Berlin

It's time for another installation of 'Where has Paul been?'

Anna and I arrived in Berlin and were met by Anna's mum (and our host for the next few days) in Potsdam, a beautiful city 15 miles from Berlin.

The next morning I decided some exploration would be in order so I headed for Berlin, I saw many sights and took many pictures. I feel at this stage maybe the photos might tell you a better story so here follows a few choice examples. I hope you like them :)

This is the holocaust memorial:

As is this:

After I ended up at a beautiful park in the middle of Berlin where I captured possibly the best picture I've ever taken:

The colours in the park were utterly amazing! Autumn had quite literally exploded all around me and I was so happy being there to witness it. I spent the whole day walking around West Berlin and once it got dark I met up with Anna on the train home. The next day I decided to explore the Eastern part of Berlin.

I had so much in East Berlin I almost forgot to take pictures! Can you imagine that?

Overheard in Berlin in English:

Young boy of around 11 - 'Mummy I like rape music!'
Mum - 'Oh, that's nice dear'

Anyway.........After spending most of the day walking round Berlin for the second day I decided to go and find a vegan cafe that had been recommended to me. By the time I got there it was getting dark and cold out. It was very dimly lit but I went in and ordered some soup to warm myself up. I sat in this cafe waiting for some friends to finish work. The soup was pretty mediocre although they did change some light bulbs while I was there brightening the place up a bit......I found out my friends were out of work and at the other end of town.....Off I went again back to Potsdam :)

Back in Potsdam station I saw a sign for bubble tea. The last time I saw this was in New York with my friend Kristine. I decided another sample of 'alien food' was exactly what I needed. I went for a warm rooibos fruit alien drink with passion fruit squidgy bits. I noticed two punks walking by. Each had a German Shepherd (although I suspect they are called something else here...) and each with a large crate of beer on their shoulders. The tea really lovely and different form the New York bubble tea. The squidgy bits weren't chewy like New York alien drink, no! The German version made every individual orb burst in my mouth with the taste of warm passion fruit. It was most pleasant.

After this my friend Moritz (we originally met in Samaipata, a small village in Bolivia) messaged me to say he would meet me in a bar called Olga and gave me directions. Olga turned out to be a building site so I sat in the bar next door, drank 8% banana beer (cos that's how I roll!) and listened to Tom Waits on the juke box. It's been a month and a day since I left the UK.

Dresden to Berlin

OK so I think I left you all (both of you ;) arriving in Dresden and meeting my friend Anna. Anna is another cat walker from Bolivia's Inti Wara Yassi (http://www.intiwarayassi.org/articles/volunteer_animal_refuge/home.html) and I was to be staying with her and her flat mate in Neustadt Dresden, an up and coming area with lots of students and some great graffiti! Living with Anna was fun, she had a really nice apartment and some fun friends downstairs. We cooked most nights, watched movies and drank wine till late. Life was a chilled :)

On the weekend we went with a friend Gregor to the Sächsische Schweiz, a hilly climbing area and national park. Autumn had just arrived and the colours were nothing short of breath taking!

We walked around all day, had a picnic on the edge of a cliff and took many photos of the utter beauty that surrounded us!

We were all quite exhausted on the train hope, although there was some entertainment in the way of a cute baby playing in his pram. He had the whole carriage captivated for the whole journey while he laughed and played with his toys...Broody....me....nah!......

Dresden is a great town. Pretty much everyone cycles and Anna managed to get me a friedns spare bike to get around on, I really miss cycling! The next night Anna and I cycled to a house party. House parties are a bit different to that in London. If you're a stranger everyone will come up to you and introduce themselves, so polite! Of course I forgot every new name almost immediately but it was such a nice sentiment.

After a week in Dresden it was time to venture to Berlin. Anna's mum lives in Potsdam a city 15 miles southwest of Berlin. In Germany car sharing is very popular and almost the only way students can move around the country affordably. We met Manuel in a McDonalds car park. He drove a four door green Nissan yogurt (or something like that, it was quite forgettable) Obviously I wasn't expecting something exotic or rare, but the child inside still hopes ;)

Manuel managed to ignore all of these signs

Pretty much the best road sign that exists ever! He kept to around 120kph the whole way. I know it doesn't matter, but in my head our car share would be some maniac with a BMW M5 estate and blast us to Berlin in around four minutes. What was important was that the Nissan and Manuel got us to Berlin in around €10, which was nice :D Oh and we passed what seemed like a million wind farms on the way to Berlin. Germany gets 9% of it's power from these things, that's quite a bit!

Anyhoo, Feeling tired now and I've got to grab a shower so it's goodbye for now and I'll update again soon. Till then it's a goodnight from Barcelona xx

Switzerland to Dresden

After saying my goodbyes I hopped onto my the first of three trains that would take me from St Gallen to Dresden. Soon after arriving in Munich I noticed the first of what seemed like an endless train of new German cars, mainly Audis, must have been around 400 of them! It was quite a sight.

The next train I got would split up half way through the journey, and by that I don't mean that the very carriages would tear open and we would all be smashed on the rails underneath us. No, I mean that the first carriage would go to dresden and the rest of the train (that I was happily sitting in) would go to one of the other German towns that exist in Germany. As you may have noticed I didn't know this until a non English speaking train conductor told me. I understood though and at the next station I went to the front carriage....It was rammed! So I sat on the floor in a door stairwell opposite a young couple who were eating a massive bar of bright pink chocolate! What after effects that bar would have I can only imagine!

At the next station the polizei came on to the train, routine checks I'm sure....I put on my most German of faces (whatever that might look like is anyones guess) But to the polizei must have shouted ID check me please I've most likely got at least four Eastern European children in my bags for the highest bidder. And I turn into a gibbering tit almost immediately! Not only does my basic German manage to escape my noggin, but somehow I'd left the door open for just long enough for my English to escape also. All I managed was some sort of exhaling with a slight girly murmur...(note to self, I'd make a terrible spy) The woman polizei notices my...ahem...slight internal panic, I produce my passport and she says to me in English not to worry, it's just a routine check. Anyway they made radio call to quantify the level of patheticness in front of them and after some confirmation carried on down the carriage with a smile, I'm sure they even wished me 'Good luck' O remember that scene from The Great Escape, 'Good luck', 'Thank you'..Gilp, don't slip up now..Oh wait I'm not a spy, nothing to worry about....'Danke' I replied (just in case) They didn't even give a moments notice to the utter crazy at sat two seats away from me, not worth the hassle I guess...I swear he was chewing on a dolls head at one point though!

The train jerked wildly into yet another station, this one was called 'Hof' which made me smile and then my learn Spanish kicked in randomly on my iPod, that made me smile even more. Two hours to go and I might as well try to take in some Spanish. I swear the lady on the recording is half Spanish half cat! She is rolling her R's like I've only heard a feline purrrrrrrrrr.

Passing some beautiful little villages that time had quite clearly forgotten about. So beautiful it almost made me forget about the bumpy train journey. To best describe I would say the train felt like it was being driven by a teenager late for his first kiss!

And eventually I arrived in Dresden to be met by my friend Anna...Tbc

Leaving England for 8 months. First stop, Switzerland.

Well well, that was 14 festivals done and dusted and the best summer of festivals ever to date! Wow and that's saying something!

So I had a week to sort everything out and of course have some leaving drinks! Lately it seems I only see certain friends at my leaving drinks, but if it means I get to see them then I will kepp having them :D

Leaving drinks were two days before I left the country (just enough time for a hangover to disappear!) And what a party we had! And thank you all so much if you came, you all made it very special for me :)

Next up was three weeks with my wonderful grandma in Switzerland. Autumn was just beginning over here and the world was a beautiful place! Three weeks came and went in a flash!

Great friends
Yummy cheese fondue
Beautiful long walks
Chocolates
Finally losing my fear of the dentist
Lots of cake
Too much Swiss cheese
My wonderful grandma
Trips to Bern and Winterthur
Swiss techno nights
Amazing new guided meditation
Swiss musicals and the best hot chocolate ever!
It`s hard to say goodbye.......Switzerland iche liebe dich! I will miss you so very much xx (Look out Dresden here I come!)

In Hebrew we have a word, Nehneti. It kind of means that I enjoyed something but with my heart. It seems apt as I leave Switzerland.

Catch up time! - Bimble Inn Bandada, Boomtown Fair, Reading, Proms In The Park and OOTO!

It's that long awaited catch up and I guess I'm now expected to remember all of the things that happened 3 months ago.....Well lets have a go :)

Right I think I left you all at The Lonely Tree. Well clearly I came down from there and after the end of the Play Festival I rode the 200 miles home after what was three festies in a row!

Next up was the Bimble Inn Bandada and another beautiful installation from the Bimble crew and Pony. We had amazingly wonderful weather the whole weekend! It looked like this:

See! Beautiful! :)

Next up was the one I'd been waiting for all year! The Boomtown Fair! This was just going to be so epic! So many friends all coming to the same festival and a line-up that screamed PARTY!!!!

More to come a bit later today......

I arrived a day and a half before it opened and had a nice day chilling out with friends :)

And then it opened da da daaaaa! So many great parties, I was in a show, we watched Gogol Bordello

and managed to achieve best festival of the year!

Next up was Reading. Always an epic one as it's usually the last time a lot of us festival workers get to see each other till next June! I was lucky enough to be given the Jack Daniels Bar to run, which was nice ;) Reading 2011 turned out to be my best Reading to date! Really had a great time, wonderful entertaining staff and what really seamed to be a great crowd too!

Proms In The Park was up next and for me was a four day event that involved hard work but it was still much fun working with friends. I won't mention the amazing job I turned down at Bestival to stay in London for a paid event rather then voluteering.....Oh well who needs The Cure when we had Gary Barlow.... :(

Out Of The Ordinary was the way I chose to end my 2011 festival season. Festival number fourteen was lots of fun! I took my motorbike out for what was to be the last time and rode down with Rob on his Triumph, it was an excellent ride :D The festival was just what I needed :)

Brif update and an attempt at a catch up

OK so I`ve about 20 minutes remaining at this internet cafe and this German keyboard is driving me nuts!! There is a massive gap in my posts that I didn`t manage to write up before I left the UK, I will get there at some point but I just wanted to let anyone that might still read this that I will get back on it in the next few weeks and am promissing some more crazy adventurous stories. OK so maybe not quite as bonkers as being put in bolivian prison, or spending 9 weeks living in the rain forest walking an adult male puma daily, or even suffering the experience that is a Bolivian hospital, or even taking a Harley Davidson up the West coast of America.....But Adventures are certainly out there to be found, and I certainly will find them :) So I thank any of you left for reading, I am currently in Switzerland. I`ve 2 weeks left then it`s off to discover Germany, cos no one has yet! I shall have to get a flag and claim it for my own :) OK I haven`t got a flag....Can you claim a country with a toy snail? I reckon there must be a way :)

Hatfair, Sonisphere, Latitude, Secret Garden Party and Play Festival

And so I arrived in beautiful Winchester for Hatfair. Europe's longest running street performance art festival. This one was year 38 and myself and Tim would be running two bars. One in the big top every evening from 8pm till 1am....ish and another on the Sunday during the day time.

It was up to Tim & myself to have everything running and organised, and due to the fact that we had no daytime bars we always had the daytimes (apart from Sunday) to mooch around town. So for three days we explored wonderful Winchester, watched the street performances and ate out and nice cafes. I was very lucky to also catch up a few times with my very good friend Tim (another Tim, the place was full of them!) And on one particular morning met for breakfast and were joined by a member of Winchester council. The situation soon became very comical when Tim's (Winchester Tim not my work colleague) ex wife turned up, she was immediately very happy to see the councillor there and wanted to pay him back some monies she owed him. The councillor looked noticeably disturbed by this happening in quite a public location and insisted on going into the cafe to pay.....He never came back! Instead deciding that the back door would be in his best interest.....Perhaps a similar decision that got him into the predicament in the first place? ;) In any case whilst in the cafe he also paid for mine, Tim's and Tim's breakfast! And considering that he only had one coffee, we worked out that that single cup had just cost him around £27! So breakfast on Winchester council then nice!

The rest of the weekend bathed us in glorious sunshine. We had amazing and happy bar staff courtesy of a local agency and even had rooms in the local university as there was no camping, what a touch! It was one great party!

Our bar in the big top


Sonisphere was the next festie I went to and for this one I was trying out a new company, Creative Events. I'd never worked for them before and would only earn a small amount of money as I was bar staff for the event. So I decided to do what (it seams) I do best, show everyone up! Might as well, they don't know me and I'm trying to get in good with a new company, makes sense no? So I worked my arse off for my first shift, ran rings round everyone. And wouldn't you know it, they made me supervisor from then on in! That paid off nicely :D The rest of the weekend was spent with an awesome metal soundtrack, Slayer, Metallica, Weezer, Cavalera Conspiracy and Limp Bizkit. Overall a really fun weekend! Met some great people too!

Wonderful meeting up with good friends at Sonisphere


One of my favourite pictures of the summer

Night photography, 60 second aperture opening

Latitude was next up and I was to run the Campsite Bar again. I really like working there and it's my second year doing so. A great festie, bit middle class but done well with lots to see. Caught up with many friends and had a few parties along the way.

I left Latitude and headed straight for Secret Garden Party! I arrived as a Green Steward but was quickly passed onto a wonderful job in production! Yet another sweet touch. The summer was really looking after me! After meeting Lou and her team it was decided that I would be working at the information point which was also lost & found. Seriously best job ever! I had so much fun working there and have since been promised work there anytime I want! Happy days!!! What a crazy festie! So much fun, dancing, drinking and playing with friends new and old, I love SGP!!

My next stop was the Play Festival. A small and intimate circus skills event in North Wales, 200 miles away from where I was, and onto my bike I jumped and headed there, oh the feeling of freedom. Play was a wonderful festie too (they all were!) I did a few shifts on the gate, met many many wonderful people and had a real good chill out!

Took a walk up to the lonely tree:


And never wanted to come down!

Right! It's now sleepy time! I've almost caught up with my summer and only have a few festies left to do and write about. That'll all happen in the next few weeks before I head off again into the sunset. This time round Europe then Israel! The excitement draws in again :D

Till then sweet dreams to you all xxx

So now I'm back after what was five months away from home and all I can think of is, 'what am I doing here'......I never really thought about any downsides of returning back to London. But some good friends have confirmed that what I am going through is quite normal. Living away from home and experiencing something so very epic will have a flip side once you're back. A feeling that I don't belong, a feeling of unhappiness, a feeling of loneliness. I have been extremely lucky and with a few years hard work have managed to secure myself many festivals to occupy myself over the summer (fifteen and counting!) And for this I am very grateful, for without it I would certainly be one lost soul in London. But as it turns out, I am not. No in fact my biggest challenge is that of motivation. All else is really quite wonderful. I have wonderful friends, wonderful encounters and have been led to wonderful situations that in turn have helped me get ahead of the game.

So I came back home and spent around five days just waiting for The Sunrise Celebration to begin, and soon enough it did! So I had the bike fixed (new clutch £450!) and a few days later I was ready for festie number 1. Sunrise was wonderful for me! I reconnected with so many people and had the easiest shifts with Green Stewards ever, just what I needed!

Festival number 2 was Glade. At the time I didn't have any clue just how epic Glade would be. I was going alone to get out of London, that's all I knew. I got there early and put my tent up in a large empty field, about half a day later some others arrived. I met some of my neighbours and eventually had an early night.

The next day Spin arrived and introduced me to all of her lovely friends and instantly my new family were all around me! Green Stewards asked me if I wanted to do a Supervisor shift which I happily accepted and afterwards was told this was a trial and I'd done really well! (got paid too!) That night we all went out and got quite messy, it was lots of fun! and by the time the sun was coming up we were all ready for bed.....That was until I saw Mr Sunshine poking his head above the horizon, what a sight! And I moved a little closer to interrupt a group a people who hadn't yet noticed, 'looooook' I said! And that's how I met Tabatha. She insisted that I come back to her tent to help her finish off her drink, be rude not to! A little later we went in search of some nos and somehow ended up on a trampoline. Some ten to fifteen minutes must have gone by with much jumping and laughing when all of a sudden we were joined by some random who go up on the tramp and in all of a few seconds managed to put me off balance and I crushed my ankle. The pain was instant and I came down off my high very quickly indeed, got very warm and almost through up. Luckily the medics tent wasn't far so I though I would hobble over, although I could sustain no weight on it at all so Tabatha had to go over and get them to come and get me. The doctor decided I really should go to the hospital as it could be fractured, it had swelled up like you wouldn't believe!. So off I went to Kings Lynn Hospital (dressed as a polar bear by the way!) Hospital in fancy dress is rather fun, really put a smile on the nurses faces :D

Wind forward a few hours and with the great news that nothing is broken I returned to Glade via the free shuttle bus service and was back on the dance floor (crutches and all!) The rest of my stewarding shifts took place in the 'office' passing messages on the radio (felt quite at home doing this after over eight years with the couriers)

Getting home wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be as it was my right foot and not my left, so I motorbiked back and was even helped out getting petrol so I didn't have to get off.

Festival number 3 was London Feis where I was running a small Guinness Bar (at an Irish Festival!!!) Were we busy? Jeeeeez! My bar made £26,000 on Saturday selling just Guinness! That's over 6,000 pints!

Festival number 4 was Glastonbury where I was asked to look after The Pussy Parlour, the very same Spiegel tent I spent six weeks of my life in over xmas and new years! This time though I was being subbed out to work for The Dance Village with no other WBC staff but me I was given 18 bar staff who were working for their ticket and by the way, all dressed up in burlesque outfits, nice! I had lots and lots of fun working there! Didn't really see any bands at Glastonbury, had much trouble with my ankle and didn't get that much time off......Still had a blast though! Deffo got the good straw in bagging the pussy parlour :)

So now I'm home after a coach journey with no air con or windows on the hottest day of the year. I've had worse journey though :)

Yesterday i had a job interview for a bar job at Sonisphere, went in to the head office at The WBC to finalise some arrangements for Hatfiar (Festie number 5) and finally attended the wonderful Flash Mob Meditation in Covent Garden with my friend Anna. (the whole time still wearing much glitter from Glastonbury that will not wash out!!) After we went for amazing vegan food with some of the people we met and laughed about all sorts of silly things. Life is quite sweet!

This morning I woke with little or no motivation and spent the day in bed. It is now 16:34 and I have not left bed yet. I am making up for lost time though and do not feel too guilty. Shortly I will actually get up, do some washing (clothes and also myself!) and then maybe pick a movie for a quiet night in for tomorrow morning it's off to Winchester for Hatfair. Am very excited as it's just me and a guy called Tim. No other WBC staff at all! Should be much fun! And it means I don't have to go to Hop Farm (which I'm not a massive fan of)

Oh and I just had a call from Green Stewards offering me last minute paid work at Hop Farm (I had to turn them down due to Hatfair) They were only after 4 people and requested me, feels gooood :D

Till the next time, thank you for reading, chat soon x

Seattle, Vancouver, New York & home

I arrived in Seattle and was greeted by my most gracious hosts Daniel & V and driven back to there lovely house. I spent 6 wonderful days in Seattle. Had massively long walks in town, checking out the amazing markets and popping into coffee shops every now and then (it's the law in Seattle to have some caffeine after every four blocks of walking) The people are just as friendly as in San Francisco and it's just as hilly too!

One particular day Daniel drove us all out to Twin Peaks country and we did a little tour. Earie and beautiful at the same time! On other days we ate amazing sushi, drank in exclusive backstreet speakeasy's and attended high class burlesque nights. All in all a wonderful experience and one that I hope to repeat again as soon as I can get myself back there :)

After Seattle time was sadly over it was time to head for Vancouver. A greyhound bus and around three hours took care of this and Emma was at the bus station to meet me. I spent 6 wonderful days with Emma & Wayne at their lovely flat in Commercial Drive (which is by FAR the best neighbourhood in Vancouver according to Emma) Generous to the core, they took me out everywhere and gave me evil stares if I attempted to take my wallet out of my trousers! (I managed occasionally though haha!) Vancouver is a stunning place surrounded by huge snow capped mountains. I had a lot of fun with Emma and her gorgeous friends. There were beach trips, lunch dates, spin classes and so much more! Vancouver is a jolly place that I really hope to get back to soon :)

And so eventually it was time to lift my bags and carry on, for New York was waiting for me! And another two plane flights later I arrived in The Big Apple! Coming from London I didn't think New York would astound me like it did, but it did! It is truely a massive place! It was great to see Kristine again and one couldn't hope for a better host/tour guide/drinking companion! We ate massive burgers at amazing diners and even sampled what can be best described as alien food! We found goth nights and burlesque nights and made me feel right at home. New York was also a chance to catch up with my friend Chef and also Nellie. I spent at least two days in Central Park as it was just about the only place that made me feel grounded.

After New York I flew home via Iceland right only a day after it had been reopened due to volcanic activity. Only got to spend an hour in the airport though which was a shame.

Arriving back to the UK was about as uneventful as I thought it would be. And I basically waited for the start of the festival season and the Sunrise Celebration where I could be back in nature with my festival friends. I wasn't liking the big city much and when I finally got to Sunrise it didn't take me too long to reconnect and ground myself.

So this blog will now be a tale by tale or should I say festival by festival update through the summer. Currently I should be attending around 12 festivals though that number is expected to rise. Expect all the highlights and lowlights here. Then in October I shall be on my merry way again first to Switzerland to see my grandma then to Israel with, if I'm very lucky indeed, a few pit stops on the way.......But that all depends on my cash flow.

Till the next update, thank you for reading and I'll post again soon x

San Francisco to Seattle on a Harley Davidson

I remember the morning that I picked up the Harley very well. I was up very early with excitement! I arrived at the Harley rental place (coincidentally only 8 blocks from where I was staying) at around 9:30am and joined the back of a queue of 6 British guys from some up north. And one by one (except two of them) they all had problems with their credit cards and had to call their banks. I was beginning to have doubts as they would soon be trying to take out £1,000 as a security deposit......But once it came to my turn it went through with no problem, phew!!

So there I was sat on a £30,000 motorbike that weighed 400kg's without, my luggage or petrol! Luckily I found it quite easy to ride with the massive weight disappearing moments after movement. The only thing I had to get along with was the gearbox, which was truly awful! However, what the gearbox lacked in smoothness the '110 cubic inch Screamin Eagle Twin cam motor' made up for in amazingness! What a sound! Like Thor gargling with nails! Very impressive!

So for my first days riding it was around 185 miles up to Fort Bragg where I'd rented a small cottage. The ride up there was so pretty and I passed through some breath taking redwood forests



As you can see I've just figured out how to put pictures into my blog too! :D

My second days riding was a rather longer one, 385 miles in one hit. The most I've ever done in one go was 240 miles from Woolacombe in North Devon back to Walthamstow in East London. However this was one straight road with no junctions. It took me the best part of 8 hours and it was dark by the time I got to my next destination, a small town called Coos Bay. The room was rather nice and there was a pool but it closed soon after I arrived, and I was very tired, all I wanted to do was sleep!

I woke late the next day and went to eat breakfast, wasn't that great...I was on the road by 11am and in Portland, Oregon around three hours later. The hotel I was staying (The Northrup Inn) was stunning (I decided to treat myself) Portland itself almost doesn't feel real, like it's just been created in a computer simulation. Everything looks perfect, there are seemingly no homeless people, crackheads or crazies. A bit too sterile for me. However the hotel had a free cheese and wine night and ate wonderful hummus at a Lebanese place, oh and had the most amazing Guinness float (that's Guiness with vanilla ice cream!) Much yummier then it sounds!)

The next leg of my journey ends me up in Seattle where I will be staying with my good friends Daniel & V. But that story is for another time. Till then go safe Y'all!


Good things about the Harley Davidson Electra Glide:

The sound of that engine! Blat blat blat!!! :D

There was plenty of space in the panniers

The stereo was good. It adjusted the volume automatically according to my speed!


Bad things about the Harley Davidson Electra Glide:

The breaks were shockingly bad! Like really really shit! I think they were made of tin, or possibly something a bit heavier?

The gearbox was out of a tractor. Getting it into neutral was sometimes just to difficult so I would remain at the lights with the clutch in and the engine vibrating like some awful American motorbike!

At anything over 70 mph it drank fuel pretty quickly!

It does do 100mph (I checked) but you wouldn't want to do it for any length of time as it was a little scary!

Be sure to wear a flower in your hair :D

San Francisco is a wonderous place! I arrived at practically midnight, got my bags and went outside to hail my first ever yellow cab! (Very exciting stuff you know!) I didn't sleep much that night and in the morning was up early to go and explore! I found a great big health food shop nearby and they made me a humus, avocado and alfalfa sandwich with tofu! Utter yum! Then I went back to the hostel to wake some friends so we could go and explore! Most of the day was spent around the Haight Ashbury district, and we had a small picnic in a big park full of people who wanted to sell us mushrooms and bubble hash (what evr that is?)

The next night I found a goth bar four blocks from where I was staying so I decided to go it alone....Although when I got there I asked the dude on the door if I was in the right place....He said:

'No, this is a transvestite stripper night'

'Hummmm, well the poster said there was a goth night here?'

'Oh yeah, I'm not sure where that is, somewhere round the corner maybe....We have strippers on at 11 & 12...'

'OK, well thanks..........'

And I walked off....Not quite what I had in mind if I'm honest...So I went looking for another bar......I found one, it had many motorbikes outside.....No girls inside though...Hmmmmm. And outside a poster with a half naked guy on it and a phone number.....I think I can safely say that I found the gay district o_O So off I went a few more blocks up and eventually did find a bar that seemed to be more to my liking. The barmaid was so drunk, but chatty and very funny! After my first drink she asked me what I did back home (sometimes its easier to said barman then blood bike controller) so I said barman. She replied with, oh in that case would you serve that guy over there as I can't see anymore! So I served this guy and charged him some money and used the till, it was all very funny indeed!

The rest of San Francisco was just as much fun! I went to the horse races on dollar day with Rachel (a girl I had met at the animal park in Bolivia) and Rana (a girl I had met in the hostel in SF) and I also went to have a glorious picnic with Rana, Megan & her friends.

The next stage is a 987 mile Harley Ride up the west coast to Seattle :)

Leaving Parque Machia

My last few days at the park were spent training two new Israeli guys, Tomer & Idor to walk safely with Sonko. It now seems an age away that Helen & I were here in the rainy season before Sonko moved cage, and when he was having issues in going home at the end of his day (sometimes leaving us out in the jungle till 9pm in the darkness and the rain) For a quick second I wish I was walking Sonko when he was only a happy cat, but then I realise that you've got to take the rough with the smooth in order to fully appreciate life. Those days were amongst the hardest I have ever had to conquer, but I stuck with it and that made my relationship with Sonko even more special.

Leaving the park was much more painful then I envisaged, quite literally! On my last work day I woke with a pain in my sternum which by the time I had eaten breakfast was getting to a stage where it was difficult to breath deeply. All the same I climbed up the mountain path to Sonko's cage tensing my muscles on the way up as it seemed to help with the pain. As I arrived Tomer & Idor were standing by Sonko's cage and he wouldn't come out (he has never done this to me before, he always wants to come out of his cage) But when he saw me he came out. Looks like he was waiting for me to arrive! Aw so sweet! Once I was there I realised that I wouldn't be able to walk Sonko for the first walk because of the pain so sent Tomer & Idor by themselves (it had been four days of training and about time they did this alone) They lasted about 20 seconds when Idor fell and wacked his knee and Sonko jumped Tomer, they called for me and I jumped out of the hammock and was there in moments. I ran to help Tomer who was behind a tree. Sonko took one look at me and meowed! He was a little excited seeing Tomer all by himself and jumped him, but now with someone else (me) there too he quickly calmed down. Idor turned up behind us a few moments later in a bit of pain (welcome to the jungle boy!) So I walked with them both up to Candy Cane junction and down to the first creak where Sonko is usually much more relaxed. They carried on and I took a shortcut back to the cage (the rest of loop 1) where sat in the hammock waiting for the guys to return.

They returned at around 2pm but the pain by this point had gotten worse so I had to lay the last walk out as well. I am truely sad for this :( By the time they returned I was having trouble breathing and was in a lot of pain. The Ocelot walker Alize always passes nearby on her way out of the jungle at the same time as we finish up for the day so I called for her to wait for me as I genuinely needed help (I actually didn't know how I would get out) Every step hurt like hell! Alize took my rucksack and followed close by on what is usually a 10 minute run across a hill and down what we call 'The Mountain' then down 'Frenchmans Hill' till we reach the bird enclosure. This took around 30 minutes and took every ounce of strength in my body & soul. By the time I got to the vets I was ready to pass out. Nelly was the first person I encountered (she works with the vets) she took one look at me and went to get help. The vets took one look at me and went to get a car to take me to the hospital. Frank (the volunteer coordinator) and Luis (one of the vets) came with me.

At the hospital we had to pay them before they would look at me, and then they took some blood to check for any infections. After they gave me a lovely sedative and asked me for a stool sample to check for parasites. After around 4 hours in the hospital they returned with an answer that I had parasites and gave me a prescription for some tablets. Luis through it away and gave me some proper tablets form his surgery. I was still in a lot of pain but had calmed down a lot. the following day the pain had not really let up so I decided to leave early to Santa Cruz where they have proper hospitals. I left that morning and arrived at a hospital in Santa Cruz around six hours later where after I paid them some money they gave me a similar prescription but intravenously and I started to feel better.

I spent two days in a wonderful Santa Cruz hostel surrounded by great people, hammocks, toucans and better food. Then I was to embark on two six hour flights to get to San Francisco. It wasn't terrible but I wasn't able to eat anything on either flight, however the flight attendants were very nice and caring. I arrived in San Francisco just before midnight, quite excited, a little thinner with no appetite.

Please stay tuned, the next part of this story will be typed up tomorrow :D

A long overdue update!

Wow almost a month since I last posted! Time here flys like you wouldn´t believe, so I now sit here with 11 days left at Parque Machia. Seriously, where did the time go!

Well since my last update I finally managed to book myself a day off! yes folks after 43 days of walking Sonko I was about to have a day to myself! Only sometimes things don´t always go to plan......I woke at around 9am (luxury around here!) Went into town and did some shopping. Got back to the volunteer cafe and had my first ever hot lunch (cat walkers spend their lunch times in the jungle with their cats) Then I went to my room to get some washing done.....And as I got there I saw Helen walking up the path with a very serious look on her face! Aure (my Walking partner with Sonko) The wonderful crazy French guy had run down a particularly steep and muddy hill with Sonko, but Sonko had darted into some bushes half way down leaving Aure spinning at speed, he twisted his knee and was unable to walk! So it was on with my jungle gear ASAP and into the jungle with another guy to help Aure walk out and myself and Helen would bring Sonko out as it wouldn´t be safe to do it with just one person (Sonko needs two people always in case he jumps) and with this situation (it was pounding with rain) Sonko was a little scared. Aure was helped out of the jungle and Helen and I followed soon after with Sonko once we´ed calmed him down a bit.

So now with Aure out of the picture for at leats three weeks it was time to find a new walking partner for me to work with...I feel so bad for Are as he loves Sonko so much! This now means that once a new guy is trained up and walking with me that I will be the more experienced of the two walkers, and actually my confidence has grown so much snce working with Aure that I´m ready to be training up someone new. So in walks Tomer, and Israeli guy touring South America and randomly arriving here. We have been working together now for 9 days and the good news is Sonko likes Tomer very much (which is nice!) hehe

Have you ever had an audience whilst having a haircut? Well I have! I had my undercut redone whilst a class of school kids walked by, they all stopped and formed a semicircle round me...I´m not sure Bolivia is quite ready for the undercut yet hahaahaa!!

OK so I had a birthday!!! I am now 33! And I have learnt a valuable lesson. Sometimes things don´t always go to plan, but with the insertion of some wonderful people life can truely make you feel so special! I caught some tummy bug the day before my birthday meaning I spent most of the day in bed :( Aure who is in the next room and also in considerable pain due to his knee kept me company for most of the day, we watched some Amercian TV on his laptop and chatted. in the evening i went out for dinner with some friends. the swings restaurant put on a special menu of Buritos just for us! And we also had a MASSIVE cake! Over 30 people turned up and made the night wonderful! I couldn´t eat anything :( But I took the leftover cake and gave it to the beautiful bolivian family that looks after our appartments where we stay. They were so happy (And may have never have eaten such a wonderful cake before) That made me ver happy :)

A lovely girl called Becky made me a bracelet with some amazing red and black tree seeds from the jungle, that made me happier then she could realise as it was the only present I got. I´m not sad though, I´m just happy I got a present :D

What else has happened! Too much to write here that´s for sure! Oh yesterday (on my birthday) I saw a beautiful white owl, it was HUGE! Everday here brings new adventure, but with only 11 days left the time has come to move on! Soon I will be in San francisco with Becca. I have rented a Harley Davidson Electra-Glide, the biggest bike Harley make for my four day tour to Seattle! Oh life, I love you so very much!

I will try to post again from Bolivia, but if not the I will catch you all back here once I have a flower in my hair!

Much love to you all xxxx

A new beginning!

Today Aure arrived at Parque Machia. He is a crazy French guy who walked Sonko last year. Sonko absolutely loves him! With Aure we now have a totally new cat! It´s almost like he saw Sonko and changed the sim card on the cat. With Aure on cord we went for a proper run! We did the mega long trail today followed by the long trail and got back to the cage by 16:25, earlier then ever before but with walked/ran over twice as long!! I did my very best to keep up with him and Sonko but he is in a different league! I was never too far behind though and I hope I will find it easier to keep up in the coming weeks.

Running down a massive muddy hill in the jungle was almost the scariest thing I´ve ever done! But after Aure practically disappeared before my eyes I had to go for it! Drops that I would normally hang my legs over and let myself down were dealt with in a single leap down followed by another and then another. I walked out of the jungle today covered in sand and dirt with the biggest grin on my face so pumped full of energy! I´m just glad I´d already spent 4 weeks with Sonko and Helen walking through and finding my jungle feet. Looks like it´s time to find them all ogver again!

An intensive parkor lesson has just begun! For the next 5 weeks I really am running with a puma! I was offered my first day off in 4 weeks...I´ve turned it down. I´m not missing one day of this! Way too much fun! We have a new puma people and his name is Sonko! He is one happy cat and I´m about to learn how to really handle him properly! I´m just so happy I could scream!

In other news I cooked my first meal today (very bad as I´ve been here over a month, but eating out is so cheap) I´ve been craving vegetables so much! Not much else to report but there will be in the next few days as I go flying through the Bolivian jungle like a wild cat!

Be safe, sound and happy. And if you ever get the chance, go walk a puma, it will just take your fucking breath away! xx

A slight case of under drinking

I have spent the past 2 days in my room recovering for dehydration. really socked it to me. I am feeling much more human now and even have my appetite back! Although because of it Sonko hasnt been walked whilst I have been unwell as there is no one currently trained up to deal with him (also he takes a while to get used to new people so it is not a quick process) However today I am feeling much better so I went up to his cage and let him out on his runner for around 4 hours and sat with him. He was so happy to see me and meowed all day craving affection! I think he might have missed me! I certainly missed him a lot!

So I was sitting under a palm tree reading a book with Sonko always close by looking at me and meowing for attention and affection. Can life get better then this!! I must be dreaming! I have a Puma that misses me when Im away and wants to be near me always. Im so happy I could bounce! What a gift I have been bestowed!

Tomorrow Helen I I will walk Sonko again (He always needs two people to walk him as he is so big) and hopefully life will be back to normal. That was my first day off for a month, working 7 days a week. Its just a shame I had to spend it in bed feeling so unwell.

And I still have five weeks left here! I couldnt ask for more in life! Except to come back for longer.....

Sometimes I think of all my lovely London friends, I miss you all so much, but I will be home in june and promise to see all of you and fill you with my many exciting and wonderful travelling tales!

Till then I wish you all the sweetest of dreams and the liveliest of days

Paul xx

Dianry Of A Puma Walker, in the dark, in the rain forest, attached to an unhappy pissed off puma...

My last blog entry was wipped three days ago when the power in the town went down after a biblical thunderstorm. But I´m back with a head full of adventure so read on!

Walking the puma consists of one of us with a five meter rope round our waists and attached to the collar of the puma. So where he goes you have to go, although he has a route (7 kilmometres) through the jungle to take and he (usually sticks to it) However there are some Bolivian workmen building him a new cage and they walk past his cage on the way up which stresses him no end (which explains his behavour in the next few paragraphs)

February 16th

Walking the puma today was Helen and Sebastien, today is his last day (I am his replacement) I follow for the day and try to find my ´jungle feet´, it´s a lot more hilly then I thought it would be. Sonko is so beautiful!!

February 17th

Now that Sebastien has gone it´s just Helen and I and I got my first opportunity to take the lead with Sonko. He was fine at first but once we were on the homeward stretch he became a little nervouse (simply didn´t want to go home) and I got jumped. He first swipped for me with one (massive) paw (and missed) then with the other and caught me round the neck (luckily his claws weren´t out) Helen pulled him down but he jumped her too getting both paws up by her head. This was one pissed off unhappy cat! We got him down and he calmed after that. My heart was in my mouth beating like a freight train! We got him home soon after. I hope tomorrow he will be easier to take out.

February 18th

Today everyone helped in bringing up new matterials for Sonko´s new cage, however this stressed him out as too many people walked by his cage so we were unable to take him out for a walk. Instead we did some trail clearing with machetes.

February 19th

Seeing as Sonko hadn´t been out yesterday at all we knew today would be a difficult day, we just didn´t imagine quite how difficult it could get....We finally got Sonko walking at 11am (Helen was on cord) but didn´t get very far before he had his first sleep, four hours later he moved around two meters and slept some more, this continued for the whole day, at 6pm we realised that it seemed we would still be in the jungle after dark (not the greatest place to be at night I assure you) and with only one headtorch between Helen and I things were about to get tricky.

Plan A:

Tie him to a tree so we could go and get help and more torches but he was on to us like a shot the minute I removed our emergency cord from my waits (nothing gets past this cat) Sonko rolled onto his back and grabbed Helens legs digging in with his claws and hissed! I came round the side and pulled his collar round to get him off, he jumped me and clawed me too, nothing too serious but he was certainly not playing.

Plan B

We have got to get him home, but that was the last place he wanted to go. We pleaded with him till we were blue in the face. Just as it became dark the heavens opened like only Bolivian rain can do and we were under what felt like a waterfall (Our puma hates the rain as it creates white noise so he can´t hear anything coming up to him, and he hates getting his feet wet!) Now we are in the dark with one headtorch, making our emergency cooing sound hoping someone can hear us so they can send help as Sonko was being stubborn and going nowhere. After around an hour (and an entire rendition on ´99 Bottles of Beer on The Wall´ we heard a return emergency call from our cooing into the pitch black. Help was on the way! What a relief! It took Keith around 40 minutes to get to us and once Sonko saw him he wanted to chase, this made getting home much easier....Not for me though, I gave my headtorch to Helen (she was attached to the puma so needed it more then I did) so I had to wait there for them to come back, in the pitch black, by myself with crazy noises all around me for 30 minutes, I will never forget those thirty minutes. I could hear monkeys getting closer and strange rumblings and fumblings all around...But! I wasn´t eaten (well only by the mosquitos) And we arrived home by 10pm! A late night around here that´s for sure and a crazy evening in the jungle.

February 20th

Sonko was a much happier cat today. We took him out of his cage at 10am (I was on cord) and we walked through the jungle for around two hours. Sonko then had a little snooze....Around six hours. Helen and I chatted of our love for food and what we missed from back home and everything else inbetween. Sonko was still a little grumpy about having to go home but we made it back to his cage by 7pm just as it got dark and 2.5 hours earlier then yesterday, and as we walked back we bumped into the search party coming up to make sure we were OK. That was a nice feeling, they really look out for everyone here :D Today was my first full day on cord (being attached to Sonko with a five meter rope) and I loved every minute of it. He came to me for affection and whre he puts his head down for some stroking. Such a different cat to yesterday, what a beautiful experience.

Things I´m missing:
My family and friends
Real cheese
Hot showers (my bathroom got cold water yesterday for the first time!)
My bed

Scariest things in the rainforest:
Bullet ants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera I´ve seen a nest of over a hundred!
Muddy drops over 2 metres deep
Wasps nests
The darkness after 7pm!!!
A puma jumping you, that´s not for the faint hearted!

For now I bid you all goodnight and wish you a fantastic week! I will be spending it walking my puma xx

Thunderstorms over my head and the very real fact that I gots me a puma!

My first night at Parque Machia was certainly a memorable one. I was finally shown to a room after dark once all the volunteer coordinators had finished work and after our induction. It has a double bed, smells a bit of damp and for now has no running water (none of the rooms do as a water pipe has broken somewhere in the jungle) But, apart from that I have a place to call home for the next 9 weeks and I am happy for that.

What I am even happier for is the fact that I found out that I will indeed be looking after and walking a puma! His name is Sonko, it means ´Heart´ in Quechua. Sonko´s volunteer is called Helen, a really nice and chatty Scottish girl who has spent a lot of time with Sonko, and now it seems she´s stuck with me too! lol! My first day was spent following Helen & Sebastien (who is leaving in 4 days) and trying to keep up. Sonko walks one of three trails daily and today we did the shortest one.....Which utterly killed me, I feel as f I´ve been running around the jungle all day in the rain.......which I have! Up steep hills and down muddy banks. We started at 8am and got back around 4pm. Around three hours of that was spent standing around chatting as Sonko wanted to rest. However when we carried on I admit that I found it tough. But tough in a way that a good workout at the gym is tough. Now I´m feeling on top of the world and cannot wait for tomorrow!

Oh and I just found oats and honey in the local shop so that´s breakfast sorted! Although pretty much the best food in all of Bolivia is genuinely found at Machia (they have a vegetarian restaurant, sooo yummy!!)

Within the next few days I will take the lead for Sonko with Helen behind me, that will be a big test in balls and stamina. I hope my body can cope with this intense workout (very happy I took arnica with me)

Oh yeah I almost forgot to tell you about my first night sleep. It was all going so well untill 3am when the heavens opens (I think litterally!) and the mother of all thunderstorms broke out right over my bedroom. I´ve never heard cracking so loudly, never! The flash and bang at the same time, it hit a roof top on the building next to mine, I was actually scared.

Ok so enough ramblings from me, tomorrow I will be back in the rainforest in the rain with a puma trying to keep up! I wish you all a happy valentines day (tomorrow all the girls are cooking for the guys and we have to buy them booze) Fun times ahead!

Paul xx

Skinny dipping with the Finish & the lose of wisdom

Today was yet another great day in Samaipata. Saana & Solja decided that we should go for a swim to the river the comes down from El Feurte, and I thought that sounded perfect! So this morning we trekked up to find a deserted river. It was as beautiful as my company. How could I resist the oppotunity to feel such freedom as to be naked. And it was wonderful. I feel cleansed from the inside out, happy, happy, happy!

After we came back to town as I´d made an appointment to see a dentist. That idea started when I was in Switzerland with the lovely Nina (I wonder if you are reading??) Nina was one of the reasons I had such an amazing time in St Gallen, she is also a very pursuesive lady. So much so that she convinced me to sit in her dentists chair and allow her to examine my teeth, something I hadn´t done in 17 years! (yes I know!!!) Well it looks like the tooth fairy had been kind to me, appart from one wisdom tooth that needed to be removed my teeth are generally fine (am I the lucky one or what?)

So I have just returned form the dentist, he took some x-rays (holding the film plates in my mouth with his hands might I add!!) I think he won´t last another ten years with all his teeth! But he very carefully and utterly painlessly removed one of my wisdom teeth which had a rather large hole in it (I did have anesthetic) It didn´t take long and the whole process from start to finish has cost me the grand total of.....wait for it....

15 pounds sterling! That´s it! Nothing more. My dentist at home won´t even talk to me for 6 times that amount. Needeless to say I am a very happy bunny indeed!

So tomorrow I am off back to Santa Cruz with Rachel, staying the night and at 7am I have my bus to Villa Tunari where I will be staying at Parque Machia the animal park. I am looking forward to it more then you could know!

So for now I bid you all farewell and stay safe my dears, I love you all!

Paul xx

New Friends, getting arrested, breaking out of prison and death.

Oh boy, how do I even start....

Well first off everything is wonderful, really it is. An adventure I wanted and an adventure I got!

It all started when I went out for a quite drink with Danny (that´s how it always begins no?) Having a wonderful time iun Toucanderos with some great new friends, Gregor & Moritz the Germans, Bernase and & Gabriella the Argentinians and Robert the Norwegean. We drank until late but they all had to be up early for work (they were volunteering at a local zoo) So Danny & I went off to search for another party, we found one, it was a little boring and after another beer we left and ended up in the Plaza, a village square. Well it was know 4am and the cafe we wanted breakfast in didn´t open for another 3 hours, it was a wonderful warm night so we decided to kip down for a few hours on a few benches in the park.....

At around 7am we were woken by the local constabulary, I was upo like a shot, bag on shoulder & hat on, Danny was up soon after....They wanted us to wait around till they could wake the third guy (he must have appeared during the night) he didn´t wake up to easily. But when he did he turned quite violent, the police didn´t like this and restraned him, they made us all follow them to the police station where they walked us though and put us in a cell with no light and closed the door.

The third fellow ´Yesim´ was still rather angry, I was still a little drunk and Danny fell asleep almost imediatelly on the floor of our dark cell. After aboput 20 minutes of Yesim banging at the door the police returned, he shouted at them, they shouted at him, then they threatened him, he was quite after that.

I woke about an hour later, hungover, thirsty and bored. I started communication with Yesim who still seemed quite agitated. He spoke no English and me no ablo Espaniol. We weren´t getting very far in the getting to kmow you stakes, however he had calmed down and we even laughed at our situation. Things were now much better so I decided to make some graffiti to pass the time - Mr Bizarre 2-6-2011 and Yesim did the same, we used my titanium watch strap (thanks Dad!) Yesim´s graffiti was much bigger then mine and right in the middle of the wall ( I placed mine to the side)

A few hours later after Danny woke up we banged on the door as we all needed to go to the toilet and beg for water. The door was hatched in two and the top half opened (fucking thing wasn´t even locked!) but now we had light for the first time, I was much happier. Then the policeman turned up and let us out to the toilet, he even gave us some water (he was actually quite nice) but then he noticed Yesims massive tag on the wall...

He looked at me and asked me if I did it, I said I didn´t and that it wasn´t my name, I told him my name was Paul, he didn´t understand so as he had a name badge on (his name, believe it or not was ´S Moron´) I repeated, my name is Paul....And you are a Moron! This he understood, I bit my tongue to stop myself laughing (I drew a little blood) Danny burst out laughing then stopped just as quickly. Yesim just stood there with a stupid look on his face, he too was a moron and I think he know it.

The poloceman was annoyed and said we would have to pay for the wall...Before he left he tryed to close the hatch, I begged him not too and told him how nice he had been to us and that we promised to be quiet if he let us have some light, he wasn´t sure and I noticed he had a tattoo, some common ground! I should him mine and told him the story behind it in my best Spandglish, he liked the story and called his friend over to see also, after that they left us with the hatch open.

Oh I forgot to say, at some point in all of that we were allowed a phone call so Danny called Rachel to come and get us out (she knows the mayors son and neice)

A few hours later Rachel turned up and walked into where we were, she said the policemen had gone for lunch, I pulled the bottom half of the door open and unscrewed what was left of the latch and put that in my pocket. The police had indeed gone, we found our stuff in their appartment (along with many bags of cocaine and weapons) we took our stuff (leaving all other contraband, no need to chance our luck too much) and went accross the road where everyone was waiting for us. We had amazing chicken with mango, Danny & Rachel headed home and I wnet to the zoo to meet some friends working there. (I do even have pictures of our police cell with graffiti!)

The rest of the day was wonderful, spent hurding llamas, hugging monkeys & feeding wild cats. I arrived home the next day after crashing out at a friends hostel.

And jumping to this morning as I am now eunning out of time here....

We woke this morning to a site of carnage :´(

9 of our 10 chickens had been killed in the night. The cock was stood over the bodies and was morning. Something, a small ferral cat or ferret had killed all but 1. And we had spent the last wee constructing a supper fence to rehouse them, only one day more was needed to dave them, one day to many. No more chickens and no more eggs. I will never forget that scene :´(

Today I am off to the zoo with Saana & Soliya the Finnish girls. It is warm and my spirits are slowly being lifted. Life does indeed go on.

Much love to you all, stay safe

Paul xx

Santa Crus De La Sierra

I´m finding it hard to simply put into words my experiences so far in Bolivia. The country and people are both generous and beautiful. I arrived with ease and spent two days in Santa Cruz with my friend Rachel. We shopped for supplies for the farm by day and chilled in the evening.

I´m dealing with the heat muh better then usual, but I had told myself I would so power of the mind strikes again ;D

I needed to get a sim card sorted and wasn´t having much luck so Rachel got the a policeman to sort it all out for me (he wasn´t after money, just wanted to help!) The evening was spent in the lap of luxury at a very posh hotel (hard life init!) swimming.

After two days we were ready to leave Santa Cruz so began our trip to Samaipata and Danny & Rachel´s farm. A three hour drive into the foot hills of Las Cuervas. They´ve built me the most amazing shelter to stay in and themselves have a wonderful farm over here.

My first night was a little scary if I´m honest. All by myself on a mattress and the protection of a mossie net I jerked and jumped at every scratch, thump and scutter knowing full well that I am sleeping in someone elses back yard, and that someone else had many more legs then me!! My second night was a little easier (I now have a big knife!) but something ran through my room at 4am this morning that sounded a little heavy.....I wasn´t hoping to meet any big cats just yet....

Other then that life on the farm is great, today some friends we met in Santa Cruz stopped by and took us out for lunch which also enabled us to catch some time online yay! The next two weeks will be wonderful I´m sure and I hope to take Rachel away for a long days trek to the third waterfall (which she´s never seen!)

I´m sure I will upodate again soon but if not then next stop Villa Tunari and my stay at Parque Machia.

Thank you all for following xx

Leaving Winder Wonderland

So my time in Switzerland is coming to a close. After a whole week of warm weather, this morning Swutzerland decided it was still winter and dumped a massive amount of snow everywhere clearly reminding us all exactly where we are and just how beautiful life can be.

I have walked through small towns, large cities and have been up mountains that take your breath away (quite literally as the air is rather thin ;) A facebook album will follow shortly.

I have met some truely wonderful people here, kind, generous and genuine. And have caught up with some old friends too who have been nothing but all of the above. I have so much love for my Swiss Friends and of course my wonderful grandma who is so thoughtful & caring and the best grandma anyone could hope for.

So tomorrow I am flying back into London for five days, that`s just five days to sort out any last minute arrangements before I head to Bolivia.... I`m so excited you could hardly believe!

So I sign off and wish you all a week filled with lions tigers and bears! Or something along those lines...Maybe love peace and happiness has become to cliche?

Paul xx

11 Minutes

I have 11 minutes left at this internet cafe so i will have to be quick, not easz as someone has swapped many of the keys around on this Swiss keyboard.

I arrivd safely and efficiently, from landing to being on a train took just 40 minutes (including baggage claim) Now I have 4 days in which to help my grandma pack up all of her belongings and on Tuesday we are moving appartments to somewhere closer to town.

I have not been to St Gallen for almost 5 years now, a place where I grew up spending so many summers and winters here. The place is changing though, where before there were swiss products everywhere now there is Mars Bars & Twix, in a country that produces some of the best chocolate in the world this is a sad sight :(

However the place is still breath taking as you will all see once I upload my pictures. I sign off in a place that I feel naturally calm, relaxed and elated.

Paul xx

And so it begins

With Winter Wonderland over I now find my future outlook that much rosier. Not that it was hell on earth, but imagine working at a festival that never seemed to end, and that festival celebrating christmas and the consumerism that comes with it. Bit too much out of my comfort zone for that length of time. However I've met and worked with some really great people and that for me was well worth it :D

Medical Couriers already seems like a lifetime ago, I wonder what they are up to right now?

And so I'm sat here in my mothers living room waiting for a cab to take me to the train station for my first flight of many. This one is to visit my amazing grandma in a real winter wonderland, Switzerland, right near the border of Appelzell. I will be helping her move house further into town where life for her will become easier and closer to friends, and also catching up on some of my childhood friends.

I wish you all a healthy and joyful January.

Much love

Paul