Pura Vida, Mañana Mañana and other useful phrases...

Homecoming

2008-03-24T17:21:46-07:00

So this is it.

Glen and I are leaving South America tomorrow and finishing our amazing eight month odyssey.

Wow. What a journey it has been. For us, the first four months in Costa Rica have been about discovering ourselves and our capabilities, and learning about living and interacting in a group. Also, it has been a challenging experience as we learned how to speak a new language for the first time, and use it every day with local people.

The last four months in South America have been all about adventure and experiences. Whereas the first four was about exploring ourselves, the last four was about exploring what exciting wonders and amazing sights the world had to offer. Each experience that we have had, we all thought `This is fantastic, I love this, I will cherish and remember this forever!` until the next experience comes up and the memory of the last fades away in the childlike wonderment and awe of being in the moment of the present.

It does make me a little sad to think that we are now going to return to our normal lives and the memories of this trip will begin to fade. After all, it is our memories that will keep our adventures alive in our minds and remind us to continue living our lives day to day with the same enthusiasm as we have had reserved for travel. I only hope that when we get back to our lives, we will apply the lessons we have learnt in our daily lives so that I can feel that our travels have indeed enriched and changed our lives. It would be such a waste if we fall back into the same patterns of domesticity as we did before we left - I would hate that the only souvenirs we have from the past 8 months would be thousands of photos and a whopping huge credit card bill.

Just a brief update from what we have done since Puno (which was two weeks ago - sorry for being so slack!).

We went from Puno to Cusco - the Incan capital of Peru. Glen and I fell in love with the city straight away. It was cobblestones, and Incan architecture, and green plazas, and street vendors, and fancy bars and restaurants, and old churches and monasteries, and 500 year old walls, and history on every street corner all thrown into this fascinating melting pot of a city. I regret not taking too many photos of this city - I think I needed a bit of a break from shutterbugging and just wanted to enjoy the city. Most of the time, Glen and I would have a big breakfast at a nearby cafe, and spend the whole day walking around the streets exploring and soaking up the atmosphere.

We spent a free day in Cusco before leaving to begin the Inca Trail. This was yet another amazing experience for us. The Inca Trail is a four day trek through the lowlands of the Andes to Macchu Picchu, a preserved ruin of a city built five hundred years ago, but was never lived in. Because of the city`s inaccessability, the Spanish were never able to find and pillage it for Spain, thus leaving it virtually untouched until being discovered within the last century. The Inca Trail was breathtaking. It was definitely the best trek I have ever been on. We walked on average 4-5 hours a day. Day one was fairly easy, walking through small towns and valleys, passing few Incan ruins along the way. I found the trek very doable and suitable for anyone with a moderate fitness level. We had walking sticks, and were thoroughly spoilt by having thirty porters accompany our group on this trip. The porters were carrying our bags, tents and cooking equipment and did everything from setting our tent up for us before we got there, to providing us with three course meals at breakfast, lunch, dinner and even a snack or two in between.

The second day was my favourite day. It was actually also the hardest day as we panted our way through Dead Womans Pass, an ascent going up 4200m. The views were stunning. I was distracted so many times looking back at the valley falling beneath me. Sometimes the landscape would be obscured by the cloud and fog, and then as if by magic, would clear away like a giant curtain to reveal rivers running through the mountains like blue ribbons, and llamas in the fields.

The third day was long but manageable. Throughout the whole trip, we would stop and explore ruins on the way, and our guide Julio would stop and tell us stories about the places that we see.

All in all, it was a great and rewarding trek - with the prize of seeing Macchu Picchu at the end. This was certainly the ruin to end all ruins.

Anyway, since returning to Cusco, we spent two more free days exploring the city, and then travelled the rest of the way to Lima, stopping to camp for the night at a beach resort, and then the sand dunes of Huacachina for a wild desert party. My head still has not really stopped throbbing after the latter!

Today, Glen and I spent our last day in South America wandering around Lima, doing some last minute shopping and reminiscing about our last eight months. As sad as I am to leave, I am definitely happy and ready to come home.

I remember reading a book called Zen and Travel once. It was very much one of those wanky table top books but there was a quote in it that stood out for me.

¨Coming home is just the beginning to another adventure.¨

See you soon!

Love you all,

Sandra

More on Bolivia

2008-03-05T19:32:17-08:00

First sightseeing stop in Bolivia was Potosi.

A little bit of background history, in the early 1700s a llama farmer sat down on a large hill for lunch. After putting out his campfire, he noticed a streak of silver in the ground. This hill became known as Cerro Rico (Rich Hill), and would go on to fund Spain's conquests over the next two centuries with its abundant lodes of silver and other precious minerals. The town Potosi boomed with this find, and within 25 years, its size rivaled London and Milan back in the 1700s. Sadly, once the silver ran out, growth of the town stopped and fortunately, the presence of tin was enough to keep the mines afloat for awhile. After the market was overflooded with tin exports, Potosi was unable to keep their boom going and have been stagnated ever since. Right now, the mines in Cerro Rico are still open for other ores but the conditions in these mines are absolutely shocking. There are now 15000 miners working there, most of them there for 15 hour days and work only using basic tools and dynamite. The average lifespan of a miner is 33 years, and most of them are expected to die of silicosis pneumonia within 10 years of them starting in the mines. There are also children as young as 12 years old who start work on the mines, following their family's footsteps. It is really sad, and we were able to take a tour of the mines to see the dark and dank environment that we live in. It was hard to breathe as we were at a high altitude, and there was dust everywhere. Before starting the tour, we went to the miners markets to buy presents for the workers. You can buy coca leaves, alcohol, crackers, and believe it or not, dynamite and fuses! The coca leaves are for the miners to chew on, which staves off hunger and fatigue while they are working. As there are no bathrooms in the mines or anything, the workers only eat once in the morning, and then when they get home late at night. Hence the need for the coca leaves! The alcohol is 96 per cent proof, and commonly drunk on a Friday night (Friday drinks are universal, yay!!) completely undiluted. The miners are very superstitious and believe that if they drink their alcohol pure, they will find their minerals pure. Of course, it doesn't help if they are completely pickled on a Friday night and prone to falling off the steep hill, but I am not about to question the tough coca-chewing, pure alcohol-swilling miners.

After Potosi, we headed to Uyuni which was a definite highlight for this tour. This town is close to Salar de Uyuni, ie the Salt Flats. This was an unbelievable landscape of white salt as far as the eye can see, framed with a clear blue sky. Because of vastness of the flats, you can take some fantastic pictures playing with perspectives to get some amazing results. One of my favourite photos we took was with a toy dinosaur that we borrowed from our hotel. By placing it close to the lens, and with us further away frozen in a run-in-horror pose, it looked like a scene just out of Jurassic Park.

Following our two nights in Uyuni, we drove back to Potosi to stay the night before going onwards to La Paz in the morning.

La Paz was very interesting. The city is built at the bottom of a valley, so the view as we were driving down was spectacular. I am noticing one annoying thing when it comes to our new digital camera. As amazing as the landscapes that we have seen, it is really difficult to translate the grandness and the scale of things onto the camera. Obviously it has much to do with the zooming limitations on our happy-snap digital, but it is frustrating when a landscape that can literally take your breath away turns out to look like a bunch of houses clumped together on the viewing screen.

The highlight in La Paz was definitely biking down Death Road. It is not called Death Road for no reason!! We started on the top of a mountain at 4700m, and ended up at 1100m. Luckily, the tour guides we went with was extremely professional with a big emphasis on safety. We were padded from head to toe, with elbow and shin guards, a riding jacket, bike helmet and sexy fluoro vest. We split into groups from fastest to slowest, with a guide for every 7 people available. Now, if I had time to turn my head away from the rider in front of me, while using every ounce of concentration I had to will myself to stay upright on the road, I am sure that the scenery would have been spectacular. On the one or two peeks that I had, it certainly was. We literally sailed through clouds on the first part down, with our hands frozen into claws by the thin chilly mountain air. The second part was by far the scariest and most thrilling. We rode down gravel paths no more than 3 metres wide at some parts, with a steep bloodcurdling drop below on the left. It was absolutely beautiful though. We rode through rivers and waterfalls, all the while passing through dense cloudforest. The path wound through the mountains, and you can see on the opposite mountains - thin threads of silver winding through dense pathways of rich green which was water running off the peaks to the rivers below. It was stunning, and I was so proud of myself and Glen for making it down in one piece!

Before I end this blog on Bolivia, I feel that I need to mention one more good thing about this country. Things are so CHEAP!! For example:

Medium size bottle of Coca Cola - $0.60

Two steak dinners and five cocktails at a nice restaurant - $25.00

Llama steak - $4.00

Bottle of wine - $8.00

Hand knitted beanie - $2.50

Alpaca wool scarf - $2.00

Strawberry daiquiri - $2.20

50km bus ride on a luxury coach - $1.00

1kg of laundry to wash and dry - $1.00

Dried llama foetus at the Witches Markets - $5 (bargain!)

Two long plaits of real human hair (yes, we did buy this!) - $4.50

I can go on and on but I think you guys get the jist!

Currently we are in Puno, which is near Lake Titicaca where we will be visiting for an overnight excursion tomorrow. I am getting really excited for our Inca Trail excursion which will be in less than a week!!

Take care all, and we will see you in less than three weeks!

Love

Sandra

Bolivia - Country of Strange Beauty

2008-03-01T16:38:43-08:00

We are in Potosi in Bolivia at the moment. Short blog today but we will try to fill in the gaps later if we can.

Salta was a beautiful city, of around 1 million people. The buildings and architecture was colonial with plazas, parks, and preserved hotels in the city centre. Glen and I have frankly had enough of camping, so we checked out of the campground that was 12km out of the city, and booked into a hotel suite overlooking the central plaza for three nights. It was one of the best decisions we have made. It rained most of the time at the campsite, so everyone was soggy and miserable, while we were dry, happy, and in a wonderful location in town. Our hotel room was fantastic. It wasn`t a new brandspanking suite, in fact, it is likely that most of the furniture in the room was there when it opened, but it was certainly unique. The best part was that it had a balcony that opened up where you can stand and see a spectacular cathedral on your left and look down at the cobblestoned streets on your right. So Evita. In fact, Glen had to restrain me a few times from bursting out from the room on the balcony belting `Dont cry for me, Argentiiiiiiinaaaaaaaa!!`

Another thing definitely worth mentioning when it comes to Argentina. Steak and red wine. The best and the cheapest in the world. The first night we went out with the group, we ordered fillet steaks. I was sensible and got the medium size, while Glen went all out and had the grande. They were MASSIVE. I had two steaks both the same size and length as my hands, while Glen`s steak was almost 25cms long and 15cms wide. It was bigger than his face. They were tender and oh so juicy, it was incredible. Mine cost US$10, while Glen`s was a whole whopping US$13. The bottle of red accompanying was about US$8. Needless to say, we continued our red meat diet well over the next three days!

After Salta we had a full day driving into Tupiza for a good nights sleep before heading into Potosi. Thank God our camping phase is over, and it will be hotels from here on. As we drove over the border from Argentina to Bolivia, it was absolutely astounding the difference between the two countries. As we drove further away from the border, it was as if the rain and the flat land suddenly disappeared to make way for a spectacular mountainous and dry landscape. Bolivia has been intriguing and strangely beautiful to me.

This is a country where approximately 90 per cent of its roads are unpaved, making for a bumpy and scarily eventful ride. We have wound up, down and around vast mountains, with steep cliff drops no less than 1 metre away. We have travelled through `tunnels` in mountains, which was literally holes carved into the granite faces. We have passed countless adobe mudbrick houses with dirt-caked children racing after our truck waving, corn fields, and herds of llamas grazing on the side of the road. I have not had much of a chance to read, as I keep leaning out of my window to take photos. It is hard to describe as I believe you really do need to come to this country to believe what I am seeing.

Another thing that has hit me hard here is the absolute poverty everywhere. It is heartwrenching. It is not like any other country I have seen. Yes, I have seen beggars in other countries before, but I have never seen such poverty and helplessness here. Children walk around with old faces and outstretched palms, while old women plead for money to buy food. I feel so guilty walking around on the streets dressed warmly in my travelling clothes, with money in my pocket and food in my stomach, and these people have so little. I am being a bleeding heart, but I feel so helpless that I can cry.

Anyway, I have to stop here because we are late for dinner. Tomorrow we will be in La Paz which I am looking forward to. So far, we have gone to Potosi to visit the silver mines (Glen got to play with dynamite!!). That is a blog in itself. And yesterday we were in Uyuni for the salt flats which is another amazing experience.

Sorry about stopping here, I will try to write more later!

Take care,

Sandra

Water, Rocks and Gravity - Impressive combination

2008-02-21T12:44:28-08:00

Hola and yay - I am finally back in a Spanish speaking country where I know enough Spanish to get around and no Portuguese speakers in sight. I must admit, I was over being in a country where I can´t say a single thing except for thank you. It was great to get over the border, walk into a shop, ask for what i need, get the information and then thank the lady for her time and wish that she has a lovely day. And I have also found that taking that break from Spanish has solidified what words I know and can use and what i need to focus on when I return home.

Speaking of returning home, we made the decision to cut our trip early by ten days just to save us from the wrath of Uncle Visa when we return. While it is the wise decision it was still a hard one to make, I feel at the moment that I am not finished with our Adventures yet despite the overwhelming longing for familiarity and home. But come the 27th of March, we will land at Perth and hopefully be greeted by the Family that we have missed so much.

Our last two days have been amazing and I have seen the most impressive sight I have gained on these travels. While Galapagos still rings as the number one experience because of the Fauna, the sheer beauty of nature mixed with a little bit of Gravity has made the Cataratas del Iguazú or the Iguazú Falls rank as the most amazing nature site I have ever seen.

We got the to Brazilian side of the falls yesterday and Sandra and I first took a Helicopter flight over the falls, while I do not want to dwell on the saga about the 7 ATM´s and their lack of operation, the bellypopper ride was an exciting 12 minutes of circling around the falls for a very impressive overview of this natural wonder. From the sky we could see all of the falls below us and we could also see how the spray of water from The devils throat rose up like a cloud of smoke from a bushfire.

From there we went to the park where we got to see the falls from a closer look on the Brazilian side. While the path we took was not close to the Falls like on the Argentinian side, it gave us a better overview of the falls from closer up. We walked past the first section of falls and continued up to the Devils throat where we walked over the water and were blown away both literally (by the spray of mist that continually spews from the drop of the falls) and by the sight of thousands of liters of water tumbling down to the rocks below. It was a great sensation to be so close to the falls and also getting drenched from the spray. We were also grateful for the waterproof camera that we have.

We headed right up to the base of the Devils throat and went up the observation tower that over looks the entire area. Of course many photos were taken and I am pretty sure that Sandra and I spent out time saying that each new view we were treated to was more spectacular than the last.

We returned back to Doris (our bus) and headed over to the Argentinian side, where the ATM´s worked, the weather was cooler and the campsite was very very pretty.

The next day we went back to the Argentinian side of the falls and went on a boat ride up to the base of the falls, fighting very swift water currents and getting sprayed by the Falls that we went under. The boat ride was worth every cent and there is no way you could get up close to these giants without help. We then went on the path ways that went past all of the great viewpoints over the actual falls. We were standing on the precipice of the falls that we had seen from afar the previous day. They were more impressive up close than from far away. We got to walk along the falls that lead up to Devils throat and then we went to over the river Pirana (spelling is similar to Piranha but pronounced differently) and stood looking down the throat of the devil, again getting drenched. I have video on facebook of this part.

As allways, pictures are worth a thousand words so we can not wait to upload some of the photos.

Needless to say I have been impressed by the whole thing. It was well worth the visit and I still can´t believe the sheer power and beauty that I have seen.

Please check out the video on Facebook and we will upload more photos onto our albums after we have a free day in Salta.

Miss you all and see you soon

Glen

Still Alive

2008-02-17T16:12:46-08:00

Hi to all,

We are well but have had no time over the last few days as we have been in the middle of the worlds largest wetlands where caimans and macaws are close to where you sleep and the is no chance to load up to the net and share the experiences with friends and family.

Long story short, we have gone on boat trips, thrown mud at our group, get eaten by a billion mosquitoes, ride horses through the swamps of the Pantanal and make heyahh noises (ok that was me but it was a Man from Snowy River moment and I was cantering) gone on walks and step into swamps where the anacondas roam, have a great time with our new friends and play some games that tend to show how sneaky i can be when given the right setting. We are enjoying ourselves very much and are looking forward to the next few days when we get to Fox Do Iguaçu.

Love you all and see you soon

Glen

Out from groaning in my tent.

2008-02-11T13:45:02-08:00

Hi all

I am finally out of my tent and I have to say that I was sick for two and a half days with a shocking fever, but I am all better now and I am getting to be part of the tour. It is good to be back in society.

Not much has happened in the last few days. We have driven in Doris. That is it. No more, no less, just driven in Doris. For 2.5 days - travel. It has been boring, but Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and we are going through the widest part.

Well that is it really, ummm write soon

Glen

Back on the road again...

2008-02-07T08:57:05-08:00

Glen and I are now on our 7 week Budget Expeditions tour. It is kind of weird thinking that this is our last leg of our eight month odyssey, and then we go straight home. I have been trying to savour everything around me, from what I am seeing to what I am feeling, and trying to hold it inside my mind so it doesn´t slip away when I am back in Perth.

At the same time I am looking forward to our homecoming. I have missed our families so much, I wish sometimes I have a Star Trek teleporter for the day just so I can nip back to hug my parents, chat to my sister, and eat some of Mom´s kuay teow!!

We met our Budget group for the first time on Tuesday night. There are 32 of us in all, most of us are from Australia, Canada and Ireland, which is fabulous because this happens to make up the world´s best travellers and fun people to hang out with (in my opinion anyway..). It is a huge group to get used to, and I can´t even remember all the faces, let alone their names. To play it safe, I have been greeting and saying hello to everyone on our campsite (there are 4 other tour groups staying there!) and getting a few confused looks in return.

Our tour leader´s name is Val (like Val Morgan from the cinema ads!) but I have decided that his full name is Valmond. I think he thought I was a little strange when I suggested that to him, but he is Australian so he is cool by default. He has been running tours through South America for about four years now, and can speak Portugeuse and Spanish (but of course!!). His head is very round, he could definitely be the lovechild of Bert Newton and Moonface from The Faraway Tree books.

Then we have our driver Andy. Andy is from England, and a friendly approachable guy. He has tattoos up both his arms, and on the first night, informed us that he was with the British Army for 10 years. He has a shaved head, and a hammer dent on the back of his skull. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Uncle Fester from Addams Family. Val even calls him Fester as a nickname.

Both guys are really friendly and approachable, but it does make me giggle to think that our lives are in the hands of Bert Newton and Uncle Fester leading us across South America.

At the moment, we are in Paraty, a colonial town 4 hours inland from Rio. It is definitely a refreshing change to the dirt and seediness of Rio, and breathe some fresh air that is not polluted with a trash smell or pee. It rained all day yesterday which was a bit miserable, so we spent our first get to know you session on Doris, our truck. Glen´s body has decided to go on strike after being pushed through non-stop travel, and four days of no sleep, and he has fallen sick with the fever. Since last night he has been lying in our tent groaning with a temperature. Luckily today is a free day, so he is not really missing out on anything.

We go on a cruise around the bay tomorrow, and head off to another town called Bonito on Saturday. I am guessing that for the next 7 weeks, we probably wont be able to upload any more photos, so you guys will just have to wait until 27th March.

Take care everyone, Happy Chinese New Year, and I love you all!

Sandra

When my baby smiles at me, I go to Rio...de Janeiro!

2008-02-05T07:35:48-08:00

`At the Copa! Copacabana!! The hottest spot north of Havana!!´

`Tall, tanned, young and lovely..the girl from Ipanema is walking!!´

And of course, who can forget `When my baby smiles at me I go to RioooOOo!! De Janeiro!!!´

These are just the small number of songs that have been stuck in my head since we arrived in this city. Its no wonder that this city have inspired famous tunes as these as it is truly unique and unforgettable.

Glen and I arrived on Friday from Manaus, and have been caught up in the Carnival madness since we came. The whole city has been plunged into a pool of hedonism, sex, flesh, dancing, samba music, costumes and copious amounts of alcohol. Like most pools however, there are also large quantities of human urine. Ew. I definitely long for streets that do not moonlight as toilets. Guys and beers are really not the best combination sometimes.

But I digress. This is a fantastic time, if not completely and utterly overwhelming. The first night Glen and I spent wandering around, getting lost in little streets and being swept up by the massive street parades (known as blocos or bandas) and impromptu parties. Everyone is dressed in costume, or at least parts of them are!! Anything passes as Carnival wear here, from tiaras to novelty sunglasses to alien suits to masks to some bizarre krumpler/cross dressing outfit that we came across last night. For Glen and I, our adornment of choice have been two eye masks lavished with plenty of glitter and big swirly lines. Glen also has this funny orange headband with orange hearts poking out like antenna, and for me, I have my gold sequined tiara that I have been wearing. I have grown very attached to this tiara, I think it must be the princess in me. You have to love a festival where it is perfectly acceptable to be wearing a gold sequinned tiara to anything and anywhere like I have been. I have worn it to restaurants, street parties, samba parades, bathrooms, the beach, uhh..this internet cafe right now. I love it. They will need to send security to remove it when Carnival is over.

Highlights of the weekend so far:

- Having dinner at Nova Capela, one of Lapa´s oldest dining institutions. Glen ordered ´cabrito´ which due to the funny Portuguese/Spanish translation, it may be goat. Or lamb. I had ´polvo´ which was octopus, and was expecting a small polite platter of chopped octopus in sauce. Instead, I received a plateful of spinach, and underneath was a creature of the deep that two men had to capture using weighted nets and a three-pronged fork. It was HUGE, and tentacles intact and as long as my arm. Needless to say, I pilfered from Glen´s goat/lamb.

- Meeting a group of med students who could speak limited English/Spanish and when they found out we were Australians, they tried communicating with us by yelling out any Aussie related thing they can think of. This resulted in them shouting ´Frenzal Rhomb!!! AC/DC! Highway to HELL!!´, then high fiving us triumphantly.

- People-watching. Brazilians are HOT. The men are unbelievably buff with all the soccer, and capoiera and whatever else they do. The women are naturally curvy, and have gorgeous features. They have humps and they certainly know how to move them.

- Samba Parade on Sunday night. This was AMAZING!! It definitely puts the Perth´s Christmas Pageant to shame (although there was no Fat Cat doing the samba so naturally I was quite disappointed). For once in my life, I am stuck for words. It is literally undescribable. It was such a feast of light, and sound, and energy (okay, I sound like I am describing a lightsaber. See how hard this is for me?), and people and dancing. And the floats, the costumes!! There were six samba schools who paraded, each school had over 1000 members, and five floats. It is a spectacular production. Each school had a theme and the whole process takes over eight months to prepare from start to finish. My favourite schools were Porto Da Pedra, which had a Japanese theme. There were samba geishas, and huge sushi restaurant floats. People were dressed as cherry tomatoes, bonsai trees and sushi boats, just to name a few. One float had a giant sumo wrestler resting in a huge rotating tub on the top. My other favourite school was Portela, who had an Environmental theme. This was Glen´s favourite. Their floats had enormous stingrays, elephants, cheetahs, eagles and water fountains. Each wing represented an animal, plant or fruit. We are planning to buy a DVD of the parade as soon as it is out, this will be the best way so we can actually show what we have seen. Alternatively, it may be out on Youtube so check it out if you can

- Glen and I doing the nasty bump-and-grind in the middle of a circle, surrounded by costumed Brazilians chanting ´Chope! Chope! Chope!´. Let´s hope this is not Portuguese for ´Loser! Loser! Loser!´

These are just a few highlights that we have had over the past few days. There are so much more. Tomorrow Glen and I leave Rio for our 7 week overland tour through South America. There will be 34 people in our group. Yegods, I hope they are okay people.

We don´t know when we can get to the internet or a phone again, but we will try if we can.

Take care, and see you all on the 27th March!!

Love Sandra

Amazon Warriors part two.

2008-02-05T06:56:18-08:00

Then next day in the jungle, we trekked back to our canoe where we had lunch. OK that took one sentence to say but the truth was, it was a massive trek with changing scenery and different parts of the jungle that change from one type of land and soil to another. In the deeper parts, the soil is super rich with lots of leaf litter and really thick jungle. You can be in one place and not see the people that might be surrounding you about three meters away. It is really dense. The jungle towards to canoe had more sandy river soil and the trees were less thick and the forest had a different structure.

On they way back we saw a tortoise (not as big as Galapagos but it had cool red scales on its feet). The guides have no problem manhandling the animals. This was a huge difference from the Galapagos where we were told to leave them alone etc. And you kind of have in the back of your head that the guide will tell their families that there was a tortoise nearby and they will go and find it and there will be joyous celebrations around a bubbling pot of Tortoise soup. I must let it go.

We went further into the tributary by about an hour where we camped next to a jungle waterfall. The journey there was interesting because they had to clear a path through the tree strewn stream up to the water fall. It involved cutting, macheteing (not a word but it means the action of using a machete) swiveling a canoe, jumping into the water, killing other spiders as big as my hand that weren't tarantulas but just as scary and general prayer rituals to the various Amazonian gods. It was very cool and I had the theme from Indiana Jones playing in my head.

Sandra and I played in the water and generally messed around while our guides fixed up the camp, made fire, created a tablecloth, fixed us food, fought swarms of termites and caught our dinner (it was a sausage so there was no real skill involved there, but they sharpened a stick, I guess i could have done that but they would no let me play with the machete).

That night we saw a toad the size of a football. You think cane toad are bad. These are disgusting.

The next day we went out to cut some bamboo so that I could make a blow dart gun. It was a super touristy thing to make but I am a tourist despite my constant denial (when did being a tourist become uncool). On the way home to the jungle lodge, I sanded it with a knife and cleared out the pipe using reeds. If only my wood work teacher could of seen me. When we got back, i made the blow piece for the mouth and then i gave my darts some string stuff that is used to give the dart some momentum when it is put in the tube. Making the gun was a kinda relaxing and therapeutic. Customs will never let me in the country with it cause it is made of untreated wood and a type of bark with beetles and stuff, but it was a lot of fun to make.

Anyway, we are in Rio now with Carnival but I know that Sandra wants to write about that so I will not preempt her (and she writes better than I do so it would be embarrassing.

But we are off to Copacabana this arvo (go on I know you are jealous) and i am going to have to listen to Sandra sing both The girl from Ipanema and Copacabana in this weird Rio medley she has in her head when she is not distracted but big Brazilian booty or taking photos or street vendors trying to sell sarongs or people in costume.

I love my life

We have internet - -Yay!!!

2008-02-02T10:54:51-08:00

It has been so long since we last blogged and so many things have happened in that time. Starting with the basics, Sandra and I are now in Rio and enjoying all of the hedonism that the Carnivale offers (while being perfectly sensible and safe at all times).

We headed out of Isla Margarita and caught a four hour ferry to Puerto La Cruz and headed over to the bus station where we booked seats on a bus to Boa Vista, The city closest to the Brazilian and Venezuelan borders.

Count up until now - 8 hrs.

This was a 24 hour bus which was not that bad. The seats were comfortable and it was a really smooth ride. Super cheap as well and it also served as a nights accommodation. We got to Boa Vista around 3 the next day and checked out the town.

Count up until now - 32 hrs.

We quickly worked out that Boa Vista was not exactly a great place to stay despite the fact that we were tired so we got two more bus tickets to Manaus leaving at 7.

Count up until now - 36 hrs.

We arrived in Manaus at 9 the next morning.

Count up until now - 50 hrs.

This has been the biggest travel time period ever and we survived. Manaus is a river city that is on the Rio Negro, about 10 kms from the meeting of the Salimones and Negro rivers that make the Amazon.

We were lucky to meet up with a tour operator that organised jungle tours that go deep into the Amazonian jungle. We decided to do a 4 day course and headed out to a tributary of the amazon and went to a jungle lodge. When we got there and checked the place out. It was on a clearing near the river and had awesome hammocks. We had a guide called Fransisco who came from an Indian family who lived close to the area. He could speak french, English, Portuguese and Spanish and Sandra and I were really jealous.

The first thing that we did was organise our hammocks and then went Piranha fishing. I was the first to catch one and I also caught the most. Not that it was a competition - much. The fish were really vicious and had big teeth, as you would expect. Fransisco put a leaf in the mouth of the fish and it would chomp instantly, leaving a nice bite size missing from the leaf. They lived for one thing, and that was eating - they were ugly but very cool.

We headed back as the sun went down over the jungle for dinner, the sunset was unlike anything you have ever seen, the whole place was quiet and the sun changed the sky all different colours and the trees grew to be a menacing black landscape that seemed impenetrable. We have some photos and we will upload them later.

We went out again later that night for a bit of alligator spotting - and Sandra caught her first alligator, a huge monster which was at least 3 decimeters - MASSIVE, but to her credit, there was no way i was jumping into the water with all of the spiders in the trees, waiting for foolish persons to get into the water and then kill them with their vicious fangs and deadly poison (all spiders must die).

The next day we went into the jungle and it was a dream come true. It was just as I had hoped, thick, viney and really claustrophobic in a good way. The humidity was unbelievable and the smallest of movements would cause me to sweat buckets. We trekked 3 hrs into the jungle and found our camp. After lunch we went into the jungle some more and saw huge 24hr ants, Macaws, Eagles, Jaguar poo and the biggest Tarantula that you could imagine. It creeped out of its hole in the ground and bared its fangs instantly. He was about 20 to 25 Cm's across with a thick brown body. That freaked me out. We camped that night in hammocks and fell asleep to pumas nearby catching their prey.

I will continue this later as we have to go now. We are heading off to Ipaneama beach tonight and joining in a street parade.

Hope you all are good and everything is well.

By the way, I just found out about Chris Mainwaring - Wow.

I will write tomorrow.