Tour de Floret

Melbourne Welcome to OZ!

2009-11-20T11:37:57Z

Melbourne, Australia, miles travelled…..3952

The land downunder has always been a place that captured the imagination of both of us. When Sara was young and asked where she wanted to travel, she would always say, “Australia”. When Mike was young, he spent hours poring over the atlas to find the perfect place to live in Australia. So, it was with great excitement that we first stepped foot in Melbourne. Luckily, our friends, Angela, Fito (who lived with Sara's family as exchange students back in high school), and Monica, their older sister, now live in Australia, so we were supplied with mates, local knowledge, and accommodations.

We visited Brunswick St., Victoria Market, toured the Great Ocean Road, went to the beach in St. Kilda and Brighton, and had dinner in the Southbank. We also enjoyed Hawthorne, the area around Fito’s uni and hung out with Fito’s German roomy, Holgar. We also spent time with Monica and family (husband Nick and son Jacob) while Fito was off studying for final exams.

Here are a few pictures and a short video Mike made about our trip on the Great Ocean Road, where we explored for three days.

View to Ocean from Sheok Falls

Sara and Mike Melbourne skyline SouthBank

Nick, Monica. and Jacob

Monica and Jacob at the beach

MIke outside Flinders Station

Jacob and Mike

Melbourne Welcome to OZ! remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Angkor Wat, cambodia day two: What bargain ...

2009-11-19T12:35:59Z

What bargain is behind door number 1?

Our hostel street

After our first day of temple exploration, I was very excited to see some more. Our Tuk Tuk chauffeur offered us a tour the next day to Banteay Sri a distant temple with renowned sculpture, along with a full day visiting other temples. Banteay Sri was one of the earliest temples of the Angkor era.

On the way there we saw Pre-Rup, another earlier, but taller temple on the north east edge of the Angkor complex.

ready to climb Pre rup

sara atop Pre Rup

We also visited Cambodia's land mine museum. During Khmer rouge era cambodia became one of the heaviest mined countries in the world.

Mike and sara at Land mine museum

land mine museum 2

This is for you Sly...

Unexploded ordinance- Land mine museum

We had lunch at a roadside stall, and Mike drove a hard bargain getting souvenirs for friends. He visited five shops, made approximately 20 offers before finally making a deal. During the lunch, Mike promised to visit several shops and was told in no uncertain terms that he had to keep his promise. There were various, skirts, shirts, fans, hats, table cloths, miniature temples, post cards and a bamboo flutes in the running for our deal. The final purchase included post cards, two purses, and bracelets! Some little friends are going to be very lucky!
Our last temple, and possible the coolest was Preah Khan.

Preah khan rocks!

Preah khan architecture

PK dancing ladies bas relief

PK ruined ceiling

PK two story temple interrior

OOps did I do that?

Sara explores Preah Khan

Preah Khan interior ruins

Preah Khan interior 2

Enjoy.

Boarding plane back to Kuala Lumpur

Angkor Wat, cambodia day two: What bargain ... remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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WATS up! Angkor Wat, Siem Riep, Cambodia

2009-11-17T10:56:35Z

The next day, our tuk tuk from the previous night was waiting for us in the hopes we would tour the temples. We decided to hire him for the day along with our new Norweigen friend, Oevind. The three of us started our tour at about 11 in the morning. It turns out we only had time that day to do the "small tour."

We joyfully hit the road to tour what is billed as the eight wonder of the world. Most of the temples were built between 1100 and 1400 AD during the height of the Khmer empire. At the time when Angkor had around 1,000,000 people London had about 50,000. Talk about the power of agricultural advances!
Enjoy the pics.

elephants at park entrance

First was Bayonne in the Angkor Thom (city complex)

outside bayonne

Sara come down!!

faces 2

faces of bayonne

life in the midst of stone

gross... don't look

Mike Meditating

Bayonne entry

Buddha north of Bayonn

Of note at Bayonn are the enormous number of great head sculptures created after the first sack of Angkor to reestablish the protection of their Gods!

then Baphuon.

Mike and Oevind

temple Cambodia

sara wants to go heavenward

sara climbed here

sara on Top of Bayonne

Temple north of Bayonn - - siem reap

the top of temple Buddha-- siem reap

We then headed north outside of the city for lunch and a couple of temples further north and east Ta Sohn I believe.

raiders of the lost ark anyone- siem reap

Then in for the big climax of Angkor Wat to close the day!

Mike is a mythical creature- siem reap

Sara, Mike, and our buddy Oevind- siem reap

bas relief at AW- siem reap

cool light at AW- siem reap

Buddha at AW- siem reap

inscription at angkor wat - siem reap

end of day at angkor wat- siem reap

It was an amazing first day. Entrance to the temples for 3 days $40 USD. Transport for the day $15 for three people. Additional expenses...lunch $6 per person. The only decision for tonight...How early do we start tomorrow?

Next Episode...What deal is behind door number one or...you want 2 WAT?

WATS up! Angkor Wat, Siem Riep, Cambodia remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cambodia Poipet Border- scammers paradise- Beware

2009-11-16T05:37:03Z

Miles traveled Total for day...230

Our transport north from Koh Chang along the Cambodia/Thai border turned out to be a minivan with only Sara and I occupying it, which departed from our hotel at 7:30 am. The driver, who seemed half asleep, drove as fast as he could at all times, with tires screeching on most turns. Everything went smoothly, in its manner, until we reached the border at Poipet.

Border to cambodia

Our minivan dropped us at the tour company for visa completion and lunch. The lunch was reasonable, but we were charged double the true visa fee…strike one. We then departed on foot to the border with two orange stickers exchanged for our tickets as proof for the next leg…suspicious but what do I know?
After navigating through several queues at the border, we were whisked in a free air con shuttle to the international bus terminal…(cue ominous music).

Lo's favorite perfume on the wall at Poipet bus termina-

We were then told the bus would leave in one hour, two hours, or maybe four hours for the next stage, but we could get a taxi instead for $50 if we wanted. Very helpful ha! We decided we could wait patiently along with four others. They turned on the ac in the bus and then the driver got off and locked the door. This is bad, folks. We share travel stories along with the “additional fare shakedown” (see Managua, Nicaragua) with a friendly Norwegian, Oevind while we wait.
After about, forty minutes, and numerous vain attempts to open said door and hail assistance, one of the other passengers decides to leap out the window to freedom. He is successful but we choose to exercise Buddhist calm and remain inside without food, water, or toilets. Twenty minutes later, the door is opened, but no new passengers arrive and departure does not appear imminent. An additional two hours later, three new passengers get on the bus, and the bus backs out and begins to move.
It stops at the bus terminal gate. Then it backs up. Then it exits the gate, hurrah hurrah! Then it backs up inside the gate, from the street, and parks. WAH WAH WAh! Finally after another twenty minutes six more passengers enter the web of deceit with some haggling over prices and asking questions of the bus crew. The bus backs up again. We head for the gate. Another man in an unmarked polo shirt gets on the bus and begins asking for fare from a few passengers, and we stop again.
One unlucky soul, who has previously paid at said bus door, is set up for an “additional fare shakedown”. The poor man stands firm despite threats of “police” and “only take the bus if you are happy to” by the unmarked man who says, “This is my bus. I either need to see a ticket, a sticker (aha!) or you pay me!!” I stand up for the brave passenger, who is now being threatened with “give me your passport” and who is being snapped by digital camera of the driver. “ I saw the poor dweeb pay Mr. X,” I say loudly. I whip out my camera to take photos of the “boss” and driver while demanding their names as well. A near melee promptly ensues.
Finally, the tourist agrees to pay, but now “the man” will only let him stay if he signs a letter saying he is “happy to ride the man’s bus.” Finally, this straw breaks his resolve and he refuses to pay again. He goes looking almost relived to the polic station with the corrupt bus officials refusing to sign such lies. STRIKE TWO! Now, I have a very bad feeling and I am mad. The bus leaves and everything is very quiet.
We are informed that we should arrive at Siem Reap in about 4 ½ hours. It is now 4pm.

road side sites near Sisophon cambodia

roadside sights 2

Cambodia rice paddies

A motorcycle soon passes us, and I think “ The bus is driving suspiciously slow.” Soon, a horde of taxis pass us…then a tractor. Finally, an old man bicyclying and a boy running pass our bus. Very, Very, suspicious. After two hours of this we stop, for a break and dinner where the staff seem very familiar with our bus driver. Sara and I refuse to eat for fear of controversy or other mischief. STRIKE THREE, all trust is now destroyed.
We choose a coke and bananas from a nearby vendor for 75 cents. We take photos of the bus license, and note the company Heng Tep Tours.

Scam bus plates

We remount for the final two and a half hours. A beautiful Cambodian sunset glinting of the water of the rice paddies signals night’s arrival. Still no city is in sight. Finally nearing 8:30 PM we begin to see palatial five star hotels all of which contain within their name “Angkor.” In the midst of all of this we stop, and are instructed to leave our bags on the bus because they will be handed down to us when we are safely tucked in a friendly taxi. We do not fall for this one. We grab our bags and make a break for it.

Cambodia rice field sunset

Sunset 2

Thank God, after minimal shouting and running away from the deviant bus crew who are trying to push us into their friend’s taxis and send us to their ‘preferred’ hotels… with a quick “No Thank you. We have our hotel. Thank you.” We walk quickly to the nearest fancy reception hall. With the help of a friendly bell boy (God Bless him) from The Angkor Miracle Spa and Resort ( I believe), we finally arrive at our hostel.
Total distance traveled in the last 8 ½ hours…approximately…..one hundred miles…ouch.

Next episode WATS UP!

Cambodia Poipet Border- scammers paradise- Beware remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Our life as bikers in Koh Chang, Thailand

2009-11-11T12:09:23Z

Our life as bikers in Koh Chang ………miles traveled 400.
our bus's companion on leaving Bangkok...
To take the bus or to fly? Taxi versus public transportation? Is there a train? How many places do we want to visit? These are among a few of the variables that led us to choose the biker lifestyle on Koh Chang. We had never driven bikes before, but we could rent a motor scooter for $6 a day or pay $6 for the taxi ride to our hostel on the distant “Lonely Beach.” The moto sounded more fun and we would have our independence. After signing some papers, a brief test ride (which included a refresher on the merits of front and rear brakes) we joined the scooter set. Making the first journey with our luggage wedged between my legs, our moto helmets on, navigating hairpin turns up and down mountains in the falling darkness was a less than relaxing experience. It wasn’t until the middle of the second day that the beauty of the experience began to sink in.
After eating a nice breakfast in the restaurant at the Sunflower hostel, we trekked through jungle and hostel along the waterfront to visit lonely beach. The beach was enjoyable, clean, and fairly deserted. We swam, sunbathed, and generally enjoyed ourselves when the idea occurred to Sara that we should “moto” around and check out the other beaches. Resolved to do this we returned to our bungalow and helmeted up. The moto handled beautifully without the baggage wedged on it. The cool breeze punctuated post-card views from the hilltops. Sara shot a small video, which we’ll upload when we have proper bandwith. After about twently minutes of zipping around we arrived at White Sands beach. This beach was stunning!
The white sand stretched more than a mile in a palm tree dotted strip more than 20 feet wide. The drop off into the ocean was very gradual and the water pleasantly cool. We took several refreshing dips in the azul waters. I made our first beach purchase, a fetching black and yellow turtle design. We lunched at a secluded spot called the Blue Lagoon. Where the water was blue(duh) and formed a lagoon (der), a rope tethered and hand powered ferry carried passengers to the small spit of land on the other side of the lagoon, and novice culinary students stood at attention with their teacher in a nearby open kitchen. Reenergized by this reasonable and enjoyable stop, we decided to try to reach Long Beach around the southern tip of the island.
We joyously remounted our newly dubbed “poderoso” because of the ease that it carried us over the steep hills. Midway through the trip we spotted a small group of elephants resting under their shelter. We went over to visit them and were surprised with the opportunity to feed and pet these lovely creatures. Their trunks are fascinating, their mouths a little disgusting, and they are all in all delightful. After a pleasant visit we continued southward to the vague area of our map marked “abandoned roadway” that led to Long Beach. The traffic dwindled and finally the road itself dwindled to one lane before we were brought to a dead stop.
Apparently the roadway was abandoned because a resort had bought the land and put up a gate where a five dollar toll per person was required. Since this would almost double our transportation cost we abandoned the quest and returned northward. We stopped at the Siam Hut on Lonely beach to snack again and watch the sunset. Young adults, couples, and families filled the wooden patio looking out over the sea. We were all seated at low tables on pillows, our shoes left at the entrance to the patio in Thai style. The sunset passed through stages of crimson, vermillion, and rose. It was a fantastic conclusion to our biker day. Then we got artistic.

art sara

art mike

artistic pose 2 for sara

Our life as bikers in Koh Chang, Thailand remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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One night in Bangkok

2009-11-10T03:01:12Z

Bankgkok Miles traveled 732.

Well, originally, we were not going to Thailand, however, it turns out it is much cheaper to fly into there than Vietnam or Laos. So, we made the decision based on economics to spend several days in Thailand and then several more in Cambodia. This plan nixed our trip to Laos and Vietnam......we will have them as an excuse to return to Southeast Asia someday!

So, we had one glorious night in Bangkok. We arrived, unbeknownst to us on the Festival of Lights. It can be somewhat compared to a combination of our celebrations of Valentine’s Day and All Saints Day, however, it is much more festive in Thailand. Traditionally, people buy flower baskets to send down the river in memory of a loved one who has passed or in honor of a loved one in our lives. When we arrived, the streets were already full of people, vendors, balloons, and lights. We got there just in time to enjoy traditional dances, fire jugglers, and a fireworks display. Along the riverside, boats festooned in lights were traveling in a procession down the river and under their beautifully lit suspension bridge. On the stage at the riverside temple, traditional dance and song were being performed.
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After watching some of the festivities, which, we headed down Khao San Street to grab a bite to eat and take in all the shops.

We ate some delicious Pad Thai for 2 bucks and some fun drinks to go to enjoy while shopping. Sara scored two cute tops to take with to Ko Chang. We also got a smoking deal on 9 patches of countries flags for our back pack. We were lucky to land a hostel in the middle of the festival action, which left us with a great feeling about Bangkok and Thai culture.
The ten foot wide street was filled with two rows of street vendors, a taxi, motor-scooters, and foot traffic all going in every direction. On the wires above the street hung paper lanterns for the festival. Above the lanterns hung the branches of the enormous tropical trees. It was frantic and serene all at the same time. We even witnessed on family launching a small hot air balloon made of a rice paper frame heated with a small candle in thebottom. We all watched in awe as their little ship joined the lights in the sky! The people were very friendly and a helpful tour guide arranged our bus transport to the coast. The main street at the end of the corner was a continuous streem of push carts, taxis, motor taxis, trucks, cars, and buses, that was merely frantic. We arranged a wake up call and went to bed exhausted and tried to catch a few zzzs.

The next day, we awoke early to catch our bus. Two nice Thai ladies guided us to our bus, which had rather frightening company. A short time later we jumped on the bus for a 5 hour trip south to the island of Ko Chang in the Gulf of Thailand.

One night in Bangkok remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Semporna, Malaysia -Finding Singamata

2009-11-10T03:02:19Z

Semporna and Singamata Miles traveled 105.
Tropical paradise has been found, and it is in Borneo, Malaysia. After a short debate on the merits of the investment, Sara and I decided to become certified in Scuba diving rather than continue snorkeling. It was more difficult than I expected, but we completed the course and have four dives under our belts. We have been more than 50 feet under water…and survived to tell the tale.
The feeling is rather incredible. I turned so that I could look up toward the sky and watch my bubble rise to the surface to reassure myself that I was really underwater. The visibility was incredible, nearly 60 feet, in the clear water of the Celebes Sea. It was hard to believe that what we were seeing was real. Our most incredible dive was in Turtle Garden off of Sibuan Island. We saw three turtles, an infinite variety of neon and Technicolor fish, and coral galore. There was brain coral, fan coral, and branched stiff types of coral. Clown fish and baby sea horses hide in the stinging arms of sea anemones. Lion fish sheltering in the shadowy recesses of coral boulders. Our largest sighting was a monster grouper over five feet long. In between dives we rested on the stunning white beach of the small island.
In between studying and diving we hung out at our hotel Singamata. It was built in the bay and an artificial reef was built around it. Even there, we could snorkel and see starfish, coral, and abundant fish. We sunned ourselves on the beautiful deck, enjoyed the panorama of the sea and jagged islands in the distance, and we watched the huge specimens of fish in the “aquarium” in the center of the resort.
Enjoy the pics, sorry no underwater camera yet.

Semporna, Malaysia -Finding Singamata remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Borneo- home of the Orangutan

2009-10-31T05:56:52Z

Borneo miles traveled 1146
When you hear of Borneo, you probable think of jungles, beaches, and wild animals well you would be right. We landed in Sandakan in the Malaysian Province of Sabah on the northeast side of Borneo. From our hotel, we made our arrangements to travel via bus to the fishing village of Semporna- the nearest point to visit the Sipadan Marine Park. The next day, in Sandakan, we took the mini bus to begin our journey to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. This center was created to rehabilitate orphaned, captured, or wounded orangutans. Their biggest threat at present is the elimination of their habitat due to palm oil plantations. We ended up arriving after the first feeding, but this gave us time to go for an amazing jungle hike. The Dipterocarp trees towered hundreds of feet over our head and had roots as tall as my lovely wife. The sounds of the forest all around us and the density of life were mesmerizing. We ate a leisurely lunch, watched their introduction video, and toured the exhibits before the main event: viewing orangutan feeding time.
We walked about twenty minutes into the rainforest.

Jane of the jungle

Sara's jungle queen hat

jungle walk

Mike in the jungle

towering trees

Sara and dipterocarp roots WOW

The buzzing of the birds and bugs made a constant humming sound. On the way in we saw a serpent of paradise on a tree near the trail.

Mike at feeding time

Sara Feeding time

feeding stations

Jungle snake

jungle lizard

The feeding platforms were built of wood raised off the forest floor to begin the process of getting the orangutans back into wild behaviors and increase their comfort in the forest environment. The orangutans that came were mostly young and small with a few adults, but their playful nature showed through.

Oran and staff

One needed some guidance

Close up

playful cartwheeler

en route to food

Oran swinger

Orangatan on rope 2

oran

It was amazing to watch them eat. After they ate, smaller Macaques swooped in to feed on the leftovers. They were like a pack of clowns in comparison to the stately and much larger orangutans. They screeched, chased, leapt, and harassed one another for scraps of sugar cane and small bananas.

The clowns attack

Sneaking in for left overs

The following day we grabbed a taxi to the intercity bus terminal just in time to grab a bus to the seaside town of Semporna. English has been a little harder to come by in Borneo, but I picked up a couple of phrases in Malaysian. “How much is it?” “Where is…?” “Thank you.” and “Good bye.” These phrases used strategically invariably get a smile and a little bit of help. During our five hour bus ride to Semporna we saw the huge majority of unprotected forest on the island that is being destroyed for oil palm plantations. These trees, after seven years, produce 13 years of fruit which can be made into biodiesel. After this they have to be chopped down for the cycle to begin again. It was a little sad to be driving across Borneo and as far as the eye could see in every direction was covered by neat rows of the same tree…the African palm.

Oil Palms as far as the eye can see.

We finally arrived at the Port town of Semporna and settled into Global Backpackers lodge to find a way to get away for tropical island bliss.
The next entry…What is Singamata?

Borneo- home of the Orangutan remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Once in a lifetime- Malaysia!

2009-10-30T06:49:40Z

Malaysia, miles travelled……6555
Our flight on Malaysia Air was longer than expected. We thought flying time would be around 8 hours, but it turned out to be 12. Also of note, we are now a day ahead of time in the U.S. When we call our friends in the morning, it is night time for them of the day before. We got off to an inauspicious start on Malaysia Airlines with a round of orange juice and confusion regarding our in flight entertainment. Soon this was remedied by a flip through the in flight magazine. We discovered we could choose from dozens of movies, languages, games, music, and learning programs. We were even able to make up our own playlists for the flight! Sara watched a program exploring the mysteries of the Big Bang and Mike failed in several contests of Yatzee against the computer. Later, the stewardess, dressed in Malay attire, came by with selections of free beer and wine. This helped us prepare to take a nice rest and pass the time until touchdown.
Kuala Lumpur’s airport was modern, clean, and posh. We wizzed through immigration faster than any other country and hailed a cab to down town KL. The cab dropped us off at Lanson Place, where we would stay with our friend Spencer, who just happens to be in KL on business.

Lanson Place

We got to know him better over several meals and adventures that we shared during his free time. We rested up and explored the immediate vicinity around the hotel until Spencer got back from work. We spent several days getting to know KL, including seeing the Batu Caves, Chinatown market, the Petronas Towers, and City Center Park.

Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park

Crazy KLCC tree

Petronas Towers

The city was nice, very modern, and a conglomerate of many different cultures.
The Batu caves are Malaysia’s main Hindu Shrine. There are over two hundred steps that lead up to the main shrine. Several of the main Hindu divinities are depicted there. Several incarnations of Vishnu, Lakshima, and Ganesh. Normally, there are hordes of monkeys there, but when we arrived all we found was enormous flocks of pigeons dive bombing the unaware.

Batu Caves

Caves steps

Batu Caves 5th Incarn of Vishnu

Back of statue KL skyline

Shrine Batu Caves

Batu caves

Batu Shrine

We ate at an Indian restaurant nearby. The food was fantastic and vegetarian, our best Malay dining to that point. The four of us ate like incarnations of Vishnu for about five dollars total. The Petronas towers lower levels are filled with GLAM shopping: Luis Vitton, Gucci, Chanel, etc. We were amazed and out of our price range. We got our revenge by buying knock off gear in the street market. We wanted to visit the sky deck, but the tickets for that day were sold out, and we made a note to return early another day to get visitors tickets!
Thanks to Spencer’s generosity, we enjoyed a few days of comfortable digs, access to laundry, gym, fridge, and reliable wifi. This gave us time to research and plan where we wanted to go in Malaysia. We ended up choosing Borneo as our first stop. Our plan was to see the Orangutan Sanctuary and go snorkeling at the marine park in Sipadan, a small island in the Celebes Sea off the east coast of Borneo. Spencer really made us feel at home.

Once in a lifetime- Malaysia! remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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LONDON: Tube: Bangers: Pub: The Church of Football.

2009-10-28T05:15:54Z

London….miles travelled…3460
We touched down at London Heathrow bright and early the next morning. The only problem with sweet onboard entertainment is that you don’t sleep as much as you otherwise might. This was to cause some problems throughout our trip in London. British Airways flies into the new terminal and it was impressive. Sara’s chum, Neal, from Ohio University met us at the doors of the terminal. He kindly had taken the day off to pick us up and take us on a quick and dirty tour of Old London town.

Our first stop was for food at Hampton Palace. Hampton Palace is one of Her Majesty’s residences west of London.
It is most renowned for its hedge maze, which incidentally has the goal of getting to the middle, not exiting), and its many colors of brick from different phases of construction. At the palace, we had our breakfast and walked about on the grounds. The grounds were thoroughly beautiful and the coffee and cake truly hit the spot as we caught up on the goings on of the family Thathapudi .
Before leaving we made a quick itinerary of spots to hit, we made reservations at a local Inn, and got a pass to enter the congestion zone of downtown London. All cars that enter downtown during peak hours pay the special fee which can be done at some gas stations and news stands. Neal buzzed us around London for the next couple of hours. We saw Buckingham Palace, Notting Hill, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben in a whirlwind of key points. On the way to the Inn, jet lag finally got the better of me and I slept for the final twenty minutes. We crashed around one thirty that afternoon, and slept until breakfast the next day.
We used the first part of the next day to tour the small town of Watford. We had coffee and later a pint. We saw shops for bangers which we found out were various kinds of sausage and hot dog. We ate fish and chips, and tried to log on to the local wi-fi. We visited the sculpture of the Watford hornet, the mascot of their local football club. The wi-fi proceeded to rip us off and we got even further behind on our blog though the coffee was quite good. We watched some movies in our room. We bought tickets to see “Wicked” in London’s theater district, and hit the hay early hoping to maintain our readjusted time-clocks.
We managed to wake up early enough for breakfast and prepare ourselves to spend the afternoon with Neal and his family who graciously invited us to dinner. When he picked us up, he asked if we were interested in seeing the lads play Belarus in the church of football, Wembley Stadium. Not knowing anything about it but always being up for an adventure we said yes. We got the tickets for Wednesday and were on our way to lunch. His wife, Kirsty and his two girls, Madelyne, and Isabella, along with their puppy, Poppy were amazing hosts. We went for a walk in the wood and each of us got quite muddy. We ate lunch and played Karaoke on the Playstation where I learned Abba tunes and the words to popular hits from the 90’s. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. Neal helped relocate us to our central London digs in Thornton Heath and left us to our own devices for the next couple of days.

The next two days we spent sleeping in late and then going to see plays. Wicked was Sara’s first choice and was very fun. At the theater, we picked up our newest hobby. We purchase the cheapest seats. We have a drink before the play, and order drinks ahead for half-time. Genius, no waiting in line…America take note. Then after intermission we sneak lower down to unoccupied close up seating! Awesome. The next day, I chose Othello. On the way there, we visited Trafalgar square and ate at a pub nearby. The performance was excellent and in the second half we sat in a private box facing the stage. Not too shabby.
On Wednesday after breakfast we packed our belongings and moved to another inn right by the airport. After depositing our bags, Sara and I went on a little shopping spree. I got a little jacket, darn it, it’s chilly in London. We enjoyed a light lunch at the boring, but reliable Subway. After this we began the journey back into town to meet Neal at Dollis Hill station on the way to Wembley.
After we met Neal, we had time to have a snack and meet his mom and sister. They were extremely friendly, and we enjoyed our traditional Indian snack from their home region. His mom gave us candy bars to sneak into the stadium—thanks!! Wembly was amazing and the game quite fun, though not as rowdy as we expected. We even got outfitted in England attire beforehand….Sara with her practice jersey, Mike in his cap, and Neal in his official jersey.
England triumphed over Belarus. We had fun cheering them on to victory. As we left Wembley, we herded like cattle to the tube (London subway station), all the while hearing shouts of “Green Army” from the crowd. Later, we found out what green army is about (google- "green army advert" if interested).
We have decided that London gets the”Nicest People Award” in our tourdeflor. We were surprised, too! Yes, everywhere we went people were very helpful and friendly and we look forward to getting back there in December. Before departing, we made reservations for our accommodations and planned to meet up with Neal and family again. We had such a genuinely good time. Cheers!
Tomorrow – head to Southeast Asia.

LONDON: Tube: Bangers: Pub: The Church of Football. remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Big Apple

2009-10-23T23:06:37Z

NYC…miles travelled…2057

We spent two glorious days in NYC. I had never been and Mike had been some 10 years ago, and that was in the Bronx. NYC was so much different from what I had anticipated. First of all, I must admit that I did not realize that NYC was actually made up of little islands, several of them to be specific, which I saw upon approaching from the air. As we flew by and saw the giant skyline, I asked Mike, “Do you think we will see the Statue of Liberty?” He leaned over and after a moment says, “Yep, there it is.” At first I couldn’t find it, and then I did.
I must say that the Statue of Liberty looked much smaller than I thought…..I guess I expected the size of a sky scraper. It looks so huge on TV! The city itself I expected to be much more overwhelming, however, to my surprise it felt more like a neighborhood. My friend lives in Astoria, and we walked to several neighborhood restaurants and the fruit/vegetable stand. Yes, I was very happy to see vegetables after the dearth of the last several months. I am just happy I didn’t get scurvy. Central Park impressed me too because I imagined just a big wide open green space, but it is a park with trees and squirrels and peaceful trails and just beautiful. Mike and I walked through it from West to East so that he could take me to the Art Museum. We stopped for a cup of hot coffee which was delightful in the cool fall afternoon wandering the leafy paths of central park. I loved the old brownstones in the neighborhood surrounding Central Park. Mike promised we could live in one someday.
Being in NYC also gave us a lot of food for thought. It was a serious contrast coming from Central America. We began to notice things about being “home” that were really missed during our short three months bouncing around Latin America. I realized some nice things about “home” that were just not on the radar when I returned from Nicaragua after a much longer stay back in 2000. I guess it comes down to an appreciation of some of the little things about our culture. Simple things, like getting in a taxi without having to fight your way to an acceptable price because there is a meter in the car, like finding our friend’s apartment because there were numbers and street names visible that make up her address making it much easier to locate, like being able to go to a tourist area and not be bombarded by people bidding for your business….instead we went to a ticket counter and purchased a ticket for a fixed price, like knowing how much something costs because there is a price tag on it. Also, New York tap water was delicious and safe. Mike drank somewhere near two gallons over those three days. Yes, although I am the first person to enjoy a good challenge, Mike and I decided that we were exhausted from haggling and hyper vigilance that is unfortunately necessary to make your way unscathed around Latin America as a tourist. It was a huge stress reliever…….which allowed us to enjoy our short stay to the hilt! To add to all of this the New Yorkers that we met were all amazingly friendly and helpful. My aunt Lauren always said that New Yorkers weren’t nice, but I think she only said that to keep the secret to herself…New Yorkers were amazingly helpful and friendly.
We had the luxury of staying with our friend, Diane, from Phoenix days…..in Astoria (for those of you who know the Big Apple). You rock, Diane! We had a fantastic and economic Indian meal in her neighborhood. We went to Times Square and saw “Surrogates” a decently entertaining flick. We had cocktails in the revolving Marriot looking out over the city. We rode around in the subway. We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Mike was particularly touched to see a father, who was obviously an immigrant taking his son to see the statue. The New York Policeman was helping him find his way. The boy was smiling and the father was very happy. The Statue did look more impressive close up, but I still was surprised that it wasn’t bigger. We very much enjoyed the history of Ellis Island. Mike’s family arrived before Ellis Island was commissioned through New Orleans, and Sara is not sure if she has family that arrived via New York, but we are from immigrant stock and the experience was moving. We also had a renewed perspective on immigration on arriving from South and Central America to add to our experience of working with family re-unification for three years at Catholic Charities. The hope and promise of the United States shone particularly bright to us and we were both a little emotional. Poor Diane had to absorb all of our homesickness and gratitude in a few short days, but I think she survived.

On our last day, we packed our bags and left Diane’s apartment to meet up and enjoy one last lunch with Diane. Our final stop in New York was ground zero. It may not have been the best pre-vacation visit, but we both felt it was important for us to visit. We took the subway to Rector Street. We had a little difficulty find the spot at first. Finally, we found a small box with a man giving directions to the museum and the viewing platform in the American Express building on the second floor.
It still was not easy to find for two non-natives in the big city. The site itself is now cleaned up and humming with construction of the new towers. It is 100% cranes and concrete blocked off by huge concrete blocks and fencing. We visited the memorial museum next to the firehouse on Liberty Street. The museum was unpretentious but managed to share much of the emotional, personal, and national impact of those horrible and violent moments. It was tasteful and somber and again left us with much to ponder.
New York is now on our list of potential homes. I hear they are hiring social workers…
Finally, we took public transit to JFK airport and boarded British airways to head to London. The plane was beautiful. The drinks… plentiful, entertainment…excellent, and staff…amazing a perfect foreshadowing of our trip to London.

The Big Apple remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So many hours so many countries.

2009-10-22T16:18:49Z

Guatemala…miles travelled….333 but it feels a lot further...
But first, I forgot to insert these two pics from our Bluefields entry. One is of my current Goddaughter Shary mentioned in the previous blog and the second is of a student I have been visiting since I taught him in the second grade, Jordon. I did not want to leave our blogs of Central America without including their snapshots!

Thank goodness, the bus was comfortable and the food was good and we made it safely to Guatemala. We traveled through politically volatile Honduras with four check point stops (with police checking our Id’s) but no worse for the wear.

In El Salvador we had a 2 hour stopover in San Salvador. San Salvador looked like a nice city. Close to the bus stop our only dining options were sushi (which Sara can’t stomach), Wendy’s, and Pizza Hut. We chose Pizza Hut and much to our delight discovered it was the poshest Pizza Hut ever, including Pizza Hut Café with gourmet coffee. We enjoyed beautiful landscapes between sleeping spells. Guatemala City is quite a modern city, much more so than the one Mike remembers from 10 years ago. We made our way to our hotel……oh yeah, minus #2 of 3 valuable possessions (you remember the loss of our camera at the start of our trip in Peru?) …..well we have now followed it with another loss…my ipod. Take this note to self: on long bus/plane trips do not fall asleep with things you value on your lap…..you are liable to forget them when you wake up groggy from your slumber and are shuffled off the bus. By the time you realize you are missing it, someone else has picked it up! This is a lesson we hope to take now into the rest of our travels in hopes of keeping our laptop! We spent a good deal of time on the phone that first morning trying to see if the bus line could check to see if the i-pod was wedged between the seats somewhere. Alas, it was of no avail and sadly our i-pod with 80’s hits and personal favorites was lost.

The next day, we took the bus to Antigua to visit Sara’s friend Efrain that she knew from her time in Bluefields. Efrain was, then, involved in the church’s youth group and is now a religious brother of LaSalle. We had just enough time to meet his community and get a tour of the school they operate. Afterward, we drank coffee and caught up on the past several years. It was wonderful. The brothers then invited us to have dinner with them and we graciously accepted. We thanked them for their hospitality and Efrain enlisted some friends to give us a ride and he escorted us back to the capitol. So, we saw absolutely zero sights in Guatemala, however, it was well with the trip to see Efrain. He is in charge of campus ministry at his school for about 2,000 students. He regaled us with many stories regarding his creative exploits with his students.
The next morning we departed GC for NYC by way of Miami. We were actually close enough that we walked to the airport, and after paying a couple bucks each to leave a country we barely got to visit we were airborne once again. We are really sick of the restaurants in the terminal of Miami airport for American. We invariable skip Manchu Wok because we have been disappointed there too many times and head for the bar/grill near the end of the terminal. Our three hour layover passed soon enough and we were headed to fall in New York.

So many hours so many countries. remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Special Shout out to the Sisters Managua Second Visit

2009-10-22T14:47:12Z

Sara and I have to continue our entry concerning our second visit to Managua with a detailed description and thank you to the Sisters of the Mother of the Good Shepherd.
First, a video of Tatian on the slide at their school...

They are a part of the Franciscan family who lead lives of prayer and work primarily teaching in schools. Sister Maritza is a great friend of ours who we have visited now in three countries(Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Spain). She is also the one responsible for nursing Sara back to health when she got malaria as a volunteer in Nicaragua back in 1999.
The sisters graciously put us up for the first several days of our second Managua stint while we were waiting for Jeronima and Tatiana to arrive. They had a little apartment for visiting friends and families that they let us use.. They took great care of us even providing coffee in the morning, food when we were around, and Nestle Quick if I needed a pick-me-up. We were lucky to be able to join them on a few occasions for prayer as well as seeing the “Corn Festival” of the preschool kids. In the festival the parents sold food to raise money and they had a competition for Chief and Queen of corn. See the elaborate outfits below made solely out of CORN! The festival encourages the kids to know more about the facets of their cultural that revolve around corn. Corn drinks, corn recipes, and all types of sayings around corn.

Sister took us to visit the live volcano at Masaya as well as her hometown, Buaco. The volcano was amazing; it had just rained so the steam was pouring out of the active volcano. Buaco was a beautiful small town set in the hills north of Managua. They are most famous for their dairy products and meat. Sister’s family gave us an amazing welcome and cooked us a delicious chicken lunch after mass. We met her sister, nieces, nephew, some cousins, and visited again with her mom.

We also were lucky to be with the sisters while one of them was professing her final vows. The community had a mass with a beautiful choir. They had a meal provided by families afterward as well as traditional dancing and singing as a part of the celebration.
Sara and I are planning to bring the newest Floreth, whenever she comes along, back to preschool for the Corn Festival. Sister told us we would be welcome to enroll!!

Thanks again to the Sister’s of the Mother of the Good Shepherd.

Special Shout out to the Sisters Managua Second Visit remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Back to Managua

2009-10-22T00:46:03Z

Back to Managua…..miles traveled……300.
During our time in Bluefields, we visited our Godchild, Jeronima, on several occasions. She had a baby, Tatiana, 2 ½ years ago. At the time, Jeronima was only 17 and Tati was born at 7 months via cesarean because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. As a result of premature birth, Tati was born at 1 ½ pounds and with heart and lung problems. Jeronima was told that her baby probably would not make it through the night. She did make it through the night and has been back and forth to the doctor her whole little life. The good news is that she is thriving and doing better than the doctors thought she would. She doesn’t say but a few words: mommy, daddy and pig. She doesn’t seem to respond to external stimuli as much as other kids her age, however, even in our month there we noticed improvement.
While in Bluefields we took advantage of going with Tati to a physical therapy appointment and her pediatrician appointment to get a better handle of how she is doing and what more can be done for her. In terms of physical therapy she is doing fantastic. Before she did not walk and when she did, only on her tip toes. Now she loves to walk and run and although still somewhat on her tip toes, she is learning to use her whole foot. Her mom bought her a great pair of squeaky shoes that make sound when her heels make contact with the ground, which is wonderful reinforcement for Tatiana.

At the pediatrician visit, the doctor explained that little Tati really needs further examination that
Bluefields cannot provide due to lack of proper equipment. He told us that he wanted her to go to Managua to the Pipitos Institute in Managua, where they provide care for children with special needs at little or no cost to the family. The major cost would be transportation to and from the capitol city. We discussed the possibility and the decided to accompany Jeronima and Tati to Managua because we had to go there anyway en route to Guatemala. We knew if we took the time to do this, we would lose our time to explore El Salvador and Guatemala (we had already ditched the idea of going to Honduras at this time due to the political situation). Mike and I both were sure that it was more important to get Tatiana going on for further examinations. She would get eye, ears, and EEG tests. The doctor needs to know what part of Tati’s brain was most affected so they can figure out the best way to help her maximize her development during these critical years.

While we were there the doctors discovered that her hearing was fine. They also ran the EEG, but the results wouldn’t be ready for a couple of weeks. The eye exam revealed that Tatiana was almost completely blind in one eye, but the other appeared to have developed normally. While in Managua, we introduced Jeronima and Tatiana to our friend, Sister Maritza. We also showed Jeronima some of the sights in Managua.

We also took them to McDonalds (of all places) and to go on some store rides, which Tati loved.

We even took Tatiana to the playground. She loved the swing, teeter totter, and most of all the slide. She cried when we had to leave the playground.

On Sunday, we bought our tickets for the 17 hour bus ride to Guatemala City on the King Quality bus line. It would depart at 3:30am. Finally on that afternoon, we took Jeronima and Tatiana to the airport for their return flight home. We begged the airport personnel to let us go into the waiting room with them, but they wouldn’t bend the rules for us. With repeated hugs between all parties and Jeronima finally went through the security check point. She will have to return in a few weeks with her mother to complete the battery of exams and get the results from Tati’s EEG. From that point, hopefully she will have a treatment plan for Tati to work on in Bluefields with only occasional follow up in the capitol.
It was with heavy hearts that Sara and I walked slowly away from the airport. From the airport we went to convent to share in a sister's vow celebration. As we went back to our hotel we bedded down to try and get a little bit of rest before our bus trip that would cover four countries. Next Episode: Good times with the Sisters!

Back to Managua remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Corn Island- Mission: Snorkel Spanish galleon wrecks in clea

2009-10-16T16:24:48Z

Corn Island Miles traveled 100.

Sara had previously made on visit to Corn Island, but I had never been there. Wendy and Janitza also decided that they would make the trip with us. We were all very excited. The adventure began with the transportation. There was initially to be a ferry to Corn Island that must be caught from Bluff( on the coast) on Friday which would necessitate a Thursday boat trip to Bluff. Later we heard that the ferry might come to Bluefields on Friday. Finally, it turned out that the boat came to Bluefields on Friday, completely filled with cargo, left Friday without passengers, and was to return Sunday for passengers.

Since our time was short and the boat still appeared unreliable we decided to take the radical step of flying there and back. The flight is only 18 minutes and would leave us with three days to enjoy Corn Island. On landing in Corn Island we took a taxi to our hotel to check in and began to explore. We went to the Fisherman’s Cave for breakfast. Outside the patio was the shore of Brig Bay. The view was beautiful and there were two small artificial pools that held a variety of colorful and enormous fish. Especially impressive was the giant, silver, six foot barracuda. We also found a shop that offered snorkel trips with a glass bottom boat for non-snorkelers to observe the coral as well. After breakfast, we hit the beach for the first time by our hotel. Neither Wendy or Janitza could swim, so we had mini-swimming lessons to try to see if they would be able/want to snorkel. After wearing ourselves out in the delightful water we rinsed off and went in search of pizza. Along the way we arranged for a 9:30 glass bottom excursion to two wrecks and the nearest reef.

At the Nautilus restaurant we found pizza on offer as well as Carribean Curry excited our curiousity. The Hawaiian pizza that came had a crust tough as nails. It actually made our jaws tired chewing it. The Caribbean Curry on the other hand was excellent. We finished up our dining experience with a game of Clue on the veranda of the Nautilus. Mike made the final correct accusation (Mr. Green, Lead Pipe, in the kitchen) and won the game. Outside of our rooms we enjoyed a beautiful sea breeze before going to bed.

The next day after breakfast we headed out to meet up with our guide. His name was Eduardo, and he helped get Janitza, Sara, and I equipped. We watched sea grass, and small bunches of coral through the bottom of the boat in the swirling blue water. Upon reaching the nearby reef, Eduardo led sara and I over the side. We were struck by the deep blue of the water and the huge mounds of coral jutting from the sea floor. Various schools of multi-colored fish darted around us. After a little urging, and watching through the glass of the boat, Janitza decided that she wanted to give snorkeling a try.

We put on her fins and adjusted her mask and overboard she went. Eduardo and I held her hands as we guided her around the reef and above the wildly darting sea life. Wendy watched us from above and studied the coral from the safe- and semi dry perch on the boat. Some of the coral growths were the size of houses. We moved to a nearby area where there were two wrecks. One was a modern era wreck, and the other was a Spanish Galleon from the 15th century. The modern era boat showed its metal ribs with its 30 feet long anchor nearly reaching from the sea floor to the surface. Various sea plants nestled in and around all of this area for protection and gave shelter to a myriad of sea animals.

The next day we took a speedboat ride over to Little Corn Island. On little Corn Island, there were no roads and no cars. Most of the island was covered with palm trees and jungle growth. Beautiful beaches ringed the island. We visited a few of the beaches and spent a little time looking for sea life near the shore with little success. Finally, it was time for us to catch the speedboat back for our last night at the Beach View Inn. Early the next morning we were at the airport to fly back to Bluefields. Janitza went home with pocketfuls of souvenirs from the beach for decorating!

Corn Island- Mission: Snorkel Spanish galleon wrecks in clea remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Traipsing around Bluefields

2009-10-16T04:36:33Z

We awoke to the buzz of the minihotel and the busy street outside. After a delightful breakfast of gallo pinto, cheese, eggs, and coffee, we went to say hello to Karla and Giovanny at their store. The greetings were as warm as ever despite the pleasantly cool temperatures of “winter” in Bluefields.

At lunch time, we returned to their house and parked our bags. We ate a delicious lunch courtesy of Hilma and began the enjoyable task of catching up with our friends and letting their children become comfortable with having us around. We told them how excited we were for the big upcoming event “the Marcha” or the Independence day parade. In this parade, all the important officials of the town and the schools put on their best shows. Huge troupes of “palionas”- baton twirlers, and drummers are the main attraction while brightly costumed students and trophy carriers make intermittent appearances. This would happen on the 14th with final performances on the 15th.

Sara and I made a list of the people that we needed to visit. At the top of the list were Karla’s family and Wendy’s family. Also a priority were our sponsor children, Shary and Jeronima(whose birthday coincides with our anniversary). Next, Jordan and Jose, two of Sara’s favorite ex students. There were in second grade back in the day, but now are in their freshman years. One of Mike’s favorites was Don Augustin, a member of the church choir and top notch guitar performer joined the list. Finally, we needed to stop by Dona Asucena, the mother of a friend we would be visiting in Guatamala.

Some of these friendships are more than 10 years old, and so our friends are willing to share with us the richness as well as the difficulty of living in Bluefields. Nicaraguas culture is rich in poetry, music, friendship, dancing, nature, and food while the difficulties of health problems, crime, drugs, corruption, juvenile delinquency, unsafe drinking water, unemployment, and lack of resources touch everyone’s lives.

Below are some pictures of our visits with friends…………hope you enjoy them.

Meeting up with Don Agustin........we sang many traditional Nicaraguan songs!

Enjoying dinner out with Wendy, Janitza, and husband Marc.

Hanging out with Janitza and cousin Mahatma

They did my hair!

Mike doing homework with Janitza

Visiting with Jeronima's family

Our original God-daughter, Jeronima.

Mike with our grand-god-daughter, Tatiana.

Tatiana practicing her therapy.

Fermin and crew with their livestock.

All the family's babies!!

Meeting Jeronima's new niece

Jeronima's parents and sibs house!

Karla's family at the parade..

Words don't do the parade justice.

Palionas- baton twirlers in costume.

Nicaragua's pride poses with symbols and costume.

Carlos Adolfo- Karla's nephew...is taller than the rest.

Jose's sister's foud us. (Jose is another ex student of Sara's.)

Would you call this a crowd?

Our best friends and hosts!
Johan

Johan and Mike with fish from Mark.

Johan plays cars.

Budding artist, Guiseppe.

Dona Fatima and Dylan, newest nephew of Karla--son of Yvannia.

Karla and Dylan.

Oh, we love all our friends and miss them already!!

Traipsing around Bluefields remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The long trip to the end of the road....

2009-10-02T16:05:18Z

Bluefields, Nicaragua…..miles traveled……300.

Mission –Survive sleep deprivation to arrive in Bluefields to spend time with our friends.
For those of you who don’t know, Sara completed a couple of years of service in Bluefields with the CapCorp. It is also the capital of the South Atlantic Autonomous Region seated on the coast. There is no road that reaches Bluefields from the capital of Managua, which makes this trip interesting.
WOW. Our trip to Bluefields began with a very expensive night taxi ride to the remote bus station “El Mayoreo.” We had made this trip before two years ago, when the highway had been newly repaired in the ever present re-tooled school bus which serves as the main transportation in most of Central America. We were surprised that when we bought our tickets we had seat numbers. While we waited we were treated to watch “Ice Age” in Spanish. It helped pass the time while the toddlers and dogs ran around the bus station screaming and doing gymnastics on the chairs.
Finally we went to board, at first we were pleasantly surprised to see that the seats reclined and appeared semi-comfortable not like the usual school bus seats. We were sadly mistaken. Our seats were over the wheel and left approximately one inch for Sara’s legs after the person reclined back onto her. She first tried to sit Indian style with her legs on the seat then we only began to hope desperately that we could switch to a new seat.
Finally, after we pulled out of the station we scrambled to a different vacant area. The breeze from the window cooled us down. It was not too long however until Sara began to freeze. Then when the bus stopped we roasted, and everyone would lower their windows. Finally, we would move again and would all start to freeze, so everyone would wake up and close their windows again. We didn’t sleep much, and when we did it was interrupted alternately by bouts of sweating, freezing, loud snoring of fellow passengers, or swerving around parts of the road that in the last two years had deteriorated or disappeared completely.

Finally, after seven brutal hours (at 4am) the bus pulled into Rama where we catch the speed boats. The speed boats don’t leave until 6:30am. The bus departure times have not changed in the last four years since the highway trimmed off two hours from the journey. So we sat for two miserable hours on the cramped bus trying to catch a few pathetic winks between mosquito attacks and back cramps.
Finally, it was time to board our speed boat. We joyously put on our life vests and pulled away from the dock. The pleasant breeze on the river provided a nice change as we followed the smooth curves of the river toward the sea. At 8:30 we pulled into the dock totally exhausted. We stumbled a few hundred meters toward downtown and got a small room with a fan at a place called “the Minihotel.” We were so tired that we had a little breakfast and promptly fell back asleep for five hours.
We spent a little time that afternoon reacquainting ourselves with the town. We had one of the local brew.. “Tona” and bumped into an old friend of Sara’s, Yader Garcia. To end our first day, we had a light dinner and went to sleep early to gain energy to greet our friends the next day.

The long trip to the end of the road.... remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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To Nicaragua and Beyond....

2009-10-02T04:41:15Z

Bocas to Ometepe, Nicaragua…..miles traveled…….420

The boat left Bocas in the morning to mainland. From there we hopped on a minivan that drove us to the Costa Rican Border. We saw a lot of banana plantations on the way, including the famous Chiquita Banana.

The actual border crossing was a ramshackle of a bridge that we crossed ever so precariously on foot.

Once on the other side, we transferred to another minivan that took us to San Jose. There, we spent the night at Hotel Elvis across the street from the bus that would take us to Managua, Nicaragua early the next morning.

From Managua, we headed directly to a taxi that took us to the bus station for routes leaving out to the San Jorge on Lake Nicaragua (best known for being the only lake with fresh water sharks). We arrived to San Jorge and bought our tickets for the ferry that would carry us over to the volcano island of Ometepe.

Needless to say, it was non-stop travel for a few days there and we were pretty tired by the time we found our way to a hostel, one of our best deals to date – $14/night.
Unfortunately, our time was shortened on the island due to problems accessing cash. The ATMs were not friendly and we ended up getting enough cash for our food and return trip via a pharmacy that operated doling out cash on the sly. We had two days to explore. We enjoyed the view of the two volcanoes that make up the island and enjoyed swimming in the lake and taking in some rays on the black sandy beach even though the fresh water sharks were surely lurking!!

It certainly was a tranquil place. Only one road rings the island.

Scooters, motorcycles, and the bus service are the main motorized transport. Bicycles, pedestrians, and horses make up the rest of the traffic. Outside of the two main towns you are very likely to be stopped by crossing herds of cows, stray pigs, goats, or chickens.

Sara saw her first Brahma cow. They are well suited to the heat, luckily the hump that Sara thought was a growth was merely one of the trademarks of the breed along with their large floppy ears. Once you leave the main road you will be walking on a dirt path. We walked about two kilometers from the main road to the black sand beach through pasture and banana trees. We had the beach completely to ourselves. We were caught in a thirty minute torrential downpour when we sheltered under a palm frond covered restaurant nearby to enjoy the rain.
After this brief respite, we returned to Managua to catch the bus and speed boat (panga) to journey to Bluefields on the lively Caribbean coast.

To Nicaragua and Beyond.... remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Bastimientos, Panama

2009-09-12T17:59:08Z

Bastamientos. Miles traveled 2.
We relocated to Isla Bastimiento the following day. The atmosphere there is more relaxed and a little less traveled. We found a great room at Hostel Bastimientos with private bathroom, fan, and patios overlooking the city and the bay. The owner, Dixon, helped put us on the right track for the day. We bought some water and headed out to Wizard beach. Wizard beach often has some of the best waves in the area. After waiting around for a water taxi and drinking a few beers, we headed out in a 15hp motor launch. After about ½ hour we rounded a rocky point, and sighted a beautiful long stretch of beach. In the center was a jumble of volcanic rocks with about a mile of open beach on either side. We couldn’t see any other people on the whole beach. It was nothing like the “popular beaches” at home where you fight for a patch of sand. As we drew nearer to the shore, we saw a few scattered groups of people. Sara and I got off the boat and walked about a half mile down a clear stretch of beach with no rocks in the water and set up camp. We lathered up with SPF 30 to make up for the burning that we got on our first tour and waited for it to soak in. The surf broke consistently but more gently than at red Frog. It felt like we had an island all to ourselves. We bobbed up and down in the waves, waded in and out of the surf, drank a few beers and about a half liter of water. We drank some more salt water when we got hit by an unexpectedly large wave. All in all we had a fabulous day.
We rescued another traveling couple, Harry and Tracy, who had hiked across the island. Actually, they just needed us to spot them water taxi fare for one(Tracy) back around the island. The hike that they did was not an easy one especially carrying surfboards. They left their gear and money at the surf shop halfway back up the trail so they would not have to worry about it at the beach. Harry hiked back around for his gear and planned to meet us in town. A few other hikers who had come across, joined our taxi home as well. It took the little old 15hp a little longer on the return trip and the 100hp boats motored past us. After reuniting in town, Harry and Tracy invited us to a thai dinner up the hill from town.
We sat down to eat with Tracy and Harry and Shane and Carrie were also at the restaurant. We met them earlier that day at our hostel. They had previously traveled for eight months in South East Asia and were finishing two months in Central America. During the meal we kicked around the idea of doing a tour together to see the sea turtles nesting. Sara and I were delegated to research. We agreed to meet the following evening in the square. The delicious thai food filled our stomachs, we swapped travel hints, and drank the “Magic Drink”, a mixture of rum and various juices. It was an excellent cap to a fantastic day.
The next day we ended up sleeping in, big surprise, huh? We had lunch at the local criollo joint on the water, called “Roots” and enjoyed the fantastic breeze and some amazing barbecue chicken. We met up with Shane and Carrie at the square, but Harry and Tracy were nowhere to be found. We hung around for about ½ before going to eat. We figured it wouldn’t take much investigation to find a group of four gringos in the four restaurants they had to choose from!

Bastimientos, Panama remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Panama Two - Bocas del Toro

2009-08-31T01:21:33Z

Boca del Toro…miles traveled…..197.

We departed Panama City from the bus terminal on an overnight bus to Bocas del Toro. Bocas is the “new tourist hot spot” in Panama. It was hot, and there were tourists, but it we had its beaches practically to ourselves. On our first day, at the urging of our host, Ben, at the Las Brisas hostel, we lunched at the Pickled Parrot and hit our first beach on the island of Costanera. We arrived at The Pickled Parrot by water taxi, and we were served up the best hamburger we have had on our trip and washed it down with a few cold Balboas. The owner is an ex-pat underwater nuclear reactor inspector who recharges his batteries on the beach in Panama! After that we headed to the beach. The sand was white and the water was warm and clear. Sara and I called it a very successful first day.
The second day we played to hit one of the beaches on Isla Colon, on the way to the water taxi we were solicited by a young man offering a tour. “Special Price, $15 per person. We go to Dolphin Bay, Snorkle, and Red Frog Beach. Inlcudes all except $3 additional to enter Red Frog Beach because it is a national Park.” After a few moments of conferring and several more references regarding the “Dolphins”, we joined the tour. In our party were , a large group of Brits on Uni vacation and a few stray Germans. At Dolphin Bay, we were greeted very pleasantly and promptly by a group of three dolphins swimming leisurely. We sighted several more groups of dolphins many of which were very near our boat. This portion of the trip climaxed when one of the dolphins put on a show punctuated by several leaps out of the water and splashing reentries! It was fabulous.

We followed this with Sara and I snorkeling for the first time. At the reef where we snorkeled an abundance of fish and sea life were on display. Various types of coral, specific colors and their attendant fish covered the sea floor. There gentle current caused no problems, and the experience left us wanting more snorkeling.

Our next stop was red Frog Beach. To reach the beach we paid the entrance fee and hiked across a small stretch of jungle. A group of little boys met us up the trail to show off the famous “red frogs”(poisonous if eaten).

We were not disappointed by our second beach. White sand stretched about a mile in either direction. The strong and consistent surf pounded the beach providing a relaxing background noise. Our group entered the water to try our hand at body surfing. We caught a couple of waves and swallowed plenty of saltwater. The current strong current and pounding surf left us exhausted by the end of the afternoon. The tour probably rates as our best values of the Panama leg of our trip.

The next day, we took the bus to play at Bocas del Drago, also called Starfish Beach. The Beach here is narrow but extends for several miles.

Our first mile walking yielded exactly zero starfish. The second mile yielded a blue crab and a stingray.

Finally, we were considering giving up. “Should we head back?” Sara asked. “Let’s go a little further.” It was merely twenty yards further, and we hit the mother load of starfish. We saw different sizes and patterns. We picked up a few to inspect their feet. It was very cool.

Panama Two - Bocas del Toro remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Panama City

2009-08-18T23:29:11Z

Panama City. Miles travelled....(via Miami) 2326.

Panama…land of Contrasts.

Highly developed. Real estate booming. Beach resorts planted on the trendiest beaches. Yet, we couldn’t get money out of the atm or find a café with WiFi…! One taxi driver was kind and helped us out of a pinch at the atm, and another lied to us and tried to charge us 4x the agreed on on fare (more on this later).We saw the beautiful and amazingly engineered Panama Canal and yet saw garbage heaped on roadsides. Water is safe to drink, but your sidewalks have holes that small SUV’s could fall into. We ate a delicious and huge meal at the market for $3.00 and abottle champagne for $5 then we couldn’t find a dinner restaurant open that was for less than $15. Oh Panama …Panama.

Our first hours in Panama were traumatic. We had waited to get money until our landing in Panama so we could get the local money. Little did we know that the local money is the DOLLAR! Their atms would not cooperate and we could not leave the airport because we could not pay the tourist visa fee, which was only $10. We worked the phones and pleaded with the officials for several hours. We called the states numerous times to our bank. Finally, three hours later they mercifully let us leave the airport without paying the Visa. They helped us find a taxi driver willing to take us (with no money) to various banks until we could get a cash advance. He could have charged us any price at that point, but he only charged us a little more than the usual airport fare. He also helped us find a reasonable place to stay that night. Thank God for good people!
The next morning we walked to the Hotel Intercontinental on the beach! WOW! We used their business center to make calls and contacted our Panama hosts (via couchsurfing), Ronald and Laurys, and had a reasonable and delicious frittata. The staff was delightful and helped us overcome the previous day’s trauma.
We stayed the second through fifth nights with Ronald and Laurys. Ronald is a Venezuelan who lives in Panama and Laurys is a Panamanian studying Environmental Engineering. They have been married for about a year and have a Siberian Husky puppy named Leah. Cute, beautiful, and a little feisty. They had a spare room that they let us use and helped us learn to navigate Panama city’s myriad of buses and taxis. Ronald loves to talk economics etc so he and I got along great. He is interested in starting a batting cage business here in Panama (it is a big baseball country, but no batting cages!!). He currently works as an accountant in a supermarket. We shared some Chilean wine with them and helped clean up after the puppy!!

The rainforest of Panama is stunning. We caught the bus to the bus station to cut down on the taxi expenses. We asked the taxi driver if he knew where the park was. The first driver said no and left. The second called on the phone. While he was talking a third came up and said he knew the way and that he would take us for $5. I felt funny about this, but Sara was ready to go. We hopped in and he tried to take us somewhere else and say that it was where we wanted to go. A few moments later, Sara said she had a funny feeling and wanted to know if we should get out. I said, “na, it’s okay.” (Hint…always listen to your wife’s hunches.) When we didn’t fall for this he went inside to ask and came out rather downfaced. “It is much farther,” he said in broken English. “we thought so” we answered in Spanish. “How about $13” said Sara. “OK” he said and we were off again motoring into the jungled countryside past the canal. Finally, he pulled up to a building that said “National Park”—“Open” that was completely locked with no one in sight.
After a moment of conferring he said,” surely we had to go further in to another spot.” He kept driving until he finally pulled up in front of a gigantic resort. I asked to pay, and he said,” No, we’ll take care of it later. What time do you want me to come back?” We arranged the pick up, and he left Sara and I to our tour.
The rain forest trees tower into the sky and it rains almost every day after the heat of the day drives the humidity up. The diversity of animal life is dazzling. We took a small boat trip to the “Isla de Monos” --Monkey Island. Did I mention that Sara loves monkeys…anyhooo. We went there. We saw cappuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, iguanas, crocodiles, turtles, and various birds. It was truly amazing.

After a torrential downpour we met up with our “friendly taxi driver” again.

He took us back to the terminal. We gave him $40 figuring for the extra distance plus tip. He said,” No way. You owe me $60.” After a small conference, Sara and I left the cab and left him with our $40. We went into the nearby mall to cool off before taking the bus home. A few moments later we heard him yelling behind us. He caught up to us and said he wanted us to wait for the police. We said it was fine with us, but he had to get the police.
He disappeared, and we headed for the exit. As we prepared to leave he stopped us again and asked a security guard to call the police. Meanwhile he intimated, “This will take at least an hour for the police to come. Just give me $10.” “No ,” said Sara. “we’ll wait for the police. It’s okay.” “He will bail before we get to the station,” I said.
The police finally came, and he began badgering us again. The police warned us,” This could take several hours.” Meanwhile the taxi driver again whispered to us,” $10 and I’ll go.”
Sara responded calmly again, “No, It’s okay. We have time.” As we headed to the police station, he still tried to badger Sara, and I kept between him and her. The walk to the station was long, through the whole bus terminal and out the back door. About half way through he disappeared.
“He’s gone,” I said.
“He just needs to get his taxi moved,” said the police man.
We had a really nice conversation with the police men in the station. They reminded us to set a price before entering the taxi. We assured them that we had. The police were very friendly and courteous. Ten minutes passed, and then twenty. “He is not coming back,” I said. After thirty minutes the police said we could go and escorted us to our bus. WOW. That was a adrenaline rush.
We visited the Casco Viejo…the old part of the city…

which was founded about 100 years after the original city which was sacked by Henry Morgan…that is right Captain Morgan of later rum fame. Sir Henry Morgan to fans of the British Empire. The old city is charming and in a state of semi-renovation due to tourist interest. The beautiful buildings are painted different pastel colors which reinforce the Carribbean vibe. You can look in one building and see marble stairs and deluxe apartments. In the next building, which looks identical, a glance inside reveals only the sky above and a decaying staircase that leads nowhere.

The French embassy still inhabits the southern point of land near the French Plaza and the original Cathedral sits on the plaza of independence. A handful of completely forlorn ruins of churches and monasteries dot the rest of the old city. We ate in the local market to get our fill of rice cooked in coco water with beans. The pork chops and onions were fantastic and we spoke to one of the local businessmen who brought the pork to the market that morning.

Panama City remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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SANTIAGO!!

2009-08-17T23:20:35Z

Valparaiso, Chile, miles travelled ….162
Santiago, Chile, miles travelled…61
Valparaiso, land of hills, sailors, artists, funiculars, the Pacific shore, and famous poet, Pablo Neruda. Since this was our first foray into Chile, everything was new. The money, the food, the prices, and the accent. Several times I missed complete conversations (lost in the change of accent from Argentina)! We ate in two fantastic restaurants our first two days and spent a lot more than we were accustomed to. Sara ate Rabbit and I had meat stuffed with meat, exquisite. Later we discovered that we had wandered unintended into the gourmet restaurants. Great for the food experience, but bad, very bad, for the budget. Our hostel experience here was enjoyable as well. The host a young man of 36, loved to converse, as I do, at great length concerning any topic. We got along great! His girlfriend was a painter and they had four extremely friendly cats. One that was missing an eye who I dubbed, “Mr. Pirate.”
On the third day, we visited Pablo Neruda’s house. It is fascinating and beautiful, and it seems that Mr. Neruda had a very active political life that we did not know about. He was senator, embassador, presidential candidate, and an exiled communist. Besides writing and politics, he gained great fame for hosting parties of his friends, drinking, eating, being playful, making jokes, and having breakfast in bed while reading the paper. In Neruda, I believe I found the role model for the life I want! Later that day we found a great restaurant that served more typical Chilean food. I ate a Churrillano, an enormous fantastic plate of sausage, pieces of beef, sautéed onion, fried egg, and French fries YUMMY! Sara had the equivalent of a pot roast with rice which was delicious too.
We did some economic conserving after our initial folly and bought some wine at the corner market. We enjoyed the Carmeneres very much, and enjoyed the Sauvignon Franc a little less. The grape is complex with less intensity than the cabernet or Carmenere.
After our short visit to Valparaiso, we bussed on to Santiago, the country’s bustling captital. There, we stayed with our friend, Anibal, whom I had worked with at Andre House back in the day. As part of his preparation for his Church wedding to Camila in October, he just moved into a new apartment close to the business district in Las Condes. They are a great couple. She is a young attorney who wants to specialize in environmental law. She was very cool and fun; they are a great match.
On Saturday, he and Camila took us to see the “Moneda” (where the president has his offices),
The Casa Colorada (where the first government of Chile formed), and the Art Musuem.

Santiago is a beautiful city. They also took us to the market to eat a delicious fresh seafood lunch. We started with razor mussels with cheese and sea urchin soup!

A little strange for us but tasty. Sara and I had Cangrejo a lo pobre for our main course. Cangrejo is a type of creature about half way between an eel and a fish. “A lo Pobre” roughly translates to “working man’s style”. It was an enormous plate of fries with fried onions, fried fish, and fried eggs on it. IT WAS fantastic…great recommendation Anibal. We enjoyed the meal with a nice Chilean white wine.
We also visited the main square where there was a dance honoring Mary.

We also went to the Metro Park (zoo +overlook+Marian Shrine). It was beautiful.

That evening we went to a great pizza/pub that is owned by one of Annibal’s school friends.

It was packed and had a great ambiance. Art, wood, and metal décor gave a relaxed but modern feel. Sara and Anibal reflected on Andre house days and the meaning of service. It was really touching to see that Anibal maintained his Holy Cross connection to service and that it still meant a lot to him. He remembered the staff and many of the people that he had served. He also spoke of the St. George’s community’s service projects in Santiago which were quite impressive in their comprehensive, dignified, long term scope.
Sunday we relaxed before going to mass with Camila and Anibal at St. George’s, his Holy Cross Alma Mater. The campus was beautiful and the mass was very nice. Fr. “Pepe” introduced us to the congregation. We had another nice dinner and looked through photo albums of Anibal’s time in the US to spot friends and tell stories. We checked out the Andre House page on facebook where Anibal has been elected “Pope.” Our time with Anibal and Camila was really touching and amazing. Their hospitality kept us comfortable and we learned a lot about Chile, and spoke about the world and its problems.
We were very sad to leave the friendly confines of 55 Magdalena apartment #404, but Panama beckoned us northward into the tropics.

SANTIAGO!! remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Mendoza, Argentina

2009-08-11T04:07:06Z

Mendoza, Miles traveled

“Medoza….Mendoza….segundo hogar de mi corazon.”
Mike’s quote about Mendoza….”The second home of my heart”.

“Mendoza….a donde mi alma se calento abajo de su hogar.”
Sara’s quote about Mendoza…”where my soul was warmed beneath your hearth.”

Mendoza….(now we are really getting poetic…..a land making its living off the vine, the Sauvignon Blanc, the Merlot, the santo Malbec. A city surrounded by vineyards, olive trees, the Andes.
We arrived in the afternoon (after a 14 hour bus ride) to our hostel, Chalet Bassi, greeted by Adriana and Cecilia. The house demands a description here. As we came up the front walk, the first thing we noticed were the large wooden double doors. Peeking out from the second floor was a beautiful arbored patio. To the left of the front door was a small patio which opened up into one of the bedrooms via two sets of French doors. Upon entering the foyer, a great marble staircase spirals up to the second floor. To the right was the dining room with a magnificent fireplace. The dining room had stained glass windows from wall to wall as a backdrop to the three small tables adorned with fresh flowers each day of our stay. The fireplace mantel and ceiling were decorated with ornate early twentieth century carvings. Overall, it was a place that provided an atmosphere of beauty and comfort.
We stayed in Mendoza a week, and our daily schedule went something like this:

10:00am Wake up and have breakfast which consisted of toast with jelly and hot coffee by the fireplace
11:00 Get ready to go out – shower if necessary. Screw around on the computer.
1:00 Leave house for siteseeing/exploring the city and its many plazas
3:00 Have lunch, which was always very good!
5:00 Explore some more and buy food for dinner which consisted of cheese, salami, bread, wine, and apples, and water, ofcourse
7:00 Hang out at home, talk to Adriana and read/write by the fireplace.
10:00 Eat dinner by fireplace and talk some more.
1:00 Go to room and play Soitaire, Hearts, or other fun computer games we get for free
2:00 Bedtime

While in Mendoza, we went on a tour where we visited two wineries, an olive oil factory and a small liquor distillery that also made chocolate. We tasted absinthe (legal up to 75% alcohol in Argentina) in honor of writers Hemminway at el. It is served with teaspoon of sugar mixed with absinthe and lit on fire. The sugar is then dripped into the drink for consumption. It didn’t just burn because of the alcohol, it actually hurts your mouth! WOW! IN honor of our forefathers we also tried mead. Good, but very mild. We explored the local museum, and the ruins of an old church destroyed by an earthquake of 1861. We went for a walk and exercised in a wonderful park that was chuck full of runners, bikers, and rowing teams(there was a lake too). Mostly, though, we hung out in town and got to know it quite well. In Mendoza, the center of town is designed with five separate plazas. The central and largest being the Plaza de Indepencia, which is surrounded by Plaza Espana, Plaza Italia, Plaza de San Martin, and Plaza de Chile. Each has its own character and charms. We got our own bus card and took the trolley and buses everywhere.

We felt very at home….so much that it was difficult to think about leaving so soon. The hospitality was incredible, especially that of Adriana… She made us feel at home storing our food, letting us borrow her wine opener, and tipping us off to local sights and customs. Her daughter, Cecilia, and she would always make sure we had a fire ready and that we never got lost or missed an opportunity to see more of their hometown. In the evening, after having our snack it was often only Sara and I in front of the fire with occasional visits by Adriana to converse.
As you will notice, no pictures this entry as we are still awaiting the arrival of our camera, hence the longer entry. I guess Mendoza was meant just for our memories.

Mendoza, Argentina remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Primos! A visit with my cousin...

2009-08-09T20:51:32Z

As we entered, Argentina my dad told me that we had some cousins in Argentina. Who knew? It turns out my second cousin, Maria Elena, lives most of the time now in Buenos Aires. We had tried to contact her from Salta the first time without success. After Regina departed, we tried to contact her again. After working through my brother, my father, and finally my dad’s cousin, Alice Ann Swartz, we managed to get in contact. Alice Ann Swartz, my dad’s cousin, married a South American and moved down to South America when she was still a young lady. Brave, and cool since that gave us a branch of South American family. We first met for the first time for lunch at their apartment in Palermo, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires. They had a nice apartment with a great view of some of the parks with the Rio de la Plata and Uruguay off in the distance.

We also met their pet, Rocco, who is a monster sized Rotweiler who loves to give kisses to his dad, Hernan (Elena’s Husband).

We had a great visit talking family while they treated us to pizza and empanadas. I saw some pictures of my(our) great grandparent Swartz’s at their trailer in Dade city. (Funny because Sara has Swartz grandparents in her family, too. No relation—that we know of!) It was very interesting to see people and places we had both visited at different times. Also I saw the famous, Uncle Bill, in several of the pictures. For those of you who don’t know, he was my grandmother(Victoria Jane’s uncle) and my dad would sometimes be called “uncle Bill” by her! We spent the whole afternoon together, we visited the Chinese neighborhood ,and then went to a famous Buenos Aires café for desert . This turned out to be an enormous platter that we couldn’t finish even with four of us. We planned to meet again on Friday to see Hernan jump with his horse for the first day of the jumping contest.
The previous day we had moved to our new digs in La Boca(a different neighborhood). We visited Evita’s museum, some love her and some hater her, but hey, she’s famous right? After that we went to a tango show at Café Tortoni. The live tango music impressed us as well as the theatrical and acrobatic tango performance. The tango theater is in the basement of the café in a room that gives the impression of being in an underground cave. It is the oldest café and very traditional in Buenos Aires. Sara give a thrilling reenactment of the tango on our tile floor at the hostel and ended up slipping and crashing to the floor. She bounced back up and completed a few more moves before preparing for bed. I was very concerned, and thought she might have a concussion. She still reassures me that she was fine even though she thought she might have a bruise.

The next day we packed our things to head over to Stay at Elena and Hernan’s apartment, which they very graciously offered. After waiting for our laundry at our hostel and working on our blog, we set out for downtown to pick up Sara’s newly altered fashion pants. She also got a new coat! Buenos Aires had their biannual snow that week. I got a sweet pair of jeans for $13. AWESOME shopping. We made it just in time to leave our bags at the apartment and get to the German Equestrian Club for the competition. The competition was fantastic. We met many interesting horsey type folk. Sara spotted this beautiful horse across the field and said, “That horse is most beautiful. His coat is so shiny and the color is amazing.” Turns out that the horse was Lorenziano, Hernan’s horse. He jumped awesome even though he was hyper frisky from the cold and threw in a couple “show off kicks” during his run. We had some beer an incredible pastry and Hernan and Lorenziano got fifth!

The next day we went to the rural fair with Elena. The Rural is an impressive display of all things agricultural in Argentina. Hernan met us there for coffee before we parted ways for the evening.
Sara and I ate/drank at Lupita's and then at the Soul cafe. We enjoyed ourselves immensely while Hernan and Elena were at a friends birthday.

The next day Sara and I did some sight seeing and went to mass before going to see Hernan and Lorenziano in the 1.5 meter day of the jumping contests.

This was another in our string of fantastic days in Buenos Aires. We were very sad to say goodbye to Elena, Hernan, and Rocco that evening as we boarded the bus to Mendoza. They were great hosts in a great city, and we hope to see them again soon.

Primos! A visit with my cousin... remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Backtracking to Iguazu Falls

2009-08-06T22:34:26Z

Well, it looks like we forgot an entry! So, let's take a break from Buenos Aires and take a look back at one of the great natural wonders.......Iguazu Falls! Thanks, Mike Shawver! Way to keep us on track....

Miles traveled 378.

Thanks to Mike Shawver, we arrived at the Hostel Inn in Iguazu Falls, where the party never ends! Ahh.. the Hostel Inn was brimming with young backpackers, the atmosphere was such that we felt like we were back in college! The Inn was packed with activities: foosball, ping-pong, pool tables, swimming pool, and snack bar to name a few. It was not quite what we expected with entertainment every night and music “til the break of dawn”. Our room was nice though, hot water and heat were plentiful. Sara was happy to be warm finally.

Iguazu brought temperatures in the 70s with high humidity. We had entered the jungle and were pleased with what we found there. We took the bus to the park entrance on the first day. From there we took the park train back to the “Devil’s throat”. When the train stopped, we traversed about a mile over the river on metal catwalks about 8 feet wide. We could hear the rushing water in the distance and see the rising plumes of mist. Once approaching the falls, we were astounded at the convergence of water that plummeted in a near 360 degree ring of falling water. Many of these falls were over 100 feet high. The sheer sound of the rushing water was incredible. Even after being on the overlook for some time the sight of the falls was still mesmerizing. The three of us were almost giddy with the thrill of being so close to the falls and feeling the spray from the water on our skin.
We then boarded the train and headed back to the main falls.

We walked the Lower Falls Trail through the lush vegetation and down a series of stairs and walkways to capture different views of the various falls. At some points the walkway went over a fall, and we could see it rushing below us. At another point it would be a small distance away from the cliff face, and we would be staring at the water as it tumbled down the cliff in front of us. We witnessed the beauty of St. Martin’s Island framed against a backdrop of enormous waterfalls, and we got so close to the base of one of the falls that we were buffeted by the wind and drenching vapors of the pounding water. The tremendous walk only lasted a little over a mile, and it packed in a million memorable sights and sounds.

Darkness was falling, and the last train was leaving to return to the main entrance, but none of us wanted to leave. We got our tickets stamped with the hope of returning the next morning to venture to St. Martin’s Island and see the Upper Falls Trail.
It was standing room only on the bus as all the awestruck visitors returned to their hostels.
Unfortunately, after eating and resting we awoke to a torrential downpour the likes of which are rarely seen outside of the rain forest. Sheets of water poured off the eaves of the building and the sidewalks and roads were submerged in water. So instead of visiting the falls again, we got laundry done, and chose a movie to watch from the Hostel Inn’s selection. I looked for “The Mission” again, but they did not have it. We tried to download it again, but it did not work. We wrote some blog entries, and uploaded some photos…attached for your enjoyment. We thought about staying another day, but the forecast the following day was rain as well. Plus we had plane tickets in hand for our flight to Buenos Aires, BA… Big Apple. It was with fond glances behind us and a hope of returning that we left Iguazu Falls.

Backtracking to Iguazu Falls remains copyright of the author tourdeflor, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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