Hi all! Just a short message this time. Since last time we have travelled via La Paz (gorgeous city, what a setting!!) with the bus to lake Titicaca (Copacabana and then Puno), with the train to Cuzco, walking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, back with the train to Cuzco, flying to Lima and onto Quito where we are now.

The journey has been amazing to say the least. Especially the Inca trail was just stunning. And unforgettable experience! Yet another one during our travels. And right now we are on the doorstep of the next big thing: The Galapagos Islands! We leave Quito in 3 days and will spend 8 days on the boat cruising along the islands and watching what is said to be amazing wildlife. I can’t wait!!! :-)

As said, more stories will follow soon. Not enough time right now to write everything down and upload the tons of pictures we have made so far. The Internet connections in South America are not flying and sitting more then an hour in an Internet cafe is already pushing my patience to the limit! But not to worry! I will be home soon and will upload and write more then. That’s a promise!

For now, please take care and keep smiling! X

Posted in Ecuador | 2 Comments »

Hi all! It´s been to long again! Last month has been hectic! After we got back from Uruguay, I had another check up with the eye doctor in Buenos Aires and it was all good to travel on. And so we did! A day later we left BA with the overnight bus to go to Iguazu.

On the way to Iguazu we stopped for one night to break the bus ride. We stopped after a long 12 hours in a Iguazu Tigre bus full of cockroaches (ARGGG!!! HORRIBLE!!). Instead of relaxing, we decided to stay away and take another bus for an hour to visit some Jesuit mission ruiens. Lovely step back into history. Very impressive what these missions were able to set up back in the 16th century!

The next day we took a bus for the last 5 hours to Peurto Iguazu. Relieved that we made after all the uncertainty with my eye trouble and finally had some nice weather (it was sunny and +20 degrees), we treaded ourselves to an icecream! How nice!

Unfortunately the next day the weather had changed and we visited the Iguazu National Park in the rain, but still had a wonderful time. What an amazing site!! Just unbelieveble! The waterfalls are so enourmous! The amount of water that goes down is stunning! The view on the biggest fall so close by! Just amazing!!!

And it wasn´t just the water and falls that amazed us for 3 days. The park´s wildlife is just as amazing! We saw many colourful butterflies, tucans (the big and small kind), guinea pigs, a crockadile, lots of different birds and even monkeys! Sal got so excited when she spotted them! It´s so nice to see monkeys in the wild! We even saw a mamma-monkey with a little one on the back!

The plan after Iguazu was to travel through Paraguay to northern Argentina and then up to Bolivia. Well… that plan didn´t really work… To get to Paraguay we had to travel through Brazil and we didn´t know that Sal, being Australian, needed a visa for both those countries. That itself ain´t a problem, but it does come with a price and we thought it was a bit crazy to pay over US$ 100 to stay in Brazil for less then an hour (just in the bus getting to Paraguay) and one or two days in Paraguay… so we changed the plan (as we have done so often this trip) and decided to stay in Argentina and travel via Resistencia to Salta in the north-western top of Argentina.

Well, that plan worked up to Resistencia. When we got there (after another 10 hours in the bus) we tried to find accomodation in Salta, but that turned out to be impossible due to Argentine holidays. So instead of staying 3 days or so in Salta, we decided to head for Bolivia as soon as possible and only stay in Argentina one more night. After a lot of phonecalls Sal finally was able to find us some accomodation in Humahuaca, close to the Argentine-Bolivian border.

Humahuaca is a gorgeous little town. Very much how I pictured little towns in Argentina to be like! Cobble stones, small streets, church in the middle, dust, cacti, more dust, locals having a nap on the street corner. Just gorgeous! And at 3000 meters we were also getting used to the high altitude earlier then we had planned.

The next morning we were heading for the Bolivian border, where we planned to take the train to our first stop in Bolivia; Tupiza. We crossed the border without any problem and after a bit of a hectic que at the train station we were able to buy 2 tickets to Tupiza. In Tupiza we planned to do a couple of hikes at altitude (Tupiza is at 2950 meters) in preparation for the Inca trail early August, before travelling on.

Well, that preparation didn´t go as planned… The first day we took it easy, slept late and did a lovely hike in the afternoon for about 4 hours. Lovely as it took us through a canyon and the scenery was just stunning! Red hills covered with cacti, we pictured ourselves in a cowboy movie! Thinking we could be jumped by Indians at every corner of the very narrow canyon. So the hike was nice, but what was not nice was that Sal got a bad headache by the end of it…

We knew the altitude could bother us, but as we had been at 3000 meters for 2 days already we thought we would be alright. We were wrong! We were both out of breath very quickly when the hike took us uphill. I also didn´t feel my best and we decided to call it an early night.

The next day started well, with both of us feeling good, but with how we felt the day before in mind, we decided to just take an easy strole and not strain ourselves so much. That started off well, but Sal started feeling bad again quite soon. So we went back to the hotel and Sal felt sicker and sicker. We stayed at the hotel that afternoon and night and the day after Sal only left the bed to go to the toilet. Not good. We were puzzled by what caused her to be so sick. Could it be the altitude? Or was it just that she ate something bad? She did have a bad veggie lasagna the night before…

Additional problem was that we planned to leave Tupiza on a “southwest circuit” tour to Uyuni and that left the day after she had been in bed all day… Luckily, and with some help of some medication, Sal felt well enough to give it a go and hup on the 4×4 to do the tour.

At the moment we have just arrived in Uyuni and finished the 4 day tour. Sal made it through it! It wasn´t easy on her, but she hung in there and got through it, while still being able to enjoy the tour. And the tour was very enjoyable!

OK, maybe not all the time spend in the jeep… about 9 hours a day was a bit much, but it was worth it! We saw the most amazing landscapes! Deserts, lagunas, vulcanos, flamingos, thousands of llamas and to top it off the largest salt planes in the world, Salar de Uyuni! A 4 day tour we will definitly remember for a long time!

Now we are waiting for the bus to take us to La Paz! Very strange to actually be in La Paz tomorrow morning. Especially as I left Australia and said goodbye to Sal´s sisters, I told them we would meet again in La Paz, and that just sounded so weird at the time, and now it will actually happen! Looking forward to see them both at La Paz airport on the morning of the 25th!!

That´s it for now! Hoping to upload some photos in La Paz!

Take care you all and keep smiling! X

Posted in South America | 2 Comments »

Yes. Now… My eye inflamation has returned. Damn. Luckily we were in Buenos Aires when it happened, and not in the middle of nowhere far from medical facilities. And luckily it´s just a minor inflamation and they are able to tread it right here and now. Luckily the eye doctors in B.A. are as good as in Holland. Luckily we can still keep travelling, and visit Iguazu (although we know for sure tomorrow afternoon after the next visit to the eye doctor *fingers crossed*) Well… considering all, I guess I still have to call myself lucky! :-)

Either way, lucky or not, haven´t been able to write much here or emails to people. Sorry for that. Hopefully when my eye is better again I will find some more time…

Travel wise all is going well. After Pucon we have travelled through Valdivia & Puerto Varas in Chile, then onto Bariloche in Argentina with a rainy and cloudy lake crossing. Then up to San Rafael, San Luis, Cordoba and finally east to Rosario and Buenos Aires. From there we took the boat to Colonia in Uruguay and the boat to Montevideo where we are now before going back to B.A. tomorrow.

As said, as the eye doctor gives the green light, we will be travelling onwards to Iguazu, and then through Paraguay up to the north tip of Argentina (Salta/Jujuy) and then into Bolivia to meet up with Sal´s sisters in La Paz on the 24th! We will have a busy schedule!

Again, hope everybody is still well! Keep smiling and still missing you all! X

Ps. Will write some more about the travels when my eye is better again!

Posted in Argentina, Health | 2 Comments »

It´s been a while since the last story, lot`s to write about again!! Probably will have to come back and finish this story properly though!

Easter Island was next on the list after our week in Santiago and as most travel books will tell you, it´s quite a mysterious place! A strange landscape, inactive vulcanos, a facinating birdman culture and the gigantic “moai” statues top it off! And it isn´t just the cheer size of the statues that make you wonder!

We were not perticulary lucky with the weather… not strange, as May turned out to be the wettest month… after my eye problems I just rebooked the trip and didn´t do enough research to get a “better” month… Still, the temperature wasn´t that bad with around 20 degrees. Plus we did got quite lucky with the weather when we did a tour to see the most important sites on the south coast of the Island. Only one “hard” day when we said off for a 5 hour hike and ended up walking over 4 hours in the rain… pooring rain I may add!

After Easter Island we flew back to Santiago and after one night there, we started slowly going south… South where the cold is. Bit by bit we are getting further. Now in Valdivia and the day after tomorrow we will go to the southest point we will go in Chile, Puerto Varas. From there we will take buses and boats to Argentina and continue to travel up towards warmer weather!

So far it´s all been fun travels! No horrible stories just yet! *knock, knock on wood* From Santiago we travelled to Talca for wine tasting and visited an amazing national park (name will follow!). We did a 7 hour (!) hike, through a gorgeous forrest along big mountains and ended up (half way after 3,5 hours) on a view-point out on the Andes! Oh my… gigantic would be the only word to describe it! Just amazing! What a sight! Not sure if the pictures will give the correct view, when I get time to upload them, but either way, it was a very special experience! Not to mention the busride back to Talca! 2 hours in a little bus, smelling off diesel and oil, with a frontdoor that won´t close, with high speeds on gravel roads through the hills with thick mist, crappy seats, etc. Just another fun experience!

After Talca we took an 8 hour busride to Pucon. Pucon is a weird European (Swiss/Austrian/Southern German) looking town. Very different from the rest of Chile we have seen so far. The town lies in the shadow of an active and amazing vulcano, Vulcan Villarica. We saw it glowing in the dark when we arrived and saw the cheer size of it the next morning! Very impressive. We read in the Lonely Planet that it`s possible to climb it and look down into the cartor and see the lava! So we checked with the girl at the hostel and a couple of hours later we booked the climb for the next day. 5 hours up, 2 hours down… Well, that was if we would have made it to the top… as you understand, we didn´t. Not because we didn´t wanted, or couldn´t… well… having that said, it was very hard going! We started at 1400 meters and got to 2200 (3 hours later!). The top is at 2847, so we had still somewhat to go, but the decent would have been to dangerous because the top of the vulcano was covered in ice… Sad, but it was definitely another interesting experience! Sal couldn´t be more happy that the adventure ended a bit early. After the first hour she already had enough, but still made it through the next two! Amazing! Talking about determination!!!

The day after the vulcano climb we decided to take a well deserved Spa day! As there is so much vulcanic activity in the Pucon area, there are also a lot of natural “hot” springs. Warmed up by mother earth itself! Never having been to one it turned out to be a very relaxing experience!

Oh, never got to finish writing that post to the blog, but before I left I got the final diagnoses from the doctor, confirming I have Bechterew`s disease. Not a big shot when the news came, but still not all that nice. Knowing there is no cure for the disease, it`s now all about dealing with it. The way to deal with it is taking medication every day (one little pil, travelling with A LOT now!) and stretch excersizes to keep my back flexible.

All going well on that part so far! *knock, knock again* In Santiago we had a somewhat challaging effort to find me a yoga-mat to do my 26 different exercises (takes 45 minutes each morning, all are a lot like pilates kind of exercises) as some places have either rock hard floors, or rocks on the floor! So I now travel around South America with my yoga-mat. Sometimes the exercises prove a real challange, mainly when we have to get up really early, as I have to deduct a least 45 minutes, plus shower, getting dressed, packing up, etc. So for example, when we did the hike around Talca, we had to take the 07:15 bus… taxi to the busstation left at 06:45, … yes… that`s means a very early morning! But, proud to report I haven´t missed a single mornings exercise just yet!!!

Often doing the exercises also means moving bedside tables, other furniture or sometimes just moving the entire bed to make room for my mat! Interesting. Tonight our room is so small that I won´t be able to do my exercises in the room… so for the first time during the trip I will make an early morning public appearence in the hallway of the hostel!

That´s all for now! Hopefully I will be able to upload some more pictures soon! The “South America collection” has all the pictures so far! Click here!

Take care and miss you all! X

Posted in Chile | 1 Comment »

South America! We finally made it! Strange feeling when we finally got on the long flight from Sydney via Auckland to Santiago in Chile. Something both Sal and I had looked forward to, finally happened! The first days in Santiago have been kind of slow. We arrived in the early afternoon on Tuesday, but were to tired from the flight to actually do anything… we forced ourselves to stay awake and went into town for a bit, just to make it to the evening and fight the jetlag, but even so we went to bed early and didn´t leave the hotel the next day until about 15:00 in the afternoon!

But even though we got up late, we did do much more then the day before! Went strolled around the city center a bit and went up the Cerro San Cristóbal (a hill close to the city) to have a look over the city… well… we missed out on quite a bit. Santiago is situated between big hills on one side and the Andes mountains on the other, so the smog the city produces doesn´t resolve very quickly… so during normal days (as it was yesterday) the city is covered in a grey haze of smog… Not all that great.

Back in the city there is, through the smog, actually some things to see though. There are tons of Spanish colonial buildings, which are quite pretty and interesting. Some areas have quite a Spanish feel to it. Others not at all, where colonial buildings are interchanged with many “new” or “modern” Chilean buildings.

Having said that, we are looking to leave the city and it´s smog for a day already! We are looking to go to the coast tomorrow, to visit some old towns and the day after we might try and do some wine tasting outside of the city. Should be good fun! Sunday we have booked for a museum tour (museums are free on Sundays!) and I am especially looking forward to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, which should display pre-Spanish invasion art. Should be very interesting!

That´s it for now! Soon more! :-)
No pictures yet… have made over 100 already, but still have to figure out a way to put them online… Hopefully I will get that sorted quickly… would be nice to put some pictures with the stories! Hasta luego!

Posted in Chile | 2 Comments »

For all of you that want a small idea of where we will be at what time during the trip, this is our itinerary for the South America part of the trip. Still some gaps to be filled in, but that’s no worry, as I am sure we shall find something fun to do! :-)

Update (28 February 2007):
Due to the circumstances, the initial part of the trip had to be postponed. Not sure what the new dates will be just yet. Hopefully we will just be delayed by a month. Does mean that we probably have to wave goodbye to visiting the southern tip of South America, as the weather would be going towards winter there by the time we would get there, and although the area is probably still beautiful in cold conditions, I am not sure if we are packing enough thermo underwear just to visit the place. Time will tell.

Update (16 March 2007):
My eye is improving slowly, and so is the plan for the trip! Happy to report I was able to reschedule the flight to Easter Island to the 15th of May. It’s a great feeling to be able to think and plan for the trip again! :-)

Update (28 March 2007):
Very excited day today! The whole trip is back on the agenda!! All flights have been changed and rebooked, plus as an extra bonus Sally is picking me up before leaving! She will fly to Holland on the 11th of April (my last working day at Shell will be the 10th), then we will spend some time in Europe before flying off to Hong Kong, where we will have a little stopover and then onto Australia. Very excited!!! :-)

Posted in South America | 3 Comments »

With me being in London last the week for work, most of the planning for the trip is coming down on Sally’s shoulders. Not that we aim to plan or book that much ahead, but for some things it’s quite essential. The 4 day Inca trail hike we want to do towards Machu Picchu, we have to book very early, as we will require a permit to hike on the Inca trail. And these permits are hard to get. The government only gives out a limited amount to not damage the trail to much. No clue what that number is, but hopefully it’s small enough so we don’t charge up the trial with hundreds of people on our day of the hike.

Similar problem occurs on our trip to the Galapagos Islands. To really experience the beauty of the Islands a Cruise is said to be essential. Only same as with the trail, places are limited, so book early. As Sally and I are meeting up with Sal’s two sisters in South America, and we will travel our last weeks together, so booking 4 places on the spot for both events could prove impossible.

So Sal has done an absolutely amazing job arranging the tours, and matching our round-the-world-ticket flights around them. That might sound easy, but does involve a hell of a lot of work; endless number of phone calls, emails, checking with and updating sisters and boyfriend, etc., etc. My involvement was only acknowledging her great work.

But now I had time to have a look at the tour packages, I finally have some input for her! Our Inca trail porter! :-) For US$ 45 you can hire a porter that caries 9kg for you up and down the Inca trail. OK, maybe not essential, but probably quite welcome when hiking at an altitude of 3500m. Plus who am I to deny the locals their work? It must be a good thing to support the local community!

Posted in South America | No Comments »

With the new year well on it’s way, it’s been way to long I haven’t written on the blog. *shame, shame, shame* As always after a long period of blog-silence, a lot has happened and there is a lot to catch up on. Let’s try the nutshell version for now! :-)

The first 2 weeks of December were not that exciting, working in Holland. Then the excitement started by flying to Australia for Christmas and New Years! Quite a journey to get to Canberra, leaving midday on the 15th, getting to Melbourne at 2200 on the 16th and not being able to get to Canberra until the next morning. No flights to Canberra later then 2100, so I was forced to spend a night at an airport motel. Other option was to take the night bus… but I wasn’t to keen on sitting in a bus for about 10 hours, after being in a plane for 24! :-)

Australia was yet again great! First the lovely Batten family lunch just after I arrived in Canberra. Sal’s birthday dinner at a lovely restaurant and then on to Melbourne for Christmas and Ashes cricket at the MCG. Up to Sydney for New Years eve, some snorkelling at Manly beach and back to Canberra for the final days of the trip. And such a great trip it was yet again.

Coming home was hard though… Arrived on Monday at 1900 and got up at 0600 on Tuesday to get back to work… Outch… that was rough… but actually worked out great! The plan was to ignore the jetlag and get straight back into the working rhythm. No point in postponing the inevitable. And now work is almost over again. My contract ends on the end of February, and the travelling life awaits again!

Early March I will fly back to Australia, and then together with Sally we will fly to South America a short week later. We plan to start in Chile, travel down the continent, back up to Buenos Aires and then go onto Peru to do the Inca Trail and see Machu Picchu and finally see the Galapagos islands before flying back to Europe. That’s the plan so far. Not much and still very flexible. We only have a ticket reservation so far, but even that is not holding back the planning!

Because even though we don’t have a “real” ticket to Santiago in Chile yet, I did book a flight already to Easter Island! Very excited about that one! As a little Bert I got very fascinated when reading about those big statues on an island truly in the middle of nowhere! How did the people get there? Why build those statues? In many ways I am very excited to go there and see my fascination come to life! So whatever happens, happens.

But if you are looking for me, I will be on Easter Island from the 20th till the 27th of March! :-)

Posted in Travel, South America | No Comments »