this is where one girl drove off the cliff

Other than that everything was perfect. Excellent safety and nice and friendly guides.
We started the tour early in the morning and they drove us in a van up to 5700m above sea level and from there we were going to go down 3600m over 65km of road.
We got our nice full suspension bikes and 15-20 minutes to try them out.
It was freezing that high up and I could feel my hands getting really stiff which worried me a little bit about the going down part.
But as soon as we started going it felt really good. The first section is paved and a fast downhill section with beautiful scenery. We did a couple of stops on the way and then we came down to a police checkpoint were we had to pay the entrance tax to go down the Death road.
The road is not used anymore because they have built a new better and safer road so although the road is still open there is hardly any traffic at all on it.
As soon as we had started to go down you could feel the climate getting hotter, during the descent we were going to pass through 4 different kinds of climate zones from highland Puna to subtropical rain forest.
The death road is a dirt road and when you see it its hard to believe it was actually a heavily used road just 3 years ago.
But keeping that in mind its easy to understand how 15 people a month died in road accidents.

On the decent we went for maybe 20 minutes and then the guide stopped gave us some new information about the section to come and then we went on. This we kept doing all the way down, and all along the sides we kept seeing crosses after people who had died there.
Also the guide told us stories about tourist and guides who had lost control or have had accidents even after the traffic has gone away.
After the decent which was filled with adrenaline and beautiful views we came to the town were the downhill ended so we got back in the car and drove up to a hotel were we got to swim in the swimming pool take a shower and after that an amazing lunch!
This was the whole tour and after 12h we were back in La Paz and ready to go to Rio De Janeiro to meet Steffi's brother and father and also of course experience the carnival!

600m straight down

Cheers!

Chris!

]]> Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=113551 0 -16.5019326360668 -68.1605529785156 We quickly found a good one and bought a package with flights there and back (since the roads are horrible here) and a three day Pampas-tour including two nights at a lodge in the jungle.

I have never in my life set foot in such a small plane. Even I had to duck down to enter it and there were only room for 18 passengers. I felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie when we landed in the middle of the jungle in the wilderness without any visible landing spot. Some people crossed their hearts and didn't find it at all exciting while Chris and I had a really good time.

From the coldness in La Paz caused by the high altitude we were now at sea level and the weather was tropical.

We were picked up by our tour agent and went to the agency where the other people of the tour were waiting. There were in total 8 people including Chris and I and all of us were couples in almost the same age. One couple was from Holland, one from England and another from Argentina so it was a nice mix.

We went inside a dirty old 4x4 and were told we had a 3 hour drive in front of us. We have seen many scary roads on our trip but Bolivia is the worst. It was to say the least a bumpy ride. We had to drive through a lake of mud and the car almost flipped. We were driving on two wheels but the driver did some car magic and we somehow landed on four wheels again. The other couples who had gone by bus from La Paz to Rurrenabaque told us that this was the same as the road they took but the only difference was that then you had a hell of a drop off on one side of the bus since it was up on the mountains so none of the women could sleep but the men slept like babies since they had the aisle seats...

When we arrived we switched from car to boat. On the way we saw some Elvis looking birds, tucans, monkeys and turtles. Our guide was about to turn the boat to go back and look for a big monkey when we suddenly bumped into a huge bush full of Pippi Longstocking monkeys. There were about fifteen of them and each one was staring at us. One had a baby monkey on her back and another one was chewing on a big insect he just caught and they were right in front our faces. Even the guys were like "AAAAW".

After two hours we arrived at our lodge where we soon had a delicious dinner. Our guide then introduced us to his friend who was lying in the water just a few meters from where we were eating. Pedro, A fully grown caiman.

Caiman

Next day we saw some new animals such as capybaras and pink dolphins. The pink dolphins were literally everywhere. Our guide told us to jump into the water to swim with them. The rain was pouring down and the water was as black as coal. The guys and I got in. The rest of the girls stayed inside the boat. It was a strange feeling swimming in the Amazon. To summarize it, it was like swimming in a pool of compost. Except there were pink dolphins around.

At night we did a boat tour in the dark under a starry sky. It was pitch black and we only had three flash lights. Every now and then our guide turned off the engine and you were surrounded by the sounds from all the different animals. It was really cool and a bit scary. Then he turned it back on again and somehow he found a little caiman baby with the help of the reflection of his eyes. He didn't look at all intimidating.

A baby caiman

Last day we went looking for anacondas. We were back in the boat and this time we were going with the boat through grass. We searched for land for over an hour but everywhere it was just water. As soon as we hit land we got out of the boat and started walking. My rubber boots were not tall enough so they filled up quickly with water. The mosquitoes were everywhere and I gave up really quickly with the searching. Chris on the other hand though was the last one to leave the island but was covered in mosquito bites. I counted the ones on his forehead and neck but stopped after 30. We didn't find any anacondas at all that day and no piranhas either but it was a really cool day nonetheless.

Searching for anacondas

Steffi

]]> Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=113544 0 -14.4666667 -67.5666667 When we stepped ashore on Isla del Sol kids were running up towards us asking if we wanted to stay at their hostel or home. We said no, no, no. I really hate seeing children who have to work...

Geographically, the terrain on Isla del Sol is harsh; it is a rocky, hilly island. There are no motor vehicles or paved roads on the island. The sun was burning this day and our backpacks were heavier than ever (Chris 20 kg and mine 15 kg). In front of us were hundreds of steep steps and it was the only way to go. No donkeys to carry us or elevators. Half an hour later we arrive at the top of the steps. We began our search for a hostel and found one 15 minutes later. We got a really nice room with a beautiful view for a good price. We dropped off the backpacks and started our hike around the island.

First we went to see the Temple of the sun. The hike there was beautiful but the altitude made it a little more than a walk in the park. We could see the magnificent Cordillera Real in the backdrop and continued further to climb a big hill that we had found. The view was incredible. Suddenly alpaccas came running together with a nice little old man behind them who kindly let us take a picture of him.

lake Titicaca is a magical place!

As soon as they left we were totally alone or so we thought. Two little girls with their backs heavy of things to sell came up to us. They had big smiles and I asked them how old they were (6 yrs) and if the bags weren´t heavy. I got a happy "no". Then I asked what they were doing here in the middle of nowhere. Selling was their answer and I looked around and couldn´t see another soul.

We went down the hill and found two other kids who wanted money... We said we didn´t have any but played with them instead. They got a bit unpleasant and started to take off my gloves and trying to find things to get. Nail polish too for some reason. It was really sad to see and almost every child we met was begging for money not because they were poor but because they have gotten used to tourists giving them money.

We had a nice dinner at sunset and had a dark unlit walk back to the hostel.

Next day we were off to La Paz.

Steffi

]]> Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=112906 0 -16.0166667 -69.15 Lake Titicaca is the world highest navigable lake and according to legend, this lake gave birth to the Inca civilization. Thus it is regarded as a very sacred place.

Soon, after the minibus ride from the hostel to the port, we were sitting in the tour boat heading out to the floating islands. We were amazed of the beauty of the lake but it was a little annoying having to listen to the non stop talking guide saying everything in both spanish and english so you heard everything twice. An Argentinian guy let his cup of Mate tea go around to everybody in the boat and two japanese girls sat there and didn´t understand either spanish nor english...

After a while we arrived at one of the floating islands, also called the Uros, named after the Indians who inhabited them. Legend has it the Uro Indians had black blood that helped them survive the cold nights.

On the island, the president, yes the president, explained the way of life around this island and how the islets are made of totora reeds which grow in the lake. They also eat the totora reeds which are also used to help ease hangovers from drinking too much. After the talk we could walk around the island and visit the houses and wear some traditional clothes. We looked... great. Before we left, we had to guess the depth of the lake from where we stood. I won and received a nice uro-made necklace. When we were about to leave the uro-women started singing one of their traditional songs. It was really beautiful at first when they were singing in this-quechua-language-none-of-us-understands but then they started singing in english, spanish, french, german, even in japanese. Suddenly, the whole mystic feeling about the lake disappeared for awhile. Unfortunately, they are too dependant on the tourists which keep on exploiting the local people.

Cultureshock 1

Cultureshock 2

We left the island on the best boat though, a Mercedes Benz, instead of the tour boat. You really notice the tranquillity around the lake when you are on a motorless boat. We visited another floating island where they sold uro-made stuff. After that we got back on the tour boat. We found out they have a separate island to go to the bathroom (número dos). Imagine what that island must look like… we didn’t get the privelage to go there though.

Two and a half hours later we went ashore on a "normal" island on the lake and there we saw a real closed community, which have really different clothing compared to the rest of Peru. Here they don´t use rings to show if there married. Here they wear different colored hats to signify their marital status. A solid red colored hat signifies that you’re married. A white and red colored hat signifies that you are single… and depending on how your hat falls could mean that you’re “looking for” or “not interested” in having a relationship.

On this island, if a boy likes a girl, he throws a pebble (or rock) at her (real old-school Stone age way of doing it) to attract her attention. If she responds with a smile or good gesture then it's a "go". If she frowns or throws a rock back at the guy, well then it's probably not gonna happen.

Before getting married, they move in with his family for 5 years. Within this time she must produce some children, if no children are born, the man doesn´t have to marry the poor woman. If they do marry she is bound to forever walk 2 meters behind him! Progress apparently - as 10 years ago it was 5 meters!

Another thing is that once the bride and groom get married, the bride will cut all of her hair and give it to the groom. The groom then wears the hair on his head for the rest of his life.

They also live by 3 ancient rules - do not steal, don't be idle and do not lie. Having these rules means there is not need for police on the island.

It was surely like stepping into another world. Next stop, Bolivia!

Steffi
]]> Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=112905 0 -15.8333333 -70.0333333 We came to Cusco after a 20h bus journey that took us over the andes from Lima, and on the way all our fellow travelers where sniffing Alcohol, like the kind you clean wounds with to help with the motion sickness and such.
what more was that during the night our neighbors had brought an opened bottle of red wine on the bus and all of it leaked out on the floor and soaking our stuff, including our Guidebook we tried yelling at them and complaining to the staff working on the buss but we barley got a "I'm sorry."
We did give them the evil eye for a long time though. =)

When we arrived we first walked around in the rain looking for hostels and after much work we found one that was cheap enough and had what we needed (like warm water and thick blankets.)
After that we spent the first two days getting used to the altitude and booking a tour to see Machu Picchu.
Then we had everything sorted out and we were scheduled to leave on the 27:th.
But first there was my birthday, Steffi woke me up and had hid presents in the room.

So i found a alpaca sweater in a drawer together with a nice little flute. and a sticker for my coming motorbike saying "i Love boobies" and a picture of a blue footed Boobie from Galapagos.
after that we had breakfast in bed and then we spent the day walking around town and getting a massage.
Also we moved to a new hostel that was fantastic! owned by a South African lady and called Casa de la Gringa.
and thanks to this hostel we ended up staying allot longer in Cuzco than we had planed for.
Also we got a free night! but thats a long story ;)
All the room are individual and most of them have a beautiful view over the city!
During my birthday it rained allot though and also during the night so the next day we went to check our tour and they told us to come back that same night to tell us if we could go or not.
Because all the rain had caused massive landslides so allot of roads and houses around Cuzco was damaged. That night we also found out that they had closed Machu Picchu and all the roads to Aguas Calientes were destroyed leaving thousands of people trapped and than the next week our so they were helicoptering people out and carrying supplies in.
So the next days we spent trekking around Cusco and especially around The temple of the moon with is a truly beautiful place! when we saw that Steffis reaction was. " Fuck Machu Picchu!".

Thats all we did i Cuzco next we went to Puno and Lake titicaca but thats another story!

Ciao
Chris! ]]> Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=112423 0 -13.5183333 -71.9780556

A different and special place in other words. We met some fun people and one night they had a small party in the apartment where we really got to practice our spanish.

Unfortunately, Chris got food poisoned almost instantly after we arrived and the day after I as well and we ended up staying three nights in Lima before going further.

Next stop was Cusco but since there was a bus strike we had problems finding a bus. Luckily we heard about one company going so we bought tickets and later that day we were off.

Esteffi
]]> Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=109631 0 -12.05 -77.05 Huaraz lies at more than 3000m above sea level and we came there after a long bus ride.

We started from Guayaquil where there is a huge bus terminal combined with shopping centre. And from there we took a night bus across the border into Peru and Piura where we just changed buses and kept going to Piura were we stayed one night and the next night we took another night bus to take us all the way to Huaraz.
The first day we just spent sleeping and letting our bodies catch up a little bit. I was also feeling a little bit sick so it was good not to move around a lot. Also the altitude makes you really weak as well.

But the next day I was feeling a lot better so off we went to visit a glacier and with some help of mate de coca we were able to handle the height.
Pastoruri is located in the Cordillera Blanca at about 5000m above sea level. On the drive in we stopped at a natural spring that had carbonated water coming out and then we also stopped at another mineral spring but unfortunately we couldn’t really see the colors since there was an overcast sky.
And then finally we came to Pastoruri the bus dropped us of at the base of a trail that lead up to the glacier and we used the opportunity to ride up on horses it was about 1.5 dollars for the ride up and I think it was a really good idea since the height made it hard just to walk up some steps.
When the horses had dropped us of we still had a bit to go that we had to walk up and it was really weird to be walking close to the cloud base. Every now and then one of the clouds sunk a little bit and it got very foggy.
Then finally we made it all the way up to the glacier and it is not the biggest in the world nor the highest but it was still cool and I can only imagine what it must look like with a clear sky.

We stayed there a little while got to play with the snow and then we walked all the way back down again!
Then on the drive out the sky cleared up a little bit and we could see some of the high peaks and the valleys and it was a beautiful scenery. Although Steffi missed a lot of it since she was sleeping her way through it. On the way back to Huaraz the bus also stopped to get some lunch and after an extremely overpriced meal Steffi found a little sheep baby that she got to hold.

That was all we did that day and the next we went walking around town and since it was almost a clear sky we were able to get some good pictures of the mountains and the city.
Also Steffi stole a picture of a lady who had dressed up her lama and was walking around the main square with it.

Thank god for our good zoom =)
We also bought the tickets for the bus and that night we left for Lima and some couchsurfers who were waiting for us there.

Chris]]> Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=107743 0 -9.5333333 -77.5333333 I had seen it on Animal Planet. I had read about it in National Geographic. It’s nothing like TV. It’s so unbelievably much better.

We thought we would have to plan the trip to Galapagos in every detail so we wouldn’t leave it broke. But somehow everything just sorted itself out for us and we got lucky, real lucky.

We arrived in Baltra, Galapagos, at noon on the 2nd of January. We started by checking out different hostels and found out that the oldest hostel was the cheapest. I have taught Chris well who haggled the price down to 15 dollars for a double room w/ bathroom per night. Very cheap considering it’s Galapagos.
That day we just wandered around the island, watching sea lions steal fish from the fishermen and checking out some dive shops for diving on the next day.

On the way to the dive spot the following day I was scared of getting sea sick. Unlike Chris I’m not used to the ocean.
We dove two times and got to see hammerhead sharks, white tip sharks, a turtle and lots of big schools of fish.
Before the first dive when the first group of divers was going in, the sea got extremely rough (which my stomach couldn’t handle) so I got a sea sickness tablet. It helped a lot although they also work as a sleeping pill so I slept like a baby the 1 hour ride back.

The following day it was time for our cruise. We met up with the group and went on a tour around the island of Santa Cruz having a sort of tortoise theme.

We saw several giant tortoises in the wild. There is now a healthy population of about 3000-4000 giant tortoises on Santa Cruz but it hasn’t always been like that. Before when the pirates and the whalers were the only ones using the islands they used to take the tortoises for food since they can go up to one year without food or water. One whaler could take up to 500 tortoises on board which they would put upside down to keep as food stock. A very slow and cruel death.

Diego

Getting a tan

The next day in the morning we woke up at Plazas to the sound of barking sea lions (It sounds like they’re about to throw up). Plazas are two beautiful islands with colors of red, green, blue and black only inhabited by animals. We saw iguanas, marine iguanas and loads of sea lions. One of the first things we noticed was the smell of the sea lions and how totally handicapped but cute they look on land. All the rocks were dotted by hundreds of red Sally Lightfoot crabs. The marine iguanas are endemic to Galapagos and are the species that has changed the most through evolution of all the animals that once came to the islands.

When we came back to the boat we spotted a big school of eagle rays so Chris and I decided to join them. Three minutes later we’re swimming with 40 of them! We could even swim down having them all around us and they didn’t mind at all. The feeling was indescribable. They really look like creatures from a fable and somewhat like birds, therefore the name eagle rays.

The following day we had arrived at a new island called Espanola, an island that is basically uninhabitable for humans because there is no fresh water source.
We first walked along a beautiful long white beach where sea lions were busy sunbathing, talking and taking their silly morning walk. A completely sand covered sea lion ran up to me from nowhere and surprised me and even though you tried to keep the 2 meter distance to the animals which are the National Parks rules the animals kept breaking them. Not that we minded too much =)

We were lucky enough to see the albatrosses which come here to mate and nest.
The male always comes first to the island and although they only have one partner their whole life, the male always tries to find another female before his “precious” comes back. Therefore the males always get into fights with other males. This means that almost 25% of the offspring are bastards.
The albatross is a huge bird with a wingspan of about 2.3m and usually they need a long runway to takeoff either water or a clear field but because of Espanolas high vertical cliffs and the strong wind that come from the south east they are able to take off by just jumping of the cliff.

Next day we went ashore on Floreana which is best known for its mystical history. In the 1930's a German dentist and his mistress, a young family (the Wittmer family who still live on the island) and a self-styled BDSM inspired baroness with her three men came to settle in the island. Shortly after the baroness and her lovers arrived chaos began.
The baroness and her entourage terrorized the other inhabitants while planning to build a luxury hotel.
Eventually the baroness, two of her lovers and the dentist all turned up missing or dead. There has been much investigation searching for what really happened on Floreana, but there have never been any hard answers.
Floreana is also famous for its Post Office Barrel which British whalers established in 1793 to send letters to and from England. This tradition has continued over the years, and visitors may drop off and pick up letters, without stamps, to be carried to far destinations. We picked four postcards all addressed to Stockholm and left two. We’ll see if they arrive!

Next we went ashore on the olive green beach where we got to see flamingos up close. The flamingos get their pink color from the shrimps which they in turn get from the alges. On the beach there were also turtles and small sting rays.
After that we went to snorkel at Devil’s Crown which is a collapsed volcanic crater. It was a lot of current which would normally attract a lot of sharks but we only saw one. I got to see my first turtle under water which was really cool.
We got back to the boat and it was time to prepare for a hasta la vista dinner since it was the last day. There were speeches and we thanked the crew. Then we had a really nice dinner together with wine.
We hanged out with everybody on the deck before going to sleep. Early the next day we went ashore on Bachas where we saw some more flamingos, turtles, crabs and marine iguanas.
On the way to our last destination we saw a huge and very polished ship cruising over the water with a black helicopter on it.
Then it was time to say good bye to everybody but Betty, who would also stay on the island for some more days.

We got back to our hostel and met up with Betty later for dinner. The following day it was time to dive again. We first dove at Gordon Rocks (hoping to see some more hammerheads) and then at North Seymore. I didn’t see any hammerhead this time (Chris did) but instead a beautiful enormous Manta ray with a wingspan of almost 4 meters which made my day and the dive worth every penny. He came really close and just cruised by.
We also saw turtles, spotted eagle rays, white-tip and black-tip reef sharks. The next dive we saw a huge hammerhead, a massive garden of garden eels and white-tips.
We met up with Betty again in the evening and went on a mega touristy bug train around town.

Enormous manta ray

Next day we went diving at Cousin’s Rock and near Bartolome. This time we actually had the navigator of the huge boat (that I mentioned earlier) on our small boat and he told us that the boat was actually owned by ONE guy, a Russian billionaire, which he and his family used for holidays. The 29 year old navigator did almost exactly what Chris wants to study so he happily told us about his job. The children, 13 and 19 years old, didn’t look forward to go to the Galapagos at all since all kinds of water sports are strictly forbidden. They weren’t allowed to use the helicopter they had onboard either which they usually only used to bring the family from the airport to the ship after they had landed in their private jet. Amazing how different lives some people lead… Here’s the link to the boat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_%28yacht%29

The first dive we saw a huge school of eagle rays, golden cow rays, tuna fish, hammerheads, white-tip sharks and sea lions playing in a cloud of fish. We ended up holding onto a ledge and just watching the show going on in front of us. Everybody loved it except a tiny black fish which kept on nibbling on my fingers.
Between the dives we got to snorkel and saw our first couple of penguins which Chris got to see swimming. I found a sea lion which I played with who stole my snorkel for more than a minute before he finally gave it back to me. Sea lions are in fact chubby comedians with whiskers.
The next dive we saw a beautiful little sea horse, sea lions, tuna, turtles, two white-tips that circled around us for 5 minutes, moray, puffer fish and lots more. The diversity of the marine life on Galapagos is as incredible as the life on the islands. I have never seen so many different animals in one single dive.
We went out to eat a goodbye dinner later that day with Betty since she was going to fly home the following day.
The next day was our last day at the Galapagos. It was cloudy and we were tired after an intense week so we decided to spend the last day on the beach doing nothing. A day that turned out to be a day we’ll never forget.

When we came to the beach there were no tourists only National Park personnel and Police men standing in the water with their clothes on. We asked one of them what was happening and he told us three dolphins had stranded.
They had been there since 6 am trying to save them but they just kept coming back. No one knew why they tried to commit suicide like this but probably because they were sick or old.
Now it was around 11 am and they had two dolphins left. We asked if they needed help and got a big YES. Chris and I were shown out to one of the dolphins which was then alone. The dolphin was about 3 m long and we held him until rescue came which was a small rubber boat.
The boat had a long rope made of sheets tied together and with that we tied it around the dolphin and towed it out into the deep water.
Now there were only one left but this one was in very rough water and when the boat came in to put the harness on it almost flipped because of the waves. Instead Chris and another volunteer dragged, pulled and swam with the dolphin to the calmer end of the beach 500 m away. When we got there the sea had gotten rough there as well and the boat was unable to come close enough.
The National Park decided that we would do one last try because sooner or later you just have to realize when to quit and let Nature have its way.
The last attempt was to carry the dolphin to a calm bay 100 m away. It took 15 strong and fully grown men to carry it. Not two as in the movie “Le Grande Bleu”.
On the way, the dolphin was really stressed and when we got to the bay you could feel its heartbeat really fast but it calmed down after a little while. The dolphin swam off and we didn’t see him again.
We thought we were done and started walking back but on the way we saw that one of the dolphins had returned and gotten stranded on some rocks. In one last effort, the National Park personnel decided that we should carry the bleeding dolphin to the calmer bay as well. In the end it swam off as well but it looked really weak and we don’t think he made it.

It was a rare experience both tragic and amazing. I never thought I would come that close to such a magnificent creature like a wild dolphin.

This was the BEST week of our lives!

Steffi
]]> Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=106633 0 -0.75 -90.3166667
view from super cheap roomavailable so we got one with a private bathroom and that was 8 dollars! For the two of us. And the caretaker promised us that the next day we would get one with a shared bath that was only 5 dollars for the room.
That night we had really big problems finding dinner since it was Sunday and we went out a little to late everything was closed. But luckily we found a mc Donald’s and got some quality food.
The next day we went exploring in the city and was walking around for some hours just sightseeing. We also went to a “newly” built cathedral that actually hasn’t been finished yet and they have been building on it since 1926. But most of it is finished and when you climb the highest tower you get a magnificent view all over Quito and if it is a clear day you can even se some snow clad peaks in the distance.

After that we shared a taxi to the new town to look for a hostel and also so Steffi and me could look around and plan our Galapagos trip.
We actually found a really good offer in the first shop that we visited but we still went around different shops trying to find one that could beat the first offer but that didn’t happened so we booked it 5 days 4 nights on a 1:st class cruise ship for 1035 dollars, and that was including the flight to and from the Galapagos.
It’s not that we looked for a 1:st class ship it just happened to be the cheapest option.

That same day we also found a hostel that seemed perfect to celebrate New Year’s at, since the old town where our current hostel was at is not too good with bars and to go out we wanted to move for new years, and of course we moved together with Berndt and Stefanie.
The next day on the 29:th we all went to the Equator together. It is about 45 minute bus ride out from town. But on our way to the bus we experienced the mustard incident.
All four of us were walking down the street when Stefanie (not my Steffi) says to Berndt, “You have something on your backpack.” And the whole backpack was full of mustard and also Steffi’s back had gotten sprayed. Almost directly after we had seen it a man who was walking in front of us comes up with napkins and offers to help clean it up. But we said no and everybody held one hand on their belongings.
After we had gotten cleaned up we went on to the middle of the world.
When we got there we found a small park with some restaurants and a huge monument showing the location of the middle of the world. Funny thing though is that this isn’t really the equator. When they calculated it they didn’t have GPS and so the real Equator is actually 500m away outside the official park and there is a smaller museum there that was a lot better and we got a guided tour and got to do some experiments on the equator, like the water going straight down and trying to balance and egg on a nail (Berndt was the only one who made it.) This museum was a lot better and it was not only the equator but also all of Ecuador and its different cultures.

At the real equator

At the equator

The next day we didn’t do much at all we moved to our new hostel and Steffi and I fixed the last details for our Galapagos trip.

satiric caricatures

Monkey masks for New Year

Best hot god

Scary mask

We went on just walking up and down the street eating the best hot dog ever with chips topping and drinking beers. At about 11.30 we started to notice that people were leaving the street. We tried to find out where everybody was going but apparently everyone went home to their families or friends to celebrate the New Year at home. Also some people said that it’s too dangerous to be in the streets after 12 and wondered why we weren’t going home? Still we found a tourist club that was owned by some Pakistani so we rang in the New Year watching a sort of dance of on the street and also some guy had brought one small box with fireworks so we got to see some of that as well.
Our last day in Quito we spent being hung-over and transferring pictures from Berndts camera to our computer. It actually took longer than what it sounds like. And then on the 2nd we went to the airport to go to Galapagos. When we got there first you have to get your bag x-rayed to check for foreign plants and animal products. But that’s another story.

Amor y Besos
Chris
]]> Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105631 0 -0.2166667 -78.5 This day we spent walking around town on our own fixing the Christmas presents to each other since we spend 24hours a day 7 days a week with each other it’s really hard to fix a present. So this day we had decided to just spend the whole day fixing stuff and we did, presents were bought packages were wrapped but even so the next day we were not quite done so also that day was spent on fixing stuff and wrapping the presents.

Merry Christmas

For Steffi I had bought several gifts and then I had bought a bunch of Christmas tree balls and also table tennis balls that I painted and hung up in a bouquet of bougainvillea and so I made a small Christmas tree full of Christmas presents. It is quite hard to explain but it looked better than it sounds.

During the day Christmas Eve day that is we went bike riding together

having a moment with a tree

Un regalo por navidad

We went on riding our bikes and saw some angry looking kids blocking the road with a rope made of grass begging for a “Christmas gift” or they wouldn’t let us pass. They let us go anyways. Since we already had stayed longer than the time we had rented the bikes for we took a different road back that wasn’t quite as steep but on the other hand a bit longer, we went around the “mountain” instead of over it but as I and Steffi had stopped to take some pictures of a piglet and some ducks Sunni had found a pick-up willing to give us a lift back into town so we got there a lot quicker.
After we got back we met up with Stefanie and Berndt, some other people at the hostel and together we went out and had a Christmas dinner together.
After dinner we went back to the hostel and at this time Sunni had already left since she had decided to start doing some volunteering in the morning at a school close to the village. But the rest of us went on and we built a fire in the fireplace at the hostel and there we shared a bottle of rum, some coke and nachos. It was almost a perfect Christmas day.
On Christmas day we didn’t do much, we had planned to do a lot, like shopping at the market but we all felt the day before and didn’t do much at all instead.
Until night when we once again built a fire and this time we had a little barbecue with some sausages shared 5 bottles of wine and had a great evening once again.

Cock fight

On the Sunday all 4 of us went horse riding for 3 hours in the mountains and it was absolutely amazing. Fantastic scenery with huge mountains and big canyons little rives flowing past and everything else is green, really really deep green. We thought that the ride would take us to some crater lakes that are quite close by but apparently we had misunderstood the information. But as compensation the guide took us to some medicinal springs where we got to bathe and cool down for a bit before we went back to the ranch so all in all we were very happy with our excursion even though it didn’t really end as we had thought.

After the horses we just went to the bus station and caught the first bus to Quito.

Bye bye

Chris
]]> Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105600 0 0.2333333 -78.2666667 We got to the hotel and just went to bed in our room trying to recover some sleep that we had lost the night before on the freezing bus.
At about midday we started hearing other voices outside our room and I and Steffi looked at each other “is it Swedish?” “No I think it’s Norwegian, or maybe Danish” and we sat there trying to figure out

svenskcolombianchilenarna

frukost!

It was a long night and the next day we both felt a bit “sick” so we didn’t do much at all. Even at night I still felt sick this time bad for real and not just hung-over so we stayed in that night and prepared for our next bus ride.
We had decided that we should take the night bus again because it was another 11hour bus ride but at about mid day the owner of the hostel told us that the night bus to the border town was not such a good idea since a lot of the buses had been robbed and the closer to Christmas we got the higher the risk was of getting stopped.
We quickly decided that we should go by day instead but since we were hoping to celebrate Christmas in Otavalo we didn’t want to get there just the days before.
So we rushed to the bus station and took instead an 8 hour bus to Pasto in Colombia. Children were staring at me and Steffi since we were the only tourists on the bus and one of the girls asked if she could buy my eyes. When we arrived to the terminal we decided to stay the night there and leave early in the morning to Otavalo. Only problem was that we had not thought of the altitude changes and since we were now at almost 2800 m it got really cold (you could see your mouth making little clouds as you breathed) so we pulled on almost all the clothes we had and just tried to stay warm. Then finally at 6 in the morning we considered it safe to keep travelling so we took the bus the last 3 hours to the border and then crossed over into Ecuador.

Chris

Sorry about not being really up to date with the posting but now we are almost there!
]]> Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=105586 0 3.4372222 -76.5225 Our visit to Medellin started very early in the morning and the first thing we did was going to our hostel. It was nice and cheap but the only problem was that this time there was nothing at all that separated the toilet from the room, not even a curtain or anything. But we figured what the hell since the hostel was so much cheaper than everything else so we went with it anyway.

on a street in Colombia

Next, we had gotten the tip to take the subway up into one of the suburbs that are high up on the hills surrounding the city and take a cable car up to the top. There we could watch the sun set over Medellin. It was really beautiful and you had a really nice view over the city, only problem was that the area is supposed to be really dangerous and poor so we couldn’t leave the station and had to wait for 30 minutes until the sun went down.

Next day we started with walking around a little bit but since we had covered most of everything we decided to take it easy and save our strength for the night.
We had decided to go out and try the night life and had found one club that was supposed to be very popular with dwarves working as waiters. Only when we came there the place was closed so we ended up just taking the cab back, and so ended our night out in Medellin.
On our last day we slept late really relaxed and waited in the room until checkout just packed our bags watched TV and did not much at all, even from travelling you need to take days off.
So at 3 o’clock we went to have lunch at an amazing crepe restaurant we had found the day before. While we were sitting there we started talking to a local guy at the next table, just basic things like how to get to the bus station and how long time the bus would take. So we chitchatted for some time when we waited for the food and just about as we got our food the guy had finished eating so he paid his bill and the waiter turned to us and told us that he paid our bill as well.
A bit shocked we thank him and he tells us that it’s a gift from him to us to remember Medellin. And it really became a great memory. I have never had anything like it happened to me before.
After lunch we went to the bus station since we thought the bus would be 12-13 hours but when we came there we found out that it was only 8 hours which in most cases would have been good news but for us it meant that we couldn’t take the bus we had planned on since then we would arrive in the middle of the night.
Lucky for us the bus station was connected to a shopping mall that also had a cinema so to kill some time we went and saw Avatar for 2 dollars and what a surprise. It was an amazing movie and both I and Steffi loved it. So after that we just got on the bus and left for Cali. The Salsa capital.

Chris]]> Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=104033 0 6.2913889 -75.5361111 When we came there we had arranged a Tahitian Divemaster to host us called Erv. So as soon as we got off the bus we just took a taxi and went straight there.

view from Erv's apartment

It turned out that she was living in one of the houses that our bus had driven past and both me and Steffi had commented on the super white entrance.
The apartment building was really close to the water and from Erv’s apartment we got an amazing view of the ocean.
First night we didn’t do much we just went for dinner together with another couchsurfer who was also sleeping at Erv’s place.
The next day we went to explore the Old city which is really beautiful. It’s an old colonial town surrounded by a wall and also a huge fortress close by.
We spent the whole day walking around the city and looking at the buildings and we also had lunch with another guy from Couchsurfing named Jorge living close by who told us about the city and what you could do and gave us some inside info.

Crazy dancers

That same night when we were on our way back to the apartment we stumbled on a really cool live dance performance on one of the plazas it was different kinds of traditional dances and I think we spent at least 30 minutes just sitting there watching the moves, the colors and listening to the rhythm. Sometimes it was so fast that just looking at it made you tired.
That night we had dinner at Erv’s place that Rihanna (the other couchsurfer) had cooked. It was really good and when I get home I really need to get better at cooking food. Pasta and tuna just isn’t enough.
Second day, we went to the Castillo, a fort close to the old city center, that was used to protect the city from the pirate attacks and also to keep it from being conquered.
Cartagena has a really interesting history, it was the most important town for the Spanish in the South America because it was from here they shipped all the gold and other treasures they found while conquering the continent. Therefore it has always been other nations and also pirates who have attacked the city and tried to take its treasures.

When me and Steffi finally decided to call it a night, this was about two hours after Erv had gone home we found her asleep and snoring outside her door since, she had tried banging on the door she said but Rihanna had her earphones on and didn’t hear. So what do you do when it’s late at night and you have forgotten that the key is downstairs in the reception? You sleep on the floor, that’s what you do.
Our last day in Cartagena we were both really hung-over at first. Could it be the free rum? Any how we didn’t do much except argue with the laundry lady who had made one pair of socks and a shirt disappear but we got it back after an hour, that I spent sitting at the laundry place looking pissed off so I guess that one point for us. That afternoon we caught the 12hour bus to Medellin to se Pablo Escobar’s hometown! But that’s another story.
Cheers
Chris
]]> Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=104005 0 10.3997222 -75.5144444 But amazingly enough everything went as smooth as cutting butter with a knife.
We went passed 12 checkpoints but only got stopped twice and they only wanted to see our passports and even then they barely looked at them this is including the border crossing as well and nobody wanted to search our bags for that matter either.
They only opened the trunk once as we entered Colombia and nothing more.

For the crossing we paid 55 bolivares per person in departure tax and another 50 per person in the por puesto from Maracaibo to Maicao and there we got the bus to Santa Marta.
The only problem we actually had was when we had just gotten in to Colombia and was on our way to Maicao there was another checkpoint, Colombian this time and we had to get out and I gave the officer my passport, he flipped through it once, twice and then a third time really slowly, he was looking quite serious by now, and he took Steffis passport looked trough it once and then looked at us and said “But where is your Colombian stamp?”
At this time I could feel the heart beating in my throat, and I was trying to figure out what we could have missed.
Because in our precious guidebook that we by now had lost almost complete faith in, it had said clearly that it was very important to make sure to get all the stamps, and pay all the exit fees.
Otherwise there would be problems in Colombia. So we had been so sure that there was nothing we had missed.

I got the passport back and went for the page were the Colombian immigration officer had put his stamp, found it and showed it to the officer, hands shaking and the pulse beating in my throat.
He smiles and says something like “oh, there it was.” And also that it wasn’t the color he was used to.

Both of us still a bit shaken got to Maicao and straight away caught a bus to Santa Marta for a 4 hour trip. Went straight for a hostel that was ok but not too expensive but the best part was that the toilet didn’t have a door. Only like a shower curtain so this made us come closer to each other in a whole new way…

All around Taganga there are hills and a lot of them are quite high and give an amazing view so one day we climbed and walked for almost 2hours to get to the top and we got an amazing view seeing all the way to Santa Marta and also along way into the Tayrona national park.
The sun was really hot that day and it felt like we were walking around in a desert because of all the cactuses.
The nature here reminded me a lot of Greece and Cyprus with really reddish earth and almost no trees.

On our last day in Taganga we did a one day tour to the Tayrona national park. It was beautiful, First we had to walk through the jungle (the landscape being a lot different than from Taganga with really dense jungles and monkeys) and along the water to get to the best beach.

dangerous beach

Tyrona park

Unfortunately we only had time to stay there for about 2 hours and then we had to run back to catch the bus that was supposed to pick us up and drive us back.

So when we got to the parking only about 5 minutes late the bus hadn’t shown up yet and the park was closing. We borrowed a phone and rang the bus driver who told us he was on his way and about 30 minutes away, meaning that he had just left Santa Marta.
When he had driven us back as compensation we only paid half price for the ride back.

A happy donkey

Next day we headed of to Cartagena to meet up with a couchsurfer.

Ciao
Chris]]> Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=101925 0 11.2666667 -74.2 We came to Maracaibo after a long long bus ride. We were traveling for about 22 hours in total and arrived in Maracaibo hungry and really really tired. We got picked up at the bus terminal by this amazing sweet couple we had came in touch with through Couchsurfing, Fabricio and Connie and also Fabricios sister who drove the car. They weren’t sleepy at all and started singing in the car cause they didn’t have a radio so we tagged along and taught them Swedish drinking songs and soon Fabricio could sing “Helan går” all by himself. In return, we got to extend our Spanish Vocabulary of insults and curses.

In the morning, we got up when Fabricio and his sister was leaving for work and we got a ride to a bus station and from there we took the bus to where Connie and her family lives. She lives high up in an apartment building together with her mom, brother and their two fat cats.

They have an amazing view over parts of the city we had also brought our bags and while we went out to see the city Connies mom helped us and washed our clothes, we thought we were in heaven! Or maybe just back home in Sweden =) Any how we felt really at home in a very warm and beautiful home.

That same day we went walking and was walking for about 5 hours seeing alot of things like churches, an art museum, a marketplace, the post office and also the “amazing” plaza bolivar which according to our guide book is a must-see... It's not.

In the evening we went to the Vereda del Lago park which is a huge park basically but since it was dark we didn’t really see any of it we did buy an ice tea though and sat down for a while just talking.

Next of what would become our last day in Maracaibo we actually spent by doing nothing much at all, we had planned to go to a museum but we all just felt like doing not much at all so we hung out and I got a good chance to improve my Spanish a little bit, I even got a much needed private lesson.

The washing machine

At night we bought a box of beers and some ice, and to keep the beer cold was keept in the washing machine!
We hung out at Fabricios and his sisters place,and had a really chilled out and relaxed evening where people dropped in and hung out with everybody.

All in all we had an amazing stay in Maracaibo as well, so although we left Venezuela quite quickly we got too meet some really nice people and have some good times. A special thanks also to Connies mum for her hospitality and her how-to-make-arepas lesson. Your food was out of this world!

When writing this I’m laying in a hammock in Taganga drinking a beer and being very relaxed, it’s good to have a holiday.

Ciao mis amigos
Chris!

]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=100005 0 10.6316667 -71.6405556 Early in the morning we took the ferry from Cheguramas to Güiria in Venezuela. The ferry took about 3,5 hours. Güiria was probably the sleepiest town we’ve yet visited and full of weirdos. While we sat there in a park in the middle of the town discussing how to get to Carúpano one of them (also a taxi driver) tried to convince us to go with him instantly by telling us that if we stayed in the park we’d probably get killed and mugged during the night. Showing this with very, very clear hand movements. Especially the stabbing part was hard to miss, even for Chris who didn’t understand much of the Spanish.

We felt more and more eager to leave but everything was extremely expensive. The bus didn’t leave in several hours so we ended up taking the por puesto (shared taxi) which didn’t cost much more than the bus. The fare took about 2 hours. On the way we were stopped twice to be body searched. First they went through our bags thoroughly opening every zipper there was. Then they body searched Christoffer who had to follow one of the machine gun armed guards and strip butt naked behind a house. The guard pointed at Christoffers underwear as a sign to take them off. Why? The guard wanted to make sure he wasn’t hiding any gun in his underwear....

It was exhaustingly hot outside that day which made our driver very thirsty. And what tastes better than a cold beer? So while driving to Carupano our driver drank beers dumping them on the side of the road one after the other. We arrived in Carupano around 5 pm and started looking for a hostel. We soon realized that the Footprint’s South American handbook that we had bought in Sweden was total crap. Nothing was correct. Everything was triple price (or sometimes even more) in comparison to the book. We got really tired trying to find a place to sleep at. We found a hotel where I could sit down with our bags and wait when Christoffer ran around looking for hostels. At this point we were in our worst conditions yet on this trip. Chocked (due to the prices), tired, hungry, stinking of sweat and angry at a lousy book. Chris came back and just shook his head. Tired, hungry, stinking and disappointed we asked if we could get a better price at the hotel where I had been waiting. We got a room for 90 BsF which would give us a luxury room any other place but here it was a shabby tiny room with a small bed. As soon as we went inside and had unloaded the bags ready to get something to eat the room just suddenly turned black. When we opened the door it seemed a major power outage had turned the whole city black.

I thought someone was pulling our legs and apparently there was. His name; Chavez. We soon learned that this was a common thing in Venezuela. Chavez urge Venezuelans to turn down their air conditioners. He's even lectured the country on the bracing virtues of a cold, three-minute shower. Many people here help themselves to electricity for free by splicing wires onto power lines...

Chavez also made a joke on television telling the people that he needs only three-minute showers: "I've counted and I don't end up stinking; I guarantee it."

Anyways, the power outage lasted for about two hours so we knocked ourselves out and slept for several hours. The next morning we went to look for a bus but again everything was immensely expensive and the bus didn’t leave in several hours so again we decided to take a por puesto to Cumana.

At this time we were both in a pretty bad mood. We had planned to go to the Angel Falls and other spectacular places in Venezuela before going to Manaus in Brazil to take a boat along the Amazonas but now it was too expensive so we knew we had to change our plans. In Venezuela you need to bring lots of dollars to change at the black market. The official rate is horrible but even with the black market it's not cheap. We only had 100 dollars and they disappeared faster than a fart in a thunderstorm.

We arrived in Cumana without needing to be body searched again. Although this time, we had a 10 minute long arguing with the driver who wanted to rip us off. Luckily, he didn’t succeed. Thank God for our Spanish lessons! We went looking for a hostel but again they were all too expensive. We went inside a hostel that had WiFi and went online to see if we had received any couchsurfing replies. Luckily, there was a girl called Damiana who had answered. We instantly gave her a call and she said she would be there in an hour.

Meanwhile, we sat down and met another backpacker, a French man. We shared a pizza and he even bought us some beer. Finally, we could relax a little and laughed again. When Damiana came we were happy to be rescued. We jumped into her car and went to her home which was in this really lovely neighborhood where every house was unique and personal. Inside we were welcomed by her sweet mother and three jumping dogs.

We ended up staying with Dana for four days. Sunday night we wanted to experience something true "Venezuelan style". Something we could never ever experience in Sweden. We bought beer just by sticking out our heads from inside a car by the side of the road on a Sunday night! This is what the Cumana people do. They take their cars to this place, which was next to the sea, to drink beer, turn up their music real high and hang out. Then they drive back home.

On the other days we went to the beach, walked around the city and went to a really beautiful castillio and watched the sunset. By now, you all know we never get tired of sunsets.

We also played cards one night while drinking a bottle of Cuban Rum we had bought in Cuba and eating Ahlgrens bilar. After glasses of rum and vodka Chris could suddenly speak Spanish better than ever before and lectured Damiana and her friend about the Vikings and Gustav Vasa.
Time was running away and we decided we would change our plans and go to Colombia instead. To do this we had to take the bus to Caracas, change there and go to Maracaibo before entering Colombia.
Monday night we took the bus to Caracas. 7 hours later we arrived in Caracas where we bought a new bus ticket for Maracaibo, a 13 hours bus trip.

Esteff]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=99501 0 10.4666667 -64.1666667 We started with calling the Venezuelan ferry and reserved our seats and also made sure it was alright to pay for them the same morning.
That done we went on the book the afternoon boat back to Trinidad so that we were going to be able to some diving up in the other side of the island and still have time to go back the same day.
This is where everything started to go wrong the afternoon ferry was canceled so there was only one in the morning, o.k. we figured we will just fly back as well, me not thinking about the no flying after diving rules that are.
We called the airport and they said there was plenty of room left so despite of better judgment we didn’t reserve the seats.
Instead we got the bus that was supposed to take 1 – 1½ hours up to the village of Speyside and where all the good diving is supposed to be.
On the way the bus got into an accident and had to turn around to go back to Scarborough to report the accident this took in total about

our lifesaviour

expensive pasta for two

Some of you might think that this is where the story ends but it goes on. The next morning we once again got up had breakfast and a little walk along the beach relaxing and intent on enjoying our day in Tobago, we went back to the hotel to get our camera and swimming gear and also call the airport again.
That’s when we found out there was only one flight left and it was leaving at 2, it was now 10 o’clock that gave us only 3 hours to get to the airport and it had taken us almost 6 to get to where we were from the airport.
There was only one thing to do we threw everything back into the bags and went for a taxi back.
Luckily one came and it only took 1½ hours to get to the airport so when we got there we were able to get on standby and even catch an earlier flight to Port of Spain and back to our wonderful host.
Wednesday morning we took the boat to Venezuela and that’s were I’m sitting now it was probably one of the fastest visits to the island of Tobago but it was really beautiful with a lot of hills and small mountains small rivers and always close to the sea.

Chris]]> Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=98576 0 11.3 -60.5333333 We came to Trinidad from Jamaica by plane but the plane was more like a bus because it was doing stops everywhere first we flew to Antigua where we didn’t even get off the plane after that we went to Barbados where we also had to do a stop and change planes even though the one we were on was flying to Port of Spain but it was full on the last stretch of the journey so we got off waited for two hours before the next one came.

After getting stuck for a little while in immigration we went to collect our bags, only Steffis bag wasn’t there. All other bags were off the band including mine but Steffis was nowhere to be found.
so we had to talk to the staff working there and after 10 really nervous minutes they told us the bag had been located and would come out shortly.

In Port of Spain we were going to be couchsurfing with a female for the first time so we just got a taxi straight from the airport to her house, and her apartment was the best thing that could have happened to us after the ghetto, so we got to take a nice proper shower and just get to sit down in a couch for a while.

led zeppelin

Next day we got a ride down to the city center and we went exploring for the whole day and Steffi even managed to squeeze in some shopping in there, and we also found a ex US military who although a little smelly showed us a little around the city.

At 5 our host was finished at work and we had decided to meet up so we could catch a ride back to her house but on the way we made a little detour and went up to this beautiful mountain with a monastery at the top were we almost caught the sunset. We also met one of the monks who gave us some inside info about the place and then he tried to sell us some monk made yoghurt.

Also mr crazy himself was on the mountain, an ex convict who really found God, We gave him a lift down the mountain and all the way he told us that he wasn’t really a talker but a listener and that he had seen Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is about 30cm tall and shining and blinking white, he is accompanied by two angels and when he speaks the whole world shakes. Or at least that’s how he had seen him when he was sick with cancer and lying in the hospital… I’m thinking that maybe it was a broken light and he was high on medication, there were a lot more things he told us but now we know that when he dies he is going to check at the pearly gates to see if me and Steffi are going to be allowed in or if the devil is getting us...

That same night we chilled in our host’s apartment drank some Swedish vodka and ate the world’s best popcorn, sweet kettle popcorn.
Next day we got up earlier or at least earlier than we ever got up when we was in the Ghetto and then we went driving to check the ferries to Tobago (they where full) and the ferry that I’m sitting on when writing this that is taking us to Venezuela and the new continent.

We also took a drive up to the north coast to see some beaches and really beautiful scenery on the way step curving roads going across the mountains.
On Monday morning we got up early and took the buss back to the airport to get a stand by ticket to Tobago and that way getting the most out of our stay there.

Chris.

]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=98575 0 10.65 -61.5166667 I had spoken with a guy on Couchsurfing for a couple of months and he said we were welcome to stay with him when we arrived. At this time we were oblivious of the fact that it was in fact in the ghetto.

Where the roads are made of dirt, the electricity and the running water is high jacked, the house walls made of sheet metal and the air tastes like marijuana. Welcome to the Watahouse ghetto.

We were advised not to walk outside the house alone. Only in Kingston there are approximately three murders a day. So the first day we relaxed in the house just chit chatting and eating good food. We also watched the news where they showed three people in our age that had been killed with an uzi in some gang war the previous night.

The kitchen

One of the days we went to visit the market down town. The smell was at times terrible. There were sick dogs eating out of the trashes fighting to survive, meat covered with too many flies but of course very cheap vegetables and very cheap food to buy… We walked that whole day without even meeting or seeing any other white people or tourists which was an experience in itself. We didn’t see any other tourists until we went to the famous I-Scream shop to eat the most delicious ice-cream you can imagine. I guess that, where there’s ice cream there are white people.

Next day, another couchsurfer arrived. Mel from the United States. Passing through Jamaica from India on her way back home. The first night together we went up to the rooftop of Hilton and Pegasus hotel to get a look of Kingston by night.

The last day we decided to go outside Kingston and went to Port Antonio to bathe in the same waterfall as Bob Marley. On our way there, we passed through some rasta villages up in the mountains. Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit them because of the possible danger.

The same day as we were leaving we made it to the Bob Marley museum before the flight which was great. Slightly expensive but worth the money.

Our host asked how old Christoffer parents were and he replied that both are over 60. Chocked he answered. No one lives that long in Jamaica...

Coming to Kingston was an experience none of us will ever forget. I learned a lot from what we saw and experienced here. Sadly, Jamaica is a country with a lot of problems unsolved. Violent crime as well as serious economic problems. I’m glad though Andrew was able to host us and wish him good luck with his free lancing.

And this is where we say Jamaica Farewell.

Blessed.
Steffi
]]> Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blogabond.com/TripView.aspx?tripID=9598 http://www.blogabond.com/CommentView.aspx?commentID=98337 0 18 -76.8
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 =)

me and mom

Chris
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