the adventures of julia and chris

Serengeti Safari Photos!

Here are some photos from our safari in Northern Tanzania. Enjoy!

Safari preparations…

We thought that it would be a snap to organize our safari once we arrived in Tanzania. It turned out to be MUCH more of a mission than we expected. Click here to read Julia’s blog entry about our quest for the perfect budget safari in the Serengeti…

Zanzibar Beaches and Scuba Diving

Zanzibar was a nice mix of sightseeing around Stone Town and relaxation on the tropical beaches of the East and Northern coasts of the island.  It was also a great place to spend my birthday with Julia and take some time to get my PADI Open Water certification.  Zanzibar is a little expensive, but a nice spot to get certified as the diving was amazing with tons of tropical fish (anthias, angel fish, butterfly fish, groupers, and scorpion fish) anemones with clown fish, moray eels, and octopus.  I have wanted to get certified for several years now, but haven’t made the time until now.  While I still enjoy snorkeling/free diving a lot, scuba diving allows me to spend much more time hanging out underwater, swimming through schools of fish, and checking out corals.  I am hooked and can’t wait to do more dives.

I had also been experiencing volleyball withdrawals as I haven’t played since leaving San Francisco, but fortunately found some locals and Australian tourists that were up for some games.  Julia gives me a hard time for traveling for three months with a volleyball, but I’ve found that there are just some things I can’t leave home without.

-Chris

Zanzibar!

Click here to read Julia’s blog post about our adventures in Zanzibar…

Photos from Zanzibar

World Cup (Julia’s perspective)

Ok, so we’ve heard Chris’ side of the story, but click here to read Julia’s take on all of that World Cup craziness…

World Cup Photos!

World Cup Quarterfinals in Jo’burg

While I had to use all of my powers of persuasion to convince Julia to add a flight to Jo’burg and 4 nights in a dingy/overpriced hostel to our trip itinerary (in her words she wasn’t “100% on board” is an understatement), it turned out to be an amazing highlight of our trip.  Yes the hostel was overcrowded; yes everything was overpriced especially taxis and hotels, and yes Jo’burg is not the safest of places, but finally tracking down some tickets to the quarterfinal game and being a part of the 90,000+ fans at Soccer City cheering for Ghana with the game ending in penalty kicks was priceless.  Julia was a trooper though, as she put up with less than 4 hours of sleep that night before we left for our flight to Zanzibar early the next morning. The diehard soccer fans we met during those few days in Jo’burg and the enthusiasm from the South Africans that were extremely welcoming made it all the more memorable.

-Chris

Air Madagascar brings people together…

Click here for Julia’s blog entry about our adventures in Northern Madagascar (our last stop in that country)….

Photos from Northern Madagascar

Communication Troubles in Madagascar

While the wildlife and outdoor scenery here in Madagascar has been one of a kind, Julia and I are still grappling with a language barrier that has lead to some funny encounters with locals.  The people here mostly speak Malagasy and French, so unfortunately our collective knowledge of English, Spanish, German, and Italian has been unhelpful. We have learned some very basic French phrases, but this only gets us so far.  For example, asking our hotel manager for a Mosquito Coil lead to some blank stares and ended in a game of charades in which we found ourselves making buzzing noises and poking eachother.  This “wake of confusion,” as Julia and I now call it, has been following us ever since we landed here.   Fortunately, we have come to accept it and have learned to just go with flow wherever possible to avoid any special requests.  A French couple we met here that speaks English helped to further point out how little Julia and I really understand what’s going on around us.  While walking down the street Julia had a brief exchange with a local

Julia—“Bon Jour [Good Day]”

Malagash Woman [speaking in French]—“Hey Cricket, give me some money”

Julia while still smiling—“No Merci, Au revoir” [No thanks, I don’t want any. Good Bye!],

Malagash Woman—“I asked you for money, Cricket!”

The French couple later filled us in on the translation of the conversation and the nickname “Cricket” the Malagash woman made up for Julia.  This has still been a great learning experience for Julia and I since not being able to ask people questions has forced us to be more resourceful and patient with daily activities.  Regardless, we are looking forward to continuing our trip to our next destination where we will hopefully be less confused.

-Chris

An island paradise in Madagascar →

After our extreme chicken bus adventure getting from the capital to the East coast, we were really ready to relax at the beach. We headed from Tamatave to Ile Ste Marie (Saint Marie island), and…

Hey there!!!

In my suitcase, of course. ;-) Oh man, the lemurs were soooooo cute. We have an awesome video of the lemurs that we are going to post sometime in the next day or so (we have a bandwidth limit on this connection, so it might be another day or so).

Photos from Ile Aux Nattes in Madagascar

Meeting my chicken bus match →

We purchased our initial Jo’burg –Madagascar tickets through an American travel agency in May and decided at that point to organize domestic flights for the majority of our trip. The first leg of…