stufabi goes to Costa Rica

Panama - the one and only...entry!

2010-03-13T00:11:00.003+01:00

Three weeks ago we arrived in this country connecting Central- and Southamerica and tomorrow we'll leave it behind, crossing the boarder on the Carribean side to Costa Rica. Time passes fast and we'd like to update you about our experiences in Panama.

Our first impression was that it is quite americanized: a lot of big trucks on the streets, McDonalds and many other famous fast-food-chains and a lot of overweighted people. In the shops the products are mostly american and the currency is the US dollar, only the coins are Balboas, but in the same denomination and value as the US cent.

Travelling in Panama is easy and comfortable, as the infrastructure such as the streets are in a very good condition. We both didn't know much of what to see in Panama besides the Canal and Bocas del Toro...but soon we realized that it has much more to offer:

Arriving in Panama City we were both glad to be back in a warmer place. The Casco Viejo in the city is interesting as you can see beautifully renovated old buildings right next to ruins which you think they might crash any minute. But of course the big thing to see is the Panama Canal.

A short taxi ride from town and you stand on the visitor platform of Miraflores Lock, one of the three locks (Schleuse) the ships have to pass through on the total 80 km linking the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. The Canal was completed by 1914 under a US project team. The Republic of Panama finally took full control of the Canal in 1999, ending nearly a Century of american control. Three years ago they started the works of widening the Canal, and it's planned to have accomplished the works by 2014, hundred years after the first boat crossed the Canal.

Two days and a few hours westwards we stopped at El Valle, also called the crater vally because it lies in the crater of a enormous extinct volcano. It's a good base for hiking on some of the many trails.

On the photo you see one part of the forest covered crater and it's called La india durmida, the sleeping Indian. If you look at it properly you can discover the woman laying on her back with the face on the right hand side. It was a very enjoyable hike to the top, walking through lush forest, whereas on the top it was very volcanic with black rocks and arid landscape. And we didn't meet anybody until the bottom of the hill where some local men invited to have a beer with them :-)

After El Valle we headed down to the Panamerican Highway and 120km further west, back up to the hilly town of Santa Fé. Unfortunately the unusual heavy rainfalls cancelled most of our hiking plans, but as the town is VERY laidback and the pace very slow, we experienced three relaxing days at the hostal La Qhia.

As mentionned above, Santa Fé lies in the hills, the soil is very fertile with many delicious fruits growing abundantly, as well as coffee plants. The surroundings are fed by many rivers: it's very cool to swim in their natural pools and enjoy the nearby waterfalls!

The next couple of busrides brought us to the Pacific Coast, to Santa Catalina known as surfers paradise with one of the best surfs in Panama. However we didn't see any professional surfers in action...only a few very goodlooking blond surfer dudes with a very well-trained body, walking topless in the streets...

Santa Catalina fortunately has more to offer than above named: it's also the gateway to Parque Nacional de Coiba, a few well-preserved islands 20km off the coast. We decided to go on a one day boat tour.

Getting there was a rather rough opportunity, but riding through the sea full of robinson-style islands, snorkelling with little sharks and rays and schools of fish made up for it easily! Talking about Isla Coiba, it's considered as the next Galapagos Islands! On the main island the Fauna is very diverse with all kinds of monkeys, birds and crocodiles...

One more time we headed up the hill, to the cooler place of Boquete. This town, located at the foot of Panamas highest point, Volcan Baru, has a very nice climate and is home to a lot of US and Canadian expatriots.

Again, this region offers perfect hiking opportunities and again the rain tried to destroy our plans of going for a walk out in the greens. But this time we headed off and walked along the very muddy and slippery Quetzal trail. Luckily, most parts of the 5-hour-trek were covered in dense forest, which is the habitat of the Quetzal bird.

The next day we relaxed at the close natural hot springs and the cold river just below. What a treat!

Guess where we went next? Yeah, down the hill to the coast again, but this time to the archipelago of Bocas del Toro on the carribean side!

The first two days in Bocas were very rainy. Actually it should be the driest month of the year but because of the famous Global Warming things are different. We still rented some bikes to visit a batcave and went for a little snorkeltour. Luckily on the third day the weather changed and we took the bus to the starfish beach across the island.

As the main island does not have nice beaches close to the town, we decided to hop on the boat and stay two nights on Isla Bastimentos where we really enjoyed beachtime and went on a boattrip to see dolphins, a very nice coral garden for snorkelling and to the famous Red Frog beach.

Unfortunatly the coral garden and the Red Frog beach are in big danger. The corals get destroyed by the many boats who are anchoring there every day in big numbers and the beach will be overrun by hundreds of big fat tourists who will stay at the almost finished luxurious Resort.

Today is our last night in Panama - we gonna enjoy a delicious Indian meal with a good bottle of white wine!

Salento & Thousands of Wax Palms

2010-02-25T23:58:00.001+01:00

Even though we left Colombia behind on the 19th of February we have to let you take part on our last Colombian experience!

When we arrived in Salento at 2000 meters, situated in the coffee region, we had as usual no big idea of how long we were going to stay. But on the second day we decided to book a cheap flight from the nearby Pereira to Panama which also meant that we definitely burried our plans of going to Panama by boat. So we knew that we have plenty of time to discover the many incredibly beautiful places around Salento.

First of all we got to see lots of really cool, colourful birds in the gardens of Plantation House, where we lodged. Among them one of our favourites, the tiny hummingbird...but do not worry we have not become fanatic birdwatchers...!

The owner of Plantation House also runs a small coffee farm. On a tour through the fields we got to know the most important things about growing colombian coffee.

And learned about the whole process from the red or yellow coffeebeans on the plants to the dried pale beans ready to be roasted. We also could wander around on the coffeefarm and see all the different other plants and fruits they grow there. Such as pineapples, bananas, blackberries, strawberries, lemons and oranges as well as a big bamboo forest.

Most of the people visit Salento because it is the gateway to the Valle de Cocora, famous for its wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense), which is the national tree of Colombia.

It is really weird to see palms at this altitude...the reason they grow there is because the wind carried the seeds all the way from the coast up to the highlands. The result are the forests full of up to 60 meters high palm trees, swaying gently as the wind blows. It is really cool to stand in the middle of it and watch to the top.

An other fantastic experience was our overnight stay up on 3000 meters on a remote farm (finca), only accessible by a four-wheel-drive car, by foot or by horse. Omar and his family lived from growing and harvesting potatoes but ten years ago they changed to cattle farming because of the climate change. You still can see the terraces all over the hills.

The dimension of their land is incredible...standing on a hill and looking around means you only see their property! We think something like that is impossible to see in Switzerland!

On the arriving day we visited one of the most beautiful places we found in Colombia. It is an other valley full of wax palms, but ten times more than in Valley the Cocora. It is a privat owend property and not developed for the tourism. It is a real secret that only locals know and only a few foreign tourists have been there. Omar told us we are around visitor number 50. This is the case because he just opend his farm for tourism about a month ago and he is the first farmer in this area who started the business. We are very happy that we got to know Omar, his family and that natural wonder!

Sorry, there are no good pictures from this area because it is not possible to picture that beauty.

On the second day we got an early start, milking the cows, drinking freshfresh milk with brandy...what a delight!

We are really glad that we could finish our Colombian travels by visiting this place!

By the way the name of this place is: EL ROCIO, whoever visits this area should ask us for the contact details!

Feliz Cumpleaños HOMBRE !

2010-02-19T01:18:00.006+01:00

Hombre haerzlechi Gratulation zum Geburtstag !
Leider hei mir nid mit Dir choenne astosse, drum hei die zwoei naette Duetsche muesse dra gloube...hehehe...

Cartagena and going South

2010-02-19T00:22:00.007+01:00

As it is been long since our last entry and we have been to lots of great places AND as this is our last day in Colombia, we are going to post some fotos and describe briefly where it was and so on...

CARTAGENA DE LOS INDIOS

Cartagena is one of the most important and surely the biggest colonial city in Colombia.
On the first of February we had to say goodbye to our friend Dani, who flew back home.
We took the four hour bus to Cartagena and finally left Taganga behind.
Cartagena has a really beautiful and super clean old town where we enjoyed sightseeing and wandering around. But living in this part of town is totally overpriced as it is a major tourist attraction in Colombia.
After two days we were saturated of the big city life and headed off by boat to Playa Blanca. As the name says it is a classical beach with white, fine sand. It looks like an advertisement picture of a travel agencie. We wanted to escape the daytrippers and stayed overnight, sleeping in hammocks just by the water and eating fresh fish cooked by our lovely host Jose.
What else?

MOMPOX

Our first stop on the way South, Mompox is not the easiest way to reach. Bus, boat and taxi that is what you need to arrive in this hot, charming town at the banks of the mighty Magdalena river. There is not much to do, but we ended up staying four days because of the laid back athmosphere and its charme. Fourty degrees during the day forces the always smiling inhabitantes to take life slowly and relax in the famous Momposian rocking chairs.
In the evenings as the air cooled down to 29° or so, the main plaza is the place where the whole town gathers around the many foodstalls. The fairly cheap food allows them to also it out once in a while.
Trying all the different meals, such as Salchipapas, Pollo a la Plancha con Yucca, Butifarras, Perros calientes, Hamburguesas and Pizzas, drinking juices and local beers, chatting with fellow travellers and locals, turned out as our daily ritual in the evenings...

MEDELLIN

Famous throughout the world because of Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel.
Going further south we had to pass through this big and modern city.
On the first day we took advantage of the unique and very handy Metro whichlead us to some of the sights, as the botanical gardens and the recently built caple car connecting some outskirts with the city center.
Also we hanged around the Plaza Botero, home to more than twenty of Botero's sculptures. Botero ist Colombias most recognized painter and sculptor with an unique style - characterized by the abnormal fatness of his figures.
In the evenings wearing sweaters, long pants and sneakers, we enjoyed italian and mexican food inclusive a glass of vino tinto in Medellin's upperclass zone, the Zona Rosa.
We also have to mention that we found a real french baguette and prepared some delicious sandwiches for lunch...well, food is indeed very important and we could write a huge enty about this topic :-)
PS @ Dani: Sorry das mir kes Foeteli choei poste vo naette Silicones, hesch nid viu voerpasst, aes het fasch keni ume gha...

MANIZALES

Manizales is one of the three gateways to the Zona Cafetera.
We did not expect too much of the town itself but it turned out very funny because of Juan, an emloyee of the hostel, and his freaky friends. Most of them are Art and Design students at the uni and are "taging" and "graffiting" all over the town, they took us to a nice little lookout to watch the sunset and to a local Salsa bar. We also got to know how 20 to 24 year old students go out on a low budget: Botellones!
The first night we cooked some delicious veggie-ratatouille for some of them. They were very impressed about our preparation and loved it.
The second evening they introduced us to a local dish called Aborrajado, which is Plantain-patties filled with cheese and bocadillo, a sweet fruity gelee, covered in a dough and fried in a pan. Tambien muy delicioso pero con mucha grasa.
We also got to know a part of the amazing nature around Manizales...there are lots of green hills and it reminded us of the Swiss Emmental. We visited a natural park where we saw a garden with medical plants, a butterfly farm and finally an amazing forest full of beautiful orchids...Fabi was going crazy !

Grues ad Langethaler Fasnaechtler us uesem Dschungu...

2010-02-19T00:08:00.007+01:00

Mir wuensche de Langethaler Fasnaechtler und bsungers am Pizzi ae fantastischi Fasnacht!

Ou mir hei aes paar Erfahrige im Dschungu gsammlet...

Heit Dir eigentlech no Schnee? Isch dr Umzug ueberhoupt mueglech oder gheit aer i Schnee?

Parque Nacional de Tayrona

2010-02-06T19:23:00.005+01:00

After a couple of days of recovering at the Tagangan beaches, sipping on delicious fruitjuices, we headed of to the nearby nationalpark of Tayrona. We were a group of five...us two, Dani, Isa and Nora from Zurich...

The public transport drops you of at the park entrance, from we walked 1.5hours to the campsite of Cabo de San Juan. Having arrived, we were surprised by the amount of people staying there. The Camping was almost full and we kind of could get the last five sleeping places in the hammocks...its acctually a comfy way of sleeping but this time was not as relaxing as there were no mosquito nets and its just full of these nasty insects! After two nights Danis face looked like teenage-acne...

The beaches though are very pretty with lots of clean white sand and cristal clear water. There are other places in the park to sleep but we decided to go to Cabo because you can swim there. Elsewhere its forbidden to swim due to strong and dangereous currents. So we experienced three quality beachdays in the park, having good chats and fun.

A very negative fact is the food...the best option is to bring and cook your own meals. As we did not have the right equipment, we had to rely on the only restaurant in the camp. Thats one reason we headed back to Taganga on the third day.

Ciudad Perdida (Lost City)

2010-01-30T23:17:00.017+01:00

We are very glad that we decided to go on this trek deep in the jungle. What we saw was simply amazing and breath-taking, so it was well worth the six days of sweat constantly running down the whole body.

The city was built between the 11th and 14th centuries, though its origens are much older, going back to perhaps the 7th century. Spread over an area of about 2 sq km it is the largest Tayrona (indigenous people) city found so far. Some 2000 to 4000 people are believed to have lived there.

During the Conquest, the Spaniards wiped out the Tayronas, and there settlements disappeared without a trace under lush tropical vegetation. So did Ciudad Perdida until its discovery by graverobbers in the early 1970s.

Ciudad Perdida lies on an altitude of between 950m and 1300m. The central part of the city is set on a ridge from which various stonepaths lid down to other sectors on the slopes. Although the wooden houses of the Tayrona are long gone, the stonestructures, including terraces and stairways, remain in remarkably good shape. (by Lonely Planet 2009)

The hike was pretty moderate. We covered 40km with a lot of up- and downhill... The only exhausting part was the heat. But you get used to it very quickly and during the day we regularly got supplied with thirst-quenching oranges, watermelons, pineapples and so on. We were a group of 11 people with a spanish speaking guide and two cooks. We all carried our own backpacks with our personal belongings and water. The first couple of days the food was transported by mules and on the third day the cooks carried the stuff on their back. The third day was also the most spectacular one! We had to cross the Buritaca river 9 times, which at this season is no big deal as the water is low. On the opposite...it was rather a relief for the feet usually stuck in the sturdy hiking boots. Then we had to climb the famous 2000 ...the number varies depending on who you ask...steps leading up to Ciudad Perdida. Fortunately it wasn't as tough as we expected - but the first glimpse on these many terrasses was stunning. And luckily we could take in the beauty of this site in peace, just our group with no other folks. IT WAS A MAGIC MOMENT!

On the way there are many differend camps with hammocks and mosquito nets, a basic kitchen and toilets/showers. So in the evenings we usually ate dinner at around six when it was almost dark and went to bed (to hammock...haha...) a couple of hours later. Its so calming to be able to fall asleep while hearing the sounds of the jungle.

What also makes the trek well worthwhile is the cooling off and swimming in the numerous natural pools along the trail. Whitout the daily stops at these places the trek would be less attractive.

!!!! First impressions !!!!

2010-01-16T23:56:00.009+01:00

Finally we're providing you with some first impressions of our travels in Colombia. As most of you know, stufabi and our friend (amigooooo) Dani met in Bogota....delayed by one day, as Fabi had to sleepover in Newark due to a false alarm and a partly evacuation of that US airport.

Spending some days in Bogota, we were wandering around to check out some major sights. Also we took a taxi to the district of Chico Norte, where we visited the swiss Yvonne & Harry. Thanks to their great knowledge about colombians must-sees, we figured out our travel route for this month.

All in all we were a bit unsure about safety matters during the first couple of days in the capital city. It was mostely because the locals kept telling us how dangerous it is especially after dark. However after two nights or so we figured out that it was not as bad as we were beeing told and we started to feel very comfortable and safe. And as soon as we left Bogota behind us, there have been no doubts anymore !

First stop on our journey northwards was Zipaquira, famous for its salt mine and the underground salt cathedral - > check out the foto;-) On the same day we bused to the colonial town of Villa de Leyva where we spent the night. As there were the Festivos de los Reyes (Holidays) in the whole country, many locals were hanging around in the streets, having some beers and having a good time. Of course we totally agree with them !

Before heading to San Gil, we went on a lovely early morning walk up the hills, through some amazing forests / jungles. Normally you could see waterfalls along the way, but as rainfalls have been very sparse lately, there was just a little bit of water flowing in the stream. Back in town, we found the best empanadas so far. For one time not fried, but baked in the oven. We are writing this, because food here is often fried, therefore quite greasy or something is wrong about it (see Danis Facebook status).

San Gil is Colombias outdoor capital...paragliding, river rafting, caving, repelling down the waterfall. However we didn't do any of those activities. We were just very happy to finally have arrived ...or beeing back for stufi and dani...in a warmer region. From now on we can say goodbye to socks and jeans and heavy blankets during the night;-). Taking San Gil as our base for the next 4 days, we visited some villages where we did some hikes and enjoyed the beautiful nature. We also did go to one of the nearby waterfalls where we swam in the natural pool and climbed down the canyon. Stunning moments in the nature !

On the 14th of January we took the bus to Parque National de Chicmocha in the morning, where we wanted to do a real walk for a few hours. Surprisingly, the park turned out as a tourist park for the rather rich Colombians with lots of attractions but not one possiblity for proper hiking or even walking...what a disappointment!
Anyway, after a while we took the next bus to Bucaramanga. During the ride Dani got to talk to Edith, a nice colombian girl, who later joined us for dinner. We had a really nice evening with a lot of laughing and left the town with the night bus heading to the Carribean cost. Wisely we brought our sleeping bag as we knew that night buses are usually cooled down to freezing temperatures.

So our current location is Taganga, a small village where stufi did the spanish clases in December. It's going to be our base until Dani leaves Colombia at the end of Janary. Tomorrow we leave Taganga for the next six days as we will be on famous trek to Ciudad Perdida - the Lost City.

stufabi goes to Colombia

2010-01-01T15:36:00.005+01:00

stufabi soon will be reunited !!!
and we can start another adventure !!!
stufi arrived in Colombia at the end of november, and spent the time studying spanish. fabi is leaving switzerland in a couple of days, heading to Bogota where she'll meet up with stufi !
together we'll travel this beautiful, amazing country - we are soooo excited to be back on the road again.

That's it for now ...news and pics will follow !

stufabi goes to thailand

2008-05-31T14:30:00.003+02:00

stufabi is leaving Nepal tomorrow and flies to Thailand. As the Thai-flag is pretty boring (don't you think?), we decided not to change our header and keep the pretty Nepali-flag...

In and around Kathmandu

2008-05-31T13:11:00.012+02:00

Streetlife and Newari houses, Bandipur

On our way from Pokhara to Kathmandu we visited the small medieval town of Bandipur. A jewel off the beaten track where the omnipresent "one pen, one chocolate, one rupee"question hasn't reached yet. Bandipur's people are remarkably friendly and well educated which certainly is the result of an old-established school introduced by japanese nuns many years ago. An other evidence of the good education are the well kept Newari (the largest ethnic group in Nepal) buildings, temples and alleys. The main road very much reminded us of the old town in Murten, Switzerland.

During our stay we got to learn how to play the chess in Nepali-style. Hitting the enemies figures is much more important and more exciting than applying a strategy...

It's also an area short hikes such as climbing some of the several surrounding hills in order to catch a glimpse of the terraced landscape. An other walk lead us to a silkfarm which was a very rewarding experience because we got to know the process of gaining silk-thread.

The Stupas and Monastries of Bodhnath

If we had to decide of one symbol which pictures Nepal, it would be either an image of some mountains or the most visited Stupa of the country located in Bodhnath.

We lived there for a few days and entered several monastries, where the doors are open for visitors most of the time. Buddhism is indeed a very complex and true-to-life religion. Due to the big interest of western people, many monastries offer introductory courses. Unfortunatly we couldn't find any matching with our travel schedule. Nontheless, we found many opportunities to learn something about Buddhism while talking to different experienced Buddhists from Nepal or abroad.

Dhulikel

On the eastern edge of the Kathmandu-Valley, we stayed at the Nawaranga Guesthouse in Dhulikel. As most of the Nepali names have a beautiful meaning, so does Nawaranga: nine colours or colour of the rainbow.

The owner Purna (fullmoon) and his family are victims of the political unrest during the last 10 years. Their son got kidnapped by 4 years ago and is still missing. The daughter committed suicide. So Purna and his wife are now taking care of their 10 grandchildren.

Stories like that are also part of the fate of this country.

If anyone of you ever decides to visit Dhulikel ;-) we strongly recommend the dayhike to Namoboudha and Panauti. Even though it's only a 2 hour busride from Kathmandu there were hardly any tourists. The walk passes along small villages, cultivated fields (seem like all the villagers were busy harvesting potatoes), and finally the picturesque tre-storey-temples of Panauti.

A successful day in Patan

Since the day we arrived in Nepal we have been looking for a Singing Bowl. After having spent a lot of time doing research on the history, the usage and the actual value ;-), we realized that all bowls are manufactured in Patan. That's why we decided to finalise our research work on spot...

And we luckily did find a small shop whit a man who was very knowledgeable and reliable!

Yes, and now we are proud owners of a 2.5kg beautifully sounding Singing-Bowl!

What to DO in KathmanDU?

Eating, doing Yoga, chilling-out.

These three activities have been dominating our lives during the last week, completed by listening to livemusic, drinkin Gin-and-Tonics and shopping. So you can see, there is lots to DO in KathmanDU... ;-)

Often we were being joined by Michelle, a lovely Canadian, we met in Bandipur. Together we discovered our favourite restaurants in town with focus on (organic) salad variations. Of course we also were looking for places selling tasty local food and snacked around in various streetstalls.

Every other day early in the morning we tried to look good in different Yoga-postures...

Our american friend Chirag and the nepalese Yoga teacher Soumika recently set up a Yoga center. We really enjoyed these hours of moving our bodies smoothly.

Even though the exercises looked fairly easy we got up the following mornings with our muscles aching, longing for a day off...

...which we for example spent in the garden of dreams, a little oasis in the centre of Kathmandu but miles away from traffic an other disturbing noises.

Wildlife & Buddhism & Rural Nepal

2008-05-10T11:02:00.021+02:00

Kingfisher, Chitwan National Park

The only acceptable foto of the wildlife we saw on our jeep safari in Chitwan National Park is this beautiful Kingfisher. This bird is so famous that they even named a beer after it...Our Safari was a success as we could see the very rare, giant black sloth bear eating on termites only 20 meters away! Other animals we saw: crocodile, dotted deer, colourful peacocks and several other bird species. However we could not see the endangered one-horned-rhino which is one of the main attractions in this National Park.

Elephant riding, Sauraha (Chitwan National Park)

In Sauraha, the gateway town to the park and our lodging place, we enjoyed ourselves so much riding on the biggest animal on the earth!

Every day the elephants ot the town are going down to the river for their daily bath and whoever wants can join them to have fun in the cooling water. Oh yes, it was so refreshing to fall into lukewarm water, as the air was around 40 degrees.What we also got to feel is that elephant skin is much rougher than human skin...

Stufabi in front of the World Peace Pagoda, Lumbini

Next destination was Lumbini, Lord Buddha Siddharta Gautama's birthplace (563bc). It is a pilgrimage place for Buddhists and Hindus as Buddha also is a reincarnation of the important Hindu god Vishnu.
The widespread development zone around birth site where Buddhist communities from all over the world build their monasteries and temples really is worth a visit. The white World Peace Pagoda for example was built by Japanese monks, the colourful ornamented door which Fabi tries to open :-) belongs to the Tibetan gompa and the huge praying roll Stufi is moving is located next to the German temple.
The effort of maintenance of the buildings and gardens varies a lot...some are in a very poor condition which is quite sad, but others are very well kept and it is a big pleasure to walk through the neatly arranged surroundings.

Man selling spices in a street in Pokhara

Stufi asking for directions, Pokhara

Here and then we rent some old style Indian bicycles with one gear...we love to explore the surroundings cycling! As the maps often are basic or rather not useful we count on the help of locals. Asking for directions using hands and feet can happen anywhere, even in the middle of a junction ;-)

Market, Tansen-Palpa
Escaping the heat, a winding road took us up to the medieval hill town of Tansen. Most parts of the old town are traffic-free because of the narrow and steep alleys. This fact requires the people to carry all the goods themselves.
Tansens main business is the weaving of a unique material which is seen all over Nepal. We visited one of the factories and were surprised how complicated the weaving-looms are built and how quick the workers handle these machines. At the market area you could buy all kinds of bags, clothes, hats, shoes etc. made out of this fabric.

Plumeria, Fabis favourite and all beloved flower...

We are very happy to still have three weeks left to continue our travels in this marvelous country.
The encounters with these beautiful and friendly people are always an enrichment, we truly love what we get to see and experience here.

Annapurna-Trekking

2008-04-28T12:08:00.021+02:00

As we wrote in the last entry we went on a 10-Day-Trek in the Annapurna-Region...IT WAS AMAZING !!!

ANNAPURNA 1 - 8091m - View from Lete

On the starting day we first drove by car for about 1 hour to Nayapul, which is the town where you have to enregister with ACAP, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, before starting the trekking. As we decided to walk with a guide, we didn't have to worry about the paper work;-) Talking about the guide: he's name is Kopil and he lead us thru the mountains, giving us some precious information about the peaks, local people, religion and made us laugh with his funny behaviour. In this area it really is not necessary to be guided, as the trails are very well maintained and obviously marked and the guesthouses, called teahouses, are widely spread out along the tracks. Even though April is a good time for hiking in this part of the Himalayas, we never had any troubles to find a bed to sleep and food to fill our empty stomachs. Our idea in hiring a guide was mainly the benefit of getting interesting background information, which at the end was rather disappointing and not worth the money, because our man was not one of the experienced ones and his english skills ware pretty basic. But at least we supported a local family (Kopil is a part-time university student and a proud father of a daughter)!

On day three at 4.30 in the morning we started walking up to Poonhill, one of the most famous lookout-points in the Annapurna range, to see the sunrise. We were blessed by superb weather conditions...so we not only could admire the view, but also see the six stripes of the Himalayas before the sun rised over the peaks. What a unique moment!!!

It didn't matter that hundreds of other trekkers from all over the world shared that time up there with stufabi. Happiness was written in everyone's face that morning...

The day before climbing Poonhill, we were walking seven hours with 1200m difference in altitude, constantly ascending. After descending from Poonhill, eating cornbread and drinking milktea for breakfast, we continued walking downhill to the village of Tatopani, 1200m lower and seven hours further. This was quite a bit of work for our legs and shoulders, and at the same time our thoughest two days. This torture absolutely was rewarded by the mentionned Poonhill-views, as well as passing thru blooming rhododendron-forests and coming along waterfall landscapes forming pools with cristalclear, icecold mountainwater.

It was also very interesting to see how the hilltribes live and how they are able to grow different grains (corn, wheat), vegetables (cauliflower, potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, onions, spinach) and fruits (apples, apricots, almonds) in barren earth.

Most of those tribal people have tibetean roots. It can easily be seen in their different clothing, the colourful jewellery the women wear, the art, and the religion which is Tibetean Buddhism. Praying flags are waving everywhere, Praying rolls are installed in every tiny little village and Bhudda's Eyes are watching you from all over...

stufabi in front of DHAULAGIRI - 8167m - View from PoonHill

First news from Nepal

2008-04-16T08:06:00.011+02:00

Stufabi is sitting in front of the computer and really wants to feed you with some infos...where to begin, it's always the same question.
As mentionned earlier, we arrived in Kathmandu on the big day of the elections which marked the end of the monarchy and where there was to find out whether the Communists(Maoists) or the
Congress Party will win. Against the expectations, the situation was quiet and peaceful, there were crowds of people on the streets with their tiny portable radios switched on and waiting for first results , the shops and restaurants were closed and traffic was limited to shuttles buses for people arriving at the airport.
We only spent three days in the capital city, using the time for trekking preparations, arranging our flight to Bangkok in June, enjoying the widespreaded choice of restaurants and last but not least roaming the thousands of shops selling all the heartbeating souvenirs...uiuiui...

After Kathmandu we headed eastwards straight to Pokhara, the gateway to all the hiking in the Annapurna region. No, we haven't seen Mt.Everest yet as this peak is located in the west...but getting a first glance on the Himalayas is honestly breathtaking and goosebumps giving. Pokhara is only at 800m altitude and sourrounded by several 8000m peaks such as the Dhaulagiri(8167m) or the little lower but Matterhorn-shaped Machhapuchhare (6997m). We certainly will be able to tell you much more about these mountains and the emotions as tomorrow we'll start trekking in this area. The name of the trek is Jomsom and will take us at least 10 days or even longer in case we won't get enough...

Last news from India

2008-04-08T15:49:00.004+02:00

Currently we are in Cochin, just came back from Munnar at 1600m a couple of hours ago. Our plan was to update our blog which means changing the layout properly, posting a big final-entry and uploading a few pics of our adventures in India.

However due to heavy rainfalls and loosing the WWW-connetion all the time this was just partly possible.

Tonight we catch the overnight train to Chennai on the eastcoast in order to board an airplane to Delhi and onward to Kathmandu (Nepal) on the 10th of April.
We will have spent three months in India. The summary in general is LOVE and HATE...

It is definitely impossible to describe the hating part but everyone who traveled India knows what we mean!

We will try to explain it back in Switzerland or wherever we meet you...

We are very much looking forward to Nepal, the trekkings, the warmhearted people and the peacefulness. Well, talking about peacefulness: during the first few days this could be affected by the election (hold on our day of arrival) and the consquences of the results. We will see what happens. We'll let you know for sure !!!

Impressions

2008-04-01T16:10:00.017+02:00

Sunset by the sea, Gokarna

Fruitbasket, Gokarna Om-beach

Extinguisher, Gokarna trainstation

Indians entering a train, Mangalore

Stufi, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

South Indian Thaly, Mananthavady

Fabi with Coconut, Cochin

Rice I, Mananthavady

Rice II, Mananthavady

Rice III, Mananthavady

Bicycle, Cochin

Hampi and the rocks

2008-03-20T08:53:00.010+01:00

A very different unique scenery is what we got to see in Hampi, 300km inland of Goa.
The whole area is located in a valley, washed out by a gigantic river thousand of years ago. The village is spread out along the quiet river surrounded by Vijayanagar ruins of the 14th century. One temple is 52meters high and some parts of these ruins are part of the World Heritage.
What really gives Hampi its magical touch is the combination of the ruins and the boulders. Those rock formations look like piled marbles and are very inviting to be climbed (playground for Stufi!) or to have a rest in their shade.
But you always have to be aware of the cheeky monkeys. They are very quick in stealing food (not only bananas) and waterbottles.
The climate is getting hotter day-by-day, even the nights can be very sweaty and from 12 till 3pm moving too much is very exhausting. That is one reason why five days later we decided to head back to the sea, to Gokarna.
For getting there we booked an overnight sleeper bus.

Goa and the portuguese influence

2008-03-20T08:46:00.014+01:00

We arrived in Arambol on February 27 and left on March 7....nine days of "vacation" on our journey...
Arambol is the northern most beach in the state of Goa. You can imagine it like this: no big tourist resorts, mostly just simple bamboo-huts on the beach or small, familiar guesthouses in town. Not too many charter tourists, but food and snacks from all over the world.
First night we shared our room with cockroaches and spiders. So first thing on the second day was moving to another place, where we found our little paradise. Chandra, who is taking care of the beautiful garden and the guests, prepares the best masala chai (tea) we have ever had.
The days passed with going for long walkes along the beach, swimming in the sweetwaterlake just off the shore, shopping, eating self chosen tigerprawns and lots of other delicious seafood, listening to livemusic and of course sunbathing. Even though our skin is used to the sun by now we got pretty red one day due to a non-working shitty indian sunscreen. So we got back to the reliable NIVEA.
Also, we have a new favourite drink...is is called Feni, which is brewed from local cashews or coconuts and is strong and tasty and comes lika a hammer. Unfortunately we can not bring it back to Switzerland (sorry Janiel) as it is only sold in Goa.

Most visitors of Goa just go to the beaches, which is a big mistake. As this state is a former portuguese enclave, the influence of this period still can be seen. Especially in the capital city of Panjim.
Just a few meters off the busterminal you can feel a very differend vibe and admire the numerous churches and the architecture of buildings. And it is very clean. And a many of the remaining portuguese women wear pants and have their hair cur short...but on the other hand it is very strange to see indian nuns put in dark robes instead of the colourful saris.
It is wonderful to see how people of three major religions can live together door-by-door! It is possible to see hindu temples, christian churches and muslim mosques whitin a couple of hundred meters. FANTASTIC!

On the way from Mumbai to Goa

2008-03-01T09:28:00.011+01:00

There is nothing spectacular to write about Mumbai except that we foud shelter at the Red Shield Hostel run by the Salvation Army - JAAH, d Hiufsarmee. The rooms included three meals, but no Holy Bible...
What we were crazy about were the Mumbai-Cabs, looking like the 1950 Fiat. But it is just the indian-imitation of this european car...just big enough for two passengers with big backpacks ;-)

Two days later we caught the ferry to "sun, fun and nothing to do"...which means to Murud. This is a quiet fishing village the big tourist resorts haven't reached yet, but the beach is long, the water shallow and warm.

Staying at a family-run small lodge, surrounded by palmtrees an hammocs, we certainly had an easy start into the beach-chapter.
We shared those days with Ipalo, a lovely finnish-slowakian couple (Ipa + Palo = Ipalo).
Not just lazying around we did rent some bikes to visit the famous Janjira-fort, 5km away. This sight is situated on an island 500m of the shore. Altough we have seen many forts this one is extraordinary because it's just a ruin and overgrown by trees and bushes.
During the same period Stufi was the first one to fight against the famous indian-traveller-disease. Fabis stomach was a bit stronger, but as we are usually eating the same food, she was struggling a couple of days later - happy to have Letas precious toiletpaper with us... ;-)
Nontheless, we continued our travels, from sealevel up to Mahabaleshwar on 1300m in the hills of Maharashtra-state, by three different local buses during seven hours. Arriving in Mahabaleshwar we could see red, beautiful, nicely arranged strawberries all over. This area is famous for these delicious fruits, unfortunately not edible for Stufabi, whose most important concern was finding a hotelroom with sitting-toilet...But do not worry we did recover and could enjoy the impressive landscape and great spots of this hillstation.

After three days we bussed back to sealevel and enjoyed the silence of the deserted beaches of Malvan and Tarkarli.
While looking for a place to stay we bumped into Rita. Rita was going to play an important role in the following days. She's a grandmother-like, 64-year old, always smilling and very happy swiss little lady living in the States (Rita, whenever you read this please let us know how things are going with Dicky, the park, your trainride to Mumbai and your dreams of your own property at Tarkarli). As Rita is a very communicative woman she knew the whole neighbourhood and everyone called her just Mamma.

One day we all went to a busy fruit, vegetable and fishmarket, returning home with bags filled with food for the at least one week!
An other day the three of us booked a boattrip to the backwaters...sunrise, watching fishermen at work, walking on a Tsunami destroyed island, collecting shells, eating coconuts, sipping its juice and playing Titanic on the boat.
What else do we need?
A couple of days ago we left this magical site and Rita with an invitation to Arizona on our mind.

Even though Malven is really close to the Goan-border, it took us an other six hour busride to get to Arambol, our current location. This is backpackers heaven. We like it lots, we feel good and healthy and might stay for a little longer. Who knows? We will keep you posted.

Please feel free to put any comments or send e-mails, we want to know how YOU are as well...!

Indian Wedding - Part II

2008-02-15T15:06:00.016+01:00

All right guys: we're in Mumbai now, and we promised to tell you about what we were going to see and hear and experience at this wedding in Piparyia. It's quite difficult to make a summary of this big event...we even were not able to make an entry in our own travel-diary...and this means a lot!!! That's why we decided to upload a small fotogallery and try to explain what is going on on these scenes...

10th february - one of many ceremonies
Indian Weddings last five days. On the 4th (the day we joined) the grooms family has a lot of traditional ceremonies and the priest gives his blessings for the grooms future. It's a very chaotic occasion! And evceryone needs a lot of patience, specially stufabi...

Lots of dancing
After the ceremonies EVERYONE is dancing his ass of. The Swissies were the major attraction on the dancefloor...of course because moving to the Indian Beats is a science...Each song has his own steps...

Freetime

which we had plenty during the second day...waiting for the program to be continued, waiting for a transfer to the next place. And as you can see, we even did nanny-jobs...

11th February - our wedding dress
Some women 'put' Fabi or better 'wrapped' her in a traditional Sari. Stufi wore his Rajasthani-souvenir-shirt, his best piece of clothes in the backpack.

The grooms dress
Anurag looked like a Maharaja...like a king !
Tooks ages till the turban was sitting on the right position.

Street parade
On the way from the dressing place, everybody gathered and accompanied by drums and trumpets (like a Guggemusig), we marched dancing towards the wedding garden.
In Langetau heit dir denn grad Fasnacht gfiiret und so isch's ues oeppe ou vorchoo:-)))

The wedding couple

At this point, groom and bride met for the first time since we arrived !!!

Fotoshooting
Towards midnight, it was pretty chilly, the poor couple had to pose on the throne with all the wedding guests...

That's it from the wedding part.
We hope we could make you see how colourful and busy and happy this all was.

On the 13th we boarded the train to Mumbai. After spending 2 hours in the cyber-cafe we are unable to write about big-city-life....so more about that later on. Hasta luego !!!

We are invited to a wedding!

2008-02-07T09:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday night we got invited to a wedding! Because at the lodge where we were staying the last two nights there was a ring ceremony going on. Of course we joined this party and the groom, his dad, all uncles immediately invited us to the real wedding party on the 11th of February in a town called Piparyia.
So, we had or better wanted to change our plans again:
- cancel the ticket from Bhopal to Mumbai (8.2.2008)
- buy a new ticket to Mumbai (13.2.2008)
- buy a return ticket to Piparyia (7.2.2008 / 12.2.2008)
Despite the already mentionned difficulties to sometimes get traintickets, we are so happy to say that we got them all !!!!!!!!!!!! Guess, it's a very lucky day for stufabi !!!!!!!

Delayed Birthday Greetings

2008-02-07T09:07:00.000+01:00

Eigentlech haett das Foeteli am 5. Februar , denn wenn naemlech der Geburi vom Mami bzw. vor Silvia isch, soeue erschine. Chrampfhaft hei mer versuecht vom ruhige, idyllische Sanchi das Bildeli ufezlade...aber nid emau ilogge hei mer choenne ! Hett wahrschinlech ebe doch oeppis mit der kappte Leitig z'tue. Eh nu, besser jetz aus gar nid !

For our mums...

2008-02-03T12:11:00.000+01:00

Delhi - Mandawa - Bikaner - Jaisalmer - Kuri - Jodhpur - Ranakpur - Udaipur - Pushkar - Jaipur - Agra - Jhansi - Khajuraho
bis jetz und ab morn
Sanchi , Bhopal und Mumbai
naer
...we'll let u know
Viu Vergnuege bim Charte studiere
Kisses from son and daughter
stufabi

Sanne

2008-02-03T12:09:00.000+01:00

Hallo Sanne, wie laeufts bei dir ??? Kommst du klar mit bloody, incredible India? Wo auch immer du stecken magst...Varanasi oder sonstwo...lass es dir gut gehen.

Janiels

2008-02-03T12:05:00.000+01:00

Sorrrrrryyyy, muesse oeich enttuesche waege zuesaetzleche Fotos...es geit STUNDE zum uploade...gruz - stufabi

About Indian Wedding, Taj Mahal, Train System and much more...

2008-02-03T10:41:00.000+01:00

The last entry is 10 days ago. That's actually not much time but travelling in India, we can tell you, makes it feel like much longer!

INCREDIBLE INDIA! The Slogan of India Tourism...
INCREDIBLE INDIA! The truth...!

Indian Wedding

It is wedding season in India. And we had a lot of luck that on our arrival day in the two million city of Jaipur, next to our lovely guesthouse, the preparations for a wedding party were going on :-)
Yeah! Amazing we thought, because we always have been curious about how colourful and lively and funny those indian parties would be.
First we carefully watched the happening from the above balcony, with the Tandoori-oven for Naans, hot plates for Chapatis and frying pans for Puris right below. After a while some sari-dressed women showed us to come down and join the fiesta!
So did we...lucky ones...it was just amazing to be witness of all that kitsch like geese and doves swimming in an artificial, lighted pool, the boys dancing to Punjabi-sound, the groom arriving riding a horse and finally not to forget the huge buffet, from which we filled or better stuffed our stomachs.

WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE

Taj Mahal

The Taj was built by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his second wife who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. 22000 men built it up during 22 years.

Standing in front of this white marble building let us realize its dimension. All the well-known pictures of this world famous monument do not submit its real beauty!!!
Goosebumps is what we had and speakless is what we were...and still are!
The 750 Rupees (15US$ / 22SFr.) entrance fee are justified. But it is just impossible to write down in words what we saw and felt!!!

WHAT A GREAT IMPRESSION

Train system

Agra-Jhansi: our first trainride. The ticket was already booked in Delhi two weeks ago, which was a good decision. We realized that when we tried to get two seats on the train to Ahmedabad on the 8th of February. Ahmedabad is the train gateway to the less touristy state of Gujarat which we wanted to explore. The next seats available were one week after our scheduled date.

Oh shit, we thought!!!!

We had to take a time-out and left the busy, confusing, overcrowded, piss-smelling trainstation to have a refreshing, creamy banana Lassi...
Mmmm...yummy for the tummy...

After a little brainstorm, a new plan was born: instead of Gujarat we travel south to Mumbai, the beaches and flipflops, away from freezing nights in Indias north. Fortunately we got the last two bunkbeds on a train from Bhopal to Bollywood on the 8th of February.

To get a first glance at Indias trainsystem, the booking forms, trainclasses and numbers, we spent at least two hours at three different counters in the smelly trainstation and 1.5 hours on the internet.
One of the major realization is that on certain (most) of the train lines, it's impossible to be spontaneous. So booking days or even weeks in advance is essential...

WHAT A TIRING DAY

Indian food - I'm lovin' it !!!

2008-01-24T13:24:00.000+01:00

Aaloo
Palak
Paneer
Dal
Mutter
Parantha
Naan
Masala
Kingfisher's
Chai
Samosa
Chapati
Those are some names of indian dishes - doesn't it sound absolutely delicious ??? Well, at least stufabi is freaking out.
We are so happy with the indian cuisine, no problems with spiciness or with our stomach and the translations work pretty well because of our good friend LONELY PLANET.
Are you wondering where the picture above is taken ??? We will tell you soon.
It's taken in the desert Thar on our overnight camel-safari-trip from Kuri. You can see our camel-drivers while cooking the dinner: Rice, potatoes (aaloo), dal (lentils), chutney and chapati (tortilla-like bread). Fabi even tried to roll out the dough but the result acording to the locals was not acceptable so they sent her back to sit with the others around the bonfire.
Our trip to the desert is our highlight so far. It was a great experience to sleep in a great million-star-hotel ;-)

Our current location is Udaipur, the city of the lakes...another beautiful place in Rajasthan !!!
Next stop: Pushkar

Delhi - Rajasthan

2008-01-19T17:03:00.000+01:00

We are writing from a magic place in the Thar-Desert - Old Fort, lots of Chraemerhuus-Places, friendly people, not much hassles with streetsellers and rikshaw-drivers (surprisingly)...it is the fabulous place called JAISALMER close to the border of Pakistan.
It was good to spend the first couple of days in DELHI, staying in a small guesthouse which belongs to a kashmiri family, eating dinner with them (only with the right hand !!!) while sitting on the floor and chatting with them. During the days we explored the two parts of the city (New and Old Delhi) where we also met our first holy cow in the middle of a traffic packed huge crossing (like a policemen)!!! At the same time we carefully checked what would be the best way to travel Rajasthan and here we are...
Against our concept we get around by a hired cap, driven by a Punjabi-guy called Coldeep. So far we visited Mandawa, Bikaner and now we are staying in Jaisalmer "the magic place in the middle of the desert Thar" !!!

- still no-sitting-on-the-toilet-the-whole-day-long

getting ready !!!

2008-01-11T16:02:00.000+01:00

Only three days to go.
All done in Switzerland. stufabi is starting to fill the backpack, say GoodBye to friends and family and can not wait to be back on the road again!!!!!!
Jabadabadoooooooooooooooo !!!!!

India, we're coming !!!!!

Preparations and Bookings and Postings

2008-01-02T14:46:00.000+01:00

stufabi is creating this blog and just booked a room at Bill`s Guesthouse for the first two nights in Delhi.