Barça, Barça Baaaaarça!!!!

Ben & his Angels

What a blast Barcelona was!!! I got in there on Tuesday evening and was joined by Ben and Di at eleven pm....Early start to the night in Spain. And seeing as we had a lot to catch up on....

The next day after finding our apartment in the latin quarter the three of us headed out, while waiting for Pam to get there from the UK. As it was for a while there we knew Pam was in town, close to the apartment, but nowhere to be found!!! Di and I even went down to search cafes and bars, calling out for her!!! Even sent out a 'Where are you?' email!!
Finding Pam caused for celebrations - We jumped in a cab and were driven to the closest nightclub - The Golden Eye!

The following day all of us trooped over to La Sagrada Familia, the huge cathedral which, after over 100 years is still in the process of being built - It is estimated construction will not end until the year 2027. It has a mix of architectural styles: The entrance is modern with angular sculptures, whereas the other side is gothic and looks like the building is melting. Very strange, magically ugly, fantastically beautiful; A feat in construction.

That night was supposed to be a quiet one after the raucous Golden Eye - And some of us were good....Others were bad! Arsenal and Barcelona were playing each other in the grand final. Ben and I decided to follow the noise and so wandering through the little streets close to our apartment we found ourselves on Las Ramblas, a street the size of Oxford Street back in Sydney. Well had we known we would be joining one of the biggest street parties either of us had ever been to, I think we would've run there on the double, just to be able to soak in the atmosphere for that little bit longer!!!

We literally hit a wall of people dancing, singing, drinking, waving the Barcelona colours, basically partying like you wouldn't believe. For those of you who know Mardis Gras in Syd, imagine that times 10!!! So of course Ben and I got into the spirit, dancing and trying to sing Barcelona anthems we didn't know any of the words to, running away from the fire crackers only to go and dance in and amongst them when they were going off. People climbed onto street lights, took down street signs, even made off with a set of traffic lights - Huge!!!

Our quiet night ended at 5am.....

The next day was 'Museum Day' which meant that most museum entries were free. Off we trouped to see Picasso. It was just amazing, the man was an artistic genius. Can't give you more than that, other than you have to see it for yourselves!

We then headed to Parc Guell, which was designed by Gaudi and never finished. The walkways made of mosaics, the part where you sit to overlook the city.... Again an amazing artistic mind!

That night really was a quiet one!

Friday we decided was our shopping day with all of us having seen something in our travels we wanted... And Saturday we headed an hour and a half out of Barcelona to Girona... So pretty. It just so happened that it was the flower festival and in the streets, parks, and almost all entrances to houses there was some form of artwork with the theme being flowers...Wow!! Really enjoyed our afternoon there, especially seeing as we stayed for dinner - Gotta love sangria and paella.

Sunday, Pam and I organised our train tickets into France (an ordeal which had us waiting at the station for over an hour and a half). Then all of us went to the bull ring to see the Fighting of the Bulls!!! Ben, Pam and I got into it cheering the guys on...Di was definitley not convinced. Each to his own, at least we can all say we've been.

Monday we all had to say our goodbyes and part ways. Pam and I went to Avignon, small town known for the bridge from which comes the song ' Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse'

The following day onto Nice.

On Thursday we caught the bus into Monaco and seeing as the Grand Prix was on, it was jam packed with people and drivers....Pam and I had real trouble running from the Paparazzi photographers!! Seriously though, we see Rubens Barichello give an interview, and some other driver, whose name we didn't know - Really into cars we are!!!

Now with some friends in Grasse, the capital of perfume.

Will be filling you all in on my next steps from here.

Galapagos & Beyond!!!

How do I describe the feeling of landing on an island surrounded by turquoise and royal blue water...? Heaven?

Got out of the plane to searing heat...Paid my $100 to get past the National Park People, (yep it´s pretty steep to get to the Galapagos, but all worth it,) and went to look for the representative of the Poseidon, the boat I was about to spend the next week on.

After a bus ride, ferry ride, and another bus ride I arrived at Puerto Ayora and met not only the crew, who almost became like family, but also my friends for the next few days.
Within 5 minutes of meeting Kay, and Dianna, two New Zealanders, travelling with their friend Caroline, I knew I was going to have a ball...
Also on the boat were Arthur and Mieke, a Dutch couple, and a Belgian family.

I´ve always said that if you find someone who is willing to clean up your vomit when you are too ill to do it yourself, then you´ve found yourself a friend for life....Poor Ronnie, second in charge on the boat, unwittingly put himself in that situation on my first night on board...Was sea sick like you wouldn´t believe...Ronnie managed to get me a garbage bag in time, and I still managed to miss the opening - Rogue wave.
Was so sick I fell asleep on the upper deck....Which ended up being where I slept the rest of the nights on the boat. Could not handle the heat in the cabins...

I won´t bore you all with details of all the islands we visited however I will say it was totally awesome. The first day I was in the water adjusting my mask when this huge black thing swam straight at me...Screaming in a snorkel is not very effective! However the sea lion was just being playful, as were the other three who joined in swimming in and around us!

We saw so much wild life up close! It was just unbelievable to see animals in the wild, doing their thing only a few metres from you. We saw blue footed boobies, (birds for the filthy minded) and albatrosses in the midst of their courting, iguanas feeding and basking in the sun, just amazing....

The photo there is Mieke, Arthur and myself enjoying an aperitif of rum and coke at 11am...On a Monday morning!

Wednesday came way too fast...It was the day these guys were leaving me to a whole new bunch of people....And the night before they were due to arrive, I found out it was a group of Israelis...Interesting.

Right: Blue Footed Booby, with two eggs...Rare sight.
Have learnt a lot about the wildlife here as well as the geology and the people... Can actually tell you the difference between a male booby and a female booby!

Left: Male Frigate bird trying to attract female...

Below: Land Iguana...

One of the Boyz!

A couple of marine iguanas catching some rays....

Well, it wasn´t all bad news...Good news being, the 9 Israelis turned out to be 7 with the two remaining passengers being Eva and Marie, Danish girls who were great fun....
The bad news being that not one of the Israelis was under 70....

The crew took me under their wing. This meant being included in all of their boyish jokes and that with the group of older people being rather demanding and extremely rude and condescending about it, the crew refused to speak what little English they knew; I acted as translator. So much so, that I was asked 3 times within 24 hrs whether I was part of the crew!
It also meant being the butt of a lot of their jokes when they found out my new room mate was an 80 year old man....Thankfully, I had taken to sleeping on the upper deck!!!

It was an interesting experience sitting at our meals around a table with Hebrew being the main language spoken...Very little effort was made to include us in the conversation or to ask us if we agreed when they wanted to change the itinerary; It just happened. In the dinghy when we went exploring the coast line, once an animal was spotted, they all crowded to that side of the boat with their cameras, and video cameras...Us three were often left to see 7 bums rather than the Galapagos penguin on the rock...It happened that many times that Eva decided to take a picture...We called it the Galapagos Bums!

Us youngens got ours back when we went snorkelling...Spending as much time as we could in the water before finally deciding that it was time to get back to the boat. Usually when our hands looked like prunes and we were shivering...Took us a while trust me.

The life under water in the Galapagos is amazing...Not only the life, but the landscape as well. With the islands being made from volcanic eruptions, underwater the rocks are actually lava flows, creating tunnel like formations. Fish can be found within a metre of the surface, and as mentioned earlier turtles, sea lions, and sharks can be seen in deeper water.

Life and landscapes are amazing above land as well!

All in all a fantastic week spent on turquoise blue water, with not a care in the world other than where we were snorkelling next, and ¨Should I have a rum and coke or a beer...?¨
Life was very difficult.

Now back in Quito, my last purchases need to be done...Am really quite sad to be leaving. Had such a ball here....All ok, though, just need to figure out the best and easiest way to get a working visa and come back!

I have jumped...

Out of a plane from lower altitudes than where I was this morning at 6am!!!!! I was almost on top of the world!

This is Cotopaxi, which stands at 5,897 metres....And just before 6am this morning I made it to the summit!!!!! It is an active volcano...Active in the sense that it goes off every 100 years, and was due to 25 years ago...It is being monitored very carefully as if an eruption eventuates, the lava flow is thought to be able to reach Quito in 15 minutes...

Enough of the doom and gloom, though...As most of you know I have been out of contact for 10 days now. Basically, I have spent that time trekking, and acclimatising so that I could make it to the top of Cotopaxi! As mentioned in my last blog, there were afew mountains we were going to ascend in preparation for The Big One. Unlike what many people think, most of Ecuador's mountains are actually easy to get to the top of, (without taking into account altitude, of course).

So went up to the summit of Pasochoa, on a day that was so wet...Within 15 minutes we were soaked to the bone. Didn't help that the Hostel where we stayed had fire places, but the wood was so damp, we couldn't light anything...Some even sacrificed boxer shorts in an attempt to light a fire. Then spent 3 days in Cotopaxi National Park, literally scrambling up and down ravines, and moutains.....many bum slides there. Apparently Ecuador is the highest user of water in South America - And they can afford to be, it rains almost every day!

One mountain which will still have to be conquered is Iliniza North (as opposed to South)...We, (Bec and Dave are an English couple with whom I've done most of my trekking with here - Brilliant, brilliant people!) made it to the refuge, no problems there, other than the bareness of it...But hey it was a roof. To make it to the summit at dawn, (6am) we were getting up at 4am. Well the alarms went off and we were told by Marco, our guide to stay in bed one more hour - Bad weather. Indeed it was, the moutain was covered in thick layers of cloud, the sun was not able to pierce through...It was extremely surreal, walking in the dark with the wind howling threats to blow us off the mountain side, and black ice on every rock we put our feet on...About an hour from the top Marco called it off - It was too dangerous for us to continue.

As for this morning, well actually the adventure started yesterday! We got to the refuge, (4,500m) just on 2pm...Weather once we got there was hideous, rain, snow, wind...Not good climbing conditions, but it had all cleared by 4pm, so a few of us from our group, (we were six in total) hiked up to the glacier, (a good 40 minute walk) to have a bit of a walk with crampons and get an idea of how to use an ice axe - Especially if you fall....

Then it was back to the refuge for dinner at 5pm...And to bed by 6pm. Sounds kinda weird, I know, but hey, we were being torn out of bed at 11pm, so that we could start the ascent by midnight. As it is sleeping at 6pm is difficult....Even more so when you put us all at altitude! Love my earplugs though, they do wonders.

Imagine walking attached to another 3 people by rope, one behind the other, all with ice axe in hand, and dressed like eskimoes, the stars shining brightly above you, and the snow glittering at your feet, due to the headtorch your shining there, because other than the moon it is the only light guiding your way. And you plod one foot in front of the other, or if it is really steep, (between 20 & 70 degrees) you go up with your feet crossing over....Your muscles and your head are aching and screaming for more oxygen for what you are making them do, your water bottle freezing over due to wind, temperature and altitude, and the only thing keeping you going is "I'm going to make it to the top, one step at a time" - And all of this in the dark with just a head torch lighting your way fo 6 hours!

Rereading this, I think I've put it really mildly - Quite truthfully it was hell. It is the most difficult situation both mentally and physically I have put myself through....Ever.

The top was amazing.....Especially at dawn. We were above the cloud line and the other mountain peeking up above the clouds is Chimborazo, Ecuador's highest peak, (over 6,000m).

So there you go, me and the Cotopaxi crater at 5897m - Didn't stay up the top long, was way too cold!

Was quite proud of myself on the way down, was so tired I kept on catching my crampons together, causing me to fall over a number of times...One was splendid though with me sliding face first down the glacier...The lessons the previous day paid off, I managed to "self arrest" - Stop myself from sliding too far down, using my ice axe. I'm a pro!!!

I sit here writing this, thinking about my achievements, and I have not yet eaten since last night...Am kinda saving myself for a celebratory dinner with Bec and Dave (Red wine never sounded so good), and have not yet slept, adrenaline kinda gets to you like that.

Anyhoo, probably won't write for another little while, simply as after my little expedition of this morning, I think I've earnt a week on a boat...I'm going to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow morning, for a week, and hope to hang out with some hammerhead sharks!