Hutchwood

Firstly, I think you should all subscribe to this sucker, at the moment there is only Sam, Daino and Swaney subscribed. Daino actually subscribed twice. You dont want Daino to be more up to date than you do you? I dont even like her and shes subscribed 2 times more than a lot of you, get it together, especially you mum! Comeon!

You can see footage from our run on the 8th of July 2007 on youtube. If you checked this already check it again cos i have updated it as of the 10th of July.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znv71_QjPYc

and here is some footage of what happens in the bullring at the end. they release one bull at a time and these just run around goring until they get tired. its awesome they all have names, stats and crowd followings. they chant theyre names when they hit people. theyre horns are all taped up so they can gore all day. James and I are in that fray somewhere but neither of us were hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG16N2lhfOU

Thats probably the best footage. James had it on his camera but it got corrupted. which sucks sooo freaken hard. we also lost some wicked photos from south america! Sorry plum the lake titicaca photos are gone too. We will always have the boat times though!

Now let me write about it. It is freaking intense, standing in the bull run waithing for it to start, looking at the paper from the day before and there are graffic photos of an australian, 36, who got a gorn through the thigh, in fact there will be footage on youtube. hold on. nah i looked and couldnt find the guy getting gored but ive seen the photos. crazy.
Anyway, looking at those photos then reading that we have the biggest bulls of the whole festival was a little unnerving to say the least. there was profiles and photos and each bull had the cold dead eyes of a killer. everyone had strategies but when the first firecracker goes off and the thunder of all the people begins everything goes out of the head and you RUN! hahaha i ran, then hid, then ran, big scary bastards!

Then they pass and you run like mad again before the little bulls come and once you get into the bullring you run around as the little horntaped ones have a gorefest! crazy crazy spaniards. the locals dont really run, they mostly just watch from balconies and the bullring and see all the stupid tourists getting smashed by the town heroes!

Ok, so now ill tell you how it came to pass that we were there to run.

The last post i did was in Pamplona, but we had already booked some accomadation in Santander so we checked our lugage in a place in Pamplona, bailed and caught the bus to Santander. the local bus took us way out of town and we had to search for ages to find the worst hotel EVER. can a hotel have minus stars? i think thats what this was, when u wish you had just slept in the grass but u paid for it so it would feel wrong even though you would probably rather it. anyway, im surprised there was even a nightly rate, i would have thought you rented the room by the hour. I guess you can tell the quality of a hotel by the number of cigarette burns and lipstick stains on the sheets. Anyway, just write this down. Hostal Golf, Santander, Spain. Dont ever go there. Its on the list with Iberia! hahaha, the Iberia slogan is ´service is our aim´. how half arsed is that?

Anyway, so after that we kicked back to Pamplona we dranks a couple of beers, (not nearly enough to help us sleep) and tried to find a comfy place. The town was PUMPING! there must have been 2 million people out partying in the streets. We did see one of the funniest things i have ever seen while waiting though. We were on a park bench and next to us a guy was sleeping. a couple with a young kid walked past and opened their garage. The noise must have woken the incredibly drunk guy as he sat up and stumbled around. he looked like he was looking for something. then he saw the open garage.... he walked in, pulled down his pants and crapped in the corner of the garage with the family watching him and yelling. hahahahahaha priceless! we also saw a different drunk girl sitting in the gutter crapping and a lot of other carnage done to that poor city!

Anyway, so we got an hours sleep in the park and it was time for the run. cheapest accom yet! Then after we ran we grabbed some celebratory beers and chilled out. Because it was sunday the supermarket wasnt open so we really couldnt afford to get smashed. and the town was much quieter cos of it being sunday so we decided to bail out of pamplona. Wait, that was everyones plan! no buses to madrid or barcelona for 3 days!!!

A hire car seemed the only option. after a lot of dicking around we were on our way in the offectionately named ´the turd burgalar´. Our Renault Clio was not quite a the engineering achievement renault make it out to be in the manual. It drove pretty well, with the a/c off, pedal on the floor and downhill. uphill was another matter. but it was a pretty freaken cool drive down to where we are now in Granada.

Very differnt though. to start with i took it easy, it was the wrong side of the road and a new car so it seemed the right thing to do. the speed limit was 100 and everyone was overtaking at such a speed. I settled for doing 130 in the 100 zone and still getting overtaked by everything but trucks. It was usually 120 though once we hit freeway. Anyway, this lead me to some conclusions.
a. The speed limit is 120 but everyone breaks it so they just cant enforce the law.
b. The speed limit is not a limit just a recommended speed.
c. The speed limit is the minimum you must be doing to be on the road. i think that might be the one.
Crazy, but so much fun, until we got to granada.
You know when u see those cool cobblestone streets and youre like, aw how quaint. TRY DRIVING ON THEM!!!!!
Theyre all oneway, there are no f!#@ing maps with which way they are on them. and theyre tight, tight as hell. GRRRRRR We got stuck down an alley, where i had 10cm either side of the car and some f!#@ing f!#@er parked his f!#@ing car in the f!#@ing corner of the f!#@ing street so i couldnt get around!!! i tried for f!#@ing ages and then had to reverse the f!#@ing car all the way out of the maze of streets. GRRRRRRR I have always been against the keying of cars, but right then and there i could have just written f!#@ you all over his f!#@ing car!

Im glad i have that off my chest. this has been an EPIC blog so i will cut it off. We have a cool little hostal in Granada and the city is beautiful. we have bought tickets to lisbon for friday and have plans to chill there for like a week to try and save some money back up! it has been REAL expensive of late!

Anyway i have some new photos on the flickr, not many as james photos are gone, but theres a few. I documented the parting of my beard. Hes gunna come back as soon as possible!! thanks for everyones concern over the bull run, nothing like some stupid 21 yr old getting hurt to make everyone send me comments and messages and stuff!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8075577@N02/

Send me a line if you´re bored, id love to hear what everyones up to back home. this is now the longest ive been out of oz and i must say im just the tiniest bit homesick!

Blog again probably from lisbon once something exciting has happened.

Miss you all, except you Daino, I thank god everyday that were as far away as possible from each other. Just kidding, you´re ok, no matter what everyone says about you, i still like ya.

Hutch

P.S. You know how its cold in Melb, well its 40 degrees here... that is all.

Hey everyone,

Im Spain now. We flew from Quito and our plane was delayed 3 hours then another hour which sucked before getting on the worst flight ever! Iberia is the suckiest airline to ever suck! I would reccomend you never fly with them and if anyone ever offers, you spit in their face!

Sigh, im glad i have that off my chest! So we arrived in Madrid and found ourselves a place to stay. AWESOME city, so much life and really warm. Will definately spend more time there on the way back. Everything has inflated in price because its the busy season and anywhere cheap is booked out so its making it very hard to do it cheaply.

From Madrid we trained to pamplona and checked outthe festival. we were there for the kick off and it wasnuts. everyone was dressed in all white with red sashes for belts and a red scarf around your neck. we bought costumes and had a look around then headed off to Santander.

A night in a horrible hotel that i wont talk about it was soo bad. and were still in Santander with a bus ticket back to pamplona. the plan is as follows.

Get in to Pamplona about 11pm. get ready to run, sleep the night in the park and get up early for running. then celebrate near death and drink all the following day as seems the standard. then another park night before bailing towards Portugal and cheaper chilling out.

Ok so if all goes well ill be posting again soon, if not, and I dont survive the bulls, tell Daino I hate her. just kidding, ill post again soon.

Tim.

P.S. The sun goes down at 10pm here, its nuts i havent bee sleeping cos nightime is only like 8 hours. stupid sun. awesome though, everythings kinda open with the sun. anyway. laters.

Hey everyone!!

Thanks for all the comments. especially my regulars Sam and the Swan (huge comment and wicked to hear from ya). Ive just got back to Quito from La Paz and i thought id bring you up to date.

Photos Here

Last Friday James, Plummers and I embarked on the road of death. It is the most dangerous road in the world with vertical drops the whole way down and is absolutely covered in crosses and memorials for all the people who have died there. We rode down the 66kms hitting speeds of 70kph on the paved road and a little bit less of slippery dirt. freaken unreal!!

Theres a bunch of photos but its hard to capture it. i didnt realise you could go that fast on dirt let alone doing it with 400m drops on the side of the road with no guard rails. exciting stuff. waterfall crossings and all sorts of fun. a really awesome day.

Then at the bottom there was like a wildlife reserve thingy where we got to hug howler monkeys, see an anaconda, macaws and of course play with a baby ocelot kitten for ages. she was nuts. she fully pounced and attacked me from ages and was so much fun. id love to see her grown up!

The when we got back who should be waiting at the hostel but Mr Monkey Tyndall. Beers and chilling for the next two days was rad catching up with Monkey. A little sad to say goodbye to the Mark/c's but it was time to get to Quito and then to Spain.

Thats all for now. thanks again for the comments. keep em coming, really good to hear from you all!

Hutch

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