Travel

“This is it, this is the one. The arrival by plane says it all. From above, the promise of a wonderland is instantly made good: glinting turquoise sea and dazzlingly white sandy stretches of beach.” (Lonely Planet about Bora Bora)

And yes, this is right. Unfortunately, there were some clouds when we landed, however, the water is turquoise and so clear, that you don’t really need snorkeling equipment to see the fish…

On Bora Bora, we had our most expensive accommodation on the trip so far – but it was really nice and special…

Continue reading Bora Bora – where is the second peak?

Coming from 3 months South America it was clear, that prices are a bit higher in French Polynesia, but checking for some hostels/hotels on the islands revealed, that it’s much worse…the offer of a bed in a 7-bed-dorm for 21 EUR *smiley exclamation mark* per person was the cheapest option we found Other available options started around 130 EUR *smiley exclamation mark* per night/room *smiley annoyed* Luckily some last minute cancellation secured us a room in the Fare Suisse in Papeete for 50 EUR for both of us including airport transfers

Our late-night landing in paradise (Faaa International Airport Papeete / Tahiti) was therefore a little bit more relaxed that thought before – our Swiss host Beni picked us up as promised and brought us to his really nice hostel in Papeete.

Continue reading “Preisschock” or our arrival in paradise = French Polynesia

Absolutely no need to be sad – at least from what we have seen, experienced and mastered To sum it up a different way, than just putting together some numbers we tried to find some more “interesting” milestones – *!?#…that still sounds much like “Berater” slang, but we have another 3 months to get rid of that

Most unusual bathroom(s)

“Lightly” separated bathroom/toilet in Sucre

“Outdoor” feeling on Bora Bora

Most unusual “beach”

Some gravel at the Bolivian-Chilean-border area at more than 4000m and less than -20 C outside temperature on the way into the pool

Continue reading Half-time…already!?

Day 3

5:00am! We will definitely beat the crowds visiting the Moai at sunrise!

Unfortunately the sunrise is on the other side of the island, its pitch dark (no street lamps), the road has quite some pot holes, we have a scooter… and it is raining *smiley annoyed* Don’t ask how, but we made it well before any sun light was hitting the horizon and enjoyed a dramatic looking scenery

Continue reading Rapa Nui by scooter / Mit’m Roller über die Osterinsel – continued

Time to say goodbye to the South American Continent…

After almost 6 flight hours (Boing 767, no small what so ever bird…*smiley winking* there was:

One thing to clarify, as we Germans tend to speak about “die Osterinseln” and some English speaking people “the Easter Islands”: It’s only one island – and some two or three very tiny islets – so singular it should be!

Continue reading Rapa Nui by scooter / Mit’m Roller über die Osterinsel

After quite some time in more (or less) remote locations (see our Salar de Uyuni blog), we arrived in the modern mega-city of Santiago de Chile on a Sunday… and is was a special Sunday: There was some type of ceremony for the president of Chile!

Sounds good! But result et in a very frustrated taxi driver dropping us off some five blocks or so from the hostel, because he simply could not get closer due to closed streets. And that meant walking through a deserted city center (all people must have been somewhere else watching the parade) after a 24hour bus ride with our backpacks *smiley annoyed*

We stayed in the hostel Plaza de Armas directly at the central place – with the same name – and in a converted apartment. Straight to the point: Location great, facilities (showers, kitchen, WiFi=WLAN) good, staff sucks – but fortunately we haven’t come here to meet them…but to do some sight-seeing

But as Europeans and after more than two months on the road we got more attracted by the modern amenities than the whole sight-seeing *smiley winking*

Continue reading Back to the city! – Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso

Yes, we really needed some time to defrost after the Salar and the Lagunas in Bolivia … So we took a day just to relax, to blog and so on in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile).

The village of San Pedro is small (less than 5000 inhabitants), but is has one of the oldest churches in Chile

Continue reading Relaxing and defrosting in San Pedro de Atacama

This will be an unsual posting – until we find some more time for an update… As we – hopefully – will leave for Easter Island and some more islands tomorrow morning and the internet connection will at least be a “bit” slower there we decided to already upload/post the selected photos

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Edit: Being on the islands now – to be more exact: on Rapa Nui / Easter Island – we have been busy the last couple of days exploring the island and organizing our onward travels over a VERY slow sattelite connection (which even breaks at times, when it’s raining). We decided to call this our posting for the Salar de Uyuni trip…so read the picture descriptions – and/or invite us for dinner and drinks sometime in January 2010 – to get more infos

Stay tuned for the outstanding postings about San Pedro de Atacama and the Valle de la luna, Santiago and Valparaiso and – last but not least for now – Easter Island!

Uyuni (City)

Continue reading Salar de Uyuni – and beyond…

Being currently in the writing mood – and under a little pressure from my travel partner to finish some blog entries before we hopefully (flight confirmation outstanding ) take off to the islands here come some details of our visit to Potosi in Bolvia.

Once it was one of the richest towns in the world – and one of the largest ones (close second after London at that time) as well *smiley surprised*

Main reason for their wealth being the tremendous silver resources under nearby Cerro Rico – a hill that back in that times was obviously about 300 to 400m higher than it is today…yes, that difference might have mainly to do with the amount of silver extracted from it *smiley surprised*

Another example to illustrate their – once – increddible wealth is the more than 80 *smiley exclamation mark* churches that serve around 150.000 inhabitants of Potosi…and I am not talking about small churches here *smiley winking*

Sightseeing these days is a little tricky…

…as to see the real attraction of Potosi, you need to go underground!

Continue reading A little closer to hell…in Potosi (Bolivia)

Was gibt es über Sucre zusagen? Gemeinhin wird es gerne auch als “die weiße Stadt” bezeichnet…Ihr werdet bei den Fotos sehen, warum Was weniger bekannt ist – und da tue ich jetzt mal was für Eure Allgemeinbildung – es ist auch die konstitutionelle Hauptstadt von Bolivien und Sitz des obersten Gerichtshofs des Landes.

Und was kann man in einer Hauptstadt am besten tun? Richtig: Ausspannen, von den Strapazen der “anderen” Hauptstadt Bolivienes, die wir gerade erst hinter und gelassen hatten – und die uns ja nicht soooooo gut gefallen hat.

Und dafür ist die Stadt wirklich schööööööön Man fühlt sich so ein bisschen wie in Spanien – alles relaxt und entspannend

Continue reading Sucre (Bolivien)