Here it is, our very last video diary.

Not only does it have a clip of me on horseback (unawares), it also shows more of the estancia in San Antonio de Areco, some truly fabulous tango dancing, and clips from the Carnival in Gualeguaychu!
Irresistible!

Check it out on YouTube, or simply watch it below:

PS: We’re home! So happy!! So tired…

I tell you, I could get used to this.
The past three days we´ve been living the life at Estancia El Ombu just outside San Antonio de Areco, about two hours from Buenos Aires.
What does that mean? Well.

We´re staying in an original estancia house(which is kind of like a large, beautiful, colonial horse ranch) with high-ceilinged bedrooms filled with antiques, a massive shady-treed garden, and horses just outside our window. Every morning we have a long, lazy breakfast and then spend the day lounging by the pool or reading in the shade of the trees or watching the gauchos (authentic Argentinean cowboys!) corralling cattle or horse whispering. Seriously.

Lunchtime sees us having an asano feast (traditional barbeque, i.e. loads of delicious free range meat) either in the restaurant or under the trees, while being serenaded by guitar players and Spanish songstresses. And then it´s time for a siesta before our sunset horse ride through the surrounding pampas…

And then dinner, under the stars.

Really, I could get used to this. The pace of life is slow and peaceful, the views are endless and sun-drenched, and we feel thoroughly spoiled. I´ll post pics and video in the next few days – once we´re back in the city.

Yip, tomorrow we head back to Buenos Aires! I´m excited. We´re going to explore the Recoleta area, which everyone tells us is the best. I´ll keep you posted!

Seriously.

Yesterday we flew in a HELICOPTER over Iguassu Falls!!

It was incredible.

Thrilling.

Awe-inspiring.

Without doubt, the ten most exhilarating minutes of my life.
And a Dream. Come. True.

I have ALWAYS wanted to fly in a helicopter, and it didn’t disappoint!

Here’s the Best Moment of the Day we recorded as soon as we landed (we weren’t allowed cell phones in the helicopter, but I took some amazing video footage – well, I think it was amazing. I’ll let you know soon once I’ve had a chance to look at it properly!)

Also check out the Iguassu Falls I keep talking about, and take a look at the charming town of Paraty we spent a few days in last week.
Most excitingly, though, is the fact that I flew in a HELICOPTER! You can see so much from up there, it really is the closest thing I’ve ever felt to flying….
Wow. Still kind of in a suspended state of disbelief.

Alas, sad news.

We realised last week, in a flurry of addition, that South America is about three times as expensive as South-East Asia, so our budget isn’t going to last as long as we’d hoped. In fact, it looks as if we’ll be heading home to South Africa in about a month.

At first, I was really disappointed. We’re in Brazil at the moment, heading to Argentina next, but we’re going to have to miss out Peru and Ecuador, and I’m not going to be able to see my dear friend who’s working in Ecuador at the moment. We’re also not going to be able to stay the full length of time, which is such a shame.

But in the same breath, I have to say that both Mark and I feel so LUCKY to have been able to have this opportunity: to travel together, to discover so much about travelling with diabetes, and to have had so many extraordinary experiences.

As if to prove this point, we spent 22 hours on a bus yesterday to bring us to Iguazu Falls, the most extraordinary waterfalls you can imagine – 275 individual waterfalls all in the same area. It’s mindblowing. Amazing. I’m going to take some video tomorrow to show you how incredible it is… And we’re staying at the simply wonderful Hotel das Cataratas, which is inside the National Park and a TWO MINUTE walk away from the Falls.

So really, who am I to complain if we have to come home a little early? We’re feeling like the luckiest people in the world right now.

Here’s hoping this is an extremely lucky week for you too!

So we’ve been in Brazil for a week, and I feel as if we finally have enough of a taste of it to make a few observations…

But first, an update!

We arrived in Rio de Janeiro after what can only be described as a week of madness. South-East Asia to South Africa for a whirlwind in-and-out visit to pick up fresh insulin and say hello to our families. Then off to South America, another 5 hour time difference, and a whole heap of jetlag. We were in Rio for 3 nights, right on Copacabana Beach, luxuriating in the delicious glamour of it all and soaking up a few sights (mainly the beach and the beautiful Sugar Loaf mountain, where you swing between two incredible vantage points on cable cars).

Then we headed off to the mountains surrounding Petropolis, to a wonderful little hidden gem known as the Green Bridge House, home to some remarkable views, stunning nature, and delicious food. Really delicious.

After our two nights of peace we headed back to Rio for a night, mainly to check out the Corcovado (or Christ the Redeemer, as he’s also known) – the most famous landmark of Rio, and to buy some extremely cheap Havaiana slops.

And then we boarded a bus for Paraty, where we are now, a charming little seaside town that’s been declared a UNESCO National Heritage Site, and feels to me like a little European village – it’s all cobblestones, horse-drawn carriages and charming cafes.

So now! A few brief impressions:

* Brazilians are reallllly confident. Everybody walks around in skimpy outfits (tiny tank tops, miniscule shorts, crop tops, you name it), no matter what their body looks like, or how old they are. I like it!

* Everybody is really tanned. Seriously tanned. Chocolate doesn’t even begin to describe it. I feel pale.

* It’s crazy expensive. Obviously we’re still in a South-East Asian mindframe, but everything seems to cost at least three times as much as it did in Asia, and more than it would at home.

* It is so beautiful. The bus rides double as scenic journeys, even if you’re only going an hour (as we did on our way the mountains around Petropolis).

* The food is dangerously delicious, and full of carbs. I mean, everything is a carb – loads of white bread, deep fried pastries, deep fried snacks, meat and cheese. I’ve had to hold back (a lot) on the diabetic front, or I’d be gorging myself and taking massive doses of insulin… I’m already on far more than I was in South-East Asia!

More observations tomorrow, I promise. Sorry for the long gap in communication – internet has been a little tricky to come by of late.

To make up for it, here are some views from the last few days…

I know I’ve been a little slack with the blogging lately, but there’s been so much going on (i.e. our ENGAGEMENT! Which I still can’t quite believe!)

We’ve also been out of internet contact for the last 2 weeks or so… So to catch you up on everything I’m going to give a quick run-down with links to our Best Moments from all over so you can see what we’ve been up to:
Two weeks or so ago, we headed to the island of Lombok, below Bali, for a couple of heavenly days by the black sand beach (crazy – black volcanic sand!)

Then we went to the Gili Islands for three days of decadent beachside lazing about… And diving. Incredible diving! Extraordinary coral and marine life, really like diving in a gigantic aquarium. And I saw my first giant turtle! Wow.

From Gili Air we headed to Amed, where we spent Christmas (and got engaged! Did I mention that? Is it getting annoying yet?)

Amed is a charming little fishing village, very un-touristy, where we spent five nights and had a whole heap of lovely experiences – We went diving around a shipwreck (wow! unbelievable) and I did my first drift dives (very exciting, past the most amazing coral pyramids and over a coral wall into vast blue nothingness);
We swam with a turtle on Christmas Day (it was my Christmas wish – giant turtles are simply amazing in real life and when we went out to snorkel I told Mark all I wanted for Christmas was to swim with a turtle. And we did! He found one and we swam wit it for twenty miraculous minutes);
We indulged in a Balinese feast, with all kinds of traditional dishes and bamboo wreaths that signify ‘forever love’ (a mere two days before our engagement – it obviously worked);
We hired a motorbike for a day and drove past some incredible views and vistas – the real Bali as far as I’m concerned;
We visited the Royal Water Palace and swam in cold spring water baths built for the king (cold water! A rare thing in these parts);
And then….

We flew to Jakarta (yesterday afternoon) and decided to splurge on a nice hotel to properly celebrate our engagement and ring in the New Year in style. And what style it was! A gala dinner with TURKEY (heaven heaven heaven! We didn’t get any for Christmas and I was so sad) and piles of delicious food with… An Indonesian Beatles cover band! They were amazing. Check them out. Seriously cool.

If you’re looking for some more in-depth footage of all we’ve seen (rice paddies, beaches, islands, me in a wetsuit and some incredible views) as well as how the last two weeks have been for both of us, check out our latest video diary, live on YouTube here.

And now it’s 2010! And we’re flying out of Indonesia tonight (at midnight) and heading home for 3 days to refuel on fresh insulin (which I desperately need – my night-time insulin hasn’t worked properly the last two nights) and then we’re off to South America! So when next we speak I’ll be saying ‘Hola!’

Till then – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I mentioned this fleetingly in my blog post about what we’ve learned in the last couple of months on the road, but I’d like to elaborate on it a bit… Only because I’ve suddenly had great insight into how much where you are affects how you are, and I want to unpick it a bit.

Let me set the scene:

We’re in Ubud, in central Bali, cultural heart of the island and home to endless rice fields, palm trees, red-roofed traditional houses and stone carvings of weird and wonderful creatures. Also home to a heck of a lot of tourist shops. The main drag is ridiculously touristy – it could be any main street in any country, in fact. But step just a little off this main street and it feels as if you’re in the country: roosters, birds, nature on all sides. The plan was to stay here for 4 days, but we couldn’t decide where to stay, and left it rather late. We eventually decided on Hotel 1, which got great reviews on TripAdvisor, and sounded lovely. Looked lovely, too, when we arrived, set in a tropical orchid garden and with really friendly staff. The problem came when we wanted to go to sleep, around 11pm, and our neighbours, a pair of long-stay women, decided to crank up the cheesy girl tunes (From a Distance and Forever Young, I ask you with tears in my eyes!) and cackle and chatter late into the night… I went out to ask them to keep quiet, but they were actually inside their room. It didn’t sound like it – the walls were made of bamboo, the windows had no glass.

We left early the next morning to find somewhere else to stay.

Hotel 2 seemed far better than Hotel 1. Much bigger room, great little balcony looking out over a rice paddy, free internet. We were really rather happy there till we were woken at 2am by noisy neighbours who had just arrived and wanted to talk (loudly) for an hour or so… I eventually asked them to keep it down, but they were up at 7am again, chattering away. Who was it who said hell is other people?

Again, though, we’d foolishly chosen bamboo walls and no glass in the windows. We wanted to experience ‘authentic’ Balinese life by staying in a home stay, i.e. you essentially stayed in someone’s home. We quickly realised we’re not cut out for communal Balinese life.

So finally, yesterday we found Blessed Hotel 3. Perched in the middle of rice paddies on all sides (take a look at the view from our balcony!) with a huge balcony, massive room and best of all, brick walls! We had the best sleep ever last night, entirely uninterrupted.

What it made me realise, though, is what a profound impact where you are has to how you feel. Yesterday morning I was exhausted, irritable, headachey and fed up. Yes, lack of sleep two nights in a row will do that to you, but so will being somewhere that feels wrong. The manager at Hotel 2 was awful, our shower stopped working (first thing in the morning) and he couldn’t be bothered to apologise for it, he didn’t seem to care that we were checking out 2 days early, we kind of felt like we were in the way. And I’m sure that contributed to how we felt: it was my first real day of travel fatigue.

But today I woke up to a cool breeze blowing through the room, in the middle of gorgeous views on all sides, and walked out to my balcony where the lovely manager brought us a delicious breakfast, with a smile. And I feel happy. Really happy. So pleased to be here, experiencing Bali, so eager to continue exploring and travelling for the next few months. I suppose I never realised how important where you are is to how you feel. Now that I have, I’m going to make sure (as much as I can) that we rest our heads in lovely spots.

PS – It makes me wonder, too, how important a lovely home is to our levels of happiness. Something to think about, hey?

We’ve been on the road for 3 months already, can you believe it? Crazy… I can’t decide whether that feels like a really long time, or whether it’s gone in a flash. A bit of both, I guess.

And now, today, we’re leaving Vietnam! Off to Indonesia. We arrive at midnight today, and are VERY open to suggestions about where to go and what to see…

First, though, as promised, I wanted to tell you about one of the highlights of our trip so far – a two day one night adventure in Halong Bay. Wow.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 3 and a half hours from Hanoi (one of the main cities in Vietnam). There are hundreds of tourist boats that ply the same old route, but we were lucky enough to get on to the Red Dragon, an all-wooden Vietnamese junk, made in the style of a 17th century pirate ship that took us on a unique route with only one other boat! Incredible.

We set sail into the wild blue yonder, and immediately fell in love. It’s just amazing stuff – huge limestone karsts (like islands jutting out of the ocean) as far as the eye can see, hundreds and thousands of them fading into the horizon, accompanied by nothing but aquamarine water. It’s the kind of sight that’s so beautiful you don’t really know what to do with it, so your brain quickly gets used to it.

We stopped mid-afternoon to go kayaking around and through the islands, and we were on the kayaks as the sun set, turning the water from aquamarine to orange and pink and finally silver, as the moon rose just behind the junk.

Then it was time for a feast on board, and much laughter, and finally a cup of tea out on deck with Mark, watching the moon make a silvery path on the water. It was one of those moments that I’ll remember forever.

The next morning we woke up early and headed off on bamboo boats to see a floating village – a group of fishermen who live year-round on the water, on a cross between houses and boats. Fascinating stuff. The Red Dragon company is doing a lot of outreach work in their community (building a school and starting an eco-friendly initiative to remove the rubbish from the area), which was really interesting too. But mostly we lay on deck and soaked up the beauty.

Here’s our Best Moment from that day, you can see I’m a little giddy! It was truly one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done.

(Also check out, when you have a moment, our last supper in Vietnam – quite an adventure! – and our attempts to cook local food. Fun!)

Not only an alliteration, but a surprisingly authentic experience.

Mark and I were more than a little sceptical, on our arrival in Sapa (the mountainous town right in the north of Vietnam) to go on a hillside village tour. It just seemed too touristy, too much like going to look at humans in a zoo, you know? Nobody in South Africa can go to a real working village (as far as I know), and the whole thing made me feel a little uncomfortable.

But then we saw a really interesting photographic exhibition, where they gave young girls from the local H’mong (the biggest tribe) cameras for a month, and then published the photos as an exhibition… Fascinating! Scenes from their home, work, friend and family life, and it made us want to find out more. So we signed up for a full-day tour, entirely unsure what to expect.

What we got was a 12km (at least!) hike through some completely unspoilt countryside. We were lucky enough to have booked through the Tourism Office, not a tour company, and as a result our group of six headed off on a different route, far away from the madding crowds. It took us a while to clear the crowds, though, and I could see how a whole day of that would drive me mad.

For the next four hours, we walked up and down narrow rocky paths that led to and through three different villages, over rivers, through rice paddies (literally through – I have the muddy shoes to prove it!) and alongside some truly spectacular views (take a look by checking out our Best Moment of the Day from that day). Extraordinary stuff. Our guide was a local Vietnamese man born and raised in Sapa, and could answer all our questions about the area (we had a whole heap of questions because the day before we’d gone on a shorter – although still strenuous – hike to a different village and a waterfall, and hadn’t been able to answer any of our ‘I wonder why?’ musings). To accompany our guide, six H’mong women tagged along, equipped with large baskets on their backs. Baskets full of things to sell. We were a little wary at first, but our guide assured us they would try to sell to us at lunch and if we weren’t interested it was no big deal.

I believed him.

For the next four hours we chatted to the ladies about everything from marriage to kids to daily life to the surrounding landscape, and they wove us small trinkets from ferns – hearts, horses and a crown of ferns for lucky old me! I felt like a fairy princess. The walk was hectic but fun, it felt like we were really getting into the heart of the stunning scenes we’d been looking at for the past few days.

And then we hit lunch. And a horde of about twenty women started hard selling us their wares. Our formerly friendly, very chilled walking buddies suddenly switched on a flood of guilt tripping, crowding us as we sat down to lunch and pushing their items into our faces. I totally understand that selling is necessary, especially after they’ve spent hours walking with us (we didn’t ask them to, but it was a treat). However, Mark and I have a strict souvenir buying policy (we don’t buy anything. If we’re ever tempted it has to be TINY, and all their goods were pillow cases and shirts and tablecloths. No good). Eventually we ended up ‘tipping’ the lady that had accompanied us, and we all parted ways with a bad taste in our mouths.

The problem, as I see it, is that the situation has been blown out of proportion. Five sellers to six tourists is not good maths. Not at all. I think what happened is that a random seller chanced upon this being a good way to sell (through personal connection) and now far too many people have cottoned on, and shrunk all the potential out of it. It’s a pity, really, because until that point we’d really enjoyed the tour.

After lunch we walked for another hour or so, and then collapsed (quite literally). Five hours is a lot of walking!

Diabetically, I was fine. I took very little insulin at breakfast and went high two hours afterwards (the usual testing time) but seeing as I still had another 2 hours of hardcore hiking to do, I let it slide. I tested again before lunch and I was totally fine, and then took slightly less insulin for the rest of the day, knowing the impact it would have on my blood sugar. I still ended up waking at 5am with low blood sugar (I thought I would), but seeing as we did all of nothing the next day, that was quite all right!

Well, not quite nothing… We looked at some beautiful gardens up in the mountains, had a good old-fashioned sleep in, and left Sapa for Lao Cai, and then the overnight train to Hanoi. And then! One of the ultimate highlights of our trip. I’ll tell you allll about it tomorrow, I promise.

(PS: More photos to follow, soon!)

I have to say, although Cambodia started off a little rough and hectic, we are really loving it these days – it makes such a difference to be in the South, where all is ocean and beauty (apart from the thousands of beach shacks selling beer and the kids trying to get you to buy bracelets wherever you walk).

This weekend, our Celebration Weekend (not only Mark’s birthday but also our 3 year anniversary – what an accomplishment!) we were lucky enough to go on a scuba diving weekend. I haven’t dived since I was certified in Lake Malawi, nearly two years ago, so I was a tad nervous… When you first learn how to scuba dive there are so many things to remember that I was worried I’d forget something crucial and panic underwater. Needless to say, I was worrying for nothing.

We set off really early on Saturday morning and took a two-hour boat ride to Koh Roh Samleng, where Eco Sea Dive have their wooden bungalows. We spent that day snorkeling around the coral reef and rocks right outside our bungalow (and seeing all kinds of beautiful tropical fish) and swimming in the clear turquoise sea, off the totally unspoilt beach… Magical! There’s a small village on the island, and the villagers were lovely – nobody tried to sell us anything and the kids called out ‘Hello hello!’ everywhere we went. The bungalows were really rustic – basically like camping on the beach – and in the space of an hour (just before bed) we saw a giant spider (the biggest I’ve ever seen) and a mammoth gecko, seriously, this thing looked like a small crocodile! Okay, well, not that big, but it was just hanging out next to the bed. Not the most soothing sight before sleep.

That night it poured with torrential rain, so we didn’t get much sleep anyway (tin roofs make a lot of noise), but luckily we had to be up at 5am anyway, so sleep wasn’t a top priority (I never seem to sleep properly on nights when I have an early wake-up call).

We set off on a big boat to the mystical island of Koh Tang – it’s too far from the Cambodian and the Vietnamese shores for most people to get there, so it’s only visited by the three dive schools in Cambodia, and then only on special occassions.

It. was. incredible. As I said, I was really nervous going in, but as soon as I was underwater I felt like I’d stepped into a National Geographic movie, or a fairytale. The most astounding coral in bright colours and crazy shapes, all populated by an abundance of tropical fish, sting rays, eels and of course an amazing array of anemones and flora. Words can’t really describe how extraordinary it was… A completely unspoilt reef, and our group were the only people there.

I’d forgotten how peaceful scuba diving is, too. When you’re under the water, time seems to stop. It’s just you and nature, and the steady sound of your breathing. It’s the most amazing feeling… I’m hooked!

We had two dives yesterday, and lunch on the boat, and then headed back to Sihanoukville – a five hour boat ride (phew) that left us totally exhausted, but happy. Today we arrived in Kampot, a charming French colonial riverside town, and found a most delightful guesthouse where we’ll be for the next few days, so we’re decidedly settled and cheerful. AND we found some birthday cake for Mark this afternoon! Bitter chocolate and espresso…yum.

Of course, the other reason I was nervous about scuba diving was because of my diabetes. Any exercise will cause your blood sugar to drop, but scuba diving – which seems like such mild exercise (really just paddling with fins) – is pretty intense. I decided, seeing as we were doing two dives one after the other, that I would take less insulin with breakfast and purposefully go high, and then I could always take more insulin after the dives. I didn’t want to risk going low underwater. Going low while you’re diving is really dangerous – it impairs your decision-making skills and your fine motor skills and makes you all fuzzy headed, which is the last thing you need underwater. My plan worked pretty well, after both dives I was still in an acceptable range, and it didn’t have any lasting low blood sugar effects. The other option is to come straight out of the water and have something sweet, to counteract the low, but I didn’t want to risk the low coming earlier – I’m not that scuba savvy yet.

All in all, a great success! We’ll be doing much more diving in the future. I can’t wait!

(Here’s our Best Moment from yesterday – on the boat. Check it out:)