Strenuous activities

Even though the first hours in the country were uncomfortable and tiresome (see post below), we have had a great time here so far. We bought a minivan in Auckland, allowing us the freedom we want and need. Weather conditions (wind!) stopped us from doing some hikes up the volcanoes on the northern island so instead we made a three-day, 88km long canoo trip in Wanganui National Park. A beautiful but tiresome trip. Needless to say the circumference of our arms has doubled since. 

A big welcome in New Zealand

Perhaps we had gotten so used to being easy-going, laid-back, South-American nomads that we didn't see any of it coming. Our first day in New Zealand was one in the airport, and it was quite a long one after a total of 24 hours of traveling and an 8-hour time difference.

We managed a soothing concerto of "Oops" and "Really?" and "Is that so?" sounds when the customs lady informed us that we needed an outward ticket in order to enter the country. Despite our charming personalities, she sent us into a waiting line in order "to have a conversation with the customs officials", who informed us that we were a special case because we should never have been allowed to board the plane without an outward ticket. We became discouraged as the long line of problem cases from mostly South-America, Africa and Europe dissolved before our eyes. With the help of our airline we eventually managed to book a ticket to Australia and we were on our way.

Confused passenger

Wait a second. Of course our luggage was not on the conveyer belt anymore and Graham experienced a mild panic when his bag appeared to be missing. We searched all over, in our minds already cursing the customs desk for keeping us up so long and eventually realised that for some strange reason Graham's luggage had been kept apart behind a counter in the luggage area. We grabbed our bags and we were on our merry way again, we thought.

We smiled at the officer with the drug sniffing dog as he passed by. Maybe we smiled too much because the dog took an immediate liking into Graham. Our smile turned a little bit awkward and we were taken aside for questioning. This is where thoughts run through your mind like "Wait, why was Graham's bag really behind that counter? Did somebody put drugs in it?" but we friendly answered all their questions. We were questioned separately but both our conversations went something like this:

>"Where are you fellas flying from?""Santiago de Chile, but via...">"Please just answer the question and let me do the talking.""Yes sir.">"Have you been traveling around South America?""Yes sir.">"Do you have any drugs on you?""No sir.">"Did you do any drugs in South America?""No sir.">"My dog seems to like you/your friend.""Yes sir.">"I'm not interested in recreational use of drugs so just answer honestly: did you use drugs in South America?""No sir.">"You went to South America and didn't do any drugs?" [disbelief]"No sir.">"Do you smoke in Belgium?""No sir.">"W0000T?"

And so on. Eventually they recognized us for the honest and friendly non-drug-using gentlemen we are and we were on our way, we thought.



Next we were sent to a customs check where we were asked to show our hiking boots for any rural remains. Dimitri's eyes widened as he stood beside the officer and watched his bag pass through the x-ray machine. His machete was clearly visible, a huge chunk of metal distinguishable in the middle of his bag. This conversation went something like this:

Officer: "Weeeell, that is a huuuuuge machete in your bag!">Us: Uncomfortable laugh.Officer: "What are you gonna use that for over here? Slicing coconuts are we?>Us: Uncomfortable laugh.Officer: "Well on your way you are then, have a great stay."

We took our bags and got out of there as fast as we could.

D&G

P.S. Contrary to what we thought beforehand, WIFI is in most places either not as widely available as in South America (whaaaat?) or extremely expensive. If you see less blog posts passing by, then you now know why.

The South American Dream

So I did it! After some incredible hardcore trekkings (horse riding, climbing,...) with Lola, a Belgian friend living in Chili, and a quick visit to friends in Buenos Aires, it is time to look back.

Some photographs resulting from the amazing treks near Cochamó

I lived it. The dream to conquer the South American content, to dance salsa, to swim around wonderful islands, to dive, to sail, to ride horses, to do amazing treks in the Andes, to speak Spanish, to live the caliente way. All the way from Nicaragua, the Corn Islands, crossing through Costa Rica, meeting up Graham in Panama, sailing via the San Blas islands to Colombia, Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru, more Peru, Bolivia, a small split up with Graham to check out Chili and Buenos Aires,... an endless list of wonderful moments and pure passionate pleasure.

I did not plan many things. We drew a line on the South American map, asked around and started the trip with a well prepared bag. Now (see right) the line we drew fits pretty well with the line we had in mind. Of course we could have done more. Travelled faster. Visited some countries more. But instead we sticked to places we really loved, we enjoyed the moments as they came and were never ever stressed about busses we could miss or anything like that. It was travelling the "tranquilo amigo" way.

Right now, we are heading for the next best thing, the next season of our series of adventure: as you are reading this, we are sitting on an airplane to New Sealand.

Take care,
Dimitri

Carnavals, mines and loooots of salt

Since our last post about La Paz, so much has happened that mentioning every single thing would lead us too far, but we wouldn't be engineers if we didn't serve you with a few facts. Since La Paz:
- if one combines the amount of kilometers we have both traveled, it roughly amounts to 6430 km
- we have saved 5.49 GB of pictures, and this after Dimitri spent late nights making a best-of selection
- we have gone up to 5200 meters altitude, with temperatures below freezing, and we went down to 0m altitude, with tropical 35+ degrees Celsius.
- the trip amazingness factor has multiplied by three.
 What on earth have we been doing? I'll try to summarize.

 First off was the Carnaval in Oruro, which despite apparently being legendary among South-Americans, is little know among Western tourists. Since all buses from La Paz were completely packed we decided to split a three hour taxi ride with two sympathetic Frenchies, François and Anouck, and ended up paying the equivalent of only 15 euros each.

The carnaval was amazing. One group after another performed traditional dances in simply spectacular outfits with tunes by large marching bands. The crowd went wild and joined in the festivities as Bolivian beauties in short skirts and machos in impressive outfits walked by. As we were some of the few "gringo"-looking people around we were frequent targets for kids armed with foam sprays and extravert locals wanting a photograph with us. We had so much fun that, together with the Frenchies we went out clubbing late into the night and had the time of our lives.

After Oruro, we stopped by in Potosi, the highest city in the world. In Potosi we decided to finally take on Carcoke's mission to descend into a mine. It turned out to be one of the most memorable and exhilarating things we did so far. Let me tell you about 4090m altitude: it is hard to breath up there. Now imagine what the breathing was like when crawling down three levels of a mine shaft on your stomach with temperatures rising up to 30C. This one was definitely not for asthma patients nor claustrophobics. Nor for people that mind a rod of dynamite exploding 15 meters further down a narrow mine shaft.

Down in the mine we met two Belgians from Ninove, Davy and Bert. Their sense of humor was so delightfully Belgian that we couldn't resist traveling onwards with them, and we didn't regret it for a minute. Well, maybe when the four of us were forced to hitch hike because the second bus in a row in Bolivia had a part of it exploding. Two is just a more convenient number to hitch hike, but then again we eventually made it to Uyuni, where we went on the spectacular Salt flats tour, leaving us breathless at the Bolivian landscapes and had us overnighting at 4800m altitude.

At the end of the tour we reached San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. A relaxed little city with lots of fun activities. We went sandboarding, mountainbiking for a disputable 50 km, and last but definitely not least, we participated in a memorable astronomical tour, exposing amazing sights of the milky way which cannot be seen from the northern hemisphere and providing an astonishing look at Saturn which left us awing in amazement for a large part of the late night.

In the lunar valley of San Pedro de Atacama

As you all know we take the missions you send in very seriously. Even though we aren't able to perform all missions successfully, sometimes due to weather circumstances, itinerary differences or just shameful forgetfulness, we do make an effort. This is also the case for the mission of Carcoke which demands an itinerary that forms a huge smiley with at least 100 km diameter. Well, Carcoke will be pleased to see that we have decided to split up in the next two weeks, in an already infamous attempt to create a huge smiley with an estimated diameter of 1100 km. Have a look for yourself.

Legend-wait for it and smile-dairy