TravelStream™ news feed for member audrey.y.james on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/audrey.y.james en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 05 Aug 2006 20:45:52 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1154367900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1154367900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1154367900/tpod.html Sat, 05 Aug 2006 20:45:52 -0400 Headed Down South

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Wilkesboro, North Carolina, United States

Well, Well, Well. We made it. Back across the big water. In fact we've been here in Wilkesboro, NC for over a week now. "Headed Down South" has begun to feel like a distant memory. I suppose that is expected... after all....we are moving to Burlington, Vermont bright and early tomorrow and our minds have turned to that.I'm a bit exhausted to give a description of our travels. I'll leave it at this: We miss New Zealand more that we thought we would, especially compared to Wilkes-by-God. Who woulda thunk there is such a thing as the Mexican Navy? And in New Zealand? Nice folks, and probably the most intersting thing we saw in Auckland. If you go to NZ, don't spend more than a day in Auckland. Grizzle, the blind, brain-damaged house cat, my heart goes out to you buddy.So, "Head Down South" ends basically where it began - NC. A little wiser, worldlier, and broker. A new adventure starts tomorrow. Every one is welcome to visit us in lovely Vermont. Fall seems a popular time, but don't neglect the ski season. Spring is wide open. We'll email everyone when we settle. We're staying with a family temporarilly till we get a feel for the place. After all, we've never been there before!Salud!James and Audrey
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1152907320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1152907320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1152907320/tpod.html Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:53:50 -0400 Headed Down South

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Kaiwaka, New Zealand

One month later, another island, another HelpX host, more free internet.We traded in trusty Robert Marley for another, less damp van. The new one is called "faces" and is certainly an attention grabber. We do miss Bob however.Hmm...I'll try and avoid a synopsis, but its difficult. After leaving Nigel and Lees, we made our way north to Lewis Pass. That night was the coldest, starriest night yet. First, the cold - respiration froze on the windsheild... on the inside. Second, the stars. NZ has the best stars I have ever seen, bar none. Everything came together: that night was a new moon, we were 2 hours from major light sources, and the air was crisp and clear. I have never seen so much of the Milky Way or sooooo many stars. And thats after spending 6 months in Nevada.So the next morning we drove to some semi-hidden hot springs off the pass road. Most excellent! The mountain was frosty, but we were toasty. When we arrived early in the morn, we found a guy sleeping the hot springs, he'd been there all night. Needless to say he was a little shriveled as he proceeded to put his shirt on, stand and talk to us for 10 minutes, then put his pants on because they were frozen. Maintain eye contact at all times.On to Nelson, where Macs Brewery was unfortunately closed for renovation. We did manage to score some good orangic brew at Founders Brewery. Nelson didn't really appeal to us after that so we hightailed it to the final stop on the South Island trip, Picton. Wasn't really a good place to stay. You see, since we have a campervan, we've found its quite easy to simply pull over many places in NZ to crash for the night. Its a commonly accpeted practice and no one ever bothers you. Picton was a bit harder, its the ferry town. So we ended up dreaming in the cemetary parking lot. Hmm... a little freaky.Off to Wellington and the North Island via ferry, this ride much less nauseating. Then to Napier, Art Deco capital of the world (along with Miami). Napier was destroyed by a big earthquake in the 30s and the entire town was rebuilt in Art Deco architecture. Fasanating. Also fasanating, we were robbed again. Some one broke into our van in broad day light in town. They simply used a screwdriver to push the lock in the door. It appears they were in a big rush and took only those things with handles or straps: my bookbag, Audreys toiletry bag, the camera usb cable, our food bag and OJ, and my iPod. Needless to say, this has put a major downer on the trip. But we're taking it with strides and might actually be used to being robbed now. So we hightailed it out of Napier to the central plateau and soon our second HelpX host, Erua lodge at the base of Mt. Ruahpehu. This was curious stay. There wasn't much work to do, so we kinda had to search for projects. Audrey made some sweet as (NZ speak) signs for the lodge and I... well I tryed to look busy. The lodge was quite unorganized. We stuck it out for a week so we could try out the Ruahpehu slopes. Hmmm... painful. Bad gear, weather, and day. If you ever snowboard in NZ, go to the south island, forget the North Island.Next we had a "tourist day" - infamous glowworm caves, kiwi bird house!, and a traditional hangi. Ugh... this is too much to catch up on. Uh..on to the the northland, with Marijke and Robert...cattle wrangling, chicken shit scooping, mosaicing making, Lord of the Rings watching, interesting food eating (have you ever had lasagna with chili beans and hot peppers? And that pretty much catches us up to last week. I'll wait on the past week until we can upload more pics.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1150852740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1150852740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1150852740/tpod.html Fri, 14 Jul 2006 15:58:18 -0400 Headed Down South

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Rangiora, New Zealand

Hi Folks from Rangiora, New Zealand, about 30 minutes from Christchurch. When I started this email it was snowing heavily, though it's stopped now.First off, let me say...I love speaking english. Fluently and elequently, poorly with slang. Understanding and being understood (well, for the most part anyway).Unfortunately, email don't come cheap or free in New Zealand. And needless to say that since our last post about 3 weeks ago, a lot has happenened. ...We made it quickly to the South Island with our relocation-deal rental car in only 4 days. Driving is quite slow in New Zealand because the roads are curvy and shyte. On the way we camped a bit and made it to the national musuem in Wellington called Te Papa. Excellent place, great exhibits...including natural history, things made in New Zealand, and of course...Lord of the Rings.After that, we hoped on the ferry to cross Cook Straight (which nearly got to see my (Audrey's) dinner all over the floor). It was the largest ship I'd ever been on that moved like a giant kid had hold of it in the bath tub and was just slap happy splashing about.Made it to Christchurch, were we managed to gain the company of our new home "Bob", which is wonderfully painted with both old and young Bob Marley. We have actually managed to not get pulled over and searched by the cops, but I am certain it would have happened like 17 times by now if we were in the States. Bob is a fully functional camper van, complete with bed, stove and sink.After a quick night in Charlie B's Backpacker hostel we were off into the great yonder of the South Island. We made it across Arthur's Pass and down the West Coast. There we saw some magnificant (and quickly receding) glaciers (Franz Josef and Fox), picked up some cool jewelry (that we got to watch being made), and actually splurged for a night of non-free camping, but that was mainly so we could take a 4 day overdue shower.This is the part in the story where we have to give some major props to another compatriot (and fellow snow hungry new friend) Mike. We met Mike in a pub in Wanaka (Wan-eh-kah, not Wan-AK-ah). Mike works at the local Betty's (formerly Betty Ford's until she found out about it) Liquor store. This was a blessing on so many levels. Firstly, Mike new nearly everything going on in the small town. Including a wrap party for a new movie being shot in the area (10,000 BC). I unfortunately managed to fall asleep for this event, but Mike did sneak James into this party where he was able to look like a lowly peon and drink free beer and eat lots of BBQ. Mike also let us crash at his lovely (though quite cold) house for 2 nights, which was much appreciated. (THANKS MIKE!!!) Hopefully we will be able to return all the favors in the future.From Wanaka it was on to Queenstown where for several days we did varying snow dances to try to coax the glorious white stuff from the many clouds and finally a bit did fall. In between dances, we had a very chance encounter. We knew our friend Milly (former international volunteer from the NCC from Sheffield, England) was travelling in NZ and we also new she was heading to Queenstown, but last we heard from here was that she was stuck in Christchurch due to heavy snowfall (our dancing misplaced, I would suspect). So, as James and I rounded the top of the mountain overlooking the town (that we decided to walk instead of take the gondola for financial reasons) James stopped to take a photo of the Luge, a gravity based go-cart ride down the mountain. We thought it would be good because we were going to do it too. Low and behold, the photo he nearly snapped was none other than...you guessed it... Milly, whissing down the track. Very weird.So, snow came, we made it to Coronet Peak to ride on opening day, even though the conditions weren't ideal. We'd been waiting around in Q-town for that long, so we felt we should go. Then, we managed to coax Milly into putting off job hunting and heading to Dunedin with us for a few days. As luck would have it, Milly had 2 English-turned-Kiwi transplant friends who had just moved there 3 months earlier. Lucy and Simon were phenominal. Especially considering we showed up on their doorsteps with about 4 hours notice. The kindly lent us some floor and spare bed space and Lucy instisted (probably for good reason) that we shower. (You guys rock. Please drop in on us anytime).From there, we set Milly off with a ride back to Queenstown and we made a beeline for Rangiora (just outside Christchurch). That nearly brings us up to speed. We have been living in the very awesome 60s caravan of Nigel and Lee, our first Help Exchange (www.helpx.net) hosts. In short, they have been the most generous and wonderful hosts. For 3.5 short hours of painting their lounge and living room, we have been showered with exellent food, the tastiest of beers, and all sorts of insights into Kiwi life, horse racing, motorbikes, acapella vocals, and various other interesting stories. We wish them the best of luck in their new life together, and I think they will be as happy and in love as they are now for years and years. (They're very cute, by the way). We can't wait for them to visit us someday. Hopefully we'll have a house just as cool (although it may be tough for just as old, being theirs is one of the oldest in Canterbury).We finally managed to drag ourselves out of bed early enought this morning to make it to Mt. Hutt. The afore mentioned Mike scored us a few free passes to the slopes (Coronet Peak and Mt. Hutt included...YOU ROCK MIKE!). We had possibly the best time and best conditions I've ever had in a day of snowboarding. Deep powder and blue skies. It was amazing. Not to mention we saw the ocean from the top of the mountain. It rocked.Now we back in Rangiora, heading out tomorrow. Kind of sad, really. We've felt so welcome as nearly family here with Nigel and Lee. But we're northward bound for the final month of travelling. We're going on 10 months now since we quit our jobs and headed west.Well, we miss you guys. Hope everyone is wonderful. I trust we'll see all those of you in the States soon!Much love from Rangiora,Audrey y James
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1148997600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1148997600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1148997600/tpod.html Mon, 05 Jun 2006 05:20:58 -0400 Headed Down South

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Buenos Aires and Iguazu, Argentina

Well, the time has come to say good-bye to the Spanish language. We've traveled long and hard in latin America and its time for a change of pace. But first, I'll get you up to speed....We finished up our 2 weeks WWOOFing at Hostel Internacional Malargue. The experience was both positive and negative. Audrey got a nasty cold that she is still trying to kick. We had a fun birthday night one Saturday for Gaby, complete with Argentinian folk music and chivo (traditional grilled goat). I (James) managed to finish hoeing and preparing the field for garlic, which was freaking hard. Momma T continued to be a nuisance so we had to speak with Gaby and Jhonny about here. Oh yeah, the first snow fell. Check out some new pics we put on the last post. Next it was Buenos Aires. The largest city in Argentina and a beautiful one at that. We stayed there for right at a week, which wasn't nearly enough time to see it all. We did manage to meet up with Mei-Ling (whom we met in Peru on the Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu) and she took us for the best Lomito (little steak) sandwiches we've ever had. Not to mention she threw a lovely dinner party with the Mexican food that we had been craving for weeks. Buenos Aires was good for us to eat some foods other than the staple cuisine in Argentina, meat and potatoes. Besides Mexican we managed to hit up Indian food as well. Good stuff.We visited the cemetary in Recoletta, where Evita is buried. They LOVE here there. It was pretty amazing how much money these folks spend just on laying themselves to rest. Marble statues and mausoleums, stained glass and candle obras. Ridiculous. We saw some excellent Argentine art at the Nacional Museo de Bellas Artes. Who knew the Argentinians were such excellent artist. Apparently James didn't care so very much for it, as he managed to take a 10 minute nap in one of the smaller galleries.We walked...A LOT. Took the subway, which was way cheap (think thirty cents a ride). Did mostly window shopping and hit up some cool street fairs (I got this awesome bag!). We even took in the new X-Men movie (which, if you're a fan of the movies, we don't recommend...good special effects, sure, storyline...ugh).But, we managed to do something we don't normally do. Be really spontaneous and hop an 18 hour bus ride to Iguazu Falls (on the Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay border). The bus ride, not the best we've taken there, but the falls.... Worth every second of screaming babies, bad food, and lack of sleep. They were beyond breathtaking. SOOOO huge and so many of them. If you ever get the chance, go. Don't hesitate, go. We walked around the park on the Argentinian side for the entire day. The Brazilians definitely got ripped off on that deal. They only got like a quarter of the biggest falls, Argentinia got the rest. It was a weird place. Kind of like a cross between Disney World and a National Park. Complete with park rangers, a boat ride, a train ride and a few pricey restaurants (well, pricey by Argentinian standards).18 Hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires, 12 hours to wait for our flight to New Zealand...laundry, internet, phone calls...blah, blah.Finally after waiting in like 12 separate lines at the airport in B.A. we made it onto possibly the worst airplane we've ridden since Ryan Air (the 'budget' European airline). We were both really worried until we realized that of the 4 seats in the middle aisle, we were the only 2 in them. So, what was nearly 14 hrs. of hellish uncomfortability turned into like 3 hrs of food, 2 of movies and the rest of stretched out sleep. It was great. I highly recommend that if you ever fly to the other side of the world, don't sleep for like a good two days. Makes the flight amazingly smooth.So, here we are, in New Zealand. Our last overseas destination. It's BEAUTIFUL here. Freaking cold, but beautiful. We've been camping mostly, which is not too bad considering we've got 0 degree F sleeping bags. We did realize, unfortunately though, that we have forgotten a vital part of our campstove, the pump, so we've been eating lots of Peanut Butter, which James is very fond of.We got an amazing deal on a car ($4 NZ dollars for 4 days) to drive from Auckland (N. Island) to Christchurch (S. Island). Now, we're hoping to get another vehicle, but probably one we can sleep in...like a VW campervan, but Toyota.Anyway, our apologies to anyone we haven't called yet. We've been trying to get to a place that's not too expensive. It's a bit priceier here than say...Bolivia. We did manage to scrounge up a phone card, but as of yet, we've not been near a phone when it was anywhere near a normal time back home. There is a 16 hr. time difference from NC, and we've crossed the international date line, so we're also a day ahead.So, we'll be in touch soon. Love to you all.AROHA (love in Maori) from Christchurch, New Zealand,Audrey y James
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1147912440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1147912440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1147912440/tpod.html Sat, 20 May 2006 14:44:46 -0400 Headed Down South

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Malargue, Argentina

Hi Folks,Those of you who skim the logs just to look at the pretty pictures such go ahead and quit reading, cuz there aren´t any this time. But, you could always try using your imagination. Visualize....So yep, still without a camera. We plan on buying one in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. Its been a real headache trying to find one at a decent price, and not last year ´s model at double the price. Argentina isn´t exactly known for its inovations in digital electronics. We have a cheap disposable at least. We´re currently in Malargue, Argentina, about 5 hours south of Mendoza. Since our last entry we took a lovely 13 bus ride from Salta to Mendoza in a sleeper bus! They serve whiskey and the seats go almost all the way back! (eat your heart out Sheila). Mendoza gave us a rude awakening. We were almost robbed the first 10 minutes as we walked to a hostel with all our stuff (note to self, bring less, much less stuff next time). The ole squirt goo on your bag and then help clean it off as you rob the tourists blind routine. Thankfully Audrey had her hand on the Buck knife and was watching out. All that happened was some pink hand cream on our bags. We had a pretty fun time in Mendoza. Managed to get a good deal on a hostel room (thanks Avi, Shelia), ate at an awesome all-you-can-eat buffet... by far the best we´ve ever seen... for only $5 (thanks again A and S), and toured wine country. Unforunately we only made it to one winery (deja vu Sonoma), but we followed it with a great meal, stewed rabbit...mmmm..... Other than that, I can´t really remember what else we did in Mendoza. The weather was quite gloomy so we stayed in alot and watched wonderful english language television. So then it was off to Malargue, our home to be for the next 2 weeks. This is our first WWOOF/ HelpX experience. For those who don´t know WWOOF, it stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. It is a network were volunteers can contact and volunteer for farms in exchange for food and accomadation. Each farm is different and independent. In our case, the farm is also a hostel serving outdoor enthusiasts (Malargue is close to the best skiing in South America). Oh, by the way, the first snowfall happened yesterday. Fall has peaked and winter is coming strong. If we were in Argentina longer, we´d snowboard some. But it will have to wait till NZ!!!!The experience has been some mixed so far. First, the description on WWOOF´s website its not accurate: 4 hours a day for 4 days a week is actually 6-8 hours a day for 6 days a week. Quite a bit different, but we can handle long days thanks to the NCC. Gaby and Jhonny are the owners and they are very welcoming and funny. Gaby works in town and Jhonny had a knee injury, so we´re left searching for our own work or asking Mother Teresa . Momma T is a local campesina (country worker), aged 65ish, serious lung cancer most likely, and very hard to deal with. Think ¨set in their ways Wilkes County¨. She most definetly does not like Audrey, and I´m not her favorite either. Rather than bore you with our escapades, lets just say she doesn´t like to serve us breakfast. There are 2 Austrians doing the same thing we are, but they are carpenters adding on to the hostel. They speak possibly the worst spanish I've ever heard. Carmen is the momma of the Hostel and takes care of us as needed. Her two sons Leo and Cristen are 20ish and full of arrogance, but they are growing on us. And then there´s the other set of characters Rosetta, Builder guy, Onion Guy, Solar Power Guy, etc. Oh yeah, the drunk French Canadian college school trip group too. Have you ever drank liquor on a school field trip? Arabelle, you are by far my favorite Quebecean. So needless to say, things are a bit more busy than we thought they would be. I´ve been working on the garlic field and will plant the darn stuff Friday. Audrey has unfortunately been sick with a cold/sinus thing, but she´s recovering now. 2 winters in one year isn´t the best for your health.---Prest-O Change-O ----- Now Audrey is writing...James was a bit tired with the all the typing after a full day of making irrigation ditches for the ajo (garlic). Tonight is our first night eating out here in the booming metropolis of Malargue (normally with 2 dots over the U). We did manage to find the best pizza in town and totally went vegetarian up in a piece, after having some fashion of beef or goat (that's right kiddies, Goat...aka: Chivo, is very popular here) EVERY MEAL. We were due some veggies. So, it was really nice to not eat meat...really nice.I am feeling better now, although not perfect. I've had a tough week now. Being sick in the middle of nowhere is difficult. Not quite as difficult as trying to explain acetometaphine (aka: Tylenol) to Argentinians, but tough enough. Let's just say I'm up to one nostril now, its better than none.Anyway, we head to Buenos Aires on Saturday...well, Sunday, considering it's a good 19 hours by bus. We splurged again, the extra $7 total to have 'Cama' (bed) seats as opposed to 'Semi-Cama'. Makes for a whole day on the bus a lot better. We hope to meet up with a lovely chica named Mei-Ling (a journalist from Detroit) who we met in Peru. She lives there with her husband, so I'm sure they can show us some cool places.We hope you all are wondermous. Let us know how summer is coming along back home. We're over the hump now. Down hill and more down south from here. 2 Weeks left before it's a new continent for us.Muchos besos de Malargue, Argentina,Audrey y James
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1146418500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1146418500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1146418500/tpod.html Wed, 03 May 2006 11:10:10 -0400 Headed Down South

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Salta, Argentina

Hi folks, its been along time since our last entry (Peru!, and we´re now in Argentina), but alot has happenened. So much in fact, that I´m going to have to paraphrase and summarize. Peru- After our last entry, right after, James came down with food poisoning. Hmmm...trucha (trout). No fun at all. A long night later, we went to the floating islands called Uros, accessible by boat from Puno. These islands are made entirely of reeds and the people have lived here since Incan times, to avoid invasion. However, now they do it mostly for the hoards of tourists that invade every day with money in hand. Nice pictures at least. Later we took a bus for the Peru/Bolivia border. So long Peru.Boliva- Copacabana, it ain´t hot, or north of Havana. However it is pretty cool. I consider it the twin sister of San Pedro, Guatemala. The similiarities are so striking: big lake, gorgeous view, indigenous people, and tons of hippies...you can order chili con carne! A nice respite. And man, Bolivia is cheap! The next day, I convinced Audrey to take a death march towards the Island of the Sun, legendary birthplace of the Inca. A bit longer hike than I expected, but the scenery was stunning. Lake Titicaca has no equal in lake-bueaty. We made it to the shore and took a rowboat to the islands. Interesting. By that time we were freaking exhausted. However, a bottle of wine later, all was well. Did you know bolivian wines are quite drinkable? Next day, we hiked the length of the island. Pretty hard at nearly 14,000ft and negative shade. We even managed to make a video for you guys. more on this later. Back to Copacabana for the night on a slloooooow ferry, followed by nachos and curry!!! And a hilarious fat-old-man-indoor-soccer-match-on-a-court-the-size-of-a-kids-basketball-court game.Off to La Paz. What a cool city, our favorite big city yet. Surrounded by peaks, set in a deep valley. Safe and fun to explore. We saw a movie, we went to real grocery store, we had good burger! James was talked into buying an instrument - foul temptress. A charango is an andean instrument like a mandolin. Good fun. And the instrument museum rocked. After a few days of liviing it city style, we pushed off to Oruro to wait for the train.Oruro, kinda a let down. Actually a big one. Never mind that there was little to do, not good food, or the train we wanted to take was cancelled. Audrey had her bookbag stolen on the bus. Two very important things were lost, our camara and her sketchbook for the past 8 months. Very sad day. No hope of getting it back. One positive, Audrey had by chance put the flashdrive with our pictures in her pocket, we only lost pics from Copacabana to Oruro, and not all of them. The whole incident has been a real headache. Police in bolivia are not exactly useful. So we took the bus from hell to Uyuni....don´t ever do it. ever. .ever. Uyuni was not bad, great pizza for sure. We made some fast friends, Morgan from California and Avi and Sheilah from Israel. The five of us decided to do the Salar tour together, which is the only reason any tourist goes to Uyuni. Stunning, the southwest of Bolivia is some of the most remote desert in the world. May akin to western china JD? Some stretchs had no life, no plants, nada. Some stretches had amazing colored lakes. And the geyers blew the socks off yellowstone. Talk about getting close. Flamingos too, in 0 degree weather. Really, really cold. I mean we were at one of the highest deserts in the world. The capstone of the tour-by-landcruiser was the Salar de Uyuni, the worlds largest salt flat. Eat your heart out Blackrock and Bonnieville. The salt flat is bigger than several states and is the remains of a gigantic lake. Part of it had water from the rainy season. This creates a perfect mirror image, great for sunrises and sunsets. Best I´ve ever seen. The rest is blindingly white...bring sunscreen and a freaking hat It works well for optical illusions because judging distance is very diffucult. Don´t sit on it too long thogh, salt´s bad for the butt believe it or not. We finished the tour with a visit to the old rusty Uyuni train graveyard. David Nicolay, we missed you dearly. Oh yeah, shout out to Freddie the driver.Then it was back to Uyuni to wait a day and a half for the train to the border. This time no strikes and the train came. We rewarded ourselves with first class. 9 hours for only $12. We had to do it. The scenery between Uyuni and Villazon (the border) is great, think the American West. At Villazon we crossed to Argentina and after 19 hours of straight travel we made it to Salta. Ugh. Oh Europe, I mean Argentina, how we´ve missed you. Potable water! free toilet paper! good beer! fast internet! We feel like kings here. Salta is good, though we spent all yesterday running errands. Dont ever try and buy a camara in Argentina, they cost twice as much!. This afternoon we take an 18 hour bus ride (yep 18 hours) to Menodoza, wine country. Hmm. wine. Should be a good ride; they serve whiskey!Apologies for such a long, fact-based entry. Had a lot to say. Just so you know, we´re okay. Audrey is in a period of mourning for her sketchbook. Every day is better. We´re survivors. JD was right- don´t bring anything that will make you cry if you lose it. But wait, that means I can´t bring Audrey. Oh well.Much love. Hope Merlefest was a blast!salud-James
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1145309760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1145309760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1145309760/tpod.html Mon, 17 Apr 2006 19:03:45 -0400 Headed Down South

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Puno, Peru

Hi Folks Mucho Mucho Machu Picchu! Actually, let me first say that this is James writiting, and I lack much of the literary witiscisms of my counterpart. Our 5 day 4 night trek to Machu Pichu is over, and let me tell you, it was freaking hard. We experienced about every climate known to man, save the desert (which we will see soon enough). After our preliminary meeting with the group and guides, Audrey and I were a little hesitant. There were 13 of us in total, and 10 were a group from San Diego. We were sadly mistaking. These San Diegans were some of the warmest, kindest people Audrey and I have met in a long time. Our bus took the road from Cusco to Mollepata, had some breakfats, then begin the arduous, muddy road to the trail head of the Salkantay trail. At numerous points, we had to disembark and push it through the muck. The scenery was green mountains on a scale I have Never seen before. Imagine Ashe County times 5. Eventually, we reached an unpassable mudslide, so our group starting treking... lets just say, a few miles earlier than anticipated. A little miscommunincation, four-wheeling, sunburn, thirst, and hours later, we arrived at the trailhead near sunset. We booked it to the campsite and chowed down on some awesome Peruvian cusisine. Its really good! Meanwhile the dominating Salkantay loomed over head.....We had an early start the 2nd day due to yesterdays problems. The Salkantay greeted us when we awoke, along with Mate de Coca (Coca tea, a perfectly legal stimulant in Peru and source of the potent white drug.) Its supposedly helps with altitude, which we need as we hiked to 4550 m pass (15,000 ft). At that point, you are just gasping for air, Meanwhile, the Salkantay at 6271 m (20,500 ft!) looks down on us. This is a no man´s mountain, so large, so dangerous, no one has every suscessfully climbed it, though people die trying. After some traditional offerings to the Salkantay god (coca leaves, and rum ...one for me, one for my homey, mountain) we booked it to lower altitude. At this point, things start looking like Ireland, but bigger. James´s knee started tighting as we descended several thousand feet non stop. Soon we entered the cloud forest, a high elavtion rain forest. Very cool, but very moist, especially when the rain started. We made it to Colcapampa, our second campsite and grubbed down again, among magestic verdent moutains, think Hawaii. After a later start, the 3rd day we continued descending, over class 5 rapids, waterfalls, and other treacherous obstacles. Very cool, We reached La Playa ( the beach) which is actually a village on a very, very ,very dangerous river. No beach at all. James´s was feeling the knee at this point. Once again, great food, and this time beer! Who cares if its room temp, its beer! Fun,loquacious night with the group. But the rain came down. The 4th day, we took a scare-the-poop-out-of-you bus ride to the next part of the trial, an inca trail dating back centuries. Have you ever driven over a waterfall? Oh yes, todo es posible en Peru, como Guatemala. This was a hard hike, straight up into the clouds with 100% humidity. Audrey was a trooper. The top was awesome though, it was like Dagobah (yoda land). Imagine the pacific northwest on steriods. Jungle, wet jungle. We then proceded to the an old inca ruin on a bald, where we could see mountians for miles, and when the clouds cleard, the backside of Machu Picchu!, several miles away as the crow flies. As usual, then it was straight down. Oh blessed knee. Thanks to Roger for the knee brace and Loraina, Sheryl, Shannon and anyone I missed for use of the hiking poles. But it was well worth it, as we go to cross the scarriest food bridge ever, complete with loose boards, rotting boards, and missing boards. And we saw and awesome waterfall.Okay, this is getting long, para phrase time. Booked it to Aguas Calientes for the night and caught the early bus to Machu Picchu. For those of you who don´t know Machu Picchu, it is the most famous archeological site in the americas, set on the top of a mountain ridge in a stunning setting. Lost for 400 years, this Incan king resort was rediscovered and is now inundated with tourists. But it doesn´t take away from its majesty. Amazing place, but get there early. We booked it back to Cusco, said our goodbyes to new friends (shout outs to everyone) and made to Puno on Lake Titicaca near Bolivia yesterday. Tomorrow we go island hopping in the lake.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1144706820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1144706820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1144706820/tpod.html Mon, 17 Apr 2006 18:55:08 -0400 Headed Down South

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Lima y Cuzco, Peru

Well friends, when last we left you we were up to our elbows in monkeys, jaguars, TONS of birds of all sizes and colors and weird hairdoos, and loving it. Alas, we had to say 'adios' to ARCAS and head for higher ground...literally.After leaving our furry and feathered friends, we set about to travel to the largest of Mayan ruins, Tikal (which you may also remember from Star Wars and will be featured in an upcoming Mel Gibson mega-flick). To say the least, these structures were amazing. Gigantic pyramids and palaces of stone and cement (a sand, water, egg mixture, who would have thought).One might think that such small people (on average less than 5 feet) would at least have the good sense to make shorter steps, but then, their civilation did fail. Not because of the steps, most likely (although after climbing several temples I´m not convinced) but mostly because of lack of water. They had an elaborate system of irrigation and water collection where they have a definite rainy and dry season. After several years of drought, people moved elsewhere.These temples mostly pay homage to ancient rulers, and the whole place (minus the MANY tourists) has the feel of walking on ancient hallowed ground, which, I suppose we were. Not to mention most of it is overgrown jungle where in the distance you hear what sounds like lions but in actuality are warring groups of howler monkeys. It was very cool to see all the animals we had just been working with in ARCAS out of cages and living a free life.From Tikal it was on to Póptun to visit a backpacker friendly hotel-hostal-camping ground-farm called Finca Ixobel. It was a beautiful place with EXCELLENT and abundant food. We had some very rousing games of ping pong there (where James and I both learned we´re terrible at ping pong, but love it none-the-less).Leaving Póptun, we took an overnight bus to the dreaded Guatemala City, of which we hadn´t heard anything good. However, our experience there was very pleasant, barring a hotel operator who tried to take us for fools. It ended up to be a great experience because we found this cute little hostal named GuateFriends, run by a lovely little lady named Ana. We would recommend this place to anyone.We also took the liberty of become slightly lighter travelers there. I, unfortunately before we left, was greedy. I just brought too much stuff, thinking, oh I'll need this, and this, and this. No, bad idea...but now our stuff is on its way to the States and we are VERY relieved.After a month travelling about in Guatemala it was time to move on to a new continent for us both, South America.Which finds us now in Peru. We spent two nights in Lima amid a presidential election, staying in a very interesting former mansion of a hotel one block from the governmental buildings. Needless to say, there were lots of police present in riot gear ready for protesters. Fortunately nothing happened.We spent our one whole day there touring the cathedral, eating ice cream, finding ourselves in China-town (who knew there was one in Lima?), and visiting a franciscan monestary. One thing is for sure, these guys love bones. There are lots of them on display where poor people were buried en mass and all that is left are a few bones.After our second night in Lima we had a very early flight to Cuzco (where we are currently), jumping off point to visit another magnificant ancient city, Machupicchu. Not to mention it is also Semana Santa this week (Saints' Week, leading up to Easter), and while it is not as big here as say Antigua or Spain, it is still widely celebrated.Cuzco is a beautiful city and very high, nearly 11,000 feet. It´s taken a day or so to get more used to the altitude, but it´s better everyday. There are lots of typical costumes here and women carrying baby alpacas and dragging llamas around the streets (though mostly for photo ops). We haven´t done too many touristy things here. We´ve wandered around the main plaza (Plaza de Armas), had some Peruvian wine (which is incredibly sweet), seen some amazing door knockers and taxis, checked out the Sunday market, and just today witnessed the Semana Santa procession. It was very interesting to see indiginously dress people carrying around a statue of a black Jesus. Plus there were tons of police and military people on top of the toursits and locals crowding the streets.BUT, the best is yet to come. Tomorrow morning around 4am we leave Cuzco for a 5 day-4 night hike to the heights of 15,000+ feet (hot springs included) culminating in a visit to Machupicchu (which I cannot spell, lo siento). Wish us luck.Hope you all are wonderful. Miss you guys.Besos y amor de Cuzco, Peru,Audrey y James
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1143754920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1143754920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1143754920/tpod.html Thu, 30 Mar 2006 18:15:36 -0500 Headed Down South

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Flores, Guatemala

Peten, wonderful El Peten. Today we´re in Flores, a small island in the North of Guatamala and it is HOT and HUMID. Feels like Raleigh, NC in the summertime. When we left you last we were headed from Coban to Semuc Chempey for a few days of relaxation and hiking. Which we had.First off we made it to and from Coban safe and sound. We took what Appalachian Trail hikers call 'a zero day' there, which means, no travel, just hanging out or doing something other than trying to get to the next location. Coban is a larger city and seems to be slightly wealthier than most others we´ve visited so far. By this I mean we found things like peanut butter in the supermercado (grocery store) which in and of itself is amazing.We caught a bus to Semuc Chempey via Lanquin VERY early (think 5:45 am) in the morning. We arrived in Lanquin at about 7:30 only to discover we did not have to change buses that the one we were on was headed to our final destination. Semuc Chempey is located in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. I´m not talking like Wilkesboro middle of nowhere, I´m talking jungle country-side of Guatamala middle of nowhere. After our bus circled Lanquin 4 separate times and we spent an hour and a half driving around a town of about 1,000, we finally head off for the 10 kilometers to Semuc Chempey. Well worth it is all I have to say. It was amazing. We arrived at one of the only 2 places to stay in the area to a host of Americanos, Germans, Brits and other Anglo tourists all very happy to see us (by this we mean probably slightly intoxicated already) and heading for the park. Semuc is a national park that has been improved by several different organizations, including the US National Park Service. There are lots of trails, caves, waterfalls, and some of the most beautiful blue swimming holes you´ve ever seen.We hiked in to the first set of falls, swam across the river current to the other side and climbed up a cliff with our merry band of internationals to see the underbelly of the waterfall, which was like nothing I´ve ever seen before. Twisted stalagtites and stalagmites, weird colors and strange rocks. After being 'shewed' out of there by the park guides, we headed to the pools (check out the pictures) which are varying degrees of wonderful, more wonderful, and wonderfullest. Aqua-marine and perfect tempurature. We stayed there for the entire day.That night it was fairly interesting mix of old and new hippies and travelers. We learned a bit about the Mayan calander from a former spiritual leader of an alternative church (Gary, from North Philadelphia), but it was a bit more than I could pay too close attention too. BUT, a very strange thing happened that same night. We met this Australian couple travelling the globe (David and Erica). And in talking to them we started asking what they do (did) before leaving Australia...Get this...Neuroscientist and Designer. Weird. Very Weird. How often do you meet one, let alone two...let alone a couple. Needless to say, we liked them a lot and spent the following night sharing a hostal room with them and another American guy named Tom. Good people.So, back to Coban for one night to catch the bus to Flores, our present destination. We hung out in the small town of for one night, taking in the tourist scene, eating hamburgers and fries and trying to prepare ourselves for the next week as volunteers with ARCAS (Areas Rescate y Conservacion de Animales Silvestre). It is a rehab and conservation center for animals taken from poachers.ARCAS is amazing. There are sooooooo many different animals here. We get up at 6:45 to feed the animals by 7am. Then breakfast for us and a break (or helping out carrying supplies up many hills, etc.) before the 11:00 cleaning and feeding. Lunch, then the last feeding at 2:00 before our day is over. It´s really cool. I (Audrey) work with the baby monkeys (monitos). I feed them bananas, oranges, veggies, cereal and other goodies and try to pry them off of me so I can leave the cage. They really like to hang out, and boy are they good at it. James has been working with various birds, the newest baby monkey (still in quarenteen) and a small deer. His work is a bit harder than mine, but I have to walk a long way to get to the babies. We live in a big house with other volunteers from Denmark, Quebec, Germany, Switzerland, and Guatamala. And, unfortunately for me, we eat LOTS of beans. Lots. It´s great though, and we will miss it when we leave.That´s about it for now, we have the night in Flores (just across the lake from ARCAS) to hang out, eat real food, have a beer or 3, etc. Pretty excited. Thinking something like Pizza sounds soooooooo much better than beans.Miss you all. Hope to hear from you soon.Con Amor de Flores,Audrey y James
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1143060600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1143060600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/audrey.y.james/headeddownsouth/1143060600/tpod.html Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:25:16 -0500 Headed Down South

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Cobán, Guatemala

¡Hola Folks!Wow, nothing like a computer with an upside-down question mark ¿ and exclamation point¡. Since last we posted things have been pretty good, barring the more than occasional venture into the land of "oh man I wish I hadn´t have eaten that", if you know what I´m getting at.First off, good news, no...great news! ¿Ready?James was accepted to the Field Naturalist graduate program (his first choice) at the University of Vermont!!! (and then there was much rejoicing) We just found out this passed week. Super excited about it. Can´t wait. It should be great. WOOOOOO HOOOO! New England here we come!That being said (woo hooo again), over the last few week and a half we´ve had a pretty varied experience. While still in San Pedro, we moved in with a local family for the week while we took spanish classes (one on one for 4 hours a day for 5 days, plus extracirricular stuff in the evenings). The family was awesome. It was Tina (our 2nd mom) who cooked TONS of food for 3 meals a day (most of which was wonderful, but James and I have both decided that we seem to have an "allergy" to frijoles negros). Then there was her husband, Ruben, who was a school teacher in the pueblo nearby, so we didn´t see a lot of him. They also had three kids, who are adorable and lots of fun to play with, Marvin (8), Evelyn (5), and Anna Maria (2.5). We saw a lot more of Anna Maria because the others were in school during the day (except for a 2 hour lunch break where they come home), and I learned lots of spanish from her...sadly, she knows more than us. We had our own room in their house, which to us kind of resembled a motel. All the rooms open up to the outside, which was wonderful, being that the climate there is between 65 and 80 degrees F most of the time, and we were just passed the rainy season, so sun all the time. The kitchen had both a conventional stove-top oven and also a wood-fired stove for things like tortillas (which are not so great here in Guatemala, but we ate them with smiles at EVERY meal none-the-less). There was a shower with "agua caliente" in the house, which consisted of a shower head with this adapter on the head that heats the water via electricity as it comes out. Needless to say if you got to close to the head you did get a little shocked. The shower and toilet were both in the same concrete room with no separtation between the two... a bit different than at home.The school: The Coopertiva Escuela de Español (http://cooperativeschoolsanpedro.com/index.html) is phenominal. Very organized, good teachers, one-on-on instruction, and for our family stay, our 4hrs per day classes, plus salsa lessons, movies, and discussions on things like the recent civil war in Guatemala, the price of about $125 each was irresistable. I would highly reccommend it and the town of San Pedro de Atitlan to anyone.We left San Pedro last Saturday to catch a bus to head for Todos Santos, a remote village in the highlands, known for good hiking and traditional dress. We spent ALL DAY on 3 different buses, one from San Pedro to Xela (pronounced Shay-la, but officially the name is Queztaltenango), then from there to Huehuetenango, and from there to Todos Santos. The last leg of which was about 2.5 hours, the first half on a paved road and the second half...lets just say not paved. Now, Todos Santos is an interesting place. When we arrived Saturday afternoon, it was just passed market time for their biggest market of the week. The streets were filled with half drunk (and whole drunk, mind you) todosantoian men dressed all in shirts with massive colorful collars, red and white striped pants, and straw hats (think barbershop quartet but rounder on top) adorned with red belts and blue ribbons. Interesting. The small town of 3,000 left us somewhat wanting when we went looking for things to do around 7:00pm that night and EVERYTHING was closed. To top it off and to make matters worse, the mostly cold dinner we ate that night left me (Audrey) with what I will honestly call severe food poisioning.So, we left Todos Santos the next day, being that it is hard to hike when you can´t really move, and we returned to Huehuetenango for a day of me laying in bed and running to el baño and James being wonderful and taking care of me those times when I was awake. That brings us about up to present. We left Huehue the next morning, with me feeling MUCH better. We took a bus from there to Sacapules where we had to stay the night in the only "hospedaje" in the tiny town, which was not very pleasant. Fortunately it was only one night. Then we thought we'd take a smaller 'mini-van' bus for the 5 hours it takes to get to Coban, where we are now. That turned out to be the worst ride yet. It was a van meant for about 15 people. When we left Sacapules, there were only about 6 in it. Along the way however we picked up more and more and more folks. It ended up there were 23 adults, 3 little boys, and a chicken in the bus for 6.5 hours (not the 5 we were told mind you). We also had a flat along the way which the men changed on a curvy mountain road without letting us out of the vehicile. But, we´re here now, safe and happy and having a grand time. We walked about a mile and a half this morning to see what was supposed to be an amazing orchid farm with like 200 types of orchids, but unfortunately there are no flowers on the plants after about mid-February...so poo. Then we wandered around the local shopping mall with stores with names like GAP PS (get it, there´s a gap). Then we watched a middle-aged mens futbol match from a hill in the national park located on the city limits of Coban. Ever seen older guys play soccer, it´s hilarious.It may seem like our adventures so far have been a little bumpy, but it´s been great and will make great stories for years to come. Tomorrow we leave Coban for Semuc Chempey where there is hiking to be done and waterfalls and such to be seen. We can´t wait.Muchos besos de Coban,Audrey y James
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