Filed under: alex
After an 8 year run, the relationship has ended. With the relationship, so too does So Civilized find the end of the road. If Elizabeth has anything planned I’ll update this post with a link. My story continues over at my new blog, Clean Cut American Kid, which is titled after an Ill Repute song. Thanks for reading.
Filed under: travel | Tags: China, karsts, Shekou, Shekou International School, Yangshuo
The Shekou International School had just finished classes the day of our arrival so we didn’t have a chance to meet any of Sarah’s students. However, we did make a trip to the school to check out her classroom and we ran into some of the teachers there as well. The building that houses the middle/high school students is only a few years old and is very modern. It is a short walk from her new apartment and on a good day (there are very few unpolluted days) you can see Hong Kong from school.
Sarah at her desk
The hallway outside Sarah's classroom (Alex & Mark)
Alex & I outside the school
We had a few days in Shekou to do laundry, catch up on emails, and check out the city before we were heading to Yangshuo for some Chinese language classes. Sarah helped us discover the joys of cheap good food in China and of course took us on the obligatory trip to Walmart. Not your typical Walmart experience, this was Chinese Walmart, complete with fish for your dinner tanks in the back.
Intersection in Shekou
Another fun experience in China is the “wet” market. This is where all the local fresh fish, meat, and vegetables can be found. A unique food that those of us living in the Western world aren’t accustomed to is dog. The Chinese eat dogs. However, it’s not clear why, but dog is a winter meat and is only found during the colder months. So for our visit we had to settle for much more normal things like butchering half a pig and live fish filleted open on the tables.
Alex observing the slicing up of a pig
Various shellfish
Blue crabs
A variety of eggs for sale
From Shekou, we head to Yangshuo where we were all going to take Chinese language classes. Sarah and her friend Lisa, already had some Chinese language so they took a more advanced class and began learning characters, while Alex & I started from ni hao (hello.) Yangshuo is a beautiful area in China known for their karsts which are beautiful, green, steeply peaked mountains that fill the area.
After Australia we headed for China, where we would be meeting up with my sister who is a teacher at Shekou International School. We first had a few days to explore Hong Kong before heading to mainland China. We splurged on a fancy hotel for 2 nights, which also served as my birthday celebration from the previous week. The days were rainy and humid but Alex & I kept ourselves busy checking out electronics deals and maneuvering the subway system.
Hong Kong skyline from our hotel
Hong Kong Intercontinental Hotel lobby
Hong Kong is just as you would expect, a very well organized, wealthy and high tech city. We both were equally impressed with the high standards set by Hong Kong and ingenious things like checking in for the airport at the subway station. My sister and I later did just that on our way to Malaysia and it was brilliantly fast and easy.
Umbrella vending machin
Streets of Hong Kong
View of Hong Kong from the peak tram
After only a few days we head for the mainland to meet up with Sarah (my sister) and see where she has been living and teaching the past year. A short ferry ride take you to Shekou, a suburb of sorts, of larger and better known Shenzhen.
Filed under: travel
Similar to the previous countries we’ve visited, we began our visit to Australia staying with a couchsurfer. Matt and his lovely dogs, were our fantastic couchsurfing hosts for our first few days in Sydney. We used this time to organize a campervan and explore the city of Sydney.
Matt's girls - Scout, Tess, and Rosie
We both appreciated being back in a city for a few days and found Sydney to be an easy and enjoyable place to explore. We did the obligatory trip downtown to view the infamous opera house and took a ferry ride to Manly to walk the scenic beach path.
The opera house by day
The opera house by night during a light exhibition
Sydney skyline
Walking in Manly
Once we departed Sydney in our Australian campervan, we headed for Featherdale Wildlife Park so I could see some Australian animals. Most of you know I am a big animal lover, so Alex had to tear me away from all the cute fuzzy animals. I could have stayed all day.
Feeding a kangaroo
Kangaroo feeding over and I am happy
Looking for more
Alex and his new wallaby friends
Kangaroo crossing
Albino wallabies
Kangaroo mama
Wombat crossing
Adorable chubby little wombat
Dingo pups
A koala
Learning our lesson from New Zealand, where we tried to cover too much ground, we chose to stay close to Sydney and keep driving to a minimum. We headed for the Blue Mountains, where we encountered rain and fog, completely obscuring any glimpse of the mountains. Moving on, we made our way a few hours south of Sydney, to a town called Nowra. A local rock climber in Sydney had recommended Nowra for sport climbing, where he assured us there would be plenty of easy routes. Nowra ended up being a perfect spot for us. We settled into a caravan park that provided a camp ground just across the river from the climbing spot, Thompson’s point. They loaned us a canoe we could use for accessing the rock and the weather finally cooperated with blue skies and sun for the next few days. We spent our mornings running and climbing, with afternoons in town at a local coffee shop where Alex could work while I made friends with the owner. Niryan, owner of the Tea Club Cafe was so good to us. He opened his shop when they were suppose to be closed (so we could use his wifi), had us testing his new batch of chai tea and sent us home with all sorts of vegetarian goodies leftover from dinner the previous night. If you ever find yourself in Nowra the tea club should be a definite stop.
Canoeing to the rock climbing spot
Alex rappelling at Thompson's Point in Nowra
Our campsite in Nowra
We ended our time in Australia with a few more days in Sydney. We stayed with Greg and Katie whom we had met at Palmer Station, during a sailing trip they had taken to the Antarctic Peninsula. Greg is the CEO of WWF (World Wildlife Federation) Australia and he invited Alex to give a short presentation about our work in Antarctica. What better audience than a bunch of environmentally friendly NGO workers, with whom to discuss climate change. We had a wonderful visit with them in their beautiful home and we all talked longingly of our time in Antarctica. Katie & Greg’s unborn baby may be one of the few children that can claim a trip to Antarctica, albeit in utero.
Katie & Greg with Ella at the dog park
A hilarious duo we met at the dog park
How can you not love New Zealand? ! The scenery is breathtaking, the people are lovely and the country feels like one of the mot peaceful places on Earth. We began our time in NZ enjoying the luxuries of the Christchurch airport, while waiting for our couchsurfing hosts to return home. This was our first English speaking country, they sold goods we could actually afford (unlike Tahiti) with all the other comforts and options of the western world (i.e. wifi.) You really grow to appreciate airports as you travel and all the services they provide.
Alex & our spaceship outside Queenstown, NZ
Alex cooking in the spaceship
We headed to the home of our amazing couchsurfing hosts, Verna & Ian, enjoying a few days with them in Christchurch. We ended up renting a spaceship van and embarked on our marathon trip around the South Island with a mere 10days to see what we could of NZ. As we were still in the Southern Hempishere, winter was rapidly approaching and we battled cold, rainy, wintry weather for much of the trip. However, this did not put us off. Alex still had us out “tramping on the tracks” (NZ language for hiking on the trails) most days.
Running on Kepler Track in TeAnu
Knee deep in mud on Talbot Track in Milford Sound
Cold water rinse after our Talbot run
Running Kepler Track
We drove down the East coast of the South Island to Milford Sound, returning via the West coast, crossing through Arthurs Pass and stopping at Castle Hill for some beautiful rock climbing. Most days were spent enjoying the beautiful landscape of the country and trying to put to use all our outdoor gear we’d been lugging around with us since Antarctica.
Hiking at the base of Mt. Talbot near Milford Sound
Alex bouldering at Castle Hill
Lake Tekapo near Mt. Cook
Driving near Dunedin
A beach on the West coast of the island
Unfortunately, our short stay in New Zealand went far too quickly and there were many places we would have like days, if not weeks more time. One such place was Castle Hill, an amazing place for rockclimbing, just a few hours West of Christchurch. We arrived there on a cold and foggy morning to explore the incredible rock formations that border a local sheep farm.
The morning fog lifting at Castle Hill
Alex & I at Castle Hill
Castle Hill rocks
Another great climbing spot was Wye Creek, just outside Queenstown. A steep hour hike to the crags and one can find themselves surrounded by endless sport climbing routes. Again, we could have spent days here but were limited by our schdule of getting our rental van up to Auckland in time for our flight to Australia.
Sunset at Wye Creek
Alex & I at Wye Creek
Filed under: travel | Tags: couchsurfing, French Polynesia, Hanse Explorer, Moorea, Tahiti
(This post has been updated since the original date published)
Arriving on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, was quite a different experience to our previous tropical experience of Easter Island. The French influence is immediately apparent starting with the baguette at breakfast. Our first decent bread since Wendy’s homemade bread at Palmer Station. We were already pleased to be in Tahiti. We quickly made our way over to Moorea a 30 minute ferry ride from Tahiti where we had 2 couchsurfing hosts lined up for the week.
Alex & I on the ferry to Moorea
Our first couchsurfing host was a lovely Frenchman named Jean-Francois, who was working as a math and science teacher at a local school. He has a lovely place across from the beach in Maharepa on the northern end of the island.
Alex in front of Jean-Francois' house
We borrowed Jean-Francois’ bike and Alex rode me around on the handle bars while we explored the local beaches and snorkeled in the amazing reefs. Much of our time on Moorea was spend snorkeling as there were wonderful reefs everywhere around the island. We also had a wonderful time sharing a few meals and beers with our host, Jean-Francois. He has a perfect porch for relaxing in the evening with a gentle breeze.
Alex on the reef across from Jean-Francois' house
Sunset at Maharepa
Our highest point of the day
View of Cooks Bay (Mahrapa is just around the corner on the right)
View towards the south
After a few nights with Jean-Francois we were off to our next couchsurfing host, Hans, who happen to live just a few kilometers down the road.
The sign outside Hans' gallery
Hans is a German artist who has been living in Moorea for the past 8 years. He is a sculptor and has an amazing home, gallery and garden which we enjoyed immensely. You can check out Hans’ work here. Our bed for the 2 nights we were there was in the newly buily treehouse. It was a fantastic place to sleep.
The treehouse in Hans' garden
The garden at Hans' place
The flowers are absolutely beautiful in French Polynesia and I was never witout one behind my ear. The hibiscus seem to grow like weeds there.
One of many hibiscus around the island
Flower
Hopefully, I am not sounding too cheap with all this talk about expense. But French Polynesia was one of the most expensive places we have ever been. The islands are beautiful and we truly enjoyed our time there. However, it is not ideal for budget travelers like ourselves who need to make our money last a few more months. Couchsurfing definitely made Tahiti possible for us. Big thanks to our amazing hosts.
Typical tropical island photo, although aren't the people suppose to be tan?
On the beach
Alex doing childspose on the beach
The last exciting experience we had in French Polynesia was on our return ferry trip from Moorea to Tahiti. As we pulled into the port at Papeete, Tahiti Alex noticed a ship called the Hanse Explorer was docked there. This ship was one of the ships to visit Palmer Station this past season. We recalled the ship had a German Captain although his name alluded us. When we inquired with one of the staff, the German Captain Martin merrily came out to meet us claiming to remember us from Palmer. We were invited onboard, had dinner with Martin and left with an invitation to visit his home in the French Alps.
The Hanse Explorer docked at Papeete port
En route from South America to New Zealand, Alex & I made a few island stops along the way. First stop, Easter Island (known as Rapa Nui in the Polynsian tongue), which is basically in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between the two countries. Technically, Easter Island belongs to Chile, so Spanish is spoken and you maintain the S. American feel while on the island. Hanga Roa is the main town where everyone lives and you can find everything you need for your time on the island.
Moai with a view of Hanga Roa in the background
We had a rocky start to our tropical vacation as the hotel/hostel we had booked to stay in was a dump. Ana Rapu, don’t stay there if you go to Easter Island. They had to fumigate the day we arrived, for an outbreak of fleas, and they didn’t even bother to clean all the dead bugs out of our bathroom. The place was in general a dirty place and I am usually not one to complain about these things, especially if you aren’t paying much for lodging. But Easter Island is expensive and this place was $45/night. The next morning we spent sometime walking around and found something else. When the taxi picked us up to take us to the new place he suggested a different hostel. We were a bit suspect as we didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but in the end we ended up at a lovely hostel run by a very sweet woman named Theresa. Hostel Tahai is the name of the place, and Theresa is the most amazing host. Mangos are falling from the trees and the garden is lush with flowers and trees, tucked back off the road. She makes an amazing breakfast every morning and keeps the place spotless. We were thrilled and so lucky to have been picked up by such a friendly taxi driver.
The lovely garden in Hostel Tahai
Now that we were settled in our new place we took the next few days to explore the island. Although I was timid at first, we rented mopeds to cruise the island, and after a few minutes I was squealing with delight. Mopeds are so much fun and a great way to get around a small island. I would love a little vespa to get me around Vancouver.
Alex & I posing with our mopeds
The mopeds, the best way to travel
With the freedom of our mopeds we were able to navigate the island on our own and stop at all the moai sites. Easter Island is covered in historical moai sites. Moai are human figures that were carved out of the rock by the Polynesian people between 1250-1500. There is much speculation still as to how they carved and transporting these stautes to their ahu (ceremonial platforms) around the island. The tallest moai stands at 10 meters (33 feet) and weighs 75 tons. Conflict within the local tribes, resulted in the toppling of all the moai on the island during the 1700-1800’s. Only recently have many moai been restored and resurrected on their original ahus around the island.
15 moai that were restored very recently in the 1990's
View of the 15 moai from Rano Raraku
Rano Raraku "the nursery"
A moai in the nursery that was never erected
Alex & I at Rano Raraku
Eric & Alex at Anakena Beach with moai in the background
Anakena Beach
Another beautiful spot on the island is the volcano Rano Kau with the historical site Orongo. This is where the annual bird-man (Tangata manu) was awarded to the first man to swim to a nearby island and retreive the first egg laid by the Sooty Tern. Alex & I would run up the hill in the mornings there and there is a huge crater at the top with some of the only native grasses growing inside. It reminded me a bit of the Death Swamps from Lord of the Rings, minus the dead people.
View of the crater Rano Kau
The weather treated us well with predominately sunny days and little rain. Easter Island was a bit too pricey for what you were buying, but I suppose you can charge whatever you want on a tropical island. At least the jugo de mango was still reasonably affordable.
Sipping on jugo de mango
Alex waving goodbye to the island
The Fall colors were a wonderful way to start our big climb
Once we arrived in El Chaltén, we hooked up with our guide Manuel and starting discussing plans for our big climb of one of the local mountains, Aguja Guillamet (2579m). Manuel owns and operates El Chaltén Mountain Guide and from the very beginning he exceeded all our expectations. Manuel spent hours prior to the climb discussing the route and going over gear and food for the big adventure. Using NOAA’s weather forecast, we found a 36 hour weather window where we hoped to summit. The trip began with a short drive to the trailhead at Rio Electrico bridge and started with an easy 2 hour hike to Piedra del Fraile campsite. The wind and rain had begun so we held out for a few hours at Piedra del Fraile hoping the weather would pass. There didn’t appear to be much clearing so we set out in the wind and rain for a 3 hour hike of 1000 meters in switchbacks. We reached the bivi site known as Piedra Negra and quickly set up camp in the harsh Patagonia wind. We were beginning to question the NOAA forecast. A delicious pasta meal and off to bed for an early 3am start.
Our first stormy view of Guillamet from our bivi site
We awoke at 3 am after a windy night in the tent and listened as the wind continued to pound our tent. We weren’t hopeful about attempting the summit in this wind, but over the next 45 minutes the wind completely ceased, just as NOAA predicted. We now felt pretty confident about the predicted weather forecast for our summit day. We left camp around 4:30am and the approach was made mostly in the dark, as the sun didn’t rise until around 8:30am. The approach included crossing a small glacier section and some 4th class scrambling. We reached Amy Couloir just before sunrise which was to be the start of our route to the top.
Sunrise from Amy Couloir
The couloir was 4 pitches of 45-50 meters. The only technical sections consisted of a bergschrund at the very beginning, which sometimes is impassable, and a short mixed section on the last pitch. Otherwise, the climbing was pretty straightforward with the only intimidating factor being our incredible height and exposure. Manuel lead all pitches with relative ease and confidence, as well as speed.
Climbing Amy Couloir
View down Amy Couloir
Me (Elizabeth) a little intimidated by my height and exposure in the couloir
At the top of the couloir there was a small ledge where we could grab a cliff bar and begin the 4 rock pitches that were between us and the summit. In previous climbs, at this point Manuel had been able to take his crampons and boots off and switch into rock shoes. However, on this day there was a lot of snow and ice that had filled in a lot of the cracks that normally provide good hand holds and easy protection placement. Therefore, we kept our crampons on for the first few moves before switching into our rock shoes. All the rock pitches are rated 5.5-5.8, although with the ice on the rock and filling some of the cracks, it was a bit more challenging. We completed the first 3 pitches of rock over the next few hours.
Climbing the 2nd pitch of rock
Manuel anchored on a ledge
Belaying Manuel as he lead one of the rock pitches
On a ledge that lead from the 3rd-4th pitch, we were faced with an ice covered ledge where one normally finds rock. Plus, the crack that we needed to climb was filled with ice and snow. At this point is was time to admit defeat as it would have taken too much time and would have been too dangerous had Manuel tried to climb that last pitch. After that last pitch it would have been just a short 10 minutes walk to the summit. So we had turned around just about 50 meters from the top. However, Alex and I were thrilled with what we had accomplished and had an amazing day.
Alex & I at the highest point of the day
Manuel, our guide, showing some of the ice that ultimately kept us from the summit
As many of you know, going up is only half the climb and it was now time to safely get off the mountain. We began the 3 rappels that took us off the rock, followed by 4 pitches in the couloir. Many of the anchors in the couloir were either covered or too high to access so Manuel was forced to build a few anchors to be left behind for rappelling.
Me (Elizabeth) rappelling off Guillamet
Alex & I anchored on Guillamet before rappelling down
Rappelling Amy Couloir
Nevertheless, we successfully rappelled the couloir and began the arduous hike back down to camp through frustrating scree. Luckily, since we had begun our climb down around 2:30pm, we gave ourselves time to get almost completely back to camp before darkness fell.
Hiking down the last part of the couloir (you can see the berschrund behind us)
The silhouette of the Fitz Roy range
Back at camp we all fell quickly asleep and didn’t wake up for 12 hours. Well rested and happy from our incredible climb the previous day, we made our way back to the trailhead where Manuel’s car patiently awaited us. I snapped off a few more photos of camp and Guillamet before we left, as the weather had significantly improved since our arrival.
The bivi site with Guillamet towering in the distance
I think that I can speak for both us, when I say this adventure was one of the best experiences of our lives. We learned a lot from Manuel and were able to really push ourselves and see what we are capable of accomplishing on a mountain. Anyone that finds themselves in the El Chaltén area and is interested in doing a big climb, should definitely contact Manuel. He currently has a website (www.ecmg.com.ar) and by next season will have a shop on the main drag of El Chaltén. Thank you Manuel for an amazing experience!
Overlooking the town of El Chaltén
Some of the original homes built for government workers back in 1985
Alex & I headed directly to El Chaltén where we planned to spend the majority of our time in South America. El Chaltén is a small town, pop. 600 in the winter, in the middle of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. The town was born out of a territory dispute with Chile, when in 1985 the Argentinian government decided they needed a presence in El Chaltén to keep the Chileans out, so they built 12 homes for government workers. El Chaltén has always been a hot spot for climbers and the town has been slowly growing over the years into a well established tourist destination. It now attracts thousands of visitors in the summer season, although fortunate for us the place empties out in the winter and goes back to being a sleepy Patagonia town.
El Chaltén is a town in the heart of Patagonia, a climbers paradise, with relatively easy access to some of the most beautiful mountains. From Antarctica, we had arranged a guide in order to climb one of the big mountains in the area, A. Guillamet. There are also excellent trails that start straight from town for trail running and wonderful day hikes. Our first few days there were stunning weather and we took advantage of the blue skies to do some of the local hikes and snap off some beautiful photos. Turns out the Fall colors were near peak when we first arrived so the hills were covered in oranges and reds of all shades.
Fitz Roy towering in the background only slighly obscured by clouds (Guillamet is the mountain on the far right)
A lovely photo opportunity every direction you looked
For some of you who have been to this area of Patagonia before, you know that these mountains are often completely obscured from view by the clouds. Some people never get to see Fitz Roy, the tallest mountain in the range. We were fortunate enough to see the mountains over half of the days we were there, it also helped that we stayed for just over 2 weeks.
(r to l.) Fitz Roy, Poincenot, Saint Exupery, Cerro Torre all in view from the town
Cerro Torre shrouded by clouds
Guillamet, the mountain we planned on climbing with our guide
Cerro Solo (far left) another mountain we hoped to climb while in El Chaltén
El Chaltén was everything we hoped it to be. Stunning scenery, trails every which way, and plenty of rock climbing to keep Alex happy. Plus, we found a wonderful, inexpensive hostel run by a man named Marcelo and his son William. We felt like we were couchsurfing with them as they welcomed us into their home (Marcelo lives there year round) shared meals and answered all our numerous questions. One night the guys had a small dinner party at the house and made a traditional stew called locro. Most of you will be shocked to hear that Alex & I both ate the stew which was filled with numerous kinds of meat. We both picked around the meat opting for the corn and pumpkin that was also in the stew, but there was no way around the small little pieces and the base of the stew had a thick animal fat consistency. I am happy to report neither of us had any ill consequences from our meat adventure.
Alex rappelling off a route on one of the local walls
There are sport routes covering the walls around town. You don’t have to walk far to find something that suites your ability. Our favorite wall turned out to be the closest to our hostel only minutes away with plenty of easy 5.5-5.8 routes for us to practice our sport climbing. Plus there were plenty of bouldering spots all around town. They even have a local climbing guide that can be found at most of the outdoors shops in town. Our climbing guide Manuel helped bolt most of the routes that have been put up recently.
Alex's silhouette atop La Escualita, one of the bouldering routes we worked on
We were also fortunate to receive a visit from one of our friends. Kevin, the waste technician from Palmer Station, is making his way through South and Central America in hopes of eventually making it back to his hometown of Stromsburg, Nebraska. Kevin spent a few days in El Chaltén before continuing his trip north. It was great seeing someone from Palmer outside our familiar surrounding of Antarctica.
Kevin Lindburg, our Nebraskan in Antarctica
Alex pre race in the Plaza
Back to Punta Arenas, Chile where our adventure began back in October. Alex & I were anxious to take care of business and head to Patagonia. We happen to arrive on Easter weekend which conflicted somewhat with our schedule to get out of PA asap. However, it also provided Alex an opportunity to run a quick 12K race. The day we were to leave we happened across a large group of people all wearing running attire. Now this is a strange sight, as when we normally run in Punta Arenas, we see only a few Navy guys running, if that. Turns out there is a race going on starting in the main plaza for all ages and distances.
Alex towering above his fellow runners
The start of the race
Of course, Alex couldn’t resist and he ran back to the hotel to change into running gear. We said some quick goodbyes to our friends from Palmer that were leaving that morning and Alex headed to the start line. As our Spanish is pretty poor we weren’t sure where the race goes but there was one guy looking out for Alex to make sure he at least started at the right time. As you can see in the photos, Alex stood out somewhat with his big beard, Antarctic pale skin, and towering height above everyone else. We are not sure what place he came in, as there were runners doing a 6K and a 12K, so we weren’t able to distinguish. Alex got a bit lost along the way as well, however I believe he came in around 5th place. Not too sure out of how many, but I was proud of him.
Alex steps from the finish line
Attempting to converse with people after the race
Once the race was over, a quick shower and then off to the bus stop to begin our journey north to the Argentine side of Patagonia.El Calafate was a stop along the way but the ultimate destination was to be El Chalten.
