At last! A football match. A real live football match.

The Ecuadorian national league has not quite begun but the pre-qualification stage of the Copa Libertadores is under way. As luck would have it, El Nacional, a Quito team, were playing at home against a team from Paraguay, with the slightly confusing name of 'Nacional'. I went down to the olympic stadium with my $5 ticket in hand. Sadly Rachel was stuck back at the hotel working. 

The stadium seats 40,000 but there were more like 7000 fans dotted around for this game. El Nacional of Quito were my chosen team. They were stong favourites coming into the match. Also, the news was that the Paraguay team had only flown in 3 hours before the match which is not ideal preparation for a ground at 3000 metres above sea level (the main reason Ecuador have qualified for the last two World Cups).  I was 'merched-up' ready for the match, proudly sporting my $5 knock-off shirt (apologies to Lotto and El Nacional) and holding a large cup of lager.

The boys started well, stroking the ball around, but as the game progressed they were showing a lack of urgency. Just before half time there was a clear warning when the opposition broke through two on one against the keeper only to embarassingly fumble a pass for a certain goal.  The lesson was not heeded. Ten minutes into the second half, my team was 2-0 down to two, admittedly spectacular, strikes.  The team fell to pieces. Where was the backbone? It was just like watching York.  The home fans kept banging the drum and waving flags but to no avail. Two more goals soon followed thanks to some shoddy defensive work. The final whistle was fast approaching.  

Two minutes was still time enough for one final humiliation as the Paraguayan team smashed in a final goal from an improbable angle.  So 5-0 it ended. Oh dear. 

It has since been reported in the local press that most of the board has been sacked.  A miserable start to the 2009 season for my boys, El Nacional of Quito. 

Maximum carbohydrate intake

Quito is high. At nearly 3000 metres the altitude takes some getting used to. The advice in our guide book was to rest, drink plenty of water and eat lots of carbohydrates. With this in mind, we went to a local branch of the Colombian outlet, Crepes and Waffles. I chose this gigantic loaf of bread filled with chicken curry. I believe I achieved maximum carbohydrate potential. It was nice too. 

We've made it to Ecuador

It's been a busy few weeks. Our last day on the banana visit ended up being pretty much on the border with Ecuador. We decided to get an overnight bus straight up to Quito so that I could get on with writing up all my interviews. 

Quito has been a lovely surprise so far. We had heard tales of backpackers robbed at knife point in taxis so we approached with a bit of trepidation. We're not staying in the backpacker part of town and we've found it to be a modern, relaxed and cosmopolitan city surrounded by beautiful mountains.

I have, however, spent all week glued to the laptop, finally finishing all my work at 3am yesterday. The massive window in our very comfy hotel room has helped. The sky is constantly changing, from sunny, to enormous clouds quickly building up and then dramatic thunder storms.

My able assistant has been very helpful (when he's not been at a local footy game), editing interviews, buying me flowers and getting us good, simple meals ready every evening. It's been nice to settle in here. We've unpacked, stocked up our fridge, we have hot water and a bath and it's of a comparable size (slightly exaggerated) to our London flat. It's starting to feel like home. We've even taken on jogging around a great city park in the mornings (well 2 so far, but we may manage a few more). We're not a model of fitness. We blame the altitude. Our lungs are in pain long before our legs.

It's holiday time for us now for a couple of weeks before we're back on the bananas, this time in Ecuador. Simon's dad, Erica, aunty and uncle arrived this morning and we're off to the jungle on Tuesday. It was surprisingly normal to see them, not quite like bumping into them for a coffee, but on a scale. I think chatting to people on skype makes a big difference - so come on everyone we're missing, what are your skype addresses please? 

Peru been and gone. But we'll be back.

We had very little time to be tourists in Peru. Piura was a nice place to be in between farm visits mainly because of the quality of the ice-cream shop across the Plaza. On Sundays the local military turn out for a fairly lacklustre parade. Our hotel room overlooked the plaza so we had a good view of what was going on.

The village of Chulacanas was a great place to stay for a few days while we visited mango producers. Everyone was friendly and we managed to eat well despite ongoing tummy disturbances. The streets are filled with far more mototaxis than cars. The picture below of traffic waiting at a junction is typical.
 When you do see a car it is very unlikely to be under-occupied.
We got to wander a little at the start and end of the week, like to the market. It was great to be in a place with virtually no other tourists.

But most of our time in Peru has been spent working.
Rachel has been busy interviewing, gathering information, looking for good stories as well as having to be an ambassador for the company and Europe as most of the farmers see things.
I've taken a lot of photos and enjoyed the privilege of meeting lovely people in rural communities way off the tourist trail.
Its not all hard work.
Banana farmers are nice. 

The work is varied. Insect repellent is important.

Of course the boy wasn't really sweet and neither am I: you can only tell so much from a picture.

Ceviche

Mmm, we love ceviche. It is one of the foods we were most looking forward to when planning our trip and so we have been delighted to find it available everywhere in Peru. The dish is simple- raw fish or other seafood marinaded in lime juice, onion, coriander and chili. The one above is mixed ceviche with fresh sea fish fillet, 'conches' (similar to muscles), octopus and prawns, served with toasted corn, white beans and a local red tuber (an alternative take on a potato).

Cuy Frito (or fried guinea pig)

We promised ourselves guinea pig before we came and here it is. Nicely chopped in half and presented as above with garlic potatoes and rice. Rachel quite enjoyed the meat she nibbled from the front leg. I got a bit more stuck in so am undertaking the review.

Fried Guinea Pig: clearly, the presentation was excellent- anything without a head would have been a disappointment. Where to start eating was the initial problem but the legs pulled off easily so we started with a leg each. The taste is somewhat like chicken thigh meat but tangy and with a a hint of pork thrown in. The outer parts had a good fried flavour but when I tried a large piece of skin I found it too tough and chewy and it took me a good minute to get to a point where I was happy to swallow. The rump proved the part with the most meat and the most tender at that; it was verging on delicious. A little more meat was to be had by sucking the dead rodents little ribs one by one. Some entrails were included which I would guess were liver, kidney and possibly heart. I nibbled these with trepidation only to find they were really rather good, except for one round piece that was very firm and rubbery; I left it. As the head was so neatly dissected I assumed that that brain is a high point for the guinea pig connoisseur. The fried side looked nice and bread-crumby but in fact it had the same texture as the white part underneath- a mush like a mousse in the mouth. If the eye or furry nose are delicacies then I missed out. Overall eating a fried guinea pig was not unpleasant but it was a lot of effort for a little meat. If I went back I would opt for the other local speciality of duck and rice. Perhaps a whole, fatter specimen would be better- we will search for a juicy one in a few weeks when my Mum and Rachel's folks are here.

At work

A little insight into our days visiting mango farmers in northern Peru. We can't really show the lovely pictures of the farms because technically they are not owned by us.

We travelled everyday by mototaxi- a three-wheeled vehicle, basically a motobike front with a bench seat behind. A lovely way to travel with breeze and fresh air. 
After rain had fallen at night the rivers had risen and we needed a little help to cross.
We had to bargain with the cheeky but helpful enterprising horse and cart owners.

Rachel gathers lots of information and interviews farmers like this nice lady called Bilma.

We visit nice rural villages like this one where a recent project has given them the huge benefit of clean water.
People are generally very friendly and happy to see us. Rachel visited these farmers last year and they were delighted to see her back and to meet her fiance.
There are always interesting things to see as we work. Like this.
And this.
We were even lucky enough to be invited to the home of a farmer called Maria who got the whole family round and cooked a feast of local food for us to try. It's all great for me but now begins the mammoth task for Rachel of writing everything up and presenting it in a way which is useful for everyone who may need to use it back in Europe.

Renault in Colombia

I love car spotting in South America. The huge American wrecks in Venezuela are quite something but are much less abundant in Colombia. What is interesting in Colombia (for me, though undoubtedly not for some readers) is that the majority of cars are either from the far east or are Renaults. With a factory in Medellin, Renault has had a big presence in the country for 40 years. There are loads of new Renaults in Colombia but I was more taken with the range of handsome, shiny classic Renault cars that have survived in style in cities and villages across the country. Sadly they must not have produced the wonderful Renault 16 because I failed to spot even one model of a car my grandparents owned and whose distinctive looks I remember fondly.

The Renault 12. Lovely colour. A great car, it was robbed of the 1970 European Car of the Year award by 2 dodgy Italian cars.
The Renault 12 estate
A pair of Renault 9s (1982 car of the year).
A Renault 12 estate action shot.
There is a large number of Renault 4s in great condition on the streets of Bogota
This man loves his brown Renault 18 estate. Who wouldn't?

A mint condition Renault 6 in aqua blue. Special.

Fantastic travel writing

We have just read this brilliant article by Simon Gandolfi, a 73 year old who set off on a Honda 125 to travel through Central and South America. Definitely worth a read if you have a spare few minutes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/jan/10/south-america-road-trips-bike?page=all

Bogota and Goodbye Colombia

Bogota is a modern sprawling city and we were lucky to be able to spend time there with Angela and her family. We only realised after we had left that we didn't take many photos of the city. Most of our time was spent in the richer north side of the city and it is the most modern, developed place we have been to since leaving England.

Some parts of the city are built in a very English style like the houses above.


There are lots of statues on rooftops around the old part of the city centre. Not too sure why they are there but it's a nice thing to see.

The Old Town area, called Candelaria is lovely to walk around and has lots of nice cheap places to eat and drink. If we had the photos we would show you the Gold Museum, the markets, the poor shanty town suburbs, the modern high rise buildings, the fancy bus system, trendy bars, parks, street vendors...

This model of Jesus in a big church in the centre of Bogota is made of plastic or something but his hair grew at some point- a miracle! Hmm, we preferred the Virgin on the piece of wood miracle in Venezuela.

This of course is not a miracle. We don´t even know him. But his hair grows well alrighty. I just took a photo to make fun of him really and to show that the mullet is alive and well and a surprisingly popular choice in Bogota.

Mostly though we will remember our time in Bogota for the friendship and generosity of Angela and her lovely family.

We were sorry to be leaving Colombia so soon and with so much to see. It is a beautiful country with great people and we would recommend it to anyone as a fantastic holiday destination. We certainly hope to return one day.

Rana

When darts meets hoopla in Colombia you get a good game of Rana. Players take turns to throw 5 metal rings at the board from around 5m away. Then you add up your score. If you throw a ring in the frogs mouth your team can shout Rano and cheer wildly as you have just scored 15000 points. Some people play for money but we played to see who had to make breakfast.

The winning team!

Make your own Party Chicks!

1. Hatch a load of cute little chicks.

2. Use food colouring to dye them bright colours. This makes them more exciting.

3. Put each chick in to a bag along with some crisps, sweets and maybe a plastic toy.

4. Give out the party bags at the end of your childrens party.

Warning: your chick is highly unlikely to reach adulthood.

Rachel in near-death experience

It's OK. I saved her.

Villa de Leiva

I have always heard lovely things about Villa de Leiva from my Aunty Jan and Uncle Nick who lived in Bogota in the 90s and came here a lot. We thought of them when we went past the luxury hotel that they had recommended to us en route back from the walk above. It was slightly beyond our budget but we imagined they must have had a lovely time in the outdoor jacuzzis. Granny and Grandad also came here with them so we enjoyed picturing them all here.  

Villa de Leiva is a beautiful, colonial town in the mountains and a weekend retreat for many Bogotanos. There are lots of great walks around the area which we really enjoyed and appreciated after gazing longingly many times at hills and not getting out in them in our time around Bogota. 

In Colombia, the countryside is spectacular - mountains and rolling green hills which look perfect for walking in. Unfortunately, much of it is private land or as we discovered one day when we returned from an after lunch stroll from a roadside restaurant a few hours from Bogota to a pale and anxious Del Valle family, it may be inhabited by kidnapping guerillas. It made us realise how much we take public footpaths (and lack of armed guerillas) in the UK for granted.

We did one walk which was hard work - we arrived too late so had to march to reach a 'lagoon' (see below, not quite the bathing spot we envisaged but lovely all the same), ascending over 1000 metres constantly for several hours from a starting point of 2800m. Altitude makes such a difference. 

Spot Wally amongst the Andean flowers 
We're not sure what this is but a nice photo

It's probably worth a mention after our epic food entry that our last meal in Villa de Leiva was to be our downfall. After so much delicious food throughout our time in Colombia, we drank a couple of dodgy jugos (fresh juices, probably with dirty water) with our usual meal deals and it was game over on the food front for us until a few days into Peru.