Con sorpresa me entero de la redada en la que han caído el director de una clínica de bicicletas de Toronto con más de 1500 bicicletas de procedencia dudosa, posiblemente robadas incluso en Montréal y luego transportadas allá para ser vendidas.

Bien por la policía de Toronto.

Hay videos en YouTube y la policía quiere devolverlas a sus dueños si presentan una prueba de propiedad, incluso una fotografía con la bicicleta en cuestión, el número de serie del marco. Idealmente al comprar una bicicleta, sobre todo si es de marca -con lo que pueden llegar a costar- uno recibe una factura con el número de serie. Si es un ticket de caja, fotocopiarlo o escanearlo hace que dure pues los tickets suelen despintarse o perder el color de tinta en unos meses.

Aquí en Montréal fue en vano. Inicialmente llamé a la policía del arrondisement y nadie sabía nada; me dijeron que de repente en el centro, en la estación de Ville-Marie. Fuí a la estación con bicicleta y papeles y nada. Tampoco sabían de ningún registro ni nada. Me comentaron que si no era valiosa la bicicleta no la robarían y que si lo era “il faut acheter un bon cadenas…“. Gran esperanza.

Luego encontré a Bike Registry Canada, una base de datos nacional que por CAD$ 10 mantiene tu registro por 10 años. Siendo miembro de MEC tengo un descuento del 50%. Muy razonable.

A partir de esta redada me entero que la policía de Toronto ofrece un registro en línea, que además de ser gratuito, es la primera base de datos que ellos consultan para casos como este o cuando recuperan alguna bicicleta.

Basta ir a torontopolice.on.ca y presionar el botón que está a la derecha más o menos a mitad de página y que dice Bicycle Registration que abre una forma de registro.

Es gratis, es simple, ¿porqué no registrarla?.

Si lo pienso un poco, la gente a veces llega a considerar su bicicleta como una mascota por el tiempo invertido o las experiencias que ha tenido con su bicicleta. Sin mencionar el precio que algunos pagan para obtener exactamente lo que quieren. Cuando les es robada suelen considerarla una pérdida importante.

Ojalá este registro sirva y que Montréal tome una iniciativa parecida. Aquí también el robo de bicicletas es un problema real.

Personalmente pongo un cable de acero alrededor de la rueda delantera y el asiento que pasa por el mejor Kryptonite disponible que asegura el marco y la rueda posterior. Si no hay cable, saco la rueda delantera y la paso tambien por el Krytonite. Mi asiento no tiene automático, está empernado. Con los quick-release o automáticos como los llamaban por allá en Lima es facilísimo sacar una rueda o todo el poste con el asiento.

Pero igual no me gusta dejarla en el centro para nada.

Sometimes a little is a lot.

This is not news at all but I just found back the Cannondale RAW page. For your pleasure.

This is a variation of my current bike. Check the slideshow and the video.

I dig the tires color but prefer my skinny 700×28c for city use. The WF is rain for all this week. Fenders wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Choice is good.

Un video que me hace pensar en lo divertido que es manejar, incluso en medio del tráfico. Viéndolos a veces me parece que al tocar los buses fuera como si estuvieran jugando con delfines o las ballenas en el agua. Y que eres más rápido que ellos o así te parece.

En Lima jugaba “pimbol” que era el pasar entre los autos, a todo pedal, mientras iban parando por la luz roja en especial en el semáforo del San Agustin, en Javier Prado y vía expresa. Al cambio de luz, estando en el cambio correcto, las bicis salen embaladas, mucho más rápido que los autos que por el peso tardan unos segundos en coger velocidad. Tiempo suficiente para dejarlos atrás y alinearse al lado derecho de la avenida. A veces coincidía que llegabas adelante y la luz cambiaba a verde entonces salías aún mucho más rápido pues no parabas, sólo acelerabas aún más. Una sensación increíble. Y claro dependes de tus piernas para el pique o para acelerar y dejarlos atrás en los pocos segundos que pasan entre la reacción del chofer y el motor trabajando para poner toda la masa del auto en movimiento.

Pequeñas locuras. Pero ¿qué sería la vida sin un poco de diversión?

So, after enjoying riding in the rain a little while back I am now having a creaking sound down there. I thought it was the shitty pedals I got but after installing some nice Easton Flatboys the creak is still there.

Time to rebuild or change my bottom bracket.

The internet is wonderful for these things. Checking around I found the manuals for my BB with exploding views and all that. Also read about the Hope stainless steel BB; it seems to behave pretty well under wet conditions. And looks pretty cool too.

And if the cartridge of my BB can be replaced, Enduro seems to make interesting sets. They even have ceramic bearings. And the pic on their site is pretty graphical about using them in wet conditions.

I just hope I don’t have to change the whole BB, after buying the pedals this is getting a bit expensive. Luckily there is an atelier communautaire where for an annual fee I can go and use the tools and a mechanic’s assistance to do maintenance, repairs o replacements. I changed the pedals there yesterday and saved a few bucks since I didn’t have to buy the pedal wrench I needed nor the bit of seal grease for the pedal threads. Although it is a nice tool, very solid -the Park one- what good is it if I am to use it one or twice perhaps.

That money better goes to the annual fee or some hot cappuccinos for the mechanics.

BTW the flatboys are grippy I took the pins out in one side but after the first ride the side of my chin had 2 scratches. I’m thinking of replacing the pins with something softer, leaving them out or just putting them in when needed. I should get something in the holes as they’ll get dirt if left empty. Oh well the flatboys look OK even dirty.

…
listening Pink Floyd Shine on you crazy diamond.

Esta pequeña caja contiene…

Mi nueva Specialized Phenom !

Es suuuper ligera comparada con la Selle Italia que tenía antes. Mejores fotos luego.

Después de ponerla, me provoca cambiar el poste. Algo así como este o este que tiene un buen soporte.

Me voy a montar.

…

Oyendo Depeche Mode Pleasure, little treasure

Je suis en train de passer des entretiens téléphoniques pour prendre un travail. C’est le temps de reprendre le boulot et finir les vacances.

Au debout il faut envoyer le C.V. avec une lettre de présentation personnalisé pour la compagnie ou le type de poste dont on s’intéresse, Après, l’entretien téléphonique dans laquelle plus de renseignements sont demandés et elle sert aussi a vérifier le niveau de français, même si le son du téléphone n’est pas le meilleur il faut réussir a parler et répondre aux questions. Ici de fois j’ai de la misère a comprendre quelques mots et je dois demander de les répéter ou de reformuler la question, mais dans la plus part de cas tout va bien.

Je viens de passer une dans laquelle j’ai demandé plus que mon antérieur travail. L’entretien n’était pas si longe et je me demande maintenant si c’était too much ce qui j’ai indiqué comme salaire.

Ahh bon, je le ferai mieux la prochaine fois

El tema de los precios de los planes propuestos por Rogers para el iPhone en Canadá esta que arde. Hay mucha gente descontenta e incluso han levantado una petición en línea que será entregada en una semana y que ya va con más de 45,000 personas firmando y quejándose sobre Rogers. Rogers incluso habría bloqueado el dominio para sus usuarios de internet. Al parecer hasta Apple no estaría de acuerdo y según reporta The Inquirer habria enviado un largo porcentaje de los teléfonos que vendrían para Rogers a Europa a manera de protesta.

Me me encanta ver que la gente hace algo por lo que quiere y que no se queda resignada a lo que una corporación decide. Aquí el video con el ’statement’ de la petición en cuestión.

Obviamente que también he firmado la petición, bajo las condiciones actuales tener el iPhone no es atractivo, pues al costo se suma que, según entiendo, hay cosas que la red de Rogers no puede brindar siendo que estan dentro de las capacidades del iPhone.

…
Update 10.7.08 - Parece que Rogers empieza a ceder… aunque aún no sé si lo suficiente.

Llegó apenas ayer. Después de pasearse dos veces de un lado a otro de Canadá.

Pasa que no sabía que el intercomunicador tenia un código para llamar al teléfono de la casa. Yo nunca “toco el timbre” para entrar. Y cuando vinieron a entregar el paquete yo esperaba que suene el panel de la cocina y a veces no contestaba el teléfono. Y así lo enviaron de vuelta por dirección equivocada.

En fin, ahora ya tengo espacio para más anime, fotos y demás. Los discos se llenan casi sin pensar.

Una de las cosas que no me gustaba al abrir Firefox es que se vaya cada vez a la pagina de mozilla. Cuando aparece una nueva versión entiendo que nos muestren una página con las características y mejoras. Luego eso me aburre.

Así que una de las primeras cosas que hago es setear la página de inicio como página en blanco. Y ya.

Pero algo faltaba.

Hoy estuve jugando con una extensión llamada Stylish que te permite manejar las hojas de estilo ( stylesheets - ¿se dice así en español? ) para controlar elementos indeseados o modificar la apariencia de las páginas e interfaz. Encontré una con el logo de firefox en tonos azules/celestes como fondo de página, véanla:

Buenísima, pero me aburrí pronto de ver azul cada vez que abro un nuevo tab. Aunque el logo me sigue gustando.

Así que el resultado fue un nuevo background: Milk fox.

Aqui una imagen de una nueva página en blanco o de un nuevo tab:

No es la gran cosa pero son los pequeños detalles que hacen las cosas más gratas.

While surfing the deals and rebates for the coming Canada Day I noticed two price search engines I use had no plugins in Firefox.

So I created them.

Firefox search engine design is very smart and makes things sooo easy, just double click any word or number and choose where to search. A definition, a translation to another language, Google it, track it (if it’s a package number), search it in YouTube, etc. For instance, after yesterday’s bike excursion I was checking a Garmin 60CSx GPS for my bike so I double-clicked on “60CSx” to select it, chose Best Buy from the right button menu and then a new tab in the background opens with Best Buy’s description and price -if only one match- or a list of choices -if several matches-. Very easy. And you can compare prices if you choose a price comparison engine, like PriceBot, that searches in many sites and gives you a list of prices in each of them. Or I could’ve selected “Miki Gonzales” and chosen YouTube to see Akundun and other videos from him uploaded there.

I was forgetting, to have the search engines in you right button mouse menu you also need the Context Search extension. No worries, it installs just with one click.

Making the plugins is simple and kind of fun after your first try. You can find them in the Mycroft page: PriceBat.ca and PriceCanada.

Ain’t Firefox great?

It’s gotta be my lucky day. I got my second parcel today in the afternoon.

My iMac superdrive is supposed to record DVDs at 8x. I have tried several media, generic and even 16x Fuji DVD-R and all I got was 2x speed that means about +30 minutes to record a full single layer DVD. Too slow.

And then verification. Bit by bit.

Life’s too short.

Looking around the web to find how to record faster I could see many people complaining about that, having an 8x superdrive that cannot record at that speed. Many brands are mentioned but among all of them Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden appear to be the most recommended ones. After inserting a Verbatim DVD I can confirm that:

The 8x speed choice is displayed as available. I can finally use my superdrive at full speed.

Or not.

Using Toast 8 simulation mode to record 4.31 GB of possible 4.38 GB I got a total time of 12 min 53 sec.

Write speed was set at 8x DVD, although 16x DVD appears listed in the pop-up menu. There’s also the ‘Best’ speed setting which I should try. Buffer underrun was off.

The first 10% is recorded between 2x and 3x speed; when reaching 84-85% the 8x speed kicks in. This is normal no drive records at constant speed. 8x demands about 11 MB/sec data rate, so I left a few applications opened (Adium, Firefox 3, Preview, DiscCatalogMaker, Brightness), hid Firefox and trusted in the iMac data pipes and my internal factory Western Digital SATA drive.

It is definitely an improvement over the Fuji media that takes more than 30 min.

Perhaps I should order some more as the price is $4.99 per 25 DVDs pack as a deal in FS.

Until I get BD.

Out of 3 orders purchased online delivered by 2 different courier companies none has arrived to me yet.

There seems to be a problem with this address. The owners didn’t tell me a buzzer code was required to reach the apartment and since I never call or ring my own place I didn’t know. And courier drivers seem to come and leave, unable to reach me.

So my shiny new HD, my UPS and some DVDs are still on the way when they should already be here.

Misery likes company.

…

Update 12:24PM - what do you know, the courier arrived a little while ago with my new UPS. Unpack, plug battery, turn off my mac, plug power and USB cable and I’m done. Apple has UPS control software in the Energy control panel that will be visible only when a UPS is detected. Good that my Back-UPS ES is supported.

To save menubar space and get visual feedback I’m using Battery Monitor

Treating the UPS in the same way as the battery of a laptop has been one of those things that I find incredibly ingenious since I heard of it as an old entry in MacHack. Don’t know if Apple picked up the idea there or what but it is one of the things that make me like this OS, no extra 3-years-old-power-chute-up to-0SX10.4.5-only-my-#$#@#.

Less is more.

Just like that. Half my menubar space is full of icons. Sure, some are off as soon as I quit the application -the last 3- but most are the ones I see everyday. Just expand your browser window to catch all of them.

So without further ado:

Starting from the right Spotlight, Control Panel Clock [with a little hack to display both date and time], Input menu, Bluetooth status, Airport status, Volume, Keychain access, Little Snitch [in full throtle], Check off, Luna Menu, Weather Dock, Google Notifier [newer Gmail Notifier allows a priviledge escalation exploit], Adium, Gizmo and Azureus.

Some are not in Britta’s compilation as she only list menulets and not applications that can set an icon in the menubar.

Una de las pérdidas o parte del saldo negativo de mi viaje a Perú fue mi mochila.

Al subir al barco en Yurimaguas noté que el soporte no estaba tan cómodo como suele ser. Examinando me di cuenta que el riel plástico que permite la regulación de la suspensión del Torso Trac se había roto. Raro, no había hecho nada extremo o sometido a la mochila a nada brusco.

Pero revisando más de cerca noté que el plástico se estaba deshaciendo con un poco de presión de mis dedos, osea fatiga del material. Y si recuerdo bien, esta mochila tiene mas de 20 años en los cuales ha viajado conmigo a muchos lugares en mi espalda, en burro -incluso raspando las laderas del camino-, en el techo de un bus, camión, volquete y otros vehiculos, inclyendo aviones y ultimamente en barco y con climas que van desde el sol del desierto, la lluvia, la nieve y las noches gélidas en los nevados donde amanecía medio rígida por las temperaturas bajo cero que hacían.

Recuerdo que hace unos años estando en Huaraz o por viajar a Huaraz sentí algo igual y al revisar encontré que la placa que es la contraparte del riel se había roto por la misma razon, fatiga del material. Le escribí a Lowe envíando fotos del detalle a ver si podían hacer algo y me respondierón pronto indicando que ellos no tenían un representante en Perú pero que podían enviarme la pieza a su costo aunque yo que tenía que encontrar quien la cosa. El mail me dejó la sensación de la importancia que le daban al problema. Sonreí pensando en el buen servicio y en los mails que deben recibir de gente que les escribe desde los lugares más extremos y alucinantes del mundo y que llevan su equipo por lo bueno que es. Recibí la pieza y la cosieron allá, en Lima. La verdad no podría quejarme de mi mochila, la he tratado bien en lo posible pero por el tipo de viajes que hemos hecho pues… que haya sobrevivido más de 20 años es ya bastante bueno y que además siga teniendo soporte hasta ahora dice mucho de Lowe Alpine.

Esta vez Lowe Canada me confirma que el modelo nunca estuvo disponible aquí pero tienen las piezas que necesito y debo decidir si enviarla a Vancouver o recibir las piezas y hacer la costura aquí. Encontré que el principal lugar para reparaciones de equipo de aventura es De Fil en Montagne cerca al metro Mont-Royal.

Si bien una mochila de este tipo no es barata, al menos es fácil encontrar una aquí. La mía tuvo que venir desde bien lejos pues entonces en Perú no se conseguía equipo nuevo ni había tiendas de montaña como las pocas que al menos hay ahora.

Pero ¿porqué repararla en vez de comprar otra?

Cada vez que trato de explicar esto algunos lo llegan a entender pero pocos o ninguno comparte un sentimiento así. Hubo una época en la que viajaba mucho. Buses, aviones, trenes, autos. Todo cambiaba. De un dia a otro. Otra ciudad, nuevo paisaje, otro escenario, otras caras y gente. Y obviamente no llevaba muchas cosas conmigo. En un mundo de tantos cambios uno encuentra que las cosas que van con uno lo hacen sentir en casa donde sea que uno esté. Y esas cosas pasan con el tiempo a tomar el valor que tiene un perro fiel o una compañía desinteresada que esta contigo en las buenas y en las malas.

Sin contar con que tiene el vano honor de haber estado en los lugares más fríos y aislados de Perú donde probablemente solo una minoría de peruanos ha llegado.

Más de 20 años después mi mochila aún esta aquí y conmigo. No tiene sentido dejar que termine así. Además que luego de esta reparación todo lo demás esta OK .

Y seguiremos viajando.

…
Oyendo The Doors Riders of the storm

© F. Murrugarra @ Panoramio

Esperando por Firefox 3 y nada…

Ojalá rompan el record de descargas hoy. Sería impresionante..

Update 2:55PM - Ya esta listo y está bajando entre ~200 a 300 kbps.

Si getfirefox.com no funciona -algo con los DNSs- también se puede bajar en:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/?from=getfirefox

Update 2 - parece que el error era causado por saturación de los servidores que resuelven getfirefox.com a la pagina de mozilla.com, la que no tiene problemas hasta el momento con la demanda. Ahora ambas estan en línea y yo posteando desde Firefox 3.

Como es usual las noticias sobre el nuevo iPhone estan por todos los webs que tratan sobre las mac; comentando las novedades del anuncio de ayer así como las cosas que quedaron pendientes -como una cámara de más resolución- para una próxima revisión de hardware. Después de mucho tiempo me siento un poco desconectado de lo que pasa en el mundo Apple, leer sobre el iPhone no me emociona tanto como es usual con otros productos de la compañía de la manzana.

Es innegable que es un aparato muy interesante y si me pongo a pensar en lo que puedo hacer con él durante el tiempo que viajo en el metro, por ejemplo o si sería mejor elección que un nuevo iPod para remplazar mi actual puede ser que pensaría en comprarlo, pero ya desde Lima los teléfonos celulares no han sido mi obsesión. He preferido mantener mi privacidad y mi número en un mínimo de personas. En este sentido el primer celular que compré fue más por la curiosidad de tener un aparato de ese tipo con Bluetooth, por los juegos en java, la posibilidad de revisar mi hotmail o yahoo o de conectarme a varios messengers, la compatibilidad con iSync y otras cosas más, antes que por el deseo mismo de tener un celular. Sin mencionar que el acceso WAP para los celulares de TIM era gratuito, mientras estaban de prueba.

Y es el único celular que tengo y tenido hasta hoy.

Aunque para ser más exactos más que un nuevo teléfono, el iPhone es en realidad una nueva plataforma que consolida varias de las tecnologías actuales en un terminal móvil.

Puedo comprender la emoción de tenerlo por fín aquí en Canada desde el 11 de julio, así como la ventaja que es consolidar varios de los aparatos que uno lleva encima en una sola cosa pero aún eso sumado a mi gusto por la tecnología no me despiertan un deseo tal como el que me puede despertar una MacPro de 4 procesadores con 8-cores cada uno. O las noticias sobre Snow Leopard.

Con esto no quiero decir que no vaya a ser un boom y que no tenga las cualidades para serlo, solo digo que para mí no por ahora. No tengo una razón concreta o de censura, hasta el precio sugerido -menos de $ 199- es más que aceptable.

Estos días estoy más bien entre un disco externo de 1 TB en raid o en un solo volumen. Y un nuevo asiento para mi bici.

Supongo que siempre habrá más juguetes con los que uno puede o quiere jugar…

Update: Telefónica dará Wi-Fi gratis con el iPhone en Inglaterra.

Update 3.07: Parece que tenía razones de más para no estar emocionado. Los planes de Rogers en Canadá son pésimos comparados con los de ATT u otros. Ojo que como se precisa en un comentario, sobre el precio del plan básico están Call Display (identificador de llamada) $15 - $20 más, Access fee (acceso a la red) $8.95 más, 911 (emergencias) $0.50 más y los dos impuestos en Quebec que dan como 13% mas sobre la suma de lo anterior.

Me encantaría usar un iPhone, pero las limitaciones de la red de Rogers y este esquema de precios lo hacen poco atractivo.
…
oyendo Mika Grace Kelly

Algunas noticias me alegran de manera especial:

Bell Hit With Quebec Class Action Over Throttling Practices

via Michael Geist

Es obvio que prometer acceso a una velocidad constante incluso en horas pico y luego limitar esa velocidad a ciertos programas, no brindando la velocidad de acceso contratada a ninguna hora, es una estafa.

Y yo no estaré nunca a favor de que se viole la privacidad de nadie al usar deep packet inspection o cualquier otra técnica para analizar el contenido de lo que uno envíe. Ergo mi interés en la encriptación y demás medidas para mantener la privacidad de las personas. Pero cada vez que toco ese tema o menciono la palabrita muchos me miran como si fuera un marciano.

Había escuchado de este tema del throttling y por eso he evitado a Bell y escogí a Videotron -que ofrece conexiones de hasta 50 Mbps actualmente- aunque con límites en el total de transferencia mensual. Lo que no se dice de Videotrón es que ellos guardan los logs de toda la actividad de cada cliente por un tiempo no determinado, con lo que dado el caso podría lograrse reconstruir lo que cada uno hizo o no hizo en línea. Incluso después de haber terminado contrato con ellos y no usar sus servicios. Y esto no lo mencionan al consumidor y menos cuando haces el contrato con ellos.

Pero es interesante que sean ahora los consumidores que se quejan y buscan además una compensación económica.

Y me gustaría ver pronto una reacción tan definida contra el ACTA.

Update: una manera creativa de canalizar la frustración con el servicio de Bell.

Viendo los edificios del fondo pasar mientras venia hacia aquí me sentía en casa. Muy diferente de la primera vez que llegué . Ya conozco esta ciudad y no me siento un extraño aquí.

Es primavera, así que estoy disfrutando del sol, el verde y las primeras ropas ligeras que veo en las quebecas por aquí. Aun no tengo ganas de trabajar o de buscar trabajo, mis cosas están OK en el depósito y nada, creo que voy a empezar a ver donde quiero vivir por el próximo año.

Este lunes es feriado. A ver si puedo aprovecharlo viajando a algún lado. Por lo pronto ya hay una propuesta para ir a las Maritimes en julio, propuesta que aún no puedo aceptar ni rechazar pues ni siquiera he empezado a trabajar como para poder decir que pediré permiso o vacaciones adelantadas.

Ya veremos. El futuro aun no es pero existe el ahora.

En Perú. Me voy con ganas de quedarme. ¿Quién no querría seguir de vacaciones? viajando, preocupándose solo de elegir que comer cada dia, o de hacer deportes o de planear donde salir o donde viajar en los próximos dias.

Obviamente que no quiero que termine.

Quize postergar el pasaje pero ya no es posible postergarlo más. Pensé en perderlo y tomar otro luego. No me sale a cuenta, podría pasar una semana en Cuba agregando un poco más de dinero. Luego pensé en viajar a Miami e ir “caleteando” hasta NY y luego en tren o bus a Montreal. Pero llevo demasiadas cosas, más de las que traje y para viajar de esa manera debo ir más ligero. Tampoco es que me fascinen los US, básicamente es barato comprar allá. Así que de regreso. Si quiero vagar más, vagaré un mes allá en Montreal yendo al gimnasio y viendo un nuevo empleo, para un mes mas tarde.

He conocido muchos de los lugares que me quedaban por conocer y he visto a la mayoría de la gente que quería ver. Pero siempre hay más.

Han sido muy buenos meses y siempre hay más cosas que uno puede hacer, especialmente en Perú. Verdaderamente Perú, país de aventura.

Serán para la próxima.

The last couple of days were interesting. I found out I could get an apartment free through a friend, the apartment is currently empty, I mean unfurnished. Getting some furniture is cheap compared to the hotel rate for the time I would stay. I went to see it and it was OK but knowing that I’d be back soon didn’t really do much with it. Why didn’t I think of this a couple of months ago when I was just doing nothing in Lima?

I went to one of the Agricobank parties. Not much people but Monica’s friends were there. Last time one of them was like wanting to talk with me. I just avoided it politely. This time I arrived a bit late and they had been drinking with some other guys, so when I got there she was a bit friendly and after asking me a bit of who I was and saying that Monica and her were friends but she was not into the same “business”, but that she just wanted me, all while getting closer and starting to grope me. As much of an ego stroke as that somehow was I felt unwilling after a few moments, I told her so and she reacted asking me if I didn’t like her or if I was gay. I just said she was not my type and offered her a drink. After that we talked a bit, booze helped her to open and talk about her life. Until I got sleepy again and told her I was leaving. And I left.

On the one hand it was interesting to talk to the hookers and see more than just one side of them. On the other it was a pity that most of my experience in Iquitos was only with them and not with a normal girl, I mean, not a girl in the business, just a somebody that lives there.

I went to Belen. If you go around the Belen Market more than a guy will approach to you offering a ride in a bot to visit Belen. They usually ask 20 soles. But as in other places they are just intermediaries who inflate the price.

To get to the Belen port you have to walk 3 blocks down the Belen Market and then descend. You will find again many people offering the same, ask if he has a boat and if he is going to drive. The ride costs 2 to 5 soles. If you want to pay more, give it straight to the boat driver not to a guy who just brings them a customer and takes the larger part of the money with them.

OK, you then descend to the “port” and walk over wood above the water -they are like a bridge- until you board the boat. Then they take you around.

All this neighborhood is under water on the rainy season, you can see the first floor of many housed almost covered in water until the roof. But most of the houses are done in such a way that they just move everything one floor above and that’s it. I don’t know how they do with electricity, there must be a switch for each floor I guess.

They have small shops, bars, hairdressers, everything above the water. Even a church. On the way you see many houses with their doors opened and the way people leave, in hammocks, and with some furniture like tables and chairs but mostly they stay at the porch laying like sloths or kids playing in the river.

It’s an interesting trip, not to be missed.

When you return, a walk around in the market is also interesting. You will see many kinds of exotic meats sold there as motelo (turtle), majás, and some sausages that I dared not ask what they were made of. The many fruits are also interesting, some do not usually arrive to Lima and you can see and taste them there copahiba, tumbo, aguaje, ungurahui and cocona drinks are readily available for 0.50 soles a glass.

A market gives you a glimpse of a part how people lives. Consumption habits are part of a lifestyle picture.

The town has something that captures you and makes you want to stay in spite of the temperature -30 to 32º C at midday- and not having the greatest nightlife, I’d wanted to have more time to stay longer or to have come before. The allure of a simpler life perhaps. There’s also my liking for finding out how is life in other places by staying a while there.

So, while I order a cocona drink in my fav jungle food restaurant back here I think of Iquitos with a bit of nostalgia.

I should go back to stay for a longer time. Just hope that the flat is still there.

…

listening to Atahualpa Amuletos [Niños Malos version]

OK the visit to the tourist info office was helpful this time. Basically you can do things in Iquitos or out in the jungle but having Iquitos as base camp.

In Iquitos you have -other than the city- Nanay, Quistococha and a Reserve on the road to Nauta.

I went to Nanay yesterday and got a boat to take me to the 4 main attractions around there: the serpentarium or snake house, the Boras, the Yaguas and the butterfly farm. It took close to 5 hrs due to the stuff you do, not to the time you spend traveling on the river. Some guys ask 60 to 80 soles, others say only 10 or 15 but in the middle of the river they tell you that it is only one way and that the whole trip will be double. Be sure to point out clearly that the agreed price includes the two-way trip and the visit to the 4 places -or the ones you want to visit- before you leave.

OK the snake house is like a small zoo that the same boat drivers say they’ve built to have a place where to take tourists and show the animals. I was told 10 soles was the entrance and the sign outside says 10 soles, but the guy there asked me 20 since I hadn’t come with an agency, he argued. I simply said the driver that we should continue as I can visit Quistococha zoo and see the animals there. Then the guardian agreed to charge me the stated fare.

They have like 10 different animals among monkeys, anaconda and mantona snakes, parrots, small crocodiles, añuje, and some small jungle birds. Also they let me carry the little smiling fellow you can see here.

He moves very very slowly and feels like a stuffed animal only with a stronger body. In a sense it would be a great pet. At the end of the visit they invite you to seat and bring a colorful parrot to stand in your arm and you get to taste clavohuasca or SVSS -seven times without pulling it out-. Yeah, they refer to that. Chatting a bit about his life there, the guardian remembered his time serving the army and the hardness he had to endure working in the jungle as a perro -first year soldier- and the conflict with Ecuador before arriving to settle and work there. Interesting story.

Then we left in order to reach the Boras. They don’t actually live there but come everyday in order to get in touch with tourists and get some income from admission tickets and the souvenirs they sell.

We danced a little, talked a little as well. Their language sounds a bit like Japanese. They told me they go back everyday to their community but that I could not go along as it may be dangerous to me, the path is not clear and currently underwater, parts of it are around 1.50 or 60 m deep but in that is possible to visit and stay at their community in the dry season.

I wanted to go as that should be a more real experience than they show they put up here.

Then we went to the Yaguas. The curaca welcomed me by painting my cheeks and chin with achote -a red bulb- and talked to me a little. They live very far from Iquitos, deep in the jungle. But an agency proposed them to come and 30 people agreed to move closer so that visitors could go and have a glimpse at their culture.

It was odd to see this man that looked like any guy in a shop or a corner dressed with a straw skirt, painted and half speaking Spanish. He did not get all I said in Spanish so I had to slow down and try simpler phrases. I had the same feeling than at the Boras. After dancing with them we seated and talked a while, even the women came closer and chatted a bit. We spoke of ayahuasca and their experiences with it, they offered me the possibility to try it but had to let them know a day ahead at least so they can contact a shaman. While talking to these half-naked women dressed in tree fiber skirts I thought that we are both Peruvians but differences in education and opportunities have made our experiences of what meant being a Peruvian so different. You cannot help feeling a little touched by how they live without so much that we take for granted.

Although the idea of progress or what progress could mean for us and for them can be a whole topic of discussion. And in that sense what better or best would be -occidentalize their culture? assimilate them in one of our large cities?- is also open to contrasting.

Finally we navigated to the butterfly farm.

I met two girls from Iquitos who had gotten a boat for 10 soles. On the way the driver said they wouldn’t go to the Yaguas and later that the price was one way and since they didn’t reach an agreement he left them at Padre Cocha -a village nearby- so they could look for another boat.

Anyhooo… the farm is well kept and maintained by a couple, an Austrian woman and her husband, a local who care after butterflies and many other animals, including monkeys, alligators, a jaguar, etc. Interesting to see so many animals and the owner provided a very good explanation of how butterflies are raised and grow, predators, species, etc. Sadly we just saw like 6 from the 40 varieties they have there and they moved a lot so getting them into pictures was harder than I though.

At the end the owner invited us soft drinks and gave us a pin as souvenir. They were out of t-shirts of my size. The way back was fast over a quiet river, so quiet as a black metal mirror that broke in waves as we moved along to reach the Nanay River. Simply navigating the rivers is such an amazing experience.

Almost 5 hours had gone by since we left so I invited the driver to have a menu and a couple of beers with me to chat a bit. You get 3 Cristal or Pilsen for s/10 Have yet to try the local beer, Iquiteña.

Julio, my boat driver, started talking about his time in the army. The army training -servicio militar- is welcome here and some guys enlist even before the minimum stated age as they do not have other means to obtain any sort of education. The army teaches them some discipline, personal defense and other skills that they value as well as provides home and shelter and a weekly payment -propina- that they can use for their expenses or to send their families. They also get relocated that means a bit of travel and the release of not being a burden any longer for their families or the single mother that raises them. Many of the good years for these guys refer to their adventures in the army and usually when they are discharged they get married or have kids and settle in a job to provide their families, just like Julio and the serpentarium guardian.

Talking and listening to these guys referring to their time in the army as the heyday of their lifes makes you think how different life can be.

Peru is so full of contrasts. In a good and bad way.

…
I saw a copy of the Iquitos Times. Seems to be a great resource.

We all have dreams.

Ideas about what we want for and from the future or how we want things to be.

I must confess that one of my dreams was to end up in Amsterdam where I would live in boat floating lazily in a water canal. Somehow Venice doesn’t cut it. In my mind, Holland represents a kind of freedom of many things -and if you read this blog, you’ll see I don’t really care for drugs-. Who knows where I pick up those ideas and images and how they become dreams. Freud may help but.. who cares, those are my dreams and ideas anyway.

Walking along the malecón I got a glimpse of one of my dreams, there to the reach of my hand.

This is not Amsterdam but I could see myself living in that boat.

It’s such a weird feeling having something you dream of to the reach of your hand in certain way.

…
It may not seem so, but the boat is in working order, just not working right now as this is the low season.

The first impression of the city I had was that of a little bit of a chaos. Or arriving to a fisher town close to the Lima shore -say, Barranca for instance-. A little later you realize how large this city is, how many ports they have for different ships going to other Peruvian cities and to Brasil and Colombia as well.

I also had to find a hotel that took visa cards as I was very short of cash. Got one with air conditioning and breakfast included for 60 soles. Then out to walk a bit and have a look at the city.

This is the Iron House made by Eiffel. Even though not ugly or unpleasant I had a different impression of the Iquitos main square by the pictures I had seen up to now. The malecón is nice and the view of the river is great.

It was party night at Noa. After having a nice lunch at Huasai went back to have a long shower rest and watch a movie. At 11 PM I woke up, showered again and went to dance at around midnight. The place got crowded almost immediately and people was moving even out of the dance floor. I had a beer and watched a bit how things are in this corner of the world.

But, i got tired of the music soon. I’m really not against cumbia or whatever and I can sympathize with the joy the musicians and the rhythm seem to convey with the music but somehow I can’t connect. I learned to dance a bit of salsa around my twenty something years as I heard it in the pubs among other very varied music, even huaynos and sicuris, when traveling. In Lima, no way.

So after a long while I went out to have some air. Got a stamp in my wrist -which was from a hotel, wtf?- and headed to the main square to seat, relax and check the buildings and architecture with no people. Or so I thought.

As soon as I seated two girls approached asking me if I wanted “company”. I have nothing against the world’s oldest profession but I have never used their services neither, so I declined smiling. Sat a bit, breathed. The air was not fresh but less warm than during the day. I noticed later that a middle aged blond woman, probably a foreigner social worker, went to talk with them and moved from girl to girl.

I moved to another seat, to check the Iron house and when doing so a girl seating by the next bench said hello. I answered hello and seated. Then the blond woman went across the street, to the drugstore, and the girls seemed surprised and said no word to me after that.

Intrigued, I moved back to the previous bench and when one of the first girls walked closer I moved my head and she approached. I was sure of not wanting her services but intrigued by the blond woman and curious about how things go here in Iquitos.

The girl said her name was Mónica and that the blond woman was evil. She approaches the girls to provide clients and sometime mistreats and yells at them. She told me that woman had problems with the local authorities as she provided underage girls on demand, and she was also caught doing that but she got out. Who knows if the woman is a social worker or if Mónica is telling the truth.

Other that that, she tried in to convince me to go to my hotel in the sweetest way possible using the local accent when speaking, which let me tell you adds to the persuasion. Finally after talking a while about many other things, places to go out and stuff she understood and left saying goodbye.

Time to go back to Noa.

On the way back to Noa I got the itch for a burger and while eating started talking to the owner. He gave me some tips about the places -the Agricobank, the Complejo CNI and the COA- and also told me some bad news. The new mayor, in order to refrain the moral dissolution, the excess of “juerga” and to prevent this city to completely end up as Sodom and Gomorrah had set up a curfew of 3 AM for all discos and clubs in the city on Saturdays, and 1 AM the rest of the week.

Whaat ?

It was about 3 AM, my wandering and talking to the hookers had taken more than I noticed and now Noa it was about to close.

As the burger’s place owner told me, there are places outside of the city radius that do not close until 5 AM or even later but I had just arrived that day after sleeping in a hammock for 3 nights so I went to sleep.

Absynthe slept beautifully that night.

All I can say about this part of my trip is WOW. Quiet, peaceful, beautiful, amazing, incredible are adjectives that would describe a bit of all you see, so I’ll leave you with a few pictures in the hope they convey what words cannot.

But not all was said and done. The ship was supposed to leave between noon and 4 PM. Later we were told we would leave at 6 PM. At around 5 PM we were told that we would leave tomorrow as a truck hadn’t arrived.

If there is a delay you can stay in the ship and you will have to receive dinner as the delay is caused by them. I hurried and went out to eat at Yurimaguas, to the same place they would later order chicken for all passengers.

Next day we left at 11 AM. A couple of German girls arrived who thought they were the only people speaking German on board. Hah hah. And one day later a couple of British girls who were coming out from the Pacaya-Samiria reserve came on board as well. 3 Ucranians were aside me and the wind carried the smoke of their cigarettes. Not really pleasant.

Food is served at a dinning table with china, paper napkins and other amenities. It is carefully arranged in the plate, seems pretty well done and tastes good, but is only one course plus tea and water is taken from the river and “purified” in order to be used. I was hungry at times and had a weird feeling in my stomach that was not pain nor gas but a slight discomfort that I cannot really describe in better terms. Didn’t get any stomach problems but if you are not used to Peruvian food or water better take food with you or medicine just in case.

At night they close the tarps protecting the deck from wind or rain. You may prefer to take a sleeping bag, I had to put on my fleece jacket as temperature drops a little at night.

The trip was really interesting though at times you may want to read something or watch TV, beware that Van Damme or Steven Seagal seem all they want to see -other than cumbia videos. For me a Vargas Llosa novel and my iPod were pretty good company.

We stopped in several villages on the way. I recall the Maipuco -dunno if it is written so- name as it was the place were they were selling a whole banana bunch with more than, I don’t know, 100 bananas? for 4 soles. In Lima they sell 5 bananas -una mano- for 1 sol and I got about 11 red bananas for the same at Yurimaguas.

The last place before reaching our destination was Nauta. We stopped for a couple of hours in order to arrive early to Iquitos but not by nighttime, so I got the chance to wander around the town a bit. It was not really big. You can step down here and get a car or combi to Iquitos by 8 soles and you will arrive in two hours. Ticket is also cheaper until here, 100 soles in the upper deck. Cabins do not change price I was told.

Finally we arrived to Iquitos early the next morning.

As of last weekend Absynthe is in charapa land.

The car came on time, a little before 4 AM. I got a seat by a window, my fleece jacket and we were on our way. Our driver was a very clean and proper guy that seemed to have legs and arms too short for his body and the smile of the 50’s Mickey Mouse.

The road is in pretty good condition, a part is being worked on, so not all is paved.

On the way, daylight having arrived, you can see mist surrounding the vegetation. It’s eerie and fascinating at the same time.

Arriving to Yurimaguas you seem to be assaulted by all motocar drivers at once: one talks to you, another one does it too, a third one opens the trunk and another one points at your pack while you see yet another one picking it up looking at you, convinced you will pick him for the ride. I use a costal plástico -a large bag used locally for grains but also to transport stuff in lieu of proper packing- imagine how crazy they get when they see a large backpack that may mean people not having a clue about local motocar fares.

Anyway, picked up one to drive me to the dock to check the ship to Iquitos. Got to the port, checked the ship, the prices and went back to the city to have breakfast after booking a place in the 3rd deck.

Went around town next and no hotel would take my backpack in custody so I carried it along and went shopping for goods and water to the market area. Got bored soon and went to the ship to just wait for departure. You can see my hammock and pack there.

Here is an interesting tip: beware of motocar drivers or the guys who are at the port entrance, they want to carry your luggage or tag along with you to offer you a hammock for a higher price -20 or 25 soles- than the one you would pay in the ship that is 6 for small hammocks or 10 for larger ones to rent.

About the ship: there are several options but the larger and probably the safer ones are the Eduardo ships to Iquitos. They have a