downwithd

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 fights, most of which were mentioned in previous posts. We frequently snapped at each other too, but when you're traveling with someone for six months, you learn to get over things within a 15-minute time ... read more

Hogar de San Francis de Asis South America » Peru » Lima By downwithd March 22nd 2007 Down with Dysentery ... read more

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. and we had spent time in the mountains of Bolivia, Sarah was ill and we were fine. It did not bode well for our journey. We did settle things with our tour company and were ... read more

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 a very uncomfortable bus riding full of vomiting and night sweats. When I awoke in the morning I thought there would be some relief. Maybe a new bus would be brought in or they might ... read more

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 handed you flowers and a band of little old men played traditional music. As we were figuring out how to get from the airport to our hostel, two young, lost-looking Swedes asked Kate where she ... read more

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, I think Steve was an awesome dude who cared "heaps" (I'm learning from the Aussies) about animals and who succeeded in creating awareness and compassion for them. I won't argue with you if you say ... read more