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Sleeping in Sucre

shedden — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We were absolutely shattered when we arrived in Sucre. Three days in a row of getting up at or before 5am really takes its toll, especially when immediately followed by a night bus designed for garden gnomes. Sucre is supposed to be a nice colonial place, which is why we were there. It was Joanne's idea; I had seen enough South American colonial towns, but people did rate it highly. We really weren't up to sight-seeing when we arrived, so we just spent time online, drank, and then went to bed about 7pm. The hostel we were staying in, La Dolce Vita, was a bit pricier than we were expecting for Bolivia, but it was supposed to be a good one. Despite that, they did not let guests use their wireless internet connection. There is no excuse for not having internet access, especially in a more expensive place!

We had read that Bolivia is famous for its fruits and we hadn't yet a a chance to sample them, since we had only been on the tour and in a very dry part of the country before that. So we went to the nearby market to buy some fruit and also buy some of Bolivia's famous fruit juices. The juices were a real disappointment: the guidebook raves about them, but they are not a patch on the juices and fruit shakes you can get all over Asia. You can't usually even just get fruit juice: you have to choose between con agua and con leche. Funnily enough, one tastes like watered down fruit juice and the other tastes like a milk shake. What a let-down!

Arches just outside Cafe Mirador

Beer at Cafe Mirador

One highlight of Sucre we had been told about is Cafe Mirador, in a nice part of town, with amazing views over the city. So we went there. It rained, but we bumped into Ricarda, the German girl we met in Salta, then again briefly in Tilcara. Cafe Mirador was OK. I suppose it would have been better in the sun. At least the beer in Bolivia is quite good. We agreed to meet up with Ricarda later, where we were planning to meet some other people from our hostel later. We drank too much. We drank two towers of beer. It was messy.

Sucre

Salar de Uyuni Trip: Day 4

shedden — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The previous two mornings had required us to get up at about 5am, but David wanted us up even earlier to make sure we got onto the Salar for sunrise. We were all at the car, ready for leaving at 5am, but this time David and/or Bernadine had slept in, and they were rushing around trying to get stuff done. Abi was already seated in the car and a suspicious smell of bacon was wafting out of their quarters. Our breakfast had been stale bread and dolce de leche every morning.

Clouds at dawn

Bricks for salt hotels

Nice PC background? The Salar.

Dawn

Distant volcano

More bricks

We did get to David's preferred stopping place for dawn, but his preferred stopping place was disappointingly ugly as there were rows of salt bricks hacked out of the flats and piled up near where we had stopped. The dawn was a bit of a non-event anyway, as there was a lot of cloud. Oh well, time to get down to David's proscribed repertoire of photos locos.

Photos Locos!

When we got out of the car, Joanne noticed that her trousers were wet and after a bit of investigation it seemed that it had been a mistake for them to put Abi in the back of the car so long before they were ready: she had wet the seat, where Joanne had then been sitting. After a bit of photo taking, we were off again towards an island in the middle of the Salar. These salt flats are huge; I think they are the biggest in the world. Apparently they were formed through the evaporation of a large inland sea, which occupied the whole of the Bolivian Alto Plano at the end of the last ice age. So the island in the middle, Isla del Pescado would have been a real island in the middle of an extremely saline lake at some point, and it still really gives the impression of being a real island, except that it is surrounded by salt rather than water.

At the island, Bernadine prepared another pitiful lunch for us, while David stood around chatting to other guides, who were all chewing coca leaves.

Guides with bags of coca leaves

The Salar

Abi

Then it was off again for more photos locos and also to dig around through the salt layer to look for crystals. The salt layer was surprisingly thin and it was quite easy to make holes with our shoes. The car didn't seem to be in any danger of falling through though.

This is like Sesame Street: Near...

... Far!

Apparently when it's the rainy season you need to wear wellies because the water just lies on top of the salt layer, and this is when the Salar looks its most impressive, apparently, with the reflections in the water. Joanne wanted me to do a star jump (or "jumping jack") to get her own photo of me doing silly things, but disaster struck: a large hold in my new trousers ripped open at the crotch, rendering them totally unwearable. Luckily I had shorts to change into. It was a bit cold, but it would have to do. I knew I should have paid over the odds for trousers that didn't quite fit correctly! A quick action photo sequence of the whole process of my trousers ripping and me realising exist on Joanne's camera. Unfortunately she hasn't been uploading many photos so nobody will ever see it....

Everyone taking photos

Wheels

Photos Locos

Eventually we set off again, to stop at the salt hotel. It turns out that this is the illegal one, so it's now been turned into a museum. We originally had thought that the illegality might come from some desire to preserve the salt flats, but it fact they are quite happily mining it all over the place: for building bricks and also for food. In fact the original salt hotel is the only one on the Salar itself; the rest are near, and the problem was that it had no proper sewage facilities, located as it was in the middle of nowhere on the salt flats. Oddly, you can't go into the shop and museum until you agree to buy something, but you have to do this before you've seen what's on offer, so we refused. Business sense seems to be seriously lacking at time in South America! We just took photos from the outside.

At last the tour was over and we hung around a small market where they are trying to flog all manner of tourist tat, which we also declined to buy, reasoning that on the salt flats is probably the most expensive place to buy any of it.

She was crying before

Abandoned child in abandoned truck

Then it was on to Uyuni, where I had to pay for the trip. They had a cash machine, I had been told. However, what they didn't tell me was that the maximum withdrawal is only half what I owed for the trip. Luckily I had a credit card I could use for a cash advance, but it could easily have been an awkward situation.

We said goodbye to everyone and gave David a tip from us all, though he had been acting very strangely since leaving the salt flats: he had become very sullen; maybe he was sad that we were going, or maybe he had run out of coca leaves. I'm sure his mood had been rising and falling depending on how large the bunch of leaves in his mouth. Poor Victoria was taking the option to return with them to Tupiza; maybe the problem was that David was in a huff because she was depriving him of family time. She was planning going to the office to complain and refuse to pay any more than what she owed minus all the money she had spent on water during the trip.

We booked cheapish bus tickets and sat around at a bar, drinking and chatting to some other travellers, before getting on the bus out of there. Uyuni is a rather ugly and pointless place, so we were delighted to leave. Not so delighted when we discovered how cramped the bus was: it was the least leg room we had seen since Nepal. I was getting leg cramps from the lack of space, but thankfully the person in front did not recline their seat. Whew! Another overnight bus, this time to Sucre.

We had been promised toilet stops as the toilet on the bus was locked, but the first stop was at 2am, seven hours after the bus had set off. This was also the food stop, so we bought some cheese and bread. Oddly the cheese was being sold for 5Bs for three cheeses, which was far more than we needed, but it was so little money it hardly mattered and we bought all three.

Salar de Uyuni Trip: Day 3

shedden — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

To some extent, day three was just more of the same, except prettier, perhaps. Hence the many photos. At the start of the day I was feeling a bit sick from the altitude again so David insisted I join him in chewing coca leaves again. It's also good for your digestion, he told me, since I had just finished breakfast... and it's good for working, good for staying awake, good for concentrating... in fact, he told me, it's good for todo. I think he had already been chewing his mouthful for some time. This time he offered me a little piece of what looked like a small stone to put in my mouth along with the leaves; a catalizador he told me. This time, instead of slowly building alertness as with a cup of coffee, my cheek went numb and I felt instantly really awake, but then the leaves in my mouth seemed to be "done" not long after. The catalizador didn't taste very nice; I suppose it was some sort of alkali, perhaps lime, and, from the back, Tina informed me that it makes your teeth go black and fall out. Certainly David's teeth were in a state. I thought I'd give the catalizador a miss in future.

Another mineral lake

Che

More flamingos in a thermal lake

Flamingos and Volcano

It was more mineral lakes, more volcanoes, and more flamingos. Soon we were requesting no more flamingos; we have enough photos of flamingos we insisted, but every time David told us that these ones would be more tame and we would get better photos; and he was right. Why he didn't just take us to the last really tame flamingos and forget the rest, I don't know.

David and Abi walking over minerals

Flamenco y Volcan

Hot lake

The wheels

More minerally mountains

Not much of a road

Surely this should be Dali's Desert?

After the flamingos in Laguna Colorada, we came to some much more distorted and interesting rock formations in the desert, than those in the Desierto de Dali the previous day. Here David introduced us to photos locos, which I think is a course they must do in guide school. All the guides know how to get the best shops of people doing silly things, but their favourite is to take photos with an unusual perspective, making it look like the object of the photo is much larger or smaller than it really is. I believe this all may have started with people holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa and pinching the top of the Taj Mahal, but it probably goes back to the dawn of photography. The main attraction in this part of the desert is the Arbol de Piedra which David instructed us each in turn to pretend we were holding. He didn't make a very good job of mind so I didn't bother putting it up, but there are plenty more photos locos for the Salar itself. Normally I would have been embarrassed by such behaviour, but months of witnessing Chinese tourists has completely desensitised me to extreme posing.

Photos Locos no.2

El Arbol de Piedra

Boogeyman from Nightmare Before Xmas?

A wee walk by the lake

The previous day, we had passed several vicuñas, which are another of the four species of camelids living in Bolivia, where llamas and alpacas are the most common and only two to have been domesticated. Vicuña, by contrast, are wild and rare, David told us, and there is a program to protect them from extinction, so all hunting had been banned for some time. Of course we wanted photos of them, but David had been keen to stick to his timetable the previous day, and we had been unable to take any photos. So, this day, I was waiting for an opportunity and as soon as I spotted one I asked if we could stop and we all took photos. If I'd known how many we would see, I might not have bothered with that first one.

First vicuña caught on camera

Another mineral lake with....

... FLAMINGOS!

Yup , flamingos

There were some flamingos

More vicuñas

Ffff... flamingos

Flamingos!

Would you believe it - flamingos?

Explosive lake

How did they come up with the name?

My stomach had been giving me trouble all day, despite having made it for seven months in Asia with barely mild indigestion. Argentinians had warned us about the food in Bolivia, telling us we should be very careful, but I had thought the tour would be fine. Throughout the day, I discovered that everybody else also had a bit of a stomach upset. I suspected last night's chicken. But it could have been the humitos, who knows? After many many flamingos over several small Lagunas, we came to what David seemed to think was something of a climax: an active volcano, still smoking. It was quite nice, but not really much different from any of the other volcanoes we had seen; just a little wisp of smoke coming out of the top.

Vicuñas in front of mineral lake and volcano

Vicuña AND flamingos

Smoking Volcan Ollague

Abi helps with the driving

What's that reflected in Jo's sunglasses?

Oh, it's me and a smoking volcano

Joanne and volcano

New Nazca Lines?

Finally we reached our destination for the day: a salt hotel. Joanne had read something about a salt hotel being illegal, so we were a bit apprehensive about it, although it was very nice and it was also the first time on the trip that we could have hot water showers. There were a few other groups staying in the hotel and we noticed that, just like the previous day, and at lunch, everyone seemed to have nicer food than us, although they were all complaining about not getting enough water. Our food had been pretty awful and now it seemed we all had food-poisoning. To irritate us further, every time we had a meal, including breakfast, at least two litres of fizzy drinks were brought out. Why couldn't they forget about the fizzy drinks and just give us more water? Clearly people from the first world do not have as sweet a tooth as South Americans.

Salt bedroom

Salt Livingroom

Salar de Uyuni Trip: Day 2

shedden — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Coca leaves handy for the driver

In the morning I felt much better: the altitude sickness from the previous night had completely gone and I even had the bonus of having missed dinner to kick-start my post-Argentina diet! When we started off in the car, David advised me to join him in chewing coca leaves to ward off the effects of the further ascent we had planned for the day. He had been chewing them almost constantly since we set off the the previous day, until after a few hours of driving his cheeks bulged like a chipmunk's. I was curious and I really didn't want to feel as ill again, so I took him up on his offer; after initially tasting very strong and bitter, it settles down to quite a pleasant flavour reminiscent of tea. I think it maybe perked me up a little, too, but the effect is certainly no stronger than a cup of coffee. David told me that 80% of Bolivians chew coca leaves; no wonder the American policy of coca plantation eradication is so unpopular in Bolivia: coca is central to their culture.

An abandoned mining town

Morning view

The landscape on the second day was even more arid than the first, but what really stands out is how richly coloured all the rocks are; apparently this is due to the incredible variety and wealth of the mineral content. We soon came over a pass from where we could look down at what looked like a frozen or snow-covered lake, but David told us that is actually mineral deposits, though not common salt as in the Salar we were eventually going to reach.

Highish pass

Mineral lake

Volcano

We passed a small green patch where lots of llamas were grazing. The each had different coloured ribbons tied to their ears to identify to whom the belonged. David told us that each family in the area owns about two hundred (I think it was) llamas, since they are their only source of wealth.

Llamas

Cute ear ribbons to identify owner

Out of the car is was really cold, since we were at about five thousand metres above sea-level, but still the coca leaves seemed to be keeping any problems at bay. Everyone else started feeling sick though. I'm not sure if I had just gone through some threshold the night before or if it genuinely was chewing the coca leaves that kept me healthy, but I was definitely the best off all day.

Joanne and llamas

Cold Joanne

At the park entrance a poster had advertised the fact we would see flamingos and when we got to the mineral-rich lake, we discovered there loads of flamingos all over the lake, though they were quite shy, and tried to evade our photography.

Flamingos

All those little dots are flamingos

See?

We pressed on, through ever drier ground until there was almost no plant life at all. All the time we were surrounded by colourful mountains bursting with valuable minerals apparently. No wonder Bolivia was exploited by the Spanish so much as a mining country and source of raw materials.

The road ahead

Mineral filled mountain

Andean fox

Finally we came to a hot spring, where we had lunch then took a dip in beautiful surroundings.

Everyone but me in hot spring

Everyone but Victoria in hot spring

Just Joanne and me

Then it was onto Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde, with Volcan Licancabur as the backdrop.

Laguna Verde

David told us we would next be driving through the Desierto de Dali. I wasn't sure what the big deal was supposed to be, but we all took photos anyway. I suppose some of the warped rocks are supposed to look like something he would have painted. Or maybe the place inspired him, my Spanish wasn't good enough to work it out.

The road continues

Desierto de Dali

The first of many "photos locos"

Then the next stop in our busy schedule was at some geysers at 5000m. Tina started to feel really ill here, and David gave her some drug for treating altitude sickness. I still felt fine and encouraged everyone else to have some coca leaves but, apart from Joanne testing a couple of leaves, everyone else stuck with their sickness or chemical treatments.

Geisers Sol de Manana

Bad boys walking beyond the danger signs

A big geyser

Trusty Chilli Bovril

Finally we dropped down towards Laguna Colorada where we were scheduled to spend that night. We would be sleeping at 4350m and I still felt fine. David said that we would not actually take in the lake until the morning, instead saying that it was time for tea. We sat down to some bread and the sickly sweet dolce de leche when I remembered that I really wanted to finish off the Chilli Bovril that I had been carrying since South Africa: my bag was too heavy and it was time to start doing away with pointless extras like this. With our bread, we were also offered various teas, including some of David stash of coca leaves, to use as an infusion. Very pleasant, subtle, and I'm sure as harmless as coffee. What is it about Western culture that makes us want to distil and refine the goodness out of natural products until they become dangerous and addictive?

Dolce de leche - dangerous and addictive

Coca leaves for tea

Timewarp!

alli_ockinga — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It started out innocently enough. Master and I were driving home from hapkido when he remarked that he was hungry, because he hadn’t eaten breakfast. Idly, I asked why. “My wife,” he said, “sleeping.” I looked at him expectantly. He hadn’t answered my question. “Sleep,” he said, “so, not food making.”
“Well, why didn’t you make breakfast?”
He looked at me like I’d suggested he check out the latest career opportunities with Mary Kay. “No!” he cried, horrified. “Woman is food making!”
“Or, you could do it yourself.”
“I work.”

I looked sideways at him in his ninja suit. The man wears pajamas all day long, and we’ve just spent an hour practicing somersaults and handsprings. “It’s not that hard to fry an egg,” I said. “You can do both.”
“Not Korea man job,” he insisted. “I have wife.” He was about to say more, but he was at least wise enough to sense a tirade coming, so instead he said, “Pass.” That’s our conversational safe word for when cultural differences threaten needless arguments. With one last withering glance meant to transcend language barriers, I reminded myself that it isn’t my job to come over here and impose my own value system on others. Still, it niggles. This isn’t the only instance of sexism here in Korea. In general, I look past it, because I know that I can do anything I want, and usually that’s enough for me. But it’s fairly pervasive in this overwhelmingly patriarchal society. It often feels like women are just about 15 per cent less of a person here. For just a moment there in the van, I forgot what decade I had wandered into.

Actually, that’s been a pretty common theme here. Fads come in and out like the weather, and I can never tell if Korean culture is so trendy that these dated fads are coming back, or are just now getting here. Example: when I first arrived, Korea was going through a serious New Kids on the Block phase. I emphasize serious here, because it’s not like they were enjoying it in a cutesy reminiscent sense, the way I like, say, Guns’n’Roses. No no. Grown men sported NKOTB tee shirts, and the radio stations played New Kids mash-ups. Really. I missed the American NKOTB phase by a couple years, but that still puts Korea about twenty years behind.

2PM

Naturally, it follows that there are dozens of boy bands, and some girl bands too, dominating the pop scene. At first, I failed to find the joy in what are essentially the Korean versions of the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls (remember 1998?). But, one of the dubious benefits of teaching is always being clued in to pop culture via the students. After a couple months, I realized I couldn’t fight the K-pop wave, and it was better to just embrace it. As such, I’d like to share this link to a video of my favorite K-pop boy band, 2PM. (Album title: The Hottest Time of the Day.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUgReo37ECw
Please go watch this. It will bring you immeasurably closer to my experience here.

G-Dragon.

And man, those boys can dance! One way in which I feel Korean boy bands are superior to the ones we knew is the mandatory rap section in the middle of each song. I find that I’m less offended by Korean hip hop, due to my rudimentary grasp of the lyrics. I’ve even started to understand a little of the magic of Korea’s biggest sex symbol, G-Dragon (really!), which probably means it’s about time to move. If you've got a little time to get lost on youtube, check out Big Bang (G-Dragon’s group), Epik High, and the Wondergirls for starters. I also recommend MC Sniper if you’re feeling a little edgier. Other things just now appearing in Korea: snap bracelets, the Power Rangers, and acid washed jeans. I’m pretty sure I saw pogs the other day, too. I kind of wish I could be here for when they rediscover N’Sync. They’re going to be HUGE! ... Again.

Salar de Uyuni Trip: Day 1

shedden — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The trip we had booked was leaving at 9am. We had elected not to book an English-speaking guide as it cost more, and since the other two people they had told us were coming on the trip had not booked one, we would probably have to pay double to cover the costs alone; the other two were apparently a German couple who spoke Spanish. I decided that it would be an opportunity to learn a bit more Spanish, and to see the trip as inclusive of a 4-day language course; also we hoped that the Germans would speak English and be able to translate for us.

We turned up at the office of Tupiza Tours to discover that, of the German couple, only Tina but not Stephan spoke Spanish, and that we had been joined by a fifth person, an American girl called Victoria, who also spoke quite good Spanish; at least a fifth person on the trip meant that we would owe less money when we got to Uyuni.

Our transport

As we set off in the jeep, it seemed like we were to be joined by an extra passenger: not only did we have David as our driver-guide, and Bernadine in the back as our cook, but she was joined by a rather small passenger by name of Abigail; their daughter, aged three. After a bit of Spanish I didn't really follow, Tina told us that they were dropping Abi off at her grandmother's house on the way out of town. We did stop briefly on the way out of town and some doors were knocked, but still Abi remained in the car. Tina said that she didn't think they really expected to drop her off and she would be accompanying us for the whole trip. She was cute and didn't take up much space, though, so we didn't mind.

Jaggy rock formations

More jaggy rocks

Cacti and jaggy rocks

Everyone else reflected in Victoria's sunglasses

Cacti

Llamas

A mine

Dry stripey mountains

Short climb before lunch

The first day of the tour took us through some very arid landscapes, where llamas were the only livestock suitable for the environment, and where the small towns we passed seem as if they should be uninhabitable, except that most of them were set up as mining towns using coerced labour. Despite being very hot during the day, the high altitude means that even entire herds of llamas freeze to death occasionally, as had happened here a few years previously. Luckily, enough llamas had survived to provide us with dried llama meat as the filling for the delicious tamales we ate for lunch. During lunch, we asked if we could each get the two litres of water the company had promised us per day. David told us that, yes he know the company said that, but in fact there was only one litre per person, per day. When the child was taken into account, we discovered, there was actually less than that. First black mark against the company!

San Pablo de Lipez...

... a little town in the middle of the desert

Colourful rocks

View

Our cool registration plate

Llama skulls

Lots of dead llamas

Finally we finished our first day at a small town called San Antonio de Lipez. Unfortunately for me, the town is at 4200m above sea level and we had started at about 3000m above sea level. The Lonely Planet trekking guide to Nepal, I remembered, says that you should ascend no more than 500m per day above 3000m; and in one day we had just ascended 1200m. If we had done it from the border town of Villazon it wouldn't have been so bad, as Villazon is about 3500m above sea level. I had been feeling fine as we ascended all day, but not long after we arrived in town I had to lie down and I couldn't even get up to eat dinner. Everyone else seemed fine, but the thought of moving or eating anything was enough to make me feel like vomiting; so I did neither.

Stripes

Che

During the night I got up for the toilet, feeling considerably better, though still not quite right, and I stayed outside for about half and hour, looking at the fantastic stars; at least as fantastic as the southern hemisphere can manage in the way of stars.

really spain?

Taryn Hawkins — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I have had intercambios galore lately and im loving it. Today the intercambio that I do with Erica, took us to a teteria in the Arabic part of town. His name is perry and he is my favorite intercambio. Hes something along the lines of erica’s host sister’s fiancé…or some weird connection like that. But hes studying to be a professor and in order to do that, he needs to pass an English exam. Usually with my intercambios I like it better when we are speaking Spanish because I learn so much, but with perry I like speaking English better. The first time we met with him he knew nearly zero English, it was so hard to understand him. We’ve been meeting at least twice a week since then and it is SO COOL to see how much he has improved. It’s a great feeling to hear him use words that we have taught him. He picks up on the language so quickly its crazy. Every once in a while ill hear him speak three straight sentences perfectly and if I passed him on the street and heard him speak those three sentences I would think he’s fluent. LOVE intercambios and I will be hunting for them in the states when I get back.
Fun fact: perry told us today that when you are with a group of people and then there is what we would call ‘an awkward silence’, in spain, they say an angel passed through the group of people. Que chulo, one of the reasons spain is so cool. Ha
I also learned today in class from my lit prof that English is the language with the most words. We have words that derive from just about every language, therefore our vocabulary is never ending…one of the hardest parts of learning Spanish for me is learning the vocabulary…no wonder English is so hard to learn…
Okay, dear spain, you are out of control, love taryn…
so yesterday was my first day out of the apartment in over a week due to my gripe a…because of this I missed a few exams, one being my culture exam. So I show up to class and we have a substitute who is SUPER guay (cool) and then all of a sudden he starts talking about the exam, so I told him I haven’t taken it yet..and he said oh really? And I said nope..and he said okay. And hands me the exam to take…he proceeds to go ahead and teach class. Full on discussion happening between 25 other students, while im sitting amongst them taking my exam. Our grade is based on the grades of two exams. It was no problem whatsoever for me to take my exam in the middle of class with him walking in and out of the class doing whatever he was doing. This would never happen in the states, ever. So weird to me. really spain??

off to AFRICA for the weekend! i really enjoy traveling...

What is up with the weather? Oh, its the Mediterranean

maya — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Say no more about why the Mediterranean is wonderful. The air is just this moist, soft whiper of a breeze and fragrant as frangapani. The town is lovely and is actually an island portion of Greece. Much of the town is of a martime background so many ship captains and crew are from here. We had a nice electrician from my ship who was on vacation come to pick us up. Ate a delicious lunch of Chicken gyro and sort of just hung about, amazed at the climate and condition.

Map

maya — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey there gang! Here is the map of my cruise for this month. I know that it is going to be hard to keep atrack of me, so, take a look at the fabooolous map. I will try to write each day when I am in a new port and update on any amazing events that took place or yummy restaurants. Since this is my last cruise through the Med, I will try to go to as many ports as possible and not waste a moment. Hard to believe that I'm saying this (we all know that I luv sleep. Zzzz...Zzzz...), but I can sleep when your dead.
Not to mention, there is plenty of free time for me to go ashore and truthfully, I can't believe someone is paying me for this job.
Basically, I show up in the morning and work until lunch time, the afternoon is free to explore as long as I come back in the evening for a few hours to my office. Sweet life....What more can I say?

16 Sleeps to go til we go.

craigandcorrine — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The laptop and camera that will keep you updated

Hello everyone.

For the next few months this may be the only form of contact we have with each other. We are off on our honeymoon and although we don't want you there with us, we welcome you to keep up with our adventures.

There is still so much to do in 16 days before we leave on the biggest trip of our lives. Where are we going to stay, how are we getting from one place to another?? We still don't know ourselves... All we know is that time is running out for us to get organised. One big question that is still to be answered is - How are we getting to the airport??

We will attempt to keep this blog up to date with what we are doing, what we have done and where we will go next.

We should probably get organised now.

Blog you all later.

Craig and Corrine

Panoramic views

willrob — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Bulgarian 'Rockies'

willrob — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

JUMPER....the sequel

Doberdan...!

As always Bulgaria has many surprises for the wondering Westerner...I went to a small town in the North West Bulgaria about 3 hours drive from Sofia...Probably the most amazing Rock formations I've seen so far...they were entered for the 7 Wonders of the World, which I can totally understand...!
Nina is being the best tour guide...We were also celebrating Asen's Birthday (Nina's flatmate's boyfriend).

The weather is mild for a typical November...although I think my 'Donner Kebab' froze on the walk back to the flat last night...!

Hope all is well...Check out the Fortress pics, it was breathtaking views and each Rock had it's own character.
they kinda looked like the the Rocks from MarioLand the (Gameboy version!)

love to all
Rob

Here's your host...

Dan Willis — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Dear old dad...

Arrival In Sydney

Dan Willis — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well, we made it...

Orca Safari Trip 12th - 17th Nov

Craig & Bex's Travel Adventures — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Tysfjord

We arrived late at Stanstead Airport on Wednesday

Beautiful Tysfjord

night for another night on the airport floor. It was hard and very cold but we got a few hours sleep before check in at 4:30am.

Once we arrived in Oslo we had a few hours to do some sightseeing so we thought we’d take in some of the sights we missed last time. We were too late for the sightseeing tours, there was a hop on hop off boat to Museum Island but the departure times meant that by the time we got there it would be time to come back. So we walked around the city seeing some of the shops and things and relaxed in a cafe.

Afternoon Light

Our train North departed Oslo at 4:30pm by the time it left it was dark

Frozen Boats!

so we couldn’t see any scenery. The trip to get to Tysfjord is very long. We took the train from Oslo to Trodheim (a city we visited on our boat tour), this took 6 hours. From here we took an overnight train to Fauske, this took 8 hours. During these 14 hours it was either dark or we were sleeping so didn’t see much. Once in Fauske we got on a bus to Tysfjord, this took 3 hours. The bus trip was really scenic we saw some cooler stuff than on the boat trip.

Tourist Centre Cabins

Tysfjord is very beautiful. We stayed at the tourist centre (consisted of

All Geared up

hotel, motel and cabin accommodation) situated on the edge of the fjord in a tiny village with one shop and a few other houses. There is also a school just up the road. The day we arrive it was very still and peaceful and the sun was shining. It gets dark pretty quickly though, by about 2:30pm the sun fell behind the nearby mountains and by about 4pm it was pitch black. We kept a look out for Northern Lights the first night. We thought it was a perfect night for them as it was very still and clear and loads of stars could be seen, but much to our disappointment we didn’t spot any. I thought I could see a greenish glow coming from behind the hills but Craig though I was imagining it.

Tysfjord

The next morning we were up early for our Orca Snorkel Safari. The day

Ready to get on the Zodiac

before the weather had been perfect and the group saw 2 groups of Orca but weren’t able to get in the water with them because the whales weren’t very interested in the boats. We started with a lecture about Norwegian Orca in the Tysfjord area. They assured us that the Orca in the area only ate herring fish! After this we were taken down to the changing room where we got kitted out. First we put on a wind proof type suit that was lined with fleece. This went over our thermals, sweatshirts, pants and jackets. We also had matching booties to put over our socks. Then we went into another room and pull on a drysuit. We got it on over our legs and up to our waists by ourselves but then the staff had to help. They powdered the arms and neck area to help the suit slip on. Our arms went in easy. Then we held one side of the neck while one of the staff yanked the other side over our heads. Our heads appear through a cloud of powder with our faces and hair covered white. Once this was on we were checked to make sure all the bits were closed and they gave us gloves and a hood and we were ready to go. Needless to say it was pretty hard work moving around with so many layers on but at least we were going to be warm.

Snorkle Safari Zodiac

We were taken to the wharf in a minivan and given some

The Big Boat

instructions before climbing onto the zodiacs. There are three different trip options to choose from. There’s the big boat tour, more sightseeing type trip that takes a bus to a larger boat further away looking for wildlife on the way and then explores the fjord. Then there are two Zodiac Safari options, in this boat you can get up really close to the orca, you can choose to stay on the boat or get in the water and snorkel with the Orca, if the conditions are right. They split the group into two boats, on for snorkelers and one for boat based whale watchers.

Sea Eagle

The weather was pretty windy and the sea was a bit rough once we got

Tysfjord

into the main fjord. We spent 3 hours out on the fjord. We were told about some of the mountains and saw the first Norwegian nature reserve. The skipper spent a lot of time talking on his cell phone to see if other boats had spotted any Orca. We drank hot blackcurrant drink and ate chocolate. We watch sea eagles soaring and diving for fish. We danced around the boat as we all started to get cold. The skipper did have these awesome little heat packs that he gave me & another girl when our fingers started to go numb. We made friends with a Norwegian couple who were given the trip as a wedding present and two American guys. BUT we never found any Orca. The skipper took back a boat full of very disappointed, sad people.

Northern Lights

That night they showed us a movie that one of the staff had filmed of our

Northern Lights

day. Then he showed us one made from trips over an entire season. We noticed that in all the Orca footage the weather was beautiful and calm. After the movies the film guy told us to keep a look out as there might be some Northern Lights and gave us a few tips on where the best places were to spot them. We put our name on a list to be woken if they were seen during the night. We didn’t have to wait long, about an hour after the movie they appeared. So we walked around to find somewhere dark so we could see them at their best. They weren’t as bright and colourful as we expected but they were still pretty cool. They were a green glow covering the sky that shimmered in and out of brightness.

Tysfjord

The next day we had to decide if we wanted to try again to see the Orca.

Tysfjord

We woke up and it was pretty windy so decided that it wouldn’t we worth it as the Orca were so hard to spot in those conditions, as we had found out the day before. We thought if we didn’t go they probably would see them but if we did go we wouldn’t but we made the call not to go. Instead we went for a walk around the area and climbed a hill getting some great views over the area. That night we saw one of the American guys in reception. They had been out that day and again had not seen Orca, secretly we were stoked they hadn’t. He was booking a third trip for the two of them and said they weren’t going to leave until they saw Orca!

Beautiful Tysfjord

The next morning we were up to start the long journey back to

Tysfjord

Oslo and England. Before returning home we stopped off in London and watched the musical Wiked – the untold story of the witches of Oz. It was great (but not as great as the Lion King).

wilpena pound

hallanniem — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

climed wilpenan pound.anothern 8.2 km round trip walk (climb). too hot. did not finish until 1:40 pm sun burnt adn a touch of heat stroke. I needed more water, fortunately Peiter had some extra. Not a lick of shade to be found.

Then we wnet on afew more walks . Just a gentle walk (CLIMB), of 3 km. I thought that this was 6-8 km / day. Two 8.2 km walks n twondays.

Guess what?? Thursday is a 10km walk around uluru.

(yes I cannot spell,m norcan I read this screen to see what I am typing)

Eveie and I did make it to the top of Wilpena Pound and back down withn Francious and Gerard.

We spent a second night at the Mill in Quorn (KORN).

corrupt border guards, granite climbing and off-putting locals!

Clairesj — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I have arrived in Cambodia! we set off from the islands in the morning and arrived at a very unofficial border! it was a tin house and a wooden barrier! the offical then charged us $2 for an exit stamp from Laos which was probably corrupt, but the Cambodians did it too on the other side of the border! it all went surprisingly smoothly and off we drove into a new country. it felt quite similar to Laos if not quite as pretty and a bit more dirty. the first night we stopped by the side of the road to camp, infront of a half built house that was relatively expensive by Cambodian standards, and had a fence around it. as we started setting tents up infront of the gates, the owner appeared, and rather than getting cross, he invited us to set our tents up inside the house (it was currently a concrete shell), then helped bring us fire wood for our cook team! it was quite a comfortable nights sleep a bit away from the road. next it was on to the climbing destination, which was in the province Kampong Cham. we camped by the road, by a poor village and right next to the rocks. the climbing area was small but a pleasant change as it was slabby, crimpy granite rather than limestone. some routes had only had anchors bolted so you had to top rope them but they were nice easy climbs. i found a 6c that i toproped, which had a boldery start, then gradually got easier as you went up. it took me quite a few goes of holding lots of different horrible crimps until i found a nice sidepull and suddenly the move felt easy. i came back to the route this morning and led it which i was pleased about.
the weather here is rediculously hot, so we ended up climbing at 6am until 10 then having breakfast and sitting around until 3 or 4 as it started to cool down. the locals surrounded us, especially the school kids, so it was noisy and a bit intense, when we were being stared at by 20 people when we were just trying to eat our lunch! we quickly ran out of routes at this crag so voted to leave the area early and come to the capital city today after a mornings climbing.
the city is not bad for a city. i went into a pharmacy today and it was actually like going into Boots! it had make-up by known brands, Olay moisturisers, hair dye, etc etc! i was not expecting to find the most Westernized shop so far on the trip in Cambodia! a small area by the river is a westerners haven with the usual hippy restaurants and bars that sell pizzas and burgers and play american music. the killing fields are on tomorrows agenda which should be interesting.

Cuba

Steffi & Chris — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Cuba, what can one say, I think that almost everyone has an image popping up when they think about this island either its Che Guevara, Castro, old American cars, rum, cigars or maybe a little bit of everything.

We came here by plane from Panama City and everyone had told us that it was so hard to get through customs or that it took really long time to get your bags or just problems in general. We didn’t get any of these though, we came filled in the papers and just went through, I had some problems with the immigration lady but that was more because of my Spanish than anything else, she just ended up giving me a look like “stupid tourist, learn Spanish” when she waved me by.
After we had gotten to our Casa particular which means that you rent a room in someone’s home I went to bed and when I started to relax after the trip I started to feel this massive fever that had been built up during the trip so I spent the night freezing while my body was at around 40 degrees, dreaming that Steffi was a rabid dog and even hit her in my sleep, so the next day we went to the tourist hospital where I got some new antibiotics and got cleaned up =)

Apparently the old infection didn’t really die from the first antibiotics so now as soon as I got a cut or a mosquito bite it got badly infected really fast. The doctor also told me that I’m wasn’t allowed to walk and I had to come back for a couple of days to get cleaned.
The next day my mother came to Cuba to visit me and Steffi and so that we could travel around together and experience the country. She also brought things we needed from Sweden (read: a lot of candy). She stayed with us at the casa and since I was confined to bed she and Steffi had to explore the city without me at least for the first couple of days.
On Friday I got the weekend off since the nurse who usually checked the cuts was off and everything was looking better. I was allowed to stay out from the hospital but I was supposed to still be in bed.
Then on Saturday we went to the museum of the Revolution to learn more about what happened. It was a really big museum with too much information. You didn’t know what was really important and what was just meaningless facts like “this weapon was used in the fight at… bla bla.”

This was also my first real look at the City of Havana and it is a really cool and beautiful city, feels like going back in time. You see old American buicks and Chevrolets driving around some looking almost new and some look like they have been driven for 1000 km every day since they were built. It’s also a special city because there is no commercial or billboards only some propaganda.

The day after we went on a day trip to Viñales where the best tobacco comes from. It was really beautiful although it rained a lot.
It is really hard in Cuba to live as cheaply as the locals although we did change our money to the national currency. I didn’t like that they separated tourists by having two different currencies. Going inside most of the shops you didn’t get much to choose from. Most of them only offered rum, cigars, salt, sugar, some canned food and juice.
After Havana we decided to go to Trinidad. A colonial city ………. Our host at the Casa Particular in Havana had recommended another Casa Particular in Trinidad so we went there.
When we arrived there the lady who had the Casa started with the dumbest selling tactic I’ve ever witnessed. Telling us that Trinidad is dangerous for tourists and that we would do better eating breakfast, lunch, dinner in her home rather than putting ourselves at risk walking the streets in Trinidad.
We asked what the meals cost and it was a fortune for her so to say. We started packing our things ready to go and she goes on telling us that all Casas Particulars are full and tourists have to sleep in the park because they can’t afford the hotels or find a casa particular. She really got on our nerves as we walked out the door.
15 minutes later we found even a better Casa Particular for the same price with a really nice balcony, a nice room and a nice lady. The following two days we explored Trinidad. We also went to the beach

me and mom

and saw most of the sights in Trinidad to bad we didn’t know more about the history though but nevertheless it really is a beautiful city

After Trinidad we decided to go to Varadero to let Steffi fulfill one of her dreams, to swim with a dolphin. When we arrived we saw the beach and it was one wave after another, people doing kite surfing and strong onshore winds nice sights and since I still have the problems with my feet it didn’t bother me that the swimming wasn’t the best.
Early the next morning it was time for Steffi to meet the dolphins. An experience of a life time, she was the first one in and last one up, got to try to stand on the nose of two dolphins got a kiss and also tried getting towed by two of the dolphins she got to try everything you see at the tv.

And after the swimming we also saw a cool dolphin show which ended with one of the dolphins swimming around with the Cuban flag... hehe

We got back to Habana and the last night we slept at the same Casa particular and took the plane early the next morning and ended our two weeks in Cuba that we spent with my mother and it was really nice I think all three of us really enjoyed it although I had some problems.

Next we jump to Jamaica Kingston for six days and then it’s almost time for South America.

Chris

Full Circle - or almost

Amber — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It, combined with a full-sized futon, became my new bed while waiting the 2+ months for my real bed to arrive. Surprisingly it has held up quite well throughout the years and is quite comfortable. When not pinch-hitting it resides behind the full futon, just waiting for the next set of guests to arrive. Either that or the next move.

proxima parada Amsterdam Centraal

pabloalvarez1978 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Luego de un viaje más corto de lo esperado a la India, tomé el avión hacia Europa con ganas de ver caras conocidas y amigables, realmente necesitaba descansar de mi viaje a la India, que fue el más agotador de mi vida, no por lo recorrido o la incomodidad sino por el desgaste emocional que sufrí en el mismo. Realmente fue un viaje que consumió demasiada energía y no es que actualmente reniegue, sino simplemente me doy cuenta que hay algunas cosas que todavía no estoy preparado para afrontar, pero son cosas que voy poco a poco puliendo y quizá el hecho de pensar que si lo estaba fue lo que más me desconcertó. Cuando decidí visitar la India me sentía en una especie de nube donde yo era casi intocable y me he dado cuenta que quizá el hecho que muchas veces que he visto a las personas sufrir por sus sentimientos que en ocasiones me han parecido infantiles y darme cuenta que yo soy igual, quizá eso fue uno de los golpes más duros para mi ego. Pero de lo cual he aprendido mucho. Recuerdo que llegué al aeropuerto de Nueva Delhi más cansado e irritado que en cualquier viaje anterior, con mi mochila a cuestas, le di las últimas rupias al taxista y un hasta luego. Entré por la puerta, me formé en la fila y a esperar un poco como siempre, hasta que abrieron otras dos nuevas ventanillas, quise moverme rápidamente pero no pude, por lo que decidí quedarme en la fila que ya estaba para evitar las aglomeraciones tan acostumbradas en la India. Dejé mi mochila en el counter y tomé mi pase de abordar y mi pasaporte, pasé por la migración, rápidamente por el punto de chequeo y me fui a sentar a una de las butacas de aeropuerto, como tenía mucho tiempo antes que el vuelo saliera, deambulé por el aeropuerto y veía miles de escenas parecidas a Guatemala. Llegué a un lugar donde ofrecían Internet gratis, pude ultimar detalles de mi arribo a Amsterdam con Kim, amiga de Bárbara mi amiga holandesa quien vive en Antigua Guatemala. Al llegar el momento de abordar, subí tranquilamente al avión, me ubiqué en mi asiento junto a la ventanilla, para poder observar el despegue como siempre suelo hacerlo, realmente es la parte más emocionante de un viaje, cuando el avión parte con toda la potencia y se despega del suelo. Pero por primera vez en todos los viajes que he hecho en avión, no vi. el despegue, recuerdo que me acomodé, me puse el cinturón de seguridad y de pronto la azafata me despertó para preguntarme que deseaba comer, quizá habrían pasado tres o cuatro horas desde que despegamos, no le se muy bien, solo sé que al terminar de comer nuevamente me quedé profundamente dormido hasta una hora antes de aterrizar cuando el sol se asomaba por arriba de las nubes y desde arriba observaba los campos verdes de Europa.
Llegamos a Londres, donde en su inmenso aeropuerto hice la conexión para Amsterdam, luego de pasar por los controles de seguridad del aeropuerto. Nuevamente me encontraba en un avión, donde si pude ver el despegue, pero me quede profundamente dormido hasta que el piloto anunció que era hora de aterrizar y pude ver el mar que lucha contra los diques de los Países Bajos, las maravillosas obras de ingeniería y lo que más me sorprendió fueron esos gigantes de tres brazos que se encuentran mar adentro generando energía eléctrica. Sentí como si con sus aspas me acariciaban. Sin duda un país que me ha impresionando desde la llegada. Pasé por migración donde el agente solamente me preguntó de donde venía y si tenía pasaje de vuelta, a lo que yo contesté que no y el selló mi pasaporte y pude recoger mi mochila y dirigirme hacia la oficina del tren donde compré mi boleto de tren hacia Amsterdam Centraal, quizá una de las estaciones más bellas que he visto en mi vida. Luego de hablar con Kim por teléfono, dejé mis cosas en su oficina y fui a caminar por las calles de Amsterdam que me recibía con una bella tarde soleada de otoño. Caminé por los canales y por sus concurridas calles, llenas de bicicletas y trenes. Flores y sonrisas. Me dieron el respiro que necesitaba luego de mi viaje por Asia, quizá lo único que estaba buscando era un lugar para poder sentirme a gusto o al menos en paz, donde no me vieran con cara de dólar. Sé que no es posible viajar si no se tiene dinero y que en mi caso yo escojo los lugares donde voy, pero llegar a Holanda fue el respiro que estaba necesitando en ese momento. Quizá no fue como lo había planeado, ya que tenía ganas de ver a una gran amiga que tengo, pero por cuestiones circunstanciales no se pudo dar desde el primer día, pero con el pasar de los días pude ver a Naja y conversar con ella y compartir, y sobretodo sentir que una persona que quiero y que me quiere, me expresaba con su presencia y un cálido abrazo que no había fallado, que simplemente las cosas no habían sido como yo había pensado y que yo mismo debía darme permiso para equivocarme y corregir el rumbo.
Caminé por las calles de Amsterdam, recordando la vez que había estado con anterioridad, cuando era más joven y temerario, recordando el típico olor del cannabis, las risas que me provocó fumarlo y la cantidad de cerveza que corrió por mi sistema digestivo esos dos días de frenesí cinco años atrás. Asimismo recorría las calles sin rumbo fijo, cuando de pronto vi. las luces rojas que salían de unas vitrinas y me acerque para ver el Distrito de Luces Rojas, del cual me había olvidado, me causó cierta gracia y caminé dentro de todo el circuito. Me quedé pensando acerca de cómo en un país como Guatemala un circuito como este no podría existir porque la hipocresía en la que vive la sociedad no lo permitiría, pero si permite que existan redes de prostitución clandestina y que fomentan vicios aún peores que los que la sinceridad puede causar. Luego caminé nuevamente por las calles comiendo algunas golosinas de la confitería holandesa que ha deleitado tanto mi paladar. Volví a la oficina de Kim por mi mochila y fuimos hasta su apartamento ubicado muy cerca de Amsterdam Centraal, de la casa de Rembrandt y otros lugares maravillosos que tiene la ciudad que me ha vislumbrado con su encanto.
Kim ha sido una anfitriona maravillosa, con quien conversé acerca de muchos temas, así como me explicó bastantes cosas del funcionamiento de la ciudad. Como también comer fuera e ir a uno de los mejores conciertos de música en un lugar maravilloso llamado Melkweg, donde fuimos a ver la presentación del grupo de su hermano llamado The Lefties Soul Conection, realmente maravillosos. Con sonidos tan frescos y bailables que hicieron bailar mis piernas como por arte de magia.
Es maravilloso poder disfrutar de un lugar así como yo estoy disfrutando Holanda, quizá no todos lo disfruten como yo, quizá no a todos nos guste lo mismo y eso es la diversidad que he empezado a aceptar y sobretodo a darme permiso a cambiar de opinión y a corregir el rumbo cuando haya que hacerlo. Creo que lo mas importante es ser feliz y cada uno busca la felicidad a su manera…