Sightseeing in Dublin – 27 May 2018

I woke up feeling much better after a pretty solid sleep. One problem with the hotel is it has air con but it is controlled centrally by the hotel, and the room is constantly too hot. Fortunately solved by opening the windows and thankfully the room is at the back of the hotel so there was no noise.

Off downstairs for breakfast which was a pretty standard buffet. Irish Tea is really good, will look for it when I get home. Then it was time to meet Shellbe, Michele and Tony for a day of site seeing.

There are 4,749 million people in Ireland of which 1,345 million live in a Dublin, which makes it a pretty busy city. The Dublin Hop On Hop Off bus departs right outside the hotel, stop number one!

First on the list we wanted to get to the Guinness brewery before it got too crowded. We got there just after 10 and because our hop on hop off pass includes a number of attractions we didn’t have to wait in the queue. Pretty amazing place, it is Dublin’s number one tourist attraction. Arthur Guinness was brewing ale in Lexlip County Kildare. In 1759 he signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum to lease 50 acres in St James Gate, which is where Guinness Brewery is today. Arthur and his wife Olivia had 21 children of which only 10 survived to adulthood. This was a bigger then expected percentage for the time, but pretty sad to think about.

The brewery started brewing dark ale which was named Porters as it was well liked by the hospital porters, but over time it became known just as Guinness Stout. The Guinness brewery is the largest producer of stout in the world with 1.2 million barrels per annum.

The visitor center is huge, it is 7 stories high, and as you go through you learn the history of the place. The bottles have a harp on them which is an Irish symbol and at the brewery there is a virtual harp that you can play.

One section had old ads and one I found amusing was one that said “A woman needs a man as much as a fish needs a bicycle” and there was a statue of a fish cycling. Not sure what the advertising gimmick was but made me laugh.

As part of the tour you get to do a tasting and they run through the proper way to drink a Guinness – you are meant to gulp Guinness not sip it. If you sip it, it has a bitter taste, you are meant to drink a glass in 4 gulps. At the end of the tour you get up to the 7th floor and you get a pint of Guinness to drink while you can enjoy the 360 degree view of Dublin. I certainly didn’t manage to drink my pint in 4 gulps, was more like 10, but certainly enjoyed it more than previously gulping instead of sipping it. I was pleased we had got here early as there were long queues outside when we left.

Next stop the Jameson’s whiskey distillery, also not too crowded, we only had to wait about 15 minutes before we could go on a tour. In 1725 England put a tax on malted barley to pay for a war against France. Jameson started using in-malted barley, which the population came to prefer and still uses some un-malted barley today.

 

The tour guide was very enthusiastic about the product, and we ended up with a tasting where we tried a Scottish whiskey, an America whiskey, and Jameson’s whiskey. The Jameson’s was far nicer. The tour guide said it’s because Jameson’s is distilled 3 times, versus Scottish twice and American once. Not sure if they used an expensive Jameson and a cheap Scottish and America whiskey . . .

 

Back on the bus again, we went past Dawson’s bar, the smallest bar in Ireland with a capacity of 40 people. The tour drivers have a running commentary on various places of significance, plus their own points of view. One tour driver noted that if Bono from U2 went to the Dawson bar, the capacity would be one given the size of his ego, and another asked us “How can you tell the difference between Bono and God? God has never thought he was Bono”, so clearly Bono is not appreciated in his home country.

We then went past a big sports stadium called Croke Park which is the historic home of Gaelic football. A couple of minutes later while we were driving along Shellbe pointed out a seagull who was eating a pigeon! I didn’t know they ate other birds! Shellbe later wished she hadn’t pointed it out, especially the third or so time I bought it up again that day.

We got off the bus to go to Christ Cathedral but we couldn’t go in straight away as the Sunday church service hadn’t finished. We went to a bar and had a beer. I had a Kinnegar Devils Backbone Amber Ale was quite nice. We got back to find we could go in to the Cathedral, but the 12 century crypt, which was why we had come here, was closed all day. We had a look around, it was a Church – nice stained glass windows but not much else of note. It’s claim to fame apart from the Crypt is that it’s the oldest building in Dublin.

Time to head back to the city and think about something to eat. We didn’t really have much of a plan and for four of us jet lag was starting to reappear, so we settled on going to J W Sweetman Craft Brewery again, this time to eat. It was certainly much quieter than the previous evening. We got a table and ordered a range of pub food.

Michele, Tony, Shellbe and I got the beer battered fish and chips which was cod and fries with mushy peas, was pretty average. I had a Hop 13 larger also brewed by Guinness. Brett got the Irish stew, which was delicious – tender and full of flavour. I had stayed away from Irish stew as an option having had some pretty unpleasant versions in the past but clearly a different dish here in its own country.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel. Lots of homeless begging, lots of them late teens to late 20s. The unemployment rate in Ireland is the lowest it has been for years at 6.2% but the youth unemployment rate is still 12%. The young lady beggar from the dairy asked for more money to get home, but she got a reasonable amount yesterday from Brett, so didn’t give her anymore, instead donated to a couple of musicians.

Tomorrow we have the trip riders meeting, moving hotels, and then catching up with Shellbe.

Day 2 in Sarajevo, Bosnia

I woke up this morning feeling much better. After breakfast I spent some time sorting out my bags and catching up with the blog.

At 10am was a compulsory new riders meeting. A bit painful when you have done a number of rides already. Then it was bike checks to ensure all our bikes are in good working order. After that we had the rest of the day to ourselves.

I was interested in getting to understand a bit more of the history of Sarajevo, especially the siege that lasted from April 1992 to February 1996. Plus I wanted to go and see the tunnel. We booked a tour to go and see the tunnel, meeting in town at 2pm. While we were waiting we had a look around the old town and had some lunch.

Sarajevo Old Town

Sarajevo

Background info:
There are a number of complex reasons and background history to the war, but in summary the war started because the Serbs and the Croats living in Bosnia wanted to divide it amongst themselves. The Bosnian population is predominantly made up of Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims).
The overall death toll on all sides of the war was 10,000.
There were atrocities on all sides, including genocide and the Srebrenica massacre where 8,500 men and boys were slaughtered.

The siege of Sarajevo lasted 3 and half years, the city had no power, was running out of food, and no heating with winters that reach up to minus 20 degree C.

3 of the 4 hillsides were held by enemy forces . The 4th hill side could only be gotten to by across the airport, which was controlled by the UN. Crossing there the snipers would shoot at anyone they saw.

There were 10,000 people, killed 1,400 of them children, in the siege of Sarajevo. The snipers on the hillside would shoot anything that moved in the city, and on average 300 shells were fired at the city daily. Over 20 years later there are shell holes in numerous buildings, and many ruined buildings still waiting destruction or repair. The main route through the city was known as sniper alley.

Coming into Sarajevo, still plenty of evidence of the siege (Photo credit: Brett’s Facebook page)

A tunnel was built under the airport to the hillside. This tunnel was also referred to as the tunnel of hope. It was constructed from March to June 1993. The tunnel was dug 24 hours a day, in shifts of 8 hours each. 2,800 square meters of dirt had to be disposed of in such a way that it was not noticed by the Serbs up on the hillside.

The tunnel was referred to as the Trojan horse of Bosnia. It allowed food, guns and medical supplies to be bought in. Also a pipeline of oil and electricity. There were over a million trips. Each journey took two hours, and the height of the tunnel meant the majority of people could not stand up straight in it.

Sarajevo Tunnel House

The tour guide gave the history of the siege and the tunnel. Most of the tunnel is now collapsed, but we got to go in a 20 metre section that still exists. I had to stoop, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be in it for two hours, laden down with stuff.

Inside the Sarajevo Tunnel

After the tour Brett and I stopped and had a cold beer, and we shared a Bosnian sandwich, which is bread with a selection of meat, cheese, and coleslaw. It was very nice.

Sarajevo beer o clock

Back at the hotel I was feeling very tired, so had a nap for a couple of hours. Then we walked to a couple of restaurants, but we had not realised Ramadan had finished and it was the start of 3 days feasting, so they were all booked. Instead we stopped at a small supermarket and bought some stuff for a picnic back at the hotel.

After packing the bag, it was time for an early night. I am feeling a bit intimidated by the thought of riding 135km, with 2000 meters climbing, tomorrow.

Links from Kaye about the Seige:

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Siege-of-Sarajevo
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Tunnel

Day 22: Monday 5 Dec – Hari Hari to Fox Glacier

86km – 1,250 metres climing and 1,200 down.

The weather remained fine and warm, and not too windy. Today there were 4 hills, one at at about 8 km and the other 3 in a cluster between Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier, starting at 68 k and finishing at about 82k.

The first hill was quite kind, it went on for a while but was only about a 6% gradient, which meant the serious climbing would be in the final 3 hills. Not a lot of traffic early in the day, and as the day went on it was mainly buses and camper vans and wagons.

I stopped at 30 k in Whataroa for coffee. I was amused to see a sign for the newest tourist attraction: fault line tours. I wonder how many tourists sign up for that.

Wonder how popular this is?

At the coffee stop in Whataroa

Loved this sign at coffee stop at Whataroa

Lunch was quite early at 50 k . There were a couple of jokes as expected about not sitting in front of me etc.

Last night we had a conversation about silly things you do as children with contributions such as (these were not me) – holding onto an electric fence for the longest, getting electric shocks by touching your tongue against a wet telegraph pole etc. This conversation resumed at lunch. One of the rider’s Kevin has three children, the middle one is a bit of a trouble maker and one morning in Canada in sub zero conditions he convinced his older and younger sibling to lick a frozen pole. His wife came out of their driveway on the  way to work to find two of her children with their tongues stuck to the pole. She had to go back to the house to get water to get them unstuck.

Poor Justina – not only did I throw an apple at her head yesterday, but when she got to camp and touched the fence it was electrified and she got a shock, and then this morning when she came out of her tent a fly flew into her mouth! She says bad things come in three’s so hopefully this is it.

After lunch it was 10km to Franz Joseph, where I stopped for a cup of tea before the big climb. I have been here before so did not feel the need to add to the day’s riding by cycling and then walking up to the glacier. I applied sunscreen, bulked up on water ,and set off.

Leaving Franz Joseph (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

Leaving Franz Joseph (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

The climb was mostly ok but steep in a few places. I got off three times to catch my breath and have a drink of water. It was a good feeling to get to the top of the final hill and 5km downhill to Fox Glacier.

On the climb between Franz Josef and Fox Glacier

Made it to Fox Glacier!

We stayed at the Rain Forest Motel. For the first time on this trip we were sharing rest day accommodation. Thankfully it was Tony and Michele in with us.

Then it was time to unpack, have a shower, and relax for awhile, then up to town (approx 500 meters) for a look around, and food and drink. We decided on a place called The Last Kitchen with the plan that we would have a drink and a snack there, and then move. However the food was so delicious, and the staff so nice, we ended up staying there for the evening.

We started with green mussels in ginger, cream and coriander, a fried Camembert, and kumera wedges with cold beer. Guy, one of the other riders, joined us just after we had eaten our entrees. I was trying to decide between the blue cod battered fish or the lamb burger, as was Guy. We decided one of us would buy one and one would buy the other and halve it. Problem solved. The others all had the steak. The wine was a bottle of Aussie Malbec chosen because it was called La La Land. It was ok.

The conversation was very convivial until somehow we got onto occupations, and Guy said he was retired but had worked for Monsanto (genetic engineering of crops), and then there was quite a heated discussion on the pros and cons of this. Possibly not all of us will be dinner companions by choice of Guy’s in the future. Guy did not stay around for long after he had eaten, but long enough to express surprise that we were getting a second bottle of wine (between four people).

When you are doing long rides you often see self supported riders, and they are also welcome to stop at the lunch truck for food and for dinner in camp. Last night a touring heavy laden couple arrived at Hari Hari, unfortunately after we had had dinner. Whilst sitting on the balcony at The Last Kitchen we saw them ride into town about 7pm, we waved out and called out good effort. We had found the hills challenging and we didn’t have heavily laden bikes to contend with.

They rode up the street and about that time the bugs started biting so as the motel was so close I went back for the bug spray. As I was coming out again the two riders rode around the corner and they recognized me from when we had called out to them before.  They had had trouble finding somewhere to stay and it had been suggested they try here as there were lots of cyclists. However it’s not a campsite so there are no amenities, and the motel owner said they could only stay here if we agreed and let them use our facilities. They seemed a nice enough couple so I handed them our key to have a shower and said when you are ready come back to the pub and we would shout them a drink.

Justina came back up to the pub with me, by this time the group had moved to a table with gas fire in the middle, so it was nice and warm – got to love those NZ summers. We had a good chat with the two tour cyclists. Yoav is from the Netherlands and Asia is from Poland, but they met and both work in America. Asia is a scientist working as NASA and Yoav is currently not working but his last job was as the Global Campaign Director for Earth Day. They carry two of everything – two tents, two cooking stoves etc. Asia says that way they are staying together because they want to, not out of necessity.

Then it was time to return to the motel, I went to bed happy with the thought that tomorrow was a rest day.

Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier

Day 16: Tuesday 29 Nov – Picton to Nelson

113km to ride today – 1,650 meters of climbing 1,600 meters down.

Emily the tour leader described it as “rolling hills and two bitches”.

Today’s ride

Our new rider Justina thankfully had her gear and bike arrive so was ready to set off with everyone this morning. It was nice weather to ride in, not much wind and not too hot.

The first part of the ride was along Queen Charlotte Drive, which is part of the famous Forrest GrapeRide and the less well known but extremely enjoyable Gourmet Grazer Ride.

View of the Sounds (Photo credit: Michele’s Facebook page)

There were some interesting mail boxes to look at as we rode along. There was a bit of earthquake damage to the road in places.

Interesting letterboxes

Letterboxes today

Letterboxes today

Letterboxes today

I was amused to see a sign for a “Live Stock Psychologist”, not sure of the significance of the pair of gum boots under the sign.

Not sure what the gumboots signfy

I stopped at 35km for coffee at Havlock, then back onto what was a really busy road. It was much more busy than usual because of the earthquake, all the traffic that would have gone down Kaikoura is on this road, plus there even more increased traffic because the railway line is also out of action.

Earthquake damaged road

It was quite daunting when trucks coming from both directions pass right by you. As always, some drivers are pretty good and some are either ignorant or deliberately come too close. Where ever possible I got right off the road until they had passed.

At 65km was the first big hill, then downhill to lunch at 70km. The next hill was one that Emily referred to as the second ‘bitch’, it was at 83km, and seemed to stretch on for ever.

Lunch stop (Photo credit: Michele’s Facebook)

Almost at the top there was a pine tree randomly decorated as a Christmas tree, with a naivety scene at the foot. It was a good reason to stop and take a picture.

Random Christmas tree

There was a huge downhill with no shoulder, so I pulled over a number of times to let trucks past and was constantly looking over my shoulder. I was very pleased to get down the bottom.

Over the past three weeks I have noticed there are a few riders that I see a lot during the day. I am reasonably fast on the flat but still a bit slow going up hill or down steep slopes. I generally see Kelvin, Bill, and Charles, numerous times in a day. The other morning when leaving camp, instead of saying “have a good ride”, Kelvin said “See you 14 or so times on the way”.

It’s Kelvin’s first TDA ride. Kelvin is from Canada and owns a dog food making company. I don’t know much about Bill other than he drinks two 500 ml bottles of juice each morning, and he likes cake. Charles is also from Canada, and is a university academic of some sort. He has done a few other TDA rides and has endless energy, he buzzes past me with frequency making cheerful comments.

Bill is convinced he saw a Kiwi today, in the middle of the day crossing the road in a farmland area. As all New Zealander’s know this is unlikely, almost certainly impossible. For non-New Zealanders: Kiwis come out at night, live in the bush and 99.9% of people can live their whole life with never seeing one in the wild. (Editor’s disclaimer: not sure if this statistic is a true fact). 

After the big downhill we rode along the coast into Nelson, around the outskirts of town and then out of town to the Maitai Valley Motor Camp.

Cycling towards Nelson (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

Cycling towards Nelson (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

I nearly went the wrong way as there is also a camp in Maitai Valley Rd called Brookland.
I felt a bit uneasy as I had gone through two roundabouts with no flagging, so called into a dairy and asked the owner, who told me I was going in the wrong direction. Then we had quite a long conversation about the Brookland camp being empty, and she was going to petition the council to get it opened to accommodate the homeless people in Nelson. Apparently because of the house price increase, and the knock on effect of increased rents, there are a number of families living in tents. I have to say living in a tent with a family would be really tough going especially in the cold and wet. Hopefully she is successful and the community gets behind her.

I arrived at the camp, put up my tent and had a wee nap until dinner. Dinner was beef stir fry , vegetables and noodles plus a roast vege salad. Yanez the chef said he had made the noodles because in South Africa, where he and Emily are from, you have noodles on your birthday for good luck for the next year.

Brett shared a really nice bottle of red with Michele, Tony and I – The Obsidian from Waiheke Island. It was an interesting mix of grapes: 40% cab sav, 28 % merlot, 13% cab franc, 13% petti verdott and 6% Malbec. All these variety of grapes were grown on Waiheke Island (a small island off Auckland). It was seriously nice wine.

https://www.relive.cc/view/789042492

Day 4 – Thursday 17 November

7I enjoyed waking up this morning with a day with not much to do apart from catch up with the blog, sort the washing, and rest.

I cooked eggs on toast for breakfast, then I had a number of cups of tea catching up with the blog and emails. We gave up on trying to do the laundry here: 1 machine and 23 riders plus other guests, so Brett googled the closest laundry and we arranged to pick it up at 4pm.

Walli, who I have ridden with before on the Trans Europa ride, has not been very well and has only ridden about 5km on her bike so far. Thankfully she has been to the Rotorua Medical Center and had chest X-rays, blood tests, and a full exam, and the diagnosis is bad hay fever. She has got some prevention medication and will hopefully be back on her bike soon.

Walli on the arm of the chair, with Michele

In my blog about the day I arrived in Auckland I commented that I had bought Calci-trim milk. My daughter Kelly, aka blog editor, commented in an email that it was unusually specific of me not to have just said milk. I realised I had forgotten to add that the next morning I had a cup of tea and the tea tasted of banana, so I assumed it was some weird flavoured hotel tea bags, so I got one of mine, but then noticed the calci trim I bought in a dimly lit superette was actually a small bottle of banana milk! Yuk, down the sink it went.

On the left is what I meant to buy. On the right is what I bought.

About midday I started feeling hungry so I walked down the road to the fish and chip shop with Michele. The shop had a prominent sign saying “Best fish and chip shop in the region 2008/2009”. I was thinking how long should you keep a sign like that up for, after all it’s at least 7 years ago.

After lunch I had a nap, then walked down to get the laundry and some food to cook for dinner. I got nice fat thick steaks, with mushrooms, onions, asparagus and kumara mash with garlic butter. I would have had broccoli and carrots but the lid is stuck tightly on the pot and I can’t break the suction. I currently have the pot in the fridge hoping the cold breaks the suction.

Next it was packing as we are off again tomorrow. Tomorrow is not too bad, only 85 km to Taupo with 850 meters up and 670 down, but the next two days after that are a bit daunting. First is Taupo to Ohakune, 1950 meters climb and 1260 down and 145 km riding. Then the day after that we climb 2,300 meters up and ride 132k to a bush camp in the middle of nowhere in Kuripapango.

Hopefully we have good weather. A bush camp means no toilets or showers or shelter, and often no bush!

Next section Rotorua to Napier

Day 74/164: Rest Day Two in Cusco

I slept in again, had breakfast and then went off to have a massage I had booked at 10am.

Along with general exhaustion I have
1. A really sore neck on the left hand side, I can’t even turn it
2. Altitude sickness, still really breathless and have coughing fits
3. Gastro related to the altitude medication, or the anti inflammatory medication for the neck
4. My bottom lip has big cracks in it even though I have been constantly covering it with lip sun block
5. A pressure area on my butt, thankfully the skin is not broken
6. Asthma, related I think to the altitude.

All in all the three rest days are badly needed. A number of the riders have organized tours to go to Machu Picchu but I decided not to. I was really conflicted as I am so close but in the end decided that I need to look after myself if I want to manage the whole of this ride. Sue went with a group of 7 of the riders, up on the early morning train, got to the main gates and was inside for ten minutes and collapsed. Sue was taken back to the hotel they had booked there and slept for 18 hours (which equates to a USD $750 sleep). Four of the other riders who went have also come back unwell, mostly with gastro related symptoms.

The massage (80 soles) was great, the masseuse really knew her stuff and spent ages on the left side of my neck and back. I had lots of knots. She would work on them for a few minutes and then do another area, but kept coming back. As I left I could already feel the difference.

Next off to get my hair cut and buy some sandals, mine have finally fallen apart. As I was walking up the street looking for sandals a pleasant seeming young man stopped me and asked me if I was from New Zealand. When I said yes he said “Wellington?” which I of course said yes. He then asked if I wanted anything for my hike, which is why most people come here. When I said no I am biking he changed to ‘did I need shoes, Lycra etc’. I assured him I had everything I needed. So then he asked me if I want some Charlie, blow or clean cut. I was a bit stunned and found myself shaking his hand saying ” I appreciate you asking but I am ok”. Weird, so I figure Charlie is heroine? Blow is cocaine? But ‘clean cut’? Crystal meth? Any ideas?

I managed to find some sandals finally in my size, a number of shops had sandals I like but not big enough to fit my feet. After this I had some lunch, bought some really warm multi colored socks, and went on the city bus tour. It was raining to start off with so I sat downstairs, but as soon as the rain stopped I moved upstairs, better for taking photos.

We went up quite a steep hill and I jokingly said to one of the other riders “I bet we come out this way”. No need they assured me, the main road leads straight out of Cusco.

View of Cusco from the top of hill

We stopped at a statue of Jesus that was donated to the people of Cusco by the Palestine government in recognition of the shelter given to the Jews in the second world war.

The Jesus statue

After this the tour went to an Alpaca clothing factory. I bought a dorky looking, but really warm hat. Hopefully the socks and the hat will make a difference at cold camps.

On top of tour bus in Cusco with my warm hat

We saw some Inca ruins that were a ceremonial centre and temple to the sun called Saqsaywaman.  The rocks were fitted together, some weighing up to 130 tons. The Spaniards took a number of the rocks from here for buildings in the town.

Photo of Saqsaywaman in Cusco

Another view of Saqsaywaman

Sun temple in Cusco

On the tour I also learned that 70% of the adult population in Cusco work in the tourist industry, and the average monthly wage is $750 soles.

After the tour I saw two of my favorite riders Shirley and Dan from the USA sitting in a boutique beer bar so I joined them for a beer.

Brett, Shirley and Dan at a boutique beer bar in Cusco

I could not stay long as I was meeting Rebecca, a friend of Kelly’s, for dinner. Rebecca comments regularly on my blog, and has been travelling through Peru the same time as me, but only arriving in each place just after I left, so it was a good chance to catch up.

I met Rebecca in the lobby of my hotel and we headed off to a Peruvian restaurant “The Andean Grill” that was recommended when we went past on the tour. It was quite nice, I had fillet migon again, was nice had garlic in the sauce. Rebeca had lomas saltardo which is a Peruvian spiced stew. We traded stories about all the different places we had been. Rebecca has been on a number of Intrepid Tours all over the world. It was a good evening. Rebecca heads off next to walk the Inca trail.

Earlier when I had arrived at the hotel after the tour, I was greeted by the news that Eriberto, one of the full tour riders, was throwing in the towel and heading home the next day. “Too cold and too hard” was his reason. I was quite startled as he is one of the better riders and had given no prior indication that he was even thinking of doing this. However he is very cheerful about it and has booked his flights and will be home where he lives near Venice in less than two days, he tells us “drinking good coffee, red wine, enjoying fresh pasta and being warm”.

After dinner I went back to the hotel I tried skyping my son Dan, but the connection was really bad so I will try again tomorrow. Off to bed, last rest day tomorrow.

Water fountain in Cusco

Interesting mural in Cusco

Small boy who waved and called out whilst on tour bus in Cusco

Day 42/164: Rest day in Loja

Even though it was a rest day I was wide awake at 5 am. I lay there until about 6:30 trying not to wake up Sue or Jackie who I was sharing with. I decided I would get up quietly and go and sit downstairs and use my iPad until the restaurant opened at 7. Unfortunately I could not find my glasses or iPad in the dark, and ended up disturbing them both :/.

I had breakfast at the hotel, caught up on some emails, then headed off into town to find the bike shop to buy some riding glasses. The bugs and the glare have made the past couple of days a pain not having any. Luckily I bought a cycling cap in Medellin which sits under the helmet and the peak provides some protection against the glare. I got two pairs of glasses from the bike shop, they were USA $57 each which is less translated into NZ $ than I would pay at home. The shop had a great selection of biking components, probably the best of any shop so far. By the time I left it was like a riders meeting at the shop.

After that I went off to look around the town. There were some interesting murals on a couple of the street corners that I took photos of. Then I went to Puerta de Entrada Ala Ciudad Loja which is a building where the entry to the city used to be, built in 1571.

Puerta de Entrada Ala Ciudad Loja – the historic entrance way to Loja, which is now in the middle of the city

Another view of Puerta de Entrada Ala Ciudad Loja

View of Puerta de Entrada Ala Ciudad Loja from the other side

I climbed up to the clock tower where I got some great views of the city. I then had a look around the markets and walked around a few squares.

Markets in Loja

Street in Loja

I went into one church on a main square where the statue of the Virgin Mary had been carried to the night before. The church was beautiful inside but I quickly realised they were actually having a catholic mass so backed out again quickly.

Took a photo of the Convento Fermoisaito. (Editor’s note: I could not find any reference on the internet to anything spelled even remotely similar to this (or the way Kaye has spelled it below) – if anyone can shed a light on what the building is actually called, that’d be fab . . .) (Editor’s update: Thanks to everyone who sent through a comment or email about this – the consensus seems to be that it is actually Iglesia de San Francisco (Loja) – and the statue is of Alonso de Mercadillo, the founder of the city).

Convento Fermoisaitonin

Another view

In the square was a bus full of military, I thought “Not more protests?”, but no they must have just been there for crowd control the night before.

Interesting mural in the streets

Another mural

I really enjoyed looking around the town but decided it was time to head back to the hotel. I had some lunch across the road from the hotel, then headed back to catch up on the blog and sort out my bags ready to leave again tomorrow. Rather than stay in the room I went down to the bar to use my iPad.

I managed to skype Kelly and have a quick chat with Lucy :). The service in the bar was pretty hopeless, Ray one of the riders had been trying for 40 minutes to get a drink, and in the end he went in and poured his own.

The update on Phil was pretty much the same: he was talking, but confused and still stable but serious.

The laundry was meant to be back by 2pm, then 5 pm – a number of us were getting concerned that it would not be back before we left and we had no riding gear! The hotel staff reassured us that it would be back, and it was the laundry that they used, and sure enough much to our relief it arrived back about 6pm.

A number of us had organized to have dinner at the hotel restaurant as we wanted to get the chocolate soufflé again. We had a new rider join us here – Emma – and she joined us for dinner. Emma is a student nurse from the UK, and has just finished her second year training, she is going to be a paediatric nurse. Emma is the youngest tour rider here at 22, and is with us for 6 weeks.

Sadly the restaurant was out of chocolate soufflé 😦 but we still had a nice meal.

Then it was off to bed, ready to be up at 5am again. We have two more days in Ecuador, then we go to Peru.

There seems to be a lot more money, and spread more evenly, in Ecuador than there was in Colombia. I say this because the houses are a better standard. There are some really flash houses, but even the most humble houses are a much better standard. The roads are also mainly better quality.

I have seen more snakes here, mainly in the middle of the road squashed, but a couple just lying on the road, chilling in the sun. I certainly am no longer ducking off the road into the bushes, but instead I am waiting for petrol stations or shops with toilets (Bano).

We have a 7 day stretch of riding before the next rest day. Six of the riding days I am confident I will be able to ride the whole day.

Howard Johnson Hotel where we are staying

Day 18/164: Rest Day Two in Bogota – The tourist!

Bogota has a population of nearly 8 million people. With the surrounding towns this goes up to 10 million. Bogota is amongst the 25 largest cities in the world, and is situated 2,640 meters above sea level. Also it is the second highest city for elevation in South America (highest is Quito).We have approximately two more weeks in Colombia before we cross into Ecuador.

Before going off onto tourist activity we needed to go to the laundry (lavanderia) to pick up our laundry.  The bike clothes certainly look better having been washed at a laundry rather than in a sink.

Sue and I got a taxi to take us to the cable car to go up to the Monserrate monastery, at 3,152 metres above sea level. The ride with up in the cable car takes about 5 minutes and is pretty steep.

The cable car station (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

The cable car to take us up to Monserrate

View of the city from the cable car

Not a fan of heights, so gripping on tight (Photo and caption credit: Sue’s blog)

We had decided beforehand to have lunch up there. When we got up there the first restaurant we went to was a fine dining French restaurant. We thought what the heck, tomorrow it is dirt roads and sandwiches, so we sat down to a delicious  meal.

The French restaurant we went to on the left

The French restaurant at the top of the cable car

Sue and I at lunch
You can’t see in this photo as it was raining but about 5 minutes later the mist cleared and we had a glorious view of the city

We had French onion soup, and salmon. Sue had flambéed bananas for desert and I had creme brûlée – yum. We had a half bottle of sav blanc to go with it. Plus coffee. The cost was 125 pesos each, which is about 65 NZ 😀

With my delicious salmon meal (Photo credit: Sue’s camera)

The waiter about to flambé Sue’s banana desert at the restaurant

We then walked around the monastery for a while.

The monastery

View of city from Monserrate monastery

Overlooking Bogota (Photo credit: Sue’s blog)

We had to go to the toilets (banos) which costs 500 pesos and you get your own individual packet of toilet paper!

Sue with the little packet of toilet paper

We then caught the cable car back down and jumped in a cab to go to Bolívar Square which is part of the historical old town. However there was a protest going on and the first few roads were closed by policia. The taxi dropped us off as close as possible.

View of Bolivar square

In the square you could buy corn and feed it to the pigeons, and they will eat it out of your hand. We wandered back to the hotel looking at all the street stalls. We came across Rhonda coming out of the French bakery. I was looking at the cakes. There were some amazing looking little cheese cakes. Cheese cakes always make me think of my daughter Tracey, who loves cheese cake.

The little cheese cakes made me think of my daughter Tracey

Back to the hotel to download photos from the camera, then out for a quick small meal as I was still pretty full. Back to the hotel to catch up with the blog, pack, and get ready for another 6 days riding – and take one more hot shower.

We have to be downstairs with our bags by 5:30 am tomorrow, so a 4:45am start.

A cat having a snack at the bottom of the cable car

Day Two in Santiago

It was so crazy here last night after Chile won the football, the city partied for hours. The pick up to the show was 40 minutes late – I was starting to be sure I had been forgotten but the lady at reception assured me they would just be running late. Once I got picked up I could see why they were running late, the traffic was gridlocked! Luckily they had a traffic warden at most intersections.

There were cars with flags hooting with people hanging out of windows. people standing almost leaning out of cars. people on the street and in cars waving flags and chanting “cc le le le chile!” (or at least that’s what I think they were chanting). The police did not seem to be bothered at all by the people hanging out of cars, so very different from NZ. I must look up the road toll as the cars do not always look road worthy, cyclists mainly don’t have helmets, and to my NZ conditioned soul people hanging out of cars is not going to end well.

There is an amazing amount of graffiti in this city, just about every building has some tagging. A lot is graffiti but some are works of art. This on private houses, public buildings, shops and on walls and riverbanks. There are also a lot of stalls and makeshift shops selling 2 dollar shop type stuff. A small number of homeless people, but not beggars that I saw.

At the show we got to sit with the tour group which I was pleased about. I sat next to a very nice young couple from Brazil who luckily had not come to see the football. They came for the skiing. The show was interesting, sometimes the dancing reminded me of a mix between Maori and Pacific Island.

They got members of the audience up at regular intervals, luckily they had plenty of volunteers. If you did not know the basic dance steps I don’t think you could have managed, but I guess that could be part of the fun. The whole night the show was interspersed by “cc le le le chile” and occasional breaking into song. I got round the problem of ordering with no Spanish or menu by ordering what the young couple had. I have got their name but it is packed as I am currently in the hotel bar waiting to be picked up to go to the airport.

I got back to the hotel just after midnight. I had worried I might not sleep after my long nap but I slept without waking up until I woke up at 9.50, what the?! So then I had to rush around packing. Things did not seem to go back in as well (as predicted) but I managed to shove it all into the box and bag and then head down to reception to check they would look after my stuff until 10pm tonight.

Next stop: the city tour. I asked reception about getting a taxi to where I could get the City Tour bus and he said “No no need, just go 3 blocks up and you will see the stop”. So with some misgivings I went 3 blocks up and found the stop just as the bus pulled up – unbelievable.

It was freezing on the bus and I had not dressed warmly enough but luckily I had a warm jacket. The circuit takes 2 hours if you don’t get off, so first of all I did the whole circuit without getting off. During the next circuit unbelievably I started to fall asleep again, probably because in NZ it would have been about 3am.

I got off at the Furnicular Santiago. It makes the Wellington cable car pale in comparison. The trip up takes about 5 minutes up and is very steep. On the way back down the guard was explaining to a couple what would happen in an emergency, but it was in Spanish so I missed most of it. But I was not reassured by the tool he was showing them that he would jam in and stop the cars in an emergency, but of course it must work.

The Furnicular was built for Santiago by the Italians, not sure why, will have to google this. There was a Zoo on the way up but I did not stop at it as it did not look particularly big or interesting.  At the top of the Furnicular I took some photos, you could see the snow topped Andes behind the city, but the amount of smog meant they were very hazy.

At the top, there were what I am starting to realize are the obligatory 2 -3 stray dogs for every public space. So far most of the dogs had looked older in years and I wondered if there was a revoking programme for the younger dogs. They do not seem aggressive at all and don’t beg for food, so I am not sure how they get fed. They are not skinny but they are slim.

After I came down again I wandered around some markets and then went to go back to the Turistik bus stop but I could not find it. I walked up and down a couple of times as knew roughly where it was, as I had of course got off at it. I was getting annoyed at myself for not having taking better notice but had been falsely reassured by the fact that all the stops had big “Turistik” bus stop notices. In the end I asked a lady – by asked this was limited to smiling and pointing at my Turistik pamphlet. The stop it turns out was 200 meters up the road where I had gone to a couple of times but it did not have the Turistik bus sign that they are meant to have. So I am not going to count that as lost, so that means so far I have been overseas for 48 hours and not yet lost!

I was amused by some of the power lines, there are numerous wires in a tangle going from lamp post to lamp post, unlike NZ where you have to cut back your trees.

Once back at my stop I wandered around the shops for a while and then headed back to the hotel to wait to be picked up. I had 3 hours to wait, but I had had enough of wandering around.

Next stop is the airport, hopefully there will be no issues with customs or the weight of my bags, and then off to Colombia.  I have enjoyed Santiago and am looking forward to coming back in a few months.

The best, the worst, and the scariest

On the flights home I had time to think about the trip, and what the highlights have been – apart from the incredible privilege of being able to have three months of holiday. I also had a chance to think about the less favourable parts of the trip . . .

In no order of importance here are the highlights (and it goes without saying that becoming a Gran is obviously the biggest highlight)

• I really enjoyed the storks – they were everywhere in the first few countries, and towards the border of Spain and in Portugal there were lots of empty nests, so they obviously live there in large numbers for part of the year
• I really liked the Peacock Clock in St Petersburg at the Hermitage that was given to Catherine the Great by one of her 12 lovers
• The Pandas in Madrid were fantastic, especially watching the brothers playing
• Venice was my favourite city. I really enjoyed visiting all the cities, but would particularly like to go back to Venice, Ljubljana, Madrid and Lisbon
• Sitting in Cannes in deck chairs by the sea having a cold drink was total relaxation
• My favourite restaurant was the seafood restaurant in Venice, where we were not allowed red wine with our meal
• My favourite ride was coming over the hills past Jeruzalem and seeing the vineyards and the view
• My favourite building was the Spilt Blood Church in St Petersburg
• Overall for scenery my favourite country was Slovenia
• Seeing the condors/eagles in Spain, 12 -15 of them soaring and gliding on the thermals above the cliffs in Spain, and the 25 we saw above the field in Spain, it was breathtaking
• There is a saying “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away” – on this trip I had many of these moments
• My proudest achievement (apart from having completed the ride) was getting up the gravel rock road in Spain without having to get off my bike
• Of course it goes without saying that a highlight of the trip was the friendship, support and sense of comradery that developed between us all, and the many moments of laughter.

The things I disliked most:

• The squat toilets
• The lack of toilet paper
• Bugs!!!!!!!! And wasps and bees that appear to have some weird attraction to me
• Hard Russian bread
• Biking and trying to sleep in the heat (especially the day riding along the levy, the first day out of Venice).

The 5 scariest things that happened on the trip:

• Getting lost on the metro in Russia (x2)
• Dog bite camp (where Miles was attacked by a dog). I would have to look back on the blog to find the name of the camp but has been referred to as “Dog bite camp” ever since by the riders
• Getting totally lost in Hungary (but it was ok because I was saved by Berta who gave a lift in her red sports car, and got lost doing it)
• When I was near the border in Poland there were some idiots doing wheelies up and down the road, which was quite scary as I was riding by myself, but I just got off the road and waited for Dan and Michel who were behind me to catch up, and then I stuck with them the rest of the day
• Just before Cannes I turned onto a highway right in front of a car. I had looked but just did not see it, thankfully the driver managed to avoid me (and gave me a well deserved mouthful). After this I looked each time, not once, not twice but at least three times. When I get home I will have back to the habit of walking my bike across a busy road rather than riding it across.