Lima, What can I get you?

Hola, buenos dias. ¿Quieras algo?

Driving around Peru's capital Lima is not without its advantages nor it's disadvantages. The smog soaked streets are difficult to navigate. You have to be pretty damn good to avoid suicidal pedestrians, old carts laden with fruit driven by the older folk of the neighbourhood, men moving a whole lounge set on a little trolley along the main avenue and the colectivos. The colectivos are mini-buses driven by mini-men with an inflamed tendency to leave their sanity at home before work. Shooting in and out of traffic like a hungry mouse in a maze, driven by the smell of the cheese, these buses hustle for their passengers. Normally so full, people are hanging out the doors for dear life, these buses are hard to miss for both the eye and for the slightly to heavily battered cars that cram Lima's streets.

Coughing your way though this traffic in a hot car can easily scare off the weary or easily spooked tourist. Do not fear though, the people of Lima have the answer, an excuse to hop in the car rather than walk or take a colectivo. Touts, vendors and jack of all trades.

Sitting in your car at a traffic jam or long red light will, without any doubt, give you the chance to buy, be entertained or at a minimum have a good chat with one of the many trying to make their money off motorists. Jugglers and mimes seem to be the main form of entertainment which weaves it's way between the traffic, although sometimes you see men playing the tin can and singing.

If you are short of anything, these people will either have it for sale or know someone very close by who does. A water bottle, water purification tablets, torches, gum, glue, chocolate, stationery, cookies and even, in some case, icecream.

Unfortunately due to the high levels of poverty in this overcrowded city, these people are desperate. Buying something may in some cases feel slightly more like charity with a perk. It becomes difficult to have to say no to people all the time. How much help and money can you actually give before you yourself are caught in a hard place. A question which I'm sure plagues more tourist than just me.

Of Peru's 29 million(+) population nearly 45% of people live below the poverty line, a daily sight on the busy Lima streets. With unemployment slowly climbing the locals have little option but to do what it takes to surivive in this rapidly growing city. The gut wrenching sight of Peruvians lining the streets in one of Lima's richest suburbs, Miraflores, selling whatever they can lay their hands on, does nothing to revitalise your faith in humanity nor in easily corruptable power hungry democratic systems.

So the purchase of a piece of gum, a pair shoelaces or a few nuevo soles (Peruvian currency) will not go astray. Enjoy the show and the snack and feel, if only a little, better as you make your way through Lima's energetic, living and breathing streets.

Besos from Lima,
Mikey Fitz

What's your flavour?

Bogota, the capital of the world's highest cocaine production, is home to a surprising past time. Sure cocaine can be purchased from anyone aged 8 and up along the well known bar strips and yes it seems that Colombian sex shops also, almost always, double as joke shops (I'm sure there is a private joke somewhere in it's origin) but Bogota is known for something else slightly less sinister yet equally as wicked. So Bogota, tell me, what's your flavour?

Now I've heard stories and have friends that indulge in this past time on a daily basis, although their efforts in this activity fades in comparison to the local's sheer determination not to be out-done.

What is this past time you ask? Flavour mixing. What? That's right, in Bogota there are no rules of engagement when it comes to food.
What weird combinations are you known for? Peanut butter and cheese? Icecream and hot sauce? Vegemite and avocado? Ham and jam sandwiches?

Well if you are into your weird food combinations Bogota is the place for you.Do you want sugar on your steak? How bout a spoonful of salt on that fresh pineapple? Nope? Well at least you have to try our cheese, condensed milk and guava pastry!

If none of these work for you, you are not weird, they don't for me either. However there has been one combination that I have fallen for and it comes served to you for about $3 in Cafe Florida in the heart of the cities old town. Hot chocolate and a cheese sandwich. Not weird? No not at all, except you are expected to dip your cheese sandwich in the hot chocolate! The soggy sweet chocolaty bread and slightly melt cheese makes the world feel right again. If John Lennon really was serious about peace his songs all would have included this recipe for success.
Don't knock it till you've tried it! So, tell me, what's your flavour?

With Love,
Mikey Fitz

Columbian Drivers

Climbing into a vehicle driven by a Columbian is not for the weak hearted. If you suffer from anything ranging from mild heart problems, motion sickness, to anxiety then this recreational past time is not for you.

In Columbia riding in a car or a bus stops being a means of getting from A to B and quickly becomes an extreme sport.

It's difficult to know who or what to blame for these raucous rides but there is no doubt you know exactly what you are getting yourself into when you step through the door and ease yourself into the worn seat.

Maybe it's the four lane freeways that don't actually have any lanes or it could be that Columbian have too much on there minds to be thinking about silly little things like road rules and personal safety. No surely it's that I'm missing the subtleties in the Columbian road rules. Didn't you know that the speed limit signs are meant to be multiplied by 4 and that you only indicate when you want stop in the middle of the road to re-tie the boxes of live chickens back onto the back of your scooter.

Taking a bus is equally as entertaining as it is spine jarring. Cruising down a steep hill and taking hair pin turns at more than 50km an hour one handed over dirt roads in the dark and in torrential rain while narrowly missing the commonly found landslide debris is all part of the fun. Don't fear though Columbian regulations means that you have to display your speed to the passengers, as a form of safety and security for the frightened cargo. So if you were already worried by the harrowing adventure at least you know that your driver is doing triple the speed limit while drinking his heavily sugared coffee to stop his eyes from closing at 4 in the morning.

Columbia, I love you but I don't really love your drivers. Roller-coasters are fun but not every day.

From Medellin with love,
Mikey

Panama City, San Blas and the SY Maluco!

Hola!
This entry finds me tired, sweaty and a few hundred clicks closer to the equator. After posting a long awaited entry about the Cuba leg I figured it's time to catch up while the Internet is fast and free.

A week after flying from Cuban shores I find myself in Columbia. I took the least direct route possible to get here. A very early morning flight took me from Cuba's Havana to Panama City. The change was instantaneous and left me a little 'reversed-culture' shocked. Vending machines littering the airport spoke of the things to come. Wow there is food here, lots of it! Oh look a car made in the last 10 years! Wow look at the billboards, they aren't pushing government messages, this time it's Nike oh look that one is for hair dye, what a strange and seemingly unimportant thing to put on such a large billboard! These thoughts came out in little outbursts of noise, generally high pitch gasps or low humming and hawing. These sights, which i grew up with, seemed so alien and so pointless.

Panama City is cool, it's growing like a little Dubai, thriving after they took control of the famous canal which splits their country in two. There is money there and lots of it, but saddled up nice and tight next to these amazing over-the-top construction sites are slum cities, areas in which even the police are afraid to go. I can't comment too much on the city itself nor the country because as it turned out we had to make a run for the coast to make the SY Maluco sail boat to Columbia. From what I saw and heard, I would love to go back and explore Panama, so much to see.

So en-route to Puerto Lindo we passed the canal, Jurassic park-like rain forest (minus the velocoraptors) and managed to find our way to the sleepy little bay where rested our Venezuelan Captain John and his wife Eleene. We boarded the SY Maluco and set sail to the San Blas archipelago, a serious of 100's of picture-perfect tropical paradise islands inhabitant by the local Indians, the Kuna people.

The first day was hell, an 8 hour journey to the islands was spent in total motion sickness, avoiding actually being physically sick through a combination of meditation and sleep. The next days proved to be the best relaxing, swimming, snorkeling and relaxing (did I say that twice?) I've done in a long time.

The islands were perfect, the water was warm and clean and the sun shone bright from morning to night. The stars were unhindered by any light pollution and the rain during the early hours of the morning cooled things down.

Unfortunatly all good things end, as did the island stay and thus starting the 36hour sail to Cartagena in Columbia. It wasn't easy but I managed, no real sea sickness but the endless water and the sun's heat was, at some points, unbearable. It was nice to set foot on land again but my sea legs made the first few hours difficult. I have come to the definite conclusion that I am no sailor nor will I ever have a desire to be so, but I did love the cruisy island life and in some ways envy the life of John and Eleene.

From Columbia,

Mikey Fitz

Cuba: Colour, Communism, Contradictions

Ahh Cuba.

When you step off the plane you feel Cuba's heat wash over you like a wave. This heat brings with it a scent of things to come and leaves you wanting more. Cuba, you learn pretty quickly, actually lives and breathes, you can feel it's heartbeat if you stand still for long enough.

Driving from the airport you are taken from cane fields to a colourful Havana, the place you imagined, the people you thought you would see, the cigar smoke you knew would hang heavy in the air. However after a few short hours a change in you will grow that you cannot deny, a change that will fester the longer you linger in Cuba's interesting socialist paradise.

Cuba without a doubt is a beautiful country, rich in history, (in)famous for it's revolutionaries and a stubborn little survivor in a capitalist world. Cuba however was a surprise, it came close to proving every preconceived idea I had about Cuba to be almost completely wrong. I learnt and confirmed it over the month I spent roaming Cuba's lush soils, that although Cuba lives and breathes, it's breath is closer to a smokers wheeze than a soft breeze and its heart beat is tired and slow.

Cuba is and isn't what you think it is, its loved and hated at the same time, it is communism that supports a small minority getting rich off capitalism more than it supports the people. The people are tired, they seem to have lost the energy they were so proud of in the 60s and 70s. They have been scarred by Fidels 'special period' and the use of the insufficient ration cards, they are sick of the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor. The people of Cuba seem to be waiting, whether its on a stoop smoking a cigar or napping with pistol in lap at a desk guarding some unknown warehouse entrance. Waiting for change but: too scared? tired? respectful of their benevolent leader Fidel? to make these changes. These questions I could not figure out nor could i peer any deeper into the lives, ideas or feelings of this country. It is strictly forbidden, not necessarily by the government (although there are jail sentences if you bad mouth the government and rewards if you dob in your neighbor), but these people do not like or want to reveal the true nature of this county.

In Cuba the traveller in you is forcefully pushed aside to the tourist in you. You are forced onto tourist only buses to tourist only restaurants to tourist only parks. Leave these places at your own peril. Dangerous? No! Outside these tourist zones is nothing, no food for sale, in fact no food, the locals surviving on there meager rations and a hard days toil in the fields. So fully air-conditioned buses take you along the well worn tourist path guided by the invisible and in your face government, with their political billboards and state supported graffiti artists.
I did enjoy Cuba but the lack of necessities, the poverty living side by side with the rich and the endless hustlers offering you cheap cigars and women eventually gets you down. They wear you out, or at least your ability to see the bright side of this Caribbean island and its people.

All this aside, there are some very beautiful people and some areas in which the communist system function to the people's greatest benefit. Small communities thrive and networks exist which allow each and every friend, partner, family member or fellow Cubano to benefit from tourism. Casas link you to other Casas, taxis suggest their friends first, restaurants (when they have no food, which is quite common) will send you to another which offers equally Cuban food. One particulary funny and sad moment was when we visited a government run pizza chain, sat down and were given the menus. The waiter came out a few moments later and informed us that 'tonight we have no pizza'. They simply lacked the ingredients to make the base.

I loved Cuba and but I couldn't love the daily contradictions the people face. I loved many of the people I met and the places they lived but I couldn't love the restrictions and hardships these people faced. Cuba truly is a puzzle, a maze for the learner and a riddle I couldn't quite figure out.

Cuba is: Colour, Communism but most of all Cuba is a living, breathing contradiction.

Yours truly,

Mikey Fitz