meanderings

way back catch up

pekollo — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:40:00 GMT

right so continuing on from two entries back...

so pauls place was really nice, his grandfather bought it like 40 years ago for like 1500colones, which is like $3. now they´re getting offers of $1.5m us. but they aren´t going to sell it. they have a big family and this time there were about 15-20 of them there. we slept everywhere, there were mattresses everywhere. i slept out on the balcony, it was so warm a sheet was too hot.

today ive spent the day walking to try and find a path up a mountain for this lookout but after walking for ages i found that i was at the wrong end of the beach. but walked out onto the rocks at the end of the beach which gave me this really nice view of the whole bay. i spent another good hour in the water before lunch, they´ve been giving us such amazing food and so much. its 9:15pm now and im still full from lunch.

i took a bus in the avot o quepos down the coast a bit and im wanting to check out manual antonio national park. but i just found out that the park is closed on mondays which is tomorrow, so that kind of sucks. so im need to spend another night here.

on my second day in quepos i moved over to another hostel, which was really nice and met some interesting people there. i spent the day relaxing as the park wasn´t open.

when i finaly got to go in the next day there was this massive line and had to wait like half an hour to get into the park itself. too many people in too small a park. it was nice and really beautiful but having so many people there really spoilt it for me. we did see alot of animals; sloths, howler and spider monkeys, birds, iguanas, lizards. it was beautiful but there were other places i liked better. there were really nice beaches and sittingon the sand watching the sunset was really amazing but i really didn´t need any more time there.

our bus trip to monteverde was pretty hectic, we only just got our connection in puntarenas. like our bus stopped just as we got to the outskirts of town and the driver pointed to another bus that was just about to pull ouut and said that was the bus we needed. it had already left the station and if we´d taken the bus to the station another 5 minutes away we would have missed it. but the road upt o monteverde was pretty fun, all 3 roads that lead up are unpaved and a few years ago when the govt tried to pave it, the locals decided they didn´t want it as if it was paved it would mean the big tour busses could come up so its still this gravel road that the regular buses struggle up.

i met these two canadians and an american guy at the hostel in quepos and have stayed in the same place in monteverde. im supposed to meet them later for another walk up to this viewpoint. at the moment im sitting on a bench in one of the national parks in monteverde. its called the childrens eternal rain forest. it was founded by the proceeds of hundreds of thousands of children all round the world. all those save the rainforest funds from when we were kids. i had to walk from the hostel for about an hour to get here but once i got into the park i havent seen a single other person. its has been so nice with only the sounds of the forest around. i can hear water running over rocks down in the valley below, and these insects that sounds like cicadas on speed, little crickets and the wind through the leaves. its so peaceful and tranquil that it reminds me why i travel alone. it gives me time to myself where i can just get lost. at times its lonely but thats just part of it. there are times when i really wish i had someone to travel with but then days like this just make it all worthwhile.

so finaly i didn´t meet up with the guys, their zipline tour went longer than they expected. so after waiting for them for a while i gave up and went up on the free walk by myself. it was really a little road rather than a track. but i found this little path that i took off to the side that turned into more of an animal track. but it was so beautiful, and agin nobody around. i turned around finaly after walking through the bush for about half an hour as i didn´t want to make it into tha papers for something as stupid as getting stuck in the bush. i took another couple of wrong turns on the road as it wasn´t signposted and i just had to guess. so i wound up walking for ages up this really steep hill. really steep it was crazy. but i finaly got up into the clouds. it was really beautiful. but i couldn´t get to the very top as i had to come back down for my night walk. we saw tarantulas, porcupines, sleeping birds, these raccoon things, these giant rats, and a uhge leaf cutter ants nest. its must have been at least 10m across with all these underground passges.

when i got back to the hostel josh, the american was waiting and said they´d found a cheap rental car place in liberia and were going to drive to tamarindo. they wanted to know if i wanted to go with them in the morning. i thought about it and it sounded appealing as taht way id get to meet up with nora too.

so the next morning we caught a buss to the highway then another bus to liberia. we wound up mucking around for ages trying to get a car as it wasn´t as cheap as we´d originally thought. but we finaly found one for $45 a day. but it was a manual car and josh who was supposed to drive said he couldn´t drive manuals. so i wound up driver. which as it turned out he could he just hadn´t in ages. but it turned out so nice, havign the car for those few days gave us so much freedom. admittedly we got really lazy, driving everywhere.

th first place we stopped the hostel no longer existed so we decided to stay in tamarindo itself. we stayed at this placed called pura vida and just as we were walking in, nora walked out. such a small world. so we spent a few days there partying quite a bit. it was alot of fun. tamarindo was not quite as touristy as i was expecting. apparently its the high season, but way less numbers than the same time last year because of the recession. we visited alot of the beaches aroudn tamarindo; playa conchal, playa flamingo where i was body surfing and swam right into a bluebottle jellyfish which wrapped itself around my arm and stung the shit out of me. damn it was sore and the marks lasted for weeks.

i was going to go back with josh on sunday to drop off the car and then head to the border but we´d been aout the night before and i could not face the border then. so josh wound up taking the car by himself. but i forgot my boots in the boot of the car and when i emailed josh about them, he said that he´d taken them back to chicago with him as id said that i would be passing through the states... yea but not till july. it would have been so much easier if he´d left them at the rental place as the bus had to go right past.

so i stayed an extra couple of days while the otehrs headed down to samara further down the coast. i tried to convince them to hire another car between 5 of us and we could all drive down to montezuma. i would have been very keen for that but the others weren´t convinced.

on one of the days i was supposed to make a run for the border i got up too late so i hired a skimboard for 4 hours and had so much fun. but man i was sore afterwards, pain all over my body. but well worth it.

the next day i finaly made it to the border, it only took me 9 hours, with 3 at the border. apparently they do all the tourist buses first, then all of us other shmucks. i was in line with this older canadian couple who i wound up helping and catching a taxi with to san juan del sur on the coast of nicaragua. on thew bus to the border i had been umming and arring about whether to go to ometepe or where i am now, but i needed to get some boots before i went there as i wanted to go up the volcanoes. but i got a little mp3 player at the border in duty free, which i have spent most of today trying to load music on. biggest mission ever. i must have spent like 3 hours in the internet cafe trying to sort it out. but finaly persiverance overcame and i succeded.

and so i have finished with costa rica. next entry nicaragua. nice

peace and love

tikal y el mirador

pekollo — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:23:00 GMT

so this is jumping ahead a little as im going to take you on a little journey to el mirador. the 6 day hike to the oldest and biggest mayan structures around. it was just a little bit fun. again im taking this straight from my journal so pretend like your reading my scrawl on paper...

so guatemala is all it was cracked up to be anc more. i have only been here a few days but it has already been amazing. the border crossing was pretty uneventful and i made it to florez without any hastle. i stayed at this hostel called los amigos which is pretty chill. the city is on an island in the middle of this lake and has a very colonial feel to it. someone was telling me that the city is where there was a huge massacre of mayans where the spaniads drove them onto the island and then butchered them. so it has a very pleasant history. much like the rest of this area.

i just got the fright of my life as jeff yelled ´theres a scorpion under you´. i almost jumped off the pyramid im sitting on. but back to the story...

so as soon as i arrive in los amigos i see this sign for people looking for one more person to go to el mirador; the biggest baddest pyramid ever built by the mayans. at this time, i still had my pack on and hadn´t even checked in yet. they also said it was going to be $200us which i was like woah. i said id think about it as id just spent bucketloads in belize. but as the day went on and i thought more and more about it, i began to get really excited by the idea of it. so i said yes.

me mark and yial, two of the guys going on the trip went to tikal the next day really early. we missed the sunrise as there are no more busses that go for sunrise but we still got there at 6:30am. before it got too hot we had walked over alot of the site, walking up temple 3, 4, and 5. temple 4 is the highest but we felt a little let down as the stairs wound around it making it very easy to get up and the vegetation hadn´t been cleared from the front so you couldn´t see the bottom. also we had just been up temple 5 which was completely excavated and the stairs were almost vertical. it had amazing views from the top. the cool thing from temple 4 was you almost saw the scene from star wars where the rebels have their base. was pretty cool. the whole site was pretty incredible, and we walked around until 12:30 then bused home. it was so hot when we left. in the avo me jeff and the other mark, two of the other guys who were going on the hike went for a swim in the lake. we tried flips and stone walking to the bottom off the wharf. it was a really nice way to end the day and escape the heat. when id been talking to mum the day before i had been sweating just sitting there. but by the end of the day i was exhausted by the end of the day.

and so this morning we began our adventure. we left at 6:30am and went for breakfast before driving 2 and a half hours to a place called carmelito where we unloaded all our gear and food and prepared to leave. we started walking before our donkeys were loaded up, they were to follow. the bush was so dry and the path was completely parched and cracked and hard to walk. my feet started playing up soon after we started and i knew i was going to get blisters. we walked for about 3 hours. it was very hot and we were not able to refil our water as they didn´t unload the donkeys until we set up camp. so we were all very thirsty and had to ration our water until we got to camp. the guide set a pretty gruelling pace and i was always at the back because my boots were heavy and hurting my feet. we reached camp about 3pm and set up. im sleeping in my hammock instead of a tent which im looking forward too. right now we´re sitting on the top of a pyramid that has not been excavated. the top is clear but we´re completely surrounded by jungle. it is pretty surreal. and that scorpion was very cool, about 10cm long with all its babies on its back. but we´re watching the sunset now, so time to take some photos...

so the end of day 2. we´re sitting on top of el tigre at el mirador. we were up at 5:30 this morning to have breakfast. we hit the trail at 6:30 and arrived at the site at 1:30pm. my feet were absolutely killing me. i have the worst blisters. i have wrapped one heel and tomorrow will need to do a few more toes and the other heel. i slept in my hammock last night and got absolutely savaged by mosquitos. my back is covered in bites. and some other little insect has been biting me leaving little tracks. and ticks! but its been sweet, we had to keep watching out as we walked for little tree stumps as we were constantly tripping over them. we again went at a pretty fast pace today. about half an hour from the main site we stopped at two little pyramids where we could go inside. it was so much cooler inside and there were a family of bats. it was pretty sweet seeing the inside of the pyramids. and now we´re sitting on the top of a pyramid in the middle of the guatemalan jungle. the moon is out and is sitting directly above us with the daylight fading away. im starting to get a shadow from the moon so will have to stop now. we´re waiting for till the night is complete to see the moonscape of the surrounding valleys. its going to be so dark going down, and we´re probably going to get alot of ticks...

so we stayed up top till about 7:45pm then headed down in the dark. i think i only got bitten 20 times last night down from 40 the night before. i didn´t get up for the sunrise as i wanted an extra hours sleep. we walked through the site today visiting the biggest pyramid danta. it didn´t seem quite as high as la tigre, but we did have to climb many different platforms to get up to it so the height was deceptive. it has been alot more jungle on the site than any of us excpected. i think we all thought it was going to be more excavated. but i have really enjoyed it, even with my blistered feet i have gone everywhere. today we went into one of the other pyramids where there were all these moths and more bats swooping over our heads. we went all over the site. it really was and still is a very impressive place. you can just imagine how the city might have looked under all these trees. it is also comforting that the city is so completely reclaimed by the jungle leaving only a scarse trace of the this ancient civilisation that it could some day happen to ours. even with our sprawling cities, these too will be like el mirador, reclaimed by nature. i kind of hope that this area stays covered, it is much more mysterious and surrealw ithout hordes of of people around. in saying that another group has just arrived. we were told 20, but i couldn´t hear 20 people from my perch at the top of another pyramid. i can see little rises some with the tops exposed, showing where a structure stands. and the trees and jungle stretching out on all sides to the horizon. its quite magical, so even this with this other group arriving we still signify a very small group of people who come here. last year only about 800 people visited el mirador, including guides. and i think the place is better for it. we hike with everything we need and take everything out. our food is cooked on an open fire and is of mixed quality... our guide aparently is paid 1000quetzales for 6 days which is a fraction what we paid. we each paid 1500q so he doesn´t get a very high percentage. but by guatemalan standards that is a fairly good wage, by our standards it is nothing at all. its sad but also a reality that we tend to like places that are cheap, but in order for that to happen, the people there need to be paid very little. ive had this conversation witha few people where they havent put the connection together between low wages and cheap travel. and so when i said that belize was very expensive i was not taking into account the fact that the people in belize are the best paid people in this hemisphere after the us and canada. there is always a tradeoff. rigth im going to check on the pottery the others just found...

its very early in the morning and ive just been rudely awoken from my slumber by the onset of rain. as a hammock doesn´t come witha tarp i started to get very wet. so now im sheltering under the cooking taros. its fairly cold at the moment. the last few nights have gotten very cold in the morning. so since im up i may as well doa bit of a recap. after checking out what the others had found, which were a few bits of mayan pottery, some with paint on some without, we headed down to camp. i have played so much chess on this axpedition. and ive only beaten jeff once, so chess was played untill well after sunset. we saw alot of the other group, which while they had girls was far too big. it would have made it very trying id we´d had that many people. but i managed to have a shower at least. admittedly is was with black water taken from a pond, but it felt good to get at least one layer of filth off. while we were down at the lagoon we saw some toucans playing in the tress, unfortunately none of us had our cameras with us. that night after the sun has gone down and truely set, we went back up to the top of el tigre. although we took a couple of wrong turns getting there we made it. the jungle looks very different at night. it was so magical up there at night. the moon was not quite full but it lit up the top of the pyramid really nicely and you could see all around us. we sat up there for about an hour, each one lost in his own thoughts. it would have been a really cool place to camp.

we didn´t set out oo early morning as we were only walking about 4 hours. but we visited another group of ruins that are apparently older than than the mirador ruins called nakbe. we camped out in the central plaza and had another afternoon of chess. with sunset approaching we climbed to the top of pyramid uno and watched the sun set into the haze. it doesn´t ever set or rize on the horizon, but from the haze above it. when we went up for sunrise yesterday, this layer of fog rolled in completely obscuring the view and we couldn´t actually see the sunrise at all. we heard alot of howler monkeys though, and as mark said, they kind of sound like dinosaurs and makes us feel like we´re in jurassic park. climbing down the pyramids in the dark is always interesting. especially when im wearing jandels, heaps of grip i tell you. and the steps are very steep at some points. after dinner of sardines, refried beans and bread we had some spanish practice, where one of the guys was having a look at my notes. i really should spend some more time going over them. just half an hour a day, i think that would help so much. it cna be my new years resolution come late. this rain sucks. i had finaly gotten my mosquito net just right around my hammock that i wasn´t constantly being kept awake by the buzz and bite of mosquitos. mark tried counting the ones on my back but gave up after 30 just on my shoulder. maybe around 200 im told. fanfuckingtastic. today we have 8 hours of walking apparently. yus. time to try and get warm and sleep some more on this bench...

i got a little more sleep but the bench was neither warm nor comfortable and i woke up feeling not very refreshed. i have not slept very well on this trip in the jungle. a combination of bugs, their bites, and being cold has ensured a broken sleep. we left this morning at 7am. a bit later i think than our guide erik was expecting. and he set such a grueling pace. this whole trip we have been walking really fast, almost too fast for me. i kept up well utill about 5 hour into it, whn i really started to lag. my legs got so sore and fell way behind. at one point we thought we´d lost the others but they had just gotten really far ahead without stopping. so we hiked in total about 8 and a half hours today. man that was intense, i was so relieved when i saw we´d reached our next camp- i could not have gone much further. now my legs and feet still ache and im sure tomorrow they will also. the camp we´re staying at tonight is a bit more built up witha thatched roof so i can hang my hammock up under the roof safe in the knowledge that the rain wont bother me tonight. throughout this trip we have been finding ticks in the most unfortunate places. they really get everywhere. each time we stop we have to doa tick check. i dont think ill have trouble sleeping tonight after todays hike. its a pity i think tonight is either the full or very close to being full moon. but there are no pyramids aroudn where we´re staying. it will be cool to see around florez though. so one last day and we´re finished our mirador adventure. it was both what i expected and not at the same time. but i have no regrets about coming on this crazy jungle mayan experience. i´ve really had to push myself hikingwize, but the ruins were amazing and i will remember this trip for the rest of my life...

so our last day of walking we started at 7:30 and walked about 2 and a half hours. iw as way at the back as my knee and feet were just plain sick of walking. at one point i thought id lost the others or gone down the wrong path as i hadn´t seen them for about half an hour. but we finaly got out of the bush and you have no idea the relief to be out. as nice as it was it was also very nice to be out. we wound up waiting for quite a while in carmelito for our ride back to florez and when it finaly arrived it was this piece of shit van that felt like it was going to break down the whole time. you could see out of holes in the floors, roof and sides. it had wooden braces for the roof and missing windows and kept making crazy sounds as we went along. it was a full van with other peopl getting rides as well. because of the dirt roads and lack of windows most of the road wound up inside the van with us tieing shirts over our noses to breathe. it took us 3 and a half hours to get back as the guy tooka different way back and drove really slowely. but we finlay got back to florez ditched our bags and went with some poepl for a swim. it was so nice to feel all the filth wash off us.

and so we were back in florez, we popped down to the market and i bought a sweet machete which i still have to sharpen. but its got this sweet leather scabbard. its a little bigger than i had anticipated but i stoked. and so ive been writing for ages. time to get out.

peace and love

a rewrite to rewrite the lost words

pekollo — Wed, 1 Apr 2009 05:23:00 GMT

so ive actually already written this entry once. in managua, but computors being computors and explorer being shit. lost me the whole lot. and i had caught you all up to nicaragua. which had taken a fair amount of time i have to add. so i will try and do this one a tad bit quicker.

right so dnb was cool. had to pick up the rum and cigars that id left at couch surfer pauls place before meeting up with paul sanchez from western springs days. it was really nice catching up with him again. he's married now to this tica called nazala. she's real cool and ive had alot of fun practicing my spanish with them. they are really easy to understand compared to his family who i found utterly incomprehensible. i spent a few days with paul having various missions to get things posted and getting that damn camera. on tuesday i had to head out to the airport to get it as fed ex being the huge multinational courier company that it is. was not able to bring it into the coutry without charging me an extra $170us. a paltry fee for their time and energy.

so anyway i headed out to the airport where the camera had been for a while as fed ex had never actually had it at all. i had to go to one side of the airport to register as an importer. from here a guy from the airport started helping me which as it turned out would have taken me an eternity to get if he hadn't been there. he required adequate reimbursment at the end of course. so after this i had to go tot he other side of the airport and go through security and talk to this lady who verified who i was and checked my documentation as an importer. she then took me to another person in the warehouse adjacent to her office and they ordered the camera over. we opened it up to make sure that it was indeed a camera as it said on the papers. then leaving the camera then we went back into her office where she instructed me that i had to go to the bank and pay 72colones. now this may seem like alot but when you know that there is 500colones in one us dollar. then you start to get the picture as to why i had to ask why? nope she couldn't accept it i had to go to the bank. so i had to go down to the bank and pay this measely sum and return with the appropriate documentation. she looked over these then sent me to another office to talk to another person who stamped my forms and said that i had to go to this counter next door and pay 3500colones which i did and was then sent back to that person. who stamped it again. then back to the original lady. she then sent me to another door of the warehouse where the people there checked over my papers and then called for my camera which was still sitting beside that ladies office. again we checked to make sure it was still a camera. and just to make sure that nobody had made a mistake the guard on the way out repeated the whole process of checking papers, camera etc. so then all i had to do was pay the guy who had been helping me this whole time. at first he wanted $50us which he had calculated i owed him through some complex calculation based on the cameras worth and the postage paid. i thought his was rediculous and told him so. we argued and finaly i paid him $30 which was still too much, but in reality if he hadn't been helping me i could still well be there figuring out what hoop i next had to jump through. moral of this story, dont send or have things sent to costa rica. the bureaucracy just isn't worth it.

so with that drama out of the way i headed to cahuita, where i was going to stay with clay, a guy id met through couchsurfing who was starting up an organic permaculture farm. i took a bus to puerto limon only arriving at 3:30pm after the debacle at the airport. i finaly found a bus that was supposedly going in the right direction. the only problem was, nobody knew where las palmas de colores was. so i wound up in cahuita after the driver forgets to let me know where im supposed to get off. so another half an hour on another bus goign back in the direction i just came and i finaly arrive. its dark, raining and nothing is sticking out as anything he had said. so after being chased out of one yard by dogs, 3 massive dogs, i foudn someone who showed me where he lived. so i was thoroughly drenched when i finaly turn up.

the rain did not let up the entire time i was there. i have never seen so much rain, so we stayed inside and played alot of chess. we never even made it up to his farm it was too wet. the rain would pour down for about 2 hours then sometimes stop for about 15minutes. one time when it stopped for half an hour we went down to the beach. wading out in shin deep water to get out of his place. the surf was really choppy and we kept having to dodge these massive logs and sticks in the water. so we didn't last long. and so the 3 days were spent inside hiding from the rain. but i had a good time nonetheless. we had some interesting conversations about politics, gardening, construction, his farm and various experiences couchsurfing. i was tempted to go back again when there wasn't a tropical storm but i just couldn't fit it in.

we both caught the bus back to san jose on the friday, we could see the effects of the storm everywhere. there was so much flooding, over the roads, into peoples homes, everywhere. we had to stop for an hour while they cleared the road on the mountain near san jose. once in san jose i tried calling home but skype was not very forthcoming. i went back and stayed with paul again as we were heading to his families beachhouse in jaco the next day. we were supposed to go early in the morning on saturday but naza was sick so paul stayed behind too. i went over with his cousins to jaco where its full of high rises right up to the beach, very touristy. i see what people had been telling me about it. but pauls place was up at the other end of the beach where it wasn't so developed and away fromt the hordes. we stayed there with his mothers side of the family so there were about 15-20 of us. his family were really hard to understand. but they were really amazing even with the language barrier. we had these massive meals which kept me full for a good part of the day.

the water there was really warm and i stayed in for about 2 hours which i think is a record for me.

but as mum has just come online and havent talked to her in ages. ill finish up now.

peace and love to all.

so taken directly from my journal straight to you.

pekollo — Thu, 5 Mar 2009 10:30:00 GMT

so im gonna write this taking it straight from my journal that ive been keeping, it´ll make it seem more up to the minute and perhaps more interesting. i also tend to write as if im talking to someone so you might feel like this is directed straight at you... lucky you. it will be like a collection of different entries taken at different times... here goes.

the sun is shining, the weather is sweet. finlay the costa rica i was expecting. i have left san jose and am now on my way to montezuma. i am on a ferry from puntarenas to paquera on the peninsula de nicoya. there are some birds flying alongside us as we cruise through the sea. i have to be careful with my bald head not to get sunburnt as it is scorching. and so just to catch up... leaving cuba was very uneventful, i got to the airport about 3 hours early. in the end i really didn´t need to get there so early but i had been told that i should expect delays, but it was just smooth sailing. i spent the last of my convertable pesos and managed to change a whole lot of nationals into 3 peso notes as souvenirs. they are all red with che on them. i had half expected paul to be at the airport waiting when i arrived but this was false hope. i didn´t even have his umber on me to call him, very forward thinking of you there nico. so a taxi ride later and im at this huge hostel called pangea, which might have been a nice place if they weren´t so uptight about the rules and i wasn´t so completely planless. it might have also had a bit more charm if there were 50 less uninteresting americans staying there.

so when i finlay got my shit together and found pauls number i was frustrated again by it not working for 3 days. i started to despair that i would spend all my time in this crap hostel so started lokoing at couchsurfing options. couchsurfing never fails. so i had someone to show my round town and another who let me stay with them. i managed to develop the photos id taken with my disposable cameras in cuba (which dad now has if anyone is interested). not the best quality but better than nothing. dman i miss not having a camera. so the guy who said that i could stay with him was already hosting someone and said that i was fine with it i could stay on the couch. i had no problems with that. so i went to where we were suppoosed to meet up and there was this other couchsurfer, briana. this cool chick from southern california. so we got talking while waiting for couch surfing paul to show up and was telling her a little about the brigades in venezuela and cuba when she went one up on me and said that she´s been studying abroad in bolivia when the water uprisings were taking place. not only that but evo morales had come and spoken to her class as he knew their teacher. but then to add insult to injury, she said that while there she had also met subcommandante marcos. at that moment she was god. it was really nice to meet someone so clued on to alternative politics and especially here in costa rica, the gringo playground. she was heading to playa naranja on the nicoya peninsula for a 10 day silent meditation retreat. it took me a while to get my head around that concept as i think i would find it very difficult to spend 10 days inside my own head. ill have to get in contact with her afterwards to see how it went.

so we finaly met up with paul and we drove around san jose with him as he did some errands. we ate this fantastic cajun meal that was some of the ebst food id had in a very long time. cuba´s food is not really something ill miss about the place.

we dumped brianas stuff at his place and caught a bus back into town to meet up with the other couchsurfer id organised to meet to show me round. silvia took as all round town and to the national university where she studies medicine. it was really beautiful and nice to get away from all the cars for a while. we stopped off for a couple of hours in this little coffee shopped and solved all of the worlds problems. if only we had the power... it was really funny hanging out with briana, she had this real no nonsense approach to travel and life. like for example when guys that were just blatantly staring at her ´undressing her with their eyes´ as she would say, she would just look at them and buenas, come stas. it was always funny to see their reactions as they suddenly realised that this person they were oggling was reacting to them. she said that as a solo female traveller she had to be alot more careful and simple things like that would get her remembered if anything ever happened to her.

on our way back we had to grab my bags from my hostel where they promptly charged me $5 just for the privilage of holding my bags. dicks. we stopped for some beers with paul before heading back to his place.

i had already decided that i wanted to go to montezuma which i had been recommended by a few people. but when in the morning i foudn out that the bus was a 9 hours bus journey i had a minor freakout as i had completely misjudged the time. luckily both and paul and briana had their heads screwed on right and pointed out that there were multiple ways of getting there. damn brigades making me think there was only one way of doing things...

so me and briana bussed to puntarenas and went our seperate ways. just as i was getting off the bus i met these swiss girls who were also going to montezuma. it was very nice to have some travel companions for a time. we nicknamed them m and m. melanie and mirianne. we stayed in this bohemian 60s place where i slept outside in my hammock between two palms. the place was right on the beach so about a 20m stroll down to the water. and because we´d travelled togther i got to stash my stuff in their room instead of under my hammock which was extra cool. some crazy people there. it was also cool because just as i was rounding a corner i bumped into 2 guys who id studied spanish with in merida in venezuela. we´d both told each other we were coming to costa rica but hadn´t really been in contact and randomly met up in the same town, same hostel. small world. they had this awesome dinner there where it was like a family dinner right on the sand with vegetarian pasta and all you could eat. definately one of the better decisions ive made was going to montezuma. this was exactly the typw of weather iw as expecting in costa rica. i got to wake up just before the sunrise and peek out over the edge of my hammock and watch the sun rise out of the water bathing the water and the day in golden light and creating a road of light stretching from the waters edge to the horizon. until i fell back asleep only to be woken up again as the sun beat down on me. no sleepins there. it got really hot in my hammock and i kept trying to put the palm it was tied to between the sun and me but the shade kept moving as the sun rose and so finaly gave up and got up.

we have just walked to this beautiful waterfall on a really harsh rock track in barefeet. there are alot of tourists but it is still amazing, but i am sweating like nothing else just writing this. while we were there some of the others from the hostel turned up, a german guý; franz and an american guy michael. well i think he was called michael, well he´s michael for the purposes of this story. we climbed up this really steep path next to the waterfall needing all four limbs to climb and i still ha dmy plastic bag with my food in it so we made it up rather difficultly. up and up and up. man we climbed for ages, and just as we got above the waterfall and the other pools, we had to clamber down this really steep bit. it had a rope attached but when im doing this kind of thing i like to have solid roots to hold onto. i got the mad bout of vertigo so it took me a while to get down and i wa still barefeet. but in the end it actually gave me better grip as the others were lsiding all over the place. go the toe grip. the top pools were incredible, so nice to swim in. and people were jumping between the different pools. each was slightly higher than the other with its own waterfall. the main water fall we had climbed to the top of was about 50m high with a big pool at the top with a 10m waterfall with a pool above that with another 5m waterfall there. was awesome. the 10m wa too high for me, me and my vertigo. but other people were jumping, some of them really acrobatic, especially the local ticos. doing lips and turns. a couple climbed onto this overhanging branch that was about 10m up and flipped off. we stayed for a good few hours and took a different way home. we saw bellbirds and howler monkeys right over the road. as a jeep went past the monkeys started howling.

because we spent so long at the waterfall i didn´t get to spend much time at the beach. i missed the waterfal that fell into the sea that silvia had told me about but had some good dumping bodysurfing. we went out to the local club where they were playing a solid fare of reggae dancehall and of course regaton.

the next day i was headed back to san jose where i stayed at the same hostel as everyone was busy already. but met up with this group where we went to this bar where one of the guys was djing that night. but he was playing this kind of electro indie which was not so fantastic. but there was this bar just around the corner with a drum n bass night. haha. good times.

ok so thats about enough for now. ive got plenty more and will try and split the entries up a bit. so hopefully i can get some catching up done. i am currently in this place called jinotega in the north of nicaragua. killing a few days while i wait to head to laguna de apoyo where im taking some more spanish lessons at this eco lodge. we went there the other day and it was beautiful this massive crater lake. im really looking forward to it. so until next time. love you all.

peace

sorry im way behind, but heres a fun story

pekollo — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:16:00 GMT

so this is a wee story about when i was back in venezuela, i met some people who managed to get a tour farily cheap and managed to get the same deal. the tour was to a place called los llanos, home of coyboys and flat landscape, chavez's home state and a multitude of exotic animals.

so we were supposed to leave merida on saturday morning at 8am, but our guide tony only turned up at 9:30. we had been out the night before and he had been at this bar for this live dub jazz group and i remember him saying ok guys, dont party too hard tonight, we have a long drive tomorrow. those words seem quite funny now with him being so late. but the bar we had been at was pretty cool, and played an eclectic range of music, from ramstein to drum n bass, breaks and salsa. they made these toxic green caipirainas which could have stripped paint. so a good night.

so when tony arrived there were 5 of us waiting, we had to wait even longer as there were some others joining us. i had time to run and pick up my camera which the guy couldn't fix, needed some part that he couldn't get in venezuela. might still be abel to get it fixed somewhere but we'll see. so when we finaly got moving it was so hot, and the drive was not exactly short. with ten of us sitting in the back of this 4wheel drive where the back seats all face each other. not exactly comfortable. we stopped for this fantastic meal of smoked meat and yukka, and all sorts of other delicious food over looking this amazing valley. was really a nice start to the trip. but we arrived after dark at his place in los llanos, because of the flat landscape you have this amazing view of the entire sky and as the sun goes down you can see the light bleeding from the sky as it sets. we stopped for much needed supplies of some alcohol and water and a few other things. the heat in los llanos was overwhelming, i had forgotten how hot the rest of venezuela was compared to merida. the first night we all pretty much just crashed, we were all staying in this octagonal hut with a centre post where all these hammocks were strung up for us to sleep. sleeping in hammocks is not as easy as it would seem but once you get it its so comfortable.

on our first day we had this huge breakfast then headed out on a long river boat which swayed precariously the whole time, and with 12 people in it, made things interesting. tony's place was right next to the wetlands so we were able to launch the boat from there as did other groups visiting los llanos. his place had alot of caimans just lazing in the water as well as other animals. but once we were launched we saw so many different animals, caiman, iguanas, birds, capibara; which is the biggest rodent in the world. it kind of looks like a giant guinea pig, except its the size of a dog. it swims in the water so the spanish invaders originally said that it was a fish, and because the meat aparently tastes like fish. so when they conquered the indigenous tribes this was the only meat they were allowed to eat over easter as technically acording to the wisdom of the invaders it was not meat, but fish. go figure. during our trip we also saw some fresh water dolphins which were very cool. the adults are this pinkish colour aparently due to the amount of piranhas they eat. pirhanas have red flesh. so the baby dolphins start off as blue but turn pink as they get older. these dolphins are completely blind and have movable necks as unlike sea dolphins they dont need speed they need to be able to manuever through the roots of the streams. they also have arms which they use to pull themselves through tight places. and like sea dolphins use ultrasound to find their way, but they also have the ability to hunt with ultrasound. they send out pulses which stun the fish allowing them to be eaten. pretty impressive. tony tried to swim with them a couple of times, leaping off the boat as we were going along. if levi's ever wanted to make an ad about the archetypal levi's man, tony would have been him. when he was swimming
he never swam long because of the pirhanas. aparently though the dolphins made it safe to swim for a while... but not too long. we met up with this other group and went hunting for this huge turtle. i cant remember what it was called but its the fastest sideways turtle. it had this really long neck and was one fo the ugliest things you have ever seen. its head kind of went out like a hammerhead shark. that was a great start to the tour. the engine crapped out just as we were getting back to tony's and had to puch with sticks to get back to shore. during the middle of the day it was too hot to do much except chill in the hammocks and sleep off the food. but once the heat left a bit, we jumped on the jeep and went out for a jeep safari. half of us riding on the roof. we had great panoramic views of the area but had to dodge low hanging trees.

we headed to where one of the guys tony works with had seen an anaconda the day before so we went back to try and find it. we had only been looking for about 15 minutes when we found it. it was lying in the mud and we gathered round to have a look, but we weren't very close. there was this canadian guy who was a bit of a twat who had been going on about how much he loved getting in amongst the animals and how much he wanted to see an anaconda. but when tony dove at the head and the snake started thrashing about trying to wrap itself around him this canadian guy could not run any faster in the opposite direction. we all almost pissed ourselves laughing. but tony was having a bit of trouble holding the anaconda with his two helpers and a couple of us had to run in and help pick it up. man that thing was heavy. it weighed about 200kgs and was about 5m long. you could feel how strong it was with its muscles rippling along its skin. it was incredible. after we'd had a good look at it and could see where different bumps showed some unfortunate creature as dinner we let it back into the mud.

after that we drove for a little while again on the roof. was such a cool way to see the area, and we drove to where another group was waiting for the sunset. we watched as it got bigger and bigger until it finaly went down. the ride home i should have ridden inside, there were so many bugs that even when i turned with my back facing forward it felt like i was constantly getting stung as they hit my back. i had no shirt on the entire safari and usually that was fine but at night the bugs came out to play. i almost had a meal of bugs before turning around. that night tony's business partner arrived with another group so there were a few more people. we got some coconuts and had more ruma dn coconut drinks. so refreshing.

the next day saw us horseriding, our group split in half with the 'experienced' riders people in the first group. experienced in that they had ridden before. the other went back out on the jeep. it turned out to be a bit frustrating as we kept having to wait for the others to catch up, mostly for that annoying canadian guy. i thought we were going to ride for a lot longer but didn't really get off the road. but by the end i had the sorest ass ever. so i guess it was kind of good we didn't ride longer. we caught up with the others and swapped as we went out on the jeep for a bit.

after lunch we chilled again till the worst of the heat had gone. i bought a hammock off tony after id been asking him where a good place to buy them was. its a nice big one in the venezuelan colours of red yellow and blue. in the avo we went back out on the jeep in another direction. on the way we stopped and tony ran out and caught a caiman, man those thigns can run fast. they have such intense skin, which they use as solar panels for energy. we saw an anaconda trail but it led into deep water and tony was not that keen to go swimming for it. understandably so. we almost caught an iguana but our dive tackles were not fast enough. they just go like lightning. we found a group of baby turtles which were very cute. while driving we suddenly stopped as soemone had spotted this shape running in a field next to the road. we all busted out of the jeep and went into the field. a group of us had to run out and try and drive it towards the road. it was this giant anteater. it ran so awkwardly. with this giant squirrel tail. it was probably about 1.5-2m longs. i thought we were trying to catch it at first so had been just about to leap at it when tony pointed out that it had 3 inch claws that they used to disembowel hasty kiwis if they made that mistake. but it was a fantastic looking creature. we saw another on the way back but had had enough of running around in the heat.

the whole time driving there were these massive flocks of birds that would rise up as we got close. very national geographic. they would rise up in a cacophony of sound and fill the air with birds. it was crazy impressive. we stopped at the same place where we'd foudn the baby turtles to fish for pirhanas. that was definately an experience. we fished with other little fish and you had to be very quick as the pirhanas would take your bait really quickly. you can see how you would not last very long in the water. you had to throw your line in and almost instantly start pulling to hook the fish. the hook was litterally in the water for like 2seconds. they just tear things apart. not keen to swim thankyou very much. we caught enough for dinner that night. they were very tasty. we had them fried, and you had to eat them like hamburgers. eating both sides at once as they had alot of bones. i manage to keep the bottom jaw of mine and am carrying them around with me.

the next morning we left los llanos feeling very content with out weekend. i was dropped off in barinas and wound up waiting like 10 hours for the bus. and being the day before xmas there wasn't shit open. and the only decent thing i had to read was my lonely planet, but man you can only read that for so long before getting sick of reading where are good places to stay where's good to eat, what you should see. what dangers and annoyances there are...

anyway los llanos rocked.

birgade update

pekollo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:15:00 GMT

so im here again writing about the brigade. its been a bit haphazard but im sure everyone will cope. so on the second day of the brigade we visited one of the barrios in caracas. this barrio is considered a very revolutionary barrio and has been since before chavez. it was also one of the first barrios to come out in defence of chavez after the opposition removed him in the coup of 2002. the barrio is called barrio 23 enero (january), or the che guevara barrio. there are murals of che everywhere. some very simple while others are extremely well done. the barrio is home to just over half a million people. its made up of big high rises that were originally built for the military, but were taken over by the people when the dictator jimon perez was overthrown.

the people booted out the local police as they used to be involved in extortion and feeding the drug trade. the old police station is now a community radio station and it training area with 2 really big computor suites. the community have tried to take over the role of the police, and there has been discussion about how effective they have been at limiting the drug trade. and while crime is still a problem the levels have definately decreased. this is partly because they have formed a very tight knit community, this cuts down crime as people dont know if the person they are robbing is the daughter of a friend or not. and if there is someone dealing drugs people know because people talk and word gets round. its a very effective system.

at one point during the visit, one of the girls on the brigade started to have a reaction to something. she went to one of the barrio adentro clinics and was seen immediately and given some medicines to take. all for free.

the barrio was initially called the 2nd of december; this was from 1952 when the dictatorship first started. but became 23 january (enero) when the dictatorship collapsed to commemorate the struggle by the people against the dictatorship. it was originally built to house 70,000 people, but in the 70´s people from the countryside started coming into the cities and taing over green bush areas and building there. for alot of people they could only find jobs or make money in the cities. so around the highrises are the typical houses that e associate with barrios.

the barrio is very politicized, alot of the country was radicalized after the cuban revolution. guerilla groups began springing up in the mountains, and also in the cities. when the dictatorship fell and some of the buildings given to the people, the ones that weren´t handed over were occupied by the people. there emerged two sections within the barrio, those that had been given the apartments within the buildings and those that weren´t given, but occupied. over time those that occupied the buildings gained the title and property rights, now everyone within the barrio owns their apartments. during the 70´s the armed groups began to fight for rights to clean water, housing etc. during the 80´s and 90´s there were regular confrontations between the armed groups and police and army. they compare the situation to belfast in northern ireland.

alot of comrades from barrio 23enero have been assasinated in its history. but they continue to look towards cuba as a shining light, as a beacon to head towards. and barrio 23 enero is that for the rest of venezuela.

we visited the former police station which is now a community radio station. the police station was built 30 years ago to fight crime. when they finaly kicked the police out after 30 years the police had used the institution as a site of torture and repression. they would shoot indicriminately from the guard towers at the buildings. in august of 2005, the people from the barrio through different methods of discussion, agreement and confontation escorted the police from the site and the barrio. since then they have seen a huge improvement within the barrio since. they have taken great pride in utilizing mission robinson which is where people go out and teach people; mothers, fathers, sisters, children everyone how to read and write. mission robinson 2 is where people who have completed mission robinson 1 go on to complete their schooling. within the former police station they have an info centre with 64 computors for the community to use.

so now what used to be a place of darkness and despair is now a place of hope. they have seen the struggle for the 5 most basic things that people need that they see as important for the building of socialism; housing, education, recreation, health and employment. they see these as key to building their 21st century socialism and they want to ensure the revolution guarantees these rigths. they want their revolution to be peaceful and that is what they aim for. they have had 11 elections and that is the way they want it to continue . moving forward peacefully is the only way to guarantee happiness for all men and women. they were confident that they would win the majority in the elections, but knew that it was possible that the opposition would also win some areas. but they would respect those losses as they are very proud of their democracy and acknowledge that people can have different views and opinions. this they believe is what makes their democracy strong.

the radio station is open to different political groups, they get most of the equipment from the state but are organized collectively. alot of radio stations were set up after the government allowed the opening up of the airwaves to rebel radio stations. the opposition were not happy as it gave alot of people a voice. they were helped by basque groups to set up the radio station and initially helped to fund it. they still have strong links with alot of basque groups and had pictures of palistinian solidarity groups up all over the station.

the barrio 23 enero was a really inspiring visit as we saw how people who were organised could function and fight for their demands without relying on the state and police forces and actually do a better job of it. this was another example of the way socialism is being built here in venezuela. while chavez is the face of the revolution it is the people below who are the body. they identify areas that need improvement and where work needs ot be done and the government provides the funding. and again it shoes how democratic this revolutionary process actually is in venezuela. the fact that the opposition can still broadcast vitriolic statements about the government without having their licences removed is testament to this. but alot of the middle classes watch these stations and form their opinions on what they see. so when you ask them what they think of chavez they saw things like. oh he is a dictator and wants to be prsident forever. and is trying to make venezuela another cuba. but this is just regurgatating what they see on tv.

the argument that chavez is chasing out foreign investment and removing property rights is completely false. there is so many multinational copanies operating here and you can find all the goods that we can find in nz here no problem. and in the case of private property, most people here own their homes and the government provides low interest loans for people to buy their homes. so cuba this is not.

and with that im out.

peace

the mountain city

pekollo — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:56:00 GMT

so after not writing anything for ages here i am. ill write more about the brigade later as theres so much to write there and im a little hungover. so another time.

im in merida which is a city in the west of the country in the andes. so theres high mountains on either side of the city. apparently this city is considered one of the wealthiest cities in south america. i think its to do with the concentrtion of wealth. ive been taking spanish lessons here for the past week and i am starting at a new plac next week. so ill be here for just over two weeks i think. ive flagged the idea of going to angel falls and into the east of the country. i dont have the time or the money. going to angel falls is really expensive and will have to be included another time. ive been couch surfing here in merida staying with this guy oscar for the past week. its been really cool staying here. have my own room with a double bed. but today i have to move into a posada as he has his brother arriving tomorrow so needs the space. but i think i should be able to come back here afterwards. a posada is basically like a hostel but more like a hotel. but ive managed to find a cheap one for a few nights. ill be moving there later today.

the spanish course has been good. i got put into the 2nd level which i kind of struggled with as all the spanish i had i had picked up during my time here. so conversationally i was better than writing but my spanish was really basic and on hindsight i probably should have taken the first level but oh well. im getting there. met some cool people in the course and one of the ladies who runs the course is helping me get some us dollars. which you get a way better exchange rate for. saves me a trip to colobia. i was going to mission it across the border as aparently you can choose to withdraw either pesos or dollars. but that would have been real complicated and would have spent heaps of time travelling. so this is much better.

on a bummer of a note, my camera fucked out. which i was not very impressed with. ive put it in to get fixed and should find out next week if its fixable and how much. hopefully is nothing serious. coz cameras are really expensive here. might get myself a disosable camera for the moment as this city is quite beautiful.

so i have just over a week here before i have to make my way back to caracas a few days before christmas as ideally i would like to travel back christmas day for my flight on boxing day but the country shuts down a few days before christmas so no busses. i didn`t really want to spend christmas in caracas but looks like i have no other option. oh well. im off to cuba next. which should make up for it. just a little. i think next weekend i might take a few day hike. theres a guide i met who provides everything and is fairly cheap so sounds like a good option. which would be cool.

anyway just a quick note this time. a bit mroe recent news than talking about the brigade which was a while ago now. but fear not. there is much more to tell. so until next time

hasta luego

peace

the 2nd installation

pekollo — Sun, 7 Dec 2008 15:35:00 GMT

so after a long silence im going to try and update from way back. its lucky ive been keeping notes or i would be completely lost trying to write this. so i want to expand a bit about the cooperative that i visited as i think its an important aspect of what is going on here in venezuela. while i have mentioned the different aspects of the cooperative i havent mentioned how they came about. soon after chavez was elected alot of businesses did not want to conduct business with the government so the owners took their money and left the country abandoning both the factories and their workers. the workers were left out of pocket from wages and were now unemployed. this is when the government stepped in to help the abandoned workers set up the cooperatives and run the factories themselves. once the factories were set up the workers were able to sell their products for half the price as before. there were no differences in pay between any of the workers. each worker being paid the same and each worker taking part in meetings and together as a collective made the decisions for the factory. whatever profits were made were shared equally between all the workers and there was no boss, and no leader. the administrative structure of the cooperative changed annually and they elected a body to guide the cooperative. anyone was able to join the cooperative, but they needed to complete a course before being able to work. the age ranged from 24-75 years old. the textile factory had secured the job of supplying the military with their uniforms. these were previously made in china, but part of the reason for the cooperative was to provide workers with jobs.

within the shoe factory, this was initiated by chavez. there were now 56 workers and each had to learn how to make shoes and has been running for 4 years. they supply all the schools with their shoes and they are distributed throughout the country for free. one of the comrades on the brigade had his shoes mended by them for free. we were each given tshirts and magazines about what was going on there. they also had a health clinic on site which was part of a vast network of new health centres set up by the chavez government. within the new system they have 3 levels of health.

1st is preventative medicine. its called the barrio adentro programme. which basically means into the barrios. this 1st level of health care is the first port of call for anyone needing health care. they are in the most isolated areas and there are now about 8000 in venezuela. these are based on the cuban health model and while alot are still operated by cuban doctors, more and more venezuelans are taking over as it is a form of training as well. this service and all health services in venezuela are completely free. we had at least 3 comrades on the brigade who received treatment from various barrio adentros for free while here. one even receiving her yellow fever vaccinations. they are also involved in education programs such as healthy eating and running programmes in schools.

for anything more serious people are refered on to the next stage which was the 2nd level of their health system. which is primarily to take the strain off the overburdened hospitals. the clinic that was in the endogenous zone was one of the 2nd level clinics. here they had a mini ward environment with xray facilities, a trauma centre. most had rehab facilities attached to them this one was having their rehab facility built. they all have their own labs and various physio services. each has their own ambulance. in caracas alone there are 8 of these clinics and many more throughout the country.

and finaly there are the hospitals. these are primarilly for operations and serious emergencies. doctors are now primarily venezuelan but when these programs first started, no venezuelan doctor put their hand up. they were only concerned with economic factors and not the social health factor. now though they have started participating in the programmes after seeing the benefits. and again all these services are free. even the medicines and any followup care they may need.

there are about 120 endogenous zones throughout venezuela. these are set up and paid for by the givernment, but it is the people within the communities who decide what it is that they need. in the countryside, they provide education facilities about cattle and farming, because thats whats important there. they find people within the community who have the skills to eg... make shoes, sew, farm etc to teach. it is the community who are out there defending what they have gained, defending the advances they have made. the people decide and the government provides the funding. endogenous means that it starts from the inside, they learn, then they take it out to others. when there are problems they work as a community to sort them out quickly. people are taught how to build safe houses and where is a good place to build as in the past they have had problems with houses and people being swept away when there are big storms because of people building in dangerous places. the objective of the endogenous zone is to improve the standard of living of their communities through involving them in all aspects of the social, political, cultural and economic factors involed with these zones.the people who were fighting early on were fighting to gain their rights, now they are fighting to maintain and build on those.

and that my friends was the endogenous zone. and this is right after i arrived in caracas. jetlagged as anything but rearing to go. admittedly i was lagging by the end but if i thought i could rest i was mistaken. everyone had been invited to a bbq in one of the revolutionary barrios. i almost didn't go but in the end gave in to the idea of food and possibly a little drink...

we had a fantastic meal of meat, meat and some solid potato fare. fairly standard venezuelan cuizine i have found out. the vegans in the group had to to vegetarian to survive. there was no way they could maintain that diet here in venezuela. but we wound up staying fairly late drinking beer and rum which i have to say ive taken a liking to. some people were driven home but a group of us caught a late bus back. it had to be a group, as 1; you dont walk around caracas at nigth alone, 2;not while your drunk, and 3; not in a barrio. also the fact that in the past 70% of people on the brigade were either pickpocketed, mugged, or robbed of everything they owned. but all was well. and in fact this was the first crigade when nothing went wrong. except for a minor hickup for one person right at the end. but that was just asking to happen...

there has been a couple of things that have really surprised me here. 1 how expensive everything is, 2 how much consumer goods everyone has. they all go around with flash phones and huge sound system in their cars. and 3 how politicized everybody is. both within the brigade and the general population. the politidization that is. shouts of viva chavez follow us everywhere. admittedly a group of 30 white mostly australians do stick out liek sore thumbs and attract a fair amount of attention.. we have seen few other tourists or westerners. venezuela is still not very toursit orientated and in fact alot of people actually seem to resent us being there. but not everyone. we have met some amazing people. the roads and footpaths are a mess. there was a semi blind comrade who had to navigate the streets but he seemed to cope alright after a while. music comes from all directions at once and they like it loud. the political murals are everywhere and help to liven the city up. from revolutionary slogans to murals of che the sity is very colourful. it really adds character to an otherwise unattractive city. they are fascinating and the people are free to do them where ever they please. on my last day in caracas after the elections the mayors office had been completely vandalized. once just plane stone, it is now scrawled with writing all over the facade. it is a wonder that that could get away with it without anyone seeing or reporting them. but it is now the opposition who have the moyorship of caracas so maybe people not only didn't care but helped them do it. it will make for interesting times. but i will write about the elections later. as there was both good and bad. and the repercusions have already started.

so ill end on one of the most popular slogans in venezuela

PATRIA, SOCIALISMO O MUERTE.

Arrival in the revolutionary heartland

pekollo — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:00:00 GMT

so after a long boring flight where sleep composed of short 2 hour kips. and various transfers that i was sure would be missed or somehow would not work out as smoothely as they did i arrived in humid hot caracas. it took a while to find jim mcclloy who i was meeting and i started to wonder if my luck had finaly run out. but as my tired brain scanned the airport and taxi drivers tried to get me in their cabs and military men tried to sell me currency i spotted him. 2 hectic bus rides later going up over the mountains that seperate the coast and the airport from caracas proper we arrived at the hotel. i had to pay 80bols for the first night as i was the last brigadista to arrive and no one was there to try and sort out shifting rooms. but i did get a single room and a double bed to rest my travel weary head. although that didnt wind up happening until after midnight. but thats way in the future and im still talking about the past so dont jump too far ahead there mate. and i apologise for the lack of certain symbols as i have not managed to fin them on the keyboard. but youre all smart people and should be able to figure things out. after having the rude realisation that in fact i could not change into shorts as its not the done thing we headed out into the humid caracas day to meet the rest of the brigade in plaza bolivar. there are 30 of us in total mostly with limited to no spanish. and in a totally spanish speaking country and where little to no one speaks english this makes things interesting. they have an extremely efficient metro system here but if they didnt then the trains would be completely unmanageble. they come every 2 minutes and if there was a longer interval the sheer numbers of people using it would overwhelm the system. i have been taking notes and keeping a journal kind of since i arrived as if i didnt i would surely forget and confuse the happenings of my time here. it has been a bit of a sensory and political feast here. music blares from every nook and cranny. the smells are both pleasant and repugnant at the same time. the diet we are eating leaves something to be desired. meat and cheese and bread is the staple. veges you ask? what are they they ask. so a bit of internal blockage is on its way methinks...

so after arriving in caracas jetlagged as anything we met the other brigadistas and for me started the first day of the brigade. they had already had 2 days of the brigade. for those of you who dont know. this brigade is organized by the australia venezuela solidarity network. its about seeing the real revolutionary processes that are going on in venezuela at the moment under both the government of hugo chavez and by the mass organizing of ordinary people in venezuela. with this brigade it gives us a chance to see for oursleves what is really going on without the bias of our esteemed western liberal media. who for the most part have nothing worthwhile or valuable to say about the revolutionary process going on here. again and again we meet people here who are amazed that we have come all this way to see what they the ordinary people of venezuela are doign to improve their lives through community organizing and participative democracy. but they also say that it is so important for people all over the world to know what is going to help counter the negative views that are continuously being fed to the world by the western media. it really is extraordinary whats going on here. and while chavez is the public face of the revolution it is the people on the ground and in the barrios who are doign so much work to push the revolution forward. so enough vaguearies and now into specifics...

our first visit was to the fabricio ojeda nucleo de endogeno. a collective which included a shoe factory, a textiel factory, a medical clinic. a school, an organic permaculture garden, construction coopeoperative, sports facilities, and many other functions. this collective helps the community by providing jobs, teaching valuable skills, improving the health of the community, subsidizing food so that it is 30 to 40% cheaper than the supermarkets. and its not just the poor who can buy food here. anyone can, even the wealthy elite if they saw fit. the day we visited there were not that many workers there as many were helping set u0p the polling booths and assist in the elections. imagine that if in nz or whereever. you could request time off work to help build socialism...

and with that i might have to leave it for now as i am out of time and need to go back to the hotel and debrief about the elections. you will hear about that it is not good.