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Munich

2007-02-26T06:35:00.000-05:00

Finally arrived in Munich. :-)
I got picked up by Martin and Sandra and went with them to Studentenstadt for having Wiener Schnitzel with Pommes and Weißbier. A perfect welcome to Bavaria!
Afterwards we went for meeting Till, Vilma and Bernie to Pobolowsky's and catched up a bit.....

Back in Munich!

Brussels

2007-02-26T06:21:00.000-05:00

The stopover in Brussels was quick. Just a few hours to get an impression of the city. The connection from the airport was easy and cheap and allowed to be in the city center in 15 min.
So I visited the inner city and the main tourist attractions. Very nice!!

Seafood street in central Brussels

Grote Markt

New York City

2007-02-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

Just arrived in New York City. Not too cold actually.....can manage it after the warm weather in South America.
Let's see what the Big Apple's offering! :-)

Times Square

Downtown Manhattan

Rio de Janeiro

2007-02-15T19:03:00.000-05:00

The busride was longer than expected. I was quite surprised of it taking 18 hours....but I got there and have at Carmens apartement a place to stay in Leblon.

Praia de Leblon

Praia de Ipanema

Me in the Sambadrome

Sambadancers on a platform

Sambadancer

Floripa - Armacao

2007-02-15T18:57:00.000-05:00

Almost a Brahma commercial out of the Restaurants window

With Anna

Florianopolis

2007-02-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

15 hours in the Bus and finally you´re at the prestine beaches of Ilha de Catarina at Florianopolis!! Gonna hang out here for a while and try to improve my portuguese....
:-)

Praia de Armaçao from the hostel terrace

Rainbow in the evening

Iguazu

2007-02-06T09:27:00.000-05:00

Almost two years ago we visited the biggest waterfalls on earth at the three-countries-border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
But that time I sticked to the new stuff and visited only the worlds biggest powerplant Itaipu at the Brazilian-Paraguayan border.
Huge!!!

In fron of the Itaipu Dam

The dams huge wall

The pipes with a diameter of 10m!

Buenos Aires 2

2007-02-06T09:23:00.000-05:00

With Mariana and her friends at her parents place in Hurlingham

Fishermens´ Club at the Rio de la Plata

Going out at "Sahara" in Recoleta

Buenos Aires

2007-01-28T16:27:00.000-05:00

Mi querido Buenos Aires! I was already worried I wouldn´t make it to Buenos Aires today. We went out yesterday in Santiago and came home very late...so just trough online check-in I made it to get my flight.....puuuuuh!But I got here and gonna have a beautiful time here in BS! :-)
It`s like I said a few days ago. Perfect weather, friends, best meat, tastiest wine....can`t complain. I visited Boca, San Telmo, Recoleta and Puerto Madeira so far. Especially Boca and Recoleta is supernice.

The colourful El Caminito in Boca

Palacio Municipal am Plaza 5 de Mayo

Main shopping area at Calle Florida

Santiago

2007-01-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

I arrived well in Santiago de Chile yesterday evening and checked into the Chimba Hostel. Perfect decision. It´s in the heart of Bella Vista and I got to know all hostel people during wine tasting :-)
Had a great time yesterday! The next day we went up the mountain to catch the view over the city. Great with the Andes in the background. :-)

Great time with the Chimba travellers

Santiago de Chile with the Andes behind

Colonia Tovar

2007-01-25T11:53:00.000-05:00

Close to Caracas is a little colonial Town founded in the mid eigtheenhundreds by a group of german settlers. Colonia Tovar still says of itself "A piece of Germany in Venezuela". At the weekends it´s crowded of Venezuelans visiting the german style buildngs and try out some typical german dishes. Is typical german food really sausage? I still can´t believe that...
Best of all: they have their own brewery! :-)

Colonia Tovars church. In front Café Kuhstall

Visibly german architecture

The local beer: Cerveza Tovar

Caracas

2007-01-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

I almost didn´t make it to Venezuela as security at the Medellin airport was so tight. I got into the plane more than 10 min delayed...puhh.
Also the start in Venezuela wasn´t easy. I couldn´t cash money as a foreigner and needed to go into the bank, cue up and fetch money at the counter - with passport and fingerprints of course. Very secure....
Arriving in Caracas was...hmmm...also not very traveller friendly. I still don´t have a city map and traveller hostel just don´t exist. The one called "Backpackers Hostel" is just the cheapest hotel that tries to rent its crappy rooms through its name.
But finally I found good value and could start exploring the city.

First impression of Venezuela in Caracas´ Metro

Everywhere Hugo Chavez slogans

View over the city from the Torre del Oeste, Venezuelas highest scyscraper

Medellin

2007-01-21T20:26:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I had only 2 days left for Medellin. Too short to explore that pretty city. The arrival at night showed illuminations high up the hillsides. Shortly after I could see the whole city at night from the Mirador Poblano at a private fairwell party.
Fortunately I could stay at Annes place who we got to know in the Tyrona National Park. Handy coincidences! ;-)

Plaza Botero in Medellin

Old american schoolbuses in front of Columbias only Metro

Juli and Anne in the Metrocable

Bogotá

2007-01-16T07:36:00.000-05:00

Bogotá´s a great city! We didn´t expect it that great. The locations between the hills is fantastic and you can catch some great views over the whole city from the Montserrate Church uphill. Also the part of Candelaria, the old town, is really pretty and keeps us strolling around.

Unfortunately Martin has to leave today at noon for getting back to work in Munich. Has been a great time again travelling together again.

Bogotás city center from the Montserrate church

Plaza Bolívar

Mit Angela, Martha und Ivan im Café Rio del Amazona

Barranquilla

2007-01-16T07:31:00.000-05:00

At first we didn´t like Barranquilla that much but when we got to know some locals and went out with them we changed our mind. Really cool to see all the people training for the Carnaval that gonna be Barranquillas highlight that year. We even got whitened our faces with maiz-flower to get some more taste of the Carnaval! Fun!

Training for the big show

Party with Marta and Karina

Whitened and with a typical, coastal style sombrero

Cartagena

2007-01-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

Cartagena is as beautiful as everybody says. We arrived yesterday night and strolled around in the narrow streets of the old part of the city. Today we´ve been spending totally exploring the city. Greetings from Columbia!

Historical part of Cartagena

Jumping dolphin at the Oceanario on Rosario Island

Playa Blanca close by Cartagena

Tayrona National Park

2007-01-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

The National Park of Tayrona at the carribean side of Columbia is famous for its beautiful beaches. And very right, they ARE beautiful. Even though the water is not as warm and turquoise as in Belize for example, we enjoyed the beachlife. We also visited the ruins of Pueblito, an ancient city in the jungle of the Park.

Beach of "La Piscina"

Al Cabo Beach

Description in Pueblito

Taganga

2007-01-12T18:33:00.000-05:00

After leaving Shakiras city Barranquilla we went straight to Taganga, a little fishing town where also heaps of people spend there holiday....we arrived exactly in between the high season of public holidays. Nevertheless we enjoyed the carribean again and did some really cheap diving with a bavarian dive school.

Martin and me at Taganga Beach

Brasses at El Pato divesite

Spotted moray

Goodbye Ecuador!

2007-01-07T11:16:00.000-05:00

Hola a todos!

After exactly 4 weeks in Ecuador we´re leaving today at noon . We gonna fly out of Quito via Bogotá to Barranquilla where we gonna spend a week at the carribean coast of Parque Tyrona and Cartagena.

Hope to hear from you soon! Hasta luego!

Climbing Chimborazo (6310 m)

2007-01-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

After a bit of acclimatization at Urbina we went with our guide Ivo Veloz to the first of the two refugios for the normal route up the highest mountain Ecuadors.
From that first one it was only 200 m highers to the Whymper Refugio at 5000 m where we had some dinner and a few hours of sleep. Shortly before midnight we started to climb up. You can´t imagine how hard it was climbing up to the top. Unbelievable! But right after sunrise we made it. Standing on top of the second highest peak of Chimborazo with 6267 m with perfect weather conditions and a sensational view made up for all the pain. Another four hours down and we arrived exhausted but happy Riobamba and another few hours later Quito.

By the way...the Chimborazo is due to the equatorial buldge the closest point to the sun on earth, closer than Mt. Everest!

The Chimbrazo with 6310 m from Riobamba

Chimborazos shadow from the top

Finally up the second highest peak with 6267 m

New Years Eve

2007-01-06T14:02:00.000-05:00

For New Years Eve we went back to Baños. Our Hostel "Santa Cruz" was an amazingly well equipped place that would offer almost everything a traveller could need. We got to know Adrian and Steffi from Switzerland and spent with them the last evening of 2006.

A very nice ecuadorian custom is that every family prepares a puppet filled up with old stuff like old clothes, etc that represents the old year. Those puppets are burned at midnight. Interesting to watch!
The following day we went to the thermal springs in the Baños de la virgen and then left for some higher places to adapt for the climbing part to come.

Viejos for being burned at midnight

With Adrian and Steffi from Switzerland

Live concert at Baños for New Years Eve

Natural thermal water at Baños de la virgen

Riobamba & Nariz del diabolo

2007-01-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Riobamba is famous for the starting point of the famous trainride on the Trans-Andean Railway to Alausi and down the Devils nose, a masterpiece of railway construction those days. We had to get up early and only with quite a bit of luck got tickets that day. The ride on the roof was very touristy but quite an experience....

Parque Maldonado with Riobambas Cathedral

The train with the Devils Nose in the background

Passing a bridge on the Trans-Andean Railway

Baños

2007-01-06T13:32:00.000-05:00

Baños´a quiet touristy town surrounded by mountains. All tourists do tours like rafting, biking or hiking in the area. We rented Mountainbikes and did some downhill biking to Puyo. On the way we could visit several waterfalls like the famous Pailón del diabolo. After that waterfall the downhill mostly ended and only with a lot of effort we made the last 30 km to Puyo.

Downhill biking the way to Puyo

Pailón del Diabolo

Grilled guinea pig for special days

Happy New Year!!!

2006-12-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

Hello visitors!
Thanks a lot for visiting our website so frequently! :-)
Martin and me gonna be in Baños for New Years Eve and then start another session of acclimatization in the mountains before climbing the Chimborazo on January 3rd.
So again we won`t be online for a while.

To everybody a happy New Years Eve and a wonderful year 2007!

Take care wherever you are!

Cheers!

Cuenca

2006-12-28T22:34:00.000-05:00

Cuenca´s one of Ecuadors colonial towns. Quite big though it´s got still a charming atmosphere. Our hostel, the El Cafecito had a vibrant nightlife with surrounding rooms. We just strolled around the citycentre and spent a chilly evening at the Cafecitos.
Cuenca is by the way also the centre for Panama hats!

Cathedral de Inmaculada Conceptión

Colonial style center

Panama hat factory

Guayaquil

2006-12-28T22:17:00.000-05:00

We flew from Galapaos straight to Guayaquil on the mainland and took a room at the Suites Madrid Hotel quite central. Guayaquil's got some really nice places like the colorful houses of the Las Peñas area or the quite new Malcon 2000, a huge project for the waterfront with thousands of visitors every day.
But after two days we had enough of that big city and started our way to the ecuadorian part of the Andes to Cuenca.

Strolling along the Malcon 2000

The waterfront area from the lighthouse of Santa Anna Hill

Kids playing between the colourful houses of Las Peñas

Christmas

2006-12-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

This year we spent christmas a bit different. At first we went diving which was - as told before - one of the best dives we had so far. Then we had dinner with the other travellers we met on Santa Cruz and went to Lukas' place for some time afterwards. Also a very nice christmas in the warmth of the Galapagos Islands

Celebrating Christmas 2006 at Lukas' place

Christmas dinner at the Kiosks of Puerto Ayola, Santa Cruz Island

Joanna and Martin carrying the empty box of beer!

Diving Galapagos

2006-12-26T21:21:00.000-05:00

Based on Santa Cruz Island we did some diving at first with Silberstein to Gordon Rocks and North Seymour. Gordon is quite advanced to dive due to a lot of current but the chance of seeing hammerhead sharks there is highest. And we did! Despite bad visibility a great place to dive!
North Seymour wasn´t that great. But also nice to dive at.
The very very best diving we had the 3rd day with Scuba Iguana close to Floreana Island where we watched schools of eagle rays, white tip sharks, diamond rays and a giant school of fish. Unbelievable!!!!!
Truely a Christmas-Dive on the 24th Dec! :-)

Snorkelling with a sea lion

Single Scalloped Hammerhead Shark at North Seymour

Giant school of black-striped solema

Christmas Diving ;-)

Galapagos

2006-12-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

After a 2 hour plane ride we arrived at San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands, where we started our 8-day-trip. We got a really cool first class boat and were also quite lucky with the other passengers and the crew.
We visited several islands including our favourites Española, Plaza and Bartolome Islands where we always got unbelievable close contact to wildlife and untouched nature. Best of all was snorkelling with the sealions and watching the blue-footed boobies walking around :)

Giant Turtle at the Darwin Reservation Center on Santa Cruz Island

Marine Iguana on Espñola Island

Playing with a blue-footed Boobie

Sharing the beach with sealions

Haasi arrived!

2006-12-14T00:40:00.001-05:00

Dienstag, 12.12.06: zweiaufreisen ist wieder komplett!! Martin kam puenktlich um 21:05 Uhr in Quito am Flughafen an. Haben heute mal Quito vom Vulkan Pinchincha aus betrachtet und uns bei Mitad del Mundo breitbeinig ueber die Aequatoriallinie gestellt. Morgen gehts los nach Galapagos, wo wir auch Weihnachten verbringen werden. Haben damit auch bis dahin keinen Internetzugang.
Allen eine schoene, besinnliche Weihnachtszeit!!
Bis denne, Andi & Martin

Tuesday 12/12/06: zweiaufreisen's complete again! Martin arrived in time at 9:05 pm at Quitos airport. After catching a view of Quito from the Pinchincha volcano we went to see the Monument of Mitad del Mundo where the equatorial line runs through. Tomorrow we gonna head on to the Galapagos Islands where we gonna spend christmas, too. That means also no internet for the next 10 days.
We're hoping that you're enjoying the lovely christmas atmosphere and wish you a merry Christmas!
Yours Andi & Martin

Quito 2

2006-12-11T00:14:00.000-05:00

Today was the first clear day since I arrived last week wednesday. So perfect to do some sightseeing in the old part of Quito. And honestly admitted: Quito's beautiful. So many parks, places, ornamented buildings and life in the streets....no comparison to Lima or La Paz.

La Plaza Grande

Locals waiting in front of the Iglesia de San Francisco

Calle Guyaquil with the Basilica in the back

Lifely sunday afternoon in Quito

Otavalo

2006-12-09T19:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday is the market day in the little town Otavalo north of Quito. So probably most of Quitos tourists went there to shop some indigenious stuff like Alpaca scarfs and sweaters, colourful cloth and handicrafts.
Honestly I did the same but stopped by the Banco de los Andes that got insolvent yesterday and watched the people complaining.
After shopping I went to the Parque de Condor where you could see different kinds of raptors, owls and of course two kinds of huge Andean Condors.

Police guarding the bankrupt Banco de los Andes

Main square of Otavalo

Locals selling at the foodmarket

Getting hungry? ;-)

Quito

2006-12-07T00:57:00.000-05:00

Finally landed in Quito today. Slowly it became exhausting with those 1-day-stops in the cities. So I was glad as immigration was over and I could enter the country.
Next surprise: Sadira from couchsurfing picked me up from the airport and took me straight to the Plaza de Torros where bullfighting was on.
What a great welcome to Ecuador! :-)

Ticket for the Bullfight

Animal lovers don't watch...

Sold out Plaza de Torros

Sadira and Marita

Ft. Lauderdale

2006-12-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

After landing in Miami it was fairly easy to get to Ft. Lauderdale by TriRail. Seeing Lindsey again was great. Last time we've seen each other was on Bali 2005.
We catched up a bit and went out for some drinks to the Big City Tavern with friends of her. Unfortunately did I have to leave at 4:30 am to catch my plane to Quito. Greetings to Lindsey, Susi, Carolin, Lizzy and Mike!

Having a drink in the Big City Tavern

Susi and Lindsey

Lindsey and me

Chicago

2006-12-05T01:10:00.000-05:00

When arriving in Chicago I was surprisingly picked up at the airport. Ainhoa, who I got to know through www.couchsurfing.com took me by car to her place and after a refreshing shower through the city. Awesome skyline but too freezy at the moment to do a lot of sightseeing. So we went visiting a friend, Fatima, before going home.

With Nancy at O'Hare Airport.

Illuminated skyscraper in downtown Chicago

The Sears Tower at sunshine

With Ainhoa and Fatima

London

2006-12-05T00:54:00.000-05:00

First stop: London
After just a couple of hours I landed in Heathrow and made my way straight to the Big Chill Bar in Shoreditch. Unfortunately I missed Robert somehow but was lucky to find Vicky in the crowd.
After catching up with a few beers she went home and I grabbed a few hours of sleep before strolling through central London in the morning. At noon I had to return to Heathrow. After a quick hop over the Atlantic I got into Chicago....

With Vicky in the Big Chill Bar at Shoreditch

The London Eye

London-style picture of Big Ben

The Tower-Bridge at dawn

Let's get started!!!

2006-12-03T02:48:00.000-05:00

Dear all!

Now it's the day....3rd December 4:15 pm Munich Airport!
I'm looking forward to meet up with friends in London first before flying over to freezy Chicago.
For sure this gonna be an awesome time with lot's of new experiences and plenty of new, interesting people.
As we've some serious problems with the host of our homepage www.zweiaufreisen.de we're going to use this blogger until we find some solution.

Take care whereever you are and have a nice and cozy wintertime!!

Yours Andi