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4 kids world tour year
  • Ezyian
  • Flo M
  • Ezyian
  • Flo M

4 kids world tour year

With mum and dad, we visit 36 countries on a world tour in 365 days. We visit schools, homes, and hospitals to experience the lives of other children Weiterlesen
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  • 4 kids world tour year

    Half Time

    3. Februar 2023 in Argentinien ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We started our tour 183 days ago, and so at 8am local time, 12am Central European Time, we were exactly halfway through the tour.

    We all needed a rest, and especially the girls, who had been out till after midnight. So we took it easy in the morning and not too hard the rest of the day.

    Mind you we were hardly lazy, and so we went twice to the playpark, and walked 10,000 steps to the modern art gallery, the Mabla, oh and I shouldn't forget out visit to the flower ( see photo).

    Tonight, we head back to the Estilo Campo to top up on steaks and Malbec because tomorrow we are off to Iguazu.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    1.8 billion litres per second...

    6. Februar 2023 in Brasilien ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    ....or 36 Olympic swimming pools per second. That's the amount of water dropping from the world's biggest waterfall.

    I don't really know how to describe it. Pictures and videos are surely better. But some basics are, it very wide, it's in the jungle, and the middle of the river is the Argentina, Brazil border. It's very hot and Max humidity.

    Yesterday, we walked around the Argentinian side. Today, the Brazil side. In the past, most people recommended the Argentinian side. I have to say after today, at least for now, the Brazil side is better, because a few parts in Argentina are closed. It's particularly sad that on that side, the biggest falls, the devil's throat, are currently not accessible.

    But whatever the differences may be between the two sides, the whole thing is a truly magnificent natural spectacle.

    On top of that, it's fun when you take a boat on the river, driven like in a bond movie, and where everyone gets soaked    Weiterlesen

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    Tucans to Salt(a)

    8. Februar 2023 in Argentinien ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Today was another big move of about a 1000km to the North, North West from Iguazu to Salta, which is close to the Andes.

    The day started very early with a 5am wake up to catch a flight at 08:10. In the end we could have got up an hour later, because the check in was fast, very much faster than anywhere else, but we couldn't assume that, as there is only a flight every 3 or 4 days.

    When we visited the falls it was a big disappointment that we didn't see tucans, but by pure chance I spotted 2 at the airport, and Flo and the kids ran outside to see them and more. They all agreed that the species is unusual and very beautiful.

    The rest of the day we took it easy, but as ever not lazy and we walked 4km to the centre of Salta and back.

    We bought some food and clothes, and I did the now habitual cash pick up to pay the hotel, a hire car, and much more.

    After I picked up the money, I saw not one but two armoured vehicles delivering cash to a bank. The fact that they need two for so many banknotes gives a small vibe of how, thus, could end like the Weimar Republic.

    Full disclosure: The Tucan photo is from the Iguazu agency in Brazil. Good photos of birds from a phone are rather rare.    Weiterlesen

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    Super dry and green at the same time

    9. Februar 2023 in Argentinien ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today, we are on a road trip from Salta to Cafayate in the Andes and back.

    The scenery is stunning, but what surprises is that whilst the ground is stone dry and its 34C in the shade there are a huge number of plants, and so the mix of very dry and very green, is something new for us.Weiterlesen

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    Flash flood, rockfall...roadblocked

    9. Februar 2023 in Argentinien ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    ....and roadblock ( police)

    Yesterday we had a wonderful road trip from Salta to Cafayate and back, whereby the back part at times looked like it might not happen.

    The views on the trip start about 50km south of Salta. In the far South of Argentina and Chile, the dominant features of the Andes are the magnificent towering grey granite peaks. Here, the Andes are almost entirely red sandstone. It's hot and mostly dry, and it's often very sunny. The bright sunshine and later the setting sun help make the red stone truly stunning. The valley floors are surprisingly green, and there are plenty of cactuses of various types, and so the mix of red and green is quite pleasing.

    We had lunch in a quaint restaurant in the quaint little town of Cafayate, which is at the centre of the regions vineyards.

    On our way back, there was a thunderstorm, with sudden heavy rain, and this provoked Flash flooding of the road and rockfall onto the road.

    We dodged the rocks, and we ploughed through the rivers crossing the road until we reached one that was too deep, even for 4x4 trucks to cross. So we were stuck. We had no clue for how long, but luckily, after about an hour, the water level dropped enough that we could cross.

    That was not the last hazard. You see, we were 6 in a car licenced for 5, so as luck would have it, we were stopped at a police checkpoint. Luckily, Oscar hid himself super fast on the floor, and so after my licence was checked, we were able to move on.

    We got back about 90 minutes later than planned. It's not too bad.    Weiterlesen

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    Don't cry for me Argentina...

    12. Februar 2023 in Argentinien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    ... the truth is we are about to leave you, since this is our last full day here. Tomorrow, we are off to Bolivia at 0915.

    Yesterday we made our way by bus from Salta to Tilcara. The journey should have been 4 hours, but it ended up being more than 5. ( Bus had to be changed halfway, due to some problems). We travelled up an incredible valley from 1000m at Salta to 2500m in Tilcara. The sides of the valley are magnificent sandstone mountains, and the valley floor is dominated by a dried up river, though a little stream still flows and an open plain covered in large cacti.

    Tilcara itself is a town of 6,000 people. There is some tourism here, but not that much, and otherwise, it's a pretty sleepy town.

    We stay in the Tilcara guest house, which is managed by a nice Argentinian, with help from a German lady. We booked two rooms but one is enough so he lets us cancel the booking and take something different. The nominal price was $155 per day, but with the change and unofficial exchange rates, we pay only $60.

    The advantages of guest houses/hostels are that generally, people are friendlier and chatty , and they often can help answer our many questions..." Is there a bus from A to B," etc. The only disadvantage is that they are rarely as clean as the Swiss mind needs to feel truly relaxed.

    Jama, not Llama, is how to pronounce the Andes cross between a camel and a sheep. We go see some before eating some 😉.

    Today, since the kids think they are "cute," we went to see a bunch of Llamas and take them for a walk and a feed. Great fun was had by all.    Weiterlesen

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    Bienvenidos en Bolivia

    13. Februar 2023 in Bolivien ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    I am not sure what to expect in Bolivia, and yesterday, I was apprehensive for a couple of reasons.

    Firstly, Bolivia is high, very high. We climbed from 2500m in Tilcara to 3600 at the border, and now we spend the next 4 days at that height. That brings with it memories of Flo having very bad altitude sickness, mind you that was at 6000m, and me having it three times, in Colorado (4000m), Cusco (4000m), and Llasa ( only 3300m). However, in my case, all those previous cases might have been because I came from sea level by plane.

    Both Flo and I separately checked online how to prevent and how to treat, since we have much the same fears. So far, so good, maybe because we acclimatised first. ( Correction: Flo is suffering from a typical altitude headache). Worst case, Uyuni has a hospital.

    Secondly, Bolivia is impossible to plan in detail because so little is online. For example, only one agent selling bus tickets in the entire country, and they are relatively expensive. There are some timetables but mistly on facebook, and accuracy is questionable, but these cover a tiny fraction of what's available, and bizarrely only the slowest options, the big buses. Much better are the 8 seater minibuses (locals call them Suribi, which strangely is a type of catfish), that go more or less on demand, when they fill up. If you google suribi, you find fish, not buses. For once, we pay the stupid gringo price, about double, but for that, we have the bus to ourselves, and we just go.

    Going back to earlier the border crossing was easy, and ot took for both leaving Argentina ( La Quiaca) and entering Bolivia (Villazon) about 30 mins. We were a bit lucky as behind us the queue quadrupled in size.

    One curiosity caught our eye, namely behind the border crossing is a reserved path, not a road, just a tarmacadam path. On it there is a near constant stream of Bolivians on foot pulling carts full of all manner of things in the direction of Bolivia. Food, drinks, alcohol and more. In the direction of Argentina they run back without any cart. Its all official, so it probably means that all those goods are cheaper in Argentina. Looks very odd.

    Next step is to find the bus station, not the real one, but rather the repurposed old one. There we very quickly find a a Suribi.

    What we didn’t find so easily was a functioning ATM. All three not working. Western Union neither, no system. So we change US$150 of our cash reserve.

    We should be in Uyuni by 5pm, much better than the scheduled bus that only left 3 hours later and drives much slower.    Weiterlesen

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    Uyuni... I still can't pronounce it

    15. Februar 2023 in Bolivien ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We arrived in Uyuni two days ago after a long journey with bus, taxi and mini bus. I had expected some sort of tourist village, but in fact, it's a real Bolivian town with 30,000 inhabitants, so 500 tourists on any given day is not so much.

     Yesterday was planned for acclimatisation, and boy did Flo, Lennox, and Oscar need it, since they all had altitude sickness, Oscar literally, and Lennox and Flo migraine/ hangover type headaches.
    The rest of us were hit by
    tiredness and being quickly out of breath.

    Today is also to acclimatise, since 3600m and more is quite tough. For example, blood oxygen levels drop, and so the heart goes faster to try to compensate.

    So we do only two low energy things today.

     First in the morning we visit the local market. It's not to dissimilar from those we saw in Africa and Asia, but it is both cleaner and less busy. All but one of the stallholders is female, even the butchers, and they dress very traditionally with skirts and hats.

    The kids enjoyed buying fruit, veg, pasta, and more, whilst one older female butcher wanted to sell me a leg of llama for about $3 per kilo. When it seemed I wasn't buying llama, she offered all manner of other meats.

    Secondly, late in the afternoon, we made a small outing to the train cemetery. There are about 30 abandoned steam trains there, which were ideal for the kids to play on and for us all to play hide and seek. Normally, we would have walked there and back, but today, to be cautious, we took a taxi the 2.5km there and back    Weiterlesen

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    Salt wonders

    16. Februar 2023 in Bolivien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Have you ever been excited about salt?

    Did you ever want your picture taken with salt?

    If you answered "no," then you haven’t been to "El Salar" ( the salt flat) in Bolivia. 12,000 square kilometres at 3700m of salt flat. Note flat, not flats. It's one area as far as the eye can see, surrounded by snow-capped volcanoes and mountains that are 5800m high. On a good day, like today, visibility is 100km.

    The most unusual effect of this flat occurs when there is a little rain, and yesterday it rained. So we had the pleasure of seeing the double sky. The thin layer of water acts like a mirror. Cars, people appear to float. The mountains and sky are mirrored.

    As always with nature, photos and films are nowhere like the real thing, but the special lighting aĺlows for rather unique photos. I have a few, Flo and Nira took 100s more.

    We all found it magnificent and lots of fun, quite unexpectedly, for a flat white surface.

    If you have the chance, visit Uyuni, but make sure you go between January and March.

    Strange endnote. Althought Bolivia has endless salt resources, it exports very little, its not entirely clear why, might be that its only 95% pure, might be the very labour intensive preparation that we saw is not cost competitive.    Weiterlesen

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    Floating in the Atacama

    18. Februar 2023 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    On the 17th, we moved West from Uyuni, Bolivia, to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The journey started at 6 am, after getting up at 5, and finally got us there around 6 pm. That included about 8 hours bus ride 2 hours, at Bolivian and Chile passports and customs controls, one hour to pick up a hire car ( actually a hire truck), and then driving the last 100km in the truck for an hour. Long journey , tiring, but also passing through unique scenery of innumerable giant volcanoes, salt flats, then later sandstone formations and then yet more snow-capped mountains and volcanoes It may sound repetitive, but in fact, each step is different and wonderful in its own way.

     San Pedro itself has less charm, as it only exists for tourists, it's seriously overpriced, and basically, all the businesses in the centre are tour companies or restaurants . We have opted to be our own tour operators with our hired truck. That is possible, because we stay in a hostel and the owner provides us with endless help and advice.

    So today, after a long sleep and a very gradual getting up, plus google Maps mistakes, we headed out to Lago Baltichane, which is about an hours drive along dirt track roads. Carolina warned us it was stony, but after Namibia and Kenya, we are not easily intimidated by driving conditions, and indeed, this was a 1 out of 5, where Namibia is 5.

    The Laguna is a series of salt water pools in a glacial valley, whose floor consists of lava rocks and salt flats that are up to 900m deep.

    The pools are turquoise blue, and the water is so salty. it's at saturation point.

    You can swim here and that's the fun part. Swimming is actually difficult because you float so easily. You literally feel the water push you up. It was a really interesting experience.

    When you get out and dry, the fun is not over, as a thin layer of salt covers your body. Dry towelling gets rid of most, but the remainder stays until you shower back in San Pedro in our case 3 hours later.

    On the way back, we stopped for 90 minutes at a viewpoint on the top of sandstone formations. I sat and enjoyed the view, whilst the others explored the rocks and the sand.

    We cooked at the hostel to get around the exorbitant restaurant prices, and the kids played before we all went to bed and slept very deeply.    Weiterlesen

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    The moon and the stars

    19. Februar 2023 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The theme of today was the moon and the stars. In the late morning and afternoon, we visited the valley of the moon. It's so called because those who named it thought it was like being on the moon, whereby I think its more down to the white salt encrusted rocks, and the landscape with no plants, no water, and if course no animals.

    The strongest hint that it's not the moon is that under the white crust and above it, there is red sandstone, not something you find on the moon.

    It is an interesting place for a drive and short walks, and the kids had fun on the way back, sitting in the open trailer of the truck.

    Tonight, we went beyond the moon to the stars by going on an astronomy tour. It was interesting but a little less than the experience in the Kalahari (Namibia). A pity since the Atacama is where the big earth based telescopes are due to clear air and skies. I suspect we simply had too much light pollution from San Pedro. In Kalahari, we were at least 30km from the next town.    Weiterlesen

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    200 days on the road

    20. Februar 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    23 countries

    86,000 km
    28 flights
    1 Mobile Home
    7 Hire cars
    11 drivers with cars for long distances/all day
    Taxis: Lost count
    5 Long distance buses
    26 Touk Touk rides
    23 intercity trains

    69 Hotels/Hostels/Apartments/Camps/Ryokans

    Friendly places to stay: a lot. Most notable Masai Simba camp & Masai Duma Bush Camp (Kenya), Bamboo Palace hotel (Rwanda), Green House hotel (Uzbekistan), Dovipie Inn (Nagaland), Villa Oasis (Laos), Redpoint hostel & hostal nuevo sol y viento (Chile)

    163 posts (Ian), 200 ({Flo)
    1,600 photos posted (Ian), approx 7,000 posted! (Flo)

    Further point from home 18,848km in New Zealand
    Hottest 40C in Australia
    Coldest not sure, since we try to follow the sun, probably Puerto Natales.
    Highest point 4200m in Bolivia/Chile

    Security issues : none serious
    Car crashes : 1 minor (with motorbike) and near crashes with giraffes, zebras , and kangaroos.
    Stomach illnesses: 2 hospitalised, 1 other serious, 3 others 1-2 days in bed

    Countries planned but not visited: Burma
    Countries visited, not in original plan : Laos

    Rucksacks: 6 weighing 15 kg for adults and 6-8 for kids
    Rucksacks are lightened by jettisoning unneeded clothes, gadgets & others by 8 kg
    Items lost or stolen: 2 mobile phones, 1 Bluetooth speaker, 1 credit card (recovered from machine the next day), loads of other things (all Ian). 1 credit card (lost for good-Flo)

    Home Schooling on track (thanks to Flo)
    Home School Tablets: Do the job fine
    Kids broader education in culture, lifestyles & living conditions, history, geography, languages, politics, religion, environment, geology, astronomy, animal behaviour, biology & theory of evolution, planning, decision making, IT tools way ahead of their peers
    Kids' awareness of their privileges and the hardship of others improved dramatically

    Kids favourite countries:
    Lennox - Uzbekistan
    Lola - Japan
    Nora - Namibia
    Oscar - Australia

    Countries we liked and would visit again 21/22 (Adults), 20/22 (kids). They would skip large parts of India due to health risks.

    Countries we were disappointed in: Tanzania (similar experience in the past to Kenya, but now not as good, corrupt officials, prices too high for hotels in Serengeti, too high for cars, US$300 for visas, and just generally less pleasant.

    Most exotic foods: Bees, caterpillars in Nagaland and Namibia, spiders, crickets, dragonflies, worms
    Best food: Israel, Japan, Argentina and Nagaland (for some), and Laos
    Most friendly cooks: in Bamboo Palace Hotel (i.e., Lola cooked with the chef)

    Best 2 days :
    Dad – 1 Torres del Paine (Chile),2 Road trip including Uhuru Australia
    Mum -1. Swimming with turtles & along the drop-off at the Great Barrier Reef, 2. Equally: Rajisthan square in Samarkand, Miyajima, Big Daddy Dune in Namibia, Masai Mara, Fitz Roy hike, the Olgas hike in Australia, Nagaland.
    Lennox – Samarkand, day at Iwaso with Grand-Papa.
    Lola – 1. I loved the days when we went to Iwaso (ryokan in Miyajima) 2. The day of my birthday at the Ritsurin-Koen Garden in Takayama.
    Nora - Namibia bush paintings and petrified forest, Trelew, worlds largest dinosaur
    Oscar - Australia crocodiles, Sydney New Years fireworks

    Days we felt like giving up: From zero to a few depending on person
    Days we felt like doing a second year: A lot (we won't for now)    Weiterlesen

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    Chile, Venezuela and the bus

    21. Februar 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The two countries don't have a border. They are 5,000km apart, but now more than ever, the countries are linked, since large numbers of refugees from the Maduro regime head for Chile. Nobody knows exact numbers, but 3-5 million people have escaped the Venezuelan regime and settled mainly in Colombia, Chile, and Argentina.

    Even with the exodus from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe the numbers are not as big as the displacements in Latin America , and of course Latino countries don't have resources like Europe and their borrowing capacity is limited .

    Nevertheless, we witness kindness and friendliness towards migrants. Even if some taxi drivers say they are responsible for a rise in crime, and its true, the stretched resources have led to protests in Santiago. Overall, it looks like a classic immigration, the immigrants fill jobs the locals prefer not to do, in catering, in low paid services like hairdressers , and in tougher jobs like mining and mineral extraction.

    After leaving San Pedro de Atacama this morning, we dropped off our car at Calama airport and headed for the bus station in a taxi, all 6 of us, and all of our bags. We ask the taxi driver if our impression is right that the town is booming and he says yes, alongside the traditional business of copper, silver and gold mining there is now lithium the magic ingredient in rechargeable batteries.

    We ask him what's the population? He says nobody knows due to the immigration. He explains that mining companies let immigrants erect houses on the companies' land, but the government doesn't count these houses or people. It seems they turn a blind eye. Overall, this taxi driver thinks the situation is ok, as everyone is benefiting from the growth.

    From Calama, we take an 8 hour bus ride to Arica (605km), which is near the Peruvian border. The entire journey is through the Atacama Desert. Areas with dry flat plains change to low rolling hills. All dry, no visible sign of any life, not even plants in most places. What we do see occasionally is very large-scale solar power and less often windmills. Nice to see that renewables flourish here, possibly without subsidies, because there is endless sun and a fair amount of wind. When the bus stops briefly at a tiny shop, we see all the cars there covered in a thick layer of dust.

    One thing that's changed in Latam out of all recognition is the buses. Gone are the rickety, hot, overcrowded buses, and "in" are modern buses with lots of space, fully reclining seats, and aircon. I tell the kids this is a super business class bus. It's a joke on my part, but in fact, it's true that the standard often exceeds anything you can find in Europe. To quote Flo, " Best bus ever!"    Weiterlesen

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    Mummy and mummies

    22. Februar 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today, we were briefly in Arica, the Chilean town, very near to the border of Peru, and amongst other things, we visited the museum with the world's oldest mummies. They are not Egyptian mummies but South American ones that are 2000 years older than those of Egypt.

    Not only are there mummies but also earthenware with intricate designs, patterned fabrics, tools, weapons and skirts, and other clothing to cover genitals. All in remarkable condition That's been helped by the extreme dryness, and salty ground.

    It is a really top museum, modest in size but extraordinary exhibits.

    Not quite as old but still dating from 400 AD, are multiple flat sculptures of llamas laid on the hillside.

    After that we had planned to go to the beach, but a stop for lunch and the fact that it was further along the coast than we thought meant that we abandoned that and settled for an ice cream instead.

    Then, in the late afternoon, we headed for Peru a mere 21km away. Of course, most of the time, most time was needed to simply cross the Chilean and Peru borders . For the 1st time in Latam, these were side by side in the same building, so the process was relatively fast at around 40 minutes for both.

    Then onwards to Tacna, where tomorrow morning we catch the bus to Lake Titicaca, 6.5 hours drive.    Weiterlesen

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    It had to happen,

    23. Februar 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    ... a bad day. Well, it's not likely to be a great one if you wake up with diarrhoea. I have no idea why, but then the rest of the day was like some medieval torture.

    You see, the plan for the day was to travel from Tacna to Lake Titicaca, a 6.5-hour bus journey.

    However, things started to go wrong very quickly. The bus we had booked didn't exist. There is no notice at the station, nobody from the company. We ask other companies for options. Nothing. So I suggest to Flo we should hire an entire mini bus, and a helpful lady from another bus company helps her to find one. Well, not a minibus, but at 7 seater car.

    He will take us to Derepaque, and another car will take us to the Bolivian border ( we go to the lake on the Bolivian side).

    So after filling up at an informal petrol station ( smuggled or stolen fuel), we set off for the 1st part of 2 hours through the Atacama desert. It's totally dry and hot. The aircon doesn't work, so open windows will have to do. Roads quickly climb to 3000m.

    In the second part, it starts to become slowly green, the roads continue to ascend to 4500m, and the roads get narrow and windy ( as in wine-dee, nothing to do with wind). The temperature up top is chilly, and late afternoon, it even snows (a bit).

    Eventually, at around 330pm, we reach our interim destination. I was so sick I tried to sleep, and I dosed, but when I looked at my watch, only 5 min had passed. Well, at least no altitude sickness on top. 🙃

    The roadblock is not what we imagined. Not a police stop, but rather a huge pile of earth to block the road.

    No worries, only 90 minutes to go, or so we thought.

    The 2nd driver tells us we have to wait 1.5 hours. It's not clear why, but maybe 40-50 other people are also waiting. After 1.5 hours, it's extended to 2.5 hours. Oh, and then he explained he couldn't use the main road and had to use backroads, so it would take 4 hours, not 1.5.

    We asked during the wait if we could drop Titicaca and head for Cuzco. "No, that road is blocked, too." At this point, I realise we might get really stuck if the way in and out is blocked, to the extent that we couldn't get in the Southern border to back into Peru. Result, we abandoned the 2nd ride, and instead, we headed most of the way back to a town called Moqoque, where Flo quickly found a decent hostel. It took 3 hours to get there.

    I collapsed into bed after a relaxing hot shower. The kids feasted on potato crisps .

    12 hours squashed in a car with my luggage, heat, high altitude, windy roads, high up it was cold,stomach cramps, sweat and more, but today I am fine, ready to plan the next days.    Weiterlesen

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    9 South American Bus Rides

    26. Februar 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    In a row, and today was the last long one. We went from Salta, to Tilcara, to Uyuni, to Calama, ( a hire car to San Pedro de Atacama and back), then Bus again to Arica, another onwards to Tacna, before the missing bus to Titicaca and all that entailed, then further to Moqoque, not forgetting the ride to Arequipa before the final stretch to Cusco. In total we spent somewhere between 50 and 60 hours in those buses, and travelled more than 3,700km.

    This last leg was overnight . There is no day bus. I hear it's for security reasons, but not which security reasons. Is it risk of political blockades? Robberies? Road Safety ( you see oncoming traffic lights at night, in the day you don't know what's round the 1000s of corners). Could it be all three?

    For me and Flo, the overnight haa been tough as we barely slept. There were too many bumps, too many turns, and I made the mistake of wearing shorts and it was freezing. I collected headcovers off seats as an improvised bedcover. The kids, however, with minor exceptions, slept through it all..As much as 9 or 10 hours!

    Flo asked me at one point why don't we fly from Calama to La Paz at least?, correctly I might add, to which I answered, that stretch is $120 for us by bus or $3000 by plane. Ah, OK. That's not always the case, but the bus is often the only economic option.

    Where we have been lucky, especially travelling with 4 kids, is that the standard of buses has skyrocketed in the last 20 years. Most seats are comfortable and spacious, the seats often recline to 140 degrees, and last night, we even had semi flat beds. That's the new normal. It's not driven by tourism.

    God forbid the thought of taking those 9 long journeys in the rickety buses of old. We wouldn't have survived it. As it is, it's been tiring, but mostly enjoyable. The huge variety of desert and mountain landscapes will stick in the memory.

    Why the hell did we do all this to ourselves? Well alongside the must see sights, we've seen lots of villages, towns and cities, where real people live real lives, and I just can't get over how many of them were helpful and nice to us. To take just one example, which European hotel manager opens breakfast an hour early for guests leaving early? In the last two weeks, that happened twice, and we did not ask. These were ordinary people who could have saved some money, but instead, they were extremely generous.

    I have added some pictures of Moqoque, Tarca, and Arequipa. Especially Arequipa is very interesting with its well-preserved colonial buildings and still active monastery. Maybe the key, though, is that these are off the tourist trail, and you see daily life as it is. In South America, with no social security and little public health care, life is tough, but the people here are tough, and they manage to be cheerful, friendly, and party.    Weiterlesen

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    "Let's have a quiet day, a short walk"

    26. Februar 2023 in Peru ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    That was my answer around midday to Flo, when she asked me what we would do.

    We had arrived around 8am in Cusco, after a 12 hour journey during which Flo and I barely slept, so we stayed in the hotel in the morning.

    My body clock didn't want me to sleep, so when we finally went out around 1300, I was very tired. It's 3400m up here, so any activity is much more strenuous. In short, I was at my limit, but a walk for lunch, and quickly showing the others the magnificent Plaza des Armes seemed feasible, and on 364 out of 365 days, it would have been.

    On this day, however, what normally would be fun and a laugh went wrong. I went back to the hotel with a bad headache and worse blurred vision. (After having a detached retina last year, I am paranoid about this) After 3 hours of sleep, I was actually fine.

    You see, we didn't know, but yesterday was the last day of festival here, and alongside the traditional march past of dancers, bands, and other groups , the central square becomes one giant foam fight For good measure, buckets of cold water and water balloons are part of the mix.

    Tourists are not off limits, and indeed, we were also targets . We got covered in foam and soaked in water.

    At first, it was all fun, and we laughed, but after a while, a headache started, and I couldn't see properly, and I started to feel disorientated. The cold water made me shiver.

    I don't think it was ever serious, but it was disturbing. Anyway, now it's past , and it teaches me to be careful about pushing limits. I think here the mix of tiredness, high altitude, and the interference with sight together with the cold showers was just too much.

    Before we went out for dinner, we checked if the foam fight was over. " It should be , but it might continue here and there till the morning," was the answer. Luckily, we managed to miss a 2nd dose, and warm food brought back the missing zest. All good, looking forward to a deep sleep.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    The Inca capital

    27. Februar 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Was not Machu Piccu for most of history, it was Cusco, but in Cusco the Spanish took over, and used the Inca's foundations and walls to build there Andean powerbase, and that of the church.

    Today, we actually had a quiet day, as yesterday's quiet day had turned riotous. We visited the main streets and square, and we visited the main cathedral. We couldn't take photographs there, but it had quite a few interesting paintings and sculptures. My favourite was Jesus wearing an 18th-century Spanish hat.

    One hidden gem in Peru is its restaurants, and at lunchtime, we found a dream for Nora, an avocado restaurant. The place was modest, but the cooking was great.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    91% down... but the bounce has started

    1. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    If you Google in English, you may well read, "Machu Piccu is closed indefinitely." That's not true. It reopened two weeks ago, but it will take a while for tourist numbers to recover from the 91% drop.

    Just yesterday, I met a pensioner from Sydney, and she complained about how utterly useless the English language press is when it comes to Latin America and Peru in particular. I helped her out with info she couldn't find.

    To be clear in the South, and we are still in the South, there is still a state of emergency, and in key spots, riot police are highly visible. That said, they are in a good mood and smile to tourists, and there is no sign of any imminent unrest.

    For us, the current situation turns out to be a huge bonus. Prices are down, and so we can afford a nicer hotel. Just look at the breakfast room photos. Of course, it's weird to be alone in a 7 storey hotel. It also means we can fly after this to Lima and on to Iquitos for less than half the normal price. Indeed, we got lucky, since tickets I bought last week for less than $100 now cost $240.

    Our savings, and more importantly, the vast drop in visitor numbers, are immediate losses for local businesses and workers. Here they are not happy with the protesters , and in Arequipa I noticed a band playing in the main square was also against the protesters, so it's difficult to know what to make of the current state of affairs. My read is that it's a far right versus far left clash, and what the people need is a pragmatic middle way. But that is a readout I could make in 95 out of a 100 political crisis.

    Putting the politics behind us, we marvel at our breakfast location, and we look forward to visiting the Inca city this afternoon.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    Machu Piccu and a Guinea Pig

    1. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    People these days have bucket lists of things they want to see. I get that, at some level, but it turns touring into some perverse form of checklist where the listholder is just trying to get points to impress friends.. On top, I can't remember such a list talking about people and culture, as well as understanding history/environment/ etc.

    I have a sort of reverse bucket list, but it's a bit richer than just a checklist. My bucket is things I have already seen and/ or experienced that I want to show the children with a handful of things added on that I have missed in the past. So this is a kind of replay of "my" greatest hits.

    So high on my list was Machu Piccu because it combines many things: a sensational landscape, a sumptuous jungle, and a truly amazing archaeological site, with mind-boggling handcraft The sugar on the top are the rain forest animals and birds.

    My list comes with the downside that I am nervous about whether Flo and the kids will see these as I do. Mostly, I needn't have been nervous, and today was no exception. They loved it. Whilst kids are not so good at expressing themselves, Flo was overflowing with positive remarks. Lennox says it's one of his favourite places, but that is because he spotted a rare snake. Oh well, let's see what he says in a few years' time.

    The whole afternoon was made all the more enjoyable by an excellent guide called Elliot. He never tried answering the kids' questions and telling tales related to the site and/or the Inca people.

    After all that, we indulged in traditional local food, namely guinea pig. A whole one roasted. It's a really rather good cross between chicken and pork. Apologies to Jenny & Don, my related guinea pig lovers.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    You can't go up,there might be a tornado

    3. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Today, we went to Machu Piccu for the 2nd time. This time, the plan was to climb to the top of Machu Piccu mountain, for the view. A four hour hike. A miniscule time compared with our hikes in the Southern Andes.

    That was the plan, but at 1130, it collided with the immovable object each country has. The low-level public official whose only job is to say no. In our case "no you can't go up there."

    Our well educated guide had said we could, nothing at the entrance excluded our destination, but apparently there is a rule our guide with 9 years experience didn't know, namely that entrance us only allowed at 7am. The official explained that this was because winds could be high, and there was a risk of tornadoes. I stupidly tried to rationalise with him, of course it brought precisely nothing.

    Oh well, let's try the Inca bridge walk instead. So we did, and despite not having the correct ticket, this particular junior official turned a blind eye. Quite why we will never know, but he did take a personal risk.

    His risk was that we would fall off the cliff face walkway and not return. ( Fired for letting people through without a ticket, not because they died). It wouldn't be the first time people didn't return, but happily in our case, we made it to the bridge and back.

    The walk for us vertigo sufferers was seriously nerve-racking. Luckily, we had the walk entirely to ourselves and therefore did not need to share the narrow walkway with anyone. ( In normal times, 100 people a day do this walk, and so passing would be a must) The gatekeeper told us before us there had been nobody all day.

    The bridge itself is scary looking but no scarier than the walkway across the entire cliff face. Apparently, it's designed so that Incas could run across the cliff face. Full disclosure, at the worst bits I crawled on all fours.

    Nota Bene: The photos are not from the narrow bits.

    After the scary walk, we had a 2nd visit to the citadel before the scary bus ride down. Last crash just last December, 4 dead many injured. A real-life roller coaster with non-zero health risks.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    Weird train, bus, plane, taxi

    4. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Today, we take "the low road,and we'll be in Lima before yee," to paraphrase a well-known Scottish song, or at least it's well known in Scotland.

    Actually, we take the train up from Machu Piccu (2000m) to Ollyantambo, and then the bus is even higher to Cusco (3500m). Most of us are acclimatised to heights, but Lennox still gets an altitude headache. Poor him, but we then take the plane to Lima, which is 1100km away and at sea level. Finally, a to the Miraflores area where we stay for 3 days.

    We've been at high or very high altitudes for 3 weeks, and all of us felt it in one way or another. You acclimatise but not fully. Doing anything physical is strenuous. There are the initial headaches, and 3 of us also experienced vision problems. So going back to sea level should be a relief for all of us.

    The weird train? It was a mini train, just one carriage, and just 10 passengers, 6 of whom were us. There were two stewards, one male, one female. The weird bit is those two act out an Inca love story in the train passageway. There is music and a song in English with a Peruvian accent. We try not to look baffled, and we clap at the end, but I think even the kids are thinking wtf.

    Quite why they need on board entertainment is a mystery, as this valley and the river make for one of the most breathtaking journeys I can think of.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    Food Capital of Latam?

    6. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The best meat in Latam is undoubtedly to be found in Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular, but other than the potatoes and salad that go with it that's about all you can expect to be 1st class. Pasta and pizzas, fail! Fish, what's that? etc.

    It's a very different story in Lima,Peru . Whilst their beef, "Lomo Salta," might not reach Argentinian levels, they exceed in all other areas, especially fish and fusion dishes.

    Therefore, the main feature for me in the last three days has been food. I am not, however, a Facebook or Instagram type, and I didn't take many photos.

    Lola, Nora, and Flo took it to the next level and toured the markets, and had a cooking lesson. They were very excited about the range of new fruits they saw at the market and the range and quality of meat on offer. Big bonus, we now have 3 trained ceviche chefs. Yum, yum.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    Tarzan is back in the jungle

    7. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    When I was young, as in I guess 8 or 9 years old, one of my favourite TV programmes was Tarzan, and one of the odder competions that I won was being the best Tarzan with physique plus ability to do a Tarzan call. ( The other odd one was winning a donkey race, coming from last to first on the last lap).
    I think I dreamt of one day being in the jungle. That dream came true a long while back in East Africa, Iguazu,Indonesia, Cambodia, and more recently tropical Queesland.

    But what is jungle? I will have to check, but I guess the proper name is tropical rainforest.

    Despite various tropical experiences, I have never been to the biggest one of all, the Amazon.

    Today, that changes since we fly to Iquitos, the world's biggest city, not accessible by road. 600,000 people in the jungle. Tarzan missed that!

    Iquitos, Peru 🇵🇪 lies on the main tributoŕy of the Amazon River and the Amazon itself. We plan to stay there for 3 days before taking 3 boats to cross the river to Manaus.

    We stay at the Oasis hotel that sits over the river on stilts. It's about 10 minutes by boat outside the city, and from where we are, we see nothing of the city, just the river a d the jungle. Tarzan feels at home.

    For those that don't know the Tarzan call, here it is:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHWbsvgQUE

    And I looked up the definition of jungle, here it us : an area of land overgrown with dense forest and tangled vegetation, typically in the tropics.    Weiterlesen

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  • 4 kids world tour year

    Spot the sloth

    8. März 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Have you ever woken up in a bird cage. I am talking for real, not just dreaming? Well, today, it's actually me in the cage ( jungle hut), and I am surrounded by a very large number of noisy birds. Black ones, yellow ones, white ones.

    Although they make a lot of noise, unfortunately, they are rather camera shy, and my bird sound recognition software that works well in Europe is pretty hopeless here (Merlin). First, it doesn't cover more than a fraction of the birds. Second, the phone signal us not good enough to call up the database.

    Apparently, some of the sounds aren't birds at all. They are freshwater dolphins, pink ones! Haven't seen those either yet. Correction: I saw a few around lunchtime.

    Finally, add to the soundtrack frogs and insects, and you have at least 80 decibels of natural sound.

    In the afternoon, we went to the animal rescue and played with monkeys, sloths, poisonous frogs, tarantulas, and other bugs.

    Interestingly, the main source of animals is the airport, where people get caught animal smuggling.    Weiterlesen

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