Pedro Patricio Around The World

Brazil

2007-12-21T16:08:00.002Z

Benefits:
Kyte surfing in Prea (just next to Jericoacoara)
Eating Acai

Concerns:
Traffic in Sao Paulo
Electricity shutdown in Jeri
Nightlife starts very late (normally 2.00 am in Jeri)

Places visited (& days): 21 days from 2nd Dec. till 22nd Dec. – Sao Paulo (3); Jericoacoara (16); Fortaleza (2)

Transport (time or distances): From Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo by air (2h3o); Sao Paulo to Fortaleza by air (3h00); Fortaleza to Jericoacoara by bus (7h00), Jericoacoara back to Fortaleza by van (6h00), Fortaleza to Lisbon by air (8h00)

Currency:
1.00 EUR = 2,58 BRL (Brazil Reais)

Funny Experiences:

When I arrived in Sao Paulo on a Sunday it was the last day of the Brazilian championship (o Brazileirao). That day Corinthias lost their game and went to second division. I was really surprised since all the other supporters from Sao Paulo celabrated this fact as if they were winning the championship. At the end of the match there were even fireworks in the city

Motorbiking to avoid the traffic of Sao Paulo and to be sure that I could catch the flight to Fortaleza.

I had been in Brazil twice (2001 & 2002). At that time I visited Rio, Buzios, Angra dos Reis, Paraty and Florianopolis. This time, my goal was to visit some friends in Sao Paulo and to go Kytesurfing to Jericoacoara (Northest of Brasil), 300 km from Fortaleza.

In Sao Paulo, I stayed at Fernando’s house with his lovely family. I had met him & Rafael in New Zealand this year during my round the world trip. Since my visit was very short I was glad that Fernando's cousin (Allessandro) had a motorbike and we could easily visit the city - Parque Ibirapuera, Cathedral, Teatro Municipal, Market…

Cathedral

Teatro Municipal

Market

One very good spot for having a drink was the Sky bar at Hotel Unique which gives awsome views from the city, mainly from the skylines of the Avenida Paulista. Here also some old friends form Portugal and Brazil join us for a great evening.

The Sky bar at the Hotel Unique

Isabela, Pedro, Nathalia and Fernando - Sky Bar

Alex, Bibiana, Pedro, Andrea & Domingos - Sky Bar

Arriving at the airport with a motorbike (the only way to avoid the heavy traffic)

Then I went to Jericoacoara (Jeri) where I spent 2 weeks, kyting almost everyday at Rancho do Peixe, in Prea, just 10 km from Jeri. The reason for going to Prea is because it is much better for kyting compared to Jeri which is more a windsurfing spot.

Jericoacoara

Windsurfing at Jericoacoara

Streets of Jeri (all of them with sand)

So everyday, during the morning I was picked up at Blue Jeri, my pousada, to go to Prea. The 20 min trip was amazing since we drove along the sea on the dunes.

Going to Prea from Jeri by jeep

We used to stop to say hello to some kids in Prea

Arriving in Prea we stayed at Rancho do Peixe where Mosquito and Vanessa have run their business for the last years. Very professional, good material to rent and to sell, a great team of international monitors and local boys and fantastic restaurant. Nothing was missing!

Rancho do Peixe - Prea

Kytesurfers team

The first 2 days since I hadn´t practised kyting for a long time, I decided for 2 private lessons with Celso. It was really helpfull since after that I could easily kyte on my own. Celso, is the multi task guy because during the day he teaches kyte, during the night works for the only japanese restaurant in Jeri (Kase) and also runs a the Pousada Ibirapuera!

The Tuga (Pedro) Kytesurfing

Celso & Pedro

I made a lot of friends during these 2 weeks. Some of them who where kyting with me, others at Jeri who were surfing and of course brazilians who were living there running some pousadas, or spending holidays, or just serving cocktails in the street.

With Renato y favourite barman of the main street

I used to kyte 3 times during the day, meaning I had two breaks. The first one was for lunch to take my favourite course for several days: Açai. It is a amazonian fruit which mixed with guarana gives a lot of energy (sometimes even called the Viagra of the Amazon!!!), therefore ideal for kytesurfers to be fit all the time. So day after day, as I came out of the water, Leonardo, Thiago who were working at Rancho do Peixe restaurant already knew what I wanted.

Enjoying a Açai (myself and all the others too!)

After finishing kyting and going back to Jeri, I normally spent some time at Club dos Ventos for some internet, and to enjoy the awsome sunsets.

Sunset at Club do Ventos

Then our meeting point before dinner was normally Mauricio's Pousada where we had our first beers. The difficulty then was not to find a restaurant but rather decide which one to pick with the amount of offers. My favourite ones were, Tempero da Terra (excelent fish – Pargo), Nomad (ideal for Pizzas), Café Brasil (for Pastas), Albert (for meat, honestly as good as the ones that I had in Argentina) and Kase (Japanese).

Misha, Cristina, Vincent, Maurad, Alberto, Ella & Pedro at Tempero da Terra

With Simone having dinner at Cafe Brasil

Nightlife is also hot here. The best days are Wednesday and Saturday normally for dancing the Forro. A good altenative place is Planeta Jeri. The only problem is that it starts just after 2h00 am. Normally people have dinner earlier, go to bed for a big rest of 4 hours and then show up at 1hoo. I couldn’ t do it!

Vincent, Pedro, Maurad & ... at Mauricio's

The most famous guy in Jeri: Bin Lata (can)

Coming to Jeri means coming to look for the wind for windsurfing and kyting. Apart from that, the main activities are renting bugee and horse for a drive on the dunes, or climb the dune just next to Jeri. One day I decided to not take the jeep to Prea and walk the 10 km to see the Pedra Furada (a rock with a hole) and enjoy the landscape in a more relaxed way.

The main Dune next to Jeri

The Pedro Furada

Leaving Jeri was very hard. It meant for me the end of 15 fantastic days, kyting, meeting a lot of people, having a great time but even more it was the end of my round the world trip!

The last dinner at Kase (Japanese) with Simone, Frederic, Lex, Ze Antonio, Fabrice, & Aude

The question that comes to my mind all the time now is when will I have the chance to do another trip like this one?

I am sending this post from the airport directly from the VIP lounge (do not think I traveled like that all the time but I thaught it would be nice to finish my trip this way since I collected so many miles). I ‘ll be catching my flight back to Portugal in 1 hour. It is Christmas time and I think it was the right place to be, after having been away from home for such a long time.

Doing this round the world tour alone was an incredible experience and sharing it with all of you as well. Thanks for all the e-mails that you sent me with your stories, tips, jokes, incentives, pictures. For these reasons I never felt alone!

I hope to be back soon with some more info to share with all of you.

I wish you all a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Pedro (The Tuga)

Argentina & Chile

2007-12-16T18:44:00.003Z

Benefits:

Argentina Woman – Definitely the most beautiful and charming of my round the world trip
Empanadas - small ones and delicious in Argentina; bigger and served as a main course in Chile
No visa needed to cross the border. This was really good because I picked the best of both countries and therefore crossed the border more than 5 times!
Pantagonia - Perito Moreno (Argentina) & trekking at Torres del Paine (Chile)

Concerns:

Cross the border to Chile is a nightmare – All your stuff has to be checked and the procedure takes some time.
Distances and time estimation at Torres del Paine National Park – Sometimes too conservative, other times to optimistic.
Buses in San Pedro Atacama don’t operate each day (even when there is enough demand).

Places visited (& days): 24 days from 8 Nov. till 2nd Dec. – San Pedro Atacama (1) + Salta (2) + Mendoza (2) + Valparaiso (2) + Puerto Montt (1); Bariloche (3); El Calafate (3); Puerto Natales & Torres del Paine (6); Ushuaia (2); Buenos Aires (3)

Transport (time or distances): San Pedro Atacama to Salta hitchhiking by truck (15h30); Salta to Mendoza by bus (15h); Mendoza to Valparaiso by bus (7h); Valparaiso to Puerto Montt by bus (15h); Puerto Montt to Bariloche by boat (cruise during all the day); Bariloche to El Calafate by air (1h30); El Calafate to Puerto Natales by bus (5h); Puerto Natales to Ushuaia by bus (12h30); Ushuaia to Buenos Aires by air (3h30)

Currency:
1.00 EUR = 4.55270 ARS (Argentina Pesos)
1.00 EUR = 735.899 CLP (Chile Pesos)

Funny Experiences:

“Haciendo Dedo” - Hitchhiking - To leave San Pedro Atacama to Salta I was told that the next days the buses were fully booked. It was really a problem since I was supposed to spend the weekend with some friends there. I checked all the alternatives and the only one was to go to the border to hitchick. So at 7.00 am, one hour before the border opening I asked all the trucks around if anyone would take me to Salta.

At 8.00 am I was leaving with Carlos for one of my best journeys. I didn’t know but during the trip we had to load the truck with some minerals (borax) and later on unloaded it.

Carlos´truck with whom I was hitchhiking

Crossing the Andes

So instead of a short trip (8h) to Salta it took me 15 hours to cross the Andes. We were caught by the police with extra weight but as usually in South American countries, a quick chat and some money solved the problem.

San Pedro Atacama

San Pedro Atacama is a lovely village but very tourist. It is known as the most expensive one in Chile since it is such a remote place and therefore locals take advantage of it. I would have loved to stay longer and explore the region around, but since I was already traveling through the desert in Bolivia I decide to keep going on my trip and see other sights and landscapes. Anyway. I still had time to enjoy a great dinner with a very quiet girl from Santiago (Luna), who almost made me change my mind.

Bicycle tour to Pukara - San Pedro Atacama

Dinner with Luna (empanadas and wine - of course!)

From San Pedro I went to Salta (Argentina). It seems to be an interesting city but the real reason to come here was to visit my friend Ricardo Roquette who married an Argentinean and is running a business there (very well by the way!)

Preparing asado with Ricardo
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We did a quick tour to visit the city (the Cathedral, the San Francisco Church & Convento San Bernardo) because the best thing that you can do here as normally in almost all Argentina is eating the empanadas, go for an “asado”-barbecue and drink wine.
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Cathedral - Salta

Then I went to Mendoza, the main city of the winery region. I spend two days heremainly trying several wines and doing some tours. One of them to the Flichman winery which is running by Luis Cabral Almeida (Portuguese).

Parque General San Martin

Valparaiso, was my next stop. It is considered the cultural capital of Chile and a Unesco World Heritage. The most interesting here is to walk around the city, climb the hills or take the "ascensors" which are spread all around the city.

Plaza Sotomayor - Valparaiso

Cerro Concepcion - Valparaiso

View from one of Neruda's house (la Sebastiana)- Valparaiso

Nearby (just 7 km away) Vina del Mar is also worth a visit. The city is just next to the sea and is a typical destination for Chileans of Santiago for their weekends and holidays.

From here I went directly to Puerto Montt and didn’t stop in Santiago. It was a pity since I had some friends there but it was a question of priorities (I visited Santiago 4 years ago) and my first ones were Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and the Lake District.

I was somehow disappointed with Puerto Montt. There was really nothing to see and the weather was horrible when I arrived (very windy and cold). There were two alternative routes from here. The first one, to take the Navimag ferry for a 3 day journey through Chile’s fjords till Puerto Natales. The other one, to cross the Lake District till Bariloche. I decide for the second one, since the ferry was leaving just on Mondays (it was Friday that time) and there was no way to stay more days in Puerto Montt.

Volcano Osorno - Lake District

So I booked the typical tour to cross the lakes. It was nice but comparing to other activities of my round the world trip this was really a tour that I could have skipped. On top of that it was very expensive (the only company who offer this service is Andina del Sud) and too long.

Lake Petrohue - Lake District

Just to give an idea, to cross the lakes we took 3 catamarans and 4 buses!!! The sights seen were the Volcan Capulco, Volcan Osorno, Volcan Puntiagudo, Waterfalls Petrohue, Lake de todos os Santos, Puerto Frias, Puerto Alegre, Puerto Best, Puerto Pamielo and finally Bariloche

Bariloche is a ski resort town but even during the summer there is a lot to do and see. It is also a hot destination for the Portenos (people from Buenos Aires)

During the cruise, I met some people. My favorite one was a Colombian couple (Dairo and his wife), who were in their honeymoon and who very kindly invited me to dinner.

Lake Nahuel Huapi - Bariloche

El Calafate was the starting point to explore the Patagonia.

El Calafate

The first day I did the glaciers cruise on the National Park Los Glaciares. The most impressive one were the Spegazzini and the Upsala. A very nice thing was also having lunch at the Onelli bay.
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Upsala Glacier

The Tuga at Bay Onelli

But my favorite activity was the hiking day on the Perito Moreno.

Perito Moreno

Just by getting close to this glacier is a memorable experience, and trekking on it is paradise. Perito is 30km long, 5 km wide and 60 m high.

Trekking on Perito Moreno

Visiting a hole - Perito Moreno

For security reasons there is just a maximum of 20 people per day and we had to use harness and croupons. The group was as always very international and very friendly

Enjoying wisky after the trekking - Perito Moreno

From El Calafate I took a bus and once more crossed the border to Chile. I went to Puerto Natales which is the town to get to if you want to visit Torres del Paine National Park! To avoid the busy lodges of the park I decided to rent my own tent.

Torres del Paine

Torrence, who I met on my way to Puerto Natales, joined me and we did almost all the W circuit together (he just left the last day before visiting the Grey glacier). It was a fantastic experience trekking here. The landscape is fantastic and Torrence was the ideal mate since we had the same pace which is always very important when you are trekking with someone else.

Torrence & Pedro

Day 1 – Trekking from Hosteria Torres till the Torres del Paine. We slept at Camping Torres

Torres del Paine

Day 2 – Trekking from Camping Torres to Camping Los Cuernos and then till Camping Italiano where we stayed overnight.

Day 3 – We still climbed till the Camping Britanico to get another good view from the back of Torres del Paine. Then we walked till Camping Paine Grande were Torrence took the ferry back and where a slept.

Lake Nordenskjold - Torres del Paine

Day 4 – To complete the “W circuit” I trekked this day with two other Dutch friends (Marcel and Jordi) to visit the Grey Glaciar.

Grey Glacier - Torres del Paine

I would have loved to know how many kms we have been trekking but as I mentioned before the information was not very clear.

Arriving at Tierra del Fuego

To complete my trip in Patagonia I visited Tierra del Fuego (which is mainly Chilean) but I ended in to the southern most city in the World, Ushuaia in Argentina! To my surprise it was very warm during my visit.

Huge country...

Ushuaia

The main activity here was to “climb” the glacier Martial. I did it with Umberto an Italian guy, and the views from the top are incredible with the Ushuaia city and Channel Beagle on the background. Anyway, after visiting Perito Morreno, Scalabicini, Grey all these glaciers are somehow ridiculous comparing to Martial one!

On top of the Glacier Martial

One funny thing in Ushuaia is their marketing. Each restaurant, bar, tour ... always use the slogan “… del fin del mundo”- … end of the world!

Last stop in Argentina was the Capital, Buenos Aires. From Ushuaia it is a 3h30 min flight (3000 km!). I stayed in Palermo Viejo. In fact the atmosphere was very nice with a lot of restaurants and bars around but also very difficult to find a hotel since all of them are very small and the demand is always very high.

During the day I walked around to visit the area (Palermo), Recoleta and its the cemetery, Plaza de Mayo and its cathedral, Teatro Colon, the Obelisco, San Telmo…

Plaza de Mayo - Buenos Aires

With some local friends (Filipe and Sofia) and a Portuguese (Eduardo) we had some great meals (Happening at Puerto Madero, Baez in Canitas, Osaka in Palermo) and also experienced the Buenos Aires’s nightlife (El Punto).

Felipe, Sofia, Pedro & Eduardo - Puerto Madero

The best activity, was to watch the semi-final of the Polo tournament (La Dolphina against Chapas Uno). Very interesting, the game and all the glamour around it!!! In fact Argentinians can proudly say that they have (probably) the most beautiful women in the world!

Watching a Polo Game

Peru & Bolivia

2007-11-04T20:30:00.002Z

Benefits:
Peru – Machupicchu, Pisco Sour, trekking Inca trail
Bolívia – Very cheap, eat Truta, Lake Titica & Tour in the Salar of Uyuni

Concerns:
Bolivia – So cheap that almost everywhere toilets are a private business and therefore you need to pay. The problem is not really paying but having some coins for it!
Speak Quechua is really impossible.

Places visited (& days): 20 days from 19 Oct. till 8th Nov.

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Bogota to Lima (3h); Bus from Lima to Nasca (6h); Bus from Nasca to Cusco (15h); Bus from Cusco to Puno (6h); Taxi from Puno to Yunguyo - Bolivia Border, (1h30); Yunguyo to Isla del Sol - Lake Titicaca by taxi and private boat (45 min & 30 min); Isla del Sol to Copacabana by boat (1h30); Copacabana to La Paz by bus (4h); La Paz to Yuni (10h30)

Currency: 1 Euro = 4,34 Pen (Peru Nuevo Soles); 1 Euro = 11,06 Bob (Bolivianos)

Funny Experiences :

Visit Lima on the weekend of the national census. Tourists were the only ones allowed to walk around. That was the good thing. The bad one, was to find a bar the previous night, because all of them were closed since they were not allowed to sell alcohol drinks before the census day.
Sleeping in a salt hotel (it means that it was also a salt bed!)
eat coca leaf and cuy (pig)

For this part of the trip (From Lima till La Paz), one of my best friends joined me. It is always nice to meet good friends when you have been away from home for so long. It’s very easy to travel with him since he has a good mindset and shares with me the same travel goals.

Manolo, Cristy, Pedro, Rocio, ..., Manuel

In Lima we stayed 2 days. Glad that my friend Rocio was in town. With her we did some sightseeing around the neighbourhoods of Miraflores, Banraco & San Martin. For dinner, a friend of Roccio, Cristy, also joined us and we went to Nikkibeach. Very nice restaurant although it was freezing since we decided to dine at the terrace with sea view. But it was Ok because we had some wine then.

Plaza de las Armas - Lima

Next stop, was Nasca, a village known for their lines, now a Unesco World Heritage. To visit the lines we did what everybody normally does, over fly them. What could have been an incredible experience suddenly turned into a nightmare. The aircraft was as small as a car (just 4 seats) and due to the high temperature, as the pilot told us later, it was very difficult to control it. I think all of us were really scared. Even the pilot, because instead of telling us to take pictures while we were approaching a new line, he shouted all the time “ Saca Foto! Saca Foto!”

Manuel & Pedro just before starting the flight (still smiling...)

Nasca's lines

Then we went to Cusco which was once the the foremost city of the Inca Empire.

Plaza de las Armas - Cuzco

Apart from visiting this beautiful city (Plaza de las Armas, Cathedral…) and around it (Q’enqo, Saqsaywaman, Pukapukara & Tambomachay - some archaeological ruins) we shopped around to decide which company we should pick up for the trekking.

Local girl with her Lama

Cuzco's city view

The night before starting the trekking we went for dinner with other two Portuguese that we met during a tour around Cuzco.

Manuel, Rosalina, Raquel & Pedro

For the treking we booked it with Q' ente. In fact it was a very good decision. The guide (Cesar), the cook (Alex), the porters (Isidro & Juan,) the horses, the food - everything was incredibly good!

The Inca trail at that time was sold out and therefore we decided for an alternative trekking, the Salkantay which has some great advantages comparing to the Inca trail; no tourists so it is easier to get in contact with local people; more landscape variation; one day longer; and the day before arriving to MachuPichu you get incredible views from the ruins.

Here are some more details of the trekking:

Day 1 ; Cusco to Mollepata and from heretill Sayllapata by car. At Sayllapata (3300m) we start our trekking. We walk till Soraypampa (3750m) – 3h15 min and we did in total 9km for the 1st day.

Day 2 – Soraypampa to Suyrococha (4350m) and then till the Paso next to the Salkantay mountain (4600m). Lunch at Kuayracpampa ant then walk all afternoon till our camping at Collapampa (2740) – 10h30 min and we walk in total 25km!

Salkantay mountain (6271 m)

Day 3 – We started the day with a bath at some hot springs near the campiste. Then we walk through Huynaypoco, Huscamayu till La Playa (2010m) our next stop to stay overnight. – 7h15min for doing 15km!

Day 4 – We did part of an Inca trail till some ruins where we got an impressive view already from Machupicchu. Then we went down till Hydro Electrica where we were supposed to take the train till Aguas Calientes (of course we didn’t because our goal was to walk till Machupicchu) – 11h and 24km!!!

Manuel, Cesar (the Guide) & Pedro

Day 5 – 1h15 min more to climb to Machupicchu (we started at 4.30 am to be sure that we would arrive there at 6.00 am when the gate opens)

So on the whole, we did this amazing trail along 5 days walking 73 km!!! Not bad at all!

Arriving at Machupicchu, “the lost city of the Inca Empire”, was no doubt a magnificent experience. The site is located at 2430 m and was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911.

The Tugas at Machupicchu

Machupicchu

Another reason to celebrate this visit for me is the fact that I completed the visit of the new 7 wonders! During this round-the-world trip I visited Petra, the Taj Mahal and Machupicchu. Before my round-the-world trip I had visited the Coliseum, Christ Redeemer, Chichen Itza & the Great Wall.

Before going to our second spot of this trip, the lake Titicaca, we stayed overnight in Puno.

Lake Titicaca is awesome. I heard a lot about this beautiful lake but could never imagine that it was so nice. The lake sits at almost 4000m and on the back you have the impressive Cordillera Real.

Lake Titicaca & the Cordillera Real

Cha' llapampa - Isla del Sol (lake Titicaca)

We stayed at Casa de Don Ricardo, at Isla del Sol, managed by some local people. The food, especially the Truta was very good. We did some trekking around the Isla and enjoyed its scenic views.

The Tuga with Susana and Domingas who runs Casa Don Rodrigo

Then we went to La Paz for 3 days more. From Copacabana we took a bus but to my surprise to cross the lake we had to take one ferry and our bus another one! Funny no?

Our bus crossing the lake, from San Pedro to San Pablo

We were totally lost the first night since we were in the centre, staying at a nice hotel (probably the best deal for a 5 star hotel - just 80$) but nothing was really going on.

La Paz

During the day we walked around the centre to visit the Iglesia de San Francisco, Plaza Pedro Murillo and the Museo de La Coca (very small but very interesting)

Plaza Pedro Murillo - La Paz

Fruit market at La Paz

The next day we understood the nightlife was at zona sur and we decided to end up there where we had a great time at Gitana and People Secret.

Nightlife at Gitan (La Paz) with some friends

After 16 days travelling with my friend Manuel, he went back to Portugal and I went to Uyuni to visit the Salar. I went there with Lenka and Jan (both from Czech Republic) who I met during the Salkantay trail.

It was very easy to find a tour since there are so many travel agencies organizing tours at Uyuni. The tour was from Uyuni (Bolivia) till San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) for 3 days.

On our Land Cruiser we also traveled with Fabiem and Florence from France, Meg from US and Ben from Canada.

The awsome jouneys of the Salar de Uyuni

I was surprised with the amount of sights visited during this trip; the Salar, volcanos (Tunupa, Ollaque…) lagunas (Canapa, Hedionda, Ramaditas, Colorada, Blanca e Verde), Rocks on the desert

Here are some details of the tour:

Day 1 – Colchani, Isla del Pescado with the Volcan Tunupa on the back and San Juan were we stayed overnight in a Salt Hotel

Isla del Pescado (Isla Incahuasi) - Salar de Uyuni

Our great cooker and her lovely daughter Betysai

Day 2 – Chiguara with Volcan Ollaque on the back, 1st Laguna – Canapa, 2nd Laguna – Hedionda, 3rd Laguna – Charcota & the laguna – Monpa); Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa; and overnight in our second salt hotel (Hostal San Marcelo). During the night it was freezing (-5)

Flamingos at Laguna Canapa

The rocks on the desert

Pedro, Florence, Fabien, Jan, Lenka, Meg & Ben during our last dinner

Day 3 – We visited the Geysers, Laguna blanca and Laguna Verde with the Volcan Licancabur on the back.

The Geysers

The last spot of the tour, the Tuga at Laguna Verde just before the Chilean border

Colombia

2007-10-19T22:38:00.003Z

Benefits: Safe; few tourists, Cartagena old town, Coffe

Concerns: Police control (maybe it is really needed but when you are asked to get out of the bus more than once on the same trip just for identification, guns and drugs control, it is easy to get upset)

Places visited (& days): 14 days from 6 Oct. till 19 Oct – Cartagena (5 + 1), Taganga & Parque Nacional Tayrona (3); Medellin (2); Manizales (1), Bogota (2)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from San Jose (Costa Rica) to Cartagena via Panama (50 min & 1h); bus from Cartagena to Taganga (8h due to a strike); Taganga back to Cartagena by bus (4h ); Cartagena to Medellin by Bus (15h); Medellin to Manizales by bus (5h30), Manizales to Bogota by bus (7h30)

Currency: 1 Euro = 2847 COP (Colombia Pesos)

Funny Experiences: Strike on the way from Cartagena to Taganga – Teachers which seemed to be not well paid decided to cut the road for some hours. I thought it was just a small strike but when I left the bus to get some food, the strike was already on TV (live!!!). Of course it took us much longer to take an alternative road.

Macaw

When I arrived to Cartagena, I fell immediately in love with this city (the old town which is the historic part). The colonial buildings, the houses with their balconies, flowers and different colours, the churches and plazas, make this city a really romantic place.

Cartagena

I stayed in the neighbourhood of San Diego at Hotel Puertas de Cartagena, run by Nerys. The main sights that I visited in the old town are Plaza Santo Domingo, Plaza San Diego, Plaza de Bolivar and the museums around (my favourite one the Inquisition museum).

Puerta del reloj - Cartagena

Local ladies relaxing at Plaza de Bolivar - Cartagena

Outside the old town the Castillo de San Felipe and the Convento de la Popa are also interesting spots to be visited.

Sunset from the Castillo de San Felipe - Cartagena

With Deisy & Gena, drinking, at Plaza de Santo Domingo

Around the old town, Bocagrande and El Laguito are Cartagena´s main beaches where the big hotels are located – Honestly I didn’t like it since there is nothing compared with the charm of the old town

Time to cut my hair again at Barberia Jaramillo - Cartagena

From Cartagena I went north to visit Parque Nacional Tayrona and to check if there was still a possibility to do a trekking to visit the Ciudad Perdida which is one of the largest pre-colombian towns and was discovered just in 1975.

To visit the Parque Nacional Tayrona I decided to stay nearby at Taganga, a small village (2500 population). I stayed at the best hotel in town La Ballena Azul (nice, friendly and has a huge terrace to enjoy the sunset).

Taganga village

Sunset at Playa Grande - Taganga

The beach is not so good, but just 15 min walk around the hill is Playa Grande which is much better. Here I met a lot of local and nice people (the best, my friend Victor) I was surprised when I learnt that he had already 7 children and he was just 30 years old. But I learnt then, that it is quite common situation in other South American countries.

Victor and (part) of his family

There was no way to trek to La Ciudad Perdida - the lost City, for less then 5 days. Therefore I gave up since I didn´t have enough time.

So, during my stay in Taganga I visited for one day the Parque Nacional Tayrona. I joined a tour but was really worried since it was a huge family with some children, the guide and me. At the end of the day I got very close to the family since all of them were very interesting. They were from Bogota and told me to call them when I was there.

Parque Nacional Tayrona

With the Cortes family (Carlos, Caterine, David, Alba, Lorena, Julie) & the guide (Frank)

Then, I came back to Cartagena for another day visit and then went to Medellin. The bus trip was horrible since it took us nearly 15h! Like some of the Middle East cities that I visited, the contrast of the rich (El Poblado) area and the poor one was remarkable.

Metro Cable - Medellin

I visited the Antioquia Museum which is the main attraction. In and outside are the paintings and sculptures of Fernando Botero. Interesting sights especially to get a good view from the city are the Cerro Nutibarra and new Metro Cable from Acevedo to Santo Domingo.

Botero's figure

Cerro Nutibarra

Funny way to make celular calls

Before going to Bogota I went to Manizales, one of the coffee towns of the Zona Cafetera. It is really worth a visit. I really wanted to understand all the coffee production process so I booked a tour with one of the farms near Manizales - Hacienda Guyabal. It was like a private tour since I was the only customer that day.

Coffee tour with Gabriel (the guide) at Hacienda Guyabal - Chinchina

Colombia vs Ecuador (soccer) on TV at the Terminal de Bus

Last stop was Bogota. The weather at that time was terrible, raining a lot and therefore not suprisingly I found Bogota very dark. Anyway, the Plaza Bolivar is impressive and I enjoyed walking around this area.

Raining all the time in Bogota

Plaza de Bolivar - Bogota

Although far from Bogota (it took me roughly one hour by car). I had an incredible experience going to the restaurant Andres Carnes de Res . A lot of people had recommended me this place so my expectation was very high. I was not disappointed, since the restaurant is the right place to party, have a good meal and meet people. The food, the music, the atmosphere, and the waiters - everything was excellent. I spend much of the time dancing with a Colombian and Brazilian group.

With Mariana at Andres Carnes de Res

The next day, obviously I had an incredible headache. I was almost ready to leave and decided to call the family Cortes (my friends from the Parque Nacional Tayrona). Alba then invited me to have lunch at one of the best restaurants in town. Very bright and with a remarkable business record, she now owns a company which operates on the petroleum industry. It was a pity that I had to leave that day since I would have loved to know her much better.

With Alba, just before leaving to Peru

Costa Rica

2007-09-30T17:52:00.002Z

Benefits: People (the Ticos) and the way they live - Puravida!, Tico’s breakfast “Gallo pinto” which is fried rice with beans; plenty of remote places (just need to drive a bit and you reach a mountain, or a volcano or a rain forest or a beach and sometimes you can even have all together; great National Parks (specially Tortuguero, Manuel Antonio and Corcovado); wildlife (birds, monkeys, iguanas, ...)

Concerns: Rain (I know it was the rainy season but I never expected to have rain everyday!); Beaches (good for surfing but not for the fans of the white sand beaches), Roads (some of them still unpaved) and trucks on the road (therefore sometimes it was really a nightmare just to drive 10km!)

Places visited (& days): 22 days from 13 September till Oct - 5 Oct; San Jose and the valley (7); La Fortuna & Volcano Arenal (2); Monteverde (1); Tamarindo (1); Samara (1); Montezuma (2); Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio (2); Uvita (1); Bahia Drake & Parque Nacional Corcovado (2); Cahuita (2); Parque Nacional Tortuguero (1)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Miami to San Jose (2h30min); Bus from San Jose to La Fortuna (3h - 150km); Jeep-boat-jeep from La Fortuna to Monteverde crossing the Lake Arenal (3h - 100km); Bus from Monteverde to Tamarindo (5h - 175km); Tamarindo do Samara by car (2h15 - 109km); Samara to Montezuma by car (4h but it took much more due to some problems with my car - 160km); Montezuma to Manuel Antonio by car and by boat (5h - 200km); Manuel Antonio to Uvita by car (2h30 - 70km); Uvita to Sierpe by car (1h - 50km); Sierpe to Drake Bahia & Concorcovado by boat (1h30 - 30km); Sierpe to Cahuita by car (8h - 450km); Cahuita to Tortuguero by car and by boat (3h - 200km); Tortuguero to San Jose by car (2h - 100km)

Currency: 1 Euro = 730 CRC (Costa Rica Colones)

Funny Experiences:
First days with my rented car – On the first one I had a flat tyre and no jack to change the wheel, fortunately some Ticos decided to help me then. On the second one, ran out of battery and therefore the car had to be replaced.
Sleeping in a rain forest with heavy rain storms

Costa Rica is getting well known as a tourist destination - Therefore it was easy to meet and make a lot of new friends

San Jose - always raining

San Jose is not a beautiful city but at least it has some very nice neighbourhood, the Bairro Amon with some nice hotels (Hotel Britannia and Hotel Dunn In) and restaurants (El Oasis, Cafe Moro and Cafetal de la Luz). It is also a good place to stay to visit some of the volcanos nearby as the Poas and the Irazu (even though the distances are quite short it takes always a lot of time).

Teatro Nacional - San Jose

My first stop was at La Fortuna to see the Arenal Volcano. I decided to skip the village and sleep just next to the Volcano at a very nice lodge with huge cabañas (Lomas del Volcano). During the day it was perfect to enjoy the great views from the volcano but on a night tour I couldn’t see the sight of the volcano’s lava since it was raining a lot.

Volcano Arenal

Then I went to Monteverde which is a cloud forest (by definition a cloud forest is where a dry and a rain forest meet each other). To come here, I took the jeep-boat-jeep tour whose the main attraction is crossing the lake Arenal. Indeed, the site is beautiful and the views with the volcano behind are great. On my way I met Bruno (the first Portuguese I met on my round the world trip!!!)

Bruno & Pedro (the 2 Tugas)

I stayed just one day in Monteverde for trekking on the hanging bridges settled around the village.

Monteverde - Cloudy forest

To go to the Pacific Coast, I took another bus (Intercity - which is a small van). On my way, I met a Spanish couple (Jose from Valencia). It was funny since he was working for Bancaja, for whom I managed a consulting project 2 years ago. He was sharing his feelings with me regarding the organization of the America’s cup in Valencia since he was in charge of managing all the accounts of the staff.

The first stop on the Pacific Coast was OK but I expected more. It was still raining a lot and on a beach site it is always very disappointing. Although I had great dinners (the best one, at Pachanga very well served by the Chef Shlomy from Israel). The best spot in town was the new lounge run by Svetliana and Fabrice. I met some interesting people (Natal from Italy and a cute Tica – Mileny).

Tamarindo - Still raining a lot

Still looking for some good spot to lay back on the beach I stopped at Samara. In fact it is a nice place but few km to the south, the beach is much nicer at Carillo.

Samara Beach

Anyway, for me the right spot of the Pacific Coast was Montezuma. To drive here was a challenge since part of the road was really on bad condition and also because I had some problems with the rented car (flat tyre one day, and a battery problem on another one). Anyway, Ticos are such good people that they are always ready to help you.

Flat tyre - Carillo Beach

Sunset at Carillo Beach

Montezuma is really small and probably this was the reason I liked it so much. Therefore after 5 minutes in town, you know everyone!

Montezuma

The main attraction was the waterfall! Trekking here is nice but not so easy as I thought. The night before I met two nice girls (Kirsty from Scotland and Izzy from UK) and we agreed to visit the waterfall together. After 30 minutes, we were struggling since it was not very clear how to proceed. Glad that we met Carlos, a local guy, who joined us and acted us a tour guide. We had such a good time that we decided to spend the rest of the day and night together, visiting the Mal Pais beach and having dinner back in Montezuma.

Izzy, Pedro & Kirsty - Montezuma

At the waterfall

Mal Pais Beach

The next day I gave Kirsty and Izzy a ride since they were travelling on the same direction, at least till Puntarenas. From here I was going to Jaco and to Manuel Antonio, while they were going to Volcano Arenal.

When I arrived at Jaco, I immediately decided not to stay there since it was the opposite of what I was looking for. This town was already very developed with some huge buildings. Therefore, I kept driving till Quepos and stayed nearby to visit Manuel Antonio National Park.

Scenery from Quepos to Manuel Antonio

Iguana - Manuel Antonio National Park

I loved this Park. It is not a very big Park, but it has some easy treks, nice beaches (finally some with white sand) and good wildlife (my favourite the monkeys and the iguanas).
I had dinner in Quepos and went to party with some friends - Anouk (a nice Dutch girl), Julian and Brent (both from US).

Pedro, Julian, Anouk & Brent

Uvita, my next stop is not so far but the road from Quepos to Dominical (20 km north of Uvita) is really bad. Therefore I decided to stay for the night before going to Corcovado. It was a good idea. The landscape is awesome and it is supposed to be a good area to spot whales!

Going to Corcovado is an adventure, specially if you decide to take the boat from Sierpe. It was a tough decision but fortunately I decided to drop the car in Sierpe because during the 2 days that I had been there, it rained so much that it was too risky to drive.

I was not scared with the storm but it is somehow very interesting to hear a storm all night long when you are sleeping in a cabana in the middle of the forest! I will never forget the lightening! To visit the Corcovado I decide to trek alone (which probably was not the best idea since you never know what can happen). I got lost 3 times (not really lost but I had to come back and find my trail again going to Corcovado). Therefore when I reach the park entrance I had already walked for more than 3 hours and so could not afford to visit the park with enough time. I then decided then, just to visit a waterfall near San Pedrillo.

Were I overnight before Corcovado National Park

To leave this area (south Costa Rica but still on the Pacific coast) and drive to the Caribbean coast I had all kinds of suggestions. Some of them told me that the only way was to drive back to Cartago or San Jose and then to Puerto Limon. Others told me that I could cross the mountains and drive easily through Buenos Aires. Others told me to go to Canoas (next to Panama) and drive along the border. Finally, and without knowing who to believe and what to do, I decided to check it with the police. They confirmed that the only way was to drive through Cartago (which by the way was the longest one). The trip took me more then 8 hours since I had to travel through the Mountains (Chiripo - around 3200 m)

Once more, I was caught by the police!

In Cahuita the weather was much better, even though very humid. On this coast it is really a different vibe and people. The beach is very good specially inside the Cahuita National Park.

Cahuita National Park

Football players after retire hang their boots as a funny Costa Rica Ritual

Last stop before coming back to San Jose was Tortuguero. This is paradise! I loved the village and to reach it you can just do it by boat. I stayed at Casa Marbella which is run by a Canadian and Tica couple. Here I met a lot of nice people, Pilar and Maria Jesus (from Spain), Karin and Frank (from Holland) and a lovely American family.

Tortuguero National Park

Maths class at Tortuguero Village

Darel, the owner, organized a tour to spot a lot of animals (mainly birds). But the best attraction was the night tour to see the turtles. Unfortunately we cannot take photos but I was impressed seeing a turtle nesting and going back to the sea. It was a quick stay (just one night) but really worth it.

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Tortuguero's birds

Before leaving to Colombia I decided to spend some more days in San Jose to visit other neighbourhoods, as Escazu, where I met Caroline. Although from Germany she had already a Tica way of life, probably because she had been living there already for some years.

Pedro & Caroline

The last volcano to visit was the Poas. I made an effort to wake up very early, to reach the Volcano as soon as they open the park (at 8.00). But, in San Jose the traffic is also a chaos and the directions not very clear so I reached the Volcano just at around 10.00. On that day, it was very cloudy and could not see the volcano at all. I was frustrated, but a guide told me to relax and stay a little bit longer because the weather changes very quickly and therefore there was still a possibility to see it. Indeed, 30 min later, suddenly I had the chance to see the volcano for a while.

Volcano Poas

USA

2007-09-04T15:39:00.004Z

Benefits: National Parks; portion sizes (specially for me who really like to eat!), service (the standard one); availability of hotels on the road (a lot of them but normally we took the Best Westerns); nightlife (NY and Miami)

Concerns: Local food; tipping (10% or even more is already included in the bill); California’s beaches (no doubt, much better on TV specially Malibu); in general lack of flexibility for non-standard services; speed limit (too low)

Places visited (& days): 47 days from 28th July till 13th Sept. - Las Vegas (2), Grand Canyon National Park (3); Los Angeles (3), Carmel & Salinas (1); San Francisco (3); Modesto & Yosemite National park (1); Bridgeport (1); Winnemucca (1); Salt Lake City (1); Antelope Island & Rexburg (1); Yellowstone National Park (1); Cody (1); Rapid City (1); Chamberlain & The Badlands National Park (1); Grinnell (1); Chicago (3); Niagara Falls (1); Little Fall (1); Boston (2); Newport & Marion (1); New York (10); Miami (7)

Transport (time or distances):
By air from Auckland (via San Francisco 12h) to Las Vegas (1h)
By car from Las Vegas till New York:
Ø Day 3 - Las Vegas – Grand Canyon: 420 miles (676 km)
Ø Day 4 - Grand Canyon: 64 miles (103 km)
Ø Day 5 - Grand Canyon: 56 miles (90 km)
Ø Day 6 - Grand Canyon – Los Angeles: 530 miles (853km)
Ø Day 7 – Los Angeles: 59 miles (95 km)
Ø Day 8 – Los Angeles: 89 miles (143 km)
Ø Day 9 – Los Angeles - Salinas: 387 miles (623 km)
Ø Day 10 – Salinas – San Francisco: 130 miles (209 km)
Ø Day 11 – San Francisco: 0 miles
Ø Day 12 – San Francisco: 32 miles (51 km)
Ø Day 13 – San Francisco - Modesto: 235 miles (378 km)
Ø Day 14 – Modesto - Bridgeport: 302 miles (486 km)
Ø Day 15 – Bridgeport - Winnemucca: 241 miles (388 km)
Ø Day 16 –Winnemucca – Salt Lake City: 352 miles (566 km)
Ø Day 17 - Salt Lake City - Rexburg: 279 miles (449 km)
Ø Day 18 – Rexburg - Yellowstone: 213 miles (343 km)
Ø Day 19 – Yellowstone - Cody: 203 miles (327 km)
Ø Day 20 – Cody – Rapid City: 398 miles (640 km)
Ø Day 21 – Rapid City - Chamberlain: 337 miles (542 km)
Ø Day 22 – Chamberlain - Grinnell: 532 miles (856 km)
Ø Day 23 – Grinnell - Chicago: 307 miles (494 km)
Ø Day 24 – Chicago: 0 miles
Ø Day 25 – Chicago: 0 miles
Ø Day 26 – Chicago - Niagara Falls: 558 miles (897 km) – Longest Drive!!!
Ø Day 27 – Niagara Falls – Little Fall: 258 miles (415 km)
Ø Day 28 – Little Fall - Boston: miles ( km)
Ø Day 29 – Boston: 13 miles (21 km)
Ø Day 30 - Boston – Marion: 150 miles (241 km)
Ø Day 31 – Marion – New York: 28 miles (400 km)
By air from New York (via Washington – 1h) to Miami (2h)

Currency: 1 Euro = 1,38 $

Funny Experiences: Sleeping in a motorhome when all the hotels were fully booked; I was not expecting in such a country which sometimes has very strict rules but everyone use their mobiles (cellular in US) while driving and normally do not use helmets riding their motorbike;

LAS VEGAS

After almost 6 months travelling alone, I got a new mate for my trip around US: my sister who is doing a PHD in Mathematics at Columbia University in NY decided to join me. On top of that, my parents also visited us in California. Of course we had a great time all together and it was very nice to share my thoughts with people that know me very well. Their first impression regarding myself was that I looked the same and did not change so much (I don’t know if it is good or not!)

Venetian - Las Vegas

Nice surprise with Las Vegas. I am not a gambler but really enjoyed the city and walking around especially at Las Vegas strip. Great and huge hotels (Venetian, Bellagio, Luxor, Ceasers Palace, Mirage...). But for me the best attraction was the fountain show and specially the Love Beatles - Cirque du Soleil (with no doubt, the best show I've ever seen).

GRAND CANYON

4 words to describe this place: Enormous proportions and colourful scenery, which makes this canyon unique! We spent 3 days in the park at the Yavapai lodge, visiting a lot of sights and of course doing some treks (the south Kaibab trail).

Grand Canyon National Park

The 10 miles width already gives an idea of this huge canyon, but knowing that it is 277 km long makes this site a magic place in the world.

There is a new attraction nearby which is the skywalk (glass bridge 4000 feet, around 1200m, above the Colorado River). Unfortunately (or not, because I was really scared) there was a storm and the skywalk access was closed.

LOS ANGELES

I was not expecting very much from this city and I had a good surprise. First because the hotel was really fashion (the Standard) and there were always parties and nice people around. Secondly because some of the sight visits were really super, specially the Getty museum, Walt Disney concert hall, Beverly Hills (rodeo drive), Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice's area.

Walt Disney concert hall

Hollywood

Hollyood Walk of Fame

LA to SAN FRANCISCO

On the way to San Francisco, driving along the pacific coast with scenic views is amazing (specially the Big Sur - 90 miles from Cambria till Monterrey). We stopped at Carmel (small village on the coast with no street lights) and then drove the 17 mile from here to Monterrey!

Pacific Coast

SAN FRANCISCO

It was freezing all the time. How is it possible to have such a wheather beginning of August. They call it the foggy summer.

Nice sights were, the Lombard Street, Golden Gate Bridge, Civic centre, but my favourite visit was a tour to the Alcatraz Prison.

Lombard Street

To have dinner Castro and North Beach are good areas. I really recommend the Swan Oyster for lunch and L'hosteria del Horno for dinner.

Alamo Square

SAN FRANCISCO to YOSEMITE

From San Francisco, we drove to Berkley, then to Napa Valley (winery) and then Modesto where we visited one of my sister's friends, Sofia Castelo Branco. Sofia was working in Modesto and was living with a Brazilian/Portuguese family (Joao Fernandes). We had a wonderful dinner all together, mainly Portuguese (bacalhau - I think the last time I had some, was in Dubai with Antonio Carvalho). After dinner, we did a quick sightseeing and ended at the Bacchus bar, with nice live music.

Madalena (my sister), Sofia, Pedro e Joao at the Bacchus

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

Sofia, Pedro and Madalena under a Giant Sequoia

Trekking here is nice (but be careful, because some of those old trees can fall – it happened to us and it didn’t hit us by coincidence!). The Giant sequoias are impressive but I expected to see more. The best view in the park is when facing the half dome.

The Tuga with the half-dome behind

We left the park so late, that when we finally arrived at our destination: Bridgeport at 22.00 all the hotels were fully booked and even worst all the restaurants were closed. So we had to rent a motorhome for one night and to eat we had a beer and some chips (UAU!!!)

Moterhome (Hotel) at Bridgeport

Next stop was at Winnemucca. Here there was nothing to visit but we wanted to have a break and specially buy some camping stuff. The reason was very simple: we didn’t want to have fast-food all the time, and we wanted also to stop on the most remote places with incredible landscape

Preparing our camping stuff before lunch

SALT LAKE CITY

Nice town, very clean but also very hot. The day we arrived it was 38 degrees Celsius! It was here that the winter Olympic Games of 2002 were held. This town is also the headquarters of the Mormons. It is incredible their "marketing" since they have guys everywhere to tell you about the Mormon religion.

Salt Lake city

On our way to Yellowstone, and before an overnight stay at Rexburg, we stopped at the Antelope Island.

Antelope Island

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

After visiting the park, it is easier to understand why it is ranked as the number one in US with more visitors per year.

Mammoth Hot Springs

For me what makes it really different compared to the other ones (if I can really compare it) is the combination of different sights to visit and specially the wildlife around. It was easy to spot animals as bears, bison (American buffalo), deer...

Bisons at Yellowstone National Park

CODY

This is the right place to stop after visiting the Yellowstone Park and going east. This is the town of Buffalo Bill When we arrived, who knew that there were some Rodeos during summer time (incredible how those cowboys can catch those animals just in a few seconds!).

Cody Rodeo

RAPID CITY

Our idea was just to visit Mt Rushmore where the heads of 4 American presidents (Roosevelt, Jefferson, Washington, and Lincoln) are carved in the hills. But everyone in town told us that we should not leave without seeing the Crazy Horse.

Mt Rushmore

This is an incredible sight! It will be the biggest in the world. Now you can just see the Indian face. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, died in 82 and now his wife and 7 of his ten sons are working in the project. They do not accept funding from the state since they think the project must be supported only by public donations! Nobody knows when the project will be concluded!

The Crazy Horse (statue and the monument behind)

BADLAND NATIONAL PARK
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It was a small detour from the highway, but it was really worth it. After having crossed the Rocky Mountains, we were at the Great Plains and as the name points out, everything is really flat. The only exception, was this funny land which is now known as the Badlands. It is hard to describe them but it is like huge sand castles along 35 km.

Badlands National Park

We stayed overnight at Chamberlain and the next day we visited the famous bridges of the Madison County

One of the Bridges of Madison County

GRINELL

Just before Chicago we stopped at Joliet to visit the prison (the one from the TV show - Prison break)

Joliet Prison

CHIGAGO

We probably couldn’t find a better hotel just in the centre of town (The intercontinental at North Michigan Avenue).

Millenium Park

I really enjoyed the great views from John Hancock Centre, the Millennium Park and its fountains and the Art Institute museum with an impressive series of the Claude Monet paintings.

View from John Hancock

NIAGARA FALLS

The last time I visited some huge falls was 9 years ago when I made a trip to Zimbabwe and South Africa with a friend of mine (Vasco M. Almeida). I remember that we spent a lot of time walking around the falls since at each corner the view, sound, and lights were totally different.

Niagara Falls

Niagara falls are probably smaller but anyway it’s a gorgeous sight.

Unfortunately, the day we visited them it rained a lot. To get the best view, we had to cross the border to Canada.

BOSTON

Here we visited a cousin (Jaime Almeida) and a friend (Pedro) who was doing a PHD at Harvard University. Boston is a lovely city, but on that weekend we suffered a lot since it was really hot.

We visited Beacon Hill, Cambridge and Harvard Square, North End (Italian neighbourhood) and we even had time for a delicious meal at one of Boston’s Portuguese restaurants (Casa de Portugal).

Dinner at Casa Portugal (Pedro, Madalena, Pedro and Jaime)

Harvard University

NEWPORT & MARION

Newport is a small city, well-known for sailing and for their impressive mansions (e.g Chateau sur Mer, The Breaks…). We stoped here to visit the International tennis Hall of fame. By coincidence there was a veteran tournament going on and we saw the final (John McEnroe against Todd Martin)

International Tennis all of Fame

Before going to NY, we visited and stayed overnight at Jaime's mother (Tia Diana) at Marion. It is a very calm area, and we had a good rest before heading to NY. We chated for some hours since there was a lot to tell and explain from the US trip but also from my roud-the-world one.

NEY YORK

End of our trip. We returned our car after having done 10287 km!!!!! (6392 miles!). At my sister´s apartment I was feeling like being at home. After having visited NY a couple of times, this time the main goal was to follow the US Open.

Joao Zilhao, Madalena and Pedro

We had tickets just for 2 days, but we were lucky since some friends (Sheila Campion, Joao Zilhao & Joao Lagos) from the tour were around and helped us to get more tickets, sometimes even with access to the ATP lounge

Pedro, Sheila, Joao Lagos, João Zilhao & Madalena

Pedro and Carlos Ramos

At the US Open, I met Carlos Ramos, an old friend, who now is one of the best tennis referees on the tour (2007 he did the Wimbledon’s final of Federer against Nadal).

New York sunset from the US Open

Time Square by night

MIAMI

This was the last stop, before leaving to Costa Rica. I stayed at Miami Beach which is the right place to relax and enjoy beach, nightlife (Lincoln Road, Social Miami - Sagamore, Delano) and the great restaurants around.

Ocean Drive - Miami Beach

I had some good friends in town that really took care of me (thanks Jose, Lauren & Rocio)

Japanese dinner with Rocio at Lincoln Street

With Jose Duarte and his family, we did some sightseeing around the city, visited Coconut Drove, Coral Gabels & Key Biscayne, the Evergaldes (crocodile spot) and went to some nice restaurants (Mandarin Hotel and Graziano’s). I also had the chance to meet another colleague, Paco Mateo. Unfortunately Goncalo Leitao was out of town at that time.

Crocodiles at the Everglades

With Lauren, who I met on my trip this year in Tibet, we also did a lot of sightseeing (Spanish Monastery and the Viscaya Museum and Gardens) and great dinners (the best at Prime One Twelve).

Jared, Lauren, David and Pedro at the Prime One Twelve

Another worthwile visit was to Key West to the southern point in US and walk around Duval St and visit Hemingway’s’ house.

Nightlife at Sagamore

New Zealand

2007-08-01T17:30:00.004Z

Benefits: Landscape, small population (4 Mill. inhabitants); the haka dance, food - specially the roast lamb;

Concerns: No buses to travel during night; no ski resort at the mountains (therefore from Queestown I had to take a bus); on the southern island it was freezing, especially during the night with temperature below zero!

Places visited (& days): 15 days from 13 July till 28 July - Christchurch (1 + 2); Queenstown (5); Te Anau (1); Dunedin (1); Wanaka (1); Franz Joseph (1); Wellington (1); Auckland (2)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Sydney to Christchurch (2h40): Christchurch to Queenstown (7h - 486 km); Queenstown to Milford Sound (4h - 291 km); Milford Sound to Te Anau (2h - 120 km); Te Anau to Dunedin (4h - 290km); Dunedin to Wanaka (4h - 276km); Wanaka to Franz Josef Glacier (4h - 287km); Franz Josef Glacier to Greymouth (2h30 - 177km); Greymouth to Christchurch by train (4h30 - 223km); Christchurch to Wellington by air (45min): Wellington to Auckland by Air (50min);

Currency: 1 Euro = 1,94 NZD (New Zealand Dollar)

Funny Experiences : Bus trip from Christchurch to Queenstown: at the Mt Cook all the passenger got off and I was the only one on bord for the remaining trip; 28 of June: the longest day of my life!; Heard my name being called on the speakers at Wellington airport: the flight tag had got lost and therefore they wanted to ask me where I was travelling to (glad that my backpack had my name on it!!!)

This is an incredible country to travel around and I had a great time here. I would have loved to spend some more time, but I had to fly end of the month to US and therefore could just spend 15 days here.

Compared to Australia it is a small country. The first task was to decide how many days I would spend on each of the Islands (south and north). There is no doubt that I preferred the Southern one which is less developed and where the best sights and activities are located.

SOUTHERN ISLAND (12 days)

From Sydney, I took a flight and land in Christchurch. The view from the aircraft was awesome flying over the Tasmania sea and the NZ's mountains covered by snow. I didn't spend much time in the city since I knew I would be back to get my flight to the northern island.

On the way to Mt Cook (probably 40 km from Christchurch)

So, I took a bus to Queenstown where I spent 5 days. On my way, we made some great stops at lake Tekapo, lake Pukaki and at the Mount Cook. Every site is marvellous and this is what makes NZ really different from elsewhere. On the bus I met, Alex (American) who gave me some good tips for my next stop in 2 weeks - he lives 1 hour from San Franciso.

Lake Tekapo

The Tuga "with" Edmund Hillary (the first person to reach the summit of the Everest)

Queenstown is a beautiful and small resort, with a lot of attractions. I went skiing for 2 days, but the most exciting experience was the bungy jumping. It was not an easy decision. On one hand, I suffer from vertigo but on the other hand I love to challenge myself. Therefore I decided to do it and NZ was the right place since it was here the bungee was born with AJ Hackett

Queenstown

I jumped from 47 metres. But what makes it really incredible is that they built the bungy site on the top of the mountain at around 450 metres above Queenstown. Thus, it looked more a 500 metres jump!!! To go there I had to take a skyline gondola. What really embarrassed me at that time, was the small cemetery just next to the gondola (I asked to myself - How many guys from the bungy are buried here???)

The Tuga jumping from the Ledge Bungy - Queestown

With the Portuguese flag - of course!

Skiing here is ok but nothing compared to the Alpes. I did one day at Coronet Peak and another one at The Remarkables. Anyway, I had fun specially by doing it at the end of July (at that time of the year I am used to be at the beach!).

View from the summit of the Remarkables - Skiing Queenstown

Skiing at Coronel Peak

Queenstown has several good restaurants and also an enthusiastic nightlife. I met 2 great Brazilians guys (Fernando and Rafael from Sao Paulo). We had a great meal together enjoying the famous NZ's rost lamb.

Rafael, Fernando e Pedro

When I met again Alex, in Queenstown

Next stop was Milford Sound. On my way I met one of my Japanese friends Mashiyama (the last time I saw him was at the Mt Cook) We did the cruise tour together. It was very sunny but also freezing. Great peaks, rain forests and waterfalls.

Milford Sound

Pedro and Mashi (Japan) - Milford Sound

On my way back from Milford sound to Dunedin, I stopped at Te Anau. I remembered to arrive here at 18.00 pm, having dinner at one of the 3 restaurants in town and at 20.00 pm going to bed since nothing was really happening in town. Anyway I liked it, to lay back at the largest southern island lake (The Te Anau lake).

Dunedin Raiway station view just before a sandstorm!

Dunedin is a student town, on the east coast. Here you can see a lot of wildlife (Albatroz, pinguins, sea lions and NZ fur seals). On my tour I met a Saudi Arabia couple. Those were the first guys from Middle East that I saw travelling around. It was funny because Yasir was wearing a cap from Luis Figo.

Otago Peninsula - Around Dunedin

Sea Lions - Otago Peninsula

Pinguins - Otago Peninsula

The Saudi Arabi couple with the tuga

Next stop Wanaka. Another charming town but compared to Queenstown is much smaller. The lake Wanaka has great walks around it with spetecular views!

The result of the sandstorm at Dunedin was huge snow fall on our way to Wanaka.

Wanaka

Awesome views from walking trails - Wanaka

Sunrise - Wanaka

Then I went to Franz Josef Glacier to do some trekking around the glacier. This time, I decided not to climb it. I did it once, in Chile some years ago and will probably do it again at the end of this trip when visiting the Pantagonia.

Franz Josef Glacier

Just next by the Franz Josef Glacier

To go back to Christchurch, I took first a bus to Greymouth and then the tranzalpine train. It is nice but after travelling around the entire island, I was not so suprised witht the views.

My last visit on the island was in Kaikoura. It is the right place to spot the sperm whales. The tour was very well organized, but it is always a risk because nobody gurantee that you will see any whale (if this had happened, they would have refunded 80% of the money - which is fine). We spent around 2 hours on the tour and spotted the whales at least four times and some dolphins as well. It is really worth the visit.

Sperm Whales - Kaikoura

From Christchurch, I took a flight to Wellington (already in the Northern Island).

NORTHERN ISLAND (3 days)

I spent 3 days on southern island, which was probably not enough but at least could give me an idea of two pacific cities (Wellington - the capital) and Auckland.

In Wellington I visited the Tapa Museum and walked around the city. The cable car for the Botanic Gardens that gives some good views from the city but the one that I preferred was from Mount Victoria

Wellington view from Mt Victoria

No doubt Auckland is the city of sails - surrounded by water, 2 big harbours and huge boats. The Sky tower gives spectacular views from the city and for the most brave guys there is also a sky jump (just from 192m !!! - of course I didn't try it). Another great view of the city is from the Kelly Tarlton's Encounter Antarctica Encounter spot.

Sky Tower - Auckland

Auckland's view from the Antarctic Encounter

I enjoyed the city walking around Queens st (unfortunately with some works going on), the harbours, and having dinner at Ponsonby Road (my favourite one, the SPQR - excellent food, wine, music & atmosphere).

The 28th of July, I would remember it as the longest day of my life: 43 hours! Just because I flew from Auckland to Las Vegas and crossing several time zones!

Australia

2007-07-13T05:51:00.002Z

Benefits: Good beer (my favourite one the VB - Victoria Beer) and great Wine, excellent backpacker hostels (finally I could try them on my trip), Low population rate (just 20 Millions); good coffee (happy to get some espressos again).

Concerns: Winter time, therefore short days thus everything closed very early

Places visited (& days): 16 days from 27 July till 13 July - Adelaide and around (5 days), Melbourne (3 days), Sydney and around (6 days) and Ayers Rock (2 days)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Bali, via Singapore, to Adelaide (2h30 + 6h30); Bus from Adelaide to Melbourne (700 km - 10h ); Bus from Melbourne to Sydney (950 km - 12h); Sydney - Ayers Rocks flight (2, 5 hours)

Currency: 1 Euro = 1, 59 Australia Dollars (AUD)

Funny Experiences : Walking around Ayers rock, we (David and myself) underestimate our time. The problem was that the last bus was leaving at 17h00. At 16h00 and realizing that we would never make it, we started to run but even that was not enough. Then we realized that the only way was to hitchhike. To my surprise nobody stopped! Already after 17h a young guy finally gave us a ride and drove quickly. We were lucky to catch the bus, because sleeping in the desert with low temperature would not have been the most exciting experience.

Gleneld (beach town, 10 km from Adelaide)
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It was impossible to cover all the country (it' s huge as USA without Alaska!). So my decision was to visit the southern coast and if I had time go to Uluru.

I was very happy to visit one of the Pacific countries and go back to the cool temperature - Winter time (7 Celsius degrees when I arrived).

Wine tasting at Barosa Valley
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First stop was in Adelaide were I landed from Bali. It is not a big city and there is not so much to see in town (I would say, the Victoria Sq). Around Adelaide, there is a lot to see and to do. My favourite visits were a day trip to the Barosa Valley (55 km away) where I had the chance to taste excellent wines at Chateau Yaldara, Grant Burge (Jacobs Creeck) and Langmeil; a one-day tour to the Kangaroo Island where I could see a lot of wildlife (sea-lions, fur New Zealand, koalas, kangaroos) and the remarkable rocks!; and a short visit to Gleneld, a relaxed seaside town just 11 km from the centre of Adelaide.

Sea Lions - Kangaroo Island

Koala - Kangaroo Island

The Remarkable rocks - Kangaroo Island

New Zealand fur seals - Kangaroo Island

Kangaroos - Kangaroo Island
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2nd stop was at Melbourne. I took a bus from Adelaide (10 h) to cover the 700km. Arriving there, I had a an excellent surprise and now I understand better this "battle" against Sydney to see which city is ranked as the number one. Melbourne has great buildings (nice views from the Rialto towers), top museums (I loved the immigration one) and is very clean. The Yarra river and all the sports facilities and events in town (Olympic Games, Tennis Open, F1 racing at Albert Park, MCG - Melbourne Cricket Ground), give the city a special flavour.

City view from the Rialto towers - Melbourne

The Yara river - Melbourne

I visited the Docklands Waterfront, Federation Sq, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne's Aquarium, Block arcade (similar to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan), Royal Botanic Gardens, the Shrine of Remembrance Memorial (Victoria's memorial to the men and women who served Australia in armed conflicts) and the Telstra Dome (home of 5 different Australian Rules Football's team- Australian favourite sport) with its sliding roof!

Shrine of Remembrance

Telstra Dome tour - Melbourne

Again by bus, but this time during the night (12 hours drive to cover the 950 km), I travelled from Melbourne to Sydney. As usuall I didn't book anything and for the first time in my trip I could not find any hotel in the city when I arrived. The reason was obvious: it was weekend; already school holidays; there was the Live Earth concert and the Australia-South Africa rugby match. After several hours searching the only alternative was to go to a backpacker hostels at Bondi, famous place for its beaches and good waves to surf!

Bondi beach - Sydney

Darling Harbour - Sydney

Beer time - The Tuga with Xavier at Sydney Olympic Park
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But before the game the main attraction were the Bundaberg girls

Australia vs. South Africa

The rugby match was a great experience. I am used to seeing and playing a lot of sports (tennis, soccer, skiing, kite-surfing...) but not rugby. Since it was an important match (it is always important when Australia (the wallabies) play against South Africa (the springboks) but nothing is comparable when they play against New Zealand (the all blacks). On my way to the game I met Xavier (from France who was working in Sydney) He used to play rugby and therefore during the game, gave me a lot of explanations. Australia won but was had to recoup from 0-17 to win the game with a final score of 25-17!

Sydney's Opera House
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Opera House and Harbour Bridge - Sydney

Sydney's from the Circula Quay
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Most of the time was spent in the city to visit the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour (huge waterfront), Circular Quay. Nearby Sydney (just 103 km away) I did a one-day trip to trek the Blue Mountains
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Blue Mountains
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Party in Sydney

Visiting all the southern coast (from Adelaide to Sydney) it took me more time than I expected and each additional day spent here was one less in New Zealand because I had already a flight from NZ to US at the end of the month. Visit or not Ayers Rock was a tough decision since it was so very far from Sydney (2,5 hours flight) and also very expensive due to last minute bookings (just the highest fares available).
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David and Pedro at the top of Ayers Rock

David (one of my friends that I met in Kangaroo Island) also joined me. We had a great time since nothing in the world can be compared to Ayers Rock (huge sandstone rock in the middle of the dessert; remarkable colour diversity during sunset). Other great sights around Ayers Rock are the Kata Tjuta (Olgas) and the Kings Canyon (unfortunately no time to visit it).
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The Tuga enjoying the sunset at Ayers Rock

It is forbidden to climb the mountain but everyone does it. On the other hand, to walk around it, there are a lot of spots where taking photos is not allowed and here, it seems that everyone respects it.

Walking around Ayers Rock
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Kangaroos at Kata Tjuta

Indonesia (Bali)

2007-06-27T05:46:00.002Z

Benefits: People (honestly, the best & very customer oriented - probably because tourism represents 40% of Bali's income), Beaches (although some of them with some dark sand!); the weather (for a tropical location, not so humid); cheap (considered that it is a hot tourist destination);

Concerns: Beaches with strong current; The Memorial Wall of the Bomb attack (in 2002, more than 200 people where killed) location is on the main road from Seminyak to Kuta with plenty of bars nearby (and therefore people always drank around!): the traffic by night, mainly because there are few roads and very narrow;

Places visited (& days): 6 days, from the 21st till the 27th June - Seminyak, Legian, Kuta (5 days), tour around the Island (1 day)
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Transport (time or distances): Singapore - Bali (2h 15 min by air)

Currency: 1 Euro = 12, 22 Indonesia Rupiahs (IDR)

Funny Experiences : Buying a Portuguese newspaper; Massage with the wrong person

Resor Seminyak Hotel

I stayed at a nice resort called the Resor Seminyak for 6 days. From here I could also cover easily Legian and Kuta which are the main beaches south from Seminyak. It was the right place to recover from Singapore's nightlife and also enjoy my last summer days before going to Australia and New Zealand's winter.

Beach view from the Hotel

Sunset at Semyniak Beach

On the Island the best activities apart from diving and surfing is to visit the rice terraces, mountains, craters and lakes

I booked a one day tour to visit the Rice Terraces at Sideman Road and Tegallalang, Gunung Batur crater, Danau Batur lake, Ubud (the culture city) & Denpasar (to visit a 24 hours market)

On my way to the rice terraces and when we stopped at a traffic light, some kids on the streets tried to sell me some newspapers. I refused, but when they asked me where I was from and I told them"from Portugal", 1 min later one of them came with a Portuguese newspaper (Expresso). Then, when the traffic light came green again and while we were driving slowly, I decided to buy it. Just asked very quickly the price, and I understood immediately that it was expensive but there was no way to say no because I would then feel sorry for the kid. End of the history; I paid a fortune to have that newspaper and when I was starting to read the main titles an checked the date it was from 2 months before!

Rice terraces - Sideman Area

Rice Terraces - Tegallalang

The Tuga at the Danau Batur

Balinese preparing for a festival - Ubud

Coming from the tour, I was exhausted and decided to go for a massage. Since it was already very late, I decided to do it at my hotel. Arriving at the Spa reception, I asked a young woman the price and if I could do it now. She answered "yes" and told me to go to a private room and start to take some of my clothes off. After 5 minutes when I was almost sleeping, I woke up with a strong pain on my back due to the strenght of the massage. It was a man who had just started to do the massage! - I couldn't' believe it!!!

The only reason for not starting having surf classes was that 2 years ago I started to do kite-surfing and since I have still a lot to improve, I thought that for just 2 or 3 days it wouldn' t be worth it (if I have more time I will try then in South America - but definitely in Brazil my priority will be Kite-surf!)

Anyway, even not having done it I enjoy seeing the experts surfing the huge and long waves of Bali!

Surfing in Seminyak

There are several restaurants in Seminyak. My favourite ones were the Ku De Ta and the Rumours. Excelent food and nice atmosphere. Even, when I decided not to have dinner at one of them, I had at least a drink before or after dinner.
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The Tuga & Lidia, the Public Relation of Rumours

Last night, with Nathalie, a lovely swiss-indonesia girl

Malaysia

2007-06-21T05:40:00.002Z

Benefits: Cosmopolitan, very-clean, quality of the transport, night life, taxis use always the metre; no tipping; tolerance zero for drugs

Concerns: Singapore Expensive (similar as Dubai); border control Singapore / Malaysia, high humidity (just 137 km from the equator)

Places visited (& days): 7 days, from the 13th till 21st of June - Singapore (5 days); Kuala Lumpur (2)

Transport (time or distances): Chengdu to Singapore (5 hours flight); Bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (325 km - 5 hours)

Currency: 1 Euro = 2,07 Singapore Dollars (SGD); 1 Euro = 4,66 Malaysia Ringgits (MYR)

There were two reasons to visit Singapore. The first one was to visit some friends who were doing the MBA at Insead (Amelia and Bernardo). The second one, have a contact with one of the Asian economic success.

Amelia & Isabel

I had a great time here and for the second time in my trip I had the chance to avoid the hotels and stay at Amelia & Isabel's house (thanks girls, I will never forget your "5 star hotel")

I would like to share with all of you my visit to Singapore, but to my surprise it was more night-life than everything else. Why? I think first of all because I missed it after being on the road for 5 months (just party in Beirut and Dubai). Secondly, because all the MBA's guys have this talent of combining study and fun so there was always someone and something going on.

Japanese Dinner - Claire (France) Bernardo (Portugal), Pedro (The Tuga), Inigo & Fernando (Spain), Brigitte (UK/France), Isabel & Amelia (Portugal)

Carol, Amelia, Inigo, Isabel, Pedro

Nightlife at the the MOS (Music of Sounds) specially on Wednesday was great with their several rooms and therefore different music and people. Zouk was another hot place.

The Tuga, Carol & Pedro (Brazil) at MOS

Sights and other activities that I have visited and done: Asian Civilisation Museum, Night Safari (jungle tour in a tram), Botanic Gardens, Orchard road (walking on the main shopping street); Holland Village (where we had several dinners since it is very close to Insead), Colonial district & the Quays

Singapore view from the Theatres on the Bay

The Raffles hotel - An institution on the island

I did a short break on my journey at Singapore to visit Kuala Lumpur. I left very early one day I came on the evening the day after. It is not that far (325 km - 5h ) and it is possible to get seats on the most luxurious buses, where you can lay back easily and have a good nap.

I probably have done what all tourists do when they arrive at a city and do not have much time to spend: a city tour. It was very good since it gave me a lot of hints for what i would like to do on my second day.

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building - Merdeka Square Kuala Lumpur

Of course I visited the Petronas Tower but I was somehow disappointed since we are not allowed to go further than the sky bridge (just 170 m comparing to the 451,9 m of the Tower). Also, another concern, was the long queue to get tickets. The counter opens at 8.30 and when I arrived at 7.30 there were already more than 50 people waiting!

The Petronas Tower

View of the Petronas Towers from Lake Titiwangsa

An alternative to the Petronas Towers, in my opinion better to have a good city view, is the Menara KL (Kuala Lumpur Tower) which is 421 m and the view deck that we have access to is at 276 m with impressive views, including the Petronas!

On my way back to Singapore I tried to find a bus that could make a stop at Melaka to visit another portuguese fort "A famosa" - but unfortunately could not find any!

Nepal & Tibet

2007-06-12T15:36:00.002Z

Benefits: Although I did not visit the Everest you can feel all the time you are nearby; Get in touch with the Buddhism religion; Lhasa and the Potala palace (the residence of the Dalai Lama)

Concerns: Altitude sickness; Permits (TTB) on top of the Visas for Tibet; very difficult to leave Tibet by air (just 2 alternatives; either going back to Kathmandu or flying to Chengdu-China which I did it)

Places visited (& days): 16 days from 31 May till 12th June - Kathmandu (3); Patan (1), Baktapur (1); Trip from Kathmandu to Lhasa (5 days); Lhasa (3 days)
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Transport (time or distances): Flight from Varanasi-India to Kathmandu (1h15 min); Kathmandu to Lhasa-Tibet (865 km by Land Cruiser during 5 days); From Lhasa to Chengdu (2 hours flight)
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Currency: 1 Euro = 88,42 Nepal Ruppes (NPR); 1 Euro = 10,29 China Yuan Renminbi (CNY)

Funny Experiences : Meet in Bakthapur one of my old friends (Maria Noronha); I struggled a lot to memorise Nepalese names (they were too long!). Just found out some days later why and it is because their names give you info of their caste, profession, ethnic, where you live...

Thamel - Kathmandu

My first impression when I arrived at Kathmandu was that it was not so different from some parts that I had visited in India (jam packed streets, smelly, poverty and still very hot). Probably the biggest difference is you will see more tourists around! I decided to stay in Thamel (touristic place) with a lot of hotels, restaurants, bars (my favourite one was the Full Moon!) and of course shops.

The first nights I stayed at the Hotel Horizon, but the a/c was not working properly and I decided to move to the Kathamndu Guest House. I spent my 5 days mainly doing sightseeing and some adventure like a bike day tour around the Valley.

The Tuga with Manoj (guide tour)

Kathamandu, Bakthapur and Patan all of them have plenty of pagodas, temples and a Durbar Square. I enjoyed the sights of Bakthapur and Patan better than Kathmandu which was always very crowded

Durbar Square and the Trailokya Mohan Narayan temple- Kathmandu

Katmandu's hairdresser

Patan

"Beckam" my guide, improving his knowledge with Lonely Planet

Noronha's family and the Tuga - Bakthapur

I was so tired of bargaining all the time during the last 4 months that to book my trip for Lhasa I decide to do it at my hotel without shopping elsewhere. The risk was to pay a little more but on the other hand it wouldsave me time (always an important factor when you are travelling).

Therefore, for the Kathmandu Lhasa trip I booked it with Gurka Encounters. The distance between the 2 cities is 865 km through the Friendship Highway which took us 6 days. From Kathmandu till the border we took a bus and then from Tibet border till Lhasa by Land Cruiser

First stop to enjoy the view at the bungee jumping near the border (160 m!)

Traffic jam at Kodari (Nepal's border)

We left Kathmandu (1300 m) at 6.00 am to Kodari (1873 m) - the Nepal border; Zhangmu (2300 m) - Tibet Border; Nyalam (3750 m) which was supposed to be our 1st Night stop, Tong-la (5120 m); Tingri (4390 m); Lhatse 4050m - 2nd night; Shigatse 3900m - 3rd night, Gyantse 3950 m 4th night, and then Lhasa 3650 m

Instead of leaving the border on the first day at around mid afternoon we just did it at 11.pm and therefore we did not sleep at Nyalam as we were supposed. To our first break was at Nigri at 8.30 am (27 hours after having left Kathmandu!). But the worst was that we came from 1300 m to around 5000 m very quickly which had terrible consequences for me: I was sick serveral times, had strong headaches everyday and lost appetite (so obviously at the end of the trip I had 5 kilos less) .

Everest (8848 m)

Just to give an idea how much I was suffering, the day that we were near the Everest I couldn' t even take a picture (the one that I uploaded here was taken by Arnaud when he was comimg backing by air from Lhasa to kathmandu- thanks my friend for sending it to me!).

Glad that the others didn't suffer so much and could enjoy this great trip (except Gabor, my roommate, who had similar symptoms). But I was lucky, since some people of the group looked after me, speacially Evelien and Debra.

One stop, on our way to Lhatse, with great landscape views

Nepalese twins - Lhatse

Pelkor Chode Monestery - Gyantse

Landscape on our jouney from Gyantse to Lhasa

What I really enjoyed from this trip was the nationality diversification of the group (16 different nationalities among the 31 guys on board!!!). We had people from USA, Canada, Japan, Philippines, India, Denmark, Norway, Holland, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal (The Tuga!!!)

Arnaud (France), Frederico (Italy), The Tuga, Junji (Japan) Davide (Italy), Lisa (Japan), Evelien (Holland), Lauren and Adam (USA)

At Lhasa we stayed 3 days where we visited the Potala Palace, Jokhang, Sera Monastery. One of our activities was also a visit to the medecine universtity where some experts showed us their techniques (of course I volunteered for a headache massage).

The Potala Palace

Last day (part of the group had already left) - Pyia and Aadil (India); Debra (UK), Daniel (USA/France), Danielle (Austria), Andrea (Norway); Junji (Japan); Caroline (Switzerland); The Tuga, Liam (Canada)

India

2007-05-31T05:42:00.002Z

Benefits: To witness Hindu rituals; everyone speaks English; Goa and its combination of beaches and history; Lucky to avoid the monsoon

Concerns: the mix of high temperatures, poverty, some dirty & noises places; difficult to find western food when you need a break of Indian food; Time (not 4h neither 5h ahead of GMT but 4h and 30 min!!!)

Places visited (& days): 16 days from the 14th May till 31st- Bombay (2); Goa (7); Delhi (2); Jaipur (1); Agra (1); Varanasi (3)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Dubai to Bombay (3 hours); Bus from Bombay to Goa (620 km - 14h); flight from Goa to Delhi (2h15); Bus from Delhi to Jaipur (6 hours): Bus from Jaipur to Agra w/o A/C!!! (5h30); Train from Agra to Varanasi (it should have taken 9 hours but by mistake it took me 15 hours!); Flight from Varanasi to Kathmandu (1 h).

Currency: Rupee (INR) - 1 Euros = 54,5 INR

Funny Experiences :

The fact that i am not married is very difficult to be understood by some Hindus (for some Muslims as well). To avoid very long conversations and a lot of questions sometimes I had to say that I was married or if not at least engaged!);

Trip from Agra to Varanasi: I thought that Varanasi was the last stop so when the train stopped at 6.00 am and some new passengers came in, I just turned around and kept sleeping. Later on I asked one of them, at what time we should arrive to Varanasi. He answered that we had already passed Varanasi (around 45 min ago!). I jumped out at the first stop and took a train back. At that time I was travelling on 1st class, A/c, in a fast train. To come back to Varanasi there was no A/C, the train was crowded and to make 42 km it took us 3 hours.

I got very often confused with the time (just at the end of my journey in India did I understand that India was 4h (and 30 min!!!!) ahead of GMT

Bombay girls, who never ask for money but just food
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I have to assume it was a shock when I landed in India coming from Dubai. Glad that at least I landed in Bombay (sorry Mumbai). I spent here 2 days. A lot of green areas, nice buildings and a lot of interesting sights that I visited (Gateway of India; Taj Mahal Palace Palace & Tower, University of Bombay, St Thomas' Cathedral; Victorious Terminus; Prince of Wales Museum, Mahalaxmi Temple; Mani Bahavan; the Elephant Islands just one hour by boat)

Rajabai Tower - Bombay

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victorious Terminus)

Gateway of India
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After 2 days I decide to leave since there was still a lot to see in India. I then took a bus to Goa. During my trip I met Vinod, an Indian guy who was living in Goa and running a shop selling mainly T-shirts. I could not sleep during the trip and therefore asked the driver if I could seat next to him (at least I could enjoy the view and the crazy way how they drive). He said no way, but I insisted and stayed. In fact, it was a risky decision since there was no belt and driving in India by night it is not the funniest thing in the world.

The first 4 days I mainly covered the north (Calangute, Baga, Anjuna, Vageitor) and centre of Goa (Painjin, the actual capital) and Old Goa (the former capital). I was so surprise to see how big Goa was, that I decided to rent a motorbike to cover the long distances and enjoy the landscape.

Paragliding during sunset (No, it wasn' t me!) at Calangute beach were I slept my first 4 days

One of the funny Indians that could not believe that I was not married

Vagator Beach (North of Goa)

Church of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Panjim)

As a Portuguese guy, visiting Old Goa has a special flavour. There were a lot of sights to visit and I was glad to have my motorbike otherwise it would have been impossible to cover all the city on one day: Se Cathedral, Convent & Church of St Francis of Assisi; Basilica of Bom Jesus, Church of St Cajetan, Church of St Augustin, Church & Convent of St Monica (just to name some sights)
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Se Cathedral (Old Goa)

Chapel of St Catherine

For the remaining 3 days of the week, I decided to go to the south to Palolem (it took me 2 hours by taxi to make the 80 km that separate Calangute from Palolem).

There is not so much to see here apart from chill out on one of the best beaches that I have ever seen (I Loved Palolem!!!)
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Palolem Beach

I stayed on a great "camp" (can´t remember the name) 5 metres from the sea. Lovely place to relax. During the night, I had the first signals of the monsoon with some showers. This mixture of showers and the sound of the sea on the back is unforgettable!

Unfortunately the monsoon time was arriving and it is somehow sad to see everyone in a hurry to demolish all the huts that served for accommodation.
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Family helping to demolish the huts (Lucas, Kresna & Chendo)

Fishermen at Palolem beach (South of Goa)

From Palolem, I took a cab back to the airport to take a flight to Delhi.

I didn't enjoy Delhi so much probably because it was still very hot, crowded and all the horns blowing around were really though!

I visited the Red Fort, Jama Masjid (mosque), Humayun's & Safdarjang's Tombs and Connaught Place

One of the autorickshaw that I "stole" to visit the city
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At the Red Fort I met Ben, a nice English guy. He was also travelling on his own. We spent the day visiting all the sights together.
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Quick dinner, Ben was leaving that night to Pokara (Nepal) while I was leaving to Jaipur the day after
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The Safdarjang's Tombs
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So after 2 days in Delhi I moved to Jaipur (the pink city jam packed with people, animals, cars, rickshaws...)!

The Hawa Mahal

Here I visited the Hawa Mahal, the City Palace, Jantar Montar (the observatory) and 10 km away the impressive Amber (the ancient capital)
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Next stop Agra to finish the so called Golden Triangle (Delhi, Jaipur and Agra). The main attraction here are the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. I was really curious to visit the Taj Mahal specially after having been to the pyramids and Petra.

I wanted to see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal and therefore I arived at 6.00 am, when the gate opened. The first picture as usually was "the Tuga with the Portuguese flag" but at that time I was caught by a security guard (glad that I managed to run away very quik)

The Taj Mahal

My only concern of the vist was the unfair price they charge to foreigners compared to Indians. I had to pay 750 (Rs) which is around 14 Euros while Indians just pay 20Rs!!!
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The great views of the Taj Mahal from the Yamuna River

Then, I took a train from Agra to Varanasi which took me almost the same time as doing Paris-Lisbon on my Inter-Rail in 1989 with my friend Joao Lampreia (what a time we had together!)

The crowded train (going back to Varanasi)

Varanasi, the Holy city for Hindus (Shiva). Here the main attraction is the Ganges river with its Gahts where we can see some rituals, as people coming for a "religious" bath and at Manikarnika gaht and Harishchandra ghat, where we can see bodies to be cremated.

Purification bath at Assi Gaht

Cremation ritual at Manikarnika gaht

Man watching from the Gangs River the cremation ritual

UAE (Dubai)

2007-05-14T19:26:00.001Z

Benefits: Service; apart from the new constructions everything is new and really clean; nice place for working (no personal taxes!)

Concerns - During my visit every day with a temperature above 40 degrees during the day (one of them it even reached 46!!!); with so many buildings they forgot to build a pedestrian road along the beach; sometimes it looks like Disneyland

Places visited (& days): Dubai (6) from the 8th May till 14th

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Beirut to Dubai (2h 15 min)

Currency: Dhs (Dirhams): 1 Euros = 4,9 AED ;

I heard so much about this city that I was really curious to visit it. It is so difficult to express what I felt, because on one hand everything is brand new but on another hand there are still so many projects going on that all the city is still under a massive construction program (just as an example today Marina Walk has already 40 buildings and in the future it will have 200!)

Construction around Marina Walk

Burj Dubai, the future highest building in the world.

Ohter Projects going-on so far: The Palm Island (three artificial islands with apartments, hotels and shops); The world; Dubai Sports City; Dubailand Ski Dome; Madinat Al Arab (waterfront); Hydropolis (underwater hotel); Space Science World...
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Shelked Zayed Road with all its brand new buildings

The main sights visited were the souks (spices, gold...) in Deira and the Bur Dubai, the Dubai Museum, some mosques, Burj Al Arab hotel, the Palm Island (some of the building are already finished but the architecture is really disappointing), Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Madinat Jumeirah, and of course some shopping malls

Creek between Bur Dubai and Deira

Burj Al Arab (the splendid 7 star hotel!)

For the first time since I left Lisbon, I had the pleasure of not sleeping in a hotel and hear those repeated statements ("hello sir; may I have your passport please; breakfast is till 10.am and check-out time at 12.00...")

Why? Because my friend Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, suggested that I contact a very nice Portuguese guy (Antonio Carvalho) who was working in Dubai.

In fact I did it. When I met Antonio I had an immediate good feeling while we were talking. Probably because we have so many things in common (age, management consulting work, a passion for travelling, having climbed the Kilimanjaro and also being a Sporting supporter).

I stayed at his nice apartment, very well located (at the Marina walk) where for the first time since I left Portugal, I could enjoy a real Portuguese meal (food, wine and a friendly community - Eunice, Sara, Markos...)

View from Antonio's apartment (Marina Walk)

Pedro, Eunice and Antonio enjoying a Portuguese wine

We also had a great night during the weekend at one of his colleagues, who organised a great party for all the company and their friends. People from all around the world (as everywhere in Dubai).

From Dubai I flew to India

Syria & Lebanon

2007-05-08T15:13:00.001Z

Benefits:
Lebanon - Food even though 3 days was not so much to taste this well known cuisine; good wine; all currencies are accepted (Lebanese Lira, Euros, dollars) - the ATM machine even asks you if you want money in LL or US$
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Concerns:
Syria - Get alcohol at the main restaurants; Cannot access Skype (as some of other middle east countries)
Lebanon - Check points everywhere; the way they drive (here is really where the only rule is not to follow any rule)

Number of Days: 6 - from 2nd till 5th May (Syria) and till the 8th May Lebanon

Places visited (& days): Damascus (3), Beirut (3) with a visit to Baalbek

Transport (time or distances): Bus from the border at Nasib to Damascus (100 km); Bus from Damascus to Beirut (3 hours); shared taxi (small bus) to visit Baalbek and return

Currency: LBP (Lebanon Pound): 1 Euros = 2 LBP; S£ (Syria pound): 1 Euros = 69,7 S£;

Funny Experiences - Arriving and crossing the Jordan/Syrian border; Get caught by the police while taking pictures to Hezbollah (for the first time I was really scared because I still had some pictures from Israel on my memory stick and they asked me to give them the camera - Hopefully after going through the first 10 pictures they stopped and gave back my camera

Just arriving to the Syrian border I realised that I still had some Israeli coins. I asked the taxi driver to stop immediately (going to the toilet was the excuse) to get rid of my coins. There is no way to get in Syria with any signal that I had been in Israel.

I had no Visa to get in Syria and I thought I could get it at the border. When I arrived they told me that I could not get in since the Visa should have been applied in advance. I tried to convince them but there was no way. They told me to call one of their offices in Damascus 2 hours later. I said no way and I started to get very angry and told them how it could be possible after travelling for more then 2 months, crossing a lot of countries without any problem and now suddenly when I arrive in Syria there is a Visa issue! I asked them, what kind of different country they were to have such strange requirements. And I added that if they didn' t give me a Visa I would immediately make a claim. I don' t know what really happened but it worked out (and by the way, of course, I was the one who was wrong since in fact for Syria a Visa is needed in advance!)

Damascus - old city as Jerusalem, traffic chaos as Cairo and it also reminds me of Rio de Janeiro by night since the city has a big hill on the back (the Kassion mountain) which , with all their lights on is wonderful. No doubt that I enjoyed Damascus by night better!

View over Damascus from the Kassion Mountain

Damascus' traffic - Guess what colour are the taxis?

The main attraction is of course the old city with the impressive Umayyad Mosque and the Azem Palace. Here I met Eyad, a Syrian guy who gave me some more hints about the city, the Syrian culture & Muslim religion. It is really difficult to understand how they can manage with all the arranged marriages . In fact it works like that.

Umayyad Mosque (Old City)

Enjoying a juice prepared by a young boy

As Amman, Beirut is also a city of contrasts. The new part, could be Europe mainly with the French architecture with very nice buildings and very clean. On the other hand, a poorer part where probably a lot of Palestinians lived.

Beirut Central District (downtown)

Status signs seemed to be very important in Beirut. The quantity of luxury cars around was impressive. I visited the National Museum, did some sightseeing along the beach at the Corniche and of course enjoyed the night-life which is a must in Beirut, specially around Rue Monot.

The Pigeon Rocks (Raouche - Beirut)
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The last day, I decided to visit Baalbek another Roman site in the Middle East. Baalbek is known as the Sun city (although the day I visited it was really dark). It was 86 km northeast from Beirut but it took me more than 2 hours just to go there. On the way, I could see some of the damage done by previous Israel attacks (one year ago)

Bridge damaged by Israel attacks

Temple of Bachus - Baalbek

Israel

2007-05-03T08:52:00.001Z

Benefits: Small country and therefore short distances, The Holy city

Concerns: Risks of attacks, price of a taxi & traffic in Jerusalem

Number of Days: 5 - from 25th till 30th April

Places visited (& days): Jerusalem (2) and Tel-Aviv (3)

Transport (time or distances): Border to Jerusalem by sherut- small shared buses (40 km); Jerusalem by bus to Tel-Aviv; several buses and taxis to return from Tel-Aviv to Jordan

Currency: NIS (New Israeli shekel): 1 Euros = 5,34 NIS;

Funny experiences: Sleep at the hotel manager's office; having my hair cut in a woman hairdresser, Return from Tel-Aviv to Jordan

Yes, I know it was risky but I wanted it to go anyway. The real reason was to visit Jerusalem but I visited Tel-Aviv as well.

I read a lot and talked to other travellers, about how and what to do to avoid a Israel stamp on my passport and the only way was to cross at the King Hussein border.

I paid the tax for leaving Jordan, and had to buy a bus ticket for probably the shortest trip of my life (1 km). But this km takes longer than half an hour since there are a lot of check points on the way. Finally, at the Israel Border, I was asked to leave my passport and luggage and to get through a X-ray machine!. A lot of questions were asked, like where I was going, where I would stay and if I had a flight back already booked (for the first time I had to show my tickets and I had to explain them that I was doing a round the world trip and therefore would not fly back to Portugal).

From the Border to Jerusalem it just 40 km more.

Damascus Gate (Old City) - Jersualem

How can a city mean so much for so many people? I saw people from everywhere. It seems that each country has its own delegation. I stayed at the old city. There was so much to see: The Old City with its four quarters (the Jewish, the Muslim, the Christian and the Armenian one); Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Citadel and Tower of David; Temple Mount (which I missed!!!) with the Dome of the Rock ; Mount of Olives, The New city and a lot of Museums but my favorite one the Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Museum)

Citadel and Tower of David - Jerusalem

End of my second day, when I arrived to my hotel there was no key of my room. When I tried to figure out what was going on, I realised that the guy who was on duty didn' t speak any English. After some mimics he finally got my point. He took his master key and we went to my room. When he opened the door, to my surprise my stuff was not there and even worse some guys had already checked-in. Just imagine, 20.00 pm, exhausted, expecting to have a shower and suddenly no room no luggage, and a guy who doesn' t understand a word of what you are saying! After 10 times telling him that I needed to talk to someone in English, he stopped looking at me, turned round and started praying. Unbelievable and this is really something that I realise about the Muslim religion. Wherever they are, if it is time to pray, they just do it!

End of the story: After 20 minutes the manager finally showed up. We had a long discussion since his argument was that I had just booked for for 2 nights. The day I checked-in, I told them that I would stay 2 or 3 nights and if I was leaving after the second day I would tell them in advance. Since I didn' t say anything I presume that everything was clear. But it wasn't!!! So it was embarrassing because he didn' t assume the mistake and therefore he could not kick out the other guys from the room and give it back to me. On top of that, he informed me that there were no more rooms so he let me sleep at his office, where they put an extra bed.

Narrow streets of the Old City

View from my hotel to the gold-plated Dome of the Rock

One of my favorite sights was the Yad Vashem museum, a memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust! I spent more than 3 hours visiting it but it is really worth it. For dinner, the best restaurants are outside the old city around Jaffa Road. At one of them (I dont' remember the name) I had probably the best steak of my trip and specially well served by a charming Israel woman (Sivan).

Yad Vashem museum - Jerusalem

It was time to have my hair cut. Comparing to a lot of people I had never had problems to cut it anywhere. Maybe I should because the result was terrible. My mistake was to go to a woman hairdresser (of course no way to show the result on the blog!!!)

Then I moved to Tel-Aviv where I spent 3 days. Modern city, vibrant people, fashion caffes & bars and a good beach.

Of course, arriving at Tel-Aviv the first thing I did was to have my hair cut again. But this time I made sure to go to a man hairdresser.

I stayed at KDA's apartments at Dizengoff (centre of the city). The apartment was very good as well as the staff. With one of them, Aviv, I had a good chat to better understand Israel's point of view in their conflit with Palestinians.

It was very difficult to walk around the city without seeing big groups of the army (men join the army for 3 years and women for 2 years!) and a lot of Israeli flags (by the way the only time I have seen Portuguese flags all around my country was during the Europeean Soccer Cup in 2004).

Israel Army

Israel flags everywhere in the city

Interesting sites to see are the Yeminite quarter downtown, the Neve Tsedek neighbourhood, the observatory for a great view of the city, and of course a walk along the beach.

City view from the observatory

I met Enbal and Tom at Ilka' s bar. Tom was working there as a bar man and gave me some tips on how to prepare cocktails and where i should go if I wanted to join any course during my round the world tour (definitely to Buenos Aires!)

Comming back from Tel-Aviv to Jordan was a nightmare. First because there is no information and secondly because I made some mistakes. When I arrived at the main station to take the sherut I told them that I wanted to go to the Allenby (Israel border - to cross to Jordan at King Hussein border). They pointed out the sherut that I should take and 5 minutes later, seeing that we were driving to the centre again I realised that the sherut was not going to the border but rather to a street with the same name in Tel- Aviv (Allenby Street).

I jumped out of the bus very quickly and took another sherut back to the station. Then I was informed that there was no way to go directly to the border and that I should take a sherut to another bus station and from there finally take a bus to the border. Arriving there, nobody knew (even the guys from the information centre) which bus I should take.

After losing more than 1 hour, I decide to go back to Jersualem . The bus stopped at the "Jewish" station (there is a separation between the Jewish and the Muslim part). I then took a taxi to the "Muslim station" and from there took another bus, the number 961, as suggested by the counter to go to the border.

At the bus station waiting for the 961 bus (the wrong one by the way)

The bus was full with young people from the army. I just found a place at the end of the bus, and immediately asked the guy next to me how much time it would take us to reach the border. He answered 2 hours (I was expecting 30 minutes). Oooopppssss something is wrong again!

He told me then, that we were going to Beit She' an. Immediately I checked on the guide where it was and to my surprise I was going to the north instead of going to the east (what's going on with me since for more than 2 months I managed so well and today everything went wrong!) Again, I asked the driver to stop, took another cab and this time I told them to go to the Damascus gate which was the one where I arrived at Jerusalem coming from the border. At 14.00 there were no more buses and the only way to go to the border was to take another taxi.

At the border I met Andrei, a bright young Ukranian guy living in Israel. His english was perfect and when I asked him where he had learnt it, he told me watching TV! He would like to go to US to study but had some doubts if he would be accepted at one of the universities. I encouraged him to apply (I hope he will, because if so, he will make it!)

Jordan

2007-05-02T16:34:00.001Z

Benefits: hospitable and friendly people, small country with a lot to see and to do

Concerns: Taxi (sometimes they refuse to start the meter to get some more money); drink alcohol (this happens a lot in the Middle East, specially in restaurants - at dinner time it is really hard for me not to get any beer or wine)

Number of Days: 8 - from 20th till 25th April (then I went to Israel) & from 30th April till 2nd of May

Places visited (& days): Aqaba (1); Wadi Rum (1); Petra (2); Amman (2), Dead Sea (1), Jerash & Ibrid (1)

Transport (time or distances): Aqaba to Wadi Rum by taxi (80 km - 1h); Wadi Rum to Petra by bus (120 km - 1h30); Petra to Amman by bus (240 km - 3 hours); Amman to King Hussein Border by taxi (30 km); Dead Sea to Jerash by taxi (70 km but it took us 2 hours since we had to go around the mountains); Jerash to Ibrid by bus (45 min); Ibrid to Syrian border by cab (15 min)

Currency: JD (Jordanian Dinar): 1 Euros = 0.93 JD;

I arrived at Aqaba late in the evening. During such a long trip, I met Guoada (from Lithuania), Glen and Sara (Australian couple). Guoda was just crossing the border to be able to get back in Egypt since her visa expired each 6 weeks. Glen and Sara were on their honeymoon travelling for 2 months. Getting out from the ferry, we decide to share the same taxi and later stayed at the same hotel. The taxi driver, Omar, a very nice Jordan guy, arranged everything for us.

Glen, Sara, Guoda & Pedro in Aqaba after our long journey

The next day I was supposed to meet Sara and Glen to plan our trip to the Wadi Rum and say good bye to Guoda, but everything went the other way around. Sara was ill and therefore had to stay one day longer and Guoda decided to join me to Wadi Rum. Before leaving, we made a quick visit to Aqaba but there was not so much to see apart from the Aqaba's Castle and Museum.

We then went to Wadi Rum 80 km away from Aqaba with Omar, who drove us. From there we jumped into another car (4x4) and start the safari. It was a great experience doing a safari in the desert. The colors of the rocks were changing each 5 minutes and I felt that I was in a different place each time. On top of that, during all the afternoon we didn' t see any other tourists around, so we had all the desert scenery for us!

Pedro, Guoda and Omar in Wadi Rum

The magic scenery of the Wadi Rum

I was so excited with the safari that, when we got back to the camp, I asked them if they could drive me back to the desert after dinner because I would like to sleep there and see the sunset. They drove me back and I slept there (probably just 2 hours) because all the time I was watching the stars and realizing the lucky guy that I was for doing this round the world tour and visiting such places!

The next morning, I took a small bus to Petra. There was so much to see here that I stayed 2 days. Petra is not just a monument that we can look at it and that's it. It is a huge area, with a lot of sights to visit (Al-Khazneh - the treasury; Al-Deir -the monastery, The High Place of sacrifice; The tombs, the theatre... just to name some).

The Tuga in Petra, at the Al-Khaznesh (The Treasury)

Al-Deir (The Monastery) - Petra

Next Stop, Amman. It reminds me of my city, Lisbon, since it has a lot of hills as well. There is a high contrast between the poor part of the city downtown around the Roman Theatre and the Western part with a lot of 5 stars hotel, bars, night clubs and galleries.

The most interesting sights are the Roman Theatre, which can hold 600 people, and the Citadel

The Roman Theatre

During these days, I' ve been preparing my trip to Israel. Nobody was really happy about it. My parents and some friends saying that I should avoid it, but when I have something in my mind it's hard to stop me. The main risk for me, apart from the political situation and therefore some possible attacks, was not to get a stamp on my passport what would prevent me from visiting Syria an Lebanon.

After 5 days in Israel (see Israel posting - coming very soon) I was back to Jordan and for such a small country, there was still a lot more to see and to do. I then went to the Dead Sea to try what everyone says to be a magic experience. In fact it is, since you can float as much as you want. The bad thing is if you are not careful (and I wasn' t during my first dive) you can easily get water in your eyes and mouth.

Floating on the Dead Sea

Sunset at the Dead Sea

Then I moved to the north, to Jerash, a beautifull Roman city. Excavations here have been ongoing for 80 years but it is estimated that 90% of the city is still to be excavated!!!

Jerash, "The Roman City"

End of the afternoon I went to Irbid, the second largest city of Jordan, which is a university town and very close to the Syrian border (my next stop)

Egypt

2007-04-20T10:13:00.001Z

Benefits: History; people very friendly; cheap country; Red Sea, shopping whenever you want (they just close when customers left)

Concerns: Everyone smokes, but even worst they smoke everywhere; It is OK to tip them but to do it after service charge of 12% and with a tax of 10% added makes no sense!; Traffic & streets information in Cairo

Number of Days: 17 - from 4th till 20th April

Places visited (& days): Cairo (3); El Gouna (2): Hurghada (3): Sharm el Sheikh (4); Dahab (2); Mt Sinai (1); Nuweiba (1)

Transport (time or distances): Cairo to El Gouna by bus (550 km - 6 h); El Gouna - Hurghada by car (20 km); Hurghada - Sharm el Sheikh by ferry (2 h); Sharm el Sheikh - Dahab by bus (80 km; 2 h); Dahab - Mt Sinai by bus (110 km - 1h30); Mt Sinai - Nuweiba by taxi (140 km - 1h); Nuweiba - Aqaba in Jordan by ferry (60 km - it should be 2 hours but it took me one day!!!)

Currency: E.£ (Egyptian Pound) - 1 Euros = 7,5 E.£ ; Taxi 20 E.£; beer 15 E.£; average meal 100 E.£; 1 h internet - 5 E.£

Some funny experiences:
I forgot that in Arabic they write from right to left, and therefore when at 2.am I arrived at my room and turned on the TV, I was very disapointed to see that Sporting (my soccer team) was loosing 1-0 against Sporting Braga;
Meet another SAP colleague (she is also on a sabattical leave) in Hurghada

3 days in Cairo was enough since I was here 3 years ago when I visited Cairo, Luxor and Answan. Even hough I decided to visit again the pyramids what I felt was the same as when I was there for the first time.

The Tuga at Giza

Apart from visit to the pyramids, I spent my days mainly walking around Zamalek and downtown. The traffic and noise were incredible and sometimes were driving me crazy. I was lucky that I spent at least one Friday there (holiday - the day were Muslims go to the mosque for praying) and therefore the city was less crowded. This time I didn' t smoke any sheesha (water pipes).

Egyptians (Muslims) praying

I moved then to El Gouna by bus. Travelling by bus is very good specially coming from Tanzania and Kenya. The landscape was impressive, especially along the Gulf of Suez where on my left I had the Read Sea and on my right the desert with some mountains. I met in the bus a very nice Egyptian lady with whom I had a nice conversation. She was excited about my round-the-world trip but when I told her that I never booked anything she told me that I would have problems to find a hotel in El Gouna since it was Easter time. But I was lucky, as her son, Amr was the Reservation Manager of the Sheraton hotel and managed to find me a room there. I spent 2 days, mainly enjoying the resort facilities and seeing some kitesurf experts. Those days were very windy, around 30 knots! (too much for me!).

Tocotoco - my transport in El Gouna

Next stop: Hurghada! I stayed 3 days here. That was not my goal since Hurghada has been under massive construction during the last years and it is not the most attractive place to be. The problem was the ferry hadn´t been operating for some days and therefore I had to wait, otherwise it would have been a 12h bus trip instead of 1h30 by ferry. Here, I met Ann and George who are kitesurf instructors. The funny thing (what a small world!) is that Ann is also working for SAP (Belgium) and on a sabbatical leave as well. The only difference is that she is already on her 2nd year (maybe I will apply for another year then!)

George & Ann (SAP colleague)

During my last evening, I met 2 Russian girls from St. Petersburg (Lena and Valentina) with whom I had dinner. They taught me some russian words (very helpful for the coming days). Unfortunately at midnight, they had to leave for Cairo since they had booked a visit to the pyramids. I hope to see them, when visit Russia after my round the world trip.

Lena & Valentina

I then took the ferry to Sharm el Sheikh and I decided to go to Na' Ama Bay.

Na' ama bay (Sharm el Sheik)

Here, I did two dives (the first after my Open Water course in Mozambique). The first day I went to the Temple and the second one, to the Ras Mohammed Park, considered one of the best diving sites in the world. To my surprise I enjoyed the corals better than the fishes (maybe because I haven' t seen so many!).

Here I met Lena (not the one from Hurghada but another one), a pretty russian girl. We met at the Sushi Lounge where we chated and danced all night. She was with her sister and a friend. It was funny because when I approached her she thought that I was Egyptian and her sister pointed out her finger showing a ring pretending that she was married. The day after we didn' t manage to meet, I was really tired on that day and the following day I was diving at 8.00 am and therefore decided not to join them. To my surprise and after a good starting night, we never met again....
Lena was one of thousands of Russians that come to Egypt, mainly to the Red Sea, for holidays. Later on I was told that 70% of the tourist during that time, were from Russia!!! (My friend Dundee would really love to be here). I was happy as well because, I wanted to visit Russia on my round the world tour and since I cannot make it, this was at least a taste of it.

From here I moved to Dahab. Although the tourism has increased in this area, it is still possible to get in touch with a lot of bedouins (inhabitants of Sinai). Dahab is probably the best place to dive if you want to avoid crowded areas. I didn' t dive here since I had planned to climb the Mt Sinai the day after. On top of that I got some fever and therefore stayed here an extra day just to recover.

Bay of Dahab

When I was in the bus, ready to leave to Mt Sinai, I decided to check if i had the passport with me and this time i hadn't. I jumped out of the bus and told the driver that he shouldn´t leave without me. I am sure he didn't understand a word but seeing my face was enough to understand that something was really wrong. Glad that Dahab is a small town and in 5 min I managed to go by cab, get my passport, come back. Checking in and checking out each 2/3 days it was probable that it would happen one day.

Climbing the Mt Sinai after climbing Kilimandjaro is peanuts. it is just 2 hours trekking till the summit (2285 m). I climbed during the night to see the sunrise.

Sunrise at the summit of Mt Sinai

There are two routes (the camel trail ant the Steps of Repemtance) I took the camel to go up and the steps for the descent. Unfortunately it was very crowded and therefore difficult to get silence at the peak. The summit of Mt Sinai is where God gave Moses the ten Commandments.

Back to the St Catherine Monastery after climbing

The end of my trip in Egypt was tough. Leaving Mt Sinai, while i was waiting for the bus i was informed that it was broken. The only way to leave was by taxi and i was the only one so a long negotiation was needed to be sure to make a good deal. By taxi, it took me just 1 hour to reach Nuweiba. We were driving quickly to see if I could get the ferry. When we arrived I couldn't take the ferry neither buy the ticket for the next day since the ticket office was already closed. So instead of enjoying my last swim on the red sea, the day after, I had to go earlier to buy my ticket. Due to an Europeean inspection on the ferry instead of leaving at 14.00 we just left at 19.30!!!

Ferry from Nuweiba (Egypt) to Aqaba (Jordan)

Tanzania & Kenya

2007-04-04T08:26:00.001Z

Benefits: Combination of safaris, beaches & trecking

Concerns: Paying with credit cards

Number of Days: 26 - from 10 Mar till 4th Apr

Places visited (& days): Dar Es Salaam (2), Zanzibar (5), Moshi (4), Kilimandjaro (6), Lake Manyara (1), Crater Ngorongoro (1), Serengeti (1), Mombasa (4), Nairobi (1+ 1 at the airport)

Transport (time or distances): Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar by ferry (1h45 min; 71 km); Zanzibar to Moshi ( Kilimandjaro Airport - 1h); Safari - Moshi/Arusha /Lake Manyara / Ngorongoro / Serengeti ( 600km); Moshi to Mombasa by bus (9h): Mombasa to Nairobi by bus (7h; 521 km)

Currency:
Tsh (Tanzania Shilling) - 1 Euros = 1666 Tsh; Taxi 2000 tsh; beer 1500 tsh; average meal 10.000 tsh
Kes (Kenya Shilling) - 1 Euro = 90 Kes: Taxi 300 kes (normally expensive); beer 200 kes

Some funny experiences:
6 days without taking a shower while climbing the Kilimandjaro; Trying not to be arrested by a policeman (the company that I booked for the Kili made a mistake calculating the rate and wanted some money back. Instead of assuming the error, they told me that I owed them money - Of course I didn't accept it); Camping in the Serengeti with some animals around (I was really scared!); Flat tire in Serengeti; Buying a ticket at 2.00 am at the Nairobi airport (the Galileo system was down and therefore I missed the flight and passed my visa due date);

I arrived to Dar es Salam where I spent two nights. One mainly to finish writing my blogue (yes, to updatef for you). Nothing was really happening in town, specially because it was weekend. I did some sightseeing (National Museum) and of course during the night I went to one of the famous discos - The Club bilicanas! What really surprised me was that everyone started to dance alone and 5 min later it was the chaos. Everyone had already one couple and were changing constantly. Tanzanians as other africans are crazy about soccer. They all support one of the premier league' s team (Liverpool, Arsenal Manchester or Chelsea) and never missed one match. Everywhere (restaurants, bars, discos), there is always a TV and lot of people arround watching it. On that night, at the disco Barcelona and Real Madrid were playing and during that time the match was the hot spot of the night. I enjoyed it as well.

Sunrise at Dar es Salam (taking the ferry to Zanzibar)

From Dar, I went to Zanzibar. That was one of the places that I was looking forward to since it was very hot at that time and I was excited abou the idea of lying on the beach. I took a ferry and went to the north of the Island to Nungwi which is the right place to go if you want a good balance between relaxing at the beach and having some.
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View from Mnarani Beach Cottages (my resort) - Zanzibar

Here I met a very nice group of Irish people. We went snorkeling together at Mnemba and having some fun! Irish people like to drink as we do so as you can imagine the dinner and dancing was great.

Irish group, myself and South African couple

Party at Nungwi's Beach - Zanzibar

After 3 days at Nungwi I decided to leave because I also wanted to visit Stone Town where I stayed 2 nights. The hot spots for me were the market and the labyrinth of the narrow streets. Before leaving the island, I took a cab to visit the southeast part of the island mainly Paje (between Janbiani & Bwejuu)

My next stop was at Moshi for climbing the Kilimandjaro. To avoid going back to Dar es salam and taking a bus from there, I took a flight directly to Kimandjaro Aiport at Moshi which was my base town for the coming days in between my activities (Kilimandjaro and Safaris).

Sunset at Shira camp (3840 m)

I climbed the Kilimandjaro 5895 metres but suffered a lot to make it. We were 6 (2 Dutch girls, Hanah and Ingrid, , 2 Dutch boys Jon and Dennis, one Canadian Kieran, myself and a huge Tanzanians team (18! - 2 guides, 1 cook and 15 porters to carry all our stuff, tents... ).

We took the Machame route which comparing to the standard one - the Marangu route (so called the the coca-cola route since it is the easiest one). I decided for the Machame because we had one extra day for acclimatization, the vegetation and lanscape were more interesting and we were sleeping in tents.

After 4days, on the 22nd March at 6.00 am in the morning I finally reached the Uhuru peack

Uhuru Peack - 5895 metres Kilimandjaro

I was exausted (that night we had to wake up at 11.pm to start climbing at 00am for 6 hours). At the summit, I would have loved to take more pictures & movies but I had just one thing on my mind and it was to come back as soon as possible since I was so tired and it was freezing (between -15 to -20 degrees celcius!!!). I was wearing 6! layers of clothes

Starting the descent with a splendid sunrise

Just to give an idea of how tired I was (the descent which should have taken me 2 hours, took me 4! to the last camp. Here we had a quick break and after lunch 4 hours more to reach the last camp before the final descent. It was an incredible experience and I really pushed my capabilities to the maximum.

All the team who climbed the Kili

Great experience a lot of moments to remember for the rest of my life but also some bad news. All our group made it to the peak (normally the success rate is above 90%) but we heard while we were clibing that some people of other groups didn't make it. Some days later, we got an e-mail from Kieran informing us that one of the Canadians had died (he was 65) . I was really schocked with this news. How can it be possible? A lot of time during my ascent I was thinking about the rescue conditions. Since it is so cold on the top, the rescue camp is 2 hours away from the peak which can sometimes be critical for an emergency situation. I hope this was not the problem.

After 6 days climbing I went for a 4 days safari in Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti Park. This time I did the safaris with 2 Irish guys.

Colin, Steve and Pedro

We met in Arusha, they were coming from Uganda where they had been teaching English for 6 weeks. They were now also travelling for the next months and are planning to end their trip in Australia to work for one year. As I mentioned with my Irish friends from Zanzibar, Irish people love to drink. So it was funny because before starting our safari we went to a supermarket to buy some wine (just 5 litres for the 3 nights!). We really had a good time, at the end of the safari day, around the table having nice food and good wine.

Elephants at Lake Manyara

Flat tire Serengeti (hopfully no animals around)

Ngorongoro Crater

10 days in a row (6 days Kilimandjaro and 4 days safari) I thought that it was time to spend some days at the beach again and I decided to go to Mombasa. I went by bus but instead of 5/6 hours it took me 9 because of the traffic jam going to Mombasa. I've never seen so many trucks together.

Traffic jam on my way from Moshi to Mombasa

I stayed at the Royal Castle Hotel and my journey was so nice that instead of going to a beach resort I spent some more time in the city. I visited Fort Jesus, built by the portuguese in 1593. I also had a very good dinner at an Indian restaurant. For dancing, I went to Casablanca disco which was really amazing despite the number of prostitutes around (as a friend told me once, you can consider them all prostitutes because whatever their intentions at the end of the day all of them are looking for some money)

I then went to Diani beach (south of Mombasa) and stayed at The Sands of Nomads resort. Great hotel, with splendid view, the food of the restaurant was also very good and I got a special discount (thanks to Rasaria Cavadini - the manager).

Sands at Nomads Resort - Diani Beach (Mombasa)

One of the reasons to book this hotel here was for kitesurfing. Since I had not my equipment with me, this kind of activity is very expensive even so I decided to go for it. Thanks Goodluck and Yan the team of H20 Extrem who gave me a lot of tips. After that I'm really looking forward to kitesurfing during my world travel for some more days.

Diani Beach - Mombasa

From Mombasa, I took a bus to Nairobi. Comparing to what I had heard, it is not at all a dangerous city (at least during day time and around the centre). I visited the Kenyatta conference centre where from the top I could have a view over the city.

During the night, I went to the Carnivore restaurants (considered one of the best restaurants in the world).

I did not manage to buy the ticket to Cairo during the day and decided to go to the airport to buy it during the night. I didn´t sleep at all that night. When I arrived at the airport, the Galileo system was down and therefore I could not buy the ticket. Apart from loosing the flight I was scared since it was my last day issue for my visa. I was lucky that at that time I met Cornels Onyango from the immigration office and Marolyne Ojwang from the travel agency. Thanks to them I had no problems with the authorities and could by a ticket to get the flight 24 h later. Therefore I remained approximately 28 hours at the Nairobi airport!

Marolyne, Pedro & Onyango

From here, I' m travelling to Cairo. I wish all of you a nice easter. See you there

Mozambique

2007-03-10T16:17:00.004Z

Benefits: Fantastic people, great weather, very good food (specially prawns and the matapa - popular dish), splendid coastline, safe to travel, few tourists

Concerns: Not so cheap as I thought (I mean for Africa), mosquitos (and therefore malaria), sunrise too early (around 5.00 am); quite dirty specially the cities

Number of Days: 21 - from 17 th Feb till 10th Mar

Places visited (& days): Maputo (3 + 2), Kruger Park (2), Inhambane - Praia do Tofo(6), Beira(1), Nampula (1), Ilha de Mocambique (3), Pemba (2)

Transport (& distances): More than 2300 km inland
Maputo to Kruger by car (around 400 km to go & back); Maputo Inhambane by "Machibombo" medium buses (470 km); Inhambane to Maxixe by ferry; Maxixe to Beira by bus (740 km); Beira to Nampula with Air Corridor (1017 km); Nampula Ilha de Mocambique by "Chapas" small buses (250 km); Ilha Mocambique Pemba by "Chapas" (450 km)

Currency: Metical (1 Euro aprox. 30 Meticais)
Taxi (in town) normally 100 Mt, Chapas and Machibombos (30-250 Mt); Buses long distance 700 Mt; Internal flight 1500 Mt; Hotel from 1000Mt to 2000Mt, Meal from 150Mt to 400Mt

Some funny experiences: Travel by Chapas and Machibombo; meet my reverse-homonimo at Maxixe (Patricio Pedro), watch the soccer game Chelsea-Porto with 100 Mozambican guys; rent a dowh but part of the journey we have been paddling due to have the current and wind against us, twice people thought that I was Luis Figo.

In Maputo I stayed at Mozaika Guesthouse, owned by a Portuguese friend (Diogo da Cunha), Charming place, very well located (10 minutes walk to downtown) and very well managed by Marta and her staff. They know how to care over their customers.

CFM - Maputo's train station

The highlights of Maputo were the CFM-Caminhos de Ferro de Mozambique, Hotel Polana, , Mercado Nacional, Mercado do Pau, ferry to Cantembe to have lunch there at hotel Girassol and enjoy the view over Maputo, Mambos & Luso disco nights. Since the portuguese community is very big around here, I had the chance to visit a lot of friends. Thanks to all of you Xico Bravo & Madalena, Marta Pinto Coelho & Clint, Manel Schimmdt & Ines, Maria da Cunha & Joao, Francico Ferreira dos Santos and Madalena Sousa Machado (who was also visiting some friends) for the great dinners and night activities.

Bongani, Kruger Park

I did the safari at the Bongani Lodge, game reserve which borders the Kruger park in South Africa. Good price, nice food and here again congratulations to CC Africa the organization which runs the program because the staff was fabulous. Two nights at a lodge means 4 safaris. From the big 5 I only missed the leopard. I saw 2 elephants, some lions, a lot of rhinos and buffalos.

Praia do Tofo (Inhambane)

The second week was spent at Praia do Tofo, in Inhambane. To go there I took the Machibombo (bus) from Maputo which I recommend to everyone who really wants to have an African experience. I was there at 6.00 am and the bus just left at 9,15 am. The reason is that they just leave when the bus is fully loaded. To make the 400 km between Maputo and Inhambane it took us 9 hours!!! Unfortunately I took the wrong seat in the bus, the one next to the door. Therefore, each time someone got in or out (we stopped more than 30 times and more than 100 people came in) it was a nightmare. People were coming with all their stuff, sometimes even with animals! One of them, brought a bag with such a smell that after 5 minutes he was invited to get out. In this bus I met Jucias who became a really good friend. He stayed in Tofo and when I left I bought some ot his paintings.

Jucias & Joao in Inhambane city

Tofo is the right place to dive but due to the cyclone Favio which stroke Vilankulos area (300 km north then Inahmbane) 3 days before, the sea conditions were not the best ones. I booked the course at Diversity Scuba (the owner is another Portuguese - Sergio). He is doing a great job in developing the area and he has a very good reputation among local people which is really important to get them involved in his projects. I stayed at Hotel Tofo Mar just in front of the beach. Fantastic spot but quite old hotel. Glad that Sergio is their and has a plan also for it. Thanks Gisela (very nice Mozambican woman), Hellio (what a singer!), Abilio, Manuel, Leonel, Zita, Izequias...

Padi Open Water Course at Diversity Scuba

Diving in Tofo was a great experience even though the conditions were still not the best ones to dive. The group was great led by Steve, an Australian diving master, Roland & Geraldine (French couple), Quick ant Thata (Swiss couple) & Julie my buddy from Indonesia who left on the last day. Now I have the Padi diploma and therefore can pick the best spots for diving during my world tour
Dino's and Fatima's were the best night places with always a lot of Portuguese around. There I met Miguel Martinha & Rosinha (they styed also at Mozaika), Sergio's friends (Hugo, Diogo, Rui & Luis) who were enjoying 2/3 week holidays and of course very jealous of my gap year. I also met Shin, a South Korean girl who had been travelling around Asia and Africa for already 2 years.

Sergio, Dino & Pedro

From Inhambane, I took a ferry to Maxixe, and a bus to Beira to sleep for one night and catch a plane to Nampula. From Nampula I took a Chapas to Ilha de Mozambique where I spent 3 days at Escondidinho. The Island is very relaxing. There are a lot of ruins, which turn the island into a magic place, but there is a project already going on to rebuild houses, the fort and the main roads. One of the days I rent a dowh with Francois & Anjelica (swiss couple who are working for an ONG in Pemba). We visited Goa and Chocas mar's islands.

The "magic streets" of Ilha de Mocambique

Dowh rented to visit islands around Ilha de Mocambique

My last two days of my Mozambique trip were spent in Pemba. Small town which is starting to attract some tourists mainly due to a 5 star hotel investment (the Pemba Palm Beach Hotel). Wimbi is the most famous beach but my favorite activity was the visit to a cashew factory.

Cashew factory (Pemba)

Now, from Pemba I'm flying to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) with LAM-Linhas Aeras de Mozambique. See you there...