Huaraz, Perù

It's the second day I'm in Huaraz, on the Peruvian Andes, and it's the second day of rain. Unfortunately this time of the year is rainy season in the Andes and I better lose the hope for the sun in the very next few days... Huaraz is settled at 3100 metres high, it's close to the Cordillera Blanca and Negra and it's supposed to offer unbelievable views and hiking trails over the surroundings 700 glaciers, the 230 mountain lagoons, or the peaks over 6000 metres. Maybe when the weather is clear it's true, not now for sure. Today I joined a tour to see a glacier at 5000 metres high: I've been surprised by myself 'cause when I was there at such altitude I was hiking quick like on sea level, no headache or breathing troubles at all, I've been the first one to reach the glacier and back without suffering too many efforts. I don't think it's only due to the tea with coca leaves I had before starting... I'm at my turning point: my body is going to be fit again, I'm not 90 kilos anymore like when I started this journey - I guess about 20 kilos less now - and my endurance skills are definitely the one I've always had.
Yes, I'm back.

Trujillo, Perù

Arriving in Trujillo,Peru, is definitely a step back from all the other countries visited recently. Entering the city early morning into seems to be arrived in Africa, or Guatemala at least, because of the dusty gravel roads and all the houses low and adobe (which means built with mud bricks...). Locals suggested me to keep the eyes wide open as Trujillo is considered an extremely tough city. I'll do my best. Meanwhile I go visiting some ruins spreaded near the town, then I have a night bus to Huaraz, on the Andes.

Cuenca, Ecuador

I'm spending more time than what planned here in Ecuador, but I like it. From Quito I moved to Puyo, a small city in the Eastern side of the country where the Amazonic jungle begins. The only things you can do in Puyo is visiting a small rainforest park, a monkey recovering centre or searching for a shaman to get ayahuaska. As getting ayahuaska needs a 5-day preparation, and I don't have that time to waste, I've chosen for the first two things then I moved away. 10 hours by nightbus later I arrived in Cuenca, considered by many the Ecuador's colonial jewel... First of all, it's unbelievable how many people overestimate the beauty of a place just because they're in holiday mood; so many persons told me that this city is great, something unbelievable, something not to miss at all. Well, I wonder if this people have ever been to Europe (I should say Italy, but I wanna be politically correct), because every stupid city in Europe can be charming as much as Cuenca, or even more. Anyway, for me Cuenca is ok, but nothing more. After all the countries I crossed and the amazing things I've seen, I'm definitely getting hard to please... Personally, I enjoyed much more going to the surrounding indio village of Guacelo (and, of course, enjoying their public markets with all those delicious food which markets always have to offer...) or visiting Ingapirca, the most important Inca site in Ecuador.
Tomorrow I move to the village of Sagaturo, then Peru'.

Quito, Ecuador

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, a city that lies at 2800 mt on the Andes and just few kilometres from the equator line. In a way, this city reminds me Naples, with no sea of course, as it's surrounded by mountains and the colorful houses have a true colonial Mediterranean taste. The colonial centre is pretty and the weather is pleasant, many beautiful churches and really really cheap prices. In the picture, it's me crossing the equator line: one leg in the Northern emisphere, one in the Southern one. The monument was built whereas the French geodesic expedition found the equator in 18th century, but the real equator line (as displayed by GPS) lies about 500 metres from that point. I've been there as well and the demonstration had was stunning: when the water was flushed from a washbasin on the equator line the water was falling straight, just one metre left to the equator, in the Southern emisphere, the water was flushing clockwise, and just one metre right to the equator the water was flushing anticlockwise with an very higher strenght, because of the higher magnetism of the Northern emisphere. Another curiosity: do you know why among all the countries crossed by the equator, it was chosen Ecuador to find it? Easy, because Ecuador is the highest one!

Otavalo, Ecuador

After last days' overdose of beaches, sea and sun, I'm finally back to my beloved mountains: I'm in Otavalo, Ecuador, on the Andes! Only the name - Andes - sounds soooooo exciting to me, as it's one of the 2 words which rebound in my mind since years (the other one is Himalaya) and now I'm here, among colorful indios and peaks over 4000 mt! The way to Ecuador has been pretty scary as I've got a night bus from Colombia and the mountain roads has been approached by the driver too fast for my taste: I mean, 90 km/h on a small mountain road with no guardrails and hundred metres precipice on the left side sounds to me too fast for a giant bus... I didn't sleep too much there, too busy in prayers! eheheh Here in Ecuador prices are finally more affordable than Colombia (in Colombia everything was very expensive and transportation was maybe even more than Europe!), so I've got a private tiny room for 7 dollars with bathroom and - music please! - hot water! It was in Mexico the last hot shower I had... after all this time I was almost forgetting how great hot water is!
People is very friendly here, everybody saying hello, everybody smiling. It makes me think about Milano, where people is afflicted by a superiority complex: they think to be the best in the world because rich and stylish, however, social relations are extremely poor, everybody's suspicious, smiles a species extincted. Here they don't drive Porsche but, hey!, who's the real rich one?

Valle de Cocora, Colombia

Everybody told me how cool Medellin is, I spent half a day there and for me was enough. Maybe because as soon as I arrived the city greeted me with a demonstration of the mothers of desaparecidos, or maybe because of the Botero park full of aged prostitutes fatter than the statues of Botero itself, or maybe because of all the police which was stopping me to suggest me to hide the camera as it wasn't safe to walk there alone, or maybe because of all the transexuals waiting for partners out of each hotel... Well, the only decent thing I've seen in Medellin was the viewpoint over the city from the top of Cerro Nutibara, that's all. So I moved to the "zona caffettera" of Colombia, a countryside area famous for the production of coffee (and coca as well). I reached the lush and green Valle de Cocora for a one day hike over the mountains, among giant wax palms and free colorful hummingbirds, which was really interesting. Then I moved to Salento, a small colorful village in the middle of zona caffettera: the funny story of the day is that when I had a walk to the top of the hill for the viewpoint over the city, I've seen a path through the woods I decided to follow, but after few meters appeared in front of me a paramilitary guy with gun and all the rest, saying me that I wasn't allowed to walk that way... I wonder what he was protecting! Coffee plantations maybe?

Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

After two hours by boat from Capurgana' to Turbo, one day on a bus to Monteria, one transfer to a different bus after crossing by walk a collapsed bridge, one night spent at the bus station of Monteria waiting for the 4am connection service, and eight more hours on the bus, I finally arrived in Cartagena de Indias, considered as one of the fines colonial towns in America. The old city is nice but, in all honesty, there are too many tourists which make me feel the city like a fake entertainment park for gringos in search of cheap emotions. Cocaine sellers are everywhere, everybody has "blanca" in their pockets and weed as well. It seems to me that the main exported product of Colombia worldwide is considered by many people a real must-to-do and not a dangerous drug; a pride for the whole nation and not a shame like it is. Think only that pushers are not afraid to sell their "goods" even in front of a van filled by policemen, think that many t-shirts on sale have printed the face of Pablo Escobar - the infamous powerful drug lord who ruled the country until mid '90s - and even think that most of the tourists here are those kind of "tourists" in search of nothing else but the illusions given by a chemical "fiesta".
Many things to think about... so let's think, let's think.

First day in South America...

I really don´t wanna spend a word to comment the picture above... Who read my blog knows that there´s a kind of curse pending on my head for the first day I'm in a new country... Well, until now I was missing flooding in my own personal collection, I can say now I filled also this gap. Anyway, it's not only my misfortune's fault this time, this is a very special year for central America's countries as January is usually a dry month but rains are still falling down heavily. Just think that about three weeks ago the Panama canal has been closed for the first time in his history because of the rains and consequently floodings.
The picture above has been taken early morning in the Caribbean town of Capurgana', Colombia, after four hours' rain.

San Blas islands, Panama

The fact that I've broken the promise once to cross the Pacific ocean doesn't mean that now I'm allowed to fly during this travel. This journey is an overland journey, and still it is. For this reason, to reach Colombia and avoiding to walk through the infamous Darien gap (which guidebooks defines it like a potencial suicide trip) I've sailed with a catamaran through the San Blas archipelago for 5 days to reach the coast of Caribbean Colombia. It has been a nice adventure to live and, even if some things have gone wrong because of the bad organization of the journey and the unpleasant neglect of the "captain" I have great memories about that, about the beauty of the islands crossed, about the fun had and all the rest. The group was right so it was fine to share time with them even if sea sickness made my time sometimes quite hard. Almost all the world was heading to Colombia on that boat: 5 australians, 4 dutchmen, 3 french, 1 danish, 1 english, 1 greek, 1 gringo and, last but not least, 1 italian lonelytraveller. Central America is gone now, welcome South America!Here is a short chronology of the 5 days spent on the catamaran "Levante":
Day 1 - As soon as we arrived to Puerto Lindo where the catamaran was anchored we met the "captain" of the boat - an aged French pirate - who told us that the "vice-captain" who came the day before at our hostel to explain the details of the trip and collecting 60 dollars each, had nothing to deal with him, so was a scam... He also told us that the boat had 15 beds only, no matters if we were 17, two people had just to sleep on the floor, it's easy. We also knew that the departure time was supposed to be at 8am, but it was late and the "captain" decided to leave the harbour only the next day. All day long drinking rhum, beer and vodka on the boat. One day wasted, but good party at least.
Day 2 - Recovering from day 1 drinking session. We sailed at 6,30 and the sea was extremely rough. It was hangover first, then hell for many hours to me. I discovered to be not a good sea wolf: sea sickness stroke me, I puked twice. For dinner the "captain" fished one small shark and one barracuda, so we ate shark ceviche and fried barracuda. Strange story this one, I was pretty sure that catching sharks was illegal almost everywhere in the world... Maybe Panama is part of that "almost"? No, I don't think so.
Day 3 - The perfect day. The sunshine was high in the sky, and the San Blas islands with their palms and reef barrier were rising like lonely mushrooms all over the sea. Waters were calm and warm, colors unbelievable. The "captain" stopped the boat near an incredible island, like a dream one, those kind of places you think exist only on postcards or Hollywood movies. No other boats, no tourists, no buildings at all: just a small spot of white sand surrounded by a deep green/blue sea with coconut trees, that's it. Well, maybe few people knows that I don't know at all how to swim, I just tried few times when I was kid and then no more for all these years. Facing that sort of paradise on Earth I thought within myself - now or never - then I jumped off the boat and, you know what?, I swam! Yeah, maybe more than swimming it's better say I was floating like shit, but, hey!, I did it! And few minutes later the Australian teacher took me off the safety jacket and I started swimming and swimming and swimming like I never thought it was possible for me to do before. An unbelievable day to toast at evening with the guys on the boat and few shots of cheap booze. Cool!
Day 4 - Sailing all day long. Sea a little rough mixed with a little hangover made me sleep almost all the morning, trying to avoid sea sickness: this time no problems. We passed near an island with a village of Kuna indios, was astonishing to me to see their huts, their colorful clothes, sometimes their painted faces... Unfortunately, the "captain" decided not to stop down there, even just for few hours: big shame on him. In the afternoon, he fished another big barracuda that we ate fried for dinner. We officially went out of drinkable water. By the way, one of the aussie guys woke up in the middle of the night and found enough water in his body to start pissing on the matress of the main hall instead out of the boat...
Day 5 - Cloudy and almost rainy day. The last leg of the trip. Few hours' sail then we approached the Colombian coast at Sapzurro around at 2 pm. Then we took a small boat to the nearby village of Capurgana' where is settled the immigration center.

Panama City, Panama

Capital cities in central America are all nasty sights: they're ugly, dirty, dangerous. Cities like Guatemala City, Managua, San Jose' and, yes, even Mexico City, are those kind of places where you never would like to be after dark. And when the sun is high they shine in all their endless decay: just holes in central America's ground. Panama is not too much different from them, but maybe is the best one. The modern skyline with skyscrapers reminds of Asian or North American metropolis, the old town is colorful and well restored, charming enough for those who face for the first time the Caribbean area, and, last but not least, there is the canal, one of the most incredible and challenging infrastructure ever built. Weather is extremely hot, sometimes cloudy, often rainy. Time to sail away, time to reach Colombia in 5 days by boat on the Caribbean sea through the San Blas archipelago!

Boquete, Panama

It's since few weeks heavy rains hit Panama all day long and flooding kill many people. Now I know what heavy raining means... I arrived yesterday night in Boquete, a small mountain town settled in the middle of coffee plantations (the coffee which grows here is considerate as one of the best worldwide) and supposed to be kinda heaven for outdoor activities. Maybe it is, for sure it's not when rainy: I've hiked through the forest to the way of San Ramon waterfall (the one in the pic), an easy walk with the right equipment, a sort of hell with 13 euros no-waterproof shoes and just plastic bags to preserve the other stuff... Was just 1 hour, 1 hour and a half walk, but all time long has been under the rain, with a stupid umbrella in the hand and the most heavy rains I've ever seen on the way back. Useless saying I'm completely wet now. As no buses were passing there, with two other american guys, we hitched a lift from a couple from Panama City, ending all together eating strawberries and drinking coffe in a local bar... No reason to stay longer here as forecast weather is bad as well.