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Hi! My name is Juan Carlos Florez, and this is a blog covering a trip by bicyle from San Antonio, TX, USA to Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru. I am a practitioner of harmless living. I've been a carpenter-home builder for the past 15 years, I also have a degree in holistic health counseling, and am on this journey to continue my learning with an amazonian native healer I met not long ago. This trip, besides being the "greenest" way to travel, is also an initiation, and a pilgrimage. Hope you enjoy my journey!!!

Friday, August 5, 2011

HELLO FROM CONNECTICUT, US

Well a lot has happened since my last entry.  After Mocoa, Putumayo, Colombia, where I finally entered the jungle, I crossed the border in to Ecuador at the International Bridge San Miguel, and rode my way through the jungle towns of Coca, Loreto, Tena, Maca, among others, reaching Zamora where the road forced me back in to the mountains to Loja, Vilcabamba and finally Zumba before entering Peru through the final section of the Podocarpus National Park, hitting some pretty high elevations and cold weather;  I entered Peru at La Balsa, then to Jaen going back down in to the jungle passing Moyobamba, and arriving in Tarapoto  a small and interesting jungle town, where I stayed for a while and met many great people in a similar quest to learn about healing through Ayawaska.  Here I decided to send my bike home, since it had been six months already and I had calculated five to reach Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru, where my mentor Shaman was waiting to begin my instruction, so I traveld by Boat up the Maranon river to Iquitos and then down the Ucayali river to Pucallpa, both amazing journeys, total of 9 days on the rivers which both form the great Amazon river, which a few months later I returned to, travelling again by boat from Iquitos, Peru to Leticia, Colombia, a 3 day journey also by boat.  After Pucallpa i traveled by bus, since i was told i couldn't continue by boat to Puerto Maldonado, which meant going on a long u-turn around and over the Andes through the towns of Tingo Maria, Huancayo, Cerro de Pasco, Ayacucho, Andahuaylas, Abancay, Cusco and then finally Puerto maldonado, where I found a place to live in the remote jungle and even got to spend many days with indigenous tribes (Esse-Eja, Shipibo and Aymara) learning not only about plants but about there customs and lifestyle.  I finished my training in Ayawaska, and headed to Colombia as I mentioned, there i worked as a translator jungle guide, this was an awsome experience, and did some solo excursions in to the jungle up the amazon and some of its tributaries, on a small wooden canoe I bought very cheaply.  I will be posting pictures with comments of the final  4 months of the trip.  Thank you all for your support and interest, I wish you Love and Peace, be Blessed!!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

HOLA DESDE MOCOA, COLOMBIA

Bueno pues he llegado a la selva!!
En Bucaramanga pase 33 dias, mas de lo planeado, pero pasandola tan rico!
De Bucaramanga sali hacia Bogota, pasando por Sangil, Chiquinquira, Ubate, entre otras maravillas de mi tierra.
En Bogota pase una semana larguita y sali para Girardot en la frontera con Tolima, entre a Espinal y atravece hacia al sur y luego de pasar Natagaima, tome un desvio hacia el Desierto de la Tatacoa, el cual requirio cruzar el magdalena en canoa y carretera de tierra por 11km, del desierto sali y pase por Villavieja, Neiva, Campoalegre y pase la noche en Hobo, Huila.  En medio de paisajes hermosos.  Pase por Gigante y Garzon y dormi en Altamira.  De ahi Timana, Pitalito y San Agustin.  En San Agustin pase dos dias de exploracion, en carro, a caballo y a pie; que lugar maravilloso!, despues de un dia mas de descanzo, sali hacia Mocoa, Putumayo, parando primero en San Juan de Villalobos.  Y aca estoy acampando en un Hostal llamado Casa del Rio, y manana salgo para la frontera con Ecuador en la selva!  Cruzare el rio Putumayo en un pueblo llamado San Miguel.  Luego seguire por una carretera en Ecuador que va por toda la selva, al pie de los Andes!
Les deseo mucho amor a todos, hasta la proxima!