my mind my life

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.

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

well i have started learning spanish and although it seems simple fuck i keep forgetting the words that i am supposed to know i am guessing that it because i am thinking in english and reading in english.

 i am however understanding a little more as i am living with a family in san pedro and although its taking me time to get to what they are talking about i am getting there and i am sure at the end of the 2 weeks i will be ok but not brilliant.

the food i am being cooked is plentiful and quiet good no chilli unfortunatly yet but maybe i can change that somehow ????? anyhow i am guna be here until just after easter i think and then see a little more of guatemala and then move on to costa rica hurrah !!!!!!!!

san pedro where i am staying is beautiful and they think that its probarly the most photographed lake in the world and although i dont have any pictures yet i´m guna get some, i really missed an amazing sunset last night with clouds rolling down a volcano in pinks and oranges !! damn maybe today but it looks really clear.

note this is also a hippy town and well a fun one at that its really cheap as well and even cheaper for me cause i only spend on drink at the moment cause i am paying the family to stay with them so it seems so much cheaper, i will have to find the bank at somepoint though !!!!

i got to do some homework now so back to learning for another day and maybe i might not sleep as much as i have been pretty much 12 hours a night which is wonderful

well i made a 14 hour overnight bus journey, which i hardly slept through, as always i find it so hard to sleep on moving transport so am a little tired today.

 i had just come from peurto escondido which is supposed to be this town that everone raves about and well i can´t see what all the fuss is about i saw the beach´s, didnt get to surf, but nothing special, i didn´t however go out boozing, although i have had a few beers i am still off the partying and i acutally feel so much better for it.

yep its sad to be not partying but its guna be the longer term detox that i needed, now i just need to get some more exercise into my life and then everything will be fine, i am trying to limit my eating but that can be easier said than done when your travelling with a few people and they want to eat, so i try to pick small things as they are normally better.

i have also been having alot of time to think about life and what i want to achieve from here on in with it and its quiet interesting as i have about 10 things that i want to achieve before i die, well probarly not before i die but just its goals i am setting for myself and where i want to get to with certain things, work has also been the ever contstant and i think i have been doing more since i got on the road than when i was in oz and should have been doing it. but its keeping me upto date with everything and i am getting there i think with it all, i have idea´s of what i want todo going forward and its just if that can happen its all good, if it can´t then well i will have to look at other options of what i want todo.

 i think by the time i get to the UK i will have worked out my life going forward which would be wonderful.

well its my first bus trip in mexico and god it was so easy compared to some of the trips that i did in asia, although i speak no word or spanish i think i understood what was going on and it all worked perfectly, i also finished my book on the way here and have started a nwe one today called marching powder, which is about a famous bolivian prison !!

tomorrow its going round the museums and the day after its going to see monte alban, i´m leading the boring life at the moment and enjoying it.

well i am now on my last day in mexico city although its been fairly quiet for me staying in on the saturday night i got here and i haven´t had a drink since i have arrived, i think my idea to detox from my melbourne life style has gone a little to my head, i am sure it will change further down the line.

 i´m off for a 6hour bus journey tomorrow to oxaca (yeah i still can´t spell at all) to see some of the sites and make it to my first anchient ruin, i am bypassing the one just ou side mexico city as i plan to come back here one day, and it wasn´t until i got here i really discovered how much this country has to offer, i´m also on a fairly tight shedule as i have central america to do in 3 months which i know isn´t going to happen so ì`m going to make some desisions of where i want to goto and what i want to see, i think that it should be fast paced as i haven´t really been on the move for 8 months, where i should have got up off my arse and done a thing or 2

i will probarly spend the 6 and a half hour bus jounrey planning what i am guna see in mexico and times and dates for that as well, but we will see.

as for the hostel i am staying in here, its all good other than the cunt in the bunk below me, deciding he was going to piss in the room when he was pissed and hit my bag, well i made my distaste known, and i got an appolgy, thank fuck for the water proof lining i bought for the bag though.

anyway more from my next stop

well i have made it here after my first long haul flight in i dont know how long, hurrah it was a bit of a wierd trip as usual i didn’t sleep so i am now bugger as usual. i have however been greeted by ladys playing volleyball on the beach, what a sight that is for a bleary eyed traverller !

i’m in the hostel now and about to get some shut eye as i am buggered!!!

Well it was my leaving party at the weekend, and its one of those things, there was a party planned and it never quiet goes according to the plan’s that you have. a few people i would have like to have seen didn’t turn up but ahhh well thats there loss.

All the people that i have spent alot of the last 7 months with were there and they made it a very fun night that lasted until about 6pm on sunday night, and yeah its 2 days after and i am still recovering, my brain hasn’t made it totally back to normality just yet.

i think i am just about packed which is fucking brilliant, i have decided not to take the nikon with me and to send it home as its fairly heavy and something that i don’t really want to have stolen while i am away so i picked a very small and light canon ixus 55 which will do me perfectly for taking pics while i am away

well thats it i have one week left here, well its slightly more as its a week on wednesday that i have to make. but i have quiet alot todo this week i need to pack get things sent back home, as well as make it upto the city on wednesday to catch up with andres for lunch and hopefully catch up with dave as he is just back from south america.

i need to buy a couple of things and do my test pack and all that crap, its guna be good through, starting in LA and i have book my hostel in hermosa beach as well i’ve stayed in that area before and its nice and an easy way to start the road trip again.

i was gutted at the weekend as i found a house with scales and i knew that i had put on a few kilo’s since i had been staying in melbourne due to the lack of exercise over the past few months and also the fact that i have stopped working now and well i also think that i probably have been eating a little to well as you do. getting on the road again will be the perfect way to shed it and all the walking and seeing life will only aid it, i will need to work out an exercise regime though if not now but when i get back to the UK for a while, i missed the footy and well i was doing the swim but i could never fit it into my weekend going out life style properly but i will need to find a way so that it comes off.

its coming to the end of a fabulous 8 months ish, where i hadn’t expected to stay here for this long but when you find somewhere that you fit, there is no need to go anywhere else and well living off smith street made it all the more enjoyable

We its been another while since i posted anything to my blog but my time in australia is coming to an end and i am moving on to the final stage of my travels and probably the one i have been looking forward to the most since i escaped the UK.

on the 22nd of February i am flying to L.A. to then make my way to Mexico City from there i have some overland travels to Costa Rica where i will be flying out to Ecuador and from there i will be making my way round some of south America before flying home from Sao paulo.

i only have a couple of weeks left and have to pack my stuff up and send the bits and pieces home that i need to send home as well as relax and get prepared for the next few hikes