my mind my life

Well,

So far this years its been up up up, and i am going from living in probarly one of my favorite citys to next week going to be living in a small villiage in south devon, and being able to surf for most of my life !

As for this weekend its back home to macduff on saturday and back down on sunday to basically pick up a surfboard and i think thats about it initially but i will have to work that out when i am up north.

Easter was fun seeing all the oxford street massive in manchester, and managing to make it to blackpool which is the biggest fest of horror’s i have ever seen in my life! they are so many people in the world that should be assamed of themselves, in every way possible, i wish i had taken a camera so that i can snap and shame everyone of them.

Holidays, what holidays am i planning this year thats the next big question on my mind ………

Well,

It’s another xmas and yes i am ill again, i felt it coming on slightly on xmas eve but thought it was nothing much and then yes since then its just been a downward spiral, and today i havn’t even bothered getting dressed yet hurrah

so how was xmas for me ? a little different to usual with loads of people round for xmas dinner, something that i am going to have to get used to, i’m guessing but me feeling shite didn’t help matters at all, and all i did was eat food on xmas day and boxing day so i feel like a million kilo’s heavier as well

all i need to be is better by saturday so that i can drive down to Manchester for new years, as seeing as i didn’t have a blow out up here for xmas well new years is going to have to be it for me!!

as for new years resolutions, i need to start with  5 that i need to achieve over the course of the next year, and if i can achieve all of them then hurrahso here goes in no particular order.

1. this is a rollover from last year, learn yoga
2. get into the water and surf more
3. get back to having my weekly swim
4. finally make a decision about where i want to live
5. Put some leg work in and get my bar off the ground

so there are the 5 i think i might need to refine them a little bit but only time will tell about that.

its been almost 2 years since my last bottle of the probarly the best beer in the world and tonight after a long search i am savoring each and every last sip as i have 4 cases of beer lao in my possesion hurrah.

Its a Great day!

so its been a while since i have updated my blog and what has been happening well, i’m living with my aunt and uncle in edinburgh, something that is like turning back the clock 10 years! as it was 10 years ago that i was here for about 9months woking night shift in a hotel, and now i am currently working for an IT startup and doing what i think i like doing best which is toying with computers and they are mac based hurrah and thats something that makes it more enjoyable

so how long i am here for well we will see, and on the +side Alicia has finally finished her contract in Oz and its just time to wait and see when she jumps on that plane but by now i am expecting it to be next year now but we will see.

5706

well i have upgraded the gallery software and am testing it to see if it works as well as it should , and everything looks like its working correctly at the moment but, the only problem is the gallery template being a little small and the gallery going over the lines at the moment.

On another front my new surfboard has arrived and finally i have recieved my boardbag and leash and i am just waiting for the wax, bugger me i have been waiting ages but finally they have kicked into gear.

i just need to get a session under mybelt on the new board but i am planning on heading off to devon next week i hope if not the week after

oh yeah the photo is jayi’m sure that he will love being on the front of the website

well i’ve now been in macduff for a week and its been pretty much as expected, i’ve caught up with some mates and not others its friday night and yeah i am staying in cause i’ve got to go into the toon the morn which will be another walk back down memory lane for me.

as for other things i have been doing, well work has been at the for front, upgrading software of the website and getting the new website sorted out, which the first few pages have been done, i just need to intergrate modernbill and then esupport in and we will be rocking and rolling

probarly will hit the pub the morn’s night if not sunday with neil for his bday

well i´m here staying the last night in a hostel on this journey, tomorrow night i have the pleasure of a 16 hour bus journey to sao paulo and then the following afternoon thats it wham bam thank you man and i´ll be on that british airways flight to heathrow.

now its sorting out my life time the whats the wheres the whos and the whys, thats the big question and the next part that i´m looking forward to, i have some ideas of what i want todo with it but i really don´t know there are so many questions in my head and answers are probarly in there as well but well people that have met me on this trip will know connecting questions to answers isn´t my major strong point at the moment.

i´m looking forward to catching up with sarah and bec on sunday for my pre birthday celebrations and then with marky and bostock on the 9th when they make there way back to good old blighty, now if only jay could make an apperance then it would almost be oxford street again, just brucey missing in action in brazil still i think i haven´t had enough time to find out and email him.

and i´m planning on catching up with friends and family as soon as possible which could be a few weeks or maybe even months we will see how quickly i get to where i am headed and what might be on the horizon.

well i have been on the death train and then relaxed on a farm in the pantanal for 3 days where i saw wildlife and took the easy life, then its been almost 24 hours on a bus !! yes that long, and i am tired and wait a minute fucking tired after it as i haven’t slept, but i am now in agrentina to see the biggest waterfalls in the world i believe or so i have been told although there is 70% less water than there should be at this time of year normally i hear.

but life has been good and i have worked out that the first stop in the UK for me is going to be Brixton to catch up with sarah and see how life back in UK is going to be.

well santa cruz is not really upto the bolivian standards of nuts ness and chaos that i have been used to but it is a welcome return to be back at 400 meters above sea level and the sun is out and the heat has returned, it seems more european and expensive that all the other places that i have been to, but in the same sentence its nice in its own little way, and i’m staying in a place with a pool so life is good, and tomorrow i have the joy of getting onto the death train, although we have decided to take the 13 hour fast service and as long as it doesn’t break down we wont have any problems !

i’ve been feeling the under the weather the past couple of days as well god alone knows why but i think its probarly the heat again and maybe having air that is breathable and getting over the partying that i was doing in la paz, but i am looking forward to getting to brazil the final destination on my whirlwind tour of south america, and am looking forward to the planning of the next trip and working out exactly where i want to be going and maybe a little more planning or maybe less i don’t know, we will have to see.

what is next on the horizon for me well if i knew that i would be already doing it, looking to find somewhere to call home for a little while then looking to find home permenantly after another we trip i think, or maybe try living in a few citys for a few months to see what they are like, i really don’t know all i need is someone to tell me it would be so much easier, cross roads are wonderful things when there are 2 options and that flip of a coin fixes all ill’s !

yeah i finally made it out of la paz, i think i might have been there for 11 days and did i see much ummm not really i was just getting over my illness of peru and puno and it was perfect, i was staying at the adventure brew hostel and with the black cat in antigua and the secret garden in quito these are the best places i have stayed at, and the staff in the hostel were grand, i can’t remember all there names but anna, shawn and micky with craig made the time perfect and just what i needed shake out the cobwebs also the free half a beer a night is the perfect way to get everyone together and when it was bbq night well that was just about every second night it got everyone in the perfect mood, i think maybe my 1 hostel with the other 2 tied for second, its a hard one cause the black cat was one of those places but its not in la paz and la paz has that nutsness about it that makes it my type of place!

now when it comes to the right sort of people to have fun with they were all there Mick (the western ause) Finola (there’s always the irish) Biz (an american that lives in Barca - so not really american) and all the others names i forget, wait there was Blake (another yank but what a yank only a shame he didn’t stay longer to see the snow we saw ) and rowan and nora from my time in san pedro turned up as well so its been the highlight of south america for me although seeing machu pichu was a dream come true this was most deffinetly a party that i needed and haddent had properly since leaving Melbourne.

i’m in sucre now after a fun journey the bus stopping for no reason for what seemed like hours, the police coming aboard looking for drugs and the fact that trying to leave la paz bus station is fun in its self, put your bag here no you can’t go out this door until you have paid your tax and its like where is the tax place to pay ? then where’s the bus its there no its there no its here in 1 minute no well yes and i hadn’t been doing anything to bad for a few days, its going to but fun tomorrow when i sort out my ticket to santa cruz which is like a 20 hour bus ride, thankfully this county sell valium and xanax if you need to help yourself off to sleep

so i’m looking forward to catching up with everyone i met in la paz for more of the same where ever we end up or maybe thats where ever i end up cause thats the big thing on my mind and the decision i have to make but i will be in london or around there for a little bit and the south west and east and fuck i don’t know life is so much easier on the road and i do have a few quid tucked away for that next trip

i even have some photo’s that i have t put online or probarly i will just send a mass mail.

Oh yeah if and of you AB Hostel people find this post i shaved today yes thats right i managed it, and the ipod is back on form again to !!!!!!!

well it been weird here, i have been ill most of the time in one way or another wether its been taking medication without food and causing stomock cramps or wether its just been feeling shite, i missed my trip to the sun island toda due to my stomock cramps then i ate and felt fine, the biggest problem is the wisdom teeth at the moment and they are causing constant pain, i have tried so many different pain medications and they don`t seem to do much of anything !!

well time to get up and move on to la paz tomorrow where i should be fine i hope, and i was planning on mountain biking the most dangourus road in the world on sunday but found out that its ellection day and that there is no tansport and and and so  might be able todo it on tuesday i just need to work it into my grand scheme of things.

one thing i have been doing of late is sleeping so much !!! so i have caught up with what ever i was missin or a bloody well hope so!

well i feel shite again, i think its the altiude as i`m currently at 3800m and well i might have buggered my ipod but i think i might as well take it to get serviced when i get back to the UK if its buggered well i`m assuming that it will be. i have the island of the sun to see in copacabana which is where i am at right now and then its a trip to la paz the capital where i hope there are a few things todo

anyways off to the doc to get some altidue medicene !

well here i am at the end of finishing the inca trail and it was absolutly amazing and quiet a test of me as a person due to the fact that i managed to contract gastro before it started but it only showed its self when we got to the lunch point and i had a sever dose of the shits that wouldn`t stop, i managed to continue on slowly for about 30mins to an hour before the puking started and well that was getting to the end of me, i got very cold weak and got to the point that either a i was going to faint or be i felt like dying.

my mind was racing with thought of just getting out of where i was but the option was walk back the way i came of go forward to the campsite, i was totally incapable of walking at this point though, the wonderful guides finally realised how bad i was and managed to get the porters i think via walkie talkie to comeback and help, i didn`t know what to expect maybe a strecher but no it was piggy back time, and in the end the 10 porters took turns to carry me an hour to the camp where rehydration was the only way to go. it was quiet hillarious in some way as they are so small and my feet were dragging on steps some of the time, but i have so much respect for what they are capable of after seeing what they do with carrying the gear and helping me out in the way that they did.

day 2 was also very hard, due to the fact i wasn`t eating but i managed to keep my liquid levels up and walk to the pass at 4200m and down and up again, it was might hard work on an empty stomck but it was an amazing walk all the same.

day 3 i was eating again but only a little and it was a half day of hiking and that was made it easier but keeping liquids up was still vital as i was sweating like a bastard, but thew rest although it didn`t help the pain in my legs from the walking was so sore at times as with everyone else on the trek.

finally we made it to machu pichu and the journey was perfectly complete by seeing the famous anchiet city. and the fact that i made it that far amazed myself in alot of ways, i was even stupid enough to climb the mountain behind machu pichu wini pichu (wrong spelling) which gave us a view that was awe inspiering my vertigo was killing me though !

now on another front, yes ipod`s i got to cusco and found my ipod seemed to be fucked not working making a clicking sound that made me think it was dead, but i think i have found the problem cusco is above 3000m and it seems ipods are only rated to 3000m and it looks to be true but i think it could be altitude and cold that affected them as i can get it to work when i warm it up, but its working again hurrah !!!!!!!

so i am feeling better now and well its alot of altitude from here on in ! lets hope it all goes well, puno is going to be the enxt stop in a few days time, and then lake titicaca and onto bolivia and then brazil

its frigging cold here, maybe its the altitude that is making it cold as we are at over 3000m´s and for the altitude the recommended solution is to have some coca tea

in other news i had to buy myself some new hiking trainers as the chuckys were freezing my totsies off like blocks of ice !

and its absolutly beautiful here as well hurrah.

more news soon !

well i am here in an ecuadorian airport guayaquil to be exact waiting for my plane that is in just under 3 hours, hurrah, the past few days i have been at the beach and was all ready to get some surfing in until i had my boardshorts stolen from right outside my door when they were drying, as you can imagine that put me in a little bit of a bad mood for the rest of my stay in montinita but it was good none the less well the food was brilliant anyways.

so today its a flight to lima and then first thing in the morning its a flight to cuzco and 3 days to relax and aclimitize to the alltitude before starting the classic inca trail, hopefully one of the highlights of my trip in south america, and from there its south to lake titicaca and then onto boliva which is the country that i am looking forward to seeing.

Ecuador has been really good, i have seen jungle, volcanos, beachs and a whole host of wonderful things here and have had the pleasure of travelling round with somepeople for a little while which makes all the difference, although they all seemed to be steak lovers and well me not a steak hater but i would rather not eat it, has made going to the grill an interesting food choice for me, chicken has been the order of the day most times, but i dont know why but i long for some good veggie affair, maybe it my sleep i have become a veggie ????????

so onwards and upwards after a couple of bad days, alot todo with these blasted wisdom teeth i have been blessed with and by god i am looking forward to getting the things out soon !! thats probarly the first thing that i will do when i get back home get to a dentist and tell them i am wanting them out !

well for the past few days i have had the sniffles i think that i picked it up from one of the guides on my jungle trek, as he was ill the whole time we were on the trek, i also got bitten by an ant that people said would give me a 24-48 hour fever, so i guess that it was either that or the other, any how i am feeling a little better today hurrah !

i have been in banos and now in riobamba and banos is lovely idealic place surrounded by rolling hills and a volcano, yeah i didn`t venture that close this time as its very active at the moment, so it was a safe distance with some mountain biking to waterfalls as well as a deep tissue massage, my first and although it was sore it seemed to help and relax me, i also spent a day at the themal baths which were nice also relaxing, all in all its been a really relaxing time !!!

and i´m guna be 30 soon arrrggghhh well there is only one way to keep my youthful spirit alive and that is to buy a surfboard ! yes i am buying my first shortboard (fish to be presice) and the only other thing i have todo is to work out where in the UK i want to live for a while ??? although i am thinking about going back to costa rica for 3 months, and getting a van and living in it maybe hurrrmmmmm i will have to see.

all in all its good times at the moment and the beach is coming again so hopfully some more surfing, please please pretty please !

well i was out on satuday night well not really out but i didn´t get any sleep and i am suffering now, sleeping yesterday and well i will be having an early night tonight, and i am in quito ecuador, and i need to work out what i want todo and where i want togo, the hostel i am staying at seems really nice and they do an all you can eat breakfast

the major thing i want todo is see some jungle and hopefully make it to the coast for a couple of days before heading to peru, as i have to be in cusco on or before the 13th of june so that i can aclimitize to the altitude.

its only about 2 months togo now as well which is guna be really weird as i will be home soon enough , then to do a little work before jetting off again

as for Jaco it was really good and it didn´t seem like i was there for 3 weeks although i was doing nothing but sleeping eating and surfing pretty much well throw in 2 hours of work aday at the internet cafe and that was my life, i do need to get a rocket up my arse for this bit of the trip as if i want to see as much of what is on my list as possible i need to start doing things soon.

What have i done and what have i seen in costa rica, well acutally not much of anything, i have surfed, slept, ate and thats about it really, i haven’t seen any of the diverse wildlife or seen any other towns in the country other than jaco and san jose. now some people will ask if i have been bored or anything and the answer is absolutly no i have done exactly what i have wanted to do

today could have been my last surf but i am going to try and go out tomorrow morning as my bus is at midday. its been good and although my sufing still isnt great its been sooooo good being in the water again after such a long time out of the water, i have been through a stage of not catching much of anything this week but i think that has been down to my wisdom teeth and the pain making my mind be not totally with it, but this morning i got hammered and it was good but by the end of the session i had caught a few waves and the first one i caught at the start of the session i got to my feet in a crouching position and banged them hard as i came down the face of the wave but although my knees felt bad after that they are fine now.

well its ecuador on monday and a whole new time

now i am trying to work out what i am going to by myself for my birthday maybe a new shorter board

well i have been in jaco for a week now and i’m surfing about everyday and although i was feeling really tired i managed to have a wonderful nights sleep last night and i’m looking forward to a new day with hopfully the joy of catching some waves, as the last two days my mind hasn’t really been in it and with the new shorter board i’ve been getting frtustrated in the water which means i’ve not managed anything that i have wanted to and the board wont play in the white water.

How long am i guna stay here i really don’t know as i should see other parts of costa rica but i just want to surf for an hour or two every day, so knowning me i wont bother moving until i have to catch my flight to ecuador.

In other news been invited to a wedding but unfortunatly i won’t make it to john and bev’s wedding maybe i’ll just have to have a drink with them when i get back to celebrate the day and watch the video, yeah wedding video’s the only one i have seen that has been any good was ravi’s one as it was done in a retro indian stylee although i bet that was all the rage when it was made

i thought it couldn´t be so but well although it´s not made by barr´s its almost as close to irn-bru that you could expect from a cetral american country,its name is kolashanpan its sweeter so a little bit more sickly but its the right colour and has the right taste almost !!!

on another front its my last day by the beach, i need to get to costa rica so that i can relax as i thought about it and i have already missed one plane due to me enjoying myself to much, so i am not prepared to do it again and i am not going to surf in el salvador, cause i know i will be here for a month and that means my flight is bye bye, so costa rica, get a surf board and a rashie get to the beach and chill for 2 weeks !!!!!!

i´m also planning what i want to see in south america and i think i might have enough time to see everything i want to see in the countries i am going to, the only expensive bit is guna be trying to get to the galapogos islands, lets see if i manage to make it there or maybe just surf ??

Well i´m living out at el tunco along the coast from la libitad at the moment, where there is sun sand (black) and surf, i should be able to get a board, the problem being that my foot is still fairly sore if i i bend the toes in a certain direction and well surfing will cause them to be bent that way, so i am just going to have to hold off that little bit longer, the plan at the moment is to stay here until saturday and then go back to san salvador and then it will be a mamoth bus journey to costa rica !

as for where i am staying at the moment, its actually quite a nice little place to far back from the beach and i don´t think boards for rental my spanish hasn´t got to the stage of being able to converse this information just yet but it may get there, i just look out at the waves and wish i was feeling 70% but the fact that its my foot that is buggers its quiet important, i´m sure ben would tell me otherwise if i could find some straping and had booties i think it would be a goer, the problem is i forgot my rashie as well and wax burn will kill my chest, lets hope costa rica has everything i want !

Now for the fun part RAT´S yes thats right there are rats running around everywhere i am staying they walk along the the roof rafters at nights, so i had my ear plugs in and took some seditives last night so that i could get to sleep, and not think about it. all fun and gaves, lets see what happens tomorrow but i might manage a surf if i can find a board ?????????????