Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Sigh...so much has happened. Its been about (an AAAWESOME) 2 months since´we actually sent some news... Why? Because in South America, every single day offers something new and exciting and so were so busy doing that we have no time to write about it!! So here is as short a version as we can manage of the things we've gotten up to... 1) Our camera broke and we got another one and we HATE IT2) Kirsten had her first experience of multiple squirtsfromeveryorifice and lived to tell the revolting tale... (more details below, of course, as if i would deny you...)3) We sandboarded down these huuuuumumgous sand dunes in Huacachina, again, D completely surprising and impressing me in his absolute nonfear of going as fast as blumin lightning down the slopes, inspiring cheers from all (the huge-and-therefore-slow envious blokes) around us! Things we learnt 1: Sand can be found in the most interesting places weeks later. (yes i DO wash my ears!)4) We missed a huge earthquake in Pisco and Ica by 10 DAYS!!!5) We trekked down and up the deepest canyon in the world in 3 days. Yup, bad knees and all!6) We did a 4day trek and discovered Machu Piccu in all of its glory, challenging ourselves beyond what we thought we were capable of, trekking as high as 4400m above sea level! Things we learnt 2 I won't harp on about it but i will say this, it was a surprisingly refreshing experience for me, Miss AsthmaticCouldNeverPlaySportsAtSchool and Darren, Mr WhyAnyoneWould WANTToTrekUpAHillEscapesMe to be the 2 that found ourselves taking on the role of TheFitOnes in both treks, a compliment i never thought i would earn. it was freaking cool, and we realised that we LOVE climbing trekking exploring! 7) WE ATE GUINNEA PIG! IT WAS GROSS! They grill the thing WHOLE, all body parts INCLUDING the little claws. Looks like a rat. Apparently the brain is a delicacy. Apparently.8) We had a perfectly debaucherous evening in Bolivia's La Paz, found some dodgy nightclubs with scenes we thought only happened in the movies!9) Darren Levin had a breakthrough (believe it Brennie): He finally understood and made peace with a well known truth... A WOMAN MUST SHOP!!! (only because weve been hanging out with this cool English couple, who shop so much, they make me look like a Mormon hermit!!)10) Things we learnt 3: (at the Coca Museum) Coca Cola STILL uses coca leaves for flavoring! Freud was the first ever cocaine addict! Chewing Coca leaves is GROSS MAN! - it may work for the locals, but we simply do NOT get it. ...Get this: USA has seriously pressurised Bolivia to rid its farmers of their livelihood (coca chewing and growing) because of the by-product, cocaine, of which 50% of all Cocaine users are american, while at the same time, the chemicals needed to create cocaine out of coca leaves come from and are secretly supplied to Colombia (where its processed) by...yeah you got me...the USA? Que? I snort a rat!11) We stood in the middle of the jungle in the pitch dark of night with our torches OFF, surrounded by blinking fireflies and lissstned to the sounds of the wild, and it was the most magical experience of our lives! (more below...) 12) We fished for and ate Piranhas! 13) D and I are USELESS fishermen! !! (...and Piranhas are really easy to catch!)14) ...and finally...Yesterday, one Darren Levin and one Kirsten Moseley DID truly and honestly cycle down the MOST DANGEROUS ROAD INTHE WORLD!!!! Ironically Kirsten, all balls and excitement, rode brakes-on and knuckles-white the whole way, while Darren, who was, frankly, poeperig and against the idea from the start, zooomed off like Stirling Moss complaining all the time cos he wanted to go FASTER!! Yup, thats my boy! (I tell you, he continues to surprise and delight me).
For those that want to read the sordid details...I´ll cut to the chase. (as if i'm EVER able to do that!)Aside from the loveliness of Vilcabamba (a little town south of Ecuador famous for it´s many old fogeys over 100yrs old yet still alive, kicking and frankly, functioning with no probs we have at half the age!!), 6 days in our beautiful pole house (literally on stilts) right in front of a rushing river and surrounded by nothing but nature... i have just experienced my first ever total double Jippo-vomey-guts experience. Sheesh man i tell you it was coming out both sides at the SAME TIME!!! Didn´t know that was possible. Was highly inconvenient especially since there was only 1 bucket and the toilet was downstairs!!! (yeah, i´ll leave the rest to your imagination...) I have never experienced that in all my life, and hopefully never again. I´m so lucky cos it came on very quickly and only really lasted one night. It was quite scary actually. I got to the point where i was so weak i could hardly walk and my fingers started tingling and stuff. Asked D if i was dying and for the first time in my life i really meant it. Of course i was being totally melodramatic and nowhere near death! D was absolutely amazing and thank God being a doctor he was on the case, i knew he´d never let anything bad happen to me. Well, it´s one of those things that erm well it´s like this: when the man in your life has to clean up after you and empty your...erm...buckets... well lets just say we know it´s love when he does so willingly and with love (doctor or no doctor, it was gross man, i even grossed myself out!). Now why does she tell us this sh"t (haaha get it, sh"t?, haaahahahaah) you may ask. Well because it's one of the great equalisers hey? ...and that´s life baybay, deal with it! And it´s all part of our journey, and we´re not only gonna glam it up to you like some glossy travelmag show, pretending things aren´t sometimes... sh"t...HAAAAHAHAHAHA!. This is the real thing!
But this place we were staying at was perfect for recovery. We literally spent our days lazily sharing a hammock reading and listening to some chilled out tunes, breeze to keep us cool, sunshine to keep us warm, nature all around. And how cool is this: they had an outside shower made of stone and bamboo and warmed by gas, so you either showered by day with the sun and the butterflies or by night with the stars. Aaaaawesome. One morning we were up at the Crack-of-Dawn (5am!) to try catch our bus (which we missed) and i had a moonlit shower, i mean i don´t wanna get all airy-fairy with you but it was quite magical, special, one of those moments where you feel very sure of the existence of a"something" and very closely connected to that "something" and kindof loved by it too. HEAVYYYYYYYYY MAAAN! About the jungle:We saw Caymans (like aligators) and turtles and monkeys and looaaaads of birds, and graceful pink dolphins in the Bolivian Pampas (wetlands) and met the cuuutest animals, Capibarras, look like giant Guinnea pigs, but belong to the rodent family. We loooove them! We went into the jungle aaaa what sounds birds beasts ghoghos (insects) spiders and these really touchy pigs that are a bit stoopid (if the see you and smell you and you look and smell UNLIKE anything jungle , but you keep still, they tell themselves well nothings wrong, "it" might just be a tree. Then the moment you move they shiiit themselves and run like crazy!)Well that's all (hehe). If you've gotten this far then i commend you on yr resilience and determination. We are trying to upload photos but to be honest we've decided that we HATE dealing with our website almost as much as we hate our new camera, both more high maintenance than a premenstrual woman! So, slowly slowly. Lots of love to everyone, wherever you are...KnDPS CONGRATS SONIA COURCOURAKIS WHO IS A NEW MUM!!!
- comments