One of the highlights of the entire trip was the visit to the Amazon Basin, which was a short flight from Cuzco to the gateway city of Puerto Maldonado. Once there, we boarded a boat for a journey up an Amazon tributary for a total of eight hours to a research center.
We took a multi-day trek into Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world. We visited several villages and viewed condors from a canyon lookout.
We are now in route from South Africa to Namibia (about 4 hours into a 21-hour bus trip). It is a fairly comfortable vehicle with 2 stories, air-conditioning, a bathroom and fairly frequent stops to stretch one’s legs.
We flew from Delhi to SIkkim, which is located in the northeastern part of India. It was an independent kingdom until 1974, when it became part of India.
We just completed our six-day trek in Western Sikkim, India. We met our guide, “Paul” at the airport near Darjeeling.
An eight day trip to Costa Rica provided a great opportunity to view nature and take part in many outdoor activities, including hiking, swimming, kayaking and snorkeling.
We had some delays in reaching Costa Rica, but once we arrived there we enjoyed our time at Drake Bay, on the Pacific Ocean coast. We spent time relaxing in our cabin on the beach as well as taking a day trip to Cano Island, where we hiked and snorkeled.
The highlight of the second part of our Costa Rica trip was a day trip to Corcovado National Park, which provided some great hiking and nature viewing opportunities amidst the rain forest and ocean beaches.
This overview provides some snapshots of the five weeks that we spent in India. In addition to visiting the major cities of Mumbai and Delhi and, of course, the Taj Mahal, we also were able to experience the beauty of two national parks, a spectacular hike in Sikkim through the Himalayas and the charm of Rajasthan.
After leaving Australia, we stopped in Brunei for 36 hours before continuing to Bangkok. This country, on the island of Borneo, is one of the wealthiest in the world.
