http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/M-C/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from M C en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:28:44 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:28:44 +0000 They call Rome the eternal city though I had considerably less time to explore this most glorious of cities two days to be precise a quick stopover on the way to Crete. The late night taxi ride from the airport into town was hair raising especially as Italy does not yet seem to have enacted laws relating to the simultaneous operation of vehicle and non hands free mobile phone though not hair http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-196948.html Just after we crossed over the Orange River and back into South Africa we came across a springbok in the road. Its instinct to run had no doubt served it well in the past but with wire fences either side an escape plan based on trying to run down a road faster than the Mercedes lorry following it was doomed to failure. After a few minutes in this unlikely chase the driver was eventually able to e http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-191724.html There I was minding my own business in the shower of our tree house that was set back from the banks of the Okavango River at Ngepi camp site in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia. The shower like the tree house was open fronted granting splendid views of the river through the trees. It was as I was enjoying these views in this unique setting that those members of our group who had embarked on a mok http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Twyfelfontein/blog-191282.html So part one left us stranded in the hunting concession area of the Moremi Game Reserve. Did we escape the lurking dangers of myopic hunters Did the tour leader explode The answers are 1. obviously and 2. she was remarkably calm considering that the incident royally screwed the all powerful schedule. Some 90 minutes a brief journey in the back of a tow truck and a kindly South African safari http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Livingstone/blog-190157.html Herersquos something I didnrsquot know. Although if caught in the open a humanlion confrontation would go badly for the human when wersquore sat in an open sided safari vehicle perhaps wondering as I was what there is to stop a lion simply reaching in to drag us out like food from a large can they in fact donrsquot see us as distinct parcels of potential dinner. Instead they regard the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/North-West/Okavango-Delta/blog-189628.html Well here we are into our last days in the States indeed the last days of our world tour. Wersquove driven the US coast to coast covering over 7000 miles and counting travelled through 20 states. Lately sat in the car day after day has lost some of its magic. Quite frankly in places itrsquos dull and if wersquore going to suffer this then so are you. So some historyhellipIn 1649 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-75742.html Having left off our last journal with the bombing in Oklahoma City we're going to be continuing our theme of doom with a journal bookmarked by two assassinations. For conspiracy fans the conspiracy museum in downtown Dallas is a must. The video we saw probably challenges many of the accepted explanations of what happened that day when President Kennedy lost his head to the assassins bullet but so http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-70259.html We're leaving the mountainous deserts of south western USA behind now as we travel south east through New Mexico. As a kind of leftover we do get the Bisti Badlands just south of Farmington but these proved less colourful than the roadside scenery of eastern New Mexico as we crossed the continental divide. From now on the rivers like us run eastwards or at least they would if there was any wa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Roswell/blog-66027.html 6606 An auspicious date this one the 62nd anniversary of the Normandy landings and the cleverly scheduled release here of the remake of The Omen at the cinemas. For our part we marked the evil day by travelling route 666 out of Utah and into Colorado. We were only mildly spooked by the number of ravens flying around though fortunately they were not the eyeball pecking variety.We had travelled http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Utah/Dead-Horse-Point-State-Park/blog-65016.html I left an expensive raincoat on a bus somewhere in South America a couple of months ago. I left a favourite cap on a bus in Rio a month ago. I left way too much many at the roulette tables in Vegas a few days ago. And I left my soul in Lake Powell the first time I visited it many years ago. This time I left the tooth that was pulled in Buenos Aires there as well. I'm not sure whether this violates http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Lake-Powell/blog-64571.html Hey Paul how's tricks Work going wellIt's the day after Memorial Day the unofficial start of summer here in the States and the official start of some seriously hot weather in Vegas. Temperatures are just today climbing into the 90's farenheit though a run of luck at the roulette table and way too many margaritas last night means I'm a tad under the weather as I write. The U.S. truly is the la http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-63023.html There is indeed much cactus in Mexico but Irsquom speaking Australian here and things went pretty much cactus for a while back there. From Oaxaca Mabel who continues to hang in there like the trooper of the little car she is took us on a fairly easy and uneventful journey to the city of Puebla. We did try and visit the nearby ruins of Cacaxtla but enthusiasm for this detour took a hit when w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Hidalgo/Mineral-del-Monte/blog-61833.html The Mexican highway system is a little less robust than we had anticipated and wersquore not going to be able to get to the Mayan ruins at Palenque. Having taken flak for not getting to the more famous Bolivian indigenous sites I fear the fallout from a certain overeducated friend of ours at home you and your more celtic work colleagues know who you are and can offer only the Zatopec ruins o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Oaxaca/Oaxaca/blog-61147.html Greetings from Rio. Our hotel is so far down the end of the beach at Copacabana it is almost on Ipanema beach. Walking back down the beach the choice in beach front restaurants here is limited. We quickly discover the nearest restaurant does not do good Pizza. Wersquove developed a taste for Pizza in Rio. Donrsquot know why but itrsquos the brunch of choice for the duration. The next coupl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-58664.html Arequipa is Perursquos second city though you wouldnrsquot think so by the look of the small airport we flew into from Cuzco. The flight itself was highly scenic and ranks right up there with flights in the US south west for marvellous views of desert scenery with the added splendour of threading our way around 6000 metre high volcanic peaks as we came in to land. Fortunately the volcano that http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-56457.html The Inca Trail is a punishing hike that starts 88km north of Cuzco at a point some 2600 metres above sea level. It negotiates a couple of passes up to an altitude of 4200 metres and arrives at Machupicchu 43km and 3 days walking later. The quality of accommodation along the way is entirely dependent on the class of tent you pack with you. We completed the journey from Cuzco in four hours by train http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-55067.html OK the title's a tad melodramatic and should more accurately read Crocodile Attack Show. This was the main event at Hartley's Crocodile Farm some 40km north of Cairns and conveniently ignoring my usual concerns about the ethics of turning wild animals into performing spectacles an impressive show it was too. One man who has obviously had his fear emotion surgically removed spent some 45 minut http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-42864.html A tad nervous by the news that the bodies of a couple of tourists abducted in January were found in unmarked graves recently we rode the bus into La Paz with some trepidation. If I had read the British and American government travel advisories before hand I think I would have insisted on riding the bus into to La Paz with an armed guard. The road to La Paz takes us through the lsquoslumrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-52803.html Salta bus terminal 0715 in the morning. We donrsquot know it yet but wersquore about to enter into the world of backpacking for the next couple of days. The 7 hour bus journey to La Quiaca on the Argentine border with Bolivia is uneventful enough though it takes us onto the high plain sandwiched in the Andes 3000 meters above sea level and into the realm of altitude sickness. Breathing is http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Villazon/blog-51946.html We chose the town of Salta in the Argentinean north west as a place for a pitstop. It was on our route up South America a handy place for moving on to Bolivia and a quiet place in which to take a break from being on the move for what seems like all the time. As it turned out it rained most of the time and the traffic outside the hotel meant that we werenrsquot catching up on as much sleep as we http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/blog-51940.html