We plan on seeing many friends on the way so we are really looking forward to catching up, and also keeping the folk at home updated on our travels.   So off we go......more from London.

Ana

Sept 26, 2002 - Capetown, South Africa - Click here to view our South Africa Page

We are exactly one week into our trip and everything has been GREAT!

Upon arriving in London, we went immediately to pick up our round the world tickets at the travel agency.  That done, we went to meet Toddy and he gave us the keys to his place so we could have a short nap during the afternoon.  It was a beautiful three hours nap, at least enough to power us up for the night.  We went to a local pub with Toddy and his flatmates TJ and Simon and Simon's girlfriend Angela.  We had a nice meal and a chat and drank about four pints of Stella then went back to the ranch.  The next morning I woke up with a stinking, filthy headache the size of a small continent.  It was the kind of headache that wakes you up at seven in the morning then hurts so bad you can't get back to sleep.  Aaaaaggggh!!  Needless to say that ruined our plans to get going early and meet our friend John Murray out at Windsor.  I should know that I just can't take the beers like I used to.

That evening we joined Toddy and his flatmates at a backyard barbeque which was being held by one of the guys on their cricket team.  It was a good party, but got even better when one of the boys got out the snuff and started handing it around.  In the true spirit of adventure, both Ana and I lined up a bit on the back of our finger and snorted it back.  Yowwwwww...what a wasabi blast!!!  If we were getting drowsy at that point in the party, we were certainly awake after that stuff!  The party ended up with us spending about an hour and a half in Catford trying to find a bus/taxi/mini-cab - anything to get back to the Docklands.  We finally got one to stop, but he told us we couldn't all fit into a single cab, so Toddy volunteered to go back to the party, that's the spirit!

Next day we did actually make it up early and were off to meet up with Heinrich and his wife Davina for Sunday lunch.  They took us out to a lovely country pub where we stuffed ourselves with traditional English grub then took the scenic route back to their place for a cup of tea.  Before long we were at the airport and on the plane looking forward to the twelve hour journey to Capetown, and the last few hours of Sept 22, 2002 - the first anniversary of our marriage!

We arrived the next morning to a beautifully clear and sunny day in Capetown!  The first sight of Table Mountain was just as fabulous as I was expecting.  After arrival, we found some hostel information and jumped on the "Backpacker Bus" to a great hostel near the Waterfront called The Big Blue.  We spent our first day taking a big walk through the Seapoint and Waterfront areas.  We went to bed early that night, since we didn't sleep much on the flight, and work up the next morning, 12 hours later.  And for some reason, the combination of the bad airplane seat, followed up with 12 hours in bed was enough to give me a horrible back ache, so I spent most of the day hobbling around Capetown's city centre like an old man.  It is slowly starting to feel better, but I think it will be with me for a while yet.  Despite this small problem, we spent the last few days exploring Capetown and making plans for the rest of our time here.  We did a wine region tour yesterday which included stops at four wineries and five wine "samples" which were actually about half a glass each, at each of them.  After 20 of those beauties, the facade of a cultural/educational event was completely shattered and all the participants were well and truly smashed.  Today we took the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain, which was definitely worthwhile.

We have decided to rent a car and start slowly making our way up to Johannesburg.  We get the car tomorrow and are going to do a day trip up the west coast then the next day we'll leave Capetown for a small town east of here called Hermanus.  Should be lots of fun!

Kris

Sept. 29, 2002 - Betty's Bay, South Africa

We have so much to tell and so little time to write about it.  We have had an absolutely fabulous few days touring around the southern Cape.  We got our car on Friday and decided that we would visit the west coast, north of Capetown.  Few people actually visit that area, as it is not as scenic as the Garden Route along the south side.  We took off and ended up in the West Cape Nature reserve.  It is the end of wildflower season so there are piles of purple, pink and yellow flowers everywhere.  As we got in the reserve, we stopped at the Tea Room and had a great Earl Grey and watched a slew of yellow birds in their hanging tree nests.  As we continued into the reserve,  we came upon a turtle crossing the road, springboks (sort of like a big antelope), a wildebeast and a herd of zebra, how exciting!  But our best animal of the day was a Puff Adder snake we saw at the side of the road.  We stopped and took some photos (not too close!), but didn't realize at the time how venomous this snake really is.  We'll stay far away from African snakes in the future, don't want to risk a bite.   So a great trip and our first experience with the African flora and fauna. 

We said good bye on Saturday to our friends at the Big Blue Hostel in Capetown and began the next leg of our trip which will take us through the Cape peninsula, then over to the Garden Route, where we will meet with Kris' friend Trudy and her partner Philippe this coming weekend.  We spent much of the first day on the most beautiful mountain roads ever!!  The view of lush green mountains with wild flowers on one side and the blue and white sea crashing on the cliffs on the other, was just spectacular.  We drove all the way to the bottom of Africa to another reserve called the Cape of Good Hope Reserve.  In the reserve we came across a little pack of baboons.  They were really cute!!  On the way there, were were also fortunate enough to see a whale in one of the bays.  So we made our way to Betty's Bay and stayed the night.  In the morning we planned to get on the road and make our way to the great white shark diving capital of the world, Hermanus, but we met a fantastic couple in the coffee shop.  Michael and Cheryl are South African and offered to show us a little of the coast.  They are from Capetown, but have a beautiful summer home in Betty's Bay.  We spent a great afternoon with them seeing a little more of Betty's old whaling town.  We love South Africans!!!  So we have now arrived in Hermanus.  Our $15.00 USD per night room at the local hostel is nicer than most hotels we've been in and they have a pool, a TV rooms and a bar about 7 steps from our bedroom,  Kris is in heaven!!  To top off an already fantastic day we spend the last 2 hours watching 6 whales frolicking in the bay.  It doesn't get much better than this.  So we are off now to finish the day with a $0.60 beer and a $3.00 steak.  More soon....

Ana

October 10, 2002 - N2 Highway on the way to Drakensburg Mountains

We apologize for the lack of communication in the last week.  We've been busy making our way up the east cost of S. Africa.  It's been fantastic and we've seen so much...it feels like we've been here for months.  After we left Hermanus we made our way into an area in the mountains called Outdsdoorn.  It is Ostrich capital of the world.  There are more there than anywhere.  They grow them for their meat and their feathers.  We went on a great tour of an ostrich farm and I even got to ride one.  I'm sure will show you the hilarious video at some point. 

The area is also known for it's caves.  There is a huge cave system in the mountains there called the Cango Caves.  We went on a tour into the caves called the adventure tour.  I must not be very adventurous because it was hard work.  We firstly went into 3 large caverns, all with their own unique names and stories.  Then the more we walked the smaller and smaller the caves and their entrances got.  The last tunnel we had to climb through a chimney like formation.  If you weighed 10 lbs more then I do you'd have a hard time make it up.  Then the last one you had to lay on your stomach and pull yourself through and then go head first out of another hole.  It was an interesting experience, not for the timid or claustrophobic.   

Our next stop was a beautiful place, aptly named Wilderness.  This is where our friends Trudy and Philippe have built a gorgeous home overlooking a cliff and the Indian Ocean.  The village is also home to a lagoon so it has plenty of places to go canoeing and hiking.  We mostly stayed around the house and tried to help out a bit with a plumbing problem that soaked their entire main floor.  They showed us such a splendid time there from the champagne sunsets to the fantastic meals out at the local restaurants.  From Wilderness we also made a trip on the local steam train to a place called Knysna.  It has a beautiful harbour area and we went on a tour of the Knysna Oyster Co.  For a whole $1.00 we went on a little tour and did some oyster tasting. 

As we continued our way up the coast, things are getting less and less developed and more and more African.  The next area we went to was called the "Wild Coast" or also known as the Transkei.  The Transkei use to be its own  country, but in the last 10 years they have become part of S. Africa.  Not soon enough as the locals have stripped every tree in sight, so the initial drive was a bit of a bore.  The trees were replaced by these interesting little green and brown clay huts.  These belong to the local Xhosa people.  This tribe dominates the area and we spend some time getting to know a bit about their culture.  We stayed on the coast in a teeny little town called Coffee Bay.  The hostel was owned by a couple who have turned this very primitive place into a paradise.  There are hammocks and a bar, a walk to the beach and lots of place to hide and read a good book.  They even have yoga!!!  In the evenings they have traditional drum lessons and they have the local kids come and sing and dance their traditional music. 

Perhaps the nicest part of our trip so far was on a Town Tour we went on.  Silas our Xhosa guide took up to his house to meet his family and told us about his tribe.  We walked to their sacred pools were they baptize people and make sacrifices to their ancestors.  Lastly he took us to the local bar.  It was quite dark as there was only one candle, (no electricity in the village).  Inside there was a few ladies and 3 men smoking and enjoying a brew as they sat on some beer crates.  Silas bought us some local beer made from corn and the music came on and all the ladies got up to dance.  It was like a regular nightclub except that the women were wrapped in blankets and some didn't have shoes.  One even had a beautiful baby wrapped on her back.  So we danced, and drank and laughed.  It was amazing. 

So today we left our new friends, to find a few new ones in the mountains.  Hope to hear from you all soon.  Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Ana

October 31, 2002 - Busselton, Australia

Auuuustralia!!

Yes, we made it to stop number two on our round the world wine tour. We have been in Western Australia touring around with our friends Karen Barlow and her boyfriend Jamie and they have been showing us an absolutely splendid time!

We wrapped up our South Africa trip with a few day in Johannesburg with our friends Trudy and Philippe. They were the perfect hosts! We spent more than a couple hours enjoying their mind blowing home entertainment system and vast collection of DVDs which was a great break after all the driving around. We also enjoyed some great meals together and really had a nice visit. It was the best ending to a wonderful time in South Africa.

We arrived in Perth about a week ago and were met at the airport by Karen and Jamie, who had both taken time off work to spend a long weekend with us cruising around Western Australia. It was so nice to see Karen again and also to met Jamie, who is a super guy. We spent the first night in Fremantle, which is a coastal town near Perth, and sampled all the local beers we could find. The next days we drove to a small town called Denmark which is on the south coast and spent for two nights. We saw some great things around there including a magnificent canopy walk through the "Valley of the Giants" which is a forest of huge karri and tingle trees. We also saw our first kangaroos! Ana tried her best to catch one and ride it but it was just too fast for her. We visited some lovely wineries and sampled many varieties of delicious wine.  Unfortunately, the price of wine here is astronomical compared to South Africa, likely three times the price!  But I'm glad to report that hasn't stopped us from consuming vast quantities...

The last few days we've been hanging around Karen and Jamie's place in Busselton, keeping ourselves busy with squid fishing, crabbing, and drinking beer.  Poor Karen has been working all week but Jamie managed to ditch work and is spending his hours showing us around, lucky Olsons!!!  This morning Jamie and I were up at 5:30, same as yesterday, fishing for squid off the incredible 2 km long jetty.  We caught four including two biggies so have amassed enough squid for a big feast tonight.  In a couple hours we are traveling to Karen's parent's place which is near Bunbury.  The plan is to try and catch some marron (lobster-like shellfish, indigenous to western Australia) this afternoon then join Karen's parents for a big barbeque tonight, which they have kindly invited us to.

We extended our stay here to include this weekend (Karen's off work, yeah!) so we plan to do some interesting day trips and probably drink some more wine.  Jamie introduced me to Emu Bitter so we'll likely drink a few more crates of that as well.  It's good to be on vacation!

We will be leaving from Perth on Monday for Sydney, then catching a flight to Cairns to hit the beaches and diving!  We are planning on meeting our friends Pavdaddy and Jayesh somewhere along the east coast...meeting point as yet unknown but that is sure to be a blast.

That's it for now, next update from the east coast!!

Kris
(almost forgot, Happy Halloween!!!!!!)

November 11, 2002 - Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia
 

It's already been a week on the east coast and the time is passing much too quickly.  Ana and I arrived in Airlie Beach this evening after a 12 hour bus ride from Cairns which was surprisingly relaxing and comfortable.  Tomorrow we embark on a six day and night sailing trip around the Whitsunday islands on the Solway Lass - a 127 ft Tall Ship!  We are hoping that this will be one of the big highlights of our trip.  The ship was built in The Netherlands in 1902 and has been through two world wars, four name changes, innumerable countries, and has served as a cargo vessel, ice breaker, war ship, coal transport, floating restaurant, and now a fully restored tourist sailing vessel (check out www.soxsail.com.au).  Our plans after that are to visit Fraser Island on a multi day trip then work our way toward Sydney in time for our Nov. 30 departure to New Zealand.

We had quite a nice time in the Cairns area.  We found Cairns to be a very busy tourist town, but quite a fun place to be.  The first hostel we stayed in was called Castaways and seemed okay until we found that our bed was infested with bed bugs which were biting us as we were sitting on the bed.  Unfortunately, the office was closed by that time and there was no staff around so we had no choice but to strip the bed and clean it the best we could then put our own sleep sheets on it.  We still got a few bites during the night but not too bad.  The next day we found another place called Dreamtime Traveler's Rest which turned out to be a real gem with great staff.  From there we took a lovely two day tour to their sister hostel called On The Wallaby which was located near a rainforest.  We went on some interesting walks in the forest as well as biking, swimming, and even canoeing where we saw three platypussies (not sure of the grammar on that one, but that's the most humorous word I can think of for the plural of "platypus").  Strange little creatures, sort of half duck half muskrat but impossible to differentiate between the head and the ass end.

One thing that has surprised on the east coast is the tourism saturation.  It is certainly one of the more commercialised areas we've ever been to.  In fact, there's so many backpackers around that it's sometimes tough to find an Australian!  The average age of backpackers here is also much younger than it was in South Africa, likely because this is such an obvious place for a first time traveler to visit, and I think that any 20 year old would find the party of their life here!  The other day we saw a t-shirt in a shop window that said, "The Liver is Evil and Must Be Punished!".  Made me think of my time in the Bahamas...

We were lucky enough to meet up with our friend Pavin, who is from Saskatchewan but is currently in school in the States.  We spent an afternoon together in Cairns enjoying the sun and some cold beers before seeing him off to the airport for his flight back home.  Too bad he wasn't staying overnight then we could have punished our livers more thoroughly.  Actually, I'm going through a little dry therapy at the moment after the ten days I spent boozing with Jamie in Western Australia which I enjoyed thoroughly and am still enjoying every time I look in the mirror and see those little spare tires peeking over my swimsuit.

Next update after the big sailing trip!

Kris

Nov 25, 2002 - Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia

Today is Ana's birthday!  And we are celebrating by getting on a bus at 7:00 and traveling to Brisbane where we will go out for a nice birthday dinner and spend the night.  Tomorrow we will continue to Byron Bay where we willl spend a night or two before making the final stretch to Sydney.

Our trip to Queensland has been magnificent!  We'd say that the six days sailing in the Whitsundays was definitely the highlight of our stay in Queensland.  It felt great to be back on the water enjoying the salt, sun and surf.  The only disappointment was the diving which was unremarkable, but we weren't too worried about that.  We put together a page on our sailing trip with plenty of pictures.  I was wishing that the boys from the Lost Shaker could have been with us on the trip as it would have been a great reunion!  After such a great time, Ana and I have decided that we definitely need to own another sailboat in the future!

Last night we returned from a three day tour of Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world with some amazing natural features.  There are no real roads on the island so the only way to get through the sand is with a good 4WD vehicle.  It is quite a feeling doing 80 kph down a beach with the surf crashing in!  One of the most amazing things we did was a hike across a huge "sandblow" which was just like being in the middle of a desert.  The hike ended in a beautiful clean freshwater lake that was great for swimming.  Now that I think about it, I better put together a little feature page on Fraser Island.

We are getting very close to the end of our time in Australia.  It has been an extremely easy place to travel through due to the highly developed (and competitive) tourist industry.  By the same token it makes it much more difficult to get off the beaten path and explore on your own, which is what we like doing.  Oh well, we are going to get plenty of that in South America so we're just enjoying the easy traveling while we have it!

The next update may be from New Zealand....

Kris

December 10, 2002 - Christchurch, New Zealand

It's been a busy time in New Zealand!  We arrived in Auckland about a week ago to gorgeous weather and decided to bus north to a town called Paihia which is on the coast of the Bay of Islands, an idyllic island paradise off the northernmost part of the north island.  We took a 24 hour tour on this unbelievable houseboat called "The Rock" and packed in a lot of activity including fishing, snorkeling, diving for mussels, sea kayaking, hiking, billiards, dolphin watching, and even some relaxing on the beach!  I also did a half day fishing excursion (Ana passed on this) and caught a pile of red snapper which we ate for dinner that night.  We returned to Auckland and then flew to Christchurch where Johnny Eyre-Walker was there to meet us with a smile and three cold beers.  It was great to see him again!  We moved into his and his girlfriend Carolyn's house then settled in for a night of hangover construction.  I made sure to arrive on a weeknight so I could wave Johnny bye bye as he left the next morning for work - revenge is sweet!

It was Carolyn's 30th birthday last Saturday so they had a big barbeque party at their place where we met a lot of their friends and family.  We got a little rained out, but that didn't stop anything - it was a great party.

We are now getting ready for our tour of the South Island and have reserved a Harley Davidson Softail Classic for two days beginning tomorrow!  I am so excited I can hardly contain myself as I've never ridden a Harley before.  I think we are going to ride to Queenstown then back up the west coast and over to Christchurch, as it's meant to be a spectacular drive.   We will return on Friday then are planning a weekend away with Carolyn and Johnny, destination unknown.  Next week we'll likely hang around for a few days then make our way northwards and find a nice place to spend Christmas.  We'll be missing you all but at the same time enjoying the weather!

Kris

December 17, 2002 - Christchurch, New Zealand

I was born to be a biker, of this I am now sure.  Our Harley ride was spectacular and to make the experience complete, day two was a complete washout and we looked like eels after spending a full ten hours on the bike through torrential rainstorms.  Luckily, we made it back safely and had pure sunshine on our last morning's ride into Christchurch, which was a stunning ride through Allan's Pass which had some incredible views.  We did a total of about 1200 kilometers which isn't too bad considering it was very slow going on many of the mountain roads.  One of the most scenic things was the proliferation of gorgeous yellow and purple wildflowers in the fields around the mountains.  Now all we need to do is settle down somewhere so I can get myself a bike!

We are nearing the end of our visit here in Christchurch.  We leave here on Thursday and will be heading up to Nelson for a few days then we'll take the ferry to the north island and spend Christmas in Wellington.  After that we only have a few days to get back up to Auckland for New Years and the next leg of our journey... to Chile!

Kris

December 24, 2002 - Wellington, New Zealand

Merry Christmas!!  We are having an extremely lazy morning here in Wellington.  All the Christmas shopping is done (1 present each) so it should be a very stress-free day.  The biggest challenge will be scouting out a good restaurant to have dinner tonight.  We are staying in a lovely apartment-hotel right in the centre of Wellington and will be here until the 26th when we begin the last leg of our journey up to Auckland.

Our time with Johnny and Carolyn couldn't have been better.  They showed us a fantastic time and it was a real pleasure to see them again after a couple years.  On our last weekend they took us to a place called Hanmer Springs which is a lovely little mountain town a couple hundred kilometers from Christchurch.  They organised a beautiful house with stunning views of the town and mountains and only a short walk from the hot spring pools where we enjoyed a good soaking in the afternoon.  We had the most chilled out night sitting in front of a crackling fire in the fireplace with some great wines, cheeses and music.  Johnny and I learned that it is actually possible to have an enjoyable night together without getting absolutely blind.  But for old times sake, we got the big guns out for our last night in Christchurch which resulted in a magnificent hangover the next morning.  I was happy to wave Johnny bye-bye one last time as he trotted off to work with bloodshot eyes and this alcohol vapour seeping out of him which gave him the appearance of being surrounded by a force field.  He called me from work to report that the staff in the office had taken up a collection to go buy him some breath freshening gum.  Mission accomplished!

Kris

January 1, 2003 - Auckland, New Zealand

Happy New Year kiddies!!  We had a quite but very nice time last night sitting in a park drinking wine, smoking a cigar, and watching the fireworks shot off the top of Skytower in the centre of Auckland.  We've been exploring the city for the past few days doing plenty of walking and sightseeing.  Yesterday we wandered through the harbour which is the home of the America's Cup sailing race, quite interesting.

Today we are hanging around the hostel waiting for our taxi which is arriving at 2:00pm to take us to the airport.  We fly overnight to Chile, gaining a day in the process, and will arrive in Santiago at noon on New Years Day.  If my calculations are correct we should get another New Year's countdown somewhere over the Pacific!

More to come from Chile....

Kris

January 10,  2003 - Puno, Peru
 

What a year it's been already and it's only the 10th of January.  We needed a second wind for this last half of our adventure and we have certainly gotten it here in South America.  WHAT A PLACE!!!!  Where do I begin...We arrived in Santiago, Chile and spent a day adjusting to the 16 hour time difference.  We then called our friend Alvaro and went for dinner with him in his wife at a great little restaurant in one of the suburbs of the city.  Our first day out and already the place is full of character and amazing sites around every corner....viva los latinos....they are a great bunch!!

We no sooner got to Santiago, when we found cheap flights to the northern border city of Arica.  So off we went to the desert.  This little town emerges out of no where like a mirage.  Not much there but a huge market, miles of sand, a museum with Inca mummies  and  plenty of transport options to Peru.  The border crossing was amazingly straight forward and our driver did everything from fill out forms to stand in line!  What service!  The first major town we arrived in was called Arequipa.  The centre of town is full of beautiful colonial style cathedrals and buildings which are lit up at night!  Although it seems to have much to offer tourists, there didn't seem to be many, and that was perhaps the best part of all.  We also went to a 15th century convent called Convento de Santo Catarina, which is the size of a small town.  

We next decided to go on a  fantastic over night tour to the second deepest canyon in the world called Canon de Colca.  Quite a sight, as were the condors which circled overhead.  One part of that tour that I WILL try and forget is the giant rodent (Guinea Pig) that Kris ate that evening...Ugh!!  They are apparently a local delicacy and Kris insists on trying all local foods.  We had a diverse group of people on the tour; four Peruvians, one American, one Brazilian, one German, one Nicaraguan, one Palestinian, one Irish, one French and us two Canadians.  Quite a group, but to top it all off, we ALL spoke Spanish!!!  

Our next stop was the famous Machu Picchu ruins near the colonial town of Cusco.  Cusco is one of the last inhabited civilizations of the Incas.  It is surrounded by ruins, and has a variety of churches,  and other monuments, later built by the Spaniards which arrived in Peru in the 16th century.  Machu Picchu is the largest  and most well preserved display of Inca ruins in the world, and it was magical.  It took 4 hours by train and another 1/2 hour by bus to get there, but it was worth every minute.  We had a  wonderful guide who described he place, like he had built it with his own two hands.  He was the most passionate and articulate tour guide we've ever had!!  So just when we thought that nothing could top what we'd seen in Peru, we come to Puno, a small unattractive little town on the highest navigable lake in the world called Lake Titicaca.  This afternoon, we went on a boat ride to the a group of  floating islands made entirely of reeds.  On these islands live a community of 800 descendants of a pre-Inca race called the Uros. They build the islands, their homes, boats, all out of these water reeds.  They survive by fishing and then bartering with other floating islands and the people from the mainland.  Such a simple life, but they all had the most magical smiles.....we have so much to learn.

So that has been our first 10 days of 2003.  I only hope the next 355 are as exciting. 

Ana

January 19, 2003 - San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

We're back in Chile after our Bolivia expedition.  In short, we were quite disappointed with Bolivia..  We found the people to be much less friendly and competent than Peru and Chile and even rude sometimes.  La Paz was quite an interesting city upon first arrival but once you got into the guts of it, we found it to be just another busy, filthy, noisy city, except with many more aggressive beggars and merchants.  Once good thing was the low price of things, there were a lot of bargains to be had.  I bought a stringed instrument called a charango, which is a beautiful sounding guitar-like beastie used in Bolivian music.  Ana picked up a lovely alpaca sweater.  We also found a great hotel where we did a bit of relaxing.

We booked ourselves on a four day tour to the Uyuni region in the south west part of Bolivia.  We had a bit of trouble getting there (if you have ten minutes, have a look at this story) and saw some really seedy towns along the way.  But once the tour was underway, we really did have a great time, mostly due to the fantastic group we were with.  We had a Bolivian guide named Emilio and the other people were an Austraian/New Zealander couple and a Swiss couple, all of whom were fantastic people with great senses of humour.  The Bolivian countryside we traveled through was nothing short of amazing.  The scenery changed from a gigantic salt lake, to dry desert cactuses, to huge snowy mountains, to lunar dust, to muddy lakes full of flamingoes, to red lakes, to mountains of borax and, finally, to a final night's accommodation that was so putrid, so foul, and so disgusting that even Ana was looking for the sweet anesthesia of alcohol.  I don't want to write too much about it, I think there is a good story to come from that trip!

We arrived back in Chile yesterday to a town called San Pedro de Atacama which was described as a lovely frontier town by the guide books but is actually a dusty, overpriced, gringo hole.  The only redeeming features are the selection of nice restaurants with great food and groovy bars.  We had a splendid time last night with a bunch of the people from our tour.  We had dinner and drinks in a restaurant with an open roof in the centre allowing lunar rays to shine in and a crackling wood fire on the ground.  We sat around the fire playing cards and having a good laugh.  We are going to meet up with the Australian/New Zealander couple in a few weeks in Argentina and Brazil which is sure to be a great time.

We will spend the day here tomorrow then in the evening catch a night bus back to Arica where we will have a day then fly back to Santiago.  It seems like it has been ages since we arrived in Chile but it's only been a couple weeks!  Good sign, that means our trip isn't going too fast...

Kris

March 26, 2003 - Brantford, Canada...basement of Ana's parent's house

You are probably wondering, 'What the hell happened?'!  It has been two months since our last journal entry which is the result of us being robbed of our laptop on an overnight bus in Chile.  After the required visits to the police station to report the loss we moved on to Argentina....and were robbed again!!  This time the cabin we were renting was ransacked when we were out for dinner.  So, a fair bit of bad luck came our way during that portion of the trip but we did manage to recover and had a splendid time traveling through Argentina and Brasil, especially since we were traveling with our friends Rebecca and Fraser whom we met in Bolivia.

We are now back in Canada and have since replaced our laptop and are finally able to get back online to update our site.  We are going to do some work on the site over the next few days so stay tuned!

Kris

Continuing journal entries can be found on our Journal Page