The Sunset on a Grand Adventure

After a hurricane trip through Chile and Peru we were very fortunate to be able to use our birthday gifts from my Mom and Dad-two weeks at a time share of our choice. We had been looking for something since New Zealand but nothing fit the schedule or the location we wanted. We found super cheap tickets from Bogota, Colombia to home and a resort on the Caribbean coast. Our budget and travel drive was dwindling and we decided to end the trip in style. Tired, weary, and ragged we arrived at our 5 star resort (interval international standards). We got some interesting looks while we were checking in and wondered if they would let the travel worn couple with backpacks in. Our accommodations were the best of the whole trip, and we realized that we hadn't stayed in a "western" style hotel since one night back in 'Nam 5 months ago. We had a kitchen, porch, 4 swimming pools, and just meters from the Caribbean. We were like little kids checking out a new house and headed straight for the pools. I'd like to have some crazy stories about our two weeks but it was pretty low key. A few of the highlights were taking a tour to Tyrona National Park, azure waters, a quiet beach, little boat ride, and some snorkeling. One funny thing was that my brother-in-law Travis had been in Colombia the week before we got there and he told us that if your taxi "breaks down" you automatically start beating up the driver because you will soon have 4 other goons at the car to rob you. We had decided if this happens Melica would pounce on the driver and I would work over the second wave. On the way to the National Park our bus broke down and Melica and I looked at each other and were ready to put the plan into action, we held off with no kidnapping or mugging...only being transferred to another bus. Actually, we felt really safe in Colombia, didn't have any issues and found the people to be really nice. They have a new department of tourism slogan "Colombia, The only risk is wanting to stay!".


Some of the other things we did during our two weeks was to check out the neighboring towns of Rodadero and Santa Marta. Nice little touristy, ocean front towns, good seafood and good Caribbean/island/with a Spanish twist feel to it. Most of the people staying at the resort were Colombians themselves or Non-gringos but we did end up meeting two Tennesseans and hung out with them a bit and had a really good seafood meal on their last night there.

Our time could really be summed up by just saying we took it easy. After being on the move for so long and not really being comfortable... we were finally comfortable. We unpacked the bags, spent hours relaxing by the pools, reading, relaxing and thinking about our strategy for re-entry into society. Not sure how we'll cope with the inevitable reverse culture shock and having to make more decisions than just what to eat, where to sleep and where to head off to the next day. We couldn't have asked for a better way to end an amazing trip, and it gave us some ample time to reflect on how lucky we were and what exactly we learned. Here is some of what we learned: It's a huge world, full of great people, places and cultures. We realize more than anything is how good most American (and the NW) have it...economically, weather, and natural beauty. And really how little you need to be happy or survive. You can make due with a beat up Holden Barina and 2 small bags, you can live off of rice, potatoes and lentil soup, you can sleep almost anywhere, rely on the kindness of strangers, and overall if you set some goals, work hard, plan a bit, you can have some amazing adventures.

Our trip back was long but decent. We spent one day in Bogota. We took a nice guided walking tour and saw some cool streets and a nice plaza. The plaza has one of the highest PSI (Pigeons Per Square Inch) I had ever seen. Not a bad city and definitely not as bad as its reputation makes it out to be. We concluded our long weekend of travel with long layovers and sleeping in the Dallas Airport. Monday afternoon we finally made it home. We joked before we left that we would be back in a month, sunburned and broke...it looks like it just took a little longer. One tip- if you are ever forced to sleep in an airport, go to http://www.sleepinginairports.net/ they give good advice on where to crash, if its safe, and if you can sleep. It has been great to get back to the everyday comforts you take for granite: showing without sandals, potable water, public restrooms, English being spoken and some good home cooking.

This will probably be the last blog for a while...We may keep updating it so you know where we ended up and what we are doing. Just wanted to say thanks to all our readers. Thanks to Family and Friends for their uplifting emails and skype calls. Thanks to my brother Dave and his family for taking care of our house and rental while we were gone. And thanks to the friends along the journey that made the trip so great.

Time to hang up the passports and get back to work. Adios.

Easter Chili, Machu Pizza and Lima Beans

A wild and tasty two weeks of travel. For some reason we set a departure date and to keep to an aggressive timeline. Acting like travel ninjas we traveled almost always at night, taking night buses and exploring by day. Not ideal but we had a surprisingly good time, saw some sweet stuff and checked off some biggies on our goal list. In two weeks we took 6 night buses, a couple day buses, 2 trains, a boat and plenty of taxis. Some say its the journey not the destination but whoever said that may have lived under power lines as a kid. For us the destination was the goal but are glad we took the cheaper bus route instead of flying. We met some cool people- a San Fran photographer and a young Colombian traveler. We did have some uncomfortable buses but for the most part they were decent. We survived fluctuating A/C /Furnace systems on buses, a hidden diaper behind the curtain on a bus (for the longest time I thought it was sMelica), a strike, and a group of pompous Brits who - after we had been waiting 5 hours for a delayed bus claimed that we were in their seats(there were other open seats) then found out that he read his ticket wrong and then prompted to discuss it for the next half an hour and decide whether this was the worst bus they had been on (it wasn´t that bad)- It took a lot of self control not to tell them off.

That sums up the journey- Now for the destinations. We made stopovers in Mendoza, Argentina... A nice city with wide tree lined streets, plazas, a place known for their wine and being at the base of the Andes and the Americas largest peak. We then crossed the Andes on the eve of Holy week vacations along with thousands of other holiday goers, spending 4 hours at the Chilean border. Vina Del Mar was our next stop, spending 2 days at the Chilean resort town. Vina had nice palm lined streets and ocean front promenade. On Easter families were out in force along with interesting kids games, random jumping castles, trampolines, and bubble boys in a pool on the beach. The sand art was good and ranged from Homer Simpson to Jesus. we also made a day trip to Valparaiso. A sketchy but picturesque town 15 mins from Vina. We were told by at least 8 people to make sure we go to Valpo but be careful (Even our Chilean friend in Oz said the same) We hadn´t been there for over a half an hour and had already been told to watch our camera and carry our backpack on our front...That doesn´t really make you comfortable or to want to take your camera out for any snaps. The place was cool, it was an old port city with colorful houses built up steep hills and trams transporting people up the steep hills to other levels of the city. Edgy, rough, and antique would be a good way to describe it.

Next we took a long journey through northern Chili, a place that is filled with very little other than desert and mines. We stopped at the chill coastal surfing town of Iquique, spent the night and were at the Peruvian border the next day. We shared a taxi with an impatient if not comical old British/American and crossed over into Peru in a classy Ford LTD. Then we took an OK night bus to the shores of Lake Titicaca and the town of Puno. Lake Titicaca.."As Fun as it sounds" or "Something for everyone" could have been the slogans. Titicaca is a massive lake at around 12,000 ft. elevation. The claim is that it is the highest navigable lake in the world or something. It straddles the border of Bolivia and Peru and the running joke is that Peru got the titties and Bolivia got the caca or vice versa.

We arrived on the night bus before 6 a.m. and were greeted by a nice hotel tout who set us up with a hotel, breakfast and a tour for the day. Too easy, and we were really too tired to make any decisions. By 7 a.m. we were off for the day motorboating Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was a floating island where we met some colorful locals who were carrying on the old ways and living on these floating island made out of bricks of moss and reeds. We heard about their daily lives and then the island turned into a floating craft fair. We then headed to a real island for the afternoon and hiked around it for a few hours. We had a nice lunch of lake trout and saw some nice little villages across the island. It definitely reminded us of the way the families look and live in Nepal.

When first getting to South America we had a goal to get to Machu Pichu and to hopefully do the Inca Trail. The trail was booked out for 3 months and had decided to do the train instead.

Our tight timeline didn´t leave much room for error and planned to leave Puno early the next morning for Cusco/Machu, however, there was a strike closing the road for a couple days. We had almost written off Machu Pichu and thinking the closest we would come would be eating at the Machu Pizza place across the street, when we learned the strike had lifted and buses were running again. We did some scrambling, bought our train tix (must have been the last few because we didn´t sit together), bought bus tix, and ditched on our hotel for a night bus to Cusco. We arrived at 5 in the a.m. and our train left at 7, we took the nice 3 hour train ride to Aguas Calientes-the town below Machu Pichu. We lucked out with another nice hotel tout and we were off to the lost city of the Incas by noon. The place was packed with the usual tourist crowd. It was a bit annoying but we were so amazed by the place that it didn´t really matter. The place was unlike anything I had ever seen before and it gave you the feeling that you were so far away from everything. It had the mix of being natural

beauty with the mystery and awe of the people who were able to build on such an amazing place. There were bright green terraces, llamas grazing everywhere, clouds towering over Waynu Pichu, amazing stone work, and an overall great setting. By late afternoon the crowds and our tour guide eves dropping had all but vanished. We sat on a grassy terrace overlooking the postcard shot- feeling great -amazed at this place and relieved and thankful that we were able to make it. We hiked the hour and a half back to the AC and by chance met up with the Colombian friend from the train and had dinner with

him. Just a great day overall. Next morning we took the 5 a.m. train back to Cusco and eventually a night bus to Lima. We were told by numerous people and the guide book to watch out in Lima as it too is shady. We luckily had no issues, checking into a decent hostel, going to a ruin in the middle of the city(seeing a Peruvian hairless dog) and some other tourist areas. We had an early flight the next day and our cab driver must have been anxious because he showed up 45 minutes early at the 3:45 a.m. The cab driver was the Peruvian version of Jerry Stiller (Melica wouldn´t let me ask him for a photo). Next stop Colombia...in search of Shakira, a cup of coffee, and some relaxation.

La Argentina

Hola amigos, just a quick update from the other America. Our flight to Buenos Aires was good, and got into BA with no problems. We met up with Melica´s sister Tirtza and spent the next 11 or so days checking out all of BA and taking a 3 day trip up to the falls at Iguazu. Tirtza just got to BA about a month ago and is doing a university exchange. She had a few days before all of her classes started, and after 2 days in a stinky hostel it was a good opportunity to travel around a bit. We took an 20 hour overnight bus north to Iguazu. We thought we booked a semi-cama bus but there was a promotion and we got a cama, but should have been the exclamation point because it was the best bus we have been on yet, with seats that lay all the way back to a bed, 2 decent meals, movies, and a bus steward who I almost expected to tuck us in. Puerto Iguazu was a decent little town and we found a good place to stay. We spent the whole day checking out the falls and they were very impressive. They say there are over 270 falls and some over 80 meters. We picked a good day, super hot and humid but a beautiful day. We did heaps of walking and ended up seeing a crocodile, a coati (racoon/anteater thing), and a little fury anteater thing. Overall a good day, the biggest falls I have ever seen and definitely worth the trip. After another overnighter we were back in Buenos Aires, it means good air in Spanish but most of the time it smelled like exhaust and dog crap. BA is pretty European; organized, big plazas, parks, dog walkers, cafes, discos, and a feeling that the town never sleeps. All in all we did have a good time in BA. Tirtza had class a few days but mostly we hung out and went to the sights around town which included: The Recoleta cemetery a huge cemetery with mini shrines and statues at each grave- a quiet neighborhood and nice for a stroll. We dined at La Cabrera, a restaurant that was recommended to us. Beef is big in Argentina and we heard this place had the best and we should starve ourselves before arriving. We weren´t disappointed and we split two meals between the 3 of us and still had leftovers. The steak was as big as my face and a couple inches thick. We capped it off with some tirimisu and called it a night. We also hit up the weekend craft fair. It actually wasn´t as bad as it sounded. There were heaps of talented artists and some unique items. The highlight for me was just the atmosphere, the street performers and definitely some of the best hippie watching this side of the amazon. (slack lines, hula-hoops, juggling and other stuff i´d never seen). We also did the BA thing and took in a tango show. This also may sound lame to some of you, but it wasn´t too bad. It was like dinner theatre, you show up get a seat, order dinner, the band starts playing and you just sit back and watch. Couples from the audience got up and did the tango, some appeared to be fresh off some lessons and this was their big debut. Then the professionals showed up and showed everyone how it was done with some flips and fancy footwork. Melica and I contemplated showing them up and turning it into "Dancing with the Haarrs" but we were too full off of the pizza...next time.

A lot of the time in BA was spent just walking around and exploring the city, always a good way to really see a place. On one of our last days in BA we walked around the big-eco park, and took in another craft fair. It was early afternoon and we decided to keep walking towards a touristy street with brightly colored houses and interesting architecture. It was early afternoon and we heard this one area was a bit shady but we ended up walking through there anyways. Looking back it was stupid but once we were in the neighborhood there was no going back. We were just like, where´s the exit¿ We started getting strange looks, cars were on blocks and without saying we all had the feeling we shouldn´t be there. Without looking at the map (definite no-no in this area) we navigate toward the tourist area. We were almost out when some punk aged 16-20 rode up on his bike and stopped in front of us and started saying something to me like ¨money money¨and grabbing for my pockets. It all happened really fast and you always think of good stuff to do later but I told him firmly to stop in Spanish and don´t touch me in English. We kept walking...faster and for some strange reason he just left us alone, maybe it was the crazy eyes. I later asked the ladies what he was saying and they said, "give me money or i´ll kill you now¨, I guess sometimes it is good not to know that much Spanish...All joking aside it was not fun and we shouldn´t have been there and were glad to get out safe. The "El Caminito" was our goal in the walk and we made it there but didn´t really feel like doddling around. Overall our time in BA was good but Tirtza´s classes had all begun and we needed to start heading on. It was great traveling with two fluent translators, and definitely good to see the sisters back together. I don´t know if they stopped talking for the whole 11 days and we all had some good laughs together.

We needed to get back to nature and a place more our style - and we did so by taking another overnight bus to Bariloche. Bariloche is technically in Patagonia on the northern end and in the lakes district. We rented a sweet studio apartment with a stellar view of the lake and mountains. We rented it for the week from the cousin of a co-worker and it has been really nice. (http://www.barilochevacationrental.com/) They are a couple from Tahoe who now live here and manage some properties and do some free-lance writing...very cool. The only damper on the week was the weather. We had a few good and clear days but it has mostly been stormy. We took a very nice 30 km bike ride and ended up getting drenched -cold but worth it. The views have been amazing and the hiking really good as well. The town itself is great with nice stone and wood accented buildings and amazing cabins all around. The town is also known for its chocolate and has some factories. We have done some extensive taste testing and mostly drooling at the large vats of spinning chocolate.

We have decided to head north, a tough decision as we both love the outdoors and there is some really cool hiking and glacial viewing down south but for cost and time reasons we are heading north. Not sure on our exact plans but hope to hit some of northern Chile and then on to Peru...

Hasta la vista.

A Van Down By The River

Well, here's another big blog but it has to cover a whole country-and an extreme one at that. Our last day in Sydney we finally met up with the son and daughter of the Nepali family we lived with in Pokara. They are studying there and the family really wanted us to see them. Our flight left late in the evening and without a hitch, and like most things we have done we took the cheapest flight and we didn't get into Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand until after midnight. In the States the customs officials look for dangerous goods, in Australia they frisk you for fruit, and now we know in New Zealand they check you for dirt. They washed both of our shoes and went in a back room and washed down our tent...What service! It was almost one a.m. and we contemplated getting a taxi to the city and a hostel but we ended up taking the cheap route and sleeping on the hard floor of the terminal until 8:30 when we could get a free shuttle to the van we rented. The day before heading to NZ we did some extreme searching for camper van deals and found a bare bones deal for a 1993 Toyota bubble van. When we got there they had some better vans available and we got a free upgrade to the Toyota Hiace, with fridge, table, sink and burners all for the same price. The guy even through in a GPS. Free upgrade! We were off to a good start and after the first few days we decided that we wouldn't have time to see everything we wanted so we extended the rental to 11 days. We were tired from our airport sleep but made it almost to Queenstown on our first day. After being in one of the driest countries in the world for three months it was great to see the green rolling hills. As you would expect, we also started seeing heaps of sheeps (the aussies and kiwis use heaps...heaps). There are around 4 million New Zealanders and over 43 million sheep...I started checking their numbers by counting the south island sheep but soon became very sleepy.
Q-town is the adventure capital of NZ and probably the world. If you can think of it they probably have it. They have jet boating, extreme swings, skydiving, hang-gliding, paragliding, canyoning, sledging(like kick boarding down rapids), and this is the home of the first commercial bungy jump site. The weather was pretty crummy for the first few days of our trip, raining and blowing. We passed on most of the activities, but I ended up doing the Kawarau Bridge Bungy 43meters. I asked to get my head dunked and they said they would try, "it's not an exact science" he said, "I may of over shot it...". It all happened pretty fast but before I knew it I was standing with my toes hanging over the edge of the platform and listening for the countdown. I hesitated for a second then swan dove off. I screamed like I was scared ---just for effect or something like that. My thoughts were somewhere between "Did I empty my pockets?" and "Maybe I should get a puppy?" Then my head dunked under the water and up to my waist. Icy cold, blue water...I bobbed around for a bit and then was lowered into a raft. I was the only one that made it in the water for the day, so I gave the spectators a good show. So glad I did it.
We spent 3 or 4 days around the south part of the south island, dodging rain showers we hiked around the Glenorchy area, Te Anau area, played disc golf, and camped and swam in some pretty cool settings. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was filmed all over New Zealand and some scenes in the area we were in. We didn't take any of the guided tours of the areas but took in some of the sites during our hikes. Pretty amazing, the kindof places where you would almost expect some elves jumping out of the ferns or a battle troll stumbling down the hill. We mostly camped at Department of Conservation sites or national park sites or free on the side of the road, only staying in caravan parks for 3 of the days. It was pretty great sliding opening the van door to some sweet mountain lake or river and stepping out on to the set of The Lord of The Rings every morning. (No hobbit jokes please). We drove the scenic road to Milford sound, full of oneway bridges and a oneway tunnel, nice forests, swaying motorhomes, and loaded buses. We finally made it down to the Fiordlands National park and were really lucky that it stopped raining. The place gets 21 feet of rain a year! We took an early morning cruise and the girl on the cruise said that it was the first time they had seen the sun in 3 days. It also worked out well because with the heavy rain from the night before kept the water falls running and the first snow of the season dusted the tops of the mountains making it very picturesque. The cruise was good and informative, we saw some New Zealand fur seals, got sprayed by waterfalls, and just took in the scenery...after about an hour and a half the cruise was over and a good thing because my photo finger was getting a little tired. In the afternoon we did a nice day hike for a panorama of the peaks. The weather got worse as we headed back through Queenstown and Wanaka and we decided to pass on anymore adventure activities for now. The next day we got pumped up by hiking to the (Hans &)Franz and Fox glaciers. We couldn't get too close to either because of recent rains and unstable ice faces but they were pretty impressive. On the news on our last day in NZ we heard that two Australian tourists died after crossing the boundary...Note to self, don't cross the line. We were working our way up the windy, windy and rough seas of the west coast. We caught the sunset at the pancake rocks, which are limestone rocks that have been layered and look like you guessed it...pancakes. After a bit of driving and some more nice scenery we made it to the northwest coast and the Abel Tasman National Park. We finally got some good weather and rented sea kayaks. After some colorful instruction by a cool kiwi guy we were off and cruising the clear blue waters and coastline. We paddled out to an island and just floated and watched the fur seals for about a half and hour and one even jumped a few feet from our boat. We had lunch on a nice beach, took a swim, and paddled through some caves in the afternoon. For our paddle back the wind had picked up and we fought some huge waves and even rode some...we made it back, sore but without incident. We kept moving back towards Christchurch. We relaxed and relieved our sore muscles at the hot springs in the nice little town of Hanmer Springs. We returned our temporary home and stayed at a nice hostel in downtown Christchurch. We met up with one of Melica's sister's friends who lives in Christchurch and who recently did an exchange to the U of I. We got a quick tour of the downtown and had some coffees. ChCh is a nice town and we really enjoyed the south island and definitely could have spent more time at many of the places. We first planned to split the time pretty evenly on both islands but we were having a good time and only left ourselves 4 days for whole north island. The next day we started our epic journey north and took the old adage "relocation, relocation, relocation" to a new level, tagging together a campervan and car rental to get us to Auckland. Our first mission was to take a super long backpacker campervan from ChCh across the ferry to Wellington. We headed up the pretty east coast of the south island. We saw some more seals and stopped for some fish and chips at Kaikora. Melica was attacked by a brave seagull who attacked her for a chip en route to her mouth.
The evening ferry crossing was nice and calm and we were lucky because we heard some horror stories from about a week ago where the seas were rough, people were getting tossed everywhere and throwing up...Calm seas, good views and a clear sky as we wove through islands and across the Cook Straight. We turned the van in the next morning and explored Wellington. Wellington is a really cool city with a good vibe, probably our favorite big NZ city. We walked around the streets and the waterfront ending up at the Te Papa museum. It too was a pleasant surprise, with heaps of NZ information, a preserved giant squid, and lots of great displays. The best part was that it was free-99. We could have spent all day there, but we had our next mission...to relocate a Kia Picanto (I think picanto means small and spicy-it was)to the Auckland Airport.(and only 50 cents per day!) We headed north and after about an hour we got out to stretch our legs at the little town of Levin. We realized that even the community parks are extreme in NZ. This one was fit with some extreme teeter-totters, large hampster wheels, and a crazy flying fox zipline thing-all unsupervised and open to the public. After some near misses with injuries and our abs hurting from laughing at each other we hit the road. About a half an hour later we came upon some hitch-hikers...I was like... "I"m going to go with my gut on this one- let's pick 'em up". We all crammed in the little car and kept moving. They were a kiwi couple heading home from Wellington for the weekend. The girl was part Mauri (indigenous NZ) and the guy was swiss but a resident for 7 years. After having a good chat, we decided to change our route and take them all the way to their house and crash on their floor. It was a bit out the way but worked well for both of us. We drove for about 3 hours, stopped for Kebabs, and arrived well after dark. They lived on a Mauri settlement (similar to a reservation) and worked there. The next morning we woke up to the great view of the Mt. Taranaki-an extinct volcano a few Kms from the village. It was also the 18th of the month, and every 18th and 19th of the month the village has a meeting and festival to remember their past. This group was supposedly the first indigenous group to practice passive resistance to the colonization and have been holding these meetings for over 150 years. We were invited to breakfast with them (they had to ask permission). We were greeted with a hongi or traditional forehead/nose to forehead/nose greeting- we joined them for a breakfast of porridge, mashed potatoes and meat. We chatted with the different people and learned a bit about them. In the afternoon they have storytelling and a big dinner but we had to hit the road- we fed some river eel, said goodbyes and hit the road. And that is what I love about traveling...you can be driving down the road and just by chance happen into some great cultural experience and meet some great people on the way.

Our last stop before Auckland was Te Kuiti-"The Shearing Capital of the World" all set with a 21 foot statue of a dude shearing a sheep. Melica's Dad is a shearer so it made it all that more interesting. They had the world records posted and most of the world record holders come from this area...the record for lambs was 831 sheep in a 9 hour work day! It said that attempting a world record was comparable to running back to back marathons. We took some snaps, had some lunch, and sent home some shearing pants for Martin and were off again.
We timed it just right and spent our first hour in Auckland not getting out of first gear on the freeway. It was rush hour and there were two accidents. We finally made it to our friend Clayton's house. He is a guy we met while hiking in Nepal and he said if we ever made it through-to give him a call. He is a great guy and gave us an intense 3 hour tiki tour of Auckland, accompanied by a mixed CD of classic New Zealand music. It was a good night, a nice dinner and some gelato to cap it all off. We crashed on his floor and were off the next afternoon. We did some time travel as we left New Zealand at around 8 on Thursday and arrived at 5, three hours earlier...if I could only use that technology for my NCAA bracket. (Go Zags)

New Zealand is another great country- our only regret is that we needed more time. They have heaps of outdoor activities and some amazing hikes. It is a great rural based country, comfortable, green, organized and beautiful. We were thinking that if you bundled up Norway, Montana and Canada and gave them a goofy accent and as goofy of a sense of humor you would have New Zealand-or New Normanadada as we call it. It's the kind of place you can be sporting a wooly jumper, be eating a lamb sub from subway, listening to "The flight of the Concords", while jumping off a cliff shearing a sheep.
This is our first day in Bueunos Aires, Argentina and have met up with Melica's sister Tirtza who just started her year abroad studying here. It should be fun and a definite change after being in some sort of English speaking country for the last 3 1/2 months. Our plan is still open but are hoping to travel Argentina for a few weeks and start slowly making our way north to the homeland. Adios por ahora...