Top 5 reasons I love Peru

I just got back from a week in Peru and it was just as captivating the 2nd time around. There are so many reasons I adore the country. Some of the highlights for me are:

1) The vibrant and colorful culture. From the intricate hand embroidered traditional clothing and hats, farmers herding their sheep and woolly alpacas, workers harvesting agave to make a homemade mortar paste, the omnipresent flute player, underground fire pits for cooking potatoes, etc. I can go on and on.

2) The architecture. Everywhere you look in the Sacred Valley, the hills are marked with Inca Ruins dating back to the early 13th century. The cobblestone streets, alleyways and ornate doors and balconies of Cusco. The setting of Machu Picchu leaves one mind boggled trying to figure out how this ancient city was built in the middle of a mountain range.



3) The children. I’m not sure what it is, but the children are just so adorable. Maybe it is the big smiles and smudged dirt on their faces? We had a chance to visit a local school and the soccer ball we brought lit up their faces. It was a great way to interact with the local children and make them smile even more.



4) The diversity of food. I am not convinced the Peruvian cuisine is my favourite, but they have a great variety to choose from. Some must tries are the cream soups (according to Wikipedia along the Peruvian coast there are more than two thousand different types of soups), Paltas Relllenas (avocado stuffed with chicken), and ceviche. For those more daring, I was told the Cuy (guinea pig) is quite good. This is a specialty in the Andes that is prepared many different ways. Rumour is it is better fried than boiled. Be prepared for the chance it might come served to you still fully intact (i.e.: with the nails and teeth).

5) The outdoor activities. Hiking in the footsteps of the Incas following their old travel routes, rafting the Urubamba river through canyons with cactus, Inca ruins, abnormal sized hummingbirds and donkeys with views of snow capped mountains off in the distance, biking through local villages swerving past the wildlife (roosters, cow, sheep) and saying hello to all the people who come out of their house to cheer us on.

6) And last but not least, Lake Titicaca, just because of the name. For some reason it always seems to make people giggle. According the locals in Peru, the "titi" belongs to the Peruvians and the "caca" to Bolivia. For those who don't know, the lake is the largest commercially navigable lake in the world.

Garbage Clean-up in Halong Bay, Vietnam

It's low season in Vietnam, and our partners in Hanoi are all out of the office on a mission to Clean up Halong Bay. The cleanup is scheduled for 3 days, and everyone is picking up garbage off of the pristine islands. Halong Bay has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and includes some 1,600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars. Because of there precipitous nature, most of the islands are uninhabited and unaffected by a human presence.

I was with a group in April and was dismayed to see the littered state of these spectacular islands. We landed our kayaks on a tiny island, really just a patch of whitesand that would be carried away in the high tide and it was laden with garbage. We found shoes, light-bulbs, water bottles, coke cans, clothing, bags, you name it, we found it. Our whole group started picking it up and in just a few minutes filled 4 garbage bags. I arranged for a boat and captain to pick it up and take it to the dump. This cleanup is essential to the environment but also to educate the local people to take care of this area that will be a sustainable source of income for them if it's protected.

This "Clean up Halong Bay" is also happening in July and August from the 15 to 17th and is open to anyone who wants to help us on a very worthy cause. If you wish to join us please contact us at info@bikehike.com. It's a different way of exploring Halong Bay and helping to keep the bay clean for the future.

In the spirit of the environment and sustainability,
Trish Sare

BikeHike Turkish Delight, Day to Day by Mike Oswald

Mike Oswald is one of our dedicated BikeHike Adventurers who always writes great trip journals on his adventures. Since we're offering a discount on our September Turkish Delight we want to give you the insiders story, so please enjoy Mike's trip journal. We shared his Costa Rica journal in an earlier blog entry.



Turkey:
Much More Than Carpets, Mosques, Muslims, Cucumbers, and Tomatoes!!

In July of 2007 I set out on my second BikeHike Adventure (www.bikehike.com). This time I was headed to the magical land of Turkey. When I left, I had extremely limited notions as to what I was going to get myself in to. Now, just days after the trip, I look back and I can't help but think about the Turkey being 98% Muslim, mosques on every corner, cucumbers and tomatoes for every meal, Urgup = Ice Cream. My first thoughts, would lead you to believe that it fits the simple, minimal infrastructure, conservative Muslim, Middle Eastern stereotypes that the media has ingrained in our minds. But, the reality is that Turkey is one of the most geographically and culturally diverse countries that I've ever been to. Turkey's history stretches back nearly 4000 years to the Hittites. The Byzantine and Ottoman Empires emerged out of Turkey and the history of these empires can be seen simply by walking through the numerous ruins scattered across Turkey. Culturally Turkey is unique due to the Eastern and Western traditions adopted by containing a border between Europe and Asia within the country’s border.

Turkey is an absolutely amazing place to travel (adventure styling or for the extreme history buffs), and I wish that I would have had more time to see a little more of what Turkey has to offer. However we did get a lot done in two weeks time. I went from having knives thrown at a wooden block placed squarely on my crotch to Scuba diving around a replica of the oldest shipwreck known to man.....come on and have a look at these events and everything that happened in between.

What happens in Turkey stays in Turkey??- Istanbul on my own 7/14 to 7/15
If anyone knows my friends and I, you'd know that Ben Willis coined the phrase "what happens in Vegas, goes directly to the internet!" I signed up for a two week BikeHike adventure, but I chose to come two nights early simply to get acclimated to Istanbul, and to wander around a bit on my own.

I arrived in Istanbul around noon on a Saturday, caught a lift to my hotel, and then I went around the old town, checked out some mosques got made fun of by some local Turks for writing in a diary, and I capped the night with of with dinner and some local entertainment (folk dancers, belly dancers, and a singer).

The next day I took a "Two Continents" tour, which was supposed to be myself, a few other tourists, a guide, and a driver, but it turned out to be just myself, the guide, and the driver. It was pretty awesome, they tailored the trip to me, so we got to go up to a beach on the Black Sea, and we did spend a lot more time in a van then I would have expected but they were pretty entertaining Turks. The trip ended with dumping me off at a carpet shop where they tried to swindle me in to a carpet purchase.

Let's get our BikeHike on: Here's the cast of Characters:
Here's the Group (more or less, we had too many guides for me to keep track of, so I'm going to have to leave them out (except Deniz):

Trish: Owner of BikeHike, lover of cats

Marc and Beth - Respectively bread-maker and bread-spender, not afraid to get a serious rub-down from small Turkish men

Jerry and Eileen - Engineers in the middle of a long distance relationship (Sacramento and Bagdhad)

Kristan - Does stuff that I don't understand with money

Peter - Probably could have diagnosed my recent broken ankle

Pelin - Our Turkish trip coordinator, and requester of "more air-conditioning please!"

Me - I'm Mike

Touring Istanbul with a retired Belly Dancer - Istanbul - 7/16 to 7/17
Snow Flower (a retired Belly Dancer) took us around the town. We walked through the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Underground Cistern, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar.

That night we had dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the Bosphorus straight and we met a friend of Trish's whom's name she thought was the Turkish word for hello.

The markets were a bit ridiculous. There were 1000's of shops but none of them had anything other than leather goods, carpets, silver or gold trinkets, touristy junk, jookahs, or t-shirts. I don't know why they needed so many stores to sell all the same stuff, but I guess it keeps people busy.

Everyone's "Crazy" in Mustafapasha (at least everyone named Mehmet) - Cappadocia Day 1 - 7/18

Even though Istanbul was an amazing city, and by far the most friendly and welcoming large (population > 10M) city that I've ever been to, I think most of us were ready to get a little more adventure in our life.

To do so, we hopped aboard Turkish Airlines and went to the region of Turkey called Cappadocia. Here we would mountain bike where one week earlier the European World Championships were held, Hot Air Balloon above one of the most geographically unique area in the entire world, ride horses for hours across the Turkish country side, and most importantly, find some amazingly delicious ice cream.



I honestly thought I would be dancing with a 68 year old man well before this - Cappadocia Day 2 - 7/19
The fun continues. Mustafapasha's Greek Hotel is an absolute gem. The food is amazing, everyone is friendly, they've got a ridiculously playful little white kitty, and then they made every effort to immerse us in their culture.



I have a hunch that I am mixing and matching days, but I really don't want to spend the time looking at people's clothes or the date/time of my pictures to figure it out........

Anyway, today we road our bikes all day. We stopped to eat lunch in the middle of a valley filled with fairy chimneys (the large natural penis looking things), and then it was back to the hotel for dinner and entertainment.

.........and then I discovered Turkish Ice Cream - Cappadocia Day 3 - 7/20
Now this is one thing I most definitely didn't know. Turkey has some amazing ice cream. In my opinion, ice cream is one of those things that you would categorize with sex and pizza, so even though all ice cream is good, this was exceptionally good ice cream. It was convenient that I was going through some extremely active days because I was on an ice cream binge. We're talking, putting down several rounds of ice cream a day and as many as 9-12 small scoops of multi-flavored ice cream per serving.

I don't think I would go back to Turkey for the rugs or the food, but for the ice cream, I would definitely have to think about it.

Now for this day, we went to an open air museum, toured a carpet factory, met an amazing little man that would get as many as 3 miles of silk out of one silk worm cocoon, and we did some more biking. The trip, definitely seemed to be building as each successive day was better than the last. That's saying something too, because the first day was pretty darn good.

........it's on - Urgup = Ice Cream - Cappadocia Day 4 - 7/21
I would have been a happy man if I spent all day, every day in this little open air restaurant that had the world's greatest ice cream........but, instead today we took a few horses out for a stroll. This was pretty spectacular, our horses were spirited but opedient, and my little guy just had to be in the front of the pack so it was extra fun for me. Afterwards we went to a pottery shop and Trish had arranged that each of us got a BikeHike bowl!! Thanks Trish, I haven't used it yet, mainly because I eat ice cream straight from the container. That's how you do it when you're a bachelor.

Up, up, and Away - Cappadocia Day 5 - 7/22
Our last full day in Cappadocia was a big one. We took to the air in a hot air balloon and then everyone whose butt could bare it after the pony rides hopped on our mountain bikes for one last ride.

I'll let the pictures do the talking for this. Enjoy.

A long drive and some Dervishes - Cappadocia to Antalya - 7/23 to 7/24
After 5 of the most amazing days of my life it was time to head for the Mediteranean Coastline. On our way we stopped to look at a fiery mountain (literally, it was all metamorphic rock that gives off CO2 gas that is constantly on fire), the home of the whirling dirvishes, and an old hotel.

In Antalya we hopped a late night cruise, drove to Aspendos and Thermosses, and then we headed up the coastline to Kas.

The four S's: Sea Kayak, Scuba/Snorkel, circumsision parties, and Sweating - Kas - 7/25 to 7/27
To my friends and I the four S's are something completely different but in Kas it went a little something like this:

Sea Kayak - couldn't beat it. Every day was over 100 degrees and it felt great to be out in the mediteranean paddling around the Sea looking at sunken cities, or taking snorkel pit-stops to look at what's going on beneath the surface.

Scuba - It was my first time actually scuba diving and it turned out I was a little bit of an Oxygen guzzler, but other than that things went well. We dove down to a replica of the oldest shipwreck known to man: a Bronze age ship nearly 3500 years old. There wasn't a whole lot of sea life but the ship was really cool.

Our stay in Kas was capped with a Circumcision party. Nope, not a member of the group, but as we were walking back to our hotel we all caught a glimpse of the celebration.

Goodbye to the sea and goodbye to the group - Kas to Istanbul via Antalya - 7/28 to 7/29
We left Kas early this morning. We drove to Antalya to fly back to Istanbul for our last night of fun (as a group) in Turkey.

We taxi'd to a restaurant and this little Turk selling devil ears didn't seem to be getting too many customers so Kristan and I helped the kid out and bought a set for everyone at our table.

I'm really in a hurry to finish this, so I'm going to leave it as is. It was a trip filled with great people, delicious food, beautiful geography, culturly diverse, and adventure abounds.....

Animals of Turkey
The one thing I found strange about the Turkey is that there wasn't much wildlife. It's not like I was expecting there to be wild turkeys running around everywhere (alright I was), but I figured there would be some weird things that I would only see in the zoo back home. Alas, this is what I saw.

Sweet Home Wisconsin!!
Sure I missed my friends and my family, and it's really nice to be back in the land of beer, cheese, and bratwursts, but all I have to say is GO CHECK OUT TURKEY FOR YOURSELF!! You won't regret it. I learned that I was as good as Turkish before I even left, as every day at lunch I would eat cucumber and tomato, I guess some things were meant to be.

$200 US Discount on September 08 Turkish Delight

With fuel prices soaring and the US economy suffering, we're getting aggressive with our pricing at BikeHike. We're offering a $200 US discount off of our “Turkish Delight” multi-activity holiday on the September 3-14, 2008 departure. The adventure kicks off in Istanbul, straddled in both Europe and Asia, and is "an exotic blend of fitness, adventure, culture and history."

Among highlights: walking tour through Istanbul to some of the world’s oldest and most popular mosques, markets and ancient palaces; and exploration of the fairy tale landscape of Cappadocia, and of course the Mediterranean Sea. Means of travel: bike, hike, horseback ride and hot air balloon, sea kayaking.

For details on our Turkish Delight visit http://www.bikehike.com/turkey/turkey_trip01.html

Cheerio,
Trish

Romania, Laos and Combo Vietnam and Cambodia, New BikeHike Adventures Trips for 2009

One of the best parts about my job is developing new trips all over the world. I truly love it. We choose our new trips by listening to you, our travellers, and where you want to go. I must admit, though, some of the new destinations we start trips in are because of my itch to get there. What can I say, it's just another one of the advantages to this exciting profession we work in.

On that note, we have three new trips and destinations coming in 2009, Romania, Laos and a combined trip in Vietnam and Cambodia. Here's a brief outline of the trips but stay tuned to our website because we'll be launching the pages very soon.

And if you have any questions, drop us a line or give us a call.



Romania, Transylvania Traverse
10-days, Mountain Biking, Hiking and Horseback Riding

Romania. The name alone conjures up iconic images of Count Dracula, Transylvania, the Carpathian Mountains and old world Eastern European culture. It's a country where Western and Byzantine influences meet, shepherds still tend their flocks, horse drawn carriages are more numerous than cars, and medieval villages retain their traditional character. On BikeHike's Transylvania Traverse we explore the South East of Romania by mountain bike, horseback and foot. We'll show you ethnic diversity from Romanians, Hungarians and Saxons to Gypsies, Ukrainians and Poles and we'll learn about their traditions and beliefs. We'll sample the region’s local cuisine and wines in the ambiance of a medieval castle, visit Dracula's Castle and hike and bike in the legendary Carpathian Mountains, the backbone of Eastern Europe. Our trip to Romania and the Transylvania Alps is an artful blend of active adventure, traditional culture, exquisite scenery and ancient history.

Dates 2009: May 22-31, June 26-Jul. 5, Aug. 7-16, Sept. 11-20, Oct. 9-18, 09
Price: $4299 (2 travelers) and $3799 (3+ travelers) Land Only


Laos, A Captivating Culture
13-days, Mountain Biking, Trekking, Kayaking and Elephant Riding

They say that variety is the spice of life and on this Northern Laos Sports Extravaganza, there is plenty of it. Our adventure starts and ends in the ancient royal city of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage site surrounded by forested mountains, the mighty Mekong River and golden Buddhist monasteries filled with chanting orange-robed monks. In 13-days we mountain bike into rural communities where time seems to stand still. We spend four days on foot, trekking high up in the magnetic mountains through Hmong and Akha hill tribe villages with overnights in family homes. We ride elephants through expanses of bamboo forests and float down the peaceful Nam Ou river in kayaks. This adventure to Laos is a trip into the past, to a quieter, less hurried time.

Dates 2009: Jan 18-30, Feb 15-27, Mar 29-Apr. 10, Apr. 19-May 1, May 17 - 29, Sept. 6-19, Oct. 11-24, Nov. 22-Dec. 4, 09
Price: $2299 USD per person Land Only



Vietnam and Cambodia, Active Indochina for the Deluxe Traveler
12-days, Mountain Biking, Hiking, Sailing and Sea Kayaking

This double dose of adventure in Vietnam and Cambodia is for those travelers wanting a luxurious experience in South East Asia. We stay in deluxe boutique hotels and on a Luxury Indochina Sailing Junk. The first eight days are in Northern Vietnam, kicking off in Hanoi, where we hike and ride cyclos around the bustling old quarter. We mountain bike through remote villages past mountainsides of terraced rice paddies, trek into the Sapa Region to see the colourful Dzao hill tribe and overnight in a cozy Eco Lodge high in the lush mountains. In Halong Bay we explore a labyrinth of limestone cliffs that rise out of the sea from the comfort of our sailing junk and in our sleek ocean kayaks. The last four days are in Cambodia, visiting Ankor Wat, the epitome of classical Khmer architecture. This 12-day ramble is loaded with comfort, culture, nature and adventure and is a sure bet to satisfy.

Dates 2009: Jan. 21-Feb . 1, Mar. 4 -15, Apr. 29-May 10, May 27-Jun. 7, Sept. 16-27, Oct. 28- Nov. 8, Nov. 18-29. Dec. 9-20, 09
Price: $3599 US per person Land Only

Digital Photography Tips: Part 1

Even though trip memories can last for a lifetime, we also recommend taking a camera with you on your adventure as another way to capture those special moments. Upon return home you can share pictures with your friends and family and make them jealous of the places you just visited, you can get them enlarged and frame them on your wall, or you can flip through them years from now and relive a part of the trip you might have otherwise forgotten. Below we have included some tips on how to take great photos with your digital camera.

1) Changing the ISO (International Standards Organization) Setting. This setting changes the sensitivity to light of the image sensor inside of it. The lower the number that you select (eg. 100 or 200) the less sensitive the sensor is to light and vice versa. A higher ISO setting means more grain in your pictures.

2) The Golden Rule of Composition is to keep the subject out of the centre. Use the Rule of Thirds when taking pictures.

3) Get in Close to your subject. Improve your people images by zooming in or getting close to your subject. Have fun with it. This is a good way to interact with the locals (if they don't mind their picture being taken). Smile and engage in conversation with them and then show them the photo after it is taken.

4) Fill the Frame. Move in close and think in two dimensions like the camera. We see in 3 dimensions and might not notice the tree coming out of someone's head.

5) The Quality of Light. Once you become aware of the quality of light in your scene you can become a fabulous photographer. Note the time of day, direction, colour, artificial or natural light, etc.

Happy photo taking,
Meghan

A Day in the Life of the Adventure Travel Industry

I truly feel blessed that I have one of the best careers in the world. People continuously ask "How did you get into adventure travel?" It's not the most common of jobs for many. So I thought I'd dedicate a blog topic to how I got into the industry.

From a very young age I had my nose in the travel section of the newspaper, even though I'd never been outside of Ontario until I was 17. My first trip was to the Bahamas, with a girlfriend. We booked on a two week soujourn, that turned into one month when we were invited to sail from Freeport to Nassau. From here, I became hooked.

Sadly my mother passed away very young, 46. She always wanted to travel the world, but never had the opportunity because she was raising children. Before she died she told me to see the world. She told me not to wait until tomorrow because one never knows what tomorrow holds. Those words of wisdom have made me what I am today. She was, and still is my inspiration.

At the age of 20 I set off for a 5 year trip, my goal was to work my way around the world. I started with a job in Vancouver, I'm originally from Toronto. I worked for 8 months at Expo 86. I had 3 jobs there, all tourism related, working day and night trying to make as much money as I could to fund my long journey as long as possible. It was here that I met so many interesting people who were heading to Asia and the Pacific and I got the inspiration to follow their tracks. I booked a circle Pacific ticket with 17 stops for $1500. Destinations included Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii and LA. I stayed for 8 months in Australia working and bunny hopped through the other countries, staying as long as I felt the need to.

From here, I was inspired to make it to Asia. My first destination being Japan. Now I heard that Japan was really expensive and for a backpacker, would have to find work quickly before the funds started to deplete quickly. My plan was to teach English. I bought second hand Levis from the Venice Beach in LA, and sold them to the first shop I found in Tokyo. The Japanese loved anything American in those days.

Japan was my first challenging destination because I couldn't read the street signs, the language was so very foreign from English and the emperor died when I arrived. The latter meant that the whole country stopped and it was impossible to find work during that time. I stayed one month, but my funds were depleting quickly so decided to head to South East Asia where my dollar would stretch further. I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and arrived just as the Thaipusam Hindu Festival was taking place. Wow, talk about culture shock. This festival is a fascinating religious festival that occurs annually to cleanse the soul. It's too indepth to write about here, but I'll perhaps dedicate a blog entry to it at a later date.

I found Malaysia difficult because of the festival, and as a young 21 year old, was overwhelmed when the locals were trying to touch my hair and get into my personal space. I didn't realize at that time that people in Asia don't have the same sense of space that we have in North America. One of the many experiences one encounters from venturing outside of our comfort zones.

I took the bus through Malaysia up to the south of Thailand and landed in beautiful Ko Phi Phi. One of the islands that was devastated by the tsunami. I fell in love in Thailand, not only with the country, but with one of the locals. This is where the cultural side of BikeHike was born. I stayed for two years in Thailand, living with the local people, as a local Thai. I was the only white person on the island of Koh Yao Noi in those days, so it was challenging, yet culturally fascinating. I lived like a Thai and really got to know the culture and the language intimately. It was fascinating.

I worked in marketing and sales for a sea kayaking company in Phuket for a good portion of my time in Thailand, as well as part time guiding.

After 2 years in Thailand I decided I needed the west so ventured south to Australia again and then made my way to LA where I worked as a fitness instructor for awhile.

Finally 5 years later I returned to Canada with lots of travel experiences under my belt and decided it was time to return to school and get the piece of paper under my belt. I studied tourism and fitness leadership for 2 years and as soon as I graduated got picked up by a couple of companies asking if I'd be keen to guide full time. One offer was in Thailand and the other Costa Rica. Now since I'd never been to Costa Rica, that was very appealing to me and that was the one I chose.

Although I'd never been to Costa Rica, the company I worked for knew that I'd had plenty of travel experience, which made me a desirable candidate for a job as a tour leader. It came easily with all of my international experience.

I stayed in South and Central America for 2 years, bouncing between countries guiding in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, Belize, Argentina and Peru. It was pretty heavenly while in my 20's.

In my late 20's it was time to be a little more settled, and have a place I called home, rather than just a suitcase so I returned to Canada and found work in another adventure travel company, this time in the office. That lasted one year. I learned a lot but soon realized that I had too much of an independent streak to be able to work under someone else. With all of my years of travel experiences and contacts that I'd made I decided to give it a try on my own. That was in 1994. It's been an amazing ride and I know that there are many fabulous years to come.

For those of you who are interested in following this path, my advise is to get out there into the world, experience, taste, meet people, network, let the wind blow you in the direction you are meant to be. That type of experience is what it takes to make it in this industry, first hand, hands on, life-altering experiences. You will be very valuable to any adventure travel company if you can show that you have lived abroad and experienced the world and the many exotic cultures.

I hope this little bit of insight is something that can help lead you down a very exiting path.

In the spirit of adventure,
Trish Sare