09/08/2006 by drops.

We left you off in March with promises of Malaysian stories. We apologise for the delay. We never managed to drag ourselves much to an internet café in the last part of our trip. Somehow the beach looked a lot more interesting. And when we got back, of course, we were swept away on a carousel of friends and relatives. Anyway, normal service has now been resumed.The moment you step across the border from Thailand, you breathe in a completely different atmosphere.

The people are more genuine and sweet, they will often welcome you in the street, and will be happy to have a chat given the chance—all this, without trying to sell you anything, as is often the case in Thailand. And in the remotest parts they stare at you as if you came from Mars. When we were there with our blonde friend Chloe, children would drop their jaws and hide behind their mothers’ skirts, unsure what to make of us.

On a slightly more negative side, it’s a more conservative country than Thailand and, because the predominant religion is Islam, alcohol (a top priority for some…!) is harder and more expensive to come by.

We started off by heading straight for the island of Borneo in the South China Sea. We had great plans to climb mountains and explore jungles, but our first foray trekking in the area made us realise that walking for hours in high heat and humidity were not what we were looking for at the end of our trip. Hiking in 35 degrees of heat and with humidity levels of up to 75% did not make for an easy stroll.

That was our experience in the Bako National Park, allegedly one of the best parks to spot wildlife. We dragged ourselves up and down steep paths for hours and saw nothing until we got back to the park headquarters, where we finally saw proboscis and macaque monkeys, bearded pigs, and monitor lizards aplenty. We really didn’t need to walk far. Neil also paid a visit to the Semengoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, where he had a close encounter with a hungry male orang utan. ‘Watch your bag and never turn your back on him’ said the ranger before being chased by the ape around the headquarters for the big bag of fruit he was carrying.

Defeated by the heat, we took ourselves off to Sabah, the North Eastern region of Borneo, home to a star diving attraction—Pulau Sipadan.

This is a beautiful volcanic island with pristine waters and soft white sand and from which all resorts have been banned to preserve its rich tropical habitat. Here, large shoals of oceanic fish, groups of sleepy reef sharks, and dozens of giant turtles all await you at the drop-off, just a few metres from the beach. Sometimes when you are diving you can see nothing around you but fish.

During one of our dives, we found ourselves in the eye of a tornado of hundreds of circling barracuda. Another time we could not see the reef or even each other for hundreds of panicking, hunted trevally. Lounging on the beach in between dives, we made friends with a monitor lizard who came round like a dog demanding food. There was a lot more that we could have seen in Borneo, but time was running out and we were determined to catch a glimpse of manta rays, so we headed back to Thailand for yet some more world-class diving.

This time we were not disappointed. After some glorious diving in the Similans, we headed further north to Richelieu Rock. This is a pinnacle jutting out of the ocean, surrounded by glassy seas, multitudes of fish and— occasionally—mantas and whale sharks. We just missed seeing a whale shark one late afternoon.

Another group of divers passed us in a boat yelling, laughing and screaming about it. But by the time it took us to get kitted up and jump into the water, it was too dark to see anything. Needless to say, we were gutted, but how could we not be happy when on three other dives that day we had enjoyed the company of manta rays, materialising out of the blue like giant ghosts? And yet, that was not the highlight of our dive cruise. The next day, at Koh Bon, we were rewarded not with just one ray per dive, but with four in one go, gliding effortlessly past us on their huge wings in their search for plankton.

What a sight! Nothing prepares you for their majestic elegance, how these four-metre beasts sweep past as if they want to play with you. We thought that once we had seen one, we would be satisfied, but no, the experience is so mesmerising that we want to do it time and time again. We’ve heard that they grow twice as big off the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica…

So, after many months in Thailand, to-ing and fro-ing from our chosen adoptive SE Asian country, it was time to return to Europe. We found our way back to Singapore (where we had previously caught a glimpse of the Hindu Thaipusam festival) and on the sad morning of May the 6th we landed at Heathrow. So, like all beautiful things, our adventure around the world came to an end. Given the chance, we would definitely do it again, but not for as long.

Now reality has come butting into our life Zizou-style. It has been great to be with all our friends and family again, who we hadn’t seen for a year, but a decision loomed over us: would we really move to Italy or settle back in the UK? We’d been trying to make up our minds during the trip, but we couldn’t decide what would be best for us. When we were in London, we wanted to escape that expensive and grey city, but now we are in Italy we’ve realized that the advantages of being there—the job opportunities; the vibrant multi-ethnicity; the courses on offer; the museums, parks, restaurants and theatres, and not least the presence of so many of our friends—far outweighed these disadvantages, so we’ve decided to ship everything back to the UK. After all, it’s been our home for so long now. Now that we’ve made this decision we can’t wait any longer to get back into normal life. So instead of spending five or six months in southern Italy, as we originally planned, we’re now looking to move back over the next couple of months. London, here we come! And for many of you, see you soon!!!

12:24:18 - Wednesday, 09.08.06

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20/03/2006 by drops.

We started off in Phang Nga, a bay famous for its limestone crags and towering islands, and a perfect introduction to the coasts of southern Thailand. It’s a landscape that burns itself into your mind; once you see it you don’t forget it. The streaked limestone, dripping with stalagtites, was like melting candle wax. Towering islands spiked out of the water, apparently defying the laws of physics; some were actually larger at the top than at the bottom. One unique feature around there are the ‘hongs’, circular lagoons only accessible by a narrow strip of water when the tides are right. Once you’re inside one, civilization seems a million miles away. An inevitable part of the tour was a stop-off at James Bond Island, the setting for Scaramanga’s hang-out in ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’. We didn’t recognize it, though. We’ll have to rent out the film when we get back.

From Phang Nga, Krabi was just a short hop away. We planned to stay there just one week. We actually tore ourselves away after three. Neil was recovering from a cough which stopped him from diving, and this place turned out to be perfect for taking it easy. Most of the time, we were based in Ao Nang, which has everything a self-respecting backpacker needs - decent restaurants, bars, minimarkets, and a decent beach - and an incredible number of Swedish tourists. It was unnerving to be greeted by Thai shopkeepers with a hearty “Hur star det till?” Evidently, Neil has a Nordic look. There is loads to do around Krabi. It’s a rock-climbing mecca, and inland there are waterfalls and jungle to explore. We settled for boat rides to beautiful beaches and islands, and lazy kayaking trips through mangrove forests and limestone canyons. Our favourite days were spent on Phra Nang Beach and feeding the fish in the turquoise waters off Ko Hong. Perfect!

After that, Ko Lanta came as a bit of a disappointment. Billed as an island of white-sand beaches, the sand is actually coarse and yellow. We weren’t tempted to do much there, and the manta rays (six-metre monsters) we had ome to dive with had all disappeared. We contented ourselves with snorkelling trips to Ko Rok and Ko Phi Phi. Phi Phi was especially beautiful, with excellent snorkelling, but there are signs that it could get ruined by unregulated development again, following the tsunami. The beach where the longtail boats tie up is disfigured by building rubble, and we heard talk of raw sewage pumped out into swimming areas… Paradise lost?

At this point, we decided to tear ourselves away. Uppermost in our minds was that the temperatures were rising fast in Cambodia, and it’s no fun to clamber over temples in the baking heat. We flew in to Siem Reap, the base for the temples of Angkor, perfectly coinciding with a week’s worth of freak rain and cloud. The weather curse had hit us again. In the end, we did get some sunshine, but it was no fun getting up at five in the morning, trying to catch a sunrise over one temple or another, only to find that the sky was clouded over… When the sun did find a break through the clouds, though, the sights were unforgettable. Ornate towers, dramatic carvings, mirror-like moats, all set amidst luscious vegetation, left us breathless. To reach some of the temples, we were taken on a romantic tuk-tuk ride through rice paddies dotted with water buffaloes, ricketty wooden huts and some of the loveliest people in the world. The Cambodians must rate as one of the most smiley peoples anywhere. The food was another discovery. We got the chef in our hostel to write down her recipe for ‘amok’, fish curry in coconut milk and peanut sauce.

Neil had totally recovered from his cold by this time, so it was back to Thailand for some serious diving. We joined a liveaboard boat for three days of diving in the Similan Islands, one of the top ten dive sites in the world. We were blessed with a fantastic dive operator (Sea Dragon) who couldn’t look after us enough, and great company. The trip was rounded off with a rather merry BBQ party on the upper deck, in the course of which four of us decided to throw ourselves off into the water. Mari still has a bruise on her leg to prove it. Ouch! Still no whale sharks or manta rays - we’re beginning to think that these animals are some kind of hoax - but the diving was excellent anyway. There were loads of fish, turtles, some sharks, and we even saw a Minke whale just a few metres away, a very rare sighting.So ended our stay in Thailand! We really loved it there and would snap up an opportunity to go back any time, maybe for some more diving…Right now, we’re in Malaysia. We hope to bring you another update before we get back! Only a few more weeks to go…

Till next time!

08:36:09 - Monday, 20.03.06

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19/01/2006 by drops.

Chiang Mai, in the north, was our first real destination in Thailand after Laos. As Thailand’s second city, it’s a place where there’s something for everyone: trekking, temples, cookery classes, bamboo rafting, etc… or just chilling out and doing nothing. We went there, though, for the partying on New Year’s Eve; we were not disappointed. That night we floated between three different parties - in our hotel, in a pub with a good covers band, and the big one at the nearby city gate. The decision to go from party to party was ultimately forced upon us when the hotel staff monopolized the karaoke equipment and regaled us with tuneless shrieking that set the dogs howling for a mile around - but not before Marilena had belted out a few Madonna classics to an enthralled audience. The city gate party was the place to be as the minutes counted down to the New Year. There were thousands of people enjoying live music, fireworks, and letting off hundreds of traditional fire balloons that made their own constellations in the sky. In the early hours of 2006 we were almost hit by a burnt-out fire balloon while relaxing on the swimming-pool loungers, which we were hurriedly assured was good luck. We can’t believe it would’ve still been good luck if it had been alight, though.

After Chiang Mai we headed through central Thailand, stopping at the ruined cities of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. It’s hard to say which one we preferred. Sukhothai had an incredible setting, its temples set in landscaped gardens and enclosed within moats; Ayutthaya, though, was more of an Indiana Jones experience, with crazily-leaning towers crumbling in amongst bodhi trees, and Buddha heads imprisoned within trunks. We then arrived back in Bangkok where we were dazzled by the kaleidoscopic Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Some people really hate this city, because of the noise, bustle and pollution, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there, a holiday within a holiday. Neil celebrated his birthday there very decadently (he’s now 22) and forced Marilena to join in. After sight-seeing in the morning, it was time for a dip in the roof-top pool before a full-body massage in the afternoon. We had planned a six-course dinner on the river, but no taxi driver would take us to the pier (it was Friday night), so we satisfied ourselves by pigging out and drinking a bar dry locally.

We had to tear ourselves away from Bangkok eventually, though. We caught a train south and then a ferry to the remote rocky island of Ko Tao, one of the best diving sites in Thailand. Not too many photos from here, we’re afraid. We were either underwater surrounded by hundreds of fish or trying to cool down in a beach bar somewhere. Somehow, doing anything more energetic lost its appeal. After about a week spent in this fashion, it was time to renew our visas, so we headed for depressing Ranong, a fishing town close to the Burmese frontier, the closest to us at the time. We commissioned a local agent to coordinate his network for a visa run. With mobile phone in hand, Pon greased our way through Thai immigration and then dropped us off at the pier, entrusting us to one of his mobile phone-wielding lieutenants. This guy then handed us over to another operator, who ran us into Burma and back on his boat, waving our passports and money at border officials, whereas all we had to do was walk ten metres into Burma from the boat and back. It was a smooth two-hour operation…

So now we have an extra 30 days to enjoy southern Thailand. We’re now in Phang Nga, close to Krabi. More photos soon!

10:06:25 - Thursday, 19.01.06

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04/01/2006 by drops.

Happy New Year, Everybody!Since it’s time for resolutions, ours must be to post more often! This time we’ve got three countries to talk about. To make it up to you, we’ve got new photos up in our galleries (Australia, New Zealand and Laos) and links to a few further down the page. Enjoy and let us know which ones you like best!

We crossed the Pacific to reach New Zealand, where we met up with Mark, a Kiwi friend of ours. Mark drove us around Auckland, showed us the sights, and introduced us to life in Kiwi-land. We didn’t have a lot of time in NZ (or Oz, for that matter), so unfortunately we couldn’t see everything. After Auckland, in the North Island, we headed south to the glowworm-riddled caves of Waitomo, and Wellington, but our favourite place there was the geothermic wonderland of Rotorua. This town, a thriving Maori centre, is actually set inside a volcanic crater and the sulphuric rotten-egg stench hits you as soon as you arrive. As the coach rolled in, we passed what looked like a normal English-style park, until we spotted the clouds of steam rising up from fenced off volcanic pools. The real highlights, though, were the geysers in Te Puia and the psychedelic mineral-stained pools at Wai-O-Tapu. In the South Island, we only made it as far as the laid-back Abel Tasman National Park. There we went kayaking along the coast, and were taken out to swim with fur seals by mad John the Walrus, who chose to entertain us with songs about blues-loving prehistoric penguins and other topics. The seals were really curious, and came almost an arm’s reach away, swimming around and underneath us. They took a good look at us with their big round eyes. They probably couldn’t believe what poor swimmers we were.

In Australia we did the standard ‘Rock, Reef and Harbour’ tour. Our first stop was in the Red Centre - the Uluru-Kata Juta National Park. Our views of Uluru (Ayers Rock) weren’t quite what you usually see in the postcards. We went to see it catch fire at sunset, but were caught in a dramatic rain and sand storm instead. Water sluiced down the Rock in sheets, and the air turned orange from the sand blowing in waves across the desert. We then got treated to an incredible electrical display and a rainbow right on top of Uluru. The next morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed in the dark to see the park at sunrise and hike around Kata Juta (The Olgas), vast scoops of red rock, where we spotted our first (and only) kangaroo. A couple of hours by plane took us from dry desert to the sticky humidity of Cairns. We went there, of course, for the Great Barrier Reef, but, after diving in the Caribbean, we were disappointed. The reef was bleached out, and to reach the best sites we had to share a huge catamaran with a hundred or so others. After that we decided to stick on land and went to visit a crocodile farm-cum-zoo, where we patted koalas, watched sparring wallabies, and paid our respects to the huge numbers of crocodiles there. The star of the show was Sollie, a 4.5m giant of a reptile who was removed from the wild after making a bit of a nuisance of himself. One Xmas morning, some boys decided to take their dog for a swim in the local waterhole. Luckily for them, the dog was the first one in the water… The croc was named after the dog, his last victim. Our last few days in Oz were spent in the Sydney area, hiking in the Blue Mountains and messing about around the Harbour, and then it was time for our flight to South-East Asia.

We landed in Bangkok, jet-lagged and bleary-eyed, and sped off almost immediately to Luang Prabang in Laos. Before going there, we had this image of a poor Asian country, with no English spoken, and terrible hygiene. However, in Luang Prabang, at least, lots of locals speak some English, and we had no problems with the food - other than knowing when to stop, that is! When we’ve not been stuffing ourselves or getting pampered with Lao massage, we’ve been exploring temples and waterfalls, seeing traditional dance, and riding elephants. Laos was a great place to chill out after rushing around Oz and New Zealand, and the Lao are a lovely, genuinely friendly people. Our innkeeper told us that they think the PDR in the Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic) should really stand for Please Don’t Rush. It was really appropriate, then, that we took the slow boat up the Mekong into northern Thailand, arriving on Xmas Day. We’ve now been in Thailand for around ten days, but we’ll tell you more when we have the pictures up. For the moment, Sawat-dii!

09:15:08 - Wednesday, 04.01.06

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20/12/2005 by drops.

Hi Everybody,

We hope you have a great time in this season of slobbing and pigging out. Not too many mince pies where we are, but we’ll be thinking of you anyway.

Neil & Marilena

11:18:16 - Tuesday, 20.12.05

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06/12/2005 by drops.

Well, guys, it came as a shock for us, but we are now officially in the second half of our trip! We left Santiago on Nov 13 and said goodbye to the Americas. We were really sorry to leave that incredibly varied continent, and we’re already thinking of going back… As usual, we have lots of photos for you. Check out the now completed galleries for Argentina and Chile.

We arrived in El Calafate after a 23-hour bus journey around the south of Argentina. Luckily, South American buses are the most comfortable on the planet. On overnight buses, especially, it’s like travelling Business Class on a long-haul flight, with wide seats that recline completely, footrests that come right up to make an acceptable bed, and waitress service. So, incredibly for us, we arrived in good shape.

El Calafate was a glacier wonderland. We were scratching our heads when we arrived, trying to remember descriptions of glaciers from school geography lessons, but nothing can really prepare you for these amazing rivers of ice. What astounded us the most was the unearthly beautiful blue of the compressed ice. The glaciers and the icebergs that came off them were some of the most incredible sights we’ve ever seen. Also, it was mesmerizing to watch and hear them in action when huge chunks of ice thunderously calved off into the glacial lakes. We started off with the prima donna of them all, Glacier Perito Moreno, and then took a boat trip on Lago Argentino to visit three more - Glaciers Spegazzini, Upsala, and Agassiz - amid mirror-like, iceberg filled waters.

After that came the serious hiking. In Argentina we did walks from El Chalten, in the northern end of the Los Glaciares park, where we enjoyed tremendous views of the spikey Torre massif, and Mount Fitz Roy, looking ominously like Dracula’s castle. We saw the Torre massif in beautiful weather, but when we got close to Mount Fitz Roy it started to snow, and after an hour of toiling up an incredibly steep mountainside, our view of lakes, glaciers and peaks was snowed out. In Chile we did the ‘W’ circuit in the Torres del Paine park, where the crown for us was the bi-colour Cuernos (Horns) from across emerald green lakes. The sights were incredible, but some stretches took us some ten hours of hiking over rough and often steep ground. Our knees felt the after-effects for days afterwards.

Continuing our love affair with glaciers we also leaped at the chance to go ice trekking and climbing on Glacier Grey in the Torres del Paine park. It was amazing to see the glacier up close and see it as an actual river with its flows, waves and falls. We jumped over deep crevasses, climbed ice walls, and finally took an inflatable boat ride through the icebergs back to our lodge.

After our stay in Patagonia, we really didn’t have enough time in the Chilian Lake District to do it justice, which was a shame, because it was stunningly beautiful with snow covering the peaks of the volcanoes and the lush, spring-time growth. We stopped briefly at Puerto Varas to take a boat ride on the bottle-green Lago Todos los Santos, next to Volcan Osorno, before heading up to Pucon. There we had just enough energy left to hike up Volcan Villarica (a six-hour slog), stare into the lava-spewing crater and the volcano-studded panorama, and slide down again on our backsides in just one-and-a-half hours. The sliding down was definitely the best bit: imagine a helter-skelter the size of a reasonable mountain, except that the tracks are just snow ruts and you have only an ice-axe for a brake, so spinning and wipe-outs were all part of the fun. After that, we only had enough time for a brief peek at the beautiful Parque Nacional Huerquehue. This is a place we definitely want to come back to.

We’re actually finishing this post in Sydney, towards the end of our Antipodean stint, but we’ve run out of space and time for that. More next time (which hopefully won’t take as long…).

11:11:32 - Tuesday, 06.12.05

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18/10/2005 by drops.

Hi Everyone! It´s been a mad month, spanning over three countries, desert landscapes, salt lakes, waterfalls, two capital cities and sub-antarctic wildlife. Our photo gallery now includes two more countries, Argentina and Chile, and we´ve finished off the Bolivia folder.

Well, we had it so good, things had to go wrong some time. Right until we left Peru, everything went swimmingly, with lots of time to spare. Just after we crossed the Chilean border and added another country (NZ) to our itinerary, the weather started to play tricks on us and has played havoc on our schedule. It’s been a lot of running around, but we´ve had great fun all the same.We first visited the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest place on Earth, where it doesn´t rain, ever, and the guidebooks guaranteed us sunshine. In our honour, it was overcast for days. From there we went to San Pedro de Atacama, a beautiful oasis village where we could´ve easily spent a couple of weeks. The surrounding desert is incredible, with otherworldly landscapes and colours, and there are no end of activities available, from stargazing to sandboarding.

Freak snow delayed us getting from San Pedro into Bolivia to see the vast salt lake of Salar de Uyuni, an ocean of white with a cactus island in the middle. When we finally got there, we were stunned. This part of Bolivia is really like another planet. As well as the amazing salt lake itself, we saw lagoons stained red, white and green by mineral deposits, seething geysers, strangely eroded rocks, and an ancient burial site set in a fossilized coral bed. To see all this, though, we had to put up with very basic lodging. Our bed on one night was a thin mattress set on top of a concrete block. Electricity was supplied, for a few hours, by a generator the size and power of a small lawnmower engine; and showers came courtesy of a draughty, bare concrete outhouse. We suppose this can be filed under ´life experience´…

We intended to travel into Argentina from San Pedro across the Andes, but the same freak snow blocked the pass on the day the bus was running. We heard that the passes further south were OK so we decided to head to Copiapo, a ten-hour journey away. When we got there, however, we found that buses across the border from there only ran during their summer… We had no option but to travel another 12 hours to Santiago and bring forward our flight to Buenos Aires.

Argentina has been great so far. Apart from being a feast for our tastebuds (the food, wine and coffee are all excellent here), the Iguazu falls make the Niagara Falls look silly by comparison, and are one of the highlights of our trip so far. The Talampaya and Moon Valley parks were also excellent, and the Peninsula Valdes area has been like a David Attenborough film set, with whales, elephant seals, dolphins and penguins to visit.

Our next stop is in the Patagonian Andes and we have a twenty-seven hour bus journey ahead of us. Better dash…

21:43:22 - Tuesday, 18.10.05

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11/09/2005 by drops.

And now it’s bye bye, Peru! After seven weeks in this wonderfully varied country, we’re finally leaving for Chile tomorrow. For the past two weeks we’ve been based around Arequipa, Peru’s beautiful second city. Built from white stone, it sits at the foot of the majestic volcano El Misti and has an almost constant spring-like climate. The name Arequipa is derived from the Quechua phrase “OK, let’s stop here!”, which is allegedly what the fourth Inca emperor said to his generals on his way back home from one of his battles. This only goes to prove that the Incas had a sense of humour.

We’ve really enjoyed staying here. The people are among the friendliest we’ve found in Peru and it’s been a pleasure to be in a cosmopolitan, developed and relaxed city again. The highlight here has definitely been the Moorish-inspired Santa Catalina monastery, a maze of streets and courtyards enclosed within four high walls, almost a town in its own right. Arequipa also boasts fine Mestizo-Baroque architecture and one of the grandest plazas in South America.

However, our main reason to come to Arequipa is the magnificent canyons and valleys in the region. This area contains the two deepest canyons in the world, at Colca and Cotahuasi, each almost twice the size and depth of the Grand Canyon. Colca Canyon is unique in South America in that it is the only place where it’s possible to get really close to condors, the biggest vultures in the world. These magnificent beasts have a wing span of three metres and stand 1.3 metres tall. It was thrilling to see them glide past just metres from us, as they soared up on the thermals from the depths of the canyon. This was definitely one of the highlights of our world trip so far.

Dropping down to below 3300 metres, Cotahuasi Canyon is in fact the deepest in the world. Our trip there was one of our most memorable in Peru, passing through stunning altiplano landscapes. Herds of graceful vicunas, llamas and alpacas grazed among frozen streams with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains; cliffs and dunes of red, gold, green and grey flowed past us; and primeval lunar landscapes of shattered volcanic rock told stories of the region’s violent past. The canyon itself overwhelmed us with its huge cliffs dropping down to the green terraces below and the gorge snaking through its length. We spent a day there, climbing up to the Forest of Stones, a high formation of strangely eroded rocks, and wandering to a couple of waterfalls. From there we went to the Valley of Volcanoes, a bleak landscape of craters amid badlands of rock, cinders and cacti.

In all, we’ve really enjoyed our stay in Peru. We’ve met some warm and friendly people, seen wonderful sights and tasted some delicious food (though we never tried the guinea pig… ). It’s also been much easier and safer than we expected. We’d recommend it to anyone, especially Huaraz and Arequipa.

That’s all for now. We’ll get some photos up soon. See you in Chile!

- Neil and Marilena

02:23:48 - Sunday, 11.09.05

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29/08/2005 by drops.

We have lots to tell you after a few weeks of silence. We did a hectic tour of Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, and have spent the last few days exploring the altiplano and Lake Titicaca on both the Peruvian and Bolivian sides. For those of you who want to see everything, new Peruvian pictures start here. Click here for Bolivian photos.

Cuzco is an elegant colonial city, amazingly well preserved and not at all as crime infested as we had heard. The city has in fact been cleaned up over the last two years, so the centre is fine, at least until 9 or 10 at night. However, we found the atmosphere tense and unfriendly, and the backstreets smelly (which unfortunately can be said of a lot of towns in Peru). Something else we didn’t expect were the hills. With our usual impeccable judgement, we chose a hotel almost at the top of Cuzco, which meant trudging up a very steep road several times a day. Not an easy task at the best of times, let alone at an altitude of 3300m. We just couldn’t believe the locals skipping up and down the road while we were huffing and puffing our way up the hill. At least this got us fit for Machu Picchu…

There’s lots to see in Cuzco. The guidebooks will tell you about heaps of churches, but after a couple they all blur into one, and the only one we found really worth visiting is the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. We also enjoyed two museums, the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, with beautiful exhibits dating back to before Christ, and the museum of La Merced for its remarkable paintings of the Cusquena school arranged in galleries around a pretty courtyard.The city itself was built by the Spanish on top of Inca walls and foundations. The stonework is so good that it has survived, whereas the colonial buildings it supported have often crumbled away. It’s a kind of a last laugh, after the Conquistadors did so much to annihilate Inca culture and architecture. There are also impressive ruins just outside town. Sacsayhuaman is a fortress of zig-zagging walls built of gigantic stones, in places weighing up to 300 tonnes. It’s amazing how the Incas got these huge blocks to fit together exactly so that even now you cannot get a knife between them. They did not use mortar. Tipon is a scenic set of agricultural terraces irrigated by aqueducts that still work today.

Our next stop was the Sacred Valley, starting with the top tourist destination in Peru - Machu Picchu. We caught the train at the crack of dawn and froze almost all the way there; our first-class train had neither heating nor blankets. Something we have come to realize now is that Peruvians don’t do heating, even though night-time temperatures in some places regularly drop below zero. We visited Machu Picchu over two days and it cost us a fortune. It’s become very expensive and even though they halve prices for locals, the vast majority still cannot afford it and will never know what their biggest national treasure looks like.

The setting is magnificent. The ruined city sprawls over a hilltop surrounded by misty mountains spiking up through the jungle. This is something that no pictures of Machu Picchu can prepare you for (except ours, maybe…). The views are what really makes it special. The citadel is vast and, aside for a few rooftops, very well preserved. The Conquistadors never found it, or it would have been pulled down. However - heresy coming! - after the Mayan temples in Mexico, we found the individual buildings lacked detail. In fact, we wish we’d gone to Peru first and then Mexico.

Visiting Machu Picchu means lots of scrambling up and down mountain paths. A fun hike is the trek up Huayna Picchu, the huge mountain behind the citadel. It only takes an hour to get to the top, because you already start off at 2492m, but the climb is steep and demanding. Sometimes the steps disappear altogether and you have to scramble over boulders, and all that separates you from the void below is a rickety handrail. Neil, never good at heights at the best of times, has had nightmares ever since…

After Machu Picchu we visited the fortresses and temples at Ollantaytambo and Pisac, in the Sacred Valley. However, we particularly enjoyed staying in Urubamba, a relaxed little town a world away from the hectic, commercial pace elsewhere in the Sacred Valley. From there we visited the surreal salt pans at Maras, and the almost alien concentric terraces at Moray. We also got to know interesting locals and ex-pats there.

On our way to Lake Titicaca, the scenery got really interesting as we climbed up to the altiplano. The landscape changed from green hills to rugged, velvety mountains covered with golden straw, and high granite peaks and glaciers. Llamas and alpacas wandered free in large flocks. Lake Titicaca has been claimed to be the highest navigable lake in the world. At 3800m, the air is very thin and even though we came from the Sacred Valley, we found it tough going for the first couple of days. The water is a mesmerizing deep blue, bordered by green and golden rushes. From Puno we visited the fascinating Uros floating islands, constructed entirely from reeds by the local people, and the beautiful Aegean-like island of Taquile. From the top of Cerro Calvario, Copacabana, on the Bolivian side, the lake looks like an immense sea enclosed by hills and mountains, including the white-capped Cordillera Real range. From there we also hiked along the gorgeous Isla del Sol.

We’re off to Arequipa this afternoon, which will be our last destination in Peru. Until the next time, goodbye!

18:51:01 - Monday, 29.08.05

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12/08/2005 by drops.

Here’s an update on our time in Huaraz, northern Peru. We needed somewhere to relax after some mad travelling and we found Huaraz the perfect place for that. Although it is a major stop on the tourist map, it is hassle free and laid back. It also seemed to be an authentic Peruvian town, with people getting on with their often tough lives, unconcerned by the invading tourists. Not beautiful in its own right (the old town was completely razed to the ground in the 1970 earthquake), what makes it special is its setting in the heart of the Central Andes, and we eventually joined the hordes of Gore-Tex gringos on their slopes. Highlights for us were the Pasto Ruri Glacier and the Huascaran National Park. Peru photos start here.

We did the Pasto Ruri Glacier on an organized tour. We were dropped off at the foot of an uphill path leading to the glacier. As we’d already been in Huaraz for a week, we thought we were fully acclimatized, but the altitude there (5200m at the top) made the walk really tough. Every few steps we had to stop and take a rest, envying the sensible people who had taken a horseride part of the way. Once we got there, the views over the surrounding peaks were staggering (and so were we). Getting down the glacier was a lot easier - on our backsides! We also realized why people here are so worried about water. The glacier has retreated by 400m over the past ten years; in another ten years it may well be gone. Without glaciers there’s no water, and without water there’s no agriculture or electricity, and the towns will eventually die. Rain has been sparse here and one of the first things that we noticed when we came here was how arid and dusty the land is. Bush should come here! On the way there, we saw the Puya Raymondi plants, a giant relative of the pineapple that only grows between 3800 and 4200m, and only in this area. They are majestic plants reaching 12m in height over a lifespan of 40 years.

Huascaran National Park was really beautiful. First we visited the Llanganuco Lakes, turquoise expanses of water trapped between sheer granite cliffs, with Peru’s highest mountain, Huascaran, peering over the top. That was an easy trip. Our next - to Lake 69 - was a hell of a lot more difficult. The local guide office said we should do it easily in 3 hours. It took us 3.5 hours of hard, exhausting scrambling up steep mountain sides, going up from 3800m to 4700m above sea level - almost a vertical kilometre. We didn’t help ourselves either by losing the path and having to scramble on our hands and feet up one hillside to rejoin it. But the fight was worth it. On the way we passed frozen waterfalls, glaciers, pristine lakes and superb views of the surrounding ice caps. Lake 69 itself was a blue circular lake completely enclosed by mountain tops, with fingers of ice reaching down to its banks, and we had it all to ourselves.

After sunny Huaraz, we went back to foggy and cold Lima for a couple of days. We got ourselves a friendly and honest taxi driver, who took us on a tour of the city. We were glad we went with a local because we were concerned about crime and he kept an eye on us and showed us where it was safe to wander and take photographs. Some places were beautiful, but we were glad to take the plane out to a safer environment the next day.

We are now in the old Inca capital at Cuzco. We’ll tell you more about this in our next post.

Hasta la proxima!

01:56:42 - Friday, 12.08.05

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27/07/2005 by drops.

Another country, another post. We’re currently hunched over a computer in Huaraz, an Andean town in northern Peru. We got here three days ago, and spent the first couple of days acclimatizing to the altitude, 3km above sea level. This involved sleeping lots and drinking coca tea, a traditional and widely recommended restorative in the Andes. Today, we took it easy and visited a mirador (viewing point) above the town, for fantastic views across the Cordillera Blanca, and then a trout farm where Marilena got covered in fish poo. (Sorry, no pics. Mari wouldn’t let a camera near her.)

We left Mexico sooner than we planned. Firstly, our diving was cut short by Neil coming down with a dose of typhoid. The vaccination probably stopped it from getting too bad, and the fever went down after just three days of hefty antibiotics. It was ironic that he caught it in the most developed town we’ve visited so far (except Miami, of course). Secondly, Hurricane Emily decided to come our way. Before we learned it was definitely heading towards Cozumel, we were wondering why the normally pushy restaurant and shop touts were subdued and solemn. Then, in the evening, after we were alerted by a friendly restaurateur, we phoned American Airlines and got a flight out of Mexico the next day. The queue at Cancun airport was a nightmare, 3.5 hours to check in, but apparently this was normal. We’re certainly glad we didn’t wait until the last minute and got caught up in the evacuation. We later found out that our original flight was cancelled because of the hurricane, and dread to think how we would have got out (if at all). All this meant that we spent four unplanned days in Miami before we flew to Peru. We didn’t mind as we like the place. However, we got a nasty surprise as Mari got her Visa card cloned while there. Luckily, her bank noticed it straight away and no damage was done.

We flew into Lima on July 19, straight into the Peruvian coastal winter. Fog, grey skies and chilly nights in the middle of July; we felt immediately at home! We didn´t get much time to sightsee, as we flew out to the North almost straight away, but we´ll have time to take in a tour of the capital when we get back there in ten days’ time. Our first impressions, though, were that Lima is a very European-style city with lots of grand, colonial architecture.Our next stop was Trujillo, on the northern coast, a pretty colonial town full of colourful buildings. The only drawback was the constant honking of taxis trying to get our attention. The main draw for us there was the ancient adobe (mud-brick) city of Chan Chan, which originally covered over 40 000 square kilometres. The mouldings enclosed within high walls were really impressive, with their rainbow and fish net motifs. On the same day, we saw another adobe ruin, the Temple of the Moon, with incredibly well preserved coloured murals. We finally stopped off for a huge seafood lunch at Huanchaco, a seaside resort just north of Trujillo. They seem to have healthy appetites here because the ceviche starter alone filled a huge dinner plate. The main course was even bigger.We’re really enjoying Peru at the moment. We’d heard dire warnings about thefts and muggings, but we have found the people to be very friendly and have had no trouble at all so far. People here have told us that you just have to be careful, aware of your surroundings, and you should be OK. Just like London, then… And the food is great! (Although, we haven´t tried the guinea pig, yet.)

We have a few photos for you. We have finally completed the Belize pics, put up all the Mexico shots, and started the Peru folder. Enough to keep you all going for the moment. We’ve almost become part of the furniture in this Internet cafe…

Tomorrow we start the serious stuff in the Andes. More of this next time. Until then, Adios.

20:25:42 - Wednesday, 27.07.05

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10/07/2005 by drops.

¡Hola! We’ve finally found time to do another post after a hard week and a half on the road. Completing the Ruta Maya in Mexico was intense - we covered seven sites in eight days, equal to over two thousand km of travelling - but great fun. We were very grateful for the comfortable fleet of first class intercity buses and excellent roads (luxurious after Belize!). There were only two drawbacks. One was that we had to endure loud Hollywood movies, two or three on each journey. There’s only so many times you can watch I, Robot dubbed into Spanish, after all. The other drawback was that the bus company clearly views their passengers as perishable goods, to be kept chilled throughout the journey. We quickly learnt to bring socks, fleeces and long trousers onto the bus. We did hope to go as far as Oaxaca, in the centre of Mexico, but in the end we couldn’t face another fourteen hours of travel, not to mention the return leg.

We started off in the Yucatan peninsula, at Tulum. In hindsight, we could’ve skipped this site. The setting was beautiful, on a clifftop overlooking the turquoise Caribbean, but the ruins themselves were nothing compared to what we saw later. Also, the village itself was an expensive tourist trap lined with Italian restaurants, souvenir shops and internet cafes. We spent one night there and left.

Chichen Itza, on the other hand, was mind-blowing. We’d heard that the Great Pyramid was fantastic, but we didn’t expect the incredibly well-preserved reliefs - some of them still showing their original colours - and intricately ornate decorations on the other buildings. We got there at 8:30am, a good move because by 10 o’clock hordes of tourists were flocking in, and the heat and humidity had become unbearable. It got up to 40 degrees that day. We stayed in Valladolid, a town nearby still largely unspoilt by tourism, and also got to swim in a cenote, a section of an underground river revealed by the collapse of its limestone roof. It was very beautiful. The light shone down from a hole thirty metres above, through which the roots of an alamo tree stretched down into the pool. Bats flew above and black catfish swam with us in the clear water.

Uxmal was equally good, if not better than Chichen Itza. What knocked us out was the endlessly repeated abstract motifs and vividly carved serpents, tortoises and gods everywhere we looked. We also visited lesser sites at Kabah, Sayi and Edzna on the same day. Our base for this tour was Campeche, a beautiful and laid back walled city proud of its pirate legacy. There is street after street of immaculately clean, pastel-coloured colonial buildings and Mayan ladies in their traditional dresses living their everyday lives undisturbed by tourism. Everyone there is so relaxed and friendly that there´s a Mexican expression, “campechando”, for when people are having a good time.

Our final site was at Palenque, in Chiapas, a Mayan city rising from the jungle on beautiful hills. The ruins themselves were not as stunning as those in Chichen Itza or Uxmal, but the site, spread out in the middle of misty, jungle-covered mountains, screeching with cicadas, was very atmospheric. You could almost feel yourself in an Indiana Jones movie. The same afternoon we went to a couple of waterfalls nearby. Misul-Ha was the most breathtaking. A powerful river dropped twenty-five metres onto huge rocks sending up whirls of spray around us into the jungle.

We are now on Isla Cozumel, on the Caribbean coast, and enjoying some spectacular diving before we fly out to Peru on the 18th. Unfortunately, this end of Mexico is so heavily reliant on tourism from the States that it´s completely lost any authenticity. Once again, the streets are tourist traps with touts constantly trying to get you into their cigar, diamond or silverware shops. However, you forgive all this once you get into the water. The sea is a stunning turquoise - we´ve never seen anything like it before! - the coral formations are gigantic and the visibility so good that the colours are brilliant. Here there’s a powerful current, the Gulf Stream in fact, so all dives are so-called drift dives: you just relax, fold your legs up, and let the current propel you past the reef. It feels like you’re flying.

It hasn’t all been fun here though. News of the London bombings reached us quickly. A dive shop assistant told us about it, and we are still shocked and angry about it now. Thank goodness all our London friends are fine. We also kept a careful eye on Hurricane Dennis as it swept past us towards Cuba. In the end, though, we just got a couple of storms from its tail end, and certainly nothing as bad as those we experienced in Belize.

OK, we’re off for some hot-dogs now. Piccies will follow soon, we promise, including some of very strange marine life…

02:46:17 - Sunday, 10.07.05

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29/06/2005 by drops.

Well, that’s it. We crossed the Mexican border today and have had to say goodbye to Belize. We liked it so much there that we stayed longer than planned, but we had to move on if we were to see anything of Mexico! In fact, we´re also hoping to squeeze in a couple of other places into our Mexican itinerary so time was getting really tight.

Since the last post, we spent 18 days in Placencia, a fishing village in the south of Belize. On the way there we popped in very briefly to Sittee River as Neil was hoping to get in some dives at a nearby atoll, but our arrival coincided with a huge storm that kicked off the rainy season and this sent the insects mad. The air was teeming with flying termites and mosquitoes and we had to escape. The next day we caught the first bus out of there. There were no seats so we had to perch on our rucksacks at the back of the bus.

“Will we make the connection to Placencia?”, we asked the ticket inspector.
“Don´t worry, mon. I´ll have a word with the driver.”

He was as good as his word. The bus doubled in speed and everyone had to hold on for their lives as we flew down the highway, Bob Marley blaring from the speakers.

We made the connection.

The storms followed us to Placencia, and most nights our sleep was broken by howling winds and crashing thunder. Sometimes the rain was so bad it sprayed though the shutters and onto the bed. But by morning, the sun had broken through and it was time again to slap on the factor 45.

We went to Placencia mainly for one reason: diving. We found a great dive shop and Neil finished his Advanced certification. Not to be outdone, Marilena rapidly caught up and got both her Open Water and Advanced certificates. The diving in Placencia was fabulous and we are now both totally hooked. We went out a couple of times trying to find whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, growing up to 18m in length. No chance. The second attempt was especially frustrating as one appeared just as we were surfacing, but it was on the wrong side of the boat… Oh well, we’ll have to try and find them in Thailand instead. We did see, on the other hand, loads of barracuda, moray eels, other kinds of shark, spotted eagle rays, sea turtles and beautifully coloured reef fish.

If any of you fancy learning to dive, we really recommend that you come to Belize for the second biggest barrier reef in the world, the best coral atolls in the Caribbean, warm and clear water, and great marine life. We also recommend Patty Ramirez of Splash dive shop. She´s professional, patient and friendly, everything an instructor should be. In fact, the whole crew were great and we were really sorry when we left Placencia. We went diving together so many times, we felt almost part of an extended family.

The last few days have been hectic. Last Friday we were partying at the start of the Lobsterfest in Placencia. The next day we got up at 4:30am for the first bus to Caves Branch and did a three-hour hike in the jungle. On Sunday, we went riding on truck inner tubes on an underground river through the Mayan Underworld, and got to jump 10m from a high bank into the river. The same day we got on a bus to the Mexican border. Tomorrow we start with the first great Yucatan ruin at Tulum. More on that next time!

That’s all for now. Hope you are all well. As always, we´d love to hear what you’ve been up to.

Hasta luego,

- Neil & Mari

03:44:03 - Wednesday, 29.06.05

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06/06/2005 by drops.

Hola! As you can see, we’ve finally got around to posting some more piccies, some of which have us in them (as demanded by some people). Check out our Belize and Guatemala pictures.

Lots of stuff to tell you. After Caye Caulker we spent a day in Belize City, where we met up with Bob and Jill. It was great seeing them. In fact, we’re looking forward to seeing them again on the way to Mexico. They swept us off to Old Belize, a museum of Belize history, lunch in a beautiful orchid conservatory, and then to the zoo. Belize Zoo is a tropical garden with extensive enclosures for the rescued and rare wildlife of the country. It plays a great role in conservation and we loved it! Some of you may have seen the pics we posted earlier.

We then shot off to Orange Walk, a seedy town in the North. There were lots of drunks and beggars on the streets, and rows of brothels. A sad reflection of the poverty in this country. In fact, the Lamanai tour recommended by the Rough Guide is actually a side-operation from one of these brothels! The tour itself, though, was very professional and informative. Our tour guide is actually a government consultant who doubles up as a guide, journalist and author. Having more than one job is very common in Belize, wherepeople need all the money they can get.

We approached the Lamanai ruins by boat up the New River, and our guide pointed out lots of wildlife along the way. As well as lots of colourful birds, we also saw crocs, bats, iguanas and a tapir, a very rare sight in the wild, apparently. The ruins themselves have a fantastic setting in the jungle. From the top of the High Temple we heard a jaguar roar – very close! We got away from that temple rather quickly…

After two nights in Orange Walk, we travelled to San Ignacio, a town close to the Guatemalan border. Again, the town is not much to look at, but at least we felt safe there. We found a very good hotel (Casa Blanca), with great air-conditioning which we were very thankful for as the temperature was in the thirties and it was very humid. First off we went for a canoe ride up the Macal River. It was beautiful along the river but way too hot. However, the highlights at San Ignacio were visiting the Mayan remains at Caracol and Xunantunich, and, most of all, going to the Mayan sacrificial cave, Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Stone Sepulchre; no photos yet, sorry!). To get to the cave entrance we had to walk along a jungle trail for half-an-hour, fording a river three times, and when we got there it took our breath away. Crystal-clear water ran out of the cave mouth, which was surrounded by tree ferns, palm trees and lianas – paradise! To get to the sacrificial chambers we had to swim into the cave and wade up the river underground, scramble over boulders and squeeze through gaps for half a mile, or so. It was great fun and Marilena turned out to be an expert spelunker; Neil, on the other hand, was grateful for the helmet provided. These Mayans were small! Our guide also had fun with our group, getting us to walk along holding hands, with our lights out, not knowing where we were going. Once at the top, we reached two sacrificial chambers, one of which is aptly called the Cathedral for its sheer size and solemnity. The floor of it was covered with Mayan pottery, ritually broken, and human bones, victims of the same ceremonies, all left exactly as they had been found. The second chamber was smaller, but it revealed the crystallized skeleton of a young woman sacrificed there around a thousand years ago. It is a very special place, and one which will probably not be open for long because the artifacts are so fragile.

Then it was off to Guatemala, which left us with mixed impressions. On the one hand, it’s a luscious and beautiful country; on the other, there’s a lot of crime and poverty, and as a foreigner you are a prime target for being ripped off, including by border officials! We spent two nights at Tikal, an ancient superpower in the Mayan world. The site was spectacular, with huge temples breaking through the rainforest, and tremendous wildlife. We did all the main bits of the city in one day, which involved clambering up four huge temples, one of them twice. One of the best moments was watching the sun go down on top of the Great Pyramid while toucans and parrots flew around beneath us and howler monkeys roared in the distance. We also lived our Tarzan dream by sliding along cables 25 metres above the ground through the jungle canopy.

We then went off to Flores, a pretty and laid back island in the middle of Lake Petén Itzà, for three days. It was even hotter there: forty degrees at midday. All we could do was stay out of the heat over the hottest time of the day (the hotel we stayed at had a pool as well as A/C ) and enjoy the nightlife. We don’t have many photos of Flores because we suffered a power cut while we were uploading images to the website and all of the photos on our flash card were wiped out. Fortunately, we’d backed up most photos to disk the day before. Meanwhile, Marilena has been gabbling away in Spanish with the locals, and they have been pretending to understand. Somehow we managed to get the right meals on the table…

We’re now back in San Ignacio for a night before we head south for more jungle and watersports.

Adios!
– Don Neil y Doña Marilena

PS: As always, it would be great if you could find the time to post a quick comment. Just use the links below – either permalink, Add comment or Comments: # – and fill in the form at the bottom of the resulting page. We’ve simplified the process so you submit the message only once.

04:01:57 - Monday, 06.06.05

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16/05/2005 by drops.

Wa’s up?

We’ve been on Caye Caulker (off the coast of the north of Belize) for over a week now. It’s a beautiful tropical island with a real mix of peoples - ex-pats, Africans, Hispanics and Mayans - all living under one motto: Go Slow! There are no high-rise hotels as such, just plenty of single- and double-storey guesthouses and wooden cabanas. Also, there’s very little fuel on the island so everyone gets around by foot, bike or golf-cart. Very relaxing!

We have a lovely room in a guesthouse with a verandah, featuring a hammock and two resident lizards we’ve named Jazzie and Jeff. This side of the island is blessed with a very welcome sea breeze, which keeps us cool and blows away the mosquitoes and sandflies. We’re sure we’ll miss this when we go inland. There’s at least one kite-boarder out there most days; Colin would love it.

On the island there’s no real beach where you can swim, but the sea-life is superb. Neil is now a certified diver (Mum, you’ll be getting my PADI card soon) and has been playing with nurse sharks (they’re like puppies!); Mari, with jellyfish (ouch!). Neil went to 40m yesterday, and also saw a turtle. Mari saw a barracuda while snorkelling (the bad guy in Finding Nemo), and loads of other colourful reef fish and molluscs. She also got badly sunburnt, and is now sporting very attractive red and white stripes on her legs. We’ll be going on a sunset cruise on the Caribbean tomorrow.

On Thursday we’ll be visiting family friends (Bob and Jill) in Belize City, and then we’ll be off to Orange Walk and San Ignacio for Mayan temple ruins, and exotic kayak rides up jungle rivers.

That’s it for now. We haven’t been able to post pictures yet. We’ll let you know as soon as we do. Please post your messages by using the comment option on this site.

- Neil & Mari

23:17:27 - Monday, 16.05.05

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08/05/2005 by drops.

Hi All,

We arrived in Miami tired after a 9-hour flight, but happy to be finally on our travels.Miami has been a surprise to us. For starters, it is so hispanic that you’re more likely to hear Spanish than English in the street. We’re getting used to empanadas and cafecito (Cuban coffee) for breakfast. It’s also safe - at least where we are. Forget the image portrayed in Miami Vice and so on. It is also more tropical than we expected. The heat is scorching already and we’ve quickly learnt to dart from the shade of one coconut palm to the next when walking on the street.The hotel is just a stone’s throw from South Beach - golden sand as far as you can see. This morning we got up before dawn (not difficult, as our bodies are still in UK time…) to catch the sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean. It was a stunning and beautiful sight.

Yesterday we visited Little Havana looking for a vibrant central American vibe, but only got seedy and eerily quiet streets. Three hours of walking in the Miami heat for nothing. We eventually got to Villa Vizcaya, an early 20th C folly built by someone with too much money and a desperate desire to impress. It was a real mess of styles, with ceilings, tapestries and masonry pilfered from Italian palaces, but the views of Biscayne Bay and the gardens were worth it. Mari was particularly taken with a stone caravel (ship) built just out into the bay and originally reached by gondola.

Tomorrow we fly to Belize for yet more sun, sand and sea. Life’s a bitch!

- Neil and Mari

21:07:54 - Sunday, 08.05.05

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23/04/2005 by drops.

I’m currently in Italy, sorting out a few things before shooting off for central America, while Neil is cruising with Munzie through Europe in a van. The tickets have been bought and the departure from the UK is set for 6 May. For those of you who are interested in the details, I have published our travel itinerary here. No doubt it will change over time, yet this is as good as it gets at this stage.
If you’re wondering what injections to get done before visiting the same countries as us, have a look at the links on our links page. Hope to see lots of your contributions on this board!

22:28:27 - Saturday, 23.04.05

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06/04/2005 by drops.

It’s official - we’ve finally exchanged contracts and will be completing on the 29th! It’s taken us only nine months, about 15 offers and five different buyers, but we’re now well and truly on our way to Belize.

As can be imagined, there’s lots of work for us to do now. And the thing is, all needs to come together over the next two weeks, so we won’t have much time in London at all. Unfortunately this means we won’t be able to see many of you again before we go…

Please do keep in touch, either by email or by leaving comments and posts on this website. Hopefully we will be able to find an internet café when we’re travelling so we can let you know how it’s going.

Marilena

23:50:00 - Wednesday, 06.04.05

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16/03/2005 by drops.

After a week or more of playing around with blog installations, here I am, finally live and well (OK, a bit more of customisation is needed, but hopefully this should be a smooth ride from on…. The blog I’ve gone for is quite a system, with many cool features. It comes complete with a forum, where I hope lots of interesting discussions can give us plenty of fun time, a photo gallery, a news reader and a wiki engine for the content management side of things.As for the blog itself, you can contribute by posting comments, you can rate articles, browse through latest articles/comments or most liked (most karma), you can get instant notifications of updates through RSS technology, you can link to your own weblog through trackback, etc. etc.

I can’t honestly go through each and every feature of this amazing package – you’ll have to see for yourself! So, what are you waiting for? Start browsing and you will see what I mean.

Marilena

21:06:19 - Wednesday, 16.03.05

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