Bear and Jackie’s Travel Diary

Heard of this? Again, neither had we until we got to this part of the world. Not exactly ‘The Beach’, Leonardo DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen not in attendance, but pretty awesome. Less developed than Isla Mujeres, the main activities here are chilling out, oh and eating!

Other than Shanks’ Pony, Golf buggies are the only way around this island.

Deserted beaches in paradise? Maybe the occasional sea gull.

Another average island, another average sunset

Cuba now appearing ominously on the itinerary. Merida the nearest airport, so off there next…

A sun kissed paradise island in the Caribbean Sea. All we had to do was hop onto a flight from Bogota, 4 hours to Cancun, breeze through customs and immigration, transfer to Cancun then whizz across town to the port in time for the last ferry at 11.30pm. 2pm flight should get us there no dramas, right? Wrong! It can never be a good look whilst sat in the departure gate to see a front wheel being changed on your intended aircraft! No worries, wheel change complete, only a short delay, we should be boarding soon. Wrong again! New wheel, good. Open nose cone now on aircraft, probably not good. Luggage trailers with passengers bags being driven away, probably bad! Meal vouchers being handed out by staff, definitely bad! Only a 4 hour delay, may just make it!

Disembark around 10pm and the last ferry to paradise tonight is a fading dream. Round the corner into immigration to join the back of the largest anaconda queues we have ever seen, not a good look. Only 1 immigration desk open staffed by Mexican Mr Grumpy, game over!

Never lose hope! As we resign ourselves to finding some cardboard boxes in Cancun for the night, the barrier where we are standing is opened and we lead the way into an empty section of immigration past several hundred somewhat miffed looking people!

Before you could say welcome to Mexico, we were jogging through baggage collection towards customs. Nothing to declare, gracias! Not so fast! At the exit of the ‘green’ channel is a button that randomly lights one of the red or green signs above it! Red says do not pass go, proceed directly over there for a bag search. Green says last ferry still a glimmer of hope! F it, bear presses ….. Green! Through the doors to the taxi desk, no queue, 5 minutes later, Speedy Gonzales is at warp speed direct to the port. 10 mins to spare, ferry ticket and ice cold Dos Equis in hand, we will not be needing those cardboard boxes tonight.

Arrive well after midnight, apparently the perfect time to smash out a few beverages. When in Mexico!…Didn’t achieve much on our first day here!

Golf buggy is the transport of choice here! Ideal for exploring, misbehavior and photo opportunities.

Ice bar? OK! Water slide? If we have to!

A few photo opportunities too good to miss…

Good night xxx

And farewell paradise…

Bears Birthday a day early in Copacabana at the infamous Churrascharia Palace before heading off the next day to Bogota on his actual birthday.

Colombia for us, was just a stop off point on our way to Mexico. We flew into Bogota for 2 nights and explored the city by doing two free tours. Firstly a walking tour, followed by a food tour. Then a quick look at the market.

Free walking tours are awesome in places like this. Turn up, get guided around for a couple of hours and pay what you thought it was worth. Some good, some not so. This one was well worth the effort.

This is the Justice Palace, rebuilt after Pablo and his chums blew the old one up to erase evidence. Parking fines anyone?

Markets.

Oh and the most delicious pig, eaten throughout our S.American journey, always delicious.

The Colombians love their cheese, here’s me trying one of the specialities “hot chocolate with cheese” !!! We love cheese and hot chocolate. Together in a sentence is as close as they should ever be!

Probably not a City for running around alone at night but well worth a look. Previously made plans only gave us two nights here, a few more would have been better.

Two countries, two languages and one slightly large set of waterfalls with a border in the middle.

We stayed in Iguacu on the Brazilian side of the falls so started off there.

The roar of crashing water assaults you long before you get to see or feel any of the wet stuff. A couple of bends later…

From here, it gets noisier and wetter until only diving cameras have a sporting chance of survival.

Managed to find a bunch of colourful butterflies to disturb on the way out, sorry!

There is a bird park here too. Not colossal fans of seeing our feathered friends in cages but this facility provides large areas in their natural habitat. So much so that there are identical birds sitting on the top of some of the cages.

The Argentine side is a day trip and is no less impressive. Any trip here should involve both views. Much more walking on the Argentine side but well worth every step.

Back to Rio in the morning for our connection to Columbia. Front row seats! Woo Hoo!!

Still slightly shocked at our participation throughout the 10 days of Carnival it was finally time to put the mankini away (and burn it!!) and head west towards Iguana Falls. The distances are huge, we are talking over 1500km by bus, approx 26 hours. So we decided to make a couple of stop overs on the way.

Paraty was our first stop, the town sits amongst protruding peninsulas and secluded beaches, with a background of the Costa Verde’s mountains and below many palm tree studded bays and heaps of colourful boats all touting for your attention. Extreme cobbled streets which made walking an intensely un relaxing experience if you want two ankles to remain intact. A very beautiful place where we enjoyed a few hours on a boat exploring the many uninhabited tiny islands.

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We needed to be in Rio on 8 February for carnival! Shouldn’t be too hard getting from Quito in Ecuador? Not at all, around six days by bus! We are no strangers to long bus rides but 6 days is pushing the envelope. So, let’s check out flights. Prices for flights were insanely expensive!! Until we clicked the Business Class option. Yup, cheaper than cattle class!! Avianca had a Business Class promo option. All of the bells and whistles at less than the price of Economy, go figure! Turns out we could also trim another big chunk off the fare by flying via Bogota and chilling out in the lounge for 7 hours, don’t mind if we do! Wasn’t a huge fan of being dragged out of the lounge to have my rucksack inspected by the police! Yup, not customs, police! Guess they didn’t like the metal cage thing around my bag, haven’t used it since! Every item unpacked and checked, all shampoo and liquids tested, scary and thorough. Returned to find a somewhat concerned Mrs O waiting to board the plane. Gin and tonic madam, oh ok then. Quito to Bogota not so much to shout about, put us into the lounge around 3pm.

Eating and drinking are always fun. That fun factor multiplies dramatically when it’s free! Vintage Rum, champagne and buffet food on tap. 7 hours went past way too fast

Didn’t expect lie flat beds on the plane! 6 and a half hour flight not nearly long enough!

Cheers Avianca

HA HA!!! We appear to have arrived just before carnival! Somehow a crazy mate from Melbourne made the same error…

And then the heat got to us! Let’s grab some outfits and go out to play! Most photos not suitable for public consumption, we may need employment in the future! These are a taste of it

If you haven’t experienced this, nothing can prepare you! Think Mardi gras on steroids and add a few million participants. Night time was slightly more ‘spicy’. Loved it

Last day in Rio, stopped off for a bite at the famous Churrascaria Palace. A temple for all carnivores! Fishy stuff there too, but an all you can eat afternoon of fun!

Oh! They have salad too! Chips and other stuff as well.

Heard of it? No! Neither had we! Home now to awesome ex Mounties Brian and Janette, they kindly showed us around. Starting with the Ecuator

Pretty cool one foot North and one foot South! Turns out that North means left and South sun!!!

Enjoyed fabulous company, one or two rums, many views and serious eats!

Many thanks guys xxx See you in Oz xxx

Seven hours on a bus from Quito, two more in a minibus, then two hours in a motorised canoe to reach Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve. Pure jungle, no Wifi, no phones. Heaven!

Off to a local village one day to see a spot of local life and cook some Yuka bread. Didn’t realise that we would be doing most of the work. Unreal though, plant out of the ground, peeled, grated, wrung dry and made into awesome bread in about an hour.

Then off to see the local Shaman for a dose of healing and blowpipe practice

No idea how long this fabulous Paradise will survive before the Government sell it to China. Impossible to believe that the short term profit from a few barrels of oil could destroy this…

Swimming at sunset and a few crappy photos!…

Met a couple of awesome Canadians here who talked us into our next stop…

Farewell and good luck Amazon..

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David Attenborough, eat your heart out. Spent an unbelievable 3 weeks on these beautiful Islands, enjoying our own personal wildlife documentary! Didn’t do the somewhat pricey cruise option and went DIY instead.

We quashed the myth that the Galapagos is only for the wealthy, or indeed the only way to see it is by cruise. We are living proof that the Galapagos can be done cheaply, freely and by land. We bought a one way ticket, which gave us the flexibility to Island hop and leave when we were ready. We spent the same amount of money as everywhere else in South America. Don’t miss out on visiting this magical, incredible place.

Santa Cruz

We flew into Baltra/Santa Cruz. This island is a wonderful introduction to the Galapagos. The island itself is beautiful, surrounded by clear blue water ,white sand and animal surprises around every corner. Massive choice of affordable accommodation and food options. Taxis cheap and easily available. Stay in the main town and most things are in walking distance, including the Charles Darwin center and fish market, both free to visit. We particularly enjoyed spending time animal watching at the local fish market, where the pelicans, sea lions, iguanas and frigate birds would come to try their luck at some discarded fish remains. It really was very entertaining!!!!

Highlights: Charles Binford Road for cheap eats and the freshest sea food!! Giant Tortoise Reserve and tunnels. Fish Market. General ambience of the island.

Isabella.

For $30 we jumped onto a speed boat and visited our second island. Isabella is far less commercialized then Santa Cruz with its own laid back vibe and natural, rustic beauty. Here we took a boat/snorkeling tour to Los Tunnels. A fabulous day walking over and swimming amongst lava rock formations. Snorkeling with sharks, penguins, sea horses, turtles amongst just a few sea animals to name. Also saw our first blue footed boobie.

Highlights: Visiting Los Tunnels

Santa Christobel

Finally our last but certainly not least island. As you arrive on the island via boat you are greeted with a massive colony of sea lions. We absolutely loved this island again not only its beauty but there were sea lions everywhere. To make our time ever more magical was that it was sea puppy season, so we spent our hours playing and swimming with these amazing, agile creatures. Three totally glorious, magical weeks in animal paradise.

Highlights: Swiming with baby sea lions in their natural environment, without a doubt an experience of a lifetime, unforgettable!!!

Tuna for Dinner? Watch it coming in on the boat, grab a chunk for $6 a kilo and clear a path to the frying pan

Nothing can prepare you for the proximity and abundance of wildlife

This guy spent hours stomping around the pool, even jumping in to get rid of other iguanas or people!

General Galapagos behaviour!

Fish market with resident Sealion and assorted critters!

 

Unforgettable experiences.