The Ford Explorers

3 Years Later – The Final Post

2012-02-25T15:06:00.000-06:00

Over the last 3 years, I have been asked many times, "when are you going to write the Final Post?" My response has always been, "yeah, I need to do that . . . " as my mind wanders off thinking about our trip around the world. Well, after 3 years of procrastinating and maybe just not wanting to post the Final Post, here it is. I assume the reason that I haven been avoiding it stems from the fact that the act of doing so brings an official end to the trip. The prod I needed was Jennifer posting a picture of Halong Bay on Facebook a couple days ago stating where we were 3 years ago. 3 years ago?! Really?! The other prodding came from my desire to convert the blog into a book and the book really should have an epilogue.

In the time that we have been back, Aaron graduated from Williams College and started his professional career at J.P. Morgan in New York. He absolutely loves living and working in Manhattan. Noah has passed up Aaron height wise, topping out at 6'5". He is a Junior at Apple Valley High School and thoroughly enjoys hanging out with people other than his parents after 7 months of too much Mom and Dad time. Jennifer is on her 3rd job since our return, landing for the 4th time at IBM. I sold my internet company and went back into the project management consulting business. Jennifer and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to Kauai!

The last few days in Fiji, the final destination on our trip, we spent a lot of time reminiscing about the previous 7 months. We discussed the experiences we had, the people we met, and potential impact they will have on how we live our lives. Other than those deep philosophical topics, we also chronicled how we got around the world. We took 33 flights, 103 taxi rides, 99 bus rides, 29 boat rides, 4 car rentals, 6 train rides, 37 trips on the subway, 5 bike rentals, 16 trips in friends cars, 1 cable car, 19 Tuk-Tuk rides, 4 trips on a Cyclo, 4 scooter rentals, and 3 types of animals (horse, camel, and elephant).

Looking back on the trip, we feel blessed that we were able to take a break from life and experience all that the world has to offer. The picture to the right pretty much sums up how we feel about taking 7 months to travel the world. This little boy is from Ubud on the island of Bali in Indonesia. It makes us want to go back to Bali, since we did not spend enough time there. Better yet, we need to figure out when we can do another trip around the world. It might have to wait until we get Noah through college.

Until next time . . .

Click on the following link to view a 15 minute video/picture summary of our trip ==> Trip Video

Fiji - Last Stop

2009-03-25T13:50:00.001-05:00

Fiji Slide Show

We have been back in the United States for over 2 weeks and I am just now getting around to completing this post for the last stop on our trip around the world. I think the reason it took so long to sit down and write this is that it brings a finality to our adventure. It means that we will no longer wake up each day exploring a new land and culture. We realize that it couldn't go on forever, but it was sure great while it lasted.

Fiji was added to our itinerary when Airtreks, the company that booked our around the world flights told us that it would be cheaper to fly home from Australia if we had a layover in Fiji. That was all it took to spend the last 4 days of our trip on the island of Viti Levu. There are over 300 islands that make up Fiji, but the population of the entire country is less than 1 million. Language was not a barrier as English is the official language even though most people speak Fijian when talking to each other. The only Fijian word that we really needed to know was bula! For Fijians, bula means hello, welcome, cheers, and great to see you. There is also a wonderful requirement that you smile widely when saying bula!

We happened upon a great hostel called Uprising Resort, which offered bures on the beach for a reasonable price. A bure (booray) must mean house on a beach because we had a house and it was right on the beach. Jennifer wanted to take the last 4 days to "unpack". This "unpacking" took the full four days as she never left the resort. She spent much of her time thinking, looking out at the ocean, thinking, reading, writing, and then thinking some more.

Not being so good at this "unpacking" concept due to being male and having a touch of A.D.D., I joined Noah for kayaking, hiking, playing catch on the beach and seeing how much food we could eat. Noah even had the opportunity to ride a jet ski. The highlight of our activities was kayaking in the ocean and up a river in the jungle. We didn't see any crocodiles on the river, but it sure looked like a place that they would like to hang out.

Whether we were at the resort, walking through the town, or kayaking up the river, the local people greeted us with hardy bulas and a smile. Fiji turned out to be a nice, friendly relaxing place to close out our 7 month adventure. We will soon follow up this post with one last post summarizing our trip, including thoughts about being home. To view our slide show of Fiji, click on the following link ==> Fiji Slide Show

Sydney, Australia - The Harbour

2009-03-20T18:17:00.001-05:00

Sydney, Australia Slide Show

The picture to the left is a photo of the Sydney Opera House taken from a ferry while going under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This is probably the most photographed opera house in the world. We have watched the spectacular New Year's Eve fireworks in the harbour many times on TV. In person, the Sydney harbour is even more impressive. The harbour is made up of an extensive network of bays, points, and rivers. These waterways are accessible by ferries that act as river taxis to and from various points in the city.
Like Melbourne, Sydney has a great mass transit system that makes it easy for locals and tourists to get around without a car. There are trains, ferries, monorails, buses, subways and bikeways that connect the city with the suburbs. We made use of the trains, ferries, and buses during our stay. Speaking of Melbourne and Sydney, we have met many people from both of these cities. Melbournians and Sydneyians both made adamant pleas to us about how their city was better. Rather than joining the fray, we will just say that they are both great cities for different reasons.
Some of you have asked us about how we have gotten along with just the three of us traveling together for such a long time. Overall, we have done quite well despite the usual family conflicts and issues that arise whether we are at home or somewhere on the other side of the world. We did start to melt down in Sydney though. As a result, you won't see as many group pictures in this slide show. After traveling together for almost 7 months, we needed a little more "alone time" than we have had in the past. The jokes that we used to think were funny were no longer funny. Personal habits became annoying habits. I just don't understand why me tapping my fingers on the table while using a knife as a toothpick can be considered annoying to Jennifer. She of course has no annoying habits.
We took turns exploring the city and split up at times. One such "alone time" was for Jennifer to attend the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House. She got to enjoy the music without Noah asking her "how much longer" or me asking "does this mean I can go to the rugby game tomorrow". While Jennifer was at the Opera House, Noah and I were off eating pizza and popcorn.
We did all go to Bondi Beach together. We had watched the Australian reality TV show about the Bondi Beach lifeguards, so we thought it would be fun to go there. The TV show is a combination of Baywatch and 90210. What's there not to like? Our plans were to take a look at the beach and then go for a walk down the coast, but seeing the large surfer waves changed our minds. We rented boogie boards and ended up riding the waves the rest of the afternoon. We originally rented the boards for one hour, but that turned into three hours. After finally convincing Noah to take a break, we went on a walk on the beautiful coastal walkway.
Wanting to play baseball on a nice baseball field, I found the Olympic Park fields on a web site that has 3 manicured fields with batting cages for use by the public. We set out to the Olympic Park Village, home of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. It takes a while to get there by ferry or train since it is a ways out of town. A unique characteristic of the Olympics in Sydney is that all the facilities were built in one area so the entire Olympic complex is massive. The only problem is that the baseball fields that were on the web site were not at this location! They have everything but baseball fields here. I still don't know where the fields are. Maybe I should have checked this out in more detail prior to going all the way out there?!
We are off to our last stop on the trip - Fiji! to see our slide show of Sydney, Australia, click on the following link ==> Sydney, Australia Slide Show

Queensland, Australia - The Great Barrier Reef

2009-03-16T16:13:00.001-05:00

Queensland, Australia Slide Show

Realizing that driving from Melbourne to northern Queensland would be the equivalent of driving from Dallas to Boston, we added a flight to see the Great Barrier Reef, beaches, and rainforests of Queensland. The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland, the state that occupies the northeastern section of Australia. We started in Port Douglas, using it as a base to explore the area.

Traveling in this area can be a bit unnerving at times. Either Australians are just trying to scare you with all their "danger" and "warning" signs or there are truly many dangers awaiting tourists. We were warned about stinging trees, winding roads, stingers, falling rock, jellyfish, wet roads, snakes, cyclones, crocodiles, deadly currents, spiders and some big bird the size of me that you should avoid pissing off. It appears that the danger signs are just for tourists since the locals handle all these animals and call them by their names as if they are best friends. Our various tour guides pet huge fish in the ocean, handle crocodiles, hug lizards, kiss birds, hang snakes on themselves, and are not bothered when a koala "poos" on them.

Besides seeing animals in the wild, we had to get used to a variety of critters showing up in our rooms. Any food left out brought an immediate army of ants. Geckos obviously liked it better inside with us. A hornets nest in Noah's closet caused him to lose some sleep. I wish we had video of the three of us trying to chase a bat out of the house. Luckily the crocodile and kangaroo stayed outside. They would have been a little more difficult to deal with.

Noah turned 14 years old in Queensland! After failing in my attempt to make him pancakes (pre-packaged and stale) and bacon (thrashers are not bacon) for breakfast, we spent the rest of the day visiting various spots in the Daintree National Park on a beautiful day. The park is a wonderful combination of hills, streams, rainforest, and deserted beaches. It is the only place in the world where the rainforest meets up with a reef (the Great Barrier Reef in this case). We were meant to be as there was a Noah's Creek, Noah's Range, Noah's Campground and the massive Noah's Beach. We had Noah's Beach to ourselves. Was it because of the multiple warnings about deadly crocodiles and stingers? We finished off Noah's birthday by eating Mexican, and playing pool and video games back in Port Douglas. Noah agreed that it was a great Birthday.

Since you can't go to Queensland without snorkeling or diving at the Great Barrier Reef, we hopped on a boat that brought us to three locations for snorkeling. We of course had our stinger suits on to avoid ending up in the hospital. Each site brought more fish and variety in coral. We have snorkeled quite a bit and overall this is the best snorkeling that we have ever experienced. Another boat trip took us up Packers Creek in search of crocodiles. We only saw one due to the warm waters.

From Port Douglas, we drove down the coast to Airlie's Beach, the base town for visiting the Whitsunday Islands. We took a raft boat trip out to the Whitsunday's in some very high seas which made for a wild ride. We did some more snorkeling, but the highlight was going to Whitehaven Beach, which has to have the whitest sand in the world. The sand is 98.9% silicone. I am not quite sure of the significance of this composition, but it sure makes for incredible baby-powder sand.

Our final stop in Queensland was on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville. The island is a week-end destination for Australians so there are very few foreign tourists. It has a homey feel being void of large resorts. We rented a house in the rain forest on a lagoon about a 5 minute walk away from the ocean. It was a great house except for the aforementioned bat, geckos, and hornet's nest. This is where we saw our first kangaroo in Australia. Yes, it took us 2 weeks to see a kangaroo in Australia! Keeping with the nature theme, we held crocodiles, lizards and birds, and Jennifer got to hold a Koala! No, it did not poo on her.

To view our slide show of Queensland, Australia, click on the following link ==> Queensland, Australia Slide Show

Melbourne, Australia - No Worries Mate!

2009-03-06T23:01:00.000-06:00

Melbourne, Australia Slide Show

Going through the airport, we were preparing for our routine of retrieving our luggage, going through customs, finding a place to stay and trying to understand another language. We were tired and our bodies and heads were dragging when we heard across the way, "No worries, mate!" Immediately, smiles came to our face. Hey, he was speaking English and he was happily greeting us upon our arrival! Not counting South Africa, which has 123 official languages (give or take a few), Australia was the first country that we visited where English is the main language.

Actually, the airport employee was speaking Australian, which we learned quite a lot about traveling in Cambodia and Vietnam with our fellow Aussie travelers. We found out that a "TimTam" is a chocolate biscuit that you drink tea through, a "mossie" is a mosquito, a "tinny" is a small can of beer, "footy" is Australian Rules Football, "salties" are salt-water crocodiles, "freshies" are fresh water crocodiles, "schoolies" are high school kids on spring break, a "jumper" or a "cardy" is a sweater, "g'day" means good morning or good afternoon or good night depending on the time of day, "tinny in a stubby" is a can of beer in a cooler, "loo" is a bathroom, and many others that I can't remember off the top of my head. Our pronunciation lesson continued with city names as Melbourne is pronounced "Melbin" and Cairns is pronounced "Cans". The best that I can tell is that the "r" is not pronounced in a word, but is added in a word that does not contain an "r", such as the name Donna is pronounced "Donnar".

Speaking of Donnar, I mean Donna, we met her on our Intrepid tour through Cambodia and Vietnam. Like most Australians that we have met along the way, it was easy to quickly develop a friendship with her and she was nice enough to have the three of us stay at her home in Melbourne. She lives within walking distance to downtown and most of the major sights. We spent the days walking and biking around the beautiful city of Melbourne and the evenings staying up late with Donna and her friend Chris, eating and drinking like only Australians can do. On one of those nights, we met up with another Intrepid traveler, Dave for dinner. Before entering Australia, I had lost 6.8 kilos, but I assume that I will leave Australia over my starting weight.

Even though Melbourne is a big city, it feels like a small city. People stop you on the street asking if you need help and restaurants take charges off your bill if they feel that they didn't provide good enough service. Twice we had this happen when we didn't have an issue at all with the service. Anything they did take off our bill was appreciated though since we were still adjusting to the significantly higher prices of a developed country after recently spending time and money in India and Southeast Asia.

Besides being friendly, the people of Melbourne are sports fanatics. You don't walk very far before walking by another sports stadium. They have 2 major stadiums that they use for Australian Rules Football, cricket, soccer, and rugby and are building another one. The Australian Open is held at Rod Laver Stadium and Noah and I even came across a 6-plex of baseball fields. Well, we didn't exactly come across the baseball fields. Actually we took an hour train ride followed by a 15 minute taxi ride to a baseball warehouse where we purchased a baseball bat and a dozen balls and then walked to the fields. It didn't bother us that there were 40 mph winds blowing us around. We were playing baseball on a baseball field! On our last night in Melbourne, we even got to see Collingwood thrash Essendon 106 - 62 in the semi-finals of the Australian Rules Football NAB Cup.

The winds weren't all that blew through Melbourne. Just north of Melbourne, the forest fires were still blazing away when we arrived. The state of Victoria was in a 5 year drought, which was not helping the fire situation. That's okay, we took care of that. It rained for the first 4-1/2 days of our 5 day stay, at least temporarily putting an end to the drought and the fires. There was a front page picture of a fireman dancing in the rain and puddles. Whatever we can do to help.

The cloud and rain didn't help our photography, but if you would like to see our Melbourne, Australia slide show, click on the following link ==> Melbourne, Australia Slide Show

Bali, Indonesia - Not Enough Time

2009-03-01T08:12:00.001-06:00

Bali, Indonesia Slide Show

Due to schedule changes in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, we ended up with only 4 days in Indonesia before we were scheduled to fly off to Australia. We chose the city of Ubud on the island of Bali to spend those 4 days. We feel that we made a great choice. We absolutely loved our time in Bali. In fact, after our short stay, it became one of our favorite places on the trip.

Indonesia is a country that is made up of 17,508 islands and has a population of 250 million people. So, visiting one of those islands in a town of 5,000 people does not make us experts on Indonesian culture. In recent years, the news about Indonesia has included terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005 and the 2004 tsunami. Fortunately for Bali, the tsunami did not affect their island. These factors have led to a decrease in tourism numbers and contributed to us being able to receive 5 star treatment at 3 star prices.

Tourism makes up 60% of Bali's economy. I assume that much of the rest consists of rice production as there are rice fields all over and the weather conditions allow for 3 harvests each year. Besides the beautiful landscape, people come to Bali because of the warmth of the people. Bali is considered the most tourist friendly island in Indonesia and it shows. We sure felt that from the people that we met at our hotel, in a taxi, in a restaurant, at our bike guide's home, and on the street.

The highlight of our stay in Bali was taking a bike tour around Ubud and the surrounding countryside. We had a guide that took us up in the mountains where were able to start our trip downhill. We biked through small villages, rain forests, and rice fields. We visited a family home in a village. Extended families live together in a complex. Multiple families are part of a community that share responsibilities. Multiple communities make up the town. There is a real sense of community.

Our guide, who is from the area also took us to a spice farm and a walk through the rain forest that we would have never found on our own. To get to his home for lunch, we biked through some difficult terrain in the rain forest on a muddy road. We found out that Jennifer can fly as she flew about 5 feet off her bike trying to avoid a mud puddle. She was successful and she is okay.

Walking to and from town was fun since the best way to get there was through the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. The monkeys are quite comfortable with humans walking through their forest. As I found out though, don't go walking through there with food. My peanuts quickly became their property.

We should have stayed longer. We should have taken more pictures. We should have tried to fit more into those 4 days. Well, maybe we will have to come back. To view our slide show of Bali, Indonesia, click on the following link ==> Bali, Indonesia Slide Show

Noah Ford - Around the World With My Parents

2009-02-28T17:58:00.001-06:00

Noah Ford's Favorites Slide Show

While sitting in a hotel in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia on a rainy afternoon, Jennifer and I approached Noah with an idea. We felt that people would be interested in his view of traveling around the world. Our suggestion that he write a post on the subject was turned down, but he did agree to being interviewed. The conditions of the interview were that we couldn't suggest answers and that we would publish the interview word for word. We agreed to these conditions, so here is Noah's interview about traveling around the world with his parents.

1. When your parents first brought up the idea of going on a trip around the world, what did you think?

Noah: I thought, no way. I will miss basketball. Who takes a trip around the world?

2. Did you think that they would follow through with the trip?

Noah: Not at all.

3. What has surprised you the most about the trip?

Noah: How much more developed things really are than I thought. How other countries are catching up with America. Also, that everyone has a cell phone.

4. Have you missed your friends?

From the beginning of the trip until the beginning of Chile, that is when I missed them the most. After that, I started getting used to this whole trip thing and missing them less. And then, starting about now, I am easing into going back to see my friends.

5. What are some of the "low-lights" of traveling around the world?

Like the sleeping in a hotel for 3 nights, pack, move, repeat. And then not having home cooked meals. No Chipotle. Not getting to see your friends. If you get to know people, you just say goodbye to them within a week, at most.

6. How did you keep in contact with your friends?

Through our Skype phone, Myspace and texting through email. It has really helped to keep in touch with my friends so that it can be a smooth transition getting back.

7. In what ways were you homesick?

The house itself. The memories that I have had there. The lake. Home cooked meals. The JetSki.

8. What was it like traveling with your parents?

Sometimes it can be helpful, but sometimes it can be frustrating. Like when you want to have one of your friends to express your feelings to tell them about how unfair sometimes and frustrating your parents are. But then all you have around is them so you can’t let it go. It makes traveling a lot more easy since my parents planned most of the trip in comparison to traveling alone where you can forget something like your passport and they will find it.

9. What were some of your favorite sights?

Machu Picchu in Peru, Valle Nevado for skiing and Torres del Paines National Park in Chile, Moreno Glacier and Puerto Madryn for Penguins, Sea Lions, and whales and Iguazu Falls in Argentina, Table Mountain and Kruger National Park in South Africa, beautiful beaches on Zanzibar, the Giza Pyramids and Abu Simbel in Egypt, the Old City in Israel, Petra in Jordan, seeing a 7 star hotel in the UAE, Taj Mahal in India, island / mountain / beaches of Koh Chang in Thailand, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Halong Bay in Vietnam and the beautiful jungles in Indonesia. And we still have Australia and Fiji left.

10. Have you lost anything while traveling around the world? If yes, what?

Yes, I have lost the following items: a watch, an Apple Valley baseball hat, a hat with a built-in light, a pair of pants, cell phone memory card, a belt, multiple pens, and other items that I don’t even remember. That’s all.

11. Tell us about making it to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro.

It was shocking enough myself doing it, especially without my parents. It was a great feat and felt good to accomplish. Thinking about it 3 months later, it seems like years ago.

12. What is your favorite country? Why?

It is hard to say. It would be a three way tie between South Africa, Thailand, and Argentina. Argentina was so consistent no matter where you went and the beef was great. You know you were going to be surprised and have a great time. South Africa is beautiful with lots of things to do. Cape Town is my favorite city. You’ve got mountains, animal safaris, wineries (for my parents), and great people. Thailand has the nicest people on our whole trip and Bangkok is one of my favorite cities along with Koh Chang being my favorite beach place. Also the food of Thailand is great.

13. Was it difficult to find food that you liked to eat?

In South America, I really didn’t try the local food because I just didn’t want to leave home food and I was pretty picky. I just ate pizza. Tanzania was probably the hardest place to find food that I liked. It was basically leftovers. Middle Eastern food was my favorite. I really liked the pita, hummus, and shwarma. Indian food had lots of ups and downs, especially in my stomach. All Southeastern Asia food is good.

14. What is the first thing that you will do when you get home?

Get a group of friends together and have a sleep-over at one of their houses at midnight when I get home.

15. Would you recommend a trip like this for other kids your age? Why?

Yes, because it shows them that the rest of the world is safe and there is lots to see and people to meet. It matures people and shows them the real world and not the things that you see on the news.

16. Final thoughts?

The trip has been very good. I don’t regret going on the trip. We have seen so many sights and met so many nice people. But, there are times when you feel like you want to go home but then there are those times where you couldn’t think of going home. Looking back on this trip when I am older will give me great memories.

To see a slide show of Noah's favorite photos to date, click on the following link ==> Noah Ford's Favorites Slide Show

Vietnam - Remembering the War, But Moving Forward

2009-02-25T01:11:00.001-06:00

Vietnam Slide Show

Like many Americans, the first thing I used to think of when I heard "Vietnam", was the Vietnam War. When the Vietnamese hear "America" they think of the American War. It is of course, the same war, but depending on which country you are from, you refer to it differently. That might seem obvious, but for some reason we were surprised when we heard it referred to as the American War. As an American, it was disturbing in many ways to learn about the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective.

We spent 13 days traveling with our Intrepid group throughout Vietnam. The dynamics of the group changed some as 2 people left the group, having only signed up for the Cambodia portion of the trip and 3 new people came on for the Vietnam segment. Son, who is Vietnamese, was our new group leader.

Vietnam is a very diverse country. The south is relatively flat and tropical. The north is cooler, has mountains and a beautiful shoreline on the South China Sea. The heart and soul of the south is Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon. The city is modern and it's people are very open to tourists, western influences, and smiling and having fun. The pulse of the north is Hanoi, where the Communist Party is headquartered and Ho Chi Minh's preserved body is on display. The people are very serious, hard working, and less likely to welcome you with a smile.

Our travels in Vietnam were fast paced as we went to Chau Doc, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, and Halong Bay. We crossed the border from Cambodia to Vietnam on a boat along the Mekong River. Our first stop was Chau Doc where we took scooter rides up to a mountain overlooking the rice patties and then went to a karaoke bar. Since it was Valentine's Day and everyone was giving me a hard time about not buying Jennifer a Valentine's Day gift, I reluctantly stepped up to the mike for my first ever karaoke performance. I butchered the love song, "I will be right here waiting for you . . ." in hopes of redeeming myself. The bartender even helped me out by giving me a plastic flower bouquet to give to Jennifer while I was singing. It was a nice touch. At least Jennifer should remember this Valentine's Day! Noah prefers to forget it ever took place.

Next up was Ho Chi Minh City. The city is an example of the entrepreneurial growth in Vietnam's economy. We were surprised at how modern the city is. Even though Vietnam is a Communist country, they did open up their economy in 1986 to allow foreign investment and private business ownership. The city's name was changed from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City after the war when North and South Vietnam were united. We really enjoyed Ho Chi Minh City and felt welcome, but at times it was difficult as an American to read and view the Vietnamese descriptions of America's involvement in the war.

One day, we went to both the Cu Chi Tunnels and the War Remnants Museum. The Cu Chi Tunnels are an underground system that the Vietnamese used to hide from the Americans and take refuge from the bombing. In addition to the tunnels, we saw traps and weapons used to capture Americans and U.S. tanks that were destroyed by land mines. I even shot a U.S. issued M16 at the firing range. It took 2 days to regain full hearing in my ears. The War Remnants Museum has U.S. planes, tanks, and pictures documenting the war, including the affects of Agent Orange that was used during the war. Both of these sights were educational but disturbing to see what the U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers and Vietnamese civilians had to endure.

Besides being surprised at how modern Vietnam was, we were surprised at how beautiful the countryside is. We spent a couple nights at a wonderful riverside town called Hoi An where we ate first class meals, biked through rice paddies, took a boat cruise and had a great island BBQ meal. In Hue, we visited ancient Vietnamese tombs and palaces and dressed up as royalty for dinner. Since Jennifer and I were the only married people on the trip, we were elected King and Queen for the evening. Lucky us! After Hue, we took an overnight train to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. We were supposedly booked in 1st class, which led us to wonder what 2nd and 3rd class was like. It was an experience!

In addition to the overnight train, we took an overnight boat trip to Halong Bay. This overnight experience was first class as the accomodations onboard were very nice. Halong Bay is one of the more picturesque places that we have been to even though it was overcast and drizzling. As a result, the pictures don't do it justice. Halong Bay has 3,000 limestone tree covered islands that rise up from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. We kayaked in the bay, visited a large cave and watched Chinese "junks" sail by.

We finished up in Hanoi, a city that we had a difficult time warming up to. The weather was poor, we didn't stay in the best part of town, and the people were not as friendly as they were in the south. It also probably had something to do with the fact that we were at the end of a travel period where we were constantly on the go. In the end, we have many fond memories of Vietnam and no longer only think of Vietnam as the location of the Vietnam/American War.

To see our Vietnam slide show, click on the following link ==> Vietnam Slide Show

Cambodia - Unbreakable Spirit

2009-02-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

Cambodia Slide Show

We traveled through Cambodia as part of an Intrepid travel tour group. Intrepid is an Australian company that organizes small group tours "for travelers with a yearning to get off the beaten track". We met our group in Bangkok prior to taking off to Cambodia. After spending almost 6 months organizing everything on our own, we turned over the planning to Intrepid. Including our guide and the three of us, there were 12 people that traveled together. Italy, Germany, Australia, the UK, Canada, and the United States were all represented in our group.

We went from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia aboard a bus. The Thailand / Cambodia crossing took over an hour as we waited outside in a line on a very hot and humid day. Our bags were brought across the border in a homemade human pulled trailer. Cambodia is probably best known for the Temples of Angkor Wat and the fanatical rule of Pol Pot from 1975 to 1979. The Temples of Angkor Wat are just outside the city of Siem Reap. We spent 2 days visiting the temples that were constructed in the early 12th century by various kings. The 1,000 year old temples are very impressive, especially at sunrise.

The Temples of Angkor Wat are the best known, but we preferred the Ta Prohm Temples. When the temples in the Siem Reap were discovered, the forest had pretty much covered them. Most of the temples, including Angkor Wat had the forest removed to restore the temples to how they were originally built. Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found, with trees literally growing on, around, and through the temples. Hollywood also thought this site was pretty cool as they filmed "The Tomb Raider" here with Angelina Jolie. Our Cambodia guide seemed quite fond of Angelina.

Siem Reap is a wonderful town with leftover influences in the form of architecture and cuisine from the French, who occupied Cambodia from the late 1800's until 1953. In addition to the temples around Siem Reap, we took a boat ride on Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Asia. Entire floating villages are built on the lake, providing easy access to the fishing, which provides Cambodia 75% of their fish.

We really enjoyed the Cambodia people and the sites, but a visit to Cambodia is not complete without getting a first-hand view of what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did to this wonderful country. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge moved all the people out into the countryside and used them as slave labor. School, music, religion and any interaction with the Western world were all abolished. Anyone deemed educated was considered a threat, so they were executed immediately. In total, 2 million of the 7 million Cambodians died between 1975 and 1979, the time that the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia.

Many of the children were forced into being child soldiers. A man by the name of Aki Ra was a child soldier that was trained to put land mines in the fields and forests. Now as an adult, he has made it his mission to remove the mines. He has personally defused tens of thousands of land mines, but millions still remain. The Land Mine Museum that he started is a fascinating look at his work.

There were 2 more sites near Phnom Penh that showed the results of the Khmer Rouge. The Tuol Seng Genocide Museum is at the site of the S.21 prison, where prisoners were brought to be interrogated prior to being executed. Only 7 people who came through this prison came out alive. The survivors were individuals with special skills that the Khmer Rouge needed. We were fortunate to meet one of the survivors at the museum. He told his incredibly sad story of being at the prison and of losing his wife and 6 children.

Many of you have seen the movie, "The Killing Fields" that came out in 1984 that tells the story of Cambodia during the reign of Pol Pot. We went to a killing fields memorial which is built on one of the former mass burial sites. Seeing the depressions in the field where the mass burial graves were left a sick feeling in your stomach.

We found the Cambodian people to be quite resilient and some of the friendliest people that we have met. Our guide explained to us that they live for the moment and are always smiling. In a sense, I suppose they are just happy to be alive. This unbreakable spirit has allowed the country to prosper. We were surprised at how modern Siem Reap and Phnom Penh were. Our going in thoughts were that it would be a tough third world country to travel in, but that was not the case. Tourism and foreign investment have helped Cambodia recover from a difficult past. It was nice to share and discuss these experiences with other travelers in our group. Next stop with the group is Vietnam.

To see our slide show of Cambodia, click on the following link ==> Cambodia Slide Show

Bangkok, Thailand - Who's in Charge?

2009-02-08T03:34:00.001-06:00

Bangkok, Thailand Slide Show

In September, 2008, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was removed from office after being found guilty of among other things, hosting a cooking show while in office. The Thai's are great cooks! The Prime Minister role was then assumed by Somchai Wongsawat. Both Sundaravej and Wongsawat were members of the People's Power Party (PPP). In November, 2008, not happy with how the country was being run, members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protested by taking over government buildings and airports. The army chose not to forcibly remove the protesters. The protests ended when Prime Minister Wongsawat resigned. In December, 2008 the current Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva took office.

We were a bit concerned about going to Bangkok only a couple months after the political unrest. Our fears were soon forgotten as we landed at an efficient and clean airport. Public transportation was good, the accomodations were some of the best we have had and the people were very welcoming. It was like nothing had ever happened. Maybe the Thai's are just so used to coups. Since 1932 there have been 19 coup attempts and 11 of them have been successful.

There is a lot to do and see in Bangkok. Massive Buddhist Temple complexes are scattered throughout the city. We visited the largest and oldest temple in Bangkok, Wat Pho. Most of the temples have similar architecture with Buddhist shrines in each of them. What makes Wat Pho unique is that it houses the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. It is almost 150 feet long. The body is gold and the bottom of the feet are made with inlayed mother-of-pearl. About 95% of Thai's are Buddhists.

You could spend days waking the streets of Bangkok. The streets are filled with people, vehicles, markets and street vendors. Besides walking, we took the following forms of transportation: subway, taxi, boat, tuk-tuk, sky train, and canal water taxi. The water taxis are the fastest since the streets of Bangkok are jammed at most times of the day. We went on an interesting tour of Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Bangkok in the 1950's and became a silk mogul. Thompson vanished in Malaysia in 1967 and has never been found. There are many theories about his disappearance, but not enough evidence to conclusively determine what happened to him.

We also mixed in some culture and sport. We went to a traditional Thai dance, music, and theatre show. It was a bit hokey and overpriced, but an enjoyable evening nonetheless. For sport, Noah and I went out for an evening of Moo-ay Tai (Thai kick boxing) at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Jennifer chose to skip this cultural event. It was a great evening of kick boxing, but it was even more fun watching the passion of the Thai people as they cheered and yelled for each punch and kick. The rafters were filled with people that stand the entire time and scream out bets between each round and fight. There were 11 fights on the card, lasting from 6:30 to 11:30 pm. Most fights were entertaining, but the main event was incredible 5 rounds to remember.

On our last evening in Bangkok, we met up with 8 other travelers that we will be with for the next 18 days in Cambodia and Vietnam as part of an Intrepid group. After many months of independent travel, we decided to try a small tour group. We will let you know how that works in our upcoming Cambodia and Vietnam posts.

To view our slide show of Bangkok, Thailand, click on the following link ==> Bangkok, Thailand Slide Show

Koh Chang, Thailand - Sa-wat-dee-ka

2009-02-04T03:10:00.001-06:00

Koh Chang, Thailand Slide Show

Every woman that greets you on the island of Koh Chang puts her hands in a prayer position, bows, and says "sa-wat-dee-ka". "Sa-wat-dee" means hello and by adding the "ka" on the end it shows a sign of respect. Phonetically, the emphasis is on the "ka" and it is usually drawn out like "kaaaaaa". Traveling in Thailand is easy compared to many of the countries that we have been to. The people are welcoming, the food is great, the country is clean and efficient, and oh do they have beautiful islands and beaches.

Back in November, as we were watching CNN in Cairo, Egypt, we saw the attacks on Mumbai, India and demonstrations in Bangkok, Thailand that shut down the airport. The reports made us question whether or not we should go to either of these countries. After having been to both, it would have been a big mistake to skip either India or Thailand.

Actually, I can see why everyone was hanging out at the new Bangkok International Airport. The place is incredible. Bangkok Airways even lets you into their fancy lounge if you are not a member of the club. Noah and I spent the next hour gorging ourselves on popcorn, lemon cakes, and sweetened lemon iced tea. Jennifer was much more civilized, limiting herself to a cup of tea and one lemon cake. Trying some local Thai food, I didn't find out until later that I was supposed to remove the grape leaf before I ate whatever was inside the leaf.

We needed to take a break from our travels (Noah called it a vacation from our vacation), so we decided to hang out on an island in Thailand. The question was, which one since there are hundreds of them. We decided on Koh Chang in southeastern Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. Most of the island is jungle and mountains. There is essentially a two block area on parts of the west side of the island where there are towns, hotels, and villages. There are no fancy high rise hotels, but there are five 7-11's. Many of the lodging options are simple huts right on the beach. Since the downturn in the world economy has adversely affected Thailand tourism, we were able to negotiate a good rate at a nice place on the beach.

This is the point where I am supposed to tell you about all the exotic jungle hikes, elephant safaris, and 4x4 and swimming with the sharks adventures. All of these options were available, but we didn't do any of them. We used much of our time on the island to "refuel". For the most part, we hung out on the beach and ate great cheap food. We got our budget back on track and put some color on our white pasty skin. We bought a beach paddle ball set that occupied many hours of our time. It only took Noah and I five days to get to the point where we could hit that little pink ball back and forth 57 times in a row without it touching the water. This was made possible on hit number 32 when I made the best diving backhand save in Beach Paddle Ball history.

The Thais are great cooks and they give great massages. A one hour Thai massage on the beach, under a palm tree, listening to the waves costs 300 Baht (approximately $8.50). Since I am as flexible as a Dorito chip, the creative stretching that takes place in a Thai massage had me alternating between wincing in pain and feeling great. It was a good hurt though. The look on Jennifer's face indicated she enjoyed the massage on the beach concept.

We did go on an all day snorkeling tour of 4 uninhabited islands near Koh Chang. The snorkeling was good and it felt great to be on a boat. A few of the days we rented mopeds to see the island. The entertainment value at $6 a day was exceptional. We drove the mopeds through the winding hills overlooking the ocean, stopping at beaches and places to eat. We drove to the remote areas of the island where the locals live in fishing villages. At the end of a very bumpy, hilly, winding road, we found The Tree House "Resort". There are hippies there from the 60's that never left. People just sit and stare at the ocean and periodically order food and drink. The prices are the same as they were in the 60's, so these people don't realize that their Visas expired 40 years ago. We overheard a woman checking in and the person behind the desk asked her how many months or years she would be staying.

We really didn't want to leave Koh Chang, but it was time to go. Back to temples, wonders of the world, museums and more educational opportunities for the three of us. Temples and museums are better to visit than islands and scooters . . . aren't they?

To view our Koh Chang, Thailand slide show, click on the following link ==> Koh Chang, Thailand Slide Show

Southern India - "Two India's"

2009-01-27T21:15:00.000-06:00

Southern India Slide Show

As our plane was leaving the Mumbai airport for Bangkok, I looked out my window at the lights of Mumbai. I was surprised to feel so sad about leaving this incredibly complex country. All three of us felt the tug of India on our hearts. On the surface, there are slums, garbage, impoverished villages, and political and religious strife. Digging deeper, as we were able to do during our 23 day stay in Northern and Southern India, we experienced the warmth, kindness and generosity of the people who are filled with high hopes and dreams for their families and their country.

As you view the pictures on this post and our slide show, you will see many pictures of people that we met in India and very few pictures of sites that we visited. The temples, museums, tombs, and monuments will fade from our memory much quicker than the people we got to know. As visitors, we were treated like royalty. Even though Noah and I look ridiculous in the photo above, the picture tells the story of how we were welcomed at each of the places that we visited.

As we tried to gain a better understanding of the "True India", we asked our Indian friends, Jon and Swati a lot of questions. Many times their reply was "that is the other India." We soon came to realize that there are "Two India's". On one side, you have the India that has been in the news over the last two decades. This India is the second fastest growing country behind China. It's poverty rate has been cut in half over the last 20 years. Foreign investment continues to rise. Call center and information technology jobs for United States and Western European companies have helped revitalize cities like Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi.

The other India is a country that has over 300 million people living on less than a dollar a day. It is home to 40% of the world's poor and has surpassed South Africa as the country with the most HIV-positive people. Corruption and bribes permeate the political structure, the caste system makes it very difficult to rise above your social status given at birth, and Hindu's, Muslim's and Christians often clash. Last fall, we all saw the attacks on Mumbai on TV. Lesser publicized were the attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists. The movie, "Slumdog Millionaire", which we saw on our last day in India shows this side of India.

Without the help of Jon, Swati, and their extended family and friends, we would not have had the wide range of experiences that they exposed us to. We originally met Jon and Swati at our church, Hosanna! in Lakeville, MN. Jon, Swati, and their son Neil moved back to India in the last year after 16 years in the United States. Along with their parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and other family members and friends, Jon and Swati have developed quite a ministry in India. Their outreach includes orphanages, churches, a Bible school, and development programs in the slums and villages around Pune. They have given up an "easier" life in the United States to return to their homeland to help people and spread their faith. India is less than 5% Christian and as mentioned above, Christians are often persecuted for their faith by extremist Hindu groups. In spite of this, they go forward helping the people of India.

While Swati helped Neil with his testing at school, Jon took us on a whirl-wind tour of his outreach programs. To get a starting base for India culture, we visited the Gandhi National Memorial in Pune. It is too bad that the peace that Gandhi preached does not always continue today. We also had a chance to visit the Ellora Caves, which are hand carved caves/temples in the stone mountains. Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain caves make up the 34 caves that were built between 600 AD to 1,000 AD. It was fun to interact with the many school groups that were on field trips. They all wanted to shake our hands enthusiastically and take pictures with us. Leaving the caves was interesting as we saw a Jain priest wearing sandals . . . only sandals.

The women of India, especially in the lower castes have not been able to reach their potential due to social and economic inequities. Women's ministry is a main focal point for Jon and Swati. They teach the women to be financially responsible by saving money, helping them start businesses, working together and sharing their faith. Essentially it is a micro-finance program with a holistic approach. There are currently over 900 women in these programs.

Jennifer spoke to 5 different groups of women in the slums and villages about their talents and strengths. The message that Jennifer delivered was great, but the true value came in the exchange of cultures via question and answer sessions between Jennifer and the Indian women. They found it hilarious that I did most of the cooking at home. It was quite humbling for Jennifer to answer their questions of what our house and life was like in America while sitting in their one room home.

Jon kept stretching our missionary talents by having me deliver the Sunday message at a church, Jennifer addressing multiple groups of women, visiting orphanages, both of us leading chapel at a Bible college, Noah and I conducting a basketball clinic for men and women at a college, and blessing and praying for people. It was truly inspiring to see the smiles on the faces of the men, women and children in the slums and orphanages that have been given hope. Jon made time for Noah and I to get involved in a couple of Cricket games, one with an orphanage and one with the Bible College students.

After writing this post and reviewing the pictures, I am reminded of why we were sad to leave India - the people. To view our slide show of Southern India, please click on the following ==>Southern India Slide Show

Northern India - What Did We Just See?

2009-01-17T00:24:00.000-06:00

Northern India Slide Show

Was that a cow we just saw on the freeway? What smells so good? Was that a camel pulling the cart? What smells so bad? What is that man wearing? What is that interesting smell? How many people are in that autorickshaw? Have you ever smelled anything like that? Should we help that guy? This was a typical series of questions that we would ask each other as we walked and drove around the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in Northern India. Nothing can adequately prepare you for the sensory overload of the sights, sounds, and smells of India. As Noah keeps singing from a commercial that we saw, "Incredible India!"

The cab ride from the Delhi airport to our hotel gave us a great introduction to India. The roads in a city of 15 million people are filled (and I mean filled) with cars, dogs, rickshaws (bicycle taxis), people, scooters, autorickshaw's (motorized bicycle taxis), cows, bicycles, and camels. Our taxi driver skillfully wove his way through all this chaos without following one traffic rule or ever coming to a complete stop. Renting a car and driving in this country is not an option.

Our introduction continued rather quickly as Noah and I walked around at night to get the lay of the land. The third cash machine we visited dispensed rupees (India cash) so we were on our way. After walking a block, a cow frightened Noah by sticking his head out around a tree in the middle of a roundabout. Noah then promptly stepped in a present the cow recently deposited on the sidewalk. A half block later, a small boy dressed in dirt head to toe with some strange red stuff on his lips came up to Noah and kissed his shirt. Needless to say, Noah was ready to go back to the hotel. Welcome to India!

Once you get used to India, you can actually fall in love with it's quirkiness. It is a culture shock that makes you smile at just about the time that you want to run back home crying. After taking in a few sights in Delhi, we headed to Agra. We visited a couple temples and the Agra Fort, but the highlight in Agra is the Taj Mahal. It is deservedly on one of the many 7 Wonders of the World lists in circulation. The Taj Mahal was built by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. It took 20,000 workers 22 years to complete. The Taj Mahal is constructed of marble. The colorful designs are not from paint, but from inlaid precious stones from around the world.

Next stop on our driving tour was Ranthambore National Park. We got up early to go on a tiger safari in the park. We saw tiger footprints, birds, monkeys, deer, jackal and crocodiles, but no tigers. Maybe they should not have billed it as a tiger safari. It was nice to get out of big, dirty cities and see the countryside. We continued going from city to city with stays in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Pushkar before returning to Delhi. We saw many temples, tombs, forts, a pink city (Jaipur), a blue city (Jodhpur), and a city that does not allow meat, eggs, hugging, alcohol, or smooching (Pushkar). I charmed a cobra, rode a camel and danced in the desert. Jennifer had her palm read, got a massage and rode an elephant and a camel. Noah danced in the desert and rode an elephant and a camel.

Unlike the tiger safari where there were no tigers, there were camels for our camel safari in Pushkar. The safari took us through the streets of Pushkar into the desert. As it got dark, we ate by campfire and were entertained by local musicians and dancers. If we didn't get "Delhi Belly" from dinner that night, we may never get it.

The sights that we saw in our trip around Northern India were interesting, but the most fascinating aspect of India is walking the streets and interacting with the locals. Once you get used to pushy vendors on the street and overzealous hotel bellboys, you realize that the people of India are very service oriented and friendly. The women dress in every color of the rainbow. The food is quite good, albeit a bit too spicy for Jennifer. The children smile at you and want to shake your hand regardless of their living conditions.

We returned to Delhi safely thanks to Raj, the driver that we hired for this portion of the trip. He was a great driver while being very courteous and helpful. We also had the privilege of spending an evening with Tandon family in Delhi that we met through a friend of ours, Vijay Mehrotra who was born in Delhi, but now resides in Oakland, California.

To view our slide show of Northern Delhi, click on the following link ==> Northern India Slide Show

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - A Land of 5 Star Hotels

2009-01-04T20:32:00.000-06:00

Dubai, UAE Slide Show

As the title of this blog states, Dubai is a land of 5 star hotels. In fact, the Burj Al Arab Hotel, pictured to the left, is a self-proclaimed 7 star hotel. If you look closely, you will see a round helicopter pad near the top of the hotel. That is where Tiger Woods, among others, lands after taking a helicopter from the ultra-modern Dubai International Airport. Tiger doesn't even have to drive on the crowded streets of Dubai to stay in his $25,000 a night room.

So, what is a family of budget travelers doing in a city like this? Well, we came for what was promoted as the biggest, baddest, largest, grandest, loudest fireworks ever in the world on New Year's Eve! We checked into the cheapest lodging in the city, the Dubai Youth Hostel and waited for the fireworks to begin. Unfortunately, all New Year's Eve celebrations were canceled in Dubai. The UAE government did not feel that it was appropriate to be partying while fellow Arabs were suffering in the Gaza strip. As a result, our New Year's Eve celebration consisted of going out to dinner and waiting quietly for the stroke of midnight. We were playing a game of Hearts at an outdoor restaurant, but were informed that it was illegal to play cards in public, so we went back to waiting quietly for the stroke of midnight.

Instead of making New Year's Eve the focal point of our stay in Dubai, we set out to experience the rest of Dubai. After spending much of our time over the last 4 months exploring ancient sites like Machu Picchu, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Old City of Jerusalem, we found ourselves in a city that is all about the present and the future. There is an older area of Dubai, but the city is dominated by new skyscrapers, beaches, opulent shopping malls and the aforementioned 5 star hotels.

Dubai is a unique city in that only 15% of the population is originally from Dubai. The majority of the other 85% is from India, but there are 150 nationalities that make up Dubai. We had taxi drivers from India, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Pakistan. The city has done a nice job of integrating people from different cultures and religions that live together peacefully. In 1966, Dubai discovered oil. The revenues from oil were used to build the infrastructure of modern day Dubai. Due to the rapid international business development in Dubai, oil revenues now only account for 5.5% of Dubai's GDP. Dubai is all about being the biggest and the best. Here are a few examples of what the leaders of Dubai like to promote:

The Burj Dubai is the tallest man-made structure in the world
The Palm Jumeirah, the World (under construction), and the Universe (future construction) are the largest man-made islands in the world
The Dubai Metro (under construction) will be the biggest driverless train system in the world
Dubailand will be the largest entertainment area in the world - three times the size of Disney World
The Dubai Mall is the largest in the world (sorry, Mall of America) until the newly developed Mall of Arabia is finished. Then Dubai will have the 2 largest shopping malls in the world.

We spent more time at malls than we have in the last four months combined. We didn't buy anything, but we did drink coffee at a Caribou Coffee and go to a movie, complete with movie theatre popcorn. A bus tour of the city allowed us to see all the development that continues even in this troubled economy. A dhow boat cruise on the Dubai Creek was an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. Dubai is developing a massive one-stop medical facility. The architecture is amazing and the city is clean. It was quite a switch for us from all the time that we have spent in developing countries.

The most amazing area was the Palm Jumeirah, which is a series of man-made islands that contain massive hotel complexes, high-end condominiums, beach front housing, and underwater tunnels. The most unique experience was skiing at the indoor ski hill, Ski Dubai, inside the Mall of the Emirates. The ski area is inside a mall, has real snow, ski lifts, runs similar to Buck Hill in Burnsville and a ski chalet. It was 75 degrees outside and 31 degrees inside.
We went to the beach on a Monday and went skiing on a Tuesday. Dubai . . .

To view our slide show of Dubai, UAE, click on the following link ==? Dubai, UAE Slide Show

Israel and Jordan (Part 2) - Holy Land

2008-12-30T08:17:00.001-06:00

Israel and Jordan (Part 2) Slide Show

Traveling to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and the Sea of Galilee was a dream come true for Jennifer and I. In 2001 we had a trip scheduled with our church, but we had to cancel after the events of 9-11. We felt fortunate to be able to go 7 years later with our 2 sons, Aaron and Noah, and our nephew Drew.

It was wonderful to spend Christmas Eve in Bethlehem as a family. But, as each of you watched the news in the days following Christmas, you saw how the spiritual significance of this land is often overshadowed by political and religious issues. As I write this, the missiles, bombing, and ground battles continue in the Gaza Strip. After only 2 weeks in Israel, we still have much to learn about this complex situation. What we do know is that we care deeply about the welfare of the Israelis and Palestinians that we met. Please pray for a quick end to the conflict and a long-term solution for Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The Old City of Jerusalem is split into Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Armenian Quarters. The wall surrounding the Old City was constructed between 1537 and 1542 by Suleyman the Magnificent. You enter the Old City through 1 of 8 gates. It is very difficult to describe a walled-in city that is split into 4 different religious quarters that carries so much religious significance for the 3 major monotheistic religions of the world. Christians can walk the Via Dolorosa to see the Stations of the Cross, the crucifixion site and the burial place of Jesus. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount marks the spot where the Muslim Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven to take his place alongside Allah. The wall supporting the outer portion of the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock stands is the Western Wall (or the Wailing Wall) where Jews come to pray, inserting their prayers into the wall.

Prior to receiving a guided tour, we walked on the top of the wall that surrounds the Old City. It was a good way to view the city from above, seeing the winding streets with locals going about their daily business. Our tour was guided by Noam, who was extremely knowledgeable about all three religions and conducted a very informative tour. We walked the 14 Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa, ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Inside the church are the final 5 stations where Jesus was stripped of his clothes, nailed to the cross, crucified, died, and was buried. Whether or not these sights mark the exact locations of these events does not diminish the significance of walking the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem.

The Temple Mount includes the beautiful Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Jews are not allowed to enter the Temple Mount and non-Muslims are not allowed in either building. This was our first exposure to the separation between religious groups in the Old City. On the other side of the Temple Mount wall we saw Jews praying by the Western Wall. We walked through each of the sections of the city, visiting buildings that have changed between Jewish, Muslim, and Christian places of worship depending on who was in charge of Jerusalem at the time. It was confusing, but the longer we spent in the Old City, the more we learned about the role that politics and religion have played in forming the Old City of Jerusalem today. You could spend days walking in the Old City, visiting places of worship, shopping in the souks, eating mounds of pita, falafel, hummus, and shwarma, and trying to gain a better understanding of the history of this incredible city.

Bethlehem brought another level of learning for the five of us. It was Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. Thoughts of Jesus in the manger and the Star of Bethlehem were quickly replaced with walls, security, and checkpoints. Bethlehem is a walled-in city in the West Bank consisting of Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Our tour into the West Bank was run by Fred Schlomka, owner of www.toursinenglish.com. Fred runs alternative tours not found on the typical tour bus route. For example, we spent time at a large Palestinian home that had been shot up during fighting with Israel and now is vacant.

Fred is an Israeli. We were also joined on the tour by Tamir, a Palestinian guide living in the West Bank. It was incredibly insightful getting both perspectives on the conflicts regarding the West Bank. It was enlightening to see the friendship that these two men have formed. If only the governments involved could follow their example. The wall surrounding the city and the gates and checkpoints are controlled by Israeli armed forces. We visited a Palestinian Christian family that no longer has access to the olive grove that has been in their family for hundreds of years due to the wall. The graffiti on the inside of the wall tells quite a story. Destroyed homes and refugee camps tell more stories.

We did go to the more visited parts of Bethlehem. There was a celebration in Manger Square that included Christmas songs by marching bands, complete with bagpipes. We went to the Church of the Nativity, which marks the spot where Jesus was born. It was special for us to be there on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, management of the church is divided up meter by meter between the Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian Christian clerics and they do not get along. This fact put a damper on the Christmas spirit for us. As a result of the conflict that we witnessed, our trip to Bethlehem was not quite the Christmas experience that we were looking for, but due to the knowledge and passion of our tour guides, Fred and Tamir, we came away with a deeper understanding of the situation in the West Bank.

Christmas Day was spent in our apartment, opening gifts that we purchased in the Old City market. We cherished the last day with our son Aaron as we took him and nephew Drew to the airport later that evening. Being together on Christmas, regardless of where we were was the best present of all. After their departure, Jennifer, Noah and I drove to Nazareth, the city where Jesus grew up. We saw the Basilica of the Annunciation, which marks the spot where the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was pregnant with the son of God. The Sea of Galilee was a special place where we saw where Jesus walked on the water and gave his Sermon on the Mount overlooking the Sea. We even drank some Cana Wedding Wine to commemorate Jesus' first miracle.

Special thanks to Sunita and Fred, who took us into their home, fed us, and patiently answered our questions about Israel. Sunita is a friend of Jennifer's from high school. She is a professional harpist that lives in Kfar Saba with her husband Fred (our previously mentioned tour guide) and their two children. Sunita even helped me find a baseball game to play in on December 28, the day before we left Israel. Unfortunately, the game was canceled due to bad field conditions. Oh well, the cancellation probably saved me a hamstring injury.

We spent a very informative and interesting two weeks in Israel, highlighted by being together as a family and seeing sights that we have always dreamed about seeing. As we were leaving Israel for Jordan, we drove by a convoy of tanks on flat-bed trailers making their way to Gaza. As stated earlier, we can only hope and pray that a cease-fire comes soon.

To see our slide show of Israel and Jordan (Part 2), click on the following link ==> Israel and Jordan (Part 2) Slide Show.

Israel and Jordan (Part 1) - Now There Are 5 of Us

2008-12-22T08:16:00.001-06:00

Israel and Jordan (Part 1) Slide Show

After 3-1/2 months of travel as a triple, we were joined by son, Aaron and nephew, Drew. Aaron is a sophomore at Williams College in Williamstown, MA and Drew is a sophomore at Stillwater High School in Stillwater, MN. Aaron and Drew joined us for 9 days of their Christmas break. It is an understatement to say that Noah was happy to travel with someone besides his parents. It is also an understatement to say that Jennifer and I were ecstatic to have the family back together again. The reunion initially did not go as planned as Aaron and Drew arrived in the Tel Aviv airport and there was nobody there to pick them up. Bad planning, an incredibly turtle-slow rental car company and a classic Tel Aviv traffic jam all contributed to us arriving 45 minutes late. Sorry Aaron and Drew!

There was an adjustment to traveling with 5 people. Instead of a triple room in a hotel or hostel, we stayed in an apartment. We rented a car instead of taking public transportation. And with 3 growing young men, our food budget went through the roof and getting going early in the morning was a challenge. It was all worth it though as we thoroughly enjoyed the time that Aaron and Drew joined us.

Part 1 of our travels in Israel and Jordan cover Tel Aviv and trips to Haifa, Caesarea, Petra, Mitzpe Ramon, Dead Sea and Masada. Part 2 (forthcoming) will include our travels in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Amman. This second post will talk about our visits to Holy sights in the area where we learned about past and current political and religious conflicts.

We rented an apartment on the north side of Tel Aviv, a few blocks from the Mediterranean Sea. Much of our time was spent walking, talking, shopping, exploring and eating large quantities of pita, hummus, and Shwarma. We stayed close to Tel Aviv so that Aaron could go to physical therapy sessions for his hand at the Wingate Institute. Thanks to the help of my good friend friend Vijay Mehrotra, Aaron was able to receive quality treatment from a great therapist while in Israel. Tel Aviv is a very modern city with all the amenities of a big city in the USA. It was a nice change for Jennifer, Noah and I coming from developing countries and probably not enough of a change for Aaron and Drew coming from the United States.

One day trip out of Tel Aviv took us to the beautiful city of Haifa. The city sits atop Mt. Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Northern Israel. From the sea, you can walk up through the picturesque German Colony with wonderful cafes and restaurants. Looking straight up the mountain from the German Colony, there are the stunningly manicured Baha'i Gardens and Temple. Baha'i is the most recent of the world's religions, founded in 1844 by Baha'u'llah. According to the handout we received at the temple, their founder, "brought an essential message of unity, teaching that there is only one God, one human race, and that all the world's religions have been progressive stages in the revelation of God's will and purpose for humanity." On the way back from Haifa, we visited the ancient ruins of Caesarea, which was built by King Herod in 22 BC.

Israel has plenty to see, but since we were so close, we wanted Aaron and Drew to join us in Petra, Jordan. A peace agreement between Israel and Jordan in 1994 make the border crossing between the two countries relatively easy. Going into Jordan, the guards took a fascination with checking out Noah's PSP and broke 2 games in the process. They had machine guns, so we didn't put up too much of a fuss. On the way back, Jennifer, Noah, and I all had our bags checked thoroughly, and I mean thoroughly. It was also strange walking with our rolling luggage in the "No Man's Land" area surrounded by barbed wire after leaving Israel and before entering Jordan.

Petra goes down as one of the highlights of our trip to date. The Nabataeans built this city in the 3rd century BC. To build their homes, palaces, temples, and tombs, the Nabataeans chiseled and bored out of the sandstone mountains. The city itself was secluded and hidden deep into the mountains. Our guide stated that 35,000 people lived in Petra. The most famous structure is the Treasury, but the Monastery and other tombs and temples are equally impressive. We could have spent days walking through the caves and hiking to remote areas of the city. Aaron, Drew, Noah, and I took one side trip up the back of the Monastery. I am not sure if we were supposed to be on the top of this 4,000 year old structure, but it was sure fun.

While walking around Wadi Musa, Jordan we came across a pool hall filled with local arabs. There were pool tables and a snooker table. After getting over the initial shock of having a woman (Jennifer) enter their pool hall, the locals welcomed us with games of snooker and pool and hot tea. Aaron even got invited to come back from 11 pm - 3 am to "drink with them." He didn't go back, but it was a nice offer. Our next stop was a cafe where once again Jennifer was the only female. After a Fanta, stares, and our fair share of second hand smoke, we decided to call it a night.

On our way back to Tel Aviv, we stopped at Masada, an ancient fortress overlooking the Dead Sea in Israel. It was built by Herod the Great in 43 BC, but is better known in Israel as the location of Jewish freedom fighters who fought against the Romans. Between 66 AD and 70 AD, Jews fled from Jerusalem to Masada to avoid Roman persecution. in 73 AD, the Romans brought 8,000 troops to take back Masada. The Jews, who numbered 960 at the time fought for a few months, but when they realized that the Romans were about to conquer the fortress, "Eleazar Ben Yair gave two speeches in which he convinced the community that it would be better to take their own lives and the lives of their families than to live in shame and humiliation as Roman slaves." The Romans entered the fortress to see only 2 women and 5 children.

After a lot of driving, sightseeing and unusually chilly weather, we just did not have enough time to take a float in the Dead Sea. We drove by it though, reading our guidebook that states that the Dead Sea contains 20 times as much bromine, 15 times as much magnesium and 10 times as much iodine as regular sea water. This contributes to the sea being 33% solid substance, which is why you float so easily. Maybe next time?

To see our slide show of Israel and Jordan (Part 1), click on the following link ==> Israel and Jordan (Part 1) Slide Show

Sinai Peninsula, Egypt - Ten Commandments

2008-12-15T12:15:00.000-06:00

"Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up" - Exodus 19:18-20 (NIV)

Sinai Peninsula, Egypt Slide Show

Our arrival at the top of Mount Sinai was not quite as dramatic as the above passage describes, but very memorable. The Bible goes on in Exodus to describe how Moses received the Ten Commandments at the top of Mount Sinai. Having the Bible loaded on Jennifer's Kindle allowed us to read the Book of Exodus while waiting for the sun to set. Noah had already completed his reading, paying special attention to the "Honor Thy Father and Mother" Commandment. It was a humbling experience to climb and sit on top of this famous mountaintop.

When you last heard from us in Egypt, we were dealing with the hustle and bustle of Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. Needing a break from the touts and temples, we took a short flight to the Sinai Peninsula. We stayed in Dahab, an ultra, ultra, laid-back, laid-back town on the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. The town is a budget backpackers dream with inexpensive lodging, diving, kite surfing, wind surfing, snorkeling, and outdoor cafes, bars and restaurants lining the seafront. The only negative to the town is the amount of flies that hang around you, especially if you are eating outside during daylight hours.

Besides relaxing in the seafront cafes and having Noah catch up on homework, we visited St. Katherine's Monastery, climbed Mount Sinai, and took a desert safari, which included visits to 3 canyons. St. Katherine's Monastery is built beside what is believed to be the burning bush from which God spoke to Moses. The Roman Empress Helena had a chapel built on this spot around AD 330 and the fortress around the chapel was built in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian. All three of us stood under and touched a descendant of the burning bush. According to the Monastery monks, this bush was transplanted from the nearby chapel in the 10th century and continues to thrive today.

After visiting the monastery, we climbed to the top of Mount Sinai. Many visitors take camels, but we decided to climb. After spending 4 days climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, we felt that we could climb for 3 hours up Mount Sinai. It wasn't too difficult of a climb and we reached the top in plenty of time to catch the sunset. Before making the final ascent, we stopped to look at the surrounding landscape and have some tea and hot chocolate. During this break, our Muslim Bedouin guide read the book of Exodus on Jennifer's Kindle. Faith, culture, history and technology aligned to make this deeply meaningful. The Chapel at the top of Mount Sinai captured the golden sunset.

Our safari across the Sinai desert and canyons showed us a stark beauty not found in our native land of Minnesota. The endless amounts of sand, rock, wind and sun produce little to no vegetation except for the occasional oasis in the desert. We stopped for lunch at a Bedouin community in an oasis. It gave us a chance to get out of the sun and eat a good meal cooked by the desert natives. We visited 3 different canyons that varied in size and color and provided some great hiking. We were not able to visit the Colored Canyon due to a recent rain (the first rain in 4 years) that moved the sand, which moved the land mines. It was a reminder of the not too distant battles over the Sinai Peninsula between Egypt and Israel.

Hanging out in Dahab and the Sinai Peninsula was a great finish to our time in Egypt. After staying for 5 nights, which seemed like 2, we left wondering where the time went and why we didn't do more while we were here.

To see our slide show of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, click on the following link ==> Sinai Peninsula, Egypt Slide Show.

Nile River, Egypt - Aswan to Luxor

2008-12-09T23:32:00.000-06:00

Nile River, Egypt Slide Show

Traveling along, on, and around the Nile River as it flows through Egypt took us on a journey from the ancient temples of Pharaohs to modern day Aswan and Luxor. Taking a felucca (old wooden sailboat) or cruise on the Nile is very peaceful and relaxing. Getting off the boat or ship to visit popular tourist sites or the markets is anything but peaceful and relaxing. Sites such as the Valley of the Kings are filled with tourists, guides, and an onslaught of vendors hawking their wares. We (actually Jennifer and Noah since I get a kick out of bantering with the vendors) are very experienced at lowering their heads and ignoring the calls of "where you from", "just look no buy", "cheap", "my friend" and many other variations from their Hassle the Tourist 101 course that they are all required to attend before becoming an official Ancient Egypt Site vendor.

We started our Nile journey by taking an overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. As with most everything in Egypt, just getting the tickets for the train was an adventure. After inquiring about train tickets for the next day, I was told that I had to pay in US dollars. Only having Egyptian pounds, I spent the next 45 minutes wandering around Cairo looking for a place to exchange their currency into my currency in their country. When I got back to the ticket office with my US dollars, I was then told that they didn't have any tickets for the next 5 days! Since the same train company had another office across the street, we went over there to give it a try. We were met at the door by a guard who escorted us up to the office and put us in the front of a line. I am quite sure that all the people waiting patiently behind us did not mind. After visiting with "the ticket approver", we went to "the ticket giver", and finally to "the money taker". Surprise, surprise, the guard who got us into the front of the line to get tickets was waiting for us! After a tip was given to the guard, in US dollars of course, we were on our way to Aswan!

Okay, where was I? If you can't tell, I am in a story telling mood. What a country! We made it to Aswan, where we met with " the arranger" who introduced us to "the guide" and his two "drivers". For religious reasons, one of our guides could not shake Jennifer's hand so he shook mine twice. I am not sure how long Jennifer would last here?! The guides are extremely knowledgeable about describing the sites in intricate detail. Jennifer and Noah seemed to understand all the explanations, but I still have trouble with understanding who was a god, Pharaoh or King. All I know is that this Ramses II guy in the picture to the right keeps showing up at most temples, since he was a building machine some 3,000 years ago.

Near Aswan, we visited the Nile's High Dam, the second largest dam in the world. The dam is almost 12,000 feet long and over 3,000 feet wide at the base. It took from 1960 to 1971 to build and 451 workers died during it's construction. The energy from the dam powers all of Egypt and many of the surrounding countries. The High Dam is another example of the dependence that Egypt has on the Nile besides being it's main water source for the country.

We visited many ancient Egyptian sites in the Aswan area including the Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Temple, and Abu Simbel Temple, the most difficult to get to, but also the most impressive. We got up at 3 am to join a police convoy of buses and vans, a 3 hour ride south of Aswan. The convoy is supposedly there for safety, but our feeling is that a convoy of tourists riding through the desert at the same time every day would be an easy target for anyone who wanted to do something to the tourists. The temple is massive. What might be equally impressive is that to preserve the temple, it had to be moved since the building of the High Dam would have left it underwater.

To get from Aswan to Luxor we went on a 3 night Nile cruise on the Nile Festival riverboat. It was a nice cruise ship, but the 3 night cruise is a bit deceiving. The first night we stayed docked in Aswan and the last night you stay docked in Luxor. The second night we docked at the Kom Ombo Temple, a beautiful sight lit up at night. On the ship, Noah and I had our first chance to play ping pong since the first night of our trip in Lima, Peru. It was sweet revenge for the old man as I had to wait over 3 months to avenge my loss to Noah in Lima.

Our final stop on the cruise was in Luxor, sometimes referred to as the world's greatest outdoor museum. There is a gluttony of history to take in around Luxor with many temple and tomb sites. After visiting the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Temple of Hatshepsut and Luxor Temple, we were spent. In the words of the great Roberto Duran, "no mas temples". We had seen enough and opted out of the Temple of Karnak and whatever else was on the agenda that our arranger and guide had planned. Plain and simple, we were templed out.

One of the more interesting stops on our sightseeing around Luxor was the Valley of the Kings, where 63 kings and all their treasures were buried deep into the hills. The tombs were built well into the rough desert mountains, hidden deep into the ground so that the treasure buried with them would not be found and ultimately stolen. The treasure was buried with them was for the kings to use in their afterlife. The other notable site is the Temple of Hatshepsut, an impressive structure built into the mountainside for Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled in place of her stepson since her stepson inherited the throne at a very young age.

We were a little worried as we taxi'd to our hotel in Luxor, Mara's House. It is located in a non-touristy area "on the other side of the tracks". It turned out to be a great find though as Irish Mara takes great care of all her guests and the Egyptian feast dinner was the best meal that we had in Egypt. Noah played soccer in the street with a little neighborhood boy from a couple doors down. Noah and Jennifer were invited for tea at the boy's house where he lives with his mom and two sisters. The next day, Noah purchased a soccer ball for the family. Hopefully that ball will be used by a wonderful family for many games in the streets!

To see our Nile River, Egypt slide show, click on the following link ==> Nile River, Egypt Slide Show

Cairo, Egypt - Pyramids, Traffic, Pharaohs, Touts, Temples, and Smog

2008-12-04T13:19:00.000-06:00

"When Moses was alive, these pyramids were 1,000 years old. Here began the history of architecture. Here people learned to measure time by a calendar, to plot the stars by astronomy and chart the earth by geometry. And here they developed that most awesome of all ideas - the idea of eternity." - Walter Cronkite

Cairo, Egypt Slide Show

The title of this post, "Pyramids, Traffic, Pharaohs, Touts, Temples, and Smog" only begins to describe Cairo. The Lonely Planet Egypt Guidebook states that "one taxi ride can span millennia, from the resplendent mosques and mausoleums built at the pinnacle of the Islamic empire, to the 19th-century palaces and grand avenues (which earned the city the nickname 'Paris on the Nile'), to the brutal concrete blocks of the Nasser years - then all the way back to the days of the pharaohs, as the Pyramids of Giza hulk on the western edge of the city."

Jennifer, Noah and I spent many hours reading about the history of Egypt prior to arriving in Cairo. Landing in the modern Cairo airport does not make you think of pyramids and pharaohs. As we drove through the city in a taxi to our hotel, we realized that we made a great choice in NOT renting a car. Driving in a city of 22 million that has street signs in Arabic and drivers that never stop and disregard traffic lanes and signs would not have been a good idea. As we found out later, crossing the street in Cairo is a death defying feat that is not for the timid.

I will try not to bore your here, but I feel that it is necessary to provide a very condensed timeline to help give you some perspective on Egypt's incredible history. In 3100 BC, Pharaoh Narmer united upper and lower Egypt and formed the capital in Memphis. The Pyramids of Giza were built around 2500 BC. The famous Tutankhamun (King Tut) ruled Egypt from 1336 - 1327 BC, dying at the age of 18. The ruler that built the most temples in Egypt was Ramses II, ruling for 66 years from 1279 - 1213 BC. Alexander invaded Egypt in 323 BC and founded the northern city of Alexandria. Anthony and Cleopatra's empire fell in 30 BC, resulting in Egypt becoming a province of the Roman Empire.

In 48 AD, St Mark introduced Christianity to Egypt. Prior to Mark, there are many biblical stories that took place in Egypt. "Pharaoh, Pharaoh, oh baby. let my people go." In 641 AD, an Arab army led by Amr ibn al-As conquered Egypt, making it an Arab state. In 1798 Napoleon conquered Egypt. In 1805, Egypt was reintegrated into the Ottoman Empire by Muhammad Ali. Britain occupied Egypt from 1882 to 1922 but remained until an uprising in 1952. Egypt's tumultuous history continued with wars, and political and economic issues. Egypt is now run by President Mubarak and is approximately 90% Muslim and 10% Christian. For us, it was encouraging to see a country in the Middle East where Muslims and Christians live peacefully together.

One of our first stops in Cairo was at the Egyptian Museum. The museum was built in 1902 and holds over 176,000 artifacts. We do not have any pictures from inside the museum since photos are not allowed. The museum is an impressive mixture of tombs, mummies, jewels, monuments, temple pillars, sculptures, and daily life tools and eating utensils. Most of the mummies that we saw are over 3,000 years old. The museum was a great introduction to what we were about to see around Egypt over the next 2 weeks.

While in Cairo, Jennifer and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. Noah joined us on a Nile River cruise on the Maxim Riverboat. The dinner was overpriced and the belly and Nubian dancers were a bit hokey, but it still was a fun way to spend our anniversary. Going up and down the Nile at night is spectacular with the felucca boats and cruise ships all lit up and the 5 star hotels lining the riverbanks. It makes you forget the traffic and smog that are omnipresent in Cairo. The next day, Jennifer was making fun of Asmahan, our belly dancer, which offended our guide since she was his favorite. Not to be outdone, I accidentally walked on a prayer mat in the train station and Noah and I ended up in a "Females Only" car in the subway. At some point, I assume that we will be deported.

After spending time in modern Cairo, we turned our attention to some of the ancient sites on the outskirts of the city. We visited Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt that now is mainly an open air museum that contains ruins from some of the temples of Ramses II. The next stop was at the world's oldest pyramid, called the Step Pyramid of Saqqara. It was finished around 2,650 BC. Egyptologists (yes there are people that specialize in the study of Egypt) are still uncovering tombs and temples in Saqqara. I wonder if there are any Minnesotaologists out there.

Next up was the famous Pyramids of Giza which are deservedly on the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World list. After visiting the pyramids, we had mixed feelings about the experience. It was amazing that we were at the pyramids and our first thoughts were "how did they possibly build these 4,000 years ago?"

Unfortunately, those thoughts were quickly followed by "no, for the 10th time, I do not want to go on a camel ride, or buy a miniature pyramid or sphinx." Egypt has done a very poor job of policing the area around their precious tourist attractions. The sites are filled with budding entrepreneurs (touts) who relentlessly badger you. Jennifer and I were offered to have our picture taken on the pyramid by a guard. We thought that this was a very nice gesture, but then of course he held out his hand. I handed him 2 pounds and he replied, "5". Since he was carrying a machine gun, I gave him 5. 10 would have been just fine with me. This didn't ruin the experience of visiting the pyramids and the sphinx that day, but it sure wears you out.

As stated earlier, about 10% of the Egyptian population is Christian. The Christians in Egypt are called Coptic Christians and "Old Cairo" is home to many of the historical Christian churches. We visited Coptic Cairo and were reminded that Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled the persecution of King Herod and went to Egypt. As stated previously, St Mark introduced Christianity to Egypt in 48 AD. From the 3rd century on, monks came to Egypt and built monasteries marking the Biblical sites of Joseph, Moses, and Jesus, among others.

Overall, our stay in Cairo was a positive experience. By staying in one place 5 nights in a row, we were able to really get to know the vendors and the neighborhood around our hotel. And they have high-speed internet in Cairo! To see our slide show of Cairo, Egypt, click on the following link ==> Cairo, Egypt Slide Show.

Nairobi, Kenya - Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T06:25:00.000-06:00

Nairobi, Kenya Slide Show

Most people would agree that electricity and the internet are both great inventions. So, as I had my laptop plugged into some funny looking plug in a nasty, but expensive hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, I went to my favorite search engine - Google. It was Thanksgiving Day, and I was more than a little down at the time, being away from family in a city that we didn't feel comfortable in. To be honest, I wanted to be sitting at a table at my parents house in Hammond, Wisconsin wolfing down turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, fresh baked buns, corn, stuffing, broccoli/cauliflower casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffed mushrooms, sugar cookies, pumpkin pie, and apple pie with Ready Whip. Yes, my mother makes all of this every year. Instead, I thought I was looking forward to a dinner with more rice, more stale bread, and more chicken, goat or lamb parts.

I made one last attempt on Google with the following search, "Nairobi Turkey". One of the results returned from the search engine was a review of a restaurant called Carnivores in Nairobi. They had turkey in Nairobi! I didn't care where it was, what it cost, or what it cost to get there. We tracked down a taxi and then we were off to find the turkey in Nairobi. The restaurant did not have all the fixings, but they did have one of the best turkeys that we have ever had, along with beef, crocodile, lamb, pork, and ostrich, among other things. We definitely missed our families on Thanksgiving, but finding a restaurant that served a wonderful turkey sure helped.

I realize that due to my fascination to describing our Kenya turkey, I jumped ahead to Thanksgiving after last reporting on our Mt. Kilimanjaro climb. After Kilimanjaro, we took a van transfer to Arusha, Tanzania where we spent 4 days and 3 nights trying to get healthy. After climbing Kilimanjaro, we needed a Mother (for Jim and Jennifer) and Grandmother (for Noah) to nurse us back to health. We ended up staying at the Safariland Cottages owned and run by a Hungarian woman name Chila. She brought Jennifer to the pharmacy for cough medicine, washed all of our dirty mountain climbing clothes, and took great care of us as we recovered from our climb. Sometimes people are sent into our lives precisely at the time that we need them.

We did not do much in Arusha beyond sleeping, eating, and wandering aimlessly around the city. The dust and smog didn't do much for the upper respiratory infections that we were dealing with, but the rest was just what we needed. We realize that only spending 3 days in Kenya is not really giving it a fair chance, but due to the current political climate in Nairobi and our physical and mental state at the time, 3 days was enough.

To view our slide show of Nairobi, Kenya, click on the following link ==> Nairobi, Kenya Slide Show.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania - Noah Makes it to the Top of Africa

2008-11-23T10:46:00.000-06:00

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Slide Show

The picture to the left is a photo of Noah at the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro. Noah is sitting at 5,895 meters (19,335 feet) above sea level. The reason why Jennifer and I are not in the picture is that we didn’t make it all the way to the top. We both battled upper respiratory infections while climbing and our bodies eventually gave out. 7 hours prior to the final summit sitting in the Kibo hut at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet), I was sent back down to a lower elevation due to a headache and a fever. Jennifer made a valiant effort to make the final summit with Noah, but was sent down at 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). Noah rallied on with our lead guide, Richard. Jennifer, Noah, and their guides were the last to leave the Kibo Hut for the final ascent, but Noah and Richard were the first to reach the summit and the first to return to the Kibo Hut.

Noah is a hiking, climbing warrior! He is one of the younger people ever to reach the Mount Kilimanjaro summit. After starting the final ascent at midnight and reaching the summit, Noah and Richard came back down to the Kibo hut to retrieve Jennifer. Normally, the next step is to hike down to the next hut and stay overnight. Our guide decided it was best for us to go all the way down the mountain, so Noah spent the rest of the day hiking all the way down, arriving at 6:00 pm. Midnight to 6:00 pm is 18 hours, the total number of hours that Noah hiked that day.

Hiking up Kilimanjaro was a 4 days up and a 1 day down adventure. Looking back, Jennifer and I underestimated the toll this hike would take on us while we were sick. It would have been nice to try to reach the summit while healthy. The following is a summary of each day that we spent hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro.

Day 1: After going through the park gates at 1,700 meters (5,576 feet), the first day was spent hiking through rain forest. We all felt strong at first and enjoyed the lush vegetation. We were able to get to know our guides Richard and Aaron who were brothers. Having a guide named Aaron felt right since we were often thinking of our son, Aaron who was not with us on this trip. Hiking up Kilimanjaro is a group effort. Helping the three of us on this trip were 2 guides, 1 cook, and 7 porters. The porters carry all the gear up the mountain on their heads at a very quick pace.

Richard and Aaron are from the Chagga tribe. They shared many stories of Tanzania, including the dowry for a wife. The groom's family gives the brides family a goat, a cow, a blanket and an amount of money to be determined. The only mishap of the day came when Jennifer used the hole-in-the-ground "bathroom" that had a slippery floor. She slipped and fell - not good. After hiking for 4-1/2 hours, we reached the Mandara Hut at 2,700 meters (8,856 feet), where we spent the night.

Day 2: We started the day with a short hike to Maundi Crater, where we were able to see the snow capped Kilimanjaro peak. I am not sure that this view was a good thing since it looked like it was a thousand miles away. Noah was healthy, Jennifer was starting to feel better, and I was coming down with the infection that Noah and Jennifer had been dealing with. We worked our way out of the rain forest and spent most of the day walking through smaller trees and plants as we continued to reach higher elevations. As the day went on, we all were focused on climbing and less and less words were spoken.

A killer, steep hike right before sitting down for lunch took a lot out of Jennifer and I, while Noah and his lanky 13 year old body was relatively unfazed. We hiked for 6-1/2 hours and arrived at the Horombo Hut exhausted. The Horombo Hut is at 3,700 meters (12,136 feet). Noah was good enough to get some math homework done in the hut. My fever shot up and I wasn't able to eat anything at dinner. Richard told me that if I still have a fever in the morning, I will have to go back down to the Mandara Hut. I spend a sleepless night worrying about abandoning my family and the climb after only 2 days.

Day 3: The good news in the morning is that my fever had gone down and Richard agreed to let me stay. Fortunately, day 3 was an acclimation day. We only climbed up 1,000 feet and then went back down to the Horombo Hut to stay another night. We were tired and cold and had a lot of time on our hands, so we spent much of the day laying fully clothed in our sleeping bags trying to get as much rest as possible for the final 2 days. Many of the pictures from this day are of the Zebra Rock, the spot where we climbed to help acclimate. Noah spent all three meals trying to come up with the optimal combination of hot water, chocolate powder, cocoa powder, sugar, and powdered milk. We considered this a chemistry experiment and gave him some science credit.

Day 4: We left the Horombo Hut realizing that we have made it half way and every step that we take gets us closer to the summit than we are away from it. The landscape has now gone from rain forest, to smaller trees and brush, to desert. The climb is steep, dusty, and exhausting. As we got more and more tired, there were very few words spoken while hiking. Our guides did a nice job of moving us along, trying to get us as much time to rest at the next hut as possible. The food became too familiar and it was difficult to eat even though we needed to in order to keep up our strength. Steep inclines were more difficult due to the higher altitude. It was also getting colder and colder as we climbed. On the way, Richard pointed out the wing of an airplane that crashed in the area a couple weeks prior.

The final, steep hike to reach the Kibo Hut at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet) was grueling for Jennifer and I. Noah once again cruised up with little difficulty. This was the end of the line for me. Richard looked at me at dinner and said, "Jim, you can make money, but you can't buy life." In layman's terms, that meant that I was done and I had to hike back to the Horombo Hut, the same hut that I spent the day hiking from. After a tearful good-bye with Jennifer and Noah, I hiked back in the dark with Aaron. Leaving Jennifer and Noah was very difficult. A guide mentioned something about a lion in the area, which made the downhill hike in the dark a little more unnerving.

Day 5: Jennifer and Noah were woken up at midnight in order to begin their climb to Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Jennifer and Noah were both strong as they began the steep incline. Richard kept them moving at a decent pace in order to minimize their time at such high altitudes and the cold. At 5,000 meters (16,400 feet), Jennifer stumbled and blacked out momentarily. She wanted to keep going, but Richard sent her back to the Kibo Hut. As mentioned above, Richard and Noah continued on at a quick pace and made it to Uhuru Peak. I am so proud of Jennifer for making a strong attempt all the way to over 16,000 feet and for Noah to make it to the top of Africa!

There will be time in the future to analyze what we learned from our 5 days on Kilimanjaro. For now, we are off to a nice hotel in Arusha to recover for a few days. At a minimum, Noah now knows how to push himself physically and mentally to achieve a goal. That alone is a great life lesson that can be used in every facet of his life. That's all for now, a hot shower is calling!

To see our slide show of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, click on the following link ==> Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Slide Show.

Karatu, Tanzania - Meeting up With the Hosanna! Mission Team

2008-11-15T23:52:00.000-06:00

Karatu, Tanzania Slide Show

After over 2 months of not seeing a familiar face other than each of our all too familiar faces, we were blessed to be able to join the Hosanna! Mission Team for 5 days in Karatu, Tanzania. Hosanna! is our home church in Lakeville, Minnesota. We joined the mission team for the last 4 days of their 16 day trip where they built classrooms, conducted a women's conference, provided medical supplies to local organizations, helped orphan families, and worked with the local Lutheran church.

Hosanna! has been conducting mission trips in Karatu for 7 years. Driving around, we saw kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school classrooms that Hosanna! team members helped build over the years. The building of secondary school classrooms is essential because the Tanzania government will only provide secondary school teachers if the classrooms are built. As a result, many Tanzania students do not attend secondary school. We also saw a dispensary and church that Hosanna! mission teams helped build on past trips. These villages do not have running water or electricity, but they now have schools and churches thanks to Hosanna! and many other mission groups that have come to this area.

Much of Jennifer's time was spent planning for and attending the women's conference at the Lutheran church in Karatu, located across the street from the Lutheran Hostel that we stayed at. The conference was led by Pastor Kristi Graner from Hosanna! and attended by 100 local women. These are women that have dealt with the effects of poverty, abuse, HIV and other illnesses that have affected them and their families. The conference included fellowship, prayer, worship, personal testimonies, and talks from Pastor Kristi, Jennifer, Mama Jan, Papa Terry, local community leaders and Pastor Pray, the Pastor of the church. It was deeply moving to sing and dance with these Karatu women, and pray with them for healing and encouragement!

While Jennifer was at the women's conference, Noah and I helped out in the village. Most of the hard labor was done by the time we got there, so we helped gather a cow and food from the market to make a celebration dinner for 1,000 people. The celebration was for the students that had recently passed their tests and graduated to the next level. Buying a cow that was recently killed and butchered and then cut up in the great outdoors was quite an experience. All the cooking was on open wood fires in large pots. Noah and I played games with the schoolchildren. It is amazing how many games you can come up with rocks and oranges.

The children are precious. They are so eager to learn. When carrying stacks of wood to bring to the fire, the children were gripping their pens in their hands. They were afraid to put them down and loose them. All they need is a chance. One street merchant who I met who did not go to school spoke 4 languages. He picked them up from talking to tourists. That kind of intelligence should not be wasted selling nick-knacks in the street. The children thrive on attention. We brought out an orange to play catch with and the kids came out of the woodwork. If you sit down, many of them came over and sit on you or with you. One of the highlights was to see the families and schoolchildren all come to the graduation celebration. There were many speeches from local politicians that went too long, but the smiles on the faces of the family made up for that.

After 4 days in Karatu, we joined the Hosanna! team for a 1 day safari in Tarangire National Park. We saw many animals and stayed in a beautiful tent lodge in the park. It was deep into the bush near a lake with incredible views. It was a nice break from hostel living. Right outside the park, we were able to visit a Maasai village where the people live essentially the same way that they did hundreds of years ago. The only exception is that some of them have cell phones. The Maasai chief of this village has 3 wives and many children. This is far less than the wealthy Maasai chief that has 25 wives and 300 children. I feel no need to elaborate on the last sentence.

After our safari, it was time to say good-bye to the Hosanna! family. They are a wonderful group of individuals that have bonded over the last 16 days and have made a huge impact on the lives of many people in the Karatu area. Thanks Kristi, Steve, Jan, Terry, Rob, Kerrie, Sam, Dr. Wade, Angie, Desi, Zgia, Shirley, Stacey, Kathy, Todd and Sara. We missed them already as we made our way to Marangu to begin our hike up Mount Kilimanjaro.

To see our Karatu, Tanzania slide show, click on the following link ==> Karatu, Tanzania Slide Show.

Zanzibar, Tanzania - The Spice Island

2008-11-11T12:01:00.000-06:00

Zanzibar, Tanzania Slide Show

Lost luggage that was eventually found, spending more time than we anticipated in South Africa, taking our Kruger Park Safari later than planned and three weary travelers all contributed to our rearranged travel plans. Instead of Botswana, we boarded a plane and flew to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. South Africa Airways accommodated our change of plans without any change fees since they finally realized how they mishandled the recovery of Jennifer's luggage.

We spent a night in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and then hopped in a taxi the next morning to purchase our ferry tickets to Zanzibar. Even though we read about the "street touts" who swarm around you while trying to sell you worthless ferry tickets or hotel rooms that don't exist, it did not prepare us for the onslaught as we pulled into the ferry ticket area. The heat and humidity contributed to me sweating profusely as I left Jennifer and Noah in the taxi and waded my way through the "salesmen". To try to and win me over, the touts kept calling me "Obama!" After thinking I had everything arranged, I realized that Jennifer had the money so I had to make my way back and forth to the taxi again. It was quite an experience. The 10:30 am ferry left at 12:30 pm for the 90 minute ferry that took 150 minutes. TIA (This is Africa).

When we finally landed on Zanzibar, we were once again greeted warmly by more touts. Being much better prepared this time, I chose an older, less aggressive gentleman who took us to our hotel. The Tembo Hotel was quite a bit more than what we were used to spending, but it was right on the water. The hotel has a Persian/Indian/Arabia feel to it. The Indian Ocean is beautiful. We could have spent the three days just hanging out on the beach, watching the Dhow sailboats float by.

Other than hanging out by the ocean, we set out to see why Zanzibar is referred to as the Spice Island. We hired a taxi driver who took us to the government building to pay a tax to leave the city, and then took us to the "Spiceman" who gave us a tour of the spice farm. The use of the term farm created an expectation that it was a farm in the sense of rows of crops like we would see in the Midwestern part of the United States. In reality, it is a forest where these plants grow naturally. The rich red soil and the climate allows the plants to grow freely without the use of irrigation or fertilizers. Everything is harvested by hand. No John Deere tractors here. We saw where cinnamon, nutmeg, curry, cardamom, turmeric, ginger, pepper, tarragon, cloves, and a bunch of other spices that we don't remember come from. I apologize for the lack of details on the spices, but a half day of continuous spice and fruit identification left us a bit overwhelmed. The only thing we identified correctly were the oranges and bananas.

One of the main lures of Zanzibar is the surrounding Indian Ocean. The water is warm, the views are incredible and there are plenty of shallow waters to view fish and coral reefs while diving or snorkeling. We chose the snorkeling route, visiting 2 different locations. The coral is almost as interesting as all the fish that you see. Lunch was served on a soft white sand bar that is accessible at low tide. After dealing with the city for awhile, a relaxing snorkel and sand island was just what we needed.

We also spent time wandering around Old Stone Town, an area of Zanzibar that was built up during the reign of the Omani Arabs. The narrow streets are filled with vendors hawking their wares and mopeds, taxis, and people fighting for room on the road. On the surface the city looks run down, but if you look closely and dream a little, you can see the Sultan of Oman coming out of his palace with his entourage. We did visit the Sultan's palace, which is now a museum. We stopped at Obama Park in the middle of town where they were still rallying for Obama almost a week after the election. We didn't make it to the 5 pm rally at the old fort.

To view our Zanzibar slide show, click on the following link ==> Zanzibar, Tanzania Slide Show.

Kruger National Park, South Africa - Safari, Presidential Election, and Family

2008-11-06T09:14:00.000-06:00

Kruger National Park, South Africa Slide Show

After visiting South Africa for a couple weeks without seeing lions, elephants, and zebras, it was time to go on a safari. We took a 4 day safari in Kruger National Park, a wildlife reserve roughly the size of Israel. Kruger offers an opportunity to see wildlife in their natural habitat. We were led by our guide Dan, who helped us find the "Big Five" (elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, buffalo, and lion). We never received an explanation how the "big Five" came about, and why animals like the giraffe, zebra and hippopotamus were excluded. The first 5 pictures in this post are of the "Big Five".

We saw many more animals than the "Big Five". Noah was keeping track, so here is the list, not including many types of birds: Vervet Monkey, Chacma Baboon, Crocodile, Black-Backed Jackal, Spotted Hyena, Leopard, Lion, African Elephant, Burchell's Zebra, White Rhinoceros, Warthog, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, Nyala, Bushbuck, Greater Kudu, Turtle, Rabbit, Waterbuck, Blue Wildebeest, Steenbok, Impala, Springbok, and African Buffalo. Unlike at a zoo, we were able to observe the "circle of life" as we saw lions trying to chase down giraffes, impalas, and zebras. We also came across hyenas and vultures finishing off a giraffe after lions killed it. Watching the hunters and the hunted play out in real life was fascinating.

Our guide, Dan grew up in the area and was very knowledgeable about Kruger Park and took good care of us as we slept in tents the first 2 nights in the park and at a private game lodge the 3rd night. Madison from the United States and Yung from South Korea joined us on our safari. Madison had been on many other safaris in Africa and was quite adept at spotting hard to find animals. The only animal spotting contribution that I made was when I spotted a leopard on our night safari. This helped us round out our "Top Five" sightings.

Click on the following to see a short video that we put together of some of our animal sightings ==> Kruger National Park Video.

The safari was a fitting end to our stay in South Africa. We leave with fond memories of Cape Town and the surrounding areas, natural scenery, wildlife, and the people. We were warned by many people to watch out for crime in South Africa, but we never felt threatened whether we were in the Cape Town, Johannesburg, or the countryside. We found South Africans to be very generous and fun to be around. To view a slide show of Kruger National Park, click on the following link ==> Kruger National Park, South Africa Slide Show.

For the four days we were on the safari, we did not have TV, internet, or phone access and our safari happened to be during the United States presidential election. We did not know who won the election until we boarded our van to return to Johannesburg the day after the election. Obama won just in case you didn't hear about it.

It was strange not being around during the election, but quite interesting to see the reactions of Africans. This is not a political statement on our part one way or the other, just an observation. There was rejoicing in the streets and people were congratulating us when they found out we were Americans. We spoke with many Africans prior to the election and they all passionately wanted Obama to win, but felt that the United States would never elect a black man. They compare Obama with Nelson Mandela. The election of Obama has made it easier to travel in Africa as an American. Their view of the United States changed overnight as the result of an election. Between wars and the economy, Obama can add the weight of Africa's expectations on his shoulders. Time will tell if he can live up to their expectations.

Finally, while we were out of range of communication, our older son, Aaron severely injured his arm at basketball practice at Williams College in Massachusetts. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he heals.

Garden Route, South Africa -

2008-10-30T14:00:00.000-05:00

'When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, "Let us Pray". We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.' - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Garden Route, South Africa Slide Show

After a great experience in Cape Town, we rented a car and set out on a drive on the "Garden Route", a route that takes you through very diverse landscape and wildlife and a series of beautiful small towns set in the mountains, valleys, and coasts of the Western Cape. South Africa has a well developed road system that is easy to navigate. There is just one small problem. South Africans drive on the left side of the road and the cars have the steering wheel on the right side and you shift the manual transmission with your left hand.

Driving on the left side of the road is just one result of the British coming to South Africa. The British, along with the Dutch, French, and Germans also brought their languages, architecture, customs, and food. Among other places, they settled in towns along the Garden Route. The people we met along the way on the Garden Route were primarily of European descent.

The first town that we stayed at was Franschhoek, a town settled by French Huguenots who left France to escape religious persecution. They settled in the Franschhoek and Stellenbosch area in the mid to late 1600's and established wineries throughout the area. We took a break from hostels and stayed at a beautiful guest house called Center-Ville for 2 nights. It was quite a treat.

The first night, we were seated at a dinner table at a restaurant with a couple that spends half the year in England and half the year in Franschhoek. After we got to know them, the gentleman, David was nice enough to invite me to go golfing with him the next day. We golfed at the Pearl Valley Golf Club, site of the South African Open. I paired up with a South African and the 2 of us golfed against 2 Brits and the 2 Brits that handled us pretty easily. My lack of contribution to the team was attributed to using rental clubs, having the yardage markers in meters, golfing in hiking shoes, never golfing in the southern hemisphere, and just not being very good. Man, the course was nice though!

Next up was a drive to Oudtshoorn. To get there, we drove through the Swartberg Pass. The pass goes through, up, down and around red rock mountains with mountain streams and evergreens. The road is a one way winding gravel road that made for some white knuckle driving, but the scenery was spectacular. On the other side of the pass, the valley opened up into lush green vegetation, contrasting the red rock in the pass.

We stayed at a funky hostel in Oudtshoorn called Backpacker's Paradise. Oudtshoorn is known for the Cango Caves and ostrich farms. We chose to view the ostrich from the road. The sound of going on an ostrich safari in Africa was a bit embarrassing. We did visit the caves, but were only able to take the "old persons" part of the tour. We were not able to take the "adventure tour" due to my size. I wouldn't fit through some of the holes.

From there, we made our way to Mossel Bay to hang out on the beach for a day. The waves were huge with surfers having lots of fun. Jennifer and Noah were more active than I was as I ate something that obviously did not agree with me and I spent most of the day in bed.

We continued the oceanfront theme as we made our way back towards Cape Town, staying in Simon's Town, a navy town with a beautiful port. If we hadn't already seen a huge penguin colony, we might have stopped at the penguin colony in Simon's Town, but we were looking for a new animal.

We found that animal when we went to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve the next day - baboons. The first picture at the tope of this blog is of a mother and her baby in the nature reserve. We were advised not to feed them and not to get too close to them since they love food and have become comfortable going after humans to get the food. We took the advice and enjoyed watching them up close without any food. A unique feature of the Cape of Good Hope is that at the end of it, you can look to your left and see the Indian Ocean and look to your right and see the Atlantic Ocean.

The picture to the left is of Noah getting his first haircut on the trip. You should have seen the amount of hair on the ground! Even though Noah was frightened out of his mind getting his first haircut from someone else besides Barb at Cole's Salon in Burnsville, it turned out to be a very good haircut.

After spending one more night in Cape Town, we went to Johannesburg for a few days prior to going on our safari in Kruger National Park. There will not be a post for awhile since we will not have internet access in the park.

We didn't do much in Johannesburg as we we needed a break from our adventure and we were intent on trying to locate Jennifer's bag. Guess what? We received it this afternoon after a 13 day delay! There were three tags on the bag when it was delivered that all read, "URGENT"! Jennifer wants to ask South African Airways the definition of urgent. Now what do we do with all the clothes that she bought to replace the ones that were "lost"?

To see a slide show of the Garden Route, South Africa, click on the following link ==> Garden Route, South Africa Slide Show

Cape Town, South Africa - Rainbow Nation

2008-10-25T00:26:00.000-05:00

"Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." - Langston Hughes (Former Cape Town District 6 resident who was forcibly removed from his home because of the color of his skin)

Cape Town, South Africa Slide Show

"Back your feet over the ledge, lean back and wave both your hands to the crowd", said the Abseil Africa guide. He must have seen the fear gripping my body as he smiled and said, "you will be all right, mate." If I had the ability to speak (or move for that matter) at the time, I would have told him that a growth area of mine is TRUST and at the moment, I don't trust walking backwards down a 180 degree drop-off cliff, even if this is the world famous Table Mountain, being held by a harness and a rope, and I don't trust the backup safety mechanisms he just described, and I don't trust him.

Jennifer was 5 feet to my left on another rope and harness and she did not seem to be having the same trust issues as she smiled and waved to the people on the cliff who were obviously happy they were not doing what we were about to do. Jennifer's smile was soon to be wiped off her face. After much encouragement, we both started down the cliff, abseiling together as if this is something people around here do on a date. They kept yelling at us to enjoy the view. Forget the view, Jennifer and I were fighting for our lives! About halfway down, we found out what the "surprise" that they said was in store for us was. The cliff disappeared! There was nowhere to put our feet, so it was a free fall on the rope down to the bottom. When Noah got to this point, he yelled out, "what do I do"? After spinning around many times and eventually calming down, we realized that it indeed was an incredible view of Cape Town. We made it!

Now came the most difficult part - watching our son come down. Most of the time, we couldn't look, but Jennifer was able to get the picture to the right of Noah making his way down the cliff. He made it safely and actually wanted to go back up and do it again so he could enjoy the view without being paralyzed by fear. Oh, to be young again. This abseil on Table Mountain is billed as the tallest commercial abseil in the world. Let's just say it was plenty tall for me and Jennifer.

Our arrival in Africa was a little bit of an adventure. We flew from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Sao Paulo, Brazil to Johannesburg, South Africa to Cape Town, South Africa on 3 different airlines. Unfortunately, somewhere in this chain of travel, Jennifer's suitcase disappeared. At the time of this writing 9 days later, she still does not have her bag. On the longest leg from Brazil to South Africa, I sat next to a professor of forestry from Mozambique who I could tell had a bit of an issue sitting next to an American. But after 6 hours of discussions when I should have been sleeping that covered every topic he could think of and sharing a bottle of wine or 2, we now understand each other's points of view and he ended up offering up his beach house in Mozambique for us to stay at if we travel that way. This is yet another example of the generosity of the people that we have met along the way.

Okay, I admit it - arriving in South Africa was not what I expected of Africa. South Africa has every modern convenience that the United States has and is a well developed nation. We have yet to see an elephant, lion, or giraffe (those are coming later at Kruger National Park) - just an occasional baboon crossing the road. Beyond the abseiling adventure, we spent much of our time in Cape Town getting a feel for the history of South Africa. Dutch rule, British rule, and apartheid contributed greatly to shaping this nation. As we learned about the history of this wonderful country, we had to keep reminding ourselves that apartheid ended in 1991, not that long ago. Unfortunately, the scars of apartheid will take much longer to heal.

Apartheid became law in 1948. People were forced to carry ID cards that identified their race. They were categorized into 4 racial categories in order of social status: White, Asians, Coloreds (mixed race), and Black. Blacks were imprisoned if they were caught without their cards. We took a boat out to Robben Island, where the prison that held Nelson Mandela for much of his 27 years of imprisonment is located. We were first given a tour by an incredibly bright and interesting man, who was a former leader in the Pan African Congress (PAC), a black activist group. Next, we received a tour of the prison from a former prisoner (prisoner #1883) that was in prison there from 1983 - 1992. You could feel the pain as he spoke of the atrocities that happened in the prison. The prison used the social categories mentioned above to give the blacks less food, more work, and bleaker accommodations.

While the black political activists were thrown into prison, many other blacks were removed from their homes and moved to all black poverty stricken townships. One of the neighborhoods where the blacks were removed from was District Six. At the District Six Museum, we saw pictures of what District Six looked like prior to the removal of it's residents from their homes. It was a vibrant city area that was bulldozed (and still sits mostly flattened today) after the black families were removed. Outside the museum, there is a plaque that reads, "All who pass by, the many thousands of people who lived for generations in District Six, and other parts of this city, and were forced by law to leave their homes because of the color of their skins. Father, forgive us . . .

Some of the people that were forced to move to a township, moved to Langa Township. This township is made up of old dilapidated buildings for the migrant workers, a "middle class" neighborhood and a shantytown with one faucet for the whole town and broken down outhouses. We toured all three of these sections, stopping to visit a preschool, the migrant worker's buildings and the shanty town. It was an eye opener for us, as we could not imagine living under these conditions. Our hearts broke for the children as they came rushing up to us for attention. Noah did a great job playing with the children, swinging many of them around holding them by their arms. Many of these shanty towns are being replaced by government built housing, which is one of the preparation projects for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. We can only hope that this project brings relief to these people. Click on the following link to see a video of the preschool children singing to us ==> Cape Town Video.

We have never been in a place where you can drive by a shanty town and 10 minutes later drive by a 5 million dollar home on the cliff overlooking the ocean. Our guide kept calling South Africa the Rainbow Nation. He was referring to the people who come from every type of background from Africa to Europe to Asia. Cape Town is all that and more. There is the ocean, a beautiful waterfront, museums, gardens, mountains, wildlife, and 11 official languages. It is incredibly diverse, complicated, and a wonderful place for us to spend a week despite the loss of Jennifer's luggage. We can only hope the rest of South Africa treats us as well as Cape Town did.

To see a slide show of Cape Town, click on the following link ==> Cape Town, South Africa Slide Show

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Beef and Tango

2008-10-20T16:27:00.000-05:00

Buenos Aires, Argentina Slide Show

Buenos Aires! The name alone sounds exciting. We had two different stays in Buenos Aires, two nights before and two nights after going to Iguazu Falls. We stayed in the same place, Hotel Marbella in the city center, but had 2 different experiences. It seems silly that weather would play such a role in our view of a city, but it did and continues to wherever we visit. The first 2 days it drizzled most of the time and the skies were cloudy. After those two days, we looked at Buenos Aires as a big, dreary city. The last two days there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we looked at Buenos Aires as a bright, fun city.

Buenos Aires is a mix of old historic buildings and 21st century technology and architecture. With almost 13 million people in the city, there are people from every socioeconomic background. Despite all the warnings we received about dishonest cab drivers and theft, the people we encountered were very fun loving and helpful.

Noah's camera died and was buried in Buenos Aires. As long as we are on that subject, the losses (all self inflicted - nothing stolen) to date include: 2 lost hats, 1 dead camera, 1 lost baseball, 1 lost book, 1 broken toe, 3 lost pens, an intermittent working PSP, and much to Jennifer's dismay, a dead Kindle. For those of you that know Jennifer's affection for reading and her Kindle, you can understand what an impact this has had on her. Thanks to Amazon, a replacement is on it's way.

I just want to have whoever invented spray paint come to Buenos Aires and see what it has done to the historic buildings. It is very sad. I assume that due to the volatile Argentina politics and economics over the years, people have expressed their angst by spray painting their political thoughts on the buildings.

For us, Buenos Aires was a chance to catch up on work, email, phone calls, texting friends, laundry and planning for Africa. As a result, we didn't do as much sightseeing as in other places, but we did get a chance to thoroughly enjoy the beef and tango. The picture above of the three of us was after splurging a little on two filets and 1 strip steak. They were as tender and tasty as anything we have ever had.

Next up was a night of tango and music at El Viejo Almacen in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It was an incredible evening. I can't imagine how many hours Jennifer and I would need to put in to get to the point of being able to tango like they tango in Buenos Aires. We walked many neighborhoods in the city trying to get a feel for the city. We stopped at an antique fair in San Telmo, walked along the pedestrian shopping area of Avenida de Florida, and visited cathedrals and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Art). All three of us enjoyed the impressionist paintings and modern Argentina art at the museum.

One of the most interesting stops during our walks was at the Cementerio de la Recoleta. The cemetery is like walking through a city of miniature buildings. The buildings are actually tombs of famous Argentine people and families. One crypt that "housed" a family was a $3 million dollar gold-laden structure. Some of these crypts are big enough to house their own chapels for past presidents, military heroes, politicians, and other extremely wealthy families. We were given a tour by a retired history professor that knew about every crypt in the cemetery. He even showed us the burial site of Eva "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" Peron.

Buenos Argentina was the last stop on our tour of South America. We leave with mixed emotions since we thoroughly enjoyed Argentina but are also looking forward to continuing our travels in Africa.

To view our slide show of Buenos Aires, click on the following link ==> Buenos Aires, Argentina Slide Show.

*** Final Thoughts and Observations About Argentina ***

It has been difficult to leave each of the three countries that we have visited so far for different reasons, but here we go with our thoughts on Argentina.

Argentina, like Chile is a country of extreme geographical diversity. If you travel there, you will find deserts, vineyards, beaches, lakes, volcanoes, forests, fjords, granite peaks, a large city (Buenos Aires) and glaciers. The marine life, including whales, penguins, and sea lions is fascinating.
Argentina has had a volatile economy over the years, experiencing a crash in the 2001 - 2002 time period. They have recovered to a point where it is now more expensive to travel in Argentina than it is in Peru or Chile.
Argentina charges tourists more for entrance fees to National Parks and flights than they do for their own residents. For example, a domestic flight in Argentina costs foreigners almost 3 times as much as an Argentina resident.
Argentina is a very well developed country that has only 30% of their roads paved. Part of this might have to do with the many remote regions of Patagonia. I don't know how to explain the rest.
The people are a friendly, helpful, proud sort that reminds us of Italians. The other thing that reminds us of Italy is the Argentineans love of pizza and pasta. Most restaurants from inexpensive cafes to expensive steak houses offer up many pizza and pasta dishes. Noah is the resident expert on pizza ratings in Argentina.
Some interesting facts about Argentina include: adult literacy rate of 97%, population below the poverty line of 51%, and the number of psychologists per person is the highest in the world.
Argentina has a lot to offer if you are willing to invest the time and geography to experience the diversity from parrots to penguins, from north to south.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina - Well Worth the Effort to Get There

2008-10-17T11:40:00.000-05:00

Iguazu Falls, Argentina Slide Show

This past August, I had the pleasure of driving with our older son, Aaron out to Williams College for his sophomore year. Aaron and I decided to take the Canadian route and visit Niagara Falls on the way. The visit to Niagara Falls was the first time for both of us. It was a spectacular way to spend an afternoon in route to Massachusetts.

Flash forward a couple months during a Jennifer, Noah, Jim travel plans meeting in a Buenos Aires hotel room on how to spend the last 5 days of our stay in South America. Jennifer voted to go to Iguazu Falls. Noah voted to stay in Buenos Aires. This left the deciding vote up to me. Let's see, an 18 hour bus ride to the Falls, spend one night there and then return on another 18 hour bus ride or see the sites of a dynamic Buenos Aires.

Like any good husband should, I voted for two 18 hour bus rides. Sorry Noah - or should I say, thank you Jennifer. No offense to Niagara Falls, but they don't really compare to Iguazu Falls. I don't have all the statistics in front of me, but the one that sticks in my mind is that Iguazu Falls stretches approximately 1.3 miles across. That is why pictures just don't do it justice. You can take picture after picture of the falls, but you can't get them all in one photo. If you want to see a video clip that does a better job of showing a portion, but not all of the Falls, click on the first picture in this posting. Be sure to have the sound on your computer on as the sound is almost as impressive as the falls themselves.

Argentina has done a very nice job of keeping the falls in a natural setting as a part of Parque Nacional Iguazu, but giving visitors many up close views. They have built paths and catwalks, but when you are viewing the falls, there are no hotels or restaurants to be seen. The walks through the jungle and viewing fauna and wildlife are an added bonus.

We took a boat ride "into the falls". The sound is deafening and the shower/mist from the falls is invigorating as you get absolutely soaked. The only downer of the day was the fact that we paid a little extra for a hotel that was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook, which was written in 2005. Let's just say that the last 3 years must have been bad years for this hotel as the humidity of the jungle made for a very musty room in a hotel well past it's glory days.

Back to the 2 long bus rides. Don't feel too sorry for us. The rides to and from the falls were on Via Bariloche, a bus company that knows more than a few things about service. In fact, I am sitting on the bus right now writing this post. The bus has wi-fi via satellite, the seats recline fully into a bed (Jennifer is sleeping to my left and Noah is sleeping to my right) and we are on our 3rd movie, 2nd meal and I was just brought a scotch. Why fly?

To view the slide show of Iguazu Falls, click on the following link ==> Iguazu Falls, Argentina Slide Show

Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Marine Life

2008-10-13T20:53:00.000-05:00

Puerto Madryn, Argentina Slide Show

Click on the picture of the penguin to the left to have him/her (I have no real way of telling) introduce this blog. If all the technology works out correctly, a video should pop up. If you have issues with the video, just look at the penguin and imagine him walking.

Anyway, we decided to head north to warm up a little. I know that sounds strange for any Minnesotans out there that head south to warm up, but that is the way it works in the southern hemisphere. A 20 hour bus ride took us from El Calafate to Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Puerto Madryn is on the east coast of Argentina, about about an 18 hour bus ride south of Buenos Aires. Due to the size and many unpaved roads of Argentina, we now gauge distances in terms of bus ride times. Argentina is a very developed country, so why are only 30% of their roads paved?

Puerto Madryn is a nice oceanfront city with beaches, good food, and plenty to do if you are into marine wildlife. The first day there, we walked out to the fishing pier to get a good look at the city and much to our surprise, there were 2 Southern Right Whales within 20 feet of the pier. These whales are up to 50 feet long and weigh up to 55 tons. There they were, right by the pier! We rented a car and drove around Peninsula Valdez to see more wildlife and take a boat tour to get even closer to the whales. We got so close that Noah got wet when a whale that was right by our boat blew water out of one of his two blowholes. We could have reached over the side of our boat and touched one of these creatures!

Next up were the Elephant Seals, also found on Peninsula Valdez. They don't move very much, but were very interesting to see and learn about. Without getting into too much detail, the alpha males are polygamists who have harems in the 15 to 20 range. In many of the pictures, you will see one very large elephant seal (the alpha male) and many midsize females, and one pup (smaller black elephant seal) by each mother. We were fortunate to see what happens when an "alpha male wannabe" tries to move into an alpha males harem. Let's just say the alpha male sent the wannabe back out to sea very quickly.

The Magellan Penguins on the other hand are monogamists. We saw plenty of these penguins on a trip south of Puerto Madryn to visit the penguin colony of Punta Tombo. There is no real way to describe this "colony" other than to say that there are 175,000 pairs of penguins in this colony. Yes, for you math majors out there, that would be 350,000 penguins! Never having seen a penguin in person, this colony was quite different than my previous conception of penguins. These penguins are small (about knee high to me), live in pairs (1 husband and 1 wife) and build their homes in dugout holes below tumble weeds in the Argentine desert. Take a look at the pictures, it is quite a site to see.

To view pictures from our Puerto Madryn slide show, click on the following link ==> Puerto Madryn, Argentina Slide Show.

E Calafate, Argentina - Sheep, Glaciers, and Barbeque

2008-10-08T17:36:00.000-05:00

El Calafate, Argentina Slide Show

We had an uneventful border crossing from Chile into Argentina and ended up in El Calafate. Crossing the border did not change the scenery as Chile and Argentina border each other in Patagonia. The main reason that most visitors come to El Calafate is to visit the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and the Perito Moreno Glacier in particular.

After staying in El Calafate for a few nights, we found out that there is much more to the town than the glaciers. The town reminded us of Pucon, Chile with its nice downtown area and beautiful countryside with ranches, lakes, and mountains. We stayed at the nicest youth hostel, Hostal del Glaciar Libertador that we have stayed at on this trip. Noah had a bunk bed set to himself, so he was happy.

We took a full day trip to the National Park. Along the way, we stopped at a 25,000 sheep ranch. The sheep were friendly enough to let us pet and hold them. Actually, you don't want to hold them too long as they don't smell very good. We also came across flamingos, horses, cows, condors, and on rare occasions, other humans. One of the humans that we met was a woman who is French, lived in Edina, MN for 7 years and then Belgium and is now studying in Argentina. Like everyone else on our van but us, she spoke at least 3 languages fluently.

The highlight was our visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is not only impressive in size, but also color and sound. The parts of the glacier that appear white are due to the air bubbles that allow long wavelengths of light to be absorbed. In the areas of the glacier that are more compacted due to the weight on the top pushing ice particles together, blue light (short wavelengths) are transmitted. The periodic booming sounds come from large ice chunks that fall off the glacier and crash into Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina. Okay, there is your lesson for the day.

At the end of a long day sightseeing, it was time to try out the barbeque that the Argentineans are famous for. Many restaurants have beef and lamb seasoned perfectly slow cooking over open fire pits. I had an all you can eat buffet smorgasbord one night and Jennifer and I had filets that were every bit as good as Manny's in Minneapolis. After all the bread and cheese over the last 5 weeks, it was great to sit down to a wonderful steak and a great glass of Argentinean wine.

To see a slide show of El Calafate, Argentina, click on the following link ==> El Calafate, Argentina Slide Show.

Puerto Natales, Chile - Last Stop in Chile

2008-10-06T20:47:00.000-05:00

"When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in…" - D. H. Lawrence

Puerto Natales, Chile Slide Show

I am not sure if the above quote was talking about the bone quivering cold of Chile's Patagonia, but the quote seems appropriate since our final days in Chile were spent shivering with cold and being frightful of the intense winds. Fortunately for us, the scenery made it all worthwhile. After our boat ride on the Navimag, we stayed 3 nights in Puerto Natales, a city that is the stopping off point to visit Torres del Paines (Towers of Pain) National Park.

The park is best known for it's spectacular granite pillar mountains and extensive hiking trails and camping. We were not equipped to stay overnight in the park, so we rented a car and toured the park in one day. I know it was cheating, but considering the conditions and our lack of proper equipment it worked out quite well. It felt good to drive a car since it was the first time that we rented a car on this trip and the fact that I don't even own a car right now. Anyway, as I stated, the scenery in the park is incredible. We visited waterfalls, lakes, rivers, mountains, and a lake that had floating glacier chunks from the Glacier Grey. At one point, the winds were so intense that we had to all get down on the ground for fear of being blown over. We later found out that there were up to 70 mph wind gusts in the area.

We also visited Cueva (cave) del Milodon. The cave gets it's name from a Milodon, whose remains were found in the cave. The slow moving, herbivorous Milodon, which stood about 12 feet tall, ate the leaves of small trees, but they were hunted to extinction by humans. To the left is a life size replica "hugging" Noah. The cave was interesting and thankfully, the wind died down inside the cave.

Other than going to the National Park and the cave, a lot of time was spent hanging out in the marginal lodging that we had in Puerto Natales listening to the sleet and snow attack our already cracked window. This once again provided a nice chance for Noah to get some schoolwork done. Our residencial had CNN, which allowed us to watch the Vice Presidential debate on TV. Who are you voting for?

To view a slide show of Puerto Natales, Chile, click on the following link ==> Puerto Natales, Chile Slide Show

*** Final Thoughts and Observations About Chile ***

As we sat inside listening to the nasty weather outside, we put together the following thoughts on Chile.

Chile is a country of extreme geographical diversity. If you travel there, you will find deserts, vineyards, beaches, lakes, volcanoes, forests, fjords, granite peaks, a large city (Santiago) and glaciers.
The extreme geographical diversity comes from the fact that Chile is extremely long and skinny. In fact, much to my dismay, we never found a map of Chile that showed the entire country on one page. It's shape is not conducive to normal paper. A long skinny scroll would work better.
Chile is a safe country with a modern tourist industry and an economy that is considered one of the strongest in South America. The capital, Santiago, is a dynamic city where one third of the nation's population resides. Chile's main exports are copper, fruit, seafood, and wine.
The prosperity and infrastructure of Chile makes you feel like you are in the United States or Europe, other than the fact that I swear that they speak Chilean and not Spanish. I got along okay with my Spanish in Peru since they talk slower and don't use as much slang as Chile.
Unfortunately, the humble, service oriented nature of Peruvians is not found in Chile. People seem to be more uptight and reserved. The fact of the matter is that they do not need you from a tourist perspective as much as Peru does. Just a thought, but maybe the prosperity and wealth does not lead to happiness. We missed the smiles on the faces of Peruvians.
The exchange rate of 541 Chilean Pesos to 1 dollar lead to a perpetual math lesson as we relied on Noah to give us the US dollar equivalent.
Patagonia is a wonderfully deserted, cold, windy, beautiful place for the "End of the Americas". The next stop is Antarctica - maybe we will go to Antarctica someday, but we were not dressed for it. Patagonia was rugged enough for the limited resources contained in our backpacks.
We have never had such good wine for $3 a bottle.
The bright colors used on Chilean houses are a distinct contrast to the lack of color in their clothing. Most people live in brightly colored houses, but leave them each day wearing dark earth tones.
Traveling around the world has turned Noah into a question machine. Leaving the comforts of home where he had nothing in particular to inquire about beyond "can I order a pay per view movie on our HDTV?" has lead to prolonged discussions about the world economy, inflation, why the glaciers are blue, why the wind blows more in certain areas, what is socialism and does it work, unemployment, supply and demand, the industrial revolution, what is the difference between a lamb and a sheep, trade deficits, unemployment, why does everyone else speak at least 3 languages but us, and do I have to pay for the Skittles out of my allowance. If any of you have answers to any of his questions, feel free to comment.
Traveling is a good thing . . . more on this later.

Patagonia, Chile - Navimag "Cruise" Through Patagonia

2008-10-03T15:54:00.000-05:00

"Travel in general, and vagabonding in particular, produces an awesome density of experience … a cramming together of incidents, impressions and life detail that is both stimulating and exhausting. So much new and different happens to you so frequently, just when you’re most sensitive to it. … You may be excited, bored, confused, desperate and amazed all in the same happy day." - Ed Buryn

Navimag, Chile Slide Show

After spending a night in Puerto Montt, Chile, we took off on a 4 day, 3 night "cruise" on the Navimag to Puerto Natales, Chile. The word cruise is in quotes so that you don't get confused with cruise lines like The Royal Caribbean. The Navimag is a freighter that has been retrofitted to include some bunk rooms for passengers. On board, there are trucks along with their drivers, horses, cars, produce, and people.

Actually, the accommodations were fine, the food was okay and we met all kinds of interesting people on board. Included in the 106 passengers were people from Chile, Germany, Australia, Switzerland New Zealand, England, Holland, Spain, France, Israel, Ireland, and the United States. As with most of our travels, Jennifer, Noah and I were not the "normal" travelers. For the most part, the travelers are either retired vacationers or in their 20's traveling around the world. We have yet to come across another 40 something family home schooling their teenager around the world. Are we crazy?

The voyage was days of sailing in southern Chile's fjords, channels, and bays along the Pacific coast. If you take a look at a map of Chile, you will see that there are no roads, or people for that matter, in these parts. It is a sea (no pun intended) of water, mountains, and forests. Don't mention the Pacific Ocean part to Jennifer. The swells knocked our ship around pretty good, resulting in Jennifer depositing her dinner into the same ocean that caused her to do so. Take that, Pacific Ocean!

In the entire journey, we only came across civilization once in Puerto Eden, a small fishing port and the last outpost of the Qawashqar Indians. After freezing out on the deck for over an hour waiting for the dolphins that were supposedly going to be there, I retreated to our room. Dejected, I laid down on my bunk and started reading a book, a rare opportunity to read on Jennifer's Kindle. Luckily, I looked out the window and saw dolphins swimming by. I scared Noah and Jennifer half to death as I jumped off my bunk yelling, "dolphins"!

The scenery along the way is beautiful, but the weather at this time of the year is quite cold. We would periodically go out on deck to take pictures and get some fresh air, but due to the weather, much of the time was spent indoors in our cabin or in the multi-purpose cafeteria/movie theatre/reading room/gathering place/bar.

The inclement weather and extra time on our hands allowed Noah to catch up on his studies. He had the opportunity to work on his Math, Science, Reading, Writing, and Spanish. He was quite pleased with this chance to get all caught up!

After traveling through this area of Chile, you can see why there are not a lot of people living down here. It is beautiful, but the weather and rough terrain should keep this area untouched and allow people to explore the wonders of Patagonia for years to come. That is a good thing! To see the Navimag slide show, click on the following link ==> Navimag, Chile Slide Show

Pucon, Chile - Adventure!

2008-09-30T19:31:00.000-05:00

Pucon, Chile Slide Show

The picture to the left is of the Villarrica Volcano, the backdrop to the beautiful town of Pucon, Chile. Look at the smoke coming out the top of the volcano. It is still active! According to Lonely Planet Chile, "Carbon dating has determined that Villarrica had a massive eruption around 1810 BC. The first historically recorded eruption was in AD 1158 and since then, the volcano has had small to medium eruptions on well over 50 occasions. The largest modern eruptions were in 1640, 1948 and 1971." We didn't experience a volcanic eruption, but we did enjoy waking up to this view each morning.

In addition to the Volcano, Pucon is home to Lake Villarrica, multiple rivers, lakes and some incredible scenery. To think that only 4 days prior to going to Pucon, we had never heard of the town! That is one very good thing about not planning out every day of this trip. We can alter our schedules based on information that we learn from other travelers and locals.

The day before we came to Pucon, we experienced our first injury. If you are waiting for a dramatic story about how it happened, stop holding your breath. Jennifer jammed her pinky toe on a suitcase that was lying on the floor, resulting in a broken pinky toe. Since this prevented a hike up the volcano, we went horseback riding instead. This turned out to be a nice alternative to hiking. Our guide was outstanding and the countryside was stunning despite a cloudy drizzly day.

After horseback riding, we went to some natural hot springs to rest our sore horseback riding bottoms. I don't know if it helped our bottoms but it sure helped us sleep well that night. The roar of the mountain river rapids nearby as we soaked in hot springs was very relaxing. Everyone fell asleep on the van ride back to our hotel.

Speaking of rapids, Noah and I spent the next day white water rafting down the Trancura River. Since Chile is still in their Spring season, the mountain melt coming down the river meant for a very exciting ride. It is a good thing that we had wet suits on as we ended up in the river on three different occasions. The wildest rapid was named "fisher man's" as in they fish out man after they fly off the raft. Noah might not agree with me, but I thought it was an incredible rapid and yes, they fished us out.

The following day, the 3 of us rented bikes and set out on a bike ride to a waterfall that was supposedly 7 miles outside of town. Seven miles on a bike does not sound that hard does it? Well, it is if the last 4 miles are straight up the mountainside. This is an instance where a lack of information (we thought the route was flat) can hurt you. We alternated between riding and walking our bikes up the mountainside (remember that Jennifer has a broken toe).

We kept getting directions from locals on how to get to the falls. Towards the end of our journey, a very kind, old man with a great smile that was gathering Quail eggs offered to walk us up to the falls. Delirious from our climb, we mistakenly declined his invitation. We should have taken him up on his offer since we never actually found the waterfall. We eventually gave up and found a place to play catch instead. On the way down we passed the same man as he was walking into town with his Quail eggs. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we never saw the falls as we rode by so instead, I yelled "magnifico" to him. He smiled back and raised his hand in triumph. Yes, my "magnifico" line was a white lie, but one that I felt fine about as I looked back and saw his smiling face.

Pucon had the feel of a Western United States ski town with a few South American twists. If we didn't have a ship to catch for travel through Patagonia, we would have stayed much longer. Maybe we will come back - or maybe not, since there is so much else to see!

To see a slide show of Pucon, click on the following link ==> Pucon, Chile Slide Show

Santiago, Chile - Andes, Culture, Wine, Skiing, and McDonalds

2008-09-26T08:55:00.000-05:00

Santiago, Chile Slide Show

Santiago is the beautiful capital city of Chile that is surrounded by the Andes mountains. On a clear day, which we were fortunate to have all 4 days, the views of the city and the Andes mountains are spectacular. The picture to the left is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of Cerro San Cristobal, the highest point in Santiago. On a day that we rented bikes, we biked up to the top for some incredible views of the city.

Sometimes everything goes your way in a city when traveling. By chance, we happened upon a great apartment in the middle of Santiago, close to everything that we wanted to do and was within our budget. It had a nice kitchen, a separate room for Noah, and Satellite TV! We even let Noah go to McDonalds to quench his appetite for "American French Fries". Jennifer and I did not participate in this event. We were able to get to anything we wanted to quickly being near the Santiago Metro (Subway) that runs constantly to every part of the city. During rush hour, you even get to try and set a Guinness Book of World Records to see how many people you can squeeze into one train.

The city of Santiago is wonderful to wander around and there are unlimited amounts of day trips you can take. One day trip that Noah and I took was to Valle Nevado, a ski resort only 40 miles outside of Santiago. The scenery on the ride up through the Andes to the ski area was worth the price of admission. The skiing was unique in that the entire ski area is above the tree line. The highest lift takes you up to over 12,000 feet. The sun was so bright against the sea of white snow that we had to have sunglasses on at all times. The spring weather made for some warm, slushy skiing. It was an awesome day! The other benefit of Noah and I going off skiing is that it allowed Jennifer to wander the city without having a 13 year old roll his eyes at every cultural stop along the way.

Another great side trip was to the Concha y Toro winery on the outskirts of Santiago.We took a wine tour and enjoyed a couple samples of some excellent wine. Concha y Toro is Chile's largest winery. The most common brand that you will see in the United States is Casillero del Diablo. We tried a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. Casillero del Diablo translates as "The Devil's Cellar". They told the locals that the devil was in the cellar to stop them from going into the cellars to steal their wine. The high end wine of Concha y Toro is Don Melchor. We were able to taste a 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon that was as good as we have ever tasted. Since Noah is only 13, we were able to get his samples. At the end of the tour, we met Rob, a former Savage, MN resident who now lives in Ohio. Having a driver from his hotel while on business, Rob gave us a ride back to Santiago so we were able to avoid another bus and subway ride. Thanks Rob!

On the day we rented bikes, we came across Dan "Gringo" Brewington, the General Manager of Radio Santiago. an English speaking radio station. After exchanging stories, he asked if we would go on the air to be interviewed. He was intrigued with our around the world travels. He has quite a story to tell himself as someone who is from New York, has worked as a police officer in London and is now managing a radio station in Santiago. Unfortunately, we were heading off to the airport, so the interview didn't work out. We might do an interview via Skype in the future.

To see a slide show of Santiago, click on the following link ==> Santiago, Chile Slide Show.

By the way, the Twins are in 1st Place! Go Twins!

Valparaiso, Chile - What Did We Miss?

2008-09-24T09:41:00.000-05:00

Valparaiso, Chile Slide Show

After traveling quickly through Peru, we were looking for a nice place to settle down for 6 nights. The guidebooks that we consulted on Valparaiso led us to believe that it was the perfect city to hang out in for a week. The Lonely Planet Chile Guide states that, "Valparaiso is undoubtedly the most unique city in Chile" and "has long been the continent's best kept secret". Not to be outdone, Footprints South American Handbook lists 6 places in their "Don't Miss" section on Chile and the city of Valparaiso was listed first.

As the title of this blog says, what did we miss?! Let's just say that we were relieved to be able to get out of our 6 night commitment at our "apartment" after spending 4 nights there. The apartment ended up being in a marginal area of town, was dark and dingy and we were afforded the opportunity to pay the most we have paid on a per night basis yet on our trip!

To be fair, the location of our apartment contributed greatly to our issues with Valparaiso. Although we were across the street from a famous Valparaiso landmark, La Iglesia Matriz, the oldest church in Valparaiso, the drunks in town used the steps leading up to the church as a pillow and the dogs used those same steps as their outhouse (the drunks did too, but let's not get into that). There are stray dogs and cats fighting all night long and sleeping in the sun (see the first picture in this blog) during the day. The dog is not dead. There are hundreds of them around town that sleep like that all day. Valparaiso just confirmed my love for these wonderful beings.

We did manage to find some interesting things to do while in Valparaiso - much better than hanging out at our "apartment". We took a harbor boat tour since Valparaiso is quite a large port town. We also spent a couple afternoons hanging out at two different beaches in the area. As long as you didn't have a need to go in the changing rooms, life was good at the beach. There are some nicer neighborhoods up in the hills that have very interesting architecture and some of the most amazing graffiti that you will ever see.

One night, we decided to do something different and go to the horse racing track in town. We were temporarily lost trying to find the track until some nice German/Peruvian man who speaks every language picked us up and drove us to the gate. Noah, never missing a chance to question our parenting skills, asked us why we tell HIM NOT to get a ride from a stranger, but it is okay for us to in a foreign country from a man that we don't know. Jennifer and I went with the "Do as we say, not as we do" line. Has anyone else ever used that line when you were at a complete loss of an explanation?

Anyway, we bet on 2 races. The first race, we chose a horse that had a name that we liked, Oceans Eleven. That didn't work so well as the horse finished 12th in a 12 horse race. Next, we went with the pre-race favorite, and that strategy worked great until the final .001 seconds of the race as our horse was beat in a photo finish. We would have won, but I only knew how to say bet to win in Spanish instead of bet to place or show.

Valparaiso goes to show you that you can't always win over the course of a 7 month trip. All is well and we learned a lesson about location, location, location. If you go to Valparaiso, do not stay in an apartment by La Iglesia Matriz. To see a slide show of Valparaiso, click on the following link ==> Valparaiso, Chile Slide Show.

Leaving Peru - Final Thoughts and Observations

2008-09-19T09:22:00.000-05:00

Road to Chile Slide Show

Due to a complicated combination of bus schedules, Peru exit fees (if you fly OUT of the country), Chilean entrance fees (if you fly INTO the country), we were Nomads for the few days that it took us to get to our first destination in Chile.

After our Lake Titicaca boat tour in Puno, we hopped on a bus the next day bound for Arequipa, Peru. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru. It is nothing like Lima though. The city was founded by Spaniards and as a result, has mostly European architecture. It feels like you are in Spain instead of Peru. It is a much more modern city than the rest of Peru. We stayed in a wonderful place run by a Dutch man, but were only able to stay one night due to our previously mentioned schedule.

After Arequipa, we took a 5 hour bus ride to Tacna, the southernmost city in Peru. Once there, we hired a Collectivo Taxi to help us with the border crossing from Peru into Chile. This proved to be money well spent as we saved over $1,000 in airport exit and entrance fees, and a lower flight cost to Santiago and moved smoothly across the border to Arica, Chile.

Due to a flight the next day, we stayed only one night in Arica. We attended a large "Minnesota State Fair" like celebration in Arica, commemorating the anniversary of Peru's Independence. Noah and I got to throw balled up socks at metal cans in an attempt to win Jennifer a fine vintage bottle of Chilean wine, but we both failed. I decided not to try to throw a ring around a Whiskey bottle to win a bottle of whiskey. I wouldn't have felt right having the 8 year old working the game handing me a bottle of whiskey as my prize.

The last leg of our trip was a plane ride from Arica to Santiago, Chile on Sky Airlines. Even though it stopped twice on the way to drop off and pick up passengers at small 2 gate airports, the service was outstanding. The drink cart came by 3 times (free wine) and even served us a meal! We weren't even charged extra to bring our bags on the plane. Nice!

*** Final Thoughts and Observations About Peru ***

As we sat on the airplane, our thoughts turned to Peru. In no particular order, here is what the three of us came up with.

Peru is extremely inexpensive, which allowed us to spend well below our daily budget for the trip. Taxi rides for 3 people across town for $0.33 makes for a happy budget.
The people of Peru are a mixture of modern Peruvians, Quechuan, and Amayri. There seems to be a mutual respect for the cultures of each group. Overall, we found Peruvians to be humble, friendly, helpful, service oriented and very welcoming to tourists. Not once did we feel threatened even though we stuck out quite a bit with our height and blonde hair. Both the Quechuan and Amayri people dress in bright colors, making our black, tan, and olive attire look quite drab.
The official religion of Peru is Catholicism, but they mix Catholicism with their ancient cultures and rituals. There are lots of parades and ceremonies commemorating religious and national events.
We underestimated how much there is to see and do in Peru. As one of our guides stated, "Peru is much more than Machu Picchu". He couldn't be more right. We saw a lot in our 17 days, but we didn't see the extreme sports of the North, the jungles of the East, and the canyons of the South.
The mix of ancient ruins and natural beauty is a very unique aspect of Peru.
An interesting note is that for the most part you must pay in cash and have the correct change. Either nobody has change or they are not willing to give it up. I had many cab drivers look at me like I was taking their first born when I asked for change. Does anyone out there know why this is the case?
We underestimated the time it takes to cover distances. The only routes that Peru has through the Andes are switchback roads up and over the mountains. Expect to travel 20 to 30 miles per hour when calculating times. Not calculating correctly led to an 18 hour overnight bus ride - not good.
We cannot recommend anyone from the United States driving a car in Peru. The cities are filled with buses and taxis that perpetually move, never coming to a stop even though there might have been a stop sign. The buses and taxis seem to be choreographed to all keep moving and somehow never make contact.
With all the walking and hiking, if your legs can't get in shape in Peru, they can't get in shape anywhere.

*** Miscellaneous Traveling Lessons Learned ****

Noah likes Inka Cola (their local pop made from lemongrass). He says that it gives him energy.
We enjoy small towns and natural scenery over big cities
The money paid for quality backpacks and hiking shoes is money well spent.
Due to space limitations, we can't buy anything unless we get rid of something. This is a good and bad thing. Good for the budget, but not so good if you really want something.
In future countries, we plan to visit less places, but spend more time there. There just isn't enough time to see all that a country and their people has to offer.

Overall, we would highly recommend Peru as a family vacation destination. The people and the scenery are well worth the visit. Go to the following link to see a slide show ==> Road to Chile Slide Show

Puno / Lake Titicaca - Land of the Aymaras and Quechua

2008-09-15T22:48:00.000-05:00

Puno Slide Show

The picture to the left is of Noah and Jennifer on a boat made out of reeds near the Islas Flotantes (Floating Islands) on Lake Titicaca. Noah is wearing his new hat and Jennifer is wearing her new sweater, both made out of hand-woven Alpaca Wool. To give you an idea of the cost of living in Peru, Noah's hat was the equivalent of $1.67 and Jennifer's sweater was the equivalent of $9.00.

To get to Puno, we took a tour bus from Cusco to Puno. It stopped 4 times along the way to look at ancient ruins and a small town museum. We had an excellent tour guide who had a passion for the ancient ruins even if it was 3 too many stops for Noah who would have appreciated the ruins more when they were first built. But then again, they wouldn't be ruins, would they?!

Puno is a town of roughly 100,000 people at an elevation of 12,500 feet above sea level. You don't really come to visit Puno, as it is not a very pretty city. You come to Puno because it is a great access point to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest lake in South America. In addition to visiting islands on the lake, we saw a few celebrations in town, an old ship that is being restored, and stayed at a hotel with a TV - the first TV on this trip. We watched CNN for awhile to catch up on USA and world matters. Who is running for President and more importantly Vice President?

In Puno, we also bumped into Ryan, from Chicago, who we had previously met at Machu Picchu. His travels started in St Louis and between planes, trains, and boats, he wanted to travel through the United States, Central America and all the way to the Southern tip of South America. His trip hit a roadblock in Guatemala when someone stole his shoes. Just buy new ones, right? Not exactly - he couldn't find size 12's in Guatemala, so he had to fly to Miami to buy new shoes and resume his trip with a flight to Peru. Part of the fun of this adventure is meeting people traveling from all over the world and hearing their stories. They are all unique and all worthy taking the time to listen to.

Back to Lake Titicaca. We took a boat tour to 2 different islands. The first was to a floating island made entirely of reeds. The Aymaras still live on these islands and use reeds from the lake to build the islands, their boats and their houses. They even use the reeds for food and firewood. A visit to these islands was one of the more unique experiences we have had so far on this trip.

The next island that we visited was Isla Taquile, a 2-1/2 boat ride from the floating islands. No, Scott Rudin, they do not make Tequila on the island. Taquile Island has been inhabited for thousands of years and currently has a population of approximately 2,000 people. The Quechua people live on this island and due to the relationship that our guide has with the people on this island, we were able to meet families, eat lunch with them, and get a first-hand view of their customs and livelihood. Our guide was incredible. He spoke Spanish, Aymara, Quechua, and English fluently.

With the help of our guide, we not only visited some beautiful places, but left with a greater understanding of the Aymara and Quechua cultures. To see a slide show of Puno, click on the following link ==> Puno Slide Show.

WOW! - Machu Picchu, Peru

2008-09-12T21:42:00.000-05:00

FYI - Due to a recent lack of quality internet access to upload posts, we are adding 3 posts at the same time. As a result, the Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, and Cusco posts are all new. Feel free to read them all.

Machu Picchu Slide Show

The three of us just tried to come up with a word or phrase that concisely describes Machu Picchu. Sorry, but the best that we could come up with was WOW! For those of you that have been there, you understand. Machu Picchu by itself is an awe-inspiring architectural feat, completed around 1450. Throw in the majestic location of the city, encompassed by gorges and mountains in a region between the Andes and the Amazon rainforest and all we can say is WOW! It definitely has earned it's inclusion in the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Getting to Machu Picchu takes a bit of work and money due to it's remote location. The adventurous people hike for 4 days on the Inka Trail to get there. On the other end of the spectrum are those that use a combination of trains and buses to get there. We took the somewhat in between route as we got up at 5 am in Ollantaytambo to catch a train to Aguas Calientes. Then, instead of taking the bus up to Machu Picchu we decided to hike up. We found out that most people are content with a bus ride since we only met 5 people walking along the 2 hour climb. What did they all know that we didn't? Well, the climb is a very steep climb up through the jungle on old Inka steps. Noah could have run up the mountain, but he had to keep waiting for his elders to stop and catch their breath.

On the way up we saw birds of paradise, impatients, butterflies, and fronds (Jennifer threw out that word - I have no idea what a frond is) of ferns that grow naturally in this tropical forest. We saw small lizards and flocks (I know what a flock is) of parrots during our climb. We liked all the plants and animals except the sand flies. Noah and I had shorts on which led to our legs looking like a chicken pox outbreak by the time that we reached the top. Bug repellent would have been nice. Jennifer, once again the most prepared one, had pants on and was left unscathed.

The architectural feat of moving these large (in some cases, thousands of pounds) stones up a steep mountain peak 1,000's of feet above the river where they moved them from is unfathomable. The source of the stone that they used was from Urubamba, an area 30 miles away. They moved the stones from Urubamba by diverting the river after moving the stones to the riverbank. Once in the river at the base of the mountain, they then had to move them up the mountain and build a sophisticated city complete with sewer and drainage systems. The tiered terraces were used for agriculture.

Noah didn't believe the Inka's could have done this on their own and is going with the divine intervention theory. He might have something there. After hiking up the mountain and walking around all afternoon, he changed his mind and went with the "Inka loco" theory. Shortly after coming up with the "Inka Loco" theory, Noah noticed an area of Machu Picchu that was isolated enough that Noah and I could play catch. I did a little research on the web and I did not come across anyone else who has played catch at Machu Picchu.

While at Machu Picchu, the grandeur and serenity of the place was interrupted by the filming of a Bollywood movie. Go figure. The lead actors were from India and the dancers were from Peru. It made for an interesting, albeit odd viewing while we sat down for a snack. Even Machu Picchu is becoming in touch with the modern world - which I could argue is not necessarily a good thing.

The day ended with a train ride back to Ollantaytambo on Peru Rail. Besides a meal on the train, their was an entertainer with a painted ski mask dancing up and down the aisles followed a fashion show of local Alpaca wear. The German tourists on the train were a little more into the experience than the 3 of us. We chose to lay our heads back and dream of Machu Picchu.

To see our slide show of Machu Picchu, click on the following link ==> Machu Picchu Slide Show.

Ollantaytambo, Peru and the Sacred Valley

2008-09-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Ollantaytambo Slide Show

There are many ways to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco, including luxury buses and taxis. Wanting a local experience and potentially gluttons for punishment, we boarded a mini-bus where we were the only non-Peruvians onboard. When the bus filled in Cusco, we were off for a 2-1/2 hour bus ride for $1.30 each. The luxury buses were $25 each.

In the end the $1.30 each was one of the best expenditures yet on this trip. The entire bus ride was a stop and go process of stopping for people beside the road and picking them up or dropping them off. It was wonderful to see the positive interaction between native Quechua and modern Peruvians as they got on and off the bus. The schoolchildren used our mini-bus to get to school and the natives used it to get from town to town. It is an understatement to say that Peru does not have any limits to how many people can ride on a bus at one time.

Our plan was to stay in Ollantaytambo for the night before and the night of going to Machu Picchu. Once here, we realized we needed to stay another night to truly enjoy this wonderful town, so we did. That is what's great about not having a set plan. We can get out of town earlier or later than we originally thought. This might cost us at some point, but now it is working. In fact, Jennifer stated, "I could live here." Noah didn't necessarily agree, but he is 13 and the internet is very slow.

To avoid unnecessary attention, Jennifer left her wedding ring at home. But to avoid a different kind of attention, she felt it was best to get another ring for the trip. She found a very nice lapis and silver ring at a local art store. The picture to the left is of Jim putting the ring on Jennifer's finger. She said YES AGAIN and Noah captured the moving ceremony between dinner and dessert.

Ollantaytambo is a town of 2,000 people surrounded by the Andes mountains with Inca ruins all around in the mountains. The town is dominated by an Inca Fortress, which is considered the best surviving example of Inca city planning. The three of us climbed up to the fortress and spent the afternoon walking around. It is amazing how this structure was built approximately 600 years ago. How they got the massive stones up the steep mountain and built a city is extremely impressive.

At the top of the fortress, we noticed a very old bull ring on the outskirts of town. Most people would look at the bull ring and say, "cool". Noah and I looked at it and said, "that would be a great place to play catch." - so we did. Not used to seeing baseball in their bull ring, local school children became interested and sat in the stands to watch. Two girls, Maria and Sylvana came over to Jennifer in the stands and were fascinated with her camera and curious about the 2 guys throwing something around in the bull ring. The trust the 2 girls showed to come right up to Jennifer and start asking her questions was fun to see from the ring.

Next came a boy, Romalo who you could tell wanted to do more than just watch. I motioned for him to join us in the bull ring. I gave him my glove and got real close to him to have him throw the ball to me. He almost knocked me over and I soon realized that he could throw the ball the length of the bull ring. This little bugger has a great arm! After being back at our Hostal for awhile, Jennifer came inside to tell me that there were now 4 children waiting outside the Hostal for me to come and play catch with them. What could be better than playing catch with locals in an old bull ring in a beautiful town looking up at ancient Inca ruins!

To see our slide show of Ollantaytambo, click on the following link ==> Ollantaytambo Slide Show.

Cusco, Peru - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2008-09-09T20:23:00.000-05:00

Cusco Slide Show

After our rest and fun in the desert, we boarded a bus in Ica for Cusco, Peru. Prior to getting on our bus, we first spent an uneventful day in Ica waiting for our overnight bus to leave. This is all that needs to be said about our day in Ica - an endless amount of vendors, a bad chicken dinner, and a lack of focus on our part to do anything other than wander aimlessly. Noah did get a math lesson done in a cafe though!

We then boarded a Cruz del Sur bus, a "luxury" bus line in Peru for our "15 hour" overnight bus ride. Nice bus, they serve dinner and breakfast, and we don't have to pay for a night of lodging. What is there not to like? Well, let me tell you. The bus left 45 minutes late and it actually took 18 hours. It took 18 hours because it never got above 30 miles per hour due to it's endless climb up the Andes Mountains, eventually ending in Cusco, a city 10,909 feet above sea level. The 18 hour bus ride felt like an 18 hour tilt-a-whirl ride at Valleyfair with all the switchbacks while climbing and the fact that we were on the second level of the bus in the back. The scenery was nice though!

We rolled into Cusco with high altitude headaches, and not sleeping, not showering, not brushing our teeth and we still had 17 taxi drivers all asking to take us somewhere. The pain subsided as we were taken to our hotel, which was a nice little place in the San Blas neighborhood of Cusco, even higher up overlooking the city. The hotel was Casa de Campo and it had nice clean rooms with hot showers and wireless internet. Things were looking up.

Actually, things were looking up for Jennifer and Noah. I wish the same could be said for me. For the next 72 hours I dealt with not only altitude sickness but a bad case of traveler's sickness (that is the nice term). The first 36 hours were spent in bed with a pillow over my head while Jennifer and Noah explored the city. A couple days later, Noah picked it up, luckily for only 24 hours. Fortunately, the Park Nicollet Travel Clinic outfitted us with the appropriate medication and all is well now.

While I was back in the room, Jennifer came across a Spring festival, a colorful parade of Peruvian dancers and musicians. She enjoyed the mix of Spanish and Inca architecture, churches and markets. She returned back to a lifeless husband and grabbed Noah for dinner. The highlight of our stay in Cusco was our Spanish lessons, taught by Peruvian single mothers, a non-profit organization that benefits them directly. All three of us (yes, Jim was up and about) had our own private instructors that took us around town and taught us Spanish vocabulary and grammar. Jennifer and Noah's teachers brought them to the Mercado Central, where they saw every imaginable animal part for sale, including cow tongue, pigs tail, and local delicacy, guinea pig and one variety of cheese.

The good news is that we are now all healthy for our trip to Machu Picchu! To see a slide show of Cusco, click on the following link ==> Cusco Slide Show.

Huacachina, Peru - An Oasis in the Desert

2008-09-07T19:50:00.000-05:00

Huacachina Slide Show

After a busy time getting ready for the trip and a couple days in large, busy Lima, Huacachina was the perfect place to chill for a couple days. Huacachina is a town of 200 people outside Ica on the West coast of Peru. The town has an oasis in the middle, surrounded by 2 blocks of hotels, hostels, and restaurants. All around are huge sand dunes/mountains that go on forever. We were told that it used to be a place for the Peruvian elite, but it has fallen on tougher times and now is mainly for foreign travelers.

To get to Huacachina, we took a bus from Peru through an area of the country that had been devestated by an earthquake a few years ago. It was sad to see the towns in disarray as we rolled through. People are living in buildings that have never been rebuilt. The countryside was beautiful, but the towns will take many years to repair. To see some photos from the bus, click on the following slideshow ==> Lima to Ica. Speaking of earthquakes, we felt our first tremor one morning. When I asked the guy at the front desk about it, he said "Zero, no problema, es safe."

We stayed at a beautiful hostel for only $40 per night, called Hotel El Huacachinero. It had a pool, bar, restaurant, clean rooms, and beautiful views of the sand dunes. We have noticed that at all service places, the Peruvian people are very conscientious about service. They spend most of the day sweeping and cleaning and whatever you ask for gets brought to you as opposed to you picking it up. We had a nice time exchanging stories with fellow travelers from all over the world.

Noah and Jim climbed the sand dune out back of the hotel. It was a difficult climb for Jim, not so difficult for Noah, who climbed it twice. They brought their gloves to the top and had a very unique place to play catch.

The three of us went on a dune buggy tour of the area. The tour also included sand boarding down the dunes. The young people (20 somethings) in our group were impressed with Jennifer's lack of fear as she screamed down the dunes on her belly on the board. Noah and Jim chose to go on their feet, with many falls that led to sand in every exposed orifice. Whoever thought so many miles of sand could be so beautiful and so much fun!

To see a slideshow of Huacachina, click on the following link ==> Huacachina Slide Show.

First Stop - Lima, Peru

2008-09-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

Lima Slide Show

This is a picture of Noah and I as we were waiting for the taxi cab driver outside the Lima airport. The sign I am holding was from the taxi driver who was holding it when we arrived. Look at the sign closely. After a full day of travel, I could have used some Gin and my last name is Ford, so we went with him. The driver stated that he knew a little English and I told him that I "hablo espanol a poco a poco." The 40 minute cab ride was an exchange of broken English and Spanish. Noah was throwing out Spanish terms from the back seat to help and Jennifer chimed in with her mixture of French and Russian lessons. Raoul, our driver was a great sport.

We stayed a couple nights at Kusillu's Hostel in Miraflores, a nice suburb of Lima on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The hostel is run by Ricardo, a very helpful 20-something Peruvian. It was a good clean cheap place to stay.

We only had a day and a half to venture out in Lima and Miraflores, but managed to see quite a bit. Lima is a diverse city as we visited a beautiful new mall with an arcade for Noah, built into the cliffs of Miraflores in addition to seeing ancient Catacombs at the Cathedral de San Francisco and a Spanish Inquisition Museum where we saw many ways to torture individuals.

Lima is a city of 8 million people filled with taxis, buses, and cars, which I assume contributes to much of the smog that lingers over the city. The people are short with black hair. We are not, so we tended to stick out in a crowd. Multiple times while walking around Lima, school girls would smile, giggle with infatuation and point at Noah. The bold ones practiced their Spanish by saying to him, "Hello, how are you?" It was like walking around with a celebrity for me and Jennifer.

We had our fair share of mishaps with language, directions, and money, but overall it was a great way to start the trip. Click on the following link to see a slide show of Lima ==? Lima Slide Show.

Going, Going, Gone!

2008-09-01T15:08:00.001-05:00

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Yes, the title of this post is a reference to an announcer calling a home run. For you non-baseball fans, get used to it. I doubt it will be my last reference to the great game of baseball. I felt that it was an appropriate title since it seems like we have been going, going for quite some time. We did manage to leave enough of the details to cause an emotionally and physically draining final week in Minnesota.

We underestimated the amount of effort and emotional drain on getting our house ready to be rented, relinquishing the day to day operations of KinderMark, selling/donating the Durango, and putting our lives into 1 suitcase and 1 backpack each. We would like to offer a big thank you to those who stopped by, called, and prayed with us during this past week. All your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes are greatly appreciated.

We are writing this in the Ft Lauderdale airport in Florida, waiting for our flight to our first destination, Lima, Peru. The picture above is of Jennifer sitting in the Ford family airport command center. She is using the Laptop while charging an Ipod, camera and Skype phone. Between the three of us, we might create a drain on the Peruvian electrical system.

While Jennifer was working on the computer, Noah and I grabbed our gloves and went out into the sweltering Florida heat to play catch. Florida is not a dry heat!

Off to Peru!

We're Going!

2008-08-11T10:48:00.002-05:00

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

Our first step was to commit to taking 7 months out of our busy lives to travel the globe rather then just talking and dreaming about it, which we had been doing for quite some time. Let me tell you, that is no small step out of the comfort zone.

Our initial questions were - "Where will we go?" - "What will we do with our house?" - "Can we afford it?" After committing to the trip and researching where to go and what to do, the questions changed to, "How can we fit everything into ONLY 7 months?" - "I know 30 countries is a lot, but what do we cut out?". We were able to reduce the number of countries to 19 (20 if you include beginning and ending in the United States). The following slide show is a pictorial view of our trip itinerary.

Good bye for now. We need to get back to packing, getting Aaron off to college, getting the house ready to rent, and turning the business over. We leave in 3 weeks!

Where Are We Going?

2008-07-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

20 Countries in 204 days! Click on the map to check out the countries that we are visiting. To return back to the Ford Explorers Blog, click on the Back Button in your browser.