10 June 2006

ECUADOR WON ......................................... THIS COUNTRY IS
PARTYING THIS CAPITAL CITY IS DRINKING AND ALL THE CARS ARE HAVING THEIR
HORNS BLOWN, MAYBE THE MEN AS WELL, THE HOTEL HAS A BAR AND ITS FULL OF
SAMBA AND MUSICANS PLAYING TUNES TO ECUADORIAN FOOTBALL WEARING SUPPORTERS

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WOW, LETS HOPE THEY WIN AT LEAST UNTIL I LEAVE THIS PLACE...

Anyway yes the world cup is here big style in Ecuador, every car a flag,
every person a shirt, they are jumping up and down and going crazy and to be
fair so they should, they have a chance now with only costa rica to
challenge for second place as I cant see poland doing much this time round.

Still thats the critical review of the Ecuadorian football from where I see
it.

So whats been going on and where have I been. Well lets settle down with a
nice warm cup of cocoa as this is a tale of laughter, boobies and wow. So
sorry guys this is a long long one and you know I dont care at all, its my
birthday and the band next door is playing samba tunes and it is cool real
cool.

I must firstly say thank you to Big Boy Tony for dropping me off at Heathrow
terminal 2 at 1am Sunday monring after a curry and a few beers in Newbury
(make sure you pass this onto paul and yes you got a T-shirt!!)
Heathrow Terminal 2 1am Sunday morning, thats not in the holiday brochures.
Its closed! the only life is the guy fixing the toilet and the night man in
the Costa coffee doing take away latte and little all else. I settled down
for the morning as the first flight out of there was at 6 am the Iberian
checkout desk opened at 5am and so what was the point of getting there 3
hours early (Girls take note please) as all I did was lay down on the seats
and snore for about an hour, wish I was dead and drink expensive coffee.
So that was my experience immediately of getting to Ecuador, the rest was a
little easier. The flight to madrid was fine, but no food or water unless I
pay and I only had dollar not euros so I went thirsty. I had a 2 hour wait
at madrid and I had a brought a book to read and by the time I boarded the
Airbus to Quito I was a third through it as it was that boring at madrid.
The flight from Madrid to Quito was really quite appalling. The food poor,
The leg room ok as I had a bulkhead in front of me, the films, shite and the
service and smiles of the stewardesses non exisitant. Thanks Jon for the
IPOD how is my psp as the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and a neck pillow
never did seem so inviting and I slept maybe 4 hours of the 11 hour flight
of boredom to Quito.
Hopefully you will guess that I did not enjoy the flight.

Landing at Quito was good, we flew in over the mountains and then over the
city to the airport and the landing was good and the airport ok, I have a
stamp in the passport so that made me smile.
Senior Regler on a bit of card was calling me and then I whisked away to my
hotel by a guide and he filled me in with what was what (like I was
listening, I had been travelling for 30 hours so what did I care) and I
arrived at the Dann Carlton. This hotel is good. In fact it is cool and the
people here are very helpful and the food so far is great.
I must mention how high we are (although I dont really know) but we are in
altitude sickness land and so it makes you feel really tired and thirsty a
bit like now but then I have been drinking so who knows.
Being hungry I got a taxi to a shopping mall 5 blocks north and brought a
Football shirt and a hat for my travels and then settled down in TGI fridays
for the best steak and gin I have had for weeks and the service and the
girls were great. I then returned to the hotel ensured I was ready to leave
for 7.40am and passed out until the planes which fly over the hotel woke me
up!!!

I was met at the hotel lobby by a guide who got me to the airport and put me
on the flight to Baltra (galapagos islands) and I met some yanks (ma, I was
right, retired americans, germans and bird watchers, mixed with some
families) and spent my time with them, they were fun. The flight to Baltra
was via Guayaquillo the port city of the country and after 30mins wait there
we flew on to the island.
On landing on the old ww2 american landing strip we got off into big heat
and sun and then had to queue for the entry visa and pay 100 dollars
(something else my travel agents never told me, bless them) park fee. Whille
we queued we saw our first land iganua (see the photos they are on their way
hopefully Saturday, I have not much else to do but shop and sight see and
drink gin so why not, unless I find the brothel then forget it!!) and some
of darwins finches (you look it up, they are famous around here).
I then travelled by bus to the harbour and had to climb into a dinghy
(zodiac is their proper name) and onto the MV Santa Cruz Expedition ship as
that was what I was doing, exploring not cruising, trust me their was no
cruising, anyway by 3pm I had a boat drill, lunch, my luggage unpacked for
me and I was put in the group called the Iguanas (ah !!!) and this consisted
of some totally insane americans, me and some top english ex pats and so the
11 of us got on very well through the trip and our guide was called socrates
for his sins, not the football player nor the philosipher but the galapagos
natuaralist.
I feel at this time it is prudent to explain all about the islands but to be
fair this is not the time nor the place to do so but you should read about
them and see the discovery science programmes because words wont explain it
at all, neither will the photos.
Our first advernture was the island of Santa Cruz and the Dragon Hill area
where we hiked for about2 miles over rocks, through grey coloured trees that
looked like ghosts and we were looking for land iguanas (lizards about 3
feet long) and water birds and marine iguanas (black and about 2 feet long)
finches and mocking birds. It was absolutley amazing and the animals were
just lying about not doing much and they were totally unworried about our
presence.

Then about 6pm we got back to the ship and had our first ECO moment ( a talk
with the chief of the guides each night at 7.15 and she explained what was
happening the next day and what we had seen and where we had been and
anything else that we needed to know). After this we had cocktails with the
captain and then went to dinner in the dining area for a 5 course meal which
was wonderful, cant remember what I had but it was good.
By 9.30pm Monday evening I was in by bed asleep swaying gently with the
waves.
Tuesday was the Islands of Bartholomew and James Islands and they were both
really different places. The first after a boat trip looking for penguins
(none, gutted, sea turtles so that was a tick in the box and sea lions,
booby birds, frigate birds, gulls, iguanas and the like) we went on the
island which was like an alien planet with its volcanic rock and craters and
lack of plant life. We climbed up the extinct volcano for about 300 ft until
we reached the top and the view over the islands was fantastic as was the
sun and the heat. But hey I was on factor 30 and it really was a spectacular
place to visit. How many of you have seen rope larva or picked up rocks the
size of 3 breeze blocks with one hand as they weigh so little due to the
heating process of the volcanoes?
Master and Commander was filmed there, so I will be watching that when I
return......

Then we climbed back down to the shore and got the zodiac to a beach for
snorkelling, but before I did that I went across to another bay where some
white tipped reef sharks were 2 ft away from the beach and watched them for
about 30 mins as they did not much but swim. There must have been about 10
of them and it was amazing (sorry guys I will use this term a lot, I saw
some really amazing sites daily so there) Snorkelling was ok but there was
not much to see and I took some photos of the fish and I hope they come out
and that I actually got the fish as well.
After the buffet lunch and the chance to shower and rest we arrived at James
Island and this one is known for its larva flows, black sand and marine
iguanas. Saw loads and loads of red crabs and sea lions as close as you are
to the screen you are reading this from. Green Sea Turtles were swimming
about and there were grasshoppers the size of my fingers (thats big for
those that dont know) jumping about. We were on the island for about 3 hours
and my description here cannot do it justice as it was a magical place and
the sea lions swimming about around us was fantastic.
The evening consisted of drink and stargazing except it was cloudy so we
drank some more which was really a mistake as..

Wednesday was tower island and the north seymour islands. Tower island was
the top of a volcano or rather the cone which the sea had eroded a corner
away so we could enter it and it was like a bay with sands and cliffs. The
place is known for its nesting birds and wow there were a lot of birds
there. Blue footed, red footed booby birds, frigate birds, night gulls,
finches, galapagos doves, red crabs, sea lions, iguanas. There are not
prediators on this or anyother beach so the wildlife continues to flourish
and grow it is really great to see. Like a zoo with no glass. After
wandering around the nesting sites I went snorkelling along the cliffs and
did some deep water snorkelling 300 feet deep to be exact. But hey I cant
swim so it was ace. I was assisted by some sealions and green sea turtle so
yes guys I have swam with sea lions and turtles now as well as elephants and
I can tell its so much fun. I saw some big fish as well but I dont know fish
but the sealions were cool and swam around me and darted here and there and
then return. The turtle swam by us and we kept up with it for a while but it
headed down to the sea floor and well we could not do that could we?

Lunch was good and I was sat with the Americans and they were a great
scream, always laughing and telling jokes and shouting the place I like to
be and I ate with them right up to friday and all I did was laugh.

I am very tanned now, the sun is very strong and the hat, glasses still
never protected me and so I am a lovely brown in places, you dare not strip,
it might scare the animals.

North Seymour Island. The strangest place I have ever seen. It must have
rained larva boulders at some point as they were scattered everywhere and I
mean everywhere. But in amongst all that the birds and iguanas and sea lions
were all living, breeding and raising their young and we could all get
withing 1 ft of any creature as they were just everywhere. To describe the
island the only way I could was hauntingly beautiful, alien or a set out of
the original star trek it was so strange it was surreal. Grey Trees, no
green, red rocks, blue sky you tell me. We stayed on the island for about 3
hours and it was a good 3 hours well spent.

The evening was slow and an early night was called for as I had an early
call and the heat, the sights and the sounds were enough to were anybody
out.

Thursday was Santa Fe and Santa Cruz island and these were fantastic. At
6.30 (yes that early for me) I was on a beach surrounded by at least 50
sealions and hundreds of birds and we wandered about the beach and the area
behind it looking at the nesting birds, huge strange shaped cactus and
watching the sea lions play and fight. Speechless. But not wordless sorry

Then to Santa Cruz Island and the Charles Darwin research centre (like I
said look it up, while you are there, look up the galapagos islands on
google earth, it is worth doing just so that you can see where I went and
what it looks like). Giant Turtle time. Hands up who seen these things. Yes
thats them the ones that go up to my waist in height weigh 300kg and live
for about 150 plus years. Seen these now. These creatures are massive and
there is a big programme going on to get them back into the wild and so they
breed them there. The purpose of the animal, who cares, but they need to be
seen. This is the one that appears in one foot in the grave. But I have seen
many, not just one.
After lucnch at a ranch and some shopping we went to see the creatures in
the wild and they were just led about in mud and not doing much but I can
understand that. There aint much to do when you are 80 years old. So why
rush about.
Larva tunnels. Sound interesting? no. No they are not but I have been in the
biggest one in South america and the second largest/longest one in the
world. This tunnel formed by a complicated process of heating and cooling is
700 metres long.

Thats that then.

After that we headed into town and I went to the slowest internet cafe in
the world and read 3 emails in 40 minutes before heading back to the boat
for the last dinner, a certificate for crossing the equator (something else
I can brag about, as it was on a ship not on a plane and I will be doing a
lot while I am here) and generally packing to leave the ship.

Thank you all for my birthday emails. Some of you will have some personal
correspondance as promised so dont worry I have not forgotten you nor will
I. Soft and Cuddly is still being searched.

Lucy and Pete. XX

Still my birthday treats consisted of a walk around a museum (yawn) and the
chance to shop on San Cristobel Island then onward to the airport. I saw
Germany upto 2 -1 first half and then Ecuador 1 - 0. Our plane was delayed
by 2 hours before it arrived. At Guayaquillo it was delayed 1.5 hours. So
the 600 mile, 3 hour trip took 7 hours. ace what a fantastic day. Luckily
Ecuador won the football so it was safe to go out in quito and the turtles
head bar was ok for scotch and curry.

Thats it. Thats my understated trip of the most fantastic natural history
place I have visited so far. The most wonderful amazing reason we need to
protect the planet and ensure animals and the wild life live amongst us and
flourish. If that was I did over here it was worth coming to see that.

So its 10.30pm local time. I am knackered and need to sleep. England are
playing 8am local time and no-one knows (wankers) where a bar is open to
watch the match so in my room it is ( i have 70 channels on my tv one will
have the match on)
Part 2 of my ecuadorian adventure starts Sunday and thats the Chivas Express
and the vocanos and to be fair I cant wait. Tomorrow, football, photos,
market and gin.


Adios Amigos and its only 15 degrees here but hey, I am not here I am
there........

Living the dream and its a dream worth living

Luke

Ps you know how cool it is to have stamps in your passport? well I have a
galapagos one which is an offically recognised one in the stlye of a
turtle.......... now thats a souvenir.

Ciao