Videos

VOD: Kayaking the Amazon

From source to sea.

David Midgley, a computer programmer from London, England, dreamed of doing something BIG, and different. A wild idea in a Scottish bar became a ten year project: learn to kayak, and then paddle the Amazon from Source to Sea. Darcy Gaechter and Don Beveridge met “Midge” in Ecuador during his travels and skill build up while he was preparing for the Amazon. He recruited us to help him run the whitewater portions of the source (the Mantaro river in Peru) and we decided to join him for the rest of the journey. Intrigued because we had paddled for years in Ecuador’s Amazon basin, we wanted to see the world’s biggest river. Darcy would become the first woman to paddle the entire Amazon. When we started the trip, more people had walked on the moon than had traversed the Amazon from start to finish.
Now, with our journey completed, that number is tied. Twelve.
This video starts high in the Peruvian Andes at the headwaters of the Rio Mantaro, the newly recognized longest source of the Amazon, and ends 148 days later on a beach at the Atlantic Ocean. We started with altitude sickness and went from snow and freezing temperatures through high desert to steaming jungle. We passed through Peru’s notorious “Red Zone” famous for drug runners, Shinning Path insurgents, and wary indigenous people and paddled through pirate infested waters in Brazil. We had nothing but great interactions with all the people we met along the way.
Shot mainly on GoPro, but also some Sony handicam and Canon T3i, this video is a short compilation of our 5 month journey. Whitewater rapids, miles of flatwater, mosquitoes, blazing sun and pouring rain couldn’t stop Midge from reaching his goal: First Englishman to paddle the Amazon from Source to Sea.
Other “firsts” of note:
Darcy Gaechter, first woman to paddle the Amazon from Source to Sea (and first Vegan!)
First trip to complete source to sea on the Amazon in kayaks (other trips used other craft, or bypassed long sections).
For more information visit our trip website kayaktheamazon.com
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a72_1471732716#ijfDHMGcgQDQLdLt.99

VOD: Barefoot thieves in Rio

First impressions of Brazil, this video shows 20 industrious ‘workers’ on the streets of Rio.

Rio is much more upmarket than Sao Paulo, the first major city I visited when I was in Brazil.
I found Sao Paulo run down.

The only reason people weren’t interested in robbing me was I didn’t have any money.

New fangled

With the advent of the mobile phone, we have this kind of footage.

Said to have been shot over a period of a ‘few hours’.

Trade advice

If I were going to Rio, I’d go to Ipenema rather than downtown, as this is the kind of thing you can expect happening.

Here’s the video.

Street robber in Rio, Brazil
Street Robber in Rio, Brazil

VOD: More Chinese baggage handlers

Those Chinese baggage handlers strike again….

‘If a job’s worth doing’ mentality clearly demonstrated in this gem of a video of a Chinese baggage handler in action captured by an Australian tourist.

Chinese baggage handlers

Expect your luggage to be treated like this…

Looks like a China Airways logo in the foreground.

As you can see from the reactions on the Facebook post, netizens agree, your luggage will be handled in this way and you should pack accordingly.