After traveling 122,000 miles (so far) across 7 continents, you tend to run into a traveler or two that have found their way to some extraordinary places on the planet. The people we have come across have floored us with their experience and knowledge. You name the place — Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, on a ship from Montevideo to Lisbon (21 days), Svalbard in the Arctic Circle at one end of the world and the Peninsula of Antarctica at the other. They come in all varieties and have travelled in every way imaginable. World class kayakers like Bill and Mary Neal; Rick Remmel who recently hiked to Mt. Everest’s base camp; Gaetan and Perrine (who saved us and our broken car in Patagonia) and drove from California to Alaska onto Boston and then started over from the top of South America to its bottom; Mike Hyman who has run amok in 113 countries (at last count) and our old friend Francis Hurteau (sadly, no longer with us) who insisted we must visit Madura, India, “home to the greatest massages in the world, period.” It’s on the list Francis!
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Our friend Francis Hurteau.
Having gathered all of this abundant information, it
seems unfair to withhold it from the rest of you. So here, with some photos and
mostly in their own words, are selected recommended locations from just about
everywhere, shared over scores of coffee cups and wine glasses, meals and miles
by the many terrific people we have met who know a thing or two about hitting
the open road. (And there will be more!) Most of these are locations we have
not yet seen or will not be able to share ourselves because we missed them, or
have yet to reach on our
world tour. You can’t see everything after all.
If you have anything you’d like to share, please do
in the comments at the bottom of this article so others can see your thoughts,
or if you have any articles throughout our rapidly expanding website you’d like
comment on, please do. We have hundreds of articles and recommendations and you
can chime at the bottom of any page on the website. Or simply send me an email.
We always want to hear from you.
Columbia, Bolivia and the Galapagos
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Tayrona
National Park, Santa Marta Columbia
We met the Fedele’s, who hail from Colorado, while were were traveling on the Navimag Ferry, which travels every week from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, Chile through a thousand miles of the Chilean Archipelago, some of the most remote locations in the world. You can learn all about our experience there in our Daily Journal. We loved John and Andrea because they were up for anything, as you’ll see, along with their two children, Elena and Dante. These suggestions are only a small sample of their many excursions. I’m very grateful to them for sharing this information.
“We enjoyed the Caribbean coast of Colombia. We mostly just relaxed on the beaches/pools. We stayed in Tayrona National Park as well as a resort east of there in Palomino, Aite. The beaches were great as was the food. And we really loved Cartagena and wished we would have spent more time there in the old town which resembled Cuba. This was the last stop on our trip. [NOTE: John and Andrea and their two tween children spend a year traveling through South America exploring the cultures and learning Spanish. Andrea is an M.D. and Johns a successful cabinetry business in Colorado.]
We did stay on an island off the coast that was a
lot of fun, Tierra Bomba. The Blue Apple
resort had a great beach, pool, and food.
And again we mostly relaxed except mom and daughter rode horses a couple
days and we did a day tour on a boat to the other islands nearby. You can see their adventure on PolarSteps.
BOLIVIA
Also, we all were really impressed with Bolivia. And not just because we settled in for over a month and did not have to pack and unpack every 2-4 days…The Salt Flats, or Salar De Uyuni, were quite impressive. We also toured the national park just south of the flats. This was one of our favorite experiences of the trip. We basically were off-roading to different sites with a guide who was Quechuan and spoke no English and poor Spanish, and in an old Land Cruiser, while he chewed on coca leaves the entire time.
We also went to Lake Titicaca and stayed on Isla Del
Sol which was really cool. There are
Incan ruins on the island and we hiked around and did some sightseeing. Bolivia was the kids’ favorite place, partly
because we met other families and backpackers at the Spanish school. Not to mention, we really lucked out with our
host family. They were awesome and had
four boys, 7-17 years old. Poor Elena
[the Fedele’s daughter] :-). They built
a beautiful new house in the heart of Sucre during Covid. And we had ladies come every day to cook our
meals and clean, yet it was ridiculously cheap.
We really got spoiled there.
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THE
GALAPAGOS
The Galapagos were kinda like the grand finale even though we still had a few more weeks to travel around in Ecuador and Colombia. Everything about that experience amazed us. The tour company we hired, Quasar, took care of everything. We flew from Quito to San Cristobal island. From there we boarded the Evolution and began our adventure. The crew of around 20 took care of the 25 or so guests. The food was incredible, the three naturalist guides were great, and the whole experience on the islands and snorkeling was awesome. Each night before dinner, everyone met in the lounge and a guide would go over the schedule for the next day. The guests were divided in to three groups, we happened to be the boobies. It took the kids three days to not crack up every time they said boobies…Even though we were in groups, everyone made it a point to eat at a different table with different guests each day. Everyone on the boat was great, mostly retired American gringos. We were the only ones with kids.
Our days entailed hiking on the islands, snorkeling
once or twice a day, and kayaking/paddleboarding. The wildlife and pristine nature was
incredible. So many species unique to
the Galapagos. We visited the Darwin
center as well and saw the giant tortoises.
Our best day was the one when we snorkeled with sea lions, sharks, sea
turtles, rays, and dolphins. It really
was the highlight of the trip, the dolphins were unexpected bonus. We were heading back to the Evolution and our
guide noticed them out in the open ocean.
So, we raced to them on our panga and all jumped in, it was
awesome! Our trip ended and we flew from
the island of Baltra to Guayaquil. I
would absolutely recommend Quasar Expeditions
[the company that handled the expedition].
They have 8 and 15 night expeditions.
The boat travels at night and you wake up at different island each
morning. It is quite comfortable with
large rooms and AC. And, they often have
deals, 40% off, or if you book last minute they are willing to work with
you. That’s what we did, booked it
within 30 days and got almost 50% off.
We would not have done it otherwise as it is quite expensive.
The Dolomites and
Igazu Falls
Gaetan and Perrine -
French Engineers
Gaetan and Perrine saved us when our car broke down in Patagonia. What are the chances that when your battered Renault rental car stops working in the wilds of Chile, AND your cell service blinks out, that you run into two fellow travelers who happen to be English speaking French engineers?! Yet, it happened and we will always be grateful to these two beautiful people who happened to be driving in their van from northern South America to the tip of the continent when they found us. The journey these two made from Alaska to the southernmost city in South America reveal two wonderfully sweet people with a dragon-sized appetite for travel.
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