Travel Tidbits
We took an exhilarating, 2-hour white-water rafting trip down Chile’s Sarapiquis River during a December tour with Overseas Adventure Travel (800/221-0814 or www.oattravel.com). We were told the Sarapiquis was a Class III river (medium to moderately difficulty). We would experience a few minutes of rapid paddling on our trip interspersed with periods of calmly floating down the river. Many of us thought that, if these were Class III rapids, we were ready to challenge Class IV or V. The expert boatmen on our rafts made the experience seem easy. — MASAO MATSUMOTO, Arlington, VA
Despite what we’d previously heard about the dangers of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on our November ’04 trip we had no problems during the daytime walking on the stone walkway alongside Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, walking the backstreets, going to markets, etc. — EILEEN LAVINE, Bethesda, MD
In Ethiopia, a majority of the population is quite religious, and since the fourth century a large percentage has been Christian. In Ethiopia’s rugged and beautiful Rift Valley, Lalibela is the site of 11 rock-hewn churches built around A.D. 1200. These were cut down into the red volcanic tuff; their tops are at street level. To enter these churches requires walking over some very rough and steep areas. — NEVA ORTON, San Luis Obispo, CA
On an April trip to Ethiopia we traveled from Axum to Gondar, a 12-hour trip on rough dirt roads, through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Gorges extend downward up to a mile, and you have a view of the Simien Mountains to the south. This can be classified as one of the Great Rides of the World. — HARRY PEARSON, Cape Canaveral, FL
Tuck a copy of your itinerary, with dates and hotel info, inside your luggage tag or inside your suitcase so that if the bag is lost, you can be reached at your next destination. — CLAUDIA REED, Las Vegas, NV
One April evening at twilight, my husband, Marty, and I were at Ulu Watu, a clifftop temple on Bali, Indonesia, that has spectacular view and a community of mischievous monkeys who steal eyeglasses and jewelry. Marty didn’t heed the warnings of our guide and lost his eyeglasses to the quick hand of a monkey who then scurried down a steep cliff. A helpful local retrieved the glasses, unharmed, for a tip of $5. — MYRNA PLOST, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA