Earthoria Travelcasts

I made this podcast around Easter on a 1500KM road trip from Barcelona to the Basque Country (País Vasco), then on to the beautiful Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees. The trip takes in various locations including San Sebastian, Bilbao, Mundaka, Biarritz (in France), Torla, the Cola de Caballo trek and Cañón de Añisclo.

Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (in Spanish Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido) has been included since 1997 by UNESCO in the Biosphere Reserve of Ordesa-Viñamala. It is also part of the cross-border Pyrénées – Mont Perdu World Heritage Site.

In this podcast, Tom talks about what he has done since leaving Argentina in July 2008. Coming to Spain to set-up a web-based business from Castelldefels, a small town just to the south of Barcelona.

This podcast, some of which was recorded on Castelldefels beach, includes the following:

- Some information about Castelldefels

- The motivations for starting an online business

- About the business - www.ivozi.com

- What it's like living in Spain

- Aims for the future.

- A short chat with James, his business partner and author of the 'Tools of Fluency'.

This podcast was recorded over the three weeks I spent volunteering at an Eco Yoga Park near General Rodriguez, 60km west of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Run by Hare Krishna devotees, and known by its other name Nueva Vrindavan, the Eco Yoga Park proved to be a wonderful break after nearly 8 months on the road. At only US $12 a day for food accommodation and yoga and meditation classes, it was also great value.

Show notes

As it's a longer podcast than normal, I thought I'd include a summary of contents with approximate timings:

0-7 mins - Introduction, temple sounds, why I came to the Eco Yoga Park
7-9 mins - Temple Service sounds
9-19 mins - Interview with Svayam, a Hare Krishna Monk/Devotee
19-21 - Hatha Yoga session
21-29 - Tour of the Eco Yoga Park grounds
29-39 - Inteview with Jameson & Laura, two volunteers
39-44 - Sounds, music....

Visit www.earthoria.com for the photos and videos

This podcast is part one of a series of two podcasts I’ll be making in Southern Peru, and it begins in Lima in the Plaza de Armas. I then head down underground into the catacombs of Monasterio de San Francisco - the old cemetery of Lima - and resting place of an awful lot of bones. I then head to the coast at Miraflores, and to the super cool Larco Mar bar complex.

The following day is museum day, with trips to Museo Larco Rafael Herrera - home to 50,000 pre-Colombian pots, and a fabulous and famous collection of erotic ceramics, and later on to the ‘main’ museum in Lima - Museo de la Nacion.

Following Lima, I get a bus 9 hours south to Nazca and take a rollercoaster flight over the Nazca lines, then head on another 10 hours South to the beautiful Colonial town (and UNESCO World Heritage Site) of Arequipa 2300m up in the Andes where I visit some frozen 500 year old Incan ice mummies in Museo Santuarios Andinos, and finish the podcast in the incredible 16th century ‘citadel’ Monasterio de Santa Catalina.

This podcast will be followed by another podcast from Southern Peru in the next couple of weeks covering the Colca Canyon, Puno, Lake Titicaca, and Cusco, followed by a long stay helping to develop an Eco-yoga community in the Sacred Valley outside Cusco, where I hope to finally get a chance to learn and practice yoga, and also learn about eco-building and organic cultivation.

This podcast covers Northern Peru, starting at Chiclayo I head out on a tour to the 1500 year old Moche ruins at Sipán. Following this, I head three hours down the coast to the town of Trujillo, where I visit the Chimu city of Chan Chan, the largest Adobe (mud) city in the World and around 1300AD home to 60,000 people.

Just outside Trujillo, and near to Chan Chan are the Huacas (sacred places) of the sun and moon - Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol. These structures are also Moche adobe pyramids from about 800AD, and Huaca del Sol is the largest single pre-Colombian structure in Peru - built from an estimated 140 million adobe bricks.

I finish the podcast in Huanchaco, 12km north of Trujillo. Huanchaco is a fishing town of about 12,000 inhabitants, that has now become well known thanks to three things - its reed fishing boats, its lovely beach and its fabulous surfing.

Join us on another travel podcast as we head south from Popayan and the San Augustin Valley of the Statues in Colombia down to Ipiales on the border with Ecuador and the miracle center of Santuario de Las Lajas. Following Colombia, we head to the famous indigeous artisans and livestock markets at Otavalo in the Ecuadorian Andes, listen to some indigenous bands, and finish the podcast off in Quito, the old colonial capital of Ecuador.

We made this podcast on a 6 day boat trip upriver from Manaus in the Amazonas region of Brazil, to Tabatinga, on the Peruvian / Brazilian border.

In the podcast we discuss how to find a boat in Manaus (Brazil), the costs of river boat travel, hammocks Vs. cabins, being a vegetarian onboard (and general food options), and the risk of malaria and using anti-malarials like Larium. We also report live after our boat suffered a break down and started drifting downstream out of control!

Visit Earthoria Travel Podcasts to see photos and videos of this river boat trip.

Founded by the Spanish in 1533, Cartagena is Colombia’s and possibly Latin America’s finest Colonial city, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Shortly after it was founded it became the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast, and was used to store gold and other treasure plundered from the Indians before it was transported back to Spain.

In this podcast we discuss finding accommodation in Cartagena, we record the sounds of the old town at night, and finish off with a discussion sitting on top of Castillo San Filipe – the largest Spanish fort built in the Americas.

Earthoria Travel Podcasts

Podcast made from Panama City Old town and the Panama Canal at Miraflores lock. Join Thomas and Tina in month 4 of their Latin America travels & listen to the sounds of Panama...

In this podcast you will hear the sounds of the docks, a street musician, some street performers, the Panama Canal and we discuss some of the ‘personal security’ issues you need to be aware of if you decide to visit Panama City (following the robberies of two friends in a week).

Sounds only. It is coming to the end of the dry season, and Chiang Mai has just
been subjected to several weeks of intense heat, hardly relieved at all
this year by Songkran, the water festival .
It has been so hot that I have started to find it quite difficult
living here. A good night’s sleep has become a thing of the past, and
you find yourself sweating around the clock - you wake up damp, and go
to bed damp. Not very pleasant at all!

Last night the weather finally broke, and the sounds you hear in
this audio file are the sounds of the first storm following this build
up. I’m happy to say it’s now gray with temperatures probably back
around 30 degrees again! Bring on the rainy season!

Pai (pronounced 'Bai') is a small town in northern Thailand about 140KM north of Chiang Mai on the main Chiang Mai - Mae Hong Son route. Years ago Pai was a quiet market village, mainly inhabited by Shan people, but nowadays it thrives on tourism thanks to its arrival on the 'backpacker map' of Northern Thailand. Nowadays both Thai and foreign tourists are making their way to Pai in droves - the numbers of Thai tourists has increased dramatically since 2006 after Pai featured in two popular, Thai-made romantic movies. There are also frequent music festivals held in Pai - including the Pai Reggae Festival that also features briefly on this podcast.

If you are a foreigner living in Thailand, you'll probably be familiar with the concept of a 'visa run'. Depending on what visa you enter Thailand with, you may be required to leave Thailand after 30, 60 or 90 days. There are a few points that you can do this, but two of the most common are the crossings at Mae Sot and Mae Sai. Both these crossings require that you walk over a bridge, enter Burma and get your passport stamped.

This month I decided to do my crossing at Mae Sai as it can be done in one (albeit long) day from Chiang Mai. 13 hours later I returned home.

Last week I completed a long, 1483Km motorbike trip with my sister Laura through Northern Thailand.

Starting from Chiang Mai, we headed North East through the mountains to Mae Hong Son (via Pai), before heading South about 650KM along the Thailand/Burma border via Mae Sot to our final destination - Umphang. Surrounded by national parks and wildlife reserves (and classified as a UNESCO World heritage site), Umphang is one of the most beautiful but least accessible districts in Thailand.

Join us on a road trip to the wild sunflower fields of Doi Mae U-Kho in Northern Thailand (Mae Hong Son province). The sunflower fields bloom during November and early December, painting the entire mountain of Doi Mae U-kho in gold. The flowers are also known as Bua tong in Thai or Golden lotus and are actually Mexican sunflowers. This podcast includes a stop off in Mae Sariang and a visit to Ob Luang National Park.