la oficina

heeeeeellloo! :)

hope groovy weekends were had by all. mine wasn't bad, not bad at all. saturday we passed on the mad team hike up misty mountain: a 7 hour hike starting at 9am, over 3000 metres up!! we did our own little stroll in beautiful banff instead. banff in summer has been a destination we've been drooling over since our banff in winter days, and it was just as expected: blimin' beautiful. and... we even saw wild elk!!!! they are blimin' beautiful too... we got to see them up real close and they have really pretty faces, they look kinda like giant deer but their antlers are completely different. kiffy, you know what? i think your 'elky' was actually a moose...

pics here: http://dabunj.spaces.live.com/

on sunday we went to the wonderful land of ikea and got everything we needed to set up our little office (at long last!). we had a bit of a fight with ikea over the desk (the only item on our list that they had run out of (not coming in until mid-october), and of course, the main feature of an office) but pori's charm finally won over and we were able to take the display one. until sunday our den had just been used as a storage room for empty boxes... but now look at it!! (above photo)... i just can't wait to do some painting and writing in there! :)

it's a sparkling sunny day here in calgs today, so i'm off for a walk to blockbuster and then the supey. less than one week til i start my job!! YAY!! xx

introducing ralph

aint he pretty?

his sunny smile brightens up the whole apartment... and today (or last night) he sprouted another flower!

rowing lake louise

had a delightful saturday dipping oars into the luminescently milky water of lake louise. it was a stunner of a day so we decided to make the 2 hour trip out to the lake to do a short hike. once we got there though the water called... so we spontaneously donned life-jackets and jumped into a canoe. we finally fell into some sort of rhythm and made it out to the middle of the lake where we pulled in the oars and ate yummy sandwiches for lunch. lake louise is a really pretty spot and next time we go i think we'll change oars for reins and give horseriding a go (pori's never been on a horse before!). after we dropped the boat off we went on a really short hike part-way up a lakeside mountain to a look-out for an elevated view of the lake. i was a bit nervous as there was a sign at the start of the trail outlining special hiking rules for this season to increase safety in a highly populated grizzly bear zone. one of the rules was to hike in a party size of no less than 4 persons.... gulp. but all we saw was a little mouse thing, and a cute little bunny. (phew!).

http://dabunj.spaces.live.com/ (photos) :)

back in the game!

i just got the call!!! i am the new assistant web editor and writer for a canadian travel website!! i am soooooooo HAPPY! YEAH! i had the interview last wednesday morning and have been anxiously waiting for the verdict ever since. i think this will be such a great opportunity, especially considering the writing aspect, AND I'M JUST SO HAPPY THAT I HAVE A JOB AND WILL FINALLY BE EARNING SOME MONEY!!! it's all good :)

back in calgs and part of the hiking team!

hola! como estan fullas?

well, i arrived in calgary last thursday night and have had a RAD weekend :). slept half the day away on friday, moseyed around calgary in the sunshine on saturday and found a concert happening in the park but it cost $20 so we went and bought sandwiches and sat in the grass by the river, listening to the music for free. on sunday we awoke very early and went HIKING!! we drove all the way out to kananaskis country to climb mt. fatty. i almost died, and crawled my way up - while everyone else practically ran up. my excuse: only 1 and a half hours sleep. made it to the top though and it was spectacular! we saw chipmunks!!! the hiking team is made up of a few argentinians, a couple of canadians, a mexican, and now: a kiwi :). really cool people.

it's great to be back!

love d xx

oh yeah, check out some pics on my new gallery: http://dabunj.spaces.live.com/

naughty boy in a fancy airport lounge

today pori-pie is winging his way back to calgary... in fancy class!!! but as you can see, he's misbehaving. i will be there in calgary myself on thursday, and shall give him the hiding he deserves! ;)

fly safe gorgeous, buen viaje! xx

the final frontier

HELLO!!

Hope everyone is happy, healthy and warm. You may be relieved to hear this...

...here is the FINAL installment of my big South American adventure! ;) Actually, I am writing this from the comfort of Dad and Deb's place in good ol' Whangarei :). I survived!! Ranga is still over there... she decided to extend her time in South America by a few more days and right now she is sunning herself on the deck of another boat, exploring the Galapagos Islands! I'm a wee bit jealous, but at the same time I don't miss heaving around my big huge pack at all ;). I miss Ranga though.

So, where did I leave you all last time? I think it was Cusco. Still one of my favourite places. As luck would have it we had to stay there one more day than planned due to teachers' strikes near Puno blocking the roads and cancelling all bus services. The bus decided to go the following day though, and being a tour bus trip we stopped at a few interesting historical sites (read: more ruins) along the way. We had a small delay of about an hour just outside Cusco (remnants of the strikes) but the busdriver safely navigated us through the galaxy of large rocks which had been placed ALL OVER the road and we arrived in Puno just in time for dinner.

Puno is a pleasant enough town on the shore of Lake Titikaka, and I think 2 days was plenty enough time there. It's a good little springboard to the actual lake itself. Lake Titikaka is the highest lake in the world and the biggest in South America... and the little worlds found on it are fascinating. We did a day trip on the lake to the Islas Flotantes (Floating Islands) and Isla Taquile, both of which should really be in 'Gulliver's Travels'. The Islas Flotantes are insane! They are man-made islands made of reeds, in fact, EVERYTHING on the islands is also made of reeds... houses, boats, furniture... the people who live there also eat it, either making reed flour bread, or chewing on it raw. We gave it a try... not bad, not bad at all. It feels so bizarre to set foot on these islands, spongy but solid. Many families live there, and although it's now very touristy you can still easily get a glimpse of their every-day reality. It seems a very simple life, they make everything they need from reeds! :) Well, not quite, they make a little money by weaving and selling textiles too. It is such a different world. Then we jumped on our boat and set off to an entirely different world again: Isla Taquile. This island is a natural, regular island, with a population of about 3,500. It's quite pretty... a lot of agricultural terracing stepping down the slopes to the shore. The people here wear a lot of traditional clothing, the colours are gorgeous. We walked from one side to the other, stopping near the main square at the top for lunch. Our guide informed us of some pretty shocking facts of life on Isla Taquile... kids are betrothed by about 7 or 8 years of age, and married by 14, and there are no police authorities on the island - the people there keep the peace by 3 rules: don't steal, don't lie, and don't leave!! It was like going back in time.

After a very short but interesting time in Puno we set off for Copacabana... Bolivia's side of the lake!! It was thundering and lightening and the power promptly went out for almost 2 days. Despite the weather, the lack of hot water and the terrible meals, there was still something kind of exciting about Copacabana... it kind of felt like the Twilight Zone, where things weren't quite as they seemed, and where the unexpected could happen at any moment. This feeling stayed with me the entire way through Bolivia. Copacabana is known as Bolivia's pretty resort town, and I'm sure with better weather we too would have seen it that way. We did get an afternoon of blue skies though and climbed a hill for quite a gorgeous view. We did another lake excursion from here... to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), the legendary birthplace of the Incas. Unfortunately it was another day of altitude sickness for me and I spent most of the day trying to sleep on the boat. I did get off at one point on the the island though and tried to make it to the ruins (there is a cool sacrificial table I really wanted to see) but alas alack I crumbled half-way there and sent Ranga onward with my camera while I waited for her on the rocks. On the way back to the mainland another storm whipped up and we had to pull into a nearby bay, sidle up to some rocks (there was no jetty), clamber out of the boat and into ONE mini-van (there were 20 of us) back to Copacabana. We made it back JUST in time to catch a bus to La Paz, the capital city.

This busride was also very fitting for the Twilight Zone, sorry, Bolivia. About an hour into the journey the bus suddenly stopped and everyone started getting off. We were confused (again) and started to gather our things. The girls sitting in front of us, who had slunk very low in their seats, told us to stay, "shhhhh!". Seconds later we had no choice as the lights suddenly went out and the door was shut. HUH?? There were only a handful of people left on the previously over-full bus and they were all slunk very low in their seats, and very, very quiet. Next thing we knew was that it felt like we were floating... I looked out the window and squealed... all I could see was water directly below us, it looked like the bus was balancing precariously on a big plank of wood, no wider than the bus itself!! Ranga and I clung to each other in fear, whimpering, while the rest of the bus kept telling us to "Shhhh!!". The bus was rocking and teetering and creaking SO MUCH that we were sure it was going to go over. It was the scariest 15 minutes of the whole entire 4 month trip. Upon reaching the other side (miraculously) everyone clambered back on, apparently they had caught a proper boat across. Apparently they had to pay too, which explained the handful of bus stowaways.

La Paz was cool. Did you know that it's the highest capital city in the world? I can't remember the altitude now though. It's incredibly bustling, the streets are packed with markets of all kinds. The most interesting were the Witches Markets, not far from our hotel. There you could find all sorts of strange objects for good luck and good health, from ceramic figurines of Pachamama to dried llama foetuses, ew. We had only a couple of days there too, strolling the streets, and then we were off to Uyuni!

Uyuni is the necessary stop for doing the 3 or 4-day 4WD jeep tours across the salt plains and desert. When we arrived we got on a tour immediately for the next day. This trip was incredible... the most starkly beautiful scenery, and a really great group of people. We chose a 3-day tour which started in the salt plains - the BIGGEST salt plains in the world :). I don't know how else to describe them except for, it's all white, and flat, all the way to the horizon. I think my photos will do a better job at conveying the beauty and strangeness of this place (the link is at the bottom of the email!). On the first night we stayed at a tiny "hotel" half made of salt in a tiny village skirting the salt plains. It was so so cold that we decided to make a campfire outside. We collected heaps of dried cactus wood from the yard of an old, fallen-down, abandoned house and managed to keep the fire going for hours! Got into a bit of trouble for it the next morning though. A couple of the villagers decided that we owed them 20 bolivianos for the wood, which was fair enough we thought and we all chipped in. But as soon as they had the 20 they asked for, they suddenly decided they wanted 50!! When we refused to pay more they decided it should be 80!!! An argument ensued for about 20 minutes, ending with us getting in the car, ignoring the villagers' threats and demanding our driver to drive away! We won't be going back there! That day we saw a beautiful volcano that is actually in Chile, stunning lakes covered in PINK FLAMINGOES!, and strange rock formations growing out of the sandy desert. Again, my photos should do the talking. Our last day was the long drive back to Uyuni, punctuated by geysers, more gorgeous lakes, villages, awe-inspiring rocks, and a train cemetery.

From Uyuni it was one more disasterous (Bolivian) bus journey to the border. After approximately 25 million break-downs we finally made it to Tupiza (5 hours late), and from there had to commission a bus, along with a bunch of other tourists, to the border (the buses had all cancelled due to more protests and blockades down the road). We crossed into our beloved Argentina at 9am the following morning, struggling on foot under the weight of our packs.

Tilcara, a beautiful village in the Andean Northwest of Argentina was unexpectedly warm. It's surrounded in painted mountains - the colours are unbelievable. We had way too little time here... I started to have notions of setting up house in Tilcara, and pulling out my paintbrush, but we had a date to keep in Buenos Aires... and so we were off again!

The last week in Buenos Aires flew by too. We arrived the night before Ger flew in from Canada. I met him at the airport and when I saw his beautiful smiling face I just couldn't believe that it had been FOUR WHOLE MONTHS since I'd last seen him! After a couple of days sorting out last minute Galapagos details and a nice little day trip to Tigre (pretty and peaceful river suburb in BA) Ranga suddenly vanished to Equador :(. Just like that. I'm still getting used to her not being around :(. Luckily Ger was there to keep me company and we spent the rest of the week catching up with friends and his family. I couldn't believe how big Baby Juan had gotten, in just 4 months! It was really great to see Ana, Aroldo, Clara and Eva again too. Next time I'm there guys, I promise my Spanish will be much better! :)

And now, sitting here in Dad's living room it feels like I never left. Was it all a dream?

I guess my pics prove it wasn't... I have photographic evidence! ;)
Puno (Peru): http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album46
Copacabana (Bolivia): http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album47
La Paz (Bolivia): http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album48
Uyuni and the Salt Lakes (Bolivia): http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album49
Tilcara (Argentina): http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album50
And all the way back to Buenos Aires: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album51

Bring on the next adventure! (August 9th: off to Calgary) ;)

Be good, be happy, and keep in touch!

Lots of love,
d xxx