DAY 138 SUNDAY 26th JANUARY 2008

Aguas Calientes to Cuzco Peru (Miles to Date: 14250)

We were so lucky with the weather yesterday – this morning the clouds have descended into the valley – which is not surprising as this is the rainy season in the Peruvian Andes. Visibility is not good but it there is a spiritual quality to see the clouds weaving their way amongst the green peaks. This ecosystem is known as Cloud Forest and it is certainly living up to its name today. If we had been doing our tour of Machu Picchu today it would have been disappointing – at least in terms of the views. Out of our 5th floor window we can look across the ramshackle, corrugated tin roofs of the village. Some of these roofs are not bolted down, and are simply held in place by large cinder blocks. The poverty of the area is clear to see and is in sharp contrast to the many tourists wondering the streets who had spent thousands of dollars to get here. Without tourism the way of life here would be very simple and hard indeed.

We have not got much planned for today and in the afternoon we have a train back to Cuzco. After the walking of the previous days the grown-up Hoblets have somewhat achy limbs so we decide to take a bathe in the local hot springs. It is a little walk up the hill to the springs, which are some large open air Turkish style baths set in a ravine and filled by hot water heated by the volcanic activity hidden below the Andean range. There are quite a few people partaking of the springs and we join them, relaxing in the warm , mineral rich water. It really did help ease those muscular pains.

After relaxing in the waters we decide to take a walk down the valley to museum where they have some of the artefacts collected from Machu Picchu. We walk down alongside the rampant, brown, torrential waters of the Urubamba River which have been swelled by recent mountain rains. This river is a tributary of the Amazon and the waters will eventually find their way into the Atlantic Ocean. A mile or so out of town we cross the river and enter the museum (which has a botanical garden of sorts next to it). As well as a collection of artefacts the museum provides us with more insights into the Inca culture, how they developed their way of life and their building techniques. It is a fascinating and well presented exhibit. An hour or so later we leave better informed about the Incas and return back to the village.

We sit down to have some lunch in one of the many small restaurants and amuse ourselves reading the signs around us with some strange usage of the English language (mind you our Spanish is abysmal). Across the street was one sign- next to which lay a cat- with one of the menu options reading “stuffed capsicum with miced meat”. How strange!!

After lunch we had a short amount of time to visit the artisan market and buy a few souvenirs before our train left for Cuzco.

On the train ride back to Cuzco the weather improves and we get to see mountains that had been covered on our arrival journey the day before. Some of these mountains are large snow covered volcanoes over 16,000 feet above sea level. The train company has also provided some entertainment for us in the form of a traditional dance act – a man dressed in traditional costume, wearing a spooky mask and holding a stuffed lamb. Somewhat bizarre! Almost stranger than this we get to see a fashion show – with the walk way of our carriage acting as a catwalk, and the models being our carriage staff showing off clothing (for sale) made from Alpaca. Across the carriage from us we getting talking to a couple of young ladies in their 20s on a South American tour – one of the whom has an interest in sustainable development for poor countries. Part of her touring around is to meet with people from local communities and non-governmental agencies trying to put in place sustainable infrastructures to support the impoverished people in countries like Peru. With all this entertainment the 4 hour trip soon passes and we arrive in a cold and wet Cuzco about 8pm.

DAY 137 FRIDAY 25th JANUARY 2008

Machu Picchu, Peru (Miles to Date: 14250)

Today is yet another early start – we are on the 6:15am train out to the Andean Village of Agua Calientes, which is the stopping off point for the Incan city ruins of Machu Picchu. It is a wet and cold morning in Cuzco and still very dark as we board our train. The carriage is wonderful -we have assigned seats and the four us get to sit around a table in comparative luxury. There are even two carriage staff. The carriages have glass roofs but at this early hour there is not much to see, and with the rain set in even if daylight had broken we would not see much beyond the rain drenched streets of Cuzco.

The climb out of Cuzco is steep so the train has to make five switch backs to climb out of the valley but soon enough we are headed on our 4 hour journey into the mountains. It is very cold and we gladly take the blankets offered out by the carriage staff. As the day breaks we get to see more of the largely agricultural lands of the valleys. Deeper into the mountain we move into chasms overshadowed by vast mountains -the tops of them remain hidden from view by the hanging clouds. As we approach journey's end the clouds clear and we are finally able to see to spiralling mountain tops.

We descend from the train in the village of Agua Calientes – where we deposit our bags with the bell hop of our hotel and go off to find our guide, strangely enough called Darwin. He is dressed in bright yellow so finding him is not difficult – and he leads us down through the artisan market to the bus stop. The buses take us on the 20 minute ride from the valley up to Machu Picchu itself. The route takes us up 800 feet on a series of switch backs – Karen has her eyes closed for the most part on this journey as there are precipitous drops off the side of the not- too- wide road. We obviously survive this ordeal and follow Darwin into the ruins.

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It was built around the year 1450, but abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. The invading Spanish had a habit of destroying the temples and infrastructure of the natives of lands they conquered – fortunately they never found Machu Picchu. Forgotten for centuries, the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. The classic image of Machu Picchu is of the ruins overlooked by the peak of adjoining mountain Wayna Picchu (meaning young peak). We are lucky and despite the poor start to day the clouds have broken and we are blessed with clear skies. Darwin leads us through the houses, streets and temples of the ruins painting a wonderful picture of the Incan way of life and culture – he explains the about the synchronicity of their lives with the seasons and in particular solar cycles. Our favourite phrase of his was “dooooaaality” (duality). It takes an hour and half to complete the tour, even after all this time in this magical place we are still in awe of these magnificent surroundings.

We now have time to ourselves and after a quick bite to eat we decide to walk part of the Inca Trail, an ancient roadway of the Incas leading towards Cuzco. Our aim is not so ambitious- we simply want to reach the Inti-Pata or 'Sun Gate' entrance some mile or so away from the main ruins of Machu Picchu. It is a steady uphill climb on a relatively narrow path with steep drops; the walk is not made any easier by the altitude (although we are only at 8000 feet above sea level here!). But the views are amazing. At the Sun Gate we get talking to a very pleasant young Swiss man called Christian. He is on a protracted tour of South America – and his main reason for being here is a cathartic one, wishing to forget the pain of a recent break-up of a relationship. Also he is afraid of heights and is not comfortable with the steep fall away at the side of the paths – so to help him down we talk to him all the way down about the state of modern day education and his career as an Art Advisor to collectors.At one point Karen forgot her own fears as she held his shaking hand!

Sadly we have to leave the ruins and return back down to Agua Calientes. Our next mission is to find our hotel and luggage, which we manage to with a bit of help from a local security guard. The hotel is called the Inti Inn. Unfortunately our room is on the 5th floor and there is no lift – not surprisingly we are out of breath when we finally reach our room, which is somewhat basic. What the heck !We’re only here for one night. We quickly turn around and go out for our meal. We have a voucher for a local restaurant which we soon locate. It is still early but we are tired and imagine things don’t stay open too late around here so we sit down for our meal. We order our food – wanting to try something we go for the grilled Alpaca, apart from Emily who could not bring herself to eat this. The thought had crossed our mind to try the other delicacy – Guinea Pig but the pictures came up showing it being served whole so we decided we could not face this so stuck with the Alpaca. Whilst we were waiting for our food we were entertained by a local musical group, Inka Swing, who played traditional Andean music. Finally our food arrives, and to be honest we find the meat a bit dry – but you have to try these things. After this we return exhausted to our room and collapse into bed.

DAY 136 THURSDAY 24th JANUARY 2008

Cuzco, Peru (Miles to Date: 14250)

Again we have to rise early as we have an early morning transfer to Cuzco, the ancient capital on the Incas, lodged high in the Andes range. The flight from Lima is relatively short and the landing in amongst the huge peaks is truly spectacular. Once again we are lucky to have a guide to meet us and take us to the hotel in the centre of old Cuzco. One of the first things we notice about Cuzco is the thinness of the air here – at over 12000 feet altitude sickness is a real problem. As soon as we reach our hotel, the Los Andes, we sit down to catch our breath, and partake of the coca tea – an ancient and seemingly potent aid for preventing the worst effects of altitude sickness.

As we have a planned afternoon tour of ancient Cuzco and the Incan ruins we walk down to the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, in the colonial part of the city to find somewhere for lunch. Fortunately we find a wonderful little restaurant and settle down for a wonderful 3 course meal. Our bellies full we return to the hotel to await our tour bus.

The fist stop on the tour is the large Cathedral, the most prominent structure overlooking the square and is adjoined to a church on either side, the Iglesia Jesus María and Iglesia El Triunfo. Inside is the elaborately carved wooden altar, covered in gold and silver plate, and the carved wooden choir stalls that are acclaimed to be the finest in the country. Also of interest is the painting The Last Supper, which portrays Jesus and his disciples gathered around the table, on which a central platter of the local Inca delicacy, 'cuy' or roasted guinea pig, is placed.

From here we make the short journey to the Coricancha Inca Ruins (a Quechua word meaning 'Golden Courtyard'), but the Inca stonework is all that remains of the ancient Temple of the Sun, which was the most important temple in the Inca Empire, dedicated primarily to Inti, the Sun God. The walls and floors were once covered in sheets of solid gold, and the courtyard was filled with golden statues. Spanish reports tell of its opulence that was 'fabulous beyond belief'. The Church of Santo Domingo was built on the site, using the ruined foundations of the temple that was flattened by the gold-hungry Spanish in the 17th century, and is a fine example of where Inca stonework has been incorporated into the structure of a colonial building. Major earthquakes have severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone, still stand as a testimony to their superb architectural skills and sophisticated stone masonry.

We climb back on our tour bus and travel high into the hills above the city. Our first stop is Sacsayhuamán, and on leaving the tour bus we get our first opportunity to have our photo taken (for a small gratuity) with a lady in traditional dress and her alpacas. The ruins of Sacsayhuamán is the closest and the most remarkable of the Inca ruins to Cuzco. Its proximity to Cuzco and the dimensions of its stones caused it to be used as a quarry by the Spanish conquistadors, providing building material for their colonial buildings in the city below.

The complex suffered such destruction by the Spanish conquistadors that little is known about the actual purpose these magnificent buildings served, but it is usually referred to as a fortress, constructed with high, impenetrable walls, although it is also believed to have been a ceremonial or religious centre. The ruins cover an enormous area, but only about 20 percent of the original complex remains and are a fine example of extraordinary Inca stone masonry. It is estimated the complex took 100 years to build, using thousands of men in its construction, the massive blocks of stone fitting together perfectly without the aid of mortar, one weighing over 300 tonnes and standing 16ft (5m) tall. The magnificent centre was the site of the infamous bloody battle between the Spanish and the Inca people in 1536 that left thousands of the native people dead. Today it holds the annual celebrations of Cuzco's most important festival, Inti Raymi, the sun festival, a spectacular and colourful affair that re-enacts the Inca winter solstice festival every June.

From here we return to the bus and travel off to see some more of the Inca ruins surrounding Cuzco. By the end we are all very tired and are happy to return to the hotel.

DAY 135 WEDNESDAY 23rd JANUARY 2008

Santa Fe, Galapagos and beyond (Miles to Date: 14250)

In recognition of this being our final day in the Galapagos the weather is somewhat overcast and there is rain in the air. This morning our final outing is to the Charles Darwin Research Station. We collect our belongings together for the final time to be transported ashore. Some of our fellow travellers are staying for a further 3 days (lucky blighters) and we will be replaced by some new travellers. The rest of us are taken ashore and handed over to a new guide for the morning.

Never mind today we get to see Galapagos giant tortoise. This was to be one of the highlights of the tour. These magnificent animals had almost become extinct being hunted for their meat and their habitats being eroded by man’s encroachment. Fortunately there has been some reversal of this – and the breeding programmes at the Darwin Station are allowing tortoise to be released back into the wild. To our surprise, although we should not have been, each Galapagos Island has it’s own unique brand of tortoise – with 11 different living tortoise variants being recorded. Their carapaces (shells) also vary depending on the type of vegetation on which they feed. Some have carapaces that are tight to their necks, these feed on low vegetation, whilst others come from Islands where their food is higher up and these have a saddle like carapace that allows them to stretch their necks upwards.

Our first stop is to the new hatchling area. Some of these are only a few months old and it is difficult to believe at this stage how these will grow into the huge giants they will become. Mind you they live to be about 200 years old so they have plenty of time to get there. In the first enclosure of the adult tortoise we come across the famous Lonesome George – purportedly the rarest living animal. He is the only surviving giant tortoise from the remote island of Pinta. Sadly all attempts to try and breed George have failed. We move on the other enclosures and are lucky enough to be able to go into the male enclosure where you can get within inches of full grown male tortoise. Truly a wonderful experience!

Now it is time to leave. We find the rickety bus that will take us across Santa Fe Island to the ferry to Balta Island where we will meet our plane. Although it is not sunny the weather is humid and with a bus full of bodies the temperature and levels of discomfort rise. Finally our luggage is all strapped securely (at least we hope it is ) to the roof of the bus. We travel inland from the fairly temperate and dry lowlands into the highlands of the island which is more tropical. Here we pass farms and banana plantations. We do get one treat – the site of wild giant tortoises on the road side. Eventually we summit the highlands and pass onto the other side of the island, and are greeted by the sun for the first time today. After a short ferry crossing and bus ride we reach the airport – which was a grim as we remembered from our memories of a few days previous.

Karen had thought this was the end of our try – however more was planned and instead of flying back the States we were going to Peru. Our plane landed in Lima, early evening and we were met by our tour guides and transferred to hotel, Antigua Miraflores, in a trendy part of town. It was a little too late to find a restaurant and we were pretty tired, so instead we walked to a super market bought some food and ate on the patio area outside our hotel room.

DAY 134 TUESDAY 23rd JANUARY 2008

Floreana Island, Galapagos (Miles to Date: 14250

Today sadly is our last full day in the Galapagos Islands and today we are visiting Floreana Island. Our landing is on a beach which looks like it has green sand because of the olivine crystals in it. It is only about 8:00am but the equatorial sun is already starting to heat up the day. We climb up through the island passing some lagoons where there are a handful of Galapagos flamingos feeding on the shrimp hiding amongst the silt on the bottom. We summit the island and go down the other side to a wonderful sandy beach. This is a nesting beach for sea turtles – we are lucky enough (how sad are we) to see a pair of turtles mating. This is a slow process taking several hours – so after a few minutes listening to Washington tell us about sea turtles we leave them to their leisurely activities and move on!

We return to the Guantanamera as the heat of the day begins to kick in. It now time for our final snorkelling expedition – and the best has been saved to last!

The Devil’s Crown is the remains of a volcanic caldera which has now been filled by the sea. Our dinghy carries us to the outside of the caldera and we climb out into the water. Being on the equator you might expect the water to be warm but it is pretty cold (about 72 oF) so the initial shock of getting in does take your breath away. The water outside the calderas is about 30 feet deep but the visibility is good and below us we see an assortment of fish, large sting rays and black tipped reef sharks. Emily is a bit scared of sharks so she stays back on the Guantanamera playing her Nintendo with Washington's daughter , Nicole. Neither speaks the others language but Emily's Hannah Montana game bridges the gap!

Erosion has resulted in some of the caldera's walls collapsing so we are able to swim inside what would have at one time been an ash and lava producing monster. Here the water is much shallower – perhaps 3 or 4 feet deep – and the water is so clear and pristine. Coral has formed a reef here and the variety of fish is astounding. There are huge star fish the size of dinner plates (shame Emily did not come she would have loved this). Washington finds a small octopus which he picks and passes amongst us – a very strange sensation holding one of these. By the end it gets just a bit fed up and releases a small amount of ink – time to let it leave. This was an amazing trip.

Returning to our boat we take a gentle sail around the island to Post Office Bay. Here we make another landing. A few tens of feet off the beach is the Post Office after which the bay is named. This is not your usual post office – it was originally set-up by the local pacific whalers – as a way of getting the mail sent around the world. They would write letters, address them and leave them in the barrels. Passing travellers would look into the barrels and if the letters were addressed to a location to where they were travelling they would pick them out and take them to that address. The tradition still happens today – so we spend some time looking through the mail and some people take some letters to deliver. Our companions on the Guantanamera are from Germany, Sweden, Austria, Alaska and New Orleans.We then take a short hike further into the island where we find the entrance to a lava cave (as the name suggests this is a cave formed by volcanic action !!!). This not the nice cave walks that we are used to in the United States where there is plenty of lighting and nice relatively even pathways. No! The descent is down rickety wooden ladders, slippery rocks (they do provide a rope of sorts to cling onto), and we have to provide our own lighting ( a couple of torches/flashlights). As we go deeper the cave fills up with water. The braver of us continue and eventually the water is so deep you have to swim – and the water is cold. There are a couple of ledges to stand on but it is a little scary – fortunately for the more timid of us the cave does run out after a couple of hundred yards, and after a few minutes of splashing around we decide enough is enough and return to the dry end of the cave. A very interesting experience indeed! With more than a little relief we return to the surface and the warm sun soon helps us forget the frigid underground waters. We get a final chance to swim in the sea before it is time to return to our boat and set sail once again.

Our final destination is Santa Cruz Island and the main town there Puerto Ayora. The journey across the strait takes 4 hours but we are entertained on the way by bottle nosed dolphins and manta rays. We arrive at Puerto Ayora at about 6pm – and after some dinner we are taken ashore to look around. This is the biggest town on Santa Cruz island – one of the few inhabited islands on the Galapagos – and it’s population of 14,000 is somewhat surprising. As one might expect it is geared up for the arrival of several tourist boats each day and most of the port area of the town is set aside for restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. Below the glamorous veneer of the shop frontage the underlying poverty of the islands is clear to see and living here in this ecological paradise must be hard for the native islanders. We soon have seen pretty much all there is to see of Puerto Aroya and take a water taxi back to the Guantanamera.

DAY 133 MONDAY 22nd JANUARY 2008

Espanola Island, Galapagos (Miles to Date: 14250)

The wind picked up today as we entered more open ocean waters. Our sleeping accommodations are basic with very narrow bunks. Our biggest concern was being thrown out of the bunks by the ocean rollers. Fortunately this did not happen.

We make our first landing of the day in Gardner Bay where there is a wonderful long curved sandy beach. The morning is set aside for leisure – so we take a walk along the beach weaving in and out of the ever present sea lions. Further down the beach are rocks where we find more marine iguanas and red crabs. Also we see an American Oyster Catcher with its chick. We quietly stroll back to our landing point – we still have an hour to kill so I sit down to read while Jack and Emily decide play on the beach and in the sea. The only danger here is the sea lions constantly swimming along the shore line – on a few occasions nearly catching Jack from behind.

We return to the Guantanamera and move around to our second landing point of the day, Punta Suarez, a rocky landing point on Espanola. The landing is somewhat tricky due to the large pacific rollers crashing down on the island, but we make it without getting our feet wet. There are the usual sea lions and marine iguanas to negotiate when landing, but the main reason for our visit here are the bird colonies. The first colony we come across is the Blue Footed Booby nesting area. These wonderful birds are so named because they have, strangely enough, blue feet. Not a just a single shade but variants from robins egg blue through to aquamarine. They have a strange waddling walk that makes them look somewhat comical on the ground. We have to carefully step in between the homes of nesting birds which seem to be pretty impervious to our presence; even those boobies with hatchlings in their nests. We climb the hill that takes us further into the island. Here we see close up the Galapagos Hawk, the top of the food chain around these parts. Leaving the hawk behind we come to an area which Washington refers to as the “Airport”. This is the area where the Galapagos albatross nests. There are thousands of pairs who come to this one island to mate and nest for their entire lives. Unfortunately on this day there is not one to be seen in the area – although we catch a glimpse of a single bird flying high above the island. This time of year the albatross live out at sea for months on end only returning for a short period to breed. We do get to see an egg – which is large and the thought of passing this would make your eyes water. From the 'airport' we continue to the rugged cliffs at the top of the island, which is where the Nazca Booby nests. These are quite attractive birds but lack the distinctive blue feet of their cousins. They balance precariously high on the tops of the cliffs huddled on their nest – again we are lucky enough to see fledglings at various stages of development. Just being close up to this wildlife is absolutely mind blowing and such a wonderful experience. We sadly have to leave this wonderful place and return to our floating home. After another wonderful dinner we set sail again.

DAY 132 SUNDAY 21st JANUARY 2008

Santa Fe Island, Galapagos (Miles to Date: 14250)

We woke to the gentle rocking of the boat and went upstairs for our first breakfast on board the Guantanamera. The first stop of the day is South Plazas Island where we have a dry dock landing. The dock is somewhat slippery as it is used by the local sea lion community who line the shore line. A little way into the island we find a small cropping of tall cactus plants, under which sit ever expectant land iguanas. The islands are going through a dry spell so much of the food sources for these iguanas have dried up – what they now want is the flowers of these cactus. They sit there waiting patiently for these flowers to drop. The larger males guard their territory around these cacti resolutely, fending off any intruding males. The female iguanas, as one might expect, are welcome.

We continue our walk around the island where see more iguanas and male sea lions (the males are forced out of the main colonies by the dominant males). At the top of the island where the land drops away as cliffs we find some skeletons of a sea lion and an iguana. The children are fascinated by this somewhat grotesque scene. We are aware too of young sea lions who are clearly distressed and starving. Washington is unable to lie to Emily when she asks if they will be rescued....it's survival of the fittest here and no-one will intervene.

We wind our way back down to the shoreline and spend some time watching the seals – in particular the pups. There is one new born who is only a matter of hours old – its mother trying to help it into the sea for the first time. It is then time to return to our boat and then on to our next stop Santa Fe Island.

When we arrive at Santa Fe we are met by the site of most wonderful natural bay. After a bit of lunch we are free to swim off the back of the Guantanamera. We put on our snorkelling gear and we in, there were a few fish around and as you neared the shoreline there were sea lions skimming along the shore line. After a short while we returned to the Guantanamera and climbed aboard the inflatable dinghy and went further out into the bay, to the opposite shore. Here we snorkelled again this time there were more fish and even more sea lions. Sea lions are equipped with unbounded levels of curiosity and they swam right up to where we were swimming ,often getting within inches of us. Washington, our resident naturalist, would dive down and do twists and somersaults under the water and the sea lions would copy the actions. One of the main dangers of swimming with sea lions is that there is potential for them to bite – especially the dominant male protecting their territory. Karen has one very close encounter with a male who threateningly sweeps past her- teeth bared. We climb back into the dinghy and move towards an area where you can usually find sea turtles – and we are not disappointed !

We climb back into the water and are able to get within a few feet of these huge creatures. They quite happily rest on the bottom but come up every 10 minutes for air, so we wait patiently and eventually the turtle rise to the surface and we get within inches of this magnificent beast.

All too soon it is time to go back to the Guantanamera, and get dried off. We still have one more outing for the day, a beach landing on Santa Fe Island. On the beach is a seal lion colony and this is a wonderful opportunity to get some close up shots of sea lions – Jack and Emily were thrilled. There are rules about how close you can approach the animals but they creep up behind you sometimes without you knowing. From the beach we go in land amongst the Easter trees and cacti – where we find another species of land iguana waiting for the cacti flowers to fall. More photos are taken and then it is time to go back to the boats. By the time we return there is time for a quick beer and then dinner. At 8pm we set sail for Espanola Island.

DAY 131 SATURDAY 20th JANUARY 2008

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (Miles to Date: 14250)

When we arrived in Quito a couple of nights ago and were being transferred to our hotel the tour guide gave an overview of our itinerary in Ecuador. She got to the bit "and in the morning you will transfer to the Galapagos Islands " and Karen (and the children) were lost for words.

Anyway today we had an early transfer to the airport as we had to fly from Quito to the coastal city, Guayaquil, and then on to the Galapagos. The Galapagos are about 600 miles off and consist of 16 main islands and 6 smaller islands. The first Europeans to discover the Galapagos were the Spanish, but subsequently they were frequented by English pirates who used the islands to attack Spanish galleons carrying gold and then latterly by whalers operating in the Pacific Ocean. In 1835 HMS Beagle bought a young Charles Darwin to four of the Islands where he noticed the finches were unique from island to island – through this study Darwin developed his theory of natural selection explaining evolution, which was presented in his book “The Origin of Species”. Since this time Ecuador declared the Galapagos a National Park and in 1978 UNESCO recognised the islands as a World Heritage Site,

Our plane landed on Baltra Island, also known as South Seymour Island -all the islands have a dual identity. During World War II Baltra was established as a US Air Force base for patrolling the Pacific for enemy submarines. Today it is actually nothing more than a very barren island with a landing strip. The airport itself in miniscule and has limited facilities – the bags are bought off the plane and more or less dumped down – from which point it becomes a scrum to collect them.

We meet our guide and resident naturalist for the week, a local man called Washington. He helps us on to our bus which takes us down to the marina where we are to be transferred to our boat ,the Guantanamera, our home for the week. Jack and Emily are amused by the 5 or 6 sea lions that have invaded the dock and are happily lying across the benches preventing us mere humans from taking a seat. After a few minutes we are on the back of a motorized dinghy taking us across the magnificent blue green water. Our boat is quite modest – there are only 16 passengers on it and 5 crew. After a couple of minutes we set “sail” to our first stop Santa Cruz Island – about an hour away. En route we bask in the bright equatorial sun and our boat is closely patrolled by a handful of ever watchful, opportunistic Frigate birds.

We moor up and take some lunch, after which we do our first wet beach landing. This means a somewhat ungraceful scramble over the side of the inflatable dinghy into the water. Washington takes us on our first trek along the sandy beaches of a Galapagos Island. Our first encounters are with the indigenous sea iguanas and an amazing number of red crabs – which flit in and out of the rocks lining the beach. We also see the indentations in the sand made by nesting sea turtles. Our tour takes us a few feet in land where we find a brakish lagoon in which stands a solitary Galapagos flamingo (there are only 600 in total on the islands). To end our first excursion we don our wet suits and snorkelling equipment and wade out off the beach to swim amongst the rocks where we get to see some wonderful reef fish.

All too soon it is time to return to the Guantanamera where we move off into a quiet bay for the evening.

DAY 130 FRIDAY 19th JANUARY 2008

Quito, Ecuador (Miles to Date: 14250)

Karen woke the morning of her 50th birthday in Quito, Ecuador. Although we had been exhausted when we arrived, sleep had been difficult to achieve. Being European we are used to hotels not having air conditioning and relying on the good old fashion method of heat regulation – opening windows. The night air was cool enough to provide relief but unfortunately the Nu House hotel borders onto a square full of bars and restaurants that are frequented by the young (and noisy residents) of town. The raucous behaviour went on until 3.30am – and whilst Jack and Emily managed to sleep through – their parents had a fitful and broken night's sleep.

Unfortunately we had a busy day ahead and our tour guides were picking us up at 8:00am. So after a somewhat frenetic breakfast we waited to be collected at the hotel reception. The plan for the day was to spend sometime exploring the colonial downtown area of Quite, a trip to the high point overlooking the city and then a trip to the Equator – after which we would have free time.

Our first port of call was the La Basílica del Voto Nacional. This is a magnificent church, but is relatively new. It was started in 1892 and was finally blessed by Pope John Paul II on January 30, 1985. The most stunning element of the Basilica was the sun shining through the large stained glass windows throwing a beautiful multi-coloured pattern on the walls, pillar and marble floors of the Basilica. From the Basilica we took a short drive down the Plaza de La Independencia located in the heart of the historic quarter of the city. in 1535. Facing the square are the Palacio de Gobierno, the Cathedral, the Municipalidad, the Palacio Arzobispal and the Casa del Alcalde. This square is the governmental and ecumenical hub of the city and ,to a large degree ,the country. A short walk from the Plaza is Iglesia de la Merced. This church has a definite Moorish design style. The building is filled with wonderfully ornate altars covered in gold leaf and around the church are a wonderful collection of oil paintings and carvings of religious figures. Our final destination in Quito’s colonial old town is another church - Iglesia de San Francisco. This is in another plaza – Plaza San Francisco, just around the corner from Plaza de La Independencia. San Francisco was the first church built in Quito. The church and the Plaza are built upon an Incan temple – which was the traditional way the invading Spaniards quelled the Incan culture.

Our next port of call is El Panecillo – a hillwhich is a short distance from the colonial centre that hosts a huge statue of the winged virgin, the 45m-high (148-ft.) La Virgen de Quito. The Panecillo stands at about 3,000m (9,840 ft.), so it is an ideal vantage point to see the city. On the way to this El Pancecillo we pass through some very disadvantaged areas, where you can see the high level of poverty. Emily is most struck by the number of street dogs loose on the streets of Quito. We climb to the top of the virgin monument where peaks of the lush green Andes mountain range arevisible.Quito is a city spreading some 60km and is home to 1.2 million people.

This concluded our trip to colonial Quito – our next port of call is the Mital del Mundo – the Equator. Our journey takes us 45 minutes North of the statue, through the bustling streets of this lofty city. There are little controls of vehicle emissions here and the worst offenders are the city buses – additionally the laws on numbers of passengers in a car also seem to be either non-existent or at best flaunted. We see one car with about 8 children in it – 2 of whom are sitting on the lap of the lady driving. By and by we reach the Inti Ñan Solar Museum – dedicated to the culture of Ecuador and the equator. The original monument to the equator is still there but unfortunately modern technology in the form of GPS has shown that it was indeed in the wrong place. The true line of the equator runs through the museum grounds.

The tour takes us through some recreations of the traditional homes of the Ecuadorian people. Finally we reach the point of our quest -the line marking the Equator. Jack takes great pleasure in leaping from the Northern to the Southern hemispheres. Here our guide takes us through a few experiments to demonstrate we actually are on the equator. She takes a metal sink and pours in a bucket of water – here the water goes straight down through the hole in the bottom of the sink. Next we move about a metre into the Northern hemisphere where we repeat the experiment and this time the water spins clockwise down the hole – due to the Coriolis effect. We then go into in the Southern hemisphere and do the experiment again and the water goes down the hole this time spinning anti-clockwise. Amazing stuff. We do several more experiments that can only be achieved on the equator - such as balancing eggs on a nail. The end of our tour once again traces the Ecuadorian culture and we get shown some rather gruesome artefacts including real shrunken heads taken from the Amazonian people – there is a gruesome poster which shows the steps from decapitation through to the process of shrinking the head. We are also given the opportunity to use a blow pipe and shoot some darts at a cactus.

We have a wonderful time – and all too soon it is time to return to Quito. Our tour guides recommend a restaurant a few blocks from our hotel – where we decide to celebrate Karen’s birthday. The restaurant is wonderfully decorated and there is a lovely atmosphere, which is made all the more lively by the wedding in the adjoining room. We choose some traditional Ecuadorian foods and we have the most wonderful meal. To accompany our eating there is an elderly gentleman playing music on an electric organ – and as special request he pipes out “happy birthday” and this is synchronised with the waiting staff bringing out a delicious chocolate cake and providing Karen with a special hat to wear (something like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter) during the rendition of the special song.

After this we returned to hotel and then with an afternoon of leisure we decided to visit a local artisan market where we picked up a few more souvenirs of our trip to Quito.

DAY 129 THURSDAY 17th JANUARY 2008

Quito, Ecuador (Miles to Date: 14250)

As we were going to bed last night, exhausted after 3 days sailing, Karen was saying how much she was looking forward to a good nights sleep and a few days rest. It was then broken to her that the next day we were flying off somewhere for a few days – but she was not told where. So then we flew into panic mode – what troubled Karen was what to pack as she had no idea where we were going.

Anyway ,today we had to drive up towards Miami as we were travelling out of the airport there, but first we had to drop our motor home off at a storage yard – it was sad to leave her behind but the drive would have been too much. Then we set off to the airport – still Karen did not know where we were going to – and this was the case until we were checking our bags in at the airport. For the first time she, Jack and Emily discovered we were flying to Quito. This didn’t really help them at first as they had no idea where Quito was – until they asked a kind lady who explained to them this was the capital of Ecuador.

So we caught our 4 hour long flight – arriving late at night in Quito. Arriving in Quite there was not much to see as it was very dark but you can immediately feel the altitude (Quito is at about 9400 feet above sea level) – particularly those first set of stairs you reach. Anyway after clearing customs and immigration we are met by our tour guides and taken to our hotel, the Nu House Boutique hotel in downtown Quito. The first room we are given is totally unsuitable it has two beds but they are simply too narrow – but the staff were wonderful and helped us transfer to another room with a queen bed and a trundle bed for the children. We fall into bed exhausted!!

DAY 128 WEDNESDAY 16th JANUARY 2008

Marathon, Florida (Miles to Date: 14050)

When we arrived back home from Key West on Sunday night Karen was dog tired from all the revelry at the wedding in Colorado Springs and was very much looking forward to a long lie in the next morning. Just as we are going to bed Karen is given a book called “Basic Keel Boat Sailing”. Karen looks somewhat confused by this – Mark explains this is an early birthday present and in fact we will be taking sailing lessons for the next three days. No lie in – we have to report for duty at 9:00am the next morning.

We arrived at the dock promptly at 8:30am – Karen ,thinking we’d be sailing on a dinghy, was most surprised to find that what we’d actually be learning on was 34ft Catalina. Our skipper for the 3 day course was Bruce – a wonderful man who probably was not quite sure where he was letting himself in for. We were soon out on the water learning the basics of sailing and getting used to all the nautical terms like halyard, main sheet and transom. The best thing about this course was that all four of us were learning so we all got turns handling the sails and steering the yacht.

End of day one we were all exhausted, especially from having spent so long winding in winches and letting out the sails. We had a wonderful time and the conditions for sailing were wonderful.

Day two and the adults were particularly stiff from the previous day’s exertions. The wind had really picked up and we had to reef the sails in even so we spent most of the day listing at 30 degree angle to the water. It was tremendous fun and it was amazing how fast the boat was silently ploughing through the white horses – the only noise to be heard was chattering children and the occasional flapping of the sails in the wind. We also chanced upon the occasional sea turtle as we silently crept up on them.

Day three was similar to day 2 except we learnt a few new skills including how to drop the anchor and also we did some man-over-board rescues (the water was cold – relatively for the Gulf of Mexico) so we used a cushion rather than throw Jack and Emily into the water.

At the end of the day we took our exam and all passed – so beware when you see a sail boat coming towards you- it may be the Hobbs!!!

DAY 127 SUNDAY 13th JANUARY 2008

Key West, Florida (Miles to Date: 14000)

As they say there is no peace for the wicked – so we completely ignored Karen’s need for sleep and headed to the furthest most point of the Florida Keys – Key West. The day did not seem to promising when we set out – at least as far as the weather was concerned – but by the time we had reached our destination the sun was out and we were basking in the sunlight. We initially decided to park down by the main marina area. This was a fun place to walk around with plenty of gift shops and eating places. We walked along the jetties where trips were offered on tall ships out into the Gulf of Mexico, of particular interest to us were the sunset trips with dinner (these were pretty pricey). For the more adventurous you could hire a boat and go out deep sea fishing for tarpon, marlin and other big game fish. We settled for a bar serving alcohol, good food and live music. Jack and Emily entertained themselves by looking for fish in the harbour – particularly the 4 foot long tarpon quite happily swimming amongst the moored boats. The grown-up Hoblets were more content to watch people (one of our favourite hobbies) and the large boats manoeuvring around in the tight confines of the busy marina. After this brief moment of peace we continued our walk around and found a small museum on the dockside that presented the history of the turtle fishing industry. In fact the building was operated as fishery for turtles, which were slaughtered in their thousands for their flesh, primarily to make turtle soup. Fortunately nowadays these animals are protected.

From the port we decided to explore the old town a bit more a search out a beach. As this was Sunday afternoon things were somewhat busy in the tourist driven centre of town and we were soon caught up in the traffic – which is somewhat accentuated by the large number of tourist buses and trolleys porting tourists from one point to another. To our great joy we discovered Marker 0 – signifying the starting point of US Route 1 on its long and tortuous 2000 mile journey north to Maine. We stepped out for a the photo opportunity and then headed for the beach. This was not a planned trip so we had no swimming costumes or towels or anything. Nonetheless Jack and Emily wanted to swim so they stripped down to their underwear – unfortunately we had histrionics from Emily who is self-conscious of her body now and did not want to be “topless” and then she scratched Jack’s back so the beach experience was bought to an abrupt end.

We now moved down to the most southerly point in the contiguous United States for another photo. Down here you find the southernmost hotel, southernmost café, the southernmost house and the southernmost southernmost house. From here we proceeded to walk into to town to peruse the many shops selling basically crap for consumption by tourists. We picked up several mementos of our trip and was about to leave when we bumped into a couple of wonderful ladies who told us about the daily ritual at Mallory Square where hundreds of people gather to watch the sun go down everyday. So off we went. Mallory Square is down by the port area and offers an unobstructed view of Gulf of Mexico and the sun setting. To help us pass the time there are several street entertainers and we spend sometime watching a juggling act – who to Emily’s delight have two dogs who help in the act. Then it is time to sit down and watch the sun go down – and we were not disappointed as the large flaming sun slips down over the horizon. At the end everyone cheers and claps – not quite sure who they are applauding but I suppose God will appreciate the recognition.

By this stage we are quite hungry. We go back to the car and drive to a restaurant in our “Road Food” book. We walk up the main street where we spot a rather plain looking house displaying a large sign “Adult Entertainment”. The evidence of the entertainment is outside in the form of two “ladies”, one of whom is on the large side of portly wearing a spandex skirt ten sizes too small and barely covering her nether region. Jack quite innocently pipes up and says “I know what part of the entertainment she is – the comedy act”. This has us all in raptures – we have to explain to Jack why we find this so funny. Of course he now tries to explain it was a planned joke all along. Unfortunately we don’t fancy the restaurant when we find it so we park up and find a place to eat on the main street. This is interesting as it allows us to view the street life of Key West which is very colourful to say the least (reminds us somewhat of our trip to Provincetown in Cape Cod). Finally it is time to travel the 50 miles back to Marathon – unfortunately en route there is a car accident – which when there is only one road means there is invariably a wait. Eventually we role into a campsite and fall into bed after a long but extremely good day.

DAY 126 SATURDAY 12th JANUARY 2008

Knight Key, Marathon, Florida (Miles to Date: 13900)

Karen has been away in Colorado Springs since Tuesday. Whilst she has been away we have been in a bit of a routine of school work and some leisure activities. Home schooling Jack and Emily is a lot easier in the motor home than it was in tents and hotel rooms but it is difficult to get into the discipline of steady hours especially when the weather is so good and the sea is only feet from your door. Still we manage to get a good few hours in every day. When we do have breaks Jack and Emily mostly want to go and play in the rock pools beside the campsite where they find star fish, jelly fish and horseshoe crabs. One afternoon we took a drive out to Big Pine Key, across the 7 mile bridge where we stop in a pet store with the most amazing collection of exotic birds. We got to play with them allowing them to climb up on to our shoulders. Another afternoon this week, whilst we were taking a short break a manatee was spotted in the marina next to the campsite. It was a beautiful creature – and what it was after was some fresh water, which it found in the form of one of the boat owners cleaning his craft. We were amazed as this large animal rolled over on to its back to allow the man to spray water directly into it’s mouth.
Today we trekked back up to Fort Lauderdale. We have spent so much time there in recent weeks – to the point where we know our way around. The reason for the journey was to pick Karen up from the airport. After collecting her we took drove to Dania where we stopped once again at Jaxsons for an ice cream

DAY 122 TUESDAY 8th JANUARY 2008

Knight Key, Marathon, Florida (Miles to Date: 13650)

Yesterday we moved a short distance down the Florida Keys to Marathon. We are staying at a campsite called Knight Key – just short of the famous 7 mile bridge. Our site is wonderful, we are literally about 10 feet from the ocean and from the rear window of our motor home we can peer out to sea. At night we are serenaded by the lapping of waves onto the beach. Just down from our site is a small beach area and tiki bar – where after setting up camp Jack, Emily and Laura played whilst their parents had a rare romantic moment sipping margaritas whilst watching the sunset.

Today was considerably more hectic – we had to return to Miami airport some 250 mile round trip from Marathon. Firstly we had to drop Karen off at Fort Lauderdale airport to catch a flight to Colorado Springs where she was going to a wedding and secondly we had to drop Laura off at Miami airport to fly back to the UK. We left plenty of time to get to both places but foolishly planned some other errands en route – which of course, as always took longer than expected, so we ended up being somewhat rushed. Nether the less we managed to make the necessary drop off and arrived back in Marathon at about 11pm.

DAY 121 MONDAY 7th JANUARY 2008

Fiesta Key, Florida (Miles to Date: 13400)

Laura has always had a love for dolphins. As chance would have it we were close to Grassy Key where the Dolphin Research Centre is situated. Formerly a centre for marine biologists to study the behaviour of dolphins the centre is now open to the public, the proceeds go to the up keep of the dolphins. For those us old enough to remember this was where the original Flipper from the TV series originated from, indeed some of his descendants are still at the Centre.

Yesterday we had visited to get the lay of the land and see what programs they offered. There was everything from being a trainer for the day (for about $350) to stroking the dolphins. We had thought about letting Laura swim with the dolphins, but in the end we chose a program where you hold a t-shirt whilst a dolphin paints it. It was too late when we arrived yesterday for Laura to do this so instead we contented ourselves with watching the dolphins swimming around the lagoons and also going through some of their routines, from aerial displays to demonstrations of dolphin husbandry. Their power and grace is absolutely amazing. Just looking into their eyes you can see their burning curiosity and their intelligence is clear to see.

Today we went to the Dolphin Research Centre once again, today was Laura’s turn to play with the dolphin. She was taken down by the trainers to poolside where she sat patiently and waited her turn while the trainers ran through their preamble and the dolphins performed some to their tricks. Finally it was Laura’s turn to have fun. She lay down on the side of the dock while the dolphins swam past she could reach down and touch them. The finale of Laura’s experience was for her two dolphin playmates to help paint a T-shirt. Laura holds the T-Shirt just above the water while the dolphins with brush in their mouths rise out of the water and doodle on the shirt. After a few minutes the deed is done and Laura, with a huge smile on her face proudly holds the newly painted T-shirt aloft.

DAY 116 WEDNESDAY 2nd JANUARY 2008

Fiesta Key, Florida (Miles to Date: 13200)

On New Years Eve we went down to the area of the campsite called sunset point to watch the final sunset of 2007 – it was truly lovely and there was a real party atmosphere with music playing and people drinking. The campsite had laid on some entertainment in the form of a karaoke evening, which turned out to be a bit of a damp squib and the entertainment didn’t turn up. So we spent a somewhat disappointing evening watching crap television to pass the time (the children were determined to stay up to watch the ball drop).

To mark the New Year the weather has changed for the worst. A cold front has blown through and the temperatures are 200 F lower than it has been and the wind is blowing a gale. Whilst this has put the dampers on the beach and swimming activities it is not so bad that we can’t do things – knowing there was a change in the air we had already planned a trip out to the Turtle Rescue Hospital in Marathon, about 15 miles further down the Florida Key than where we are staying.

The Hospital was established back in 1986 to treat the numerous Sea Turtles that were turning up sick and injured around the Florida Keys. Some turtles come into the Hospital due to illnesses such as fibropapilloma (a tumour growth which can be fatal) and lethargic turtle disease, but the large majority arrive due to indirect and direct contact with man. Many sea turtles are hit by the large number of pleasure craft cruising around the Keys, but equally turtles get caught in fishing nets, eat fishing line and hooks, and consume other garbage thrown into the sea (such as cigarette butts – which look like shrimp to the turtles). There are some 15 permanent residents who will never be released and around another 15 who are temporary residents – with the intention of returning them to the sea. In the Hospital there are 4 types of turtles; Green, Loggerhead, Hawksbill and Kemps Ridley. The largest of these, the Green sea turtles can reach up to 350 pounds.

At the start of our tour we get a presentation on the hospital, an overview of sea turtles (what they eat, where they live etc) and the background to some of the residents. After this we are taken through the treatment rooms and are shown some of the equipment. Of most interest were the x-rays shots of some turtles showing clearly fish hooks, cigarette butts lodged deep inside these poor creatures. Fortunately their digestive tracks seem to be hardy and in most cases it was possible for the veterinarian to remove the offending items by surgery or through the use of natural lubricants. The final part of the tour, and what we all of course came for was to see the turtles themselves. The hospital itself was once a small holiday resort which had a large salt water tank filled from the sea, which was used to exhibit local fish. This tank is now home to 20 or so large sea turtles, many of which will never return to the wild … so this is home. Many these poor creatures had lost fins or been hit by boats. One condition suffered by these boat struck turtles is called “bubble butt”, where air has been forced into their shell as a result of the accident. The main result of bubble butt is that it affects the buoyancy of the turtles and they can’t dive under effectively – making them easy targets for predators like sharks. The solution in part is to put weights onto the shells but this would not work for them if returned to the wild. In addition to the turtles in the big tanks there are several smaller tanks around containing single turtles who are undergoing treatment – these eventually will be either transferred to the larger pools or sent back to the wild.
For us the highlight of the tour was the chance to feed the turtles. It was wonderful to see these large, graceful gentle creatures swimming peacefully through the water and chomping on the morsels we threw to them.

DAY 114 SUNDAY 30th DECEMBER 2007

Fiesta Key, Florida (Miles to Date: 13150)

Where are staying is wonderful. The campsite is just on the eastern tip of Long Key at mile marker 70 (distances along the Keys are measured by the mile marker – 0 being in Key West). Fiesta Key is almost surrounded by pristine blue green water – and is more or less an island. The campsite fills the whole of this space, and includes a swimming pool, a swimming area in the sea and a marina. The campsite is quite full but we are only about 50 yards from the sea, so baring one or two motor homes we have a great view.

Jack, Emily and Laura are having a wonderful time, and the weather is magnificent. Fortunately it is still school vacation time so they are plenty of other children around for them to play with. They love patrolling the waterside looking for creatures of the sea – and there is plenty to see with squid, parrot fish, cow fish, jellyfish, spiny lobster and dolphins amongst other things. Their other favourite pastime, especially Jack’s, is to go snorkelling over the reef fringe. He would spend hours there if allowed.

Today we broke out our inflatable raft for the first time. Karen and Jack were the first to try this out – unfortunately Mark had not fully inflated the middle sections of the boat, so the vessel was inherently unstable. Sure enough 5 minutes into her maiden journey the good ship capsized ejecting her crew into the briny – fortunately they we no more than 20 yards from shore. After the application of additional air the boat was returned to the water where a new crew, Emily and her two new friends, showed how it should be done.