The Birthday....

I had given some thought as to what I might post for my birthday installment, but whatever I had come up with will now be replaced by a quick summation of last night's events. Something we're both ashamed of but hopefully resulted in the expulsion of a demon from ourselves.

As promised to my faithful drinking partner in crime from Canberra - you know who you are, I managed to hunt down some Jim Beam for the nights celebrations (actually a pre-birthday night out as it was a Saturday). After drinking ourselves into oblivian and getting fired up talking to an American about Sept 11 we (being Lucas and I) stepped onto the street to go and check out a Colombian discoteque. When I discovered that my wallet wasn't in my pocket and I concluded that it was lost/stolen, the pent up frustrations of getting ripped off and losing or getting things stolen over the 4 months (or possibly my entire life) and lack of a gym or sport as an outlet for my energy, all welled up inside me and I cursed and kicked and punched a door or wall (not sure which, but there is paint on my shoes). When Lucas tried to restrain me I shoved him away in anger and we let loose with a tirade of insults at each other about every possible topic, then it was on.

With both us needing to vent our frustrations and subconsciously realising that fighting each other was probably the safest option we belted each other around in the street for a certain period of time before the police arrived and I was handcuffed and lead to the paddywagon, fortunately I was conscious enough to talk my out of it and explain we were just having a friendly scrap. We then went to bed (possibly before midnight even) and woke up this morning covered in scrapes and bruises, also to the request that we vacate the premises at our earliest convenience, so we slunk out with our heads hanging in shame to a new hostal, and are now recuperating. All is reconciled now as we don't even know what the fight was about and are laughing at ourselves about it.

As I said, hopefully the event was the explusion of a demon that had been with me for at least some of my 24 years, and I can begin the 25th (I suppose technically it is the 26th given that the first year is year 0 until you are 1) having done one of those things (ie. one of your best mates and you trying to beat the hell out of each other) that you probably need to do once in your life and won't need to do again.

The Colombian experience thus far....

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes, I'll make sure I raise a glass to each of you tonight.

As for Colombia it's been a mixed experience so far. To be honest we were glad to get out of Peru as the huge extent to which tourism has infiltrated the country has created a society cynical towards tourists and deft in the art of separating them from their money - any goodwill always came at a price. The boat ride from Iquitos to Leticia was comparable in some ways to the first boat ride from Yurimaguas to Iquitos, but quite different in other respects. The main differences (all negative unfortunately) included an engine so loud that it prevented the possibility of playing the guitar or talking without screaming, added to this was the storm we managed to sit amidst the entire journey with howling winds making conditions icy (in comparison to the sweaty days gone by), and finally was the condition of the toilet/shower that I think has contributed to my internal organs finally being totally liquidated and released in panic stricken dashes to bathrooms.

However, that wasn't really part of the Colombia experience so I'll return to that theme (I'm getting confused now as to whether I'm writing this as a journal for me or more as column - I think it changes depening on the style of book I'm reading at the time - currently a book consisting of articles by a journalist on the Bosnian war). The first impressions of Colombia was that people were actually helping us with nothing (directly) in it for them. In the afternoon we managed to get ourselves onto a cargo plane loaded with frozen fish (no room on the military plane). Never before have we been able to stand behind the pilots during the entire flight, including take-off and landing, including a nerve testing experience of our entirely analog operated jet descending rapidly through clouds and Andean peaks with zero visibility, expecting to suddenly come face to face with a sloth as we plunge into the side of a mountain. But as it happens we made it onto the tarmac without a glitch.

The downside of the experience was partly our own fault for not reading our Lonely Plant thoroughly enough. Our taxi driver refused to take us to our desired hostal claiming it was extremely dangerous and we should stay at this other cheap hotel in a safer part of town (which also happened to be stone throw from the airport), he then proceeded to charge us three times what we should have paid and we spent a self-admonishing night in a hotel twice the price of the hostal we wanted. Which is trouble for me as I'm down to my last $500 - donations will be accepted. Oh and I lost my passport. yay. Not such a drama as I'll just go to the embassy.

Although this morning we got a decent brekkie into us and got to our desired hostal, great place and cheaper and we are slowly warming up to Bogotá after last night's frustrations.

On a side note, although many may relate Cocaine with Colombia, Peru is actually the Cocaine heart of South America. They grow coca mainly in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru and then manufacture it in Colombia and to a lesser extent Bolivia, before it is shipped mostly into Peru for all the gringos to snort (literally every town is trying to throw the stuff at every white person in sight). Any danger related to cocaine is from startling the manufacturers (who are actually quite hospitable to travellers not seeming to pose a threat).

Sit down in the boat!

Boat to Leticia - Take Two. Headed down to the port yesterday only to discover the boat won't leave until today. So it's three more days of hammocks and dubbed Van Damme movies until we arrive in Leticia (Colombian side of the tri-border area with Brazil and Peru). Got a tip-off this morning that if we go and meet 'crazy ivan' at 'el sabor' in Leticia he can help us get onto an early morning military plane to Bogotá. Will keep you posted on that one.

In other news Lucas has managed to upload some mp3's of South American pop that has literally become the sound track for this trip, click the title of this post to go and listen. Every cafe, club, radio station, anything is constantly playing these songs and we're are now addicted to them as much as the next man or woman here. I won't even begin to describe the film clips, particularly for Za Za Za, I'll just leave it at girls in minimal attire.

I've also got two new links, Videos and Music, only two videos due to being such large files.

Rod - I was also suprised when the guys insisted that we hold onto their heads, I had envisaged a couple of big friendly snakes sitting calmly on our shoulders, not a furious anaconda and a boa that the handlers ran away from as well.

Eleanor - I am considering changing my name to Atreyu and calling either Lucas or my backpack - Falcor. The Neverending Story rocks

The Amazon Jungle (click title for pics)

First of all, thanks to Megan and Fuzz for obliging my comment fetish. Secondly - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Thats what my brain was saying as I gripped onto a very angry Anaconda as it did its utmost to free itself from my grip and bite me in the face and finish coiling itself around my neck. The Boa was a tad friendlier and the sloth was like a docile faced long armed teddy bear that just wanted a hug. Summary of what happened.....

Day One:

After getting onto what was known as the 'slowboat' we piled into a long wooden (roofed thankfully) canoe with an outboard motor resembling a whipper-snipper. After an hour of cruising down the main arm of the Amazon we suddenly veered into a very narrow tributary that required a chap at the front to prod us away from the river bank with a long stick. Upon encountering a fallen tree blocking our path we leapt out of the boat with a couple of chaps and after nearly being swept away managed to push the tree downstream far enough to let the boat pass. After arriving in our little village we dropped our gear in a hut and went for a walk along the river learning about the uses and dangers of a large number of riverside flora. After a swim with the piranahs to wash the sweat off and a dinner of jam sandwiches we jumped into a canoe, similar to one that sank that afternoon, and took a night time paddle down the river looking for something to scare us, nothing unfortunately. Mosiquito nets that enclose a hammock are the greatest invention known to mankind, you are transported into a tranquil world when inside one, and plagued by insects of every shape and size when not in one. Luckily we had them and slept like two sweaty logs.

Day Two:

Jam sandwiches and coffee for breakfast and we set off deep into the jungle. After four hours of walking, sloshing, balancing, falling and annoying sleeping tarantulas we stopped at a creek for some piranah fishing. Out of nine little fish we caught one genuine piranah, two big teethed little fellas, a couple of catfish and two randoms. Three hours back to where we had dumped our hammocks and it was time to sleep until dark before setting off a pitch black trek looking for snakes and tarantulas (yay!). Only one mid-sized tarantula that got away before we could catch it (what a shame), and a group of howler monkeys in the trees above our heads, who made an amazing noise. The it was time to escape into our mossie nets again and try to sleep to the sounds of 10 types of cricket (is that the right spelling?) and cicada, plus the tiger frog that growled all night, the few different monkeys letting off the odd scream and the drone of mossies and beetles dying the get through our net and destroy us.

Day Three:

A 5am wake up turned into a 6am wake up and departure. A 5:30am breakfast turned into a 6:30am conversation with some drunken men (one of them being our guide). A 30 minute boat ride to get our breakfast turned into a 3 hour boat ride crammed into slowboat with 50 sacks of oranges and other fruits, then a 30 minute trek in the midday sun with all the gear before collapsing in a wooden hut for 30 minutes as the rice was boiled for our lunch/breakfast. The worse things seemed to get the more I was enjoying it, had everything gone to plan it would have been very uncomfortable in the heat and sweat after not showering, eating or drinking for 20 hours in the jungle, but anticipating where the next glitch might come and seeing how many more monkeys and sacks of oranges could be loaded into our already overflowing boat was a far more interesting experience. Finally we got into a 'barco rapido' - speed boat and headed across the river to have a go shooting darts with a blowpipe, good fun. Then the part I had been waiting for the whole time arrived - Serpentario. A small zoo would be one of describing it, but really it was a bunch of pets that we were`playing with, including: Anaconda, Boa, Caiman (croc), prehistoric turtle, other turtles, monkey (great little mate, just wanted to be cuddled), some sort of baby tiger (didn't catch its name), and the sloth, plus there was a puppy that seemed to be an interesting cross of shitzu and another mongrel. I am preparing myself for some snake nightmares tonight, although I think I went someway in allaying snake fears as they put them on the ground in front of us after we handled them and I felt very comfortable (until the boa took of towards me, and I quickly leapt out of its way, which wasn't so cowardly I realised when the locals were dodging it too until it was finally caught again).

So much more to say about jungle life and its contrast to our cosy little lives in our towns with nothing to scare us except our own imagination and how little one needs to survive etc etc. But I think everyone knows that deep down already and we don't want to admit to ourselves the excesses to which we live or we might guilt ourselves into giving up some of our comforts - and who wants to give up their TV and sofa? hmmmm.

New photos!

Been a while - or it feels like it after two days of buses and three days of boats, can't complain about the boat though, was a luxury cruise compared to what we were expecting. Lying around in our colourful Bolivian hammock reading and playing the guitar waiting for our next meal to be served (only three a day, the worst part) or the next Van Damme movie to be shown (seriously they have an obsession with the man). The boat kept up a decent speed as were travelling downstream, which meant a cool breeze wafted through the windows unless we pulled up to the river bank to load on more bananas or cows.

Anyhoo, we finally got ourselves organised this evening and have uploaded the photos onto the gallery, quite a few new ones as its been a while, going as far back as Lake Titicaca (seems like a lifetime ago - about a month I think, have lost track of time and space, no just time, although we are keeping a close eye on the calendar now as the dreaded D-day (D for departure from Miami) draws nigh. There has been mention of a slight extension again so that we don't feel the pressure of rushing through and missing things.

Isla Del Sol and Lake Titicaca
http://www.lucas.intercate.net/gallery/copocabana

Cusco and Lima
http://www.lucas.intercate.net/gallery/cusco

Mancora and the boat trip up the Amazon
http://www.lucas.intercate.net/gallery/mancoramazon

We set off on a three day jungle tour tomorrow of anaconda wrestling and paddling with piranahs and all the other interesting creepy crawlies. Anacondas and tarantulas will certainly be a test for me given my distaste for their company in general. Did I mention we are in Iquitos. If not, thats where we are, its the largest city in the world that is not accessible by road, only by boat and air. We will return here after the jungle tour when we will take another long boat ride to the Colombian town of Leticia on the tri-border area with Brazil and Peru. From there we aim for Bogota, how? Who knows. We'll figure it out when we get there.

Don't forget, make comments on the website and photos, it makes us feel like people are checking them, which has its comforts.

Suerte amigos.

Sun, Surf and Sand - Mancora

Has been a while since the last report I filed on my findings of the environment and inhabitants of the Southern American continent. After a night or two more of excessive indulgence in Cusco we crammed ourselves into a less than luxury bus to Lima. After 20 hours of nearly freezing to death (despite wrapping myself in my hammock) we arrived with no idea how long we would be waiting for our new credit cards to arrive (had been mailed to family friends). Fortunately after three tiring nights out (come on it was the weekend!) and one night of deep sleep, the cards arrived. Within hours of their arrival we had booked ourselves on the next bus to Mancora and caught a taxi to the outer suburbs of Lima and back again to collect the cards. The taxi ride is deserving of its own seperate post, but I need to go to the bathroom so I'll leave it at a single paragraph....

The Taxi Ride.

If I were to make a highlight reel of this trip with sections of it being in a Quentin Tarantino directed theme, I would include this ride. The scene: Rush hour in Lima with just over an hour to get to and from La Molina (outer suburb of Lima). Leaving Lucas on guard with the bags at the bus station I leapt into the smallest and dodgiest looking cab I could hail (usually cheaper the worse they are). Upon giving my instructions that cab driver crossed himself and did a hail Mary (I thought maybe I might need to as well, but resisted) and then rocketed the vehicle into the throngs of traffic surging along the main arterial route of Lima. It is hard to describe the noise and adrenalin of driving at 120kmph through what appeared to be a traffic jam - some cars were stationary while others including ourselves were weaving across all 5 lanes (plus additional merging lanes) at maximum speed. The death defying stunts continued at full throttle until we screeched to a halt at the desired destination. All of a sudden I was surrounded by the tranquil sounds of a little waterfall and quietly twittering birds. After a collecting the cards and having a chat with the family friends (a incredibly lovely British couple) I was again transported back into the world of speed and noise as we lurched off again into the ever thickening traffic. Needless to say we arrived back at the bus terminal in one piece and just in time to throw my bags on the bus for the 18 hour ride up to Mancora.

Have been resting and relaxing here for two nights so far with a few more ahead(depending on whether the surf picks up or not). The days involve eating fruit, exercising, swimming, playing classic catches, writing and playing our guitars in our hammocks. Haven't taken many photos yet, but will get onto that. We're still pondering the logisitics of how we'll get to Iquitos for the amazon leg, most likely via the amazon, just a matter of catching a bus to the nearest river faring town. We'll see.

The Alternative Trail to Macchu Picchu (photos)

Let it be known that on the second day of the fifth month of the sixth year of the third millenium L Klausen and N Hirst dominated Macchu and Huayna Picchu. And it was told as follows...

The last website post briefly mentioned what we were anticipating to be our alternative trail to Macchu Picchu. It was similar to what we expected. The 70km downhill mountain bike was actually 115km of biking rivalling the worlds most dangerous road for danger, speed and incredible cliff drops. Camping night one was a relatively comfortable experience despite nearly being mauled by the seemingly rabid local dogs every time we walked down the street.

Day two was a six hour hike through more breathtaking scenery (we are actually starting to tire of the breathtaking stuff as there isn't much more breath to be taken away and we probably aren't as awe struck as we would/should be). With a two hour stopover in some hot springs to relax the muscles before the final push through to the small village of Santa Teresa. One of the best things about this alternative trail was the lack of a tourist presence, stopping in the small villages and eating lunch with the inhabitants was a highlight.

The plan for day three was to create our own track up a mountain. This was expected to take 2 hours of steep climb while hacking at the bushes with a machete and using cigarettes to smoke out the venomous snakes (so we were told). But after some consultation with a man who was so drunk he had wet himself our guide decided that the climb would take closer to 6 hours before we reached the top of the mountain and we aborted the plan. So day three ended up being quite a relaxed affair with a shower in some freezing waterfalls before a two hour hike to the hydroelectric plant and train station for the final shunt into Aguas Calientes (the small town at the foot of the final walk up to Macchu Picchu). The guide who was allocated to show us around Macchu Picchu the following morning met us that night and advised that we should commence the walk up the stone stairway around 5am so that we could be at the top for sunrise around 7am and meet him there for a guided tour.

The Big day...

After our group was dressed and breakfasted we were on the track by around 5:45 and had reached the foot of the Incan laid stairs up to Macchu Picchu. At this point Lucas and I decided to up the tempo a bit and managed to storm up the steps in 25 minutes. It was an aerobically challenging climb but the lack of altitude in comparison to where we had been made it a lot easier than it could have been. After a wander around and a look at the sunrise we decided it was time to climb Huayna Picchu (the peak overlooking Macchu Picchu) and hoped that we might be the first to the top. As we reached the foot of the climb we noticed a ant trail of Japanese tourists already over half way up the recommended 1 hour climb, so again we put the foot to the floor and literally ran the whole way up in around 15 minutes - passing the huffing and puffing climbers as fast as we could we thought that we had made it to the top first, but to our horror and dismay there was a lone Japanese man sitting on the top, so we collapsed at the top and admired the view until the peak was like a rock in the ocean covered in seagulls (aka tourists).

By the time we arrived back down at Macchu Picchu we were totally and utterly exhausted and decided that our quads couldn't face the walk back down. The bus back down from Macchu Picchu to Aguas Calientes cost $7 US, far above our price range, so we ran the whole way down, waiting for the bus each time the track and the road crossed and then dashing down to the next crossing to meet it again. For me this was the highlight of Macchu Picchu, how often do you get a chance to race a bus down one of the worlds most famous steps!

Neither of us found Macchu Picchu to be that breathtaking. The bus loads of tourists and the ease with which the place can be accessed really discounted the experience for us. After feeling the isolation and wonder of places like the Salar de Uyuni and the peak of Huayni Potosi, this place felt more like a theme park where American tourists can wander around eating Doritos and beer (literally).

Back in Cusco now and catching the overnight bus to Lima tomorrow. Am STARVING!! A great local market around the corner I think I'll go and patronise now.