Boulder - Finally, Really Home!

We have come home to Boulder for 3 weeks to enjoy the holidays and regroup before heading out again on our own for 4+ months.  It was a joyous occasion to walk into our house and be greeted enthusiastically by our golden retriever, Evie, and our cat, Sierra.  Our friends Julia and Dunbar are staying at our home and have done an amazing job of caring for it and our furry girls. After the ship and the various hotel rooms we had stayed in, our house feels like a palace. 

It is wonderful to have our own space and to be able to easily escape into nature on walks, hikes and bike rides.  We love traveling, and although it is very broadening, it is also oddly confining – especially on a ship. 

Luke & Ryan returned to school for 3 days before the winter break and were able to reconnect with friends and experience all the structure that they missed (and we missed!) over the semester.  Luke celebrated his 10^th birthday at our house with 16 kids – who all participated in a nerf gun battle.  So much for peace and quiet!

After laying low for the holidays and escaping into the mountains for some snowshoeing at the ranch, we are beginning to look at the next phase of our journey.  

Jay has become a master of “around the world” airline tickets and we have our next destinations mapped out.  After a dip in travel enthusiasm as we became comfortable at home again, we have now been re-energized by the possibilities of our upcoming destinations.   We never imagined we could experience such a variety of places and cultures in the short four months ahead.  On January 10th, we will hit the road again to visit these amazing places:

·      Peru (Machu Picchu) & Bolivia (1 month)

·      Chile & Argentina’s Patagonia (1 month)

·      Easter Island (3 days)

·      Tahiti & Bora Bora (sorry honeymooners - 8 days)

·      New Zealand – Queenstown (1 week)

·      Australia, Melbourne & Tasmania (1 week)

·      Singapore (1 week visiting friends)

·      Thailand (1 month to explore Northern Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Bangladesh and hopefully Bhutan…a huge wish list)

·      Sri Lanka (6 days)

·      Jordan (5 days)

·      Turkey (1 week)

·      Denver – home sweet home on May 20

    We look forward to reuniting with all of you on our return.  Until then, follow us on here.  You can sign up to receive email alerts when we post. Look for the "Follow by email" field on the left side of this page! 

Ship Life - It's a VOYAGE, not a cruise!!

Both times we’ve returned from our Semester at Sea (SAS) adventures, friends ask us what our favorite place was.  After struggling to choose just one place, we have realized that the ship itself is among the most memorable places on Semester at Sea, although it seldom gets the attention the ports get.  We spend over ½ of our time aboard our floating home surrounded by the students, faculty, staff and families that have become our lifelong friends. 

Study Hall!

People often think of SAS as a cruise and it is almost hard to convey just how different it is from a cruise.  In fact, the word “cruise”, along with “boat”, are dirty words on board – it’s a “voyage” and a “ship”!  On the ship, we immerse ourselves into campus life and integrating into the close-knit community.  The ship was not only our floating bedroom, it was also our classroom, our exercise room, our dining room, our social life, our tranquility and basically - our community & town.   Some of our favorite times on the journey were during the long stretches on the ship.  From Cape Town to Buenos Aires we sailed for 12 days without seeing land, and from Rio to Manaus we sailed for 9 days along Brazil’s coast and far up the Amazon River. 

Wine on our balcony with Matt and Andrea

On the ship we learned and socialized with passionate professors, negotiators that helped end Apartheid and even the US Ambassador to Brazil.  Not to mention the time we get to spend in and out of class with the amazing students on board – there is a lot of inspiration to be found in the college students on board.  We learned by listening and studying on the ship, and following that with opportunities to experience first-hand what we learned in class by doing things like staying in townships in Cape Town or in hammocks in the Amazon jungle.  Travel Rule #4 from our Global Studies professor was: “The more you know, the more interesting it is” and it is certainly true in international travel.  He also suggests that your age should never exceed the number of countries that you have visited – a luxury for sure but a worthy goal.  And you can always shift the focus to states or cities or concerts or whatever is your passion.  The point is to get out and experience things.

80th birthday on board!

Our experience was so much improved by developing relationships and sharing time with our fellow voyagers - students, faculty, staff and crew who are now part of our extended family.  And our learning was broadened so much by seeing the journey through others’ eyes – whether that came through class discussions, post port reflections or cocktails while watching the sunset.  We’d like to thank all of our shipmates for making our time with you a rich, rewarding experience. 

Pictures speak a thousand words.  We have thousands of photos we would like to share with you, but here are just a few. 

We crossed 0°, 0°!  It makes us Emerald Shellbacks!!

Leprechaun!  Halloween in the Atlantic!

Small Kids!

Big Kids!

Alumni Ball

Every once in a while it just seems like a cruise!

This takes getting used to every night!  OK, maybe not!

Guatemala - A Great Finale to 4 Months of Travel

After finishing our Semester at Sea voyage, we sandwiched in 10 days in Guatemala before heading back to Boulder over the holidays.  Guatemala was the “bonus addition” to the first half of our year of travel, but it turned out to be one of our favorite countries.  One of our goals for Guatemala was to jumpstart learning Spanish (after too many years of French), since we can use it at home in Colorado and during our future travels in South America.  To help reach our goal, we enrolled in a weeklong Spanish course in the town of San Pedro along Lake Atitlan. 

We had an adventurous start to our time in Guatemala.  Our driver met us at “Arrivals” and took us out to his tiny, beat-up car for the trip to San Pedro.  It was so small that, despite traveling light, we had to strap our bags on the roof rack and cram ourselves into the car.  It was so beat-up that we only made it about a mile before the car died and left us stranded in a roundabout.  Armed guards joined us in the dark on the curb as we waited for a solution.  After about 1 hour, our tour operator convinced a taxi driver to take us the “four hours” to San Pedro.   He had a bigger and more durable looking taxi, but it was not a 4-wheel drive, which we would later learn is recommended. 

The three of us in the back seat appreciated our newfound space until the driver asked if his wife and daughter could join us so he would have company during the drive home.  We were so bewildered that at first we didn’t even understand his question since every seat was taken.  We suggested that it might not work out and averted having another two people join us (we still don’t know where they would have sat!). 

In the end, our 4-hour journey took 7½ hours and we arrived at our destination at 1:30 am after bottoming out over every speed bump (the speeds bumps weren’t high, the taxi was that low) and even crashing off the road at a hairpin turn.   Our kind host family welcomed us (yes – we were doing a home stay) and showed us to our room.  We thought we were staying at a room in their home, but their home was a converted hostel.  Our neighbors, who arrived back from the bars just as we were settling in a little after 2AM, were four twenty-year-old-guys whose rooms looked like they had been there a long time.  We crawled into our questionably clean beds and awoke a few hours later, cold and fully clothed, to one of the most striking landscapes we have ever seen.

Lake Atitlan is stunningly beautiful and the town of San Pedro lures you into blissful peace.  We moved to a hotel with rooms right on the lake and decided we could stay there for months.  The lake’s ducks and other birds played a symphony all day as we lounged in hammocks (not overnight – see our blog post for Manaus!) and studied Spanish in our room.  San Pedro is the perfect travelers’ mecca.  It has some of the best food in the world and is populated by some of the kindest people you’ll meet anywhere.  

Three volcanoes tower above the lake and numerous other peaks surround the lake.  One afternoon, we naively decided to climb a neighboring peak called Indian Nose (or Nostro Maya).  The whole way up, Ryan kept asking us why we hated him so much and made him do the hike.  (What is hiking in Peru and Bhutan going to be like with our kids!?).  Turns out we climbed 2,000 feet in less than two hours so maybe Ryan was partially right to be concerned!

We took classes at the San Pedro Spanish Institute where, for $100/week each, we had individual tutors for four hours each day.  Jay was the prize student and learned more Spanish than the rest of us.  Ryan had the most fun since he was too active to sit down and got to learn by roaming the town and playing soccer with his tutor.  Christy learned the most about Guatemala by talking to her tutor for hours about the civil war and the plight of the people today.  Luke managed to partake in a little of all of the above.

We pried ourselves away from San Pedro to see a few more towns before we returned to the US.  We took a boat across the lake to Panajachel, a shopping mecca, before heading to Antigua, Guatemala’s former capital.  We enjoyed the old city by strolling the cobble stone streets, eating wonderful food and learning how to make chocolate!

Fort Lauderdale - "Home" for a day!

The last few days at sea were filled with activity.  We had the alumni ball and a series of reflection sessions to allow people to look back at all they had seen and experienced over the last few months.  Hallways and common areas were full with people exchanging contact information, trading maps that took the place of yearbooks for writing personal notes and huddling for hugs.  Not to mention all the packing that everyone had to do!





As we awoke to watch our approach into our final port, Fort Lauderdale, competing emotions swirled within us.  The decks were filled with students.  New friends hugging and sharing promises to stay in touch, tears falling as the reality of leaving this remarkable community became more concrete.  Meanwhile, parents waited anxiously for their children on the pier.  There is no doubt they would be confused by the sadness mixed with joy on their child’s face but they would soon figure it out as they heard more about the remarkable friendships that had been formed during the voyage.  Fort Lauderdale marked the end of the trip, the end of the adventure, the beginning of reintegration back into normal life…for the rest of the passengers.

Not for us yet…first we had one more country to visit.  We were heading to Guatemala for 10 days to see another culture and study Spanish before returning to Boulder.  We hugged our friends goodbye and lugged our boxes and bags from the terminal to the UPS man to send home as much of our luggage as possible.  With only a few suitcases and backpacks, we enjoyed one evening in the US before catching our flight to Guatemala. 

Dominica - A Slice of Paradise in the Caribbean

The last port during our Semester at Sea adventure was the untouched island of Dominica, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic.  Dominica is a mountainous island with only 70,000 people, mostly descended from African slaves brought to Venezuela.  This small island gained its independence from Britain in 1978 and is within eyesight of Guadeloupe and Martinique. 

We only had two days to enjoy Dominica’s paradise.   Our first day was spent in hardhats, lifejackets and inner tubes as we tried to avoid rocks and other obstacles while cascading down a fabulous river where scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean had been filmed.  We enjoyed the experience – kids too – and still had time to swim under waterfalls and explore the quaint capital of Roseau.     

The second day, we snorkeled in Champagne Bay, where bubbles float up from the seabed and eels and octopus play.  We also watched dolphins dance beneath the sea during our whale and dolphin excursion (no whales that day—but we saw plenty from the ship).

While Dominica was a beautiful and welcoming place filled with adventure, our time there took a sudden turn and will forever also be associated with the tragic death of one of the students, Casey Shulman, in a boating accident.  In one short afternoon, the mood of the ship switched from celebrating our last port to a sense of bewilderment and loss.  We all spent time thinking about the fragility of life and comforting the students who were close to Casey and at the accident scene.  Luke and Ryan were among those hurt and confused since it was the first time they had lost a friend. 

In 2009, as on most voyages, the last few days of the voyage focused on reflections about the trip and the things that we had all shared through the course of three months.  It was a time of excitement looking forward to reuniting with old friends and family and a time of sadness saying goodbye to new friends.  This time we shifted between those usual emotions and grieving for the loss of this beautiful young woman.  The community on board was unbelievable as the tragedy was handled with grace, respect and love.  The deep emotion, maturity and even humor which Casey’s friends brought to her memorial service in their speeches and songs demonstrated just how remarkable Casey and her fellow students are.  They managed something rare – to celebrate the life AND mourn the passing of one taken from us too young.  Our hearts go out to Casey’s family in a difficult time.  Give your kids an extra hug today.

Brazil - Up the Amazon to Manaus

Our senses awaken as we leave the Atlantic Ocean and begin our two day journey up the Amazon River to the town of Manaus.  The intense smell of campfires and smoke fill the jungle as Brazilians prepare their breakfast and perhaps clear land for cultivation.  The air is a steamy haze of smoke and humidity hanging onto the trees.  Air temperatures soar into the 90’s while the river water reaches a shocking 88 degrees.  The water is a swirl of colored murals as different tributaries mix together.  The main river is a muddy rust color while the warmer, slower moving tributaries are jet black with names like Rio Negro.

Although 150 km wide at the mouth, the Amazon quickly narrows and the jungle embraces our ship for our entire journey westward.  We pass vast stretches where all we see is a wall of green sprinkled occasionally with small houses and villages that can only be reached by boat. 

The waters are peaceful and calm and we enjoy the break from the turbulent waters of the Atlantic.  The kids delight in their new activity of bug collecting as they capture beautifully camouflaged moths and shiny black beetles on the decks. 

On our third day, we arrive in Manaus, a city of 2.6 million people in the heart of the Amazon Basin, more than 900 miles distant from the next town.  We disembark in the midst of a heat wave, which is saying something when you are on the equator.  We have never experienced any place as hot as Manaus.  We weave our way through the town searching for shade in our sweat-drenched clothes, wondering how people can live here. 

The highlight of the Amazon is our overnight jungle survival adventure that takes us deep into the rainforest.  We have camped before, but we have never slept out in the jungle and we are apprehensive about the creepy crawlies and unknown creatures.  With only a few hours remaining until nightfall, our guide teaches us basic survival skills that include starting fires, climbing trees to gather fruit, drinking “water” from vines and blowgun hunting with poisonous darts.  With our fingers, we eat a dinner of grilled fish and fresh fruits beautifully displayed on palm leaves.  Yes, even the boys.

As the sun sets, the guides string up our hammocks amongst the trees.  We climb in and gaze up at the moonlit canopy while trying to get comfortable in our unusual environment. Our fear of bugs turns out to be unfounded and few bugs find us in the night despite a lack of mosquito nets.  After a surprise traditional dance by the bare-breasted natives, the night creatures take over and play their symphony as we try to fall asleep.

Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

As we sailed into Rio de Janeiro, it was obvious why the view from the harbor is considered one of the modern wonders of the world.  Christ the Redeemer sits at the top of one of the many forested peaks that encircle the sprawling white beaches and modern city.  Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are right in Rio.

Rio is a perplexing place because its famous beaches, busy downtown and wealthiest neighborhoods bump right up against the favelas (slums) that are scattered all over the city and its suburbs.  Historically, powerful gangs ran the favelas and crime was rampant in Rio.  The upcoming World Cup and Olympics spurred a huge crackdown in the favelas and police have regained control of most of the communities.  We toured the Favela do Alemão in Bonsucesso where gondolas, identical to those on a Colorado ski hill, were built to transport residents to and from work.  From the gondola, we had a bird’s eye view into the favela communities and activities.  As we walked through a safe section on a Sunday afternoon, the streets were rocking with music and happy people, and we had numerous greetings and even accepted an offer to try some grilled beef.  Despite getting a glimpse of favela life, we were disappointed that we didn’t get to have more meaningful interactions with the locals and understand more about the vibrant community there.

We also had the fascinating experience of attending a Candomble ceremony, a blended African/Christian religious ceremony where participants dance in a circle in a hot room until their personal spirit enters their body and they fall into a trance. 

In addition to our cultural experiences, we enjoyed one beautiful day hiking through the jungle to a deserted beach and one rainy day visiting Christ the Redeemer.  We could not see a thing from the high mountain overlook, but we got a great ghostly photo!

Argentina - Big City and Cowboys

As we sailed across the Atlantic from South Africa, we were exposed to three sides of Argentina.  The old: the still beloved Evita, who served as first lady and worked on behalf of the poorest Argentines; and the history of what once was among the richest countries on Earth, with European influences and South American riches.  The ugly: the aptly named Dirty War, which saw military dictatorship and people “disappearing” on a massive scale, still unaccounted for.  The current: a failing President; an economy in decline, with pegged exchange rates and foreign currency controls; a disgruntled populace, looking for improvements in their lives.  We were also prepared for a country that has a serious love affair with food and fun – including the tango, Argentine beef and dulce de leche. 

Buenos Aires was the largest city on our itinerary and it showed.  It was a bustling crowded place with numerous shops and restaurants and the highest concentration of McDonalds we’ve ever seen on one street.  It also had the grand buildings you would expect from a wealthy European-influenced city.  Grandpa Milton learned first hand why we had been warned repeatedly about the pickpockets on the subway when a couple managed to jostle him and make off with his travel wallet.  The surprise of Buenos Aires was the dogwalkers, sometimes taking up to a dozen dogs on a walk at a time.

The highlight of our second day was “dinner in the dark”.  We joined about 40 shipmates and ate dinner in complete darkness to simulate the impact of being blind.  If you haven’t done it, it is worth spending an evening this way.  It certainly gives you a brief experience of what it is like to live as a blind person.  Christy wrote an essay on the evening so look for that at the bottom of this post.

Our third day featured a visit to a ranch in the pampas (grasslands), the home of Argentine gauchos (cowboys).  It was highly entertaining day featuring horsemanship demonstrations and a delicious BBQ lunch.  Jay wrote a piece about it for our travel class also posted below.

We only had the opportunity to scratch the surface of Argentina and will be sure to return sometime to explore Patagonia in the south and the rain forest in the north.

Christy's story is here!

Jay's story is here!