The World´s Most Dangerous Road Bolivia

Hola Amigos!

Start of the Worlds Most Dangerous Road approx 16,000 ft

Gary and I did the Mountain Bike trip down The World´s Most Dangerous Road the other day and we are alive to tell the tale.  It was a totally indescribable experience and I still can´t believe that we did it.  We signed up with a company called Gravity Assisted and we had a super long day that started at 7:45 am and ended at 9:00pm that evening.  We rode for about 5 hours in total and descended a total of 12,000 feet from the top of the mountains to the jungle.

The trip was 65 kms long and it was wild.   Check out the YouTube clip of Gravity Assisted if you have time. It is exactly what we did and it was a total thrill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtUaherTC50
When we were done the ride we came back in our minibus on the same highway which was incredible because it certainly doesn´t look as though cars can still drive on it.

A  minibus had tumbled over the edge the night before we did the ride and four people died.  We watched as the tow trucks and cranes tried to pull the minibus back up to the road. There are sheer drop offs and no guard rails on the road so if you miss a turn you are toast.

We would highly recommend this trip to anyone who is looking for a real thrill on their moutain bike. It has been a real highlight of our trip so far.

We are now heading out to the Salar de Uyni in Bolivia which is the biggest salt flat desert in the world. We will cross it in a 4x4 and it will take 3 days total. We are hoping to end up in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile when we are done.

Lots more news to come!
Hasta la vista,
Pat and Gary

Quito, Otavalo & Vilcabamba The Avenue of Volcanoes

Buenas Dias! We are thoroughly enjoying Ecuador and all it has to offer. Quito is a wonderful city and we were able to take a cable car to the top of Pichincha Volcano to take a peek.  It is 4100 or so metres high (13,500 ft) and we hiked up as far as we could with many short stops to catch our breath.  The air sure is thin up there but we got a great view. There are 137 volcanoes in Ecuador and two of the active ones including Pichincha are in Quito.

We saw the Cotopaxi Volcano which is also active as we drove out to Otovalo to visit the largest market in South America last Saturday.  Cotopaxi is the highest volcano in the world and it is the closest to the sun because it is so close to the equator. Both Gary and I signed up for a quick Spanish Lession in Quito in a desperate attempt to improve our Tarzan Spanish - me want drink - is sort of where we are at right now and we wish to improve.

View Towards Otovalo

 We said good bye to Quito and flew out to Vilcabamba in southern Ecuador for some great R& R.  Vilcabamba reminds us a lot of the Okanagan because it is dry like the desert but the hills are green and beautiful.  The temperature here is just perfect. We got to go horseback riding which was really fun.  We had great gentle horses but they galloped us up and down some pretty sprectacular trails and we got some great views.  My legs and saddle are really sore now but is was worth it.

 We are moving on to Peru next on our way to Bolivia where things are going to be a bit more basic than what we have encountered so far.
Much more to come.
Hasta Luego!
Pat & Gary

Galapagos Islands -Really Wild and Wonderful

Pat & Gary at the Crater

Hola Amigos! Here we are on Isla Isabella in the Galapagos Islands.  There are five active volcanos on the Island and we are standing in front of one that erupted in 2005.  There is fresh lava down below and we were lucky as the clouds cleared right as we reached the top of the hike.  We also went to visit the lava tubes and we saw passion fruit trees along the way.  We went to the Tintoreras on Isla Isabella and saw Penguins - the second smallest in the world along with white tipped reef sharks -  4 in total and thousands of big iguanas - they were up to 20 pounds and can live up to 60 years. Everything is big here and lives a long time.   Gary got to swim with a sea lion and giant sea tortoise which was really cool.  Our guide Jhover was really great and we would like to recommend him to other folks who are thinking of visiting the Galapagos Islands.  He does land based tours and you can check out his info at Galapagos Options.  Here is the link to their site  www.galapagosoptions.com 

Gary Talking with Turtles!

We also went to visit the Giant Tortoise reserve on Isla Isabella and Gary got up close and personal with a 400lb giant land tortoise who has been bred there and is watiting to be released back into the wild.  I don´t know what Gary and the tortoise are discussing but it sure seems intense!

Blue Footed Boobies on Isla Espanola

We decided to do a 4 day boat cruise and we went to Santa Cruz, Isla Floreana and Isla Espanol.  These blue footed boobies - yes that´s their real name -let us come so close it was incredible.  We saw lots of birds up close including beautiful giant flamingos, giant pelicans, Nazca boobies, and Albatross.  We walked through the Albatross nesting grounds and saw the Albatross courting dance- talk about the funky chicken - these guys really have quite the ritual mating dance complete with wierd popping noises and lots of head bobbing.  We also saw two baby albatross chicks who were all cute and fuzzy.  As we walked back to the dinghy we had to walk by a baby sea lion that was only a few hours old.  Mama Sea Lion was not too happy that we walked by that close but we had to get back to our boat.  We stayed about the Queen Beatriz catamaran which is 103 feet long and takes 16 passengers. Check it out at www.galapagos-luxury-cruises.com/queen_beatriz_galapagos_cruise_yacht.html

We ended our Galapagos trip on Isla Santa Cruz where we visited the Charles Darwin centre to see more giant tortoises.  They had little baby tortoises that were only a month old and we also got to see Lonesome George the 100 year old turtle who is the last of his species.  When he dies there will be no more turtles of his kind left in the world. Poor George! We loved the Galapagos and were able to stay for over a week.  The weather was nice and warm and the beaches are wonderful with white sugar sand and clear turquoise waters.   We got to go snorkeling and saw tons of huge tropical fish along with a playful sea lion who was trying to nibble on one of the other gals flippers.  They are so fun and friendly. It was a real treat to see so much and to go snorkeling. We were sad to leave the Galapagos Islands which really are special.  We highly recommend that you check them out.
More to come soon.
Salud!
Pat & Gary