Choquequirao! We Did It!!!!!!!!

I´ll start by saying that climbing Choquequirao was bloody hard! Its actually a harder, more gruelling climb than Machu Pichu ha!
When Mum and I heard that Machu Pichu was definatly closed due to all the flooding and land slides, we were quite disheartened, however, our tour company put Choquequirao to us instead. We origianlly thought this may be some lame attepmt to keep our money and send us on a crappy walk which wouldnt in anyway compare to Machu, BUT on doing a little reseach and deciding to take a chance, we ended up taking on this amazing challenge and having such an incredible 4 days of a trek, and we both think that it was as good or maybe even better than doing the famous Machu Pichu. Heres our story......

Day 1, up and about super duper early, wake up call time was 4:30am! wowee! but were both so nervous and excited that I dont think we slept much at all, at least me anyway, whenever I looked over at mum she was lightly snoring and fast asleep! Quick showers, on with the layers as its chilly at that time in the mountains before the sun comes up and force down some coco tea & jam & bread (well not too much forcing for me as I can always eat breakfast no mater what time it is) meet and greet everyone, all half asleep and a bit dazed and then pile into our mini bus for what turns out to be 7 or so hours of bumpy driving round mountain bends, up and down steep hills & on roads that are still being layed! (as the flooding has washed away the previous ones). All in all were all pretty eager to don our walking boots and sticks and get out there on foot into the wilderness. We even, all had to pile out of the mini bus 2-3 times to move fallen rocks from the buses path, due to land slides, this was fun, like a bit of volunteering really, and team bonding!
Oh, being in nature. Well, the 1st loo stop before the hike started was a really wake up call. Mum and I were shown the loo, which was actually at the bottom of a muddy feild, it was a tiny wooden shack with a rough pice of black tarpaulen draped a bit to loosley for my liking, like a flap over the front, which conceiled a hole in the ground and 3 large chickens! OH MY GOODNESS, im all up for roughing it but this is crazy! So, Mum, kindly suggested I go first, off I went into the shack, how on earth do I do this, for men its no problem but for us girls, very very tricky indeed!! and the 3 fat chickens watching didnt help at all!! So there I am, trying to manoover myself, trying to keep my dignity as the tarpaulen didnt cover much, when all of a sudden, one of the fat chickens fell and got trapped inbettween one of the walls wooden slats. Well, it made an all mightly cluckking noise, started flapping like a chicken possesed! and nearly made me and itself fall down the poo hole!!!!! I was laughing histerically and a bit scarred to be trapped in this confined space, now half dressed with a mad hatter of a bird! Mum could hear all of this commosion and was herself laughing her head off and all this for the sake of a little wee! I feared this was going to be the 1st of many quite disgusting, funny but alarming toilet incidences.

Being in totally surrounded by nature, the most incredible mountain range, plants and trees I had ever seen was constantly breathtaking and occasionally overwhelming. We were on one side of this amazing mountain range and were to hike up, down and around all of it over the next 4 days, just look at these pictures, how huge these montains are, how close and then how far we were from this fast furious uncontrolable river, which we actualy crossed by rickety wooden slatted bridges twice! We hiked 61km up and down hill, such a long long way!

We carried part of our belongings, and donkeys and strong little porters carried the rest. This was a fantastic and came as a welcome suprise as we thought we would have to carry everyth9ing like little pack horses, the whole way and even though mum and I tried to pack light, a back pack crammed full of warm clogthes for the evenings, spare shorts, sun hats, water & snacks for those emergency times inbetwwen meals when only a piece of chocolate orange or cookie will see you though that last up hill struggle, really added weight and would have made this trek quite a bit more of a struggle! After all, we were, at most times, 2000-3000ft or maybe its metres (I will check, if only for my personal piece of mind) above sea level and the altitude was high & shortness of breath common, we were, just to renforce this issue, doing a very steep hike, in unfamiliar conditions and basically our lungs we not used to it! or our legs for that matter!!

Food, as you know, is very important to me, not just to keep me alive but to enhance every single day, espcially on this journey around the world, and fill my days with new smells & tastes that make me smile and leave me craving for more counting down the minutes till the next feeding time. Well, on this trek, we were not disapointed in the slightest. After our 1st gruelling uphill session of about 3hrs, we were all left panting and struggling for breath and all also wondering weather everyday was going to be this challenging. When we were informed by Chino, our friendly guide, that lunch was just down the hill. Well we all hop skipped and jumped down this aloe vera filled valley to what was a little shack on the side of the hill, with camping seats for all of us and hot tea waiting. We weed in the bushes (again very very tricky when on the side of a steep moutain and everything was quite open) washed our hands in the cute little hand bowls provided and sat down to a very tasty 2 course lunch served by a waiter in typical waiter attire, how funny and really refreshing. It was vegetable soup to start, piping hot, followed by tasty stirfried beef with rice, and always, coco or fruit tea ro aid digestion to finish - super!

It was getting to the end of the 1st day, Chino thought after lunch that it would be better for us to go a bit further on our fresh legs, and try and reach the 2nd campsite which was over the river and half way up the mountain so that we could start the next morning further up and ahead of schedual, saving us time and energy the next day, we all agreed, (not that we actually had much choice, but it was a good idea) Oh my goodness, he said it would be 1.5hrs climb up steep hill, on the zig zagging path to this campsite and that we would reach it before dark, what a lie!!! This was a strugle! the night was drawing in, we were having trouble drawing breath! the group had divided into 2, the 4 Ozzie boys had run ahead, competing with each other, Mum and I were in the middle and Van & Aga were behind us, middle ground, I didnt mind this ranking, and actualy it was the ranking for the whole trip so not bad going Team Donovan! As we had 1.5hrs in mind and had done this already, and it was getting dark & we were growing exhasted and wondering if we were EVER going to reach camp! I kept telling Mum that were were only round the corner, half believing this and half wishing it to be true! Every so often we would see a lone light in the distance and Id holler to mum that it was the camp and we had finally amde it! but no, twice it was a ctually other hikers making their way down the mountain with a head torch on, bugger!! This was a real test, and as it was the 1st day and we had nothing to comapre it too we found it really tough, but carried on, will power winning over energy and eventually made it to the top! horrah!!! knackered!! but feeling elated, especailly after a sit down and a chat to the Ozzie boys, Paddy, Gerard, Dave & Marti and they told us that actualy they had stopped racing each other because it was a silly idea and was far too tiring and actually they hadnt been there that long either and it was bloody challenging for everyone! this made us feel lots better, well that along with a 2 course dinner and some hot tea and a quick change into non smelly clothes!!!
Comfy, cozy tents, a good rest, crap awful hole in the ground smelly toilets & a shower in the form of a Johnsons wet wipe (or 3) and we were set to trek another day horray!!

The 2nd day was good, so so so much to see, but a lot of going down the mountain, which sounds great but is actualy a bit harder as it hurts the old kness, even of fit young things like me, Aga and Van, we all suffured a bit and had to absorb a lot of Iboprufren along with the tasty meals each evening. Life of a hiker hey!

We heard & saw beautiful water falls, a strong, gushing out of control caramel coloured river, floating, light airy puffy white clouds ( we were actually above and at points in, these! I love clouds, I think as much as trees, oh we saw lots and lots of delicate, fairy tale esque species of trees. Trees with dozens of wirey coiled spirals hanging from every branch. Sporadic Cacti springing up on the mountain side every so often, which take you by suprise and made me smile and think of Desperate Dan and comic books, somehow, I never think they look realistic and life like, instead, always quite surreal.

The 2nd campsite, actually had working toilets ( no toilet seats, but hey, no change there!) and a cold shower, but still, a shower non the less. Brilliant!!! I am camping, but I do like to be clean, yes I do. We were perched on a grassy ledge cut out of the side of one of the mountains just below Choquequirao. We arrived after a hard mornings slug of a hike just in time for a lovely lunch then had the choice of an afternoons rest, fantastic! or we could take a sneek peek at the ruins, this meant climbing the rest of the mountain, tempting.... but as we would experience this the next morning anyway, the majority of us laid out our camping mats and had a bit of a sun bathe, showered or had a little afternoon nap, before ¨Happy Hour - an hour before dinner of popcorn or other tasty snacky treats & cards & hot tea - always hot tea!¨ Only Paddy & Gerard ventured up the hill, good on them, but bugger it, Id perfer to rest, catch the sun shine and have a little kip.
It was at this campsite that Chino introduced a great card game to us, it is called Spoons. Ill explain in person when I see some of you, well worth playing but very competetive and addictive! It was also at this campsite that we had our 1st drink in days! 2 little shot glasses full of tasty argentinian red wine mmmm mmmm and much appreciated by all!

The next misty morning we climbed the steep mountain to explore Choq (for short) It was such a misty, slightly drizley morning that the whole site & all of the views were covered for the first 30min that we were there and Chino was explaining the history, then, just as Paddy & Gerard were telling us what was actually right before our eyes, if only the mist would clear, IT DID and the place was vast, and absolutely breath taking. Olny 30% of the ruins have been excavated, this consisted of cute houses, basic frames of buildings & structures, drainage systems & lots of terraces where they grew all of thier food. These buildings & their history were interesting, but the real wow factor came in the form of the surroundings, delicate clouds hovered all around, in and out of the structure, the mountains surrounding it and the rapid river that ran below. These clouds only added to the magical views and feelings that engulfed us when standing on top of this incredible place. I loved taking so so many pictures, as the clouds parted and the beautiful views over the valley were unveiled. This was one of the high points of the trip, we were all very lucky to experience this.

After this, we had a long long way down the mountain to go. (Please cut to pic of mum sat on her bum in a prickly plant, sorry mum I had to put this in, it was funny and the only fall you had all trip) and accross the wild river over a rickety swaying wooden bridge to be rewarded with a lovely lunch by the river side and a snooze in the afternoon sun ahhhhhh bliss!
Only a small ish steep hike left, before we reached our last camp, where cold beers and a night of cards awaited us, what a brilliant funny last evening to be had by all. Staring up, with full tummys at the magical clear night sky above, all totally amazed by the sheer number of glistening stars and the milky way hanging over our heads - yet another high point.

One more filling breakfast of pancakes, mayple syrup, porridge & caramel cake baked specially by our lovely chef Fernando, all wipped up on the top of a mountain, stoking us up for our final leg of the journey through a valley of thousands of violet lupins, Cacti & lush lush trees. A perfect enchanting end to a magical, challenging trek.

It was the spectacular views, comeradierie amoung our lovely group of people, my mum by my side and the sheer challenge of treking Choquequirao that made this such an incredible, once in a life time adventure.

Happy Happy Happy - now, lets get ourselves to the nearest bar for a large well deserved glass of vino tinto mmm mmm

Mine, mum & Ages week before The Trek in pictures

Hugging a very tired mum at Lima Airport. Exploring Lima, the beautiful Cathedral. Mum and I pretending to climb Machu Pichu (it was the closest we were going to get!) Mum drinking her 1st freshly blitzed Pinapple juice in a bag mmm mmm. Age, mum and I at a beautiful restaurant on a pier at sea, waiting for our red wine, which took far too long to arrive! and anticipating the fantastic fish that was to follow.
The beautiful view from the pier, where we dined, listening to the crashing sea, just a perfect setting.Mum, Age & I plonked on the sofa at a swanky hotel trying our 1st Pisco Sours, they went down very nicely after our long day of exploring Lima.

The traditional ladies of the Isle of Uros selling their crafts, they are very good and determined hard sellers, mum and I both succumbed to their charms and lovely home made crafts! Rosa, the lovely lady who paddled us in a whicker boat accross the lake so we could go eat fresh trout on a neighbouring island, and of course the fantastic reed boat, which looked a bit viking like, incredible, it floated just fine and we didnt get wet!
Tales of mine & mum - Team Donovans trek adventure will follow very shorty, you´ll love the pics, the scenary was so SO Amazing and breath taking.
Hasta Luego xxxxxx

Chickens, floating islands & yumi fish

Hello & Hola

Mum is now with me & Age on this crazy adventure. We greated her, dazed and a little confused after being awake nervous and on the move for aound 22hrs! at Lima Airport on 22nd Feb.
So lovely to see her meandering out of the gates dressed in her walking gear, including cute bright pink kagool jacket - we wont miss her in a crowd!
Quickly drop the bags off, exchange, well, actually recieve much apreciated gifts of Terrys Chocolate Orange & gossip & fashion mags! and new knickers, thank goodness for M&S! happy happy happy. Then off for a much deserved glass of red and some ceviche yum yum yum, this makes for a content Cat, Age and Mum.
We had a lovely, very long day out sight seeing around Lima, saw a really beautiful cathedral, lots of ceramic cows!?? in the main sq, Damien Hurst eat your heart out! and tasted our very 1st Pisco sour in Grand Bolivar Hotel, sounds swankier than it actually was but the drink was bloody tasty and certaintly put a spring in our step - pictures to follow once back with my laptop.
The evening ended with a very late but super duper dinner at La Rosa Nautica, a beautiful restaurant built on its very own pier right out into the Pacific. The waves lapped at the stilts, birds bobbed on the deep green sea, avoiding the crashing waves that broke just before shore, and Age, myself and Mama D sipped delicious Argentinian Malbec and savoured fresh sea bass and tuna steak breathing in the fresh sea air. The perfect day to start our 2 week adventure.
It was time for Team Donovan to depart Lima and Age to make our way crss cuntry to Lake Titicaca. Oh My Goodness, what a bloody long long journey, 23hrs by bus in fact!!!!! The over night from Lima to Arequipa was fine, 17hrs but fine! the seats recline into semi beds, you get 2 meals (of aerolane standard, but still...) and watch a couple of movies (in Spanish!) and then finished off the last hour of the journey watching a greasy long haired latino (no offence intended, just stating the facts here!) prancing around a stage warbling his head off with a load of misguided ladies throwing them selves at him! bizare, but passed the time.
The next 6hr bus journey was very bumpy indeed, no air con!, no loo! and the old lady opposite only had a bloomin live duck in a bag and large chicks down hr cardi, well this made me and mum absolutey laugh our heads off, especially when one of the chicks was trying to escape, Alien Stylie out of the back of the ladies cardi, it was ike she was possesed, so freakin bizare, abslutley hilarious but at the same time, quite sickening.

We eventually arrived in Puno at, which is the town by the lake, found a hotel, did a bit of bargaining with the price (Age you would be proud of me) we got the room including a bathrom for 6.50 pounds er night, crawled into bed, completly knakered, didnt wake up in time to go out for dinner (shock horror) and then went back to sleep untill morning.
We had ne full day in Puno and headed straight for Uros, the floating island on Lake Titicaca. We climbed aboard a small chugging motor boat filled with ladies in traditional dress, these big deep pink skirts with many layers underneath, hair in plaits right down their backs, and pretty blouses, carrying crates of fresh ripe mangoes and other produce of course which cant be grown on the tiny islands. Peruvian tourists, sweet little children and old old grandmothers with the most incredibly characterful faces, full of lines,expression & stories. It took 30min, taking in the sights of endless water reeds and tiny fishermens boats to reach Uros. Its incredible, its a floating island, well actually lots and lots of floating islands all grouped together. Tey float n reeds all matted together, and which are replenished fom the top. These reeds are the life source for these communities, they make wonderful fantastical boats & toys & houses from them and they live out here in the middle of this lake, kind of excisting in this beautiful calm time warp. They relay on tourists to buy their crafts and to visit to experience their ways of life and we are really really thrilled that we could venture into it for just a few hours, and it wasnt tacky or over run, it was just tranquill and serene. And of course, we had a little trip in one of the reed boats, steered by a very strong woman called Rosa, (again there are beautiful pictures of Rosa and the island to follow) to another small island, feasted on fresh Trout caught in the lake and got a little sun burnt, ho humm.

Adios amigos, more tales to follow, I will mail one last time before the 4 day trek da da daaaaaaa xxxxx

Time to trek trek trek!!!

Mum and I - TEAM DONOVAN - are emabarking on a 4 day trek. Machu Pichu is closed due to all the flooding so, we are now booked on a harder trek. Choquequerio, bñoomin hard to pronounce so I imagine a lot harder to actually do!!! 4 days, 10-12hr walks each day, through snow capped mountains, hot sweaty JUNGLE! and condor filled canyons. Cold showers if any at all, a lot of wet wipes & hopefully a lot of laughs! Were kitted out, of which I will post lots of pics post trek, top to toe in walking clobber (including ponchos and walking sticks) which will no doubt make you all laugh, ready, but bloody nervous and really excited!!
SO, see you on the other side eeeekkkk xxxxx

P.S I hope its not a bad sign but I just walked into, nearly through!! a glass door! head first, nearly knocking myself out (classic Cate style) - mum thought it was hilarious, hope its not a sign of things to come!!

Tis the season of Birthdays

Happy Birthday Sean, Annie, Dad & Jonathan (not forgetting Grandpop too)

I hope you all have and have had fantastic birthdays full of treats, great food and lots of fun.
Please see my message written in Volcanic sand in Nicaragua below it comes with birthday merriness, and also a pic of Age & I sending you Birthday cheer.

Ill be thinking of you all tucking into your hearty wonderful meal at Bray this weekend, mmm im a little bit jealous and do miss you all, Age and I will raise a toast to you all.

Lots of love

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Quickly Costa Rica and up up and away to Bogota

Sorry about the pics, not the most inspiring, 2 top ones are Bogota, top one is our lovely hostel and the bottom is of our attic room in Nicaragua. Ill post more but I need to upload them 1st but its late and I need to sleep.


So, ill skip by the journey from Ometepe to the main land because it took so freaking long to travel such a short distance. Ive included a picture of our funny little attic bedroom in a place called Rivas where we stopped beacuase we couldnt quite make it to the border in time to cross into Costa Rica, but we had heard of a great seafood restaurant in this little town, so thats as good a reason as any to stay. It was cheap as chips only $5 each but we had to steal mattreses from other empty beds as each one was as thin as a board! I like doing this sometimes, if i´m with Age then I find it funny, and I pretend were camping, or have been locked away for being naughty, and it makes you appreciate a good bed when you have one.

I´ll also skip over the longest most tiring & tedious border crossing EVER! into Costa Rica, bloomin eck we were ony going to be there 2 nights and 1 day, before we flew to Bogota, but the que took 3.5hrs therefore sucking the life and energy out of us, and we still had to travel another 5hrs to get to our destination, a sweet little town on the edge on San Jose.
We arrived, knackered, in need of food, we hadnt eaten all day! and luckily found a sweet hotel, with such a cozy bed, it was a double on the bottom but with a single bed above like a bunk bed, I had the best nights sleep yey!

Quick look around the small town, mozy around San Jose, bought a sweet pair of silver sandles, nearly identical to my favorite pair from Office that broke after lots of use, happy happy happy.

Bogota bogota bogota
It´s so exciting to actually board a plane, as living in England Im so used to flying if I go anywhere as were a small island but so far, apart from Cuba, we´ve bussed everywhere, and thats fine and its normall as the countries are side by side, but actually being in an airport, buying a bit of duty free, feels really luxurious and exciting.
Its only a short flight, I only had time to eat my complimentary salad and watch half of The International with the dashing Clive Owen & it was already time to buckle our belts, switch off all electrical appliances and step off into Columbia - yey!

We really like Bogota. We havent seen all of it, as I think parts of it are still dangerous. Were in the beautiful historic area called Candalaria. It´s jam packed full of beautiful churches, old and intersting buildings, a million really tasty restaurants and cafes and little nooks and crannies atht are bars, serving a massive variety of food, it´s so refreshing to have lots of culinary choice. And wine, mmm mmm wine, its good already, I have been deprived of decent wine in Central America so now, the more South I go, the more delicious wine I will drink, yes I will.

It was a bloody mission to find any place to stay on a busy Saturday afternoon in Bogota, every place we tried was full. And Bogota is really hilly, so with heavy back packs, a lot of wandering around proved to be very testing! However, we decided to sit our selves down on the edge of a pavement and get our bearings, and it just so happened to be outside the most wonderful French Patiserie, OH MY GOODNESS, I think I was in heaven, the long counter was brimming with treats - lemony tarts, fresh almond pastries, pain au chocolate, chocolate torte with a flakey pastry crust, blackberry cheese cake to name but a few, ahhhh im reliving the moment, give me a second.......mmm mmmmm,
then at the other end was the small but equally tasty savory section full of quiches and pies. I had to have something, I had a boyfriend with no energy and my tummy was rumbling too, hmmm what to have.... I had to think for the both of us, Age is more of a savory man, whereas I, I could LIVE soley off sweet treats, grow old and rotund & be happy as a pig in poop! I settled on a warm large piece of potato & bacon pie / quiche, it was a mixture of the 2 and actually melted in the mouth, large pices of creamy potato, slightly saltey bacon with a creeamy herby mixture that bound it all together, it was just perfect, it was super duper! Easily the best quiche/ pie either of us had EVER tasted, we sat on the pavement, and savoured this little treat untill every last pastry crumb was gone. this gave me the energy to find such an amazing tranquill hostel, coincidentaly just in spitting distance of the pattiserie yey! We WILL be back to sample more delights, it would be rude & silly not too.
The hostel is so beautiful, its an old building that has been lovingly restored. There is about 10 rooms and 2 dorms split in between 3 court yards that are fillled with lushes plants and trees, and babbling water features. The room rates were really quite high, we, well Age, master of haggling, haggled and got a 3rd off the rate, it was still more than we usually pay but it was in such a great area, really quiet and calm not like other noisy hostels, we decided to stay. Enclosed are pics of us in our hammock outside our room, right at the back of the building, Mum and Hilary you would absolutly love it here, the tranquility and the gardening!

I have lots more to tell about our time in Bogota, delicious meals & street snacks, stunning views over the city, a cable car ride, inspiring Art museum and more... ooh and more piccies of our lovely hostel, Age and I basking in the sun in our matching hammocks. But now its time for bed, we have an early start, a 9hr bus ride south west to a finca in the hills, clean fresh air, and probably more long walks, lovely lovely, it may not, actually probably not have internet so untill the next time.... hasta la vista amigos xxxx

A hiking we will go.....

Hello lovelies

There has been a distinct lack of blogging recently for which I do apologise for, this is due to various things;
A) Staying on a volcano island where internet just hasn´t reached yet
B) Travelling A LOT! including across 3 countries, many many hours of bumpy bus rides and a flight! ooh and a ride in a tuc tuc, poor bugger had to cycle with us 2 fat lumps in the front seat!
C) Illness, for the past 2 days I have been partially struck down with something, not sure what!? I did put my symptoms of which are headaches, slight fever, fatigue, sensitive skin & dizzyness into google but it didnt prove very helpful! Where is a doctor friend when you need one!?

Today, I have slept well and am feeling a bit more like my old self so thought it was about time to fill you all in on the adventures Age and I have been up to over the last week.

Well... from Leon in Nicaragua we headed to Granada, this was a bit of a tourist trap and hence lots of sketchy people, but as soon as we arrived, we did bump into our friends that we made in Guatemala, Gotz & Teresa from Germany, this was a bonus and they also recomended us to stay at their hostel, result, saved trecking around town on a hot day with 20 tonnes on our backs!
As with many hostels, the communal area was lovely, hammocks and plants everywhere and it even had a pool! (albeit the size of a paddling pool) this clinched the deal for me, but our room was the size of a shoe box, quite dark and dingy, but hay-ho it was only for 1 night, then we could get the hell out of there and head to Ometepe, 2 active volcano islands in the middle of a HUGE HUGE natural lake. It actually takes 14hrs by boat to get across the length of it! Luckily we didnt need to go the length of it, or else a sick bag may have been needed - urgh! I do not have sea legs!

The volanos, Concepxion and Maderas, were INCREDIBLE! And Concepxion was actually exploding (well, more like burping), we watched twice as huge grey clouds of ash were belched out of the top of this perfect cone volcano and lingered around the top then settled all over one side. Once on the boat we were hoping, fingers crossed it would do it again and again, purely for pictures sake! not quite engaging in how rare this must be and maybe how dangerous too, amd what it actually means!??? Well, after some asking around,it is a rare thing, it has only been burping out ash like this fo rthe last 2 months and since the last major eruption was in 1954, it was probably due another, eek! and the army on the island were practising evacuations, so all would run smoothely, well as smoothley as possible in the event of this happening.
Anyway, this was all very exciting for us, so off we continued on such a bumpy 2hr bus ride up a dirt track to Maderas, the smaller volcano of the 2, to our destination whcih was a Coffee Finca called Magdelana located on the side of Maderas. We arrived at 8pm, very shaken & stirred from the beyond bumpy chicken bus journey and were then forced to hike, with our very heavy back packs on, 20min, about 1.5km up the really steep side of this volcano, OH MY GOODNESS!! why were we being tested like this!
We arrived, safe, sound and sweaty and received a small cheer from the other guests who were eating what looked to be like really yumi home made food, think they all sympathized with us.

We stayed away from everyone in a lovely, but basic room somewhere in 1 of the gardens, it was so so quiet and peaceful. And the food was so so hearty & tasty, that this made it all worth while.
It wasn´t untill the next morning that we could appreciate the full beauty of where we were staying, the gardens were lush filled with greens, and pink plants, it was so calm and tranquil and again, the breakfast was lovely and would set us up for the hike that lay ahead of us. Oh but he hike was delayed slightly as we got locked in our room and I had to climb out of the window, thank goodness all houses here are built on 1 level! and run to the staff to help bust us out! ooh Cate & Ages days wouldnt be completé without these kind of hiccups!

Off we trotted up Volcan Maderas all by ourselves, we like to do this, have mini trecking adventures, on our own without a guide, rest asurred we only go where there is some sort of path, and there was one but it was very steep, quite rocky & slightly muddy at times. Mum this is all great training for our big climb. We trecked through thick forrest, hearing the occasional roar from a howler monkey or 2, ooh it was hard work, but we battled on. Ive attached apicture from nearly the top, where you can see the coast line of the island and Volcano Concepxion, it was really amazing. Such a stunning sight, especially when you have been walking for 3hrs but could only see the dense forrest which surrounds you. We tried to make it to the top as apparently there is a crater lake, but this turned out to only be 1ft of water and the rest mud, and the treck up there was very muddy as we saw from the state of the people passing us coming down. Time was ticking on and we didnt want to be stranded half way down a volcano in the dark so we started to head back. Then on the way down, right at the view point, there were 2 cheeky little howler monkeys sat up in the trees, they let us get about 10ft away from them, and they made little roaring sounds and Age and I watched them and tried to encourage more roaring sounds, and the little monkeys watched us probably thinking daft humans! but it was so so magical, just us and them all on a volcano together, just perfect.
All that was left to do was try and find some ancient Petroglyphs at the bottom of the treck and then settle down for some lovely tasty food & a large beer, I was trying to detox but we had done so so much walking, I really did deserve it.