Final Week of Workaway25/10 – Trujillo Day 17 It is a Sunday. Leslie's bus was two hours late, but I bought a kilo of vanilla yoghurt to sustain me so it was fine. We walked home then headed to Huacas del Sol y Lunar with the new Canadians. It was significantly better than Chan Chan in my opinion and having an English guide helped. After that we headed to the beach despite the average weather and got tipsy on top notch conversation and rum. I tried my first and probably only pisco sours. It was nice, but 13 soles is more than I want to pay for a drink seeing as I would probably rather have had a beer anyway. 26/10 – Trujillo Day 18 It is a Monday. We then came back to base and I was pretty drunk, then I did a bunch more drinking with a bunch more people and eventually went out with Lindsey and Nicola. We went to a few different places before we found the place we actually wanted to go, taking a taxi each time. It was confusing and I wasn't a fan, but I was hammered which is probably why. The place we ended up offered a bottle of liquor for 100 soles with coke which is what we got. Most people were drinking beer and standing around the beer box. Also, literally everyone was more than half a foot shorter than me, so in a wide open room packed with tiny people, I looked like a behemoth and it was not great at all. After we finished our bottle (maybe, I don't really remember) we cabbed home. As I was climbing in to bed, I discovered that I was out of water. To remedy this, I walked over towards the other house with my bottle. In my single minded haste, I neglected to adorn myself with a top of any kind. As I reached the other house, I noticed that I had forgotten my key for it and that Lindsey and Nicola were at a party nearby. I walked in to get the key and everyone immediately decided that my attire was inappropriate and that I should be made to leave. They also simultaneously and in my opinion independently decided that Nicola had overstayed his welcome too. On a good day I'll take some blame for that. After maybe four hours of rest I awoke and we went for breakfast then a walk in to town with the new Canadians and Lara (Esp/De/Be) who is new and speaks a bajillion (five) languages. We wandered around town then headed north for food and to buy supplies for dinner. I felt horrible and went through the regular stages of verbal diarrhoea and my brain switching off completely. Many of the questions I asked Lara were things we had discussed in depth the night before. We made burgers for dinner. They were amazing. Today we went to school, Pepe was a bit tired but made it through the day. He keeps collecting and making present for Anna. He has the biggest crush on her. Leslie spent a bit of time with the general kids but most of the time with Pepe. She's a lot of fun so they got on well. I think she had a great time and as a lot of people do would like to be able to stay much longer. 27/10 – Trujillo Day 19 It is a Tuesday. Fairly normal morning, though I didn't exercise because I felt a bit sick and sore. Pepe kept wanting to write people's names on his paper and give them to people. He insisted I ask the people what colour they like and it seemed to be some big joke to him, but I can't work out why. He glued various fruits and vegetables to the back of them once they were cut out. 28/10 – Trujillo Day 20 It is a Wednesday. Today there were more Pepe presents and the beach. He brought to school yesterday a 2009 diary/planner thing which maybe he found. Today he gave it to Anna with a present. Lara got a branch from a tree which he had me fetch. He was tired, it was hot. He's likely going to the pool tomorrow. Fun times. Various people were going to come to the beach but in the end only Marie (Brazilian) and I went, but we found Arnau (Spanish) while we were there. I've booked all my things for getting to Cusco to meet Morgan. She found a place we can stay for free, so all I need to do is organise which trek to do. I had a bunch of beers and now I'm tired so I can't really be bothered writing. 29/10 – Trujillo Day 21 It is a Thursday. Today we went to the pool. Pepe was a bit late, but we jumped in a collectivo and headed to the other side of town for a swim. He was wearing crocs and they kept either falling off or being kicked off. He kept tapping shoulders and pulling leg hair on the trip. Weirdly he sometimes seemed to deliberately slip over on the seat. He insisted on showering before getting in the pool because that's what his mother said should be done. There was no running water in the whole facility so that wasn't possible. It wasn't sunny or warm, which is something he was worried about before we got there, but once we were in the water the tables turned and it was us that was cold and he was fine, apparently because he has big muscles and is too strong. He absolutely loved splashing people, but the rules were that he was allowed to splash others anywhere, but he wasn't allowed to be splashed in the face. He slipped over a bit once, but we had him up and about in a jiffy. He was at first a bit hesitant about walking around in the water, but after a while he walked along the edge a bit to nip height. Where he was normally was belly button height on him. I think it was safer for him to be in the deeper water because the buoyant force became more relevant. He looked happy pretty much the entire day. Even in the taxi on the way back (we couldn't find the right collectivo) he was bopping along to the music and singing. He insisted on being in the front. Apparently his name is Spencer. Right now I'm supposed to be writing about him and his habits and translations, but it's difficult. In the moment I realise how many things I understand that others don't, but trying to think of them now is difficult. There are samba lessons tonight. I should attend because I'm deep in Carnaval plans and that's samba central. 02/11 – Cusco Day 2 It is a Monday. I went to the beach the other day but skipped the samba lessons. Friday was my last day at school. I took some photos finally. There was a going away type situation for the Canadian family and I. Pepe seemed less sad than normal on Fridays, knowing that people were leaving. I got two drawings from kids. Then we had a parade around the street near the school in the morning because that's what everyone else was doing. It was OK. Pepe took a lot of photos for me. After that was the Olympics. It was well organised and turned out better than I thought it would. Canadian Chris is amazing at organising children. Pepe won the tyre throw. Then it was time to say goodbye. I'm sure Pepe knew that I was leaving but he mostly seemed like he didn't. Anyway. I'll miss him. After school there was a meeting which was fairly productive. We started the construction of a welcome pack for volunteers and Canadian Chris gave some really great tips on getting the kids to behave well and listen to you. Then I got in to a flurry because I wanted to cook dinner, but I also didn't want to miss my bus. Leaving Trujillo03/11 – Cusco Day 3 It is a Tuesday. Things from the other day. I didn't miss my bus, I did cook dinner. I did get to Lima. I was in Lima for 5 hours. In that time I: - Waited for malls to open. - Ate a kilo of yoghurt. - Nearly got robbed by a man in the park. Another man helped me and afterwards he told me where to get headphones. - Bought rubbish headphones (S/. 21) from a place not close to where the man said. - Went in to an underground place with lots of dodgy looking shops. Got my headphones fixed (S/. 20). They are so much better than the ones I bought. - Had delicious street lunch, including the rice pudding dessert thing that I have been seeing everywhere. The bus from Lima to Cusco was 22 hours. The road was windy. The altitude increased. I woke in the night and thought I would throw up. I got to Cusco. I got a taxi to near where I thought the place Morgan was staying was (S/. 8). I walked up a huge hill only to I discover that it wasn't the right place. I got another taxi to Morgan's place (S/. 5) which was only a short walk from the bus station. This was on Sunday. Monday saw us do a lot of walking trying to find out the haps for MP. We also encountered some familiar Canadians. This morning we also spent a lot of time working out the best MP plan for us. It was a nightmare. I hate touristy places. I hate trying to get deals on stuff like this. By the time we bought something, it was time to go on the city tour of some nearby ruins. We were exhausted and bailed. If tomorrow and the next day work out and we actually get to MP and get to walk up the mountain and get back on time, AND all the buses/trains/food/accommodation that we've paid for are at least amicable, then I think I might be happy, but still probably not. There were just too many options. I'm looking forward to actual hiking in Patagonia. Though today I looked up getting there and it seems like a nightmare. The Next PostComing up next is my experience of Machu Picchu. Bet you can't wait! Here's a sneak peak...
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Arrival in South AmericaThis is a lot to chew through. I've copied the first two weeks of my journal type thing. Sorry for not summarising. 9/10 – Trujillo Day 1 It is a Friday. Travelled from Lima to Trujillo. The bus was actually really comfortable. I met a guy in the bus terminal before we left who spoke good English. We chatted for most of the bus ride. He told me a whole bunch about extorting businessman, dangerous parts of town and corruption/jealousy at his university. Arrived at Trujillo and was met by two people from the place I was staying. We got a cheap little cab to the house where I met all the people and ate some of the food. Earlier I met a lady on the plane from Madrid who was helpful in teaching me little bits and pieces of local lingo, most of which I forgot. 10/10 – Trujillo Day 2 It is a Saturday. Everything in the area I'm in is under development. Apparently it's dangerous here. Sounds shit. We have red vests which we wear when we're going to the part of town where the school is because it's a pretty rough place to be. They have “Hilo Rojo” on them which is the name of the school. It's better to be a volunteer gringo than a regular gringo. Crime sucks. I don't want to get my stuff stolen. Today we walked up the mountain. This consisted of catching a cheap bus in to the bad part of the 'burbs then meeting up with one of the boys who attends the school name Anthony, who was our guide for the morning. At some point we met up with his cousin Andreas, who had made the decision to go bare feet. Anthony was wearing nice leather shoes. The walk was pretty good, great views of the city giving a decent layout and nice exercise to stop me getting fat. The kids found two snakes on the way which they mercilessly killed and put in a bottle. One was black with red and yellow bands which were quite pretty. There was a bit of rock hopping, loose gravel underfoot and some sandy parts. There was no view from the very top because it was cloudy. On the way down we found some dunes to run down. We then went back for lunch. The food generally seems plentiful but a bit bland. I would dig a curry. I'm reconsidering how much time I'll be spending hanging out compared with doing my own thing. If I do hang out with people, it'll probably be the people in the room I'm in. We are away from the main house. At the moment it's Morgan (Chicago), Rosa (north of London), Lucy (north of Auckland) and myself (Beaconsfield). It is generally seen to be better to be living in the main bit, but I'm not convinced that's the case. They all share a shower between about 13 people, whereas we have one for four. There is no WiFi here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm going to start working out in the mornings. I'm in pretty rubbish shape at the moment. Maybe I'll find a working out partner, but I think that's ambitious. Trujillo Living11/10 – Trujillo Day 3 It is a Sunday. I've generally felt fine about walking around the place in terms of safety. Navigation, much less so. It's one sole to take a bus and there are some standard routes and regular buses. Working out where each bus goes is a job for the people who actually speak Spanish so I wouldn't be confident doing it by myself. I'm wondering if the bus system here is actually more efficient that in Aus/UK. A guy on the door doing the money thing and rushing people on and off as fast as possible works pretty well. Most of the other people here seem like better travellers than me, even the younger ones. I think this might be because I haven't really done much backpacking. Plus they all speak better Spanish than I do. I found a fair few new fruits and vegetables at the market with Morgan in the morning. I had a passion-fruit type thing and also bought some black corn. After breakfast we went to the Chan Chan ruins which were built by the Chumi people who were the ones before the Incas. There was a tour guide for the nine of us but it was all in Spanish so I didn't understand a lot of it. Then we went to the museum which had translations. I realised I really don't know much about South American history. After that we went to the beach to had lunch. I had cebiche and it was pretty gross if I'm being honest. The fish was tasteless and was smothered in lemon and salt which is all I could taste. Then we walked along a bit and I got a shitty ice-cream before we watched some kids playing football for about an hour. Kalle the 35yo Finnish guy who looks about 25 cooked for everyone which is a thing he does on Sunday seeing as food isn't provided then and he was a chef I think. It was a collection of dips and stuff, really nutritious and flavoursome which is needed seeing as the normal food is bland. I feel like my Spanish isn't really getting any better. Maybe that will change tomorrow when I'm at the school and all the kids speak only Spanish. Regardless I want to get a SIM card asap so I can do duolingo more often. Speaking of school tomorrow, I'm pretty nervous about how it's going to go. I think the main reason is the language thing and I know that I'll want to be critiquing and consequently making a difference, but I won't necessarily have the ability to do either of those things. Also, I'm not super confident working with kids because it's not something I've done a lot of in the past. It's definitely more out of my comfort zone than climbing and mountain. I was randomly playing a cricket shot today when I thought that I'd probably be better off working in India where everyone loves cricket. Football is the jam here and it just doesn't suit me. The language thing is going to be a problem everywhere so what's the difference really? I think I would feel less out of place there. I have been allocated Pepe who is half paralysed or something and needs full time care. As I'm a dream big and make the most difference kind of chap, I don't think I'm going to love this. I'd rather be helping with a larger group of kids, but at the end of the day, if I'm not as good as the others at that kind of thing then maybe it's best I'm with Pepe. The most help I can be is probably to do with the organisational side of things, so being with Pepe will allow me to watch all the stuff without having to directly focus on it. Anyway, I think the key is to just have a go and see what happens. It would be good to stick it out for the four to five weeks even if I don't love it because worst case it'll still be good experience with kids which I don't have and I'll know a bit more Spanish but the end of things. Also, if I can stick to some sort of exercise regime I'll be in good shape. The way things are set up is that we are allocated classes/Pepe for the morning (8am-noon) then we come back for lunch. After lunch there are classes Monday to Thursday (English, Science, English, Games) for the kids who have been through Hilo Rojo and are now maybe at a real school or just to keep them off the streets. I think I'll try to go to as many of these as I can because why not. There is a Canadian family who is somehow associated with things and are living kinda with us. There are three kids (two girls and a boy) and this is the first actual school they've been to as they were previously home-schooled. They are ridiculously confident talking to strangers and they're really nice. I spent half an hour playing with a little ball puzzle where you have to get it to follow the 3D maze inside a perspex sphere. First Day of School12/10 – Trujillo Day 4 It is a Monday. Alright, alright, alright, alright. Today was the first day of school. Things were learnt. It started out with the kids slowly rolling in to school between 8 and 8.30. Pepe didn't turn up today so I was in with the five and six year olds. I found out that Pepe is actually 22 years old which is a bit of a game-changer. There were about thirteen in the class I was in. They were little rats in the main. The boys were the most troublesome because their attention span was so short and the things they were distracted by were more destructive. Generally they really loved attention, especially a few in the lunch break who just wanted to be picked up and hugged the whole time. It's great exercise as long as I don't do myself an injury. I'll do little bios on some of them, then go through the day in general. Camillo: had a spiderman jumper on. He was sometimes unruly, but he also was brushing the dust off my shorts at some point which was a nice gesture. Icker: He was sitting next to me at the start and was trying to run all over the place. I've decided I can't be bothered thinking long enough or questioning people to find out the names of the other kids. There was one that I was carrying for an hour during the break. She wasn't too heavy but an hour is a long time to be throwing a kid around. Some of the play equipment was broken but the kids didn't mind. I feel like my mind has already lost all of the information of the day. During the morning class we sang some songs, learnt some numbers, coloured some print outs of the human body. The left was red and the right was blue. Painted dots. Then they got some work books to continue with. I helped just one little guy the entire time because if I left him for a second he was out doing something else. Essentially my time didn't seem to be worth much from my point of view, but I guess it was a help for the teacher to have someone else there. At the end of the day, I think the net effect will be that maybe some kid will potentially decide that they should send their kids to school, but it feels like I'm basically doing nothing. I don't mind this so much, because I'm getting a whole bunch of experience with children which I didn't have before. Today I actually questioned whether or not I want kids, considering what kids are like. Home school for at least a bit is a requirement for sure. The afternoon session was an English class which was run by Rosa and had only three kids in it. It was pretty educational for me because I learnt some basic Spanish. The kids (Dante, Miley, something else starting with M) were fun and seemed to be there because they wanted to be. I've not really written much background on the school. It's called Hilo Rojo and was started about three years ago by a woman called Rosemary who works a normal job six days a week to keep it going. The public schools here are free to attend, but there are a whole bunch of other costs associated with them which make them unaffordable for the families who live in the slums near the mountain. Hilo Rojo is for those families. The kids enjoy the social activity and having people care about them. A lot of them have bruises and scratches, most of which probably just came from rough play. Attendance is sporadic, especially in the afternoon classes, but the philosophy of any difference is a difference still rings true here. The kids that turn up get benefit. 13/10 – Trujillo Day 5 It is a Tuesday. Exercise routine established. I'm thinking every second day I'll do actual working out type stuff and every day I'll do stretches for at least 20 minutes. I'm spending most of the days picking up kids which I'm sure isn't great for my body but if I can keep my form then maybe it'll be a good extra workout. This morning I discovered that my headphones are playing up which is infinitely annoying. I don't want sound coming in to one ear, I want it coming in to both. Today I should actually meet Pepe, and in the afternoon there is a science class for the older kids. I wouldn't mind going in to town to get a sim, but if there aren't enough people doing the science thing then maybe I should just go. Considering I can't do a class by myself in Spanish and I don't even help much when I'm an extra, maybe it's better to get a sim so I can practice duolingo. So it turns out that Lucy was alone in her travels to the actual school to give English lessons, so I went with her and Ward (Belgian) and Anna (Poland) looked after Pepe. Ward leaves tomorrow afternoon so I'll need to ill with Pepe and him so I can learn his signals. The first class consisted of 14 eleven year olds, most of which were sassy or disobedient. It was generally difficult to keep their attention, but they were infinitely better than the small kids at Hilo Rojo. Then we had a break during which time there was what seemed to be an evacuation and first aid drill type situation where all the students came outside in their class groups and each class had someone who was pretending to be injured and two first aiders. Once the kids were bandaged up they had recess and we were inundated in questions in both English and Spanish. Once the onslaught subsided and recess was finished we taught some well behaved nine and ten year olds who seemed to actually want to learn. It was interesting that one class really didn't care for school and the other was interested in everything. In the first class people could sit where they wanted, so the boys were on one side and the girls on the other. When we played a game where they had to get in to groups of whatever number was written on the board in English, some boys would willingly lose the game instead of going in a group with girls. The other class seemed to have allocated seats so there were roughly an even number of girls and boys on each table and they seemed to disregard gender almost entirely. Their concentration and eagerness was better and they didn't cause any trouble when they had finished copying what was on the board and had a bit of spare time. Nothing interesting happened at lunch, except that I decided to go to the afternoon class. I had hoped to skip it as the teacher to student ratio was basically one to one the day before, but nobody really wanted to help with science and Ward would have been on his own otherwise so I went to help. Lucy decided to come too and it was good to have two people to keep the non-interested people calm while Ward taught the interested kids. I would like to take up teaching the science class, but I just don't have enough Spanish at this point. The way Ward has been teaching is great because he keeps in relevant to their lives with things like the atmosphere leading in to pollution and the effect that has on the environment. I think from now on I'll go in the afternoons on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, depending on need. I still really need to get a sim, so I'm going to try hard to refrain from being roped in to going tomorrow afternoon. It's English again so there should be enough. Rosa gave me a friendship bracelet which I didn't know was a friendship bracelet until after she gave it to me. 14/10 – Trujillo Day 6 It is a Wednesday. Today was the first day with Pepe. I wish I was Ward with his general people skills. Mine are terrible. Pepe is around maybe 19 years old, though nobody knows his true age except maybe his mother. On the way to and from school he walks with his nephew who comes to the school. When he gets to the school he needs to have someone constantly nearly touching him so that he doesn't fall over. This doesn't seem to add up, but because there are a lot more stimuli at school, he can get excited and lose balance or move to fast and fall over. At the very start Ward and Pepe cut and glued pictures of certain foods into Pepe's book in the categories of either healthy or unhealthy. Pepe finds it difficult to use his left hand at all so Ward had to hold the paper while Pepe cut it with scissors in his right hand. Next we went through the numbers up to ten (in Spanish), then the letter “b”. Pepe concentrates and tries hard to get things right, but his motor skills aren't great and neither is his concentration. By the end of all that it was ten o'clock which is food time, then we went up to the park to play basketball. Pepe gets tired easily. At eleven we went back to school and all he could manage was some colouring in. He was getting distracted really easily, but the fish he coloured was beautiful. The main problem is that I don't get him. Not only can I not communicate with him because I don't speak Spanish too well, but I just don't seem to get his vibe. He sometimes plays tricks on people or fingerbangs them and you have to pretend to be shot, so he does have a sense of humour, but I just don't know when to let him do what he wants and when to tell him no, you need to do this. He can get frustrated easily and I don't want him to not like me and therefore decide school is rubbish and a waste of time. If I can keep him attending then I'm winning. I think I'll talk to Anna (Poland) who kind of organises things and make sure that someone else is the person in charge, and I'd be happy to be the helper. The problem is that there are fewer volunteers now because Ward, Chloe (France), Magdelena (Austria) and Clementine (France) are leaving and only one new girl, Hannah (Germany) has arrived to take their places. This numbers problems meant that I needed to go in the afternoon to help with the English class. I'm kind of the crowd control guy and feedback guy because I'm totally useless at actually taking the classes. Tomorrow we are all (The Away Team which is what I call those who are not staying in the main building) going in to town in the afternoon, assuming that someone else will go to teach. 16/10 – Trujillo Day 8 It is a Friday. Let's start with yesterday. Yesterday I was with Pepe by myself for the first time. It went a whole lot better than I thought it would, but still not that great. It takes a while to get used to what he wants, and it's even harder for me because I can't rattle things off in Spanish and he can say yes or no, I have to actually do the things for him to tell me that I've done the wrong thing. Anyway, I got him to rub his hands together and make little crepe paper balls to stick on his book in the shape of the letter “b”. We did some number stuff then went to the park to play basketball. After lunch was colouring. Today we did the letter “c”, a few numbers and cards, then the park for basketball and football, then colouring. After that everyone got together to celebrate the leaving of three volunteers, Morgan, Rosa and Kalle (Finland). This involved people speaking in Spanish, some kids doing songs and lots of dancing. At some point Pepe got up and danced and seemed to really enjoy it. Normally he gets super sad on Fridays because he loves school, and because people usually leave on Fridays. He seemed ok today. Pepe like to play tricks on people. It gets really old, really fast. Sometimes he just taps me when I'm not looking and pretends it's someone else, and other times he pulls my leg hairs and pretends it's a mosquito. As in every five seconds when I don't have an activity for him to do. I'm told Pepe needs someone constantly within reach of him to look out for him, yet he makes it to and from school with his five year old nephew who attends the school. There are times while he's at school that he does need someone to slow him down because he gets too excited about stuff, but that may just be a product of him having someone there to help him all the time. Either way, at the park today I felt comfortable leaving his side if I needed to and he was totally fine to hang out on his own for a minute or so. I think my plan of attack with Pepe in the future is for me to be less involved with his movement so he takes on more responsibility himself and to get him doing activities which engaged his left hand. At the moment it seems to receive identical instructions to his right hand, but it's kinda messed up so it's functionally nearly totally useless. He can use it for rolling paper balls, but that all at the moment. I think that even though I don't love my role being to look after Pepe, I've accepted that it's probably the best place for me while I'm here. It's good for him to have the same person with him, instead of having a bunch of new people who need to learn his cues anew each time. Also, I don't have the Spanish to teach a normal class, and helping out with the little kids isn't something I love either, just because the actions of the teachers and students is so illogical. Sure they're only three to six years old, but surely there are some rules which govern their behaviour? Anyway, I expect to be with Pepe for the future if he'll have me. Weekend Recovery18/10 – Trujillo Day 10 Yesterday was a Saturday. We went to the beach in the afternoon and Morgan and I went surfing. 21/10 – Trujillo Day 13 It is a Wednesday. Where were we? Surfing was loads of fun even though I was totally rubbish at it. I had the largest board and still the most I managed was to make it to my knees. I only caught a small number of waves and that was the major problem. I found it difficult to determine which waves were catchable and which weren't. The people who got lessons had someone giving them a boost as the waves came which meant they could catch nearly every one. They all stood up. I would like to have another go because it was really fun, but maybe somewhere with better waves, more of which are catchable. On Sunday I lazed about a bit. I had sore ribs and arms from surfing so I planned to go for a massage for 30 soles, but the place was closed. Nothing else really significant happened on Sunday. Carbonara made by Kalle was delightful. Rosa left. Morgan had left the night before. Lucy moved to the main house so I'm on my own in the away apartment. Monday morning, went to school, hung out with Pepe, his mum was sick on the weekend. He imitated a seizure so maybe that's what happened. I think she went to hospital and had her hand cannulated which was the only bandage Pepe could see so he thought that was the thing which was wrong. He was pretty quick to get back in to playing tricks on people and he maintained good application with his school work. I went to the afternoon English class and there was a meeting back at base about the school involving all the volunteers, teachers, owner and maybe the director. All I wanted to say was that I didn't like always being the one to go in the afternoon and that other people who never do it should help out, but the meeting was in Spanish and it seemed like nobody really cared about that. I'm happy to do more than my share of afternoons because I don't have lesson plans to do, but for people to use that as an excuse for never going is bullshit. It doesn't take three hours to plan for a three hour class every day. Anyway, Tuesday was a normal morning with Pepe then Nicola (German) and I planned the afternoon Science lesson. It was about pollution with regard to the ozone layer and global warming. Only one kid seemed really interested, but it think it was good for everyone to at least be exposed to the idea. Most of them are only very young. I think I forget that sometimes. I think I'll have to go to the afternoon class again today because otherwise it'll be only Lucy. We really need more than two people, especially since my Spanish isn't good enough to teach them. I get pretty exhausted doing full days every day. It's 7.40 am until 6.20 pm, including travelling to and from the school twice, and the kids are generally a handful. 23/10 – Trujillo Day 15 It is a Friday. Yesterday was a pretty normal morning at school, then in the afternoon I watched the Canadian kids while Joseph and Carlee had an afternoon to themselves. We each had a piece of A4 paper and made part of a board game, then stuck them all together at the end so we could play. Yesterday there was another Canadian family who arrived (Chris the father, Sarah the mother, Abby and Jake the kids). Abby and Jake also helped make the board game. They are slightly less erratic than Holly, Reid and Avery, but everyone was pretty well behaved. We needed more chance squares. I'm trying to sort out what to do on this trip. I was going to stay here for four weeks, but I heard Lindsey (U.S.) talking about how nice it is to trek in Panagonia and I decided that I want to go there to do some walking. If I do go south first, then I'm definitely not coming back past Cusco, so I probably need to do all the nice things around there on the way. Morgan is doing that at the end of next week, so I'm going to meet up with her in Arequipa and do Macchu Pichu, Puno Lakes, Bolivian salt flats then head down towards Santiago, then on towards Patagonia. This change of plans will cut in to my savings significantly more, but I think after that I'll find a workaway in either Argentina or Brazil before meeting Corin and Youngy in Rio for Carnival at the start of February. After that, who knows. I feel bad for not staying as long as I said I would, and it might be interpreted that I haven't enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. While technically this is true, I am still really enjoying myself and the real reason I'm leaving early is just that it works out better for me to do it this way. Today is Valentin's last day. Pepe will be really sad because he likes Valentin a lot. Hopefully he has a dance and remains upbeat like last week. I hope it's not too hot today, because that always tires Pepe out. 24/10 – Trujillo Day 16 It is a Saturday. Pepe got pretty sad at the sayings of goodbye yesterday. He's so sweet. He traced “VALENTIN Y PEPE” and cut it out for Valentin who has been here for I think two months and gets along with Pepe really well. He also cut out various things for Carlee, Joseph and the kids. He asked about it himself. On the Canadian front, they decided that after four weeks of wanting to throw all their energy in to building the bathroom and not being able to, that it is time to move on with their travels. They have raised enough money for them to help build a bathroom, but if they leave it to the school, it's hard to know if is will still be sufficient. There have been five “maestros” now who are kind of the equivalent of a journeyman. The first four either didn't turn up or weren't very good. I also wish that I would have been able to help out in the afternoon, but I doubt enough will get done in the next week to enable that. Yesterday afternoon I went for a massage at the place Carlee and Joseph went to on Thursday. It wasn't super awesome, but it cost 30 soles (about 15 AUD) for two and a half hours and I'm definitely going back next week some time. Maybe on Friday again before my bus trip. After that everyone was having beers, so for the first time, I hung out with people kind of. I mostly was with the parents. I'm planning on getting at least a bit shitters tonight for the first time in quite a while. Old Leslie Smith will be here for a few days, and an afternoon in the sun at the beach with one, two or seventeen beers will be delightful. I initially planned on not drinking much so I would keep a clear head, allowing for better acquisition of the Spanish language, but that's been failing pretty hard on account of I'm lazy, so I might as well have a few tonight. The Future is The PastI have written more since this point, but it's already way too much so I'll put up a bit more at the end of the week or summin'.
Taking My Foot Off The Pedal I've been in London for three weeks, and while I've practically achieved next to nothing in that time, I have been consuming plenty of media which I think has generally broadened some of my horizons so to speak. I've also decided to keep this blog going, despite the fact that I won't be on an amazing cycling trip, rather I will be essentially on holiday thinking about stuff and meeting people. I'm going to try to mix up the writing style and post more regularly now that I have my own laptop. For posts like this one today which is almost purely thought based, I will try to progress logically and succinctly lest it become difficult to follow. For event based posts I will try to put in actual speech quotations, or at least (realistically) speech representative of my interpretation of what was said. I'm also going to try to be more honest in a critical sense. Previously I would leave out things which painted people in a bad light because if I'm going to offend someone, I would like them to have a chance to defend themselves instead of my criticism being broadcast publicly without that opportunity. I've decided that the blogs I like to read are ones which are representations of the author's undiluted interpretation of an occurrence rather than them syphoning out defamatory depictions of the characters involved. As today's post is thought based, feel free to only pick topics which you find interesting. Obviously. CharityI watched the TED Talk entitled The way we think about charity is dead wrong by Dan Palotta at the solicitation of a friend as we discussed our respective future plans for doing good in the world. I hugely recommend watching it. Before I watched the talk I was generally wary of where my money goes in charity, broadly that a lot of it may not go towards things which progress the charitable cause, specifically that some probably is lost to corruption. I had decided that I would like to work for a charity, but not just a charity generally, only one whose activities were directly in line with how I thought the challenges of the world should be faced. I'm not going to bother summarising the talk, if you are interested, watch it. It is my opinion that if people start businesses with primarily the idea of achieving a social good and are successful as businesses just as a side-effect of that, the world would be a much better place. If anyone has an idea for one such business and you think I might have some relevant input, let me know. Invest in AfricaI watched a TED Talk (Want to help Africa? Do business here) on this idea before I saw the one above, and they both seemed to be along the same lines ultimately: help Africa help itself. There are plenty of places (countries and larger regions) in Africa which enjoy stable economic growth where investment will lead to the whole continent improving (I don't like using the word “improving” here, but I want to encompass the lowering of infant mortality rates, reducing the number of people in extreme poverty and transitioning to less corrupt leadership, among other things). If you watch it (or any other video I mention) and have mad ideas about it, let me know. I would love this to be a discussion rather than a rant. The migration problem of Syria is more complex than it may appear on the surface When we talk about the number of people seeking asylum in Europe in the hundreds of thousands, it is easy to think that all refugees can be absorbed with minimal impact to the economy of the absorbers. I'm playing the devil's advocate here a bit, just because I want to look at it from another point of view. I watched the Gapminder Foundation's video on YouTube done by the amazing Hans Rosling which has some slightly out of date statistics regarding the numbers the EU is willing to take, but what it really outlines to me is that if we did take the “open the borders” view, there may be literally tens of millions of refugees trying to enter the EU. It is their legal right to seek asylum which I am totally for, but it doesn't seem to be the best way logistically to deal with the problem considering that most of them would like to return to Syria once the conflict is resolved. To this end it really is in everybody's (roughly speaking) best interest to end the conflict stat, but the means to that end is something I think nobody can really say they know. There are maybe multiple ways to make Syria safe and the only one we can really rule out is bombing as that's what hasn't worked in the past. In the mean time, if the majority of people affected by the crisis are internally displaced peoples (IDPs), then we should be open to focussing charitable donations to associations working there as well as to those looking to seek asylum outside Syria's borders. I Was Doing WorkawayI arrived at Workaway in Torri in Sabina, around 70km north-east of Rome without much of a plan. I said I would stay at least a week and beyond that wasn't really sure what I was going to do. The Swedish One Year Working Holiday Visa I applied for was still pending and in my head I really wasn't going to cycle all the way back to London. The German man in La Spezia, Arne was of the opinion that I shouldn't do something just to say I'd done it, so if it's better for the trip to just cycle for a while then fly back to London, that is what I should do. So I settled in with the idea that I would see how it goes here and make that call when I need to. The actual work I was doing was basically gardening and handyman type jobs. It wasn't too difficult, though it was very hot. The schedule was very laid back which wouldn't normally suit me, but in this case it worked out really well. It was probably the best I've eaten for three weeks in my life. We built steps, put a bench in to the side of a hill, weeded, cleaned, repainted tables, repainted bars, went to Rome to help out in a hotel restaurant and threw sticks for Winston the hound. In my spare time I was learning Spanish, reading Robinson Crusoe and I Am Malala, and eating. And napping. Basically every day we worked from around 9am - 1pm then it was siesta time until maybe 5pm. The main people I met in this time were: -Martin and Alex the hosts. Martin was the outgoing super friendly one. He does voice overs. And most of the cooking. Alex was less cheery, but when he said something, people listened. -Luke. A 19 year old English physics student from Leicester who was staying there for the first two weeks I was there. We hung out in Rome a bit too when I went there. I was there when I witnessed the man pooping in the busy street next to the main station in Rome. -Finley and Edward. English couple who were also workawaying when Luke left. Ed introduced me to many ideas, including that nuclear weapons have actually done a lot to prevent wars. Finley and I had many interesting conversations, most notably regarding responsibility in the case of English tourists getting cheap flights to and cheap accommodation in Tunisia then getting blown up. -Florian. Mamma Mia. Florian was an animal. He was basically the gardener/handyman/caretaker. He is Romanian. I don't know what else to say. -WInston. Winston eats dirt. After two weeks I booked a flight with my bike to London. Everything just seemed to be in favour of doing that. I didn't enjoy cycling in Italy with the roads and the difficulty camping. I didn't love the idea of cycling for another month which is the minimum it would take to cycle back to London. This would also give me two more weeks relaxing at workaway with which I could plan my next moves. I Am In LondonLast Thursday (27th August) I took my bike to Rome and flew to London. My laptop worked for a bit then decided it couldn't connect to the internet. I wouldn't take it with me to South America anyway because it's a million kilos, so I bought the cheap cloud based HP Stream which I can take with me. I also bought flights to Madrid then Lima for the 8th of October. While I'm in London I'll be hopefully learning lots of Spanish, catching up with all the people, going to the Tram, watching the Hawks Threepeat and winning cricket next weekend. Carn the Wood. I Will Be In South AmericaWhen I arrive in Lima I'll head up to Trujillo which is about 560km to the north, still on the coast. I have a workaway planned at a school there teaching disadvantaged kids. This is the place. I'll probably stay there for around a month, then head somewhere else to do more workaway, maybe in Ecuador. That's pretty much how I plan on spending six months in that continent. Then who knows. The Future Of The BlogI've decided that I enjoy writing things and a blog is a good way for me to keep track of what I've done, so I'm going to keep going with it. I think I'll change the style to make it more exciting for the reader and the writer. I'm not sure if I'll start a new one or just change the name of this one. I have no subscribers because I haven't added a function for that, so it should be easy enough to start again with a new one.
After Carmen left I had a day off in Ljubljana. I finally found a place to buy a new wheel and while it was more expensive than I hoped, the guy fixed up a few other things on my bike, gave me a discount and was just generally a nice guy so I got over it. I was staying with a Slovenian/American couple who fed me delicious vegetarian food and took me out for delicious vegan gelato. Having recently finished reading Robinson Crusoe, I've decided that as a treat to all my many blog readers, I'll copy my journal word for word for the next two weeks of events, starting when I left Italy. This also makes it easier for me as the writing is already done. Later inputs will not be in italics. It starts pretty dire. Things weren't that bad and there are many sentiments in there which I totally don't agree with, but it's interesting to see how I felt at the time. Emotions, eh? 23/7 Just over the Italian Border. I'm super bored and a touch emotional so I'm actually writing. Being alone sucks. Even watching Q&A made me feel like someone else was here. It will be interesting to see how R.C. dealt with it. I've always felt that if the person you shared an experience with dies or is gone from your life, the experience might as well have not happened. So why am I doing this trip? Even the amazing acts of kindness I've witnessed and been a part of have only eased my trouble, not made me have a good time. I really wish Carmen was still here. That perfect day-off spot might as well be here (by this I mean that the spot I was in while writing was pretty nice) but I'm bored shitless. I have my kindle but don't want to read. I guess I just don't see the point in doing anything unless someone can see me doing it. Classic Chris Jones. How can one be a narcissist when there's nobody else around? Fuck it. I can sit here and wallow and think about Skins S1&2 (wtaf?) or I can try to come up with some techniques to get through the shit. Q&A worked well. Dota works well. Reading can, but I need to be really in to the book. Music can. Taking photos for other people to see can. I think writing this is helping, but only because I'm going to blog it so other people can see it. Holy shit there are a lot of super jump bugs in my tent. Maybe I should just read Catch-22 again. Sometimes I think about TV shows of movies that I've seen a lot and pretend that I'm watching them again. I'm definitely finding somewhere to watch the footy tomorrow. 24/7 I think writing in here helped. What a cliché I am! After reading last night I felt good about things. No potential of disturbance helps. I got away early this morning, found coffee, poo, water, yoghurt, shade. Then two guys to draft. So I went to a place to watch footy but nobody had ESPN, so I just listened. Shit game. Downloaded more Q&A. Oh, got a SIM earlier. So I could message some Warmshowers people so I have somewhere to stay in Oderzo. Camping would be possible, but likely to have company. Should try to sort something for between Florence and Rome. 26/7 The couple in Oderzo were lovely. GMO came up. Their view was pretty good actually, well balanced (unlike mine). The next day got to the place near Venice airport. Andreas (host) is great, amazing food, excellent conversation. Very logical. Money with expiry. (This is in reference to the idea of giving money an expiry date which would prevent people from saving, thus stimulating the economy and preventing the super rich from just hoarding all their cash. I don't think it would work, and neither did Andreas, but it was an interesting idea.) Magic tricks. Slept in same bed, got a bit close. He does a new thing each year. 2012 - CS; 2013 - Sports Massage; 2014 - swimming; 2015 - piano. I could use a sports massage. I'm currently in the city of Venice. It's ok, many tourists though. I just want a park. I'm working on my list of improvements for South America. 29/7 Today was a disaster. Started out late, but had a short two-day goal and my bike was in good order. Got a flat, changed it, but the tube wasn't in properly. I had decided to get a new tyre because of all the flats lately so short dist. to the bike shop meant I put up with the tyre not being perfect. It exploded. Started to change it but the big tyre was hard to get in. A guy drove me to a bike shop that was shut, then to another with very limited selection. I bought a thin (?) tube. I threw that in then looked for a bike shop. When they reopened (everything shuts from 12-3pm) they were not extensive enough to have a Schwalbe Marathon Plus. I settled for a 15 euro one with protection. I was already exhausted and had only covered about 30km. I cycled in to a head wind. Now I'm tired and have only come about 70km. That said, I have a place to camp and a place to stay tomorrow night about 100km away. Many things went wrong but many things went right too :) 31/7 Yesterday I started early, had breakfast after about 20km and prepared for a decent climb. 800m up really isn't that bad. There were lots of other cyclists on the road. I reached the top at around 11.30 and went to a cafe to watch dota for a bit. Left around 1pm, after ~5km stopped at a picnic area for lunch and to watch Q&A. Can't wait to see episode 21! This was a lot of time killed in the middle of the day but it was all downhill after that. Cruised down and got to the town Ameglia at 5, watched dota with a coffee & a beer. At 8.30 went to my WS host's house. At first I thought him a bit strange but he's actually great. So much he's done (cycling in Africa), but mainly his outlook of "don't rush". Whatever happens, happens. I'll carry this in to my next week. I don't need to be in Rome in 3 days, I have 9 days to be there so let's just see where that takes me. I need to take some photos of this place. Also his outlook on "stuff" was great. If you don't need it, chuck it. Buy more later. Pack light. Today I'm going to Pisa! 03/08 I got to Pisa no worries, checked in to airbnb with Carmen (she went back to the UK after we finished cycling, then to Tomorrowland, then Cinque Terre, then had a few days in Pisa before flying back to London. I was in the area so figured we could hang out for a few days.), went to the tower, dinner, etc. Next day beach, ordered pizza, watched movie. (The Little Death, Aussie movie. Very funny) Good times. Yesterday she left. Not so good times. Then went towards Siena. Couldn't find a hos there, but on the way someone near Florence (Signa) on WS replied. So I went there. The way google sent me had some 15% hills, but I made it. He's a bit strange but a really nice & kind guy. Now I'm waiting in a park for the library to open so I can write blog (this clearly didn't happen). TI5 starts tonight at 7pm. The guy has no wifi so I can't watch it there. In other news, Q&A is still amazing, Bronwyn Bishop is a cunt of Tony Abbott proportion, Lawrence Kraus is a boss, as is Michael Ware. I'm going to try to get CS tonight for tomorrow so I can hopefully watch TI and relax. I now have no commitments until either 20th of August for my sim or 29th August for my visa, depending on what I decide to do. I'm never using an internet cafe again. It is so slow, shit mouse, shit keyboard. I feel like I'm done with the cycling. I have no sense of purpose. Arne ruined me. I need to go far every day to feel like I have somewhere to go. Maybe I should just message someone in Rome and say I'll be there on Friday. May I just don't like Italy from a cycling perspective. It's not great and I'm alone, so I worry it won't work. Plus I have in my head that the visa thing won't work out, so I'll return to London early by plane, stay there for five weeks before going to SA. Workaway would be good. I need WiFi. 07/08
Found Workaway not too far from Rome. Set out on Tuesday (4th) morning aiming for 2 days, later would have been ok. It was hot and very hilly. Mountain passes PASS mountains. There are no hill passes. You just go over the hill. Steep. Chianti region very hilly. Got nearly to Siena and met an english couple cycling. Chatted for a bit then entered Siena together. They cycled SO slowly. They were all "I don't really know what to do, what do you think?" "Yeah, I'm not sure either." Dull. As. Fuck. .I got out of there and found a cafe in I think Monteroni to watch dota and eat leftover pizza. Then found a place on google satellite maps to camp 19km away. It worked out. Next morning I slept in a little and it was super hot early. Mistake. There was a detour just after Bagni San di Filippo (which I didn't visit) which sent me up a huge hill. Down the other side I met two Italian chaps cycling after their exams (process engineering). One has family in Colombia I might meet with. Anyway, carried on to the place near Lagos de Bolsana. Stopped for shit ice cream, a 2 euro coke can & some dota watching. Started off around the lake having found a plausible spot to camp. Most gates off the main roads have private property signs. This road didn't so I went down it, down hill. There was a beware the rott weiler sign at a shanty town on the water's edge. A fairly young, fairly vicious dog came out and barked but backed off when I feigned to throw a rock. After a while, a giant rott weiler came out and wasn't scared of fake outs. I had to use my bike as a physical barrier to defend myself. I kept the bike between the rotty and I and was ready to kick the other if it attacked from behind. I made my way back up the road when possible. The dogs didn't follow more than 10m as they were for defence. I went back up the hill with adrenaline still pumping. Luckily I was going to go for a swim so I had been looking for a spot early. This gave me time to find a new spot in a field just off the highway. Dinner, sunset, sleep. The night was incredibly hot so I slept poorly. (Since entering Province of Viterbo [Lazia?], the roads have been TERRIBLE). Got up early, set off, found the rear was flat from a thorn which was to the side of the "protection". Changed it. It got hot fast. Breakfast had been biscuits so I needed to find more food. Went to a bakery & ate shit. Went through Viterbo (which sucks) then continued east. When I was about 20km away from destination I stopped next to a river for some super salty pig in a roll. Delightful. The final hill before I arrived here was horrendously steep. lean forward = back tyre slip, lean back = front wheel comes up. Pushed a bit in 35 degrees. Arrived At Workaway! Carmen ArrivesCarmen joined me on the 4th of July in Thessaloniki and we were aiming to get to Lake Bled by the 20th. This would be probably the furthest for me in 16 days, as I would usually intersperse it with more breaks than we had time for. We set out west, hoping to get to Lake Vegoritida. The going was pretty good, generally flat and smooth until we got to Edessa. There was a waterfall there to see and it seemed much shorter to go straight through the town instead of going all the way around (about 15km shorter). So we attacked it from straight ahead and quickly realised that the reason Google recommends the long road is that firstly it is very steep to go up the side of the cliff that the town was built on, and secondly that there is no actual road going up the side of the cliff. After quite a few failed efforts in getting a good view of the waterfall, we decided that what we had was good enough because we were running out of time. We managed to find a sort of driveway/road which seemed infinitely steep up towards the town. After a quick bike push, we found a place to buy cherries, apricots and a beer. It was a tough afternoon up until this point, but we were confident that we would get as far as we needed to that day. We got to Arnissa around dusk and headed down to the lakeside. The lake was overflowing so the beaches were underwater. In fact, a fair portion of the orchards were under water too. We found some space in an orchard to pitch tents, have dinner and fall in to exhausted sleep. We started the next day with some seriously steep climbing. I wasn't loving all this before breakfast, but the view was pretty good and I knew coffee wasn't far away. We eventually made it to a very friendly small town, which I think only really made money in the ski season. For the first time I had cereal for breakfast now that I had bowls and I realised that Jennie Bingham was right and I should have been doing it all along. From there we cruised down hill then along the flat to the Macedonian border. We had classic capsicum spread, cheese, sausage sandwiches for lunch outside a servo in Bitola before climbing in to the mountains containing Lake Orhid, the first real target of Carmen's leg of the trip. If I remember correctly, this is where we (mostly Carmen) were attacked by some biting flies. It was a long stretch of very hot uphill, and stopping for a drink meant near certain fly-attack, so this part of the day was fairly unpleasant. We eventually got through it to enjoy a long downhill stretch, including a few short tunnels. We cruised in to Orhid, but not before some chap with a certificate saying his house burnt down and he could ask people for money relieved us of some of the weight we were carrying and invited us to his fountain for tea. We trundled around Orhid for a bit, being asked by many people if we needed an apartment to stay in. After a while we shipped out to the west to find a place to camp and potentially swim. We found said location and while the swimming was pretty great (I had a good wash), the camping location in a tiny orchard was far less than ideal. There was a demonic dog nearby and we were constantly thinking we would get busted and told to leave. Despite this, I slept like a baby (Carmen however, did not). The next morning we were awoken as our alarms went off, but not by them. There was someone very nearby yelling "Hey! Hey!". I knew it was at us and so eventually got out of the tent to start packing up. I was worried that we had camped too close to the wire fence and could easily be seen from the other side, but as I exited my tent I observed that it wasn't the case. Apparently the guy was yelling at nothing at 4.30am, but we were up anyway and might as well start our day. We got to the nearby town of Struga and after a muesli breakfast outside a bar and multiple coffees (we had to spend all our local currency), we started the climb out of there. I thought that we would have three relatively small climbs compared with what we had cycled over the last two days, but when I checked again I saw that the climb just after Elbasan was pretty significant. We also were entering Albania where apparently a few days before two Czech tourists were shot in the head and robbed for no apparent reason. Also, they have a reputation for pretty bad roads. AlbaniaAs soon as we crossed the border there were people repainting the lines on the roads, so figured that it was something they cared about at least a little bit. As it transpired, the road all the way to Tirana was actually quite good. We made a very long descent in to Prrenjas and looked back at where we had come. It was a 400m drop and we still had an 800m climb to do. In around 37°C, we weren't loving that prospect. We wound our way down along the rivers next to a few different train lines. I thought it quite picturesque with all the train tunnels weaving in and out of the mountainsides. At some point I saw a vehicle holding up a shed. We made to to Elbasan for lunch which we tried to share with a servo employee, but he was having none of it. He gave us plenty of cold water though. I poured my old water (maybe an hour old) over my head and it was like a genuinely hot shower. Gross. With no time to lose we started the climb. There was a motorway about two kilometres to the north east of us which dodged a major part of the climb, but included a long tunnel which we didn't want to try to navigate. The first part was 500m upwards of switchbacks, then a steadier 300m up along a mountain ridge. With regular breaks it turned out to me more difficult in our minds than in actuality. There was a pretty good view from the top of the switchbacks (above). As we made our way up the mountain ridge it was excessively hot. Fortunately, we were on the shady side of the ridge if we cycled on the wrong side of the road, which was possible because there were literally zero cars on this stretch for about an hour. At one point we were having a drinks break and a miracle occurred. From the other direction we visually detected an electrical scooter advancing towards our position. It pulled up next to us and a fellow with many stories on his leathery, lined face looked at us as if he knew exactly what we needed. Then he opened a few boxes on the back of his scooter and pulled out EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED. Ice-cream! There were no other humans for maybe 5km and this guy had no business being there CARRYING ICE-CREAM but apparently he was. It was delicious and cold. Then, he carried on around a bend and it was like a mirage. If I didn't have a photo, maybe I wouldn't believe it myself. I do have a photo. It's on my phone though, and I can't be bothered transferring it. Really. It's on my Instagram too, so if you really want to see it, look there. We stopped near the top of the climb at a random restaurant type situation for a cold drink. The views around here were incredible but could never be captured in any way by my camera, the way I never really could capture happiness in my teenage years. Though we did see some small tortoises at the top. On the meandering road down the other side which required nearly full brakes the whole way, we came upon an English couple toiling up the hill. It was late in the day and I didn't have high hopes of them making it to Elbasan before dark, but one of the good things about these encounters is that you never know the outcome. Maybe they did make it. Maybe they got eaten by sharks. It was late afternoon when we reached Tirana, and I loved the place. The traffic was chaos and there were seemingly few road rules enforced. Heaven. We navigated our way to the hostel we had been recommended by Kyle who was currently in Shkoder. The most interesting person at the hostel was a Yank by the name of Carson. He wouldn't stop talking about jambolaya which is a type of paella local to one part of the US. He was in Tirana for seemingly no reason and there was something generally fishy about him. He had some soul searching to do and I was rather happy to let him accomplish that feat alone. The next day we only had about 100km to do to get to Kyle in Shkoder. The last few days had been an average of around 130km and had all included some decent climbs. This was flat and should have been easy. Getting out of the city wasn't too bad but we started late (because someone wanted to see what was happening at the start of the first Ashes Test, understandably) and there was a headwind. by about 5pm we had made about 50km of progress which was pathetic. We decided that we weren't taking no for an answer and really pushed as hard as possible in half hour shifts leading, to get there on time. It was probably the toughest day of cycling for the whole time Carmen was with me. By the time we were in Shkoder we decided to just stay in the hostel Kyle was in because it was easy and we were knackered. It was a cool place and we went out for pizza dinner and got tipsy on a tower of beer and some freezing then very hot wine. The next day was a planned day off in which we would solve all our problems (my front wheel, Carmen's eyes) then find a place to camp by the lake. This is the day I bought some new shirts (Real Madrid, Barcelona and of course, DONG Energy). Our problems were mostly fixed by the time the three of us went looking for a place by the lake, later joined by Wilson the watermelon. After much consideration, we found a nice place that we could get our belongings down to and began to relax for seemingly the first time in a while. Carmen sat in the sun to tan as is the proper thing for a woman to do, while Kyle and I threw rocks to each other, as is suitably manly when one lacks a tennis ball. Wilson was delicious, as was the pizza and wine which was dinner. To The Coast We awoke to a sunrise after sleeping in a cave (with Trevor the Toad), and after a minimal makeshift breakfast bonned Kyle on his voyage east and headed in to Montenegro. As we left Albania we spent our last local currency on things like delicious Haribo. Montenegro was very windy. Windy and windy. The roads wound, and the wind blew. There was an initial inland stretch of this, then we hit to coast. On the coast we descended for lunch to a place called Sveti Stefan (pictured). As it transpires, the cool islandy bit is actually all one hotel so we couldn't go there. Also that side of the beach was 75€ per person for the day. We sat on the grass for a picnic lunch and were fortunately nearly finished when we were told that even there we weren't allowed to sit. On the way back to the main road I neglected to point out a major hole in the road and Carmen tumbled from her bike. This left a pretty good gravel burn on her back. I pushed the idea that it's a good part of the story and something she could show off to her friends. I encouraged her to subscribe to this notion, but she just thought it looked rubbish while she was tanning and said something about being in pain. Anyway, we moved along towards the Bay of Kotor which looked great on the map. It was kinda cool and a good place to have a cooling off swim and check the cricket score with an ice-cream. After dinner it was time to camp as it was already dark. This night was the most difficulty we had in finding a place as the waterfront was quite populated. We went along the highway a bit then back, before suspiciously going down a dead end road to pitch in a field. The next day we reached Dubrovnik quite early and intended on taking a few hours to relax. I very much disliked the tourist density in the area, especially the fact that most tourists were in fact Australian. I like feeling special and different. I do not like feeling like a tourist. Despite this it was a good experience to see the old town and a snoozed a bit on the beach. At around 3pm we headed north towards Slano where we spotted out a coastal place which might be nice to camp. Before we got quite so far down the final road, we noticed an olive grove which provided ample space for a tapas style dinner and a great view of the bay. I just went on Google Maps on my phone and in the left hand menu, went to "Your timeline". It has tracked pretty much everywhere I've been. I love Google. The next morning we started early and followed the coast on the way to Kravice Falls. We went across a cool bridge. We crossed in to Bosnia then back in to Croatia, then back in to Bosnia. Coming in to Metkovic, we threw on some tunes and cycled fast for a bit. It felt good to really push it. Then we stopped at a Lidl and had then Croatian version of a Calippo and some lunch. After that it was pretty straight forward to get to the falls, until Google told us to go along an absolutely terrible dirt road. I hate Google. Kravice Falls The falls were amazing. There were quite a few tourists there, but it was a very out of the way place so the ones that were there deserved it. I had a beer and read my book a bit. The swim was refreshing. Each side of the river is owned by different people and on one side there is space to camp if you pay the owner chap 5€ which was well worth it. We had dinner at the restaurant which was passable at the time and went to bed feeling healthy. The next morning I felt a bit ill, but there were no tourists around and it was perfect for posing. This I did with aplomb, before heroically building a solid defence in lieu of finding an open bathroom. There was one at the exit of the falls which was fortunate, then it was back to the coast to catch a ferry. We had a pretty tight schedule because we had booked a hostel in Stari Grad at the far end of the island of Hvar. On our way to Drevnik, we stopped in a small town next to a lake looking for coffee and we asked a woman about nearby cafés. She informed us there were none but invited us to sit for some of her own coffee, unripe greengages and home-made schnapps. After this delightful experience, I got a flat tyre, presumably from the plant which is apparently in the area to give cyclists flat tyres. It was a quick change because it needed to be and we were off again to the coast. By the time we got there, my tyre was flat again, but there was no time to change it. It was a slow leak so I pumped it up again and we made it to the ferry. On the other side I investigated my problems and found the thorn still in the tyre. After mending the tubes we were off again along the island. It was a fairly pleasant ride and the view of the mountains on the mainland was spectacular. It was impossible to capture on camera, so I haven't put any photos of it up here. There were some decent climbs on the island which gave me some time for some timer shots of me resting. The first night in Stari Grad gave us the opportunity to try a local restaurant, at which the food was terrible. The next morning I felt very sick, I think from the food at Kravice Falls and I spent most of that day in bed feeling pathetic. This meant that instead of one day off, we had two, but we made it work with the upcoming schedule. The worst thing about being sick (for me) was that I had no appetite which meant no energy for cycling whenever I was fit to do so again. The best thing (for me) was that Carmen was there to retrieve food for me (which incidentally I did for her three years ago when she was sick in London and staying with me). Making Up For Lost Time After two days in Stari Grad we really needed to make up some ground. We took the early ferry to Split where I had my front wheel looked at again. The friendly chap there investigated and told me that it was the inner race of the bearing that was damaged and that he would put in new bearings now, but I really needed a new wheel. We then climbed out of Split which was pretty horrible for me as I was low energy, but Carmen took the lead all morning in to the incessant and hot headwind. I definitely would not have made it without her. After a wrong turn and a gravel road we made it to the abandoned town of Otric. For about 15km before Otric there was a dog following us. He seemed to belong to a shepherd near Otric, but had decided to go adventuring a long way that morning. We were going to sleep in an abandoned building, of which there were many, but the first one which was suitably clean had a second storey with a locked door and a camera pointing outwards. We decided that camping would be better and found a great spot just off the road above a train line. Falling Lakes The next day we wanted to make to the Falling Lakes Hostel in Korenica near Plitvicka Lakes quite early so we would have the afternoon to explore the lakes. We were going to have a full day here, but someone got sick. We made it at about 12.30, but the last bus was at 12.15 so we showered then went out to hitch-hike the 20km there, which was apparently pretty easy. I don't know what we did wrong, but it took an hour and a half to find a lift. We were on the verge of giving up and trying again early in the morning when a Bosnian guy picked us up and instead of heading towards Bosnia, took us all the way there. We had a decent amount of time to look around the lakes, but we could easily have spent a full day there. The water was incredibly blue and clear (I know it can't be both but it was, you know what I mean, stop playing the fool), with lots of fish and waterfalls. I took a lot of photos, but looking back at them, they mostly seem to be of the same thing. The apparent main attraction is the "Big Waterfall" which was incredibly disappointing, but the majesty of the lakes generally meant that it didn't really matter. We caught a ride hitch-hiking back in literally 30 seconds and once returned, snuck in to the supermarket just before closing time to buy dinner and future food supplies. While cooking there was a quiz on which we obviously won with the help of two Danish guys and a Yank. There was another Australian there who just wouldn't shut up about "in Australia..." this and "in Australia..." that, and before long I realised that I do the same thing. I have endeavoured to cease that type of chat. The Home Stretch The next morning we started out early, hoping to have a two or three hour rest during the hottest part of the day. We made it to the Slovenian border without drama, though the border man had questions for me regarding the impending conclusion of my right to be in the Schengen zone. I scored top marks and was allowed to carry on. We went to a spot by the river about 100m away and had a nap and a swim. Slovenia is nice to cycle in and saw the return of actual cycle paths (which I continue to hate). We made it to Semic by the time the sun was setting and decided that we should climb over the hill before we found a place to camp, because nobody likes climbing in the morning. At the top there were still no obvious places to camp and interestingly, none of the settlements seemed to have shops. We went down a little side road and appeared lost when a woman asked us in Slovenian what the hell we were doing there (in a very friendly and helpful way). It was determined that both Carmen and the woman's husband both speak German and consequently we were invited for coffee, ice-cream and a place to camp. The plan for the day was to get as close to Bled as possible without getting there (camping cost was 22€ by the lake). We had only covered about 15km and shopped when we came upon an incredible little place by the river. It was just off the road and had a little table, some shade and a place to swim. We had breakfast and a swim here, even though we didn't have too much time. When one undertakes an adventure such as mine, there is a dream place in mind. It is in the wilderness by a stream with some shade and you can take a day off there, swimming, washing, reading and relaxing. The highway was pretty close to the place we found but other than that, it was pretty much the dream place. But we had to get to Bled. After about an hour and a half, we were back on the road. It was generally uneventful apart from a dubious decision (mine) to take a short cut through some hills. As it turned out a large part of the road I chose was gravel and bumpy, which made the decision an unpopular one among the opposing party. We got in to Ljubljana and found a park to eat and nap in before heading on up towards Bled. Many of the main roads leading out of Ljubljana do not allow cyclists, but we ignored the signs because we were on a mission and once through Kranj, we were permitted once more. I ate some of an apple I found growing by the road and it was gross. We carried on past Posavec then bush-bashed a bit to find a camping place by the river. This was an overwhelming success, though the water was freezing so we washed, but didn't really swim. BledThe next morning we motored on to Bled and arrived before midday. After checking in to the camp ground and putting up the tent, we had time to relax knowing that we had made it. We were supposed to swim to the island, but I stalled because I didn't think I would make it. After a serious rain shower, we went back to camp to have showers of our own before dressing up for a nice celebration dinner. We had fish. It was amazing. The waiter was a top notch fellow too. The next morning we were up early because I said I would swim out to the island. I somehow managed to, even though the distance was around 2km (my conservative estimate). The island was nice I guess, but it was more about the achievement. Carmen couldn't go up the steps to the church in her bikini which I found amusing seeing as she was the one who wanted to go. After a brief poke around we swam back which was another mammoth effort, and got on the road in time to make it to the airport before 3pm so Carmen could catch her plane. To Conclude In this post I have described WHAT happened without mentioning much about how I felt about the whole situation. I could say things about how it was different cycling with someone else for a long period of time, how it was nice to have specific goals along the way and other overview type ideas like that but I really can't be bothered after typing all this up. I'm currently on the outskirts of Venice and I have exploring to do tonight and tomorrow. I hope tomorrow to do the missing post about Turkish Kindness, to do a post on Ljubljana to Venice and to do one on my future plans. But we will see.
I should also mention that nearly the whole time Carmen was with me, the maximum daily temperature was above 30°C, often above 35°C. Next Stop: CraiovaI didn't leave Timisoara until around 2pm, at which point it was around 37 degrees. Probably a mistake. Again, despite the rumours, the road was smooth and flat with a decent space for me to ride. To be honest, the reviews of Romanian roads are probably accurate, but for a while I was really just on the same road. I went just over 110km then found a place to camp just after Caransebes. There were some people swimming in the river, a flock of sheep with the associated shepherds and a few gypsies. I went around near some gravel pits and found a place under a tree that a gypsy woman showed me. I felt pretty safe until the massive thunderstorm hit. Loudest lightening of my life. That I remember. Probably magnified in my memory by the fact that I was in a tent. I woke up early the next morning and there was a gypsy man hanging around. We had one of those brief chats that don't really use any language, mostly motions and grunts. He was going on about how "they" were clearing away all the trees and it is bad for the environment and makes it hard to breathe. Tru dat. Later that day I climbed through a mountain pass and again met my old friend the Danube/Donau. Not long after that I met my new friend, Pauline. I was about 20 minutes from looking for a place to camp when I noticed a stationary bike rigged up with some solar panels in a place I think near Strehaia. I whirled around deciding I could use a shop anyway. I after we chatted for a bit we decided to find a place to camp for a bit. The extra boost of energy and necessity of speed (she could go faster than me with the power of the sun), we pushed on until I had done 175km that day (most so far). We had a cold beer and some warm meat sandwiches in a farmer's field. The next day we were up early to find a place for her to charge a bit. I was meeting my host in Craiova prior to 12.30 and she was heading further on towards Bucharest. Oh, and I would mention all the amazing things about her journey, of which there were many, but they can all be found in her blog. It was a mammoth effort for me to keep up but we all know I'm awesome, yada, yada, and we made it on time. Craiova was great. Except for the size of the big cat enclosures at the zoo. They were not good. Buzludza BoundI had an extra day in Craivoa and in my mind the date of the 4th of July and the requirement to be in Thessaloniki on that date loomed large. I decided to bail on CS until I got to Istanbul and to have no rest days. I was pretty sure I could make it. I didn't make it to the ferry I wanted, but that just meant I could eat lunch while I waited for the next one. As soon as I got in to Bulgaria, the hills were troublesome. Again, the roads weren't so bad, but this would change later on. The first night I bailed up just off the highway in a field between Pleven and Lovech (I think). The next day was mountain day and it also happened to be rain day. This curiously coincided with free cucumber day. I was going through Lovech and stopped on the south side for some breakfast. A cheery chap stopped to give me a cucumber then went off in the direction he came. I think he literally followed me to give me a cucumber. It was delicious. I carried on through the mountains and while it was tough going up some of the long climbs, it was also quite pleasant. I was surrounded by forest and there weren't many cars. A few people slowed down next to me to say encouraging things in Bulgarian and ask if I wanted a lift, which I of course did not. Once I mostly got over the mountains, I had to do another little climb to get up to Buzludza, one of the goals of my trip. The weather was rubbish. As I was approaching the peak, there were a few hotels which I noticed. As I had a long way to go the next day, stopping there for the night then going to see the peak in the morning wasn't really an option. So I carried on. At one point it was just too steep so I got off and pushed. This lasted about ten metres because I realised that it was actually easier to ride than to push with it being so steep. I arrived at the empty carpark near the peak at about 8pm and visibility was about 20m. If I went up to see the monument and left my bike in the carpark, I wouldn't be able to see it. So I pushed it up the stairs. This is something I regret because I'm sure nobody else came and if they did, they wouldn't want my bike. After the first set of stairs, I still couldn't see the monument. I got to the base of the second set of stairs and looked up. There it was. So ominous. I looked down to get my camera and when I returned my gaze upwards there was only fog. Eerie. And kinda scary because there was nobody there. I took some snaps and had a look around. It was locked which is something I wasn't expecting. My plan was to spend the night in there but that wasn't happening. The weather was looking shocking and I didn't have much to eat so I used an escape rope and arrived at one of the hotels just a bit down the side of the mountain. It was pretty cheap and the food was borderline acceptable so I was happy with the decision. The shower was great too. Entering The TurkeyIf going up the mountain range was unexpectedly pleasant, going down the other side was unexpectedly horrible. There were a bunch of switchbacks which I went down in the cold rain with the brakes almost fully on the whole way. The road was washing away. I sometimes glimpsed the view of lavender fields at the bottom, but pretty much couldn't see anything. It rained most of the day and at one point I got my first flat tyre. It took my an hour to change partly because it was wet and gritty, partly because it was in a shit position on the highway, and mostly because it was the first time I've ever had a puncture. After a long day in the rain I was finding it difficult to seek out a camping spot. A few places I tried turned out to be super muddy which messed with my bike a bit. Eventually I approached a shepherd who said I could camp near his flock which was penned up. The next morning after taking too many selfies because I could, and washing my bike because I must, I then prepared to enter Turkey. I went through an interesting series of road signs which I feel compelled to share. 6km to Kapitan. After 200m, 7km to Kapitan. 1000m later, 6km to Kapitan. 1000m later, 5km, 200m later, 4km, 200m later, 2km. Then 1000m later, 4km again. Then after 1000m there was Kapitan. Then 1000m later there was a sign saying 1km to Kapitan. Seriously Bulgaria, sort it out. There were some shenanigans at the border which I was pretty angry about, but I have since forgiven. Also, people from most non-EU countries need one 25 euro visa, but people from Australia, Canada and Qatar need two. Rubbish. I was angry. Then I realised that it was a black pot kettle situation and calmed down. IstanbulI had planned to meet with Pauline in Kirklareli which was my goal for the end of the day. As soon as I crossed the border, my hopes for reaching that destination diminished. There was suddenly a headwind. There were constant hills. The road was covered in rubber which slowed me down the same way a flat tyre would (I was consistently looking down to check I didn't have a flat). I was also pretty knackered from riding five days in a row. At the start of the day I felt like a machine and that anything was possible. Now I felt broken and I needed a day off to sleep. I stopped in a small town to check the internet (my data SIM didn't work in Turkey) and unwillingly had my first Nescafe since I can remember. Turns out Pauline had a hotel sorted out for her through a friend of a friend, so I went to meet here there. I was later than I said I would be, but she was much later. Having an 80kg setup is great when the battery is charged and horrible when it is not. She arrived around 10.30. Poor girl. After a nourishing breakfast, an interview for Pauline and a shopping trip for me, we headed towards the next stop which had been organised for her in Kestanelik. Again, the battery ran out before the end of the day (this was rare and only because of the less than ideal weather), so we plodded the final 15km in diminishing light. Fortunately the road was new so dodging potholes in the dark wasn't an issue. It was nice for me to not be the slow link for once. When we arrived we were greeted by a cheery, overly-energetic man who turned out to be the Mayor of the town. He didn't speak any English and I was astounded by Pauline ability to blag conversation, despite the fact they both knew they had no real idea what the other was talking about. We had some absolutely delicious Turkish dinner (kofte and some fried salami), and his daughter and son came to join us. Seyda and her sister live in Istanbul which was fortunate for me because I hadn't found somewhere to stay at that point. After dinner we set up camp in a wedding hall. On the road the next day, there were more trucks than I had ever seen in my life. They were moving earth to help with the construction of a new highway. Generally the drivers were friendly, sometimes beeping to let us know they were there and sometimes waving. We met a guy to (apparently) escort Pauline across to the eastern side of Istanbul, which included a detour through a national park type situation. At first I was dubious at doing some extra riding but it was really pleasant and I saw a tortoise. We cycled along the water and after the second bridge, I bid farewell to Pauline and went to find Safak (Seyda's sister). This and the other amazing Turkish encounters from this point on will be put in the Feathers In My Cap section. GreeceThe Greek lifestyle is different to the Turkish lifestyle. The main thing I noticed was that instead of each town having a mosque, each town had a church. The hospitality is only a little different though. The first night was in a field and I actually at one point called out "hello" because I thought there was a person near my tent. It was probably just an animal. I then had to climb through some hills and halfway through the downhill I decided to take a break for lunch. Some people at a nearby restaurant same me making some sandwiches and invited me in. I ate with them and had some vodka and water for lunch. They spoke a little English, enough to laugh with. I made it to just past Porto Lagos then found a field to sleep in. The next day I made the coast again at Kavala and saw what I expected to see in Greece. Hills covered in Greek houses on the coast. That night I was Couchsurfing near the beach in Orfynio and the next day was a rest day. I got some great sleep (oh my god this blog is so exciting), then did some actual swimming in the sea for the first time on the trip. I love swimming in the sea. I don't love the beach so much and I ended up a little burnt but nothing too tragic. My CS host and I went for a swim as the sun was setting and I swear that the people who go to the beach during the day are idiots. In the evening, there is no chance to burn and the water feels warmer. Oh and the sunset over the mountains. There remained only 104km to Thessaloniki which was easy for the first 80km, during which I even had a break while The Mighty Hawks downed the Pies. After that there was a gruelling climb over some steep hills in the sun, while a storm was brewing behind me. Judging by the terrain map of Europe, there will be a few more of these to come, but I think as long as I carry enough water, I'll be fine. I wasn't as sweaty as I am after a night at the Tram, so I guess it wasn't so bad. Rolling down the other side in to Thessaloniki provided few views, but I was just focussed on the fact that I didn't need to move my legs. My host here reminds me a bit of Iosif in Timisoara. He's on CS to help people. Many people refused my requests based on the current economical and political situation in Greece, but he said yes despite already having two guests. He's the kind of guy that will make things work if it benefits others. Anyway, I'm currently waiting to eat massive amounts of pasta then ride out to the airport to meet Carmen. We'll be riding together across to Albania then up the coast to Lake Bled. I'm not 100% convinced we'll make it without some assistance, but we will give it a red hot go. Austria!All of the countries I had been to on the trip up until this point had not been the first visit. This changed in Austria. This makes very little difference in the grand scheme of things, as Austria is similar to Germany and the next countries, Slovakia and Hungary, are fairly similar to the Czech Republic. Anyway, things were going well. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. It was neither too hot, nor too cold. I found a place to camp in a town called Brunn an der Wild. It was in close proximity to houses and there were people walking dogs, but I was tired and everyone seemed friendly enough. Great night's sleep. The next morning I set off for Vienna and before things went uphill, then went downhill. What I mean by that is that I got one of the "no cycling on the highway" signs near Maissau, then I went up a hill, then I went down a hill. I still wasn't allowed on the highway. This was a reasonably big spanner to my plans. There were often roads which were vaguely along the highway between small towns, but they often didn't meet up, or meant that I needed to take a massive detour. The major problem was one of navigation, because I didn't want to use all my internet loading maps in great detail. Eventually I just went on the highway for a bit then there was a cycle path nearby which seemed to be going in the right direction. After Stockerau, the bike path went along the river, so I followed it. Entering the city that way was pretty beautiful. I successfully went to the wrong address, which was on the other side of town to where my host lived. What a day! Fortunately when I arrived, my host was super understanding of all the things. Again, I haven't put in a lot of my photos from Vienna, because better ones can be found using Google. Also, Vienna is where it started to get seriously HOT for me. Like, over 30 degrees pretty much every day. From Vienna I went to Bratislava, then on to Budapest. In Bratislava I met two Swedish fellas doing a trip from their home to Tunisia. They had much less stuff than I did. Instead of tent, sleeping mat and sleeping bag, they just had sleeping hammocks. These take up much less space. Also they were going pretty raw with clothing compared with me. I'm currently on the brink of posting a bunch of stuff to somewhere later in the trip. I needed the cold weather stuff at the start, but I can't see myself using my awesome sleeping bag as anything but a pillow over the next two months. Fortunately, my sunglasses broke, so I didn't need to carry them any more. Unfortunately, I needed a new pair of sunglasses, which I bought from a petrol station. Also in the hostel I stayed at in Bratislava, I met two Romanian people who were studying in Edinburgh. The girl had an angelic voice which I could have listened to for all eternity. Unfortunately, the words she was saying went along the lines of "oh yeah, there are heaps of bears in Romania". After Bratislava I had either 280km along the cycling path on the Danube or 190km on the road. I chose the road. I've seen enough river for the moment and I wanted to get to Budapest in two days. The road in Austria to the border was amazing. Nearly a full metre on the side of the road for me to ride on and not much traffic. Across the border I chose to take back roads to start with, thinking I might find somewhere to camp. As it transpired, I got to a place called Tata which had a lake. I also first noticed here that there is a lot of unprotected WiFi. A dream for the traveller. I cycled around the lake and eventually found a plausibly rough path to follow. Lo and behold at the end of the path there was a hut and a Hungarian family cooking up some Hungarian sausage on a campfire. They spoke reasonable english and weren't staying there the night (they lived nearby). After a shared dinner, they recommend a place which I could camp and headed off. After ploughing my way through hundreds of tiny frogs and swarms of mosquitoes, I pitched tent and had a good sleep. The next morning I hit the lake for a quick swim then mowed my delicious breakfast of a salami, cheese and tomato roll in to oblivion. The ride from there to Budapest had similar setbacks in terms of not being allowed on some of the highways, but alternate routes were a'plenty. My host in Budapest was a little older than the other ones. Laszlo is 61 and the worst thing about him was that instead of seeing Budapest, I just wanted to stay and listen to him talk. His opinions were nothing if not different to what I had heard before. As it transpired, we cooked together, at together (along with two Turkish lads staying there also) and just generally chatted. The next day I was in for a surprise. Shakes was in town for just half a day so we caught up for brunch (best meal of the day). It was good to see him, having not caught up for years. Afterwards, I went to Margrit Island which is a thing to do apparently. It was quite pretty and I cycled around a bit then found somewhere to read. By this time, my petrol station sunnies had broken, so I needed to find another pair. Cycling without sunnies is basically not an option. Laszlo warned me about an imminent thunderstorm, so I rushed to the top of a hill to watch it come in, and get some photos of the city. This all went to plan until the thunderstorm hit with fury and I had to find cover. While I was under the cover I met an English guy who was travelling with his family before heading up to Edinburgh for two years of work in a hospital. That night, Laszlo and I stayed up until midnight to watch the highlights of the weekend of AFL. Further east people didn't know much about it, but here they have games on the sports channels fairly regularly. My next stop from Budapest was Timisoara. This would mean leaving the Schengen zone. The first day again was marred slightly by not being allowed on the highway. The response of the roads department to the increase in the popularity of cycling, was to slap up a "no cycling" sign on every road that went somewhere useful. After a bit of navigating I made it to Kecskemet and went a little beyond the town on a fairly rough road. Google told me the walking directions to Timisoara were along this road so I thought I'd check it out. In a way it was good that I did because I found a great place to sleep for ten hours which had me feeling amazing the next day. Unfortunately, it was not a road I could take all the way there because it was incredibly bumpy and not paved. After that there were a few back roads I could take which didn't add too much to the total distance. On one of these roads I passed through a small town called Bokros. As I entered the town, there were a class of school kids waiting to cross the road, aged about 12. They were significant because one of them was holding a makeshift cricket bat and another, a tennis ball. Who would have thought that a school in a small town in Hungary would have their kids playing cricket! I made it to the Romanian border before nightfall. This is something I wanted to do because I'm only supposed to be in the Schengen Zone for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 day period. I feel like this is a rule I will need to break, which is an issue for later on but if I could get an extra day on my side, I would. At the border, the people were amazed at what I was doing. A German couple who were also crossing (in their car) gave me water and tic-tacs and had grave looks on their faces. They said to stay on the very edge of the road, sometimes even off the road or I would be hit. As it transpires, drivers here so far have been really good, and most of the roads are too. Across The BorderI didn't know what I was to expect when I crossed in to Romania. The first building I saw was a petrol station. There is a stereotype that Romanians are gypsies. From one look at the clientele of the servo, this stereotype seemed to be accurate. I jumped on the free WiFi in the hope that I would find a likely place to camp. It was starting to get dark and it looked like rain was on the way. The general lay of the land was not conducive to camping. The roads were bordered by farmland upon which I couldn't really camp, even if I could get there. There were fairly deep culverts between the road and the crops which were impassable on my heavy bike. The first town I reached, Cenad, had a few nice looking places and a whole bunch of stray dogs. Not ideal. I carried on a bit for a few towns, but there was no real wilderness to camp in. It was like being in Germany again. Eventually it was too dark to safely continue along the road, so just past Sannicolau Mare I took a right hoping that I could hide my tent somewhere. I dog bark and I was spotted. I walked my bike along the path (it was very bumpy) until I got to a little house with a man outside. I made all the requisite movements to show that I had a tent and wanted to camp (there was plenty of space) and he responded with what loosely translates to "piss off". As I wandered back towards the highway I spied a shepherd filling up a trough for his sheep.
The rest of this story is in the "Feathers In My Cap" section. It's Been A WhileIt's been around three weeks since I last typed up a blog post. In that time I've taken more photos than the whole time before that, been in six countries and for only the second time, crossed paths with border patrol. This post will probably be a tl;dr situation, but maybe looking at the photos will be bearable. Where We Left OffMy last real update was in Halle, around 200km south of Berlin, which seems like a lifetime ago. I had my first WarmShowers teed up for a place just out of Potsdam, so I had to smash around 150km on the first day. I foolishly decided at some point to take the Google cycling directions which is not recommendable for a 150km day. After that though, there was a nice cycling path along the 2 which I could follow most of the way. Getting to the actual place was a little tricky through some woods, but that was unavoidable. I stayed with a family who were really friendly and eco friendly. I had a little caravan to stay in which was amazing after a long day riding. Realistically, I could have easily found somewhere to camp in the area, but it was nice to not have the stress, and having a place confirmed meant that the target distance was something I NEEDED to do, not just WANTED to do, which makes a difference mentally. After a great night's sleep, I had only around 40km to get to Berlin, so I relaxed and read in the morning by a lake, then chatted with my host for a few hours. There isn't too much to say about Berlin. I had a great CS host. I spent the morning riding and wandering around, taking the photos of the touristy things. I went on a walking tour which meant that I understood a bit more about what I was seeing, making it infinitely more interesting. On the tour I met an American guy called Daniel Zube who was cycling around too. He should be over the hills by now. After the walking tour we met up with my host and went for a drink down by the river near a dancing place while the sun set which was great. I didn't dance. The next planned stop was Dresden. I didn't take many photos on the way which isn't to say that it was boring, but just that all the cool things I saw, I'd already seen. I stopped the night in Ostramondra, and I'm sure there were photo-worthy things there but apparently I didn't think so at the time. While in Dresden I stayed with Moritz who is friends with Marie, my Halle host. He was really cool. Not vegetarian, but would only eat meat which he knew was killed humanely and thought about where his food was coming from (sustainability-wise). These things made me happy. I think when I finish travelling, I'll hopefully be a bit more like this. I decided to stay a three nights in Dresden and on the final day we went to Leipzig by blablacar and saw a load of goths. The city was pretty cool and it was good to just walk around and see Marie again. I was to follow the Elbe river for two days from Dresden to Prague and seeing as Moritz was heading to his family's cabin, we rode together for the first 30km which was kinda nice, except that the cycle path there was filled with an immense mass of tourist. After I crossed the border though, the state of the cycle path didn't deteriorate too much and the number of people dropped off so I was happy. I spent the night at the house of a Czech WarmShowers fellow. While I really just wanted to sleep, he had decided that we were going to the pub. There was a fellow from Madrid also staying there and he was pretty well insane. He was travelling via hitchhiking and had an incredibly low budget. His intention was to make it up to Scandinavia and he'd been through just about everywhere. One of the many stories he told was about camping in Albania with a bunch of random guys and getting super drunk with them around a fire. As everyone went to sleep in their tents, he went to get some water from the river to put out the fire. When the other fellows heard the fire going out they jumped up and started yelling at him. It turns out that the fire is left going all night to keep away the bears. There are apparently a lot of bears in Romania. Anyway, I got to Prague safely. I decided that pictures of most of the nice things in Prague (of which there are many), can be found on the internet at a much better quality than I can provide. I stayed with two different hosts, both of whom were amazing. I know this sounds fairly generic of CS hosts, but it is absolutely true. Notable things I did with each host respectively were planning a wedding and discovering an Australian film (The Little Death, very funny). After Prague I headed on towards Vienna. My first night was in a town called Tabor. I stayed with a Czech couple. It was really a little gem of a place considering that I was only really staying there because it was on the way. After Tabor I was heading in to Austria. This would be the first new country I would visit on my trip. Also, it would be a return to wild camping. Such fun! Husk. My host here in Timisoara has just returned from work, so I think I'll caption these pictures and finish this post. The rest can wait for later.
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Chris JonesJust a guy going for a bit of a documented ride. Archives
May 2018
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