Jun 2007

Hey guys,
Sorry Its been so long again, ive been pretty sick lately so i havent had the urge or long enough away from the toilet to write in a while. Now a lot has happened so im gunna have to go chronological again.

There are some new photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/8075577@N02/ but they may not be in chronological order.

Ecuador

From Quito we made our way down to a place called Baños on a 5 hour bus. This place is know for its hot baths and hot they were. Firstly we went to the supermarket to see what US$6 could buy. actually it can buy quite a lot in Ecuador. We decided on a bottle of bicardi, two cans of coke, 3 limes, 1 lemon and 3 bananas. a well rounded dinner before heading off to the hot baths. The hottest being 48 degres was awesome but generally we had a pretty awesome time lounging around in the mineral rich waters before hitting the hay.

The next day we decided to hike up one of the surrounding hills. We did just that and let me tell you, it was freaken hard at altitude but the views were well worth it. and when I got to the top i did have just enough lung capacity left to hum the rocky theme and dance around with my arms up.

Next was to board a bus to guayaquil. We arrived at night and passed out fairly quickly. The next day we walked around the city enjoying the sights and hitting the markets. A long day but on the way home we stumbled apon a wicked plaze where iguanas just chill out. in the middle of the city! So that was freaken cool. on the way home we bought a bottle of appletons jamaican rum for 5 bucks and some coke to mix it. Some more beers and we were having a fun night.

Mildly hung and fairly tired we boarded our 26 hour bus to Lima. I have never been on such a sweet bus before. good thing too seeing as 26 hours is quite a time to sit in one place. suffice to say the ipod was flat by the end.

Peru

We got into Lima in the morning and immediately caught a taxi to our accomadation. Grabbed some awesome seafood lunch and walked around the main drag. I dunno if ive mentioned yet but in south america, james and i are very tall. at least a head above everyone else. so we stand out a fair bit and the blonde hair gets us a few whistles here and there.

I´m not boasting im just explaining why a big group of 13 yr old girls asked for photos and msn addresses from us and have now added us. Anyway other than being accosted by chickas we just grabbed some beers with the columbians we have been hanging out with and hit the hay.

Then it was bus time to Cusco. 18 hours later we get there after winding and being uncomfortable. this bus was nothing compared to the last one. We grabbed a taxi to plum´s hostel and while asking about him he walks in! Yay!

Chilled out all day then hit the town for some happy hour cusco drinks. it has quite a night life and we had a pretty crazy night. the next day we tried to plan our machu piccu visit and chilled some more.

Now, the next day we started our journey. mine with a tuna sandwich. we caught the bus to maras then to moray to see the wicked ruins from my flickr site. from here a taxi to the salt flats and we walked down to the road from there. an awesome walk through the hills for about 2 hours. then we hitched to the town where u train to machu piccu from. Instead of consuming food.... (Sam you´ll be happy to know i spewed again) I began to expell the food. and did so all night. from both ends. (to make it easier i will just say that this is still occuring from one end).

Anyway, tired and weak we trained and bused to the top and saw machu piccu. freaken awesome. check the photos out. James and Plum were able to do the hike but i was too tired and had a 2 hour nap in the freaken coolest place i think i have ever slept. It sucks because one of the mountains they hiked was called huchuypiccu. anyway, back down to the town at the base for more hot baths. these were not nearly as hot as ecuador but still worth the visit. Sick again that night with little sleep and many toilet visits.

Back to cusco for the winter solstice festival. fireworks and crazy festivities were skipped by me as i lay in bed powering down antibiotics and gastrolyte. i was/am VERY sick, worst i have ever been. not so much any more but only just starting to get better.

After not eating for a few days and sleepìng a lot i was quite weak and chilled all day until getting on the bus to Copacabana at 10pm. WORST BUS EVER!!!! I was in so much stomach pain and the toilets said URINADO SOLO. which as u can guess meant only number ones. and there was no lock on the door. well it got basically number one as i assaulted it all night ignoring the sign.

Bolivia

Ok so we got to copacabana in bolivia and i couldnt stand up any longer. so i slept until dinner, ate some pizza with no cheese and just ham and pineapple on it. then went back to bed. TO AWAKE FEELING GOOD AND IN THE MORNING WITHOUT VISITING THE TOILET ONCE!! oh yeah, plummers high fived me from his bed and it was the start of a new brighter day.

We decided seeing as we were on the beautiful lake titicaca (the highest navigatable lake in the world) we should do some navigating of our own. so we hired a sailboat. After fighting the wind for an hour we named our grand vessel the SS CRAPSACK. Many a pirate joke and sea shanty were sung as we expertly steered crapsack well out into the vast lake. Soon it was time to return. But the wind had turned. Coming straight at us as we tried to come out and straight at us trying to go back in.

Then the oar broke. and the waves were taking us to shore well away from the harbour. in fact we couldnt even see the harbour! We struggled, zig zagging back and forth, and even some rowing. until we broke an oar and we cracked it with the crapsack. Steering at the shore we beached the bastard and hauled it up onto the rocks. Then we walked home. The man we hired it from charged us for the time we had the boat, grabbed a spare oar and rode off on his bike to row the boat back. in the dark. on his own. it must have taken him 2 hours. poor guy. crazy day. worst pirates ever.

The next day we took a bus to la paz which is where we are now. Trying to work out annoying flights and we are planning to ride mountain bikes down the worlds most dangerous road on friday. should be good, not that dangerous really. wicked views though. Im going to have to leave it there, as is my style, the juicy dangler. Thanks for reading but thats all the word nourishment you can handle for now. Post again soon.

Hutch

Hey everyone!

Sorry Its been so Incredibly long since we left.
Heres where we have moved and ill fill you in on whats been going down.

So as you can see we are now in Ecuador but I will split this up chronilogically. Oh yeah, and i spell horrendously, cant type and attempt the use of big words when i have no grasp of the meaning or the grammer required for such attempts. And i dont wanna hear corrections!

Now, i've skimmed over the past 2.5 weeks in the last 2 posts so heres what has happened just recently.

We boarded the plane in samoa, drunk and tired and i barely remember a thing. Asleep before take-off and i woke only to be fed. Waking in New Zealand, sober refreshed and F@#$ing freezing!

Wearing only t-shirt and shorts in stupid Auckland weather is not to be advised. Anyway, after sleeping in starbucks for 2 hours we spent 3 hours on the net in the city and ate some shitty food we had been craving. then it was perfect timing to go back to the airport. Only our plane was delayed 2 hours leaving us bored and grumpy AND COLD!!!

Finally we flew for 11.5 hours to chile. on the plane i slept 6 hours and watched 2 flicks. wild hogs and the astronaut farmer or something. a pretty good flight.

Luckily our other flight was also delayed and we managed to scape a seat. this flight dragged on from Santiago to Guanquil which took 4 hours then onto Quito which took 50mins. Finally we crawled into a nice backpackers in old town Quito.....

And you can check out some photos so far on the flickr site
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8075577@N02/

It wont be so long in between post next time i promise!

Hutch

Firstly Im sorry for the lack of communication back from Samoa. The net speed made me physically ill and i almost had to sell a kidney to pay for it so I keep away from it as much as possible.

We landed in Fiji at 930pm local time and sat until 145am local time after already flying from melb to bris and the wait in between. as you can imagine, tired as hell!

drank some fiji bitter which is just a new label for vb and bought some kava powder to make later on.

land in Samoa at 5am local time and get ripped off on a taxi from the airport. too tired to care i rolled into bed for an hours sleep.
We chilled in Apia for that day and the next only venturing out to go to the market and the deep marine reserve, which was freaking excellent snorkelling.

Also while in Apia we decided to hit up the sliding rocks just out of town. Beautiful weather combined with a 5m waterfall you could slide down or jump from the top made for a wicked day. Also further down stream were a couple of more slides around 3m at the largest. The water was crystal clear and refreshingly cold in the heat.

From here we caught the local bus down to Lalomanu beach which too was incredibly beautiful. Even in the rain. The food included in the price of sleeping in a Fale on the beach was awesome and effectively all you can eat!

We moved on back to Apia for a night before kicking off to go to Savai'i which is the biggest island included in Western Samoa. Sadly we found a bottle of local rum for AU$7 and drank it the night before and with that, no sleep, sweltering heat and an empty stomach, the massively rolling swell rocking the ferry left me a sweaty sickly mess.

Shaking of the ferry we decided to check out a water fall and a giant mound. The driver who took us decided to wait as it was an hours walk. within 3 steps we realised shoes and thongs were not the answer in torrential tropical rain and mud up tp our knees. so it became a barefoot trek in the mud and hammering rain for what seemed like ages through beautiful jungle to the mound. by mound i mean 50x61m base and 12m high with 2 tiers mound of pile rocks. with giant centerpedes (25cm long) thrown in. We visited the waterfall on the way back which was also amazing. 2 hours later we returned, suffice to say. our driver was not well pleased.

Anyway on to Manase and Tanu Beach.
Planning to stay 3 nights was our first mistake as we walked in and were immediately initiated into the family. Drinking 'ava with the guys (a drink made from a root that kinda gets you drunk and when i added booze it sure did, but the use it as a ceremonial and special occasion drink) and men of the village, playing cards and getting laughed at by the women and playing games in the ocean with the kids soon became our days. 7 days it ended up being.

Also while at Manase we:
saw 2 Fia Fias where the locals dance and there was an amazing 12yr old firetwirler who was national champion and was competing in hawaii soon to become the south pacific champ. he really was incredible!
Saw a turtle zoo which i wish i hadnt seen and supported with my entry fee as although well fed, they were still trapped turtles. I counted 21 green sea turtles as we swam with them.
Chilled out incredibly hard.
Got a bit of food poisoning and spewed from our Fale.

Now for our last night we decided to visit the third largest island in western samoa. Manono Island was so beautiful and if the rest of samoa new how to relax, they learnt it from these guys!
We walked round the island, snorkelled and chilled with some amazing people. Who could know that when we hung out with a 60yr old Danish guy, a 60yr old Kiwi and 2 americans our age that we could have such amazingly intellegent and interesting conversations about politics, religion and the world. really a great time there and i would head straight back were i in samoa again soon.

Finally, pissed and sad to leave we headed to the airport.

Australia

Leaving everyone at the airport was horrendously sad and sitting next to both Andrew Symonds and his stunning girlfriend did nothing to cheer me up. Luckily Music and Lyrics distracted me until Brisbane.

Brisbane involved a lot of waiting and getting searched for bombs. James says its my beard that brings on the searching, but i think its that wild look i get in my eye. you know that wild look...

Anyway, finally we're off and the overseas-ness begins!