August 01st 2010

OMG.. this is terrible, it's been 2 months since my last blog update. The grey matter at the back of my bird size brain is going to have to work overtime to remember what I've been up too.. however, I will try folks...

I think one of the first trips I went on was mountain biking down Chachani ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chachani ) one of the mountains we have here in Arequipa. it was an early start for a Sunday, about 7am.. 6 of us piled into a bus that picked us up at the casa where we hang out from time to time.. the bus took 3 hours to reach the top of the mountain, we jumped out, donned our protective clothing, helmet, gloves, knee and elbow pads and mounted our bikes to start our decent.. it was beautiful at the top of the mountain, apart from the cold wind that blew around us that was the only sound you could hear.

One of the guys I was biking with was Chris, a giant of a lad at 6'6'... he is one of the interns with GVI and is now going to be staying in Arequipa until next April. Chris use to run a bike shop back in the day so is an experienced mountain biker and not one to go slow even on the toughest of terrains.

Chris headed off with me right behind him, the ground was a mixture of holes, bumps, sand, dust and rocks. It wasn't long before I was picking up some pretty serious speed so going into corners were a lot of fun, however the drop of hundreds of metres over the edge wasn't quite as much fun so I did my best to keep a metre of two from the edge where possible. It was very cold coming down the mountain as we were so high, around 4500 mtrs. Before long my fingers hand locked up as I was gripping the handle bars so tight, there were constant rows of bumps which I can only describe as speed bumps, one linking to another which made my whole body shake and thus left my hands were in tatters! it was great fun though, after a while we came to the first of a number of shortcuts our instructed had told us about.. It was a much steeper downhill and the ground was sandier than before, Chris bombed down first with me behind him. Riding on sand is a nightmare, you pick up speed then hit a soft loose bit which slows your bike right down very nearly sending you over your handle bars. I reached the bottom of the short cut without too much bother though but it certainly took more concentration than the safer route.

We carried on tearing down the mountain stopping every now and then to let the others catch us up (our instructor had told us we needed to stick together within reason and not go too far ahead) one of the girls had came off her bike pretty bad near the beginning of the ride and was back in the van taking a breather until she felt confident to get back on her bike again.

The next shortcut was a very steep rocky terrain with huge holes from top to bottom, I was really getting into the biking by then so took it with ease and only had one of two tricky moments. After the second shortcut there was flat section of sandy ground for about 4 km, I hated that section, every time I got on my bike and tried to peddle I went no where.. the sand was so deep and soft I wasn't going anywhere so I decided to get off and push my bike rather than attempting to ride. I've been OK with the altitude overall but when I'm really high in the mountains I do get short of breath so though it best to take this section a bit steadier.

Once I was through the flat sandy section (where I incidentally cursed like a child with turrets for a good hour) I was back on my bike and tear assing down the hill again.. the last shortcut was amazing, sand, rocks, holes and very steep all together. I took it quickly right from the top swerving from side to side to dodge holes and rocks as they appeared, I was going pretty quick when I hit a soft sandy section which this time, did send me over the handle bars and onto the ground in front of me, it happened so fast I didn't really no about it so lucky for me when I got up I wasn't in any pain. A few minutes before I had seen a cloud of dust come up from the ground so when I got to the bottom I asked Chris how he got on down the SC.. he had pretty much done the same as me, hit a soft section which sent him over his handle bars, now as Chris is as tall as a door frame he somersaulted in the air and landed on his feet! I think I landed pretty flat on my back.. Chris has seen my tumble and told me it was pretty spectacular so that was good, if you're going to do something may as well do it properly eh.. After that it was more down hill sections, a really beautiful mountain road section for 7 kms before we got to our meeting point at the foot of the mountain. We got back to the Casa around 3pm, full of adrenaline and chat about our encounters down the mountain. That's what I remember of that day a couple of months back, a few weeks ago I went and did it again. That time I again raced down as if I was delivering a much needed kidney to family member but due to my now experienced mountain biking skills I managed to stay on my bike without too many close shaves..

My next trip was white water rafting, that was so much fun. Me, Becca and Steph (some pals I've met here) went rafting for the morning. The 3 of us were in a boat with an instructed on the back. We had a few basic commands to adhere to.. start paddling, stop padding and get the fuk in the boat your going to fall out you twit! after a brief induction, paddles in hand.. we got in the boat and headed down the river.. it was so much fun. The 3 of us get on really well and I can honestly say we laughed our heads off all the way down the river which was a 7km stretch. I was paddling like mad but the girls barely got there paddles wet.. they were too bothered about laughing and making sure there hair didn't get wet.. hahahah.. just kidding girls... we crashed into rocks, I very nearly went over the side on a number of occasions and at one stage we were going so slow we got stuck on the edge of a drop and had to have our instructor climb over us to stamp on the front section to get us moving again! right at the end of the rafting Steph lost concentration (after looking at Bec's hair.. what did I say, hmmm..) and fell in, the instructor had to pull her out much to the amusement to Bec and I) the sun shone as it always does here and we had a great day..

Santa Catalina Monastery ( http://gosouthamerica.about.com/od/arequipa/a/SantaCatalina.htm. ) Me, Bec, Kathleen and Lucy decided to take at look at the Monastery here in Arequipa, apologies as i don't know all the ins and outs about the history of the place apart from the fact it was built in the early 16th century, house about 80 nuns who lived there worshipping the good lord, wore chastity belts and did lots of cleaning. The 4 of us had had a drink and bite to eat before we arrived there so when we did arrive we were in high spirits and looking forward to walking round the candle lit rooms in an attempt to scare ourselves stupid.. that we did, Lucy at one stage peered through a barred window, shouted boo which very nearly had me changing the colour of my shorts within seconds.. Lucky for me I got her back a touch later which made her screen louder than a female opera singer could hope for.... It certainly made me laugh, another fun evening and one to remember.

Right I've just been told Cusco Coffee where I'm writing this is closing and I've got to get the flock out of here so I'll be back in a day or two.. thanks for dropping by.. x