Author: Fred Bartman
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Rwandan Safari
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16 years ago, Michelle was getting close to finishing up her PhD program at UW-Madison. This would be a significant achievement and something she had worked 5 years to earn! She decided that to celebrate, she wanted to plan a trip to Africa and do a proper Safari. This was…
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Rwanda’s Traumatic History Has Not Stopped Them From Building Something Beautiful
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Rwanda wasn’t on our original list for this year. In fact, we were going to skirt Africa entirely – it has been on our life list for a long time, and we thought it would be a good stand-alone trip at another time. But then we met Sylvia and Jimi…
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South America Reflections – All 4 Bartman Perspectives
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We arrived in South America on August 17th and we left on September 18th. Over the past month we have spent a week in Guatape, Colombia, 3 weeks going through different cities in Peru, and 1 week in La Paz, Bolivia. Now that we are heading out of South America…
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It only took 3 weeks to do something stupid…Fred climbed a mountain!
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Disclaimer: It took a couple days for me to publish this story. I wanted to wait until after I was back safe to share with our parents, so it took a few days and phone calls before I could finish it. On the Bolivia Hop bus, there was a brochure…
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Our first land border crossing – Peru to Bolivia!
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The majority of our time in South America has been spent in Peru. That wasn’t what we set out to do, but with the PeruHop bus network, we had a way to move from town to town with minimal navigation on our part. It has been amazing – I would…
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Unveiling the Wonders of Machu Picchu and Sacred Valley
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Over the course of 2 days, we had an opportunity to explore the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. Both are tucked in the highlands of the Andes Mountains in Peru. On day one, our guide, Edgar (who was born and grew up in Cusco) brought us to 2 different archeological…
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Peru – A Country with Diverse Backgrounds Coming Together to Make Something Special!
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After Colombia, we have traveled to Peru. We are exploring the country by way of bus. We have tickets through a company called “Peru Hop,” a travel company that offers a ticket that allows you to get off and on for up to a year across their different routes. This…
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Fun Fruits
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Here in Guatape, there are all types of exotic fruits. A few blocks down from our Airbnb there is a big fruit stand. There were so many fruits to try it was overwhelming, so I’m going to tell you about my top three favorite fruits! First we have the purple…
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Running Around The World
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For those of you who don’t know me well, you might not know that I’ve never been a runner. I’ve been a fitness enthusiast my entire life. I love working out and I’ve trained a multitude of ways. From sports specific training to Ninja Warrior to CrossFit to Functional Fitness…I’ve…
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Exploring the Beauty of Medellín and Guatape, Colombia
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Colombia is a beautiful and diverse country in so many ways. We arrived in Medellín late at night, but it was easy to feel how much this part of Colombia was built into the mountains. The airport was just over 7,000 ft above sea level and our hotel in Medellin…