Steve, BJ & the World

The Last Post!

2009-12-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Wowsers!! I really left the blog hanging! Basically we left Thailand (after having some custom clothes tailored and having thai massages- I would highly recommend both!) and flew into Hong Kong. HK was massive and full of skyscraper sized apartment buildings. Plenty of shopping around too. We treated ourselves to a higher end hotel...Steve was still unable to eat much. We were mentally and physically exhausted and began arranging our flights home. We decided to not venture up to Northern China as we had had enough- enough haggling, enough language barriers, enough temples, enough illness- we knew we were ready to get home! I was an emotional wreck- happy to be getting home but crying that the trip was over. Looking back, I think my tears were tears of relief. Steve couldn't physically go on. He lost so much muscle in his arms and shoulders that he was in constant pain. I would venture around HK on my own to check out malls and the streets while he rested in the room. We went to Shenzhen in China for a day. The vendors grabbed me and yelled and it was complete chaos. Steve bargained for a cute wallet for me and I finally got a knock off Jimmy Choo purse. steve got himself an electric razor. The day here confirmed our decision of not having the drive to get to the North.
Let me tell you that every airline we dealt with on this trip was fantastic- except for the one and only Air Canada. They are horrible!!! Nothing but a run around with them and then paying dearly to change our flight from San Fran to Vancouver.
We were more than happy to be home- and still are! We are blessed to live in Canada- but seeing what we saw was completely amazing! A day hasn't passed that I haven't thought about or reflected on our most amazing adventure!
While sick in bed in Thailand, I found our 'dream house' on the MLS. As soon as we got to Vernon we went and checked it out (thankfully it was still for sale!) and we have purchased it! Perhaps living out of the back pack for so long made us a little nutty and we were anxious to plant some roots!
We are back at work now and Steves muscle pain has disappeared and his bum has reappeared! He still has muscle to gain but he is feeling and looking much better.
Thank you all for following us through the blog. Thank you for the emails. And thanks for putting up with poor phone connections when we called.
I'm still trying to find the words to summarize our trip. I get the tears in my eyes. For now, what I know for sure is if you get the chance to live the dream- do it!
Over and Out,
Love BJ

Wildlife minus the Wild

2009-09-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

Weak and tired, we make our way back to the Banger. We pay twice as much to take a “VIP” bus overnight- this way we get bigger seats and a bathroom on board. It is worth it! We had planned to head to Angkor Wat (Cambodia) from here...we gathered information from several travel agencies and began planning. We have concluded that we have nothing left. No more drive. No energy. We are tired after walking short distances, our bowels remain completely unpredictable. We write off Angkor, the hassle of the visa, the 12 hour ride on a mud road, the landmines...we just aren’t up for the challenge and use our better judgement not to go. We will get there someday!!
I can let go of Angkor, but I hold tight to Chiang Mai! We take a 14 hour overnight train ride (equipped with bathrooms) and arrive to Thailands second largest city. Chiang Mai doesn’t feel like a city of 2 million, there are no skyscrapers and few modern buildings. We quickly find a hotel and across the street is a little cafe with a wide selection of international food. I find french toast with the option of ‘maple syrup’ or honey. I was soooo excited!! Although the syrup wasn’t the real deal, it was a taste of home :)
I really wanted to see some wildlife here in Thailand- I mean the cockroaches are really cute and all but I wanted elephants! So, we hired a car and driver for a day and headed out to see wildlife, but not in the wild. Chiang Mai has a bunch of “camps” or “schools” for animals. I don’t know where the “reserves” or “sanctuaries” are- I’m sure they must exist somewhere, but with limited time we are driven to the camps. First stop: Elephants. I think elephants are one of the neatest creatures! The size is unreal and the dexterity with the trunk is fascinating! You can’t even hear them coming- they are able to walk silently! The only thing I don’t like are the eyes, they have these beady yellow jungle eyes. There are over 70 elephants at the camp. They used to be used as working animals in Thailand but that industry has diminished. Now, its all about tourism. At home we would never feed animals (only squirrels and whiskey jacks) but this is Thailand and there are signs encouraging visitors to “please feed the elephants” and little stands selling bunches of banana’s and sugar cane. I guess it helps with the upkeep? So of course I’m going to feed them and Steve buys us some snacks for them. Steve is a logical thinker and prepares the food away from the corral of hungry elephants. This is smart, during the visit we watch as elephants steal entire bunches of banana’s out of the hands of unsuspecting feeders! They just shove a whole bunch right in their mouths! Its crazy! The bananas are smaller here, but the bunches are made up of at least a dozen bananas! We watch the trainers wash the elephants in a river and then there is an elephant parade/performance. This is where the elephant visit gets weird. Eating and bathing are natural kinds of things, but seeing elephants do trained things is strange. They play soccer and throw darts, they paint abstract art, they bow and wave...its neat to see how intelligent and trainable they are, but at the same time so completely unnatural. We get photos with the elephants- they smell like wet rags- and we say good bye.
Next stop: Monkey School. Although we’ve seen many monkeys during our trip we choose this stop because the other option was the snake center. Steve absolutely hates snakes so we went to see the “tree rats”. I saw some tiny monkeys in Ko Samui that looked like little stuffed animals and I hoped to see some of them here. But the only ones of this breed I saw were adults in a cage, I hadn’t realized the ones in the south were babies and that made me sad to wonder what happened with the mothers...I thought the elephants were trained to be unnatural but the monkeys were far more out there! They put on a show where the monkeys do human things like lift weights, ride bikes, play basket ball...all the while on a leash. These monkeys looked like little tiny people dressed in monkey suits. They ask for a volunteer from the audience, so I go. They tie ropes on my wrists and the monkey comes to untie me. They say “don’t make eye contact, he doesn’t like that” so then I was nervous. The monkey had soft wet fingers and was quick to untie me. Later he sat on my lap for a photo- they say “don’t touch him, he might pee on you” so then I was nervous. There were at least a dozen other monkeys at the school, sadly they were chained to posts in the ground and just ran in circles. There were signs explaining “monkeys can be dangerous and therefore must be chained, we untie them at 5pm” but I think it was a poor set up. I bought banana’s and tossed one to each monkey. Although the monkeys appeared ready to catch bananas three of them were so out of sorts or lacking hand and eye coordination that the tossed banana smacked them right on their heads. We saw some three week old babies in a small cage- no mothers in site...we didn’t like this place. Although monkeys can be brats and jump into your rooftop cafe and steal stuff off the table and run away, I would prefer to see them anywhere but in this school.
Final stop: Tiger Kingdom. The tiger kingdom seems like a nice place. We have lunch on a patio that overlooks a tiger den housing 5 large tigers. The tigers are playing in a pond, sleeping in the grass, and posing with tourists. Thats right, you can hang out in a tiger den here. Apparently the health and safety regulations regarding predatory animals are different here- or maybe non-existent. Either way, I am ready to take advantage of this rare opportunity while Steve watches from the safety of the balcony. I’m not ready to visit the rather super sized kitties, and Steve doesn’t want me going anywhere near them, so I head for the little ones. The ‘kittens’ are 5 months old and are already around the 200lbs mark. Its mid afternoon and the baby tigers are sleepy from the heat -phew! I was feeling confident before going in the den, but when I was actually in a fenced area with a pack of 5 brother tigers I began to feel a little vulnerable. There were tiger keepers in there with me of course, but we all know kitties like to play- and play can be quick and unpredictable! Anyway, there was an Aussie working there, I asked how he got a job here (ie: qualifications?) and he said “oh I just showed up and they hired me- do you want some work?” Yikes. The tigers were amazing! They are beautiful! The fur was coarse and their paws were bigger than my hands. The sleepiest tiger in the bunch was named Oliver! The Aussie grabbed Oliver by the front paws and slid him into my lap. Apparently a tiger’s body temperature is 2 degrees higher than humans- so little Oliver was one heck of a heating pad! This experience was awesome and absolutely unforgettable!
Later that night I enjoy some lemon meringue pie and Steve has a peanut butter cookie at the cafe, then we wander around the night market. I buy a couple necklaces and a teak elephant- which doesn’t have beady yellow eyes :) Our time here was short, tiring, and wonderful! Only three days in Chaing Mai and we are back on the train for Bangkok.

A Lesson in Giardia (aka Beaver Fever)

2009-09-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

The mere mention of the word “Giardia” can send a shiver down any hikers spine. We’ve always been diligent about treating water while out in the woods (ok, MOST of the time!!) and after experiencing Giardia first hand we will take this lil parasite more seriously. We’ve learnt a lot about this illness and its effects while in Ko Samui (aka Ko Sam pooie)- this may not be a pleasant update (I can assure you we are fine) but it is what we have been dealing with on this part of our Journey.

Ok, we left Railay and came to the Island of Ko Samui which is on the other side of Thailand. The day of travel was long as we made our way via long boat, bus, ferry, and then pick-up truck taxi. We found a room (well, the room found us) and conked out. We are on the busiest beach on the Island- Chaweng. There are many people and shops and restaurants and the beach itself has nice white sand and blue water.

We woke up and Steve was not feeling well and he began having the extremely watery stools that we both experienced in Bangkok. Oh man, that again? So, feeling fine, I set out on a mission to get Steve some goodies and was even planning to sign up for a tour of the island while Steve rested. I discussed the matter with a pharmacist and she insisted he needs electrolytes and good bacteria in his belly. I agreed however I was initially after some antibiotics. She thought that would be worse for him, so I agreed we’d try this other regime. All we could do was wait and see what would happen, but all morning he was going, and by the afternoon I too was experiencing our Bangkok bowel problem. So, we knew it wasn’t just travelers diarrhea and considering the places we’ve recently been we looked into giardia which we’d joked about it in Bangkok.

With any infection, signs and symptoms vary from person to person and each of us were exhibiting most of them. We both suffered from the loose stools, severe stomach cramping, gas, bloating and a lack of appetite. We became extremely fatigued. Steve developed a rash that looked something like acne all over his back, and I had the addition of yucky nausea. There are smells in the hospital that make me gag, but I have never gagged at my own smell- until now. The smell is unbelievably horrendous which sent up another red flag.

I read about the drugs for treating giardia and headed to three different pharmacies in search of the most effective one. Not available. But I found a pharmacist who knew what giardia was and seemed really knowledgeable on the subject and treatment. She gave me what we know as Flagyl (the antibiotic) at home which is effective in 85-90% of cases. She suggested no milk, fruit juice, or alcohol. We spent most of the next 3 days in bed/bathroom. It was awful- our bodies were aching from being so immobile. We were getting cabin fever and on one day Steve was bugging me so badly I told him to write a journal. Not one for typing, he made a few video journal entries where he accidently referred to his giardia as “gonnorhea”- it was pretty funny. I don’t know if it was the infection or the high flagyl dosing which made my stomach cramps even worse. I also had the lovely side effect of a metallic taste in my mouth, like chewing on tin foil. So, forcing oneself to eat while nauseated to lessen the cramping turns out to be quite the task! Mind over matter...

We started going less to the bathroom which gave us courage to venture out of the room for more than a few minutes. Steve decided to order a milkshake, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. But it caused him to spend the rest of the day curled up in a ball due to indigestion and stomach cramping. We didn’t realize that the pharmacists “no milk” warning wasn’t to do with an adverse reaction to the antibiotic (we actually give it with milk in the hospital to ease stomach pain), but because in many people the damage caused by giardia in the small intestine can lead to lactose intolerance for up to a month following infection.

Some of you have commented on Steve’s apparent weight loss in recent photos, good observation, due to Giardia he has lost 20lbs! I am down 15lbs, but it hasn’t been rapid like Steve’s weight loss, so hopefully its not giardia related and I can keep er off! lol.

Giardia can be contracted from water (where it can live actively for 3 months!), food, and even surfaces! It takes only 10 spores to lead to infection. Steve believes we picked up the parasite in India- his opinion is biased though because he hated it there- but it is a strong possibility. More animal poops can get into water and onto surfaces during monsoon, and the sanitation in India was poor. The incubation period can be up to a month, so I wonder if we got it in Nepal...we treated our water on the trek, but who knows how long water was boiled for for our daily hot lemons! Maybe from brushing our teeth with tap water...We will never know where we got it and I guess it really doesn’t matter anyway.

Its been a week now since all this started. Sadly, we saw very little of this island but on the bright side the weather hasn’t really been that great. We did have a nice walk on the beach together on one afternoon and Steve’s rash is getting better... We are feeling a little more energetic and have been eating one meal at lunch (usually a sandwhich) and then having a snack for dinner. We leave tomorrow for Bangkok. I’ve been praying every night for this to clear up so we can enjoy this part of the world a little more. But we are very thankful it hit us here and not in a place where our time was limited or we were out trekking! We should know in a couple weeks if the drugs worked...cross your fingers for us!
And remember to treat your water!!

Back to Nature in Railay

2009-09-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Railay is a laid back and we take it easy. Steve doesn’t get his appetite back and is still irregular...I am feeling ok. We spend time hiking, walking the beach, and in the pool. We hire a climbing guide for a half day of climbing. There are over 700 bolted routes in the limestone cliffs around Railay. The climbing is fun- there are cool hand holds (in cracks and rock knobs) but I struggle with the foot holds. We are climbing on well used extremely popular routes and I wonder if that causes the rock to be smooth and shiney in spots- or maybe its the humidity making me slip...or the shoes...I don’t know! I’m far from pro and Steve scolds me when I classify myself as beginner. Despite his weakness Steve has a few rad climbs (yeah I said Rad- I think thats pro talk) he even starts one climb on an overhang. I am proud of my 90ft climb which started as a 5.8 and ended as a 5.10! I had a glorious moment on this climb when I lost my hold, fell, and landed on another climbers head. We didn't make heavy contact and I managed to get off his route- but it was rather embarrassing- the rocks were full of other climbers. Its a good time and we don’t meet any snakes in the rock cracks- but Steve thought he felt one in a hold and almost fell off the rock.

We want to see more of the area. There are boat excursions to surrounding islands (including Ko Phi Phi) and to patches of coral for snorkeling. I don’t know what possesses us to sign up for such trips- I don’t do so well on boats and Steve doesn’t like salt water- but I like marine life and islands. The speed boat holds 30 passengers and the guide was awful. He had a strong accent and would yell at people and get flustered when people didn’t follow his instructions (but we couldn’t understand him and many passengers were ESL). The excursion sites were fantastic though! The water was clear turquoise and full of beautiful fish. The water was warm and I felt like I was soaking in an epsom salt bath which was great considering my upper body was aching from the climbing! The guide brought rotten bread along and threw it in the sea causing hundreds of fish to surround the boat- so we didn’t have to venture far to see them, but then I got worried a fish frenzy would attract some larger fish with large teeth that could potentially mistaken my thigh for bread (my tan is weak). We visited some islands and then had a wavey ride to Ko Phi Phi for lunch. I was of course wearing my handy anti-nausea bracelets, but I got a little woozy. Despite being hungry, I only ate a small amount for lunch as a precaution. I laughed to myself when I realized my lunch of spag and pineapple were both delicacies in past vomiting experiences. We walked around Ko Phi Phi, it was pretty and had lots of shops and people. We boated to another beach and opted out of the off shore snorkeling. Ah, the dreaded boat ride back. It was an hour ride and the waves were definitely noticeable. I had befriended a British shipmate who luckily had a plastic bag with her. I chundered, but was really proud of my stealth barfing technique. I don’t think anyone would have noticed had it not dripped red barf drops all over my white towel. Steve offered me a headlamp and I just laughed.
As Steve forces food down with no appetite, I enjoy the great things available. Every morning I have muesli with fresh fruits and yogurt. The restaurants have BBQ’s every night, you choose fish of the day or chicken skewers. It comes with veggies, a potato, and a corn on the cob- all prepared on the BBQ. So delicious!! I feel bad for Steve who usually has no problem eating, he is losing weight and getting a little boney. Next destination- Ko Samui!

Bangkok

2009-09-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

How glorious it is to be in Bangkok! A modern clean city where we blend in and where honking is not part of driving! I see cats- lots of cats, which makes me happy because where there are cats there aren’t so many freaky packs of dogs...and malls are everywhere! Every corner has something to buy!
We plan to stay long enough to sort out our visa’s for China. Finding a foreign embassy in a foreign city isn’t the easiest mission but after two attempts we succeed. Our plan for a short stay in BKK is sabotaged by our bowels...ah yes, every travelers worry. Along the way we have had only a few incidents of minor bowel disturbance, but nothing like this. I won’t release the nasty details (for your sake) but it was three more days before we dared leave our room for any extended period. We alternated turns walking to 7-11 to buy essentials like water, yogurt, M&M’s, and oreo’s. We both became exhausted from not eating much and being a little dehydrated. Finally, things were looking ok and we booked out of our room. We went to the mall where toilets are cheap and clean and readily available- just incase! We were ok. We decide to take an overnight bus to the Southern province of Krabi. The bus terminal is another mall! Its awesome. The bus is a double decker and we are on the upper level in the front. Similar to Turkey, there is a stewardess who brings us drinks and snacks. A few hours into the 12 hour ride, we stop at a roadside diner. Steve isn’t hungry but I’m a little rumbly. I follow what everyone else is doing and find out that a thai dinner is included in our ticket. I sit at a table with 5 thai strangers and follow their lead. A server fills my bowl with a watery type of rice. In the middle of the table is a choice of four dishes to add to the water rice. There are boiled eggs cut in half, a plate of what appears to be some kind of sausage, a plate of a boiled leafy green, and little tiny fishes with their heads on still- clearly too small to cut off. I actually thought the fish were grasshoppers at first. I’m just happy with the rice and I avoid eye contact and stare at my bowl. I can feel them glancing at me. I look up- and one of the Thai men with a big smile and a friendly nod offers me the fish plate. Oh no. Oh man. I panic and take one medium sized fishy off the plate and put it in my rice and smile back at him. Its tiny but I can still distinctly make out its eyeballs. He is still watching me and so is that fish. I feel like everyone is watching (maybe I’m still paranoid from India). I put it in my mouth and get a shock of salt flavor! Whooo! Its also very hard and barely chewable. Maybe I was supposed to let it soak in the rice water. I get ‘er down without damaging my esophagus and smile at the man. The old lady beside me tries to fill my bowl with more rice. I make brief eye contact with a young guy and he must have been waiting for it because before I get the chance to look away he is passing me the eggs and urging me to try. Ok, its just an egg so I take it. Its still in half the shell and the technique seems to be to scoop it out and add it to the rice or just eat it with the spoon. I take a small scoop and eat it and almost have to spit it out! Its a salt ball too! But its horrible tasting. Thankfully the table is emptying and the bus is being reloaded and I leave the egg. We sleep a little and arrive to Krabi at 0700hrs.
We are conveniently dropped off at a tourist office and immediately being assisted with tickets and a place to stay and all the usual stuff. The guy has a ride for us to the pier for 500baht- this is for five of us as we have joined forces with a czech and two irish. We are loading the packs and I think back to Bangkok where we took a few cabs and they were VERY cheap. Hmmm...this doesn’t seem right. “Steve we are paying too much, the pier is only 4km away” and he thinks about that and agrees. So does the Irish girl and we talk to the guy and he gets defensive and says its a fair price and I get in a minor dispute which involves Steve dragging me away. I’m glad we did. Its so easy to become glazed over after overnight travel and go along with whatever is presented to you. We go to a little bus that is parked nearby and he charges us 30baht each to the pier. Little buses here are actually pick up trucks with two benches in the bed. The truck brings us to the pier and then we negotiate for a “long boat” to Railay. The water is calm and we are at the Railay beach in 30mins. We have to wade through the water to hit the shore and this is a little tricky with my pack. One guy takes a major dive on the paved sidewalk going from water to shore so I walk in the mud instead. Steve, the master negotiator, gets us a bungalow with a pool for 200baht less than asking! He’s got skills! We are comfy in our latest home with a bathroom, fridge, tv, and airconditioning.

The Golden Triangle

2009-08-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

Our driver’s name is Parveen. His english is passable and he seems nice enough. We leave Delhi at 0900hrs and even though Jaipur is only 250km away, it will take the better part of the day to get there. The roads are decent (much better than the one to Varanasi) but they are packed with traffic and of course cows. There are also 4 or 5 toll booths along this stretch of highway. I’m looking forward to Jaipur, the Lonely Planet makes it sound like a little gem of a city. As we get closer to the city we see more and more camels, elephants, wild pigs, and peacocks. Parveen suggests a hotel for us (we know about the commission but at this point don’t really care anymore) and say ok. We get to this place and the guy is excited to see us and takes us to a room. He opens the door and its a massive fancy suite- for only 3500rps. Ugh. We are looking for something under 1000...he takes us to another room, smaller but still nice. Its 1600. We say no but thanks and try to leave. The negotiations begin. I don’t negotiate- that is Steves area. He gets him down to 1200 which we still think is too high so we leave. Its outside of town anyway. We give Parveen another chance. This time we go to a smaller less fancy place and get a room for 500. Its near the old city which is also known as the Pink City. A prince way back in the day painted the city pink (considered a welcoming color in Hinduism) and the tradition has been carried on. According to the Lonely Planet the city is beautiful and the pink glows at sunset, colorful sari’s blow in the breeze...etc. I am so excited! We freshen up and head out for the pink city. We’ve been sitting in the car all day so we decide to walk. Tuk tuk’s and rickshaws pester us and follow us. The streets are typical of what we’ve come to know in India, full of garbage, stink, animal excrement, and street food. Its a long walk to the gates of the Pink City. I’m not sure if they actually are the gates because they don’t look entirely pink to me. More of a rusty light red. Ok, I think, thats ok, lets go in, its evening and the city will be warm and glowing. We enter the gates, instantly the streets are smaller and more packed, we dodge traffic and people. Its so crowded we can’t walk together. There is mud and garbage everywhere and among that people are selling fruit and junk. So between all the people and chaos, we focus on not getting ran over- the side walks behind the vendors are used as the garbage dump and packs of dogs are lurking there. The buildings are in shambles and the rusty red color isn’t what I had envisioned. Its a horrible smelly hole and for the first time in our travels I am disappointed in Lonely Planet. I am entirely disappointed in this so called “pink city”. We push through the crowds and traffic for a few minutes, I turn to Steve and say “I’m ready to go.” He has been so patient with this and he gladly gets us a tuk tuk and we make our way back to the hotel. There is a performance with dancers, musicians, and a magician at our hotel that night. Its interesting and we enjoy it. The magician is really entertaining and Steve likes his homemade top hat complete with skull and crossbones.
Parveen picks us up to take us to more sites in Jaipur. We tell him we walked into the pink city and he says “oh how was it? nice isn’t it?” Steve says “yup it was nice” and I am just thinking to myself how not nice it was but Steve says we shouldn’t complain about India to Indian people. He has a point and I hold back about how it needs a paint job and a good cleaning. The monsoon rain is pouring and the streets flood. People walk around barefoot and carry on about their business. We go to the Amber Fort which is up on a hill just outside of Jaipur. It is a massive place!! Huge courtyards and all sorts of passages and walkways. The views from the fort are impressive and we have a nice time exploring- and of course dodging the cameras of men. We enter one room and there is a distinct strong sour smell. I look down a well and it is full of bats!! I try to take some photos but the noise or flash or my presence bothers them and a few fly around- we run away. We’ve been warned about the rabies in India! There are elephants carrying tourists up the hill to the fort. They enter the courtyard to off load the passengers. We stand next to them as they pass- they are really amazing creatures! Their size is unreal! Their feet are so neat! Then the driver beats them over the head with a stick. Elephants are intelligent animals and I am worried they are beat like this.
I am looking forward to visiting the Hawa Mahal. There is a photo of it in Lonely Planet and it looks fantastic! When we get to it, I am surprised. It is on a very busy street surrounded by dilapidated buildings. Parveen advises us not to go inside as “its full of garbage”. I had imagined it to be standing alone in grandeur! It is still an interesting structure- I jump out to take some photos and have yet to take one before a man is directing me to some building to get a better view. I kindly decline but like most people here he chooses not to listen and joins me on the side of the street trying to convince me to go. While this is happening a woman is holding her baby at Steve’s window and asking for money. We visit the city Palace and by then end of the day we are exhausted.

We leave for Agra in the morning. I am super stoked to finally see the Taj Mahal! Its down pouring for most of the drive but we still stop at a famous fort/mosque. We get soaked and our umbrella from France is falling apart. The fort was widespread like the last one with many passages. We enter one building and smell that distinct bat smell and leave. We wander around and I begin to feel unwell. A young girl latches on to us as we walk back to the car. She says to Steve “your umbrella broken sir, its a gift for me?” then she points out piles of cow poo for us along the path. We are soaked and back on the road. Being on the road means passing more toll booths. We laugh at one when we see one man collecting the toll, one counting the change, and one marking down the number of cars! Three men working in one booth! We have noticed this in other places too. We go in a purse shop, one man to open the door, one to follow you around, one at the cash register, and one cleaning the bags- twice as many people working there as necessary! At least they are “working”...another example: We see 5-6 police men around one radar gun with only one car. Hmmmm...
We get to Agra, its crowded and polluted like every other city we’ve seen. The last bit of highway was rugged and rough. I am really feeling unwell and my anti-nausea bracelets don’t seem to be helping. We get to the hotel and I lay down. I am contemplating which end to go over the toilet! Soon enough I am chundering while sitting on the can. I’m crying and moaning and basically in agony. I am all cramped up and absolutely miserable. Steve, my fabulous nurse, is rustling around in the room. He comes into the bathroom with a headlamp. A headlamp???!! What the heck? A cool cloth or a gravol might be nice, but a headlamp? I groaned “what is that for?” He answered “I thought you want to see what your doing” at the moment I just shooed him away and cried some more...but now, I see how well he listened! My last vomiting session was in Nepal behind a tea house in the pitch black and I asked for some water and a headlamp. However, the light was on in the bathroom and I could see just fine! Hahahha! He is so funny. Once again Steve tucks me into bed and cleans out the bucket I used. We had arranged an Agra tour with a friend of Brandi’s, but after a couple more hours of misery we decided we should cancel. That sucked, I was looking forward to meeting an Indian woman (I’ve had enough of the men) and was planning a little shopping with her. I have only bought 2 pillow cases and some chai tea the whole time! In the end it was a good choice as I am up most of the night with stomach pain and frequent bathroom trips.
We do see the Taj. We take a nice little tuk tuk through the garbage strewn streets and are at the gates. Foreigners pay 750rps each whereas locals pay something like 50. We walk along a nice path towards a giant gate. Through the gate is the Taj- and its absolutely amazing! It looks like a painting and is stunning! I have time to enjoy this for a moment and take one photo before I hear a “click”- I look to my left and a man has his cellphone camera at my head. This time I am soooo mad! I am tired and cranky and now I am mad too. Ugh. Steve says “let me see that, let me see” and points at the phone. The guy is all smiles and proudly shows Steve the picture. Steve is mad too and says “you like my wife? you take her picture? thats 50rps” Apparently the guy didn’t speak english...or decided to appear that way. I scowl at him and his group of friends and say “why do you do that? Your a bunch of pigs!” Maybe they understood that or they could tell I was mad because they all looked uncomfortable. We walked around the Taj for an hour or so. The detail in the building is wonderful and from every side it looks the same. I’m happy we went and saw this!
After a shower and some toast I am feeling a little better. We visit Agra’s Red Fort and are then on the highway back to Delhi. Its a long drive (not for distance but for time) with 4 more toll booths. We have Parveen drop up off right at the airport even though our flight is seven hours away. We are done with India and have no desire to see anything more. Parveen has been ok, but I’m tired of listening to him complain about how poor he is. Its not a place we have really enjoyed, but at the same time nothing really horrible happened. I don’t like how I feel in India. Not trusting anyone and being stared at and being ripped off...makes me dislike them and put them all in one bucket of badness. I know there are good people there, but I didn’t meet them. When I build up this wall of distrust I feel like a bad person. I don’t want people near me, don’t talk to me, just get away. I feel like now, the sites in Egypt were worth the hassle, but I can’t say that about India. I think I need more time to reflect on all this...I’ll do that on the beach! Thailand here we come!

Delhi

2009-08-21T04:02:00.000-07:00

We’ve worked on the just ‘go with the flow’ plan...but man I get frustrated here!

We arrived to Delhi around 0800. I hardly slept on the overnight train despite having a sleeper. We couldn’t get a sleeper with AC but we did have three big fans blowing on us and open windows all night. I would like to know where all the women are in India!!? We see so few! I saw only two in our cabin on the train and the rest were men- dozens and dozens of them! The sleeper we were in was one big train compartment and is similar to an army barracks! Basically, you walk down an aisle and on one side are cubby holes containing 6 beds (two rows stacked three high). On the other side are two bunks running parallel to the aisle. So, anyone walking by can see you...there are no doors and no privacy. There is a half wall and a mini sort of chain link fence between us and the other upper bunks. The compartment is huge! Until later in the night, everyone sits on the bottom bunk- to eat or visit. People come down the aisles selling various foods like chai, omelets, veg burgers (which is raw veggies on a hamburger bun). The train also serves dinner if you want it. Steve ordered a veggie dinner and as we were waiting for that two oversized police men came towards us. They shooed away sitting passengers and took their seats. The one who appeared to be in charge said “What country are you from?” Steve answered ‘Canada’ and he even did it without the squirmy hesitation that strikes him at every U.S. border crossing. The one in charge handed me a paper in a plastic cover. It was a dozen or so warnings to tourists traveling on Indian rail. For example we are not to talk to anyone, not to give anyone money, not to accept food or drinks from anyone as they may contain poison, we are to keep all money and valuables next to skin, lock our bags, and not to leave our bags unattended, and to find one of them if we have any trouble, etc. Then we sign a paper saying we read the warnings. I asked “where do we find you” and he just nodded and gave me a look that said ‘don’t worry- we find you’...I have heard they are always near us. So off they go and then comes Steve’s dinner. He finished that up and we read for a while. When the train stopped, poor people, disabled people, and performing people, entered the train for baksheesh. A little boy sang and played the rocks- just like some people play the spoons! He should go on “India has Talent” because he was pretty good! A little boy came on holding an old blind mans hand- the blind man sang and the little boy collected coins. One guy came on and his legs were deformed so he used his arms as legs. Half naked dirty kids came on...
Soon enough we climbed up to our top bunks, cable locked our bags to our beds and tried to get comfortable. The bunks are hard and narrow. I looked down and see men sharing bunks! I don’t know how they did it- they slept at opposite ends of the bunk. Also, through the night the train picked up more and more people- and these people had no seat, they were in the aisles and on the floor. There was a rather heated argument in hindi that broke out in the cubby hole next to me at 0200 and lasted for a long time.
Finally that train gets to Delhi, it has barely stopped and a women is thrusting her child through one of the unbarred windows and the kid starts gathering bottles. We get off the train and are pounced on by rickshaw and cab drivers. We have found a hotel on tripadvisor, we know its near Jassa Ram Hospital and that it should only be 3km from the station. Everyone here is trying to make a buck, and the drivers are notorious for taking tourists to hotels where they receive a commission (the commission is of course paid by us and can be rather high) or to a travel agency where they also receive commission. So we are looking for the pre-paid taxi/rickshaw booth but when I say we are being pounced on I am not exaggerating. We can barely push through this crowd- all of whom are vying for our business. With no pre-paid booth in site, we give in to frustration and get a motorized rickshaw. We agree on 200rps for both (WAY over priced- we find out later it should be 50rps!!!) and we ask to be taken to Jassa Ram. We thought the man setting the price was the driver but no, he is the tout. So we all pile in the rickshaw and the whole way he is fishing for information- do you have a hotel, a tour booked, I know this place, I know that...we just keep saying we need to go to Jassa Ram. We are so happy to get there, but we know we have to get rid of these guys. Steve goes to pay him and the tout says “220” and Steve says “No way, 200 is enough” and we walk to the hospital entrance. We can see in the reflection of the doors that they aren’t leaving, they are watching us. So we enter the hospital and go to the front desk, Steve asks to use the bathroom, and he takes his sweet time doing so. Finally the rickshaw disappears. Now on foot, we take a couple wrong turns, but find our hotel in less than 30 mins. Yay! It isn’t a bad place, we have AC, wifi, and breakfast included. Its also near a shopping district of the non-tourist area- so prices are marked and locals are shopping. There is even a McDonalds a few blocks away- complete with metal detectors and guards! We settle in nicely and rest for the day.
The next morning Steve is not feeling well. He is sneezing like mad, has a sore throat, a cough, and fatigue. By the afternoon he has a fever, chills, and diarrhea. Swine flu crosses my mind so I download some info on when to seek medical help but keep in mind that the hubs is perfectly healthy. No sense in getting panicked, so we wait. I ventured out solo to a corner store to get him some juice and water. The fever subsides by the evening but he is so weak. He has no appetite and I am starving, I haven't eaten since my toast for breakfast. So, Steve being the best husband, musters up the energy to walk with me to get some take away dinner. It nearly knocks him out! He spikes again through the night but the next day no more fever. He feels weak but well enough to take a little tour around Delhi. We hire a driver and guide...Instantly I don’t like the guide, I don’t like how he talks to me and I don’t like how he talks to the driver- like we are of lower quality. We visit popular sites around the city- a massive hindu temple, the government buildings, India gate, Indira Ghandi’s Memorial/museum, and my favorite- the Lotus Temple. While trying to enjoy Indira’s memorial, a group of five guys keep trying to take my photo- I keep turning away, but it really starts to annoy me- I’m trying to enjoy and learn at this place and at the same time avoid them. We wait for them to get ahead of us. But as soon as we walk outside they are there waiting- this time with video. I am so irritated, I said something along the lines of don’t do that and leave me alone and Steve acts as my shield. In the courtyard they ask Steve for a photo. I am walking away because we know they want my photo but Steve plays dumb and jumps in for a pic with them and asks for 5 rupees. They say “we want a picture with her” and Steve said “that will cost 50 rupees” hahaha! They look at him like he is crazy. A similar sequence of events happens at the lotus temple. Its incredibly frustrating.
The contrast between rich and poor in Delhi is unreal. We see massive shiny skyscrapers with shacks built from garbage at their bases. Some streets look like they could be anywhere in North America and the next street is a dump- literally. The poverty here is depressing and widespread. Beggars are everywhere and tap on our car windows at almost every stoplight. The tour guide is annoying to me. We have about 20 mins before the Lotus Temple opens for visitors. He says “we go to government emporium” which is like a shopping place. We are cool with that because its always better to be in air conditioning than in the heat. The vendors at the place are aggressive and pushy. We go into the jewelry section and I spot matching ankle bracelets I like. I ask how much, he says “3600rps” then says “its real silver” so I inspect it. No stamp. I am proud of my recently acquired assertiveness and ask “where is the stamp?” he fumbles around with it and then says “you try on here” and points to a mirror. I have enough junk jewelry to know what feels fake and it certainly doesn’t feel real...hmmm. I reply “you said its silver and there is no stamp and it feels fake” He says “its real” I say “no its not and you are a liar” and walk away. I know the stamp can be counterfeit too- but they didn’t even bother faking that. Steve is beside me now and says “whats wrong?” I tell him what happened. The other jewler says “I will show you real stuff!” but I am so mad I get out of that scammer joint. Our guide is following us and asking what is wrong- why we aren’t shopping. I tell him they are scammers and try to sell me fake silver. “Ok, I know another place” and we walk around the corner. This time its the pillow cases that catch my eye. I bought two similar ones in Turkey and two from India would be nice. “How much?” and the guy says “900 rps.” I said “thats way too high.” Twenty dollars for one??? I paid maybe $2-3 in Turkey! Nothing was marked in the ‘emporium’ and I read that gov. emporiums have fixed prices. Knowledge is power and we bolted. No commission for our scuzzy guide either. By the end of the tour, Steve is completely exhausted. He hasn’t been eating and has no energy left.
We planned to see Jaipur and Agra by storing our packs at the hotel and just jumping on trains with small day bags. But thus far our encounters with people here have not been good- I trust absolutely no one and feel like we are constantly being preyed upon for money. We change our plans. Instead we hire a car and driver to take us to these places. This way we don’t have to worry about booking the train tickets which allows us more flexibility and best of all- less interaction with the people. We scope out the Air India office (with much hassle- “its not here anymore”, “it moved to the airport- I can take you there for 40rps” etc etc) at Connaught Place and joyfully change the departure dates on our tickets. We wander around Connaught Place and I see a lady selling cushion covers! Hmmmm....”how much?” and she says “100rps” I almost jump with glee! I don’t even bother haggling and I buy two. I feel like I have won something. Finally we head to the Red fort (its closed due to the upcoming Independance Day) and then go back to our hotel.

More pics

2009-08-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, here is the link to our another account. This is where all the new pics will be

http://picasaweb.google.com/stevebjandtheworld

S&BJ

A little show...enjoy!

2009-08-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

Holy Men, Holy Cows, Holy River...

2009-08-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

Each time we venture into the streets of Varanasi, I become more and more convinced that there is absolutely no other place like this in the World...
For those who don’t know, Varanasi is on the River Ganges which is considered a holy river by the Hindi people. Its considered a crossroad between physical and spiritual life. People come here to die and we see little shops displaying photos of how you can be “done up” for your cremation. Along the river are “ghats” which are used for bathing, washing the water buffalos, swimming, and several ghats are used for cremating people in a public ritual. So, that being said, you can imagine there is a lot to see around here! We walk along the ghats and see people bathing and rinsing their mouths with the Ganges water. Its so brown you can’t see any part of the body under the water. There are 30 sewage drains polluting the river and it has become uninhabitable for life due to no oxygen. Just past some swimmers we see a dead goat floating amongst all the garbage. We see funeral processions everyday- the deceased is carried on a stretcher and is wrapped in white cloth, over the cloth is an elaborate red and gold fabric and then some type of glittery garland decorating it. There are men carrying the body but they don’t go slow and they don’t seem to worry about going smooth. The body bounces around as they half run - avoiding cows, motorbikes, and people in the narrow street. The streets are only as wide as sidewalks...they also chant and there is a mass of people (assumed to be family) following the stretcher. We had a good laugh today after Steve pointed out how the chanting got quiet and all eyes were on me when the procession trotted by. Stay focused people. The staring and gawking is obvious here- and we caught one guy taking my picture on his cell phone. Other men are really obvious and use cameras. So I take their photo too. But we are sticking together and taking it all in stride- the men usually just talk to Steve. We are offered drugs numerous times every day. Hash, opium...The children scratch at my arms or try to grab my hands but I don’t let them, I just smile and say hello or namaste. We are loving the food. We have yet to work up the courage to eat the street food. Once while on the street (remember its a side walk) we had to jump out of the path of two massive running bulls- it was very scary. There are also packs of dogs running around and we have seen them fight other dogs. That is scary too. But then we also saw puppies in a wagon cart- they weren’t moving and I think they were nearly dead. With all the garbage, dogs, cows, and goats, and men peeing, the streets are filthy and stink and there are flies everywhere.
We watched a Pooja ceremony which was interesting and took a boat down the Ganges. I was worried that the oar would splash me with ganges water. We had the option to cross the Ganges and walk the shore. We did not go to the other shore because it is littered with decaying bodies and skeletons. Not everyone who goes in to the Ganges is cremated. If you are a holy man, a pregnant woman, young child, missing any body parts, or have died from a snake bite you are tied to a rock and thrown into the middle where its 30m deep. Sometimes the bodies float up, so if a body makes it to the Ghat side of the river it is retied to a rock and tossed again, if it goes to the other side of the river, the dogs and eagles eat it and the monsoon cleans the leftovers. Now lets talk cremation. The main burning ghat (which is a 1 min walk from out hotel) burns 200 bodies every day! Its a 24 hour operation. There are wood dealers around the ghat and they have giant scales to measure out the wood. It costs 5-7 rps/kg and take 300-350 kg for one cremation. We walk by the ghat and see the silhouettes of bodies on the fires, this is more than enough for us and we never go close enough to see detail. The smoke is always around, when we are eating on the balcony, walking in the street, and we know its not a wiener roast down there... so its a little creepy. This is all so far from our culture I don’t think we will ever understand. I am particularly dumbfounded with the fact that the ‘holy river’ is a giant sewer that people bathe in.
We are getting into the flow of chaos...are chilling out a bit more...and I've only had a couple minor outbursts...there is a sweeper at the hotel and I was standing at the sink brushing my teeth. Unknowingly I was also standing on a small drain that the sweeper puts all the dust in. So, instead of asking me to move or waiting for me to finish, he sweeps the dirt onto my feet! ARGH!

Off to India

2009-08-08T00:57:00.001-07:00

We bought a used India guide book in the Kat. Another traveler gave me some advice I like- she said “don’t try to understand India, or you’ll go nuts, just go with the flow”. So thats my plan, go with the flow and kill em with kindness. We’ve decided to take the bus to Varanasi. We get on the overnight bus in Kat and find it to be the least luxurious bus we’ve been on...ever. Its painted like all the other buses, in a Partridge Family/Hippie style colors with “good luck” painted on every side and hindi or buddha gods on it. The seats are school bus bench style with little padding. No A/C but the windows open. It takes nearly two hours to get out of Kat because they stop everywhere. Our packs are in a back compartment which is fastened with a little peice of wire. I’m not so happy about that. We eventually make it to the “highway” but its pitch black out and we can only see the silhouette of the landscape when a lightning strike flashes. We can feel that the road is a steep descent thats very twisty, when other vehicles are encountered the bus slows to a crawl so they can pass each other. Its probably better that we don’t see what we are driving on! The road is full of potholes and the ride is a rough go. We make stops through the night and the men jump off the bus (there are only 3 women) and take a whiz- but I never see a bathroom for women. I doze off a couple times only to be jerked awake by a pothole or the slamming of the brakes. Steve sleeps a little...At 0630 we arrive to the last stop, which is a couple km’s from the border crossing at Sunali. As we pull into the station, a guy is chasing the bus and yelling something. The bus stops and the running guy climbs on the side of the bus and is trying to slide open our window- seems that he is calling dibs on us and yelling it to the other tuk tuk drivers. I ignore him. I get off the bus and go to the back to find our bags still in the compartment- I am so relieved. The crazy yelling tuk tuk man is trying to negotiate a ride for us. He is asking far too much (150rps) and we know that. Another driver comes up and says “I’ll take you for 50rps” and we go off with him. Tuk tuks are ok around the city, but down a road for a few km’s and they are just annoying- we need to catch the bus in India! We finally make it to a hotel we’ve been directed to and get our ticket finalized. The hotel guy will meet us on the other side of the border and get us on the bus. The bus is leaving later than we thought and we have time to use the squatter and eat some toast at the hotel. There is a water leak somewhere which has made a lake in the hotel where Steve sees a boy taking a pee...sanitary.
We get through customs with no problems- as we are leaving the checkpoint a man is taken to a small room off to the side and is being beaten. We get out of there. Our hotel guy gets us to the bus and introduces us to the ticket checker. He warns us “Do NOT talk to anybody, do NOT give money to anybody, the only person who needs to see your ticket is this man” and off he goes. The bus is not crowded. Its a crappy bus. But you can sit in a row with 3 seats which gives us more space. Two israeli and one japanese guy are on the bus too. The staring has begun. Its like they just can’t help it! The man sitting in front of us keeps turning around and looking at me- I finally stuff my daybag between the seats. Now, I assumed the road to Varanasi would be a highway but its far from it. Its a crowded road with people, rickshaws, and COWS all over the place. The cows just lay in the middle of the road. We seldom drove through nonpopulated areas! Just people and people and more people. I swear I couldn’t look out the window for more than five minutes without seeing someone peeeing on a wall, peeing in a gutter, peeing in a canal, squatting on the side of the road! The bus becomes full and we have to share our three seater- the bonus for me is that I always get the window to prevent any groping. Its hot/humid and its crowded. We cannot leave our seats or else we won’t have one anymore. Steve gets off the bus to pee but with no washroom I stay on and keep the seat safe. We finally arrive to Varanasi and its 7pm. We have been on these buses for 24hours! We are hungry, exhausted, sweaty, dirty, overheated, and in a new city/new country, and don’t know how to get to our hotel. Also, Steve is still bitchy about coming to India and has litterally said to me “I can’t wait to say I told you so.” This is basically a recipe for disaster. A rickshaw driver begins the negotiations with us. We agree on a ride to the old city for 50rps. I said “For Both” and he agrees. Ok, we get in the rickshaw and the Japanese guy gets in the front. We are all stuffed in there with our packs but before we leave some man is sticking himself in there giving us his card and telling us to “just come look at my place” etc etc. I am sweating and have packs on me and we kindly say no thank you but he is persistant and won’t leave us alone. Finally I just say “leave us alone, we are tired and want to go” he gets all mad and storms off. We make a mistake here, we havn’t renegotiated the price since the Japanese dude has jumped on- or rather the Japanese guy hasn’t sorted out his fare. We finally get near the old city (we find out later the rickshaw could have gone much further but he didn’t) and get out. Steve offers him 60rps for us (the 50 we agreed on and a little tip) he says “NO! Its 150rps! 50 each!” Steve said we agreed on 50rps for us two (meaning me and him) he is arguing saying “NO! Its 150!!” I can understand that the Japanese guy needs to pay, but we had a price for us. This is the EXACT scam Brandi warned us about- thats why I made sure it was 50 for both when we got on. The argument goes on and on. My kill em with kindness plan goes out the window. I didn’t yell, but it was a bitchy assertive voice and I couldn’t hold back “This is why people hate India. Because of people like you- trying to rip us off!” Steve and the rickshaw man look at me- the argument has ceased. Steve puts the money on the seat and we walk away. I swear I have a split personality and she is mean- I just have to fast for 24 hours, not sleep, be covered in sweat, be day one menstruating, and get mad- then out she comes. The guy was a scammer, I think he knew we would fight back so he stopped way before the boundary for rickshaws and we ended up walking a really far distance anyway. We are trying to find the Shanti House we are planning to stay at and it turns out the Japanese guy is dead weight. So Steve is all mad that he is tagging along and we are about to lose the Amazing Race because of it. I tell him to chill out. Then, a boy asks where we are going. Steve says Shanti House and the boy says he can take us there- for 200rps!!! We are following him through a maze of streets and its dark and there are cows and stray dogs and men. Steve offered the kid 10rps and they continue to negotiate while we walk. I think this is a poor tactic. We must set prices before doing anything with anyone- otherwise we are giving them the advantage. They have more control. The kid gets us to Shanti house and Steve offers him 30rps. And, like the rickshaw driver he says no and won’t take the money. Steve likes it when they do that, he says take it or leave it...he takes it. Let me give you a perspective of money here. For us to buy a bottle of Pepsi in a restaruant it costs 12rps. This is a restaurant and tourist price. So, 30rps to walk with us for less than 10 mins is not too bad! There is a room for us, the Japanese says he doesn’t like it and leaves...Steve was happy for that. We have a ceiling fan but no window so its muggy but ok. Not too bad for $3 CAN/night. We shower and go up to the rooftop restaruant. We see other travelers! Yay! We meet some druggy hippy types and share butter chicken, naan, and rice! It takes over an hour to come but its worth the wait! We sleep like logs.

Trek 15-22

2009-08-08T00:53:00.000-07:00

Day 15: Back to Namche
Turns out yesterday we actually covered over 15km. We sleep in until 0800 and leave Pangboche at 0900. Up and down to Tangboche. Arrive to Tang. at 1130. Visited a buddhist monastery where we see monks wearing red, burgundy, and gold sari’s. They all have shaved heads and wear sandals. The monastery was much less immaculate than I imagine it would be. There are weeds growing everywhere, bird poo on windows, and its just untidy. We enter the temple and see a massive golden buddha, it was very nice. I eat pineapple for lunch and steve has fries. I’m so tired of the food. The onions and garlic make me stink worse as it all pours from my pores. The other day Steve said “mmm. I smell salsa!” as we were hiking in the middle of nowhere. I said “no dear, thats me you smell!” Anyways, I should have had more for lunch, only if I knew what the trail was like ahead of us! We descend the mountainside all the way to the river!! The old bridge is submerged, the boulder it was built on turned to its side. We cross the river and then climb back up the mountain. Its cloudy today and we spend most of the afternoon in the clouds. I’m so happy to be going to Namche Bazar- we know there is more food there :) We are at the Everest Hotel by 1630. Shower time! Once again its so hot it scalds the skin, but I don’t really care this time. There is two weeks of buildup on my skin that needs to come off! Dinner Time! We both jump off the vegetarian wagon and order chicken. Its sooo good! Steve has some chocolate pudding and I order fruit salad which has apple, banana, mango and something that looks like a plum. My eyes have been itching and burning off and on for a couple days now. Steve ( my nurse) ensures I wear my sunglasses whenever outside- he is worried I’ve had too much UV exposure and the itch/burn may be a version of snowblindness. The eyes are too sore to stay up and visit with our new friends (brazil/spain) and once again Steve helps me to bed.

Day 16: Rest Day
We sleep in. We decide to have a day of rest in Namche as the last two days have been a pull and we are ahead of schedule. We eat eggs and chapatti with hash-browns for brunch. We walk around Namche with Tony and Laura (brazil/spain). Steve buys a Mammut jacket that looks pretty authentic...but could be a fake. Spent $1000rps (approx. $14). My eyes are burning and watering constantly.

Day 17: By Steve
Walked to Lukla in the rain. Its been a real monsoon day. Rain pours down, stops for a bit, and does it all over again. Went to Mohan’s house and saw his woman and little boy. Had awesome shower, ate a good dinner and started to wait for the weather to lift. BJ’s eyes start out good then go all red and hurt. Just the right one now. Lots of people in tea house- all Nepali.
By BJ
We make good time to Lukla...its raining and my feet are soaked- but I don’t care because we are getting outta here! I finally get some use out of the poncho I brought along, but its hot like a sauna. Steve and Horka hike with umbrella’s- which is funny to see, but all the nepali carry umbrella’s during monsoon. The trail is muddy. We are crossing a long bridge and a big cow decides to cross from the other side. We yield as the cow barges past us. We stop in at Mohan’s tea house. They give us hot lemon. My eyes are burning and I don’t know if its due to the smoke in the tea house- they cook on open fire. His son, almost 3, is running around doing karate moves. He gives us a “namaste” and then “handshake”. We go to our tea house. I have saved my cleanest clothes so I can travel and not stink too bad! My right eye is burning- feels like it has sand and soap in it. I take a shower- must go outside through monsoon rain to get to shower. Should just shower in monsoon rain! The shower is nice because I can control the heat, but not so nice because I am half blind.
Day 18: By Steve
Wake up to rain and clouds. No plane today... We start to wait. BJ’s eye is not better. We will go to hospital today.

By BJ
We hike up a huge hill to the Lukla hospital. Paid 4000rps ($60) to see an eye doctor. Dx: Conjunctivitis in right eye. The hospital is nice- we must take off our shoes and wear sandals before entering. Its neat and clean, it even smells pleasant. I am issued antibiotic eye drops, antibiotic ointment, and anti inflammatory/pain killer pills. The doctor put in a couple eye drops and I thought my eye was going to burn out of the socket. In the afternoon we lay down for a rest. Someone knocks on our door and opens it. The young worker boy says something and we interpret it as asking us if we want another blanket. We say “oh yes, sure why not...” A few seconds later the tea house owner busts through the door and yells “Make ready!! Make ready!! Airplane!!” We frantically pack our stuff. The lady yells “bag too big!” and Steve says “only 22kg” and she yells “OK!” and loads it onto the young boy who is pretty small. He runs it to the airport. Horka is with us and we rush to catch up. Suddenly we hear a plane. Half of Lukla is heading to the airport. The plane lands, it is not yeti air. It is loaded in a few minutes, I stand on the path above the landing strip and take footage of the plane flying off the cliff. What a site! I rush to the terminal and we wait. Finally an air yet flight arrives! Unfortunately it is “Yeti #1” and we are on “Yeti #2”. Yeti #1 takes off and we wait some more. We can hear a plane but can’t see it. Suddenly everyone is leaving the airport. The clouds move fast and they are too low. Yeti #2 cannot see the runway and is returning to Kathmandu. Back to the tea house. There will be no more flight attempts today. Its 1400,we eat popcorn and drink tea. We go to Lukla “Starbucks” (a complete knock off) to use the internet. Steve bargains for internet time and gets us an hour for 300rps. Later we go back to Mohan’s tea house with Horka. Mohan is out feeding his pig so we have hot lemons with his wife. Horka and Rossin (the son) drink Chang. I laugh at the thought of a western kid drinking home brew at three years old...
We return to our tea house. Eat dinner of chicken sizzler and chips, I have veg curry and rice. A Japanese group of five are having a goodbye dinner with their 15 porters/guides/cooks! They were trekking and camping...They sing/dance- its very nice and something to watch. Must wake up at 0530 to check for airplane. My eye is feeling better already! I love drugs!

Day 19: By Stevie
Got up to a weather opening at 0600. Had some tea and all of us at Lukla headed to the airport with big smiles. We checked bags and got out tickets again and started to wait for the plane. Around 0900 some people start shaking their heads and start to leave. The plane could not see the runway since the clouds rose up. We waited some more but no plane. I spent most of the day with BJ and she spent most of her day with me. We feel like we are really stranded in Lukla now. We have no board games and we have read all our books. It is really boring. We are lucky we don’t have a flight booked out of Kathmandu or we would have missed it. BJ’s eye is soooo much better already- that is good. One less thing to complain about. My beard is huge, way longer than the hair on my head. BJ still does not like it. Some monks are staying in the tea house tonight too. Since they need the cheap room we have been upgraded to a room with a bathroom. Its nicer but we miss the double bed. We met some dude from New Zealand today. He is weird but at least he speaks english. He doesn’t have any games or books either so that sucks too. At least we can talk to him if we want, but I don’t want to yet...

Day 20: Rain rain go away!
Fog at 0530. Horka gets us up at 0700 because the sky is clearing. We can hear the airplanes. Once again we all gather around the airstrip but the planes never land. :(
Fog and rain come back. I go back to bed, getting frustrated now. All we do is eat, sleep, and stare at each other. There are more stranded people now. Steve meets a brit who tells of the worst stories of his time in India. Now Steve doesn’t want to go...he says “its too much hassle”. The group of Japanese are talking about hiring a helicopter.

Day 21: Get me outta here!
Fog @ 0530. Clear @ 0630. Fog @ 0700. Fog @ 0900. Japanese are leaving by helicopter. Another loooong day. We hang out with some more brits and an american. They teach us to play spades and hearts- nice to play new card games! Good laughs. They are the funniest people we have met in a long time. Steve and I hike up to a “golden buddha”. We then go for a chocolate walk- its become a part of the routine of being stranded with nothing to do. After dinner, Horka returns to the tea house after drinking Chang. Our guide of few words is much more chatty when he’s on the Chang. He is hilarious! Only wish he would share so much about buddhism and their culture when I’m not so tired! I go to bed while they pound back the beers...
No clean clothes. No place to wash dirty clothes. Too cloudy and cold out for anything to dry outside. I stink. My towel reeks too. Everyone stinks. We have a prolonged discussion regarding leeches. They can jump from trees and run. Horka says they come in all sizes. ewww. He explains you can get hundreds of them on you at once. I’m so happy we are above the leech line. We could walk to Jiri- which is 5 days away- then take a 10hr bus ride to Kathmandu but There is no way I am walking below the leech line. Not to mention the tapeworm... A trekking group of 62 is supposed to arrive tomorrow so the planes will make extra attempts at landing. We are hopeful.

Day 22: Where are you Yeti!? By Steve & BJ
We get up at 0500 to find a semi-clear day. Have the usual RaRa noodles and BJ has a pancake. We have been offered a heli ride for $200USD per person. We said no but are worried we will have to stay because of the clouds. At 0700 we go to airport for our daily recon. We are very hopeful- they told us planes are coming. Dozens of people are waiting. It is the best weather day so far. The heli comes and picks up the people who were willing to pay for the ride. But we are still hopeful. Everyone is anxious. People demonstrate their personal squatter positions...we are so bored. At 1000hrs we go back to the tea house and eat a second breakfast because clouds have come in. We are not so hopeful. The clouds move away and they tell us planes are coming! We all run back to the airport. At 1200 a plane lands! It is not our plane but they say ours is next. A few minutes later a second plane lands but it is not ours either. We are very bummed out to see all these people leave and we have to stay here longer. They say more planes are coming but we don’t know what to believe. We are not going to leave the airport until later because if a Yeti plane does make it, we do not want to miss it! A couple hours later and another plane can be heard! Its not ours. Finally, after so many ups and downs a Yeti Air lands! Freedom!! We are all cheering and laughing and hugging! We take off- its like a rollcoaster ride! We shoot off the runway and the mountains are right beside the plane. The ride is a bit turbulent and BJ almost blows chunks on the plane. The Nepali woman across from Steve prays the entire trip. We are soooo happy to leave Lukla. Namaste Bitches! We are back in the Kat!

Your crazy, your dirty, and we love you Kathmandu!

Getting back to Kat was great! People everywhere, horns honking, garbage in the streets, dogs running around- and we are happy! We return to the hotel we were in when we first arrived. We have decided to stay only one night and then move to the “Kathmandu Guest House” where the people we met in Lukla are staying. Our hotel is boring, no other people, no action, no fan, most of the lights are burnt out, and this time we encounter a super bad ant infestation. We return our rented gear (down jackets, boots, water bottles) and jump back in the action in Kat. There is an energy in this city that I can’t put my finger on, but its here! People are friendly, we feel safe, and we meet travelers- all with an interesting story! Us stranded passengers now friends, meet at the Everest Steak House for some steaks- delicious! Everyone is showered and people are surprised by how Steve looks without the mountain man beard. The day after our return, Horka took us to some sights around the city. We went to the “Monkey Temple” which isn’t about monkeys, they just live there and its easier for tourists to say Monkey temple as opposed to its real name. And, I think the idea of monkey’s draw tourists who have to pay 100rps to enter. The monkey’s are lil’ creepers. They will take food right out of your hands! They are not shy. To reach the temple we climb stairs up up up! Its hot and we are soaking in sweat. Beggars line the steps. The temple is ok, but the view of the Kat is great! Worth the hike!.We walk through the temple park and get to a busy road. Horka gets us on a public bus- which is like a VW van type thing. The driver’s side kick is yelling “Botha!! Botha!!” And soon the bus is PACKED. I am sitting face backward beside an old old woman. She looks like the type to be photographed for the cover of National Geographic...very traditional and wrinkly and interesting. The van door stays open as we swerve through the streets and the sidekick yells for more passengers going to Botha. The old lady pats my leg and through body language she tells me she is getting off and that Steve (who is crammed into the far back with Horka) can come sit with me. I relay this to Steve and he just waves his hand and says no- its all good...she thinks thats funny and laughs, she climbs over me and several other people and off she goes. The public transit is a great way to see the people...but its soooo hot! The sweat is running down my legs. We finally make it to the largest stoopa in Kathmandu and get off the bus. Near this place, Horka and his friends own a shop that makes and sells Thuka (don’t know spelling) paintings. These are traditional buddhist art. We see the painters and students working on the Thuka’s. We sit down for a coke. Its airconditioned. I appreciate the art- the detail is absolutely amazing! Some of the paintings take four months to complete. Now, so far in our trip I think we have been open to other cultures and accepting and respectful..etc. But the sales guy is trying to sell me one- and they are really beautiful, but I really can’t see myself having a painting of a god I don’t believe in. Its the same when the Hindi holy men come up and try to “bless” me with red paint on the forehead- absolutely not! So, I finally see one that is of gold writing in a circular pattern on black paper. The writing is a meditation phrase/mantra that sounds like “oh ma neh pat me om” which we always hear being sung. Its also very pretty. So I decide it is a neutral piece and buy it. We go for lunch on a rooftop and people watch. After our late lunch we walk around until monsoon rain comes. It was a nice day to spend with Horka. We spent time with the brits, american, and they introduced us to some guys from Bangledash- we toured more of Kathmandu and went to well known places like the Yak & Yeti to gamble and to Rum Doodle and Fire & Ice to eat. We had a whoot! I would try to tell some of the stories, but they just wouldn’t soung funny...had to be there!

Trek! Days 1-14

2009-08-05T04:10:00.001-07:00

Day One- Nose Dive Landing.
Wake up at 0430 after sleeping only 2 hours- we are too excited to sleep! Mr. Horka (our guide) and Kristi (from trek company) greet us and we all drive to the airport. Domestic side is different from international. There is a pile of dog poo on the floor! People are bringing supplies and goods to be flown to Lukla- we see bags of rice, doors, plywood, chicken soup, and a wood stove. We board an 18 passenger ‘twin otter’- it appears to have made many trips to Lukla. The stewardess points us to seats and hands out cotton balls to plug our ears and candy to suck on- the cabin is not pressurized- daylight comes through the door seams after its closed. I’m a little anxious. The combination of a small plane from a third world nation flying into the highest mountain range on earth scares me. We take off. Fly through clouds for a few minutes adn then emerge above them- but we are not alone- to the left is the Himalaya! The peaks sore above the clouds- the peaks are higher than the otter! The flight lasts 30 mins and by the time we approach Lukla we are surrounded by mountains- in fact, we are flying directly towards one...I feel the plane slow and we suddenly dip, I see the mountain side out the pilots window. We dip again and I have Steve’s arm in a death grip- I see the mountain base. We dip steeply and I see the ground but no runway. I’m freakin out and weird noises of fear escape me. I think we are nose diving to the ground but then I see runway! The pilot swoops the plane up at the last moment and we bounce along the pavement. The plane comes to a stop in less than thirty seconds! We exit and see that the runway is very short and goes uphill. At the far end is the mountain and the other end is a drop off. The airport is on the mountain ledge.
We have breakfast at a tea house- porridge for me and eggs for Steve. Horka arranges a porter to carry our pack. Our pack weighs 22kg and I feel guilty that someone else will be carrying it for 3 weeks. However, its not long before my guilt subsides. Not only is day one being done on little sleep, the terrain is constantly up and down. The trail is rocky and a little slick from the rain. We learn that porters carry up to 120kgs! An average load is 40-50kg. Our bag is a simple load. Our porter catches up to us as we break for lunch at a tea house a few hours in. He is maybe 4’5’’ and looks like a Himalayan hard man. He seems to be grateful to be hired in the off season because he thanks us heartily for the job. He jimmies up the pack to his forehead strap and burns up the trail- he is wearing flipflops. We pass through several villages. No roads, just paths, farm animals are roaming and locals are working. We both feel like trespassers in some far off land. I want to tip toe and apologize for being there...people just smile and go about their business. Children pause to give us a folded hand ‘namaste’ then run off.
Two hours later we arrive to Manjo at 2835m (9300ft) and stop for the night. Our feet are sore from the rental boots- happy to be resting.

Day 2- By Steve
Slept good but kept waking up, some sort of rodent running around our room
BJ said it was in the walls, but don’t believe her
Took 3 hours to get to Namche Bazar
Heart rates both at 72 resting
Saw REALLY small kids, maybe 3 years old but less than 2 feet tall, we call them buddah babies.
Sherpa granny passed us on trail- at least 70 years old/4 ft tall/ no teeth/ wearing flipflops
took showers but were too hot, no cold water, staying at “everest hotel”
New discovery: RaRa noodles = Ichiban noodles! This is good :)
Clear morning but rained a little at noon
Saw injured woman riding in a porter basket- on way to hospital in Lukla
Today is July 12th, 2009 AD. In Nepal it is July 12th, 2066 BS. I think BS stands for “Before Sherpa” but I don’t know for sure
No headaches, no AMS symptoms

Day 3: By Steve
Woke up to clear skies
Hiked to lookout ridge above Namche, 400m elevation gain for acclimatization, took 2.5 hours.
BJ has big blisters all over her feet. She is a trooper.
Saw part of Everest!
Today is the best day because BJ turns 84 in Nepali years! She is older than me and I feel young :)
Bad news: BJ has head cold. She shows no signs of AMS but has little energy. I will keep a close eye on her. I love her way more than any of these mountains.
Mailed post card to mom and dad. Little hope it will make it. Don’t have address book so couldn’t mail anymore.

Day 4: “Showers Ready!”
I feel better than yesterday. I can’t think of a worse place to have a head cold. Its hard to breathe when I lay down and my throat is swollen and sore. We loaded up on drugs in from the shops in Namche. You can buy all sorts of drugs here! We decided to push on and leave Namche Bazar. Clear skies and we see all of everest- so exciting!!!
Trek in view of Everest and Lhotse for an hour and then turn up a valley. Going up to 3979m today then back down to 3500m. Get to 3979 and stop for lunch. I have zero appetite and have to force myself to eat the RaRa. I feel like I’ve just had turkey dinner and have to eat another turkey dinner. Takes a long time to eat. Steve has no problem- he pounds back a mountain of dal baht. I just stare at him in disbelief. We see kids at the teahouse and they wrestle and fight, some things are universal! We see yaks on the trail. They look like small cows with big horns who are covered in wooly fur!
Sunburnt faces/necks/arms. Temperature in the mid 20’s. Despite duct taping my blisters most of them are worse. Its very painful. I will wear my own shoes tomorrow.
We arrive to Phortse Tanga. I’m not feeling well. My lunch time RaRa is sitting in my stomach like a rock and the blisters are really raw. Steve is playing cards with H & M and the tea shop worker. I stink and decide a shower will do me good. Steve runs to the room and says “shower is ready!” So I go. I get in and turn on the water. Its very cold. I wash my feet with the cold water. Its not getting warm. I decide to wash my hair while the water warms up...I get it shampooed and partially rinsed then suddenly there is no water at all. AH!!! I fiddle with the tap. Nothing. I have to dry my legs and feet and get redressed. I go to the sink and finish rinsing the shampoo out. I am freezing cold. I go back to the room and use baby wipes to finish my ‘shower’. I can hear Steve and the others laughing and having a good time, I am miserable. Steve comes bouncing into the room and asks “how was your shower?!” We find out later that they have add a bucket of hot water to the water supply on the roof when someone wants to shower. That didn’t happen for me. Everyone has a good laugh at my expense, I hold Steve fully responsible :) I feel like crap all evening. No appetite.

Day 5: Blisters
-I wake up feeling better and am even hungry!
I eat some Yak milk rice pudding with raisins for breaky- mom’s is WAY better
- I wear my own shoes.
-I make little padded band aides using tissue, antibacterial gel, and duct tape for the really open blisters
Hit the trail- clear skies with cloudy patches
Yak had diarrhea all over trail for at least a kilometer
Monsoon rain makes trail muddy but at least it only rains in evenings/night
Many waterfalls along trail today
Climb 500m over 2 hours. Both feeling well
Elevation at Dole 4084m
Hungry at elevation!
Wash stinky clothes in river.
Eat lunch of RaRa noodles and MoMo’s (no meat here)
Food sits in stomach like rock. Again.
Play cards/play chess/read.
Hope my feet heal

Day 6: By Steve
-Trek to Macherimo @ 4410m
-Both feel good with no AMS symptoms
Had great view of Cho Oyo!
Above tree line now. Sun is HOT, wind is COLD
This tea house is empty. It is very nice though.
Tried on Pack “sherpa style” today. It was ok but could not walk very long like that.
02 level at 57% (relative to sea level)
Played cards and taught H&M new gambling game. They love it. They teach us Nepali card games. Mohan’s english is fast and random. Its funny.
BJ’s feet are a little better, but blister splits open when in squatter shitter position.
Extra Large fly in BJ’s potatoes.

Day 7: Missing Home
-Slept off and on. Made 2am dash to squatter in my undies. I like being the only one here!
Been bona-fide vegetarians for several days now. No meat here in the low season. Even fruit (canned or fresh) seems to be non-existent.
Food mainly consists of starches- Potatoes, rice, pasta. Veggies include onion/garlic/ and something similar to bok choy but they call it cabbage and it tastes like sand.
Steve got a little bit of cauliflower in his dal baht today
We eat yak milk (technically nak milk b/c a yak is a boy!) and yak cheese.
Hike today was nice. Made it to Gokyo in 3 hours
Glacier lakes and frikkin awesome mountain views.
Wind is cold and the sun still burns.
Walked by a rustic yak farm
A horse walked up the trail to us today. I put out my hand and he came up to me for a scratch.
Blisters are on the mend but I may have to wear torture boots for climb tomorrow.
Missing luxuries of home and thinking of home alot
I miss my shower gel and puff ball. Miss running water and power.
Our tea house guy just loaded up the wood stove with dried yak shit.
Miss all things bad! Ice cream, pizza and TV.
Miss breathing normal. Any exertion here makes you short of breath and dizzy.

Day 8: Gokyo Ri
Go to bed early and sleep horribly. Constantly tossing and turning, hot and cold
Wake up at 0430 to climb Gokyo Ri
Eat chapati and tea before leaving at 0500
I can’t bear to put on those boots- I wear my own shoes.
Cold out! A few clouds in sky
Hard to breathe as we switchback up the mountain
Moment of weakness an hour in. “Thats it!!! Steve, we are going home and Making babies!!! No more of this Shit!!” Steve laughs and gives me water as we rest.
Keep climbing up up up!
See strange bird family. They fly like kamikaze style but soar like eagles.
Can’t breathe well as sinus cold has gone to the chest...coughing sputum
We summit in 2 hours and have wicked clear view of Everest/Lhotse/Makalu
Took many photos @ 17590ft!!!
No wind but clouds move quickly around other mountain peaks
Its Amazing and this is the highest we have ever been!
Its OUR top of the world!
Spend 45 mins at summit
Eat chocolate and nuts.
Takes 1 hour 20 mins to de-summit
We are proud of our climb. We eat RaRa and go back to bed
Both wake up with massive headaches
My head pulses with every heart beat. My eyeballs bulge out of the socket with each heartbeat. I pop Ibuprofen. Crawl back into bed.
Later I find Steve in the dining hall chatting with an Irish girl. Her name is Tracey. We play cards and chat.
Finally eat dinner and sleep.

Day 9: Down we go
-Coughing through night keeps me awake
Leave Gokyo and make way back to Phortse Tanga. It takes 7 hours.
Sadly lost 800m in elevation.
Should feel like super woman with all these extra red blood cells but I don’t- I’m dead tired and have chills.
Steve is having a problem with his right leg. He thinks its nerve related not muscular. We suspect it could be due to his ambitious attempt at wearing the pack ‘sherpa style’
I barely eat dinner, appetite is low and the chemical flavor of the packaged spaghetti sauce is highly unappealling.
Play cards and read, in bed at 2000hrs.

Day 10: A rough day
Steve’s Account:
Left Phortse Tanga for Pangboche. BJ has hit her lowest mental level yet. She got REALLY p.o’d at all the ups and downs on the trail today. She even threw her hiking stick on the trail (it almost went off the side of the mountain...) I didn’t say anything because I was afraid. I was praying that her ipod would not run out of juice, I’m sure that it would have been the cake topper. She got a hold of herself and we continued. Made it to Pangboche in about 3 hours. We washed some clothes and our hair in the river and tried to eat some lunch. BJ had potato salad and soup. I had “potato’s with on top two eggs”. We played cards and chilled until dinner. I had dal baht and she had some fried rice. We watched some of a Nepali movie then BJ felt like she was going to puke. In ten minutes she was behind the building blowing chunks by light of her headlamp. I stood by her and comforted her. After she was done I put her to bed. We think it was the rice. She had a very rough day. She slept like a log. In the morning we checked to see the puke, the stray dogs ate it.
BJ’s Account:
Another night of coughing. We ate RaRa for breaky and hit the trail. Climbed three of the four hundred meters in 30 mins! WOW! We must be uber loaded with red blood cells! We stop for tea at Phortse. We keep going- more elevation- then more, and more- WTF? Every time we cross a ridge on the mountain side we see more trail with more elevation to be gained. Knowing we only have a 400m gain for our next stop and we have already gained 300m means we were working really hard and will inevitably descend. ARGH. Thats It!!! We’ve been ascending and descending for ten days!! I have a death grip on my hiking pole and begin stabbing it into the trail. The anger is brewing- I think H&M sense it and are keeping some distance behind us. I’m so mad. I turn on my ipod and try to get in a groove- I try to find my happy place. So frustrated! I’m crying but no tears come. I throw my pole at the mountainside and it nearly goes off the edge of the cliff. I decide I’m just being ridiculous and try so hard to cheer up but not even the views can pacify me. Steve says “its a mountain in the himalaya- its going to be hilly.” I’m just tired of it all. We see some mountain goats which are much different than the ones at home. I am happy to see some wildlife. We make it to Pangboche. I have pen tip sized water blisters all over my right arm from the sun. It feels like reptile skin. Steve’s head is peeling from his sunburn and the new skin is burning- its very painful for him. We wash in the river. Tracey makes it to our hut. Nice company. There are the cutest stray dogs here- they look like little bears. The locals are mean and kick them, toss water at them, and fire rocks at them. There is a sherpa here who has summited Everest four times. We play cards. I attempt to eat dinner but am unable to finish my fried rice- something is wrong. I am barfing my face off behind the hut in no time. Can’t think of a worse place to be barfing. Steve preps my bed and gets me gravol- he’s been a good nurse for me. I sleep all night- only get up once to use squatter. Feel better in morning. I eat a pancake and Steve eats RaRa. Horka agrees we are ok to go on.

Day 11: We find Bread!
Leave Pangboche and walk 3 hours to Periche. The walk is gentler than yesterday and the little black bear dog has followed us. Steve lets me pretend the black dog is ours and refrains from kicking it :) We pass memorials to those lost on surrounding mountains. We see a yak farmer and no one else (except for Tracey and her guide). We stay at the nicest tea house yet- its very clean and warm. We even have our own flushable toilet! We wash clothes in the river- I am really tired of stinking. I think the diet makes us stink worse- all the onions and garlic added to everything. While at the river a massive brown yak creeps up to less than ten feet behind us. He is walking away by the time I get a photo. Horka has some exciting news for us- the tea house has bread!! Its the first place that has bread! They also have tuna! Steve orders a grilled tuna and I get a grilled veg sandwich! Its made of onion, garlic, cabbage, AND carrot! Its delicious! The bread is light and fluffy! Later this night we even eat a can of fruit salad! I am finally feeling better (other than the loose cough) and we celebrate with some chocolate.

Day 12: Up up and Away
I slept so well I could barely pull myself out of bed @ 0700. The usual routine- porridge for me and RaRa for Stevie. On the trail by 0830- followed for some time by three stray dogs. I feel good, can breathe clear and the cough is loosening up. We have to take the long path to Thukla d/t the bridge being washed out on the shorter route- it adds an hour and a half to the hike. An hour or so in we spot Tracy's guide but no Tracy. The guide talks to H&M in Nepali. Steve asks ‘where is Tracy?’ he replies with “she wants to go back down” and quickly walks away. Hmmm...we see no sign of Tracy and I’m worried. We ask Horka what was said. The guide told him that she is mad that they walked too far yesterday and she wants to go back. We keep walking and it is sometime before we finally see Tracy- I am relieved to see her. As we approach each other on the trail we see she is upset and crying. Turns out her guide was a total creeper and thought they should share a room together for each others safety. She refused and he became angry and called her a stupid woman and then refused to talk to her. Freaky!! She was heading back to Kathmandu and he was no longer her guide. I was pretty shocked though that he would not arrange for someone to walk with her! We suggested she head to the lodge we were just at b/c it was nice and comfortable. There was a woman there waiting for her family and Tracy had met her before...perhaps they could trek down together.
Later we saw a sick woman coming down the mountain on a horse. Then at Thukla we met another woman with a fairly bad case of AMS on her way to lower elevation. AMS is scary and serious! Go slow! Thats the rule! After a RaRa lunch and macoroni for Steve, we start climbing and gaining big elevation. We hike up a steep rocky valley. While Steve and I are breathing hard and breaking, H&M chat and sing! I love when they sing. The wind is howling and cold on our backs but then it will suddenly stop and the sun bakes us. We get to the valley top and are met with a sombre site. There is a memorial site for climbers and sherpas lost on Everest. There are prayer flags on the stoopa’s and the clouds are blowing between them. Spooky and sad.
We arrive at Labouche at 1400hrs. Its the most expensive place yet! A cup of tea is 55rps compared to 30 when we started out. RaRa us 260rps- we paid 120rps at lunch! No other trekkers are at the tea house- only locals. The clouds have blown in and obscured everything so we play cards/chat/read. We eat a traditional yak meat snack. They don’t have fridges or freezers here...so they dry the yak meat. Then they cook it with spices. We have not yet had yak meat because its not the on season. I find it much much too spicey- it burns. And its like chewing on leather. The locals wash it down with a homebrew called Chang. It looks like milkshake but it is made from fermenting rice. We try that. Its horrible shit. Tastes like rotten yeasty loaf of bread with more rotten flavor added and a hint of alcohol. Its getting dark, they start playing with the power to get some lights on. A tiny old man stands on the plastic lawnchairs and rubs the florescent light tubes...apparently massaging the lights makes them come on...
One week left! Tomorrow we hike to Gorak Shep and then to EBC after lunch!

Day 13: EBC
- I have a PB&J pancake for breakfast, the PB is so dry it crumbles out of the jar! Tasted ok though, Steve ate RaRa.
- Leave Labouche at 0830. I felt like I couldn’t get going today despite a good sleep. My legs were like jelly. Still, we made good time to Gorak Shep- just two hours and 15 mins!
Steve still has pain in his right leg.
Clear blue skies in the morning. Sun burns us and my water blisters reappear all over my arm
Passed more memorials today
Hiked along the Khumbu glacier and up steep moraine
considered hiking kala pathar today but the clouds came in
Went to base camp instead! YAY!
Was great to be “where it all begins” but there wasn’t anything there! No prayer flags, no stoopa’s, couldn’t see any litter. Just glacier rock.
We couldn’t walk to the Khumbu ice fall because the glacier we were on was melting and shifting, across from us was Nuptse- who is making noise! Rockslides and avalanches are constant!
Horka broke a peice of glacier off for us. Steve ate it and it was full of sand.
I like the glacier dust here, its sparkly and makes my pants sparkle
Very tired now and cold. We are huddled in the tea house wearing down jackets, wrapped in blankets, and playing cards.
Its raining out
Kala Patar in the am.

Day 14: Kala Patar
What a day! Long day! Woke up at 0430 to climb Kala Patar. My lips were sore when I woke- felt like there were 2 cracks down the sides of my bottom lip. It was painful to form some words. I tell Steve something is wrong with my mouth. I get my headlamp and find a mirror- my lips are swollen up like sausages! Your kidding! I turn on the light to show Steve- he learns in to get a closer look and starts laughing- “you look like buba!” The sun from yesterdays climb must have burnt my lips! I brush my teeth but can’t spit. I take ibuprofen. We go to eat at 0500 and I spill my hot chocolate and oatmeal. The swelling seems to be going down by the time we are on the trail- but I can’t smile because it feels like the lips will split. I know what I will look like with collagen implants.
Turns out the peak visible from Gorak Shep is not the true summit of Kala Patar. It takes an hour and 45 mins to summit. KP isn’t as steep as Gokyo Ri and I make it without any moments of weakness ;) We find tonnes of prayer flags on the summit and they are something of a hazard! They get tangled up in your shoes easy and with a shear drop to the left of the summit it makes us extra cautious. The views were absolutely incredible! Clear skies and we are directly across from Everest. We can see the south col, and hillary step. We are directly below Pumor Ri. We take photos for nearly an hour at 18210ft (5550m). The O2 level is below 50%. Takes an hour to descend and we decide to have some RaRa and then hike to lower elevation today. A man enters the tea house and following him is Tracy! Wow! I was surprised and super happy to see her. She took some time at Periche and decided to push on. I’m so happy she gets to finish her trek and she is heading up KP for the clear views of the morning.
We leave Gorak Shep and set our sites to Thukla. Its a long climb down but we keep a steady pace. We finally get to Thukla- a little tired and a lot hungry. Mohan has a headache so we agree we should have a rest and food at Thukla and then keep going lower. Steve and I both order macoroni with tomato sauce. The food comes and we dig in- the sauce is separate from the noodles and this is how we notice something weird. The noodles look like they been boiled in dirty water. Steve finds a small oval brown piece inside a noodle. Then I spot one in mine. Hmm...Steve says “it must be a spice” and I said “yeah right, its a mouse shit.” Steve disagrees but I know what a mouse shit looks like and we dig out 8 more mouse shit containing noodles. Appetite lost. Steve says to the tea house worker who has black toe nails “What the hell is this? Mouse shit??!” The guy stares at it, picks at it, and can’t answer. We all decide its mouse poo. Barf! There are no health inspectors out here...the worker didn’t even apologize. I am so happy we are continuing down...
We hike on. Steve and I chat about home and what we want to do when we have a home. I want to learn to can food- make some pickles and salsa. A few hours later and we get to the tea house we were aiming for. It was closed! We hike on. We get to the next village- all is closed! We hike on. In the end we hike all the way to Pangboche. We are so tired and stiff- overall we hiked over 12 km and lost over 1.2 km in elevation. A 12 hour day of exertion. My lips are still puffy, anything salty burns like acid on them, but they are getting better. We will sleep in.

Namaste!!

2009-07-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello from Kathmandu! We made it here safely and leave for our 3 week trek in 2 more sleeps! :) We will post when we get back :) Steve says he'll have an Everest beer for everyone...so I guess he better start drinking now (they are one litre bottles!)
Namaste

Tour Egypt

2009-07-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Day one of the tour takes us to the first ever pyramid in Sakkara and the great pyramids and sphynx in Giza. The pyramids are incredible. It is believed by many that the tomb of King Cheops still remains in the great pyramid and the one ‘discovered’ is a fake. Unfortunately there are many hustlers and sellers at the pyramids. Steve was approached by a large arab man who said “I have a gift for you” and Steve kept saying “no money, no money” and the guy kept saying “its a gift, welcome to egypt” etc... So the arab pulls a white cloth/headband out of his bag. He puts it on Steve and its like an arabian head cover for the desert. His sidekick puts a scarf around my head and we pose for a photo with the arab. The arab proceeds to take Steves sunglasses off to show him his reflection, and then puts them on himself. The guy shakes Steve’s hand and tries to walk away- but Steve doesn’t let go of his hand. He takes his glasses back. At this point the Arabs side kick is trying to put the same thing on me and I insist no (remember the do not engage rule) so the guy puts it in my hand. I am trying to get to Steve but he is blocking me. I’m getting mad and calling to Steve “nothing is free!” The guy blocking me starts saying “Its a gift, low price, its a gift, low price”. Scammers! Steve isn’t buying from the arab so his buddy thinks I will?! I am mad now. I have been saying no and trying to return the rag in the bag but he puts his hands up and says “its a gift, low price.” GRR!! I see the big arab getting too close to Steve as he flicks his chest pocket, nobody touches my hubby. I feel that this is all getting too aggressive. Thats it. I drop the bag at my guys feet and push my way to Steve. I pull the rag off Steve’s head, stuff it in the Arabs shoulder bag, take Steve by the arm and drag him away. The arab yells “you lucky man!” Relentless!!! They just don’t give up! Steve was a little mad at me because he didn’t get his free hat. I had to explain through my clenched teeth that NOTHING IS FREE HERE and how his buddy was trying to make me pay for the rags! Besides, he agreed he would never wear it again anyway. I was actually getting nervous with it all- there are many tourist police around but I have a feeling these scammers can disappear before we can get help. Other people come up to us with crystal pyramids, postcards, and jewelery. I am getting impatient because I just want to see the pyramids! One woman is following us and won’t leave, I lose it and yell “just leave us alone!” I felt bad after- I don’t usually yell at complete strangers. I felt like crying. Steve took me to a quieter corner of the pyramid so we could get some photo’s. I have developed my technique of “veering left”. When people start walking to us I just veer extreme left. I think its an obvious signal to stay away from me and it gives me space so I can keep walking...it doesn’t always work. We all made it back to the van and shared out various hustler stories. Our guide is Wyall- he explains that the hustlers have a scam that goes like this: they offer a price, say “5 egyptian pounds” so you go to pay your five pounds and they say “no no, I said 5 hundred pounds” and once you’ve engaged, good luck getting away. Wyall advises that we ask him what the prices should be before we buy stuff and he will give us an idea of a fair price. We went to a view point to see the pyramids from some distance. We are warned not to snap photos of the camels nearby or the hustlers will demand large sums of money. I am only interested in the pyramids anyway. They are something else! Finally we go see the Sphynx, which is much smaller than I imagined! My camera dies so we borrow a battery from one of the Aussies to snap a couple shots. We are being harassed there too, so I don’t care that we leave after only a few minutes. We stop at a market to get dinner and breaky for our overnight train ride to Aswan. We return to the hotel to shower and I charge the camera battery. We head to the train station. A third class train is pulling out of the station- locals are jumping on as it moves, there are people stuffed between the cars and on the back. A second class train pulls in. Its a gong show. The train is packed, the sides appear to be covered in various liquids that have been thrown out the windows, its really gross. There is obviously no AC so the windows are opened as far as they go- maybe six inches, The windows are too dirty to really see in there so we only see arms hanging out the windows and peering eyes. I am relieved that tourists are not allowed to ride second or third class. The train pulls away and people jump on to fill the spaces between cars...
Our train arrives. The AC’d cabin is spacious, our chairs are reclineable, there are only tourists on board. We eat our snack dinner. We have really started to notice the chemical/preservative flavor in foods- our roomies called it ‘chemical bombs’. We have been eating mostly fresh breads and not much refrigerated or packaged stuff. We took a few bites of our cake and it was too chemically. The pretzels were nasty too. We each had an apple and hot dog bun for dinner. The train ride was uneventful but uncomfortable - we both tossed and turned.
We checked into our Awan hotel, showered, and were off to see the High damn of Aswan. We are stopped and inspected at a road check before accessing the damn. Its one of the largest in the world and spans nearly 4km. Although its long, it is only 111m high. Many people were displaced when this damn was built and over ten temples/ancient monuments were relocated. The damn controls water flow on the Nile but produces only ten percent of Egypts power. The international bank wouldn’t fund the damn (as it was displacing people so it would make them look bad) so the Soviets stepped in. There is a monument on the damn signifying the friendship between Egyptians and the Soviets...when all the ancient sites had to be moved before lake Nasr filled up the Egyptian government refused to fund the endeavor! So, UNESCO and western nations piled resources to save the sites! Later, when we saw these places I found it strange that the rest of the world paid to save these monuments and today Egypt is undoubtedly reaping the benefits. Scammers.
Our next stop was the Temple of Philae located on an Island. It was beautiful, peaceful and secluded. We wandered in the quiet. We stopped by an ancient rock quarry to see the unfinished obelisk and then returned to the hotel. We took a boat at sunset to a Nubian village for dinner. Nubians consider crocodiles to be a symbol of good luck, so low and behold there was a young crocodile in the house- caged of course. One of the hosts took the croc out so we could each hold it. The first girl held it with out incident, then it was my turn. I was instructed to put my hands where the host had his hands- one on the body and the other around the neck and head. The croc was mad, and squirming, so when the host let go it thrashed and I freaked and let go of the head- apparently thats not a good idea. I was screaming and everyone took cover- I jumped back but I didn’t let go of the tail part- I didn’t know if the croc was going to swing around and bite me. It felt like one of those toy snakes where you hold the tail and the body slithers around. I wanted to drop it but I didn’t want to lose this families lucky pet. The host grabbed the neck and I let go and ran around shaking my hands and basically freaking out. The croc was just a little one (maybe 2 ft) but powerful! I try again. This time I hold further up the body and I clamp down on its ugly little head. I get my picture and give it back. I thoroughly scrubbed my hands after so I don’t contract salmonella or some reptile disease. Steve doesn’t even go near it- he hates reptiles. Dinner was delicious and we sailed back down the Nile to our hotel. But we only sleep a few hours, wake up call is at 0300hrs. We are heading to Abu Simbel and the “convoy” leaves at 0400hrs. Convoy? Yup. Convoy. I ask Wyall about the convoy, he sorta beats around the bush and says its for safety but more so to control the speed on the highway. Yeah right. I call bull shit on that. I asked if any other places needed convoys and he said “they used to, since ’97, but most of them are no longer deemed necessary”. No one in the group seems to show any concern. Apparently I’m the only one in the group aware of the attacks on tourists and because this excursion is optional I would like some details. I whispered to Steve “97 is when they killed all those tourists” we wait for the others to scatter and I press for more details. Wyall describes the disaster of 97 to us- where he was, its effects, and what has been done for safety. There is still a threat in Egypt, but the radicals “don’t have any weapons.” Wow, thats just great. We take the excursion. At 0400 we are lined up with dozens of other tour vans and busses. All vehicles are inspected. The convoy is led with armed guards and no one drives with their lights on. I don’t know if no lights is just how they roll here...but seemed strange considering it was dark out! The drive is 3 hours, I doze on and off but don’t really sleep. We arrive to Abu Simbel. This place is fabulous! We enter the temples, there are signs saying “no photos” but Steve and I sneak a couple flash-less shots. Its incredibly hot at this place even early in the morning, so we quickly tour then join an early convoy back to Aswan. The drive back was the worst ever. Our driver was a maniac. He was following the van in front of us close enough to not see the bumper. Thankfully we had seat belts and even more thankfully we never crashed. I don’t understand the driving. Wyall and most of the group was sleeping and I thought for sure we were toast. The driver would tailgate kitty corner to the van in front of us, sometimes he would drive up beside the van and they would exchange gestures and laugh. Other cars zoomed by and he would pull in behind the van. I should have said something...I told Wyall when we were safely off the maniac mobile that the driver was psycho and reckless- some of the others who saw the driving also complained. In Aswan our group was split in two. Four members were leaving to cruise the Nile on a small ship while the rest of us were sailing on a felucca. The felucca was spacious. With only five of us on board, a captain, his mate, and Wyall, we had plenty of space to lounge. The deck was one big mattress shaded with a sheet- we could not stand upright. Our bags were stored in a crawl space under the deck. We drifted down the nile for 22km. No washroom on board so when you had to wee you just told the captain and he pulled over. There were too many people on shore for me to ever feel comfortable enough to go, and when we did get to shore more people seemed to appear out of nowhere. We finally stopped for the night, the mate prepared us a delicious dinner, then we went on land for some nubian music and a bonfire. The classic dancing around the fire got under way. No wood to burn in the desert so dead palm leaves were used. The leaves produced an intoxicating smoke but it was all fun. We returned to the Felucca and slept on the deck. We were given blankets but they weren’t necessary with the heat- Egypt doesn’t really cool off. We slept soundly while the mosquitoes feasted.
We had a little breakfast on the felucca and were then headed to Luxor. This would be our hottest day in Egypt. In the 48 degree heat we visited Kom Ombo and Edfu temples. On the east bank of Luxor we visited the massive Karnak temple, here we could see some interesting hieroglyphics. Steve was occupied by an ancient calendar dating 4000 years. It was the first discovered and the calendar we use today is based on it. I liked the carvings depicting ancient surgical tools. After this stop we were too darn hot and visited the Luxor temple from the comfort of the air conditioned van. I can’t explain the heat of this day! We were sweating profusely, just like in spin class, minus the exertion. The wind was hot and it was torture when it blew. We couldn’t sit on anything- even in the shade the stone was burning hot. Wyall explained that people are allowed to go home from work if the temperature reaches 50 degrees, so at 48 they stop gaging it :-) I told Wyall how our school closed at -40 degrees and that was shocking for him...This hot day also happened to be Canada Day! We went to an Irish pub to play pool and rehydrate. The next day we toured the west bank of Luxor which included the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple. We started the day early to avoid the intense heat but even at 0800hrs the Valley of the Kings was HOT! This valley was chosen for its dry climate and hidden location. We were permitted to enter three tombs. We were amazed at the condition of the paintings and hieroglyphics in them! The colors were beautiful. All the temples in Egypt were originally painted but the weather and time has taken its toll. To see the colors and work in the tombs still remaining after 3000 years was super neat! I mentioned earlier how no pictures are permitted in the tombs. Other than the “no photo’s” sign there is no warning of what will happen to you if you break the rule...Wyall explained if you get caught your camera is taken away and you have to pay to get it back from the guard (no set fee, its a bribe). Then the perpetrator is usually marched to the tourism police where they charge you 50 egyptian pounds per photo and erase them off your camera! If you bribe the guard enough you can avoid the police action. Steve and I decided it wasn’t worth sneaking any photos in any more tombs. Our group was busy admiring a tomb when it happens- a flash goes off! We all give eachother the ‘oh shit balls’ look and rush to see who broke the rule. We saw a european woman and her man...an egyptian security guard was running to her. He basically lunged for her camera. She bent over to hide the camera, he was reaching over her shoulder trying to snatch it from her hands. She was yelling “its my camera and my photo!” The struggle continued and her man tried to block the guard too. The guard isn’t wearing a traditional uniform, he is in a blouse robe that reaches the floor and a white turban so I don’t know if the couple knew he was a guard. After a few minutes we started to leave but they were still fighting- the guard was yelling for back up, as we walked by I told the man he has to pay... I found the physical aspect of this episode surprising. If a guard did that to me I know Steve would jump in and help me-probably kick some ass! We left the scene and went to a tomb higher up in the rocks. We had to climb a large stair case into a crevasse and then climb down into the tomb. It was sweltering in this tomb. After a few minutes my legs were too wobbly and the thick hot air was barely breathable. I had to leave- by the time I climbed out I was drenched and sweat was running down my face, arms, legs...the air outside felt better. Its amazing how the heat penetrates the rocks and the rocks retain the heat- that tomb was like an oven. The Hatshepsut Temple was incredible too! But holy moly the heat!!! We did a quick visit and bailed. Hahaha! I look back at my photos and wonder why I didn’t take more, but then I remember that unbearable heat. You breath in and feel the hot air in your lungs. There aren’t hustlers in the perimeter of the sites in the south which is a relief. But from the exit to the parking lot you have to push through a gauntlet of people shoving things in your face to buy. I have concluded that these people go to the same hustler school because they all use the same lines! They always ask “where you from?” we either ignore them (which makes me feel rude) or we say Canada- they all reply “Oh, Canada Dry!” and then “welcome to Alaska.” Everywhere they said this. Steve finally has enough and would say “you don’t even have Canada dry here anymore.” Sometimes we just say “no english” so then they try spanish. The men really like Steves beard and compliment him endlessly. They also inform him “you lucky man” because he has me- and I agree and rub it in how lucky he is :) And then they ask “how many camels?”
Later in the afternoon we drive 3 hours to the city of Hurgada located on the Red Sea. We go out for a seafood dinner and are soon in bed. The next morning we board a large ship and head out for a day of snorkeling and swimming. The water is beautiful- deep shades of blue, turqoise, and green. The water is clear and we see many fish among the coral. We have the next day to do as we please...we opt to sleep in! Later we all decide to hit up the Hard Rock Cafe. Wyall flags us a cab and tells us it will cost between 15-20 pounds each way. No problem, we can manage an unescorted outing. Steve and I pound back a plate of nachos and they were soooo good! We should’ve stopped at the nachos, but no, we share a brownie with icecream and we are so bloated and full we just want to go back to sleep. We have to get back to the hotel. The cafe is a little out of the way so some time passes before a cab appears. Steve tells him where we are going and says ’20 pounds’. We all pile in. The cabbie drives 130km/hr at one point. His meter is ticking away- in piasters, which are cents. We make it to the hotel after a few wrong turns. The meter says 896 piasters. We all get out and Steve is left to pay the tab. Now, 896 piasters is equal to almost 9 pounds, but the cabbie says “896 pounds.” Steve says “No, its in piaster” the cabbie argues and says “your friend said you pay in straight egyptian” whatever that means...so Steve says “no, you get 10 pounds” and the cabbie didn’t move or say anything, Steve knows it should cost 15-20 but he wants to scam this scammer. Steve finally threw 20 pounds over the seat and got out. Imagine paying $200 CAN for a 10 minute cab ride!!!
We leave Hurgada at midnight and drive to Cairo. We arrive at 0700 and have a nap before heading to the museum. We saw the goodies from King Tut’s tomb- the only one in the Valley of the Kings discovered to be completely intact. It was incredible! King Tut’s mask is unbelievably beautiful. Some estimate it to be the single most valuable item in the world. We see more really ancient stuff and some mummies of the animal and human kind. We also see a copy of the rosetta stone. For some reason the original is in the British museum. We also visited the old city of Cairo and saw the area in which Mary, Joseph, and Jesus hung out for 2 years while hiding from King Harod. We finished the day at a bazaar- nothing like a big hassle in the heat!
Overall, we enjoyed our time in Egypt but have decided its a “been there done that” kind of place. We found it to be a constant hassle, I couldn’t handle the people anymore- we cannot recall meeting one single nice genuine person in Egypt. Sorry, but from what we experienced there are too many scammers who constantly stare and hustle- women are not equal. I won’t even write some of the comments that I heard...At this point in time I am not interested in ever going back. Ever.

Just Call me Nefertiti

2009-07-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

It was dark as our plane flew into Cairo. This city is unbelievably huge- all we could see out the windows of the plane were city lights dimmed by a thick cloud of pollution. I read about the pollution in Cairo and how it is damaging the pyramids, I believe it! I can’t say that I’ve ever been able to see pollution at night. We landed at 2230, and headed for the visa stand- we have yet to pass a bank machine and we are broke! Ha! We do have some euro and US dollars stashed in our packs, but our packs are to be picked up on the other side of customs! We literally have 5 cents. We go up to the counter and are required to pay 30 US dollars for our visa’s. Steve asks “do you take visa?” The guy raises his eyebrows and gives us a sour “no”. I don’t panic- as if we are the first ones to show up to visa with no money? Steve says “we have no money” and the guy is laughing- in disbelief I guess. And whats up with having to pay in US dollars?? Apparently they like the greenback and the euro. Another agent says something to him and he directs us to a cash machine. We get cashola and pay for visa’s in Egyptian Pounds- now was that so hard? We passed customs and met our ride. We have signed up for a tour with a company here in Cairo- we decided Egypt would be more enjoyable and much easier if we didn’t have all the responsibility of doing it solo. We were out of the airport at just past 2300 and the temperature outside was thirty one degrees! It was muggy and the air was thick with nastiness. As we got onto the highway, the pollution was like fog in the headlights. The traffic is unreal and I can’t tell if there are traffic rules here- there are lines painted on the roads but drivers hover on them and appear to ignore them completely. I don’t understand this! The horn, high-beams, and handsignals are used as part of the driving- different honks and flashes have various meanings. Despite being late at night on a weekday, the roads were still congested. People drive fast here- at least in Morocco the driving was slow and crazy, here its fast and crazy! The barricades along the sides are full of holes where cars have crashed through and gone off overpasses or down embankments. I was a wreck while Magan and Sam (our driver & guide) drove us across the city to our hotel...we arrived to the hotel where armed guards sit at the gate, then another one at the entrance where we must pass through metal detectors. I don’t know what to think of that- is it great because we are safe? Or is it because something went down here and I don’t want to know...there is nothing really around our hotel and it feels like we are in a compound. Our room is spacious and actually very nice. We strain to see the pyramids and finally in the dark we can see the outline of one off in the distance! I use all the locks on the door and jam a chair under the knob and we are off to sleep.

We woke up the next morning, pulled back the curtains and could see three pyramids- through a thick fog of pollution of course. Magan and Sam picked us up to have a meeting with the tour manager. This required a drive into downtown Cairo. This is the ugliest city I have ever seen. All the buildings are cement or brick- it looks as though some of them had been painted at one time, but they are all a grayish brown color due to the smog. Most windows on the buildings have huge air-conditioning units hanging out them and massive satellite dishes are randomly attached to the walls and any available roof space. There are unfinished projects everywhere I look. Most buildings have long sticks of rebar sticking out of the roofs which we assume are for future development. There are half built overpasses and roads that have never been completed. There is litter and rubble everywhere.

The meeting with Hany goes well...Hany warns us of street hustlers. He explains that egyptians are usually shy, and if people approach us in the street they are likely to be hustlers. A couple hours later we are hustled. Hahaha! They are really smooth here and we didn’t realize it was happening until it was too late...but here is how it went down.

-We leave the compound in search of a place to eat

-We are walking on a busy road

-Suddenly a young guy is walking with us and we begin chatting

-He is on his way home from work at a hotel

-He tells us the restaurants don’t open until 8pm

-Its only 630pm

-He knows a convenience store where we can buy a drink

-We go there and get overly screwed on the prices but don’t realize it yet

-He says its customary to invite people for tea and suggests we come over while we wait for the restaurants to open

-We go to his family’s business for tea

-Its a perfume store

-Oh shit

-They sit us on couches and we get the whole spiel on how they make the perfume oil from flowers (122kg of petals for one litre of oil!) etc

-Oh and the bottles are blown glass

-I’m loving it and Steve is not

-The recipe’s for egyptian queen’s perfumes were written in the tombs

-I buy a little bottle of Queen Nefertiti’s perfume

-The hustler gives me blown glass bottle because egyptians think nurses are angels

-We leave and so does the young guy

-We see him go back to where he met us to wait for the next tourist

-We forget about eating and go back to the compound

Neither of us could believe how smooth this dude was! When we got to the perfume store we knew what was going down. Its somewhat awkward trying to get out of those situations...they know every angle. I don’t regret the experience though- I actually really like my new Nefertiti oil. But we are more aware now- a new country with new tactics!

We have a couple days before the tour starts and decide to take a trip to a famous church. This outing requires another adventure through Cairo. The church is known for the story dating from 929AD. The king found a passage in the bible indicating that mountains could be moved by prayer. They decided if this could be proven than Christianity was legit. So they told the Christians they had 3 days to move the mountain and they could keep their church and religion. Long story short, St.Simon the Tanner led the prayers and moved the mountain/church. This is our destination. Megan mutters that we have to go past “the dump”. We don’t as questions. As we approach, Sam says, “this is the Christian quarter”. And we are driving past a mountain of garbage- an actual dump in the city of Cairo. We don’t get far though, the road is flooded with nasty deep dump sludge water. We back out and have to find a new route. There are dogs eating garbage and some sort of large animal carcass on the side of the road. Evil looking dogs...we begin to weave our way through the streets surrounding the garbage mountain and I am appalled. It’s the most horrible place I’ve seen. People are living among the garbage, they sort through it separating recyclables. The streets looked like part of the dump with bugs and garbage and dogs everywhere. The car barely fit through the roads because they were so blocked with garbage, people, animals and old cars. There were children covered in dirt and wearing rags. I felt guilty for having money when they clearly had none. Megan cracked the window to ask directions and we all began gagging- we had to hold tissues over our mouths and nose. We made it out of the garbage and to the church. It was impressive, an outdoor amphitheater type church that can seat thousands of worshipers. We saw a carving of the Madonna in the rock that apparently appeared spontaneously. It was all very interesting but I mostly thought about how we’d have to drive back through the Christian quarter. It was just as horrible driving out. Our next stop was in the “rich part of Cairo” to see the city view from lookout. The rich part didn’t look much different from any other part...garbage and rubble, half built buildings, cars driving like crazy. We got to the lookout and had a vast view of the city. Cairo is massive, we could not see the pyramids because of the smog. As we were taking photos and gazing, a man walked to the edge of the cliff and emptied a sac full of garbage off the bank. Unbelievable!!! It disgusts me. We drive to another lookout, Megan gets out of the car and throws rocks at the stray evil dogs, then its safe for us to get out. More polluted city views and more garbage. I can’t wait to leave Cairo. Our final stop for the little excursion is at a family run hole in the wall for some traditional food. We have our first “coucherie”. The place is tiny and part of the charm is a few inches of mystery sawdust covering the floor. The food is being prepared at the front of the shop in big pots. Our coucherie arrives to the table in stainless steel cereal bowls. We are given a stainless jug of water and one stainless cup for the four of us. I thought maybe this was how prisoners ate. Steve ordered us a bottled water. The food is fantastic! Our first real egyptian food- made of rice, macaroni noodles, beans, a tomato sauce, some kind of oil, fried onions...mmm! Steve loved it- which is saying a lot considering it is a vegetarian dish. We are safely returned to the compound...I am liking the compound more and more.

The next day we venture into town. We get directions and the address to the hotel written in arabic. We leave the compound and a few minutes later we are walking by some men on the side of the road. They say “taxi?” and Steve says “yes”. One of the men pulls a car out of the garage while the other gets out two plastic lawn chairs. The car pulls away and we sit on the side of the road in the chairs. Soon a taxi pulls up following the other car. These dudes got in their car, to go tell their taxi driving buddy that they found him customers?? We make it to our destination- a store to get some sunscreen and shampoo. We walk around to find some lunch and are constantly approached and stared at. We know better and ignore them. We find a pizza place and have egyptian pizza for lunch. We flag down a cab and the driver uses the directions to aim for our hotel. We miss the turn but the driver finds a new way- the driver doesn’t speak english- so he shows his appreciation for the directions by kissing the paper and laughing. Steve is laughing in the front seat. Out of nowhere there is an oversized speed bump. BRAKE! The tires squeal but we still nail it hard- I hit the seat in front of me as Steve braced himself on the dash. Ugh. Once again, I am happy to be back on the compound. That evening we meet with the rest of the tour group and our guide. There are five Australians, two from Singapore, and us.

Three Cheers for Turkey!!!

2009-07-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Most people say Canadians are “nice”, but the Turks blow us outta the water! They are really nice. We encountered people willing to assist us without ulterior motives. Any time we were looking lost with our map in hand, someone came to our side. Our time in Cannakale was short but enjoyable. The town is right on the water. We wanted to see Troy with out paying for a pricey tour, so we found the local dolmus bus stop- conveniently located under a bridge and beside a market. The bus was hourly so we wandered the turkish market which was selling mostly clothes, shoes, and vegetables. We went back under the bridge and sat like trolls until the bus came. We finally got the dolmus and it took us through some villages on the way to Troy. I like seeing the villages and trying to catch a glimpse of how people live...anyways I was a little bummed out with Troy. There wasn’t much left of the great city and I wasn’t in the mood to imagine what it once was- I think the heat impedes my imaginative abilities and my patience isn’t that great when I’m sweating profusely- hahaha. I’m finding that some places just don’t tickle me...and thats ok! Steve did remind me that the ruins were from before Christ even walked the Earth and that is pretty cool...

The next bus ride was to Selcuk- a great little town full of locals and cafe’s. We got off the bus and were met with people trying to get customers into their hostels. We already had a reservation at a place but we didn’t know how to get to it, one of the other hostel workers lead us all the way to the front door. We offered him a small tip and he completely refused...We just so happened to arrive in Selcuk on the day of the weekly market- and the market was on the same street as our hotel- weeee! We bought a kg of the most red, plump, delicious cherries for 3 lira- approx. $2. A kg is a heck of alot of cherries- its half a grocery bag full! We saw the guy who led us to our hostel and gave him a bunch and shared the rest with others at the hostel. One of the main sites near Selcuk is Ephesus- and what a sight!!! Its an ancient city but much of it is excavated. Marble columns, roads, statues and walls. There were ancient toilets which- like every other tourist- we found amusing. There is also a massive theatre in Ephesus. In this place, St. Paul preached to the people in his effort to convert them from pagans to Christians. The crowd got mad and chanted for three hours for him to leave. He left. On our lastnight in Selcuk we ate at a restaurant and asked about a glass circular blue symbol we had been seeing everywhere- its called an evil eye...the waiter instructed us to return to the restaurant the next day and his dad would have one for me. Hmm...seriously? We went back, the restaurant wasn’t open yet but the servers dad was there with a package for me! We chatted with him for a bit and left with the gift. It was wrapped in shiny pink paper with silver stars. It was a terra-cotta pot with an evil eye on it! It was also cracked...but the thought was sooooo nice!!! I took the evil eye off and got rid of the broken part. As we were boarding the bus to leave Selcuk, I realized I didn’t have the travel pillow! I forgot it at the hotel! Ah!!! Steve said “oh well- too bad” and I thought NO! NO NO! I asked the ticket agent how much time we had, he said three minutes...I told him I forgot something at the hotel- he said to run and get it- I was giving Steve my purse to hold and the ticket agent said “no, he run”- obviously selecting the faster one for the mission ( good idea). So Steve ran back to the hotel, saw the pillow on the maids cart, snatched it, and double timed it back to the bus! He was my hero...so now we have the “4 P’s” check which includes: Purse, Pillow, Pack, Passports.

Next stop Pammukale to check out the calcium travertines- which were the most fantastic formations!! We walked up to them in the morning before the bus loads of Russian tourists showed up. We spent the day at the top where there are ruins of an ancient city called Hieropolis. We found shade and played chess. We also “people watched”...Neither of us could get over the posing. The russian girls were in ity bity bikini’s and copying sports illustrated models. Quite the site! No smiles, just serious model poses- very serious. I was in the minority of one piece suits....I felt awkward wandering around the travertines in a bathing suit- it was like hiking in my undies- and everyone else hiking in their undies. By the afternoon the place was Packed! The clear crisp pools of water from the morning hike had turned into sludge holes and we even saw blood on some rocks...so Steve got all freaky about getting hepatitis or athletes foot from the water (you must go barefoot), and at the end of the day he tried very hard to avoid all still water- I was a little sketched out too, but was amused by Steves antics.

We get to another bus station and while waiting we spot a couple we once saw in Selcuk. We chat with them and have a good laugh at the fact that they saw the russian posers in Pamukkale too...we are all catching overnight bus to Goerme in the Capadocia region. Capadocia means “the land of beautiful horses” but we weren’t there for the horses. We were there for the land. This place has to be one of the most amazing places in the world! Its unreal! The scenery is like nothing we have ever seen before. I won’t try to explain how this place got like this (involving volcanoes and wind and certain plants...) because I know I’ll mess it up. Basically, there are valleys with “fairy chimneys” - which look like chimeny’s. People created cave dwellings by carving their homes into the chimneys. There were also monestaries and churches carved into the stone by early Christians. We rented bikes for a day and explored a nearby village and some valley’s. It was fun and we were satisfied with the amount of ground we covered on bikes... on another day we took a tour. The tour involved a visit to an underground city that was dug out so people of Capadocia (a highly sought after region) could hide when under attack. This city was eleven stories deep and could house between 5 and 8 thousand people! They had water and 30 thousand tonnes of food stashed in it. In later years, christians used the underground cities to hide from persecution while preaching and worshiping. We ate lunch in a little hut on a river and then went for a 6km hike through a beautiful valley, we visited some more sites and finished the tour at the mandatory jewelry and quartz shop...it was a good day. The tour guide was pretty funny- he cracked a few islamic jokes involving 40 virgins and even had a blonde joke.

Before our overnight bus to Istanbul, we treated ourselves to a hamam. I loooooved it! Here is the lowdown:

-We enter and put on our bathing suits and are given sarongs. Steve is convinced he should go naked, but I insist he wears the trunks.

-we go into a steam room that smells like lavender and steam for a while

we are taken to a room with a large marble slab in the middle and sinks all along the walls

we lay on the stone which is nice and warm

we each have a hamam girl, they take our sarongs and I wonder if Steve is thinking “glad I listened to Beej and wore the trunks”

they start pouring water over us and it feel so neat!

we are scrubbed down with a glove that feels like sandpaper on the skin- front and back

I see grey balls of dead skin all over me. ew.

another rinse

the girls get large pillow cases and dip them in some sudsy stuff, then they fill the case with air, as they squeeze the air out thick bubbles form

we get covered in a layer of bubbles

I look over at steve and all I see are his feet and head- he is in a bubble sleeping bag!

we are rubbed down- front and back

one last rinse!

The hamam was glorious! Like a pedicure for your enitre body...

Our final days in Turkey were spent in Istanbul where we visited the blue mosque, aya sofia, the crazy bazaar, spice market, and underground cistern. Istanbul is a huge city- and soon it was simply just another massive city. We preferred the smaller places around Turkey....what an amazing country!!!

The Flaming Q-Tip

2009-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Steve wants to have a shave by a turkish barber. We finally find a barber open on Sunday and Steve waits his turn. He promises to back out if the barber doesn't have a new blade- yes, the nurse in me is freaking out! Turns out the straight razors today are equipped with disposable blades. Phew! The barber lathers Steve up- he rubs in the cream and it is thick like whipping cream. He uses the blade in every which-way while stretching Steve's skin taught, and I have never seen Steve sit so still! The shaving is only part of the process. Next he pulls out some kind of tool that looked like a giant black q-tip. He lit the q-tip on fire and starting bouncing it on Steves face, nose, and ears! Then he trimmed up Steves haircut, plucked any stray hairs, trimmed the nose hairs, gave him a massage, powdered his neck, after-shaved his face, and cologned his shirt! I've never seen his face so Hairless! It was amazing! Since this shave (about a week ago) Steve has decided to grow a beard. The decision was based on two factors. 1) The beard is growing in nice and full due to the amazing shave 2) No mirror in our hostel room...hmmm- I'll let you know how long he can stand it!

Arrive to Turkey!

2009-06-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ever been on a Turkish bus? Luxury my friends! First, lets get to Turkey. We leave our little studio at 2am. The hotel driver is clearly practicing for the Indy as he speeds us to the airport. My seatbelt doesn’t work so I slide over to squish in behind the driver who is in a half laying position. Duct tape holds the seatbelt together but at least it works. We know this flight has a stopover in “Sofia” but neither of us knows where that is! At the check-in counter I ask and the clerk laughs at me- its in Bulgaria. We spend the night on the plane and with the stopover in Sofia we don’t arrive in Istanbul until 0900hrs. We have planned a route through Turkey, so instead of staying in Istanbul we take the metro directly to the bus terminal. Its a flashback of the moroccan ferry terminal with with over 100 stalls selling tickets. We are approached but not hounded by a few vendors. We get tickets and have 20 mins to wait...naturally I am starving so I run back to the metro area to get a snack of sandwiches and on my way back to the bus I hear “BJ NOW!!! Its leaving!!!” Steve is yelling at me and is clearly in one of his over anxious panic stricken travel moods. He hustles me on the bus and scolds me- turns out we still have 10 mins to sit there and wait...

The bus is new and very comfortable but the best is yet to come. Two server men board the bus, wearing dress shirts and bow ties! At precisely 1030hrs the bus backs out of the station with every other massive bus in the station- its like synchronized swimmers- all in perfect time they pull out of the station in this grand performance. Our servers get to work. First they go around to each passenger with a bottle of heavily perfumed hand sanitizer! We soon learn that they do this every time we leave and get back to the bus. They even febreeze the bus if it smells bad! At one stop, the outside of the bus is washed while the passengers get food and stretch! I will also point out that the windows are free of greasy hair splotches that tend to be present on planes and trains! We are served water, juice, tea, coffee, pop, and snacks of cakes and pretzels etc. The servers are picky about tucking in all the overhead luggage straps and collecting any garbage immediately. A passenger’s cell phone rang and the server bolted over and politely gave him the ‘slit the throat’ signal to shut it off. Following our drinks and delicious sandwiches we were fast asleep. I woke up at one point and my jaw was sore so I knew I’d been sleeping with my mouth wide open but I just went back to sleep. I woke up again and saw the most turquoise blue water ever- I nudge Steve and he mumbles ‘wow’ and we both fall back asleep. The bus eventually stops and then boards a ferry- surprise! Apparently there is a ferry ride too! Its a short ride on calm water. Our hostel owner meets us and leads us to our home for the next two nights. We get to the room, sit on the bed, fell back, and wake up an hour later with our feet still on the floor...its been a long journey- time to explore Cannakale!

Malta

2009-06-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

A nice flight from Rome takes us to the Mediterranean island of Malta. Its getting dark out but its still hot and humid. We jam ourselves into an old school red and yellow bus, pay 47 cents each, and are on our way to the main station near Valetta. The bus stops are not marked making it impossible to know where we are and when to get off to catch the next bus. We make it to the main station, but on our second bus I (for once its me and not Steve!) pretty much panic and get off too early. Unable to find our hotel or any sign of life, we wandered around for 45mins. Finally, Steve asked an intoxicated old man who was trying to get in to his apartment where the street was that we needed. The old guy started laughing and said “you have long walk”. Hmmm. We go to a restaurant on the bay and Steve goes in to get directions and a cab. As it turns out, we were on the right road but in the wrong harbour! Ai-eee! We were over 5kms away from the hotel. A cab shows up- but we didn’t know it was a cab because the car was a sleek/black/tinted window/leather seat deal with a nicely dressed driver. My first thought was “kidnapper”...then I get realistic and wonder who on earth would kidnap us on a tiny Island? Turns out he was a personal chauffeur. We make it to our hotel which turns out to be really nice- its actually a small studio apartment.

Malta has some neat character. My favorite thing was the balconies on apartments- they looked like the captains balcony on an old wooden pirate ship! Many of the buildings were old and worn- but charming. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a possy of pirates strutting down the street- but the closest we came to any pirate action was a giant sized lego man in pirate attire. Argh. I suppose the guy who drove us in his delapitated boat across the harbour (Steves bright idea) could have qualified as one because he tried to rip us off- but Steve used his magical bargaining powers and got us a reasonable ride. I also found a candy shop (yay!) selling strange and familiar candies for a minimal ninety cents for 200g! My other favorite shop was the coffin maker...yup, a coffin maker carving up caskets...we didn't go in :) Basically we spent our three days in Malta lounging by the rooftop pool (both of us sustained nasty sunburns), wandering the streets, and eating delicious and cheap food.

Oh Spartacus!

2009-06-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

The shopping in Rome was nothing like Florence. There weren’t street markets with leather vendors selling delicious colors of gloves, purses and jackets. The shops were mainly overpriced designer labels found in any city. I was still on the prowl for my euro-chic jacket but nothing popped out in the few leather shops we found on side streets. The energy for leather wasn’t the same in Rome- no streets overflowing with deals, no italian men singing “pretty woman” with every jacket I tried, no fierce haggling...I began to feel defeated. We actually considered jumping on a train back to Florence just to shop! We decided to be rational and stay put. On our last day in Rome we were walking to the colosseum for a tour. We encountered another leather shop...entered...and left with nothing. We saw another one, I had accepted defeat but Steve insisted we try anyway. I tried on a couple jackets and then the lady brought me a “new design” their company had come up with (The same one Steve spotted in the window before we had entered). It had a high collar with two buckles on it, and stretch material on the cuffs and hem. It was a matte chocolate brown and I liked it before I tried it on. Once I tried it on, I loved it. I had yet to try one on that was so comfortable! The leather was soft and perfect! I found my jacket!!! YAY!!! It was cool outside so I even got to wear it to the colosseum. Our tour was super interesting (I was still smiling over my fabulous jacket) and the tour guide talked about gladiators- ‘Spartacus’ being the most famous one- I found my inspiration and have named my fabulous jacket Spartacus

"All roads lead to Rome...Don't they?"

2009-06-09T13:52:00.001-07:00

The skies were still cloudy the morning we left Siena. We met with our new travel friends from Parksville (Bill and Maureen) around 9am and were on the road shortly thereafter. Steve took up the co-pilot seat and Maureen and I sat at the table in the RV. Turns out that the road signs in Italy can be a little deceiving. To leave Siena we followed signs that pointed to Florence/Rome. But some time later there were no more signs with Rome on them- only Florence...hmmm...Maureen and I sat quietly while the men figured things out on the map...turns out we had gone on the right highway but in the wrong direction...There weren’t any “exit to Rome”, or “this way to Rome” signs...Maureen said ”Well, all roads lead to Rome...don’t they?” We all had a good laugh- and its true as we were soon on the right road to Rome. The RV ride was fun, it was nice to chat with other english speaking nice Canadians! We took a stretch at a roadside rest stop and Maureen spread out food for some nice sandwiches and wine. It also rained most of the drive and at some points it was down pouring- so it was a good day to be in transit. I don’t know if I could ever rent an RV in Europe- we still think Bill and Maureen are very adventurous and brave! We hope your travels were wonderful! We arrived to the campground just before 4pm, we said our goodbyes and Steve and I took the train into the city. We had a map from the campground and had no troubles finding our hotel. Our room was spacious and we were upgraded to have our own bathroom- yay! My favorite feature in the room would have to be the art over the bed. You know how every hotel has cheap art above the bed? This was a religious scene (of course) of a famous work in the sistine chapel. What I liked was the fact that it was actually a puzzle glued on a board and then saran wrapped! Hahaha- it made me laugh...

With so much to see in Rome, where do you begin?! Steve and I bought a guide book to Rome that had daily itineraries mapped out. With this book and our guide book pages we made a list of all the places and monuments we wanted to visit. The list was long.

The guide book also gave us advice and rules for crossing the streets in Rome which turned out to be a daunting if not life risking task. I’ll give you the lowdown:

Step 1: Know that pedestrians do have the right of way. This will not be obvious. If you stand at a crossing cars will NOT stop- you must step out onto the road.

Step 2: Step onto the road when you think the speeding cars will have enough time to brake for you.

Step 3: Once crossing, do NOT stop. There is no room for hesitation and you must go. Cars time their driving around you- especially the scooters- so even though they are slowing down, they will drive around you if possible.

Step 4: Look confident and pretend you know what your doing.

It took us a few days to get used to this...but once we got the hang of it we were golden! We would approach cross walks where tourists who didn’t know the rules yet would be waiting. So, we would get to the front of the crowd and walk out into zooming traffic, and sorta like how Moses parted the sea, we parted the traffic and the people could cross.

Rome is big. There are only two metro lines...which took over 20 years to build because there are many ruins in the ground beneath the city, and below the ruins are water springs for Rome. We occasionally used the buses to get to other areas of the city, but lets just say there was a whole lot of exercise done everyday. Which was good because there was a whole lot of carb eating going on too! I read somewhere that Italians stay true to the ingredients- they don’t try to jazz them up and make them what they aren’t (the writer explained that this is what the French tend to do). I agree with this writer- the food was simple but good- pizza has one or two toppings, pasta sauce has one or two veggies or meat added, but they do work some magic with eggplant and definitely make it taste better than I have ever had! I had eggplant lasagna and it was delicious! I find it hard to name more than three dishes you could consider as “traditional Canadian food” (I can think of Nanimo bars...and poutine...or a caesar! Mmmm...I would love a caesar right now...no spice...hahahha) but food in Canada is highly varied and you can get pretty much anything! I’ve really noticed this...in Italy you eat Italian food. The restaurants all seem to have very similar Italian dishes. Thats it. There are other types of food available- but definitely not abundant or easy to find! We saw some Kebab joints...and a pub that made burgers- but other than that, you can expect pasta and pizza. And other than McDonalds and a place called Autogrill on the side of highways and in airports, there don’t appear to be chain restaurants around. Coffee and a pastry at breakfast and perhaps a sandwich or panini at lunch. My family always made bacon spaghetti- forget beef- and that is what they do in italy! There was always bacon spaghetti on the menu! I had to try it out- could mine be as good as the true pasta masters??! I tried it more than once of course...the first time was the best one- and was only a little better than mine :) But they added something to the tomato sauce ( I suspect it was cream) and it took the acidic edge off and it was soooooo goooood! But the part I didn’t like was the flavor of the bacon itself! This is common here for me, the way the meat is flavored or smoked isn’t...well...good ol Canadian!

As for the sites in Rome...amazing! We saw everything on our list and others as well. The day we went to St.Peters also happened to be public mass with the Pope- an unexpected surprise! St. Peters was incredible and the vatican museum/sistine chapel were great! I loved the colosseum and all the plaza’s and fountains all around the city. Another highlight would be the crypt in one church decorated with the bones of over 4000 monks! Creeeeepy!

All Caught Up!

2009-05-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, the blog is completely caught up now! Whew! I guess rain storms while camping are good for something!

Steve and I just want to say that we are having the most fabulous time and loving it all!...More than one of you has asked if we are about to kill each other yet. And I can happily and honestly say that we are the best team mates ever- we have adjusted to our new roles in traveling- I am the team photographer and lead navigator. Steve is the metro master, money handler, and the international charades master. We think about our family and friends a lot out here...We often have prolonged discussions regarding our future projects and endeavors...particularly dog or no dog? (We are constantly checking out other peoples dogs and debating size and fur texture.) Other hot topics: mountaineering or not? Piano in our house or guitars? Garden or grass? We even compare cars...there are many hours in transit and we end up discussing random things. Another future topic and much more urgent is India. The countdown to India is on...37 days. I’m going to need some chillers kb. STAT. Hahahaha!

Florence

2009-05-31T11:14:00.001-07:00

While in Cinque Terre we made room arrangements for Florence. We had our directions all laid out and finding the hotel was a smooth process. But why should things stay smooth? We arrive to the hotel only to be told the online booking company has overbooked them and we are redirected to another hotel. I was really upset because I thought this was a ploy and we would end up in some dingy dark hole. So, once again we are walking in the blistering heat with our packs on. Another new city with another new map. We locate the building and enter the hotel, again we are redirected- this time just up the stairs to the next hotel. Now I was really worried. The desk man gave us the lowdown and showed us to our room. It was a little tight for space but otherwise nice. We had luxury items- an air conditioner and a bathroom! Yes! But the first night we didn’t know how to use the AC and had to sleep with the window open and all the loud drunk people kept me awake.

The markets in Florence were awesome! Leather vendors selling belts, cashmere lined gloves, fantastic jackets and of course purses! I decided I couldn’t leave Florence without a purse. The selection of styles and colors were endless. I fell in love with an oversized dark purple bag. Steve says you can fit a body in it. But I love it! I bargained with the vendor and got this work of art for 60 euro. I’ve named it “Pursis Maximus.” Steve bought himself a leather belt, but he hasn’t named it...One evening we were lured into a leather shop- Steve played along with the vendor and before we knew it he was trying on jackets. The first one they raved was “the latest Italian style” and I was desperately trying to make eye contact with Steve to warn him that he looked like a complete flamer in this shiny/tight/short leather jacket. I was laughing and imagined what shoes he would wear with that? What pants? It was FAR too Italian for my outdoorsy, unfashionable, laid back husband. The next jacket was amazing. It was a buffalo hide and it was casual yet perfect for my Steve! Oh how I wanted him to buy it! Then he said to the salesman “why don’t you find one for my wife” and the very first one he brought me was amazing! It was a dark brown fitted little bomber jacket with a cadet collar. It was so pretty. I felt like a sassy euro chick. The ensemble would have been complete with some high heels and a mo-ped. I even tried Pursis Maximus on with the jacket and they got along great. Steve suggested that I think about whether I really want a jacket and if I’d really wear it, so we left. Maybe he was right and my decision making skills were foggy from the fabulous smell and the soft feel of the leather. Then we went into another leather shop. Oh man. Once again I am overwhelmed and I am wearing “the one.” This time it had a little belt at the bottom and was just as sassy as the last. I needed to clear my head and sleep on it- sad to report I left another leather store without a jacket. However, I have had some time to consider the purchase and the logistics involved in sending one home (along with Maximus) and Steve and I will be shopping for my leather jacket in Rome.

There are many museums in Florence. We decided to go to the Acadamia primarily to see Michaelango’s Statue of David. The room housing the statue was specifically built for it in the late 1800’s when it was relocated from the Piazza della Signora after being struck by lightening (a replica is in its place now). It was fabulous! Sometimes I wonder why things are called masterpieces- but not with this one! I remember my parents having a statue of David. I don’t know why they had it (a wedding gift?) I will have to ask about this...Strange how things in other parts of the world can stir up memories from your childhood in Elkford! Anyway, the Italians are mighty strict on enforcing a “no pictures, no video” policy in Museums and Galleries. We managed to get a little stealth footage of David anyway. We visited the Uffizi gallery as well. This one (like many others) claims to have the greatest collection of art in Europe. We saw works by Michaelangelo, Donatello, Bernini, and Bonachelli...They were all neat because we had seen them before- just not in real life. I liked them all more than the Mona Lisa :)

Finally, we went to the Galileo exhibits in the Science museum. This was my favorite. The displays showed tools and drawings early astronomers produced and used as they made discoveries about the solar system and the earth. It was unbelievable. There was a collection of tools used by Galileo himself. His telescope was on display. And his middle finger. Yup, Galileo’s middle finger was in a case. Apparently it was cut it off after his death. Its the same finger he wore that red ring on...

From Florence we had to make a big decision. Make a whirlwind trip to Venice or take our time getting to Rome? We decided on the latter and Venice will have to be seen another time. We are now in Siena and staying in a cabin type thing in a campground. There is a nice pool and a cafe. We enjoyed the pool on the hot day we got here and today it has been nothing but thunder and showers! We have met a friendly couple from Parksville who are brave enough to be RV’ing around Italy. They have offered us a ride to Rome and we will leave with them tomorrow morning.

Pisa

2009-05-31T11:11:00.001-07:00

We leave beautiful Cinque Terre and head south to Florence. We have to change trains in Pisa so we take this opportunity to go see the Leaning Tower. We stash our packs at the baggage storage service and leave the station. I’m thinking the tower will be neat but nothing super exciting. I was wrong! We came around the corner and suddenly there was a large cathedral and a white tower leaning. This Leaning Tower of Pisa is really leaning, not just a little bit, but a lot! It was captivating. Sometimes its the things you hear about, read about, or see in the movies that can grab your attention the most (this becomes very evident in the museums in Florence). There are hoards of tourists here. Steve joins the other tourists posing in the “I’m going to push the leaning tower up” stance. I can’t seem to get the alignment right and another tourist takes over for me. He does a decent job and Steve is happy to have this dorky photo (especially for you Tara!)

Cinque Terre

2009-05-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

If anyone has ever been in a car with the temperature outside at least thirty degrees with no air conditioning and the windows rolled up for nearly two hours I know how you felt. We were more than relieved to get off this train and be in Monterosso. We went to the tourism office and the lady working there was very nice. We picked a hotel out of our travel book and she phoned them to see if they had room. We got a room and in the process met a couple of Americans from Seattle. We all set off for the hotel. I love how in Italy you ask for a “matrimonial” bed if you want a double bed...hahaha. Our room was large and had a big window that let in plenty of light. I think the sea-foam green decor was an au natural form of air conditioning because even without a fan or air conditioner the room actually felt cool. We wandered around the little town and peeked in some of the shops. I saw a dress that I had also seen in the market in Milan- however it was 25 more euros in Cinque Terre! We got some gelato and watched the sunset by the water. Later on we met up with the Americans for dinner. I really enjoyed strolling in the evenings- the air was so warm and the shops were so cute. We had some Limoncello samples at a shop selling liqueurs, wines, jams and honey. We then went for a drink at a local bar.

The next day Steve and I set out on the Cinque Terre trail. We should have left earlier because by 10am it was already hot out. The alloted time between the first two towns was 1h40mins. The terrain was up hill and up steps for sometime and then leveled off a little. Then all the elevation gain is lost when you enter the next town. The views were beautiful and we entered the next town of Vernazza hot and hungry. We went for a quick dip in the water and then had a piece of pizza. Looking at the map, we opted to take the train to the next town Corniglia as it was another long hike with elevation gain. From Corniglia we took the trail to Manarola- this is the Cinque Terre town that seems to represent the whole area- we walked around the corner and there it was in all its quaint, colorful, old world charm. The last leg of the trail took us through the famed tunnel of love and on to Riomaggiore. From here we took the train all the way back to Monterosso and went out for dinner and gelato with the Americans.

Our first taste of Italy!

2009-05-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

We arrive at the bus terminal in Milan, except it doesn’t feel like we are in a city at all. We are somewhere on the outside of the city center and once again without a map. We use the metro map to guesstimate where we should go and at the same time follow the crowds. We end up right smack in the heart of Milan. We climb the stairs from the metro and are greeted with the massive Duomo. There is a huge square and people and pigeons everywhere. We find tourist information and get a map. I had researched a place to stay but couldn’t figure out how to book online. We had the address and in the smoking hot heat started to walk there. It was very hot. I can’t decide if its worse to be walking with my pack on in the heat or in the rain. Along the way we pass many three and four star hotels- and in Italy they charge the room per person. Its not 60 euro for a room, its 60 euro per person. Yikes. We finally get to the little place I found online only to find out its full. I was surprised by this because the day before it had rooms- but tourism season is among us now... Luckily though, we found a place just a few minutes down the street. The manager was hilarious and really helped us out with information and directions.

We showered and set out for our only night in Milan. We walked back to the main square. It was even more busy now- more people, more pigeons, artists, music, a low-key photo shoot, a loud protest with riot police on stand-by. Steve tired to punt some pigeons by luring them in with crumbs from his gelato cone. I thought we were going to fined or something because he was laughing like a mad man as he tried to kick the birds. I tried it too, but I just tapped them and it was gross feeling the feathers on my foot. I had read about a street market and after a long and diligent effort we had no luck finding it. We chose a little place for dinner on a pedestrian only street and watched the people go by. I read that Milan is a financial and fashion center. I don’t know about the financial stuff but the fashion was definitely flashy! Men and women, old and young, were completely put together. High heels (I study how they walk on all this cobblestone and it still baffles me), hats, jewelry, mini dresses, nothing makes you feel more like a grubby traveler than being in Milan! I don’t think people here need a reason to dress so flamboyantly-they just do it. Or maybe they do it because everyone does it. We passed by many designer shops but my favorite was a high end home decor store showing off bath tubs shaped like high heels! I thought of my city mom enjoying some wine and a dip in the gigantic shoe...

Anyway, during our dinner, two men (a turk and an aussie) were seated beside us. Personal space once again pushed to the limits as our tables were touching. We started chatting and they turned out to be editors for reality tv shows (Big Brother, Survivor, and some european shows). I was excited- could I be cast for Survivor!? Should I tell them my awesome new twist for the show? I played it cool. I’m pretty sure they were legit- especially after seeing them alongside Pamela Anderson and a bunch of other bay watch playboy bunny types on their camera. The aussie owns a restaurant and hotel in southern Turkey and spends a lot of time there. He gave us some great tips, warnings, and ideas for our visit there. The turk was more interested in how we could be traveling for nine months and had many questions for us...

Before leaving for the bus station we thought we would grab a little breakfast. We stepped out of the hotel to find the street outside transformed into a market! Yay! We strolled through the market and then sat for a cappuccino and orange juice with a croissant. I didn’t buy anything at the market but had a good time looking...We went back for our packs, headed to the train station and bought tickets for Cinque Terre.

Chamonix!

2009-05-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Chamonix was amazing! We rented a little chalet located below Mont Blanc and its Bossons Glacier. The chalet was a 15 minute hike from the train station but the air was fresh and the views were awesome. We spent a week hiking in the valley and taking in the Alps. For Stevie’s birthday I made him a Chocolate Fondant cake (from a box of course) and it was delicious! We didn’t realize that fondant is that kind of cake that is supposed to be gooey in the middle so at first we thought I didn’t cook it enough. We got out the computer and googled a bit and found this cake is supposed to be like that- then we ate it - hahahah! I got him a bottle of wine and an ice axe pen, he also bought himself a Millet climbing shirt (thanks Grandma Oliver). We thought we would do a day trip to Switzerland for his big day...we did get there, but not very far. We took the French train into Switzerland and had to switch trains at a station that was closed. The Swiss conductor said “You have cash money?” and we said “yes!” and we got on. Just before the train took off he came to sell us our tickets and said “50 euro” and we said “What?! 50 Euro? No way!” And then we jumped off the train and ran back to our French one. We didn’t realize this half hour ride would cost that much! If we were going to see the Matterhorn or something really interesting it may have been a different result, but the town we were going to only had a St. Bernard museum...we spent the day in Chamonix.

On anther occasion we went on hike to Lake Vert. The trails in Chamonix are well maintained and well marked. This one led up a green valley tightly squeezed between the mountains and the fields were dotted with houses that looked like coo coo clocks. It was a great hike with a fair amount of elevation gain, when we reached the lake we were shocked to see people walking around eating gelato, and then a large parking lot full of cars, motorbikes, and a tour bus! Turns out there is a paved road all the way up to the lake AND restaurant! It wasn’t a secluded little lake like we had imagined but more like Stanley Park- still enjoyed the adventure.

We were too early in the season for the chair lifts to be open for hikers and mountain bikers- there was still too much snow at 2000 meters. On our last day in Chamonix, we took the gondola up to the “Aguille de Midi” and reached 3842 meters!! The first half of the ride was speedy and every time we hit a pylon the cart would sway and rattle, as we approached the midway station at a speed I didn’t know gondola’s could even move at, we hit a pylon that was just too exciting and I let out a yelp- sometimes you just can’t contain the fear and excitement! We got off the cart and were at 2315 meters- 1.5 kms to go- vertically. Gulp. A load of ‘hell’s angles - holland’ got off the cart and I tried to get some stealth photo’s- I don’t know why...perhaps I was meant to be a spy :) Steve said the ones who wear the jackets are not the ones to worry about...but I figure its good spy practice anyways. The second gondola was much slower but much more vertical. As we approached the top it felt as though we had landed on another planet. It was icey, rocky and completely barren. The wind whistled like mad as we approached. We were struck by the cold as the doors slid open and the gondola swayed in the wind. We literally had to time our departure off the gondola due to the movement from the wind. We explored the many platforms to take in the extensive views of the alps. Some peaks were poking into the clouds and the Matterhorn was just out of site. The wind would occasionally die down and give us a reprieve, but when it was blowing it was so intense we were choking on our own words - same feeling as sticking your head out of a car window while cruising down the highway. And it was cold. Very cold. We kept ourselves tucked into our hoods and hands in pockets. We took an elevator through the rock to the final viewing platform. We could see mountaineers training on the glaciers, para-sailers below us in the valley, and the high risk skiers not willing to quit for the season. This is interesting too, skiing here is your own risk- there is no big news report when someone dies because they chose to take a risk. There are no investigations and there is zero threat to close lifts or restrict areas. Our host told us “50 people die every year here skiing.” Anyway, I got as many photo’s as I could but then the camera died! AGH!! I was really upset by this. The battery light had flashed at the bottom, but usually we have a good amount of time before it dies- I think the cold sped the process up. Steve tried to cheer me up and solve the problem by warming the battery in his armpit- but apparently there is no negotiating with lithium. Still an amazing day!

It was really a nice change to stay in the chalet and cook for ourselves. I loved strolling through the grocery store and buying local stuff. Not like I’m big into cooking or great in the kitchen (Something I want to change) but being on the road this long and not cooking or creating is getting to me. Steve is the opposite- he loves going out and hasn’t become tired of it. One night we went to a restaurant which from the outside appeared to be something like a burger stand. I ordered a skewer of meat that came with some rice and couscous salad. Steve wanted salmon. When the chef (who was also the waiter) took Steve’s order he rambled off a quick sentence filled with excitement and Steve just beamed and replied “Oui!!” The chef hurried off. I looked at my husband who was grinning away- “did he just say ‘Salmon Tar-tar...as in tar tar raw?”...Steve’s grin faded and he said “ all I heard was salmon.” He decided to go with it, be adventurous and not run after the waiter. I began to think that maybe I heard wrong- but when our orders came to the table Steve was served a raw hunk of salmon on salad- with caviar on top. Oh, and little piles of red and black caviar all around the plate. Steve describes the meal as “a good french experience, but I wouldn’t order it again.” The caviars were like fish flavored salt bombs. I felt bad for him for not getting any warm food for dinner and gave him most of my meat and half my delicious rice.

There is an 11km long highway tunneled through Mount Blanc connecting France to Italy. We took a bus through this tunnel and made our way to Milan.

La Rochelle to Lyon

2009-05-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

We went to a giite in the West of France for our second “helping” project. We were in an isolated hamlet, population: 4. There were many projects to work on but we focused most of our energy on tearing down an old outhouse that was half concrete and paving a path in its place, clearing a space of land and planting a vegetable garden, and general weeding/clearing land. Steve spent some time working on mechanical things too. Our hosts were kind and shared plenty of wine and cheese and good meals with us. We took a train to the west coast for a weekend, staying in a town called La Rochelle. It was a long weekend and there was a redbull cliff diving competition taking place so finding a room took some time and effort. We went to one hotel only to find that they too were full, Steve asked to use the washroom and the service lady was reluctant but gave in (must have been his charm) as he was in the washroom, the lady found a room that had been reserved but the party hadn’t shown up- so we got the room! I was relieved! Good Karma strikes again. Steve discovered a new sandwich in La Rochelle- the “Super American” and from french we translated it to be a steak sandwich with sauce and fries. We were right, but the set up was unexpected as the fries were literally stuffed into the sandwich! Steve loved it. We finished up at the giite and caught a train to Lyon. We arrived at Lyon at 8pm, every hotel we went to in a two and a half hour time frame was ‘complet’- FULL!! It wasn’t a long weekend, but a week of spring break! Agh! I was secretly scoping out places to take cover for the night (under trees, stairwells, parking lots) and later Steve told me he was doing the same thing. Luckily, we struck gold! We got a room that was a bit pricey, but it came with a little kitchenette, so we were able to save money by not eating out much. We didn’t find a whole lot of things to see or do in Lyon (although just wandering the streets was interesting) so we followed the guide book and it recommended we see a famous antique coo coo clock in a local cathedral. We walked across the city to find the cathedral and found a small gathering of eager tourists around the clock in one of the chapels. The clock was massive and intricately designed with astrological signs and pagan symbols on the sides and front. At the top were figurines like Mary, Angels and probably Saints. We took a seat and waited. Four o’clock finally struck and the chapel went quiet as the clock started to coo coo. I wasn’t expecting fireworks or anything but it turned out to be a twenty second event with noisy untuned bells and barely any movement. At the end everyone sort of sat there as if that was just the warm up and the real show was about to begin. But nothing happened. Someone started clapping, so we all joined in with clapping and laughter.

Next stop: Chamonix!

New photos

2009-05-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

We did not realize that all our photo albums were not public... Now they are!!!

Here is the web addy again, so grab an other drink and take a look at all the photos-there's a lot!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/steveandbjoliver

Rouen

2009-05-21T02:17:00.000-07:00

We decide to travel to Northern France where we visit Rouen and Dieppe. Rouen is a small city primarily known for its associations with Joan of Arc. An elderly French gentleman chats with Steve on the train ride to Rouen (I can’t talk because that would require me to look sideways which makes me too nauseated) and says “Now you will see why the French hate the English!” Referring to Joan of Arc being burnt at the stake for heresy. Today the French claim her to be a Saint- so in a nutshell, they have a six hundred year old grudge against the English for burning their patron saint.

We get off the train in Rouen and it starts raining. We scurry around looking for a room and find one that is listed in our travel book (I should clarify, its no longer a travel book- for the sake of space and weight, its a bunch of papers carefully extracted out of the travel book with an exacto knife.) The hotel is old but warm and comfortable- we even get our own bathroom complete with a hair dryer! We have started to appreciate such comforts and refer to them as “luxury items”- sometimes its an extra pillow, sometimes its hangers in the closet. We walk through the old streets of Rouen which are now home to trendy boutiques and cafes. We buy an umbrella which proves to be invaluable as we get poured on daily- needless to say, we’ve mastered the two-man/one umbrella position. Joan of Arc memorabilia is everywhere! I find it interesting that a Saint appears to have achieved celebrity status- you can buy anything with Joan of Arc plastered on it. There were also streets, churches, cafes, and even bars named after her. To get out of one of the rain storms, we visited the Joan of Arc wax museum- it was cheap and dorky but probably high tech in the ’70’s, but we had a good time anyway. We also went to the tower where Joan was held prisoner during her trial and then to the site where she was burnt at the stake.

Traces of WW2 can be seen in Rouen- older buildings and the Cathedral have bullet and shrapnel damage to the stone. To prevent the Cathedral from collapsing, scaffolding and braces were erected and sand bags replaced the stained glass windows in the church. It worked, and only part of the building had to be replaced.

Because of all the train rides causing my stomach to spin, Steve suggested I go to the pharmacy and get something to help that wouldn’t make me tired. I went in, and to my complete surprise, they had anti-nausea pressure point bracelets. I wasn’t sure if they would work but Steve said is was worth trying. Turns out, they do work for me!! Since getting them, train rides have been much more enjoyable! I can read and even look out the windows!

Euro Disney

2009-05-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

Since planning our trip, Steve has been adamant that we visit Euro Disney and after spending so much time at monuments and in museums it sounded like a good idea to do something lighthearted. The park is outside the city, to get there we took the train. Little did we know, you have to buy a different kind of ticket to get through the gates at the train stop at Disneyland. We just got on with our normal metro tickets and when we arrived at the other end, we couldn’t get through the gates! We were stuck, until Steve suddenly took off and flung himself between two gates after a woman went through. He yelled “BEEJ! BEEJ!” and I went running in too- it was funny how the gates were squishing him. At first I was paranoid that we had broken into Disney land- but really we had just unknowingly scammed the metro.

We had a blast at the park! In all our ten years of bliss we had yet to visit a theme park! I don’t handle rides very well and I found out after the first roller coaster that neither does Steve! We managed three big rides and then hung out on the non-spinning kiddy rides. Since leaving home Steve has gone through hot dog withdrawals- he got his fix with a foot long Dijon laden weenie- boiled- just how he likes it!! We never ran into Mickey or any princesses or any characters in the park- I was a little disappointed! We only saw them when we watched the daily Disney parade and I have to say it was strange to see Mickey Mouse speaking and singing in French!

J'adore Paris!

2009-05-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

A sleepless ride on the overnight train to Paris and I have my first fumble. The train first. We board and have seats that face two other passengers. Turns out there are a lot of North American travelers in this cabin and we spend the evening chatting. I venture off to find the food cabin- hunger is setting in and I know it will be a long night with no food. The train is moving fast, I am struggling to keep my balance as I make my way through each cabin. The cabins are sleeper cabins so at least I’m not falling on to strangers laps :) Sixteen cabins later and I find food! Woohoo! Now I have to make my way back to report to Steve that there is food, take his order, and get some money. I trek the sixteen cabins back. Steve doesn’t want food so I get my money and one of the girls from the cabin joins me. We get some food and return to the cabin- total of 64 cabins for me...I’m wobbly but its pitch black out and I think that helps lessen the queasiness. I settle back to my seat and end up sharing my grilled cheese with Steve who suddenly gets hungry when he smells food. We settle in for the night but I barely sleep- its just not that comfortable. We finally roll into Paris at 9am. Here is where I fumble. Most people know how good I am at losing my phone (still missing by the way if any of you find one with a butterfly on it) or misplacing my keys...so we are entering the station and I realize I have no purse- which more importantly means no passports! EEEEK! Steve takes my pack and I sprint (well, my version of sprinting) back to the cabin. Sure enough my purse is tucked in between the seat and the train wall- out of sight out of mind. Thankfully it was the end of the line and the train was still there-Phew! We have no map, no hotel, and no idea where to go. A man approaches us to help us find a hotel- we decline- its a beautiful morning and we have all day. We get a map from the train station and decide to cross the Seine and look for a room. It all goes smoothly... we find a hotel and discuss prices en francais and check out a room (we save money by having only a shower and no toilet). We are eager and excited and go up with our packs- not knowing it is seven stories up- no elevator. The Room is sorta dingy, but we are anxious to go see the city and decide to take it. We go back downstairs to pay- with our packs on- then up again with our packs- great training for the mountains! We shower and head out. We stop at a cafe and this is where we meet a pastry chef named Vincent. He gives us a metro map, advice, and tips for visiting France. We buy some baguette sandwiches and yogurts and drinks. We are all giddy and excited to be in Paris!! We walk along the Seine, stop for lunch and pass many sites (Notre Dame, The Louvre) but we are going straight to the Eiffel tower. Turns out you can see the Eiffel tower for a long ways before you actually get to it! Our walk was approximately 5kms. The tower is super fantastic! Its huge and interesting and just plain iconic! We buy tickets to take the stairs to the second platform- only 40 stories up! The views are amazing! The city spreads out as far as we can see. We had a wonderful time up there! Next we take the metro to the Arc de Triumph which is also very cool! Every street in Paris seems to have something interesting on it. Before setting out each morning we would visit Vincent in his cafe. He made the most delicious quiches and tarts...I was flattered when Vincent offered me his quiche recipe! The louvre was neat too- we went to see Mona Lisa, and must admit I felt there was some unnecessary hype over it. She was in a large room and we had to push our way through a crowd just to catch a glimpse and take a photo. The remainder of the Louvre was packed with paintings, statues, and ancient artifacts from all over the world- after five hours in there we were exhausted.

Trying to find authentic french food was somewhat of a challenge! I saw people eating crepes from street vendors so I thought I should try one out. I ordered a nutella one (like most of the french customers) and watched the crepe man go to work. He spread out the batter and when it was cooked he scooped maybe 1/4 of a cup of nutella on it and spread it out. He wrapped it up, handed it to me and said “voila!” It was good at first, but the bottom of the crepe felt like a water balloon about to burst with nutella! We tried to ring it out a little, but it was in the folds of the crepe...anyways, I haven’t had nutella since but I have tried other types of crepes which are yummy!

It was in Paris that I realized Steve either didn’t pay attention in French class or has forgotten most of what was taught. He thinks both. He was peeved at our second hotel when the owner accused him of “not liking the french, you hate the french, I can see it in your face- you hate the french!” because Steve couldn’t speak french...hmmm....

One afternoon Steve took me to a designer boutique where french movie stars shop. The clothes were mostly runway samples. We went in the little boutique- Steve read a magazine while I fondled the most expensive articles of clothing I’ve ever seen. Fur coats priced at 5000 euro, blouses for 500 euro, and crazy looking couture articles that I don’t know if any would actually ever wear! The owner was a nice lady- I’m sure she saw tourists like us on a regular basis and knew we were there just for the experience. The only thing I bought in Paris was Yves Rocher hand lotion and a tiny Eiffel tower for the Christmas tree!

I loved the eiffel tower at night, wandering around Notre Dame, seeing where Marie Antoinette was beheaded, and riding bikes in the gardens at Versailles. We enjoyed Paris immensely! It is a beautiful city full of history, baguettes, berets and french fashionista’s. I hope we can go back someday!

Barcelona

2009-05-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

With no tickets left for second class we bought first class from Seville to Barcelona but when we boarded the train we realized our seats weren’t beside each other- in fact we weren’t even in the same cabin! ai-eeee! Occasionally Steve would bring me snacks from our bag and come to check on me. Our train ride from took two hours longer than expected...this worked out in our favor when we were credited 50% of the ticket cost for the delay! Steve credits his good karma for this refund as we wouldn’t have got it if the women he traded seats with wouldn’t have told him. It was a very long ride though.

Our Catalan friends (Joel & Nuria) hooked us up with some of their Catalan friends (Xavi & Sonia) and they were soooo awesome to let us stay with them in their flat. The flat was in a nice part of the city with lots of shops and places to eat, it was also close to the metro and to the touristic area’s of BCN.

Barcelona is a lively and interesting city. We didn’t see all of Gaudi’s work but what we did see was simply spectacular! We visited the Sacred Family church (still a work in progress) where there was an interactive museum- this explained how Gaudi was inspired by nature and how he incorporated it into his architecture. The columns in the cathedral looked like giant trees with the ceiling as a canopy. If I’m still alive when the cathedral is complete I would loooove to go back and check it out!

We also went to Montserrat, a monastery just outside of BCN. We sat beside an incredibly arrogant, loud, and weird American woman on the train ride there. I’m pretty sure she was poppin some pills that were making her more wacky. She went on and on about Obama, politics, healthcare, etc...ugh. Anyways, I got nauseated on this train ride because I had a sideways sitting seat. We came to our stop and jumped on a cable car to take us to the top. The monastery was located at the top of this massive rock formation. We found cover in a doorway from the pouring rain and had a little picnic. From the monastery we took a funicular up the rock even higher- the weather was nasty but we still had great views and had fun exploring- the thunder was a little too close for comfort! We went to the cathedral to see the black Madonna and the little black baby Jesus on her lap. We had seen replicas of this statue before, but now we were at the real deal. We went to the gift shop to have our little history lesson in the tourist books and learned the statue is black due to the varnish used and hundreds of years of being exposed to black smoke from candles. Believers make pilgrimages to see her. When you get to her you put your hand on one part (it looks like a pine cone) and kiss a sphere she is holding. I imagine you also say a prayer while you do this. So we got in line and went to see her- she is kept in an ornate little room that overlooks the entire cathedral, the statue is kept in a glass container except for the parts you are allowed to touch. I got a stealth picture of her -I wasn’t sure it was appropriate or permitted to take photos and there was a priest behind me in the line- I touched the pine cone and said a prayer, but under all this pressure I hesitated and didn’t kiss the sphere. Steve didn’t kiss the sphere either- he grabbed it with his bare hand. I suggested we both get back in line and go do it properly, but we were on a mission for cheese. Sonia asked us to pick up some “Mato” cheese- she explained its the best when its from Montserrat. We went to the information counter and Steve asked the employee where we get the Mato. The lady smiled and replied “Mato?”- as if she was asking how we knew of their fabulous cheese- she directed us to go down the street to the left. We went and sure enough there were a dozen cheese vendors lined up. The mato looked something similar to cottage cheese- only firmer and drier. Sonia showed us that they eat the mato with honey on it- and it tasted pretty darn good! She also made us a typical Catalan soup made with vegetables, sausage, noodles and a pig foot for flavor. Delicious! Xavi introduced Steve to nutella and I’m sure we will be buying it when we get home! He also took us to an amazing kebab place...we love kebab. I thought the food in BCN was great- lots of variety and it was everywhere! Each time we walked by the market on the Ramblas I bought fresh fruit salad (I was overjoyed) and Steve got fresh fruit smoothies- but we passed on buying the saran wrapped sheep heads...

This being our last city in Spain and our only time in Catalan, we had to make Joel proud so we bought some Manchego cheese as he suggested (it was super) and a very typical and special Catalan Christmas decoration.

Semana Santa, Mr Charades & Mystery Food

2009-04-24T11:18:00.001-07:00

We instantly loved Seville. The streets were beautiful and the lilac trees were in fragrant bloom. Finding our hotel turned in to a challenge...what else is new!?! We reserved a place in Seville a few months ago because we were visiting during “Semana Santa” (Holy Week) and during this time thousands of visitors flood to the city. We had a map and found the street we needed on the map- we have discovered that in Spain streets change names often- for instance at one intersection you are on “Joe Ave” and two intersections later it has turned into “Mary Boulevard”. This can be a problem- you have to pay attention at every corner, turn, intersection. The challenge finding our hotel in Seville was the fact that a procession was taking place on a street leading to the street we needed to be on. The processions are amazing! There are 59 processions in Seville during Holy Week where each church makes its way to the Cathedral. Some processions last 12-14 hours! Nazarenes carry crosses and candles while wearing hooded robes (strikingly similar to the attire of the hell-bound KKK) Often the Nazarene's are bare footed and do not remove their masks for the entire trip. The nazarenes are marching with ‘floats’- I don’t know what else to call them- but they are massive works of art- they are like sculptures. In each procession there are at least two floats- the first depicting a scene from the Passion and then one with the Virgin Mary in mourning. Accompanying the floats are bands playing passionate/sombre/dramatic music. Under each float are 40-60 men to carry the structure which can reach 2 tonnes!! Its all very interesting- so are the people in streets! There were people crying and reaching for the floats, people throwing confetti, all ages present. So, we run into a procession, and let me tell you also, these processions last for hours. We weren’t sure if we could cut through the Nazarenes...or if that is super bad. We did it anyway. But soon realized the street we needed was completely plugged with people! Ai-eeeee! We decided to drop our packs and watch the parade. We watched many processions during Holy Week- and they were so neat! But at the same time, they made navigating the streets a little tedious! While watching one procession, Steve asked a kid what he was eating, suddenly we were eating, laughing, sharing and learning with a lovely Spanish family. They were so kind and somewhat intoxicated, the kids tried out their english skills with us while Steve used his wide variety of body language and mediocre amount of Spanish skills to converse with them.

Speaking of body language, Steve is the Master. He would be killer in Charades...he can make up body language for anything! Sometimes I get so embarassed that I just wander away like I don’t know this lunatic. For example, the post office- we KNOW the Spanish word for stamp, we approach the counter, and Mr. Charades says “Say-ohs por favor!!” whilst slamming his fist on the counter as if he is stamping the post card! I walk away- but the worker gets it and the deed is done. I have to admit, his charades do work. We went to an electronics store to get a headphone splitting device. Steve made the purchase with his fluency in Charades! The only words exchanged were si, non, por favor and gracias! As I watched this exchange of body language I was impressed- Steve came out of the store giggling and very proud of the purchase (only 1euro20!) I have suggested he take up sign language when we get home.

I eventually acquired the head cold that occupied Steve in Fes...it was horrible... thankfully I didn’t have to eat tagine while feeling that bad! Poor Steve!

We visited the Cathedral in Seville- it is the largest gothic Cathedral in the world and the third largest Cathedral (following St.Peters and St.Pauls) worldwide. Inside are numerous chapels and also the remains of Christopher Columbus.

One night we ventured out to catch some Flamenco. As suggested by our spanish friends we went to a local pub for an impromptu performance. It was a great experience! We entered a cave-like pub and as Steve headed to the bar for drinks he told me to get seats and make some friends. I was more worried about the seat selection than friends, so I found a little table with some benches and chairs. Then a dude suggested I sit with him, I thought “oh- great- both missions accomplished- steve will be impressed!” So I sat and Steve came over with our jug of sangria. I introduced him to Hassan the non-english speaking plumber- our new friend. We quickly grew tired of Hassan. Our Spanish sucked and his english was worse. I excused myself to go converse with an American couple. By the time I returned to our table, Hassan was gone! Steve said he just wanted to pick me up but realized we were married so he moved on to greener pastures. Which was good because then a Canadian and a Brit sat with us and we had a great evening together. The Flamenco was not what I expected. On stage was a Man (the singer), a husky woman (the Dancer), and a guitar player. The man sang flamenco while the woman would clap to it- we didn’t get the beat though, it was always changing and never steady...then the women would get up and give ‘er. She had a stern almost angry look- I couldn’t tell if she was dancing to the music or if the music was playing to her moves! There was stomping and snapping and head flicking and arms swinging- I thought she might spit on the floor in between moves! At the end of the song (which was generally long) she would finally smile. It was great!

We had an interesting eating experience on our first night in Seville. We were starving and so began the hunt for food. We have a rule that we should never let ourselves get to this stage of hunger. Not being familiar with Seville, it took some time to find and settle on an outdoor restaurant...it was busy which we take as a sign of good food. We saw someone eating a bocadillo (baguette sandwich) and thought that would be great! We sat down and ordered two glasses of sangria and bocadillo’s- the waiter said “no bocadillo’s” and gave us a menu. We started browsing the menu (no english) and the waiter returned with a huge jug of sangria. Now I was getting a little unpleasant. We couldn’t interpret much on the menu except for random words like “eggs”, “old cheese”, “fish” and “ham.” None of which sounded filling or appealing. I tried to order some bread out of desperation for more than just sangria in my system. The waiter said “No- bread only at breakfast”- what the hell???!! They eat bread all the time here!!! Agh! I’m so upset. Steve suggests “lets just have a liquid dinner!!” (apparently he has done this in Seattle with Mike G. when the restaurants were closed.) I give him the glare. He is laughing. I loose control and yell “Go buy us a damn bottle of water, dump it out, and fill it with this Sangria so we can get the hell out of here!!!!” The sangria boosted Steve’s courage and blurred his better judgment than to dual with the beast. He replied with laughter “just order old cheese!” I was soooo mad and hungry, I was ready to rip Steve's head off. We finally decided on some dish that had “eggs and peppers” in it. When we ordered it, the waiter (who I should mention spoke very little english) asked if we wanted it with calamari. No thanks...he left and we looked at each other- why would eggs have calamari? I was thinking this was going to be an omelette or something but now I’m not so sure...We are waiting...5 mins...10 mins... Our mystery food finally arrives WITH BREAD and it appears to be a mountain of deep fried batter with two fried eggs on the peak and a bit of red peppers at the base. I thought the mountain was just batter deep fried in fish flavored oil, but after googling the dish that night we learned it was some kind of tiny white fish...it wasn’t the best, but we just ate it. A french couple sitting near us had the same menu problems and the man came over to ask what we had ordered and what it was...we never went back to that restaurant. And then the accordion player who refused to leave our table until we paid up....ugh!

The Crazy Medina

2009-04-20T05:04:00.001-07:00

I guess it depends on who you ask, but Steve and I preferred Fes over Marrakech. The vendors weren’t as pushy and it all seemed a little less chaotic. The medina in Fes was a maze of over 9000 streets. We read that its the largest urban area in the World where cars aren’t permitted. In place of cars there are donkeys transporting goods and hauling supplies.

Steve’s head cold got pretty nasty and after a couple hours of exploring, he would have to rest. In the medina streets there are color-coded signs marking various routes to different sites. One morning we decided to follow a route through the Medina that would take us to some gardens. We began to follow the signs, but there weren’t signs at every intersection so following the route became quite tricky. We had to back track numerous times and follow different paths, sometimes we would stumble upon the next sign and sometimes we would end up at signs we had already passed. After nearly two hours of navigating the Medina we made it to the Garden- which was closed for restoration! But what really got us laughing was the fact that these gardens were maybe a ten minute stroll from our hotel!! We spent all that time in the medina to end up almost back where we started...

There are several tanneries located in the Medina. We couldn’t find them, so when we heard a tour guide say “this way to the tannery” to his two tourists, we jumped on board and joined them. We weaved our way through the narrow streets and finally started ascending stairs in a building. We were each handed a handful of mint leaves to hold over our noses because the stench of the tannery can be repulsive. We entered a room stuffed full of leather purses. The next room was full of shoes. We emerged onto a balcony overlooking the tannery. The smell was present but it wasn’t too hot out so it wasn’t all that bad. Men were working away in the pits below us. Working in the tannery is considered the most difficult job in Fes. Each man is responsible for his hides for the entire tanning process. He chooses the hide, cleans it, dyes it, cuts it, stretches it, dries it...everything! Men working here are taught by their fathers. There are pits for preparing the hides (getting the fat and fur off)- the magic formula is pigeon poop and lime. Then there are pits for dying the leather. All the dyes are naturally derived from bark, poppies, indigo, etc. After some time here we went to an upstairs room packed full of leather jackets. I saw a stellar white jacket and had to try it on, the worker informed me it was a “Prada knockoff”...I wasn’t sure what kind of leather it was- they use camel, goat, sheep, and cow...it didn’t feel like cow. Could I walk around wearing camel? I don’t know, I guess I will never know...I left without the white jacket. Steve needed to rest so we tipped the tour guide and found our way (with some difficulty) back to the hotel.

On one medina outing, Steve helped me pick out a little moroccan outfit and a camel for our Christmas tree...

I can’t pinpoint it, but at some point our bodies started rejecting Moroccan food. By the last day we couldn’t stand the thought of eating any more tajine...or any moroccan spices...and I was craving plain black tea with milk. We were getting a little “rumbly in the tumbly” and having the toilet nearby was necessary for both mental and physical security. I searched around for some ginger ale- what was I thinking??!! You can’t just go somewhere and get ginger ale! This is not a Safeway or 7-11! No pepto or apple juice either! We were hungry but feeling blah...We knew there was a Mcdonalds in Fes...we played with the idea of eating there. But it was our last night in Fes- our last meal in Morocco! How could we? But we did. And it was sooooo good! So, I write this with a little bit of shame...our first and last meals in Morocco were at McDonalds. As we were walking back to the Medina we passed the Palace walls and gates. I saw someone I knew! No way!!! It was the Chileans & Americans from the Sahara tour! We were all surprised to see each other again, and coincidently they were staying at our hotel! And coincidently they were not feeling too well either! They couldn’t eat anymore tajine’s! We gave them directions to McDonalds and they went there- the next morning they told us they planned to eat every meal at McDonalds until they left Morocco.

We boarded a train in Fes that would take us back to Tanger. We considerded spending a night in Tanger but read too many freaky stories about the dangers there. This meant we would do a 5 hour train ride and then recross the Mediterranean by ferry in one day. Just the thought of getting on the ferry again made me nervous. We decided not to eat anything but a piece of bread with marmalade for breakfast. We got on the train- which was filthy. Steve picked our seats- but then we noticed blood on them- maybe it was a fight, maybe a bleeding nose, but enough blood to not ignore (did you know hepatitis B remains active in dry blood for a week?!). We backed up a few aisles and found another seat. Not understanding anything about the train ride, we were lucky we only had to switch trains once and found a girl also going to Tanger. At the ferry terminal we were much more confident in buying tickets- while in line to buy tickets a dude came and tried to get us out of line to buy tickets somewhere else. Steve kept saying “no, this guy can help us”...We were on the 5pm ferry and were STARVING!! Nothing to eat all day...Steve went to the overpriced cafe and bought us chocolate cupcakes and doughnuts! I didn’t want to eat it for fear of getting sick again...but I couldn’t starve any longer! It was delicious but I was worried...The ferry ride turned out to be much smoother and shorter! It lasted 90 minutes, only hit a couple waves, and we kept distracted by playing chess. Steve is getting much better at chess - he has been playing against the computer and I’m sure he is memorizing the computers strategies! We landed in Algeciras- and it didn’t seem as bad as I remembered! We were very happy and excited to be back in Spain!

The Long Road to Fez

2009-04-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

At the Rissani bus stop, our backpacks are promptly taken from us and stuffed into the underbelly of the bus- a ‘service’ for which we are required to pay a fee. I can man handle my own pack...but at least this person was working and earning money. Everyone is rushing like there is some kind of urgency for the bus to leave. So we get onboard without accessing our packs. All we have with us is our overnight bag from the desert. No music to listen to, no book to read, no pen and paper- just some contact solution and the travel pillow (for which I am truly grateful yet again). Steve is showing symptoms of what would soon develop into a full blown nasty head cold. The bus finally fills up (overcapacity of course) and we were on the road to Fez. This turned out to be an eleven hour bus ride. We didn’t know where the bus would stop or when it would leave a station, so the only two times we dared get off was when the bus driver turned off the engine. Then one of us would get off the bus to stretch or run in to the station to get water while the other guarded our seats. All we ate for this day was bread and marmalade for our breaky in the desert, two cookies each, and half a croissant. I hardly drank water for fear of having to use a bus station bathroom...At the stations, as passengers got on and off the bus, beggars and merchants got on - selling random items or asking for yours...

Eventually, a nicely dressed lady sits in front of us with a rice bag. We soon find out there is no rice in that bag! Chickens! Three live chickens are squished in the bag- she opens it up so they can breath and sqwak. We laughed so hard and I snapped a photo.

Seeing more of the Moroccan country side on the bus ride was great. It is remarkably diverse! In the morning we were in the desert and by the evening we were up in the mountains where there was still snow on the ground!

We finally make it to Fez, and since being hardened by Marrakech, we put on our big kid faces as we exit the bus terminal and march through the entourage of waiting taxi drivers and in to the Medina.

Morocco part 2

2009-04-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Our tour is a three day and two night excursion. Our tour group has maybe 20-25 people in it, however we are in a small van with five other people the rest of the group is in a bus-type van. Our driver is named Arasheed and Steve and I pile in the front seat with him. There are three Chileans and two Americans who are on Easter break from University in England- they are pretty hilarious and we are lucky to have shared the tour with them! Day one we drive into the High Atlas Mountain range. We don’t know which peak it is, but we know that one of them is Africa’s second highest (next to Kilimanjaro)- the mountains are fantastic but the ‘highway’ is a little out of shape! Narrow roads, hairpin turns, pot holes and no shoulder. We drive through small mountain villages- people are riding donkeys and hauling water out of wells with buckets. Women are washing laundry in the rivers. There appears to be a lot of siesta- ing by groups o fmen in berber attire. As we are driving out of one village, I see a fluffy white and orange cat pouncing its way along the road, then it happens. Arasheed doesn’t see it and the cat hops out in front of the van- THUNK THUNK!! I do my half scream half gasp noise and wake up our snoozing tour companions who think we are driving off a cliff. Arasheed swerves to the side of the road and stops. He is looking in the riewview, I have tears in my eyes and I don’t turn around- which is a good thing, the Chileans tell me later the cat was trying to get up and then a truck ran it over again. Ugh. We continue on with the drive, from that moment on Steve and I point out animals lingering by the roadside...Arasheed laughs. Apart from dogs, cats, sheep, goats, donkeys and camels, we don’t really see any other wildlife. Not that I’m expecting to...

We get to Ait Benhaddou. We have 35mins to spend at the famous site. Arasheed says to walk to the river and we will find it. So we head down a village road lined with souvenir junk...we get to the river and there it is- across the bridge-less river! The river is wide and shallow but there are men there with donkeys to haul people to the other side. The braver people take their shoes off and walk across. Steve and I observe for a few minutes and realize that if you cross, there is nothing to do on the other side- people go up to the gates and slowly turn back and recross the river. We decide that seeing Ait Benhaddou thirty feet closer is not going to be a big deal and we hang out and enjoy it- and stay dry. Meanwhile the Chileans cross...one hobbles back to the van with a good size splinter in his foot at a 90 degree angle. Arasheed is not only the tour driver, he is the tour doctor and digs the splinter out while the rest of us take in the views of “morocco hollywood”. Yes, we are overlooking the sets where over 200 films involving deserts have been shot- including “Gladiator” and “Lawrence of Arabia”. The day ends in Dades Gorge where we stay in a hotel. The gorge is incredibly windy making the hotel rooms cold. There are no lights in the hallways and stairwells- they are lit by candles- I love it! I think of Faddah Oliver who would be running around blowing out the “fire hazards”.

We head to the dining room for dinner- it is a lounge type place with low couches full of cushions and lanterns lighting the room. We are eating our delicious moroccan soup and it happens. While the 7 of us are in mid conversation, out of the corner of my eye I see this HUGE Green spider crawling beside my arm on the table- AHH! I do my half scream half gasp and jump from my seat. Coco, beside me jumps at my gasp (Steve hasn’t moved an inch - he has spent 10 years with me and is desensitized to my yell/gasp)...our entire table goes into panic mode- the Americans don’t know what is going on. The entire dining room has turned to watch the drama at our table...Coco (who I think was more frightened than moi) hesitates and then lifts his foot to the table and steps on the beast. Everyone gasps...the spider is still alive and someone puts a glass over it. We call over the waiter and he takes the spider away, however there were some guts left on the table. Coco couldn’t stand it and folded the table cloth over the spot. I was on edge for the rest of the meal. Moments like these reaffirm my devout commitment to nightly ‘bug checks’ before bed.

We sleep well and wake up early to shower. No towels. We didn’t want to use our travel towels and pack them wet, so on advice from our travel companions we used the pillow cases and bed sheets. The pillow case worked for me but steve is so hairy he had to roll in the bed after soaking his pillow case! Hahaha!

We keep driving and keep stopping for picturesque photo opportunities. The landscape is beautiful and diverse. We come to stop in a village where Arasheed tells us we are going to see a Berber family. A man meets us at the side of the road and leads us in to a lush green field. We are immediately bombarded by kids trying to sell us animals weaved out of grass and begging for money, pens, candy...anything you were willing to give they were willing to take. I had nothing to give and was getting rather annoyed with them. We were trying to keep up with our Berber guide on a path that was narrow and muddy. The guide finally shooed them away but they seemed to pop out of nowhere the entire time. This Berber family lives in the valley for six months- farming and weaving. In the summer they move with their livestock to the mountains where it is cooler. The fields are irrigated by trenches and the land is worked completely by hand and donkeys. We enter a casbah and are taken to the Berbers house. His sister is weaving carpets and we join her in a large room. The walls are covered by carpets she has made- we watch her and I develop a new appreciation for the amount of labour that goes into each carpet! Saying this, this style of carpet is not for me and I would not have a place in my house for one- ever. We are served Moroccan tea and chat with our host. Then the Berber guide starts to bring dozens of carpets in to the room, I didn’t get it at first, but it was the beginning of an extended sales pitch. No one was going to buy a carpet and we cast “how do we get the heck outta here” glances at each other every time he went to fetch more. It was awkward. The Berber tried different sales tactics, my favorite would have to be the guilt laden phrase “if you can find the room in your heart, you can find the room in your budget.” We politely tipped him and thanked him for sharing with us, we were promptly lead out of the casbah.

We continue driving and the land becomes incredibly barren, hard, and dry. We drive past dozens of shops selling fossils- I even spot a vanity counter top with fossils in it. Apparently this part of the world was once an ocean. We turn off the highway and in a few minutes we catch our first glimpse of Erg Chebbi- the sand dunes! Arasheed chooses to drive off road because the dirt road is too bumpy...so we are cruising over the Sahara with the red hot chili peppers blaring (via an i-pod plugged into the tape deck). I have a huge smile on and Steve and I keep giving each other the “can you believe this?” look.

It is the late afternoon and the sand dunes are a warm orange color. Our camels await us. We pack an overnight bag and are given a blanket. The camel guide leads us to our camels, the camels smell and their fur looks matted and dirty. They are huge animals. There is no saddle, instead there is a blanket tied around the hump like a donut. The blankets we are to sleep with are laid over the hump. There is a handle made of rebar and the camels are tied together in a mouth to behind pattern. Steve gets on first- the camel is laying down, steve sits on the hump, and the guide pulls on the rope to the camels mouth. The camel is not graceful and it takes large sudden movements to get into a standing position. Steve is all shits n’ giggles- he is wearing a traditional Moroccan camel riding scarf and looks authentic yet hilarious. Its my turn. I’m nervous. I get on the hump and hold on tight- he swoops up- this is when I realize how massive they are! I am so high off the ground! No stirrups on camels...thankfully this is not a mountain climb day on one of Larry’s horses!

We are all on board and we head out into the dunes. Its awesome. There is nothing but sand and the occasional desert plant. We ride for an hour and a half. During this time Steve is complaining that the camel hump is sharp, but I think he is over exaggerating and being a wimp. We arrive at our camp which consists of five tents made out of berber carpets. We take our blankets off the camels and pick a tent which has enough mats and pillows for the seven of us. I am immediately thankful for bringing my headlamp out there (more sound advice from B’ner) and am one of the only ones with a light in the desert. The sun sets fast and the rest of the tour group finally arrives. We sit around tables chatting and drinking tea. Our hosts play music on drums and we are starving. Dinner is finally served- Tajine and bread! Surprise! It is a communal meal with no plates- only forks. I scarf down three tajine sandwiches. For dessert we have oranges- typically moroccan :) We visit a little longer and admire the desert night sky, soon after we head to the tent. My bug check obsession pays off when Steve and I shake nine half dead moths out of his blanket! Ewww! I tie my scarf around my head super tight so no bugs can get in my ears or in my hair. We cuddle up and sleep surprisingly well!

The next morning we missed the sunrise but we didn’t care- I think the color of the dunes were more vibrant in the evening anyway! We were back on the camels, except this time I was on Steve's camel with the sharp hump. Steve was not being a wimp, this camel had a boney hump and was extremely uncomfortable. I wanted to jump off and walk. It didn’t matter how I shifted my weight, it hurt. We finally de-cameled and went for breakfast. Tea served with Bread and marmalade- again. Moroccan specialty! We loved the Sahara experience!

The last day of the tour was allocated to drive back to Marrakech. We didn’t want to go back that way, so Arasheed dropped us off at the bus station in Rissani. We said goodbye to our tour companions (they were going back to Marrakech and then on to Casablanca) and thanked Arasheed for the fun time. We boarded the bus bound for Fes!

2009-04-07T01:50:00.001-07:00

We get on the overnight train to Marrakech. Our “couchette” cabin consists of two bunk beds and a window. Steve and I are on the top bunks and an Arabic boy named “Ali” and his mother occupy the bottom bunks. Ali is very entertaining, maybe 4 years old with a big smile eating a happy meal. A man comes around with a sheet, blanket, and pillow for each passenger. I prophylactically pop a gravol and tuck myself in, Steve is asleep in no time...I only wake up a couple times through the night- overall a restful sleep! :) A restful night is exactly what you need before getting to Marrakech.

We arrive the next morning in Marrakech. We have joined forces with the two American girls we met in the train station-Jana and Rayna. We catch a cab to the medina, the girls have reserved a hostel room near the Medina, Steve and I have no reservations so we follow them to their hostel to see if we can get a room too. After winding our way some distance through dark and narrow medina streets we find the hostel and enter. The owner is behind the counter but laying in bed in a cubby hole. He opens his curtain and indicates the rooms aren’t ready and says to come back in an hour or two. He lets us leave our packs on the floor of his office/bedroom. We walk all the way back out to the center of the medina and start to wander around the streets. We meet a british guy at the bank machine- and he eventually joins up with us for the day. After meeting the hostel keeper, having a glimpse of the place, and walking the long dark alley-like street to its location, we begin to reconsider staying there. We check out some other places and find a hotel that is slightly more expensive, but centrally located and pretty clean- with private bathrooms. We all agree it is a better place and decide to stay there. We make our way back to the hostel and pick up our packs with no problems- phew. By this point we are all a little hungry. We go to a cafe for some omlettes and toast- and our first moroccan tea. The tea is delicious. I don’t know exactly what is in it, but it is more viscous than water- but not as thick as honey. It is full of large mint leaves and very sweet. We spend some time wandering the market stalls and quickly learn how aggressive the vendors are. “Excuse me, Madame, come in my store, excuse me, sorry, just look etc”. There is no such thing as browsing here. You look you buy- or at least that is the impression you give! If you look at something they say “I give you good price” but we have heard how overpriced things are here. Eventually I see a canvas painting I like- I simply enter the store and the negotiations begin. I should also mention that while looking in the store I knock over a porcelain dish displaying small canvasses, it hits the floor with a ‘thunk’ and I think I broke it...shit oh shitballs- now I feel obliged to buy something! Steve helps me negotiate- actually he takes the lead because we both know I’m too weak. The canvas price starts at 440 dirham, after ten minutes of negotiations and leaving the store twice, we pay 150 dirham...Steve later tells me the dish I knocked over was already broken.

The medina square is full of entertainers/con-men, food vendors, and orange juice stands. The food vendors are selling beautiful apricots, dates, figs, olives, and nuts. The orange juice is freshly squeezed and costs only 3 dirham (approx 50 cents) for a tall glass. The con-men are charging 100 dirham to charm a cobra snake out of a basket while having your photo taken. Steve got scammed with that! There are men with monkey’s on leashes but we have seen enough of them and steer clear. There are many musicians and henna artists. The square is busy but we find out later its not rush hour yet! The majority of women are wearing head scarves which makes Steve all anxious about me getting one and wearing it :) I can’t find one I like but I finally spot a huge pile of scarves spread out on plastic on the street- locals are digging through the pile so I join in on the action. I find the perfect one! Only 20 dirhams and its all mine!

That night we go to the square and it is packed with even more food, entertainers, locals, and tourists. We browse by the food stands they have set up to see what is for dinner. I take one look at the roasted sheep heads with the tongues hanging out and loose my appetite. We are being yelled at “eat here!” “I’m the best!” “Free drink here!” Its packed and chaotic. There is thick smoke from the cooking and bright light bulbs dangling everywhere. It smells and is loud. We escape the craziness and head for a cafe on the side of the square. I have moroccan soup- which is fabulous! Similar to tomato vegetable soup with chickpeas and other unidentifiable goodies in it. Steve has his first Tajine. Tajine is a moroccan dish (obviously) containing a meat and vegetables cooked in a tajine dish- ah...here is a link! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajine

We head back to the square and observe the action some more. We try some ginger cake and ginger tea from a desert stall, it is spicy and like nothing I’ve ever had before! The night sky is clear and Jana gives us a great little lesson on astronomy and constellations (she is in that field). We are tired. We say our goodnights and head to bed.

The next day’s mission is to find a tour to take us into the Sahara and then on to the city of Fes. There are several tour companies around the medina and takes only one stop to sign up for one. We will leave the next day...we have the most delicious bannock type break with honey for breakfast with the american girls and say our goodbyes (they are leaving that morning by train). We spend a few hours wandering through the residential area of the medina where we see artisans hard at work and people shopping at local vegetable stalls. Overall, we found Marrakech to be somewhat chaotic and crazy but a good time. Although the hassle by merchants was way too extreme, we felt safe there.

Photo's on Picasa... New Link!!!!!

2009-04-06T11:22:00.001-07:00

Hey! We have started loading photo's on to Picasa. Here is a link, hope you can access all the albums- if you aren't able to access all of them, please leave a comment and we will try to change it. Thanks!

http://picasaweb.google.com/steveandbjoliver

Most of the same photo's are on facebook as well...

Barf Bag Por Favor

2009-04-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

We planned to leave Algecerias by ferry- arriving in Tanger, Morocco. Getting ferry tickets is a different concept here- and after our experience I have a little more appreciation for BC Ferries. There are ticket selling kiosks and hole in the wall shops lining the streets in Algecerias...nothing really appeared to be official...so we left our packs in our room and set out to buy our tickets. We were walking towards a building that we thought looked most respectable and professional. We didn’t make it to the door (the place looked closed when we got up close anyway) before we were approached by 5-6 ticket hustler dudes. “Tickets- you need tickets- come this way my friend!” Before I could get two words out (which would have been “hell no”) Steve was off with his new friend and I was following them to the hole in the wall place which probably belonged to his uncle or some cousin... Ugh, I just shook my head. He ushered us in to the first shop- they didn’t have the tix we wanted. We were looking for tickets on the slower ferry because: A) it would mean less time to kill in Tanger before our train departed; B) I had read that the fast ferries can get a little rough in the waters; C) we thought it might be a little cheaper; and D) we thought what the heck- we don’t get to sail on the mediterranean very often so lets enjoy it! So Steve’s friend brought us to another ticket selling shop. This guy wanted to sell us fast ferry tix only- and when we said we wanted the slow one he pointed towards the terminal...when we left the store (ticketless) Steve’s friend said “commission”- Steve replied “we have no tickets!” Then he said “commission!” Steve patted him on the back and said “You’re a nice guy, but we have no tickets” and we hurried away.

Steve suggested we walk to the terminal and get tickets there. This ended up being the best idea- no pressure from people on the street and no hidden commission. We went to the slow ferry ticket selling booth. The price for the tickets was 44 Euro each- this cost more than the fast ferry!! That didn’t make sense to us, so instead of questioning any of it, we bought fast ferry tickets for 33 Euro each. The terminal itself was clean and safe so we waited for our 1500 sailing. The ferry departed late, around 1600hrs, which was fine with us because it was only supposed to take 45 minutes. At first the ride was pretty smooth so we walked around the boat and then sat and read our books. There was no outside deck but the inside had a cafe, washrooms, giftshop, etc. The waters started to get a little rough, I started to feel a little queezy so I put my head down on the table. The waters got rougher and I felt worse. I could hear people laughing and saying “woohoo” as the waves got bigger. I contemplated taking my gravol but I didn’t want to be drowsy and I thought we should almost be to the other side anyway. Before long, I was too nauseated to lift my head and look for land ahoy. I blindly dug through my purse for my stash of gravol but couldn’t find it. By this point I was getting cool and clammy. “Steve can you get my gravol and a barf bag?” He just had to ask “are you sure you need it? I don’t want you to be tired and grouchy” AGH!!! I couldn’t even respond because I was so nauseated, I wanted to deck him. He thought I was being a wussy. It felt like eons before he dug through my pack and got my precious pink pill and emptied a little ziploc out for me. The waves get worse, I start to inhale up the wave and exhale down the wave. I try to meditate, I try to find a happy place, I imagine I’m curled up on Brandi’s couch as she makes the buttermilk pancakes...but the boat keeps rocking. The laughter has stopped, its not fun anymore. There is some kind of psychedelic music playing over the speakers that sounds like the cd is skipping, it is driving me nuts. I can hear people vomiting and children crying. I thought about my dad and how the sound of someone tossing their cookies makes him yak! A lady came to our table and asked Steve “is she ok?” He replies “oh, so-so”. I can’t lift my head. The lady puts two nice sized barf bags on the table. I was thankful but deep down I wanted a lady to come to the table offering syringes loaded with stemetil or maxeran. The gravol didn’t have time to take effect, I grabbed a bag, head still on table, opened it up and started heaving. Steve tried to rub my back but it only made me move around more...I could still hear others barfing. I started to feel better but still couldn’t move. My barf was berry flavored from a granola bar I ate earlier, my wonderful husband redeemed himself by taking my bag of pink berry barf to the garbage. I got the next bag ready as a precaution. The water was still rough. Steve narrated the scene for me...”about 1 in 3 are ralphing, people are laying on the floor behind us barfing, the mens washroom is a free for all for barfers....” How much longer could this go on?! Eventually the waves went from up and down to a side to side motion. My body is still prepping itself to be sick and I can’t lift my head off the table...I start crying, I want it all to end. Steve says “I don’t feel so good.” I’ve never seen Steve toss his cookies before and I want to help him like he is helping me but I know I can’t move. I tell him to take the bag if he needs it...but then I think back to his attitude about getting my gravol and I think to myself ‘get your own barf bag sucker’...eventually the boat stopped rocking. I turned my head to the side and saw two women enter the mens bathroom with buckets of cleaner. I could smell the bleach...I laid there watching them, I could feel berry barf crusted on to my chin and lips but I didn’t care. People lined up to get off the boat...I cautiously went to the washroom to freshen up and we disembarked. Thankfully, Steve never did get sick and he took care of me. The “fast ferry” ended up taking 3 hours and was a horrible experience, but oh well- we made it to Morocco!!!

Attempted Stoning...

2009-04-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

We meet a cabbie named Abdul near the ferry terminal and he agrees to drive us to the train station for 5 Euro. He happily welcomed us to Morocco and tried to convince us to hire him for a tour of Tanger. I told him I just barfed my way across the mediterranean so we weren’t interested. He didn’t press the issue ;) An interesting fact here, although we travelled directly south of Spain, Morocco is two hours behind Europe! So when we got off the ferry at 1900 hours we had to change our clocks to 1700. We still didn’t have any Dirham, and Abdul eagerly traded us some Dirham for Euro’s. We went to the ticket counter at the train station to book our “couchette” in the overnight train to Marrakech. We didn’t have enough Dirham for the tickets and they wouldn’t accept Euro or Visa. The employee at the counter directed us to a cash machine inside the station. Steve inserted his card and it said “communication error”, his visa wouldn’t work either-Shitballs! We considered changing all of our Euro to Dirham, but we couldn’t be sure we could access money when we got to the South. Thankfully the two hour time change gave us an advantage and we headed into Tanger to find a bank. It was still light out and the streets were busy so I didn’t feel scared at all. We walked past a McDonalds and saw a sign for a “McArabia!” Hahahaha! Our priority was money and our stomachs weren’t ready for food so we kept walking. As we were walking down the sidewalk on a busy road, a little boy approached us and started walking with us. He said “ One Dirham? One Dirham?” Steve responded “Dirham? Nah” and the boy said “One Dirham, boom-boom, One Dirham, boom-boom” and Steve was laughing and saying “boom-boom?” The warnings from Brandi rang through my head- “do not engage!” I thought oh shit, Steve is engaging. I said “Steve stop engaging” but Steve was laughing and thinking this little puppy eyed boy was funny. I thought to myself- we don’t even have Dirham coins! I had to take control- I looked at the boy who was by now hanging off Steves arm and sternly said “No Dirham, You go away!” I felt like a wicked witch. He gave me the ultimate glare and probably cursed me to Allah. But he went away. I turned around only to see the little puke pick up a golf ball sized rock and wind up to throw it at me. He looked at me and lowered his arm (about 15 feet away) then he raised it again, I said Steve that little shit is trying to hit me with a rock, so we both turned around and he threw the rock but it didn’t even get near us- then he ran away. Little shit. A short walk later and we found a bank with a cash machine. We inserted the card and crossed our fingers- success and relief!!!

We headed back towards the station and agreed to just eat at the Mcdonalds as it would be dark soon and there wasn’t a whole lot around for food. Besides, Steve had to sample the McArabia! We stopped near the beach to take a couple photos because I’d be embarrassed if our first picture in Africa would be in a McDonalds!! The McArabia was some sort of paddy (meat unknown- possibly lamb?) inside a folded piece of bread (similar to Naan bread) with bbq sauce. Steve enjoyed it very much. I had a McChicken- and it was better than the McChicken at home! We got back to the train station and finalized our tickets by paying for them :) Steve went to use the washroom and came back to report “those are the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen!” So I thought this was awesome news and went to use the facilities and freshen up. The bathrooms were super nice- and they had pink toilet paper! I left the bathroom only to find an old women sitting outside the entrance demanding money for using the bathroom...I didn’t know what to give and I only had Euro coins, so I gave 20 cents in Euro. They must have been on a break when Steve used it and when I entered...Anyways, a little while later, two girls came up to us to ask if we knew what the acceptable amount was for the toilets- and this is how we met our first travel friends.

Post to come

2009-03-31T11:02:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the big G...

The “G”

We took the city bus to La Linea- the Spanish town bordering Gibraltar. The rock is impressive to say the least. There were signs everywhere warning us to take our passports to enter Gibraltar- as if it were a big deal. However when we got to the border crossing, we merely flashed them- we didn’t even open them, the guard said nothing to us and didn’t even look at our passports. Sad to say, no stamp. After the border you have to walk across the landing strip for the airport/military airfield. Then you are really in Gibraltar. My first impression of the city was its strong military influence in the architecture and street names. Apartment blocks looked similar to military barracks- very plain with no balconies...no design element. A lot of the city looked old- some of it restored and some in a state of crumble. There were a couple of newer high rises near the water and considering the limited amount of land in Gibraltar, I imagine they would cost a lot of money! We made our way to the main street and it was a nice break to read signs and information in English. We found many monuments and historical sites in Spain have write-ups in Spanish and not in English, so while we look at things we have no idea what its for or why its there...Gibraltar is full of history- and its everywhere. We walked through a cemetery from the mid 1700’s where the headstones were carved in stone and still legible. We didn’t see a single headstone with anyone who had passed away over the age of 26!

Our original plan was to cheap out and just walk up the rock...when we realized it would be a four hour hike similar to the Grouse Grind we changed our plan jumped on the cable car. The cost of the cable car included access to the sites on the rock. We almost didn’t get to go up the cable car because the wind picked up...they decided to let us go up but they wouldn’t be taking anyone else down (which was fine because our ticket was one way). It was a little scary in the wind- the cart was swaying away- Steve said “oh this is fine, the car is made in Switzerland...we’ll be fine”. At the top we immediately saw an ape! They are actually tailless monkey’s but they call them apes...he just glared at us. The rock was pretty much empty- we saw very few people- maybe they were blown off the edge by the wind :) The views from the top were awesome, but the broken down WW2 buildings and army junk was not expected. In some areas this stuff was neat- and in others it was a mess and surrounded by barbed wire- apparently a german invasion was ‘imminent’ here and so the people fled and 30 000 soldiers were posted in Gibraltar during the war. The British had trained 6 soldiers who would live inside secret siege tunnels if the Germans took the rock- from the tunnels they would monitor radio comms. Military buffs would love this place. We toured the original siege tunnels dating back to the 1700’s- Gibraltar has been under siege 14 times. We also saw a display detailing what life and death was like while under siege, some sieges lasted years.

Back to the MONKEYS!!! They were very tame. A couple would come up to us to try for food, however we didn’t risk the 500 pound fine for feeding them. I didn’t want one to touch me for my fear of lice, fleas, and biting. It was cool to see a monkey on the side of the street or riding on the roof of a cab. Two monkeys started to fight so I grabbed my camera and tried to get a shot of it, but the fight lead to a pornographic episode, and my picture unintentionally became a hilarious love making scene with a mediterranean back drop...I will post it when the connection is strong enough.

While on the rock we visited St. Michael's Cave. Its an amazing cavern and I don’t know how to explain such a place- stalagmites, stalactites- water dripping, darkness, the air is still...parts of the cave were lit up so you could see its amazing size, and in the background classical music played...in WW2 the cave was set up as a hospital- however it was never needed. In the past and today there are concerts in the cave- one portion is like a theatre and I think the acoustics would be amazing.

We ate some lunch in Gibraltar, I had fish and chips and Steve had fish and a ‘jacket potato’ aka ‘baked potato’. By the end of the day we were exhausted so we headed back to our slummy hostel room that smelled like stale cigarette smoke. The first night in the room I had a panic attack about bedbugs, so Steve being the wonderful man that he is, googled about bedbugs in an effort to ease my tension. It didn’t really help because all we learned was how to detect them (and I wasn’t going to start picking at the mattress seam to inspect for their poo) and that they are visible to the naked eye but not usually seen due to their nocturnal nature. So, I put on my merino woolies and got in my sleeping bag which caused me to overheat several times through the night. I woke up frantic from numerous nightmares, I think falling asleep in a state of fear causes frightening dreams. We stayed at the dinge pit another night because we didn’t want to spend time searching for a new place- happy to report I slept soundly on night two :) Overall, we found Algecerias to be somewhat of a dirty port city but on a good note, we had fantastic tapas there! We went to a place where waiters were continuously bringing various tapas for us to choose from- when we finished the waiter counted our toothpicks to tally the bill. It was fun and we tried many different and exciting tapas.

Here Horsey Horsey Horsey...

2009-03-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

We made it to the horse farm a few days ago. Its not really a farm- more like a community living society for horses. Each horse, donkey, or pony has an issue- most were found abandoned or stray...or hit by a car (coche). They are not like Chris and Ashley´s horses...they are difficult to say the least. The ponies bite. The donkeys are stubborn. Many of the horses are pretty wild. We are being very careful around them and have decided not to ride any of them. The farm is out in the country which is beautiful-olive trees, orange and lemon trees, almond trees and mountains. We mostly groom and feed the animals-and steve shovels thier poo's. Our clothes reek of horse pee. We are staying in a small casa on the property...it has issues too, but we have been in much worse conditions. We have come up with a slogan and we use it almost everyday- 'oh well, India will be worse' hahahaha....the weather has been ok, somedays warm and somedays are cool. We plan to leave the farm on Friday (after we wash our clothes)...
We walked 6km to town to use the internet and we forgot our junk drive with a detailed posting, we will post that later with some photos!
Also, we have recieved some sad news, Steve´s uncle Don has suddenly passed away...our thoughts and prayers are with family during this difficult time.
LOVE LOVE
Steve & BJ

Granada

2009-03-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

We took the bus from Madrid to Granada. Granada is much smaller than Madrid, but there are many narrow and twisty streets with tall buildings, so it is easy to loose direction. Our mission for day one was to find the laundromat- not an easy task!! We finally found it and left our tiny load in the hands of an old gentleman...we were to come back at 1930 that evening- 7 hours to do a load of laundry!! Yikes, and it cost 10euro (approx $17!) While we were having our laundry done we walked around the city. We walked through the “Albaicin” region (a world heritage site) where we had amazing views of the “Alhambra” and Granada. We were approached by some old women holding some kind of plants. They forced the plants in our palms and started telling our fortunes- of course we couldn’t understand anything they were saying and we were trying to get away but they were holding our hands- I gave the lady some coins and she said “quinto” and I said NO! I grabbed Steve and we took off...we think they were gypsies...

Today we went to the Alhambra- one of the most visited sites in Spain. It is a fortress and Palace built by the Sultans in the 1300’s and was the last Moorish hold to be conquered by the Christians. One of the rooms we visited was where Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand gave their support to Christopher Columbus to sail to the new world! The gardens, views, and architecture were amazing- unfortunately it is impossible to catch the beauty of it all in a picture..but I will post some anyway - considering I took 157 photos there:) The mountains behind us are the Sierra Nevada's...

Tomorrow we head to a town near Malaga- we are getting away from the city and volunteering at a horse rescue facility...we will let you know how it goes!

Adios Madrid

2009-03-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Madrid, we signed up for a city tour (the legal one!) It was very interesting- I will just sum up my favorite part...Madrid was built on natural springs and the walls that surrounded the city were made of flint. Because of this they have a slogan "Fui sobre agua edificada; mis muros de fuego son" which means: "I was built on water; my walls are made of fire"...I love that!

After the tour we decided to get something to eat so we would have energy for the Royal Palace...we went to a little shop and got a ham & cheese baguette, a bag of cheesies, and what we thought was a no-name bottle of cola...we walk to the park bench and I notice the coke is kind of purpley, “Steve I think this is grape coke”....we crack er open only to find out our coke is actually some kind of carbonated red wine in a pop bottle! Lesson Learned: pay more attention to labels. The label said “tinto” and “4.8% alcohol”.

The Palace was awesome! We took a tour through it with a guide- however no photos allowed...the palace is still a working palace- the King does not live there but he conducts official business there and a portion of the castle is his private area.

Bullfight

2009-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Steve has always wanted to see a bullfight, and what better place to see one than Madrid! The bull fighting stadium is a mere 10 minute walk from our hostal- and we went for the Sunday event. I expected to see some PETA action outside the gates but there was not a protester in sight (got to go to the Cloverdale rodeo for that too!) The stadium was beautiful inside and out. There were huge line ups to get tickets...so when the scalpers came up to us Steve was all excited and I got mad- we don’t know if scalping is legal in Spain and I wasn’t about to find out. Also, the tix were in spanish- so how would we know if they were still valid or even real? We stood in line. We upgraded to sit in the second section and in the shade- well worth the 5euros! It was exciting when the first bull came out...we read up on some bull fighting prior to the show. During an event there are 3 teams (troupes?) that kill 2 bulls, most experienced matador/team goes first. Each team has members that play different roles. Stop reading if you love bulls (Jeremy, Nuria)

Here is how it goes:

-Bull runs out- angry bull- lookin to cause some damage.

-Team of 4 come out to test the bulls strength/demeanor

-Horns blow

-Horseman comes out with javalon type spear

-When the bull charges the horse the rider jabs the bull with the spear in the neck- this will happen twice -sometimes the bull would lift the horse right off the ground! The horse was soo well trained and blindfolded that it just took that bull’s shit (hahahaha)

-Horns blow

-The dart jabber guys come out. The matador (gold costume) appears to direct the bull while the jabbers run up to it and plunge sharp sticks into the neck of the bull

-Horns blow

-Matador takes off his hat and gets his red cape and sword (not the killing sword)- he assess the bulls strength after the running/charging/blood loss. The matador is a performer and there is alot of showmanship- he gyrates and poses- he makes noises and shuffles around- he flicks his head- its like a theatre act.

-Matador changes swords

-When the bull is in position (head lowered due to exhaustion from massive blood loss and soft tissue damage from being jabbered) the matador aims and thrusts his sword all the way into the bulls neck- it is supposed to hit the bulls heart.

-Three donkeys come and drag the bull away

-Butcher buys bull but we don’t know where his shop is- only see ham.

Now, we are rookie bull fight watching tourists and didn’t know and still don’t know the details of the show...however, we learned what a good fight is vs. a not so good fight. One matador could not kill the bull- it was horrible, he kept trying to get the sword in, at one point it went in but the tip came out the side of the bull! Poor bull. It took about ten minutes for the matador to kill the bull- the crowd was yelling. We saw this same matador in his second fight get his butt kicked by the bull- he got some big air and a horn on the backside! It appears that when the matador bites the dust he does a roll move- similar to stop drop and roll- just more rolling or you get trampled by the bull. The experienced matador would wave his cape to the bull while kneeling! It was an interesting event, it is what it is...6 bulls slowly put to death...tortured. Would I recommend seeing this- yes, would I go again- no.

El Rastro

2009-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

I was soooo excited for Sunday- it was El Rastro day in Madrid! El Rastro is a flea market that has been going on for centuries. I had read about it online and was so psyched for it! We got up early and walked to the “Plaza Mayor” where we thought the market was held. We got there and saw tables set up- my pulse was racing- I love junk. I pretty much ran to the first table setting- it was neat- medieval coins and some rings. I thought ok lets keep going. Next table, more coins. Table after that- stamps. What the hell?? It was ALL coins and stamps- and bottle caps!! I was almost in tears. Could have gone to Cloverdale- where was the junk??? We decided to go to tourist information cause something wasn’t right- were we too early? too late? were we off season?? We learned that El Rastro was in the El Rastro area outside of the Plaza- the tourist lady circled the streets that shut down for the market- I was happy again and on the go. We entered the chaos of El Rastro- we could hardly move among the crowds. There were stalls full of junk :) Each street had a different theme- one was clothes/purses/fashion, another was antiques, one was just for pets, there were streets for tools, electronics, Everything was there! Food, flowers, saddles, zebra hides! Gas masks and trumpets. There was some pretty random stuff- like giant keys and cobbler supplies. It was so cool- we have footage and some photos we will share...I only bought a pair of shorts- I wanted the MC hammer edition but I bought something less crazy- ones I can wear when we head south as it will only get hotter!

“Free Tour” of Madrid- too good to be true...

2009-03-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

Upon arriving at our Hostal, we picked up a brochure advertising a “free tour of Madrid”. Being ever so budget conscious we thought “great!!” and planned to join the tour on Saturday afternoon. With some difficulty we found the meeting spot for the tour, we were rushing thinking we would be late- we kept asking for directions. I’ll add in something about the language barrier here, Steve and I seem to have developed a pattern of communication. Usually goes like this:

-We need help (ie directions, ordering food, asking questions etc)

-Together and with our phrase book we put together the question

-I have to ask the questions

-The reply is in spanish, with the accent, and fast

-Steve pretends to know or assumes the reply

-We walk away guessing at what the answer really is- I will say that Steve is really good with understanding numbers and money- probably because he is so cheap! :)

So, after asking directions we found the meeting spot. The guides for this company wear red shirts however they were hard to spot through the crowd of protesters and camera crew. Hmmm...what is going? The protestors turned out to be licensed tour guides in Mardrid. They were holding signs that said “Illegal tours!”, “tourist trap!” & “stop intruders!” The red shirt guide told us to ignore them and that they were mad because they didn’t like the competition. So, on with the tour we went (starting late) with about 20 other tourists and the camera crew and the protesters. The tour guide was entertaining and we found the protestors presence annoying. However, we soon realized that the spanish public were supportive of the protesters- they would shout out at the guide and several old dudes would get in arguments with the him- one gave him the “ok” sign in a way we can only presume held negative meaning. So we decided to get the other side of the story (they were very nice to the tourists as this had nothing to do with us). The protester licensed guide we spoke to explained that in Spain you must go to school and become certified to be a guide- whereas the ‘free’ guide was not licensed- and the tour is in fact not free- you are required to tip and also that he would take us to bars that pay him for our patronage. At this point Steve and I left “free tour”- it just didn’t feel right, and to top it all off we found out that the legal tours only cost 3 euro!

We explored the area for a bit on our own...we were walking up a busy street that didn’t allow cars and began to notice a significant number of prostitutes standing in doorways along the street. They didn’t look like hookers at home...more upscale- its hard to explain. This is the only place we saw them...anyways, we were starving so we ate some pizza and pasta- both very bland and overpriced. Some observations on food:

-Not so much spice- Colombus went the wrong way :)

-There is ham EVERYWHERE!! There are Jamon stores on every street displaying the Ham. Its hanging in windows and from the ceiling. Everywhere we eat has Jamon con Quesa (ham and cheese) baguettes, croissants, stuffed buns, even grilled cheese sandwhiches have the jamon so lovingly stuffed into them.

-When you think you have escaped the ham invasion, you realize you are once again eating it- just cured differently and called something else!

-Groceries are cheap- and the ham too.

-We have eaten ham every day since being in Madrid.

Tapas!!

2009-03-14T12:13:00.001-07:00

We had our first experience with tapas this evening...we went to a little cafe down the street from the hostal (cafe’s here serve alcoholic bev’s and food). It was on a corner and called “corner cafe”- english name but no english menu. We sat at the bar and the bartender was nice and patient with us. Steve ordered a big glass of cervasa and I had a nice glass of vino blanco. With the beer the bartender brought us our first ever tapa!!! It was a plate of 3 mussels covered in vegetables and olive oil (similar to bruschetta)- we looked at eachother, Steve went first. Surprisingly, the were pretty good! After my mussel, I was still hungry so we searched out some words on the menu and decided to try “champinion con jambon” aka “mushrooms with ham”. I placed my order in spanish and was proud of myself for that. As we waited Steve and I imagined what this little tapa would be...pictures of bacon stuffed mushroom caps floated through our canadian minds...we were wrong. It was a hot bowl of canned sliced mushrooms floating in olive oil with bits of european ham and garlic. It came with a little loaf of bread. It was ok- but I’ve learned something- the first ingredient is primarily what the dish is made of (we will test this rule some more on our next tapa adventure).

Earlier in the day we walked to the Prado museum where we saw works by Goya, Rembrandt and Raphael. It was awesome- we also saw a roman statue display full of statues from before Christ- so amazing! On the way to the museum we walked through some fancy shopping district with Jimmy Choo, Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Hermes, Chanel, etc. People watching in Madrid is interesting- it was 23 degrees today and people were bundled up in sweaters, scarves, and leather jackets (there is a lot of leather here). I’ve also noticed 1) many girls wearing nylons with shorts. 2) most little girls wear dresses. 3) girls wearing MC Hammer pants with crotches at the knees and tight rolled up ankles.4) lots of dogs here- mostly little ones. 5) robin hood boots and ballet shoes. 6) no beggars yet.

Ola from Madrid!

2009-03-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

We have made it to Madrid! This first leg of the journey was very long, but went rather smoothly. We left the Oliver’s house at 0530 to catch a bus to Seattle. The bus broke down as soon as we crossed the border :) This wasn’t as bad as the bus breaking down in the middle of the Mexican desert though! So we got cozy and waited. Now, I have to send out a huge thank you to B’ner for the travel pillow!! Its awesome!! I just fluffed that thing up and slept while a new bus came to get us- then I slept with it at airports and then on the planes- its the BEST!

Our flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was very nice. We got to choose from 12 movies to watch- however about 4 hours from landing I was pretty sure I was getting a pressure sore and was incredibly uncomfortable...Steve managed to sleep. We sat in Frankfurt for 3 hours and then were on our connection to Madrid. We think we saw the Pyrenees out the plane window. At this point we were both so tired we could hardly stay awake. Couldn’t tell if we were hungry, motion sick, tired, or all of the above. We landed in Madrid, found the metro, and took the underground to the city center. Our first sight of Madrid was coming up from the underground metro and on to a city street lined with beautiful stone buildings and very narrow streets. It is warm and humid here. It took us a few minutes to find the street signs which are on the corner buildings and not on street poles. We found our hostal with no problems. Its in a stone building and has big windows that swing open- they are like princess windows. The hostal is like an apartment with five private rooms, a living room, and two bathrooms- oh and a fridge :) We think we are the only ones here at the moment. We walked to the supermarket and bought some yogurt, juice, muffins, and apples.

Going to bed now...

Viva Le Mexico!

2009-03-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful cruise to Mexico! The ship was unbelievable- like a small floating city. The weather was perfect and the wedding was beautiful.

The first port was Cabos San Lucas and this is where M&V were married by the ocean. V, Dave (the photographer) and I left the ship in the morning- we were to meet the wedding coordinator on the pier, and after a few tense moments we located her...V and I went to a local salon to have our hair done.

..the owner reminded me of Cruella Deville as she sternly ordered her minions around- none of whom spoke english :) The wedding was sooo nice and we are very happy to have been a part of it all! The tequila following the wedding inspired several purchases on the pier...the 10lbs viking helmet with real horns, the “Santa Chez” tree ornament, and more tequila...

Back to ship...next port Mazatlan.

We got off the ship, greeted by the mexicali military and their automatic weapons, and started walking to town. I think we were heading a little in the wrong direction and were slowly getting to the slums of Mazatlan...thankfully we crossed paths with some other tourists who redirected our group (there were 8 of us). We ended up in a market that appeared to be heavily used by locals and lightly used by tourists. Lots of nick nacky stuff to buy... along with a variety of foods. There was a meat section in this market, it wasn’t the flies procreating all over the meat that bothered me, it was the carving of cow head at center stage that caught my attention. The cow was smiling still- big white chicklit teeth, no skin or fur (do cows have fur or hair?), just a skull with a little raw meat left- and the EYES!! Ewww! Steve and I separated from the group and poked around some other areas in Mazatlan. We went to the historic quarter where they were cleaning up after a week of carnival celebrations. There were some pretty streets, cute buildings, and random mexican dogs. We found a beach and walked along it back to the ship.

The final port was Peurto Vallarta, from here we took a catamaran to an island for an afternoon of snorkeling and kayaking. On the boat ride we were lucky to see humpback whales!!! It was amazing!! They were massive and beautiful- we even saw one breach! After the tour I went to a mall and bought some tequila inspired jeans...:)

The rest of the trip was obviously spent on the ship. We sat in the sun and read books, mini-golfed, played on the rock wall, and even ice skated!! We also ate and ate and ate...there was so much food. The best part was the fine dining where we tried all kinds of foods that we wouldn’t normally try. I enjoyed all the seafood and deserts :)

So, thats about it. We like mexico, had a great va

cation, and wish M&V all the best!

Last Day of Work!!!!!

2009-02-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

It has finally come to an end. BJ and I have one more day to go. We both gave about 6 weeks notice to our jobs, time sure fly's. I hope that our trip wont go so fast, it might seem like we never left.

Darford (where i work) took me out to lunch and got me a pair of special traveling undies. I liked them so much i went and bought another pair!!! Its the first time an employer actually cares that I'm leaving.. it feels nice.

Vernon Jub-lee said have a nice time to BJ. Im sure they got another fantastic nurse to fill her spot. Her co-workers will miss her. She has made some good friends.

We both are feeling the stress of organizing this trip and decided that we will just have to stress about it on a cruise to Mexico. Mike and Vanessa, good friends of ours, are getting married during the trip in Cabo San Lucas. Bobbi-Jo is the Maid of Honor and is planning a big party for the the bride In vancouver before we all leave. I will spend my last days up here backcountry skiing in Rogers Pass. We should both be in vancouver by the 20 of February.

Also, BJ and I went to the travel clinic on saturday and got all our shots, pills and perscriptions. We both got polio shots, typhoid pills, and some drug to take care of cholera/montezuma's revenge!!!! BTW, we were in montezuma (Costa Rica) I thought it was really a nice place hehehehehe...

Pack- Revised!

2009-01-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

Packing for this trip will be a challenge. I'm trying to put things together which will ensure looking nice in front of the Eiffel Tower and still be practical by the time we hit Nepal. We will also experience different temperatures along the way - I will probably send my long johns and sweater home- or give them away- before Egypt! But maybe the Himalaya will be cold and I will need them....agh...Steve says its not about fashion- strictly function. We clearly aren't on the same page. I wish we could hire a sherpa for the whole trip...Here is a rough copy of our gear list...we are following the 'one man one kit' rule ;)

I don't know what we were thinking! We already planned to bring WAY TOO MUCH!!! Everything we bring is stuff we are willing to leave somewhere, give away, or have stolen :). I have found 'Rick Steve's Packing List" and agree with most of what is on that...so here is our revised list!

Shirts. Bring up to five short-sleeved or long-sleeved shirts in a cotton/polyester blend.

Sweater or Lightweight Fleece. Warm and dark is best — for layering and dressing up. Dark colors don't show wrinkles or stains.

Pants. Bring two pairs: one lightweight cotton and another super-lightweight for hot and muggy big cities and churches with modest dress codes.

Shorts. Take a pair with pockets — doubles as a swimsuit for men.

Dress - for BJ :)

Swimsuit.

Underwear and socks. Bring five sets (lighter dries quicker).

Long underwear (merino wool)-doubles as pj's.

One pair of shoes. Take a well-used, light, and cool pair, with Vibram-type soles and good traction.

Sandals- for the shower too!

Jacket. Bring a light and water-resistant windbreaker that has a hood. Gore-Tex is good if you expect rain.

Tie or scarf. For instant respectability, bring anything lightweight that can break the monotony and make you look snazzy.

Money belt. It's essential for the peace of mind it brings. You could lose everything except your money belt, and the trip could still go on. Lightweight and low-profile beige is best.

Money. Bring your preferred mix of a credit card, debit card, an emergency stash of hard cash, and a couple of personal checks.

Documents and photocopies. Passport, airline ticket, driver's license, hostel card, and so on.

Small daypack.

Camera

First-aid kit.

Medicine and vitamins

Extra eyeglasses, contact lenses, and prescriptions.

Sunscreen and sunglasses.

Toiletries kit.

Sealable plastic baggies.

Soap- on a rope? :)

Clothesline.

Small towel.

Travel information. Rip out appropriate chapters from guidebooks and staple them together.

Computer!!

We are bloggers!

2008-12-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

The adventure has yet to start- but I'll start the blog now! I'm new to 'blogging'- but will give it my best shot- I had to write a couple hundred journal entries in school so this can't be too difficult! I'm sure Steve will get in on the blog action at some point too! Feel free to comment or ask questions :) . If we are visiting a place that you have been, your input/advice/suggestions on what to see and do are welcome! You can contact us through this blog, email, facebook or you can try your luck with skype.

We have alot to do before our departure- which is scheduled for March 11, 2009. We need to pack up the rest of our stuff and bring it to Seester's basement in Golden, sell our vehicles, apply for visa's, visit a travel doctor, research our destinations, work, Oh- and go on vacation! We are cruising to Mexico for M&V's wedding!!!

Our Route:

Seattle-Spain-France-Italy-Malta-Turkey-Egypt-India-Nepal-Thailand-China-Vancouver (trip ends Nov.30th, 2009).

We may see a couple other countries along the way...maybe not. Our time will be filled with sightseeing, volunteering, and good ol' people watching. We hope to make new friends and learn about other cultures. Perhaps we will learn to chill out from some of the cultures we encounter and not go crazy if we have nothing planned for a day or two!

Will keep in touch.

Love Love,