smooth sailing...

Yes, i know i am super keen. Two blog entries a few days apart. Its mainly due to the massive demand for my blog and all the people that have been hounding me to write every day (cheers Melena). Anyway i have arrived in Lima, and get to hang out it my least favourite city in the world for about 30 more hours before we jump on the Satipo express tomorrow night. I havent been mugged yet (ive been here more than 5 hours), which is good but i have nothing i want to do here, so ive mainly just been talking to people, eating the complimentry breakfast bread with strawberry jam (locally made, im sure it has dirtgrit in it, not kidding) and jumping on the free net while i have little else to do and also dont have to pay an outrageous 25cents an hour for it...

The story thus far (and i havnt even done anything yet...)

DK (Dad) was driving me down to the airport and we hit something on the road which resulted in a flat tyre. No worries, spare type...oh yeah thats flat as well (thanks Kate) so DK was scrambling around and time was ticking for me to get to my flight so thought id just stick the thumb out and hitch there. worked a treat, so cool old dude picked me up and dropped me at the airport no worries. (Ps. anyone driving the mighty colt, it also has a flatshredded spare.)

At the airport my flight was cancelled, so went on the next one to sydney. That one happened to arrive after my connecting flight was supposed to have left. I was told they were waiting for me, had to check in and found out i needed a visa waiver for the US. So i had to run to a free internet kiosk and fill out the online application. Had to go through express1st class security and all the Vaustralia staff were lined along the path to the gate clapping me on (i was running). they closed the door probably less than 1 second after i got on the plane. heaps of people glaring at me...not sure why...

Got to LAX and jumped in a shuttle to a dodgey hostel, the shuttle driver had only been working for 3 days, and i later found out had only had his license for 2 weeks...cool and he was driving a motorhome sized bus around the busiest airport in the world...funny times...he was telling me all his techniques, which were pretty much indicate early and cut people of nicely...

Up the next day at 6am for a flight to Lima via houston...everything went well, pulled into Lima this morning at about midnight and just slept on the ground with the guys i was sitting next too...second longest 6 hours of my life. Then once the sun peaked up over the horizon i jumped on a mini bus and cruised into mirafloreshostel. The transport options leaving the airport are (1) registered taxi s60 (2) illegal taxi s20 (3) bus s2. I always go the busses, thats how the locals travel...and you feel thankful to be alive when you get to the other end. The busses are pretty much clapped out toyota hiaces, fly along super quick and brake so late...i reckon these guys would outbreak shumacher going to a hairpin bend, with 15 year old drum brakes...

cool people list.
-managed to meet some super cool people on my trip...

-couple from colchester in england, they restore old triumph motorcycles
-surf photographer american junk food importer
-travelcuisine author
-guy from ohio with 15 siblings (same parents)
-2 yanks also doing some volunteer work in Peru
- random old lady from akansas.
- aussie snowboard instructor heading to ohio with glow-in-the-dark shoes.

Hope this post finds you well, dont get too excited about the frequency of this post i probably wont write again till i get home. stay tuned for some oldschool film photos in about 3 months. take it easy. andy

The hard life.

hello friends,
Its your aussie battler andy here. I havnt written on here for a while because i havnt been overseas for a while, but thats all about to change in about 3 hours. Quick update for last year:
- went to uni- cannot believe i shunned it for so long, its a way easier life than working full time.
- enjoyed sweet uni holidays.
- worked about 3 weeks for the year and then have spent the last 3 and a half weeks roadtripping around aus with a few mates and watching the cricket.

So as you can tell life has been pretty hard. In a few hours im jumping on a plane to Peru (Landing in Lima, my least favourite city in the world) and going back to visit Satipo, the town we did some volunteer work at back in 2008. Im going back with a mate to check the progress and do some more volunteer work with disabled children from the area. It will be interesting to see how it all works out as i feel quite unprepared, but we cannot plan much until we get there and assess the situation. I will be out in Satipo for about 3 weeks and will keep you updated how we get on.

After Peru i fly back to the States and will either catch a bus south to the mexican border and travel around down there for a few weeks or fly up north to canada to catch up with some old mates and maybe to a bit of snowboarding(or alternatively just freeze in the snow somewhere).

As you may be able to tell no aspects of my trip are very well planned, but with that comes the ability to be spontanious and take random opportunities when they come up- which is half the fun of travelling. Better run still got a few things to pack, dont worry, ive got my ticket this time. Hope this post finds you well, take care kids. :) andy