my life is better than yours

HTPC woes

2008-04-09T00:40:00.000-07:00

Well the HTPC is packing a sad on a nightly basis so i've had to order some replacement hardware to combat the troubles.

I've ordered the following:
AMD Phenom 9500 CPU
Gigabyte MA-78Gxxxx mobo
2GB of DDR2 8500 ram
and a new 500GB HDD for recordings

With any luck this will fix the crashes i've been experiencing.

51 weeks and counting

2008-03-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been almost 51 weeks to the day since the last update, seems like it was only a few months ago really.

Not a lot has happened though really, just the usual holidays around the place and buying up bits and pieces. I'll try and post a few tid bits if information in the coming days as i see fit.

I'm 100% sure that nobody reads this these days so it's more for personal satisfaction than informing the masses so i don't want to hear any complaints on the content :P

Until next time folks, peace out.

I survived

2007-04-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Well, i am still around. A few updates.

Emily moved in with me the other week. It got to the point where she was staying at my flat all the time eating all my food and wasting a bunch of power so i made the executive decision to make her move in with me... all is going well so far.

I have just completed my 3 month stint at MAP and everything seems to be good. I'll try and organise a time to sit down with the three wise men about a possible pay rise next week some time.

In other news i've been slowly accumulating pieces of my new toy... a new RC car... I've wanted a nitro powered RC car for as long as i can remember so now that i have a regular income i have bought this dream to fruition. I'm just waiting on some batteries, a starter box and a charger and i'll be all ready to run the motor in and then try it all out.

I'll get round to posting some pictures later, but for those that care it's an Xray XB8R model car.

More ramblings

2007-02-19T23:32:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like NIN have been/had some songs leaked to the world and a nice site has opened up to share them with us all easily. They sound authentic to me, and not too bad either.

On another note i went to see Babel at the Regent on Worcester movie theater last week and thought it was fantastic. The actors are mostly all good, even the unknown ones. Brad Pitt also didn't make me want to throttle him like he often does. All in all, i'm pleased i paid to see it.

Work, pretty plain to be honest.

There are a few other things too, have a look on wikipedia for Open Source Cola and see if you can make it and whether it tastes anything like branded stuff. I think i might try when i can be bothered and have the money to be able to afford some of the ingredients. Let me know.

Lastly i'm very intrigued by the creation of High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. There are thousands of amazing images out there to look at and marvel over and i am going to start trying to take all my pictures this way. It might in fact even make me think about my pictures a little more and take the time to compose a shot before blindly clicking.

HDR images are created with three or more bracketed images. This means one image is under exposed, one is about right, and another is over exposed. This allows for all the areas that are good in each picture to be merged to create something more faithful to what your eye saw as opposed to what the camera saw.

A few before and after shots to explain things: 1, 2, 3

There is an option of making an HDR image out of a single image too, but it is best to be done with a RAW picture as opposed to a JPEG so we'll see how that goes.

I'm going to try Photomatix as the software of choice as it seems to be the trade preference... i've tried a few conversions already and will keep you informed.

It's been a while

2007-02-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

Well it has certainly been a while since my last post...

As of a few weeks ago i have been back in NZ and as of last monday i have been working studiously in my new job as an architectural draughtsman for a local firm here called MAP.

So far the job has been going alright, the usual hiccups for the new staff but i guess thats all part of the parcel huh.

I have been trawling through the thousands of pictures that I and the others took on the trip and have as of yesterday finished uploading all the best ones (i think) up onto the Flickr website i use for my pictures.

Really not all that much else to say really, the last few weeks have been nice and boring in comparison to the weeks before that.

Lake Titikaka and the end

2007-01-20T12:31:00.000-08:00

So we had a few days in Puno and Lake Titikaka lined up for us all, including a home stay in one of the villages on an island.

After a full day in Puno with very little to do as it is literally just a port town we headed off on a slow boat around some of the Lakes highlights in that area.

The big one is the Isla Flotanes. These are Islands people live on that are made from reeds found growing profusely all around the bay. Every month the families need to add more reeds to their floor as they old ones dry out and decay. Thus losing their bouyancy.

The families pay no tax for their islands and often join or separate them as required to make larger more diverse groups. We got to have a walk around some of them and see what they did for a living and also take a ride on one of their rafts. We paid $5 Sol for the privelige of the ride and one of the small local girls came too and promptly sang a few childrens songs... in about 7 different languages. We were all impressed even though english was the only one we knew.

All the children have some sort of money making scheme going on. The follow you around playing drums and things and then expect you to pay them even though you never asked them in the first place. There are more things they try and do. The worst being pickpockets, their latest trick is to spit on you and then get their mate to rob you while you are preoccupied with the most feral throat bomb you have ever seen clinging to your arm. Joy

Aaaanyways back to the lake. After a bit of a potter around we headed to our island we were going to be staying on. After meeting our host mama or papa (yes that is what they want to be called) you get taken off to their house.

You have to understand that at 3800m high the lake itself is pretty damn high and makes it tough to breath when you are walkign around. So when we had to walk about another 100m up the side of the island to get to the houses we were pretty buggered. Our hosts then made us a late lunch and allowed us to walk around and see things before dinner at 7pm.

At dinner i tried to have a bit of a chat to my hosts but with them speaking a language called Quechuan and me speaking English it was tough. We both knew a little spanish so i got that they had 3 children all older and studying in Puno and a few other mindless details to boot. Its fair to say that dinner was quiet.

Then after dinner we got dressed up in local traditional garb and taken to a dance that the locals had put on for us. I only lasted a couple of dances before my eyes were droopy and i needed sleep.

In the morning we were treated to breakfast by the hosts and then taken down to the docks so we could head off to another island and the end of our Lake Titikaka stay.

The other island was nearby and we had a wander around for an hour or two and then had some lunch at a restaurant there. It had the most fantastic view off of a small balcony they had.

Finally it was a boat ride back to Puno. It was going to be a long ride (2-3hours) so we got settled in for a bit of sunning and games on the top of the boat. Not long into it we were alwanting a swim so we got the captain to stop the boat and we had a few bomb competitions.

Apparently every minute spent in the water adds ten years to your life. The water is crystal clear and has supposed healing properties you see. I spent maybe 5 min in there so Emily had better watch out or i`ll out live her easy.

Back in Puno we got told that there were road blocks on the way to La Paz in Bolivia so we might not get through very easily. As it happened the next morning we left for La Paz and had no trouble at all.

La Paz is an amazing city. Its nestled into a huge valley and the slums feed up the sides of the valley for miles and miles. La Paz is a bit odd in the fact that the poor have all the views of the city from the hill sides and the rich have no views because they live down in the bottom of the valley.

Our first night in La Paz was fairly uneventful. We went out to a restaurant which was pretty cool but i wasnt up for a big night so headed back to the hotel and bed nice and early.

The morning after a group of us went on a city tour and saw some of the citys highlights and a few views of the city from miradores (viewing places) We saw the witches markets which are full of talismans and dried Llama foetuses (no im not kidding) Apparently the Llama foetuses have the power of being able to bring wealth...

We also saw the black markets. There is so much fake merchandise its hard to tell what is real. The electronics section only has a few fakes but things like iPods arent any cheaper than buying from the internet so i haven´t bothered with getting anything yet.

Today i went and perused the markets a bit more and looked at the leather jackets which are made from Argentinian leather (nice) and cost about NZD$70 for the expensive ones.

Tonight is going to be quiet as i need more sleep again but i only have a few more days to go until im back in Christchurch so tomorrow im thinking about taking a bus and going to see some famous ruins nearby.

Well i think thats all for now so i´ll probably be in touch again before i leave for the airport on Wednesday morning.

I´ve loved this trip but i cant wait to get back right now. South American culture has its moments.

Over and Out

Machu Picchu and stuff

2007-01-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

Well, its been some time since my last entry so i may have forgotten a few things along the way so bear with me.

The colca canyon was pretty cool for its sheer size but we were all a bit dissapointed by the lack of Condors. Apparently there arent many there anyways but instead of hanging around they flew around on the up drafts until high enough to bugger off to the ocean so we only had a few minutes of seeing them.

It was still amazing to see a bird that weighs 13kg and has a wing span of about 2m cruising around without flapping its wings.

After the colca canyon we had to do a big drive day to get to Cusco. I ended up in the front cab of the truck with Phil, our driver, for the last 3 hours to keep him company. We ended up chatting about the similarities between eastern philosophies and quantum physics... It was interesting to say the least.

Cusco is at about 3300m so you definately get a bit worn out when you walk around but it only takes a day or two to acclimatize. We had one full day free in Cusco to chill out and see a few sites so i went and saw an Inca museum but was a bit dissapointed with it as there wasnt much inca stuff there at all. Apparently all the good things are in other countries which is a bit shit.

And now, its the Inca trail.

We had to travel to a town called Ollantaytambo which is in the Sacred Valley. The area is named such as it is amazingly green and lush with life. There are tropical fruit trees and everything like that which is great.

We did a one day tour of the valley and some ruins which was okay. Not that i didnt like it, but there are only so many ruins you can see before you get a bit tired of them. The ruins in Ollantaytambo are arranged in the shape of a llama when seen from the air. Those Incas were pretty into the organization of their citys. Cusco is in the shape of a leopard and Machu Picchu is in the shape of a condor. There was another place we were told about that is in the shape of a corn cob. The streets are arranged to give definition to actual bits of corn on the cob.

INCA TRAIL

The first day of the trek started with a 1 hour bus ride to kilometer 82 which is the start of the trail. We were on a one way dirt road with a raging river on one side and a whole lot of trees on the other and ended up meeting about 8 massive trucks coming the other way so had to do some very scary passing manouvers.

After checking into the trail we got our passports stamped to prove we went and started on our way. We had 14km to cover in the day and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds so we all got pretty hot and sweaty. Even when it rained it was hot, walking for so long gets you hot no matter what you do, especially when you carry your own gear like i did. The whole day was gently up hill and is supposed to be the easiest and a good starter to the trek. It wasnt easy but i didnt have too much trouble really.

Lunch and dinner were great. Always started with a hot drink and then soup and then a hot meal. We were never hungry.

Sleeping was in tents and there were no real issues there other than they were a bit too small. We were all very comfortable in them.

Day two is the hardest day as we needed to do 17km and go up 900m of pretty steep country from 3300m to 4200m before lunch. By the time we got to Dead Womans Pass (the highest point of the trek) we were pretty stuffed with the altitude. We had spread out alot by this stage so i was only at the top with two others. We only had about 5min up there as it must have been about 5 degrees and raining before we had to go down 700m to our lunch camp. My knees were aching pretty bad by this stage so going down was a bit rough. We were told that we should be getting to the lunch site around midday but the faster guys in the group arrived at 9am and i got there about 10am even with my slow down hill technique.

After lunch we had 400m up to go before heading down 300m to our final camp site. This didnt take too long either so we had a bit of free time at camp to chill out.

Day three was amazing. The scenery on this day was the best yet. We had views of snow capped mountains and lush green forest the whole time. The walk was all down hill and about 15km long. Most of us took this day pretty slow which was nice as we needed a bit of a rest. The day was fairly uneventful except for the 4 guys who wanted to go fast. They ended up making it to camp about 10am and continued onto Machu Picchu because they had time. Once there they took a few photos and had about 2 min left until they had to leave before they got pulled up by the police and asked for their tickets, which they didnt have... Our guide politely forgot to tell them they needed them to get in. 2 Hours spent in the holding cells and a whole lot of back and forth they were let out and escorted back to the camp site.

I got to the camp site around 2pm and we chiled out and bought some beer from the youth hostal that was there. Many games of bastard were played too to burn some time. That evening there was a disco for all of the tourists there and we stayed up late and drank a bit too much.

We had to be up at 4am the next morning to get to Machu Picchu before sun rise so all of us that stayed up were feelign a bit groggy. It was pissing down with rain at this point too so that didnt help at all either. The walk was only about 5km so we took it slow with the rain. When we got to the sun gate it was as foggy as anything so we didnt get to see the ruins from far away.

Another short walk later and we got to the ruins true. There was still a lot of fog around so we waited for a few hours until we took pictures and started a 2 hour tour around. We were allowed to walk around the ruins on our own after that for a few hours.

Once finished we headed down to Aguas Callientes (sp?) (Literal meaning: Water Hot) to have a swim in the hot pools which was great on the aching muscles. About 5pm we headed off on the train back to Ollantaytambo where we got a bus back to Cusco. Back in Cusco we were all really tired but there was a pact to do a 24 hour challenge. So we got up at 4am that morning and had to go till 4am the next in town. All but two of us made it and are thus feeling a bit worse for wear today.

Today has been a complete relax day which has been great. I got up at lunch time and am stil a bit tired. The muscles from the trek are only a touch sore which is good.

Tomorrow we head off to Puno and Lake Titicaca (The highest navigatable lake in the world) In 12 days ill be back in NZ so need to go do some shopping i reckon.

Until next time...

One week till Machu Piccu

2007-01-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well the Nazca lines were pretty fantastic i must say.

The plane ride was about 25min long and we saw maybe 20 pictographs on the ground. I haven´t had a chance to see what my pics look like yet though so i´m not sure how well i have been able to capture them.

After Nazca we headed off to a small beach somewhere between Nazca and Arequipa (where i am now) and had a big bonfire and bbq and all the rest. Not much to say about that section of the trip as most of it was driving.

We arrived into arequipa yesterday evening and went out for dinner to a local place. While there we were treated to a pretty big show of local culture; dance, music etc. There was an american film crew there to film it all for some show they were doing somewhere. Phil our driver got `interviewed´ by the host about us all. I don´t think that they are going to use alot of the stuff that they filmed of us as we were too interested in eating out first ever Guinea Pig aka Cuy Cuy.

They had cut the little blighter right down the belly including cutting its bottom jaw in half to splay it out over a bed of hot chips. The meat was scarce to say the least but it was fairly nice. It reminded me of rabbit mixed with duck.

I used the Guinea Pig as a starter as Dean and i shared it. For my main i had Llama fillets cooked home style. They were very nice but also very small so i didn´t get very much for what i paid at all.

Today i have been cruising around the city and seeing some of the sites. The typical churches and museums and also the Monastary de Catalina which is like a small city within the city. 20,000 sq/m of space total. In the afternoon i headed off to the black markets and picked up a nice striped Lacoste woolen top for s/38 or about NZD$15. I´m pretty sur it´s real but it´s possible it is a second as the hem is a little wonky in places.

Tomorow we are off to the Colca Canyon for the day to see the condors and one of the deepest canyons in the world at 3250m deep (i think thats the depth, i might be off by a couple hundred meters though)

Right now though it´s dinner time so i´ll keep you informed with my exploits later.

Tomorr

New Years

2007-01-02T03:52:00.000-08:00

Well, that was a new years to remember... or forget...

But first, the headlines.

Lima. Not a bad place considering there are 10 million people there. During the few days i had there i went and saw the gold museo, a war museo, San Francisco church and attached catacombs. Plus a bunch of less important churches and places.

The catacombs were morbidly interesting, the gold museo expensively boring and the war museo interestingly bloody.

On the final night we were there one of the new group and i decided that we wanted to head out for a few drinks after dinner so we wandered off to a local piano bar. There were two old guys who looked like they wouldn´t be out of place standing next jesus at the cross playing the piano and a small drum set. They punched out tune after tune of local music and had all the bar singing. Andrei and I were the only europeans there except for a spanish speaking transvestite who seemed to take an interest in us... Not long after saying ´no entiendo´(i dont understand) about a thousand times i decided it was my bedtime. It was 2am afterall.

After Lima it was Huacachina for new years. Huacachina exists only because it is set around a large oasis. Did i mention it was in the middle of the desert now?

So yeah, when we got there we were told we´d be off dune buggying and sand boarding until 6ish when we´d dune buggy further into the desert to set up camp and have new years in the desert.

The dune buggying was amazing fun. Much like a huge never ending roller coaster. Every 15min or so we´d stop for a sand boarding session which was great also.

Once it was dark there was partying to be done. We had a large bonfire set up and the local guys had set up another coal fire for a bbq dinner.

A few drinks later we all decided to head over the dunes to where another tour company had setup something similar to us and we crashed their party and had a blast. At midnight there was fireworks and everything. Something to remember for sure.

We headed back to our place after certain truck drivers got so drunk it was looking like he´d never stop drinking :)

Three hours after getting to bed i had to be up again and on the road to our next port of call. Nasca. I´m there right now and am waiting for our plane to get ready to take us up to see them and take some pictures.

Not much longer till i´m back in civilization with running water

Half way woohoo

2006-12-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

Well it's about half way through the trip right now and all is well... touch wood.

I can't remember if i've mentiond xmas at all so i'll try and remember some of it. If it's been mentioned in the previous post then jump forward a few paragraphs to get to the new stuff.

We had xmas in a town called Huanchaco and had a great time. We did secret santa with all the others. I was lucky enough to get a bottle of peruvian vodka (think meths without the colouring) I'm almost able to drink it now but i think my liver might be starting a revolt against me.

We had a bit of drama with the xmas dinner. We ha dorganised for a HUGE turkey to be cooked but when it came out it was still raw so we all had to settle for vege dinner and then wait 3 hours for the bird to be finished. When it came out though it was amazing. It was so big it fed 10 people to the brim and then 10 people for the lunch the next day and a little of lunch the day after that. Not bad really.

Huanchaco for any other purpose than xmas was a waste. The beach was filthy and smelt of rotting fish so we didn't spend too much time down there.

I missed boxing day cricket (both back yard and on the TV) which got me a bit down.

Since Huanchaco we have been in a town called Huaraz and done Ice Climbing. The weather conspired against us on the day with not only rain and hail but also a fair amount of snow falling around us for the 5 hours we were there. The glacier we climbed was only about 11-15m high but we were at 5200m in altitude so just walking to the climb took it out of us and there was no real trekking at all. At sea level u reckon i could do the walk in 10min, but there it took us 40 with breaks...

At lunch we were given some genuine coca tea to help with the altitude and it was fantastic. We went from buggered to right as rain in minutes.

From Huaraz we have driven to Lima and this is where the tour ends for 4 of our current travellers. Tomorrow the rest of us meet the 13 new people on the tour. All we know is that there are 5 kiwis, 5 ozzies, and 3 others... could get interesting.

Well best be off, but i'll try and be in touch as often as possible.

Ciao

Merry xmas i guess

2006-12-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Well it´s a day late for most of you but right now it´s 10:30 in the morning of xmas here in Peru. Currently we´re in a town called Huanchaco. It´s a beach town but the beach doesn´t look very nice compared to the last place we were in.

After we drove the torturous drive through the hills to Punta Sal in Peru we had a full day there and loved it. The weather was probably about 35-40 degrees in the sun and all of us got burnt to some extent.

We drove into a nearby town called Mancora about 15 min away and some of the others went and had a surf lesson in the heat of the day... They´re paying for it now with bruises and sun burn. I on the other hand went and had a wonder round the town and the markets and bought a few gifts and things.

Then it was an 11 hour drive to get here in Huanchaco. The drive went through some serious desert country where the sun was only a fraction off being exactly on top of you. Lunch was interesting. We tried to park the truck so that we could use its shade to keep us out of direct sunlight but we didn`t have much to play with. To make things worse there was a pretty hefty wind blowing sand straight into us and our food. Mmmmm crunchy juice.

Either way it is now christmas here and most of the locals are taking it easy which means that the things that the tour had planned for today are cancelled so with any luck we´ll be able to spend those entrance fees on some booze or food for xmas dinner.

I think we have a turkey running around somewhere for us...

Tomorrow will be hung over most likely and driving for another 12 hours to our next destination somewhere in the hills. There we are planning to be going ice climbing and glacier trekking. I can´t wait.

Right now however i need a booze poos and i´ll try and update again at the half way point of the trip in 5 days as i don´t think that i will have anywhere to update again before then.

See you all later and i hope that you all had a great xmas. For a special few there might be a few gifts coming back with me.

p.s. for those that wanted postcards it´s been remarkably difficult to find post offices. There was one in Cueñca but the line was literally 2km long as the office only opens once a week... I´ll try my best to send them in the next week but it may end up easier for me to just send them when i´m at the airport.

Christmas... almost

2006-12-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

Well, the last fewdays have been exciting to say the least.

Two days ago we left Cuenca and started our drive to Peru. It was planned as a 10 hour drive but as per south american standards things didn´t go that way at all.

First we encountered a local road block/detour as some of the road we were to be travelling was being re sealed so that meant we had to detour an extra hour onto the trip. We got about an hour further into the driver after the detour and encountered a local government protesting about not having enough money or something and they had blocked the road too...

So after about 30 more minutes with the maps out we realised that the only way to the border from there was to turn around and go all the way back to the first detour point and try driving through the mountains instead of along the coast.

...

So, we had already been on the road for about 4 hours andwe hadn´t been more than 100km from Cuenca. Bugger.

Anyways, we headed for the hills and all was looking peachy until it was pissing down with rain and there was fog so thick we literally could only see 4m infront of the truck. Think the most windy west coast roads and then make them dirt and then add ruts in every direction and a 200m drop on one side and on the other side a 100m cliff. Then to top it all off, imagine the road is really only one lane wide... Thats what we endured for the next 4 hours until we hit a town somewhere between splitsville and bumfuck and were told that the road we wanted to take had been closed due to landslides... i´m not kidding. So we took our only option other than to turn around and drove on in the fog down a road that has probably never seen a 17 tonne truck crease its dirt. It was 8:30 at night and dark and foggy and worryingly wet when we set up camp on a small clearing on the side of the road for the night. We all got ready for an early start the next day.

5am - Up and at´em adam ant. Everyone slept like shit and felt not much better... General concensus was that the drinking of rum (USD$5 a bottle) and cokes last night wasn´t our finest decision.

We ended up driving for maybe another 4 hours and set up for some breakfast in a small town. There was a small cafe type thing that made us some scambled eggs and toast and black coffee (not that i drink it) for about USD$1 each. Not bad i reckon.

Either way we had another 2 hours or so until we got out of the mountains and close to the border. Clear sailing from there was much appreciated by all. Including Phil our driver.

40min after the border we hit Punta Sal. Our 10 hour drive turned into 19 hours and a night in the middle of nowhere. Thus half a day lost in Punta Sal.

Punta Sal is fantastic. It´s piss ant small and has an amazing beach. Perfect for holidaying. I would be more than happy to stay there for weeks but unfortunately we only have two days and two nights.

Last night was our first night and we had a fantastic meal of fish and chicken and salads etc. after playing beach volleyball with some young Peruvians holidaying down the beach. It was great fun and everyone had an awesome time.

It´s so hot here in Punta Sal that i was sweating at 6am. Right now its almost 11am and it must be in the region of 35 degrees already.

Some of the others are going to take a surfing lesson in Mancura (a small town about 15min drive from Punta Sal) around lunch time. I think there will be some sunburnt souls coming back later on.

We leave Punta Sal tomorrow morning and are aiming for a place called Huanchaco (sp?) for xmas. Apparently it´s a beach as well but not as nice as Punta Sal. Either way we´ll be drinking and being as merry as we can.

After that we´ll be back in the mountains and cold. There is optional ice climbing up there though so that should be fantastic.

Then it´s Lima and the halfway point of my trip and the end of the trip for 4 others in the truck. 12 more people will be joining us remaining 4 though so some new faces will be appreciated.

Well thats definately enough from me for now. As always i don´t know when i´ll next get to an internet cafe so i hope you all have a merry xmas and all that other stuff.

Paolo

Cuenca

2006-12-19T15:49:00.001-08:00

Not too much to add to the blog so far i don´t think.

Today was a 9 hour drive over the mountains to get to a city called cuenca. It is the first capitol city of the Incan empire and one of the first that the Spanish conquered so there is alot of history around the streets.

It´s night time here at the moment but i can see that it will be a very scenic place to wander around tomorrow.

The last few days have been spent in a town called Baños. The word banños is actually toilet in spanish... We were staying with the boyfriend of one of our tour leaders at his lodge he operates just outside of the city. He also runs canyoning trips in one of the local gorges so a group of us did that on one of the days and absolutely loved it. Franco (the boyfriend) is a swiss guy who has movied to ecuador to do exactly what he is doing although he is planning on moving to Africa with Mel (our guide) to start their own tour business... Africa is next on my list of destinations so i might have to keep in touch.

That night was a huge festival in the town center with marching bands and two big concert stages playing all sorts of spanish music with thousands of people all toussling for space near the booze and food stalls which packed the footpaths. I wasn´t feeling too shit hot that night so i didn´t enjoy the whole experience as much as i could have but thats the way the cookie crumbles i guess.

The next day three of us went for waht was supposed to be a 30min walk but promtly got semi lost in the bush and the walk instead took nearer to 2 hours... go figure. I also saw my first wild snake on that trip. I think it was only a small tree python or something similar though so probably posed no danger. As soon as i saw it it bolted into the scrub anyways so i wasn´t in any danger even if it was poisonous.

Well i guess after all that there was a bit to talk about.

I´m going to be on a beach somewhere on the coast of Ecuador near the border with Peru (i think it´s called Punta Sal for those that care) for xmas which sounds pretty cool. We´ll be camping in tents with big bonfires and two other tour busses to share the day with. We´re all looking forward to that alot i think.

Well i might be back online tomorrow but if not then merry xmas to all and a happy new year and i´ll be back online sometie after xmas (Punta Sal has no internet... not sure if it has hot water yet either...)

Later all

2006-12-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

A few pictures have been put up on my flickr site, go check them out sometime.

1/6th done

2006-12-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

The amazon jungle was fantastic. Technically i was in the Amazon basin as opposed to the big deal real amazon but it was still incredible.

I´ve seen monkeys of all sorts of colours and breeds and fed most of them out of my hands. Seen cayman crocodiles and red bellied tarantulas and everything in between. I floated down one of the main two tributaries of the Amazon river in a tradiotional balsa wood raft.

The last week has been so completely filled with new experiences i can´t begin to list them all here. So far this trip has been amazing.

I do miss the comforts of home every now and then as we are now camping and the tents are a bit small for two guys around the 6´tall mark but i´ll survive i guess.

Right now i´m in a city called baños and it seems pretty cool. There is a massive parade going on for a celebration in the city at the moment and it´ll be going on into the night so we are all planning on heading in later on for dinner and a bit of night life.

I´ll try and upload a few pics or something for you all but i can´t guarantee anything with my complete lack of spanish communication.

Right now i´m going to head off and buy a cui cui on a stick, otherwise known as a guinie pig :)

Until next time

In the jungle the mighty...

2006-12-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

In the jungle the mighty jungle.

Tomorrow or the next day we´re off to the jungle for a while. And i swear its about 35 degrees here right now...

I´m sweating like a bush pig in heat on a hot nor´wester day.

Best be off, gotta go take some more pics

Later all

2006-12-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

Im heading off tomorrow on our first day of travel to a place called Otavalo for the day and then off to Tena the next. Its a 3 hour drive tomorrow but it{s going to be abou t11 the day after so that should be interesting i think...

The people on the tour a cool, 3 ozzies, a south african, a brit and an irish girl who actuall y lives in christchurch and works as a travel agent. She knows the girl i booked through. Random huh. Only four of us are staying in the bus for the whole 6 weeks and 4 are finishing it. When we get to the half way point 14 others are going to join us for the last 3 weeks.

We went out last night to a club down the road and had a good laugh. Beers range from 60 cents to $3 if you are unlucky. Everybody dances, nobody is sitting around unless they are trying to get drinks or into some pants...

Taxis are about $15 for 30min worth of driving so not too bad really.

I´ve arrived

2006-12-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Quito late last night some time after being awake for about 32 hours i reckon so i was pretty shagged.

Got given a room at the hostel i´m staying at and the toilet was broken. I only realised this after taking possibly the longest pee i had ever done into it. I think the dude knew it was broken but must have forgotten as he came bolting upstairs to move me but it was too late. He didn´t look pleased but moved me anyways.

The next room i was put in has a TV in it but when you turn it on the lights dim and then it turns off agian. Hmmm. The toilet works in this one but there are signs everywhere not to flush toilet paper or else it will clog.

Hello to the pinch technique

Oh and there is no hot water at all, but there is a shower and a basin so if i want a cold shower i could, no wait i can´t because the shower drain is blocked too.

Hello hand shower technique

Maybe i should have practiced these things a bit better while i was at home.

Either way i´m here and it´s humid as hell.

Unitl next time, i´m signing off

1

2006-12-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

Well, in less than a day i'll be in Auckland and waiting for my flight to Santiago which will then take me to Quito in Ecuador. I'll be there for three days until the start of my tour around South America.

Today has been pretty hectic. The car needed a new warrant so i did that this morning as well as a whole bunch of smaller jobs like cleaning and clearing out my room for Hamish to move into for the summer.

Not sure if i'll get the room back or not when i return, but no matter, the plan is to find a house before the winter truly sets in so i shouldn't have to put up with a cold room at all next year... assuming we can find a place nicer than where we are now for not too much money.

To top the whole trip off i think i'm getting a cold right now, cool huh. Heres hoping it goes away sooner rather than later and i don't get too poked with it. I assume jetlag and a whole bunch of stress and lack of sleep should kick it in the balls and maybe fix me up. If not then i'll be into the drugs earlier than i had wanted. Oh well.

In other news i have watched two great movies in my frenzy to finish a list as long as my arm before i leave.

The first is Brick. It is fantastic. Nothing is spoon fed to you which i LOVE. If you don't get it then don't worry, they use alot of slang simlar to cockney slang used in other films. But from waht i've read this is generally teen based slang rather than something bred into you. I'm unsure about how accurate it is as i have never experienced american underground high school but it's definately an interesting concept. WATCH IT

The second is the sequal to one of the worlds best cult status films, Clerks 2.
Done with an obviously higher budget than the original (it's in colour rather than black and white) There are several cameos from more established actors than the majority of the Clerks crew which i'm not sure if i liked or not.

It is packed full of Jay and Silent Bob humour which only appeals to some but i loved it. I guess you need to 'know' the characters to get it. Regardless of that i absolutely thought that Kevin Smith had been true to the original. Very much an instant favourite in my books. WATCH IT.

Lastly i have been listening to alot of Chuck Berry recently and highly recommend him if you want some fun background music or if you want to listen to some old school lyrics.

3

2006-12-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

So it's down the last minute really now.

I've been trying to catch up on some of the movies i've had to put off watching over the last few months and i must say, i wasn't missing much.

Watched Ultimate Killing Machine this morning... what a piece of crap. I wasn't holding out for a scorcese great or anything but fuck. It did have some okay cinematography at one moment.

Currently i'm watching a movie called The Architect, again i wasn't hoping for anything great but this movie could have been so much more. Bad actors who you can tell were ripped straight from the TV set are given far too much responsibility. The son is the only actor worth what he got paid, oh and the crack whore (the daughter of the activist) with her one line of actual words is okay as well.

I'm going to watch a few others while i pack later on today but i'll see how long they last before i switch over to music or Red Dwarf episodes instead.

Back to the packing.

I have a degree

2006-11-30T17:33:00.000-08:00

My marks were posted on the internet today.

And i passed everything with relative ease it would seem. Admittedly i shat my pants in the last three weeks of term but it must have paid off somewhat.

Either way i'm gonna have a good night tonight.

The pressure is now completely off. Ahhhh

More at 11.

6

2006-11-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

Well i've been trying this new job lark out for a few days now and it's not too bad i reckon. The folks are all pretty personable and i get an hour for lunch which is nice. I haven't really been given anything too interesting to work on as they all know i'm gone as of tomorrow at 4:30 (We have work drinks on Friday from 4:30, or maybe 4:00, i can't remember) Either way i think i'll fit right in when i get back...

All i gotta do is make them get me a better mouse than the 8 year old beast with sticky feet that i've been using this week. I seriously think my arm is getting musclier trying to push the damn thing round the desk.

I think i might have some proper drinks tomorrow night. All welcome.

Right now it's food time.

Ciao chumps

7.5 days

2006-11-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

In one weeks time i'll be shitting my pants i think. I'm not sure i'll get any sleep next Tuesday night at all. I'll be too busy thinking about all the things i will no doubt have forgotten.

I've just finished my second full day at MAP today. As expected i'm an office bitch... although in saying that, i haven't made any coffee, and i don't think i will end up doing any either. I'm currently tied up drawing up window and door schedules and a few details when the need arises. Not exactly fun, but exactly what i expected i'd be doing, and will continue doing when i get back from my trip.

If you care about the Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour i brought up earlier then you can thank Millsy for bringing this site to my attention which hosts archives of all the songs played in each hour as well as the total show itself too.

Religious humour is funny

Movie Trailers of note:
Van Wilder 2 - I'm not holding my breath
13 Tzameti - I can't wait to see this
Rocky Balboa - No, they aren't kidding
Spiderman 3 - Old news but i like it... although i'm still not holding my breath
American Hardcore - Another i can't wait to see
Transformers - Thats right folks, that IS a tear in my eye. I get shivers whenever i think about this movie.

End.

2006-11-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

I want one
Silly Microsoft (or not, maybe they are making it so easy so that people actually buy their pos players while also making the RIAA happy...)
Who knew... not me
For the man who has everything

10

2006-11-25T18:03:00.000-08:00

Well i'm almost down to single digits for days until i leave. Things are finally starting to take shape but i have to put most things on hold as i start work tomorrow.

I'm a bit apprehensive about work to be honest. Big names, A+, 1st Class Hons, type people are there at the moment, and i certainly aren't any of those, so we'll see how well i fit in. Apparently they all like to have a good friday night though so that should be interesting.

My rant for the day:
Borders. One of the best book stores to grace the New Zealand country has been distributing discount vouchers via email for some time now and i am a happy recipient of said emails.

My problem lies in this fact; i have no printer so i can't print them and thus use them.

I went into Borders today to buy a book to read on the plane and knew they had vouchers available but obviously couldn't print them. I assumed that seeing as all the vouchers distributed have the same bar code (yeah thats right, they do, you can print 50 of them if you have a printer and go in and use them all separately if you wanted to) that someone behind the counter would be able to just scan one someone else had used and hook me up but no.

They must have some sort of database they have access to to prove that i am on the email system, but no, that would be far too easy.

Irritating to say the least.

Vid of the day:
The little ankle biter has some tempo skills that exceed my finger tapping prowess with ease.

11 and a recipe

2006-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Recipe of the day: Frittata (sp?)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 small potato cubed
1 small kumara cubed
1 small onion diced
3 pieces manuka smoked bacon diced
3 cloves garlic finely diced
A healthy sprinkling of mozzarella and parmesan cheese
1 large lime leaf diced very very finely
A small clump of basil leaves diced very finely
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Dash of milk

Method:
Mix all but the eggs, milk and salt together in a fry pan and fry until cooked (See Note 1).
Add eggs and milk and salt to a separate bowl and mix thoroughly. (See Note 2)
Sprinkle cheeses on top of mix.

Simmer without stirring for 5min then bake in the oven for 15min or until the cheese is golden.

Remove, eat, enjoy. (See Note 3)

Note 1: A fry pan with a removable or oven proof handle is best as it may burn otherwise.

Note 2: If you want super light egg mix then separate the whites out of two of the eggs and beat until stiff. Then combine with the other eggs carefully.

Note 3: A small dash of Sweet Chilli Sauce goes nicely on the side.

On another note, i watched Snakes on a Plane the other night... What a complete waste of my time and effort. The highlight of the whole thing was seeing some nipple. Man i'm pleased i didn't pay.

On a better note i have been listening to Bob Dylans Radio Shows and am enjoying them alot. There is some great music in there which i must try and get my hands on to listen to some more.

Finally, i was pointed to a game on the net earlier which looks like it could be quite cool.
Frets of Fire
Songs
Wikipedeia

I'll have to try it out and see what it's like i think.

p.s. 11 days till i leave... i had better start sorting my room out.

12.5

2006-11-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

12.5 days until i go to South America.

Man i can't wait, i've only just been able to start getting excited about it recently thanks to having to focus on study and the likes for the end of the year. I'm going to be pretty skint when i get back so there'll be no going out for me for a few months until i get some funds buffer back up and running.

If you want to see what i'm going to be doing have a read of this

Was browsing the ever popular youtube a while back and caught this interesting clip about corn starch and went trawling to try and find it again this morning. It is awesome, who knew that corn starch could be so cool. I wish they did this in high school chemistry class when i was there. I have an old speaker already lined up to try this out at home.

Movies

2006-11-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

I went and saw Scorcese's latest flick "The Departed" the other day and was pleasently surprised. Not only was Mr DiCaprio not a weasel but Mr Scorcese kept up with his beautifully predictable killing.

Other movies to note recently are Shichinin No Samurai: A lovely grainy rip brought me the oldest Japanese movie i have ever watched. It doesn't quite deserve its rating on IMDB but i guess not many in the top 100 do. Namely oh and. I'm not saying that they weren't good in their time or that i didn't enjoy them... i actually didn't like Casablanca at all... but cult status is sometimes too powerful.

I finally got round to watching Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il aka The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly recently as well. Worth the watch if you haven't seen it but don't go and buy it unless you want to have Eastwood's babies.

Irreversible has got to be one of the most disturbing yet moving films i have seen in some time. Not since Fight Club or Boys Don't Cry, maybe even Requiem For a Dream. The aforementioned movies however are like small fluffy rabbits compared to Irreversible.

I think it was the graphic violence involving a fire extinguisher, or maybe the 8min long rape scene. No, i think it was the lucidly haphazard cinematography that did it.

Un

2006-11-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

Well I need to get some minimal HTML knowledge back into my brain cavity if I want to make this look how I want… but oh well I’m a touch too lazy for that now. Maybe while I’m at work.

I start work at MAP on Monday. I guess you could say it's my first 'real' job. A pity they are paying a pittance.

Hmm alliteration. Anywhoo

It has a pretty good rep. so they can afford to pay shit. I figure it's so that they can find out if they like me or not, if they don't, they don't give me more money and i stay as poor as a church mouse, if they do they pay a little more to keep me happy.

I've never kept a diary before. My mother would be proud i guess.

first one

2006-11-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well i finished my tertiary study the other week and i figure seeing as i have a bit of spare time i'll give this blogging trick a tickle.

Time to play