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Latin America
  • Richard Watts
  • Richard Watts

Latin America

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Road to Medellín

    31 agosto 2018, Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The bus should take 16 hours, but it’s taken 17 already and there’s loads more to go.
    The up shot is that I’ve got to see some of the rolling hills in the morning sun and the views are stunning! Definitely somewhere to go mountain biking, it’s like Wales on steroids!
    It took 20 hours.    Leggi altro

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Guatapé

    7 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    A nice little mountain town which sits on the side of a lake. The lake is about 40 years old and was made for hydro electricity. There’s a massive granite rock which has stairs up it, great view from the top
    I was here having a chill out, which is exactly what it’s good for. There lots of water sports on the lake and tours of one of Pablos mansions. Found some live music on Saturday night, was good, great vibe in the town, very cool.
    The town now has a tradition of decorating the outside of their buildings with kind of sculptures of things relevant to who lives inside. Dogs, 4x4’s, sheep, symbolism etc. and it’s know for being the most colourful town in Colombia. Nice place!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Medellín

    11 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Well, what an I say about this place?!
    The most surprising place I’ve been too. Lots of really modern infrastructure of a metro train and cable cars everywhere, mixed with a very, very dark past and poor areas, and a such a friendly native population.
    I did so much here, highlights being a good couple of nights out and some really good walking tours.
    The history and what the city is know for, does not reflect on what you find. It’s too much to put in a post like this, but go check the history!
    They do not have much respect for the person synonymous with the city, a tour guide would only refer to him and the ‘Infamous local celebrity’ because she’d get in trouble for speaking his name to tourists, more because they wouldn’t understand the context.
    We also did a tour of Communa 13, google it, which is home to a lot of politically angled graffiti.
    They have an awesome swimming complex here, the best I’ve seen, I counted 10 pools including two 50m, three 25m, a diving pool and a dedicated synchronised swimming pool. In the same complex is the football stadium, which we went and saw Independiente Medellín play. A great experience, but a bit bonkers, the fans in the home end don’t really seem to watch it react to the game, they just jump up and down to a samba band the who game.
    Defiantly my most favourite big city so far!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore
    1

    Salento

    15 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    A lovely little mountain town which has the biggest palm trees in the world!
    I stayed a nice boutique hostel built in an old farm house, met some lovely people!
    Yesterday we went and did the main little walk around the area which has the big ol palm trees. You get jeeps most places, this wasn’t any different. A lot of them here are Willys Jeeps, so you are driven around, effectively, in classic cars. On the way back, we got in a small one, two in front, four in back, but in true Latin fashion, there ended up be 11 of us, 4 riding in the back.
    The day before was nice and chilled. Three of us went and did a small coffee tour where we picked he cherries, skinned them, and saw the rest of the process. The tour, of course, finished with a tasting.
    The other highlight of this town was the game of Tejo. Which is basically throwing metal puck like things, called Tejo, at a mound of clay, which has a metal ring in the middle, which has gunpowder on it. Naturally, making things go bang, I was pretty good at it!
    One more highlight was a place called Brunch, which had really good food, in massive portions!!
    Tonnes of dogs knocking around too!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Cali, Salsa capital of the world

    18 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    It was always on the cards to head here as good old Quantic lives here. I say lives as he moved to New York just before I left on my travels, never mind eh?!
    Cali is the centre of the universe for Salsa and the city is very much alive with it! Good job for me, I found a couple of dutchies in Salento who were going my way, so we all went together. Then, just as we got off the bus, I bumped into Syarda for like the 6th time. I thought she’d gone home to Holland, but no, so we scooped her up too and jumped in a taxi, 4 big bags strapped to the roof of a tiny Hyundai.
    Once in the hostel, I bumped into a few more people and before you know it, there were about 10 of us having a drink. Then we hit the town to see what this Salsa lark was all about, it was crazy! So much fun!
    The next day, the plan was to do a walking tour and then go out dancing again, after a group lesson this time, and that’s what we did! I bumped i to another couple I knew and they joined us for the lesson. We all headed out and got to the club, but first, we discovered that the off-licence across the street served booze, just like a bar. Good job too, as we found out that the couple were on a big honeymoon trip, so there was a round of 16 very large tequilas went down. Boom! Not much happened the next day, apart from food, but we did plan a little day trip to San Sipreano, which is not heard of.
    We got up quite early and headed to the bus terminal, found a shuttle and jumped on.
    The bus dropped us at the side of the highway where we were shown to a shed to by tickets. Not really knowing what was going, we bought the tickets and crossed an Indiana Jones-like bridge across a deep ravine. Once on the other side we found a railway track, and what can only be described as a shipping palette fixed to a motor bike! There were 9 of us in the end, crammed on a wooden bench, motor bike with the front wheel up, back wheel on one of the tracks, and off we went. A crazy ride for 6km down a semi-disused railway track at 40kph, soooo much fun!! And no one died.
    The next adventure was to walk to 3 waterfalls, with inflated innertube around neck, and we set off into the jungle. We had a guide, so he showed us the way, ditched the tubes after crossin the river, then headed up hill. The waterfalls were fun, getting there was very muddy and humid, but we got a swim in each, then a couple hours later, found ourselves back at our tubes. We then all hoped into the river and slowly made our way back to where we started, down some gentle waterfalls. Nice.
    Once back and dried off, we sort about getting our turbo trolly-bike pallet-bench, a further 6km down the track to the next town. It was getting dark, and raining, so this added a whole new level to the danger, we were all tired, but smiling!! After a bit of faff, we found our way back to Cali, a few hours up the road, home late, but a great day out.
    Knowing that everyone would be trashed, I sought out a swimming pool on the Wednesday. Once I’d found one, it was awesome, the only problem being that it was for members and lessons only during the day. My Spanish is no where near the level need med to sweet talk an old guy on the security desk, but 10 minutes later, I was in the managers office, with a swimming coach, who could speak some English, and it was agreed I could have an hour in the pool. Bangin’!! Oh, and I was the only one in there, what luck!!
    As I was getting out of the pool, I saw someone else doing lengths. I walked past his lane and called me over. He was a local student paramedic and wondered what I was doing there. I told him and he offered to show me round a little, perfect! We headed to a market and got some food, he showed me a few salsa spots, then we ended up and his friends drumming studio, near my hostel, where I got a short lesson on traditional Pacific drumming. This is what happens when you head off by yourself!
    I got back to the hostel and told the guys, who’d done nothing, so I felt a little bit lucky. We then got on the beers in readiness for another night out, and Syarda‘ slays one before heading home.
    Heading out to the same club, I found that there was a jazz club tow doors down, which was free. I paid into the salsa club, drank a beer and headed next door by myself. What I found was an 18 piece jazz big band about to start, I couldn’t believe my luck, the club only sat about 80 people and I stood at the back. They were unbeliveable! The type of thing you’d pay £40 for in Ronnie Scott’s. I sent the rest of the night between dancing and watching the band. The next day was a bit of a right off, but made plans to head south with one of the crew, a kiwi girl called Kirsty, to a town called Popayán, half way to the boarder.    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Popyan

    21 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We got into town, checked into a weird hostel/bar and bumped into two guys from Cali! A French guy and a guy from Indonisia, who we’d end up travelling with, called Malvin.
    Popayán was not what we expected. We thought it would be a small colonial town with not much going on. It’s pretty damn big! It was the second established town after Santa Marta and it’s very colonial, another place that could be Spain.
    We hung out for a couple of days, saw he sights, ate some food and watched the sun set. All nice and chilled. The next morning, we headed to the bus station, said good bye to Fransoire, and the 3 of us waited for the bus to San Agustin.    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    San Agustin

    26 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Last night we stayed in paradise! A 6 bed door for 3 of us, in a massive posh hut. Awesome! Unfortunate though, we all wanted to stay in bed all day, but we had to get up to go to be sculpture park, which was closed yesterday. Boooo!
    In San Agustin remains of an ancient people were found, dating back 6000 years, and very little is known about them. This pre dates all the know people in the America’s by a while! The main thing left behind were many sculpture and burial mounds. Sadly, as always, loads of gold was taken from the site, but most of the sculptures remain. They spread over a few national parks, so take a day and a lot of walk-in and 4x4 roses to see it all. We went to he main site and museum before getting a van to the near by town to then make moves towards he boarder.
    3 became 2 when Malvin realised he had left his hard drive at the mega hostel, he he’s coming later as he had to go back. This leaves Kirsty and myself, in a small minibus, to cross the ‘Trampoline of Death’ road, mostly at night. This road is supposed to rival Death Road in Bolivia, we’ll wait and see! We are 15 mins in, 3 hours till things get hairy !

    Getting here wasn’t the most comfortable either. We left Popayán knowing that here would be a bit of a rough road, but it ended up being a bit of a fire road. The type of thing I normally encounter on my mountain bike. It was okay though, but the standard 2 hour extra journey. So about 7 instead of 4, but hey, that’s what it was.    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore
    Its dark, and thays a cliff on the right

    Trampoline of Death

    26 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    It’s 5 to 7 and we’ve just stopped to let a load of air out of the tyres. I think we are close!
    It’s 7pm, the police have just stopped us to say hello. Think it’s a good idea considering the drivers you get on the normal roads here!
    The tarmac has now disappeared, along with the second lane: its pitch black which is probably a good thing knowing that there are shear drops on both sides.
    Not know that we would be travelling such an infamous route was only decide his morning. We only found out two days ago that it has a name. Never the less, it’s all about the journey!
    The driver is not slowing down much right now and the mini van is bouncing! Not much surprise there!
    We had dropped down to about 900m to Mocoa, but we are climbing quite quickly. Luckily, for now, the larger trucks are stopping to let us pass in sensible places, for one! 😬
    Just stopped to let our baby passenger eat and be changed. Had a quick pigeon Spanish chat with the driver, he thinks I should ride my bike along here. I think he’s on to something! An ambulance just went passed too, hmmmm. I feel like Hunter S Thompson right now, right in the thick of it!
    5 more hours on the trampoline, mYbe.
    We’ve now crossed two rivers across the road and just had to reverse along the sketchyest section yet. It’s BUMPY!!! Just turned 8pm.
    There are barriers along most of he road so far, but a lot of them are bent, the parts where the barriers have fallen away, there is yellow caution tape.
    Another river. Good job it’s not raining, theres still time! Ha!
    I just had a look at the map, not a good idea, it just saw how wiggly it’s going to get.
    It’s now 8:40 and we’re going down a bit. We hit 2100m, I dunno what is to come, but I think I might have a nap.
    9pm and we’ve stopped again, probably not a bad thing considering the drive. We’ve had a hot chocolate and ‘pan con queso’ which was exactly like airplane food.
    10pm, still alive, we’ve stopped again to help some dude fix the suspension on his Toyota Hilux twin cab. We just so happen to be on the edge of a cliff. There’s a surprise! We are supposed to arrive at 10:30, but we are on a 1/4 of the way there. 88km to go. Yaaaawn.
    Tarmac! I’m not sure for how long, but it’ll do for now. 10:45 and we have civilisation, hopefully we’re off the tra mamp aline!
    Annnnnnd we’ve stopped again, but this time to pimp the tyres back up. This is a good sign! Maybe we’ll be able to find somewhere to sleep before 1am. Hopefully.
    00:45. Here!    Leggi altro

  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    The boarder!

    27 settembre 2018, Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    It took me and Kirsty 6 hours to cross the boarder. Absolute nightmare! By a weird twist, Malvin had left his hard drive in the hostel in San Agustin and he had to go back for it. The up shot for him was he ended up on the night bus across the Trampoline, got to the boarder super early, bribes is way to the front of the queue and ended up in the hostel 12 hours before us. We had to get a shite hostel close to the bus station, to get going early the next day. Another reason for hanging around was to go and see the church at Ipiales. It’s something to behold!
    We got to Ipiales terminal, ditched our bags, and headed in a collectivo taxi to the church. Luckily it’s 15 minutes away, so an easy thing to do, and worth it. The only drawback was that it put us into primed queuing time at the boarder.
    With all boarders you need to check out of one country, then into another, standard right? This was not really different. The only thing was, here, there were 3 queues, one for families, one for people with passports and then a huuuuuge queue for Venezuelan nationals traveling on ID cards. These queues then went into the building to 4 windows, crazy! Later, once we got inside the building after 4 hours of queuing, that there were also people checking into the country too. This queue was tiny, but they held everyone outside. People were queuing for hours when they could have just walked in. Bah!
    We got within touching distance of the front of the line, literally 4 people in front of us, then the window shut and he guy disappeared. I’d say there were about 500 people queuing for the window that was now shut. Great! The Venezuelan line was close to 1200 people outside, it was crazy!
    We cleared out, finally, and headed over to the Panama side. The plan was to get to Quito before it got dark. The sun had already gone down before we crossed the bridge.
    It took us 5 minutes to check in and find a bus to Tulcán. We then lucked out and found a bus to Quito, it was going to be another late check in! Finally got to bed at 1:30am, that was a long travel day. Good job we were in the Masaya hostel with awesome beds, the same people who had the awesome place in San Agustin, good planning!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Quito

    28 settembre 2018, Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    That capital of Ecuador and the Andes! It’s also, the the second highest capital in the word.
    We arrived here from the boarder crossing of nightmares, late, but we had booked in to a hostel called Masaya knowing we could get some sleep. Luckily, after getting to the Ecuador side of the boarder, we got he right buses to get us to Quito. The taxi ride across the city at 1am was rapid, the Nissan Bluebird did not sound healthy!
    We woke up late the next day to find that Malvin, after going back for his hard drive, was in the same dorm as us and had got there 12 hours before us. Ha!
    We went out for some lunch and made a Vaughn plan. That afternoon we’d go and do the standard walking tour of the city.
    Quito is a really interesting place, it’s main reason for being is that it’s the highest point on the equator, thus making the closest point habitable to space. The early settlers here fast became the best astronomers on the continent and learnt much about how the seasons work, this leading to many visits by the French to ‘discover’ the same things, a few hundred years later.
    The walking tour taught us about how many presidents Ecuador have been through and assassinated, the financial troubles and how they are now stuck with the US dollar. Also, how Cacao used to be their main export until they found oil near the Amazon. We saw many of the churches here, one absolutely dripping in gold leaf, and ended up in the famous old alley, which was right behind our hostel.
    Later that night, there was some live music in the hostel, which was great to hear, but headed to bed earlyish ready to go see the Otavalo market the next day.
    The market is the biggest of its kind in South America, apparently, and it’s more of a craft market. It seemed to be full of stuff made in Mexico and Alpaca closes, which were not fully alpaca, but all looked nice. Malvin bought a shirt, but nothing bought by me or Kirsty. It was good to see, but not the most impressive market of Latin America so far.
    The next day Malvin was heading off somewhere and we we planning to get a late bus to Latacunga to climb Cotopaxi, so we decided to have a big night out. Malvin got his phone stolen, he got it back for $5, very lucky; and we ended up in an illegal bar in a block of flats. Win!
    Waking up, we had a full day and I really wanted to go to the equator park, which is north of Quito, and took ages to get there in a taxi. It was worth going, even though it’s in slightly the wrong place, we bounced around for a couple of hours, then headed back to Quito. Jumped on the bus and headed to the next adventure!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore
    1

    Cotopaxi & Lake Quilotoa

    2 ottobre 2018, Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    A big volcano!!! One of the highest active volcanos in the world. I knew about this one from my days at Snow + Rock, but didn’t quite know where it was. I do now!
    You can summit thee beast, but it’s full on winter mountaineering and needs proper kit, and a night or two acclimatisation first.
    We got in to Lacagunga just after sun down, found the hostel, and Malvin, and headed out for some food. He was supposed to be leaving the next day, but we convinced him to stay one more night and come to the volcano the next day. He had been to the lake the day we arrived, so he gave us the heads up and we would go the day after the volcano.
    It’s good travelling with people that have the same outlook as it not one to pay for a tour when you can go yourself and discover things. Cotopaxi is not a place to wander around without a car, but heading to the park on a public bus and getting a guide there works out almost half the price of a tour, so that’s what we did.
    The public bus drops you by the side of the highway and you can just walk 100m along a slip road and find a guide. Our guy was really nice, he spoke no English, but we all managed to get by, so was all good. We jumped into the cab of his 4x4 and headed off to the park.
    We registered and got some snacks at the entrance and headed to the first stopping point. It was a gulley left by the last eruption in 2015. Next, we moved on to a small museum to learn a bit about the volcano, lake, park and the sounding volcanos.
    We got back in the 4x4 and headed the lake which in the park. It would be a nice walk, of about an hour, to get round it, but we just stopped to say hello to the ducks. Time for the main event...
    We started to climb up the road to the start of the hike, a car park sat around 4500m. We passed a couple of cyclists on touring bikes, which would be something I’d love to do, but it’s high and those bikes would weigh about 50kgs. Not today!
    We got out of the 4x4 and the weather does not look good. It was spitting with rain and we were in the clouds already. Heading up the easier route the altitude is very apparent . Kirsty and Malvin are in trainer with not much grip, which is not great as it starts to snow. We would walk the kind-of path up to the the lodge at 4800m, before then heading up to the edge of the glacier at 5100m, the furthest point before you need crampons.
    On the way, it’s apparent to me that we are in an electrical storm, quite dangerous to be out on a volcano, but what can you do. Kirsty’s hair was sticking up like she was attached to a Van der Graph generator. The guide didn’t seem too bothered, neither was i, but it’s quite cool hearing the sound of thunder bouncing around in the clouds.
    We got to the lodge, had a hot chocolate and chatted to a few people coming down off the summit. One guy from the US was 76, a legend, saying how his guide had to go slow, but 76!!! He said he was slowing down, but had clearly been to a lot of places. He gave me a bar of chocolate and they headed on down as we head on up.
    Coming out of the lodge it was still snowing and thundering. The path to the glacier was a bit more challenging, even more so for Malvin, who’d never been on snow before and had bad footwear on. We headed on up to a ridge and that was about us. We took some photos and then headed back down. The quick way this time! From the lodge down was a scree path, my favourite! I ran pretty much all the way back the 4x4, great fun! The others were quite a way behind, but turned up on the end, then we headed back to the park entrance. We stopped to take some photos of the volcano just as the cloud was breaking, I also spotted a wolf, more of a fox/coyote, but cool all the same, then we saw some condors, which completed the wildlife set for the park. The guide dropped us back into town, which saved a bus wait, then we headed out for 2 for 1 burgers. 2 for me of course! Malvin then left on a night bus.
    Next day, we got up, then jumped on a public bus to Quilotoa Lake. A volcanic lake sitting quite high up. There’s a big loop the a lot of people walk, about 4/5 days, but we opted for the bus due to time.
    We reached the edge of the town, found the big old creator and got a hot chocolate and cloud empanada. We then decided to walk on down to the lake, a big old hill! I found a dog and convinced him to come with us. He followed us all the way to the bottom. He hing back with Kirsty as I marched on. We hung out at the bottom for about 20 minutes then, the ominous hill back up. I managed to get up in 47 minutes, big effort, good exercise though! We got back just in time for another hot chocolate and got the bus.
    That night, we moved on to Baños.    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Baños

    7 ottobre 2018, Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We headed here to go on a swing. Simple, but that’s what I knew of Baños. Oh, and also that the name means ‘Baths’, or toilets if you are asking for one.
    It has some hot springs in the centre of town which have been made into pools, one freezing, one hot and another at 44 degrees hot! It’s pretty cheap, so obviously that was the first thing we did on arrival!
    Baños is also know as a real extreme sports place. Loads of rafting, mountain biking, hiking, climbing and any other sort of tour you can make money from. I really liked the place!
    Our first night at the hostel, there was a beer pong tournament, we didn’t play well, but got to meet a big group, of mainly Ozzie’s, that had just finished a winter season in Banff, there were 10 o them, but some taken out with dodgy bellies. The ones still standing went out for a few more beers and had a great night. There was a salsa club in the bar, which was empty, so me and Kirsty took it upon ourselves to ‘teach’ everyone else how dance. Was a lot of fun!
    Next day, a few sore heads at breakfast, but raw hostel had some good food, so could have been worse. I don’t think we did too much the next day apart from walk around the town and play with he hostel dog. There was a national holiday over the coming weekend, so lots going on. We just hung out and ate some food.
    Next day was a slow start and we decided to head up and have a go on he swing at he end of the world. It’s not mega impressive, but you can get a good picture!
    Following day, we took some bikes and headed off to see another big thing about Baños, the waterfalls! The Pailon Diablo is tbe one everyone takes pictures of, it was mega busy, so we didn’t manage to get ‘the shot’ by crawling through a hole, but was good all the same. There are about 8 waterfalls dotted along a 20km stretch of road, which is mainly down hill, so you can coast most of the way. The traffic is crazy busy and a deep drain lines the side of the road, so not your ordinary ride. There are some tunnels too, Kirsty was over taken by a bus in one tunnel, super dangerous! A day later, a guy in the hostel had a real bad accident. He doesn’t know what happened, he woke up on the road thinking he was just getting home from the night before. A broken cheek and some other road related injuries. We know this as we bumped into the Banff guys later in Mancora and one of be girls had taken him to hospital! Anyway, after the last waterfall, we really good epinadas and then loaded the bikes into a truck to take us back to town. That night, some more drinks with the Banff crew and all went out to watch the Colin Mcgregor fight. Everywhere was packed so we ended up drinking in the street and watching it through a bar window. A much better idea in my book, and cheaper! After, we headed back to the same club, but this time it was packed!! More salsa action, but the place was full with locals, so no room at all. I ended the night sat on the street drinking with some lads from Quito. They had a band and we were talking in pigeon English/Spanish about music until 5am, lovely stuff!
    Nothing much happen the following day! We planned to get the night bus out to Montanita at 11:30 the next night, so we thought we could use the day to go rafting. Good idea!
    We went in the afternoon after packing to the river, there were 4 of us including two girls from Quebec, then two guys, so 6 in the boat. I’ve never done it before, so didn’t quite know what to expect. I was made to be at the front on on side, Kirsty on the other. We had our briefing and headed done to the river with the raft. The idea was to launch n an Eddie and cruise out into the river, avoiding the massive rock with water rising over it. Now, this was a grade 3 river, with two grade 4 sections, so not tame by any means.
    We all get in the raft and head off. All of 5m later, the raft has gone up the rock backwards and flipped us. Possibly the worst place on the river! I can remember looking down at Kirsty, 2m bellow me, thinking, ‘shit, I’m gonna land right on you’ and I did! Cold water shock straight away, I was under the water with someone on top of me. I manage to struggle them out of the way and then I had the raft on me. I managed to fight my way out from under it, still holding my breath, and find the surface. I took a massive breath and got slightly worried about he lack of buoyancy. Scary stuff! Sea water is way more predictable than that! I jut about still had hold of my paddle, but was fighting to get myself going feet first. I lost a shoe fighting the current and was still struggling to breath. I caught back up with the raft, at the same time, my lost shoe appeared beside head. The guide flipped the raft over and we all got hauled back in. One missing, a Canadian girl. Where? We could see her clinging to the rock that flipped us, few! The safety kayaker went and fetched her, put her back in the boat and we pulled over. Everyone was quite shaken up and the guide was mortified it has happened. The girls thought he’d done it on purpose to start with, but I knew he didn’t as it was really dangerous! We headed off down stream and I started to really enjoy it. Kirsty was screaming at everything thinking we’d flip again, but we didn’t. It was really good fun and I’m ready to have another go later in the trip.
    We headed back into town, stopping for the guide to buy us apology beers on the way, and got some food.
    We collected our bags, said good bye to the Banff crew, it was Matts 30th Birthday, so gutted to be going; then headed off to catch the 11:15 bus to Montañita. We should have stayed...    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore
    1

    Mancora

    18 ottobre 2018, Perù ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This is what I had hoped Montanita to be like. Chilled, but with a vibe going on, a relaxed surf town which is yet to be over developed. It’s still got a bit of a night scene, but his involves either a big cheesey hostel called Loki, which is horrible, or the 6 or so bars on the beach, which turn there sound systems up at night and compete. In low season, for very few people! This would be my first taste of Peru and it was great!
    The place we choose to stay had 4 person private rooms for cheap, so we did that, which was perfect, especially since we arrived at 6:45am. It was hot and breezy during the day, but at night, the temperature was ideal for sleeping, barely any mozzies too!
    The sunset on the first night was unreal. We watched whales breaching across the horizon and the colour the sky went after sundown was amazing! Glad we got to take some photos. We also got chatting to three Aussies, who we then went and got mega drink with. It turned out that they knew each other as they had been in Banff for a season, and a big coincidence, but they knew who of the guys we’d met in Baños.
    The next was a bit of a right of, so we just lounged, looked around the town, and ate food. So many places to eat selling cheap food. Day eating in most places in Latin America, either means something standard of the menu, or a set lunch menu or menu del dia. These can be really cheap, as little as 7 soles, or £1.75 for a soup, main with rice and chips/beans/lentils and a fresh juice. In Peru, normally Maracuya. Nice!
    Later that day, we found out that the Banff crew were on their way! We forgot that they were heading down as is planned to spend a lot longer on the coast in Ecuador. The week was going to be a lot of fun! I hired a surfboard that day and headed out. Mancora has a small, but fun point break and the locals are all super friendly. This was the first time for me on a board since I did something to my rib. It was okay, but only went out for an hour or so, just to be on the safe side. I’d been given the heads up on a burger place call Smokin Brothers, so headed there in arvo to stuff my face. It were good!
    Next day was Sunday and we met the Banf lot at lunchtime in the beach, there began the party! One night on, one off for the next 6 days, it was a lot of fun!
    One of the days we all went out to go whale watching, which almost turned in to whale ramming! We got clooooose! After, all 16 of is headed for more burgers for lunch, we were 90mins early for them to open, but they couldn’t turn us down, so we gave them an order and came back a little later once they were set up. They had to call in the reinforcements, but they loved us.
    Not much else went on apart from drinking, eating and chilling.
    I was going to go to a few other places down the coast, so I said see ya later to Kirsty, who headed off with one of the Aussies, Sonya, to Huanchaco down the coast. I stayed for another night or two, which was cool as Malvin turned up, so hung out with him for the next day, before I then headed off to Lobitos to have a look. Fun times!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Lobitos

    23 ottobre 2018, Perù ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    A much needed break from tourism, Lobitos is a bit remote. There’s not much here apart from surf breaks, hostels and nodding donkeys. There’s a lot of oil around these parts!
    I came to check it out and do some surfing, or try to surf! My ribs feel okay, but the main break is quite a fast left handed point break, and my skills are not quite up to it. The water is cold and a full wetsuit is very much needed. It’s like British summer time sea temperature, but with good winter waves!
    A very cool place, but with almost nothing here. Old oil platforms dot the horizon, and there’s the odd dead sea lion on the beach apparently.
    The hostel was an old colonial house on a hill over looking the bay. It had running water most of the time, but was really breezy with old floorboards and most of the rooms have doors to the outside. I was given a cheap private room with standard death trap shower on suite.
    I’d definitely come back here more prepared and with my own kit!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Pacasmayo

    26 ottobre 2018, Perù ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    I’m not sure what to say about this place. I’m not sure what I expected either. It’s quite an industrial, normalish fishing town, but has a very long left has point break, which it’s famous for.
    I’d jumped on a bus from Talara, then Piura and then to Chiclayo. I stayed the night thinking I’d go to the museum, but I didn’t really like the city and thought moving on quickly would be best.
    I arrived at the bus station and walked to the hostel. I think they were painting the dorms and I got another private room. The benefits for down season! The drawback being that I think I was one of two people in a big hostel, still, was worth a look!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Huanchaco

    29 ottobre 2018, Perù ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    I didn’t know what to expect of this place as the town you arrive at first, Trullio, is a pretty standard, then you get a local bus out to the coast. Passing Chan Chan, an ancient mud bricked walled town on the way.
    As I pulled into the town, it seemed quite a tourist hotspot, not what I was expecting. Lots of hotels and restaurants and people learning to surf next to the old pier. A nice chilled vibe going on, but not as small a place as I’d thought.
    I checked into my hostel and met my room mates, who’d I’d hang out with for the next 4/5 days that I’d be in town.
    That night a few of us went out for some beers and food, and I got to check out the town a bit more. It was clearly off season, but still quite a bit going on and it looked like Halloween here was going to be a party!
    Next day, I thought about surfing as we had a really good view form the hostel, but the wind and the tide were not great, so just decided to chill out and eat some cheap food. The restaurants were a bit pricey, but there were loads of local places to go with menu del dias for about 7/8 soles, under £2, for soup a main and a drink. Nice!
    I gave the guys in our dorm alternate names as there were chalk boards on each bunk. Geoff (Isabelle), Dave (Christian), Jake (Avinoam) and I ended up being Mike. They all stuck! Three French guys turned up later, but they were just the frenchies, nothing new there, but I would bump into them more down the road.
    Nothing much more went on here, more eating, another night out and more eating. We found a good burger place called Surf Burger, I think it was only two times we went,but it was good!
    I did go and check out Chan Chan which was quite cool and something a bit different as it was all made of mud and a lot is still being uncovered. Not much is known about it yet, but good old UNESCO have slapped a badge on it, so I’m sure it will become very popular in the future.
    Next stop, Huaraz!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Huaraz

    3 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    I arrived in Huaraz with Geoff (Izzabelle) from Huanchaco, a decent enough night bus, but we got there early! We had to sleep on sofas in the hostel until their breakfast time, wen the sofa I had my head on was stolen to prop the door open. The first of many weird things at the hostel!
    After we checked in and met people in the dorm, we headed out to have a look around and start thinking about tours.
    The main reason people come to this mountain town is to explore the high Andes of Peru. There’s so many different treks, but normally it’s the Santa Cruz 4 day trek, with an acclimatisation trek first, most popular is Laguna 69.
    The town is really nice with a great indoor market with all the meats on display, clothes and rest of the weird stuff you find in local markets. We also checked out the small museum of statutes from the near by ruins.
    We’d decided on the tours and when we’d do them. First Laguna 69, then the 4 day Santa Cruz trek, we also found a great coffee shop!
    That night, we met Jerry and B, a couple from the UK/Spain who I instantly got in with. Jerry is from Bristol and had been to many a Shambala fedtival, B is from Spain and they both live in London. It would ya e been great to go get some drinks, but they were packing for Santa Cruz and were leaving at 5am then next morning. It was Halloween and there was a real buzz around town with loads of people dressed up!
    Next day, there was more chillin and hunting round the outdoor shops for things. They have quite a few used shops, but I didn’t find much for me, but turned personal shopper for a few people.
    The morning comes to go to Laguna 69 and I do not feel well at all! We left at 5am, 3 hours in a bus later we stop for breakfast and I cannot eat, not good!
    Another hour up a bumpy track and we get to a lake, another 15 minutes later and we reach the start of the trek. I decide to give it a go, even though I might have to turn back. Probably about 45mins and I’m feeling horrendous! I had to stop and use the Inca toilet, knowing the hike would only get harder, the guide told me to go back to the van, so I did. A few dry heaves later, I was back where I’d started, found the van, but no driver in sight. I then preceded to sleep on the road, head on my bag for an hour until another van driver asked if I wanted to sit in as it was cold in the wind at 4000masl.
    It was not a good day! Another few hours later my driver turned up and then another hour till everyone else started to show too. It would be another 3 1/5 hours back to Huaraz. Not good.
    Next day, I helped a few more people shop for the Santa Cruz trek, I was on the verge of bailing from Huaraz, that evening I did! On to Lima as I decided to skip on over to Cusco to join the rest of my travel buddies as a surprise!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Lima - a flying visit

    5 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    So, the capital! I spent about 36 hours here as I was flying through to get to Cusco to get my trek on!
    I stayed in the popular, but touristy Miraflores. It reminded me a lot of Panama City, but with a bit of surf.
    I went shopping for cheap trekking gear and ate junk food. I went for a big old run the second morning I was here and really liked the coast line.
    The park in the centre of Miraflores is full of cats, everywhere! Apparently they’ve been tbsps and looked after for 20 years. Probably a good idea as they eat cat in parts of Peru. I did like the vibe here at night, but I had to move on to get to Ica, then Cusco in time. Not much more to mention.    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Haunchina

    6 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    The Dessert Oasis. I thought this place was fake, but turns out it’s a real oasis, made by the tears of a crying mermaid, or something.
    The locals have to top it up with water now as years of well drilling for the hotels has lowered the water table. Ironic!
    I was only going here as everyone else I knew had and it’s on the gringo trail. It was okay, but I wasn’t impressed as a lot of people had been.
    I was staying at a hostel which included a couple of activities with a nights stay. The ones everyone did was dune buggies and ‘sandboarding’ more like sand sledging as there was no real way of standing on the bits of wood they gave you. You could hire snowboards and boots, but I wasn’t bothered really. The dune buggies we’re kind of fun and so was sliding down the dunes. I’d booked myself on the night bus to Cusco that night, so I had a shower and headed back into town to get the night bus. This one would be 16 hours and there was a chance I’d be trekking the day after I got to Cusco, so I book the big fancy sleeper seats, or cama seat, what a good decision that was!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Cusco

    8 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    It was a long bus ride here from Huacachina, but i splurged on a £14 bus cama, fully reclining seat into bed for the 14hours. I slept well!!
    The city is quite touristic, but really nice and feels really safe. There’s lots of trekking and tours going on, so it’s not a surprise that you get offered tours and massages everywhere you go.
    I picked up the key to the crews air bnb and let myself in, I had some time to kill before they came back so I had a good look around. I really liked the vibe of the place, there’s loads of good places to eat, you can get good coffee and people all see to be happy. Win! A definite recommendation for anyone coming this way, and it’s an almost dead very if you are going to Machu Picchu.
    When everyone got back, I scared the crap out of Kirsty, who was the only one who didn’t know I was joking them and we had a chilled night.
    Over the next week, including be trekking, I bumped into loads of people, ate some good kebabs, cheap menu del Dias (7sols) and a guinea pig. Nice! We also did a lot of trekking.
    There’s loads more to do here and I can see myself coming back at some point.    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Salkantay trek to Machupicchu

    13 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    I didn’t really know what I was in for, but I did pull a looong night bus from Haucachina to surprise Kirsty and meet up with Malvin, Jess and some other crew I’d met along the continent.
    Everyone has to go to Machu Picchu if you are going to Peru, it’s just a matter of how much leg work you put in.
    The Salkantay trek is a 4 day trek which takes you though the Salkantay pass and down to, well pretty much, hydro electrica. You then walk the railway tracks to Aguas Calientes for a short nights sleep to then head up the steps to the ruins. The lazy people get the bus up, but like I say, depends how much walking you want to do!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Rainbow Mointain

    15 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Rainbow mountain is another one of the must do hikes. I went after the Salkantay trek, so the 5200masl height wasn’t an issue. I thought it would be more impressive that it was, but it’s all about the photographs i guess!
    It was a 5am start and we were taken for breakfast first. I didn’t really speak to anyone as I was not in the mood being so early, but I did say to an older, know it all type of German bloke to warn him he was about to put coffee on his pancakes. He looked at me in a very dismissive manor and said “coffee” as he screwed his face up. I then watched him try the pancakes, stand up and walk off to swap them. Most amusing for others at the table.
    When we got to the car park, we headed off. I was a lot quicker than the rest and wanted to head into the next valley. Our guide was quite against this, even though it was supposed to be a better place to see. He eventually caved and I went off into the Red Valley by myself. 40 minutes later I had lost the path, but luckily so had a Spanish girl who had followed me. We figured out a plan and eventually made it back to the road, where we had to wait for about half an hour to get picked up. I realised we’d gone too far in to the valley, but it was awesome! No harm done.
    On the way back, we stopped for food an I spoke to a couple on the trip. The guy was from the UK and his wife was Peruvian, nice little chat and she bought me an Inca Kola!    Leggi altro

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  • Richard WattsLatin AmericaViaggiatore

    Colca Canyon

    21 novembre 2018, Perù ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    One of the things to in his part of the world. Trekking into the second deepest canyon in the world. I booked this tour with some people I met that morning from the night bus, it turned out to be a good bunch!
    We sent out form the hostel about 3am, which seemed to be the what went on with all the tours here and the earliest I’ve been up to go somewhere! At about 7am, we stopped for a rubbish breakfast and then got back in the van to a spot where you could see Condors. We saw one, waaay off in the distance, the birds were not flying our way.
    Back in the van and on to the next stop, which would be he start of the trek. We would hike 1km vertical down into the canyon switchbacks for days! It was cool, had a good giggle and enjoyed the scenery.
    Once at the bottom, we walked for another 15 minutes to lunch and a beer! It was a good spot and had plenty of chill time. We were all pretty tired, but only form the early start. After lunch, there was another few hours walking till we got to the ‘Oasis’ where we’d spend the night. The thought of a swim in a pool and a shower was all we needed to chip on!
    Swim done, beers and quite a few cocktails later, we didn’t care that we’d have to be up at 4:30am to start the hike up. 1km of vertical to get out of the canyon, without breakfast! We were told that it would take 3 hours, we busted it out on 2! The benefits of a fast group, and most people had been to Salkantay the week before.
    They lads, there were 4 of us who shared a room and got on the cocktails, formed a band called ‘Suicide Condors’ after the male birds who kill themselves when the females die. First single, “No woman, no fly” solid!
    Once out of he canyon, we went for a slightly better breakfast and then we were taken to see some llamas and a tourist spot. Our guide was a bit rubbish, but we entertained ourselves. After lunch, the Condors broke loose form the steered buffer, we were taken to look out spot at 5000m, which was nice, but we all just wanted to get back as we were heading out got someone’s birthday.
    I rolled in at 6am after finding some locals in the club with a bottle of bourbon at about 3am. My Spanish was on fire! The next two days were a struggle! 😆🍻    Leggi altro

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