Arusha Last days with some trouble

Opted to come back to Arusha a few days earlier than expected as a result of the bites and so spend a few slightly problematic days in the city before heading to South Africa. Unfortunately I ended up pretty much penniless as my bank card refused to work when I tried to withdraw money. After exchanging several emails with my bank at home with no result I realized I was just going to have to

Go Africa 2010

South Africa. Big city. Nice hotel. Family. World Cup. Happy Victoria I arrived in Johannesburg late Sunday night to a warm full family welcome at the airport. Had the longest hottest for the first time since Irsquove been away shower and curled up in a warm comfortable bed. Some very much appreciated luxuries After a relaxed full breakfast with the family we began our exploration of J

Siberia

HelloTime for a new blog entry. This time from Siberia near Baikalregion.Bordercrossing from Mongolia to Russia was again very easy and quick. Headed to Ulan Ude then and later to Lake Baikal which is really big. Watching over the horizon of the lake is more like standing and the Baltic Sea such a big lake.Russia is another surprise on this trip. People who think that the development of Russia

The long way to Undara

Time nigh to make another entry in the bloghelliphellipit has sadly lagged a bit lately and not without good reason. The stress of constant issues with my skin health and the emerging crushing season has changed my world but in a good way I decided it is time to leave and on good terms with my employer.Despite this I have retained my interest in maintaining my sanity here in the rural pro

URUGUAY COLONIA

Colonia da Sacramento is quite a contrast to Montevideo. It is polished classy and expensive. It is a complete and beautifully restored colonial town full of lovely guest houses shops and restaurants and set against the backdrop of the River Plate. Across the River Plate is Buenos Aires so Colonia fills us with Portenos every weekend even in the winter.We enjoyed walking around the cobbled s

First Night

We are getting ready to turn in for the evening as we are to meet the group at 7am to make our way to the dock. Weather permitting we are scheduled for two dives tomorrow morning. I'm not sure just where yet but anywhere would be fine. I have attached two picks of our dinner. We ate at Ballyhoo's this evening which is a very nice very small seafood restaurant that is popular with the loca

On our way West

Monday June 21stDaily Information High temp 92Low temp 80Highest Elevation 1065rsquo above sea levelLowest Elevation 535rsquo above sea levelCampground Elevation 982rsquo above sea levelTraveled 383 milesDeparted 825 AM warm and sunny. HighlightsFollowing the Oregon TrailDaniel Boone MemorialKansas City Chiefs and Royals Stadiums at 1235PMWind Turbine Farm in northern MO a firs

Sketches on the Job

We would all be dishing out 2939923617 or g466up literally meaning ldquodogfartsrdquo aka bullst if we claimed to never have encountered computer problems. In the case of working and living in China I would be flat out lying through my teeth if I said my IT world was all happy with smiles. Oh Lord the frustration so in my usual effort to avoid too much direct confrontation p

5 stars

before i divulge the day's happenings I LOVE this book The Girl who Played with Fire canNOT put it down which is why it's 230 and i'm wide awake again. today was a super gigante perfect day The 3 train rides to get there were a bit of an adventure and you walk up to this relatively nondescript building that is the naked spa. so yeah you go in the locker room you're given a wrist band

Swells and long waits

Its about 6 oclock and I am sitting on an enormous tree in the middle of what is now a desolate stretch of rocks and wet black sand relfecting clouds above otherwise known as a beach. Sitting there gazing into sky in front of me clouds illuminated orange blue and purple waves crashing in the distance and beams of gold shooting through the air. This was a sunset to beat all sunsets close to t

Georgia short and sweet

You haven't heard much from us lately so this is a quick hello. Besides it's summer at home in Ontario and you've probably got better things to do than stay indoors and read blogs about people wearing 70 UV sunscreen white jackets and really big hats at the beach. We reached another one of those places Cumberland Island where even the Verizon air card just wants to give a very weak signal t

Knoxville the futures bright the future’s orange

A year ago almost to the day we Couch Surfed with Matt and Rachel in Azerbaijan. At the time they were both Peace Corps volunteers but now they have returned to the USA and are living in Knoxville Tennessee. As we were just a couple of hours drive away over the Smoky Mountains it would have been rude not to call in and say hello.According to our guide book Knoxville is the erstwhile underwear c

Traveling India A tale of 9 cities

There is no limit to the number of versions the same story can be told. As is my audience and as I have chosen to tell here is one of them. I dedicate this letter to the expecting Simon because he will best understand it because we shared the entire story because it would have been completely different without him and because he is my best friend.Maybe 4 Weeks in India A Tale of 9 CitiesIt w

ARGENTINA Tigre

We crossed from Carmelo Uruguay through the Tigre Delta to Tigre in Argentina. The Tigre Delta starts there and some of the land close to the town has houses on stilts some of them clearly the holiday homes of welltodo Argentinians. As we got close to the town there were countless shipwrecks rusting near the banks of the river we wondered why they were left there as they were really an e

All Blacks versus Ireland

Since I've been back in New Zealand I have been mostly focusing on getting a job. Spending my days sending out as many resumes as I can. While the weather is cold not really if you ask me it's been a nice change from Thailand's heat. It's been not very exciting.However I had bought tickets to an All Blacks rugby game back in March. Pete and I planned a weekend away from Auckland to go see the

back from the jungle

Updating from Bangkok airport After Kanchanaburi we headed back to Bangkok and got a train to Chiang Mai.We spent one night in Chiang Mai and have just gotten back from a 3day trek through the jungle up in Chiang Mai. Our group consisted of us two and 6 British guys who booked through the same agency.Upon leaving we were all kind of worried about heading deep into the jungle with our crazy

The last days of New Zealand

Well after much debate in my head and heart I have decided to quit searching for a job here in New Zealand and am now focusing my time on heading to Australia a month early. Jobs are few and far between here and I've gotten plenty of rejection letters lately. I feel like it's time to move on and start something new again. I've let all my Aussie friends know my plans and they all seem just as exci

Australia West Coast Coral Bay again Exmouth Broome

GrsquoDay YrsquoallFriday 4 June Coral Bay continuedAs soon as we were back I went to see the Nurse no doctors at Coral Bay who checked me over properly. He said I was generally OK but my breathing capacity was lower than it should be so I had to use my puffers more. He said I'd reacted badly to the dust at Karijini and wasn't going to feel better until I was away from the dust am going

Help us out

Hey guys just wanted to let you all know that we are entered into a photo contest on fastweb that you can vote once a day for. The prize is 15k so go and vote already DGo to this address httpfastweb15years.comentries489 then in the bottom right corner of the picture click vote and then I think you have to sign up or something which takes like all of 2 minutes. Thanks guysLoveGeneva and