Are you happy you did it? Moria: Absolutely. It was an excellent way to spend six months, and the lessons I learned were priceless. Kate: Yes, of course. Do you have any regrets? Moria: Nope. Kate: I regret not doing yoga in India. Who knows when I will have the chance again? What was your favorite place/country? Moria: We can't choose one. Sorry. We can't even choose a favorite country from each region. They each have something unique to offer. Kate: I concur. Did you get on each other's nerves? Moria: Yes, all the time. We got into a few big [View Full Entry]

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Hogar de San Francis de Asis South America » Peru » Lima By downwithd March 22nd 2007 Down with Dysentery [View Full Entry]

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Kate somehow neglected to tell you about our ¨fun¨night out with Roberto (our Machu Picchu guide) after the trek. Roberto had handed us performance feedback forms at lunchtime on the final day, and Sarah took the opportunity to vent her frustrations (as she should have). However, when we were saying goodbye to Roberto, he asked for the forms, and Sarah and I were too wimpy to give them to him. I hadn´t written anything horrible, so I don´t know what my problem was, but we both made up excuses about our forms being in inaccessible places. As a solution, Roberto suggested [View Full Entry]

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Since we are not your average travellers we decided to take it up a notch and do a more difficult trek than the wimpy Inca Trail. We chose the harrowing journey through the Salkantay Pass. We were looking for more jungle, more mountains and more intensity. That is what we signed up for and that is what we got. Sarah, a mutual friend of ours that I have known since I was 5 and Moria has known since she was 14, arrived the day before we were to begin our trail. Since she had come from the lowlands of Washington, D.C. [View Full Entry]

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It´s amazing what a line drawn in the sand can do the conditions of the people living on either side of it. When we crossed from clean, freshly paved Thailand into dusty and muddy potholed Cambodia, the change was dramatic. Crossing from Argentina to Bolivia was almost as equally dramatic. When we stepped off the bus in the Argentinian border town of La Quiaca, it was clear we were about to enter a new world. For the first time in a long time, we were approached by child beggars. Most of the people squatting on the sidewalks waiting for buses were [View Full Entry]

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I really don't know where to begin. Since last you heard from us we were in Santiago. We left Santiago for the driest place in the world, the Atacama desert. Being experienced travelers we thought nothing of the 24 hour bus ride. Shortly after the ride began and I was sidled up next to the window I realized that there was no air circulation. I asked Moria to ask the bus driver if he could either turn on the air conditioning or let me take off my jeans but she would not. I was left to endure the heat and have [View Full Entry]

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Moria's Journey Steph and I have had a lovely week in Chile. After Valparaiso, we checked out a northern beach (RuÑeca) for Steph´s I´m-visiting-from-New-York-where-it´s-cold benefit and then roamed the botanical gardens in ViÑa del Mar. Then we traveled south to Talca and what is perhaps the nicest hostel ever. I had to remind myself our dorm beds were only $12, so I wouldn´t feel like a spoiled brat spending big dough to stay at a resort. We had a pool, the food was yummy, and there was a petting zoo. On our second day we rented bikes from our hostel, so [View Full Entry]

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Because it took so long for us to add photos to our past two entries (please check them out), I was going to treat you to an entry with nothing BUT photos. However, the photo gods continue to hate us, and I cannot post Tahiti photos at this time, so I´ve given up on the photos-only idea altogether. Tahiti in a nutshell: Air Tahiti is a dream, and if you ever go to French Polynesia, try to score a flight with them. We arrived at the airport, and the greeting was what I associate Hawaiian greetings in movies: pretty smiling chicks [View Full Entry]

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Sorry for the delay. This is all my fault that it has not been updated and I am sure most of you have been dying to hear about our jourey through Middle Earth. First, I must saying that bidding farewell to Dr. Chris in Sydney was difficult. He is the nicest, kindest and best celebrity vet in Australia. He even did us the honor of sharing a piece of his work called Bondi Vet with us. It's a hit and if it doesn't make it to America, I will be heartbroken. Moria will too. The departure from Sydney had no dramas [View Full Entry]

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Queensland We left the big city of Brisbane in order to get in touch with nature. Our first stop was the Australia Zoo, accompanied by Brian, Natalie, and their wonderful nephews and niece (hi Corey, Tayla, and Jarod!). We were excited to experience the zoo with kids, but most importantly, I was pumped to see Mr. Irwin's creation. In case you don't know this already, I was a Crocodile Hunter super fan. You can read about my sadness when he died by stalking me on MySpace (read the blog). For now I'll just say I'd been a fan for a while, [View Full Entry]

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