10. Ecuador

Talking about a country, one should probably have seen more than only two cities...

Well, at least one of the two cities we have visited was the capital Quito. The capital (altitude 2850m!) has for the tourist at least two different faces – on the one side there is the old town with old colonial buildings. It is a must-do for tourists and definitely worth going there. On the other side, there is Mariscal (Quito’s “Gringolandia”), this is the part of town where 80% of the backpackers sleep in one of the countless hostels and hang out in one of the countless western style bars and restaurants. In Mariscal, we also had our first guinea pig (in German: “Meerschweinchen”) – it looks like a chicken when it’s on your plate and tastes like a mix of chicken and pork. Not too bad, but a little greasy.

Guinea Pig a la Quito

One of the newest attractions of Quito is a cable car that takes you up to 4000m, from where you have a fabulous view – if there are no clouds…

Up to the view over Quito...

...into the clouds!

Cuenca in the South of Ecuador is a true beauty. It is built along a river and has well maintained colonial buildings. Besides that, it’s a lot safer than Quito, and the traffic is bad, but not as bad as in the capital. The traffic is by the view a problem of all bigger cities in South America. An increasing economy means that people have money to buy cars, which does not mean that the cities are prepared for so much traffic. Public transportation is in almost all cases limited to busses.


Typical Cuenca people

A short note about the political situation in Ecuador as it has just been on the news lately (fyi: President Correa had been hold prisoner in a hospital by the police). It sounded very scary, but according to what we have heard, it was not that bad. The police was on strike due to salary cuts, so some idiots took advantage of the situation looting. The president also used the situation to his advantage, playing the poor victim and regaining popularity among his voters. Whether he was really hold prisoner or not is not clear, there is no freedom of press in Ecuador…

And as we did not have the money and time this time, a visit of the Galapagos Islands is on the list of my next visit to Ecuador!

09. Colombia

Colombia – what to expect from a country with such a miserable reputation (violence, drugs, rebels)? Well, not too much!

What we experienced then was the opposite of our expectations. Colombia has to offer a lot and is far safer than we thought! We were lucky that we did not have any problems with criminals, which are despite our good experiences of course around, trying in most cases only to steal the tourists’ belongings, so we can fortunately not report any exciting stories about this, but only tell boring stories about nice places and people! ;)

We landed in the beautiful colonial city of Cartagena and headed to Santa Marta further up north. In the wonderful national park Tayrona you can stay overnight in a hammock at the beach, quite close to paradise I would say.

Cartagena

Hammock tower in Tayrona National Park

The big cities Medellin and Bogota have well developed areas with shopping malls and expensive shops and everything one could ask for, but also the “normal” life in the centers with good food (typical southamerican with meat, rice and beans) and a lot of life going on the streets! I felt very safe, probably also due to the presence of so much police and security all over the busy streets.

Snails for sale - good for your skin!

The flipside of the economically strong areas and the increasing tourism are around too, though not visible to tourists of course. In Popayan, a nice colonial city in the south of Colombia, a friend of mine is working for an organization supporting deprived parts of the society, especially in the country side. These people profit little by increasing tourism and economy in general. They are in many cases literally in the line of fire of the different “interest groups” – FARC rebels, Colombian army, paramilitary groups… It was good to get to know about this as well.

Overall, there are a lot more reasons to visit Colombia than not to visit it, the beauty of the country and the hospitality of the Colombians are definitely outstanding! Oh, one more thing - avoid the rainy season, when you visit Colombia! It was not as bad as it sounds, but it sure rains a lot once it rains... ;)

And it did not rain as much as on other days...

08. Panama-Colombia trip

So far I wrote only about countries, but given the circumstances of our sailing trip from Panama to Cartagena in Colombia, this just deserves a single post. The option to sail from  Panama to Colombia seemed very interesting to us as it is not possible to take a bus - believe it or not, but there is no street! The Panamericana is not existing there, there is nothing but jungle (and drug dealers). Besides that, a sailing trip gives you the possibility to visit the San Blas islands.


Under normal circumstances such a trip takes 5 days with 2-3 days on various San Blas islands and 2 days on the water to get to Colombia. We had chosen a boat (El Santa) that had not been mentioned on any of the various blogs in the internet pointing out black sheep you should avoid. After arriving at the boat and already paying a commission, we found out that the real name of the boat was El Santa Maria, and it sure had been mentioned on the internet - and not only in a positive context, but not purely negative neither. And as we felt having a good group of travelers together (one Slovakian, one Swiss, one English, one Japanese and the two of us, all long-term backpackers), and the captain seemed nice, we went for it.


In the first days, we had to wait as the hurricane Tomas had just passed by and it would have been just too dangerous to leave. We already slept on the boat, got to know the captain and the cook, and the atmosphere was excellent. Before leaving, we already had to purchase new beer as the one we had bought before had kind of disappeared... later on it became clear that the main reason for this was our captain Raul, a true black hole when it comes to alcohol.

Still smiling...

After 3 nights on the boat without moving we finally went to the San Blas islands, where we spent 2 nights and a beautiful day of snorkeling and exploring of the small islands. While we were exploring the natural beauty of this place, our captain and cook explored the natural beauty of beer and other alcoholic drinks. As we were not moving this day, I can not blame them. The next day though, we were supposed to leave early to stop by at another island to get our passports stamped and to head to Colombia. After sleeping in (well, who wants to get up early after this amount of alcohol!), we finally set sail - well, we did not really set sail, so far we only used the engine, easier if you are hangover... On the way to the other island, our engine broke, so we really had to sail! Getting there, it took another couple of hours (and another couple of beers) until we finally left Panama to head to Colombia. According to the captain, the engine was fine, just some strange noises. So nothing to be worried about...

El Santa or El Santa Maria

As Raul was too lazy (and again too hangover) to steer, it was us or the cook most of the time steering and we only woke him up when a cargo ship was approaching. As the sails were not set correctly, we did not pick up a lot of speed and it became clear very fast that it would take 3 days to get to Colombia. The mood of the captain was getting worse as we were out of alcohol. And as he was the one making the rules and thirsty but not really hungry, the food supply was also getting worse - breakfast was toast and peanut better (which was ok), but the rest of the day we mostly got only one other meal, probably when Raul happened to be hungry as well.

Captain Raul

Things were getting even worse when we were approaching Cartagena. As the captain was constantly in a terrible mood, nobody really dared to ask critical questions, but it looked like he did not know how to enter the harbor in Cartagena. 3 days after leaving Panama, we were finally so close to Cartagena that we could hear the music from the streets (there was a big carnival party on that Sunday, a great party as we heard afterwards), and I wondered whether I could have made it to the shore swimming. Well, it became clear that the engine was not only making strange noises, but was just broken. And this adding to a current that was constantly pushing us away from the harbor, a wind direction that was not really in our favor and an incapable captain as the only person knowing his boat and how to sail it was a really bad mixture...

Cartagena - getting closer...

Things were even getting worse once again... After going to bed early on Sunday with a fair amount of frustration (Franziska`s friends were already waiting for us in Cartagena), we just hoped that the captain would somehow get us into the harbor that night. After a stormy and shaky night, I woke up around 5 a.m. and decided that I should check where we are and why we had not made it to the harbor yet. When leaving the cabin and walking up to the steering stand I looked around me and couldn't see anything but water. The captain mentioned something about a storm and that we had to change direction to try again to get into the harbor. Fact is that we were again about 5-6 hours away from Cartagena, and for the first time I really thought that it might have been a horrible idea to go with captain Raul - it looked like he lost it!


Well, as I'm writing about it, the story had a happy end after all. We (by now we got to know the boat and especially the English and the Japanese backpackers did a brilliant job sailing while the captain was sleeping) sailed back to Cartagena within a couple of hours and finally made it into the harbor after being towed by the Colombian police. The captain had also called a boat for help, but as he did not want to pay a whole lot, it was a small boat pulling a banana that was supposed to rescue us. They even had the banana with them!!

Banana boat... not being able to tow us!

Colombian police towing us!

SURVIVORS!

In the back of my head I had already planned to take over the boat in case captain Raul decided to change directions again, but I'm really happy that the Santa Maria didn't end up being a second Bounty and that we finally made it safely to Colombia!!

07. Panama

When entering Panama in the northwest, we could already tell on the Costa Rican side of the border what it is all about in this region: the Chiquita banana! Lately the tourism helped the economy in this region, especially Bocas del Toro, a group of islands with beautiful beaches and snorkeling grounds. However, the tourism there is just taking off and it doesn’t look like the local people are very interested in sustainable tourism, but prefer the quick dollar (the currency used in Panama, the local Balboa only exists as coins with the same value as the USD). Well, can you blame them after years of work for Chiquita that didn’t make them rich?

Bananas at the Costa Rica - Panama border

Panama City is one of these cities in Central-America with tremendous differences between rich and poor. On the one side, there is the beautiful and steadily growing skyline with modern buildings. On the other side, there are the places that were, according to our hostel, not recommended to be entered by us. The old town of Panama City is in the middle of this “forbidden zone”, but packed with police and gorgeous colonial buildings, most of these buildings are in a terrible condition though. This place will sure be worth another a visit in a couple of years. Another site that was already worth the visit is of course the Panama Canal, the main source of Panama’s wealth. Lovers of large ships can sure spend here hours watching the cargo ships entering and leaving the locks.

Skyline of Panama City from our hostel

Cargo ship entering locks in Panama Canal

With the help of the hostel in Panama City, we organised a sailing trip to Cartagena (in Colombia) via the San Blas islands, another island group of about 360 islands that is inhabited by the Kuna, a group of indigenous living from coconuts, from what they can catch in the ocean (not always in line with international protection laws… but sometimes also really yummy… see pictures) and nowadays of course also from tourism. The islands are a true paradise, but in some places you can already tell that too much tourism is going to harm this region. It can just be hoped that Panama learns a little from its neighbour Costa Rica concerning sustainable tourism. Panama sure has the nature and the beaches to be another Caribbean paradise!

Unreal beauty on San Blas islands

The last trip of a sea turtle...

Franziska preparing yummy yummy lobster

 

06. Costa Rica

Costa Rica - "Pura Vida"! Already at the airport we were confronted with the slogan of Costa Rica. "Pure Life" was also what we experienced in the 2 weeks we spent in Costa Rica. This country is just packed with natural beauty, so we could have easily spent more time there. Just to mention some of the highlights: nesting sea turtles and its babies in Tortuguero, active volcano and hot springs in La Fortuna, cloud forest in Monteverde, wild ocean and beautiful beaches on the Pacific in Manuel Antonio, Caribbean flair and more beautiful beaches in Puerto Viejo and not to forget all the wildlife (especially my beloved monkeys!) all over the place...

Cloud forest in Monteverde

Monkey munching Doritos stolen from tourists

On the flipside, it has to be mentioned that the capital, San Jose, is not a beauty and that October might be the worst month to visit - I have never seen that much rain in my life, well... that's probably why they call it rain forest... d'oh! Overall, one should definitely not miss visiting this breathtaking country. It is also pretty safe and has high standards in terms of hygiene. Costa Rica... you really spoiled us. Won't be easy for the following countries to beat that, but I'm sure looking forward to Panama as well!

Waiting for the bus in the RAIN forest

Caribbean style football stadium

05. United States

On October 5, we got to the good old United States. As we both know already the East Coast including The City, we decided that it would be best just to visit our friends, to prepare a little bit our trip to Latin America, to enjoy American lifestyle and of course to relax.

However the relaxing part was, especially before getting to Florida, more difficult than expected. While most people in our age in Germany are either far away from getting married and thinking about children or just starting to do so (some might even quit their jobs and travel around the world, can you believe it?), our friends in the U.S. have been a lot more "active". May I present the next generation of Americans:

Boston - Tatjana and Jeff's Johanna

Hartford - Irena and Michael's Maria and Antonio

Baltimore - Kaiti and Cal's Grayson Wolfgang

At this point I just have to say thank you to all of you guys. Not only that you have wonderful kids, you are also ALL working full time and even found the time to host us in your homes and to make us feel at home!

And as mentioned above, we had saved the relaxing part for Florida. We stayed with Vince and June, very good friends of our family, in Jacksonville. We went to the beach, we had great dinner with family and friends and prepared and bought some last things before taking off to Costa Rica! Thank you so much, Vince and June!!

Overall, I had once again a great time in the U.S. There might be some things that disturb me here and there, but there is A LOT more I really like about it! I'll be back! :)

Keep on following me on my Google Map!

04. Iceland

Before starting our journey I had checked the bus schedule for Iceland to find out whether it was possible to get around with public transportation. I found out pretty fast that it was not - September 15 is the end of the summer and therefore the beginning of the winter! So we got a rental car at a price that really hurt, but after all it was definitely worth it.

Despite the "Icelandic winter" we were really lucky with the weather and got to see many different landscapes. Geysirs, sheep, whale watching, sheep, glaciers and its icebergs, sheep, beaches with black volcano sand, sheep, gigantic waterfalls, sheep, great hot springs, and of course sheep - Iceland is definitely not short of attractions... and sheep!

Guess how Iceland got its name?!

 

As seen on any Iceland brochure - Blue Lagune

And well, we meet a lot of very nice Icelandic people, but if you are a supporter of Greenpeace, you might reconsider visiting this wonderful country. They do not only offer whale watching...

03. Ferry to Iceland via Faroe Islands

The ferry Norröna was a car ferry, so there were not only travelers on the ferry, but also many people who just wanted to get home. The ferry we took was the last in 2010, so whoever brought his car to Iceland on this ferry would have to leave it there for the winter. As we did not have any experience with any large ships or ferries, it was all very exiting to us, and we considered it more being a cruise (in the stormy and cold Northern Sea).

Due to our bad time management prior getting on the ferry, we still had a fair amount of alcohol, but did not have the time to buy any food. Nevertheless, we found ways to get affordable food ("Don't take that, take the potato salad - it has more calories and will last longer!") and sure had enough alcohol left to keep us entertained during the 3-day-"cruise". When not playing cards and drinking beer, we enjoyed the stormy weather (-> picture) and went sight seeing during our stopover in Thorshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands with its 17,000 people.

After all, none of us got see sick and we saw some breathtaking landscapes when getting to and leaving the Faroe Islands and arriving in Seydisfjordur in Iceland. Oh, and the ferry costs 90 Euro one-way, so you better have a look at the ferry schedule next summer and experience Faroe and Iceland!!

02. Denmark - Copenhagen and Esbjerg

After an interesting journey from Karlsruhe to Copenhagen - they take the ICE train and put it on a ferry to make a shortcut - we arrived in sunny Copenhagen where we stayed at my friend's (thank you, Karen) place.

Copenhagen is a really beautiful city, the beer prices were however a little high. We spent there a couple of days sightseeing, taking advantage of the free bikes you can get there (well, let's say free bike - if you are lucky enough to find one, it is very likely that it is broken, but I still liked the idea), enjoying the yummy Smörebröd and going out at night. We also went to Christiania, a part of Copenhagen, in which the Danish laws do not apply. Well, at least in the opinion of some of the people living there I assume. Fact is that buying, selling and consuming weed is tolerated which is quite surprising for a fairly conservative country like Denmark.

Free bikes in Copenhagen - yeah!

One of the highlights was the visit of a high class football game: Avedöre IF, a 4th division football team, played against FC Midtjylland from the 1st division. A surprise was in the air, but after all the 1st division team beat the underdogs in the "stadium" of Avedöre 3-2.

Avedöre playing in the black and white jerseys, but you probably know that, don't you?

On Saturday, Sep 25, we took the train to Esbjerg and walked for about 3 hours (1h into the wrong direction) to make it to our ferry Norröna that should take us to Iceland.

01. Around the world - From dream to reality

My sister Franziska and I had talked about a trip around the world for quite a while, but it had always been more of a dream than a real plan. But as 2010 was finally there, it was obvious that it is a now or never decision. I liked my life in Trier, but I also knew that over the long run my job wouldn't satisfy me. I needed a change in my life. And my sister's contract at her magazine was about to expire in the summer of 2010, so here we go - the time frame was clear. Leaving in the late summer of 2010 or putting the dream back into the box of dreams and probably leave it there...

We went for it. My parents just loved the idea of us quitting our jobs, giving up our apartments and moving all the furniture back into their place. It wasn't easy, but they finally gave up as they realized we would do it anyway. It was just the better option to support us than to let us go without their support. I really appreciate that and am very grateful for my family's and of course all our friend's support.

In this blog I will give a short summary over the different stops of our journey. This blog is first of all for all people who would like to know what we are experiencing and of course also a little bit for myself.

There are two more links you might want to have a look at:

Google Map of our trip

Pictures on Picasa Web

Our start in Karlsruhe on Sep 21