By jade on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

By far the most common thing that people say when I meet them at high School reunions, parties or wherever ... and the conversation swings to Girls on Top is something like; "Wow! Pick Me!! I would Loooovveee to come... Wonderful! Fantastic! If only!! And then there is a dialogue which usually opens up that great perplexing question of What We would Do in Life - If Only! Most often men, women and children all say that they admire our work, and all the girls, and that surely this journey is one that we all dream of, and that would be so life-changing and inspiring...

When I speak with our brave and wonderful girls through their journeys of fundraising and preparation - of Getting Real about the fact that they have signed up for this very same Wonderful Adventure .. the most common thing they say along the way is.... "Ouch! It sure does take a lot of guts to do this." And you know what - the things our team learn and share a little on the blog about what it really tak Read More »

By jade on Monday, July 14, 2008

By far the most common thing that people say when I meet them at high School reunions, parties or wherever ... and the conversation swings to Girls on Top is something like; "Wow! Pick Me!! I would Loooovveee to come... Wonderful! Fantastic! If only!! And then we explore that great perplexing question of What We would Do in Life - If Only! Most often men, women and children admire our work, and all the girls, and that surely this journey is one that we all dream of, and that would be so life-changing and inspiring...  When I speak with our brave and wonderful girls through their journeys of fundraising and preparation - of Getting Real about the fact that they have signed up for this very same Wonderful Adventure .. the most common thing they say is....

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By jade on Monday, July 14, 2008

The Girls on Top team are finally on a countdown! Less than a month to go (only just more than three weeks, in fact) before our team is properly united in Peru, and our expedition begins. Before then we have Chloe, Renee and Lissy in their corners of the world, in the last moments before their fundraising events this week .... good luck girls! Anybody who wants to buy last minute tickets to Girls on Top events in Sydney Melbourne or Berkley USA, can check out the team pages here to see how thay can be part of the fun.

Here at HQ our own event has been lassoing the guy who lassos the donkeys in the Andean wilds of Peru, as well as getting the grapevine to throw a tendril or two across to the Amazon in  praparation for our visit there. Sure is incredible, this gadget called the net - but you still can't go passed word of mouth connections when you want to be 1000% sure that you've got nice fat donkeys, nice muscley support crew, and a bug-free bed in the jungle.

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By jade on Saturday, June 21, 2008

Hmmmm, yes, it's a very good question I asked myself this morning. Just what exactly are we up to on this adventure? Just what difference are we aiming to make? And is it all worth it anyway? I am asking this as the prawns are marinating and the dog is drying off from her morning bubble bath, and the Reisling is chilling out... Hmmm... just what difference do 5 chicas on a mountain really make?

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By jade on Thursday, June 12, 2008

Tibetan bell, that is... One of the great unexpected gifts of my Girls on Top Journey was recently being offered the chance to spend all of this week in a Scholarship place with the Dalai Lama! Now there's proof that a girl just cannot predict what Mighty Forces might come to her aid when she's in the middle of a grand adventure! I've been with His Holiness for three big days of mind boggling insights to life, reality, jellyfish and happiness. Read More »

By jade on Friday, June 06, 2008

Yes, well, let's just say it was not the totally best ever week (despite the fabulous highlight of Thursday night) ... and I know I was not alone. The cosmic casserole was definitely coagulating under conditions unsuitable for feasting on life's marrow, or any other part. Even though torrential rain, storms and all would have suggested perfect conditions for staying in casseroling (good on you, Lena), in my short and statistically unsupportable survey of the good folks of the Blue Planet - it was a shit week, however you stired it. There. I've said it. In my own world, do i dare to catalogue the series of trivial yet somehow debilitating drips that drooped my petals? I know that various members of the Girls on Top team felt the same: wrung out, worn through, weak at all the vital joints, lily livered and just hopeless. I blame it on the new moon. That one skimpy rib of a loonatic lamp that skittered about the rain clouds this week and somehow messed with the mojo. At times like these a girl needs a pair Read More »

By jade on Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Ah yes, well some people call it hocus pocus, but most of them, I betcha, have never really been on a Grand Adventure. They may never have truly travelled the backroad of life, the one where the daisies and the weird people and the nice trees to rest under are all hanging about - just being. Even when it gets itchy. The whole purpose of travel is to dip ones toes in another reality. And although the Taj and the Amazon and Macchu Picchu are all great destinations... Read More »

By jade on Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The master of the Coinicidental Travel Guide, and guru in Just Following the Signs, Baby - for his 20 million+ readers - is here in Sydney and in Melbourne NOW! I'm going this week and will make a report, but if you want to check him out yourself, take a peek at www.inthespirit.com.au and hey, maybe it's NO coincidence you're reading this? Hey? ey? ey?? Read More »

By jade on Monday, March 17, 2008

In the midst of a very turbulent week last week (let's not go into it), a letter arrived from Scotland. It was from Vintage Girl on Top Karen Mcreadie (of Kilimanjaro fame) who has since gone off to live in the wild Scottish burbs having fulfilled her heart's desire to meet the Man of Her Dreams. And a few other Heart's Desires too - she is a known dabbler in the crafts of manifesting, setting intentions and pursuing her goals with a bloodyminded zeal. Read More »

By jade on Monday, March 10, 2008

... or one that induces nail biting, 3am panic attacks, frenzied dusting, 3pm tv watching and other weirdnesses. Am I right ladies? It's midday, March 10, the sun is shining, the birds are well out of the midday sun and while all looks well in the world in general, there are billions of us everywhere living out every possible subtle tiny fillament of reality between the daring and the downright dreary. Even the ones who seem to be the most daringest, adventury, brave and marvellous may very well secretly still be in their pyjamas. They may, in fact, be wishing for a bit more peace and quiet. Or for a real job. Read More »

By jade on Sunday, October 07, 2007

Ok.. I will admit that my logistical genius went all cactus-shaped after Iquitos. Saw the team off for what we all thought was a day stop in Buenos Aires, but turned out to be an overnighter... worse things can happen! (Sorry about the bed bugs, but you know... no trip to South America would be complete without them) This is The city of the Stop Over..better shopping than Singapore, better music than Cuba (hmmm, maybe that´s over-stating it) and better dancing even than was displayed in our school hall camp on Kel´s birthday.  If it´s any consolation to the team, my situation arriving in Argentina was worse.. which could be karma or possibly just crappy logistics caused by jungle fever and exc ... Read More »

By jade on Saturday, September 29, 2007

Ok chicas... my last little tip for Buenos Aires is this little hotel in San Telmo which may or may not suit your itinerary.

I took a room here for the day on the way over and it had a nice vibe, lovely rooms and the owner (an ex-tango legend) speaks good English and has lots of tips for getting around. Ask for a day rate and see what he can do. The average price of a backpacker room should be about $8 US for the night.

El Sol De San Telmo.  Chacabuco 1181 1p (whatever that means)  Tel  4300 4394  email elsolst@yahoo.com

If you go to the cemetery first, I think it is on the oth ... Read More »

By jade on Friday, September 28, 2007

1. San Telmo: On a Sunday morning San Telmo sometimes seems close to being a tourist trap but the antique fair and the atmosphere still make it worth a visit. I live in San Telmo and if you want to avoid the crowds then come on a weekday. The fair is only on Sundays but San Telmo is worth wandering around on any day of the week. Some of the restaurants around the plaza are overpriced and not very good but stop in at Bar Dorrego on Defensa for a snack.
2. Recoleta Cemetery: Must be one of the great cemeteries of the world. Fascinating to wander among the tombs.
3. Teatro Colón: The c ... Read More »
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By jade on Friday, September 28, 2007

Beloved Buenos Aires
By Tina Blake
Buenos Aires  is a city of contradictions. She is old, but energized. She is poor, but extravagant. She is humbled, but proud.
She carries herself like an elegant European lady who dances unabashedly to Latin rhythms. Before tourists know what to make of her, she sweeps them off their feet in a dance as passionate and exhilarating as the tango she made famous.
Buenos Aires seduces visitors with open air markets, leather shops, and quaint cafes. Then, without warning, the city spins them into a world filled with opera, architecture, and high fashion. Tourists leave her embrace exhausted, ... Read More »

By jade on Friday, September 28, 2007

The first Girl on Top is on her way home.... hard to believe that it actually time for us to pack our filthy laundry and all our seeds, fabrics, monkey bites and pirhana into bulging backpacks and say hasta la vista to South America!  Kelly set off last night for the long journey home... with a last chance to soak in the culture and sights (and amazing steaks, leather, dancing and fashion) in Buenos Aries for a full day between Lima, Auckland and finally Sydney.

Kel... it was fantastic to have you with the team again this year. I know it was a hard journey at times, and that you had a little bit of searching and quite a lot of whatever it was that along for the ride those three tough days in Huayhuash.. ... Read More »

By jade on Monday, September 24, 2007

Ok... so let me start off with the fleeing of walking out of the plane to the tiny strip of palm tree and plane-wreck adorned tarmac at Iquitos airport. It{s like opening the oven door to check on an angel cake, baking that little bit close to the sun.

It{s like falling into a giant vat of warm peach nectar... hot, sweet, sticky and sort of verging on the sickly, if you forget to relax in the goo of jungle syrup^that is Amazon air. That first step between the mountain earth in Huaraz and the jungle dirt here in Iquitos might as well have been a moonwalk - the difference in worlds we have traversed in a single day feels more like space travel than a simple transit in the same country.  Coming from the An ... Read More »

By jade on Friday, September 21, 2007

Anybody who has even sniffed the alpaca and piss-scented air of the true corners of Peru (as opposed to the McDonalds, pizza and disinfectant aromas of my trusty home from home, Lima airport, from where this corrrespondent is presently scribing) ... will know the sneaky dangers of the Pisco Sour.

I had my first flirtation with the national drink of this nation of short but frighteningly stoic folk back when I was young enough to think it was funny, just before the Inca Trail... not a pretty tale. But not ugl ... Read More »

By jade on Wednesday, September 19, 2007

 

Back last night from an adventure as broad, wide, sharp and steely as an adventure should be... and not 100% sure what to make of it all - or even where it went!

After 12 mighty days in the wonderland of the mountains the town of Huaraz seems like the outer spirals of the universe, whirling like crazy with the bleats, sucks, hard ons, tits, toots, cravings, synthetics and sympathies of a totally different life to the one I have just got comfy in bed with in the hills. Could this finally be my case of culture shock¿ Or do I always feel li ... Read More »

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