Niagara Panarama

Niagara!

Woo! It's amazing!!

We reckon it's best seen from this, the Canadian side 🤓

So Toronto’s Quite Nice

Final leg of the journey - free stopover in Toronto for a few days. Blazing hot sunshine for our first trip downtown.

The Gorgeous City of Arequipa, Peru

Spot the cute baby llama

OK...

I made it too

We made it!

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is tremendously remote and we found it really difficult to get there! Over a high mountain pass by bus, snaking our way up and over the Andes and then down into tropical rainforest followed by a very long walk!

Today's walk up the vertical slope to the ruin was amazing! Hummingbirds and orchids and over 1000 steps! Ethan and Joseph ran down it in record speed.

Sophie spotted a baby llama, the llamas keep all the lawns very neat!

The city itself was amazing! The stones were carved so beautifully, some of the boulders were huge, how they moved and shaped them we don't know!

Night time run on the beach

Freedom at last! We have just caught a bus to Chiclayo and have checked in to a nice English hotel, run by a proper English gent. It had a lovely pool which we all enjoyed even though it wasn’t that warm. We basically had the place to ourselves.

Nearby was the beach at Pimentel which was nice although still in the process of development, like most of the Peruvian coastline.  Next day we visited the amazing museum of Mochica civilisation, an archaeologist’s dream museum!

Posted by Ethan, mainly.

Trujillo Cathedral Ceiling

Basilica of San Francisco, Lima

Hola Peru!!

We have arrived in Peru!! We managed to get through this border crossing with much less difficulty as the many Venezuelans wanting to come through with no documents have been provided with a whole area for being processed.

 It's warm here in the north of Peru and desert-like. Everyone has water restrictions and we passed mile after mile of sandy planes and sand dunes.

 Like us, lots of people trust Jesus as their guide. People talk about faith naturally as an important part of normal life.

 We're about to leave the South Pacific behind as we head south and inland. The sea is cold and wild.

Today we spent a long time on the bus and managed to eek out our snacks... but kind of missed lunch!! We were all ready for dinner in Pimentel!!

posted by emelye

Iguana park, Guayaquil!😃

View from the lighthouse, Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Yesterday we arrived in the coastal city of Guayaquil, the major economic hub of Ecuador. We found a lovely Hostal in the heart of the city near the riverside area Malecon de Simon Bolívar which was beautifully reimagined in 2000. There is also a park adjacent to the cathedral with dozens of iguanas.

Baños up in the clouds. A town surrounded by mountains with gushing waterfalls and thermal springs! The people here love their thermal waters and on Sunday we walked to one outside town and squidged into yellow water with LOTS of other lovely people - standing room only. In the hot water no one wanted to move anyway.

 Sophie wasn't very well the next day but we weren't sure if it was the homemade sweets we bought on the street, the salad, the water ..... or ... well anyway. Baños was lovely!

posted by Emelye

Birthday Glee

Plaza de la Indepencia, Quito

There was a communist rally going on when we took this.

Cotopaxi Volcano

This is Cotopaxi volcano - the second highest peak in Ecuador - smoking a little but also in cloud. We are in Ecuador wending our way between the East and West Cordilleras of the Andes. We are at a high altitude and so the weather isn't that warm and changes very quickly. We started the day at 2,800m.

And went up into paramo where all the plants are tiny, so many little flowers including bushes of valerian (sleeping drug); and wild horses!

We started our hike in sun, but the weather quickly changed and we ended up in a blizzard with thunder and lightning at 4,800m!! It was so cold!! We got to the refuge but then turned around, still a kilometre from the summit! I don't know if you've seen the Star Wars film where the ground is red under the white? Coming down the volcano was just like that except it was soft black ash under the white snow, so we just ran down! Epic!

posted by emelye

Yoko is exhibiting in Quito

Still haven't forgiven her...

Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi

Yesterday we climbed one of the highest volcanoes in the world - Cotopaxi, Ecuador, which rises to 5,897m.

We didn't make it quite to the top.

Cascades, Banos

Shrine at Cascada de la Virgen, Banos

Venezuela

Yesterday we crossed the border from Colombia into Ecuador. I suppose I was feeling a bit anxious about it, just not knowing how it would work and whether we would be hustled by people. Actually that was fine, but there were thousands of Venezuelans queuing to cross the border, having travelled through Colombia. Most didn't have passports and so those who were given permission ended up getting little pieces of paper stamped. For us it took hours of standing in different queues trying to be patient, but we knew exactly where we would be sleeping that night. For these people they are homeless, carrying all they could manage from their homes. It was very moving and also terrible seeing so many young children living at this border until their futures are decided. The border police are currently working 24 hours a day trying to process people.

Every day since we arrived in Colombia we've met some Venezuelans. Many are on buses begging, or selling sweets for any small change we might be able to help them with. We've had lots of chances to talk with Venezuelans. The man in the picture below became our friend. Jairo Emilio has crossed illegally from Venezuela without his wife or 4 children who arrived the day we left. He's a Christian and he is trying to make ends meet. This money is all he owns in the world, it used to be enough to buy a car but now is worth absolutely nothing. 

Tonight I had my mobile robbed from me, I've been feeling sad about the photos I've lost and not being able to keep in touch with people; but thinking about all these people who have lost absolutely everything makes my small loss pale into insignificance.

Emelye

Wayuu people in Riohacha

We have come way up north to La Guajira. The northernmost department of Colombia which touches Venezuela. The land here mainly belongs to the Wayuu people, but there is no water or electricity and mainly cacti grow. The charity I used to work for has been involved with one group of Wayuu people for a couple of years and we took the opportunity to come and visit them. It was both shocking, moving and wonderful. 

We visited the renewed school building, previously destroyed by the FARC. We brought presents of shoes for each of the children and spent the morning trying shoes on children. We also brought their first uniforms!

This is the pastor's house both above and below. I was so struck by the verses painted on their door: 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'

We visited their church (below) and I was asked to entertain the children. I taught them some Sunday school songs in english and they tried to teach me some Wayuu which proved most amusing! They speak Wayuu as their first language and are only beginning to learn Spanish, so I spoke in Spanish which then had to be translated! Meeting brothers and sisters in Christ felt incredible - I don't think I'll ever forget them.

Each large family group has a Ranchería, it is very arid here, basically desert. This Ranchería now has water as they have a deep well but the people so far have no experience with growing their own food so often go hungry and children still die here of malnutrition

by Emelye

Rodadero beach, Santa Marta

Where Emelye and I came 19 years ago.

Santa Marta Night Life

The Carrera 3, just around the corner from our hotel, is home to perhaps the coolest cafe/bar/busking scene in all of Colombia.

Putting the Churros back into Adventurous

After a lovely hot day on the beach at Taganga, we caught the bus home over the mountain. A guy leapt on and was selling Churros (fried donut sticks to the uninitiated) so we had to get some. He then wanted to get off whilst Emelye was struggling to find the correct change. Much honking of horns ensued as the traffic built up behind us!

Later on we discovered we were sat with a nice lady who spoke a little English who goes to an evangelical church. Unusual for Colombia!

A Crazy Bar in Santa Marta

There's a sign hanging outside that says "We don't have WiFi, so you will have to talk to each other".

The Basilica of Santa Marta

Santa Marta

We have travelled today by bus to Santa Marta, another town along the coast about 5 hours from Cartagena. We arrived at sunset so haven't investigated very much further than dinner!

We invited 'John' to have dinner with us as he was begging in the streets. He's from Venezuela. We've met many Venezuelans during our time here. John clearly explained the plight. "In past times Colombians crossed the border to work in Venezuela and took back lots of money for their families. Now it's reversed. Colombians allow us into their country despite the fact that we have no permission to work, no identity papers. I have never had a passport as I never dreamt I would have to leave my country. Now if I wanted a passport I would have to work for 5 years to afford one. Our government is very bad, the army were sent out to kill all who protested. I was shot twice but God saved me."

"This money was enough for a motorbike. Now it is worthless. It's all I have."

We've had so many interesting and unforgettable conversations with strangers, but this one I needed to share.