Hola folks, its been a while since our last entry we´ve been travelling fast on boats, buses and our first plane since arriving. we are now in Cusco, Peru. its the belly button of the world with stunning views at 3350m. It is our favourite city so far but first we need to back track to colombia, san augustin...

San augustin was a small town set in the mountains south of colombia. the horse is still very much an important part of everyday life and we had alot of fun racing around on crazy horses looking at statues that there is little known about. It was here that some local guys stopped their truck to get a photo with Mike, they thought he was David Beckham. Hah!

Next stop was Ecuador after many hours on buses we found ourselves in Otovalo. a quaint little town that reminded us of Guatemala with its colourful indigenous folk and markets where we purchased our fine traditional hats. we were lucky to be here during the fiestas that celebrate the harvest season. We went to a nearby village cotacatchi to join in the fun, which consisted of locals dressed in colourful ponchos,masks,hats and weapons, dancing and stomping down the streets! Louise particularly liked the furry cowboy pants. The first night was alot calmer with the locals playing flutes,drums, guitars and dancing in the town´s main square. It had a real community feel with all ages participating. They were huddled together in groups and shuffled and stomped down the roads in time with the music and lead by the melodic flute, when they reached the corner of the street they would all turn in circles one way then change direction and repeat this like they were in a trance then head off down another street. the next day was a completely different atmosphere as there were alot of police with tear gas. it was just the indigenous folk and in the past this was a time for them to settle differences. around and around the square they marched getting drunker and drunker clutching metal whips and bars. it had a menacing energy and as you stood in front of an oncoming gang to get a picture you had to jump out of the way of the stampede. there was alot of different food most of it dodgy and you dont know where it has been!

We spent a weekend in the capital Quito which was fun and visited the centre of the earth. got to enjoy all kinds of experiments like water funneling in different directions on either side and balancing eggs on nails. Louise shot a poisonous dart out of a blow pipe and killed an american tourist! oh what fun!

We decided that we wanted to spend more time in Peru and Bolivia and a change of scenery would be nice so set of on a voyage by river from Coca, Ecuador to peru, by canoe. Information was hard to come by on how to get down the rio Napo to Iquitos. there are bad relations at this border between the 2 countries as there has been a dispute for years on who owns what land. Peru claimed more but apparently Ecuador left aload of water mines as a parting gift. we took a 12 hour boat ride to a small town where we slept the night then took another smaller boat over the border to the next town, Pantoja which was in Peru. Never before have we heard so much different information on boats, prices and times and it seemed like noone knew anything! we were hoping on getting a huge ferry that carries hundreds of people and livestock but it was only once a month and wasnt due for 10 days (though who could you believe). the town was tiny but louise managed to find a night club which was run by 8 year olds and gave them a dance class which they loved.with the help of an israeli who was also doing the journey we bargained for a small canoe and left the following day. it was cramped with us, the israeli, an equadorian and 3 Peruvian soldiers, plus 3 crew and a sloth! the journey took 2 days and a night travelling. it was beautiful and we got to spend a night in a larger village which was full of welcoming amazonian people. we cooked on the river bank with our cooker to a crowd of 30 children who couldnt comprehend our little gas cooker. this is what a school looks like in the amazon. this is what louise looks like sleeping in a hut in her hammock. amazon huts and amazon girlswashing. Children walking to school. mrs sloth (oso peresoso-lazy bear) was happy after a good nights sleep. we continued on stopping at various little places when toilet was needed to the strange welcomings of confused amazonians who would line the bank. One old lady saw Louise had become attached to a kitten and threw it to the boat for louise as we departed but it was decided we couldnt take it. In this village louise had a poo in a floating toilet. after 2 days the captain wanted to sleep in some tiny bug infested place and we needed to have a confrontation to continue the journey. they were worried that it was dangerous in the dark so we lent them torches and all was good. saying that they did run into a sand bank. we were awoken in the night by shouting as they found a fish trap (the amazonians stick a pole into the river bed and tie a rope to it with a hook and bait. they return later and simply pull up their catch) and pulled the fish into the boat which was big and violently flapping about. As it was close to our sleeping heads, louise feared it was a piranha and let out a small scream. There was more drama later as mike was awoken to the shouts of louise, in his sleepiness thought she had fallen overboard. he looked up to see louise stuck in waist deep mud. she had jumped onto the bank,half asleep, to have a wee thinking it was solid but immediately sunk. she continued trudging through hoping to get out but only getting deeper. Her cries for help to mike went unanswered as mike took the decision that it was less muddy in the boat. Eventually a soldier, already ashore offered a stick to help pull Louise out and she got back in the boat grumpy and cold and covered in shite! The night did not get any better as shortly after a thick fog rolled in and we had to keep stopping to wait for it to clear, as Louise was shivering under a tarpaulin. After a looong night we arrived at dawn in the bonito town San Clotilda. our boat is on the right. we spent a day here the people were so happy and friendly. everbody was interested to know if we were married and couldnt believe louise hadnt had a baby yet. the average age for a baby there is 14 -16 and a husband must be found by 20. Feeling old! we caught a speed boat the following morning and to our surprise, mrs sloth had a baby. the soldier who owned it didnt even know she was pregnant. The soldier seemed like a rather camp action man and we thought that perhaps the sloth was the latest fashion accessory. We even thought he had dyed its hair to suit the soldiers camo uniform but the sloth grows algae on its coat to match the colour of its environment. In this case the tree was green and white! after a quick motor taxi across land we jumped another hour long boat and made it to Iquitos just before dark.

A strange city which grew from the rubber boom of the amazon its isolated and only reachable by boat or air. its full of motorbike taxi with a little seat at the back for 2 people. this region is known for shamans and we decided to take part in a ceremony in the jungle. after much searching we found a shaman who seemed genuine and who would take us to a little village to experience a traditional ceremony with an older shaman. it took a day on boats to get there arriving in the dark and during this time Rosanna our guide explained the preparations. the following morning we got up at 5 and drank oje, which is sap from a fig tree mixed with milk and lots of honey for taste, though this didnt help at all it was a strong foul smelling acidic concoction which could make you vomit just from the smell. we downed it in one! yuck! Oje is to clean your system of any parasites or amoebas and worms. It certainly cleaned us out,after taking it one by one we were violently sick and doing number twos which were acidic and burnt! This cleansing process took till lunchtime and the diahrea lasted all day. We were all feeling extremely rough and felt It was an unusual way of bonding with the group! next we watched the shaman prepare the vine which we would drink that night. part of the ritual included blowing tobacco on anything that moved. They believe that tobacco is the sacred leaf of mother earth and use it for blessing. here mike is blowing it on the vine as the shaman beats it in preparation for it to be cooked. Here are the before and after photos of the ayahuasca brew. it was cooked for the whole day. this is where we stayed. ayahuasca is a powerfull healing plant and the shamans use it for cleansing and connecting people to mother earth. there are many people with terminal illnesses who come for healing. it can help them with the acceptance of death. the ceremony took place at 9 after a sleep, we were told we would need our energy as it would be a long night. We were told to close our eyes and concentrate on ourselves and visions. we all sat in a circle and were thoroughly blown on with tobacco then in turn we were handed a small glass of the brew! Some people immediately threw up, which we were told was still part of the cleansing process! Great fun! We both stomached it ok and found it tasted very woody and smokey. After much chanting, puking and some instrument playing we didnt feel any effects! they claimed that as we had cleansed in the morning with the oje the ayahuasca didnt need to cleanse so wasnt as strong. we went to sleep and both experienced strange dreams. The following night we did a second ceremony and were told that this would be stronger as they boiled it down further in the day. the local who lived in the hut threw up immediately and mike became very hot and dizzy and was also sick, throwing up the jungle rodent that we had for lunch. Louise became dizzy but wasnt sick and only experience was getting attacked by the millions of mosquitoes. She was itching like crazy throughout the ceremony!. again we didnt really feel any real visual effects and went to bed slightly disappointed! so we didnt get to talk to trees or have our third eyes opened but it was an interesting experience seeing it performed in the traditional way. We heard that alot of other so called shamans mix ayahuasca with other pscycadelic drugs which guarantees visuals which is more tourism shamanism. originally each village had a shaman and each area had a head shaman. if the village shaman couldnt heal the problem the person was sent to the head shaman. we took the long boat ride back enjoying the views and were forced on to the roof as the boat slowly stopped and filled with fish some as big as us. this photo is for you katie. little miss muffet....

So we took our first flight rather than 4 or 5 more days on boats and landed in Lima, the capital. A horrid city, we left the next day for Huacachina which is an oasis with huge sand dunes. We did some sandboarding, which was cool and left for Cusco!

Cusco rocks! Weve been riding horses, checkin out some local ruins, hearin some good local music and walking up and down the narrow cobbled streets. we are heading to Machu Pichu on monday. Bueno!
Ps Larry says adios.