Owner: The Wide Wide World URL:www.thewidewideworld.com Join Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:19:48 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Dani, Craig, Caroline and Conor travel the world in a year long family adventure. Site statistics:Click here
Into The Volcano 2008-08-07 00:15:30 We left the main road at Latacunga, and each successive town we passed seemed smaller, poorer and more primitive.
We were headed to Laguna Quilotoa, a volcanic crater lake that is indisputably one of Ecuador’s most breathtaking sights.
Our guide Patricio drove cautiously along winding switchback turns as we made the ascent to 12,800 feet. It took [...] Read more:Volcano
Observed in Laguna Quilotoa 2008-08-07 00:11:18 In a remote town high in the Ecuadorean Andes, a small group of indigenas men gathered around a 19-inch color TV watching a crystal clear DVD copy of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, less than two weeks after it was released in the United States. Read more:Laguna
Ode To Red 2008-09-12 00:27:16 Of the baseball caps I have accumulated over the years, there is just one that fits right, no matter however sweat-stained and faded.
Maybe you have one like it: The one you reach for on a bad hair day, the one that doesn’t puff up too much on top, one that your friends identify as your [...]
Inca Rules 2008-09-11 00:15:31 Dani was feeling much better, but still not well enough to take the Lake Titicaca tour. So the kids and I got up early and caught the bus to the Puno docks to board our boat for a tour of Uros and Taquile Islands.
I’ve been surprised by the number of European travelers in South America, [...] Read more:Rules
Cold Town, Warm People 2008-09-10 00:53:33 Dani wasn’t herself on the five-hour bus trip from Cusco to Puno.
In the fifteen years we’ve been married, she’s always been a hearty traveler. But on this trip she was queasy from the moment we left Cusco, as we made our way across the high Andean plains towards Lake Titicaca.
We had ascended nearly 2,000 feet [...]
Lost City of the Incas 2008-09-08 00:02:07 We know the cliché: History is written by winners.
The Spanish vanquished the Incas, stole their gold and destroyed all records of their civilization, leaving this remarkable culture shrouded in mystery.
But they never found Machu Picchu. Today this remarkable site is a testament to the Inca’s mastery of many subjects – from town planning to construction, [...]
The Bucket List 2008-09-05 00:56:24 Sally, a 67 year old grandmother from Michigan, arrived a few minutes after us.
Soon there were a dozen more people in the SAS Travel office, ready to join the Sacred Valley tour before heading on to Machu Picchu. Dani and I had more than two decades on most of our fellow travelers - but Sally [...]
Belly-Button of the World 2008-09-02 23:36:26 According to legend, some time around A.D. 1100 Manco Capac and Mama Ocllao, children of the son and the moon, arose from the waters of Lake Titicaca and searched for the perfect place to found their kingdom.
Divine signs led them to a fertile valley more than 200 hundred miles to the north. Here they founded [...] Read more:World
Observed in Ecuador and Peru 2008-09-01 00:11:50 Everyone working in the tourist industry in Ecuador
and Peru should take note: Americans do not enjoy hearing hits from the 1970s performed on the pan flute.
Not “Feelings“. Not “Yesterday“. And most definitely not “Hotel California“.
If I have to hear “Hotel California” on the pan flute one more time I think I’ll scream.
Our Time in Ecuador 2008-08-27 23:23:44 On our final night in Ecuador
we had dinner at Cafe Mosaico, considered by the New York Times to be the “most spectacular eatery in Ecuador.” It’s an amazing place to watch the sun set and the city lights come on.
Our final report on our time in Ecuador - what we did, what we [...]
More Than Meets The Eye 2008-08-26 01:04:15 For a different view of Ecuador, we headed to Mindo, in the Cloud Forest, for a few days. But when we arrived, instead of clouds, the roads were what caught our attention. And we wondered if we’d made a mistake in coming.
But were were there. So we settled in to El Descanso (clean [...]
Tour of the GAP II 2008-08-22 01:29:10 Conor takes us on a tour of the GAP Adventurer II (a.k.a. Cruz del Sur) in a way that only he can…
It Takes Two 2008-09-29 00:04:47 I expected – even hoped – there would be many “teachable moments” on our trip. But I never imagined one would occur at a tango show in Buenos Aires. Given the history of the tango, I should have known better.
The great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, a tango enthusiast and amateur music historian, wrote: “My [...]
Observed in Buenos Aires II 2008-09-28 21:32:03 Friends know my humor runs to the scatological. As you can imagine, I fell off my chair laughing at this sign on the Buenos Aires
subway.
Roughly translated: Keep the window open to avoid bad odors.
And notice the international sign for “no flatulence” on the left hand side of the sign.
Observed in Buenos Aires 2008-09-24 23:41:15 A peacock struts his stuff at the Buenos Aires
Zoo. More pictures from this amazing city are posted here.
Cash Only 2008-09-23 00:33:17 “In Argentina, we have a financial crisis every five years, and after each one, we are a little worse off.”
We had wandered into Alejandro’s tour company looking for information on a few day trips from Buenos Aires; the history lesson on the Argentine economy was a bonus.
“Our last crisis was about five years ago,” he [...]
ADIP: La Recoleta Cemetery 2008-09-19 00:35:51 A Day In Pictures
La Recoleta Cemetery
, Buenos Aires
Interesting story: When Evita Peron died at age 33, the Argentine military was so afraid of the iconic power of her corpse that they hid her body in tomb in Milan, Italy for 16 years.
Twenty years after her death her body was returned to Buenos Aires in [...]
No Excuse For Not Looking Good 2008-09-17 00:59:40 One of the first things you notice in Buenos Aires - OK, one of the first things I noticed - is how attractive the people are.
And not just good looking - really put together too. Women and men. Young and old. Taxi drivers and ladies who lunch.
I was already feeling a bit [...] Read more:Excuse
Our Time in Peru 2008-09-15 00:44:14 Machu Picchu was undoubtably the highlight of Peru for us; it’s place that has to be seen to be believed. But there is so much more to this fascinating country - it’s a place anyone could enjoy visiting.
We’ve posted our report on our time in Peru here, including some advice on an itinerary for [...]
Hasta La Vista, BsAs 2008-10-17 00:37:48 It’s hit me. Our time in Buenos Aires is drawing to a close and now we must say goodbye to the life we’ve built here over the last five weeks.
In a short time we have made little routines and found favorite spots.
This is my kind of adventure: Yellow bananas on the counter, a pot of [...] Read more:Vista
Xul Solar and Mr. Puffy Pants 2008-10-15 00:32:44 If you haven’t visited Caroline and Conor’s blog recently, you should check out their latest posts on the odd Argentine artist Xul Solar
and the day spent partying with Mr. PuffyPants
.
Long Walk Home 2008-10-13 00:12:15 This past week we booked an estancia tour to ride horses, have asado and see a gaucho show. The tour company called it a Fiesta Gaucho. Sounds like a fun day, eh?
Yet when it was over, I felt a sadness that was difficult for me to shake. Here’s what happened.
We boarded a full tour bus [...]
San Telmo Sundays 2008-10-08 23:15:34 The San Telmo Sunday market has been one of our favorite outings during our month-long stay in Buenos Aries. Take a look and you’ll see why.
And if you haven’t had a chance to see our earlier videos, be sure to check them out too. It’s a great way to procrastinate. Read more:Sundays
ADIP: Tigre, Argentina 2008-10-07 19:43:12 A Day in Pictures
Tigre
, Argentina
City dwellers the world over have places where they escape, destinations that provide relief from the hectic pace of urban life. For portenos, Tigre is that kind of place.
Located twenty kilometers north of Buenos Aires at the edge of the Parana Delta, Tigre was once the destination of choice for [...]
Buenos Aires Time 2008-10-03 00:01:15 The first clue that we would have to make some adjustments to our body clocks came in our landlord’s verbal checklist: Open the window like this, turn on the oven like that, and “Best to put out the trash in the afternoon,” he said, “between 6 and 8 p.m.”
Maybe it was just a shaky translation. [...] Read more:Buenos Aires
Surreal Zoo 2008-10-01 00:38:22 Caroline said what I had been thinking: “I hope this isn’t one of those illegal zoos.”
We had traveled 40 miles outside of Buenos Aires to the Lujan Zoo
on the promise that we would be able to interact closely with the animals. That turned out to be an understatement.
According to Mariana, our guide for the [...]
Crossing Over 2008-11-06 23:35:24 One thing stands between Mendoza, Argentina and Santiago, Chile: The Andes, the highest mountain range outside Asia. They cover 4,400 miles, are three hundred miles wide and average 13,000 feet high.
Aconcagua, at 22, 841 feet the highest mountain in the western hemisphere, lies in the Andes between the two cities.
Our plan was to take a [...] Read more:Crossing
When You Return 2008-11-02 23:57:03 We mentioned to Mariana, the sommelier at the B&B where we were staying, that we were looking for a relaxing way to spend our last day in Argentina.
She suggested an outing to Termas Cacheuta, a set of thermal pools less than an hour outside Mendoza.
A van picked us up at 9 am. We joined a [...] Read more:Return
Argentina’s Napa Valley 2008-10-31 00:46:41 Mendoza is Argentina
’s Napa Valley
, a prosperous place with a mellow vibe, thanks in large part to the world-class wines produced here.
We arrived in this city of wide, leafy streets and ornate plazas after a 17-hour bus ride from Salta (in cama class, thank goodness).
Mendoza started out as part of the Spanish colony of Chile, [...] Read more:Napa Valley
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