Ecuador & Peru

6 go mad in the Galapagos and Machu Picchu (well at least the parents did)

No excuses, just plain old been too busy to write.

We kicked off with a few days in the Amazon jungle, which was green, wet and heaving with life -everything you could hope for from a jungle. Tarantulas on the handrails, dozens of monkeys scrabbling through the trees and the strangest bird we have ever come across. You find these weirdoes by listening for panting sounds in the bush (not your average city park, or maybe it is...?). They are ancient creatures, perhaps the closest we have to the dinosaurs, complete with mohawks, and as chicks, with hooks on their 'elbows' to help climb back up into the nest. The locals call them stinky turkeys (their real name is Hoatzin) and refuse to eat them, but those same locals eat heaving great pupa by choice (see photos attached - we were offered them, literally pulsating with life, as lunch).

Reaching the lodge required a small plane flight, a 2 hour power boat ride down the river, a 30 minute hike across the jungle, and a further 1/2 hour canoe ride through jungle streams and across a small lake. It was  wonderful, with a small 'swimming pool' made by sticking chain mesh in the lake to keep out the electric eels, piranha and caiman. A small boa constrictor was wound amongst the fencing, having just feasted on a bird and being too fat to move. We did the swim thing as one must, and watched each day as the remains of the bird decrease in size as it was digested over 3 days.

The jungle is rot and decay, yet burgeoning with life. There are huge ants that live alone rather than in nests, with such a nasty bite that they take down mice, and birds that sound like a swarm of helicopters coming in to land. Only 2% of the sunlight reaches the forest floor, and our bags gained over a kilo in moisture just from being amongst the dampness (as did all medications - travelling at this age is a tad more complicated). It is a delightful and complex contradiction, and I think I was meant to live there.

We met the offspring upon our return to civilisation, and headed to the Galapogos. Those couple of weeks were a blur of food, creatures, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling and more food. It's was a stunner - the Galapagos are everything they are made out to be. When on land one must tread carefully to avoid tripping over the plentiful and playful baby sea-lions (locally known as sea-wolves, which seems more fitting), scurrying iguanas or nesting albatross. Frigate birds are thick in the air, their ancient forms so close to dinosaurs it is easy to imagine yourself in a completely different era. The males have large balloon like throats which swell like a fluorescent scrotum, the point of which is to draw in nubile young females. Under water is a cacophony of riotous fishes each out-shining one another on the dance floor. Zen turtles cruise in and out of sight, totally immersed in their own primordial worlds. Sea-lions effortlessly glide past blowing cheeky bubbles in your face. One night a rather large sea-lion climbed up and slept on the back of our boat, totally freaking Riley out when she wandered on deck. Words are utterly inadequate. We had a marvellously South American moment when our boat passed a small but alarmingly high-tech raft somewhere between islands. The crew checked it out as one would when seeing such a craft in the open ocean, but immediately returned to work when it was identified as a drug drop. Meh, shoulder shrug.

Back on the mainland of Ecuador and Peru the strange assortment of creatures are replaced with a strange and colourful assortment of people. And all of them have their hands full. If not eating, carrying babies (swaddled in too many blankets for the temperature), or holding chubby, grubby children's hands, they are peddling - anything; baby puffer jackets, shoe laces, duel toilet roll and tooth-brush holders (how did we do without?), car aerials, pipe-cleaner Woody-Wood Peckers, crystal mud (??) - anything! One vendor even had a decent sized fridge strapped to his back. Others sell time on their cell phones or exchange cash on the streets. Anything to make a buck. There are firm plump legs stuffed into sausage-casing jeans and muffin tops galore. It is a land filled with small, stocky people who have eaten more than their fair share of carbs since the day they were born.

This part of the world produces the highest protein grains found. It is the home of the super foods quinoa and amaranth amongst others. There are over 4000 species of potatoes here, some of which can be cultivated as high as 4600m - about 900m higher than Mt Cook. Concordantly even the shop manikins have the famous South American butt with jeans stretched out so tightly that they barely do up.

The Catholic Church reigns supreme and churches are highly decorated and myriad. Before the Spanish invaded approx 500 years ago, the local people 'worshipped' (our word, not theirs) the mountains. Both men and women worked and celebrated the harvest, family and spiritual affairs together. The Catholics sought to change that by blending native beliefs with Christian values. Hence, the Virgin Mary is represented as a triangular shape, to draw parallels with the once revered mountains. Corn - holy in pre-Spanish culture - features in religious carvings and modern Alter decoration. Sneaky, but very effective. Everyone here is now Catholic living the traditional male/female roles the church requires. The Christian Conquistadors did their usual conquering trick, and made the locals tear down their own sacred places and use the stones to build churches. Machu Picchu however, managed to survive intact.

At breakfast, the morning before we headed up to see the place for ourselves, we overheard an American woman approach another hotel guest.

"I heard you have been up Machu Picchu already. Is it really as spiritual as they say?"

Our ears perked up in the slightly in the perverse hopes of him looking disparagingly at her and responding with a lip curling and fawn-stopping "Nah", however in a gentlemanly manner, he said

"You look like a sensitive person"

"Oooh I am soooo sensitive", she said, hands clutched imploringly to her chest, her body bent down towards him with expectant ecstasy.

"Well I'm sure you will feel something”

To be fair, there is something special about the place. The mountains are rugged and beyond steep and framed perfectly by strategically placed stone doorways. We hauled ourselves up the steep peak you can see in the background of the photos - an endless procession of uneven and brutal stairs with no railings and only ultra-thin oxygen to suck. Muscles ached, hearts thumped, breaths were painfully gasped, but we did it!!

We have just left Lima, Peru on a way to see the Nazca lines. Lima is a pumping, thumping sprawl of a city with relentlessly ultra-loud music. The locals have been watching the South American Football with a passion unique to South America. Peru, traditionally tribal and fractured has been united by their team which has made it to the finals. The pride is tangible. The city itself needs a good wash. Small, unimaginative houses are guarded by barbed-wire, elaborate gratings and electric fences, there is dust  and peeling paint everywhere, and the police presence is beyond extraordinary. It feels quite unsafe, grimy and ergo, very South American.

T-shirts du jour;

Just wing it...life, eyeliner, everything..

It's only weird the first time.