hmm.. just got a minute, but should use it to write some lines..
I spent x-mas with Alin and his family. Was really nice to meet his mom, aunts, uncles and sister! had good food, took part in the x-mas-picture with tree ;) and cheered at midnight, wishing all the best for the coming year (they seem to do that twice here ;) later I met Karen at her place and I stayed until 5am, when I had to leave to not be seen by her dad ;) hehe ;)
then Saturday was going out, meeting people, listening to good music and having some beers until not too early in the morning. We went back home, had a very exhausting night talking about different things (mostly about the tense situation in her family) and went to sleep tired as hell to wake up Sunday in the afternoon and preparing my house-warming party. Yes.. there were some tough moments through the week-end, but I`m happy we can talk about just everything (she told me more than to her Dad in the last five years.. because her Dad isn`t listening and has very few understanding for his Indigo daughter :( so over just very few days, we grew together as we would have a relationship of a year.
the party was awesome.. there were probably 25 friends showing up, even bringing soundsystem and laser and heard great music and had great, great times, being houselord and having this party!!!! :D ..even the people above stayed out until everybody was gone, so they didn`t even notice that I had more people in my house than usual.
they invited me to their house 1 hour from here at a lake, but we didn`t find time over the weekend.. but I appreciate their nice x-mas card and the invitation! :D ..best vibes with the people who rent me the place.
then yesterday I got 30 days more visa and can get another 90 days by going to Peru, if it has to be :D ..PERFECT!!!! can stay as long as I want and let`s see what happens to Karen and me and what`s the solution of their family situation (their Dad was about to throw her out..) but there is always a solution and we don`t worry too much about that (where is love, there is a way! ;D
today I got some things done.. fixing my pants and checking out the armor.. weeeeee.. what a great piece of decoration!! the griffins just leave no question that I`m a gryphon-warrior and I`m looking forward to try it out in Switzerland ;) hehe ;)
hmm.. that`s about it.. I`m on my way to pick up my love and then let`s cuddle at my place ;)
wishing you a happy new year and hear from me soon..
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
MERRY X-MAS!! :D
weeeee.. must have reached another level of many Karma-Points to be blessed so much in my life!! :D
where do I start.. well.. I´m in love as never before!! :D since I flew around the world to meet the parents, I haven´t felt so much taken by a human being.
so last Friday I went to some small hip-hop event where Alin was filming and met this girl.. didn´t really think to much in that moment, because I was still in a relationship and I was not in the best mood (I wonder how I left such an impression on her ;) but anyway.. the next day I invited her to the full-moon party and we had BEST TIMES EVER!!! :D haha! :D ..the party was great! lot´s of good music as I heard, but I was not dancing, was not juggling, not playing with my toys, not even using my fireswords.. I was just talking and listening a lot to this lovely and energetic being! she is 26, studying medicine (finishes in one year) and she is Indigo too!!!! can you believe that?!? haven´t been thinking a lot about indigo over the last years, but when she came up with that, how much indigo she is, it all makes sense to me :)
well.. when I felt myself falling so much in love with her, I told her about the relationship I still have and that I should have stopped 10 days ago already.. but because my Ex didn´t want to let me go and for convenience I stayed. So meeting Karen, we didn´t sleep together until I finished my old relationship.. I really hate switching and probably never happened in my life but was inevitable.. even Karen forgave me for that "switch". ..but I told my Ex before that I don´t love her that I just will be here until end of the year and that I DONT WANT to meet her family.. I sucked being in that relationship.
Never be with somebody that you don´t love!
with Karen it´s so much different.. I enjoy being gentlemen and will meet her family tomorrow (I really want to meet her family and get along well, so they don´t worry if she spends a lot of time with me).
we were basically non-stop together since we met on Saturday and I enjoyed so much to forget about the world for a moment, because walking on clouds.. yes.. matched in heaven is what I would say! :)
so I explained everything my Ex (I was happy when that meeting was over) and we ended in good terms (anyway.. I´d be gone in 3 days if I wouldn´t have met Karen).
I feel having got the most amazing x-mas present ever and I´m so happy as haven´t been in a long time (means, REALLY, REALLY happy! :D
and yesterday we bought ourselves presents by spending 100 USD in a sex-shop getting a very nice choice of sensual things that I´m looking forward to try out!! hahaha :D yes..not only on the spiritual and on the mental plane we match perfectly, also in bed I´m super satisfied, as she unleashes her little nymph ;) hehehe ;) dude.. best sex ever!! and most incredible girl I´ve ever met!! looking at the story of her life and the things she does and the things we live together she´s surprising me more and more every day! :D
so.. I´ll be here in January. Have to see that I get 2 month more for me and the bike (task for Monday) and get my stuff together to send back home.. last days I was just not in this world, so it all had to wait ;) hehe ;)
the people who rent me the apartment are super, super nice and they let me stay more time and even being loud sometimes, they didn´t hear anything and didn´t feel bothered.. everything is just PERFECT! :D
so this afternoon I don´t have any plans.. enjoying the sun and the 25°C in Cochabamba :) glad to be here ;) hehe ;)
that´s it.. lately have been ordering a lot of food (lazy cook ;) and for example 10 USD you get "lomo" (good piece of meet), mixed salad, fried yucca (similar french fries) and a big bottle of Fanta delivered to your house.. we ate both enough and couldn´t finish and was super tasty!!! :D therefore lazy me, ordering food, spending my money here in Bolivia as it´s worth much more and having best times of my life!! :D ..imposible to leave soon ;) hehe ;)
that´s probably it.. will hear more from me as mentionable things happen here ;)
sending you the best wishes you there, accompanied of lot´s of love that´s present in my life!!
be well and be happy! :)
where do I start.. well.. I´m in love as never before!! :D since I flew around the world to meet the parents, I haven´t felt so much taken by a human being.
so last Friday I went to some small hip-hop event where Alin was filming and met this girl.. didn´t really think to much in that moment, because I was still in a relationship and I was not in the best mood (I wonder how I left such an impression on her ;) but anyway.. the next day I invited her to the full-moon party and we had BEST TIMES EVER!!! :D haha! :D ..the party was great! lot´s of good music as I heard, but I was not dancing, was not juggling, not playing with my toys, not even using my fireswords.. I was just talking and listening a lot to this lovely and energetic being! she is 26, studying medicine (finishes in one year) and she is Indigo too!!!! can you believe that?!? haven´t been thinking a lot about indigo over the last years, but when she came up with that, how much indigo she is, it all makes sense to me :)
well.. when I felt myself falling so much in love with her, I told her about the relationship I still have and that I should have stopped 10 days ago already.. but because my Ex didn´t want to let me go and for convenience I stayed. So meeting Karen, we didn´t sleep together until I finished my old relationship.. I really hate switching and probably never happened in my life but was inevitable.. even Karen forgave me for that "switch". ..but I told my Ex before that I don´t love her that I just will be here until end of the year and that I DONT WANT to meet her family.. I sucked being in that relationship.
Never be with somebody that you don´t love!
with Karen it´s so much different.. I enjoy being gentlemen and will meet her family tomorrow (I really want to meet her family and get along well, so they don´t worry if she spends a lot of time with me).
we were basically non-stop together since we met on Saturday and I enjoyed so much to forget about the world for a moment, because walking on clouds.. yes.. matched in heaven is what I would say! :)
so I explained everything my Ex (I was happy when that meeting was over) and we ended in good terms (anyway.. I´d be gone in 3 days if I wouldn´t have met Karen).
I feel having got the most amazing x-mas present ever and I´m so happy as haven´t been in a long time (means, REALLY, REALLY happy! :D
and yesterday we bought ourselves presents by spending 100 USD in a sex-shop getting a very nice choice of sensual things that I´m looking forward to try out!! hahaha :D yes..not only on the spiritual and on the mental plane we match perfectly, also in bed I´m super satisfied, as she unleashes her little nymph ;) hehehe ;) dude.. best sex ever!! and most incredible girl I´ve ever met!! looking at the story of her life and the things she does and the things we live together she´s surprising me more and more every day! :D
so.. I´ll be here in January. Have to see that I get 2 month more for me and the bike (task for Monday) and get my stuff together to send back home.. last days I was just not in this world, so it all had to wait ;) hehe ;)
the people who rent me the apartment are super, super nice and they let me stay more time and even being loud sometimes, they didn´t hear anything and didn´t feel bothered.. everything is just PERFECT! :D
so this afternoon I don´t have any plans.. enjoying the sun and the 25°C in Cochabamba :) glad to be here ;) hehe ;)
that´s it.. lately have been ordering a lot of food (lazy cook ;) and for example 10 USD you get "lomo" (good piece of meet), mixed salad, fried yucca (similar french fries) and a big bottle of Fanta delivered to your house.. we ate both enough and couldn´t finish and was super tasty!!! :D therefore lazy me, ordering food, spending my money here in Bolivia as it´s worth much more and having best times of my life!! :D ..imposible to leave soon ;) hehe ;)
that´s probably it.. will hear more from me as mentionable things happen here ;)
sending you the best wishes you there, accompanied of lot´s of love that´s present in my life!!
be well and be happy! :)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
..a little update..
hmm.. haven´t much plans for today. Have been playing a lot with my friends, spent wonderful times with Veronica, watching movies, cooking, going out and having great sex ;) what more could I ask for ;) hehe ;)
this week-end is another full-moon and I´ll be there.. Friday and Saturday I want to go play paintball again. We were playing the last week-end and it was SO MUCH FUN!! :D I finally really got into it! ..unfortunately running around being hangover and without warming up really messed me up completely.. so Saturday night I went to bed early and Sunday I was still in agony ;) then twitched a nerf what didn´t make it better :P and my back hurts terribly.. but whatever.. life has to go on ;)
trying here to get some stuff done in the internet, but wether the insurance guy nor headhunters or the diving-people answer.. not even Liz.. what´s going on out there!?!? you guys have no time to keep in touch with me??!
haven`t been paragliding in a while.. conditions were not good and I hope there will be another flight or two until end of the year.
the BMW shop washed my bike and changed oil.. was payable all in all, but they didn´t to any wonder tricks as I asked about some strange noises that I don´t know if they are normal.. they guys have no idea at all about that as it seems. but anyway.. it´s running fine and I plan to sell it in two month anyway, so I won´t invest a lot of money in it. Talked to some guy at the customs and it would be 1500USD to import it and some circumstances or selling it without papers to someone here and he´ll wait until "amnesty of vehicules" that they do here in Bolivia. Probably gonna do it like that.. really feel that I don´t want to sell it in this very instant. Riding bike is just sweet!! and I have the longing to be on the road again.. maybe I´ll do a little trip from CBBA to Chapare/Villa Tunari. Should take her out for a ride ;)
what more.. hmm... life has been a joyful mix between girlfriend, roleplaying with friends, watching movies, paintball and trying to get my armor complete and some other open items in town (that take forever to be sorted out).
yeah.. sorry.. empty mind. trying to keep my busy today ;) gonna hear from me soon :)
this week-end is another full-moon and I´ll be there.. Friday and Saturday I want to go play paintball again. We were playing the last week-end and it was SO MUCH FUN!! :D I finally really got into it! ..unfortunately running around being hangover and without warming up really messed me up completely.. so Saturday night I went to bed early and Sunday I was still in agony ;) then twitched a nerf what didn´t make it better :P and my back hurts terribly.. but whatever.. life has to go on ;)
trying here to get some stuff done in the internet, but wether the insurance guy nor headhunters or the diving-people answer.. not even Liz.. what´s going on out there!?!? you guys have no time to keep in touch with me??!
haven`t been paragliding in a while.. conditions were not good and I hope there will be another flight or two until end of the year.
the BMW shop washed my bike and changed oil.. was payable all in all, but they didn´t to any wonder tricks as I asked about some strange noises that I don´t know if they are normal.. they guys have no idea at all about that as it seems. but anyway.. it´s running fine and I plan to sell it in two month anyway, so I won´t invest a lot of money in it. Talked to some guy at the customs and it would be 1500USD to import it and some circumstances or selling it without papers to someone here and he´ll wait until "amnesty of vehicules" that they do here in Bolivia. Probably gonna do it like that.. really feel that I don´t want to sell it in this very instant. Riding bike is just sweet!! and I have the longing to be on the road again.. maybe I´ll do a little trip from CBBA to Chapare/Villa Tunari. Should take her out for a ride ;)
what more.. hmm... life has been a joyful mix between girlfriend, roleplaying with friends, watching movies, paintball and trying to get my armor complete and some other open items in town (that take forever to be sorted out).
yeah.. sorry.. empty mind. trying to keep my busy today ;) gonna hear from me soon :)
Friday, December 10, 2010
..tons of things going on.. :)
Phew.. time to update my blog :)
life´s still beautiful and I´m pretty busy here :) ..my leather armor is progressing (it´s gonna be gooooood! ;) hehe :) then I talked to the people from the BMW shop before and they will help me doing some tasks on my bike. Will be next monday. Still haven´t met the Saya-people, but also doing this next week (and then comes another full moon party here ;)
this afternoon back to Paintball.. had a session with Boris and friends (and his doughters ;) and exept for the fact that I would have needed more bullets, it was super fun! :D well.. in the end got probably more tagged than I tagged (why can´t I be superior in this sport ;) hehe ;)
so I want to invest a 30USD in 500 rounds and paint the arene colorful ;) the field is sweet!! barrels, car wrecks and lot´s of apocalyptic-looking stuff.. perfect to have a good match. could be broader, so you can outrun the enemy.. but it´s good for what it is! :)
I´ve seen Karol again and was nice to talk! she looks still super cute, but not that I felt we would have to be together again.
I´m still with my "girlfriend" from Taquiña party. She really wants to stay with me and I can´t complain. It´s nice to share many things (above all the bed ;) hehe ;) but then I was also a bit insecure about all this. is it the different of our age, missing experience in life from her side.. or do I want to be free and single? talked to her and was pretty messy in the end (should have shut up, but can´t .. that´s not me. I have to talk these issues out). Well.. at the moment I feel better! it´s good not to see each other every day (what she´d like to do). But we had a lot of incredible moments and I´m sure there will be lot more. I´m just way more crazy doing stuff in life (of course, I´m in my saturn return ;)
were watching TV yesterday.. finally got all the cables, rented a TV for 20USD until end of the year and bought already the newest copied movies and had a nice session yesterday :) saw some really good titles!! :D
We keep roleplaying and it rocks! having a campain with Alin and Carlos (guided by Cesar) and Alin gave us a little Cyberpunk, where I play a very, very bad but ass-kicking cop ;) I hope we can continue this afternoon!!
Wednesday I invited Veronica (GF) to see oriental dances.. very enjoyable! cute kids dancing arabian dances and other riper girls, doing sexy belly dance ;) hehe ;) yes, a good piece of culture!!
Then I´m planning things as selling my bike, getting to dive again in Costa Rica and above all, to get a good job in Switzerland. Translated my CV in German with many improvements in structure and design. Next week, I´ll have a final PDF version and then let´s see what kind of job I´ll get ;) ..I want to do something in international project management (it´s nice to have a clear idea of what you want ;) hehe ;) for sure not sale, development or simple engineering.
hmm.. that´s all I guess ;) hehe ;) the weather is nice.. somewhere between 20ºC and 30ºC, dry and lovely with the sun and long days :)
have a great time back home!! :)
life´s still beautiful and I´m pretty busy here :) ..my leather armor is progressing (it´s gonna be gooooood! ;) hehe :) then I talked to the people from the BMW shop before and they will help me doing some tasks on my bike. Will be next monday. Still haven´t met the Saya-people, but also doing this next week (and then comes another full moon party here ;)
this afternoon back to Paintball.. had a session with Boris and friends (and his doughters ;) and exept for the fact that I would have needed more bullets, it was super fun! :D well.. in the end got probably more tagged than I tagged (why can´t I be superior in this sport ;) hehe ;)
so I want to invest a 30USD in 500 rounds and paint the arene colorful ;) the field is sweet!! barrels, car wrecks and lot´s of apocalyptic-looking stuff.. perfect to have a good match. could be broader, so you can outrun the enemy.. but it´s good for what it is! :)
I´ve seen Karol again and was nice to talk! she looks still super cute, but not that I felt we would have to be together again.
I´m still with my "girlfriend" from Taquiña party. She really wants to stay with me and I can´t complain. It´s nice to share many things (above all the bed ;) hehe ;) but then I was also a bit insecure about all this. is it the different of our age, missing experience in life from her side.. or do I want to be free and single? talked to her and was pretty messy in the end (should have shut up, but can´t .. that´s not me. I have to talk these issues out). Well.. at the moment I feel better! it´s good not to see each other every day (what she´d like to do). But we had a lot of incredible moments and I´m sure there will be lot more. I´m just way more crazy doing stuff in life (of course, I´m in my saturn return ;)
were watching TV yesterday.. finally got all the cables, rented a TV for 20USD until end of the year and bought already the newest copied movies and had a nice session yesterday :) saw some really good titles!! :D
We keep roleplaying and it rocks! having a campain with Alin and Carlos (guided by Cesar) and Alin gave us a little Cyberpunk, where I play a very, very bad but ass-kicking cop ;) I hope we can continue this afternoon!!
Wednesday I invited Veronica (GF) to see oriental dances.. very enjoyable! cute kids dancing arabian dances and other riper girls, doing sexy belly dance ;) hehe ;) yes, a good piece of culture!!
Then I´m planning things as selling my bike, getting to dive again in Costa Rica and above all, to get a good job in Switzerland. Translated my CV in German with many improvements in structure and design. Next week, I´ll have a final PDF version and then let´s see what kind of job I´ll get ;) ..I want to do something in international project management (it´s nice to have a clear idea of what you want ;) hehe ;) for sure not sale, development or simple engineering.
hmm.. that´s all I guess ;) hehe ;) the weather is nice.. somewhere between 20ºC and 30ºC, dry and lovely with the sun and long days :)
have a great time back home!! :)
Saturday, December 4, 2010
..living as a King!! :D
hmm.. the week has passed and I was busy with seeing friends and having good times!! :D ..if there´s a moment I´d call surfing on the top, it would be one like that! :D
still having lot´s of things on my list.. yesterday we started a campain roleplaying in my apartment. I gladly invite food, drinks, beer and the place (cleaning up ;) for having such great times with friends!! seems to be OK with the people living above, having frequent visits in my place (everybody tells me to invite him to any party I´ll having up there ;) hehe ;) I know why.. it´s just awesome to be in such an apartment!! :D I made a little movie and try to upload it to Facebook to tell the world about my decadent place I own here in CBBA ;) (well.. I won´t get spoiled because of that.. never have and never will be in a place like this again, I guess ;)
So I have quite a few friends that call me (or I call them) to go out and have fun.. also my new girlfriend that I met at a party last Sunday. She is pretty young, but really wants to stay with me (and really wants to do awesome things with me ;) so I couldn´t turn her down.. just too strong female energies around here ;)
so I´m her second boyfriend she gets intime with (and the first one left out many things ;) so basically 90% of what I´m showing to her is completely new in her life, but she´s a fast learner and will be a a great lover and sensual seducer soon ;) hehe ;)
bought food and drinks for about 100 USD and now my fridge and minibar are full with lots of tasty stuff ;) really feel home as I haven´t felt for quite a while. It´s good to have a kitchen and a fridge.. and Adriana my ex-girlfriend here borrowed me a DVD player and I´m organizing a bigger TV now.. then it will be PERFECT!!! MUHAHAHA ;D ..ah dude.. life is just GREAT!!
then I was paragliding twice already (did I tell you that?). It´s pretty rough here with flying in thin air, but the place is nice (and as long I can afford 50 USD for equipment rental, I´ll be flying here in CBBA). Furthermore Skydiving is not recommendable.. small plane, expensive, just few seconds fall, long time for the place to climb and above all: old equipment. So I focus on paragliding here and check skydiving in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
so I had a flight last week.. a short one of 10 minutes and a bit a longer one of 25 minutes, showing the people here that I know, what I´m doing! ;) two nice landings.. one on my ass, but the instructor was applauding anyway ;) hehe ;) he says, as long you don´t get hurt, it´s fine! :D
so then two days ago I had a 1hour 10minutes flight.. quite some while thermaling (without having variometer or seeing birds.. just feeling the upwinds and downwinds and circeling whereever there was good lift.
then I had my first frontal collapse.. weeee.. scary stuff, but these new equipments know how to recover themselves. frontal collapse happens when you fly through an upwind and hitting a downwind at the end of it. Your wing folds along your side-axis, depressurizes (looses it´s stability) and you start falling down with your seat (the scary part ;) and doing so, you give tension on the lines again and it re-inflates, swinging back and forth (this pendulum movement is stopped with the correct handling of the controls). then I got a lot of sink and headed for the LZ, but instead of landing, I found a new thermal that brought me up again. Was a great experience (as falling into the rope while climbing). Gave me a lot more confidence into paragliding (and self-recovering canopies ;)
the landing was with 0 wind, what made it the roughest landing ever, but was fine.. just came a bit fast and the straps of the seat squished a bit my balls, but was not too bad ;) hehe ;)
then I got a list of things I have to do with my bike.. from oilchange to importation questions I have to ask at the customs here.. will be done on monday :)
still haven´t gone to all the nice places around CBBA.. but haven´t been bored so far ;) hehe ;)
a master craftsman is creating my leather armor.. will take until the end of the year, but will be super BADASS!! :D haha :D looking forward to play "griffin, the gryphon warrior" ;)
I´m happy Alin has so much time (and an open itenerary), so we´re spending quite some time together (it´s my best friend here in town! :)
got also some feedback from headhunters in Switzerland.. well.. my time back home will be defined by this cause (cause = job). So I´ll see in what city I end up and where and with whom I´ll live with and what kind of new friends I´ll find in the region.. it´s probably illusionary to think about going back to the very same place (because I had just the BEST TIME EVER!! in Switzerland). For having so, I left my friends in Bern.. so maybe accepting a job means, leaving these great people in Switzerland, I lived with... ah.. gonna all find it out. But there are great jobs out there, waiting for me, and I will grab the most fitting of them! :D
well.. once more have to mention it: I live in a mansion here in town.. even the picture of the phone book has been taking from this place! ;) haha ;)
Tomorrow I´ll see my ex-girlfriend Karol again (were together quite some time here) and on Monday I connect again to the people from my traditional Saya-Caporales-Dancing, I was doing here as well five years ago :) ..so no time to get bored so far ;)
hope didn´t leave out too much.. will hear from me soon! :)
best wishes and some of the nice weather we´re having here in CBBA! :)
still having lot´s of things on my list.. yesterday we started a campain roleplaying in my apartment. I gladly invite food, drinks, beer and the place (cleaning up ;) for having such great times with friends!! seems to be OK with the people living above, having frequent visits in my place (everybody tells me to invite him to any party I´ll having up there ;) hehe ;) I know why.. it´s just awesome to be in such an apartment!! :D I made a little movie and try to upload it to Facebook to tell the world about my decadent place I own here in CBBA ;) (well.. I won´t get spoiled because of that.. never have and never will be in a place like this again, I guess ;)
So I have quite a few friends that call me (or I call them) to go out and have fun.. also my new girlfriend that I met at a party last Sunday. She is pretty young, but really wants to stay with me (and really wants to do awesome things with me ;) so I couldn´t turn her down.. just too strong female energies around here ;)
so I´m her second boyfriend she gets intime with (and the first one left out many things ;) so basically 90% of what I´m showing to her is completely new in her life, but she´s a fast learner and will be a a great lover and sensual seducer soon ;) hehe ;)
bought food and drinks for about 100 USD and now my fridge and minibar are full with lots of tasty stuff ;) really feel home as I haven´t felt for quite a while. It´s good to have a kitchen and a fridge.. and Adriana my ex-girlfriend here borrowed me a DVD player and I´m organizing a bigger TV now.. then it will be PERFECT!!! MUHAHAHA ;D ..ah dude.. life is just GREAT!!
then I was paragliding twice already (did I tell you that?). It´s pretty rough here with flying in thin air, but the place is nice (and as long I can afford 50 USD for equipment rental, I´ll be flying here in CBBA). Furthermore Skydiving is not recommendable.. small plane, expensive, just few seconds fall, long time for the place to climb and above all: old equipment. So I focus on paragliding here and check skydiving in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
so I had a flight last week.. a short one of 10 minutes and a bit a longer one of 25 minutes, showing the people here that I know, what I´m doing! ;) two nice landings.. one on my ass, but the instructor was applauding anyway ;) hehe ;) he says, as long you don´t get hurt, it´s fine! :D
so then two days ago I had a 1hour 10minutes flight.. quite some while thermaling (without having variometer or seeing birds.. just feeling the upwinds and downwinds and circeling whereever there was good lift.
then I had my first frontal collapse.. weeee.. scary stuff, but these new equipments know how to recover themselves. frontal collapse happens when you fly through an upwind and hitting a downwind at the end of it. Your wing folds along your side-axis, depressurizes (looses it´s stability) and you start falling down with your seat (the scary part ;) and doing so, you give tension on the lines again and it re-inflates, swinging back and forth (this pendulum movement is stopped with the correct handling of the controls). then I got a lot of sink and headed for the LZ, but instead of landing, I found a new thermal that brought me up again. Was a great experience (as falling into the rope while climbing). Gave me a lot more confidence into paragliding (and self-recovering canopies ;)
the landing was with 0 wind, what made it the roughest landing ever, but was fine.. just came a bit fast and the straps of the seat squished a bit my balls, but was not too bad ;) hehe ;)
then I got a list of things I have to do with my bike.. from oilchange to importation questions I have to ask at the customs here.. will be done on monday :)
still haven´t gone to all the nice places around CBBA.. but haven´t been bored so far ;) hehe ;)
a master craftsman is creating my leather armor.. will take until the end of the year, but will be super BADASS!! :D haha :D looking forward to play "griffin, the gryphon warrior" ;)
I´m happy Alin has so much time (and an open itenerary), so we´re spending quite some time together (it´s my best friend here in town! :)
got also some feedback from headhunters in Switzerland.. well.. my time back home will be defined by this cause (cause = job). So I´ll see in what city I end up and where and with whom I´ll live with and what kind of new friends I´ll find in the region.. it´s probably illusionary to think about going back to the very same place (because I had just the BEST TIME EVER!! in Switzerland). For having so, I left my friends in Bern.. so maybe accepting a job means, leaving these great people in Switzerland, I lived with... ah.. gonna all find it out. But there are great jobs out there, waiting for me, and I will grab the most fitting of them! :D
well.. once more have to mention it: I live in a mansion here in town.. even the picture of the phone book has been taking from this place! ;) haha ;)
Tomorrow I´ll see my ex-girlfriend Karol again (were together quite some time here) and on Monday I connect again to the people from my traditional Saya-Caporales-Dancing, I was doing here as well five years ago :) ..so no time to get bored so far ;)
hope didn´t leave out too much.. will hear from me soon! :)
best wishes and some of the nice weather we´re having here in CBBA! :)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
..ready for December :)
..tomorrow my "Month in CBBA" starts.. no idea what I´ll do here, but I´m pretty sure won´t get too bored ;) hope the weather stays nice and warm :)
I finally got my own place (moving there tomorrow). Took me two days of running around and asking in lots of Real Estate companies to find this place.. got one real nice apartment (executive style) with plasma-TV and all the stuff I needed.. would have been 350USD a month (same my little room back home ;) but he wanted me to sign for two month.. I got SOOOO angry!! because told the guys I just need it for one month and that he wouldn´t give it to me for 6 weeks really upset me (especially because he called me back to talk about the contract.. I was like "fuck you!!" (not saying it of course ;) but I already fell in love with the place and his stubbornness pissed me off. ..the main issue was that it`s only for a month and not longer.. and I´ve seen some furnitured places, but mostly without cable TV (sorry, for 400USD I want to have it ALL ;) and one of them was so big, was a football field with walls and doors ;) three bedrooms and three bathrooms was just a bit too much for me alone ;) ..so after all the Real Estate companies turning me down, I found one that seemed to be really promising. Checked out some places and finally went to a condominium up the mountains.. well.. I don´t tell you too much about the place, but will make a little movie of it and upload on Facebook for it´s the most decadent place I´ve ever owned in my whole life!!! :D haha :D ..yes.. super nice view, very, very exclusive and hopefully getting along well with the owners (an older German couple) that lives just above. I haven´t clarified it, but I wanted an other place to meet with my friends without the owner yelling at me in front of my friends (what happened at my old place). Therefore no furnitured room, but an own place (has a stunning view and is really big..) the girlfriend-thing is in work and then I´m almost 100% set to have great times here in CBBA ;) hehe ;)
so the place will be between 400-500 USD (500USD my upper, upper limit). and of course it didn´t go as smoothly as expected.. finally when I they found the place for me, they were.. it´s gonna be 500USD and we have 50% commission of the 1st month (would make the rent 750USD). I was.. "WHAT?!?¿!?¿!" where in your chain of thoughts you forgot to mention this little detail?! I thought, you guys gonna ask for a higher rent (that´s why I pay 500 or 450 instead of 400) but to me, this is not the first, but the only and last month and I for sure don´t stuff my money up your ass for showing me quickly this place up the hill. ...weeeee.. this lady was shouting at me.. as you should never do with customers. I said.. lower your voice or I´m outta here and she kept yelling.. so I turned around, went to my bike.. got off again, went back, told them: for you know, I didn´t sigh ANYTHING with you people. back to the bike (assistent comes running, begging me to come in again to talk), I started up the engine and took off.. driving back to the place I just saw (glad I found it again ;) and talked to this German lady again.. explaining my situation and why I´m being so confused.. and she was: no problem young man, we just don´t tell the Real Estate company.. they´re thieves anyway. MUAHAHAHAA YESSSS!! even better.. no commission, helping hand and good vibes before I´ve even entered this place. Tomorrow I move, then drinking tea with the owners and making good friends. Maybe they have a computer to take care off or can make use of having "a man in house" :)
okay.. have to take care of my armor and then drinking a coffee with Alin :)
by the way.. yesterday I sent my package away. There is no more sea mail, so the airmail cost me 150 USD, but it´s almost 16kg and holds my guitar (sending back home second time from here ;) ..another 50 bucks invested in my guitar. but don´t want to have it here anymore (especially if I sell the bike in the next months) and shipping from here is cheaper I guess than Argentina ;) ..where I will have to send my helmet and gear. ..takes quite a while to wrap it in paper at the post office and took me also some hikes to find a big box (that I customized to the desired shape ;)
so x-mas present are on the way, together with some cool LARP stuff.. hope it makes it safe and sound back home, but it always did.. so no worries about that :)
okay.. hear more from me soon :)
I finally got my own place (moving there tomorrow). Took me two days of running around and asking in lots of Real Estate companies to find this place.. got one real nice apartment (executive style) with plasma-TV and all the stuff I needed.. would have been 350USD a month (same my little room back home ;) but he wanted me to sign for two month.. I got SOOOO angry!! because told the guys I just need it for one month and that he wouldn´t give it to me for 6 weeks really upset me (especially because he called me back to talk about the contract.. I was like "fuck you!!" (not saying it of course ;) but I already fell in love with the place and his stubbornness pissed me off. ..the main issue was that it`s only for a month and not longer.. and I´ve seen some furnitured places, but mostly without cable TV (sorry, for 400USD I want to have it ALL ;) and one of them was so big, was a football field with walls and doors ;) three bedrooms and three bathrooms was just a bit too much for me alone ;) ..so after all the Real Estate companies turning me down, I found one that seemed to be really promising. Checked out some places and finally went to a condominium up the mountains.. well.. I don´t tell you too much about the place, but will make a little movie of it and upload on Facebook for it´s the most decadent place I´ve ever owned in my whole life!!! :D haha :D ..yes.. super nice view, very, very exclusive and hopefully getting along well with the owners (an older German couple) that lives just above. I haven´t clarified it, but I wanted an other place to meet with my friends without the owner yelling at me in front of my friends (what happened at my old place). Therefore no furnitured room, but an own place (has a stunning view and is really big..) the girlfriend-thing is in work and then I´m almost 100% set to have great times here in CBBA ;) hehe ;)
so the place will be between 400-500 USD (500USD my upper, upper limit). and of course it didn´t go as smoothly as expected.. finally when I they found the place for me, they were.. it´s gonna be 500USD and we have 50% commission of the 1st month (would make the rent 750USD). I was.. "WHAT?!?¿!?¿!" where in your chain of thoughts you forgot to mention this little detail?! I thought, you guys gonna ask for a higher rent (that´s why I pay 500 or 450 instead of 400) but to me, this is not the first, but the only and last month and I for sure don´t stuff my money up your ass for showing me quickly this place up the hill. ...weeeee.. this lady was shouting at me.. as you should never do with customers. I said.. lower your voice or I´m outta here and she kept yelling.. so I turned around, went to my bike.. got off again, went back, told them: for you know, I didn´t sigh ANYTHING with you people. back to the bike (assistent comes running, begging me to come in again to talk), I started up the engine and took off.. driving back to the place I just saw (glad I found it again ;) and talked to this German lady again.. explaining my situation and why I´m being so confused.. and she was: no problem young man, we just don´t tell the Real Estate company.. they´re thieves anyway. MUAHAHAHAA YESSSS!! even better.. no commission, helping hand and good vibes before I´ve even entered this place. Tomorrow I move, then drinking tea with the owners and making good friends. Maybe they have a computer to take care off or can make use of having "a man in house" :)
okay.. have to take care of my armor and then drinking a coffee with Alin :)
by the way.. yesterday I sent my package away. There is no more sea mail, so the airmail cost me 150 USD, but it´s almost 16kg and holds my guitar (sending back home second time from here ;) ..another 50 bucks invested in my guitar. but don´t want to have it here anymore (especially if I sell the bike in the next months) and shipping from here is cheaper I guess than Argentina ;) ..where I will have to send my helmet and gear. ..takes quite a while to wrap it in paper at the post office and took me also some hikes to find a big box (that I customized to the desired shape ;)
so x-mas present are on the way, together with some cool LARP stuff.. hope it makes it safe and sound back home, but it always did.. so no worries about that :)
okay.. hear more from me soon :)
Friday, November 26, 2010
..long days in Cochabamba..
hmm.. was quite busy so far here.. at the moment, I try desperately to find another place to live, after it turned out I got no TV, no fridge and worst of all, I can´t have friends at my place!!! well.. I´m not so delicate, but Blanca shouting at me in front of my friends that I´m not allowed to have meetings is a bit too much for me. This lady has no sense for being nice and is sooooo incredible anxious and bitter.. probably missing sex for over 5 years! ;)
so I tried all possible things.. ended up with real estate companies and for one and a half day I´m talking to people, checking out apartments and still haven´t gotten one :`( ..yesterday I got pretty angry as I had the very perfect one and then the manager told me, minimum 2 month (and I just need 5-6 weeks, couldn´t even longer because of my Visa). So I was pissed to hear that there is no understanding vibe and no exeptions can be made (the real estate guys told me, I can have it for less than two months). so lot´s of frustration and a shit lot of walking in this town :P well.. I call it good fitness ;) should be able to take my bike out.. would be a bit quicker, but it´s obstructed by a car.. I WANT TO CHANGE MY PLACE!! I´m willed to pay 500USD a month or a bit more if it´s a super wicked place (out of desperation). So I´ll see 2-3 more options today and then hopefully I got what I need. I´m pretty effective in organizing, but it still takes time then to see apartments (if you get them fully furnitured as I demand it). ..and I just would want to live in one.. not wasting time looking for them. Anyway.. the whole trip is a lot about planning.. surely helps me in my life later on ;) hehehe ;)
then I try to figure out how to sell my bike.. it´s about a 100-times more complicate than to buy it!!!! but maybe illegally in Chile or half-illegal to another traveler if somebody tells me how to do it (it´s a HASSLE with the paper work :((( so I got some positive feedbacks to hear later on that it´s not possible (or strictly forbidden) to do so.. many up and downs over the last days. but yes.. there will be a solution. Shipping it home is not really an option, as I will never be able to sell it (they go around 5000 USD with half the milage). so shipping and importing it to sell it back home not.. well.. could ride it back home and would take it at least to Brazil (maybe sell super cheap with big loss in Paraguay on the black market). but there is always the question how I get out of the country if entered with bike :P ..if I´ll have to bring it home, I´ll ride it for sure through east Europe and eventually down to Africa (visiting Israel on the way :)
then I made a HIV-test and it´s negative (phew ;) nahh.. not that I would have been risky along the way, but 16 month of changing sexual partners left me in uncertainty.. happy I´m still clean.. gonna have a lot more sex here hopefully ;) hehe ;) ..but this is truely GOOD news! :D
in the meantime I got pretty much all of my stuff together.. shamanic staff with skull and snake on it, spare mask and really, really nice outfit for my shaman.. was 100USD all in all, material and work. Three pieces, pants, long-sleaved shirt and a jacket without sleaves.. Waaahhh.. BADASS I say!! :D
yesterday I met my friend the leather-expert and we took measurments of my body for my armor. the goal is 100USD but I think I´ll get a 200USD version (with leather-forged bird helmet and bracers :D ..having time until next year, this will be a great piece of work, helping me a lot in Roleplaying :)
oh.. yes.. of course, forgot to tell.. with the decision to rent an apartment until end of year, I´ll pass x-mas and new year in Cochabamba (better than on the road).
the decision was very clear after the last week-end.. there was a fullmoon party a bit outside of CBBA in the hills with beautiful view on the city!! great full moon! special night.. lot´s of good music (even some incredible wonderful psy-trance and progressive!!!! :D I was dancing, juggling, firespinning.. just very few people, but and incredible trip!!! HAHA :D met lot´s of good people and I´m looking forward to go to the next full-moon on 18th of December.
the people even made a San Pedro soup and some of us were tripping strong! ;) haha ;) I like the idea of taking a local plant and preparing it and cooking it for hours.. doesn´t cost anything and it´s super natural (or supernatural ;) hehe ;) was a colorful night..
the place itself is perfect.. a resort that isn´t used over years, but having a swimming pool, little river flowing by and being sited on the slope of the hills of Tunari National Park. So I want to be there again!! was about 24hrs the party and one of the best I´ve ever had (sure: psy-trance parties outside of Switzerland are always special!! :)
then tonight I meet a Paraglide instructor.. so I will finally be able to fly here :) ..yes.. met quite some people over the last days.. turned out that my friend didn´t brake up with me (as I first thought) but now she is in a terribly distant vibe that pisses me off spending time with her.. she is playing too much around with me, without letting me have anything :(( we went to the sauna together and was really nice, but on the long run, she fucks me up to much.. desgraciada!!
but then I met a friend of Alin (roleplay friend from long ago) and let´s see what happens.. I want a bit more than just sex.. but should be able to open my heart over the next weeks ;)
Then with work I had the same up and downs.. if nothing turns out, I will update my CV and write all in German (once I had it so nice internationally in English ;) and will try sending them out beginning of next year.. sounds to be a bit early at the moment, but other places are already given and I should have started even earlier. Ah.. well, I´ll see.. keep contacting people and some headhunter already know about my existence, so I will make more pressure in January if no contract signed yet ;) but at the moment I have time to research and see what´s out there.. hey Renzo: nice one, you got a job waiting for you back home! :)
but yes.. job, apartment, bike sell.. quite some projects that keep me busy here. (as other people just make holidays on the beach ;)
oh.. and my insurance policy guy wrote me that they will help me with the accident.. I still don´t believe that there will be money on my account for that. It´s already long ago and way back for me.. glad to have such experiences, to realize or to know how things change in life and that there´s never eternal night (even if it seems so in the moment ;)
aaahh.. and now comes the best part!! I got hold on Alin (finally reached him with my new phone) and we met on last Monday, went out to eat (met his friend at lunch ;) and in the evening there was also Boris and Cesar passing by at my house. had some beers, even played a bit D´n´D and hey.. Cesar is a GREATGREAT dungeonmaster and Alin played a russian ex-military that pumped with drugs beats the shit out of everybody with his vibro-blade.. Muhahaha.. haven´t seen such excessive powergaming over years... it´s just great!! hahaha :D
so there are plans for BBQ and paintball with these people and hopefully some more roleplay! the vibe was extraordinary, outstanding!! just wonderfully special good after so many years (these people are all in their own things, but it was: "Markus!! nice to see you!!!" so after I almost couldn´t reach them, I saw that everything is in best conditions! :) that´s why I want a place where my friends are welcome, even if I pay tripple of my old room..
so.. now heading back to my place and keep organizing stuff during the day (I got really good at this! ;)
so I tried all possible things.. ended up with real estate companies and for one and a half day I´m talking to people, checking out apartments and still haven´t gotten one :`( ..yesterday I got pretty angry as I had the very perfect one and then the manager told me, minimum 2 month (and I just need 5-6 weeks, couldn´t even longer because of my Visa). So I was pissed to hear that there is no understanding vibe and no exeptions can be made (the real estate guys told me, I can have it for less than two months). so lot´s of frustration and a shit lot of walking in this town :P well.. I call it good fitness ;) should be able to take my bike out.. would be a bit quicker, but it´s obstructed by a car.. I WANT TO CHANGE MY PLACE!! I´m willed to pay 500USD a month or a bit more if it´s a super wicked place (out of desperation). So I´ll see 2-3 more options today and then hopefully I got what I need. I´m pretty effective in organizing, but it still takes time then to see apartments (if you get them fully furnitured as I demand it). ..and I just would want to live in one.. not wasting time looking for them. Anyway.. the whole trip is a lot about planning.. surely helps me in my life later on ;) hehehe ;)
then I try to figure out how to sell my bike.. it´s about a 100-times more complicate than to buy it!!!! but maybe illegally in Chile or half-illegal to another traveler if somebody tells me how to do it (it´s a HASSLE with the paper work :((( so I got some positive feedbacks to hear later on that it´s not possible (or strictly forbidden) to do so.. many up and downs over the last days. but yes.. there will be a solution. Shipping it home is not really an option, as I will never be able to sell it (they go around 5000 USD with half the milage). so shipping and importing it to sell it back home not.. well.. could ride it back home and would take it at least to Brazil (maybe sell super cheap with big loss in Paraguay on the black market). but there is always the question how I get out of the country if entered with bike :P ..if I´ll have to bring it home, I´ll ride it for sure through east Europe and eventually down to Africa (visiting Israel on the way :)
then I made a HIV-test and it´s negative (phew ;) nahh.. not that I would have been risky along the way, but 16 month of changing sexual partners left me in uncertainty.. happy I´m still clean.. gonna have a lot more sex here hopefully ;) hehe ;) ..but this is truely GOOD news! :D
in the meantime I got pretty much all of my stuff together.. shamanic staff with skull and snake on it, spare mask and really, really nice outfit for my shaman.. was 100USD all in all, material and work. Three pieces, pants, long-sleaved shirt and a jacket without sleaves.. Waaahhh.. BADASS I say!! :D
yesterday I met my friend the leather-expert and we took measurments of my body for my armor. the goal is 100USD but I think I´ll get a 200USD version (with leather-forged bird helmet and bracers :D ..having time until next year, this will be a great piece of work, helping me a lot in Roleplaying :)
oh.. yes.. of course, forgot to tell.. with the decision to rent an apartment until end of year, I´ll pass x-mas and new year in Cochabamba (better than on the road).
the decision was very clear after the last week-end.. there was a fullmoon party a bit outside of CBBA in the hills with beautiful view on the city!! great full moon! special night.. lot´s of good music (even some incredible wonderful psy-trance and progressive!!!! :D I was dancing, juggling, firespinning.. just very few people, but and incredible trip!!! HAHA :D met lot´s of good people and I´m looking forward to go to the next full-moon on 18th of December.
the people even made a San Pedro soup and some of us were tripping strong! ;) haha ;) I like the idea of taking a local plant and preparing it and cooking it for hours.. doesn´t cost anything and it´s super natural (or supernatural ;) hehe ;) was a colorful night..
the place itself is perfect.. a resort that isn´t used over years, but having a swimming pool, little river flowing by and being sited on the slope of the hills of Tunari National Park. So I want to be there again!! was about 24hrs the party and one of the best I´ve ever had (sure: psy-trance parties outside of Switzerland are always special!! :)
then tonight I meet a Paraglide instructor.. so I will finally be able to fly here :) ..yes.. met quite some people over the last days.. turned out that my friend didn´t brake up with me (as I first thought) but now she is in a terribly distant vibe that pisses me off spending time with her.. she is playing too much around with me, without letting me have anything :(( we went to the sauna together and was really nice, but on the long run, she fucks me up to much.. desgraciada!!
but then I met a friend of Alin (roleplay friend from long ago) and let´s see what happens.. I want a bit more than just sex.. but should be able to open my heart over the next weeks ;)
Then with work I had the same up and downs.. if nothing turns out, I will update my CV and write all in German (once I had it so nice internationally in English ;) and will try sending them out beginning of next year.. sounds to be a bit early at the moment, but other places are already given and I should have started even earlier. Ah.. well, I´ll see.. keep contacting people and some headhunter already know about my existence, so I will make more pressure in January if no contract signed yet ;) but at the moment I have time to research and see what´s out there.. hey Renzo: nice one, you got a job waiting for you back home! :)
but yes.. job, apartment, bike sell.. quite some projects that keep me busy here. (as other people just make holidays on the beach ;)
oh.. and my insurance policy guy wrote me that they will help me with the accident.. I still don´t believe that there will be money on my account for that. It´s already long ago and way back for me.. glad to have such experiences, to realize or to know how things change in life and that there´s never eternal night (even if it seems so in the moment ;)
aaahh.. and now comes the best part!! I got hold on Alin (finally reached him with my new phone) and we met on last Monday, went out to eat (met his friend at lunch ;) and in the evening there was also Boris and Cesar passing by at my house. had some beers, even played a bit D´n´D and hey.. Cesar is a GREATGREAT dungeonmaster and Alin played a russian ex-military that pumped with drugs beats the shit out of everybody with his vibro-blade.. Muhahaha.. haven´t seen such excessive powergaming over years... it´s just great!! hahaha :D
so there are plans for BBQ and paintball with these people and hopefully some more roleplay! the vibe was extraordinary, outstanding!! just wonderfully special good after so many years (these people are all in their own things, but it was: "Markus!! nice to see you!!!" so after I almost couldn´t reach them, I saw that everything is in best conditions! :) that´s why I want a place where my friends are welcome, even if I pay tripple of my old room..
so.. now heading back to my place and keep organizing stuff during the day (I got really good at this! ;)
Friday, November 19, 2010
..everything all right here! :)
hmm.. I probably used a lot of time to buy all the stuff I sent back home five years ago ;) at least, it´s taking me some time now to get all my things together.. I got really good exercises walking arond today :)
I don´t know if you care about this stuff, but I feel anyway writing it down ;) hehe ;) ..so I realized that my patchwork-fur-cloathing is exorbitantly expensive and nobody has time to make it, because it´s high season here.. lot´s of people seem to be very busy. But then I found accidentally some synthetic leopard fur jacket and pants that just look totally wicked! :) so I´ll just buy them, after adding a little modification :) ..because the only thing that my Shaman lacks is nice clothing.. the ones I ordered five years ago kinda suck :P
then I changed my whole idea of a dragon-warrior to a griffin-warrior, because there are no molds to make a dragon mask ;) hehe ;) after I had so many ideas about the dragon story, I changed all of it in a jiffy, to make it fit with the items that can be purchased here in Cochabamba.. so I´ll have a cool eagle-helmet and found some artesanal clothing that should fit well in the picture :) it´s a mix between buddhist monk and yellow (symbolizing the lion body).
then I really wanted an armor for my new char.. tried to get it from hard leather, but it all comes from the countryside and nobody knows fabricating this here in town. So I checked the places where they sell manequins to get a fibre-glas upper body part to be covered with leather. But didn´t work out, because they would have to make a negative in the shape of my body (standard models don´t fit). Too expensive and lot´s of circumstances.. then I got hold on an expert that makes all kind of things out of leather. Got a nice picture of an armor from the internet and he´s now making an offer how much it would cost.. probably too much :-/ I intented to spend up to 100 USD for something suitable, but it could cost up to 350USD (with griffin picture of course ;) and I´m not sure if I want to spend so much money for occasionally going to LARPs in Switzerland :P (well, it´s the budget of three days, so I could afford it ;) the one in the internet costs about 600USD (and I thought, just metal armors are so expensive).
there would be a 25-USD-Version of a metallic breast plate in roman style.. gonna check it out on Tuesday and maybe just buy this one to save some money. I anyway want to make a turtle-shielded-backpack with a huge turtle shell I´m having back home ;) ..but in any case I´ll have underarm protectors and need my eagle-helmet to be completed with leather. ..so getting all this together took some time and miles to walk ;) but it´s nice to see the market here.. it´s sooooo huge!!! takes you forever to get in or out and you shouldn´t be afraid of masses of people.. there are thousands of them!! :)
In half a day I shopped all my ponchos, gloves, hats, sweaters and lot´s of other things that will be shipped back home soon (together with x-mas presents for my family! :)
I lost my cellphone just half a day before I wanted to buy a chip here :P ..strange story, no idea where it went.. but got a new one for 30 USD that covers the same functions (just the mini-game is different ;) so I got over it.. just a shame, because it was a present of my Mom :`(
it´s really hard to get a grip on my friends here, but visited the Co-Cafe (gringo-place where I used to be ;) and the was a very warm welcome! :) met a friend I didn´t even know he existed, but we had great times yesterday! :) and there is a party at his apartment tonight and tomorrow night.. tomorrow eventually a full-moon-party around here!!!! WAAAAAAHHHH would just be AWESOME!!! :D haha :D
I met Adri, my ex-ex-girlfriend from here.. had a drink and talked together and very good vibes! :) she is married and has a daughter now :)
still haven´t heard from Karol (ex-girlfriend) and finally got the number of Alin, a good role-play-friend of mine.. gonna call him straight after this. Other cellphones seem to be turned off all the time :P but keep trying ;)
met a female friend I spent a few hot days together ;) but this time it´s kinda wierd.. was very intense and very amusing to get together again, but after a night I couldn´t reach her anymore and her older brother seems to answer the phone, but doesn´t pass me on.. all very strange, but well.. that´s life.
then I went to the 3-dollar-sauna that´s just 3 blocks away from my apartment! they got a jaccuzzi now and I´ll be back for sure! :D
then the other way 3 blocks you get two glasses of vitamin-mix-juice in the morning (great breakfast) for less than 1 dollar! ..and tried some other food I really liked back then (and still like it! :)
there are so many small things that are so familiar to me.. even the street names and orientating in the city. ..haven´t visited my work yet, but will have time. I´m happy if all the planning and shopping has been done ;) takes quite some energy, but I´ll be super happy having all these things back home!! ;) haha :D
then another super marvellous thing is about my job-search. I added myself to three online headhunter portals and I got already four answers to it.. one sounds very interesting.. international project manager.. well, if I like the company and place and the project and the salery is un-rejectable ;) I might take it!! :D haha ;D it´s for next year.. so I´m happy I´m already asking around and people can also plan 8 months ahead :) ..now updated my CV and documents (prepared it all before I left Switzerland for this very moment ;)
so shortly said: I´m not worried anymore I couldn´t get a job in Switzerland :) lucky me will probably be blessed again by the universe and just get another super wicked job when arriving back home! :D MUHAHAHA!!! shall anybody say I don´t rock ;) (then it´s even bearable that the lady yesterday kissed another guy instead of me ;)
so yes.. that´s it.. still waiting for TV and fridge, but having a 20-lt water dispenser next to my bed! that´s a really wonderful thing of not being thirsty all the time! ;D
I don´t know if you care about this stuff, but I feel anyway writing it down ;) hehe ;) ..so I realized that my patchwork-fur-cloathing is exorbitantly expensive and nobody has time to make it, because it´s high season here.. lot´s of people seem to be very busy. But then I found accidentally some synthetic leopard fur jacket and pants that just look totally wicked! :) so I´ll just buy them, after adding a little modification :) ..because the only thing that my Shaman lacks is nice clothing.. the ones I ordered five years ago kinda suck :P
then I changed my whole idea of a dragon-warrior to a griffin-warrior, because there are no molds to make a dragon mask ;) hehe ;) after I had so many ideas about the dragon story, I changed all of it in a jiffy, to make it fit with the items that can be purchased here in Cochabamba.. so I´ll have a cool eagle-helmet and found some artesanal clothing that should fit well in the picture :) it´s a mix between buddhist monk and yellow (symbolizing the lion body).
then I really wanted an armor for my new char.. tried to get it from hard leather, but it all comes from the countryside and nobody knows fabricating this here in town. So I checked the places where they sell manequins to get a fibre-glas upper body part to be covered with leather. But didn´t work out, because they would have to make a negative in the shape of my body (standard models don´t fit). Too expensive and lot´s of circumstances.. then I got hold on an expert that makes all kind of things out of leather. Got a nice picture of an armor from the internet and he´s now making an offer how much it would cost.. probably too much :-/ I intented to spend up to 100 USD for something suitable, but it could cost up to 350USD (with griffin picture of course ;) and I´m not sure if I want to spend so much money for occasionally going to LARPs in Switzerland :P (well, it´s the budget of three days, so I could afford it ;) the one in the internet costs about 600USD (and I thought, just metal armors are so expensive).
there would be a 25-USD-Version of a metallic breast plate in roman style.. gonna check it out on Tuesday and maybe just buy this one to save some money. I anyway want to make a turtle-shielded-backpack with a huge turtle shell I´m having back home ;) ..but in any case I´ll have underarm protectors and need my eagle-helmet to be completed with leather. ..so getting all this together took some time and miles to walk ;) but it´s nice to see the market here.. it´s sooooo huge!!! takes you forever to get in or out and you shouldn´t be afraid of masses of people.. there are thousands of them!! :)
In half a day I shopped all my ponchos, gloves, hats, sweaters and lot´s of other things that will be shipped back home soon (together with x-mas presents for my family! :)
I lost my cellphone just half a day before I wanted to buy a chip here :P ..strange story, no idea where it went.. but got a new one for 30 USD that covers the same functions (just the mini-game is different ;) so I got over it.. just a shame, because it was a present of my Mom :`(
it´s really hard to get a grip on my friends here, but visited the Co-Cafe (gringo-place where I used to be ;) and the was a very warm welcome! :) met a friend I didn´t even know he existed, but we had great times yesterday! :) and there is a party at his apartment tonight and tomorrow night.. tomorrow eventually a full-moon-party around here!!!! WAAAAAAHHHH would just be AWESOME!!! :D haha :D
I met Adri, my ex-ex-girlfriend from here.. had a drink and talked together and very good vibes! :) she is married and has a daughter now :)
still haven´t heard from Karol (ex-girlfriend) and finally got the number of Alin, a good role-play-friend of mine.. gonna call him straight after this. Other cellphones seem to be turned off all the time :P but keep trying ;)
met a female friend I spent a few hot days together ;) but this time it´s kinda wierd.. was very intense and very amusing to get together again, but after a night I couldn´t reach her anymore and her older brother seems to answer the phone, but doesn´t pass me on.. all very strange, but well.. that´s life.
then I went to the 3-dollar-sauna that´s just 3 blocks away from my apartment! they got a jaccuzzi now and I´ll be back for sure! :D
then the other way 3 blocks you get two glasses of vitamin-mix-juice in the morning (great breakfast) for less than 1 dollar! ..and tried some other food I really liked back then (and still like it! :)
there are so many small things that are so familiar to me.. even the street names and orientating in the city. ..haven´t visited my work yet, but will have time. I´m happy if all the planning and shopping has been done ;) takes quite some energy, but I´ll be super happy having all these things back home!! ;) haha :D
then another super marvellous thing is about my job-search. I added myself to three online headhunter portals and I got already four answers to it.. one sounds very interesting.. international project manager.. well, if I like the company and place and the project and the salery is un-rejectable ;) I might take it!! :D haha ;D it´s for next year.. so I´m happy I´m already asking around and people can also plan 8 months ahead :) ..now updated my CV and documents (prepared it all before I left Switzerland for this very moment ;)
so shortly said: I´m not worried anymore I couldn´t get a job in Switzerland :) lucky me will probably be blessed again by the universe and just get another super wicked job when arriving back home! :D MUHAHAHA!!! shall anybody say I don´t rock ;) (then it´s even bearable that the lady yesterday kissed another guy instead of me ;)
so yes.. that´s it.. still waiting for TV and fridge, but having a 20-lt water dispenser next to my bed! that´s a really wonderful thing of not being thirsty all the time! ;D
Monday, November 15, 2010
..finally back in Cochabamba!!
five years ago, I told the people that I will be back and here I am! :)
In fact, it really drew me back to this place.. without stopping in LaPaz or doing any activities on the way I ended up here.
so after my last entry, I went the next day to Isla del Sol and hiked it again (as I did 5 years ago with Adri ;) didn´t talk a lot on the boat.. lots of foreigners and somehow would have been nice to make some friends, but somehow I didn´t feel like connecting too much.
the best thing was being on the outer end of the island (where some people even were camping out! :) and practising with my toys.. had my contact ball, sticks and meteor with me and even made a little movie with nice background, just too big to upload it at the moment :P
was a beautiful sunny day and so look the pictures, that I´m uploading at Picasa at the moment ;) hehe ;) just underestimated a little bit the distance.. so I left so late, I had to walk (and climb the ridge) quite quickly (still felt my legs after M.P. :P but made it in time back to the boat.. I really wanted to chill out at Copacabana and watch Cable-TV ;) so I had to search the whole place to satisfy my needs, because an international bike race was on (South America I guess). but found a place, got a good pizza for take away and a trout-ceviche (first time I ordered a ceviche on my own and I could even finish it ;) hehe ;) especially nice, because trout from Lago Titicaca.
got up early then and met Tom, another bike-rider that goes frequently back to the States, having his own business and family there but still being on the trip ;) ..eventually I visit him in June in Ohio.. he gots lots of bikes, especially a BMW 800 and 1150 (and I would want to ride them both!! :D haha :D I hope, this happens and Tom takes me out on some more powerful bikes (after I´ll have sold mine long ago :`(
so we rode together to El Alto, where he went to LaPaz and I went direction Cochabamba. Had a big plate of food (that I couldn´t finish) and some cute kids were asking, if they could take home the leftovers (aaahh!! couldn´t be better!! so happy, food doesn´t get wasted and making people happy! :D
then a long ride to CBBA.. wanted to stop along the way, but there was nothing to make a stop (yes, I wanted Cable-TV again ;) hehe ;) so after riding through the altiplano and over some high mountain chain, it dropped down to altitude of CBBA (I think it´s 2400m.a.s.l. and therefore a lot warmer here at the moment! :) picked probably the best time (just don´t come in Jan/Feb or you´ll get wet ;)
didn´t stop to make pictures for being a bit late (and thinking, it´s anyway better to just enjoy it! this is what this trip is about and what stays is the essence.. having a much, much more ample vision of the world! not only landscape, but people, cultures and zillions of experiences! :D
but a nice ride.. you got big flats with hills at the horizon and then red and brown rock formations and riding along exciting roads through the mountains!! :) (bikes are not made for the beach ;) hehe ;)
wow.. I´m uploading my M.P. pictures (after having sorted them out..and still having a lot :P takes a lot of work.. horrible! but yes.. then it´s not all that bad to have some visual memories and my Mom get´s another picture of me ;) but I was laughing to see all the "I´m-here-take-a-picture-of-me" situations ;)
(but at least I can use the bandwith in the background ;) hehe ;)
I got the 1GB almost full.. if it costs money to extend storage, I have to register my second Email as well ;) hehe ;)
so I found a suitable place for the night.. chilled at my room and fell asleep pretty early. But above all, being euphorically happy to be back in CBBA (even if I couldn´t contact my friends yet and just lost my cellphone yesterday at that hotel.. has officially not been found, but tomorrow morning I´ll pass personally again and ask the cleaning lady.. I guess, she found the battery but not the rest O_o so not all hope is lost. Need it back! present from my mom! ;) and furthermore need a chip here to get and stay in contact with my friends.
so the best thing comes now.. I got my old apartment back!!! :D it´s just so incredible wonderful!! :D haha :) Blanca, the owner was super nice and they organized a bed (the whole place was empty) and soon I get a fridge and maybe even TV with cable ;) I got a huge terraze, can make BBQ with friends, the kitchen doesn´t work anymore but luckily I anyway suck cooking ;) so making Muesli and having cold beer and ice for drinks will do ;)
so many memories coming back!!!
I pay about 7 USD a day and have my bike stored at the same building at ground level (I live in the 4th floor ;) there is still the same building manager (being at the reception), lovely Don Hugo, a wonderful person that reconized me on the spot! :D
so I occupied my old room again and will soon make some shopping and being home-based for 2-4 weeks here in CBBA :)
checked already for skydiving and paragliding and checked the artesania-market and found the right guy to make my customized stuff.. it´s gonna be SOOOO BADASS!!! :D haha! :D I´ll get a cloting upgrade for my Shaman and a spare-mask (the character is strongly powered by his wolf-mask, so if I´d loose it, my Shaman would suffer a lot of credits.. this way I get a "spare-life", just in case ;)
..things are soooo cheap here!
then I found some nice Ponchos and all kind of wicked clothing for Psy-Trance parties and my new LARP-Char: kinda asian monk style with probably griffin mythology involved (mainly because one of the available masks next to wolf is eagle ;) hehe ;) so yes.. using my fantasy, this is gonna be another very special character that I will play back home (and also deeply rooted with my philosophies and theories of life! ;)
Yes.. still know pretty well the city. It´s just kinda sad that not much changed in their economy! :( Evo Moralis seems to be very corrupt and spends money for fancy stuff like expensive airplanes and suits, instead of building schools with bathrooms and hospitals with medical supplies. I heard, he gives money to farmers, so of course, they will vote again for him, while there should be more invested in the country.. he´s even about to change a law that he can remain more than two periods (sounds very suspicious to me :P
so I´ll get more into all that over time.. it´s my first day here and I already know what I will buy and send home and what things have to been fabricated for me.. hope I don´t get bored after a week ;) hehe ;) naah.. there are still some nice places to go around here (visit again with company) and visit my old work.. can still help out there if it has to be ;)
so I´m finer than usual and hope you´re being happy as well! :D
In fact, it really drew me back to this place.. without stopping in LaPaz or doing any activities on the way I ended up here.
so after my last entry, I went the next day to Isla del Sol and hiked it again (as I did 5 years ago with Adri ;) didn´t talk a lot on the boat.. lots of foreigners and somehow would have been nice to make some friends, but somehow I didn´t feel like connecting too much.
the best thing was being on the outer end of the island (where some people even were camping out! :) and practising with my toys.. had my contact ball, sticks and meteor with me and even made a little movie with nice background, just too big to upload it at the moment :P
was a beautiful sunny day and so look the pictures, that I´m uploading at Picasa at the moment ;) hehe ;) just underestimated a little bit the distance.. so I left so late, I had to walk (and climb the ridge) quite quickly (still felt my legs after M.P. :P but made it in time back to the boat.. I really wanted to chill out at Copacabana and watch Cable-TV ;) so I had to search the whole place to satisfy my needs, because an international bike race was on (South America I guess). but found a place, got a good pizza for take away and a trout-ceviche (first time I ordered a ceviche on my own and I could even finish it ;) hehe ;) especially nice, because trout from Lago Titicaca.
got up early then and met Tom, another bike-rider that goes frequently back to the States, having his own business and family there but still being on the trip ;) ..eventually I visit him in June in Ohio.. he gots lots of bikes, especially a BMW 800 and 1150 (and I would want to ride them both!! :D haha :D I hope, this happens and Tom takes me out on some more powerful bikes (after I´ll have sold mine long ago :`(
so we rode together to El Alto, where he went to LaPaz and I went direction Cochabamba. Had a big plate of food (that I couldn´t finish) and some cute kids were asking, if they could take home the leftovers (aaahh!! couldn´t be better!! so happy, food doesn´t get wasted and making people happy! :D
then a long ride to CBBA.. wanted to stop along the way, but there was nothing to make a stop (yes, I wanted Cable-TV again ;) hehe ;) so after riding through the altiplano and over some high mountain chain, it dropped down to altitude of CBBA (I think it´s 2400m.a.s.l. and therefore a lot warmer here at the moment! :) picked probably the best time (just don´t come in Jan/Feb or you´ll get wet ;)
didn´t stop to make pictures for being a bit late (and thinking, it´s anyway better to just enjoy it! this is what this trip is about and what stays is the essence.. having a much, much more ample vision of the world! not only landscape, but people, cultures and zillions of experiences! :D
but a nice ride.. you got big flats with hills at the horizon and then red and brown rock formations and riding along exciting roads through the mountains!! :) (bikes are not made for the beach ;) hehe ;)
wow.. I´m uploading my M.P. pictures (after having sorted them out..and still having a lot :P takes a lot of work.. horrible! but yes.. then it´s not all that bad to have some visual memories and my Mom get´s another picture of me ;) but I was laughing to see all the "I´m-here-take-a-picture-of-me" situations ;)
(but at least I can use the bandwith in the background ;) hehe ;)
I got the 1GB almost full.. if it costs money to extend storage, I have to register my second Email as well ;) hehe ;)
so I found a suitable place for the night.. chilled at my room and fell asleep pretty early. But above all, being euphorically happy to be back in CBBA (even if I couldn´t contact my friends yet and just lost my cellphone yesterday at that hotel.. has officially not been found, but tomorrow morning I´ll pass personally again and ask the cleaning lady.. I guess, she found the battery but not the rest O_o so not all hope is lost. Need it back! present from my mom! ;) and furthermore need a chip here to get and stay in contact with my friends.
so the best thing comes now.. I got my old apartment back!!! :D it´s just so incredible wonderful!! :D haha :) Blanca, the owner was super nice and they organized a bed (the whole place was empty) and soon I get a fridge and maybe even TV with cable ;) I got a huge terraze, can make BBQ with friends, the kitchen doesn´t work anymore but luckily I anyway suck cooking ;) so making Muesli and having cold beer and ice for drinks will do ;)
so many memories coming back!!!
I pay about 7 USD a day and have my bike stored at the same building at ground level (I live in the 4th floor ;) there is still the same building manager (being at the reception), lovely Don Hugo, a wonderful person that reconized me on the spot! :D
so I occupied my old room again and will soon make some shopping and being home-based for 2-4 weeks here in CBBA :)
checked already for skydiving and paragliding and checked the artesania-market and found the right guy to make my customized stuff.. it´s gonna be SOOOO BADASS!!! :D haha! :D I´ll get a cloting upgrade for my Shaman and a spare-mask (the character is strongly powered by his wolf-mask, so if I´d loose it, my Shaman would suffer a lot of credits.. this way I get a "spare-life", just in case ;)
..things are soooo cheap here!
then I found some nice Ponchos and all kind of wicked clothing for Psy-Trance parties and my new LARP-Char: kinda asian monk style with probably griffin mythology involved (mainly because one of the available masks next to wolf is eagle ;) hehe ;) so yes.. using my fantasy, this is gonna be another very special character that I will play back home (and also deeply rooted with my philosophies and theories of life! ;)
Yes.. still know pretty well the city. It´s just kinda sad that not much changed in their economy! :( Evo Moralis seems to be very corrupt and spends money for fancy stuff like expensive airplanes and suits, instead of building schools with bathrooms and hospitals with medical supplies. I heard, he gives money to farmers, so of course, they will vote again for him, while there should be more invested in the country.. he´s even about to change a law that he can remain more than two periods (sounds very suspicious to me :P
so I´ll get more into all that over time.. it´s my first day here and I already know what I will buy and send home and what things have to been fabricated for me.. hope I don´t get bored after a week ;) hehe ;) naah.. there are still some nice places to go around here (visit again with company) and visit my old work.. can still help out there if it has to be ;)
so I´m finer than usual and hope you´re being happy as well! :D
Friday, November 12, 2010
..from Machu Picchu to Copacabana..
hey there :) finally I got time to catch up with my blog :)
..where to start.. well.. Machu Picchu was just INCREDIBLE!! got up at 3am to be at the bus station at 4am to be on the first buses on 5.30am and to get in at 6am having a stamp that allowed me to climb Waynchu Picchu (Machu = Old, Waynchu = Young)
I think, if you´re half an hour later, you´ll still make it.. but anyway, just wanted to do it all! ;) ..in the morning there was mist in the ruins, what made the whole place really mystic! :) then with the sun coming up, the heat was turned on and the sky got in motion :) at 7am they opened Waynchu and at 8am I entered the path. It´s really, really incredibly steep!! instead of food, I just had a lot of water in a big bottle that occupied constantly one hand, but made it pretty good.. I wonder that not more people die going up there ;) (they just allow 400 people a day, but it´s really a thrilling hike!! if you´re there, on the top, surrounded by other steep mountains, you just ask yourself how you made it here without mountain gear and how you ever get down ;D
didn´t stay for too long up there (no food :/ but saw another hike to the "sun gate" (puerta del sol). Compared to Waynchu it was just a lazy hike ;) but really enjoyed being away from all the other tourists! this time I took my whole backpack with me and had plenty of food and water.. on the hike, I met somebody who told me about Machu Picchu Mountain, another 3hour hike to the very peak of the mountain.. well.. took me less than an hour to get up ;) haha ;) could basically always cut the times in half that people were telling me..
also walked a bit through the ruins itself, but no tour and no idea what the things were made for ;) (as I said, it´s not the most cultural trip ever ;) I enjoyed the hot springs the night before, even if they were at the lower level of being hot.. sure it helped me to be more recovered the Machu Picchu day ;)
it´s hard (or simply impossible) NOT to be impressed by M.P. I have seen some ruins in my life, but I think they are just the most incredible ones! especially, how they are sited in these steep mountains with a river running around down in the valley.
so I went to every possible extreme of the place and walked A LOT! sometimes you make more distance vertically than horizontally, because it´s so steep! the hight of 2400m.a.s.l. needs some fitness to do that ;) especially if you climb then to the peak of 3600m and all the way down to the river again at 2000m. When I started on the peak (I heard just about 50 ppl a day do that ;) my knees were shaking.. but then I made it all the way down and another 13km along the railway back to Hydroelectric, where I luckily got picked up by a passing collective-taxi (would never have made it before dawn..) didn´t feel my feet anymore ;)
I had a lot of thoughts during this day.. one thing was about Paula.. that even if our ways part forever, she would not regret what happened between us. I hoped it would be something beneficial for both, so both can learn and grow and not somebody being attached then forever.. thought also about taking care of my open bill and hoped, the people are not freaking out about all that and hoped my Mom is fine, after I left the message that I scratched a car :)
and then in the end, things ran even smoother than I visualized them.. making friends with Paula, wishing each other all the best for the future (even if I know that letting go can be so hard and had still many (painful) experiences to made, when I was her age..). The people were super relaxed and the final solution proposed from then didn´t even occur me.. paying the 250 USD in Cuzco at a bank.. so nobody has to drive 4 hours with me to pick up the money. My pannier got fixed for about 17USD (cheap and good work). Well, doesn´t close as good as before, but was already pretty used.. so it´s almost no difference at all. The other guy got his car fixed (had to wait there I guess) and the bike was still where I left it (thought, they made put it away, so I would not just leave). But actually they would have guarded it well for me, just locked accidentally the weel, so they could not move it.. but took everything off that could get lost (I was too careless leaving it behind, but they took good care of it). Chained it on a pole and even let their dog sleep next to my bike to protect it! :D these people are just AWESOME!!! :D
so talked a bit to the driver and had to wait and find the owner to get the receipts and bank account. When I left (as early as I could), the police followed me and catched up when I had to stop at a construction site.. they heard about the accident and were asking for my datas and asked some questions, but I got the feeling they were more protecting me or being sure that not the other guy has to pay and not me ;)
but told them that everything already handled :) ..I learned that sometimes you have to pick your cheque book and make things right. Felt doing the right thing, showing greatness and being winning again ;) (haha, how could it be different ;)
really noted that I wrongly estimated this road.. was small and not all weather (while the other big dirtroads are all-year). So I´ll adapt speed better the next time! being back on the unpaved but good drivable road, felt a lot of difference (how you can break and change direction) and then being back on asphalt, the bike was just glued on the surface! (I´m very used to drive like that.. most of my experience comes out of this, so I´m already very confident againg of my driving, especially on asphalt).
then I had to wait for an hour, because they have some road work and just open up at noon.. I really tried to negociate, so they would let me pass (a bike always passes ;) but they had their orders.. and then, when I was at the start an hour later, there was actually a worker hurt by a falling rock and I thought, the guys were so right to not let me pass ;)
when I started in the morning, it was really hot, but when I reached the top of the mountain, it was pretty chilly.. getting into the clouds that are sweeping over the crest and down again to Ollan... there are people booking a tour to drive down a bicycle this mountain, but I figured out, it´s waaaaaay better on a motorbike!! haha :D
got all my stuff together in Ollan and drove on until Cuzco. Stayed in a Lonely Planet place with a lot of other travelers and in a stinky dorm, but met a cool guy this evening and we talked a lot, had some beers, played pool and I was really happy, I made this happen (pay more for less but have good company).
Payed the bill the next morning at a bank and took off direction Bolivia.. thought, it would take me tree days to do that, but actually not.. was cloudy when I started, then opened up and got sunny and then covered again with some raindrops.. shortly some hail grains at 4000m.a.s.l. but bearable to ride. you can drive around a mountain and it changes until the next mountain.. enjoyed the ride throught the Altiplano! (looks like in Bolivia around LaPaz :) I´ve seen some dogs along the road, unfortunately half of them were roadkill already :( the road is so flat and straight that people drive fast.
my idea was to stop in Juliaca, but when I made it there, I just lost half an hour in the traffic, to figure out that all places are fully booked :(( (and I thought, it must be cheaper and less busy than Puno).
So I was forced to drive on to Puno.. another half an hour, getting cold and dark and I was less forgiving to chaotic drivers after my issue.. honking (what I did a lot more on the way out ;) and light-signal and showing them my finger, if I had to bail out right, because they were passing a car and haven´t turned in again.. :-/ there are some horrible drivers around here!
I finally found a place for 10 bucks, where they helped me to park the bike in the foyer and had all the facilities I wanted :) ..just in time, because little later a storm came up with lots of rain and lightnings..
I was tough so tired of the long riding day (especially the extra part) that I just stayed in my room and watched TV :P was happy to have some chips and an energy bar from hiking before.. so I didn´t fall asleep with completely empty stomach ;)
then today in the morning I woke up early, had early breakfast in my room watchin Tom&Jerry ;) and was in notime at the Bolivian boarder.
Was super, super easy and relaxed to pass.. even if they were a busy with a bunch of cars (and the owners ;) that participate in some kinda Rally from Brazil around South America. Never got searched on this trip.. never bothered at a boarder. Just nice and friendly people who help you to get the paper work done ;)
then I asked for 60 days instead of 30 and got them!! :D that´s exactly what I need! (a month too short, three month too long). I´m happy I don´t have to go out after 30 days. When I was here five years ago, I had to pay some days extra, because they delayed so much with my one-year-visa. I wonder, if I could have asked for 60 days too then.. they told me, it´s just an issue if you go out and come in again (then I think it are 30 days only).
the last time I didn´t realize that Copacabana has a road going to Pero (thought it´s on an island ;) but the only ferry I´ll have to take it to get to LaPaz.
So the plan is.. tomorrow Isla del Sol and then straight to Cochabamba (2 days riding) and then being there for about three weeks.. eventually get my tattoo extended, but above all buying cloth and things for roleplaying back home ;) I´m looking forward to get cheap customized things from local artesania people!! :D
contacted my friends and I´m sure will have a great time in CBBA! :D then I have time to plan other things I want to do in Bolivia and eventually going back to LaPaz, taking another road passing the Yungas. But first throw myself into living a more local life than just doing the traveler-stuff ;)
I really love to be back in Bolivia!! I hike two hills here in Copacabana in the afternoon (the hight almost knocks me out ;) that I climbed five years ago, when I was here for a weekend.. yes, lot´s of memories came up and I enjoy to re-visit the place! :) ..took some pictures with my 10MP cam, after I never looked at the same pictures five years ago with my 5MPixel cam :P --> that´s why I don´t take too many pictures ;) I´ll be back before I look at them! ;D haha ;D
Bolivia seems still to be very cheap.. my hotel is 7USD a night and I´m sure you would find a cheaper one here.. just had dinner for 2 USD (but the Papaya-juice costed almost 1.5 USD ;) so it´s really strange how this differs, but I think, I can live here very cheap and getting cheap things/clothes from the market in CBBA and I will have a lot of money to buy Roleplay equipment, as I live a lot under my daily budget ;)
hmmmm.. is that it? probably.. had so many thoughts in the last days and was "I have to write that down" :) so that should do it..
oh.. someone said, the people in Bolivia are not THAT nice, because not too much used to tourism, but when I got here, I realized in my case, it just depends on a smile and a positive vibe and people treat you as good as in other places.. I´m happy to be back in Bolivia!!! :D passed all the difficulties from the last days and flying high above through the clouds again! :D
..where to start.. well.. Machu Picchu was just INCREDIBLE!! got up at 3am to be at the bus station at 4am to be on the first buses on 5.30am and to get in at 6am having a stamp that allowed me to climb Waynchu Picchu (Machu = Old, Waynchu = Young)
I think, if you´re half an hour later, you´ll still make it.. but anyway, just wanted to do it all! ;) ..in the morning there was mist in the ruins, what made the whole place really mystic! :) then with the sun coming up, the heat was turned on and the sky got in motion :) at 7am they opened Waynchu and at 8am I entered the path. It´s really, really incredibly steep!! instead of food, I just had a lot of water in a big bottle that occupied constantly one hand, but made it pretty good.. I wonder that not more people die going up there ;) (they just allow 400 people a day, but it´s really a thrilling hike!! if you´re there, on the top, surrounded by other steep mountains, you just ask yourself how you made it here without mountain gear and how you ever get down ;D
didn´t stay for too long up there (no food :/ but saw another hike to the "sun gate" (puerta del sol). Compared to Waynchu it was just a lazy hike ;) but really enjoyed being away from all the other tourists! this time I took my whole backpack with me and had plenty of food and water.. on the hike, I met somebody who told me about Machu Picchu Mountain, another 3hour hike to the very peak of the mountain.. well.. took me less than an hour to get up ;) haha ;) could basically always cut the times in half that people were telling me..
also walked a bit through the ruins itself, but no tour and no idea what the things were made for ;) (as I said, it´s not the most cultural trip ever ;) I enjoyed the hot springs the night before, even if they were at the lower level of being hot.. sure it helped me to be more recovered the Machu Picchu day ;)
it´s hard (or simply impossible) NOT to be impressed by M.P. I have seen some ruins in my life, but I think they are just the most incredible ones! especially, how they are sited in these steep mountains with a river running around down in the valley.
so I went to every possible extreme of the place and walked A LOT! sometimes you make more distance vertically than horizontally, because it´s so steep! the hight of 2400m.a.s.l. needs some fitness to do that ;) especially if you climb then to the peak of 3600m and all the way down to the river again at 2000m. When I started on the peak (I heard just about 50 ppl a day do that ;) my knees were shaking.. but then I made it all the way down and another 13km along the railway back to Hydroelectric, where I luckily got picked up by a passing collective-taxi (would never have made it before dawn..) didn´t feel my feet anymore ;)
I had a lot of thoughts during this day.. one thing was about Paula.. that even if our ways part forever, she would not regret what happened between us. I hoped it would be something beneficial for both, so both can learn and grow and not somebody being attached then forever.. thought also about taking care of my open bill and hoped, the people are not freaking out about all that and hoped my Mom is fine, after I left the message that I scratched a car :)
and then in the end, things ran even smoother than I visualized them.. making friends with Paula, wishing each other all the best for the future (even if I know that letting go can be so hard and had still many (painful) experiences to made, when I was her age..). The people were super relaxed and the final solution proposed from then didn´t even occur me.. paying the 250 USD in Cuzco at a bank.. so nobody has to drive 4 hours with me to pick up the money. My pannier got fixed for about 17USD (cheap and good work). Well, doesn´t close as good as before, but was already pretty used.. so it´s almost no difference at all. The other guy got his car fixed (had to wait there I guess) and the bike was still where I left it (thought, they made put it away, so I would not just leave). But actually they would have guarded it well for me, just locked accidentally the weel, so they could not move it.. but took everything off that could get lost (I was too careless leaving it behind, but they took good care of it). Chained it on a pole and even let their dog sleep next to my bike to protect it! :D these people are just AWESOME!!! :D
so talked a bit to the driver and had to wait and find the owner to get the receipts and bank account. When I left (as early as I could), the police followed me and catched up when I had to stop at a construction site.. they heard about the accident and were asking for my datas and asked some questions, but I got the feeling they were more protecting me or being sure that not the other guy has to pay and not me ;)
but told them that everything already handled :) ..I learned that sometimes you have to pick your cheque book and make things right. Felt doing the right thing, showing greatness and being winning again ;) (haha, how could it be different ;)
really noted that I wrongly estimated this road.. was small and not all weather (while the other big dirtroads are all-year). So I´ll adapt speed better the next time! being back on the unpaved but good drivable road, felt a lot of difference (how you can break and change direction) and then being back on asphalt, the bike was just glued on the surface! (I´m very used to drive like that.. most of my experience comes out of this, so I´m already very confident againg of my driving, especially on asphalt).
then I had to wait for an hour, because they have some road work and just open up at noon.. I really tried to negociate, so they would let me pass (a bike always passes ;) but they had their orders.. and then, when I was at the start an hour later, there was actually a worker hurt by a falling rock and I thought, the guys were so right to not let me pass ;)
when I started in the morning, it was really hot, but when I reached the top of the mountain, it was pretty chilly.. getting into the clouds that are sweeping over the crest and down again to Ollan... there are people booking a tour to drive down a bicycle this mountain, but I figured out, it´s waaaaaay better on a motorbike!! haha :D
got all my stuff together in Ollan and drove on until Cuzco. Stayed in a Lonely Planet place with a lot of other travelers and in a stinky dorm, but met a cool guy this evening and we talked a lot, had some beers, played pool and I was really happy, I made this happen (pay more for less but have good company).
Payed the bill the next morning at a bank and took off direction Bolivia.. thought, it would take me tree days to do that, but actually not.. was cloudy when I started, then opened up and got sunny and then covered again with some raindrops.. shortly some hail grains at 4000m.a.s.l. but bearable to ride. you can drive around a mountain and it changes until the next mountain.. enjoyed the ride throught the Altiplano! (looks like in Bolivia around LaPaz :) I´ve seen some dogs along the road, unfortunately half of them were roadkill already :( the road is so flat and straight that people drive fast.
my idea was to stop in Juliaca, but when I made it there, I just lost half an hour in the traffic, to figure out that all places are fully booked :(( (and I thought, it must be cheaper and less busy than Puno).
So I was forced to drive on to Puno.. another half an hour, getting cold and dark and I was less forgiving to chaotic drivers after my issue.. honking (what I did a lot more on the way out ;) and light-signal and showing them my finger, if I had to bail out right, because they were passing a car and haven´t turned in again.. :-/ there are some horrible drivers around here!
I finally found a place for 10 bucks, where they helped me to park the bike in the foyer and had all the facilities I wanted :) ..just in time, because little later a storm came up with lots of rain and lightnings..
I was tough so tired of the long riding day (especially the extra part) that I just stayed in my room and watched TV :P was happy to have some chips and an energy bar from hiking before.. so I didn´t fall asleep with completely empty stomach ;)
then today in the morning I woke up early, had early breakfast in my room watchin Tom&Jerry ;) and was in notime at the Bolivian boarder.
Was super, super easy and relaxed to pass.. even if they were a busy with a bunch of cars (and the owners ;) that participate in some kinda Rally from Brazil around South America. Never got searched on this trip.. never bothered at a boarder. Just nice and friendly people who help you to get the paper work done ;)
then I asked for 60 days instead of 30 and got them!! :D that´s exactly what I need! (a month too short, three month too long). I´m happy I don´t have to go out after 30 days. When I was here five years ago, I had to pay some days extra, because they delayed so much with my one-year-visa. I wonder, if I could have asked for 60 days too then.. they told me, it´s just an issue if you go out and come in again (then I think it are 30 days only).
the last time I didn´t realize that Copacabana has a road going to Pero (thought it´s on an island ;) but the only ferry I´ll have to take it to get to LaPaz.
So the plan is.. tomorrow Isla del Sol and then straight to Cochabamba (2 days riding) and then being there for about three weeks.. eventually get my tattoo extended, but above all buying cloth and things for roleplaying back home ;) I´m looking forward to get cheap customized things from local artesania people!! :D
contacted my friends and I´m sure will have a great time in CBBA! :D then I have time to plan other things I want to do in Bolivia and eventually going back to LaPaz, taking another road passing the Yungas. But first throw myself into living a more local life than just doing the traveler-stuff ;)
I really love to be back in Bolivia!! I hike two hills here in Copacabana in the afternoon (the hight almost knocks me out ;) that I climbed five years ago, when I was here for a weekend.. yes, lot´s of memories came up and I enjoy to re-visit the place! :) ..took some pictures with my 10MP cam, after I never looked at the same pictures five years ago with my 5MPixel cam :P --> that´s why I don´t take too many pictures ;) I´ll be back before I look at them! ;D haha ;D
Bolivia seems still to be very cheap.. my hotel is 7USD a night and I´m sure you would find a cheaper one here.. just had dinner for 2 USD (but the Papaya-juice costed almost 1.5 USD ;) so it´s really strange how this differs, but I think, I can live here very cheap and getting cheap things/clothes from the market in CBBA and I will have a lot of money to buy Roleplay equipment, as I live a lot under my daily budget ;)
hmmmm.. is that it? probably.. had so many thoughts in the last days and was "I have to write that down" :) so that should do it..
oh.. someone said, the people in Bolivia are not THAT nice, because not too much used to tourism, but when I got here, I realized in my case, it just depends on a smile and a positive vibe and people treat you as good as in other places.. I´m happy to be back in Bolivia!!! :D passed all the difficulties from the last days and flying high above through the clouds again! :D
Monday, November 8, 2010
..all not too bad.. :)
well.. here I am again ;) still felt expressing some random thoughts, squeezing out my mind (and watching "the walking dead" and "Simpsons" tonight having Pizza at my place ;) hehe :)
just came back from the hot springs.. not veeery hot, but just OK. Met some people and random chitchat.. is OK, but as long I have pending things with my bike, I´m more reserved than usual. Yes, this is one thing amongst many to learn: being patient. There is nothing that I can do here and now, but things will be done easily, when it´s time.
the town "Aguas Caliente" is incredibly nice sited in the mountains!! next to a river and unfortunately swarmed with turists and even more souvenir shops. I really don´t like these places!! ..if it wouldn´t be Machu Picchu (by the way written with "cc" as I noted ;) I wouldn´t be here, but yes.. want to have seen it in my life, as all the other turists in Peru too ;) hehe ;) I think, what I dislike most about it, that I´m just the same as they are.. just another turist here ;)
whenever I walk through those artesania places, I just think of one thing only: how could this stuff be used to Roleplay in the Swiss mountains?! :D ..I want to stock up in Bolivia, while staying three weeks in Cochabamba, visiting friends and work and having a good time :)
but at the moment I don´t want to buy clothes (poncho, pants..). Have to carry them around and no cash anyway ;) hehe ;) ah.. no worries.. it´s not too bad.. got 40 USD for food tonight and tomorrow and that´s a lot!
what more.. yes.. got today the room number 13 and recalled that yesterday I was also in the room number 13 ;) hehe ;) but it takes more than that to make me supersticious.. I call it irony and it´s my favorite humor ;)
thinking about, it was so much of a design flaw to mount that box on the outer side of my bike.. believe me, in the future traveling with one box, it will be on the right side ;)
when I was walking around in town, I felt pretty alone.. to me it seem´s, the more people wander around in such places, the less personal it is and the lonelier you are. but if I look forward.. then there is paragliding if it matches in Cuzco and then there are at least four days on my own (and I will enjoy them! ;) just relax and focus.. no escapades, just a good ammount of miles every day :)
ah.. yes.. I don´t want to doubt too much in my driving skills ;) will be happy if every thing fine and bike checked for running smoothly and just bringing some more km between me and my failure :P (same when I broke my mirrors and frontlight in Nicaragua.. was happy when it was fixed again ;)
should use my horn a bit more.. as it´s finally working again ;)
so.. that should add it up.. it´s good to put that all down..
ahh.. have to hear that: when I walked along the railways, there was a dog barking in front of me.. I´m normally really good with dogs and was talking calmly and was about just to pass by, when he showed me his teeth and prepared to jump at me! was really scary!! just a split second, I shouted at him and reached out for a stone and he disappeared.. but I tell you, never had a wild stray dog being so aggressive.. :P well, glad nothing happened.. just thought that there´s always a lot coming into my life.. (keeping it up all the times ;)
while riding, I´m having my thoughts about the world and mankind, about my life and future, about many things that happen in this world. To lot´s of things, I found my distance.. still spinning on these thoughts, it´s that I more react to things on the peripheral on my life (that acutally touch my life) and those things inside my circle around the center "my life". Seems not too bad to me.. works out at the moment at least :)
OK.. time to grab some food.. I´m starving! :)
just came back from the hot springs.. not veeery hot, but just OK. Met some people and random chitchat.. is OK, but as long I have pending things with my bike, I´m more reserved than usual. Yes, this is one thing amongst many to learn: being patient. There is nothing that I can do here and now, but things will be done easily, when it´s time.
the town "Aguas Caliente" is incredibly nice sited in the mountains!! next to a river and unfortunately swarmed with turists and even more souvenir shops. I really don´t like these places!! ..if it wouldn´t be Machu Picchu (by the way written with "cc" as I noted ;) I wouldn´t be here, but yes.. want to have seen it in my life, as all the other turists in Peru too ;) hehe ;) I think, what I dislike most about it, that I´m just the same as they are.. just another turist here ;)
whenever I walk through those artesania places, I just think of one thing only: how could this stuff be used to Roleplay in the Swiss mountains?! :D ..I want to stock up in Bolivia, while staying three weeks in Cochabamba, visiting friends and work and having a good time :)
but at the moment I don´t want to buy clothes (poncho, pants..). Have to carry them around and no cash anyway ;) hehe ;) ah.. no worries.. it´s not too bad.. got 40 USD for food tonight and tomorrow and that´s a lot!
what more.. yes.. got today the room number 13 and recalled that yesterday I was also in the room number 13 ;) hehe ;) but it takes more than that to make me supersticious.. I call it irony and it´s my favorite humor ;)
thinking about, it was so much of a design flaw to mount that box on the outer side of my bike.. believe me, in the future traveling with one box, it will be on the right side ;)
when I was walking around in town, I felt pretty alone.. to me it seem´s, the more people wander around in such places, the less personal it is and the lonelier you are. but if I look forward.. then there is paragliding if it matches in Cuzco and then there are at least four days on my own (and I will enjoy them! ;) just relax and focus.. no escapades, just a good ammount of miles every day :)
ah.. yes.. I don´t want to doubt too much in my driving skills ;) will be happy if every thing fine and bike checked for running smoothly and just bringing some more km between me and my failure :P (same when I broke my mirrors and frontlight in Nicaragua.. was happy when it was fixed again ;)
should use my horn a bit more.. as it´s finally working again ;)
so.. that should add it up.. it´s good to put that all down..
ahh.. have to hear that: when I walked along the railways, there was a dog barking in front of me.. I´m normally really good with dogs and was talking calmly and was about just to pass by, when he showed me his teeth and prepared to jump at me! was really scary!! just a split second, I shouted at him and reached out for a stone and he disappeared.. but I tell you, never had a wild stray dog being so aggressive.. :P well, glad nothing happened.. just thought that there´s always a lot coming into my life.. (keeping it up all the times ;)
while riding, I´m having my thoughts about the world and mankind, about my life and future, about many things that happen in this world. To lot´s of things, I found my distance.. still spinning on these thoughts, it´s that I more react to things on the peripheral on my life (that acutally touch my life) and those things inside my circle around the center "my life". Seems not too bad to me.. works out at the moment at least :)
OK.. time to grab some food.. I´m starving! :)
..finally got to Machu Pichu..
so here we are.. at the world famous Machu Pichu :)
turned out that my headache came from the altitude change.. more than 3000m a day is too much without chewing coca-leaves (what I should do the next time).
was beautiful to ride out of the valley (left very early) and listened to some psy-trance mix I found that really rocks! :D curvy road up the mountains and down on the other side to Urubamba.. actually to ?Oyatullataytambu? (very complicated name that I still don´t know).
along the way you get quite an impression of Peru.. different styles of houses.. starting with bamboo-mats over adobe to brickstone and finally painted with windows :) see a lot of farming animals along the way and thought a lot about mankind.. how we live, how we evolved and how we survived and still survive. I made up my mind pretty much about this :)
The plan was to leave the bike and take the train from there, but very, very expensive.. 40USD one way and reservation and going in the middle of the night.. it´s super over-turisty here, but whatever..it´s Machu Pichu ;)
so when I figured this out, I already unloaded my bike and stored it in a parking.. changed then my plans and left the bike at the police station while walking up a hill at the above mentioned place :) on the other side you could see hundreds of tourists walking up the palace ruins, but was way nicer on the lonely side :) met a teacher from Lima and told me about how the Inka lived at the place, about their leader and what the buildings we visited were used for.. drying corn and grains.
some raindrops fell, but not really raining.. went down, picked up the bike and went out of town to fill up the tank to make the way to Santa Theresa (that´s drivable) and to enter Machu Pichu from there..
one thing to mention here is.. the distance is always 3km (some kinda magical number here I guess ;) but then it varies between 5km and 10km in the end :P so got my gas, found a place to stay in town. Got sandwich and food for the next day and got up today at 4.20am to ride to St.Theresa and take a train that´s cheaper from the other side and walk up Machu Pichu today.. but then I had a lot of changes.. (it´s probably the essence of this trip: to learn to adapt to changes.. what is also what makes us survive! ;)
so far so good.. left at 4.40am and after 20min I could turn off the lights (got bright pretty quickly). The road was asphalted to my surprise and it was easy to get to the almost snowy top of the pass that leads down to jungle then. since I passed the devils spine, I haven´t had so many curves.. lot´s of 180ª and more.. wearing a lot of stuff and my new alpaca-scarf, I was just fine! :) on the top a beautiful view over a sea of clouds.. piercing down through them until the paved road ended. Had to ask for the way and took me more than the 2.50hrs I´ve been told :P
went then through jungle and along a steep mountain ridge, had to wait for 20min at a construction side and almost made it to St.Theresa, when while driving in the middle of the road a car showed up and the mix of speed, surface of the road and my tyres made it just happen, that I hit the front part of the car with my side pannier :( ..too bad, just had one and should have put it on the right side.. but anyway.. I was thinking about what would happen, if this happens.. now I know.. well, tore off that pannier in an ugly way and damaged the front of the car. But nobody got hurt and my bike still runs (as it seems.. drove then into some loose dirt of the hill side.. for my Mom again: I have NO scratch and the bike is OK. The pannier gets fixed right now and is hopefully not more than 30USD, because I´m running out of cash here in Aguas Calientes :P (entry Machu Pichu 40USD and bus one way 7USD). No worries.. I gonna make it ;)
so to fix the car it could be around 250USD :((( after 40.000km the first 3rd person damage.. I don´t know if my insurance is gonna pay. To be on the safe side, I don´t expect it, but then I would also have to ask myself, why I have an insurance anyway ;)
finally I got a ride to the trainstation outside of St.Theresa, where I started to hike here.. well.. a few years ago I would have flipped in such a situation ;) but I handle it way better now. I had some close calls in my life (who had not?) ..fell off a chair while playing with a knife, when I was a child.. the wicked looking scar is visible up to the very day.. sat in sissors.. could have pierced my balls or worse ;) (..never thought about that.. what could have happened). and then while knitting to show a row, I had a little race with my friend that ended in a bodycheck, me almost taking out an eye with a needle.. learned something that day: "running with knitting needles" is a bad idea ;) so yeah.. as long you don´t drive off a cliff (there were quite a lot of such spots today ;) you are fine! :)
I mean it sucks to loose.. to mess it up. To cause expenses (as I try to save money on my trip here) and circumstances.. as I left my credit cards with my stuff, I can´t get any money here.. will have to pay him (or somebody he knows) when picking up the rest of my stuff. I´ll be happy, if it´s done.. debts paid and no karmic loss ;) hehe.. really! even if it sucks to lose money that way, I could never ever run away of that and leave somebody upset, cursing and hating me and wasting his precious time on this planet being in such a mood. So even if we have never met and will never meet again, let´s keep things the right way and seperate as friends.
so in the end these costs don´t matter.. it´s more the experience and what I can take out of it (drive safe and take the consequences of your actions).
so then on the way while hiking along the railroad (figured out, there is no train until 3pm :P I met some people that gave me informations about Machu Pichu and told me, I should be at the busstation at 4am in the morning to be on the first buses at 5.30am (another crazyness here!!!!) to be amongst the people who can get on the top of the area.. and to have the whole day to explore.. I would have arrived at noon today or later and that´s just not wort to spend the 40 bucks. So I got a room here and will do the early-bird-thing tomorrow again ;) and then after it, walking back to St.Theresa (hopefully get a ride from the station into town) and get the stuff done with my bike.. box OK, checking receipt from car repairs, stay a night, leave early, pay debts and drive to Cuzco, where there is paragliding hopefully :)
that´s it :) freed my mind.. tonight hot springs here, if it´s in the budget ;)
turned out that my headache came from the altitude change.. more than 3000m a day is too much without chewing coca-leaves (what I should do the next time).
was beautiful to ride out of the valley (left very early) and listened to some psy-trance mix I found that really rocks! :D curvy road up the mountains and down on the other side to Urubamba.. actually to ?Oyatullataytambu? (very complicated name that I still don´t know).
along the way you get quite an impression of Peru.. different styles of houses.. starting with bamboo-mats over adobe to brickstone and finally painted with windows :) see a lot of farming animals along the way and thought a lot about mankind.. how we live, how we evolved and how we survived and still survive. I made up my mind pretty much about this :)
The plan was to leave the bike and take the train from there, but very, very expensive.. 40USD one way and reservation and going in the middle of the night.. it´s super over-turisty here, but whatever..it´s Machu Pichu ;)
so when I figured this out, I already unloaded my bike and stored it in a parking.. changed then my plans and left the bike at the police station while walking up a hill at the above mentioned place :) on the other side you could see hundreds of tourists walking up the palace ruins, but was way nicer on the lonely side :) met a teacher from Lima and told me about how the Inka lived at the place, about their leader and what the buildings we visited were used for.. drying corn and grains.
some raindrops fell, but not really raining.. went down, picked up the bike and went out of town to fill up the tank to make the way to Santa Theresa (that´s drivable) and to enter Machu Pichu from there..
one thing to mention here is.. the distance is always 3km (some kinda magical number here I guess ;) but then it varies between 5km and 10km in the end :P so got my gas, found a place to stay in town. Got sandwich and food for the next day and got up today at 4.20am to ride to St.Theresa and take a train that´s cheaper from the other side and walk up Machu Pichu today.. but then I had a lot of changes.. (it´s probably the essence of this trip: to learn to adapt to changes.. what is also what makes us survive! ;)
so far so good.. left at 4.40am and after 20min I could turn off the lights (got bright pretty quickly). The road was asphalted to my surprise and it was easy to get to the almost snowy top of the pass that leads down to jungle then. since I passed the devils spine, I haven´t had so many curves.. lot´s of 180ª and more.. wearing a lot of stuff and my new alpaca-scarf, I was just fine! :) on the top a beautiful view over a sea of clouds.. piercing down through them until the paved road ended. Had to ask for the way and took me more than the 2.50hrs I´ve been told :P
went then through jungle and along a steep mountain ridge, had to wait for 20min at a construction side and almost made it to St.Theresa, when while driving in the middle of the road a car showed up and the mix of speed, surface of the road and my tyres made it just happen, that I hit the front part of the car with my side pannier :( ..too bad, just had one and should have put it on the right side.. but anyway.. I was thinking about what would happen, if this happens.. now I know.. well, tore off that pannier in an ugly way and damaged the front of the car. But nobody got hurt and my bike still runs (as it seems.. drove then into some loose dirt of the hill side.. for my Mom again: I have NO scratch and the bike is OK. The pannier gets fixed right now and is hopefully not more than 30USD, because I´m running out of cash here in Aguas Calientes :P (entry Machu Pichu 40USD and bus one way 7USD). No worries.. I gonna make it ;)
so to fix the car it could be around 250USD :((( after 40.000km the first 3rd person damage.. I don´t know if my insurance is gonna pay. To be on the safe side, I don´t expect it, but then I would also have to ask myself, why I have an insurance anyway ;)
finally I got a ride to the trainstation outside of St.Theresa, where I started to hike here.. well.. a few years ago I would have flipped in such a situation ;) but I handle it way better now. I had some close calls in my life (who had not?) ..fell off a chair while playing with a knife, when I was a child.. the wicked looking scar is visible up to the very day.. sat in sissors.. could have pierced my balls or worse ;) (..never thought about that.. what could have happened). and then while knitting to show a row, I had a little race with my friend that ended in a bodycheck, me almost taking out an eye with a needle.. learned something that day: "running with knitting needles" is a bad idea ;) so yeah.. as long you don´t drive off a cliff (there were quite a lot of such spots today ;) you are fine! :)
I mean it sucks to loose.. to mess it up. To cause expenses (as I try to save money on my trip here) and circumstances.. as I left my credit cards with my stuff, I can´t get any money here.. will have to pay him (or somebody he knows) when picking up the rest of my stuff. I´ll be happy, if it´s done.. debts paid and no karmic loss ;) hehe.. really! even if it sucks to lose money that way, I could never ever run away of that and leave somebody upset, cursing and hating me and wasting his precious time on this planet being in such a mood. So even if we have never met and will never meet again, let´s keep things the right way and seperate as friends.
so in the end these costs don´t matter.. it´s more the experience and what I can take out of it (drive safe and take the consequences of your actions).
so then on the way while hiking along the railroad (figured out, there is no train until 3pm :P I met some people that gave me informations about Machu Pichu and told me, I should be at the busstation at 4am in the morning to be on the first buses at 5.30am (another crazyness here!!!!) to be amongst the people who can get on the top of the area.. and to have the whole day to explore.. I would have arrived at noon today or later and that´s just not wort to spend the 40 bucks. So I got a room here and will do the early-bird-thing tomorrow again ;) and then after it, walking back to St.Theresa (hopefully get a ride from the station into town) and get the stuff done with my bike.. box OK, checking receipt from car repairs, stay a night, leave early, pay debts and drive to Cuzco, where there is paragliding hopefully :)
that´s it :) freed my mind.. tonight hot springs here, if it´s in the budget ;)
Saturday, November 6, 2010
..the lines of Nazca..
Ohhh my god... it´s 1hr40min since I entered internet to write some blog and I still haven´t begun :P
well.. had to take care of lots of planning.. paraglide in Cuzco? got some people interested in my bike and figuring out how to transfer title. Uploading a lot of pictures (well.. not in the houndreds, but more than with my old cam ;) takes all quite some time to sort and name.. but I feel, I want have it done that way! ;)
then thinking about my future job.. will have an updated CV soon and send out my minions (a.k.a. emails ;) hehe ;) to sense the universe! ;)
So I had a nice ride to Nazca (or "Nasca" as even the street signs contradict each other ;) .. of course took a while to clear up when getting out of Lima, but then finally blue sky! :) took my through deserts and mountains to the famous Nazca-Lines. Got a picture from the Mirador but to pay around 100 USD for a 30min flight seemed too much to me (especially because 30min are the way back and forth and probably time cut in half, because the plane makes left and right circles (so you just get nice view half of the time ;) hehe ;)
but I touched one of the lines (one you can officially get close to ;) and did quite some other stuff around Nazca :)
At the mirador I asked some people for a hotel and they gave me a card of the place where they stay and when I finally found it, I was not too impressed but thought, for a night it´s OK. Then they asked me, if I can share my private room with someone (I said sure, no problem :) and then it turned out that this someone is a very beautiful and fascinating young girl from the jungle of Peru ;D yes.. I can´t complain how the universe treats me ;) hehe ;)
I tried to rent a helmet for her but was not possible :( ..but as the new ones cost about 17 USD, I just bought one (not that I would use it on long distance trips :P but better than nothing ;) so we went to some aqueducts close to the city and hiked on some hill.. the next day went to some sunken ruins in the desert that are still excavated. Just a few walls.. but was an adventure to ride to the place (few signs, few people to ask.. ) and luckily when we arrived the guard didn´t see us and just catched us when we were climbing illegally on the walls ;) ..sorry.. the official sign does not let you even get close.. so we had to get there to see something! ;) they are still excavating it and next year they make an entrance-office where they charge and let guides take people closer (glad I was there before ;)
there are a lot of ceramic fragments lying around (as in Guatemala) but the real cool stuff was a human bone of the upper part of a leg (I´m pretty sure it was human, because on the cemetery we saw the same ones ;) ..we found this and other bones a bit away from the walls (where no digging goes on). I wonder how it made it there, but must have had houndreds of years already! :)
then we tried to get to the ancient cemetery but didn´t make it because was getting cold already (after 5 o`clock it got super chilly in Nazca.. brrrr). Need to buy some Alpaca-clothes! ;D
We talked a lot, Paula and me and on the third night, she told me a lot about her past and childhood.. was really, really touched!! for receiving so much confidance and for feeling with her all the things she told me. I haven´t been with someone that has been treated like that! ..never knew her real father, missing love from her mother and violated when 14 years old :`( many wounds are still closing.. lot´s of nightmares and tears. Nobody to go to or talk to.. wow.. incredibly painful years of growing up. But then she survived her four attemps of suicide and for just being 20 years old, she is an incredibly experienced and strong person! Earns my highest respect for still walking on this planet!! and impressed me a lot with her being! (even if there were still troublesome moments where she took her distance..)
last night and this morning, when we seperated, there were some tears.. of course, how could it be otherwise. But still, I highly thank the universe for this precious gift I received!! she gave and tought me a lot and I hope for her as well, it was an non regrettable experience.
..during my time in Nazca, made friends with some locals, went playing football (totally sucked ;), eat delicious food and broaster-chicken (yummi!! :) --> still haven´t tried Cuy, but maybe won´t try it.. you don´t have to eat everything ;)
on our last day together (I extended my stay for one day ;) and we went to the cemetery.. this time being there early enough. Was quite interesting to see all these mummies and bones ;) they took out the guts and the brain and sometimes stuffed the body-hull with earth and wooden sticks (that´s all so super groce to me!!!) I wonder how they did that.. it´s like preparing a stuffed animal (not even this I would want to do ;)
and there was also a guy who met VonDaeniken in Person in the year 1974 :D haha ;) we talked about the wired alien-fanatic and why the Nazca-Lines not necessarely are a space-port :) haha ;)
there are nice little tornados (sand devils) forming in the desert during the day.. looks like mini-twister ;)
and I lit my flaming swords and they are AWESOME!!! :D burning about 2 minutes and being fun to play! just need a set of PVC tubes to store them in (in work, happens the next days as soon I find the materials ;)
about the lines: they are made from 300b.c. to 600 after Christ.. so over 900 years through many generations (they probably didn´t have anything else to do than drawing lines, combing their 2m50 long hair and mummificate their deads ;) hehe ;)
anyway.. through the special mix of minerals of this part of the desert, the lines don´t disappear (silicium..e.t.c.) and because of few rain and some thermal effect, they lasted for that incredibly long!! :)
..thought about of bringing Paula along to Cuzco (she would have come along..) but glad I didn´t.. many curves, long ride and got pretty freezing on the top of the mountains today.. so glad to be here on my own and reflect, process and update my blog.. (frees my mind as well).
in the beginning it´s all very brown/yellowish getting from Cuzco into the mountains (but looks nice with all the mountains and valleys) and then it turns into the Altiplano-Landscape that I know from Bolivia :) no trees, wide open view, not hundreds, but THOUSANDS of Alpacas along the road (looks like Lama, but smaller ;) feeding on some dry looking bushes of gras.. few cows, appearently no chicken, but lots of sheep. made about 330km today to Chalhuanca, where it´s a good place to stop between Nazca and Cuzco.
I decided out that I don´t want to enter Cuzco, but go directly to the town where the trains starts to Machu Pichu and figure out what is the most adventurous way to get to Machu Pichu and the cheapest way to do some hiking around there..
well.. 2hr30min in the internet.. got slight headache and logging out to get some food.. tonight just some TV and relax. Will hear soon from me.. probably randomly fill up the gaps tomorrow when I arrive at my destination ;)
well.. had to take care of lots of planning.. paraglide in Cuzco? got some people interested in my bike and figuring out how to transfer title. Uploading a lot of pictures (well.. not in the houndreds, but more than with my old cam ;) takes all quite some time to sort and name.. but I feel, I want have it done that way! ;)
then thinking about my future job.. will have an updated CV soon and send out my minions (a.k.a. emails ;) hehe ;) to sense the universe! ;)
So I had a nice ride to Nazca (or "Nasca" as even the street signs contradict each other ;) .. of course took a while to clear up when getting out of Lima, but then finally blue sky! :) took my through deserts and mountains to the famous Nazca-Lines. Got a picture from the Mirador but to pay around 100 USD for a 30min flight seemed too much to me (especially because 30min are the way back and forth and probably time cut in half, because the plane makes left and right circles (so you just get nice view half of the time ;) hehe ;)
but I touched one of the lines (one you can officially get close to ;) and did quite some other stuff around Nazca :)
At the mirador I asked some people for a hotel and they gave me a card of the place where they stay and when I finally found it, I was not too impressed but thought, for a night it´s OK. Then they asked me, if I can share my private room with someone (I said sure, no problem :) and then it turned out that this someone is a very beautiful and fascinating young girl from the jungle of Peru ;D yes.. I can´t complain how the universe treats me ;) hehe ;)
I tried to rent a helmet for her but was not possible :( ..but as the new ones cost about 17 USD, I just bought one (not that I would use it on long distance trips :P but better than nothing ;) so we went to some aqueducts close to the city and hiked on some hill.. the next day went to some sunken ruins in the desert that are still excavated. Just a few walls.. but was an adventure to ride to the place (few signs, few people to ask.. ) and luckily when we arrived the guard didn´t see us and just catched us when we were climbing illegally on the walls ;) ..sorry.. the official sign does not let you even get close.. so we had to get there to see something! ;) they are still excavating it and next year they make an entrance-office where they charge and let guides take people closer (glad I was there before ;)
there are a lot of ceramic fragments lying around (as in Guatemala) but the real cool stuff was a human bone of the upper part of a leg (I´m pretty sure it was human, because on the cemetery we saw the same ones ;) ..we found this and other bones a bit away from the walls (where no digging goes on). I wonder how it made it there, but must have had houndreds of years already! :)
then we tried to get to the ancient cemetery but didn´t make it because was getting cold already (after 5 o`clock it got super chilly in Nazca.. brrrr). Need to buy some Alpaca-clothes! ;D
We talked a lot, Paula and me and on the third night, she told me a lot about her past and childhood.. was really, really touched!! for receiving so much confidance and for feeling with her all the things she told me. I haven´t been with someone that has been treated like that! ..never knew her real father, missing love from her mother and violated when 14 years old :`( many wounds are still closing.. lot´s of nightmares and tears. Nobody to go to or talk to.. wow.. incredibly painful years of growing up. But then she survived her four attemps of suicide and for just being 20 years old, she is an incredibly experienced and strong person! Earns my highest respect for still walking on this planet!! and impressed me a lot with her being! (even if there were still troublesome moments where she took her distance..)
last night and this morning, when we seperated, there were some tears.. of course, how could it be otherwise. But still, I highly thank the universe for this precious gift I received!! she gave and tought me a lot and I hope for her as well, it was an non regrettable experience.
..during my time in Nazca, made friends with some locals, went playing football (totally sucked ;), eat delicious food and broaster-chicken (yummi!! :) --> still haven´t tried Cuy, but maybe won´t try it.. you don´t have to eat everything ;)
on our last day together (I extended my stay for one day ;) and we went to the cemetery.. this time being there early enough. Was quite interesting to see all these mummies and bones ;) they took out the guts and the brain and sometimes stuffed the body-hull with earth and wooden sticks (that´s all so super groce to me!!!) I wonder how they did that.. it´s like preparing a stuffed animal (not even this I would want to do ;)
and there was also a guy who met VonDaeniken in Person in the year 1974 :D haha ;) we talked about the wired alien-fanatic and why the Nazca-Lines not necessarely are a space-port :) haha ;)
there are nice little tornados (sand devils) forming in the desert during the day.. looks like mini-twister ;)
and I lit my flaming swords and they are AWESOME!!! :D burning about 2 minutes and being fun to play! just need a set of PVC tubes to store them in (in work, happens the next days as soon I find the materials ;)
about the lines: they are made from 300b.c. to 600 after Christ.. so over 900 years through many generations (they probably didn´t have anything else to do than drawing lines, combing their 2m50 long hair and mummificate their deads ;) hehe ;)
anyway.. through the special mix of minerals of this part of the desert, the lines don´t disappear (silicium..e.t.c.) and because of few rain and some thermal effect, they lasted for that incredibly long!! :)
..thought about of bringing Paula along to Cuzco (she would have come along..) but glad I didn´t.. many curves, long ride and got pretty freezing on the top of the mountains today.. so glad to be here on my own and reflect, process and update my blog.. (frees my mind as well).
in the beginning it´s all very brown/yellowish getting from Cuzco into the mountains (but looks nice with all the mountains and valleys) and then it turns into the Altiplano-Landscape that I know from Bolivia :) no trees, wide open view, not hundreds, but THOUSANDS of Alpacas along the road (looks like Lama, but smaller ;) feeding on some dry looking bushes of gras.. few cows, appearently no chicken, but lots of sheep. made about 330km today to Chalhuanca, where it´s a good place to stop between Nazca and Cuzco.
I decided out that I don´t want to enter Cuzco, but go directly to the town where the trains starts to Machu Pichu and figure out what is the most adventurous way to get to Machu Pichu and the cheapest way to do some hiking around there..
well.. 2hr30min in the internet.. got slight headache and logging out to get some food.. tonight just some TV and relax. Will hear soon from me.. probably randomly fill up the gaps tomorrow when I arrive at my destination ;)
Monday, November 1, 2010
..beyond just everything!!!
tomorrow early morning I want to load the bike and take off direction Nazca. I hope for a beautiful day, because I will be riding some hours ;)
my experience here in Lima was incredibly intense and special!! the only drop of bitterness is that I "have" to leave and some experiences can´t be repeated the next moments.. just know, living here, I would have really, really good times!! :D haha ;)
so the paragliding didn´t work out :( not the right conditions over 5 days.. but well, at least tried ;) got my own cellphone number here, so it´s easy to get in touch :)
changing my break pads and fixing my horn improved a lot driving safety! :) ..now it´s actually braking for real ;) hehe ;) took my quite a while to get there and back and this for bringing and getting back, but they made a good job! it´s also washed and if the BMW parts would not be that expensive, would have been even better ;) hehe ;) but about 300 USD and I should be fine for the rest (remember, I don´t brake a lot ;) hehe ;) but nice people and got an idea about crossing the town on a motorbike! :)
had here for about 15 USD a nice room with bath tub (took at least three times a hot bath ;) hehe ;) and really comfi! :) have been going out, met some people, had good conversations (but no good music to be found ;) I had some of the craziest experiences ever here and it will take a moment (a day or two ;) to process these things.. but yes, I´m very happy! happy for making new experiences all the time! for surprising myself and changing my mind, opening it even more.. yes.. thats probably also because I don´t care about museums, churches, history, politics and all the other stuff I could learn with my head.. much more fun to learn with your heart and intuition! :)
so yes.. three wild nights and two relaxed ones to meditate :) so my halloweenparty was a swinger event that I found over internet and it was just once more beyond everything ever lived.. in the place itself not too much happened, but met three nice couples and were talking to these guys and enjoying a respectful and special vibe as felt on Burning Man (this is another place where people treat each other like that and are suuuper openminded! :) so yeah.. I wish there could be more of that! but don´t complain.. was an incredible experience to meet people like that! instead of super jalous boyfriends, they ask you if you´d like to kiss his girlfriend and animates her to kiss me... wow, is this still real? :) all these moments let me feel really good.. you know that you have been there.. you lived it all! things, that other people never thought of, you just lived them, experienced them and learned from them! so yes.. in the end (we were the last ones leaving the place), I stayed with a couple I met there and took the driver job to bring us back to their place safely (did pretty well ;) and being there, he was just.. this is my room, here is my bed, have fun you guys and went sleeping outside on the couch.. I´m deeply moved and touched by all these special people I just met. I lived so many things in just a few days.. have reach new planes of consciousness and think, life if just great!! :D getting more and more whole ever day..
so hear from me soon and know that I´m having most wonderful and magical times! :)
thank you so much universe!!! :)
my experience here in Lima was incredibly intense and special!! the only drop of bitterness is that I "have" to leave and some experiences can´t be repeated the next moments.. just know, living here, I would have really, really good times!! :D haha ;)
so the paragliding didn´t work out :( not the right conditions over 5 days.. but well, at least tried ;) got my own cellphone number here, so it´s easy to get in touch :)
changing my break pads and fixing my horn improved a lot driving safety! :) ..now it´s actually braking for real ;) hehe ;) took my quite a while to get there and back and this for bringing and getting back, but they made a good job! it´s also washed and if the BMW parts would not be that expensive, would have been even better ;) hehe ;) but about 300 USD and I should be fine for the rest (remember, I don´t brake a lot ;) hehe ;) but nice people and got an idea about crossing the town on a motorbike! :)
had here for about 15 USD a nice room with bath tub (took at least three times a hot bath ;) hehe ;) and really comfi! :) have been going out, met some people, had good conversations (but no good music to be found ;) I had some of the craziest experiences ever here and it will take a moment (a day or two ;) to process these things.. but yes, I´m very happy! happy for making new experiences all the time! for surprising myself and changing my mind, opening it even more.. yes.. thats probably also because I don´t care about museums, churches, history, politics and all the other stuff I could learn with my head.. much more fun to learn with your heart and intuition! :)
so yes.. three wild nights and two relaxed ones to meditate :) so my halloweenparty was a swinger event that I found over internet and it was just once more beyond everything ever lived.. in the place itself not too much happened, but met three nice couples and were talking to these guys and enjoying a respectful and special vibe as felt on Burning Man (this is another place where people treat each other like that and are suuuper openminded! :) so yeah.. I wish there could be more of that! but don´t complain.. was an incredible experience to meet people like that! instead of super jalous boyfriends, they ask you if you´d like to kiss his girlfriend and animates her to kiss me... wow, is this still real? :) all these moments let me feel really good.. you know that you have been there.. you lived it all! things, that other people never thought of, you just lived them, experienced them and learned from them! so yes.. in the end (we were the last ones leaving the place), I stayed with a couple I met there and took the driver job to bring us back to their place safely (did pretty well ;) and being there, he was just.. this is my room, here is my bed, have fun you guys and went sleeping outside on the couch.. I´m deeply moved and touched by all these special people I just met. I lived so many things in just a few days.. have reach new planes of consciousness and think, life if just great!! :D getting more and more whole ever day..
so hear from me soon and know that I´m having most wonderful and magical times! :)
thank you so much universe!!! :)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
..blowing with the wind.. :)
hmmm.. that were quite some changing days :)
I spent the last night with my friends, chilling in Christians room and this almost until 5am :P ;) and we talked about a lot of stuff.. was a nice evening (better than just watching TV ;) and talked about making fire-toys and kiting the next day, so I really was about to stay a day more! :)
then the next day at noon, when we were supposed to meet up, Christian told me that tired and hangover and so on, but I already checked out the hardware store and would have been quite pissed, if he would not have sold me some kevlar-rope, I needed for my creation. Funny.. after I lost my other ones after almost never using them, I already got something new heavy with me to carry around (and to present time not even lit yet ;P ..so with a bit of genious, I made the first version of my fireswords :) they turned out a bit heavy and unbalanced and maybe won´t burn very long (just thin kevlar jacket), but they will to for a start (version 2 is already in mind and will be realized in Switzerland :D
then I learned to make a monkey knot (picture in the internet and youtube tutorial! :) haha :D just memorized it and can now transform every rope in a waepon, by tying such a knot in the end. Looks like a ball and is perfect to make a fire-meteor! :D ..but unfortunately, I don´t have any non-burning-rope and the one I made with normal rope is so hard, it would be dangerous to practice just for fun with it ;) I rather use my soft meteor and can go crazy with it! :D ..got quite better at it!! :D new moves and more precise handling :)
then the night I felt not hanging out with these people again, because would have been the same thing and I thought, may be good to move further down. Still 1100km to go to Lima. So packed all my stuff, got all my goods ready :) and had a good sleep and breakfast the next day to move further South.
the first 140km I already knew from coming up, but then it turned into a different world! :) reminded me of Tattooine and I was flying on my Pod-Racer through the desert. No Sandpeople tough trying to snipe me and no second sun in the sky ;) but it´s fun to drive through the desert! ..nomans land.. wasteland.. hahaha ;)) :D
could also be out of Mad Max.. destroyed cars off the road and simple dirt hutts along the way, especially as I almost ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere :P ..for being very flat and straight and no curves, was going up to 110km/h, what uses a LOT more of gas, together with strong winds that make me my viser have closed. I stopped and asked some police patrol in the desert and they would have gladly helped me out, but some system in their car prohibits to take gasoline out (I guess why ;) hehe ;) but then luckily a lady along the way sold gas, poured in a one-gallon-plastic-cup and into my tank :)
if sand, wind and terrain match, then incredible things get born.. there were dozens of horse-shoe-formed sand dunes moving over a flat plane. Streets don´t get flooded here, they get sanded :) looks also very wicked, when sand particles are blown over the road, dancing on the asphalt :)
I started with blue sky and then it turned grey at noon and opened up later in the afternoon.. it´s so much nicer to drive with blue sky!! :)
but then at about 4pm, when the sun stands lower, it becomes incredibly chilly!! handgrip-heaters on lvl 2 and every zipper closed and still having cold wearing a pull-over. There is so much cold air blown in from the sea, that even at the beach it get´s cold in the night (looking forward to Cuzco ;) well, gonna buy some warm clothing here and a poncho! :) haha :D and after this, I will put two more layers in my gear, then I should be fine. ..it´s just cold ;) can handle that :)
I first thought to stop at a place along the way, but when I saw the city, I felt like moving on.. then staying two nights at this other place and checking out the ruins. So in the end I was really happy to arrive at this place and asked for the hostal, that my friend recommended me. ..was OK for a night, but for almost nobody staying there (just a few couples), I missed cable TV in the end, read then but something nice from the Dalai Lama :) but same.. going out.. don´t expect too much (especially not an overkill as in Mancora), but a bit of a vibe would have been nice.. yeah.. Mancora: there are for sure precious jewels of wonderful people amongst the masses, but also a lot of tourits, ignorants and idiots :P one of the places where people rope-tear for money :P nahh.. was really time to make a move!
so I figured out that even for somebody a place was best in a country, for somebody else probably isn´t.. because everything changes and we are all living different things. Had dinner by myself :P and the lasagna was not even veggie as ordered :/ but I just thought: you guys can be happy I´m no veggie and I would not want to complain and wait again ;) very easy going ;)
then the ruins this morning did also not super-stun me.. some walls in the sand with other walls and places inside. A lot of work to restore, but not as nice as stone built temples in the jungle.. would be good for paintball tough! ;) haha ;) but OK.. people I ran randomly into were very nice and friendly! :)
Then I had another covered and pretty chill start at 11am until 2pm in the afternoon, when it opened up.. I really like riding in the desert! just see that I get enough gas ;) hehe ;) but the bike runs fine, very reliable and fun to ride! :) just a lot of sand (what makes me my viser have closed most of the time) and cold winds.. need a scarf! :) this is gonna be a good investment! :D
but all the wide open space and mountains, covered partly with sand, leaving trippy textures everywhere! :) ..figured also out, that I will continue South from Lima to Nazca, because I want to see the Nazca-Lines! :D so probably more desert along the way! ;) hehe ;)
then there was a lot of roadwork along the way, sometimes waited and sometimes just asked to let me pass (as I got a bike and can bail out and go through the barriers ;) and yes, they let me go.. everything super nice!
gas costs 50% more than in Ecuador and for using about 25% more gas, it makes it a 62.5% more costly to ride through Peru, but it´s still not too much of a deal.. but probably spending more here on gas than accomodation ;)
so I almost, almost made it to safety, when I learned a very important thing: Police has nasty radar-devices here :P
so having cold and wanting nothing more than arrive, I get stopped by the police.. on the highway. But they told me there is a sign telling 60km/h (nobody anyway cares about speed limits here :P and I was probably 80km/h
so stop, show papers and licence and he asks me, where I´m from.. me: Switzerland and he says: "Oh, Switzerland.. " and I think, once more saved by the bell (because it´s mostly good to be from Switzerland ;) ..but he says: I have to confiscate your papers and send them to the embassy.. :P yaya.. super complicate.. of course, must happen along the Panamericana. So I tell to show me written how much the fine will be and because he couldn´t do that, I was.. "you know, let´s go to the police station and I´ll explain my case and we talk it out" .. so finally I said: Option Number 1: you let me go and I apologize and drive slower .. Option Number 2.. and here he already turned around to talk to his friend, while I was shouting "I´d appreciate!" :) and coming back, handing me out my documents and let me go.. phew.. that was really close. I don´t think they should (or have to) send my documents anywhere and I´m not so easy to rip off on the road. Would have faced to pay a fine, but once it was probably anyway not about a fine (paperwork) more some extra non-factory cash ;)
I´ll spend the week-end (and halloween :) in Lima and then ride down and into the mountains to Cuzco, do some more-day-trek and check out ruins (getting in for free if possible ;) and then to Bolivia.. but even not delaying along the way, it will take 2-3 weeks..
hear soon from me! :)
I spent the last night with my friends, chilling in Christians room and this almost until 5am :P ;) and we talked about a lot of stuff.. was a nice evening (better than just watching TV ;) and talked about making fire-toys and kiting the next day, so I really was about to stay a day more! :)
then the next day at noon, when we were supposed to meet up, Christian told me that tired and hangover and so on, but I already checked out the hardware store and would have been quite pissed, if he would not have sold me some kevlar-rope, I needed for my creation. Funny.. after I lost my other ones after almost never using them, I already got something new heavy with me to carry around (and to present time not even lit yet ;P ..so with a bit of genious, I made the first version of my fireswords :) they turned out a bit heavy and unbalanced and maybe won´t burn very long (just thin kevlar jacket), but they will to for a start (version 2 is already in mind and will be realized in Switzerland :D
then I learned to make a monkey knot (picture in the internet and youtube tutorial! :) haha :D just memorized it and can now transform every rope in a waepon, by tying such a knot in the end. Looks like a ball and is perfect to make a fire-meteor! :D ..but unfortunately, I don´t have any non-burning-rope and the one I made with normal rope is so hard, it would be dangerous to practice just for fun with it ;) I rather use my soft meteor and can go crazy with it! :D ..got quite better at it!! :D new moves and more precise handling :)
then the night I felt not hanging out with these people again, because would have been the same thing and I thought, may be good to move further down. Still 1100km to go to Lima. So packed all my stuff, got all my goods ready :) and had a good sleep and breakfast the next day to move further South.
the first 140km I already knew from coming up, but then it turned into a different world! :) reminded me of Tattooine and I was flying on my Pod-Racer through the desert. No Sandpeople tough trying to snipe me and no second sun in the sky ;) but it´s fun to drive through the desert! ..nomans land.. wasteland.. hahaha ;)) :D
could also be out of Mad Max.. destroyed cars off the road and simple dirt hutts along the way, especially as I almost ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere :P ..for being very flat and straight and no curves, was going up to 110km/h, what uses a LOT more of gas, together with strong winds that make me my viser have closed. I stopped and asked some police patrol in the desert and they would have gladly helped me out, but some system in their car prohibits to take gasoline out (I guess why ;) hehe ;) but then luckily a lady along the way sold gas, poured in a one-gallon-plastic-cup and into my tank :)
if sand, wind and terrain match, then incredible things get born.. there were dozens of horse-shoe-formed sand dunes moving over a flat plane. Streets don´t get flooded here, they get sanded :) looks also very wicked, when sand particles are blown over the road, dancing on the asphalt :)
I started with blue sky and then it turned grey at noon and opened up later in the afternoon.. it´s so much nicer to drive with blue sky!! :)
but then at about 4pm, when the sun stands lower, it becomes incredibly chilly!! handgrip-heaters on lvl 2 and every zipper closed and still having cold wearing a pull-over. There is so much cold air blown in from the sea, that even at the beach it get´s cold in the night (looking forward to Cuzco ;) well, gonna buy some warm clothing here and a poncho! :) haha :D and after this, I will put two more layers in my gear, then I should be fine. ..it´s just cold ;) can handle that :)
I first thought to stop at a place along the way, but when I saw the city, I felt like moving on.. then staying two nights at this other place and checking out the ruins. So in the end I was really happy to arrive at this place and asked for the hostal, that my friend recommended me. ..was OK for a night, but for almost nobody staying there (just a few couples), I missed cable TV in the end, read then but something nice from the Dalai Lama :) but same.. going out.. don´t expect too much (especially not an overkill as in Mancora), but a bit of a vibe would have been nice.. yeah.. Mancora: there are for sure precious jewels of wonderful people amongst the masses, but also a lot of tourits, ignorants and idiots :P one of the places where people rope-tear for money :P nahh.. was really time to make a move!
so I figured out that even for somebody a place was best in a country, for somebody else probably isn´t.. because everything changes and we are all living different things. Had dinner by myself :P and the lasagna was not even veggie as ordered :/ but I just thought: you guys can be happy I´m no veggie and I would not want to complain and wait again ;) very easy going ;)
then the ruins this morning did also not super-stun me.. some walls in the sand with other walls and places inside. A lot of work to restore, but not as nice as stone built temples in the jungle.. would be good for paintball tough! ;) haha ;) but OK.. people I ran randomly into were very nice and friendly! :)
Then I had another covered and pretty chill start at 11am until 2pm in the afternoon, when it opened up.. I really like riding in the desert! just see that I get enough gas ;) hehe ;) but the bike runs fine, very reliable and fun to ride! :) just a lot of sand (what makes me my viser have closed most of the time) and cold winds.. need a scarf! :) this is gonna be a good investment! :D
but all the wide open space and mountains, covered partly with sand, leaving trippy textures everywhere! :) ..figured also out, that I will continue South from Lima to Nazca, because I want to see the Nazca-Lines! :D so probably more desert along the way! ;) hehe ;)
then there was a lot of roadwork along the way, sometimes waited and sometimes just asked to let me pass (as I got a bike and can bail out and go through the barriers ;) and yes, they let me go.. everything super nice!
gas costs 50% more than in Ecuador and for using about 25% more gas, it makes it a 62.5% more costly to ride through Peru, but it´s still not too much of a deal.. but probably spending more here on gas than accomodation ;)
so I almost, almost made it to safety, when I learned a very important thing: Police has nasty radar-devices here :P
so having cold and wanting nothing more than arrive, I get stopped by the police.. on the highway. But they told me there is a sign telling 60km/h (nobody anyway cares about speed limits here :P and I was probably 80km/h
so stop, show papers and licence and he asks me, where I´m from.. me: Switzerland and he says: "Oh, Switzerland.. " and I think, once more saved by the bell (because it´s mostly good to be from Switzerland ;) ..but he says: I have to confiscate your papers and send them to the embassy.. :P yaya.. super complicate.. of course, must happen along the Panamericana. So I tell to show me written how much the fine will be and because he couldn´t do that, I was.. "you know, let´s go to the police station and I´ll explain my case and we talk it out" .. so finally I said: Option Number 1: you let me go and I apologize and drive slower .. Option Number 2.. and here he already turned around to talk to his friend, while I was shouting "I´d appreciate!" :) and coming back, handing me out my documents and let me go.. phew.. that was really close. I don´t think they should (or have to) send my documents anywhere and I´m not so easy to rip off on the road. Would have faced to pay a fine, but once it was probably anyway not about a fine (paperwork) more some extra non-factory cash ;)
I´ll spend the week-end (and halloween :) in Lima and then ride down and into the mountains to Cuzco, do some more-day-trek and check out ruins (getting in for free if possible ;) and then to Bolivia.. but even not delaying along the way, it will take 2-3 weeks..
hear soon from me! :)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
..I like Peru! :)
so before I leave my first destination in Peru, I´ll post a few lines here..
riding along the coast is pretty nice! Well, took until noon to have clear sky, but the blue above and the blue of the see, touching at the horizon do give a nice contrast to the yellow sand and stone of the dry stretch along the coast.
I´ll have about three days of riding to get to Lima and will stay a few more nights on the beach, before hitting the mountains again :)
Peru is really nice! Policemen are waving friendly along the road and even getting in this country was super chill! didn´t cost a single dollar, they even made the copies themself (normally I have to go to a copy-shop ;)
The food here is very good and even if more expensive than non-touristy places, it doesn´t ruin me ;) for 7 dollar you fill your stomach with lot´s of tasty things! :)
then on the other hand, I´m already done with the place.. was awake for 36 hours then slept for 12 hours and repeated the whole thing again, because there was a lot of party and after party and so on.. :) these places are predestined to be lived this way. It´s OK, normally start a country this way by going to a place like that and resupplying for the rest. Then I´m fine and the continuation is more quiet.
I met some good people that are helping me out here and we spent quite a while together, having lots of fun! :)
didn´t meet anybody super special though, so not too much hold me back here.. jumping on my bike and riding on, for there are many more places I want to see Peru :)
I guess, I missed out on kite-surfing :-/ would have been payable, but for I just was going out with friends, I missed the oportunity. Looks really fun!! :) but then it would also be a very local thing and along my trip would not have lot´s of oportunities to practice and especially not being back in Switzerland. So it´s Ok.. another day! ;) hehe ;)
then going on this full moon party, I took my fire-fans and two silver contact balls with me and managed to get it stolen in the night :`( *sniff*
well.. got the small ball back, but the big one is gone and I´m on my last set of balls (brought a lot of spare stuff with me) and can´t afford to lose one anymore (or getting it too scratched or broken). Probably will get bags for them and find a system I can take care of them! :)
the fire-fans though are not really easy to replace.. they were 100 USD each and even if they were pretty old, they still served well. I guess, I´ll have to get new ones in Switzerland or even make them myself (so no more practice for the next 9 month). but also have to say that I didn´t use them too much, not even that very night (that´s why their treachery is almost justified). One less thing to carry around and if I´ll get new ones, I´ll use them for sure more (or don´t get them in the first place). ..glad I got all the rest of my (more used) stuff :)
hmm.. so the roads are good here (motorbikes don´t pay! =D just the gas is waaay more expensive in Peru (probably double price?) but still cheap compared to Switzerland ;)
living in general is cheap and I´m sure I will spend about only half of what I spend normally squandering along my trip ;) hehe ;)
here a lot of dead animals are brought to the beach with the tides.. I´ve seen three Pelicans and a Sea-bear (pretty big animal), without teeth, because those have been scavenged already by a local artesania-guy ;) hehe ;) heard also a Dolphin was found a few days ago. So if you do handycraft, then you can get cheap raw-materials here from local people :)
had a Ceviche here (raw fish with lots of lemon and onion and spicy) and really liked it! (the last one, when I tried that the first time, I swore to never enter a Cevicheria again ;) but was really good! like to taste local food, especially when it´s fresh sea-food while being at the beach :)
so met a few random people and can tell you that I would not get old in a place like that.. even to sell bracelets and jewelry seems a pain in the ass to me (because you have to sell where there are a lot of tourists and lots of competition). Aaaahh.. really appreciate to get my paycheck by end of the month for doing some 8 hours office job! :D haha ;)
OK.. going out to be in the sun again! :) have not been bathing in the sea yet, but made some excercises on the beach. More like to be at the water then jumping in by myself (even if playing with the waves can be fun for a moment ;)
the typical Peruanian dogs here are super ugly (look like big rats ;) because having just a few single hair on their skin :P eventually get a picture of one ;)
so I´m fine.. recovering from the week-end and soon being back on the road again :)
hear from me further down..
riding along the coast is pretty nice! Well, took until noon to have clear sky, but the blue above and the blue of the see, touching at the horizon do give a nice contrast to the yellow sand and stone of the dry stretch along the coast.
I´ll have about three days of riding to get to Lima and will stay a few more nights on the beach, before hitting the mountains again :)
Peru is really nice! Policemen are waving friendly along the road and even getting in this country was super chill! didn´t cost a single dollar, they even made the copies themself (normally I have to go to a copy-shop ;)
The food here is very good and even if more expensive than non-touristy places, it doesn´t ruin me ;) for 7 dollar you fill your stomach with lot´s of tasty things! :)
then on the other hand, I´m already done with the place.. was awake for 36 hours then slept for 12 hours and repeated the whole thing again, because there was a lot of party and after party and so on.. :) these places are predestined to be lived this way. It´s OK, normally start a country this way by going to a place like that and resupplying for the rest. Then I´m fine and the continuation is more quiet.
I met some good people that are helping me out here and we spent quite a while together, having lots of fun! :)
didn´t meet anybody super special though, so not too much hold me back here.. jumping on my bike and riding on, for there are many more places I want to see Peru :)
I guess, I missed out on kite-surfing :-/ would have been payable, but for I just was going out with friends, I missed the oportunity. Looks really fun!! :) but then it would also be a very local thing and along my trip would not have lot´s of oportunities to practice and especially not being back in Switzerland. So it´s Ok.. another day! ;) hehe ;)
then going on this full moon party, I took my fire-fans and two silver contact balls with me and managed to get it stolen in the night :`( *sniff*
well.. got the small ball back, but the big one is gone and I´m on my last set of balls (brought a lot of spare stuff with me) and can´t afford to lose one anymore (or getting it too scratched or broken). Probably will get bags for them and find a system I can take care of them! :)
the fire-fans though are not really easy to replace.. they were 100 USD each and even if they were pretty old, they still served well. I guess, I´ll have to get new ones in Switzerland or even make them myself (so no more practice for the next 9 month). but also have to say that I didn´t use them too much, not even that very night (that´s why their treachery is almost justified). One less thing to carry around and if I´ll get new ones, I´ll use them for sure more (or don´t get them in the first place). ..glad I got all the rest of my (more used) stuff :)
hmm.. so the roads are good here (motorbikes don´t pay! =D just the gas is waaay more expensive in Peru (probably double price?) but still cheap compared to Switzerland ;)
living in general is cheap and I´m sure I will spend about only half of what I spend normally squandering along my trip ;) hehe ;)
here a lot of dead animals are brought to the beach with the tides.. I´ve seen three Pelicans and a Sea-bear (pretty big animal), without teeth, because those have been scavenged already by a local artesania-guy ;) hehe ;) heard also a Dolphin was found a few days ago. So if you do handycraft, then you can get cheap raw-materials here from local people :)
had a Ceviche here (raw fish with lots of lemon and onion and spicy) and really liked it! (the last one, when I tried that the first time, I swore to never enter a Cevicheria again ;) but was really good! like to taste local food, especially when it´s fresh sea-food while being at the beach :)
so met a few random people and can tell you that I would not get old in a place like that.. even to sell bracelets and jewelry seems a pain in the ass to me (because you have to sell where there are a lot of tourists and lots of competition). Aaaahh.. really appreciate to get my paycheck by end of the month for doing some 8 hours office job! :D haha ;)
OK.. going out to be in the sun again! :) have not been bathing in the sea yet, but made some excercises on the beach. More like to be at the water then jumping in by myself (even if playing with the waves can be fun for a moment ;)
the typical Peruanian dogs here are super ugly (look like big rats ;) because having just a few single hair on their skin :P eventually get a picture of one ;)
so I´m fine.. recovering from the week-end and soon being back on the road again :)
hear from me further down..
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
..leaving Ecuador after all..
first of all, I totally forgot to mention that I also visited the local waterfall close to Baños and spent an hour there practicing martial arts :) ..it´s a fun way to keep yourself (a bit) fit and flexible and I found that over time I got quite a bit better at it ;) listening psy-trance and swinging sticks and balls around! =)
after that visited the zoo on the way back.. didn´t take any pictures.. feel sorry for the animals, but then I think, what do we know? and too many aspects on both sides in Pro and Contra.. so I´ve seen some Condors and big cats and was thinking about Zoos and how they impact on both sides..
getting out, I was shocked when I didn´t find my helmet and gloves (another bike that was parked next to mine was gone) and got sad for two minutes (beeing betrayed in my faith into people), before I figured out that the lady took it that owns the parking.. didn´t realize that I have to pay a dollar for the parking, but was happy to have my stuff back ;) ..jaja.. should never worry too early ;) hehe ;)
this is my last entry in Ecuador, tomorrow early morning I cross the boarder to Peru. They said my, it´s kinda similar, so I´ll see ;) hehe ;) but got already spots along the way to stop on my map (finally I hit the area of one of my maps that I brought from home ;) hehe ;)
so the jungle thingy was not too stunning.. made it close to Tela and just spent a night in a hotel, being pretty much the only guest there. Nice were the little monkeys on the beach, hanging out on branches and bothering each other ;)
Some people go on jungle tours, but they are pretty expensive (has to be group) and then I didn´t feel in the mood.. almost did a auto guided hike in a botanical garden, but left it out, instead drove a long day to Cuenca. Felt as moving on south and felt good to hit the road! :) ..just took me very long to get over a mountain with lots of unpaved road and road construction! got lately some drops of rain while driving, but then I always outrun then, just small grey clouds, dripping locally.. nothing that would make me stop ;) hehe ;)
dogs can be pretty annoying.. not that they would bite, it´s just unnecessary that they run after you and bark, because when I stop they stop too (don´t come too close) and when I turn around and chase them on the bike, they run.. cowards!!! ;)
was probably also because I got a bit tense after riding for hours. Always helps to make a little stop, drink something and take a deep breath ;)
was getting dark though when I arrived in Cuenca and was glad to find quickly (after driving through half the town :P a nice play to crash for a night (breakfast included and great parking! :)
..eat probably a lot of dust during this ride, but got fantastic views and nice temperatures! :) ..that´s not always the case here in the mountains, but I think for future rides I get the thermo layers inside my gear :)
so from Cuenca, just passing Loja, short stop in and out and going to Vilcabamba, a small town in the mountains with great hiking opportunities! :)
this is also what I did three days in a row.. different hiking routes, where the hosteria-place where I stayed offered nice hiking maps with good descriptions on marked trails! outstanding!! :) I had four to six hours self guided hikes with lots of water and a bottle (box) of wine and it was really fun! :D (my so called wine-walks ;) ..my mother had a saying sticked to the fridge: "Wasser macht Weise und froehlich der Wein, darum trinke sie beide um Beides zu sein!" :D ..haha.. how true! :) the first of my hikes was the most thrilling one.. quite a long part along a ridge with steep slopes on both sides! :) but seems that after many experiences like that, I handle it quite easier than I did in the beginning ;) hehe ;)
..once more: it´s all mental!
a wonderful experience, to go back to the nature and connect for a few moments. Was daydreaming a lot (seems to be part of my vivid fantasy ;) hihi ;) was thinking about life and the universe and all kind of stuff.. just letting my mind flow, making breaks to enjoy the moment and the view and doing some excercices with my fancy kung-fu-weaponry out in nowhere along the way! :) ..ahh.. what a life!! :D
met quite some German speaking people (must go with the fact, that the owners of the place are Germans), but was a really nice place to stay, was in a dorm (supportable) for 10USD with breakfast and had all in all great times!! :D didn´t really go out at night, but very active days, a massage inbetween (to recover my back and legs) and got my plans ready for Peru :)
oh.. and break pads seem to be more expensive than expected (as almost always with BMW parts ;) hehe ;) but keep negotiating with the guys in Lima.. they ordered it for me and it´s gonna be up to 100 USD more expensive than in Colombia :P but it´s definitively not the part you want to save ;) and even if I could make it in one day to some place here in Ecuador, the time (and money I spend for a day back and fourth) evens it out.. same with getting a parcel from Colombia or so.. too stressful to get it done and probably still with delays. So I´ll bite "in the sour apple" ;) hehe ;) and get the parts changed in Lima, where hopefully also some paragliding can be done! :)
it´s one of the usual organizing-stuff-tasks that have to be done along the way :) some phone calls, some emails, nice words and things are happening! :) it´s just amazing how we influence our life! :D
..so, it has been done. Just wrote to my friends in Bolivia and let´s see who´s still alive and who I gonna see again after five years :) (I´m looking forward to that!! :D
oky.. hear from me out of Peru :)
after that visited the zoo on the way back.. didn´t take any pictures.. feel sorry for the animals, but then I think, what do we know? and too many aspects on both sides in Pro and Contra.. so I´ve seen some Condors and big cats and was thinking about Zoos and how they impact on both sides..
getting out, I was shocked when I didn´t find my helmet and gloves (another bike that was parked next to mine was gone) and got sad for two minutes (beeing betrayed in my faith into people), before I figured out that the lady took it that owns the parking.. didn´t realize that I have to pay a dollar for the parking, but was happy to have my stuff back ;) ..jaja.. should never worry too early ;) hehe ;)
this is my last entry in Ecuador, tomorrow early morning I cross the boarder to Peru. They said my, it´s kinda similar, so I´ll see ;) hehe ;) but got already spots along the way to stop on my map (finally I hit the area of one of my maps that I brought from home ;) hehe ;)
so the jungle thingy was not too stunning.. made it close to Tela and just spent a night in a hotel, being pretty much the only guest there. Nice were the little monkeys on the beach, hanging out on branches and bothering each other ;)
Some people go on jungle tours, but they are pretty expensive (has to be group) and then I didn´t feel in the mood.. almost did a auto guided hike in a botanical garden, but left it out, instead drove a long day to Cuenca. Felt as moving on south and felt good to hit the road! :) ..just took me very long to get over a mountain with lots of unpaved road and road construction! got lately some drops of rain while driving, but then I always outrun then, just small grey clouds, dripping locally.. nothing that would make me stop ;) hehe ;)
dogs can be pretty annoying.. not that they would bite, it´s just unnecessary that they run after you and bark, because when I stop they stop too (don´t come too close) and when I turn around and chase them on the bike, they run.. cowards!!! ;)
was probably also because I got a bit tense after riding for hours. Always helps to make a little stop, drink something and take a deep breath ;)
was getting dark though when I arrived in Cuenca and was glad to find quickly (after driving through half the town :P a nice play to crash for a night (breakfast included and great parking! :)
..eat probably a lot of dust during this ride, but got fantastic views and nice temperatures! :) ..that´s not always the case here in the mountains, but I think for future rides I get the thermo layers inside my gear :)
so from Cuenca, just passing Loja, short stop in and out and going to Vilcabamba, a small town in the mountains with great hiking opportunities! :)
this is also what I did three days in a row.. different hiking routes, where the hosteria-place where I stayed offered nice hiking maps with good descriptions on marked trails! outstanding!! :) I had four to six hours self guided hikes with lots of water and a bottle (box) of wine and it was really fun! :D (my so called wine-walks ;) ..my mother had a saying sticked to the fridge: "Wasser macht Weise und froehlich der Wein, darum trinke sie beide um Beides zu sein!" :D ..haha.. how true! :) the first of my hikes was the most thrilling one.. quite a long part along a ridge with steep slopes on both sides! :) but seems that after many experiences like that, I handle it quite easier than I did in the beginning ;) hehe ;)
..once more: it´s all mental!
a wonderful experience, to go back to the nature and connect for a few moments. Was daydreaming a lot (seems to be part of my vivid fantasy ;) hihi ;) was thinking about life and the universe and all kind of stuff.. just letting my mind flow, making breaks to enjoy the moment and the view and doing some excercices with my fancy kung-fu-weaponry out in nowhere along the way! :) ..ahh.. what a life!! :D
met quite some German speaking people (must go with the fact, that the owners of the place are Germans), but was a really nice place to stay, was in a dorm (supportable) for 10USD with breakfast and had all in all great times!! :D didn´t really go out at night, but very active days, a massage inbetween (to recover my back and legs) and got my plans ready for Peru :)
oh.. and break pads seem to be more expensive than expected (as almost always with BMW parts ;) hehe ;) but keep negotiating with the guys in Lima.. they ordered it for me and it´s gonna be up to 100 USD more expensive than in Colombia :P but it´s definitively not the part you want to save ;) and even if I could make it in one day to some place here in Ecuador, the time (and money I spend for a day back and fourth) evens it out.. same with getting a parcel from Colombia or so.. too stressful to get it done and probably still with delays. So I´ll bite "in the sour apple" ;) hehe ;) and get the parts changed in Lima, where hopefully also some paragliding can be done! :)
it´s one of the usual organizing-stuff-tasks that have to be done along the way :) some phone calls, some emails, nice words and things are happening! :) it´s just amazing how we influence our life! :D
..so, it has been done. Just wrote to my friends in Bolivia and let´s see who´s still alive and who I gonna see again after five years :) (I´m looking forward to that!! :D
oky.. hear from me out of Peru :)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Beach - Mountains - Jungle
so yes.. leaving the mountains again and heading to a jungle lodge to spend a night or two in the very green ;)
yesterday I had a real low-energy-phase of not knowing what to do and how long this trip will be.. for once I missed out paragliding in Crucita and appaerently skydiving in Salinas and why not going to Galapagos to get some real good dives?
many thoughts in my head and thinking about making the trip bigger.. but then it would mean to return in the cold months of Switzerland and this definitively would SUCK! :P
so then this morning I got it all pretty straight, when I got the update (thanks Mom! :) of my finances and after swallowing empty, it became quiet clear that Galapagos is not an option at the moment. Would calculate to spend about 2000 USD in 10 days and for having been big spender over some time, this would cut too much into my budget :(
I actually am (with all my expensive projects ;) just in what I planned to spend over time.. (probably because I knew I got that much ;) hehe ;) so 100USD/day for 450 traveling days and another 260 days remain (9 Month.. 9 + 15 = 24 = 2 years). A good time for being away. Should not be longer (not until spring 2012 ;) hehe ;)
so it´s still half a year more than if I would have done it directly after South East Asia. and there are moments, where I´m daydreaming about things I want to do in Switzerland, coming up with new LARP projects ;) and thinking back to things I did, people I know, places.. so I think two years is very OK ;)
it´s probably just the first time that I realized that more than half of my trip is over (3 month delayed ;) ..but no reason to panik, there are still 9 month to be filled with incredible adventures ;) hehe ;) And then I don´t even know, if I can get a job next Summer.. but should apply for 1.8.2011 (starting with the national holiday ;) and being back in July to get things settled.
but well.. it´s a warm and sunny day and I´m riding off to new adventures, after having decided to let go of some additional projects in Ecuador :) ..could easily spend a month+ here in Ecuador :) beautiful!! :D
I was the last four days in Baños, having a hot bath every night in the public hot springs (very relaxing! ;) and doing pretty much everything you can do in that place :D haha ;) ..arrived in the afternoon and got some ideas and as always, made a plan for the next days ;) hehe ;)
starting with jumping off a bridge in a pendulum swing (movie will be in FB soon ;)
it´s 100m deep and you fall 40m (about one second ;) and the rope is 60m.. very smooth, great experience of standing on the edge and jumping down! :D
then going horseback riding on my own for 1 1/2 hour :) ..I talked directly to the lady with the horses and she would not let me go on my own. So I paid the 7USD/hour for having horse and guide on horse to do a 2 hour trip.. but the horses were not ready, then with other group that wanted to go 3 hours other direction and with people that never were on horses (FREAKS ME OUT!!) and this after I very, very well explained myself to the lady.. so said them I won´t be on this one. ..then the guy from the agency brought me to another place where a lot of horses were ready and within 3 minutes I was riding on my own on a pretty nice horse up the mountain :)
there was just one moment where I had to get down and lead the horse (maybe scared by the dog, but didn´t show it), because it just stopped and was not to animate again ;P but the ride was awesome.. run on the way back where it was flat and got a cool movie of it (uploaded soon in FB, but here the upload is suuuuuper slow 0.01kB/sec or so :P
and went for a two hour hike to both lookout points and down to town again :) ..doing some active stuff as well ;) hehe :)
hot bath in the evening and going out for a moment.. didn´t really go out in that place. It´s nice to know people to go out together, but meeting people going out was a bit exhausting..
the next day I made a ride on my bike on the other side of the mountain (dirt road, but nice scenery :) and captured some movies.. will soon make a helmet-cam upgrade, so I can take a short movie of stunning places while riding! :D ..so this movies also soon in FB :)
tried over four days to go paragliding (would have been SOOOOO nice!!) but didn´t happen :`( ..mostly because the weather was not good enough. Too bad, I would have LOVED it!!
went then climbing for a couple of hours (until my arms were hurting too much -> missing experience and technique makes me climbing too much with my arms instead of legs.. so I made barely a 5A (highest I´ve ever done), so could say I suck climbing, because for every climber this would be piece of cake ;) hehe ;) but also a good experience.. 25m climbing up and not freaking out.. just fall two times on a more complicated route that would not let me advance at a certain point ;)
so complete the package I went also canyoning! (what I´ve never done before) and had a lot of fun with my private guide (took him along on my bike ;) with no waiting and doing the more crazy stuff as grappling down face forward! :D Muhahaha!! :D as in the movies and I did not too bad for the first time ;) ..even of this I got a movie I want to show the world! ;) hehe ;)
yes.. like to capture short movies of special stuff.. it´s kinda more fun than taking just pictures. So I want to make a small Action-Man-Series of stuff I´ve done in my life (accompanying the skydive and paraglide movie ;) hehe ;)
next to all these activities, I had some good food, met some people (not too many though) and watched finally some of the DVDs, I bought earlier (there was no DVD-player available before..). So I´ve seen Tekken movie that surprised me for being more than expected, the Mercenaries, a masterpiece of Stallone (how can this be?! ;) but really liked it! as many stars as Ocean 11, but more action! hahaha! ;)
the Machete from Roberto Rodriguez (super style, cult, must see! :D and some other less mentionable titles ;P ..had some rain during these days, so was a perfect solution to spend these hours inside :)
now I´m already left the mountains and I´m in the flat jungle region, going to Tena and finding a suitable place to spend a day or two :)
oh.. almost forgot.. met a great dude, that gave me a lot of information about paragliding!! :) too bad we didn´t fly in these days, but still he helped me out with many things, up to a friend who was bike mechanic who helped my to fix my loose chain problem (missed a day flying because having technical problems on the way up :P so we changed after 35 000km the sprockets and chain (is the 3rd chain already) and the old parts were really worn off! was good to change it, even if it took 2 hours and taking the rear part of the bike apart because the chain had no lock :P but now running fine, no more noise as the old chain and sprockets made :)
so believe me.. the last days were full-on! :) just missed out on a massage.. would have been around 20USD for an hour and I just hoped to meet a nice girl for a backrub session, what never happened ;)
hear from me.. heading down South, not speeding up, but not troddling and delaying for once ;) hehe ;)
yesterday I had a real low-energy-phase of not knowing what to do and how long this trip will be.. for once I missed out paragliding in Crucita and appaerently skydiving in Salinas and why not going to Galapagos to get some real good dives?
many thoughts in my head and thinking about making the trip bigger.. but then it would mean to return in the cold months of Switzerland and this definitively would SUCK! :P
so then this morning I got it all pretty straight, when I got the update (thanks Mom! :) of my finances and after swallowing empty, it became quiet clear that Galapagos is not an option at the moment. Would calculate to spend about 2000 USD in 10 days and for having been big spender over some time, this would cut too much into my budget :(
I actually am (with all my expensive projects ;) just in what I planned to spend over time.. (probably because I knew I got that much ;) hehe ;) so 100USD/day for 450 traveling days and another 260 days remain (9 Month.. 9 + 15 = 24 = 2 years). A good time for being away. Should not be longer (not until spring 2012 ;) hehe ;)
so it´s still half a year more than if I would have done it directly after South East Asia. and there are moments, where I´m daydreaming about things I want to do in Switzerland, coming up with new LARP projects ;) and thinking back to things I did, people I know, places.. so I think two years is very OK ;)
it´s probably just the first time that I realized that more than half of my trip is over (3 month delayed ;) ..but no reason to panik, there are still 9 month to be filled with incredible adventures ;) hehe ;) And then I don´t even know, if I can get a job next Summer.. but should apply for 1.8.2011 (starting with the national holiday ;) and being back in July to get things settled.
but well.. it´s a warm and sunny day and I´m riding off to new adventures, after having decided to let go of some additional projects in Ecuador :) ..could easily spend a month+ here in Ecuador :) beautiful!! :D
I was the last four days in Baños, having a hot bath every night in the public hot springs (very relaxing! ;) and doing pretty much everything you can do in that place :D haha ;) ..arrived in the afternoon and got some ideas and as always, made a plan for the next days ;) hehe ;)
starting with jumping off a bridge in a pendulum swing (movie will be in FB soon ;)
it´s 100m deep and you fall 40m (about one second ;) and the rope is 60m.. very smooth, great experience of standing on the edge and jumping down! :D
then going horseback riding on my own for 1 1/2 hour :) ..I talked directly to the lady with the horses and she would not let me go on my own. So I paid the 7USD/hour for having horse and guide on horse to do a 2 hour trip.. but the horses were not ready, then with other group that wanted to go 3 hours other direction and with people that never were on horses (FREAKS ME OUT!!) and this after I very, very well explained myself to the lady.. so said them I won´t be on this one. ..then the guy from the agency brought me to another place where a lot of horses were ready and within 3 minutes I was riding on my own on a pretty nice horse up the mountain :)
there was just one moment where I had to get down and lead the horse (maybe scared by the dog, but didn´t show it), because it just stopped and was not to animate again ;P but the ride was awesome.. run on the way back where it was flat and got a cool movie of it (uploaded soon in FB, but here the upload is suuuuuper slow 0.01kB/sec or so :P
and went for a two hour hike to both lookout points and down to town again :) ..doing some active stuff as well ;) hehe :)
hot bath in the evening and going out for a moment.. didn´t really go out in that place. It´s nice to know people to go out together, but meeting people going out was a bit exhausting..
the next day I made a ride on my bike on the other side of the mountain (dirt road, but nice scenery :) and captured some movies.. will soon make a helmet-cam upgrade, so I can take a short movie of stunning places while riding! :D ..so this movies also soon in FB :)
tried over four days to go paragliding (would have been SOOOOO nice!!) but didn´t happen :`( ..mostly because the weather was not good enough. Too bad, I would have LOVED it!!
went then climbing for a couple of hours (until my arms were hurting too much -> missing experience and technique makes me climbing too much with my arms instead of legs.. so I made barely a 5A (highest I´ve ever done), so could say I suck climbing, because for every climber this would be piece of cake ;) hehe ;) but also a good experience.. 25m climbing up and not freaking out.. just fall two times on a more complicated route that would not let me advance at a certain point ;)
so complete the package I went also canyoning! (what I´ve never done before) and had a lot of fun with my private guide (took him along on my bike ;) with no waiting and doing the more crazy stuff as grappling down face forward! :D Muhahaha!! :D as in the movies and I did not too bad for the first time ;) ..even of this I got a movie I want to show the world! ;) hehe ;)
yes.. like to capture short movies of special stuff.. it´s kinda more fun than taking just pictures. So I want to make a small Action-Man-Series of stuff I´ve done in my life (accompanying the skydive and paraglide movie ;) hehe ;)
next to all these activities, I had some good food, met some people (not too many though) and watched finally some of the DVDs, I bought earlier (there was no DVD-player available before..). So I´ve seen Tekken movie that surprised me for being more than expected, the Mercenaries, a masterpiece of Stallone (how can this be?! ;) but really liked it! as many stars as Ocean 11, but more action! hahaha! ;)
the Machete from Roberto Rodriguez (super style, cult, must see! :D and some other less mentionable titles ;P ..had some rain during these days, so was a perfect solution to spend these hours inside :)
now I´m already left the mountains and I´m in the flat jungle region, going to Tena and finding a suitable place to spend a day or two :)
oh.. almost forgot.. met a great dude, that gave me a lot of information about paragliding!! :) too bad we didn´t fly in these days, but still he helped me out with many things, up to a friend who was bike mechanic who helped my to fix my loose chain problem (missed a day flying because having technical problems on the way up :P so we changed after 35 000km the sprockets and chain (is the 3rd chain already) and the old parts were really worn off! was good to change it, even if it took 2 hours and taking the rear part of the bike apart because the chain had no lock :P but now running fine, no more noise as the old chain and sprockets made :)
so believe me.. the last days were full-on! :) just missed out on a massage.. would have been around 20USD for an hour and I just hoped to meet a nice girl for a backrub session, what never happened ;)
hear from me.. heading down South, not speeding up, but not troddling and delaying for once ;) hehe ;)
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