Los Mineros

Dear readers, What follows was not meant to happen... An extra month in a country that was not included in the original plan: Indonesia. Moreover, Max and Jems, the 2 other Mineros had stopped travelling, so I was on my own. A lonesome experience described below. Legian, Bali: It had been 6 months I had left Asia and from the very first dinner, I felt I was back in this world of tasty flavours and marvellous scents. Back also to this world where streets are overcrowded by vehicles that seem to be willing to climb on each other so they might be able to earn these precious minutes nobody knows whether they really worth the energy spent. Last but not least for a long-term traveler, I was also back to a country where the cost of ... read more

If you carefully read the previous article, you should know we have now been in Australia for the past 3 weeks. So here is the story of our trip so far. Sydney, New South Wales Sydney was the meeting point with Seb, Jems' brother, and Marco, another Minero, who were going to share our experience in Australia. We stayed in Bondi Beach, the "place to be" in Sydney, if not in Australia. Unfortunately we could not swim and enjoy the beach side for 2 reasons: first, the day we landed, there was a shark attack in Bondi Beach where a surfer lost his arm (ce qui nous a fait conclure que Bondi Beach, "ca coute un bras!" dans tous les sens du terme); secondly, rainy clouds deterred (dissuader) us from having a bath. However, we ... read more

Los mineros are back for a new entry. The first one of 2009, we hope you enjoyed the end of 2008. Happy new year to everyone. Many things happened to us during the last 3 weeks. Some good and some bad ones... First, we would like to thank the people who have created the "Los mineros group" on facebook. Here are the details of our trip in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Villa Gesell & Puerto Madryn, Chubut Province (Eastern part of Patagonia): We decided to stop on the east coast to rest for few days in Villa Gesell. A bit disappointed by the place as it was too windy and cold to swim. Moreover our only investment was not as good as we expected. Indeed our tent is too small and not very resistant ... read more

Thansk for your comments in the previous post. This article will be the last one about Bolivia. We are now in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. It´s with sadness we left this beautiful country. Sucre, Chuquisaca Department: Sucre is the culltural capital of Bolivia also called "the white city". After the huge effort done during our ascent of the Huayna Potosi, we decided to relax in this city full of museums and famous for its universities. As usual after a trek, we celebrate the achievement in a bar. This time we ended up in a night club full of students. We had a great time, but wearing the mustach did not really help us... We had a very good insight of the Bolivian past by visiting "la casa de la libertad". Bolivia has lost ... read more

Only one week later and already a new entry (6th article). A special thought for our Monday morning readers... We wanted to end our Peruvian experience before the arrival of the third Minero: Maxime. Arequipa & Cotahuasi Canyon: Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru. Its historical center is very charming with the beautiful Plaza de Armas and the old Santa Catarina Monaster which was built in 1580 like a small city (inlcuding a square, streets & churches...). The city is a good starting point for trekking in the Colca and Cotahuasi canyons. Colca is the most accessible one and is known to be the second deepest canyon in the world after Cotahuasi. Cotahuasi is located at 400km from Arequipa. We eventually picked the Cotahuasi Canyon as it was the deepest one and the ... read more