Final preparation day

Today the plan is to get up early, buy lots of tools and spares for the mototaxi, and then head back to San Jeronimo (where the lockup is), where we are going to do the following.

1. Adorn mototaxi with our sponsor logos
2. Fit some bits that are missing
3. Have a go at replacing the chain and tyres  (better to do this for the first time now, in parc ferme, rather than on the side of a mountain)
4. Get better at driving it

After that, there is the small matter of New Years Eve to deal with where I think we have a meal and party booked.

Feliz Ano Nuevo to all our followers, we really appreciate the support.

One day until launch.....

Packing

Reverse-Houdini scenes this afternoon as I tried to cram all of this stuff into my rucksack.

Sleeping and anti mosquito gear

Media and lights

Shoes

Map & Compass

Sponsors stuff to adorn the mototaxi

Tools

Something to wear

Socks, gloves, hi-vis top

All unfeasibly wedged into here

Somehow or other, it is all in. The problems will arise if I ever need to get anything out.



In 16 days we'll be airbourne...

So much going on now it is unbelievable, and time is closing in fast.

A quick round up:

*We've another sponsor on board, with a nice parcel arriving yesterday morning, containing things we can share with Peruvian folk we encounter on the journey - more on that in a separate blog post shortly.

*Our existing sponsor, ekit, has generously given us even more credit on our SIM card, which will mean we can get "cell-tower-triangulated" five times per day and provide regular updates of progress via SMS (subject to getting a signal)

*We finally booked up local flights (after a bit of a scare when the original airline we'd looked at had run out of seats. For a while we were staring down the barrel of flying with a company that translates as "small wardrobe".

*Chris has booked us up some accomodation in Cuzco, where we can settle in, acclimatise and use as a base whilst we sort out collecting the mototaxi and the various bits and bobs we'll need to maintain it.

*Chris has also sorted out his yellow fever jab - which is good, because without it he'd have been refused entry to the country.

*I have sorted my International Driving Permit, without which I'd be scuppered, and have to pay a fortune in bribes (might need to do that anyway, but there's one less reason to fine us now)

*And in In Peru news - it has just overtaken Columbia as the worlds biggest cocaine producer, so it adds that nice element of added peril to the trip as DEA and Mexican druglords all ramp up their respective efforts.

Still a fair bit to do, including booking up a quick trip to Machu Picchu the day after we arrive - it wou;d be rude not to.

More soon...

Keeping in touch - with ekit

The past 7 days has been particularly exciting, as we have a new sponsor on board. I have been in discussion with Rowena at ekit about getting a mobile phone, SIM card, and most importantly some sort of tracking service. What we've ended up with, thanks to ekit, is all three!

Yesterday I took delivery of this little number, which is now charged up and raring to go. On the face of it, it looks like a pretty basic mobile phone; but its what it can do that is the most exciting thing. This phone is cleverly linked up to a service called Travel Journal, which should be able to provide our followers the ability to follow our progress on the trip, pretty much in real-time

It is configured so that at various points during each day, the Travel Journal will try to 'locate' us. It does this using "cell tower triangulation". Anyone who's watched Jack Bauer in 24 will know the drill!

In doing this, it will plot us pretty accurately on a map; so even if we are totally lost and haven't a clue where we are - our followers at home will actually be able to tell!

The service will do this at least once per day, and we may configure it to do so more often. Likewise, we will be able to send SMS messages, and these too will appear on our Travel Journal, with a pinpoint to show where we were at the time we sent the message.There's lots more to it as well - and you'll see details of the functionality emerging on this site in the next couple of weeks, as we get our final preparations done.

A big thank-you to ekit for making this possible (I recommend other travellers take a look at the ekit website, they do some good quality and value SIMS and phones), and to Rowena for being so helpful. I expect our mothers in particular will be especially pleased to be able to find out where we are!

¿Que? Guevara's TV debut

Last Saturday, Chris and I had the honour of treading the hallowed turf at Villa Park, taking part in a pitchside interview with AVTV, to help publicise the roadtrip we’re doing, and the charities we are raising funds for.

¿Que? Guevara interviewed at Villa Park from Richard Birch on Vimeo.


We got to the ground nice and early to meet up with Jack Woodward and his AVTV crew (Mark and Matt), and we had a great time doing the interview, where we talked about the journey, the charities and how unbelievably excited we are about it all.

Mike, Matt, Jack, Rich

We took the chance to get a few photo’s, right behind the goal.

The day just kept getting better though. Straight after the interview, Chris bumped into Villa’s mascot…we couldn’t resist a photo opportunity.

Chris, Hercules

Then onto the match, where we witnessed a 5 goal thriller, Villa coming out on top, 3-2. Brilliant day.

(N.B. credit for video goes to AVTV www.avfc.co.uk. For Villa & football fans, it is well worth a visit to the site and subscription to the service. Many thanks for providing the video, and if you've any issues me showing it here to promote the trip, then do let me know. )

Whitby & Co

Yesterday was a fine day. We received an exciting looking parcel containing all sorts of useful goodies, provided to us by Whitby & Co, an wholesaler of the leading international brands of hardware (adventure type kit). In the box was a Leatherman Blast, an amazing Inova torch (tiny yet powerful), some Sunwise sunglasses and some really handy Nite Ize reflective flashy "don't run over us" type things. We can't thank Whitby & Co enough for their generosity - those items will be massively useful as we scrablle around the jungle, at night, trying to fix our ailing mototaxi!

Outdoorkit.co.uk

Exciting times at ¿Que? Guevara HQ yesterday as we took delivery of our first 'donated goods'. We are privileged to have the UK's leading online supplier of outdoor goods, Outdoorkit.co.uk on board.

They have really kindly donated a Vango Sherpa 65 rucksack and T-Shirts for the trip, which will be of great use. In return we'll be sporting their logo on our mototaxi, something of a [much needed] go-faster stripe!

As a company, they were a pleasure to deal with, turning round my request in unbelievably quick time, just 26.5hrs from my initial contact to the point when I had the rucksack in my hands. Many thanks for your support. To learn more about OutdoorKit, and our other sponsors, see the sponsors page.

Sponsors coming on board

In the last few days, we have been delighted to receive the backing of:

• A premier league football club
• A wholesaler of high quality hardware goods
• An online outdoor clothing and equipment specialist

The football club will be featuring our trip in the matchday programme and possibly even doing some recording for their club TV channel. The wholesaler and outdoor specialist will be helping us out by providing some essential kit for the trip.

We'll be naming and doing features on each of these generous companies in due course, and look out for them appearing on the sponsors page of this site.

If you are a company and want to support us then please do so via the contact page.In return for your generosity, you'll get exposure on this site, the chance to display your logo on the mototaxi, product reviews and photos of us using products on the trip.