Ozzzztralia

G'day!! Like everyone say to any stranger in the street or in the shop.../// Welcome to Australia!! I arrived in Brisbane and I was back in the heat..... mmmmm nice actually, it is a great fealing to be able to put havaianas and shorts again youpi!! The prices here are the same as in new Zealand but the currency is different: the australian dollar is worth more than the kiwi one haaaaaaaa,,,, it is even more expensive!!! Brisbane is a real city /// high buildings, not many old ones.... stress and expensive cappuccino around each corner. It is nice but that is it! So I decided to stay only a very short time there and to escape to the one the brochure fantastic Fraser's Island (120 km north from it). In order to minimise the cost I took a tour to get there and for the whole experience: self drive 4x4 during 3 days and 2 nights on the island with 10 other people. The tour started from Rainbow beach: the closest place to the island. My group was made of 4 english girls, one english guy, 2 german girls and 3 german guy,,,and me the french swiss lost in the middle..... In the car they had a mp3 compatible system which was really nice as everyone had its own Ipod/// the only problem is that my compilation of french and brasilian experimental music was not of the taste of everyone and we had most of the time some really commercial ***!! We had some funny emotions driving the 4x4 on the rough beach but nothing bad happened to the car. For the first night of camping we joined loads of other 4x4 and made quite a party with about 40 people.... as most of them were english or irish, there was loads of boozing involved various drinking games etc. I felt a bit old and went to bed pretty early>>>>>> oh my god I remembered I swore once a few years ago to never camp again but I wasn't sure why anymore..... welll easy to know.> Before going to bed we had to scare the dingos(wild foxes the size of big dogs,,, but not really aggressive), then the tent they gave us were not exactly new or good///mine was probably about 1,50m long and to fit I had to fold myself in three...... In the morning I woke up, went out my tent and tried to move my head:::::: impossible!!! I was like Robocop I had the worst "torticolis" in french (you took a bad position while sleeping and you wake up not being able to move anymore,,,, absolutely horrible) haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Christ !!! I had to spend the day on the 4x4 with all the bum without being able to turn my head!! difficult to look really cool in this situation. I let you imagine// On the second night I decided to sleep in the car::: and that wa one of the best Idea I had in a long time, because in the middle of the night, the wind started to blow harder and the roof of our tent went off (well the tent were I was meant to sleep with the other english guy) he first thought it was cool because he could watch the stars... hahah but 30 min later it stared raining like mad and he run into the car shaking every part of his body!!! The last day we saw the most amazing bit on the island: the Lake Mc Kenzy,,, I have never seen such colors it went from white to deep blue but looked completely artificial,,, astonishing, that is definitely the image I will remember from the whole experience with the dingos!! Finally as we came back to the hostel in Rainbow Beach, it was saturday night so of course everyone drunk more than a lot.... and the english drink more than a normal "more than a lot".... I went to bed and I got awaken in the middle of the night by an drunk english who went for a piss and went to the wrong bed::: he was so drunk that he didn't notice me and lay down next to me in my bed and started to sleep straight away!,,,,, oh non de dious!!! You can imagine that he wasn't exactly welcome and that I might have forgotten my politness to get him out of my bed !!!!! fucking******* helll!!!!!! The following day I went back to Brisbane and managed to go in the afternoon to the Koala sanctuary..... yes I know ..... but it was really cool I enjoyed a lot seing all these koalas and kangoroos,,, look at the pictures >>> I am in Australia!!!!
On monday I flew to Melbourne.
Sa ya read me there.

ze big blue

"I am a man, if you see what I mean!!!" told me the old Nick, looking at me intensively in the eyes, with a close space of about 10 cm between our two faces. I could smell this great lager smell coming out of his mouth... heheh yes, we met the old Nick after a fantastic treck on Queen Charlotte's track close to Picton north of the south Island of New Zealand. He chatted us (me and a dutch guy who I was with for the treck of the day) up with:: if I were you I'd get the happy jug of lager,,, it's the promotion of the day. So we took the jug of course and then he started his whole life story>> he was with 21 years old volunteer for the Vietnam war and told us all about it ;;; that is why he is a maaaaan!! It was quite amazing and enjoyable to speak with someone like that>> from everything I'll remember one of his life advice:: "if you want to be rich, just look where there is a war by the americans and go there with 100 prostitutes >>> you'll be a rich man!!!" ho my god I told now everyone how to be rich, but I couldn't resist to the pleasure of sharing this life advice hahaha! He was so interesting that we actually almost didn't get our boat,,, we were just drinking jug after jug after a long day treck waiting for our boat..... hahha it had already left when we steped out of the pub,,, then in 100 meters we run so fast ( but not straight) screaming that we probably lost all the calories of the beers we drunk before. The boat came back,, thank the lord! That was really close!
Coming back to an amazing hostel with spa, I met frenchs from the islands >> from polynesie francaise, and from Vanatu << I never heard of those Islands before,, apparently it was the only french and english colonie, now independent. It was actually really nice to speak a bit my native language for a bit and I decided to jump in the car of the Vanatuans for a day (although it wasn't the direction I originally planned) but it ended up being a good choice because it was extremly fun and instructive about Vanatu. The following day, I went down the west cost by bus and then took the scenic transalpine to reach Christchurch... I was anoid from the treck from the other day (the one were we met the old Nick) because everyone on the boat saw some dolphins apart from me; although I was chasing them with my camera in the hand!!) ... So I decided to do something about it and booked the day after a excursion to swimm with the dolphins heheh.... And it was absolutely amazing!!! but so cooooooold I was completely frozen although we had wetsuits. These dolphins are the smallest in the world and only live in new Zealand, they are called the the Hector's Dolphins. The water wasn't really clear so you would see them only when they came really close to you... one passed under my arm, I wasn't allowed to touch him as they have really sensitive skin but I would have liked to,,, anyway it was for me a great highlight before my departure from New Zealand on the next day..
I flew to Brisbane (Australia) the day after,,, moi Aussi << hahah
read me there sa ya!!

c'est parti mon Kiwi!!!

HAHAHAHA I can't believe it!!! You arrivew at the opposite end of the globe to find my old lover on the notes,,,,, yes queen lizi is on every note here.... hahahah.... sorry but I found it hilarious.. What a strange feeling,,,, new Zealand is really particular it is a mix of londoner with Maori.... Maori are not really incas, I think you can easily fit two or three incas in one Maori. The lovely girls are normally about 180 centimeters,,, actually they don't look that tall as they weight roughly the same in kilograms<<>> I just took 200 New Zealand dollars out and went for breakfast. I saw a nice place reall busy on the harbour.... woaw that looks good!! yes give me this breakfast with a cafe please.... ok I pay no problem> 35 dollars; then I went to see the exchange rate///// I almost fainted.... 35 dollars is about 25 euros....Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! breakfast for the price of three days of leaving in Bolivia. Yes, I think we can say it New Zealand is really expensive (like Europe or more),,,, so that was quite an emotion:: you pay for everything,,, I am not used to that anymore!!! ho ooo and the food,,, Jesus Christ I am horrified,,, you have basically the choice between expensive burgers or expensive fish and chips>> you pay a lot but at least for the price you get fat<<<< very nice/// bybye my greek canon body!! hahahaha. I left Auckland for Rotorua as soon as I managed to handle the jet lag. That was pretty cool I must admit::: the region is volcanic, there are vapors coming out everywhere in the parks,,, little hotsprings where you are scared to to go bathing, amazing earth colors, water colors, geysers,,,, and spas with lots of old chinese who love to speak to me, I don't understand this phenomenon/// pretty much each time I was enjoying a peaceful moment in the spa an old chinese who chat me up, and explain me all his life "... oh really waow so your children are going to uni,,, nice!!" I had to pretext of hot water or othre subtilities like "oh look a bird there!" to escape them... Rotorua was really really nice actually, I have never seen anything like this before//// danger is handled the same way as in america, there are panels for everything, the pathways are like mini highways hahah there was a panel " you have to be physically fit to go on this pathway" (oh yes indeed, there was a 10 steps stairs hahahahha) compared to machu pitcchu where nothing was written and you could have died without anyone knowing it, it was pretty safe. Teh day after I went to Taupo, but unfortunately the weather was crap and I couldn't do the big famous treck in the national park. I have now landed in Wellington, the capital and I will cross to the south island tonight
sa ya, rid mi thire.. < just taking a piss of the new zilind accint,

chilllllllllll out

Would you be surprise if I told you I had an awful bus journey between Arequipa and Tacna at the Peruvian Chilean border..... right this time I had a massive peruvian guy next to me, with about 6 scars on the face and not exactly the smiling guy... I was a bit scared for my bag of course but not only; he had the window so I was on the corridor side, and full in south america doesn't relly have the same meaning as in Europe..... full is when there are seats (that is normal) plus the corridor full of people standing ( not normal). I had the pleasure to have a fat peruvian lady standing next to me with a bsket of discusting enpanadas, which was knoking against my head in every curve. It ws impossible to sleep... not surprising but theonly thing I could do was to watch the peruvian music videos shown on the screen (( and that is actually really funny))) normally there are three camera plans: one close to the meulette face singer, one of him playing some flote with its whole body, and one of the whole band with half traditional clothes in front of the mountains.... well it si funny the first half an hour after..... about 30 min before the end of the trip the bus driver decided to put a film on apocalipso which I was quite keen on watching. Do you know how frustrating it is to see only the first half of a film when you want to watch it and you think you just had about 5 hours of peruvian singing videos..?..right. Anyway, after Tacna we had to go on a txi to cross the border to Chile and reach Arequipa. As soon as we crossed the border, I understood tht we were not in Peru anymore, there were lights on to enlight the road about 10 km before arriving to Arica... what a luxe!! Chile is by far richer then Peru, at least as an impression. There is nothing to say about Arica really apart that this is where I first saw the pacific Ocean... youhouhouh. new part of the world!!!!, We then took a flight to go to Santiago, as the only idea to take another bus for 27 hours arouse all sorts of bad emotions. Santiago was pretty cool, it is not like Rio but it looks lively and the people look happy. I met a frind who I met in Cusco before and went for dinner at her place with her family.... really relaxed and fun atmosphere..... almost too relaxed I got really impressed but quite unforgetable in the end. Yesterday night I flew off from Santiago to Aukland, and crossed the mythical date line!!! that is really exciting for me, like a child who plays with a switch of a light I would like to pass my head from one day to the next one on this line... it is like time travelling!! Anyway, I just arrived in Aukland absolutely nacked at 4 am. I left south Amrica, this continent which I loved so much,,,, I am pretty sure to come back there sometimes,,,, with excitments and a bit of sadness.
Aukland// new Zeland
sa ya, read me there

AAArequipa and the three volcanos

Back in Cusco,,, we went out of course!!
A quiete day followed ponctuated by the champions league game AC Milan Man U (english men in the crew). We took a night bus to Arequipa... pretty nice for once. We arrived at the same time as the sun, and its rays made us discover "the white city" build out of the volcano stone sillar. Beautiful city!! The big stress of the day was to know if my card would be waiting for me at the Consulado Suizo,,, at this point, I had about 5 euros left........ Youpi!!!! it was there, that was a very good news...... ( just for the story..... the bolivians are not tieves anymore.... my mum received a phone call from a swiss guy who found my wallet under the bed where I must have lost it in Santa Cruz..... """any comment will not be accepted!!!!"""",,,,, I know it dosn´t make me look very good on that one but it is just to apologize for the bolivians). Anyway, we went to see the enormous monastery of Santa Catalina (Santa Catalina was the 24th of a 25 th sisters and brothers family..... Jesus!!!)....
Yesterday, we went to the famous Cañon del Colca. Really nice and different than the landscape seen before during this trip, the three surrounding volcanos create a moon atmosphere at first, everything is white then it turns into red and green... at night we went to the thermals ..... I cooked like a egg for at least 2 hours. This morning, we woke up pretty early to see the flight of the condors,,,, and that was just absolutely gorgeous!!! I thought I would hae the same experience as in Puerto Madryn with the orcs..... but the three meters wide birds were flying above us as if noone would be there really close maybe 20 meters up... quite scary at some point but really magic!!! loved it!
tomorrow we are going to Chileeeeeeeeee heheh I´ll leave the pisco sour for a minute to change for good wine!

sa ya, read me there!

Game, Set, Machu Picchu

Rafting on a bus!!! have you ever done that?? As I said in my last post, we decided to go for a really non touristic way to get to the Machu Picchu; that was the plan: big bus from 8 pm to 3 am (Cusco to Santa Maria), then a van from 5 am to 8 am (Santa Maria to Santa Theresa), then a jeep from 9 am to 10 am and finally a trek of 3 hours to arrive to Agua Caliente (the city to reach the Machu Picchu)--- this way we would save about 40 dollars. We jumped on the first bus where we were the only tourists of course... this time I had the good idea to seat next to Josh so I would be sure that no big mama would seat next to me.. The trip starts and as the road is really shoppy I don´t really manage to sleep... the others probably exhausted succeeded quite well and I was soon the only one awake,,,, watching the road..... CARACA it would have been better not to, stones were regularly falling onto the bus, we went through proper rivers the size of the bus in its length, we were permanently going from up of the clouds to down in the fog with high speed and all this about 10 cm from the cliff.... At some point the almost fullmoon let me see a shape strangely looking like a car down the cliff,,, I think you have probably understood that I was sweating and I produced enough adrenaline to wake up all Paris. We finally arrive after changing a flat tyre. Thank the lord we could wait until 5 in the next van and as we were the first one we laid down for 2 good hours. We had to brutally wake up as the bus got full. Did I say I sweat a bit in the first bus,,, well that was nothing compared to the following van..... It was a van just because the width of the mud road leading to Santa Theresa was the exact size of the van´s width... It was amazing as this bus was actually for local to go to work, everyone was speaking in Quechua, the radio ... in Quechua of course ... the bus was full of old men and ladies with almost no white hair and cowboy hats on .. As those people were going to work the driver couldn´t allow himself to be late so he did a rally throughout the trip. I was, of course on the cliff side of the road again... but this time I think that my body couldn`t produce anymore adrenaline so I was more accepting whatever would happen and contemplating this absolutely amazing jungle landscape in the mountains!!! fantastic. We had to stop of course to change the flat tyre.... pretty normal!! After a breakfast in Santa Theresa we took a local open truck to finish the trip,,,, everyone standing at the back,,, unbelievable landscape again and a really pleasant journey. The road was blocked at some point because of massive stones which had fallen down on it. So we started a long treck (because of the lack of hours of sleep) following rails to reach agua caliente... Three hours.... genious landscape but "I am bored" said Deck... true following the rails got a bit boring after a while ,,,,,, we were really happy to arrive.
After a big night of sleep, we had to wake up at 5am to catch the first bus to the Machu Picchu. So we arrived there pretty much in the first ones. The lady from the tourist info the day before told me that we had to go very quickly to the Wayna Picchu (the young mountain next to the site...) as they would allow only 400 persons per day there... and that was a golden advice!! WE run then in the direction of the Wayna Picchu to arrive at the begginning.... only a japanese had entered before us,,, so we had now to over pass him!! God that was a hard treck almost climbing, (not for fat americans!!), we passed the japanese at midway,,, the poor sixty years old had to stop out of breath... heheheheh youhououououh we did it, we arrived the first ones at the top of wayna Picchu..... there is no word for the feeling it was. fantastic!!!
After a good 7 hours of visit we went down to agua Caliente to wait for the train to go back to Cusco,,,, no crazy bus anymore!!
sa ya read me there

Quechua!!

my bag is so happy!! he is at home with all his little quechua friends::: well that is a joke that probably only the french knowing decathlon can understand. Anyway to come from Copacabana to Cusco we took the bus ,,, and what a bus!!! We entered the bus, it was full of Quechua or Aymara women all of the cubic meter format but really friendly ( golden teeth´s smiles)... it was weird because they had so many things, it looks like they were moving or something like that about ten bags of soft toys, tyres, various clothes,, . I had a free seat next to me... soon the reality set a general laugh in the bus from sll the different gringos behind me. The fattest of all the peruvian woman entered the bus with another ten bags with the determination to seat next to me_____haaaaaaaaaaa!!!! she had about 15 layers of sweat, pullover, jackets etc. As the clothes were to small for her ( jacket for eight years old) she could bend the arms she looked pretty much like a moving snowman !!! I stood up the time she installed everything ,,,, and she prepared as well a seat for me ::: she took a jacket folded it in 4 and make a energetical sign for me to seat on it..... Josh added " I wouldnt mess with her". For the first time of my life, I felt really thin. I was skizzed for the next ten hours between the seat and the lady next to me who told I should learn Quechua and Aymara. At some point we stopped and some of the passengers had the marvelous idea of charging 10 boxes full of fish on the bus!!! I let you imagine. I was more than happy to arrive in Cusco in this lovely hostel over the city with an amazing view. From there on we were this group of five I mentioned earlier, and we would go to the Machu Picchu a few days later together. Cusco was really nice, the incas, the architecture, the good going out places, the nice food etc. We heard of a non touristic way to go to the Machu Picchu by bus..... a cheap version of the tour;,,, as I didn´t have a card, it sounded to us like the ultimate solution: for seeing the Machu Picchu as the normal Inca trail cost about 300$.
sa ya read me there

copacabana the rebirth

I was really happy to leave La Paz as you may well have understood... Arriving at the bus terminal, two policemen came to me to warn me that this place was pretty dangerous and that I should look really carefully my bags/// haaaa ..... cararacacacacac// Anyway the bus starts under a real tropical rain and slips around trying to go up the hill... A bit later it stops because of a flat tyre.. the two children on board were as well the mecanicians, they went under the bus to repair it pretty unsual. I met a nice Israeli guy in the bus and we decided to find a room together for the nights in Copacabana. The first views of the titicaca were amazing the lake is so big that it looks like the mediteranean see. I have the impression to be in Ibiza or in Greece, really nice!!! In the morning we went to the Isla del Sol and did a treck of 5 hours: Absolutely amazing, the colors were changing the earth goes from white to red, the sea from blue to green. During this march I met some brazilians chatting up every girl on the Island, a french guy from Montpeliers (Christian), a londoner (Josh), a girl from Santiago de Chile (Viviana) and another english guy from Bristol (Deck)... I don´t know it back then but this will constitute the Peru team. I am not sick anymore and I will get my credit card in Arequipa normally;;; I fell so good I have the impression that the unluck went away and that I am now back on a lucky tornado.
the day after we went to Cusco (Peru)
sa ya read me there.