Micah and Kahlil blundering around the world

Shayari, Kichwa Jungle Community, and more...(by micah)

2007-01-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

Well! I dunno if you blunters are still reading these speils... as with the lack of a digital camera I guess they become a bit tedious. Tis a right shame... we have some pearler analogue photos tho which you may get to see someday!

Well we busted out of the Cloud forest, finishing on a high note of a 3 day Horse trek to a highland lake (I actually got galloping for a few hundred metres!, bloody fun) and a Christmas Hangi which Kahl diligently impressed the locals with... we slaughtered the christmas pig and cooked him in the ground! poor sod. After a night on the Puro (a rather inebriating spirit made from local sugar cane) with the locals, singing Sloth room, and dragging a comad dave home 2 km, I had a pretty uneventful (asleep, sick) new year while kahl was out getting stabbed with a butter knife in the Mariscal of Quito! (dont worry he wasnt hurt it was just a butter knife) The following night we made it down to the Jungle again...

A community of 75 (mostly kids), and lots of fertile jungly land! We stayed in some beautiful Cabanas open to the steamy jungle air, right in there away from civilisation! We helped build an enclosure for small mammals called Guantas, and ended up putting the young Tapir in there cos its elders were giving it shit in the big enclosure. We helped make a dugout canoe, and generally hung out, swam with piranhas (and ate piranhas!) played footy, and wandered about the community looking at tarantulas, snakes, swinging on giant swings, checking out the medicinal gardens... we were the first volunteers to stay there, and Don Fausto Obliged us an Ayawasca spiritual trip which the indian Shamans do! nothing to rave about really...just made us puke. The folk there all speak Quichua, which was inspiring. They are poor as but yet so rich and lucky to have the land that they do and many of their traditions still thriving. We ate a million platanos, Yuca, papayas, and palm hearts, all prepared in different ways each day, which was something quite special. Our leaving treat was big ass grubs like huhu´s, which smelt like cheese and oozed like melted cheese and tomato sauce upon being squished open! We kindly obliged and ate them.

The heat was eventually too stifling and we were glad to return to a flight out of Ecuador... but... my passport aint here yet still, so Kahlil has taken off to Costa Rica and I will meet him in Nicaragua whence my passport gets here!
Happy New year to all...
Micah

Intag, bears, machetes, battles, books, rain, rivers. (By micah)

2006-12-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks...
Well... it seemed that destiny knew I was going to have my passport nicked, for we planned an extended stay in Ecuador, and then it was nicked which means we have to stay here longer anyhows... while I wait for a new one.

Jesus has been sold for a mighty $380, we have left montanita, and after a fruity 5 days in Cuenca with our pisshead dutch, dane and kiwi mates we have started "tracking Andean Bears" in the montane cloud forests of Intag. It has proved a relaxed affair, seeing as they dont really need our work, they just need our money. After getting over the feeling of being slightly duped, we realise we are here for the duration and are making the most of the place! The worlds of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jack Kerouac infiltrate our loopy exsistence... in between slashing trails through dense bamboo and cloud forest looking for possible places to put bear traps for when the GPS collars arrive... which are now 2 months overdue.
David, the pleasant englishman who leads the project couldn´t stop us joining him in the protests against the copper mining progress... and a most interesting day ensued; becoming one of hundreds of ecuadorian campesinos stacked into trucks and utes for a 3 hour ride to the protest thjrough hairy country roads, we experienced first hand rocks flying over our heads, flaming tryes rolling down hills, and...you better believe it, bullets whizzing overhead! Not especially convinced we wanted to involve ourselves in fighting ecuadorians we stayed out of range and observed ecuadorians fighting each other. Well... hired goons of Ascendant copper and bought police fighting country folk... and we felt very sad about it. After 5 days of protest the minister for the environment finally announced ascendant had not complied with all the rules of the EIA and the mining has been postponed.
We also had one heartstopping ride down a grade four river in nothing but inner tubes! After being dashed and dunked and churned whilst gripping on to our tubes for dear life for 300 meters without repose, me and kahl crawled out of the water gasping for air and gave up the ghost..., however our amaerican friend dwight was washed away downstream. we searched for two hours and feared the worst when he finally shoed up from just a few meteres downstream of us, where he had been waiting patiently for us to follow him!
Other than that we laze in our ham,mocks in the morning sun till the rain arrives, then play cards and watch movies in our rustic quarters. The locals are very friendly. The bear project is very loosely run, and Josh would have a fit over the randomness of the telemetry used to pinpoint their positions using triangulation.

This morning I awoke from dreams of Anniversary dinners and hanging out with close friends and family and felt for the first time in my travels, a little homesick.
So I wish you all a flaming merry crimbo and Nuevo Ano,
Eat some lemon merangue pie for me!
Micah

Montanitas

2006-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

HI All

We have struck Montanitas at long last, a sweet little tourist town on the coast of Ecuador, with a nice little surfbreak too. We barely made it as jesus decided to have his fourth flat tyre for the trip, and needed to be push started ten times to get going. He is now doen to only two cylinders and can barely push his own weight, good thing this leg was only 10km, and no more, for here we will sell him for sure.

Last night we also dined on the finest food we have had since arriving: a chicharron mixto in Mangralito, it was so good we ordered another main between us. Dreams of introducing the mouthwatering treats to folks back home. Yum.

So now we wait fr the next swell...

Phat Lobitos tube for Kahlil

2006-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

And it continues

2006-11-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

Un buenasso tubo

2006-11-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

Kahlil

Here is the sequence of me getting barreled at Lobitos. Unfortunately I diddn´t quite make it out, but came damn close.

Jesus is in Ecuador!

2006-11-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

Jesus has coughed and spluttered his way into ecuador! Good news is, gas is nice and cheap here! Interesting happenings at the border, including street money changers putting $350US of false bills in our hands in exchange for the car... which we escaped from rather rapidly! Yuca Bread is Yummy, yet to experience the marvels of Ecuador, but so far it has been a flash hotel with a swimming pool and leopard pattern beadspreads.... photos soon!
Love to all, Micah

Surfing!!!!! Photos

2006-11-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Kahlil getting barreled at El Hueco, Lobitos. Hell yeah!

Big thanks to Pepe who took the photo, its a ripper.

We are finished with Lobitos now, after ten days of waves, and its off to Ecuador...

Norte Peru and its trails tribulations and perfect surf

2006-10-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

First up apologies as it seems my card reader has bit the dust and so no photos, even though we have lost, including video of me pulling into some mackin pits at El Hueco. Currently in Lobitos....

We diddn´t get big swells at the big left (Chicama), but have hit some solid swells on other fine lefts since. At the moment we are housed up in Lobitos, in some chirtian peruvian dudes house. Its sweet for about $5 a night we just live there like a flat, he works all day so its just us and a couple of other surfers, and an insanely hot girl (taken unfortunatley). At the moment I am just completly zonked. I have been surfing every day now for so many days I have lost count, I think maybe more than ten. My shoulders are a world of pain and all my cuts have blossomed into beautiful sea ulcers, but I have pulled into (and made it out of a lot of) more epic barrels than in the rest of my life. Have been surfing the spots of El Hueco http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/South_America/Peru/North/el_hueco/index.html and Punta de Lobos.
The days are hot and the sun is blinding in the desert sands. The town of Lobitos is almost totally dead, a small colonial town deserted when the oil began to run out, so it is full of huge empty buildings full of bats with huge vultures overhead, the horizon is dotted with vast oil rigs out to sea and the sun sets through them is a big red ball every day. One always feels completey spaced out during the day, and the sea breeeze is so strong surfing is out of the question. I routinely get up at 5.15am to hit the waves, a punishing routine.
My spanish is slowly improving and speaking what little I do know comes now without effort, the words are packing in.
We went up past Cabo Blanco and Mancora. Cabo is a cool fishing town with heavy waves, mancora a tourist spot which is a bit dead now in the low seasonj but good for parties, with Micah and I gong out till dawn hanging at the beach.
A dude from Lima called Carlos came with us as far as Mancora. He was a funny little dude who was obsessed with surfing and white women, and as such always talked aout one or the other. Machisimo is commonplace here.
The food here rules, with Chicarron de mariscos being my personal fave, battered and deep fried squid and shellfish served with a special sauce. MMm mmm. I also dig the fried maize the give you beforehand to munch on while you wait, salty and good, better than peanuts by far.
Our car, Jesus, thankfully is running okay, but guzzles the gas and must take all hills in either first or second. We caught a taxi to talara today because its actually cheaper than driving the ten km.
Micah hired a rod and I have a handline so we fish a bit but si far have come up with naught but a tiny stingray. Bum. And micah still beats me at chess. Bum.

Kahlil

Jesus, the 1974 Datsun!

2006-10-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

We have bought a 1974 Datsun!
Bring on the fear and loathing of driving on the right, the Panamerican highway, and access to 6 foot peeling lefts!
Lima ain´t such a bad city...

The joys of peruvian bus travel! (By Micah)

2006-10-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

The days and nights have blended into one perpetual skanky busride, sleeping in bus terminals, with the odd hotel room strewn in there... My bladder is permanently full and pressing on my ning nong, surrounded by loco peruanos and endless desert, once more. I have one forearms length between my headrest and the one in front of me, my neck is killing me, let alone the spanish movies and joke shows that grip my brain relentlessly! My feet are stuck in highland socks and shoes, but I havent the legroom to remove them. I´m so thirsty I have a headache but i darent put one extra drop in my bladder. The ticket collector looks more hungover and seedy each time he walks the aisle. After 36 hours spent shaking in a cold delerium, and 21 pumpkin soup plops later, we have left La Paz for Lima. Kahls foot aroma wafts past my nose intermittently, reminding me of that queeziness... please lord, get me off this hellbus and into the oceans clean tubes!!!!!!
and to boot my pack is soaked in a foul smelling liquid upon arrival, which has proved impossible to remove...ya ya ya!

Laid Low in La Paz

2006-10-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

We have mad it out of Cochabamba finally as the blockade has been lifted. Unfortunately we are now stuck in La Paz with Micah working his way through an evil bout of gastro.
La Paz is cool and I can¡t wait to get to the coast.

Much love to everyone else sacttered about the globe.

Kahlil

Video!!! Us getting attacked by our beloved Pumas

2006-09-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

This is Micah getting nailed by Roy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8HbaH8v6ss

And Kahlil by Simba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slrivTkU694

And a few updates

Some facts about Bolivia:

They drive like madmen - taxis load up to ten people or more and leave the boot open as they drive at speeds of over 140kmph, and no-one wears seatbelts.

Its noisy - as testament we leave a listof sounds heard at any moment in our residence of Las Vegas. Disco thumping, TV blaring, Baby wailing, Heavy metal thrashing, Fucking bingo barkng at every second person tat walks past, crickets screeching incessantly, rooster crowingatall times of day or night...

They are obsessed with chicken, some of the cochabaman eateries: Tourist Chicken, All Chicken, Chicken Sensation, Hong Kong Chicken (bolivian style), Chicken Chris, Chicken Banana, just to name a few.

An odd place indeed.

Kahlil

Enter SIMBA! and friends

2006-09-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

Meet Rico the oscelot.

Simba again, fresh from a swim in the river.

This is another Puma by the name of Gato (which means cat in spanish)

A beautiful Simba, same spot where he gave me a goodbye thrashing that lefta few minor scars. He looks so placid...
kahlil

Enter... Roy!

2006-09-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

Er heller!
I thawd i saw a puddy tad!
El Senor Roy... with my co-volunteer Matt, and enjoying his sunday stroll.

2006-09-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Jungle! (written by Micah!)

2006-09-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

Horlor listeners!
We have been in Villa Tunari, and Inti Wara Yassi for amost two weeks now! Our bodies are feeling the beat! My Puma´s name is Roy... he is the biggest meanest pussy in the park!!! I have found out he is stronger than me... as he has pulled me over and dragged Matt my companero down a bank... we have bruises and grazes a plenty, not to mention the puma bites and claws! He is a mini lion... but really he is a big softy, I call him Reverend Loveroy! We cohort through jungle traiils at an average 8kms an hour attatched to this beast... he does what he wants and we are his bitches! It is very taxing work and by the end of the day all we want to do is drink beer and relax... and hit the hay. It feels a biut like work at timnes as there aint no such thing as a day off for the month we are here... but the Pumas are getting to know us and the more time we spend the more rewarding and closer to them you can get! It is really quite the experience of a lifetime. I am working on getting him to love me and playing with the schnoonoo...
Kahlil has had the grand privelidge of being an Alpha Male for a bunch of Spider monkeys... We have stayed in a room that used to belong to a sloth! we have moved up in the world now though...
Villa Tunari is set in idyllic jungle hazey mists all the time and when the sun sets
myriad upon myriad of undulating skylines appear further and higher off in the distance. It is a kind of a truckstop town, but has a disco that the volunteers at the park frequent on a sat night... Kahlil has been strutting his stuff on the dancefloor attracting the attention of many a bolivian!
Bats and fireflies and night monkeys frequent the night, too many to list frequent the day... I have seen one baby Jaguar and an Ocelot of note...
Rum and coconut juice and guitar music are the features of the evenings...and not quite so shit hot bolivian food, which consists of basically chicken, rice chips, beef, and eggs. But we love it!!!!!! The bolivian people here are a little scornful of whiteys at times, but the pace of life is slow and I love their relaxed attitude to life in the jungle
Kia kaha to thy all and get your asses to south america asap! It rules the world!
We´ll be here in Inti Wara Yassi for two more weeks at least...
photos and videos of pumas to come!!!!!

Inti wari assi

2006-09-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

HI there

No photos just now sorry, but amazing ones to follow.

Micah and I are currently in Inti Wari Assi wildlife refuge as volunteers. We are both working with pumas. We spend all day walking a puma through the amazon jungle (I walk, micah runs). We have seen everything:

Tortises, pumas, jaguars, tejones, squirrels, armadilloes, mcaws, snakes, spider monkeys, capuchin and squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, honybears, lizards, leaf cutter ants, etc etc. This place is just alive. Its hot too. Lovely.

The work is physically taxing, but rewarding. We get eaten by all sorts of bugs as repellent is forbidden. The odd munch by our pumas is quite standard too.

Off toi party now, its FRIDAY NIGHT!!!

Kahlil

More photos

2006-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Photos for all to see.

So far you can see¨(no nesscearrily in this order)

Cacti on the isla Pescado in the middle of the Uyuni salt plain

Micah on the hills overlooking Antofagasta in Chile

Me on the Uyuni salt plain salt

Flamingo impressions in the altiplano (about 4500m so harder than you´d think, a bit of breakfast rum helps)

The carriage that took us from chile to bolivia (and sat engineless in the middle for 7 hours)

Micah asleep on the aforementioned carriage

Hope yall enjoy em, Kahlil

Photos at last

2006-08-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

bolivia rules the world! (written by Micah)

2006-08-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

Twas upon leaving uyuni
the bolivians got a bit moody
for twas not one hamburger no
but four on the go
that led to a bus rather fumy!

Howdy all!
Well we are certainly anjoying ourselves now! We slept for 14 hours last night, after a 3 day tour of the Andes ion a jeep, arising at 4am both mornings, and then an all night bus ride to where we are now... cochabamba! This town rules bolivia.. which rules the world (or should!) the best fruit salads you aver ate for 50c... delicious rice and spud things bought from little stalls on the street... they almost beat the 50c hamburgers with chips and banana inside them in Uyuni! People sell pineapple in chunks on the street, and juices, and everything good for so dang cheap! Everyone looks healthy and happy too! Salad comes with everythjing. This town is like your classic madness tooting horns everyone trying to get where they are going hot dusty sth american town. It rules. The busses have flames and art painted all over them... there are trees filling the streets... and stalls selling delicious empanadas everywhere. I finally bought a guitar this morning form the markets... made here in cochabamba. I ended up forking out a fair $240 for it, but it is a beautiful nylon string with inbuilt pickup and a hard case, which would cost that much by itself back home. I have already written a song for it too. Gettying used to being a foreigner and being 18inches taller thn eveybody else...
The jeep tour was loose. we ended up with five israelis... which despite prejudices turned out fine, except for when one of them demanded more food on the last night from our poor guides who spend 16 hours a day driving and cooking for us... I guess he just didn´t syop tio thionk that we are in one of the poorest countries ion the world... where they themselves are perhaps stryggling to feed their family.
The highlands are an incredible magical mystical cold still dry desolate yet rich place, inspring meditation and calm awe. Rooms are very zen, cold with little paraphenalia anywhere, concrete or mud with a bed. but that is all one needs, and it makes me wish for less and less. We saw some incredible geysers, volcanos, and green, red and white lagoons filled with flamingos! They were my fave.
Now we are descending into the tropical heat. Still at 2700 metres, it feels like a good 28 in the day. Tomorrow we head for villa tunari & inti warri yassi. After that we will be floatin down the amazon in a hammock!
I am buzzing to the brim and so happy this dream is finally becoming a reality.
Aha we have photos finally.
All the best to the munter that bothers to read
Micahj

More limericks (kahlil)

2006-08-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

the woman in antofagasta
she sold me a few empanadas
but my stomach said NO
ensued flatulent woe
for the nose of my poor travelling partner

Gypsies in Calama (Micah)

2006-08-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Calama:
a gypsy with teeth all arot
with my palm said she´d tell me alot!
i forked out 500 bucks
but she did nothing such
and instead put a curse on my cock!

(500 pesos=about $1)

Lastr lost blogs

2006-08-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Up through Chile we go.We have moved on from Santiago and it´s smoggy skies via a 18hr bus to the coastal port of Antofagasta. This place offered warmer climes, waves, sun (it last rained here in 1994). We found a wee surfshop willing to hire boards and the next morning it was off to surf teh Chilean break of La Puntilla. Sweet waves had by all, alone in the water. In Antofagasta we met some gringos (americans) teaching english and got drunken at their apartment, made fools of ourselves playing guitar, and played frisbee in the dark.We have been adjusting to aspects of chilean life: siestas, big lunches (almuerzo), getting up late, staying up late, eating emanadas, putting used bogroll in the basket and not the toilet, cold showers, and for me, not understanding a word of what anyone says. So far we have seen almost no other western travellers, and are glad to off the tourist traps. We have travelled to the mining twon of Calama in the middle of the Atacama Desert. ANd when I say desert, I mean desert. Not a tree, blade of grass, cactus, or any living thing for hours on the road. Bare busted up rock, not even sand. The mine here then is cheap and does no ecological damage, so they have made it 4km by 5km across open pit, and now results in 13% of their entire economy. Calama is a dusty hole with nothing to see. It´s up at 3000 metres so you need to catch your breath a bit. Tomorrow we go up over 4000, maybe even 5000metres. Close to space! Well, not really.Chile is expensive, it seems prices have gone up 50% from two years ago when the lonely planet came out. Bring on bolivia. Chilean pesos have been fun though: 300 pesos to the dollar, so we wave around ten thousand dollar notes with ease and are now both millionares. Lots of love to all those back home and abroad. I will upload photos when I find a computer than can do it.Kahlil
posted by Kahlil @
1:38 PM \n0 comments \n \nWednesday, May 25, 2005\n\nOnline \n\n\nWelcome to the Blog of Kahlil and his travelling nads.You find me at present in Santaigo de chile.The andes are right there, they sleep by day, the stray dogs abound, and they all speak some funny langusge I don´t understand.\nLife is good, the air is thin, tomorow we go to the coast, and eat many more empanadas.Photos will follow when I can find a plug for my camera. Our hostel is about 200 yrs old and immaculately plastered, filled with noisy poms, and has no plugs. It does provide respite for those in need of sleep between the hours of two and two.\nMucho aroha to you all

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Online
Welcome to the Blog of Kahlil and his travelling nads.You find me at present in Santaigo de chile.The andes are right there, they sleep by day, the stray dogs abound, and they all speak some funny langusge I don´t understand. Life is good, the air is thin, tomorow we go to the coast, and eat many more empanadas.Photos will follow when I can find a plug for my camera. Our hostel is about 200 yrs old and immaculately plastered, filled with noisy poms, and has no plugs. It does provide respite for those in need of sleep between the hours of two and two.
Mucho aroha to you all