teachers - Cindy Casazza and Andrew Assini

We are two social studies teacher who love to travel and hike. Along the way we especially enjoy meeting different people and witnessing different cultures even if it is only for a short time. Andrew loves replacing collision sports with adrenaline pumping activities while Cindy enjoys seeing natural beauty. Andrew developed a love of travel from his family and parents who took him to Civil War battlefields and the White Mountains to hike at a young age while Cindy enjoyed a trip to Italy. Check out our first post (now updated) about our past and future destinations for more info.

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Joined on: June 18th 2007
Last Login: November 24th 2009

Blog Entries: 14
Photos: 267

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by teachers, order by Date newest first.

By teachers
January 7th 2009

Penguinos! Then another Holiday and Eventually Home South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas

Chilling on the way to Isla Magdelena
No room left in the seats? What the hell, back of the boat for me and a gatorade cooler for me.

NOTE: Due to high demand (and especially due to a few persistent people who've bugged us daily) we posted a bunch of penguin pics to scroll through before a few pics from Santiago and Parque de la Paz. What We Learned *1) Andrew writes funny, entertaining and LONG blog entries. *2) Every business closes in Punta Arenas, Chile on New Year's Eve. Jetboil and Mountain House, you saved us again. *3) We have awesome family and friends who read our blog and helped us feel connected to home while we traveled during the holidays. Thank you! *4) Penguins are much cuter [View Full Entry]

By teachers
January 5th 2009

Torres del Paine (Pah-nay del Tuchus) South America » Chile » Magallanes » Torres del Paine

Empanadas
MMMMM O MY GOD SO DELICIOUS

Day By Day (Assini-style, but shorter...) Dec 27 We stocked up on food (unless you are Chilean border agent, in which case we absolutely did not take any food across the border) and drove to Torres Del Paine from El Calafate. -Assini insert-Before leaving though, and after picking up our provisions we stopped at the ranger station in Calafate to ask a few questions about the park. We had a great time talking with the ranger, who spoke perfect English BUT humored us and let us work on our Spanish. I was about to talk about the HUGE rabbits we’d seen [View Full Entry]

Our first view of the Cuernos (Horns) del Paine. Beautiful view with the multicolored lupines.

By teachers
December 27th 2008

Ciao a Chile, and onward to El Chalten- Dec 20th to 22nd South America » Argentina

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Thanks to everyone who commented on our last post - it's great to feel connected to you as we spend the holidays abroad. We miss you! Here's the best we can do without spending our whole day typing. Ok, the lofty goals of sending out a blog post every time we had wifi weren’t realized. Cindy and I just don’t know how to simply post with a few details... we (Andrew) start writing dissertations instead. Since I have a need to feed at La Tablita by eating about 5 baby sheep tonight before we leave Argentina tomorrow morning I’m [View Full Entry]

By teachers
December 26th 2008

Christmas in Chalten and Calafate South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate

The Dust Bowl 2008-First campsite
It seemed like an awesome place to camp when we pitched the tent. Notice the clouds though beginning to rise over FitzRoy (Cerro Torre is already completely covered in clouds). We changed our minds sh... [more]

December 23rd We woke up in the rain, covered in the worst dust we ever experienced. People who complain about the dust on safari have never been camping in Lago Capri. We tried to wait out the weather, but packed in a light drizzle and started our walk up to our next camp, Camp Poincenot. There the drizzle continued and vicious winds picked up. We did get into camp though and got a brief respite from the elements. I then went into Dunbar Assini mode, building a massive barrier around our tent involving complicated moats, parapets, abatis, breastworks, fraise and areas [View Full Entry]

By teachers
December 21st 2008

Packing, Phili Airport and Policia en Punta Arenas Chile South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas

Phili's Cave Troll
Close resemblense to the bag checker, so much so that other staff members who heard someone had given us a hard time knew who we meant when we said "she kinda looked like a troll."

Feliz Navidad y Buen Ano Nuevo de Chile! First: Update since we left Hopewell a day and a half ago. Second: The post Andrew wrote before we left but wasn't able to send since he was editing his term paper. As those of you in the Northeast know, we had some weather to contend with as we tried to get out of NJ. Other than a troll (think pinched up face, spikey short grey hair and small head on a short, triangularly shaped body who even has a reputation among other airport staff) in the Philli airport who didn't want to [View Full Entry]

By teachers
August 23rd 2007

Reflections and Recommendations for Kilimanjaro Africa » Tanzania » North » Mount Kilimanjaro

REFLECTIONS ON KILIMANJARO Hiking, I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them [View Full Entry]

By teachers
August 19th 2007

Kilimanjaro - The Top of the Trip Africa » Tanzania » North » Mount Kilimanjaro

Check In
Here we met everyone in our group and our three guides: Simon, Nemes and Genes. We also had our blood oxygen levels taken, and Cindy and I each had a 98 out of 100. We of course began a competition ov... [more]

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~John Muir NOTE: Once you get to the summit portion of the blog, watch the video to the left of Andrew and I at the summit of Kilimanjaro! If you are going to read this or watch any of the videos, make sure to watch the one entitled “The Top of Kilimanjaro.” Most of this is written by Cindy but I made sure to put in a few words in italics…. Our journey up the mountain began at the Keys Hotel in Moshi. We had hoped to update the [View Full Entry]

By teachers
August 12th 2007

Tanzania Safari Africa » Tanzania

The vehicle
Our Popup-top Safari Vehicle and essential home for 10 days.

Tanzania : First Impressions and Safari WARNING: 1)Being in the US with unlimited high-speed internet this post is long. 2)The videos on the left are of the lion and elephant battles we witnessed at the Maasai Kopjes. As previously mentioned in the last post, on July 6th we departed from Kigali, Rwanda and flew to Kilimanjaro (the airport/region), Tanzania. Cindy and I both regretted that we didn’t have more time with the people we’d met in Rwanda. Greg, Jared and Herbert at Amahoro Tours provided us with great experiences and information every step of the way. After spendi [View Full Entry]

By teachers
July 12th 2007

Recap of Rwanda w/ Some Pictures Africa » Tanzania » North » Ngorongoro Conservation Area

RECOVERED

After camping in the Serengeti for three nights, we took real showers and we are writing from the beautiful lodge we are at in Karatu, Tanzania outside of Ngorongoro Crater National Park. We’ve been “on safari” since my last entry five days ago, and we have many tales to tell from Tanzania. In this entry, we want to share more of our absolutely wonderful experience in Rwanda and put up some pictures of the trip so far. While the gorillas were amazing and a once in a lifetime experience, our favorite part of our stay in Rwanda was definitely the people [View Full Entry]

By teachers
July 7th 2007

Jambo from Tanzania Africa » Tanzania » North » Arusha

I only have ten minutes before we leave for Tarangire National Park to see elephants. It would be impossible to describe how much we loved Rwanda and how meaningful of an experience it was in such a short time. The second day we were in Rwanda, we visited the genocide museum in Kigali. The museum has exibits on Rwanda's history, the Rwandan genocide, and other genocides. It contains information about the extreme torture used in 1994 as well as inspirational stories of those who stood up - unfortunately there was more tragedy than heroism. The most difficult parts of memorial were [View Full Entry]

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