Yay, paddles arrived safe and sound this evening!! Whoopee!! And I didn´t have a brain aneurism worrying about them!! =P
One thing that I forgot to mention earlier... it is mandatory to wear lifejackets during the race. To the extent that we could be disqualified if we´re seen without them. So, you might want to bring your own! Lili, I checked to see if your waist belt inflatable PFD would be okay, and they said yes as long as we show it to the officials so that they understand what it is and how it works.
As for food during the race, I´ll be checking into that...
Good news! We´ve met a really good guy who works on the rivers in the jungle who will be training us for the race! We´re going to train with him from Monday to Friday (the 10th to the 14th) everday, and probably sleep out in the jungle between sessions. Intense! He knows the water really well, and he knows the tribes in the area so we´ll be traveling around and paddling in different areas, borrowing different types of boats. We´ll also be practicing raft construction.
He also wants time to work with you guys, which I think would be a great idea. Lili, if you can arrive late on the 16th or early on the 17th, you´ll have the 17th and the 18th to train on the water with us (if you want to). Julie, you´re arriving early on the 18th, so we´ll have one day with you on the water. We´re paying him about $10 a day per person (plus a nice tip, I expect). He´s a really nice person, very patient and respectful of the river and jungle, and he wants us to do well.
As for other details... I forgot to bring a small duffel bag for my stuff for during the race, so I´ll be buying one. You guys might want to make sure that your carry-on bags are big enough to be used for during the race.
Also, my Canadian flag is wilting and looking quite pathetic. Julie, if you have one lying around could you bring it? If not, we can have one painted.
As for souvenir paddles, I had to make an executive decision today because they´ll be made by our trainer and he has to start work on them tomorrow if he´s going to have time to train us next week. They´ll be about 1m long (smaller than normal, but easier to put in luggage), and he´s going to decorate them in the style of one of the local tribes, together with the name of the competition. They cost 45 soles each ($15), I already paid in advance. Hopefully this works for you guys - if not, I can sell them to other people. I had to get them custom made because it turns out that the paddles that are supplied for the racers are just borrowed from a local club and we can´t just take them home with us.
Anyway, I know that you´re both super busy with other paddling events and that other stuff called "life", but I´m super excited about all this stuff so I´m going to keep blasting you with emails. Let me know what you think about all this stuff! We´re going to try to have everything assembled by the time you get here so that we can spend precious time on the water together practicing.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Race rules
So, we talked to Mike Collis today... here´s the deal:
We´ll be going up to Nauta on the 19th, after a ceremony and speeches.
We´re not allowed to do any work on the raft until the 20th, when all teams will be provided with materials and are given 3 hours to construct the rafts. That means 8 5-foot balsa logs of approx 8 inches in diameter, woven plant rope to tie them together, nails and twine for the foreigners who don´t trust the plant rope (but the locals say that nails are useless in balsa, they just fall out). We are allowed to treat the wood with paint or varnish the logs, but it has to be done within those 3 hours.
Each foreign team will be provided with local workers to help them.
What we put on board it up to us - we can take anything, so long as it doesn`t give us more propulsion (ie no sails). We can make whatever seating we want, take any kind of cooler or container that we choose to put water and stuff in.
We all need to have gloves, sun hats (as large as possible), a machete on board. We can buy foam here for the seat pads, but I packed some with me so if my luggage ever arrives we shouldn´t need to buy any. (Continental gave my bags to Lan Peru once they arrived in Lima, and now Lan Peru has lost them. Grrrr!!!!) Don`t forget to pack as much of the necessary race stuff in carry-on luggage as possible, in case they lose your luggage!!!!!!!!
Martin and I are going to go to the local village where all of last year´s top teams came from. We met somebody who says that they will probably be friendly with us and might let us borrow their rafts and show us how to make good rafts. Hopefully that will work out!
Lili, just let me know when your flight will arrive and I will meet you at the airport. If things go sideways and you get there on an earlier or later flight for some reason, we´re staying at the Hospedaje San Cristobal on calle Prospero, a few blocks west of the Plaza de Armas. A motortaxi costs about 5 soles.
Your 15L water container may come in handy if we decide to carry our own water on the support boat, but we can buy 5L water bottles, so it probably isn´t worth the hassle to bring.
There is a cheap little hotel very close to the airport... I forget the name, but if either of you have a long layover and want to sleep in a bed, it`s only 20 soles for the room and 1 sol each way for a taxi (equals about $7). I will send you the address sometime soon, I don´t have the info with me at the moment.
It´s really hard to get small change here in Iquitos,and almost everything you buy is with small change, so try to withdraw soles from the ATM at the airport and use the 100 sole bills to buy small things at the airport where they can break the bills and give you change.
I had a good time poking through the gift shops at the airport... it`s interesting to be able to compare prices and quality with the stuff that´s sold in the towns.
We´ll be going up to Nauta on the 19th, after a ceremony and speeches.
We´re not allowed to do any work on the raft until the 20th, when all teams will be provided with materials and are given 3 hours to construct the rafts. That means 8 5-foot balsa logs of approx 8 inches in diameter, woven plant rope to tie them together, nails and twine for the foreigners who don´t trust the plant rope (but the locals say that nails are useless in balsa, they just fall out). We are allowed to treat the wood with paint or varnish the logs, but it has to be done within those 3 hours.
Each foreign team will be provided with local workers to help them.
What we put on board it up to us - we can take anything, so long as it doesn`t give us more propulsion (ie no sails). We can make whatever seating we want, take any kind of cooler or container that we choose to put water and stuff in.
We all need to have gloves, sun hats (as large as possible), a machete on board. We can buy foam here for the seat pads, but I packed some with me so if my luggage ever arrives we shouldn´t need to buy any. (Continental gave my bags to Lan Peru once they arrived in Lima, and now Lan Peru has lost them. Grrrr!!!!) Don`t forget to pack as much of the necessary race stuff in carry-on luggage as possible, in case they lose your luggage!!!!!!!!
Martin and I are going to go to the local village where all of last year´s top teams came from. We met somebody who says that they will probably be friendly with us and might let us borrow their rafts and show us how to make good rafts. Hopefully that will work out!
Lili, just let me know when your flight will arrive and I will meet you at the airport. If things go sideways and you get there on an earlier or later flight for some reason, we´re staying at the Hospedaje San Cristobal on calle Prospero, a few blocks west of the Plaza de Armas. A motortaxi costs about 5 soles.
Your 15L water container may come in handy if we decide to carry our own water on the support boat, but we can buy 5L water bottles, so it probably isn´t worth the hassle to bring.
There is a cheap little hotel very close to the airport... I forget the name, but if either of you have a long layover and want to sleep in a bed, it`s only 20 soles for the room and 1 sol each way for a taxi (equals about $7). I will send you the address sometime soon, I don´t have the info with me at the moment.
It´s really hard to get small change here in Iquitos,and almost everything you buy is with small change, so try to withdraw soles from the ATM at the airport and use the 100 sole bills to buy small things at the airport where they can break the bills and give you change.
I had a good time poking through the gift shops at the airport... it`s interesting to be able to compare prices and quality with the stuff that´s sold in the towns.
In Iquitos
So, I´m in Iquitos! Trying to figure out ths keyboard is a challenge... =P
I got in last night, exhausted and starving after 48 hours of travel. Martin met me at the airport and had already found a hotel, which was nice. The cost of our hotel is 15 soles per night, for two beds. (10 soles for 1 person). That equals about $2.50 per person, which is sweet since we´ll be here for a while. It´s low-end but good enough, with a toilet and shower in the room, run by nice people.
This morning we went to the zoo. I´m not normally a huge zoo fan, but they have a really great one here with 100kg amazon fish, leopards, pumas, all types of monkeys, tapirs, coatis, pink river dolphins, anacondas, etc. and they´re all quite well kept in large cages on a jugle reserve. There was also a guy there charging 50 cents to pose with his large boa constrictors (we played with them for a long time), a "Tarzan vine" swing set up so that people can swing out over the jungle, and a beach where you can swim in a lake. If there´s time, we should go there together.
It´s warm and muggy here, but it´s totally bearable. Not scorching, just hot. I haven´t seen a mosquito since I arrived, even at the zoo. They say that the malaria risk here is minimal.
I´ll be trudging back out to the airport this afternoon to pick up my luggage, which was sent to Fort Lauderdale intead of Lima (wtf??? retards). So yeah, I´ve been wearing the same clothes since Monday and I´m really looking forward to brushing my teeth. My fingers and toes are all crossed, hoping that the paddles have arrived without being broken.... >=0
Later today I´ll be trying to track down Mike Collis to figure out how much work we can do on the raft in advance. Got to see what the rules are... whether we´re allowed to varnish it, etc. There´s an art market where it will be easy to find someone to paint the wooden paddles that we´re given for the race, so I´ll see if I can get the paddles before we arrive in Nauta for the race so that there´s time for them to be painted.
Gatorade is sold here, probably Powerade too. I haven´t seen any powdered stuff, but haven´t been through the big grocery store yet. Bottled water we can buy here easily. If you guys have any questions about the area, let me know. Internet service is good here, so I´ll be in touch regularly.
Iquitos is a nice place, busy but friendly. Julie, I can´t wait to see the expressions on your face during your first few days here! We´re going to have an awesome time.
Julie, have fun in Catalina!!! Lili, good luck with your marathon!!!
I got in last night, exhausted and starving after 48 hours of travel. Martin met me at the airport and had already found a hotel, which was nice. The cost of our hotel is 15 soles per night, for two beds. (10 soles for 1 person). That equals about $2.50 per person, which is sweet since we´ll be here for a while. It´s low-end but good enough, with a toilet and shower in the room, run by nice people.
This morning we went to the zoo. I´m not normally a huge zoo fan, but they have a really great one here with 100kg amazon fish, leopards, pumas, all types of monkeys, tapirs, coatis, pink river dolphins, anacondas, etc. and they´re all quite well kept in large cages on a jugle reserve. There was also a guy there charging 50 cents to pose with his large boa constrictors (we played with them for a long time), a "Tarzan vine" swing set up so that people can swing out over the jungle, and a beach where you can swim in a lake. If there´s time, we should go there together.
It´s warm and muggy here, but it´s totally bearable. Not scorching, just hot. I haven´t seen a mosquito since I arrived, even at the zoo. They say that the malaria risk here is minimal.
I´ll be trudging back out to the airport this afternoon to pick up my luggage, which was sent to Fort Lauderdale intead of Lima (wtf??? retards). So yeah, I´ve been wearing the same clothes since Monday and I´m really looking forward to brushing my teeth. My fingers and toes are all crossed, hoping that the paddles have arrived without being broken.... >=0
Later today I´ll be trying to track down Mike Collis to figure out how much work we can do on the raft in advance. Got to see what the rules are... whether we´re allowed to varnish it, etc. There´s an art market where it will be easy to find someone to paint the wooden paddles that we´re given for the race, so I´ll see if I can get the paddles before we arrive in Nauta for the race so that there´s time for them to be painted.
Gatorade is sold here, probably Powerade too. I haven´t seen any powdered stuff, but haven´t been through the big grocery store yet. Bottled water we can buy here easily. If you guys have any questions about the area, let me know. Internet service is good here, so I´ll be in touch regularly.
Iquitos is a nice place, busy but friendly. Julie, I can´t wait to see the expressions on your face during your first few days here! We´re going to have an awesome time.
Julie, have fun in Catalina!!! Lili, good luck with your marathon!!!
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