New York: Part 2

Now, where were we?

Aaah yes. Day 3. Brooklyn Bridge

So this morning, we decided to hit up some sightseeing of the landmarks of NYC, beginning with the famous Brooklyn Bridge. We took a couple of Subways to the bridge on the Manhattan side and took about an hour walk over the bridge. It's an old bridge with some history, and some awesome views of NYC's skyline. Brooklyn originally wanted to be an independant city, separate to NYC, alas that didn't happen and they're a borough of the Big Apple. Once we got over to the Brooklyn side, we then took a water taxi around Staten Island in the Hudson River and saw Lady Liberty and NYC from the water... Breathtaking views of the skyline and the freedom building, which has now taken the Twin Towers place, which went down well with our morning bubbles!

We got off the water taxi and found a boutique food court and had an early lunch of Spanish tapas and sangria. Delicious! Feeling nice and warm, we returned to Times Square and marvelled once again at the lights and sounds and jumped on a double decker bus with the top cut off for a guided city tour through Central Park and up and around through Harlem. Beautiful Harlem! It's such a colourful, bright part of NYC. Unfortunately, we didn't stop here, but we missed Apollo Theatre Amateur Night, so next visit to NYC - that's us. We had the coolest African American tour guide, who knew all the juicy spots and sights and after every time he said either 'New York' or 'Brooklyn' he would say, 'Baby!' in that typical NYC accent.

After a tour of the city, we found a nice pub in Hells Kitchen (a precinct next to Times Sq with fantastic restaurants and bars) and had some dinner and drinks. It was a nice pre-show event as we were about to get our Mufasa and Simba on at the Broadway show; The Lion King! The show was really well put together, with excellent dancers and performers. We had good seats, just off to the right with good views of the stage. The Lion King story is timeless and showcases courage, responsibility, family and a sense of home in a beautiful story set in the Savannah. Love this movie, and loved the broadway show.

Feeling absolutely smashed, we ventured home for the night... the exhaustion is catching up on us.

Day 4:

Day in Brooklyn today, we thought we would take it easy with a sleep in and some brunch at a local cafe in Williamsburg. Brunch is a big thing in NYC, in the States actually. It's usually a boozy morning/afternoon of bacon, eggs, omellettes, pancakes, bubbles, mimosas and bellinis. After some hearty breakfast we checked out some local boutiques in Williamsburg on the famous Bedford Ave. This street so reminds me of Cuba street with all of its coffee shops, cute restaurants and stores. As one can expect, there's many designers in NYC so there's no shortage of original clothing at reasonably affordable prices.

We then stumbled across a pop up flea market with over 200 vendors and 70 food vendors. So good! Tu found some wrestling cards and I bought a necklace with an old vintage key... nyc steez! Today was like our rest day here in the big apple, we've been feeling very exhaused here, walking 20+ kms a day so we thought we'd take the afternoon off and catch another flick. Quiet night with a movie and finding a brilliant elegant and small restaurant on Bedford Ave. It was simply called "Oyster Bar"... OMG the best meal we've had in NYC by far. It was a quaint restaurant, with candles and lights lighting up the room. The bar was both serving alcohol on one side, and oysters on the other. Tu tried three different types of oysters from NY state, we tried the marinated olives with anchovies, baked bread, then for main, Tu had the braised beef and I had crispy duck confit. Another OMG experience... all paired with cava (French champas) and I had a gin cocktail that went nicely with the duck. So delicious... and now we're ready for bed.

Day 5:

Final day in NYC. Lets do this! We took off to SoHo which is the fasion and shopping district of Manhattan. Overcome with the stores and xmas "sales" we bought a couply NYC streetwear items, some leather boots for the EU leg and some umbrellas, cos' the heavens opened up and it rained something wicked.

Off to LIttle Italy, we were frantically finding a place for lunch and Tu (once again, with his Maori/Italian radar) found us a cute place off the beat and path called Puglia Restaurant...(Tu spotted it because 'Puglia' is a region in southern Italy, and is where the Sciascia whanau came from.) The restaurant was an old family establishment from the 1940s, known for its simple, tasty italian food. We tried ravioli, and the Puglia pizza special washed down with a cold bottle of red (for only $16). So, so good. Feeling merry and full, we stumbled across a pop up designer store. Expensive, but original clothing from NYC designers, so we splurged a little :)

We then took off home again to prepare for the NBA game... One of Tu's bucket list items and dreams. No dinner, cos' we were going to get free food and beverage at the game... Turning up to Barclays, Tu was ecstatic, as was I! And this is where I pass over the keyboard for him to tell you all about his NBA dream... Where Brooklyn AT?!

Kia ora Dee for that intro... Ae, dreams were coming true this night. Like any big sporting event, there was a natural mystic flowing in the air... What I like about the Americans is their passion and support for their sporting teams - everyone is dressed up in their teams kit, and they follow their teams - even if they away.

Dee and I armed ourselves with a Brooklyn cap and beanie, and we ventured to our seats. First via the kai shop - because our tickets gave unlimited access to all kai and inu in the building - bar alcohol. Chicken salads, buffalo wings, hot chips, nachos, redbull, water, coke - we had it all! Heoi, armed with dinner we venture to our seats, I had an idea of where we were sitting, but sh*t was about to get craycray. Section 122, row 1, seats 1 and 2... I thought the top of the section was row 1 - but it was the bottom! And we literally only had courtside seats in front of us! Boom!

Loved the Biggy and Jay being played during warm-up... What else could a baller want! We had the Nets warming up at our end, which I was swt about because that meant we had Paul George dominating our end coming in the second half.

The game itself was good until halftime. Nets are struggling, and the Pacers are one of the best teams in the East. So they only lasted 24mins. Pearce got ejected of a weak foul, didnt really looked interested in playing. At least KG looks like he is giving a hundy all game. Joe Johnston needs to shoot more, and D-Will needs to control the game more, and they were serously missing Lopez (cos I think Hibbet is one of the best C in the game).

We supported Brooklyn because it was our home for a fantastic 6 days, but I am backing the Pacers in the East and Adams' OKC Thunder in the West. But a night I will never forget x thank you my baby!

After the game, we skyped our whanau and went to bed around 1am and woke up at 4am for our London flight.... London. Christmas Eve. Christmas Day. Wow.

 

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New York: Part 1

What a beast of a city, this is. We felt it important to provide blogs in 'parts' so that we don't miss any details of the trip that we need to share with ya'll. New York City is one of those cities that you instantly feel the wairua once arriving. It's an energy that is kinda mystic - you've seen NYC in the movies, on the news, in the video clips and music clips and all the songs. It's concrete buildings and old history, it's melting pot of every culture, language and religion on the planet in one small place.

New York is a wonderful, alive and inspiring place to be in...

So we arrived from the sunny Cayman Islands of 35 degrees to NYC and snow on the runway and about 10 layers. JFK airport was intense - waiting inline for an hour and a half for customs... Luckily our customs officer was super nice (first time ever!) and talked to us about Broadway shows and at the end says "Happy Holidays". Boom, we are instantly feeling christmassy! The iconic yellow cab takes us into Brooklyn where we've booked an apartment through AirBNB. Our apartment is not far from Bedford Ave in Williamsburg. A quaint part of Brooklyn that is now known for it's hip, chic bars and cafes and boutique stores. The grungiest, Cuba Street looking people live here and it's a nice taster of NYC. Our apartment is great. Big white walls, with a white duvet and curtains and your standard brick wall that are featured in most NY lofts.

The next morning we venture out at 730am trying to capture Brooklyn at that time of the morning when hustle and bustle of people scurrying to work and making their way to the subway, grabbing coffee and a bagel on the way and dressed extremely fashionable. We took two subway trains to Times Square. A good start for Tu to check out the lights that is Times Sq! After picking up our New York Pass tickets, the tummys begin to rumble and we find a cafe for some American breakfast. Bacon, eggs, homefries (fried spuds) and an omellette between us - Boom. We're ready for sightseeing.

Our first stop is Rockafellar Centre and the Observation Deck called 'Top of the Rock'. Since we have the NY Pass we get to skip all queues and get into 100 attractions for free, including this one. We took a lift up 63 stories where we could see vista views of NYC. It was a clear (but still cold) day, so we had some blue skies and sun. We especially wanted to get to this attraction first, as we had an agenda to take some good photos for our 'Save the Date' photo we wanted to use to inform our whanau and friends on the date of our proposed wedding! Exciting :)

It's truly breathtaking being at the top of one of the tallest buildings in NYC. You get to see Staten Island where the Statue of Liberty stands, you get to look directly at the Empire State Building, the Chrysler building, look over Central Park (dressed in white snow) and all the other boroughs of Manhattan and beyond. After this sight, we visited MoMA and saw some beautiful art followed by a wine & cheese tasting hehe. It was quite magical. We then took a walk into Central Park and found ourselves at the New York City Zoo haha. This was my idea to go see the animals :) reminded me of Madagascar when the lion, giraffe, zebra and hippo all escape for their homelands lol. After this, we decided to venture back to Brooklyn. Remembering this is the first day in 11 days that we're actually doing any physical activity - Caymans we had it too easy lounging all day and swimming, so we were pretty smashed.

We headed back to Williamsburg for a pinot noir, some pulled pork sliders and mac cheese and then went and saw the Hobbit! Peter Jackson you never cease to amaze me... Hobbit was amazing. Feeling very tired, we popped into a wine store, grabbed a Brancott Estate Sauv (NZ in the house!) and then headed home for the night. Day 1 - DONE & DUSTED!

 

DAY 2

Our second day of sightseeing was much more efficient as we knew exactly where the subway was, what sights we wanted to see and where we should eat. We kicked off the day with some OJ, coffee and NY bagels from Bagelsmith in Bedford Ave - YUM. After a light breaky, we took the subway into town and straight to Madison Square Garden. Our pass enables us free entry to take an all access guided tour around the garden checking out the stadium itself (the NY Rangers were practising for their game that night, I believe they're the ice hockey team here lol). We missed the Knicks practising unfortunately, but it was still cool to be at the famous garden! We got to check out all the different sights around the place including lounges and suites that all the richies own. After the garden, we took off to the MET museum where the Te Maori exhibition was held in the '80's. Tu especially enjoyed this museum knowing his papa and the other kaitiaki of our taonga Maori that came over on the tour were once here. We ventured through the museum seeing greek, egyptian, medieval and african art and lo and behold we find a small corner of taonga Maori. It was Tu's radar that lead us to these tupuna and we said our greetings and spent some time with them; mere pounamu, hei tiki, and whakairo. They were housed next to some Hawaiian artifacts, so they were in good company :)

After the museum, we raced back to town to the Radio City Music Hall where we bought tickets to the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular!"... this was of course, my idea ha. I have been feeling xmassy since we arrived, so this was to top it all off! And it was amazing. A 90 minute theatre production of dancers, Hana Koko, a dynamic and amazing stage, props and settings that used the entire theatre and a beautiful story of christmas. We left feeling pretty joyful and walked straight outside to see the Rockafellar xmas tree and hark herald angels (just like on Home Alone). Dream come true!

After this, we decided to return to the Top of the Rock to see NYC from the top of the building at night... saw the xmas lights special on the Empire State Building and appreciated NYC lights at a 360 degree view - breathtaking once again.

It's 730pm by now and we are knackered... Brooklyn bound for a pinot noir and some spoken word poetry at a local bar for a night cap before returning home for the night. NYC Day 2 - did it.

 

 

 

Grand Cayman Islands

Kia ora ano!

Well it is our last day here in the Cayman Islands - and it has been nothing short of luxurious...Friends, Kai, Activities, Beach... Our tans are super topped up, beachwear fully used and we are starting the mental prep for winter in New York.

Here are three answered questions about our stay on the island...

Q.1 What are some of your highlights of the Caymans?

Dee: Well, first of all I must say that I didn't know where the Caymans were, or what it would be like here. I just knew we had friends to visit, so were going to spent 10 days. Upon arriving, the heat felt instantly like Hawai'i... I guess it hadn't sunk in that we were actually in the Caribbean!

The beach is definitely the highlight for me. The water here is so clear where visibility is second to none. I can see the bottom of the ocean while jetskiing around the water. That's trippy. We were out on a boat and the water was such a beautiful blue colour, that we made a video :) Anyway, so the beach has been a real highlight for me. We spent everyday at the beach and got the meanest blackest tan that's going to fade once we hit New York, but hei aha.

I'd say that the second highlight has been the kai. We've been so well looked after by Jessie & Lachie since being here. They opened their home up to us, and their juice bar. They cooked the most delicious meals for us and shared beers, wine, sangria and tequila (amongst other delights) at the end of a long day and we had some great chats. Such a lovely, down to earth couple who have over the past 10 days inspired Tu and I in what they have done with their lives and business and what they continue to do with healthy living and eating through the juice bar. The food has been phenomenal. We've eaten NZ lambshanks, calamari, the most delicious salads, fish, juices, smoothies, sandwiches and wraps and mostly all healthy. The smoothies at Jessies have been a real treat. Almond Bob is one of my favs, with almond butter and banana... I reckon Tu and I have probably dropped some kg's since starting this trip!

The third highlight I'd say would have to be the stingrays. We boarded a catamaran at 730 one morning as part of a tour, called "Breakfast with the Stingrays". We had a delicious breakfast on board as we sailed out to the famous Stingray city. Upon arrival, we could see these black shadows all swimming up to our boat. In the old days, fishing boats would stop off at this shallow sandbar and drop their bait and old fish so it became a feeding ground for the local stingrays. The sound of boats means one thing: kai time! So over the years they have become friendly with people.

Getting into the water was SCARY. These massive creatures swimming up to you, under your feet, brushing past you, 5-6 at a time coming to check you out. After the initial horror of being bombarded by stingrays, I felt calm and relaxed enough to try and touch one. Their touch is a soft smooth feel on the bottom and on top is more rougher. I managed to hold one of the stingrays and dance with her (it was definitely a her, the big big ones are females and the small ones are males). It was such an amazing experience seeing their eyes look straight at you, into you almost. It was a humbling and privileging experience for me... I feel really grateful to have met one of Tangaroa's tamariki. Respect at all times of course. And thankfully, everyone walked away without any Steve Irwin action!

Cayman Islands - I will be back again!

Tu: Kia ora Dee for that 'novel' korero... :) First highlight, catching up and staying with Lachie and Jess, in their new whare, ki Snug Harbour. Massive whare, with a beautiful wairua, always has yummy kai, the 2nd beer fridge in the lounge, and some Breaking Bad too. Our stay here has been real easy, relaxing and enjoyable. And as Dee mentioned, their Juice bar is A MAZ ING!!! Finally got there, and we'll go there this morning for our last breaky.

Tautoko the moana, it is unreal here! Snug Harbour is directly opposite Seven Mile Beach and it was our second home on the island. Beach Suites (Resort/Hotel) was our local hangout, and Red Sails was our activity provider... Breaky with the Stingrays, Dee and I sailing a hobie (baby catamaran), snokelling around coral reefs and the dive wreck 'Kittiwake', Jetskiing off 7 mile beach, and last night we took Lach and Jess out on a three course dinner cruise - perfect way to end our stay here.

Highly recommend this place people.

 

Q.2 What made the Cayman Islands such a wonderful stay?

Dee: So many things, but our friends Jess & Lachie and their hospitality, their home they opened up to us, their friendship. It's been so neat staying here with them and hanging out.

Tu: Lachie and Jess, drinking with them, Jessie's Juice Bar, meeting their friends, all our activities on the moana (and getting 50% discount on all because we're have friends on the island), Dee and I sunbathing and getting pango at Beach Suites, seeing Dee and her turtles, some Br Ba, eating and drinking like kings and queens!

Q.3 What was a typical day on the island?

Dee: Typical day... wake up at around 8-830, walk to Jessies Juice bar for some breakfast, a smoothie, a honey glazed ham grilled cheese and a coffee, walk to the beach, set up a spot on a sun chair, order a Cayman Lemonade, take a dip in the caribbean waters, order another drink, sunbathe, repeat. Love the Caymans!

Tu: What Dee said... Followed by an amazing dinner at Lach and Jess' and some night caps.

 

Well whanau, that was some of the Caymans. Amazing place, people and sea. Dee and I are off for breaky now, catch some last summer rays for 2013, and prepare for a New York State of Mind.

 

 

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Costa Rica - PURA VIDA

Today is day 22 of the 80 day world trip - we are now one quarter way through our haerenga and visiting the second country of 18 that we will visit. The past 7 days we have spent in Costa Rica. It's a small ish country located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama. Full of tropical forests, beaches and volcanoes, Costa Rica has both the Pacific and Caribbean oceans at its shores.

Upon arrival into San Jose, we were met by my lovely friend and sister from SWY25 Costa Rican delegation who I met in January and we became good friends beginning in Nagasaki where we were paired together for 2 day homestay. Gloriana Araya and her fiance, David are our hosts for the week! (muchas gracias my friends!)

During our travels in Costa Rica, we ventured to Volcan Poas, one of the many volcanoes close by San Jose with great views of the crater, nature and some wildlife. But it was not meant to be as we couldn't see a thing with cloud forests covering up the views, kei te pai though, it's about the journey as well, not just the destination! We came down the maunga and stopped for lunch, buying fresas (strawberries) that were so good and fresh, and tried our first Casada which has rice and beans (a staple here in CR) salad, some potatoe type thingy, grilled plantain (it's like the savoury cousin to the banana) and some pollo (chicken) - YUM! Really good food... and the prices are quite reasonable, for one of those plates (which is a humungous serving) is about $6USD. They use colones here though, so 1000 colones is $2 US dollars. It looks like Monopoly money and is kind of confusing when you think you're rich as with 50,000 not even.

We ate really well in Costa Rica and went out for dinner to Olio, a Spanish tapas bar and drank beautiful Spanish red wine with our friends. This is right up mine and Tu's alley! My friend Glori gave us a tour of San Jose city and we visited some of the markets. Quite different markets to Lima... Lima was rich in colours and textiles and Indigenous art works which we didn't see much of here in CR. Glad that we were able to get some of our art pieces from Lima. On Tuesday night we had a party at Glori's house - all the Costa Ricans from the SWY delegation came over. It was so good to see them and catch up again. Quite surreal being with all these crazies again! We all reminised of the good times and memories we shared on the Ship for World Youth. Reflecting on that trip seems like a distant memory and experience and now seeing my Costa Rican whanau, I feel grateful for the SWY experience...

Glori and David are the beautiful people who we have been staying with the past few days and they invited us to take us to La Marta - a rainforest and river in the mountains about 2 hours from San Jose. We arrived and hiked into a river where David and Glori got engaged - a very special place for these two and we could feel the wairua and aroha. It was so nice to swim in the freezing waters of the river - we felt rejuvenated and refreshed, connecting with Pacha Mama (Papatuanuku) and the fresh water river. It was a nice shared moment with my beautiful friend Glori and her soon to be husband.

Being with the SWY whanau, Tu and I were invited to celebrate the birthday of the Japanese Emperor. A swanky midday event, with officials, politicians and foreigners (and Maori's!). The most formal clothes we had, we rocked it. Remembering that we have packed one 20kg bag each, for three months, catering to beach & mountains, so we didn't have room for heels or number ones. It was a great gig with sushi, tempura and sashimi all round and of course sake, vino and umishu. Once again, Costa Zealand could be found by the bar. It was a great time to catch up with the Costa Ricans, and meet parents of my CR friends who are politicians. Speaking of which, my dear friend Glori, well her father is running for president in Costa Rica. A good looking man with a brilliant smile is scattered across San Jose on gigantic bilboards campaigning for presidency which will be decided in Feb 2014. Good luck Johnny Araya, all the best from Aotearoa!

We ended the week in Puerto Viejo - one of the most hippest (and potentially, hippiest hehe), chilled out, relaxed, surfy, reggae, rastafari beaches I've been to. It was so nice. It's on the caribbean coast not far from Limon. My good friend Nelson (from SWY25 Costa Rica) organised us to go down to this place for the weekend. We took two buses travelling about 5 hours from San Jose. Taking a bus at 6am for a 5 hour trip is not ideal let me tell you, but once you step off that second bus into Puerto Viejo - it is instantly worth the trip.

We stayed at a cute hostel on the main drag for $10 US a night and tried the famous rice and beans and caribbean chicken for lunch which was quickly followed by a liquid second lunch :) we thought that we'd take advantage of the night life and head out to some bars - real Hawai'i feel here, with the island time and chillaxness. The music is of reggae and salsa varieties mixed into one; and of course the US pop smut that we're all used to. We had a great night out dancing and drinking and playing pool with a Jamaican brother. Tried some street food of chicken skewers and didn't get sick (bonus! haha). The next day, feeling somewhat under the weather, we took our beach cruiser bikes that we hired for $5 and cycled through the country roads from Puerto Viejo to Punta Uva beach. Such a beautiful place...

We swam and drank coconut water from fresh coconuts and ate patti (meat filled pastry... much like a mince savoury) and pondered life... So blessed to be living this life of ours. Never taken for granted, always appreciate it and always thinking about home and our families & friends.

Tu and I loved Costa Rica, such a different vibe to the other places we've visited and so special to share it with the SWY Costa Rica whanau. Thank you to all my SWY whanau for an awesome experience, we will be back to CR soon x

 

 

From Hawera/Porangahau to the Amazon

As I write this in the luxury of the city cafe in Miraflores, one of the nicest parts of Lima, with a Pisco sour coming, I reflect on our trip up the Tambopata river, Amazon Basin.

Day 1: We fly from the high altitude city of Cuzco (the longest inhabitiaed city of the Americas) to he jungle and the city of Puerto Maldonado. Once off the air-conditioned plane, we step out to an instant heat rush! Approximately 36'C with humidity 85% and climbing. We are then whipped away in a packed shuttle, where at the office prepare our duffle bags for the trip. Two nights up the Amazon basin.

The two guides names are Leao and Elvis. Elivis is a funny character, the joker, and we have Leao as our guide. Leao is a local fella from the awa and is a big fan of football. He was the man in short, 25 year old and who is very knowledgeable of the rohe, awa, ngahere. We reach the awa and head up it approx 1.5 hours. Can't beat travelling by waka eh, think our Maori genes kick in around now...

On the motorised canoe trip up, Leao with his eagle-eye points out some of the wildlife. We see the cap heron, red and green McCaw, Red Howler Monkeys, and Capibara (largest rodent in the world). The Amazon has many animals that are the world's largest...

We get to the lodge, dripping in sweat from the days travel, and head straight for our rooms for a cold shower - for some comfort and relief... but this soon evaporates! We are once again hot, sticky and battling. We head for tea, where we are asked to wear long pants and sleeves - as the mossies are most active at dusk and dawn. Our kai area (and bar) is over 20 years old, very tidy, and has a Jumanji feel to it. Its awesome - kai too... Wild tomato juice (yellow); and actually all the kai is local produce and is organic. Rawe!

After tea we head out for our night walk, which is around the premises of our lodge, here is me thinking - this will be a waste of time, what the hell are we going to see... Wrong. All we can see in the pitch black; some jumping spiders, bull ants, fly flies, an ant-eater... and we then see, 40 cms off track, a bloody BIRD EATING TARANTULA... Dee is through the roof, and I hate spiders, but am dedicated to picture this beast of a spider! At Discovery school primary school, I never read in the library, but always pulled out the books that had the biggest spiders, snakes etc. This spider was easily as big as my hand, it was bloody massive! Proud of Dee too, as she endured this night walk - she wasn't on about revisting the pics before bed, but we did it! Day 1 down, sleep time now under our mossie nets.

DAY 2

Up at 530am, kai at 6 and on the waka again at 630am. Leao has a trip in mind to walk 12kms, in Gummies, to the Sachabacatoc Lake (google it). The trek is tough, at 8am it is already mid 30s and sweat is filling our boots. Mossies are is full force - and when your guide says shower yourself in insect repellant, and he is doing it - you do EXACTLY THAT! The walk in is eye opening, we came across a group of monkeys - three different kind! The Squirrel, the Tamarind and the Capuchin monkeys. The Capuchin monkeys are the most intelligent of all primates. We then cross many bridges, some just logs, planks of wood, and some over wetlands primed for anacondas Leao says... I laugh the comment off.

We get to the lake hutt for lunch, and suddendly Leao, quitely yells for us to come and follow him! He has heard something... We rush to the lake side and see the 'king of the jungle' - the Giant River Otter. These fellas, three of them, can reach up to 2.5m long and are the world's largest. These fellas can take down caiman, jaguars if in the water, they dominate, and eat up to 5kgs of fish per day! Leao says this is quite a siting, and we are the only people at the lodge to see them. We have kai, and jump into the canoe, Leoa and I paddle our ope around. He then goes to talk abour pirhanas, electric eels and anacondas. We paddle to the end of the roto and we fricken spot a 4m ANACONDA.... Thought the bro was having me on... NOT EVEN!!! I get a shot, and some shady recording...you try and stand in a canoe and record a anaconda 3m away... Mind blowing experience. And in seconds, the world's largest snake submerges and dissapears. Wow! We then paddle back, seeing the prehistoric bird and stick bats. And were back on land - tough day paddling on the roto - but if Leao can, this Maori can.

Leao then says shall we feed the Pirhanas? We're like sure! So he drops leftover kai from lunch, right next to our waka at the jetty, and all of a sudden the water starts bubbling like Rotorua... And its Pirhanas coming to the surface and snatching the kai... F me! This roto is full of them! Anacondas too, with some 2.5m river otters - this is no average roto whanau. It is the Amazon!

We trek back the hot grueling 6kms back to the Tambopata river, and head home. We are well and truely done. High 30s, humid in the 90s, it takes all your energy to be in the jungel. These Maori are just doing it! Rest time.

Before dinner we prep to go on the waka to spot Caimans. They are part of the croc and aligator whanau. They are some what smaller than their Salt waters cuzzies. The trip is in the pitch dark and the awa - buzzing! Only one light onboard, Elvis with his spot light on the ihu... And thats it. He is taking us up the awa in pitch and the driver at the back is following his signals. Sure enough, he spots some in no time! He spots us some white caimans. Everyone starts taking pics, and it is heaps of fun! After an hour spotting caimans the crew drifts us down stream, no motor no light - with just the sound of the jungle... It is epic and peaceful. We then share our last dinner together, and head straight to bed, we prepare to pack bags for our 8am departure the next day.

After breaky, we gift Leao with some taonga from home. We give him a pounamu pendent and name it Tane. Leao is very knowledge of the forest and has the utmost respect for it. He is brillant at his job, and looks after Dee and I very well. We are blessed to have such a guide.

Again, 1.5 hours down river on the boat - reflecting on what is the Amazon... It is a truely a wonder of the world. Teaming with life, diversity and world largest animals. The trip was exhausting, the heat, the animals, the rohe, the ngahere - it all takes it out of you. But we survived to tell the story, and we enjoy our last day in Lima (dinner tonight with Eli and Chris - our Quechua rider friends) and prepare to leave the South American continent - for Costa Rica apopo.

Thanks for reading the novel. Im getting another pisco sour...

And that was our Amazon journey.

Peace to all

 

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Life changing

Tena koutou e te whanau!

 

Well it's been an amazing life changing 4 days in the Andes mountains, hiking the ancient pathways that the Inca people laid to reach the city of Machu Picchu.

The journey from the beginning, pushed our boundaries in so many ways and levels physically, mentally and spiritually.

 

Tu and I have come closer together (if that was even possible!) after sharing this life-changing experience with each other. Profound respect for each other and appreciation for who we are, where we come from, our heritage, culture, language, whanau and friends.

 

The journey itself was physically gruelling in parts, and in other parts surreal and unbelievable as we came eye-level and face to face with clouds, snow capped mountain tops, Inca ruins, ancient (like years before Christ, ancient) ruins all through the trail. This was all possible because of our amazing guide from the Quechua people, Percy. As well as our 26 porters and chefs who travelled with our group of 14 through the 4 days (they were amazing! preparing all the meals and campsites)

 

Most of the trail is in its original form that was laid by the Inca themselves, so he honore NUI tenei te hikoi i nga ara o enei rangatira. One part in particular, we climb a mountain that is 4,200 metres above sea level, which is 800metres HIGHER than Aoraki. This was the hardest day of them all... but we got to the top, which was one of the best feelings ever.

 

Day 4 (yesterday), we awoke at 3am to prepare for the final hike up to the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu where the sun passes through this ancient ruin (ko Tama nui te ra te tino atua o ratou).

 

We reached the top of the Sun Gate just after dawn... moments of celebration and appreciation were shared as we had finally reached, Machu Picchu after 4 days of a very difficult (but hugely rewarding) hike.

 

As our group gets into a circle, our guide Percy asks Tu to speak. Tu turns to me, asks me to go into the circle...

 

He then got on one knee and asked me to marry him! Of course, I said YES!!!

 

Extremely happy, it's still sinking in... We're off to the Amazon Jungle tomorrow for a few days. Feeling very blessed, happy and excited for the future!

 

Arohanui, Tu & Dee

 

 

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Reflections on the Inca Trail

Since arriving back from the Inca Trail 2 days now, I've had some time to really reflect on what just happened. I felt it pertinent to impart some of these thoughts, not only to share with our whanau, but to keep as a record so we can be reminded of how truly profound the trip was for us.

Tu briefly spoke about Day 1 on the trail, which was a really nice introduction to the physical and mental strength required for this trip. We got to get to know some of our crew a bit more, shared a beer and a yarn. Most of the people in our group were seriously fit, or had hiked/trekked before. I instantly regretted not going to the gym more and increasing the incline on the treadmill lol.

Anyway, on the first night, we were briefed about Day 2... the infamous day 2 where all limits would be pushed. I had heard about day 2 and the physical demands, the altitude, the sheer steepness of a mountain leading to the Dead Womans Pass, but nothing could prepare for me what was to follow.

We woke up to blue skies and well rested bodies. Percy, our guide introduced us to all 24 porters and 2 chefs who travelled with us every step of the way on the Inca Trail, as mentioned, their mahi was to look after us with our homes (tents) and meals. They are what you would call the lifeline of the Inca trail, without porters, hikers can't realistically do the trail as the areas are all too remote to source food and water. The porters themselves deserve more than a mention here. They carry 25 kg packs each, some carrying our (the hikers) sleeping bags and spare clothes, some carrying propane gas tanks, some carrying tables, chairs and tents so we can have a dining mess. It's actually incredible.

The porters themselves come from various highland communities of the Andean mountains. The porters that we were blessed with came from the Quechua people. The oldest porters were 68-70 years old all carrying equally sized packs. Unbelievable. Some were brothers, fathers and sons, cousins and in-laws. All were beautiful, hard working people who literally made the trip happen for us. It was surreal as we would be hiking along, someone would yell "porters!" and we'd all move to the left and make way for a flurry of porters rushing past us to get to the next campsite in order to have our dinner cooked and our tents and beds set up before we arrived... truly remarkable.

Back to day 2... easiliy the most difficult, the most challenging, the most gruelling physical activity that I have ever experienced - ever. Not just the physical pain of climbing up one of the steepest mountains for 5 hours (all up hill) but to deal with the altitude, which we began at 3000 metres above sea level, and walked to the highest point of 4,200 metres... Every breath was a gasp for air as if a brick was laying on my chest. I got nauseas and dizzy and at times felt like floating off the cliff! This is the boundary pusher! Tu kept with me the whole time and knew that I was struggling so he took my day pack and carried both of ours... then the rain came... we made it to the Dead Woman's Pass (Warmi Wanusca Pass) at 12.40pm, taking us just over 4.5 hours from the bottom to the top. We then hiked all the way down the other side of the mountain to our next campsite.

Now, during this experience... I wondered to myself many times why didn't we just bus or train to Machu Picchu. Reaching the top of that mountain, with my darling Tu, in the pouring rain and at freezing temperatures (since we were so high up) I realised the importance of what we were doing. The support and encouragement that Tu gave me all the way up that mountain is what got me to the top. Reflecting on ancient Inca people and this trail, reflecting on my whanau back home, our babies, our old people, my maunga; Taranaki and all the things and people I treasure... it truly reminded me of how the beauty in our lives and I'll never forget the feeling it gave me to reach the top of the mountain.

Day 2 campsite was situated on a mountain side in a valley (Pacaymayu) and our tents had a frontal view of the Andean snow-capped mountains and cloud forest. Truly spectacular! Our meals (both lunch and dinner) were three courses. We ate like we were in a hotel. The food was nourishing and plentiful and the service (we had waiters etc) was second to none. Unbelievable to imagine how they could cook all this amazing food for us in the mountains with no power or facilities, just what they have in their packs and the water from the river.

Day 3... bring it on! The bones and muscles were a bit weary today but everyone was keen to hit day 3 which would be the longest of them all (16.5kms). We climbed up a moutain for about 45 minutes to Runkuraqay Pass where we stopped and took a moment. Percy, both guide and philosopher gathered us at the top of the pass for a moment of reflection. He talked a lot about reciprocity and understanding that before you can give love, you must first love yourself, the same goes for anything in life, to give you must first possess that which you are giving away. He asked us to take a stone from the river next to our second campsite and carry it up to this pass with us.

The Quechua Riders (our name that Tu gave us!) decided to stack our stones together as a family. Each of us were asked to think about leaving something on the maunga (a thought, a burden, a worry, a prayer whatever it might be) and to ask for something. These sentiments would allow us to give and receive. It was special... because my wish came true on Day 4! Hahaha!

During day 3, we ate lunch at the Phuyupatamarca Pass where we could see a condor flying in the sky. Our chef, baked a beautiful cake for all of us saying "welcome to the Inca Trail!" unbelievable once more how they could bake a cake so beautiful in the middle of the Andes.

Arriving to our campsite for Day 3 was a blessing... we could see the maunga of Machu Picchu from our tents and our guides said that the ancient city is just over that mountain. We knew we were all so close... and that in the morning we would finally arrive to our destination. At this stage, everyone is pretty smelly from not showering for 3 days and tired. We had an evening of beautiful food and chats, everyone was in good spirits. The porters were invited into our dining tent and Tu was asked to give a speech of thanks to the porters and present them with a koha that all of us hikers had collected. His speech was beautiful! From te reo Maori, to English and then translated by Percy in to Quechua... Tu and I then presented both Percy and Oddy (our other guide who did the entire trail with us) with some pounamu pendants acknowledging them and their time they spent with us making this trip so amazing. After a hongi and some waiata, it was feeling really lovely sharing our culture with the Quechua people.

Day 4... that's another blog :)

All I can say, is that this trip has been profound and life changing, a time of reflection and gratitude, a time of understanding and learning more about myself and my partner and being open minded and having an open heart to the people and the stories around me. Thank you Quechua Riders, thank you Percy, thank you my darling Tumarangai for this unforgettable experience.

 

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In the middle of the Andes

Kia ora whanau!

Ko te tuatahi, he mihi ki nga mate. Kua rongo maua i te matenga o te rangatira a Koro Sam, no Taranaki maunga, Te Ati Awa tangata. E te rangatira, ia hui ia hui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, ka tu koe i te paepae, ki te whaikorero, he pou hoki ki nga tikanga o taua rohe, kei te mihi nunui ki a koe. E te rangatira, moe mai moe mai, moe mai ra.

Ka huri ki te ao marama, ki te ao o nga Inka. He mihi maioha ki nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe, ko Quechua. Ka mihi hoki ki nga maunga whakahi o te Andes, raua ko te awa o te Scared Valley. He tino ataahua tenei whenua, he tapu hoki.

E te whanau, ka ora rawa maua ko Dee. He mihi hoki ki te whare teneti, na te mea e ua ana iaianei. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatau katoa.

Well whanau, we are in the middle of the Andes and truly living the dream. I think it starts with our guide, Percy, he tangata whenua ia no Cusco. He tangata mohio o tenei rohe. He got us through all the official process to get on the Inca trail, and he alerted us only 500 people (us, guides, porters) are allowed on the trail.

The first few hills immediately try your fitness and altitude ability. Walking past Inca ruins is something truly amazing, and the crew we are with are cool too, Scots, Canadians, Austrains, Australians and Maori! The porters carry all the gear, and tramp ahead and set up camp and lunch. 3 course meals, spoilt to bits whanau. They are amazing!

After 10.5kms we reached our base camp for the night, tents up (porters), and we settle down to a cool beer or water - the locals were selling them, like angles from above! Then we explore, another archaeological site, and we stumble upon a soccer game. Their national sport, this was a serious game being played and the internationals were up next. Wow - if tramping wasn't enough, try sprinting and trying to out-muscle and play these peruvians - we lost 1-0, but was very proud of the guys.

Dee and I are waiting out the rain and dinner is soon - have no doubt our chiefs are cooking up something good! Well better roll and save batt for later blogs.

Last thing, so proud of my darling Dee. Busting out these maunga, and always having a smile for me. Love you darling.

Love to all our whanau and friend - Tu

 

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Open your hearts, and mind

These past few days in Cuzco and surrounding regions have been nothing short than incredible. We have the best guide in the world, whose name is Percy :) he comes from the Quechua iwi who are one of the Indigenous peoples of this area. They have their reo, values, religion and culture still intact, despite the Spanish conquer in the 16th century

Day 4: Cuzco is a beautiful place. Cobble stone roads and ancient buildings, temples, churches and ruins. It's clear to see the Spanish influence here over the Indigenous Inca Capital. Altitude here is 3200 metres, which made us feel instantly nauseaus and woozy! Walking around the town and eating lunch, shopping and sightseeing helped with the acclimatisation process. We met our tour group that we'll be living with for the next week who are a combination of couples, sisters and solo travellers from Scotland, Austria, Canada, Australia and US! We are the only Native/Indigenous people in the group, so have instantly warmed up to our guide, Percy.

Day 5: Can't quite believe that we've only been away from home for 5 days! Feels like months already! Today started with an early pick up and drive to Ccaccaccollo (a small community in the Sacred Valley who have a textile and weaving project). We spent the morning here hearing about how they make their beautiful colourful blankets, bags, scarves, hats etc. It was such a privilege to hang out with this Indigenous community and hear about how they've resisted Westernisation and Catholicism. Their weaving project helps to bring some economy into the community and our tour company contributes by building a weaving house, and working with the whanau to bring in visitors to learn about the weaving project and purchase their taonga. I just wish we had a second bag on this trip... could only afford (space wise) an alpaca scarf and a small texttile blanky.

We then moved onto Pisaq, a cute as little town at the bottom of these amazing man made terraces. They were built by the Inca's as reinforcement for the mountains. The Inca's would build and settle their communities on top of the Andes mountains, rather than at the bottom (close to the river) so that the river banks would be used primarily for crops. The terraces act as reinforcements incase of erosion and have doubled as irrigation. Amazzzzzzing.

Their houses and urupa are all built with stone that have been carried great distances from quarries. The architecture is 500-600 years old. Many were ruined during the Spanish conquer, their urupa were raided as their tupapaku were buried with gold and silver which were stolen. Hearing of the histories from Percy has made us so emotional and pouri, as we come from a similar place of struggle. 9 million Indigenous people of Peru were killed during the Spanish conquer...

 

We visited another amazing place called Ollantaytambo, which is where we stayed the night. They have huge mountains surrounding this community which a large temple was built (but not finished) along with terraces, houses, and structures built into the mountain side. A great story was shared about the man Ollantaytambo (a commoner) who was the right hand man to the King Pachacuti.

So much ancient history, we feel so lucky and privileged to be here and give honour and respect to the tangata whenua, their awa, whenua, maunga, reo, tikanga me nga kawa. Most of the ruins we are seeing on our tour are of the Incas, but there are many other Indigenous peoples (51) and their unique histories, stories and wahi tapu in these areas and in Peru.

Day 6: It's about to begin. The great hike to Machu Picchu... excited, nervous, humbled and privileged.

Will be sure to write our thoughts down and take photos to share this incredible experience with you our whanau, and post more blogs upon our return in 4 days time.

Our guide, Percy asked us to do one thing on this tour; open our hearts and open our minds to the incredible history and Native people who we will hear about and visit during this haerenga... We're ready

 

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Lima

The higlights of Lima, Peru

Where to start... this place is full of hustle, bustle, colour, culture and mucho passion! We arrived to Lima airport greeted by what felt like thousands of signs in a sea of people. Luckily Tu found a sign with our name on it. A sigh of relief to know that we were to be looked after by our tour company transfer that we organised. The transfer itself to our hotel was more than we could have imagined (!!!) and we could finally sleep in a comfy bed after what felt like 2 days of no sleep.

We awoke to a sensory overload of noise, tooting of horns, espanol, and a smell of fresh pastries. That was our breakfast cooking :) We set out to explore Miraflores and found ourselves on a block or two full of Inca and Cuzco market places. Extraordinary art pieces, paintings, weavings, blankets, bags, alpaca clothing and more. It was hard not to spend all our soles (Peruvian dollar) in one day.

Of course no day of shopping is complete without some nourishing food to sustain the bodies so we visited Cafe Haiti - an up market cafe where the waiters could speak English... it should be noted that at this point we did pretty well to communicate effectively to market staff and others who didn't understand a word of English, but by our hand signals, our smiles and some spanish phrases we had learnt, we were able to break through the language barrier. So back to lunch.

We tried beers from Lima and Cuzco and had a delicious meal. Learning the spanish phrases for "it's delicious" and "can we have the check please" has been a real help. The food is amazing and there's so many options, many with the international flavours that we're used to but most with a Peruvian menu, so we have pointed to one and tried it out - and being really pleased with the choices :)

Lima comes alive at night time... it's still crazy with its unpredictable traffic and vehicles all wrestling their way through the traffic, but it takes on an exciting charm at night time. Tried our first pisco sours at dinner, a Lomo Saltado and some seafood... Cebiche is on the list of things to try apopo!

Day 3 one more day of exploring. We set out for Larcomar it's like a mall on the coast of Miraflores with great places to eat and sit and watch the moana. After being here not half an hour, Tu was itching to get out of the tourist areas and into the heart of Lima so we taxi'd into Lima to the National Museum and saw some amazing ceramics of the Indigenous people of Peru, including the Inca people.

We then learnt some truths about Peru's history through the 'Shining Path' regime that devasted and disenfranchised the people of Peru through terrorism and genocide. We both felt sad that we didn't know of this history before coming to Lima and now have more of an understanding of this ancient place and it's past.

Lunch back at Larcoma and our first try of 'Cebiche' (raw fish, Peruvian style!) it was amazing. The food is truly good here and the price is really good too.

Despite feeling like we fall short every time someone speaks to us in Spanish and we can only partially understand and/or respond, we are working our way through the language barrier but know that next time we come back, we must learn their reo.

For now, we're resting up for the Inca Trail that begins tomorrow in Cuzco.

Adios!