Page 4 of zweiindians Travel Blog Posts


Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík July 1st 2014

Since the weather has turned so bad we had a full day of no real activity in Reykjavik. We were still recovering from the hike and drying all our gear but unfortunately we could not extend our checkout time at the hostel. So we made some Upma for breakfast and then started packing. Finished just in nick of time and checked out at 11:00. Now the big question is what to do. There were some museums that I wanted to see. We had not really seen Reykjavik. First order of business was finding lunch though. We started walking around and spotted cafe Glo. It seemed quite popular and one of those organic vegetarian sort of places. We wanted to try it out. We ordered a tex-mex soup with salads and a raw Thai curry. Everything was ... read more
Gio cafe

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Laugavegur June 30th 2014

Day 3: Hvanngil - Emstrur (Botnar) 10 km, 4 - 5 hoursElevation decrease: 40 m We saw a really lot of people one starting on the trail. We were wondering where all those people came from, probably there was some way for the buses to get in. Right after leaving the campsite, there is a bridge to cross one of the river Kaldaklofskvísl. This was a really nice area with rivers, stones, lot of streams, mostly flat. Then we saw service road and a bus driving in a distance. So that would explain sudden appearance of so many people on the trail. It was like a mela. Soon the second-deepest river of the trail needs to be crossed. Typically it would take some ... read more
Long walk
Lava field
Final campsite

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Laugavegur June 29th 2014

This is a 4-day backpacking trip is the reason we were in Iceland. We started with a bus from our campsite to Landmannalaugar. Day 1: Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker 12 km, 4 - 5 hoursElevation increase: 470 m We took the hiker bus from campsite to landmannamaugar. The bus goes through some interesting mountain roads, wading a few rivers. It stated out as cloudy and drizzly but became a bit sunny by the time we reached the starting point.We were somewhat apprehensive about the hike - how difficult is it, how is the weather going to be and how are we going to deal with the snow etc. We knew that a stormy front is coming on Sunday, but we were supposed to have ... read more
Valley
White and Green
P1000662

Europe » Iceland » Northwest » Snæfellsnes June 25th 2014

Since the weather was not great for doing the backpacking trail, we decided instead to take this 2-day drive. This peninsula is suppose to be a mini-Iceland, all sorts of landscapes in this tiny area. We had booked the car from hostel, they claim to give good rate. We picked it up in the morning, then we had to get the bus tickets for hike. From there we had hard time getting back on the highway as we were not really prepared with maps or anything. Once on the highway, it was smooth ride. There is not much traffic there. The highway near Reykjavik is full of roundabouts. Once out of the "city" area it soon got really green and beautiful. Of course all the rain was making the green even deeper. For outward journey, we ... read more
Hvalfjaroarvegur road
natural mineral water
Elf house

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík June 23rd 2014

We landed in Reykjavik around 23:00, got our bags, bought a ticket for the bus (greyline), and then waited. There was actually quite a bit of daylight at that time. The sun was on horizon, ready to set. We had to wait long for the bus, and it was mid-night and we saw the sun set in horizon close to mid-night. Little did we know this will be the only sun and sunset we will see on the trip. Even after sunset there was twilight which lasted all night. This was interesting. The bus dropped us at campsite, and we setup camp and slept. Day 2: We had hostel (next door to campsite) booked for 2 nights as we wanted to relax before and after the marathon. The hostel from Hostelling International turned out to be ... read more
On the course
Finished!

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Copacabana December 28th 2013

December 28 Today was big decision day, to stay put here or go to La Paz. Since we were feeling lazy we decided to stay and spend the morning watching TV. In the afternoon then we set off to isla de Sol to checkout what all the hype is about. We had a really nice pizza at Pueblo Viejo, which took a long time to arrive, but was one of the good pizza we had in long time. After paying 30 bol each for ferry ticket, we were off to the island. The ferry ride is long as the boat goes really slow, you could probably swim faster. There are no real views on the way, just the main landmass and lot of water. It's hard to believe this is a lake. At the island we ... read more
sun temple
isla de sol
sun temple

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz December 16th 2013

Finally the Patagonia part of trip is over and we had a long flight to Santiago and then onwards to LA Paz , Bolivia. We took a 5:00am taxi to make this flight to be informed at the gate that flight is delayed indefinitely. Ironically the pilot was not able to land the plane due to lack of wind. We had 2hrs to make connection to La Paz that we missed. The person at puenta arenas repeatedly assured us that someone will take care of our connection. But when we reached Santiago, no one was there to help and no one had even heard that flight was delayed. When I went to the counter the lady there took 30min to contact someone and confirm that we missed our connection due to flight delay and we were ... read more

South America » Chile » Magallanes » Torres del Paine December 7th 2013

We decided to take our time for the W trek with 5 days and 5 nights. We started by taking a bus to national park entrance from Puerto Natales in the afternoon. Its about a 2 hr journey. Then from there we took another shuttle to get to las Torres lodge. Our campground was next to it. After checking into campground we setup our tents next to a huge tent from a tour company. We did not realize that we were between the mess tent and sleeping tents of guests of this company. This company happened to attract people that have never camped before and had no idea of camping etiquette. All day and night these people kept walking through our tent, shouting at top of their voices, shining bright lights literally into it at night. ... read more

South America » Chile » Magallanes » Puerto Natales December 6th 2013

We finally made our way to way south Puerto Natales, after a 4+ hr flight from Santiago and then a 4hr bus ride. The bus ride is more comfortable than I had imagined. Its a small town, somewhat bigger than I had expected with quite a few houses and some hostels. I was expecting a place just made for tourists with big hotels or hostels spread all over, but so far it feels like a real town with some hostels. The place also has a vibe of "end of the world", you look out on the streets and it feels like the world ends where street ends, kind of same feeling I had on a native-american reserve at north-west tip of USA. As soon as you enter the place, you can see that its expensive being ... read more

South America » Chile » Santiago Region December 4th 2013

Arrived today morning in Santiago after long flights. Luckily all legs of both our flights, me from SFO and Rahul from ZRH, worked out. We were able to take public transport, bus and then metro to reach our hostel Providencia. Its a nice hostel with good amenities. First order of business - get Bolivian visa. This turned out to be as easy as people say. We left the hostel at about 12:30, and embassy closes at 1:30. We reached there just in time, and it literally took 20min to get the visa stamped. Fee - none Questions asked - none. We have already had a change of plan and decided to take more time in Bolivia, skip stargazing in San Pedro. It just does not seem to fit the plan with Christmas time being hard to ... read more




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