Adventuras de Heather y Toriann

Eastern Europe Pics

2009-05-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!!!

Warsaw

2009-05-23T07:37:00.002-07:00

Before leaving Poland completely we did stay a few nights and visited Poland’s capital, Warsaw. After WWII Warsaw was nothing but rubble, since then, it is now a thriving city that is continuously doing construction and modernizing itself to the 21st century. Warsaw is vey much like most other European countries capitals; nevertheless we did enjoy touring the city. Warsaw has very much reconstructed itself and since its destruction they have rebuilt its Old Town to look as it once did. Just near the Old Town Square is St. John’s Cathedral which was also destroyed but has since been rebuilt and has an amazing array of stained glass windows. Roughly thirty minutes outside the heart of downtown is Warsaw’s “Palace of Versailles” called, Wilanow. Wilanow sits in the middle of this lush green garden and displays a tremendous amount of oil paintings and portraits as well as ritzy furniture. On our way back from Wilanow we stopped at Lazienki Park to visit Chopin’s Monument, amphitheater and Palac Lazienkowski. To late to tour inside, we did stroll around its grounds which are surrounded by water, trees and several peacocks. This palace is quite stunning as it sits on the water and is simply surrounded by the parks trees. With our few days in Warsaw behind us we boarded our overnight train to our last stop, Berlin, Germany.

Krakow

2009-05-23T07:37:00.001-07:00

Our Visit to Krakow was wonderful yet challenging. Roughly 1.5 million people were murdered in the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Berkenau which sit just outside of Krakow. Seeing and hearing the horrifying actions the Nazis did just makes me sick to know how cruel and twisted humans can become. For example, day in and out the prisoners were told or read this fraise, “Arbeit Macht Frei”, (Work Shall Set You Free) which was not the case at all. The prisoners either worked to there death or were directly killed for being themselves. The Nazis took everything from personal possessions to human pride and Birkenau really conveyed this. Birkenau means swamp and that is exactly what the prisoners lived in, worked in and slept on. When the Nazi’s built Birkenau their goal was to increase the number of killings as well as diminish these pour souls to the worst conditions one could ever imagine. Visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau was emotionally challenging yet I am glad I went.

On a lighter note, we also visited Wieliczka Salt Mine and saw some of the most amazing sculpture works ever. Since 1996, Poland stopped excavating salt and instead turned this salt mine into a tourist attraction and that is exactly what it is. Aside from it being very touristy and theme park like, the carvings inside are well worth the visit. Inside the salt mine there are several carved statues and chapels, the most popular being St Kinga’s Chapel. The chapel is entirely carved from salt and all the walls have carvings of religious stories form the Bible. The most famous carving is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” the carving is three dimensional and is nearly an exact replica. I am amazed at the expertise of these simple miners who spent nearly fifty years crafting this magnificent chapel.

As for what we did in Krakow we spent an afternoon touring several of Wawel's Castle chambers and the Wawel Cathedral. Just outside of the Stare Misatro (old town) is the old Jewish quarter with remnants of the ghetto walls the Jews were forced to live behind. And of course, nearly every block we walked down there was a church or two, so we popped our heads into a few of them. My most favorite being St. Mary’s Church, for its blue ceiling and gold stars as well as the 500 year old wooden altar.

Budapest

2009-05-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

When traveling with dad a nice hotel is usually just around the corner and in this case a castle. Okay, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration since our hotel was built in and around the remains of an old 17th century Gothic chapel. This chapel, now the Hilton hotel, sits at the top of Castle Hill and is surrounded by the old castles walls. So the way I see it, I stayed in what felt like a castle and it was luxurious. We spent six days in Budapest visiting its main sights as well as driving to a few cities outside of Budapest.

Budapest is quite large and is divided up into two sides Buda and Pest and in between them is the Danube River. Since the weather was nice we thought a boat cruise down the river would be a good way to get our bearings and learn more about the city. After about an hour we stopped at Margit Island and took a stroll through this amazing car free park. Margit Island is named after King Bela IV’s daughter who became a nun after the King won his battle against the Mongols invasion in
1241. The King vowed to make his daughter a nun if God would help him defeat this battle. They of course came out undefeated and the King sent his daughter to this island where once sat a convent. The island is named after her and is now a big park for visitors and Hungarians to escape from the city and relax.

Although the boat cruise was nice there was still so much more to see so we joined a guided walking tour and explored the city sites. First stop, Heroes’ Square where 14 of Hungary’s most prominent figures stand. Just behind the square is Millenaris Park and from here we walked to Hungary’s Opera House, which is supposed to have the best acoustics ever. A walk through the Parliament building is a must and then of course we had to visit St. Stephen’s Basilica. St. Stephen is Hungary’s first King who was given his title and crown by the Roman Pope in exchange for converting his country to Roman Catholic. After our grand tour of Pest we hopped on a bus and head to visit Buda. Buda is most famous for its view of Pest, the skyline that will never change since a law was written that nothing can be taller then the Parliament and St. Stephen’s Basilica. After admiring the beautiful skyline we then walked the short distance back to our castle (hotel).

As I mentioned earlier we did do a small bit of sight seeing around Hungary. One day we drove to the town of Eger where we toured Eger Castle and wine tasted at the Valley of Beautiful Women. The castle was average but the wine was excellent. Eger produces a lot of Hungary’s red wines and in this valley sits roughly 200 cellars. Most of the cellars are all in a row so we simply went from one cellar to the next. Well not exactly, we only wine tasted at three of them but did walk away with eight bottles of wine. Another day we drove up and around the Danube Bend stopping in Szentendre and Esztergrom. Szentendre is a small town and there isn’t much to see but it was a nice break to stretch our legs. We simply walked around the town and along the river before we got back into our car and headed to St. Stephen’s birthplace, Esztergrom. Esztergrom is the birthplace of St. King Stephen, as well as, the first Royal Court of Hungary and Hungary’s largest cathedral. This neoclassical cathedral was built in the 11th century and is massive. It dominates the whole town and quite honestly is a bit excessive and goofy looking in comparison to the rest of town but hey, they are proud of it. Across the river from Esztergrom is the country of Slovakia and before realizing it we drove across Maria Valeria Bridge and saw a sign welcoming us to Slovakia. Completely shocked, we did a little drive around town, took pictures of Esztergrom and then drove back over the bridge to Hungary and head back to Budapest.

Picture Time

2009-05-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures we have yet to post.
Egypt, Isreal, Jordan and Istanbul
Enjoy

Road Trip to Venice

2009-05-14T02:01:00.000-07:00

While we were walking around Piran, a small seaside town in Slovenia, the idea of Venice, Italy got brought up. I mentioned that Venice is one place I have never been to in Italy but would love to go. Dad then shared with me that when he was a teenager his father took him to Europe and one of the places they visited was Venice. So that evening we looked into possible day boats we could take, but sadly none were going during the middle of the week. Since we still had the car we thought why not drive to Italy, which ended up working out great because it was only about a two hour drive. I was stoked to finally see the famous city of Venice, plus I would get to indulge in the most delicious gelato ever.

Venice is composed of 118 islands and is connected to the mainland by a bridge which cars, trains, buses, bikes and pedestrians cross daily. At the heart of Venice is the famous Piazza San Marco and it is here where my dad stayed several years ago. Before arriving to Piazza San Marco we took Venice’s water bus to the main square. The boat took us all along the Canal Grande and as we cruised along we watched the little islands go by us. It is so amazing to see how all of Venice’s islands are connected by pedestrian bridges. Once we arrived to the main square we took a walk around, peaked in some shops, sipped a delicious Italian espresso, ate a double cone of gelato (serving #1), and then took in the sites.

First on the list was the Basilica Di San Marco, which is really the heart of the square. The outside of the church is comprised of big symmetrical arches, tall statues of saints and vibrant yet detailed mosaics; it sort of reminded me of the Vatican. Inside the church are the remains of St. Mark, as well as beautiful gold mosaics from the 13th and 16th centuries. The décor and the amount of gold is just mind blowing, I have never seen so much gold mosaic work in my life. One might think it was all a bit excessive but in all honesty it’s absolutely beautiful. Adjoined to the Basilica is Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace). It was once the home of Venice’s mayor, but has been turned into a museum. The palace is huge and we spent a long time touring around. Some of our favorites are the columns they had on display as we first walked in. I realize this may sound strange, but each of the columns is uniquely sculpted with different themes. For example, on had different faces of women, another was of a variety of fruit baskets and so on. After we looked at all the unique columns we strolled around the square before we headed upstairs to tour the rooms. Wow, were there a lot of rooms to visit, it’s a good thing the path is set up in one direction otherwise I’m sure we would have missed several of the rooms. In almost every room there are big oil paintings, beautifully crafted wood pieces and decretive, if not painted ceilings. Two rooms we liked best are the map room and the room of four doors. The map room has two big vintage globes and then the walls were covered in old paintings and murals of a map. We took several minutes admiring the mapped walls and pointing out various countries and cities that currently exist or no longer exist; my favorite was seeing Constantinople. In the room of four doors there are paintings of biblical judgments all over the ceiling. Plus, each of the doorways is covered in beautiful green/cream marble. The smooth marble doorways clash with the dark oaky wood of the room, yet it gives the room a sense of strength and boldness. Just as you finish touring the rooms the path leads you to the Bridge of Sighs which is were all the prisoners lived. If I remember correctly, there are three maybe four levels of cells and it was fun to walk through all of them. All of the rooms have a very cold feel to them, some had graffiti left in them and the doors to enter the rooms are really small. I had to bend over to go inside; I bet it was a way to keep them from escaping really fast.

After we had finished touring the palace we rested our legs by having an early dinner at one of the restaurants off the main square. The food is nothing to rave about but the atmosphere was nice, the weather was perfect and it was a good end to the day. Just before heading back to the car, we wandered through more of the back streets of Venice walking over the bridges where we saw hand crafted gondolas go by and of course, popped into one of the many gelato shops for a double coned gelato (serving #2), yummy in my tummy!!!

Caves, Castles, and Cemeteries, Oh My

2009-05-05T13:00:00.002-07:00

In every town, city, or National Park there is a cave or castle and often times both to visit here in Slovenia. Our first visit was to Postojna Caves and Predjama Castle. Postojna Cave is Slovenia’s largest cave and was discovered when a man fell into the cave. This man survived and ever since it has been a big tourist attraction. Before entering the cave we boarded a train that drove us in about 2 kilometers and then from there we walked around to various parts. The downfall about this cave is that it’s set up a bi like an amusement park; think Disneyland’s Matterhorn. The upside to this cave is the amount of stalactites and stalagmites it has inside, never have I seen so many. Immediately, as we entered the cave via train we started to see stalactites/mites everywhere, in all different shapes, colors and sizes. The colors we saw were either pink for calcium, white for iron or black for magnesium. My favorite rock formation was the translucent “curtain” formations or as I liked to call them “bacon strips” because they were the color pink and white and looked like bacon. Another favorite is the “spaghetti” room, all over the ceiling there are little thin white stalactites hanging down, imagine a chef throwing a big bowl of spaghetti to the ceiling to see if it would stick. After about an hour or so of walking through only 20% of the cave the guide lead us back to the train for our ride out. From here we drove just down the road to Predjama Castle which is burrowed into the side of a mountain. This castle, like the cave, has its up’s and down’s, the down part is the fake 16th century décor and folk manikins. Setting this aside, what I did love about this castle is the free range to roam around and while doing this you see the various stages of growth this castle under went. The castle was first constructed in the 12th century and was built inside of the mountain and then in the 16th century it expanded outside of the mountain and left it with a distinct Renaissance flair. Underneath the castle there is a cave but since we just came from Postojna we opted to skip it.

Since we still had the car and had driven it across the Croatia-Slovenia boarder we did the similar thing as we did in Croatia. We stayed at Hudicevec Farm which was our base and from there drove to the different towns/cities we wanted to visit. With the first cave visit being such a success we thought to visit Skocjan Cave. Skocjan Cave is nothing like Postojna cave; first it is a lot less touristy and has less stalactites/mites. Nevertheless our tour through Skocjan was very unique and different then most of the caves I have been in before. First we walked about 15 min. before arriving to the cave, then walked nearly 90 min. through both the dry and wet parts of the cave and finally took a funicular to the top. In the beginning we walked through the dry cave which consist of stalactites/mites and collapse ceilings (when rock falls during an earthquake). In the second half we saw the Reka-Velka River cut right through the cave and create a series of cascades, waterfalls and lakes. Walking through the wet part was fascinating, especially since for most of it we were walking above and along the river so we could really see all the sinkholes, lakes and falls. For the afternoon we headed to the town of Piran and as usual sat in the square, visited the cathedral and strolled along the harbor. Since it"s right on the Adriatic Sea, fish is very popular and we had lunch at this wonderful local run fish restaurant. Dad ordered the fried fish which came with fried calamari and shrimp and I had a local fish simmered in white wine. All the food was so fresh and absolutely delicious but dad’s calamari and shrimp was the best I have ever had in my life.

Of all the days spent in Slovenia our drive through the Julian Alps was my favorite. We started our driving tour along the stunningly turquoise Soca River till we arrived in Kobarid, the town where Hemmingway drove an ambulance truck during WWI and picked up dead and wounded bodies (Did you know this?). It is this town in which Hemmingway writes about in his novel “Farewell to Arms.” In Kobarid’s backyard sits the famous Soca Front, where a lot of WWI took place. Kobarid has dedicated a Museum explaining the history of the front and all the tragedy that occurred there. Since most of our planned route passed old WWI remnants we felt a tour around the museum would be a good way to start the day. The museum is divided into rooms; winter conditions, day to day activities, stories and pictures of tragedies, Kobarid’s history in the war and much, much more. Over all, the Museum is relatively small but there is so much to see plus a video to watch, we spent nearly two hours absorbing it all in. Continuing on our drive we drove past a WWI fort, a WWI cemetery and then stopped to take a peak in St. Joseph’s church. Much of it is covered in scaffolding but what is unique about this church is it is covered in patriotic symbolism that dates back to WWII. For example, it’s painted in red, white and blue (Yugoslavia’s colors); the ceiling has a painting of St Michael with Yugoslavia’s three WWII enemies at his feet: eagle, wolf and serpent; and on the walls are Slavic saints verses Catholic. Behind the church is a cemetery and one part of it is solely dedicated to the military. Just beyond the church is the start of Vrsic Pass which is in Triglav National Park and is the start of our 50 switchbacks, each one being numbered. Along the pass we drove through the “Valley of the Cemeteries,” (#49)crossed over Soca River, (#26-28) saw old abandon checkpoints as well as WWI debris,(#22) admired the mountain vista, (#15)took pictures of the nearly 10 foot snow still standing, (#8) hiked up to a cute Russian Orthodox Chapel and before getting back into the car I took a photo of the cobble stone road (the road we were driving on) which was built by the Russians in WWI. With the pass behind us and evening time quickly approaching we quickly headed to Lake Bled. Since it was getting dark we opted to drive around the lake, instead of walking, before we sat down for dinner. After our warm pizza and cold beer we headed for the highway which took us home.

Four days in and just a few to remain we felt it was time to visit Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. The best thing about Ljubljana is that it’s dominantly a pedestrian city. It is so easy to walk around this capitol and there are so many pedestrian walkways, one would really not need a car, and this is werid to say for a capitol that doesn’t have a lot of public transportation. Anyway, once we arrived in Ljubljana we headed straight to Ljubljanica River to see and walk across the Triple Bridge, Ugly Duckling Bridge, Cobbler’s Bridge and finally the Dragon Bridge. Once we finished crossing all the bridges we made our way to Ljubljana’s castle (lame), but before we arrived we stopped and admired St. Nicholas’s Cathedrals and strolled through Riverside Market. St. Nicholas’s Cathedral has these two amazingly intricate bronze doors as well as some beautiful golden alters. Just behind the church is the market with tones of fresh produce and flowers, everything looked and smelled amazing. From here we took the funicular up to the castle where we were completely let down and unimpressed by what we saw. The only perk to visiting the castle was the panoramic view it has of the city. After our quick tour around the castle we sat and had lunch by the river and then headed to Slovenia’s famous architects house, Joze Plecnik. Plecnik was originally born in Ljubljana and although he moved away for his studies, he did eventually return to Ljubljana and lived till his death in 1957. Many of Ljubljana’s famous sights have Plecnik’s architectural touch to them, he left his mark everywhere. For example, the Triple Bridge was originally a single bridge but Plecnik added two pedestrian bridges, one on each side, and now it is the Triple Bridge. Plecnik also put his touch in the Universities Library, the Riverside Market, in Zale Cemetery, a few churches, and many other places, such as his own house. Plecnik designed one side of his house to be round so two of the rooms inside are in the shape of a circle. Although Plecnik is not well known, the pieces of work I did happen to see I liked and I found him a very clever man.

The day had come for us to head back to Zagreb, Croatia and return the car before we caught our evening train to Budapest, Hungary. Since we had the morning free we thought one more visit to yet again another castle would be a good end before we continued our travels north. We visited the 13th century Trakoscan castle that is surrounded by forest and at the bottom of the castle is a big lake. Trokoscan Castle has a fairy tale look to it, with its bright white walls that stand on top of this hill and green trees surrounding it. Much of what we saw in the rooms are the castles original décor and nearly all the rooms are open for touring. The kitchen is my favorite room, it’s separated from the rest of the rooms and in the center is a big old fashion fire oven and stove. Plus, hanging on the walls were old pots, pans and utensil that look much different then the ones we use today. Overall, Trokoscan Castle is one of my favorite castles I have visited. From here we drove to Zagreb, returned the car, and headed to the train station. With fifteen minutes till the train is expected to leave we make it to the platform and have a look around because no where could we see the train. Dad goes to check the platform number again and assures me we are in the right spot but of course, with it now being the time to depart, we ask a train worker and he says the train has already left. What? Excuse Me? How can this be? Well come to find out the platform we needed was about a mile down (a bit of an exaggeration) and since we didn’t know this we missed the train. To make us feel a bit better a local guy missed the train, making the same mistake we had. With little option, we had to stay the night and take the following train which left at 5 am, this one we did not miss.

Croatia

2009-05-05T13:00:00.001-07:00

With a few days of BH under our belt, a love for Eastern Europe has already started to bloom and our next stop was to Zagreb, Croatia. Our time in BH was short and our train ride to Zagreb, Croatia was long but it’s all good because Croatia is beautiful. For the first few days we walked around Zagreb, which is the capitol. One of our favorite sights is the Church of St. Mark for its colorful tile roof, it dates back to 1880 and depicts two coats of arms. As we walked up to St. Marks we walked under the Stone Gate which has been turned into a chapel. The focal point is a painting of Mary that happened to survive a fire and around it are lit candles plus benches for people to pray. Although it was strange to see and walk through, it felt like a real church it just happens to be in the middle of this main path. Another favorite spot or site was the Burglars’ Tower which was once a watchtower and at the top sits an old cannon; they fire the cannon everyday at noon. While all the sites were interesting to see my favorite was the red tents or should I say the market. Just off of the main square is the big open air market which is covered with red tents and people are selling all kinds of fresh fruits, vegetables, and fish. :) Plus, they had beautiful flowers for sell as well as flowers and herbs to plant in your garden. Underground is the poultry market, where they sell cheeses, meats, bread, wine, and sauerkraut, oh what a wonderful smell!!! The market was amazing and we went back a few times and picked up several items; strawberries, carrots, radishes, a tomato, bread, two kinds of cheese (goat and sheep), salami and of course a cheep 1L bottle of barreled white wine. We were set for a few picnic lunches or light dinners.

Croatia is primarily known for its Dalmatian Coast but sadly we didn’t spend any time there and instead toured the NW which is called Istria. Since we had a car, we stayed in a little beach town called Opatija and from there ventured out to different cities. Our first visit was to a town called Rovinj where we wondered the cobble stone streets. In the heart of town there are no cars since the streets are more like lanes and as we walked through them we walked under various arches which connect the houses. This town was once very crowded and since its right on the water, space became limited so the only way to grow was to build up. Rovinj is also a fisherman’s town, so for lunch we indulged in some local fish and it was delicious. Just as we finished eating it started to rain so we ended up having a coffee to kill time as the rain passed and then dashed to our car before the next rain clouds rolled in.

For our last day in Croatia before we headed into Slovenia we did an all day road trip through most of Istria. We first drove along the west coast and passed through Vrsar, Porec, Novigrad and then on to Brtonigla where we stopped for lunch. From there we started our drive inland and drove through Buje, Groznjan, Krasica, Motovun, Buzet, Roc, and Hum and then finally made our way back home, Opatija. Well, I realize I mentioned a lot of towns but most of them we really only drove through, but a few of them we did stop in for a quick tour around. One of our favorites was Motovun, mostly because of all the wine and truffle shops. Truffles are found all around this area and are popularly used in there traditional cooking. Since I am not familiar with truffles I went for the wine and liquors, Dad on the other hand picked up two bottles of brandy. One is flavored with mistletoe and honey (disgusting) the other was walnut flavored (better) but my favorite was the cherry brandy or liquor (yummy). I went for the cherry and a bottle of white wine since it’s what they mostly grow. Another favorite town was Hum, and to get to this town we drove along Glagolitic Lane, a suggestion by expert travel Rick Steves. Apparently, Glagolitic Lane commemorates a ninth century alphabet which was once used for written Croatian. Along the drive we saw monuments that had Glagolitic characters. At one time it looked as though we drove past Stonehenge in Enlgand, but really they were just stones with different characters on them. At the end of this lane we arrived in Hum where we walked around the whole town in about ten minutes. The population of Hum consists of 16 people, so says the guidebook and is probably the smallest town in the world. Even though it’s small it has great character because it sits on top of a hill over looking the valley, plus it has the Glagolitic Alphabet in writing all over the place. From Hum our drive home was supposed to be easy, or so I thought, but of course we got a bit off the beaten track and ended up driving through a few more small towns, if you could call them that, before we finally found the highway which took us home. Anxious to be out of the car, I was nevertheless thrilled over the success of our day, and really enjoyed seeing the countryside. There are definite perks to having a car!!!

Time to Pray

2009-05-05T12:59:00.001-07:00

Although it was nice to be in a Christian country for the Easter holiday, I do have to confess that I missed hearing the call to prayer five times a day, it became music to my ears. For the past three months I have been in countries that practice the Muslim faith. Part of being a Muslim is praying five times a day; twice in the morning, once in the afternoon and twice in the evening. The way they are reminded is by having the call to prayer sung from the minarets. Once I left Turkey I thought for sure I was never going to hear the call to prayer again…well I was wrong. I arrived into Sarajevo where my Dad greeted me at the airport and although it was dark during our drive to the hotel I could still see all the minarets standing tall above the buildings. Shocked and unsure if what I was seeing was real I quickly read up on the many articles my Dad had brought as well as the travel books and it turns out roughly half the population is Muslim. Since it was late in the evening I missed the call to prayer but no worries I heard it at least four of the five times almost every day thereafter.

Aside from Bosnia & Herzegovina (BH) being dominantly Muslim I was also shocked to read through all its history. BH has suffered a lot and before I get into where and what all we did, here is a bit of history so you can understand them better. The Ottomans ruled Bosnia for five centuries, but before that it was ruled by the Romans, the Goths, the Slavs and finally the Ottomans took over; so already Bosnia is very diverse. After five century’s, around the late 1800’s, the Austro-Hungarian empire took over and stayed till 1918 when it then became part of Yugoslavia under the ruling of Tito. Well, just before this WWI broke out which started in Sarajevo at Princip’s Bridge when Serbian Nationalist Princip assassinated Emperor Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Once WWI was over Bosnia became apart of Yugoslavia and stayed a part of it until Tito’s death in 1980. Once Tito died, Yugoslavia started to crumble and each of the countries we have today (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia, etc...) all started to claim independence. BH was one of the last because they knew that if they were to break off from Yugoslavia internal ethnic conflicts would eventually arise, and they were correct. War started to break out in 1991 and continued till 1995. On December 14, 1995 the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed and the war was over. The war in BH resulted in many deaths, many buildings were destroyed and a dramatic shift in population occurred.

Even though it is only fourteen years ago since the war ended one would think that BH would still be mourning and very little progression would have been made. It turns out this is not the case. Walking through the streets of Sarajevo I was amazed by how peaceful and happy everyone is. Most of the buildings have been refurbished and very little war damage remains. Sarajevo sits in this valley and in between this valley is the Miljacka River which runs right through Sarajevo splitting it into two parts. The river has several bridges and it is at the corner of Prinicp’s bridge where Franz Ferdinand was shot. Currently the building where the shooting happened has been turned into a WWI museum which explains the history of WWI in Sarajevo; sadly it was closed so we could not go in. Walking along the river was nice because you could see the buildings that have been restored and in between those were ones that still had bomb shelling scars. We also liked to walk through the central market called, Barscarsija, it is filled with bakeries, mosques, copper shops, restaurants, cafes, arts, crafts shop and many more. Barscarsija is covered in cobble stone streets and it really takes you back to the old times. Since it was the weekend most tourist attractions were closed so we spent most of our time roaming the cobble stone streets, watching the old communist tram go by and taking in all of Sarajevo and its history.

The day before leaving BH we took a day trip over to Mostar which represents the best and worst of the Yugoslavian years. Before the fall of Yugoslavia, Mostar was a mingling of cultures, but once they broke off from Yugoslavia all this peace turned into ethnic pride and war broke out amongst these ethnicities. Today, like Sarajevo, Mostar has moved past the war and has rebuilt its city. One of the most popular sights in Mostar is the Old Bridge. The Old Bridge dates back to the former Yugoslavia era but sadly during the war it tumbled into pieces due to all the bombings and crossfire. Once the war was over the city put great efforts into rebuilding the Old Bridge and today it stands strong over the Neretva River. Mostar is divided as well into two parts and so this bridge is very important to the people because now they can freely walk over it without the fear of being shot. During our walk through Mostar we crossed this bridge a few times to see different sites, one of our favorite sites we visited was an old Turkish home. The Biscevic Turkish House dates back to 1635, and has a mix of oriental and Mediterranean features. Although it’s been refurbished a bit the interior and décor is purely authentic and original, it was really unique to see. Just down the road from the house is a mosque and across from the mosque is an old park, however, today this park has been turned into a war cemetery for those who died in the war. We took a stroll through the cemetery and all of the graves dates were either 1993, 1994, or, 1995, it was really sad to see how many people died during the war. Before heading back to Sarajevo we stopped to have lunch by the Crooked Bridge, which happens to date back a decade before the Old Bridge. This bridge however, managed to survive through the war but sadly was destroyed by flooding. Nevertheless, they have rebuilt it and the restaurant we ate at was just across from it. Our visit to Mostar was a real treat and just gave a better understanding to BH’s history and cultural diversity. When looking out over the skyline we saw minarets sharing the space with church steeples. Plus, we heard church bells going off and the call to prayer all at the same time, nowhere else can one find this kind of music!

Good Friends, Bad Wine

2009-04-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

After spending a relaxing week on the Island of Crete, both Alison and I were excited to head to Athens, Greece. This was our third trip to Athens but this time we had plans to stay for a few days and explore the city. Most people we had spoken to about Athens had very little compliments about it but none of this mattered because we were overjoyed about picking up our dear friend Melissa from the airport. While we were still in Istanbul we called Melissa to say hello and chat, well during our conversation I got the idea to suggest she come out and visit for a week or so. I quickly looked up flights and the price was good so I told her it would be a blast if she wanted to join us for the last leg of our trip in Greece. Three days after we spoke she sent us an email saying she bought her ticket and was flying out to meet us. Well the time had come and Alison and I went to the Athens airport and waited for her arrival.

Melissa arrived on the Greek Orthodox Good Friday and for the following three days we toured around Athens and took part in the Easter festivities. For most of you, you celebrated Easter the weekend before but for the Greek Orthodox they celebrate lent for 55 days verses the standard 40 that we acknowledge, so Easter happened to follow exactly a week later this year. For the Greeks, Easter is the most important holiday because it means Christ has risen. On the evening of Melissa’s arrival the people of Athens gathered together in Syntagma square and held a moving candle light procession through the streets of Athens. This similar event happens at around 11pm the following night, the night before Easter Day. Everyone heads to the Resurrection Mass and at midnight all lights are turned off to symbolize Christ’s passing and then within a few short minutes the candles are lit and Christ is resurrected. People spiral out into the streets, candles in hand, fireworks are set off and everyone returns home and enjoys a feast of Easter cooking’s and Greek dancing.

Aside from taking part in the Greek Easter festivities we did a small bit of sightseeing. Most things were closed do to the holidays but we did happen to make it to the Acropolis and the National Archeological Museum. If there is one thing we noticed about Greece it is a walking archaeological country. Everywhere you go there are ruins to walk through and archaeological museums to visit. A bit of history about Athens, it received its name from the Greek goddess Athena, whom planted an olive tree which symbolizes peace and prosperity. The Acropolis was built as a thank you to Athena and was inhabited till the late 6th centaury BC. The Acropolis has suffered a great deal of destruction by human actions as well as natural causes. Never the less, the Acropolis is regarded as Greece’s masterwork of classical Greek architecture and I would agree. Walking through we were taken back by the views from which we could see. The Acropolis is located at the top of this hill which is roughly in the center of Athens and all around the grounds we could see the big city of Athens below. The Acropolis consists of two theaters, Propylaia, Temple of Athena, Parthenon, Erechtheion and a few statues. Our favorite, as well as most others is the Parthenon, probably do to its grandness. It is architecturally constructed of 8 columns at either end and 17 on each side. The detail, shape and height of this temple just takes your breath away and makes you blink twice, it is definitely a site to see.

With the holidays over and only a few days left we spent our last few days on Santorini Island. Santorini is known for two things, its beautiful sunsets and its whitewashed homes, both of which we were able to see. Instead of staying in the capital we opted to stay in a town called Perissa which was right by the beach. For our first day we spent the afternoon lying out on the black beach, relaxing and enjoying the sun. It ended up being a good thing because the remaining days were windy and cloudy. We had booked an all day tour to visit the volcanic island Nea Kameni, swim in the hot springs and have lunch on Therasia Island, but due to extreme wind the tour was cancelled, so instead we rented a car and drove around the very small island. When I say small I mean it, it takes less then one hour to get from one end of the island to the other. We took the car around stopping at several wineries, towns and beaches. Since the three of us are big wine drinkers, we wine tasted at a few wineries but in all honesty wine is not Greece’s specialty, the wine was average (this is me being nice). Although the wine was average we still enjoyed ourselves. In between the wineries we stopped in Fira the capital and strolled through the whitewash streets, enjoyed a frappe (iced coffee), satisfied our tummies with a Gyro and then continued on our way to Oia. Oia is another big city but most popularly known for its sunsets. We drove down to the port and sat on the ledge where we watched the sun go down. Sadly it was a bit cloudy so we did not get to see the beautiful rays of orange, red and yellow which most sunsets have on a clear day. Unsatisfied by the sunset we drove back the following evening hoping it would be better, which it was but still not postcard perfect, oh well maybe next time.

With the wind gone by the next day we were able to make the tour. Our fist stop was to Nea Kameni volcano where we were given an explanation as to how Santornini Island was formed. Like most islands Santorini was formed do to volcanic rock. Nea Kameni is currently dormant but scientist say that lava still sits inside the volcano and the way they know this is the various hot springs that spill out by the shore side. After our hike down the volcano, the boat took us to one of the hot springs where a handful of people jumped in and swam around for a bit in the warm water. Us being slightly unprepared, partially do to thinking we were going to a hot springs facility we did not have our swim suits on and therefore did not go in. Although we could have changed on the boat, we were to lazy and plus we would have been freezing once we got out of the water so all together it did not look so appealing. Hungry and ready for lunch, we arrived at our third and final stop which was Thirasia Island. Thirasia was once joined to Santorini but during a volcanic eruption in 236 BC it separated and is now a queit little island. It’s much smaller than Santorini and there are just a few people who live on this island. After climbing several steps we reached the top where we sat over the cliff and had ourselves a nice picnic lunch.

For our last and final day on Santorini we took the car and drove around the island stopping at red beach and Boutari Wineries. We had passed this winery on the first day but opted to skip it for one reason or another. Well we passed by it again and thought to stop in and do one more wine tasting before we leave. It ended up being the best decision ever because the wine was good and this unlike the others resembled a proper winery. They had a list of all their wines; we were able to choose from roughly six wine tasting packages and were served by a knowledgeable employee. We spent a little over an hour there and walked out with four wine bottles. If I were to ever return to Santorini I would definitely stop in again and skip the rest. With a little wine in our tummies and wine in our hands we were ready to board our eight hour ferry back to Athens.

Good bye Greece, good bye friends, hello Eastern Europe!!!

Crete (Never Neverland)

2009-04-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our week in Crete was the prefect balance of sight seeing and beach relaxation. After confusion at a train station in the Peloponnese region of Greece, which resulted in a mix-up of our final destination, we ended up back in Athens. We decided not to waste money backtracking and instead to head to the port to check out the ferry times to different islands. The Crete ferry was leaving in an hour and half, so we chose that ferry. We had planned on going to Crete a little later in our travels, but it turned out to be a wonderful experience and we couldn't have planned it better if we had actually tried!

Crete is the largest island in Greece, as well as being the most southern point in all of Europe. Our overnight ferry took us to the port in the town of Iraklion, which is located in the central region of the island. The first thing you notice when you get off the ferry is the massive city walls which border the island. The walls are 15m thick and were used to protect the island from being attacked. The walls, along with the Venetian fortress, withstood a 22-year siege, before finally falling to the Ottomans. Toriann and I spent a good amount of time at the fortress exploring and taking in the beautiful scenery of the Mediterranean Sea. Part of Crete's history also includes being under Turkish rule for a period, and during this time they built a minaret, where the call of prayer was sent out from. Today, the minaret is the only standing evidence in the fortress or the town that it was ever had any Islamic influence. After our time in the fortress, we spent the remainder of the first day in Iraklion walking through the small streets lined with shops and cafes filled with people. We made an observation that no matter what time or day of the week there were always locals sitting in cafes drinking frappes. We are not sure where or when anyone works in the country of Greece! We made our way back to the center of the city where there Platia Venizelou (Lion Fountain) is located. This fountain became our favorite place to sit and enjoy food while people watching.

Our second day in Iraklion we went to the much talked about Knossos, the largest Minoan palace. Knossos is the second most visited place in Greece after the Acropolis. Knossos dates back to as early as 7th millennium BC and perhaps even earlier. Over a century ago Knossos only existed in mythology, being the legendary sight of King Minos. When the palace was discovered in the late 1800’s it was seen as one of the most amazing tales of modern archeology. Sir Arthur Evans completed the excavation of Knossos in the early 1900’s and even recreated part of Knossos himself. Evans self recreation of the Palace has been a debate by fellow archeologist to this day. The reconstructions are identified by being painted bold colors amongst the natural colors of the ruins. We felt these colored columns took away from authenticity of the rest of the ruins. Even the frescos were removed and replaced with replicas of the original. Despite Evans’s reconstruction of the Palace, it is still an impressive 1,500 room Minoan palace located on top of a hill.

After the palace we were trying to decide if we should go wine tasting or to the aquarium, so we let the bus make our choice, whichever bus came first we would go there. The aquarium bus came first and it turned out to be the highlight of Iraklion! The aquarium had a wide assortment of colorful fish and we spent hours learning all the names of the fish. Toriann’s knowledge of fish and sea creatures has grown from all her diving experiences on the trip and this gave her an excellent chance to show off her new knowledge. It also gave me a chance to hear more details of some of her and Heather’s diving experiences. The highlight of the aquarium was the seahorse exhibit, where they showed a video of male seahorses giving birth. The seahorse looks as though it is sneezing and then 1000’s of baby seahorses come out of him. This repeats several times and it is one of the funniest things we have ever seen, it made Toriann and I laugh for days afterwards.

While in Iraklion we met a girl who had just arrived from a little town in southern Crete called Plakias, who said we HAD to go there. We had read about in our book, but it seemed like it was going to cost too much to go there and back, so we decided against it. Well, after spending a few hours talking with our new friend, we decided to check out of our hostel a night earlier than expected and head down to the town of Plakias. The first person we encountered off the bus in Plakias assured us we would never want to leave this town and after a few hours there we started to understand what the man was talking about! The town is right on the water and the population includes locals and people from all over the world who have come to Plakias once and decided to move there forever. We nicknamed it Never Neverland, because it seemed like no one had any responsibilities and no one ever grew up. I can say without a doubt that it was the most idyllic, beautiful town I have ever spent time in. Toriann and I spent most of our days resting on the beach working on our tans and eating Greek food, our favorite being grilled feta. We met some great people at the hostel who we spent our evenings with at the local restaurants and of course Joe's Bar, where we learned traditional Greek dancing.

Toriann and I decided one of our days had to consist of something else rather than simply lying on the beach. A group of people from the hostel who had cars were going to a nearby village to do a little exploring and Toriann decided to join them. They walked around the village and saw the oldest tree in Crete. I thought it would be nice to experience one of the many hikes that Plakias had to offer and opted to decline the car trip to the village to go on a hike. I ended up getting in a little over my head with the hike. I was told it was a two hour hike each way to the top of this mountain, which seemed easy enough. Well the hike was definitely not like the hikes I take in Seattle where there are clear paths and other hikers. It turned out to be an 8 hour adventure and involved very minimal trails and no other hikers in sight. The majority of the hike involved climbing up rocks, which is something I often get scared at doing. I had a great hiking partner who reassured me I could climb the rocks all the way to the top. However, about halfway up I realized I was going to have to climb down these rocks and had a small moment of panic. Again, my hiking partner reassured me I would be fine and thus we continued on. We finally made it to the top and the view was amazing! The way back down proved not to be as fearful as I had anticipated and minus our detour of not finding the road right away, the journey down went great.

We only had half of the next day available before we had to head to the bus to catch our ferry so we of course spent our last hours lying on the beach in what we now referred to as "our spot." After saying goodbye to Plakias we were on our way to Athens to pick up our friend Melissa from the airport to spend our final week in Greece together.

Thessaloniki, Meteora and More

2009-04-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Greece, the birth place of Greek mythology, democracy, the Olympics and much much more. Alison and I safely arrived into Greece, via our overnight train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki. Knowing ahead of time that Thessaloniki is Greece's most expensive and metropolitan city we opted to stay for the day and then catch an evening train to Kalambanka. Thessaloniki is a big city but with a little pre-planning it can be seen in just a few short hours. First we needed to get our grounding and what better way to do that then following the LP's suggested walking tour. The walking tour had us start at the top of this hill where there is a castle and a viewing platform. As we gazed out over Thessaloniki we took in as much as possible knowing our time here was precious. Following the tour we stopped and admired the architecture of the churches, took pictures of old ruins, visited some national buildings and ended at Thessalonikis most beloved landmark, the White Tower. The irony of the White Tower is that it was actually covered in blood. In 1826 Ottoman Sultan Muhmad II ordered that all Islamicised Christian boys who were disloyal to Islam were to be massacred here. Once the Greeks regained power in 1913 they had the tower whitewashed as a way to cover up the dark memories of which occurred there. Taken back by this awful truth we sat by the water side and just took some time to reflect and relax our legs. After our rest we walked over to the port to have a look around and also visited the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography. The Museum was in between exhibitions so it wasn't completely filled of works but what we did see was great. The museum has decided to hold pieces for each of the four elements. The works will be up for a year and the one they were currently wraping up was on water. All of the pieces gave a unique perspective of water but one of our favorites was the over flowing kitchen sink. With a bit of time left we walked the streets a bit more and picked up some food and drinks to enjoy on our train ride.

Their is really only one reason for why people travel to Kalambanka and that is to visit Meteora. Meteora is this extraordinary place for its massive pinnacles of smooth rock and at the top sit these architecturally crafted monasteries. There are 24 monasteries which have been built at the top of these pinnacles but only 6 of them are currently active and can be visited. Of the six monasteries we saw five of them, walked past four and visited two. We would have liked to have seen all six but since we had only our two legs to get us around and visiting hours being limited we simply couldn't manage doing it all. The two monasteries we did visit are called Moni Megalou Meteorou and Moni Varlaam. The first one built on the highest rock, 613m above sea level, and was founded by St. Athanasios in the 14th century. The Moni has a 12 sided central dome and holds a series of frescoes depicting the persecutions of Christians by the Romans. The second one is near by and quite a bit smaller but had a small museum of late byzantine frescos. The views from these Monis is absolutely amazing and to think that they were built between the 11th and 14th century is just amazing. It is claimed that the monis were reached by climbing removable ladders, that's just crazy.

From Kalambaka we backtracked a bit to a town called Vergina so we could visit the Royal Tombs. Vergina is apparently the legendary burial site of the Macedonian kings and happens to be where Phillip II was assassinated during his daughter, Cleopatra's wedding. The Royal Tombs were not discovered until 1977, and inside lay four individual tombs. The two most famous tombs are the one of Phillip II and the second being of Alexander IV, son of Alexander the Great. It is believed that inside Phillip II's tomb also lay the skeleton of Cleopatra. Either way its grand to think that it could be possible. Aside from the possibility that maybe Cleopatra was buried here I was shocked at how preserved the tombs were. They still had such vibrant colors and the building structure is still in good form.

Content with our decision to backtrack, yet anxious to get to Peloponnese region we took a night train to Athens. Thinking we were going to have seats on the night train we thought traveling through the night would be a good way of not wasting time or money. Well the idea back fired once we boarded the fully packed train and then were told by the train conductor that we had no actual seat reservations. Exhausted and not mentally prepared to stand on a train for six hours, we coped quite well. Eager to find something to do to pass the time we thought why not engage in a broken English conversation with the Greek boys standing around us. The idea turned out to be entertaining and funny. There were five guys, four were on military holiday and the other one was originally from Albania but had moved to Greece for work. All of them were very nice and before we knew it we were in Athens. Well the time didn't quite pass that quickly but overall the train ride did go by and we survived the sleepless night of standing on a train. Once we arrived we decided it best to continue our travels and ride three more trains before we finally arrived in Olympia.

Exhausted from traveling, our first day or half of day in Olympia was spent sleeping and recovering. The town is very touristy yet ironically lacked tourist especially backpackers, we were the only backpackers in our hostel. For our one and only full day we spent our time exploring the Museum of the Olympic Games, the Archeological Museum, and toured through Ancient Olympia. It was suggested by the handy dandy LP to first visit the museums so we could get a better visual of what Ancient Olympia looked like. The historical museum is probably one of the best museums we visited, it gave short but detailed information on how the Olympics began, the events which took place, and people who attended. One observation we both noticed and thought interesting was how not only currently but as well as then the games bring this unspoken peace treaty among every human being. After our visit we walked over to Ancient Olympia and toured through the archeological museum. There is very little information but displays several statues, part of the Temple of Zeus, and holds several pediments. Now that we had a good imaginative visual of Ancient Olympia we went and explored the Olympic grounds. Wow, was it amazing, one of the best things we have seen so far. With the lack of tourist we simply walked around visiting the sites and enjoyed the peace and quite. The first thing we saw was the gymnasium which was built inn 2nd century BC. Pheidias' workshop is where the Statue of Zeus was sculpted and is whom the games were held for but sadly it was destroyed like most everything here. In AD 426 Theodosius II decided to have the temples be destroyed for the games and festivals held here were considered pagan. Prior to him ruled Theodosius I in AD 394 and during his rule he simply put an end to the games and it is from this date to the year 1896 no Olympic games were held. Both of us were shocked to read how current the Olympic games were reinstated. As we continued walking the grounds we saw the Temple of Zeus where one of the columns was restored and re-erected for the Athens 2004 Olympic games. We sat in the stadium and envisioned the runners sprinting the 120m track. And the coolest thing we saw was Hera's Altar which is where the lighting of the Olympic flame takes place. The lighting signifies the official beginning of the games. Being there and seeing where the Olympics began gave me a new found appreciation for the games. The Olympic games is really the only time where people from all parts of the world come together in peace.

in sum....

2009-04-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

Its been a little 2 weeks since I returned to the good ol US of A and a week since returning to home sweet home Seattle. Since I got sick as soon as I landed in Seattle, I have had some quality bonding time with my house and some time to contemplate the past 8 months. The first thing I have realized since being home is I have been so, so blessed to have been given this oppurtonity to explore the world. As much as I tried to appreciate every moment and soak in all that we were experiencing, we did, saw, met so many things, people, cultures, foods, challenges, etc...I think it was impossible. Being home, being still, surronded by loved ones, familiarity, I continue to appreciate the experiences more and more each day.

I am so thankful to all the people that befriended us although we were strangers, took us in as family, fed us, gave us directions, made us laugh, or in any other way enriched our trip. God blessed us greatly with the people we encountered along the way and our trip would not have been the same without friends met on the road...John, Sam, Louise, Claudia, Olivia, Mattias, Craig, Nick, Charlotte, Brad, Simon, Eric, Kasin, Michael, Nanda, Chris, Rafi, Tino, Judd, Jess, Katie, Boris and the Solvian group, Louis, Rachels roommates, Ken, Dino, Ben, Carl, Grant, Luke, Susie, Talita, Mel, Rick and friends, John and Brendan, Ben, Jeremy and Jen, Dave and Sam, Sam, Jennifer, G and Sara, the wedding party boys, Ladislas, Janet, Ben and Katie, Medo, the south African group, Mike, Mai, Julian, Ismet, Chris...just to name a few off the top of my head.

Traveling was exciting, rewarding, challenging, frustrating, and amazing! Above all else, I am so grateful for Toriann, her friendship, faithfulness, bravery, sense of direction, ability to laugh, have 'what to do with my life' talks, and most of all, her ability to dance the night away! We literally spent 24/7 together for almost 8 months and are better friends for it. She taught me so much and there is noone else I would rather have as a travel partner. Thank you T for being amazing and inspiring me to leave the norm and have a small adventure!! I love you so much!

The top quesiton I get at home now is 'what was your favorite experience...if you could pick one?' Well, its impossible to pick one, but sorting through my 1000s of photos I have thought of a lot of little favorites...

Favorite...
breakfast...Tofu omelette in Guatemala
food overall...India, everywhere!
hostel....Paradiso in Nelson, NZ and Big Apple in Istanbul, Turkey
hostel group...Big Apple
boat trip...Pirate ship in Galagagos
dive instructor...Vikas in the Andaman Islands
Christmas day experience...talking on skype to friends and family!
hike...Inca trail to Machu Piccu
monkey...Billy in Panama
sloth...Tember in Panama :)
bed...the bed in Tinos house in Peru!!
randomness...frog concert in Ecuador
surprise...meeting Luke!
commute...walking to the Mother Theresa house at 6 am in Kolkata
Random act of kindness...some guy rescuing my shoe from a river bed after stepping in a hole in the bridge
heart check moment...Mother Theresa house volunteering, playing with the kids in Panama City at Rachels work
wine...New Zealand whites!
new skills...scuba diving, driving on the left side of the road, driving mopeds (ok Toriann only really gets that one!)

and of course....
Least Favorite, but often memoriable...
hike...Picaya Volcano in Guatemala
flight...Buenos Aires to Auckland...14 hours, one movie, one meal???
bug spray...'Jungle Juice' from El Valle, Panama...containing over 1000 ingrediants, but really just makes the dead bugs stick to your legs!
bed...cardboard mattresses all over India or having ants in the bed in the Andamans
bathroom...maybe Lukes in London after getting stuck in it for an hour while home alone, or any of the bathrooms on the trains in India
bus ride..."VIP" overnight bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Probang...we so got ripped off!, rode for 14 hours with 1/2 a seat, a box at my feet and a tire next to me.

I could go on, but those are just a few of the highlights I can think of right now...T, you can add to them!!

Thank you to our families and friends that supported us from afar. Thank you for being excited for us, holding in your anxieties, and sharing our stories! We could not have done it without you guys, you are the BEST!

So, as Toriann continues on with her travels (currently with Alison), I am at home, going back to my old job at Harborview, re connecting with friends, learning how to have a long distance relationship from home, getting back into shape, and figuring out what is the next step for me in life. Its more overwhelming and scary than anything we ever encountered traveling, but I know that one day at a time I will find my way.

Cappadoica and Ephesus

2009-04-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

After a sad good bye to Heather, Toriann and I were off on our first adventure together to the city of Goreme in the Cappadocia region. This was particularly exciting for me because it meant leaving the Continent of Europe and going to Asia, a Continent I had not yet traveled to! We arrived in Goreme in the morning to be greeted with cold and rainy weather, which neither of us was entirely prepared for. Feeling ambitious and eager to see the sights, we decided to join a tour group right away! We had a very knowledgeable and entertaining tour guy lead us around the Cappadocia region, which was an astonishing sight, and had us continually saying "this is incredible." The Cappadocia region is made up of soft volcanic rock that had been sculpted into pillars, columns and amazing shapes by years of water and erosion. The pliable rock was then further shaped by humans over the years, resulting in stunning caves and underground cities. These underground cities were used first by Greek and Armenian Christians hermits in the 4th century, making it a safe place to hide. Even after the region of Cappadocia was conquered by the Muslims in the 11th century, the Christians were still left mostly undisturbed. One of the remarkable aspects of the underground cities were just how large they were. Even more, they were all built by the inhabitants themselves, not by slaves, which was fairly unheard of for this time period. The underground cities consisted of tunnels, living quarters for humans and animals, wine cellars, bakeries, and ventilation shafts. Not only does the region of Cappadocia have underground cities, but also whole cities were built above ground as well, including the Valley of Ihlara, which was used by the Byzantine monks 1000 years ago. The Valley has dozens of Chapels and Churches carved into the rocks, which the locals call "fairy chimneys," because they look like chimneys. After our all day tour in the cold and rain and rumors of snow the next day we quickly decided we had seen the main sights of the region and it was time to go to Selcuk (Ephesus).

After two nights of overnight buses, and Toriann feeling a bit under the weather, we arrived in Selcuk and spent the morning sleeping. After a good rest we were excited to explore the sunny town. It was a small, but very lively town. The weekend we were there happened to be the weekend of local elections in Turkey. On Saturday there were parades and rallies all throughout the town in support of this event. Through talking with the locals we found out that just about everyone who has an opportunity to vote takes advantage of their right and does so. We found this very admirable, considering it was only local elections, and not even a national election. This is such a contrast to low voter turnout in the US, especially for local elections.

Seeing the ruins of Ephesus were again an incredible sight, it gave us a glimpse of what it would have been like in the Roman times. Ancient Ephesus began being constructed as early as 3BC and continued to expand through the 6th century AD. The ancient town of Ephesus consisted of gymnasiums, churches, libraries, temples, gates, extensive streets, and a great theatre that could hold up to 25,000 people. Ephesus also holds many monuments dedicated to ancient gods and goddess, kings, and the 4 Apostles. We spent an afternoon walking around this eye stricking historical sight and even enjoyed a picnic lunch in the great theater. After our weekend in Selcuk it was time to head back to Istanbul to spend a few more days seeing the city and then off to Greece!

Istanbul

2009-04-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come and it is so hard to believe since it feels like it was just two or three months ago when Heather and I were packing our belongings and saying good bye to friends and family. These past eight months have been amazing and it is sad to have to say good bye to Heather because the idea of her leaving is like having one of my limbs cut off. From the moment we left on August 9t to present day we have been by each others side and have witnessed the best and the worst yet still remain each others best traveling partner and friend. For our farewell last week we spent our time exploring Istanbul, Turkey. Heather and I had about five days together before the arrival of our good friend Alison. Instead of our usual quick sightseeing visits and our country hopping we felt it best to settle in to our last continent, Europe, together and just relax. Our last week together turned out to be one of the best weeks of our whole trip; we couldn’t have planned it better. Free from the stress of moving and traveling we settled into our hostel, ended up establishing a great group of friends and simply just hung out as if we were at home. With the aniticpation of Alison's arrivla Heather and I explored the city by foot to get our groundings and then once Alison came we visited Istanbuls monumental sights.

Istanbul is massive and there is a ton to see and do. It happens to be the only city that sits in two continents, Europe and Asia. Most of our time was spent in Sultanhmet which sits on the Europe side and is where most of Istanbul’s major sites are. During our time here we visited Topkapi Palace where the Ottoman sultans lived till the 19th century. Down the cobble stone street from the palace is Istanbul Archaeology Museum which holds a wide collection of Greek and Roman statuary. We marveled at the Aya Sofya for it is one of the world’s greatest architectural achievements. When translated it means "church of holy wisdom" and was originally built to be a church but was later converted to a mosque when the Ottomans concurred the Byzantine empire. Across from the Aya Sofia is the Blue Mosque which ironically is much more striking. It looks like a palace you would see in a Disney movie with its six slender minarets and several domes. Nearby is the Basilica Cistern which was built during the Byzantine to hold water underground. To escape from Europe we took a boat cruise down the Bosphorus river and crossed over the Asia side. The cruise is such a great way to see Istanbul from a panoramic perspective, plus you can see several monumental sights and take pictures of them. With Turkey being Heathers last country before returning home, shopping was a must. We strolled through the grand bazaar as well as the spice market and picked up some scarves, backgammon boards, spices and Turkish delights. With most of the sights visited and shopping completed we had to treat ourselves to a Turkish bath. Turkey is known for their hamams and after eight months of traveling a good scrub was necessary. So the three of us spent an evening at a hamam and had ourselves scrubbed down, massaged and splashed with warm water, it was grand.

Rose Stone City of Petra

2009-03-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

With just a few days to see Jordan, we had to stop and see the beautiful rose stone city of Petra. Petra was built in the 3rd century BC by the Nabataeans. The Nabataeans are one of the most gifted people in history, who carved palaces, temples, tombs and stables from the sand stone cliffs. The Nabataeans were an ancient Arab tribes who originally came from the Arabian Peninsula and are known to be the most open tribal group to outside cultural influences. During our visit we were able to discern the influences of the Graeco-Roman, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and local styles on each of the carved monuments. Petra, however, was gradually abandoned, and after the 14th century it was completely disserted until a Swiss traveler named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812. Disguised as a Bedouin nomad, he snuck into the land of Petra to discover the eighth ancient wonder of the world.

It is said that one could spend up to a week walking through Petra, but with our time crunch we only spent two days sightseeing Petra. But we made the most of our two days. We had traveled to Jordan with our friend Mike (North Carolina) whom we had met in Jerusalem. Since he had a flight to catch out if Amman at 2am and ours was at 4am on the same day, we all decided to travel together to Petra and then to Amman.

Our first day we managed to spend almost 12 hours absorbing the sights of Petra. You enter into Petra through a long (1200 mts), narrow gorge of stunningly beautiful cliffs. The gorge is filled with typical Petraen features, as it was once used as the main bazaar of Petra. It is a great introduction of what is to come. At the end of the gorge, you are greeted by the famous Al-Khazheh, the Treasury of Petra. It is dazzling, with such unique architecture, immense size and the natural surrounding beauty. The treasury was used in one of the Indiana Jones film, and standing in front of it, you feel like Indiana is going to jump out of the doorway. From the treasury, we climbed up the cliffs to get a birds eye view and were led by a Bedouin nomad to the high place of sacrifice. We would have never found it on our own, but he led us up a hard, but enjoyable climb. The view was breathtaking-immense desert, the Roman Theater, and the royal tombs sitting in front, carved into the massive sides of the mountains. Descending down the mountain, we stopped at multiple tombs, the colonnaded street, and the temple of the winged lion. These were all great, but they just happened to be on the way to the second most famous site of Petra-the monastery. Up 800 stairs cut into the side of the Ad-Deir Mountain was exhausting after being at Petra all day, but entirely worth it! The monastery, Ad-dier is also huge in size and equally as beautiful as the treasury. The design is a bit simpler, but the architecture and the fact that is built into the cliffs is simply astounding in itself. They are not sure whether it was a tomb or temple, or both, but either way the monastery served as a processional route at the end of the ancient pilgrimage route. During Byzantine times, the monastery was converted and used a church.

Petra had been recommended to us from all over the world, and we are glad that we made the stop in Jordan to see it. It was equally or better than the site in Egypt, and much more off the beaten track. You can make a day trip from Israel or Egypt to see Petra, but it is such a long trip and your time is so limited to see it, so we would definitely recommend if you are that close, take the time to come spend at least a whole day. It is worth it! Our second day, since we had seen the most famous sites already, we took it easy and were able to relax and go back to the places we liked the most.

Our stay in Jordan was short. Other than Petra, we only saw the rest of the country in the car. The desert of Wadi Rum was beautiful though, and the capital city of Amman was very modern and diverse. The Jordanian people were friendly, if not overly anxious about what you thought about them and their business. The men, similar to Egypt and India, seemed to be everywhere and always offering advice and compliments, whether it was wanted or not. I decided a long time ago that I miss being with women. It is so much harder to connect with women, one to find them, and two to get them to open up to a foreigner. The man working at our hotel was constantly telling us to 'smile!, it doesn’t cost anything (a line we have heard often and really annoys us). Its only American women that don’t smile' He was not really interested in having a discussion about the culture differences between Americans and Jordanians, but I would have loved to walk down the street with him and try to find a Jordanian women that was smiling.

Come as a guest, leave as a friend!

2009-03-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

Toriann and I have learned over and over again that, even if we plan out our next move, it rarely plays out how we plan. We had planned to skip Israel for lack of time, but after learning more about the border crossings and the ferry to Jordan (which is notoriously unreliable), we decided a stop in Jerusalem was definitely doable. And although it was a short stop, we are so glad that we went.

Jerusalem is an amazing city, filled with the history, holiness, beauty and contradictions. Considered to be full of the most holy places for Jews, Muslims and Christians, Jerusalem holds so much to see and experience. The walls of old Jerusalem surround the old city, which is divided into the Armenian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim quarters. We stayed in the Armenian quarter at Petra hostel. The hostel was average, but our stay there was awesome due to the 50 or so South Africans camping on the roof. The group is starting out a year of traveling in which they volunteer and work wherever they are needed all over the world. The people were some of the kindest we have met on the road and they took us in as one of their own, inviting us to singing sessions on the street, ice cream and coffee runs, and hanging out on the roof. We were so blessed by them and wish them the best on their year long adventure!

Our first day in Jerusalem, we left the old city and ventured into Bethlehem. Gong to Bethlehem requires crossing through the security fence that divides Israel and the Palestinian territory. The wall was originally built to stop Palestinian weapons smugglers and suicide bombers but has cut through farm lands and neighborhoods and drastically changed life for those that live in the vicinity. The mood of the people in Bethlehem was felt immediately after crossing the fence. Our cab driver shared a bit about the constraints of living as a Palestine in Bethlehem and asked desperately to take us to the Dead Sea because the only way he could go was to bring tourists in his cab. He otherwise was not allowed and could not afford to leave the West Bank.
Anyway, while in Bethlehem we visited the Shepherd’s fields where the Shepherd’s were the first to receive the good news. We then went to where Jesus was raised for the first two years of his life before finishing at the Church of the Nativity, where it is believed that Jesus was born. After crossing back over the ´fence´ we headed across town to the immense Holocaust museum Yad Vashem in the New City. The museum was so well down and full of the heart breaking stories of the Holocaust. I was so struck with how long things were turning bad before the world started noticing and acting to stop it. The history, both ancient and recent of Israel is so complicated, full of hurt, conflict, and turmoil. It was a lot to take in, but the museum was well worth the 3 hours we spent there.

Our next day in Jerusalem we did a walking tour through the walls of the Old City. The Old City has 4 quarters, Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim. Within the walls are the Haram ash-Sharıff (the Temple Mount where the Arc of the Covenant was supposedly kept), the Western ´wailing´ wall- the only remnants of Judaism’s holiest shrine, Via Dolorosa (the way of the cross), the Church of the Holy Sepulcre (where Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Coptic Christians believe Jesus was crucified) and so many other religious and historical sites. It is impossible to name them all, even to see them all.

We saw the Old City on Friday, which is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. In the evening we headed down to the Western Wall to see the Hasidic Jews do their prayers. It was an amazing sight, like nothing I have ever seen before. The people gather around the wall, chanting their prayers, leaning towards the wall-men on one side and women on the other. The Jewish day of rest, called Shabbat, is from Friday afternoon until sunset on Saturday. The city, other than the Christian and Muslim quarters of the Old City, shuts down-no restaurants, public transportation, shops, etc. So although we were planning to leave Saturday, the Shabbat made that impossible and we stayed for another day in Jerusalem.

Saturday we walked up to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus took on the sin of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Church of All Nations stands. The Mount of Olives is just outside the walls of the Old City and if you walk up the mountain side, the view of the city is stunning. The next stop was the Garden Tomb, also just outside the Old City. The Garden tomb is the place where Protestants believe the crucifixion and resurrection occurred. After seeing those last two spots, we embraced the day of rest and had a nap before heading to a Messianic Jewish church service. The service was very contemporary, not at all what we were expecting, but all the same it was amazing. There was a definite spirit of freedom that seemed to be present and I loved worshipping in Hebrew. The congregation was so mixed and filled with people from all over the world that had come to Israel for some reason or another.

Our time in Israel was fascinating, challenging-spiritually, politically, emotionally, and also rewarding. I think we met some of the best people in Jerusalem that we have met on the road so far as well as seeing some of the significant sites of Christianity. We have traveled through the lands of the origins of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and now Christianity.

Dahab and the Red Sea

2009-03-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

A brake was much needed after all the temples and street hassling. We were told by many people how great Dahab is for its diving and calm atmosphere, so we had long decided to end our Egypt travels in Dahab(located on the Sınaı pennısula). Expecting to only stay 2 or 3 days max we have ended up staying about 5 days. Since being here we have spent our days diving, relaxing at the restaurant lawn chairs, and hanging out with friends.

We did three diving trips-lighthouse, canyon and blue hole. Lighthouse is a site super close to our hostel and to be honest was pretty average for coral and fish. We were told to dive there because it’s a good and easy site to visit plus it’s a way for the dive masters to check our weights since there is so much salt in the red sea your buoyancy is higher. Although we were pretty unimpressed, it was still a fun dive and were lookıng foward to dıvıng at the other, more famous dıve sıtes.

The next day we drove about 15 minutes along the coast to canyon and blue hole. In the morning we dived at canyon which is a long narrow canyon ranging in depth from 18-50m. Most of the coral is dead because of all the tourism, but at the end of the dive we went down into this crack where we saw schools of fish. The canyon was impressive but would have been amazing to see it filled with coral, what a site that would have been. After a lunch break we suited up and walked into blue hole. This dive site is one of Dahab most famous site because of how incredibly blue the water is and how deep it goes, 160m. We started at the blue hole and continued along the cliff to the bells. Again, most of the coral is dead but the site and layout of the cliff is different then other dives.

Just before leaving Egypt, we spent our second to last night hiking up Mt. Sinai which stands 2285m above sea level. We left our hostel at about 10pm and drove two hours to the bottom of Mt. Sinai where we were greeted by a local guide. There are two paths which you can choose from to walk up Mt. Sinai. Our guide took us up Camels Path which is the longer route but much easier to walk in the night time. Although it is night time and very dark we were just two days short of the full moon so it was surprisingly bright out. The hike up takes about 2 hours but with several hours to kill before the sun rises we stopped at the little tea shops along the way and warmed our body’s in the warm huts. Just before arriving to the top, the camel’s path joined up with the Steps of Repentance and we had to walk up about 700 steps before arriving to the top. Once we made it to the top, Heather and I pulled out our sleeping bags and rented a wool blanket to keep ourselves warm. Cuddling trying to keep ourselves warm and out of the wind we rested for about at an hour and half till the sunrise. This hour and half was miserable, we were freezing and our toes were so cold they hurt to move. We started to ask ourselves why we choose to hike Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night, but once the sun started to rise we were so thankful we did. The sky was clear and the sunrise was brilliant, one of the best ones we have seen so far. It was awesome to ımagıne Moses receıvıng the 10 commandments at the top of thıs beautıful mountaın. After we greeted the sun, we gathered with the rest of the group and decided to take the Steps of Repentance down. This path is a bit shorter but tougher on the legs because there are 3750 steps down. These steps were built by a single monk in order to fulfill his pledge of penitence.
Once we arrived at the bottom we all piled back in the van and headed back to Dahab were I gather most everyone like us spent the day sleeping and recovering from our night hike. Although we only had a day or so left we simply relaxed, packed and prepared ourselves for our long travel day to Jerusalem, Israel.

Temples, Temples and more Temples

2009-03-09T07:50:00.001-07:00

Before leaving Cairo on our overnight train to Aswan we booked a 5 nights 6 days package tour which would take us to several temples, ride on the Felucca up the Nile and end in Luxor. Excited from just seeing the pyramids and the Egyptian Museum we were super pumped to visit all the famous temples down in the Nile valley.

Our first stop was to Aswan's famous High Dam, which was completed in 1971. The construction of the Dam created Lake Nasser which is the world's largest artificial lake. The construction of the Dam was not cheep or easy since during the building process they noticed the water level rising which then forced the Egyptian government to send out an international plea for financial help to move the surrounding temples to higher ground. The UN and individual governments responded to this plea by funding the $36 million relocation effort. The method which was used to relocate the temples was by simply cutting the temples into pieces and then moves them to higher ground. After learning this I don't know how beneficial it was to create the dam in the first place.

The fist temple we visited was Temple of Isis which was originally built on Philae Island but is now located on Agilkia Island. Isis is a goddess of healer of children and wife of Osiris. It is said that Isis found her husbands heart on Philae after he was dismembered. This thus makes it the most sacred of Isis' homes.
After our afternoon sight visits we joined our Italian friends Omar and Stephano to dinner where we indulged in some falafels, shish kebabs and Egyptian sweets (baklava my favorite). It was early to bed since we had to be up at 3:30 to head out to Abu Simbel which is 297km outside of Aswan and 50 km from the Sudanese boarder.

The great Temple of Abu Simbel is dedicated to the god Ra-Hurakhti and built by Ramses II. However by looking at it you would never guess because four 22m tall statues of Ramses II sit at the entrance of the temple and eight more stands inside. Ramses II also had a temple built for his wife Nefertari which is called Temple of Hathor. The temple is dedicated to Hathor the young goddess of fertility and sky. This temple is one of the only temples in Egypt dedicated to a woman.

With two nights down and three more to go we spent two of the three nights on a felucca. Our felucca ride did not go according to plan which was very disappointing and frustrating but on the upside though the people on the felucca were great. We had so much fun hanging out with Katie, Ben and Simon from England and Veronica from France. Our trip on the Felucca was supposed to take us to Elephant and Kithneer Island which is across the Nile from Aswan. From there we were supposed to sail down to Kom Ombo and have dinner and visit it in the morning. The next day we were expected to sail from Kom Ombo to Edfu and visit Edfu in the morning. Well lets just say we never made it to Kom Ombo by felucca but instead drove to Kom Ombo and then to Edfu and finally to Luxor.

Day one we sailed across the Nile and just sat and watched the sun go down while we asked ourselves why we were not moving. Oh that's because the wind was to strong and the Nile police would come and tell us to dock. B...S....!!!! Right as the sun was setting we sailed for about an hour and then docked till morning. For day two we sailed most of the day but not all the way to Kom Ombo because it's better for our sleep to dock a few km outside where it's quite. Annoyed and frustrated we were left with little to do but enjoy each others company. I however felt myself getting sick with chills and high fever just wanting to be off the felucca. Still feeling sick by day three on the felucca we packed our bags hailed a min bus and all crammed in with other frustrated felucca passengers and visited Kom Ombo and Edfu.

Kom Ombo still standing in its original spot unlike the other two is a series of temples. The temple dates back to the Middle Kingdom and several rulers such as Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy XIII and Caesar Augustus have contributed something to this temple. Various parts of the temple are dedicated to different gods or goddess.

In Edfu we visited the Temple of Horus, whom is the son of Isis and Osiris and is recognized for his hawk head and is known for the guard against evil. This temple took almost 200 years to construct and is one of the last great Egyptian monuments. Several religious festivals were healed in honor of Horus at this temple.

With Kom Ombo and Edfu down we had a fully packed day of temples and valleys in Luxor waiting for us the next day. Exhausted and still getting the chills and fevers we decided to spend two days in Luxor instead of one which ended up breaking up the long sight seeing day. Needing to rest and sleep we took it easy for the night and morning. By the afternoon I managed to get enough strength to visit Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.

Karnak Temple is amazing with its intricacy and proportions of pillars. Every major period of Egypt's ancient history is represented in this temple. The temple holds several shrines which are dedicated to the sun god Amun and his family. Another interesting think about Karnak Temple is it still has ancient mud brick scaffoldings which were used to erect the massive walls.

Luxor Temple which is located about five blocks from our wonderful hostel called Oasis, the temple was built around 1380 BCE by Amenhotep III. Other significant pharaohs such as Ramses II to Tutankhamun made there mark as well. Luxor Temple was meant to serve as a love nest for the gods and many couples would spend 24 days and nights in the sanctuary. Currently a Muslim temple is being built inside Luxor Temple.

While visiting these temples we spent our time walking around with our friend Kate whom just finished volunteering with Peace Core in Namibia. Discussing how I was feeling she suggested I get tested for malaria to be on the safe side. Heather and I decided to stop by some pharmacies on the way home to pick up a malaria test kit but since malaria is not common here we were sent to the hospital. Luckily our travel agent friends had plans to meet us for coffee and instead volunteered to take us to the hospital. Our visit was short, brief and interesting, come to find out they don't have the test and sent us to a lab doctor. With Mindu and Ramez by our sides they knew where to go and settled it out for us. I had my blood drawn tested and was expected to return at 10:30pm for my results. Well come to find out I don't have malaria but instead have Pharaohs revenge (travelers diarrhea) from the food on the felucca. Mindu says it happens all the time and laughed at me for not telling him I had diarrhea. But since I had just come from India where malaria is very prominent I thought I had malaria because no one else was sick off the boat. Oh well, it made for a fun adventure and Heather was such a trooper and good care taker.

With east bank down we were left visiting the west bank where the Valley of Kings and Queens are plus the Temple of Hatchebsot and Clossi of Memonon. First stop Valley of Kings has roughly 64 known tombs which were buried in the valley. We visited three of the 64 tombs. First we saw Ramses IV tomb which was used as a Byzantine church. Inside the tomb we saw lots of Coptic graffiti plus paintings which come from the Book of the Dead and the Book of the Gates. Next we visited Ramses IX tomb which features gold figures against a deep blue background. Inside the tomb they found Ramses IX's sarcophagus in a pit beyond the corridor. Finally we ended with Ramses I and his tomb has one of the shortest corridors in the valley which is said to be a reflection of his short rule. Inside his tomb the walls were painted with scenes of Ramses playing with the gods.

Form the valley of Kings we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut which is built in a three tiered form and stands tall against the sheer limestone cliffs in the background. Hatshepsut is the only female ruler to obtain the title of pharaoh after the death of her husband Thutmose II. She is said to have dressed up as a drag at times, which we thought was interesting.

Next to follow was the Valley of Queens which holds the burial place for the wives of the pharaohs and there children. It holds roughly 30 tombs and we visited two, Tomb of Titi and Tomb of Amonherkhepeshef. Inside the Tomb of Amonherkhepeshef laid a desiccated fetus which was displayed in a small case. It was impressive to see it in its perfect fetus form and has been well preserved. Both tombs were similar to the kings yet a bit smaller.

Before returning home after a very long hot morning we stopped to take pictures of the two statues known as Colossi of Memnon. These two magnificently tall statues are the only two things which remain of the largest temple dedicated to Amenhotep III.

Feeling better yet exhausted from all the sites we sat and had lunch before we headed out into the bazaar to do a quick shopping trip. Our shopping trip was short and brief because our bus to Dahab a waited. These past six days have flown by, its amazing to think of all the temples we visited but they have all been unique and one of a kind. However our time in Dahab will be a good break from the ancient Egyptian ruins. Red Sea here we come!!!

Cairo

2009-02-28T07:37:00.000-08:00

I arrived at length at Cairo, mother of cities and seat of Pharaoh the tyrant, boundless in multitude of buildings, peerless in beauty and splendor, the meeting-place of comer and goer, the halting-place of feeble and mighty, whose throngs surge as waves of sea.

-Ibn Battuta, 14th Century globetrotter

Flying into Cairo, I was surprised by the vast desert that surronded the huge city. It was a bit shocking to be back on the road again, after a week in England, but was thrilled to see Toriann waiting for me outside of customs. We made our way to a taxi and somehow picked the one taxi driver that had a bone to pick with the security gaurd. After we threw our luggage in trunk, the security gaurd was practically in the car beating on the our driver. The driver was not phased though and drove away, leaving the gaurd, yelling, in the dust. Welcome to Egypt. :)

Honestly, I was so nervous to travel into Egypt. After the hectic, always hasseling, invading your space, crazy traffic of India, I thought Egypt would be even worse. And then two days before we were supposed to arrive, there was the bombing in the tourist market. But, so far, and not to jinx anything, Egypt has been a pleasant surprise. The men can still be assertive and foward, you still feel as if you are always being ripped off and everyone has a shop or expedition that they insist you must visit, but overall, our experience in Cairo was safe, pleasant and incredibly rich with amazing experiences.

Our first full day in Cairo, we arranged a private driver to take us to the great pyramids of Giza. We were driven straight to the 'Office of horse and camel to pyramids trip', where we met Mahmoud, a friendly Egyptian man who after much haggeling led us onto the pyramid grounds on Moses and MickeyMouse, our camels for the day. We spent about 3 hours wandering the huge area that surronds the 9 pyramids. There are 3 main pyramids, built for 3 pharaohs from the 4th dynasty-Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus. The three were a son-grandson trio who ruled in the 26th century BCE. The surronding six smaller pyramids were built for the wives and children of the pharoahs, and all 9 of the pyramids contain its own funery complex. When one of the rulers died, the mummified body was brought across the Nile by boat and placed to rest in the scared center of the pyramid. After taking in the immenseness of the pyramids, we climbed off Moses and Mickey, and entered into the largest of the pyrmids. It was largely disapointing, way too hot and claustraphobic, and steep. The small tunnel down into the pyramid led you to a small room, and then another tunnel back up into another small room. The rooms were all empty and although it was cool to be inside, that was about it. Everything from the pyramids had been removed and was now in the Egypt museum.

Next we rode to the nearby Sphinx. The Sphinx was so much smaller than I imagined, even though it is 80 mt long and 22 mt high. He looks pretty friendly, even with his missing nose and ear (which are in the British museum). The identity of the Sphinx is still debated, but Egyptian folklore says that he is half-human, half-tiger who protects the pyramids from theives....however, if that is his purpose, he seems to have done a pretty average job.

After completing our tour of the pyramids, we realized that riding a camel was not the most comfortable thing in the world, and realized we were both sore and stiff. But, no time to rest, we headed off with our driver to our next destination-Saqqara.

Saqqara is the home of the famous Step Pyramid of Zoser I. Built in 2630 BCE, it is the worlds oldest funerary momument and the inspiration for the pyramids. It was designed by the innovative architect Imhotep, who was not satisfied with a simple rectaungular design, but instead went with a stacked, layered look. The pyramid seemed to be under a lot of construction and about half of it was blocked off. Toriann and I decided to hike around to the back to take a look though and once out of sight of the gaurds was invited into the blocked off area by a local 'guide' He rushed us past the fence and down the stairs into the base of the pyramid (which is certainly not open for visitors!!) He then led us to see the statue of King Zoser I, hidden from visitor as well by construction barricades and a large stone with a small peep hole. It was amazing to see, so happy to break the rules, which we normally never do :), and see another side of Saqqara.

After Saqqara, we made our way back to the pyramids for a late lunch and then another camel ride to the top of a sandy hill to watch the sunset over the pyramids. It was a bit painful to get back on the camel, but we mastered the crazy camel gallop. Mahmoud, our friendly host, provided us with tea, sheesha, and a marriage propousal for Toriann, including 17 camels, 2 horses and 2 kilos of fruits. It was tempting for T, but since he already had 3 wives, she decided to say no...(she would rather have the first wife position). juuust kidding.

The next day we spent enjoying Cairo and the Egyptian museum. We had amazing coffee at one of Cairos famous coffee shops before spending a solid 3 or 4 hours in the museum. The museum is immense, one of the worlds greatest collection of artifacts, although the display is very average. According to Lonely Planet, the museum holds over 100k artifacts and if you spent 1 minute looking at each display, it would take you over nine months to work your way through the museum. Toriann and I loved the Tutankhaumans room and the jewelry rooms.

Our afternoon in Cairo was spent wondering around Islamic Cairo, visiting the Wikala mosques and the great bazaar of Khan al-Khalili.

Exhausted from walking so much of the city, we had a quick dinner at our favorite Fafafel place and headed to the train station for our overnight train to the south of Egypt-first stop Aswan.

Good-bye India

2009-02-23T00:13:00.000-08:00

In a few short hours I will be leaving India and I am sad to have to say good bye to this beautiful country. India happens to be the longs place Heather and I have stayed in and we have both really enjoyed our time here. India is unlike any country we have visited so far on this trip and we hope that through each of our blogs we have given you a better insight to the culture, people and life here. Either way, if by chance you have an interest at all about India I highly recommend seeing the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” as well as seeing or reading the book “The City of Joy.”
While we were in Kolkata we had the time to go and see “Slumdog Millionaire” and really enjoyed it. Its about a young man who goes on the TV show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' and the story of his life unfolds through the questions he is asked. The movie takes place in Mumbai which happens to be where I am right now and about 55% of the people in Mumbai live in the slums. The movie is well directed and is absolutely wonderful. When it was over and time for us to leave Heather and I both felt that as we walked out of the theater we had actually just stepped into the movie. The movie gives a good visual to life as an Indian and plus I know its out in the theaters, so go and see it, I promise you will love it too.
I also recommend reading the book “The City of Joy” by, Dominique Lapierre. I'm currently only a few chapters in but I already feel as though I have a better sense of the peoples lives in Kolkata. As I have said before, Kolkata is one of my favorite places and while living on Sudder St. we were told by other backpackers to go and have a drink at the Farelan Hotel. Curious as to why, we learn that when the book was turned into a movie they filmed part of it at this hotel. Well of course we felt it honorary to be able to see where the movie was filmed and enjoy in a cold refreshment. So if you don't have the time to read the book see the movie, its supposed to be good. Plus, it has Patrick Swayze in it so if you are a fan of him you will for sure live it. Either way I hope you are enjoying the blogs and the next time you check we will be on a different continent, embracing new people, learning another religion, tasting different spices, and seeing ancient ruins.

Sivananda Yoga Ashram

2009-02-23T00:09:00.000-08:00

A few months before leaving on this great adventure I read a book called “Eat Pray Love” by, Elizabeth Gilbert. Elizabeth travels to three countries Italy, Indonesia, and India and while she was in India she stayed at an ashram. For the past several years I have had an interest in yoga but was to intimidated to take a class because I knew nothing and so I thought what better way to learn yoga but spending a week or more at an ashram. Her visit to the ashram really inspired me to visit a yoga ashram while I was in India. Before coming I had briefly looked into a few and even while I was traveling I had the idea in the back of my head but nothing really stood out to me nor did it seem to fit in to our plans. Well the week we were in Kolkata, I meet this woman named Kelly who told me of her travel plans and she mentioned she was headed down to Kerala to spend a few weeks at a Sivananda Yoga Ashram. Kelly and I talked and I mentioned I was interested but had no yoga experience but am very eager to learn. Well from the people she had meet who had been there in the past said this place is great for beginners and is not as intense as most ashrams. After our talk I went to the internet and looked at the website and was sold. Roughly two weeks from when I meet Kelly I surprised her with an email telling her I was coming and would see her in two days time.
I have just finished my week here and am very sad to be leaving so soon, yet I know many great experiences are yet to come in new places. While I was here my days were packed in a relaxing way. We got up every morning at 5:30 am and headed down to satsang which was meditation, chanting, and a talk. After Morning satsang we all gathered outside for chai tea, which warmed our tummy's and gave us a burst of energy for yoga class which was from 8-10am. By now most of us are very hungry which was good because brunch was served. The meals are always vegetarian and on most days it was good but every two days the meal was not so great. After brunch we were called to do our karma yoga, mine was cleaning my dorms bathroom. I worked with two other woman who also had dormitory bathrooms and our little team worked very hard and efficiently. Fortunate for me one of the other women volunteered to clean the toilets so I either swept or mopped which is better because, I hate cleaning toilets. Once our karma yoga was finished we had a bit of free time to sleep, take a dip in the lake, visit the internet, or lounge on the lawn. At around 1:30 we all gathered to enjoy in some tea and snack before heading to lecture. Lecture was interesting and boring all together but once lecture was over we headed to afternoon yoga class. By now its 6pm and we are drained from yoga class and eager to eat our second meal for the day. Dinner was always a let dawn because it was never as big as lunch which I suppose is good However, in all honesty most of us spent our after dinner free time at the health hut indulging in tasty fruit milkshake, fruit salad, or anything else they had on the menu. Now that our tummy's were full from dinner and our added snack we all gathered for evening satsung which lasted from 8-10pm. By the time satsung was over all of us walked back to our bedrooms anxious sleep and prepare ourselves to repeat it all the very next day.
During my time at the ashram I have learned and experienced a lot. During satsung we were asked to sit cross legged for 20 minutes and meditate. Well I have learned that it is very hard to sit still for that long. I last about 2-5 minutes before I can no longer sit still and need to move and change position. . . very frustrating. We also sang chants that are written in Sanskrit which is hard to read most of the time but has a very catchy melody and has a way of sticking in your head. Randomly throughout the day I caught myself as well as others chanting or humming away and not even realizing it. “Om Namah Sivaaya, Om Namah Sivaaya, Om Namah Sivaaya, Om Namah Sivaaya” At meal time, I learned to only eat with my right fingers which made me feel like a child again. I however focused on mastering how to best clean my plate to make it look like food had never been served on it. In comparison to my first day I felt as though I improved day by day, give me another week or so I for sure would have masted the Indian way of eating. Those are just some of the things I learned, but the most important thing I learned and will forever take with me are the yoga posses. There are several and I have yet to master them all but have learned the techniques and with a little practice I will hopefully improve. I suppose with anything the more you practice the better you get, so maybe someday I will be able to sit silently without moving for 20 minutes or more.
While I was at the ashram I was fortunate enough to go to the grand opening of the Sivananda Yoga center they had built in Trivandrum. Trivandrum is the main city outside of where I was staying and all of us students were invited. We were asked to dress in traditional clothing and well I was super excited because this meant I could put on my sari. Unsure as to how to actually put it on I asked one of the local women who was working at the ashram to please help me. Well of course word got around and with in a matter of time I had all the local women in my room helping me put on this sari. One woman said it was a wedding sari and to be honest I did feel like a bride with all the women around me helping me get dressed, but gladly I am not and instead went to the grand opening. One perk to all the women helping me is I learned how to put the sari on so next time I will be able to do it myself.
The grand opening was tones of fun and one of the most exciting things was that the King or should I say Maharajah of Kerala came to inaugurate the building. Sadly or more disappointingly he did not stay for the whole festival but we manged to continue on and enjoy the evening. We sat and chanted a bit before we indulged ourselves in a traditional Indian meal. After dinner we took a look around the building, chatted with people and then were called back inside for evening satsung. This satsung was shorter and quite different because a band came to play. The band was amazing, their were three of them and they each played a different type of old instrument, one being a sitar...i think. The evening was so much fun and most everyone dressed in traditional clothing and looked amazing. I just kept saying what fortunate timing it was to be here and to be invited to take part in this grand opening. I believe this Sivananda yoga center will due a lot for the people of Trivandrum as well as all Sivananda followers.
Over all, my week at the ashram was great and I would recommend to anyone interested in yoga to go and spend some time in an ashram because I think it offers a different feeling then what one might get at home from their yoga class. I'm so glad I meet Kelly and she told me about this place because if it wasn't for her I'm not sure I would have made it to an ashram during my time here in India. Its amazing how things work out. Om Santih Santih Santih (Om Peace Peace Peace)

Andaman Islands

2009-02-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

Our relaxing and free of horn honking week on the Andaman Islands (AI) was amazing and such a treat. Going to the AI was not part of our original India plan, but things rarely happen according to plan. After spending a week in the freezing cold of Darjeeling, we were easily persuaded by some fellow travelers to visit the AI where warm weather, beautiful white sand beaches, blue water, and diving would await. Although a few weeks had passed since we left the cold and we were very much enjoying our time volunteering at the Mother House, we were still super excited.
Our flight landed us in Port Blair so we quickly headed to the ferry dock to catch the ferry to Havelock Island were we spent our week. Havelock is a little island that consist of seven beaches, or should i say six because beach six doesn't seem to exist. As we debarked from the ferry we were handed a flyer by the owner of Eco Villa promoting his hostel. Since we had read about it and the price was right we decided to settle down on beach number 2 at the lovely Eco Villa. Tired and exhausted from our travels, we enjoyed a nice dinner sitting under coconut trees at our hostel and just stared out on to the water and watched the moons reflection ripple on the water.
Refreshed and eager to dive, we headed to Dive India to book our Advance Open Water course as well as a day of fun diving. Our AOW consisted of five dives: navigation, deep, photography, naturalist and night dive plus a little book reading. Since a standard trip usually consist of two dives in one boat trip we were able to complete our course in two days. Viskos, our dive instructor was super nice and such a great teacher. He is from Goa originally but has lived on Havelock for the past three years and really enjoys being on instructor and working wit his students. Our course went smoothly and we both enjoyed it tremendously because we had a focus and purpose for our dives. For each of the dives we were able to photograph what we saw and learn how best to capture life underwater. Viskos also told us about different species of fish for example, it is most common to see angel fishes travel in two because they mate for life. During our night dive we focused on the micro living things. It is a bit scary not being able to see your surroundings but the night dive offers such a different outlook to the underwater world, we saw several fish sleeping, bio luminescences, basket star fish and much more. All together we saw grouper, school of barracuda, lion fish, shrimp, snapper, an electric clam, crocodile fish and so much more. At a few of the dive spots we visited it felt as though we were in a movie, like the movie Finding Nemo. The coral just covered the bottom for miles and there are just so many fish swimming around living their life. It is just such an experience to be able to breath underwater and watch them all live in their natural habitat. Our diving days were the best.
When we were not diving we were most often relaxing on the beach and hanging out with our Danish friends Mikael, Adam and Heidi. One afternoon the boys went out fishing and Mikael the lucky one he was caught a fish. The fish was massive and as kind as the guys were they invited us over to there hostels restaurant to enjoy in a lovely dinner. One of the chefs cooked up the fish as well as some side dishes, mushroom rice, tomato and cucumber salad, and garlic cooked vegetables. Turns out the dinner is one of the best dinners we have had on our trip. The food was delicious and there was so much of it we ended up sharing it with all the cooks. It was so nice to be sitting among friends enjoying this wonderful meal and all eating together at the same time. Thank you Mikael for catching the fish.
Our week on the island flew by and although we decided to skip Nepal so that we could come here we are so very glad we did. The weather suited us and our clothing much better. Of all the countries we have traveled to we both agree that India is definitely a country we will come back too. And although we have yet to visit Nepal we know for sure we will either visit when the weather is warmer or when we have more suitable cold weather clothing. We are young and our travel addiction has only gotten worse. . . who knows if we will ever return home?

Life on Sudder street.

2009-02-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

We promised ourselves we would make it back to Kolkata after leaving early to run the rickshaw race! I am so, so glad we did the rickshaw race, but also so glad we made it back to Kolkata as our week there was one of my favorite weeks so far of our trip. I kept thinking during our time in India, I really love India, but I dont think I like being a tourist here. Our week in Kolkata gave us the chance to settle in a bit, volunteer at the Mother Theresa homes, and see India from another viewpoint.
Working at the Mother Theresa homes was incredible in itself. To be a part of what Mother Theresa started was humbling and inspiring. To be a part of a community that was there to serve from all over the world- serving, in the simplest of ways, laundry, washing, hugging, painting nails, massaging, and yet feeling inspired by those simple tasks and feeling as if you are following in the footsteps of someone who loved beyond all barriers. The home that I worked at was for people that simply could no longer care for themselves and had no where to go. The building was new, open and light and surrounded by gardens. The resident women were not beautiful by physical standards, several with severe deformities, eyes removed, burned, heads shaved to keep away lice, etc. Some were grumpy with the volunteers, some really excited to sit and chat in their native language or have their nails painted, but either way I wish I could have heard each and everyone of these ladies stories. Where they had come from, what they had lived through, seen, heard, experienced, and how they had found their way to Prem Don.
Every morning at the Mother house, mass was held at 6am, followed by breakfast for the volunteers at 7. The breakfast was bread, bananas and chai. It was so cool because there are 6 or 7 places that the volunteers are sent, so breakfast was a time for everyone to see each other, hear how peoples days were, etc. After breakfast, we said a prayer, sang a song, the gate opened and we were released to travel to our different locations. I walked each day with Janet, a wonderful women from the UK who had come to Kolkata on her own to volunteer for the month. Janet and I always had the nicest chats while navigating the crazy streets of Kolkata to Prem Don. I loved meeting Janet and several other of the volunteers who inspired me with their willingness to come to India to serve. The volunteers were so diverse, from all over the world, all had a different reason for coming, some staying a day, some staying for 6 months. But no matter where they were from or how long they were there, everyone I met at PD was so amazing.

While I worked at PD, Toriann worked across town at another mother house-

I, Toriann spent my week at Shishu Bhavan were I worked with handicapped children. As expected the first day was hard and intense but as the week porgressed it became easier and even more rewarding then I imagened. Every morning I would come in and say hello to all the children as they sat in there chairs waiting for breakfast. I spent my week mostly working with Bobeta one of the most beautifl girls ever. She has cerebral palsy and is unable to walk, crawl or talk, never the less, we really bonded. Her eyes would widen and she would get a big smile on her face every morning when I would come in and say hello. During my days I would feed Bobeta, change her dipper, do some exercises and just sit by the window so she could look out into the world. Feeding time was always difficult with her but I managed to get the food down after a few songs and some tickling. If she was distracted or laughing the food went down but otherwise she would be feisty and just spit the food out and make a big mess...oh the joys of children :) Exercise time was very therapeutic for her, she would relax her muscles as I stretched her legs and her arms. Although she can not walk, sit up or crawl she loved being in those postions. With much help I would walk her to the window so she could stair out into the world, or I would cross her legs and we would sing "patty cake" and other kids songs as she sat up. Bobeta really loved "patty cake" as well as loved being tickled, she would just start laughing uncontrolably. I love listening and watching children laugh it is just the most innocent thing ever. Working with Bobeta and spending the week at Shishu Bhavan has definitely touched my hart and opend my eyes to working with handicapped children...wow is it hard work. As hard as it was the experince cannot even be compared and I cannot wait to return someday soon.

( sorry dont know what happend) dder street. The street was filled with people you recognized from breakfast or from where you were volunteering. I loved it, it was like living in the dorms again, you always were running into people you knew, having a chai with someone you volunteer with, joining a group of people at Fresh and Juicy for some naan. It made the whole volunteer community even stronger and already I am missing life on Sudder street!

Another great part of returning to Kolkata was we had the honor of going to an Indian wedding. We met a large group of rowdy British (and Canadian) men having a bachelor party at a nearby hotel. They invited us along for the party to an Indian dance club and provided us with a very entertaining evening-including sweater vests, police chases, dance offs, etc. Colin, the groom(UK) and Shirley (Philadelphia) planned their wedding in the home town of Shirleys grandparents-Kolkata. Colin and Shirley were kind enough to invite Toriann, myself and two other friend, Gered and Sara (Denmark) to the wedding. We got invited at about 9:30pm the night before the wedding, and Toriann and I knew we had to find Saris to wear the next day. Lucky enough, in India, there is always a guy with a shop and it didnt take long to find a man with a wholesale sari shop who sold us 2 beautiful saris.
The next day, after working at the Mother house, we started getting dressed for the wedding, realizing we had no idea how to put them on. The sari is one long piece of fabric, but put on correctly, they look amazing. The women who worked at our guest house, Shanti, was kind enough to come up and dress us, but she was puzzled by the fact that we were missing half the sari. You are supposed to get a simple skirt to wear underneath the actual sari, but we had not had time so had just planned on wearing shorts. Shanti was unimpressed with our idea and kept saying 'this will not work' and we said 'it has to work!' She ended up totally pulling it off and made us feel so beautiful!
The wedding was a traditional Bengali-Hindu wedding, with a few western modifications. The bride was beautiful in a red and gold sari with gold jewelry and hair pieces, and the groom was decked out, wearing a tall, white hat with two balls hanging down the sides and a long red robe. The wedding was held on the rooftop of the beautiful Taj Bengal hotel. The groom rode onto the hotel grounds on a white horse, proceded by a marching band. After some dancing, the wedding party (besides the horse) moved to the roof to begin the wedding ceramony. The wedding ceremony, in a traditional Hindi wedding, can take up to 4 hours, including the moment where the bride is revealed to the groom for the first time. Shirley and Colin skipped parts of it, but still completed many of the rituals, guided by a Hindi holy man, including walking around a small fire 7 times.
After the ceremony, Colin and Shirley were officially married, the party really got started. There were Bengali dancers that came and performed to get the dancing going-full on Bollywood style. The Indians are amazing dancers and we had a great time dancing in our saris under the stars. After dancing up an appetite, we enjoyed the amazing food and drink while getting to know some of the friends of the bride and groom. I am so grateful to Colin and Shirley for extending the invitation and being so generous!!
Overall, our week in Kolkata was so good. I would have liked to stay for longer, but next up Andaman islands!

Into the heart.

2009-01-27T07:54:00.000-08:00

Today we watched the sunset from the monkey temple, guarded by dozens of monkeys and surrounded by the desert city of Jaipur. Two days ago we were awe struck by the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. The day before that we watched bodies being burned and put into the very holy Ganges river.

Traveling in India is by far the most challenging that we have encountered. Every moment is sensory overload, the sights, sounds, smells surround you and overtake what your thoughts, feelings and heart in every experience. The colors are stunning. The architecture is exquisite. The people are warm. The poverty is heart breaking. Cows are everywhere. And although each day in India continues to be a mental and emotional challenge, it is as much rewarding as it is challenging.

After leaving Darjeeling, we headed into the heart of India, the Golden Triangle. We took an overnight train to Varanasi, meant to leave at 5pm, actually left at midnight and arrived to Varanasi 9 hours late.

Varanasi is a complex system of narrow allyways. In order to get anywhere you, twist and turn throughout the areas behind the ghats. The alley ways are filled with colorful shops, food and chair stands that fill the air with yummy aromas that almost make it so you cant smell the cow, dog, goat and human waste that is everywhere.

We visited the Marikarnika Ghat first, one of two of the burning ghats. It is one of the most holy ghats for Hindus, as it is the final stop of the popular panchathirthi pilgrimage. The ghat is also just next to the primary cremation grounds, where bodies are burned, day and night, to be prepared to be placed into the river and sent on to the afterlife. Bodies are paraded down to the river, covered and adorned in flowers and gold coverings. The family prepares for the ceremony by the men shaving their head and the women painting their nails. After getting permission from the local government to burn their family member, the family purchases the wood to build the fire from the 'eternal flame'. The body is then dipped in the river and cremated. The ashes are then thrown into the river. Any Hindu can be cremated at the river, if the family has money to purchase the wood. The only exceptions are holy men, pregnant women, babies and animals. They are not burned but their bodies are tied to rocks and thrown directly into the river because they are already pure. Lepers and people bitten by snakes are also not burned.

We watched parts of cremations from a hospice overlooking the ghat and were told about the rituals by a 'government volunteer'. He was extremely knowledgeable about it all and we appreciated him filling us in, but afterwards he told me he would not take my donation as there was a 'minimum donation'. oooooookkkk. And then he invited us to come into his silk shop. So it goes in India, everyone has a shop or a friends shop.

After Varanasi, we took the overnight train to Agra. Agra is known for being a city full of swindlers and poverty, but it is the home of the Taj Mahal. On the train we met Sam (Australia), who offered us a lift with his private driver he had booked. The driver picked us up from the train station and after bribing the 'taxi union', we went to parking lot close to the Taj Mahal. You can only drive so close to the Taj, in order to keep the pollution down, and then you must take either an electric car, a horse or camel driven carriage. We opted for the cheap and cheerful electric car and pulled up to the door of the Taj. After a quick security check, apparently security has gotten a lot stricter after the Mumbai shootings, we were on the compound. Our guide was super informative and told us about each unique, always symmetrical parts of the compound. After viewing the outside sections, we crossed through an Aladdin shaped arch and were awe struck at the immediate beauty of the building. It only continued to get more beautiful as we got closer. It is not in fact white, but an intricate designs of marble stones with floral patterns throughout. There is also Arabic scripts from the Koran up and down the entry ways. The Taj is surrounded by four white pillars, all built at 100 degree angle away from the Taj, just in case they were ever to fall. Inside, the tombs themselves are off limit, but you can visit replicas that are kept in a beautiful, ornate marble room.

The story of the Taj Mahal just adds to its beauty and mystery. It was built for the favorite wife of Shah Jahan, the Mughal emporer in 1632. When he received the news that she had died, he decided to bury her in a tomb of timeless beauty, a "tear that would hang on the cheek of time". The building of the Taj was completed in 1653 with 20,000 imported Persian artists and workers working non-stop on the construction.

After an amazing, but much too fast visit at the Taj Mahal, we were on our way again (with our borrowed private driver) to Jaipur. Jaipur is in the desert state of Rajasthan, so the scenery changed to desert towns filled with camel pulled carts, turbaned men and more women in brightly colored sarees! Jaipur is known as the 'pink city', after being painted pink in the 19th century for Prince Alberts visit. The city is no longer actually very pink, but the name remains. The city is divided into several sections and was a lot larger than we were expecting! We had a hard time getting around our preferred style...walking. Streets in India are even less pedestrian friendly than southeast Asia, and not only do you have to avoid cars, you have the constant ring of rickshaw drivers following you trying to convince you wherever you are going is too far and you should get in with them. In the end, we often did just because it was more annoying to try and ignore them while trying not to get lost. Our first evening we visited the American embassy, good ol McDs, just to say we have been there in India. The menu is totally different, they serve McVeg and the Maharaja Mac. No beef at these McDonalds.

We spent our day in Jaipur with Dave and Sam (USA), guys we had met while buying train tickets. Hah, that was an adventure in itself. We still have not quite perfected that part of traveling in India either and by the time we bought 2 tickets, we had gone through the line 5 times. :) But, I think we made the ticket guy laugh. Anyways, with Dave and Sam guiding with their lonely planet, we did a walking tour through the craziness of the pink city. We walked through amazing bazaars, filled with fruits, veggies, spices, silk, tie dyed sarees, gems and jewels. It was beautiful and made me want to bedazzle myself in Indian clothes and gems. But no time, after passing through the bazaars, we visited the City Palace and museum, the Jantar Mantar Observatory, and the Hawa Mahal (the Palace of Winds). We missed the famous Amber fort, but instead decided to climb up to the Galta, the Monkey Temple. The temple is set on a cliff, overlooking Jaipur. The walk up is not bad, you just have to be careful of the aggressive monkeys, who will find any food on you, even in your bag. And while you are walking defensively through the monkeys, you have to watch out for cows meandering down the path...those cows don't move for anybody. But, if you make it to the top, the view is breathtaking, a dusky sunset littered with kites being flown by children atop their rooftops of colorful houses.

It is in these moments that I hope to remember and take with me from India, remembering the beauty that is unlike any other in the world. The moments where all the aches and pains and annoyances of traveling disappear in being in a place so different, so foreign that it makes you reflect on how big the world is and how lucky we are to get the chance to experience this corner called India.

Photos of India....

India

We want Gorkhaland!

2009-01-19T05:41:00.000-08:00

We arrived to Darjeeling after parting ways with Brendan and John. It was super sad to say goodbye and completely unsatisfactory not making it to the end of the race! But the time had come for us to move on and move up (3000 meters up!) to the mountainous town of Darjeeling. The drive up was steep, we climbed up from 150 mt to 3000 mts in a mere 80 kilometers! We arrived at the jeep drop off and climbed up to the top of town to our hotel, Tower View. It was cheap and cheerful, in other wards, a freezing, cement room with friendly owners and a hot shower. It could be worse, right? Yes, as the sun went down, so did the temperature. We managed to find a warm pub for the evening, but as we headed back to our room, we realized we did not have nearly enough warm clothes to stay long in Darjeeling...especially when we realized our room was no warmer than outside! We bundled under blankets and into our sleeping bags, but still neither of us slept much that night.

We got up early and headed out down the hill into town feeling slightly groggy, grumpy and still cold. However, when we turned the corner, the street opened up and we were stopped in our tracks by the view. The mountains, the Himalayans, are grandeur, nothing like them, stunning. While not Everest, you can get a clear view of the third highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga. It definitely made the cold, sleepless night worth it.
We spent the next few days in Darjeeling enjoying not only the mountains but also the unique culture of Darjeeling.
A few highlights were-

-Tibetan Refuge Center. The refuge center was established by Tibetans who fled to India in 1959. The center continues to support the Tibetan population with weaving factories that are open to the public. It was super interesting to learn about the history and current events regarding Tibet and see how they have maintained their culture, language, and religion while living in India and Nepal. While we were at the center, we also found their nursery where we ended up staying for a while just playing with the little ones! They were so cute, so bundled up in their jumpers and blankets they could hardly move!

-Tiger Hill, a viewpoint where everyone goes to watch the sunrise over the mountains. We didnt get to see Everest, but it was still the Himalayas in all their splendor, if you could see them over all the Indian tourists! It was super crowded! We participated in lots of 'group pictures' with local tourists, some must have had at least 50 pictures with us and our group in them.

-Happy Valley Tea Estate. Darjeeling is known for their tea plantations and this is one of the largest in the area. Although it was off season for picking and the plantation was closed for the day, we ran into a man that had worked there his whole life and gave us a private tour. He took us through the process of picking, processing, and brewing the tea leaves. We then sat in his living room with him and his father sampling the tea. It was cool to sit in his home and get to chat with him a bit about his life.

-Observatory Hill. A place where you can enjoy the view and experience the temple of Mahakala, some manifestation of Shiva. This temple is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The place is supposedly protected by the multitude of prayer flags and the army of monkeys that make their home there. The multicolored prayer flags make it incredibly beautiful and surreal, especially with the mountains hanging in the ski behind them. The monkeys, not so beautiful, and keep you on your toes as they are known to be aggressive!

-The Lloyd Botanical Gardens

-Cinnamon Coffee, Momos, Tibetan bread and soup, Joeys pub

We got to enjoy so many things in Darjeeling, as we ended up being there for 6 nights! That is 4 nights longer than we intended to stay. But, we learned that traveling in India is more difficult than anywhere else! The trains have been booked, up to a week ahead, so we have had to do some planning in advance. When we figured that out, we ended up buying a ticket to a city close to Varanasi, our next destination, but later found out that city was the capital of the most dangerous district in India. It made me super nervous that we would have to get off there and find a local train to Varanasi. But, in some way we were protected and never made it on that train because Ghorkaland called a strike in Darjeeling. That meant that everything that had anything to do with tourists shut down. The first night of the strike, we managed to find a very small restaurant that was feeding tourists and it turned out to be super fun! Everyone said the strike would still be on the next day, but that we could go to the police and they would get us to the train station (which was back in Siliguri).

The next morning, we got up early, rang our travel agent, went to the police station, the traffic police, all of who said it was possible to get out but they couldn't help us. We ran around town for 3 hours trying desperately not to miss our train, but in the end we were told you had to have permission from the political party who called the strike to be escorted out. We do know people who made it out that day, but it took them all day and they were stopped the whole way down to Siliguri by road blocks put up by the strike.

The Ghorkaland area is part of the large district of West Bengal, even though Ghorkaland is distinctly different in culture, language, dress and beliefs. Most of the inhabitants are originally Nepali or Tibetan. Since 1968, the Gorkha National Liberation Front's has maintained a semi autonomous government within West Bengal, but tension persists between the two governing parties and even today, well, last week, they are well known to call badhs (strikes).
It was very impressive to see how united the people became during the strike. And although inconvenient, the people remained friendly and helpful, making sure we didnt starve! The owner of our hotel served us homemade soup the second day because there were no restaurants open anywhere. It was cool to be a part of their history and their fight for freedom. Just another example of TII, this is india.

Rickshaw Run 09

2009-01-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Madcap Blunder Bus. This is the official team name and we are glad to say that we are now honorary members. Our two day trip to Darjeeling ended up turning into five days, but what more can we say other then TII (This is India).

Day 1: We left Kolkata but got off to a slow start, tons of traffic and horrible, horrible pot holes. Evening time rolled around faster then we thought and we were no where close to our destination. With the sun setting and only 30 min. before it is completely dark we started asking people where we could find a hotel/hostel. Everyone pointed north telling us to drive another 30km. Well, it turns out those 30 kms were the longest 30km of our lives. The sun had set and we were still an hour and half away from the hotel. As most of you can guess, night driving in India is a death sentence. The bus and truck drivers rule the road and drive like maniacs. Since we only had one head light working, it was time for us to get creative. With flashlights in hand both Heather and Brendon stuck their heads out the sides of the rickshaw and shouted when they saw potholes, trucks, buses, bicyclist and or pedestrians. John, being in the driver seat, did his very best to keep us on the road and not kill or get killed by anything. I being seated in the middle filmed the madness that we were in the midst of. Never thinking we would make it, we did finally arrive safe and sound to the hotel and celebrated with tears, food and drinks! We were so excited to see other rickshaw teams that had ended up at the same hotel. Hungry and in desperate need of a drink to calm our nerves we sat down and had dinner and shared in the drinking festivities with the other teams. (not much drinking actually went on because the beer was warm and disgusting )

Day 2: Since we were behind schedule we felt it best to get off to on early start...only to find that a bar on the luggage rack had broke and needed to be welded back together. So before we could officially hit the road, we needed to find a welder. Most shops were still closed because it was early but after about 15 min. we manged to find some guys who could help. As the men went to work we simply stood around smiling and chatting with the swarm of locals around us. Before we knew it the welding was done (taking 30 minutes or less and costing us less than a dollar!) and we were ready to take on the road. The day was long but overall everything went pretty smoothly. We stopped for a mid morning chai tea at one of the tea shops and I'm guessing we made the owners day. The chai tea was great and of course we were swarmed once again by all the locals. However, the swarms of locals always seemed to consist of only men. We were definitely starting to wonder where all the women were and why it never seems like any of the men worked??! After we had our tea we thanked the man said good bye to everyone and before leaving Heather asked if she could take his picture. He of course nodded yes, and then when she showed him the picture he nearly cried out of excitement, it was so sweet.

Continuing on our way we came to the understanding that we were not going to make it to Darjeeling, let alone Siliguri which is the big city at the bottom of Darjeeling. For our second night we settled in a small town called Darkola. The guesthouse was nothing fancy but I'm sure we also made this mans night. Unsure as to what we would find in Darkola we were shocked to stumble upon a restaurant and better yet an internet shop across the street from it. Our uneventful night turned out to be eventful.

Day 3: With Siliguri being just a few short hours ahead of us we were excited to get up and moving. While we packed up the rickshaw,we were introduced to the guest house owners two daughters. It was obvious he had called them and told them to come down and meet us. The girls showed up in their Sunday best and asked to have their picture taken with us. After several photos the man then proceeded to invite us over to a little tea shop to share in a chai tea and cookie before we got on the road. With our tummy's warm from the tea we said our good byes and headed towards Siliguri. When we set off, the morning fog was thick and the visibility was almost as bad as driving in the dark. We saw several lorries that had tipped over, luckily noone had been hurt. After the fog lifted, the ride went smoothly and within four hours time we arrived in Siliguri.

Now you may be wondering why we only drove for four hours. Well it was decided last night that it would be silly for Brendon and John to drive Matie (the rickshaw) up the steep mountain to Darjeeling (climbing 3000mts in only 80kms) when they would have to drive it back down the very next day. Since Siliguri is the town where one normally catches a jeep or bus to go up to Darjeeling we decided to settle down here for the day. It also worked out well for them because this is the town where they would turn off the highway heading north and start driving east towards Assam. With there being no time for them to stay a day or two in Darjeeling they decided it would be better and more enjoyable if they drove east as planned and stopped at Jaldapar Wildlife Sanctuary (JWP) to see a one horn rhinoceros while riding on an elephant. We, of course, liked the idea of visiting Jaldapar so when they found a man who would book them a reservation we were then quickly convinced and decided to tag along one more day.

Day 4: Excited and well rested we took our time getting packed up and moving this morning thinking it would be short drive to JWP. Well come to find out two hours into driving we had missed our turn off and were in all truth headed towards Darjeeling. This not being our destination we had to turn around and drive an hour or so back to where the turn off was and continue proceeding east. Frustrated, annoyed and concerned if we would make it in day lights time we pulled out the maps and tried our best to figure out how far we really had to drive. With luck on or side we ran into another rickshaw team and they had a more updated map of India and had seen that highway 31c cuts across faster then highway 31. Since we were fighting time we thought it best to take 31c and come to find out it saved us lots of time. Our original estimated time of arrival was set to be around 2pm we arrived at 4:30pm. Not bad at all since we thought we would arrive around 5:30 or so do to the detour.

Upon our arrival we could not believe that right before our eyes was a one horn rhinoceros. Just as amazed as ourselves was another rickshaw team, Ben and Peter, who are from the states. The six of us just hung out watching the rhinoceros and the bison which came out later in the evening. We spent our night relaxing, drinking tea, eating dinner and exchanging rickshaw run stories. It was a fun night and we were so glad to have joined along.

Day 5: (Knock, Knock, Knock) Startled and stumbling to the door stressing that we had overslept and were missing the elephant ride, I open the door. The servant man simply says time for tea. Wondering what time it is I say no thanks and head back into bed. Our elephant ride was to be at 6:30 and they thought it would be a good idea to wake us up at 5:30. What were they thinking? Ten minutes to 6:30 we rolled out of bed put on our warmest clothes and walked outside. Well come to find out the elephant ride had been pushed back to 6:45 so with minutes to kill we thought why not indulge in some tea. After our quick cup of tea we went out and meet the elephants, hopped on their backs and headed out into the park. Our ride lasted just over an hour and sadly we didn't see any more one horn rhinoceros, but it was an amazing trip through the park. We saw the sunrise over us, deers hiding in the bushes, a peacock fly up into a tree and various different kinds of animal foot prints. JWP is beautiful. After our ride we had some breakfast and then packed up our bags and had to say our final good byes. This is where Heather and I took a car ride back to Siliguri and Brendon and John continued driving east to the finish line. It was hard to say good bye to Matie and the guys, but we felt it was time. After some pictures and our final farewell we got in the car and drove back to Siliguri were we would then catch a jeep up to Darjeeling.

Three days behind our expected arrival day we did finally make it to Darjeeling and ended up spending a week. Although riding in a rickshaw was never an idea it ended up being one of the craziest and most adventurist we have done so far on our trip. We are both so glad and fortunate to have run into Brendon and John and thankful they were so welcoming to let us ride along. I would highly recommend doing one of these adventurists runs to any one who likes traveling and copes well with unexpected happenings like break downs, night driving, and so on. If this suits your fancy be sure to check out the website www.theadventurists.com

A day in Kolkata

2009-01-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

Five months of traveling and we are still in for an adventure. We flew form Bangkok to Kolkata, India and everything went really smoothly. We arrived late at night so we simply checked in to our hostel and called it a night. Excited to be here we headed out into Kolkata and walked through Maidan park towards the Victoria Memorial. Maiden park is a big park near our hostel and is filled with tones of people playing cricket. As we walked through we got the sense that no body works in India because everyone is out playing cricket or sitting and watching, Kolkatans take their cricket very seriously:)

Suggested by our Indian friend Aveek whom we meet in Mexico, we went to the Victoria Memorial. This famous building which is a cross between Buckingham Palace and the Taj Majal is Kolkatas reminder of once being the British Raj capital. The VM is now a museum that holds British war memorabilia as well as displays a timeline that chronicles the city's history. Unfamiliar with Kolkata's history especially the British influence we were thrilled to be able to walk through the VM and read up on Kolkata. After our visit through the VM we strolled the streets and popped in to a few places. Fist we attempted to visit St. Paul's Cathedral but were unable to get in, not sure why. From there we visited St Joseph's Home for the Aged where we were given a tour by one of the sisters. St. Joseph's is a home to roughly 150 elderly individuals whom are poor and need a place to live. After our tour we stayed and chatted with some of them and it turned out to be a real treat. Relaxing and soaking up the warm weather out in the courtyard were two elderly men who spoke perfect English. Excited to see us they asked us all kinds of questions and provided us with some Kolkata street smarts. After about a half an hour we said good bye and proceeded to walk towards the Mother House to arrange some volunteering. The Mother House which was once run by Mother Teresa is an organization that cares for the destitute and dying. Upon our arrival we were told by one of the sisters to return the next day at three for orientation. We said thanks and left with the anticipation of returning the next day. Well as usual most everything we plan never ends up going according to plan.

During our walk home from the Mother House we meet these two guys from NY who were in search of a place to stay. I suggested Sudder St. because it is filled with hostels and was the street we were staying on. Unsure of how to explain how to get there, Brendon invited us in his and John's rickshaw and asked us if we would ride along and help them get to Sudder St. Well it turns out Brendon and John were on this rickshaw run and had driven up from Pondicherry which is in the south of India and were headed to Shillong in the NE. They had signed up with the adventurists.com and were raising money for Mercy Core by participating in this rickshaw run. Since there plan was to head north up to Darjeeling they invited us to come along. Our original plan was to stay in Kolkata for a week and then head up to Darjeeling but since we meet them we thought why not join along for the fun.

Phuket

2009-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Phuket with half the Buchan clan to meet the other half, Molly and Dad! The whole passport issue was miracuously worked out in Seattle with Molly getting a brand new passport in 1 day...on her birthday!

We had a seamless trip from Bangkok to Phuket to the Hilton on Kata beach. We found Molly and Dad at the breakfast buffet and it was so great to have the whole family together, especially after all the uncertainty whether they would be able to come or not. I was so blessed to see my family, and see them in beautiful Phuket, Thailand! The Hilton was deluxe, with great pools, another killer breakfast buffet, and a great location just across the street from the beach!

The next week in Phuket flew by, our time mostly spent catching up while sitting/swimming at the pool or beach, playing cards or backgamman and generally enjoying the sun! We had 2 daytrips out to nearby islands-first, to James Bond island, fittingly named as The Man with the Golden Gun was shot there. We took very loud, wet long boats to reach JB island, but it was beautiful when we got there! From there we went on a kayaking trip into some caves, very cool as well, and finally we had lunch on another island. Once we got back to the main island, we had one more stop-elephant riding! We stopped at the elephant adventure park, where we not only rode elephants, we saw them do tricks as well! The adventure did not stop there either, after the elephant show, we watched a monkey show, rode in an ox cart, sat on a water buffalo, and watched a Thai cooking demonstration. Whew, it was a full afternoon and they packed in the Thai experiences!

Our next day of outings turned out to be even better! We took a speed boat (all of us, minus Toriann who had a stomach bug ) out to the beautiful Phi Phi islands! The first stop was on Monkey beach where we did some snorkeling and then went to a beautiful, white sand beach filled with people and monkeys! Our stop was short and before we knew it we were heading through beautiful cliffs to another beach, the beach where the movie The Beach was filmed. It was simply amazing with white sand, thick forests, and turquiose waters surronded by cliffes!

I am so grateful that I got to spend quality time with my family! It was much need after being on the road for the past 5 months! They are amazing, supportive, loving and so much fun! Thank you so much fam for coming to Thailand and treating Toriann and I to the Hilton, but also to some family TLC! I love you guys so much!

New Years in Bangkok

2009-01-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

After our 12 hour over night train ride from the boarder of Thailand to Bangkok we strolled into the Millennium Hilton with style (grungy clothes and backpacks). Upon our arrival we were escorted to the Hilton Honors lounge and given a deliciously scented hand towel, cold tea and a coffee with a cookie while we waited for them to check us in. Since it was still pretty early we were unsure if we would get a room right away but surprisingly we did...we just had to wait an hour for them to clean the room and then it would be ready. Of course we were okay with that since we decided to treat ourselves to there deluxe five star breakfast buffet. Two and half hours later, 6 to 7 plates in we decided to put the fork and knife down and retire to the room. Wow is all that we could say once we stepped into our room. This was such a luxury we were a little overwhelmed but indulged right in...took proper showers with hot water and dried off with fluffy white clean towels and then wrapped ourselves in the complimentary bathrobes. Once we were clean we tucked ourselves in the fluffy, cuddly blankets and stared out the window into the beautiful big city of Bangkok while we drifted off to sleep. After our few hours of rest and still some hours to kill before Heather's family is expected to arrive we ventured out and meet up with our friend Talita (whom we spent Christmas with) on Khoa San Road (Backpackers street and hang out). Before we meet up with Talita we stopped at the internet and Heather received some unexpected news which was that Molly's (sister)passport was expired and that her and her their dad were not coming but that Tamara (mom) and Bonnie (sister) were still expected to arrive. Shocked and sad by the news Heather called and spoke with her dad and he affirmed her that they were still going to try and figure out away to get a new passport and fly out to Thailand. With those words floating in our minds we all spent the next days praying and hoping something would work out. (jumping ahead a few days...it turns out they did make it and meet us in Phuket). After our internet fiasco we finally meet up with Talita and bought some Phad Tai and mango sticky rice off one of the many street venders. The Phad Tai was average but hey it was less then a dollar and manged to fill us up along side with the beer we washed it down with. The mango sticky rice on the other hand was delicious and i could of eaten that everyday but sadly i didn't because it turns out its not that easy to find in the restaurants...oh well. With full bellies the three of us walked the street and looked at all the knock off stuff there was to buy. Since we were expecting the family to arrive within a few short hours we said good bye to Talita and headed back to the Hilton.
By 2am we received a phone call from the reception saying that Tamara and Bonnie arrived in Bangkok and had checked in to the Hilton...so we excitedly waited by the elevator to greet them with hugs and smiles. After a few minutes of chating we said good night and reunited for the breakfast buffet in the morning and celebrated Christmas again. With presents left to be exchanged we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast together and presents. For their first day here we took it easy and just ran a few errands...or so we tried. We took the boat across the river and walked some of the streets but turns out everything we needed to get done was no where to be found so we took the boat back and relaxed at the Hilton Beach Pool. The sun was shining and we were all itching for some relaxation so thats exactly what we did at the beautiful pool overlooking the city of Bangkok. Relaxed and rested, we grabbed a taxi and had him take us to the night market. Before shopping through the night market we had a great Thai dinner and then shopped and got ourselves a foot massage. Tamara and Heather really liked it, but Bonnie and I had a difference of opinion and that was that it hurt. That turned us off from massages for the rest of the time, but Tamara made up for it with her almost daily massages! :)
Upon Tamara's and Bonnie's arrival in Bangkok they managed to book a city tour for all of us through the taxi they had taken from the airport to the hotel. They came and picked us up at the hotel and we drove around and visited Wat Pho or Wat Phrachetuphon also called the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The Reclining Buddha statue is one of the largest in the world, measuring almost 150 feet long and 50 feet high and filling almost every inch of the Wat. This oldest and largest temple in Bangkok was originally built in the Ayuttuya period and has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. After Wat Pho we visited two other temples, names I cannot remember but still so beautiful in there color and decor. Bangkok is a big city and has tones of sights to see but sadly our days flew past us and we only saw a glimpse of bangkok. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves and that night Heather and I took them to China town to see the busy streets and lights of Bangkok and enjoy in some good Thai/Chinese street restaurants. Dinner ended up being very good although one of the dishes had a lot of chili peppers and Tamara accidentally eat one and thought her body was about to explode. Once we calmed her down and got her some chocolate milk, her mouth stopped feeling as if it was on fire we headed to Khao San road to show them where all the backpackers live and hangout.
For New Years Eve and with most everything being closed we hung out at the hotel for the morning and early afternoon and then headed to MBK which is Bangkok's big mall. MBK was crazy....so many people, so many stores your eyes can not concentrate. After a few hours we gladly left and relaxed at the hotel before we got all fancy and pretty for New Years. We had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel and shockingly the food was not very good and the service was crap. I realize that sounds a bit harsh but its true and you might be thinking that its because the restaurant is busy but it wasn't at all. Oh well we didn't let that spoil the evening because us girls headed down to the main restaurant and crashed the party. They had a music playing and people were dancing so we joined in and danced for a bit. With New Year just a few minutes away we all gathered in the room and watched the zillion of fireworks that were being shot off all over Bangkok. It was unreal...our room was on the 28th floor so high up and we could see fireworks for miles. It was really cool and absolutely amazing to see all the colors and a great way to welcome the new year. Happy New Years Everyone :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to an album of pics from Laos!!
We hope everyone at home had a very Merry Christmas!!! We missed being with friends and family and are so thankful for all of our loved ones far away.

heather

Christmas time in Laos!

2008-12-24T01:51:00.000-08:00

Vang Vieng. A must see for backpackers in Laos, famous for its tubing down the Nam Song river, restaurants that continually play Friends episodes, and its beautiful limestone mountains surrounding the river. We had met so many people that were heading to Vang Vieng for Christmas, to simply relax and spend the holiday floating down the river. We did not arrive until late afternoon on Sunday, and with Talita (Holland), we found a cheap and cheerful guesthouse and then got sucked into watching Friends while eating pizza and the amazing fruit shakes!

Monday morning, we headed out in a Tuktuk to 4 of the nearby limestone caves. The caves were cool, not as impressive as some that we saw in Central America, but interesting none the less.
These caves were used as hide outs for the locals during the Secret War in Laos. In the 60s and 70s, unknowingly to most, the US bombed Laos (which was also being taken over by a communist regime) and caused loads of damage to the land and people. The caves each had in them Buddhas for the people to perform their prayers during the bombings.

We thought the safety was bad in Central America, but we soon discovered that it can still be worse! At least we got helmets in Belize and Nicaragua! I greatly appreciated those helmets after slipping in the mud in one cave and hitting my head on a stalactite! It hurt (I am totally fine!) and I bled all over my face in front of lots of people! Super embarrassing!

After caving, we arrived back 1 1/2 later than planned (typical Laos style!), so we decided to save tubing for the next day! We watched some more Friends, met some real friends at dinner, and generally enjoyed the Laos backpackers scene for the evening! This city is certainly not where you encounter the most authentic Laotian culture, but it is fun to be around lots of travelers so near to Christmas! We have been debating since we arrived where to spend Christmas, in Vang Vieng or north in Luang Probang.

Tuesday we had breakfast with Talita, Bailey (UK) and Andy (Australia) at a great organic restaurant! I had a the most amazing mulberry pancakes with lime and honey! After breakfast, we hired some tubes, caught a tuktuk and headed to the start of the tubing! After having a fresh Mojitio at another organic farm near the start, we hit the river! We knew the tubing wasn't far, but we realized it was actually a really short distance, but with lots of places to stop along the river! The river banks are lined with wood platforms full of people hanging out. Each 'stop' has its own form of fairly unsafe entertainment, like huge Tarzan swings, slides, mud pits, bon fires. So, although the tubing part was fairly lame, but the view was great and the swings/slides were really fun!

Because we had done what we came here to do, tubing and caving, and because there is not a lot to do in the evenings except watch Friends :), we decided to hit the road and head north. We found only 1 company in town that offered an overnight bus to Luang Probang, which we though was really strange, but we decided to try it out. It turns out our instincts were right, and we had gotten totally scammed. We walked onto a bus full of people that looked as if they had been on the bus, every seat was filled and the isles were filled with people sitting on stools, huge boxes, and tires. We were totally in shock and before we knew it the bus was already rolling. They eventually found us seats, however, I shared 2 seats with a woman and her 6 year old son, a tire next to me, and boxes at my feet. Toriann sat with a Lao woman who very much thought Toriann didnt mind sharing her seat with her, and also woke up at 6am to put on makeup and listen to music on her cellphone REALLY loud. Ahh, good old night buses! But, on the positive, we made it safe and sound to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is an old French colonial town, now an UNESCO World Heritage site. It is filled with loads of Wats (temples). It is very quaint and the most 'Christmasy' place we had been in all of Asia yet! The overnight bus dropped us off around 5am, so we wandered the streets for a while waiting for town to open. While we were waiting, we got to see the monks procession down the main street of LP. Every morning at sunrise all of the monks in the city walk down the street and people come to the streets to give them breakfast. It was a very peaceful sight and a great way to pass the morning while we waited to find a guesthouse.

We were happy with our decision to move to LP for Christmas and spent Christmas eve in the beautiful night market Christmas shopping. The market is brilliant, filled with silk blankets, scarves, silver jewelry, and other handicrafts. It is the best market we have been to around the world for sure. On Christmas day, we decided to take a day trip to a nearby waterfall. We met Sam (Colorado) the night before, so we met him for breakfast and then set off to find a tuktuk. On the way, we met 2 other guys from the US and shared a tuktuk to Kuang Si waterfall outside of town. The waterfall park included a bear rescue facility, random, but the bears were super cute! We hiked to the top of the waterfall, enjoyed the view, then hiked back down where Toriann and Talita dared to swim in the frigid water while I stayed out and guarded our stuff.
After the swim, we headed back to town to hit the Internet cafe and make some calls home. We were so blessed to get to call friends and family and get to hear (and see!) loved ones! It was definitely the highlight of Christmas day in Asia. It was so different to be celebrating Christmas in a non Christmas celebrating country. For Christmas dinner, Toriann, Talita, myself, and another friend we had met on a bus in southern Laos, Lisa (Holland) had Asian food at a packed restaurant full of foreigners. It turned out to be good food and good company, so although not a normal Christmas, it was not so bad!

So, Christmas being technically over, it was time to hit to road to head to Thailand to meet my family. We spent one last day in Luang Prabang, seeing some more of sights including, the Royal Palace, the banks of the Mekong river and other famous Wats. Unfortunately it rained all afternoon, but that made it easy to hop on overnight bus #3 for Laos and head south to Viene Tiene.

We arrived in Viene Tiene early, by this time we were experts at arriving into town before the sunrise, and we headed to the street of a guesthouse that we knew we could buy train tickets to Bangkok. We found a cafe nearby that was open, had breakfast, and then went back to the guesthouse and purchased train tickets. The guesthouse was super nice and let us shower and store our stuff for the day! It is definitely people like that you come to very much appreciate when you are traveling! That left us with the afternoon to kill, and we headed to a Buddha sculpture park. It was both Buddhist and Hindu sculptures collected by a man that donated it to the park. On the way there we had a small tuktuk verses truck accident, but luckily, no one was hurt and only the tuktuk had a small scratch!

After our park adventure, we boarded a bus, crossed the border to Thailand, and found our seats on the overnight train. The train was deluxe, at least compared the buses we had been taking, with our own beds and everything! It was really fun because we ran into a lot of people that we had met in Vang Vieng, so we got to hang out and play card until we were told to 'go to bed now!' by the train man. After a few hours sleep, the train man came around again, 'time to wake up, get down now!'
So, that was the rest of our time in Laos, we have now arrived in Bangkok to meet up with the Buchans!

The never ending travel day...

2008-12-21T03:45:00.000-08:00

32 hours later and we finally arrived here in Vang Vieng. Yesterday morning we left Don Dhet island at 5:30 am on a little canoe motor boat where I proceeded to slip and rammed my leg into the boat as I tried to get in. With my bruised shin we boated over to the main land, where we hoped on a local min bus (a truck with benches in the back-all natural air con!) and drove to Ban Lak 30 where they dropped us off. Expecting to find lots of tuk tuks to take us to Ban Muang, where we told to catch the ferry boat to Champasak, we only found a truck which drove us down to the water. From here we got aboard a SE Asian style ferry boat (two canoes with wooden boards lade on top) and cruised over to Champasak. There is not much to do here, but visit the famous Wat Phu ruins which are spoken very highly of. The Wat Phu ruins are about 8km outside of Champasak so we were in desperate need of finding a tuk tuk that would drive us out there and watch our stuff while we visited the ruins. Within a few minutes we found a tuk tuk and arrived at Vat Phou. Vat Phou literally means mountain temple. It's divided into two parts with a steep stone stairway connecting the lower part to the upper part. As we climbed up the steep staircase we saw the beautiful view of the Mekong Valley. The upper section is the temple sanctuary itself which was originally built by Hindus in the 6th century but was later converted into a Buddhist temple during the Angkor period of the 9th and 13 century. Just outside the temple, we saw the elephant stone and the crocodile stone- both very cool to see. After our visit we decided to make the steep climb down the stairs and of course I slipped and fell down the last four or five steps (fall #2 for the day!). Laughing and bent over from falling, all the locals came over with there concerned words and looks and helped me up. With just a minor scratch on my foot we thought it was time to head back and figure out how to get to Pakse. Upon boarding the ferry boat which was much bigger then the first one, we found a local bus that was heading to Pakse. We asked the driver if we could join...he pointed in the direction of Pakse laughed and said yes. So we threw our bags on top and climbed in the back... realizing shortly after that we may have imposed ourselves onto an eighth grade class excursion (since everyone was about 13 years old except for two male teachers and ourselves). With several giggles and stares, an hour and half later we were kicked off the bus and handed over to a tuk tuk that drove us the rest of the way into Pakse and dropped us off at a VIP bus station. Pumped to finally take the "famous" overnight bed bus that we had heard about we booked our tickets to Vientiane. With a few hours to kill before the bus left we headed into town and had lunch/dinner, visited a small Catholic church, tried Laos coffee, and walked through Wat Luang. Our few hours flew by and before we knew it we were settling into our VERY small narrow beds for the night. The bus is stacked with bunk beds and two people sleep parallel to each other on top as well as on the bottom...there is no room for personal space. Both Heather and I were feeling thankful we had each other because we would not want to be sleeping on this bus next to a stranger. After a rough night sleep we arrived in Vientiane homeless, tired and hungry. We, along with a few other travels whom we had met, roamed the streets in search of a hostel, but no where were there vacancies. Frustrated and impatient both Heather and I decided to just keep going and catch a bus to Vang Vieng. After we booked our ticket we settled ourselves down for a relaxing breakfast and just waited for the bus to pick us up. Roughly three hours later we made it to Vang Vieng and that completed our 32 hour travel day (days).

4K Islands..Welcome to Laos!

2008-12-20T03:31:00.000-08:00

After heading up north through Cambodia with an overnight stop in quiet Stung Treng, we crossed the border into Laos. We went through the border, got a stamp, got dropped off and then picked up in another van. That van proceded to fill up with people heading back to Cambodia, but we were reassured that we were on the right bus. So, we drove back to the border, dropped the crowd of people off going south, turned around again, and were on our way again into Laos. Our first stop in Laos was 4 Thousand Islands, on the island of Don Dhet. Don Dhet has 2 main streets, Sunrise and Sunset. We settled into a (very) small bungalow on Sunset blvd, complete with hammocks and an amazing view . Don Dhet is connected to the island just south, Don Khon, where you can catch a boat to view the rare river dolphins. We rented bikes and biked the dusty, bumpy road down to the other island, hired a boat, and floated out to somewhere on the water between Laos and Cambodia. Our driver spoke no English, but he was able to point out quite a few of the dolphins. Unfortantely they were fairly far away, and when we asked to go closer, he said, 'no, Cambodia!'. We stayed on the water till just before sunset, then came back and rushed to a nearby beach to watch the beautiful sunset. Riding back it got a little dark, but we made it back, had some dinner with Cav (from Denver, yah!) and Susie (Germany).
The next day we rented bikes again and continued exploring the islands. We rode to a small waterfall, lots of beautiful scenery, and a fabulous bakery!! We made sure to be back at our bungalow to watch the sunset from our hammocks which was amazing! Laos is definitely beautiful and I cant wait to see more!
PS We should have pictures up soon for Cambodia and Laos!!

Angkor Wat

2008-12-20T02:21:00.000-08:00

After taking a month or two off from the Latin American ruins, we felt it was time to go back and explore some ruins here in Cambodia. The Temples of Angkor is the heart and soul of the Cambodian people. They look to these temples for inspiration and national pride as they struggle to rebuild their lives after the Pol Pot's regime. Some people spend a week visiting all the temples and others like ourselves just spend a day seeing and absorbing a small portion of what could take several days. The temples of Angkor are the perfect blend of artistic carvings and structure as well as spiritual devotion. Of the hundreds of temples here, the Bayon, Ta Prohm, and Angkor Wat are the three most magnificent temples due to their size, scale and symmetry. The temples were built between 9th and 13th century.
Since we only had day to visit Angkor, we decided to get up at 4:30 am and go watch the sunrise. The Tuk Tuk picked us up at our hostel and drove us out to Angkor Wat where we sat and watched the sunrise over the temple. It was beautiful- SO much better then the sunrise we watched in Tikal (Guatemala). It was beautiful, although Heather only got to see the beginning before she feel asleep on the ruins! When she woke up, we walked through Angkor Wat, the mother temple due to its unbelievable structure and size. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world. After we walked through, we headed to the ancient city of Angkor Thom to see Bayon and Baphuon. The City of Angkor Thom was built by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII and who built Bayon around 1200. Although Angkor Wat is the mother temple, Bayon is Angkor's most stunning temple do to its eerie faces that stare down at you while you walk around. Apparently there are 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara watching over the tourist as they explore this memorable temple. From here we traveled by tuk tuk and stopped at the Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, Phnom Bakheng, Ta Keo until we arrived at Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is famous for two reasons, one being that Tomb Raider and Two Brothers were filmed here. The other reason is that it has started to be taken over by jungle vegetation. As we walked through the narrow corridors, we saw the roots of several huge trees hug the stonework of this temple. It was quite a sight to be able to see a small vision of what the archeologist's saw when they re-discovered these temples. Our day visit here was incredible and definitely a different sight then what we had been used to from L.A. The Mayan and Inka ruins were big stone buildings focused around the astronomical calender, where these temples display exquisite artistic stone carvings. Both similar in the sense of being big stone buildings, yet the feelings you get from walking around from both is so different. We both loved it and wish we had another day or two to explore the other temples, but our time is too short in SE Asia!! (but whats new!)

Phnom Phen

2008-12-13T05:18:00.000-08:00

We have managed to travel to three countries in three days-Indonesia, Malaysia, and now Cambodia! It has been a little overwhelming and a bit exhausting, but we are glad to have finally made it here in Phnom Phen, Cambodia. Upon our arrival, we were approached by a tuk tuk driver and a taxi driver who offered to take us to our hotel...we decided to go with the tuk tuk. The drive was fun and definitely different then the typical taxi drives. Especially because the driver payed more attention to us then the road... a little concerning, yet funny all at the same time. For our first day here we headed down to the river front to visit the National Museum and the Royal Palace. We tried to go into the palace, but we were not dressed appropriately (we needed to have covered shoulders and knees)so we had to go back the next day. After we were turned down, we headed back to the hotel and ended up resting for the late afternoon, and then slept through the night. Since we were finally more rested, we got up this morning energized and pumped to return to the Royal Palace. Wow, is pretty much all i can say... the detail that went into the building are amazing. The RP, as well as temples and building, here are just amazing, nothing like we have seen yet on our trip. The colors of the building are so fresh and warm with gold, white, yellow, blue and a little bit of burnt orange... what a sight. After our visit we stopped for a late breakfast and then found a tuk tuk that took us to the Killing Fields. Boy, we not prepared for the emotions we felt this afternoon. So here is a quick run down of Cambodia's history... on April 17, 1975 Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot's leadership. This then implemented one of the most bloody revolutions the world has ever seen, which is now seen as geniced. During Pol Pot's regime, which was between 1975-1979 roughly 2 million Cambodians died. Today we visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek where roughly 17,000 men, women, and children were executed. Upon walking in we saw the white stupa (religious monument) which holds 9000 human skulls which were found during excavations. Seeing the skulls and reading the sign posts which told briefly about what went on here, we were taken back at the idea of one human being taking the lives of their own people. Emotionally struck, yet eager to learn and understand more of what went on, we headed to Tuol Slend Museum- which was once Pol pot's Security Prison 21. Before it was a prison, it was once Tuol Sway Prey High School. During the regime the prisoners were morally violated, electrocuted, beaten, slashed, and water bourted for "miss behavior." Those who died during torture were buried in the prison grounds and most everyone else was sent to the killing field. Today these former class rooms which were then turned into cells hold pictures of prisoners who were torched on rusty metal beds. The rooms also shared stories of Cambodians who survived, as well as mug shots of most of the prisoners who were held there. The mug shot pictures of the children as well as some of the others who conveyed strong fear in their eyes were the worst to look at. After a while we just had to say it was enough our hearts and stomachs could not take any more. It is a great thing that Cambodia wants to preserve these places but it can only be consumed in small dosages. By preserving these ugly and tragic years we can only hope that something as horrible as this will never happen again. Our heart goes out to all the Cambodians who suffered through this and may those who died rest in peace.

Bali Bliss...and a day in Malaysia!

2008-12-12T04:12:00.000-08:00

After being back in the English speaking world in NZ and Sydney, we eased our way into Asia by spending a week in beautiful Bali. We flew in on a Friday night, arrived, hopped in a taxi, and headed to Kuta. After accomplishing the necessities-lodging, food, drink, we headed to the beach for a quick look. It looked amazing!...however, since it was dark, we couldn't see how filthy it actually was, eh. The next morning, after setting up diving and plans to get out of Kuta, we went back to Kuta to see it in daylight. Although the shore was literally covered in dead fish and trash. That didn't stop us though, we rented surf boards and paddled out to the surf. Unfortunately the water did not get any cleaner, it actually was difficult to avoid being covered in garbage if and when we got up on the surf board! Yuck.
The next morning, we drove 2 1/2 hours up the island to do a wreck dive called Tulamben. The ship was an old US Cargo ship that was sunk by the Japanese in WWII. Our dive team was Toriann, Luke, 2 Austrians and myself, plus 2 dive masters. The water was warm, the fish were plentiful and AMAZING, and it was really cool to explore the sunken ship. Highlights of the dive were the great barracuda (apparently a friendly one), lots of Nemos, a sting ray, weird ribbon looking slugs, and the multitude of coral. After the dive, we headed back to Kuta and made plans to get out to a nicer, less touristy beach the next day. There are so many places that sounded amazing, but we decided due to our time restraints we would go to Nusa Lembongan, a small island about 1 hour away.
We took a small boat to Lembongan and when we arrived, we were picked up on the back of motor bikes to our guest house. We decided we liked the motor bikes so much, we rented them for the next 2 days to explore the island. We hopped on, Toriann and Luke taking the lead and me on the back, and rode to Sunset and Dream beach. Both beaches were absolutely stunning, definitely on the top 10 most beautiful beaches ever list!!! It was a good call to leave Kuta to discover these seemingly untouched beaches.
The rest of our time on NL was great and we had to leave much too soon. Toriann did another great dive, while I just enjoyed scooting around and exploring the beaches. She took a boat out to Manta Point and Crystal Bay where she saw several Manta rays swim by and one in particular circled around them for several minutes during their dive. She also saw a small shark, colorful coral, a trigger fish which seemed to attack them as well as a variety of other colorful fish we normally only see at the aquarium. After her dive we spent our last afternoon body surfing on the killer waves that were rolling in do to the rain storm. We met a man doing the same that lived on the island, and he informed us the waves would be even better tomorrow...I think he probably meant that there was going to be a small monsoon because when we made the short walk to catch our ferry boat back to Bali, it was POURING and us and everything we owned got drenched. Our ferry ended up being canceled, but we caught the 'speed' boat over to the mainland, and it was probably one of the only times in my life that I actually would have loved to be wearing a life jacket. Unfortunately, there was not a life jacket in sight...eh! But we made it, safe and sound, and spent the rest of our afternoon in Kuta before running to the airport to fly out to Malaysia!
We caught the 9:30 flight to Kaula Lumpur...which meant we arrived at 1:30 am!! It always seems like a good idea to book these crazy flights, but then when you are doing it, its like what were we thinking!! However, we found some comfy benches and actually got some good sleep. When we woke up, we took the very nice subway into the city, found a hostel near Chinatown, and headed out to see the sights! We certainly made the most of our day in KL, and we ate in Chinatown, visited the Central Market, went into (not up) the Petronas Twin Towers, and the National Mosque. When the afternoon rains came, we headed back to the hostel and met a guy from the US named Cameron, who had plans to meet some locals that evening. He invited us along and we met up with 2 guys from KL who were kind enough to take us out for tea and hookah. We had a great time and felt like our 1 day in KL was complete. After a short nights sleep, we headed back to the airport to fly to our 3rd country in 3 days-Cambodia!

Sydney in a week...

2008-12-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

Its summer time in Sydney (yah!) and the weather was amazing most of the week we were there. Our week in Sydney flew by, but whats new, every week just seems to go by so fast. Upon our day of arrival we took a stroll through Darling Harbor and sat on the harbor steps and enjoyed a delicious gelato ice cream to cool us down. That evening we meet up with Isobel and Ken, friends of Bonnie (Heathers sister) and attended church at Hillsong- one of the biggest mega churches in the world. The service was interesting...it is definetly different then the traditional church, with its fancy technology, stadium seating and suround sound, but nevertheless we had a good time and the people were nice.
As for the rest of the week, Heather and I got into a bit of a routine which consisted of getting up in the morning, having a cup of coffee at several different little coffee shops, heading to the groceriy store to pick up food for lunch, and finally doing our excursion for the day. Our first excusrion was down in Circle Quay where we took pictures of the Opera House and the Sydney Bridge. Excited to be here we looked into different shows at the Opera House and decided on attedning The Pig Iron People, a theatrecal drama. The play was amazingly well done. It tells a humurous story about the differences between generations when the governement changed from conservative to liberal. Although it had a lot of Australian humor, we managed to understand most everything and really gained a better insight into the bluecollar Australian lifestyle.
As I mentioned before its summer here, so we just had to spend a day laying on the beach. We took a bus out to Bondi Beach and just relaxed and read for most of the day. The weather was perfect and it really rejuvinated us... sometimes you just need a day like this one. Anxious to see Kangaroos and Koalas, we took a visit out to Taronga Zoo. In order to get to the zoo we had to catch a ferry boat which dropped us off on the other side of the harbor, right by the zoo. The zoo was great we saw tones of different animals- from Kangaroos and Koalas to penguins and seals. Our favorite part was the Koala exhibit were we got to see them be feed eucalyptis leaves. Aparently Koalas sleep some 20 hours a day becuase their body spends most of its energy digesting the eucalyptis leaves. Hum...sound familar...they reminded me a lot of sloths and are equally as cute. Heather and I took one and put it in our bag with the other animals we have picked up along the way. JK :)
That evening we meet up with Isobel and her friend Anka for drinks and dinner. Our evenign out with the girls was tons of fun. We meet them in a Newtown, a neighborhood outside of Sydney. Isobel, the Australian she is, insisted we try vegemite(a very strange yeast extract spread), so she went in to store and bought bread and vegemite. Un sure whether we would like it, we each braved it and ate a slice of bread with vegemite. Not so bad... definitely not my favorite nor do i think i will ever have a craving for it but edible. Excited by our reaction she gave us the jar of vegemite as a souvener.
As for our last day and a half, we spent some of our hours in the STA office working out flights for the next part of our trip and doing some planning. The guys working in the office suggested we try kangaroo pizza at the Australian Hotel. Un sure how we felt about eating kangaroo(it just seems so wrong!), but we thought, hey, we are in Australia so we should do as the Australins do. That evening we meet them for dinner and tried kangaroo as well as crocodile pizza. After a bite, I said it wasnt for me, but Heather didnt seem to mind the kangaroo. Im not sure whether either of us would eat kangaroo or crocodile again, but hey, at least we tried it! This concludes our speedy week of Sydney... it was enjoyable, food adventurous and historically insightfull.

NZ # 3: WOOFing on Blueberry Bliss

2008-12-02T00:03:00.000-08:00

Before i begin to tell you about our time on the farm... first i will explain what woofing is...woofing is really an organization which can be found all over the world and it means Willing to Work On Organic Farms. Heather and I volunteered four hours a day on Wendy and Don's Blueberry Bliss farm in exchange for a place to stay and meals. In essence, we spent our last week working on a blueberry farm- getting it ready for picking season, which starts Jan 1st. Our week on the farm went surprisingly fast... we spent several hours weeding the rows of blueberries, shoveling dirt to lay over the netting that we sowed up to keep the rabbits out, as well as mending the bird net (to keep the birds out). At times our days were long, but it was good physical exercise, which we enjoyed since we've lacked it since leaving. Heather and I put in a few extra hours our first couple of days so we could take a day off at the end of the week. We took friday off to meet up with our friend Luke who had just arrived from visiting Queenstown. The three of us spent Friday relaxing and enjoying Christchurch. We visited the Art Museum, the Botanical Gardens, stopped and smelled the roses and then went to see the new James Bond movie. The movie was good and very action filled so if you were wondering if you should see it i suggest yes. As for our last day on the farm as well as in New Zealand, Heather and I put in our last hours of work and then headed in to the city. Anxious to see the beach, we decided to rent a car for the day and drive along the coast. Luke, being from England, would be the most practical person to drive but since he didn't have his license that left Heather and I in charge of the wheel. Our drive went surprisingly well and by the end we were moderately confident left hand drivers. We started our day visiting Littleton and then driving along Summit Road, which took us along the coastal hillside towards Akaroa. The views along the drive are amazing with the blue/green water in front of us and the hills along the side. We stopped in the small town of Akaroa, had a picnic lunch along the beach, and took a walk around town. Before heading back to Christchurch we stopped at another beautiful beach and went for a cold but nice swim. Our three weeks here in NZ have gone by fast...we feel confident that we saw and did everything we wanted to. However, the highlight of NZ was definitely meeting up with old friends (Sarah and Craig) and meeting great new ones!
We are now in Sydney, Australia for a quick visit so check back soon to read more about our time here in Sydney... so far so good :)

New Zealand #2: South Island

2008-11-25T23:29:00.001-08:00

On Sunday morning, we said goodbye to Craig and his family and got on the ferry to the South Island. However, compared to the ferries at home, this was more like a cruise. There were recliner seats, restaurants, a bar, a children's play area, a movie theater, and not to mention beautiful scenery along the way! We arrived to the city of Picton, boarded a bus to Blenheim, our first stop on the SI. After finding beds at The Grapevine Backpackers and meeting our new roommate Luke from England, we all went out to explore Blenheim. We figured out it was a pretty lame small town, but that was ok because we had really stopped here to go wine tasting! The Marlborough region is known for their white wines, and my favorite wine Oyster Bay is made here, so I was super excited to go out and try more NZ wines. The next day we rented bikes, got a map and some directions to some of the good wineries, and started our winery tour. We visited 5 wineries-Villa Maria, Matua, Highfield Estate, Fromm, and Wither Hills. All were good, but our favorites were Villa Maria and Wither Hills. It was a great success for our first bike/wine tour :) Oh and did I mention the tastings were free!!!
After an afternoon of wine tasting, we bused it to the city of Nelson. Nelson is at the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park, which we had heard was amazing. We arrived into Nelson around 8pm and had our first experience with not being able to find a hostel. Our bus driver was kind enough to call around for us and found us (and our friend Luke) 3 beds at Paradiso Hostel. They only had 3 beds in different rooms and for the first time in over 3 months, Toriann and I didn't sleep in the same room, crazy! But, somehow we managed :) We found that Nelson was another city that closed up very early and after settling into our hostel, we went for a wander into Burger King, as it was the only place still open (at like, 10pm). The hostel itself was pretty cool, complete with a pool, hot tub, volleyball court, and large busy kitchen which offered free soup at dinner time.
The next morning, bright and early, we headed out to the Abel Tasman for a full day of hiking and kayaking. We rode the water taxi to our first stop at Bark Bay Beach with scenic stops at Split Apple rock and Pinnacle Island. From Bark Bay, we hiked for 3 hours or so along the coast to Torrent Bay. We had heard the sand flies were bad at these beaches, so I had decided to try out our all natural 'jungle juice' that we purchased from a man in Panama. He had claimed that this magic 'jungle juice' was mosquito and sand fly repellent, relief from insect and stingray bites, sunscreen, could be poured in your ear for ear infections, and...and, could cure melanoma cancer if applied properly. Sounded good to us, so I generously applied it to my legs. After hiking for a bit, I realized that although I was not getting bit (but neither was Toriann), I had heaps of dead sand flies stuck to my legs. I'm not sure if I would consider the 'jungle juice' a success or not... Back to Abel Tasman, after enjoying Torrent Bay beach, the water taxi picked us up and delivered us to Watering Cove, where we had a picnic lunch of veggie sandwiches and banana chocolate muffins (so good!). We met our kayak instructor, had a crash course on kayaking, and headed out to sea. We first kayaked to a small island that often has seals. We saw one seal and he swam right up next to the boat. It was really cool, but a lot of work to see him...because, we then had to turn into the wind and paddle back to the coast. Toriann and I were taking our time, but apparently we were too slow and our guide decided we should be towed by the boys boat. So, the strong men helped pull Toriann and I to safety, and then we continued on down the coast back to Marahau, where the whole day had originally started. We figured out that maybe we had been a wee bit slow because we rolled in about 1 1/2 late. Luckily, the bus had been kind enough to wait for us, and drove us home to Nelson!
Our next day in Nelson, we debated whether or not to go skydiving. We both had been going back and forth for days, and ended up deciding against it. However our good friend Luke decided to do it for his birthday and ended up loving it although i am not sure he would do it again... ooh well maybe next time. We instead had a leisurely day in the city and caught up on life (whatever that means...)
Our days of traveling before having to be in Christchurch to start work on the farm were very few, so the next day we left Nelson and 9 hours later arrived in Franz Joseph. The buses here are great, they pick you up and drop you off at your hostel, and they provide tea and lunch stops. One of our stops was at Punakaiki, where they have 35 million-year-old pancake rocks, created by the waves pounding on the limestone and mudstone cliffs. The rocks are beautiful, unique twisted formations with the gorgeous west coast in the backdrop. It was definitely a worth while bus stop! Sure made us hungry for pancakes:) Franz Joseph is a town based around the Franz Joseph Glacier, one of NZs most famous glaciers. The climate is really unique because the glacier is surrounded by rain forest. We did a half day hike, through the valley leading up to the glacier and then up onto the ice. We were fully suited up with warm gear and crampons, and we had an excellent guide from Delaware. The walk on the ice was really awesome, up and down steep staircases of ice, through a naturally carved tunnel, and through a very, very narrow crevasse. We spent the remainder of the day, hot tubing, staying warm, and enjoying the scenery of the town.
And that completed our speed tour of the South Island, from FJ glacier, we did another long bus journey to Christchurch. Next adventure in NZ, WOOFing...

New Zealand #1: North Island

2008-11-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

Truth be told we have just a few days left here in Kiwi land and have yet to blog about our weeks. Here is a quick run down of how these next few blogs will go...we spent a week in the north island, a week in the south island and our last week here WOOFing on the farm. First thing first let me tell you about the north island. We arrived in Auckland and Heathers high school friend picked us up from the airport and took us back to her house. Sarah and her husband Ken moved to Auckland, NZ a little over a year ago and offered to let us stay with them once they knew we were coming. Once we unpacked, Sarah took us out for a bite to eat and showed us around Auckland. We ate lunch down by the beach, shopped, and just roamed the streets near where she lived. Sadly we missed "thanksgiving dinner" which Sarah and Ken had enjoyed with some other American friends the night before we arrived, but as usual their were left overs which Heather greatly enjoyed. Before leaving Auckland, Ken drove us to Mount Eden, a view point (and extinct volcano crater) where you can see most if not all of Auckland city and its various volcano's. Afterwards he dropped us off near Parnell street where Heather and I then proceeded to walk the streets and see downtown Auckland. Parnell street/neighborhood is Auckland upscale neighborhood filled with boutique shops and Victorian homes. Not interested in the boutiques, Heather and I sat at a little chocolate shop and enjoyed a Flat White (NZ way of saying a latte) and a maple chocolate cake. Oh so good. Its great being back to western foods. After our sugar and coffee fix we proceeded on our tour through Auckland and visited the Auckland Domain (park), Auckland University, Albert park, Auckland Art Gallery, and the Waterfront. Aside from the many parks all of which I loved, the art gallery was great because it was free and had some interesting art on display.
Since time is precious we hoped on a bus early the next morning and headed to Rotorua to see the geysers and take in the oh so delicious sulfur air...or should i say the rotten hard boiled egg smell which makes you want to vomit. Luckily you only get the egg smell when the air blows it in your direction. The hostel we stayed in suggested to go and visit Te Puia a Te Whakarewarewa (Maori word) thermal reserve and Maori Cultural Center. Our visit was great because we got to see nature and culture in one. Our guide who is a Maori gave us a brief history lesson on the geysers and then showed us and told us about the Maori carving and weaving schools which they have there. We also visited the Kiwi house where we saw one kiwi moving around. did you know that kiwi's cannot fly and are nocturnal...i didn't until she told us...very interesting. After our tour around the grounds and our visit to the boiling mud pools and geysers we saw the Maori's perform some of their dances. The show lasted about 30 min. and it was all very interesting and beautiful but the part we most liked was the warrior dance. The men perform this and while dancing, they hit themselves on their chest, arms and legs and make their eyes freaky big and stick out their tongue. Oh so strange looking, but it is their traditional warrior face and you will see it carved into most wood carvings.
Disgusted by the smell, it was time to travel to our next stop which was Taupo to do the Tongariro Crossing. Upon our arrival into Taupo we made friends with Grant from Aussy. The three of us stayed in the same hostel and since we had some time left in the day we all ventured out for a quick hike to Huka Falls. Along the way we stumbled upon this spot were hot thermal water spills out into the Walkato River. Bummed that we didn't have our swimsuits we continued walking to the falls. The falls were beautiful with its blue/green water. Interesting enough it dumps enough water every second to fill two Olympic size swimming pools...crazy huh... also Taupo uses this fall as a hydro electric power station. Exhausted from traveling and our little hike we crashed early to rest up for our upcoming 20k hike. Since we are short on time we opted to do the day hike instead of the three day circuit around Tongariro. The bus picked us up at 6:20am and drove us out to where the hike begins. The fist part of the hike is up these steep steps called the devil stairs but once your at the top it dumps you at the bottom of Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt. Tongariro. Continuing on our way, some of the guys we were hiking with decided to climb the volcanic rock path up to the top of Ngauruhoe summit. Heather, Dino and myself continued walking on the path crossing the south crater, red crater and then up Tangariro summit. The view was amazing. We were able to see so much with the weather being so perfect. Once we descended down the summit, we stopped for our tomato and avocado sandwich lunch break. After refueling we passed the emerald lakes, central crater, blue lake, north crater and then proceeded along the never ending path to the finish point. The first half of the crossing was amazing and we saw so much, but the last half was long with switch backs down the mountain side and through the forest. I thought the end would never come but at last it did were we meet up with the rest of the gang and waited for the bus back to town. We made it back to our hostel, but since we were taking the overnight bus to Wellington, we had checked out and in essence were homeless for the evening. The hostel offered to let us use the showers for $10, but to save money we decided we would head back to the spot where the thermal water flowed into the river to bath. It ended up being a party with our new hiking friends, Grant, Carle, Ben and Dino. We all enjoyed soaking our sore muscles in the hot water with beers and music provided by Ben and Grant. It was the perfect end to a long day of hiking! After our party at the river, we went out for dinner and drinks to pass the time till our 1 am bus came and picked us up to take us to Wellington.
Last stop in the north island, Wellington, to visit our dear friend Craig whom we traveled with in Central America for a month. When we arrived we were tired yet excited to see Craig. He picked us up and took us in for the next few days. The kind man that Craig is, he drove us to two view points- Mt. Victoria, where we saw the panoramic views of the harbor, and the Carter Observatory, which has a great view of the city and its hills. We also visited the Botanic Gardens and took in all the wonderful smells of the roses. Oh so beautiful with its various colors and what delicious smells they each had. We loved it.
Craig is a sailor and works as a sailing instructor. On Fridays evenings they have sailing races and Craig happened to be taking out his current class, so he invited us on the boat to tag along. Unfortunately, many hours into the race, the race was sadly canceled do to no wind...bummer. Craig had to dock the boat at a different dock so he asked us to drive the car over. Nervous yet excited to drive I got to experience what it feels like to drive on the left hand side of the road. Lets just say it feels strange and a bit scary, but no worries we made it safely and with no near crashes.
For our second day in Wellington, Craig and his dad dropped us off at the New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Museum, while they went sailing. The Museum was great for many reasons- first, it was free, but it also had interactive exhibits on NZ land, history and culture. It was very child friendly which is probably why we liked it, it kept us entertained. Later Craig took us off roading along the beautiful beach coast which was fun yet a bit car sickening. The coast was amazing with secluded beaches with bright turquoise water that was so clear you could see the bottom in parts!
To end our time in the north we sat down with Craig's family and enjoyed a delicious family dinner. Oh how wonderful it is to be in a house verses a hostel. Well that was our quick trip through the north...now we are just a ferry boat away from the south.

Inka Trail to Machu Picchu...

2008-11-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

After leaving Huancayo, Tino, and the kids, we set off for our next adventure-hiking Machu Picchu! We took the bus back to Lima, where we were determined to keep ourselves busy until our flight left at 5 am the next morning, without getting a hostel! We found a hostel that was kind enough to store our belongings and we managed to entertain ourselves until we headed to the airport at 3:30 the next morning! On the flight to Cusco, Toriann began to feel sick and by the time we had settled into our hostel, she had full blown stomach flu. This was more than concerning as we were about to set off on a 4 day hiking trip!! But, after some rest, meds and TLC, the next morning Toriann was feeling good enough, thankfully, to pack and start the Inca Trail!!
And so, we were off. We met our guides, Juan Carlos and John Carlos, our 10 porters, and the rest of our group-2 Canadians and 5 Slovenians at 6:30am and bused to Piskacucho. We hiked about 1 1/2 hr until we stopped for lunch, where I began to feel sick...uhhh. But luckily it wasn't our toughest day and we both made it to our camp site for the night at Wayllabamba. The porters are amazing, they not only carried all the gear, they also went ahead and set up camp, cooked the meals, and then cleaned up. The average career of a porter only lasts 2 years because it is such strenuous work, but the oldest known porter is 77!!
The second morning we woke up at 5am and forced down breakfast because we were heading into our hardest day of hiking. We hiked from 7 am to 2 pm straight up the trail to the Dead Woman's Pass, 12,000 fasl. It was incredible...the scenery breathtaking! They told us, take your time, dont go too fast, and fast is definitely not how I would describe how we made it up...we would go for about 2 minutes before we had to stop and take a break. But, we made it to the top of the pass, had a bag of skittles to celebrate and then prepared for the next 2 hours. The last 2.5 kms were down winding steep steps across the valley into our 2nd camp. To celebrate completing the hardest day we had popcorn at tea time! (Other than the popcorn, the food on our whole trek was below average!)
The third day was the longest, 15 km, but easier and more interesting than the 2nd day. We stopped at several ruin sites along the way and Juan Carlos was a wealth of information regarding the Inca buildings. The final camp site was buzzing when we arrived, full of tired, but excited hikers to be so close to MP...and also for the showers and beers!! We got the chance to clean up and relax a bit (still not eat much!) before sleeping a bit before getting up at 4 am to walk the last 2 hours before reaching MP. The last morning was a race! Noone wanted to be passed, and although it was only an hour to reach the Sun Gate, we worked up a sweat. Our first view of MP was quick, before the clouds covered it completely. But as we hiked down from the Sun Gate, the clouds lifted, the sun appeared, and we saw MP! The ruins are ridiculous, the best we have seen of the many ruins site we have visited, and are 80% original. After taking our pictures off the famous viewpoint rock, Juan Carlos gave us a 1 1/2 tour.
After the tour, the group was meeting in Aquas Calientes town to have lunch and visit the therapeutic hot springs. Our options to get there were either, one, take a $7 bus or two, walk another hour and twenty minutes down steep steps. Toriann and I, being on a budget, somehow made it down the steps to the town and arrived after the rest of the group had just finished eating lunch. But we had lunch, did the hot springs, and finally, got on the train to return to Cusco. Needless to say, when we arrived back at our hostel, we were wiped.
We packed, slept, and got up early the next morning to fly back to Lima! We spent the next day in Lima, seeing the sights, enjoying the city until our flight left for Buenos Aires at 12am. We then had a red eye flight to Buenos Aires and spent the next 15 hours in the airport, still exhausted from sickness, hiking and traveling. But at last, we boarded our last flight to get to Auckland, New Zealand-only 13.4 hours to go! The flight actually went by fairly fast, which was amazing, because Argentina Airlines was HORRIBLE. They only played 1 movie and fed us 2 very small meals...crazy.
It is hard to believe that we are saying good bye to Latin America. It has been a remarkable first 3 months of our trip. We have met amazing people, done and seen great things, and learned so much, about the culture, the people, and about ourselves.
Love, having no geography, knows no boundaries.
-Truman Capote

Tinkuy Peru

2008-10-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

...We are on the third floor of a cement building-house, overlooking the poorest neighborhood of Huancayo, Peru. The desert highlands are in the distance and the weather cannot decide if it wants to be hot or freezing cold. It seems to change every minute. We are in a classroom filled with Peruvian kids from the neighborhood as well as Tino, the founder of Tinkuy Peru. Tino, the most accomplished weaver in Peru, decided five years ago that he needed to help the poor in his community. Tino has traveled to the US to display his artwork and weavings at prominent art shows, and he also has a weaving hanging in the National Geographic headquarters. By Peruvian standards, Tino is very successful, lives in a large home that he shares with about 10 family members, 2 young girls without families, and the volunteers that come from all over the world to work at the school...
Since we arrived we have been able to do some exploring around Huancayo. Mabel took us to visit a ruin sight that was owned by the Huancas, which is how this citys name came about. We walked through a little museum explaining the history of the Huancas, as well as other neighboring tribes. Then we visited the ruin sight just outside the museum where we saw how the Huancas lived and learned about there practices and beliefs. All very similar to other indigenous tribes, but never the less interesting to see. On Sunday, Huancayo has the largest Sunday Market in Peru, which sells many local arts and crafts, as well as wool or alpaca clothing. We both just fell in love with the warm sweaters, socks, gloves, and hats. The material is just so warm and cuddly it was hard to resist buying it all. At least we have stocked up a bit for our intense and possibly very cold Machu Picchu hike coming up in a few days. During our roam around Huancayo after the market we noticed lots of people selling Turron which is a famous Peruvian cake. Come to find out this cake is only made during the month of October, also know as the purple month, for their celebration of El Señor de los Milagros (Lord of Miracles). During this month they hold a large procession where people from the church carry a big figure of the Lord of Miracles around the streets till very early in the morning. Fortunately for us we were able to see this procession happen. The most interesting thing of all is that various people of Huancayo create these elaborate drawings and then draw them on the gowned of the path the procession will take. They draw the picture out with chalk and then fill it in with colored dirt or flower peddles. When it is done it looked like carpet, it was amazing. I had never seen anything like it before. I am glad that Marie, Gloria and Mabel took us out to share the experience with us. Everyone here is so nice and hospitable they are such wonderful people.
Enough about Huancayo let me tell you about our time here in Tinkuy Peru... Everyday both Heather and I get up in the morning eat breakfast and head out for our 20 minute walk to the mountains where we teach orphans and poor children who can not afford to buy school books and uniforms to attend public schools. Our first day was pretty relaxed because Brian and Judd, two other volunteers came with us and showed us the ropes. It was their last day so we had a little party in the afternoon and everyone was very sad to say good bye. As for the rest of the week, Heather and I were solo with the help of Tino, Mabel and Marie. In the mornings I taught a kindergarten/first grade class. We went over the names of body parts, food categories, shapes and colors and counting syllables. Heather taught English verbs to middle school aged children in preparation for there big verb test. Lets hope they do well since they had some 100+ verbs to learn. Once morning class was over we all headed home for lunch and then meet up again for the afternoon class. Our afternoons are much fuller then the morning, not sure why. For the afternoon, I taught English and math to 4,5 and 6th graders and Heather taught math to the junior highers. Lets just say, both Heather and I had to do some review on fractions and angles before teaching them to the class since it has been a while. Luckily it went smoothly even though we were a bit nervious. Our week here has gone by incredibly fast and we are both sad to have to say good bye tomorrow to all the children. Having come to realize how much the volunteers mean here I wish we had a month or more to stay and work with all the children. The investment Tino has put into the children and school is just amazing and such a wonderful thing for each one of these children. All the children are so excited to come to school everyday and just love being around the volunteers, Tino, and his family. If after reading about our experience here touched you at all we kindly ask that this christmas you donate a few dollars to Tinkuy Peru. You can visit the website by clicking on the link just left of the blog titled "Tinkuy Peru" where you can read more about Tinos plans for the future. Tino not only deals with the day to day happenings of the school, but he also has incredible hopes for the future of these children. Education is the number one most important way to change the future and this is exactly what Tino is working towards. Also if you ever care to travel down to Peru and want to volunteer we would highly recommend volunteering here in Huancayo with Tinkuy Peru.
I hope this blog has found each of you well. Our thoughts are with all of you as election time nears. We will be in mid hike up to Macchu Picchu but will await the results when we get back. May the best man win. Adios for now.

Ecuador, the best and the rest.

2008-10-28T16:08:00.000-07:00

Our last week in Ecuador has flown by! We got back from the jungle and after some laundry and showering, we made the most of our remaining time in Ecuador. We spent one last night in Banos before getting on the bus to head to Mindo, a small city north of Quito. It turned out to be a long travel day,7 hours to Mindo. We also learned our lesson about the bus, even after many warnings about how dangerous it is, we still managed to get robbed. On the bus right outside of Quito, a couple of guys reached under Torianns seat and took her Zune and sunglasses! Irritating to say the least! But we managed to make it to Mindo, even if in terrible spirits. We checked into a ´recommended´ hostel, which was basically some guy named Juan's house, haha. It definitely had a special aroma, but we were too tired to look around town for something different. After checking in, we headed off to explore and as soon as we turned the corner, we were greeted by 3 of our friends from the Galapagos, Nick, Charlotte and Brad plus a friend of Brads that had just arrived from Texas. It was the best feeling, to come to a city and be greeted by friendly faces! It was what we needed to cheer us up! We vented to them about the frustrations of our day, and funny enough, Nick had had his Ipod stolen in Quito as well! That made 3 of us that had lost our Ipods in 3 days. Crazy. But life goes on, and so must we... Charlotte, an avid frog lover, convinced us to go to an evening ´Frog Concert¨. We were a little weary of what a frog concert would entail, but it included a glass of wine, so we decided to go. It turned out to be pretty cool. It was basically a man, who loved frogs, that had created a beautiful garden with a huge pond that had attracted 18 different species of frogs and toads. While we drank our wine, he played the noises that the frogs made and the frogs would sing back. We then, armed with our flashlights, wondered around the grounds to look for frogs. We did not see a ton of frogs but it was pretty cool when we did. Needless to say, if you are ever in Mindo, we would recommend the frog concert.
Afterwards, we headed to an organic restaurant near their hostel that had just opened. We met Zac, a peacecore from Texas (so many Texans in Ecuador!), that was friendly and extremely helpful in planning our next day in Mindo. Zac had originally come down to Ecuador to work with coffee, but the Peacecore had transferred him to Mindo to help kids learn how to sell chickens door to door, apparently a new project for them. Somehow, I don't remember the details, he is now managing a restaurant. After brownies and ice cream, we headed back to Juans house to get some sleep.
The next morning, we met up with the gang and caught a taxi truck to the waterfall Nambilla. My family, when they had come to Ecuador, visited this waterfall, which also has a water slide, and they highly recommended it. Quote from my mom, ¨don't worry, you may think you are going to die, but you wont!¨ The water slide, which actually did not look so bad, for Latin American standards, almost killed Brad. He thought he should lie down in order to go faster, but the slide was pretty fast itself. He flipped over the side before getting all the way to the bottom and almost landed on a boulder in the river. After that, everyone was pretty nervous to go down but we all did it! None of us did get up the courage to jump off the waterfall though...but, you have to leave somethings for next time, right :) After the waterfall, water park adventure, we decided since we were already freezing and wet to go tubing. Tubing turned out to almost be more intense than rafting, going down rapids on 6 tubes tied together with guides pushing us through.
Toriann and I had originally planned on leaving back to Quito that afternoon, but for a couple of reasons and to extend our time with friends, we decided to stay one more night. We hung out at the hostel and cooked a delicious steak dinner.
In the morning we took an early bus, well, semi early, since we decided to have the pancakes again at the organic restaurant (and i don't even like pancakes!), and rode to Minda del Mundo, the equator. We somehow got into the main compound with paying, but after taking a quick picture, we wondered over to the alternative´ museum that is apparently on the real equator. The story is that the Incas had found the real equator, but the French came and said that was wrong and moved it. GPS now shows that the Incas were correct and the museum on the actual equator is really cool, although some skeptics don't believe the tricks they show you, such as balancing an egg or water falling straight the drain.
After the museum, we got back on a bus and found our way to the Quito airport. It was really bittersweet leaving Ecuador. We both felt our time was too short here and really enjoyed everywhere we went. However, we are on our way to Peru to volunteer and hike the Inca trail, so we cannot be sad for too long!

The Jungle

2008-10-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been traveling in Ecuador, or should i say the Galapagos for a week, and since then we traveled down south of Quito to a town called Baños, which is a few hours outside of the jungle. On our first day here we decided to do a little hike which ended up lasting about three hours. From the town you can hike up to this cross which also gives you an amazing view of the town. Once we made it up the steep mountain side which we were guided by this nice Ecuadorian man named Yofred. He told us we could follow the path to a town called Rundun which would take us in a loop and then lead us back to Baños. Hesitant because of the intensity of the first part, we were not sure if we wanted to but since we had spent the past two days traveling on the plane and bus we thought it best to get some exercise. The hike was a bit off the beaten path and we had some moments when we thought we were lost but in the end we made it to Rundun and saw the Volcano Tungurahua. From Rundun, we just hiked down the mountain following the sighs pointing to Baños. Exhausted from the hike we made dinner at our hostel and met some others cooking as well. They told us about some of their adventures and sold us on going white water rafting. They set us up with one of the hostel workers who also worked for a tourist company and before we knew it we booked our rafting trip as well as a three day, two night trip in the Jungle. That's right.... we went into the jungle and stayed with a Quicha indigenous community. Before i tell you about it, let me just say the rafting part was loads of fun. We did a class 3,4 and fortunatly no one fell out which was good. The rapids were intense and the trip went by so fast. Back to our jungle experience, right after rafting we left for the jungle and arrived to the community around 5pm. Our first night was relaxing. We played with the children, helped prepare dinner and just chatted with the Quichua family. This community has about 58 people living hear and they are all from one family. Our guide, Delfin, was the son of the grandfather in the community and he has 17 brothers and sisters. For our next two days Delfin took us on sever hikes through the jungle showing us different plants and fruits that grown here in the jungle. Our fist hike was to this look out point and along the way he made us crowns out of palm leaves, a basket/side bag out of branches as well as painted our faces with some red seed paint. That after noon the family did a traditional dance for us which we ended up participating in. After the dance Delfin took us fishing which was interesting. His technique for fishing is to get the fish drunk so they swim to the surface and then catch them. Apparently there is a this root from a plant that you smash open and when you put it in the water the fish drink the fluid that comes out of the root and it gets them drunk. We, or should I say Delfin and the three kids that were with us, caught about 15 hand size fish. Heather and I tried but were not very good at keeping the fish in our hands. Most often they would fling out and the children would then catch the fish. Over all the experience was interesting and different but i have to say we were not such a fan of fishing. For our last day we got up and headed for a more intense hike that we thought would never end to visit a lagoon and a little waterfall. In the lagoon we saw one cayman which is a little crocodile. I had never heard of them before but from the picture it looks like a crocodile. After the hike through the jungle were we walked through many spider webs, slipped down some of the muddy paths, walked through a little river, as well as tarzan swung to the other side of the hill we arrived back to the house/hut and relaxed before eating lunch. After lunch we packed our bags and said good bye to everyone. Our three days went by fast and i have to say it was sad to have to say good bye. Living in the jungle is hard with the bugs and most everything being very unsanitary but never the less i admire those who live with out electricity and very little belongings. Well we are back here in Baños for the night and then we hope to make it to Mindu for a few days before we leave for Lima, Peru. Our time here in Ecuador has been amazing and has gone by so fast. Its such a different feel traveling on our own with out a leader and just making decisions about what to do and where to go on the spot and at times very last minute. Plus we have meet so many nice people in the hostels as well as from our boat excursion in the Galapagos. We have come to realize that there are many people like ourselves who have taken this moment in there lives to spend some time traveling the world and seeing what life outside their own has to offer. I hope all is well at home, we are thinking about all of you lots as election time nears. Feel free to keep us posted on the economy and politics since its far and few times in between that we catch any news.

Life in the Galapagos!

2008-10-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry we haven't written for so long! We have been so busy, we have not had a chance to write... We flew to Ecuador after writing the last entry, left the next day for the Galapagos for a week, flew back to Quito (after getting delayed for 6 hours) and after dinner in Quito, the power went out in our neighborhood, and we have been on the road and in the jungle ever since!! Sorry it is so long, but we have a lot to tell...read on...love, Heather and Toriann
Galapagos
We had not even considered the possibility of going to the Galapagos Islands while in Ecuador, but we were slowly persuaded by some friends we met in Central America, Nick and Charlotte. They flew down to Quito a day earlier, and searched the city for the best deal. We flew down last Friday and as soon as we dropped our stuff off at the hostel, we headed to their hostel to find them. Before we even arrived, we saw Nick running down the street, saying ¨we found the best deal, you have 10 minutes to decide!¨ After a few panicky moments of how much this was going to blow our budget, we decided to go for it!
Words cannot explain the Galapagos. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was surprised by the vast desert that we landed in. We signed up for a 5 day, 4 night boat trip, so we were met at the airport by Freddy, our driver. Freddy led us down from the airport, which is at the north end of Santa Cruz island down to Porta Ayora at the southern tip. We had lunch with Nick, Charlotte and an American couple that were also joining us on the boat. Our first stop after lunch was the Charles Darwin Center, where we learned a bit about the history of the islands and saw our first batch of GIANT tortoises. We got to see the famous Lonely George, the last tortoise of his subspecies. He is like, 150 years old and for a long time he wouldn't mate...but, good news, he has 2 eggs! (He was bred with the closest genetic subspecies). We couldn't find the albino tortoise that supposedly lives somewhere in the center, apparently no one had heard of him but us :). These tortoises are amazing, they seem almost dinosaur like. Apparently Steven Spielberg came here and based the movie ET off these amazing creatures!
After cruising through the CD center, we boarded the boat we would spend the next 4 days on. In a marina filled with huge yachts, we pulled right up to a pirate ship! The ship was small, there were only 12 of us on board plus the crew, and it was built in 1901. Although it was cramped and at times I thought we were going to tip over or I was going to fall out of my bunk, it proved to be a great ship. And our group was really nice as well, our guide told us this was the first group he had had in a while that was under 60!
Over the next 4 days we visited Floreana, Isabella, and Santa Cruz Island. We snorkeled just about everyday, and it was so different than any other snorkeling I have done! It was cold and we would go out in place with fairly strong currents, so you really had to work to one, stay warm, and two, try and stay with the group. But, when you saw something, it was breathtaking, amazing, surreal! We saw huge sea turtles, sting rays, manta rays, parrot fish and tons of other amazingly colorful fish!! My favorite thing was that all over all the islands, there were sea lions! And you could get so close to them, you just wanted to pet them! A couple of times while snorkeling, the sea lions would swim by right next to you! It was so great, if I could take home any animal, it would definitely be a baby sea lion :) orr, orr!
Besides snorkeling, we saw a lot of the islands, and the climates alone were unique. We did a horse back riding trip up Volcano Sierra Negro, and when we started, it was lush and green, cold and cloudy. As we rode, it suddenly changed to dessert where it just proceeded to get hotter and hotter. We saw the huge crater, where it the volcano had last erupted in 2005, eh! We then hiked further to Volcano Chico, where the land was desolate, covered in volcanic rock and cactus's. We also hiked across another beach where in a small cove, we saw about 15 white tip sharks resting. On that particular beach, you could hardly step without seeing a huge mound of marine iguanas. They were everywhere, and definitely not as cute as the sea lions. They spit constantly to get rid of the salt they swallow while feeding in the ocean. They are the only breed of iguanas to feed underwater. Unfortunately, we never got to see any of them underwater but we saw more than plenty on the beaches!
Apparently tortoises (and their conservation) are really important to the Galapagos. Other than the Charles Darwin center, we visited a tortoise farm, a tortoise breeding center, and a national park filled with tortoises in their natural environment. Needless to say, I have a lot of pictures of tortoises!! The best sighting was while we were driving into the national park and there was a huge tortoise in the road. It was up to our guide to try and move him, which he did unsuccessfully for a bit, but we eventually just drove around him.
Our boat trip ended on Wednesday and we got off and headed back to Puerto Ayora. We got off the boat, and set off to find a place to stay and sign up to dive the next day! The lodging was fairly expensive, 10 dollars with no hot water, boo!, but we found a great dive shop! We signed up to dive the next day and asked the lady if she knew of any cheaper places to stay. She said, uh, my house...she apparently rents out a room, but her sister in law was also out of town, so we stayed in her house for very cheap! It was really cool because we were out of the touristy part of town and back in the neighborhoods. We found amazing street food and got to see how Galapageans live.
The next day we went diving...I (Heather), was SOO nervous. The diving in the Galapagos is supposed to be amazing, some of the best in the world, but also fairly intense! But, with Toriann at my side (and a dive master!), we went down in our full wet suits, hood and all, and it was amazing! By the time we finished our second dive, I did not want it to be over and can not wait for the next opportunity we get to go! We did two dives, the first one we saw sea lions, a sea turtle, more amazing fish, eel gardens, and the shadow of a black tip shark! The second dive we saw all of the same but also got about 10 ft from a sleeping white tip shark and passed by 2 hammerhead sharks (we missed seeing them by about 15 seconds!!)
Overall, the Galapagos was super cool and once in a lifetime! One of the girls on our ship had been there 15 years earlier and she said it is not the same place as it was then. They are doing a lot of conservation and protection for the plants and animals, but some of the damage done is irreversible. Invasive species, both plants and animals, continue to endanger the endemic species that make the Galapagos so special. Hopefully, the work that is being done will continue to be successful and the Galapagos will an amazing place for decades to come!
Here is the link to some of our pictures...too many to put in a slide show!

heather

Together we can-Curundu!

2008-10-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hola! We have spent the past two days living the life of our friend Rachel. Rachel moved to Panama to be a teacher, and this year has moved from being a teacher at an international school to working at a community center in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Panama City- Curundu. We spent two days at the center, one day teaching Bible, the next teaching English. It is 'tranquilo', very laid back, kids coming in and out, and amazing teachers and volunteers who oversee it all! The kids are soo cute, and so well behaved! Today, their school was cancelled (school is apparently sporadic, kids often released early or teachers just cancel classes) so there was 40 kids there for the morning session! The center is small, 2 rooms, a patio, and kitchen, but the kids are respectful and have a great time despite the cramped spaces. The kids get breakfast and lunch, all made at the center. Rachel is amazing, connecting with the kids who have so little, giving them something to look foward to in their day to day life. She has such a heart for the children of Latin America and it definitly shows through her work. The first morning we were there, we got to walk back further into the neighborhoods to visit a new baby. Even while we walked back, we were warned...'you know its dangerous back there'. The houses were built on stilts over basically a swamp filled with garbage. It was dirty, and although I did not feel threatened or nervous, apparently the local gangs war with each other, thus making the area very dangerous. It breaks my heart to think that most likely the 11 and 12 year old boys at the center will soon (or already have) drop out of school and be pulled into the gangs.
Thank you Rachel for allowing us to be a part of your life for a few days, letting us crash on your air mattress, and showing us a different side of Panama!
Below are pictures of Paradise Gardens, El Valle, Playa Palmar, Panama City and Curundu...Enjoy!

Panama...

2008-10-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

Good bye GAP. We are here in Panama City and have just said good bye to the four girls we have been traveling with since Mexico City, as well as the rest of the group and our leader Micheal. Its hard to believe that we have crossed six boarders, visited seven countries, and have been traveling for two months. We have seen so much and meet so many people, yet it feels like we are just starting our travels after saying good bye to the group.
This past week has been slower but, we have seen and enjoyed each place we visited. From Bocas del Toro we traveled to Boquete where we stayed at a cozy hotel which had the feel of a hostel- communal kitchen, TV room, and balcony. The best thing about Boquete, and maybe our whole trip was our visits to a place called Paradise Gardens. A couple from England retired in Boquete and brought with them a few Macaws that they owned in England. Since moving to Panama, their home has turned into a rehabilitation house where threatened, poorly cared for and/or abused animals are taken in, cared for and then, if possible released back into their natural habitat. Paul and his wife Debbie showed us all the animals and told us the stories of how they ended up here. Some of the few animals they have or once had in there home are geoffroys, tamarins, kinkajou, margay, sloth, tucans, macaws, monkeys and much more. During our visit we were able to feed Niki the kinkajou a banana, pet the margay, scratch/pet and hold Precious the scarlet macaw, go inside the cage of the white faced monkeys and play with Billy and Montey, hold Tember the 3 month old sloth and talk with the birds. Our fist visit was great and we loved it so much we decided to go back the next day and it was just as a amazing. Its so great to see Paul and Debbie be so welcoming to what was unspokenly set out before them. Their plan was to retire, have a beautiful garden and butterfuly house, but instead they have spent the last three years creating Paradise Gardens. The have already helped so many animals, and are showing no signs of stopping! They truly love their life and are so thankful to be caring for the animals! The volunteers we met who help them really seemed to enjoy their work as well. One of the girls from our GAP tour is actually heading back to spend another week volunteering there. They are working on their website right now, but if anyone is looking for a great place to contribute to the environment and play with animals, we have their contact info! If time had elated Heather and I both would love to have stayed and volunteer but sadly we had to continue on.
From Boquete we traveled our last long day to a town called El Valle. El Valle is a town inside the crater of a volcano. Apparently millions of years ago the volcano erupted and created a crater lake. An earthquake happened and cracked the moutains and the water ran out and now people have been living here for a few hundred years. If living inside a crater isnt strange enough this town is surounded by mountains and the most famous mountain is the Sleeping Indian Girl. The legend goes that when colonizers came to El Valle there was a prince who fell in love with an indian girl. The prince went back to his father to ask if he could marry the girl. The king said no because he was obligated to merry someone of royalty. The indian girl did not like this decision, and then killed herself. According to legend, she now lays in the moutain side wating for her prince to return. Once her prince returns she will wake up and they will live happly ever after. This is just one version of the story there are many more but the outline of the indina girl dose layout on the moutian. During our time here we took a day excursion to a beach town called Pelmar where we learned how to surf and layed out on the beach. Micheal, our guide rented a surf board gave us a little lession and then took us out into the Pacific ocean and attempted to teach us to surf. After a few attempts, both Heather and I succefuly stood up on the board and it was great. Who knows, maybe we will take surf class while we are in Australia to better our skills. Either way, it was loads of fun and it was a great last day at the beach with everyone before our last stop, Panama City.
We started our trip in Mexico City and we are here in Panama City ending it. Panama city has been a great place to end the tour, an amazing city with a rich history. Before saying good bye to everyone Michael took us around town and showed us Casco Viejo, The Canal, and the View Piont. Panama has two down towns- "the new town" which is filled with modern sky rises, and "the old town" which is called Casco Viejo. Casco Viejo has become Panamas historical site where you see vintage buildings, churches, plazas and the first university. It was really interesting to see the contrast of old and new, and take in the impact the canal has had on this city, its people, and the surronding land. The next day we spent the morning at Miraflores Locks- one of the engineering wonders of the world. Toriann and I thought it looked a lot like the Ballard locks (other than it had a HUGE freight going through holding 5000 or so Japanese cars, haha). The Panama canal has been open for 94 years now, and has been hugely successful. It has shaped a large part of Panama Citys history, impacting the people to the politics. The US handed over control in 1999, with many fears about how the Panamanians would handle the switch. But the canal is more efficient than ever, and an expanded portion is currently being built.
So, we are now transitioning to being on our own, being without the group and a guide. We have a few more days in Panama City, staying with Torianns roommate from SPU, Rachel. She has been kind enough to let us stay in her apartment that she shares with 3 other girls! Tomorrow she is going to let us tag along to the community center where she tutors inner city children!
We hope all is well at home!
Much love, Heather and Toriann

Bikes, beaches, bananas and boats

2008-09-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

We have completed our time in Costa Rica, our last stop in Puerto Viejo...an old port town, now a Caribbean beach town surrounded by banana plantations. We are on the fourth and final portion of the trip, and we got to spend 3 nights in Puerto Viejo, which was amazing. We spent the first night having dinner at a soda restaurant (a small hole in the wall restaurant, Costa Rican style) having traditional, famous rice and beans. Rice and beans here are made with coconut milk and served with your choice of meat, our favorite was fish with Caribbean sauce...soooo goood! After dinner, we found a place called Bread and Chocolate. Bread and Chocolate was a dangerous place...haha, they served mint brownie sundaes to fried egg sandwiches to homemade bagels..soooo good too!
The next day we rented bikes and rode to a couple nearby beaches-Cocles and Punta Uva, both were beautiful with turquoise water and white sand. We decided to have a survivor challenge and see who could get down a coconut to drink. After some unsuccessful attempts to climb the trees, throw stones and old coconuts, a kind lifeguard lent us a ladder and a knife. We then managed to open it up with just a stone and shared in drinking coconut juice fresh from a coconut. It definitely made me have respect for those people on Survivor!
The following day, our tour leader took us to Cahuita National Park. Cahuita National Park was established in the 1970s to protect the large coral reef just off shore. Unfortantly, the reef is still dying due partially to a large earthquake in 1992, but also from pesticide run off from the large banana plantations. The pesticide causes plankton blooms that block the sunlight and poison the water. These same banana plantation use bags to protect the bananas from bugs. The bags are not properly disposed of and almost always end up in the sea. This is rapidly killing off the turtle population, as the turtles can choke on the bags. To say the least, banana plantations are having a harmful effect on the environment. Chiquita and Dole are two major companies who are taking part in the careless treatment of the environment, and it makes you think twice when buying produce at home. The park itself was beautiful, including rain forests filled with Howler and white-faced Capuchin monkeys, sloths, hawks, and leaf-cutting ants. After exploring the jungle, we visited the beaches that lined Cahuita National Park, which were similar to the beaches from the day before. After spending the day at the park, we headed back to Bread and Chocolate for a late afternoon snack before we had our last plate of rice and beans, so good but sad to have to say goodbye to Costa Rica!
In the morning we crossed our last border in Central America with GAP. We finally arrived in Panama!! Our first stop in Panama is in the district of Bocas del Toro, on Isla Colon, the most developed of the 6 islands in the area. It is an Afro Caribbean island with a small town feel. It was discovered by Columbus, who named it after himself, then left because there was no gold. A few hundred years later, immigrants from Jamiaca and England came to the island, leaving a mixed population of Afro Caribbeans, indigenous tribes, and white people from the mainland. The islands were also commercialized by the United Fruit Company (banana farms now owned by Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte) in the 1900s. Bananas remain one of the major exports of Panama, as well as most countries in Central America.
Our first and only excursion we did on the island was the Catamaran tour. We spent the day relaxing on the boat watching the dolphins swim by and snorkeled in a privately contracted part of the reef. Our first stop was amazing, the water was so clear and the reef was filled with brilliant colors of the rainbow. As for the coral reef its the best we have seen so far. After our relaxing snorkel swim I (Toriann) thought it would be fun to swim to a nearby island to get some exercise. Well in the midst of swimming I felt my body starting the sting and then realized i had swam through a spool of jelly fish. I was not just stung once but about four times. Thus, I decided to swim back. Never being stung by a jelly fish before I was shocked by how bad it hurts. My advice is if you see jelly fish don't then go for a leisurely swim because there inevitably will be more. After the jelly fish encounter, we boarded the boat had amazing sub sandwiches and boated to the second snorkeling spot. Heather and i ventured out to snorkel but still freaked out about the jelly fish I freaked out midway and swam back. Heather, on the other hand was much braver and snorkeled around the beautiful coral reef and enjoyed the colors of the reef and fish. Before we realized the day had past and we were back on the island were we spent the rest of the evening relaxing around town. The Caribbean chill feel has really grown on us and it is sad to have to say good bye.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica

2008-09-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

Pura Vida!

We have been in Costa Rica for almost a week now and it has blown me away with how beautiful it is here! After our last stop in Nicaragua, a volcano island called Ometepe, we took a van, ferry, taxi, and bus to cross the border into Costa Rica. Our first destination was Monte Verde, a small town in the jungle filled mountains. It was originally settled in the 1950s by Quakers that escaped the Korean draft in the US. The Quakers started a cheese factory, and the mountains are now filed not only with amazingly rich natural flora and fauna, but also huge black and white dairy cows! Getting up the mountain, you drive along a rough dirt road for about 2 hours, and Toriann said multiple times, I don't know why they don't just pave this road...apparently its a controversial issue and the Quakers oppose it because of the influx of people and pollution it will bring to their area. So, it will probably be a bumpy ride for a while!
The morning after recovering from the trip, we decided to take a ´hike´-its a road, but a very steep one, to the cheese factory. We made it about half way up until it started POURING rain. We were very unprepared and left stranded at a bus stop. Luckily, one of two tuktuks drove by and drove us up the wet, dirt road the rest of the way to the factory. I definitely thought we were going to tip over a few times, but he made it there safely. We had a small tour and an ice cream treat before we realized it was still raining and we had no way down. Amazingly enough, the same tuk tuk showed up to pick up ice cream to deliver to the town, and was nice enough to take us back down the mountain.
After our adventure to the cheese factory, we zip lined in the jungle canopy's. This is a very popular thing to do in Costa Rica, and it was really fun! We zip lined down 14 different lines, the longest one was 70 meters. We also repelled down a tree and swung on the Tarzan swing. Overall, zip lining was really fun and it was a great way to see the mountains from above! It has definitely been one of our favorite activities!
Our next stop after Monte Verde was La Fortuna, a city at the base of Volcano Arenal. (If you haven't noticed, this was the volcano portion of our trip!) We did a tour of the volcano and the guide was SO informative! He told us the history of the volcano, pointed out native plants and wildlife, and was actually able to communicate to the howler monkeys. He sang the song...Who let the monkeys out?, and then we all were supposed the make our best monkey sounds...which was fairly retarded sounding but the monkeys yelled back! It was SO cool!!! Compared to other guides, hmm, the one in Guatemala that got us lost, the guide was a gem! Even though there was more water from the rain than in most of our showers, the tour through the jungle was amazing, soaking wet and all! The people of this area did not know Arenal was an active volcano until it erupted in the 1940s. It is now the most active in Costa Rica. It erupted again in the 1968, destroying the town of Arenal and killed the entire population. The volcano continues to erupt everyday since, and has created a total of 3 craters. Supposedly the volcano erupts every 5-10 minutes and we were able to see it erupt with a fair amount of lava! We went when it was dark and it was incredible to see red lava streaming down the mountain! We were glad to sit in a van and not be too close!
Other than that we had a great time in La Fortuna, we rented bikes and went to a local swimming hole, had amazing local food (Chicken and rice...one of Torianns favorites!), went to a hot spring resort with a crazy water slide and generally took in the sights of Costa Rica! From La Fortuna we ventured to Costa Rica's capital San Jose to say good bye to our third group and welcome our fourth and final group. We have a new tour leader named Micheal and a couple from England. Since being here in San Jose, my old stomping ground, I took Heather on a little adventure around the city. We rode the local buses to my old school where we had lunch with some of my teachers who still work there and chated with the some of the students. After my little reunion we headed into San Jose's main square which has two major pedestrian streets filled with shops. We had chocobananas from a little ice cream shop called POPS and then just roamed the streets. San Jose is very much a busy city, crowded with people and one could easily get lost but luckily i remembered a lot of the city and we were able to walk around without getting lost. Sadly our time here in San Jose is too short and we leave today to visit the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, a town called Puerto Viejo. It should be fun and we have been told that there are some great beaches. So until next time bye, take care and Pura Vida!!!

The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes
Marcel Proust

Honduras

2008-09-08T13:45:00.001-07:00

Copan Ruinas
Copan was such a cute, small city in the midst of the Hondurean mountains. We stopped here for only 1 night, mostly so we could see the last of the major Mayan ruins. But, we have seen so many ruins and we liked the city so much we decided to skip the ruins and spend the afternoon in the city. It was nothing exciting, just fruit smoothies, internet, and a nap, but it was awesome. We are on the go so much on this tour, everyday traveling or going on some adventure and it was great to have a relaxing afternoon! In the evening we walked up to an old jail where we could overlook the whole city and watch the sunset.
A Very Long Day of Traveling to Utila
The next morning we left at 5:45 on a bus to the city of Ceiba, where we would catch a ferry to the island of Utila. The bus made it about 6 hours into the trip and then the engine blew. That left us stranded on the side of the road for about an hour until another bus (mostly full bus!) rescued us. We spend the last 2 hours standing in the isles of that bus until we finally arrived in Ceiba. At the ferry terminal, we learned that they had given away 10 of our 16 ferry tickets. But, our skillful leader hired 2 private boats that whisked us across the sea while the sun was setting-it was SO beautiful! When we were about 100 ft from shore however, we ran over a rope (it was dark at this point), and the boat stuttered to a stop. So there we were, so close, after such a long day, but stuck! We had to have the other boat unload and come and rescue us! It was quite fitting to have a day with a broken bus and a broken boat! But the journey was worth it, the island of Utila was beautiful! The island feels more Caribbean than Honduran, its English speaking, and only a small percentage of the population are actually from Honduras. While most of the group spent their days at the pool or snorkeling, Toriann and I spent a full 2 days getting our PADI certification to scuba dive! It was a time well spent and the dives were amazing, so wished we had an underwater camera to capture all the cool fish, snake, and coral we saw.
Leaving Utila...Entering Nicaragua!
After two full days on the island we sadly left and embarked on two VERY long travel days. The first day was about 12 hours on a boat and bus which got us to Tegucigalpa, the capitol of Honduras. The second day was only 10 hours but by the end we were all ecstatic to be off the bus and in Granada, Nicaragua. Granada is a colonial town and is surrounded by four or five volcanos and Nicaragua's two major lakes. Excited to be here, the next day we decided to do an all day tour around Granada. The day was long but we saw so many famous things in Nicaragua. First we stopped at a small local pottery factory, visited a lookout point were we saw Lake Apoyo, and then proceeded to drive down to the lake to have a little swim and cool off. After we took a dip in the lake, we drove to Masaya market which is Nicaragua's heart of arts and crafts and had lunch and did a bit of shopping. Energized from lunch we visited one of, I'm sure, many prisons Somoza (Nicaraguan dictator) had during his rule. The El Coyotepe jail was built in 1893 and was used to hold political prisoners where they were held in inhuman conditions, tortured and possibly electrical shock. Although it was interesting to see and hearing stories its hard to think that there are individuals who can commit such harsh behaviors, and think that its right and for a good cause. After we left the prison, we ended our day visiting the Masaya Volcano (another active volcanoe!). Our excursion up to Masaya Volcano was much more relaxed then our first one we did in Antigua. We climbed up the mountain side to see the loads of sulfer gas steaming from the active crater. Once it was dark, we could see the glow of the lava at the bottom. The sight from the top was really nice, and once the clouds shifted we could see Lake Managua and Ometepe Island, where we are heading tomorrow. We also trekked into caves, created by flowing lava that hardened. The caves were home to 3 types of bats, all which were flying above our heads.
Independence day in Granada
Today was the celebration of the Central American independence from the Spanish in 1821. The city was pretty dead for being a holiday, we heard there was supposed to be a parade and street parties, but we have yet to see them! Maybe we should leave the internet cafe and go find some holiday festivities...;)
Lots of love from Nicaragua....

Guatemala-Tikal, Swamp Island, Chichicastenango and Antigua

2008-09-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Rise and shine, time to see the sunrise at the top of temple four. When we last left you all we mentioned that we were going to see the Tikal ruins, and we did. We got up at 2:30 am and headed out in to the jungle to climb temple four and watch the sunrise. Sadly there wasn't much of a sunrise but we did here the jungle waking up. Spider monkeys swinging, howler monkeys howling like wild cats, and toucans squawking. It was pretty amazing. After we saw the sunrise or the sun razes peaking through the clouds we started our four hour tour through the ruins. The tour was long and we were all very tired but nevertheless, it was beautiful and mysterious being deep into the jungle. Tikal spreads out about 16sq km and has about 4000 structures, however not all of them have been restored. We saw the five major temples and climbed up temple four and temple two. What makes these ruins so fascinating is how they tower over the jungle. Once you make it up the steep temples you over look the whole jungle. This was quite a sight.
From Flores, a small town outside of the Tikal ruins, we left for what Heather and I liked to call the swamp island, really we were on a small island outside of Rio Dulce. There wasn't much to do on the swamp island other then lounge at the pool which was nice to have a day to rest and recover. But when it was time to leave swamp island we were both excited to see more of Guatemala. We had a long day of travel but finally arrived in Antigua. We only spent the evening roaming the city before we headed out the next morning on some chicken buses to visit Chichicastenango. Well you all might be wondering what chicken buses are and they are quite a treat. Central American chicken buses are their version of American greyhounds. They are old school buses that have been brought down form the states and painted to be used as town to town transportation. Fortunately we didn't have any chickens on our three buses but lets just say were were packed in like sardines. After our three chicken buses we finally arrived in Chichicastenango to spend the day shopping. Chichicastenango is famous for its markets and its blend of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. This is one of Guatemala's biggest markets and people walk for many hours to set up there stand for the two big market days which are Thursday and Sunday. You can buy anything and everything here; fruits, vegetables, spices, meats, and gifts, you name it they probably have it. The streets are just filled with people and at times you feel a little overwhelmed but it is quite fun.
After a long afternoon of shopping we ended our day in Panajachel, a city overlooking the beautiful volcanic Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by three volcanoes, which makes it stunningly beautiful! Despite the constant rain, we took a boat tour that traveled to several cities on the lake. It was the chilliest we had been on the trip thus far, and was a nice break from the heat! We ran into our old tour leader the evening after the boat tour and had a nice dinner with everyone before going to see some live music!
After Panajachel, we returned to Antigua for the weekend. It was the completion of our 2nd past of the trip, so we lost 4 people and gained 5 new ones! Antigua is a really nice, quiet city with cobblestone streets, markets, and beautiful churches. Saturday we went to a local coffee plantation, or so we thought! It ended up being a tour of Mayan music and instruments. While informative, it was a lot of the information we have already heard along the way at the ruin sites! We were like, what does this have to do with coffee? When that part of the tour was finished though, we went to the other side of the museum and had a quick tour of a small coffee plantation!
On Sunday we had our biggest adventure yet. We climbed the active volcano Pacaya, an hour outside of Antigua. Toriann and I had the idea in our head that it was a sort of day hike and at the top we were told you could roast marshmallows! The first half of the hike was strenuous, but definitly ok. Then, our guide, who had no idea where the path was exactly, took us the 'long' way up loose volcanic rock for about an hour. It was like a scene from Lord of the Rings, we were in the clouds, on steep sharp rocks following a guide that kept leaving us in the dust. We eventually reached a slope that was close enough to the lava that you could see it and feel the heat! It was amazing to see the lava rivers flowing down the mountain, but a little scary when the guide takes you so close to it, it could fall on top of you! There was definitly no way that we were getting any closer to 'roast marshmallows'! It was definitly an adventure and our feet are a bit rough from the rocks, but we survived and it was an awesome site!

Adios Mexico, Hello Belize!

2008-08-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

This week started out Toriann sick with a respiratory infection and Heather super sunburned. It was rough being near the beautiful beach and barely being able to make it the short walk to the beach. But, we survived and have had an amazing week of finishing up in Mexico and traveling to Belize!! Our last few days in Mexico we spent near the resort towns of Playa del Carmen and Cancun. We finished up with our first group, and met our next leader, Annika, and our new group. There are still the 6 girls, including us, with 4 new couples from the UK, Australia, and Germany. Plus, one guy from New Zealand. This new group is great and a lot of fun so far.
Before saying good bye to Mexico, we visited the famous ruins of Chichen Itza. They were amazing, its very cool to have seen 2 out of the 5 major Mayan cities so close together. The main temple in the center of the ruins is designed after the Mayan calender, and on the 21st of March and September (the equinox) the picture of a rattling snake appears. Their advanced technology is truly humbling. We had a great guide who was a wealth of information, but it was hard to concentrate for the whole tours because I don't know if I have ever been so hot in my life! But we did learn about their version of football, a game involving two teams of 7 players that had to use their feet, paddles, and a bat to try and get a 5 lb ball through a very small and high ring. The captain of the losing team was decapitated and sacrificed to the gods. wooh, glad we don't do that anymore :)
So, after Chichen Itza, we met our new group, spent a few lazy (and recovering) days in the hotel, and then we headed off to Belize. Belize has proved to be a fascinating mix of Latin, Caribbean, African and Asian cultures. Our first stop was Caye Caulker, a small island close to Belize city. The island was a mix of locals and backpackers from all over, and after you met someone, you usually saw them several more times during the day! We went an incredible snorkeling trip!!! My mom would be so proud and jealous! We saw a manatee, nurse sharks, sea turtles, sting rays, and wide assortment of fish and coral! Our guides caught and held the sting rays and sharks, so we actually got to pet them! The reef is the second largest after the Great Barrier. The only down part of the day was more sunburn :)
After 2 nights in Caye Caulker, we drove to a small city close to the Guatemalan border called San Ignacio. We stayed at a very cool Ecolodge run by several locals and a retired couple from Michigan. There were many critters, as we were deep in the jungle, one called the 'Jesus Christ' lizard because it runs on its hind feet and can run on water. One of our girls on the trip swore she had seen a dinosaur. We were later informed that there were no dinosaurs in Belize. :) The toilets were a little different too. They were 100% compostable, just basically porta-potties but you flushed with sawdust. Toriann felt like she was in a hamster cage every time she went.
Our adventure from San Ignacio outside the lodge was a going caving. We went 1 mile into a nearby cave that was used by the ancient Mayans to hold religious ceremonies and make sacrifices. It was SO cool. The cave was filled with stalactites and stalagmites some of which looked like Christmas trees, waterfalls, and even the nativity scene! After about an hour of swimming, climbing over and in between rocks, we entered into a massive cavern filled with ancient pots, ruins, and skeletons. We were lucky to have one of the archaeologist that has worked in this cave for 8 years to be there that day. The remains were mostly of people, royalty that were sacrificed to the gods. They can tell that they are royalty because of the formation of the forehead. Royal babies had their foreheads bond until their skulls were flattened. The eyes were also often crossed and teeth sawed to points and jewels drilled in. These were considered very beautiful and royal. At the furthest point we saw a perfectly preserved (from the calcium carbonate) female skeleton. They believe she was tortured and left to die as a sacrifice.
Today we said good bye to Belize and entered into Guatemala. We are now in the small city of Flores, an island in the middle of a lake. People again speak Spanish (Belize is an English speaking country!) and we are planning to have traditional Mayan cuisine for dinner with our group! Tomorrow morning we leave at 3:30 am to leave for a trek through the jungle to the Tikal ruins to watch the sunrise!
Toriann is feeling greatly improved! Heather is avoiding the sun and peeling. We love hearing updates from home, esp about the elections! Its amazing how interested the whole world is in who the next US president is going to be. Adios until next time!! Much love from Guatemala!
***PS, more pictures added to the slide show on the previous post! We are still learning how to manage all this blog stuff :)**

San Cristobal, Palenque and Merida

2008-08-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Its amazing how far we have traveled in the last week, everyday we are either out seeing some incredible part of Mexico or traveling to our next destination. We are in the middle of our second week in Mexico and by early next week we will be heading to Belize! This week we have seen some amazing ruins, staying in the jungle, swam in blue waterfalls, and wish we could share all our stories! But here are a couple of our favorites!
In San Cristobal, after taking a 12 hour night bus, we headed up into an indigenous village. We were able to see how they lived, visit a home and see homemade tortillas prepared, and visit a couple of churches. The Spanish colonized these people in the 1800s and converted them to Catholicism, but the people have since brought back their traditional beliefs and traditions. This has created an incredibly interesting mix of catholic and indigenous practices. The church looked like a Catholic church from the outside, but once you stepped in it was really different. There were no pews, just pine needles all over the ground. People were also sitting on the ground, lighting candles to the gods, drinking alcohol and coke (apparently coke makes you burp out bad spirits), and killing chickens. People were also outside lighting off fire works constantly. Their are over 60 indigenous tribes in the area, and all lead very separate lives from the rest of Mexico.
We saw two more ruin sites this week, Monte Alban , a site near Oaxaca, and Palenque, one of the five major Mayan cities. Monte Alban was inhabited for about 13 centuries but no one knows exactly who lived there. The site was big but nothing in comparison to Palenque. Palenque spreads about 15 km long and only 2 or 3 km is actually restored and revealed. Most of Palenque is still under forestation because it takes about 15 years for one ruin/temple to be revealed. Aside from that what we did see was amazing. Palenque was inhabited by the mayans and the main ruler Pakal ruled for some 69 years. He became ruler when he was 12 and died when he was in his 80s. His tomb was discovered behind this triangle door and had been buried with loads of jewels such as jade. His wife or so they think was found in another temple but she was buried with this red chemical which destroyed her DNA. Archeologist have just discovered the biggest temple of all of Palenque which we were fortunate to see however it is still under forestation, all that can be seen are parts of the wall. It would be interesting to see what Palenque looks like in another 15 years. From all that we were told and saw it seems that Palenque has a lot to offer. If you want to do some more research or just read more about palenque here is a site that is supposed to be good. http://www.mesoweb.com/
Today we went swimming in underground caves. It was so cool, all were beautiful and fairly free from other tourists! Getting there was an adventure as we had about an hour ride in a van and then rode on horse drawn carts on an old railroad site! I just keep thinking, only in Mexico! But it was super nice because it is so hot and humid here! It will be exciting to get to the beach soon!
Lots of love from Mexico!

Oaxaca

2008-08-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hola from Oaxaca :) We arrived in Oaxaca yesterday afternoon and spent the day roaming the streets. We visited the open markets which were filled with cow intestines and chicken legs. Oh so yummy. Today the whole group took a tour to Santa Maria Tule, Teotetlan Del Valley, Hierve El Agua, and finally we visited the Mescal Factory. At Santa Maria Tule we saw the largest tree trunk there is in the world. The name of the tree is called the Sabano and it is over 2000 years old. The thickness of this tree was 58 mts and the diameter is 14.05 mts, it is a massive tree. After visiting this world record tree trunk we went to Teotetlan del Valley were we learned about weaving. This communities source of income comes from weaving tapestries and they have it down to a science. They use natural resources to die the wool and then by hand weave these beautiful tapestries. The people in this village start to learn how to weave at 7 years old and make it look so easy. From there we went to Hierve del Agua where we saw this rock that looked like a waterfall but was actually just a rock wall that has been covered by salt and other minerals to make it look like a waterfall. On our way back into Oaxaca we stopped at a Mescal factory and learned how agave (tequila) was made. Smells like a beer factory but taste like tequila. They had all kinds of different forms from straight up tequila to a mocha liquor tequila plus many other flavors. Overall the day was very fun and interesting. We have just one more day here where we will visit some more ruins and then we will be off.

And so it begins... Mexico City to Puebla

2008-08-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

We have arrived! Toriann and I arrived in Mexico city on Saturday evening after an amazingly smooth and comfortable trip down! The city is unbelievable-huge(100 million, I think), crazy and really indescribable. We wish that we would have come down a few days earlier to explore the city! But, we made the most of our day, and traveled to Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan are ruins just outside of the city, primarily two large pyramids-one built for the sun and the other for the moon. They dont know who exactly built them, when, or why they were left. Our GAP group went there on a tour, but Toriann and I decided to venture out and find our own way on public transportation. We took the metro and bus, and with Torianns spanish, had no problemo. It was amazing to see the ruins, feel the history of them, and made us excited to see so much more of central america and all that it has to offer. After a long day of exploring the ruins, we joined our group for a nice dinner at the top of a tall building which overlooked the enormity of Mexico City! It was pretty amazing, and fun to get to know our group. Our group consists of people from England, Germany, Austria, Australia, and Italy. Everyone seems very nice and layed back so far. There are 6 of us girls that are going all the way to Panama. Today we took the bus to a city called Puebla. Puebla is full of colonial architecture, and is beautiful! We walked around the city, went to an outdoor market, a cathedral, and had coffee in the plaza. Tomorrow we head to Oaxaca! This part of our trip will definitly be go, go, go! We are so excited to be beginning this journey, and have already seen and experienced so much! We think of you often and love hearing how things are going at home!!

ITINERARY

2008-07-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

Aug 2008
Mexico (17 days)-Mexico City, Puebla, Oaxaca, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque, Merida, Cancun, Playa del Carmen
September 2008
Belize (4 days)-Caye Caulker, San Ignacio
Guatemala (9 days)-Flores, Rio Dulce, Antigua
Honduras (5 days)-Copan, Utila, The Bay Islands, Tegucigalpa
Nicaragua (6 days)-Granada, Ometepe
Costa Rica (9 days)-Monteverde, La Fortuna, San Jose, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Bocos del Toro,
October 2008
Panama (10 days)-El Valle, Panama City
Ecuador (14 days)
November 2008
Peru (13 days)
New Zealand (21 days)
December 2008
Australia (5 days)
Indonesia (7 days)
Cambodia (6 days)
Laos (6 days)
Thailand (11 days-meet Buchan family!)
January 2009
India (TBD)
China (depending on Visa status)
Febuary 2009
Egypt (TBD)
Turkey (TBD)
Israel (TBD)
March 2009
Heather returns to Seattle....Toriann continues on...

How it all began...

2008-07-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Who are we?.... We are two friends that met in a freshman orientation group at Seattle Pacific University. Our friendship grew over the next 5-6 years of school. We both traveled during school quite a bit-sometimes delaying our diligent studying to go abroad, othertimes studying as we traveled. But, eventually we graduated, even if a year or two late, and we entered the working world. Toriann, a more than full-time nanny, spends her days with two 2 year olds, while working for many other families in the evenings and weekends. Heather works as a nurse on the adult medicine unit at the public-free care-trauma hospital.

What are we doing?...Toriann came to me with the idea last summer after returning from Argentina. She had met two girls who were spending the year traveling around the world and loved the idea! I was not at all shocked when she proposed the idea that we do the same thing, and by the end of the conversation we were both tentatively committed. The plan further developed after we went to Kenya last August. We loved the people of Kodera and planned on returning with the Pine Lake group next year and then heading off further from there. However, due to all the political instability that Kenya has gone through this year, PLCC had to cancel the trip. So, Toriann and I pulled out our map and started our itinerary from scratch!

I am completely excited about this amazing opportunity! I feel so incredibly humbled and blessed to have the chance to go and see so much of the world. I feel blessed to have a supportive family. I feel blessed that my boyfriend understands. I feel blessed to have met Toriann the first week of college and developed a friendship that is strong enough to know we can spend a lot of time together :)

We hope to share the next 9 months with anyone and everyone who is interested. We are hoping for great fun, to be challenged and stretched in who we are and what we believe, and have some advenutres!

Feel free to read our stories, leave comments and/or questions, and stay in touch through this site!