After 2,5 years of Amazon Coen and I are happy to have returned to the colder and drier climate of South America, the Andes Mountains.
We are cold-weather people.
Outdoor adventure
Snorkeling with Sharks in the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador)
“Shark!”
I was face down in the water, mesmerized by schools of surgeon fish weaving their way among the rocks, yet the word registered loud and clear.
Bamboo Rafting in India – The Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala
Tiger footprints. We stop in our tracks. Excitement rises. Our guide kneels and studies them, and concludes they are old ones. Disillusion comes with a hidden sense of relief.
There is a gun-carrying guard with us, but still.
Swimming with Dolphins in the Amazon (Brazil)
It was Sunday, late afternoon. The weekend vacationers from Manaus had returned home and peace reigned once more over the small tourist town of Novo Airão. I was the only one to go swimming with dolphins.
What a stroke of luck!
A Boat Trip through the Flooded Forest of Anavilhanas (Brazil)
Amidst the flooded forest of Anavilhanas-Archipel, I am looking up at a meters wide trunk of a tree. It splits into three immensely thick branches that reach high into the sky, as if they are on their way to heaven.
I feel as if I am looking at a scene in the cartoon of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Hiking the Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Thick traffic and having to watch my back had made me wary of Rio de Janeiro. But after a leisurely walk up the Sugar Loaf I took in the view and suddenly understood the spell that visitors as well as Cariocas (Rio de Janeiro’s residents) fall under.
And I wondered, what’s there not to fall in love with Rio de Janeiro?
Hiking the Datça Peninsula 2 (Carian Trail, Turkey)
With only another 120 kilometers, the days suddenly pass very, very quickly. The western section of the Datça Peninsula is one of the remotest sections of the 850-kilometer-long Carian Trail.
Few villages, mostly footpaths meandering through forests and traversing headlands that divide dozens of secluded bays.
Hiking the Datça Peninsula 1 (Carian Trail, Turkey)
“Never be so faithful to your plan that you are unwilling to consider the unexpected. Never be so faithful to your plan that you are unwilling to entertain the improbable opportunity that comes looking for you.”
~Elizabeth Warren
Hiking the Datça Peninsula and rolling up your sleeves to get your hands dirty in a greenhouse?
How do those two activities match?
Hiking the Muğla Environs (Carian Trail, Turkey)
“Ruins are more beautiful than adorned castles, for ruins are the cathedrals of
~Ben Caesar
When a trail exists of five sections, not all of them can finish at the top of your list.
As such, the Muğla Environs Section won’t be our #1 of the Carian Trail. However, don’t scrap it from your list immediately; this trail did have some worthwhile surprises.
Hiking the Carian Hinterland 2 (Carian Trail, Turkey)
“Dogs are not our whole life but they make our lives whole.”
~Roger Caras
The Carian Hinterland is a 175-km-long hiking trail in Southwestern Turkey and part of the 850-km-long Carian Trail. In the previous blog post, Carian Hinterland part 1, I described sections of the first half of that trail.
Here is part 2, day 6-11.
Hiking the Carian Hinterland 1 (Carian Trail, Turkey)
“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Carian Hinterland is one of the five sections of the 800-km-long Carian Trail that runs through Southwestern Turkey.
If you like the idea of combining hiking and Turkey and you have some two weeks of time, this is our tip: hike the Carian Hinterland. Depending on your level of fitness and speed it may take 8-13 days (we took 11).
Simply fly to Bodrum, take a bus to Bozalan and hit the trail.
Hiking the Ceramic Gulf (Carian Trail, Turkey)
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
~John Muir
After our 10-day hike on the Bozburun Peninsula – our introductory section of the 800-kilometer-long Carian Trail – we returned to Marmaris.
We were ready for a day of rest.
Hiking the Bozburun Peninsula (Carian Trail, Turkey)
“For the
(From: Carian Trail Guidebook)
What’s there NOT to like about this? So, let’s go!
Our Hiking Gear List for the 850-km Carian Trail (Turkey)
It’s Day 3 of waiting out the storm, which hopefully will be our last before we can finally start our 850-km-long hike along the beautiful coast of Southwestern Turkey.
We are ready for the Carian Trail!
Life is Fantastic – Exploring the Dunes of Lençois Maranhenses National Park (Brazil)
“Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breaths away.”
After more than a year of living and traveling in the Amazonian Rainforest in the Guianas and Brazil, the contrast with the landscape we encountered in Lençois Maranhenses (Northeast Brazil) couldn’t have been bigger:
1500 square kilometers of dunes.