Tag: back packing

Argentina (Julian) Feb 2015

Argentina Highlights:
    Buenos Aires and Mendoza! Mendoza is located at the foothills of the mountains and is the most famous wine growing region in South America. Mendoza is a small city with lots of wine and outdoor adventure activities and friendly people. We could have spent a month just here. Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and a cultural hub, called the Paris of South America. A large city with tons of neighborhoods (called barrios), very cool place to explore. Lots of people will say that there is lots of crime (muggings are common at night in some parts)but we never felt unsafe. Lots of historic things to do and markets for shopping. The city is alive all night long! It is common for locals (called portenos) to go out for drinks at 3am!

Bolivia (Julian) Jan 2015

Bolivia Highlights:
    We enjoyed the capital of Bolivia, La Paz. It is the highest altitude capital in the world and you can feel it when walking around the city. We were there in Mid to Late January and there was a huge festival going on that was really interesting and a great opportunity to experience their culture. From La Paz we traveled to the Salt Flats and arrived in the morning, did a tour and then left that night. The city that is the staging area for salt flat trips is a hole in the wall place and I would try to not spend a night there. We only did a day trip to the salt flats but 3 day trips are available and we should have done one. The salt flats are one of the coolest places we had ever been and a must do it you are in that part of the world. When we left the salt flats we really wanted to travel directly into Argentina instead of the traditional route that goes into Chile. We took the worst bus ride of our lives and would not recommend it, take the route that the other tourists take.

Peru (Julian) Jan 2015

Peru Highlights:
    We arrived in Peru in the capital city of Lima. We found the people very friendly and excited to share their culture (especially the food). From Lima we went to Cusco (the historic Inca city that people travel to before visiting Machu Picchu), it is possible and much cheaper to travel to Cusco from Lima by bus but we heard it was a awful ride and the flight was worth every penny. We loved the city of Cusco, very touristy and lots of cool day trips offered from the city. We did the 4 day 3 night guided hike along the Inca trail to Machu. The hike was amazing (and really hard) and we all enjoyed the hike more than the time we spent at Machu at the end of the hike. Machu Picchu was a really interesting place however there are tons of people there and it kinda feels like a tourist trap, the hike there was what made the experience.

Blue Mountains, and Bondi Beach, Australia

February 26, 2011

We’re in Bondi Beach today and we’ll be here until we leave for home on Tuesday. We heard that Bondi Beach is famous for its beaches and surfing. We didn’t actually want to stay in this town, but this happens to be a very busy week-end in the Sydney area and “everything” else was booked up. We’re only about 15 minutes out of Sydney so we’ll still go in for the day. Bondi Beach isn’t what I expected. It’s crowded and not very pretty or quaint. I guess you could say this is the first place we have been to that I was not excited about. Maybe it’s all in the plans, so I’m not too sad about leaving!

The kids are at a Rugby game in Sydney tonight. They took the 5:00 train, so I have the night to myself. I bought a nice bottle of red wine, fixed a vegetarian dinner for myself, and am quite enjoying the night.

Before getting here, we spent three nights in the Blue Mountains. Oh! What beauty! The Blue Mountains are two hours west of Sydney and unbelievably beautiful. We spent two days hiking and saw numerous waterfalls and the most wonderful forests. The hike on the second day had 900 steps down into the valley and 1000 back up! It was all worth it and we did it with no problem.

In the Blue Mountains, there were flocks of Cockatoos everywhere. I love watching them in nature and can’t imagine ever caging such a happy, free animal, or any animal for that matter. They were loud and not real serene sounding. There are also Black Cockatoos. I didn’t get to see them but Eliot saw a flock one day while we were driving.

Australia has been a real treat to visit. The people seem to be very relaxed and kind. I guess it’s hard to be in “the fast lane”, here as 95% of the roads are two lanes; including the freeways. The speed limit isn’t very fast and there are reminders everywhere to slow down and take a break. Driving the coast to this area was about a 10 hour drive and it was through little towns and forests. The freeway goes through the towns. It would be the equivalent of driving US1 all the way up the coast vs highway 95. In fact, that is the way my family traveled to Canada for many years before highway 95 was built.

I recommend visiting this country to anyone that has ever wondered about it. There is something for everyone here. It was nice to see that there isn’t as much “fear” of the crocodiles as we heard from the states, or of the great white sharks. Things are always different when you get somewhere. I’m happy that I have been able to see, first hand, what life is like in Australia and New Zealand! If my kids would come, I think Joe and I would try our best to move to one of these two countries.