Gray, Joe, Nadia, Ben, Andrea

Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

Gray, Joe, Nadia, Ben, Andrea

Ben- I'm 14. love art and have a iguana called flip. this trip will be really fun and challenging at the same time because i'm not very good in the car for long trips!!
Joe-I'm 16 I love cars which includes working on them and formula 1, the trip will be the longest and most exciting that I've done by some distance. I have lived in Bolivia with my family for nearly 10 years and here I have lots of close friends and a girlfriend.
Andrea. Mum. No age or weight being given. Looking forward to the trip. I will miss my cat Enzo though. I enjoy writing so will be writing a diary and hopefully some of this blog.
Nadia- I'm 7 I like gymnastics, i'm feeling excited about the trip especially going in pools and the sea because we haven't been in it for a long time. I'm not looking forward to sitting in the car for a long time.
Gray - Dad. I love driving and seeing new places. Argentina was the first country I visited in South America and fell in love with the continent from then on. Looking forward to being all together on our big adventure

Day 5: Tarija - Villamontes - Santa Cruz

South America » Bolivia » Tarija Department » Tarija July 29th 2013

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

We managed to see Adela in hospital. She had something like 60 gall stones in a jar that the surgeon had removed and was proudly showing us. We spent some time with Walter and some in the hospital with Adela. The boys wandered around Tarija with 16 year old Brisa. In a small city they were the star attraction. The lady in the hotel told us that the girls in Tarija were going crazy for them. Joe said he’s enjoyed that kind of attention on this continent but is ready to be more “normal” now! Ben did more Ollies. Nady enjoyed being reunited with Cielo. We know Walter and Adela from the days when they were the pastors of the Anglican church in Cochababma. Nady and Cielo were best friends. After one more night in the ... read more

Day 1: The Art of Letting Go, Potosi

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi July 26th 2013

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

It’s 4 weeks until we leave Bolivia after 10 years here. Our final official Latin Link activity is the Team retreat. Andrea being a professional retreat leader has been asked to lead the 2 day retreat. She’s chosen the title “The art of letting go” which is fitting for us. So the past few weeks have seen Andrea spending many hours writing the material. We’ve decided we’d like to visit some friends (Walter, Adela, Brisa and Cielo) who live in Tarija and we’ll take in Concepción and Santa Cruz whilst we’re at it. Today Wednesday we’re up at 5:30am. It’s cold in Cochabamba this morning and making the porridge the milk seems off. I open another bag of milk and that’s off too, so give up on the porridge. We’ve run out of tea bags too ... read more

Day 7: Santa Cruz - Concepción - Santa Cruz

South America » Bolivia July 23rd 2013

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

The 2 nights in our favourite hotel in Santa Cruz were great. This trip was part of a goodbye trip for Ben with one of his school mates. It's an apartment hotel with several swimming pools, tennis court, football and basketball pitches/courts, snack bar by the pool a paradise really. As it's winter they do packages at unbelievable prices. I always like the moment when the manager comes out and sees me and says "hello Mr Parker good to see you again"!. One time the Chef in the restaurant even made us a speical dish! So we'd arranged a separate apartment for Ben and Diego. We met them in the morning at the buffet breakfast. I set about downloading the British Grand Prix over the wifi but in the morning found that only some of it ... read more

Day 9: Santa Cruz to Cochabamba

South America » Bolivia » Santa Cruz Department » Santa Cruz July 5th 2013

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

We enjoyed a further day all together in Bugan Villas sitting by the pool, playing tennis, watching tennis eating and drinking. As Thursday night came there was a sense that it was time to get back home. We had a lot ahead of us. The biggest of these being packing up all our home and shipping it all out through Chile, via Panama hopefully to be reunited in Birmingham. This tour of the South of Bolivia had been a welcome distraction from all the packing up and leaving Bolivia we've been doing both emotionally and physically. Now it was time to get on with it and get it all done. The breakfast at Bugan Villas is huge, so we stocked up well for the journey ahead and climbed aboard. I'd filled up the night before and ... read more

Day 3: New Road, Potosi to Tarija

South America » Bolivia » Tarija Department » Tarija June 28th 2013

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

Potosi was cold! Outside in the sun it was good, but as soon as you went inside it was cold. I was wearing for nearly the whole time: Tea shirt, thermal long sleeved shirt, shirt, thermal jumper, jumper, thick leather jacket, thermal trousers and jeans. The first night I slept on my thermals and beanie. Andrea lead the retreat well and we had some good discussions and good time on our own thinking about what things we need to let go of and how to do so. I really enjoyed being with the Step Team who came to be with us from the lovely town of Tupiza just down the road. The Steppers are only a year older than Joe (2 years more than Ben) and they got on really well together. It reminds me of ... read more

Summing up the journey.

South America » Bolivia » Cochabamba Department » Cochabamba December 21st 2012

Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

The A-Z of the trip: A-Asfalt plenity on the roads B-Bananas at the border C-Camping horrible camp sites and tent in jujuy D-Douglas always there E-Eating in loads of different places F-Fish caught and cooked G-Giralda dads favourite restaurant H-Hotel turismo what a place! I-Inevitability: Joe's favourite word, used a lot J-Joking around in the car K-Kettle always with us for the tea L-lake lovely place M-Money so many different types N-Neuquen the place of grumps O-Orange stuffed in Joe's face P-Pizza cala terrible pizza! Q-Queen (what Reina means) R-Rotui, great and lovely place to stay S-Sand loads of it in Chile T-Terry Tibbs. enough said U-Uncomfortable in many situations V-Villazon horid place! W-Wounded, Ben falling off the bike X-Xterra the un... read more

Day 20: The end of the world

South America » Bolivia » Cochabamba Department » Cochabamba December 21st 2012

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

So the last day, not only for our great big trip but also for the world according to the Maya calendar and this is how it unfolded for us: We all woke up at around 7 to at least try and leave earlyish and having done most of the packing the night before all we really had to do was take the things down to the car for the final load up and then finish of minimal cleaning up. But I think the feeling of tiredness and sadness made everything a lot slower than usual so we still only ended up leaving around 9:30am. The first part of the journey home was a climb from sea level to about 15000 feet in only a couple of hours so from previous experiences we were expecting plenty of ... read more

Day 19: Playing in the sea with Ben

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica December 20th 2012

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

Day 19: Playing in the sea with Ben We went shopping in the shopping centre to buy Christmas presents and we bought lots of lovely presents. Mum and Dad went to buy presents for me, Joe and Ben and me, Joe and Ben went to buy presents for them. For the first hour we didn’t get anything because we didn’t see anything that Mum and Dad would like and so we went to McDonalds because that’s where Mum and Dad said to meet up after the first hour. After we had a drink we went off and this time we found some presents for Mum and Dad. After we were very sweaty and tired after all that shopping we went back to the apartment and we had a little rest. After a while we went to ... read more

Day 18 More sea, sand and coffee

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota December 19th 2012

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

My favourite moments of Day 18. Waking up with the sun pouring in and listening to the waves breaking. Walking along the sand with Gray, talking about things deep and meaningful and then sharing a vainilla latte by the beach. Watching a huge cruise ship dock, discharge its bewildered tourists, call them back again and set sail with all its lights blazing at night. Walking along the beach at night with Joe. We are leaving soon so this is my final contribution. It has been amazing! Love to all readers Andrea/mum... read more

Day 17: Xterra xtra

South America » Chile » Arica & Parinacota » Arica December 18th 2012

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Parkers on Tour 2012 2013

I know that there are a least a few blog followers who share my passion for anything with an internal combustion engine and 4 wheels and I said I’d write a bit about the Xterra we’ve been travelling in. If cars isn’t your cup of tea skip this one! Well, I’m very impressed. So much so that I’ve started looking at what Nissans are available for when we finally make it back to the UK. The Xterra would be wasted in the UK really. It’s best on uncertain or gravel surfaces, but has been remarkably smooth on the tarmac too and it’s really roomy. Last time we came here to Chile was 3 years ago and we did the 10 hour trip in our tiny 3 door Toyota Starlet, so it’s been great to have the ... read more

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