The People Under Stairs are back and seem to be coming out with an album on OM records which is usually all about house music not Hip Hop. But OM does play host to Hip Hop and House DJ Mark Farina who plays a lot of this stuff so it makes sense I guess. I like this track a lot.
People Under the Stairs – Trippin’ At The Disco by OmRecords
Although saying the video is which you can cop here is truly awful, watch it and be amazed how a music video can ruin a great tune.
I have posted Murs before. I really like this guy and he passed me by I really don’t know how. This track is really cool and the video is good also.
50 cars or 1 coach? from acneadvertising on Vimeo.
Interesting advertising campaign. I am thinking about getting rid of my car as much as I love her! (and this is in English)
We arrived at the first major island of Amantani were we were greeted by a group of charming local Peruvian ladies from the local families on the island. We are staying with the locals here in there homes which is a great experience for some but nor all. This is where backpackers rub there hands together and get stuck in and the tourist get a real fright. Rob is really excited by this fact. I am too but Rob more so. I am actually getting more of a buzz and more into it by Robs excitement as he talked me round and we were introduced to a really nice lady who neither one of us can remember the name of which we both confess is really rude but are too afraid to ask and our Spanish is not so good either. But saying this hat off to Robbie the Rob, he took to Spanish like a duck to water on this trip and really has got stuck in. I was left for dead.
She has a lovely family especially her 9 year old son who took a real shine to Rob and they both went hanging out together on the island. He is a cool kid.
It was here that the acute lack of energy resources kicked in. I got pretty sick after that trip to the Coco Canyon. Robbie the Rob is generally as fit as a fiddle so he was up and about after climbing that peak but I was crippled. My legs were gone. So I rested. I stayed in while he went for a further climb with his newly found friend above who I think was called Olivia.
Rob took some great shots on the top of the hill while he was gone though.
As dusk came I realised the house had no lighting, there certainly was no Internet and no CNN to remind me about war and Obamas health care reform plans (thank goodness). But it was amazing. I realised the importance of the sun and how screwed life on earth is without it. Here I was on this pitch dark island at 7PM the sun had gone down and I could no longer read my book I was almost done reading. But this family had literally shut down in line with the sun. It was really strange.
My vision of Canada Water back home in East London lit at 4AM like it was 3PM in the busy London banking district was such a far thought. I looked into the distance all the stars in the sky I had never seen before due to the excessive lights back home from office building etc.
Rob stumbled back and in his usual “lets go shake it” mood which is what I like about him wanted to go and find a rave spot on this dead island. We went about 200m in the pitch dark and gave up and came home and called it a night. Tomorrow we will visit Taquile island before making our way back to Puno then we are off to Cusco on a night bus.
One of the highlights of my time in Cusco and I recommend it to all who go there is to paraglide off the mountains into the Sacred Valley. Its 900m down into the Valley and depending on the wind you will be up in the air for about 15 minutes plus. I am so quiet on this video as I am just speechless really which as many of you who know me is rare! The views in Peru are amazing as it is but it doesn’t get much ariel than this. I personally enjoyed my adventure sports options in Cusco over the Inca trial and have no regrets. This was incredible. A big thanks to Julia for sending me her video footage she took of me taking off.
Internet was off at this point and all this stuff was written in a journal on paper. Why am I telling you this well it’s to point out that from Arequipa the world of Internet was a pipe dream pretty much and it was only to get worse for the next few days.I needed it really given my job and stuff. Lake Titicaca was about hanging out with Perus indiginous population and switching off my comforts for a few days. The next few days my green party friends would be happy to know were the lowest carbon burning days of my life. Although short lived admitedly as I flew home to London on a jet plane!
When dusk fell I didn’t even have electricity never mind Firefox or Twitter. It was actually a breath of fresh air from the ways of my life back home and made me realise many things about life in the west. Anyway enough of this Age of stupid stuff!
7AM we arrive at the port and got on a taxi boat. We were booked on a two day tour that took us to three stop offs.
The first is a slight tourist trap but interesting non the less. It is a set of man made floating islands where the local indiginous people hang out and pretend to live and sell pretty things. It looks like a total tourist trap but its pretty and the effort is magnificant. My photos are great. The colours are amazing and even though you can tell pretty much straight away they don’t live there its cool and a good start to our trip.
It is a short stay on the way to the two main islands we visited on our tour of the great lake:
Lake Titicaca is 3812m above sea level. It is the largest lake in south america stretching all the way from peru to Bolivia and one of the highest in the world.
Arequipa was a place Robbie the Rob and I had become pretty comfortable with. The scenery, the food, the ladies it had a real comfort zone about it that meant we spent a few more days here than we had planned to. But the our travel itinary was pushing us further south to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
Persisting on our method of night bus downtime and ignoring the war stories of dodgy coach crashes we cruised out of Arequipa with regret at 11PM
Flying out of the city at speed in the Peruvian night the temperature was dipping. Arequipa was cold but it was getting colder. Rob and I have been struggling with this whole cold at night warm in the day thing since we got here. But Puno was bitterly cold.
We arrived in Puno in the dead of the night, 3AM to be exact. Puno was an ugly ghost town at night, no life and no sound. Quite a scary place to be dropped off by a night bus. We clenched onto the light of the coach station as we tried to find refuge. A local taxi driver drove us from place to place in our lonely planet book as we woke up sleepy night watchmen all telling us they were full up. We finally get a room at Hotel Italia the local Italian separatist joint. Expensive with no heating we freeze ourselves to sleep with CNN in the background gently reminding me why America is doing such an awesome job in Afghanistan in its fight on the War on Terror and its global fight to preserve freedom and democracy the world over.
Puno is going to be short lived and we will be heading straight to the lake tomorrow.
Ok so this was my entry to the world of mountains and trekking. I was excited but nervous at the same time. Excited by the sights but nervous about my fitness levels especially my lungs which are Asthma prone. And as you always forget something when you pack I forgot my inhaler.
The Colca Canyon is the worlds second deepest canyon and twice as deep as the grand canyon in America at a mighty 3150 metres in total depth. To visit it we were going to have to leave Arequipa and take a three hour bus ride into the mountains.
It proved to be the bus ride from hell. We got the unlucky seats at the back of the bus and it was the bumpiest ride ever and with no toilet on board it was brutal. The landscape was amazing but my bladder was being smashed to smithereens and it turned into a 3 hour arse kicking.
We arrived in a small outreach village where we bed down for the night. This is where the life of relative luxury in terms of Internet connections, comfortable beds and decent food disappeared for my holiday. In exchange for the mountains and nature its worth every bit.
We suddenly got our first taste of Indigenous Peru and I am trying to be as respectful as possible instead of treating them like some sort of Disney characters in Disney world. Unlike some of the tourists here with their huge SLR cameras.
Rob and I are just kicking it here in Arequipa. Loving it, some real nice sights and people. Not going to write a lot today. Paid to go to the Arequipa Monestry which was amazing. My pictures are really good. Check my Flickr feed. Going to head to the Colca Canyon tomorrow to trek in the mountains which should be cool.
This trip has been a whistle stop tour so far. Me and Robby the Rob have not really stopped any place for more than a day at a time and here we are, day six at Nazca home of the Nazca Lines. We left Ica where we slept on day 5 and took a bus at 7am to get here. I haven´t yet blogged about sand boarding but I am low on down time right now so more on that later when I talk about day 5 which was amazing!
By 11am we were in an airport and getting in a 5 man flight to fly over the famous Nazca lines. It has been the most expensive tourist thing we have done so far but worth it. The views are incredible and the mystery of the lines themselves speak volumes. My images will appear on this blog eventually but it was difficult to get shots of the lines in this plane as you were being hurtled around the desert of Nazca between Rob and I think we have enough.
We all felt pretty sick by the end of the flight. And the travel sickness tablets did little to help. I ended up crashing on the bench outside the aiport to avoid throwing up like the others. Rob seems to be his happy self all the time which keeps the spirits up.
We are in a hostel that is storing our bags right now and we are out of here in a hour or so. Things are pretty sweet out here. The scenery is amazing in Nazca. Its like nothing I have ever seen in my life. This is true Peru, it feels like the romaticism of South America is gaining momentum which in Lima can be in doubt. Day 5 and Day 6 have been awesome and I feel like this trip is getting better and better. My photos are testimant to this and I am no photographer although I am getting the hang of this Cannon G9 I stole from Athar in manual mode!