After another incredibly mediocre breakfast (translation : we taste some of it) we spend the morning walking around the town. Our goals, once more, are to call our daughter in Israel, and mail a postcard. You would think these to be realistic goals, and youd be wrong. We fail hopelessly on both fronts agreeing it must surely be easier in Cartagena, our next destination. Its a beautiful day and the water looks magnificent, but we can swim. Yesterday, while at Johnny Cay, Benjy, our son, suddenly started chafing and hurting from the sea water. It happened a year earlier in Honduras [View Full Entry]

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We fly early from Bogota to San Andres island. It's very straightforward, no hitches, so all my worries the day before were unnecessary. Bogota airport is busy but organized with lots of coffee and doughnut kiosks. For some reason someone feels it's a good idea to stock up on doughnuts before flying, but we resist that particular temptation. There are numerous security checks - my theory is that with a semblance of peace in the country, the government must find something for all the soldiers to do ( many seem to hang around the streets of Bogota, not really appearing to [View Full Entry]

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China is an amazing destination for a family. The English signs are a source of constant wonderment. These are some of our favorites ! PLEASE send me your best ones ! [View Full Entry]

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It's our last day in Bogota so we make a token stab at the hotel breakfast (only my wife is actually eating it now as she likes the eggs and has worked out a formula for making the coffee drinkable; I just go down the street to Juan Valdez, and our son doesn't even look at the breakfast - he knows there's far tastier fare all around), and head out. We're going to the Gold Museum which has a huge reputation. It's a 10 minute walk from the hotel, and it's housed in a beautiful building. Our guidebook calls it 'perhaps [View Full Entry]

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We wake on another frigid morning and fall all over each other in our tiny cabin (I'm sure if you owned it, you'd call it 'quaint' or 'charming'). I somehow succeed in showering even though the shower virtually stoops over the bed. We take off, and stop at a nearby gas station for breakfast. In buying another supply of Skyrr, we probably smash all tourist records for Skyrr purchases on a short vacation, but at least our son is eating something healthy. We stop at Deildartunguhver, Europe's biggest hot spring. It's impressive and we stand close to the water and get [View Full Entry]

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Today we're off to Zipaquira, home of the famous salt cathedral. We're generally not that excited by religious monuments, but this one is apparently a must do. The bus station is not surprisingly very busy and big, but there are enough official looking personnel to direct us to the right area. We're immediately whisked onto a bus and then sit for a while as more passengers get on. We leave on what is apparently a ninety minute journey. For the longest time we crawl through Bogota traffic, seemingly stopping to load on more passengers every block. Unless the town of Zipaquira [View Full Entry]

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Today we have to start making the long trip south to Reykjavik; actually the trip is a little longer as we have to get to Keflavik airport - anyone on a time crunch should be aware that the airport is 50 km’s from the city so if you’re driving the Ring Road you’ll want to budget this extra driving time.) We’ve decided we’ll head south via the Snaefellsness peninsula but it’s a long drive and for some reason longer than it looks on the map. Somewhere deserted I decide to make up time and go a bit quicker. I know I’m [View Full Entry]

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We arrive in Bogota on July 4th. It's one of those very early morning departures which always seem like a good idea at the time of booking the flights but miserable at the time of flying. And we've been to the airport at 4am the morning before, so we're doubly miserable. However stepping outside at Bogota is a breath of fresh air (we're expecting double negative air : the combination of the altitude and pollution, but we can't feel either). Customs and passport control is a breeze, and someone from our hotel is waiting for us. Usually we get our own [View Full Entry]

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We're in the driest part of the country, so it comes as no surprise to me that i go running early in the rain. It's a sort of whimpering, nagging drizzle, nothing like the extreme conditions of the South east, but still a little disappointing. We go to the excellent Blaa Kannan for coffee (looking through the daily Icelandic newspaper, Morgunbladid, I see Chelsea have beaten Manchester United on penalties in the Charity shield - that's not my great command of the Icelandic language shining through, but rather seeing John Terry and Frank Lampard with the shield makes it kind of [View Full Entry]

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We leave Myvatn early on Sunday morning heading for Dettifoss. I decide to be really clever and take the 'short' route, road 862, instead of going the long way around through Husavik. So I'm going to save us a bunch of time on this trip, even though the Tourist information tells us to go the long way. Soon I can see why. The road is terrible. No, I mean terrible, easily the worst we've been on. Other than the reality of us being on this road, I would call it undriveable.Every few minutes I say maybe we should turn around, but [View Full Entry]

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