Sep – Dec 2016

Exploring Latin American Vibes

A 113-day adventure by Sarah Read more

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Trip start
September 4, 2016
Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Saturday, September 3, 2016
☀️ 33 °C
Altitude: 80 m
Nicaragua Residencial Bolonia 12.142445, -86.27942712°8’33” N 86°16’46” W
Heat and colors in Managua
September 3, 2016 in Nicaragua ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
We spent our first day in the capital with visiting a local market, walking up a hill to get an overview of the city and with trying out some local food - all great but the sticky air really made us appreciate a cold shower once in while :)Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 2
Monday, September 5, 2016 at 7:08 PM
🌙 13 °C
Altitude: 98 m
Nicaragua León 12.437504, -86.87412312°26’15” N 86°52’27” W
Heading north
September 5, 2016 in Nicaragua ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
León treated us well with yummie food and lovely streets. Today, we hiked up to the still active volcano cerro negro - awesome view and a fun slide down with a sandboard. Beach is up next!
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Day 5
Thursday, September 8, 2016 at 8:27 PM
🌙 22 °C
Altitude: 836 m
Nicaragua Estelí 13.087435, -86.35636113°5’15” N 86°21’23” W
From the seaside to the hills
September 8, 2016 in Nicaragua ⋅ 🌙 22 °C
After spending a day at the beach in las Peñitas with fresh seafood and surfing, we headed to the hilly landscapes of a small town called Estelí. Here, we learned more about the tobacco production and are now enjoying a cigar everyday ;)Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 10
Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 6:17 PM
⛅ 23 °C
Altitude: 157 m
Nicaragua El Capulín 11.969723, -86.01558111°58’11” N 86°0’56” W
In love with volcanoes
September 13, 2016 in Nicaragua ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
In Masaya we visited our second volcano by night to see the red glowing lava inside the crater. As we were not allowed to stay long, we went the day after again during daytime to convince us that this lava is actually real:) With a short stop over at lagoon de Apoyo we arrived in Granada, the most colorful city of all and with its over 365 islands closeby quite unique.Read more
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Day 13
Friday, September 16, 2016
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 8 m
Nicaragua Río San Juan 11.254451, -85.87089511°15’16” N 85°52’15” W
Beach time in San Juan del Sur
September 16, 2016 in Nicaragua ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
In this beach town we spent a couple of days exploring some nearby playas and enjoying beautiful sunsets while feeling home at mama Sara's house! As it was erstwhile a fishing village, we went with a local fisher to try our luck - but the fish were so big they always bit through the cord!Read more
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Day 17
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 7:00 PM
⛅ 27 °C
Altitude: 751 m
Nicaragua Volcán Concepción 11.53038, -85.63066111°31’49” N 85°37’50” W
Days on Ometepe island
September 20, 2016 in Nicaragua ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Our last stop in Nicaragua showed us again a new side of this country. For two days we cruised around the volcano island with a scooter to meet plenty of monkeys and to swim in a clear natural pool. Now we are off to explore new vibes - Costa Rica here we come!Read more
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Day 19
Thursday, September 22, 2016
⛅ 31 °C
Altitude: 9 m
Costa Rica Playa Langosta 10.298537, -85.83981310°17’55” N 85°50’23” W
Bienvenido a Costa Rica
September 22, 2016 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
After we literally walked over the border, we headed to a beach town called Tamarindo. With early morning surfing and relaxing afternoons at the pool bar or at a beautiful shell beach, we truly enjoyed the "pura vida" lifestyle. :)Read more
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Day 21
Saturday, September 24, 2016
☀️ 29 °C
Altitude: 1,406 m
Costa Rica Monte Verde 10.308338, -84.81115710°18’30” N 84°48’40” W
In the cloud forest
September 24, 2016 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
In the highlands of Monteverde we had to use our warm clothes for the first time. Ziplining through this special reserve called cloud forest, with the longest line being over 1km as well as with a big swing at the end, made us feel like Tarzan - or monkeys ;). The various hanging bridges and walkways completed this jungle book experience, making this endless looong and curvy gravel paths to get up there totally worth the journey!Read more
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Day 23
Monday, September 26, 2016
🌙 15 °C
Altitude: 139 m
Costa Rica Manuel Antonio 9.408288, -84.156569°24’30” N 84°9’24” W
More nature and exotic animals
September 26, 2016 in Costa Rica ⋅ 🌙 15 °C
From the cloud forest we went back to the seaside to visit the famous national park of Manuel Antonio. Unlike all the monkeys there, spotting the lazy sloths hanging high up in the trees was quite a challenge, but we found their cute sleepy faces eventually. On our way across the country to the caribbean side, we visited Stew and his family in Heredia and had a great time together with these lovely ticos!Read more
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Day 26
Thursday, September 29, 2016
⛅ 29 °C
Altitude: 4 m
Costa Rica Punta Pirikiki 9.655296, -82.7533579°39’19” N 82°45’12” W
Caribbean vibes
September 29, 2016 in Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Although we have already seen some really nice beaches in the past few weeks, the Caribbean side surprised us again with black sand, followed by white catalogue beaches that we explored by bicycle. The small hippie town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca treated us well with relaxing cafés and Bob Marley songs on repeat. On top of this, we had our daily portion of fresh coconut water that we collected ourselves straight from the palm trees :)Read more
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Day 29
Sunday, October 2, 2016
☀️ 26 °C
Altitude: 1,161 m
Costa Rica Parque Morazán 9.934738, -84.0761189°56’5” N 84°4’34” W
Last days in Central America
October 2, 2016 in Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
The capital San José was the last stop of our journey together. The city was a lot bigger than we expected, so we enjoyed strolling around the busy streets, visiting the jade museum, drinking great coffee at a small coffee festival and eating our last "casada", the typical meal of Costa Rica. Nadine headed home now, starting new adventures back in Amsterdam and I am on my way to Peru.Read more
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Day 31
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
☁️ 19 °C
Altitude: 99 m
Peru Miraflores -12.106953, -77.02883112°6’25” S 77°1’44” W
It's chilly in Peru
October 4, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
The temperature drop was rather intense when I arrived in Lima but at least this is a great excuse to buy a nice alpaca poncho soon :) A day later, my sister arrived as well and after we visited some nice areas of this city, we are now off to explore Peru's beatiful nature.Read more
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Day 34
Friday, October 7, 2016
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 18 m
Peru Río de Ilo -17.614114, -71.3404517°36’51” S 71°20’26” W
We found penguins!
October 7, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
In Paracas, a small town right next to Pisco where the famous "pisco sour" is rooted, we went by boat to the Ballestas islands. There we saw tousands of guanay birds, hundreds of pelicans, plenty of flamingos and sea lions, and even a few penguins, which made this expedition to the nature reserve more than complete :) As this area of Peru is mainly desert, we also went to a oasis called Huacachina to play around on the huge sand dunes.Read more
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Day 37
Monday, October 10, 2016
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 2,353 m
Peru Plaza de Armas Arequipa -16.398889, -71.53516°23’56” S 71°32’6” W
At dizzy heights
October 10, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
From to coast we travelled by night bus straight to the highlands of Arequipa. A two day trekking tour into the Colca Canyon was tough but, surprisingly, the peruvian tourists were the ones struggling the most and eventually had to sit on mules to get out of the canyon again :) Volcanic thermal baths were the perfect treatment to relax after this beautiful but exhausting hike. As there was so much to do in this area, we also went to see a salt lake called Salinas where hundreds of alpacas, lamas and vicuñas were enjoying the silence up there. From this point, we biked down on a unsealed road from 4300m above sea level back to civilization.Read more
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Day 41
Friday, October 14, 2016 at 7:13 PM
☁️ 7 °C
Altitude: 3,841 m
Peru Plaza de Armas de Puno -15.836921, -70.02892315°50’13” S 70°1’44” W
Lake Titicaca - Birthplace of the sun
October 14, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C
In the past days we went all the way up to the highest navigable lake in the world (3809m). The lake is so large it really resembles the sea but if you look closely, you can spot the snowy mountains that are appearing among the white clouds.
We visited different islands, with the first one being the Uros islands. These floating islands are made of reed and the Uro inhabitants need to maintain their many little islands every two weeks. We stayed for one night on a "real" island called Amantani with a local family, which was a very nice experience. And besides eating yummie ceviche de trucha from the Titicaca lake, we also spent some time in the city of Puno to buy warm clothes made of alpaca wool - as the annual average in temperature here is only 8°C!!Read more
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Day 47
Thursday, October 20, 2016
⛅ 11 °C
Altitude: 3,395 m
Peru Plaza de Armas Cusco -13.519891, -71.97821413°31’12” S 71°58’42” W
Machu Picchu and more highlights
October 20, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Cusco was the perfect city to enjoy one more time the great food at mercado central, to stroll through the beautiful tiny streets but also to start trips to the many great places in this area. A trip to Machu Picchu was hereby a must and this Inca made world heritage is indeed even more impressive as it already looks in the magazines! Another highlight was the hike up to over 5000m on top of the rainbow mountains that we did together with Régy (and with whom I celebrated that same day our official graduation from university :)).Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 58
Monday, October 31, 2016 at 8:09 AM
☀️ 19 °C
Altitude: Sea level
Peru Huanchaco -8.059613, -79.1385028°3’35” S 79°8’19” W
Huanchaco vibes
October 31, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
After my sister left, I spent my last week in Peru visiting Roxy and Matteo in the beach town Huanchaco. Besides surfing a lot and trying out many great local specialties, we hiked/ climbed up a mountain top and camped there for a night. The view from up there was incredible, with a sky turning from a burning red into a starlit night. Only some kind of huge bird was keeping us awake while it was out hunting :).
The impressive adobe city Chan Chan, which is even older than the Inca sites, was definitely also worth a visit. We celebrated our last evening with a halloween party and were thus wearing our makeup accordingly. Now it is time to explore the other side of the continent - Brazil here I come!Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 67
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
⛅ 29 °C
Altitude: 9 m
Brazil Busca-Vida -12.787557, -38.19488112°47’15” S 38°11’42” W
Bem vindo ao Brasil
November 9, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Vera and I spent the first week of our trip together in the Bahia surf camp just north of Salvador. The camp itself was like an oasis, or bubble as we called it, since it was disconnected from civilization in a quiet resort area with private beach access. Only a surf trip to another beach let us believe that we are actually in Brazil, and we even saw dolphins enjoying the waves there:) This week was filled with nice surfing, skateboarding, table tennis and fun talks. However, we dared to leave that bubble for our last day to explore Salvador city which ended up in rather inconvenient experience for us. Only five minutes after we arrived in the city centre, a guy threathened us with a huge knife and eventually stole Vera's bag!!
Shocked from this event we changed our plans of a night bus trip and instead flew South to a beach town called Itacaré.Read more
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Day 75
Thursday, November 17, 2016 at 2:09 PM
☀️ 28 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Brazil Ponta Trombinha -14.280187, -38.99465814°16’49” S 38°59’41” W
Bahia sights
November 17, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
In the relaxing town of Itacaré we spent a couple of days with good food, nice beaches and even a small reggae concert. A day trip by boat to the islands of Camamu with only brazilian tourists was accompanied with good music and the tiny islands made us feel like in paradise!
Afterwards, we stayed for some days on the island Itaparica. We went kayaking and explored the green island by car together with a french stage director. The soccer field we discovered there was a bit wet but quite impressive :)
Now we are up in the air again - heading north this time.Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 81
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
⛅ 30 °C
Altitude: 21 m
Brazil Poço da Draga -3.724443, -38.5237883°43’28” S 38°31’26” W
Up north
November 23, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Last week, we visited two cities in the north of this huge country. Fortaleza surprised us with clean and white city beaches that invited to relax. A day trip to Cumbuco - a nearby beach full of kitesurfers was good fun. On a buggy we cruised over dunes and along the beach. The second city we visited, Sao Luis, was rather disappointing as it seemed that it had been totally forgotten by the government. Therefore, besides a few nice old colonial buildings, there was not much to see or do. We used this stay to charge our batteries and are now SO ready for the jungle :)Read more
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Day 88
Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at 9:51 PM
🌙 28 °C
Altitude: 39 m
Brazil Manaus -3.104857, -60.0234033°6’17” S 60°1’24” W
The mighty Amazon
November 30, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ 🌙 28 °C
After plenty of beaches it was time to see some of the mighty forest in Brazil. We spent almost a week in Manaus, from where we headed four days into the jungle. On the way we passed by the meeting of the Rio Negro and the Amazon river. The jungle lodge was right at the river where we saw plenty of small dolphins, caymans and spiders. We did several hikes in the jungle and daily excursions by boat. Here, we learned how to survive by fishing piranhas, by setting up our hammocks for one night in the deep jungle and by eating a catepillar that tasted like jelly coconut :) Although we didn't see any bigger animals like a sloth, a snake or a jaguar it was a great experiences and the huge trees are very impressive. Now we are heading down south to a more concrete jungle!Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 96
Thursday, December 8, 2016
☀️ 31 °C
Altitude: 25 m
Brazil Pedras de Ipanema -22.983767, -43.20000822°59’2” S 43°12’0” W
Rio you got us
December 8, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
This city amazed us with its white and clear beaches, its lively neighbourhoods, and its extensive nightlife. During this week here we stayed in Ipanema, and its beach was the perfect choice for relaxing and swimming in the refreshing sea during the day. Besides biking to the botanical garden and along the copacabana beach, we hiked up to the Christ the Redeemer statue. There we got a breathtaking view over the city. We explored the area of Santa Teresa by going up the tiny streets with an old cute yellow tram. We eventually ended up at the famous coloured Selarón stairs. One night we met up with the cute Brazilian couple Flavia and Anderson, which we met in the Amazon. They took us to a live Samba event that used to be the place where the workers went back in the days. After that we went to another street Samba at Pedra do Sal, which is the birthplace of Samba in Rio de Janeiro. This and other great nights of dancing with people from the hostel completed the Rio experience.Read more
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 98
Saturday, December 10, 2016
⛅ 26 °C
Altitude: 149 m
Brazil Foz do Iguaçu -25.544041, -54.58856225°32’39” S 54°35’19” W
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Ilha Grande and Foz do Iguazu
December 10, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Although we could have stayed even longer in Rio, we went a day out of the city to cruise around the many beautiful islands and beaches of Ilha Grande. The water there is so clear that no snorkel gear is needed to see all the fishes swimming with you as you jump in from the boat. One day was definitely not enough, but it is a good reason to come back :)
Our last stop in Brazil was Foz do Iguazu, from where we crossed the border to Argentina to see these pretty falls that spit massive amounts of water. After we waved goodbye to the country we spent the last couple of weeks in, we are now on a 18 hour bus ride southbound.Read more
Brian Gray This is what I call areal waterfall ,aye What, have you got bucket,xxx
3/2/17Reply
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 105
Saturday, December 17, 2016
⛅ 31 °C
Altitude: 20 m
Uruguay Colonia del Sacramento -34.454378, -57.84447734°27’16” S 57°50’40” W
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On the road in Uruguay
December 17, 2016 in Uruguay ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
During the past week we were exploring the coast of this small country by car. We started off in Colonia, a very cute town with beautiful avenues. After a short stop in the capital where we spent a freezing night in our mini van at the beach, we decided to sleep in hostels with warm blankets instead. We drove further East to Punto del Este which is supposed to be one of South America's most glamorous resorts. However, right before the holiday season starts, it seemed still very sleepy and it was hard to imagine that a big crowd will arrive so soon. In Cabo Polonia we had to leave our car at the park entry and continue our trip with a 4x4 truck on sandy roads. This rustic village at the coast is not connected to electricity yet and the people there are even more laid-back than the rest of the Uruguayanos :) Our last stop was Punto del Diablo, another cute beach town with plenty of small and colourful houses.
Although we had bad luck with the unusual chilly temperature, driving on these big empty roads, seeing plenty of lighthouses and eating high quality food gave us a good glimpse of their lifestyle.Read more
Traveler Wow, what a Building 😍🙂👌🏼
12/19/16Reply
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Exploring Latin American Vibes Sarah Bleiker
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Day 112
Saturday, December 24, 2016
☀️ 29 °C
Altitude: 25 m
Argentina Belgrano R -34.565384, -58.45275934°33’55” S 58°27’10” W
Buenos Aires
December 24, 2016 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
With its plenty neighbourhoods and trees all over, this city offered us many lovely streets to stroll around. We took it easy, visited some museums as well as markets, and met up with Judith and Florence. These two Argentinean girls that we met in Rio took us to nice places in the evening :) Buenos Aires was the last stop of our trip and after so many great places we saw and people we met, it is now time to go home for christmas. Hasta el próximo viaje!Read more
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Trip end
December 25, 2016