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travlintreeman - BrendonC
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| Home ! |
[12 Jul 2008|12:21pm] |
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Brendon is back HOME in Oz and has been since November.. rockin around Bellthorpe, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, avoiding work as much as possible !
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| Mendoza |
[09 Oct 2007|05:06pm] |
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I am now in my 3rd big city of Argentina, Mendoza... the wine country! It feels like a somewhat cheaper tour of Europe instead of South America.
After Salta was a rather random and very fun couple of days in Cordoba. After booking myelf into a dodgy hostel I found everyone else much closer to the city center and spent the afternoon sitting around waiting for others to arrive and waiting for rugby games that had already played :(
Luckily we managed to catch the NZ vs France game and helped the other kiwis drown their sorrows after the game. We followed this up by going to maybe one of the fanciest restaurants in town, a group of 10 drunken, underdressed, loud and obnoxious tourists.. ordering the cheapest wine and waiting to be kicked out.. which we somehow weren't and had a marvellous dinner with great Argentinian wine.. on the way back to the hostel I stopped with Marie-Claude (french canadian) to buy cigarettes and we lost the group, then got kind of lost on the way back but walked past something that looked like a dance club.. music thumping, lights flashing, stuff being projected onto the street... although it looked a lot like a private property, we went to the gate and asked in terrible spanish what was happening.. the doorlady (housemaid) said it was a private birthday party, do we want to come in? .. HAHAH silly question. She asked the birthday girls if it was ok if this random australian/canadian couple can stay, they were so drunk it was more than ok....... :)
So we spent the night standing around in this rooftop party as it got more and more busy, drinking free drinks, talking to those that could speak a little english, dancing, singing, laughing, getting phone numbers for places we definitely had to stay when we were in certain parts of the country... ayyyyyyyy what a night, it still makes me laugh.
Subsequently, I slept the whole next day, missing the Oktoberfest celebrations in a neighbouring town with everyone (which turned out to be a goog thing, cold day, family day, expensive beers, no fun) .. I moved hostels to Palenque with Marie which was a great place, except for the CRAZY CRAZY girl in our room, and I mean, schizophrenic crazy... so we got a different room and just bludged, wandered and whatever.. didnt find anyone again until the next night when we were all at the bus station at the same time to move on to Mendoza.. a fine little group we have at the moment. Marie is back to Buenos Aires, I think Gaby is one step behind us in Cordoba now, and Paul.. well I think he's somewhere in Bolivia still..
I have a few fun photos of Salta and Cordoba to show..
(( Right Here ))
Some good photos of me and some Argentinian friends from Salta, Robbye and Andres that I had a lot of fun with.. they are pretty fantastic musicians that I got to listen to quite a bit and wander the streets trying to talk to whatever girls would give us attention (its the Argentinian thing to do).. quite funny really.
The Argentinian Male's Method of Speaking to Women
Hello
What's your name
Where are you from
You're Beautiful
hahahahhahahahha sorry guys I dont think it works. Sure was funny tho.
So not too sure about the next stage in Argentina.. too many options.. either south to Barriloche, a beautiful almost Swiss-style town in the northern tip of Patagonia.. West to Santiago to get a little taste of Chile.. East to Buenos Aires to see DJ Tiesto play on the 13th, or a combination of one of those and then return to Cordoba next weekend to meet up with people and atttend the party weekend of Oktoberfest....... or something completely different once again... what is going to pop up next??????
Ciao ciao ciao
Brendon.
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| In the great land of the Steak !! |
[02 Oct 2007|03:21pm] |
Well hellooooooo from Argentina !!
Ive been in Salta now for a night, and am already in love with the city, and country. Its warm.. no, its HOT, Im wearing boardshorts and things again!.. and at a measly +1200m altitude, the breathing is easy and weather sweet. Its a very nice change to be in a European-styled city, where the buildings all have roofs and the toilets have toilet paper in them!
I spent the last day on trains and busses getting here from Uyuni - Bolivia, our last adventure spot in that crazy crazy country. We (Me, Gaby, Paul & Aaron - the aussie contingent) finally escaped from Adventure Brew hostel in La Paz and got a bus to Cochabamba, a beautiful lively town, for an intersting dance party in an old hotel. It was fantastic to hear LOUD music again with real BASS.. the night was complete with fireworks in the air, and fireworks in the crowd.. no one was injured ;) We went out to some clubs the next night with some locals we met, but alas didnt have the latino stamina for all night dancing so made it an early one and vamos'd to Oruro the next day, another pretty little town with crazy market that we made the most of for our impending salt flat adventure in Uyuni. We all caught the train and met an aussie/sth african couple Elizabeth & Aidan on the way and made a group for the 3-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni. We lazed around for one day and saw all that the little town of Uyuni had to offer.. something in between a ghost town of the wild west and some strange other-world space port !"@#($!!!~
We left mid thursday morning with our guide and driver in an old Toyota Landcruiser, leaving the town that hadnt had any power for the last 24 hours. As such, the petrol station couldnt pump any fuel, so we drove to San Cristobal in the hope of filling up there... so the 3-day tour turned to 4 days as we spent an unscheduled night in San Cristobal.. undeterred we spent the night drinking and playing cards and having a great old time.
Friday, we were off ! On what was supposed to be the 'boring' day of long driving and little to see, it was amazingly spectacularly beautiful. The desert landscape, colours and contours were like nothing I'd ever seen before, truly incredible. We got to see Dali's rocks.. a surreal natural landscape and the valley of the rocks.. basically a alley with big rocks :)
Followed up by Laguna Colorado.. pink coloured water with pink coloured flamingos.. my first flamingos! We finished the day off with the sulphurous geysers and then Laguna Verde, coloured green by copper and arsenic and right on the border of Bolivia-Chile.
The second (third) day was a cruisy one, more lagunas, more flamingos, an active volcano and a rock shaped like a tree! We arrived at our pre-salt flat accomodation with plenty of time to spare, and spent most of that looking out over the massive, flat, white space that we were to visit tomorrow.
We missed the sunrise unfortunately, something to do with our guide being super pissed-off at something, and taking it out on us for the rest of the day, which we clearly took a lot of notice of when you see the photos.. This was the day that we were waiting for, hours of mind-bending salt flat illusionary fun taking photos with our ridiculous props and similarly silly imaginations. A fantastic couple of hours in the blinding-white environment, followed by a quick visit to the environmentally unfriendly salt hotel-now-salt-museum-due-to-public-outcry, and another quick stop at the salt mines.. we were home by early afternoon, tired, dirty, sunburnt and landrovered-out, a fantastic trip !!
We saw Aaron off that night, back to Adventure Brew hostel in La Paz to continue working, had a couple of hours sleep then Elizabeth, Aidan and I got the 3am train to the border of Argentina (9hrs), crossed over rather effortlessly and got a bus to Salta (7hrs).. and here we are! We were ravenous by the time we got in and hunted down somewhere for a good steak, and my oh my we werent disappointed !!!!!! Best steak Ive had in about 9 months.. I think Im going to like it here :) :) :)
So i'll hang around until Gaby gets here, and then probably hang around a little longer then head south to the wine region of Mendoza, the capital of Buenos Aires, and hopefully some nice coastal town with some waves until I head off from Sth America in a month... off to London and Holland before my last stop in India (wish my belly more luck!!!!)
OOOOOooo K .. its been nearly 4 hours in here getting all these photos and emails sorted, I hope you have fun looking at this little bit of my trip, it was a blast !!!
(( Uyuni & Salar de Uyuni ))
(( Other Peoples funny photos ))
Ciao ciao friends !
Lots of love
Brendon
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| La Paz & Bolivia-Belly |
[20 Sep 2007|03:21pm] |
Well the last news I was still in Peru, about to visit the floating islands on Lake Titicaca which was quite nice, incredibly incredibly touristy and kind of disturbing.. but I'm sure the 40 tour-boats full of people got some great photos!
We left the next day for Bolivia and got a nice bus that took us all the way to Copacabana on the other side of Titicaca and made all of the visa changes easy.. we were even treated with a marching brass band as we crossed the border, complete with dancing man and women doing all kinds of funny things.
Copacabana is a very nice little place, and although we failed to book into our preferred hostel La Cupula, we found a cheapy for the night complete with hot water shower almost on top of the toilet. That night the rain turned to ice on the streets, and the town lost power just as we finished our dinner (thankfully that meant leaving the traditional pan flute band behind - if I never hear another pan flute version of Simon & Garfunkle I will be very very happy). We found our way home through very dark streets that night.
The next morning we rushed off to get the boat to Isla del Sol, a very nice 2 hour trip out there and most of the day walking from the north to the south of the island, loving the views and almost mediterranian landscape. We found a nice place for the night and payed too much for lunch.. and ended up running rather short on money for dinner and breakfast as our hostel decided that brekky *wasnt* included like we thought.. the boat back was also more expensive than we were told.. but we all managed to get back to the mainland for a luxurious night in La Cupula, one of the nicest hostels Ive stayed in, complete with marvellous restaurant, and after much mathematics, a chocolate fondue which we figured we could afford.
The next day we were back on a bus to La Paz which was only a 3.5 hour trip.. but my stomach started seriously hurting an hour in and didnt stop for the whole night.. must have been that dodgy coffee on Isla del Sol.. I didnt think he boiled the water for 5 mins.....
So we booked into Adventure Brew Hostel, where we still are right now, a week on.. very fun place, lots of fun people and right now, truckloads of aussies. The hostel has a microbrewery on-premesis, which makes a better beer than Bolivia's standard Pacena, and one free beer every night doesnt hurt (except when your belly is achin' already).
So its been fun and games here for the most part.. In the first couple of days we did some bike rides, the notoriously famous 'Worlds Most Dangerous Road' was a blast, a bit of a scare, and totally beautiful, starting around snow-covered peaks, winding down for hours into tropical jungle heat. The day before that we went on a newly opened 'Ghost Ride' which was a lot of fun also, with some technical riding and lots of downhill dirtroad, finishing up in an old castle built by one of Bolivia's banished leaders and now a hotel with tragic bathrooms.
Ive had a few recurrences of my stomach problems, not too sure if its continual bad food or some kind of bug thats taken residence inside of me.. but Im taking it easy for now and enjoying the cheap dvds available. A big group of us are off to Cochabamba tomorrow for some dance party in an old hotel, then cruising down to Uyuni to the salt flats for some mind-bending optical illusions (and photos of course).. So I'll hopefully be in Argentina next week for some time before getting to the UK to meet up with many important people which I'm really looking forward to !
Soooo.. time for some photo links....
Uros Islands - Peru
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Isla del Sol & Copacabana - Bolivia
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Ghost Ride - Bolivia
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World's Most Dangerous Road - Bolivia
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La Paz - Bolivia
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Ok, wish my belly luck !
Bye all,
Brendon
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| Cusco & Machu Picchu |
[08 Sep 2007|08:49pm] |
Wooot !! We finally did it.. after all the turmoil and indecisiveness, we got our butts up to ol' Picchu and had a fannnntassssssstic time :) We got into th line for Waynapicchu nice and early (after a slightly stressful start to the morning buying tickets and getting the bus) and I managed to be equal 1st up to the top to enjoy a few minutes of peaceful solitude looking out over the valley and ruins. Had a great day wandering around and returned to Aguas Calientes around 4.. took many many photos as you might figure.. so have fun with that ;)
We're out of Cusco finally, away from the constant haggling (Massages? Restaurante? Postcards? Paintings? Beanies? Scarves? Socks? Drugs? ARGH), and in Puno tonight on Lake Titicaca.. to visit the floating islands tomorrow then get into Bolivia in the afternoon... would like to write more but its late and I need me some dinner and some bed...
will write next from Bolivia weehoooooo
Ciao Brendon
(( Photos - Cusco ))
(( Photos - Machu Picchu [yeah there's quite a few] ))
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| Arequipa & the Colca Canyon |
[28 Aug 2007|04:48pm] |
So I found myself an hour into the bus trip from Huaraz to Lima, stomach aching after feeling good all day.. shouldnt have had that 6 solle chinese... 8 hour bus trip from hell.
Arrived in Miraflores about 5 in the morning, no beds at the flying dog hostel but maybe the other across the road, no answer at the door so I sat on the steps a while searching for another place to lay my head for the morning.. Some random old guy walked up the stairs, pressed the buzzer and left, letting me in. I was lucky to get the last bed in the dorm for a good 5 hours sleep, was only US$5 with brekky included.. score! Spent the day chilling in the hostel talking to random aussies and canadians and watching movies.. After the previous nights bustrip I booked the super plush cama-bus (bed bus) through Cruz del Sur for the trip to Arequipa and left that night..
It was 140 solles very well spent.. super nice leather seats like first class in an plane, dinner, breakfast.. sooooo comfortable :) Woke in the morning to be surrounded by desert, very very strange after the highlands of Huaraz.. some very large volcanos appeared on the horizon after about 14 hours and a bustling little city in the valley... welcome to Arequipa!
My first thoughts were 'I should have gone to Cusco' ... desert desert desert .. Found my hostel 'home sweet home', and went exploring through the tight, crowded streets of central Arequipa.. turns out to be an amazing place, second largest city in Peru, full of artesans and (once again) half a million internet places and call centres.. But the Plaza de Armas (main square in every town/city) was incredible, as well as so many churches and the like scattered around the european/spanish style streets. I was very happy to find that Paul and Gaby were on their way too and would be there the next day.. I took it easy and had a few beers that night.
The aussie contingent arrived that morning and we wandered the streets during the day, visiting the beautiful Santa Catalina monastery taking too many photos and followed by some spanish lessons that night with a small degree of success.. We had met two dutch girls Lieke and Winande who were interested in seeing the Colca Canyon the next day and ended up booking for the following morning, early, for a 3 day trek.. thankfully we didnt need to take much more than clothes and water..
We were in the taxi around 5:30, set for a couple of hours on the bus, but not before picking up an Aussie couple Dr Mike and Dr Salina from another hostel.. thus completing an excellent little group of 7 for the next couple of days trekking, and our friendly guide Victor was the 8th.. It took around 5.5 hours to get to Cabanaconde for lunch and then we set out into the canyon for a good 4 hours of extreme downhill as we dropped over 1000m to the river crossing for a wonderful hour of lazing on the rocks with our feet in the water.. we were most pleasantly surprised by our accomodation for the night in a beautiful little village hotel, with amazing gardens and the coldest (and most expensive) beer that was all too happily drunk while we waited for dinner a la Victor, our 20yr old guide that took his cooking seriously and did a damn fine job of every meal. We slept so well that night with 4 inches of blankets and nice firm beds.
The second day was a nice walk through the canyon valley towards 'the oasis' for our 2nd night.. another fantastic day of only 4 hours walking and some great information about local plants from Victor, as well as a stop in a very small but fascinating local museum where we were shown local foods, animals and methods for farming/weaving by a Peruvian lady.. We arrived by midday at the Oasis, a stunning resort style setup in the bottom of the canyon where waterfall springs come from the cliffs and everything is much much more tropical and lush.. complete with swimming pools and warm beer. Another fantastic lunch and we had the afternoon to explore the river and laze around the pool.. definitely the cruisiest and nicest 'trek' that I had been a part of yet, and fantastic value for only $45 .. the third and last day of course would be the clincher with a 1200m climb out of the valley back to Cabanaconde.. the girls booked mules for the climb that we were to start at 3 the next morning to give us time for breakfast and to get the 7 or 8am bus..
We got the fire started in the evening, had a fantastic dinner and sat around until the math meant that not enough sleep would be had for the insane wakeup time..
Mmm, cold and dark.. Perfect conditions to climb the 1200m, track distance of around 9km and horizontal distance maybe only a few hundred metres.. I actually really, really enjoyed it, leaving the guys behind quickly, overtaking those that had started well before us, and getting up the the top right on an hour and a half.. where I waited freezing for half an hour for everyone else.. the girls' mules were about 2 hours late, so they were freezing also, and after breakfast we ended up just squeezing onto the 8am bus to Cruz del Condor, the insanely touristed viewpoint for the condors of the region. As much as I enjoyed being a sarcastic, arrogant, hater-of-all-things-touristy, when the big birds finally showed their faces it was truly amazing as they glided by continuously to the ooh's and aah's of hundreds of tourists crammed onto the viewing platforms.. we spent an hour there before bustling our way onto the overcrowded bus back to Chivaz.. a good 2 hour trip, hot, dusty, sweaty, stinky, tired... the 15 solle buffet was fantastic in Chivaz, and the visit to the hot springs even more incredible.. a good hour and a half spent lazing in around 37 degree natural hot water in very unnatural pool/resort settings.. the cold beer was a great idea but the swimming race was not.. but it definitely washed the grime of the last 3 days off us all.. We had our seats booked for the 3.5 hour trip back to Arequipa and lazed, slept, talked and listened to music until finally getting home sweet home to showers, dinner with the 7 of us, and an absolutely brilliant night out drinking cocktails and dancing our weariness off until 4 in the morning..
We decided to stay another day in Arequipa as our slow and hungover start wasnt conducive to rapid packing and organising.. so we met the 7 of us for lunch, traded photos and emails and said 'see you in Cusco' .. to hopefully continue the fun in a week or so.. Lieke and Winande left for Puno & Lake Titicaca this morning while Paul, Gaby and myself are on a bus to Cusco tonight.. Mike and Salina will be on a plane tomorrow morning to arrive in Cusco at the same time.. Arequipa certainly turned out well beyond my original impressions of the place, but it will certainly be great to be in Cusco tomorrow for more fun and adventures.. maybe a trek or two.. and despite the ridiculous cost, hopefully a visit to Machu Pichu..
(( Photos - Arequipa ))
(( Photos - Santa Catalina Monastery [lots lots lots] ))
(( Photos - Colca Canyon [lots!!] ))
:)
Ciao Folks
Brendon
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| That Other Trek |
[20 Aug 2007|01:53pm] |
So I returned to our hostel Albergue Churup to find Paul and Gaby in cahoots with two new travellers (Lisa (Canada) & Marika (Holland)), planning a new trek in a couple of days, and that I absolutely must come along.. still feeling pretty under the weather with a cold I was a little hesitant but still went to find out what it was all about. With some kind of sickness between most of us at different stages we put it off for a day more but still paid our monies and repacked the bags.. After a few minor confusions with what we needed to take, and which company we were actually going with, we managed to get into the waiting van the morning of the 17th with our guide and porters Stephen, Edwin, and Haziz..
It was a pretty cruisy drive up, past Pitek and the start of the Laguna Churup walk, to the park entrance where we may or may not have needed to pay the 65 sol park entrance fee.. I already had my ticket from Santa Cruz but the others had to fork out. We had a small snack, climbed over the fence and got a-walking.. the guides seemed way too relaxed to start, stopping every 10 mins it felt like, and after a coupe of hours of nice flat valley walking we had the option to have a little look-see at a laguna 20 mins of the track.. Paul and Gaby stayed behind feeling a little exhausted and sick, and the rest of us went and saw a nice big puddle with a waterfall or two (after a while, a laguna is a laguna). We got back to find that Paul and Gabs had gone ahead with one of the porters and started the climb up to the first camp site.. it didnt look to be much but it knocked the stuffing out of all of us, continuous switchbacks up a hill for a good hour and a half had us all redfaced and looking forward very much to sitting down. It was very cold already at the camp, and we got our layers on as the tents went up, and all ended up huddled in the cooking/porters tent while dinner was cooked.. Haziz certainly took his dinner seriously and made a delicious meal of soup and pasta, which we maybe got through half of (they were used to taking hungry Israelis). Feeling super tired I lay down in my tent and Paul and Gaby in theirs while Lisa and Marika flaunted their spanish skills a while longer.. the strange rain noise got louder and it wasnt long until Haziz came and wiped the rain off the tent.. wiped the rain off the tent?? Oh.. wiped the snow off the tent, that was about to collapse on me.. interesting night.
Woke to the sounds of boots crunching in ice, had a nice warm beverage and got ready.. Sickness had taken a hard toll on Paul and Gaby and we had to talk them into continuing when we got back from another laguna foray (I found the laguna wall far more interesting than the laguna.. sheesh talk about jaded)..
This was the 'hard' day, with the 5000m pass to cross, but the actual walk time and climb was easier than the previous day, and despite upset tummies we all made it up in good time, and sat at the top eating lunch, throwing a few snow balls and posing like lunatics for the camera. The descent was a very steep, unmarked and often-disputed trail to a rocky river valley, topepd off with a hilarious river crossing courtesy of Lisa and her fear of falling in. we decided to put off another laguna adventure til early the next morning and got set up again in a small clearing, collecting some wood for a proposed fire later on and again squished into the 3-man tent for dinner and conversation.
A little before dinner was served my stomach started feeling a little odd.. and after not being able to stomach the second course off powdered mashed potatoes, rice and soy-meat (actually very tasty) I knew it was going to be one of those nights.. I managed some sleep before getting up around 10 to throw up my dinner, sit by the small fire a little then back through the tent ritual of open tent, boots off, close tent (dodgy zipper), clothes off.. until 10 mins later having to do it all in reverse to rush back out again.. So I decided it was best to just get the fire started again and make myself 'comfortable' until I could sleep.. Some time around midnight I sang myself a tongue-in-cheek happy birthday while sitting under the stone overhang next to my little fire, shivering and occasionally running to the toilet.. Around 1 Haziz and Stephen came out to see why the fire was going again, and ended up making me some soothing tea and sitting around til 3ish when I felt I could sleep again.. not without Stephen patting me on the back saying Happy Birthday! Har Har Har Har....
So I woke feeling a little better, and watched the others leave for the laguna walk from my foam mattress, where I stayed until forcibly ejected to continue this death march to some god-forsaken hell camp to possible slave over hot coals for the rest of my life... well maybe not.. but the first stint of walking was horrible, clearly not feeling better yet and very dehydrated.. maybe it was the mango-flavouring I added to my iodine-purified (bleagh) water, or just the knowledge that going slow wasnt going to be any easier.. I tied an invisible leash around whoever was walking at the front and stuck to them for the next 3 hours, not taking in much more than the backs if their shoes and not a single photo from my camera.. We actually ended up making good time to the van and waiting fruit, and enjoyed the slow trip back.. tipped the porters and said our goodbyes and checked back into Churup hostel.. a damn nice hot shower and I was out until the early evening when I was awoken by a quadruplet of balloon-weilding song-singers waking me up to take me to dinner :) I managed to get up and we went to the la-dee-dah thai restaurant Siam de los Andes, very nice and very expensive, where none of us finished our meals due to our varying degreees and types of illnesses, but enjoyed them very much nonetheless.. I think that night was possibly the best sleep I have ever had and will ever have.....
Sooo this morning, I feel pretty darn good, Paul and Gaby, unfortunately do not, and are going to stay another night and get the bus tomorrow to Lima.. I'll be on the bus tonight because I just can't justify being here another night, its been 16 days and there's so much more to see !!! I'm not sure about getting further south than Lima at the moment, with only a little news of the earthquake's effect on highways, but I'll hopefully get to Cusco in a day or two for a while, then to Lake Titticaca, then through Bolivia to Argentina.. and then... ??
Anyways, Huaraz has been a blast, and there's still more I could do here, but its beginning to feel a little too much like home.. So next tiem I write it will hopefully be from somewhere a little different, a little the same, but somewhere else......
Bye for now everyone
Love
Brendon
(( Photos - That Other Trek ))
and some others from Paul and Gaby - some quite funny
(( Photos part 2 ))
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| Santa Cruz Trek |
[20 Aug 2007|01:13pm] |
Well definitely time for an update.. its been a pretty hectic week or so, lots of walking and running around...
The Santa Cruz trek was fantastic, we started early to get to the bus but were picked up on the way by a very enthusiastic collectivo hustling everyone into the van that they could, one poor lady almost torn apart by competing collectivo's. A couple of hours to Llanguanuco, a short breakfast break and another long, windy drive up past the Laguna 69 entrance, and over a super high pass that marked the beginning of many head-nods as the tiredness set in, then down to the small village where we started off.
The first day was super nice, most of the way through mountain-villages and valleys with nothing too difficult except for a pack full of 4 days supply. The first campsite was only about 5 hours walk, but the altitude (possibly from the pass while driving) hit me pretty hard and I had a nasty pressure-headache all afternoon and night, and couldnt do much other than sit with my head in my hands and eat a few mouthfuls before getting a very early night. We had a little rain that night, so a wet tent and cold start, but helped by nice warm porridge and a clear head for the day of days, tackling the 4760m pass.. It was a pretty miserable day, very overcast and a little rain, and very slow going as Caley and I played leapfrog with another group (albeit helped by donkeys).. but extremely beautiful, some lagunas with snow-capped mountain reflections and as we got higher up, the rain turned to snow and everything got winter-wonderlandish.. The last leg up to the pass was so tough, a little altitude sickness, headache, and lack of oxygen/energy as a result. I didnt feel like hanging around too much as it was very cold even with nearly all of my layers on! We got half of the way down to the campsite and stopped for some tea with some Swiss guys, then raced down with them to one of the most amazing campsites, a valley clearing with snow-capped mountains all round and beautiful clear skies. We were there early enough for me to have an hour nap to clear the head before cooking dinner and settling in for another early night.
The morning was even more stunning than the afternoon, a beautiful clear day and the best day of walking so far, a long 6-7 hours along the river valley. We took a short detour at the start, dumping our packs in some bush and heading up for the 'easy' and 'ugly' view of Alpamayo (the most beautiful and famous face being an 8-day return hike). So the 3rd was a lovely day, totally different landscape and flora to the first two, some parts feeling almost tropical before stepping into a desert-cactus land, then next thing you think you're in Australia, surrounded by Eucalypts and cow dung. We werent too sure where to camp so walked past a small shop offering cerveza and had a gourmet lunch of tuna, red onion and mozarella on bread a little further on, before finding a small site by the river with plenty of time before sunset. I built an idyllic little camp fire and burnt some dung to keep the bugs off us, and we made the most of the time with a 2 course dinner and much star gazing.
The last day turned out to be incredibly easy, as we walked a fair way past the planned campsite the day before and only had an hour and a half to get to Cashapampa where there was a taxi waiting to take us down the incredible road overlooking the Cordillera Negra and all of the towns situated in the valleys. Mostly cut into the side of the mountains it was a good hour trip, sharing our cab with whoever the driver felt like picking up, sometimes a few more than the cab could seat.. and then a 2-hour colelctivo back to Huaraz just in time for a shower then coffee and lunch at every gringo's favourite Cafe Andino.
(( Photos - Santa Cruz ))
So after a fantastic nights sleep, I woke with a slight cold and a strong desire to get out of Huaraz after almost 2 weeks.....
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[10 Aug 2007|05:29pm] |
Woohoo hey again, another quickie for some more photos... Ventured up to Laguna Churup yesterday (+4500m) with a cool aussie guy Caley (?).. very nice trek compared to Laguna 69.. the collectivo taxe left an hour late, but luckily the hike was a lot quicker than expected.. 1 hr from Llupa to Pitek, then ony 1.5 up to the laguna instead of the expected 2-3 .. we must have raced up, got up there infron of many that started before us, and got down early enough to get another minibus back to Huaraz before 2.. while not as stunning as Laguna 69, the walk was fantastic with a bit of quite-sketchy rock climbing/scrambling that a few didnt make up.. a great day for around $10!
(( Photos ))
So Ive spent most of today getting things ready with Caley for a bigger, better and longer hike tomorrow. We're going to do the Santa Cruz trek (very popular here) by ourselves, no donkeys or guides.. just us and our packs.. We've hired tents n all that and bought a heap of camping food.. jsut gotta get things finished tonight, buy me some gloves and a beanie and we'll be set for 4 days of high-altitude fun and exhaustion ! Can't wait!
Will have plenty of news when I get back oin a few days
Hope you're all great :)
Love
Brendon
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| High Altitude wanderings... |
[08 Aug 2007|01:08pm] |
So yesterday was our first little foray into hiking around Huaraz.. a nice n easy 3hr trek up to the beautiful Laguna 69 and 2 hours back.. so the day started with our taxi picking up a group down the road instead of us, which meant a delayed departure for the 2 hour ride up to the park entrance.. a very long, windy and bumpy road through a very pretty area of Peruvian farms on an endless hillside, but with fantastic views the whole way of the Corillera Negra and the looming peaks of the Cordillera Blanca.. our taxi driver was very friendly and chatty even though we understood very little except for 'asa frio' or something (translation: Im freakin cold!!). So up we went through a majestic pass between the peaks and stopped at la laguna primera for a chance to take some photos and freeze my nipples off and we continued up to the start of the hike..
It was a nice easy start, along mostly flat ground through a fantastic campground and cattle runs, past waterfalls and rivers, with gnarly sparse vegetation and donkeys.. all so pretty until the uphill started, thats when the altitude gets ya! I found it pretty tough going, and Paul and Gaby dragging a cold each found it even harder. But after 2 hours we got up to a laguna.. is this it ?!? Its green and small and no.. still an hour to go, so we had some lunch (mm pan con queso y jamon).. We droppd down into an open valley, home to old stockyards and house foundations and with a big nasty hill looming in front.. that was it for poor Pauly, his cold getting the best of him.. so I powered up with our taxi driver, resting a few times with heart racing and spinny head.. but it was so worth it.. the view of Laguna 69 absolutely stunning.. the most amazing blue water, complete with mountain peaks and waterfall. We sat for quite a while, well rugged up as the wind was freezing and started down after half an hour and many potographs. Just as we were off Gaby crawled her way up much to my surprise and joy, so I hung with her a little, took some photos and marched back down to a sleeping Paul at the first laguna, and a long, but easy 2hr downhill hike to go.. the drive back was rather horrendous, long and windy with a headache to suit, it felt like 5 hours back to Huaraz, but we got back at 7 after a crazy drive with dodgy headlights and very, very little conversation (except for muy consado o asa frio!).. Bed never felt so good!
So today we've swaped hostels to the incredibly awesome Hostal Churup, highly recommended by everyone and everything, and for good reason, looks great, and is good to be among lots of travellers as well.. it's 4 levels, the top having a great open fireplace and views of the surrounding snowcapped peaks..
I'm about due to head up to Cafe Andino for a large amount of café and book reading.. sooooooo
hope you love these photos too :)
(( Photos ))
Ciao !
Brendon
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[06 Aug 2007|03:06pm] |
Hola hola hola..!
Just writing a quick one, still in Huaraz getting things organised for a hike or two, and enjoying the acclimatisation process of eating, drinking coffee, and walking around Huaraz a lot!
There are as many internet places as there is trekking companies, so the choices are almost endless, but thankfully internet is a whole dollar per hour, much nicer than Costa Rica! (the treks arent quite so cheap).
But Paul, Gaby and I are going on a one-day trip tomorrow to a beautiful popular spot called Laguna 69, and in a couple of days will be doing a nice 3 day trek.
Have just put up some photos from Peru so far, hope you enjy them as much as I enjoyed being here taking them :) just stunning here, and its a beautiful clear day today so maybe some more..
(( Peru - Miraflores & Huaraz ))
Bye for now !
Brendon
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| USA.. USA.. USA...!! |
[29 Jul 2007|04:18pm] |
Keene has been very good to me, and with only a few days left, I should definitely send a much belated update for ya'll (thats American speak, aaeeeyyepp)..
So Ive had it very good here, staying with Allegra and Rob with very few expenses, and even the bonus of being able to earn some money doing painting and gardening that covered most of my party, travel and other purchases. I can't thank Rob enough for his generosity in letting me spend this time with Allegra in his house, and to Allegra for being so damn gorgeous and awesome to live with.
I think the quick trip up to Montreal was the last news I wrote of, it'll be a bit of a stretch to recall everything since then.. its been a busy 2 months ! Lots of parties with the tight group of Keene kids that Allegra grew up with and went to school with.. they've been a blast to hang out with and spend many crazy nights partying with in the barn here or a few houses around the place.. Peter's little cabin on the lake a definite exception with a few cruises on the party boat as well :) There's been a double-kegger graduation party, a very wet but eventful 4th of July on the lake, and recently an awesome night in Burlington, Vermont where I got to introduce a group of Allegra's friends to one of my favourite aussie bands The Cat Empire! That next day we braved the White Mountains for a (proposed) 3 day camping/hiking trip.. but the weather turned bad on us and we ended up wet and freezing, snuggled up in a tent for the night (oh, that part was terrible!). It was still a great experience!
We went on a 2nd trip to Montreal mid-June with Tara to see one of Allegra's good friends and all-round nice guy Mason in his circus school performance, which was an incredible 3hr show of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students of L'ecole Nationale de Cirque, a school which seems to send a lot of students to the well known Cirque du Soleil. I unfortunately didnt take my camera to that as the 1st-year's exhibition in the lobby of street theatre, acrobatics and juggling was so entertaining.. we finished off the night with a lot of the students by climbing up to the Montreal look-out for beers and many a cartwheel competition.
I also got to spend an excellent day wandering around Boston with Allegra which there are some photos of already, a beautiful historic city, so much space and an eerie amount of historic inner-city graveyards. We spent the afternoon in the crowded Boston aquarium with lots of goodies to look at as well as awlking through Quincy Markets.
I was very excited to go to Hampton beach at the start of July, on the whole 7 miles of coastline that New Hampshire has, and it was quite an experience indeed.. there's a very different beach culture than in Australia that's for sure.. I can understand when a minute in the water is enough to make your feet hurt and teeth chatter.. but it was great to get some salt water in the hair and sand between the toes as well.. made me miss Australia very much.. especially when I was told of the phenomenal month of surf that the east coast had just experienced..
Somewhere in the middle here was a visit to Brattleboro VT, and quirky old hippy town with an awesome food co-op and CSA setup.. one of the things that has really impressed me around here as well as Vermont and Montreal were all of the farmer's markets, small farm CSA's and food co-ops selling fantastic local produce.. as well as the mindset about this kind of thing among some of the people Ive met. There might still be a ridiculous number of SUV's driving around but alot of people seem to be kicking the US-stereotype.. the windup to the '08 elections has been interesting to watch also. There's another guy staying here that is an Obama campaign volunteer and Rob has been doing a bit to help them out in Keene as well..
We just recently braved the big smoke and went to New York City for 3 days, getting quite lost on our way in and totally baffled at the terrible driving we saw, quite scary and dangerous at times! Allegra's aunt Suzie lives on the top level of an apartment block looking over the George Washington bridge from the New Jersey side, and you can also see down into Manhattan where the craziness is, we definitely avoided driving there! The first afternoon we caught the subway in and wandered around Chinatown and got some food in little Italy.. then took a long walk down Broadway into Times Square which was pretty incredible, so crowded and so many lights! It was a fun place to be. The next day we walked and lazed around Central Park, which is also just phenomenal.. you could spend a week exploring that place. We spent a few hours in the American Museum of Natural History then met Suzie and her partner Munir for dinner and to watch the start of a concert of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in the park. We then drove in circles for a while to see a circus show 'la vie' in the Spiegeltent which was such an entertaining show of not only circus but excellent theater and comedy, with a lot of the 'usual' circus tricks but with an excellent storyline to piece them together.. I ended up sitting in the hot seat all night, getting picked on a few times and up on stage being danced around and worshiped with a golden diablo on my head... a fantastic night. I enjoyed my small celebrity status after the show as well :)
To finish off the trip Allegra and I drove to see the Botanical Gardens for a couple of hours, and enjoyed the tropical/caribbean display, trying to recognize what we could from our time in Central America, and being generally blown away by what was on show.. we could have spent all day exploring the grounds but we needed to get back and it was a 4-5 hour trip to Keene, so we settled with the Conservatory and some fun in the kids garden :)
So I now have only 2 days left in Keene, getting very sad to be leaving Allegra and a little nervous about getting back traveling.. its been a good 5 months since Ive had to use my tiny bit of Spanish (Spanglish?!) that I picked up.. but I'm excited to be meeting Paul and Gaby in Peru later this week, and looking forward to seeing more interesting and unique places.. I'll be in Peru until the end of August, through my birthday (Maybe I'll do the Inca Trail for that?), Argentina through September and depending on visa issues either Brazil or Chile in October.. who knows how else these things might change so I'll leave a question mark over the rest of the trip just now ;)
Look forward to writing to you from Peru !
Ciao amigos :)
Brendon
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[09 Jun 2007|12:41pm] |
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Well hello everyone.. A much belated and eagerly anticipated update for you all... !
According to the schedule I sent many months ago I should be writing this to you from somewhere in chilly Peru, perhaps some ruinous mountaintop e-cafe.. but.. well, things change ! Im happily writing this in the beautiful summer-season of Keene, New Hampshire, USA.. thats right, the freakin States !
I think the last post was at the end of April, with a month left of Belizean farm fun, which it proved to be.. Finishing off the garden, as well as doing a lot of plastering on the Earthbag house, and in the last week helping out with the Solar Installation course.. All the while enjoying muchly the company of Chris, Dawn, Zephyr, Esperanza, Thomas, Jocelyn, Anne-Sophie and (last but definitely not least), Allegra. :)
The last 3 left for home the weekend before the Solar course, taking a bus through Mexico and up the east coast of the USA. Perfect timing as it happens, for me to delay my flight from Miami to Peru, jump on a Greyhound bus to meet them in New York City (bus station) 2 days later.. and continue up to New Hampshire with them. We had a small homecoming party and got some sleep that night then drove up through amazing countryside of New Hampshire and Vermont to Canada to check out Anne-Sophie's, Jocelyn's, and eventually Allegra's new apartment in Montreal. From there we took the first two home to Anne-Sophie's mother's place somewhere to the east where we were treated to luxurious food, drink and one damn comfortable bed (and a packed lunch for the drive home the next day!).
So I'm here living in Keene for the next.. umm.. 2 months(?) with gorgeous Allegra and her dad Rob, and enjoying it very much. Its an amazingly beautiful town, every house a picture-perfect postcard image of New-England-American living and just a really nice area to be. Busy meeting all of the friends and family as well as gardening here and Allegra and I will eventually be painting the house. I've also just found an Aikido dojo very close-by that I am looking forward to starting up at!
I think it was more of a culture shock to come into the States like this than to anywhere so far in Central & Sth. America.. but very pleasant as well.. coming on the most luxurious of transport options, Greyhound Bus Lines, from the south through Florida, Sth&Nth Carolina etc etc, was an experience, many interesting people and places.. even had my big backpack (aka my home) taken in NYC but I recovered it intact thankfully. So it was very nice indeed to spend the last leg of the trip with the guys from the farm.
My timing is great for the summer break, to make the most of the parties, hiking, camping, and this ever so alien lake-culture thing that is growing on me :) There's SO MUCH water here it should be a crime! If I could take water on a plane I'd bring a bottle home to Australia, I hear its getting pretty bad now with water restrictions and such.. but alas I wont be around for quite some time to experience that.. ;)
Soo... thats about it for now.. working on some photos, and hopefully, uploading some of my videos of the trip so far for you all to look at as well.
Hope you're all great, and keep me updated !
Brendon
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[27 Apr 2007|09:09am] |
Well hello again friends, welcome to another installment of MMRF fun and fantasy... hm.. not really.. a lot more of the same actually, but lots of photos and a few stories as well.
The last month has gone by at a phenomenally fast rate.. after getting back from Caye Caulker Ive spent a lot of time working on my little garden, with lots of weeding, collecting logs from the river (a horrible task), then hauling them up the hill as well as many many buckets of soil and bags of bamboo mulch. Its been a bit of a battle keeping the chickens from doing their chiken-y thing but Ive fixed the fence so now its just up to people shutting gates! Its a bit of a mixture of kitcheny herbs and greens, with a decent sized pre-existing sweet habanero planting that Ive cleaned up, and Im yet to put in the local tomato, chinese cabbage and sweet peppers.. with a few more patches to set up, and some vine species to get started on the back of the mound. The dry season decided to show its face as well (just after the earthbag course finished actually), so watering everyday and looking to the skies everytime it gets grey hoping for some drops. Luckily the solar pump is working well and keeps the tanks relatively full.
The Evolution of my garden..
In and around creating this garden theres been plenty of other stuff to be doing.. picking, roasting, drying, shelling, grinding, shaping cacao.. drying, shucking and roasting corn.. the odd cooking day thrown in for fun, making lots of bread.. pumpkin jam mmmm.. hanging out in my hammock with Allegra..
We've been to the local Tumul'kin festival, bought honey and watched tortilla making contests. When Jocelyn's father and step-mum arrived I got to do some more snorkelling at Snake Caye which was a fantastic experience. Just out into the bay we ran into a pod of dugongs, followed by dolphin and eagle-rays. When we pulled up to snake caye we were lucky enough to have a very large dugong right there in the shallows, so we jumped out and swam with it for 5 minutes before it got sick of us.. I managed to get really close to the massive creature. The snorkelling on the caye was fantastic, beautiful clear calm water and impressive corals and fans.
Snake Caye Photos
Coming up this weekend is the Belize Agriculture Show which we are all going to in Belmopan.. it promises to be a massive event with something like 1 in 8 people attending.
So Im into my last month of being here in Belize.. it will be pretty hectic with Jocelyn, Anne-Sophie and Allegra leaving halfway through May which will change the place incredibly. I'll definitely miss having them around a lot. It will be an interesting last week with only me staying at the farm.. but I am looking farward very muchly to Peru and further travels !
I spent a bit of time yesterday wanderign the farm taking as good a photo-tour as I could.. so If you're interested in browsing your way around MMRF...
MMRF Farm Tour
And for the latest in farm fun...
MMRF Farm Fun
Agh... I'm computered out !!
Lots of Love
Brendon
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| Photo photo photo |
[11 Apr 2007|03:35pm] |
HI HI !
Mass photo upload going on here.. got a chance to come into town to buy seed and use a computer for a good amount of time !
For all of the fascinating Earthbag building pictures.. HERE!
More of MMRF in the last month HERE!
For the Caye Caulker adventure... HERE!
rah woo gotta hurry get a bus back to the farm now, byyyee !
<3 Brendon
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| Corker of a time |
[10 Apr 2007|02:17pm] |
The earthbag course has sadly finished and everyone has gone home.. Rob and I headed up to the north of Belize to Caye Caulker for a few days before he flew back to Oz.. It was so great to be out in the sun and sand again!! Its was very reminiscent of places in Costa Rica and Panama.. so very chill and relaxing. Spent a lot of time walking up and down, up and down the sandy streets, sampling the coffee and seeing if the beer at this place was any different to that place.. a hard life!! We spent 3 nights there, and on our last full day joined a Ragamuffin sail snorkel trip for the day which was so incredibly amazing. We were with a group of girls from another farm in Mexico as well as heaps of other fellow tourists, a beautiful peaceful way to spend the day, no motor and some beautiful snorkelling. The next day was a 7 hour bus trip back to Punta Gorda to sort my tourist visa out - that was a few days late - but all went well, and was even lucky enough for everyone to be there with the truck to save me a further bus, walk, hitch back to the farm :)
So life here has changed again, but thankfully to a more relaxed pace with a lot more time to focus on my garden project and get other things done around the place (and not cook so much!!). Busy building bamboo & log terrace gardens and weeding. Another intern arrived a few days back; Thomas from France.. always changing here. Looking forward to the remaining 7 weeks hanging out with these marvellous people and learning more.
Bye for now!
love Brendon
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[25 Mar 2007|11:27am] |
Hello hello hello all !
Well its been a while since Ive updated anything and its been 3 weeks of farm-fun so here goes!
Its been a great experience so far living here, a very different way of life but so much interesting stuff to learn.. The family who own the place (Chris and Dawn, with 2 young girls Esperanza (6) and Zephyr (4)) are really nice and great quality to hang around with. Its certainly been a challenge being around 2 crazy young girls so much but theyre slowly learning what personal space is :) There is also 3 other interns here that are wonderful as well and young and full of knowledge.. There's Jocelyn (21) and his girlfriend Anne-Sophie (20) from Quebec, and Allegra (20) from New Hampshire. Theyre teaching me heaps and showing me the ropes of looking after the place and most importantly the cooking. I was originally told I would be 'helping out' in the kitchen, but it seems the kitchen gets rotated between the interns with a day each.. Ive had 2 cooking days so far which have been relatively successful, although it is a massive learning curve to cook for up to 13 people with all new farm-ingredients, and a wood stove/oven.... but im loving it as well. Most things are harvested straight from the gardens so its all happy healthy food. We also drink LOTS of coffee which makes me a happy chappy.. *takes a sip*
The farm itself is a marvel.. 20 years of planning, planting and living off the land has made this place a veritable food forest, its quite incredible to look over the valley from my room and realise that its all edible, productive plants that were put there with purpose. We eat very well 3 times a day which is also testament to the quality of everyone's cooking.. the cakes are always a treat also.
The living space is simple, but we dont need much.. matress with a mosquito net does me fine and we're in bed most nights around 9. The situation here at the moment is a bit different to normal, as there is a course running in Earthbag building, which has been amazing to be a part of.. there was only 3 students, 2 of whom were only here for the first 2 weeks, 2 fun and interesting canadians. The 3rd just happens to be an aussie.. Rob, from Byron Bay, who Ive actually trained with before at the Byron Aikido Dojo at one or 2 seminars... this world is too small! Its been so great having another aussie here to tagteam with, and many nights spend reminiscing about how great Australia, surfing, permaculture and aikido really is. Many nights also spent up late drinking local one-barrel rum and belizian beer (Belikin) .. but more recently we've come across a hit in the coconut rum.. :) ok so we're not doing it too tough..
Ive been cleaning, washing and bathing in the river most afternoons which is always very 'fresh' but also refreshing, clear and beautiful. There's also an outdoor bamboo shower if I feel like lashing out.
We've done a few 'tourist' trips around the area which have been spectacular.. the first to Blue Cave, which is a large cave opening in the side of a cliff with a river running out of it. We went swimming inside with headlamps and lifejackets and after about 45 minutes of beautiful chambers and rooms came into 'the source' where we spent a magical 5 minutes in complete darkness with the waterfall roaring in our ears.
Just recently we went to the Lubaantun Mayan ruins and spent a good couple of hours exploring the large area with many ball courts and mounds of stone, incredible stone work and architecture. We finished off that day at the San Antonio waterfall which wasnt anything compared to some waterfalls in Costa Rica, but very beautiful and the San Antonio village is incredible in comparison to San Pedro which is the local village here. One day was also spent at the Punta Gorda food fair where MMRF had a stall promoting the techniques and produce.. its was an event mostly for young school children but many farmers also came through to see what they were doing here.. we also gourged ourselves on local produce, lots of cacao products and coconut drinks.
SO I still have 9 weeks here which Im looking forward to. Only one weeks left of the earthbag building course, run by Donnie Kiffmeyer and Kaki Hunter, 2 awesome people to have around and learn from.. I definitely want to do something with these techniques when I get back home. The house we're building has been moving along nicely, but the 'dry season' has been rather unseasonable these last days.. with over 75mm of rain yesterday, and heavy showers today interrupted by times of hot, humid sunshine. Its been very mad weather indeed.
Im expecting the place to change quite dramatically when the course is over, with less time staying up drinking and more time put into the gardens and other projects. Ive been given the task of building a small garden here in between the house and the kitchen, which also happens to be a mayan mound, so with archaeological and cultural significance I cant actually dig, or mark/move any stones in any way.. quite an exercise indeed.
Ive finally gotten a chance to upload some photos!!
The Costa Rican Mal Pais/Santa Teresa addition
For Belize & MMRF so far
some backtracking to zip-lining in Costa Rica
and I should be adding more as I can! Phew, big update.
Its a nice lazy sunday today, cruisy music playing through a stereo which is a rarity, nice weather finally and a belly full of tortillas & beans, and of course coffee :) Rob and I will hike up the hill soon to the local mayan site, then to 'the source' this afternoon, the spring upriver where the farm's river bubbles out of the ground, cant wait!
Bye for now !
Brendon
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[04 Mar 2007|01:19pm] |
Hi hi everyone
Just a real quicky, not much time right now
I made it to MMRF in one day from San Jose which seemed to surprise everyone here.. have been here for a couple of nights. Got an upset belly probably from my last meal in San Jose so havent been feeling the best, but the place is really nice, the people really friendly and itll be a goood time. Very isolated here, minimal internet access so it might be a rather quiet 3 months from me, not much chance of any photo uploads either.
Will try and send something everynow and then, trying to get used to the sudden change in lifestyle, diet and company.. but im sure that there will be many exciting things to write about when im in the loop with everything
Hope you're all well..
Bye for now
Brendon
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[04 Mar 2007|01:19pm] |
Hi hi everyone
Just a real quicky, not much time right now
I made it to MMRF in one day from San Jose and have been here for a few nights. Got an upset belly probably from my alst meal in San Jose so havent been feeling the best, but the place is really nice, the people really friendly and itll be a goood time. Very isolated here, minimal internet access so it might be a rather quiet 3 months from me, not much chance of any photo uploads either.
Will try and send something everynow and then, trying to get used to the sudden change in lifestyle, diet and company.. but im sure that there will be many exciting things to write about when im in the loop with everything
Hope you're all well..
Bye for now
Brendon
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| Who Dares Wins: Costa Rica |
[11 Feb 2007|06:50pm] |
Well Im very happy to say that everything that Trevor said about this house is more than true, and Anna and I have ended up with a fantastic deal.. I swapped a $150 board for free accom for 2 people for 10 days, a board worth ~250 and a board travel-cover worth more than that.. add into that a kickass 2-man tent that I might take with me as well... :) Mucho Feliz!
Mal Pais is a great place as well.. damn hot, but a very cruisy surf town on the central Pacific coast of CR. I've bought another really nice board while Anna uses the other one to practice, and might take it with me to do some surfing in Peru later on. Its much better this way than spending $5-12 each day to rent a board, and I'll probably end up making money. The house is great as well.. photos later when I find the internet cafe with a decent connection.. if.
Anywho.. all is well indeed, cooking good dinners and doin it easy right now, lots of surf, and sunscreen, and beauuuuutiful coffee :) finally found some good stuff! Hope everyone is doing great, Ciao
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