Well...

some good time has passed, and my buddy Frank and I have made some significant ground on the southern continent. I mentioned in the previous post that we would be pushing through Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru once leaving god-forsaken Venezuela in an attempt to catch the Amazon River on the east side of the Andes, and float until reaching the Atlantic... that is, to cross the entire northern section of Brazil...

Luckily the theme of this trip has been flexibility, as we have been constantly adjusting our projected route due to unexpected circumstances...namely guerilla warfare... which seems to be present in some form or other in many LatinoLand countries...Panama feels the effects in the Darien Jungle from their Colombian neighbors, Colombia has FARC and the ELN, Ecuador plays host to Colombian terrorists when shit gets hot in Colombia, and recently, Peru has seen a rise in hostile guerilla activity in response to their government's rightward shift... it seems like there are threats of terrorism anytime a government in South America leans away from the left. This may be true, as Chavez, Venezuela's douchebag president, who claims to be a modern-day Bolivar (The Liberator of Northern South America from oppressive Spanish rule in the early 1800s), has known to support terrorist organizations in countries with rightward tendencies (just to be sure, he's got glorious socialist plans)... like, with money and guns so that they can kidnap people and grow cocaine uninterrupted...

We understood that Colombia might be a dangerous place. We thought we might run into some Anti-American sentiments in Venezuela. Ecuador, we were warned, might be sketchy due to the protection of FARC... but Peru...¿come on? All there is to worry about is high sugar doses from Inca Kola, right? Not quite...we found out that there was much danger to encounter in Iquitos, a town that must be passed en route to Brazil on the Amazon... The Shining Path has resurged in its old ways, and is back to kidnapping people that look like they might have money...like Frank and me. We had to say fuck it, yall. We decided to forego the month-long trip down the Amazon, and focus our attention on traveling Southward along the western side of South America...lots of Chile, and hopefully hitting the southern-most town in Argentina, Ushuaia (coined as the bottom of the world) before swoooping back up through Uruguay, Paraguay, and on to chill in Brazil...

Frank and I just hiked for four days through the Peruvian Andes...we reached a common high...the elevation of 15, 750 feet...man it was sick...

Listen, I hope yall are great and healthy. Frank and I are doing fine, as our other buddy, Hunter, has decided to hang out in Bogota, Colombia, a righteous place in itself. We send our regards as the trip approaches its midway point.

God bless,

Anthony

It seems like every time I go to the dentist they are telling me that I need some special treatment for my gums, or that my gums are rotting, etc. I brush twice a day and floss probably every other day with no issues. My gums seem healthy, they do not bleed or hurt in any way. They look ok too, and my breath does not stink like it would if my teeth were rotting. In fact I don't even have any cavities. I think my mouth is fine, and my body has not given me any indication otherwise.

I feel like every dentist is trying to sell me something I don't need because there is no way I can really check it myself. Like in Freakonomics how they talked about experts, people that can rip you off because they "know more than you". That pisses me off. The question now is this: should I get a special "gum treatment" or should I just say fuck it?

Today marks the date of the completion of the first month of The Journey into Latin America...

Since my departure from South Florida, I've traveled through Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia...the people were great, the food was tasty and inexpensive, and the going was smoother than the Fonz. A lot to tell of it all, but perhaps the best stretch was our trip to Ciudad Perdida... it was a six day hike into the rainforests of NorthEastern Colombia with the goal of finding the ruins of an ancient indigenous tribe that has long-abandoned their stone-terraced metropolis which rests upon the peaks of several jungle-covered mountains... It was so sick...I've never been so removed from civilization...for days we hiked down a 6-inch wide trail that would disappear as it approached amazing geological featrures, and you would ask yourself, where the fuck am I supposed to go? A purifying, hunmbling experience---to say the least. Waterfalls cascading around every corner, and the rainforest is so rich with life...awesome.

We're currently resting our bones in a mountain town nestled in the Venezuelan Andes, at approximately 10,000 feet...Merida is really fucking high up there. It matches the altitude of the highest town in the United States, Leadville, CO. The lack of oxygen really gets to you... I've noticed that my energy is dramatically decreased...

The views of the surrounding mountains are impressive... as is the level of Socialist propaganda found on literally every bare exterior-wall in the nation. The stencils of local artisans as well as the masive billboards posted by the government bare the face of Hugo Chavez, the "demoratically" elected president of the country. Currently, Venezuelans are in the midst of voting to ammend their constitution; the consideration: Should we allow our leader the ability to change the constitution in order to stay in power an additional 10 years... Chavez has been accused of rigging elections in the past, and has led unsuccessful coups in his youth... Let me tell you friends, It's particularly irksome to bare witness to murals that depict major symbols of American culture (Statue of liberty, bald eagles, etc.) cast in a negative light on the walls of this nation (really some pretty gruesome shit in some instances), and to hear Chavez shit-talk America, just to turn the corner and see a row of American cars (Ford, Chevy mainly) and listen to Frank Sinatra blasting out of local shops while these douche-bags eat Kosher Hot Dogs. Venezuela is bass-ackwards and these people can suck it. The level of unfounded and unvalidated machismo in this nation makes me want to leave...which is exactly what we're doing...tomorrow. Back to Colombia, because even the former kidnapping capital of the world (and current runner-up) makes this place seem like a warm, cozy haven of good-times.

The current plan is to push through Colombia, skim through Ecuador and Northern Peru, before floating down the Amazon river in its entirety, which originates from the Andes, and terminates in Northern Brazil, where I'll be reunited with the Atlantic Ocean, my oldest friend...but this time I'll meet it at its Southern half...Never been below the equator, and I'm excited...

To all: I hope your current endeavors are coming along well...I love you all,

Anthony Traina

The Superbowl is one of the most watched sporting events of the year, the only thing that tops it are the Olympics and World Cup Soccer. Either way, there was an interesting thing that happened in Tuscon, AZ during the Fitzgerald touchdown... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7864733.stm

Let's just say that someone was trying to get Cardinals fans "excited" about the possibility of winning their first Lombardi Trophy. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxTEB1NNvPk

This is probably one of the best pranks that I have seen in a while, unfortunately it wasnt broadcasted nationally. Needless to say, the people of Tuscon were blown away.

At my office the dudes want to do something called "Mustache March". The rules are still being hammered out but are roughly that we all gotta rock mustaches for two out of the four weeks of March.

It seems like the mustache is making a comeback, and there is a fascination with it, but it would be hard on one's own (at least in my case) to rock it solo. As a group though, there is something more acceptable about it. Maybe our group is serving to push its members to mustache independence. One guy here is already rocking it full-time. We'll see what happens to the rest of us...
Check this article: NYTimes: Inching Its Way Back Onto the Lip