HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Sleeping in and having nothing planned for the day
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Missing people off the tour already
WORD OF THE DAY: My Epic Adventure Finishes
Today there is no Tucan
Today there is no Gray or Mark
Today there is no Rosita
Today is the last ‘official’ day of the tour that concludes after breakfast, but as we are in Swanks-ville we no longer see Tucan travelers, no gossiping and no large group travel anymore. That was actually my last official tour of my whole Odyssey. I am doing a Tucan independent package for Easter Island, beach bumming in Barbados for a week and then with friends for the remaining 6 weeks sightseeing and seeing their hometowns. I am so excited to be catching up with friends and they all sound like they are organizing some amazing things for me which is really super sweet!!!
As we are on the Smart level, we have our own breakfast room on the third lounge in the Smart lounge. Yeah none of this mixing with the plebs business. In saying that I am not one for people fussing over me and heading into the lounge there was only one other person eating, so all the waiters attention was on us and it just makes me feel uncomfortable, not to mention that we can’t pig out on the buffet as I didn’t want to look like a little piggy that hadn’t been fed for days. So with a lot of decorum as the waiter boy held open the lids on all the hot stands, we had a small breakfast that would get us through till lunch time. I did get up a second time, while the waiter was in the kitchen to get some more sausages, but he was at my side quick as a flash and I only picked up 2 more instead of the 4 I wanted to consume. Maybe he is good for starting a diet?
After breakfast Shaz and I went in search of an ATM. I wanted to load up on some USD dollars and Shaz wanted to clear out her US account while there were no fees involved. Last time I was here there was a chemist at the end of the street that had an ATM but when we go there the whole shop had been demolished. It was literally a vacant block of land. A lot can change in 5 months. We could see a bank further down the road so we used that and then headed back to the hotel to off load the wads of cash we had withdrawn. Sharon wanted to get one more spot of market shopping in before we headed to the post office this afternoon, me, I had had enough and more to the point if I went I would buy something, so I stayed at the hotel to blog and Shaz headed out and would be back in an hour or so. Well she was back just over the hour with the report that there wasn’t that much there and I believed her as she came back empty handed. She likes to shop just as much as me, so I am glad that I didn’t go.
The afternoon was spent getting our postage bags ready and after I had a room service lunch we walked the 15 minutes to the post office to send our packages home. I couldn’t fit everything into my textile bag that I was sending so I was carrying 2 bags, so when we got to the post office the post office lady thought I wanted to send 2 separate packages. She spoke no English, so I just let them get sent as 2. After inspecting what was in both bags, we packed up the plastic bag in a used brown box that we taped up, completed the paper work and the addressee card and then the textile bag she was going to stick the addressee card on the bag and send it like that!!! I can tell you now if it all just went in that bag, not taped up or boxed the bag would arrive empty. It is not made as a postal bag that is for sure. So I asked if she had a box big enough and she said no and then kept processing my first parcel. So I had to interrupt her again and asked if she had 2 boxes and I would just split the bag and send 3 if I had to. Well she came out with 2 new folded Ecuador Post boxes which wouldn’t fit all my gear in but I had a brainwave and I butted them together to get a bigger box and my bag fit in ‘perfecto’!!! Gee I am smart. Before I knocked myself taping and sealing the box I checked with her that the size was okay and we got the nod it was okay!!! Luckily I had done this before and I knew that we needed a copy of our passport that they keep and after filling in the second lot of paperwork it came time to pay and I was pleasantly surprised that 9kg cost me 183AUD for registered mail. I thought it would have been around the 200-250AUD mark so I was a happy chappy. I know it sounds like a lot of money and I could have bought a new bag to check in with my flights as I am entitled to 2 pieces on my round world ticket, but I have a few internal US flights that you are only permitted one checked in piece for free and then you pay 30USD for the second, so after 4 internal flights I was already up at 120USD, so for the ease of not carrying a second bag I think it is money well spent.
After spending and hour at the post office we deserved a little treat, so we walked to Cyril’s, which is an amazing little chocolate shop just up the road from the hotel. They specialize in boutique chocolates and these are the guys that make hand bags, racing cars, massive easter eggs and high heel shoes all in chocolate and they also have gelato, biscuits and amazing little desserts that looked too good to eat, really, they were works of art. So I bought a box and picked my own 45 chocolates of 5 flavors and a raspberry tea to wash some of them down with and Shaz purchased a lemon cheesecake/passionfruit thingy that tasted amazing and a coffee. It was a well-earned treat we reckoned and a nice way to finish off our last day together as we both fly out tomorrow.
Dinner was room service, again and that pretty much wrapped up our last full day on the continent and our last night on the continent proper. Sharon heads to Europe for her last 4 months and even though I am travelling to Easter Island that is dependency of Chile, I leave the actual continent for the last time tomorrow. It really is the end of an Epic Adventure. A once in a life time dream and I am lucky enough to have made and met many friends along the way. To finish the blog in South America I have some trip stats and thanks to my notes and my diary that I was able to work them all out. I knew I kept a good record of times for a reason. Yep I am a stats girl that is for sure!
TOUR STATS:
9 Countries
153 days on tour less 25 Ethiopian days
178 days on the continent less 25 Ethiopian days
400 days on the road since leaving home
43 people on tour
32,918.1km circumnavigating the continent less 5,500km while in Ethiopia
75 stops less 18 stops while in Ethiopia
524 hours of truck days less 96 hours missed while in Ethiopia
31,234 hits on my blog since leaving Australia in 29th March 2011
11,723 photos taken since 04 November 2011
MY TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
Seeing the magic of the Nazca lines from the air-Peru
Completing my longtime dream to visit Machu Picchu – Peru
Our home stay with our Mama and Papa’s on Lake Titicaca-Peru
Riding ‘Death Road’ in La Paz, Bolivia and surviving the 65km downhill decent
Visiting an orphanage in Uyuni, Bolivia - Christmas Eve and delivering presents from ‘Santa’ and seeing their little faces light up – priceless
Looking through a $40,000 dollar telescope to see the moon in La Serena-Chile
Letting the world know about Zeme for the first time in Pucon
Perito Merino Glacier-Argentina
The stunning Torres Del Paine National Park-Argentina
The beautiful city of Buenos Aires
The thundering Iguassu Falls from Brazil and Argentina including the Bird Park and helicopter ride
The scenic city of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Carnival 2012
Getting inked in Ethiopia with Zeme in February
The Camelot of Africa in Gondar-Ethiopia
The Rock Churches of Lalibela-Ethiopia
Hand feeding a Colobus monkey in Awaasa
Hand feeding a wild hyena in Harar-Ethiopia
Hacking our way through the Amazon Jungle- Brazil
Seeing the disappointing Angel Falls-Venezuela but the National Park was AMAZING
Speed boating over Lake Maracaibo
the largest lake in South America-Venezuela
Spending the day in the flood plains of Los Llanos and seeing Kappabarra’s
The stunning Tayrona National Park and beaches-Colombia
The historic and beachside town of Cartagena-Colombia
Holding the amazing creature called a Sloth
The longest truck day of the trip from Cartagena to Bucaramanga of 18.5 hours-Colombia
2 nights on a Colombian coffee plantation
The Saturday Otavalo Markets-Ecuador
Crossing of the ‘real Equator’ line-Ecuador
THANKS TO ALL MY TUCAN TRAVEL PEEPS
Kate - Australia
Sharon- New Zealand
Julia- UK/ Australia
Debbie – New Zealand
Mark - UK
Gray - UK
Omar - Australia
Nicola - UK
Paul and Liz - UK
Angelica - German
Malar - UK
Seamus - Ireland
Mick - Australia
Mike - UK
Sven and Kate – Switzerland & UK
Andreas - Switzerland
Kirilly - Australian
Helen - UK
Anna and Elizabeth – Switzerland
Wendy and Tony - Australia
Maria - Australia
Marina - German
Rebecca - Canada
Dom - UK
Cam - Australia
Natasha - Australia
Jade - UK
Gerard - UK
Luigi - Italy
Stephanie - Switzerland
Danielle - French
Maxine - Australia
Taz - UK
Moon Sun – South Korea
Michelle - UK
Blue Heather – New Zealand
Chris – New Zealand
Nez - Australia
Andrea – New Zealand
New Heather - UK
Melvyn - UK
Agatha - Ireland
Matt - Australia
Alice - UK
Alison - UK
It is now time to move on to my last few sections of my world odyssey before I get to go home and spend seven glorious weeks with friends and family before stretching all I can of my travel to spend 6 weeks in the UK and Europe and then into Ethiopia at the start of September for my new beginning. I am sad that this has come to an end, but I am one step closer to seeing home, Zeme and Africa once again. Thanks to all for an amazing experience and it will never be forgotten.
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