Cuba - 29 December 2007 to 20 January 2008 For the Cuban part of our journey, we joined the Southern Cross Work and Study Brigade, which is a group formed of Australians and New Zealanders that goes to Cuba each January. This year there were forty nine of us in an excellent group that made the whole time really fun. We also had Cubans attached to the group for the stay, and Chela made good friends with Isabel, whose employment title was ´Specialist in Solidarity´. Certainly not a title one would find in Australia! It was a bit strange for both [View Full Entry]

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Mexico - 3 December to 29 December 2007 We hit the ground in Mexico exhausted from our hectic last weeks in Peru. However, we still had plenty of chores to do in Cancun before we could relax. The most pressing task was to send a parcel to Canada which contained a whopping 11kg of excess stuff that we had somehow accumulated over the past few months. After this arduous but important task we were ready to hit the beach for a few days and so caught the ferry over the the somewhat laid-back Isla Mujeres. On the island, we caught up [View Full Entry]

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Peru - 11 November to 3 December 2007 Well, after three minivan bus rides to get over the Bolivian-Peruvian border, we did make it to Peru in the end! Infact we made it all the way to Cusco, which used to be the capital of the Inca empire, and is currently the home of most Inca-related activities. We immediately set out on a trek to get to the Inca's old holiday resort town, a place known as Machu Picchu! We did what is known as the Salkantay trek and it was quite a challenge! We walked for four days and camped [View Full Entry]

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Bolivia: Villazón to Copacabana - 23 October to 11 November 2007 Our trip to Bolivia began in true Bolivian style even before we had left Argentina. We, and two Melbournites who we met at the hostel had paid for a ´semi-cama´ (somewhat comfortable) midnight bus from Salta to the northern border town of La Quiaca. However, on arrival, the bus turned out to be a normal coach (not at all comfortable) and so we arrived at the border early in the morning severely lacking in our beauty sleep. As a good proportion of Bolivia is above 3000 meters in altitude, we [View Full Entry]

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Posadas, Tucuman and Salta - 1 October to 22 October 2007 See our route map here! Well, on the bus from Iguazu to Posadas, our bus was only stopped twice by drug control officers with dogs and guns. Apparently marijuana is a successful crop around Iguazu. But happily, we decided not to join any Argentinian smuggling rings that day, so we were fine. Posadas is the capital of Misiones, the province that also has Iguazu. However, not many people actually go to Posadas, so there are not many hostels. Both feeling a bit sick [View Full Entry]

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Buenos Aires, Uruguay and Iguazú - 15 September to 30 September 2007 After a night on the plane and a short stopover in Santiago, Chile, we arrived in Buenos Aires ready for anything. We were bemused by the blasé attitude of Argetine customs who waved us through as if they were surprised and even mildly irritated to see us, even though they'd made us fill out all the forms! We then avoided all the calls of 'taxi? taxi!' and ran for the bus to our hostel in the San Telmo area, so our long trip down to South America started with [View Full Entry]

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Ontario - 31 August to 13 Sepember 2007 After a relaxing three weeks in Winnipeg, we set off to do some travelling around the province of Ontario, starting with the nation's capital, Ottawa. Ottawa is snuggled up against the provincial border with Quebec and is home to Canada's parliament and most of the federal bureacracy. As a result, the city is very bi-lingual and it was common to hear French being spoken in the street and many people switched effortlessly between the two languages. Some people were so bi-lingual that they had trouble speaking English! On recommendatio [View Full Entry]

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Winnipegging Part 2 - 21 August to 31 August 2007 Chela's family keeps a cottage on the shores of Betula Lake in the Whiteshell Provincial Park. So, after sending a resentful Alice the Cat to Grandma's, we packed up the Jeep and headed off to spend a few days lazing by the lake. The day was overcast so after arriving, we went off to see the Nutimik museum. This is basically a small room filled with native animals unfortunate enough to die from a rare condition that turns their insides to stuffing and leaves their corpses frozen in dramatic poses. There [View Full Entry]

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Winnipeg - 10 August to 21 August 2007 We've spent the last week and a bit in Winnipeg, adjusting to the time-zone and enjoying the sunny, but mild weather. Chela is very happy to be back in her home away from home with her Grandma and her aunt MJ (yes, that's Mary Jane) and Matthew has now met everyone and is approved of! In our short time here, we've noticed a few things about Winnipeg.Winnipeg is a small, flat city situated in the middle of Canada. It is surrounded by the prairies that stretch through central Canada and the USA and [View Full Entry]

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Sydney to Winnipeg - 6 August to 10 August 2007 Oh Canada! After months of planning for it and weeks of getting ready for it; we are finally in Canada, our home and native land (of sorts). Our day of departure began with little sleep and phone calls at three in the morning to discuss what essential items to eliminate from our bulging packs. Before too long, thankfully, we were boarding our plane and preparing for a mammoth flight to Vancouver via Honolulu. The novelty of drinks carts and personal TV screens was enough to keep Matthew occupied for most of [View Full Entry]

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