http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/RaeDan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from RaeDan en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:13:53 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:13:53 +0000 We woke up at 430am to get ready to leave around 5. We saw the lights of many other vehicles driving in the same direction as us taking their passengers to see the same sights as well. It looked like a pilgrimage of Landcruisers all heading in the same direction through the desert. Our first stop was to see geysers. Dan Ralph and Chica all went for a walk through the steam sprayed air whilst Ti http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-444130.html Dan woke up with a strong pain on his lower left side of his body at 4am this morning. Panadol Forte didn't help much as the pain kept coming in waves. So it was decided that after breakfast our group would stop at the medical centre at San Juan de Rosario to get Dan some help. After our dramas of yesterday with the tour company we lost another friend this morning by deciding not to take the coo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-444129.html Glad to finally been able to have a sleep in we rocked up to the office of Andys Salt Expeditions with great expectations for the tour that we had finally been able to book since the strike in Uyuni ended at 6pm on the previous evening. We were glad to see that we had a 80 series Landcruiser as it would be more comfortable than the older vehicles that the company uses but were disappointed to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-444128.html At 3660m above sea level La Paz is the highest capital city in the world with its buildings clinging to the sides of the canyon and downwards. There are many alleys and markets in the centre of the city with many of the indigenous women walking around with their long black plaits hanging from under their bowler hats selling all types of wares from food to magical goods. The women wear the hat on http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-444127.html We had an extra early start this morning as we had to eat breakfast and leave the campsite early enough for the porters to be able to pack everything up and run it all down the hill to get to the local public train by 6am. If they missed that train they would be stuck with having to use an expensive tourist train instead. We also wanted to get to the Winay Wayna guard post to line up to get into http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-444125.html Our Inca trail tour group visited a village within walking distance from Urubamba a main town in the Sacred valley. We reached the town by foot from the Urubamba bus terminal within 45 minutes finding a few houses on either side of the one main dirt street. We went around the back of the first house that we visited to see how the occupants of the house made chocolate. Cacao is grown locally and t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Urubamba/blog-444124.html Originally named Cosco meaning the navel or centre of the world by the Incas when the city was their capital the city of Cusco today contains a combination of Inca and Spanish architecture. The empire of the Incas extended north to Colombia and south to Chile and Argentina before the Spainards arrived in 1533. The Spanish built on the Inca walls and they followed the lines of the original Inc http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-444123.html We left Quito after only one day when we checked out the Mitad del Mundo the middle of the world monument that marks where the equator crosses through Ecuador wash some laundry and catch up on some internet time.We were heading to the Black Sheep Inn an ecolodge that we had read about that had great reviews with regards to its sustainable living recycling and permaculture setup. The lodge is http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Chugchilan/blog-444758.html Dan and I found that we only had limited time to spend in Colombia and after staying in Cartagena for a few days we only had time to visit one other location in the country as the buses take a long time to travel through the mountainous regions south of Cartagena. We chose to stay in San Gil where we were hoping to go rafting or horse riding as well as to use as a base to visit Barichara and Gu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/Barichara/blog-439954.html For today we decided to go volcano dipping in El Totumo the highest mud volcano in Colombia which is a 15 metre mound that looks like a minature volcano. Instead of spewing lava and ashes it spews mud which is a phenomenon caused by the pressure of gases emitted by decaying organic matter underground. We travelled for an hour with a tour group out to the location of the mini volcano 50 km NE o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-436354.html Our first introduction to Panama City was at the Albrook Terminal the main bus station for the city. A huge shopping mall is adjacent and so the city appeared to be quite modern with new facilities even though the chicken buses were visible everywhere. The city is quite modern to an extent but we were quickly introduced to the poorer side of the city once we entered Casco Viejo an old town tha http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/blog-436347.html Farewell to the ecolodgeIt was raining very heavy for the first time in the morning during our stay at Lapa Rios and neither Dan nor I wanted to get out of our massive soft bed as the sound of the rain was soothing as the rain drops cooled the air. But we needed to get up to finish packing eat breakfast and take our ride back into Puerto Jimenez in time to board the ferry to Golfito a small tow http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/blog-436346.html Booking of a uncommon tourI had see a small paragraph on a backpacker website about an indigenous Wounaan community close to Panama City that encourages tours within their village. Our friends were actually staying at that particular backpacker hostel and so we made enquiries about the tour and were able to organise our time in the village for today. Apparently no one from the hostel had been o http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/blog-432537.html Stress and VanityThe disliked dress a bad dress modification the redorange hair situation and then the case of an unuseable hair iron all built up to an unhappy bridetobe the night before. The first 3 issues had been mentally dealt with or fixed to some degree but the pending situation of a bad hair day took the cake for me. Dan did well to ride the emotional rollercoaster and going to sleep http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/blog-431184.html Scoping out a good wedding locationDan and I woke early to head down to the beach to find appropriate places to hold our wedding ceremony. We weren't exactly sure on how to get to Pan Dulce beach as we had only looked at the map once on the previous day and had forgotten to bring it with us on this morning. It generally takes 15 minutes to walk there but we had made it a good 30 minutes of walki http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Osa-Peninsula/blog-434614.html My scariest flight everWe made it to the small airport on time for checkin and managed to find ourselves seats in the 2nd row of the small twin engine plane that was to fly us to Puerto Jimenez. Luckily the plane was not full as the dress took up 2 seats in the first row directly in front of us. It is the smallest plane that I have ever been on and Dan hadn't help calm my nerves by stating that http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/Puntarenas/Osa-Peninsula/Puerto-Jimenez/blog-432539.html Cooking indoors over an open fire is one of the issues that the people of Santa Maria de Jesus face in there daily lives. As it does many people in similar circumstances across the world. It is this issue that I went to this town in Guatemala to learn more about and to assist in fixing it for four families whilst I was there. After a week of oneonone Spanish lessons in Antigua I was ready to ge http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/blog-434313.html Morning routineOur mornings started by meeting everyone at the coffee shop in Antigua where all the volunteers got together before heading off to either Itzapa or Santa Maria de Jesus for the day. Our shuttle bus usually arrived around 8am to drive the teachers and stove builders to Santa Maria de Jesus which is located on the side of Volcano Agua. Once we arrive at the viallge and we all clamb http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/blog-431455.html Day of the grandparentsThere were less people to squish into the van to Santa Maria de Jesus this morning due to some of the volunteers taking a 3day weekend in San Salvador and another having completed her time on the project. The comfort of space just added to how well the day was to become. Today at the school is 'el dia de abulitos' the day of the grandparents which is always combined with http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/blog-431450.html It took about 1.5 hours to drive to the Pacaya National Park from Antigua with the time passing quickly with us viewing the landscape chatting to fellow GVI organisation volunteers about what we are to expect in our coming weeks and chatting to the other Northern Americans that had joined the tour. A boy named Jorge jumped onto the ladder afixed to the side of the Dodge van that we were travel http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Volcan-Pacaya/blog-431183.html