The End

All good things come to an end, and this last year has definitely been a good thing. It's a bit shocking for it all to be over and we are probably still a bit in denial. However, the memories will live forever as they say.

We have seen so many incredible things and met some wonderful people over the last 12 months and feel so fortunate to have been able to experience it all. The inevitable question of 'what was your favourite place?' has already come up, but its exceedingly hard to answer. Just when I think I've got it pegged down I remember something else. As of today this is how I stand, my favourite country was Syria, primarily because the culture is so different and the country so surprisingly beautiful. Also the Syrian people made it for me, they were hands down the warmest people we met on the whole trip. However, the best experience would have to be seeing the mountain gorillas in Uganda, although closely followed by safari and the great wall. I think Leighanne would vote for Malawi, the tiny sliver of a country only recently made famous by Madonna's exploits. Again the people make the difference and especially the children. The children of Malawi are precious and provide some of our fondest memories. For the next few weeks and definitely for years to come we will look back at the times we had together, and although some times where hard and testing the overall experience has been life changing. It has also been great including some of our pictures to give the blog a bit more life. The ones above are a few of my favourites.

On a personal note I'm so glad I have perservered with the blog as it has allowed me to keep a semi-journal for the first time ever. With my inability to write more than a few sentences by hand, being able to put my thoughts and views into cyberspace has been refreshing. I hope everyone who has followed our trip has enjoyed reading our accounts, I apologise for any bastardising of the English language, but hey I'm an Engineer by trade what can you expect. Thank you to everyone who commented, we enjoyed reading them.

Till next time, goodbye.

Buenos Aires

The spirit of Tango, Evita, and Maradona is well and truly alive in the streets of Buenos Aires. The city is incredible, with enough culture and nightlife to rival any city anywhere on the planet. The inhabitants of BsAs sure know how to enjoy life, dinner consisting of a huge steak, salad, red wine or beer doesn't begin until 10pm with non stop partying till the early hours. How they actually get any work done during daylight hours is beyond me. It's probably why the banks open at 10am and promptly close at 3pm. BsAs really belongs in the grouping of Paris, Barcelona and Rome, but it is stuck at the bottom end of South America and the locals seem generally pissed off about the whole thing. How it is possible to financially ruin a country that is self-sufficient in energy and agriculture is beyond me and a good porportion of the Argentinian population agree. Most Argentinians walk around with a rather large chip on their shoulder, but who can blame them. They have definitely been dealt the sort end of the stick by political incompetence, but are slowly and surely pulling themselves back up.
On recommendation from Matt Springate we found lodging in the San Telmo suburb of BsAs and it was superb. A very cool and hip hostel only minutes from an overflowing selection of bars and restuarants. On our first night we met Fay and Jamie, friends from England, and took in a positively tacky Tango show. Full of high-slit dresses and knowing looks the tango show was everything that a tourist show could be, but it was still fun and afterwards we headed to one of BsAs famous parillas (aka carnivore heaven) for steak. San Telmo is the birthplace of tango and can be seen live in many bars and restuarants in the area. However, the best place to see tango is on Sunday when the Plaza Dorrego holds it weekly antiques market. Enterprising locals put on free tango shows in the street, all for a little spare change in the hat.

The nightlife in BsAs is legendary and we managed to sample a bit of it on a few nights. In our old age a big night out takes days to get over so we didn't indulge everynight. A couple days before leaving we met up with Johan, a nomadic Norwegian who used to work with Leighanne in London. He now as the lifestyle everyone dreams off living in one of the worlds great cities. He has the envious job of writing articles for international and local papers and magazine on the best of BsAs culture, entertainment and sports. Can you believe people actually get paid to do this? We met him out in Palermo for a few seemingly simple drinks, but didn't manage to get home till 4am.
Football in all of South America is passionate to say the lest, one only needs to remember the fate of the Colombian player who scored an own-goal against the US in the 94 World Cup and ended up on the end of few 9mm bullets. As one of the great footballing nations, the sport is of a serious nature in Argentina. In recent weeks there had been news reports of increasing violence at football matches in Argentina. River Plate, one of the biggest clubs in the country, had been playing their domestic matches almost behind closed doors. On our Thursday in BsAs we decided to get the full cultural experience and go and watch a match. River Plate was playing Caracas of Venezuala in the Copa Libertadores, South Americas version of the Champions League. River Plate is the club of the elite of BsAs with their stadium 'El Monumental' located in the plush suburb of Palermo. We managed to get seats to the match and although the traveling support from Caracas was limited the atmosphere in the stadium was immense. The support for all clubs in South America is passionate with 'social clubs' providing the main fan base. These social clubs have incredible importance and power. The former captain of River Plate used to donate a decent proportion of his salary to one such social club so they would treat him nicely with huge banners and songs in his honour. Big clubs such as Boca Juniors and River Plate can have social clubs with memberships exceeding 50,000 people, enough to have any owner or manager pay attention. The actual game was a bit dire with River Plate getting beaten 1-0, but the fans didn't stop singing and chanting for the full 90min. The sight of 60,000 people jumping up and down in unison can be quite spectacular.

BsAs is a big city and in order to see a good proportion of it we decided to sign up for a bike tour. It turned out to be great fun cruising along the wide boulevards that typify BsAs. We cycled through Puerto Madero, the redeveloped docklands area, and into Palermo, Recoleta, and Belgrano the ritzy end of BsAs.

On our last day in BsAs we decided not to see any of BsAs and instead boarded a ferry for the short trip across the Rio de Plata to Uruguay and the beautiful town of Colonia de Sacramento. Originally founded to facilitate the smuggling of illegal goods into BsAs, Colonia is now a very quiet cobblestone street town of great cafes and restuarants on the banks of the river. We had a great fish lunch then wandered the streets until the rain started to fall in sheets. It was a perfect day trip to escape the hustle and bustle of BsAs.

Our original plan of taking our time visiting the beaches along the coast on our way to Sao Paulo quickly vanished after visiting the demons that seem to inhabit every Brasilian Consulate. What should of been a simple process of getting a tourist visa for Brasil dragged into a weeks worth of waiting. So instead we opted for a sure bet of a beach and boarded the bus for Florianopolis in Brasil. After 31 hours we arrived to pouring rain. Luckily it cleared the next day and we spent 4 glorious days working on our tans and me trying to learn to surf, rather unsuccessfully as my new scars attest.

After Florianopolis it was onto Sao Paulo and our very last stop on the trip. Time to start thinking about the real world and what changes our lives will encounter in the near future.

Slight Change of Situation

On our last day in El Calafate before turning north for the long trip to Buenos Aires we went horseriding for the last time on Cerro Frias. The mountain is about 30min outside El Calafate surrrounded by beautiful countryside with the snow capped peaks of the Andes in the distance. The horseride was wonderful, even as the temperature plummeted the higher we got. From the farmhouse we climbed steadly up a ragged path scaring large Patagonian hares from under their bushes along the way. The hares where huge, some the size of decent sized dogs. After climbing for about an hour we traversed along the side of the mountain until we turned the corner and got stunning views of the Andes bathed in a brilliant red from the remaining sunlight. As daylight started to fade we began the descent down towards the farmhouse again and what would be a fantastic barbeque dinner and wine. After dismounting from the horses I managed to get Leighanne to come down the fenceline to take a picture with the mountains in the background. At this point I turned to Leighanne and spoke some private words then asked her 'if she would marry me'. She obliged with the correct answer and after savouring the moment we went inside to celebrate our engagement. So for the last few weeks of our trip we have been celebrating as well as dogging the many wedding questions that have come our way from family and friends. However, we would like to thank everyone who has sent heartfelt emails and cards wishing us all the best. Hopefully we will soon have answers to all those questions.

Patagonia

Southern Argentina means Patagonia. In a country roughly the size of India, Patagonia dominates the lower region. I always had the impression that Patagonia was mainly breathtaking mountain scenery and dense alpine forests. In the last 2 weeks of traveling throughout this region I have discovered that I couldn´t have been more wrong. Patagonia is an immense plain of nothing. It stretches seemingly on forever, with limitless skies sprinkled with bizarre clouds. We spent about 4 full days on buses moving around the region and didn´t see a single tree above 1 foot tall, anything taller and it simply gets blown away. The wind is fierce and very cold as it thunders down the western side of the Andes on its way towards the Atlantic Ocean.
At the very southern tip of Patagonia before moving into the thousands of islands that comprise Tierra del Fuego is probably the most incredible sight of power and size you could ever wish to see. Powered by the third largest icefield in the world the Perito Moreno glacier moves ´quickly´ down the western side of the Andes towards the small town of El Calafate and is really beyond description. I had seen a glacier in northern Norway a couple years ago, but this one is on a whole other scale. At the face of the glacier were huge bits of ice regularly break off causing mini tidal waves in the lake the ice stands 70m above the water line and 100m below it. A mere 8km up the mountain and the ice is 700m thick and at the glaciers source, 30km up into the icefield, the ice reaches 1000m down to the bedrock. The center of the glacier moves at about 2m per day, making it one of the fastest moving glaciers on earth, hence its rock star personality of crashing ice and bobbing icebergs that feature regularly in the pages of National Geographic and on the Discovery Channel. Our trip to see the glacier up close was fantastic. It started with a boat trip in the lake to get a view of the glacier face from the water. Afterwards we strapped on cramp-ons and actually got to walk on the glacier, getting great looks at beautiful shades of blue and deep crevases. We even got to have a scotch on the rocks, cooled by bits of ice probably formed during the life of Christ. We then went up on a nearby hill that allows great views of the glacier face and a chance to see its river-like path up into the mountains. We could of stayed all day just watching bus size pieces of ice crash into the lake.
After experiencing southern Patagonia it was time to start the long long journey north back towards Buenos Aires. Ruta 40 is a very lonely stretch of mainly dirt track that goes from far northern Argentina to the southern tip hugging the Andes spine. Up until last year it was impossible to travel the length of this route by public transport. However, there is now a company that plies the route from El Calafate upto Bariloche, 2 full days and 2500km away. The scenery along the length of the road is vast and barren. This part of the country is the true Patagonia, inhabited by very few people except the hardy cattle and sheep farmer. Although the trip was very long, being able to see what most of Argentina is about was rewarding. It is truly an enormous country with some breathtaking scenery.
After reaching Bariloche our journey through Patagonia was complete and the only thing to do was board another bus for the 20 hour trip to Buenos Aires.

Lake District Argentina Style

The Lake District in Argentina is in no regards unique, there is an identical one just across the border in Chile and its namesake in the north of England. However, this in no way detracts from the absolute beauty of the region. Created by the uplift of the Andes and carving force of retreating glaciers the Lake District is full of towering peaks and glimmering blue lakes.
After a long bus trip down the Andean spine we arrived in Bariloche and were greeted by pouring rain. Seemed as if the name wasn´t the only similarity to the England Lake District. However, upon awakening to sunshine the following morning we were rewarded with snow capped peaks in every direction. Bariloche is the main town of the Lake District, and although not the prettiest place still has a certain charm. Situated on the banks of the biggest lake it is privileged to have stunning views across the waters to the mountains and the Chilean border. In winter Bariloche is home to one of the largest ski resorts in South America, being here in summer we were relegated to either biking, horse riding, or hiking. We chose hiking and after catching a bus to lovely woodsy Colonia Suiza spent the afternoon wandering through the woods, every now and then getting a glimpse of a shimmering lake.
Our next stop on the Lake District tour was Villa La Angostura, a small town about an hour away from Bariloche. Situated on the lake front with the ever present mountains towering overhead, Villa as its referred is a sleepy little place. Our activity of choice here was mountain biking, the first time I have been on a human propelled bike since my trip down the worlds most dangerous road in Bolivia a few years ago. This time we decided to go up and after a fairly gruelling climb up the mountain made it to the bottom of the Cerro Bayo ski resort. Holding onto your bikes we road the chairlift to the top and after savouring the views sped down the ski runs. Definitely a weird feeling being on a ski resort in the middle of summer.
After Villa we moved onto San Martin de los Andes, definitely the most picturesque of the towns we visited. San Martin is hemmed in by two mountains and funnels down the valley towards the lake. It is a beautiful little place full of great restuarants, chocolate factories, and boutique clothe shops. When you head out for dinner you just follow your nose to the smell of wonderful grilling steak. For those not in the know, Argentina is home to the worlds greatest steaks. There is no argument on this, even though Australia and Scotland claim good beef it simply pales in comparison. On our last day in San Martin we went horseriding up into the hills. Since South Africa Leighanne has been itching to go horseriding again. The day didnt dissapoint, we arrived early at Victors farm to find about 10 hours calmly grazing in the nearby fields. After saddling up with graciously soft saddles we started the ascent up the mountain. The horses were great the whole way, even with numerous dogs running between their legs. The views from the top were sweeping.
Our visit to the Lake District has been wonderful, we are really looking forward to what else Argentina has to offer. Next on the agenda is Pennisula Valdes and hopefully a sighting of the famous orcas, then its onto the real highlight, Patagonia and the glaciers.

Up and Over

After returning to the mainland we didn´t linger long in Santiago, instead opting to extend our stay in Argentina. The two countries are divided by one of the worlds great mountain ranges. The Andes run the length of South America and form a perfect border between the thin coastal country of Chile and the expansive pampa of Argentina. A long way back in the trip we had a similar mountain crossing over the Atlas mountains. Luckily this one was vomit free and spent in superb luxury. The developed countries of South America are blessed with wonderful buses and transport networks. Most buses that travel any sort of distance are of the airplane business class quality. The seats are very soft and recline a ridiculous amount and usually a little man serves you drinks and food. What more could you want. With this knowledge in hand we boarded the bus in Santiago for the trip up and over to Mendoza and the Argentinian wine district. Very quickly after leaving Santiago we began to climb and at one point it became dizzying with endless switchback roads rising into the sky. Even at this late stage in the southern summer the peaks of the mountains were covered in snow and swirling clouds. The views the entire way were stunning and foreshadow much of the scenery we would see for the weeks to come. Unfortunately for Leighanne she has developed a slight case of motion sickness and the windy roads up the mountain were not for the faint of heart, or stomach. Tablets we had bought in Thailand for some of the longer boat trips came in handy and she was out cold most of the way.

After a lengthy stay at the Chile/Argentina border we headed down toward Mendoza, a very picturesque town, which is bang in the middle of Argentinas wine district. Mendoza is full of wide avenues and outdoor restuarants and we definitely indulged in the famous steaks and vino. After Mendoza it was time to head back towards the mountains and the Lake District of Argentina.

Middle of Nowhere

For any of you who has or been tempted to say ´this is in the middle of nowhere´ about a place you have visited most likely you weren´t even close. Easter Island, Isla de Pascua, or Rapa Nui depending on your association is truly the Middle of Nowhere as eloquently expressed in the following quote:

¨If I climb to the highest point on Rapa Nui, the Maunga Terevaka, and look to the North, all I can see is the vast immensity of the ocean, but I know that the closest land is the Galapagos Islands, located 3800km away. I turn slightly and look to the West. Again, all I can see is ocean. This time, 4000km separate me from Tahiti and 2000km frm Pitcairn Island, the nearest land. I turn once more and face the South, where more then 5000km of water lie between the Antartic ice caps and me. Finally, I turn for the last time and face East, and now, stretching before me are 3700km of empitness before reaching the coast of Chile in South America.¨

Carlos Huber ¨Easter Island, Rapa Nui A Land of Rocky Dreams¨

We were incredibly lucky to be able to include Easter Island on our round-the-world ticket, because for the vast majority of travelers it is seriously off the beaten track. Easter Island is really famous for only one thing, the huge stone head statues called ´moai´that dot the landscape. Nobody is really sure why the people built them and why in such numbers. What they do know is that the building of the moai helped lead to their destruction. It is thought that the island was inhabited by two similar groups, the long ears and the short ears, both decendents from the original people who by some miracle found the island after theirs in Polynesia was wipped away by a tsunami. A competition built up between the two groups as well as on and off warfare that intensified as time went on. Eventually the building of the moai became an obsession that overtook other parts of life including agriculture. Eventually the long ears triumphed, which is only right, and tragically soon after the first Europeans arrived bringing with them all kinds of nasties that quickly wiped them all out. So what you see on the island today is the remains of a once powerfully unique society, which probably were the worlds greatest navigators.
The island is very small, only about 20km across at its widest with 3 extinct volcanos dominating the terrain. Their is only 2 real sand beaches with the remainder of the coastline being very dramatically rocky cliffs. Most of the island is also bare, as all the indenginous trees were cut down to aid in the movement of the moai from the quarry to the ceremonial platforms. The only trees now are introduced gum trees from Australia. We rented a jeep for a day to tour around the island in order to see all the moai in all their glory. They are truly bizaare, with varying facial expressions and sizes. Some are quite small wereas others are up to 10m high. Its still a mystery how the people managed to transport and then erect these statues with no mechanical tools. Its the same dilemna that has faced archaeologist in Egypt, trying to figure out how these seemingly unsophisticated people managed to do something us modernites can´t. The largest grouping of moai is 15 in number. They had been scattered inland by a tsunami in the 1970´s, but a Japanese crane company in exchange for the picture rights, were kind enough to put them back in place in 1997. So now 15 glorious moai line up next to each other right on the cliff overlooking the pounding Pacific waves.
Luckily for us, in addition to the ´normal´sites to see on the island, the Rapa Nui people were celebrating their 2 week long festival in which the new Queen of Rapa Nui is crowned. It´s a kind of ancient beauty pagaent. Basically a couple families get together and find their candidate and then the following 2 weeks is spent competing in various contests between the other families. They have swimming, stone carving, baking, island style sledding, banana carrying race, etc... All very authentic and great fun to watch and be a part of. The winning family has their candidate crowned Queen for the coming year.

We both feel truly lucky to been able to visit Easter Island, it is definitely a unique place with a lot of unanswered questions. Our next stop is back to Santiago then up over the mountains into Argentina.

Vegas Baby!

Apologies for the absence of any posts recently, but we have been living in the 1950s for the last 4 weeks and as you know Al Gore hadn't invented the internet by then. Anyway, after our delightful Christmas break in Kansas with lots of wholesome family experiences we flew into Sin City for some real fun and New Year Eve celebrations.

However, we first rented a car at the airport and set off towards Arizona and the Grand Canyon. Renting a car is a unique experience in America, especially for people used to small cars and small roads. There is an automatic need to have a big car in America, regardless of whether it is any good or not. Due to monetary constraints we had opted for the Economy variety and were quite happy when informed at the desk that it was a Hyundai Accent. On approach to the actual car we found something not resembling an Accent in the slightest, we had been stuck with some huge Dodge stationwagon tank hybrid that was a total piece of crap. I have erased the name from my memory as to ward off any future nightmares. Anyway, we drove out of Las Vegas and across the impressive Hoover Dam and into Arizona. Staying in the Grand Canyon National Park is for the privileged few, so we stayed in Flagstaff about an hours drive away in a wonderfully typical roadside motel. I had visited the Grand Canyon before, also in winter, but this was to be Leighannes first trip as she missed going last time in the US. As always the Grand Canyon is immensly impressive. The scale is hard to guage with the eye, but the colours are what make it unique. As clouds slowly drift over the landscape the reds and greys of the various rock layers changed dramatically from minute to minute. We also had snow the night before, which added a certain dramatic effect to the colours. Down inside the canyon it looked hot and dry, but up on the rim cold and white.

After our day in Arizona we drove back into Las Vegas and found our hostel in the rather seedy part of Las Vegas, a far cry from the glitz and glamour of the Strip. In order to get to the Strip we had to take public transport, heaven forbid. This is almost unheard of in the US apart from the major cities, but it turned out to be a great experience getting to mingle with the local people of Las Vegas.

Our New Year Eve celebrations started with the Cirque de Sol show KA at the MGM Grand. We opted for the show instead of the booze mainly to stop us spending everything we have on blackjack tables. It turned out to be worth it with a very impressive performance by people dressed in bizarre outfits. After the show with about 2 hours till countdown we ventured over to New York New York to inhale a few daiquries and play the pokies. As usual we won absolutely nothing, mainly because we were playing for pennies. At countdown time we went out onto the Strip with a million others and watched the clock tick down and were treated with a impressive fireworks display from all the big hotels along the Strip.

After a day recovering from our excess we walked the length of the Strip to see all the hotels during the day and visit the Coca Cola shop, which Leighanne was very impressed with. On Jan 2nd we flew out of Las Vegas towards Mexico City, but not without some trauma thanks to the utter incompetence of American Airlines. At this point in our trip we had taken about 15 flights in 4 continents with various airlines ranging from Ethiopia Air to Cathay Pacific with not a single delay, lost baggage, or even slight complaint. However, within the space of 2 flights American Airlines delayed us 10 hours, lost our tickets, lost our bags, and general pissed me off for life. It is beyond me how one of the largest airlines in the world can be managed and operated by petulant children. Ah, I feel better, have had that on my chest for weeks.

Our next stop is Chile and a detour to the most remote island on earth, Easter Island.