TravelStream™ news feed for member barryandmaja on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/barryandmaja en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:19:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1248058175/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1248058175/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1248058175/tpod.html Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:19:29 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Popayan, Colombia

We have been cruising around Colombia for about eight weeks now and have about two days left. Its with aheavey heart which we leave as we have fallen in love with the country and the people. A quick list of towns we been to; Popayan also known as the "white city", because of its white washed colonial houses, spend 2 days there just lazing about. Cali, which we never really gave a change because we didn´t feel like a big hot sweaty town again so quickly jumped on a bus the next day and headed to Salento. Beautiful little town with a load of art shops, restaurants and it is surrounded by coffee plantations and cloud forest, all which we enjoyed very much. Salento is also where we learned to play Tejo, also known as "the bang bang game", it is a game where you throw a metal discs towards some gunpowder, great fun after a few beers. Next stop was Medellin (where Pablo Esteban was shot), the bus journey to Medellin is the most spectacular we have ever been on, the landscape is coffee field and mountains in the most amazing green colour, the view is out of this world. Medellin is a big busy town, with a metro system which the locals are very proud of. We were very lucky to met up with Maja's friend Franzy's uncle Hector, who kindly showed us around. Last stop before returning back to Bogotá, was Rio Claro, which is a river lodge next to a river with a riverbed made of marble, unfortunately for us it had been raining a lot before we turned up so it was more like Rio Mersey than rio claro. It did however clear up after a day and we had great fun swimming the river and playing in the strong currents (don't worry they told us it was safe, but hey they also told us there were no biting insect there,  we are still recovering from all the bites now). Our room had no walls so was out in the open, you really felt that you were living in the middle of the jungle. We only had 10 days left and decided that we needed one more "honeymoon" so went to a quiet little town called Villa de Leavey and booked into a nice little hotel. There has been about 4 bank holiday weekends over here lately so there always seems to be a party going on in the squares, this town was no different. We were enjoining a beer when suddenly around 75 horses and horsemen came galloping into the square , it was like being in a old western film very cool.Next and last stop was San Gill famous for its adventure sport (it did not measure up to Queens town, but hey it is half the price). Here we did some rafting on a class 4+ river, so much fun. What added to adrenalin was a bit of fear factor, these guys were nowhere near as professional or as organised as they were in NZ, and we didn´t really understand what the guide was telling us, but hey it is all part of the fun and fun it was, it was full on 2,5 hours of rapids.We have felt safe and welcome were ever we have been and its such a shame that Colombia has such a reputation as a holiday destination as it is without doubt one of the most beautifulest countries we have been to. And we now like to salsa, not that we are any good.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1247196405/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1247196405/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1247196405/tpod.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:59:50 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Bogota, Colombia

 We turned up by plane at Bogota the capital of Colombia and was met by Majas friend Franzy who's Mum and Dad were kindly putting us up for a few days. We thought the air conditioning at the airport was really good until we walked out side and realised Bogata is really cold. Going from sea level to 2600 meters was a big jump, we really felt it and slept with hot water bottles for a few nights. Franzy parents were really nice and as soon as we arrived they made us hot chocolate Colombian style, which is the same as every where else except you get a lump of cheese on the side to mix in the chocolate ( I've seen them drink it man ).The next night we met some of Francys friends and went salsa dancing. I'm really bad at dancing and normally watch from the side lines but with the aid of couple of beers the rhythm really got to me and I up was and dancing ( I would like to say with everyone else but they seemed to be dancing to a different beat ). Maja was having a good dance too until she fell over and twisted her foot really badly, salsa dancing can be a dangerous sport. We said our goodbyes as it was getting late and agreed to meet a few days later for food, drinks and tour of the area as it was a bank holidayWe met up and went for a sort of road trip of the surrounding towns and villages. It was more of a food tour, as all we seem to do was eat. We stopped on the way for coffee and cakes, then off to a barbeque. I have never seen so much food for so few people but we made a start and after a while Maja and me could take no more with only half the food eaten, the rest of the guys just kept on going I didn't want to lose face so I just kept on eating until it was almost gone. We continued our tour with another stop for coffee and cakes and the on to visit some small villages with beautiful Church's one of witch is famous for having a picture of Christ found in a rock( I'm not really sure of the story as by then my stomach was really giving me gyp ), and ended up the day in a proper English style pub. After our epic eating day, and being joined by Maja´s mum, we decided to do some proper sightseeing, the things you have to see in Bogotá is the Gold museum. A great collection of gold from the olden days, beginning to understand why the Spanish were shocked by the amount of gold they saw here. Another thing you have to do is Montserrat, which is a little church on the top of a mountain overlooking Bogotá. The view is amazing and there is an arie of tranquility around the church. The most important thing to see in Bogotá however is the Guinea Pig race! A man has trained about 6 Guinea Pigs to stand in a line, completely still, while people are placing bets on which house they will enter. The man when shout "LISTO" and the little pigs are of racing towards the houses, highlight of Bogotá. We took a day trip to the Cathedral of salt in Zipaquira  (Cathedrall de Sal Zipaquira), which is an hour outside Bogotá. Built in an underground rock salt mine,you enter and then follow Christ 14 stations of the cross and end up in a very impressive dome. It is hard to explain so the pictures will hopefully do the talking.All in all we have been pleasantly surprised by Bogotá, it is a modern capital with a lot to offer and full of very friendly people, good restaurants, shopping (Oh hey Maja had fun), bars, museum, churches hostels .and robbers.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1245898362/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1245898362/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1245898362/tpod.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:23:10 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Santa Marta, Colombia

I think trekking must be a bit like childbirth (but what do I know I am only a man) as Maja said she would never do it again after Nepal, but there we were at the beginning of a six day hike up to the lost city (Ciudad Perdida). It was different this time though as it was a lot lower, hotter and wet .The trek was through rain forest with all sorts of biting insects, and I had made a deal with the devil, so had to carry the rucksack (wish I were better at cardgames). It was a fantastic hike through dense jungle lots of river crossings up to our waists and up into the mountains to about 1300 meters, we slept in hammocks with mosquito nets and ate food with lots of salt. The Lost City dates back to pre Colombian times and was rediscovered in 1972 but its only been open to tourist since the nineties. We were two of only twenty people who made it up there that day (proberly as there have been a few kidnappings). It was really nice not be over run with tourist and we would walk for hours on end each day with out seeing anyone . We made it back in one piece but very smelly and wet with battle scares of about 60 mosquio bits each , All in all it was a marvolous walk up a big hill to see some old ruins, we both loved it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1243629825/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1243629825/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1243629825/tpod.html Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:58:52 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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San Blas Islands, Panama

It was an two hour bumpy taxi ride from Panama City on the pacific to the the San Bl as islands on the Caribbean side and our port of exit.The San Blas are a group of 400 Caribbean islands owned and controlled by an indigenous race called the kunas. The Islands are totally undeveloped with no hotels, roads, toilets or running water. We stayed in an island with a total inhabitants of six, they we really nice and let us stay in one of there huts (for a price) and served us fish and lobster for our dinner. We stayed there for three days while we waited to meet up with our yacht that was taking us down to Colombia, It was a very lazy few days of swimming snorkeling, sun bathing and watching the sunset while eating lobster. Sleeping was in hammocks in grass huts, that was fine but Maja had a few crabs drop on her from the roof in the night ( It aways happens to Maja).On the forth day we met up with Tony the captain of a beneteau 50ft sailing yacht called the <i>Andimo who we were sailing to Colombia with. The crew were a mixed bunch of Americans, Irish and us. The first few days&nbsp;consisted&nbsp;of sailing around the islands and drinking rum swapping travel stores, then a 32 hour sail to Colombia running the gauntlet with all the unlit boats going the other way ( I don't know why they didn't have lights on). It was a beautiful over night sail and we both had a night watch, Maja took over from me a 4am and was really fortunate to sea dolphins plying in our wake as the sun came up. We arrived in beautiful Catalina that night back to civilization and running water and the first fresh water shower for a while.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1243388820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1243388820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1243388820/tpod.html Tue, 26 May 2009 22:33:08 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Panama City, Panama

We finally have made it to Panama city. Its funny being here as it's as far as we thought we would get but we still have two and a half months to go, so we're&nbsp; going south ( we are really please that we went though the pain of the yellow fever jabs now).Panama city is a tail of two city's, on one hand its a beautifully old colonial town with a huge amount of old buildings mixed with a modern sky line and water front. But on the other hand its a crime riddled scary place to be. The motto here is never got out with anything you don't want stolen, mugging is defiantly in fashion and getting worse. Its a real shame as its got the potential to be another Barcelona. It has a lot of wealth so hopefully they will be able to turn it around one day soon.We are getting ready to sail to Colombia ( going over land is imposable as there aren't any roads through the jungle between the two country's) but we have had to stay here a few more days as Maja has an abscess on her wisdom tooth. Its the week end so we can't get to a density. On Saturday I offered to lance it, but she told me in no uncertain words to bugger off. By Monday Maja was in so much pain she agreed to let me have a go, I couldn't wait so I scrub up, sterilized a needle and got ready. I couldn't help but notice the worried look on her face as I was about to start " don't worry I'll be gentle" I said getting nearer with the needle. With that she could stand no more and pulled the needle out my hands and completed the procedure her self. That and some antibiotics we got from a dentist we should be ready to go in a few days, In the mean time we have been taking it easy enjoying the tropical weather and watching the boats go by
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1242753360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1242753360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1242753360/tpod.html Tue, 19 May 2009 13:55:51 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Boquete, Panama

The border crossing from Costa Rica to Panama was another crazy one, it's right up there with Nepal. The bus stopped just before the border and kick every one off. We were the only tourist so followed the crowed into a small hut where we got our exit stamp, then we had to walk a hundred meters across a dilapidate railway bridge where you had to step aside if any Lorry's came past. The immigration on the Panama side was an other hut, served by two little men who stamp your passport and charge you an entry fee if you are for the "wrong" country. Luckily we weren't! However you do need an onwards ticket out Panama, which we didn't have, but Maja smiled sweetly at the man and gave him an complex and confusing explanation, which just made him look even more tried, so in the end he let us go without the ticket, think he just wanted some peace and quite.We have been so surprised by Panama, we were going to travel straight through to get to Panama City and then out to San Blas where our boat to Columbia leaves from, but we have been amazed by what a beautiful and friendly country it is. We are now taking our time discovering great little towns and villages. We hadn't spoken to many people who had been to Panama but we have a very thin guide book and are slowly working our way south. One of the first places we visited was Bocas de Toros, a very beautiful group of islands with great snorkering and beautiful beaches. We spend a lot more days here than expected and all in all we didn't really do much there. It is paradise if you like Piña Colada (and getting caught in the rain) and fresh fish.The tropic heat of Bocas was getting to us so we headed for the hills to cool down and enjoy fresh mountain air. According to our guidebook the best place to get that is the village of Boquete. Boquete was voted one of the best places in world to retire in an American magazine, so there is a lot ex pats, gated communities and lovely gardens. Saying that it still a nice place and the locals seemed very friendly. On the way up we had spoken about either going on a rafting tour or taking Spanish lessons.Over a beer we decided that it was properly more useful to do some lessons,so we signed up for 10 hours of tutoring. We stayed at the school and had 2 hour lessons in the morning then lots of homework and 2 more lessons in the afternoon for three days. Don't know how much we learned but we feel a bit more equipped for continuing on in Central and South America.Back on the road and we ended up in Chitré, which is down on the plains and very hot. It is rainy season at the moment meaning it normally rains in the afternoon, except for in Chitré where they still haven't seen any rain. We went for a little bus adventure one day and ended up in a tranquil little town called Parita. It was hot and we needed a beer, so we popped into a tiny bar for one beer. The locals, 3 men and a barmaid were very friendly and after a few hours we stumbled out trying to find our way back, with a feeling that our Spanish lessons had paid off and asking the question "why is our Spanish so much better when we are drunk?"We Have just arrvied in a town called El Valle. It was once a huge volcano that blew its top and left a 5 kilometer wide crater where the town now sits. The locauls say there are great walks up to the crater top with water falls and nature trails along the way. so we are doing that today
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1241305980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1241305980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1241305980/tpod.html Mon, 04 May 2009 16:23:57 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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puerto limon, Province of Alajuela, Costa Rica

For the last two weeks we have been doing some voluntary work to help the protection of leather back turtles (first time we have worked in a in time). We heard about&nbsp;the project&nbsp;from a guy we met in a pub, so we were not sure what to expect.It was in the middle of nowhere,&nbsp;we took a bus for a few hours, then taxi and finally a boat through a mango swamp to get there. It is a very basic camp with no running water, or electricity, but the food was fine. Every one there is a volunteer and we were lucky that they were a good bunch and every one got on well even if they were Aussies.The work consisted of a four hour walk along the beach in the dark&nbsp;starting between 8pm and midnight and finishing about four. The idea is the get to the eggs as the turtles lays, take them back to the hatchery, then 55 days latter hay presto you have 100 new turtles running to the sea. The problem is the poachers also want the eggs to sell in the local market (they are thought by locals to be an aphrodisiac) and they out number our patrols by about 10 to 1. We walk along the beach with a guild until you see a leather back coming out the water ( unless a poacher sees it first) it will crawl along the sand until it finds a nice spot, dig a hole about 75 Cm's deep then drop its eggs. That's when we catch them in a bag, wright down its tag number (or tag it if its not been in before) and measure the length of the shell witch on average is 150 cm .Between the two of us we manage to get four clutches of eggs ( they lay about 100 eggs per clutch) so that's a third of a turtle that will make adulthood. We absolutely loved seeing these huge turtles coming out the sea and getting close up to watch them lay and would defiantly recommend it to any one whole gets the chance. We finished on a downer as the last night a green turtle got killed by a poacher for its meet.We are heading across the boarder into Panama in the next few days.&nbsp;&nbsp; Another crazy country
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1240163220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1240163220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1240163220/tpod.html Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:39:08 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Fortuna, Province of Alajuela, Costa Rica

We have just come back from spending a few days in Fortuna to see an active Volcano called Arenal, in central Costa Rica. It was the first time we have been to a active volcano and was not expecting it to be so noisy. We splashed out for a few nights at the Observatory Lodge because it has the best views. When we first got there we sat on the&nbsp;observatory platform with a beer just looking around at the scenery. Within a few minutes there was a mighty thundering roar, we looked up to see smoke and molten rocks being belch out the top. This is great I thought its going to blow any minuet. We sat all afternoon drinking beer waiting for the big one when the whole thing would blow it self to oblivion. It never did but it was fun to watch it letting of steam every now and then. At night it became more spectacular at the rocks where glowing as they were tumbling down the volcano. Our room had a good view so we watched it all night, but we change from beer to wine. It was noisy night but very worth it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1239759060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1239759060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1239759060/tpod.html Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:44:21 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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San Jose, Province of San Jose, Costa Rica

Finally made it to Costa Rica after a lot of aggravation at US customs, We flew from LA via Phoenix and were just boarding when they called out&nbsp;our names&nbsp; to go to the service desk. We ask what they wanted and they inform us that we need an exit ticket from Costa Rica before we could board. As we are going over land to Panama we didn't have one, I tried to bluff it but they were insistent. Then I pointed out they could have told us before we checked in, in LA that morning, "oh sorry we should have " they said "but your still not going with out a return ticket" Thank you American Air lines. We had ten minutes to book a ticket or we were spending&nbsp;a night in&nbsp;Phoenix. Luckily I could get a fully refundable ticket just in time, then canceled it the next day.&nbsp;There's not much to say about the capital San Jose apart from its not the safes city we have been too. There are&nbsp;a lot of no go areas during the day and any where at night is always fun. But its a good base to get about.First we headed for the hills and up into the Cloud forest to a place called Monteverde. The cloud forest is a very dense rain forest with a huge amount of tropical wild life, epically&nbsp;beautiful&nbsp;frogs. Monteverde is a nice little town that feels really safe and we found a good little hostel where we swap stories of what we had had stolen that day ( In our case in was or small ruck sack with our food, water and guide book ).From there it was off to the beach for some well earned rest, We found a great town on the Pacific coast called Montezuma with lovely sandy wild beaches for long walks and more swimming. The hotel had the thinest walls we have come across yet and we were entertained most the first night by the couple next door shagging, Then it was to the rain forest for five days on a reserve called Rara Avis,&nbsp;It took&nbsp;three hours&nbsp; by bus from San Jose followed by a three hour ride in the back of a tractor and then a hour walk to get there, so its remote. There's no electricity but the rooms were great and had hammocks on the balconies with stunning views of the surrounding rain forest. It rained most the time but we had wellington boots to keep our feet dry. The walks though the forest were extremely hot wet and muddy&nbsp;,&nbsp;but an amazing experience to see all the trees fighting for the light, we even saw a tree that walks around to find the best light. The only problem was the wild life didn't mind coming into the room. One night Maja woke me up with " is that your hand on me ?"&nbsp;"err no, don't move I'll turn on the torch". I turn on the torch to see a Huge Rat inside the mosquito net sitting next to Maja with a cheeky grin on its face. I think she would have beaten Linford Cristy down the ladder and out of the hut. But To be fair she didn't scream, she said later that she was to scared to scream. When I mentioned the rat to the guide the next day he said " really that sounds like the very rare Watson Climbing Rate, If you see it again can you take a photo ?".......Only Costa Rica.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1238476560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1238476560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/barryandmaja/1/1238476560/tpod.html Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:18:23 -0400 Welcome To Barry and Maja's Great Round The World Trip

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Los Angeles, California, United States

We arrived in Los Angeles in the morning tried after flying all night and yet again not sleeping, but watching films all the way, will we ever learn?.&nbsp;We set off from L A in a rental car and headed for Vegas.Las Vegas is all that we expected and more its so over the top that you can't help that love it. Good food, beer, gambling, lights,shows and wedding chapels.From there we spent a thirsty day driving through death valley, one of the hottest dry lifeless valleys in the world. It took all day but very worth it. The road finally climbed out and into a beautifully lush green valley in full spring bloom.Then it was a few days lazy driving up to South Lake Tahoe for some snow boarding. It was baking hot when got there so we boarded in shirt sleeves witch is just a well as we didn't have any gear any way. Then it dump it down with snow so we spent a few days freezing our asses off&nbsp;but it was worth it for a few days of powder.On the way back we went via San Fransisco for a few days and then followed the pacific high way along the cost back to Los Angles.
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