Recovering from the vineyards of Mendoza, we passed back over the andes and welcomed the relaxed beach town feel of Valparaiso and its neighboring town, Vina del Mar. atop the steep hillsides perched colorful houses and the winding sidewalks were fun to stroll around... we found ourselves laughing at the local traffic jams made up of horseback riders weaving their way through the cars and dogs (of which there are roughly 7000 strays in the city). valparaiso and it's neighboring coastal towns have a long and winding coastline that reminds one of cruising along the pacific coast highway in cali [View Full Entry]

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Apologies - currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and save/publish. There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored - only small. [View Full Entry]

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we have found that one of the most difficult things to accomplish and decide on is where exactly will be the next destination of our travels...i know, cry me a river. it´s true though, we find ourselves sitting in cafes pleading our cases to eachother why one attraction or city will be better than the next. this was however not the case with peru and machu picchu ..we knew we had to visit this country. we arrived in lima and found our way to the beach side of the city where tourism was in full swing... also, it gave us our [View Full Entry]

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Although we were warned about the dangers of caracas, we were happy to find it free of tourists which allowed us to really soak up this politically charged country. for months, we had seen the defiant el presidente chavez shake his fists in the face of democracy and we were eager to see life from inside.....how locals had been "touched" by his social reforms. one thing was clear...his campaign and propoganda budget had no limits. it was impossible to turn your head in any direction without seeing his face plastered on either a wall, tree, bridge, car, bus,..you get the picture. [View Full Entry]

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The advice to visit Santa Marta was much appreciated! A small tourist town with nice beaches and friendly locals. We were happy to meet Jose, our waiter, our first night when we ate at Ricky´s where we got the local scoop on places to go and things to see. Our days at Santa Marta were busy exploring the beaches, restaurants and local festivies. Although we had to adjust to the sight of soldiers on every corner with machine guns day and night, we learned to appreciate the safety and serenity of a town that protected its tourists at all times. After [View Full Entry]

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After hearing from more than a few folks that it wasn´t a good idea to cross the border into Colombia via bus or anything else touching the ground..we decided to fly into Cartagena....a short little flight all of an hour...and trust me, when they price the tickets..they know you have few option..ouch!! We managed to arrive in Old Town Cartagena, surrounded by huge cement walls, complete with mounted cannons...this city is magnificent. The architecture and homes inside were amazing and we had former drug czar Pablo Escabar´s vacation home and Julio Englesis summer home near by. All the archit [View Full Entry]

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i am not sure what i was expecting when i arrived in panama city...maybe more miami and less new jersey. natural climate makes it a beautiful place but an obvious lack of concern for nature has damaged its appeal. wow...those feeling were obviously sitting on my chest for a while. whew!! We were bent on finding the good in this city and not to bash...but it was a hunt. Erin attempted a little jog in the morning to make it a half block before returning to the room announcing we may be in the wrong area. Knowing the power in numbers, [View Full Entry]

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Following our five star experience in Tamarindo with friends, we were hurled back into the world of backpackerdom in route to San Jose. Gone were the nice beds, kitchen and fresh coffee and replaced with cold showers, bunk beds with two inch mattresses and day old coffee. The bonus was a complimentary wonderbread breakfast topped with something that resembled strawberry jam. Despite the attached photo with the clean and green sign surrounded by garbage, we found the city to be quite charming and clean. We managed to take in three city parks, the national costa rica museum, the university camp [View Full Entry]

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A special thanks to everyone for the kind words posted to our blog over the past couple of months. we have been getting a kick out of them and apologize for not being able to respond individually... we simply haven´t learned how. i know, sad. recent event.... with all of the memorable new year´s we have had in seattle, this year we were blessed to have seattle delivered to us in costa rica. colin, keith, mel, paul, howie, micah, and lalo made the journey down to enjoy tropical drinks on the beach as an alternative to the blustery northwest weather. the [View Full Entry]

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Okay, Okay...so we're a little slow in getting this blog out. The sun tends to slow productivity...examples of this are found around the globe. Due to our pressing time schedule to see some of our crew for New Years...we took the express route by bus through both El Salvador and Honduras. We stayed two nights in San Salvador and we were surprised with the sophistication and modern buildings that dot the skyline. We stayed in a great botique hotel to treat ourselves and split up the 20 hours of bus riding that abused our booties. We kept reminding ourselves of the [View Full Entry]

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