Cuba, Central and South America

Hello All,

Well this is our last email update as we have decided to come home a couple of weeks early because we weren´t able to make it to Antarctica as we had hoped, (would have been continent #7 boohoo). This leg of the journey started with us flying down to Cancun so we could find a flight to Cuba. We made it to the forbidden land without a problem and had an amazing time. Havana was awesome, 1 in 3 cars on the street is a sweeet old American boat of a car (called Yank Tanks), The anti-American sentiment was pretty strong as was the anti-American propaganda, but everyone treated us pretty well overall. We bought lots of Cuban cigars (some were 25 for $1), Rum (1.5 liters for $1), and lobsters (20 big tails for $20) and just had some amazing times, especially with our awesome Cuban friend David. The highlight was a spur of the moment fiesta at his sisters house where we all partied and learned to Salsa until the wee hours of the morning. Definitely one for the memory books.

Then it was back to Mexico where we started busing our way down through all of Central America. The buses were all old retired American school buses with sweet new paintjobs and crazy ass drivers (nicknamed chicken buses because of all of the fun animals people bring on with them). Belize was great, with awesome people and Lisa was lucky enough to pick up the botfly there in the inner mountains (more on that later). Then it was Guatemala with Tikal, the biggest Mayan ruins and a great hot springs waterfall where you swam closer or further away from the falls in the river to control the temperature you wanted to be in. Then to El Salvador where we climbed the youngest volcano in the world (it was a hole in the ground 200 years ago), then one that had erupted 5 years ago that has a huge toxic sulfur lake in the crater. We passed through Honduras pretty quickly because of the government problems they are having. Then to Nicaragua where we spent some nice beach time, and stayed with a lovely family who helped with Lisas botflies. Basically long story short, Lisa was bit by a mosquito carrying botfly eggs. 3 weeks later she had big swollen bumps on her head with the larvae growing inside. The lady at our hotel said that she knew what it was and said she had a special sap that you use to suffocate/kill them, then all you have to do is pull them out. Well lucky Gregorio got to be the MD for the day and pulled 4 inch-long larvae out of Lisas head. If thats not true love, I dont know what is. Next up was Costa Rica which has some of the most amazing rainforest and wildlife of anywhere we have been. Got to zip line through the cloud forest in Monte Verde, waded through alligator infested rivers in Corcovado, and just had an all around good time. Next was Panama where we met a great crew on the Bocas Del Toro Islands, then checked out the Panama Canal Leopard style (Cezar you have been warned).

At this point we took our first plane to Columbia where we did the 6 day Lost city trek through the Columbian jungle, and got to stop in for a tour at a coca factory. Then we hung out in Cartegena for a few days and went swimming in a mud volcano where the mud is 2000 meters deep, and checked out a soccer game where we were the only non Columbians in the stadium. Then it was off to Peru for some of the worlds best Ceviche and some roasted Guinea Pig. We did a 5 day hike to Machu Picchu, then headed off to see Lake Titikaka, and the floating islands made of only reeds that they have there.

Next up was Bolivia which was definitely one of our favorites. We took a 19 hour bus ride out to the Amazon Jungle/Pampas. It was a really cool experience to see so much wildlife and learn about all of the medicinal properties of the plants there, not to mention getting into the leopard gear and wrestling with a big ol´ Anaconda we found one day. Then it was off to the mind bending Salt Flats where we took a 3 day jeep ride all over the flats and high desert.

Finally after a quick stop in Chile, it was off to Argentina to rent bikes and wine taste in Mendoza. Then to Puerto Madryn to hang out with 1 million Magellanic Penguins and see the place where the killer whales beach themselves to try to catch baby seals (unfortunately no whales that day). Then to Perito Moreno Glacier which is the most active in the world and drops huge chunks of ice into the lake all day long each with a boom like thunder echoing off the glacier walls. Then finally to the southern tip of South America to try to get to Antarctica, but unfortunately both of our sweet talking nor my huge beard were enough to sway them to give us a reasonable price, so instead we came home the day before Thanksgiving to give the fam a bit of a surprise.

Thats about it. It was an amazing 17 months, 42 countries, and 6 continents. The world is a crazy crazy place, thats for sure. Soooo so much to see. Well hope to see everyone soon. Next stop, find a house in San Diego.

Here is the link to the pictures:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=147211258849916651/l=3804081017/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

The End

XOXO

Gregorio and Lisa

SE Asia, Nepal, Everest, AUS

Hello to All,

Well a whole lot has happened since we last wrote. Here is the express version with pictures. From Vietnam we headed into Laos via a hellish 2 day dirt road journey in a bus overflowing with people and baggage. From our landing point we hopped on a couple of longboats and sped down river to some really isolated villages. Next up was Vang Vieng which is an awesome river party town where you float in inner tubes from bar to bar, each of which have the biggest rope swings and waterslides you have ever seen. Luckily no injuries while we were there. The other highlight from Laos was going to 4000 Islands, which are a bunch of islands that sit in the middle of the Mighty Mekong River. Quite a sight to behold. After Laos we went back to Thailand for a bit to hit up the Thai New Year (which is in April). It is the biggest waterfight in the world and happens on all of the streets of Chiang Mai for 5 days straight. We also rented a moped and did a one week trip through the mountains of Northern Thailand which was amazingly beautiful.

Next up was Nepal, which we kind of decided to go to on a whim, but was the best decision we ever made (thanks Chris). While we were there we trekked to the Mt. Everest Base Camp, which was a 2 week hike high into the Himalayas. Definitely some of the most beautiful country we have ever seen. 2 weeks and one short shower later, we were definitely exhausted, and just a bit stinky. We spent a couple more weeks in Nepal, before heading off to Australia.

In Australia we decided to just keep to the Eastern Coast because the country is so big and we only had a month. We met up with our friend Rene in Brisbane, rode some horses and continued up north to Cairns which is where the Great Barrier Reef is. Definitely the best snorkeling we have ever done, and we even got to give diving a try while we were there. We also drove up further north into Crocodile country where Lisa proceeded to accidentally fall on her butt right next to a croc infested river (ooops). Finally we decided to rent a camper van and drive/camp our way back to Sydney for our flight. Who would have thought we got a VW just like my old one, just 35 years newer. We did lots of hiking, and even a bit of wine tasting on our way down.

From there it was off to Hawaii for a one day layover, and now we are back stateside for a few weeks to get some R&R, and to see the family before we head off to Central and South America. You can see the pictures at:

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=131251245967175318/l=1662278017/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Hope everyone is doing great.
XOXO
Gregorio and Lisa

Well we have finally gotten a chance to write and upload some pics from our latest adventures through Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam (internet has been pretty bad). It has been a blast to say the least and here is the short version. The first part of the trip involved lots of islands, beaches, snorkeling, and cheap beers. The highlight would probably be Koh Lipe in the south of Thailand where we found a sweet little deserted island that we had to snorkel out to, which meant that we had it and its beaches to ourselves for a few days.. Next we headed down to Malaysia for a few days for Xmas with a couple we met, where we shared the beaches with lots of fully clothed Muslim Malaysians which was pretty cool.
Next up we made our way up to Bangkok to make sure the government protesters were behaving themselves (which they were). We met up with our friend Molly, ate some bugs, then went down to Koh Phangan (Koh = island if you were wondering) for New Years Eve, which is the location of the infamous full moon/New Years parties. The next day we both made New Years resolutions to not drink for a month which has since blossomed into 2 months (can you believe it).
Next we were off to Burma which was a very different experience. The people there were amazing, so friendly and kind. It is a real shame that the government is so corrupt and repressive of the people. 2 more highlights from Thailand were Phetchaburi aka land of a thousand monkeys (see pictures for some incredibly inappropriate monkey business). We even got into a fight with some rogue monkeys that were chasing us. I had to steal a stick that one of them was holding and fend them off with it (no joke this really happened). The other highlight would be Kanchanaburi where we went to the "Tiger Temple". Quite an experience. You get to pet and walk with 20-30 young to full grown tigers. Roar.
Cambodia was next which boasted the amazing temples of Angkor. We pedaled around the complex for 3 days, then headed down to the beaches to celebrate Tet before venturing into Vietnam. Vietnam was a bit of a rollercoaster, having the most amazing experiences one minute and wanting to strangle the guy trying to rip you off the next. We have been trying to rent scooters in most of the cities, because it gives you the chance to get well off the usual tourist path and we have seen and met some incredible people on the journey. I also got a sweet replica made of the John Travolta white 3 piece suit from Saturday Night Fever. Can’t wait to put that bad boy to use. The highlight of Vietnam was definitely Sapa in the northern mountains with its ethnic mountain tribes in their traditional clothes. Very cool..
That is about it for now. Next up is Laos, Northern Thailand, and then ??? we will see.

Here is the link to our pictures:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=6341236166612419/l=468481816/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Let us know how things are going back home. We miss you guys!XOXOGregorio and Lisa

European Mustache Championships and Rest of Europe‏

Dearly Beloved,
Oh so much to catch you up on. We actually got home from Europe on Sunday and are here for the next 2 weeks (Turkey Day and Mustachios). I feel like we should start with the European Mustache Championships because it was one of the craziest things I have ever seen (pictures are amazing!), but I think I will go in order.
First off we headed to Belgium to drink some of the best beer on earth and meet up with a couple of friends we met in Morocco. Then we all hopped in the car and drove down to Champagne to visit one of my wineries which was awesome. After that we met up with Lisa’s parents and headed down to Burgundy to taste some more wine. Got to eat escargot and frogs legs, which I think actually feel and taste more like fish than chicken. Next up was Nice (for those of you that are yet undercultured pronounced niece), and Monaco. Monte Carlo was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. Everyone had a Lamborghini or Ferrari, the port is filled with hundreds of the biggest yachts you have ever seen, and everyone looked filthy rich and plastic.
Next it was off to Italy. We hit up about 10 cities and gained back most of the weight I had lost from all of the awesome Italian food. Highlights were hiking the cliffs and villages in Cinque Terra, the little medieval village of San Gimignano, riding a scooter all over the Amalfi Coast (which decided to break down on us in the middle of nowhere), and of course Rome. We ended up landing in a free tour of Ancient Rome which was mindbottling.
Then it was off to Eastern Europe. First off was Prague, which was cold as heck but beautiful so we decided to stay for 4 or 5 days. Then we headed to Krakow in Poland which was a very cool city. Just outside we went to the Auswitz and Berkenau Nazi concentration camps. Definitely the heaviest day of my life, but it was incredibly eye opening and educational. From there we went to Zacopane and into the mountains of Slovakia to Zdiar. Lots of great hiking and food. Then we hitchhiked halfway to Warsaw and caught a train the rest of the way.
Here is where the story gets interesting. I decided to email the Berlin Mustache Club to see if they were going to be meeting while we were going to be there so I could learn a bit about the ways of the Mustache from them. They informed me that unfortunately they would be out of town because they were going to the European Mustache Championships in Stuttgart. We took this as fate and booked tickets to go there with them. When we showed up at the airport they immediately basically adopted us into there club, and away we went. The pictures show most of the mayhem, but imagine all of my friends with about 10-50 extra years on them and huge beards and mustaches, and that pretty much sums it up. They helped me style my mustache for the competition (who would have thought that a toothbrush is better than a comb for styling). I entered in the Imperial Mustache category (Schnauzbart Kaiserlich in German), and got 7th place. WOW what a feeling! We basically partied our butts off with these guys and Lisa even got Yodeled to.
We finished up our trip in London with a few friends and decided to try to put a twist on the "normal" touristy photos people usually take. And that’s it. 20 countries in 4 months and 5 days. I think we deserve some R & R. Hope everyone is doing great and would love to catch up with everyone before we take off again for Thailand.

Here are the rest of the pictures and the Mustache Championships:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=706171226965854100/l=437627414/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

XOXO,
Gregorio and Lisa

The next leg...

Well quite a bit has happened since our last post. First off, the Tomatina tomato fight in Spain. Let’s just say we didn’t want to eat, see, or smell a tomato for quite a while afterward. Next up we headed to Barcelona and made our couchsurfing debut. If you don’t know what it is, go to couchsurfing.com and check it out (our username is “lisa & greg”). It has been the coolest experience and has basically made our trip twice as much fun. The guys in Barcelona were running an adventure company, but let people from the couchsurfing website stay for free. It was awesome. We also checked out the Salvador Dali museum which was quite an experience.

Next up was Portugal. In Porto we went to one of my Port houses. We tried such amazing Ports that Lisa went from hating Port to loving it now. Then we traveled down the coast of Portugal hitting up about 5 towns and couchsurfing the whole way. Then to Lisbon where we saw the Portugal vs. Denmark football game, and ate the best deserts either of us has ever tasted (Pasteis de Nata). Finally it was off to Lagos which was quite the little party town.

Then we made the last minute decision to head to Morocco. We almost skipped it because we didn’t have much time, but we ended up liking Marrakech the best of anyplace we have been thus far. To start, we caught a 20 hour bus-ferry-bus ride where we were the only non Moroccan people on it. The driver didn’t actually have our name on his list or anything, but with a couple of close calls (especially getting on the ferry into the country as Eva and Marrian, the names that were on the tickets they gave us), and help from the other passengers we made it through in one piece. There was one thing about the ride that we did feel a bit bad about. So the Muslims do something called Ramadan for one month every year where they don’t eat or drink from sun up to sun down, then have a huge feast at night. Well little did we know, it is very rude to eat or drink water in front of them during this period. Well lets just say that 20 hours on a bus made us pretty hungry and thirsty and we were basically pigging out the whole time, completely oblivious the whole time until sundown when everyone started breaking out the food and offering it to us. Oops. Morocco itself is basically how you would imagine it with crazy markets, crazy food, snake charmers, and people constantly trying to rip you off, but it was so busy and full of life that we would have loved to have stayed for much longer. You basically never knew what you were going to see next. We also did some hiking outside of the city in the mountains which were beautiful and actually snow capped (who would have thought in the desert).

After Morocco, we spent a couple of days in Madrid, then met up with our friends Emily and Gerry and headed off to Munich for Oktoberfest. I am sure everyone knows what Oktoberfest is all about. May I be the first to say that the Mustache talent was spectacular and I did the Mustachios proud (see pics). That is about it for now.

Here is a link to some of the crazier pictures:

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=508281222632965870/l=428313246/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Until next time

XOXO

Gregorio and Lisa

Update and pictures

Hello To All,

Hope everyone is doing well. We have been having a blast and I think you would all be proud of our performance over here. Pictures are finally up and here is a little recap of the last month since our last email. From the Love Parade we headed south in Germany to visit all of the German wineries Greg used to represent. One of the most amazing wine tasting weeks we have ever had. Dr. Loosen set us up in his guest house, and all of the winemakers were incredibly nice, cooking us dinners and breaking out some amazing wines (many of which were older than we are).

Next up, we headed to Switzerland and checked out Bern and Interlaken. Bern was set on an amazing electric blue river. Interlaken was actually a bit too touristy for us, but we drove around both of the lakes and had a blast checking out all of the little towns along the way. Next it was off to Lake Como. We stayed in Lecco and spent both days just lounging next to the lake. We hunted around for George Clooney because we figured he would want to see us, but unfortunately he was nowhere to be found (his loss).

Next up was Greece. Wow what a country! We went to Santorini for 3 days, rented a scooter and basically covered every inch of the island. Then we went to the party island of Ios. The details of the trip are a little fuzzy, but I can assure you we had a blast. Highlights include meeting some great Aussies (and an Irish Canadien), spending every day at the beach and pool club and every night out on the town until dawn, a new nickname for Greg “Muffassa King of the Jungle” (See pictures for explanation), and spending an otherwise all around wholesome good time on the island. We ended up extending our stay there for 6 days, then went to the island of Paros to recover for a few days. On the way back we stopped in Athens and saw the sights, then it was off to Venice. We loved Venice and recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind being constantly lost in the winding streets and canals. It was definitely as beautiful as you would imagine.

Last but not least we headed to Ireland to spend some quality time with our friend Gerry and his family. The Irish people have been so amazingly gracious and friendly, and we have both put on about 10 pounds from all of the great Irish home cookin’, mmm mmm good! We have checked out lots of old castles, Irish pubs, and even had a few parties. We kissed the Blarney Stone, saw an old restored castle and village (very cool), and even checked out a Hurling game.

That is about it for now. Next up we are headed down close to Valencia in Spain for the huge tomato fight (Tomatina). Should be great fun (210 tons of tomatoes dropped into the town for the fight), and we have our all white outfit washed and pressed for the event.

Some of our pictures are finally up at:

http://www1.snapfish.ie/share/p=430231219504907526/l=421466435/g=7367679/cobrandOid=1023/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Miss you all, and shoot us an email to let us know how things are going back home.

XOXO,

Gregorio and Lisa

Five Countries in Five Days

To start off our trip we flew in to London which was loads of fun but ridiculously expensive. We stayed with our friend Guy, saw the sights, and tried some of the best beers we have ever had (especially Harvey’s WOW).

Day 2 we went to Luxembourg to meet up with our friend Gerry who we are going to be traveling with for the next 4 months on and off. From there it was off to Paris to celebrate Bastille Day which is basically like our 4^th of July. We bought some cheesy berets and met up with a couple of other friends from the states for the party. After a short observation, we realized that the Parisians were not partying hard enough for such an important day, so we took it upon ourselves to make up for their shortcomings. They had a great fireworks show that we watched from the Eifel Tower.

Next it was off to Amsterdam for a couple of days. What a cool city. It has a very small feel to it with lots of canals and old buildings. The best part was that everyone there rides bikes. We rented a couple and checked out the sites. Lots of coffeeshops, bars and a strange red glow.

Finally to finish off our first week in Europe we went to Dortmund Germany to see the original Love Parade. It was wild. 1.5 million of our new closest friends in a little German town. They basically shut down the city’s main freeway and had about 40 semi trucks full of speakers, DJ’s and dancers and had an all night party slowly driving round and round on the freeway. Who knew the Germans were capable of so much love. Also ate some crazy German food (haxe). Basically a big hunk of pig slow roasted with potatoes and sourkraut……mmm mmm good!

Next up we are heading to the south of Germany to do some wine tasting at some of the wineries I used to sell for. Should be fun. Pictures to come soon!

XOXO

Gregorio and Lisa