Ben & Jade | Fix Up Look Sharp

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benandjade — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:22:54 +0000

Machupicchu one of the highlights of the trip.
biking, trecking and rafting… an amazing way to visit one of the most famous ruins in the world. 3 days of unbelievable vistas then the hard slog and early start to the site, but all well worth it.

Colombian Chop

benandjade — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:25:48 +0000

a fruity little hair dresser/coffee shop/design studio/fashion boutique just down the road form our hostel in Bogota, that also held art exhibitions and live music.

we braved the chop seats so will now be sporting new do’s in upcoming blogs.

colombia…

benandjade — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:22:36 +0000

cartagena…south americas most romantic city…
taganga… a quaint, hippy fishing village with the worlds cheapest diving and thriving nightlife…
bogota…an unsuspecting amazing city filled with street art, delectable treats, a huge flea market of treasure, a temp drop of 20C, endless street skating setups and narrow colourful streets with hidden gems of stores to explore…
if only we could stay…

lost…

benandjade — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:22:33 +0000

Only recently rediscovered in 1975 by robbers of ancient Colombian tombs, set amongst thick rainforest and rugged high mountains was a five day Colombian jungle trek to find Ciudad Perdida - the lost city of the Tayronas.
good food, sleeping in hammocks listening to the sounds of the jungle at night, river crossings, mud slides and new found friends made this adventure one of the highlights of our trip so far.

viva la revolution

benandjade — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:01:03 +0000

Flying in the land was a mosaic of crops all different shades of green and brown.

As we landed the plane load of passengers applauded we are not sure why so we just joined in.

A country stuck in a time warp.

Old american classics and the trusty russain lada rule the streets, no other option than to keep them alive.

Friendly people, some with hidden agendas just trying to survive on a minute government wage.

Amazing landscapes, green crops, dark red earth, protruding mountains, aqua blue seas and white coral sand beaches.

Cheap rum, cigars and everything Che Guevara.

Skating the streets with friend instantly made through a shared passion.

Havana a town with a heartbeat, that you can feel everywhere you go.

More culture than you can imagine, something for everyone. History, art, music, dance.

Even when everyone sleeps the night sky is flashs with light and speaks with a throaty rumble.

Cuba is alive.

the end of the road…

benandjade — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:29:28 +0000

So panama, we made it!

The final part of our road trip but it was not all over the fun had only just begun.

We spent a couple of days making our way to Panama City and came across more coastal spots with sick looking set ups for waves if the had been swell, but sadly in the back of our minds we had bigger things to worry about.

Driving in to the city we spotted the final land mark that “Shudder” our trust van would visit.

The Panama Canal, amazing feat of man power to create a path for ships to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic and vice versa without going all the way around the bottom of South America.

So here is the situation every time we drove the car into a new country I would get my passport stamped with a temporary import stamp, then on leaving the country with the car I would get another stamp to cancel it. But in Panama we were not leaving with the car so not only did we have to try sell the car I also had to get customs to stamp my passport to leave the country.

Not as easy as it sounds.

Time running out we had had no luck finding a buyer, we had visited countless used car yards no one was keen for an American car, we had meat a guy at customs and he was helping us out ring all his mates, the huge import fees in Panama we making the car worth less and less each day we found out more of the process.

Time was ticking one day to get that stamp so I could carry on the journey so it was time for drastic measures. The deal was free car for who ever came down did all the paper work and got my passport stamped.

Calls we out we had to different guys racing for the car the first guy turned up and liked what he saw and the rest is history. Well a full day of running to lawyers doing paper work history but with half an hour until customs close I walked out with stamped passport in hand it was time to celebrate.

costa rica nice to meet ya….

benandjade — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:10:48 +0000

After speaking to fellow travelers along the way we had come to conclusion that spending time in Costa Rica wasn`t super high on our priority list. After all, we kept being told to expect a land full of expat gringos, everything overpriced and extremely crappy roads if you wanted to venture off the main highway. Some of this may have been true but thanks to Eli getting in touch which the Christian Surfers of Costa Rica we were put in touch with a guy called Dennis and were given a much greater insight into Costarican life and the lives of people making a difference.
Dennis and his family really looked after us, setting us up with a nice place to stay and inviting us on little surf missions down the beach with the crew of local kids that he looks out for and helps out. We hung out for a few days chilling on the beach, surfing and finding out more of what Dennis and Christian Surfers are doing in Costa Rica.
When it came time to say goodbye we felt that we could help with all the great things being done there in Esterillos, and as we were planning on selling our boards here anyway we got together some stuff we had accquired throughout our trip like leg ropes, fins and our two boards to help get more kids that are unable to afford surfboards into surfing and away from the drugs and alcohol. thank you Dennis and family for an awesome stay.

the truman show - nicaragua

benandjade — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:46:43 +0000

More shady characters meet us at the Honduras-Nicaragua border. They must have been given the heads up that we were easy target from his brother at the border we had just come from as we pulled up and they were already asking for Benjamin. Not in the mood for more scamming hustlers we gave it a shot alone trying to decipher the correct order and office to complete the legalities of getting ourselves and the car across the border. 4-5hours later, exhausted but very happy with ourselves we carried on our journey into Nicaragua, sadly there was to much cloud to see all the volcanic peaks that escort you in.
First stop was Granada, another cute colonial town full of plazas and cathedrals set by a huge lake. Once again the natural beauty of the place was undone by complete disregard for any sort of rubbish disposal which sadly has been a common theme throughout our trip. The next day we found our way to the coast, it had been three weeks since our last surf and we were hanging out to get our feet wet. On arriving to a small beach settlement, Pochomil we were greeted with complete chaos. The local horse show/rodeo had just finished and everyone was partying in the streets, even horses were dancing. Somehow stuck in the heart of the parade it was a situation of “can’t beat ‘em join em”. After finally navigating through town we made our way up the coast on the search for more promising surf.
As it was getting dark all hope was entrusted that the bumpy dirt road we were heading down eventually reached some sort of surf and accommodation, then disaster…. we hit a massive rock on the roadside and fully blew out one of own brand new front tyres, to make matters worse the wheel brace we had bought wasn’t the right size and was stripping the nuts. We had lost all hope of sorting the wheel that night and were beginning to get ready to hike the rest of the road and night was coming in fast when around the corner came a car hooning to our rescue complete with a proper wheel brace and cold beers. Once we had the spare on, our new friends Marcus and Sapphire invited us back to their place to stay and also mentioned that their was a good surf spot close by. Once again we were sitting pretty after only a couple of hours before being lost with nowhere to stay and a broken car that we couldn’t fix.
Their pad just happened to be in a huge, fancy gated community with what turned out to be one of the newly discovered best waves in the country right out front. We surfed the next morning and it was pumping but only small, rumours of bigger swell in a couple of days meant we had to decide if we were to stay or go. The only catch was it was kind of pricey to stay in the “Truman Show” setup which if it hadn’t of been for the surf would have been pretty claustrophobic. After much discussion it was decided that it was worth the extra cash to see just how good this wave could get. More good fortune came our way, meeting Mike and Den. Mike owned a house in the development and had a self contained unit we could rent at a discounted rate so we could stay to surf the point. Two more days of small but fun waves and hope was fading that the predicted swell would even turn up. On our last day however all our dreams came true, and what followed was one of the best surf sessions of our lives! It was hard leaving it behind but the show had to go on… two weeks and counting.

see you never honduras…

benandjade — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:44:02 +0000

Honduras was just to be a one night stop as there wasn’t much on the Pacific Coast that we wanted to see before we crossing into Nicuragua.

The El Salvador/Honduras border crossing was a blur of money scamming “helpers”, waiting hours for paperwork to be processed or until we realised that we needed to pay them to go faster, watching the day slowly getting shorter and then bribing the first of 6 police stops on a 20km stretch of road to let us through so we could make it to the city before night…. fun times.

Going dark fast we made it to our destination and had to find accommodation. Being turned away once by a grumpy man thinking we were American and not welcome in his hotel we found a rundown hotel where the mosquitoes were huge and the airconditioning leaked but it was a bed and we just wanted to sleep… Luckily we were only there for a night before another border crossing into Nicuragua in the morning…

its been a pleasure El Tunco….

benandjade — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:42:53 +0000

Sad to leave Guatemala so soon we got a late start off to the border. We were targeted as soon as we reached there by guys who would “help us through the process” whether we wanted them or not making the whole situation a little more stressful than necessary. We made it through by only having to bribe an official for our dodgy car papers and by being ripped off with incorrect change from our little helper - not to bad. We headed straight for the coast, the boys craving some needed waves after a 3 week drought. We made it to a little beach town called El Tunco which from the road side looked nothing but from the beach was lines with bars, restaurants and places to stay. We managed to score the best deal with a big house on the cliff that now was a hotel. It was cheap, quiet, had a pool and overlooked the water and the boys could surf right out front and just down the road at Punta Roca. We even had use of the kitchen so a definite highlight was the fact we could cook our own meals! I also found Cadbury chocolate at the supermarket, so for all of you that know me you can imagine how excited I was! We spent four nights there not really keen to explore other parts of the country when we had found something so good already….
life is good, then comes Honduras….