BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Viva la revolucion !
By a stroke of luck, I arrived in Argentina in time to celebrate 200 years of the revolution of the 25th of May.
Buenos Aires knows how to party and they have had 4 days of celebrating. On Mon 24th and Tues the 25th I visited the area set aside for the celebrations. The Avenue of the 9th July was closed and 2 streets leading up to the square where the "Pink House" or "Government House" is. Argentinian football shirts and flags where every where. Added to this celebration is the anticipation of the world cup! I watched the T.V football match of Argentina beating Canada 5:0.
More news later...

GALAPAGOS

I spent a wonderful week on a Galapagos cruise. I flew direct from Quito to Baltra on Fri 14th.
I and some others were met by the crew from Golondrina, a lovely 70 foot motorised yacht. In all, there were 16 passengers. I shared a cabin with a young woman, Nina, from Denmark. we had our own bathroom which was very convenient. For the whole week I enjoyed superb meals. I met a great group of people although half of them left after 4 days and another bunch of equally nice people joined the boat.
Our 1st visit on fri afternoon was Bachus beach,  prev a WW11 site manned by the U.S. It was so exciting to see our 1st sealions, marine iguanas and seabirds. Later on we went snorkelling and were treated to an array of tropical fish (sorry don´t have my diary so can´t tell you their names....).
On fri night we sailed to Genovesa and awoke in the morning  (Sat) to find ourselves in a bay that was previously a volcanic crater.
Visiting the Galapagos is like being at the dawn of time - seeing old volcanoes (and not so old...) and seeing species that evolved in this unique environment (altho galapagos is relatively young compared to the age of the earth). On Genovesa we saw nesting red-footed boobies - they nest in trees whereas other boobies nest on the ground. We also saw the amazing male great frigates who have a red ballon like pouch in their necks in the breeding season - what the male of the species does to attract attention!
On Genoves and other islands we we saw the white or masked booby. They outnumber the blue and red-footed boobies.
Overnight we sailed and in the morning found ourselves at Bartolome with the wondrous site of Pinnacle rock.
I have lost track of the sequence of events but we visited a number of islands, each one different. I loved the dance of the blue boobies - they both shuffle about in a courting dance and the male bows and whistles (guys, why can´t you be more like birds?). We could not get enough of the sea-lions - they lie on the beach undisturbed and grunt and bark and socilaise. the pups crawl about in search of mum who is usually out fishing. They remind me of dogs. Of course, you are not allowed to touch them.
Occasionally, when we were snorkelling we were joined by some curious sealions. as long as it was no the alpha male, you were okay. He usually patrols the territory protecting the large family.
We had several snorkels, sometimes 2 a day. These were awesome - I did see some parrot fish, angel fish, moor fish, trumpet fish, white selma -sometimes huge schools of fish. Once or twice i saw a white tipped shark - we would call out "shark" and the other snorkellers woulñd swim over, not away. It was great on 2 occasions seeing turtles in the water. we aslo saw golden rays and the spotty eagle-faced ray. One of the best snorkels was in the devil´s Cauldron (?Española) - lovely clear water and swimming over the old crater.
I had fun with the other passenegers on board, among them, a number of people from the U.k. Hopefully we will get together later in the year.
It was such a full 7 days and I was reluctant to leave .. but as they say, all good things come to an end...

ECUADOR

After crossing into Ecuador, I travelled 3 hrs by bus to Otavalo. The bus travelled through picturesque scenery but it was difficult to see from the aisle seat. It was also very distracting as they were showing an extremely violent ninja type movie (heads/limbs being chopped off, blood everywhere) and extremely loud music. It was hot and crowded on the bus. I can´t complain though as it was only 3 dollars and it was convenient. I found a lovely hotel in Otavalo, the Hotel Riviera Sucre. It is a pretty and welcoming place.
Being a Saturday I was just in time to see the renowned market. One of the main streets, in addition to Poncho Plaza (yes, it is called that - Artisans´market), had numerous stalls selling brightly coloured bags, scarves, jumpers, ponchos, blankets (alpaca of course). It was great just to walk around and look but I was too tired to bargain/buy. I found a little place where I had a meal of the day. The next morning I wandered around Poncho Plaza and enjoyed buying a few things. As I am up in the mountains and heading into cooler weather, I bought myself a scarf.
On Monday I caught the bus to Quito (2 hrs and unfortunately, another violent martial arts movie). I am staying at Hostal LÁuberge Inn which is a great place. It has a little restaurant and also a travel agency (very handy). It is conveniently situated within walking distance of the historic centre and a short taxi ride to La Mariscal where all the restaurants, bars are.In the afternoon I wandered around the Old Town of Quito which has lots of majestic buildings and an abundance of grand churches. I also took in the view of the city from the hilltop where the staue of the Virgin of Quito is.Quito is surrounded by mountains/volcanoes and is a huge city. Today I visited La Mitad del Mundo or the Equator. As well as posing with one foot in each hemisphere, it was fun to watch people doing all kinds of antics for the camera (jumping, sitting, striding the equatorial line).
On Friday I am off to the Galapagos for 8 days. Can´t wait to tell you all about it!

Post-script: As much as I liked Quito, I have to tell you about an unpleasant incident. No harm done to me but I had my camera/bag stolen in a scam (similar to waht they warn you about in the guide books). I was having lunch at The Chicken Grill on Avenida Colombia (not far from hostel I was staying at, also not far from Hospital Eugenio Espejo). I was sitting in a corner hungrily devouring my chicken. I sensed someone nearby but didn´t pay attention. A man stooped near me and pointed to some keys on the floor - I looked down then checked my pocket to see that they weren´t mine - as I did this, his accomplice took my bag with my camera in it - I didn´t notice until the waitress rushed across to tell me I had been robbed. Rather annoying  especially as my Colombian photos of the last 2 weeks were in my camera. But as I say, I was unharmed and my passport etc safe in the hostel. I later met someone who had tomato sauce squirted on them and their bag but they were alert enough to refuse"help" and the bag was not stolen. A friend who was travelling with me had laptop, camera etc... stolen in the south of Ecuador. So, yes , be careful in Ecuador !
But apart from this incident, I did enjoy Ecuador and its people.
And of course, I needed to get a new camera for my Galapagos trip!

Cali, Popayan, Pasto

Cali is the home of salsa and well worth a visit. I stayed in the barrio of San Antonio which is the old part of Cali. It has some lovely old houses containing artisans workshops and there are lots of interesting little restaurants. I stayed at cafe Tostaky, a lovely little hostel. I was there on 2 week nights when it was quiet but I think it is more lively at weekends when the restaurant is open.www.cafetostaky.blogspot.com
I enjoyed walking to the nearby city centre and discovering lovely old buildings and exploring shops. It isn´t a touristy place and it´s great to just wander about and see people going about their normal business.
I took a taxi to the shopping mall of Chipichape. It´s a large, modern mall with lots of designer, as well as other shops, food hall and cinema.
Fom Cali I caught a bus to popayan. This is a pretty coloial city where most of the buildings are white.
Agai, it´s fun to explore the streets, admiring old buildings with solid wooden doors and intriguing coutyards.
There are plenty of diversions near Popayan - going mountain biking or visiting Tierra Dentro (pre-Colombian tombs) but I wanted to keep moving south to Ecuador. I stayed at the hosteltrail.com, on of the original Colombian trail hostels. It´s well worth a visit and you can get a lot of travel info, including how to cross the Colombia-Ecuador border. I took yet another bus south, to Pasto, the capital of Nariño province.
This area was liberated by general Nariño - the people wanted to belong to Ecuador but had no choice in the matter of being included in Colombia. It is a big, bustling town. I stayed overnight at the hostel, Koala Inn. Once you´ve stayed at a hostel, they grow on you. It´s great for getting travel advice and meeting other travels. And it´s good for the budget.
I was up early on Sat 8th May to get another bus, this time to Ipiales near the border. This was a 2 hr bus journey hurtling through the mountains (not unlike the journey fom Popayan to pasto). I think the driver´s challenge is to see how many passengers throw up, how fast to take a bend signposted "dangerous curves",
how many blind rises to overtake on in a trip.... They do the trip every day so their driving skills must be good, mustn´t they ...?
From Ipiales, I took a taxi to Rumichaca at the border. It was straightforward leaving Colombia and entering Ecuador. Then a taxi ride to Tulcan where I caught a bus to Otavalo. The bus picked up numerous passenegers on the way and there was hardly standing room. It was somewhat difficult to manoever myself and my large backpack off... So I arived at Otavalo in time to see the big Saturday market.

ZONA CAFETERA/COFFEE ZONE - Salento

From Medellin it was about another 6 hr bus journey in the direction of Armenia in the Zona Cafetera.
The bus conductor kindly dropped us off before Armenia and there was small bus which took us into Salento. salento is a beautiful little town set in the mountains.It is such a tranquil place to visit and there are several hiking options. (including the Valley of Cocora to see the wax tree palms). One of the best options ... which is what I did for several days... is to do absolutely nothing. The only effort extended was to vivit a coffee farm. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at The Plantation house (www.plantationhousesalento.com) run by Tim and his wife Chris. It was hard to leave but after 4 nights I moved on to Cali.

MEDELLIN

I think I am suffering from bus fatigue. I have made so many journeys in the last 10 days.
Colombia is a huge country with extensive mountain ranges to cross. It makes for beautiful viewing but slow travelling. On 26 April I went south from Cartagena. I travelled with Ben who had come across with La Esmeralda. It was good to have some company and took some stress out of catching early morning buses and finding accommodation. We took a 6 hr bus to Monteria which is en route to medellin. It is not a tourist town but was pleasant to visit. I can recommend a stroll along the River Sinu . We did get caught in the rain but dried out afterwards in a nearby coffee shop.A local woman had recommended Hotel Kimari in the town centre and this was agood place to stay.
Early the next day we were on the road to Medellin. The views enroute of mountains and rivers was spectacular.
Medellin is a bustling city. I stayed at Casa Blanca, just down the road from the Black Sheep hostel, both in  avery nice residential area. Park Lieras is a great place to visit for restaurants and music.
A ride on the metro and then up the cable car gives wonderful views of the city. You can go higher still by buying another ticket which takes you over cloud forest to Park Arvi.

Cartagena de Indias, COLOMBIA

Cartagena is a beautiful,old city contained within wide, protective stone walls.It was well/defended against those plunderers of the seas, the English Pirates. It is a journey of discovery wandering down one narrow street after another.There are grand buildings, cathedral, churches, convents, and of course, Bolivar Square with its staue of the Liberator.. The buildings have wooden balconies which contain splashes of colour.   Eventually the heat and the humidity drive you indoors. In the early evening it is pleasant to venture out and enjoy the breeze as you walk on top of the city walls.