After we met again, we continued our travels together for another few days through Kosovo. During our time in Kosovo, we visited
Prizren,
Prishtina,
Peja (bordering Montenegro),
Brod (bordering Albania) and also some interesting cities in Kosovo including
Mitrovica (bordering Serbia) which is still actively segregated by Serbian and Albanian ethnic groups. When we were there, we could see the military guarding the line between the ethnic groups where the road was recently dug out by the local people.
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| Military guarding the bridge separating Albanians and Serbians in Mitrovica, Kosovo |
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| Road dug out by the locals between Serbian and Albanian ethnic groups in Mitrovica, Kosovo |
We then visited Ohrid and Skjope in Macedonia before heading back to Serbia.
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| Matca Canyon near Skjope, Mecedonia |
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| Ohrid, Mecedonia |
We stayed in Serbia for a few weeks before Sam traveled to Cyprus for a few days. After Kathi finished her course in Serbia, we met in Turkey and traveled across Istanbul, Fetije, and Cappadocia. Cappadocia was a magical place. We enjoyed the sunrise and the beautiful natural rock formations that reminded us of a fantasy land.
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| A nice park in Istanbul |
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| Saklikent Canyon near Fethiye, Turkey |
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| Sunrise in Cappadocia, Turkey |
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| Our hike through the wilderness from Göreme, Cappadocia to a nearby village, Uchisar |
After some wonderful time in
Turkey, we went back to Austria and stayed in Vienna for some time. During this time we traveled to Mallorca, Spain to attend the wedding of friends and also to Netherlands to visit some old friends of Kathi.
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| Mallorca, Spain |
After spending some time in Austria, we decided to travel a bit more around the world to other continents. We headed to Central, South, and North America.
We first went to
Guatemala, to
Guatemala City. From there we went to
Semuc Champey, a beautiful natural reserve. Then we stayed in
Flores and visited
Tikal national park and and the
Mayan ruins.
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| Semuc Champey, Guatemala |
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| Kathi jumping into the stream in Semuc Champey, Guatemala |
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| Mayan ruins in Tikal National Park |
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| Tikal Nationall Park |
From Guatemala we headed to
Yuctan, Mexico and spent some nice time there. We spent time in
Chetumal,
Tulum,
Valladolid, and
Cancun.
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| Independence day celebrations in Chetumal, Mexico |
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| Celebrating Kathi's birthday in Tulum, Mexico |
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| Kathi interacting with the dragon of Tulum |
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| Tulum, Mexico |
After Mexico we flew to Colombia and spent four weeks there. Four weeks was too little for us to explore this large country but we managed to cover most of the country from the highlands, to the desert to the amazon jungle. We first went to Bogota which was a nice cool city at an elevation of 2640m. It was a nice city with a lot of art everywhere.
After a few days in Bogota we went to Cali. It was nice to know the history of this place and also know that the people here consider their city as the capital of Salsa dance. Salsa lessons were offered in our hostel and we took a few classes and we loved them. While we were here, we went to a nearby waterfall and the nearby Jesus statue (
Cristo Rey).
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| Cali, Colombia |
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| Cali, Colombia |
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| Cristo Rey, Cali, Colombia |
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| Eclipse watching party in Cali, Colombia |
After a few days in Cali we went to Medellin. This is where we got engaged :) Even though we decided to spend our lives together a while ago, we did not officially get engaged. We said to each other that the day we find nice rings that we both like and find a place that connects with our hearts, we will get engaged. On October 2nd, we took the cable car in Medellin and went all the way to the last stop into the forest (
Arvi Park). As soon as we started our hike, we saw a local vendor selling two beautiful handmade rings. We tried on and we both liked them. We bought them for a few Euros, walked into the forest and found a nice spot and we exchanged the rings. We are now officially engaged!!! :)
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| The place where we got engaged!! |
After spending some time in Medellin we headed to North to Santa Marta so we could head to the desert region of Colombia, Cabo del la vela. We spent few nice days in Taganga near Santa Marta on a hill side hostel looking over the ocean and the city. Here we also met a wonderful Swiss-Colombian (Amazonas) couple who were living there and raising two kids on top of a hill in a house that they built themselves. We also made a quick trip to Tyrona national park while we were here.
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| View from our hostel in Taganga |
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| Taganga beach |
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| View from our hostel in Taganga |
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| Tyrona Park entrance |
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| Kathi taking a swim in Tyrona park beach |
From Santa Marta we went to Cabo de la vela. Instead of taking a taxi we wanted to try the way locals travels. So we took the bus from Santa Marta to Riohacha. Then we changed a bus to Maicao and got off at the cross roads at Cuatro Vias. From here we took got on the van of a local driver who delivers water, food, and gas to Cabo de la vela residents. This was an interesting ride on the back of the van with locals and also with some animals on board. The people on the van were from a local tribe called Nike and they were happy to see us on board. We had a nice time on the ride and also at Cabo de la vela for a few days where the desert sand meets the ocean.
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| Riding on the back of a truck to Cabo de la vela, Colombia |
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| Enjoying the beach in hot sun (Cabo de la vela) |
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| Cabo de la vela beach |
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| Sunset at Cabo de la vela beach |
From here, we went back to Santa Marta and flew to the south most town of Colombia, Leticia in the Amazon jungle. We spent a few days in Leticia but the highlight for us was a night we spent inside the jungle in small hut listening to the animal sounds all night. It was magical. We also met a local tribe leader who explained us a bit about their ways of living and life philosophy.
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| Kathi found a swing in the Amazon Jungle |
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| With a tribal leader in the Amazon Jungle |
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| Our food in the Amazonas (Salad, Sausage, fried bananas, tea with local herbs, and pancakes made of a tree root) |
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| Color on our face from a fruit and a basket made from pine leaves by our tour guide |
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| Walking through the thick jungle |
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| Our home for a night in the jungle |
After Colombia, we flew to the United States to the east coast to meet Sam's family and meet a few of Kathi's friends in New York. We had a very nice time there. Then we headed to the West coast where Sam lived for more than a decade to meet his friends and ex-colleagues. Overall it was a relaxing time in the United States.
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| California street, San Francisco |
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| Central park, New York |
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| Central park, New York |
Our last stop was India to travel and meet Sam's family. While we were in India we traveled to Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra to see Taj Mahal. It was a nice introduction to India for Kathi as it was her first time traveling to this part of the world.
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| Taking the Indian train |
From here we headed back to Austria, Europe!!
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