Bref & Sarah´s Big Trip
Thank you for enjoying our blog. Sarah and I completed an amazing year which took us from India and around South America from November 2010 to November 2011. We are delighted to be sharing our trip with you. Enjoy.Bref Sarah
We initially travelled India for a month which was amazing. From Mumbai on the West coast we, travelled to Pondicherry on the East, to KodaiKanal via Mamallapuram, Mudamulai wildlife park, Mysore, Hampi, Goa, Kahna Jungle Park, and back to Mumbai.
London was great! We got to see some of our amazing family and friends and enjoy a mini-christmas.
Then we have wrapped up a brilliant month in Brasil. Starting In Sao Paulo and then moving onto the Iguazu Falls, from Ouro Preto to Rio de Janeiro, Paraty to Sao Sebastiao, and the stunning beaches of Florionopolis and Praia do Rosa.
From Brasil we popped down to Uruguay for two great weeks in Cabo Polonia & Montevideo, where we began Spanish lessons.
After saying farewell to Montevideo, we got the ferry across to Buenos Aires which was an incredible stay. After dragging Sarah from BsAs, we trekked across Patagonia - an absolutely amazing and beautiful region in ARG and CHI.
We got some wine in in Mendoza and popped across back into Chile, through Santiago, Valparaiso, up to Iquique (for adventure sports and surfing) and back down through the Atacama Desert.
Crossing through the incredible Salt Flat of Salar de Uyuni, we advanced to Bolivia. After leaving Uyuni we traveled to Potosi, where we experienced life as a Silver Miner on an amazing tour. Sucre is a beautiful, Bolivian colonial town where we stayed for 3 weeks and studied Spanish. Next up was the Bolivian Amazon and our first time to assemble a wooden raft which we used for 6 days to make our way up river to the Pampas. After surviving the Amazon, we flew back down to La Paz and stayed with a good friend.
Getting from Bolivia to Peru didn't prove easy due to blockades, but we managed to navigate our way across Lake Titicata and up to Cusco in time to meet our friends for the Inca Trail that took us to Machu Picchu. After spending some time in and around Cusco doing various treks and white water rafting, we traveled to Arequipa and got to catch up with a good friend of ours. Next up was the little beach village of Mancora where despite its lack of waves proved a fun place to hang out for a couple of weeks before we pushed up towards Ecuador.
Our six week long adventure in Ecuador began in the capital of Quito with familar faces; Sarah´s brother and his girlfriend. We had some more great times and squuezed a lot in including visiting the Otawala Market, the stunning Cotapaxi volcano, and trekking into the Amazon Basin. Barely had we returned from the jungle when we were heading back to the coast. The Humpback Whales appeared in Puerto Lopez and we kicked back for a week in Montanita, where the waves also appeared and we got to surf. Then just when we thought our trip couldn´t get any more provide any totally different experiences, we were scrubbing up in surgeries in Rio Bamba while volunteering on a medical mission with our friend Kiris! Next up was the incredible Galapagos Islands. No words can come close to describing how amazing this place is, but I´ll try in our blog.
The journey from the Galapagos to Colombia wasn´t short, but we made it just in time for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Soccer Finals! The final match was in Bogota, which was a fun place and where we also caught up with some good friends. Moving on from the capital we arrived in beautiful Cartegena on the Caribbean coast. The next couple of weeks blended Sarah's Birthday, the arrival of our friend Dominic, finding the 'Lost City'of Tayruna and relaxing on the most beautiful raw beaches of Tayronna National Park. After some beach time we dropped down to Medellin, the 'City of Eternal Spring', where we first began our love affair with South America. During five fantastic weeks in Medellin we did everything from meeting Pablo Escobar's brother to founding an artisanal and handmade gift company (www.TheNativeSource.com).
The San Blas Islands are an autonomous society of tribal communities that we passed through from Colombia to Panama. You can see some of the most picture perfect photos that we took here! We also met one of the Kuna Tribe chiefs and brought some tribal handmade items back with us.
Before we caught our flight back to Florida, we had time to check out the Panama Canal and the capital city.
We met some great people, experienced some amazing sights & nights, AND photographed a lot of it. We look forward to continuing our adventures and sharing them with you.
You can read more about our story and see the collections of unique handmade gifts at our new website TheNativeSource.com.
Love and Best wishes, always-
Bref & Sarah
Travel Blog Posts
Descending into the World's Deepest Canyon; The Colca Canyon, Peru.
Published: December 8th 2011South America » Peru » Arequipa
December 8th 2011
So continuing on our theme of checking out the world’s highest this, or longest that; we decided to head to the word’s deepest canyon. The Colca Canyon is located in Peru, about three hours from Arequipa in the south. One of the main reasons that we went in that direction was to meet up with an old college mate of mine, Emma who lives there in the ‘White City’. This canyon is reportedly the deepest in the world, thought to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The Canyon itself is quite different to the Grand Canyon both in geography and topography. Portions of the Colca Canyon are habitable, with pre-Colombian terraced fields still supporting agriculture and human life. It’s quite green, versus the drier, sandier Grand Canyon. Setting off early in the morning, Sarah ... read more
November 16th 2011
From the Inca Capital of Cuzco, we bid farewell to our friends and made the short bus ride to the village of Pisaq in The Sacred Valley of the Incas or Urubamba Valley. This is a valley in the Andes mountain which was formed along the Urubamba River, not too far from Machu Picchu. It is fed by numerous rivers which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges, and contains archaeological remains and villages. The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities. It was one of the empire's main points for the extraction of natural wealth, and one of the most important areas for maize production in Peru. Sarah and I spent a couple of days here chilling out and hiking around the valley. The region seemed to have a ... read more
Hiking the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu
Published: November 16th 2011South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu
September 29th 2011
Before we placed ourselves on the footprints of the ancient Incas, and hiked the four days along the Sacred Inca (Inka) trail to Machu Picchu, a few stars had to align for us. In many ways, our trek to Machu Picchu started in the same place that so many great things in our lives have started….at Four Green Fields in Tampa (you know what we’re talking about;). It was a hot Tuesday evening, and the mixture of sweat and Guinness made for an interesting odor at the pub. Myself and Sarah had completed the 5k fun-run that had recently become a flagship weekly event at 4GF. Over creamy pints, the best in town (if not in Florida), we were chatting with our friends and answering many questions as to “why are you leaving?” and "How did ... read more
September 20th 2011
Cusco (Cuzco en español) is a pretty famous city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. The city is of course the site of the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO. It is a massive tourist destination and receives almost 1.5 million visitors a year, even though the population of Cusco itself is a bit smaller at 360,000 or so. While Lima is the official capital of Peru, Cusco is designated as the Historical Capital. But while we looked forward to all the amazing history and scenery that the area has to offer, we were really excited to get to hang out with our friends! A bunch of our mates from Florida were meeting us in Cusco to party and ... read more
July 30th 2011
We weren’t sure how long we wanted to spend in these Northwestern Peruvian towns. The only thing we heard about Trujillo was that it had two famous pre-Columbian archaelogical sites - Chan Chan and temples of the Sun and Moon. So in the end we just stayed in Trujillo for the day and visited the archeological sites. Coming from Lima, it took us about ten hours on an overnight bus until we arrived and we didn’t get much sleep on the journey. The sleep deprivation must be the reason that the day seems a bit like a blurry dream! First up Sarah and I grabbed breakfast and much needed coffees close to the town plaza. Across the street we found a place to book the trips to the sites. We were rounded up as part of ... read more
Jungle Raft to Bolivian Amazon Basin
Published: August 4th 2011South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Rurrenabaque
July 18th 2011
We love Bolivia. We got to do so many things here that would normally be either prohibited due to regulated safety restrictions or they would be just plain illegal. Welcome to our jungle-rafting experience, which honestly I don’t think was either…although an Israeli guy did die while attempting the same feat as us, but he went without an experienced guide. The idea of floating up river into the Bolivian rainforest on a raft that we would have to help construct was an idea sold to us without much hesitation. Normally people either get a 30-ish hour bus from La Paz, 40-minute flight, or 2-day speed boat trip to get to Rurrenabaque, the gateway to the Bolivian Amazon, but a homemade raft sounded much better to us. Here’s our story… “Really? We have to leave now?” It ... read more
Cycling The World's Most Dangerous Road
Published: July 18th 2011South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Coroico
July 1st 2011
Does that sound ominous enough for you?! The affectionately named WMDR or ‘Death Road’ is a treacherous, long stretch of road leading from outside of La Paz to Corioca. True to its name, people have died and the road continues to claim lives each year – our guide told us that around thirty people cash out their chips here on an annual basis (including car and other road transport accidents.) The guy also has the unpleasant memories of seeing people killed here himself. So...of course we were going to go for it! Our guide was actually a real fun lad hailing from New Zealand. As with pretty much 100% of other Kiwis that I’ve met; this fella was decently crazy too. But even though he was proper good fun, safety was paramount and anyone not listening ... read more
June 22nd 2011
We’d Heard mixed reports about the Peruvian Capital but, like always, we knew that it would be better to make up our own mind so we decided to visit Lima on our way up to northern Peru. Lima is centrally located in the valleys of two rivers, in the center of Peru, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Founded by Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pizarro in 1535, as la Ciudad de los Reyes, or "the City of Kings”, Lima became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. With a population of close to nine million (about a third of the country!), Lima is the fourth largest city in South America, behind , Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Sarah and I hung out for two or three days ... read more
Fleeing Across Lake Titicaca!
Published: August 31st 2011South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Copacabana
June 17th 2011
Borders are always interesting places; I am sure that a few international frontiers spring to mind. We are now adding Bolivia – Peru to our list. Here’s our story…actually, just to protect the innocent here, and in order to take proactive steps to avoid any future immigration difficulties, let’s find out what happened to another couple, let’s hear what happened to Brett and Zara…. Brett & Zara They were having a lot of fun in La Paz, the crazy place that it is, but Brett and Zara needed to be in Cusco by Friday. Their friends from the States were arriving on Saturday morning as they all prepared to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. 'No worries,' they thought; it was only Tuesday after all. But they had been hearing, from other travelers about problems ... read more
Pampas Tour from Rurrenabaque
Published: August 29th 2011South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Rurrenabaque
June 15th 2011
Rurrenabaque is a small riverside town in the Bolivian Amazon Basin. It's now a hub for tourists like us who plan on going to either The Pampas or deeper into the jungle. The Pampas are Amazonian wetlands that are home to thousands of species of plants and animals which is what we were hoping to see plenty of. There's a few thousand people living in Rurre, and tourism is their livelihood. The town buzzes with local shops, moto-taxis, and tour agencies. I think it was Sunday when we arrived via our raft. Martin, Wencke, Sarah and I got the same hotel accommodation sorted out. We looked around town that night and set about getting tours arranged for Monday. As I mentioned, There are two main options that you have to choose from in Rurre: Do you ... read more
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