More detailed text and thoughts while traveling.
I am posting quickly from my phone, sitting in a cafe in Stanley, Falkland Islands.
We have had remarkable weather for the past three days. Temps around 15 degrees Celsius, moderate winds, and sunny skies.
We head off to South Georgia this afternoon and then on to the Great White Continent.
I will sign off with some photos.
It’s penguinning to look a lot like Christmas….
Once again I find myself sending an “I am fine post.” All is well. Just so busy during the day that I am too tired to mess with pictures at night. Photos and info coming soon.
I have seen in the international news that the typhoon did cause some damage. In Kyoto all was fine this morning. I am am safe at the Nagoya airport waiting for my flight to Beijing.
Pretty cool that I can use my phone to post. Now if I could just figure out how to add a picture…
Hello!!!! I didn’t realize it had been so many days since my last post until I received a message from one of you asking if she was still subscribed. OOPS!
Yes, I am still here and still enjoying the trip. I was up in what they call here, the Far North. I stayed in a sweet little town called Russell where I met friends of my friend Claire (the woman I shared a room with in the Galapagos).
Russel is a picturesque seaside town that is in the center of an area called the bay of islands. The town itself looks like what Hollywood would create if it were creating the perfect seaside town, complete with cute gulls and interesting murals.
My first full day in Russell, I actually got sick. I felt the cold coming on for a couple of days and then it hit full on. So, I took a nice walk of the town and found the pharmacy. The pharmacist gave me this great homeopathic cough medicine made with ivy leaf extract. It was amazing. Worked in 1 day. Healing power of plants! I bought more to keep on hand for the next cold I get.
The next day, I took a boat cruise on the bay. It was a beautiful clear day with wonderful scenery…
And DOLPHINS!
The boat crew knows most of the dolphins in the bay and can identify them by the dorsal fins. These two are named Bad Jelly (front) and Fuzzy Bum. How a dolphin has a fuzzy bum I do not know.
One of the best sights on the bay is the Hole in The Rock.
We were fortunate on our trip that we got to take the boat THROUGH the hole.
The next day I went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. This is where the treaty was signed between the Maori people and the British crown. The grounds contain a carved Meeting House. Visitors can see tradition Maori dance and hear songs and explanations of Maori traditions.
After my day at Waitangi, I enjoyed an evening on the deck of some new friends.
Up in Northland, I also visited the northernmost point of New Zealand and saw some of New Zealand’s tallest trees. Northern New Zealand is really beautiful and I don’t know if I would have ventured up there if I had not met Claire in The Galapagos. I hope to get back there again in the near future.
I am now in the central coast of the North Island in a place called Hawkes Bay. I have a couple more weeks in this beautiful country. Stay tuned for more adventures.
Oh, and driving on the Left gets easier by the day. I have only been honked at once today!
I spent three days in Auckland in a hotel that had the worst internet connection outside of the two poles. I could not log on with my computer no matter how much I tried and the ladies at the desk were no help. Even connecting with the phone was a problem. Don’t stay at the Waldorf (no connection to US company) apartment hotels in New Zealand. You’ve been warned.
Auckland is a lovely city. So clean and organized. It is clear that it is a great place to live; however, there is not much for a tourist to do. The first day was spent walking around and trying to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime.
The second day, I had lunch with the daughter of my roommate from the Galapagos. She also took me around to some wonderful parts of the city. Thank you, Megan for a great day.
There is a wonderful little working farm right in Auckland where we saw the lambs! They don’t let you get too close to them but they were still cute.
And then, we saw this guy. I think it’s a rooster of some sort, but he was just too fabulous to leave out.
One wonderful little day trip is to Waiheke Island. It a quick 35 minute ferry ride from Auckland and has some beautiful coastline and nice wineries.
There is also a nice little village on Waiheke. Walking around, I came across this shop. I just loved the sign…make sure you can read the slogan. (Sorry to my vegetarian friends.)
I survived my first day with the rental car. Took my time getting to the “motorway” and kept telling myself “keep left, keep left”. Driving got easy pretty fast but I still turn on the windshield wipers every time I try to use the turn signal! At the first stop on the drive North, St Joseph and The Penguin came out of hiding.
Penguin even tried meeting some of the locals…
We all arrived in the Northland in one piece. I am here for about four days before heading back south to Hawkes Bay and then on to the South Island.
Well folks, it’s official. I cannot make it to Argentina. The border is still not open and will not be by tomorrow at 7am.
I am now flying to Santaigo tomorrow afternoon. I will stay there for a couple of days and then figure out where to go. Most likely Puerto Varas in the Lake District. It’s pretty there, but I will likely run out of things to do there, too.
Things I have learned:
*Never book tours in advance on Viator or any other site. I will likely spend the next year trying to get refunds for tours that didn’t happen due to the weather. If I had known how many operators for tours there really were in the Atacama, I would not have booked anything. Same for Salta.
*Travel Insurance can be your friend. I’ll let you know how all that works out, but I am hopeful I will see at least some of my money back.
*Never book unrefundable hotel rooms in advance.
* Always have a PLAN B
So, when next you hear from me, I will be in a major city with hopefully faster internet and decent wine.
St Joseph will be sorry to leave the desert but the Penguin is ready to get out of here.
A freak winter rain has hit the Atacama dessert. Most tours have been cancelled since snow has fallen in the higher elevations. Stargazing tours cancelled since you cannot see stars. I choose to look at the bright side…when I do get out there, the scenery should be spectacular.
Getting here from the airport city of Calama was interesting. Vast swaths of nothing for the 100km journey. I chose to stay one night in Calama since it took me 12 hours to get there from Quito. I then took a local bus. Turns out, there are plenty of transportation options easily arranged right at the airport. The only people coming to Calama are Canadian mining executives and tourists going to Atacama.
If you decide to come here, and are able, stock up on supplies and water in Calama. There are no real food stores here, just corner markets, and everything is expensive.
San Pedro de Atacama, the tourist center, is not much to write home about. This city is at an altitude of about 7,900 feet. Lower than Quito, but still up there. There are two main streets, neither paved, with souvenir shops selling all the same things and about 400 tour companies hawking the same tours. All tourists were just wandering around aimlessly today…up and down the same two unpaved streets.
There are dogs everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Some strays, some with collars, some without. Dogs were bored too and some fights broke out. A bit of lawlessness in this desert outpost. The dogs reminded me of a trip my mother and I took to Patagonia about 17 years ago. After dinner in Punta Arenas, Chile (the complete other end of this LONG country), Mom insisted on a taking her leftovers with her. Well, on the way back to the hotel, we were followed by a pack of dogs. A whole new definition of doggy bag. Don’t walk around anywhere in this country with a bag of cooked meat!
The only real thing of interest is the church. Built in the 1700s using traditional Adobe techniques and materials. It wasn’t open today (priest is probably stuck in the mountains) but there was a hole in the door that allowed me a peak inside.
Since the roads are unpaved and most structures are built from Adobe, there is a fine brown dust that covers everything; shoes, windows, dogs. Whether or not I want to, I will be taking a bit of Atacama along with me.
I bought my bus ticket for Salta today. The bus station was a bit of a circus since the road to Argentina was closed due to snow. No busses coming or going. Hopefully, by next week this will all be sorted out. It’s not supposed to rain anymore after today.
I am not going to give any information about the next few days, since everything is up in the air due to weather. You’ll jut have to check back in.
