Eleonor Collins

Yesterday evening was when dad and I said farewell to our family in Ecuador. It was extremely hard to let go of the family which I had only just started to get to know. I shed many tears with some members of the family at the airport but promised to return very soon and not every 30 years, which is the length of time dad hadn´t returned to South America. Next time I hope we can come for Christmas and New Year for a BIG family reunion and bring everyone from Australia, which is what I originally wanted this trip to be. We made the most of the time we did have and shared some great weekends with the family and travelled to some very exciting places in Ecuador during the working week. We especially enjoyed our relasing time with the family in Papallacta´s natural hot springs on the second last day in Ecuador. We´d like to take this opportunity to publicly thank our family in Ecuador for everything and for spending time with us over the past month. We have really enjoyed our time with e...

The great thing about Ecuador is that it's a relatvely small country compared to other countries in South America and has lots to offer adventuring tourists. I'm talking about the mighty Oriente, the Amazon! Dad & I just recently returned from our awesome 5 day adventure to the Cuyabeno Reserve in The Oriente of Ecuador through Samona Expeditions. We went fairly deep into the jungle. Just to give you an indication we took a bus from Quito to Lago Agrio (7 hrs), then a van to the Cuyabeno River (2 hrs) and then we took a motorised canoe on the beautiful river to reach our naturally beautiful Samona Lodge(2 hrs). Even though it took a while to reach our lodge the canoe ride over the river warmed us up for the adventures that awaited us in the jungle. Dad and I took a motorised canoe up the Cuyabeno River (the boat about 25m length) manned by two men, Dario (18yrs, the Captain of the boat who was in control of the engine) and Frederico (about 30s up the front of the boat)....

!Buenós dias¡ Today dad and I finished our 5 day trip through the beautiful Galapagos Islands! We went on a boat cruise that took us from Santa Cruz island to Bacha Beach, North Seymour Island, Santa Fe, Española Island, Floreana Island and then back to Santa Cruz Island. It was a fantastic trip even though I feel like I´m still on the boat from all the swaying over the last 5 days. The flight over to the islands went smoothly and I remember my first reaction when we first saw the islands as we flew over. Is this the Galapagos Islands?! It looks like a desert! I had expected the place to be overwelmed by luscious fouliage and trees! We entered Baltra airport which used to be used for US military base. However most of the islands we visited were quite barren as this time of the year the trees lose their leaves even though the rain was well and truely present almost everyday we were there. Some of the best highlights on this trip would first and foremost be witnesssing nature and the b...

Hóla once again. It´s been a while since my last entry and I´ve been quite busy touring Ecuador and a very small part of Colombia. Dad and I visited a small town north of Ecuador called Tulcán for it´s large and well known cemetery there. I hear you saying....Cemetery?! Yep, cemetery. The gardens are the main feature there as the cemetery is lined with giant hedges that are sculptured into geometric shapes, pre-Colombian symbols and various animals. It was such an awesome sight to see! The figures were very cute, especially the animals. The graves were equally beautiful as the burial places are above-ground tombs stacked atop of one another so that they resembled a mini apartment complex rather than a final resting place. The entrance of the tombs are heavily adorned with shrines and beautiful fresh flowers. The day after visiting Tulcán we crossed the border into Colombia to visit the famous church Virgin de las Lajas. A magnificent church built against a cliff face! Absolutely aw...

Hi Everyone! In the last few days in Ecuador, Dad and I have been visiting some of the local cities near Quito, Ecuador. Our family have been showing us around to many beautiful places. Yesterday Dad and I went to Baños which was about 3 hrs drive from Quito. My uncle Marco, his wife (Lucia) and his son (Mauricio's) family invited us out for the day. It was difficult to wake up in the morning because the previous day we went to my cousin's son's Baptism celebration which was in the evening and went through till early hours of the morning. We did manage to wriggle out of bed though. On the way we passed a volcano that errupted 3 months ago, Tunguragua. The whole city had to be evacuated at the time. We stopped to have a look at the destruction that it caused which was incredible. Many tourists were there picking up some of the rocks that were left there. We also passed a town (forgive me for not remembering the name) where they mainly manufacture jeans clothing. There...

¡Hola todos! Dad and I have been in Quito, Ecuador for the past four days, since 21st of September. We came from our very brief stay in La Paz, Bolivia where the shopping was cheap and the traffic plenty. On arrival at Quito airport we weren´t sure if we´d be greeted by anyone in the family. Upon our exit from customs we didn´t see anyone from the family so we were quite disappointed. Dad then proceeded to go to one of the phone booths at the airport when I noticed a young man with aviation sunglasses walking towards me with another lady beside him. I was my cousin Carlos Alberto who had come to Australia to study a few years ago with his mother Susanna! Some of our family was there! We were so happy because it turned out that a lot of our family had come to the airport to see us! About 10 people! I just wish I knew a lot more Spanish because most of them don´t speak English. I´ve been trying to speak in Spanish most of the time. It´s been quite trying and funny at the same time. W...

Our trip through Peru has almost come to an end. Tomorrow we leave Puno and make our way to La Paz in Bolivia. I am feeling very sad yet happy at the same time because we´ll be meeting the family very soon. Ok I better get typing! The last few days have been great! From visiting Cusco´s local archaeological sites; Sacsaywahman, Tambomachay, Quenqo, Puka Pukara to shopping in the local markets to experiencing the wonderful nightlife clubbing in Cuzco....it´s all been amazing! Cuzco is a very busy city and there always seems to be something happening everyday. In total we spent 4 days in Cuzco and we saw two parades which celebrated two of the 400 saints that Cuzco regularly celebrate down the streets of the Plaza de Armas (the Main Square). On the last day in uzco there was another parade. This one was a Marching Parade that is held every Sunday through Cuzco´s main Square. It starts with the Military Band followed by a series of different groups like schools, hotels, environment ...

So much has happened in the last week that it{s going to be very difficult to type it all up in the space of an hour but I'll try my best. After flying up from Arequipa to Cuzco we had an easy day in Cuzco. We just wondered the local streets soaking up the culture and atmosphere of this huge city. It's the 3rd largest city in Peru (I think) with 300 000 people. Later that afternoon we met with our local Inca Trail guide called Coco who ran through what we'd be doing on the Inca Trail over the next 4 days. He English was pretty good so it was easy to understand him, he was also an easy going guy. The next day we had to be ready for 6:30am to be at 82km (the start of the Inca Trail) for 7:30am. It was a beautiful day for hiking. We hiked for 14km the first day which was mostly up hill. Along the way we passed many houses with goats, horses, pigs and chickens. The hike was extremely tiring for me and I really regretted not doing any active exercise before leaving Oz. The...

After a lengthy evening bus ride to Arequipa from Nazca which took around 8 hours, we all had a free day to wonder around this beautiful city. Arequipa is called the white city due to many of the buildings being carved out of lava and soil from a volcanic erruption that happened in the past. It´s one of the most beautiful cities we´ve seen so far and the atmosphere is a buzz here. The following day we made our journey to Colca Canyon, our local tour guide Fernando was great and very knowledgable about the area. We stopped at many vantage points along the way to Colca Canyon. The mountain terraces (flat planes in the mountain side used for farming) are incredible, although these days aren´t widely used. Mining is the main source of income for a lot of the people. We went to the highest point in the region which was 4971m (or there abouts), there we found many small rock towers that people had constructed as an offering to the mountains to let them have a safe journey. Quite specta...

Today has been another adventurous day in Peru. I´m absolutely knackered! Early this morning we all made our way to the local airport to have a one hour flight over the Nazca lines; it was absolutely amazing experience. It´s really hard to describe it, I guess it´s just one of those things where you have to be there. However I forgot to bring my tea tree oil to sniff because if anyone knows me well I have terrible motion sickness. I was ok for most of the flight but when we landed back at the airport the pilot did one fast hairpin turn and that was enough to make me bring up all my delicious breakfast...I felt so awful and gross. Lucky there were bags there. Sorry for the ones back home who have just finished eating! I´m so glad we stayed on the ground afterwards. We visited a local cemetery of the Nazca people. It was extrodinary to see these open graves that had a whole family together as well as some of their possessions in order to bring it with them in the afterlife. We also...

Yesterday we met the people in our tour group and funnily enough the majority are from Australia. :) About half Oz, one Japanese, two English, and one Canadan. The majority of the group are quite young with the oldest going to 55years or there abouts. We also met our tour leader Nicolas who has been doing this profession for about 4 months but has been a guide in other things for 4 years. It{s amazing that he's only 22 years old! Right now we're in Pisco, Peru and relaxing after our bus ride from Lima which was about 4 hours. Our hotel is beautifully furnished and adorned with Peruvian arts and crafts. It's very homely and has a wonderful atmosphere. Before arriving here though, it was hard to believe that such a nice place could be in the midst of very poor neighbourhoods. On our way here we passed two funerals which were street funerals; massive crowds follow a car adorned with flowers and the procession is quite amazing. Music is played and from what I saw the peopl...

Yesterday dad and I had a very late night in Lima-Miraflores trying to fix my iPod at a local Internet cafe (they operate 24 hours a day which is great!). The problem I was having was that I couldn´t download photos from my camera and the iPod also had photos on there that weren´t showing on the menu. The only solution I could see was to re-install the iPod updater. This would mean I´d lose all the songs I put on there, which was probably only 3 albums, so that was not much of a sacrifice. Well I´m very happy now because now I can download the pictures directly from my camera again after installing the iPod updater from the PC here in Lima. :) I´m hoping the iPod behaves itself for the rest of the trip. Anyway later today we are meeting our tour guide to discuss our 3 week tour through Peru. We met Nicholas (tour guide) briefly this morning to meet him and to find out what was happening because we only had notice today about our tour. Very late notice. So we´ll find out more later. T...

It´s been a very long day so I´ll keep this short. Dad and I went on the Lima City Tour today and saw many great places including a tour of the Cathedral of the Francescas and the Catacombes. Quite amazing! It was the very first place where the religious believers were practicing and were buried since there were no cemeteries. I´ve had terrible issues with my iPod but it may be fixed now. I have to go but I´ll try uploading some photos before we go. My poor dad is sleeping in the seat next to me as I´m typing this it´s 1:25 am

Hola con Todos, My dad and I are here in Lima and we are doing well after a very long.....flight from Sydney! In total to get to Lima it took 29 hours! So I couldn´t wait for the hotel bed, it beats sleeping in the Airport for 8 hours :) Lan CHile the airline is very good and gave me some Spanish conversation practice. :) The airline food was the best I´ve ever tasted as well. We are having a very difficult time coping with the jet lag. We arrived at Lima´s airport to find that no one was waiting for us so that was a terrible start to the end of our very exhausting trip. So the nice people in the airport who contact transport, helped us out and contacted our Gap tour here in Lima. After about half an hour of them helping us, we just took a taxi which they organised for us because no one was there. The first impression of this place was that it reminded us of Philippines; the honking horns, the pollution and even the people drive the same. There are crowded buses here too! :) We ha...