Death Road

Should I put some exclaimation marks after that title????

Bolivia lays claim to hosting ´The Most Dangerous Road in the World´. With a tag line as dramatic as this (probably the most dramatic since I stood on the ´Middle of the World´in Ecuador), I therefore had to rent a bicycle and put it to the test. Given that I am here today writing this entry, I would have to say that I don´t know if it is THE most dangerous, but I definitely wouldn´t accuse it of being safe. It is basically a narrow, bumpy dirt road that runs down the side of a mountain. The danger part is the lack of guard rails protecting you from the 600m cliffs that await clumsy cyclists and drowsy truck drivers. Actually, lack of guard rails is somewhat of an understatement.......there is basically just nothing. The scenery is spectacular, but when you´re cruising down the side of this mountain, the dirt path in front of you seems to hold more appeal.

It rained on us in the morning, so we got off to a cold start. The fog unfortunately covered most of the scenery in the morning, but it also provided just a white background next to the path, as opposed the the giant cliffs that were only a few feet away. Definitely helped with the butterflies. The fog eventually burned off, and we got some awesome views. Along the path, you could stop to check out grave stones for people who hadn´t managed to negotiate the 90 degree angle turns. Word from the guide was that the worst accident was five years ago when a bus went over.

Afterwards, we hit a little village for a cervasa, and then they took us to a resort in the mountains for showers and a nice buffet. All in all, twas a cool day.

I got to hook back up with Abi here in Bolivia......she is the little dark haired English vixen that I met while sandboarding in Peru. She seems to be able to handle my bad habits of being late for everything, and preparing for nothing. I´m getting ready to head back to Chile, as I will be leaving for NZ soon. My stomach has recently been somewhat of a disaster over the past 2 or 3.......ah, months. My roll of toilet paper now sits next to my passport in the ´important items´ pocket of my pack. I guess its par for the course down here in Bolivia ville. Thankfully the throwing up part isn´t accompanied with nausia, as I turn in to the biggest baby when it comes to nausia. This instead is just a stomach pain, that is followed by a good heathly power puking session. Mmmmm. Definitely shedding off all those unwanted pounds.

Oh yeah, I also went to Bolivia´s local version of the WWE wrestling. Could be one of the strangest things that I´ve seen in the past while. We got to eat popcorn and throw rotten mangos at midgets and Inca women who were trying to pull of body slams and suplexes. At one point, some of the locals actually started throwing food at us......the Gringos sitting in the VIP section.

Strange.

I did indeed go to the Amazon basin a few days ago, but still working on uploading all the pics of gators. Yeah baby!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.5167qqd1&x=1&y=-86dxvr

Argentina

I can´t remember what they refer to as ´The City That Never Sleeps´, but it should be Buenos Aires. This place can make even the most eager of beavers feel slack (imagine what it does to ME). It is an awesome city. But as I look back through my pictures, I don´t think that I´ve actually done much over the past couple of weeks. Spent a couple of nights at the famous hostel called the Milhouse. It is a cool spot, but way too many rules for this weary traveller. After they woke me up at 11:00 in the morning to ´let me know´ that I had to get out and that there were not beds left, I politely swore off Milhouse for good. Instead, I have been staying in another hostel Casa Zoola, which has awesome cool people running it, and it doesn´t come with any of the red tape (Milhouse actually had a thumb scanner for identifying guests. You know a hostel is making too much money when.....). I know that 11:00 in the morning doesn´t exactly sound early to you gamefully employed types, but you have to realize that we don´t even head out until 3:00am here. Pretty strange, but it´s amazing how easily I adjusted. I´ve definitely never been accused of being a morning person. In fact, mornings actually make me miserable. There, I said it.

The greatest highlight of BA has been hooking up with my awesome friend Monique that I met in Colombia. Always great to see somebody you know. We´ve been heading out hitting a couple of bars, eating some cheap steaks, and enjoying some fine Argentinian wines. Sounds rough eh. This city has a little bit of everything. Very European feeling.......you would never know that you are in Latin America. I also went and checked out a town called Rosario (have been hanging out with the English contingent.....Emma, Zoe, Laura and Harriot). This little city (1M people) definitely confirms that Argentina does indeed have some of the best looking women in the world. And they all have an affinity for wearing tight pants.....which I hope catches on in N. America soon. Was also a pretty fun town. Hit a bar called New Mystic, and then another giant club called Madame.

I tried to find some kind of monument for the Pan am games, but there were none to be found. As most of you know, Argentina was home to the 1995 Pan Am games where a certain sister of mine won a Bronze medal!!! Yeah baby.

One adjustment that had to be made for Argentina was this whole kissing on the cheek thing....and no Colin, I'm not talking about the fine local women. It is actually customary for the men to kiss here. It definitely took some getting used to. Thankfully Monique would give me the heads up on who the locals were and who weren't.....to avoid any unneccesary smooching.

The one really cool thing that I DID do that was picture worthy in BA, was go wakeboarding (like water skiing, except with a snowboard looking thingy). Yeah baby!!! Monique has a local friend here named Mariano who has his own boat. It was amazing, and absolutely beautiful. Monique, Laura, Mariano and I, armed with some food, a volleyball, some cards, and lots of ambition, cruised around through the canals and river systems here in Argentina. We docked the boat for a while and had a picnic, and then it was time to hit the water. I was first off. To my own surprise, I actually got up on only the 3rd try (we´re talking about wakeboarding here). Had a wipeout the first time the rope went slack....but after that I was off to the races. We took a rest for a while, hit the beach, played some v-ball, some beers, then got back in the water. I actually managed to land my first jump. It was about six feet in the air.........or apparently from the angle of the people on the boat, it looked just under a foot. Regardless, it still drew a large roar from the women in the crowd........all both of them.

To say that I was sore the next day would be somewhat of an understatement. Every once in a while, I get this less the subtle reminder that I'm not 20 anymore. Had an amazing day. The videos didn´t turn out, but got some aweseme pics. Even threw in a little air guitar for all you air guitar enthusiasts out there. Enjoy.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.acu054il&x=1&y=h9baak

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.87ma8u3h&x=1&y=27jz9w

Random Pics

Just some random pics that I´ve gotten from other people that I´ve travelled with. A couple of them were some classic ones of us jumping off a warf in Nicaragua.

I´m currenlty in Iquique, Chile right now, and heading for Bolivia. Just got done spending the day on the beach and playing football (real football, not this soccer shit). Chile is too damn expensive though. Should be in La Paz by tomorrow.

Cheers!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.8iw4316d&x=1&y=3czcfk

Cuzco

Cuzco is the party town that is a necessary stopover on the way to Machu Picchu. I stayed in a hostel called Loki, which turned out to be a pretty cool spot. The first few days there, I had to get lots of rest as the altitude is a real bitch down here. The first few nights were pretty miserable as I kept jumping up in bed with that suffocating feeling, holding my throat and trying to grasp for breath. When that is happening every 15 to 20 minutes, it is difficult to get a decent night´s sleep. The only real cure for altitude issues, is to drink lots of water, get lots of rest, and wait until your body adjusts.

After I did Machu Picchu, and returned here to meet up with Abi, Tahnee and Sean from Peru. They got a good laugh at how rough I looked when I first saw them, but thankfully I was on the upswing by then. Cuzco is a cool little town with lots of nice restaurants (namely the restaurant named after dogs.....which I´m not sure if that meant anything), and some pretty cool bars. We went out and partied at a cool spot called Mama Africas.

The highlight of Cuzco was definitely the Halloween party. People in Latin America absolutely LOVE halloween. Our hostel threw a huge party where pretty much everyone in the hostel got dressed up for. Given that there are about 70 some odd beds in the hostel, it made for a good night. I went as grease lightning. Apparently I wasn´t handsome enough to go as Travolta himself, so I ended up being his buddy, Kanicki???? I think anyway. Most people didn´t have a clue who I was (Top Gun, James Dean, some guy just wearing a tight shirt).

Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.3xmsv1zh&x=1&y=-pv9ger

Machu Picchu

An overpriced train ride, a Niagra Falls-like touristy town (Agnes Calientes), a steep price tag at the gate, and hoards of fat American tourists. Needless to say, I showed up at Machu Picchu in a relatively bad mood. Maybe it was deservidly so, given that I copped out on the 4 day Inca trail hike that is supposed to be standard procedure for the Machu Picchu experience. I did indeed feel guitly for not doing the hike, but as I told people here in Cusco.......if I had to do 4 straight days of hiking, I would most likely be writing my own eulogy right now as opposed to just another blog entry.

I have to say though, despite all that, I can´t imagine many other things in this world that are as amazing as Machu Picchu. It is actually even more spectacular than what you think it is. You really have to see how crazy all the cliffs are that surround it, to really appreciate what these people pulled off. And, it is absolutely huge, with unbelievable stone work. I thankfully was smart enough to show up nice and early (just before 6) so it wasn´t all that crowded for the first couple of hours. I spent a few hours up on the hill, overlooking the site, and listening to some tunes. Later in the day I went down with the rest of the tourists and trekked through the actual ruins. It is an amazing spot. I just couldn´t get over all the crazy giant mountains and the steep cliffs. Some of the trails were a little nerve wracking, given that a little slip would result in a pretty good ancient Inca fall off the side of the mountain. Historians say that the place was used for religious purposes and for ceromonies involving the King. Truthfully, I didn´t do a lot of research, and I didn´t use the tour guide, so your best bet to find out more would be to jump on the net.

Overall, I had an absolutely amazing day at Machu Picchu, I would highly recommend it to anyone. Although it is quite touristy, they have still managed to preserve its mystique. I have to apologize in advance because I got a little trigger happy with the camera when I was there, but I just want to make sure that I have somewhere to keep copies of all the pics I took.

Salud!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.76lvss7h&x=1&y=f5u6x9

Some more Pics from Peru

Running a little behind in keeping the pics up to date. I´m currently in Buenos Aires right now. Here for a few more days, then heading to Chile. This city makes it difficult to get anything done. These are some pics that I took at a wine tour in Ica, and from the Nasca Lines.

The wine tour turned out more to be a ´Pisco´ tour. Pisco is the local hard liquor that everybody loves down here in Peru. It´s kind of like the Italian Grappa, but not quite as harsh. The most popular drink that it is served as is the infamous Pisco Sour (well, infamous down here anyway). It´s served with egg whites. We went on the tour with a giant group of older tourists from Canada and U.S. I was chatting them up the whole time and my friends got a kick out of how much the whole group loved me. Most of the backpackers that I meet are pretty in shock when they find out that I´m and ex-banker and the son of a cabinet minister....ha!

The Nasca Lines are some ancient carvings that were done in the deserts of Peru. There is lots of speculation on what the purpose of the carvings was, but nonetheless, that have remained pretty much intact. The best way to see them was by plane, so for 50 bucks a head, me, Abi, Tahnee and Sean rented a Cesna. To tell you the truth, the lines were pretty anticlimatic however, the plane was pretty damn cool. I got a little bit of motion sickness, but not quite as bad as poor little Tahnee. The pics are rather boring, but hey, what can you do.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.c7btgb9p&x=1&y=-vezoo8

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