The Globe Microbe

13/10/2023

Welcome to the capital of Bolivia: La Paz! 🇧🇴

Photos 1-3-8: What's unique about this country, is the traditional dress code of the women here.👗 They're called 'Cholitas' and especially in La Paz you see them everywhere.

Photo 4: When in La Paz you should definitely take the cable car 🚊 to go to some of the villages in the mountains and to have a spectacular view over the city.

Photo 5: Curious about the zebras?🦓 These are students who are helping people to cross the street, since the traffic can be quite crazy here.

Photo 6: Be prepared, when you walk through the markets in La Paz, you will often see these dead baby llamas hanging around. They're the most important offer Bolivians make to the goddess of 'Pachamama' (Mother Earth) in order to bring them luck.

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06/10/2023

Isla Del Sol☀️

From Copacabana you can take a boat to go on a day trip to this small, but very beautiful, island. Lovely for walking around and taking in the amazing views. And if you're as lucky as we were, you might not even see many other tourists here!

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30/09/2023

The first place we visited when crossing the border from Peru to Bolivia, was the famous Titicaca Lake. It's situated in the Andes between the two countries, so you can choose to visit it from Puno (Peru) or Copacabana (Bolivia).

Did you know that this lake is the biggest in South America (8372 km²) and the highest navigable lake in the world (on 3812m)?

And, as you can see, it's absolutely stunning!😍

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03/07/2023

The Rainbow Mountain in Peru! Can you believe this place?!🤩

No filters btw (I promise😆), the colours are all for REAL. Definitely a must see when you're visiting Peru!

3 pieces of advice:
1. Don't go on a tour, but find yourself a bunch of fun people and arrange your own transportation. In that way you can go later in the day and have the place practically to yourself.👌

2. Make sure you're acclimatized before you go. The hike is not difficult but the top is around 5000m and you don't want to get sick in this magical place.😉

3. Don't only stop at the Rainbow Mountain, but go further to the Red Valley (photo 5-7), which is equally stunning.❤️

This day was definitely one of the highlights of our trip through Peru and possibly of our whole worldtrip!😍

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27/06/2023

Colca Canyon: hiking 3 days through the 2nd deepest canyon in the world!💪

Day 1: 5h of hiking, mostly downwards, to reach Llahuar, a small village in the valley with just 2 accommodations. We slept at the beautiful Casa Virginia (with hot tub and yummy food).👍

Day 2: 7h of hiking (rest & photoshoots included), gain an elevation of 700m and then make your way back down to the valley. You pass a beautiful cactus field. We slept at Oasis Sangalle with an amazing pool we had all to ourselves.😍

Day 3: early wake up at 4.30 to start the +1000m climb out of the valley, back to the starting point. Took us about 2,5h.

Another hiking adventure we can cross of our list!🙌

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24/06/2023

Another incrédibly blue lake in Huaraz, Peru. Welcome to Laguna 69.😍

This time you do have to hike to see this breathtaking view. The trail itself is pretty easy but since this lagune is situated on 4604m, it's the altitude that makes it challenging. But sooo rewarding when you get there!🤩

Thank you Mother Nature for all the beauty in the world.💙

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22/06/2023

Paracas, where desert meets ocean.

💙❤️💛

What a unique place!

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15/05/2023

1 YEAR OF TRAVELING AROUND THE WORLD!🤩🌎

A roadtrip through the USA 🇺🇲, being invited on a private island in Canada 🇨🇦, paragliding in Colombia 🇨🇴, wild water rafting in Ecuador 🇪🇨, witnessing Machu Picchu in Peru 🇵🇪, walking on the salt fields in Bolivia 🇧🇴, sledging down a volcano in Chile 🇨🇱, being amazed by the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina 🇦🇷, getting to see Cristo El Redentor in Brazil 🇧🇷, going to a Lucha Libre in Mexico 🇲🇽, driving a tuktuk in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰, exploring sea life in the Maldives 🇲🇻, seeing the famous Petronas Towers in Malaysia 🇲🇾, going to a K-Pop concert in South Korea 🇰🇷.

While...
Taking countless (overnight) buses, being amazed by the differences in culture, noticing that prejudices are often wrong, doing demanding hikes and being rewarded with the most incredible nature, meeting the greatest people and learning so much about the world. 💚💛❤️

But also...
Being alert in terms of safety, 1 phone that got stolen, not liking the local food, having (multiple) rough nights on a sleeper bus, struggling with the language barrier, encountering unfriendly people, cold showers, tons of mosquito bites, searching for affordable plane tickets, dirty toilets, cockroaches, experiencing your physical limit during a hike, agressive monkeys, hard mattresses, ...

But none of these (little) frustrations will ever make us dislike traveling. We simply love it and feel grateful that we get to explore the world in a unique way!🥰

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24/04/2023

Yes, the water is thís blue!!🤩💙

We had to spend almost half a day in a minivan on bumpy roads, but you forget all about it when you see this incredible landscape. Planet Earth is truly beautiful.🥹

Laguna Paron is situated on 4.200m but for this view you don't really have to hike. It's only a 15-20 minutes walk up the mountain.👍

If you ever go to Peru, make sure you don't skip Huaraz! It will take your breath away.🥰

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12/04/2023

Did you know that the 'Panama Hat' 👒 actually comes from Ecuador?

They used to call them 'toquilla straw hats' but with the construction of the Panama canal the demand went up and the hats became internationally known from Panama so people began to call it the 'Panama Hat'.

What do you think of our hats? Fancy, no?😄

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03/04/2023

One of the most popular treks in Ecuador is the Quilotoa Loop: a 3 day hike with as highlight the laguna crater of the Quilotoa volcano on 3.914m.

We crossed amazing landscapes and made great new friends along the way (humans ánd animals as you can see😅).

Every day we walked about 15km but the hardest part was that you first had to go all the way down to the valley and then back up to reach the next village. So very often it was more climbing than hiking (photo 9) which resulted in 2 exhausted globemicrobes every night (photo 10).😆 So despite what you might find online: this trek is nó beginners hike.

Nevertheless, we made great memories, new friends and saw some of the beautiful nature of Ecuador!💚

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07/02/2023

After the coffee tour in Colombia, we did a chocolate tour in Ecuador. Within the beautiful jungle of a small town called Mindo you will find the Quetzal company, producing the delicious Mindo chocolate.🍫

The tour starts with an explanation about where chocolate comes from, then you get a tour on the plantation (which is only for demonstration, since the real plantations are on the coast of Ecuador) and you get to see the fermentation and drying process. And then the best part: the tasting!🤤

We absolutely loved this tour and would recommend it to everyone traveling to Ecuador!😍

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05/02/2023

In Ecuador we did this amazing day hike around the incredible blue lake of the Cotacachi Ecological Reserve.

How beautiful is this scenery?!😍

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12/01/2023

Right across the border with Colombia, there's a little town in Ecuador called Tulcan. There's nothing much to see or do except for this quite exceptional cemetary, where they make these big, funny green sculptures.

Definitely a 'fun' - it's still a cemetary ofcourse - place to visit. Oh and btw, you can go there from Colombia and back without your passport (as long as you don't travel any further in Ecuador).

Which one is your favourite?😉

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29/12/2022

Where are all the coffee lovers at?!☕️🤤

When you're in Salento, Colombia, another must is to visit a coffee plantation and to learn about the process of this heavenly drink (or drug?)😊

We chose to visit the beautiful plantation of .

Did you know that coffee comes from a white flower (photo 2)? Then the bean starts to grow. First green, then red (photo 3). Only the red ones will be picked, to peel wash and roast (photo 4).

Btw, be careful with Colombian coffee. It's a lót stronger than the coffee you probably drink at home.😅

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26/12/2022

Happy holidays!🎅 Feliz navidad!🌲 Fijne feestdagen!🍾

May your home be as warm as this piece of paradise in Brazil.😊

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17/12/2022

Valle de Cocora, Salento. 🌴🌴🌴

With wax palms as high as 60 meters! You can choose to do a hike in this park, which will take you about 3,5h through meadows, jungle and ofcourse the valley of the palms. Be warned: it's véry steep going up or down (depending on the route you take).

Or you can only visit the main view points, where you can enjoy these spectacular landscapes.

Definitely a must visit when you are in Colombia! 🇨🇴

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🌴 😍

02/12/2022

Other than the colourful houses in Guatapé, you have these beatiful views over the lake side. We took these photos in the surroundings of the Piedra de El Peñol (photo 2), without climbing it, since we thought the views would be pretty much the same.

Isn't this place just gorgeous?😍

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24/11/2022

Already 6 months of traveling together and still enjoying it to the fullest. We feel that we're 'meant' to be doing this. It gives us energy, happiness and memories for life.

So dear friends, don't dream your life, but live your dream! Everything is possìble if you réally want it.

💛💙❤

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23/11/2022

Yes! We hebben nog eens een blog online gezet. Weliswaar nog steeds over onze (vele) avonturen in Amerika. Maar niets leuker dan wegdromen bij reisverhalen tijdens de grauwe herfst in België, toch?😉

Vele groetjes uit het zonnige Argentinië (en bijna Brazilië)!😘

Amerika is meer dan hoge wolkenkrabbers, de miljoenenbusiness van het entertainment, de vetmakende fast food industrie en uitgestrekte natuurparken vol wilde dieren. De oorsprong van hun cultuur situeert zich misschien in een iets minder ver verleden, maar dat neemt niet weg dat elke staat ons ieder...

05/11/2022

Cartagena, our first destination in our first South American country: Colombiaaaa! 🇨🇴

As you will notice on these photos, Cartagena is full of colour. Colourful buildings 💛, colourful streets 🧡, colourful people ❤ and especially - what Colombia is in particular famous for - colourful murals (aka streetart) 💚.

We can't say that this is not beautiful, but to be honest, we were not the biggest fan of this city. From afar it looks all very pretty, but from close you could often see that buildings are not really maintained. The people were not very friendly and there just wasn't much to do here.. Sorry for the critics that we are (probably too spoiled by now?😜) but we're just trying to be honest here.

What's funny to us is that apparently most tourists love this city. But we've noticed that our opinion differs véry often from 'what most travellers say or think'.😅

We were very excited about the sloth we got to see up close here though!!😍 (photo 3)

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01/11/2022

NYC, baby! 🏙

Our 2 month trip through the US ended in New York. Since both Tom and I had already been to the Big Apple, it was only a short stay with a couple of highlights.

A recap:
1. Just us posing on Liberty Island with the famous Manhattan skyline.
2. We were in the live audience of 'The View'! A tv show of ABC studios with Whoopi Goldberg as one of the hosts.🤗
3. For my 32th birthday Tom gave me 2 tickets to the Lion King broadway musical. The best musical we've ever seen!🤩
4 & 7. Can't go to NY without going to Times Square, right?!
5. The Vessel. A rather new and special building we visited for the first time here.
6. Lady Liberty
8. One World Trade Center with a beautiful sunset.
9. The Oculus train station.
10. The magnificent skyline at Brooklyn Heights.

When we compare to all the other places we've been in the US, New York is definitely not our favourite but since it's such an iconic place, you just háve to go there once in your life!😉

Are you a NYC fan?

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12/10/2022

Washington D.C. 🇺🇸

Where you can easily spend a whole week discovering and exploring all the amazing monuments / memorials and the grand museums, which are (almost all) for free btw.

What a beautiful city!😍

1. Washington Monument with the Reflecting Pool
2. One of the views from Washington Monument
3. Grave of John F. Kennedy at Arlington cemetary.
4. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetary.
5. The White House
6. Lincoln Memorial
7. Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
8. Jefferson Memorial
9. The Capitol
10. Library of Congress

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10/10/2022

The streets of Baltimore. 🇺🇸

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29/09/2022

America The Beautiful. De naam van de nationale parkpas is niet gelogen. De natuur van Amerika is overal ontegensprekelijk mooi, verrassend, kleurrijk, ongezien, gevarieerd, verbluffend en nog tal van andere adjectieven vol bewondering. Moeder Natuur strooide haar creatiefste meesterwerken hier gul in het rond. Tijdens onze roadtrip bezochten we een uitgebreide selectie waarvan we er een aantal graag in de spotlight plaatsen.

America The Beautiful. De naam van de nationale parkpas is niet gelogen. De natuur van Amerika is overal ontegensprekelijk mooi, verrassend, kleurrijk, ongezien, gevarieerd, verbluffend en nog tal van andere adjectieven vol bewondering. Moeder Natuur strooide haar creatiefste meesterwerken hier gul....

16/09/2022

Ooooh, Canada!😍

Thanks again Jay & Macie to invite us to your little piece of paradise. We loved it and can't wait to visit again!🤩

And ofcourse to see our new best friend, Dexter, again!😊 (photo 3)
hall

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12/09/2022

Jullie hebben er láng op moeten wachten, maar hier is-ie dan eindelijk: de eerste blog van onze wereldreis 2.0! Hoewel we intussen al in ons 4de land zitten (Peru), delen we toch graag onze avonturen van Amerika nog met jullie. Veel leesplezier en laat ons gerust weten wat je ervan vindt! 😊

Twee maanden lang migreren we door de Verenigde Staten. Het eindigt in een aaneenschakeling van “woooow” momenten, “coooool” kreten en “de max” herinneringen. We belichten met plezier enkele van onze ervaringen. Beginnen doen we met de Amerikaanse metropolen in het Westen.

03/09/2022

The Las Vegas Strip!

We all know these images from movies, but to see it in real life is another experience.🤩

Except for the casinos, Vegas is also famous for its amazing hotels and you can easily spend a couple of days just visiting all these places and being amazed by what they've created here.😯

Here are some impressions:
1. Hotel New York New York - with a rollercoaster going through the hotel.🎢

2. The 'plume ladies'. You will see lots of them at night. They try to pursuade people to take a photo with them.👯‍♀️

3. Roulette. Often the game where you will see the 'big bucks' being spent.🎲

4. The shows are ofcourse another huge activity in Vegas. Every hotel offers different (but all incredible) shows at night.🎭

5. The Grand Canal Shops in The Venetian. Every big hotel has its own shopping mall, where you can easily get lost.🛍️

6. Flamingo Hotel, where everything is in pink - and they have real flamingos (ofcourse).💞

7. The famous fountains of the Belaggio Hotel. A beautiful spectacle to watch!⛲️

8. Paris Hotel by night. Inside the hotel it réally feel like walking through the streets of Paris.🇫🇷

9. The magnificent hallway of Ceasar's Palace, the biggest hotel on the Strip.🏛

10. Luxor Hotel, where you litterally sleep inside a pyramid.🔺

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01/09/2022

Hello, beautiful. 🧡

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28/08/2022

The Seven Magic Mountains is an art installation you can find in the desert just outside of Las Vegas. It's supposed to be 'a creative expression of human presence in the desert'.

The only downside is that a lot of people have carved and written on it.

Still a cool art installation to check out when you're in Vegas!

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💜💛💚💙❤️

19/08/2022

Las Vegas, baby!🤩

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16/08/2022

This place is also part of Zion National Park, but is often forgotten since you have to drive for about half an hour outside the main entrance to get there.

It's only a short hike and the surroundings are beautiful. So make sure you don't skip this part when you go!

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15/08/2022

Angel's Landing Trail in Zion National Park.⛰

By far the most awesome hike we've ever done!🥾

First you walk up to a plateau and from there you climb (literally) to the top of the mountain. So cool! And very proud that we succeeded.💪

If you are planning to go to Zion, this is definitely a must! You do have to make an effort though because you need a permit to hike the trail (works with a lottery system).

For us definitely an unforgettable experience!😍

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06/08/2022

Bryce Canyon National Park.

With 1000s of so called 'hoodoos', formed through wind and rain. Another amazing scenery in another amazing national park.

America, you are beautiful!🧡

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01/08/2022

The mighty mountains of Grand Teton National Park. 🏔

Although we just traveled through this park - it's right next to Yellowstone - the Tetons are pretty impressive to watch. 😍

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28/07/2022

Yellowstone doesn't only have the most amazing geological wonders. You can also see a lot of wildlife, such as deer, squirrels, bison, pronghorns, and if you're lucky: bears!

And we were lucky.🤩 We saw 2 grizzly bears and 3 brown bears, of which one really up close (photo 2). So cool! And a bit scary as well😆

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