New York

Honduras

Guatemala

Miami Vice

My Vice with Miami !!!

For all our 8 months of travelling South America we half expected that the biggest culture shock would be landing in the loud land of the United States in the sunny resort city of Miami.

Even though it`s a country we are all too familiar with due to media and globalisation it is still surprising to actually experience it.
Though for us, the experience was short.

The sun wasn`t shining as a cyclone had just swept through the state leaving clouds and rain behind. Still, I was excited to be entering an English speaking again, while Joel was beaming at the thought of meeting his idol, Mickey Mouse at Disney world. Both these notions were fast crushed on arrival as we learnt that Disney world was in Orlando (a land far, far away) and everybody in Miami is a Latin American immigrant, so everyone in Miami speaks Spanish.

While still in the airport sipping our Starbucks we next learnt that we had arrived in Miami on Superbowl weekend- which happened to be held in Miami. We were excited because Superbowl in the U.S`s biggest sporting event and the city was buzzing with celebrities, athletes and activities. It soon dawned on us however, that we were without accommodation in a city full of sports fans from around the country. It was no easy task to find ourselves a bed as everything was either booked out or the prices had doubled. We ended up settling for a room that cost the same as about 8 nights accommodation in Ecuador as that was the cheapest we could find.

Once settled into our hotel we made our way out for South Beach where the pre-game action was. We were so accustomed to the buses of South America- whereby you can go anywhere at anytime- and thought a heavily populated city of the U.S would be the same. But this country runs on oil and everyone loves their cars. All the `vehicles´ are hotted up with mag wheels, tinted windows, glitzy paint job and are the size of a small apartment. Especially all the stretched ones. Stretched limo`s, stretched 4X4`s, even stretched hummers. Buses appeared to be highly unfashionable. After much waiting around and changing buses we made it South Beach to be met by a people parade.

Ocean drive had been closed to traffic and the place was packed with people. It was like being in a P Diddy film clip (who was also in town) with all the homeboys with their over sized clothing and bling-bling, and the booty girls with under sized clothes and over sized sunglasses. Plus all skaters on their boards and blades, the beach babes, the party revellers all glammed up for the big night ahead and the sports fans shouting `Go Bears` or `Go Colts`.

While it was tempting to stay and party with JLo, Fergie, Hulk Hogan, the `tweedle dee` and `tweedle dumb` Hilton sisters, Magic Johnson and the numerous other celeb`s in town (apparently over 1000 private jets were flying in- no wonder the U.S is slow to admit there is a global warming problem), we had to get back to the bus stop for the last bus at 8pm, and opted for a night in our hotel with cable TV.

We awoke on Superbowl Sunday to dismal weather and decided we`d tasted enough of Miami and raced to the airport to make the next flight to Guatemala. While we made it in time to make the flight the staff at American Airlines stuffed us around for an hour so that by the time we were issued a boarding pass the flight was `closed`. We missed it by 3 minutes.

As I write this we are sitting on a plane waiting to take off to Guatemala 7 hours later. We spent a lovely day in the Miami airport cruising from Starbucks to Starbucks (I counted 6). It`s raining outside and the Superbowl kicked off 10 minutes ago and I couldn`t care less.

So if you`re heading to Miami make sure you check the weather first and find out if there are any grand events. I can`t tell you much about the city itself but if you want to know where to get a coffee at the airport- hit me up.

Brazil

The land of the thong - Havaianas and G-bangers are everywhere in this great land!

Entering Rio de Janeiro is was very exotic experience for us after being the cold Andes for such a long period. For one the city is one of the most beautiful in the world. Surrounded by lush tropical rainforest covered mountains that meet the Atlantic´s white sandy beaches. Fresh fruits of mango, melons and bananas are sold cheaply everywhere.

Then there is the people. The women of all shapes and sizes lining the beach of Copacabana and Impanema with their G-strings. They are sexy and know how to dance, everyone has got rhythm and the music - oh. We went out to the nightclub district of Lapa and I have never seen anything like it. The streets are full of people, selling drinks, jewellery, whistles! The typical Brazilian drum bands are playing outside and the neighbourhood is just wall to wall clubs. All different types of music, so you just pick the type you like. We went to a samba club. I have never seen people dance like that before. The amount of shakes per second some of the woman can do with their arse is incredible. And move over Kaluha man - these black sweaty, topless men know how to groove (Katie wanted me to include this sentence if anyone is wondering). It was such a great thing to watch and a little embarrassing to try and dance.

However, this exotic city also has a very dark side. Only weeks before we arrived the main drug lords whom are in jail (which they basically control) had organised their gangs to torch public buses, killing many innocent people and even blocking roads so that emergency vehicles were unable to help. This was all in the name of better living conditions inside the jail. Then 180 corrupt cops were arrested. One couldn´t be blamed feeling a little intimidated in certain areas of Rio, especially at night and/or near the Favelas.

On the other hand Rio seemed to be a lot safer than Sao Paulo where over 700 murders occur each month some 400 more than in Rio. Bring on Ilha Grande.

We spent a week camping on Ilha Grande a tropical island haven south of Rio. Its beaches were stunning to say the least. We snorkeled, swam and body surfed in the clear waters. The vegetation was equally as impressive and the most dense I have ever seen. The orchestra of cicadas filled the jungle with noise occasionally being disturbed by the monkeys in the distance.

Next we headed north to Itacare, a tropical tourist town with massive surf culture. Camping in the town centre gave us access by trekking through rainforest to several different surf beaches where we spent the next three days riding the modest waves.

Sitting on the boards waiting for the next set to roll in and looking back on shore gave us the realisation we were in a truly exotic tropical paradise. White sand surrounded by coconut palms and different species of lush plants some boasting red or purple flowers. Afro-Brazilians, with their ripped bodies and dreadlocks flipping themselves into all sorts of impossible positions practising Capoeira. Then there was the vendors selling coconut water, watermelon and cold beers to the G-string bearing girls baking in the sun. Not to be left out were the soccer lads, playing volleyball without their hands.

Although touristic, with many people trying to sell us Gringos necklaces, bracelets or a joint, we did enjoy our time here. It was also the place that we stumbled across our first Capoeira performance and I´m still in ore at what I saw.

Capoeira is a martial art developed by the African slaves to fight their oppressors. It was practised in sin with the aid of music and in the form of dance to hide the true training of this fighting style. These men and women can back flip, hand stand, fly kick, somersault in mid air all while dodging their opponents kicks. They are the most flexible people I have ever seen. This martial art is an amazing spectacle and the people practising it would not want to be messed with.

SALVADOR

Salvador in the Northeast of Brazil was our next destination and had the greatest influence of Afro-Brazilian people that we have experienced. The streets were filled with constant drumming and dancing. The big mamas (huge black women) sat on the street corners selling traditional foods and the town was continuously in fiesta mode- party, party party! Although currently a colourful and beautiful part of Brazilian culture its history is very cruel.

The area of the Northwest namely Salvador is where the Portuguese first set foot into Brazil. During their rein they brought over 4.5 million (this is no typing error) 4.5 MILLION slaves to the region. More slaves than anywhere else in the world. In fact the suburb called Pelourinho, were we stayed, is the place were slaves were publicly beaten, killed and sold off. Some men had the job of looking after groups of women basically to keep them orderly. Sounds like a better job than working in the coffee or tobacco fields until you find out they were castrated so that they were not tempted into sexual exchange.

One of the interesting things to come out of this history is the religion of Candomble. Candomble is a conglomerate of African religions from Congos, Angolous, Cabindas, Benguelas, Zaire, etc. All the areas the slaves were originally from. Learning about Candomble was of particular interest to myself as the similarities in beliefs to the Indigenous Australians that I work with in Arnhemland and the Kimberley are many.

Here are a few Orixa (Gods) in the Candomble religion that I found to be similar.

OXUMARE or The Rainbow Serpent
This god is related with fertility and abundance. Oxumare duties include directing the forces that produce the movement and dynamics of human existences.

XANGO the Thunder and Lightening Orixa
If disrespected will provoke death and destruction with lightening bolts punishing evil doers. This is similar to the thunder and lightening spirit Namarragon in Arnhemland or Wandjina in the Kimberley.

IEMANJA the Mermaid or Yuk Yuk in Kunwingu (Arnhemland)
She lives in the depths of different rivers. Mermaids are represented in so many different cultures thoughout the world but that's another blog!

Even with the disturbing past I found the people to be relishing in the present enjoying their roots and embracing their new culture through song and dance. There was no sign of resentment to the Europeans, no ´poor bugga me´.

Our fitting ending to Brazil was to visit the looming statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). The 60 metre statue is situated on the mountains overlooking Rio. Normally a panoramic view but for us was covered in cloud. The cloud was so thick that we could´t even see Christ properly standing directly below the huge monument. Instead we were left with a silhouette of the imposing figure. A lasting impression.

¨Obrigado Brasil, Ate mais tarde¨

Chau

Ushuaia - End of the World

Ushuaia was the perfect way to see in the New Year. The "End of the World" for the "End of the Year." It was a random night including some traditional Lithuanian folk dancing, drinks on the beach with some Brazilians and kittens running around the bar at 4am while the sun was high in the sky! Looking forward to what 2007 will bring.

Tierra Del Fuego - The Land of Fire

To shake off our New Year's hangovers we took off on a 3 day hike through Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was fabulous with incredibly beautiful scenery- just when you think you`ve seen enough mountains and glaciers. But this one skirted the ocean too, which was a new experience for us. The weather came in really bad on our 2nd night and we were camped out in the open. We got smashed by Patagonian wind and snow and rain and woke up warm and dry with our tent covered in snow. But it was a ridiculously beautiful spot with forest below us and waterfalls cascading down green cliffs across from us. And then a view through a tight valley to the ocean. Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego are one of our favourite places we`ve been too.

Torres Del Paine

Torres del Paine is arguably the most famous trek in Patagonia and after our 8 days of hiking the circuit it was easy to see why!

The trek itself was not demanding in terms of distance and terrain covered. However, carrying 8 days of food along with the testing weather saw our bodies weary and in desperate need of a warm shower at the conclusion of this walk.

The aspect of Torres del Paine that gives it its fame is the astonishing diversity the route takes you on. Wildflowers carpeting the landscape red with pleasant song birds chirping away, gave us the impression of the perfect spring day. Later the weather would contradict this, exposing us to wind, rain, hail and finally snow. And then, as if God Himself were reading our minds, knowing full well we had had enough the sun would shine momentarily giving us renewed hope and energy.

Open grass lands changed into closed valleys surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Later the trek would pass through knee deep mud as it began to climb over Paso John Garner to a view that was nothing short of amazing. Looking over the massive ice field in Glacier Grey is one of the most breathtaking sights I have every seen trekking.

The main draw card of this tramp is the ´Torres´. Spectacular towers of granite erecting from the top of the mountain range. On our final day day of the walk we woke at 3:30am and started trekking to a location where the intention was to see the first rays of sun hit the Torres turning the grey silhouette of granite golden orange and the sky a warm red. Instead we were met by heavy cloud, strong winds and the snow dumping for hours. We could barely see 20 metres in front of us let alone the mighty towers. With our tails between our legs we trudged back to the tent and crashed out disappointed and fatigued.

With a stroke of luck, when we awoke the clouds had lifted. Not wanting to miss the view we ran back up the mountain to the view spot and were rewarded with the impressive icon. No words or photos can describe the feelings one gets of this place but it was an amazing experience.

We ran the next 15 kilometres along the trail with packs on backs to make the afternoon bus that would take us back to civilisation. We made the bus with most of the other walkers present showing signs of disappointment as they were unable to see ´Torres del Paine.´ Katie and myself were only too happy to show them our digital photos.

Adios 2006

Another year as come to an end and Joel and I are hard pressed to remember everything we have been so lucky to do. Starting 2006 in Darwin seems like another world away and everything we have seen and learnt since makes us feel like different people.

Learning the Spanish language (though poorly) is just the beginning, matched with learning about the geography, history and politics of each country we visit- which is so deep and complex we can only scratch the surface. Then there are the people. The warm smiles of locals, the grubby faced children on the streets, the other travellers on their own quest for a taste of South America, it is all these people we meet that have brought life to our experiences and taught us things about life that we just can`t learn at home.

We will be spending the end of the year at the end of the world- Ushuaia. The most southerly city on earth. So as we come into the New Year we look forward to visitng new countries, spending more time on beaches and less time on mountains and gradually prepare ourselves for working again- but this time in the UK.

We hope 2006 brought you many joys and that 2007 holds many more for you.
Happy New Year.

Some pictures from our travels this year...

Volcan Lanin

Lanin´s Mapuche name means ´Dead Rock´as the Mapuche people believed that anyone who climbed the mountain would be killed by evil spirits!

The intimidating figure of Volcan Lanin towering over all its surrounding mountains, gave us the chance to redeem ourselves and summit a volcano after failing to summit Cotopaxi in Ecuador. This time we would succeed and the fact that we did it solo made it much more satisfying.

The first day of hiking took us through southern beech forest and then opened up to impressive views of Lanin. Later in the day we would tread on volcanic basalt followed by snow - it was the perfect way to start the mission. Our destination was Refugio Caja and we reached the refuge hut in good time finishing the day by donning our crampons to climb the last two hundred so metres in snow. The ´refugio´ was very basic. Picture a shed the shape of a triangle, with concert floor and that was our pace of rest. For drinking water we had to boil up snow with the trusty MSR stove (boys love their toys) as everything was frozen. That night I radioed National Parks to find out what the weather was doing the next day for our summit attempt and the news wasn´t good.

The following day saw some of the worst weather we have experienced in the Andes. Gale force winds, the kind that makes peeing an interesting challenge, heavy snow fall and fog that would make navigation through the glacier and crevasse landscape near impossible. This meant we were hut bound for the day. Snuggled in our sleeping bags we played cards and chess to pass the time and drank tea to stay warm whilst not trying to consume too much in the fear of having to go outside in the freezing conditions to relieve our bladders.

The radio call that night did not give us any positive news ´Clima Malo´ bad weather. However, the Gods were on our side as when I woke at 4am the dark sky was lined with nothing but twinkling stars. GAME ON.

Katie leads the charge at sunrise followed by some German climbers, the wind is strong.

We climbed up over 1200 metres with the last 2 hours on an angle greater then 45 degrees. Katie and myself reached the summit in just under 5 hours. The second group to stand on top of the volcano behind two German mountaineers, Derk and Jork. It was both a breath taking 360 degree view and an amazing sense of achievement.

That same day we hiked 2700 metres down often sliding on our bums using the ice axe as a brake to the ranger hut. Whilst looking behind us it was hard to believe that only hours before we were standing on the summit of that great mountain. The beer tasted that much sweeter back in town while we chatted about our feat.

Puenta Del Inca

Volunteer Work and Aconcagua

Acongagua, the highest peak outside of Asia. It sits in the distance behind us at a height of 6962 metres. This is as close as we got to it this time, as we couldn´t afford the 14 days and $2000US to climb it. However, we have plans to return...

Everything is Zen at the construction site for this ´healing centre with sound´ (whatever that is). We spent 3 days here helping build mudbricks, green houses and tending to the permaculture garden. It was hot, dry and dirty work, but set in a beautiful valley with amazing (all natural) food. We learnt a lot about alternative building and gardening methods and gained some muscles.

Iguazu Falls

Joel and KAtie enjoying Iguazu Falls

The power of the Falls

Billy Joel and Katie get the best view

The Worlds Most Dangerous Road

We have mountain biked on the most dangerous road in the world! Covered in mud we descended from 4700m to 1200m dodging trucks and all the time trying not to go off the edge. In true Bolivian style we stopped for lunch next to a monument of a backpacker that had come off the edge and died. Thanks for the confidence guide! It truly is the most dangerous road in the world as the track is steep and there are many bus and truck wrecks whom have come off the side.

If mountain biking wasn´t enough we caught a bus for 18hrs 230km (that's slow going Hirsch I know your pretty average at Maths) on the same road. Because the road is so thin the outside vehicle is the one that has to give way if two vehicles are approaching. While doing this our back tyres went off the edge. A few of us yelled out stop to the driver. We didn´t want to become part of the wreckage art work below. I was told not to lean out the window as that may even tip the bus. The things you do for that prefect photo.