http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/karenandmarcelaway/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from karenandmarcelaway en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:43:37 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:43:37 +0000 what a whirlwind......Since our last blog we have driven across salt deserts in Bolivia trekked around Machu Pichu in Peru and have almost been part of a protest in Santiago.We have soaked in geothermal hotsprings with our friends in New Zealand and bumbled along the Sunshine Coast of Australia in a camper van.We sit now writing this from a hotel lounge having just arrived in Sabah Borneo from Ja http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sepilok-Orang-Utan-Sanctuary/blog-423827.html Buenos Aires NoteWe have been getting emails from a few people asking where the early blog entries are. There are 18 entries with photo's etc so far. Just go back to the home page of the blog with this urlhttpwww.travelblog.orgBloggerskarenandmarcelawayHere you can go back and forth to see all our entries and there can be more than 1 page per entry scroll to the bottom to see additiona http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-386567.html El Chaten The next day with clear blue skies we were off again on a 5 hour bus journey to El Chaten a town at the foot of the Fitz Roy Mountain Range. Through yet another wilderness much more deserty this time with a multitude of grey rocky mountains screes from sandy brown to grey we're talking serious sedimentary layers and lakes of every hue of blue.Patagonian weather is still being ki http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-384749.html El Calafate On Marcel's Birthday we left Peurto Natales after a birthday compleanos hug from Omar and ran for the 5 hr bus to El Calafate. Oh what a birthday treat. There's nothing like a good bus journey to spend on your special day.....El Calafate is basically a high street full of parilla restaurants icecream parlours and sourvenir shops one notch higher on the tourist gear than Ushuaia http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-384172.html Puerto Natales and the Torres Del Paine We had to get away from Ushuaia it was a place for cozy corners away from the sometimes harsh weather the hostels bars and cafes used this to their advantage lulling you into a somnombual state that kept you there longer than you wanted there were a lot of people who were there longer than they anticipated. Combine this with limited spaces on coaches to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-384161.html Ushuaia The southern most city in the world although actually there's a naval town just across the border in Chile which is a bit further south but we aren't really supposed to mention that as we're in Argentina. There's lot of things we don't need to mention. Like the Falklands Sorry Isla de Malvinas that apparrently belongs to Argentina on all maps signage and at all borders where they l http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-384141.html Miami South Beach The party capital of the USA The place to see aesthetically enhanced beautiful people I mean plastic surgery top up that tan see top of the range cars eat in the best restaurants and whoop it upExcept that when we got there an uncharactersitic cold front was in place and it was cold and wet the hostel we booked and paid for on the internet that looked so good in the pi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-384131.html A hard rains gonna fall After enjoying our visit to Tikal we thought we would visit Belize as we were relatively close to the border. After a 3 hour journey to the customs office in Guatemala we were left a little lighter in our wallets after the unofficial 'tax'. On the Belizean side after declaring our contraband banana we found we were stranded with no local transport to the nearest town or bu http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Belize/Stann-Creek-District/Placencia-Village/blog-379174.html WE heart Nicaragua. exception Managua Arriving at the boarder we all had 15 minutos to change money buy cheap cigarettes or an orange sliced in half with some salty stuff on it.. So we jumped out of our luxery air con bus to be hit by 38 degree wall of heat Oh my god. It was hard just to stand up wearing jeans 15 minutes is along time the orange helped Over oranges we talked to a nice N http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/Balgue/blog-379178.html Honduras and the Copan ruins We only really made a quick trip into Honduras we were not really sure what we were up to at this point all we knew is that we had three weeks left in Central America and Karen was still holding on to the fading idea of getting to Nicaragua...fading fast...Travelling is just one set of huge descisions about where to go next oh what a life. So we popped accross http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Copan-Ruins/blog-379176.html Behold the mighty Tikal We decided to take the back route to Tikal from Coban via a town named Chisec where there were supposed less visited touristic attractions.Well we can tell you why they are less visited the attractions are overpriced and quite frankly boring the town of Chisec itself I guess is ok but has no tourist infrastructure apart from an overpriced hotel that we now wish we ha http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/El-Peten/Tikal/blog-379172.html Time to get busy and see some stuff This time we treated ourselves to a direct shuttle bus heading to a town called Coban yet strangley we had the whole shuttle bus to ourselves we kept thinking somethings going to happen but nothing ever did. We arrived to rain which is what makes Coban primarily a coffee growing town with many fincas and historically many Germans. We stayed at Hotel la Pa http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Coban/Semuc-Champey/blog-379169.html Xmas is coming and the goose is getting fat We decided that with xmas coming up we wanted to be somewhere not too far from the beaten tourist path and chose Antigua as we wanted to get as close to an authentic Xmas dinner as possible these things become increasingly important when you eat beans and egg three times a day. We also arranged to meet up with Benj and Arlene as they were feeling the s http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-379159.html Heading off up to the lake From Xela to Panajachel which sits on the shores of the beautiful Lago Atitlan surrounded by volcanoes over 3500 ft high that's not the biggest we found a friendly local familly run hotel named Villa Lupita in the old town with a view over the lake from the roof terrace. Know to locals as Pana the town has a toursity feelwith lots of indigenous handy crafts which http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Panajachel/Lake-Atitlan/blog-379156.html Hablo espanol After finally dragging ourselves away from San Cristobal we head for the Mexican Guatemalan border of La Mesilla well know as a narcotics route we found out latter 17 people were killed the week we crossed the border. So at La Mesilla there is noone to give us an exit stamp even though we ask everyone so there's little to do but walk across the invisible linewhich is actua http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Quetzaltenango/blog-379153.html San Cristobal de las casas On the bus again through the mountains of Chiapas through alpine forests that were quickly being deforested to create grazing for cows. The route was very twisty and turny as we climbed through the mountains and we were presented with a beautiful sunset amid the peaks.The on board entertainment was Quantum of Solace which was a surprise as it had only been released in t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Chiapas/San-Cristobal-de-las-Casas/blog-379152.html Palenque We caught a bumpy ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carman where Karen went a pretty shade of green then directly onto a 13hr overnight bus journey where Marcel was convinced an old man smelled of wee and kept him awake all night Karen slept like a babyWe stayed at Edd and Margarita's a hotel in the jungle on the border of the national park and could hardly sleep as the crickets were http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Chiapas/Palenque/blog-379148.html Quintana Roooooooo Captains Log 091108So onwards on American Airlines really crappy airline do not fly with them with some French family from the Alsace who's kid was wearing a weird head brace to rounden to make round his head strange looking contraption never seen one of those before but at least he didn't cry on the planeSo they let us into Mexico Marcel had a lighter in his poc http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Cozumel/blog-352199.html First stop New York City Captains log 041108America's first black president Barak Obama. There was dancing and general whooping in Williamsburg New York Stylee.We stayed with our friends Sascha and Lilah SL after leaving Terry the tooth in Jamaica Station Sascha and Lilah's bar the Lucky cat was in the midst of closing to end an era of Williamsburg becoming hip.We were fortunate to be http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Brooklyn/blog-352195.html