LIBBY GREENHALGH

Quite the change in the two days. I have taken my 15 th flight  and I am in the  7 th country of my travels so far.  I have upgraded my accommodation from an 8 bed mixed dorm to a room at the Hilton where my bed is wider than it is long! But the hardest change has been the departure of my friends and having no one to talk to, despite having  done a lot of travelling by myself already it is lonely.  But I shall try to remain upbeat and hopefully there will be some nice people on Galapagos tour. Welcome to Ecuador, they have just had their Presidential Elections turns out the guy was speaking at my hotel  but more weirdly they do not allow alcohol to be drunk (or maybe just sold) either side of the election so a lot of places were very quiet yesterday  or closed. However, I still managed to mooch about a market  trying to find my fluffy lama toy to take home and then I wandered off to find dinner and stumbled upon a place called  La...

We have been to the JUNGLE and got bugged out, drenched and fairly sweaty! Food on the boat The main port After the wonderful guest blog of Sarah Gawthorpe it would be the role of Miss Lindsey Bell to complete her guest blog…..but due to too much fun being had on their last day thanks to our very well informed tour guide (Sarah with a lonely planet) and quite frankly the choice of ice cream or blogging the lovely ladies have departed back to the UK to provide you all with first hand stories and I am afraid you have the early return of the very witty and interesting me!!!!   Yet again it sees in this part of our travelling we have done so much in such a short space of time that it is hard to tell you about all of it…..that and I may have slept through some of it! Our group diminished from 6 to 5 (bye bye Andrew- though I may cross paths with him in Galapagos) as we left Cusco for the ‘jungle’  but we collected two more at Puerto Maldonado which is not far...

I’ve been informed by Libby that a guest blog is required – thanks for putting up with me - I’m Sarah. Very relieved at 4200M- day one So, as Team Medic, I read about altitude sickness the night before our trek and it said we should sleep at elevations no more than 500m apart.  So when our guide Rosa told us that we would be ascending from our current elevation of 2700m to 4100m the first night and 4200m the next, while going up to 4600m during the day, I felt a little concerned.  So we all popped some altitude sickness tablets for good measure.  As I went to bed that night, I had a some tummy rumbles (technical term) so also popped a few Imodium.   Imagine my delight when I was up the majority of the night with travellers diarrhoea, the timing was spot on the night before a 2 day camping expedition with no toilets.  By 4am I had popped another 2 imodium and 2 antibiotics.      So us intrepid explorers set out in the rain head...

There haven't been many things that have really stopped me in my tracks but today we went to the Sacred Valley ahead of our Lares Trek, which starts tomorrow, and it did. The Andes are incredible huge amazing and incredibly lush. E'er may be here in the rainy season but so far we have only had a few spots and hoping it stays that way! The Sacred Valley is where the Inca people first really settled how they got there and where from remains a bit of a mystery as there are no historical records. Just what the Spanish happened to ask them when they invaded.around 28th July 1528 or was it 9 or is that wrong. Sadly they destroyed a lot of the INCA settlements but the Inca people were smart enough to block the way to Machu Picchu which is why it is so popular add it remains intact. Today we visit some other inca ruins that are really write incredible and who knows how they managed to build them. We have a lovely group of people though I am sure I will be slowing them down with my...

Things are looking up I have located my friends, welcome along for the ride Sarah and Lindsey, I have located my bag but I have lost my camera….or I thought I had but they have found it at the last hotel I was now to get that back! So my luck had kind of turned I am currently in my amigos room watching them pack. We have to decant our bags to a smaller bag that can only weigh 7kg and that includes sleeping bag and mattress- which weigh 3kg. I think anyone would chuckle at some of the comments being said here are a few for your amusement ‘Socks how many pairs of socks should I take- should I wear my cool socks tomorrow? You can never have enough pairs of socks!’ ‘Penknife should I take my penknife?’ ‘Are you taking your whole wash bag…what about a towel’ 'I'm taking all of shoes with me' This can probably be forgiveable because as Sarah said earlier ‘My oxygen is deprived of brain!’ You can guess who is saying most of the comedy comments After a day in ...

I am now in Lima waiting for my 'dos amigos' (as well as my bag) to arrive and join me ready for our trek to Machu Picchu. The knee hasn't given way for a few days, though I did just try and cross my legs and that is a no no, and while there is a dull ache in shoulder providing I have some clothes to wear this is going to be awesome My last day in Easter Island was spent in a more relaxed attempting to do nothing atmosphere. I moved from the hotel I was in to a hostel nearer the airport but to be fair there was no need everything is walking distance. But it was considerably cheaper- funnily enough when you are on a very remote island and lots of things have to be imported, nothing is cheap. My hostel cost $35 US and was a 4 bed room all to myself in the end. But dinner out generally costs between 40-60 USD. The local gym My swimming pool Having moved accommodation I strolled into town visited the local gym and then sat down by one of the enclosed pool...

After a minor number two incident this morning (which will never be spoken of again!) my second full day on Easter Island (which is about half the size of the Isle of Wight- but I don’t think the tandem would make it round!!!)  proceeded in glorious sunshine and no sign of the torrential rain of yesterday….almost paradise. The kneeling Moai similar to Polynesian ones Easter Island is famous for its massive monoliths. Much like the terracotta army there are more of these statues (moai)  buried under the ground here at Easter Island and will remain so. Not quite on the scale of the terracotta army in numbers but in size phenomenal. There 400-500 statues still buried of various sizes 2,3,6 and 10 M in height possibly taller.   The largest Moai is 22 M high but is unfinished and is at the quarry where they were all made. In terms of weight they weigh anywhere between 6 and 100 plus tonnes so to move them was no mean feat The Moai statues are believed to have fi...