The end my friend... with a snif and a tear!

This is probably the last communication on this weblog and it comes from Holland. With an unhappy feeling I have to say:"We're back!". Unhappy because it is premature and because the eye problem Henk was having is more than a problem. For everybody who does not know, he is now in a hospital in Holland, soon to go back home though, but his right eye will not function for a few months. The infection he got in Cartagena was far worse then we could ever have imagined. So on the 17th of June we got a plane back to Holland.

Well some last pictures from Cartagena. First of all things you see there quite easy. Like modern transportation methods and idyllic houses.















Next a happy Henk and Berend. Henk with his constant wink and myself already prepared for the cold Dutch weather with my jeans!










So this is it people, thanks for paying attention to our travels, we did it all for you. Especially the people that don't like travelling but do like far away countries! For people who wish to replenish our credit card accounts, send an email and we will give you further instructions where to leave the money, plata, moneda, dinero, cash, geld, knaken, dollars etc....

Cheerio people
HENK Y BEREND

Playa Blanca

Hola amigos, so a new update of what we´ve been up to. It is quite a lot. We set out to go to Colombia, heading from south to north. However, due to elections, the farmers in the south decided to block the road, to make some point... So we got stuck in beautiful Pasto, where there is nothing to do. This could take 15 days, so we decided to fly to Cartagena. Cartagena is situated at the Caribean and is very warm and as a bonus it is also very humid, but after a few weeks we got used to it.

Cartagena is an old town with a nice old centre, some pretty fortresses, but we prefered to go to the beach. So we did, planning for 4 days max. we ended up staying there for 7 days, very low budget.

The road to the beach was complicated, we went by bus, by canoe and by motor taxi. very nice, especially the boat for 16 eurocent..











Well what did we do on this beach. Mostly nothing, except swimming, snorkling, eating, sleaping, walking and sunbathing. So cool and a lot of nice sandy beach around with nice trees, donkeys and cows that scare you like hell in the middle of night.





Oh and of course, the beds.. we slept for 6 days in hammocks, never did it and the first night was not that comfortable, but later it was perfect. Sleeping is so nice in a hammock especially when it is warm and of course a musquito net!!!










At the moment plans changed a bit, because of medical problems. We are back in Cartagena, waiting for good news from the doctor. Henk has an eyeproblem and needs a lot of rest, no light etc. So that sucks.... big time.

Oh one last nice pictures to show you, is a picture of a sloth, just wandering through the park here in Cartagena. It took us so much trouble to take pictures of it in the jungle and now at 10 cm away I could see it, so cool!!










Last hint of information, we have a ticket back to Amsterdam, for the fourth of July!!!! So people start planning big surprise parties etc....

Jungle trip

Ok the Jungle, there is so much to tell. We arrived there with rain, instantly realizing why they call it the rain forest. For the people living in Europe, well aware what rain is like, hmmm this is different. We sat in a boat and although it was raining cats and dogs, it was warm. Warm rain, like a natural shower, we felt right at home there.

The last part of the boat trip was dry and we arrived at a lodge in the middle of the jungle close to the border with Colombia and Peru. The location was great and the food was even better there. And for all the people we have met and told us that they were killed by mosquitos, bad luck for you I guess. We have in total maybe 5 mosquito bites, together... It had something to do with the acidity of the water there, which the little buggers do not like. I don´t care, I was happy and so was Henk. Oh the lodge on the left was ours, we shared it with Tamar and Elinor, two Israeli girls. The picture on the right is the dining room with a couple of hammocks for the afternoon siestas.



The only downside of jungle tours is that it is so darn difficult to get good pictures of all the animals. But what have we seen than. We saw monkeys (apen), sloths (luiaards), birds (vogels), spiders (spinnen), frogs and toads (kikkers en padden), piranas (piranjas), catfish (meerval), pink dolphins (roze dolfijntjes) and many more. To give an idea what they look like... and try to find the right names.






The night hike was in the rain, but with flashlights we managed to see some nice spiders and other insects. It is amazing how big they become in the jungle, a tarantula as big as my hand or a lobster grasshopper the size of my hand with nasty looking spikes on his legs.
We also went pirana fishing which is a strange thing. Normally it is important to stay silent and wait, but with piranas you just throw in a hook with meat and start beating the water with the stick it is on. Just great!!! They come for the noise and start eating like crazy. The strange thing with piranas is that there are 25 different types in the amazone in Ecuador, but only about 6 are actually carnivores. So most of them will not bite you if you fall in, hahaha.
On another night trip, by boat, we went with flashlight and search in trees for red eyes. Either belonging to snakes or birds and in the water to aligators. The first snake we found was seen by the guide. Imagine pichdark, about 50 meters from the trees and he starts saying.. do you see that. Of course we don´t, but he was always right. So by boat we go to the tree and yes there is a small boa, roughly 40 cm. How did he see that, well all the animals in the pictures are discovered by the guide and none of us was able to see it.

Trees are also a bit bigger than in Holland. One tree we saw needed 20 people to get around it. It was 55 meters big. Most trees are also a complete ecosystem on their own. It contains about 150 different species of insects. It is covered with plants and fungus and other stuff. Plus it is also a refuge for butterflies, birds, reptiles etc... It is just an amazing tour and if you have a change to go in the jungle, just go!!!

Let`s travel by train!

After our cowboy experience we thought it was time for some action, so what do you do? Travel in the cold on the roof of a train ofcourse... The trip between Rio Bamba and Alausi was beautiful! And to show how grateful we were, we gave the local kids, who really came from everywhere, some bad teeth by throwing lollies to them. By looking at the faces, I don`t think they liked the flavor that much...

After the traintrip we had to go back to Quito but it seems that it wasn`t an original idea...

Horseback riding in Baños

Another primera vez, finally we can call ourselfs real caballos... or cowboys!! In Baños we went horseback riding together with two girls from Norway, Janne and Grette, and a girl from Israel, Gali!!

The trip was four hours on the back of a horse, pretty intense for the first time. The horses had the idea of running from time to time, which is kinda scary. Bouncing like frogs on their backs, not knowing when they stop or how to stop them. Just plane crazy.. But it is good for pictures making.

So the trip is with five people on the first one you see Grette, Janne and Henk. Henk already is letting his instincts getting the best of him and scouting for bloodthirsted Indians. The second pictures shows Gali and me, as you can see, I am not so sure of Indians!



On they way we had some nice views on waterfalls and a big mirador to look over the town. Very impressive all, especially the horses since they just did everything, we just had to whisper to them to stay on track.



Well the downsides of horse riding, it messes with your back and it just shapes you. So we walked like oversized pretzels for a few days with a hurting back. Nevertheless it was all worth it!!

Great time in Quito!

After our relaxing period to rethink and recover our trip and bodies we thought it`s time again to go back to civilization... Therefore we used Quito and two lovely ladies. Although our characters were absolutely, totally, utterly completely different we still managed to spend two fantastic days togheter! Maybe this was also because of the present of the large amount of Rum-Coke we got from the hostalowner Pierre... Headache and a strange feeling in the stomage is the result but we still managed to shoot some nice pictures of the things we`ve seen in the city!


Making a trip through South America, we believe integration is a very important thing! Berend is here trying to shoot a bear... For me it`s just cold in Quito what it`s unbelieveble after the sunburning time in Puerto Lopez!



Oh by the way, as you all may know, we are now very close to the Equator (evenaar voor de hollanders) and although we don`t understand why just here is the monument (because it`s a line) we had to go there and make really touristic photos... The egg is because our guide showed us the experiment that only on the Equator it`s possible to put an egg on a nail (cause of the gravity). He was trying for a very long time and Berend managed to piss off the guy to put the egg in five seconds on the nail haha, sorry guide!

Beach, ocean and jungle time

Now we are in Ecuador and we have been to Cuenca first. This is a very nice town with beautiful buildings and compared to Bolivia and Peru it is like we came to an increadibly rich country. Since today we are in Quito we know better and Ecuador is relatively richer, but still poverty is huge! But let me entertain you with Puerto Lopez and all the relaxing we did there.
So first our house, a little cabaña with hammock (hangmat) so ideal for relaxing, unless of course your back is completely burned, things that keep happening to Henk and me. And than on 50 meters from our house the beach, ideal for frisbeeing, swimming and drinking Zhumir.













We stayed quite a long time in Puerto Lopez, altough absolutely nothing happend there, ever, but the atmosphere was just great. One day we decided to go by bike (budget savings) to a place called Rio Blanca. Well this was absolutely a stupid idea, at 35° and no shade with too much climbing. We did not sweat this hard during the trip but we arrived anyhow. Here we did a short tour through the jungle, wich is actually secundary jungle and not that rich of animals and vegetation as the primary jungle. Still it was for Dutch standards increadible. We do go into the actual jungle soon. Well the pictures speak for them self, beautiful nature with quite dense vegetation, and some nice animals. Taking pictures of these animals is difficult since they do not always wich to stay put, as was the case with the monkeys.


Oh if you are afraid of spiders then do not go into the jungle, there are pretty nasty ones living there, but also nice butterflies!


Henk and I also went snorkling, seafishing and kayaking around and near Isla Salango. Due to the fact that we were very enthousiastic by it all, we sort of forgot to take pictures of the snorkling and the seafishing and the kayaking. Blame this on the fact that the sun cooked our brains during the trip.... But we did manage to make some nice pictures of the surroundings there.

The fourth time

Alas my friends, again it happened and this time it is the most amazing one. What happend one might ask, well we have been robbed again!!! Again you might wonder, yes again, the fourth time as the titel says. Hmmm what happened. Well we were on a night bus and this time we were cramped (ik geloof dat dat zwaar opgesloten betekend) in between the seats. So we were confidend with the bags between our legs, solid not able to move ourselfs. Well the next morning we woke up, trying to get something to eat from our bags and discovered that my mp3 player was stolen, next we discovered that Henk´s bank card was stolen and then Henk checked his bag and discovered that they took some cd´s. Amazingly only South American music, because U2 and Aerosmith were still there, they had good taste apparently!!!

Okay now we are in Cuenca, Ecuador and tomorrow we go to Puerto Lopez, that is the idea. This is a good thing, because we can now go to the beach, some islands and a national park! Pictures will follow soon within a week we hope, and if not than just bother us with emails!!!!

Last thing, which is quite important we are back to the two man team. We had a great time with Birgit, but we had to leave her in Ayacucho where she is now working with street children. We had a great time with her, especially Henk ofcourse, but me too, what a wonderful woman. Birgit enjoy your time in Ayacucho and see you in Holland.

Machu Picchu

Hmmmm, we've been there, finally one of the highlights of this trip. Seeing Machu Picchu and walking in the valley that surrounds the Machu Picchu, we have so many beautifull pictures that this time it was really hard to make a selection so the amount is a bit larger than normal. Hope you do not mind!

The first pictures shows the group, consisting of the guide Rene, two French New Yorkers Matthieu and Philippe, and of course Birgit, Henk's sweety and Berend le Chacal. The journey was pretty rough from time to time, crossing a big tumultuous river with a cable car, two by two. Or small ridges with 60 meters of space underneath you. Or crossing a river, bare feeted, because our guide could not find a bridge in the night. Or finding a big tree on the railway, which had to be chopped into pieces with axes, due to the lack of a chain saw. We just climbed the tree and continued, but for the train people, well they almost cried. You just got to love it!!





Walking trough valleys we saw a lot of different fruit trees. We never knew that avocado grew on a tree, that bananas had a really big flower (unfortunatelly it opens up in the dry season, what a shame) We saw trees with oranges, citrons, papaya, sort of tomatos (but not the real ones), bananas, avocados and many more that for us were unrecognizable. Henk became really happy when he stumbled upon a bush or tree with coffee beans, pfff look at his face!



Something about our guide, Rene, or the French way for people familiar with Alo Alo.. Rrrrrrenee. Our conclusion of our guide was that he was not a guide, but the most friendly and helpfull Peruvian we met! His physical condition was not what you expect of a guide as you can see on the following pictures. We even lost him at a certain time, but a nice cup of Ron 'Rum', coca leaves and his increadible good spirit kept him going till the end where he just collapsed on his bed. Thanks Rene!!













Finally, a few pictures of Machu Picchu. This place as you can imagine is just amazing so telling about the detailes we will skip and just give some eye candy! Oh the Llama, the holy animal of the Inca's, was making fun of us.... but we did not care, we conquered the Machu Picchu, whow as Philippe always says (the man with his tongue hanging outside).







The trip we did was visible from the Machu Picchu, which made it more special. We came walking from the top along side the river and crossed the river to continue on the railway track. This same track brought us later from Aqua Calientes to NOT Urubamba, where Rene was waiting for us.... silly us!