Cañon del Colca

The condors of Cañon del Colca (in southern Peru) are famous for their graceful flights as they catch the rising thermals and just cruise the skies in the world´s deepest canyon. (They´ve just re-measured it, and apparently its over 4000m deep at its deepest point!) Here its a mere 3300m deep. None of the photos I took manage to catch the moment well enough, but having these huge birds (the second largest flying birds in the world) just pass a couple of meters overhead or beside you is really unforgettable.

Another friend for Izzy

Dave hung out with us for a few days in Cusco, including the trip to Machu Picchu.

More Machu Picchu

Izzy and I take in Machu Picchu in its full glory. Its easy to see why the Inca´s chose this Sacred Valley.... or maybe "it chose them?" Either way, its a very beautiful location, and gave the perfect place to hide a city away, where the invading Spanish were never able to find it.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, the "Lost Inca City" slowly reveals itself from the early morning cloud forest mist. The mist and cloud gave it a very special and mystic feel for the first few hours of the morning until the warm, bright sun broke through.

Izzy meets Elvis!

Ok, so its not THAT Elvis.... but still! Elvis (our guide) had a bit of an obsession for very dodgy Peruvian Ragatong music, and here Izzy is getting a serious introduction.... poor thing!

The trials of the Cordilliera Blanca

In the first photo, Izzy and I recover and celebrate reaching the top of Union Point (the highest point of our trek) after a four hour climb that felt more like four days to me... but I made it somehow! Below, on the third day it rained all morning and we managed to take a bit of a detour on some marshland thanks to our guide, but in the afternoon the sun came out and the scenery left us with smiles on our faces.

Cordilliera Blanca

Some of the stunning views we had during our four day trek through the Corilliera Blanca. Tom´s catching his breath here, whislt some lakes were so clear and still the mountains reflect perfectly in them.

Huaca de la Luna

The Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (Temples of the Sun and Moon) were built by pre-Inca people near the current town of Trujillio in northern Peru. The Moon temple is the only one that has been investigated so far, and the art-work that has been uncovered is very impressive and incredibly well preserved.

Vilcabamba.... a hidden paradise

This was the view I woke to one morning from my bed in Vilcabamba. The place we stayed here was hidden up the valley of the Rio Yamalla, and was a great place to hike for a couple of days.

Tom´s Birthday

Caroline, Tom and I celebrate Tom´s birthday in Cuenca with a great meal and five bottles of Tom´s favourite Argentinian and Chilean wine! A very good evening altogether!

Nariz del Diablo

The beautiful, and slightly scary views, from the top of the "Nariz del Diablo" train ride in central Ecuador. Its not everyday of the week you get to sit ontop of the train your riding!

Time to catch-up!

I think its been over a month since my last proper post, and a few weeks since I managed to put the photos on, so a decent update is well ovedue!

Since the last real post from Baños, I´ve ridden on top of the Nariz del Diablo train, stayed in the beautiful village of Vilcabamba (Ecuador), visited the very interesting Sun and Moon Temples in Trujillio, trekked in the stunning Cordilliera Blanca, checked out the fascinating Inca ruins of the Sacred Valley around Cusco, and been to Cañon del Colca to check out the cruising Condors (Peru). And along the way I´ve met some great friends too, who´ve added even more fun to the adventures.

I´ll sort out the Machu Picchu photos when I get a chance, but here are the best of the rest for the moment.

Photos so far

Right, there's lots of them, and I must warn you that not all of them are that interesting or make sense.... AND I haven't put titles on them.... but here are links to the albums of all my photos on the trip so far.

Hope you enjoy them all, and don't say I didn't warn you about how many there are!

Ecuador 1: Quito, Mitad del Mundo, and more Quito.

Ecuador 2: Otavalo, Cotopaxi, Quilotoa and Baños

Ecuador 3: more Baños, Nariz del Diablo train, Cuenca and Vilcabamba

Peru 1: The Andean road into Peru, Temples of the Sun and the Moon, Huaraz and the Cordilliera Blanca.

The next few weeks will revolve around Cusco, the Inca Trail, and then Arequipa I think. So hope you like these photos as there's lots more mountains to come!

And so to Peru

Well, its three weeks into the South America leg of this trip, and I've now made it to Peru. And it was quite an effort to get here too! Left Loja in southern Ecuador at 7am, and arrived here in Piura, northern Peru, at about 5pm. Yes TEN hours, and we (Tom from the USA, who I'm travelling with for a bit) are due to spend another six hours to head south to Trujillo tonight, and then... hopefully.... we'll have another eight hours tomorrow morning to Huaraz.

That trip should be worth the time though as Huaraz and the Cordilleria Blanca part of the Andes are supposed to contain some of the most beautiful and breath-taking scenery, hiking and trekking on the whole continent.

So, with three hours before our bus leaves, what do you do on a Friday night in an incredibly hectic and hot city such as Piura (which I hope to leave still having all my valuables and other bits attached to me). Head for the Internet of course!!! If anyone has any other bright ideas then please let me on a postcard to the usual address! Haha!

A volcano in action

This is the sight that welcomes you to Baños. The local volcano shooting a column of ash and dust high into the air, just as it has done for the last 6 years or so since it became active again. It took two years to be down-graded to amber than yellow alert, and for life to return as to locals reclaimed their city. (click the photo for a bigger version.. I hope.)

So now to Baños!

The scenery in the Andes is quite literally breath-taking (especially when trying to climb it!). The roads winding away from Latacunga to Quilotoa, and here arond the town of Baños provide beautiful look-out spots from which to take it all in. On our hike up the hill, we met a very friendly local, Carlos, who works for the civil defence force in monitoring the very much active volcano that currently overlooks the city. Officially no-one should be in this city, but its been on yellow alert for about 4 years now and no-one seems particularly concerned as daily life continues fairly normally.

Not again!!

Laslo and I consider the enjoyment of a hike at 4000m for the second time in two days, and also the possibilitiy of an eruption, and how much fun that could be!!

Laguna Quilotoa

Izzy considers going for a swim in the lake that's formed inside the crater of Quilotoa. Another active but largely dormant volcano in central Ecuador. At 4000m high at the tip of the rim, its another breathless hike down into, and back up the crater.

Real celebrations!

Laslo and I decided to celebrate in a slightly different way! Someone in the climbers refuge decided it would be a great idea to sell beer there... so what else could we do?! "Possibly the highest beer in the World?!" Haha!

Reward!

Here Laslo and Kate (on exchange from Germany and Belgium) relax with Izzy at reaching the refuge. Kate had brought some of her birthday cake from last week to celebrate with (which Izzy really enjoyed!)

Volcan Cotopaxi

This is from the climb up the currently dormant Volcano Cotopaxi, in central Ecuador. From the car park at 4500m to the climbers refuge at 4800m may not seem a great distance, but the altitude and soft volcanic sands make it very slow and hard going.

Mmmmmm!

Apart from steaks, South America isn't really known for its food. Well, in the market town of Otavalo, there are fantastic bakeries that happen to sell delicious slices of cakes for just 50c... perfect as dessertfor hungry "gringos" and polarbears alike. You have no idea of the will-power it took to not eat this straight away. There's only a few people who I know that make better cakes... but I won't embarrass them on here as I'm sure they already know.

...OR is THIS the Mitad del Mundo?!

Actually they all are, but strictly speaking the first one is 270m out. Yes, that's the monument that has been placed where the French explorers calculated the equator to be about 300 years ago. However, the ancient pre-Inca tribes had plotted it ontop of the hill (hopefully you can see a small mound where a semi-circle and tree mark the spot), and this line goes exactly through the equator, which has its own unofficial museum next to the "official" one.

The unofficial one that actually goes overthe equator is best, as here you get to try balancing an egg on the head of a nail (which I managed to do and got a certificate for - yeay me!!!), something which is virtually impossible off the equator apparently, watch the water go down plug-holes different ways, and loads of other cool stuff.

... Or is THIS the Mitad del Mundo?.....

(See that little mound on the top of the hill?... thats the important bit!)

Is this the Mitad del Mundo (middle of the World)?...

Izzy's making friends

Time for a decent update I hope! In Quito, Izzy made friends with Dan (from Bournemouth). Here they are checking out the UNESCO World Heritage site Old Town, which is overlooked by the "Virgen de la Quito".

"Goodbye" to the North!

Just a quick entry for this occasion. I´m leaving Otavalo today (which is just North of Quito, and the equator) and heading South. So this means, that unless something really unexpected happens, I´ll be in the Southern hemisphere for the next two months until flying back to Canada.
Now this may not seem that important in real terms, but, when most of your life you get used to the rest of the world mostly being south of you, it kind of messes with your mind to have that totally reversed. (Kind of like someone saying Cardiff City are a really good football team!!!)

So on that happy note I shall wish you all a Happy Easter, and see you on the flip-side (of the Globe)!

More Niagara Falls

As Izzy was going, Amanda & I decided to go along as well.... just to keep her company of course! So here we are infront of the Canadian "horseshoe" Falls. How Izzy got her paws on the camera I don´t know!

Izzy visits the Falls!

Before leaving Canada for South America, Izzy took a day trip to Niagara Falls, and very impressed she was too. I´m hoping she didn´t have any ideas about jumping in for some fish!!

Izzy was loving the look of all that ice from the American Falls.

One BIG Trophy!

I don't think there is a bigger trophy in the sporting world (although the European Cup comes pretty close I think). Anyway, if you make it to Toronto and have any interest in ice hockey then a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame is unmissable.
And the highlight is getting your photo taken with the Stanley Cup! It was actually formed in Britain and then brought over to North America. So thats quite a nice bit of British involvement in hockey history.

More snow!

Looks even more impressive when you see a whole street covered.

One last bit of news on this update. Congratulations to the Cardiff Devils ice Hockey team (yes I've been managing to follow from this side of the Atlantic) for winning the British Knockout Cup 3-0 in Coventry against the Blaze last week.
A great result and fantastic reward to the whole team and supporters after what's been a pretty messy and very hard-working season. Well done everyone and roll-on the play-offs!

Proper winter!

For those of us from the UK, even the threat of a few cm of snow is often enough to bring the country to a grinding holt! So how does the rest of the world cope when there's a little more of the white stuff flying around. Well check out these pics from Orillia after a "real winter snow storm"!

All this fell in about one 4-day snowfall.

Photos from St David's Night

So we did manage to make it out for a mini-celebration on St David's day, and while no-one else in the bar had a clue what we were doing, it was nice to at least have a little bit of fun with the flag!

Amanda looks pretty comfortable wrapped-up in a nice Welsh Dragon!

And here we see Izzy trying to steal my pint as I get into the celebrating mood! (Cheeky polar-bear!)

Happy St. David's Day

Bore da!
Just a quick message to say Happy St. David's Day to everyone back home in Wales, and infact everyone around the world. Hope you have a very good day and enjoy celebrating your "Welsh-ness." I find a few pints of Brains usually helps with that!
Hwyl!

Winter in Toronto

Well the snow finally came, and this is how the city looks covered in a blanket of white.

Izzy discovers Marshmallow Fluff.

Imagine the sweet creamy centre of a marshmallow. Now imagine that being put into jars and sold en masse for people to eat without the pain of all that chewing! Now imagine putting that infront of Izzy!!! It didn't last long I can assure you!!

Is that the time?!

I really did have good intentions of updating this far more often, but the last couple of weeks have been rather hectic to say the least. So finally, Happy New Year to everyone (make that Chinese New Year as it was yesterday, and doesnt seem anywhere near as out of date then) and to make up for it all I'm going to put up a bonus set of updates and photos today. Yippee!

After a very warm and mild start to winter here in Toronto, Mother Nature finally bit back in January. It -15c (wind chill of about -30c) three weeks here, which means it feels totally tropical to be a balmy +2c outside today!!!!

Ice Hockey Star meets World Famous International Backpacker

When Toronto Marlies Assistant Captain and centreman Kris Newbury heard I was attending the game against Milwaukee (along with Dave - see earlier post) a couple of weeks ago, he couldn't wait to meet me after the game. "Hearing that Owain was in town, and then that he was going to be watching me playing was such a thrill. I couldn't pass up the chance to impress him and really show what I could do on the ice." Kris may, or may not, have said in a post match interview.

Since that meeting, Kris's career (we're on first name terms now!) has taken a marked upward turn, and while the Marlies have not been in exactly red-hot form, Kris has been playing well, and as a run of injuries took their toll on the NHL Maple Leafs team, he was called up for his first NHL appearence last night in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. Sadly a weakened Leafs team, totally unaided by some incredibly incompetent officiating, lost 4-1, conceding 3 goals in the final period, but Kris played a solid game, and even laid a couple of good hits on Sydney Crosby.

I think its clear for all to see that, I am infact the catalyst for Kris Newbury's blossoming all-star NHL career, and if any other potential hockey greats need a helping hand I am more than willing to offer them the opportunity for an autograph and photo session. Just drop me a note at the usual address or add a handy comment here with your contact details!

Have fun everyone and join in with me again please:

"Go Leafs Go! Go Leafs Go!"

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Just one last Christmas post I think. Here's a photo of Amanda's family on Christmas Day. A good day was had by all, and even my cooking went down well..... which is always a nice surprise to me. A big thank you to everyone up here in Orillia who has made me feel so welcome. if I couldn't be home for Christmas, then I think this is the next best thing.

(l to r): Thelma (family friend), Aunt Lois, Grandma Marion, and Amanda.

Christmas wishes to you all, and especially those of you back in sunny South Wales who I'm not with at this special time of year. Take care and have fun everyone.

Izzy's Christmas

Here we see Izzy preparing to tackle the excellent Christmas Dinner. The butternut squash and homemade (British style) stuffing were her personal favourites. I did attempt an "after" photo as well.... but the scene of carnage and destruction left by a small backpacking polar bear in the middle of Christmas dinner was too horrific to be broadcast to a family audience!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Just a message to wish all our friends and family around the world a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2007. We hope you are all having as fun, happy and special festive season as we are.

love Amanda, Owain & Izzy (of course!)

Quick Update

Just a quick update from me now. Been very busy and very hectic since I last had chance to do anything on here, so this is it!
I'm still over the Atlantic in Canada, and having a great time doing loads of cool stuff.... including ice skating at Trinity-Bell Square in Toronto (an outdoor rink by the city hall which has a great atmosphere there), and hanging out with some friends from the hostel in the Eaton Centre.


Friends from the hostel in Toronto. One of us all infront of the Christmas tree there. Those sparkly bits aren't lights, they are infact crystal decorations!!! Very Expensive crystal decorations! (from l to r): Emily, Ben, Me, Amanda & Dave again.



A nice one of me and Amanda skating. Look, you can stop laughing now! The thought of me on ice skates isn't THAT daft.... I didn't even fall over once! Yeay Me!

A new arrival!

Along with Richard and Karen (congratualtions guys..... and welcome Max. A little playmate for Ozzy!), I've had a new arrival in my life. Every traveller needs a mascot, and after Barry's success in the tournament, I got a little white Canadian Post polar bear to keep me company. So say hello to Izzy from St. Isidore please everyone.

Here Izzy is enjoying the Toronto Marlies v Milwaukee Admirals AHL game from the stands. The Marlies won 4-2! Yeay!


Izzy's quick to make friends with a fellow backpacker. Dave from Middlesbrough was a top lad who I hung out with for a few days in TO.

The Final

After a tough first period the guys found themselves 2-0 down, but played amazingly well to come back to 2-2, and then out-skated their oppontents to win 4-2. Sorry, camera batteries ran out (typical eh?!) during the celebrations, but this shot is just before the comeback, as the Capitals (in red this time) start the decisive 5-on-3 powerplay they subsequently score 2 goals from.

Barry's Tournament

Its been a hectic week, and now I have the chance to catch up a bit. Last weekend I was back in Ottawa staying with my wonderful family there. It also happened to be a tournament for Barry's hockey team in the nearby town of St. Isidore. Of course, this meant more photos as we cheered on the boys from the sidelines. Never thought i'd be a "hockey mum" .... or in this case, cousin, but guess I am now!

Here Barry winds up for a slap shot which forced the keeper into a smart save.


Frasor's shut-out (sorry if I've spelt your name wrong) in the semi-final was a fantastic effort and well deserved.