Countries Visited

Svalbard Spain United States of America Antarctica South Georgia Falkland Islands Bolivia Peru Ecuador Colombia Venezuela Guyana Suriname French Guiana Brazil Paraguay Uruguay Argentina Chile Greenland Canada United States of America United States of America Israel Jordan Cyprus Qatar United Arab Emirates Oman Yemen Saudia Arabia Iraq Afghanistan Turkmenistan Iran Syria Singapore China Mongolia Papua New Guinea Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Malaysia Tiawan Philippines Vietnam Cambodia Laos Thailand Myanmar Bangladesh Sri Lanka India Bhutan Nepal Pakistan Afghanistan Turkmenistan Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Japan North Korea South Korea Russia Kazakhstan Russia Montenegro Portugal Azerbaijan Armenia Georgia Ukraine Moldova Belarus Romania Bulgaria Macedonia Serbia Bosonia & Herzegovina Turkey Greece Albania Croatia Hungary Slovakia Slovenia Malta Spain Portugal Spain France Italy Italy Austria Switzerland Belgium France Ireland United Kingdom Norway Sweden Finland Estonia Latvia Lithuania Russia Poland Czech Republic Germany Denmark The Netherlands Iceland El Salvador Guatemala Panama Costa Rica Nicaragua Honduras Belize Mexico Trinidad & Tobago Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Haiti Jamaica The Bahamas Cuba Vanuatu Australia Solomon Islands Fiji New Caledonia New Zealand Eritrea Ethiopia Djibouti Somalia Kenya Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Madagascar Namibia Botswana South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Zimbabwe Mozambique Malawi Zambia Angola Democratic Repbulic of Congo Republic of Congo Gabon Equatorial Guinea Central African Republic Cameroon Nigeria Togo Ghana Burkina Fasso Cote d'Ivoire Liberia Sierra Leone Guinea Guinea Bissau The Gambia Senegal Mali Mauritania Niger Western Sahara Sudan Chad Egypt Libya Tunisia Morocco Algeria
Map Legend: 28%, 75 of 263 Territories

Monday, August 17, 2009

Questions

One of our loyal readers, whom we will call AJ, asked the following a while ago and we're just getting around to answering (paraphrased): 1)Do we carry a suitcase full of cash with us? 2) Do we have to buy bottled water everywhere? and 3) Why did we choose to go north through Guyana rather than starting in Georgetown and going south?


All great questions. We did bring a lot of cash, mostly because of the Venezuela black market situation. Between the two of us, we had about 1200 dollars, mostly in Pacsafe money belts. These are normal nylon belts with a zippered compartment down the back. Unlike a normal moneybelt, it is nearly impossible to notice anything extra. We did not think that finding ATMs in most countries would be a problem, but that has not always been true. Entering Guyana, we found no ATMs until Georgetown and really depleted our cash. In Suriname, they had ATMs, but almost none took Visa (it is not where we wanted to be) and most of the ATMs were out of cash. In hindsight, we probably should have brought more cash.


We filter all our water with the filter that we brought. At first, this worked really well. The filter clogged after about 30 gallons rather than the promised 150 though and is now very slow. We are hoping the second filter is better. If not, we will reevaluate carrying a filter, but we hate having to rely on finding stores and then wasting all the plastic bottles (that normally end up in the river in South America).

The choice of routes through South America was determined in part through roads and borders. Guyana and Venezuela don't like one another because of a territory dispute, so you can't go from Venezuela to Guyana.

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