http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/jw_tajana/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from jw_tajana en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:28:59 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:28:59 +0000 Today's visit was actually a drive through. The place Monument Valley. Welcome to the set of the wild west It certainly does look like in the movies...The land here is red and the place still pristene... It is not a National Park in fact because on the Navajo territory. So no pavement but good old fashioned ride on the dirt road. The car was full of sand inside and out at the end of http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Monument-Valley/blog-436576.html Lake Powell not really a famous turistic place but definitevely a spot popular with the locals... Seems there's no such place as this for water sports and leisure...Lake Powell is a man made lake. Several decades ago after a lot of debates and discussions Glen Canyon Dam has been built in order to control the Colorado River flow down the line and guarantee the water in the dryer months. At the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-436076.html Through the Californian Mojave desert across the Arizona mountains we stopped in couple of places that seem have stopped in time and got to our destination Grand Canyon. Here it's Labout Day weekend so it is quite busy but luckily the area is so big that it is not that bad... The place is magnificent the gorges huge and the views spectacular. We are on the southern rim and have checked out http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Grand-Canyon-National-Park/blog-435435.html Hot Hot Hot. It is indeed desert so that explains the temperature. Today we visited Joshua Trees National Park. A huge park with these peculiar trees everywhere and with round rock formations in background. Nice photo opportunities. The nice thing about the park that it is really set up for a 'car visit' So we turned on the airco and enjoyed the ride We spotted egghorns and even several Road http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Palm-Springs/blog-433625.html Sooo... LA is all what it seams on TV just too much Too much of everything...We arrived via Malibu and entered the Venice beach where it wasn't as crowded as expected. The schools have begun and the crowds are gone... So we rented a couple of Harley type bikes and biked down the beach checking out the shops bars and all kinds of 'creative places' we came along. The atmosphere is totally relax http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-433623.html We took it easy last three days... just cruising our way down the Hgwy 1 from San Francisco to LA. It's a great drive and the coast is amazing. So many different views And we enjoyed a beautiful weather.First stop was Santa Cruz a place we'd define as a typically southern Californian even though we're just not there yet. Long beach full of people sunbathing or playing volleyball. And a boardw http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/blog-433621.html Yet again on the road North America this time and we'll keep it to the west side. First stop San Francisco California. It's nice to be back for some of us even better for the first timers. The weather is great sunny and warm not really a guarantee for this place. Today we started early and did all the fun stuff you can do aroud here we took the cable car through steep streets while han http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-432211.html So El Calafate. Our last stop here in Argentina. Famous for its Los Glacieros National Park and especially for the Perito Moreno Glacier. And indeed there is ice everywhere Ice is the theme around here. And I don't think we have ever seen so many people so excited about it and pushing and pulling to get a picture of it Haha. But no complaining. We were amongst them and the views were on http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-350918.html The trekking capital of the country So we do what everybody does around here hike and climb and look for Condors Dreamland for Jan Willem actually the climbing partFirst day in the Glaciers NP we went on a hike to the Lago Torre floating ice in the lake hint a temperature around here icy But the sun makes up for it. It took us around 23h to hike until there through really all kinds of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-349976.html So here we are in Tierra del Fuego Ushuaia or what they call here fin del mundo or 'end of the world'. Two hour flight and totally different environment mountains with icy tops and colder air give these days a winter vacation feeling. Even though the weather is holding. Yesterday was a bit colder and cloudy but today we had a perfectly sunny and warm dayYesterday we took a boat excursion thr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-348878.html For anyone who likes spotting wild animals this is the place to be One wouldn't think that considering that this is practically a desert but we have seen so many creatures on land and in the sea... Whale watching tops it all. These huge beings are incredibely docile and curious. They swam around next to and under our little boat did breaches to show off... it was certainly one of the most ama http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Puerto-Piramides/blog-347893.html A huge altiplano plateau in the middle of the Andes part of which used to be an ocean has now become what they call Salinas Grandes. It is a vastness of salt until the eye can see. To get there we had to climb again. This time we came up to 4170m above the see level. Pure air salt lamas donkeys that is all one can see here Salt is still extracted at the salina. It's other purpose is to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/San-Antonio-de-Los-Cobres/blog-346581.html Today we went on an excursion through the Quebrada de Humahuaca Humahuaca gorge by following Rio Grande which is quite dry at this moment up to the small town of Humahuaca. On the route we first stopped at Purmamarca a little village famous for the Seven Coulour Hill next to it Cerro de los Siete Colores. And indeed the stones of the hill are really colourfull varous tonalities of red g http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-346573.html Today we went for a day excursion to Los Cardones NP and Cachi. The name of the NP comes from the cactus species known as the Cordon that grows 4 cm per year and can be as high as 10m. In order to get there we had to climb up into the Andes up to 3350m above the sea level. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy on our way there so we didnt get to enjoy the views all that much. But once there we we http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-345709.html Today we went to Brazil. Even though the place is within the stone reach so to speak crossing the border is always a hassle and means lots of passport stamping.The park on this side is much smaller. Somewhere I read that if compared to a football game the Brazilian side is like a skybox great overview of it all while the Argentina side is like being in the curve with the supporters experienc http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Paran-/Foz-do-Igua-u/Igua-u-National-Park/blog-345270.html Here we are landed in the middle of the 'jungle' yesterday. Got here to admire waterfalls and Tucans. While there's abundance of the first one Tucans are a bit harder to spot. We did manage to see few of them thoughThe weather is also holding despite the forecast for the storm.Today we've visited Argentinian side of the national park. Really really nice The view left us more than once breath http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-345266.html Sooo... after a long flight here we are in El Puerto de Nuestra Seora Santa Maria del Buen Aire better known as Buenos Aires. I dont think Id remember for long the officialoriginal name.Today we dived into discovering the city. We dont have much time as tomorrow we are leaving for Puerto Iguaz so with full list of things to see in our heads we start straight at one of the best known plac http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-343736.html Hello everybody After weeks and weeks of waiting the time has finally arrived We are getting ready for our next adventure Argentina... our honey moon This has been a really full and very eventfull year for us so what a better way to 'close' it than to do what we like doing the best discovering the world So thanks again for being close to us in some of the most beautiful days of our liv http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Province-of-Utrecht/Utrecht/blog-340845.html The past few days flew by. Can't believe our jeurney is about to end. But what a closure Beijing is busy and smogy but it has a soul of its own. The first day we walked around the Great Wall and visited imperial tumbs. Tianamen square and the Forbidden city took a day of their own. And today last day we took it easy wondering around the Summer Palace. The Great Wall was really crowded So http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-212646.html The whole morning was focused on one thing who's gonna see The Wall for first We woke up to a quite foggy day so we can't be really sure if we maybe missed it earlier but there was a moment when all of us could spot it clearly. The train actually stoped shortly after and let people off. We immediately took the opportunity for some picture taking moments. In reality the train stopped to add http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/The-Great-Wall/blog-212636.html