Epilogue: The best and the worst of going around the world

As we travelled, we had lots of adventures. Some good, others not so good. We have put together some factoids from our travels that we thought might be interesting.

Best local cuisine:
1. Sushi in Tokyo
2. Tea and scones in Ireland
3. Rice pudding in Egypt


Best good luck:
1. Making Bejing-Tokyo flight despite being 45 minutes late
2. Upgraded seats on London-Bejing flight
3. Finding granpa Marino's farm in Raccuja


Worst meal:
1. Roadside cous-cous in Morocco
2. First meal in China
3. Ryokan meal


Best meal:
1. Four Seasons italian in Cairo
2. Carbonara in Athens
3. Tepanyaki in Kyoto


Best breakfast:
1. Ashford Castle
2. Four Seasons Cairo
3. The Grange B&B in Scotland


Most incongruous cicumstance:
1. Chinese model with Metallica as ringtone
2. Highly fashionable people w/designer clothes in rundown Moroccan airport
3. McDonald's in Cusco (ancient Inca capital)


Scariest taxi ride:
1. 100+ mph ride from Rome airport
2. Hitchiking in Fez
3. Being questioned about religion by taxi driver in Cairo


Best hike:
1. Pingo river hike in Torres del Paine
2. Coromandel Costal hike in New Zealand
3. Inca Trail


Best Dive:
1. Kuru-Kuru in Uepi
2. Pixie gardens at Great Barrier Reef
3. Elbow point in Uepi


Best Archeological site:
1. Macchu Picchu
2. Pyramids
3. Roman Forum/Collesium


Worst health concern:
1. Food poisoning in Peru
2. Knee problems on Inca Trail
3. busted toenail in Uepi


Worst night of sleep
1. Sandstorm in Sahara
2. 3 am wakeup for Macchu Picchu
3. Freezing cold night camping in New Zealand


Best mistranslations
1. "Passengers who have not oblterated their ticket will be considered without a ticket and obliged to pay a penalty." (Train staion in Italy)
2. "The luminous light of Buddah can get people." (Restaurant in China)
3. "A beefsteak. I wore roasted meat sauce." (Menu item in Japan)


Country with the best traditional music
1. Ireland
2. Peru
3. China


Highest point - Dead Woman's pass - Peru 13,500 feet

Lowest point - Diving bottom of Uepi channel - 110 feet below sea level

Furthest away from home - Sydney, Australia - 8,998.5 Miles

Total distance flown (not including driving and trains) - 54,044 miles

Highest Latitude - Ben Nevis, Scotland - 56 degrees, 47 minutes North

Lowest Latitude - Ushuaia, Argentina - 54 degrees, 47 minutes South

Closest to the equator - Standing on it! Quito, Ecuador

Well, that's it. That is our trip around the world. Anna and I hope you have enjoyed reading about our travels. Thank you very much for coming with us. It was nice to feel like we had our friends and family along with us while we were out there. Now that we are home, we hope to see many of you very soon. For those of you who we met on the road, it was great meeting you, and perhaps we will meet again, in another part of the world.

Since we have returned, we have realized how much we missed being home. Travel always helps us remember how lucky we are to live where we do. We wanted to leave you with a quote by George Moore, an Irish novelist and poet.

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it." George Moore (1929)

Galapagos

By this point in the trip, all the passengers had gotten to know each other. There were 17 of us, and we were fortunate to have an amiable and intelligent group of people. We had gotten to know the crew as well, and there were certain quirks that quickly became the subject of jokes. Every morning, after the poorly choosen wake-up music, one of the guides would inform us that we were on another paradise island. We would be instructed to bring fresh water, sun block, hiking shoes, and green towels. Every day, the same statement, including 15 minute reminders before the excursion, all announced as if we had never heard it before.
Also, there was a waiter who continually tried to feed chicken empanadas to the vegetarians on board. This waiter always served a different color juice with his empanadas, but by the end of the trip he apparently got tired of that and just started mixing them all together into a brown sludge.
As if this didn't provide enough entertainment and gossip, the passengers began to realize Orlando's stories were full of BS. He claimed turtles didn't shed. He told us he had to drink turtle poop for three days when lost on an island. And best of all was the nonsensical story about a German doctor who pulled out all his teeth and moved to Floreana and then died. That last one turned out to be true, but no one could keep a straight face anyway. At least there was never a dull moment around Orlando....



After Isabela island we had another long cruise to several smaller islands around Santa Cruz.
There was more deep water snorkeling, where we saw colorful tropical fish, a few penguins, marine iguanas foraging underwater, and one large spotted eagle ray. While on the zodiac (dingy), we had seen a manta ray in the water, but it was gone before we were able to get in the water ourselves.



The following morning, we visited Bartolome island. The island itself is nearly devoid of any vegetation except mangroves on the shore. The reddish lava rock gives the impression that one is standing on the surface of the moon. We climbed to the top of the small island and enjoyed the view, and then returned to the bay for more snorkeling.



You would think that we would get tired of all the snorkeling after a while, but it seemed to get better every time. This particular visit was by far the best. It started out plain enough. Some fish, rocky bottom, kind of gloomy. We saw one white-tipped shark swim under a rock. I was with a few of our cruisemates, Jess, Ben, and Mark, and we came upon three sea lions playing in the water. They were tumbling over each other and jumping out of the water. The female first swam up to Ben, then swam beneath me and away. At first we thought they were being aggressive, and then we realized they were playing with us. At one point, the female came up to me under water, and barked less than five inches from my face. I was taken completely by surprise and was very startled, but she swam away and continued playing. Anna and several others had already returned to the beach, so I will let her finish the blog.
By the time Scott and the others got back, there were animals everywhere. Three sea lions were weaving between the people wading in the shallows, and penguins were darting close to shore to catch minnows. A great blue heron was patiently waiting near the water's edge to steal stray minnows from the penguins. And to top it all off, a blue footed booby was diving for fish less than a meter from the swimmers. Although there were more than 20 people present from our boat and one other, the animals were never afraid. They were often close enough to touch. We spent every last minute taking video and pictures, until the tour guides told us we were late for lunch and herded us away.

The last few days of the trip were spent seeing more islands and more animals. We added the albatross, blue footed boobies, land iguanas, lava lizards, and the iconic giant tortoises to the list of animals we saw. There are some photos of these animals below.

Land Iguana

Albatross pair

Blue-footed booby

The giant tortoises are a favorite for many people. We were fortunate enough to arrive at the viewing area 45 minutes earlier than the other tourists. We all enjoyed having a quiet, serene visit as we silently watched the tortoises eat. Their slow, deliberate pace gives them a regal and majestic air that you wouldn't expect a 250 pound reptile to have. They were definitely a highlight of the trip.

After all the incredible animal experiences and photo ops had been completed, the ship returned to San Cristobal. Everyone was glad to get off the boat for the last time. After the return flight to Quito, it turned out that about half of us were all stating at the same hotel. We decided to go to an Indian restaurant for dinner, since everyone was desperate for food that didn't include juice and empanadas. After dinner, we all went our separate ways with hugs, offers to visit, and not a few green towel references.
As much as Scott and I are sad to complete our around the world trip, we are very glad to be heading home to friends and family. The Galapagos cruise was a wonderful way to finish our trip. We will be posting some "best of" lists and summarizing our experience over the next few days. Home, here we come! - Anna & Scott

Darwin's Inspiration

After meeting our group at the Quito airport on Sunday morning, we got on the plane for the flight to San Cristobal island in the Galapagos. The landing was a little hairy because of very low cloud cover and crosswinds, but we made it fine. After going through the park entry process, we boarded a bus that took us down to the harbor where our boat, the Flamingo I, was waiting for us.


We took zodiacs (small dingies) out to the ship, and got our first glimpse of the very tame animals in the Galapagos. There were sea lions sleeping on several of the boats in the harbor. As we passed some, of them raised there heads to check us out, and then went back to their naps.
The boat itself was very similar to The Spirit of Freedom that we were on in Australia. It was a yacht with four decks, including the open sun deck on top. We were greeted by the two naturalists on board, Mauricio and Orlando, and after the introduction and saftey talk we set out for our first landing.
We stopped a short way up the island and took the zodiacs to shore. From there we went snorkeling. The visibility wasn't great, but we were able to see several cool creatures, like a green sea turtle that let us get very close to it.
The most memorable thing about the animals in the Galapagos is that they have very little fear of people. There was also a male sea lion who was swimming amongst all of us and seemed to be enjoying himself. Back on shore there were several other sea lion females with pups. We walked to within six feet of them without any reaction other than a glance.

After we returned to the boat, we sailed to a nearby pinnacle of rock that jutted up out of the ocean. It was called "Kicker Rock". On the way there, we were escorted by a humback whale that kept surfacing about 100 yards off the starboard bow. Shortly before we got to the rock, it veered off.

The rock itself was covered in birds. It was a nesting place for several species. We made a circuit around the rock, watched the sun set, and then began our night journey to the next island.

That night we steamed to Genovese island. In the morning we were woken by music playing over the intercom. Normally this would be rather nice, except that the song was "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. Maybe it's just me, but waking people up on a cruise with a song about a boat sinking (Titanic) just doesn't seem like a great idea.



After we recovered from the trauma of our wake-up call, we took the zodiacs to shore again. This time we took a short nature walk where we saw several species of birds. There were frigates and lots of boobies (the joke here is obvious, so I will refrain) There were two different species, Nazca (Masked) boobies, and red-footed boobies. The boobies spend a lot of time at sea, where they circle until suddenly diving straight down into the ocean after fish. Frigates, who cannot get wet because of a lack of oil on their feathers, try to steal the fish from the boobies. The frigates coast effortlessly on the air and wait to see a booby catch a fish. Then they swoop down and pull the bird's tail, which makes them drop the fish. Frigates have a hooked beak and a bald head. If any of you have seen the movie "The Dark Crystal", the head of a frigate looks much like the head of the evil skeksies.



And, of course, there were finches. It was wonderful to see the birds that inspired Darwin to develop his theories. Depending on the need of the finch, the beak varies. Birds who peck at insects have long thin beaks, thick beaks are for cracking open nuts and seeds, etc. This was the beginning of Darwin's contemplations on the origin of all species. It is interesting that such a world shaking revelation came from such a small bird.



After the walk, we went snorkeling again. This excursion was a little more interesting, despite rough seas. There was another playful sea lion, a trumpet fish, and several white-tipped reef sharks. The visibility was only about 10-15 feet, so the sharks were a bit of a surprise at first. But, true to form, they were pretty shy, and didn't bother us at all.



That afternoon was another walk up "Phillip's Steps" which were carved into the cliff wall in the name of King Phillip of Spain. On the walk we were able to see the hard-to-find spotted owl. The small owl lives in the crevices of the lava and waits for an errant bird to stray too close and become dinner. The owl preened and posed for us for a while, and then we made our way back to the ship.

That night was the longest journey of the itinerary. We steamed 124 miles to the next island. The ride was a little "bumpy", but not too bad. Unfortunatly, several people got seasick, including me. By morning, most people were glad to be getting back to solid ground.

During the trip, we had some guests. Several frigates decided to use the slipstream of the boat to coast along while they looked for an easy meal. At one point, there were no less than eight birds flying about ten feet above the top deck. A couple of times, they dipped down and were flying next to the boat at eye level. They only broke off when the boat slowed down and the aerodynamics were no longer good.

The guides told us that each island is different. This island had marine iguanas and flightless cormorants. The iguanas were pitch black and blended into the volcanic rock so well that you nearly didn't see them until you were right on top of them. They sat in the sun in piles, and snorted salt everywhere. The algae they eat has alot of salt water in it, and the iguanas have an internal desalination gland in their forehead that allows them to extract the salt water and sneeze it out their nose. It makes them look like they have a bad cold.

The land itself was made strictly out of cooled lava, and we walked over several sections of wavy lava that looked as if it has just cooled the day before. Indeed, the last eruption on the island happened just this past spring. Because it is such recently formed rock, there is almost no vegitaion. The only thing that grows is a small succulent called lava cactus.

The cormorants are dark sea birds with short, stubby, vestigal wings that make it impossible to fly. They normally eat fish, but we saw one take down a moray eel, with some difficulty swallowing. When we returned to the dock to get picked up by the dingy, we found that the dock was being guarded by a rather stubborn female sea lion. She didn't move until the dingy had arrived and forced her off the dock. Even then, she tried to circle around a couple of times to regain her perch before giving up and swimming away.

In the afternoon we crossed the channel over to Isabela island, and went snorkeling again. This time, we were privlaged to be able to swim wiith penguins. Or rather, they swam past us. They appeared as black and white streaks in the murky water, and were gone as soon as they came. After we got back in the boat, we saw several of them a short distance away on the surface. Mauricio said to go ahead and jump in and that we didn't need flippers. So several of is dove back into the cold water and swam after the penguins. All we got was a glimpse of them under water before they were gone. I'm sure they were laughing at the clumsy humans in the water.
So far this has been a wonderful trip, and we still have five days to go! - Scott

Quito, the Middle of the World

From the end of the world in Chile we flew to Quito, whose name literally means (roughly) the middle of the world. We took a tour and learned that the ancient civilizations in this region knew that Quito was on the equator, and they made many sun dials and other tools to take advantage of the movements of the sun. It turns out that some tribes in the area also practiced the making of shrunken heads. We had to look at some real ones; they were about the size of your fist and totally gross. The guides explained that the leader of the tribe had to wear the head of the last leader for purposes of obtaining the knowledge inside the head. I could have done without that knowledge, myself.

The equator is marked with a big red line, and everyone gets to do the obligatory "I'm south of the equator, I'm north of the equator" dance. There is also a small cultural center at the equator view point where the guides show you tricks of gravity. They showed us how to balance an egg, and demonstrated that water circles the drain differently on either side of the equator. Directly on the line it doesn't circle at all. The demonstrations were pretty entertaining, plus we found out that you weight 2.2 pounds less on the equator because of the weaker pull gravity. That's a good thing because we're going to need all the help we can get to meet the luggage weight limits to the Galapagos. We fly there tomorrow, and we'll be living on a ship for 7 days until returning to mainland Ecuador.

(Museum/monument located on the equator. Costs $4, not worth it.)

The city of Quito appears polluted and a bit rough around the edges at first glance. On the other hand, there has been a lot of new construction in the last few years, evidenced by the plethora of shiny new fast food chains and malls. There is a lot of cultural influence from Peru, which I assume is due to the fact that the Incas controlled part of Ecuador for 68 years. Quito is a smaller city than Scott and I had expected. It has less that 2 million residents, but the streets are still congested like any major city. Another surprise is that Quito (9,000 feet and change) is nearly at the same elevation as Cusco (10,000 +ft). I never read much about altitude issues when reserarching Quito, but guide books make a huge issue out of altitude sickness in Cusco. We've only spent one day here, but I suspect that the average tourist probably doesn't get to know the real Quito. There is a well worn track to all the major sights, so you may have to look a little harder here than in other cities if you want to experience more authentic local culture. We definitely didn't have time to do that.

The last place we visited was the Pululahua Volcanic crater (above), which is the 4th largest in the world. It has a diameter of 6 km, and several families actually live inside the crater on farmland. The crater is all that's left. Scientists believe that an eruption similar to Mount St. Helen's volcano blew the cone away. This is a bit of a tourist trap, with people trying to hassle you into buying stuff and forcibly giving you informational recitals for tips, but the crater is interesting to view and probably worth the visit if you can avoid the vendors.
We don't know about internet availablity on the Galapagos cruise, but we will post as soon as we reach some wifi. We're really looking forward to the Galapagos, and I can't wait to show you some giant tortoises. - Anna

Pumas and Horses

After a day of rest, we struck out on our own again. This time, we went to the southwestern corner of the park, below Lake Grey. The hotel had a guide drive us over to that part of the park. It was a two hour ride, and along the way we passed several lakes. In one of these, Anna spotted something pink. We had to look twice before we realized they were flamingos. What a strange sight! It turns out that there are Chilean flamingos that can handle colder temperatures than their northern cousins. It was odd to see the large birds standing on one leg in freezing water looking for food.

(View of the Pingo glacial river en route to the campsite.)
Upon reaching the ranger station at the southern shore of Lake Grey, we made the half hour hike into camp Pingo. On the walk up we had to make our way through a fenced off paddock with three white horses in it. The horses looked like they hadn't seen a person in quite some time, and they were mildly interested as we walked by. We gave them a quick pat and moved on.
Right next to the horse pasture was the campsite. The campsite was deserted for the winter, and that was fine with us. We were looking for a place where we wouldn't have to listen to other people talking, or see anyone on the trails. I can imagine how crowded it must get in the summer months and, despite the cold, we were both glad we came down here in the off season.
We set up camp, and settled in for the night. When we had arrived at camp, the temperature was pleasant and in the 60´s. As the sun went down, we watched the thermometer on Anna's alarm clock drop steadily until it hit a chilly 24 degrees in the middle of the night. The following day we woke to frost on the tent. It was extremely difficult to get out of our sleeping bags and face getting dressed in the cold.

That day we explored the trail up to a large waterfall about a three and a half hours away. The trail was less rugged than the previous excursion and was through mostly forested land. Shortly after we started walking, we found large cat prints on the trail and realized that this was an area frequented by Pumas. I had made a mistake on the first hike. The track by our tent had clearly been a fox. This track was more rounded, had no claws, and was much bigger. We found the tracks of two different cats, one larger than the other, and we thought it might be an adult puma with a adolescent cub trailing along. There is also a small bobcat sized animal in the area known as a geofrey's cat which may have left the small tracks. The tracks followed the trail for several miles, but we never saw any cats. It's probably for the better.



After reaching the falls, we had lunch and admired the rainbow coming off the spray before heading back. We made it back to camp at around 5 pm, and the horses were waiting for us. We hung out with them for a while, and made life long friends when we fed them a couple of apples from our packs, before turning in. The next morning, we made our way back down to the ranger station, and checked out the lake, and the glacier behind it in the distance, before being picked up by the guide again for the ride back to the hotel.

(The local beer at the hotel. This one also has calafate berries in it, which are a sweet regional berry. It tastes like regular ale with a hint of sweetness, similar to a blackberry ale.)

We only had one more day before we left, so we went out for another horse ride. This one was a little more spirited than the last, and we both had hyper horses. We had a good ride, and talked to the guide about everything from the local wildlife, to the local wines and whiskies. Thankfully, I got a little more used to galloping, because at the end of the ride, the horses really wanted to get back to the stable and they all, including the guide's horse, took off at a dead run for home. That is the fastest I had ever been on a horse and, somehow, I didn't fall off.

(On our flight out, we had a stopover in Ushuaia, which claims to be the southernmost point on mainland South America. )
We left the next day. The twelve days we spent in the park was the longest we had spent in one place on the entire trip, and it was nice to be able to relax and just be outside for a while. We were on our own pace there, and were able to appreciate the beauty of the place we were in.
We have one down day in Buenos Aires, and then it's off to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
A week there and then we go home! This has been an amazing trip, and we can't wait to see what the Galapagos has in store for us, but after nearly five months of traveling I think we are both beginning to get a little homesick. One more adventure to go. - Scott

Photo Update

So we seem to have sorted out the problem with our ability to post photos from the iPod. The process is a bit more complicated than it was, but I think we are able to post again. We have put some more photos into the older posts. If you would like to go back and look, please start with the Inca Trail post (I know, there is a lot of backdating). If you still can't see them, please comment and let us know. The photos from Patagonia, we should be able to post once we get back to BA in a few days. Thanks for your patience all! - Scott

The End of the World...Almost

After our icy experience in El Calafate, we made our way by private transport accross the border into Chile to Torres Del Paine National Park. This is as close as we have been to the end of South America, which is still a six hour drive away, but close enough. El Calafate is only 58 miles away from Las Torres as the crow flys, but it took 5 hours to get here because we had to drive a long way around to avoid large mountain peaks and lakes. We are staying at a hosteria called Las Torres that sits at the base of one of the major mountains in the park. The view is spectacular. There are snow capped mountains and lakes full of torquoise glacier water all around. As we rode on the bumpy road into the park, we could see all sorts of wildlife. There were grey foxes, rheas, which are large birds similar to ostriches, guanacos (see above, think of a cross between a deer and a llama) and even a few condors.

The park has no telephone lines and is 2 hours from the nearest town. Las Torres has access to the internet via sattelite, which is how we are able to continue writing this blog, and make updates on Facebook ;-)

On our first full day in the park one of the guides, Pedro, took us out on a horseback ride into the hills above the hosteria. The path was very rocky and steep in places, and we soon started seeing snow on the ground. Pedro told us some about the area. The hosteria we were staying at was owned by a family which has been on this land for several generations. They owned the land before the government designated Torres del Paine a national park in the 1970's. As a result, the family still owns the plot of land inside the park, and allows hikers to walk the trails.

(An incredibly helpful sign telling you which way not to go.)
Pedro also told us about the fauna in the area. Torres del Paine is puma territory (in the States we would call it a mountain lion) , and there were 2 to 3 cats in the area at the time. However, Pedro said that the cats here were not as aggressive as the pumas in the United States, and rarely approached people. I asked if the cats bothered the horses at all. He said the horses didn't really like the pumas, but didn't freak out and bolt when they were around. Pretty tough horses if you ask me.

We rode for a while until it got too cold and the snow was too deep. We were worried about the horses slipping, so we headed back to the stables for lunch. In the afternoon we took another ride in the valley where it was less snowy. We even galloped a few times, though with my limited horse riding skills, I nearly fell off several times. Anna did much better than I did. She and her horse got along right away.

(A view of the back side of the towers along the hiking path. Notice the band of white granite)
The following day, Pedro took us on a hike up to try to see the towers that the park is named after. Paine is the local indigenous word for blue, and so Torres del Paine means the Blue Towers. Behind the mountain we were staying under, there are three peaks that have near vertical sides. Each looks like a giant tower with jagged tops. With all the limestone in the area, the peaks have a blue hue to them, giving them their name. In order to get to the spot to see them best, we walked up a narrow mountain pass which was covered in bolders and loose gravel. The walk was fairly rugged and several times we walked along the edge of a dropoff into the river below.


(Perdro, our guide)
About half way up we began walking through some pretty thick snow with ice underneath that made the footing slippery. We finally made it to the final check point after 5 hours of hiking. By then it was past 1 pm, and there was still 2 hours to go up the steepest slope yet to get to the viewing point. We decided that it wouldn't be practical to continue on and decided to make our way back down. Overall, it was about eight hours of hiking, and we were pretty tired, but the views and terrain we were able to see were worth it.


(Me and Pedro trying not to kill ourselves walking down the slippery path. Sorry, my eyes are closed.)
On our third full day in the park, Anna and I struck out on our own for a couple of days of hiking and camping on our own. The trail we took was lower in eleveation, but it was still pretty rugged going over hill after rocky hill. On top of that, we were both carrying fairly heavy loads in our packs, which made the going slower. We made our next camp site after about 6 hours of hiking.
One of the things about Patagonia is that the weather is extremely unpredictable. Snow storms and gale force winds can seem to come up out of nowhere. When we set up camp it was calm, and a little cold. With our thick sleeping bags we were warm enough. After midnight, the wind picked up and began blowing down the valley hard. We were fine inside out tent, but it was difficult to get good sleep with the walls of the tent slapping in the wind. The wind continued throught the next day, and most of our walk was in stong swirling winds.


(Glacier Frances)
We spent that day walking to the next valley and back. There was a small glacier to see on the way, and Anna saw a small avalanche happen. The wind blew the entire way, and at one point it was nearly strong enough to knock us over. We made it to the next camp, which was closed up for the winter. Its name was Camp Italiano. It had a small trail sign showing how far it was to Rome. After checking out the area for a bit, we headed back to our first camp, broke it down, and tried to get a head start back to Las Torres before we camped again.

(Lake Nordenskjold)
That night we set up camp just off the trail up on a hill with a great view of Lake Nordenskjold. We were woken several times during the night by passing animals outside. At one point, we heard something startled by our flapping tent run away with heavy steps. The following morning we found large paw prints just outside our tent. We still can't decide if it was a large fox, or a puma running with its claws out. Either way, we were both glad we weren't outside when it came around. The next morning we lugged our heavy packs back to Las Torres. We made better time because we had eaten alot of the food and water we had brought with us, thus reducing the weight, but we were still tired by the time we got back.

I will say that this place near the bottom of the world is one of the most beautiful places we have visited. It has a wild ruggedness to it that is extremely appealing, and there is something almost spiritual in seeing condors in the distance circling around the jagged towers in the sky. - Scott