TravelStream™ news feed for member brooklyn85260 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/brooklyn85260 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:35:19 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1236038040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1236038040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1236038040/tpod.html Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:35:19 -0500 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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Phoenix, Arizona, United States

We're Baaack! We made it through our 48 hours of grueling travel and have landed in Arizona. I have attached all the Bali pictures that we promised. We are enjoying all the things that home has to offer eating raw veggies and drinking straight from the tap! lol We hope to be heading back to San Diego soon, in the mean time we are re-writing resumes and spending time with family and friends relaying all the stories from our travels.
We hope to see you all real soon. Brooklyn and Teddy
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1234492920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1234492920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1234492920/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:10:06 -0500 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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Sanur, Bali, Indonesia

Happy Valentines Day,
We saved the best for last in Thailand and went to Phi Phi Island. This was a fun island full of young travelers with an amazing backdrop. As soon as we arrived I "literally" ran into a friend of mine on the beach, such a small world. He gave us a run down on the must do's of the island including a stunning hike to overlook the islands two bays separated by a sliver of sand. You are closely surrounded by the ocean on all sides. We decided to take a fast boat snorkeling tour of the other small island surrounding Koh Phi Phi. One of our stops was "the beach" where they filmed the Leonardo DiCaprio film. Just as incredible as in the film, but a tad more populated (at least 200 tourists) lol The snorkeling left much to be desired but the wave jumping in the boat all day was well worth the money!
Thailand's visa was coming to an end and we had to decide where to travel next. We originally planned on exploring the connecting countries Vietnam and Cambodia. But after reading about them and hearing stories form other travelers we felt it was a little too reminiscent of our days spent in Central America. So we decided to end our world tour on a high note and bought two tickets to Bali!
We arrived in Kuta which is the main tourist hub of Bali. It was packed with people trying to sell you anything and everything, actually the same exact thing every two feet. It had tiny streets that were packed with Mopeds and Vendors. We headed towards the beach and unfortunately it was covered with litter, we apparently missed thousands of dead fish being washed upon the shore weeks earlier. lol Supposedly the trash is just an effect of the rainy season and is quite clean in the dry season. But even with the floating rubbish there was no stopping Teddy form hitting the first decent waves of the trip. So he rented a sweet board for $3 and headed out. He came back in an hour later already sick. Still went out to surf the next day to confirm the source of the illness. lol. Confirmed.
We decided that this was not the beach paradise we envisioned and set off to explore other areas. We actually found a small island off the coast of Bali with white beaches and beautiful waves. We took a 1 hour ferry ride in a small wood canoe with bamboo outriggers, the scariest boat yet, but a surprisingly easy ride. Nusa Lembongan was the best decision we made yet ( well right below taking the mule ride out of Colca Canyon). By chance we ended up on a small beach on the end of the island called Tamarind, where our host "Blackie" filled us in on all the secrets of the island. We woke up and had banana pancakes (pineapple for Teddy) followed by a few hours of surf on the reef "playgrounds" for Teddy and lounging pool side reading 5 year old gossip magazines for me. Life is good! After a few days Blackie took Teddy over to a surf break that the locals ride. Before they paddled out Teddy was informed that the break is extremely shallow on the inside and to make sure that he got off the waves before he reached the metal spikes ( used for seaweed farming, the island main source of income) jetting out of the water. Blackie then pointed to the scar down his chest where he had previously rode the wave too long. lol One night Blackie was drinking the local alcohol and Teddy wanted to hang with the boyz so he joined in, later regretting the decision. The local spirit came in a plastic bag and although they said it wasn't gasoline I am still not convinced. Teddy didn't fell right for a few days after but I guess in hindsight he could have seen that coming. After 11 days on the island we were contemplating not seeing anymore of Bali until our departure. But Blackie pushed us out the door to go explore, so reluctantly we headed back to Bali and up the coast to a small port town Pandang Bai.
And after 9 months with 2 weeks to go I got my food poisoning. lol So we spent 4 days in Pandang Bai only seeing the four walls of the bathroom and then we got out of there and headed to Amed. On the way to Amed we took a tour of the court house, a huge temple and a water temple. The court house looked like a palace and had covered patios with 4 chairs underneath where the criminal sat on the floor and awaited his fate. On the ceilings they had a series of different boxes with painted pictures depicting the crime and the punishment. For example one of the crimes in the Hindu religion is having more than 2 children, and for this, much like all of the other crimes the punishment was being stabbed to death by demon's. lol They do not actually practice this kind of punishment, it was meant to deter you from committing the crimes, I am guessing it works. We then went to visit one of the largest temples in Bali which is located on the the top of a hill and has about 200 shrines. They were having a ceremony at the time, so it was packed full of local people carrying baskets of offerings for the gods. Next we winded through miles of green rice fields to a water temple. This water temple was incredible, it was landscaped with reflection ponds, statues and flowers everywhere. We went swimming in two of the large, cold water ponds and walked on water across stone lily pads.
We chose to visit Amed because it was highly recommended for snorkeling. Amed was a tiny town, with nice rooms and black sand beaches. It was overcast and windy there making visibility for snorkeling impossible, so we continued to wait for a sunny day. After 3 days we said the hell with waiting and got into the water. The visibility was about a foot and milky white. This reminded us off the conditions we had for great white diving and we only made it 5 ft out before turning around lol. So the following day we gave up hope and headed to Sanur.
The rainy weather continued in Sanur so we decided to treat ourselves to some TV and air con! If we have to stay inside we thought we would enjoy our last few days. Yes our time has come to return home and say goodbye to our around the world tour, well at least for now. :) So on the 18th of February we start our 48 hour trek back to the states. We are sad to see the trip come to an end, but I am very excited to sleep with out a mosquito net and Teddy wont stop talking about hot water. lol
We are sorry that there were not pictures with this blog, we are having technical difficulties getting the pictures off the camera. But we will follow up when we get home with a final re cap blog and the latest pictures.

We look forward to seeing you all real soon!
Teddy and Brooklyn

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1231841220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1231841220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1231841220/tpod.html Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:08:45 -0500 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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krabi, Thailand

Hello friends,
We are currently enjoying life in Thailand! We have been island hopping off the west and east coast of Thailand for 3 weeks now. It was hard to say goodbye to our friends and drinkable tap water in South Africa. Our trip to Thailand started out with a bang, well actually two. Our friend Boyd generously offered to give us a ride to the airport to see us off. Although on the way we incurred some unexpected delays. We hit a huge pothole on the freeway next to a township ( the ghetto) and blew out both passenger side tires! We got out of the car to access the damage and change one of the flats when it began to rain. lol South Africa obviously did not want us to leave. On the way to Thailand we had a layover in the Dubai Airport, by far the most impressive airport we have ever seen, needless to say the city has ALOT of money!
We arrived in Bangkok which is a huge city with a blur of activity, people, lights, taxis and huge gaudy temples called "wats". By far the most travelers that we have seen on the whole trip, it is a mecca of tourism. We stayed in a hostel near Khao San, which is a pedestrian street filled with bars, food stands, and selling everything that fell off the back of a truck. As soon as we stepped out of the cab we were offered tickets to the ping pong show, but we were way too exhausted for a "game" so we went to our room and crashed. We spent the next day exploring the Grand Palace and the temple of the emerald Buddha. The ridiculous gaudiness of the place is a must see. Bangkok was intense and we were eager to get to the islands, plus we had to make it to Ko Pangnan to meet my girlfriends for the New Years Eve full moon party.So they packed us on buses with 100's of other travelers headed for the islands. After several middle of the night stops and bus changes we arrived at the ferry dock at 4 AM. We boarded the run down ferry, that I doubt was intended for passenger travel. We sat down as they began to pass out barf bags. We were prepared and drugged ourselves before the journey, but nothing could have prepared us for the fury of the sea and the tossing of the boat, the Dramamine was no match for the rocking. We spent the trip getting soaked up on deck putting the bags to good use. After 3.5 hours we arrived one island short of our destination on Ko Tao and decided to get off the hell that was the ferry ride! Which ended up being a great decision because Ko Tao was worth the stop. After finding a room at Mr. Miyagi's house where you got a free gift for every day you stayed there, first day banana, second day chocolate, third day Pepsi......seriously. lol We rented a moped and explored the island, Teddy didn't want to give it back.lol The island was beautiful but we still had to make it to Ko Pangnan, so back on the ferry. But this time we upgraded to the super fast catamaran, well worth the additional .50 cents.
WOW, that is the only descriptive word that encompasses ko pangnans party scene. We are too old for this @#$&! When we arrived at 4 PM the island was partying and when we woke up from the music at 7 AM the island was partying. We found my girlfriend Lindsay and 2 of her friends, they had arrived 2 days earlier from the states and hadn't slept yet. lol After sitting and staring at the chaos we decided to join in. The next day was the New Years Eve party, where there were 20,000 people on a 1 mile strip of beach. There was at least 100 thai bucket stands (sand bucket filled with Vodka and Red Bull), body paint, 3 story tall speaker walls everywhere, with people climbing on top of them to dance. Everything was lit on fire, the countdown sign, jump rope, limbo, flame throwers and fire works exploding in the sky and in the middle of the crowds, all with the back drop of booming house music. HAPPY NEW YEAR! We left on the first ferry out the next morning, where we had to walk through crowds of people still partying to board the boat. lol
Ko Samui was next, which is a huge island with a Cancun feel. The streets were bustling and lined with beach front resorts. We stayed at Chewang Beach, which the guide book told us got surf, unfortunately for Teddy it was only enough to do some minor body surfing. We also found our new favorite breakfast, mangos and sticky rice and haven't stopped eating it since. After lounging on the white sand beaches we hopped on yet another moped (yeah for Teddy) and went to feed the Elephants! It was super fun to feed them, a mommy and baby, we petted there trunks and it was the creepiest thing we had ever felt. They were very excited about the fruit treats.
Thailand is known for its massages, and every 3 feet there is someone offering you a massage and they are cheap. So I decide to get a beach side thai massage and relax, well thai massage is very different than any massage I have ever received. It was preformed by the largest thai woman I have ever seen and was a combination of acupressure and forced yoga positions, at one time her entire body was balanced on top of mine. I left confused and 2 inches taller. lol
A ferry and bus ride later we arrived in Krabi and headed to Ao Nang beach, where we are currently. It is a chill little beach town full of tourism, and we hate to admit it but we have enjoyed both Starbucks and Subway. We took a longtail boat ride ( water leaking in through the hull, with a lawn mower engine on the back) over to another secluded beach called Ralay which has incredible white sand and limestone cliffs surrounding it. Hands down the most beautiful place we have seen! Tomorrow we board another ferry to Phi Phi Island.

Bon Voyage,
Brooklyn and Teddy

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1229939640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1229939640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1229939640/tpod.html Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:17:28 -0500 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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cape town, South Africa

Hello all,
We have been having an amazing time exploring the Garden Route along the coast of South Africa. At the beginning of December our friend Boyd invited us to accompany him and some friends to his family's lake cabin in Sedgefield. He picked us up early in the morning and by lunch time we had launched the ski boat. The cabin was beautiful, after having been accustomed to one room dwellings with the toilet in the shower (literally), it was like a 5 star resort. It was equipped with every lake toy imaginable, and over the course of a week we used them all. It also came with two very nice parents and amazing food that just kept coming! After the parents headed back to Cape Town the cabin had a revolving door of fun friends stopping by every few days.
Mornings were spent water skiing, afternoons spent napping and evenings were spent over several bottles of good wine and conversation. We did not want the week to end, its amazing how easily your body becomes accustomed to good food and clean linen.(1st world) lol
But the time had come and we waved goodbye to Boyd from the side of the road and waited for our bus ( which was only 2 hours late). We were headed to Port Elizabeth for what was to be the highlight of our trip, SAFARI!!!! I could write a novel on how incredible our day was.....INCREDIBLE! We were picked up bright and early (by Steve Irwin), headed for ADDO Elephant Reserve. We had been in the reserve for a total of 5 minutes when we spotted our first female elephant no more than 4 feet from our van. And the excitement didn't stop, off we went to a watering hole, where we got a rare glimpse of the two largest male elephants together, apparently they are normally fighting. Then we were surrounded by elephants, at least 20 at one time, and they had babies!! The cutest little (big) things we have ever seen running and playing together all around our van.
After the morning with the elephants, we continued our safari at the Schotia lion reserve. We hopped into a 9 person, open air, safari jeep. Let me repeat open air! We spent the afternoon off roading through the bush, spotting Gazelles, Bush buck, Wart Hogs, Zebras and parked within a few feet of a family of Giraffes. But the day was not going to be compete until we found the Lions. And as the sunset the Lions awoke, the first lion we pulled up next to was the largest male lion in the reserve and he was laying merely 15 feet away from us. This was closer than I ever expected to get to a wild lion and it was nerve racking, yet amazing. Our croc hunter guide then pointed out across the hills at least 200 stampeding animals and he thought a lion had found dinner. We were told to hold on tight and flew over to see the lions kill. We pulled up, again way too close, to a female lion and its kill. Which much to my dismay was still alive and was a baby gazelle no more than a few days old. We watched while the lioness tortured the baby needing to catch her breath before eating it. I was the only person in the jeep who found this offensive and heart breaking, but this is how it is done here in the bush of Africa!
After dinner our guide offered us either tea or a night safari lion hunt, we chose the latter. lol And with only the spot lights coming off the jeep we saw the glowing eyes of a pack of lions come into view. If they were creepy during the daytime, it was nothing compared to how vulnerable you felt at night. lol We sat, frozen with fright, as they walked all around our jeep, practically rubbing up against the wheels. As we watched the pack of lions head off on the prowl for the nights meal, we felt that our day in the bush was a success!
Then back home to Cape Town to enjoy our last 2 weeks in South Africa. Boyd invited us to join him and his family for "carols by candlelight" at the botanical gardens. It feels so odd to be singing Christmas carols in 80 degree heat. The garden and the backdrop were stunning, we sat on a lush out door amphitheater surrounded by table mountain, enjoying a lavish spread of meat, wine and cheeses. We love Boyd's family!!

The time has come to say goodbye to Africa, (it was hard to part with our bikes) and hello Thailand!

Merry Christmas Everyone,

T & B Production Ltd.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1227862440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1227862440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1227862440/tpod.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:23:27 -0500 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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hermanus, South Africa

Hi Everyone,
We are still in Cape Town thoroughly enjoying ourselves! We spent a day in wine country about 1 hour outside of the city.The country side was amazing with rolling green hills with a backdrop of mountains. We visited 4 different vineyards and had about 10 tastings at each winery!!! This is why we couldn't be bothered to take more wine tasting pictures. The wine flowed and we had a great time! After spending a lazy week enjoying the beautiful white sands beaches, we met up with Teddy's friend Chris (we are very excited to have a friend after 6 months lol) and took a trip to the Cape Point with a stop to visit the Penguins. There is a large group of African penguins (formerly known as jackass penguins) that live on Boulder beach. There is a long wooden walkway through bushes, in these bushes are where the penguins nest, so the penguins are literally inches away from you, and they are adorable.
Next stop was Cape Point, which is the (2nd) most southern tip of Africa. We drove through miles of reserve of low lying bush, the only thing that can survive the cape's strong winds, to the very tip. We hiked up a trail to the light house, the views of where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet are incredible. After the hike we decided that we would treat ourselves to an ice cream bar. As we walked back to the car we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by the large baboons that populate the area. And they had there mind set on our ice cream. We picked up the pace in an attempt to reach the car before we were attacked. But we did not move fast enough because I suddenly found myself with a huge male baboon with his hands on my waist and his eye on the prize. I looked down and saw his 4 inch nails and froze in fear. I then heard the voice of reason (Teddy) shout for me to throw the ice cream. For a second I paused, this was the best ice cream that I had tasted since we left the states, and I had to feed it to the evil baboon, there must be another option. But then reality hit and I tossed the bar as far as I could. Left only with some very faint scratch marks on my waist, just another day in Africa.

We decided to keep the adrenaline pumping and visit some more of Africa's wildlife, so we signed up for Great White Shark diving!!! Teddy had been talking about this day since we left the states! We were up early and took a 2 hour bus ride to Hermanus/ Shark country. We were given breakfast and a safety waiver that they were not responsible for Any Losses. (including limbs?) lol Then on to the boat, we were briefed on a lot of safety information, none of which we heard since we all had our eyes peeled for fins headed towards the boat. Then into our wet suits and down into the freezing water of the cage, we were the first ones in (by five minutes)! Visibility was poor so when they shouted for you to go down you only saw the green water until the shark was slamming into the cage! The shear thrill of seeing a huge great white from the boat was intense, being in the water with them was mind blowing.
Our hearts were racing but we were too excited to be terrified. It wasn't until you were back on shore that you exhaled a sigh of relief. In total we saw 5 sharks, the largest being 9 feet. Teddy has also decided not to surf here. lol We finished off the day seeing 10 whales no more than 100 feet off shore.

After playing with the wild life we decided to take in a little culture and took a boat ride over to Robbins Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of the 27 years he was incarcerated as a political prisoner.
His cell was tiny and he slept on a mat on the ground, until after 15 years they upgraded all prisoners to metal beds. Eight hours a day was spent pointlessly working in the rock quarry. After he was released he went on to become the greatest president in South Africa's history. The island also had the second largest colony of Penguins in the world.

The time has come for us to head into the bush..... wish us luck,
Teddy and Brooklyn

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1225028760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1225028760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1225028760/tpod.html Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:51:33 -0400 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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cape town, South Africa

Hello Friends!
We began our journey to the Iguazu Waterfalls from Mendoza with a brief stop in Tucuman. We arrived in Tucuman after a 15 hour bus ride and after a quick tour of the town we realized it wasn't for us and booked the 20 hours to the falls for the very next day. And it was a great move the town and the falls were amazing! The falls run from Brazil to Argentina. We spent two days exploring the Argentina side. The park had a series of trails and catwalks that got you as close as possible to all points of the falls. From the top of the Devils Throat where the river drops off to from a huge horse shoe shaped fall, to the very bottom, where we were so close that we were practically swimming in the mist of the fall.
Then we headed the 20 hours down to Rosario, which boasts beautiful sand beaches along the river. As luck may have it we arrived at this resort town on a three day weekend. And after checking every hotel in the city with 50 lb backpacks in tow we realized that everything was booked. Except one hotel had a single room still available and there was a good reason for this. Never stay somewhere that has a strong possibility of being your last night. lol So back on the bus, completely delirious, headed to Buenos Aires.
After a few days in BA we were very excited to get on the plane and start our African adventure! Teddy celebrated his 27th Birthday on the plane ride over with hot towels and mixed nuts. lol Cape town was not what we expected Africa to be like. I had imagined landing on a dirt runway and being hauled off to a small village on the back of a Elephant. To our surprise it appeared we had landed in San Diego. lol This city is beautiful with white sand beaches and stunning mountain views in every direction. And we can drink the water directly from the tap!! We wasted no time in renting a flat with sea view! (granted, view is only possible while standing on a chair, but still a sea view) lol Cape town is a big city and everyone tried to convince us that we needed a car, but these maniacs drive on the wrong side of the road. lol So we figured bikes were a safer bet, which we purchased from the local pawn shop.
Of course the first thing we did was to visit the local aquarium. lol We watched two scuba divers dive into the shark tank and feed the stingrays and sea turtles, now thats a stressful day at work. As we were leaving the aquarium we heard someone shout Teddy's name. This world is too small, the voice turned out to be his fraternity brother Chris Boyd from college, who after being deported, returned to South Africa. lol It is very good to see a familiar face.
There are two huge mountains in Cape Town, Lions Head and Table Mountain. Our first challenge was Lions Head, it was a long hard journey to the top but the view was well worth it! On the way back down walking on a one foot wide trail with waist high grass and bushes on both sides, we saw a large bronze snake cross the trial 15 ft in front of us. This is more than my worst fear. We still had an hour to hike and we were in snake country. Luckily there was a stick by us so Teddy lead the way determined to scare anymore snakes away. His plan worked, but only for protecting himself. lol We were almost off the trail and apparently Teddy walked past a snake and spooked it. He passed it fine but the snake decided to cross the trail right at my feet. Hearing the commotion Teddy turned around just in time to see me leaping over an even larger bronze snake with a look of pure terror on my face. I hit the ground running and didn't stop until we were on concrete.

Its summer here and we have spent the rest of our time on the beaches. The water looks inviting but when you go in you learn its in the upper 50's and its already hard enough fending off sharks and man eating jelly fish without adding hypothermia to the list. But the beaches are amazing so we are content laying around and playing paddle ball.


Won't see you soon,
Teddy and Brooklyn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1222963080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1222963080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1222963080/tpod.html Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:48:48 -0400 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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Mendoza, Argentina

After visiting Jesus in Cusco we traveled by bus for 20 hours from Cusco to Lima and then flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We arrived in the city at 3AM (should have looked at our ticket times closer) and waited in the airport till the sun came up, when we felt it would be safe to start the adventure of finding a place to sleep. We agreed to the first place we found, since we were running on 3 hours of airplane sleep. Buenos Aires was a nice change of pace from the rest of our trip. It was a thriving metropolis where the people had time to care about fashion and coffee, instead of how they were going to stay alive that day. Our next task was to find my mom a place to stay, and although we were quite happy with our room, I didn´t think any American on vacation would have been as thrilled. She arrived 2 days after us and it was so nice to see someone we know!!! We spent the week exploring all the city has to offer. We went to the parks in Palermo, the creepy cemetery where Eva was buried, to see the brightly painted flats in Boca, we saw some amazing (and not so amazing modern art) museums and went to the zoo. We love third world zoos because they don't take nearly as many precautions to keep you safe from the animals!! We also got to visit a dance show at a very fancy theater. The dancing was amazing (and not so amazing modern dance). Thank goodness my mother came to feed us, because we hadn´t eaten in months! lol The city was quite expensive for our budget and we would never have been able to stay for a week and explore. Plus it was nice to have someone else to talk to. lol So after waving goodbye to my momma we hoped on the 15 hour bus ride to Mendoza, wine country. We got to experience Argentina's late dinner time when we were dead asleep and got woken up by everyone on the bus getting off at 1130pm. Although we didn't want to leave the bus the conductor informed us we were getting off. We went into a restaurant where dinner was being served. Because we had just woken up we didn't want to eat which for some reason made the waiter very mad because the food was free. lol.
Mendoza is a very cute town, with 90% of the population being European. The town has brought some flavor back into our food and the wine is cheap. We rented bikes in the city and spent the day pedaling through a park the size of central park in NY and enjoyed a day at Mendoza´s third world zoo. Where we fed uncaged monkeys and had a too close encounter with a Lion and Chimpanzee.
As we were staring at a huge, male, lion that sat 3 feet away in his chain linked fence, it decided that Teddy had stared long enough and lunged, mouth wide open, directly at his head. We ran away screaming lol. Then a little, innocent looking chimp played a joke at my expense when he tried to lure me in by handing me his banana thru the cage,when I went to pass it back it made a swift dive for my hand lol Stupid Americans lol
Then it was off to the wine country. We rented bikes with two other couples staying at our hostel and toured 2 vineyards and a chocolate factory that produced absinthe. The tasting at the vineyards made our bike riding much easier. lol One vineyard walked us through their automated bottling plant where they bottle and package 9000 bottles of wine an hour. Quite impressive.


Cheers,
Teddy and Brooklyn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1220819460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1220819460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1220819460/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:48:25 -0400 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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Cusco, Peru

From Arequipa we booked a leisurely 3 day hike of Colca Canyon (so we thought). We took an early morning bus for 5 hours to Colca Canyon. We stopped at a look out point to admire the condors, which are huge vulture like birds that span over 8 feet wide. It was amazing to see them flying right above you with the backdrop of the deepest canyon in the world.
Well when we booked the trek we didn't know it was the deepest canyon in the world. lol So day one we met our group and our amazing guide, Nester and enjoyed a power lunch before beginning our hike down. We were told that today would be the EASY day! lol The path was straight down, hugging the cliff for 4 hours,and the views were amazing, possibly the most amazing place in the world. Well after we reached the bottom and crossed over the river it was 1 hour straight up to the home of the villagers we stayed with. We were exhausted, everything hurt and I was sure I lost a toenail. The family was very nice and accommodating and the kitchen was over run by guinea pigs, lol apparently they live there until they get chosen as a tasty treat for dinner YUM. The first part of Day 2 was spent hiking deeper into the canyon to reach the Oasis at the bottom. Along the way we made a stop at a local villagers house to enjoy chi chi the local beer made from fermented corn. They also had a small museum there where a local woman showed us how they live off the land, from an animal skin as a water bottle to a sling shot for killing dinner made out of grass. It made us realize the extent to how easy we have it. We continued the hike to the oasis, along the way our guide pointed out different plants and their medicinal uses. He also warned us on a plant along the trail that is filled with an acid that causes blindness. It would have been nice for him to have pointed out this plant at the beginning of the hike lol. We arrived at the oasis for some swimming and a machupicchu (huge) lunch as our guide calls it. Then came the hike back up, our guide informed us that it would be straight up for 4 hours at a fast pace. He then informed us that we had the option of hiring a mule (Inka elevator) for the ride up. Being an adventurous group, we all decided that we would accept the challenge. Those mules were stubborn lol but we definitely enjoyed our ride to the top. We walked bull legged into town and checked into our hostels, where we enjoyed possibly the best hot shower of our lives.
We couldn't get enough of hiking so early the next morning to stretch our screaming legs we took off on another 2 hour hike. Then back on the bus headed to a much deserved hot springs bath! Then back on the road headed back to Arequipa, we were told of a drop off point on the way back where we could catch a bus to Puno and save 4 hours of traveling time. So the bus stops on the side of the road in a 3 building town and drops us and our bags off. It was bitterly cold. There were no people, no animals and no plants, except for a tumble weed and one spanish speaking police officer. Who turned out to be very kind, he let us wait in his "station" which was one chair and one light bulb powered by a generator. He explained that he had no money to fill the generator with gas, so we helped him out. He was extremely thankfully and 20 min's later he flagged down a bus headed to Puno. Well the bus was full, but our smooth talking officer got us a seat up front. Way up front, I sat in the bus drivers sleeping bunk and Teddy made himself comfortable in the hallway next to me. We were so excited to have a ride to Puno, it was no telling how long we might have stayed in that town. The driver was very kind and after 3 hours moved us to 2 available seats in first class!

We arrived in Puno and slept for 2 days straight, saw Lake Titicaca and headed off to Cusco. The altitude had its effects us on as well, since we were 14,000 ft up, so we enjoyed Peru's greatest crop Coca. The tea cured the nausea immediately, although it had a strange side effect of making us want to dance to techo at 4AM lol
Cusco is a beautiful city, we found a great deal on a hostel that turned out to be immediately over an all night Disco, I'm not sure if it was the language barrier but it was not mentioned at time of check in lol
The third day we were here Peru went on strike against their President, which meant that all transportation and business were not running. This happened to be extremely bad timing for Teddy. Soon after lunch Teddy began to experience severe stomach cramps that persisted for over two hours. We were concerned that it may be his appendix so we decided it would be best to go the the clinic. But unfortunately we had no way of getting there, so brave Teddy took off walking. We made it about 4 blocks when I stopped into a pharmacy to ask directions, after seeing Teddy where I had left him, rolling around in pain on the side walk they called us an ambulance. So in the ambulance (a minivan) we went to the hospital (a house). Luckily the doctor spoke english and assured us that his spleen was intact. After a serious of tests the doctor returned with the result (and pain medicine). She informed us that Teddy had two parasites and a "touch of salmonella" she said with a grin. lol Luckily the fee for the ambulance included the return trip and it dropped us back off at our hostel. Who knows what pills we have been giving him, but we are happy to report that he is amoeba free and eating again! We love third world adventures!!!! With Teddy feeling better we have been exploring the ruins and churches in the city.


Thank god for penicillin,
Brooklyn and Teddy
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1219158900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1219158900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/brooklyn85260/1/1219158900/tpod.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:18:05 -0400 Brooke and Ted's excellent adventure!

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Arequipa, Peru

Oh Utila! How we loved this Island. We throughly enjoyed our apartment and spent our days on the beach snorkeling. We swam next to sting rays and found an octopus hiding in a rock. I´m pretty sure our visa expired we stayed so long. But the time had come to move on to new adventures, plus we had a plane to catch.

In order to get to the capital, where the airport is, we had to make quite a journey, 2 hours in a rocky boat, 8 hours in an accidental first class bus (the nicest place we have slept yet!) and 30 mins by taxi (mainly in reverse, but no worries the hazards were on) lol
The next day after 5 hours on a plane we arrived in South America!! Peru to be exact on a one month lay over. We arrived in Lima and from the plane it appeared to be Saudi Arabia, we wondered how long we had been sleeping. We got off the plane to a weather shock, it was quite cold for the bikini and board shorts we had been living in the months prior. Lima was a very westernized city and had gorgeous condos that lined the cliffs over looking the ocean. There was surf and Teddy was very excited, until we found out that the water was severely polluted and we decided it was best not to test the hep A and B immunizations. lol
So back on the bus headed to a coastal animal reserve! But we missed our stop so it was on to Ica. lol Which was fine because we had no idea that we were arriving at an actual desert oasis. I only knew that these existed in Saturday morning cartoons. It was amazing and beautiful. And Teddy couldn't put his hands down, he was so excited when he saw the dune buggies and sand boarding that was to come. So needless to say we signed up for the first run of the morning the very next day. We jumped in our 9 person dune buggy with one other couple, I was very scared and Teddy couldn't stop smiling. We took off at full speed headed up the dunes (suspension would have been nice). The best part of the tour was that they would drop you off at the top of the dune with your sand board and then retrieve you at the bottom! We started off on a small dune (50 ft) and then continued on up till we were going down a 1000 ft dune. AMAZING!
After a couple days at the oasis we left on an overnight bus to Arequipa, which is where we are now. The city is busy and beautiful. The people are very friendly and the food is cheap. We found a great hostel with terraces that over look the city.

Except once again teddy got the ..............bedbugs!!! So he is now an expert at locating and destroying! The worst of it is over and we got upgraded to a bigger room :) We have no immediate plans to leave the city.
Living la vida loca,
Brooklyn and Teddy
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Utila, Honduras

We are so sorry that it has been so long since we last wrote but we were on a mission to get back to the beach and we have experienced some technical difficulties (expensive internet)! So when we last left you we were still in Antigua and we absolutely loved that city, we even had the cheap restaurants on lock down, when we realized that this trip was supposed to be a coastal journey and we were in the middle of Guatemala ?!? So we decided to make the long journey back to the beach. First we had a couple stops to make in Guatemala. So we headed over to Lake Atitlan. We had learned of a great volunteer opportunity to volunteer in San Marcos, and since we were the only people that we met that hadn't been robbed in Guatemala we decided we would like to give back to the community. We arrived in San Marcos and headed to the place, we had heard that there were farming opportunities and Teddy was very excited! We met with the owner who was very nice, but from the looks of it we had stopped by right in the middle of the afternoon bong session and seemed to be confused. He mentioned that he was starting work on building a solar heating system and Teddy began to sweat with enthusiasm!!!! But then he handed us the price sheet.......apparently you have to pay to volunteer lol We are not that committed to the cause lol So back on the boat and hopped over to San Pedro, which was known for its crazy party life! Well since we never made it up past 10 we didn't see this aspect of the village lol But the lake was incredibly beautiful and we spent every sunset sitting on the docks and watching the glow of the water. After a few days spent with the spiritual hippies that inhabited the lake we decided to make our move. The count down to my birthday had begun and I was determined to spend it on the beach. On our way to Honduras we made one last stop in Rio Dulce. Otherwise known as a swamp lol Although I must say the coolest swamp resort I have ever seen. We arrived in the city (3 blocks long) late at night in the pouring rain. A fellow traveler had recommended a hostel and lucky for us there was a man at the bus to take us there. Little did we know the only way to reach it was by boat. So near midnight in the puring rain we boarded a small motor boat with three men that did not speak English and motored at full speed into the darkness dodging vines and branches. We looked twice at each other wondering if this was a good move on our part or perhaps our last lol We arrived at the hostel which was a series of wood huts built on stilts above the water. It was actually a really cool place, lots of young travelers and a very friendly vibe. The bug population was also friendly and made no hesitation to curl up in bed with us lol


On to the beach. We hopped on a series of buses and minivans to get across the boarder. Guatemala does not have the same requirements for personal space that we are used to in the US. For about 2 hours we were on a 12 person minivan with 27 people ( I counted)!!! And it was hot out!!! Then they dropped us of at the intersection of a dirt road and assured us ( in spanish) that there would be another bus coming along to take us the rest of the way to the boarder. So that was one of the longest 20 minutes of our lives wondering if indeed another bus would come as several local men sat and stared at us lol

We made it to Honduras! We were so excited to finally get to the beach and we stopped in the town Omoa, which our guide book had recommended as a great beach town. We arrived at a really cute hostel with free bikes, kayaks and drinking water and made our way down to bask in the glory of all our journeys on the white sand beaches. Well.....our guide book is from 2000 and as it turns out the power company had come in and built a series of jetties WHICH HAD COMPLETELY DESTROYED THE BEACH!!! It was gone lol So on to the next town of Tela, the book described it as a number one tourist destination. Yes in fact it was... for the people of Honduras. There were no hostels so we ended up in a cheap motel. It wasn't fancy but it was raining and it was a dry roof over our heads. In the morning I went to get in the shower and discovered there was no running water and in its place was a bucket full of water and a bowl. So we took off to the islands.



Utila here we come!! We arrived on the ferry to the island and were told that everyone would need to stay inside the ferry because the deck would get very wet. Then they placed packages of random pills, which we guessed were for motion sickness, along with barf bags and paper towels, what had we gotten ourselves into. As it turns out the scariest boat ride ever!! I have never seen a huge passenger ferry tossed so easily in the waves of the sea. Well the rocky trip was well worth it when we arrived. The island was in full swing for the first day of there week long Carnival celebration. Which turns out it is just a wall of giant speakers moved from corner to corner each night, with a portable bar of course!

The island is full of young travelers and is the cheapest place to get dive certified in the world. We found ourselves an apartment to rent for the 3 weeks we will be here, and we love it!!! It has a kitchen, A/C and Cable. That is more luxuries than our San Diego apartment had lol! And the best thing of all is THEY SPEAK ENGLISH. Which is a treat after only ordering tortillas and frijoles lol The island is surrounded by an amazing reef, which now makes the 2 months Teddy carried around our snorkeling equipment well worth it lol. So that is where we are now, waking up, snorkeling, cooking and watching TV in the A\C. Life is good lol



We miss you all tons,
Brooklyn and Teddy
xxoo
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