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.

The Bullring

The Bullring

This is the bullfight ring in Bogota. It is interesting to see from above (taken from a tall tower near by) as you can see the massive holding pens for the bulls.

Bullfighting is big in South America, after being introduced from Spain. At the start of the bullfighting season the top matadors are invited over from Spain to participate. Unfortunately I won´t be seeing it in Bogota as the season starts in December.

Big Mac Combo - Colombia

Big Mac Combo cost 9,600 Pesos = 4.90USD

I love Colombians!

Sunday Flea Market

So far I am loving Colombia. This is due mainly to the lovely people that lives here. It is on an almost daily basis that I am met with kindness by the locals.

An example was yesterday when I wanted to take a cable car up to a nearby hill for a view of the city, but I am short on cash, so the woman in the queue behind me offered to pay the differences!

Another time, I was in a bus, and because I didn´t know how to get to my destination, friendly locals would stay on the bus with me to help me get off at the right place, even if it meant they miss their stop!I have also been offered fruits to tried by locals, whether they are farmers or city person.

Presidential Guards

But of course, currently being in the capital of Colombia (Bogota) I am well aware that this city has the worst reputation of robery then any other cities I have visited so far. In fact, I have heard so many first and second hand stories that it would make any person become overly paranoid.

Yesterday I met Tim, a Dutch backpacker who caught came directly from Quito, Ecuador. Whilst on the bus, he was drugged by a co-passanger, ended up passing out and waking up in a hospital the following day! How freaky is that! But then again, he was stupid as he took drinks from strangers onboard the bus, his whiskey was laced with drugs. However there was a happy ending as the rest of the passangers on the bus notice what was happening and manage to catch the perpetrator, who is now sitting in a Bogota jail cell.

I have also heard countless stories of arm robberies, sometimes in daylight. One was a guy who had robbers robbing him with guns right in the middle of Simon Boliviar square, the main presidential square of Bogota! Another story was of a girl who got a knife held on to her outside Platypus, my hostel in Bogota. Dodgy!

So there are good people and there are bad people. But overrall, I have yet to meet the baddies. And dispite Bogota´s bad rep, I found it safer walking the streets here then in Quito (Ecuador)!

Flash flood in Bogota

Today I got to witness the extreme wet weather here in Bogota.

It rain heavily in the afternoon and in less then 30 minutes, the water level rise above the curbs and the roads turned into a mini river. It was a little scary but fascinating to watch as I was stuck in a bus on my way North. And soon after it started hailing hard! This lasted almost an hour, drowning the roads and cars with white pebbles, so by the end of it Bogota looked like it was in the middle of a snowy white Christmas!

But if you think my photos did not look too bad, check out "El Tiempo" (The Time) the daily newspaper of Bogota. It has an article and an incredible photo of the flood and damages caused by the storm.

Tierradentro and it´s underground tombs

After San Agustin, I visited another UNESCO World Heritage Site at Tierradentro. This area is even less visited then San Agustin due partly to the road condition.

Tierradentro contains the only known underground tombs in Latin America. They are believe to date between the 6th and 10th Century. Most of them are decorated with motif and painted with 3 basic colours (black, red and white). Again not a lot are known about the people who built them nor the tombs themselves. But many items were found in the tombs alongside the bodies, these included statues similar to those seen in San Agustin. All the tombs are built high up in the hills surrounding Tierradentro.

For me and Nicolas (my Belgium companion), the village and hills in this area are more interesting then the tombs themselves. We enjoyed hiking the hills to visit the ruins, chilling in the tiny village (of 15 houses!) sipping our juice and having the whole place to ourselves!

For more information go to UNESCO World Heritage Site on Tierradentro.

San Agustin and it´s facinating Stone faces

I recently spent 3 days in San Agustin, a town in the South of Colombia.

I came to see these fantastic ruins which was found only in the 1970´s. And up until recently, the whole area were not visited by travelers due to active guerrilla activities. But it is now safe for visiting. There are more then 500 stone statues to be viewed. Most in human shape, but some in animal shape, such as a bird holding it´s pray - a snake in it´s beak. Some of the statues were preserved in a perfect state, including the colours used!

The site is pretty big, spread out over the countryside, so on the second day me and 2 other backpackers rented horses to take us along spectacular scenary to visit some of these sites.

Very little is known about the culture surrounding these ruins. But they were believe to have been scultured by the Andean people between the 1st to 8th Century.

For more information, check the UNESCO World Heritage Site for San Agustin.

Salento

I have spent the last few days staying at a hostel call the "Plantation House" at Salento, in the coffee growing region in Colombia. This area like the South of Colombia is lush, green surrounded by rolling hills. I came here to relax, visit coffee plantations and do some hike around the area. However October and November is the rainy season, so I have been wet more then once.

Yesterday I went hiking to see the world's tallest palm tree, known as the Wax Palm. It is impressive all right, reaching up to 70 metres they outgrow everything around them.

But by the time we got back to town we were all pretty soaked. This weather according to Tim the owner of our hostel, is the wettest of the wet season he has seen in the 4 years he has lived here!

Thanks for checking Marcus - I am still alive, it is just that fast Internet haven't been easy to come by in the small towns that I have been visiting, so will post more updates and pictures when I get to Bogota for the weekend! :)

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!

Rainy day in Popayan...

Rain rain go away, come again another day!!!

The weather so far from Quito has been predictable. Sunny mornings followed by rainy afternoons.

This is the rainy season in this side of South America, but at least Popayan is not freezing like Quito after the rain!

Welcome to Colombia!

Welcome to Colombia! I made it, and the border crossing between Ecuador and Colombia (between Tulcan and Ipiales) is one of the easiest that I have encountered. There was no hassle at all and there were no bribes involved. :)

But I was nervous about the Colombian pesos as I have never ever seen one before. So I manage to convince my Ecuadorian custom officer to follow me out to flag down a road side money changer. I wanted him to verify the fact that those pesos I get are authentic!

This photo was taken by the Colombian border guard. Smile! :)

After the crossing I spent another 8 hours by taxi and bus, to get me up to the town of Popayan. But thank God I didn't take this old bus (known as "Colectivos") on the right.

Instead I caught one of these super fast taxi minivans, which sped through the Pan American highway along some spectacular landscape, where the cliff drops steeply down deep valleys, with a roaring river below. Oh also, if you are heading North like me, sit on the right side for the best view!

Otavalo´s famous market

Yey! I finally left Quito. I arrive in the town of Otavalo, about 2 hours north of Quito today to check out one of South America's most famous and biggest outdoor market.

It is certainly big alright! Stretching out from the main plaza (town square) out to adjacent roads all around town. The stores were full of handicrafts, artworks, clothing's and jewelry. But you know what? It wasn't as mind blowing as I thought it would be. I dunno whether it is coz I have seen that many outdoor markets or that I was sore from bouldering yesterday or... That I wasn't planning on buying "nada" (nothing) since I still have so much time to travel. However I enjoy people watching, and seeing locals from the villages in their traditional costume and jewelry, gave me countless Kodak moments.

In the evening I had plans to see the cock fight in a local ring, but the rain put an end to that idea. I was soaked, not from above, but from below. The problem was the road, it's puddles and the passing traffic. My pants are right now being dried at the fireplace.

Speaking of which, anyone who visits Otavalo should check out the hostel I stayed at. It is call Hotel Riviera Sucre and features big rooms, tv, comfy beds, fireplace and hammocks. Tomorrow I will be crossing the border into Colombia. I am looking forward to seeing this country as I have met countless travelers whom have raved about this country to me.

Where I have been! :)

This is a pretty cool site, you tick the box of all the countries you have visited and it will generate a map of the countries you have visited!

Quito Climbing

I finally baptise my zapatos de roca (climbing shoes) on Tuesday. After buying those beautiful babies (La Sportivas) from LA I have been wanting to use them.

So I found this bouldering place call MonoDedo (One Finger) near La Coruna Calle (road), about 20 minutes walk from home. Inside there were all these monkeys climbing everywhere.... I felt like a bloody pig compare to them. I SUCK and am sad to think that I have lost all my form (what form LOL) after 4 months of absence.

But Al / Steve / Anna / Nick and the rest, I am still gonna KICK your asses when I return! :b

One week in Quito

This is me studying Spanish with Floro. And as you can see I am so good at Spanish that she didn't need to write anything on the board. :b

My week in Quito has been awesome. The school has arranged for a home stay for me. So I have my own room, a big bed, bathroom and 2 meals a day. It has bought some sort of normality back to my life and I love it. Today I even went to Quito's big shopping mall call Centro Commercial Jardin (Park Central) and sat at Mr.Book (Border's Like bookstore) reading English materials. It felt great!

And as for cost? My one-to-one Spanish lessons is 4.50usd an hour and the home stay is 12usd per day. A bargain!

I shag Turtles...

I see Turtles too... Ooooooo La La!

The Galápagos Islands

I spent an incredible 6 days out in the Galapagos last week and I want to rave about it!

I spent most of it on board this sail boat name "Merak". It is a smallish, carrying 4 crews and 8 passengers. Wel actualy it is pretty tiny, as upon arrival at the dock the Merak was the smallest ship of the lot by far! The crew included one naturalist guide name Cesar, the captain Teto, first mate Lenin and the cook Jamie.

We had a good group of people on board which was nice as the boat was too small for any sort of difficulties. However we did not have an auspicious start as the American Pete (on the left of the photo) left his backpack on board the bus and we were all delayed from starting out on the cruise. He apparently saw the basking sea lions at the dock and got so excited with taking photos that he forgot all about his backpack - what a dumb arse! But we soon forgave him and forgot about the incident. :)

Cesar our guide is the best guide I have had so far in this trip. This old man who turns 70 next year, is one exceptional guide. Seriously! Cesar is a joker and can take as much himself as he dishes out. He tells us his favorite position is '69 LOL! This was after we saw this big male bull sea lion gave it to his lover (in the only style they can master - guess). Cesar must have a pretty long love life as he has 5 ex-wives along with 12 kids from past marriages. But he told us when the tax man came they told him he had 6 ex-wives so he is still looking for the last one! hahaha

Cesar is also strong for his age, always being the first on our inflatable, standing up to help with the navigation. As for his guiding style he would just walk off when he wants to, so if you do not want to hear his explanation you don't have to. He has been guiding for 30 years (including 2 as a cook!) so he can tell us anything and everything we wanted to know without a book. I love this old man and will rave about him to other travelers. So it is only a pity that Cesar plans to retire at the end of the year. Salud!

The Galapagos archipelago is actually a group consisting of 13 main Islands. And in our tour we only visited 5 Islands. They are:

Baltra - which everybody visits upon arrival as that is where the airport lives. We visited a beautiful beach near by on our first day, and saw ruins of a pier left by the American GIs station here during WWII.

Santa Cruz - the mainland hub which has the largest human population (20,000 and counting) and home of the famous Charles Darwin Research Station where massive land turtles can be observed.

Santa Fe - A small-ish Island full of cactus trees along with a whole host of lizards including the Land Iguana and Lava Lizard.

Espanola - My favorite Island for it's terrain and animals! It is full of bird species such as the wave Albatross, Hood Mockingbirds, Blue footed Boobies, Swallow-Tailed Gulls and Finches. There are also spectacular blow holes and loads and loads of Marine Iguanas (and we observe them swimming in the ocean!).

Floreana - Another beautiful Island with beautiful beaches where you can observe (and feel!) stingrays swimming at your feet on the beach, see pink flamingos in the lake and leave mail for someone to post at "Post Office Bay". The "Post Office Bay" is name after barrels of mail left by whalers back in the 18th century as a means for ships destined for the USA and Europe to deliver their mail home. Floreana had the best snorkeling around it's offshore Island called the "Devils Crown". It is actually a submerged volcanic cone full of coral and fishes.

On the left this is a Land Iguana, chewing on it's favorite food from the cactus tree. This big lizard was lazing around beforehand but move fast when Cesar cut and drop this cactus at it's feet. I am guessing it hasn't eaten in a while! The photo was taken at Santa Fae Island.

Sea lions abound in every Island we visited.
From the moment we arrived at the dock in Baltra we found these lazy creatures on land. However in water they are a different story. Garret, Dave, Bos and I had the most exhilarating experience underwater at Espanol Island, because the teenagers came underwater to play with us! They would swim right up to us, blow bubble in our face and swim off, one swam so close to me I got to touch it´s rubbery skin! They were so playful that they disturbed a white tip shark whom was basking beneath the rocks!

The Galapagos visit was an incredible experience for me because these animals weren't afraid of human presence. I guess they have no fear for us because they were never hunted by human beings like elsewhere. So we could get very close to these wild creatures. And some of them like the finches and baby sea lions would hop up to investigate or to play with us.

Blow Holes at Espanol Island

The landscape was also very beautiful, from big cliffs with blow holes, dried out windswept terrain, humid and wet forest, perfect sandy beaches to rising volcanic cones all devoid of human habitation. 97% of the Galapagos is protected and this is the largest marine reserve in the world.

I only hope that with the increasing human presence (both locals and tourist) that the Galapagos can maintain it's uniqueness, and that one day my kids will be able to see this landscape and animals in the same way that I saw it.

I am back in Quito!

http://generator.click2map.com/maps/chiwi/South America Adventure

Just testing a new mapping tool to show people where I am currently. Tell me what you think of it or if there is a better alternative to this. What I really want is a mapping tool which shows people where I have been with some kind'a travel line.


Sweet!

24 hours madness in Vegas

I spent a mad 24 hours in Vegas when I was in LA. I started by catching a 6 hours Greyhound bus out at 8am. And realise immediately why people from the States do not use the Greyhound. The bus was full of bums and low income earners hoping to make it big in Vegas. One bum was so smelly that nobody sat next to him! Upon arriving in Vegas, I immediate set out for that famous boulevard.

First impression - I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Ok so people from the States wonder what the facination is. Well when you see and watch it on TV, hear about it on the news and then finally see it with your own eyes. It is just simply fantastic! I felt I was in La La land!!! Though the La La land would have been even better if I was loaded! ;)

Even the first sighting of Vegas was incredible. One moment it is all desert and dry plains, and then you start seeing big billboards on the side of the road (with one gun shop selling M-16´s wtf?), before the tall white buildings of Vegas rose out like a mirage in the distance. And everything in Vegas is HUGE. Then again, everything in the States are massive! From their billboards, food portions to big cars and 10 lanes wide boulevards.

Walking around the main strip neon signs, TV screen, and big billboards all jump out at you. I thought there were some hilarious contradiction though. Such as passing by wedding chapels (whom broadcast your wedding for free over the Internet) and seeing a big poster of Dalai Lama´s upcoming preaching. And of seeing nuns in their garb strolling by those big evil casinos.

I really enjoy watching the different people out here too. From fat mama´s to men in cowboy suit. But I saw a lot of families too, like this is some kind of healthy outing or something. :)

This fountain is pretty impressive too, found outside Paris Vagas. I went up the Eiffel Tower for a great view over the city.

Afterwards I caught a few free shows. The most impressive being Ballagio´s massive fountains. I was hugely impress by it´s size, and the height of the fountain. I just wish the show was longer! LOL

I caught the pirate show at Treasure Island next, that wasn´t as impressive though the audience were huge. I also caught the volcano show outside of the Mirage and the Roman show inside Caesar´s Palace, all pretty average but fun to watch neverless.

Vegas is all about gambling, shows and shopping. I didn´t have time to gamble, but I caught shows and shopped. They had some pretty cool shops too! Such as the M&M bar on the right. I LOOOOVE M&M´s and they had all kind´s of M&M. Such as M&M´s with peanut butter inside! It was yummy!!!! And at some casinos such as the Venetian they built a canal inside the mall, and had paddlers take passengers out on boat. The ceiling were pretty impressive, with the sky painted on.

So most of these casinos had a theme, from Paris Vegas´s French furnishing, Excalibur´s old England theme, Caesar´s Palace´s Roman theme to Luxor´s Egyptian theme.

Obviously if you wanted to catch a decent show you had to pay for it. So I fork up nearly 150USD for the latest Cirque du Soleil show. It was call "Love" and is based on the Beatles. The show was at the Mirage, and I booked it prior to arriving here thanks to Andreanne in Melbourne. She worked for Cirque du Soleil and manage to get me a pretty decent seat inside.

Technically this is the most advance show I have seen. Every seat in the purpose built theater had 4 speakers built in. The lighting and sound effects was also impressive! And the show, it was fantastic! I enjoy hearing all the Beatles song, and watching the actors dance to the songs. They used 3 VW Beatles in the show, and one actually comes apart during the show. But in terms of the actors skill I was more impress with the other Cirque du Soleil show I saw - Varekei.

So in the end, I caught the 1.30am bus (which was delayed till 3am thanks Greyhound!) back to LA. It has been one tiring but fantastic 24 hours for me. :)

Every dog has it´s day...

I finally get to watch an All Blacks game, at the only pub in town showing it. To me we were definitely the better team on the day. We dominated at line out, scrum, possession and our backs were on fire. But the fluky French side came back and wins by 2 points.

20-18 enuf said! <cries>