..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 :)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
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 180ยช 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 180ยช 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!!! :)
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