TravelStream™ news feed for member tikibird on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tikibird en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:43:32 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tikibird/rtw2007/1187534100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tikibird/rtw2007/1187534100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tikibird/rtw2007/1187534100/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:43:32 -0400 In Search of Wild Parrots 2007 Tahiti-Easter Island-Peru-Brazil-New York-London-Tokyo

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Brisbane, Australia

At last all the photos are up.  If you have been following this blog, thank you for your patience, it is a long and tedious process when you have over 1800 photos and video clips to sift through.Now that I am home, I can look back on a trip that went amazingly well for all its complexity.  There were very few mishaps.  One dance show was cancelled due to rain.  A plane in Peru was cancelled but we were rerouted and reached our destination in time.  Rain threatened our clay lick experience but we persisted and had a wonderful encounter with a Scarlet Macaw.  We rushed through 3 of the world's greatest cities while on transit and nearly dropped dead from exhaustion, but now we are home, well rested and looking back on the experience of a lifetime!  I think the key to a successful trip is all in the planning and organization.  Do your homework ahead of time.  We never would have gotten around New York so easily without printed Mapquest maps.  Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you enjoyed our big trip almost as much as we did!Please be kind to birds and all animals and support ecotourism. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tikibird/rtw2007/1186290900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tikibird/rtw2007/1186290900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tikibird/rtw2007/1186290900/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:34:14 -0400 In Search of Wild Parrots 2007 Tahiti-Easter Island-Peru-Brazil-New York-London-Tokyo

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Tokyo, Japan

We were actually just in transit and Japan wasn't the focus of this trip.  However, we did make the most of a 12 hour layover to see the major highlights of Tokyo.  The airconditioned train from Narita to the city was so chilly, I was chocked to see how hot and humid it really was. Once again, I had the highlights printed out so knew where to go.First stop was the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.  You can't get into the actual palace except on certian days of the year but the beautiful gardens surrounding the stone walls and moat are free to all.  We had a nice wander through and got lost and came out the wrong side, not thte side near Ginza so we missed the chance to go there.  We had to get to the Shibuya/Harijuku area of town to see the trendy young people of Tokyo parading around in outrageous costumes in Harijuku and see the Meji Shrine in Yoyogi park.  The book says there is a bird sanctuary in Yoyogi park, but the entrance was locked up as we walked past.  We did have great luck in Meiji Shrine when we stumbled onto a wedding with everyone in kimonos or fancy evening gowns.  Nect stop was tghe Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't towers where you ride to the 45th floor to see the whole city. On a clear day, you can see Mt Fuji, but it wasn't very clear.  After a quick teriyaki burger at Macca's, last stop was Asakusa to see the Sensi-jo shrine.  This is the oldest temple in Tokyo and there were quite a few people in kimonos there.  There is a nice market too.  We got a bit lost finding the Keisei train station at Ueno to get back but finally found it and arrived back at the airport in plenty of time.  The checkins were pretty clear and we got better seats than we had booked.  The plane was older, just had one movie screen for the cabin and the movie was Spiderman 3.  JAL is an OK ariline but I liked Finnair better!
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Helsinki, Finland

Heathrow was a mess and it took ovr an hour of queueing to get checked in.  I was afraid we would miss our flight, but we barely made it-no time to shop though.  Finnair to Helsinki was OK.  Not much to do in a 2 hour layover at Helsinki so I gave myself a makeover with testers of the expensive designer makeup in the duty free shop.  The flight to Tokyo was on a much better plane with personal movie screens and we can choose any movie at anytime, and play it just like a DVD, even pausing and restarting or rewinding.  We had great seats too-bulkhead so got an OK sleep considering we were in economy.
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London, United Kingdom

The plane was only an hour late to London because the pilot somehow managed to make up some time.  We left the huge bag in the left luggage office and took the tube into town.  The room wasn't ready and there was no water as they were doing maintenance but they promised the room would be ready by 2pm-normal check in.  I was pissed because we had made this booking aged ago and since I have gold status at that hotel's program, I should get early check in.  We didn't have time to waste so we got the tube to St James' Park and Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.  It was packed of course and we didn't have a great view, but thanks to 32x zoom, I still got some pics and videos.Ina wondered why they didn't put a fresh coat of paint on Buckingham Palace!  LOL!  So after that, we had lunch at a Pizza Hut buffet and stuffed ourselves silly, then walked over to the south bank for the London Eye.  Once again, it was packed, probably because it was such a beautiful day.  It took over half an hour to queue for tickes, than about an hour to queue to actually get on the Eye.  I could have booked online but then just my luck it would have been raining or something to spoil the view.  It was really a great view, you can see for  miles all around London.Then we got a bus to the Tower of London but by the time we got there, it was going to close in an hour and since the tickets aren't cheap at 16 GBP each, it would have been a waste to only go in for an hour.  I got a shot of Ina with the Beefeater who was taking the tickets at the entrance.Time for shopping!  Harrods was a bit rich for us, but fun to look aorund.  The King Street Mall in Hammersmith was more our budget and we got to a few shops before they all closed at 6pm.  Then we had to change into our new clothes and rush over to Victoria station and the Apollo Theatre where I had prebooked tickets for Wicked, a musical based on the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, but told from her point of view.   She isn't wicked, she was an animal rights activist who got on the wrong side of the gov't!  Great acting and singing, we loved the show!  Last stop was a quick look at London's West End nightlife and dinner at a burger joint before heading back to the Holiday Inn.  This was another drama as they still had the wrong room but they eventually got us into a room.  The hotel was full because there was some kind of conference going on, but I had made our booking first.  We finally got much needed showers and a few hours sleep.
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New York City, New York, United States

The plane arrived half an hour late and we hit the ground running.  It's very annoying to have to clear US custgoms when you are only transiting through but it went quickly and at least we didn't have to carry the bags around.  Due to extensive internet research, I knew where we were going.  First up was to visit Chaska's cousins in Brooklyn so we got there by bus from JFK and took forever to find our way around the Brooklyn College but we were finally directed to 4 nests built high up in the lighting structures on the football field.  We could hear the Quakers squawking and every once in a while, one would arrive at the nest with a twig and disappear inside.  Looks like we came during business hours!  However, the friendly Quakers couldn't totally ignore Chaska's parronts and send down a sweet little couple to a lower level to chatter atus and send their best regards to Chaska.Next stop was the Staten Island ferry to get a free look at  the Statue of Liberty and get the requisite tourist photos.  The ferry was packed and everyone was crowding for positions at the rail to get the best photos as the ferry travelled rather quickly.  We got off at Staten Island, everyone HAS to get off whether they want to or not; but we raced around and managed to get back on the next boat back to Manhatten.  Then we went to a shopping center just a bit up from the ferry terminals, passing Wall Street at lunch time.  We had lunch at Nathan's, thinking that was the most typical American restaurant in our budget we could find on short notice-nice hot dogs!  That same mall had a Victoria's Secret so I was able to stick up on lingerie.  Then we did more shopping at Century 21 which was HUGE with an amazing range of clothes and bought some shoes at Payless.  We really needed more time, I wanted to go to a pet store to get somethings for the birds but not enough time.  We got the subway and bus combo back to JFK, just barely making it in time to check in. Then we raced to the gate and ran onto the plane..............only to have to sit on the tarmac almost 2 hours because something was wrong with the engine.  They finally fixed it and we found ourselves in a long line of planes queueing to take off on the runway.  At last we were airbourne and enroute to London.
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

We got up early and had breakfast, then went to Sugarloaf as early as possible to beat the crowds.  This was a good decision as the cable cars were practically empty and I was able to film and take pictures easily.  The view was amazing and there were some cute little monkeys on the very top of the Sugarloaf.  As we came back down, the cable cars going up were packed wall to wall with tourists, the groups and buses had arrived.  We were getting out right on time!The bus back to Copacabana took a very circutous route through the botanical gardens, Leblon, Ipanema then to Copacabana so we got a mini-tour but it took an hour to get back with the traffic.  I persuaded the hotel to give us 2 hours late check out so we could go to the beach for a couple hours.  We walked around watching the scenery, plenty of tanned, fit Brazilians and white, fat tourists!  LOL!  We both had a half hour massage enjoying the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, then got a bit of sun.  The water was too cold to swim, hardly anyone was swimming.  People were playing volleyball, sunbathing and relaxing.  Plenty of vendors were selling everything.  We had lunch at a beachside snack bar and fed a few pigeons then went back to the hotel to shower, check out and go to the airport.  Tonight we have a red-eye flight to New York on AA.
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The breakfast buffet was excellent, the best we have had at a hotel so far for variety.  It was such a gorgeous day, just the kind you want when you are planning to jump off a mountain.  After spending several weeks watching wild parrots in Peru and Brazil soar among the clouds and squawk joyfully as they flew overhead, it was time for me to experience what it is like to fly!  I had booked hanggliding with Just Fly-highly recommended by Lonely Planet and used for the Amazng Race.  A driver picked us up right on time and drove us to Sao Conrado Beach and I was issued with a student pilot permit.  The car was full and Ina didn´t get to go up to watch me jump, he stayed on the beach with the ground crew.  There were several tourists also jumping and we all got instructions on where to hang on to the instructor and how to run off the platform and jump.  Finally it was my turn!!  We ran and jumped off the mountain and all of a sudden I was flying like a bird!  OK, birds don´t wear harnesses and helmets, but close enough!  I had a great flight for about 15 minutes I think.  I was eye to eye with birds over the forest and the sea.  Now I know why birds squawk when they fly.  I screamed for joy too, it was such an amazing feeling!  We landed perfectly and then I got the shocking news that my DVD didn´t work.  So guess what?  I got to do it all over again!  The second time the DVD came out beautifully and I was very happy with the service from Paulo and Just Fly.  Highly recommended!!!We were dropped at a hostel so I could pay on the credit card and I noticed a sign for tours to Corcovado for only 45 Reais, our hotel had quoted us 80.  So we booked the afternoon tour and went off to a Kilogram restaurant.  This is a great idea-it´s a buffet and you help yourself and they charge you only by the weight of what you eat.  I had about 400 grams of food and Ina had about 600 grams, the whole thing was about $17 USD.  The afternoon tour was fantastic.  We were taken to Corocovado to see Christ the Redeemer statue which is the symbol of Rio.  We did the usual tacky tourist photos with outstretched  arms and enjoyed the view.  Then we drove through a favela (slum)  to see how the poorer locals live and drove past Mr Biggs house-the British train robber who is pretty old by now but the house is beautiful.  We also saw the Maracana football stadium where they play soccer matches and saw the Sambadrome and Cathedral.  We hopped out at Rio Sul shopping center to shop around a bit.  Nice mall like in any large city in the world.  Finally, we had dinner at another kilogram restaurant and visited the night market which is sort of a mini-hippie fair.  Great day in Rio!
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

For once, I actually slept well on a bus, it was so comfortable.  Like business class on an airponae.  The movies were American dubbed to Portugese but easy to follow.  The scenery improved once we got past Sao Paulo and there were some nice mountains to look at.  We stoppped at a roadside restaurant for breakfast but neither of us was hungry.  We arrived in Rio right on time and got the local Realbus to Copacabana and found the hotel.  It´s a great location, one block from the beach!  After getting settled in, we went for a walk and then booked the Plataforma Samba show for the evening.  140 reais including dinner and transport from the hotel-a bit steep but how often does one go to Rio?  The dinner was OK and worth paying only 10 Reais over the show only price.  The show was great!  Fabulous costumes and great dancing!  This needs to be seen so wait for the photos!
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Campo Grande, Brazil

We joined the tourists for breakfast and they went off on a bike ride.  Most people were checking out today as it was Sunday.  I was tired of group activities and we just walked around looking at birds.  We went to the mango trees, only the two BF Amazons were there.  Then we went to Arara Azul to say goodbye to Kris and grab some last miuinute photos of birds in the hotel.  The driver from Open Door arrived on time and made it back to Campo Grande in record time.  Ina is now in the Andorhina VIP lounge since we have tickets on an executivo bus and I am here writing this.  Soon we will be on a bus to Rio de Janiero!
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Pantanal, Brazil

Cezar, Julianna and Karla picked us up right after breakfast in a 4WD truck.  They were all kitted out with climbing gear so I knew they would be climbing trees to inspect nests.  Cezar really knows his birds, everytime we passed any bird (or mammal), he would tell Julianne what number it was in the field guide and she would point it out to me so I could see whatit was in English.  We saw lots of hawks and water birds but I will just talk about parrots here.  First we went to a nest occupied by two Hys, Karla climbed up and saw no eggs so came back down.  They have natural nest which are 95% in Manduvai trees.  They have to compete for these nests with other birds and have lost many potential nests to deforestation so the Arara Azul people have constructed artificial nests.  Their program is very successful as the macaw population was less than 2000 at one point and now there are over 6000 Hys in the Pantanal!   As we drove from one nest to another, the parents would fly off angrily and squawk their heads off complaining as the team took turns climbing the tree to see if there were eggs.  It is justthe start of the breeding season now so many couples are preparing the nests with woodchips.  Sadly some eggs the team had found before had been stolen by predators.  We saw many other birds along the way, including a large flock of Nanday Conures, several BF Amazons and some Golden Collared Macaws.  There is one pair of Greenwing Macaws who have a nest but weren´t around it so we didn´t see them.  The hightlight came at the end of the day when the team inspected a nest that was known to have eggs in it and found two baby Hy chicks!   They were adorable!  Cezar wouldn´t let me hold them  but he held them and we all took pictures and I kissed both their little heads and prayed they would grow up strong and healthy!After the day´s work, we returned to the Arara Azul office and Julianne showed us the usual slide show they show normal tourists but we had missed because we weren´t on the normal tour.  It tellas about the Hyacinth Macaw, the Project and what we can do to help.  Don´t buy illegally imported birds stolen from the wild.  Don´t buy products made with feathers from Macaws and Parrots as the birds are either killed to get the feathers or so badly injured, they die anyway.  They have a gift shop which helps support the project bu unfortunately they don´t take credit cards (I wish I had known that before) so I bought just a few small things as much as I could.   They currently have an injured Female Hy they named Kris.  She was rescued from certain death as a caiman (alligator) and caught her by the tail when she was either drinking or bathing in the lake.  Thank God a cowboy was nearby and rescued her ande brought her to the project to be rehabilitated.  She had lost her tail and couldn´t fly or eat.  Now she is almost ready to be released back to the wild but she still needs to be able to crack the Acuri nuts by herself.  I wanted to give her a big hug but they don´t encourage showing affection to Macaws that need to be released to the wild and they don´t want them friendly to humans.  I did get to scratch her head a bit while one of the volunteers held her.We rejoined the other tourists for dinnner but they didn´t see half of what we did, I was so happy we went!  After dinner there was a slide show about the Caiman resort which was very interesting.
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