well.. was a black day in the history of dreadlocks, but actually was a welcomed change in the end ;)
it was just hopeless to win the battle against lice in such a thick and lush jungle of hairs on my head. Nits (eggs) hidden in big stems and dozens (probably not hundreds ;) of small little animals, feeding on my scalp.
another issue was that through very few maintenance over the last four months, my dreads got really, really out of shape. Once more, depends a lot of your hairtype how your dreaddies grow and how much maintenance you have to give.. but straight, fine hair is not the easiest way to go ;)
what happens is that if you don´t roll them daily (or every couple of days), to stretch them out, hairs get pulled back, what produces thin parts in the tips where they break, is messing up your tips by pulling them to "clumps" and the pulled back hair forms knots along your dreads :-/
so afterwards I can say, at a certain point, my hair was looking pretty awesome! (after I was investing dozens of hours of work to make them ;) but on long term, I can´t keep up with that. I´m just not the person who spends a lot of time to fix me up ;) hehe :) ..I mean, shower and shave and maybe some gel on my hair, but everything that passes this slight ammount of time is like ironing clothes ;) hehe :)
then I thought, it might be shocking after such a long time having long hair and having dreads, to get it cut shortly.. but no, actually it´s not! :) in fact, looks pretty awesome! :D went back to the old and known style of cut I had for a long time in Switzerland and after the dread-lady opened me my stumps (that hurt quite a bit), I got the best treatment ever from a hairdresser! :D including massage and two washes.. was three years ago that I went to a hair stylist ;) hihi :)
the only thing that sucks a bit is that I sent back home my streetfighter helmet (that would now fit perfectly again and looks a hundred times more badass than the one I use here.. will see if I need a new one.. maybe buy even in Venezuela, because everything so cheap ;) took probably 1.5 hours to cut and undo and was 10 bucks and then 8 bucks for the wash, cut, wash and massage :)
furthermore I appreciate the "filthy" work they did.. I´m sure the dread-lady had to get rid of more than a lice under her finger nails :-/ some fell on the floor, others were climbing on the dead rastas, looking for my scalp (bastard will sufficate or die starving in this plastic bag). Still got them sealed up, but will probably not do a lot with them.. maybe keep the nicest one as a souvenir, but what stays is the experience and some crazy pictures to show my kids ;) hihi :)
life is change
now once cleared the battle field, the little suckers on my head are probably already gone or will be soon.. now the pesticide actually reaches them and the nits can be picked out easily.. after the whole procedure and cutting off 97% of my hair, I still found five lice scratching me and took out more than 20 nits with my bare hands :-/ so having rasta takes the problem to a whole new level.. people soak their hair in petroleum jelly and use vinagre, tea tree oil, showercaps and repeat the procedure over 2-3 weeks to break the spawning cycle.. that´s way too much work to me and especially not traveling and moving from place to place. And as I´m not Samson, I don´t loose my super powers by cutting off my hair ;) hahaha :D ;)
I made my way back to Higuerote yesterday and will have a day for myself today.. my friend asked me to go on the beach with her and her friends, but I´m not too much of a beach person and after being dragged along the last days, I enjoy to be a bit more independent again :)
you will hear from me soon...
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
..ready..set..GO!!!
where to start? where to start??
first of all, I´m still alive ;) and I´m now qualified to jump out of a plane by myself ;) hehe :) ..it´s soooo totally AWESOME!!! like sex, just different ;) hihi ;))
well.. I´ll have to edit this entry, because just 5 min left, but let´s use the time :)
so I got up early on Saturday morning and got briefed about parachutes, emergency procedures and some other stuff you have to know if you want to jump out of planes ;)
skipped the second Tandem jump and jumped with two instructors instead, having a radio, so they can advise me if I have any problems landing.. but it´s easier than it looks ;) hihi :) just have to wait long enough to flare (full breaking, just 2m above the ground, to land softly on the grass :)
only thing was that we were getting into a cloud and didn´t react quick enough on the "pull-chute-now" sign, so one of the instructors did this for me (felt a bit dramatic ;) but let me pass to the next level.. anyway, broke the school record with making six AFF jumps within one day and get the graduation :D :D haha ;) seems I got a little skydiver in me ;) just needed seven jumps to complete the whole program and was mostly a step ahead, already practising some exercises of the next jump.. because the big planes they have take you to 13 500 feet and this gives you a good 55seconds of free falling, before reaching the 5500ft mark, where you pull the chute as a student.
..to be continued soon..
so here we are again :) ..I´m in the middle of figuring out, how far I want to go with my license.. it´s a messy thing, because ever country handles it differently and Switzerland doesn´t give me credits for the US-License and so on :P
so the six jumps of the day bring you from stabilizing, over horizontal turns to front- and backflip to the delta (as they do it in the movies to dive down faster and to deplace horizontally :) was really fun to practise and to jump with Luis, a real nice instructor! just should have eaten a little bit more during the day, made the whole program on a coffe, a juice and an "Arepa" (tasty corn puffer with cheese and ham). So I got pretty low on blood suger in the end ;) and was starving when I finally eat a sandwich after graduation :)
I changed my mind to stay for another weekend to continue my course, but as they tell me in Switzerland, doesn´t make sense to make the A-License here.. just have to figure out how to conserve my skydive-booklet as a proof that I made the AFF course. But it´s a really good dropzone, good planes and above all, really skilled people that help you out with whatever you need and can answer every question you have.. so I really try to get back on the week-end and have some more fun in the air :)
I had then on Sunday another six jumps.. number one was my first solo-jump.. step out of the plane and feel free, just you and the sky :D haha ;) it´s not that you´d be flying, but falling with style! ;) haha :D
I´m telling you, it still freaks me kinda out to stand up in the plane and walk to the door (it´s the back of the plane, that´s completely open, showing you how high up you are or how far down it goes, if you fall over the edge ;) and my brain instinctively wants to protect me from falling to death ;) hihi :) then walking to the edge, looking down and jumping out into the element of air :D
had then three couch jumps, where I learned to fall faster and slower (to adjust your relative position to other skydivers to make figures later on in the air) and to move forward (by stretching out your legs and taking your hands a little bit back). after this I made one jump that´s called: Hop´n´Pop, where you jump at 5000ft and pull your chute immediately after being stabilized. For once, I was the first guy leaving the plane ;) passed this level as well and had a last "fun-dive" where I jumped out of the plane with a tripple front-flip, stabilezed, then backflip, the some spinnings and a delta in the end, pulling the chute later at 4500ft (with some more jumps, I lower the hight to 3500ft, the normal hight for pulling a chute.. but as newbie, it´s a little bit higher, so you got more time in there´s an emergency.. well.. I know the drill to liberate the primary chute and pull the secondary chute if it has to be (and they always work :).
I actually had a low-speed incidenct on my 3rd jump :P a little line twist (the strings are twisted up above your head.. so the chute is not controllable, but it´s easy resolvable. You pull the strings apart with your hand and turn your body to untwist the lines and then you make the standard check if your chute is maneuvrable. Glad they told me how to do that before my first jump on my own ;) hihi :)
but even in this situation, I remained calm and solved the problem :)
then another reason to go back on the weekend was the good treat I had from the people of the dropzone.. one guy made a little movie for me and burned it on a DVD, another invited me at his place (a really luxury, super stylish appartment he has ;) and had good times there! then I got a ride to Caracas on Sunday night and spent yesterday with a girl that I met at the drop zone.. gonna call her later on and let´s see what we´re doing today :) unfortunately she lifes with other people and can´t have me staying at her place, but she showed me the center of the city yesterday and it was good fun! :D learned something about Simon Bolivar, their liberator and national hero and ended up in a luxury hotel that costs me 25 bucks the night ;)
I will try to find somebody who can fix my dreads today and got some more strong pesticide to kill remaining bugs on my head (I really hate such strong stuff, but gonna make a last effort to get rid of them.. itchy feeling on your head sucks ;) hehe :)
then I have to call a friend to sell him my dollars (changing in a bank sucks) and have to think about how many more jumps I gonna make at the week-end. It´s all pretty costly (for not being accepted in Switzerland anyway) but on the other hand, really don´t like the idea to not being registered anywhere :-/
so yes.. one more time being totally undecided ;) and just going with the flow.. let´s see what the day holds for me (and worst case, there is a bike waiting for me in Colombia ;) hihi :) :D ahhhhh.. LIFE IS JUST GREAT!!!!
hope can upload my movie to facebook, so you guys can have a look at it how I´m falling downward with 220km/h ;)
be well and be happy! over and out :)
first of all, I´m still alive ;) and I´m now qualified to jump out of a plane by myself ;) hehe :) ..it´s soooo totally AWESOME!!! like sex, just different ;) hihi ;))
well.. I´ll have to edit this entry, because just 5 min left, but let´s use the time :)
so I got up early on Saturday morning and got briefed about parachutes, emergency procedures and some other stuff you have to know if you want to jump out of planes ;)
skipped the second Tandem jump and jumped with two instructors instead, having a radio, so they can advise me if I have any problems landing.. but it´s easier than it looks ;) hihi :) just have to wait long enough to flare (full breaking, just 2m above the ground, to land softly on the grass :)
only thing was that we were getting into a cloud and didn´t react quick enough on the "pull-chute-now" sign, so one of the instructors did this for me (felt a bit dramatic ;) but let me pass to the next level.. anyway, broke the school record with making six AFF jumps within one day and get the graduation :D :D haha ;) seems I got a little skydiver in me ;) just needed seven jumps to complete the whole program and was mostly a step ahead, already practising some exercises of the next jump.. because the big planes they have take you to 13 500 feet and this gives you a good 55seconds of free falling, before reaching the 5500ft mark, where you pull the chute as a student.
..to be continued soon..
so here we are again :) ..I´m in the middle of figuring out, how far I want to go with my license.. it´s a messy thing, because ever country handles it differently and Switzerland doesn´t give me credits for the US-License and so on :P
so the six jumps of the day bring you from stabilizing, over horizontal turns to front- and backflip to the delta (as they do it in the movies to dive down faster and to deplace horizontally :) was really fun to practise and to jump with Luis, a real nice instructor! just should have eaten a little bit more during the day, made the whole program on a coffe, a juice and an "Arepa" (tasty corn puffer with cheese and ham). So I got pretty low on blood suger in the end ;) and was starving when I finally eat a sandwich after graduation :)
I changed my mind to stay for another weekend to continue my course, but as they tell me in Switzerland, doesn´t make sense to make the A-License here.. just have to figure out how to conserve my skydive-booklet as a proof that I made the AFF course. But it´s a really good dropzone, good planes and above all, really skilled people that help you out with whatever you need and can answer every question you have.. so I really try to get back on the week-end and have some more fun in the air :)
I had then on Sunday another six jumps.. number one was my first solo-jump.. step out of the plane and feel free, just you and the sky :D haha ;) it´s not that you´d be flying, but falling with style! ;) haha :D
I´m telling you, it still freaks me kinda out to stand up in the plane and walk to the door (it´s the back of the plane, that´s completely open, showing you how high up you are or how far down it goes, if you fall over the edge ;) and my brain instinctively wants to protect me from falling to death ;) hihi :) then walking to the edge, looking down and jumping out into the element of air :D
had then three couch jumps, where I learned to fall faster and slower (to adjust your relative position to other skydivers to make figures later on in the air) and to move forward (by stretching out your legs and taking your hands a little bit back). after this I made one jump that´s called: Hop´n´Pop, where you jump at 5000ft and pull your chute immediately after being stabilized. For once, I was the first guy leaving the plane ;) passed this level as well and had a last "fun-dive" where I jumped out of the plane with a tripple front-flip, stabilezed, then backflip, the some spinnings and a delta in the end, pulling the chute later at 4500ft (with some more jumps, I lower the hight to 3500ft, the normal hight for pulling a chute.. but as newbie, it´s a little bit higher, so you got more time in there´s an emergency.. well.. I know the drill to liberate the primary chute and pull the secondary chute if it has to be (and they always work :).
I actually had a low-speed incidenct on my 3rd jump :P a little line twist (the strings are twisted up above your head.. so the chute is not controllable, but it´s easy resolvable. You pull the strings apart with your hand and turn your body to untwist the lines and then you make the standard check if your chute is maneuvrable. Glad they told me how to do that before my first jump on my own ;) hihi :)
but even in this situation, I remained calm and solved the problem :)
then another reason to go back on the weekend was the good treat I had from the people of the dropzone.. one guy made a little movie for me and burned it on a DVD, another invited me at his place (a really luxury, super stylish appartment he has ;) and had good times there! then I got a ride to Caracas on Sunday night and spent yesterday with a girl that I met at the drop zone.. gonna call her later on and let´s see what we´re doing today :) unfortunately she lifes with other people and can´t have me staying at her place, but she showed me the center of the city yesterday and it was good fun! :D learned something about Simon Bolivar, their liberator and national hero and ended up in a luxury hotel that costs me 25 bucks the night ;)
I will try to find somebody who can fix my dreads today and got some more strong pesticide to kill remaining bugs on my head (I really hate such strong stuff, but gonna make a last effort to get rid of them.. itchy feeling on your head sucks ;) hehe :)
then I have to call a friend to sell him my dollars (changing in a bank sucks) and have to think about how many more jumps I gonna make at the week-end. It´s all pretty costly (for not being accepted in Switzerland anyway) but on the other hand, really don´t like the idea to not being registered anywhere :-/
so yes.. one more time being totally undecided ;) and just going with the flow.. let´s see what the day holds for me (and worst case, there is a bike waiting for me in Colombia ;) hihi :) :D ahhhhh.. LIFE IS JUST GREAT!!!!
hope can upload my movie to facebook, so you guys can have a look at it how I´m falling downward with 220km/h ;)
be well and be happy! over and out :)
Friday, July 23, 2010
HOLY COW!!! ..it´s happening!!
oh my f**king god.. you wouldn´t belive what crazy experience it is to jump out of a plane at 13500ft hight.. *MUHAHAHA*
so well.. first I was waiting for 5 hours until they started sending people and sent me up with the last flight.. but had some nice conversations and checked out the skydiving school.. I really like it! :D well.. Giancarlo, the big man on the place is not the type of "you´re my super best friend" but he complies with what we were talking about and I was jumping anyway with one of his instructors.. awesome guy!!
so let me tell you about this.. first of all, the bad news is that they only work on weekends, but the good news is that I can make the whole course this weekend! :D ;) so for once I had a really good timing to arrive on Thursday and have my first tandem jump on Friday to make the rest of the nine jumps on Saturday and Sunday :D
first I was a bit overwhelmed.. it´s my first jump ever and you´re supposed to make a lot of stuff in the air and pull the chute by yourself, but was REALLY cool!
so guess what.. it was not perfect, but it was remarkably good what I did in the air, so tomorrow instead of a second tandem jump I got my own chute and two instructors holding me in the air ;) was an anxious feeling standing in the plane, backdoor open, plane in an upward angle and you not attached to anything.. but then sit on the instructors lap ;) and get attached to the guy with the chute ;) walking together to the door, facing inside the plane then it starts:
Instructor ready? "ready", strech your legs, then bend your knees and jump backward, making the "arc" (pushing your pelvis down to be stabilized in the air).
then I was for a few seconds just "holy fuck.. you´re freefalling over the beach", but didn´t take long to get my thougths straight and the drill kicked in: checking altimeter - make three theoretical pulls of the chute (just touching the instructors hand on the activation ball) - check altimeter - make 360° turn left - check altimeter - make 360° turn right - check altimeter - wait for 6000ft - continously watching altimeter until 5500ft then sign activation of parachute and grap the ball for real and "weeeeeeee!" hanging in the air - check parachute correctly open - watch left - turn left to check maneuvrabilty - same right side - then pull both lines to break - chute working fine, heading direction dropzone and maintain correct hights and positions (all pretty easy to learn ;) just some number and marks.
it was so fantastically super thrilling!!!! that I felt so happy, to already have started this course! :D MUHAHAHAHA!!! jajaja.. badass Markus.. another expensive hobby to spend money on ;) hihihih :)
but yes.. it´s really, really cool! and I´m pretty pround on my first performance.. didn´t even know how it feels to fall (your cheeks are looking funny in the wind ;) and this is why I can do so many things in my life: willpower, focus and concentration! to react on new situations.
I beg this would be a fantastic manager-training (better than swimming with sharks ;) to test and improve your mental abilities.
compared to paragliding you don´t stay for a long time in the air but you jump out of a plane (sweeeeeeet!). So for both sports being so totally different, I want to make the paraglide license as well ;) skydiving is the adrenaline junkie sport! :D then steering your chute is not really complicated and for equipment got so much better over the years it´s just your cockyness that can kill you (so always keep the respect for it!).
but then it´s as diving.. you get a license in 2-3 days, but then you have to practise. I mean, it´s no rocket science and you can learn all you have to know easily, but then you have to practise to gain experience.
so this is definitively a WOW-thing of my trip! :D just a shame, that it will cost me a lot of money if I want to get to the 200 jump mark to start with wingsuits ;) hihihihi :) jajaja..leveling up over time I guess ;)
that´s it for now.. gonna let you know how the next two days are.. looking forward to tomorrow. it´s gonna be FULL ON! :D
hear from me soon.. "weeeeeeeeeee!" ;)
so well.. first I was waiting for 5 hours until they started sending people and sent me up with the last flight.. but had some nice conversations and checked out the skydiving school.. I really like it! :D well.. Giancarlo, the big man on the place is not the type of "you´re my super best friend" but he complies with what we were talking about and I was jumping anyway with one of his instructors.. awesome guy!!
so let me tell you about this.. first of all, the bad news is that they only work on weekends, but the good news is that I can make the whole course this weekend! :D ;) so for once I had a really good timing to arrive on Thursday and have my first tandem jump on Friday to make the rest of the nine jumps on Saturday and Sunday :D
first I was a bit overwhelmed.. it´s my first jump ever and you´re supposed to make a lot of stuff in the air and pull the chute by yourself, but was REALLY cool!
so guess what.. it was not perfect, but it was remarkably good what I did in the air, so tomorrow instead of a second tandem jump I got my own chute and two instructors holding me in the air ;) was an anxious feeling standing in the plane, backdoor open, plane in an upward angle and you not attached to anything.. but then sit on the instructors lap ;) and get attached to the guy with the chute ;) walking together to the door, facing inside the plane then it starts:
Instructor ready? "ready", strech your legs, then bend your knees and jump backward, making the "arc" (pushing your pelvis down to be stabilized in the air).
then I was for a few seconds just "holy fuck.. you´re freefalling over the beach", but didn´t take long to get my thougths straight and the drill kicked in: checking altimeter - make three theoretical pulls of the chute (just touching the instructors hand on the activation ball) - check altimeter - make 360° turn left - check altimeter - make 360° turn right - check altimeter - wait for 6000ft - continously watching altimeter until 5500ft then sign activation of parachute and grap the ball for real and "weeeeeeee!" hanging in the air - check parachute correctly open - watch left - turn left to check maneuvrabilty - same right side - then pull both lines to break - chute working fine, heading direction dropzone and maintain correct hights and positions (all pretty easy to learn ;) just some number and marks.
it was so fantastically super thrilling!!!! that I felt so happy, to already have started this course! :D MUHAHAHAHA!!! jajaja.. badass Markus.. another expensive hobby to spend money on ;) hihihih :)
but yes.. it´s really, really cool! and I´m pretty pround on my first performance.. didn´t even know how it feels to fall (your cheeks are looking funny in the wind ;) and this is why I can do so many things in my life: willpower, focus and concentration! to react on new situations.
I beg this would be a fantastic manager-training (better than swimming with sharks ;) to test and improve your mental abilities.
compared to paragliding you don´t stay for a long time in the air but you jump out of a plane (sweeeeeeet!). So for both sports being so totally different, I want to make the paraglide license as well ;) skydiving is the adrenaline junkie sport! :D then steering your chute is not really complicated and for equipment got so much better over the years it´s just your cockyness that can kill you (so always keep the respect for it!).
but then it´s as diving.. you get a license in 2-3 days, but then you have to practise. I mean, it´s no rocket science and you can learn all you have to know easily, but then you have to practise to gain experience.
so this is definitively a WOW-thing of my trip! :D just a shame, that it will cost me a lot of money if I want to get to the 200 jump mark to start with wingsuits ;) hihihihi :) jajaja..leveling up over time I guess ;)
that´s it for now.. gonna let you know how the next two days are.. looking forward to tomorrow. it´s gonna be FULL ON! :D
hear from me soon.. "weeeeeeeeeee!" ;)
..here we are..
oh boy.. finally found an internet place and glad to write down some stuff, before I met my skydive instructor..
so I "catapulted" myself deeply into Venezuela, a socialist country that is still in pretty bad shape (30 millions living here and I´ve seen A LOT of brick houses, strongly looking like slums). The president and lots of citizens are not huge fans of foreigners or are just not used to tourism (so you are not very good received compared to other countries I visited.. actually, almost every country I visited exept for Vietnam ;) hehe :) well.. the experience might change or I might be back in Colombia soon.. always worth to take a breath of different air ;)
I had a beautiful ride over the mountains from Bucaramanga to Cucuta, just started 30 minutes too early. So I got into heavy rain and was wet (and freezing!!) while riding to the top of the mountain (3700 m.a.s.l.). But then finally the sun came out and I got dried and enjoyed the breath taking view over mountains and hills. I managed to change some money and find (finally) a place to leave my bike for 14 days. It´s an expensive hotel, where I got a good feeling to leave the bike. First I tried different parking lots and motels, but didn´t find a satisfying vibe or an enough attended place to leave my bike behind.. so I was driving back and forth until I completed my mission ;) would have been easier, if I would have known, that the bus I have to take to Caracas leaves in Venezuela and not Colombia. I almost passed the frontier without knowing ;) so I took a taxi from the hotel over the boarder to get all my stamps and end up at a place, where public transport leaves to the next bigger city (where the night buses leave). The taxi was 15 USD because still Colombia.. then here in Venezuela, traveling costs are super low! :) was 1 USD to get to San Cristobal (1.5 hrs) and then 10 USD to get to Caracas (15 hrs) where the biggest challenge was sleeping in the not too comfortable seats :-/
then I got checked by the police, had to get out and they wanted to see my backpack (was so deeply burried that they didn´t get it out ;) but were asking nasty questions about how much money I carry and what type of bills I have. Got somewhat upset.. never happened to me and I hope I don´t get bothered any more by the police. I think, it was a good idea to leave the bike in Colombia.. here they call it "matracar" and means, they`re looking hard to find something to get money of you :(((
then I had to take another local bus in Caracas to change terminal and another 2hr bus to get to Higuerote.. all in all like 15 USD ;) hehe :) then the taxi here in town charged me 2 USD for just some blocks.. next time I´ll be walking here.
I thought I will take some Ibuprofan 200mg to get rid of my back pain (feeling it since starting the trip into the jungle), but it`s a lot of drugs and so far I can stand the pain. So I keep the pill for another moment ;) in the morning I can´t even tie my shoes without warming up my back and finding some way to bend down :( but yeah.. don´t want to complain too much here ;) hehe :)
another nasty, nasty thing is lices in my hair :((( yes, somebody told me this 10 days ago, but I didn´t have time to take care of it, instead was scratching my hair like a lousy dog :( well.. another experience with dreads. No idea where I got those little suckers, but I started already the chemical warfare on my head and hope they will be extinct soon!! (yesterday in the bus I scratched out 2 eggs and 3 lices.. eggs are black small spots with a little tail that pop when squished between the finger nails and lice you don´t wanna see ;)
well.. that´s not all of it.. for not having taken care of my dreads for the last 3 months (too much work), they got in pretty bad shape and the lice-cure makes it even worse :( furthermore there are thin parts along the dreads because hair got probably pulled back, leaving weak parts. I lost a few centimeters in 3 dreads lately, but looks as there would be some bigger parts to fall off in the next weeks.. AAAARGH!!! yes, that what you get if you make dreads with a type of hair as mine (thin and pretty straight). So now I´m thinking about to make a last big effort (killing bugs and fixing it up.. means, going to a hairdresser to get the roots crochet together and the loose hair taken in). Yes.. the roots look also ugly, because if you don´t roll them from time to time and crochet them together, they get kinda entangled, but in a squished form.. so yes, having nice looking dreads takes a lot of time :-/
I really wanted to keep them until the end of this trip.. furthermore I just sent the bad-ass looking street fighter helmet home, because couldn´t waer it with dreads and I fear if I cut them off, the helmet I`m wearing now will be sitting very loose on my head :-//
so the plan is to make a last big effort to save my hair and then if this doesn´t work, cut them off and go back to easy-style ;) hehe :)
what more to tell.. so Venezuela is not the friendliest country, but met already really awesome people! (very helpful ones). Haven´t seen tough lots of pretty women. There are some, but very, very few and no really stunning ones ;) (and I thought there was a miss universe from Venezuela). Well.. gonna figure out more this week-end, how the ladies are here in Venezuela ;)
but the country is very conservative and yes.. socialist. Lot´s of police and control and because they don´t get their paychecks always at the end of the month, it´s even worse (they might try to get the money from somewhere else..).
the food isn´t especially tasty neither, but you get around.. the big coffees are small and the small ones are almost invisible ;) hehe :) it´s because I heard they drink a lot of coffee, but just very little at the time. (about the food: liked it much more in Asia.. I think Asian food is great!! :D
so yes.. up up and away to the airport and then I got an update for how long I will stay (have to stay) in Venezuela before I can get my bike and my stuff (left a lot in Bucaramanga, so I didn´t have to cross the mountains with all my luggage). Still missing Colombia, but I guess, it´s getting better here in Venezuela.. it´s always the same if you come into a new country you´ve never been before: it takes you some time to get used to it and start loving it. But then it´s also a great thing!! ..for you out there not knowing these countries yet, you still can experience the same thing, while for me it would be going back to a place that´s already connected to some experience and impressions.
ah yes.. changing money is an issue here.. apparently banks don´t sell dollars and change them to a very bad exchange rate (1:4/1:5 instead of 1:8) but there are some people interested buying dolars, so I should be fine to change some more money (of course still loosing a little bit in the exchange). And I heard if you get money from the ATM, they charge you a lot, but a lot of taxes on it, if you´re a foreigner.. so I don´t even want to try, to not have a bad experience checking my expenses online later..
thank you Mom for being back home and helping me with online payments for courses!! :D
ok.. hear from me soon.. live out of Venezuela ;) hehe :)
big hug to all of you and missing you!!
so I "catapulted" myself deeply into Venezuela, a socialist country that is still in pretty bad shape (30 millions living here and I´ve seen A LOT of brick houses, strongly looking like slums). The president and lots of citizens are not huge fans of foreigners or are just not used to tourism (so you are not very good received compared to other countries I visited.. actually, almost every country I visited exept for Vietnam ;) hehe :) well.. the experience might change or I might be back in Colombia soon.. always worth to take a breath of different air ;)
I had a beautiful ride over the mountains from Bucaramanga to Cucuta, just started 30 minutes too early. So I got into heavy rain and was wet (and freezing!!) while riding to the top of the mountain (3700 m.a.s.l.). But then finally the sun came out and I got dried and enjoyed the breath taking view over mountains and hills. I managed to change some money and find (finally) a place to leave my bike for 14 days. It´s an expensive hotel, where I got a good feeling to leave the bike. First I tried different parking lots and motels, but didn´t find a satisfying vibe or an enough attended place to leave my bike behind.. so I was driving back and forth until I completed my mission ;) would have been easier, if I would have known, that the bus I have to take to Caracas leaves in Venezuela and not Colombia. I almost passed the frontier without knowing ;) so I took a taxi from the hotel over the boarder to get all my stamps and end up at a place, where public transport leaves to the next bigger city (where the night buses leave). The taxi was 15 USD because still Colombia.. then here in Venezuela, traveling costs are super low! :) was 1 USD to get to San Cristobal (1.5 hrs) and then 10 USD to get to Caracas (15 hrs) where the biggest challenge was sleeping in the not too comfortable seats :-/
then I got checked by the police, had to get out and they wanted to see my backpack (was so deeply burried that they didn´t get it out ;) but were asking nasty questions about how much money I carry and what type of bills I have. Got somewhat upset.. never happened to me and I hope I don´t get bothered any more by the police. I think, it was a good idea to leave the bike in Colombia.. here they call it "matracar" and means, they`re looking hard to find something to get money of you :(((
then I had to take another local bus in Caracas to change terminal and another 2hr bus to get to Higuerote.. all in all like 15 USD ;) hehe :) then the taxi here in town charged me 2 USD for just some blocks.. next time I´ll be walking here.
I thought I will take some Ibuprofan 200mg to get rid of my back pain (feeling it since starting the trip into the jungle), but it`s a lot of drugs and so far I can stand the pain. So I keep the pill for another moment ;) in the morning I can´t even tie my shoes without warming up my back and finding some way to bend down :( but yeah.. don´t want to complain too much here ;) hehe :)
another nasty, nasty thing is lices in my hair :((( yes, somebody told me this 10 days ago, but I didn´t have time to take care of it, instead was scratching my hair like a lousy dog :( well.. another experience with dreads. No idea where I got those little suckers, but I started already the chemical warfare on my head and hope they will be extinct soon!! (yesterday in the bus I scratched out 2 eggs and 3 lices.. eggs are black small spots with a little tail that pop when squished between the finger nails and lice you don´t wanna see ;)
well.. that´s not all of it.. for not having taken care of my dreads for the last 3 months (too much work), they got in pretty bad shape and the lice-cure makes it even worse :( furthermore there are thin parts along the dreads because hair got probably pulled back, leaving weak parts. I lost a few centimeters in 3 dreads lately, but looks as there would be some bigger parts to fall off in the next weeks.. AAAARGH!!! yes, that what you get if you make dreads with a type of hair as mine (thin and pretty straight). So now I´m thinking about to make a last big effort (killing bugs and fixing it up.. means, going to a hairdresser to get the roots crochet together and the loose hair taken in). Yes.. the roots look also ugly, because if you don´t roll them from time to time and crochet them together, they get kinda entangled, but in a squished form.. so yes, having nice looking dreads takes a lot of time :-/
I really wanted to keep them until the end of this trip.. furthermore I just sent the bad-ass looking street fighter helmet home, because couldn´t waer it with dreads and I fear if I cut them off, the helmet I`m wearing now will be sitting very loose on my head :-//
so the plan is to make a last big effort to save my hair and then if this doesn´t work, cut them off and go back to easy-style ;) hehe :)
what more to tell.. so Venezuela is not the friendliest country, but met already really awesome people! (very helpful ones). Haven´t seen tough lots of pretty women. There are some, but very, very few and no really stunning ones ;) (and I thought there was a miss universe from Venezuela). Well.. gonna figure out more this week-end, how the ladies are here in Venezuela ;)
but the country is very conservative and yes.. socialist. Lot´s of police and control and because they don´t get their paychecks always at the end of the month, it´s even worse (they might try to get the money from somewhere else..).
the food isn´t especially tasty neither, but you get around.. the big coffees are small and the small ones are almost invisible ;) hehe :) it´s because I heard they drink a lot of coffee, but just very little at the time. (about the food: liked it much more in Asia.. I think Asian food is great!! :D
so yes.. up up and away to the airport and then I got an update for how long I will stay (have to stay) in Venezuela before I can get my bike and my stuff (left a lot in Bucaramanga, so I didn´t have to cross the mountains with all my luggage). Still missing Colombia, but I guess, it´s getting better here in Venezuela.. it´s always the same if you come into a new country you´ve never been before: it takes you some time to get used to it and start loving it. But then it´s also a great thing!! ..for you out there not knowing these countries yet, you still can experience the same thing, while for me it would be going back to a place that´s already connected to some experience and impressions.
ah yes.. changing money is an issue here.. apparently banks don´t sell dollars and change them to a very bad exchange rate (1:4/1:5 instead of 1:8) but there are some people interested buying dolars, so I should be fine to change some more money (of course still loosing a little bit in the exchange). And I heard if you get money from the ATM, they charge you a lot, but a lot of taxes on it, if you´re a foreigner.. so I don´t even want to try, to not have a bad experience checking my expenses online later..
thank you Mom for being back home and helping me with online payments for courses!! :D
ok.. hear from me soon.. live out of Venezuela ;) hehe :)
big hug to all of you and missing you!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
-=The Lost City=-
well.. maybe I shouldn´t make so many small entries, but I´m paranoid, I would loose it if there´s a power down ;)
so this trip takes you five days through the jungle, over mountains and across rivers (many!) to get to the lost city that founded the center of the Tyrona tribe 500 years ago. There are so many things I want to tell about that adventure.. first of all, there were wonderful people in our group! we had fantastic vibes and I haven´t heard people complaining or being grumpy (and it was a really tough hike). Then the people guiding us were incredible lovely and always giving a helping hand! their engagement can easily measure with a high end place as an expensive life-aboard.. and they spreaded mighty good vibes!! heard a lot about the Indian culture, the jungle and even the situation of the cocaine production.
I´ll upload some pictures of the hike later on.. there are some really good ones :) So we got broad to the "end of the road" somewhere in the mountains and started then hiking uphill :) of course we got a pouring, but really pouring rain for a good while, so everybody got soaked and muddy. Was wonderful to get to the camp (shelter, hammocks, food) and get a hot chocolate and change to dry clothes (some people got even those wet :-/ but stayed calm :) I had one set for walking that never dried in the wet ambient and a dry set for sleeping with long pants (still got some nasty flee bites at my legs :-/
so the people guiding us, also cook and serve food and it was super tasty, what we eat throughout the whole trip! the hiking was mostly dry but there were also some river crossing, where you had to fight against the current, holding on to a rope to not be taken by the strong river! :) to go back, we even took the high route.. an Indiana Jones platform on a rope (see pictures later on ;)
We met one of the Shamans along the way.. the Kogi (native people) live still very simple and survive with agriculture and farming in the mountainous area further away from the beach.
500 years ago, they fought the Spanish people but lost then over 100 years too many people to illness and fled further up to the mountains (where today still "virgin-villages" exist).
Then at the second morning you can get a little introduction how to make cocaine :) well.. just to the "pasta", the first 2 of 3 steps. They charge you 15 USD and then they take you to a small tent in the jungle, the "laboratory" ;)
it´s all pretty simple.. you take 12kg of coca leaves and grind it with 2.5kg of salt. Then you add 1.5kg Sodium to it to get the juice out. The juice stays in a barrel for 24hrs, together with 20lt of gasoline, 2lt of water and some sulfuric acid. Later on neutralizing acid with base and add another liquid to it (highly illegal in Colombia). they get it from a plant, KaliumMagnesiumOxid (something like that). You mix it, until it get´s a crust.. filtrate it through a sheet and get some clear liquid. This one get´s mixed once more with sodium and filtrated another time.. voila: what you get is the "pasta", that will be further refined by the guerilla and brought abroad (loosing 20% of weight in the process).
so a gram of good cocaine costs in Colombia about 15 USD (85% pure) but the guy who makes it, sells the pasta for 1200 USD, gaining about 500 USD for his work (rest is cost of materials). There are the Paramilitar and the Guerillias still producing cocaine in huge quantities (must be HUUUGE quantities).
These camps I heard can be as 6 day hikes inside the jungle and the work is very risky. Food has to be brought in with mules, pasta taken out for refining. Men and Women working there, never leaving the place, living in fear of an attack of the government or an enemy group! really hard life :( it´s amazing how this can exist.. it´s all so clandestine, but still pretty big set up.. and of course, a lot of corruption!
the way out is the toughest part, because it takes you 3 1/2 days to get there and then 1 1/2 day to get out :P but we all made it! was sometimes really meditative to walk through the jungle :)
the city itself consist only out of terraces, because this is where they put their wooden huts on ;) hehe :) it´s said that still a lot of treasure can be found, but it´s forbidden to search for it anymore (legacy of the Kogi).
We´ve seen some beautiful butterflies, moths and a big spider :) and had (when not just pouring) good view over the hills and vallies.. was a wonderful hike, challenging and fulfilling, interesting and inspiring! :D
Once back in Taganga, I prepared my bike and went out for a while.. just a mellow night ;) but still.. can´t complain about absence of being interesting to other people ;) don´t know if this is Colombia or a South American thing, but I really enjoy being here on my own ;) hehehe :)))
was just a bit hangovery the next morning and drove from Taganga to Aquachica, where I spent last night (finally watching cartoons on cable again ;) hihi :)
oh.. and I met also a guy who teaches Paragliding.. it´s as cheap as 800 USD and includes accommodation. I really HAVE TO DO IT!! :D let´s check if it´s valid in Switzerland and then it´s better than just go for once Paragliding.. get the license :)) so but one thing at the time.. I finally reached this morning the other guy in Venezuela with the skydiving.
So the plan is as followed (incredible how easy it turns always out when it´s time):
I made it today to Bucaramanga, but the buses leave from Cucutan that lies another 4-5 hours from here. So I want to start early morning tomorrow and leave some stuff here (travel light over the mountains, coming back here anyway). Then find over there a place to store the bike for 10 days and get a bus to Caracas, where I should be picked up by the dropzone people. Making my AFF in Higuerote and maybe some extra jumps. Then coming back to Cucutan, picking up bike, coming back here to Bucaramanga, picking up stuff and then go for the Paraglide license (that´s also just right here, so why not just do it ;) hehe :) seems, there will be a few weeks flying high!! :D
the ride here was really beautiful! goes up in the mountains and Bucaramanga is just built in the hills (or mountains, referring the temperatures of the shower ;), lying over them as a patchworked blanked.. lots of curves (fun driving, but careful). and other curves that are less dangerous and belong to the Colombianas ;) hehe :) ..you just have to LOVE Colombia!!!
met also a quite high concentration of Swiss people here (why?? coke? ;) and some of them were traveling in groups and appeared almost as Isreali people do.. closed to the rest of the world and speaking some rare, rough language ;)
The people here are really friendly and I got even accompanied by a police force on bikes to get down to the city :D haha :)) was really fun! they advised me rather to stay here in town for the night and I drove down with them.. they had their flashing lights on and were signing cars to slow down or signing the back man when to follow and when not (in the dangerous passing maneuvers they did ;) I wouldn´t have driven that way next to cops if I would not had to follow them ;)
Colombia is a really nice country (enjoying also the fruit juices! :) only toilet seats and shower heads are not developed here ;)
hmm.. now I´m sure I left out a lot, but I´m done for the moment with writing.. most of all what I want to say is: I´M HAVING A BLAST DOWN HERE!!!! :D hahaha :D
so this trip takes you five days through the jungle, over mountains and across rivers (many!) to get to the lost city that founded the center of the Tyrona tribe 500 years ago. There are so many things I want to tell about that adventure.. first of all, there were wonderful people in our group! we had fantastic vibes and I haven´t heard people complaining or being grumpy (and it was a really tough hike). Then the people guiding us were incredible lovely and always giving a helping hand! their engagement can easily measure with a high end place as an expensive life-aboard.. and they spreaded mighty good vibes!! heard a lot about the Indian culture, the jungle and even the situation of the cocaine production.
I´ll upload some pictures of the hike later on.. there are some really good ones :) So we got broad to the "end of the road" somewhere in the mountains and started then hiking uphill :) of course we got a pouring, but really pouring rain for a good while, so everybody got soaked and muddy. Was wonderful to get to the camp (shelter, hammocks, food) and get a hot chocolate and change to dry clothes (some people got even those wet :-/ but stayed calm :) I had one set for walking that never dried in the wet ambient and a dry set for sleeping with long pants (still got some nasty flee bites at my legs :-/
so the people guiding us, also cook and serve food and it was super tasty, what we eat throughout the whole trip! the hiking was mostly dry but there were also some river crossing, where you had to fight against the current, holding on to a rope to not be taken by the strong river! :) to go back, we even took the high route.. an Indiana Jones platform on a rope (see pictures later on ;)
We met one of the Shamans along the way.. the Kogi (native people) live still very simple and survive with agriculture and farming in the mountainous area further away from the beach.
500 years ago, they fought the Spanish people but lost then over 100 years too many people to illness and fled further up to the mountains (where today still "virgin-villages" exist).
Then at the second morning you can get a little introduction how to make cocaine :) well.. just to the "pasta", the first 2 of 3 steps. They charge you 15 USD and then they take you to a small tent in the jungle, the "laboratory" ;)
it´s all pretty simple.. you take 12kg of coca leaves and grind it with 2.5kg of salt. Then you add 1.5kg Sodium to it to get the juice out. The juice stays in a barrel for 24hrs, together with 20lt of gasoline, 2lt of water and some sulfuric acid. Later on neutralizing acid with base and add another liquid to it (highly illegal in Colombia). they get it from a plant, KaliumMagnesiumOxid (something like that). You mix it, until it get´s a crust.. filtrate it through a sheet and get some clear liquid. This one get´s mixed once more with sodium and filtrated another time.. voila: what you get is the "pasta", that will be further refined by the guerilla and brought abroad (loosing 20% of weight in the process).
so a gram of good cocaine costs in Colombia about 15 USD (85% pure) but the guy who makes it, sells the pasta for 1200 USD, gaining about 500 USD for his work (rest is cost of materials). There are the Paramilitar and the Guerillias still producing cocaine in huge quantities (must be HUUUGE quantities).
These camps I heard can be as 6 day hikes inside the jungle and the work is very risky. Food has to be brought in with mules, pasta taken out for refining. Men and Women working there, never leaving the place, living in fear of an attack of the government or an enemy group! really hard life :( it´s amazing how this can exist.. it´s all so clandestine, but still pretty big set up.. and of course, a lot of corruption!
the way out is the toughest part, because it takes you 3 1/2 days to get there and then 1 1/2 day to get out :P but we all made it! was sometimes really meditative to walk through the jungle :)
the city itself consist only out of terraces, because this is where they put their wooden huts on ;) hehe :) it´s said that still a lot of treasure can be found, but it´s forbidden to search for it anymore (legacy of the Kogi).
We´ve seen some beautiful butterflies, moths and a big spider :) and had (when not just pouring) good view over the hills and vallies.. was a wonderful hike, challenging and fulfilling, interesting and inspiring! :D
Once back in Taganga, I prepared my bike and went out for a while.. just a mellow night ;) but still.. can´t complain about absence of being interesting to other people ;) don´t know if this is Colombia or a South American thing, but I really enjoy being here on my own ;) hehehe :)))
was just a bit hangovery the next morning and drove from Taganga to Aquachica, where I spent last night (finally watching cartoons on cable again ;) hihi :)
oh.. and I met also a guy who teaches Paragliding.. it´s as cheap as 800 USD and includes accommodation. I really HAVE TO DO IT!! :D let´s check if it´s valid in Switzerland and then it´s better than just go for once Paragliding.. get the license :)) so but one thing at the time.. I finally reached this morning the other guy in Venezuela with the skydiving.
So the plan is as followed (incredible how easy it turns always out when it´s time):
I made it today to Bucaramanga, but the buses leave from Cucutan that lies another 4-5 hours from here. So I want to start early morning tomorrow and leave some stuff here (travel light over the mountains, coming back here anyway). Then find over there a place to store the bike for 10 days and get a bus to Caracas, where I should be picked up by the dropzone people. Making my AFF in Higuerote and maybe some extra jumps. Then coming back to Cucutan, picking up bike, coming back here to Bucaramanga, picking up stuff and then go for the Paraglide license (that´s also just right here, so why not just do it ;) hehe :) seems, there will be a few weeks flying high!! :D
the ride here was really beautiful! goes up in the mountains and Bucaramanga is just built in the hills (or mountains, referring the temperatures of the shower ;), lying over them as a patchworked blanked.. lots of curves (fun driving, but careful). and other curves that are less dangerous and belong to the Colombianas ;) hehe :) ..you just have to LOVE Colombia!!!
met also a quite high concentration of Swiss people here (why?? coke? ;) and some of them were traveling in groups and appeared almost as Isreali people do.. closed to the rest of the world and speaking some rare, rough language ;)
The people here are really friendly and I got even accompanied by a police force on bikes to get down to the city :D haha :)) was really fun! they advised me rather to stay here in town for the night and I drove down with them.. they had their flashing lights on and were signing cars to slow down or signing the back man when to follow and when not (in the dangerous passing maneuvers they did ;) I wouldn´t have driven that way next to cops if I would not had to follow them ;)
Colombia is a really nice country (enjoying also the fruit juices! :) only toilet seats and shower heads are not developed here ;)
hmm.. now I´m sure I left out a lot, but I´m done for the moment with writing.. most of all what I want to say is: I´M HAVING A BLAST DOWN HERE!!!! :D hahaha :D
..continuation..
and drove into the park to the parking lot (they charge you quite some extra, but better than walking ;). I caught up with my friends and we arrived at the second (of two) campsites just after getting dark. The hammocks and tents were expensive, as the food that wasn´t spectacular neither, but the place is really nice (and a lot of walking) and later on, when we all together went chilling on the beach, we heard a noise from behind us and as somebody shines light to that direction, we saw a man tall alligator lying on the beach!!! :D we were just "holy shit! ..so glad this is happening!" :D of course, nobody had a cam, but we stared at it for a minute before it turned around and left in the small river and the mangroves :)
then the next day, without having a plan (because I´m not the beach person) I just wandered around and met a girl from Switzerland :) we spent then 3 days together, whereof one day I was looking after her, while she had some issues with her stomach and then she spent a day looking after me, while I had the same thing ;) but I´m really happy, we met!! was a wonderful time! (very mixed with languages ;) hehe :) there was also a BBQ at a friends place.. a guy that has the same name as I do, plays guitar and has dreads and I met him the first day I arrived and helped me out a great deal! :) so I was happy to return a bit of the favor by paying some chicken and veggies and beer ;) (food actually really cheap!)
I´m eating really yummi here! :) and everything not too fancy is also pretty cheap (you get a good meal for 5 USD or less).
then, just getting better, I managed to hop on a tour to the lost city..
then the next day, without having a plan (because I´m not the beach person) I just wandered around and met a girl from Switzerland :) we spent then 3 days together, whereof one day I was looking after her, while she had some issues with her stomach and then she spent a day looking after me, while I had the same thing ;) but I´m really happy, we met!! was a wonderful time! (very mixed with languages ;) hehe :) there was also a BBQ at a friends place.. a guy that has the same name as I do, plays guitar and has dreads and I met him the first day I arrived and helped me out a great deal! :) so I was happy to return a bit of the favor by paying some chicken and veggies and beer ;) (food actually really cheap!)
I´m eating really yummi here! :) and everything not too fancy is also pretty cheap (you get a good meal for 5 USD or less).
then, just getting better, I managed to hop on a tour to the lost city..
Full On! :D
phew.. I´d wish I would have had time earlier to write some of my stories down, but well, let´s see if I can still wrap it up somehow ;) hehe :)
the castillo is a really impressive fortress, that hold about 2000 men and 74 cannons.. would have loved to have seen this in action ;) of course my cam died after I took the first two pictures, so there won´t be too many of it ;) hehe :) it`s still an incredible lookout- and sniper position :D and parts of it are connected with tunnels. So really worth to check it out!
in the afternoon I went to the mud volcano to have a mud bath for as cheap as 2.50 USD. It´s good for the skin they say and it´s most of all a lot of fun to float in fine sucky mud ;) hehe :) met even there nice people and had good conversations!
then at night was this special bus that locals take to see the city and drink :P well.. I just made it one station to the old town and escaped then walking back home to the hostal and it´s bar *phew* couldn´t stand the loud music anymore and to listen to the animator in front :P but yeah.. the way locals party in their holidays ;)
so I started the next day to go to Taganga, a little village at the beach, surrounded by mountains. Friends of mine were heading there with a bus and I enjoyed a fantastic ride (finally on the road again!!!) through Colombia. The streets are in good shape (few holes), there is not too much traffic (so you can easily pass other cars and trucks) and the landscape is really pretty! :D
along the coast to Taganga, after asking a few times for the way ;) our supposed meeting point was fully booked, so I ended up at another place with totally awesome people working there! :) had all to be like that! haha ;)
the place is so small, I met all my friends and we had a little party in the backyard of their hotel. Left the group later to go out, just to find myself dancing Raegeton with a Colombian hotty ;) (it´s basically screwing on the dancefloor :P but yeah.. thought why not.. despite HATING that music ;) so we ended up after some adventurous journeys in my room that we didn´t leave for 24hrs, together with other fine Colombian goods ;)) definitively one of my crazier experiences ;) we spend another morning together having yummi food and walking along the beach on some mountain hill. Then having lunch I met my friends again and they were about to go to Tyrona National Park (beautiful beaches). So I spontaneously decided to tag along and bought water and food..
the castillo is a really impressive fortress, that hold about 2000 men and 74 cannons.. would have loved to have seen this in action ;) of course my cam died after I took the first two pictures, so there won´t be too many of it ;) hehe :) it`s still an incredible lookout- and sniper position :D and parts of it are connected with tunnels. So really worth to check it out!
in the afternoon I went to the mud volcano to have a mud bath for as cheap as 2.50 USD. It´s good for the skin they say and it´s most of all a lot of fun to float in fine sucky mud ;) hehe :) met even there nice people and had good conversations!
then at night was this special bus that locals take to see the city and drink :P well.. I just made it one station to the old town and escaped then walking back home to the hostal and it´s bar *phew* couldn´t stand the loud music anymore and to listen to the animator in front :P but yeah.. the way locals party in their holidays ;)
so I started the next day to go to Taganga, a little village at the beach, surrounded by mountains. Friends of mine were heading there with a bus and I enjoyed a fantastic ride (finally on the road again!!!) through Colombia. The streets are in good shape (few holes), there is not too much traffic (so you can easily pass other cars and trucks) and the landscape is really pretty! :D
along the coast to Taganga, after asking a few times for the way ;) our supposed meeting point was fully booked, so I ended up at another place with totally awesome people working there! :) had all to be like that! haha ;)
the place is so small, I met all my friends and we had a little party in the backyard of their hotel. Left the group later to go out, just to find myself dancing Raegeton with a Colombian hotty ;) (it´s basically screwing on the dancefloor :P but yeah.. thought why not.. despite HATING that music ;) so we ended up after some adventurous journeys in my room that we didn´t leave for 24hrs, together with other fine Colombian goods ;)) definitively one of my crazier experiences ;) we spend another morning together having yummi food and walking along the beach on some mountain hill. Then having lunch I met my friends again and they were about to go to Tyrona National Park (beautiful beaches). So I spontaneously decided to tag along and bought water and food..
Thursday, July 8, 2010
..on the road again :D
hey there! :)
..I got an idea of Colombia already and I´m getting back to my adventurous spirit, ready to see much more of the world! :))
I had to get my bike off the boat and then go to customs and get some paperwork done.. took us two hours (a German fellow named Manfred was helping me for 35 dollars and I was happy this has been done so many times :) because loading off the bike on a peer is kind of illegal, but it´s waaay easier than getting it out of the harbor (harbor fees etc..). Then I needed another insurance (after Colombia finally the one is running that I bought month ago! :P ..met just today another Swiss guy on a R1200 and he never had one.. seems it´s possible as well. Because you don´t want to use it anyway and if you use it, you just can hope they pay and they pay a fair ammount.. so I don´t intend to figure out ;)
in Cartagena I checked out the "castillo" a fort that was used to defend the city from attacks over land..
..to be continued.. going for dinner *hungry*
..I got an idea of Colombia already and I´m getting back to my adventurous spirit, ready to see much more of the world! :))
I had to get my bike off the boat and then go to customs and get some paperwork done.. took us two hours (a German fellow named Manfred was helping me for 35 dollars and I was happy this has been done so many times :) because loading off the bike on a peer is kind of illegal, but it´s waaay easier than getting it out of the harbor (harbor fees etc..). Then I needed another insurance (after Colombia finally the one is running that I bought month ago! :P ..met just today another Swiss guy on a R1200 and he never had one.. seems it´s possible as well. Because you don´t want to use it anyway and if you use it, you just can hope they pay and they pay a fair ammount.. so I don´t intend to figure out ;)
in Cartagena I checked out the "castillo" a fort that was used to defend the city from attacks over land..
..to be continued.. going for dinner *hungry*
Monday, July 5, 2010
..pass the Darian into Colombia.. :)
dear friends and family! :)
this morning I set my foot onto South American ground and started so the third part of my trip.. I`m still a bit organizing stuff here and getting ideas where to go in Colombia, but I´m happy that I made it and tomorrow morning I`ll get the bike off the boat, showing it to customs and then I`ll be on the road again! :)
well.. for my skydive project in Venezuela it seems that I have to take a flight to Caracas and back, leaving the bike in Colombia. As I heard, Venezuela is not really safe and I don´t want to get into troubles with corrupt policemen on the road and even going there by bus seems to be a hassle (even if bus is safe, it still would be 30hrs of Busride.. if this is true, I rather pay some dollars to get there and back smoothly :) but because it´s a national holiday today, I have to wait until tomorrow to set this up.
so I got my bike early in the morning and made it without problems to the caribbean coast. There were some mountains, but the fan started and seemed to work well.. so no overheating so far. It will still take some more hundreds of kilometers to regain my full confidance into it.. I was then a bit early and went over to a small Kuna island, having lunch and a beer and spent the rest of the time waiting on the peer, playing guitar and singing :D
at around 5 o`clock Fritz and his crew arrived and some local Kuna helped to load the bike and I had dinner with the people on board, waiting for the rest to arrive the next morning. We expected another 10 people but instead there were 15 and we were pretty packed on that boat (well, it was OK in the end, but the mix of passengers could have been different.. there were all guys exept for one girl from Switzerland (the most reserved girl I`ve ever met :P and so the level of testosteron was on the upper limit ;) hehe :)
Fritz himself is also quite a special guy.. there is not a single day where he wouldn`t curse his employee Luis (a really awesome Colombian guy!!) yelling at him for not much of a reason :-/ I don`t share his ideas about life.. he got bitter over time, is getting divorced from his wife and has another life partner on boat (where he probably has many girls in his life for convenience that he buys for little money down here in South America :-/ yeah.. not really my world.. but hey, he also let us guests have our way and you can party and do whatever you want on that boat, as long you don´t set it on fire ;)
the trip was really nice! ..OK, there was no wind to sail down to Cartagena, so the engines were running for 36 hours, while driving down, but we had a good time (and lots of rum ;) hehe :) we stopped at some of the San Blas islands (see pictures) and went snorkeling there.. I´ve seen a shark, two rays, walking sea stars and did some apnoe-diving.. it´s always fun!! :D especially being 10m below surface and looking up through all the water masses! :D
we also caught a shark over night.. not really sure if this is allowed and I had my remorses eating it, but the shark curry on the second day was really tasty! so I take this as a once-in-my-lifetime-experience and yes, it was pretty exciting to get it out (just for them being in extinction I can´t really stand for it). Furthermore really pretty animals, gliding through the sea.. so they should be admired instead of hunted!
I met cool people along the way.. was tough a bit upset the second morning, when I figured out that some half-baked moron threw my mask over board (well, wasn´t around any more and I bet somebody knows more about it).. too bad, I made my Open Water with it and it was 80 USD.. money I´d like to save, especially because it was not my fault and the duchebag who did it didn´t have the balls to tell me! :P and then I´ve also seen that somebody just took of my tabacco and supplies.. this really pissed me off for ruining all the thrust I had into this bunch of people! but then I had to sort it out in my head, speak it out loudly (let them know about my frustration! :) and then letting it go, because there is nothing else you can do about and you don´t want to let it ruin your day.. so another experience that let´s me grow in life! :)
I first suspected a guy who was really, really drunk, making a lot of noise and trouble at night and then the next morning firing an emergency flare gun out of a window (stupid-stupid-stupid) and I avoided the guy for the rest of the trip.. but then the last night we talked together about all this stuff and I´m not sure if he has something to do with the things happened.. at least he gave me a lot of credits for who I am and for what I do :) so I felt I was kinda putting him back and judging more than I should on this very first day.. but yes, at least we had some deep talk in the end ;) hehe :) on certain discussions I just didn´t want to participate for being too much "macho" but I had a great time on the boat.. lying around in the "trampolin" (a net inbetween the two bodies of the ship) and listening to some sweet psy trance tunes, doing some contact juggling and talking to people :) poeple enjoyed me playing didgeridoo and we had some nice jams on that boat. (no reading books.. it´s not really my thing. I don´t have to be traveling for doing this..)
what more.. that`s about it.. was walking around in the old town today, making some pictures and just uploaded them in Picasa. So I will add some comments to them and log out.. eventually completing the boat trip the next day, if write-worthy things come to my mind ;) hehe :)
be well out there and my best blessings from South America!!!
this morning I set my foot onto South American ground and started so the third part of my trip.. I`m still a bit organizing stuff here and getting ideas where to go in Colombia, but I´m happy that I made it and tomorrow morning I`ll get the bike off the boat, showing it to customs and then I`ll be on the road again! :)
well.. for my skydive project in Venezuela it seems that I have to take a flight to Caracas and back, leaving the bike in Colombia. As I heard, Venezuela is not really safe and I don´t want to get into troubles with corrupt policemen on the road and even going there by bus seems to be a hassle (even if bus is safe, it still would be 30hrs of Busride.. if this is true, I rather pay some dollars to get there and back smoothly :) but because it´s a national holiday today, I have to wait until tomorrow to set this up.
so I got my bike early in the morning and made it without problems to the caribbean coast. There were some mountains, but the fan started and seemed to work well.. so no overheating so far. It will still take some more hundreds of kilometers to regain my full confidance into it.. I was then a bit early and went over to a small Kuna island, having lunch and a beer and spent the rest of the time waiting on the peer, playing guitar and singing :D
at around 5 o`clock Fritz and his crew arrived and some local Kuna helped to load the bike and I had dinner with the people on board, waiting for the rest to arrive the next morning. We expected another 10 people but instead there were 15 and we were pretty packed on that boat (well, it was OK in the end, but the mix of passengers could have been different.. there were all guys exept for one girl from Switzerland (the most reserved girl I`ve ever met :P and so the level of testosteron was on the upper limit ;) hehe :)
Fritz himself is also quite a special guy.. there is not a single day where he wouldn`t curse his employee Luis (a really awesome Colombian guy!!) yelling at him for not much of a reason :-/ I don`t share his ideas about life.. he got bitter over time, is getting divorced from his wife and has another life partner on boat (where he probably has many girls in his life for convenience that he buys for little money down here in South America :-/ yeah.. not really my world.. but hey, he also let us guests have our way and you can party and do whatever you want on that boat, as long you don´t set it on fire ;)
the trip was really nice! ..OK, there was no wind to sail down to Cartagena, so the engines were running for 36 hours, while driving down, but we had a good time (and lots of rum ;) hehe :) we stopped at some of the San Blas islands (see pictures) and went snorkeling there.. I´ve seen a shark, two rays, walking sea stars and did some apnoe-diving.. it´s always fun!! :D especially being 10m below surface and looking up through all the water masses! :D
we also caught a shark over night.. not really sure if this is allowed and I had my remorses eating it, but the shark curry on the second day was really tasty! so I take this as a once-in-my-lifetime-experience and yes, it was pretty exciting to get it out (just for them being in extinction I can´t really stand for it). Furthermore really pretty animals, gliding through the sea.. so they should be admired instead of hunted!
I met cool people along the way.. was tough a bit upset the second morning, when I figured out that some half-baked moron threw my mask over board (well, wasn´t around any more and I bet somebody knows more about it).. too bad, I made my Open Water with it and it was 80 USD.. money I´d like to save, especially because it was not my fault and the duchebag who did it didn´t have the balls to tell me! :P and then I´ve also seen that somebody just took of my tabacco and supplies.. this really pissed me off for ruining all the thrust I had into this bunch of people! but then I had to sort it out in my head, speak it out loudly (let them know about my frustration! :) and then letting it go, because there is nothing else you can do about and you don´t want to let it ruin your day.. so another experience that let´s me grow in life! :)
I first suspected a guy who was really, really drunk, making a lot of noise and trouble at night and then the next morning firing an emergency flare gun out of a window (stupid-stupid-stupid) and I avoided the guy for the rest of the trip.. but then the last night we talked together about all this stuff and I´m not sure if he has something to do with the things happened.. at least he gave me a lot of credits for who I am and for what I do :) so I felt I was kinda putting him back and judging more than I should on this very first day.. but yes, at least we had some deep talk in the end ;) hehe :) on certain discussions I just didn´t want to participate for being too much "macho" but I had a great time on the boat.. lying around in the "trampolin" (a net inbetween the two bodies of the ship) and listening to some sweet psy trance tunes, doing some contact juggling and talking to people :) poeple enjoyed me playing didgeridoo and we had some nice jams on that boat. (no reading books.. it´s not really my thing. I don´t have to be traveling for doing this..)
what more.. that`s about it.. was walking around in the old town today, making some pictures and just uploaded them in Picasa. So I will add some comments to them and log out.. eventually completing the boat trip the next day, if write-worthy things come to my mind ;) hehe :)
be well out there and my best blessings from South America!!!
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