Are we destined to be sailors?
A few days after arriving in Auckland, New Zealand (City of Sails), Tovah and I started talking about how we would like to travel the world all the time someday. We both agreed that sailing around the world would be the way to do it, and half joked about buying a yacht and heading off into the sunset. As we continued our adventure through New Zealand- Heli-hiking on Glaciers, Jet boating in Queenstown, galloping on horseback in the Catlins, and continuously saw amazing things, we kept thinking about the yacht idea and even spent an afternoon fantasizing about which ports … Continue reading Are we destined to be sailors?
NZ – Q’town to The Catlins
I was really excited to visit Queenstown because Raj has told me so much about his 6+ months living there when he was in NZ for about a year in 1999. He was a bit nervous to return and see how much it has changed because much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in the surrounding area and the tourism rates have skyrocketed in the last decade. We planned on staying 3 nights there so that we could experience the nightlife and have time to sample some of the adrenalin-junkie activities, as well as take a day … Continue reading NZ – Q’town to The Catlins
Week 1 in NZ!
It’s been a bit of an adjustment to switch gears from South America to New Zealand. To begin with there is a 16 hour time difference, but also, the pace is different, the language is different (it’s really nice to speak English again, but for the first few days, I still answered questions with “Si!”) and we had to remember that most of the world actually eats dinner before midnight! We arrived in Auckland at 4 am on a Tuesday (actually completely lost the Monday following Easter due to time change and travel) and picked up our rental car around … Continue reading Week 1 in NZ!
Looking back on South America
As we head off to New Zealand, I am reflecting on the past month in South America. I have been thinking about the highlights of the trip, what I’ve learned about the cultures, about myself and about travelling. In an effort to keep this short and to the point, I’ve narrowed down my thoughts to “the top 5 things…” I Love About South America: Wide open spaces! – indeed, the Dixie Chick’s song was in my head a good part of the time. Chile, in particular allows you the opportunity to truly feel in the middle of nowhere and witness … Continue reading Looking back on South America
Buenos Aires – The city that never sleeps.
We arrived in Buenos Aires around 3pm and without a hotel booking. We’d talked to a few travelers and read that the Palermo neighborhood was one of the cool spots to stay in, so we jumped in a cab and gave the address of a hotel we’d read about on Trip Advisor. When we got to the hotel, we didn’t expect it to be fully booked; in fact it never really crossed our minds that any of the hotels would be fully booked, but this quickly become the reality after the 3rd hotel was also booked up completely. Our nice … Continue reading Buenos Aires – The city that never sleeps.
Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn Cruise
The hotel in Torres del Paine transferred us back to Punta Arenas by van along with 2 other couples who were going on the same cruise. We spent about 7 hours with them between the journey and waiting to be able to board so we learned quite a lot about each other and began the cruise with new friends. One couple, Hans and Rena, were in their 70s (actually Hans was 80) and had travelled absolutely everywhere! They amazed us with their endless energy and fabulous stores from their 50 years of travelling. The other couple, Jeff and Midge, were … Continue reading Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn Cruise
Torres del Paine
The day before we left the Lake District (in Northern Patagonia) to fly to Punta Arenas (Southern Patagonia) we realized that we should look into where we were going to stay. The main attraction on the Chilean side of Southern Patagonia is the enormous National Park, Torres del Paine. It is about 4-5 hours drive away from Punta Arenas and the roads, we had heard, are not that great. (travelers note: other than being mostly gravel and no gas stations for hours, the roads were fine… just lots and lots of flat nothing, like driving through Texas). We had also … Continue reading Torres del Paine
The Lake District
After checking back into the Holiday Inn Express in Puerto Montt we decided to get some much needed laundry done and contacted some guy our cab driver gave us in order to book a rental car for the next three days. It was a Saturday night in Puerto Montt, but all we could handle was room service and some R&R after a long week of exhilarating riding. The next day we picked up our rental car, which I like to call “piece of shit car” after the Adam Sandler song (Jeff you know which one I mean). No joke, this … Continue reading The Lake District
6 days and 5 nights of horseback riding and estancias (Part 2 of 2)
Day 3: We woke up at Irvin’s a bit sore from sharing the tiny bed that sinks in the middle, and certainly in part from 2 long days of horseback riding. Seeing the location by daylight, however, was illuminating. Though the small house was similar to how it looked by candlelight, the scenery around it was a pleasant surprise, as it was on hill overlooking the lake. Once Fabian returned from a ride to the neighbors to buy some bread, the four us had breakfast, I helped Fabian remove a big splinter from his hand (thank you big tree from … Continue reading 6 days and 5 nights of horseback riding and estancias (Part 2 of 2)
6 days and 5 nights of horseback riding and haciendas (Part 1 of 2)
Day 1: We woke up early in the lodge after a freezing night’s sleep that was often interrupted by crazy dogs barking all night long. We had a quick breakfast and then Fabian arrived to take us to his barn to meet our horses and load up the pack horse. Fabian and his dad introduced us to La Pinta, a very cute, gray and white smaller horse, and Al Tivo, a large, brown, beautiful horse. They were concerned about giving me Al Tivo because he often scares tourists with his intense desire to run, and more importantly, his tendency to … Continue reading 6 days and 5 nights of horseback riding and haciendas (Part 1 of 2)
Gypsy Spirit 