NamibiaBrutus
Jude & Johannes Joined: September 25th 2009
Logged in: June 5th 2010
Logged in: June 5th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
The End of the Road
We finally made it safely to Ushuaia on January 31 2010 !! Ushuaia is a delightful city surrounded by mountains to the north, east and west and with the Beagle Channel and Antartica to the south. We celebrated our most southern destination with a number of friends we had met and travelled with at different points along the way. We did a big photo shoot with Chris, Phillipe, Obadiah, Sue and Graham, and Dave at the end of Highway 3 at Bahia Lapataia in Tierra del Fuego National Park. We wondered around Ushuaia for a day or two in disbelief that we had come so far without an accident or major incident and still enjoyed simply being and travelling together! Since leaving Ushuaia we travelled by ferry to Punta Arenas (back into Chile), then visited a ... read more
Mano del desierto
We arrived in Chile in San Pedro de Atacama after finally hitting the tarmac following days of gravel and sandy roads in the Bolivian altiplano. San Pedro de Atacama is an oasis in the desert with snow tipped volcanoes to the east. It was so good to come back to a lower altitude with a clearer head, however, we were overwhelmed by the number of tourists and the exorbitant prices for food and accommodation in this quaint desert outpost. We continued south to Antofogasta through the amazing Atacama desert via Calama, a dusty town based on copper mining, then passed the Tropic of Capricorn. We loved the fabulous sand and stone desert landscapes with lots of hills and barren rocky mountains. We passed numerous mines and ruins of adobe houses that were once small mining villages ... read more
Lake Titikaka
We spent two and half weeks in this landlocked rugged country, predominantly in the mountains high on the altiplano. Bolivia has a population of about 9 million, 60% indigenous and poor, and an indigenous president. It’s landscapes include stunning volcanoes, mountain peaks, moonscapes, lakes, flamingoes and salt flats. We suffered with altitude sickness as we spent time in altitudes of 3500-5000 metres. We have a love/hate relationship with this somewhat backward country- although it has the most awesome sights and vistas, Bolivia is old fashioned (which can be a positive) and not really geared to tourist services. Everything is so slow (especially internet!) and services are poor eg feeding becomes a hassle when you asked are to wait 5 minutes and it turns into 30 minutes for a bowl of chicken soup! Rules driven officials can ... read more
Jude's birhday age?
Our first impressions as we took the coast road were desert, and dirt, rubble and rubbish, sandy slums and squalor, the smell of chicken shit and fertilizer. We later learned to love the desert vistas and were impressed with “the greening of Peru”. It was amazing to see lush green fields and orchards, trees lining the highway and huge irrigation systems in the middle of the barren desert landscapes . A shame about the thousands of chicken coups! Our first major stop was Huanchaco - a small fishing village - famous for its totora boats and a popular surfing destination. We found a great restaurant where Gino proceeded to take over the restaurant to cook us some italian pasta delights. We passed through Trujillo and visited the ruins of the pre Columbian city of Chan Chan ... read more
The gang
Columbia After 5 wonderful days on the Stahlratte we arrived in Cartagena -each of the 9 bikes individually taken ashore on the dinghy. Cartagena is a beautiful vibrant steamy coastal city with a party atmosphere. People literally live on the streets, chatting, dancing, drinking. Apart from the oppressive heat, the colonial walled old city of Cartegena is a pleasure to stroll through the streets with plazas, churches, and restored brightly painted buildings with their balconies filled with colorful flowers. Columbia is the third most populous country in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico. The Columbians seem to be very friendly, helpful people who always seem to have time to chat. We then travelled to Medellin via Caucasia where we stopped at a basic but comfortable hotel and relieved ourselves of the heat and humidity in the ... read more
November 21st 2009
life on board
We are now in Columbia after a rather quick passage through Central America to catch the German Sail Boat Stahlratte from Carti river in Panama to Cartagena (Columbia). Mexico On reflection we really loved Mexico and spent more time there than we had anticipated - we loved the landscapes, towns and people we met and would love to return -perhaps to explore the coastal regions we missed! Xilitla- difficult to find the road as no direct route - to our surprise ended up crossing the magnificent Sierra Gorda and Sierra Madre Oriental- amazing roads winding up and zig zagging up into the clouds. Xilitla is a beautiful little town perched on hilltop with central plaza and most streets going down the hillside . This is where Edward James created Las Pozas - tropical gardens full of ... read more
Barranca del Cobre
We are now in Mexico and feeling surprisingly comfortable- everyone we meet has gone out of their way to assist us. The guy at the car wash in Hidalgo de Parral who showed us the way on his bicycle to the hotel we were looking for!, the owners of Hotel Acosta who allowed us to park in their front foyer to make sure the bike was safe & secure (although it could be seen by all through the window!). We are currently in the beautiful UNESCO world heritage city of Zacatecas- we arrived on a busy Saturday afternoon during the (unknown to us) International street theatre festival ! There were lots of people in the streets and so much traffic congestion as we drove around the centre looking for a hotel. We were once again greeted ... read more
Valley of the Gods
We are now in delightful Tucson having a few days break whilst Namibia (our trusty BMW) has some TLC, including a big service and new tires after bringing us 10,000 kilometers. From Glacier National Park, Montana, via going to the sun road, then Yellowstone, Grand Teton and the magnificent bear tooth highway in Wyoming, we continued south through Logan Pass, into Salt Lake City. We then did the big South West circle of national parks and canyons-Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, Archers, Monument Valley & Grand Canyon. Stunning, magnificent scenery, a feast for our eyes, and each of them so different. Our romantic dreams of camping out under the stars has been our only dissapointment. We have only camped 4 times since our trip commenced almost 7 weeks ago!- the first time in Tombstone national park ... read more
Chcken
Should have waited for the rain to stop before tackling the Top Of The World Hwy. Got cold and miserable. To get gas in the town of Chicken instead of a chicken burger would have been a good idea. Got to Dawson city in the Yukon with 5 miles to spare. Lesson learned. The spell of long goneby days of the gold rush in Dawson City as in Robert Service, Diamond Tooth Gerties and Jack London. Huge indigenous population. Sense of freedom and harshness, even more laid back than Alaska?... read more
