MACHU PICHU 2.

The horizon forever changing, lamas, alpacas and small colourful people working the land we weaved and climbed up into the snow capped mountains. Pacha mama (mother earth) keeping an eye on us, the nip of her wind penetrating and stinging any exposed skin. We climbed and climbed pushing the bikes to their limits and forever pushing adelante!

MACHU PICHU 1.

So after watching 'Motorcycle Diaries' on multiple occasions and reading Che Guevaras diaries from his incredible travels, I threw it out there that we should avoid the tourist filled treks to Machu Pichu and ride some bikes there. I dont know if it was the high altitude or let lag, but Sophie loved the idea and within 48 hours of here 30 something hour plane ride we were shakily riding out of Cusco before sunrise. A very vague idea of how to get there, a little map with sketches and notes marked all over it and 16 hours lay between ourselves and Machu Pichu.

As we stalled the bikes a few times leaving Cusco up the steep hills, nearly got attacked by packs of dogs and started to feel the freezing mountain air we began to realise what we had put ourself into.  

CUSCO. PERU. MI AMORCITA VAQUERITA.

My new little lady friend from Western Australia, who I had only known for around 8 weeks before I left Australia for South America made a complete power move. She pushed aside her uni exams/assignments to come and join me for some adventures in the soaring high Andes of Peru.

CUSCO. SHAMAN. RICHARDINTI CHIRINOS.

While sitting in a net cafe in the homeland of the incas a shaman entered and sat down at the computer next to me. I ended up talking to him and he invited me for an ayahuasca ceremony. Right there and then on the spot he befriended me on facebook and started going through my photos and friends taking a liking to Callum Paul. We are all now good friends and Im going to hopefully visit Richardinti when im back in Cusco at the end of April.

DICOLA NEW PART

Been so much fun kicking it with Dicola again. Check his new part, so so so dope! Hose runner!

KOON RUN.

Fine form on the bubbler there.

SKATEBOARDING IS IRAN WITH THE VISUAL TRAVELING CREW.

By my old friend Patrick Walner. Hope your all doing well! Keep up the good work mate, your an inspiration to us all!
This photo was from an extremely hung over day/night train that we took from Shenzhen to Sanya, China back in 2009. We scored a sleeping cabin together while good ol Kenny Reed got bunked up with a not so friendly Chinese family who kept him up all night playing with some absurd toys.   

AUSANGATE, PERU. 4

Motorcycle diaries. Who would think that this photo I took while leaving Ausangate (mountain in the background which we were behind 4 hours earlier) would inspire the next leg of our trip. If you have never seen 'Motorcycle Diaries' you must check it out ASAP!!!

AUSANGATE. PERU 3.

This is what I call a restaurant, out in the open, fresh fried pancakes smothered in jam. Food never tastes better then when your in the mountains and really working for it.

AUSANGATE. PERU 2.

So after a 3am wake up and over 6 hours of agonizing hiking we reached the red lagoon in Ausangate. These photos dont give it any justice, place was HUGE and seemed like an illusion. Crymson coloured glacial lake with deep blue glacier and ice capped mountains surrounding.

AUSANGATE. PERU. 1

I begged and pleaded to days to do some alpine climbing out in this area but had no luck and had to settle for some high mountain hiking which was truly like nothing else ive ever done. The mountains were vast, they reached right up to the sky touching the clouds, the air was thin and it was hard to even walk at around 4500meters above sea level. My head felt like it was going to explode, but I couldn't turn back as each corner held something magical to explore! 

KINGDOM OF THE INCAS 1.

So after a lot of formal security checks in Colombia and flying over one of the most insane mountainous landscapes on this very earth I arrived in Cusco, Peru. As the plane neared the runway the sun shot out from behind the mountains creating as ethereal effect which didnt disappoint any preconceptions of the Peruvian Andes. As we touched down in the kingdom of the Incas my brain shocked, my body trembling to explore the surrounding mountains. Out of the plane and the tour guides like mosquitos started buzzing in from all directions. I squatted through the crowd, collected my bag and found a little 1 bedroom room in the centre. Threw my body down and and waited to wake up from my dream like state in a my bed in Australia.     

BACK TO SOUTH AMERICA

I have actually been back in Australia for over 6 months and have fallen behind with blogs. Out of nowhere I find myself about to step back onto a plane to South America to go and spend 5 weeks in Bolivia documenting the upcoming builders jam. We plan to build a skatepark on the outskirts of La Paz. 

For the next week I will be in Southern California, if anyone is heading to Arizona, preferably Tuscon, PLEASE email as I need a ride: skategypsy@gmail.com

 For the next while I will be trying to post a photo a day with a little journal from my experiences of Peru. When I landed in the Inca kingdom I bough myself a little film camera and have been using it enthusiastically ever since. 

LOONY BIN

)

BOGOTA . . . COLOMBIA . . . FINAL DAYS . . . ):

Bogota was bumping, straight off the plane this little double-denim-demon invited us to join him for some party. Safetly we declined as Sparkes was terrified of being kidnapped. Javis Dad Alvaro nearly had a heart attack when he saw the state our of 'hairs'. We found some amazing photos of javi, this Rodrigo Tx style one with his first board is my favourite! 

Javis local mates have a dope little D.I.Y spot and we ended up getting stuck there for hours. I often forget how bloody good Javi can skate! We filmed majority of the skating for the edit this day, bombed around with 13 year old tattooed locals. 

Sadly this marked the end of the Colombain trip and Sparkes was Australia bound, which lay around 30 hours in flights away  down there at the bottom of the earth. Javi stayed in Colombia and I bombed it down to Peru to spend the next 3 weeks with my little lady friend who by chance was on her uni holiday! 

Otra vez muchisima gracias a todos de Colombia! Espero que podria volver en el futuro! Su pais es tan lindo y ustedes se van a quedar en mi corazon siempre, especialmente Ruthcita, Alvaro, Negra Perra, Juan Sebastian, Papayo, Saracita! Y Javicito el guia official!  

SF

)

BOBBY BOBBY BOBBY!

Never a dull moment when that mans on a board!

MEDELLIN . . . COLOMBIA . . . 5

With the new hairdos on and looking more fucked then ever we went to some bar where Papayo and some of the other boys had organised a 'GYPSY LIFE' premiere. As per usual shit escalated, especially seeing that it was a friday. We made the most out of our last night in Medellin. The dude with the big eagle tattooed on his head told us that this was a cover up of 'FUCK ISLAM' . . . heavy. We had to get up earlyish to get to the airport to buy our tickets there on the spot for a flight back to Bogota, and zee brains were not functioning as we said our goodbyes and the poor old taxi boomed up the hill to the airport, breaking down at one point, but in the end pulling through..... Bogota here we come.  

'BEYOND' By Cale Glendening.

The Aghori (Sanskrit: अघोर aghōra),^[2] are ascetic Shaiva sadhus.

Many Aghori gurus command great reverence from rural populations as they are supposed to possess healing powers gained through their intensely eremitic rites and practices of renunciation and tápasya. They are also known to meditate and perform worship in haunted houses.The Aghori are known to engage in post-mortem rituals. They often dwell in charnel grounds, have been witnessed smearingcremation ashes on their bodies, and have been known to use bones from human corpses for crafting skull bowls (which Shivaand other Hindu deities are often iconically depicted holding or using) and jewelry. Due to their practices that are contradictory to orthodox Hinduism, they are generally opposed.^[3][4]

Varanasi, India: "Beyond" from Cale Glendening on Vimeo.

MEDELLIN . . .HAIRCUTS . . . COLOMBIA . . . 4

On a very very hungover morning we decided to go get a haircut. I hadnt really properly cut mine in at least 8 years and my mate jackboy recently summed it when he said 'he felt like he had some food on his face for the past 12 years and no one told him about it". Out of the blue Javi decided to bleach his 'hairs', it was an indescribable friday afternoon that no one really expected, especially the security guard whose finger was riding the trigger of his shot gun at all times. Colombian shopping malls are HUGE!