lexispence10

My next adventure with Trekkup was during our week-long Eid al Fitr holiday. This was kind of a bucket list of Ethiopia adventures, starting with Lalibela, which is known for its World Heritage Site rock hewn churches. I have wanted to come here for years and it was finally happening! Flight from Dubai to Addis Ababa was fine, very crowded. I have avoided Addis Ababa airport for the last few years because there is always something that happens to me there. At least on this connection, it was ok, just had trouble finding the domestic terminal, which was about a 15-minute walk away. They are clearly doing a lot of renovations on the international terminal there, which we were able to see on our way home. For now, it was just to get through customs and ... read more

The bus station in Montevideo was actually very nice and the 3-hour journey to Colonia del Sacramento was easy. We arrived at the station and got tickets pretty quickly, with assigned seats. We waited in the main terminal which was nice and clean until it was time to board our bus, which was mostly on time. We were seated toward the back and continued to pick up people at some small stops along the way until there was standing room only, though it was not super crowded like I had seen on other buses in Latin America. We arrived in Colonia del Sacramento a little after 12 and made our way 10 blocks (approximately 1km) to our hotel: Posada Plaza Mayor. It was a very easy, pleasant walk. I mean, two minutes in town and it ... read more

Immediately after our last excursion to the landing at Portal Point, we were on our way. We had 2.5 days to cross the Drake Passage and get back to Ushuaia in time for our flight out. Our last night, we had a lovely sunset as well as a special treat from the kitchen: Baked Antarctica (a take on Baked Alaska). This was the night of 5 desserts, so this was in addition! This was also more along what I had envisioned the Drake Passage being. The swells and waves were a bit more fun and made it more difficult to walk. The poor guys on the back deck presenting the little celebration were rolling and we were trying to get video and photos, but it was entertaining in a different way. On the return, our routine ... read more

We arrived at Cierva Cove at 7 am and I had my typical hot chocolate up in the Dome Observation Lounge on Deck 7. The weather did not look particularly appealing, though it was calm, so the kayakers were able to go out. For me, I decided to skip the day's zodiac excursion. It was nice. I took a long hot shower, read my book, and just enjoyed some me time. L went and said it was actually pretty good, though it did start to snow. They saw more swimming penguins and humpback whales, but they may have even seen a blue whale! It was not a humpback and was huge, so that was exciting. He also showed me a video he took of two penguins walking along a mini iceberg.... and one fell off! So ... read more

Every day just kept getting better and better and today was amazing. We had an earlier breakfast than usual and our group D was among the first to board the zodiacs around 9:30am. The weather conditions were ideal for us, so even the third kayak group got to go out and started before we did. We were supposed to go to the Useful and Danco Islands, but the weather conditions were not great, so we instead journeyed to Cuverville Island which changed some of the timelines around. No problem for me getting ready today! I was about to go see some penguins! This was amazing. We did a zodiac landing and got to wander around the island which has a huge colony of Gentoo Penguins, one of the three types of penguins we would encounter and ... read more