Basin Bliss!
Howdy folks! Well lets start from the beginning... the bus ride from La Pa to Cuzco was good - had some good movies (Lilo and Stitch 2, the breakup, and the Bucket List) with some beautiful scenery. Got to Cusco mid-arvo and went and had lunch at ´Jacks´which was pretty good prices and yummy fresh food. It is nice wandering around a place where so many people have enjoyed and recommended places to visit and eat at etc... got side-tracked by a few jewellery shops on my way to a massage (hmmm nice)... and then the next day 8 of us (NZ couple - Gabby and Rob, Pia & Katie, Sarah & Mike, Ruth and I) were off to the Amazon...
Katie got up early and went and visited the church nearby... We all left at 8 to get our 10am flight... As we were delayed on the runway I remembered I hadnt given my insuance details to Loula (our tour leader) so wrote them out for Sarah - just in case... When we finally took off, it took ages along the runway and when we finally achieved ´lift off´the plane was shuddering and making an awful noise and we were all thinking ´that doesnt sound right´. 10 minutes into the flight when we are flying over the andes the captain comes over the speaker and starts with ´importantia´or something and then goes on more in spanish and the next thing we know the stewardesses are going over the emergency procedures and showing us the emergency exits and brace positions and saying we have to do an emergency landing! Poor Katie is scared of flying as it is, and because most of it is happening in spanish and it is hard to get a handle of what is happening it was pretty scary! Turns out we were turning back to Cusco and landing back there... That was a looooong way back to Cusco. We all got out that little flight card and reviewed the brace position... but then we were seemingly flying along nicely... And then we started getting lower and lower and it seemed like we were just coasting (we possibly were)... getting closer to the airport, and then finally the captain comes over the speaker again, says something in spanish and then all of a sudden ´brace brace brace!´- crumpets! So we all have our heads down etc and the landing went pretty much same as usual - but no one looked up til we had slowed right down... The plane smelt a bit funny (enginey kind of smell) and when we got off you could see one of the propellor things had heaps of black smoke coming out of it... (for you boys it was an airbus 319 plane). They gave us a soft drink and we ony had to wait half and hour for the next scheduled flight to P. Maldonado (the Amazon) which we were all able to fit on. Just seemed a bit bizarre how Katie had done the church thing in the morning (she normally wouldnt have gone in at all) and I thought about my insurance - not that that was required...
Anyway we fianlly made it to the amazon basin safe and sound - was absolutely brilliant to be down from altitude (we were under 2500m ASL) -could breath easier, ( sorry about the details ) didn´t get blood when blowing your nose and the little sandfly bites and sunburn that i got at the beginning (1st and 5th day of tour) finally started to heal (your body takes ages longer to heal at altitude). We went for a night walk, then a day long walk to a lake and row on the lake, then a night boat ride while at the Amazon... Saw a toucanet (mini toucan), tarantula, tamarind monkeys, lots of other spiders and birds and bugs, and caiman (like mini crocs) as well as some beautiful (huge) trees and plants... Was hot and humid - but have been days in Brissie that have been similiar so wasnt too bad... and was pretty cool to be in the Amazon... We had really good guides that knew lots of info about all the critters that we saw.
When we were on the night boat, we had a german girl that was doing the tour with us... she was busting to go to the toilet (was only an hour on the night boat). Anyway we pull up to the hotel jetty, thinking she is going to do a mad dash up to the hotel bit and go to the toilet but no - she giggles and drops her pants beside the jetty in the squelchy mud - was pretty funny - no one could believe it!
The meals where we were staying were amazing - a french lady owned the place (it was only 5yo) so was pretty tasty - and were more traditional kind of meals as well. Had limited electricity so only the common room had lights - everywhere else was lit by candles - we had a candle each for our room ad one for the bathroom (just cold water shower but that was fine). We were in thatch-roofed bungalows which had mosquito nets over the bed so felt like a princess at night. The curtains in our room were fine and just had mosquito netting for windows, so could see fireflies going by during the night (ahhh lovely!)
The flight back today was fine... went back to Jacks for lunch and going to The Fallen Angel for dinner tonight hopefully. Been wandering round the shops (got bulk discount fo a couple of things that Ruth and Katie and I have bought) - love bargaining...
Off to Sacred Valley tomorrow and then starting the Inca Trail the following day!
Thats enough stories for now :)
Later gators!
Katie got up early and went and visited the church nearby... We all left at 8 to get our 10am flight... As we were delayed on the runway I remembered I hadnt given my insuance details to Loula (our tour leader) so wrote them out for Sarah - just in case... When we finally took off, it took ages along the runway and when we finally achieved ´lift off´the plane was shuddering and making an awful noise and we were all thinking ´that doesnt sound right´. 10 minutes into the flight when we are flying over the andes the captain comes over the speaker and starts with ´importantia´or something and then goes on more in spanish and the next thing we know the stewardesses are going over the emergency procedures and showing us the emergency exits and brace positions and saying we have to do an emergency landing! Poor Katie is scared of flying as it is, and because most of it is happening in spanish and it is hard to get a handle of what is happening it was pretty scary! Turns out we were turning back to Cusco and landing back there... That was a looooong way back to Cusco. We all got out that little flight card and reviewed the brace position... but then we were seemingly flying along nicely... And then we started getting lower and lower and it seemed like we were just coasting (we possibly were)... getting closer to the airport, and then finally the captain comes over the speaker again, says something in spanish and then all of a sudden ´brace brace brace!´- crumpets! So we all have our heads down etc and the landing went pretty much same as usual - but no one looked up til we had slowed right down... The plane smelt a bit funny (enginey kind of smell) and when we got off you could see one of the propellor things had heaps of black smoke coming out of it... (for you boys it was an airbus 319 plane). They gave us a soft drink and we ony had to wait half and hour for the next scheduled flight to P. Maldonado (the Amazon) which we were all able to fit on. Just seemed a bit bizarre how Katie had done the church thing in the morning (she normally wouldnt have gone in at all) and I thought about my insurance - not that that was required...
Anyway we fianlly made it to the amazon basin safe and sound - was absolutely brilliant to be down from altitude (we were under 2500m ASL) -could breath easier, ( sorry about the details ) didn´t get blood when blowing your nose and the little sandfly bites and sunburn that i got at the beginning (1st and 5th day of tour) finally started to heal (your body takes ages longer to heal at altitude). We went for a night walk, then a day long walk to a lake and row on the lake, then a night boat ride while at the Amazon... Saw a toucanet (mini toucan), tarantula, tamarind monkeys, lots of other spiders and birds and bugs, and caiman (like mini crocs) as well as some beautiful (huge) trees and plants... Was hot and humid - but have been days in Brissie that have been similiar so wasnt too bad... and was pretty cool to be in the Amazon... We had really good guides that knew lots of info about all the critters that we saw.
When we were on the night boat, we had a german girl that was doing the tour with us... she was busting to go to the toilet (was only an hour on the night boat). Anyway we pull up to the hotel jetty, thinking she is going to do a mad dash up to the hotel bit and go to the toilet but no - she giggles and drops her pants beside the jetty in the squelchy mud - was pretty funny - no one could believe it!
The meals where we were staying were amazing - a french lady owned the place (it was only 5yo) so was pretty tasty - and were more traditional kind of meals as well. Had limited electricity so only the common room had lights - everywhere else was lit by candles - we had a candle each for our room ad one for the bathroom (just cold water shower but that was fine). We were in thatch-roofed bungalows which had mosquito nets over the bed so felt like a princess at night. The curtains in our room were fine and just had mosquito netting for windows, so could see fireflies going by during the night (ahhh lovely!)
The flight back today was fine... went back to Jacks for lunch and going to The Fallen Angel for dinner tonight hopefully. Been wandering round the shops (got bulk discount fo a couple of things that Ruth and Katie and I have bought) - love bargaining...
Off to Sacred Valley tomorrow and then starting the Inca Trail the following day!
Thats enough stories for now :)
Later gators!