decided to opt out of the snorkelling today, I'd have to jump from the little boat and apparently there would be v strong currents. Not good. Plus only a few were going and the rest were going to laze around the boat. Sounded good to me! When the lads came back they said that it was just as well I didn't go as the current was ridiculous and v little to see! So a good call!
 |
| Crab sex. Oh yeah! |
Lunch at around 12, then we set sail for the final stop Punto Ayora. I spent the afternoon trying not to get sick and copying the best photos from everyone else's memory card.
At one stage a pretty alarming siren went off. I was hopeful that this wasn't a fire siren because we were in the middle of the ocean and I've explained already that I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world! Thankfully it was just to let us know that dolphins were around. 3 of them up the front at one stage swimming along with the boat. Superb. Here's a video of one of them milling around:
They're an amazing animal. Katja got this photo of one of them:
Landed in Puerto Ayora and had our final dinner on board. Delicious as ever and there were goodbye speeches and emotional scenes with the crew. In fairness to the cook, he had a tiny kitchen to work with and cooked up 21 different meals - usually with more than one course - for 15 staff and passengers over the week. He was a bit choked up when we praised him! All good stuff. We then went into the town and had a few drinks, 2 for 1 Caiprinhias in the pub we went to like! I was up for staying out for a good while, but one of the girls, Jamie, had a panic attack about losing her wallet and it killed the mood a smidgen! We were all back on board before midnight.
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| Enjoying a well-deserved drink. Before the wallet panic obviously. |
24th Oct - afternoon - Española
I mentioned that, last night, we took off immediately after dinner and lads were puking all over the place. Sadly the captains out here usually do what they want, so we needed to be creative. The captain had a bit of a soft spot for Lena, and in fairness to her she pretended that she got sick yesterday and flirted shamelessly with Aurelio. Surprise surprise, it was announced a little later that we'd wait an hour after dinner tonight before heading off!
After lunch we went back to a beach on Española which was picture postcard perfect. Soft white sand, turquoise water, ships out at sea, perfect sunshine. It was gorgeous. Our guide kept a close watch to ensure nothing went wrong:
I decided to give the snorkelling another crack because it was from the beach instead of plunging in from the boat.
So I started off with Lena and Hester but sadly, because the sand was so soft, the water was v murky with the swirling sand and it was v difficult to see anything. Also waves were pretty strong coming in on shore and were bouncing over me and water was flooding through the snorkel meaning I couldn't breathe and couldn't see and was having zero craic. Panic time, the hand went up and the girls guided me back to shore. They deposited me a bit too far out though and said "you're fine here John". "No I'm not, don't leave me! Girls don't leave me, NOOOOOOOOO!" - I was practically in tears with the fear. Turns out that by this stage I was in no more than a foot of water, but how was I to know, I couldn't see a thing!
Anyway, I decided to make a video for myself. I've wanted to make this since I came across this song on my phone.
Great craic and many thanks to Brian the cameraman and Lena my co-star at the end! And of course to whoever wrote the Baywatch song in the first place!
Back to the boat for the usual delicious dinner and then played cards afterwards. I fancied a beer, but the bloody Germans had completely exhausted the boat's supply! There was rum on board and the cook said he'd fix up some Cuba Libres for us. These were duly provided and duly drunk! Great craic of a day!
After lunch we went back to a beach on Española which was picture postcard perfect. Soft white sand, turquoise water, ships out at sea, perfect sunshine. It was gorgeous. Our guide kept a close watch to ensure nothing went wrong:
I decided to give the snorkelling another crack because it was from the beach instead of plunging in from the boat.
 |
| Just about to launch into the hellish experience. Sealions don't care. |
So I started off with Lena and Hester but sadly, because the sand was so soft, the water was v murky with the swirling sand and it was v difficult to see anything. Also waves were pretty strong coming in on shore and were bouncing over me and water was flooding through the snorkel meaning I couldn't breathe and couldn't see and was having zero craic. Panic time, the hand went up and the girls guided me back to shore. They deposited me a bit too far out though and said "you're fine here John". "No I'm not, don't leave me! Girls don't leave me, NOOOOOOOOO!" - I was practically in tears with the fear. Turns out that by this stage I was in no more than a foot of water, but how was I to know, I couldn't see a thing!
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| Back on land. Thankfully! |
Anyway, I decided to make a video for myself. I've wanted to make this since I came across this song on my phone.
Great craic and many thanks to Brian the cameraman and Lena my co-star at the end! And of course to whoever wrote the Baywatch song in the first place!
Back to the boat for the usual delicious dinner and then played cards afterwards. I fancied a beer, but the bloody Germans had completely exhausted the boat's supply! There was rum on board and the cook said he'd fix up some Cuba Libres for us. These were duly provided and duly drunk! Great craic of a day!
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| Waiting for Hester to make a move. Ah well, the Cuba Libres'll take the edge off! |
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