28 März 2010

Volcano Close-Up

Finally I got a volcano. A real one. And really close.

Walking over black lava rubble up the volcano to get close to the glowing red, super-hot lava was pretty exciting! Especially because we kept hearing some explosions behind the mountains of black lava stone.



And then we saw the lava stream, flowing fast downhill, making the air whir with heat.



The closer we got the more we could feel the heat and with the wind coming from the opposite direction we also caught a fair amount of sulfur vapor before we left the hot ground and made our way back to safer areas...



Thanks to Kaddi, Victor and Leah for taking me!

21 März 2010

NYC love



What an amazing city! New York is everything I expected and even more...

absolutely fabulous weather, blue sky and sunshine over Manhattan - what more do you want for your first trip to the big apple coinciding with a special birthday?

I was thrilled to see my favorite person again after more than two months and excited to meet up with very good friends who travelled all the way from Germany to celebrate with me!

there is sooo much to do and see in NY, so the days were packed with activities: a stroll in sunny Central Park, watching the St. Patrick's Day Parade on 5th Avenue, a boat trip to Staten Island, a visit to the Met, a walk over Williamsburg Bridge, a very special concert in Carnegie Hall, and lots of other fun things...

of course, time was too short... so I definitely have to come back to spend more hours inhaling the energy and exploring all the different parts of the most interesting city!



more pics to come soon

15 März 2010

Lima Lights

the easiest way to discover a new city is by bus. during dark, it is even more exciting!



I got to see the magical aqua park with all its fountains and a great light show







then the bus went on to the historic centre with all the beautifully lit-up buildings and lots and lots of balconies....





the lights really gave the city a very special, pretty touch and I absolutely loved it!



01 März 2010

surviving Santiago

the earthquake hit in the early hours of the morning and shook everyone out of bed by its force

luckily, the building was very solid and so no big damage was done but of course everyone was shocked and scared and only slowly realised what had just happened

I am really thankful for getting out of this without a scratch, but my thoughts are with those who were not as lucky as we were...