No 1 MARKET

Although i am not much of a market person,due to the fact that they tend to be boring as shit and mostly on a saturday or sunday when your usually nursing a hangover.
Or maybe i developed a hate for them when i was a kid and had to follow mum around the murrabit markets for hours while she looked at boring chicks cloths and materials.Either way im not the biggest fan of markets.
Well that all changed the other day when i got to equador and went to a famous south american market.
This market has a long history,a really long history.It has been running since pre inca times,that is sometime before christ was even around,(the big J.C is black here too,but still carry's that hippy beard.I bet he had dreadlocks too),anyway,
Yeah it been around for thousands of years and that in itself was cool to be at the site of that.Local's and tourists alike came from far away for this day.
Apart from that it was soooo huge.It filled in the whole city's streets.It waas really easy to get lost.
There was the animal market that had hundreds of screaming pig getting treated pretty badly and a paddock of skinny shitty cattle.
Of course there was the produce market,i have never seen such colorful and artistic food stalls.From fruits to seeds and even a stall devoted to chickens feet,it was great and now i was experiencing the real culture of south america,there was no new world or western influence here,apart from the loads of gringo's pointing their camera's every which way.
The locals were all dressed bueatifully too in their traditional rope.The men typically had three quarter length whit pants,rope sandels,the famous panama hats (bought two,stylish and good fro traveeling as they roll up small), and the women,well check the photo's when i finally get them up,but they all had really nice gold jewellery,hats and wicked dresse's.
Then there were the arts and craft's,so many and such great quality.
there was stone carving,wood carvins and even crayons made from hollowed sticks straight off the tree.I could'nt help but buy a few things,it was like the your favourite and most
creative part of the best market you can imagine,only the size of a small town.(there is definately potential for an export buisness right here),i could see every
ozzy girl i know spend hours upon hours here and leave with a small shipping container worth of gear.
Definately an enjoyable experience and enjoyable market even for the most avid market hater's.

ANDIE'S EXPERIENCE

Friday was time to head further south and into equador.I did the trip with Sang gu,a bloody good bastard from south korea.We took yet another decent busride,actually a whole day but this one was so worth it because we spent 80% of the trip high up in the ande's.Wow they were so cool,and so so big.The whole time i had my head out the window and my tongue flapping in the wind.
The temperature changed dramatically due to the skipping in alltitude,cold in the high parts,wet in some then hot as we dropped into valley's and also hard to breath oin some area's.It was hard to take it all in as i had never seen landscapes on such a big scale before.
There were also coffee fields,cows and other farming on the most steep of mountains.Along with that of course were landslide sights,they allways get me excited.Tunnels a-many too and this road with all its wonderfull scenery definately topped my list of roads to drive on a sunday.
Later in the day i crossed into equador and instantly missed colombia,if only there was some good surf in colombia i would live there in an instant,will return for sure.

BUMPS 'N' BRUISE'S

From a place called Popayan in colombia i caught another bus inland to check out some age old rock statues inland hidden in the mountains.
I had allready heard the busride was hell but i thiugh it would at least be tollerable.How wrong i was,it took seven hours in a full old bus with no suspesion left to drive 150kms.That is one slow,bumpy and painfull trip.I now know how the ice-cream feels when it goes through the blender while been added to a MILKSHAKE.
It was a full day of pain and like a bad drug experience there was no escaping it once on that bus.Once at the town of arrival it was hostal time and lay down the old bones for some still-rest.
Not really thinking too much i agreed to join a group of three others for a full day of horseriding the next day to veiw the local scenery and of course the mytical statues.
I was allready sore in the morning from the shitty bed and was looking forward to the horses but not to how i would feel at the end of the day.
It started off all good and a bit of a novelty but after half an hour of riding i was allready hurting.
Some of the statues were astonishing,but unfortunately like all tourist hotspots,completely boring and wrecked from the amount of people around.It sux you know you go and visit a place with so much history and energy only to be surrounded by dicks with camera's and loud opinions on what should be done with such site's,this is why i stay away from tourist area's.
But apart from that they were still intruiging and amazing,also i saw some rock carvings atop a hill beside a gorge that reminded me of some aboriginal carvings i once saw in w.a.
There were also tombs that had been uncovered and more statues with paint still visible on them.
My favourite part of the day would have been just the discovering of the countryside.We were lucky enough to pass through a few private farms also and the veiws were truelly breathtaking,once again colombia is such a beautifull place.Its kind of similar to the rolling green hills of south gippsland in a green winter only here they are huge mountains with gushing rivers,deep ravines and valleys.Also the shrubbery is different with tropical typed scrub along with the odd coca and marijuana plantation.I got to eat coca leaves straight of the plant for the first time,nothing special.Also my first horse i was on was also called mirijuana because it was so slow,i was soon to swap with the guide though as i seemed to lag 100 metres behind everyone else.From atop of the mountains we winded our way down and through glorias country to the river.It was gushing really hard,way to hard to attemp swimming,plus it was really cold.But it was a cool spot and there we ate lunch and had a beer.
By that tinme my ass was sore as ind i put my hand down me dacks to check the damage only to feel a painfull burning sensation.Ohhh,i had lost a bit of skin on the top of my cheeks,it was hurting,weeping and i knew the return trip would suck.
Of course on the way back everyone decided they wanted to really race the horse's.Fun yes but no good for my cheeks and with all horses copying each other i had to grit my teeth and cop more bouncing,rubbing and hammering.I was glad to see town an hour later.
All in all it was such a great day,veiwing ancient art in its natural habitat and seeing the backroads of a wonderfull country,its just a pitty i chose to do it on horseback.
At least i found out that im really crap at riding horses,definately seek out a bike next time.
The next day i did the return hellish bump fest of a bus ride with tender cheeks,i cant tell you how much it hurt but it seemed to be a little better thatn the way there.

CALI- home of the beatiful women

Right,ive been stuck in city's for nearly a week now in colombia and hav'nt done a great deal beside's eat lots daily then hit the town at night.Went out to a salsa club last night and was the kookiest guy on the floor im sure.That dance is so sexy and in a club full of people dancing salsa it is easy to just sit back and enjoy the show.
Cali is a city famous for its beautifull women,and beautiful they certainly are,there is a bit of rivalry with another city in the north (medellin) that is also apparantly full of sexy senora's.Cali is also known as the salsa capital of colombia.There are lots of gringo travellers here and the hostel is full of mostly guy's looking for a colombian bride, i guess.But who can blame them as the girls hidden here are nice,friendly and totally hot.
Apart from going out on the town nightly there is'nt a great deal more to do here,as most people here party all night then sleep most of the day.So there is'nt really a need to do anything beside's enjoy the party.
So that is why im in the city's,as im usually not much of a city dweller but its hard to leave the fun,and also0 ive been courted by a sexy girl that wants to live in australia,dangerous yes,so now is the time to get out of town before its too late.

MMMM COLOMBIA

So i have been in colombia for four days now.Im stuck in the vortex of Bogota,the countrie´s capital.Its such a great spot colombia,i immediately took a big liking to it as soon as i got out of the airport and also took a liking to the local senorita's,they are absoloutly divine looking,mmmm so so beautiful.And the people here are genuinly freindly except for the buggers that mug everyone.Three people in three days from my hostel have been done only 100 metres from home,apart from that happening at night the streets feel pretty safe with military police all over the place,though i hear that the military police ar'nt much better than the guerilla's.

Done a couple of touristy things,i generally tend to find doing the tourist hot spots completely lame and stay away from them unless they sound really interesting.Anyhow i went u a mountain that edges the cbd.Its ten thousand feet above the city and the city is allready at some ridiculous altitude,the first half an hour i was really short of breath from the altitude,funny feeling.Up there is a massive church so i decided to go in take a seat and observe,think im glad i couldnt understand them but all in all a good experience.They are so full on catholic here,almost obsessive but the churche`s are all so big and beautiful.Saw a man with no nose there too.

Also someone left a backpack on the ground in the middle of a crowded area and people shat jox thinking it was a bomb i guess.Stupid me walked straight through the middle without raising an eyebrow but the military were on to it pretty quick and thankfully it was a false alarm but made me wonder what does go on here.Everyone says it is dangerous here but so far i would have to disagree,no more dangerous than driving a car at home with your eye's closed.

So yes,colombia is well known for it's world supply of cocaine.And to come here and not try it would be like going to australia and not having a beer or going to the beach.So as i've said the whole trip,"when in rome,do as the romans do".

Last night i accompinied a couple of crew from the hostel on a mission to get some of the famous white stuff.The place we went to (on the advice of an isreally madman) was a little seedy in the slums.This is exactly how it went,Rang a doorbell,walked up the stairs,found the apartment with iron barred doors,knocked,said four please,paid,left.It was crazy,just like borrowing some tomato sauce from your neighbour.Wish i filmed it as it was so funny,easy and like something out of a movie.We all left shaking our heads and laughing.Anyway we went to a backyard party,with an oz styled bbq,then hit the town for a little party action. (cant beleive im writing this knowing who is going to read it). I do not condone or reccomend the use of any illicit drugs including cocaine but i really did enjoy it,I guess i am in the area that supplies 80 % of the world with the stuff,so quility is at the top of the table.Anyway now that i got it out of the way ill return to been a completely sober and drug free individual,a pillar of society.

But for now,COLOMBIA RULES.Tommorow i head south to jungle and malaria infested area's in search of a crystle clear river,with no roads in just a hand operated train line cart thingy,that runs throught the tropical jungle to a small village.Hopefully i can get there as first i have to check of the safety as guerilla activity apparantly thrives in that area.So finally out of the big city and into some nature.

MY SINCERE APOLOGIES FOR R RATED CONTENT

When i started this blog i did´nt realise that everyone from mum,dad,friends mums and even grandma´s would be reading this.
So here and now i apologise for all the bad language,drug and sex refernces and other distasteful content.Unfortunately it´s the only way i know how to write is the excact way that i experienced it and my english vocabulary is full of a lot of swear words thanks to the public school system (he he).Plus honesty is the best policy is it not.