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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 Read more
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  • 4 kids world tour year

    School visit Iquitos, Peru

    March 9, 2023 ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Today we visited the school that our hosts' kids go to. It's a junior and middle school.

    The kids visited the English class ( see Flo's blog), whilst I chatted with the headmaster, who had previously taught chemistry and biology. His main message about the school bore quite a lot of similarity to what we saw in India, namely that faith is a driving force of the school. This is not necessarily my strongest subject, and I inherently recoil when religion is front and centre stage because it's often a scheme to impose beliefs or ideas on others. However, in developing countries, I need to park some of my own opinions because schools need a vision and values, and to be honest, where should they get them from if not from a religion. Certainly not the politics of right or left, and unfortunately, humanists have a really terrible marketing department and a non existant comms operation. So religion fills a gap for schools, even if that's not ideal, but then I am an original subscriber to Willy Brant's Realpolitik, so I see this as the least worst option.

    The headmaster explained to me that here intact families are the exception and that kids are brought up by Grandma, a new mother/ father, etc. and in that context, the only way to keep the school and society together is belief. He certainly has a point.

    After that deep conversation, he asked me if I had tried what a girl at the snack shop had in her hand. I thought it was some kind of chicken on a stick. He said I should try, so I said OK. When it arrived, it was chicken coloured, but it wasn't chicken, but rather an ice lolly. Could it be chicken ice cream???. No, it was a delicious local fruit that had a bit of a caramel flavour to it. The ideal snack at 35C and 100% humidity.

    When the kids came back, the PE class showed us a typical lesson. First coordination and reaction skills, and then a game of basketball. To end our visit, we had a simple chat with the students, and the trainer and the kids said a prayer for our safe travels. Even I prayed and said a loud amen. 🙏    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Swim with piranhas or fish them?

    March 10, 2023 in Peru ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    Yesterday we discovered you can swim with piranhas without being eaten alive, unless you have a cut, then they might take children as starters and adults as the main course.

    So Lennox had a cut finger and bowed out, but the rest of us all gained a million penis points by swimming carefree with the deadly fish.

    Having mastered swimming with them, the kids were energised to catch them, and that includes Lennox. Nobody took up my suggestion to make a cut in their finger and dip it in the water. Instead, they borrowed fishing gear from our boatel. Thereafter, the stories of the one that got away came thick and fast because, of course, it's razor-sharp teeth bit through the line.

    The boatel should get a special mention, it's Flo's 2nd favourite worldwide, quite an achievement. Its 4 floating guest rooms and a floating reception/ dining area on a beautiful tributary of the Amazon. It's owned and run by a lovely family of 16 brothers and sisters. Cesar, the boss, also acts as a boat driver and guide. He also sings his one year old niece to sleep at 8 pm, and again at 6 am. So first you have the birds singing at around 530, then comes Cesar.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    14 hours on Amazon to Brazil & Colombia

    March 10, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    There's a well-known comic song in Scotland about a guy who is a professional gambler on the Ballachulish ferry (Portree Kid). The joke is that the ferry distance is about 290m, about enough time for one game of black jack.

    A ride on an Amazon ferry is an entirely different affair. For example, we are on a short 400km ferry that takes 14 hours. Unfortunately, it's not got black jack, and no beer or whisky either. But what it does have, at least till it gets dark, is stunning scenery of where the jungle meets he Amazon with endless trees and elephant grass ( but if course, no elephants). Finally, a Scottish ferry is warm inside and cold outside, whereas in the Amazon, it's the opposite.

    The ferry does offer cuisine that is better than pie and chips, for example, chicken, wrapped in rice with olives, and a spicy sauce, all wrapped in a banana leaf. All six of us fed for $25, not bad, and tasty, too.

    The only bad bit is that it's mostly overnight, and the boat from time to time slows down , or even stops, I guess to dodge the occasional tree trunk that we saw earlier. (There was no safety briefing whatsoever. Maybe the Japanese are not so bad after all). Addendum: He does dodge tree trunks, but he also hits at least 10, but since we are still afloat, I guess the boat's steel Hull is designed to take those hits.

    Oh, and 12 hours, 400km here is peanuts. The next boat we take can take as much as 5 days to get to Manaus, 126 hours if I believe the timetable.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year
    2

    3 Border towns, two fines, one Barco

    March 11, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Actually, the list is longer. This was today:

    0:00 to 0715 Continuation ferry from Iquitos, arrival in Santa Rosa (Peru).

    730-740 Small long Boat then touk touk to Peruvian passport control

    0740-0800 Wait for the passport office to open. Opens punctually.

    0800-0820 Wait in line at the passport office. Oscar is lying on the floor. Nora is sitting on the floor.

    0820 Passport official says we overstayed our 10-day visa by seven days, so that will be 95 soles per person, per day. I almost explode, because 6x7x95= 3,990 soles =US$1,050, and it wasn't our fault we stayed longer, it was the blockades in the South that stopped us leaving, and a normal visa is 90 days. Many others did the calculation, and they heard the same as me.

    0825 Clarification. Fine is only for adults, and it's 4.95, not 95. So 7 x 2 x4.95=69.3 soles = US$17. Somewhat relieved, I still ask why the hell should we pay, its not our fault, but official being officials they insist. "Pay at the bank," " where us the bank?", "It's five blocks, take a taxi. "

    0830-0845 Taxi to bank. Bank closed ( it's Saturday), back to the passport control

    0845-0910 The official can now strangely take cash. Fills out lots of forms we sign, get fingerprinted, he stamps our passports, and I give my last protest at this nonsense ( After all tourism down 90% , but we came, we spent money we make it less worse. Of course, officials don't care, but locals in the queue are understanding().

    0910-0940 we meet the guy,Jese, don't know how, who the nice people in Iquitos had asked to help us navigate the border. Our phones were not working. He literally showed up where we came back from the passport office, I guess finding 6 gringos, is not so complicated. He says there's a boat today, but we need cash, so we should go to Leticia (Colombia), because there the rates for Brazilian currency are much better (go figure). So I get on the back of his motor bike and we slalom through the traffic to a bank. Cash machines, All 3 not working. OK next bank, one of 2 working but won't take foreign cards ( this is a border town!). So next step is to change $250 cash. That's the fastest step of the day. Black Market doesn't do burocracy.

    0940-0950 Small long boat from Leticea , Colombia to Tatabanga Brasil. Note there are no border controls on the river, and none on the land either. Smugglers paradise. But for us its sensible to visit the passport controls, otherwise we are likely to have problems with transport, hotels and the airport when leaving.

    0950 Taxi to Brazilian passport office, we manage all six plus driver, our helper and 8 bags in the car. En route we stop and shop for hammocks and ropes. We need these for sleeping in the barco boat.

    1015 Brazilan Federal Police Station. Nice English speaking policeman explains that he is the FBI, but he also stamps passports. He isn't the fastest though.

    1040 Taxi to the port.

    1050 Arrive at Port where Barco departs and buy tickets, but instead of the kids being half price, they are full price, so whilst we can pay the tickets, we've no cash for the next 3 or possibly 4 days on the boat.

    1100-1115 Ian and helper take two motorbike taxis to change $100 cash at the Brazilian border. Exchange rate far worse than in Colombia.

    1130-1200 Boarding and departure of Barco, but before it goes our helper, helps set up our hammocks. Great help, without which we would have missed the boat.

    FYI. Locally a ferry is a faster boat with reclining seats. From Iquitos to the 3 country border we took such a ferry.
    From the border to Manaus we are on a Barco, which is slower, and where you need your own hammock, that you tie to the roof

    Off we go on well over a 1000km to Manaus at around 20km on average Will take 4 days!    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    4 days in a hammock

    March 12, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ 🌩️ 24 °C

    We are crossing the Amazon in a Barco. Its a boat for transporting cargo and people, but for the people there are no seats, instead on two levels you can hang a hammock from the roof, and that becomes, your seat, bed etc.

    The air conditioning comes from the boat moving on the sleeping levels because the barco has no windows. It's open.

    The ticket for this 4 day ride is US$50 each, but that includes all meals, and a hammock costs $10 on top. The food is basic, but OK. Rice and/or pasta with stew/chicken/ mince. All is fine with a helping of chilli sauce.

    When I read about this trip, people complained about 3 things: 1 Heat 2 Not being able to sleep the 1st day 3. Petty crime. So far, we can't complain about any of those. Although the Amazon is hot and humid, during our travels in Asia and Africa, we had worse . To my surprise, sleeping in a hammock once you find a good position is easy, and knowing the risk of theft, we padlocked all our stuff and tied it down with camping rope. The boat company seems to take security pretty seriously anyway. Fingers crossed.

    The ride through the Amazon is a steady flow of jungle on the river banks, the occasional house, and every five or six hours a village or a town. The river itself is wide in the rainy season, several hundred meters. The boat is often in the middle to take advantage of the current, but it's also close to the bank for certain periods. Sometimes, the route goes where the map shows land. It's not clear if this is an error in the map or that the river has changed course. Occasionally, we take shortcuts on rivers, and where these meet the Amazon is where the dolphins like to hang out. Seems everyone but me saw them this morning or this afternoon.

    Footnote. The boat has a capacity of 417 passengers. I counted 83 hammocks. There are a handful of shared hammocks, so maybe 90 passengers, or 25% full. I'm not sure it would be nice with 4 x as many people.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year
    12

    Apocalyse Now, pink dolphins & stupid

    March 13, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We are 50 hours into our 2nd Amazon boat ride. Today was much the same as yesterday till about 4pm.

    I was up front next to the bridge, and I heard the skipper on the radio. Ahead, I could see a large fast boat moored at the riverbank, and after the radiotalk, we headed in its direction and moored alongside.

    Surprise on close inspection, its the military police, all dressed up and armoured to the teeth, with shiny new handguns and automatic rifles...and a sniffer dog.

    The police board the ship and get all the bags in lines, and then the dog goes to work. He pees on the floor, but then bingo he finds a suitcase that smells good to him, and he gets a tennis ball as a reward. The suitcase owner, who must have a very low IQ, because there was nothing to stop him hiding stuff in places the dog didn't go, was handcuffed and marched off the boat. The police shook down most of the men, except me, as I clearly looked angelically honest.

    Whilst all this is going on, we have to stand at the side of the boat, and low and behold, two pink dolphins appear. They really are pink. Everyone is caught by the weird mix of simultaneous events. Next , the thriller needs to combine rambo cop scenes with pink dolphins, and then it's sure to win an Oscar.

    Talking to some locals, they think the whole thing is a bit of a show because this kilo or so is a miniscule part of the total trade. When I look out to see the police chief, I notice he is sniffing. Coincidence? We shall never know.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Lazy days in the jungle capital Manaus

    March 15, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    In the 4 days crossing the Amazon, the biggest town we encountered was Sao Sebastio (Amazonas), with a population of 11,697 plus some military police and a dumb drug smuggler. So, although we knew Manaus would be a bit bigger, we hadn't reckoned that it would have 2.5 million inhabitants in the metro area. The first reaction from all of us seeing it from the Rio Negro, is "wow its huge ", and when we land, we observe that like elsewhere in the continent the city is a mix of decaying and abandoned historic buildings, new high rise offices, slums, and neatly separated a pleasant and booming middle class residential area.

    The town was once the centre of global rubber production, but now it's the centre of mobile phone production in Latam. (I am sure based on my pharma experience that the government used big sticks and a few carrots to onshore the production) . The town is growing at incredible speed, having had only 1 million inhabitants 30 years ago, but as always, the spoils are very unevenly spread.

    We have decided to spend 4 of our 5 days here in a jungle refuge 20km outside town, on a tributory of the rio negro, so called because the water is literally black.

    It's an eco place and you need special gymnastic skills for the toilet. You pee in one, then you spring to another one if you do a crap. The crap has to be covered with 3 cups of sawdust, and the paper deposited in a bin. The owner advised that if you only need a pee, go pee in the jungle, but look down to check for snakes.

    After the boat food, which I assume is inspired somewhat by prison food, we enjoy the delicious cooking here.

    The kids spent most of the day studying, and Flo supervising the same, whilst I caught up on exciting stuff, like VAT declarations and mortgage payments.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Jungle walk

    March 16, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Today, we went for a walk in the jungle, 17,000 steps, or about 12km. Not that much, but at 30C and more than 85% humidity, it takes a lot more effort than normal.

    I remember in Edinburgh and London, visiting the Botanic Gardens, and in Zürich the impressive new rainforest. But today our 4 hour walk we must have covered 100 times the area of those combined, and afterwards I had a look and Brazil is 200x the size of Switzerland, something when you try to fathom the size of the rainforest, that I can't quite get my head around.

    We saw innumerable types of trees, many with exotic fruits and flowers. We saw monkeys springing across the tree tops and colourful birds and lizards, but maybe the most fascinating is the incredible variety of ants and the different ways that they live. They are in the ground, in anthills, in tree settlements that look like beehives, and they build covered walkways across paths.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Rubber Opera

    March 18, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today, we had dinner at the square in front of the opera. Delicious fish and vegetables, and a happy hour for beer 🍺.

    The opera was built in the boom times of rubber production, and today, it's still in operation. The grand building has become a trademark of the city's image.

    The day before we visited the rubber museum in the jungle. It's a full-scale outdoor recreation of a plantation and processing site. ( It was made for a movie, then handed to the government)

    Gabriel, the guide, did a great job of explaining how rubber was extracted from the trees and then processed, and he explained how the workers got 4c per kilo, whilst the owners got $1. So nothing changes, but 6 then, the workers earned just enough to survive, and they were de facto slaves. More so, because escape from the remote plantations was not possible, or at least not escaping and surviving. Most died after only 5 years on the job because of the smoke and fumes they inhaled when heat treating the raw rubber.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year
    2

    The girl(s) in Ipanema go walking + boys

    March 20, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Have you ever had romantic moments where music was in the background? Or did a tune you easily recognise have a romantic feel for you?

    If you answered yes to either, there is a good chance the music was The Girl from Ipanema, and today my girls (3) on their 1st day in Rio were walking in Ipanema, and the boys too.

    It may not have been terribly romantic today, but it was fun. I got caught out by the incoming waves and fell over not once but twice. Trainers soaked, but the only thing hurt is my pride, and that is only a mild scratch.

    For me, the biggest surprise is just how big the shore front and the beaches are. Kilometres long, so there is plenty of space.

    Check out my incredible GiF with soundtrack!    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Jesus is protected against an act of God

    March 21, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    ... and acts of pigeons. Alongside sugar mountain and the famous beaches, the best known symbol of Rio is the very large statue of Jesus on a hilltop 550m above the city. So, like good tourists do we went to have a look today.

    My impression is that the statue is certainly very big, but it lacks any artistic sophistication. Maybe it was inspired by Bauhaus? ( I read later that it was designed and built in 1930, which, as it happens, was the peak time of Bauhaus building and influence)

    Strangely, despite being the son of God, he needs three lighting conductors to protect from acts of God and spikes to keep away birds 🐦.

    Even with the artistic letdown, the trip there in a funicular train, and the views from the terraces, fully justify a visit there. A phone camera really doesn't do justice to the beautiful views of the bay and the city.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    For once pure tourism

    March 22, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    In my posts I usually try to link what we do to something historical/political/unusual/ funny, but today I don't really have a story to tell, unless it's that we went to two of South America's top tourist locations. I could highlight that the cable cars were from Switzerland, Luzern, to be precise, but that would be pretty pathetic.

    So today was tourism, no ifs no buts. First stop sugar loaf mountain, 2nd stop Ipanema beach.

    Sugar loaf surprised on the upside ( where Cristo was rather the opposite), with a fun cable car ride and stunning views of the bays, beaches, hills, and the city. I think the 1st time visitor will not expect Rio to be so big or to have so many hills/ mountains and such big beaches.

    Ipanema is Ipanema, but maybe the song should if its rewritten should be called "The boys from Ipanema go walking", as this is the gay capital of Latam. That's probably a good thing as here the beach feels safe and calm, with no hassles. The kids had a great time with the big waves and the sand. I for my part hid from the sun, and I couldn't go in the water, as I had no swim shorts. The rest didn't tell me they had packed swim gear, shame since the beach did meet my three conditions for a good beach, namely (a) shade (b) showers (c) alcohol.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    100,000km - Return to Colombia

    March 23, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Today, we left Brazil and arrived in Colombia. Changed planes in Bogota, then on to Cartagena. Somewhere on the 1st leg, we passed the hundred thousand kilometres travelled. That is a fitting metaphor for how much Colombia has changed since I was first here in 1997.

    Back then, when I arrived at the airport, I was met by a security team, holding up not my name but a code. I was told to show passport control a hotel where I had a booking, but that security would take me to a different one. My security had two cars, not one. The second car was there to prevent another car from pushing my car off the road. To top it all, the security had hand grenades. "More effective than guns," but they had guns too, the boss was ex army , and he was simply known as colonel. He stuck with me until I passed airport security on the way out. That was all the time of the civil war that lasted 50 years. Then the FARC surrounded Bogotá and they paid criminals to take businessmen and foreigners hostage. They usually extorted $1Mio for a release. I admit I was a bit scared.

    I was back in Bogota in 2012/2013, and since there had been an effective peace agreement, everything had changed. No personal security, I could walk outside!

    Now, almost all remnants of the civil war are gone, except some smaller factions of the FARC that are criminal gangs in remoter areas.

    One thing is however unchanged and that is that Colombia remains at the centre of global cocain production, but it seems well hidden from view.

    This time, I will visit Cartagena for the first time, and we spend our entire stay here in coastal towns. ( I couldn't convince Flo to go to Medellín for a couple of days).    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Unkown Caribbean

    March 24, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    Europeans have pretty clear characatures of the Caribbean . Sun, sand, and blue sea, and that's pretty much right, but they usually only associate it with islands. And in that they are missing something big, namely the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It has everything the islands have, except their crazily high prices for accommodation and flights.

    Strange as it may seem, we came here for a rest from our trip. 230 days on the road, may be a holiday from work, or regulated school hours, but it's also tiring, at times exhausting and occasionally stressful. The strangest thing is there is no weekly rhythm, no weekends , no do-nothing holidays.

    Originally I planned the first full day for a visit to be historic port of Cartagena, but we will do that next week, since our beach hut here is a bit far from the city, about an hour.

    We are living as close to the beach as one can imagine. Here on Playa Blanca, all the construction is just one or two meters from the high tide mark.

    The beach huts/ basic hotels are nice on the front, but behind the area looks and feels like a favella. Strange mix.

    The people here and other guests are tremendously friendly, and one couple plays endlessly with the kids, buys Flo and me beers, and negotiates a very good price for the kids to be towed on a banana inflatable.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year
    1

    Sea, sick and a flying carpet

    March 27, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We are on the coast of Colombia, about 100km West of Venezuela. A positive note, the chaos in Venezuela has bottomed out, and instead of millions leaving, a small trickle is going back.

    We moved 5 hours along the coast from Cartagena to have a beach with surf, so that the kids could do surf lessons,which at $10 per hour are at a different price point than the ones they had in Israel and Australia.

    "Could" being the operative word. The conditionalty had to be activated for three of them as they have Montezuma's revenge, aka gastroenteritis. To top that mother has it too. 😫. So we've had two days for them in a poor way, let's hope there is not a 3rd day.

    The sole surf 🏄‍♂️ student left standing was Lennox, and he's done really well. The surf here is bigger and stronger than he experienced up to now, and despite a few knocks from his own board and kissing the sea floor hard, he is still standing and making progress.

    I spent the time planning and booking the next phase. 7 attempts to book a flight from China to Vietnam before it worked. ( They want all imaginable details on all six of us, and each time it fails, it is back to square one, took literally hours).

    The most curious part is that Mongolian airlines offers for an additional price, that I can " carry a carpet in flight." See screenshot. I'm not sure what to expect...    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year
    1

    Beach bums at last

    March 29, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Woohoo, after 3 days of misery due to gastro, Flo, Lola, Nora, and Oscar are finally out and about.

    The bums are on the beach and in the water, whereby they go in twos into the surf, in order to be safe, as its pretty rough, so much so that we use the illness of the younger 3 to skip surf lessons. Truth be told, the surf and current are too strong for them. They can still have fun, as we do take them in one at a time, and there is also a river with warmer fresh water.

    It's also sunnier today, and the beach, rainforest, and sea look at their best. Not forgetting the strange scavenger birds, which are not even ugly.

    Lennox can now do surf turns, not something I suspect any of his Euler class can even dream of.    Read more

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    1

    Bye Bye South America - hasta luego

    March 31, 2023 in Panama ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

    We arrived in South America on January the 8th in Santiago ( day 157). Today, March 31st (day 239), we leave, but we are not going too far, just a short hop to Jamaica via Panama.

    It's been 82 days of adventure and amazing contrasts, 82 days of natural wonders, wildlife and plants, and 82 days of great personal and cultural experiences with the South American people. I will write my reflections on the details of that in the coming days.

    We end this part of the trip, where the colonial history of the continent began, in Cartagena Colombia. The old city has a long city wall and inside many well-preserved buildings with Spanish colonial architecture and the typical balconies. It reminds Flo and myself a bit of Cuba, but in contrast to there, it's all amazingly well restored and maintained here.

    We had dinner on the old town, which does have some downsides, in that outside there is a constant flow of assorted buskers and beggars asking for money, since we only have 80,000 pesos ($16) in cash, and we need to pay for a taxi back and some water, they are all out of luck. Actually later we discover that a taxi for 5km, only costs $3, and the water for all 6 the same, which reminds me that 3Kg of fruit in the afternoon, cost only $1.75 ( Mangoes, Bananas and Pears).

    Outside the old town, Cartagena is a growing modern city that sits on a beautiful coastline, and on our 5 hour journey along the coast to there, the entire coastline is really nice.

    Bye, bye, hasta luego.    Read more

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    1

    Our tortoise is called Marley...

    April 1, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    ... but for a while, we intended to call Oscar, Marley, but then we saw a documentary in which Bob Marley was clearly, shall we say politely, not a gentleman when it came to treating women. So a flawed musical genius who we honoured by naming one of Lola's three turtles after him. Oscar Wilde was also something of a genius, but to be clear, we weren't thinking of him when we named baby Oscar.

    The Marley idea wasn't random since little Oscar was conceived ( biologically) , not conceptually in Jamaica.

    Today, we spent the day visiting not one but two Marley homes in Kingston. 1st his big house and recording studio that he had after making it big. Second, his very modest room, " in the government yard in Trench Town." Both are filled as you would expect a range of memorabilia, but importantly, they do a good job of telling the story of his life, the meaning of key songs, and how Rastafarians are both lovely kind people, and bonkers at the same time.

    The guide at his house was really something, since he was a reggae singer himself, with a very strong baritone voice. We must have sung five or six songs with him . Kids were a bit baffled at 1st but then joined in. They again looked baffled when he explained how one type of Marihuana is good for meditation and getting close to god, whereas newer plant breeds are not so good and give you a headache.

    The government yard in Trench Town was interesting but has lost some of its charm. In 2015, it was free, but they asked for a donation. In the yard, many young males hung out and occupied themselves rolling and smoking joints. When I asked for a guide, I got one who told me innumerable stories and took me out in the streets to see the house of Peter Tosh and a super modern recording studio.
    Now it's a "museum " and pictures are forbidden. Entry now, not a donation, but $20 for adults and $10 for kids. The guide did an OK job, but it felt more like a librarian than an inspired person. The whole place had been cleaned up, but there was still one ganja pipe smoker and one guy rolling joints to give the place a more authentic smell and look.

    In both locations, photos are banned inside, hence the lack of photos.

    I added a couple of photos of the last night of our local bar. Very strange mix of people watching Jamaica's world-class athletes on telly in the bar and two competing reggae DJs bkasting out music at very high volume . One little food place had 3 massive speakers.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    From conception to 7 years old

    April 2, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I am not a big fan of the beach*, but occasionally, there is a beach worth going to, and at 7-mile beach on Negril, Jamaica is certainty one of them. It's chilled, not too many people, good beer just steps away, and most importantly, the blue boat bar, with live reggae every day.
    The kids even have a singer who they befriended there, Pinky Dread.

    * I burn in the sun, and a beach for me is OK, if you can (a) wash the salt off in a shower , (b) hang out in the shade, and (c) easily grab a beer.

    This must be a record for me to be 3x at the same beach, voluntarily. It's also the biggest exception in our tour, as the kids all know it already, and as a result, they lobbied hard for here, rather than the dangerous towns in Central America 😁. As it was Easter, I gave in. We do need a holiday after all 🙃

    As a bonus, the place already has a special place in family history, as Oscar was concieved here. A bit of fun has become a bundle of joy aged 7 1/3 years.    Read more

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    243 or 2 out of 3

    April 4, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    April 4th is my brother's 57th birthday. It's also this year special in a different way because it is day 243 of our tour, and that means we are at the 2/3 mark.

    We've now been in all six continents that are inhabited *, having started in Europe, then travelling to Africa, Asia, and Australasia , before recently completing South America and now finally arriving in North America.

    I think we will celebrate this day by doing nothing, something we haven't done in a long time.

    Of course, not all nothings are equal. We shall swim in the blue waters of the Caribbean, the kids will build sandcastles, we will listen to reggae, and we will enjoy some jerk chicken and wash it down with Red Stripe.

    Note that due to Covid and our attempt to always follow the warmer seasons, we missed large parts of Asia, and so we head back there at the end of this month.

    * Antartica is not a place with any permanent residents. There is no culture, there are no towns, and taking kids there would completely blow the budget.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Take a running jump!

    April 6, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    In English, saying "take a running jump" is about as bad as saying f*#k off. However, at the cliffs in Jamaica, where people jump or dive off, it's pretty good advice.

    Of course, today, I am a 1st class hypocrite since I don't have any intention of jumping. (My feeble excuse is that I have to avoid any risk of cuts and bruises. Also, I need to avoid any excess pressure on my eyes. True, but ...)

    So it's left to all the others to take running jumps and the locals to jump from the high platform ( really scary).

    4 out of 5 jumped, and one made 30 runs but put the emergency brakes on. No names.

    After all that stress, we headed back to our place, swam in the clear blue waters, and sipped a pina colada. Stress 😄😁😅    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year
    1

    Kids & Pinky overjoyed to meet again

    April 7, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Pinky Dread may not be the most famous reggae star, but for all of us, he is very special since he is a genuine friend. He still plays at most large events in the West End of the Island, and he just came back from a tour of South America,but the best place to see him is in the small setting of the boat bar on 7-mile beach.

    The kids called him last night to check if he was playing at the boat bar this afternoon, and the answer was yes. Woohoo! More surprisingly, he seemed just as emotional about it as the kids. I knew he liked them, but no way did I expect him to have a tear in his eye.

    Today, they met him before and after his gig, and he invited them up to sing "Three Little Birds." Lovely guy 😇    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Reflections on South America

    April 8, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Let me start with a simple statement that we all loved South America (SA). After that, it gets complicated. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been a land of promise, but for many, the promise has been, and probably will continue to be an empty promise.

    People in Europe may think that the USA is capitalism pure or that the market solves everything, but in reality, the US has various safety nets for the poor, the unemployed, and the old. In fact, South America is much closer to pure capitalism than the US. So life is a struggle for most, and many people told us how hard they had to work, just to have their basic needs. For example, all the Colombians we spoke to, except the two who worked as prison guards, had never left the country.

    Alongside the core individual struggles, there is widespread political instability, even though the dictators are gone, in all but Venezuela, and the proxy left right battles ( US vs Russia/Cuba) are no more.

    Despite all that, it's astonishing just how positive people are. They are welcoming, they are helpful, they like to dance, sing, and party. They talk positively, and they have ambitions. None of the gloomy European or US mentality.

    For visitors, there is also endless variety. From stone dry 🏜 deserts to tropical rain forests. With giant salt flats surrounded by high volcanic peaks. From glaciers in the South to beaches ⛱️ in the North. From the Incas in Machu Pichu to modern cities like Cartagena or Puerto Madero in Argentina( best steaks in the world, no exceptions) or Miraflores, Lima ( food capital of the Americas).

     If you have never been here, where to begin a trip? what to see first? I honestly don't have a clue as there is so much that I can recommend, and that's without having mentioned the variety of animals and plants, or the pre European history and the natural wonders. All I can say is that if you have 3 or 4 months, you can see a vast variety of things and enjoy the company of warm and welcoming people., and you will get closer to them than in Asia, because communication both spoken and cultural is easier to understand than in Asia or Africa.

    A word of warning that many countries are huge. Brazil is 200x larger than Switzerland. You can travel most places by flying or bus, whereby bus is not necessarily cheaper and can take way longer. Example Cuzco to Lima is $60 to fly, and $48 by bus, but the flight is a bit more than an hour, whereas the bus takes 24 hours ! Whilst most inland flights are cheap, there are exceptions, particularly in Brazil. Flights across country boundaries are often prohibitively expensive or don't exist. Example, barely any flights Chile to La Paz. Whilst some trips are loooong, some are also simply spectacular, such as 5 days on the Amazon or Uyuni to Calama by bus.

    Things could get better for the people, but it's not clear if they will, with Brasil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile all experiencing varying degrees of instability. The people deserve it, but will it happen?    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Bono, Sting, Human League or Pinky?

    April 10, 2023 in Jamaica ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    When I was young, yes I was once, I was fanatical about music, and at 16, I used to sneak into Dundee University to see all sorts of bands, and later I would see bands at the Houchy Couchy club and other venues in Edinburgh. I was the manager of a band, and I even read poetry on stage as support ( I can't sing). Some who I met in those days went on to be superstars, Sting gave me a signed cover of the Police's first album, but I didn't buy the record 😁. Bono & Co were supporting X-ray Spex. Human League were not very good at pool 😄. I never met one as warm-hearted and kind as Pinky Dread .

    Today, he sang Buffalo soldier with the kids and the Jimmy Cliffs Wonderful World, Beautiful People. Beautiful man.    Read more

  • 4 kids world tour year

    Wet Prime Suspect In Transit

    April 12, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Getting around the Caribbean is much more difficult than it looks. Glance at the map, and think that you can fly directly from Colombia to Jamaica or Jamaica to the Dominican Republic. Nope, without a private jet, no chance. Nearly all routes require a stopover in Panama, Miami, or Puerto Rico(US) .So, after being in Panama two weeks ago in transit, we are today in Miami, en route to the Dominican Republic.

    Others suggested we take a boat. Which boat would that be? As far as we can tell, there is not a single ferry from country to country that covers any distance. *

    * Later, I increased the count from zero to one ( Santo Domingo to San Jaun, a mere 23 hours, for the same price as a 1 hour flight. 3x per week)

    The prime suspect (described as female, short hair, short legs, foreign accent, alias mamaflo), as often happens when we go to the US, was pulled aside at passport control for having committed the high crime of speeding in 2002 (not kidding). We all had to wait, but 1 hour to get out of Miami airport is better than average. If you can transit anywhere other than the US, then do so because not only is it very slow, and you can't send bags forward, but they charge each visitor, children included $21, no matter how short your stay ( ESTAs), so for us that is $126 for somewhere we didn't really want to go to this time. Oh, and don't get me started on the service offered by american airlines, all of them. They seem to have attended the Erich Honecker Charm Academy. Panama, on the other hand, has no checks, no costs, through baggage and is much more modern. Service is better, too.

    We had planned to go for dinner at Miami Beach, but heavy rain and floods put an end to that idea. Instead, we ate at a Thai restaurant near the Best Western Plus Airport hotel. The plus seems only to be the price, since the extra bed we have to make ourselves.    Read more

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