2 weeks @ home

We are almost 2 weeks at home now and bit by bit we are put back together
and are transformed to Dutchies again. Leaving our country is not that
difficult, we unsubcribed from the global register (GBA) and stopped
all subcriptions and arranged automatic payments for our mortgage. We were
lucky to rent our house. Once you leave the country, the Dutch tax authorities
go after you to settle accounts, but once you settled this, your only
connection with the Netherlands is your Dutch passport and the family and
friends you left behind.

Coming back is somewhat more difficult, and I don't mean entering the country,
as the customs are easy, remember you still have a Dutch passport. Our house
was redelivered to us and empty and clean. The next day, we went to the town hall
for our registration. We thought this could be done instantly, but we were so wrong.
Since you come from abroad, they need to check your background, where you
come from, and whether or not you have a criminal record or are listed
anywhere else where you should NOT be listed. On top of that we have
summer holidays here in Holland, so before we were registered as permanent
Dutchmen, and passed the "inburgeringscursus" (LOL), we were 13 days later.
In the meantime you are sort of illegal person as without this registration
you are NOT allowed to apply for an insurance, you are unable to register
a car or anything else in your name, you can't work, and you can't even
pay taxes, basically you are a non-existent person.

Yesterday the authorities were able to enter our registration again and
slowly we are built up from scratch again.

Back home...
It is a weird feeling after being a year on the road and not to wake up near
a vulcano or another extraordinairy view or place, but it also feels
like a warm bed. We met friends and family again and try to get into normal life.
The kids are doing great, like they have not been away. They
are running in and out, stay and play with friends and grandparents and taking
parts in all kind of activities. Somehow it seems that they totally
forgot what we did last year, but then all of sudden they are talking about
something we saw or did and are explain it to their friends. Fantastic
We ourselves are organizing our house and jobs again. As per Septemner 1st,
Marco will return to his previous job at Flinter Shipping and Hanneke
is networking at the moment. We will work on our blogs and photo's and our
valuable stuff we have and want to publish on our website.

For now we will enjoy a bit our remaining summer hoilidays here in Holland
where the last 2 weeks we got loads of rain, wind and 17-20 degrees Celcius,
nothing to get excited about....

End of the trip

Today we delivered our camper to the port of Zarate for transport to Antwerp on the Grimaldi Lines. We will leave South America in 2 days, the camper around August 16th...Tomorrow we planned some fun for the kids at the childrens museum in buenos aires
(http://www.museoabasto.org.ar/)
We love to see our family and friends again but it is with pain in our hearts that we say goodbye to our travelling life. Hopefully we will be able to do it again sometime.

Cyriel's Run

(English below...)
Midden april hebben wij jullie gevraagd te sponseren voor het goede doel, nl Cyriel's Run.
Cyriel's run is gehouden op 15 mei ter nagedachtenis aan het overlijden van Kim's klasgenootje op 7 jarige leeftijd vorig jaar 15 mei als gevolg van een hersentumor. De kinderen uit Kim haar klas en de rest van de school ook hielden een sponserloop. Kim kon hier uiteraard niet aan meedoen, maar heeft wel uitdagingen aangegaan tijdens ons verblijf op de Galapagos. Vele van jullie hebben gesponserd en hebben daarmee bijgedragen aan een totaal opbrengst van deze dag van EUR 15002,49 allemaal ten goede van Stichting Semmy welk onderzoek doet naar deze vorm van kanker.

Wij willen jullie allemaal bedanken voor jullie bijdrage !!!!
Hieronder een impressie van de dag die de kinderen in Nederland op school hadden.
De foto's met uitdagingen van kim komen zo spoedig mogelijk op onze website
Marco, Hanneke, Kim & Tycho

(free translation :
Mid April we asked all of you to sponsor charity, in this case Cyriel's Run. Cyriel's Run was held on May 15th in memorial of Cyriel Rijsdijk, Kim's classmate who passed away last year on May 15th due to braincancer. The kids from Kim's class and the school organized a sponsor run. Of course, Kim couldn't join this run but she had some challenges during our stay at the Galapagos. A lot of our friends and family have contributed to the total amount of EUR 15002,49 of this day. This money will go to 'Stichting Semmy', a charity which finances the research of the specific kind of cancer Cyriel had.

We want to thank you all for donating!!!
Below you will see an impression of the day the kids had at school.
The photo's of the challenges Kim had will be on our website soon.
Marco, Hanneke, Kim en Tycho

Kim as pilot

We flew from Puerto Villamal (Isla Isabela) to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (San Cristobal) and our daughter Kim was co-pilot. She enjoyed it and could even try the steering gear....We safely arrived now she wants to be a pilot !!!

Galapagos animals

The Galapagos host numerous species in a protected environment. Unfortunately we have not booked a multiple day tour otherwise you be able to visit the more remote islands and see even more animals, but sofar we have seen many animals. Below a few
Tomorrow we will move from Isabela to San Cristobal for more ...

Today we went diving on the Galapagos Islands, around North Seymour. No hammerhead sharks, but we did see white-tip reef shark, Galapagos Sharks, Black-tip Reefsharks, turtles, barracuda's, ground eels, and a lot more. The kids went snorkeling and thought they were swimming in a aquarium
and now they want more.....

Good Friday Processions at Cuenca

Yesterday we visited the Good Friday Processions in Cuenca, Ecuador, unfortunately in pooring rain, but it was interesting to say how Easter is celebrated here.