Encanta la Vida, literally loving life in Costa Rica

This is the story of two parts of Costa Rica, two people, and two selves within ourselves.

To begin is always difficult, this trip began with many different plans, and options, including Hawaii, Mexico and Costa Rica. For a number of very good reasons we chose Costa Rica.

1. Max and I had never been
2. Potential for amazing surf
3. A cool out of the way place (Matapalo) to visit

As you can see on this blog I have been to many different parts of Central America and have essentially avoided Costa Rica as I thought the whole country was like the North, full of Americans and crowded surf. This is only one part of a trully amazing country! The south, specifically the Osa peninsula is the wild west of the country. Full of incredible surf, monkies and untouched primary rainforest. When we arrived in San Jose, max and I found a hostel drank a few beers and basically enjoyed ourselves despite the high American style prices. The next day we got on a small plane, a sea otter with 2 prop engines and proceeded to have what we imagined to be the scariest plane ride of our lives!!!  While passing through a giant cloud, it began raining insanely hard, the rain was louder than the very loud engines, and we began bouncing through the sky dropping and gaining altitude. The tico(Costa Rican) in frot was gripping his seat white knuckle and the only thing that made me ok was the other guy in the front who looked very calm, we later found out he was only calm because he had resigned himself to his inevitable death at the hands of our 17 year old copilot!!!

Needless to say we survived and made it to Puerto Jimenez, where we got a cab with the scared passenger, Brett, who was also heading to Encanta La Vida after we bought several cases of beer to avoid paying 4 dollars per beer. The next 45 mins were very bumpy but we made it to what I can only describe as a magical resort. 

Encanta La Vida:
The story of Encanta La Vida is the story of one man, Bryan, who literally built the entire town of Matapalo with his bare hands. When he first arrived there was no road to the surf, no place to stay and nobody surfing, perfection! This former sea urchin fisherman from Santa Barbara proceeded to build the only road that is still used today and his entire resort over the next 5 years sure he would work, send money and oversee the construction whenever he could. He taught the locals to surf so he would have someone to surf with, which sounds like a nice problem to have. He built and designed the whole place by himself which is even more incredible when you see how beautiful the place is. There are plants of all kinds, including banana trees, coconut trees and a whole forest of chocolate trees! They even have troops of monkies who will come through to say hi and to eat the bananas, and apparently raid our place. One sentence I never thought I would say, "Max chase the monkies off our balcony!" despite all my previous problems with monkies. 

So essentially it was paradise, even without the surf! But the surf was even better. There are three breaks of decreasing exposure to the pacific. Matapalo is on the tip of a peninsula on the inward side towards the gulf. The most outer break is Matapalo itself, a sort of a beach break with a rocky bottom it gets huge and Bryan likes to chase rogue waves at outer Matapalo, not my favorite. Around the bend is the next break, backwash, so named because during high tide it breaks directly on the beach but at low tide it breaks in a very long right. I got. Several of my best waves here when we first arrived and it broke in the morning. I have these amazing memories of huge waves and warm sun and watching the jungle behind the beach, and the scarlet macaws circling overhead. The next wave, just around from backwash, is the most fickle and smallest in terms of size but it trumps all the rest in length, you can surf 300 yards! It is probably around 3 times as long as backwash, an already long wave. This extra long wave, pan dulce, which has been favorably compared to Malibu was so incredible because it was so varied! I would take off way out at the point, ride through some fast sections, then it would slow down a bit, then it would hit tę next point, speed up a lot and continue breaking over many more sections all the way in to the beach, where one could get out on the sand and walk back out for another wave. The best part is that I would sometimes surf alone! If this wave was in california it would be surfed by 300 people on the conditions that I was surfing it an yet I would have my choice of the waves I wanted. I eventually hit my knee on my board and ended up long boarding this wave for the last half of the trip as this was easier on my hurt knee, so I really got to know it well. 

So that was all there was. We would wake up early (6-7) surf, eat breakfast, surf or read by the pool or in a hammock, eat lunch, surf/read, eat dinner, sleep at 9-930. It was pretty hard let me tell you.

The two selves:


My favorite book I read is "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Nobel laureate and Princeton professor Daniel Kahneman. It is basically all of his body of work in a very accessible book. He describes many experiments that led him to his views on how humans make decisions and mostly how we think about and more importantly how we perceive the world. His work as well as many others describes the two selves in all of us. A system one, or fast brain, that mostly reacts to sensory inputs, and system 2 which processes and makes decisions and is the computer. System 1 is very valuable to react instantly to stimuli, however it can easily be tricked into making the incorrect decision. For example instead of 10% fat, which nobody would buy, ground beef is described at 90% fat free to trick system 1. It seems like this system 2 is actually pretty lazy and apt to depend on system 1 to make decisions, but if we can engage system 2 we will make the right decision most of the time. Additionally there is your experiencing self, and your remembering self, which are more separate than one would realize. These are the 2 selves.

I guess what I learned is that it is okay to depend on system 1 and intuition for some things, but you must engage your system 2 to make any large decisions or else you will screw up. U definitely depend too much on my system 1 and I have been making a conscious effort to engage more my thinking brain and make better decision. So obvious this was very valuable! The other books I read were more fun, one by Joan Didion, one about Pablo Escobar and one about buff, Jesus christs childhood friend (thanks Andy Grock)

All in all an amazing trip! I will be bringing my family down when I have one, and may even make it down sooner!

Now it's back to the lab. Luckily I got great news and we will meet next week with our patent people to push that ahead, and I will need to scramble to get out a couple of grants and make a few talks incorporating all my new results for the MJFF meeting October 4th in NYC.

Pictures~!

Watch out, its told end to beginning! Surf, Sunset, Sunset...

Vietnam, and the rest is history

HUGE WAVES! Monkey standoff (part 2) and the 7 Deadly Plagues of Max

So we left off flat... Not anymore! Imagine a 2 story house, now make that a wave breaking on an offshore reef about a half mile out. Now place yourself on top, and ride down it with the wind quite literally whistling through your ears. That was our Sunday.

We surfed the biggest waves either of us had ever surfed (and we have video proof of max eating it really bad on one wave) Youtube video to follow shortly. The swell arrived and with it some of the most perfect right hander in Ekas history. After days of no swell, you can only imagine our delight, one that Max was feeling better, and two that there were waves finally! Usually a low tide break, we paddled out to inside Ekas at high tide. We saw only one guy out, and he was nothing but a speck on the horizon. I thought he was too far out (usually you catch the wave pretty close to shore) but as we paddled I saw why. A set wave of 3X Overhead (imagine me X3) broke and he got on it perfectly! We were really excited. As we got out we saw why nobody else was out. There was a current pushing you directly into the path of the oncoming swell. Therefore if you stopped paddling you would be crushed. But thankfully Max caught one, then I caught one so we were feeling good. We then talked to the other guy out there, this Californian from Huntington beach who was wrecking it. We took some queues, and got ready for the next set. Max took off trying to catch the wave, but for once my cautious nature paid off and I was in perfect position for the next wave. As I rode down the huge barreling wave, I could just see max getting crushed underneath it (he had missed his wave...) I ended up about 200 meters in from where I started, and after about 3-4 more waves on the head, Max was right next to me. So we paddled back out, but the current had gotten even stronger, and we had to paddle even harder just to stay put. The last thing I saw was the other Californian dropping in on a 24 foot monster, which then crashed on my head. I then caught the tail section of the next one and rode it in. I was exhausted after about 2 hours of constant paddling for only 3 waves. When I made it in we spoke with Jules, and apparently on Max's last wave he took off, realized it was going to close out, and doe off the wave, not quite making it. But we got a good video. We then took naps and paddled back out in the evening, this time to a perfectly breaking left (about 1,5X overhead but it seemed small) that only breaks about 6 times a year. We were getting 1.5 minute long rides, and loving every second of it. When we got out it was dark, and we scored some free food and then slept, solidly for about 10 hours.

A little more about Max's 7 afflictions. The day before the swell hit, we surfed two breaks, in the morning we surfed perfect head high + southern reef, and in the afternoon surfed inside Ekas. As there were no waves Max went with the 15 year old Australian almost pros. He had to paddle about 1 mile over, and when he got there surfed a barreling wave, but there happened to be TONS of sea lice. Sea lice normally don't cause problems, (they don't leave marks) but are merely uncomfortable. In this case it was "like swimming in acid". So I asked why he didn't get out and Max replied "because I didn't want to be shown up by a 15 yr old." Needless (at this point) to say, Max was covered head to toe in little welts that were incredibly itchy. So as we sat watching the upcoming swell Max looked over at me and said, "this is like the 7 deadly plagues, first Jellyfish! then Reef, followed by Insect (Mosquitoes, Max was covered in bites while I had basically none) then Stomach Virus, and then Sea Lice. Wonder whats next? Then Max got crushed by the biggest waves of his life, and afterward oh number 6, Giant Waves... SO I said well I hope number 7 is that you had to hang out with me for 3 weeks, and Max said he hoped not (he didn't want me to be one of his deadly plagues, but I know he actually did)

The next day we escaped from Lombok by driving 3 hours, taking the Ferry for 6 hours (should have taken 4 but the captain couldn't get the direction figured out, and then the deckhands could literally NOT get the boat tied to the dock) and then driving for 2 more hours to Ubud. Oh yeah and we didn't eat anything the whole time so we were absolutely starving. We managed to find a place to stay though. For only 10$ each we had a gorgeous room, with a balcony facing the rice paddies. Breakfast included. We then had a beer, an amazing salad, nasi goreng (fried rice) gado gado (vegetables with peanut sauce) and black rice pudding, all for 10$. We slept like babies, and then had one of the busiest days ever, (which I am just wrapping up now).

Monkey standoff, part 2. We woke to fresh coffee and tea, and amazing eggs with a fruit plate. We walked through rice paddies to the Monkey forest, site of my standoff last year. This time we came armed with bananas, and a good hiding place (Max's shirt). We gave a few out, and got pictures of Monkeys crawling all over us (I had 4 on me at one point). Everything good so far. But then I gave one monkey a banana, but he wasn't satisfied, and tried to bite me (I guess he knew I had more bananas, so I threw them to Max, after which the monkey just started biting towards me, I didn't know what to do (again) so I tried to be bigger then him and scare him, this just pissed him off, so I tried to back slowly away (the preferred method to deal with Monkeys (but this just made him more bold) so I kinda half ran, jumped away and got the heck out of there, Nick plus Monkeys=no good.

We then shopped for a bit, (2 hours in Ubud bargaining from 250,000 (about 25$) to 50,000. Then had lunch for 1.6 dollars, and got on the road, straight through all the traffic of Denpasar, to the beach called Impossibles, a reef break near Uluwatu. We jumped in the water, and promptly were able to connect a ride for the whole reef, (not so impossible) got lost on the way back to old Betsy, drove back into Kuta Bali, dropped off Betsy (we almost ran out of gas, almost caused an accident by driving the wrong way down multiple streets), got a room, got dinner, tried to change my flight, ducked into the clubs here, and then typed this out.

Whew. How much can one do in 16 hours??

Sleep now, surf tomorrow, eat, repeat.

Be back on Thursday!!

See y'all soon!

Nick

SO now we should have some more swell tomorrow, surfing Kuta's legendary beach break!

Driving, Monkeys and the Perfect Wave

Max: "That monkey will be back... with a vengeance" Me: "kind of like your diahrea" Max "yeah kinda like that"

This was after I sent max to stand near the monkey eating in the tree behind our house at Ocean Heaven so I could get a good picture. When Max got close the Monkey reared back and sent him running for cover. I love lombok "or so the bracelet I had made by a little girl named Billabong says.

We made the trip from Kuta Bali to Kuta Lombok in the afternoon of the 3rd of July. We chose our vehicle not for looks or comfort, but for price, and the assurances of the man renting it that it would indeed, contrary to appearances, survive the journey across Bali and Lombok in search or the perfect wave (or waves). For only 120,000 rupiah, or about $13 we could drive a 1980 Diahatsu 2 door gorgeous black automobile with enough ground clearance and power to make our way to spots unknown. Right as we made our way in Betsy (named later for obvious reasons) out of Kuta Bal, on the left side of the road, shifting with my left hand, we were pulled over, of course. The policeman demanded why we were not wearing seatbelts, and as we showed the man that there were no seatbelts he said this was no excuse. Then he asked for my international driving license. (I later learned that my UCSF student ID will pass) but he said we would have to settle the issue in court, or pay 200,000 rupiah. We tried to bargin the bribe down, but could only get as low as 100,000 and paid accordingly. What an ignominious start to a 14 day journey in Betsy. Then the road disapeared. Or rather our side disapeared. So now rather than traveling on a 4 lane road it was reduced to a 2 lane road, as they were doing work on the other side. But no signs really announced this, and one could actually see traffic still on the "closed" side, so it was amazing that we didnt have a front end collision with anybody during this time. Somehow through the shifting, driving through dirt, and exhaust smoke, we made it to the ferry, paid off the cops, and tried to pay for the crossing. Mind you a bike is only $5 to cross so we were destroyed when we were told we would have to pay $60 for old Betsy! We should have flown and rented on the other side! This did not put us at ease but we got on the boat (again by paying for the officers to buy some tobacco later) and on our way to Lombok. Driving in Lombok is confused by the fact that there are no street signs, and nobody speaks English. We got some rudimentary indonesian language help (enough to say how do we get to...) and with the help of a map, eventually arrived in Kuta Lombok.

We soon realized that surfing was not easy or cheap here. The first day we surfed with Matt from England (travelling with his girlfriend Becca), at an absurdly shallow break named Mawi (yes pronounced like Maui). On entering we had to pay 10,000 rupiah to get to the break, and then 10,000 more to park. And then Max sliced his foot open on the reef while entering the water. Not that the wave didnt have potential, but there was no swell in the water. In the afternoon we surfed Grupuk, much more successfully as it turned out. The wave is about a 10 minute boat ride (again you must pay 30,000 rupiah to get out) but at least there was swell (surfed about a head high wave) and we decided to return. We surfed here a few more times, until one morning te boatman offered to take us to a "secret" spot on the other side of the bay. We went and had the best surf of the trip! Big glassy waves were breaking away bothe left and right off a deep reef. We caught so many waves as it was only the 3 of us out, and all had the best time. We returned at night, and caught a few, not as clean or as nice as the morning session. Of course when we returned the next morning, there were 20 guys in the water but again had a great surf. This time Matt was barreled and Max and I both got into tubes, but sadly not out. Fun times but it was time to move on to Ekas, which we did.

A little about Kuta. We had a good time here, but the whole town is set up to take advantage of travellers. We were literally followed around by Billabong and RipCurl, two local girls who tried to sell us everything and anything they could. I ended up having them make me a bracelet which reads "Nick loves Lombok" in red white and blue (I got it on the 4th of July), and ended up bargining with an 8 year old girl for about the difference in price of about 10 cents. Yes I gave her the total price in the end... There were several restaurants which were amazingly priced. We paid about 37,000 rupiah ($4) for amazing meals of Mahi Mahi and local caught barracuda, all made by a former 5 star hotel chef. Incredible. And the town of Grupak was quite nice, a real fishing village, with many friendly fishermen who loved to take us surfing, as they either fished or joined us out in the water. All in all a good time, but time to leave when we did.

Now we are staying at Ocean Heaven, a new part of Heaven on the Planet. We are staying in our own villa, within eye sight of the amazing break in Ekas, lots of bugs sharing our room, (and at least one mouse) and many Monkeys within eyesight. (Max woke up with one staring at him through the window) There are absolutely no waves, but for once we are happy about it bc both Max and I are quite sick. Max and I both have some sort of cold (probably just as a result of running our immune systems down) and Max has a horrible case of Bali Belly (he has only moved about 100 yards today and has been to the bathroom about 50 times). So we wait, read and pray for waves. I will surf tomorrow morning early, and tomorrow evening the swell of the year should arrive (or is predicted to) and we will surf.

Gotta love life, hope things are good wherever you are.

Nick

Hanoi Hilton, jellyfish and former US Presidents???

I looked up at the Indian Man and asked "you're from India, then it must be good Indian food" He confirmed, then looked to Max and said "you're friend, he looks like Al Gore". Max qithout missing a beat, "Damn you get Al Gore and Kennedy, and all I get is fucking Nicolas Cage". Not sure where he was coming from, but he made some terrible Indian food. We soon saw why, a Vietnamese girl was the actual cook.

We had just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly/currently Siagon) and had made our way acros the metropolis of 7 million people in about 15 mins while nearly killing (or at least maiming) several scooter drivers on the way. It is actually insane how they drive in Vietnam. There really are no rules, or at least official ones. When 2 streets intersect, there is no need for a stop sign or traffic light, you just go, literally. We saw 2 accidents between scooters while we were there, and were almost hit ourseles while drinking beer on a street corner in Hanoi. Apparently 408 people died last year in traffic accidents, and so far this year 387 have died in Hanoi, about half the size of Saigon. Its only for how slow they go that more werent.

Back to Hanoi. Arriving from SF, I literally almost passed out on the street. It was in the middle of a heat wave and I was doing some serious sweating (4 shirts the first day alone). We alked around for a biut, or sort of limped around while drinking beer and adjusting. Apparently the smaller the chair the cheaper the beer (or at least this was what Conni a nice Dutch guy said). And we found a place on a street corner that had you sitting about 2 inches off the street, so he beers were 20 cents a glass! While fun we escaped the next day.

Halong bay was amazing, only a bit out of the city, and we were on a Junk headed across the bay of several hundred (or thousand ) islands. The islands are just bits of limestone sticking out of the water with dense jungle on top filled with mostly cicadas. We swam and kayaked around them and under them in caves and generaly enjoyed ourselves. We then actually got to stay on one of the islands, and wakeboarded and swam in luminescent water under a full moon, hard life.

Then it was back to Hanoi, and an overigth bus to Hue, about halfway down Vietnam. My bad feelings were confirmed when our taxi could not find the bus stop. The fun continued with two drivers whose family were probably killed during the war, and thus had an intense dislike of Max and I. Everytime we put our feet outside of the "bed" made for a vietnamese midget with his feet cut off, the guys actually slapped them, and by the end max actually took to putting his knees where they would whack the guys as they passed. Good thing we took valium and sleeping pills, so by the time we stopped we were so groggy we almost passed out in our food. We then stopped to say whats up to the remaining families of the drivers and then took a rest stop halfway through the night for about 2 hours. So all in all the trip that should have been 14 hours took 19 hours of pain. Never again.

Hue was gorgeous, we rente4d bikes and checked out the whole city including the former palace, and surrounding royal graveyards and rice paddies. It was nice to have a day to relax. We then rented bikes to travel the 140 km to Hoi Ann, along the coast. We found a desolate beach and ate fresh cuttle fish, swam in the crystal clear water, and then biked over the dividing mountain range of Vietnam before heading into Danang and then Hoi Ann. While heading through Danang, we witnessed our second crash and then ate some fresh fish and swam on the infamous China Beach. Hoi Ann is basically just a shopping town, so we shopped. I got an amazing suit of charcoal cashmere, and a custom pair of leather shoes, all made within 24 hours. We organized our flight to Saigon and got out of dodge.

So here we are, just got in to Bali. We bought surf boards, got a car rental figured out, (15$ /day for a new SUV) , and will surf tomorrow fro the first time, and then head to Lombok. We are headign to Kuta Lombok. Imagine white sand beaches, crystal clear water, and world class surf breaks, and then multiply by 15 or so. I hope to get lots of reading done, climb a volcano or so, and basically refresh ourselves.

More soon.

Back To Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Indonesia!

Hello Friends and Family,

As many of you know I will be leaving on an adventure again. This time with another 6 foot+ tall California dude known as Max as my right hand man!

Leaving this Wednesday night on the Redeye, to places unseen by western eyes (or at least our western eyes) and unsurfed outside of a few brave (or stupid) locals. We will hike, bargin, surf and eat to our hearts content, all for under 30$ / day.

I will be updating the blog, so enjoy if you want, otherwise I will just enjoy reading it myself.

Much love,

Nico (Nick) Nicholas Hertz

Motor Bikes, Ubud and Leaving

In the Tokyo Airport after just walking around the beautiful city of Narita with a Delta stewerdess I found. This after just taking a shower in the Airport, and　spending the night on my plane in Business class!! I guess every body in Indonesia really is corruptible. Situation: Nick standing at the counter after drinking a few beers on the way for my 11:55 pm flight, hair of the dog that bit me the night before till 6 in the morning. Nick "any exit row seats available?", guy,"No", Nick "what about for 50,000 rupiah?" (5dollars), guy "maybe..." after checking me in, says "meet me upstairs." He then finds me upstairs, I buy him a bottle of Johnny Walker Red and get on the flight and my ticket says business class! Sooo nice, tons of legroom, all the food and drinks I could get my hands on. And for the next leg, 12 hrs in the Exit row! Not all bad for an 800 dollar ticket.

Back to Bali. I didnt say anything bc I didnt want to worry my parents, but I have been riding a Moterized death trap, also known as a scooter around Bali for the past few weeks. It was unavoidable. Traffic is so bad if you have a car you cannot go anywhere, and the scooters come with nice surfboard racks. So I let my Argentinean friend convince me that was the best way to get around, everybody does it and all that, so I did...　 Ughhhhh I abhor, abhor maybe isnt even strong enough to describe the extent of my hate of the traffic and the smog, and the near death experiences that everybody else seems to just wave off. I despise riding that fing scooter. But it did get me around, and despite being lost most of the time, and desperately avoiding trucks that drive in the middle of the road, huge buses that just HAVE to pass on a tiny two lane (I use the word lane loosely here) road, and potholes/ plain uncovered sewers that can swallow buses whole, I survived. Never will it happen again, my neck and back will never recover, but I did ride across two islands, and surf to my hearts content, so thanks scooter, but you will die an oiless death in desert point before I ride you again.

More adventures. After waking for the second day to a flat ocean, I decided to leave Lombok. I was having a great time, but I could not rationalize another day of laying by the pool with no surf, so I left for Bali and more adventures. I arrived in the beautiful mountain town of Ubud after a tense 3 hrs of scootering across Lombok, 4.5 hrs on a ferry, and another 1.5 hrs of scootering with backback+surfboard abd close toed shoes/ pants in 95+ degree weather. So basically after being lost for 20 mins finding 3 places full, I got a room and REALLY needed a beer. Easier said than done. Not a place was open, so I asked a nice white looking guy, a dutch fellow named Christian, where the nearest pub was, and pointed me in a general direction. After 15 mins of fruitless searching I again came upon him and he asked if I had found a beer yet, I said no, and he said we would go together as he had told his girlfriend that if they saw me again we had to get a beer with me, not to leave me walking all alone as he is also normally a solo traveller.

Ended up being the beginning of a great friendship. The next day was his last with his girlie (Australians call their girlfriends girlies) so I went hiking and shopping, not mutually exclusive as some would lead you to believe. I walked about 20-25 km over many hours. Walked in deserted terraced rice paddies, swam below the Sanoy Terrace hotel in a refreshing mountain stream, bought masks and oil paintings, and came across a cool artists retreat complete with crazy cool artists who told me about my star signs in the mayan calender (I am a spectral star) and gave me a sweet sarong that displays that to all. Needless to say I was quite tired, but after dinner christian and I went for a beer before bed, ended up meeting three delightful Dutch girls, also from Amsterdam and the five of us stayed up till the wee hours hanging out listening to music from a nearby bar that charged almost 4 dollars per beer. Imagine our outrage, a bar at a market is barely 1 dollar. But the next day, the real shopping commenced and poor christian was dragged along for most of it.

Here is a description of bargining: "How much for that?" (usually some cool wood carving or mask, or cloth, or painting), them "300,000 rupiah" (almost 30 dollars). Me "no, no, no! Ill give you 10,000" them, shocked "me bancrupt! okok 250,000" me "10,000", them "ok ok 100,000, final price!" me "10,000", them ok ok 30, 000" then they wait for a few minutes here, I start to walk away, they come down to 25,000, and I usually give it to them. so from 30 dollars to just over 2. I often ask, do you ever sell it for the first price, them smiling either say no, no, no or no, only for you good price. Not sure I completely understand but it is quite fun. I alsio bought some really nice stuff, one mask for (gasp) 700,000 rupiah, it is actually really nice, with gold leaf and lots of details, I think I will have it for some time.

So, after this, Christian was a little upset, he wanted to leave, so we hopped on the miserable scooter and I took him to rice paddies and then the four seasons where we snuck in (if youre white it doesnt matter if you have flip-flops and board shorts on, you can get in anywhere. We then went to the pool, sauna, and then the bar where we ordered a 10 dollar drink to some rich persons room. All in all amazing fun. Then on the way back found the best bar in all of Bali, complete with pool tables, free golf arcade games, and a free jukebox that only played the coolest music! It was run by a really cool American guy (not many Americans in Bali) who hung with us till we went back to Ubud after a great day.

The next day was my next to last, so I headed to Kuta Bali (Australias Mexico) played beach vollyball, surfed, and then after meeting up with my german and argintinean friends went to a club that had an hour of Free Flow, all drinks free! The germans then proceeded to take me to every single club and/or bar in Kuta, for a last whirlwind night. Fun until the Indo prostitutes came out and we headed back home for some sleep. Then after waking up bright and early at 12, went to Uluwatu to surf the epic wave, thank goodness with not a huge swell and on a high tide so I didnt end up like freddie crueger, a 50,000 basket of crab, red snapper, and shrimp and one last Bintang before flying to Tokyo, and now to LA! Ok gotta get on that flight, see everybody soon!!!!!

Lombok, Heaven on the Planet!

I have been having the most amazing surf sessions of my life! This wave is incredible, a perfect peeling right, about 3 foot over head, maybe 200-300 feet, enough for 7-8 big turns. And then on High tide, a not quite as nice left, peeling over about 200 feet. And thats just the inside wave. There is a huge slabby left that throws over on the right tide and will mess you up if you get caught inside. Basically heaven on the planet, also the name of the hotel I happen to be staying in that overlooks the break perfectly, actually I can see the break from bed.

Again, from the beginning. Leaving Bali was a day long trip, 2 hours on the road, 4.5 on the slowest boat from Bali and then another 3.5 hours in Sunday afternoon wedding traffic on Lombok, another world from Bali. Nobody speaks English here, the majority of the population is very devout Sasak Muslim, i.e. no alcohol, praying 3 times/day, and married at 17. Very different experience. We traveled to the end of Lombok, literally the end of the road, and then further. As we were driving, came across beautifully dressed Sasak women on the back of tiny little motorbikes, only the men with helmets, on there way to group weddings that happen during the dry season every Sunday. And then a hunting party of guys, again on motorbikes waving guns and hands at us, I was pretty sure we were not in the right place. But the people here are just extremely friendly. They actually havent seen that many westerners, so everywhere you walk you wave and yell "Apacabar Batur!" Hello friend to everybody you see. Our accommodations started out at 10 dollars/ night, and we shared the bathroom with rats and not a few large frogs, no shower, just a tub of water, the same that you use to "flush" the toilet, with which to splash water on yourself. Good times.

But the wave, so incredible. My first morning out, caught a few lefts, got out, waited for the low tide and spent 4 hours surfing this wall of aquamarine water, with a strong offshore breeze, all the way into the coral reef. I dont think that does it justice, but I am in love with this place.

The next few days were spent in this way, fighting teams of Lombok monkeys while walking to the beach, seriously, and laying for hours on the perfect white sand beach, waiting for the tide to drop. And then after one of my best sessions EVER, Jony tells me this wave doesnt quite cut it and he wants to leave! I said I had to stay, and we would meet up soon, but first we had to go to a circumcision party, traditional Sasak party that lasts until 6 in the morning. Didnt quite know what to expect, but our friends Oudin and Maan were sure we would enjoy it. It was great. We first had some dinner (watermelon, spicy fish, soybeans, and the everpresent white rice) at our friends house, sitting on th floor and taking pictures of the kids (the love to see the photos). And then to the party, of course no alcohol and everybody was just sitting in front of the mosque watching a backlit puppet show, telling the story of some important muslin figures, not sure who, but leading up to the circumscision the next morning. Amazing.

The next day I had an interesting experience. As I came into the bathroom, there were three monkeys inside the bathroom! I guess they had come through the hole I kepts telling the guys to fix, to get water presumably. I think they were just as surprised to see me as I them, and they became quite agitated. So before they had a chance to attack, I slammed the door, hoping they would leave the way they came in, opened it again, one had left but the two remaining were freaking out! One was smashing its head into the ceiling, and the other was sortof coming for me, so again I slammed the door, and hoped they would leave, looked back in, one more was gone and the last was looking for blood, rushed back out, and finally he was gone. Wow. The monkeys here are wild and are always around, pretty cool, but scary when you come into the bathroom not expecting them.

Anyway, that was my last night there, I moved to the Heaven on the Planet resort, incredibly nice. Views from every bungalow, cool Australians/British to hang with (Toby, Tom, Mike, Nic, Dan and George rock!) and a more relaxing atmosphere, the locals in the old spot were getting a bit close and wanted me to but property and maybe eat monkeys? (The language is difficult) And here I've been.

Also, met this boat crew of Austrians who Ive eaten dinner with the last two nights. The captain is this amazing bloke, surfer extraordinaire, runs a boat here 8 months of the year and 4 months as a ski patrol back in Austria. Cooks an incredible chili con carne and last night some of the best pasta carbonara I have ever eaten. Actually the swell was pretty much non-exsistant for one day, I think Thursday, so when I ate there it was easy to come back to the beach. But last night no such luck, so I slept on the rocking boat, which was awesome, and then got in the water this morning at 4:45, before first light, and caught about 7 BOMBS, fighting off the boat and otherwise crowd that has assembled here. Seriously the best surf of my life. Did I mention that it is about 2-3 foot overhead and a perfectly breaking wave. I absolutely love this place!

SO anyway for the next 3-4 days I will rock this sick spot, until Tuesday or Wednesday, and head back to Bali, probably check out Ubud, and then Uluwatu, and back with my German buds for one last party night in Kuta (possibly at Sea Garden) and then for a bit of shopping/surfing Cangguu and then back to reality, shiza...

Back to the ocean, or maybe a nap, or maybe some snorkling, or...

The search for uncrowded waves

Hello,

I find myself writing this on the eve of yet another adventure. Tomorrow at 7 AM we will go to the next island over, Lombok, and we will hopefully find the promised land; perfect peeling waves with only a few hardy souls riding them. From the beginning:

Arriving in Bali was quite the adventure, 3 planes, 4 nights (one in LA (thanks Max), one in airplane (not sure where Saturday went as I never actually experienced it, and one in Tokyo (again thanks Max (Preston!). So when I arrived with 600,000 rupiahs in my pocket you can be sure I was not quite right when I guy selling me my tourist visa tried to steal 50,000 of the little buggers from me. I guess its only 5 dollars but still, that will buy 5 plates of Nasi Goreng, (the standard fried rice here) a real Reef or O'Neil shirt (undoubtedly made here in some sweatshop) or a ride on the back of one of the ubiquitous scooters to just about anywhere in Southern Bali. To say this place is cheap is an understatement, many ppl have remarked that this is hands down the cheapest country in the world, and that it also has coral reefs that have perfect swells breaking over them is just a huge bonus.

So the surf. So far it has been difficult to find the perfect wave, although today we came close today. (I say we as in the 4 Germans who are "studying" here, and Johhny my Argintinean friend who I will be traveling with) In the last week we have surfed Kuta beach (6-9 foot with strong offshore winds and plenty of barrels to be had) and Canngo (6-7 sideshore wind, but we were the only ppl out) on Bali, and two coral breaks on the closest island Nusa Lembongan known as Lacerations, (apparently very aptly named according to Johhny and quite dangerous when there are 50 australians in the water and 8 foot waves breaking over three feet of water). Its been very fun to say the least. The best day for me was today surfing Canngo with one german guy (my germans were lured to the next peak by 4 hot Australian girls) and riding it over a deep shelf for about 200 feet. SO sick.
Bali is amazing in other respects as well. For example, to pamper myself before setting out to Lombok I treated myself to an hour long Massage (50,000 rupiahs) a seafood basket including a whole red snapper, clams, crab and calamari (also 50,000) and a new reef shirt, you guessed it 50,000 rupiahs. SO for 15 bucks we were stuffed and relaxed beyond belief, we literally had to sit in the street for a few minutes before going home, and even then if you saw us you would think we were drunk based on the slow shuffle and swaying from side to side. We are currently staying at a place with a gorgeous garned for 80,000/night, and im paying 15 cents/ minute to use internet. I love this place.

And the nghtlife is incredible, we went to a 4 story bar/club/disco and drank 1,000 rupiah beers(about 10 cents) and 10,000 drinks till 12 and then danced upstairs to the same 12 songs on repeat (or so it felt, i mean why bother to have a DJ if you just play the same songs) or so until about 4 in the morning, headed to the other club till 6 and then stumbled home to wake up to perfect surf all of today, albeit with slightly less ability than other days. All in all an amazing place, and if there only werent so many ppl it would be perfect.

That leads me to my final point, Lombok is the next island over (of which there are between 12-17,000 in Indonesia) but is a completely different Island. Most ppl never go there, the surf is as good (at least in some places) and there is this 10,000 foot volcano I want to climb and then go to hot springs in the crater. I wont have internet, or may not, we will see. But I will have a cell phone, in an emergency call 08983147319, placing the country code for Indo in front (god only knows what that is)

Ok time for one last beer with the Germans, and then sleep. Hope the new week goes great for everyone!

Japan, land of stangeness

Hello all,

I just got back from the beach in Bali, overhead perfection with off-shore wind, so nice! Spent most of the day buying a surfboard with my new buddy Johhny from Argentina. We are long lost brothers and I will be traveling with him all over. This place is amazing, the smallest streets crowded with an amazing assortment of small cars and a deluge of little scooters trying to run you over, all with surfboards hanging off the sides. More from Bali later, first Japan...

Ok so Japan is very different from the United States, or any other country I have ever been in. People are polite, nonviolent, clean (the homeless carboard boxes had small windows cut in them with pieces of plastic covering them), the opposite of pretty much any country in South or North America. All the trains run on time to perfect stations that are not the resting places of vagrants or muggers , but rather places to meet up and catch up with friends. The "red" zone is clean orderly and the only distractions are these Japanese men who invite girls to bars and the girls pay to be complemented. I guess there were some strip clubs, but they were so far from the perception as to almost not be (we didnt go in one though)

This was just one night there, the next morning was eye opening, I have never seen so many ppl packed into the subway at 8 AM, with not a single sound. And then the stations, I went through one of the busiest in Tokyo, and there must have been 1,000 ppl walking on distinct paths, but all you hear is shoes. Granted I dont take the subway much, but usually it is not that quiet. I then walked throughout downtown tokyo. Past the imperial garden (they wouldnt let me in, weird) through the Ginza district home to upscale shopping, and then to the jewel, the fish market. That was not so quiet.

I walked for literally two hours past giant tunas being carved and readied for sale. Bought a plate of fresh Sashini fr 5 bucks (incredible) and then got lost in the rows upon rows of everything that could possibly live in the sea. (sea urchins, clams, red snapper, cod, Eels, crabs, octupus, snakes, shrimp, tuna, mackeral, flounders, other crazyness that I dont have a name for, and everything in between. Lets just say came out on the complete other side, and didnt get run over by thse awesome little scooters with three wheels that were buzzing around everywhere.

Next I walked back through the center, only taking side streets, and only one block from the market there were these little residential streets with gardens and old japanese women watering them. Through to the electronic district, so cool, you could buy anything electronic there, met some christian missionaries trying to spread the gospel. (I told them surfing was my gospel, and they left me alone) Then I had lunch at the coolest "Maid" bar, where all the girls are dressed as maids and hit on you as you eat. My maid was this brazillian girl who spoke spanish (it was nice to converse in a language I had the slightest idea of after lots of gesticulating and broken english from everybody else). She was very nice and told me about moving to Japan and learning japanese and how she loved it, and so did her kid and husband. It was just a nice part of japanese culture, so I rushed out when I realized I had a train to catch, was forced off at some pt, didnt have enough money, but then made a mad dash through an awesome garden shrine, made it to the airport and here I am.

So. Japan conclusions: I think the fact that everybody works for these huge corporations, the only ambition being to move up in these corporations, keeps them level headed. I mean, 150,000 new companies are started every MONTH in America, which also turns over 15% of jobs every year, and we are all insane. That could explain the calmness and sort of happiness with the status quo that keeps ppl from doing crazy things. However the evidence of homeless ppl, and the fact that they have been losing jobs there could mean some big changes are coming up. All in all, an amazingly different place, so competely unlike anywhere I have been; I want to go back!

Indonesia!

Hello Friends and Family I will be heading to Bali, Indonesia this Saturday for three weeks and thought it might be kinda fun to start up my blog again.

I will have (hopefully) passed my Qualifying exam, on my way to candidacy for a Ph.D! I will be in Bali from the 15th of June to the 3rd of July, surfing, partying, exploring... you know.

Panama and the beginning of the end!

Well, I dont know exactly where I left off as I am a few glasses of wine deep after my cousins birthday party here in Guatemala city, but Ill start in Panama city. After arriving in the city I was picked up by the hostel, thinking it was a nice gratis ride from the airport. The guy picked me up, made me wait while he got a half a chicken, then ate it, and then began to drive like a bat out of hell, while telling me he "knew" all the cops and they wouldn't arrest him. He then explained that the real hostel was full, but I could stay in the old space, which apparently they had almost completely moved out of, and then told me to pay him 17 dollars! I thought I was getting robbed, but the city turned out to be just very expensive.

My goals for the city were threefold; see the canal, buy a surfboard, and see the Casco Viejo. I accomplished on other goal, which was going out for a night on the town, with a very nice young lad named Jack. He had been working for the English consul in Costa Rica and was on his way to Colombia, and decided to join me (or did I join him) to some club in la Ciudad. The next day, right at the crack of 12 we walked the Casco Viejo, avoiding ladrones left and right. It really was an amazing part of town. We were able to see Noriegas old bombed out palace, along with all the embassies and a great view of the whole city. After a large plate of lentils I fell asleep with visions of the great canal in my head.

The next day slightly earlier I made my way to the canal, the Miraflores locks to be exact. It was rather incredible to see this huge ship with 5000 containers on it navigating this canal with around 6 inches to spare on either side. Apparently it costs 267,000 dollars to pass the canal, and it is the only time when the captain of a ship has to give up control of his ship. I watched a few ships pass, hiked around a botanical gardens and made my way (via chicken bus) to the city. The only goal left was to find a surfboard and then the beach. I went to a surf shop, and after realizing that all the boards would break the bank, met two Panamanians who were going to the same beach as me, Playa Venao (or Vanado depending on who you were). We then picked up my bags, some "other" things which they insisted upon, and an old board I had seen the day before for 160 bucks. The only thing left was the girlfriend of Yungfa (the driver who happened to be Chinese). I really didnt know what to expect, but all of the sudden we were in America. I mean we drove into the old Canal Zone where all the military personnel lived. It was really incredible, every street had a large sidewalk and tract homes which all looked so similar to the houses in some neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and out walked Jenny, the girlfriend. Somehow I knew she was trouble.

Finally beginning our 6 hour drive at 11 at night, we arrived in Aguadulce at around 3 in the morning, to stay in Chuch's relatives house. While hanging out and talking in Spanish on the back patio, far from Yungfa, Jenny all of the sudden leans over and whispers "your so hot" to me, as I struggle to understand what I just heard. I knew she was trouble. The next day on the way to the beach my bank account was again called on to purchase supplies for our trip. Apparently because Im an American I owe everybody something, and had to bankroll the whole trip, I didnt mind bc I was getting a ride to the beach, but I spent about 8 times what the bus would have taken and ended up arriving at the same time as I would've anyway.

We immediately surfed the nonexistent swell and then got a small cabana on the beach where I was to spend the next three weeks. After a dinner in which I began a long string of fried fish meals it was off to bed, as there was really no more light. Thats apparently when the sand flies as well as Jenny began their attack. I put repellent on for the sand flies and had to just avoid being anywhere near Jenny to fend the two off. I finally made it to sleep only to awake to screams and the smell of burning. Struggling out of my sleeping sack, I looked over to see Yungfa and Jenny's mattress on fire while Jenny bravely tried to put it out. I helped, but in the end the fire started by the mosquito coils they had dangling dangerously over their bed had made a rather large mark, on my psyche and the bed; I had to escape from these dangerous lunatics. The next morning things were made easier by the fact that Jenny got in a fight with the restaurant owners and had to leave anyway.

After surfing I sadly reported that I would no longer be joining them on their trip, and instead would head to the Eco Venao, a reforestation project/ hostel above the beach. After arriving I met Charlie and Daniel, an American and Italian whom I proceeded to search waves out with, and basically have a good time. We mostly surfed in the mornings and at night, and in between I read and slept in Hammocks. As it was the rainy season, it managed to rain most days, but the surfing was really quite fun, and we managed to make lots of friends in the little town named Pedasi to surf with.

In the end I had a great time, made lots of new friends, surfed a bunch, and basically prepared myself for grad school at UCSF, kind of.

Cartagena, returning to the ocean and the good life

Well hello. I guess its been a while since Ive written. I guess its a lot harder when you are on beaches and in the jungle to find Internet access. I have been enjoying myself immensely, the weather is a heck of a lot better in this part of the world. After arriving in Cartagena with my dad, we spent a few days just exploring the old city and basically I just tried to acustubrarme with the really hot weather. We headed to a great beach, of which there is a picture, and slept in some of the more rustic beds that my day and I have ever slept in. But the beach was great, and it was really nice to see my dad. We then headed up ther coast to see Santa Marta, a town where while we were there beer reigned supreme. I mean me were just in the streets drinkin ALL the time, later we learned it was the middle of vacation, and Columbian independence day. I just liked eating good food and paying more than 3 dollars for a place to sleep in, one that didnt involve bedbugs and other friends.

My dad left after only a week, and I went to the Ciudad Perdida (literally lost city). It was an incredible 3 day hike in through jungle and crossing multiple rivers. I hiked mainly with an English chap named Rupert. Every day we would get to cool off after hiking in these pristine river pools which really increased the enjoyment of the trip. My bag on the other hand has not smelled the same since, and actually need to be cleaned quite desperately. The ciudad perdida was the capital of the Tayrona Indians who lived in the Sierra Nevada. This mountain range just rises from the coast of Columbia, and in where the legend of El Dorado was started, as early Spanish settlers had easy access to it, and the Indians had an incredible amount of gold. The trail used to be impassible, but is now quite safe due to the militares who kicked the guerrillas out of the mountains, and now keep about 50 men at the city at all times, armed with the latest weaponry (see photo). Everything about the hike was just amazing, and on returning I stayed with Rupert in Tagunga for the final days of the festival. We then went to the national parque Tayrona, which is just a beach with a few hammocks on it. We slept on the beach, in the hammocks, and basically enjoyed ourselves thoroughly for a few nights.

I then left Rupert, along with a nice Swissso on the beach and continued back to Cartagena to catch a flight to Panama, land of surf and fun. I had booked everything, including a private bus back to Cartagena, thinking it would be safer, well I was wrong. The bus arrived on time, and we left Santa Marta at 3:30 as advertised, but when we arrived in Barranquilla we met lots of traffic. Apparently the president was there, and as is customary with presidents they cause lots of problems in the city they are visiting (thanks Bush for making my 20 minute commute 2 hours in LA). So we left the city late, and it was getting dark. Now I know what you´re thinking, ¨¨the guerillas come at night¨. You would be right, but the President Uribe has really taken control of the security situation there, and I therefore did not expect any problems. Yet, when we were aburptly stopped by a burning tire thrown into the middle of the road I knew I was done for. I was going to be kidnapped and that was it. I was the only gringo within 150 km and the guerillas had stopped traffic in a small carribean town on the coast of Columbia. Incidentally, the door of the van had broken earlier on this epic trip, so my only defense was the Patagonia windbreaker which Martha, Max´s mom had supplied before the trip. After throwing the hood over my head, we waited. However, the more time that passed the more it looked like it was going to be alright. Apparently the locals had become fed up with their lack of elctricity and decided to do something about it, and that something was a roadblock. We made one manuever so that we werent the first car, and as I sweated my head off in the jacket our driver tried to figure a way out, as we were only 25 km from Cartagena. The whole time I just thought that if anyone knew there was a gringo, I was done for: everyone in the car agreed it would be better if they didnt find out. So when we walked over the roadblock to a waiting van I kept a low profile. Entonces, everything turned out alright, except for the next day when the hotel I was staying in was hit by lighting, and then I left the country.

I arrived in Panama, bought a surfboard: A 6 foot six shortboard, some wax and sunscreen, and have been on the playa Venao staying at an eco lodge for backpackers and other very interesting characters for a week now. I have really valued this time to just relax, and as there is a 7 foot swell set to arrive wednesday, it looks like Ill be here a while

I need to relate the charaters I met on the way here, maybe tomorrow...I need to sleep to surf!

Lima, Ica and desert oases

Continuing in Lima...

After going out we were all feeling a little sick, especially Stephan who threw up a few times. That didnt stop us though, and we went to the centro Historical de Lima to look a cathedrals and the museum of the Inquisition. Soon after arriving frenchie (one of the girls) was hungry so we stopped and got some civiche. What a bad restuarant. First we ordered, I got some drink called chicha along with Stephan, and she got some civiche. It took only moments for us to get our chicha, me to drink it, and then realize that this was the drink made from purple corn which began the drink making process with indians chewing the corn, and then spitting it into the drink. I didnt feel so well. After 30 minutes the civiche arrived. It was tough, fishy, and didnt really look that good, but we all ate it and by the end all were about to throw up.

The girls then went home while stephan and I went to the catacombs. The catacombs were interesting as there were more than 70,000 peoples skeletons there. Apparently everybody in early Lima wanted to be buried there, and would only be buried somewhere else after they exhumed the body of some priest and put it in the alternate cemetary. Anyway, I gues the crypt was closed for some years then opened in 1937 when some anthropologists decided to take all the bones out and cont them, also ordering them by bone type, and making interesting designs. It was a little creepy to see all these femurs of long dead Limenos arranged in concentric circles around rows of skulls. This one stupid american (we mistakenly went on the english tour) asked over and over why they had taken the bones out and arranged them, while the tour guide dutifully answered the each time.

That night we took it easy, and the next day went on a nice tour of Miraflores which included the beach and the rest of the town. The next day Stephan left, we made dinner, a chicken salad made with a 3 dollar whole rotisserie chicken (the cheapest Ive seen) and a bunch of Pisco sours (made with lime juice, sugar, Pisco, and egg whites). After that I had had enough of Lima, I headed to Ica, a small town to the south. I got there on Friday, always the most traffic and craziness in South America, and had some Chifa (chinese food) which made me feel terrible (the first time Ive gotten sick). The bed was the worst I think I have ever slept on, it was pretty funny bc it once was a normal mattress but at this point it is just a top and bottom of a mattress and no springs in between so you end up sleeping on a board. I then went to the, Poor mans Galapagos, a short boat tour which takes you to these islands that have a lot of birds, and bird guano, on them. Apparently these islands are so endowed with the good white stuff that a war precipitated over them in the 1800s over their large nitrogen based crop of crap.

After puking off the boat, (never eating chinese food again) I went to a small oases town of Huachina. The hostal was really cool as it included a pool and lots of fun folk to hang out with. I spent the day working on my tan, (my first day swimming except for hot springs on my whole trip) and took a dune buggy ride where we got to go Sandboarding. Sort of like snowboarding but on steep ass dunes. That night while everyone else went to Ica to party I went to another hostal that was even more laid back than mine. As soon as I walked in the bartender offered me a joint and explained that I could light up at the bar no problem. I wont say anything self incriminating so lets just say I had a fun night which included running up the dunes and getting sand into every (I mean every) orifice on my body.

The next day was spent around the pool, and then I made it back to Lima for my flight to Cartagena the next day, where the tropical phase of my journey has commenced.

The Jungle, Machu Picchu and more peruvian lies

Hello from Peru. I am currently in Lima on my way to Cartagena, Columbia where I am meeting with my dad, I am so excited! Finally a bed with springs, or at least no bedbugs, hot showers, and decent food (I finally got sick).

After Grock arrived, (Mr. Andrew Grock the first to all those who dont know), we had a coca leaf mate and went walking. Despite the fact that Andy had spent the night on an airplane and in an airport, that tea kick-started his system and boy did we walk. We walked to three separate ruins outside of Cuzco, about 15 kilometers in total, mostly uphill. Amazingly enough Grock had no problems with the altitude, and was in good enough humor to meet some cute girls along the way. It felt a little weird for me to be talking all the time, as most of my trip I guess I hadnt been, but it was great fun. The name of the first ruins sound like sexywoman, but look like piles of rocks, how dissapointing. They also happened to be the site of the Inti Raymi the day before, but looked a great deal different from closer up. The next site we had to walk pretty far to get to, but by the time we did we had picked up two new girls to hang out with and basically annoy. I believe I managed to pull my shoe off at one point to smell my sock (it really stank) as one of the girls was reading about ancient Inka history, Grock laughed. Finally we made it to the best ruins I saw in Peru, Pisaq. They are on a hillside which is pretty much impregnable, or at least appears to be. The ruins consist of many terraced hillsides and some cool ruins with sundials and a small spring. I say they were the best ruins bc their dramatic location rivals Machu Picchu however there were no tourists so we had it to ourselves.

After the ruins we returned to reality in Cuzco and began planning our next few days. We decided to take an alternate 4 day journey to reach Machu Picchu which ran through the Jungle. The first day we were suppposed to bike ride from 4,500 meters (14,850 feet) to 1,100 meters (3,630 feet). The distance that we descended alone was higher than I have ever been in my life. The tour group, which by the way had alredy lied/overcharged me numerous times proceeded to lie to me again. They told us that there was a small landslide and that we may have to get off of our bikes and walk them over it. We initially agreed, but when the horribly cheap owner refused to lower his price we set out looking for alternatives. We discovered that another agency was taking a 10 hour busride to get around the slide, but as they were more expensive and were not going to bike we went back. The agency promised us repeatedly that there was no chance of us ending up on a 10 hour busride, I guess they werent lieing bc it turned out to be 12 hours! The next day we got up to the top of the mountain, and proceeded to bike down. About 1 hour in a police vehicle comes from behind us and stops us saying it is impossible to pass, at which point this horrible lady who came from one agency tries to intervene. The police then show us photos of the slide. It apparently was a slide below the road, and even if it hadnt slid more it looked like about 2000 foot vertical fall and really no way to get past it, especially with bikes. We were all very upset, and at one point all wanted our money back. The lady who came (I dont think she always comes, only when they anticipate trouble) then asked for receipts, and then ripped the name off of one receipt! We were all really pissed, but the group seemed good, and it didnt seem worth the trouble to lose a day in Cuzco so we all agreed to take the bus.

Seeing as this was Andys first overnight bus we proceeded to get good and drunk. After a few bottles of rum our guides were probably the drunkest and boarding the bus was an adventure, especially when one of the girls in our group had her wallet stolen! I ended up sleeping ok, as Im used to the torture of night bus rides, however Andy had the worst seat in the bus and ended up sleeping next to dried hamster piss on the floor.

When we finally arrived in the jungle we had breakfast and proceeded hiking. This turned out to be amazing as we passes coca leaf, avocado, and coffee bean plantations all on the terracced hillsides. After 6 hours of fast hiking we arrived at some delicious outdoor hot-springs and relaxed the trip away. We then had a few after dinner games of Asshole of which I won the majority, but lost the last one of the day which forced me to carry the pack of one beautiful Irish girl named Fiona for one hour the next day. The next hike was relatively easy and we arrived in aguas callientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. Instead of relaxing, we all decided to climb a hill which overlooked Machu Picchu. We were suppossed to begin climbing it at 3 because it takes a while to ascend (1.5 hours) and when it gets dark the ladders are extremely dangerous. We didnt start untill 4:30 and were forced to climb it as fast as possible (30 mins) after which I could ring the sweat out of my shirt. We then took the first of our ¨naked in Peru¨ pics which had Machu Picchu as a monument framed by our butts.

The next day we got to MP for sunrise, however there was no sun to speak of. We climbed the Wayna Picchu and took another naked in Peru shot, then went down the long way which pretty much ate up our time there in MP. By this time we were all pretty tight in our group and made plans to go out in Cuzco, which we did. After a night which ended with me locked out of our hostel for a brief period, I wont go into specifics but lets just say we had fun, we flew to Arequipa, city of light.

Andy and I booked a trip to see the deepest canyon in the world and then had a delicious but overpriced dinner. This trip was the polar opposite of the other. Instead of trekking for hours each day, this trip shoved you in a van and didnt allow you to even walk if you wanted. Instead of cool young folk out for a good time, this trip was full of cranky old french people with a distinct hatred of youthful Americans. During the first day we managed to get to almost 5,000 meters which is pretty freaking high, and then Andy and I ditched the tour to climb around a creek and ended up in some more hotsprings. After this we had dinned for 5 soles (1.5 dollars) and tried to meet with our group but they lied to us (damn french) and told us to go to the wrong restaurant. Another thing, the tour was suppossed to be in English and Spanish but our guide kept forgetting, while also speaking in a very low lispy spanish accent, with the frenchies in full translating mode. Needless to say Andy didnt understand a dang thing, and I only understood enough to know I wasnt interested.

The canyon was cool, we saw condors flying about 20 feet from us and got attacked by some interesting bugs which really freaked Andy out. We then flew to Lima and stayed with two girls from the good tour in the nice neighborhood of Miraflores. After Andy left Stephan from the tour came top stay with us in Lima. We cooked an amazing rendition of my classic Hostal Pasta, and went out to the cool neighborhood of Barranca for a night out.

Cuzco, Machu Pichu, Bailamos!

Hola Chicos! I have just been spending some of the best days of my trip with my good buddy Andy Grock, Grockster if you will. After arriving in Arica for the surf contest I spent approx an hour looking for a place to stay that wasnt 15 dollars, and found one that was 7. I was excited. The wave called the Gringo was one viscious wave. it broke in about waist high water on top of rocks, let me tell you there were some concussions and stiches the first day, and the second day the first surfer broke his board on the first wave of the day, after which the top 50 surfers in the world decided they were too scared to surf. It was cool being there, and I managed to run into this girl from new zealend whom I met on the bus from the airport in Santiago. We played hacky sack, and I think had more people taking pictures of us then anything else.

After the amazing game of hacky sack I had the three consectutive most shady meals of my trip. First I had some civiche in a mercado where they had posted all kinds signs (about 3) saying Do not eat uncooked fish as it is bad for you. As we all kniow civiche is uncooked fish. Then I bought some salmi and bread and fruit, after which I crossed the border into Peru. A note, apparently crossing a border with bread, chicken, (of which I had a drumstick from the night before) fruit and vegetables (I had a carrot) is illegal. I was sweating when they x-rayed my bag. Right after the x-ray they started yelling and I thought I was done for, but they just stopped this nice looking lady with a bag full of what looked like Marijauana. Another note, traveling at high speeds in a 50 year old ford with 7 people in it across a border in the middle of a desert is a nerve racking experience, oh yea, no seat belts. But I had to do it to save about 30 bucks on my bus which I bought in Tacna, Peru, and was still way overcharged for.

Buses in Peru are not like busses in Chile or Argentina. Wow, understatment of the century. When we finally got on this but to Puno we had a box of hamsters (to eat) a box of chickens (for eggs) and three dogs (to eat?). It was the smelliest longest most miserable bus trip, well until my next overnighter in Peru. We arrived at about 13,000 feet on the banks of Lake Titicaca, and watched the sun come up over the highest navigable lake in the world. I then got on a 6 hour bus to Cuzco which was fun, but also quite miserable.

Cuzco is a wonderful city, full of historic spanish buildings built out of the stones which were once ancient Inca buildings. I arrived and got a look at the festival of the sun. Wow! Every city in the province had representivitves and they were all dancing through the streets. I had a great steak dinner which cost a fortune (read 15 dollars but I hadnt eaten anything but old chicken, bread and salami for hours). The dinner was good fun as I sat overlooking the plaza where all the action was. I talked to everybody who sat next to me and actually ended up seeing all of them again in Agaus Callientes. The next day all of the locals left and only tourists were left to see the actual Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun. We hiked to a few plazas and I actually bought a tour so I wouldnt have to be alone. We saw the sacrifce of a llama and then the burning of the llamas heart to try and determine the future, which looked good. Another note, evrybody in Peru lies constantly. It is actually amazing. I wazs told we would have food, seats and tour guides who spoke quechua on this guided tour. We had no seats, (we sat on a hill with trees blocking the festival), no lunch (a bar of coca leaf grain doesnt count) and I am convinced our guides were making up what the festival was all about. But it was fun, and the next morning Grock came!

More later, right now I need to catch a plane, yea I splurged 11 hours in a bus or 30 minutes in a plane, to Arequipa!