Let´s talk Dynamite

so yes, it´s been a bit since my last blog. oh well, i got about 3 weeks till i get back to crooklyn and i´m counting the days. the trip has been awesome so far and i can´t complain much...except for the mosquitos, diarhea, and retarded shoes. i look forward to summer in new york. days spent riding my bike, hanging with friends, and eating supersized pizza on top of the williamsburg bridge. as it is, i´m still chilling out in bolivia... found some old friends in la paz and we´ve been rocking out on the guitar and eating street snacks. days are winding down here and i should really get a move on to catch my flight. 3 weeks to travel 2,000 miles.

anyhoo i digress, let´s talk some dynamite...

the city of Potosi was once famous for it´s mineral rich mountainside. back in the day, miners grabbed tons of silver, tin, zinc, and lead from the belly of the earth. nowadays, most of the pickings have been picked and most miners scrounge for any scraps they can find. even still, there are over 12,000 miners going at it 24 hours a day. at least 2 miners die each week as they succumb to respiratory illnesses. and the chances of cave-ins and rocks falling are great. they don´t have engineers down here, just experience to go by.

the day started by meeting the fellow crewmembers and putting on some cool yellow jumpsuits. before jumping into the mountain, we had to stop by the miners market and buy a few supplies. we bought gifts for the miners such as: coco leaves, 93% alcohol, cookies, soda, and dynamite! i´m so amazed that you can buy dynamite on the street here. i was tempted to take some back to the states, but you never know... someone at airport security might actually be doing their job that day, and i could find myself in a tight spot....

-the miners chew on hundreds of coco leaves in order to alleviate hunger and fatigue. they don´t take lunch breaks, they just pop more coco leaves into their mouths.
-the cookies were for the children living on the mine site. the littles ones don´t do any of the hard work. i think you have to be a teenager to do that.
-i tried some of the alcohol and immediately wished i didn´t. tasted like rubbing alcohol and my stomach cursed me for trying to be manly in front of the ladies.

we delved into the mine and squeezed our way through a small tunnel that went deep into the earth. my little headlamp found small crystals lining the walls, which i found out later was the cause of many miner´s deaths. it´s similar to breathing in fiberglass. inside the mountain, we found odd colored veins that strew throughout the tunnel. these were the minerals that we were looking for. it´s interesting to me that mountains have veins. i mean, who would of thought that mountains were alive in that way. trees and grass are easy to pinpoint life, but mountains? hmmmm.

anyhoo, we spent the next few hours crawling through the mountain. we bumped into miners doing their thing, shoveling rocks, jackhammering walls, and pushing carts full of rocks. we finally made it out of the tunnel and out into the sunlight. i was able to stand upright for once and our guide told me to bust out the dynamite. heehhehe. this was my favorite part since growing up we only had sparklers and smoke bombs for july 4th. the dynamite was a green silly putty type substance. we rolled it into a ball and the guide ran up the mountain to set it off. we counted down 60 seconds before it blew, and i´m sorry to report that a stupid bird flew by and landed right next to the explosive right before it blew! it was a crazy explosion and everyone jumped at the sound. we never did find the bird...

3 hour tour turned bad

Machhu Picchu is a magical place. and it´s quite expensive as well. from the town of Cusco it´s a $70 train ride to the mountain of machu picchu. being the cheap bastard that i am, i opted to forgo the train and try to find the legendary site myself. the word on the street was that it took 3 hours to hike into picchu.

the street could not of been more wrong...

i started out on the train tracks near the outskirts of ollantaytumbo. dodging the local police i made a run for the tracks and after a few minutes i found myself amidst a roaring river, misty mountains and an endless train track. with me i had my tripod, 3 cameras, snacks, and some agua. the first few hours were quite peaceful. couldn´t complain about the scenery, weather was perfect... a few clouds lingered up high in the mountains and the sun popped out to say hey once in a while. occasionally i´d come across the occasional farm complete with crops and llamas.

after the 5th hour i started to become concerned. the sun was setting and machu picchu was nowhere in sight. in fact, nothing was in sight... no more farms, no fellow track walkers, and no end to the cold steel train tracks. darkness came and i was still pushing forward with my tiny headlamp. dodging pitfalls and random bustling trains, i thought to myself, ¨damn, i´m screwed.... gotta find a cave or something... maybe machu will be around the corner...¨

after an hour of walking in the dark, i came upon a burning light in the void. upon closer inspection, i found a man shuffling about. the light illuminated a small snack shop selling soda, water, and energy bars. i asked the man, ¨Cuantos mas kilometros para Machu Picchu?¨ he gave me a furrowed brow and told me it was another 10 hour walk to get there! i was floored! after walking for 6 hours, the prospect of hiking through the cold wet night was crazytown.

i asked him if he had any extra space he could lend me for the night. he was quick to reply and i was invited into their kitchen to meet his 4 daughters and wife, Maria. she cooked me up some rice, eggs and fries and gave me some coco tea to calm my nerves.... afterwards, he slid three long uneven benches together and made a makeshift bed for me. he ran up the hill to fetch a mattress and three warm blankets. i spent the night in their kitchen and slept the best night´s sleep i´ve had in weeks.

anyhoo, the next morning i was up at 6am and thanking my hosts for the warm night´s rest. as i was leaving, i finally asked for the man´s name. he said his name was Fortunado. i did a double take, but it seems that fate and destiny brought me to this man´s doorstep. crazy

the next 10 hours of hiking was scenic and exhausting. i thought i would never make it there. my boots that i had repaired back in Ica, began to fall apart again...

anyhoo, i finally made it to machu picchu and made my ascent at 6:30am. the mountain was covered in a thick fog of clouds when i arrived. couldn{t see anything so i just walked west for a bit and found myself a nice dead end. i decided to sit down and chill with some grazing llamas and have a snack. after my 2nd banana, the clouds opened up and the whole city of machu picchu revealed itself right in front of me and my llama friends! very cool.

so i spent the rest of the day running around the city, taking pictures and avoiding tourists. on my way back i took the freakin train. that so called 3 hour hike turned into a 16 hour odyssey. all in all, it was the best february 29th i{ve had in a long time.

take care folks,

-patrick

Puyango Petrified Forest and the lost flip flop

hey yáll,

mhhhmmmm, camping in the ecuadorian mountains was quite nice. the bus dropped me off in front of the heavenly gates of puyango petrified forest. from here, it was 6 clicks to the actual forest and camping grounds. i was not looking forward to the hour hike with all my gear in 100 degree heat and humidity, but i luckily found an overpriced transport to take me the rest of the way. after paying the sheister off, i found my way to the campsite with the help of some local kids. about 5 minutes away from the spot, it starts to pour down rain! luckily, my (stay dry contingency plan) was in effect and was able to keep dry with some garbage bags i had stowed in my super backpack.


i had the whole place to myself so i set up camp and had myself a nice tuna fish sandwich and some snacks. after dinner, i decided to explore a bit and take some photos. my campsite was right next to the river, so i gathered my Slik tripod and my Mamiya Rangefinder and rushed to the river to catch the last rays of light. unfortunately, i was running a bit too fast and fell down a muddy embankment and that{s where i found my shoe{s death. i fell about 4 feet and when i impacted the ground, my boot exploded into two pieces! i spent so much time researching these damn boots too! they were supposed to be indestructable, waterproof, and last me until my final days. well, they are waterproof no more.

the river itself was a hodgepodge of polluted nastyness. every plastic piece of garbage had found their final resting place next to my campsite. i found plastic chairs, balloons, flip flops, combs, and a few thousand plastic bags. it was disheartening to see, especially in a national park. so, i headed back to camp and had some more snacks.

the next day i headed out to find some petrified trees. luckily, the forest was alot cleaner and i was able to venture out and explore the mountains. upon finding the petrified trees, i was a bit disappointed.... i was expecting to see fossils and unique rocks with tree rings, but all the fossils were scooped up by the museums and the petrified trees just looked like normal rocks! you could barely tell that they were once trees and proved dificult to photograph... still wanting to take pictures, i switched to my Canon digital. my dad always said that there was always interesting things to photograph, you just have to look for it. so, i looked down to the ground to see what i could find. i spent the rest of the day photographing ants and leaves.

back at camp, i had another delicious tuna fish sandwich. as the night grew on, the animals became restless and sounds of the forest blanketed my senses. the next day i decided to head on out, having seen all the plastic bags and tree rocks i could handle. being the man that i am, i hoofed it out with all my gear out to the bus stop. the pricey transport guy tried to pick me up but i gave him the cold American shoulder.

that{s all folks!

30 days and 30 nights

since the lost city it´s been 30 days of meditation, drinking, and photo taking. fun as it was, it´s a dangerous lifestyle. i met freaks and greeks, super-tall frenchmen, hippies, sex tourists, drug tourists, escape artists, locals, cogi´s and mountain men.

30 days in columbia. let´s break it down. week by week, day by day...

within my first 5 minutes in columbia i could feel the difference in vibe. people on the bus were dancing around, actin´ a fool, and having a good ole´time. this was until a police car rolled up and checked us out. everyone ran back to their seats and behaved like calm bus-folk. cops were fooled and keep on driving, then the party-bus started up again!

columbians are quite friendly. the country has changed in the past 5 years and it´s much safer for the people and the gringos. there´s still conflict between the farc and military, but it´s pushed up into the mountains, away from the cities. all the crazy notions i had of columbia have proved farce. there is no man with a white panama hat smoking a fat cigar lurking in the bushes, waiting to kidnap you and take you for ransom. then your brother would come down to south america to fight the rebels with his rambo style bow and arrow.)....

anyhoo, i find myself in Bogota for a week or so. days are spent drinking coffee, eating cookies, art, museums, and drinking. i bumped into some friendly norwegian gals i met back at the border. let me tell you something about norwegian girls.... they can party harder than any new york hipster going on a all night bender celebrating their first rock/art show! i think their record for continuous drinking is at 36 hours. and they only stopped because they had to catch a flight to Carnival. yes, they were cool girls.

so me, Torunn, and Kristin all took a trip to San Augustin, a one horse town that is closest to the infamous... i mean famous national archeology park. there were some crazy statues that were made as an ommage to their fallen brothers, kings, and homeys. on the jeep ride back, we stopped at some sort of sugar making factory. these big dudes play with hot-magma sugar goo all day. they gave us a dried piece to eat and it tasted like super powered brown sugar!

After San agustin, we traveled acroos the border into Ecuador and set up camp at Hostel Mundo in Quito. word has traveled many a mile about the free Rum and Coke nights at this hostel. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night the place is flooded with folks from all over, drinking and having a grand time. My first rum n´ coke night, i managed to lose my passport. i think it was stolen on the bus at one point...´(the button on my pant´s pocket is missing where the passport once laid.) however, the night was a blur and i could of set fire to it in the street. who knows? my new passport is on it´s way with a fresh new hair-do.

anyhoo, the story goes on, but i´m out of time. i will talk to you hosers later,

take care,

-patrick

patrick hughes and the lost city

hey yáll,

just got back from a 6 day trek through the rain forest. i went on a tour with 20 other people into the thick of the jungle. every day involved rock scrambling, mountain climbing, death defying stunts. i´m happy to make it back in one piece, just a little banged up, itchy, and sick again from drinking some bad mountain water.

the city was abandoned for 500 years before it was discovered in 1975 by a treasure hunter and his two sons. fighting broke out between other hunters and in the midst of it all, the original founder lost one of his sons. eventually the government stepped in to protect the site. it´s estimated that the tayronan indians lived here for 1,500 years back in the day.

the lost city is a magical place. it´s a cross between the jungle in Romancing the Stone, and the elf mountain city in Lord of the Rings. i swear i heard voices in the trees as i walked through. most likely it came from some mountain folk called the Cogi´s. these people live in the forest and the one guy i tried to talk to didn´t like me too much. he glared at me for two hours during dinnertime. turns out he has 3 wives, one 53, another 28, and one 14 years old. he must of been the david bowie of the mountain.

the climb up the mountain was torturous. going uphill for hours with my tripod, camera, sleeping bag, and clothes did not sit well with my body. that´s why i look so pissed in the photo. right before you reach el cuidad perdido, there are over 2,000 slippery stone stairs going straight up the mountain! luckily, me and my buddy gary bought some cocoa leaves off a cogi beforehand. you can chew on these leaves and they serve as a fatigue reducer. gotta love that Cogi magic.

when we finally got up to the city, i slipped away from the group and explored a bit. it´s easy to get lost in the lost city. it´s very large and it seemed to go on and on. the labyrinth of trails were confusing and i started to forget what i was using for my trail markers. when i heard weird Cogi chanting, i decided to head back. on my way, i bumped into some Colombian soldiers that were stationed at the city. they were cool guys and they were amazed at my tripod for some reason. afterwards, they handed me an assault rifle and we took a picture together.

now i´m back in the the coastal town of Santa Marta and i´m already missing the trees. tomorrow i´m headed to Cartegena where i plan to jump into a 50 foot mud volcano!

later,
-p