latest news

Christmas is fast approaching and it feels strange observing it abroad and in a hot climate. There are decorations in the windows but not so much in the streets. I realised that apart from the climate, the major difference is with tv, here it doesn´t dominate every advert, every link and flog it to death. We will spend christmas eve with some friends and then open up on the day as many people venture out and hopefully spend money here. There is evidence of people arriving to open up their holiday homes, 1st of jan and the summer season will start in earnest.

Our immediate lives have been dominated by a horrible event that happened a week ago. The kittens were exploring outside the garden area and climbing down from a tree when a couple of street dogs sped around the corner and managed to catch borisita by the leg and violently shook her before her mother jumped on the dogs back and saved her. We took her to the vets and she had broken her hip and it was a nights observation to see if there had been abdominal trauma. The next day she came back with those fears allayed but with a strapped leg and instructions to keep her in a tight space and restrict her movement for a month. She´s recovering well, but its hard for her to watch her brother and mum running free, and her incarcerated.

The compost project is going well, more bodge construction work has gone on including a wooden screen to hide the kitchen window from punters, katherine is making sun dried tomatoes and has started knitting and crocheting. We have contacted a solicitor to start the process of buying the house next door. We are getting very excited about how we could develop the property and how we could live part of the year here and part at home. A punter who is buying land across the road, said that he had seen plans for major development of this part of town that would increase the value of all properties in this area, which makes us feel even more confident about this project.

mosquito frame for the casita

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Originally uploaded by finbowa

boris, carlito&borisita

boris, carlito&borisita
Originally uploaded by finbowa

It´s raining cats and dogs

It´s spring here, which is different from england, it is very changeable, but can leap from 28c and very hot, back to 11c and bloody cold and then hover in the middle being warm but with torrential rain and lightning storms that last for a couple of hours. And yet this is not a tropical climate, it´s something very different. What we don´t get, is the endless drizzly days of home.
What we also get, is dogs everywhere. Behind their ,not so secure, fences warning you off, roaming the streets in packs chasing car wheels and winding up the dogs behind the fences, goading them with their freedom. Cats are here in their numbers, however due to the dogs, they keep their heads down. When we arrived, borisita(after yeltsin) was within days of giving birth, enormous.
After a week or so, she left and was not seen for long parts of the day and it became obvious that she had a litter hidden somewhere. Over the next couple of weeks, we searched in vain but found nothing. We gave up, believing that they must have died or been snatched.
Six weeks later, we have a day clearing out the shed and hire a skip to clear away all the garden waste and accumulated crap on the land. Hidden in insulation foam, right at the back of the shed under loads of wood, tiles and equipment, are two tiny bundles of fur. The shed is bang in the middle of the dogs garden and the door was not always open. How she got them in there, and the gauntlet of fear she would have to run, to reach them, I don´t know. So now we have two babies, carlito (tevez) and borisita (mum now plain old boris). Katherine and I have fostered them and their mother for the next 2 weeks, after that, they will have to make their own way in the world. Hopefully they, like their mum, will keep on returning to us and become semi-domesticated cats. We will be leaving at the end of the summer, so they can´t get used to a home and then have it taken away from them.

front of resturant

front of resturant
Originally uploaded by finbowa

cordoba, argentina

we´ve been to cordoba twice now, once on a day shopping trip to get some decent non- travelling clothes and then for a 3 day visit to get to know the city. It is argentina´s second or third city depending on who you believe, rosario is growing at a rapid rate. It has a population of about 1.2 million, many being students of the oldest university in argentina dating back to 1613 and built by the Jesuits. It houses a second university, the country´s motor industry and it´s province is increasingly becoming home to people fleeing buenos aires, either for holidays or for good. Villa giardino lies in the punilla valley, one of three valleys carving their way north from the city.
It is not as pretty as salta for example, but more than makes up for it with it´s vibrancy. It reminds me a little of valencia, not as visited as barcelona or sevilla, but a fantastic place to sample the culture and creativity of a country. It has a network of pedestrianised shopping streets, a canal that dissects the city, a good number of art galleries and museums, lot´s of restaurant´s and bar´s and a massive city park for boating on the lake, sports and a zoo. The young population bring with them a vibe that marks the city and provides energy to the place.
One example, was probably the highlight of our visit, returning from a drink in the hip part of town at about 1am, we dropped into a spit and sawdust empenada restaurant which we had been to in the day. Two table´s of musicians were playing traditional songs on the guitar, passing it between them every two to three songs. They were not performing for money, the owner had lent them the guitar. One table had a big guy with a beautiful voice, his friend accompanying him. On the other, were four young guys who sang the most incredible harmony´s in almost operatic voices, it was stunning and totally spontaneous. We wondered whether they were music students.
We stayed at the international backpackers hostal, with a reasonable amount of traveller´s there, that surprised me as on our travels down to argentina, we hadn´t met anyone who had been to cordoba. It took about an hour and a half on the bus to arrive back in the mountains, a beautiful contrast to the bustling city. Business is still slow but sufficient, the weather sunny most days with the odd dramatic electrical storm. Each day we find new stunning walks and get to know the area better. We´re learning spanish slowly, meeting david and jp´s friends forces us to communicate, which is good and fun. I´ve constructed a compost bin and read up on how to manage it, katherine is turning her hand to some crafts and is fully trained up as the comis chef, we´re both reading alot in the hammocks. We are still looking at properties and might have raised the funds to buy. We´ve worked out projections on what we need to earn in the uk and what we need to live here for the rest of the year.

villa giardino, argentina

Life here is wonderful, the weather at the moment is the only down side. We can have a week of sunny days in the 26´s and then it will revert back to cold and rain around the 10´s. But it´s still only the spring, summer isn´t until december when it will be hot but can rain a lot. This is a beautiful place, it´s surrounded by green mountains and rolling hills, you can walk from here directly into them. We are nestled amongst trees just off the main street and a five minute walk into the village. Gauchos on horseback ride by several times a day and horses roam about grazing at their leisure. The people are incredibly friendly and don´t appear to be resentful of foreigners because they are helping the local economy and bringing in more tourists. Also, because this is a land of immigrants, it is open to more and there is land aplenty. This is still emerging as a tourist place, the main people being from buenos aires(porteños), many with second homes here and some who have moved here permanently. A 2 minute walk away is los caminos del artisanas, which runs to la cumbre(15k) along a rough track, an already established tourist centre. Numerous artists and handicraft shops are located there, selling fantastic things at absurdly low prices. This whole area is a centre for walking, mountain biking, horse riding and paragliding. The economy in argentina, while improving and rising out of the 2002 crash, is still slow to recover and especially in buenos aires, there is significant poverty amongst the lower middle and working classes. David and JP´s business is a small tapas restaurant, selling things like spanish tortilla, meatballs, beef in beer, pork and apple , cheese and jamon plata, etc in small bowls. Lovely ambience and outside seating area. Katherine is nearly trained up as the comis chef working with david and I am the runner, taking the orders to them in the kitchen, delivering the food to JP to serve and looking after the bills. JP is the front man, explaining about the food and generally chatting them up. This weekend will test our new systems as its a long weekend holiday and we expect to be busy, stress could be high and we might all end up killing each other! So wish us luck! Standard of living is cheap, though inflation is rising, and property and land are incredibly cheap. There are 2 properties right by davids that we could be interested in. One is set back from the main street, has about an acre of land and already has the floors and walls built, we think work stopped when money run out. 3 bedrooms, space for an internal court yard and a roof terrace. This could be going for 17000 pounds and with low labour and materials costs, could be done up for as little as 5000 pounds. Another, is a similar size and has the house built already but would need work. Nestled amongst trees and overlooking horses in a field and on the other side a view of the mountains, just back from the main street, 15000 pounds.We are seriously considering to buy here and return to the uk for the summers to nurse, keep our registration up and earn money that will go along way here. So we could do a place up slowly and to our design, each time we come out. We could end up with a house that would cost 1/2 a million at home in an emerging tourist area and a growing national economy that hasn´t seen the generals for over twenty years. There are risks, but when the investment isn´t too huge, there isn´t too much to loose.

argentina

We arrived in this beautiful land two weeks ago, exhausted and bruised from our tour of the salar de uyuni in Bolivia. The boarder crossing didn´t present too many problems, however the bus to Salta was a big disappointment. Every traveller, without exception, heading northwards from Argentina had said the buses were the best in SA. We got herded past the posh bus to another shitsville imitation and told it to was going to Salta. It wasn´t the chicken bus but luxury, would not be an adjective I would use. More to the point, it wasn´t going to Salta. No, it was going to Jujuy, where we were supposed to change on to another bus for Salta, that information never relayed to us, so consequently we miss the connection and wait around the bus station for four hours at night time. Lot´s of negotiation, in limited Spanish, eventually get´s us on the last bus for Salta but now we will arrive in the early hours. This was a posh bus! so tired and stressed, we sat back and enjoyed front top seats and cruised off into the night.

First impressions from the bus(?) window were interesting. Heading south from the boarder, faces, landscape and buildings weren´t as different as I´d expected. The indigena were still present in smaller numbers but also in the faces of the landino´s. There were still mud brick houses and poverty in abundance. The difference was in the infrastructure, the roads were paved and so many more private cars. From Jujuy to Salta, gradually the differences with Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia ironed themselves out to reveal a country that could place itself in southern Europe with ease. As the bus entered Salta from the hills, the lights of the city welcomed us into it´s valley and introduced us to a bus station that was better than any I have seen in England.

saylar de uyuni tour - tupiza near to bolivian/argentinian boarder

We leave tomorrow for a 4 day tour of the salt plains, lagoons and just spectacular scenery. This also includes the place where butch casidy and sundance kid were gunned down and finally killed. We go in 4x4 jeeps with 3 other people, and will have to endure possibly -15c at night in basic accommodation, but then hot in the day. Will post with more when we return and have arrived in argentina and at davids near cordoba. After the 4 days on tour, the next day we will catch a train to the boarder and then a bus to salta on the argentinian side. Then it´s just a 12 hour bus ride to cordoba. Once at villa giardino in the Sierras de cordoba, we plan to settle down for a while and help with davids business, save a few quick trips!

"Worlds Most Dangerous Road" Mountain Bike Trip, Bolivia

"Worlds Most Dangerous Road" Mountain Bike Trip, Bolivia
Originally uploaded by John M-W

"the most dangerous road in the world" la paz-corioco

I will post later at greater length on this subject, the bike ride, but also the stay in the yungas which is at the bottom, 3500m and 64km below the snow capped la cumbre where we started. Suffice it to say, that this experience was on a par with seeing macchu pichu for the first time.

La Paz

La Paz
Originally uploaded by suzienewshoes

la paz city, bolivia

Katherine, monkey and I have arrived in the highest capital city in the world, though officially Sucre is the capital of Bolivia. The airport is at 4000 m, luckily the city is about 400 m lower in the valley, a spectacular sight as you enter from above by bus, a sprawling, expanding city that is literally crawling out of the valley over the rim. This creates a new city, El Alto(the fastest growing in SA), housing the populations migrating from the countryside.
Sucre was on the news yesterday, it appears that there has been demonstrations and violence in the city and the parliament has been suspended. If this continues, we might well avoid it, though many postings on thorn tree say that there are always demo's and road blockades in Bolivia and that usually foreigners aren't targeted, just disrupted and delayed by them.
On Sunday, we are booked on the 'most dangerous road in the world' mountain bike ride(Google it) an incredible downhill ride from La Paz to the Yungas, a sub-tropical climate, a drop of 3500 m and 80 km. Can't wait!! lots of people from our hostal(adventure brew) have done it and say it's fantastic. This hostal has it's own micro-brewery(one free beer a day) and a designer bar at the top of the building with glass windows all around with great views of the city at night.
We are going to stay in the Yungas for a little while, where there are some beautiful walks to waterfalls and trips to coffee plantations etc and then back to La Paz to head south towards Argentina. We've decided against going to the amazon, a mixture of cost, mozzies and dengue fever and are we doing it just because we should. People have said that you could be unlucky and hardly see any wild life anyway. Along with this, we are keen to see as much of Argentina as we can before working at David's and when the weather is at it's best(i.e Patagonia).
By the way, I'll go back to edit and write more on previous posts when I get time.

cusco

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Originally uploaded by finbowa

cusco, machu picchu

We have finally arrived at Cusco, the ancient Inca capital, designed in the shape of a panther, a symbol of strength. Beautiful and beguiling, a city to match the best in Spain. It's high at 3300 m, higher than Machu Picchu itself. Climbing the steep steps from the main plaza to the artists quarter of San Blas, you have to fight for your breath, the altitude holds hands with the spectacular views, the cobbled streets, the Inca stone work, the colours of the textiles in the shops and adorning the indigina, to squeeze your lungs and beat your heart. This is a kind of pilgrimage.

chiclayo, peru.

We will get the night bus to the peruvian boarder, this is mean´t to be the easiest crossing and then on to piura, the nearest town. So a pick-up taxi takes us back to the bus station and we say goodbye to vilcabamba, heading again to loja to change to the bus to peru. Our first land boarder crossing in SA, so we´re a little nervous, the combination of night time, police in military uniforms and large mustaches, just gives you the willies(I´m sure I didn´t have that cocaine in my pocket before I boarded the bus!)
A process that took far too long, (presumably the length of time is equal to the perceived importance of those involved) finally ushered us on our way and into to interior of peru.
Piura handed us a hint as to what to expect, in the rest of the journey south. Ecuador is very sedate in comparison, this city had motor rickshaws, cycle rickshaws, taxis, mopeds, private cars and animals all vying for space with each other, but also with the street vendors who seemed to have no idea where the road starts or ends. Therefore, we are left with an explosion of activity that eventually finds it´s equilibrium, and some form of order breaks out. It reminded me very much of india, chaotic, but absolutely fascinating.
We got a taxi into town with a couple of fellow travellers, managed to get some money changed and had a breakfast together. One, was a young female brit travelling on her own(like so many women we´ve met!) and the other, a young canadian lad who was very energetic, naive and a bit of a knob, but endearing enough not to try and get rid of.
Then we split our ways, they headed to the peruvian northwest coast and us to chiclayo, further south and really just to break up the journey to trujillo. Chiclayo was an extension of the madness visited upon us in the previous city. It is totally dominated by small yellow taxis, followed a close second, by collectivos. They are small mini-buses, of dubious condition, that prowl around the streets hunting down prospective punters and then jamming them all into a space that doesn´t exist. However, they are cheap and a great idea.
Chiclayo also has important ruins, tucume, but the journey there was more interesting than the site, collectivo and then motor rickshaw and then a walk through countryside. We did meet a massive school party of 8-10 year old girls who were also visiting the ruins, they crowded around us and assailed us with questions and wanted pictures with us to show their families. Once the last of them had been prized away from our lower limbs, we met a chimu dog for the first time. They are completely bald, except maybe for a Mahican, a black dry skin that is kind of leathery, and very good natured. This could be because they are so ugly, that any affection towards them, must be heaven sent. The site showed evidence of an ancient settlement, had some good views from the top, but was largely uninspiring. In hindsight we should have paid for a guide.
Back in the town, we also visited a massive market, renowned in the area, had fruit shakes, looked at the witch doctors section with thousands of herbal remedies and generally nosed about. We spent a few days here and became quite fond of it. Another bonus was the tv in our hotel room, the luxury of watching football and sherlock holmes, the bbc! On top of this, we found a favourite chicken and chips place (everywhere is chicken, nothing else) and so we pigged out with a big bottle of fanta in front of the tv, fantastic!

cat riding a horse

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Originally uploaded by finbowa

quito - peru, Vilcabamba

We caught a bus to Loja, a pleasurable ride of only 5 hours, but didn´t see anything of it as we imediately boarded another bus to Vilcabamba. Here we met Krishna (not the god) a Trinidadian who´s lived in London for quite a while and Juliet, who is swiss, and lives there now. They were headed for an eco lodge in Vilcabamba to volunteer for a bit, we were going to much more luxurious bungalow´s to chill out before the slumming it, that awaited us for the forseable future.
Vilcabamba is a small, pretty town set in stunning surroundings, mountains, hills, greenery in parts almost tropical.Our hostal was 2k up a hill, overlooking the town with spectacular views. Taxi´s were pick ups, so we chucked our backpacks and ourselves into the back and zoomed up the hill. Peiter greeted us, a German who runs the place with his brother and volunteers who work for keep. They have 3 hounds that patrol everywhere, a mum,dad and puppy who make it feel very homely. It´s beautifully laid out, with a restaurant, bar with pool table, pool and a mixture of rooms and bungalow´s on stilts with incredible views from their decks, all with hammocks to laze on. These cost about 16 quid a night, well over our normal budget for SA, but what you got for the money (breakfast , friut, yogurt, crepes, juice, coffee, included) made it well worth it. Ñow we´re on 5-8 quid a night.
The first day, we took a walk into the hills nearest to us, an undemanding 3 hour walk ending in town. Not that far into it, we came across a small shack selling drinks and snacks, and just outside were to indigina men getting pissed on beer. They were very friendly and we all shook hands and spoke in broken spanish. They managed to teach us quecha (indian language) for hello and wanted us to go with them and listen to one of them play music. We were tempted for the experience with indigina, but with them being a little pissed, we decided to thank them and explain that we had just started on a walk. Lot´s of hand shaking again and we left, feeling quite priviledged to have had such direct contact and communication with some indiginous people. The next incident was strange, suddenly around a corner, heading for us, came two donkeys/mule´s tethered together, saddled but riderless, at break neck speed with a dog sprinting at their heels barking and snapping. The front mule kept on bucking and kicking out at the poor mule at his tail while running. We stood completly still, fearing any movement might leathally put us in their path, they all sailed past and wound down the hill in this fashion, all in our view. They continued for a kilometre or so, until the lead mule managed to veer off the track and into a field. This pissed the dog off even more, so he tried to heard them back out of the field until he got booted by the lead mule and ran off squeeling in pain, there after keeping a healthy distance away. Now the mule´s didn´t know what they were doing, the rear one was dragged all over this field, through rough bush, up and down and a across, until finally some children and then a man appeared to try and retrieve them from their own lunacy. Absorbed as we were, we didn´t wait for the final outcome, we were hungry. As well as the drama´s, the scenery was magnificent and walking through the outskirts of town was fascinating, the small crops, homes with their animals, children watching us with suspicion, adults not so interested and more accustomed to gringos.
The next day we planned to climb mount Mandango, when we got up we thought we´d postpone it to another day, good decision. As we walked to the restaurant, down the path came Neil and Ashley, dirty clothes, no boots, walking in their socks, the soles of their feet obviously painful, heads low. They had got up at 4am and climbed Mandango to see the sun come up, at the top they´d walked along the ridge for about an hour hoping to come down on another path. Suddenly, from nowhere, first one and then four balaclavered men with guns ran towards them. They got them to strip down to their pants, took money, cards and a passport as well as their boots. One was whacked on the head with a gun because he was slow removing his boots, they then were told to run. It took them 2 1/2 hours to get back down in their socks.They were obviously shaken, but took it pretty well, the next day they were on a horse ride into the mountains along with us. The two policemen in town couldn´t really do much other than file a report for insurance. Ashley had to go back to Quito to get a tempory passport that would give him 5 days to get to Lima in Peru, where he could get a 7 month tempory passport.
Another day, we visited the nature reserve and eco-lodge that krishna and juliet were staying at. It is run by two Argentinian biologists and their family, who rely on volunteers to help them manage the site. They are learning about botony and have linked with university of Loja, who will examine and identify species of plant that they find, they have identified over 500 species up to now. They have crafted numerous trails around the reserve and have meticulously attached little signs to interesting plants identifying them, hundreds in total. Amongst so many, we saw the san pedro cactus, which contains a powerful hallucinagenic that attracts soap-dodgers to the area in numbers. There were lemon, tangerine and avocado trees and bamboo and coffee plants. They just pick a few coffee husks a day, dry them for a couple of days in the sun, extract the beans and then roast them, grind them and drink their own coffee. We had some with K&J and it was beautiful coffee, so bought some to carry with us.
We came back again to have lunch with K&J and had a great afternoon chatting and getting slowly drunk on chilian wine. We carried on into the evening and went to a bar in the town and met a woman who was convinced she had had a relationship with sinaid o´conner, but looked spookely like her, I think "she had issues". Things continued to deteriate as we met a Nigerian woman who claimed to be the wife of a man in a famous family in the pharmacutical industry. I won´t say the name becuase later we witnessed him hitting her in the face, we attempted to protect her and managed to keep her away while the man was evicted. She said she wouldn´t go back, but it was obvious that she would, as is so often the case, with all the money she might have now, she was still a slave.
We recovered the next day, which was very wet, unusual for this area at this time of year. In the evening we left to catch the night bus to Peru. We crossed the boarder at about 3am and had to get off the bus and spend ages waiting for the immigration to stamp the passports, however, this is mean´t to be the easiest boarder to cross. No bribes needed at least, so back on the bus and into Peru we go.

quito to peru cont - cuenca

Cuenca is so different to Quito, more of a large town feel to it, much more relaxed, feels safer, lovely colonial architecture, more comfortable to walk about. Having said that, while the advice in quito was to never walk at sundown, Cuenca was very deserted not long after and when we walked back to the hostal after going to an internet cafe, we felt a little nervous. The hostel, Macondo (presumably named after the Marquez novel I´m reading right now), was a beautiful colonial building with fantastic, enormous rooms with high ceilings, courtyards and a welcoming kitchen. Here we could have good coffee and in the evening share some wine with a fellow englishman, who now lives in switzerland. He was doing the reverse journey to us, heading northwards, having come from Argentina.Like everyone else we´ve met so far, he eulogised about how beautiful, safe, friendly and cheap Argentina can be. We had a great evening listening to the ricky gervais/karl pilkington podcasts from his ipod, regretting that we didn´t sort out podcasting before we left. The problem would always be subscribing to the latest ones when on the move, because you have to synch your ipod to a pc (which is restricted), but he had found a way around it using juice, xplay and podnova. We also met an american family who were staying there for two months to learn spanish, both parents were doctors and had a young son. They confirmed the need for nurses in the states and that some can get paid as much as 90$k a year. Nice, interesting people.
The indigena are still quite visable here, but it stuck me that they are very much like ghosts walking alongside the modern world, reminders of a lost ancient world and connection to nature. It is if, they are not real and if you attempted to touch them your hand would go right through, only the odd mobile phone in their hands, says any different. In this way, it is like being in a marquez novel when in south america. Imagine walking down a central london street and in the background, always there, are poeple from dickensian times or earlier, 17thC peasants rubbing alongside us, worlds apart.

Papallacta

kat 047
Originally uploaded by finbowa

quito to peru

Quito is not high, in Andean terms, but the altitude did affect us. Just climbing the stairs of the hostal would leave you a little breathless, so Cusco at twice the altitude will be interesting. We are quite glad to be leaving behind the polution and the reports from other travellers of robberies in the city and else where, so we head for Papallacta on a local bus.
The thermal springs are mean´t to be the best in Ecuador and they don´t dissapoint. Set amongst beautiful scenery, next to a river with hills on all sides and the snow capped Antisana volcano standing ominously in the background, you can lay in hot pools and admire it all. There are about 9 pools of varying temperatures, beautifully crafted and maintained by the hotel next door. It closes at 9pm, so you can wollow in hot sulphur water and look up at the stars in the night sky, fantastic!
The next day we returned to Quito for one night and then caught the bus in the early morning to Cuenca. A journey that was supposed to take 9 hours, ended up delivering us to this laid back colonial city, 12 hours later. It took an hour and a half just to get out of Quito, the bus stops on every corner trying to get punters not just on the seats, but packing the aisles as well. The clouds were low, so we got no view of the volcano´s on route and then we struggled up into the mountains, lovely scenery but felt like we would never get out of them. Then we broke down, which precipitated nearly every male passenger (except me) to get off and look under the bonnet and fiddle with engine. Whether one person new what they were doing, or whether the combination of many mechanical minds in tandem had the effect, the result was us limping off again after about 45 minutes. The last 2 hours were spent looking at the driver through his rear view mirror, his eyes were drooping and his colleuge (not co-driver) didn´t appear to be proding him with a very large pole. I was willing him to keep on putting cigarretes in his mouth to provide some kind of stimulus to his rapidly deteriating senses. Nicotine, it appears, delivered us safely to Cuenca.

earthquake in Peru

We are currently in Trujillo, about 500k north of Lima.The epicentre has been reported to be in the Ica region, including Pisco, around 300k south of Lima. Wednesday evening, at about 7pm local time, a shock meassuring 7.9 was detected, this was felt in Lima causing considerable panic in the city, enough for people to evacuate buidings and go out on to the streets. People here in Trujillo have reported feeling a tremor at that time, including our host at the hostel, who might have experienced some pre-activity the day before, saying he was faint and a little nauseas for a brief time. I felt nothing at all I´m glad to say.
The situation now, after about 24 hours, is that 437 are confirmed dead including 200 who were worshiping at mass and died under the collaped church. 70-80% of both Pisco and Ica´s buildings are destroyed, it is a very poor area and poor quality buildings, power, water etc is all down. It is reported that health workers broke their strike to go to the affected areas to help with the relief effort.Earlier today we were told that 120 buses were stranded in the area and all flights were cancelled, that was quickly lifted, but the fate of the buses and the people who want to get out is unknown at the moment.
As to us, it feels strange and a little unsettling, that we were heading right down in to this region, planning to arrive in Pisco next week and then on to Ica. So now we will have to revise our plans, we are considering a bus to Huaraz in the mountains for some treking and then on to Lima via Caral (les recommendation). We might then fly to Cusco, which can be done for 40 quidish, rather than 24 hours on a bus for not much less. There doesn´t appear to be much inbetween, or if there is, the posh buses don´t stop there, so local buses would take decades to cover small distances.Watch this space.

terrace view of old Quito

kat 010
Originally uploaded by finbowa

Quito, Ecuador

I like Quito, the first day was about acclimatising to the altitude and resting.After a short walk around the old town I wasn´t immediately impressed. Some nice colonial buildings, churches and the basilica, but the streets were shabby and a little unnerving. I remembered the smell, mainly exhaust fumes and bad sanitation, it was in Guatemala and India as well. More signs appear to attest to this being a developing country, rather than 1st or 2nd world. Shoe shine boys as young as 6 or 7 years old making a living on the streets, indigenous faces, grubby and ancient. A 4 or 5 year old girl runs down the busy road to board buses and sell sweets. Beggars are from the indigena as well, so disconnected from the proud people who stubbornly hang on to their ancient culture and refuse to assimilate into the modern world. Only agreeing to meet it on their terms, to sell their wares at the market.
After a visit to the new city, visiting a museum, art gallery and collecting bus tickets, we returned to the old town and felt so much more at home. I started to appreciate my surroundings more and felt more confident after working out how to get about the city, it´s got more to it than I originally thought. The U.S was a holiday, now we feel like we´re travelling and it feels good. I can´t quite believe we´re in south america, and Peru, Bolivia and Argentina await.
The hostel (secret garden) has a fantastic roof terrace overlooking the old town, the view of the city terracing up the mountain side, on all sides, is equally impressive whether day or night. On the terrace there is one long table, a hammock and a kitchen where breakfast and evening meals are cooked. It is mainly used by the backpackers, it is actually open to the public, and serves 3 course meals of high quality food for about $5. It is unsafe to out after dark, unless you get a taxi, so from sun down we all catch the view of the lights coming on, music is playing, beer is sold and everyone gets chatting about their travels. Volunteers work for their keep and run the place, overseen by some paid managers who have made a life here. They deal with all the organisation of rooms, meals, trips, internet,baggage storage etc, while locals are employed to do the laundry and cooking. It is very well run and nicely quirky.
Next we go to Papallacta a 2 hour bus ride from Quito, to visit some hot springs and then on to Cuenca for a couple of nights and then Vilcabamba, near to the Peruvian boarder.
More pics are on flickr.com and you can search for anyone´s photos of a place we are visiting. This will be the last post for about 7-10 days as we might be incommunicado for a while- see the link to the Vilcabamba hostel earlier on in the blog to see why. Will try to post more on the above as soon as possible.

dona katarina's alive

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Originally uploaded by finbowa

zoom in to the date for proof.
However, deposits of money better arrive soon as first the monkey gets it and then..................

life's a beach isn't it?

alex 055
Originally uploaded by finbowa

Miami

What a city!!! just got back from a swim in the sea, looking back at the beach from the water you can see all the art deco hotels rising out of the land.

South beach hasn't changed much since I was last here in 1994. The Latin beat is everywhere, in the faces, the bodies, the language, food, mojitas, margaritas, buildings and balcony's. The beautiful people strut their stuff on the streets believing them to be catwalks, mindful that modelling agencies are on the lookout for new talent.

The humidity is high and it rains most days, though it's gone very quickly. This is the off season here, winter is really the time to be here. There's food from all over the world, last night we went to a Greek place and had keftades and baked feta with retsina. Bizarrely, they had a belly dancer, but more conventionally, a few plates were thrown on the floor. Frozen margaritas at wet willies on ocean drive, finished off the evening very nicely.

We are staying at the clay hotel and youth hostel, the same place David and I stayed at in 94. It's a little rough around the edges but a great place, fantastically located, right in the Spanish village on Espanola way and 2 blocks from the beach.
David - it really hasn't changed much since we were there, however I've failed to see any transvestites running down the middle of Washington avenue waving at all the Cubans, nor have I seen the guy with a suit and briefcase intoning "if you go to hell, don't blame me"

Tomorrow we're off to Venice, Florida on the gulf coast.I'm a little nervous about negotiating my way out of Miami in a hired car. Back on the 27th and then it's count down to Quito. I can't wait to get to SA and start our journey down to David's in Argentina. I'm looking forward to a reduction in the budget as well, we've got to keep a tight control on our spending now.

New Jersey and NYC

We arrived, with a couple of hours delay, to heat and humidity in the 90's. Katherine's dad and step mum met us and drove us to their home in panther valley a private housing area built into woodland with lovely views of the valley. It's a few miles from a small town called Hackettstown in NW New Jersey about an hours drive from New York City.

Sitting out on the porch (we're virtually the only ones as everyone else are inside with their air conditioning) we've enjoyed some interesting wildlife. A ground hog sniffed along the grass close by, a raccoon was spotted briefly, and we were visited by hummingbirds and cardinals. Deer often cross the roads and go into peoples gardens and we recently had an evening at some friends who occasionally had black bears wonder into their garden and steal bird food. Apparently a mother and her cubs can be very dangerous, they have to keep dogs and themselves inside.

We had a day trip to NYC and wondered around the Soho area before heading off to Brooklyn Heights to look back at the Manhattan skyline and walk back over the Brooklyn bridge which is fantastic. We were told later that the bridge was packed with people fleeing Manhattan and its dust and debris and fear on 9/11, walking the bridge you could imagine it.

To celebrate Katherine's dad's birthday, we headed for the New Jersey shore, right to the southern tip of the state, Cape May. Here we lounged on the beach and were treated to some dolphins playing in the wake of boats not far from the waters edge. Also a wedding party descended onto the beach in the evening, so we sat on the balcony of our hotel, wine in hands, and watched the whole ceremony trying to guess who was who. We also sat around the pool, played shuffleboard(a game where you have a pole and shove a koit kind of thing into a numbered area) and were offered apple martini's by our partying young neighbours. We had lot's of good food and massive portions, risking being harpooned by whaler's the next day on the beach.

We're looking forward to Miami, and joining the latin beat. We go there on the 22nd for 3 nights and then rent a car to Venice on the gulf coast for a couple of days to see Katherine's grandparents. We fly to Quito on the 29th and have found a great hostal near to the old town, go to http://www.secretgardenquito.com/contactus.html we're there for 3 nights and will need to acclimatise to the altitude. Further south, close to the Peruvian boarder, we hope to stay at this incredible hostal http://www.izhcayluma.com/en/frameset.html Now we are getting excited!!!

Oh I nearly forgot, the clay hotel in south beach Miami, is the same place David and I stayed at back in 1994 when we first got to the US, so it will be fascinating to see it again.

DSCF0319

DSCF0319
Originally uploaded by finbowa

Right you bitching posters!!!
yes we are in the US and more specifically in new jersey. I just had to post my pretentious piece first, all about how we got to here. Sorry about the delay, I've got to do better in SA otherwise anxious calls to embassies might be on the cards. Will post an update on whats happened since being here over the next couple of days.

The point of no return

The bridges have been burnt, there's only one way to go now and that's onwards. It feels strange, we've been so long working towards this point, that now it's come, it doesn't seem real. There's a feeling of trepidation and excitement alongside, but mainly relief.
The house is finally sold, we wouldn't believe it until the keys were handed in, so many things had gone wrong before, which might explain the unreality of it all. When the house fell through the first time, we decided to stop reading all the south american guide books in an effort to prevent the disappointment of all our plans going up in smoke another time. We attempted to carry on life and live in the here and now, rather than have our lives on hold indefinitely. So when it finally happened, we were a little numb I think. It was sad to leave the home after four years, the first house I've ever bought, originally in quite a shitty state, but after some work, a cosy, modern, one bed roomed coach house conversion. I've made a very modest profit on it, which means for the first time in my life, I'm leaving to go in a new direction with a little capital behind me.
A couple of years ago, Katherine moved in her mountains of clutter, but feminised the place a little, and we had two wonderful summers sitting out in the patio area drinking and smoking far too much whenever the sun came out. We also struck up a great friendship with our neighbours whose kitchen window overlooked our patio. It could have been invasive, but instead, we got on so well that countless evenings were spent sharing wine and beer either on the patio or standing at their kitchen window. We could even lean through to open their fridge and help ourselves to some beer ( sorry T&J, I think you supplied us with more than we supplied you two ) and on some occasions champagne was on offer, often at two in the morning with work the next day. We started our sessions in the spring when it was still cold, sat out with coats on and building a small fire in a coal bucket to keep us out for as long as possible. When summer came and the nights were warmer, we designed drunken street sports, the most famous being oven glove racing. Injuries and the deterioration of the oven gloves put pay to that after a while, but it was fun while it lasted.
They actually sold and moved before us, which was an end to that time, but in a way, made it easier for us to go, because it wouldn't have been the same there after they had gone.
Despite being desperate to leave work, leaving our colleagues was sad and they gave us a great send off, even collecting some funds together for us to use on our travels and of course a medical kit. However, I won't miss the nhs (not as it is run now) I'm looking forward to exploring some new ways of living for a while and seeing where it takes us.

UP india 85

My travels have taken me through southern europe, india, thailand, united states and central america. I first took off just over 20 years ago and now again the world bekons and opens its arms to embrace me. South america awaits, and maybe, a new life in argentina. Who knows? a friend is setting up a business and there maybe room for my girlfriend and I to join in. No eggs all in one baskett, if it doesn't work out, we're off somewhere else to give it a go.

We should be there now but the house sale fell through right at the last minute. I can't tell you how dissapointed I am, work is sucking the blood from my body, I pace the corridors like a coiled spring just keeping myself from exploding. The pleasure it will give me to tell them to shove the job as far up their rectums as is scientifically possible, infact lets not stop at the rectum, lets carry on up through the sigmoid and as far as the descending colon! And when I say 'them' I also include the top dog, the top 'them' of them all, Patricia f***** hewitt!!!!

The freedom I will feel, the exquisit feeling of no mortgage, no carreer, no children, none of the miriad of ties that they like you to be bound to, reasons for not choosing another way of life, reasons to plod on and on like a Lowry painting.