My luck has taken a turn for the worse

Well, a couple of crappy things have happened to me in the last couple of weeks. First of all, I fell into a lake. Specifically, the high-altitude Quilotoa crater lake. I rented a kayak and the folks who rented it to me gave me bad instructions about where to sit and I believed them, so when I leaned over when my hat blew off in the crazy wind, in I went. I actually thought the whole situation was pretty funny and even though I felt a little embarrassed about it it wasn't something that would scar me for life. I was laughing away to myself in the freezing cold lake while someone came to rescue me until I remembered that my camera was in my pocket. Shit.

The second crappy thing that happened which far outshines the first is that my backpack got stolen. Almost everything I was traveling with. It was my fault and I keep replaying the event over and over again in my mind. Basically I left my backpack in a restaurant for two minutes while I went to the bathroom. I usually always bring everything into the bathroom but for some reason I was feeling lazy or something, and the place was full of tourists so I thought it would be okay. Nope. I lost a lot of things of value, but the things that kill me most are the sentimental things: my still-not-functioning camera which had every single photo from my trip on the memory card, the gifts I had painstakingly and lovingly selected for my parents and grandparents, the journal in which I had recorded every day of my trip, the polaroid photo of me and Florent from when we were in Paris together last year...the list goes on. It's amazing how attached I had become to my things; that first day when it happened I thought about it and realized that my belongings had become a part of me, in some way.

Luckily I had my passport and wallet on me so I wasn't going to be stranded in Ecuador, thank god. I was able to delay my trip to the jungle lodge for one day so that I could file a police report and buy new clothes and other essentials like soap. Some folks from the agency were really kind to me and accompanied me throughout the whole day, and even let me stay at their house for the night. My host assured me that the neighbourhood was safe from robbers because once some young guys had robbed and cut a taxi driver there and the neighbourhood folks caught them and were so angry that they poured gasoline on them and burned them alive. So no robbers there. I kid you not. I have to say that spending that day with my hosts was probably the most authentic experience I've had in South America - seeing a real residential neighbourhood, hanging out with the kids, and buying crappy Ecuadorean fake brand-name clothing.

I just got back from the jungle trip and it was okay, but compared to the Galapagos it was kind of mediocre. It was more of a budget place and they weren't super organized and my guide wasn't so great as spotting animals. That said, I did see (parts of/mostly from far away) pink river dolphins, various species of monkeys, caimans, piranhas, sloths, big blue butterflies and lots of birds. The last day was nice in that we got to paddle through the waterways in kayaks (my favourite! no capsizing this time otherwise something would have eaten me!) and then when we were out at night the sky was clear and we could see tons of stars and the Milky Way. That was nice. But if I could trade my trip back for my backpack I would.

Now I'm back in the town where my bag got stolen and I'm feeling bitter again. My Panama hat, which is the only thing that I bought for myself here that I still have in my possession, has been deformed by the humidity and I may have to dump it. I mean COME ON!

Tonight I'm starting the long journey back to Peru, 24 hours of travel followed by a couple of days at the beach (sans swimsuit, hurrah for crappy Ecuadorean underwear), followed by another long journey to Lima for my flight back to Canada. I'll be arriving in Toronto on Thursday morning.

This is my last post so thanks for reading everyone, and I hope to see you all soon.

And just some more cool photos

More galapagos photos and moments

I also have to mention the sea lions. They were everywhere and we saw them every day. They were hilarious and made really funny sounds which kind of sounded like wretching but funnier. They also swam with us when we snorkelled and would come straight toward us at high speed, it totally psyched me out! The babies were adorable and even after 8 days of sea lions we were still snapping photos of them.



There were also a whole lot of spectacular landscapes. A lot of the islands are formed from different types of lava rock so there were red sand beaches, black sand beaches, white sand beaches...some times I felt like I was in paradise and at other times I felt like I was back in the pre-dinosaur age.

Galapagos: one of those once-in-a-lifetime things

I had the good fortune of being able to go to the very exotic and very costly Galapagos Islands this past week, and it was fabulous. The islands are famous because the species on the islands were isolated for so long from the mainland that they evolved along their own lines, and the life there contributed to the development of Darwin's theory of evolution.

I went on an 8-day cruise, which involved sleeping in a cabin with bunk beds and visiting different islands every day. We also snorkeled almost every day which was amazing. Both the land and sea animals were generally very friendly and comfortable with us getting right up close for photos and bonding. I say bonding because some of the animals, like the giant tortoises, were so impressive that they inspired an emotional response in me and I just wanted to hang out with them forever.

I'll start with some giant tortoise photos, why not:



And a cool marine iguana:



And some blue-footed boobies:



And flamingos, right up close!

On the ecuator

It actually hadn't really even occurred to me that I might be able to visit the ecuator while in Ecuador. It was my grandfather who mentioned it and I agreed that yes, this sounded like an excellent idea.

It was a bit of an adventure getting there, I had to take two public buses and had no idea where I was going. The ecuator monument is known as Mitad del Mundo or "Middle of the World" so it was kind of funny to constantly be asking people: "can you tell me how to get to the Middle of the World please?" But I did get there and when I did I felt kind of giddy about it. I didn't really know what to do with myself so I took a bunch of photos.

This last one is kind of hilarious because I made at least 8 attempts to get the photo in focus and with the whole E showing (I eventually gave up), only to discover upon walking around the monument that "E" stood for "East" and not "Ecuator." Silly me.

Warning: flower photos

After Vilcabamba I headed to Cuenca, which is the third largest city in Ecuador and famous for its beautiful colonial architecture. It was also packed to the gills with bakeries and ice cream shops. I can't believe there aren't more obese people here! They eat so much ice cream! And not just ice cream, they get it with whipped cream and toppings and the whole bit. Intense. But delicious...

In Cuenca I pretty much just wandered around. I went to see the University of Cuenca's prize-winning orchid collection, including some new breeds that they had created in the lab. Creepy. Then I hesitatingly went to the Panama Hat museum (I was killing time okay?) and ended up having a lovely old time and walking out of there with my very own Panama hat. So now I can be a Colombian druglord for Halloween! Cool!

I was snapping photos like a maniac at the Orquideario, so for those of you who love close-up photos of exotic flowers, enjoy! Notice the third flower, which is called Monkey Face. It actually looks like a monkey's face! Nature is CRAZY!

Ecuador!

I'm now in Ecuador and happy to be here. I came by road about a week ago and the mountains here are lush and green compared to the ones I saw in Peru. On the trip over I saw rainbows and huge trees covered in smooth green bark. I have three weeks left and am looking forward to the remaining adventures here: jungle, beach, volcanoes, and Galapagos Islands.

I started out in the very relaxing and tranquil little town of Vilcabamba, apparently the new home of several retired American couples. I took a couple of nature walks, one in a private reserve and another over someone's private property (oops!) in order to see a waterfall. It was pretty.

The last three photos are from the Podocarpus National Park, where I felt compelled to visit the cloud forest. I mean, how cool does "cloud forest" sound? As promised, there were clouds, and the forest was mucky and muddy in a lovely kind of way. It reminded me of BC a bit, except there was a lot more bamboo and less conifers. And luckily for me, no bugs!

Lakes, the prettiest lakes ever

On my last day in the Huaraz region, I went on one more day hike to a high-altitude lake. I was relieved to discover that the trail was much easier than the last one, and that I was able to get to the lake with a bit of energy to spare. It probably helped that I had actually had a real breakfast this time, and had also brought enough water with me. What a concept!

Not too much to say about this trip, I just wanted to post some photos. On the road up to the trail we passed the two lakes known as Llanganuco, and they were the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. The sun was out and they shone turquoise. The object of the hike, Lake 69 (I don't know the origin of the name) was also stunning, with enormous glaciers hanging above. I could actually hear one of the glaciers cracking at one point. That was cool and a little scary.

More pics of Hatun Machay

I need to show more photos of this place because it was so magical. While walking through the rock forest I alternated between feeling like I was in the Wizard of Oz and feeling like I was on Mars.



This part reminded me of Planet Krypton, I'm not sure if I've really captured it:



And this one is just pretty:



And here's another one of me!

Rock-climbing!

While in Huaraz I did the unthinkable: I signed up for a three-day outdoor rock-climbing course. This is the kind of thing that terrifies me because of my not-so-stellar relationships with all sports, but I wasn't sure how else I was going to escape the three-day national strike that was set to paralyze the country and prevent me from doing anything interesting.

I ended up having a great time, mostly because of where the course took place - at a rock forest called Hatun Machay up in the mountains, with accommodation being a cozy lodge that reminded me of camp. In spite of the fact that there was no electricity or showers, or communications of any kind, I really loved being away from the city. Could this be the beginnning of a new, camping Annika? We shall see...

In the climbing I surprised myself, in that I actually made it to the top of some very high and scary rocks. On my second day it actually started snowing while I was climbing, and I was suddenly participating in an extreme sport. Pretty cool. Here are some pics:

Lake Churup

I am now in Huaraz, the tourist capital of all things outdoorsy and hard core. Kind of an odd place for me to be since I am neither outdoorsy nor hard core, but I have to say that being here has been one of my favourite parts of my trip so far. On my second day here, I set off on a day trip to a high-altitude lake, Lake Churup.

Even though it was only a day trip, it was still pretty intense for me. I did five hours of straight climbing, up to an altitude of almost 4500 metres. Around hour 3 I really started feeling the altitude, and had to stop and rest every 30 seconds. I was a bit nervous about my ability to make it to the lake, still two hours away, and then climb down again. But I kept going, and was encouraged by the fact that other hikers were moving as slowly as I was. At hour 4 I stopped feeling as much pain in my muscles, which was nice. Numbness! And finally, right before getting to the lake I had to climb this enormous wall:



But it was worth it. The lake was perfectly calm and the surroundings were spectacular. Here are some pics:

Ollantaytambo

And the last set of ruins were at Ollantaytambo, a really touristy little village but beautiful and charming all the same. The ruins here are of a fortress in which one of the last Inca rulers succeeded in holding out against the Spanish before retreating to another fortress further in the jungle. The ruins in the second photo really reminded me of Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers). Yes, this is the second reference to Lord of the Rings so far and I am indeed a huge nerd. I embrace my nerdiness!