Tag: hostel

Chile (Julian) Feb 2015

Chile Highlights:
    We started in the capital city of Santiago, by far the most modern city we visited. A interesting city but not one of our favorites, you have to try a hot dog from one of the street vendors. The port of Valparaiso just outside Santiago was really cool, had a great hippy vibe. Kind of a San Francisco feel. From here we traveled up the coast of Chile and visited some cool small towns along the Pacific ocean. The city of San Pedro is in the Acadama desert (the driest in the world) and is a cool tiny star gazing town. Actually it is considered one of the best places in the world to look at the stars!! We didn’t visit any wine regions in Chile due to time constraints but heard they were really nice. 
 
We did not visit anything around Patagonia in South Argentina or Chile because it was so far but heard it was a amazing place.

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!

Cynthia’s Favorite Resources

Women’s health has been my focus for many years and here are some of the resources I refer to when I need guidance.  I have attended online courses with some of these experts in the field and regularly enjoy listening to podcasts they produce. There is always more to learn and I am ready to absorb all I can get my hands on! Take your health into your own hands. It can be very empowering to know you have control and can change your health with the choices you make. I am available as a sounding board should you need someone to listen to your concerns and help you find the resources you need.

https://avivaromm.com/ – Aviva Romm MD is one of my personal favorites in women’s health.  She was a midwife and herbalist for 25 years and then went to Yale and became a medical doctor.  She specializes in women’s and children’s health.  Check out her blog posts and podcasts.

https://nutritiousmovement.com/ – Katy Bowman says ‘You are how you move’, and this website can help you restore your body by moving towards more nutritious movement. Move, have fun, and feel good!

https://wellnessmama.com/category/health/ – Be sure to look ‘all around’ this website from remedies to recipes to motherhood to natural home and more. Loaded with helpful information.

https://wholewoman.com/ – A revolution in women’s heath. Learn about women’s chronic conditions and how you can heal yours.

http://www.drnorthrup.com/ – Christiane Northrup MD is a visionary pioneer and a leading authority in the field of women’s health and wellness, which includes the unity of mind, body, emotions, and spirit.

https://www.sagemountain.com/ – Rosemary Gladstar, Herbalist.  This is the place to go to learn about herbalism.  I attended her three year online course,  ‘The Science and Art of Herbalism’ and gained a solid foundation in herbalism. I enjoy growing many of the herbs I use for cooking and medicine.

http://www.susunweed.com/ – Susun Weed, author of the Wise Woman Herbal series, is an extraordinary teacher with a joyous spirit, a powerful presence, and an extensive knowledge of herbs and health. She guides women in activating the energy of their bodies and reclaiming the wild in themselves. Understanding the creative essence within your own center is the key for giving life to your dreams.

 

Cheers Austalia!

February 28, 2011

The time has come to depart this beautiful country! We are packed up and ready to head to the airport first thing in the morning. Bondi Beach turned out to be ok after all. Not my favorite place, but ok none the less, with an amazing beach and famous walk along the rocky coast, which covers three other beaches.

Yesterday we took the bus into Sydney for the day. We explored the “Opera House” and the “Harbor Bridge”. The “Opera House” is amazing and very impressive. I read that the Architect that designed it got the idea from an orange. He was eating an orange and playing with the peels when he got the idea for it. If you take all the sail looking pieces of the Opera House and put them together, they form a sphere.

Today we had a lazy last day and tonight the older kids are taking the bus into Sydney to go to “Kings Crossing”. I guess it is a popular place for the young people to go out at night.

We have met so many travelers that have traveled to so many places; places I have never even heard of! It seems it doesn’t cost that much more to go to numerous countries than to just one. One young German couple was traveling around the world and it only cost them $200 more to go around the world than to go to New Zealand and back home. We made connections in both New Zealand and Australia and have friends should we ever want to come back.

We have done an amazing job of getting along with each other and leaving with positive feelings about group travel. We have planned meals, shopped together for them and then prepared them together “every single day”, oh, and worked on clean up together too! No complaints! The longer we’re together, the sillier we get. These days we’re laughing over just about anything! We’ve had numerous discussions about everything under the sun. We’ve gotten very relaxed and comfortable with traveling and moving from bed to bed.

Our statistics:

*We took nine flights

*Flew 50 hours

*Traveled for 86 days

*Slept in 37 beds

*Drove 10,000 Kilometers “on the wrong side of the road!”

“Cheers” Australia!

Great Barrier Reef

February 1, 2011

Today we went on a boat to the Great Barrier Reef. It was an all day excursion. We took the introductory scuba diving class and were able to scuba dive. We also did hours of snorkeling. It was beautiful and basically looked the same as any other reef I have ever snorkeled on. The crew was entertaining, the buffet lunch was nice, and the wine and cheese and crackers at the end were delightful!

There is a category four cyclone (same as our “hurricane”) expected to make land fall tomorrow! We have been advised to pack everything up before we go to bed tonight as if we were leaving in the morning. We are directly across the street from the beach and may need to be evacuated. Julian thinks we should consider renting our car if we get evacuated and just driving north, out of range of the storm. We’ll have one or our regular “meetings” (lol!) in the morning and decide what to do. It’s interesting being on the “tourist” end of a storm coming. We’re just loving life and relaxing while the residents are in a little bit of a panic about being flooded and having their roofs blown off!

So far, we haven’t seen any dangerous or scary insects or animals in Australia. Before coming here, everyone in New Zealand said things like “why would you want to go there? There are insects everywhere and some that can kill you and it’s so noisy with all their sounds!”. The gigantic bats, which are called “flying squirrels” are the only thing out of the ordinary at this point. It seems that there may be some competitive spirit between the New Zealanders and Australians and whose country is best. The Australians joke about the wimpy country of New Zealand! I think New Zealand is a pristine, peaceful, beautiful country and I do hope to go back some day.