XMen Xtreme Adventure 5

Trans Amazon 1-Write Up by Ewing Chow John Michael

by admin on Jun.10, 2010, under XMen Xtreme Adventure 5

I am happy to have completed writing captions for the photos I took on my recent Trans Amazon 4×4 road trip. Hope you enjoy reading them and looking at the photos. I have written quite a lot and even gave reference links because unlike previous trips, this trip was through areas less frequently travelled and I believe most will not be so familiar with it, at least for us in the far east. For example, I had never heard of the Pantanal till I got there. It also took me a long time to complete my caption writing because I took fewer pictures and hence I had lots of memory gaps to fill. The short circuiting of my inverter (the machine that converts DC into AC current) soon after the start of the trip prevented me from charging my camera battery along the way (compounded by the few hotel stays for the nights). So I was very frugal in snapping pictures. I therefore have to use more words to fill in the blanks. If you have the time and the interest, following my journey on google earth enables you to also view other people’s input such as photos, youtube videos, etc. It will give you a fuller perspective of the area I went through. In summary, it was a tough back to basics trip but having survived it, it was most enjoyable and memorable. I am glad and proud I did it, especially for my age but I will most probably not want to repeat it!

Cheers.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jmec38sr

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My next driving adventure by John

by admin on Jun.10, 2010, under XMen Xtreme Adventure 5, XMen Xtreme Adventure 6

I have survived! :)

Driving adventure journey has successfully ended at Caracas, Venezuela last night. All’s well. Apologies for not being able to send out updates as I did before on previous trips. As earlier stated, this trip was totally unlike my previous ones where we were constantly close to civilization and stayed in civilized modern accommodation. This trip was back to basics and nature, camping and roughing it out in far from civilzation places. Hence we had no internet nor phone signals for days. 3 photos to accompany this message – the begining, the “suffering” and the ending. I will then fill out the details in my next post.

Cheers

John wrote:

Of the many places I have been to in Central and South America, I rate Panama City as among the best. I feel comfortable, safe and am enjoying myself with the clean, green, modern and friendly city. Am very surprised with my find as I’ve only heard of Panama when I was a school boy known for its canal and locks linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. More than 50 tears later, here am I happily looking at the Canal and the locks system. Also watched World Cup football at a restaurant with the locals. GGGOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Am now at the Panama City Tocumen Airport waiting to catch my flight to Buenos Aires to join 34 other adventurers.

When I arrived from LA, I had 5 hours to kill as the hotel would not let me check in till 4pm. I must say I spent it efficiently by ringing a contact posted on the internet. He is a free lance tour guide and I had a lovley city and canal tour all to myself while waiting to check in. I saw all that I wanted and more. Attached are a few photos of my pre-adventure adventure.

Cheers.

John wrote:

Flying off tomorrow morning to start the next driving adventure.

I fly to LAX to Panama (will go and look at the Panama Canal) and then on to Buenos Aires on Fri 11 June. Back on 18 July.

Here is my driving itinerary in google map. (Argetina, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela)

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=109853480000927765601.0004840c494f194f78611

Will send the usual photos with GPS co-ordinates as I travel along. This will be the most adventurous and tough driving trip I’ve made thus far. Where in previous trips I camped out 2 or 3 nights and stayed in luxury hotels the rest of the nights, this time it will be 17 nights of camping in the jungles of the Amazon etc. Toilet? Bath? Aircon? Mosquitoes etc etc? Food? wifi? Also, to lower the cost so more people can join, the hotels will be budget Ibis Hotels. To be able to returnn home, I must first escape the piranhas, jaguars, pumas, anacondas, fire ants, Amazonian women, Malaria, Yellow Fever, etc etc. We shall see. Must not forget the tiny catfish, candiru.

Candiru??? hahaha

From wikipedia: ”… the candiru “jumped” into his urethra as he urinated while thigh-deep in a river.^[8] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru#cite_note-cecil-7> It was also once thought that the fish was attracted to urine (as the candiru’s primary prey emits ammonia from its gills, a chemical found in urine), … Bathers in the region are, however, warned not to urinate while swimming, out of concern that the expansion of the urethra during urination will allow the fish to enter the otherwise closed orifice.” <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru#cite_note-cecil-7>

Amazonian women kidnap me? Just discovered that they are not in the Amazon jungles but come from Greek mythology and in outer space. Phew!

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