TEENAGE CANCER TRUST

COTOPAXI AND BEYOND

ECUADOR 2003

15th November-Day 1 Arrived LHR terminal 2 at 0515, no-one at the Iberia desk (our meeting point), nor anywhere else for that matter, still I was a little early. Had a walk around and found Mike from the Patagonia trek last year sitting reading his newspaper, we had a coffee and caught up with our news from the past 12 months. Mike was going to be in Ecuador for 4 months or so to learn Spanish and take part in an "eco" project somewhere "in the Amazon". Gradually people started to arrive, it was nice to see so many familiar and friendly faces from last year, including Pete, Drin, Linda and Libby. The total number of trekkers this year is 50. I was going to again share a tent on the trek with Pete and we were then going to stay on for a further 10 days and "do" Ecuador on a shoestring, or that was the plan anyway. So far the only thing Pete had organised for us was the return flight to the UK. Libby had been our "mum" on the Patagonia trek last year and worked for the organisers. She was going to do the same again this year, barmy or what! Someone jogged my memory and I popped the first of many Diamox tablets to help ward off the affects of altitude sickness. I knew from last year that TCT planned to do a trek to Vietnam in 2004 but I now heard that they also planned another one to Ladakh in Kashmir, somewhere I have wanted to go ever since hearing about it from a street trader from Ladakh when in Kerala a few years ago. Eventually we got checked in and off we went to Madrid where we had a stop for a few hours and changed planes for the ten and a half flight to Quito. Sheer torture! Eventually arrived at Quito airport around 1930 local time, bussed to a very plush Hotel Quito where after getting checked in we all met our local guides over snacks and drinks before collapsing into bed. A day of rest tomorrow to look forward to.

Day 2

Did I say rest? It started ok with a lazy breakfast and Pete made some calls to "Safari", a company in Quito who had been recommended to Pete by a friend who had spent some time in Ecuador. Jean Brown is English and a director of Safari and an authority on Ecuador. We told her roughly what we wanted to do and Jean promised to have an itinerary mapped out for us when we got back from the trek. That done it was off for a spot of sunbathing and a swim in the hotel pool before we got "organized" and off we set off to "do" Quito which, at 2800m is one of the highest capital cities in the world. We entrusted ourselves to a local taxi driver who took us to an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary which overlooks the city of Quito. From this vantage point you look down on a military museum and can see how long and narrow the city is occupying as it does the valley between the surrounding hills. We visited the Basilica of Jesus which was under renovation after the previous renovation was 80% destroyed by fire after a volcanic eruption in 1997. The current works are expected to be completed in 2005. The inside of the basilica is decorated in real gold leaf. We also visited the larger and busier Church of San Francisco. By this time we were all "churched" out so headed back to the hotel for a steambath, jacuzzi (this is the life!) and out to dinner with all trekkers in a group. On the way to dinner me, Pete and Linda went to reserve a room in a cheaper hotel just around the corner for when we got back from the trek and were then on a strict budget. Libby had recommended the place, Villa Nancy, so yes you guessed it, Pete and I were destined to be nancy boys for at least one night! While looking for the "Nancy" we had to go up a small incline in the pavement and noticed the altitude for the first time. Breathless very quick. Big news of the day was England beating France 27-7 in the Rugby World Cup!

Day 3

Presented ourselves at 0830 in the lobby as per instructions, packed and breakfasted. My bag went missing between the lobby and the bus (all of 20 metres) but eventually found it and we all got underway to our start point in the foothills of Cotopaxi. Began walking at 1100 hours at 2800 metres and went through several small settlements with cows, pigs, dogs and goats everywhere. Onward through forest and plain, past paper-bark trees, waterfalls and lava flows. Parasitic pineapples look strange on the trees, as if they don't belong there, which I guess they don't. Orchids all around in the grass, on the rocks and in the trees. Started raining in the afternoon and kept on until well after we reached camp at 1700 hours at 3490m. We had travelled 19 kilometres. Me and Pete got our gear sorted into the tent, got out of our wet clothes and relaxed before dinner in the mess tent and an early night. Why didn't anybody tell me that these altitude tablets were a diarhhetic? If we got up once for a pee in the night we must have got up a dozen times! And it didn't help that our nocturnal jaunts to just outside the tent flap were utterly un-synchronized and that Pete insisted on passing wind in olympian fashion every time he went!

Day 4

Today is Pete's 54th birthday. Wake up called at 0615, we were awake anyway as neither of us slept much. Sleeping bag and ground mat very damp. Once outside the tent we forgot the damp as we saw Cotopaxi for the first time, snow capped and beautiful in a clear blue sky, stunningly picturesque behind the chemical bogs!

After a breakfast of porridge and toast we left camp on foot at 0815 for Cotopaxi National Park. We crossed plains sprinkled with a multitude of wild flowers and herds of wild horses. As we moved on the landscape changed, the ground now covered in boulders from previous volcanic eruptions. We stopped for lunch amongst the remains of an Inca fort at 3660m with a fantastic view of Cotopaxi. These Incas sure knew how to position their forts, this one had been so strategically placed that it had survived 10 eruptions of Cotopaxi since Spanish times. The fort had been there already for around 80 years when the Spanish came in 1452 and kept watch over a caravan route along which gold and coca leaf were transported. It was cold here and we could hear thunder in the distance. We carried on with Cotopaxi to our right and made our way across the next plain criss-crossed by streams. The downpour came and we quickly got into our still wet water-proofs and carried on walking. Made camp at 1530, having covered 20 km, to find the camp not ready and no shelter. We were now at 3785m. Only one thing for it, so we helped the campsite crew get the tents up in the rain. Did our best to get dry, the rain stopped at around 2000 that evening. The stars of the southern sky are fantastic tonight. Wine with dinner to celebrate Pete's birthday (hope it helps us sleep) and a chocolate cake magically appeared complete with one candle!

Day 5

Very cold night but did manage to get some sleep thanks to the wine! Only got up to pee 48 times, it felt like that anyway. Didn't want to get out of the sleeping bag as the tent was covered in ice. Still as usual on such cold mornings, there was a brilliant blue sky and snow capped Cotopaxi dominated the scene. After breakfast we left camp at 0830 to trek to the foothills of Kilindania, another volcano whose peak is at 4700m. Kilindania is known as the Mattehorn of Ecuador, due to its striking resemblance to the real thing. The guides tell us that there is coal on Kilindania. During the day we went up to 3900m and arrived at the camp "El Tamba" at 1730 at 3600m. We had covered 31 km, a tough day. The day took us through a river valley cut by lava flows. "Tambas" are rest stops built by Incas and are a one day walk apart, one day that is to an Inca fuelled by chomping coca leaves all day! The Inca actually measured distance on foot by the number of coca leaves they needed to chew to endure the journey, so from A to B might for example be a 3 leaf journey. We passed the Piedra (stone) Muchana (kissing in the local Indian Quichwa language) and of course we all stopped to give it a smacker! Across bogs and marshland and around lagoons. Cotopaxi treated us to a plume of steam escaping from a vent just below the summit. The last real eruption of Cotopaxi was in 1877 with another minor one in 1904. Inside the crater at the summit is a glacier field and then a plunge straight down to the magma below. Cotopaxi means "neck of the moon" or "moonsnake". At lunch we tried a herb tea made from "Zumfo", a herb which only grows at altitude and, along with the chewing of coca leaves is widely used to combat altitude sickness. Zumfo tasted like Birds Eye minted peas. We saw "Chagra" (native Indian cowboys) keeping an eye on the herds of wild bulls (reared for bull fights and very dangerous), wild deer, a large bird of prey which turned out to be a Northern Crested Caracara and Andean Lapwings. It seemed every day started bright and then the rain started around lunchtime for the rest of the day, and today was no exception. The camping ground at El Tamba was a mud bath, the only saving grace being that there was a rest house with a log a fire where we had dinner. We really started to notice the effects of altitude, which are basically the same as narcosis with scuba divers, tingling fingertips and headaches. Provided we stopped the headaches in their tracks with an aspirin things weren't too bad, although some people were really suffering with vomiting.

Day 6

Got up and made our way through the mud to breakfast and left camp at 0815. We saw several birds of prey, one of which was a "variable hawk" we were told, and made our way to the Tambo river waterfall at 3675m. We crossed the river on a wooden bridge constructed just the day before especially for us and which was dismantled as soon as we were over. We were now in true Andean highlands-no trees, only low shrubs. This type of vegetation is called Paramo and it uses symbiosis to survive. There are Andean wolves in this region, like small dogs. The water from here goes to feed the towns and cities of Ecuador. En route we are treated to a display of horsemanship by Manuel and his son, 54 and 40 years of age respectively. They start young here! They are the local tribal guides to our guides, such is the remoteness of the area. Manuel wants to demonstrate his prowess with the lasso and in the absence of a bull to chase one of our guides agrees to run for it! He is swiftly brought down and roped by Manuel and his horse. We by-pass 2 more volcanoes, "Morurco" or "Guagua Cotopaxi" (baby Cotopaxi), which in local legend is believed to be the top of Cotopaxi blown off and is now thought to be the original Cotopaxi now eroded. The summit stands at 4100m. We reach our camp site "Chiri Machai" (cold shelter) at 1530 at 3995m, having covered 23km. It lives up to its name, rain only in the evening today but very cold at zero degrees C. Dinner in mess tent and one of the local guides sings a selection of typical Ecuadorian folk songs, all sad love songs, around the camp fire.

Day 7

Left camp at 0800 and made our first stop at a small lake, Santa Domingo, at 4005m. Pressed on and made our final camp site at the foothills of "Ruminaui" (3 summits) by 1630 at 3825m having covered 27km. Stopped briefly en route to take a look at the plant from which valium is made. Just got into camp as the rain started, what joy! Still our last night under canvas. By way of celebration it rained all night. After dinner there was a presentation made to all the guides and camp crew, who then rewarded us all with a firework display under the stars. A few glasses of wine and early to bed, a big day tomorrow.

Day 8

27 out of the 50 were going to make the final days ascent of Cotopaxi from close to base camp, the remaining 23 were to get bussed to a car park below the summit and go from there. The 27 of us were herded (a very apt word!) at 0830 into an old enclosed cattle truck which was to take us the short distance to the start point. There followed possibly the longest 30 minutes and the most uncomfortable mechanized journey I have ever experienced. If we weren't being flung around inside the truck we were struggling not to breathe in the exhaust gases which were swirling around inside. Eventually we stopped and gulped in some fresh air. So we started walking up at 0900 at 3900m and made our final goal of the refugio at 4810m at 1310. The actual summit of Cotopaxi was invisible above us at 5987m. The final ascent was up a very steep scree slope in cloud cover. The last part seemed to take for ever as the effects of the altitude meant a few steps up and stop for breath. The refugio is at the same height as the summit of Mont Blanc and we all posed for pictures around the sign there, shouting encouragement to those still on the way up. After the best cup of hot chocolate I have ever tasted we traversed to the face of the glacier at 4820m.

There then followed a very, very fast scree run down to the car park at 4545m and to the bus which left at 1515 heading back through dense cloud cover to Quito, it was nearly all over.

We arrived outside Hotel Quito at 1800 in the pouring rain and saw, to our astonishment, a red carpet laid out and a bevy of extremely beautiful girls in cocktail dresses. Was this some extra special "thank-you" laid on by TCT I wondered? No such luck! We had stumbled straight into the welcoming committee for the contestants of "Miss Quito", which was being held at the hotel that very night. I shall never forget the look on their faces as all these dirty, smelly and unshaven specimens walked along the red carpet and through their midst. And that was just the women!

Got checked in and reclaimed our left luggage. Within 5 minutes Pete and I had covered the floor of our room with all manner of damp sleeping bags and assorted waterproofs. We knew that the rugby world cup final between England and Australia would have already been played earlier that day but nobody seemed to know the result. Thank God! While I was luxuriating in my first shower and first hot water in days Pete found a satellite channel on the TV which had just started re-screening the match "as if live"! That nearly made us late for our collective get together at reception from where we were bussed into Quito for our celebration end of trek meal. Proper food, the usual speeches, achievement medals passed out to all of us and then back to a real bed!

Day 9

Woke up and luxuriated for a while in my comfy bed then we headed down for an equally lazy breakfast. Julie, one of our group, lost her handbag with credit cards and passport!! and she was due to fly back to the UK today. Last we heard she had had to stay on until an emergency travel document could be organised. Today was a rest day before we started our adventure tomorrrow so somebody organised a mini bus and off we set for "Otavalo" street market, one of the most famous in Ecuador. I hadn't intended to buy anything but somehow ended up with a new hammock and two Alpaca jackets! well you have to don't you....? We all met up for lunch in a small restuarant overlooking the market square, a riot of colour. After lunch we moved on to "Cotocachi", famous for its leather goods and guess what! I bought a leather handbag. The thought of staying tonight at the Villa Nancy was obviosly affecting me more than I knew! Back to Quito, the standard of driving here is really quite terrible and we were kept entertained by some of the seemingly suicidal overtaking manouvers. Got back to "Nancy" in one piece and later went for dinner at "La Ronda" in downtown Quito, pretty touristy but good none the less with real food and a group of musicians playing the tables with guitars, pan pipes and drums. Recommended.

Day 10

Had a good nights sleep at "Nancy" and we are now eager to set off and see Ecuador so we take a taxi to the office of "Safari" and meet Jean Brown who has put an itinerary together for us. Sitting next to Jeans desk is Fabian, one of the guides from our Cotopaxi trek who we all got along really well with. It seemed that Fabian was to be our driver and guide for the next 10 days, this was a very good start! Jean explained our itinerary to us and we were only to return to Quito in time to get our flight out so I went with Fabian, got our good old Toyota landcruiser from Safaris' car park and went back to Nancy to collect all our belongings. We had left some bags there as we had made a booking to stay there for our last night in Ecuador, but our plans had now been changed. Back to Safari, paid Jean, loaded up the landcruiser and we were off! We left Quito on the same route as the conquistadores had taken in search of Eldorado Fabian told us ( just Fab from now on) I wondered why they should have wanted to watch it in the first place but kept my mouth shut. We headed east out of Quito through Cumbaya (yes that song occurred to us too! so we sang it), Tumbaco, Pifo, and on towards the hot springs of Papallacta and the Amazon. On the way we drove through cloud forests in the rain, crossed the equator, bypassed landslides and saw thousands of agave plants which flower and then die and from which tequila is made, although in Ecuador they make a local drink called "rapes". We stopped at Papallacta to enjoy their famous hot springs, each pool was at a different temperature and utterly fantastic. I jumped into the hottest pool and it took my breath away just like freezing cold water does but then, aaaaaaah! Fabian got our picnic lunch from the jeep and we sat around the pools enjoying the surroundings. A really stressfull place!

Left Papallacta and drove on eastwards through Cuyuja towards Baeza and our overnight stop at "The Magic Roundabout", yes we did the "Boing!" bit too. Run by Alistair, who is a great bloke, and his two dogs Guinness & Winston plus loads of cats. Check it out at www.themagicroundabout.org

Pete had met Ali's Mum & Dad in Plymouth after they had responded to his appeal for sponsors in a local newspaper and had carried an envelope from home for him. What a great place, we whiled away the evening drinking cold beer around the bar while Ali made us chilli with baked potatoes. Let me tell you, chilli never tasted so good! from leaving Quito at 2800m we had gone up to 4000m and down to the "Roundabout" at 2055m. The place is set in virgin forest with waterfalls and crashing rivers nearby. Ali told us that spectacled bears and pumas were "out back" and we saw for ourselves the amazing variety of birdlife. Over dinner four young Aussie backpackers turned up and joined us for dinner. Eventually found our way to bed, early start tomorrow Fab tells us. Oh joy!

Day 11

Slept really well and woke to the sound of birdsongs and waterfalls. Ali made "Columbian" scrambled eggs for breakfast (eggs, peppers, onion and garlic), very tasty. Didn't really want to leave the "Roundabout", it's a place I would love to return to and explore properly, highly recommended and rooms about $8 a night! Anyway we said our farewells to Ali and hit the road at 0730. First we backtracked a few kms to Baeza to get fuel and then returned headed for Tena, one of the gateways to the Amazon from Ecuador. We had to get through several road blocks manned by very smart looking police, all in aviator shades, and all there we were told to counter the drug smuggling trade from Peru by way of the jungle. We went through Cosanga and Archidona, plus a host of smaller villages, and finally arrived at Tena. We parked the jeep and had a quick look round on foot. Boxes of odd purple sea crabs for sale from pavement vendors. Then the heavens opened with a real tropical rain storm. We took shelter in an internet cafe just next to the Napo river, a tributary of the Amazon, and watched the local children playing in the downpour on their way home from school. Eventually the rain subsided enough for us to press on for Puyo and Banos, our next overnight stop. We passed through Carlos Arosemena and Santa Clara and sat back and enjoyed the passing scenery and then catastrophe! the road bridge in front of us had been swept away by the river and no way across. There were several cars and buses in front of us and Fab learnt from one of the bus drivers that it had happened only minutes before our arrival. We wandered down to take a look and there was indeed a raging torrent flowing over the remains of what had once been the bridge. There were a group of girls in a mini-skirted uniform of some type giggling at us, they must have been passengers on one of the buses, a bizarre sight in the middle of nowhere. So what to do? we took a look at the map in search of an alternative route and were quickly reminded that we were in a very remote part of South America, an alternative simply did not exist. We returned to Tena, Fab had a friend there he said, so we could impose ourselves on his hospitality whilst we took stock of the situation. We arrived at Horhe's (George's) motorcycle repair emporium and were swiftly invited in for a cold drink with the family. Horhe made a few phone calls and told us that the river where the bridge had stood should be fordable in a few hours when the water level subsided. Fab had told us that Horhe was an accomplished microlight pilot and the next thing we knew we were setting off towards the jungle where Horhe kept his machine. We were amazed that, eventually, deep into very jungly terrain we arrived at a cleared grass landing strip and a building which housed not one but two microlights! Fab and Horhe went up for a short test flight, something we later learnt Fab had been promised years ago by Horhe but had never been able to collect. I left with the uneasy feeling that the bridge being swept away could have been a cunning plan to get Fab his trip in his mates microlight, surely not! Still it was fun to watch. Now, call me suspicious, but it also occurred to me that a microlight in this region could be an amazingly lucrative method of transporting certain merchandise around between jungle landing strips. The flight over we returned to the workshop and said farewell to Horhe and his family and headed back to the ex-bridge. Sure enough soon after we got there the buses, pick-ups and 4WDs amongst those waiting were directed over rough ground to a low point in the bank of the river. First a bus had a go and got across and then Fab went to the assistance of the first pick up to get stuck in the middle of the river. Then it was our turn, everything crossed, and off we went crashing through the river, over all the rocks, and safely out the other side and back onto what passed as the road to Banos. As we got underway a woman started chasing the bus in front of us, trying to get on. The bus didn't see her so we asked Fab to stop and give her a lift. He wasn't too keen in case she was carrying drugs, a notion we had not considered! We prevailed upon Fab and he pulled over and she got in. It didn't improve Fabs mood when she said that she was on her way to Peru! We eventually dropped our passenger off and pressed on towards Puyo. Somewhere up in the hills there was suddenly a horrible noise from under our jeep, the exhaust had dropped off! Fortunately we were outside a shack and a lad came out to lend a hand in repairing it. Whilst he and Fab did strange things under the jeep with various bits of wire, weenjoyed the smiling faces of the children playing around the shack and watched the colourful toucans in the trees. Their mother, Maria, was carving wonderful faces out of what looked like jack fruit for sale at the market. The journey from Tena had taken us through the hot, humid and thick jungle lowlands, and up through heavy rain and cloud forest all within a few hours. What an amazing country this is! The jeep repaired (sort of) we said our goodbyes and carried on climbing away from the jungle, passing lots of smallish vultures sitting on trees at the roadside. Did they know something we didn't? This day was a tiring drive and we snacked on buns and fresh mangoes, which Fab taught us how to massage properly before eating. In such a manner we passed Puyo and headed on for Banos until suddenly the road in front of us was closed and barricaded. We saw a sign saying the next section of road was closed all night for major repairs from a certain time. Of course that time was about ten minutes before we arrived. $5 slipped to the gateman saw us on our way and as we at long last saw Banos in the distance, the sky was clear and the most amazing shade of purple, the new moon was up, venus was visible and if that wasn't quite good enough Tungurahua erupted in the distance with plumes of fire and ash. The last stretch of road went through a series of very eerie tunnels, one of which seemed to be raining heavily on the inside, and past a hydr-electric power station. Not particularly interesting to you or I but to Fab who loves big machines, sheer heaven! so only after a final stop for him to take photos of big metal things we finally arrived in Banos at 2030 at 1920m having started the day at around 200m. We found the "White Carriage" where we were to spend the night and Fab took the wing mirror off the jeep reversing into the courtyard. We were here! Straight out to grab a bite to eat, strolled around the town, past loads of travellers bars and off to bed, it had been a long day.

Day 12

Breakfast at "Rico-Pan" (good bread) fantastic value. Banos (which means bath) nestles in the foothills of Tungurahua, a pretty hazardous place to live to say the least! We set off for a drive around and headed out of town and up into the hills opoosite the volcano for the view. The road out of town went from small streets and then turned into an enormous brand new road bridge over the river Pastaza, and then immediately turned back into a gravel track. Odd we thought. Fab explained that the bridge was there purely as an escape route for the good people of Banos when the volcano erupted. During an eruption in 1999 the army "persuaded" the people of Banos to leave for their own safety but when soldiers were caught on film looting houses the population moved back en masse and took their chances with the volcano. We saw grenadine plantations with their lilac flowers, eucalyptus trees, peaches, sugar cane, tree tomatoes and avacadoes. In my invaluable "South American Handbook" (thanks Imelda) I read about a pretty hairy sounding cable car ride at a place just outside town called San Pedro. So we had to go and do it, didn't we? It ran on an old turbo diesel bus engine lovingly cared for by its owner/operator. The open basket goes across a very steep river valley and across the top of a waterfall on the opposite bank. Great fun! When we got back we were walking back to the jeep in the rain and a group of 8 cyclists stopped to ask us about the cable car. I couldn't believe it but Pete knew one of them! Anyway they were the cable car's next customers. Back to Banos and visited the Basilica and a couple of art galleries and managed to buy a great leather jacket and leather cowboy style hat for $70. You know the sort of hat don't you, the sort you only ever wear the once unless going to a fancy dress party and trying to look like Clint Eastwood! Still the jacket's great. Treated ourselves to a swedish massage in the evening, a whole hour for $20. It was fabulous and just what the leg muscles needed. Dinner in mexican restaurant and then we drove up into the hills to watch the volcano, but no fire tonight. Early to bed as we have another early start tomorrow.

Day 13

"Rico-Pan" for breakfast at 0700 and then checked out and off to Pelileon and Saqusili market en route to our next overnight stop at RioBamba. Pelileon is the blue jeans capital of Ecuador where they manufacture for most "named" brands and of course there are hundreds of roadside shops selling these and all sorts of other clothes very cheap. On the way we stopped to see Tunguruhua erupting again with ash plumes high into the sky. We went through Letunga which had been covered in ash from a major eruption in 1977 plus subsequent smaller ones to such an extent that what had once been the roof of a factory was now just a few feet above ground level. It seemed incredible that since 1977 the town had effectively been re-built on top of the outporings of the volcano. We arrived at Saquisili market, one of the largest and most famous in Ecuador. We were the only gringos there but never felt uncomfortable. The whole place was a riot of colour, with the tribal indian women wearing black hats and bright bead necklaces a top their colourful dresses. We met up with another jeep from "Safari" out on a day trip and stopped and shared a picnic lunch in the shade of some trees. We gave one of their party a lift to Ambato, the next big town en route, and dropped Thomas their who was returning to Quito by bus. We went past the highest volcano in Ecuador, Chiperazo, at 6300m. The road from Quito to RioBamba is called the "Avenue of Volcanos" and we could now see why. In some places we passed you could easily see ash layers more than 30m thick, in some places it's more than 300m thick! As we drove towards RioBamba on one of the few metalled roads we had been on so far, the sun was out, the sky was blue, there wasn't a cloud to spoil the view....sorry, got carried away there for a moment....Chiperazo was to our right shrouded in cloud which suddenly parted to reveal it's snow capped peak. We stopped for photos and two little boys with a donkey went past and shouted their greetings, at least that's what I hope it was! Arrived in RioBamba and checked into the "LaEstazion" hotel, as the name suggests right near the train station. A lovely old hotel with lots of charm and at $10 a night you can't go wrong, can you? There was method in our madness of staying right next to the railway station, tomorrow morning was an early start on our train ride through the "Devil's Gap"! So we had a walk around town, eat in the hotel chinese restaurant and hit the sack.

Day 14

0500 alarm and at the station by 0615, I have felt brighter. Fab was to see us off on the train and then meet us with the jeep later on at the journeys end. We got up on top of the train, yes on top, and made ourselves comfy. This comfy sensation was destined to disappear very rapidly, even though we had rented bum protectors from Luis the cushion. Actually Luis was the guard who also rode on top of the train and operated the brakes via an enormous wheel in a very cavalier fashion. Daniel was a little boy selling lollies who befriended us (4 lollies for 1$), the idea being that you bought the lollies to throw to the children along the way, which of course we did like most others. I couldn't help feeling sorry for Daniel who, although he seemed happy enough, fell asleep across my legs and I wondered about his life. He is without doubt the only little boy in Ecuador who is the proud owner of a badge reading "I'm not Sam Lewis, are you?" Don't ask, or if you can't resist ask Len.

The train journey is a white knuckle ride and the railway itself is an amazing feat of engineering. We stopped for coffee at Goumolo and for the final part of the journey our new mate Luis took us up to ride with the driver through the "Devils Nose"! Every kid's dream. We swept down an awesome looping track to the terminus point and then crawled back up to Goumolo to meet up again with Fab and our jeep. Good as gold he was waiting for us and we decided to sit in the town square just outside the station to eat our lunch. Three little boys were playing there and were fascinated by the "gringos" so we called them over and gave them Fray Bentos corned beef and fruit juice and, as one of them was a shoe shine boy, Fab had his shoes cleaned. We said farewell to the boys, Victor, Umberto and Alfonso and headed out of town. We passed several places where young kids were trying to operate private road blocks to get money out of the tourists getting off the train. On to Ingapurta, the largest Inca remains in Ecuador dating from around 1500. The Canari tribe were there before this and inter-married with the Incas. Unfortunately the mist came down as we got there and visibility was poor but we did manage a walk around the site with a guide and a close inspection of the Temple of the Sun God. We pressed on to Cuenca through cloud and wonderful views of hills with patchwork and Andean indians all colourfully dressed. Everywhere there are dogs, llamas, horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, donkeys and mules. Took a wrong turning along the way but finally arrived in Cuenca at 20:00 at 2625m in heavy rain. What a beautiful city, a very european feel to the place. We sat at a cafe in the main square and went through the options of places to stay. We decided upon the Hostal Chordelay at 11-15 Gran Colombia Avenue (most streets seem to be called Simon Bolivar something) at $14 a night, it is a lovely old refurbished hacienda with a central open atrium. Had dinner at the same cafe on the main square, walking there and back in the rain. Pete's lips are almost recovered from severe altitude burn (for a while he looked like one of those african tribepersons who stick things in their mouth to make their lips bigger), you can tell he got a lot of sympathy can't you?, and his cold has nearly gone so now he's just coughing.

Day 15

We've got to decide on the rest of our itinerary today so we put it off until tonight. A highlight of Cuenca is the street flower market and we head off for a look see.

 We also take a look at a regular street market and inside the Cathedral Carmen Ascunsion. In the main square there are clowns and live music as we walk through and briefly visit a museum of modern sculpture. For some inexplicable reason we become fixated on getting a leather jacket with "flekos" (tassels on the sleeves and back) but thankfully no luck. Lovely old colonial style buildings everywhere and a relaxed atmosphere so we stop for lunch and then drive up into the hills for a view over Cuenca. In the evening we explored the riverside area and ended up eating at an Italian restaurant popular with the locals. A good choice, I had a great vegetable canneloni. After dinner we hunted for somewhere with live music for which Cuenca is famous, but it all seemed to kick-off much later so we happened on a restaurant and bar called the "Eucalyptus" and got talking to an English guy (Chris Breen) at the bar who turned out to be the owner. A highly recommended place if you ever go to Cuenca. Over our beers Fab regaled us with the locals method of dealing with tapeworm, quite why i really can't remember now but it seemed logical at the time. There is a fern which grows in Ecuador from which the native indians extract a juice. Should you ever be in Ecuador and suffer from tapeworm take note! squat with your bum over a bowl of warm milk and drink the juice. The theory is that the tapeworm hates the juice but loves warm milk and hey presto! it pops it's head out and you got him! You don't think Fab could have been winding us up do you? We deferred an itinerary decision until breakfast.

Day 16

Reluctantly left our hacienda hotel and drove out of Cuenca at 0845 up into the hills and past what had become the usual fantastic scenery, to a high point at 3500m. The scenery started changing to a strange mixture of dense forested hillsides and then a totally bare landscape. We understood from Fab that the forest had been cleared by the natives to create grazing pastures for their cattle. We made a stop at Isaraguro market, the area has the largest indian population in Ecuador. They were brought by the Incas from Bolivia as slave labour. The market was very "local", we were again the only gringos and boy did we stick out! All the men wore trousers cut off at mid calf (to avoid getting dirty) and black hats, some of which were very similar to bowler hats. The men also wore their hair in ponytails. The women wore colourful skirts and white blouses. Bought some really nice decorated leather belts as we strolled around. Carried on and stopped for lunch at Loja and then arrived at our next overnight stop of Vilcabamba around 1600 at 1680m. There are several "retreat" type hotels here in the surrounding countryside but we plump for the Jardin garden just off the main square at $8 a night including breakfast. My first impression of the main square reminded me of those old cowboy films where people ride into town and tie their horse up outside the hardware store. One side of the square was taken up by a lovely old wooden church and the other three sides by shops and bars. I loved it! it had that "frontier" town feel about it, we are very close to the Peruvian border. As I looked at all this to my utter amazement three horses trotted past and disappeared around the corner carrying cowboy looking types on their backs. Settled into the hotel and made good use of the hammock outside the room, everywhere has hammocks here, and feasted on fresh pineapple we had bought up the road. Strolled out later on for dinner and chose La Terraza on the square where we washed dinner down with lashings of cubra libras. Vilcabamba became infamous for "San Pedrillo", an hallucinogenic drug made from cactus juice. As Pete and I enjoyed an after dinner drink around the square a local went past (you couldn't in all honesty describe it as walking) who must have had some. I have never seen anybody move with each arm and leg seeming to go in a different direction, Billy Connolly would have a field day. This San Pedrillo stuff must be good! Seriously though I read its bad news with some imbibers suffering mind altering flashbacks years after taking it. At some point in the evening we bumped into a New Zealand guy who lived there and ran horse treks, and who we had been warned off because of his drinking habits. Whoever it was who had told us had been spot on because he was very obviously pissed.

Day 17

At breakfast in the hotel garden we were joined by hummingbirds in the trees. We had arranged a short horse ride for this morning, $10 for two hours. I had a quick look inside the little wooden church on the square and then it was time to present ourselves for our horse ride. I got the white horse "Palamo" and we set off from an office just off the square. One of the first things we see is the "San Pedrillo" guy from the night before still on his feet and moving in the same fashion! I am convinced he'd been doing it all night. We headed out of town into the lush countryside and started seeing some of the 600 species of birds which inhabit the region, out of the 2000 or so species that Ecuador is blessed with. Donkeys were carrying loads of cut sugar cane to the local mill for turning into sugar and liquor. We rode past hibiscus, yukas, bananas, papaya, frangipani and mangoes which were in season delicious and ridiculously cheap (and now we new how to massage them properly!). We also saw a carniverous plant with purple flowers and loads of bouganvillea. Our guide in front of me was Hose Luis who was 19. He told me in pretty good English that his Mum was 49 and he was an only child. My horse was the natural leader, he would not tolerate being behind another horse and would continually keep banging his head into the rear of the horse in front, if we were overtaken, until he got past. One horse was called "Sendero" from Sendero Luminoso or "shining path". It was called this as it had once been owned by one of the guerillas from the shining path, who had been on the run from Fujimori's troops and crossed into Ecuador regularly to trade. When he heard a loud bang, Sendero would lie down, thinking it was gunfire. Hose Luis told me that he himself did not yet know all of the tricks Sendero had learnt from his previous owners. The ride came to an end and we headed off for lunch at a little vegetarian restaurant we had seen the night before. While we were there Fab introduced us to "Bolo", real name Bollofranco and one of Ecuador's premier photographers apparently. He made his living mostly by taking the pictures you see on postcards of Ecuador. His family came from Guayaquil on the Pacific coast and he spent his time between the USA and Ecuador. That evening we met up at the bar of the hotel, drank beer and listened to a great blues satellite radio channel before dinner together in town. Bolo didn't want the evening to end and invited us back to "his place", there followed an amazing moonlit walk for an hour or so to the place he rented, a tiny little room on the edges of the jungle. We chatted for a while and then headed back to bed. Bolo was a real character and self confessed "el ninyo malcreado" (naughty boy!)

Day 18

At breakfast we remembered that last night Bolo had persuaded us to head for a place called Mallilita on the Pacific coast, it had sounded a good idea last night. His description of it, mile upon mile of white sand with very little development and abundant seafood for peanuts, sounded just what the doctor ordered. So off we go! If you have a look at a map of Ecuador our trip started at Quito, headed east and then south when we reached the Amazon down to the Peruvian border, then west across to the Pacific coast and finally north and back up to Quito. Anyway now we took a wrong turning to Maebala on the advice of a passing bus driver (git!) and ended up on a hair-raising and very dangerous stretch of rough road which had sheer unprotected drops of 1000feet to one side. We passed at least four crosses marking recent fatal accidents. We eventually turned around and got back onto what passed as the main road, we had lost about one hour so we pressed on past never ending fields of banana trees until, as we approached yet another road block, we hit an invisible traffic calmer at speed and the engine died. To cut a long story short we managed to limp into the nearest town where a mechanic with the best visible bottom cleavage I have ever seen spent the best part of two hours under the bonnet but eventually fixed the problem. This had made a serious dent in our travelling time and so we decided to overnight in the next largish town called Milagro (miracle) at 200m. Driving in the dark is an experience not to be recommended in Ecuador believe me. We checked into the hotel suites "Don Juan" which thankfully had a/c as it was very hot, and later had dinner in a chinese restaurant nearby. The town is famous for it's sugar processing factories and is seasonally flooded with itinerant labour from all over Ecuador. The sugar cane harvest time is called "Zafra" or the "miracle of sugar". One factory was visible from the hotel and belched smoke and steam from it's chimneys. I thought that Milagro could have been any of those industrial towns I had seen in India or Thailand and I was glad we were only here for the night.

Day19

Our last full day. As we walked into breakfast we saw a fire in a building opposite the hotel, and the fire crews trying to gain access to the street and building. Utter pandemonium. We headed north towards Babahoya and Mindo, where we had decided to stay for our last night in the cloud forest. A long days drive broken by lunch in a curious Greco-Roman style restaurant at the road-side. We got to Mindo at 1700, took a look at a few places to stay, and decided on the "Jardin de los Pajaros" or "garden of the birds". A lovely place which looked a bit like a large tin shack from the outside but very comfortable inside with a seperate tree house where we stayed, with it's own balcony for bird watching. Fresh local trout for dinner and a nice wine for $6 a head.

Day 20

This is it, our last day. breakfast at 0800 and then a walk around the town and a tour through an orchid garden. The orchids were lovely but I couldn't take my eyes from the amazing display given by the humming birds as they darted between the plants and trees. There were more than 250 species of orchid in this one garden alone. We were sad to leave the lovely cloud forest but we had to get back to Quito for our early afternoon flight, and we first had to re-pack all the bags we had left at the offices of "Safari". So off we set. We made a brief stop at Pululauhua crater at 2890m and looked down at the farms laid out inside. Then on past Cayambe at 5700m and snow capped, Catacali which had been known for the nazis who had lived there and finally past Pinincha which was lush on the Mindo side but dry and arid on the Quito side. we saw Atisana in the distance dropping down into the jungle and then we were into the dry ourskirts of Quito and going past the equator line and monument. We made a brief stop at Fab's apartment and met his wife Adriana who makes the most lovely wood and silver jewellery. Somehow we also managed to find time to pay a final visit to the market area near to the Hilton hotel for last minute pressies. As we pulled up outside Safari's offices it felt as though we had been away for more like ten weeks than ten days. A quick re-pack, which was difficult as we had all bought too much, and then Fab drove us to the airport. We said our farewells to the fabulous Fabian and headed for the Iberia desk and our flight home.

Epilogue

I forgot to mention the shrunken heads we saw somewhere (yes they really do still do it!) and the Piranha we saw somewhere else. Fresh cut roses cost just $1 for twenty so are to be seen in lots of public places including the airport. The roads and driving are appalling, there are never any road signs to give you a clue as to where you are or where you want to go. But, what a fantastic country! Should you ever be lucky enough to go there and you need a guide, Fabian is your man and Jean Brown and Safari did a fabulous job of our itinerary. I am sure to have forgotten a lot of things but, one thing I must not forget, is to say thanks again to my sponsors and epecially to the three amigos, what fun we had!

Chris 3/3/04

Teenage Cancer Trust

Patagonia Trek 2nd-12th November 2002

The very first thing is for me to say a big thank you to all those lovely people who helped me with donations and/or their time to help me raise money for TCT. Special thanks to Albedo Travel and Alonnisos Travel for the boat excursions, John & Polly for the caique trips with chicken tikka lunch!, Kostas Mavrikis for copies of his wonderful blue book of maps and Yiannis and Ria for the lobster dinner at their Taverna at Megalos Mourtias and for hosting the charity auction dinner. The latest information I have is that, excluding Gift Aid donations, the money raised by trekkers was 460,000 pounds! A fantastic amount of money. The story of the trek follows..........

Day 1 Arrive LHR terminal 2 late afternoon and meet my 56 fellow trekkers at the Iberia airlines desk for the first time. Mike, our leader, quickly advises that Iberia have outrageously overbooked our flight and that more than half our party would have to travel with BA to Buenos Aires and then on to our destination of Santiago (5 of the poor unfortunate souls had to put up with club class! as BA ran out of their cheapo seats). The first 26 or so of us who were unlucky enough to have alphabetically first surnames took the Iberia flight as planned to Madrid and then changed to the Iberia flight direct to Santiago (13 hours of sheer torture in their "battery chicken" class seats!).

Day 2 Arrive Santiago about lunchtime local time and met on arrival by the wonderful Libby, our "Mum" for the time we would spend in Chile. Taken to the hotel "Fundador" where we were checked in and paired off into rooms with our tent buddies for the trek. Most people seemed to have already paired off in advance and I got to share with Plymouth Pete - we were to have a real good laugh and become firm friends. Off to explore Santiago for the afternoon with Pete and various others and lunch in one of the fish market restaurants. Evening at the hotel with a welcome dinner and trek briefing by Mike and Libby. Early to bed as we need to be up by 5am next morning for our flight to Punto Arenas (way down south) on a LanChile flight.

Day 3 Up at 5am, quick brekkers in hotel and then all trekkers and their kit bags on bus to airport. Arrive Punto Arenas late afternoon and herded straight onto yet another bus for the 7 hour(!) drive to our first campsite at Camping Lago Pehoe, Pehoe being a lake. The only thing I really remember of this part of the trip was looking out the bus window and being able to see Tierra Del Fuego in the distance. Completely knackered by the time we get there but the tents are already up, the mess tent in full swing and there's a bar of sorts! (actually it was a rough wood table with boxes of wine, beers or Pesco sours which is the local drink, and very moreish).

Pete and I got our tent sorted, grabbed some dinner and a couple of drinks and then crashed.

Day 4 Slept surprisingly well, (no need for the thermals in the sleeping bag) up at 0600 for brekkers and then leave camp 0830 on a very short bus trip to Serrano where we actually start walking! The weather is hot & sunny with no sign of the wind and rain we had been warned of. We walk across the flat pampas of the river valley towards the Paine Massif (an awesome sight). We have 3 guides, one at the front, one in the middle and one bringing up the rear. All in radio contact. We have a gaucho in attendance with spare water and spare horses should there be a medical emergency (no cars possible here!) and of course our own paramedic (Chris) and doctor Sarah, mountain rescue trained. We are well catered for! Our guides tell us "enjoy this weather while it lasts, Patagonia just doesn't do this 2 days in a row!" Throughout the day we are plagued by small black flies with a vicious sting. As we near the Massif, the terrain changes to low, undulating hills covered with small-leafed plants (small leaves to combat loss of moisture to the wind).

After 6 hours of walking we arrive at Refugio Camp Pehoe, on the shores of the lake. Rather than wait in line for the allegedly cold showers, about a dozen or so of us (the dirty dozen?) decide to brave the lake to clean up and cool off. The quick way is the best way they say so a run and a jump and AAAAAGH! I came out like a penguin, this is a glacial lake and is it ever cold! My lower extremities have only now fully recovered. We are to spend a total of 3 nights at this site and we swim (not sure that's the right word) every evening, barmy or what!

Day 5 Up at 0600 for brekkers and leave camp 0815 to trek around the shores of lake Skottsberg over lightly forested hills. We stop en route for the official group photo (everybody wear their TCT -shirts please!) and cross a swinging and very "iffy" (only two at a time please!) wooden suspension bridge over a raging torrent of melting snow cap before reaching the "Italian Camp". After a rest here we head uphill towards the "British Camp" at the head of a valley directly below the snow capped Massif. The going is tough, steep slopes strewn with boulders and rope assisted climbs in some parts. On the way up the spring melt provides the spectacle of several avalanches just across the valley. At the top we refill our water from a mountain stream, the horses couldn't make it here, and retrace our steps back to camp. We arrive back after 10 hours of hard trekking.

Me, Drin, Suzie and Petey

Day 6 Early start with a steep climb away from camp and around Lake Roca. Eventually we cross a ridge line and have our first sight of Lake Grey, which has hundreds of icebergs of all shapes and sizes floating in it, and the face of the glacier in the distance. We carry on trekking with the lake below and to the left and the Massif above us to the right. We see condors flying above and below us as we walk and high waterfalls and roaring streams. The going gets tough now as we approach the face of the glacier with difficult steep sided ravines to cross. We stop for lunch just across the lake from the face of the glacier on a rocky promontory. The weather is wonderful again, hot and sunny. The glacier appears to be lit by blue light from the inside, but I am assured that this is in fact trapped oxygen. The glacier is about 120 ft thick and a massive rock, La Isla, pokes out from it. This was invisible less than a 100 years ago but is now uncovered as global warming takes its toll on the ice. As we eat lunch a huge lump of ice the size of a house breaks free from the face of the glacier and starts a mini tidal wave across the lake. Lake Grey is so called because of the sediment deposited in it by the glacier and is a "dead" lake as no fish can live in it. After lunch we head off back to camp, arriving again after 10 hours hard trekking. Looking back now this day was, for me , the highlight of the trip. I had never seen an iceberg before, let alone had the obligatory photo taken of me holding a piece of one, and the face of the glacier was truly beautiful.

Day 7 Early start again and today we break camp and trek to the next campsite at Camp Torres. We know that today will be the longest day, around 18 miles, and injuries are beginning to take their toll on some (knees, ankles and soles). A few get to the destination today by boat and then bus, what wimps! Only joking, a few trekkers are in a bit of a sad state. We start off on the same trail as we did before, towards the Italian Camp (swinging bridge!) and come across some puma spoor on the trail just outside the camp, fresh last night according to our guide! After Italian camp we skirt the shore of Lake Nordenskjold and it's fantastic turquoise water. Hot again today and no wind as we cross many steep valleys carved over time by melt water running from the Dickson Glacier above us. Lunch stop at Refugio Los Cuernos where two more drop out due to tendonitis and finish the day on horseback. After 12 hours of hard trekking we reach Camp Torres, where there is the usual race for the bar! A camp fire is allowed tonight and we have a proper barby with cold beer and, wait for it, singing around the camp fire led by fellow trekker Mr Graham Gouldman (ex 10cc). A good night was had by all, especially one chap who should remain nameless and who fell asleep in his bag around the campfire to wake up surrounded by a shriveled nylon sleeping bag exterior and a huge pile of duck down! The late night stars in the southern sky are breathtaking and we sit outside the tent in sub-zero temperatures drinking someone's Cointreau for as long as we can bear it.

Day 8 Up at 0530. Today is to be the hardest trek of all and begins with a 2 hour long steep climb. At times the path is virtually non-existent, having been washed away, and there are scary drops of hundreds of feet to the river crashing past below. We see condors again today, a truly majestic bird. We stop at Refugio Chileno where we refill our water bottles and rest. Some of our party are advised by the doctor and guide not to attempt the final part of today's trek and they return to camp. The horses cannot go on from here so any accidents would be a serious problem. We carry on climbing, following the course of the river far below, and see the most amazing evidence of the Patagonian wind we have heard so much about but are not destined to experience. In parts of the forest trees that are several metres thick have had their bark just peeled away in a spiral from the tree and their trunks ripped apart by the swirling winds. The last part of the climb is a " hands on " affair, one hour up a very steep slippery rock face towards the towers of the Torres. We reach the top short of breath and with calf muscles on fire but the view is worth it, a small glacial lake floating with ice in parts and directly below the snow covered towers. We all have the obligatory photos taken posing on boulders and then after only about 30 minutes begin the descent to camp. As we leave, I turn around and see what was a clear view to the towers just a few moments ago had become completely engulfed in swirling cloud. I am glad to be leaving.

Back at camp we all try to make ourselves as presentable as possible for the end of trek dinner at the rather nice hotel just next to the campsite. I don't think the place knew what had hit it when loads of smelly, scruffy and unshaved humans walked in, and that was just the women! A great time was had by all and Mike gave a great speech, we all gave a tremendous cheer when it was announced how much money we had helped raise. This was a very emotional moment for a number of trekkers who had lost their own children to cancer. Dinner over (first proper food in days and we all pigged out!), we somehow find the energy for a quick knees up before heading off for the sleeping bag (last night in this!). However, we do again sit around outside our tent drinking a bottle of something and pondering on our week.

Day 9 Break camp and head off in buses for Punto Arenas and the flight to Santiago, where we arrive about 2300 that evening. We all have a nightcap or three and hit our first soft bed in days.

Day10 Bit of a lay in, but up and out by 0900 to do a bit of shopping in the craft market area of Santiago before leaving for the airport and the flight home. I somehow manage to end up with three Patagonian rain sticks. These are about one-metre long lengths of thick cactus trunk which have had all the spines removed and stuck through the inside and then filled with rice so when you shake it, it sounds like rain. Just the thing to carry back hand luggage, what! Plus assorted things made from Llama hair. Eventually its time to check out and board the bus to the airport for the bit no-one is looking forward to, the long flight home via Madrid. Once boarded (we all get to sit together en masse this time) some bright spark decided that we should all exercise along with the Iberia "we don't want you to get DVT" video, a good laugh. 13 hours later we get to Madrid and have a few hours wait before the connection to LHR. It was a real strange feeling saying goodbye to everyone at baggage claim, I could feel the group dynamic had changed in just a few hours as we left the wide open spaces of Patagonia behind us and headed back to the "real world".

My thanks once again to everybody who supported and helped me achieve this. Roger Daltrey (The Who) has invited me (yes he has!) to participate in the November 2003 TCT fundraising trek to Ecuador (to the top of the world's highest volcano I think!), so I will once again be looking for support in raising these much-needed funds for young people suffering from Cancer, Leukaemia, Hodgkins and similar malignant diseases. If you would like to sponsor me and help these young people please drop me an email. I will add more information on the Ecuador trek when it becomes available.

Thanks and all the best for 2003,

Chris Browne