ARGENTINA | Wednesday, 1 Apr 2009 | Views [133]
I took a bus finally back to Sao Paulo to get my passport. I stayed only two days with a friend Carlos and then took a bus for $142 Reais to Foz de Iguazu (huge waterfalls on the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil) where I spent the day. I then ... Read more >
BRAZIL | Saturday, 14 Mar 2009 | Views [147] | Comments [1]
Caio Moussalem was born in a town called Cuiaba in the country side of
Brazil, but now lives and studies in Rio de Janeiro. I stayed at his
house for a few days through couchsurfing and found him to be a very
intelligent and motivated person, who I ... Read more >
BRAZIL | Wednesday, 11 Mar 2009 | Views [1594] | Comments [1]
Rio kind of became like a second home to me after staying there for about a month. Just about every day in this city brings an adventure. Carnival was craaaaazy!! You couldn´t go anywhere in the city without running into a party! I went to catch ... Read more >
Tags: rio, carnival, passport
BRAZIL | Saturday, 14 Feb 2009 | Views [333] | Comments [1]
It took me under $5 Reais and about an hour to reach Xerem from Rio De Janeiro. I called Casa Do Caminho from the small town, and as I waited for Lola (one of Casa's volunteers) to come and meet me, I watched as donkeys pulled carts through the traffic ... Read more >
Tags: brazil, xerem, orphanage, non profit
BRAZIL | Saturday, 14 Feb 2009 | Views [197]
Ahhhh Brasil (and yes, it is spelt correctly), a country where there is no lack of different dance styles, everyone says ´hello´ to strangers, and soap operas with vampires and people with supernatural powers are extremely popular. It is a place which ... Read more >
Tags: brazil, sao paulo, passport
BRAZIL | Saturday, 31 Jan 2009 | Views [498] | Comments [1]
I finally got off the boat from Manaus to Belem! A couchsurfing host
named Fabien picked me up and took me to his apartment, which is
located in the middle of the city in a nice, high rise building
apartment. He spoilt me insanely over the next few ... Read more >
Tags: brazil, favela, belem, bus
BRAZIL | Wednesday, 14 Jan 2009 | Views [402]
Crossing the border into Brazil from Venezuela was simple enough, until
I went to exchange some money on the Brazillian side, and realised I
had completely forgotten that everyone here speaks Portuguese! Luckily,
Manfred (from Peace Villages Foundation) ... Read more >
Tags: brazil, boat, belem, manaus, tefe, monkey, music, band, amazon
VENEZUELA | Tuesday, 16 Dec 2008 | Views [489]
I met with Manfred Mönnighoff in a café in Santa Elena. He drove me with his 6 year old daughter Nilaya, twenty minutes up a bumpy dirt road, through some beautiful emerald hills, to Foundation Peace Villages. It was a short but fantastic trip, full ... Read more >
VENEZUELA | Sunday, 14 Dec 2008 | Views [333]
From dead dogs on the sides of the roads, to Iguanas and monkeys in trees, to long conversations with crazy people in the streets, I can say that my time in Venezuela has been quite interesting. I spent about four days in Puerto Ordaz- Cuidad Guayana ... Read more >
Tags: crazy, venezuela, bus, monkeys, interesting
VENEZUELA | Wednesday, 10 Dec 2008 | Views [209]
Cumana was a great place to visit, as it
was full of life and had some pretty nice beaches. I spent 60 Bolivares and
about 8 hours getting there. I was very surprised… happy, when the taxi driver stopped
on the way to my friend Milagros` (her name ... Read more >
VENEZUELA | Wednesday, 3 Dec 2008 | Views [261]
It´s really just hit me how politically intense and dangerous this country really is. As I was leaving San Cristobal on the bus, while being video´d in my seat (as they do here and in many other Latin American countries for security reasons), everybody ... Read more >
VENEZUELA | Tuesday, 25 Nov 2008 | Views [191]
I arrived in San Cristobal and was picked up by Rodolfo, a young university student. After arriving at his house and meeting his mother, father, sister, and other family members (and given my own room with a private bathroom). Rodolfo showed me around ... Read more >
COLOMBIA | Wednesday, 19 Nov 2008 | Views [688] | Comments [1]
The past few weeks here in Colombia have been such a huge cultural experience because I have really felt like one of the locals. Families here have taken me into their houses and treated me like one of their own. I have been given plenty of hugs, gifts ... Read more >
COLOMBIA | Monday, 10 Nov 2008 | Views [475]
I have lived with Tania Pardo and her family for the past week, and I honestly now feel like one of the family. They strive to make the world a positive place to be in, and continue to give out a fresh, positive energy. Their kindness will forever remain ... Read more >
COLOMBIA | Wednesday, 5 Nov 2008 | Views [1820]
I had a fantastic time with Yuly in Cali, especially when she took me to a Halloween fiesta with a whole lot of couchsurfers. But Halloween didn´t just stop there. I caught a bus to Bogota, for 45,000 pesos, and met Mario (who let me stay in his house ... Read more >
COLOMBIA | Wednesday, 29 Oct 2008 | Views [230]
On the 25th of October, 2008, I made my way to the University of Valle with Gustavo and Neyla (two friends I had met on the bus on the way to Cali). My reason for wanting to go was to find out further information about the indigenous protests that that ... Read more >
COLOMBIA | Saturday, 25 Oct 2008 | Views [244]
The protest march for animal liberation began at 4pm, and snaked through the streets of Cali. I had waited about forty minutes, with around sixty other people who were rearing to go. I met with a man named Terry Hurtado, who had been marching for animal ... Read more >
PERU | Saturday, 25 Oct 2008 | Views [234]
It's
starting to scare me a little that danger seems to keep following me
everywhere. It started in the Amazon, when a poisonous snake slithered
in between my legs, then I was held up by men with guns in Guayaquil,
then the neighbours of the house ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Friday, 17 Oct 2008 | Views [439]
While in Puyo I stayed with a couchsurfer named Matt for a few days, so that I could begin to type up my previous Amazon expedition and have my tribal hair removed. On the second night at his apartment, we were invited downstairs to another couchsurfing ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Tuesday, 14 Oct 2008 | Views [579]
I was dying! It was summer, and although I love the heat, it was so ridiculously hot! I nearly threw a kiddie tantrum this morning when I had to work in the chacra for about twenty minutes… well not really, but I did have to keep reminding myself, ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Monday, 13 Oct 2008 | Views [677]
When I went for dinner at Guadalupe's house, I was happy to see that she had caught a giant fish to feed her family and I. After a while of drinking chicha and talking, something she said shocked and really saddened me. She said that eight years ago, ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Friday, 10 Oct 2008 | Views [842] | Comments [1]
I was woken, as I am each and every morning by the rooster- the damn rooster!! The sneaky thing waltzes under my hut, right below my bed, and doesn’t stop ``cockadoodledooing`` at 3, then 5 then 6am, and I’m sure somewhere else in between. By that ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Tuesday, 7 Oct 2008 | Views [410] | Comments [2]
I was sitting in the communal hut when the president of the village (Hernan), stood at the edge of the wall-less hut and blew into a shell that sent out a deep hollow tune. Soon enough, most of the tribe if not everyone was together, waiting to hear ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Thursday, 2 Oct 2008 | Views [1020] | Comments [6]
When I arrived at the village of Juyuintza, which is in Shiwiar territory and is in the Ecuadorian Amazon close to the Peruvian boarder, I had no idea what to say or how to act in front of the large tribal group. The pilots wife said to me just before ... Read more >
ECUADOR | Tuesday, 26 Aug 2008 | Views [550]
Alright!! I´m finally in Ecuador! On one of the buses I caught up here (from Loja to Cuenca) three women got on very distraught. They had been robbed of everything by three men with guns! One of the women was holding a child only one year old… thank ... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 21 Aug 2008 | Views [236]
Well.. apart from the boring stuff like getting a new passport and visa stamp, and creating new travel arrangements, I actually had a pretty nice time in Lima again. I stayed with a couchsurfing host named Victor and his family. All of them were so ... Read more >
PERU | Sunday, 17 Aug 2008 | Views [256] | Comments [1]
As I sat at the dinner table with Ligia and Christian, waiting for the dinner they had so kindly offered to cook, my emotions were a whirl... stabilizing, numbing, and then whirling once again. A mass of tears swarmed from my eyes the other night when ... Read more >
PERU | Friday, 15 Aug 2008 | Views [230]
Iquitos is wild!! I got such a buzz from the city, with it's moto-taxis racing around the streets, and Amazonian jungle lying on the outskirts of the concrete city. The boat trip here took 3 days, and was filled with locals swinging on their hammocks.... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 14 Aug 2008 | Views [232]
Meri Ushinahua Alvarez has worked as a volunteer for the Cantaura organisation in Iquitos for the past two years. She used to work for the government with children in a similar project, but prefers working at Canatura because of the strategy ... Read more >
PERU | Wednesday, 13 Aug 2008 | Views [378]
As we walked around the Quistococha zoo (which belongs to the government here), Jerome and I both felt quite sorry for many of the animals. Especially the Pumas and Jaguars that were pacing around in a small, concrete enclosure. It is definitely ... Read more >
PERU | Saturday, 2 Aug 2008 | Views [244]
We had been trying to contact someone from Canatura (a non profit organisation helping the environment) for the past couple of days, as Juany from Otra Cosa recommended us to visit it. After going to the markets to buy the family some food, then to ... Read more >
PERU | Friday, 1 Aug 2008 | Views [196]
We went to Celendin... Jerome and I, on our way to Moyambamba. We never have any idea where we will stay, but we always find some nice local´s house over our heads. At the bus station upon arrival I went to the bathroom, and by the time I returned ... Read more >
PERU | Wednesday, 30 Jul 2008 | Views [444]
Jerome and I took a supposed 6hr (which actually toook 8hrs) bus ride to Cajamarca. Once there, we made our way to Incawasi, a before and after school for poor children that is run by local and foreign volunteers. Incawasi wants to improve and develop ... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 24 Jul 2008 | Views [355]
Ana, Meindert, Noemi, Susannah Jerome and I met up with Juany again at Corporacion de Educacion Popular, a school for the local poor children. We met Father Victor Hugo Tumba Ortiz, who has been volunteering his time to working at the school since it first ... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 24 Jul 2008 | Views [603]
Ana, Meindert, Noemi, Susannah Jerome and I continued in to the taxi to Santo Toribo, which is a day care center for mentally and physically disabled children. The organisation is about 20 years old and there are about 170 kids attending the school.... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 24 Jul 2008 | Views [392]
Ana, Meindert, Noemi, Susannah Jerome and I headed back onto the road in the packed taxi towards the women's refuge, which is the only one in the north of Peru. Laura Chalan de Vizconde, a local who has been volunteering here for about 9 years, warmly ... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 24 Jul 2008 | Views [596] | Comments [1]
Squatting in the dirt... in the garbage, I spoke to a man the same young age as me who looked 40. I was trying to look like I didn't care about the hundreds of flies that swarmed around us or the rotting fruit between my feet. I didn't want the ... Read more >
PERU | Thursday, 24 Jul 2008 | Views [428]
We (Jerome and I), made it to Huanchaco. We were tired and without a shower for four of five days, but it was worse for Jerome as he was very ill during the whole 9 hour bus trip here. We entered into the Otra Cosa volunteer agency and sat down with ... Read more >
PERU | Monday, 21 Jul 2008 | Views [237]
I went with Isabell t o see where the families of most of the children live... "Challua" (meaning invasion). Most of the families came to Huaraz from the mountains, and were wanting a better life plus education for their children. ... Read more >
PERU | Monday, 21 Jul 2008 | Views [358] | Comments [3]
When I first arrived at the Seeds of Hope volunteer house, I couldn’t help but notice the large amount of volunteers. I first had a conversation with Isabelle, who is originally from Belgium, and came here after taking a sabbatical from her job in ... Read more >
PERU | Friday, 18 Jul 2008 | Views [225]
During our time at the refuge, Jerome and I met a man named Carlos, plus a few of his friends. He kindly gave us some food before we finished our last hike, and invited us to stay at his house in Yungay for the night. We greatiously accepted. Carlos´s ... Read more >
PERU | Friday, 18 Jul 2008 | Views [591] | Comments [2]
I continued my trip by bus to Huaraz with Jerome, a man from france who has been helping me alot with translations. As soon as we got to the town, we forwarded on to Yungai, and then up to Quebrada Llanganuco by taxi with another two travellers. We ... Read more >
PERU | Friday, 18 Jul 2008 | Views [233]
In Lima, I stayed with a couchsurfer named Felix for a night, and that is where I met Jerome, now a really good friend from France. Later, Jerome and I ended up staying with a couchsurfers friend named Juan Carlos, across the road from the beach in Miaflores, ... Read more >
PERU | Saturday, 5 Jul 2008 | Views [260]
Arequipa was like a little holiday from travelling for me. Yvan, another host from Couchsurfing let me stay in his house for free. I thought I´d only be there for one night, but we got along so well (like bro and sis), that I ended up chilling out ... Read more >
BOLIVIA | Saturday, 5 Jul 2008 | Views [310]
I met a couchsurfer named Freddy just before I had left for La Senda Verde, who was about 27 years old, was born in Bolivia, works in a travel agency, and also studies. He speaks English very well and also used to be a Spanish teacher, so you could just ... Read more >
BOLIVIA | Tuesday, 1 Jul 2008 | Views [990]
TUESDAY NIGHT... Hooray!! I´m just outside Coroico!! I can breathe again... I can live again!!! The drive here, even though it was getting dark, was fantastic! Marcelo and Vicky run the organisation ´La Senda Verde´, which is a sanctuary for ... Read more >
BOLIVIA | Tuesday, 17 Jun 2008 | Views [289] | Comments [2]
For my last night in La Paz, I decided to go and watch the football (Soccer) match Bolivia versus Chile, with Arnaud, Beth, Luis and his son. When we arrived, we noticed that the stadium was filled with about 95% Bolivian people, all chanting songs and ... Read more >
BOLIVIA | Tuesday, 17 Jun 2008 | Views [367]
Linda was very kind when she welcomed me into her home yesterday. She lives on the outskirts of La Paz, in a lovely town surrounded by huge, jagged rock formations, one of which is known as ´Devil´s Tooth´. Linda shows me one of her husband´s ... Read more >
BOLIVIA | Monday, 16 Jun 2008 | Views [296]
There was a huge fiesta in the street, around the corner from where Arnaud, Beth, and I are living. Hundreds of people flocked into the streets, many dancing and dressed in colourful costumes (supposedly worth about 2000 Bolivianos each!) with large ... Read more >
BOLIVIA | Saturday, 14 Jun 2008 | Views [256]
I met with ´´Diego´´ (false name used to protect himself and his family). He pumped my brain so full of information, that I don´t even know where to begin! I videoed the whole conversation, so that at least people will sooner or later hear about ... Read more >
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