photos and video...

Check out this ==> http://lucas.intercate.net/videos/ mov00271.mpg for view from the top of the world, right click and select save as, it's a big video file (9.2M) but worth a look!!!

Plus new photos in the gallery http://lucas.intercate.net/gallery/huayna?page=1

6088m

I would like to recount the hardest thing I have ever done! No it was not the HSC, nor getting a university degree or starting my first full time job. I was not breaking up with my first girlfriend (Sorry Mel!) nor going out in ten foot surf..... I was climbing a 6088m mountain called Huayani Potosi.... 2000m of ice and snow to the top. I have never been so close to crying, throwing up and giving up as a result of physical pain in my life! We got up at 11:30pm and started the climb at 1am, reached the top at 6:30am for sun rise and commenced the decent at about 7:00am and reached the bottom at 10:30am..... All with no real breaks only ones to catch your breath. As you get higher up the mountain the amount of oxygen in the air gets less and less until you can barely walk 5 meters without colapsing (and I mean falling to the ground gasping for air.....). Like ten times on the way up I was gasping "I give up, I can’t go on". But it occured to me as I said this that there really wasn’t much I could do if I gave up. Would I sit there in the snow and ice at 4am in the freezing cold moring at about –10 degrees and wait for the rest of the team to return from the top some 4 hours later??? And then you find out that when you are faced with impossible things that you have no choice but to do you do them. And the amazing thing is that I wanted to die at 4am (and 3am and 2am) but at 5:30am we hit the last part of the battle, the final assualt onthe summit. A 200m shear wall of ice. Now I am so afraid of climbing cliffs, let alone without much safety equipment (a guide, Nick and I were tied together but to nothing else) but I knew what I realised before... I had no choice but to do it and the goal being so close I was able to ignore my nausia (from the height, lack of oxygen, and food and water as I could not eat or drink due to by sickness and above all lack of oxygen as I had not slept the night before) and all other fears and use my ice axe and crampons (metal spikes on my shoes) and make it to the top..... At the top unlike what I had anticipated, which was me getting a photo of myself on the summit with no shirt on (something for the ladies....), rather I was copmletely exhausted, like never before in my life. And I was so cold that I had to rub my toes (and fingers) back from the brink of frost bite (this is no exageration!!!!). But as the sun rose it all warmed up and became totally worth it. I was almost on the brink of tears with myself and how proud I was that I could do something I knew I could not do. It then became apparent that what stops me from doing things is fear not my ability (well most of the time as I doubt I would have ever been able to play for the Steelers...). I can’t wait to try this out again something Nick and I will have to work out.. But it is not limited to adventure sports but everything so maybe when I hit the office in London I can start to apply the things I have learnt here..... And after all that we have a few lose ends to tie up here in La Paz like my new Brazil VISA as we have decided to go down the Amazon on a boat after all.... 10 days from Iquitos (Peru) to Manaus (Brazil) from there North into Venezuela and onto Colombia. Before that though we head to the Isla del Sol in the famous Lake Titicaca (yes ladies and gents from the cartoon lost cities of gold!!!!) and then to Cuzco to do the world famous Inca Trail, then to Nazca to see the ‘lines’ which have confused scientists for hundreds of years, then to Lima and north to Peru’s world famous beaches... then to Iquitos..... Heaps of things to do so I better get moving. Hope all is well and will be incontact with all of you via the email!

Makes it to 24 alive!!!!!

Thankyou all for your emails and Birthday wishes! I have to start by saying it was the best birthday I think I have ever had. Not in the sense of being around those you love (as none of you were there!) but due to its simplicity and excitement…. No pressure about presents and doing things and being in places, rather I had one place to be and fate could take control from there.

Well the mountain biking was amazingly good, like whenever on this trip I think I have had an unbeatable experience I manage to do something better!!! Actually more likely is the fact that the intense feelings of the last experience start to fade as the new experience is formed and then of course the new experience is going to be better (well seem relatively better anyways) but hey who cares about analyising things when you can feel them for yourself!? But really I pushed myself to the limit going down that road, always near the front and close to the edge… and when you see the photos you will know what I mean about near to the edge! Managed to finish 2nd out of 17 people, which given my minimal experience was a major achievement (note here that it wasn’t a race by any means but if you put young men and speed together then a race will always eventuate!).

The rest of the day faded into the spirit of the Russians (Vodka, my favourite!), rest assured that the gropes of nights gone past returned (some of you will know what that means, others not). I managed to dance with God knows how many women and then stumble home empty handed at the end of the night, fall into bed and eat my Snickers bar (which I have been dying to eat and because I suffered major memory loss from that night I can’t even remember eating it, the half chewed nuts and pieces of wrapped strewn across the room led me to believe that it was me who ate it…. This has harmed me so badly that I dream of chocolate… but hey I just had two chocolate donuts and a mega big coffee so I am feeling great!!!!).

Woke up the next day with that feeling that I am sure we can all relate to, which is, ‘how did I get here and what happened last night?’ not something you want to feel every morning but well worth it from time to time. Had a great brekky with a view to die for and then went for a swim….. Got Nick out of his slumber and then phase two of the weekend’s adventure was to begin…. Catching a local truck back to La Paz, this involved standing for 5 hours with the locals as we slowly climbed back up the ‘worlds most dangerous road’…. This was as good as the day before for excitement and danger… Like have you ever seen two trucks pass each other on a 4m wide road, with a 800m drop to contend with???? Check photos…..

Rest assured it was cold by the time we got to the top. We went from about 400m to about 4800m, that’s a big climb in any country and in the open, in the rain and by the top snow it can get pretty cold. A sheet of yellow plastic kindly shared by Lorenzo who was sitting next to us was a God send. The fruit grower and his son, David, travel down and back up that crazy road every weekend to go to church…. Now risking your life to go to church is an amount of dedication us in the west just don’t have anymore…. Rest assured Lorenzo spoke no English and it was my slowly improving broken Spanish that enabled me to learn things about him….

Well Nick, Donal (our new Irish friend, who I think we peer pressured into coming on the truck… like we saw no other Gringos in these trucks, just another testament to Nick and My desire to do everything possible and push ourselves way out of our comfort zones…) and I finally reaching La Paz said our goodbyes to a our new friends on the truck (most of whom warmed to us once they realised that we had bothered to learn Spanish) and hopped into a mini van into the Centre to get some well earned Burger King©….

What a weekend!!!!!! Tonight we’re going to the cemetery here, where I plan to scare the crap out of myself and then it is off to a mountain climb in the next few days. We hope to break through 6000m, this will be most likely once again the best things I have done on my trip so far…. I wonder what will end up being the best??? Maybe returning home to see all of you again…. I think that will be the case most certainly…

Hugs and Kisses and prayers too as I now go to church regularly even if it is sitting in the back of a Catholic church for 10 minutes at a time…..

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Everyone, lets give Lucas a round of applause on behalf of his birthday! He is on the otherside of the world from his family and friends, so make sure you leave a comment to wish him all the best!

Love you brother.

Andrew

Getting Older....

Well it is my last day of being a 23 year old and I have to say that it feels really odd to be getting older so quickly.....

And for my 'big day' I have something very big planned; Check out the following link http://gravitybolivia.com/view?page=12 Is going to be a crazy day..... Followed by a few drinks I would say.......

What has happened since my last post? Hmmm went to the silver mines in Potosi (new photos in the gallery for that), went to Sucre and mainly chilled out and BOUGHT A GUITAR, which is great fun as now I have something to practice and imporve on in my spare time. Travelled here to La Paz last night and am about to go mountain biking tomorrow.

I think something has changed of late though... hard to describe but I think I have been away from home for long enough now to feel that home is part of an old life now.... hmmm maybe not but anyways I really am feeling like my home now is the next hostel I arrive in and my family is the next group of friends I make on the next adventure that happens. Don't worry family and friends you are still all the most important to me but I think there is part of the human that needs a family and friends at all times so we create them wherever we find ourselves and for me it's South America at the moment.....

Anyway I am safe and having a great time......... nothing much more to add to that.......Oh and I hope to hear from you on my birthday via the email as it's nice to know I am not forgotten.....

F#$K

My camera just got stolen from between my legs as I wrote that last post.... F#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$KF#$K

Into Bolivia....

Wow... what a way to enter a country!!!! Driving at heights of 5000m, seeing the driest places on earth, eating coca leaves, getting buggered tired from climbing for 10min due to the altitude, sleeping in a hotel made of salt, finding our driver/cook/guide drunk at 8:30am whilst he continues to drink beer, me having to 4x4 the Landcruiser from our hostel across the salt flats (including a lake.... couldnt see through windscreen but kept on driving!!!!!), sitting on the roof of the 4x4 hands free!!!!, getting lost on the salt flats, running out of fuel, flagging down a 4x4 in the distance which bascially saved us a night on the salt flats with no food or water, having a street party with the locals, having to help out two children stuck ontop of a train in the train cemetary, finding out there are no buses out of town due to blockades, negotating a 4x4 to use a back road to get us out of town, getting to a blockade on the back road (complete with locals blowing up dinamite to prove a point....), getting a local high on coke to guide us in the middle of the night along a back road to the back road..... And finally getting here to Potosi.... Wow only my 5th day in this country and I feel like I have experienced it all yet I know there is a lot more to come.....

Feeling really excited about the rest of this journey.... Planning on extending our stay in South/Central America until the end of July as there really is so much to do here......

We have spent the last week with a great group of people we meet on our tour of the Salar de Uyuni. A Frenchman, a Polish woman, two Swedes and an Australian girl. I am starting to really understand how this global community of travellers works and I am happy to be a part of it all. t really is so good, everyone is out to experience new things and are all happy to have you join them. Every group that is formed has the required skills from bravery, language, to humor.... it really is amazing how things all work out over here.....

I am curretnly in a place called Potosi and it is the highest city in the world with some 150,000 people at a height of over 4100m, and let me tell you that you can feel it walking up the streets here!!!!! I am going to a silver mine this afternoon, which is meant to have the worst conditions in the world and some 10,000 people have died there.... Crazy stuff, but this country is crazy. Will be off to Sucre tomorrow and then to La Paz by the end of the week. Blockades permitting I will be in a small 'Eden' called Coroico for my Birthday this weekend, where i will indulge in a massage and a horseride through the country side and then a great meal that night....

If anyone wants to give me a present I can provide bank details and will buy something over here at your suggestion (thinking a guitar....) ;-)

Oh and La Paz will be a great place to buy stuff so if there are any requests I am thinking of buying a bunch of stuff and mailing in a box to Mum (thanks mum) for her to distribute as mailing it all individually would be impossible....

New photos on site check:
http://lucas.intercate.net/gallery/Salar-de-Uyuni
http://lucas.intercate.net/gallery/Uyuni-and-Potosi

Oh well hope you are all having fun and look forward to your emails and seeing you on MSN...

Take care!

A change of the guard

Well it has finally happened and I have to say it's about bloody time!!!! That poor old guy was busting to leave this planet and finally God was kind enough to let him free. But let this be a lesson for us all.... never get a job where the only way to retire is to DIE (¿Dad?).....

Well all the shops were closed today and hence not much could be done. Actually Salta which is in the North of Argentina around the tropic of capricon has been a relax and recover time for me. A chance to reflect on a few issues which have been bothering me a fair bit of late and also drink at night. One more day here and then off to the desert of San Pedro de Atacama.

Not much to say at the moment only that travelling alone is a nice change but it would be heaps easier if I could speak a lot of Spanish.... One day I will get this language.....

I will write again from Bolivia.