March 2004

March 04, 2004 - 9:48 p.m.

So we have been enjoying the beach on the coast of Chile with Tom, Dave and Scott. We arrived on Monday after a day of driving through a crazy rain storm and since then we have had beautiful days and lots of sun. We have been both surfing and kayaking on the wicked point breaks that they have here (supposed to be some of the best waves in Chile). We only have two kayaks (as Mark and I have sold all but one kayak in Pucon) so we are taking turns catching sweet rides as well as taking some good poundings. Dave and Tom have rented some surf boards and are slowly figuring that out. The tourist season is over in Chile so all the people have returned to Santiago and the beaches are sparsely populated and no one is fighting over waves. A good way to spend our last few days in Chile.

Pichilemu

Scott, Dave, Tom, Michelle and Mark with Norman

March 11, 2004 - 4:50 p.m.

So Mark and I have had a crazy week. We dropped Dave, Scott and Tom off in Santiago on Saturday afternoon after a few days of surfing at Pichilemu. Then we started to head north...we pretty much drove straight to the Peruvian border, stopping to sleep and eat, as well as check out a few tourist sites. We arrived into Peru on Tuesday (2000+ kms away from Santiago) and got into Tacna. We were told that this town would be a good place to sell the car...later that afternoon we were a little bit richer but Normanless. That night we got on the bus to Lima and arrived there the next day in the afternoon. Spent a couple hours in Lima and took off to Houston at 1 in the morning. This morning we arrived in Tampa and we are going to visit Mark's mom and get ready to begin phase 2 of the journey.

Chilean Coast

The plan for phase 2 is to get a car, get some kayaks and make our way over to California to do some paddling and visit some family as well. From there we will make our way up the coast to Vancouver (paddling and visiting) and finally back over to Alberta.... so we should be home in May/June.

For us it's a little crazy that we are out of South America, that we sold our van (and we are already missing him terribly...how we would have liked to take him home). It's going to take a little time to adjust....caught myself this morning speaking in Spanish to the lady at the cash register. This past year has definitely been one of the best in my life...so full of memories. South America, and especially Chile, holds a special place in both Mark's and my heart and we are going back one day.

March 21, 2004 - 8:54 a.m.

We have been in Florida for over a week now and of course the shock of it all is wearing off......back in a concrete jungle!! So OK there aren't any potholes or 1 lane roads filled up with three lanes of traffic, instead it’s 6 lane megahighways crammed full of fancy suv's!! In order for us to find a new car we had to drive all over the place, and being stuck on the interstate because there is just too many people was beginning to wear our nerves thin.

Still Florida isn't all that bad (thanks to my mom spoiling us), however what we did manage to find is a beautiful Nissan pickup truck without the signs of any harsh winters or rust whatsoever.......we are cleaning it up today and adding some accessories. By Wednesday Michelle and I hope to be on our way up to South Carolina.

March 27, 2004 - 4:34 p.m.

So Mark and I have made our way to North Carolina. We stopped in St. Augustine to check out the beach and then we drove straight to Greenville to pick up his new boats from Dagger. We had to go try them out so we drove up to Asheville and hooked up with some friends. So yesterday Mark did one run down the Green in his new Nomad and then we stopped off at Liquid Logic so that I could pick up my new play boat. This morning Mark and I did the Upper Green and then he went off to do the narrows again. We plan on staying here for a few more days, doing a bit of paddling and catching up with friends before heading west.

St. Augustine