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(F)Rio de Janeiro – here’s the Cigar!


A dream was about to come true. Rio de Janeiro. Beautiful city of Caipirinhas, Samba, Carneval, Copacabana, Maracana, Sugarloaf Mountain, also of favelas, crime, street kids. The elder Breadbaskets were truly looking forward to getting there. The last day in Quito was really just an extended wait. The overnight flight via Lima to São Paulo and then from there with the equivalent of Easy Jet to Rio was a drag – but eventually we had arrived.

Exhausted family members at the Copacabana
After an overnight flight from Quito via Lima to Sao Paulo we took a domestic flight to Rio. Understandably, the Breadbaskets weren’t at their best when they sat down the first time on Copacabana Beach.

Despite being a tad tired it felt great to be there. I was surprised, though, how cold 20-26° Celsius felt. We rented bikes and cycled from Copacabana to Ipanema beach – the road side thermometer showed 26° and we all felt cold, really cold. But exciting it was. We were incredibly lucky and had a great flat at Copacabana Beach (strictly speaking it was Leme beach, which is the more quiet, North Eastern, part of the beach) – found on Airbnb at pre-Olympic prices. Three bedrooms and a huge balcony overlooking the beach was a nice change to the family rooms we shared on Ecuador (family room seems to be a euphemism for “standard room with too many beds”) – it was fantastic.

Copacabana from top
Copacabana beach is a dream – smack in the center of Rio. And despite the winter chill at 22°C the footballers, beach volleyballers and body builders were out there having fun.

Rio has got a lot going for it: first – it’s beautiful. Second – a lot of the inhabitants (they refer to themselves as Cariocas) are super nice: easy going, communicative, fun. Other inhabitants seem less nice; however, we didn’t come across any of those. We stayed away from visits to favelas – I guess the inhabitants of Munich’s Hasenbergl (whether it’s reputation these days is deserved or not is irrelevant; I could also use Berlin’s Wedding or Hamburg’s Rahlstedt) wouldn’t be too pleased about busloads of tourists coming out to have a look at them and I guess the guys in the favelas feel the same.

Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer. Since the weather was rather wintery it wasn’t too crowded up there. The Swedish part of the family felt good about knowing that the cement for the statue came from Limhamn, Malmö, Sweden.

I had a few experiences in my life where getting to an attraction was a bit of a disappointment – it felt like making a tick in a box and not like something really exciting. Not so Rio: Copacabana, Ipanema, Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf Mountain – all full successes. Rio is truly beautiful. Largely thanks to its superb geographical situation – the architects, certainly the ones that were responsible for the buildings along the beaches, did their best to neutralise the location advantage. They probably thought: why adding beauty to beauty – let’s have a crack at letting it appear boring.

Sugarloaf Mountain seen from Corcovado
Sugarloaf Mountain as Jesus sees it. With that view there’s no way the guy is going to ascend anywhere else.
Sugarloaf and the smaller Breadbaskets.
Sugarloaf – no Breadbaskets.

Unfortunately we will be missing the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio – I am sure it will be an unforgettable event for the athletes, certainly the beach volleyballers, who will fight for gold at the Copacabana.

Olympic Volleyball pitch at the Copacabana
Copacabana Beach being prepared for the Olympic Games 2016: must be great for the beach volleyballers to go for gold at the Copa…

So, Rio does it for me (and for the rest of the Breadbaskets – playing football and volleyball on the beaches certainly excited Max, Molly was happy to play in the sand and sipping Caipis at Ipanema was up Anna’s street).

Stunning selection of Bavarian beers in Rio
Rio’s got it all. Even cure for bad cases of homesickness. Since I have not been affected, I’ve kept to the Caipirinhas.

Uh, and one more thing: it seems that the Brazilians hold no grudges:

No grudges held at the Copacabana
Looking at this painting at a wall at the end of the Copacabana I guess the Brazilians came to terms with the World Cup ’14. Probably helped that the Argentinians didn’t get the Cup.

And, finally, I am always surprised when I have to realise how conservative (is that an euphemism for backward?) my home area is – the majority of changing tables there are still in the ladies’ facilities – whereas, at least, this shopping mall in Rio offers these restrooms labelled “Family”:

Family facilities in a mall in Rio
Excellent family facilities at the Rio Sul shopping mal. The toilet in front is a version for the little ones – ideally sized for a 3 year old. Exemplary.
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Quito – Close, but no cigar


After having spent almost two months at sea level I was quite excited about the prospect of travelling to an unknown city in the Andean mountains. Quito is beautifully surrounded by mountains, some of them exceed 4000m; the city itself is located just a few kilometres South of the equator at an altitude of over 2800m. Old Quito is a UNESCO world heritage site – all indicators that we should have fun. The arrival process, which in some places can be a pain in the backside (whoever arrived anywhere in India will know what I’m talking about), was super smooth: no taxi haggling, the car looked as if it was going to make the 40km into town, the driver spoke English well enough to have a conversation, the road into town was well built and devoid any potholes – it felt good. We rode through the narrow streets of old Quito towards our hostel – one beautiful colonial building after the next, the hostel was very nice – it felt excellent. Since we arrived late in the afternoon we didn’t have time to see much, but just settled and went towards the main square  (Plaza Grande) to the restaurant we’ve selected through the usual process of “lonely planetting” and being “trip advisored”. We were, of course, aware, that choosing a restaurant in the most touristic spot in the most touristic area, albeit recommended by fellow travellers, was risky business. But again, it started well: the place was located in a beautiful building (a former bandit’s a.k.a. Archbishop’s palace), the waiter was pleasant enough – so far so good.

Hasta La Vuelta Senor
The restaurant we’ve visited on our first night in Quito: Hasta la vuelta, Señor – the name is based on a horny priest, who used the church’s cross as his stepping stone to meet the girls. As the story goes, the big boss told him off and henceforth he’s been an asset to society (the priest). Didn’t happen with the priests that had a go at the little boys, lately, though.

Heck, I am rambling here, but I’m trying to figure out why a city, which has got everything going for it Continue reading “Quito – Close, but no cigar” →

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The Enchanted Islands


The Galapagos Islands were on top of Anna’s and my list when it came to planning this trip. We’ve stayed for two weeks with a five day cruise at the beginning and some free travelling at the end. The cruise was an interesting experience – we had the feeling that we were bringing down the average age on the boat by approximately 20 years (talk about stereotypes). That said, it was a marvellous experience with excellent, knowledgeable guides, some great snorkelling with sea lions, turtles, rays and sharks and a lot of excursions at places which we otherwise wouldn’t have reached. The whole archipelago is a national park with limited access for visitors, who are only allowed to visit designated locations and only in company of an official Galapagos tour guide (they call them naturalists there). Watch the little clip to get an impression of what we could experience.

Obviously, the individually perceived highlights varied: Molly loved the baby turtles, Max fell in love with surfing and Anna and I were awed by being able to see (strange) wildlife so close across the board. Despite a few hundred years of contact with human beings the local animals have managed to maintain their fearless approach to life – on one hand due to the fact that hardly any animal has natural predators in the area, on the other hand it seems that the numerous visitors, which have been streaming in over the past 10 years (estimated about 200,000/year), have managed to behave themselves. That leaves hope.

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The Classic Cars of Cuba


Ooph – over two weeks in Cuba generated quite a backlog of experiences to report on! That meant that we were over two weeks offline, since getting an internet connection in Cuba is not exactly straight forward. And getting a working internet connection is pretty much a lottery – when I eventually was sitting on a workstation in an internet cafe it took me forty (40) minutes to complete our online check-in for the flight back to Panama City.

In the meantime we have arrived in Quito, where internet connections exit, but the quality of the connection is somewhat late 90’s. Enough rambling, backlog #1:

I’ve heard a lot about classic American cars in Cuba and expected to see the occasional vehicle. I was not prepared for the fact that virtually every car that was on the road in 1959 when Castro took over is still in use! At times it felt as if more than half of the cars on Cuba’s streets where classics. Interspersed with the occasional Lada, probably a subsidy from the happy times when the Soviet Union was Cuba’s main supporter, and a few Japanese and Korean automobiles. We’ve seen hardly any luxury cars – I recall a newish Mercedes E Class and an Audi A4.

Classic Car XIII
Our trusted Ford, which brought us from the Bay of Pigs to Trinidad and from there to Varadero. Ford chassis, Fiat engine, Mercedes gear box, Hyundai transmission – Cuban mechanics are creative in working with what they’ve got.

All the cars are in full use. Most cars date from 1952-1959, Continue reading “The Classic Cars of Cuba” →

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San Blas – Island Dreams


After a long and exciting winter we felt it was time to experience a different type of dream and went sailing in the San Blas islands. An archipelago with, some say, 365 islands, governed by the more or less autonomous Kuna Yala people sounded intriguing. Islands, we felt, are best experienced by boat, so we found  a beautiful catamaran, captained by a experienced sailor from Nelson, BC – just two hours South of Revelstoke.

Panama Railway on the way to Colon
The Panama Railway from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast in around an hour. In a panorama carriage – that surely requires to wear a Panama hat.

The trip from Panama City to San Blas gave us the opportunity to take the famous Panama Railway along the Panama Canal – a wonderful one hour train ride from Panama City to Colon. From there we took a taxi to Puerto Lindo, where Captain Pete was waiting for us with the 47′ catamaran “Isleña”, a beautiful, spacious boat, which became our home for an exciting week. Continue reading “San Blas – Island Dreams” →

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Three and a half months in Revelstoke


It’s been almost a year ago that we’ve chosen Revelstoke as our first destination of our round the world trip. We’ve been sitting on a balcony in Italy late in May 2015, looked at the various candidates and thought: let’s go to Revelstoke. Our criteria? Decent skiing (well, Revelstoke boasts the highest vertical drop in all or North America – check. Four lifts? Hmmmm.), a proper village (the population is a bit less than 8000 people – check.), good schooling for Molly and Max (three elementary schools in Revelstoke – check.)  and affordable accommodation (we found a place to stay on Airbnb for an acceptable rate – check). We got in touch with schools and skiclub with very encouraging exchanges – it started to feel good. Nevertheless, we tried to manage our expectations, particularly with regards to the ski resort (thinking if it’s not that great we can still hop around to other places) and had hopes that we and the kids would meet a few nice people.

Boy, were we up for a surprise! We arrived on Friday, the 18th of December 2015. Saturday was a training day at the ski club, so Max was quite keen to meet the boys and girls he was going to ski with for the next few months. I drove him to the hill and met his coaches: Gill, Filip, Ben and the two Mikes from Ontario and Austria. The following day was Molly’s first training day and we met a whole bunch of people from the ski club and other parents. Pleasantries were exchanged with a few “uh, we have to meet up for dinner/beer/skiing” – I took that for the usual make-you-feel good, but unfortunately rather superficial approach of your typical US American. Little did I know that Canadians are different! Much different! Phone numbers were exchanged and when we came to the ski hill on Monday it took just a few minutes until the first SMS arrived: “You at the hill? Wanna meet up?” – ‘course we did! That was when Darrell gave us a first rated tour around Revelstoke Mountain Resort and we got a first impression of the incredible possibilities on this ski hill. Anna and I were so delighted – we couldn’t believe our luck. Everything was there: enormous amounts of snow and great skiing all around with everything from wide pleasant meadowy lines to steep, narrow couloirs. But – above all: an incredible friendly, enthusiastic, ski crazed community, with all people open, fun and – my impression – happy with their choice to live the ski life in Revelstoke. Thus, my little review starts with the aspect, that I loved most here – the people! Shendra and Chris arranged a fantastic farewell BBQ for us at their incredible place right at the Columbia river – and all our friends, who we had the pleasure to meet in this quarter of a year in BC were there!

Farewell BBQ I
Farewell BBQ, hosted by Shendra and Chris. Beautiful location, spring evening – couldn’t be nicer to say “See you soon”.
Farewell BBQ II
Saying Good-Bye to our friends from Revelstoke with BBQ and fire.

It was quite hard to leave Revelstoke after this intense period – our little family had grown to a very relaxed and happy team with a fun driven life powered by new friends and an incredible ski hill. Continue reading “Three and a half months in Revelstoke” →

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Panama City – First impressions


The Breadbaskets were sad when it came to leaving Revelstoke – but I won’t ramble on about how much we liked this incredible place; I’ll leave that to a later post.

That said, after almost three and a half months the Breadbaskets jumped into the bad ass truck, drove back to Vancouver and hopped onto a plane to Houston to catch the connecting flight to Panama City. Well, not quite. Bad ass truck – check. Drive to Vancouver – check. Thanks to an overly qualified member of United Airline’s ground staff, who, within a little bit less than 45 minutes, managed to figure out that the reason why she could not check us in was our missing ESTA application (that is an online pole dancing session every visitor to the world’s most paranoid nation has to perform so that all aspects the visitor’s life can be scrutinised – I hope you notice my desperate attempt to stick to British spelling. The strip has to be performed even if you don’t want to visit the country, but just change plane in one of its airports. Did I mention that you get asked whether you intend to commit terroristic acts in the land of the free? Hail Drumpf!) we missed our flight to Houston. Thus, we flew to San Francisco, from there onwards to Houston, stayed overnight and caught the connection to Panama City in the morning of the following day. What an unexpected piece of travel adventure! Or unnecessary?

Anyway, eventually we’ve arrived in Panama City – and we like it! Our choice of hotel, the TRYP Wyndham Panama Centro, was fortunate – a very pleasant place with a superb roof top pool:

Relax at the roof top pool
Much desired pool session after a chaotic trip from Revelstoke to Panama City. The little Breadbaskets are happy, the big ones, too.

The next three days we spent exploring the city and relaxing at the hotel pool, which was a good balance between the elder Breadbaskets’ curiosity to explore a new country and the younger Breadbaskets’ desire to play and swim. Travelling with kids is “slower” than our pace from old times. Experiencing the kids curiosity, astonishment and puzzlement is very rewarding, though. Equally rewarding was our first visit to the Panama Canal: Continue reading “Panama City – First impressions” →

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Three flying boys


When I was 10 years old I thought a 6-seater gondola was the most luxurious way to access a ski hill. Max, on the other hand, being used to 8-seater chairlifts with a bubble and bottom heating, has discovered a much more interesting way of getting onto the mountain:

3 boys in a heli
Three excited boys (from left to right: Reed, Max and Parker – all in in their red Revelstoke Ski Club jackets) getting a lift in a helicopter to access fresh powder.

Parker’s Dad managed to get them onto a CMH helicopter – the opportunity of a life time for the three lads Continue reading “Three flying boys” →

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Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks


Yup, folks – yet another race weekend for the Breadbaskets. This time we had been hyped up by our local friends: the Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks was supposed to be a lot of fun for racers and parents.

Sun Peaks Ski Resort
Sun Peaks makes a good attempt at looking like an Alpine village. Quite successful, actually, on this bluebird Saturday morning.

And a lot of fun it was: over 500 kids came together, starting on a bluebird Saturday to compete in four skills events: skier cross, speed trap, jump and moguls and a glalom (that’s a mix between giant slalom and slalom with slightly tighter gates than a GS – two runs with combined time). Organisation was perfect, the event rolled along very smoothly: the bigger kids competed in the skills events on the Saturday and had their two run combined time glalom on Sunday, whereas the younger kids fought it out in the glalom on Saturday and the skills on Sunday. And that’s what it looked like: Continue reading “Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks” →

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