Diary Report

Photo Captions

1a) Leaving Home on a Jet plane

June 1^st 2001

Packing and leaving the UK. As we only had a couple of days together in the UK before flying, packing was a stressful business and resulted in a couple of sleepless nights. We had a few technical problems and in the end had to leave the solar panel, which we had been given to charge our equipment while away from mains power. We discovered it was very inefficient and would not be worth all the hassle involved in lugging a 2.5kg Aluminium plate (45cm X 43.5cm) around South America.

First Class Take-Off with British Airways. British Airways awarded the project free return flights to Bogotá - Colombia from Manchester (and a flight from Copenhagen to Manchester for Jens), as part of their "Assisting Conservation Programme. We flew on June 1st and were amazed and delighted to be upgraded to Business Class from London Gatwick to Bogotá (via Caracas, Venezuela). We have never experienced such luxury and are not looking forward to going back to economy class in the future!

b) An introduction to Colombia

Welcome to Colombia. As we had originally intended to start in Quito - Ecuador, we had to change our plans at the last minute, when we received the free flights to Bogotá. Fortunately our project advisor for Colombia, Ivan Lozano, offered to meet us at the airport and help us settle in and show us around. We were delighted to finally meet Ivan and to have help crossing Bogotá and finding the hotel he had booked for us (which was very affordable AND luxurious).

Football and Bogota. On our second day in Colombia, we went to watch Colombia vs Argentina battle it out for a place in the World Cup or something, at Ivan's house accompanied by his sister, three very attractive female friends, beer and pizza - nothing new there then.

Football is big out here and it was the culturally done thing to attend and to get excited every time Colombia had the ball, which unfortunately was not that often – as Argentina won 3:0. Ivan had told us that if Colombia won there would be a spontaneous three-day national holiday and fiesta (Party not Car) - so not wanting to miss such a culturally significant bash we joined in the mania.

High Above Bogotá. The roads were bedlam (more so than normal) as every one was rushing home to catch the game, a task which was impeded by the fact that it was Sunday and on Sundays from 7am to 2pm all major roads in Bogotá are closed to cars so every one can go for a bike ride! Any way as I said Colombia lost so we went for a commiseratory drive in the hills to make up for it. Which for Jens and I it did, the views of Bogotá were amazing and the scenery spectacular, oh and we stopped at a little village famous for its dairy and cakes.

Araquipe – a taste of the sweet stuff. They have an interesting sweet stuff out here, which they call Araquipe and which we sampled, it is rather like very soft creamy caramel. Needless to say I've not lost any weight yet and am rather counting on catching a dose of the runs soon to help me on my way.

Photo 0964 Our Colombian Advisor gives us an "over view" of Bogotá.

A country of contradictions Photo 1592: Traffic Jams and crazy driving.

And a Photo 1592: Horse and cart stuck in the midst of it.

Photo 0971 The Andes at dusk, high above Bogotá.

First Impressions of Colombia

Our impression after being there 2 weeks was, Colombia appears to be a rather lovely country that gives out false news reports about nasty goings on to stop any foreign types coming to spoil it. Well almost, 90% of the people are normal and really very friendly and the other 10% are Drug barons, Guerrillas and Paramilitary who run a quarter of the-not-so-important areas of the country.

Roadblocks. We had driven past several roadblocks, but have only been stopped once,  a military one (done for our security we were told - they are looking for stolen cars, guerrillas and drugs).  They were just young lads doing their job and trying to look hard, however the size of their weapons was quite effective at doing that for them.

A Military search. They routed through all our bags, frisked Jens, looked at our passports for a while and then said off you go. So we did quietly and with much haste. Apart from that Ivan has kept us out of trouble, even booking us onto a half hour flight, just so we didn't have to be in the car when they drove along a stretch of road, which had been the scene of some kidnappings recently.

Kidnappings and Guerrillas. However we missed the flight back due to two flat tires and drove along the said route anyway. We were told it would be perfectly fine, because it was a Saturday, there was a lot of traffic and military around and Fernando (who's project we were visiting) said that they very rarely hold zoologists because even Guerrillas like to look as though they care about the environment and animals. Reassuring thought eh?

2 - The 1st International Primatology Conference 
in Latin American

13th - 15th June 2001

This conference was organised and hosted by the Araguatos Primatology Centre and was invaluable for us to meet and develop contacts with people working in primate conservation all over South America. All presentations were in Spanish, which made it very hard for us to get all the fine details - but there was plenty of time for discussion and getting to know people better in the evenings.

Photo 1139: Conferences are a great place for us to get to know the people involved in conservation + learn Salsa

3 - The Colombian Peace Net - Join Our Community Linking Initiative

16th June 2001

Student formed group – bent on world peace. Two years ago a group of Colombian teenagers formed a national network to promote and train themselves in peace and reconciliation skills as a long-term solution to the continuing violence in the country.

We met with the founding group of students, after their Saturday afternoon meeting, to find out more and to tell them about our Community linking initiative, with the aid of the "Big Book" that Yr 5 from St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary school, Blackpool, had made.

These students have much to share with European kids. These students are keen to use the Big Book to work with pupils in their lower school and to develop links between them and St. Cuthbert's. Colombian Schools broke up for the summer break on 15th June so we were unable to go into any schools. We hope to do some workshops in the schools when we return to Colombia.

Photo 1146: Nan presents the “Big book” about life in Blackpool to the core group of the “Colombian Peace Net”

4 - Humboldt Institute – Biocomercia Department

5^th July

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5 - Colombia Again, it’s all about calculating risk.

September 2001

The 5^th International Conference on wildlife management in Latin America and the lure of the historic city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia brought us back to this troubled land faster than we expected.  The truth is we have only experienced beautiful landscapes, fascinating projects, dedicated people and friendly officials during our time in Colombia. 

The troubles here are real but are very much down to your own perception of risk. Kidnappings on the roads pose the greatest danger, especially to foreigners, but as they are completely random you are unable to calculate probability of it happening to you.  The ridiculous thing is you are more likely to be involved in a road accident in any country, than be kidnapped off the road in Colombia.  However the fear of  “it could be you” is what has paralysed the nation, given the guerrilla power and Colombia a bad name.

6: 5^th International Conference on wildlife management in Latin America

10 – 14^th September 2001

Cartagena de Indias, is a beautiful, historic and vibrant city, it’s Caribbean influences and the endemic “Varinato” music jingles with your senses, making the place feel like an oasis from the rest of Colombia’s troubles. 

Getting the hand of Spanish. It was reassuring to see how much more we understood of the lectures at this conference compared to the last one we went to in June, but never the less the strain of trying to understand and the STRESS of having to give a 5 minute presentation, IN SPANISH, to the 1000 strong Spanish speaking audience, made for a very exhausting week. 

New Contacts and troubled times. We made many new contacts and friends and were able to fit together more pieces of the South American Conservation jigsaw puzzle.  The only blight on the week was the news of the Terrorist attacks in New York.  We were glad to be in Colombia – at least on that day it was safer to be here.

7 - The Colombian Amazon

October 2001

The Three Frontiers. After a couple of weeks in Bogotá, writing up, emailing and booking flights – we were eager and excited to get back into the field and see the great Amazon river for the first time.  We flew to Leticia, the capital of the Colombian Amazon.  This laid back tropical town is in frontier land and is bordered by Brazil and Peru. We had a morning to razz about on mopeds making a 5 min trip to Brazil for an ice-cream and a quick visit to Leticia’s infamous zoo, before we headed 2 hours upstream to our first project. 

First impressions of the Amazon. Our first reactions at seeing “The Great Amazon” was….. it was big – bigger than we had ever imagined and what looked like the “other side” turned out just to be huge forested island over a mile long.  Even more incredibly, the high and steep sided riverbanks foretold that it could get much bigger.  We were astonished to learn that in fact the water level rose and fell 12m over the course of the year and this was the lowest it was likely to get this year – as it was the end of the dry season.

Leticia’s low level port. Consequently, we had to drive 2 km out of town, down a muddy track to reach Leticia’s floating port.  When the river is at it’s highest it laps at the verandas of the houses on the top of the riverbank on the edge of the town, which then function as the dock. This explained why all these buildings were on stilts and why some folk had even chosen to build their homes and businesses on rafts so that they could go up and down with the river! It was hard to picture the difference but for sure this is a very fluid landscape. 

Photo 3236: Laid back Leticia, and it’s border with Brazil (“Tabatinga Digital” sign behind marks the frontier)

Photo 3244: The winding Amazon and its islands look small and manageable from a plane.

Photo 3001: This floating café / dock moves up and down with height of the river.

8 - In The Ecuadorian Amazon (again)

End of October 2001

A frustrated attempt at adventure. We had hoped to make an adventurous journey from Leticia up the Amazon to Iquitos in Peru and then up the Rio Napo back to Coca in Ecuador.  However after having waited 3 days for a hydro-plane to leave for Iquitos (Peruvian jungle), Jens getting a bad stomach, Nan branding her leg on the exhaust of a moped, both of us getting stung by a bent Peruvian border official, the one email place going down and as no-one could tell us if it was even possible to get from Iquitos to Coca or not, time and our patience run out.

The night bus to Coca. So instead we opted for the more reliable route, by air back to Bogotá and then onto Quito, from where we took the beloved “night bus” to Coca!  This time was even worse than before as the sudden re-emergence of a dodgy curry consumed before we set off, made my trip and the side of the bus by my window rather unpleasant.

Photo 3231: On the move again, we dream of being able to travel light!

9 - Visit to Parke Historica in Guayaquille.

Beginning of Nov 2001

A new concept in zoos - Parke Historica. The First “Parke Historica” in Guyaquile coastal Ecuador, was a new concept in zoos, built with funding from an Ecuadorian bank to educate its visitors about their environment and cultures. 

Top class presentations help give an interactive experience. 25 presenters speak to small groups of visitors about each exhibit. A reconstruction of a traditional peasant farmer’s house and re-enactment of colonial life by a cast of costumed characters on the verandas of a replica Hacienda, help to bring some of Ecuador’s coastal cultural-past alive. 

Photo 3407:One of the zoo’s 25 presenters, telling us about sloth, in English!

Photo 3409: A replica peasant farmer’s house for zoo visitors to explore

10 - Our journey from Ecuador, through Peru, 
to Bolivia.

November 2001

Down the spine of South America. The next 2 weeks were spent in travelling just under 4000km, from Coca to Quito, to Guyaquille, to Lima (Peru) to Puno on lake Titicaca and through La Paz in the Bolivian highlands, to Santa Cruz in the hot and sweaty lowlands. 

A Pilgrims Tale. This whole journey included 70 hours in a bus or plane, 3 meetings, 2 zoos, 4 cities (3 of which capitals); inadvertently staying in a brothel (where rooms were only $6 for the “whole night”); leaving one hotel with out paying (as they dragged 2 tonnes of gravel past our door till 4am); our bottoms getting very intimate with bus seats, my nerves becoming allergic to screaming children and a cruise, in a dream-like state, through the Peruvian coastal desert (in the world’s best bus, all children having been kicked off and the movies being in English). 

Desert N. Peru

11 - Bolivia

November 2001

Once we arrived on the blustery plains of the Andes on the shores of Lake Titicaca and the cool air made us feel more at home, we knew we were going to enjoy our visit to Peru and Bolivia.  But after one night in Puno (Peru), a 7 hour bus ride and only a few hours in La Paz (the highest capital in the world -Bolivia), we changed buses and plunged ourselves back into the tropical heat of the Amazon basin and came out in the laid back city of Santa Cruz. Here we had meetings and planned our visits to our first Bolivian projects.

Photo 3508: A Bolivian village along a river leading to Lake Titicaca

12 - A day trip to Chile

December 2001

We took a day and a night out of our Salar trip, to nip into Chile and visit the Atacama desert and the Valley of the moon. On the Bolivian side, on the way, we passed natural geezers, had a dip in some thermal springs and were dazzled by “Laguna Verde” –  the green lagoon.  All in all the most breath taking experience of our whole trip – a must see if you are in the area!

Photos Sal: 45040, 45051, 45007 + 45021: Chile; geezers; hot springs and L. Verde.

13 - Christmas in La Paz, Bolivia.

2001/2002

How lucky are we… We were very luckily given the opportunity to stay in an apartment in La Paz over Xmas and New Year.  This meant we had just less than 2 weeks of stability and the luxury of our own kitchen and workspace.  We had plenty of work to catch up on and so weren’t unable to see as much of La Paz as we had hoped. But at least we had time to relax and catch up on some sleep.

Christmas in the sun. It was odd walking round the sunny streets of La Paz seeing all the shops dressed in Christmas colours and fake fir trees and heavily dressed Father Christmases.  It felt like summer to us, and Christmas preparations seemed very out of place.  However, we used to the date as an excuse to get traditionally stuffed with fine food and found a cheeky little Bolivian champagne that was very cheap and full of good cheer! 

A New Year with bubbles and sparks. A couple of bottles of which, were used to welcome in 2002 as we stood on the balcony over looking La Paz. There we enjoyed a free firework display as rockets went off all over the city, turning the night sky into a profusion of exploding stars.

Our heart felt thanks to Rob and Lillian for letting us stay in their fabulous apartment, while they were on holiday!

Photo Sal45081: Jens chilling out in TV/video heaven.

14 - Pre Colombian Peru  - A traveler's tale.

January 2002
3 weeks

Living a dream on Lake Titicaca. After 7 months and 35 projects we looked forward to a holiday in Peru traveling with Jens’ sister and niece. Ever since reading Thor Heyerdal’s books about Kon Tiki and Ra, Lake Titicaca had been something special. Suddenly we were there, on los Uros, the floating islands and Jens was steering a genuine reed boat from one floating island to another. The night was spent on Isla de Amantani, where local families invited into their homes, their costumes and to party late into the night.

In the footsteps of the Incas. Cusco, the ancient Inca capital, takes you back in time.  The amazing earthquake proof stonework in the city and the 320 ruins lying in the surrounding area are impressive.  After 3 days in rain on the Inca trail, we arrived, on the fourth day to one of the most impressive of all. Machu Picchu - The forgotten and secret city of the Incas surrounded by an astonishing landscape. It was still an awe-inspiring experience despite the rain and a fall out with our tour agency “Exotic Adventures,” whose incompetence was only surpassed by their false promises to put things right.  Do not book with these people if you go!

Juanita. From Cusco to Arequipa, to see a 500yr old Nunnery and a frozen Inca girl called Juanita – a virginal sacrifice to the Mountain Gods to encourage them to send rain.

Mysterious lines in the sand. From Arequipa to Nasca, our bottoms got hardened to bus seats, but we got no better at sleeping on the over night journeys.  We took a flight in a 3 seater plane to see the Nazca lines. These geometric designs were made in the desert sand, only by removing the dark surface stones. After you have seen them, the only thought you are left with is, WHY were they made? There are many theories about this, you can choose your own.  

Open tombs. The nearby graves of Chanchilla dates back to around 1000 – 1300AD, grave robbers have made a mess of the area, with fragments of bones and cloth from the mummies everywhere, proving that the farms that live here now are as desperate to survive in this barren desert as their ancestors.  12 tombs have been opened and restored to present the remains in a more fitting and respectful surrounding.

Sharks in the Sand. From Nazca to Huacachina, a small oasis 5km west of Ica. The hostel’s small swimming pool was tempting and made us stay, until Roberto told us about the “Sharks” – not in the pool but in the desert. Well they were there. We found whales and sharks and shark teeth and other proof that this sun parched land was once a sea with mighty big animals lurking in it.

Sea lions on rocks. From Huacachina to Paracas and Islas Ballestas where we saw some more recent sea creatures, Patagonian sea lions, Humboldt penguins, boobies and pelicans. So that was it – three busy weeks ended in Lima, where we said goodbye to Jens’ sister and niece and had to get down some work again.

Photo Ltitip 2018: “Indiana Jens” takes the helm on Lake Titicaca.

Photo Ltitip 2052: Nan and Jens go native on an island in Lake Titicaca.

Photo Inc T008: Nan and Jens on the Inca trail – it rained…

Photo Inc T049: Machu Picchu, the mysterious city of the Incas.

Photos Are039, 044: The Monkey and the hands next to the Pan American highway, some of the most famous of the Nazca lines.

Photo Are048: These Pre-inca graves have been ransacked by grave robbers (look at their hair hanging on the wall).

Photo Are073: Discovering dinosaurs Roberto shows us the fossilised skeleton of a mighty whale, uncovered by the desert winds.