Hallo,
The last entry....(probably more for us than for anyone else)...after we have come back, had to clean our homes, go to the office and had to hurry to the supermarket after work before it closes , we could suddenly apreciate even more - up to it's full extent - our luck and the wonderful experience of having been able to travel around "the world" for half a year.
It was really a great journey and many times a day each day we miss it "more than words can say".
I think if you do it once you get addicted to traveling and discovering new worlds, new people and places...other ways of living, other thoughts...the rest of the world.
As it is we are already showing first withdrawal syndroms... and the worl is so big and there are so many places to see and go to that our new plans of traveling have already started to develop and this will probably never end ....
Our final conclusion: everybody who wants to go should go! It was worth every trouble and inconvenience! ... maybe sometimes we will meet somewhere at the other end of the world ...
:-)
Meanwhile... see you all in the coffee corner, at lunch, for a beer or wine in Germany or in Austria! :-)
Kisses, kisses, kisses ...... Renate & Mirko
Map of Dominican Republic
Map of Panama
Map of Peru
map of Bolivia
map of chile & argentina
Monday, 13 August 2007
Monday, 23 July 2007
Dominican Republic - Caribe
Hallo,this is probably our last entry for this journey!
Strange somehow. Time has gone by so fast!!!
We have spent the last days on the beaches of the domincan republic with: diving, sunbathing, Cuba libres, Bachata, mosquitos, sun, rain, sleeping, palm trees, papayas, mangos & ananas, fishes (seen as well as eaten :-) ), hot temperature, white sand beaches, a lot of other tourists ;-), clear aquamarine water etc... it was very good and relaxing. We have uploaded some PICTURES for you!
After these days of doing "nearly nothing" we found ourselves fit for another 6 months of ardous traveling through still unknown countries :-) but unfortunately work calls .... :-(
At the moment we spend our last days (gulp :-( ) in Santo Domingo and will probably (if no wonder happens) find ourselves in the airplane back home on the 25th of July. We will arrive on the 26th at 18:00 in Vienna....
The only thing which cheers us up is, that we will see you all again soon! :-)
Hear you! Thank you for your continous interest! Keep on viewing the blog after our return for the summary :-)!
Renate & Mirko
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Panama
Hallo, we spent the last five days in Panama.
We visited Panama City, the Panama Canal and did daytrips inland to El Valle, one to the island Taboga with white sand beaches and to the north coast to the city "Portobelo", Colon and the locks of the canal towards the atlantic ocean.
Panama city is very impressive as there are on the one hand a lot of luxurious and modern skyscrapers and beautifully renovated colonial buildings and on the other hand old and dirty colonial and wood/brick buildings either abandoned or homes to poor people.
The countryside is beautiful and green..which we are not used to any more as in the last few months we have been more or less only to deserts and in high altitude, where there is no green vegetation at all. Therefore it was a pleasure for our eyes. The houses in the countryside are nice and well kept, most of them have a green lawn around and a lot of coloured flowers in front.
The island Taboga is a one hour trip by boat from Panama City and is a small, peaceful, green island where we spent the afternoon sunbathing and swimming in the clear waters of the sea. Although the weather was not that good (a lot of dark rain clouds covering mostly of the sun) it was very hot and damp so that swimming in the sea was really a relief and we both got a thorough sunburned skin although we applied sunscreen of strengh 20 ! :-(
(...and that after 5 months of traveling ...but our belly and all other parts except our face and hands did defenitely NOT get a lot of sun during our voyage :-)
We visited Panama City, the Panama Canal and did daytrips inland to El Valle, one to the island Taboga with white sand beaches and to the north coast to the city "Portobelo", Colon and the locks of the canal towards the atlantic ocean.
Panama city is very impressive as there are on the one hand a lot of luxurious and modern skyscrapers and beautifully renovated colonial buildings and on the other hand old and dirty colonial and wood/brick buildings either abandoned or homes to poor people.
The countryside is beautiful and green..which we are not used to any more as in the last few months we have been more or less only to deserts and in high altitude, where there is no green vegetation at all. Therefore it was a pleasure for our eyes. The houses in the countryside are nice and well kept, most of them have a green lawn around and a lot of coloured flowers in front.
The island Taboga is a one hour trip by boat from Panama City and is a small, peaceful, green island where we spent the afternoon sunbathing and swimming in the clear waters of the sea. Although the weather was not that good (a lot of dark rain clouds covering mostly of the sun) it was very hot and damp so that swimming in the sea was really a relief and we both got a thorough sunburned skin although we applied sunscreen of strengh 20 ! :-(
(...and that after 5 months of traveling ...but our belly and all other parts except our face and hands did defenitely NOT get a lot of sun during our voyage :-)
Also the visit of the Panama Canal was a "must" and vert interesting. If you want to know more as well.... click here or go to the "What you never dared to ask"-section :-)
We enjoyed the total difference to the other countries and people we have visited during the last months!
On monday we will continue to our last (Aaaahhhhh! :-( ) stop : Dominican Republic ...
How fast time goes by!
We are looking forward to seeing you all again!
Renate
Monday, 9 July 2007
Exkurs: "Why can latin aremicans not live without noise?" or "Are all the people deaf here?"
Imagine a world were you hear loud music all night through because they run music in the streets and in the neighbourhood all night long and your windows and walls are made of paper... a world were all people shout, no matter where they are and what time it is...
...where the hotel personal vacuums the floor in front of your room at 6:00 a.m.,
...where the TV runs in all restaurants, in all bars and cafes, in the buses, in waiting halls, in post and bank officies..and at all times with high volume,
...where in each taxi and bus the radio runs at highest volume level additionally to frequent horning,
...where at 7:00 a.m. the nearby schools decide to take their lessons or morning songs with a microphone so that everybody living within 500m can participate,
...where the local bands decide to play all day long marches in all the street of downtown at the same time,
...where whole downtown consists of music clubs and the word "acoustic insulation" is unheard of ...
Welcome to the world of South America and the world we have been living in for the last 6 months .... AAAAAAAhhhhhhh!!!!
So don't expect me to react if you talk to me at normal volume at home again as I sure should be half deaf by now :-)
The reason for this behaviour has not revealed itself to me till until now, although I can honestly say that we did extensive investigations on this (although most of the time involuntarily). I really wanted to understand the basics of this logic and even at times tried to imitate them...but the question remains unsolved....
Renate, who did not have had a good sleep for at least two weeks in a row....
...where the hotel personal vacuums the floor in front of your room at 6:00 a.m.,
...where the TV runs in all restaurants, in all bars and cafes, in the buses, in waiting halls, in post and bank officies..and at all times with high volume,
...where in each taxi and bus the radio runs at highest volume level additionally to frequent horning,
...where at 7:00 a.m. the nearby schools decide to take their lessons or morning songs with a microphone so that everybody living within 500m can participate,
...where the local bands decide to play all day long marches in all the street of downtown at the same time,
...where whole downtown consists of music clubs and the word "acoustic insulation" is unheard of ...
Welcome to the world of South America and the world we have been living in for the last 6 months .... AAAAAAAhhhhhhh!!!!
So don't expect me to react if you talk to me at normal volume at home again as I sure should be half deaf by now :-)
The reason for this behaviour has not revealed itself to me till until now, although I can honestly say that we did extensive investigations on this (although most of the time involuntarily). I really wanted to understand the basics of this logic and even at times tried to imitate them...but the question remains unsolved....
Renate, who did not have had a good sleep for at least two weeks in a row....
Lima - Trujillo - Chiclayo: our last days in Peru ...
... which we spent visiting old pyramides and tombs from cultures before the Incas at Sipan, Tucuman and Chan Chan.
The tombs and the arqueological pieces they found within the tombs were rather interesting but from the "pyramides" remained not much more than "mountains of mud", as they had been constructed by mud and sand which has more than less deteriorated because of rain.
Therefore the visit of these "remainders" of the past were a bit disapointing.
-> pictures
Tomorrow we will continue to Panama City to visit the panama canal. Unfortunately the weather forecast predicts for Panama: thunderstorms and rain! :-(
Let's see ! :-)
Hear you! ... only 17 days left ...... Renate & Mirko
P.S.: What´s for dinner in Peru?
The tombs and the arqueological pieces they found within the tombs were rather interesting but from the "pyramides" remained not much more than "mountains of mud", as they had been constructed by mud and sand which has more than less deteriorated because of rain.
Therefore the visit of these "remainders" of the past were a bit disapointing.
-> pictures
Tomorrow we will continue to Panama City to visit the panama canal. Unfortunately the weather forecast predicts for Panama: thunderstorms and rain! :-(
Let's see ! :-)
Hear you! ... only 17 days left ...... Renate & Mirko
P.S.: What´s for dinner in Peru?
Monday, 2 July 2007
Cusco & Machu Picchu
After we flew in directly from Arequpia (What a comfort: 35min of flight instead of 11 hours bus drive ... Yes, we are getting old :-) ) we continued our journet first to Ollentaytambo, where we stayed one night, and then yesterday we took the first possible train to "Machu Picchu"! As we were there rather early and spent one night in the village nearby we were able to spend the whole day till sunset within the site of "Machu Picchu". This was especially nice, as we were able to climb the nearby "Wayna Picchu" towering over Machu Picchu, where we had a good view, and most of the tour-groups left at about 3 p.m. to catch the afternoon train back to Cusco, and the site was a little bit more quiet after that and we could watch the sun set over "Machu Picchu" at about 5 pm.
What was nearly more incredible and phantastic than the Inca walls from Machu Picchu, was the HORRENDOUS PRICE we had to pay for this "adventure"! The train fare, the entry and the transportation are incredible and rediculous expensive, as well as food and accomodation nearby. An official ripp-off...quasi ! ;-)
But it was impressive nontheless, and I guess one has to do it when traveling Peru...
You can have the pictures for free now ... isn`t that a service ;-) !?
You can have the pictures for free now ... isn`t that a service ;-) !?
Kisses! Renate & Mirko
Arequipa & Colca Canyon
Before we took off towards Cusco, we spent a few days in Arequipa and in the so called "Canyon Country" nearby. It is called like that as there are a few very deep canyons cutting into the landscape, one of them the "Colca Canyon" which is at his deepest 3190m deep, which makes it the second deepest Canyon of the world (deepest: "Canyon de Cotahuasi" nearby, with 3191m depth (...but difficult to reach and visit)). We did some hiking there, but although the landscape was striking, we expected something more (or different?) from the "worlds second deepest canyon" and decided that all the publicity and advertisment here in Arequipa is a bit overexaggerated).
But the hiking was good nevertheless and we spent very good days there!
Arequipa still ranks as Renates favorite city in Peru (decided at her last visit here years ago) and Mirko agreed. We both think that the architeture as well as the athmosphere were very good and one can easily spend some time hanging or wandering around, drinking coffee or fruit juice at a terasse at the main "plaza de armas" and feel himself very comfortable! :-)
Are you curious now :-) ? Here are the photos!
Kisses and regards from both of us to all of you!
Renate & Mirko
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Expedition "Chachani" or How "Iron-Rennie" lost her fame
To be on the top of a mountain on 6.075m altitude...a mountaineers dream! and our dream stillIn the last days we attempted to climb the vulcano "Chachani" near Arequipe (Peru) where we are at the moment. On the first day we were brought to ca 5.000m with a jeep (Arequipe lies on ca. 2400m) and climbed to the camp on 5.300m. We reached the camp at ca. 14:00, made ourselves at home in he tent, cooked dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags at about 16:00. Unfortunately it started to snow at about 15:00 and became very cold during the night (ca. -10º to -15ºC)! We had a horrible night with headache and cold (although we used three layers of sleeping bag) and wind kept us awake all through the night. Actually the expression "all the night" is wrong, as we had to get up at 1:00am in the middle of the night to start our ascent, had a cup of tea, put on all our warm clothes and started to climb the mountain, through icy wind and snow, with our headlights on...brr.. after about 1,5h we had to put on crampons and use the ice-ax to climb over snow and ice for about 2h. It was very cold, pitch dark and there was very few oxygen as well! The climb was partly very steep and exhausting (especially with the crampons on) but without crampons it was as well more then tiring. After the icy part the sun started to come out, which bettered the situation a bit, but unfortunately by that we already were very tired. After 5h of walk we had to give up, because Renate was so k.o.! And we had still3h more to the top! and all the way back as well! ... All the chocolate and sugar could not help and we decided to turn back at 5.700m as we were tired, all our fingers were halfway frozen and there was still the way back to consider!
At about 10:45 we again reached the camp at 5.300m and we were totally ko! and still we had to pack the tent and continue down to where the jeep awaited us to bring us back to town. UFF!
In the end we are a bit disappointed, but at least we tried!
... and here are the PICTURES!
Anyway, it was an experience and adventure we would not like to have missed!!
And: we reached 5.700m! :-)
Looking forward to tell you about our next steps!
Regards, Renate & Mirko
Friday, 22 June 2007
Last days in Bolivia
Hallo,
we are still alive ;-). Since returning from the brasilian Pantanal we have visited "La Paz", the biggest city of Bolivia (PICTURES of La Paz - click here). After two days we continued our way to the small town called "Copacabana" on the shores of the "lago Titicaca", a lake which lies in an altitude of 3.800m. Therefore although the name suggests, bathing and swimming was not an apropriate activity because despite the strong sun (because of the altitude) the air and the water were rather cold :-).But the setting and the nature were beautiful. A blue lake and in the background the "Cordilliera de los Andes" with its snowwhite peaks of more than 6000m ... the scenery was especially nice. We spent two nights on the "Isla del sol", an island, which is rather small and thus very quiet und relaxing. The whole island smelled good like eukalyptus (the main tree there) and some other herbs and at sometime we thought to be on a mediterranean island. Only that it was colder and the water was not salty :-). -> PICTURES - Isla del Sol
Today we crossed the border to Peru (as yesterday whole Peru was on strike and the borders were closed) and are now in Puno (still on 3.800m..brrr).Tomorrow we will continue to Arequipa where we will again be a bit lower (ca 2.500m) and hopefully it will again be a bit warmer.
We send you a cool breeze from 3800m in Peru as it seems to be hot at home, and hope you are all well!
Renate and Mirko
we are still alive ;-). Since returning from the brasilian Pantanal we have visited "La Paz", the biggest city of Bolivia (PICTURES of La Paz - click here). After two days we continued our way to the small town called "Copacabana" on the shores of the "lago Titicaca", a lake which lies in an altitude of 3.800m. Therefore although the name suggests, bathing and swimming was not an apropriate activity because despite the strong sun (because of the altitude) the air and the water were rather cold :-).But the setting and the nature were beautiful. A blue lake and in the background the "Cordilliera de los Andes" with its snowwhite peaks of more than 6000m ... the scenery was especially nice. We spent two nights on the "Isla del sol", an island, which is rather small and thus very quiet und relaxing. The whole island smelled good like eukalyptus (the main tree there) and some other herbs and at sometime we thought to be on a mediterranean island. Only that it was colder and the water was not salty :-). -> PICTURES - Isla del Sol
Today we crossed the border to Peru (as yesterday whole Peru was on strike and the borders were closed) and are now in Puno (still on 3.800m..brrr).Tomorrow we will continue to Arequipa where we will again be a bit lower (ca 2.500m) and hopefully it will again be a bit warmer.
We send you a cool breeze from 3800m in Peru as it seems to be hot at home, and hope you are all well!
Renate and Mirko
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Mirko and the jumping killer-fish - ein Heldenepos
It was Tuesday, 15:34, when Mirko, the strong and fearless hero from Germany dared to approach the dangerous waters of Bonito in order to look the fishes directly into the eye. Hundreds of big and bigger fish could be ovserved swimming around in the cristal clear water, waiting for (expecting?) our hero. Our hero went nearer and nearer without showing any fear or hesitation.
Having considered all possible dangers ("Do fish have teeth?") our hero felt seflconfident and safe. He kneeled down to show the current fish-leader who is going to be the new leader here. He started to explain the fish how he (our hero) intends to take over the power in the river right now and how the fish and the whole fish population need to follow all his orders in the future. And then our hero commited his only error, which turned out to be fatal: he held a cookie in his right hand. Unaware of the fishes greed he waved the hand around above the waters surface.
At this moment the fattest of all fishes (probably the trained Killer-fish) gathered all his powers and jumped out our the water at least 1m trying to get the cookie our hero held in his hand; Unfortunately the killerfish seemed to be shortsighted or bad in mathematics as his calculations turned out to be slightly wrong and he bit Mirkos little finger instead!! AAaaaahhh!!!
After our hero stopped bleeding like hell, he was furious and decided to have Sushi this everning, but it was impossible to identify the culprit among the hundreds of identical fish and the fish refused to surrender the finger-killerfish!
Therefore instead of having the adequate fish-massaker and a big sushi in the evening, we showed up at the local hospital to get our heros finger fixed and desinfected (Tetanus injection and the whole programm inclusive :-( )
All plans to take over the power in the fish-pond had to be cancelled...but our heros diet plan includes fish for the rest of his life - as a revenge!
What´s left to say is that our hero stayed totally cool all the time, although it must have hurt very bad and it bleeded like hell (seems the fish have good dentists which keep their teeth sharp)!
We can be SOOO proud ouf our hero!
Having considered all possible dangers ("Do fish have teeth?") our hero felt seflconfident and safe. He kneeled down to show the current fish-leader who is going to be the new leader here. He started to explain the fish how he (our hero) intends to take over the power in the river right now and how the fish and the whole fish population need to follow all his orders in the future. And then our hero commited his only error, which turned out to be fatal: he held a cookie in his right hand. Unaware of the fishes greed he waved the hand around above the waters surface.
At this moment the fattest of all fishes (probably the trained Killer-fish) gathered all his powers and jumped out our the water at least 1m trying to get the cookie our hero held in his hand; Unfortunately the killerfish seemed to be shortsighted or bad in mathematics as his calculations turned out to be slightly wrong and he bit Mirkos little finger instead!! AAaaaahhh!!!
After our hero stopped bleeding like hell, he was furious and decided to have Sushi this everning, but it was impossible to identify the culprit among the hundreds of identical fish and the fish refused to surrender the finger-killerfish!
Therefore instead of having the adequate fish-massaker and a big sushi in the evening, we showed up at the local hospital to get our heros finger fixed and desinfected (Tetanus injection and the whole programm inclusive :-( )
All plans to take over the power in the fish-pond had to be cancelled...but our heros diet plan includes fish for the rest of his life - as a revenge!
What´s left to say is that our hero stayed totally cool all the time, although it must have hurt very bad and it bleeded like hell (seems the fish have good dentists which keep their teeth sharp)!
We can be SOOO proud ouf our hero!
This was Renate live from Bonito with the daily news.......
P.S.: Ask to see the scar when he is back!
Pantanal & Bonito (Brasilia)
We had three days full of green vegetation, birds, crocodiles, monkeys and piranhas...we have been to the brasilian Pantanal, a wonderful wetland which is known for the high number of bird species. We did a Jeep safari, boat trips, jungle-walks and fishing of piranhas (which taste really wonderful, although there is not a lot of meat on them ;-) ).
We spent the nights in a lodge in the middle of the wetlands and were woken up at sunrise by hundreds of birds trilling, chirping etc. ....
The warm temperature was sooo nice (T-shirt and bikini) and it was gorgeous to hang around in a landscape full of green and life instead of the freezing cold, wind and stones on the Altiplano.
We enjoyed these days very much and are hesitant about returning to La Paz (Bolivia, 3.700m!! Brrrrr..), as this means leaving Brasilia and the wonderful summer-weather again ... but the flight is already booked, so ... ;-)
We spent the nights in a lodge in the middle of the wetlands and were woken up at sunrise by hundreds of birds trilling, chirping etc. ....
The warm temperature was sooo nice (T-shirt and bikini) and it was gorgeous to hang around in a landscape full of green and life instead of the freezing cold, wind and stones on the Altiplano.
We enjoyed these days very much and are hesitant about returning to La Paz (Bolivia, 3.700m!! Brrrrr..), as this means leaving Brasilia and the wonderful summer-weather again ... but the flight is already booked, so ... ;-)
As usual you we have uploaded PICTURES for you!
Greetings to all of you, Renate & Mirko
Thursday, 7 June 2007
"Sucre" or "May Mirkos jeans rest in peace"
Hallo, we have spent the last days in Sucre which was very agreable as Sucre lies only on 2600m and the climate is warm (we didn`t need gloves at the breakfast table). We could sit in the sun with our t-shirts only and enjoy fruit juices and coffees.
The town is supposed to be the most beautiful town of Bolvivia and it really is beautiful with a lot of white colonial buildings, streets, a lot of churches and all nice and clean.
We actually didn´t do much these days but wander around town and visit some churches, museums and buildings. Mirko made me (!!) visit a place where we were supposed to see "dinosaurier tracks" in the earth...and I had to go there in a so-called "dinosaurier-truck" for tourists: a truck which is painted outside with colourfull pictures of dinosauriers (AAAAhh!!!!) .. I do not know how I deserved this...but I could not argue much as I deleted a very precious video from his camera by accident (Gulp! :-( )
As we liked the city, we chose it as a last resting place for Mirkos jeans and his rucksack, which both have been nothing more than shreds for more than a month. There was an official ceremony and everything....I nearly cried (Sniff) ;-)
Unfortunately Mirkos "I-love-it-soooo-much-don´t-make-me-give-it-away-although-it-looks-horrible"-T-shirt and his embarassing "I-have-been-through-so-much-with-this-sunhat" sunhat are still coming with us :-(
Have fun viewing the PICTURES.
Today at 17:00 we will continue our journey for a quick "hop" (1 week) to the brasilian "Pantanal" (wetlands).
See you and whish you all the best.
Renate & Mirko
The town is supposed to be the most beautiful town of Bolvivia and it really is beautiful with a lot of white colonial buildings, streets, a lot of churches and all nice and clean.
We actually didn´t do much these days but wander around town and visit some churches, museums and buildings. Mirko made me (!!) visit a place where we were supposed to see "dinosaurier tracks" in the earth...and I had to go there in a so-called "dinosaurier-truck" for tourists: a truck which is painted outside with colourfull pictures of dinosauriers (AAAAhh!!!!) .. I do not know how I deserved this...but I could not argue much as I deleted a very precious video from his camera by accident (Gulp! :-( )
As we liked the city, we chose it as a last resting place for Mirkos jeans and his rucksack, which both have been nothing more than shreds for more than a month. There was an official ceremony and everything....I nearly cried (Sniff) ;-)
Unfortunately Mirkos "I-love-it-soooo-much-don´t-make-me-give-it-away-although-it-looks-horrible"-T-shirt and his embarassing "I-have-been-through-so-much-with-this-sunhat" sunhat are still coming with us :-(
Have fun viewing the PICTURES.
Today at 17:00 we will continue our journey for a quick "hop" (1 week) to the brasilian "Pantanal" (wetlands).
See you and whish you all the best.
Renate & Mirko
Sunday, 3 June 2007
Potosi - City of Silver
Hi,a quick entry from the "City of Silver" - Potosi. The city lies in an altitude of 4.090m, and claimes to be the highest city in the world (as well as a cold one :-) ). The city fomerly was the richest city of south america because of the silver which was found in "Cerro Rico" (the mountain you can see in the background). Nowadays the importance of Potosi has shrunk, but they are still extracting silver - and this with tool, material and under working conditions of the middle age (probably the same with which they have started in the 16th century)! We visited the mine, talked to the "mineros" and could enter the mines pits which were not only narrow and steep but also full of toxic gases and dust! It was really incredible under which working conditions they are working! To drill a hole for a roll of dynmite of about 30cm length the worker needs about 6hours using manual tools and manpower only, they push the trolleys by hand, the temperature varies between zero and 45 degrees ... take a look at the pictures yourself ... they are not from a museum!!!
The city itself is pretty nice with a lot of colonial architecture. Most people work in the mines but the rest of them seem to be advocates (nearly each house has a sign dangling outside saying "Abogado") ????
Today we will continue to "Sucre" ... hear you!
Renate & Mirko
Saturday, 2 June 2007
Salar de Uyuni
Near Uyuni there is the giant, most impressive "Salar" which we visited in the last few days. With a guide and a Jeep we drove through salt, salt and again salt..the landscape was nothing but white as far as one could see and it was incredible!
The area covers 12.000 km2 in an altitude of 3.650m !
You should view the pictures ...I think you cannot describe it with words and one cannot imagine what it looks like without pictures.... It was GREAT!
During the same excursions we also visited some lagunas and drove a lot of km through the dry landscape of the south of the bolivian Altiplano (Highland). We slept on 4.500m altitude (brrr....cold, cold, cold!!!) ) and inhaled tons of dust and sand during the ride on very, very bad roads ;-)
Whish you all the best!
Our time of travelling is running out ... so you will see us again soon! :-)
Renate & Mirko
The area covers 12.000 km2 in an altitude of 3.650m !
You should view the pictures ...I think you cannot describe it with words and one cannot imagine what it looks like without pictures.... It was GREAT!
During the same excursions we also visited some lagunas and drove a lot of km through the dry landscape of the south of the bolivian Altiplano (Highland). We slept on 4.500m altitude (brrr....cold, cold, cold!!!) ) and inhaled tons of dust and sand during the ride on very, very bad roads ;-)
Whish you all the best!
Our time of travelling is running out ... so you will see us again soon! :-)
Renate & Mirko
first impressions of Bolivia - from Arica to Uyuni
Hallo,we have survived about one week in Bolivia and we are still in posession of all our luggage ;-).
The journey from Chile into Bolivia first to Oruru and then further south to Uyuni (all of them in the Altiplano above 3.600m) was characterised by delays, breakdown of the bus, a hard struggle to assure that our luggage was carried in respectively ON the same bus as we were, and the experience of the most horrible night-busdrive. We bought a ticket for a busride of 8 hours with heating inside the bus...the first time we got suspicious was, when all the locals entered the bus with at least two or three blankets..it still didn´t make click in our heads when a man in the bus sold blankets (????) ... and for this naivity we got punished with a 10 hours ride (20:00 - 6:00) in a freezing cold bus (there was ice on the windows INSIDE the bus of 3mm thikness), the windows were not closing properly, seats were bad and worse, no toilet, strange electric cables dangling from the ceiling (?...better don´t touch) and it was pitch dark, the roads were horrible and we thought that
a) the ride was never going to end
b) we will never arive alive but instead frozen to death
c) at least we will loose some of our toes or fingers due to freezing
d) did I really pay my travel insurance which will fly me home in case of severe health problems?
e) we are going to kill everybody especially the woman who sold us the busride "WITH" heating
f) it would be best to rob the blanket from the weakest passenger in the bus
g) maybe we should have bought some drugs before
h) wether we should have written a testament before leaving home
i) if at the end of the busride there is a "Plaza Hotel" with rooms for 400 USD the night we will take it! No argueing!
and:
WHO the hell had this bluddy, stupid idea of travelling through south america ?
Unbelievably we arrived with a bodytemperature probably below 35 degrees C in Uyuni, took the best hotel in town with heating and slept under 5 blankets till we recovered.
Brrrr.....Renate & Mirko
Friday, 25 May 2007
Nationalpark "Lauca" - last days in Chile
The last 4 days we spent in the national park "Lauca" which lies in the very north of Chile near the bolivian and the peruvian border in the altitude of 4.600m. This fact kept us out of breath all the time :-) We slept in "Putre" which lies at "relaxing" 3.600m and drove up to the nationalpark each day by car.
The scenery was really stunning: one vulcano next to the other, all of about 6.100m hight and more. The park is already part of the "Altiplano" which stretches into Peru and Bolivia. For european people it seems incredible that in an altitude of about 4.600m the is "a plain"! There are pastures, grazing llamas, lakes, streets, small villages, higher mountains around ... and the air is very thin and its very cold :-) !
Yesterday we ascended the "Cerro Guane Guane" which is 5.097m high and we are proud of it, because although we departed from "only" 4.600m it was still a struggle to climb the remaining 497m where there was not even a proper way but instead we had to find the best way for ourselves. The park ranger we asked the day before for an existing map or the way, looked at us in amazement and said "Just go up!" ...o.k....hm...and so we did! And were rewarded with the most wonderful panorama and an incredible strong headache from the hight afterwards :-) ...
But it was worth it!
Just look at the pictures and you will agree!
We miss you! How are you all?? Write us! What`s new at home?
Kisses, Renate
The scenery was really stunning: one vulcano next to the other, all of about 6.100m hight and more. The park is already part of the "Altiplano" which stretches into Peru and Bolivia. For european people it seems incredible that in an altitude of about 4.600m the is "a plain"! There are pastures, grazing llamas, lakes, streets, small villages, higher mountains around ... and the air is very thin and its very cold :-) !
Yesterday we ascended the "Cerro Guane Guane" which is 5.097m high and we are proud of it, because although we departed from "only" 4.600m it was still a struggle to climb the remaining 497m where there was not even a proper way but instead we had to find the best way for ourselves. The park ranger we asked the day before for an existing map or the way, looked at us in amazement and said "Just go up!" ...o.k....hm...and so we did! And were rewarded with the most wonderful panorama and an incredible strong headache from the hight afterwards :-) ...
But it was worth it!
Just look at the pictures and you will agree!
We miss you! How are you all?? Write us! What`s new at home?
Kisses, Renate
Monday, 21 May 2007
Geysiers "El Tatio"
Before we continued our journey to Arica we did another day trip to the "Geysiers "El Tatio""which lie in about 4.300 m altitude in the Atacama desert. The steaming geysiers can only be fully apreciated very early in the morning just before the sunrise and some time after the sun has come out (7:00 a.m.) because then the sun gets too strong and the steam evaporates more quickly and the "show is over".
Since the geysiers are 150 km away from the city (120km of that on dirt roads) we had to get up at 4 a.m. :-( and try to find our way with our rented car in the middle of the dark.
We were a bit worried since most people we asked beforehand in town did not know there was a direct way to the geysiers at all; we ourselves had 3 maps which showed 3 different versions of the area.. more or less detailed and/or reliable....
That we made it in time was thanks to a guy we met in a very small town called "Chiu Chiu" at 5 a.m who was probably going home after a long night in a bar :-) . nonetheless he could point out the direction we had to take - more or less clearly :-) ... and we had some luck in choosing at several crossroads ... but it was a hard race against time and the sun beginning to rise ... (Remark Renate: guess we chose the wrong type of tire...damn mechanics; we should have hired those from the Ferrari team...but who listens to a woman in matters of cars!)
The geysiers where very impressive and at about 9:00 all the tourist buses left and we had them all for us. We took a bath in one of the hot pools of the geysiers with a scenic panorama and after changing into a bikini at about 0 C (brrr..) the water was nice and warm (ca. 38 C) and the nearer you got to the geysiers emitting the hot water the warmer it got till you reached the point where it got "bloddy hot" (85 C) as an american said :-)
Who can say of himself that he took a warm termal bath in 4.300 m altitude with the most wonderful background? We can, we can :-) !!!
Best regards to all of you! Renate & Mirko
Since the geysiers are 150 km away from the city (120km of that on dirt roads) we had to get up at 4 a.m. :-( and try to find our way with our rented car in the middle of the dark.
We were a bit worried since most people we asked beforehand in town did not know there was a direct way to the geysiers at all; we ourselves had 3 maps which showed 3 different versions of the area.. more or less detailed and/or reliable....
That we made it in time was thanks to a guy we met in a very small town called "Chiu Chiu" at 5 a.m who was probably going home after a long night in a bar :-) . nonetheless he could point out the direction we had to take - more or less clearly :-) ... and we had some luck in choosing at several crossroads ... but it was a hard race against time and the sun beginning to rise ... (Remark Renate: guess we chose the wrong type of tire...damn mechanics; we should have hired those from the Ferrari team...but who listens to a woman in matters of cars!)
The geysiers where very impressive and at about 9:00 all the tourist buses left and we had them all for us. We took a bath in one of the hot pools of the geysiers with a scenic panorama and after changing into a bikini at about 0 C (brrr..) the water was nice and warm (ca. 38 C) and the nearer you got to the geysiers emitting the hot water the warmer it got till you reached the point where it got "bloddy hot" (85 C) as an american said :-)
Who can say of himself that he took a warm termal bath in 4.300 m altitude with the most wonderful background? We can, we can :-) !!!
Best regards to all of you! Renate & Mirko
Friday, 18 May 2007
Copper and stones - Atacama desert
Hallo,
Here some facts about the country "Chile" - so that you at least learn something when doing private things during working hours ;-):
Copper is the main export article of Chile and in the last days we could witness this. We visited two mines of copper: the largest underground mine of the world and the largest surface mining of the world ...both in Chile extracting copper in high quantities 24 hous a day, 365 days a year. Uff! Both were very impressive because they are really, really big - both in depth (ca. 2400km of tunnels) as in broadening (about 900m deep and 4km wide). Both have in commen that they are in the middle of nowhere in the mountains and/or in the desert where you can only find stones and no water, and thus no living creature or plant anywhere in a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
Near both mines there are two villages which have been abandoned resp. "moved" further away when the pollution of the air and land became a) to big (what they say) or b) always was so high and unhealthy but could only finally be measured in recent years with modern equipment (that's what I think). The villages remained more or less as they are but only without life... which resulted in an eerie athmosphere when walking through streets along empty stores, closed restaurants, empty living quaters and houses etc...the only thing missing was the rolling bush know from "western" and "Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" in the background :-).
We also made daytrips directly into the driest desert of the word (where one of the mines is located): the Atacama desert. We rented a car to drive around and I really didn´t want to have a flat tyre or an empty fuel-tank in the middle of nowhere in the heart of the desert - alone! During the day the sun is really strong and its hot but as soon as the sun sets it is becoming freezing cold...and Renate ("Ha, who needs suncream?!") immediately caught a sunstroke :-). But the landscape was great!
The day after tomorrow we will continue our way northbound to "Arica" to spend a few days within a national park there. There should be more green there :-) ...
Regards and Kisses, Renate & Mirko
Here some facts about the country "Chile" - so that you at least learn something when doing private things during working hours ;-):
Copper is the main export article of Chile and in the last days we could witness this. We visited two mines of copper: the largest underground mine of the world and the largest surface mining of the world ...both in Chile extracting copper in high quantities 24 hous a day, 365 days a year. Uff! Both were very impressive because they are really, really big - both in depth (ca. 2400km of tunnels) as in broadening (about 900m deep and 4km wide). Both have in commen that they are in the middle of nowhere in the mountains and/or in the desert where you can only find stones and no water, and thus no living creature or plant anywhere in a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
Near both mines there are two villages which have been abandoned resp. "moved" further away when the pollution of the air and land became a) to big (what they say) or b) always was so high and unhealthy but could only finally be measured in recent years with modern equipment (that's what I think). The villages remained more or less as they are but only without life... which resulted in an eerie athmosphere when walking through streets along empty stores, closed restaurants, empty living quaters and houses etc...the only thing missing was the rolling bush know from "western" and "Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" in the background :-).
We also made daytrips directly into the driest desert of the word (where one of the mines is located): the Atacama desert. We rented a car to drive around and I really didn´t want to have a flat tyre or an empty fuel-tank in the middle of nowhere in the heart of the desert - alone! During the day the sun is really strong and its hot but as soon as the sun sets it is becoming freezing cold...and Renate ("Ha, who needs suncream?!") immediately caught a sunstroke :-). But the landscape was great!
The day after tomorrow we will continue our way northbound to "Arica" to spend a few days within a national park there. There should be more green there :-) ...
Regards and Kisses, Renate & Mirko
PS: there are new pictures of Easter Islands and the Mines ... :-)
Saturday, 12 May 2007
Isla de Pascua - Easter Island - Osterinsel
Renate and Mirko halfway through their journey on the Easter Island!
Not too early and not too late we had some very quiet and relaxing time on the easter island, before we start with the second half of our journey... and we have a busy time-table and thousands of plans....
Although the weather was not too good and our time lying at the beach sunbathing reduced itself to about 73 minutes, there were other things to enjoy here: green landscape, scenic vulcano craters and last but not least the "moai" - the standing and lying stone men/-sculptures on the island.
But I would like to correct some of the prejudices and images one has from the easter islands when being in Europe (at home):
things that came to our mind when hearing "easter islands":
- sun, heat, beaches, flowers, cocktails, stone-men, short trousers and hawaii-shirts, caribian music and well formed male bodies surfing on the waves of the sea, beautiful sundowns, good and cheap fish to eat , bikini
ok and now what we can confirm and what comes to our minds now when hearing "easter islands":
-unsteady weater (which means: clouds, rainfall like the world will end now, wind and sun), winter clothes, rain in the face riding a motorbike, marvelling at the scenery on top of vulanic crater, smelling the unbelievable scent of colorful flowers opening their gigantic blossoms after the rain, hiding unter trees from the rain which caught us - again unawares -, Mirkos first open water dives in the sea, wonderful tasty fruit juices made by friendly local women, soaked clothes which dry in about 15 minutes after the rain in the strong wind, reading a book in bed while it rains outside, putting on jackes (because of the cold), putting of jackets (because of the heat) and putting on jackets again (because of the rain) within the time frame of 5 minutes, sitting on the back of pick-up-jeep happy to be taken back to the city by locals instead of walking, sitting in front of gigantic moais waiting for the sun to set and contemplating about what has happened here in former times ....
a bit different from what we have expected... but a nice, wonderful island with a great athmosphere and very friendly people and wonderful nature and culture.... in one word.. we enjoyed it very much!
Kisses, Renate & Mirko
Sunday, 29 April 2007
watching planets and stars in the desert of "La Serena"
Hallo,
in the last days we have travelled from Valparaíso to Santiago de Chile to Rancagua, to La Serena. Near La Serena, which is a bit up north from Santiago there is an area which seems to be the perfect place for an astronomical observatory (as there they have build four observatories here): nearly no rainfall, nearly no clouds (according to the scientists of the observatory 300 days per year a perfect clear sky during the night), and only few people and cities emitting light. We took the oportunity to visist two observatories: one during the night, where we could observe the night sky ourselves through the telescopes (we could see far away star constellation which one cannot see with the eye alone, the moon, Jupiter and Saturn with it´s rings and plantes around... all was PERFECTLY CLEAR and so near.... like viewing a picture! Great!) and one observatory from an american university which has gigantic telescopes.. unfortunately we could not see through these enormous telescopes (which can show stars which are outside of our galaxy!!!!..cool!) ourselves as they are constantly used every night for (real :-) ) scientific research. But it was impressive to see the tools and hear something about their daily work!
That was our highlight of our last days....
Beside that we saw some pinguins, dolphins, sea lions, deserts, mountains, valleys, the sea, a lot of cactuses, cities, autobuses from within, pisco plants (pisco is the national beverage here..it´s alcohol made out of grapes..a bit like Grappa but much sweeter - see link!)...so we are not getting bored :-)
in the last days we have travelled from Valparaíso to Santiago de Chile to Rancagua, to La Serena. Near La Serena, which is a bit up north from Santiago there is an area which seems to be the perfect place for an astronomical observatory (as there they have build four observatories here): nearly no rainfall, nearly no clouds (according to the scientists of the observatory 300 days per year a perfect clear sky during the night), and only few people and cities emitting light. We took the oportunity to visist two observatories: one during the night, where we could observe the night sky ourselves through the telescopes (we could see far away star constellation which one cannot see with the eye alone, the moon, Jupiter and Saturn with it´s rings and plantes around... all was PERFECTLY CLEAR and so near.... like viewing a picture! Great!) and one observatory from an american university which has gigantic telescopes.. unfortunately we could not see through these enormous telescopes (which can show stars which are outside of our galaxy!!!!..cool!) ourselves as they are constantly used every night for (real :-) ) scientific research. But it was impressive to see the tools and hear something about their daily work!
That was our highlight of our last days....
Beside that we saw some pinguins, dolphins, sea lions, deserts, mountains, valleys, the sea, a lot of cactuses, cities, autobuses from within, pisco plants (pisco is the national beverage here..it´s alcohol made out of grapes..a bit like Grappa but much sweeter - see link!)...so we are not getting bored :-)
View our new photos if you like: Uspallata & Valparaiso !
Kisses Renate & Mirko
Kisses Renate & Mirko
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Crossing the Andes into Chile
Hallo all of you!
We are in Chile now! Exactly in Valparaiso at the coast near Santiago de Chile.
We crossed the border to Chile via a pass in the andes. The frontier lies in an altitude of about 3.900m, more or less exactly in the middle of the andes. before crossing the border we spent a few more days on the argentinian side, in "Uspallata" -> which we ourselves pronounced like:"Uspajata" but the argentinians pronounce like: "schpaschata"... a fact which became especially interesting at the moment we wanted to buy the bustickets, asked whether this bus in front of us would be the right bus to take, or if we are already there or not, if we should get off the bus here :-) .... but it was worth the effort!
The valley is really wonderful! In the background there were the andes, with a bit of snow on it´s mountain tops and in the foreground the green valley with trees covered with yellow leaves (here it´s already autumn) ... and a perfectly blue sky. The air was rather cold but with the sun it was agreable. One day we did a trip to a viewpoint exactly at the border between Chile and Argentinia (altitude: 4.100m) with an incredible view both into vallys in chile and argentinia. And another day we did a "horse riding excursion" through the incredible scenery of the valley.
Two perfect days, really. :-)
We send you best regards, hope you are all well!
Renate & Mirko
We are in Chile now! Exactly in Valparaiso at the coast near Santiago de Chile.
We crossed the border to Chile via a pass in the andes. The frontier lies in an altitude of about 3.900m, more or less exactly in the middle of the andes. before crossing the border we spent a few more days on the argentinian side, in "Uspallata" -> which we ourselves pronounced like:"Uspajata" but the argentinians pronounce like: "schpaschata"... a fact which became especially interesting at the moment we wanted to buy the bustickets, asked whether this bus in front of us would be the right bus to take, or if we are already there or not, if we should get off the bus here :-) .... but it was worth the effort!
The valley is really wonderful! In the background there were the andes, with a bit of snow on it´s mountain tops and in the foreground the green valley with trees covered with yellow leaves (here it´s already autumn) ... and a perfectly blue sky. The air was rather cold but with the sun it was agreable. One day we did a trip to a viewpoint exactly at the border between Chile and Argentinia (altitude: 4.100m) with an incredible view both into vallys in chile and argentinia. And another day we did a "horse riding excursion" through the incredible scenery of the valley.
Two perfect days, really. :-)
We send you best regards, hope you are all well!
Renate & Mirko
Monday, 16 April 2007
Salta to Mendoza
Hallo,
in the last few days we have first travelled from Salta to San Augustin, where we vistied two National parks: NP Ischigualasti and NP Talampaya. Both of them were very impressive.
National park Ischigualasti is also called "Valle de la luna" (Tal des Mondes) and that is exactly what it looks like: like the images you have of what the moon probably looks like. Within the "Valle de la Luna" they have and are still discovering many fossils of dinosaurs.
The second park was more or less a small valley in between of two very high, nearly vertical walls of red stone on your right and left side of 100 - 140 meters! Cool!
Both national parks are "deserts" from the meteorological point of view and we can wholeheartedly agree considering the heat.
After that we continued our way to Mendoza where were are at the moment. The weather is fine, although autumn has already started, and we wander around the pedestrian zones and drink coffee in the streets thinking about our next steps.
At the moment we are a bit at a loss how to continue. At the end of april we need to be in Santiago de Chile as our flight to the Easter Islands leaves on the 1.5. So we have about 2 weeks time to spend in between ...yes, there is a lot to do... but WHICH of the possibilities shall we choose .... I know we have a hard life here with extremely hard decisions to take ... ;-)
[Only today I said to Mirko: "Hey! Today is monday and we don´t have to sit in the office ...hehe ... We know you love us nonetheless :-) ]
Thinking of all of you! De verdad!
Kisses Renate & Mirko
in the last few days we have first travelled from Salta to San Augustin, where we vistied two National parks: NP Ischigualasti and NP Talampaya. Both of them were very impressive.
National park Ischigualasti is also called "Valle de la luna" (Tal des Mondes) and that is exactly what it looks like: like the images you have of what the moon probably looks like. Within the "Valle de la Luna" they have and are still discovering many fossils of dinosaurs.
The second park was more or less a small valley in between of two very high, nearly vertical walls of red stone on your right and left side of 100 - 140 meters! Cool!
Both national parks are "deserts" from the meteorological point of view and we can wholeheartedly agree considering the heat.
After that we continued our way to Mendoza where were are at the moment. The weather is fine, although autumn has already started, and we wander around the pedestrian zones and drink coffee in the streets thinking about our next steps.
At the moment we are a bit at a loss how to continue. At the end of april we need to be in Santiago de Chile as our flight to the Easter Islands leaves on the 1.5. So we have about 2 weeks time to spend in between ...yes, there is a lot to do... but WHICH of the possibilities shall we choose .... I know we have a hard life here with extremely hard decisions to take ... ;-)
[Only today I said to Mirko: "Hey! Today is monday and we don´t have to sit in the office ...hehe ... We know you love us nonetheless :-) ]
Thinking of all of you! De verdad!
Kisses Renate & Mirko
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
Salta and surroundings
Hallo,
we spent the last days in Salta and travelling through the surrounding area. When I say "surrounding" I really mean about 300 km up north and 200 km down south ... the landscape are is so vast, it´s unbelievable. We travelled through incredible wide and beautiful landscapes, valleys and mountains and came through "villages" with 1 house (maybe 4 souls :-) ) to the regional capital of 5000 souls (about 100 houses?) ... but most of them were about 4-10 houses.. and in between were km of km with NOTHING but LANDSCAPE! .. beautiful, impressive, astounding, incredible LANDSCAPE ...
these last 6 days costed me about 6 film-rolls.... and Mirko about 300MB of memory card ... but one could not resist the temptation!! every 5 minutes we stopped the car to "stare in wonder" .. and to take pictures!
The landscape was formed mostly by gigantic stone formations of every kind, colour and texture ... but then again we came through green valleys just to reach again sandy, stony grounds dotted by a few bushes ..
and everything was sooooooo vast and sooooo empty ... as far as the eye could reach .... !!!!
I have never before seen so much land and so few people and life .... !!
We were very, very impressed and enjoyed these days very much!
Unfortunately, we, again, are not able to provide you with pictures at the moment ... as much as we would want to share a few with you, really ... missing USB-connection on the local PCs.... :-(
We hope to be able to show you again some pictures soon... maybe in the next big city...
We send you best regards ! Hope you are fine and guess you can enjoy spring in germany/Austria as well!
Renate & Mirko
we spent the last days in Salta and travelling through the surrounding area. When I say "surrounding" I really mean about 300 km up north and 200 km down south ... the landscape are is so vast, it´s unbelievable. We travelled through incredible wide and beautiful landscapes, valleys and mountains and came through "villages" with 1 house (maybe 4 souls :-) ) to the regional capital of 5000 souls (about 100 houses?) ... but most of them were about 4-10 houses.. and in between were km of km with NOTHING but LANDSCAPE! .. beautiful, impressive, astounding, incredible LANDSCAPE ...
these last 6 days costed me about 6 film-rolls.... and Mirko about 300MB of memory card ... but one could not resist the temptation!! every 5 minutes we stopped the car to "stare in wonder" .. and to take pictures!
The landscape was formed mostly by gigantic stone formations of every kind, colour and texture ... but then again we came through green valleys just to reach again sandy, stony grounds dotted by a few bushes ..
and everything was sooooooo vast and sooooo empty ... as far as the eye could reach .... !!!!
I have never before seen so much land and so few people and life .... !!
We were very, very impressed and enjoyed these days very much!
Unfortunately, we, again, are not able to provide you with pictures at the moment ... as much as we would want to share a few with you, really ... missing USB-connection on the local PCs.... :-(
We hope to be able to show you again some pictures soon... maybe in the next big city...
We send you best regards ! Hope you are fine and guess you can enjoy spring in germany/Austria as well!
Renate & Mirko
Friday, 6 April 2007
Puerto Iguazu - waterfalls
Hallo,
After having spent 2 days in Rosario - which were not so good because it was raining again all the time - we travelled north to Puerto Iguazu to take a look at the famous waterfalls. We had to make another night-ride by bus to reach puerto iguazu at the very north of argentinia right at the border to brasilia. The falls are situated exactly at the border (the river is in fact the borderline).
We were lucky and had two days without rain to visit the waterfalls! JIPIIIEH! And the falls were very impressive!! Although we got wet again, but this time by the water from the falls :-) which we welcomed because it had about 40 degrees..
We visited both the argentinian and the brasilian side and I was very impressed (Mirko has seen all of that before but liked it nonetheless)!
The next day it was raining again and a good time to leave...so we took the bus to san ignacio to posada to resistencia to roque sunaz to salta (we really had to change the bus thus often .. uff!) and it took us two days and one night in the bus to get there ...uff! uff! (and they showed "Ghost rider" as a video on the bus.. anybody who know what THAT means ? check the program of the cinema for more information ;-) )
Now we are in Salta, which we like because it has a nice athmosphere and bulidings colonial style. From here we want to explore the area around Salta with its spectacular landscapes and small, beautiful villages - so they say - by bus and by car during the next week.
We will check whether this is true... hear you again next week!
Kisses and regars, Renate & Mirko
P.S: We know you are longing for pictures, no? But technical problems prevent us from providing them for you.. at the moment ... we are working on it. Sorry for the inconveniences ;-)
After having spent 2 days in Rosario - which were not so good because it was raining again all the time - we travelled north to Puerto Iguazu to take a look at the famous waterfalls. We had to make another night-ride by bus to reach puerto iguazu at the very north of argentinia right at the border to brasilia. The falls are situated exactly at the border (the river is in fact the borderline).
We were lucky and had two days without rain to visit the waterfalls! JIPIIIEH! And the falls were very impressive!! Although we got wet again, but this time by the water from the falls :-) which we welcomed because it had about 40 degrees..
We visited both the argentinian and the brasilian side and I was very impressed (Mirko has seen all of that before but liked it nonetheless)!
The next day it was raining again and a good time to leave...so we took the bus to san ignacio to posada to resistencia to roque sunaz to salta (we really had to change the bus thus often .. uff!) and it took us two days and one night in the bus to get there ...uff! uff! (and they showed "Ghost rider" as a video on the bus.. anybody who know what THAT means ? check the program of the cinema for more information ;-) )
Now we are in Salta, which we like because it has a nice athmosphere and bulidings colonial style. From here we want to explore the area around Salta with its spectacular landscapes and small, beautiful villages - so they say - by bus and by car during the next week.
We will check whether this is true... hear you again next week!
Kisses and regars, Renate & Mirko
P.S: We know you are longing for pictures, no? But technical problems prevent us from providing them for you.. at the moment ... we are working on it. Sorry for the inconveniences ;-)
Thursday, 29 March 2007
Buenos Aires & Montevideo
Hallo,
The last week/days we have been in Buenos Aires. It´s a bustling city and we enjoyed our stay very much. On the last day there was public holiday for political reasons and there was a big demonstration of all political parties in the streets of the center of B.A. It was a big spectacle with thousands of people, music, dancing, flags etc... it was interesting to watch.
We also spent one evening in a nice artist cafe to watch "the argentinian tango" being danced by professionals. That was great as well although we decided to stay with salsa :-).
After that we went by bus overnight to Montevideo in Uruguay. We arrived on sunday and the city was nearly "lifeless". Cafes and restaurants as well as all shops were closed down, nobody and no car, nearly nothing in the streets.. it was kind of earty for a capital.. we were also a bit disappointed by the architecture. There were some old colonial buildings - although nearly ruinous - but most of the buildings were unsighty buildings from recent years.
On monday the life was back again in the city ... we felt a bit more comfortable, but still I am disappointed... then we went back to Argentinia via the small town "Colonia" in Uruguay which was very nice but by that the unstoppable rain has already started and since the day before yesterday it hasn´t stopped raining once.
We are now back in Argentinia, in Rosario, but it is still raining which seems to be the best breeding and living conditions for thousands of mosquitos lurking in hotelrooms and in the streets ... :-(
They say "it never rained so much in the last years like now" and the fields and rivers are flooded .. great! :-( ... so we try to keep up the good mood and will continue to travel northward to the "Iguacu waterfalls".
Best regards to all of you! We haven´t heard a lot of you lately - (have you forgotten about us already?) - so tell us how you are at home!
Renate & Mirko
The last week/days we have been in Buenos Aires. It´s a bustling city and we enjoyed our stay very much. On the last day there was public holiday for political reasons and there was a big demonstration of all political parties in the streets of the center of B.A. It was a big spectacle with thousands of people, music, dancing, flags etc... it was interesting to watch.
We also spent one evening in a nice artist cafe to watch "the argentinian tango" being danced by professionals. That was great as well although we decided to stay with salsa :-).
After that we went by bus overnight to Montevideo in Uruguay. We arrived on sunday and the city was nearly "lifeless". Cafes and restaurants as well as all shops were closed down, nobody and no car, nearly nothing in the streets.. it was kind of earty for a capital.. we were also a bit disappointed by the architecture. There were some old colonial buildings - although nearly ruinous - but most of the buildings were unsighty buildings from recent years.
On monday the life was back again in the city ... we felt a bit more comfortable, but still I am disappointed... then we went back to Argentinia via the small town "Colonia" in Uruguay which was very nice but by that the unstoppable rain has already started and since the day before yesterday it hasn´t stopped raining once.
We are now back in Argentinia, in Rosario, but it is still raining which seems to be the best breeding and living conditions for thousands of mosquitos lurking in hotelrooms and in the streets ... :-(
They say "it never rained so much in the last years like now" and the fields and rivers are flooded .. great! :-( ... so we try to keep up the good mood and will continue to travel northward to the "Iguacu waterfalls".
Best regards to all of you! We haven´t heard a lot of you lately - (have you forgotten about us already?) - so tell us how you are at home!
Renate & Mirko
Monday, 26 March 2007
day 50 of our journey ...
DAY 50 of our journey!!
unbelievable and we still don´t miss working! and we don´t miss "schnitzel" or "rote gruetze" ;-)
let´s summarize:
what we do:
- we use only about 4 differnt things of our luggage (1 t-shirt, pants, insect repellent and book) as those are the things which are easily accesible within our backpack.. all other things are deeper down and we got much too lazy to unpack our bags every time we would need something from deep within... considering this we could easily throw away all that stuff as well.
we even wash the socks overnight to put them on the next morning again, which seems easier than fishing for new within the backpack...
- we refuse to speak english in order to stand out against the ordenary tourist, which sometimes is a real battle of nations: the latinos proud to show off with their little english and we stubbornly answering in spanish (to show off with our little spanish of course :-) )
- we still don´t give up our hope of getting a good coffee sometimes, somewhere ... but at the moment we can only report one really good coffee wich nearly(!) tasted like one in Vienna in Bariloche (judge and jury: Renate as expert flown in from Vienna).
- we finally gave in to adopting some of the argentinian-spanish pronunciation (their "che") because we don´t want to say everything twice before they understand what we mean (calle, pollo, caballo, semilla, ella ;-) )
- we miss you all!
- we still marvle at the amount of differnt things and people, wonders of nature and hundred of new things we see everyday!
what we don´t:
- we no longer take any rooms next to shared bathrooms, kitchens, without windows, with bad mattrasses, without enough space to put both of our bags into the room and still being able to put a feet on the ground as well...
- we don´t get excited any more when crossing the border between chile, argentinia, uruguay, argentinia, chile, argentinia, chile....
- we don´t expect any shop, cafeteria, office, museum etc to be open before 10 am
- we don´t even think one second of: work, SAP or offices
- we don´t think we have had enough by now.....
Renate & Mirko
unbelievable and we still don´t miss working! and we don´t miss "schnitzel" or "rote gruetze" ;-)
let´s summarize:
what we do:
- we use only about 4 differnt things of our luggage (1 t-shirt, pants, insect repellent and book) as those are the things which are easily accesible within our backpack.. all other things are deeper down and we got much too lazy to unpack our bags every time we would need something from deep within... considering this we could easily throw away all that stuff as well.
we even wash the socks overnight to put them on the next morning again, which seems easier than fishing for new within the backpack...
- we refuse to speak english in order to stand out against the ordenary tourist, which sometimes is a real battle of nations: the latinos proud to show off with their little english and we stubbornly answering in spanish (to show off with our little spanish of course :-) )
- we still don´t give up our hope of getting a good coffee sometimes, somewhere ... but at the moment we can only report one really good coffee wich nearly(!) tasted like one in Vienna in Bariloche (judge and jury: Renate as expert flown in from Vienna).
- we finally gave in to adopting some of the argentinian-spanish pronunciation (their "che") because we don´t want to say everything twice before they understand what we mean (calle, pollo, caballo, semilla, ella ;-) )
- we miss you all!
- we still marvle at the amount of differnt things and people, wonders of nature and hundred of new things we see everyday!
what we don´t:
- we no longer take any rooms next to shared bathrooms, kitchens, without windows, with bad mattrasses, without enough space to put both of our bags into the room and still being able to put a feet on the ground as well...
- we don´t get excited any more when crossing the border between chile, argentinia, uruguay, argentinia, chile, argentinia, chile....
- we don´t expect any shop, cafeteria, office, museum etc to be open before 10 am
- we don´t even think one second of: work, SAP or offices
- we don´t think we have had enough by now.....
Renate & Mirko
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Nationalparc "Vulcan Lanin"
Hallo!
Last week we spent 3 nights camping in national parc "Vulcan Lanin" which was phantastic! We had good luck with the weather and spent 3 days nearly without clouds and a clear blues sky. Always in the background of the landscape there was vulcan lanin which was shaped like a perfect cone with a snow top. the nature was wonderful! really! we went trekking and relaxed in the evening sun reading and sleeping. We even went bathing in the lake - which was rather cold but that was the only possibility to "take a shower" :-)
In this weather camping actually is fun ! When we woke up we opened the tent and could see the vulcan bathed in the yellow light of the rising sun from our sleeping bags! chi! :-)
Unfortunatley here on this computer we cannot upload any images, but we will deliver them later to make you jealous ....
Now we are in Buenos Aires, visiting the bustling city at nice warm weather. The thousands of people, cars, buses and shops now are the total opposite of the national park before where we met about 5 people a day with nothing which looked like a shop in any way. :-)
Let`s see if we find some argentinian tango-event tonight.
We hope you are all fine and send you best regards and kisses from Bunos Aires.
Renate & Mirko
Last week we spent 3 nights camping in national parc "Vulcan Lanin" which was phantastic! We had good luck with the weather and spent 3 days nearly without clouds and a clear blues sky. Always in the background of the landscape there was vulcan lanin which was shaped like a perfect cone with a snow top. the nature was wonderful! really! we went trekking and relaxed in the evening sun reading and sleeping. We even went bathing in the lake - which was rather cold but that was the only possibility to "take a shower" :-)
In this weather camping actually is fun ! When we woke up we opened the tent and could see the vulcan bathed in the yellow light of the rising sun from our sleeping bags! chi! :-)
Unfortunatley here on this computer we cannot upload any images, but we will deliver them later to make you jealous ....
Now we are in Buenos Aires, visiting the bustling city at nice warm weather. The thousands of people, cars, buses and shops now are the total opposite of the national park before where we met about 5 people a day with nothing which looked like a shop in any way. :-)
Let`s see if we find some argentinian tango-event tonight.
We hope you are all fine and send you best regards and kisses from Bunos Aires.
Renate & Mirko
Saturday, 17 March 2007
Chiloe
just a short entry with some pictures from Chiloe. A nice "little" Island in Chile or better it's a group of ilsands...with most of the houses made out of wood and lots of wooden churches and lot of good seafood (huge oyster for 70Cent a piece :-) ) it was a pleasant change from all the mountains and plains we have seen in Patagonia ... now we are back in the Argentinia ... Bariloche .. which actually locks a bit like in Switzerland ... we would have had this even w/o going around half of the world :-) tomorrow we head of to the Lanin National Park to make a hike around the Volcano which gave the park it's name ... at least there are no Volcanoes we know in Switzerland :-)
Mirko & Renate
Mirko & Renate
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
back on land - Puerto Montt
Finally, after 3 days/4 nights on a ship bopping up and down on the waves, we are now back on solid ground and tonight we can sleep in a double bed again, instead of two tiny beds in a very small cabin which we shared with two more people ... they put an Dutch/Swiss couple together with an Austrian/German ... and it worked out very good .. it was actually very nice!
Basically the weather on this trip was bad and worse: rainy, cold with a lot of clouds and only sometimes one could imagine with a lot of phantasy that the nature around us would have been really wonderful with sunshine. bad luck!
One of the nights the sea was very turbulant and rough when traversing the "Golfo de Penas" (Golf of Pain) - and the name was not exaggerating - we thought we would be rolled out of our beds. Renate was fighting agains the sea-sickness by "meditating" :-) and Mirko achieved the same result after 2h of REAL PAIN by getting rid of all available alimentation in his body on our toilet ;-) ...
With us on board were hundreds of sheep, horses and cows .. I dont know how these poor creatures survived withouth being able to throw up :-)
... inspite of the bad weather and the fact that we were reminded 3 times each meal to return the tray to "the door behind the self-service" :-) it was an experience worth taking ...
At the moment we are on the island Chiloe which kind of resembles Irland ....
We send the best regards to all of you!
Renate & Mirko
... check the link for pictures ...
Thursday, 8 March 2007
just a quick entry ...
View our new photos!! JUCHUUU!
-> National Park "Los Glaciares"
-> Trip north - Cuevas de Las Manos
-> Peninsula Valdes
:-)
Today we are boarding the ship for our 4 day trip north to "puerto Montt" along the chilenian fjords... at the moment the weather is fine.. hope this will stay so....
whish you all the best and we are looking forward to hearing from you again, when we again touch chilenian ground in 4 days! :-)
Renate & Mirko
-> National Park "Los Glaciares"
-> Trip north - Cuevas de Las Manos
-> Peninsula Valdes
:-)
Today we are boarding the ship for our 4 day trip north to "puerto Montt" along the chilenian fjords... at the moment the weather is fine.. hope this will stay so....
whish you all the best and we are looking forward to hearing from you again, when we again touch chilenian ground in 4 days! :-)
Renate & Mirko
Saturday, 3 March 2007
fleeing the cold by heading north
After the cold of the national parks we slowly went a bit further north to escape the cold for a moment. Unfortunately (hm.. more or less :-) ) we need to be down there on the 8.3. again to step onto the boat we booked for a 4 days trip north along the chilenian fjords, which we booked earlier..
but in between we have now passed days heading north:
first we reached the east cost (piedra buena) where we wanted to visit nationalpark monte leon which is famous for a special rock fomation (unsere gute "olla" ) which looks like a giant ring of rock ..but in piedra buena they told us that this famous ring has collapsed last september... aha... hm...
so we continued to san julian where we could see .. NOTHING... hm... a town which really was so uninteresting...unbelievable.
then we did a day trip to an "estancia" with an excursion to caves with cave-paintings dating back 13.000 years.. this was really interesting! finally.. a successful mission again :-) ...
then we continued with a long nights bus drive up north to puerto madryn, where there is the national park "peninsula valdes" to be visited.
When we stepped off the bus yesterday we were so happy.. it was warm!!! JIPIIIIIEEHHH! we could walk without jackets and we saw people bathing in the sea and walking without shoes... woooowww..... today we could wear short trousers, t-shirt and sandals! perfect! we took a bike to view a colony of sea-lions which was sooo exciting.. they were.. all sleeping.... !!!! double-woooowww ;-)
on the way back mirko had a flat tire (.... too much chocolate ?? ;-) ) and we had to walk halfway back....
however: it was warm and sunny and we enjoyed the day very much!
we will drive south again on wednesday.... hear you!!!
Kisses! Renate & Mirko
but in between we have now passed days heading north:
first we reached the east cost (piedra buena) where we wanted to visit nationalpark monte leon which is famous for a special rock fomation (unsere gute "olla" ) which looks like a giant ring of rock ..but in piedra buena they told us that this famous ring has collapsed last september... aha... hm...
so we continued to san julian where we could see .. NOTHING... hm... a town which really was so uninteresting...unbelievable.
then we did a day trip to an "estancia" with an excursion to caves with cave-paintings dating back 13.000 years.. this was really interesting! finally.. a successful mission again :-) ...
then we continued with a long nights bus drive up north to puerto madryn, where there is the national park "peninsula valdes" to be visited.
When we stepped off the bus yesterday we were so happy.. it was warm!!! JIPIIIIIEEHHH! we could walk without jackets and we saw people bathing in the sea and walking without shoes... woooowww..... today we could wear short trousers, t-shirt and sandals! perfect! we took a bike to view a colony of sea-lions which was sooo exciting.. they were.. all sleeping.... !!!! double-woooowww ;-)
on the way back mirko had a flat tire (.... too much chocolate ?? ;-) ) and we had to walk halfway back....
however: it was warm and sunny and we enjoyed the day very much!
we will drive south again on wednesday.... hear you!!!
Kisses! Renate & Mirko
Nationalpark "Los Glaciares"
Hallo, a bit late but better than never :-) .... we have completed our trekking in national park "Los Glaciares" where we did not have so much luck than in Torres del Paine. The weather was bad, bad, bad, bad and bad: it was freezing cold, windy, raining and snowing. The first day when we arrived there was no cloud in the sky and we were so happy to see Fity Roy and Cerro Torre with blue sky. Confidently we thought this would stay this way for the next days... haha... far off... when we woke up the next day, already having packed out bags for the trekking it was raining and the clouds were so thick that we could not see very far out of our window... :-( so we decided to delay our trekking start for one day... but the next day was the same... nearly.. maybe that little bit better than the day before so that we decided to take the chance...and hoped that it would clear and as soon as we arrived at the camp site of the first trekking day blue sky will be over us ... haha... during our walking it started snowing and the wind was so strong that our hands, noses and everything nearly froze! Nevertheless we errected our tent in a new time-record (it was so damn cold!!!!!) and were inside of our sleeping bags so fast...I was freezing really and had (for medical reasons :-)) eat nearly all our chocolate, muesliriegel and other sweet stuff (Mirko forgot to bring the nuts!!!! aaaahhh!) to reach some body temperature near to normal. I was so hungry, it was incredible! after a first warm-up we dared to get our again to cook a meal...brrrrrr... a big portion of rice for each of us... then back again into the tent and sleeping bag... no sun, only snow... and snow falling on the tent really makes a strange and uncomforting sound... let me tell you! in the morning of the next day it hat stopped snowing but it was still freezing cold and no sun or blue sky whatsoever.. also no mountains to see... we decided to give up and go back... no use hanging around here any longer (and remember: I ate nearly all of our sweets-proviant for the whole trek on the first day ;-) ) ... so back... but then mirko decided to go up to a mirador (viewpoint of Fitz Roy) at least to justify the effort to come here.. although there were still clouds... I didn`t... I went back directly.. we met later back in town in the hotel... where it was so cosy and warm!!! aahhh!!!
let me tell you the following which we want to share with you:
1) warm feet put into cold shoes -> result in cold feet immediately
2) there are a lot more of crazy people like us who camp out in the wilderness at snowfall than we thought
3) cold water takes a long time to reach boiling point but gets cold again quicker than you can make the first gulp of your tea
4) noses and hands OUT of sleeping bags get frozen off in no time
5) sleeping with a cap on result in uncontrollable weary hair in the next morning
6) cold hands touching mirko result in very loud cries and strong efforts to get me off... :-)
so....lesson closed... that was the trekking part... :-)
Renate y Mirko
let me tell you the following which we want to share with you:
1) warm feet put into cold shoes -> result in cold feet immediately
2) there are a lot more of crazy people like us who camp out in the wilderness at snowfall than we thought
3) cold water takes a long time to reach boiling point but gets cold again quicker than you can make the first gulp of your tea
4) noses and hands OUT of sleeping bags get frozen off in no time
5) sleeping with a cap on result in uncontrollable weary hair in the next morning
6) cold hands touching mirko result in very loud cries and strong efforts to get me off... :-)
so....lesson closed... that was the trekking part... :-)
Renate y Mirko
Friday, 23 February 2007
leisure time at "el calafate"
Hi, yes it is us again. If you think we have nothing else to do.. you are right... today we have "free time" in the afternoon :-) ... in the morning we visited "glacier perito moreno" another glacier which is very big. but in contrary to the one we saw in the national park we didn´t have to sweat and work for it, but instead we were carried there by a tourist bus (iiiiiiihhhh!!) yes, indeed but there is no other possiblity here because this town seems to be created entirely for tourists visting this famous glacier, which may not miss from any travel itinerary of every tourist tour... the average age is about 50, the prices are high for everything: buses, hotels, food... so we will continue tomorrow as soon as possible to "El Chalten", which is still "touristy" but the starting point for a trek in the national park "los glaciares" where we want to trek arount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre.. if the weather is fine and allows trekking.
Yesterday we decided to save money by using the local campground instead of an expensive hotel (of which we thought we were now used to ;-) - an idea which we regretted bitterly later - and instead spend all our daily budget on food ...hehe.... Mirko had on of these mega thick beef-steaks and I had a very good and exotic salad in a very nice restaurant.... mmmmhhh...
today we changed the plan and will sleep in a hostal instead... :-)
wish you a nice weekend!
Renate y Mirko
Yesterday we decided to save money by using the local campground instead of an expensive hotel (of which we thought we were now used to ;-) - an idea which we regretted bitterly later - and instead spend all our daily budget on food ...hehe.... Mirko had on of these mega thick beef-steaks and I had a very good and exotic salad in a very nice restaurant.... mmmmhhh...
today we changed the plan and will sleep in a hostal instead... :-)
wish you a nice weekend!
Renate y Mirko
Thursday, 22 February 2007
after 8 days of trekking...
Hi all of you! We are back to civilization! JUCHU! and we would have a whole lot to tell. But to keep it short and readable: The nature was GREAT, we saw the biggest glacier we have ever seen in our lifes and probably ever will ... it was very, very impressing! additionally the scenery as a whole in the national park was really great! and we were lucky concerning the weather: mostly sunshine, some clouds, one night rain and about 20 minutes kind of "snowfall", at times very, very windy what made the temperature - which as a whole was not very high - at times unbearable cold! the "dark side" of the trek were big swarms of mega-mosquitos attacking us longing for our blood, a REALLY heavy bag (all the food for eight days (all the chocolate for Mirko and hundreds of apples for Renate ;-) ) , the warm clothes, the cooking utensiles, tent etc... after the second day we were really fighting against moral problems during walking with the heavy weight pressing agains our shoulders and hips.
All together we hiked a distance of 123km and covered an altitude difference of about 4000m (up and down).
The trek was relatively smooth and easy to follow but at times a kind of climbing over big stones and roots, wading through marches and finding your way in and out of holes and hopping over rivers and streams.
But after all we think that is was really worth it... view our pictures with the link, I think you will agree!
After a recreational night in a more expensive hotel (hot shower...WOW !) we will continue to "El Calafate" today, planning to view glacier "Perito Moreno" and do another trek around mountain Fitz Roy of about 4 days.
So maybe there will again pass some time till we reach internet again to create a new entry.
We hope you are all well and send you kisses and many, many regards! Don´t forget to write us, we like to hear from you!
Renate & Mirko
All together we hiked a distance of 123km and covered an altitude difference of about 4000m (up and down).
The trek was relatively smooth and easy to follow but at times a kind of climbing over big stones and roots, wading through marches and finding your way in and out of holes and hopping over rivers and streams.
But after all we think that is was really worth it... view our pictures with the link, I think you will agree!
After a recreational night in a more expensive hotel (hot shower...WOW !) we will continue to "El Calafate" today, planning to view glacier "Perito Moreno" and do another trek around mountain Fitz Roy of about 4 days.
So maybe there will again pass some time till we reach internet again to create a new entry.
We hope you are all well and send you kisses and many, many regards! Don´t forget to write us, we like to hear from you!
Renate & Mirko
Sunday, 11 February 2007
from Tierra de Fuego to Patagonia
Hallo to all of you,
after a very nice trip to Laguna Esmeralda we went by bus to Punta Arenas crossing the chilenian border. We managed to smuggle three apples into Chile !! ha! :-)
Into our diary we could add "broken bus", "long waiting time in the middle of nowhere", "crossing the "estrecho de magellanes" with blue sky and nothing but sun on a ferry", "viewing dolphins from the boat" and "a night at a hostal-bed which our orthopaedist woul not have approved of" including "the devlopment of creative mechanical skills in order to take a shower" ...
Here in Punta Arenas we enjoy sunshine, blue sky and walking around in T-shirts ... just three days after the snowstorm in ushaia... incredible!
Tomorrow we will proceed to Puerto Natales directly continuing to the National park "Torres del Paine" where we plan to do a 8 day trek through the park to test our endurance and ability to share a VERY VERY small tent :-)
For our parents: this means we will not be able to give any notice till we return (give us some more time than 8 days just to make sure we can manage to reach an internet cafe, instead of invading a chilenian home in quest for a computer)
For all others: I know you will hardly make it without out entries ... but don´t despair ..we´ll come back! :-)
Renate & Mirko
after a very nice trip to Laguna Esmeralda we went by bus to Punta Arenas crossing the chilenian border. We managed to smuggle three apples into Chile !! ha! :-)
Into our diary we could add "broken bus", "long waiting time in the middle of nowhere", "crossing the "estrecho de magellanes" with blue sky and nothing but sun on a ferry", "viewing dolphins from the boat" and "a night at a hostal-bed which our orthopaedist woul not have approved of" including "the devlopment of creative mechanical skills in order to take a shower" ...
Here in Punta Arenas we enjoy sunshine, blue sky and walking around in T-shirts ... just three days after the snowstorm in ushaia... incredible!
Tomorrow we will proceed to Puerto Natales directly continuing to the National park "Torres del Paine" where we plan to do a 8 day trek through the park to test our endurance and ability to share a VERY VERY small tent :-)
For our parents: this means we will not be able to give any notice till we return (give us some more time than 8 days just to make sure we can manage to reach an internet cafe, instead of invading a chilenian home in quest for a computer)
For all others: I know you will hardly make it without out entries ... but don´t despair ..we´ll come back! :-)
Renate & Mirko
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Finally reached Ushuaia
we made it! or "the airline made it" .. we really reached ushaia yesterday and - although nobody really believed it - also our luggage !!! ... and what a good thing THAT was !! ... because here the ("so-called" - haha) summer presents itself with steady rainfall, snowfall and/or strong wind. We are still not sure which combination is worse. Ok, I must admit, not to do unjustice.. we have seen the sun at least ..hm... 5 minutes.... ok...6 minutes.. behinde clouds ... but that´s the maximum! in the shop windows they have signs saying "summer outlet" ???? are they crazy ??
today we did a trip to a glacier... but there was such heavy snowfall, so many clouds and fog that we actually could not differenciate between the lying snow and ..was there also some ice somewhere.. a glacier ?? hm ?? ... also the "incredible" view mentioned in the guide turned out to be one of about 3 meters for us. but we decided to see it postive... at least it was a check of the equipment .. and here we really can report something positive.... we were warm and dry beneath our ten layers of cloth, functional wear and rainproof overclothes... fairly good, no ? :-)
But we are full of hope for better weather .. I mean.. hey... if they managed to bring out luggage, everything is possible, even wonders, and maybe from tomorrow on the sun will shine .... :-)
Therefore - full of hope, or still overmotivated - we have planned to do another day-trek to "laguna esmeralda" tomorrow to check out whether the promising name can also be veryfied under worst thinkable conditions of heavy snowfall and fog. Maybe we can see the water if we put our face real close to the surface of the lake .. probably will stumble into it.. but... testing the quality of the gear is always a good thing :-)
I hope you all feel nice and cosy now in your warm offices and flats... you are welcome ..I always feel glad if I can help :-)
we send you a lot of regards and hope you are all fine !!!!!!! xxxx kisses
Renate
today we did a trip to a glacier... but there was such heavy snowfall, so many clouds and fog that we actually could not differenciate between the lying snow and ..was there also some ice somewhere.. a glacier ?? hm ?? ... also the "incredible" view mentioned in the guide turned out to be one of about 3 meters for us. but we decided to see it postive... at least it was a check of the equipment .. and here we really can report something positive.... we were warm and dry beneath our ten layers of cloth, functional wear and rainproof overclothes... fairly good, no ? :-)
But we are full of hope for better weather .. I mean.. hey... if they managed to bring out luggage, everything is possible, even wonders, and maybe from tomorrow on the sun will shine .... :-)
Therefore - full of hope, or still overmotivated - we have planned to do another day-trek to "laguna esmeralda" tomorrow to check out whether the promising name can also be veryfied under worst thinkable conditions of heavy snowfall and fog. Maybe we can see the water if we put our face real close to the surface of the lake .. probably will stumble into it.. but... testing the quality of the gear is always a good thing :-)
I hope you all feel nice and cosy now in your warm offices and flats... you are welcome ..I always feel glad if I can help :-)
we send you a lot of regards and hope you are all fine !!!!!!! xxxx kisses
Renate
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Buenos Aires ... w/o luggage
actually we should have been in Ushuaia by now but yet again Aereolinas Argentinas "wanted" to pay a hotel for us and so we are going to stay one night in Buenos Aires ... after 12 h flight and about 2 h waiting time for the information that there is no flight today and which hotel we are going to stay this night .. btw it is "Hotel Presidente" ... we realized that WE are at least on the right continent and even in the right country but unfortunately nobody could tell us where our luggage is :-( ... they just were very confident that it will arive tomorrow and with some luck it will even arive in Ushuaia ... with us ... HaHa ... at least we got 100 $ :-) in order not to wear the same cloth the third day ... tomorrow we are going to buy some T-shirts as we still are in winter cloths and here it has about 25 degrees ... and then we hope to finally reach Ushuaia .. let`s cross fingers that our luggage finds the way too ...
Mirko
Mirko
Monday, 5 February 2007
unvoluntary change of plans ... we are still in Madrid
if someone is wondering ...yes, you are right ! ... we should have been in the airplane heading for Buenos Aires by now .... but instead we are here in a hotel in madrid relaxing with good food and red wine makeing friends with hundreds of other passengers who hoped that they would fly today ..haha...flight was cancelled ... but we are relaxed, knowing that we have more than enough time left, even if we fly tomorrow morning and as Mirko said: "This will probably be the best hotel in the next six month" .. how true... four stars... we¨ll never see this again anytime soon.... unfortunately we are not able to use the pool or the fitness room here in the hotel as our luggage is ... S O M E W H E R E ... ??? ... we were told that it will "surely" arrive in ushuaia.... double HAHA..... long live "Visa insurance" which will hopefully pay for the sex toys we will need to kill the waiting time .... tripel HA HA...... :-)
however we are now going to have one or two drinks in the hotel bar (let´s see if Aerolinea Argentina will pay for this as well :-) ) -> we need alcohol to forget the fact that we are going to miss our connecting flight to ushuaia as well which means another day waiting for the next "connection flight" ( I want to meet the person who invented the idom "connectiong flight" personally ...at night... in a dark street ... - very funny ... ) we will try again to catch a "real" flight tomorrow morning ...
summarization of day 1:
negative: cancelled flight
positive: good room, good food instead of airplane junk food, big bed, nice day in madrid
-> hey... more postive than negative ! JIPIIIEEHHH! :-)
see you! :-)
Renate & Mirko
however we are now going to have one or two drinks in the hotel bar (let´s see if Aerolinea Argentina will pay for this as well :-) ) -> we need alcohol to forget the fact that we are going to miss our connecting flight to ushuaia as well which means another day waiting for the next "connection flight" ( I want to meet the person who invented the idom "connectiong flight" personally ...at night... in a dark street ... - very funny ... ) we will try again to catch a "real" flight tomorrow morning ...
summarization of day 1:
negative: cancelled flight
positive: good room, good food instead of airplane junk food, big bed, nice day in madrid
-> hey... more postive than negative ! JIPIIIEEHHH! :-)
see you! :-)
Renate & Mirko
on our way...madrid
day 1... JUCHUUUU.... we have about 6 hours in Madrid till our connecting flight leaves to Buenos Aires...we still like each other ;-) ... cafe con leche and tapas ...
we prepare mentally for another 11 - 12 hours in the airplane and then another 5 till we finally (and hopefully) will reach Ushuaia. We also hope that our luggage will arrive too... they told us everything is fine and checked the luggage through ... hm ???.... but we ourselves need to check in again in Madrid ??.... naja, guess contradicting information will accompany us through the next six months... we are (still ?) optimistic :-)
Kisses from Renate and Mirko
we prepare mentally for another 11 - 12 hours in the airplane and then another 5 till we finally (and hopefully) will reach Ushuaia. We also hope that our luggage will arrive too... they told us everything is fine and checked the luggage through ... hm ???.... but we ourselves need to check in again in Madrid ??.... naja, guess contradicting information will accompany us through the next six months... we are (still ?) optimistic :-)
Kisses from Renate and Mirko
Friday, 26 January 2007
20 boxes versus one backpack
So ... my apartment is empty now and that's the deal ... out of this 20 boxes you have to figure out what you need in the next 6 month and stuff it in the backpack ...
Today is my last day in the office, next Monday I will go to Vienna and then is only one week left before we are in Ushuaia :-)
Mirko
Monday, 22 January 2007
2 weeks to go
two weeks ... I am getting nervous... only a bit... a little bit ... ok ... a lot ... but ...
only 4 1/2 more days in the office... :-) JIPIIEEHH!
Renate
only 4 1/2 more days in the office... :-) JIPIIEEHH!
Renate
Monday, 8 January 2007
new status: 28 days
...28 days to go and the idea of being on the other half of the globus still seems strange and far away... I have placed my bagpack and the tent in good view in the living room as a daily reminder of the fact that on the 5th of february the journey will start ... but my 'to-do' list still has not become smaller so far ... there is still soooo much time ... ;-)
Renate
Renate
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