tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73937036087811864372024-03-05T15:58:54.097-05:00My TravelsJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-68180308133727562672015-10-27T07:33:00.000-04:002015-10-27T18:49:17.582-04:00Life is Beautiful - Canary IslandsLife is Beautiful.<br />
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Life IS beautiful but sometimes you need to look a little harder for the beauty. This happened a little on our recent holiday to the Canary Islands.<br />
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The plan was to fly to Gran Canaria, stay there for a few hours overnight and first thing the next day, fly to La Palma and hike around the island for a week. The route were we planning to walk was called the GR130 and it circumnavigates the island. The photos of the island were beautiful although information on the route was hard to come by. But we figured that it must be just undiscovered by the masses and therefore unspoilt, and that would be a good thing.<br />
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While researching, I had gotten in touch with a lovely English lady Anne living on La Palma with David for the last 14 years and they gave us lots of great information on where to stay around the island. We even booked into their B&B for 2 nights along the way. Everything was planned, we were ready for the sunshine, all we had to do each day was get up and walk to the next place while enjoying the views. Easy right?<br />
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The flight to Gran Canaria was uneventful and once we landed we headed to our hostel for the night in Ingenio, a small non-touristy town close to the airport. The hostel was lovely and with some broken Spanish and pointing we ordered a nice meal and drinks.<br />
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The taxi driver picked us up at 6am the next morning for our flight with Binter airways to La Palma. He blasted some Pink Floyd on the drive and we thought what a great way to start our day. We checked in and were sitting at the gate with our fellow passengers when they made an announcement that that fight was cancelled. As the only non-Spanish speaking people on the flight, we only realised this as everyone around us groaned, got up and walked away. The winds were too bad on La Palma so the flight wouldn’t be going. We found out the earliest we could get out was the next evening, meaning we’d lose 2 full days in La Palma. Without much choice, we changed our tickets and figured out a plan. We had to forfeit our accommodation that night on La Palma unfortunately but decided to book a nice hotel on Gran Canaria about 20 mins north of the airport with a free airport shuttle and a rooftop pool, so off we went. Thank goodness for mobile phones and Booking.com! Neither of us are ‘lie by the pool’ people but over those 2 days we soaked it up!<br />
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Saturday evening we were back at the airport and we headed off to La Palma. Since the islands are in the Atlantic off the north west coast of Africa, there are always some winds and it was a bit of a bumpy incoming. It didn’t help that it was dark so we couldn’t see where we were landing, or that the young local woman behind was continually blessing herself on approach. After landing and when we had stopped shaking, we found a taxi to take us an hour north to where we should have been by now had we been walking, Barlovento. It was a lovely hotel outside the town so the stars were really bright. It was quite late but the restaurant was just about still open so we had some food and chatted to an English man there who either ran the place or owned it. We told him where we were planning on walking the next day and he said it would only be 3 hours or so if we were fast, maybe closer to 5 if we really took our time. This sounded great. Unfortunately I had left our book with maps and routes at home but we knew that it should be sign posted. We slept in a little since we figured it was only a shorter walk the next day and hit the road just before 12. We found the route and felt like the holiday was finally beginning the way we had planned.<br />
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The views along the the trail were stunning, we were high above the coast with the sea on our right. The trail was very underused however and quite steep. It didn’t seem like a trail that would be safe to do solo and we only passed a couple of people. After a tasty packed lunch under a tree with rainbows in the sea due to showers just off the coast, we headed deep into a barranco (ravine) and then up the other side. We had been walking about 3 hours at this stage so felt we must be close to the B&B we were staying at run by the English couple. Unfortunately, as we came into the village (1 closed cafe and about 10 houses) we saw a map that showed us we had another 2.5 hours of walking at least, and that there was another barranco we had to climb down and up which was twice as big as the last one. We were a bit gutted at this point. Obviously the guy from the previous hotel had been talking nonsense, and now there was a village dog following us and barking at us to leave. We could see the rain coming in but had no choice but to trudge onwards with our full backpacks.<br />
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We were nearly at the bottom of the ravine when Gav saw another dog in front of us, totally out on his own, stalking something. He was quite big and we were away from any of the villages so it seemed odd that he was out here. He actually spooked us a bit, despite both of us being very used to dogs so we decided to retrace our steps back to the small village. At this stage the rain starting pummelling down so once we got to the village, we found shelter behind a wall and called the B&B in Franceses for a lift. Very kindly, David came to pick us up and told us we made the right call as the weather was really starting to come in. Anne was so nice and had prepared dinner for us and for some other guests at the B&B, 3 Swedish people. Our room was a little stone shed on the side of the mountain with a small kitchenette and bathroom contained within.<br />
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The rain continued fairly consistently for the next 2 days so we had to abandon our plan to walk the GR130 and found a more sedate route instead for the day. We were a bit deflated but got a bus to La Zarza to see some rock carvings, then did a 10 mile along the roads back to the B&B. We felt the rain had made the proper trail too dangerous as it was now both steep and wet, and again we had been charged at by another farm dog. Hearing barking in the distance was beginning to make the walk unenjoyable as once you heard barking, you had to be super aware in case the dogs jumped out at you, quite unnerving.<br />
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After our second day of walking in the rain, we decided that was enough and one of the German guests at the B&B gave us a lift to where we should have walked to in Puntagorda and where I had already booked our accommodation. After a dreary start, the sun came out for a little bit and it was nice not to be wearing wet rain gear. A lot of our clothes smelled like damp :( We stayed at a great hostel/B&B run by a couple of Germans. Apparently Germans make up 10% of the population of La Palma! We checked out a small art gallery, had really delicious pizza from a brick oven made by a long haired rocker blasting out Creedence Clearwater Revival, and then had a tasty evening meal across the road from where we stayed.<br />
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I had been able to cancel the rest of our accommodation from this point onwards, so the next day we just got a couple of buses across the island to Santa Cruz, where we needed to fly out on Sat morning. Since our flights home from Gran Canaria were also on Sat in the evening, we had been checking the winds all week in case the La Palma airport would close again. We tried changing our tickets to Fri instead but since they weren’t changeable, we forked out for new tickets. Not ideal but it gave us peace of mind.<br />
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We hopped onto Booking.com again and found an apartment to stay in at Los Concajos, just a couple of miles outside Santa Cruz by the beach for the next 2 nights. We walked around the city, ate, paddled in the sea (it was a bit too rough to swim when we wanted to), and even did a small day walk. We got totally off track though as again, the trails are so underused that the signs to follow are either hidden by trees now or the paint markings have faded. Of course it rained some more. Of the 9 days we were there, it rained for 8 of them. Even the locals seemed surprised by the weather and some floods on the other Canary Islands were on the news.<br />
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After changing our flight, we had a night to spare in Gran Canaria so we booked into the hotel with the rooftop pool again (who had we become! :) )<br />
Thankfully this time, due to the rain, we walked in a different direction for dinner that night and found an amazing little neighbourhood where all the locals go for great food.<br />
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For pretty much the whole trip, instead of just walking every day in the sunshine, we were constantly on the phones, checking the winds, rain, flights, where to stay, buses etc. So on our way to our meal that night in Gran Canaria, an older Spanish man got in the lift with us and just turned to Gav out of the blue and said ‘Life is beautiful, you must enjoy it’. We all laughed and said thanks very much and it was just the thing we needed to hear. If our flight hadn’t been cancelled, we wouldn’t have stayed in the nice hotel with the pool which is probably what we needed more than launching into a big strenuous walk. If we hadn’t seen that scary dog in the ravine and retreated, we would have been stuck in some serious rain for 2.5 hours, instead of getting a lift to the B&B. If we hadn’t gotten the buses when we did, we’d have missed the few hours of sunshine that came out, and would have arrived into towns each day soaking wet.<br />
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The places we stayed at were fantastic, all the meals we ate were delicious, the people we met were so nice, and the scenery is stunning. I think we just got unlucky with the weather and it seemed like every day there was a new challenge to figure out. Despite all that, it was good holiday, not at all like we had planned, but it was still beautiful.<br />
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Here's a link to the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Canaries?authkey=Gv1sRgCJXrybf82uejvAE" target="_blank">photos</a><br />
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Jen x<br />
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<br />Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-79433791128954885612015-06-26T16:54:00.000-04:002015-06-26T17:52:00.922-04:00Trekking in Morocco<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
This was a short adventure by my usual standards, just a week in Morocco where we were to walk for 5 days in the Atlas Mountains summiting Toubkal (highest peak in North Africa at 4167m), followed by almost 2 days in Marrakesh.</div>
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We set off from Dublin to Marrakech on Sunday afternoon and 3 hours and 15 mins later, we were in Africa! At the hotel we met the group we were spending the week with, as well as the guide. Apart from myself and Gav, there was another Irish guy, two people from Northern Ireland, one from Germany and the rest were English so a nice mix ranging from 26 years old to mid 60's. We also met our guide Abdellah who briefed us on the week ahead.</div>
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We set off Monday morning for the Atlas mountains. Abdellah had told us the night before that due to snow on one of the passes, we were to take a slightly alternative route whereby we would just follow the valley to the Toubkal base camp. This meant staying in a gite in Aremd on Tuesday instead of a tent. </div>
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We only had to carry our day packs so the rest of our bags, plus the tents, food, cooking equipment etc was all carried on just ahead of us by 4 mules and their muleteers (including the chef Hussein). Hassan followed our group closely and was our backmarker. He also walked with a mule who was weighed down with less gear than the others. I wondered if this was in case one of us needed the mule to carry us! Thankfully we never had to find out. </div>
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Each day we walked between 5-6 hours (except summit day which was 9) at a lovely leisurely pace and Abdellah would often stop to give us some history, point out towns, peaks, trees, or anything he thought might interest us which was great. The temps most days were pretty good too, around 26C and in the evenings it would drop to where you might need a fleece and jacket if you were sitting around outside. Inside the tents were cozy though.</div>
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The food was amazing! We would catch up with the muleteers and chef for lunch and they would have the most delicious picnic laid out for us either under a tree, beside a river or on the side of a hill with stunning views all around. We never managed to finish all the food despite some serious efforts. </div>
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In the evenings when we reached our camp or gite, we would have mint tea and biscuits/cookies and then dinner a little while later. Again, it was fantastic food which we could never get all the way through. </div>
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Sleeping well seemed to depend on the position of the tent. We lucked out at the 2 nights at base camp thankfully after a sloped one the first night where we both almost ended up in a ball at the front of the tent several times in the night! At the gite sleeping depended on whether you were woken by the call to prayer at 3am from the mosque in the village. </div>
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The summit day was a little longer than we thought but still enjoyable. It was really steep, probably steeper than anything else I had done. I can walk up all day but I'm not a fan of coming down so that was the part I found the hardest. It was all worth the views from the summit though and we got really lucky as there were only 2 other groups there who left not long after we arrived. </div>
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As long as we though the summit day was, the guides must have felt it was a lot longer. Ramadan began on Thurs (summit day) so they had to get up at 3am for their breakfast, sleep a little till we left the camp at 5:30am and they couldn't eat or drink until 7:45pm that evening. I don't know how they managed without any food or drink as we were thirsty and ravenous all day. They just keep going as usual with a smile and encouraging words to those who were tired...</div>
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We had the choice of doing another 4000m peak the next day but most people were tired and we were told it was a 12 hour walking day which no one was really keen on. Instead we settled for 4 hour walk and a few people tried out a local steam bath instead. </div>
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On the Saturday after breakfast we had a short walk before heading back to Marrakech for a city tour. We visited the Bahia Palace as well as another royal house and then got a tour of the famous Souks where we could do some shopping. By the end of the tour, a few of us were hungry for lunch so we just sat by the Djemaa el Fna square for a bite. </div>
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We were all due to meet at 7 that evening for dinner so we decided to do some shopping at night instead when it was cooler. It was a humid 39C in the city during the day. By the time we got back to the hotel that afternoon, a few people were unwell. There seemed to be a bug going around the group all week and unfortunately Gavin and I were hit with it Saturday evening so we didn't get to enjoy Marrakech by night. </div>
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After staying in to sleep it off we felt much better on Sunday and hung out by the hotel pool for the day until we had to leave for the airport that evening. That seems more appealing than going shopping. In the end 9 of the 11 people in the group were ill at one point or another during the week. We were just happy it didn't happen to us in the mountains as it did for others unfortunately. Nothing like being ill and having to sleep in a tent!</div>
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On our descent of Toubkal, I had a funny 'small world' moment. I had put a message on Facebook before we left Dublin about our trip and randomly someone I met on a volunteer project in Namibia in 2013 said she was also summiting Toubkal a couple of days later. We found out we were with the same tour company but with different summit days so on our descent down the valley on Friday we bumped into Mansi who was on her way up. She was also staying at the same hotel as us in Marrakech so we were able to catch up properly for a bit there on Sunday. What a lovely chance meeting!</div>
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Despite only being away for a week it felt much longer in a great way. While Marrakech was interesting my favourite part of the trip was the mountains and walking through the berber villages where unlike Nepal, you still seem like a bit of a curiosity, with the kids shouting 'stilo' after us looking for pens. I wish I had brought some for them. Another thing to add to my packing list in future! </div>
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Till next time here are the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Morocco?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGl8aOJmYHyRA" target="_blank">photos</a></div>
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Jen</div>
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xo</div>
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Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-21537746303768149732014-10-06T14:37:00.000-04:002014-10-06T14:38:34.380-04:00Polish Mountains and Spanish FlatsI decided to split this year's holiday into two parts - one week in Poland, hiking the High Tatras and the second week in Spain walking the Camino de Santiago trail with G. <br />
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Poland: </h3>
I started off with going to Poland with Exodus who I'd used before for the Mt Blanc circuit and Nepal. After a late night flight to Krakow and a transfer to Zakopane the next day, I met the gang I'd be spending the next week with. <br />
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There were two other women in the group (who were cousins from France) and the rest were lads from Wales, Scotland and England. Teresa, a mini powerhouse from Poland was our guide. It was a 5 day walking trip in the Tatra National Park where we'd average 15-20km per day over quite steep terrain that either seemed to be going straight up or straight down. We were also carrying our full packs most of the time, around 11kgs so that was a workout in itself.<br />
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Each night we stayed in huts with bunk beds and communal dining areas. Earplugs were essential! The huts were all very clean and most had hot showers. Food portions in Poland are enormous and we all struggled to get through the massive 3 course meals every night, even after a hard day's slog in the mountains. No wonder the Polish people are so active! The next few days panned out like this.<br />
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Day 1: Ornak peak (1854m)<br />
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Day 2: Ciemniak, our first 2000m peak. On the way we could hear a bear in the distance having a grumpy morning growling session. Thankfully he didn't seem to want to follow us up. <br />
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Day 3: Back up to the main ridge to the summit of Mt. Kasprowy (1955m) and then Swinica (2050m)<br />
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Day 4: We had to start using fixed mountain chains to help us as we scrambled up the mountain to cross the 'Eagles Perch' (2159m) - scary stuff pulling yourself up a mountain using a chain that you're not attached to. You slip and its bad news!<br />
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Day 5: We headed for Poland's highest peak, Mt. Rysy (2499m) on the Polish/Slovakian border. This was a 12 hour day with lots more chains and scrambling. I wasn't altogether happy on some of the chains but it was worth it in the end. We heard later that day about a man who slipped while scrambling on a trail nearby that was easier than the one we were on. He fell 150m. Sadly it didn't end well. Thankfully we didn't have to come down the same way we came up so we went down the Slovakian side, which is long but not so steep.<br />
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We headed back to Krakow on the Fri lunchtime and just wandered the city and the markets. On Sat morning a bunch of us went to the Salt Mines, totally worth a visit. We finished up with a group dinner in the Jewish district on Sat night before leaving for the airport on Sun morning.<br />
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Here's the link to the photos - <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/PolishTatras?authkey=Gv1sRgCNSSs9_8w4W-nQE" target="_blank">Polish Tatras</a><br />
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Spain:</h3>
I got to Madrid Sunday afternoon from Krakow, bolted through the airport with my pack like a sweaty mess to try and catch a 3:15 bus to Burgos where I was going to meet G. I got to the bus with 2 mins to spare only to be told the bus was full and I'd have to wait another 3.5 hours for the next one. After a bit of a sulk, I cheered myself up with wine while I waited. <br />
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While I was in Poland for the week, G was walking the Camino from Pamplona to Burgos. He's done the whole thing before but I was joining him for his favourite portion. We planned to walk for 5 days until Sat where we'd head to Santander before flying home on Sunday. <br />
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After finally making it to Burgos on Sunday night, we got up early the next morning and started our walk. There are yellow arrows, mostly spray-painted on walls or the ground which indicate the Camino trail.<br />
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We managed to cover 127km in 5 days. Much flatter and hotter than Poland but still carrying a full pack, which was a little heavier than Poland since I was wearing less clothes in the heat. The Camino seems to be rather unique in that its super friendly, more so than any other hiking trail I've been on. People wish one another a 'Buen Camino' as they pass by each other, and the common questions asked are 'where did you start', 'how far are you walking', 'how are the feet'?<br />
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G was like the mayor of the Camino as he seemed to know so many people having chatted to them the week before! <br />
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Each night we stayed in Albergues, similar to the huts in Poland with dorms of bunkbeds. There's a communal dining area where everyone sits together to eat from the 'pilgrim' menu (a lovely 3 course meal) which includes a bottle of water and wine for only €9. Some of the towns we stayed in were absolutely tiny so there was plenty of opportunities for star gazing and satellite watching both in the evenings, and again when we hit the road early in the morning before sunrise.<br />
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One evening we decided to stay on a farm where ducks, geese, turkeys, hens, chicks, dogs and donkeys wandered around the place, all getting along (most of the time). Instead of staying in the dorm we stayed in what was basically a large garden shed with a bed in it. We even walked the ducks and geese to bed with the hospitalier (they waited outside his room for him as they liked him to walk them to where they slept every night).<br />
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Apparently lots of people skip the section we did as its quite barren and desert-like but of course this was exactly what I was looking for. We met a grandfather and his grandson who were walking the whole of the Camino together, the grandfather was 78! It takes around 6-8 weeks to walk the entire thing. And we met a mum and her 8 yr old son who were walking together although the son was on his bike. He'd cycle ahead on the trail chatting to everyone he met and would then wait for his mum who was carrying both of their packs to catch up. In the evenings he'd do his homework.<br />
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After 5 days of walking, we reached Sahagún. Sadly it was time to get the train to Santander and our flight home. Splitting the 2 weeks into 2 different destinations in such a short space of time was new for me but it really made me feel like I had been away for longer than I was, so I may try that type of thing again. Anyway, must plan some mini weekend walking trips to keep me going till the next big one...<br />
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Here's the link to the photos - <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Camino?authkey=Gv1sRgCMOaofHk2JK3eg" target="_blank">Camino</a><br />
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Jen<br />
xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-48809613911387870052013-12-18T07:26:00.002-05:002013-12-19T08:03:17.116-05:00Namibia - 7th time lucky<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here's the latest blog after a really fun 6 weeks with EHRA <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org/" target="_blank">http://www.desertelephant.org</a> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">in Namibia. It was my 7th trip out there so you might say I have a little obsession with the place. The purpose of this trip was to work with Rachel and update the website I had created for them 4 years ago (which we're hoping to relaunch in the next few days). I also got to spend a few much-needed weeks living out in the bush, sleeping under the stars and cooking over the fire.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br><br>In early November after a 22 hour journey, I reunited with Chris (the project manager) and spend my first 2 weeks with the volunteers - 3 lovely ladies from the UK and one from the US. After a few tough and hot days (38C), we got pretty close to finishing a wall around a water pump at a farm near Khorixas during the first week. We even had elephants come to drink from the dam right beside the pump one night, as if to prove a point that a wall was needed to protect the pump while still allowing the elephants to drink. The second week we headed up to the Huab river (one of my favourite areas) and we tracked a couple of herds up there. We even heard lions roaring one night quite close to camp, a little unnerving but also very exciting.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I spent the next few weeks back in Swakopmund working </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">on the website </span>with Rachel at EHRA's head office and helping a little with the slideshows for the end of year party in the desert. If you want to know more about what attracts me there, check these out!</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">EHRA the beginning - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pCF7qwHmyA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pCF7qwHmyA</a></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The last year 2013 - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Lkai3C6dw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Lkai3C6dw</a><br><br>While I was in the office the new batch volunteers finished off the wall in Khorixas. The volunteers included Robby from Zimbabwe. She was out volunteering 2 years ago when I was last there. The rest of the volunteers (3 girls and a guy) were from the UK, Switzerland, Germany and Brazil. Matheus, the Brazilian even gave us girls samba lessons one night around the fire. Following the end of year party (which was almost rained out), I stayed out in the bush with the volunteers and joined them for their 2nd week which was for elephant patrol. This time we drove to the Ugab river first to check out the herds there, and then headed back towards the Huab river. We saw 4 different herds in total and I'm happy to say I can recognise some of the elephants now :) </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We had a fantastic patrol, as well as elephants we saw a lot of game such as oryx, kudu, springbok, steenbok, ostrich, zebra, giraffe and a couple of black rhino. I even got to drive in the sandy riverbed, my first proper 4x4 experience. At the end of the week, on the Thursday night before we headed back to town, I noticed there were a lot more shooting stars than normal, about 2-3 every min. Turns out it was the beginning of a meteor shower. What a lovely way to end the trip. As always it all went too quick so no doubt there'll be a 8th, 9th, 10th trip out there in the future. And if any of you ever want to join me, let me know!<br><br>Things I'll miss about Namibia:<br>- waking up to birds (as loud as they can be sometimes, its so much better than an alarm)<br>- sleeping under the stars and not closing my eyes till I see at least one shooting star or satellite passing overhead, I'm not usually waiting long<br>- cooking over the fire and my hair and clothes smelling like campfire<br>- feeling low maintenance and not worrying about what we all look (or smell) like, although some smell more than others :)<br>- watching animals in their natural habitat<br>- learning something new from Chris or Mattius every day<br>- sunsets and sunrises<br>- meeting new like-minded people<br>- Willy the one eyed camp dog who I totally fell in love with and I like to think he did with me too. So nice after losing sweet Tobes in August<br>- the whole EHRA family - Rachel, Joe, Chris, Mattius, Victro, Adolf. And all the dogs of course - Kiki, Zanzi, Zulu and Tsaurab who liked to nap on my bed.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Another wonderful set of memories to get me through the winter. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!</span><br>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br>Jen<br>xo</span>Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-52461402529455394182013-04-14T14:22:00.002-04:002013-04-14T15:50:05.402-04:00IcelandFor the last 2 years Iceland has been on my travel radar, not just to see the country but also the Northern Lights. I decided that this Easter the time had come. Not only is March/April the best time of the year to see them, supposedly this year they are the most active they've been in 50 years. Let me cut to the chase right now though. Despite all this, we didn't get to see them once in the 6 days we were there. However, Iceland more than made up for it. <br />
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D and I headed off on Good Friday from London to Reykjavik with WOW Air. I was a little skeptical at first when I booked the tickets but they were actually a really good airline and had the funniest safety commentary I've heard yet, very clever because it made everyone listen. 3 hours and our first Icelandic beer later, we landed in Reykjavik. We got the bus to our hotel (Hotel Reykjavik Centrum) which was in the centre of the old part of town and I would highly recommend it. They have a new and old part of the hotel, the old part was built in 1754 but designed around the style found in Reykjavík around 1900. We got to stay in the old part, I loved our room. <br />
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We were really lucky with the weather for the whole trip, it was between 7 and 10C most days and sunny. A little cloudy at night but sadly enough clouds to cover up the Northern Lights and their low activity that week. <br />
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Anyway, here are some of the highlights of our trip:<br />
- Going to the Blue Lagoon which is a geothermal spa just outside Reykjavik. Its like getting into a hot outdoor bath. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon it wasn't too busy so we just strolled in and didn't even have to queue for a beer which is sold from a kiosk in the middle of the lagoon! A blissful sunny afternoon.<br />
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- Since we were only there for a few days, it was easier to jump on tours as opposed to driving ourselves. The first one we did was a day tour called the Golden Circle Tour which brings you to some beautiful waterfalls, geysers and to where the North American and Eurasian continental plates meet, a place which is also of historical importance in Iceland. It was a full on day but we saw tons and there was running commentary from Swan our guide, although I'll admit we did have a few power naps along the way.<br />
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- We did a tour specifically for hunting for the Northern Lights one evening. They're very careful to emphasize that its a 'hunt' for the lights, not a viewing. We were picked up at 730 with another 40 people and driven out into the countryside. We waited till it got dark but by 1030, they decided we should move so we hopped on the bus to try another location. Just after midnight, it was declared the hunt was over but we could use our tickets again for free if we wanted to try again. They're valid for 2 years, so maybe we'll have to go back to redeem. <br />
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- We did a 2 day, 1 night tour with Extreme Iceland. There were more waterfalls on this trip as we drove 450Km east of Reykjavik along the south coast. We also saw lava fields, black beaches, did a glacier hike, visited a glacial lagoon, saw Iceland's highest peak (which I want to go back and climb) and passed through some very cool rural little towns along the way. We spent the 2 nights of the tour also hunting for the Northern Lights but we were out of luck again. It was still a great tour, our guide Berglind was a cool chick, great fun and very knowledgeable.<br />
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- On our last day in Reykjavik, we rented bikes since it was another beautiful day and cycled for 3 1/2 hours around the peninsula. I felt we got to see parts of the city we probably wouldn't have on foot. After a post cycle lunch at Babalú cafe (Thanks Sarah for the recommendation) we wandered around the city before heading for some final happy hour drink at our favourite spot Stofan Cafe.<br />
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- Some of the other restaurants we went to and really enjoyed were (in case you're ever going):<br />
Geysir Bistro and Bar<br />
Icelandic Fish and Chips<br />
Cafe Paris<br />
Buddha Cafe<br />
And finally Fish Market which was quite pricey (even by Iceland standards) but one of the best meals I've had in a really long time.<br />
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We had lovely fresh fish every day and all the portions are quite big in every place we went to.<br />
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We both said we'd love to go back but during the summer next time when the hiking trails are open. It would be a lot of fun to rent a car for a couple of weeks, drive around the island and do some camping and hiking. So Iceland remains on the travel wish list. Maybe another time I'll get to see the Northern Lights!<br />
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As usual, here are some pics from the trip.<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Iceland02" target="_blank"> https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Iceland02</a><br />
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Jen<br />
xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-67716746774706507312012-12-02T07:26:00.000-05:002012-12-02T07:26:58.888-05:00Trekking in Nepal - finally!About 2 years ago I started to think about a trekking holiday in Nepal that would include visiting Everest Base camp. A few friends had done it and recommended it, and one friend in particular told me if I go, I should include some extra peaks in there while I was at it. This friend had used Exodus, the adventure holiday company so during the summer I started to read up on their trips. One in particular jumped out at me almost straight away, 'The High Passes of Everest'. It had a red icon saying 'TOUGH' on the front page so of course that appealed. It included crossing three high passes, five summits plus Everest Base Camp which made it one of the best of all the Everest circuits. I was sold!<br />
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So it was booked and on Fri Nov 2nd I headed out to join the group in Kathmandu. The other 10 people on the trip were all flying from London. There were 3 guys in their 60's, a man and a woman in their 50's, a guy in his 40's, a couple in their 40's, and a guy and a girl in their 30's. I was the youngest on the trip which was a nice change! Apart from the couple, everyone was a solo traveler like me. <br />
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I got in a little earlier on the Sat so I waited at the hotel for the group to show up a few hours later with our leader for the trip. His name is Pasang and he's from Bhutan. He had been leading expeditions in the Himalayas for the last 14 years so we knew we'd be in good hands, and he was quite the character. Everyone was split into two's to share rooms and my roomie and BF for the trip was Frances, a lovely crazy soul from Belfast who I hope will remain a firm friend going forward. <br />
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Pasang brought all of us out for dinner that night as we got to know one another. One of the requirements of this trip was that you had to have had some previous altitude experience as most of the walking was above 3600m (over 11,000ft). This meant that everyone was quite well traveled so there were lots of stories to swap. It also meant that each us of were mentally adding new places to our travel wish lists as you talked to people who'd been to some really cool places. The traveling never ends!<br />
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First off on Sunday morning we had a briefing about what our next 3 weeks would entail. It definitely sounded daunting. The last time I was at high altitude was when I did Kilimanjaro in 2008 and I wasn't that happy when we reached the top. We were cold, dehydrated and had killer altitude headaches. As I came down I swore I'd never do something like it again. But as time is a great healer, here I was again only this sounded harder. But Pasang assured us that we would take our time, drink lots and we'd all be fine. <br />
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We had the rest of Sunday free in Kathmandu so Pasang organised a walking tour of the city for us. Kathmandu is mental. When you come into the airport they have small signs above your head giving you little facts about Nepal. One of them stated that the Nepalese like to express themselves through their horns - no kidding! The city is a sensory overload, lots of people, tons of motorbikes and cars, and non-stop incessant horns going off all the time. There seems to be no rules to the road and to cross you feel like you're in a real life game of Frogger. At the pedestrian crossings, you just have to walk out with confidence and hope that the cars stop, which they almost always do at the last minute, but while honking at you as they speed up towards you. Any hesitation and you've lost, you have to start again. A little terrifying to begin with but after a few days, we were walking like pros as opposed to racing across like deer in the headlights.<br />
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Sunday night we all went out for dinner and our last beers for a few weeks. We'd only be able to have beers again once we started the descent and we had no more peaks to climb. We had to leave for our flight to Lukla the next morning around 930am so after dinner, the evening was spent doing a final pack and going through the check list. We also took a group photo of the guys since they all agreed not to shave for the next almost 3 weeks. <br />
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As I have mentioned to some of you, the flight to Lukla was the only aspect of the trip that I had reservations about before I booked it. Lukla is where all the Everest region-based treks begin from, so for the most part you have to fly in there from Kathmandu. Its about a 35 min flight in a small 20 seater plane. The scary thing about it is the runway at Lukla is only 460m long (just over the length of a running track) and its at the edge of a cliff so no room for do-overs or errors. Its known as one of the most dangerous airports in the world, check out this video of a landing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgZvb37NX0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgZvb37NX0</a> <br />
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I think I must have decided I had panicked enough over the previous weeks because on the morning of the flight I was quite calm. In the end the flight was actually very cool, relatively smooth but the landing was crazy. You can see the tiny runway as you're coming towards it and its on a slope at the edge of a cliff, so it slows down the plane as you land and go up the slope. Everyone seemed a little shook up as we got off the flight, and Pasang, even though he's been doing it for 14 years, was full of relief. He said he's actually seen people wet themselves on the flight before. One of the guys even told me he wrote up his will before the trip, based purely on this flight. So I guess my fears weren't that unfounded. Anyway, we all made it and were very excited to start trekking that afternoon. We met Pasang's two guides, Norrie and Kushman who were to be our pacers and guys who could get us anything we needed, absolute superstars. We also had 6 porters with us who would carry our kit bags. We just had to worry about our day packs which was nice. <br />
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Over the next 18 days, we would start to trek up towards Everest Base camp. Along the way, we would divert from the normal Everest Base Camp route so that we could cross some of the high passes and hit a few peaks that would give us spectacular views of the Himalayas, including Everest obviously.<br />
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Each night we would stay in a teahouse with 2 to a room, and sometimes share bathrooms and dining halls with other trekking groups. Bathrooms might have a western toilet and a sink, or in the more basic teahouses it might just be a hole in the ground and you'd have to brush your teeth outside. On a typical day we would be woken up at 630 with morning tea from Norrie and Kushman. Then we'd have to have our bags packed for the porters by 715 and head for breakfast. The food was really varied and you could get anything from omelets and toast to porridge and pancakes. We all tried to stock up on as much food as possible. I even weighed myself before I left just to see if I'd lose anything. More about that later!<br />
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Around 8, we'd hit road and start walking. We had to drink at least 4 litres of water a day so most of us would buy bottled water. They recycle all the plastic up there now so its really rubbish-free. I had heard reports of the trails being full of litter but it was rare to see any plastics discarded on the way. The first few days it was quite warm so we could wear t-shirts and the boys wore shorts. Women are not allowed to show their knees in Nepal so us girls had to keep the long pants on. Around 10, we'd stop at a small shop for morning tea and maybe a snack like some chocolate. Unfortunately fruit was hard to come by and it was one of the only things I really missed food-wise. It was interesting to see the price differences as you went further towards the Everest region. In Kathmandu we paid 18 rupee for a bottle of water. At some point during the trek, we had to pay 350 for the same bottle. It was similar for snacks and food, but when you see the porters carrying massive crates and boxes up the hills, it absolutely makes sense.<br />
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Even in the first few days you could really feel the altitude going uphill. Norrie and Kushman paced us well though and Pasang brought up the rear. It was such a pleasure to be outside for most of the day just walking, taking in the scenery and swapping life stories with these new friends, all as good as I'd hoped and imagined it would be. <br />
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We'd stop for lunch around 12 at a teahouse and again you could order almost anything - noodles, rice, pizza, egg and chips, pasta, potatoes. One of the lads would have soup and two main courses every lunchtime, and the same for dinner. He was a machine. Some people lost their appetite early on and eventually got it back on the descent. Almost half the group had stomach problems at some stage or another but I'm happy to say I was fine and my appetite never wavered. The lads were making fun of how much I could eat, I would even finish some of their plates if they couldn't. I really couldn't get enough. Better than the alternative though!<br />
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In the afternoon we'd walk again and get to our teahouse for the evening around 4. We'd be welcomed with hot drinks and menus for dinner. Most of the dining halls of the teahouses were quite warm as they had fire heaters in them but the bedrooms were not heated. As we went up further in altitude it got really cold at night. One place we stayed at it was -10C INSIDE the room at night, and several mornings we woke up with ice on the inside of the window! On those nights I would put hot water in my drinking bottle, wrap it in a sock and put it in my sleeping bag as a hot water bottle. I'd sleep in heavy socks, thermal leggings with tracksuit bottoms over them, two layers of thermals on top as well as a fleece, and also a hat - all inside my liner and my 4 season mummy sleeping bag. Yes it was that cold but with all those layers I was quite comfortable.<br />
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Even though we all wore tons of layers, every last one of us got the Khumbu cough, also known as the high altitude hack, named after
the area in the Everest region.
Nearly all people who spend time at extreme altitude (over 5500m) will
develop some degree of the Khumbu cough. Each morning we could hear people waking up and the chorus of coughs would start echoing though the halls.<br />
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I also learned the hard way that I had to sleep with a lot of my electronics as they don't like the cold. My new camera somehow deleted the first 100 photos I took, no idea how or why. Actually I reckon the SD card had a fit and reformatted itself. Better that it happened 5 days in than 20 days in, but still... I put a new card in, kept the camera warm at night and everything was fine since. <br />
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As I mentioned earlier, I was so glad I decided to do more than the straight to Everest Base Camp and back trip. That part of the trek was definitely fun, really interesting and I'm so glad I saw base camp (and no disrespect to anyone else who has done the straight there and back trip) but the rest of the peaks and passes were definitely the highlight for me. And with Pasang and his team's help, it was so much more pleasurable at the top of these peaks, even the ones over 5500m. It was a very different experience to Kilimanjaro. There were mild headaches here and there, usually on the way down from a peak or a pass and that was often because I was concentrating on not falling. Some of the trails were quite tricky. Sliding down on your bum was often the best way to do it. Pasang also put all of us on Diamox which helps with altitude sickness. One of the side effects was tingling sensations in your fingers and toes, although I used to feel it in my lips too. I got pins and needles one evening from sitting on my leg but they took at least 10 mins to begin to ease, very strange and sore!<br />
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At the top of every pass there were group hugs, slaps of the back, high fives and lots of photos. Some people found it quite emotional so there were some tears from them. And usually there was a big congratulations for Barry. Barry was the oldest member of our group at 65 and he definitely had the toughest ride. A grandfather who had beaten cancer twice, he ran his first, second and third marathons at 61, climbed Mt Fuji last year - he had bags of determination. Unfortunately he was the second person to suffer affects from the altitude so basically for the 18 days we were trekking he had diarrhea, a chest infection and niggling cough, as well as very little sleep. But he never gave up or stopped, he just kept the head down and plodded along. On the days where even us fit and healthy people found the going tough, Barry would always make it and do it with a quick smart remark and a smile. He was an absolute inspiration. <br />
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I think my favourite day was the one where we climbed Awi Peak. It was an optional peak but 8 of us decided to do it, the other 3 needed a bit of a break for various ailments so they walked straight to the teahouse. The best thing about it was that there was no one else on the peak. Being in the Himalayas in the peak season means that a lot of the trails can be very busy, and as well as people, you often run into Yak and mule traffic jams. Did you know that Yaks can't live below a certain altitude! I even met a guy who grew up a few streets away from me when we got chatting in one of the more remote tea houses. But we had Awi Peak to ourselves and even though it was one of the tougher ones, we had to scramble up on all fours toward the summit, it had some of the most spectacular views. I remember lying back with my pack as a pillow about 6 ft from the cliff edge, facing Everest, my new friends around me, eating a tuna sandwich and a twix in the sun, thinking it really couldn't get any better than this!<br />
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Another great afternoon was when we stayed in Gokyo. Its a tiny set of teahouses right by a glacial lake. The guides let us walk around the lake (about 2 hours) by ourselves. We felt like kids let out to play. Such a fun afternoon. <br />
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After the Renzo La, which was our last pass, we were starting to descend. That night was the first in over 2 weeks that we were allowed to have a beer. Dunc, Chris (my partners in crime and food for most of the trip) and I all savoured our first can. <br />
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Before long we were making our way back down the valley to Lukla and the return flight to Kathmandu. Back in Kathmandu we had a couple of days before everyone had to depart. We spent one afternoon wandering around the city and visiting a haven called the 'Garden of Dreams' where for a small fee, you could lie on the grass and order great food in a nice restaurant away from the madness of the city. Sat morning a bunch of us hired taxis to take us to Bhaktapur, a medieval city about 30 mins from Kathmandu. Its full of temples and little side streets of shops, great for a wander. On the last night we all went out to Rum Doodles, a famous bar and restaurant in Kathmandu with trekking groups. They give you a cardboard foot at the end of the night which you decorate with your team's trip and names etc. I was nominated as the artist for the team. Frances and Andy both wrote and recited funny poems as thanks for Pasang and the group.<br />
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At this point everyone was pretty tired from the last 3 weeks, and bar me, they all had to head to the airport at 6am the next morning for their flights. My flight was at 9pm Sunday night so I had a day of sightseeing planned. However at 230am that night, my stomach had different ideas. The whole trip I didn't have any health problems, even though we had heard stories about the cleanliness of the teahouses. However the pizza I had in the most touristy joint in town had decided to give me the worst food poisoning of my life, no kidding. I won't go into the details but I was glad I wasn't on the flights home with the others, there's no way I would have made it. Instead of spending my last day wandering the sights of the monkey temple and doing last minute shopping, I had to ask for a super late check out and stay in the hotel room for the day. Not the best way to end the holiday and it takes a lot to take me down. Poor Pasang also had food poisoning and he's practically a local. After saying goodbye to him and wishing him well, I managed to drag myself to the airport for my flights home and thankfully slept most of the way. <br />
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Even that ending couldn't take away from the best holiday ever though. Despite losing 8lbs and having my hands swell up and break into sores from a weird allergic reaction to the cold (as a doctor in one of the villages told me) I would do it all again in a minute. Already a few of us are talking about another trip out there to do some more peaks. I know this is a longer post than normal but there was so much crammed into those 3 wonderful weeks. Here's a link to the photos although it was so hard to capture the vastness and beauty of the Himalayas <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/NepalTrekkingInTheHimalayas" target="_blank">https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/NepalTrekkingInTheHimalayas</a> Other people took the group photos at the top of the passes and peaks so as they come in I'll add them to the rest. <br />
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I'm off to NY now to visit some old friends and then catch some much needed warmth in Miami. Till next time, Namaste!<br />
<br />
Jen<br />
xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-31576356602108094682012-04-28T16:21:00.001-04:002012-04-28T16:28:44.243-04:00Barcelona<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This was such a last minute trip (booked less than a week in advance) I barely had time to get excited about it, so before I knew it my alarm was waking me at stupid o'clock to be on a 640am flight to Barcelona - it turned out to be well worth it! Darci and Leanna (fabulous New Yorkers, great friends and ex co-workers of mine) were flying from NY so I met them at Barcelona airport. Leanna has really good Spanish, I was designated as trip photographer and Darci has great organizational skills, and she carried half our crap in her bag all week so Leanna dubbed us the 'triple threat' team. I had never traveled more than a night with three people but it was fantastic - no weird dynamic at all and if one person was tired, the other two took over the plans - loved it!
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I was only there from Monday morning to Friday morning, the girls stayed on an extra 2 days before flying back to NY so I'll just lay out the highlights of my 4 days there.
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- We stayed at a cool hostel that was more like a hotel a block from La Rambla, one of the main drags. It was central enough but away from the craziness. The first night we got a bottle of wine, some great cheese and snacks from the market, an listened to Leanna's Spanish music while we caught up. It had been over 6 months since I left NY.
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- We had mostly sunny days although if we were in the shade and the wind, it was definitely jacket weather.
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- We walked TONS! We really felt like we saw a lot of the city and walked a lot of the neighborhoods. I know people say that it can be a bit unsafe or that there are pickpockets around but I'm happy to say we saw none of that.
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- There was one bit of shadiness though. When Leanna had lived in Spain before she noticed there were a few more flashers there than in your average cities. She bet that before the week was out we'd see one. Wednesday morning we got up a little early and rounding the corner at 830am on the way to breakfast, I hear Leanna yell 'YAY!'. I turn to see what cool thing she'd seen, as she's pointing across the street - 'look, an exposed penis! - I told you we'd see one'. Not what I was expecting to see before my morning cuppa, some dude casually leaning against a lamppost with his lad out. Definitely quote of the trip though.
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- We were wandering around one night trying to find a restaurant recommended to me by Josep, a former New Yorker and Barcelona native. We stumbled upon a tiny little bar called Zim. It had about 8 bar stools in the whole place and that was it, my living room is bigger but it was fantastic. Really good Cave which is my new favourite drink now.
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- Lunchtime consisted of tapas and a glass of either Sangria or Cave. I wish every lunchtime was like that.
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- The Sagrada Familia was amazing, really cool to get the lift up to the turrets and walk all the way down. Park Guell was great but it was really packed so it was difficult to take photos.
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- After 3 days walking the city we decided to get the train an hour out of the city to visit Montserrat for some hiking trails. It was a really sunny day and so lovely to be out and hiking. The views were stunning and once we got on the trails we didn't pass by many people at all.
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- Our last evening, we went down to the beach, had some drinks beach-side and then dinner. A lovely end to a super fun city break. The triple threat team are already thinking about the next vacation.
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You can check out my <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Barcelona"target="_blank">photos</a> here.
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Hasta luego,
<br/>Jen
<br/>xo
</p>Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-21688419417266308562011-12-19T07:30:00.017-05:002012-01-06T09:20:40.824-05:00Namibia 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCWJGT5tvrp3tMZz7rLywo3apUZPSwLvQ8rWGTBcocI1Eq9SVIlYGjnIlKFnKGvTmTajvW8B6MoFSoLQVE_cXl3OBQ2vq34ITVFrugkmZFt96UACkoP50PPNbPWbEg-avJviy3wVH-X36/s1600/DSC_0090.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCWJGT5tvrp3tMZz7rLywo3apUZPSwLvQ8rWGTBcocI1Eq9SVIlYGjnIlKFnKGvTmTajvW8B6MoFSoLQVE_cXl3OBQ2vq34ITVFrugkmZFt96UACkoP50PPNbPWbEg-avJviy3wVH-X36/s400/DSC_0090.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687821176132286258" /></a><br /><br />After spending 30 nights out of the last 41 sleeping outdoors, coming back to Ireland, where the sun is rising at 830am and setting at 4pm, is a bit of a challenge but I'm still on a high after my latest trip to Namibia. <br /><br />This was my 7th visit there with <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org"target="_blank">EHRA</a>, the most trips I've paid to a country I didn't officially live in. And it turned out to be my best trip. As most of you know I left the US after 11 1/2 years in October to give Ireland a try. I figured it would be easier to find a job in Dublin in the new year so after chatting with Rachel of EHRA <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org"></a> in Namibia I decided to go back and spend 6 weeks there helping out. This time I was to spend most of my trip as a volunteer project assistant as opposed to working in the office in Swakopmund like I did 2 years ago. <br /><br />Carol, who was a volunteer I met in Madagascar and who has since become a good friend, had a few weeks to travel right around when I was due to head out so she joined me for the first 4 weeks of the project. I was super excited to share EHRA with another friend, and she's the easiest person to travel with. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-H4vkHjOLFTf0Yg-3O3zX3Chyphenhyphen_9PUTt0r3mMr_EIKSuB-kzUMIm1qk8CdWRMZ38cSuRoktyYSUGgKigtqkTBuzmRbM-ynDhpLa_LH4mGU_wr4flsKYPkohZ1UTGzbGc-QDyAYWTgpGRl/s1600/P1080274.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-H4vkHjOLFTf0Yg-3O3zX3Chyphenhyphen_9PUTt0r3mMr_EIKSuB-kzUMIm1qk8CdWRMZ38cSuRoktyYSUGgKigtqkTBuzmRbM-ynDhpLa_LH4mGU_wr4flsKYPkohZ1UTGzbGc-QDyAYWTgpGRl/s400/P1080274.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687823472371287362" /></a><br /><br />For 6 weeks I was to help Chris, a Mauritian with a lovely South African/French accent, who was the lead guide on the project. We became fast friends. The 2 week volunteer cycles are split into a week of building a wall on a farm in the desert to protect a water pump from thirsty elephants, and the second week is spent on patrol, following specific herds of elephants, taking profile photos of them and recording their GPS positions to report back to the MET (Ministry of Environment and Tourism). At the end of the 2 weeks we head back to Swakopmund to pick up the new batch of volunteers. My duties included helping out with the well-being of the volunteers, help them cook over the fire etc and record the elephant and game data when on patrol. <br /><br />The 3 groups of volunteers over the 6 weeks very all very different and wonderful in their own way. And we had some people who stayed on for more than 2 weeks which was great. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxOZ8cleXmjcKGlBebG8BvGYpthtOUB__2mhIR3VtiW4-iEEmfErOh_Q4IoqlQs9eQDDdQ8CHyIdkueyBvwI5b4HD_2mN3d1K0sJs98FPNLatMNm-jusXw8p81mpq7XWTdaDRlj-CzUiO/s1600/DSC_0290.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxOZ8cleXmjcKGlBebG8BvGYpthtOUB__2mhIR3VtiW4-iEEmfErOh_Q4IoqlQs9eQDDdQ8CHyIdkueyBvwI5b4HD_2mN3d1K0sJs98FPNLatMNm-jusXw8p81mpq7XWTdaDRlj-CzUiO/s400/DSC_0290.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687825894246637042" /></a><br /><br />Here are some of the highlights from my 6 weeks:<br /><br />- remembering my way around Swakopmund, the town where we pick up the volunteers every 2 weeks before heading out to the desert, and where I spent 3 months building the EHRA website exactly 2 years ago.<br />- seeing the local guys who work at EHRA's base camp again after 2 years, like Adolf, John and Hendrick. And meeting Cool Boy and Mattias who I'd only heard about.<br />- finishing a wall on one of the farms and starting a new one on a neighboring farm.<br />- finding a small horned adder when I moved a bag of cement and the next day finding a solarfuge in the same spot - yikes!<br />- Chris making everyone rope bracelets around the camp fire in the evening, like we're part of his harem now.<br />- waking up to small rain drops on my face in the middle of the night, wondering if it was going to pour down, but thankfully it never really did.<br />- being a dirt magnet. Seriously I felt like the dirtiest person there at the end of the day when I was having my wet wipe 'shower' every evening.<br />- cold ciders at the end of the building day as the sun goes down.<br />- the local farm dogs who got fatter every day after eating out of our bio pit. They started off at the beginning of the 6 weeks with their tail between their legs when we came close, very skittish - to sleeping on our pillows and snuggling with all the volunteers at night on the build site.<br />- playing the rake dance, box game and other around-the-fire games in the evenings. We had some very flexible people in or groups, that's all I'm saying!<br />- having my biggest laugh of 2011 with Bruno (from Holland) over something said that was lost in translation. I seriously almost peed in my pants. <br />- being there when Rachel's new puppy Zanzi arrived. She looks just like Hannibal who died in April, and the older dogs Kiki and Tsaurab have really taken to her, well most of the time.<br />- Carol making a chocolate Amarula cake with EHRA written in icing on it - delicious!<br />- one evening lying around the fire in the desert, when most had gone to bed, 2 of us saw 14 satellites, 5 shooting stars and the most spectacular full moon rise I've ever seen, all in the space of an hour.<br />- swimming in the elephant drinking dam at base camp at the weekends. Its an algae soaked jacuzzi-sized stone bowl but it was bliss on a hot day.<br />- going for a sunset run in the desert with Cecelia, Chris and Bruno, who has convinced me to give barefoot running a try.<br />- climbing a koppie (hill) at the end of day on patrol so we can have a sundowner with a view.<br />- when shopping for food on Sunday mornings for the group at Uis (a small mining town in the desert) having an ice-cream with Chris for breakfast. The guy eats so much sugar - bad influence on me!<br />- being told by a local guy that if you leave shoes in Namibia you never really leave. I left my hiking boots behind on the side of the road a year and a half ago for someone to pick up and use, they were too worn for me. I guess that explains why I keep going back<br />- seeing so many elephants on patrols, including 9 bulls one afternoon, and some of the elephants I haven't seen since my very first visit to Namibia in 2008, like Mama Africa and Voortrekker. They're all doing really well.<br />- having a baby elephant come up to the car and sniff my arm while I was sitting in the passenger seat. She was so close I thought she would touch me, she just stopped short.<br />- seeing the 2 new babies in a herd from the Huab river, one about a month old, the other about 2 months. You can still see the hair on their heads.<br />- camping at Doros crater, one of my most favourite camping spots in Namibia.<br />- an elephant digging a water hole with her foot in a dry river bed right in front of our car, so close I couldn't even move to take a photo of it.<br />- remembering some of the wildlife stuff I learned on my Field Guide course last year in South Africa, and having Chris question me on it to jog my memory.<br />- being able to answer volunteer questions on elephants and how to cook over the fire. I realized I know more than I thought I did, or maybe I just knew more than the people asking the questions :) Still it felt good to be able to help and see how far I'd come since my very first trip.<br />- being surprised by an elephant when we camped for lunch, we'd spent the morning looking for them, and they found us.<br />- driving out to the desert in Rachel's car with the 3 dogs in the back, singing loudly and not wanting to be anywhere else in the world at that moment - pure bliss.<br />- driving the land cruisers for a bit - fun to drive a bigger vehicle like that :) beats my mum's Toyota Yaris.<br />- Carol's boyfriend came out for her 5th week after she was done volunteering and they took a week long road-trip. On their descent from their 3 day hike on the Brandberg, he proposed!!! YAY<br />- helping prepare for the EHRA end of year party in the desert, and Rachel giving me my very own EHRA shirt with my name on it.<br />- on our last patrol, we had both trackers (Mattias and Hendrick) with us so we took a long 3 day drive through the desert. As well as seeing lots of elephants and be surrounded by them while they were chilling and eating, we also were privileged to see:<br /> - a caracal<br /> - jackals<br /> - giraffe<br /> - oryx<br /> - springbok<br /> - ostrich<br /> - zebra<br /> - black rhinos, including a mama and baby who ran right past the car, so quick I didn't even get a photo<br /> - the elusive base camp resident spotted Genet<br /> - baboons<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-yrMI20GGisTJo7tjaP6Eb_oQuY4R1l08baTZg7RMJMmqvIP0-IyrbXTNfrBJ1TqQPbsLXKHbrmk0_yNjHkFtw_RDC_tbUcNFgHiRytrn4sN6AcnCxzwyPbR57qkR7hCz_LpcTLJvzFV/s1600/P1080280.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-yrMI20GGisTJo7tjaP6Eb_oQuY4R1l08baTZg7RMJMmqvIP0-IyrbXTNfrBJ1TqQPbsLXKHbrmk0_yNjHkFtw_RDC_tbUcNFgHiRytrn4sN6AcnCxzwyPbR57qkR7hCz_LpcTLJvzFV/s400/P1080280.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687826870039295570" /></a><br /><br />It was an amazing way to end 2011 and I made some new lifelong friendships. I also know I'll definitely head back. As much as I love to travel and see new parts of the world, it the one place that never gets old for me. You can check out my <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Namibia2011"target="_blank">photos</a> here and watch the promotional <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuF6oD840Zc"target="_blank">video</a> I helped put together for the end of year party. It was originally put together by a volunteer called Toby but we edited it down. It gives a really accurate portrayal of life on the EHRA project. <br /><br />Hope everyone has a Happy Christmas/Holiday and best wishes for 2012!!! Wonder where I'll be writing about next year...<br /><br />Jen<br />xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-58234853830842179072011-08-09T21:07:00.017-04:002012-01-06T09:19:58.271-05:00Miami Beach!This is just a mini blog on my trip to Miami. Hmmmm, my second 'mini' blog in succession. I really need a bigger adventure to write about sometime. Maybe soon...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtV3Mzd6ZqzzbEnhUqMKyvIogwft63JXrgN-nr3CMqaM49p-eMIQ63SXWM0M33op-xgJ6nFuoBDIBt36TEU-l-_i-4x_FqSAe1ec6Vw-z7ShPWXi6HnzmhyDUDCiua_ptDhmMI_psRXCx/s1600/Miami_Beach.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtV3Mzd6ZqzzbEnhUqMKyvIogwft63JXrgN-nr3CMqaM49p-eMIQ63SXWM0M33op-xgJ6nFuoBDIBt36TEU-l-_i-4x_FqSAe1ec6Vw-z7ShPWXi6HnzmhyDUDCiua_ptDhmMI_psRXCx/s400/Miami_Beach.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5639036843564227458" /></a><br /><br /><br />Anyway, it was my first trip to Miami and I mainly came to visit my friend Catherine who used to live in NY but has been back living in France for the last few years. She was visiting Miami on vacation so what better reason to come than to join her for a little reunion. She has been here a bunch of times before so she was an instant tour guide. <br /><br />Unfortunately this time of year is considered the off-season due to the threat of hurricanes. And true to form, I landed into torrential rain on Saturday afternoon thanks to the tail end of Hurricane Emily.<br /><br />Thankfully the deluge had pretty much stopped by the time I got to the apartment Catherine was renting in Miami Beach. The beach was a few mins walk away and we had a swimming pool within the apartment complex that no one else used, which was great for us. Here are the highlights of the trip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7lAWSUzi_5T-guePCBrunaA8mDe0BYHxKZP_b1owbGIZddU32iiLtAx_5dcBKmt_9B1yjA4bjeYquBIWwVuF3EpVzh19ogBsDg38fISXuN3HUgsgA2zEeYttKlTX7KWdWobn1pbhkhHF/s1600/Pink_car.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7lAWSUzi_5T-guePCBrunaA8mDe0BYHxKZP_b1owbGIZddU32iiLtAx_5dcBKmt_9B1yjA4bjeYquBIWwVuF3EpVzh19ogBsDg38fISXuN3HUgsgA2zEeYttKlTX7KWdWobn1pbhkhHF/s400/Pink_car.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5639037458014538770" /></a><br /><br /><br />Saturday evening:<br />- Spent the evening at a beach front bar on Ocean Drive (a few doors down near where Gianni Versache was murdered outside his mansion). We caught up and people-watched over some delicious mojitos. We walked back towards the apartment along Collins Ave, checking out store windows. It was hysterical, even the mannequins have had <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/MiamiAug2011#5639027922401735378"target="_blank">boob jobs</a>. <br /><br />Sunday:<br />- We hit the beach in the morning, although it was overcast. Holy humidity though, I thought NY was bad. I was kind of glad the sun wasn't out, it would have been uncomfortably hot. Along the way to the beach we walked through the Art Deco neighborhood where the houses are really pretty and colorful. We went for several dips in the ocean, by far the warmest and saltiest seawater I've even been in. <br />- We had a lovely Brazilian lunch of salad and fish cakes while watching the daily downpour of rain flood the streets.<br />- It was still raining after lunch so we headed back to the apartment for an afternoon swim in the pool. Even though it was an outdoor unheated pool, I've been in baths that weren't as warm.<br />- Finished up the evening solving life's problems with wine and cheese at the apartment followed by ceviche and mojiotos in a lovely Peruvian tapas bar. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQYQeMIEho0C523Ivqa-MslBuj-aWGRJ7sYzqEuIrbpvHc5_Gf3SLCjcrfPS4AEY1olZ3RSqOyJXZRMgzWMcPP3cdmPxDivIaMUCEB_hYQ9txOVBJleZqqRYVsVMzf6P1fRxb2_aWC3Ba/s1600/Biking_blue.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQYQeMIEho0C523Ivqa-MslBuj-aWGRJ7sYzqEuIrbpvHc5_Gf3SLCjcrfPS4AEY1olZ3RSqOyJXZRMgzWMcPP3cdmPxDivIaMUCEB_hYQ9txOVBJleZqqRYVsVMzf6P1fRxb2_aWC3Ba/s400/Biking_blue.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5639037954040633298" /></a><br /><br />Monday:<br />- We awoke to sunshine so decided to rent bikes for the day. The plan was to cycle across the Venetian Causeway (which crosses over 6 islands) through downtown Miami to Coral Gables and Coconut Grove but we only made it across the bridge before the rain came in. We tried to keep going for another 40 mins but it was starting to get ridiculously wet and it wasn't going to improve for the day. <br />- We dropped off the bikes, cut our losses and went to the Mojito Bar at the Bayside Marketplace by the water. Quite touristy but Drew, the friendly barman, kept us entertained and we stayed for lunch.<br />- With few options because of the rain, we took a boat ride on the Island Queen cruise. A nice trip but overpriced for what it was. Most of the tour was spent around around Star Island where loads of celebrities (with more money than taste) live. Would have preferred more history about Miami.<br />- Back at Miami Beach the rain cleared up in the evening so we hit the beach for a sunset swim and a picnic. We think we even saw a dolphin swimming in the distance (looked like it from the swimming motion). <br /><br />Most of the time I didn't feel like I was in America, Miami has such an international and Latin vibe to it which I loved. Sometimes it reminded me of my trip to <a href="http://jcarpent.blogspot.com/2011/01/adventures-in-mexico.html">Mexico</a>. All in all a fun and easy trip from NY and there's plenty more for a return visit. Ciao for now. Here's a link to the <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/MiamiAug2011"target="_blank">photos</a>.Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-33254620303994528592011-04-27T17:25:00.010-04:002011-04-27T21:08:54.487-04:00The Grandest of CanyonsThis is just a short entry detailing my fun 5 day trip to Arizona, the Grand Canyon State.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPzvywAb8Sq3rcR2CotcKj70TcUqIqCN8asyVj8r4LdeXP9oYDXWc_GEaw1sh400iGQn9qPjitpnPPW2ZOQMkpMISRRMpVxZlgon4kB9ZRDyENu60uovMwiFPBkN3uHd_OAf-vRw6tDszT/s1600/DSC_0113.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPzvywAb8Sq3rcR2CotcKj70TcUqIqCN8asyVj8r4LdeXP9oYDXWc_GEaw1sh400iGQn9qPjitpnPPW2ZOQMkpMISRRMpVxZlgon4kB9ZRDyENu60uovMwiFPBkN3uHd_OAf-vRw6tDszT/s400/DSC_0113.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600380665953480178" /></a><br /><br />It was my first time seeing the Grand Canyon, shocking given I've lived in the US since 2000. Better late than never I suppose. This time my partner in crime was my good friend Darci. We flew out on Friday morning to Phoenix (gotta love air miles). On the flight I ended up sitting beside a wonderful older lady who was married 62 years. She and her husband (her favourite travel companion) were on their way for a week's camping in the desert near the canyon with family and friends. They must have been either in their 80's or very close to it. I hope I'm doing the same when I'm their age. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVDQ1sN1kUpRlM2reH_Ll-9WXxqw__GJJZ3rFUgm5C37qyTiNEVE_Cr75XVcM4EJY3anGR0qHMuOw5DYwoCjkCkB5-CazJrWJXqrXPnrJWuVnByQNmqpNLfI7OqALNfmL11hhynuwD6AV/s1600/DSC_0139.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVDQ1sN1kUpRlM2reH_Ll-9WXxqw__GJJZ3rFUgm5C37qyTiNEVE_Cr75XVcM4EJY3anGR0qHMuOw5DYwoCjkCkB5-CazJrWJXqrXPnrJWuVnByQNmqpNLfI7OqALNfmL11hhynuwD6AV/s320/DSC_0139.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600381462863187922" /></a>Darci and I rented a car and headed towards the town of Williams where we were due to stay for the next 2 nights. Williams used to be part of route 66 and there are signs everywhere letting you know it. We stayed at a fun B&B in town owned by John, called the Red Garter B&B. It was a bordello back in the day and housed 7 gals and a madam. It was such a cool place, and the owners were super friendly. John helped us figure out a great itinerary to make the most of National Parks Week where all the parks are fee-free! What a great week we picked to go hiking. After a Mexican/Irish dinner (yes a weird combo) I retired to the sound of a horse clip-clopping down the street, kind of old wild-west style. <br /><br />On Saturday morning we got up early and headed for Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument Parks. Each were stunning in their own way and we did a few short hikes in each park. Around 4pm in the afternoon we got to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The crowds were plentiful but the light was amazing. I was definitely awed and it lived up to its name as the grandest of canyons. <br /><br />After much photo-taking, it started to get chilly so we headed off back to Williams around sunset. That evening I met up with my next door neighbours from Dublin who I grew up beside. The parents were visiting their daughter and their son in law in LA and decided to take a road trip to see the Grand Canyon for a few days. They mentioned it to my mam last week and we discovered we were staying a block away from one another in Williams on Sat night. What a small world. It was great to see them and catch up over a drink in such a random place. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBNfLFObA-HfKI8NwqKUIVM4qHlVKGqN2PyhBwOSpF6GsHGRUuZADnfgoEWoN633oic4vBvwfhE-G1LeROcprI6DHHVXoPj3Y9W3LlidRu4iOeO0INys-ByY-E0iTdlMJHWswUgh1d8WDW/s1600/DSC_0167.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBNfLFObA-HfKI8NwqKUIVM4qHlVKGqN2PyhBwOSpF6GsHGRUuZADnfgoEWoN633oic4vBvwfhE-G1LeROcprI6DHHVXoPj3Y9W3LlidRu4iOeO0INys-ByY-E0iTdlMJHWswUgh1d8WDW/s400/DSC_0167.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600382067893063346" /></a><br /><br />Sunday morning we got up early and headed with a picnic lunch back to the Grand Canyon. We decided to do a trail called the South Kaibab which leads down into the canyon. Again it was pretty crowded with the park being fee-free and it was Easter Sunday so kids were off school for a few days but it was still a stunning hike. On the way back up the wind really battered us and even pelted us with rain as we came up to the rim again. It didn't ruin the day at all though and it made the hot chocolate we treated ourselves to, even tastier. <br /><br />Sunday evening was spent in Sedona, the drive in was so colorful, I never knew Arizona could be so green. Some of it reminded me a little of New Zealand. Monday we hit Red Rock State Park and did a 6 mile trail loop surrounded by red rocks and green trees under a blue sky, a beautiful palatte. We headed to our hotel in Scottsdale on Monday evening (Old Town Scottsdale is a really nice town, great bars, restaurants and galleries which are worth a look) with the plan of spending Tuesday by the pool before our red eye flight back to NY. It was a super sunny chill-out day and a good way to end the trip. <br /><br />I really want to head back to the Grand Canyon and see the North Rim now. I'd love to do a few days of hiking into the canyon and camping out. Definitely on my list of future trips. I tried to trim the number of photos as much as I could, tough with such beautiful subjects. Anyway, here they are! <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/GrandCanyon#" target="_blank">https://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/GrandCanyon#</a><br /><br />Jen<br />xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-57289500706718891052011-01-26T16:09:00.057-05:002011-03-30T10:32:21.537-04:00Adventures in MexicoI'm so excited to have a reason to update my travel blog. It had felt too long. This time it was to somewhere I'd never been to, Mexico, with Mike a very sweet soul of 'good value' from New Zealand and who some of you reading this blog will know.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmI5SPGliIi__ijUjpET8RPUNjPLMmpsDM-rZO3WbnlhFJxS42brjRZpKA1PMo2Z-XuWrIZZvgPtKSOP2feOZglbWqeEMOpISw5v6pI3DA2AG0_IeVT0v8LG4VSK0I8f6g4OK8KQH9_0R/s1600/DSC_0060.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmI5SPGliIi__ijUjpET8RPUNjPLMmpsDM-rZO3WbnlhFJxS42brjRZpKA1PMo2Z-XuWrIZZvgPtKSOP2feOZglbWqeEMOpISw5v6pI3DA2AG0_IeVT0v8LG4VSK0I8f6g4OK8KQH9_0R/s400/DSC_0060.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566686597551378098" /></a><br /><br />We had no plan as such, other than we booked one way tickets to Cancun on Jan 2nd and figured we'd be away for most of January. Neither of us are really resort people, we just wanted to bus around the Yucatan peninsula and head off the beaten track a little. Mike has conversational Spanish which proved invaluable along the way, especially in places where we were the only gringos and people really don't speak English. If people speak slowly enough I can often grasp what they're saying and I feel I can speak 'pokito mas' now. My brother had also given me the Lonely Planet guide to the Yucatan (or the Lonely Bastard as Mike likes to call it, and what it will be referred to as in this blog) and this book was a pretty decent help to us along the way. <br /><br />In the picture below you can see the route we took over 23 days in blue. I'll go through each place we stopped and just point out the highlights as is my usual style for this blog. Still it may be a longish one, we covered a lot of ground.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhM5HE-wIC3eFMWXVcqY-K41yeaxQ57GJXOs-3TJ8N7MyXrsTlInY5p-8hpQORxQpzS7WB-gMqmmKIfk3pBB4bYvIxZ-Be2VWljzd_AF48wwxtVrZwPOn90ZxVew_iS5gH7mo1Al4U4CXZ/s1600/yucatan-peninsula-map.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 284px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhM5HE-wIC3eFMWXVcqY-K41yeaxQ57GJXOs-3TJ8N7MyXrsTlInY5p-8hpQORxQpzS7WB-gMqmmKIfk3pBB4bYvIxZ-Be2VWljzd_AF48wwxtVrZwPOn90ZxVew_iS5gH7mo1Al4U4CXZ/s400/yucatan-peninsula-map.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566694398903818466" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 2nd: Cancun</span><br />First off, we managed to dodge the snow storms and left from Atlanta on Jan 2nd for Cancun. We didn't have any plans to stay here so just spent the evening in a hotel in Ciudad Cancun which is about 20 min drive from the beach resorts. <br /><br />When we got to our hotel a 6 year old girl and her 8 year old brother checked us in. Odd but cute. The place we stayed was pretty decent. From the photos online it looked like it was a bit of a prison cell but it wasn't, it was just a simple, bare, clean room with a nice rooftop. We ended up staying there a few nights ago on our last evening, we even had the same room as before. I thought it had looked really done up since the last time. Mike just thinks my standards dropped a lot over the last 23 days - probably true.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 3rd: Tulum</span><br />First thing next morning we headed to Tulum. We had no place to stay there so found a hotel along the main drag rather than the beach. We wanted to suss out the cabanas they had on the beach the next day before we decided whether to stay. The hotel we found was very odd, the windows faced into the hallways of the hotel rather than outside and it had a big religious alter in the lobby. I received my first ever bug bite in this hotel, blah! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWb0ClW_yMeX041K0JRgVtaBwCcsCBgfCs2wYwvTAydKL-AAdeZyWq_0DCIOc_2xS01A0Enmb2K2crj5vfdAoF70jfoQUWp56ASifXfKGFVdc-tSkPf4rwHA2Np8Q1sDIofbyCiQDwHt9C/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG"><img style="float:center; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWb0ClW_yMeX041K0JRgVtaBwCcsCBgfCs2wYwvTAydKL-AAdeZyWq_0DCIOc_2xS01A0Enmb2K2crj5vfdAoF70jfoQUWp56ASifXfKGFVdc-tSkPf4rwHA2Np8Q1sDIofbyCiQDwHt9C/s320/DSC_0004.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566675578512956514" /></a><br /><br />Tulum was a little more crowded than we'd hoped for so we headed off down the side streets away from the bars and restaurants aimed at tourists and found much better food at places where the locals ate. The beaches in Tulum were stunning though, the nicest we'd come across during the whole trip. It was just a shame everyone else thought the same thing. We'd heard its a much quieter place after the holidays. So after consulting the Lonely Bastard we found a place called Punta Allen that appealed. Its only 50km or so south of Tulum but definitely off the beaten track. There's one collectivo (a small mini van that holds about 12 people) a day from Tulum and you have to travel the bumpiest road at 30km/hr for almost 2 hours to get there. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 4th - 7th Punta Allen:</span><br />We found a place called Sirena's in Punta Allen the next morning after looking online, so we mailed her and decided to just go on the collectivo regardless of whether we heard back from her, we figured we'd find somewhere to stay. <br /><br />There were 2 American girls on the collectivo as well as an older American guy. After our seriously bumpy ride we arrived at a laguna and waited for the boat to take us across to Punta Allen at sunset. This was more like it. Punta Allen is a tiny town of 400 people within the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. We made it to Sirena's and thankfully she had a house for us called Casa Grande to rent for the 2 days we'd asked for. We eventually stayed for 4. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzL94bB4EouJ2vBlZOsbeB3gDVcIS-1LCzGI_u3LWgglcAzPqbuTxsrtkbZJneWuSSaniVFpVLbCcE3c8AVw2TLWzGHQT94qNpPY6yC5HIq4uKYJxLfTjWnudhBEWByOn-CCbq-8V6CA9F/s1600/DSC_0008.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzL94bB4EouJ2vBlZOsbeB3gDVcIS-1LCzGI_u3LWgglcAzPqbuTxsrtkbZJneWuSSaniVFpVLbCcE3c8AVw2TLWzGHQT94qNpPY6yC5HIq4uKYJxLfTjWnudhBEWByOn-CCbq-8V6CA9F/s400/DSC_0008.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566689106966770898" /></a><br /><br />- The electricity in the town is only on from 11am to 2pm and from 5pm to 11pm each day.<br />- The town has 5 restaurants and Sirena would find out each night which one was open. <br />- We didn't even have a key to our place, it was that kind of town. <br />- Sirena (Spanish for mermaid but real name Gail) was originally from California, a former adventurer who had been shipwrecked 3 times and now ran her little lodge for the last 18 years in Punta Allen. Quite a lady and full of stories, here's her website <a href="http://www.casasirena.com/" target="_blank">http://www.casasirena.com/</a> Definitely worth staying there. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdvn9Fv5cKnoL_V-73SP90e42A98YbwyHt4CdS_3XF8CKBBRcbw7LhZLdO-FDbMTh_gELRA1ZoNujKm5VrRLs_u7VN0RlcpNJ4Wq_udjch-WdSpeiOtj8k4JqVe0wYtz_Pgw7EQyiSkC-/s1600/DSCF1071.JPG"><img style="float:center; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdvn9Fv5cKnoL_V-73SP90e42A98YbwyHt4CdS_3XF8CKBBRcbw7LhZLdO-FDbMTh_gELRA1ZoNujKm5VrRLs_u7VN0RlcpNJ4Wq_udjch-WdSpeiOtj8k4JqVe0wYtz_Pgw7EQyiSkC-/s320/DSCF1071.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566676533875922338" /></a><br /><br />Each day was spent lazing on the beach (not as nice as Tulum though), hanging out in hammocks and eating & drinking. We had the American girls over to our garden one evening for drinks in the hammocks. Mike even went fishing for a day (I get too seasick for that unfortunately). There's a lighthouse at the end of the beach. We were told if we scaled the wall we could climb to the top. We met up with the American girls for that mission, totally worth the view.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 8th - 9th Mahahual:</span><br />We got the bumpy collectivo back to Tulum at 6am and hopped on a bus to Mahahual, further down the east coast. We'd heard it could be a different place if there was a cruise ship in town, which there was when we arrived. It was nuts, the town was full of drunk 20-somethings at 1pm, not appealing at all. Thankfully the cruise ship left around 4pm and it was a much quieter place and hassling vendors went home. We stayed a stone's throw from the beach and after some swim time we checked out a place called 100% Agave run by Fernando and supposedly home of the best margaritas. They definitely lived up to their reputation. We ended up talking to an English couple at the bar who were on their honeymoon and had dinner with them, lots of fun!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-odrmrqy63E8n632nB2hBKSlKgz7StqQCLrCjmbCd81WP6sOcU8Q7ajvMNuQUT2QTNbZz38vtZXAsFVC0cFpvGyn9vayeZJe5swHrYFBUWABajLSAMAkQraI1lvjPdkIy3OVLyT9482b/s1600/DSCF1129.JPG"><img style="float:center; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-odrmrqy63E8n632nB2hBKSlKgz7StqQCLrCjmbCd81WP6sOcU8Q7ajvMNuQUT2QTNbZz38vtZXAsFVC0cFpvGyn9vayeZJe5swHrYFBUWABajLSAMAkQraI1lvjPdkIy3OVLyT9482b/s320/DSCF1129.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566677165550642738" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 10th - 12th Laguna Bacalar:</span><br />We hopped on another collectivo on Monday afternoon to Laguna Bacalar known for its amazing blue lagoon. The collectivo dropped us off on the highway, and with a vague idea of where we were going we hiked with our packs for 25 mins before reaching our new accommodation at Casita Carolina's. It turned out to be one of our favourite places to stay. There was a lovely American woman named Marsha who was taking care of the place for a few weeks. She currently lives in Merida in the north west of the Yucatan, where we visited later on. We stayed in the blue house and we shared a kitchen and living room area with another couple for 3 nights. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzIwScEn6HKvTRTgxgWS4Qt6T9MfHn4Nz5bSKc0ni1bxnfL2plHTbAm7DFygBULbNpAA0-IXPd3WoHlHV_bnsvSMoc2QY_KeQ8C5INpHHLV33p0PvhIg5OWToHyJHXItWCjyrfcQYVZtb/s1600/DSC_0112.JPG"><img style="float:center; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzIwScEn6HKvTRTgxgWS4Qt6T9MfHn4Nz5bSKc0ni1bxnfL2plHTbAm7DFygBULbNpAA0-IXPd3WoHlHV_bnsvSMoc2QY_KeQ8C5INpHHLV33p0PvhIg5OWToHyJHXItWCjyrfcQYVZtb/s320/DSC_0112.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566677589161387202" /></a><br /><br />- Lots of hammock and reading time<br />- Mike cooked dinner 2 nights in a row<br />- We bought some horrible tequila<br />- We also bought cards and Mike taught me how to play 500. I sucked but slowly got better after a few frustrated temper tantrums<br />- We were walking home one evening from the supermarket to cook dinner when we saw an old VW van selling bread out of the back of it. We were their last customers of the day before they zoomed out of town. They even had a woman in the back with a big fly swat keeping the flies off the bread. Interesting job. <br />- We went swimming in a cenote, a 90 metre deep sinkhole. Such a refreshing swim and the water was perfect. Kind of trippy swimming in water that deep. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 13th Chetumal:</span><br />We took another collectivo to Chetumal and stayed in a bright blue and red hotel called Hotel Ucum. We wandered the city a little and then went in search of a bar. The only bar the Lonely Bastard suggested wasn't open anymore so we hopped into a diner for beers, then found a place with live music. There was a woman who I initially thought was a man in drag, performing songs and comedy, in Spanish of course. Mike saw the poster outside advertising her, Miss Pussy. Rather amusing! We ordered some guacamole with our beers but they brought us tons of free food anyway that came with the beers. We didn't need dinner that night. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdyuFwpkoKWgmTCY9CXMKz3NbWm3nqEzgFeP5cSKfg895XQFnYYVQMaanHwdn4ppbxUJJq0X52Gsd8epClUVb_qcpYmOQl8EDlfEXYQU-oSJ5I2vstdw-8wcJCcqMZA3EHo5fprV8T-KR/s1600/DSC_0161.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdyuFwpkoKWgmTCY9CXMKz3NbWm3nqEzgFeP5cSKfg895XQFnYYVQMaanHwdn4ppbxUJJq0X52Gsd8epClUVb_qcpYmOQl8EDlfEXYQU-oSJ5I2vstdw-8wcJCcqMZA3EHo5fprV8T-KR/s320/DSC_0161.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566678146599083906" /></a><br /><br />The next day the army were everywhere, for no apparent reason. They seem like more of a deterrent than anything else throughout the area. We hung out a cafe while we waited for our bus. The cafe we stopped at broadcasts a talkshow radio program every morning at a regular table, very cool (see above). Mike also found his favourite expresso in Mexico here, and believe me he tried a lot! :)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 14th Zoh Laguna:</span><br />We wanted to check out some Mayan ruins so we headed to Xpujil. On the bus ride, passing the state line we passed through a military checkpoint, lots of big guns and serious looking soldiers. One of them got on and searched a few passenger's bags. We figured since we were the only gringos on the bus (as usual) we'd also be checked which we were. The guy asked where we were from as he checked our bags. He noticed Mike's cigarettes and said 'no marajuana?' to which Mike replied 'eh no, solo tobac'. The soldier just nodded and smiled like an approving father, very funny but of course we couldn't laugh in his face. <br /><br />There's a small village just outside it called Zoh Laguna and we stayed at a place with cabanas owned by a 70 something year old man named Antonio. He was such a gracious host and cooked us dinner himself. It was like our grandfather cooking for us. We were the only ones for dinner. Then he sat down and talked to us in Spanish about the ruins which he made quite understandable and at least Mike could politely reply back as opposed to me just nodding. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifchyN6uJhzboiFhEpk8skkf2A7q9qNBqSWQ8fkFLCtCS4VgwJrpcCMsBX9jM2qXoqRGMDxQTdQ2Adb2v7cdWzUBSzXxPNZFUOsv4KfMV809Y2MHdyTn8Zaxg9bf_Uf6Aqe1JyJS6tL7nK/s1600/DSC_0165.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifchyN6uJhzboiFhEpk8skkf2A7q9qNBqSWQ8fkFLCtCS4VgwJrpcCMsBX9jM2qXoqRGMDxQTdQ2Adb2v7cdWzUBSzXxPNZFUOsv4KfMV809Y2MHdyTn8Zaxg9bf_Uf6Aqe1JyJS6tL7nK/s320/DSC_0165.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566681797064370530" /></a><br /><br />- The cabana was pretty cool and even had a TV so we got to watch Bad Boys with Will Smith, a crazy Friday night!<br />- Antonio had tons of animals and we were awoken by roosters, birds (including parrots), turkeys, cows, goats. He even had 3 spider monkeys in a small cage which was very sad and the only black mark against old Antonio. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 15th Xupjil ruins and Rio Bec Dreams:</span><br />We hired a taxi driver for the morning to take us to the Becan and Chicanna ruins. We had Becan to ourselves which was fantastic and there were certain ruins you could climb with the use of a rope. Chicanna had a few more people there but still pretty quiet although not as cool.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3pu2pjoFhEEDyZpI-T2v1UdF_rceJj4LZw9wgOLiVb5QKVs3D5VZqFmCVwfpGJZkY2Ma8UJ2LJ-uyesQDiWeLIfs_p0fHG5fpcBrFnz81DfiNQff48bcnooA50k3Uc96NV8fGUwE4GVk/s1600/DSC_0185.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3pu2pjoFhEEDyZpI-T2v1UdF_rceJj4LZw9wgOLiVb5QKVs3D5VZqFmCVwfpGJZkY2Ma8UJ2LJ-uyesQDiWeLIfs_p0fHG5fpcBrFnz81DfiNQff48bcnooA50k3Uc96NV8fGUwE4GVk/s320/DSC_0185.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566683646307088994" /></a><br /><br />We stayed at a place the Lonely Bastard had highly recommended called Rio Bec Dreams, which we have since renamed Rio Bec Nightmares. Our 'jungalow', their version of a cabin in the jungle (although you can hear the highway so not really in the jungle) was so overpriced. As was the food, even though it was lukewarm and they didn't even serve Mexican food. And the owner was an obnoxious, overbearing English woman who felt like she was doing us a massive favor if we asked for a beer. Definitely the least favourite place we stayed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 16th 17th - Campeche:</span><br />After 2 quite long bus journeys, one of which featured an older Mexican lady loudly preaching god right beside Mike for a good 45 mins, we made it to Campeche, a cool cobbled-stoned city at the gulf of Mexico on the west coast of the Yucatan peninsula. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZRHDCuKt8nETC8avOcr-mqGipJV0ZgNu1u5IeqkT79b3SfPYWjX9OulcZ4JS_8IL9qlZDh5yxtH9fx5H8iQVTNLbRJLaunLemBf2q3lecG5Ed8gIdWmS7EWv8mtG5Pj6A03Y885y34mK/s1600/DSCF1180.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZRHDCuKt8nETC8avOcr-mqGipJV0ZgNu1u5IeqkT79b3SfPYWjX9OulcZ4JS_8IL9qlZDh5yxtH9fx5H8iQVTNLbRJLaunLemBf2q3lecG5Ed8gIdWmS7EWv8mtG5Pj6A03Y885y34mK/s320/DSCF1180.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566683972664333682" /></a><br /><br />There was a fun bar we wanted to check out so we popped in not long before they closed (5.30pm since it was a Sunday). People were starting to leave so the young bartender felt freed up enough to find time to read a porn mag sitting under the bar across from us. He saw us looking, gave us a nod and a smile and went back to it. We found another open air place nearer the water and sat beside a table of locals. One of them was super friendly, a little tipsy and wanted to practice his English. He kept asking me if Mike was my wife, really funny guy.<br /><br />We tried to rent bikes the next day but the seats were rubbish and it would have been a very uncomfortable ride so we went for a nice long walk instead through the market. <br />While having a coffee an American man came over and asked to borrow our Lonely Bastard. His son came over too, an adorable kid 4 year old named Ory who was all chat. He even drew me a picture for me to keep, very sweet little boy. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecr0JHPEY7BGEAXi2u5ycqGBHklGwAOeBIzMAdyEU_CmpOgBn91v1j6znQPfzFekcxg19bmlrt3BH1WFrER-jDT0D6GTqv5b-_dj2Sjy5oUS0M9beOorrruCMph09GPCCtVVIa8yIMA-9/s1600/DSCF1206.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecr0JHPEY7BGEAXi2u5ycqGBHklGwAOeBIzMAdyEU_CmpOgBn91v1j6znQPfzFekcxg19bmlrt3BH1WFrER-jDT0D6GTqv5b-_dj2Sjy5oUS0M9beOorrruCMph09GPCCtVVIa8yIMA-9/s400/DSCF1206.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566690363169716562" /></a><br /><br />After siesta, we started off with sundowners on the roof of the hostel overlooking the main plaza. We went for a wander, found a cool dive bar that played lots of random 70's and 80's music on a jukebox, and then ate some great local food at a plaza away from the tourist drag. Campeche was a really nice town. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 18th - 19th Merida:</span><br />Merida is most definitely a city. We arrived in the hot afternoon and it was super humid. We found a lovely hostel right on the plaza that served really good breakfasts.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqDfd0Yok8TkkaSrkx5KL-J4CnwTFfRYiOd1CWfFno0nfLqPLwzUx-_knoQ2TZRSwhx1olju_0Gn6SXHWnDFQ1ne_M5Hx2TUtQH20VsEDtEz89OWCq8xzyGiDBRhh5sbEYTfftbhFYjZS/s1600/DSCF1243.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqDfd0Yok8TkkaSrkx5KL-J4CnwTFfRYiOd1CWfFno0nfLqPLwzUx-_knoQ2TZRSwhx1olju_0Gn6SXHWnDFQ1ne_M5Hx2TUtQH20VsEDtEz89OWCq8xzyGiDBRhh5sbEYTfftbhFYjZS/s320/DSCF1243.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566684416634997938" /></a><br /> <br />- We checked out a great free musuem depicting the history of the Mayans in murals, some very powerful and haunting.<br />- We ate at the same restaurant 3 times (very unusual for us) but it was soooo good. <br />- We found another local dive bar and definitely got looks when we walked in but people seemed ok with it.<br />- We met up with Marsha, the American lady who was minding the place we stayed at in Bacalar and she had us over for drinks. From the front a lot of the buildings in Merida look really run down, like old warehouses. Behind the doors, as we saw at Marsha's, there are some palaces. She was renting a stunning space with her friend which included a massive kitchen, pool, outdoor bar and entertaining area. <br />- Marsha took us to the market the next day where both Marsha and Mike bought hammocks after some excellent bargaining on their part in Spanish with the owner. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 20th - 21st Santa Elena:</span><br />We rented a car in Merida to check out some more ruins and drive around a bit instead of relying on the buses. The freedom of the car was nice. We stayed at a place owned called The Pickled Onion by a lovely English woman named Valarie. She rents out adobe-walled Mayan huts just outside the village of Santa Elena. Definitely another favorite place to stay. And she had a pool which was super refreshing. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgdSLez8Fzazjn_kCIKVyIFAR2ozV-4ukBng359gKKQsJfyUSP9pOXxxtWA34lGDkWx7-9z6AveZyR_TwD7veIxbRaJVaiD2wchkYiXMjo9clNXm0aeca7KWHDjmLkI_0VUYysrPEvHFD/s1600/DSC_0312.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgdSLez8Fzazjn_kCIKVyIFAR2ozV-4ukBng359gKKQsJfyUSP9pOXxxtWA34lGDkWx7-9z6AveZyR_TwD7veIxbRaJVaiD2wchkYiXMjo9clNXm0aeca7KWHDjmLkI_0VUYysrPEvHFD/s320/DSC_0312.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566684940650123586" /></a><br /><br />We checked out a another set of ruins that evening called Kabah and left just minutes before a bus load of Japanese tourists arrived, phew!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">FAV MEXICO MOMENT!!!</span><br />That night we'd heard there was a fireworks show in the village, less than 10 mins walk away. Valarie told us it was a festival of the bulls where a man would wear a bull headdress and shoot fireworks from it. At the main plaza there was a party bus that played music (you may have to see the photo to get it) and drove around the village. There were also a bunch of amusements for the kids. The the foot of the steps to the church we saw them setting up some fireworks so we decided to take a front row seat, just behind a bunch of teenagers. We noticed the rest of the village moving further up the steps and wondered if they knew something we didn't but figured we'd still like the front row seats. They set off a few of the fireworks in front of us which was cool (all homemade by the way). Then the bull headdress came out. The guy lit all the fireworks and then ran towards us. Everyone started laughing and screaming as the fireworks flew in every direction, now we knew why everyone else was further away. We nearly peed ourselves laughing so hard from fear and excitement. Mike even wound up with some sparks landing on his shorts. One of the wildest things I've been in the middle of. You really need to check out the video to even kind of get it. Here's the link to the video <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Mexico#5566705667494087074" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Mexico#5566705667494087074</a><br /><br />The evening finished up with a structure of 4 wheels spinning fireworks around a poster of Jesus. All the while a band played behind us. A most bizarre evening!<br /><br />The next day we went to check out our last ruins at Uxmal which were really impressive. There were quite a few people there since they're pretty popular and after a couple of hours we were ruined-out. That afternoon we just drove around the countryside. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 22nd - Jan 23rd Vallolid:</span><br />We wanted to check out some Cenotes on the way back to Merida before we dropped off the car but we had to drive through a bunch of small villages that are like one way mazes with no direction. Mike did an excellent job of keeping direction but it still took too long to get there so we had to skip the cenotes in order to drop the rental car back on time. <br /><br />That afternoon we took a bus to Valldolid. Its another nice little town and after trying a few places, we managed to get into a hotel near the main plaza. We did a little bar hopping but had an early night. I think all the driving caught up with us. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcLaidcZxnxylo4c7Kg4pZlmis3vurJv4YdUW8MJtrHUOXqO6mlPnNfVj4DARKoTeTDwRkq7iv19YkYA6GjS9FsJsJGxbhK4iTAbPynretG8XNzkTtaZvfvFa5phkHruSvFoFnuVNBlXS/s1600/DSCF1285.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcLaidcZxnxylo4c7Kg4pZlmis3vurJv4YdUW8MJtrHUOXqO6mlPnNfVj4DARKoTeTDwRkq7iv19YkYA6GjS9FsJsJGxbhK4iTAbPynretG8XNzkTtaZvfvFa5phkHruSvFoFnuVNBlXS/s320/DSCF1285.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566685398459443186" /></a><br /><br />The next day we found an even better place to stay and Mike shrewdly negotiated for a cheaper rate, his Spanish has definitely improved over the weeks! We tried to rent bikes the next afternoon but again the bikes were rubbish and the other places with supposedly decent bikes was closed. So we hung out at our new digs and had a siesta in the hammocks. Did I mention everywhere has hammocks?<br /><br />That night we had another wander around town for a bite, it was pretty quiet though since it was Sunday.<br /><br />We had the following (Monday) morning free so we hit the bike rental place early. The Lonely Bastard writes that the owner is a 'cantankerous old character'. That is an understatement. He's really rude and about 120, and was wearing just a small pair of white shorts in his garage. <br /><br />He let us pick out our bikes and then Mike asked for a lock since we were cycling to some local cenotes and would be swimming. The lock didn't look that long so Mike mentioned it to him. This is how the conversation went. <br /><br />Mike: Have you got a longer lock?<br />Old dude shouting in a heavy Mexican: Don't lose the key!<br />Mike: I won't but have you got a longer lock?<br />Old dude: Otherwise you pay everything!!<br />Mike (irritated): Claro but do you think it will fit both bikes?<br />Old dude: Everything!! Put it in your pocket. You pay everything!!<br />Mike: F%^k this, lets go.<br />Old dude as we're walking out with our bikes: Don't lose the key!!<br /><br />It was about 20 mins to the Cenotes and the bikes sucked, we had to stand most of the way since the seats were too painful and the roads were bumpy. The cenote was really cool though. It was underground, artificially lit and full of limestone stalagmites. Again we were the only ones there, apart from the catfish and as we left, a big tour bus pulled up. Excellent timing by us again!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMv1xne6rNtfudnCXZ8rK6MRMWaYnHwgZM0SYiEAf8Y4c5ma77rhh_zB7G4XrgBPR-ABWHqCJUQH3EbYlWDQyplEQisDK9Tg4m4Vh-KnO84BZQmnxE-EqybcNdeWJVrBmA9KXhShyphenhyphenTQt-/s1600/DSCF1287.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUMv1xne6rNtfudnCXZ8rK6MRMWaYnHwgZM0SYiEAf8Y4c5ma77rhh_zB7G4XrgBPR-ABWHqCJUQH3EbYlWDQyplEQisDK9Tg4m4Vh-KnO84BZQmnxE-EqybcNdeWJVrBmA9KXhShyphenhyphenTQt-/s320/DSCF1287.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566685687488814002" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 24th Cancun:</span><br />That afternoon we took our final to bus to Cancun. We checked in to the same hotel that we stayed at the first night and we went out for some last evening beers and food. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jan 25th:</span><br />Tuesday morning we said some sad goodbyes. Mike has a guiding/driving gig in South America in just over a week so he's making his way down there now through Belize and I had to come back to the US to move out of my apartment in Atlanta. I'm heading up to New York next week for a few months to sort out some visa stuff which is a whole other story. <br /><br />It was a fantastic trip and possibly my favourite adventure. It was great figuring it out as we went and the Mexican people were so friendly and welcoming, especially off the beaten track. We saw a lot in the few weeks but there's so much more to see, just even in the Yucatan peninsula. I really hope it won't be my last visit to Mexico. I've even been inspired to think about Spanish lessons for my next adventure.<br /><br />Hope you enjoyed, I know it was a long read. Here are the photos! <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Mexico" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Mexico</a><br /><br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-77295968987669188352010-06-29T13:18:00.010-04:002010-07-22T17:09:46.656-04:00Namibian Roadtrip<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQl_wI-8QPmYHuDQHrKAdofCLMsfHRwnTywfLo58Q9zjBkM6soBo8LD_MIn7JJ6ZjxKS2HElC7Du9cxGvCq3xB2Rjo-Vd8cMGqi17M-ohwnDt9v-q67OLMMiCbBjP8Ohe6Jt1SSmNZCsy/s1600/DSCF1969.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigQl_wI-8QPmYHuDQHrKAdofCLMsfHRwnTywfLo58Q9zjBkM6soBo8LD_MIn7JJ6ZjxKS2HElC7Du9cxGvCq3xB2Rjo-Vd8cMGqi17M-ohwnDt9v-q67OLMMiCbBjP8Ohe6Jt1SSmNZCsy/s320/DSCF1969.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488257633541271506" /></a><br />So after Rob and I left Cara, we hopped on the 15 hour bus journey to Windhoek. Being a veteran of these bus journeys by now, I again got into my sleeping bag and slept just fine for most of the night with a spare seat beside me to stretch out. Poor Rob ended up sitting beside the window after a lady with a baby took the spare seat beside him. Window seats are not good for 15 hours when you're 6'5". We got to Windhoek at 7am and went for a nice big breakfast to cheer up Rob. Then we found a great place to rent vehicles that come with tents attached to the roof. They also supply all the camping equipment such as stoves, plates, cutlery, fridge etc. All we needed was food and we'd be self sufficient for the 8 days of camping and driving we'd planned. <br /><br />We got lots of food and beers for the week and we were putting them into the car at the supermarket when disaster struck. Rob left his bag beside the car for 10 seconds while we were loading the car, and someone took it. They must have been lightening quick because we were there the whole time. He lost his phone, iPod, camera with 6000 photos on it (all from his trip around the world since early Feb, he had no backups), and most importantly his passport. Thankfully he still had his wallet on him<br /><br />We had to call the police and they kindly took us to the tourist police station so we could file a report. Since there was no chance of him getting the bag back, it was purely for insurance purposes. Then we paid a visit to the British Embassy which was just around the corner so he could apply for a new passport. <br /><br />Once that was all sorted we decided we wouldn't let the bastards ruin our trip anymore so we hit the road and made our way to the first campsite we wanted to check out, even though we'd get there in the dark. <br /><br />Basically we spent the next 8 days looking at the map and figuring out where we'd like to go next. We drove over 2500km in total over the week. We first headed up towards Etosha Safari park where we spent 2 days checking out the wildlife. Then the west and south into Damaraland where both of us had spent time with <a href="http://desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a> as volunteers, before ending up in Swakopmund.<br /><br />I won't bore you with the details of each day, I'll just point out the highlights.<br /><br />- Our roof tent was super cool. It flattened down really nicely during the day and it took 2 mins to set up in the evening. <br />- Rob was obsessed by the fire. Every day he would light it and watch it intently, trying to find exactly the right wood to get it started and keep it going, funny to watch. Whatever floats your boat!<br />- Etosha was really cool. You can drive around the park yourself and spot the animals. I got to try out my new guiding skills and told Rob all about the animals and birds we saw. I'm surprised he didn't tell me to shut up even though I must have bored him to tears at some points. Thanks Rob! :) <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETy7aiwMZ1XXscGPTcm5Un8D99YAKFA0kE53ejkQqlshD5_SBzGPps_6ua-IPdRjU8ZeCqcNhJOsmrN0Ps2Oj0zFqmG26OZz6IHFsc1fotEW9R5-gWxGmbNZLXCxnFFladyAPPVIjCgAe/s1600/zebra.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiETy7aiwMZ1XXscGPTcm5Un8D99YAKFA0kE53ejkQqlshD5_SBzGPps_6ua-IPdRjU8ZeCqcNhJOsmrN0Ps2Oj0zFqmG26OZz6IHFsc1fotEW9R5-gWxGmbNZLXCxnFFladyAPPVIjCgAe/s400/zebra.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496838320453027186" /></a> <br />- The views through the Grootberg pass were just stunning, no photos will ever do it justice. I'd definitely go back there and camp around there too. And to think it was something we just stumbled across.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsEspK01p3YfdkzhcGdUScgKUYzYe-t-IhLDCS45JnWyB7lMsbJz6yvcJLlaZyud67I8ZII2KwLOfiow31s-tnn4meaaVpihJElNF9zNZl1t5oZ9vuOSrXM4GbAilATAb9wmhr_c_lVXD3/s1600/grootberg.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsEspK01p3YfdkzhcGdUScgKUYzYe-t-IhLDCS45JnWyB7lMsbJz6yvcJLlaZyud67I8ZII2KwLOfiow31s-tnn4meaaVpihJElNF9zNZl1t5oZ9vuOSrXM4GbAilATAb9wmhr_c_lVXD3/s400/grootberg.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496838839333261378" /></a><br />- Often we'd determine what campsite we'd stay at that night depending on whether they had a tv or not so we could watch some world cup games. There was a really cool campsite with homemade cakes on offer but their neighbor 5km down the road had a tv. So long cakes, maybe next time!<br />- Our biggest arguments were about where to park the car each evening, usually fighting over 2 metres of a difference. Not bad I suppose. <br />- We found an internet cafe in Outjo, a town with a gas station and no visible shops but it was the fastes internet I've ever had in Africa, actually almost anywhere! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9VbwOQV5sY5NAmuETpyrnGMHMCDr_qYX7ETxg3qgcuEwEZYFWXAlGdlAOgMNv2PRShLpKgFJ2zwKa2PgR5XcxWEiBrJPBhYUzs0B2uE5jDwotM9Blm69KNxmzYleCxxRMj4ddbRLY7ng/s1600/drj.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU9VbwOQV5sY5NAmuETpyrnGMHMCDr_qYX7ETxg3qgcuEwEZYFWXAlGdlAOgMNv2PRShLpKgFJ2zwKa2PgR5XcxWEiBrJPBhYUzs0B2uE5jDwotM9Blm69KNxmzYleCxxRMj4ddbRLY7ng/s320/drj.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496839298948090226" /></a> We ended up in Swakopmund and stayed a night with Dave, former EHRA coordinator and good friend, even though he'd just moved into his new apartment. We had a good boozy night out with him, Rachel and Joe and Doreen who had just arrived from NY the day before. Doreen was my drinking partner when I was in Namibia last year for a few months and I was so delighted to catch her before I left. <br /><br />The following day we drove the car back to Windhoek to drop it off. About an hour into the journey (its one long road that goes through desert-like terrain for 4 hours), a car pulled up beside us and waved us down. We pulled over and saw that the roof tent was hanging off the hinges and about to fall off. Its super heavy and would have caused serious damage if it did fall. Thankfully the guys that waved us down were electricians and had tools to help us take it off completely and store it in the back. Close call! When we dropped the car off the rental people were very apologetic and said it was the make of the tent and it looked like wear and tear. We were just happy they didn't try to blame it on us. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcBx3I5_3AXhqnyH9n6puuPrwU9Pr-HKptIZKdKclXwCBWPmWaiR2yNjzY5ea3HVhx7v_uRubmReZdapuf8OBkMqoKLToyY8tw85K93wkkSgpmWqqpjAU0kkl0QDYRwAiwATGw9m9zNzo/s1600/DSCF2049.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcBx3I5_3AXhqnyH9n6puuPrwU9Pr-HKptIZKdKclXwCBWPmWaiR2yNjzY5ea3HVhx7v_uRubmReZdapuf8OBkMqoKLToyY8tw85K93wkkSgpmWqqpjAU0kkl0QDYRwAiwATGw9m9zNzo/s320/DSCF2049.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488260535955708530" /></a>I stayed one more night in Windhoek and said bye to Rob. I was on my way to Jo'burg to see a world cup game and then fly home to Ireland. On Wed morning I got up at 4.30 am to fly to Jo'burg. Tym, a fellow volunteer from Madagascar had a spare ticket to the Germany vs Ghana game. He met me at the airport and we made out way to Soccer City to watch the afternoon games. The stadium was the most modern stadium I've been to, and so clean. The atmosphere was the friendliest I've ever experienced at a sporting event. The whole evening was a blast and I wished I'd stuck around for more games. Thursday I spent my time at the hostel throwing out things not worth the flight back to Ireland that evening.<br /><br />I was pretty happy that I used everything in my bag that I'd packed, the only thing I didn't use was my mosquito net and that's because in places where I'd need it, there was one provided. My boots were the best thing I brought, as well as my solar charger. That was well used in Madagascar with no electricity. It feels strange now to have more clothes to choose from than just those in my bag. <br /><br />I thought I'd be really sad with my 4 month journey coming to an end but I actually felt good and relaxed and excited to see family on the flight home. Its a lot easier coming back to Ireland in June than in Dec. I still haven't been able to shed any light on what to do next with life. I'm going to chill with the folks for a little while here in Dublin, catch up with friends and hope that something comes to me. Either that or start playing the lottery! <br /><br />I'm so happy to have met some wonderful people along the way, some I hope will be friends for a long time to come. It was also lovely to meet existing friends along the way, it was nice to be around people who you know and you don't have to start conversations with 'where are you from, where are you traveling to... etc' :)<br /><br />So for now, I'm putting my bag away but I'm sure I'll be itching to dust it off in the future and hit the road again. Till then...thanks for reading!<br /><br />Oh yeah, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/NamibiaRoadtrip2010#" target="_blank">here</a> are the photos! <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/NamibiaRoadtrip2010#"></a><br /><br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-34018238431147211652010-06-29T11:42:00.005-04:002010-07-22T16:50:23.952-04:00Livingstone and The Caprivi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZaLDxrDm3J5OfLvTozQBCxGdF6xBeeFLWuXpg11Gx5Ot8DsK3B3X6Lv5wiX5963vBDHCcZGwWErVINfLk1MgNjxA4AMMzLCtHzu7VXOT1Dmvr3o2x6CoCl_qgR28prvPOOLRiqPDrPmI/s1600/DSCF1723.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZaLDxrDm3J5OfLvTozQBCxGdF6xBeeFLWuXpg11Gx5Ot8DsK3B3X6Lv5wiX5963vBDHCcZGwWErVINfLk1MgNjxA4AMMzLCtHzu7VXOT1Dmvr3o2x6CoCl_qgR28prvPOOLRiqPDrPmI/s320/DSCF1723.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488221810733695202" /></a><br />Hello from Dublin! My 4 months journey finally came to an end at the weekend. And the last 3 and a half weeks were just as fun as the rest of the time has been. Actually so much went on that I'm splitting it into 2 entries, one for Livingstone & northern Namibia (the Caprivi Strip) and the other one for Namibia. Last time I wrote I was in Swakopmund in Namibia. From there I got a bus up to Livingstone in Zambia. It was a 24 hour bus journey and surprisingly it wasn't too horrible. I packed myself some food, listened to some audio books, got into my sleeping bag and managed to sleep for about 8 hours. I only woke around 7am when we were nearing the Caprivi strip. We had a herd of elephants crossing the road in front of us, much more exciting than the cows or sheep that cross the road here in Ireland!<br /><br />I was staying at a hostel called Fawlty Towers in Livingstone and getting off the bus was mayhem. All the locals are right up in your face offering taxis, accommodation and food. I collected my bag as calmly as possible, told them all I needed a walk after 24 hours on a hot bus and wandered through the town till I found Fawlty Towers which was a really cool chilled hostel. <br /><br />My friends Rob from the UK and Cara from Canada were meeting me there the next day. It was really fun to see them. Rob has been traveling also for the last few months and Cara moved to Botswana last year to manage a safari camp, leaving her lawyer life behind. While in Livingstone we did a booze cruise down the Zambezi river at sunset, lots of fun and we saw some hippos. The next day we went to visit Victoria Falls. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8ZXokiBCyBWcPuDYL4ZXXLGzecfKLfu6vHARYnEd1WcTh5vIM1TyPcD3D5-wpO_GvDQXfHHO3F2gFuen9gx2FBGSdqyuQzqYuLAff4oXi3YYZm3tCBJ8jGvANQHVREO61QOyy_kPIae3/s1600/livingstone.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8ZXokiBCyBWcPuDYL4ZXXLGzecfKLfu6vHARYnEd1WcTh5vIM1TyPcD3D5-wpO_GvDQXfHHO3F2gFuen9gx2FBGSdqyuQzqYuLAff4oXi3YYZm3tCBJ8jGvANQHVREO61QOyy_kPIae3/s320/livingstone.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496835338208221890" /></a> There's a bridge you can cross right beside the falls and most people who cross it wear ponchos over their clothes because you get absolutely soaked. Rob suggested we go poncho-less, it'd be more of a laugh. It certainly was. If we jumped into the falls we couldn't have gotten any wetter. The bridge was really slippy so Cara and I took off our flip flops so we wouldn't slip. Of course that didn't stop me and I fell right at the beginning of the bridge. I ended up with a lovely bloody elbow, a bruise on my backside and a pain in my side from laughing so much. <br /><br />Cara only had a couple more days before heading back to Botswana to work and Rob and I had 2 weeks so we decided to head back to Namibia.<br /><br />There was another bus from Livingstone to Katima in Namibia, just across the Zambian border. I knew some people who owned a Safari Lodge on the Zambezi so after a few quick emails to secure our accommodation for a couple of nights we were off. This was a different type of bus than the 24 hour one I'd taken. It was much more of a local bus, which included people having live chickens in plastic bags are part of their carry on luggage. We made a few stops along the way during the 4 hour journey. At one place, through the window, they would sell you a whole fried fish with the heads still on (similar to the ones I had in Madagascar). Cara and Rob both looked relived I didn't have enough Zambian money to buy one. <br /><br />We had to be across the Zambian and Namibian borders by 6 and of course the bus was running late. We made it to the Zambian border at 12 minutes to 6. By the time they processed our passports and we found a taxi to take us the 2 min drive to the Namibian border, it was 3 minutes to 6. We were about to put our bags in the taxi and encourage the taxi drive to haul ass to the border but he had huge crates of fish in the back of the car! We quickly moved them to another car and tried not to think about how bad our bags would smell as we threw the bags in and sped off. We were the last people at the Namibian border, the workers were putting on their coats and starting to shut down their computers but luckily they let us through. Exciting but nerve wrecking stuff! Not sure what we would have done if they'd been closed. <br /><br />Our taxi took us past the border once we'd been processed and onto the the Caprivi Houseboats Safari lodge. I could live at this lodge. Such a chilled place right on the Zambezi. Francois (my friend Johannes' brother) and Chantal his wife run the place which consists of about 5 thatched bungalows with an ensuite outdoor bathroom. The 3 of us piled into bungalow. Chantal made us a lovely dinner and we slept so well, listening to the sounds of the water hitting the river banks. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyS3_LUBdeBTrhhxwwMOG1T62xZ1TE3yxwpmLna5XsMz42UKVv8eZg73_6zi2ZTKEBoucby6so0v0sccP95mD2ojfXcrcLO5gNeQ2pIgSMLGsmInzmVOzk6dkTnQIfSmdFwjrB_uQ0fm0/s1600/DSCF1700.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyS3_LUBdeBTrhhxwwMOG1T62xZ1TE3yxwpmLna5XsMz42UKVv8eZg73_6zi2ZTKEBoucby6so0v0sccP95mD2ojfXcrcLO5gNeQ2pIgSMLGsmInzmVOzk6dkTnQIfSmdFwjrB_uQ0fm0/s400/DSCF1700.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496835702401311986" /></a><br /><br />We hung out there for 2 days, reading, watching some world cup games (including Eng vs US) and Francois organized a private boat trip for us down the Zambezi again at sunset. Such a peaceful beautiful area. <br /><br />Finally after the 2 days, Cara had to go back to Botswana. Luckily Francois knew someone who could drive Cara most of the way home. Rob and I decided to get the long bus journey (15 hours) back to Windhoek the capital of Namibia and rent a car so we could drive around the country for 8 days and camp. <br /><br />Anyway, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/LivingstoneCaprivi#" target="_blank">here</a> are the photos I took in Livingstone and the Caprivi. Cara and Rob had much better photos but Cara managed to delete her photos accidentally and Rob had his bag stolen. More about that drama in the next entry!<br /><br />Jen<br />xJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-18917526783391942202010-06-05T08:19:00.005-04:002010-07-22T16:42:33.328-04:00A month in the life of a field guide<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj8p1M6tz16Vr9wvSAASYxlFE8oxuNdDcMfaOMrN0d11bg8Ln_QgwMFJfIE4aAS08nB01fIMqm0ZYY6SUBhDfDDf5r08-X4N7Aya5mWdnaJ66yZmHF26RvBI4IvQwvtpLBCobMpeWbDGiy/s1600/jen.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj8p1M6tz16Vr9wvSAASYxlFE8oxuNdDcMfaOMrN0d11bg8Ln_QgwMFJfIE4aAS08nB01fIMqm0ZYY6SUBhDfDDf5r08-X4N7Aya5mWdnaJ66yZmHF26RvBI4IvQwvtpLBCobMpeWbDGiy/s320/jen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479274521809470274" /></a><br />Hello all. I'm writing this update from Swakopmund in Namibia where I spent 3 months last year working with <a href="http://desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a> and its really lovely to be back! Its been great to chill out for a few days at Rachel and Joe's after an exhausting but really fun month training to be a field guide in South Africa. <br /><br />The course I was doing basically trains you to become a safari field guide. The area we trained and lived in is part of Kruger National Park which is about 5 hours drive from Jo'burg. There were 9 of us on the course but only 4 of us chose to do the exam at the end. I was the only native English speaker, we had Danish, Dutch, Italian, French, German and Korean so quite a mixture. We all had really cool tents and we didn't have to share which was a luxury, as were the flushing toilets and outdoor showers, a nice change from Madagascar. Each day we'd start with either a bush walk at 6.30 with 2 of our instructors carrying rifles since we were walking in areas with lions, or we'd have class at 8am. We almost walked into some lions one day but one of the vehicles saw them first around the corner from us and picked us up. Phew! <br /><br />The subjects we covered ranged from geology, astronomy, trees, reptiles to birds, animals and insects. We learned to recognize birds by call and sight, the medicinal uses of trees and what different types of grass mean in certain areas. I'm a bit of a bird geek now and since the course ended I've gotten my bird book out to look up birds I see around!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHOIeFSovW7kKJYj5AznBdCiIK4oceSlNYAQS2gtJRndqghvFxhtslWTE_Jw7MdCaL4KhS1KorS_0NK-iQoLaEaMPX26oCleY9cFiE55tS2tvBemnK2N2_sV3RHa4UkVF-mKv7OX43QdLi/s1600/DSCF1335.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHOIeFSovW7kKJYj5AznBdCiIK4oceSlNYAQS2gtJRndqghvFxhtslWTE_Jw7MdCaL4KhS1KorS_0NK-iQoLaEaMPX26oCleY9cFiE55tS2tvBemnK2N2_sV3RHa4UkVF-mKv7OX43QdLi/s320/DSCF1335.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496831651207420434" /></a> The goal at the end of the course was to sit a written exam and then have a 3 hour practical assessment. For the practical we had to drive the land rover around a section of the park for 3 hours with an assessor and some students as guests, and we would conduct a safari drive. They could ask us questions on anything we saw and we had to learn how to approach lions and elephants in the vehicle. It seemed overwhelming at first but I'm proud to say we all passed the drive with flying colors! We find out about the written part in a few weeks. <br />UPDATE: WE ALL PASSED THE WRITTEN PIECE TOO!<br /><br />Some of the highlights of the trip were:<br />- Our instructor Brandon, one of the coolest people you could meet. He knows everything about the bush and had tons of great stories of when he was a game capture ranger. <br />- One day we were out on a drive and I spotted a lion walking through the brush around 200m away. It looked like it was stalking something so we drove in that direction. Within seconds we saw a kudu fly out of the bushes into the road, closely followed by a lion which took the kudu down. Its incredibly rare to see a lion kill in the wild and it happened metres from our vehicle! One of the girls managed to point her camera in the right direction so once I get a copy of the photos I'll post them. We watched the lionesses and a cub chow down for hours on the kudu. We were so close we could smell the stomach contents - ugh. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEwDpysezUFSpuyAqksaJa4Wx3ZPU2xg8O0CA2BdJWiLMaEA_4_1UAE9UCwfAc6OGcwS9-Smv5rxeQ6oyx_18fFduVW0GKoW5qF9TFnEApD58Dg2NfseEeaKbc9VcPZg_RxqmzNEgEs0U/s1600/DSCF1398.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUEwDpysezUFSpuyAqksaJa4Wx3ZPU2xg8O0CA2BdJWiLMaEA_4_1UAE9UCwfAc6OGcwS9-Smv5rxeQ6oyx_18fFduVW0GKoW5qF9TFnEApD58Dg2NfseEeaKbc9VcPZg_RxqmzNEgEs0U/s400/DSCF1398.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496832315924146690" /></a><br />- There was a big rock with a flat top in the park and one night we all slept out on it. Since the lions also like to sleep there, we had to take turns patrolling the area all night with a flashlight and keep the fire going. On my watch we could hear the lions roaring in the distance. <br />- We got to go into Kruger proper for 3 day trips. We saw the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, elephant) one day before 9am in the morning, we got there at 6am. So great to see all the animals roaming free. After seeing them in that kind of environment its very tough to think about them living in zoos.<br />- Every second night we'd go on a night drive with spotlights. There was a leopard living in the area and he was impossible to spot so we'd go on leopard-searching drives. We finally saw him in the last week, crafty bugger!<br />- We also had a day trip to God's Window and Blyde River Canyon which was so beautiful, really stunning scenery and a nice change from the bush we were living in<br />- Every night we'd go to sleep listening to hippos, lions, elephants all around us. There was an electric fence around the camp but the animals roam all around it each night, kind of strange to be brushing your teeth with a massive bull elephant on the other side of the fence looking at you. <br /><br />All in all a really great month but exhausting since when we weren't in class or out on field trips, we were studying. I found it a little too much information to take in in 4 weeks but I certainly learned a ton which was the goal. I wish I'd done this course before Madagascar, I would have paid a lot more attention to the trees and birds around me. A good excuse to go back I suppose!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekG32g2ucBKw0jyZ1V6lsXEcdqpFTSzcelRV9izDDI3lKT7mzxuSRfU8MKdE_jGRqmTCYSlek6DqXfiGtYTaAS0oUr6EQLyfCMcEEeK2lE1tbTFKqG5EPfQy__-V6PIyNMDh0Mo6A4TyM/s1600/nsikazi.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjekG32g2ucBKw0jyZ1V6lsXEcdqpFTSzcelRV9izDDI3lKT7mzxuSRfU8MKdE_jGRqmTCYSlek6DqXfiGtYTaAS0oUr6EQLyfCMcEEeK2lE1tbTFKqG5EPfQy__-V6PIyNMDh0Mo6A4TyM/s400/nsikazi.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496833163060602018" /></a><br /><br />I'm staying in Namibia until Monday when I get a bus up to Victoria Falls, a 24 hour bus journey - fun! :( There I'm meeting Rob and Cara, 2 previous EHRA volunteers and we're not quite sure what we're going to do for my last 2 weeks. Maybe Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern Namibia or Zambia. Tough decisions :)<br /><br />Anyway, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/FieldGuideTrainingSouthAfrica" target="_blank">here</a> are the photos of the trip. I wish I'd had my good camera with me, other people got some really amazing shots of the animals but we're hoping to share so I'll post them when I my hands on them.<br /><br />Hope everyone is well and see you all in Dublin in 3 weeks!<br /><br />Jen<br />xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-14877349331858754072010-05-01T08:32:00.004-04:002010-07-22T16:28:04.165-04:00I fell in love in Madagascar...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8kbgEBOYVnY8a5dorPqpX6Ro4jqRx_McvQitvEavTEklDRSr_TjVD0FGD1hOoWhNjAld24BCXEbsuJxzSFBVRohyphenhyphen-cj7sDx2eB4MK3QgDPaMDQTdOL8P1b4tGbOYyo2YNut46X49Yllv/s1600/hammer.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 232px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8kbgEBOYVnY8a5dorPqpX6Ro4jqRx_McvQitvEavTEklDRSr_TjVD0FGD1hOoWhNjAld24BCXEbsuJxzSFBVRohyphenhyphen-cj7sDx2eB4MK3QgDPaMDQTdOL8P1b4tGbOYyo2YNut46X49Yllv/s320/hammer.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466301903105784130" /></a><br />I fell in love in Madagascar with a boy named Jamal. He's about 7 years old and has the biggest toothy smile, full of mischief who squealed with laughter when I waved or high fived him. He's also a mean dancer! Needless to say the people will be the thing that sticks with me most on this trip. <br /><br />Here's some background on the trip and why I chose it. Basically when I booked it in February I was looking for something completely different from my previous African experiences. Well I certainly got what I wished for and all in a great way. Let me backtrack a little though. <br /><br />After leaving NZ, I went to Sydney to visit some Irish friends and chilled at their house for a couple of days which was lovely and much needed. Then after a couple of nights at a hostel in Jo'burg (I'm actually back at the same hostel writing this) I headed to Madagascar. I was flying to Tana (the short name for Antananarivo, the capital) for a night before heading to Fort Dauphin in the south east of the island the next day. I got a window seat as the plane was pretty empty so I could see the island coming into view during the 3 hour flight. Its very green and hilly with lots of red dirt roads. I whizzed through the visa and passport control and found the hotel guy picking me up. It was Easter Monday so everyone was out on the streets partying, kind of a crazy atmosphere. They all seemed oblivious to our car on the narrow streets where barely 2 cars could pass by. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECQ_-Bl6RegNWIX9tLoh4nqO8kuhNcN_VL331tyCVZ0o1Bvqa4BvNku0-E8gM8_uJj4bQlEwBgMR6LM4-NCZglrhR4CNNPT3tXbhHItKv2UWDjbeTTu0UsuPvhkPMFiRcBZgX8tTf38Vl/s1600/DSCF1001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECQ_-Bl6RegNWIX9tLoh4nqO8kuhNcN_VL331tyCVZ0o1Bvqa4BvNku0-E8gM8_uJj4bQlEwBgMR6LM4-NCZglrhR4CNNPT3tXbhHItKv2UWDjbeTTu0UsuPvhkPMFiRcBZgX8tTf38Vl/s400/DSCF1001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496820359093757810" /></a><br /><br />The hotel was lovely, serene and clean but no one spoke English so I had to rely on my high school/secondary school French - yikes! But I managed to get by and order food, a taxi for the next day etc. <br /><br />I woke up pretty early the next day, still a little jet lagged so did yoga on my balcony before having a shower and lunch. Then made my way to the airport to meet my fellow volunteers and fly an hour south to Fort Dauphin.<br /><br />For those of you who don't know, I was volunteering with a group called <a href="http://www.madagascar.co.uk/" target="_blank">Azafady</a> (which means 'please' or 'excuse me' in Malagasy) They're a charity committed to eradicate poverty, suffering and environmental damage in Madagascar. When you volunteer you can do some conservation projects or construction projects, both on a long term or short term basis. Long term = 10 weeks, short term = 2-3 weeks. I was doing construction for 3 weeks and our project was to build a school. Carol, Laura (both from the UK) and Tim from Canada were my fellow short volunteers. Jim our project coordinator met us at the airport. He's from Brisbane, Australia and was a volunteer last year. He loved it so much he came back to work for them. Jim took us to our camp for the night to meet the 10 long term volunteers we're be building with. They'd only just arrived a few days before us. There were 8 guys and 2 girls, mostly from the UK except for 2 French guys and they were all 23 and under which apparently is unusual! So quite the age gap. They were all really nice though, and I don't think I would have been brave enough to do this at their age. <br /><br />We all swapped a few intro stories and went to bed. Next day we packed up the bus and headed to our new home for the next 3 weeks, a village about 20km away called 'Mahialambo' which means 'skinny pig' in Malagasy. The roads are so bad it took us almost 2 hours to drive it. Its a village spread out over a few km with 700 people who all live in grass huts. Most of them are around 10ft x 8ft and can hold a whole family of 8 people or so. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYBwzm8yqkDp1LkYnLHYSGSpd2kj8UYGbILWiUJlK1YGXWjxKBdpow4xAtkHISsvLV-yoh8oVQteJrsMIq9P_qsgummHjm9UASMO_nzHw_qxaOX0esvsoDubxPigYZGn_X2_wY6hDmeQE/s1600/Madagascar+070.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYBwzm8yqkDp1LkYnLHYSGSpd2kj8UYGbILWiUJlK1YGXWjxKBdpow4xAtkHISsvLV-yoh8oVQteJrsMIq9P_qsgummHjm9UASMO_nzHw_qxaOX0esvsoDubxPigYZGn_X2_wY6hDmeQE/s320/Madagascar+070.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496821569114983458" /></a><br />The kids all helped us unload the truck and set up our camp at the edge of the village, about 2 mins walk from where we'd build the school. The number of kids was staggering and I recently read that half the population of Madagascar is under 14. Apparently each family has so many kids because on average 2 will die before the age of 5, a couple might go to college, some will marry and whoever is left will have to take care of the parents. They don't have it easy but it doesn't show in their faces. <br /><br />The next 3 weeks had pretty much the same routine so I'll just summarise and point out the best bits. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHpjPoy8_FbizgkYKHDak7mFj9DvNn8ZCX-tMm7qgSdZWGgvz7HjVyF2B5wG34Sa5MvN5yAP5nIsAgtVqiZB-xKtnY8Tau6sy_6_O2DkTcaM_HhCp9HAJiPP_F8gylXAPIAF7-rws-aum/s1600/DSCF1135.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHpjPoy8_FbizgkYKHDak7mFj9DvNn8ZCX-tMm7qgSdZWGgvz7HjVyF2B5wG34Sa5MvN5yAP5nIsAgtVqiZB-xKtnY8Tau6sy_6_O2DkTcaM_HhCp9HAJiPP_F8gylXAPIAF7-rws-aum/s320/DSCF1135.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496823286682620946" /></a> - Wake every morning for breakfast at 6.15am. It consists of rice, banana bread, a dough ball and a banana. Same every day for 3 weeks. Lunch is also rice and vegetables and dinner is rice and beans. We got meat twice a week, either fish, chicken or zebu (a kind of cow). So rice for every meal for 21 days, weirdly I've missed it since I left. <br /><br />- After breakfast we'd head to the work site. The first week was spent building benches and making posts for the frame of the school. There is no electricity so everything is done by hand. I had some wicked blisters but I can saw and hammer with the best of them now. Jim or 'the Australian brute force' as I liked to call him was a great teacher. There was a local construction crew who were invaluable in helping.<br /><br />- We had a siesta every day from 11am till 2pm. This was spent fighting for 2 of the hammocks after lunch or trying to find shade somewhere. The flies are everywhere and constantly land on you and try to eat your open wounds. Really nasty. I never got used to that. Some days we'd have a Malagasy lesson before lunch so we could try to converse with the locals, especially the kids such as 'what is your name and age' etc. Very helpful to make new small friends. <br /><br />- We'd finish up the day around 4.30pm. Normally on these projects there's a well where we'd fill buckets and have a bucket shower. Luckily for us there was a river nearby so we'd swim and soap up in there. We'd bring beers and Jim and a few of the other volunteers would play guitar. The locals were fascinated by this, all the washing and stuff we used to wash. We had an audience every day. I've never had so many people watch me shave my legs before. Actually we were stared at for anything we did which was funny but the river was the highlight of the day. <br /><br />- In the evenings we'd sit around under a tarp or under the stars on a clear night, satellite spotting and playing cards before retiring to our tents.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjkuIWmJ7NlriAzG-RALJS-DYB50k4RZfwCvvpTXYGxUQYPrIms8KdB6-UoMf_RuNgH1j13AlBg1UutDqP45kfqKCWEyef9dssYcBOHvNAPUUdMBhxNlZdP9UK-gXjLD3IqlVQeSkbpJd/s1600/DSCF1081.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjkuIWmJ7NlriAzG-RALJS-DYB50k4RZfwCvvpTXYGxUQYPrIms8KdB6-UoMf_RuNgH1j13AlBg1UutDqP45kfqKCWEyef9dssYcBOHvNAPUUdMBhxNlZdP9UK-gXjLD3IqlVQeSkbpJd/s320/DSCF1081.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496825400332632274" /></a><br />- We worked 6 days a week and had Sundays off so each Saturday night we'd pay for a few litres of gasoline to get the generator going so we could play some local music and have a dance with the locals. The adults mainly watched us drink beers and dance with their kids. Some of the young girls could put Beyonce to shame! And us volunteer girls constantly had a stream of young boys between the ages of 5 and 14 fighting one another for a dance. One or 2 would get cheeky and try to put his hands around my waist until I firmly grabbed his hands back into him. Very funny. <br /><br />- On the Sundays off we went for a hike one day, the views were stunning. We could see 5km to the ocean from the hill we climbed. Another day we found a basketball court on a private piece of land so we asked if we could use it. Great fun playing and definitely the strangest place I've played. Another Sunday we went to church which was a 3-4 hour service. We sneaked out after 3 hours. There was a couple of baptisms, some confirmations and an auction. It all happens at church! And lots of singing too. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHIh-Sgsa9vCxpN6HiOajYtVbpBip5cpCFfCLv5fhlKjA6FeuH4C5kZXLJ59ixb3sCfbX7Z8nDwiJFiGfQH7EKuZa8Ihf2axaZjKtd4TGz1es5cxn1vK_iy9ZIRtJowA-T4Vn168kZ8zX/s1600/lemur.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHIh-Sgsa9vCxpN6HiOajYtVbpBip5cpCFfCLv5fhlKjA6FeuH4C5kZXLJ59ixb3sCfbX7Z8nDwiJFiGfQH7EKuZa8Ihf2axaZjKtd4TGz1es5cxn1vK_iy9ZIRtJowA-T4Vn168kZ8zX/s320/lemur.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496827600112950402" /></a> At the end of the 3 weeks, the school was pretty much done. On Tuesday Tim, Carol and I left (Laura had left a week earlier, she was only there for 2 weeks). The rest of the long term volunteers were staying out a few days more. On the way back to town the 3 of us were brought to a lemur reserve. I couldn't go to Madagascar and not see one. We saw lots white, a few brown and loads of ring tailed ones which climbed all over me when I was feeding them bananas. Of course my camera died the day before so I'm waiting on those photos. Actually I didn't take a whole lot in general but plan on stealing Carol's excellent photos in a few weeks. I didn't even get a photo of the finished school! I think my battery died as quickly as it did because the kids love getting their photo taken and then seeing it again afterward. <br /><br />On Tuesday night in town the 3 of us and Jim went for dinner at really cool restaurant owned by Brett who helped found Azafady. He's also an Aussie. It was so nice to have a cold beer, wine and food that wasn't rice. It was hard not to go overboard and indulge too much. On Wednesday we hung by the beach, watched the surfers and got ready to leave. I had a minor 30 hour delay flying back to Jo'burg. Apparently Air Madagascar like to pick and choose when they fly, regardless of schedule but it got me an extra night in town.<br /><br />Overall it was tough going at times, especially being so remote without a phone or email for so long. We had some rainy days and its never fun when everything is soggy going to bed. And there were definitely some days I was sick of rice and beans but I wouldn't have changed a single thing. The long termers are heading back out to the bush on Monday for another 3 weeks to help build a teacher's house and I'm kinda jealous. I'll have to make it back there again sometime. Sadly they don't get many tourists at all due to the unstable political situation, the lack of infrastructure and how expensive it is to get there. Its a pity because they're such lovely people and have a stunning country. The poverty was tough to see sometimes though.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJKDMZVXRiPQxyvucL4KTi6KSKBNR7l1a1oj4SSIUZdQSJsGuXy677eL1jYefwLn-1o7aCUhENNYXjSq4DpCeE94lFjXhuBTZsqa62IKw0lb3Wl_gpkU9-LdX6ker-wi2uCFS3wB7BnPLb/s1600/school.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJKDMZVXRiPQxyvucL4KTi6KSKBNR7l1a1oj4SSIUZdQSJsGuXy677eL1jYefwLn-1o7aCUhENNYXjSq4DpCeE94lFjXhuBTZsqa62IKw0lb3Wl_gpkU9-LdX6ker-wi2uCFS3wB7BnPLb/s400/school.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496828186944143698" /></a><br /><br />My next adventure starts on Monday for another 4 weeks out in the bush. I'm doing a field guide course in South Africa and hope to learn lots about living outdoors, animals, plants, insects, stars etc. Its supposed to be pretty intensive. Last month was all physical and using brute force with shitty hammers and nails. This next month is all brain power - yikes! <br /><br />For those who mailed me, thank you so much. I've read them all and if I have time before Monday I'll reply. I'll try post some photos later today as well. They'll be <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Madagascar" target="_blank">here</a>. <br /><br />Take care and Veloma as we say in Malagasy (means goodbye) :)<br /><br />Jen<br />xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-78783450627645399382010-03-31T23:15:00.010-04:002010-07-22T15:44:03.887-04:00New Zealand<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBtpY1oZsBg2u4_lpyAp2cO3dNBS50aWKa2rhVF1-qWaXR2BzL9RYqa1-3CJ6NoFcpG0vwF4RnZJJf4uNAzxipbLEpiJAgoUyn0LzYphzuZ-gdOaNpq9Sw8O5DFVm5o9t4nrlsGnh4puws/s1600/P1010105.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBtpY1oZsBg2u4_lpyAp2cO3dNBS50aWKa2rhVF1-qWaXR2BzL9RYqa1-3CJ6NoFcpG0vwF4RnZJJf4uNAzxipbLEpiJAgoUyn0LzYphzuZ-gdOaNpq9Sw8O5DFVm5o9t4nrlsGnh4puws/s320/P1010105.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455028217249986578" /></a><br />Greetings from Sydney! Well it's been a long time since I've updated this and I feel like I've squeezed 4 months travel into 1 while in New Zealand. As I sit here, its really hard to sum up the last month. I had great intentions of writing a little each day but we didn't have a whole lot of down time which was really great actually. And if there was downtime, it was just nice to sit around and chat with my new found on-the-road family over a few beers. This trip has really been one of the best ever, largely due to the people I met along the way, and of course due to the beauty of New Zealand. I didn't really have any expectations going in, I just knew I needed a good break and I wanted to be outdoors a lot. I also have to admit I didn't know a whole lot about NZ before going so it was nice to go with an open mind. I was a little worried about going with an organized bus tour but I really couldn't have asked for a better bunch, with people from all over the world and ages ranging from 18 to 60. <br /><br />The trip was 27 days around the north and south islands of New Zealand on a bus with a group called The Flying Kiwi and they're very different from the usual bus tours. Mike and Avril were our driver and guides. They're both Kiwis and quite crazy which was fantastic. They couldn't have done any more for us and were really knowledgeable, fun and helpful in every way. We camped almost every night, we shared cooking duties (we had a trailer at the back of the bus stocked with food and stoves) and we hiked and cycled our way around the country. Almost each day we'd have some extra optional activities we could do such as kayaking, hand gliding and for the crazy people, skydiving and bungee type stuff. It was great to meet so many like minded people and it was nice to see I'm not the only mad fool who has quit a job to travel. As I said its too hard to go through each day so you can check out the itinerary and map <a href="http://www.flyingkiwi.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. But these were the highlights for me. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4UuNC0Pfo7TpvfSdJbMXk-UJfiBjzBmgNDvdvIiwIMDWgWzEvteJLbd6oU9PkBdZxZTY4kMnQKomUoGjvNuXm3PTrwJYFlvQ_kgEGlOlXp7QPm12LjnZDRdawpmR6_Dtb1MvFP6OI7RL/s1600/routeburn.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4UuNC0Pfo7TpvfSdJbMXk-UJfiBjzBmgNDvdvIiwIMDWgWzEvteJLbd6oU9PkBdZxZTY4kMnQKomUoGjvNuXm3PTrwJYFlvQ_kgEGlOlXp7QPm12LjnZDRdawpmR6_Dtb1MvFP6OI7RL/s400/routeburn.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496815083195549746" /></a><br /><br />- Food was fantastic! Mike's BBQ's were my favorite, perfectly cooked steak.<br />- Beers around a campfire on the beach, then going back to our tents, falling asleep to the sound of the waves<br />- Kayaking in Hahei and Abel Tasman, clear blue water, seals, golden beaches<br />- Tangariro Alpine crossing, great day hike on the north island<br />- All the cycle rides into camp but my favorite was into Kaikoura on the south island<br />- Only spent a few hours in Christchurch but I liked what I saw and want to go back<br />- White water rafting on the Rangiata River, some cool class 5's. My first time but hopefully not my last!<br />- Walk around the base of Mount Cook<br />- We had a fancy dress competition one day, we had to find something from a charity shop in Dunedin and wear it all the following day from breakfast. I dressed as a pink super hero and won the prize for best dressed! You have to see the pics to appreciate it<br />- Cruise through the Milford Sound, the dolphins playing alongside our boat, stunning views<br />- 7 of us did the Routeburn track which takes 3 days. Probably one of my most favorite things, amazing weather and very rugged scenery<br />- A big night out in Queenstown where we put on our best duds, dressed up, went for dinner and lots of drinks and dancing. Loved that night!<br />- Jet boating at 8.30am, that woke me up. Going 80km/hr on a river<br />- Glacier walk on Fox glacier, pretty cool. They let us slide down an ice hole, I still have the bruises<br />- One of my favorite camps was at Okarito, beautiful beach camp.<br />- Bushman museum where Peter, the owner showed us a video of how they used to jump out of helicopters to wrestle red deer to the ground in order to capture them. This was both a scary and fascinating place!<br />- Pancake rocks at Punakaiki, another great camp by the beach<br />- Abel Tasman, we stayed at a cool camp for 2 nights, stunning beaches, went kayaking and handgliding!! LOVED handgliding. A plane towed us up to 2500ft and then we released from it and flew for 15 mins. Very serene. I included a video of it with the pics. We also had a pirate party that night since it was our last night with Mike and Avril :(<br />- Bay of Islands, beautiful bikes rides and beach swimming for 2 days. We had a different guide and driver for these last few days though and even thought it was beautiful, it just wasn't the same without Mike and Avril.<br />- At the end of the tour instead of spending 2 days in Auckland, 3 of us spent 2 days and a night on Waiheke Island, 40 mins ferry ride from Auckland. Some great wine tasting and chill out time before coming to Sydney.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5OvFYkg5QoZojjfpYeBXq7LTDKTDD612EbGZ3R69EyUvvrVc9X-0pPn9nhgAcNQ76wihLUdUwi_Mo48V80QjsJWeInpgRELpwNltoC5dfEo4HZqoTn6UmLJIf4FUaTE1txZtB85gubY12/s1600/group.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5OvFYkg5QoZojjfpYeBXq7LTDKTDD612EbGZ3R69EyUvvrVc9X-0pPn9nhgAcNQ76wihLUdUwi_Mo48V80QjsJWeInpgRELpwNltoC5dfEo4HZqoTn6UmLJIf4FUaTE1txZtB85gubY12/s400/group.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496818386580848018" /></a><br /><br />Anyway, I would highly recommend NZ. I really want to go back now and spend time at some of my favorite places. It couldn't have been any better. Madagascar and South Africa had better bring the goods to beat this trip!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/NewZealand" target="_blank">Here</a> are my New Zealand photos.<br /><br />I'm leaving Sydney on Sat for Madagascar via Johannesburg and will be there for over 3 weeks so I should be able to update you all on that trip at the end of April. Hope everyone is well and keep writing to me! I love hearing from you. Even if I don't get a chance to write back, I definitely get to read your mails.<br /><br />Love Jen<br />xoJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-38092896834840028662010-02-23T15:43:00.009-05:002010-07-22T14:27:28.730-04:00Next Adventure in 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjC7qn7JI-e6v3ZWAjzmVHFnJxftqT9ocJ22Lcpa0Pdmsg69HiNGxzX0upNo4ccBgtEiRckVZOylv8XT-AThZRsMef1jdh5Fwb_xpPeGPFA_-HGgVNQ-WrNRuZ5Vmk-JLqRigA3V0arL0/s1600-h/Jen&Toby.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjC7qn7JI-e6v3ZWAjzmVHFnJxftqT9ocJ22Lcpa0Pdmsg69HiNGxzX0upNo4ccBgtEiRckVZOylv8XT-AThZRsMef1jdh5Fwb_xpPeGPFA_-HGgVNQ-WrNRuZ5Vmk-JLqRigA3V0arL0/s320/Jen&Toby.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441543343911483874" /></a><br />Hello all,<br />Well I'm off on my travels again to some very different places. When I came back from Namibia I was at quite a loss as to what to do next. So after a hectic visit to NY, a lovely stay in the English countryside and some good Irish country walks, I came up with a plan. It starts on Feb 28th when I fly to New Zealand for a month. I wanted to see both islands and to be outdoors as much as possible so I signed up for a tour called the Ultimate Explorer with <a href="http://www.flyingkiwi.com/" target="_blank">The Flying Kiwi</a> bus tour which takes me biking and hiking through both the north and south islands, staying in tents a lot of the time which will be great. I've missed the campfires.<br /><br />On April 1st I go to Sydney for a couple of days where I'll stay with some great friends from Ireland, before heading to Johannesburg. After a couple of nights in Johannesburg, I fly to Madagascar and end up in a town called Fort Dauphin on the south of the island. I'll be spending 3 weeks volunteering with a UK charity called <a href="http://www.madagascar.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Azafady </a>. They're involved in conservation, community and construction work. From what I read it'll be quite an adventure.<br /><br />At the end of April I fly back to Jo'burg to recover for a weekend and then start an intense field guide course in Kruger National park. I even get to sit an exam at the end of it, all about birds, wildlife, plants and astronomy in Southern Africa. <br /><br />On June 1st I'll have 3 weeks to play with so I'm hoping to go visit my friend in Botswana, a former elephant volunteer with <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a>. And I'm also hoping to pop into Namibia to see the ellies themselves. I'll be back in Dublin on June 25th. <br /><br />Anyway, I'll try to keep this updated with pics and stories when I can. Email access will be intermittent, especially in Africa but please write, its always lovely to get emails from friends when I'm away. The picture above is of my parent's dog Toby who has been my shadow for the last few months I've been staying here. I think I may miss him the most!<br /><br />Till soon,<br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-23267349142163414082009-12-14T08:05:00.009-05:002010-07-22T12:08:24.648-04:00Sossuvlei<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NadtW1O2ThTRKna601NGTyJjs6cjNHj8z9tS00RBTT4yUl_EAtFJEWAqp2jNNxbGYoBJhJInBzL8FXRRAdGNM4GNgr51UA51_FZA31uq9uqfW_9V7pdjWvrjWmskr9udbqvk4IHgXu3c/s1600-h/DSC_0823.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NadtW1O2ThTRKna601NGTyJjs6cjNHj8z9tS00RBTT4yUl_EAtFJEWAqp2jNNxbGYoBJhJInBzL8FXRRAdGNM4GNgr51UA51_FZA31uq9uqfW_9V7pdjWvrjWmskr9udbqvk4IHgXu3c/s400/DSC_0823.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415077971380567842" /></a><br />On my last week in Namibia I wanted to take a road trip so 3 other volunteers who were around for the week and I decided to visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sossusvlei" target="_blank">Sossusvlei</a>.<br />We rented a 4x4, stocked up on food that we could cook on the fire and hit the road. We actually passed by the tropic of Capricorn so of course there was a photo shoot in front of the sign. <br /><br />We found a camp right beside the gates (Sossusvlei is part of a national park) and settled in for an early evening after dinner. We tried to ignore the jackal that was circling our camp while we're just on the ground in our sleeping bags. We don't do tents :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilp_tm2vvmfCJST4VJGSsw0a4VvraOlVM2qDEuzZWV3JyzOFM0Z4aB-X4cnGkMZzx-tay4St2JlJuvZdhjgtpIQZPnM4E8V0dFnQVtne-xUKIvgrXgcPMB3thywin46fRzJYqfgGivXGJq/s1600-h/100_5941.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilp_tm2vvmfCJST4VJGSsw0a4VvraOlVM2qDEuzZWV3JyzOFM0Z4aB-X4cnGkMZzx-tay4St2JlJuvZdhjgtpIQZPnM4E8V0dFnQVtne-xUKIvgrXgcPMB3thywin46fRzJYqfgGivXGJq/s320/100_5941.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436294157532563874" /></a><br />We got up at 4.15am to have some breakfast and make our way to Dune 45 which supposedly is the best place for sunrise. And we made it in time! We were on the dune as the sun was coming up. The colors were so vibrant and there weren't many people there so it was lovely and serene. Then we headed to the the big Daddy dune and we were the first there! We had some great views again after climbing up the dune. <br /><br />Finally we stopped at the dead vlei on the way out of the park. This place was mind blowing, I couldn't stop taking photos of the trees. Again, the photos will probably never do it justice. We had one more night out in the desert before heading back to Swakopmund so we stayed at a place called Solataire in the middle of absolutely flipping nowhere. It was just a camp rest stop with a lodge beside it and bakery. Since we checked into the camp site we were allowed to use the pool. It was heaven lazing around for the afternoon in the sun, knowing in a few days I'd be back to full winter in Ireland.<br /><br />By Wednesday afternoon we had made it back to Swakopmund and I started to pack up my stuff. I can't believe the 3 months has gone by already. It was over a year ago that I dreamed up this idea of helping <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a> with their website and spending a few months out here and now its over. It was really tough saying bye to Dave and Rachel, and all the dogs. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5JFW5J8LucmeSKPBXCL7knNOeKsKh4LO841o288k9vTctkaTyLUJruOBgcwtiVBMBeHmp2mCByLm-jA9RfWFzFOuXIylNKw5PzpAoyJtR0aG6ZxV2fAromCn3eh_try0dN9oCaHfcgqlm/s1600-h/DSCF0660.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5JFW5J8LucmeSKPBXCL7knNOeKsKh4LO841o288k9vTctkaTyLUJruOBgcwtiVBMBeHmp2mCByLm-jA9RfWFzFOuXIylNKw5PzpAoyJtR0aG6ZxV2fAromCn3eh_try0dN9oCaHfcgqlm/s320/DSCF0660.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436295297675194162" /></a> Tsaurab, the big ridgeback likes to rest his head on laps for a snooze, and as I was waiting for my taxi to the airport, he was practically pinning me down with his head, lying right across my stomach. I didn't want to leave him either. I had high expectations for this experience and they were all exceeded. My heart felt so heavy saying goodbye and I definitely shed a few tears stepping off the tarmac onto the plane. I've no idea what 2010 holds for me yet which is scary and liberating at the same time. I can only hope whatever it is, that it'll be even half the adventure this has been. I'll definitely be back to Africa.<br /><br />Thanks for reading!<br /><br />You can check out all the photos <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Sossuvlei" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><br />Happy Christmas/Holidays/New Year!<br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-54605345502829758112009-12-14T07:51:00.007-05:002010-07-22T12:03:06.136-04:00Building and Elephant Patrol with Darci<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIEsH2fRdVCJo35OsaoK4-kQUQfV_KCCpngOkZONfZxoy0ugC-5pxXivRlqIMWCm3_mc20wLgMAiDNmhyphenhyphenutwymLX3jXGAiCgWe-xdLkB4zw4nPOP7Mk-HS6FMmLWCcGeGgxQ49VB319g8/s1600-h/IMG_1757.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIEsH2fRdVCJo35OsaoK4-kQUQfV_KCCpngOkZONfZxoy0ugC-5pxXivRlqIMWCm3_mc20wLgMAiDNmhyphenhyphenutwymLX3jXGAiCgWe-xdLkB4zw4nPOP7Mk-HS6FMmLWCcGeGgxQ49VB319g8/s400/IMG_1757.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415075039949510690" /></a><br /><br /><br />Darci arrived to base camp on November 23rd for 2 weeks of volunteering with me. For those who don't know Darci, I worked with her in NY, we sat about 3 feet away from one another and I missed her lots, she's such a good friend. It was really weird to see her out of context and in the camp. Our building week project was to finish building a wall around a water tank on a farm. The farmers have 2 tanks, one for the animals and one for themselves. They wanted to protect their drinking water tank. It was really hot the first day of building week and some people had trouble with the heat but we knew we'd finish the wall in a couple of days so we were able to take our time. It rained twice during the week so a couple of nights we had to sleep like sardines under a tarpaulin. I usually try to sleep a little further out from the masses but the close quarters were fine for a couple of nights. I've found since I brought my own pillow out, I can sleep anywhere outdoors, the whole night through! <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEs7-YvWpjWQeW3Rvl1H2MsixXM3KYgJGU5z9yhmcNoHp7UIZtmOgdGml0o93xotscjI4TX_7rcEVYuRzSG6raOJqUuVskr2vgNXlRiz0oMvYtM4QXS2jKQ_SWWv1cl-ZmG3kz19zTy2r/s1600-h/DSC_0453.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYEs7-YvWpjWQeW3Rvl1H2MsixXM3KYgJGU5z9yhmcNoHp7UIZtmOgdGml0o93xotscjI4TX_7rcEVYuRzSG6raOJqUuVskr2vgNXlRiz0oMvYtM4QXS2jKQ_SWWv1cl-ZmG3kz19zTy2r/s320/DSC_0453.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436296096414263026" /></a>The night before we finished the wall, the local farmers and family (6 people in all) came over to our camp on the build site for a sing song under the tarp. It was fantastic! They sang some local songs and we sang some songs back. I joined into a fine rendition of Wild Rover. The next day we cleaned up the site, and the whole family came out again including the kids for a photo session. I've never seen this happen with all the walls I've built here so it was really special to see how appreciative they were of the work we did. <br /><br />We headed back to camp a day early since we had finished the wall, it was nice to have an extra day to laze around base camp and go for hikes. Also we had the <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a> end of year party and I was to help Rachel with a slideshow we were going to show on a projector. We all got dolled up, as much as you can in the desert and quite a few friends of EHRA came out to camp for the evening. We even roasted a sheep on the fire. Poor Dave had to do the preparation of the sheep. I've never seen this man turn away food but at lunch that day, after he prepped the sheep, he looked too nauseous for his sandwich. It was a delicious feast though and we all sat around under the stars with drinks looking at the best EHRA photos of the year on the projector. Pretty cool to be a part of that and you really see all the work they've done over the last 6 years.<br /><br />On Monday we set out for elephant patrol. We'd heard there was a sighting of a bull in the area so we set out to find some tracks. The last 2 patrols I've been on we hadn't seen elephants the first day, we just spent the time looking for fresh poo and tracks. But this time we spotted the guy by 10.30am! It was great. And it was in the wetlands, an area I'd never been to before. We found another younger bull there as well so we spent most of the day checking them out. Then we decided to go look for some herds in the Huab River, also a place I'd never been on patrol. It was a long but scenic drive and we spotted 3 giraffe along the way which is kind of unusual on patrol. We also saw a lot springbok, oryx and steenbok which are all antelopes and all delicious!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjteQ3KIjl7jzFCl4Z8DzGocqBYTpDoxWdz-ng1kVfMzRwpDKiJFLttr-i7etKfky7pz921jdgnmpF5An9BNeBR30xZCE3udi3JuqX_eXOEQu0wdIsBNbMM-wpV17N6_PJTnPc042zzlIWR/s1600-h/IMG_5442.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjteQ3KIjl7jzFCl4Z8DzGocqBYTpDoxWdz-ng1kVfMzRwpDKiJFLttr-i7etKfky7pz921jdgnmpF5An9BNeBR30xZCE3udi3JuqX_eXOEQu0wdIsBNbMM-wpV17N6_PJTnPc042zzlIWR/s320/IMG_5442.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436296772451494626" /></a>The next day we found the Huab herds pretty easily too. We saw Misty the bull first. Years ago part of his trunk was cut off (or truncated!) in a trap so he's developed a new way of picking up branches to eat, really impressive to see how he's adapted. We watched the herds for the rest of the day and camped in an area where we thought they might pass by. We were hoping they'd walk past our camp at night but sadly they went in a different direction. We picked them up the next day and again, parked and watched as they all strolled by. Misty was in musth though which can make him unpredictable. At one point I was sitting on top of the truck facing him and he almost charged me. You're never supposed to move suddenly around elephants but he came at me and got so close I had to scoot back, otherwise he would have brushed me with his trunk or tusks. No thanks! Since these are wild elephants, it wouldn't be a good thing if they started touching us. Dave was sitting in the truck right below me when this happened and even he was a little freaked out. Cool experience though, I felt very small and insignificant which is always a good thing every now and then. It puts us in our place.<br /><br />We decided after 3 days of solid elephant watching, we'd take the long way back to base camp and drive through the real desert. Dave describes this area as a 'geological wonderland' and it includes the petrified forest. We even thought we might look out for a black rhino which is kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack but we were passing through that territory anyway. We stayed at one of my favorite areas to camp when I did the fund raising trek, and again there was a stunning sunset and boulder craters to sleep in. On Thursday we got up early as usual and started to make our way back to base camp. Hendrick who is an unbelievable tracker spotted a black rhino on the horizon. Even for us with binoculars it was tough to see. We tracked him by foot a little bit but he could either smell or hear us, even though we were so far away. Very exciting to see in the wild. Dave had never seen one in the 3 years he's been with EHRA and Hendrick hadn't seen one in 2 years. <br /><br />I have to admit it was my favorite patrol to date, so much wildlife, interaction with the local community and elephants, new scenery and having Darci there was the icing on the cake. So fun to have someone I know around and I got filled in on all the NYC gossip! <br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/EHRABuildPatrol" target="_blank">Here</a> are all the photos from the trip<br /><br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-76357662361427500302009-12-13T10:16:00.012-05:002010-07-22T11:46:51.321-04:00The Brandberg climb<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7O8dplT9cG7lU9JHn0U9hb6L_wIr0Oe-FC0Q5-X06-bGZIbNOiG-jBJS0FgsbWyFenh-dhGaUutA1JLVZy4iL6HeOQ47VoZXh30S8WXD79aq_Fpgpq65kSUpzK7pLq9oy1aWKzkuP8l8/s1600-h/DSC_0001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib7O8dplT9cG7lU9JHn0U9hb6L_wIr0Oe-FC0Q5-X06-bGZIbNOiG-jBJS0FgsbWyFenh-dhGaUutA1JLVZy4iL6HeOQ47VoZXh30S8WXD79aq_Fpgpq65kSUpzK7pLq9oy1aWKzkuP8l8/s400/DSC_0001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415071142760160402" /></a><br /><br />The website launch went well <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">http://www.desertelephant.org</a>, we sent out a newsletter to all previous volunteers, set up a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=604369131#/pages/Elephant-Human-Relations-Aid/199242753803" target="_blank">facebook fan page</a> which got lots of hits and publicized that the new site was up wherever we could.<br /><br />With that out of the way, the next challenge was climbing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandberg_Mountain" target="_blank">Brandberg mountain</a> which is 2,573 m (8,440 ft). It's the highest point in Namibia and I've wanted to climb it since I saw it for the first time over a year and a half ago. Luckily there was another volunteer Rob who was out here for 8 weeks and he wanted to climb it also. Its a 3 day climb but its really hot this time of year and there was only one water stop along the way. We'd have to carry all our own food for 3 days so we decided we'd eat a lot of noodles since they were easy to pack. No offense to Rob's fabulous cooking of the noodles but I never want to see one again :) <br /><br />The adventure began on Thursday 19th Nov. While the rest of the volunteers were finishing up their elephant patrol and heading back to town, I drove out to the base camp to pick up Rob and our guide Johnny, a local guy we found through one of the ellie trackers at EHRA. Dave from EHRA was very kind to lend us his car for the weekend and I learned out to remove a thingy from the car which prevents it from starting in case anyone tried to steal it from the base of the mountain. Considering we saw no other humans for 4 days, it was pretty safe.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ltsp99KEtgHwfLS7eQS0CN3RyDqq0krFS6kQ2IUK1ktCqI7841oxU0c6F_cb2pXkgfXgAtu_t0fXKqCn_5GCho6GsBr5o-T3K3w4PU-ur3qrLLxBYYmgmzAqNZ-Ri78o41k0x_3fg9dh/s1600-h/IMG_5072.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ltsp99KEtgHwfLS7eQS0CN3RyDqq0krFS6kQ2IUK1ktCqI7841oxU0c6F_cb2pXkgfXgAtu_t0fXKqCn_5GCho6GsBr5o-T3K3w4PU-ur3qrLLxBYYmgmzAqNZ-Ri78o41k0x_3fg9dh/s320/IMG_5072.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436297674465670626" /></a>We got to the base of the mountain Thursday evening in time for sunset and our first noodle-feast. We were up at 5am the next morning so it was an early night. I woke up feeling pretty crap and tired on Friday morning. I was recovering from a cold and my lungs were complaining. But I tried to put the brave face on and off we went. I like to think I've hiked quite a bit before, but hiking with a cold, a full backpack and fairly uphill was a whole new thing for me, I was gasping. Thankfully Rob kept stuffing me with sugary treats to keep me going. We made it to the first rest stop and our one-and-only water stop by 10.30am. Then we found a nice cave where we could enjoy a siesta from the sun till 3.30pm or so. The rocks in the cave were really cold so we both found ourselves placing various body parts on the walls of the cave to cool down.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2qq1ReR1w75Pq5YLDsXtrcwR4Q5oTZ9X5mh4evRcLQOtAYla_plEcKfrWy8d-RaaWL8nAGXuatrEhh1i2Kf6_ncU8xH5X2CMAPLDWLsuem3A4l_Qp59NSTQU6jVjERUJrCYyxv1M0kJa/s1600-h/IMG_5119.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2qq1ReR1w75Pq5YLDsXtrcwR4Q5oTZ9X5mh4evRcLQOtAYla_plEcKfrWy8d-RaaWL8nAGXuatrEhh1i2Kf6_ncU8xH5X2CMAPLDWLsuem3A4l_Qp59NSTQU6jVjERUJrCYyxv1M0kJa/s320/IMG_5119.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436298309672995074" /></a>I was feeling a teeny bit better in the afternoon and we made it to our camp for the night on the plateau of the mountain. We had to hug a lot of boulders along the way and sometimes it felt like one-false-move away from bye bye Jen. Johnny was tiny, about 5"2 but could take bigger leaps than either of us. Rob is 6'5" by the way! The plateau was really cool though and it was full of crater like holes in which we could sleep. The sunset was stunning and it was another fantastic night under the stars. <br /><br />Again we woke up at 5am and left our main backpacks in the craters while we hiked to the summit with our daypacks. It was a 2 1/2 hr hike to the summit. We passed by some rock paintings along the way which are supposedly 2500-5000 years old. We reached the summit at 8.45am on Saturday morning and had celebratory hugs and apples. The 360 degree views were stunning and my photos will never do it justice. We could almost see to the ocean over 100km away since the land is so flat around the mountain. There's a book at the summit you can sign so we both wrote a little piece and sat for an hour almost in silence just taking it in. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4tEsNDG8mvyYdf6erAosatLP6tmmwypym7zj6TsG3fzJRGW8lF36vGVP-YYYDKR6HVQykTso0oxlGnV42bT7oqBUE3VzWfgCGkbNxyWigLRpWYgjndLsOdN9eCyO45p_yNvwk0OKqmBWF/s1600-h/IMG_5206.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4tEsNDG8mvyYdf6erAosatLP6tmmwypym7zj6TsG3fzJRGW8lF36vGVP-YYYDKR6HVQykTso0oxlGnV42bT7oqBUE3VzWfgCGkbNxyWigLRpWYgjndLsOdN9eCyO45p_yNvwk0OKqmBWF/s320/IMG_5206.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436299012546523298" /></a>The trip down was easier on the lungs but tough on the knees. It took us the rest of Saturday and a few hours on Sunday to descend. We got to a mining town called Uis where Johnny lives around 10am on Sunday, dropped him off and went to a lodge where we knew the owner. We were both pretty stinking after sweating tons and having no water except to drink for 3 days so we dived into the pool in all our clothes and ordered the best toasted sandwich and cokes we'd ever tasted! We'd started talking about them on Saturday on the way down the mountain so you can only imagine how exciting it was to finally get them into us.<br /><br />We headed back to base camp Sunday afternoon and celebrated Rob's last day as a 33 year old with a fine dinner of bangers and mash over the fire and some good red wine. The rest of the volunteers were arriving on the Monday (including Darci!!) so it was really nice to chill out in an empty base camp for the evening. It was tougher climb than I thought it would be since there was no trail and lots boulders to climb with a heavy pack in crazy heat, but all totally worth it!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/Brandberg" target="_blank">Here</a> are all the photos from the trip<br /><br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-71628183457980805192009-11-17T07:56:00.006-05:002010-07-22T11:38:30.927-04:00Website Launch!The website has been officially launched! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and it was a great learning experience. Check it out at <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">http://www.desertelephant.org</a><br /><br />I'll try to write more in the next day or so before I head off to the desert for another few weeks! <br /><br />JenJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-26346800473844570272009-11-02T09:53:00.009-05:002010-07-22T11:37:31.735-04:00Water Hole Building and Elephant PatrolI'm a little late with this update but I've had a busy week on the website. Our go-live date is Fri Nov 6th! Hopefully it'll all go smoothly. <br /><br />Well the 2 weeks after the trek were a lot of fun. I did a 2 week volunteer cycle. There were 5 of us from the trek as well as 6 other volunteers for the 2 weeks. We had a little vehicle trouble on Monday leaving town so we didn't make it to base camp till late Monday evening. While Dave briefed the newcomers, Anneka and I made dinner for the group over the fire, spaghetti bolognese. It was another fun group of people to be around and quite different from the trekkers. <br /><br />We all stayed at base camp for the night and then Tuesday we headed out to our building site where we would build a drinking hole for elephants, zebra, rhino etc. It might prevent them from damaging a farmer's water tank if they have access to water themselves. We headed back to base camp for the weekend, and spent the following week looking for ellies. <br /><br />Again I'll just go through the highlights, and I still haven't taken a photo yet :) <br /><br />- While looking for firewood, we drove into an aardvark hole which is like a giant pothole. If we didn't have the trailer on the back of the truck we might have tipped over. After much digging and pushing, we got back on track. Just another thing to watch out for when we're driving in the bush.<br /><br />- At the build site there is a lot of dry grass and anything can set off a fire. A spark from a pick axe was the culprit this time. Within seconds there was a quite a big area of grass which was on fire. It took everyone with shovels, stomping and tossing sand on it to put it out. It was scary how quickly it spread but impressive how everyone came together so quickly and killed it.<br /><br />- It began raining at night, just a few drops the first few nights but torrential on the last night. I woke up in a puddle. Its a little early for the rainy season but thankfully we had a big tarpaulin we could hang from the truck and a tree so people could sleep underneath. I didn't feel like sleeping like a sardine under the tarp with everyone so I slept under the truck. I kept hitting my head off the exhaust pipe when I sat up or moved but I was dry! <br /><br /> - We found some really big scorpions at one of our camp sites. It freaked a few people out but we all came through unscathed and no one got stung.<br /><br />- We found a new herd of ellies, about 15 of them. They were really shy compared to the rest of the herds, they're just not used to the sound of the trucks. They led us on a chase for 200km over 2 days before we found them. Well worth it though. The next 2 days we left them alone and followed another herd, the Ugab small herd. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRRNchx8T1V69ZmBUH5elHtHnbSkNlKM159cPoN_nNAQzlssw9RuTDyNFHGwoXK5zorX5l-ZLbCjaxwb9t3IZV-ZDeu09Bm77CqLi5rtx_9O-vFd528z9j_WhyphenhyphenIY9V_XGrMNMSoJsLvpW/s1600-h/Namibia+2009-315.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRRNchx8T1V69ZmBUH5elHtHnbSkNlKM159cPoN_nNAQzlssw9RuTDyNFHGwoXK5zorX5l-ZLbCjaxwb9t3IZV-ZDeu09Bm77CqLi5rtx_9O-vFd528z9j_WhyphenhyphenIY9V_XGrMNMSoJsLvpW/s320/Namibia+2009-315.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399521258870052098" /></a><br /><br />There were 5 females and a bull called Cheeky. I got to name of the of females who didn't have a name already. I named her Tamla after a special person I knew. <br /><br />They were really relaxed in front of us and one even lay down for a nap only about 2-3 metres from us. Tony from our group took this photo.<br /><br />It was another great trip, even if it was a little more eventful than usual. During the weekend back in town, Rob, Anneka and I went kayaking on Sunday morning in Walvis Bay, another small town along the coast. We were surrounded by a few dolphins and lots of seals. <br /><br />Monday, while the new batch of volunteers were heading out, I was back on the website. However there was another vehicle problem so they had to borrow Johannes's car. They asked if I'd go out to the camp with them and drive it back the next day. I was packed and ready to go before they even finished the question. A bonus night in the desert, yes please!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPblSBMoMiyrlw5FALft2KdEF0o7HHyG28bZJ8zbHTH2lLQkO3Tt6pA121Jj1VmVN6S9OkE2ILfpUcrwXcpqpQiyWNrnYk8lkFdoGKGE7XBxsSamF6XdL7x_PPc7UDrSDRyIcW6mXgZqEm/s1600-h/DSC_0055.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPblSBMoMiyrlw5FALft2KdEF0o7HHyG28bZJ8zbHTH2lLQkO3Tt6pA121Jj1VmVN6S9OkE2ILfpUcrwXcpqpQiyWNrnYk8lkFdoGKGE7XBxsSamF6XdL7x_PPc7UDrSDRyIcW6mXgZqEm/s320/DSC_0055.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399592155140135426" /></a>In the end Dave drove back with me, he needed to pick up another car from town but he let me drive back for half the journey. Here's a photo of the road we drove on. <br /><br />Its been a quiet enough week, just been busy on the website. I did some yoga on Wed, I'm slowly trying to get back into it. <br /><br />I went sandboarding on Sunday in the dunes at the edge of town. The Namibian desert is the oldest desert in the world by the way! We could do either stand up boarding (like snow boarding) on lie down boarding. I did the lie down version. Basically you lie on a piece of greased up ply wood and go head first down a steep sand dune. The first run was scary but after that it was fantastic. I got up to 73 km/hr. I think the fastest of the day was 75km/hr. I ended up with sand in places I didn't know you could get sand. Great day, I'd do that again, as you can see from the pure joy on my face in the photos :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKsm5kDYiGW4C4-yy2iSoNufCJULt4D21PH9bZ5vke2LjDzZu5Hr6kmlU-_mKvMFswQhrqJbIxTMocmZoJ-GfBxOYKlnshWpmCstUJwRcNWxaCMipn0g-YueHGbrYjsbHG-Gna8D81oO2/s1600-h/2009-11-01_7.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiKsm5kDYiGW4C4-yy2iSoNufCJULt4D21PH9bZ5vke2LjDzZu5Hr6kmlU-_mKvMFswQhrqJbIxTMocmZoJ-GfBxOYKlnshWpmCstUJwRcNWxaCMipn0g-YueHGbrYjsbHG-Gna8D81oO2/s320/2009-11-01_7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399521578813450178" /></a><br /><br />Hope everyone is well!<br />Jen<br />xxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-50697743021071071622009-10-11T08:06:00.003-04:002010-07-22T11:30:03.796-04:00Fund Raising Trek<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7AmHs1E9UDbaUw0zGUSQR_UP3IJ5-rDqAtf57LD66Iab7FI61KTfpxsUaPTlFCixNyiQIR6FkRmGQSwWktYeHRAbeyBiKMrRLswxZ_DLgLusN_rhcC-R96hyphenhyphenyMPTX2jhDIwgPNM40TMdp/s1600-h/Namibia+2009-49.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7AmHs1E9UDbaUw0zGUSQR_UP3IJ5-rDqAtf57LD66Iab7FI61KTfpxsUaPTlFCixNyiQIR6FkRmGQSwWktYeHRAbeyBiKMrRLswxZ_DLgLusN_rhcC-R96hyphenhyphenyMPTX2jhDIwgPNM40TMdp/s320/Namibia+2009-49.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436300059219569650" /></a><br />Hi all,<br />I'm back from my week of trekking in the desert, 123km in total. It was a lot of fun, we had quite a cast of characters with us. The trekkers consisted of two South Africans, one American, one Zimbabwean and 6 English. I represented the Irish contingent this year. We had a South African guy named Jaco leading us. Dave who was last year's guide brought up the rear. Johannes, Rachel, Doreen and Gerson all took care of our campsites, cooking and backpack-carrying etc. Thankfully the weather wasn't as hot as last year although it was still around 30C each day. I decided not to take photographs within the first hour of walking. It was the same route as last year and unless you're there, photos cannot do it justice. This year I wanted to just take it all in and enjoy the smells, heat, breeze and sights. It was quite liberating not to worry about taking photos and there were plenty of other snappers around me. Also, since I'll probably post their photos on the website, I'll make sure to share the ones I'm in :)<br /><br />Rather than writing about what we did each day I've decided to just point out the highlights. <br /><br /> - The night before the trek, a few of us stayed at base camp before meeting the whole group the next day. It was really nice being in base camp (the tree house) without any volunteers and I had an entire tree platform to myself. I woke up to see a whole troop of baboons (about 30) pass right by me across a rock face at 6.30am, just as the sun was coming up. They were fighting, mating and playing. It was really cool to watch them so closely. They're LOUD though. Usually we only hear them at night so it was a great way to wake up after my first night under the stars since April.<br /><br /> - Lynne and Jane are trekkers from last year and it was really wonderful to see them again. We all felt like only a few weeks had past since we last saw one another, as opposed to a whole year.<br /><br />- One night, Johannes decided to spice up the campsite by having a giraffe poo spitting contest. Yes you read correctly, poo! It actually looks like a walnut and its pretty hard unless you really squish it. So we all popped one in our mouths to see who could spit it furthest. I was crap (pardon the pun) but not the worst. I'll have to brush up on my poo spitting skills before I enter another contest!<br /><br />Some of the animals and creatures we saw were:<br /> - hartebeest<br /> - oryx (really close by, he couldn't smell us since we were downwind and he was curious)<br /> - horned adder snake<br /> - a giraffe family, 2 mothers and babies<br /> - springbok<br /> - zebra<br /> - ostrich<br /> - scorpions<br /> - a few fresh black rhino tracks but no sign of him sadly, we all really wanted to see one<br /><br />- In the middle of the trek we climbed Doras Crater which is a 140 million year old crater. This was really tough last year, it was so hot, some people ran out of water - just not enjoyable all round. It was completely different this year. Not as hot, extra water stops and we made it to the highest point this year by climbing a different route. At the top we could see our lunch camp so we radioed Johannes and co who were setting it up and told them to get out the binoculars, we wanted to wave to them. Then we all pulled down our shorts and mooned. It was a first moon for a few of us, not a bad one to start off with!<br /><br />- For the second year running, I had no blisters - wahoo! Some people rally suffered from them sadly. I hope it didn't ruin it for them.<br /><br />All in all a great trek and not as overwhelming this year. It was really nice being familiar with the route. I felt I was able to take more of it in. <br /><br />So thanks all again to those who donated. I'll find out what the total amount raised was and let you know. Your contributions will help <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a> to continue helping local communities live in harmony with the elephants, hopefully increasing tourism and jobs for them, as well as saving a few elephants. <br /><br />I'm off to the desert again tomorrow (Monday) for 2 weeks, spending a week helping to build a drinking hole and then following week patrolling for elephants.<br /><br />Hope everyone is well! <br /><br />Jen<br />xxxJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-44989915895893525812009-09-20T06:56:00.007-04:002010-07-22T11:19:59.698-04:00Greetings from Namibia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCIdweqxvssFTR0-2hpyETuCWmyqTWDgAQnxyXpdRbagMaTzLejeAmMNITpe_mdYMq_5w2TQpr7DWo_-DfcopetJMkhyphenhyphenikTTlGrGYGZL0bMvvqx7ltTLr5CxyfHFv12zqU7PZqysCuf7p5/s1600-h/DSCF0628.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCIdweqxvssFTR0-2hpyETuCWmyqTWDgAQnxyXpdRbagMaTzLejeAmMNITpe_mdYMq_5w2TQpr7DWo_-DfcopetJMkhyphenhyphenikTTlGrGYGZL0bMvvqx7ltTLr5CxyfHFv12zqU7PZqysCuf7p5/s320/DSCF0628.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436300530881278786" /></a><br />Well here I am in Namibia! I'm staying at Rachel and Joe's house a block from the beach in a town called Swakopmund. Rachel and Joe run <a href="http://www.desertelephant.org" target="_blank">EHRA</a>. They're kindly letting me stay at a flat attached to their house, so I've got my own living space. They have 3 dogs who love attention and rubs so that's been really nice. Its actually a little chilly here at the beach compared to the desert where I've previously spent most of my time. Although by the afternoon the sun burns off most of the clouds, and summer is on the way. The EHRA office is based in the house too so it's an easy commute. Everyone really couldn't be any nicer or more welcoming. I spent the week categorizing elephant photos in their database which was interesting. Each elephant is really different looking depending on their ears, tusks and tails. I'm hoping this exercise will help me identify them when I see them.<br /><br />The big news here this week was that an elephant bull named Raphael was shot by the government on Friday. Apparently on Thursday night a man was walking home through a dried up river bed in the desert, although he was told not to since there were elephants in the area. He and the elephant crossed paths and the elephant killed him. The next day officials came out and shot the elephant dead. It emphasizes the need to collar the elephants bulls and to continually educate people about what to do if they meet an elephant and the measures to take to keep this from happening. <br /><br />Anyway, its been an interesting first week. I'm hoping to get going on the website again. I haven't taken any pics yet but I will dust off the camera and post some soon. <br /><br />JenJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7393703608781186437.post-70965608660604020592009-08-05T12:57:00.007-04:002009-08-06T12:17:53.698-04:00Beginning of a new adventure<span style="font-family:verdana;">Hi everyone,<br />Here is where I'll keep you up to date on my travels while I'm away. You probably won't see anything new until I head off to Namibia around the beginning of Sept. I'll be just chilling at home in Dublin for the month of Aug. <br /><br />Click <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/jcarpent75/EHRAApril2009Namibia#" target="_blank">here</a> to see some photos from my last trip there in April, might give you a taste of the life I'll be living. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I may not be building many walls this time but will certainly be stalking the elephants again! Can't wait :)<br /><br />Talk soon!<br />Jen</span>Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16926908133149865388noreply@blogger.com1