http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Gerry and Denise/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Gerry and Denise en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:46:48 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:46:48 BST Our annual winter trip Joe Hellawell Andrew Whyte and Gerry last year and Joe Andrew Gerry and Mike Maybury this year headed for the Sherry Triangle of Southern Spain. A cheap Ryanair flight to Jerez last year we went to Lamezia in Southern Italy and 4 days in nearby El Puerto de Santa Maria on the coast. We stayed in a restored 1700's aparthotel called Casa de Los Leones. A good choice http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/El-Puerto-de-Santa-Mar-a/blog-246040.html Our two week holiday in August started off in New York for 3 days then we hired a car and set off up the coast to New Haven the home of the prestigious Yale University. We stayed there for two nights with a friend Lumor who attends the University. We met Lumor while we were volunteering in Peru in 2005. From there we headed for Boston via a cool little place called Mystic. In Boston we sta http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/blog-222305.html This was a free holiday courtesy of Opodo website for British Airways Lufthansa and seven other airlines whose photo competition Gerry won We stayed in the Villa Gabriele d'Annunzio Hotel a former monastery a fair bit out of town in an area called Fiesole. The village of Fiesole is worth a visit as it is high up on a hill overlooking Florence and is a pretty place with some old Roman ruins. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-214568.html Loved New York even though the weather was rotten. Manhattan with its awesome art deco skyscrapers is out of this world. We only had 3 days in New York arriving at JFK airport on the 18th August we hopped on one of those classic yellow cabs to our hotel Deauville which was small quaint and reasonably priced. Things we did in 3 days Visited the UN building and took a guided tour round i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/blog-195197.html It was Easter and stupidly I Gerry decided to drive up to Scotland. I left work in London at 2.45pm and didn't get to my mum and dad's until 1.45am an 11 hour drive on my own Denise couldn't make it The worst bit was about half a mile from my destination when I hit some road works not literally and was stuck in a nonmoving traffic jam for an hour and a half Not what you need after a lon http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Lesmahagow/blog-146930.html Denise had a 3 week break between leaving her old job and starting her new one so we took the opportunity to head for the sun for a week. We found a cheap holiday in a self catering apartment in Fuerteventura one of the Canary Islands just off the coast of Morocco in Africa. The Canary Islands are actually Spanish and made from volcanoes. The volcanoes came first and then in the 1400's the S http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Canary-Islands/Fuerteventura/blog-136525.html The anticipation started weeks ago encouraged by planning meetings at our local pub. Now we Joe Andrew and Gerry were in Aquapessa Calabria Southern Italy for a long weekend. Fantastic value at 99 each for 4 days including return flight 3 star hotel and hire car. Gerry remarked that when he first flew to Italy 23 years ago the flight cost 150 Who would have believed it would have http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Calabria/Acquappesa/blog-123050.html Haven't done a travelblog for ages so a weekend down to the Isle of Wight will do for my next entry The day we were due to leave started off a bit ominously. Mark our friend we were travelling with had arranged the caravan and ferry for the weekend. After Denise had gone off to pick up Mark I suddenly remembered I had forgotten to double check with the travel agent if we needed separate tick http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Isle-of-Wight/Shanklin/blog-91364.html My Gerry's last week in Uganda was a bit frantic as the lawyer informed me that 'Uganda Food Company' had been incorporated as a limited company and the documents could be picked up the next day which gave me one day Friday to open a business account at the bank. I'd found another very good candidate for being a manager of the company and I introduced him to the manager I've already employed http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Iganga/blog-56808.html Livingstone my Gerry's boyhood Scottish hero would have been ashamed of me. There I was sitting in the Source of the Nile Cafe tucking into a longawaited and muchappreciated meal of sausage eggs and chips while this poor man endured 22 bouts of malaria as he spent his whole life in search of the elusive source of the Nile and never did find the place. No such problems today as this pla http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Iganga/blog-46424.html I Gerry read an inspiring story in the 'New Vision' my favourite newspaper about a Ugandan guy who has set up the 'Rwenzori Finest Coffee Company' in the mystical Mountains of the Moon which borders Rwanda. The small coffee farmers they're not pygmies they just own small amounts of land each used to sell their coffee beans for a pittance partly because the quality wasn't great and they h http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Iganga/blog-35153.html Greetings from Uganda For those who don't know I Gerry am here for 6 months working with our great old friends Sam and Eva who run an organisation called 'Uganda Family Resource Link'. They have done wonders here the project in the village is called 'Bushfire' within 2 or 3 years they have built 4 homes for 60 childrenatrisk mainly orphans staff houses a huge communitycumchurch http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Iganga/blog-30863.html The morning of our horse riding trip started well enough when a woman collected us from our casa particular our lodging house but we were soon to discover we were in the hands of cowboys We were left standing at a street corner to await the arrival of the other tourists. They took so long that eventually a woman who lived nearby let us sit in her living room to get out of the already intense http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Centro/Trinidad/blog-22822.html The only place in the world where I've seen a stretch limousine lada and a bus that looks like a lorry And what are those peapodlike things that masquerade as taxis A strange land indeedMy Gerry's sister Ruth joined us for a 2 week holiday on this the last leg of our roundtheworld trip. Ruth had arrived earlier in the day and was already at our lodgings casa particular when we turne http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Oeste/La-Habana/blog-22820.html The rain spattered off the windscreen of the minibus whisking us from Flores where we were staying to Tikal the great lost city of the Mayans how come all these great civilisations managed to keep losing these huge cities anyway. I Gerry was by myself as Denise doesn't best like ruins and she and I would visit them together the next day anyway. To be fair we have seen more ruins over th http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-22819.html Websites and guidebooks told us not to go near San Pedro on Lake Atitlan as it is a hotbed of armed robberies and rapes. So how did we manage to end up there digging in to a rare fried breakfast complete with crispy bacon Well as some of the small roads around the lake are too dangerous to travel on we reckoned we would be safer on a boat We booked an allday boat trip around the lake. The http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Panajachel/Lake-Atitlan/blog-22816.html As Guatemala City the capital of Guatemala is supposed to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world we didn't hang around for long but we did have to stay one night there as we flew in after dark. Our guesthouse was fortified like an Iraqi police station which made us think all the hype might just be true In the morning we hastily sped off for the beautiful old town of Antigua. Ant http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-22814.html While volunteering in Huancayo Tino the eternally energetic director of the small organisation Tinkuy Peru organised various trips to local tourist sights. The Mantaro Valley is rich in culture and attracts about 50000 tourists each year. We visited the extraordinary mini grand Canyon TorreTorre next to the Libertad Hill. We also visited the Wariwilka ruins 15 kilometers 9 miles from http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Junin/Huancayo/blog-14502.html Huancayo home to the Wanka tribe and city of festivals 3280m 10760ft in the Andes and 380 kms 236 miles from Lima was our home for 3 weeks. We fancied taking one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world from Lima to Huancayo it's also the highest train journey in the world reaching a height of 4815m 15800ft but it only runs once a month a schedule which defies the most orga http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Junin/Huancayo/blog-14500.html The tout in Cusco the main tourist town in these parts assured us there was no way of getting to the Sacred Valley except by taking his 'official' tour so being seasoned scam spotters we promptly dismissed his overtures and wandered down to the local bus station and got on the first bus for 1 and lo and behold it went all the way to and through the Sacred Valley Mind you getting back a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Sacred-Valley/blog-14384.html