Start of 2 1/2 months land travel to South America
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Sat 1 May 2010 01:50
We got up at 5 AM, just light this morning to jump into a van and drive to
airport, as we passed along the road people were surfacing, but so were cows
and chickens as we avoided them on the road. The air was fresh, and the
buses were starting up, we arrived to a busy airport, where we checked in on
TACA, and settled in. Alex is still sick but we have seemed to have stabiles
him during the day, he slept on the flight to Peru, we were able to pick up
some more things here.
"So why are we doing this land travel? When we are meant to be cruising",
this was a comment I got by email. Simple is land cruising is apart of
adventure of cruising and is a big part of it, when you find a place you
feel the boat is safe, and you have good places to explore then go. If you
only stay near the boat you will only see harbors and islands, and most
countries have a lot to offer in land. As part of our big picture plan for
next 10 + years we wanted to make sure we get to places we have not got yet,
or want explore more. In this case Tracy has done a bit of South America and
liked it, I have done some, and we had both wanted to do the Chilean coast,
so with 5 months held up by weather and we are in an ideal place with the
boat, we said lets hit the road while we have the chance.
So today we embarked on a 2 1/2 month trip by air, boat, rail, and bus
through Chile, Argentina, Easter Island and Peru, we have landed in Peru
(Lima) for an over night stop due to flights, we will be back here June 20th
for 4 days, tomorrow we get a flight to Santiago Chile, and by this time
next week we will 1 day into 4 day trip down the PATAGONIA Channel (Chile's
inside passage) heading south. Our plan is to get all the way south fast,
and work our way north, and we have some amazing places we will visit. We
will maintain the blog, and position as this is part of our adventure. (2010
we hoped would complete our coverage of the Americas enough that we would
satisfied if you can be).
On arriving in Lima we moved to a associated town apart of Lima called
Miraflores, this is on the beach, we staying in a small hotel not far from
the main square. Sean and I went exploring, it was abit of shock to be back
in a 8 million people city after been in tiny places for the last 6 months,
we dodged the traffic and headed to central park where Sean found the kids
swings and played with the local kids. We collected Tracy and Alex and went
out to a side street to eat in a locals restaurant, cheap and good food, (I
always loved Inca Mummers a restaurant near Wonderware, now I am looking for
the food here). We looked through some initial markets and really just took
in the town, and atmosphere, it feels safe and we found a hotel for when we
come back in June when we will explore Lima.
We are all looking forward to 2 months on the road, but I suspect in 2
months when we back here we will be tired and looking forward to a rest back
with Gijima, but that is life, and we will gather more stories and places,
it is great to walk the streets with Sean he has grown so much in the last
year, but he understands the people, and is asking questions at every turn,
and he travels well.
Stay tuned.