TravelStream™ news feed for member mishandlauren on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mishandlauren en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:13:46 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1179354720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1179354720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1179354720/tpod.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:13:46 -0500 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Sacramento, California, United States

I've decided its time to get this travel blog going--and at least set it up. The decision has been made, the trip will officially start in the Penske 24 foot rental truck that will contain all our crap, as we begin on our way to beautiful British Columbia.

So, the way this works is you--the reader--get to see where we are by where the little pin is. Well, surprise surprise, the first pin is here in our heart's current favorite location, Northern California. We haven't left yet, but this is where the journey will start.

It will be sad to leave SF, the tree lined streets of Sac, our adorable little house,


and to leave behind Lake Tahoe and the amazing Sierras that we've enjoyed for the past 6 years.

We'll be saying good bye to many wonderful friends, and hoping that they really will come visit us in Beautiful British Columbia, and trying hard not to second-guess all these decisions.

And for me (Lauren) this trip will make me an immigrant, putting some kind of closing punctuation on my status as a united states-ian and on being a citizen of California, which is in my mind just not the same as being a citizen of the U.S. Both will change and this will no doubt change me as well.

So for now, we begin with this truckfull of stuff, a visit to those friendly canadian customs folks, eh? and then we'll start getting ready to travel.
See you soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1189595940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1189595940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1189595940/tpod.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:47:49 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

We're finally on our way...or are we? One photo--in front of the airport, is misleading. The airport and Horizon Air--our short hop to catch our flight from Seattle--was not to be. For those of you who missed the news, the small Bombardier jets that are used for these flights are the same as those in Scandinavia that have recently been seen losing their landing gear, while landing that is...So, there were cancelled flights and we were in a line that didn't move at all for about a half hour.

As you can imagine, given the history of this trip, dear reader, we were concerned that yet another dark omen was clouding our great adventure. Nevertheless, we persevered, with the help of a lovely man at the Air Canada counter (yay Air Canada!!) we discovered that if we could get to Vancouver we could get a flight that would intercept our Cathay Pacific flight routing in San Francisco. The clock was ticking though (tick tick, can you hear it?) and the line wasn't moving, and how would we get to Vancouver? Swim? Those of you who know me know that is not an option. Luckily Michelle's dad had remained with us in the line to see us off and now swung into action, getting the car while we purchased our ticket from Vancouver to SFO and we screamed out of the parking lot on our way to the BC ferry!

It, of course ended well. After two flights and many many hours we landed in Hong Kong--very tired and dazed. Stay tuned to hear more, though the pics are already here...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1209217920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1209217920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1209217920/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:54:58 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Orlando, Florida, United States

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1207575600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1207575600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1207575600/tpod.html Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:52:11 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Huntington Station, New York, United States

So, its finally here. The date when we return to supposed normalcy...and the strange and foreign world of the NY suburbs. We arrive in time to help prepare for Josh's bar mitzvah and we have a blast making place cards, video-ing and generally trying to help out and be supportive. He, of course, was brilliant and made all of us very proud.

Another important item on our to-do list in Dix Hills was finding the elusive Firman--that is, Jeff Firman. Last seen wandering with holes in his boots up and down ridge lines in Fitzroy park in Argentina, we had reason to believe we might have another sighting in this location? How could this be? Hold on and we'll tell the incredible story that puts "six degrees of separation" to shame...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1205265720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1205265720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1205265720/tpod.html Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:01:43 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Caleta Tortel, Chile

After the Cerro Castillo park, we made our way (via bus this time) to the little town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo. It was muy tranquilo alright. This town reminded both Michelle and I of the town in Northern Exposure. It had about 4 streets and a little radio station and a waterfront. Food was ridiculously expensive and you knew if the butcher had meat that day by whether the red flag was out up front of this white house. Inside was a side of beef hanging and a saw...
We stayed here for two days, including a trip to see the marmol caves, so named because they look like marble. They are beautiful formations of arcways over the glacial blue lake water. It was worth staying an extra day because our hospedaje had two key features: (1) it was a bakery in front, with fresh bread and amazing carrot cakes and empanadas fresh each day and (2) the backyard, where we camped was filled with plum and apple trees, heavy with ripe and delicious fruit at this time of year. We were in heaven.

We left there on our way to Caleta Tortel, which is known because it has no streets, only wooden walkways that link the houses. The town is built on a bay on a lagoon in the midst of many lakes and fjords that eventually --like a 12 hour sail, lead to the Atlantic ocean. The land is so marshy that they built the town on wooden platforms and these sidewalks and stairs. Its beautiful and a bit of a strange and isolated place. We arrived late, getting a ride (which we paid mightily for) with a man and his wife who live there but who had gone to the nearest large town for groceries. We sat in the back with their groceries for 3 hours, at which point we arrived and the driver left us in the parking lot for the town. We put on our headlamps and back packs and began walking. It was profoundly dark, no stars no moon. At first we thought, oh, they must not have electricity here...which made it quite difficult for us to navigate the stairs, which were also slippery with the rain. We arrive at the hospedaje which has been recommended to us and at the door we are greeted by a small woman holding a candle, which creates even a more eerie aspect to the situation. She shows us to our rooms and after a few minutes the lights go on. Apparently this was just a power outage, they do have lights after all.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1204728780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1204728780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1204728780/tpod.html Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:45:10 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Coyhaique, Chile

These last few days of traveling, there´s been a lot of time and lots of peace and quiet too, mixed with some adventurous moments.

Í´ve been thinking about you all--mother and daddy (Jus and Eddie), you especially would absolutely love this scenery. I think that Patagonia is the best kept secret on this beautiful planet. Each bus ride on a dirt road is like driving through that t.v. show ¨planet earth¨, no kidding, its just one spectacular vista after another. So far we´ve been doing this dirt road thing and camping for only about 4 days. The first two days we got a ride to a thermal hot springs on someone´s ranch (150 hectares, I think a hectare is 100 sq kms?) . The man who owns this place is the son of a German immigrant who bought this place to ranch and keep cattle. They found hot springs, built a rustic bathing place and that´s where we camped.

We met a young guy in his twenties from Spain who is traveling with us now, his name is Girard, he´s very nice and is helping both of us with our spanish-english improvement plan. Íts nice to have a little brother with us, he helps carry heavy stuff and doesn´t mind making fires with wet wood ;-). I think he was lonely traveling alone, so its a good deal for him too. Apparently, he says his mother is happy that he´s traveling with some women now, maybe she thinks we´ll keep him from starving. Probably true.

So we camped there (at the ranch, sorry for the digression) and then went to another park with glacier view where pieces periodically crack off, and fall, making a fabulous thundering noise. Now we are in the city of Coihaique, in the middle of the chilean patagonia. Today has been great so far, just doing bank business and found the fruit trees in the plaza and got about a kilo of little tiny plums and apples when Girard climbed up and shook the branches (see?, little brother).... otherwise, fruta and vegetables are not easy to find down here, so now we´ll have our vitamins for a few days. About halfway down the route to our destination of Villa o´higgins which is where we cross back into Argentina to go to monte fitzroy and the glacier perito moreno. (Daddy, I expect you to look all of these places up on Google images or whatever). I have so little time on internet, since we´re mostly camping, that this blog is getting not much use, but i wanted to be in touch with you all. We miss everyone and wish you all could be here seeing these sights with us, but we´re taking pictures... We may not have internet for another week, so don´t worry if you don´t hear from us. Next sizable town will be El Chalten or El Calafate, Argentina.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1202853420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1202853420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1202853420/tpod.html Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:34:35 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Talca, Chile

So we are on to Patagonia, meaning everything in the south of South america. The official line --or at least the one used by our guidebook that is entitled Patagonia--is that which is south of the Lakes regions, which are smack in the middle of both Argentina and Chile. These regions in both countries are filled with enormous snow-capped volcanos and deep lakes and lots of thermal waters in between that bubble up fromthe very seismically active earth here. Of course the Andes lies right in the middle of these two, a vertical spine on the continent that is shaped a little like a mermaid, if you use your imagination.

We began our trip with little planniong, since our return from SE Asia left us very jetlagged and with a family christmas and visiting to do. On top of that, the fact that we would not return to Canada nor the U.S. Until April meant that we had to organize our taxes before we left. This was a pain mostly because we've moved from California to Canada. For Michelle, because she has to file in both countries and for me because I cannot technically change my address to canada yet. So all of my important documetns are in various--some intended, some unintended--places in the u.s. Suffice to say, it is now complicated, involves too many accountants, phone calls, mailings and lots of uncertainty. It also involved lots of tasks that ate up time that could have been spent figuring out how to get to the Sur del Chile.

So, we figure it out now, better late than never. Today is the second full day at Casa Cheunca , which is in central Chile. It is a fine place to figure stuff out though. We've met a number of great folks (especially those from California of course) from mostly the states who are here on in most cases, shorter, vacations. But the atmosphere here is perfect for a friendly situation where the travelers share information about how to travel in this vast area. We are at least 15 kilometers outside of town on a beautiful plot of land on a hillside. The climate is sort of California warm, maybe like the hills just outside of San Diego. Dry, with lots of cacti, bougainvillea, sunflowers and a fair amount of dust. There's a pool here which is a welcome addition because it has been really hot (over 90 degrees and then some each day). So despite our designs to be active, its sort of too hot to spend a lot of time out in the sun after about 1 pm, so the rest of the day, until the group has dinner together, is spent lazing by the pool or on the patio reading--or in my case writing this.

But most importantly, as soon as we arrived we found that the travellers here were eager to share information and tips about travel in Chile, and the best places to go, and how to get there. This is not an easy place to travel, mostly because it is so large and there is so much to see. It appears you could easily miss the best and get stuck in high season tourist destinations squashed with too many beach goers, parytying college students and not the peace and pristine nature you were hoping for. So within an hour we had ;multiple offers of help for our itinerary and got great tips from a German man --in his sixties probably--who has lived here for the last five years and has bicycled and trekked all over the country and in argentina. then came the young couple from oregon who now lives in chile and who have just completed a month doing pretty much what we plan to do until April. Lots of tips and names of places and ideas to write down. Our heads were spinning by the time we went to bed last night, excited to begin our way south. It was not to be, however....

We were supposed to be on a bus , heading south today and we learned the hard way that it is indeed high season here and any Chileno who can take a vacation (it is the equivalent of the end of July here, kids off from school, etc) had apparently booked a seat on all the buses headed south to the lakes region. So we bought a ticket for tomorrow and went for a long, hot and uncomfortable walk into the town with our full,huge backpacks and all our crap.

Just when our misery was almost complete, we arrived at the town plaza which was the goal of the walk, since we hadn't a ride from the bus stop back to our hostel Until later in the afternoon. Of course we couldn't be cross for too long for as we arived at the plaza, a parade began to step off, complete with military band, the traditional cowboys or huasos (gauchos in argentina) on horseback and lots of army, navy and other types of pomp and decoration. It was a short parade too, only about 25 minutes. We never would have seen it had we not been foiled as we were with our travel. So, after the parade and a bit of a scrounge for some pan, empanadas and some tomato and avocado to bring back for lunch, we headed back with all our gear, by microbus. Our friends from Sonora are still herre, so this afternoon we all spent hanging out on the patio, trying to stay cool swimming and reading and chatting. Tomorrow we're for sure headed south to a town called temuco, which is the largest city in southern Chile, where we will rent a car for a week. This will allow us, we hope, to get a bit off the beaten path and find the quieter campgrouonds among the lakes, hot springs and volcanos. We will do a loop and then head to the island of Chiloe, off the coast.

See you again soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1206986100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1206986100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1206986100/tpod.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:05:41 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Puerto Natales, Chile

At the end of March, at the end of the Carreterra Austral, practically at the end of the Americas, is the national park called Torres del Paine. It is the prime destination for millions of tourists from all over the world--to come and do multi-day trekking trips. Amazingly we find the place swarmed with trekkers from the United States. It is a destination for sure, and at the beginning of our trip, we thought it would be our prime goal. But after the scenery and experiences of this whole journey southward, it has now actually become the final stop of many on a tour of unbelievable places.

The place did not disappoint us. We saw probably the most beautiful and accessible glacier so far, the Glacier Grey. We camped next to a lake with icebergs floating in it--just scoop some ice out of the lake and let it melt and you can drink the water later. Sunrises come with moments of spectacular surprises of pink, then yellow skies or mountains --then in seconds they are gone in a sudden turn of dark clouds. The wind--it is hard to describe how a routine 80 kmh wind can almost knock you off your feet. Many times we have had to kneel down to avoid being blown off a steep trail, or hunkered down behind a rock hoping that the gust would abate. The wind sounds like a train or a jet plane as it roars over a pass, or over the trees above you, if you´re lucky to be in a sheltered place. This is one of many types of previously unknown sounds. Like the sound of falling ice off a glacier, or an avalanche off a steep mountain crest, so loud that it wakes you from sleep and you realize what it is and you are astounded. At home if you hear this sound, you´re probably in deep trouble, literally. In the Valle de Frances, it is one of the natural noises, night and day.

We walked comparitively little for 7 days in the park, only 76 kilometers. This was because once we camped next to the Glacier Gray and the lake with the icebergs, we did not want to leave. This and our unusually heavy packs and over 40 year-old knees convinced us that day treks with no backpack would be a good plan. So we lived next to the glacier and the lake for 3 days, and walked up to a place where as far as your eyes could see was a "campo de hielo", or field of ice. This is the 3rd largest ice field on the planet (someone thinks its the second, but I think that greenland and the arctic may have it beat). Its huge in the hugest sense of the word. Shit, everything here is huge...the fields are big, the mountain ranges are vast --though not so tall really, the plains, pampas and horizon is enormous, the sky is the biggest you´ll ever see, and filled with clouds that move so fast you think you´re watching time-elapsed photography. The winds down here are 80 kmh, up above they´re 120...weather changes fast here. Rain comes down sideways and the rainbows....the rainbows are full semi-circles, where you can see and almost touch the beginning and the end of them as they form above a lake or anywhere where the sun and rain mix, which is a regular occurrence. We don´t hardly ever have these rainbows at home, do we? Do you remember the last one you saw where it was a full 180 degree shape? We couldn´t either.

I´m sure there´s more to tell, but for now I´ll let the pictures tell the story. Credit for these photos goes to our new friend Natasha, who actually has a cable for her camera and has a wonderful eye for a great photo.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1205091000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1205091000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1205091000/tpod.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:01:10 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Villa Cerro Castillo, Chile

Since the last entry we spent about a week in a national park called Cerro Castillo. It was 3 hitchhiked rides from Coihayque, where I last posted. We got one ride in the cab of a truck that was hauling fish (no kidding--but it was in the refrigerated car in back) and a couple of others in pickups with nice chilenos. Here hitchhiking is much more accepted and common, as the buses on this stretch of road are infrequent and unreliable. People expect that they may see people (not serial killers, or escaped prisoners like in the states) looking for a ride. It was a new experience for us, but with Gerard, we felt certainly a bit safer. He´s pretty gregarious and the South Americans usually like the idea of chatting with a Spaniard.

This theory usually works well, we´ve seen lots of people get quite far by hitching rides. It doesn´t always work, however, as we found when we sat by the side of the road waiting for either a ride or a bus (whichever came first) one afternoon about 4 days ago. It seemed strange to us that the bus, nor any other cars were going by. After 5 hours, then 6 we were concerned, so we stopped one of the passing trucks, that had construction workers in it and asked them. It turned out that about 30 km away, the road was closed all day. They were doing some blasting to fix the road, when it got a bit out of hand and it took them much longer than expected to clear the debris. We all made plenty of progress on the books we were reading (we started calling it the public library, as there were about 6 or 7 of us in all sitting by the side of the road reading) and at last, just before dark, our bus arrived.

Our hitchiking out of Coyhaique began, as I said with a fish truck. The fish, according to the driver was from somewhere north of where we picked up the ride, but the driver was going south. Why? you may ask. The driver explained that though he had picked up the fish north where the salmon farms are, there is no road in chile that would get him back up to Concepcion, which is just south of Santiago. He has to drive south, cross over into Argentina and after about a 2 day drive he gets back to Chile, just north of where he began. Whew!! The view was great out of the truck cab window, though we were so crowded in that I basically had to stand leaning against my pack.

We had neglected to ask where the driver was actually going so, at the next junction which was in the middle of NOWHERE, the driver said, okay, this is as far as I go South. We got out, we were 56 km from our destination and on a road with unbelievable views of mountains, valley, plains and sky. It seemed as if we could see forever in every direction. Thankfully, we didn´t have to walk forever, as a driver of a small pickup truck stopped for us in about 20 minutes and brought us almost all the way to the park.

Cerro Castillo was a gorgeous place. We stayed 4 nights in the park, trekking up to a campsite and then taking an amazing hike along the ridges of the mountains, high on the rocky scree. It was during these few days that Gerard officially became our cocinero, or cook. We had brought avocados, zapallitos (like a cross between a zucchini and cucumber, though sweeter) and onions with us and he made us a glorious salad for lunch of smashed avocado with these vegetables , served on whole wheat crackers. We also made bread from a mix in the coals of our fire one night. There were some ashes that needed to be picked off the rolls, but they were quite tasty. We paid for all this fresh food in the weight of our packs on this trip, but it was quite worth it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1203970800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1203970800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mishandlauren/m_and_l_2007-08/1203970800/tpod.html Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:57:51 -0400 From Asia to South America: Travels In-Between

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Ancud, Chile, Chile

We left the more cosmopolitan areas of Chile behind to embark on our journey southward. We broke down and rented an expensive Avis car (including the usual surprisingly expensive insurance) so that we could go to Chiloe--an island off of the coast and explore the lakes regions, much of which you cannot see using buses. First we visited hot springs, they call them Termas here, and navigated on miles and miles of very dusty dirt roads in this little peugeot that could. It was scary at times, as the roads are not only gravel, they make the gravel of little round stones, so its sort of like driving on marbles up and down completely un-graded hills. Oh well, that was fun. But we did get to mostly places that only Chilenos go, and had very nice conversations with entire families while sitting in the hot baths.

Chiloe is a rural, pastoral place, now famous for its UNESCO world heritage status granted for the wooden churches that were built in the 18th and 19th century. They are unique and beautiful and worth the trip. We traveled alot in the car and missed the opportunities we´ve had on this trip in other places on foot and bicycle. For one, you get no exercise this way and the lack of activity sometimes made us grumpy. Also, we tended to travel a bit too much, trying to see everything, ¨since we have the car¨. At the end, we were in some weird way glad to be back on foot and bus.

Last but not least, we got to see the penguins on the northern coast of Chiloe. We hope to see them again in the far south, but we had an extra day and loved our campground, so we went! It was really exciting to see the penguins sitting out there on the rock, they were really cute in real life too!
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