Chiwi Chiwi Chiwi oi oi oi!

I can't believe this... After backpacking for 7 months, I finally meet not 1, but 2 other Chiwis!!! And all in the same bloody hostel (Marco Polo) here in Bariloche. And all 3 of us are travelling alone. Unbelivable!

I met Andrew from Papakura, and then I met this guy, Martin from Kingsland.

It certainly is cool to see other chiwis out there. Keep it up! :)

The perfect day!

I had the best time with Marty and Odette on Saturday. Marty's from Aus and Odette's from the States. We decided to hire bikes and cycle around the lake district area of Bariloche.

This is Marty and mua in our supercool bike whilst Odette shows off her little pinky bike with training wheelz. Did we look GOOD!

The course we took contain lots of stops along the way. From doll houses (Marty loves dolls), lake side beaches (which we swam in the freezing cold water!), coffee stop at golf houses, lots of photo opportunities and finally to a home brew pub for dinner and drinks. There were also pebble skipping competition along the way (which I won I won I won!!!)

All in all a perfect day!!!

Hiking Mates

Thankgod, after loosing Jens I manage to find other people to hang out with. So here we are, on our last day of the trek.

From left to right people I met on the Torres del Paine hike. Matthew (BRI), Ben (NZL), Miguel (ESP), Collin (USA) and Marty (AUS).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas folks!

This is that mad Aussie which I mention earlier under Puppetry of the Penis.

Yup I met Richard again, this time without his mates, on the climb up Mt Roraima. And yup, Rich needed a partner and that guy was yours truely for this scenic view!!! :b

Trekking up Roraima Tepui

I just spent 6 days trekking in National Park Canaima. My trek took me up to the top of Mount Roraima. A big fat and flat table top mountain otherwise known as Tepuis. Mount Roraima is the highest of the Tepuis in Venezuela, at 2810 metres.

This is my favorite trek in South America so far. The first 2 days took us through grassy plains, towards Roraima's base camp.

On the left you have Mount Kukenan, and on the right is Mount Roraima.

Mount Kukenan, as taken at sunrise on the right, is known as the evil twin. It has been told that back in the days, the native people here, known as Pemon, would rather climb up Kukenan and throw themselves off rather then falling to enemy hands. Nowadays there are no tours that heads up there as no native people would ever lead tourist up. I suspect the real reason is that it is much harder to climb then Mount Roraima!

And on day 3 we climb up the mountain. It was a slippery afair, but less scary then I thought. We cross the famous Tears Crossing, basically a series of waterfall which falls over us. And then, we reach the top after 4 hours of effort.

Up on top of Roraima it is all about rocks. Re-incarnated in various formations. All in very interesting shapes and sizes. There are also amazing crystal to be found at many areas on Roraima. These rocks you see are vary old, older then the Himalayas, the Alps and the Andes combined! The top is also pretty wet, therefore there are more plant life then I thought. Plus some insect and small animals.

The Roraima frogs are the most interesting. They are very tiny, about the size of my finger nail. They have a black body and a yellow belly underneath. These frogs do not hop like their cousins, instead they walk on all fours! Very trippy!

The group at Roraima
Originally uploaded by benwoo

We did not have the best weather during the trek over the 6 days trek. At times our tents were flooded and we saw plenty of rain and fog.

So at times there was no view on top of the mountain at all! But I didn't mind, as running around and examining the rocks themselves was interesting enough.

We finally made our decent on day 5, and spent the next 2 days walking back out to civilization!

I had a pretty cool group too. From the left they are: Penny (Aus), Richard (Aus), Sarah (Eng), Barna (Hun), Fran (Eng), Camilla (Swe), Ryo (Jap) and yours truely!

We made our tour with Mystic tour, run by Roberto. And paid 770 Bolivars for the fantastic trek.

Maho and Masai

Maho and Masai
Originally uploaded by benwoo

This is Maho and Masai. Two Japanese backpacker in my group out to the Angel Falls. Maho has been on the road for 1 1/2 years whilst Masai has been on the road for... 3 years!

Masai was cycling around South America when he bump into Maho in Ushuaia, Argentina 18 months ago. Together they travelled for 6 months and fell in love along the way. They are now engaged!

After a break of individual travels, they are back again travelling in Venezuela. After this, Maho plans to travel in Central America for another 6 months, whilst Masai has another monster 3 years of biking to be done. He plans to cycle through United States, Europe and Asia before returning home to Japan.

I tell you, Japanese travellers are some of the coolest and most hardcore of all travellers I meet along the way. They would travel into hot spots, without speaking the language, nor have a full grasp of English. I also respect them for their politeness and easy going nature.

Seph and Ben

This dude on the left is Seph, an American from San Diego. I met him in Ciudad Bolivar and together we headed into Santa Elena. He is an editor by trade and is in Venezuela to write about the country for the Rough Guide (a travel guide in direct competition to my bible).

I used to think this would be one of the coolest job to have, since you get paid to travel. But after hearing Seph's experience I am not so sure anymore! He is on a tight schedule therefore is doing a lot of night bus travels. He spends his days interviewing numerous people, agencies, guesthouse owners, restaurants etc etc for prices, tours, dates and what-nots.

Basically not something I would want since it would cut into my siesta time! :)

Los Llanos and my wildlife safari tour!

I had a brilliant 4 days out in Los Llanos, on a wildlife safari tour.

Los Llanos is located in the South Western part of Venezuela. It is a vast tropical grassland, and many parts of it stay flooded during the rainy season. Therefore it supports a rich collection of wildlife. There are giant rats call Capybaras, big snakes like the Annaconda, river dolphins, pirahnas, and a whole lot of different bird spieces.

Our tour took us through different mode of transport. We did tours on horseback, van, boat and we also went out for a night safari by foot. We also did different activities on the tour like pirahna fishing and tubbing down a river. My favorite activity was pirahna fishing. I mean, they were SO easy to catch! I caught like 5 pirahnas within 45 minutes.

The pirahnas are fierce creatures allright! They spot very sharp teeth, and over on the right you can see the result of their frenzy attack. Kerrin caught this fish 5 minutes ago, chucked it back into the water as bait and within 5 seconds, half it's flesh has been bitten off. Crazy shit!

We gutted our fish and got it ready for dinner. It was deep fried with salf and it was delicious!

And here is Tony Martin, my guide with his catch of the day. A mighty Anaconda. It was amazing to see him work as he was amazingly fast with his hands. You need it to catch this creature by the neck, and to hold it still to stop it from biting.

I was happy to see the giant snake caught, and to hold onto one as I haven't played with them since my snake keeping duty in Bolivia. The Anaconda skin is smooth and beautiful to touch. It has scary eyes from up close though as it is all hazy with no pupils showing.

And here you have another spectacular sunset at Los Llanos.

We did a lot of the overland tour on top of the roof of our van. The view from above over the plain are superb, with lots of birdlife seen.

Our guide Tony was pretty good. He definately knows what he is doing and is very knowledgable about the animals. But he is also impatient and a little ego-tistic. But the last day bought him back down to earth, as he cut himself bad on our little white-water adventure. After falling out of his tube and smacking head first into a rock down the rapids. That requires 10 stiches and you can see the big bandage over his left eye on the top photo!

Jake Meyer

I must make a special mention of this person here. His name is Jake Meyer and he has set the record as the youngest person to have climb all 7 continent's highest peaks.

Starting at 15 he started off by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, and finished his 7 summits expedition at Mt McKinley in Alaska, at a tender age of 21!

He is now 23, and is traveling in Northern South America to you summit a few peaks. I just can't believe how young he is and that he is on holiday just to climb more peaks!

For more information on his achievements visit his website http://www.jakemeyer.co.uk/

Puppetry of the Penis

I met these Mad Aussies from Melbourne at the Guesthouse in Merida, and foolishly decided to follow them up the mountain to see Pico Bolivar. As this is their favorite past time, posing naked where-ever they go. Including this in front of Venezuela's highest peak.

From the left we got Penny, Richard, Ben and Merrrrrv. Way to go Aussies! :b

San Gil, Bucaramanga and beyond!

I have been visiting the self proclaim adventure capital of Colombia; San Gil, near the border with Venezuela.

I came here to absail down this huge 180 metres waterfall! It look big too when we got there! However we found out that only one section is possible to absail. That section is 80 metres long so it still look huge, dangerous and exciting!

Well, going down has never been a problem for me, so me and another kiwi (Andy Gale from Hamiltron!), work our way down the face of the waterfall, into the thick of it all. It was exciting stuff allright! The rock was slippery and I was reduce to jumping down it McGyver style. :)

Here are the photos! The one above is of Andy going over. The one on the left is the 80 metre section that we went down. If you zoom in to the photo you will be able to see the ropes we used to absail.

Today I am in Bucaramanga, basically my last stop in Colombia, before heading into Venezuela.

Colombia has set the bench mark for me in terms of my favorite country in this continent. The people, the landscape and the adventures have been all top stuff. The only low point would be in their culinary!

The People

And here are photos of the people including the group at the Lost City trek.

Here is a Koguis mum, at 15 year old with her son.

Here is a Koguis girl showing off her colourful necklace.

To tell the difference between the girls and the boys is that the boys all carry a knapsack, whilst the girls all wear pretty necklaces.

Here are two Koguis boys, no older then 12 and 14, having a fag during a break up on the trek. They told me they started smoking at a tender age of 11.

Wh00p Wh00p! Yeah mate, I would have look so much better possing if it wasn't for them German style socks and sandles. But I did the whole bloody trek in sandles! They were PERFECT for the numerous muddy and wet trails. That is, until the last day when we had to slug through avalanches. My poor Tevas just couldn't handle them.

Anyway.... RAH RAH!!!

From the left is Missile our cook, Eduardo our English speaking guide and the younger Eduardo Spanish speaking guide possing with their Galil rifles...

RAH RAH!!!

Here is my group on the trek having breakfast. From the right we have Matt (Walsh), Olga (Polish), Karen (Walsh), Christine (Canadian), Jordan (Canadian), yours truely and Sef (Denish).

This is our brilliant guide Eduardo, with his mum and dad. We stayed at his house on the first night of the trek. Eduardo is strong as an ox and nimble as a deer during our trek. He helped carried Christine's backpack when she was too tired, and knows the trail, the animals, the plant life like a native. During the trek he picked out sugarcane, mandarin, oranges, choclate growing along the path and cut it up for us. Eduardo is only 19 years old, but has been guiding for 3 years and was a cook for 5 years before that. His dad is 52 and his mum is only 49. He also has 5 brothers and 2 sisters.

I LOVE CRACK!

Crack climbing that is!

This is what I did today!!! :) :) :)

I finally got to do some real climbing after a long break. Today, Laird (my Canadian mate) and I went rock climbing at El Peñol, a massive piece of granite rock, judding out of the countryside, 2 hours East of Medellin.

We started off with a long 30m climb, graded at 5.8 and called the Kurakata. The climb was a good warm up, and it was also Laird's first outdoor climbing experience and kodus to him as he top it!

This photo is taken for a climb called Alcatraz, rated at 5.10B and is 25m high. It is my first proper crack climb, as you can see from the photo, the jagged age goes all the way up. In fact, the whole route is 80 metres, requiring 3 multipitch climb. It would have been so cool to do the whole thing!

Just Check out the view!

El Peñol is situated in a very pretty area, surrounded by lakes and beautiful countryside. Many rich folks from the big city of Medellin have bought holiday houses out here. As you can see their houses, and the occasional speed boats out on the water. I certainly cannot complain about the view, nor the beautiful climb.

And finally, here is our guide: Yon Monsalve. He is a 31 year old Colombian from Medellin and has been climbing for 12 years. He is a great climber, and have set 3 of the 4 routes we climbed today.

He has had first hand experience with Colombian's war with the rebels. He got shot on the back of his shoulder, with the bullet piercing his left shoulder, and busting his jaw. So now he has a slightly crooked jaw. The shot put him in a coma for 2 days. This happened to him at the age of 17, whilst he was in the Colombian army.

I love backpackers!

Sometimes you get someplace and you meet really cool people - Backpackers that is! So here in Popayan I have met and gel with a good group of folks.

I stayed at the very cool Hostel Trail, run by Tony and Kim. A Scottish couple whom were traveling themselves until they got an unbeatable deal to own and operate their own hostel in Popayan. My first impression of them was "Geeze they are the youngest foreign Hostel owners I have ever met!!!!".

Hostel Trail is barely 3 months old so it has a lot to prove. But so far, it has all the right condition for travelers like me and you. It has a TV/DVD room, a book exchange, a reading area, communal kitchen, free coffee, a lovely dining area and Internet access.

But most of all, Tony and Kim are both friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, they were on their way home to Scotland for 3 months shortly after my visit, and they have got two of their cronies Stephen and Colin to run it whilst they are gone. I personally don´t know if I would trust leaving my hostel to a Walsh and a Scottish. HAH! ;)

Check out their Hostel website and the amazing Network they have created for backpackers traveling in South America!

I love California!

This is where I have been for the past 11 days. I spent it with my mate Derek and his girlfriend Cynthia in LA. I went there as it has been a long 4 years since we last partied together, and it was also his 40th birthday so we wanted to celebrate it in style. Don´t he look good for an old man? :)

Derek and Cynthia lives in Brentwood, a suburb in Santa Monica in West LA. LA by the way is one massive city, home to 13 million (encompassing Long Beach and Santa Ana). It is also a massive car-friendly and people-unfriendly city, as getting anywhere requires wheels.

Anyway, Derek and Cynthia´s neighbourhood can be considered as the Parnel/Remurea of Auckland. Big mansions, beautiful apartments, palm tree lined boulevards and lots of nice cars on the streets. Seeing SUV´s, Porsche, Mercs and BMWs driving past are like seeing Fords and Nissans back home.

They also own a cute little Beagle name Holly. She is only 6 months old. She spots these big fluffy ears (which I would very much like to pin back) and a beautiful fur coat. I love watching her run around the apartments as the marble floor makes her slip and slide everywhere.

This photo I took of her will probably be her last time sitting in the back seat! Coz she threw up both on Cynthia and me afterwards. They blame it on her eating prior to coming out and of sitting out back. Poor little Holly!

U S A

Guess what, I am in LA now. Yes LA! The city of Angels. Home of Hollywood, plastic surgery, Venus Beach, In And Out Burgers, Bay Watch and the OC. I am having a great time so far. The weather is beautiful, sunny and a constant light sea breeze to stay cool, and at night it is warm enough to go out without a jacket.

I came here to see a good mate, Derek and his gf Cynthia. I came to celebrate his birthday and to take a break from travelling through South America. But what a big contrast it has been compare to the third world countries that I have been travelling through in the last 3 months. From driving through Hollywood Boulevard last night, setting sail on a boat in Orange County during the day and to see all those beautiful mansions with their meticulously kept garden, big name brand shops, fancy cars and boats, well maintain boulevards with palm trees lining both sides of the street. This is LA alright!

It was great to see Derek and Cynthia. They live in a pretty nice pad in Brentwood. According to Derek this is the Chelsea of London, or Parnell of Auckland. Everybody here looks good, drives nice car and owns a dog. Derek and Cynthia owns a cute little puddle name Holly. She is only 6 months old, has big floppy ears and is very adorable. She seems a little spoilt though and shares their bed at night. Awwweee!

First impression of USA is that they are a patriotic bunch! American flags abound and many houses have a flag pole out front, factories would have a big American flag painted on their walls, and even car yards have mascot cars painted with the stars and stripes.

A monkey stole my camera...

This is a true story. I bump into Lucas Young from the animal sanctuary (Bolivia) here in Arequipa. And he told me that after I left, he was walking to work in the sanctuary as usual when all of a sudden a capuchin monkey leap on him, tore into his daypack, pulled his digital camera out and took off. Lucas was stunned but took chase, however the monkey was gone. He manage to find the camera case in the bush, and just as he was about to give up, another monkey park staff approach to hand him his camera after encountering and frightening the monkey to drop the camera.

Now the most amazing thing is this, he showed me the scratch digital camera and the 9 photos which taken by the monkey!!!!!!!! No shit! I saw it, the photos were a tad blurred, but you can make out pictures of tree branches, leaves, furry fingers, and the sky.

OMG!!! So after nicking the camera the monkey figured out how to turn the damn thing on, and to press firmly on the trigger button to capture those photos. They are so bloody intelligent! They obviously observe the thongs of tourist who visit the sanctuary with their camera and figure how to operate them.

I have had other capuchin monkey experience at the sanctuary too! Such as on my very first day when a monkey manage to enter our locked cage (which doubles as our office) and stole a machete. I had to chase after her and manage to frighten her to drop the machete (whilst she was climbing up the tree). I have also been told that one of the staff have given the monkey a key and a lock to see if they could figure out how to use it. It didn´t take them long. Incredible!

Amended

Here is a reply from Lucas about his stolen camera after reading my blog...

Hey matey, the blog on the stolen camera was pretty spot on, expect it was 11 photos taken by Budi, the monkey.

Tourist or Traveller?

This was forwarded to me from Cynthia, a fellow "traveller" from Sydney. :)

Do you endure glares from fire twirling neo hippies types as you pick up your latest LV embossed luggage from the carousel and revel in the fact that you are going to the presidential suite at the Marriott as opposed to Khao San Road in Bangkok?? Or do you get a buzz out of only paying US$0.50 to sleep in a broom closest in Jaisalmer, Rajastan despite the cockroaches running over your legs?

Which type are you?? Tourist or Traveller....take the quiz and find out!

http://blogs.smh.com.au/travel/archives/2007/08/tourist_or_traveller_which_one.html

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

What a long and wonderful day it has been. I couldn´t sleep last night as I was so excited abuot visiting Machu Picchu. Plus the people in this hostel were so bloody noisy.

Anyway, I got up at 4am, and set off for Machu Picchu which was 8 kms away. I walked and walked, up the steep steps from the town below (Aguas Caliente). I finally arrive at the top, sweating like a pig as dawn approache. However the gates only open at 6am, but an atmosphere of excitment ripple through the people gathered outside. And when the gates were finally opened, everyone rush through. Only to miss the sun rise as the entire site was shrouded by mist and fog.

The well preserved stone house.

It was almost like a mirage when the ancient ruins revealed itself. I could not believe how well preserved the site was! I did learn later that 30% of the site was restored. I was simply blown away by how well Machu Picchu fits perfectly into it´s surrounding. The dull grey colours of the blocks, the steep steps which zig zags up and down, those symetrical terraces... There was a perfect harmony in it. I was told that the rocks were all queried from the same mountain. This was smart as it would have been a bitch to carry these blocks up to it´s lofty height of 2,430 metres! After entering the site and exploring a bit I quickly ran to the entrance of it´s sister mountain, Hauayna Picchu. And out there I bump into Laird, a friend from Sucre, Bolivia. Together we climb up the steep stone steps to 2,720 metres for an awesome view over Machu Picchu and it´s surrounding valley.

Climbing the steep steps.

This was the moment I caught myself saying: IT WAS WORTH IT! And yes I was thinking "Machu RIP-chu" yesterday, after paying a hefty 77USD on a return train ticket and 40USD on entrance. I really was mad at the feeling of being ripped. Also, I had been rather bias towards my number 1 wonder: Angkor Wat in Cambodia. But comparing the both is like comparing apples and oranges. Machu Picchu hasn´t got the intricate carvings or huge statues, it isn´t set around a jungle, instead the ruins of Machu Picchu has archive harmony in this environment and it is set in a magical setting of tall slender mountains and deep narrow valleys. What the Incas have achieve here will go down in time as one of the greatest wonder the world has seen.

Click on wikipedia to find out the history and more about this amazing site.

Gregory´s Highlights of South America in 91/92

Here is an email from Greg, a Swiss traveller I met in Vietnam in 2003. But as he said, the travels he did in 91/92 may not be possible now. Such as hiking the Inka trail to Machupicchu without a guide!

_________________________________________________________

 

I would like to give you some hints even though I was travelling in this
area back in 91/92 of the last century (can't believe that 15 years have
already been gone since).

Colombia:

-Old city of Cartagena with well preserved houses of the Spanish times
-Tairona Nationalpark (NP) - beautiful beaches
-Pereira and the Ucumari NP
-San Agustin (horseriding)
-Popayan (white houses like in the Andalusian region in Spain)
-Tierradentro (astonishing landscape with relicts of ancient culture)
-Medellin (most beautiful girls ever seen in one spot)
-South of Colombia (between Pasto and the border of Ecuador - amazing
landscape)

Ecuador:

-Banos (Hot Springs, horseriding, backpackers chill out place)
-Penas (not a place, but the locals call a concert of Andenian musicians
like this - a must)
-Climibing volcanoes (Cotopaxi for example)
-Trip to the coast by coach train from Ibarra-San Lorenzo
-Boat trip from San Lorenzo-Esmeralda
-Train ride on the rooftop from Alausi-Cuenca
-Market of Otavalo (might be a tourist thing in these days)
-Try the San Pedro if you have the opportunity (made from the juice of a
Cactus - ask the Rastas what it is before you go for it)

Peru:

-Both trip on the Titicaca-sea to one of the small Island where the only
people living there are Indios (beware of the Sun)
-Cusco and the Inka Trail to Machupicchu (at that time it was possible to do
it without guide, it was a superb experience especially arriving at the
sleeping place at Machupicchu short before sundown
-Huaraz (Switzerland of Peru with the highest mountains in the area -
climbing)
-Pisco (Islas Galletas)
-Arequipa and trip to the Colca Canion (deepest canion of the world)
-Train ride Arequipa-Juliaca-Cuzco
-Cajamarca (take a bath in the springs)

Bolivia:

-Rurenabaque (we did a 4 day jungle trip - fanstastic experience)
-Road from La Paz to Careico (tropical Yungas) (it is the most dangerous
"street" in Latin America - make sure that the driver is not drunken)
-La Paz: Valle de Luna
-Potosi: Visit a mine - incredible how hard the indios have to work to gain
their life
-Salar de Uyuni, Laguna Colorada and Geysirs (take the sunglasses with you,
this salty sea is endless)
-The "Islands" on the Salar de Uyuni with special and big Cactus

This were the four countries that I visited thoroughly in South America.
I had spent 6 month in Mexico and  Central America before flying from Panama
City to Cartagena.
Another spot that is a must if you will be visiting Argentina and Brasil is:
Foz de Iguazu (Impressive and massive waterfall)

Enjoy you trip and send some pictures if you visit one of this places.
I'm really keen on seeing how this places look like today.

Take care

Best regards

Gregory and Andrea