Blogging Private Ryan

My Bruins in The Playoffs

2008-04-17T11:57:00.003-04:00

As expected, it has been emotional times for me over the past couple of weeks. As most of you know, I take my Bruins pretty seriously. Having them get in the playoffs and get some experience for the younger players was what I was hoping for at the beginning of this season. If they got in, I promised myself that I wouldn't get too crazy about things if they lost in the first round. I said that I would constantly remind myself of what my initial hopes were at the beginning of the season. When I saw that they were playing Montreal in the first round (our long standing arch rival), I promised myself that I wouldn't get too patriotic and start wishing ill will to the Hab players and their fans.

Well, that has all gone for naught.

I made the mistake of watching the opening game with my buddies at their apartment (I talked my buddy Coog's into putting two TV's next to each other so we could watch two games at a time). These people got introduced to a whole new level of hockey watching. Hockey watching.....and rage. No matter how much preparation I did for these playoffs, I still can't stand to see the B's get scored on. This is a passion that is beyond comprehension to those of whom consider themselves to be Habs fans all of the sudden.

Regardless, I'm proud of my B's, and with the victory in game 3, it was nice to see the good guys win for a change. Good luck to them for tonight! Also, wish me luck.....these games are hard on my heart.

And oh yeah, I have posted the rest of my pics from Mexico below. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/30126387@N00/GyPL61

Back in Vancity

2008-04-07T11:58:00.002-04:00

That's right, I made it back into Van just a couple of days ago. Pretty happy to be home. My trip to Mexico was just a short one (just under 3 weeks). Just enough time to get some beach time in, while also checking out some cool parts of Mexico. I will try to post up the rest of the pics soon. I have to figure out how to use this new computer (MacBook). It's been a slow process!

Technical Difficulties: Solved

2008-03-29T15:58:00.003-04:00

I think.

Here is the pic link again. Hopefully I managed to get more than just one pic on it this time. Nothing too exciting here, but a couple of beach shots for those of you that have a morning routine that includes scraping snow off your windsheild.

The pic above is of the family that I was staying with in Puerto Escondido (the ones that were concerned about me not having any friends). They never spoke a lick of english, but we all seemed to chat a lot. I guess I{m just used to telling myself stories. The other pic is of my buddy Oscar, and his Toyota Tundra that we were cruising the coast in. I have a quick trivia question for all you movie buffs out there; Oscar is from a little town on the Pacific called Zihuatanejo (pronouced Zeewhateenayho). Anyone remember what movie it is from?

After a few days of hanging out in Playa Mazunte, I went and checked out a few of the other beaches in the area. Some great surf spots, but Mazunte was definitely the nicest of the bunch. Had a few stomach issues the other night, but feeling better now. Back is also feeling much better, so that helps also.

I am currenlty in Oaxaca City, which is an awesome little Colonial town further inland off the beach (staying in Ponche Hostel). Nice to be back in the city with lots of stuff to do. Not sure what the plan is from here, but going to enjoy the wkd and check out some of the local markets.

On a more important note, I saw today that the Bruins have now won 3 in a row and are making a solid bid for keeping their playoff spot. Four games left in the season. As you all know, it will be stressful times for me if they get in, so I will have to be back home for it (ahhh, my favorite time of the year).

Anyway, hope all is well. Once again, I posted a link of pics below, and have it so that you can copy and paste it into your browser if needbe.

Toodles!

http://www.flickr.com/gp/30126387@N00/803mP7

Playa Mazunte

2008-03-26T22:35:00.003-04:00

Hey Folks,

I have been hanging out in Playa Mazunte. It´s a much more chill beach, that isn´t too crowded. My buddy Oscar and I initially were going to go to Playa Zipolete because we were told it was a nudist ´hippy´ beach. When we got there, the people were definitely correct, but they never said that ´nudist hippy´ was referring to creepy old guys. Anyway, Mazunte has been awesome, and the sunsets here are wild.

Back is feeling a bit better, but surfing is still definitely a no go. That has taken a little steam out of my plan. Days have mostly consisted of tasting the fine Mexican cuisine down here, and hanging out in hammocks. The break here is a lot more gentle, so people can actually swim here which is awesome.

Our hostel here is a little cheaper, but the washrooms were repulsive. I think that I have gotten quite a bit more comfortable in my new apartment in Vancouver. My buddy Oscar said that he couldn´t handle them either though, so I don´t feel too guilty.

I have also been tracking my Bruins and saw that they finally got a victory the other night. If they keep it up, I will be back sooner rather than later!! Priorities my friends, priorities.

We are planning on heading further down the coast to Puerto Angel, and then eventually to Huatulco. May try to go to Oaxaca City as well.

NOTE: Sorry folks, had some technical difficulties with the pic link that I tried to post. I will see if I can get some pics loaded up properly, now that I'm in Oaxaca City.

Puerto Escondido, Mexico

2008-03-23T13:33:00.005-04:00

Hey all,

Well, my plan has worked out well. I have been hanging out in a hammock, relaxing on a beautiful beach in Mexico. Puerto Escondido has been awesome. I wasn´t too sure about it when I first got here though. As it is Easter wkd, it is a huge holiday here in Mexico, and apparently, P. Escondido is where they like to come to party. When I landed here on Monday, everything was full. It took over 3 hours of walking around with my pack, trying to get a place to stay. I finally found one way down a dirt road, and the end of the beach. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise though; an awesome part of the beach, no people, and a casa with amazing food. I also don´t have to worry about competing for a hammock. It has been awesome.

I unfortunately can´t say the same for my spanish. In the first 2 days, I never saw even one non Mexican tourist. When I sat down with a group of Mexican students that were here on vacation, I realized that my spanish had almost regressed back to zero. Twas a little painful communicating. Thankfully my spanish is coming back pretty quickly. I have had them all laughing at my broken-spanish jokes, so I guess that´s all that matters. I am now back to being ´Brian sin B´ (`Brian without the B´), as Ryan is hard for people here to remember.

The owner of my hostel is deeply concerned about me travelling alone and not having any friends. Ha. He is been introducing me to anyone who comes within earshot. I met an American couple this morning, and they already knew everything about me (Oooh, so YOU´RE the guy from Vancouver; Did you end up finding your sandals?).

The guitar hasn´t gotten much use, as I have unfortunately broke a string. I´ve gone to two neighboring towns but there are no guitar strings to be found. Thankfully I brought the ukulele along, so that will have to do.

As for the surfing, it has been horribly painful. This place has one of the craziest beach breaks that I have ever seen (ie. the beach is super steep so the waves come up sharp and hit it hard). I took a go at it a couple of days ago and got toppled by the first wave I went for. Ended up wrenching my back and have been hobbling around for a couple of days now (feeling better this morning). Going to have to wait a bit before I give it another go....hoping to find somewhere a little easier! Ha. If not, I may just stick to Pina Coladas in the hammock.

I have met a Mexican dude named Oscar, who actually lived in Vancouver for 2 years to get his MBA. He is pretty stoked to be able to use his english again and I´m stoked to learn my spanish. He´s got his own truck, so we´re going to start heading down the coast to check out some other beaches.

Anyway, Happy Easter all! Love seeing those comments on the blog again....brings back memories from last year. Will check in again soon.

Mexico City

2008-03-18T12:05:00.002-04:00

Rolled into Mexico City last night and ending up finding a nice little irish pub to celebrate st. patties day in. Flight was a breeze. Going to check out some sites this aft, and then flying to Puerto Escondido later today.

Weird to be back in a hostel; I didn't realize how comfortable I got in my new pad in Van. I kind of forgot the fact that I don't really fit in bunkbeds all that well. I'm sure that I'm due for cranking my head off a low hanging door frame any time now.

Anyway, will chat with you all soon.

Ciao

PS. My broken spanish has come back like a charm. "Es Necessssssito..."

Mexico Bound

2008-03-12T15:15:00.003-04:00

Yup, it is time for another trip. After 6 months back at the Bank, I figured that a little sand between the toes would treat me well. As I have said before, I love latin america, and so I figured that I would try to freshin up my Spanish skills and head to Mexico for a bit. Nothing too crazy this time though (don't know if I have the gas to pull off another round-the-world dealio), maybe just a month or so. Heading down to the southwest coast and starting off in a town called Puerto Escondido (en inglise: hidden port).

Leaving on Monday (March 17) and will be spending a day in Mexico city before heading to the coast. Not really planning on doing any crazy trekking around. Just hoping to find a cozy hammock on a nice beach, with some tastey Mexican cuisine close by. I decided on the southwest coast because it is known for all its cool little surf beaches. I will try to pick up a board while I'm there, so that I have something to do to keep me in shape.

Anyway, not sure how much posting I'll be doing down there, but I will definitely try to get some pics up. Talk to you all soon!

Day Trip for Simon

2008-02-28T19:16:00.003-05:00

Yup, I figued it was time to get Simon out of the mental ward and out for a day trip. What better way to discover the big city (Vancouver), then to go to a Canucks game with your hockey-crazed cousin. Don't worry Marion & Philip, we never touched a drink. Well, at least not until the game started. Thankfully I was there to watch over him though. I was scared that he would repeat his performance from the last family reunion (what Dad called, "Blind Drunk").

We picked up scalper tickets outside and scored some wicked seats; 4 rows up behind the net. A perfect spot for me to heckle the opposing goalie. Game was Vancouver vs. Minnesota. Although the Canucks lost, we were fortunate enough to catch overtime as well as a shoot-out. Twas a solid evening. Even little Mats Sundin enjoyed the game.

As for an update on me, I'm now a full fledged resident of Vancouver. Yes, I have gotten myself a sweet little apartment in the Kitsilano beach area. I am now working at the Bank again in downtown Vancouver. Have gotten myself set up with a great group of friends. Playing hockey once a week, and I try to make it up to Whistler for some boarding whenever I can. The fresh powder here is unbelievable. Have had some of the best powder days that I've ever seen. I have to tell you also, I'm not minding the weather too much here: +12 and sunny for the past week. Not too bad for Feb!

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for checking in.

Ryan

Thor Sighting in Vancouver

2007-11-14T03:25:00.001-05:00

I found this guy in my living room. He claims to know my sister.

Tara, do you recognize this fellow?

Halloween 2007

2007-11-06T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hey All,

Just a quick update on things. As some of you probably already know, I have been back working at the Bank. I got offered a promotion from my old position, but I told them that I was just looking for something temporary for the time being. I have now been travelling around BC helping out the different offices here for the past couple of months. Currently working in a little town called Kelowna, which is about 6 hours east of Vancouver. Its a real nice little post-card looking town up in the mountains, right in the Okanagan Valley. Wine country it is, and yes, I've tried a few. I am still living in Vancouver these days though, as the Bank has been flying me back and forth each week. Living in a hotel here in Kelowna has definitely been an upgrade to some of the previous places that you guys have seen over the past year and some. And gotta love that expense account......no more peanut butter and banana sandwiches for this guy.

Things have been awesome here in Vancouver. It has taken me a while, but starting to settle in. Feels nice not living out of a pack. I'd have to say that the absolute best thing about being back (aside from seeing friends and family), has been waking up in my own bed, in a place that looks somewhat familiar. It can be pretty strange waking up in a new place each morning.....disorienting may be a better description (is that a word?). Have hooked up with a real good crew of friends, and am now playing for a couple of hockey teams. Can't wait for the snow boarding season to start in a couple of weeks, to start checking out some of these mountains. There will definitely be some pics to follow.

I have started to rebuild a bit of a wardrobe, but in general, I still dress like a bum. Slowly but surely I guess. I had a little debt to repay, but all is good now. I even own a few pairs of underwear now, which have actually been strange to adjust back to. Ha. I would have owned more, but somebody in my building stole them. Yes I know, creepy. I put them in the wrong washing machine, and haven't seen them since. I actually put a sign up in the laundry room "Missing: 1 T-shirt, 3 pairs of Boxers", but no luck.

My friend said that I should slip a note under everyone's door saying, "I know you took them", and then see what happens.

Anyway, don't have much exciting to post, but here are some pics from Halloween. I went as Bjorn Borg the tennis player....I think. Either that, or Royal Tanenbaums, not sure.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/30126387@N00/GoAm4x

I've also attached a few random pics of Vancouver. There is a picture of my friend's dog, Beamer the rescue hound. I do a little dogsitting once in a while, which gives me access to a whole community of people known as dog owners. Also a pic of me at the top of Grouse Mountain here in Vancouver. It is about an hour long hike straight uphill. Supposedly it is part of the initiation process for newcomers to the city.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/30126387@N00/fV365t

I see from the hit counter down below that there are still people checking in, so my apologies for not keeping things up to date. I guess things are a little anti-climatic after a year long backpacking trip.

I have started getting a bunch of my pics up on Flickr, which is a much better website. Most of these will be the full file sizes too, which are good for printing. The unfortunate thing is that that virus I picked up in Indonesia spoiled a bunch of my S. American pics (yes, I did back them up, but the disks got destroyed in my pack). Quite a few survived though, so I guess I'll have to be happy with what I have. It has been nice kind of going through them again. When I first got back in June, I was kind of sick of chatting/thinking about the whole trip, which is kind of strange. It has taken a while, but I can finally kind of go back and enjoy it all again a bit.

Anyway, hope all is well.

Team React Hits Bowron Lake Circuit

2007-09-29T00:44:00.000-04:00

Team React Slogan: Why Predict, When You Can React.

Bowron Lake Circuit Canoe Trip in Sept/07.
The culprits: Cmac, Woodchuck Chad, Shallow Paddle Coogs, Le Durty Chef: Yando Commando, and Raintarp Ryno.

This is a circuit of lakes that form a nice little square, so no backtracking required. About 9 hours north of Vancity, basically in the middle of nowhere. We did the circuit in about 8 days....120km's in total. Mostly canoeing, but also about 15kms of portaging. Scenery was stellar. Some sore muscles at the end of the week, but nothing that an out-of-shape desk jockey can't handle.

Two canoes and one kayak. Got damn cold at night. We pitched full camp each night (Chris/Yann with food, Chad on the fire, Coogs on the water filter, me on the rain tarp), except for two, as there were a couple of cabins along the way for keeping warm. We saw pretty much every weather system you could imagine, including a little snow one evening and two emergency stops to get off the lake due to hail/waves. No bears to speak of, but we almost witness a moose not make it across the river.

Cmac, leave those cotton socks at home.

Pics attached below. Click link, then when you get the page, click 'View Slideshow' up by the top right hand corner.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30126387@N00/sets/72157602192406330

Vancouver Pics

2007-07-29T15:23:00.000-04:00

Hey Folks,

I think that I have solved my technical difficulties and the pic links should now work without any signin required. You should be able to go back to the old link and see the Bday pics. I have also added some more here today. Good old cousin Slymon stopped by last weekend with his girlfriend Trish. I believe that they are most likely back in NB now visiting the Family.

Vancouver has been treating me well. I have now spent 5 consecutive days hanging down at Kits beach.......the land of beautiful people. It kind of reminds me of Australia, except for the temperature.....and the waves......and the toplessness. Anyway, here are some more pics.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39611&l=ce334&id=554250555

Vancity Baby

2007-07-24T16:03:00.000-04:00

Yes, I completed the cross country drive. To tell you the truth, it was nowhere near as painful as I thought it was going to be. Ended up doing the whole drive solo.....yup, 5300km's logged. Rolled into Toronto for a couple of days as a stop over. Popped into the old office to update some old co-workers on what its like to drop the 9 to 5 for a backpack and an English Spanish dictionary. After spending a night with Ken & Karen and Steve & Jan, I rolled out with the boys to the old Maddy for a quick dust-up. Well, I guess I wouldn't call it quick. It ended up delaying my departure yet another day. Eventually rolled out the next morning and headed for Thunder Bay. As was my plan when I left Saint John, I told myself that I was just going to pull over and nap whenever I was tired. No real schedule. Didn't quite make it to ThunderBay that night, but found a cozy gas station just before there. Decided to spend the night there. Was figuring on an early morning given the sleeping conditions I had chosen (a crowded truck stop in a 1.6 Acura EL where the seat didn't really recline all that far due to do a stack of guitars in the backseat). To my surprise I actually slept in to almost 9:00. Still have a little of that hardened traveller's backbone I guess. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful northern Ontario was. Lakes everywhere and amazing scenery. It is hard to believe that Lake Superior isn't an ocean....especially when you see some of those rocky cliffs. Didn't take any pics on the way through though as I was in full force driving mode. Not as hectic as those drives to PEI where Dad was scared of missing one of the 14 daily ferries, but a dedicated drive none the less.
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Rolled into the prairies and made stopovers in Winnipeg and Regina to check them out on the way through. Cool little towns. Stayed in a hostel in Winnipeg where the guy in the bunk above me had developed a snoring pattern that sounded like each breath he took was his last gasp of air on this fine planet. It took all of 3 mintues before he had a giant east coaster hanging over him shaking him awake, "Dude, I think you're choking".
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After Winnipeg, hit up Regina and stayed with Thor's buddy Stoney. For all those who have never done the drive.....yes, the prairies are flat. Pretty cool to drive through. The most amazing part of the drive was where the prairies hit the Canadian Rockies. A pretty stellar site to see. In my opinion, the Canadian Rockies are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. When I hit Alberta, I stayed in Calgary for a couple of days and hung out with some of my surf buddies from Australia. I was extended an invitation to join them on one of those legendary houseboating weekends in Shuswap, BC (you can gather up about 20 people, rent a houseboat fully equipped with a kitchen, a water slide and a hot tub, and then hit a gorgeous lake with about 20 to 30 other boats), but I politely declined.
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I eventually rolled into Vancouver in time for the Cmac-Ryno 30th Bday Bash. And a Bday Bash it was. On his 30th birthday, every guy should have a group of beautiful drunken women congradulating him on surviving 30 years........well that, and a crazy cheese nacho dip on the deck at 6 in the morning with a couple of his best buddies.
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Anyway, here are some pics from the party. Toodles!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38349&l=a64cc&id=554250555

Indonesia Pics

2007-07-04T00:06:00.000-04:00

I think that I may have figured out a new way of posting these pics. The old Kodak site isn't holding up anymore these days. Anyway, I have linked these in from Facebook. Should be a little easier as well as you don't have to sign in to look at them.

As for me, I am currently still in NB. Just got done spending another weekend at the cottage. Got a good little visit from some of the extended family as well (Dave & Elies, Marion & Philip, and Talia & Jason with little Cameron). Have finally gotten a hold of my buddy Chris' car and am currenlty getting it fixed up. Planning on leaving soon for my cross country drive to Vancouver. Going to be a long one, but looking forward to seeing the rest of the country. Will definitely keep the blog going a bit and should hopefully get some pics of the prairies on the way through.

Anyway, here are some of the pics from Indonesia.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33184&l=ec762&id=554250555

Got My Indonesia Pics

2007-06-27T19:41:00.000-04:00

Yup, they have finally showed up in the mail. Just got them today though, so probably won't get them posted for a couple of days. And yes Tara, there are a couple of videos in there too that I can post.

The pic that I have here is from Kuta, Lombok. We rented bikes when we were there so that we could get up and down the coast. It was a pretty sweet way of getting around. It also allowed us to get off into some villages that we normally wouldn't have gotten to see. There were decent little scooters. You could get 90km on a decent straightaway. As I said before, one of the greatest parts is getting to it. Renting one of these scooters, and then hiring a boat to drop you off in the middle of the water. If you got a young guy, he would often just anchor the boat and come surfing with you. He was also probably one of the few locals that would actually give up waves to you as well.

Anyway, as for me, I'm still in Saint John. Heading back up to the cottage again for the long weekend. Just picked up my buddy Chris' car and am now starting to get ready for my cross country Canada hike. Will figure out how to get some pics up soon.

Cottage Weekend

2007-06-14T15:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been back in Saint John for just over a week. It feels great to be home, and it has been awesome getting to see the family again. I thought that when my mother picked me up at the airport that she was going to drive me straight to the hairdressers to get the fro chopped off, but I think that she actually likes it. Even Dad didn't seem to mind it too much! Ha.

As what was hoping, I got to go to the cottage right away. My sis Tara and I went up and babysat the kids for the night.....Kate, Kye, and The Jack. I have attached a couple of pics. The first pose is the one where I try to look like I'm talented at water skiing. The next is the courtesy wave pose.

You'll also get to see a picture of The Jack sitting on my knee helping me open up my new survival package from my sis. Yes, this pack was stocked full of important things to help me integrate back into the 'real world'; soap, deoderant, comb, toothbrush (needed one badly), etc. It also contained some other things to help with my new budget for the next while; Mr. Noodles, a bell for my bicylcle (as a car isn't anywhere in the near future). I think that she will be quite surprised at the amount of use that I will get out of it.

Twas a great weekend at the cottage. My brother Greg and Karenanne made it up, as well as Thor. Decided to have a few drinks out by the fire that evening as well. Greg almost fell into the fire because he was so drunk, and Thor missed it all because he was puking in the woods. Thank God that I am the resoponsible one.

Twas awesome hanging out with the kiddies again. Got to watch them run through the sprinkler, build forts on the deck, and then hit the tube on the back of the boat. All in all, it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for!

Back Home!!!

2007-06-01T10:38:00.001-04:00

Woohoo! Back to the homeland. Rolled into Toronto last night.....exactly one whole year on the road. Left on June 1st 06 and got back May 31st 2007 (except for my stint back here in September for Dad's Election). Guess I wanted to squeeze out every last minute I could. Ha. I am now officially broke, and somewhat out of steam. Always look forward to sharing beers to catch up, but I don't foresee any late nights out on the town any time soon. These tired old bones are getting ready for an important birthday that is coming up.

Went out with my friends here in TO last night......Greg & Ange, Stinch and Laura, Jones. Got to drink my first pint of Keiths in a long time. Oooo, that sweet nectar. Was nice hanging out with people who have actually known me longer than two weeks. Doesn't take long to get caught up though. I have been working on some decent answers for all those questions as well. Its all a bit of a blur to me right now. Doesn't take much for it to come back though. Hard to believe that it was a year, although I'm sure my liver would beg to differ. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you all soon. As I said, I will be here in TO for a few days, and then heading back to NB on Wednesday. Not sure where else from there!

See you all soon!

London Baby!

2007-05-30T08:38:00.000-04:00

Hey Folks.

Still in London, but heading back to TO this Thursday. Going to be there until Wednesday sorting some things out, and then will be heading back to NB to see the family. Not to worry though, as I will be passing back through TO for a while later this summer, so I'm hoping to catch up with everybody then. Focusing on doing a boarding season somewhere out west this year and will find some employment when I get there. Still working out the details. Don't really have any answers to the 'What are you doing next question", so I'm hoping that this will due. Ha!

Also wanted to help cheer on all you hardcore Sens fans. I actually managed to watch the game on the internet the other night. Heard that it is quite the party in Ottawa right now. Wish I could be there.

On a side note, I will probably keep the blog going for a bit until I get settled somewhere. It sounds crazy, but it actually surpassed the 10,000 hit mark a couple of days ago ('hits' are everytime somebody brings up the page....the counter is at the very bottom of the blog). Have to get a new camera and a new pic site though, but besides that, I'm rolling.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Tubing in Laos

2007-05-26T16:03:00.000-04:00

Spent a few days in Vang Vieng, Laos. Vang Veing is a cool little town known for its river tubing. You can rent a tube for $4 and then they take you to the top of the river and drop you off with your tube. Within 3 minutes, there are people along the side of the river trying to entice you to come for a drink in their bars along the side of the river. They all have these big long sticks that they hold out for you to grab so that they can pull you in. It's brillaint. The best part is that all these bars have these crazy zip lines and swing ropes that go out into the water. The local BeerLao costs you about 50 cents a beer and most of them throw in free shots of the local Lao Lao liquour. Mix them in with the swing ropes and zip lines, and it makes for a good afternoon. As with most of these countries, there's not much for safety standards here, but I guess that makes for all the more fun. I have tons of pics, but my pic site is no longer working (camera broke, day pack tore, pic site doesn't work.....think its time to pack it in on the trip!). I've posted a couple below though, and also have some videos.

We had so much fun that we stayed at the last bar too long, and ended up tubing down the river in the dark at the end. It turned out to be so much fun, that we did it again a couple of days later. Day 2 ended early though due to a little incident that my buddy Greg had. Thanks to the liquid courage, we had been doing backflips off the swing ropes. I challenged him to try doing a double backflip, which he did.....almost. When he came up out of the water, his nose was bleeding and I realized that it was no longer as straight as it once was. Turns out his knee hit his face and broke his nose. The best part was taking him to the hospital. I was in the 'emergency' room with him, and I still had a beer in my hand. Greg was a good sport though and let me video tape him getting his nose reset.

The first pic of me with all they kids was me playing my Laos song that I made. 'Sabadee' means hello in Laos. I went around singing a song, 'Sabadee, Sabadaa, SabaDingDong'. The locals ate it up. I don't know what the hell it meant, but it was a big hit. The kids in the pics look a little frightened though.

Anyway, I'm in London now, hanging out at Abi's place. Went for beers with my buddy Yann last night as well. Going to be back in Canada in a week! Talk to you all soon.

Tubing Videos

2007-05-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

Hopefully these work.

Coming Home!!!

2007-05-15T04:20:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have now officially booked my trip home. Leaving Asia in about 10 days or so, heading to London for just over a week, and then will be back in the homeland. Hard to believe that it has actually been a whole year. Must say though, I'm pretty excited about getting home. No more crazy menus, no more shitty washrooms, no more border crossings, and no more buses. Sign me up! Ha.

Have been relaxing and winding down on and island called Ko Tao. Weather has been awesome, with crazy short little rain storms that come late in the afternoon. Did some snorkeling, but didn't bother to do any diving.

Decided that I do have one last bit of adventure left in me though so I am now in Laos, travelling with my buddy Greg that I met in Australia. Only here for about a week, but had to get out of Thailand as my Visa had expired. Laos is supposed to be pretty beautiful, so looking forward to seeing a little of it.

Anyway, here are a few pics from Ko Tao (not much). I will have Greg's camera to use in Loas though, so there should be tons more pics to follow!

Talk to you all soon, and more importantly, I'm looking forward to seeing you all soon!!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.8034h5ux&x=1&y=-yw7dzb

The Islands in Thailand

2007-05-07T03:47:00.000-04:00

After leaving Phuket, I headed across to the Gulf of Thailand and stayed on Ko Pha Nang island. As some of you may recall, I was in Thailand just a couple of years ago and I came here for the Full Moon Party (held once per month, between 5 to 10 thousand people partying on the beach). I decided that I was going to pass on the party and instead, just find a nice hut on a beach to relax. I ended up on the west side staying at Sun View lodges by Hat Yao. Definitely what I was looking for. After I realized that everybody from my hostel was going to the Moon party though, I couldn't say no. This time I didn't quite make it to the morning, but I did OK.

Also went and checked out some Mui Thai boxing. Pretty crazy bastards they are. I don't know if any of you have watched it before, but it is pretty violent. Lots of kicking and knees. Twas pretty fun night. The money is flowing everywhere. You just run over to the side of the ring and there's lots of guys taking bets. I think that unfortunately some times the flow of money affects who wins the fight, but either way, it was pretty damn fun.

I am now on Koh Tao island on Sairee beach (Koh Tao is just north of Ko Pha Nang). I have attached a picture of the beach that I got off the net. I came over with a big group that I met at the last guesthouse (Craig from UK, Andrew from Can, Emilia, Anna, Tina from Sweden, Lisa from Holland, and Brenden from NZ). It has been raining for the past few days, but the sun is out full force now, so the beach it will be.

Talk to you soon.

Thailand

2007-05-04T02:09:00.000-04:00

Hey Folks!

Once again, sorry for the lack of communicato. I guess I should have let you know that I actually did finally get better! Yes, I can now say that I survived being sick in a Bangkok guestroom for a week. Not an experience that I'd recommend, but hey, I'm feeling like a new man now. Not much exciting to write about from Bangkok except that now when I check a room, the 3 things I look for are a) a fan, b) the softness of the bed, or lack thereof, and c) what kind of toilet they have. Yes, team MacIntyre is all done with the hole in the floor toilets (aptly named 'The Bomber').

After I got better, I jumped on a bus and headed for the beaches down south. First place I landed was Kata Beach in the province of Phuket, which is just down from Patong Beach. Yes, this is where the tsunami hit, but no Mom, there won't be any more. When cruising around the towns, there aren't really any signs of it that you can see in the areas that I went to. To say that Thailand takes their tourism seriously would be somewhat of an understatement. Phuket was pretty much the exact opposite of what I was looking for though. Crazy touristy, overpriced shit being sold everywhere, and every single bar was a creepy hooker bar. Yes.....every single one. The 'bar girls' all sit on the patios and yell at bypassing tourists. Not exactly places where you go to meet people. I rented a motor scooter one day though and headed up the coast to check out a bunch of the other beaches and smaller towns, so that was cool. I actually found an authentic local market where I was the only tourist there. The beaches here are spectacular, which is why so many tourists flock to this country. Here's some quick pics from the net.

THE WIPE-OUT

As a funny story, when I was walking through a shortcut to get back to my bike one night, I pulled off one of the most dramatic sober wipe outs that I've had in a while (don't have drunken ones....I'm too smooth). I decided that I had had enough of walking around the hell known as Patong Beach, and that I wanted to get out of there. Instead of walking around through all the shit again though, I figured that I would take a short cut through one of the massive resorts that line the road along the beach here (see pic from above). When I got into the complex I realized that it was all gated and there were no doors out to the other side of the block where my bike was. After walking around inside the building for 5 minutes, I went out the nearest exit so that I could look up to find the big tower that I had initially oriented myself with when I entered the complex. Just outside the door, there was a small ledge that I had to step up onto so that I could get out from under the overhang to see the tower.

When I took my next step I realized that it didn't feel like my first step, and knew that I was in trouble. It turns out that this fancy resort had put a 2 foot deep muddy watered pond in their courtyard, complete with lilly pads and thorny plants. Given that I had just spent a month in Indonesia, it had been a while since I've encountered landscaping of this magnitude.

My brain registered the fall in 3 very separate and distinct stages:

1. Shit, I just stepped into water, and its f*#king deep.

2. Oh no, I think that my other leg is coming in to.

And then the most important stage:

3. I'm getting wet.

Yes, I literally fell full force into this pond, kicking and splashing the whole way down. Mom, I now finally know what it felt like that day at Rainbow Valley when you had that near death drowning experience in that foot and a half deep pool at the bottom of the water slide.

I popped up quite quickly and was back outside the pond in a flash, but the damage was already done. My shirt and shorts were completely drenched and covered in rancid smelling grey mud. Surprisingly, I immediately broke into a laughing fit. Thankfully nobody saw the fall, but afterwards a woman walked by when I was standing by the pond, hunched over laughing, all by myself......and soaking wet. She never said anything, but the look that she gave me was enough.

One of my sandals fell victim to the shitty smelling mud at the bottom of the pond, so I tossed the other one in for good riddance. I had to go back out around and make the walk through downtown Patong Beach with no sandals......soaking wet.....covered in mud. The hookers actually left me alone this time. I think that they could tell by the look on my face that 'happy ending' was no longer an option for me.

It was a cold drive home, but I managed to survive the fall with only a few cuts to my hands and feet.

Anyway, that is about as exciting as it gets for me these days. I am now on Ko Pha Nang island in the Gulf of Thailand, staying in a little hut on the beach with my hammock on the front. My days consist of snoozing, eating, reading and playing guitar. Yes, things are winding down for me on this trip. These tired old bones are starting to crave a nice couch, a pizza, and a good hockey game on the tube.

Bye for now. I just realized that an army of ants have infiltrated my juice box.

Gili Islands

2007-04-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

After leaving Nusa Lembongan, my buddy Sam and I headed to Lombok Island, which is just west of Bali. Lombok is a lot less touristy and is part of the muslim area of Indonesia. After passing through Sigiggi, we then headed directly to the Gili Islands. Ended up spending some time at the Legend Bar on Gili Air and then moved to Gili Trawahan. Gili Air is a super chill spot with these awesome little hut thingys all along the beach. We pretty much lived like Kings there for 3 days. The fish there was awesome. One night our menu consisted of four fish sitting on the table and we just got to point to which one we wanted for dinner that night (had a pretty cool pic of it but lost it). We got a pretty good laugh out of it.

We hooked up with a cool Cdn/US couple named Trav and Jessie, and also a big group of locals from the Lazy Bar. That allowed us to get some of the local prices too which was nice. Once night we paid $2 which basically paid for all of us (7) to have a huge seafood feed. Not a bad deal.

The locals here absolutely love the guitar. Everytime I haul it out, they all crowd around and try to sing along to the main songs that they've heard. I was sitting in a small terminal building waiting for a ferry the other day and I played a song that one of the security guards had a CD of. I didn't realize it at first, but Sam noticed that when I stopped playing, he could still here them all singing in the background. They eventually flocked over and tried to talk me into playing over the PA system! Ha. How funny is that. The greatest part is, is that Guns N' Roses are HUGE here. As most of you know, I grew up on that stuff and can play pretty much every track. Good way to make friends. I had a cool video of me playing on the roof of a ferry with a bunch of locals on the way over to Nusa Lembongan. Was one of my favorite videos but unfortunately, I think that it may have been lost to that damn virus.

I love watching the local bands here.....some of them are awesome. The greatest part is that they don't have a clue what any of the lyrics are, but they still belt out the songs at full tilt. It is pretty funny to watch. I requested a Nirvana track and it was hilarious listening to what this guy thought the words were. Truthfully though, I probably couldn't tell you either.

After leaving the Gilis, we headed back to the southern part of Lombok island, to Kuta Lombok. Found some stellar surf here. The coolest part too, was how we got to the surf. We had to rent scooters, drive through some stellar scenery and some little villages, and then hire one of the local guys to take us out to the reef on their boat. Most of the guys would just sit in the boat and wait for us to finish but some of the younger ones would jump in and surf with us too.

One of the days there, we decided to take the bikes and head down the coast to see what else we could find. The drive basically consisted of cruising through these mountains and looking out over the coast. Everytime we saw a beach that looked nice, we would take the dirt track in to the village and see what it was like. Everyone of them were spectacular, and all were pretty secluded from tourists. You could tell because the locals were so stoked about seeing us. We had one giant group of school kids come running over at one point, but they were all interested only in our friend Jessie. I guess they aren't that used to seeing white girls.

When we left one of the villages, Jessie had realized that she lost the key to her bike somewhere along the way. Her boyfriend Trav and I decided to go back and take a look for it. As soon as people saw two white guys wondering around looking for something, the whole village came out to see what was going on. After we realized that we weren't going to find it, we decided to offer all the kids a cash reward if they found the 'cunchee' (the key). That got their attention pretty quickly. The parents also seemed to get pretty interested by it as well. I'll tell you, if those people didn't find it, then the key wasn't meant to be found. Unfortunately I had to head back to Kuta, so I don't know if they ever did find it.

Anyway, after leaving Lombok. I headed back to Bali and then flew to Jakarta. That was definitely a contrast to the peacefulness of Lombok. Almost 10 million people. The island of Java has about $130 million people on it and is considered to be the most densely populated island in the world. After a couple of days there, I caught a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, which is where I am now.

Unfortunately I have been sick in bed for the past 5 days, but hoping to be better soon. Will come up with a new plan once I start feeling better. Anyway, as I said before, Sam's camera got a virus, so the 350 pics that we took may be gone which really sucks. I guess that you'll have to use your imaginations!

Bye for now.

Island Hopping in Indo

2007-04-13T11:46:00.000-04:00

Life is tough I tell you. As the title suggests, I have just spent the better part of a month hopping from island to island here in Indo, chasing down good surf spots. Indo has proven to be one of my favorite countries so far on this trip. Scenery is spectacular and exotic, beaches are awesome, everything is cheap as hell, and the surfing is crazy.

Makes for a good vacation.

One thing this place doesn't have though, is decent internet connections. The last place I got on, was actually going through the local fellow's cell phone somehow. Also, I am sad to say that the computer had a virsus and it corrupted our camera and so I wasn't able to upload any pics. Hopefully my buddy Sam (from Calgary, part of my crew from Byron Bay) will be able to sort things out when he gets to NZ so that I can get the pics later.

Indo is made up of over 17,500 islands and it is the 4th most populated country in the world, with over 220 million people. Most of the country is muslim, except for the main tourist area of Bali. This country could be one of the poorest ones that I have been to, which unfortunately is reflected in that the local people do everything they can to tourment tourists. The economy in a lot of these areas is based off extracting every dollar they can from the few tourists that are around. Travelling Indo is definitely not for the light at heart, and being a 6'5" white guy with a backpack doesn't help me much. I actually fell for my first big scam here, with a shady little fellow named Danny Boy who sold us an 'open ended return ticket'. I guess by 'open ended', he meant that you couldn't actually return with it. When we came back to get our money back, his fluent english had somehow evaporated into the sinlge phrase, "Not posseeble". Oooo Danny, you so smart. Thankfully we are technically millionaires here (1 Cdn$ worth about 8,000 Rps, so you actually take out $1.5M each time you hit the cash machines), so the scam only puts you out about 15 bucks. I just wish the money could have went to someone who needed more than him.

After leaving Dreamland (I love that name), we headed to another island in Bali, just to the east of the main island, to a spot called Nusa Lembongan. Two dollars and 50 cents will get you a primo hotel on the beach here. The coolest part here was that the surfing here was all reef breaks that you actually had to take a boat out to. The hotel owners father would drop us off out in the middle of the water, and we would tell him when we wanted him to come back and pick us up. On day one, we got to paddle into some of the biggest waves that I have ever seen. Picture laying on the floor and looking up at 12 feet of water getting ready to crash down on your head. Twas a pretty awesome display of Mother Nature at it's finest. We sat in the sidelines for a few, then finally tried our luck. I wouldn't exactly say that I got to ride many waves, as most of them rode me. When you crash in these things, they throw you in every direction and pull you under for a while. Nothing like that near drowning sensation to get the heart pumping. Sam still gets a good laugh from the image of me coming up from one, with my big long arm coming straight up out of the water and dramatically grasping for the board. Took in a little water on that one and had to pull off to the side to throw up some of that tastey Indian Ocean seawater. Mmmm. Don't know if I'm getting any better at surfing, but definitely getting better at crashing.

Have been eating like a king these days. The evenings usually consist of a big awesome meal and a couple of Bintangs (the local brew of choice......actually, the only brew). One of our 'menus' consisted of four different kinds of fish laying on the table and you get to choose which one you want. Allllright! Made for an awesome pic, but unfortunately, its been lost.

Anyway, that's all for now. Like I said, I'm pretty depressed about not having all those pics. If you want to see this place, you'll have to go to Google and do an 'image' search on Nusa Lembongan.

Talk to you soon.

Indonesia

2007-03-29T01:54:00.000-04:00

After a week in the big city life of Hong Kong, I am now back to beach land here in Indonesia. What an awesome country this has been so far. Definitely the adventure that I was craving. My first few days were unfortunately met with rain storms, which definitely put a 'damper' on things for me. It IS the rainy season here though, so what can you expect I guess.

I showed up in Denpasar on Bali Island and then quickly headed to Kuta Beach, which is pretty much the main tourist area of Indonesia. I have never seen Hawking like this before.....pretty much every 4 to 5 steps you get asked to buy something. It is the worst that I have ever seen (yes, that includes Kohsan Rd in Thailand). Stuck there for a couple of days and met back up with my buddy Sam (from Calgary) who was part of my surfing crew in Byron. After a big night out on the town, we quickly headed for a spot called Dreamland for some surfing. The waves weren't that great unfortunately, but the weather was spectacular, and the price was right. Yes, $3 for our room right on the beach, and $3 for awesome meals. Yes, living like a king again. Ahh, it feels good.

Anyway, we are heading east to some of the other islands to find some surf. May be a little out of touch for a bit while we are there, but I've been taking tons of pictures and will be sure to update things when I get back into civilization. Bye for now!

Hong Kong

2007-03-20T13:16:00.000-04:00

Hong Kong is a crazy place to visit. Definitely a contrast to the cozy little beach town of Byron Bay. It is hard not to be blown away by how crazy the skyline looks here at night. It's pretty impressive.

Feels awesome to be back in Asia. Only took me about 1 day to adjust back to the asian culture. For those of you who don't know, I had my first experience in Asia a couple of years ago when I did a trip to Thailand.....that kind of took care of that initial culture shock of being in these countries. The first night, I headed out to the crazy Temple Street night market, grabbed some chopsticks, some chinese cuisine (fried pork on rice), a local beer, and sat out on the street to take it all in. The sense of adventure is definitely back.

Honk Kong is pretty expensive compared to the rest of the Asian countries, but relatively cheap compared to Auz and NZ. My first night I ended up staying at the YMCA down by the waterfront. Price tag was a little expensive though ($40 for a dorm bed) so I ended up moving to Mirador Mansions up on the main drag (Nathan Road). This place is basically a pretty run down building with shady characters running around everywhere. It was perfect. I spent my first night in a closet with a bed that failed the great 3 Wall test (3 Wall Test: can touch 3 walls at once). I have since upgraded to a room with a bigger bed, a littel TV, and some sort of opening to the outside (I think she called it a window)......all for the price tag of $20/night. Sitting waiting for the elevator is a wild experience everytime. I have NEVER been to a place that has so many crazy cultures all squished in to one building. Guys from all over Africa, Arabian women, Indians wearing their authentic garments, other guys with big long white gowns. Is still funny getting in the elevators here, as I absolutely tower over everybody else in there. Almost kind of ackward.

I also got to go check out Hong Kong Island which is pretty cool. Spent a day up on the Peak which is basically a cool little mountain on the island that is actually formally called 'The Peak'. Got some pretty good views from up there. HK also has the largest permanent light show in the world. Every night at 8:00, the whole sky gets lit up and all the giant buildings go crazy with lights. Pretty cool sight to see every night, although I wouldn't want to know what it costs.

The people here are pretty funny in that they aren't very fond of other cultures (ie. racist as hell)......that includes the people from mainland China who HK people tend to think are bums. There also doesn't seem to be much of a queing system (line-ups). I go pretty out of my way to ensure that I am in the proper line up when I'm visiting these countries but here, it seems to be every man for himself.

Had a little trouble meeting people when I first rolled in here, given that there aren't really any hostels around. I had to go back to the old trusted strategy of just heading to a random bar, grabbing a beer, and seeing who I could meet. As is with every city in the world, I found the local Irish pub called Murphy's. As I was walking in, I noticed streamers everywhere, and that everyone was wearing green hats. Yup, that's right. I strolled into an Irish pub on St. Patties day and didn't even know it. Got to meet a big group of expats who were living here going to school. Ended up partying with them all night on HK Island.

I spent about a week in total in HK. Tried to get a bunch of rest as I was actually fighting off a cold (probably the result of a hard week of partying with Aldy). Now I'm heading off to Indonesia.....have been pretty excited about this country for a while.

Here are some pics that I stole from my new found friend's cameras. Not much, but best I could do. Tried to buy a camera in HK, but the guy tried to screw me at the last minute, so I politely told him to go #### himself.....you're not going to screw over this old weary traveller. In the end however, I am left camera-less, so maybe I did lose in the end.

Bye for now.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.5i8irpz9&x=1&y=-l8boca

Bye Bye Byron (2)

2007-03-17T05:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have finally decided to leave Byron Bay. After a week of continuous rain, I decided that I was all done with tent living. My goal when I got to Auz was to find a cool beach town where I could learn to surf, get lots of beach time, and eventually get my sense of adventure back. After a month and a half of living there, I have finally got the urge to toss the old backpack on the shoulders and get back on the road. I am currently sitting in the airport in Sydney and am waiting for my flight to Hong Kong. As per usual, I have done absolutely no preparation, but I have been told that HK is a pretty cool spot to visit.

I managed to sell my red guitar as well as my tent, both for what I paid for them. I am still however carrying my surfboard and my classical guitar that I bought in Central America (too much sentimental value to let it go). Tis quite the heavy load to be dragging around, but at least I've gotten rid of the camping gear. My plan is to hit Hong Kong for a bit, and then head for Indonesia. I have a couple of buddies from Byron that I am hoping to eventually meet up with in Bali. I am also hoping to get my hands on a new camera, given that the old one has been shit for me.

I have to tell you, I am pretty stoked about getting back on the road again. Looking forward to a good little adventure in Hong Kong. Will try to get lots of pics. I think that I'm really going to miss Byron. Not sure how much I'll miss the giant spiders, the 2m snakes, and the lethal jelly fish (got my first sting last week....only a little one, but it burned like bitch). And I guess that it is safe to tell you now (Mom) that they caught TWO brown snakes in my campground while I was there. Yes, those are the 2nd most venimus snakes in the world (just for reference, the famous black mamba snake from the movie Kill Bill II is supposedly number 9 or 10 on that list). We actually had a good little scare 2 days ago when a dark snake came in to where we were all sitting. Nothing funnier then watching 6 grown 'men' jump up on their seats like little girls.

Anyway, now that I'll be travelling alone again, I promise to get back to keeping the blog more up to date. I'm hoping to stay in Kowloon (?) when I get into HK at a hostel called something new hostel.

Bye for now....I'll be in touch soon!

Aldy's in the Hizzo

2007-03-06T00:36:00.000-05:00

Yup, he did eventually make it. He missed his first flight into Auz, but caught one the next day. To say that we have been partying hard since he got here would be somewhat of an understatement. Especially given that we were politely asked to leave the bar the first night out. I guess that's what a 4:00 afternoon start time will do for you.

Also, I wanted to mention that I have a new girlfriend. Her name is Kate Hudson.....some of you may have heard of her. Aldy and I were sitting in a restaurant the other day and Kate and her friend walked in. As there were no other seats available in the place, the waiter said that they could sit on the couches with us. Kate actually started to walk over towards us, and then at the last minute, they spotted another couch to sit on. I think that she was giving me the eyes though. Definitely the start of a long lasting relationship I feel.

Anyway, here are some pics.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.1y9vndz9&x=1&y=7wo6tl

Byron Bay

2007-02-22T19:35:00.000-05:00

Hey Folks,
Not much to report here, as I guess it has kind of been the same old same old for me these days. It feels kind of nice to say that actually.

My typical day:

Wake up whenever I feel like it.
Usually go for a swim in the pool and grab a quick bite to eat.
Play a good game of beach volleyball.
Find some people and play guitar for a couple of hours.
Head to the beach to hang out for a bit and catch some waves until sunset.
Come back and fire up a good dinner with the boys, and then sit back with a few beers.

Life is tough I tell you.

Also, I have to mentioned that Aldy is coming to visit me in about a week or two, and I'm pretty stoked about it. Always nice to see a friend from home. I think that I am going to take a week off the booze to prepare for his arrival. I will definitely have to introduce him to Goon. Goon is what they call the cheap wine here. 4 litres for 9 bucks. Obviously, it is pretty popular with the backpackers here. It is also convenient in that we can store the goon bag in the bushes downtown and then have it for in between bars.

Anyway, I just found my camera that I thought that I had lost, so I am going to get back onto the pictures. Here are a few random ones that I have taken though.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.2azcoqnx&x=1&y=-cdpk43

New Job

2007-02-13T23:42:00.000-05:00

I successfully applied for my first new job in over 8 years last week. Yes folks, you are now looking at the new Night Shift Shuttle Bus driver for the Arts Factory Hostel. I work the shift from 10:00 at night until 4:00 in the morning, driving people back and forth to town. The greatest part is, is that the ride is only about 300 metres. Pretty hectic I tell you. I also have to mention that I almost failed my drivers test.......the first test in over 10 years (had to do one for that summer that I worked at the library in Saint John.....long story). This whole other side of the road thing was stranger than I thought. It also didn't help that it was a standard and I, ah, don't really drive standards. Definitely made for an interesting drive. The highlight was when I tried to turn into the parking lot and I put the wipers on instead of the blinker. My new boss said that I was lucky they had an automatic bus or I would have been looking for other employment. Great thing is is that it covers my accomodation, and its only once every four nights. Not too shabby I must say so myself. Staying up late and hanging out with drunk people..........I think that I am kind of a natural at it.

The animals in this country are absolutely crazy. You probably aren't even going to believe me but just to give you a couple of examples..........the other night I was walking in the campground and just when I was about to take another step I stopped because I saw something move. When I shined my light down, it turned out that it was the head of a snake. When you here snake, you probably picture the foot long grass snakes that you see back home. Well, not this guy. This was a Python that was over 2 metres long..........2 %#$* metres!!!! A huge fat python crossing the path. It was the biggest snake that I have ever seen in real life, and it was only about 30 feet from my tent. That's what I mean about crazy. AND, I don't even want to get into what the spiders look like here. Go on the internet and look up what a giant wolf spider looks like. My buddy found one in his tent a couple of days ago. For those of you who know, I'm not exactly fond of these little bastards. I guess I'm facing all my fears these days! Ha.

The surfing is coming along, but far from an expert. Greg asked me the other day if I was riding in barrels. Just so you all know, that is still a couple of years away. I have however started riding on green water (that is the part of the wave that hasn't broken yet). Surfing is an amazing rush. You can sit out on the water for a couple of hours and only catch 4 or 5 waves, but those 4 or 5 make it all worth. I guess I wouldn't call sitting out in the ocean in the sun grueling though. Ha.

We head our first rain storm here the other day and it was pretty tough on the campground. Lots of people got flooded out. My shit got pretty wet, but overall, I survived OK. Living in a tent is cool when its nice, but I wouldn't be lasting long if it rained all the time.

Oh, and by the way, I forgot to tell you about the wild turkeys here. They are little bastards. I guess you could call them the racoons of Australia. Ha. One of them bit through my tent the other night and ate some bread that I had in there. Needless to say, me and the turkeys don't get along real well. Lots of people in the campground get a kick out of me chasing these little bastards around. Lets just say that I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving.

I went to a super awesome music festival here the other day called Good Vibrations. Got to see some of the best DJ's in the world and some crazy bands like Rahzel, Jurassic 5 and the Beastie Boys. I was a little disappointed though, because I ended up missing the old Snoop Dogg himself, but I'll guess that will have to be for another time.

Anyway, that's it for now. Have to get going as I have to work tonight.....ha!!! I love it.

I Live in a Tent

2007-02-03T21:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, I have found my little heaven....Byron Bay, Australia baby! Planning on sticking around here for a while. This place is exactly what I was looking for when I use to picture living in Australia when I was younger. Weather is hot, beaches are awesome, town is hopping, and the waves are fabulous. So yes, I now live in a tent......and I'm loving it. Bought myself a nice big air mattress, and have strung up a little clothes line for my surfing gear. It is amazing just how cozy it is! Ha!

Have been staying in the campground attached to a giant hostel called the Arts Factory (www.artsfactory.com.au). This place is like a Club Med for backpackers. Giant pool parties, poi and juggling lessons, full sized movie theatre, volleyball courts, reading rooms, and everything else you could need. The place holds about 300 to 400 people in total. The campground is spectacular as well. It is literally right in the jungle, so the sounds are night are crazy. Really cool vibe here with tons of people who have been living here for a couple of months. Some amazing musicians as well. All day long, all you hear are guitars, bongos, and every other instrument you could imagine. I have been playing about 2 to 3 hours a day lately, and learning lots.

I also have finally bought myself a surfboard!!! Cost me $290 2nd hand. Its a long board (7'6") which is perfect for the waves here. Me and the boys here head out everyday around 5:30 and then surf to sunset. It is pretty spectacular.

I don't have much for pictures right now (have to find a different internet place where I can upload pictures) but will get some up soon. For now, I have some old pics from a little visit to a zoo that I went to in Blue Mountains. There is a hilarious pic of a Kangaroo in there. For some reason, it has just struck me funny and it cracks me up every time I look at it.

Talk to you all soon.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.95t1ruf9&x=1&y=slem6h

Absailing in the Blue Mountains

2007-01-29T21:39:00.000-05:00

Hey Folks, sorry for being so slack on the blog. I've been pretty busy these days.....ha! Just kidding. I have actually managed to make my way up to Byron Bay, which is a real famous surf town on the East coast of Oz (about 12 hours up from Sydney).

The weather here has been fabulous. Pretty much the high 20's everyday, with maybe a couple of bumps up into the 30 range. Can't complain really I guess (sorry, had to rub it in a bit!). After slacking off in Sydney for a week, I hooked up with this really cool brother sister combo from England (Greg and Pia) and started making my way north. Hanging out with them made me miss my sister and bro (hey Greg and Tara!). Made my way to the Blue Mountains, which is this giant mountain/canyon range about 4 or 5 hours north of Sydney. They say that the range is the size of Holland. Pretty cool spot. When we were there, Greg and Pia suckered me into their brother-sister rivalvry and actually talked me into going absailing and canyoning. What is canyoning you ask??? It is when they take you walking through these canyons and through crazy little waterfalls and water holes. Twas pretty cool. I have to say though, that the absailing part may very well be the most frightening thing that I have done to date. Yes, it was scarier than the bungy jump. After doing a few small test runs in the morning, they basically sent us over a 100 foot waterfall and got us to absail down it while water was pounding in our face. Some scary shit I tell you! I have to say that I was truly frightened on that first step off when they get you to sit back in your harness, hanging over this water fall and seeing the canyon floor below you about 100 feet down. It is safe to say that it will be the last time that I ever try that again. I had falling nightmares for 3 days. Ha.

Afterwards we heading through Hunter Valley, which is a big wine region here. You would probably recognize Wyndham Estates wines??? They make one of my favorite reds, Bin 555. Twas a nice area. Too avoid those pricey hostels costs, we would just pull over in a park, wait for it to get dark, and then throw up some tents.

By the way, I would like to wish Mom and Happy Birthday!!!!! She is celebrating the big 43 again. Pretty crazy, considering that her youngest son is almost 30! Ha!

And oh yeah, Dad wanted me to say hi to a certain gal over at the NBAHA. Apparently you are considering a trip through Europe. I know the name of a handsome tour guide that you could bring around. He's pretty cheap too.....just pay for his food and booze. He even comes with his own little tent, 'The Little Tent that Could'. ; )

Also, it is good to here that my bro-in-law Thor is holding up ok after that nasty surgery. That looked like quite the incision. That's crazy that the doctor said that you are the first 36 year old that has ever signed up for a voluntary circumcision.

Anyway, here are some pics from the absailing. Unfotunately I didn't get to bring my camera into the canyons with the waterfalls, but you do get an idea of the height from some of the test runs. Hope that you are all enjoying all that snow.....I will think about you when I'm out surfing this afternoon. Ha. : p

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.2j3bezr9&x=1&y=wu5ua6

Sydney, Australia

2007-01-23T21:39:00.000-05:00

Hey Folks,

Sorry for the lack of posting. As has somehow become my routine, I took it pretty easy when I rolled into Australia. Spent about a week in a hostel room that could possibly be one of the messiest ones that I've stayed in since returning to the 'first world'. Hostel was called Sydney Downtown Backpackers in something Cross. The dorm room had people who basically lived at the hostel for the past 4 months, and the room hadn't actually been cleaned since they moved in. It is amazing how comfortable I am in that environment though. Reminded me of living in residence at school.

Anyway, I did manage to get out and see some sights in Sydney. It is a pretty spectacular city. It also doesn't hurt that it has a couple amazing beaches. Got to hit Bondi beach for a couple of days and also managed to make it to Manley beach, which I think had an even cooler vibe to it. Both of them are huge beaches that get absolutely jammed on the weekends. The weather here in Oz has been amazing since I got here. Have had a couple of days in the low 30's, but generally, it has been in the high 20's with a nice little breeze. Water is a little colder than I expected, but I guess it is good for cooling off.

The animals here in Oz are crazy. Everything here is just so extreme. I got used to camping in NZ where there is absolutely nothing there to harm you. Here, it is a whole different story. As most of you know, I am not a real big fan of spiders. Thankfully I haven't had any traumatic experiences yet, but I have been hearing tons of horrific stories. There are also tons of lizards and snakes here, that you just kind of find in random places. On my 2nd night here, I decided to take a walk through the botanical gardens here and to go check out downtown. My little peaceful walk quickly became pretty eventful when I kept seeing these birds swooping down across the path in front of me. After hearing some strange noises, I finally realized that those little flocks of birds were actually hoards of giant bats that were scattered everywhere. The little walk then turned into me ducking and dodging my way through the trees trying to make it out of the park. Turned out to be an eventful outing. I went back the next day and got pics of the bats sleeping in the trees.

Anyway, I have since been camping up the coast and the 'Little Tent That Could' has been holding up quite nicely. It looks good in there with all those 'dome' tents.

I'll be sure to try to keep things up to date better. Here are some pics from Sydney.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.5y5q7eo5&x=1&y=-dfr2o5

Australia

2007-01-10T18:26:00.000-05:00

That's right baby. I have finally landed in Australia. Have been waiting a long time to get to this country. Today looks like it is pretty decent outside, so will probably head to Bondi Beach to take in the....ah....scenery.

Well after recovering from the shock of how expensive it is here in NZ, I must say that the scenery is pretty damn spectacular. It is amazing how diverse the scenery is considering how small these islands are. Giant snow capped mountains, amazing rivers, turquoise lakes, massive fiords, and awesome sunsets. Pretty impressive spot. If you're looking to take a nice vacation, I highly recommend dropping by this country. Super easy to travel as well. It seems that the best way to travel it is to either rent a campervan and tour the camp sites, or you can just rent a car pretty cheaply.

I have managed to do a spectacular job of seeing this country quite cheaply. Have managed to talk my way into rides everywhere which is cool. The best part though, is that when I haven't been camping, I've been meeting locals and staying with them. It is amazing how friendly the people are here.....kind of reminds me of the east coast back home. Also helps me learn tons about the culture here.

Mom, you will be happy to know that I met a family from Vancouver and they were nice enough to take me under their wing for a few days. They were travelling in a big ass campervan around NZ with their friends from Auckland. They made room for me and even fed me properly for a few days. Ha. I also got to meet up with an old friend from TD, Lynda. Her and Matt were nice enough to put me up for a few days, lend me their guide book, drive me to the airport, and feed me like a king. I would exactly say that I have been roughing it. Ha. I even got to do a family bike ride.

My little tent has been holding up quite well. Actually survived a couple of rainfalls which isn't too shabby for a $30 tent. I am now calling it 'The Little Tent That Could'. Its still a little bit of a bitch to set up though, given that it only has tie ropes instead of those fancy little clips that those 'dome' tents have.

I still am having to adjust to the whole 'other side of the road' thing here. It is kind of funny, because since they drive on the left side, then people actually tend to pass that way on busy sidewalks too. I keep having these ackward moments of bumping into people because I always kind head to the right when in doubt.

I got to check out the Glaciers here which were pretty damn cool. Have never actually seen one before, despite being from Canada. Check the pics.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.b2yoh9ud&x=1&y=-5roej7

Queenstown, NZ

2007-01-08T17:27:00.000-05:00

Queenstown is pretty much the hub for activities on the south island. It is a real touristy town with a kind of ski village vibe (it actually has a gondola that takes you up the mountain). Great restaurants and bars, stellar scenery, and access to pretty much any extreme sport you can think of. Unfortunately it is pretty pricey, so I had to limit myself to just the bungy jump.

One really cool thing that this city has is called the Luge. You can take the gondola up to the top of the hill and then jump on these little carts and ride down a concrete track. It was hilarious. Kind of like go karts except without the engines. These things could cruise too. Despite several warnings from the staff at the top of the hill, our nice little ride quickly turned into full contact caos. You can check the pics as one of the guys got dumped off and ended up losing a little skin off his elbow....and hand....and hip.

Criket
I also got to watch my first ever Criket match. I know, sounds pretty boring, but you know me, I love my sports. I went to watch a day match between NZ and Sri Lanka. A day match takes about 8 hours, but a test match (where they are wearing all white uniforms) is the long one that takes 5 days. Criket is played in a circular field and the batters are aloud to hit the ball in any direction. You get 4 points for hitting it to the fence, 6 points for hitting it over, and otherwise, just one point for each base the batters get to. The great part is, is that the batter doesn't have to run if he thinks that he may be thrown out, so he can stay up there for a while. Only thing is, is that a team is limited in how many pitches it gets (day match is 6 pitches per over, 50 overs per team). I'm surprised at how into I got. NZ actually ended up winning the game on the last ball of the game.

On some other exciting news......I left a banana in my day pack and it rotted. Motivated me to spend and afternoon and do some 'housecleaning' in my packs. Twas pretty ugly in there. Apparently when spilt in your pack, those little chewable Vitamin C tablets can dissolve quite nicely even without water. Hard to believe that I have been living out of this bag for almost 8 months now. I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but I don't even bother rotating my 6 shirts anymore......I'll just wear the same one for 5 consecutive days. Getting time for some new socks though. I can no longer remove my shoes in enclosed spaces, or breathing becomes an issue.

I was chatting with some people the other day and they determined that I was suffering from travellers fatigue. Ha!!! I thought that you guys would like that one. Its actually pretty tough conjuring up that adventure feel day after day. I guess it IS possible afterall that too much wip cream can eventually spoil your strawberry shortcake. Did that make sense? Maybe that was just a little side note.

I think I'm hungry.

Anyway, here are some pics. Given that my new found technology worked so well with the bungy jump, I put on a video of the luge. Didn't require any tape this time, but it did make for some difficult handling once the speed started to pick up. Enjoy.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.9oa9kg8t&x=1&y=-56frmr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxF2mxUDmeM

Bungy Jump

2007-01-05T16:15:00.000-05:00

Mom and Dad, I figured that you may be interested in what I spent some of the Christmas money that you sent me on (Ha!!). Well, I decided to start the New Years off in style this year. On New Year's day I woke up early and went and did my first bungy jump. Ha!!! It was the Nevis jump. At approx. 450 feet, it is the highest jump in New Zealand and the 3rd highest in the world. As most of you know, I'm not that fond of heights, so I kind of kept my plans quiet because I wasn't sure that I was going to pull it off.

The Nevis jump is the one where a gondola takes you out to a pod that is suspended over a river in a giant valley. Both the gondola and the pod have see through floors, so its fair to say that you are rather petrified well before you get anywhere near jumping. I was in the middle of the pack (the jump according to weight, heaviest first). When they call out your name, you then have to go sit in the chair next to the open edge where you jump from. After they get your feet strapped up, they then waddle you over and out on to the 1 foot by 1 foot ledge that you have to jump off of. It could possibly be one of the scariest things I've ever done (its awesome watching people's faces when they are strapped up in the chair knowing that they are the next to go).

Anyway, the greatest part about it all, is I talked the guy into letting me tape my camera to my hand. I video taped the whole thing. Ha!!!! Be sure to check the first link first though, so you can see the pictures of how it all works. The second link is the video.

WARNING: This video may contain abusive language (sorry Mom). I promised myself that I wasn't going to swear on this video, but when you watch it, I think that you'll understand why. Hope it works! Ha.

Happy New Year folks.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.66re4eil&x=1&y=-m5k31a

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_LDtlL7X58

Happy New Year!!!

2007-01-01T02:25:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year folks. Here's to wishing a happy and healthy one for 2007.

I decided to head back to Queenstown where all the action is. Stayed at the Bungi Backpackers again for a couple of days, but they were full for New Year's eve (apparently, some people are actually prepared and they book ahead for that night), so I ended up pitching my tent in the Rugby field in town. It turned out to be great though, as there ended up being over 100 tents down there. Got to watch some fire works down at the harbour front which was cool, and then headed to a bar with a bunch of friends from the hostel. Also got to meet up again with my German buddy who was my partner in the fishing massacre at the Bay of Islands.

We ate chicken burgers this time instead.

Anyway, here are some pics from Christmas in Dunedin, and some from New Year's in Queenstown.

As I said, hope you all have a happy and healthy New Years.

Ryan

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.aor80qrx&x=1&y=vw7zy2

PS - Oh yeah, after being on the road for 7 months now, I finally bumped into somebody I know when I was here in Queenstown. Jordan Walsh. Went to school with him at Dal. Weren't real close, but he'll due. I was getting depressed about not having a 'bumping into an old friend' story (recall, in the first week in Costa Rica, I bumped into the guy who knew Simom and Heidi, and the girl who knew uncle Bob, but nothing since then). Anyway, he's gone now, so back to flying solo. Ha!

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hey Folks,

Just wanted to drop a quick note to wish everyone a happy holidays. Hope that you all had a good Christmas. I had a fabulous one here in New Zealand. One of my friends Nina that I have been staying with invited me to her parents house for Christmas dinner which was cool. It turned out to be Nina, her sister Rosy, Garith, Jon, her folks, and myself. We had a big proper dinner, and they even had little gifts for us. I actually made some eggnog and brought it over to their place. Most people here have never even heard of it. The eggnog didn't really turn out that great, but everybody gave it a try.

New Zealand is kind of funny in that it doesn't really celebrate xmas as much as we do in Canada. I think that maybe because it is the begginning of their summer (summer break for all the schools just started a couple of weeks ago). You rarely see any Christmas lights here.

Anyway, hope that all is well. I will be getting back on the road shortly, and will hopefully be taking in some more NZ scenery. Talk to you all soon!

Ryan

PS - The Yahoo server has gone to shit, so I'm having trouble accepting/sending emails right now.

Milford Sound, NZ

2006-12-20T18:03:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, the land where they have more sheep than people. Yes, its true. Everywhere you look on the countryside here is rammed with sheep. Unfortunately, pretty much all of them get exported, so I don't really have any grand stories of all you can eat lambchops for $4.99.

I have now been in NZ for a couple of weeks. Finally starting to adjust to the new price range. I have pretty much avoiding taking any pricey tours, and instead of taking buses, I've managed get rides with other travellers.

I started off in Auckland where I was hanging out with my German buddy Daniel, who I met on the plane coming over from Chile. We headed up to Bay of Islands to check out some scenery. Weather here is pretty nice during the day, and then pretty chilly at night. New Zealand consists of 2 seperate islands, just to the south east of Australia. Obviously, the northern part is warmer than the southern part.

Hostels are expensive at $20 to $25 NZ dollars per night (NZ$ is about 80 cents of our dollar). We had been living pretty cheap though (peanut butter and banana sandwiches) and so we decided to 'catch' dinner the first night. We took the 2 free fishing rods at the hostel and headed for the ocean. We got some local bouncers at a bar by the beach to fill us in on details so as where to buy bait, what 'bait' actually consisted of, and where we could catch fish. After 15 minutes of laughing and making fun of us, the locals hooked us up with some bait, fixed up our apparently shitty rods (mine was a half rod with only about 8 feet of line, for which I'm told isn't very much), and then sent us on our way. Within 20 minutes of hitting the dock, I was hauling out a 14 inch sea trout with my piece of shit half rod. Took a bit of struggling to get him in......well, not really, but I figured I had to say that. Anyway, we quickly realized that catching the fish was the easy part......killing the little bastard was the hard part (sorry to all you animal lovers out there). I guess that the two of us didn't have the heart to do it properly. Lets just say that it wasn't a quick and easy process. The dock somewhat resembled a crime scene by the end of it. I'm sure that the local onlooking fisherman got quick the kick out of us. Anyway, it turned out to be the only fish that we caught. We cooked it up on the BBQ and had quite the meal I must say so myself. Haven't fished since though.

Got back to Auckland after that, and stayed with my friends that I used to work with at TD, Linda and Matt. They also hooked me up with a proper guide book for NZ, so that I could actually find my way around here. After picking up some 2nd hand camping gear at a local shop, I grabbed a quick flight down to Christchurch, on the south island. Met a dude on the plane, who invited me over to his aunt and uncle's for a nice homecooked meal. After a few days, I caught a bus down through Wanaka and on to Queensland.

I eventually caught a ride to Milford Sound where all the giant mountains fall directly into the ocean. It is a pretty cool sight to see. It is a little rainy down in these parts, but it made for some spectacular water falls.

I have met tons of local New Zealanders which is nice.......I guess that it helps to be able to speak the local language. Most of them love Canada too, and have been there. The one thing that they all talk about that Canada has that New Zealand doesn't is Central Heating. Its pretty funny how often I hear about it.

Oh yeah, the show 'Trailer Park Boys" is real big over here. They all love it. They got quite the kick out of it when I told them that it is shot just outside of where I went to University. Pat, I told them about the guy you know who did the stunts for the movie. Ha.

Anyway, I'm currently staying at a student house in Dunedin, on the east coast of the south island. I met them through the dudes that I got a ride with to Milford Sound. They ended up leaving for Australia, but I ended up staying at the place. Feels kind of strange being in a student house again.........really reminds me of Halifax. I love that sticky noise my shoes makes when I cross the kitchen floor.

Anyway, here are the pics that I have of NZ so far. Hope that you all are having a fabulous Christmas holidays. Take it easy on those Rum and Eggnogs.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.89adtojx&x=1&y=uj5zxo

Bolivian Salt Flats and Lagunas

2006-12-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

Did a 3 day tour into Bolivia that started off in the Salt Flats in Uyuni. These are supposed to be one of the wonders of the world. It is basically a sea of salt....12000 square kilometres, and up to 6 meters deep.

We took a 4 x 4 Toyota Land Cruiser in. I unfortunately got stuck with 5 German girls on some kind of school trip. I know, doesn't sound like the end of the world, except for the fact that they would rather talk to a wall then actually include me in a conversation. I've never seen 5 individuals so frightened of another human being.....and trust me, I have definitely frightened off a few females in my time.

The scenery was spectacular. The first day we spent in the famous Salt Flats. Stopped for lunch on the island, which is exactly that....an island in the middle of a sea of salt. Its pretty cool....check the pics. We camped in these little stone lodges that were along the way, in the middle of nowhere. On Day 2, we got to stop in at a couple of Lagunas, including Laguna Colorado (altitude of 4300m). There were tons of wild astriches, and the scenery was something that I have never seen down here in S. America.

At night time, it got damn cold (minus -5), and the beds were real uncomfortable at our camp. When our guide came in to wake us up at 4:00am, its safe to say that I wasn't going on much sleep. Day 3 was actually the best though. We got to see all the steam holes from the undergroud lava, then we got to see Laguana Verde, which was my favorite one. It was amazing how tranquil it was in there. The lagoon was a bright green, and since it is poisonous, there were no wildlife around. Just silent air, with a giant red mountain in the background. We capped the morning off by hitting the natural hotsprings and then having breakfast. The tour ended up in Chile, in a little town called San Pedro de Atacama.

I bought myself a Manu Chao cassette, so that we wouldn't have to listen to that horid Bolivian music the whole time. The chicas did eventually end up speaking to me also...."Can you take a picture of us", "Can you open this for me", "Do you have batteries". Some exciting individuals they were.

Bolivia had some amazing scenery, and it is also one of the cheapest countries in S. America. Wish that I could have spent more time there. Did I mention how much I miss Central and South America already????? Time for a new adventure I guess. It is going to have to be quite the adjustment to get used to being back in the first world. The ridiculous hostel rules accompanied by ridiculous price tags! Ha. I just went out and bought myself some 2nd hand camping gear though, so should be heading for the hills soon. Heard its cold up there!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.9sb5gmut&x=1&y=6lbw7h

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.bpbj60ad&x=1&y=-obck9o

New Zealand Baby!

2006-12-08T00:23:00.000-05:00

That's right. I have made it to the new frontier. A 13 hour flight back across the Pacific, and I am now 17 or 18 hours in the future. Its not as bright as my high school guidance councillor had promised, but I like the beaches.

Really going to miss Latin America.......especially the prices. Has been quite the adjustment so far. When we were told the cab ride into town from the airport was 60 bucks, we all nearly shit. It is actually quite eerie how much NZ looks like Canada to tell you the truth. Landing here in Auckland has actually made me a little homesick. I have to say that the cleanliness and conviences feel pretty nice. The fresh-out-of-high-school travellers and the hostels with all the ridiculous rules are getting on my nerves already though.....I feel like I'm on a school trip. I guess that I have to adjust back to western world living. Feels nice to be speaking English again. The whole other side of the road driving though makes for some sketchy road crosses.

Anyway, I'll try to finish off the rest of the Bolivia pics soon.....they are some of my favorite. Hope that you are all enjoying Christmas shopping season.

Talk to you soon.

Rumble in the Jungle

2006-12-03T14:15:00.000-05:00

Hey all.

Little late in getting things uploaded. Have been out of civilization for the past little while. I did indeed head into the jungle in Bolivia last week though. Did a 3 day tour in the Pampas, starting off in Rurenabaque, just north of La Paz. Our boat consisted of myself, Abi, Tahnee, Bonnie, Cor and Petra, and then a German couple.

Was everything that I was hoping for. At first, I was kind of thinking that it would be a bit like Survivor. You know how they show all the people setting up camp, and then to make it look dangerous they quickly insert an image of an alligator, even though the alligator is actually on the other side of the island....3000kms away. That is what I was expecting.

That was proven wrong quite quickly. There actually was a gator that had to move out of the way when we were pulling into one of the camps. It was hilarious. There were tons of them. We also had a big group of crazy little monkeys jump onto our boat and try to steal all of our bananas (yes, they did indeed kind of look like Ross' monkey from Friends). The amount of wildlife that we got to see was awesome. On the way in, we had a big group of pink dolphins come and hang out by the boat for a while (they are actually grey, with a little tinge of pink). We spent a couple of trips playing with the dolphins. We also got to see an animal that looked like a giant Guinea pig. Tons of huge birds....lots of wild Turkeys, some crazy astrich looking things, and some other huge ass white ones. We did tons of gator hunting boat rides, including one in the evening. At night, the way we could find them was by shining our lights into the swampy part, and then you could see these sets of red eyes glowing. It was kind of creepy. Not to worry though, as it was perfectly safe. The gators are actually scared shitless of us. As soon as they realize that they have been spotted, they usually try to take off. Most of them were pretty small (maybe 5 to 6 feet), but of few of them were real big bastards. One of them we pulled into the brush with our boat, and he was literally 5 feet in front of us. Wasn't the most comfortable feeling.

On day two, we did a 4 hour walking tour into the swamps to look for anacondas and cobras. Yeah, it didn't seem to make much sense to us either when he told us. The swamps kind of stink. I would say that they smell like shit, but it would actually be more like shit in a frying pan with some olive oil. That was what the general consensus was in our boat anyway. During the tour, the water was generally just under waist high, but there were times when it was up to my armpits (and therefore over the heads of some of our female participants). We did end up finding a couple anacondas, but they were only small (maybe 2 feet). Apparently another boat had found a couple of real big ones.

The camps that we stayed in were really nice. The food was really great once we got in there, but our first meal on the way in was a little disgusting. We found some little wormy maggot looking things in our soup, etc. And yes, I was so hungry that I did indeed eat around them. The biggest issue was the bugs......there were tons of mosquitoes the whole time. Some of the girls got bitten pretty badly.

Anyway, twas a pretty unique experience. Maybe one of those first AND last experience thingys. I've attached the jungle pics below, although I'm not sure if it is officially considered the jungle. I've also attached a few other pics from Chile and Bolivia that I wanted to get uploaded.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.bkubvywl&x=1&y=203aga

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.3n0k6zlh&x=1&y=9ni8xz

Death Road

2006-11-27T16:19:00.000-05:00

Should I put some exclaimation marks after that title????

Bolivia lays claim to hosting ´The Most Dangerous Road in the World´. With a tag line as dramatic as this (probably the most dramatic since I stood on the ´Middle of the World´in Ecuador), I therefore had to rent a bicycle and put it to the test. Given that I am here today writing this entry, I would have to say that I don´t know if it is THE most dangerous, but I definitely wouldn´t accuse it of being safe. It is basically a narrow, bumpy dirt road that runs down the side of a mountain. The danger part is the lack of guard rails protecting you from the 600m cliffs that await clumsy cyclists and drowsy truck drivers. Actually, lack of guard rails is somewhat of an understatement.......there is basically just nothing. The scenery is spectacular, but when you´re cruising down the side of this mountain, the dirt path in front of you seems to hold more appeal.

It rained on us in the morning, so we got off to a cold start. The fog unfortunately covered most of the scenery in the morning, but it also provided just a white background next to the path, as opposed the the giant cliffs that were only a few feet away. Definitely helped with the butterflies. The fog eventually burned off, and we got some awesome views. Along the path, you could stop to check out grave stones for people who hadn´t managed to negotiate the 90 degree angle turns. Word from the guide was that the worst accident was five years ago when a bus went over.

Afterwards, we hit a little village for a cervasa, and then they took us to a resort in the mountains for showers and a nice buffet. All in all, twas a cool day.

I got to hook back up with Abi here in Bolivia......she is the little dark haired English vixen that I met while sandboarding in Peru. She seems to be able to handle my bad habits of being late for everything, and preparing for nothing. I´m getting ready to head back to Chile, as I will be leaving for NZ soon. My stomach has recently been somewhat of a disaster over the past 2 or 3.......ah, months. My roll of toilet paper now sits next to my passport in the ´important items´ pocket of my pack. I guess its par for the course down here in Bolivia ville. Thankfully the throwing up part isn´t accompanied with nausia, as I turn in to the biggest baby when it comes to nausia. This instead is just a stomach pain, that is followed by a good heathly power puking session. Mmmmm. Definitely shedding off all those unwanted pounds.

Oh yeah, I also went to Bolivia´s local version of the WWE wrestling. Could be one of the strangest things that I´ve seen in the past while. We got to eat popcorn and throw rotten mangos at midgets and Inca women who were trying to pull of body slams and suplexes. At one point, some of the locals actually started throwing food at us......the Gringos sitting in the VIP section.

Strange.

I did indeed go to the Amazon basin a few days ago, but still working on uploading all the pics of gators. Yeah baby!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.5167qqd1&x=1&y=-86dxvr

Argentina

2006-11-20T12:35:00.000-05:00

I can´t remember what they refer to as ´The City That Never Sleeps´, but it should be Buenos Aires. This place can make even the most eager of beavers feel slack (imagine what it does to ME). It is an awesome city. But as I look back through my pictures, I don´t think that I´ve actually done much over the past couple of weeks. Spent a couple of nights at the famous hostel called the Milhouse. It is a cool spot, but way too many rules for this weary traveller. After they woke me up at 11:00 in the morning to ´let me know´ that I had to get out and that there were not beds left, I politely swore off Milhouse for good. Instead, I have been staying in another hostel Casa Zoola, which has awesome cool people running it, and it doesn´t come with any of the red tape (Milhouse actually had a thumb scanner for identifying guests. You know a hostel is making too much money when.....). I know that 11:00 in the morning doesn´t exactly sound early to you gamefully employed types, but you have to realize that we don´t even head out until 3:00am here. Pretty strange, but it´s amazing how easily I adjusted. I´ve definitely never been accused of being a morning person. In fact, mornings actually make me miserable. There, I said it.

The greatest highlight of BA has been hooking up with my awesome friend Monique that I met in Colombia. Always great to see somebody you know. We´ve been heading out hitting a couple of bars, eating some cheap steaks, and enjoying some fine Argentinian wines. Sounds rough eh. This city has a little bit of everything. Very European feeling.......you would never know that you are in Latin America. I also went and checked out a town called Rosario (have been hanging out with the English contingent.....Emma, Zoe, Laura and Harriot). This little city (1M people) definitely confirms that Argentina does indeed have some of the best looking women in the world. And they all have an affinity for wearing tight pants.....which I hope catches on in N. America soon. Was also a pretty fun town. Hit a bar called New Mystic, and then another giant club called Madame.

I tried to find some kind of monument for the Pan am games, but there were none to be found. As most of you know, Argentina was home to the 1995 Pan Am games where a certain sister of mine won a Bronze medal!!! Yeah baby.

One adjustment that had to be made for Argentina was this whole kissing on the cheek thing....and no Colin, I'm not talking about the fine local women. It is actually customary for the men to kiss here. It definitely took some getting used to. Thankfully Monique would give me the heads up on who the locals were and who weren't.....to avoid any unneccesary smooching.

The one really cool thing that I DID do that was picture worthy in BA, was go wakeboarding (like water skiing, except with a snowboard looking thingy). Yeah baby!!! Monique has a local friend here named Mariano who has his own boat. It was amazing, and absolutely beautiful. Monique, Laura, Mariano and I, armed with some food, a volleyball, some cards, and lots of ambition, cruised around through the canals and river systems here in Argentina. We docked the boat for a while and had a picnic, and then it was time to hit the water. I was first off. To my own surprise, I actually got up on only the 3rd try (we´re talking about wakeboarding here). Had a wipeout the first time the rope went slack....but after that I was off to the races. We took a rest for a while, hit the beach, played some v-ball, some beers, then got back in the water. I actually managed to land my first jump. It was about six feet in the air.........or apparently from the angle of the people on the boat, it looked just under a foot. Regardless, it still drew a large roar from the women in the crowd........all both of them.

To say that I was sore the next day would be somewhat of an understatement. Every once in a while, I get this less the subtle reminder that I'm not 20 anymore. Had an amazing day. The videos didn´t turn out, but got some aweseme pics. Even threw in a little air guitar for all you air guitar enthusiasts out there. Enjoy.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.acu054il&x=1&y=h9baak

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.87ma8u3h&x=1&y=27jz9w

Random Pics

2006-11-16T17:01:00.000-05:00

Just some random pics that I´ve gotten from other people that I´ve travelled with. A couple of them were some classic ones of us jumping off a warf in Nicaragua.

I´m currenlty in Iquique, Chile right now, and heading for Bolivia. Just got done spending the day on the beach and playing football (real football, not this soccer shit). Chile is too damn expensive though. Should be in La Paz by tomorrow.

Cheers!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.8iw4316d&x=1&y=3czcfk

Cuzco

2006-11-09T11:57:00.000-05:00

Cuzco is the party town that is a necessary stopover on the way to Machu Picchu. I stayed in a hostel called Loki, which turned out to be a pretty cool spot. The first few days there, I had to get lots of rest as the altitude is a real bitch down here. The first few nights were pretty miserable as I kept jumping up in bed with that suffocating feeling, holding my throat and trying to grasp for breath. When that is happening every 15 to 20 minutes, it is difficult to get a decent night´s sleep. The only real cure for altitude issues, is to drink lots of water, get lots of rest, and wait until your body adjusts.

After I did Machu Picchu, and returned here to meet up with Abi, Tahnee and Sean from Peru. They got a good laugh at how rough I looked when I first saw them, but thankfully I was on the upswing by then. Cuzco is a cool little town with lots of nice restaurants (namely the restaurant named after dogs.....which I´m not sure if that meant anything), and some pretty cool bars. We went out and partied at a cool spot called Mama Africas.

The highlight of Cuzco was definitely the Halloween party. People in Latin America absolutely LOVE halloween. Our hostel threw a huge party where pretty much everyone in the hostel got dressed up for. Given that there are about 70 some odd beds in the hostel, it made for a good night. I went as grease lightning. Apparently I wasn´t handsome enough to go as Travolta himself, so I ended up being his buddy, Kanicki???? I think anyway. Most people didn´t have a clue who I was (Top Gun, James Dean, some guy just wearing a tight shirt).

Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.3xmsv1zh&x=1&y=-pv9ger

Machu Picchu

2006-11-09T11:34:00.000-05:00

An overpriced train ride, a Niagra Falls-like touristy town (Agnes Calientes), a steep price tag at the gate, and hoards of fat American tourists. Needless to say, I showed up at Machu Picchu in a relatively bad mood. Maybe it was deservidly so, given that I copped out on the 4 day Inca trail hike that is supposed to be standard procedure for the Machu Picchu experience. I did indeed feel guitly for not doing the hike, but as I told people here in Cusco.......if I had to do 4 straight days of hiking, I would most likely be writing my own eulogy right now as opposed to just another blog entry.

I have to say though, despite all that, I can´t imagine many other things in this world that are as amazing as Machu Picchu. It is actually even more spectacular than what you think it is. You really have to see how crazy all the cliffs are that surround it, to really appreciate what these people pulled off. And, it is absolutely huge, with unbelievable stone work. I thankfully was smart enough to show up nice and early (just before 6) so it wasn´t all that crowded for the first couple of hours. I spent a few hours up on the hill, overlooking the site, and listening to some tunes. Later in the day I went down with the rest of the tourists and trekked through the actual ruins. It is an amazing spot. I just couldn´t get over all the crazy giant mountains and the steep cliffs. Some of the trails were a little nerve wracking, given that a little slip would result in a pretty good ancient Inca fall off the side of the mountain. Historians say that the place was used for religious purposes and for ceromonies involving the King. Truthfully, I didn´t do a lot of research, and I didn´t use the tour guide, so your best bet to find out more would be to jump on the net.

Overall, I had an absolutely amazing day at Machu Picchu, I would highly recommend it to anyone. Although it is quite touristy, they have still managed to preserve its mystique. I have to apologize in advance because I got a little trigger happy with the camera when I was there, but I just want to make sure that I have somewhere to keep copies of all the pics I took.

Salud!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.76lvss7h&x=1&y=f5u6x9

Some more Pics from Peru

2006-11-09T11:22:00.000-05:00

Running a little behind in keeping the pics up to date. I´m currently in Buenos Aires right now. Here for a few more days, then heading to Chile. This city makes it difficult to get anything done. These are some pics that I took at a wine tour in Ica, and from the Nasca Lines.

The wine tour turned out more to be a ´Pisco´ tour. Pisco is the local hard liquor that everybody loves down here in Peru. It´s kind of like the Italian Grappa, but not quite as harsh. The most popular drink that it is served as is the infamous Pisco Sour (well, infamous down here anyway). It´s served with egg whites. We went on the tour with a giant group of older tourists from Canada and U.S. I was chatting them up the whole time and my friends got a kick out of how much the whole group loved me. Most of the backpackers that I meet are pretty in shock when they find out that I´m and ex-banker and the son of a cabinet minister....ha!

The Nasca Lines are some ancient carvings that were done in the deserts of Peru. There is lots of speculation on what the purpose of the carvings was, but nonetheless, that have remained pretty much intact. The best way to see them was by plane, so for 50 bucks a head, me, Abi, Tahnee and Sean rented a Cesna. To tell you the truth, the lines were pretty anticlimatic however, the plane was pretty damn cool. I got a little bit of motion sickness, but not quite as bad as poor little Tahnee. The pics are rather boring, but hey, what can you do.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.c7btgb9p&x=1&y=-vezoo8

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.aurwctcd&x=1&y=-6r45vk

Pics from Bogota

2006-10-27T00:49:00.000-04:00

Here are the rest of the pics from Bogota. Trying to get my buddy to send some from the giant concert that we went to as well.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.8yoe9swl&x=1&y=hfejou

Sandboarding in Peru

2006-10-27T00:09:00.000-04:00

Landed in Lima for a few days. Found a nice little hostel that had nice big cozy couches, and an awesome DVD collection. Spent the whole time watching movies and resting. Actually went a bought Kraft Dinner and hot dogs one day. The people who lived in the hostel referred to me as the couch potato. It was awesome.

After bordem set in, I headed for Huacachina to do some sandboarding. I can't believe that more people didn't tell me how amazing this place is. It is literally an oasis in the middle of the desert. Real hot at day.....real cold at night. The hostel had an awesome pool, so it kind of had that Mexico resort feel.......except with bunk beds......and roaches. The sand dunes were absolutely massive. I couldn't get over it. Because I got there at night I couldn't see them, but when I woke up in the morning, they were literally towering over the hostel. We found a cool little restaurant there they we made part of our nightly ritual. Great food.....and free cards.

As for the sandboarding.....it could possibly be the most fun that I have had in months. I went with a couple of hot English chicas named Abi and Tahnee, and an Englishman named Sean. The boarding wasn't even the best part......it was the dune buggies! These machines, with crazy huge engines and psycho drivers, rip you through the town and into the dessert at full throttle. It was hilarious. The first thing he does is take us over a couple of jumps, and then he tears up the side of a giant sand dune, and back down again. Some of the dunes were so huge, that you felt like you were on a roller coaster........except with no tracks. You would get the same nervous feeling when you would get to the crest of a dune, and then when you'd fly down the other side, you would actually experience that centripical force feeling at the bottom! It was absolutely awesome. The actual boarding was just the cherry on top. The wipeouts were awesome......sand everywhere (check the pics). Got some cool videos too. For all you snowboarders out there......it isn't quite the same. You don't get to ride edges. More like riding flat the whole time, and trying to turn. Makes you feel pretty vulnerable. Awesome fun though. There were only 3 of us who had actually snowboarded before, so most people didn't stand a chance. I did a few runs just laying on my stomach, which actually gave you way more speed. A guy in our group did one of those face plants that seem to last an eternity......you know, the ones where you're not actually sure if they are going to flip ass over tea kettle, or if they're going to flop back down in the same direction. This guy completed the flip (after eating some sand of course). I laughed for 20 minutes. A rare sight indeed....you'd only see maybe 2 or 3 of those in a whole season of snowboarding. This guy pulled it off on his first run.

The people I'm travelling with continue to get a kick out of how I have managed to communicate in Spanish with such a limited vocabulary. Es possible, Es Necessito, No Problemo, Seniorita, Es muey carro. Ha! I love it. My taxi driver today actually asked me (in Spanish) where I learned to speak Spanish. How's THAT for a compliment. I said it was 'No problemo'.

Anyway, I´m now in Cuzco, staying at an awesome hostel called Loki. Here are the pics from the sandboarding. I wish I could have got some of the wipeouts, because they were absolutely hilarious. Hopefully you will be able to see just how much sand we had thrown into our faces.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.a2xuplo5&x=1&y=7mrb7x

Oh Yeah....

2006-10-26T23:54:00.000-04:00

I got a lip ring. Ha!!

Still a little swollen, but coming around. Mom, the good news is, is that the guy told me that I wasn't allowed to kiss any girls for two weeks.

Ah, the bad news is, I'm not all that great at following advice.

My First Earthquake

2006-10-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

I guess its something new to check off on the list, although it wasn´t part of my plans.

I woke up the other morning to my couch shaking. The funniest thing was, was that although I´ve never experienced an earthquake before......I knew exactly what it was. Weird, eh? It measured in at 6.4 on the scale, and apparently was the biggest tremor that Peru has had in 5 years (this is what the word is on the traveller´s beat anyway). Apparently it lasted about 30 seconds, but I only got to experience half of it (deep sleeper). None of the locals seemed all that concerned though. Well actually, nobody in the hostel seems to give a shit. Most people either slept through it, or immediately went back to sleep. I on the other hand, actually launched myself to my feet and then ran under the door frame. Its amazing how things that you learned in grade 3 come back to you so quickly in times of crisis.......or should I say, apparent times of crisis.

It was actually quite eerie to experience. The reason why at first I knew it wasn´t just strong wind blowing, was because of the loud creaking noise that the building was making. The shaking was actually pretty crazy and kind of scary. Apparently the only ones concerned though, were myself, and the 10 or 15 local neighborhood dogs. Oh well....its good to know that nobody was harmed, and that due to the lack of presence of other travellers in my room, my pride has also managed to remain intact.

Heading to Huacachina

2006-10-21T13:48:00.000-04:00

Huacachina is a little town south of Lima, close to Ica. This is where I will hopefully be able to do some sandboarding. Will probably stay there for the rest of the weekend, and then start heading for Cuzco, which is close to Manchu Pichu.

Cheers!

Pics from Taganga

2006-10-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

I´m sad to say that I have now left Colombia. What an awesome country. Had an amazing time there, due largely to the people that I was hanging out with. We were pretty sad to leave our whole big group.

I am now in Lima, Peru with Meital and Arad, staying at the Backpackers Hostel. Going to be heading towards Ica soon though, as I have been wanting to tryout some sandboarding (starting to miss snowboarding already, so I figured I´d try to get my fix). Little chillier here, but not much different than Bogata.

Had an awesome time in Bogata over the past few days. Almost the whole crew managed to make it there, and I also got to hang out with Adriana, who lives there. Managed to go to the big outdoor rock festival as well. actually got to watch Manu Chao. It was spectacular........140,000 people!! Not too shabby. Was an awesome night. Managed to get close to the front for a while, but it got a little hectic once Manu Chao hit the stage, so we moved back a bit. Was a pretty amazing site to see. The people of Bogata have some serious style too.....we were all pretty impressed. It rained quite a bit when we were there, but it actually kind of added to the atmosphere of the concert.

We ended up staying in an Israeli hostel called Centro Plaza Hostel. It was cool because there were six of us there, and we ended up getting our own dorm. The Jewish owners were busy doing early morning celebrations for their holidays, and we were busy doing our late night dorm room parties. Overall, there wasn´t a lot of sleep to be had at the hostel. My little iPod speakers have really come in handy. I also had trouble finding decent food, so I spent most of the time starving (although, the soup at the store next door was pretty damn good). First thing I did in Lima, was head out for a big meal, and then picked up some pizza on the way back to the hostel.

As always, feeling a little down after leaving a big group, but I´m looking forward to Peru and to seeing Manchu Pichu (or as I keep mistakenly calling it....Manu Chao).

Anyway, here are some pics from Taganga.

Talk to you all soon.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.2l3l212d&x=1&y=-1nwumk

Pics from Colombia

2006-10-19T14:32:00.000-04:00

Hey, finally found a decent internet connection where I could upload some pics.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.1lq41xlx&x=1&y=-ujv4ao

Left the Beach

2006-10-14T17:32:00.000-04:00

Yes, it was tough, but it had to be done. I am now in Bogota staying at the Israeli hostal (can´t remember the name right now). Twas a 19 hour bus ride (my longest yet) but luckily, I slept through most of it.

Had the time of my life up in Taganga and Tayrona. As I said before, I have hooked up with an awesome crowd, which are wicked fun. Felt nice to go 2 weeks with no shirt and no shoes. The room the we got was beautiful......full kitchen, and huge fans to help for sleeping at night. Mornings consisted of getting up, heading to the fruit stand for a fruit shake, and then hitting the beach. Unfortunately there was no surf there, but I did get to do a couple of dives. The reef was beautiful, and I got to go through my first little cave. The Maltese friends that I´m travelling with had a buddy who was a divemaster (Marco), so he took us out on the boat (Matt & Fran, Bert, and Anna from UK). Did a dive in the morning, then hung out at a cabana for lunch, and then did another dive in the afternoon. We got the freind discount, so it was only 20 bucks a dive......half the price of Bocas in Panama.

Usually managed to have one big awesome meal per day (chicken schiztel at Luis, or a big ass sub from Maria´s). At night, we always had a little party outside our little palace, and then we usually would go for a few drinks at the local bars (La Puerta, and Garaje). Also got to spend tons of time hanging out in hammocks and playing guitar. We got to know lots of locals too, so they would always come to hang out as well. My nickname has eventually evolved in Gringo, as there are no Americans around and so I am the closest thing to it (NOTE - Gringo´s are American tourists).

Colombia is amazing........definitely South America´s best kept secret. People are super friendly, beaches are awesome, cities are clean, and there are tons of police everywhere, so you always feel safe.

Anyways, its a little colder here in Bogota, but it is a huge nice city with a good student scene. We are going to head to a music festival here tomorrow and Monday and Bolivar Park. Supposed to be awesome. Also meeting a bunch more friends here, so that should be cool. Will try to work on posting pics, now that I have a decent internet connection.

Bye for now.

Taganga, Colombia

2006-10-10T16:02:00.001-04:00

Back in Taganga, Colombia now, and having an absolute blast. Have hooked up with the coolest group of people, which has been awesome. Doesn’t hurt that we are also hanging out in a sweet little beach town, and staying in a super nice hostel. The travelling pace has slowed significantly and I am now in full force beach mode.

Tayrona National Park
It was difficult to get to, but in was absolutely worth it. The beach there was exactly what I was looking for. Awesome sand, turquoise water, lots of palm trees, and nice and secluded. It took us 3 hours to get there in a shitty outboard boat getting pounded by waves. There are no hostels there, but there was a place that would rent out hammocks to you for pretty cheap. Was actually a funny sight to see all these hammocks lined up. You literally were touching the people next to you at times. At night time, there were tons of candles and fires that everyone would sit around to eat and have drinks, and then in the daytime you could grab your own exotic beach to lounge on for the day. Twas nice and relaxing. In total, we have a group of about 15 people (Meital, Arad, Johnny, Ronan, Edo, (and a few other names I can´t spell or pronounce) from Israel, Monique from South Africa, Adrianna and Natalie from Columbia, Bert, Matt and Francesca from Malta). We headed back into Taganga to our hotel overlooking the ocean, and had a party on the giant double decker patio on the top (we were celebrating one of our amigo´s last day of his 6 month trip).

We have now moved to another cheaper hostel called Casa de Felipe. We have a super nice room with a kitchen etc. so the chica´s prepared a proper meal for us last night. My Spanish has been improving significantly thanks to the help of our Columbian chicas Adrianna and Natalie. I am still hoping that I can actually pull of some diving before I leave here. We have met a couple of the divemasters, and it is supposed to be pretty nice (and its super cheap). Probably going to hang out here for a few more days, and then start heading towards Boogata, the capital of Colombia. We are meeting some friends there and hopefully heading to a 2 day music festival, with the headliner being ManuChao. Should be pretty fun.

Sorry for the lack of communicato, but it is tough to get decent internet connections here. Trying to do a post on this can take up to an hour at times. Loading pics basically isn´t possible, so I´m going to have to try to do it in Boogata. Anyway, talk to you all soon!!

Back to the Beach

2006-10-04T11:56:00.000-04:00

In Taganga right now, back on the beach. This one isn´t the nicest beach, but our hostel has a balcony hanging over the ocean, so I guess you can´t beat that. The guide books for this area say that the really nice beaches are just up around the corner, in a place called Tayrona National Park. Have been travelling with a group of seven, and the hostel we´re staying at is called Casa Blanca.

Probably going to try to head to Tayrona today. We met a bunch of backpackers here last night at the other hostel who are heading that way as well. Apparently the beaches are quite quiet, so it is good to go with a large group so you have people to hang out with. I have been told that there is no internet there though, so I won´t be able to reply to your messages for a bit (sorry Fam......couldn´t figure out the phone system here in Taganga). Probably going to stay there til the weekend, and come back on Sunday. Have been told that they have nice little huts that you can rent, so I´m hoping to score one of those.

Anyway, I´ll be sure to try to get lots of pics. Will talk to you all soon.

Ryan

Colombia

2006-10-01T17:52:00.000-04:00

Currently in a city called Medellin. Absolutely loving Colombia....it's a spectacular country. And it's so much safer than what the CNN leads you to believe. Scenery is amazing, and the people are super friendly.

Managed to pull off another Rum and Coke party in Quito, where I met a group of 4 people who were heading in my direction. So the group of us headed for Columbia the next morning. If you look on the map, Quito is actually pretty close to the border, however the bus rides here take forever. I vastly underestimated how long it takes to get around this continent. The scenery is stellar though. Wish that I could have taken more pictures of it, but it is difficult to get decent pics from sitting inside a bus.

Spent the first night in a border town called Ipiales. Pretty big town but not much to see, except a huge church that was built in the rock in a giant valley. Next day we did another 11 to 13 hour bus ride to a town called Popayan. It is a beutiful colonial city that has about 30 different private universities. Was a super cool town. Stayed there for a day, and then headed for our ultimate destination, Medellin. Medellin is an amazing city (about 2.5M people). It almost looks like downtown Vancouver where I am staying. Super wealthly, and super nice. The city is amazingly clean. Staying at a hostel called Black Sheep Hostal, which is owned by a Kiwi dude. Feels awesome to be in a nice hostel again, after sleeping in some dumpy motels. Have been travelling with a Russian guy named Robert, and a Cdn girl named Mel. Here's the link to the hostel. One of the nicer ones that I have been in since getting to South America.

http://www.blacksheepmedellin.com/

The absolute most amazing part about Columbia is the people. They are unbelievably friendly, and they absolutely love travellers. Everywhere we go, people are approaching us and trying to spark up conversations. I think I kind of know what it feels like to be a celebrity now. We got on the subway yesterday and were chatting with a student that we met. Then I looked up, and realized that EVERYBODY on our subway car were looking over at us! Finally somebody spoke up and asked us something in broken english. My buddy said a joke and half the subway car broke out laughing. It is hilarious......I have never seen anything like it. And it happens everywhere we go. If we stop to look for something, somebody will come over to help us. And as soon as we start talking to them, 2 or 3 other people will come over to talk to us. Everybody wants to know where we're from and why we're in Colombia, and then they try to help us out. The people here love to call me 'Gringo', and so we hear it all the time when we are walking downtown through the shops. We stopped into a tiny little bar for a quick drink and a bite to eat, and the bartenders came over and gave us free drinks. I could really get used to this lifestyle! Ha.

Anyway, this hostel is great for meeting people. Having a great time just hanging out and seeing the city. Going to stick around here for a bit, and then will probably head north to the beaches. Want to go up to Santa Marta, but will probably have to pass through Cartagena. Looking to get to a beach called Playa Blanca, which is supposed to be awesome. Will hopefully be able to find a nice hut right on the beach. I met some people here from Malta (a country just south of Italy) who have a friend who is a dive instructor here, so hopefully I'll be able to get back in the water as well.

I forgot my card reader for my camera in Toronto, so I'm having difficulty getting pics posted. Will try to get it figured out.

Talk to you soon!

UPDATE
Heading to Santa Marta, and then on to Taganga. Going with a group of 7 of us, that have been hanging out here in Medellin. Looking forward to getting to the beach. May try to stay at a hostel called La Casa de Felipe, owned by a French couple.

On The Road Again

2006-09-25T16:53:00.001-04:00

Back in Quito. Arrived late last night and am staying at the same hostel as before.......El Centro de Mundo Hostal. Actually a little bit of an adjustment once again, but I'm sure it won't take long.

Had an awesome trip home and it was great seeing everybody. I am now armed with a fully loaded iPod, which should make my music listening much more interesting. I'm going to try to meet some people and see if I can get out of here ASAP (given that this is my THIRD time being here). I actually managed to successfully rearrange my fights after spending the past few weeks home, so I don't have to worry about rushing to Lima.

Anyway, be sure to keep in touch.

Wedding Pics

2006-09-25T01:40:00.000-04:00

Little late coming but I wanted to get them on anyway. Here are the pics from Greg & Ange´s wedding that I got to co`MC (thanks Greg & Ange......I still can´t believe that you trusted Yann and I to do it!). Technical difficulties prevented me from being able to post my pics, but thankfully miss Laura McIninch (aka. Lgray) was nice enough to forward hers. As you will see from the pics, a good time was had by all. Was nice to see all the usual suspects again. I must admit, there aren´t many weddings that I go to where an actual mosh pit forms. My favorite pic is where we have Greg hoisted up on the dance floor. And as you can tell, the groom was loving every minute of it.

I may come across looking a little intoxicated in some (insert ¨all¨) of the pics but I swear, it´s just the camera angle.

Thanks Laura!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6kq1y2k1.1lf66sj9&x=0&y=v954fi

Victory!!!

2006-09-20T15:55:00.000-04:00

As most of you have probably heard, we managed to pull off a victory in the election. And, as the icing on the cake, the Liberals managed to pull off a majority government. We are all pretty excited. We had kind of expected that things were going to go well, but nobody wanted to say anything, after our loss in 1999. In the end, we ended up winning 36 of the 37 polls (including the advanced pools and the special ballots).

As expected, election day was pretty exciting. The whole family manged to get involved. My brother-in-law Thor was the brains behind the operation, my sister did lots of driving and odd jobs, my brother Greg was in charge of dispatching all the drivers for picking up the voters, and I was just filling in the gaps on whatever Thor needed at that particular time. As I've said before, this was probably the best run election office that I have seen yet. The volunteers that ran this whole campaign were absolutely amazing....including on election day.

AND.....the great part was the Dad was fantastic through it all. He is usually pretty high strung on election day.....but Mom said that he was pretty calm overall.......well, no worse than any other day she said. Ha! It was great to see him in action again. You would have trouble finding anyone who in a matter of 2 mintues, can convert a potential disgruntled voter into a full force supporter. I think that I may have inherited some of the charm, but I definitely didn't get any of the patience (as my former co-workers can attest to)!

Anyway, I will try to post more pics. I'm now back to prepping for the trip again (leave on Sunday morning for Ecuador). Feel like I'm getting a second chance to organize....now that I have a few months under my belt.

Talk to you soon.

Election Day!

2006-09-18T12:13:00.000-04:00

Yes, election day is finally here. We are all pretty excited. The whole family is down at the office, making sure that we are getting the vote out. We have about 10 people working the phones, have scrutineers at all the polling stations, and then we have 7 drivers with cell phones, who are out picking up potential liberal voters. Its great to see all the same volunteers out again this time, same as prevoiusl

Dad was in great spirits this morning. Seemed pretty relaxed actually, which was surprising. He is walking poll to poll today with Mom, and our family friend John Walker. Johnny said that before the day is through, he still may be a candidate for 'Prick of the Year' again.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post the results later. Talk to you all soon.

Here are some pics.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.9xjvnmbh&x=0&y=-y057aj

Election Pics

2006-09-16T15:21:00.000-04:00

Hola!
Election is going well. The early polls are saying that things are in a dead heat. Dad's campaign office could very well be the nicest one yet. This place is also run like a well oiled machine. I guess everybody knows what they're doing now......it IS our 4th campaign. The volunteer turnout has been great, and it has been awesome having the whole family around here in the office.

I'm posting some pics from a BBQ that we had here the other day. Election is in 2 days. Crunchtime!

Talk to you soon.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.63e6xrsd&x=0&y=-obmgan

Back in Canada Baby!!!

2006-09-12T23:20:00.000-04:00

Yes.....that is correct. I am back in the homeland!

And no, the trip isn't over. I have actually just come back to surprise my family and to help my father out with the election. I'm only home for a couple of weeks, and then I head back to Quito. I also managed to arrange to make it to my friends Greg and Ange's wedding which was awesome. The reason why I kept everything quiet though, was because I didn't want anyone to spoil the surprise (I actually did my last post from T.O., so that my family wouldn't catch on).

I flew through Panama and Newark, got into Toronto last wkd, and managed to fulfill my co-MC duties for the wedding. It was absolutely awesome to see everybody again, and the wedding was fun as hell. We were a little boring as co-MC's given our lack of preparation, but neither of us dropped any F-bombs, so I guess you could call it a success. I took a bunch of pics, but I have to find a computer where I can upload them to the site.

As for the surprise, it was awesome (flew into Moncton, got a lift to downtown, and then took a bus from there). Nobody recognized who in the hell I was because of the beard and the shades. I first strolled into Shoppers to visit my bro in the afternoon.......pack and all. He was behind the counter. I gave a little whistle, he looked up and said hello, and then went back to work. Then he didn't the double take, "What are you doing! What are you doing!!!". Ha! It was pretty funny.

I then got him to call my mother and tell her that he had somebody he was interviewing that was coming over to visit her. I showed up at the door but because of the light, all she could see was my silouette. It took her a minute before I finally heard her say, "Is that Ryan???!". It took her a bit for it to sink in. I had to reassure her that everything was OK. Ha.

Mom and I then waited for Dad to get home. Because I was driving my brother's truck, my father was obviously expecting him to be there. Mom got me to sit out on the deck in the chair (and not to smile, so that he wouldn't recognize me). When he got home, he strolled up to the table, looked over at me, and then started checking the mail. Then he popped his head back up and instead of asking, he just declared it, "That's Ryan!!". Ha! It was hilarious. Totally caught them all by surprise, which I didn't think that I was going to be able to pull off.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do the same for Tara & Thor as they were in a different town (still did it over the phone.....my sister was trying to figure out how I got linked into my parent's phone).

Anyway, it has been wicked being home. The wedding in TO was amazing, and seeing all the family again has been awesome. Still trying to adjust a bit to the cozy beds and the clean washrooms. The election is coming up on Monday, and we are all pretty excited. I will continue to keep the blog up while I'm home, with progress updates on the election.

Be sure to keep in touch!!!

Ryan

PS - Sorry to all those TO friends that I didn't get to see, as I was pretty short on time given the wedding etc!!!

Lacatunga

2006-09-10T12:16:00.000-04:00

Left Riobamba and now am in a place called Lacatunga. From here, I got to do the ride through the Andes into Laguna Quilotoa. The ride in was quite interesting. There were actually giant chunks of the road that had fallen away (check the pics, its pretty funny). There were crosses along the side of the roads from where cars hadn't been able to make the turns. Kind of nerve wracking at times, given how narrow the roads were, and how many blind turns there were. We had to keep asking the guy to give honks before going into the turns.

The laguna was spectacular. Weather was a little off at first, but midway through the 2.5 hour hike down into it, the sun came out and made the water go bright green. Definitely worth the hike......although it was a real bitch to crawl back up out of there. My legs were still a little sore from the bike ride too, which didn't help my cause.

Anyway, staying at a place called Hotel Estambul. Met some cool people here who I have been hanging out with. May stick around this little town for a while.

Here are the pics of the laguna. Bye for now!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.3frdjqw5&x=0&y=-adzxlj

RioBamba

2006-09-05T10:33:00.000-04:00

Have now left Riobamba........and in the end, it will be fair to say that I won´t be heavily missed. This is the first town where I managed to make absolutely no friends. I have to say though, the bike ride was worth every minute. It was absolutely aweseome. I haven´t stopped talking about it since I did it. Riobamba was a nice little town that is close to the volcano that erupted a couple of weeks ago. It actually got covered in a film of ash. The ash was still blowing around a bit (little sharper than normal dust). Little harder on the breathing and the eyes, but I didn´t really find it difficult. I got some pics of the volcano that erupted too......its still spewing ash.

THE RIDE
Our guide´s name was Galo (for all you other backpackers, company is called ProBici). They took us up to the base camp of Volcan Chimbazo, at 4800m!! We then got to hike up to the 2nd camp, which was at 5000m. Given my lack of acclimitization, lack of energy after being sick, and my ongoing poor fitness levels (is that enough excuses), I kind of struggled with it. Was only making it about 30 feet at a time, before having to sit down and catch my breath. I heavily underestimated the size of Volcan Chimbazo. It is actually the largest mountain on the western hemisphere.......yes, the Colorado Rockies pale in comparison to the Andes down here. And actually, they say that the summit of Chimbazo is the highest point on the earth (bet you didn´t know that!). Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth, but because the earth bulges at the equator, Chimborazo is actually the furthest point from the centre of the earth (or, the closest point to the sun). It was awesome. The weird thing was, was that there was no snow at 5000m. It was pretty damn cold though.......we cold see our breath. Anyway, we got to jump on our bikes here, and started a 38km downhill ride that went through every terrain that you could imagine. It took us about 5 hours to complete. Got to see alpacas (these llamas like looking animals), giant canyons, rolling grassy hills, ice capped mountains, wide open winding mountain roads, dirt paths, etc., etc. Along the way, we actually got to pass through these indigenous mountain villages. The people all loved to come over and chat when we stopped......especially the kids. The kids would actually come running to the road when we were passing by to wave at us. I felt like Lance Armstrong on the Tour de France......except without the hot girlfriend......ah, and the talent. The scenery throughout the ride was spectacular. I tried to stop and take pics as much as I could, but got a little caught up in bombing down the mountain.

We also got to see the bulls that they raise for the bullfights. Bullfighting is HUGE here in Riobamba, and the top bullfighters (they rank then like tennis players) are kings down here. The bulls were giant. For the big bullfighting festival here, the farmer provides 8 bulls (btw the ages of 4 to 6....that´s when they are the strongest.....and angriest), at $5G´s a piece! Not bad. The best 6 get used. Each of 3 bullfighters have to fight 2 bulls in the afternoon. All the bulls are fought to the death, unless the bull and the bullfighter put on a spectacular show, which they then spare then bull´s life for future fights (doesn´t happen often). Most of the best bullfighters are in Spain, but aparently 5 of the top 10 in the world come to the big festival in Quito each year.

Anyway, I am now in Latachuga. There is supposed to be this amazing bus ride that you can do here through the Andes, that´s called the Quilotoa Loop. It ends at a spectacular crater lake called Laguna Quilotoa. I´m staying at a hotel called Hotel Estambul. And to my relief, there are some backpackers in here that I have met. It´s nice to have conversations in engligh again. Probably going to head for the Laguna soon. The altitude here is a real bitch. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I´m suffocating because I´m not taking in enough air. The difference between the highlands and the lowlands here in Ecuador is pretty dramatic. Nice to have the change though. I´m am absolutely loving the Andes here........they are amazing.

Anyway, that´s all for now.

Here are some pics from the beaches in Ecuador.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.c6wv1ylx&x=0&y=lm10ff

Here are the pics from the bike ride.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.51x9vg4l&x=0&y=-eb1b5p

PS - Oh yeah and Colin, so far, Ecuador also has the most beutiful women that I´ve come across on this trip. Nice place to visit!

Ecuador

2006-09-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

Spent some time back along the Pacific coast. Weather was OK, but got a lot of overcast as well. First town I hit was Canoa. It was the nicest beach that I´ve been to since Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It was huge too. Got to do a little surfing, but was pretty much like starting from scratch again. This surfing gig is tougher than it looks. You don´t get the luxury of a 6 man chairlift and unlimited supply of gravity. The only thing gravity does out in the water is help you do a faceplant off the face of a 6 foot wave. I still can´t figure out which waves are the weak ones that won´t carry the board, and which ones are so powerful that they roll you over 4 or 5 times and make you lose your sense of up from down. Town was very quiet. Stayed at the CocoLoco which had awesome beds (real mattresses) and awesome warm showers. Owned by a dutchman named Franz.

I next passed through a town called Puerto Lopez which is supposed to be good for whale watching (but I didn´t go), and then went on to an awesome little surf town called Montanita. Only 2 little streets, just jammed with restaurants, bars, and surf shops. Beach was OK, but waves were great for learning on. Had a few days on the water, and actually started catching some waves again. Met some cool people (Renan & Maria fr. France, Bobby fr. Scotland, the Auzzies, Matt and Lauren fr. Canada, the pharmacist from NZ, etc.). Party scene was great. Would have been spectacular if we had more sun. Passed the evenings with intense games of Jenga (seem to be playing alot of that on this trip). We actually had a crowd around our table at one point, with people applauding at how high we got it (26 levels). Twas pretty funny. Got a few pics. Stayed at the hostal Tsunami. Hung out at the Hostal Blanca.....great food.

Headed down to Guayaquil after that. Was a huge town (pop 2.5M). Got sick there though, so spent most of the time in bed. Did manage to go check out the town, and then went to a movie (The Centinal). It was actually the first time that I´ve ever gone to a movie myself. It didn´t last long though, as two cute little local girls came and sat behind me and handed me a napkin ¨Como se llamo¨¨(What´s your name). Was pretty funny. It was yet another reminder of how horrid my Spanish is though. Not much to talk about beyond that. I did end up watching the movie with them anyway.......well, I think that´s what they asked.

I´m now back in the mountains in Riobamba. It was an intesting ride here. As I always do, I asked about 4 other people at the bus station if there were going to Riobamba and they all said ¨Si¨. What was supposed to be a 4 hour bus ride turned into just under 8 hours due to a blockage on the road (it doesn´t take much to block these mountain roads). So after a couple of terrible spanish movies and a bag of cheezies that I bought, that turned out to be.......not cheezies...........the bus pulls over and the guy comes over to just me and says, ¨OK, Riobamba¨. I look around and I´m the only #### person getting off. I wanted to turn around and ask everybody else where in the hell they were going (but I didn´t know how to say it in Spanish). Anyway, after reconfirming with the bus driver four times over, I finally got off. It turns out I was just 10 min cab ride from Riobamba.....AND, the room I got had a TV with cable. Got to watch Agassi play his last match.....I think (how do you say last match in Spanish??).

Its funny, but you can really tell the differences in elevation. Up here you get runny noses alot (not that I haven´t had that for the past week anyway), and you get really short on breath when walking up hills. I´m staying at a hotel called Hotel Tren Dorado. This town has a nice mix of locals, as well as indigenous people (the women are so cute in their little outfits.....I will try to get pics). I have absolutely no friends here, but have been trying for the past 2 days. Met some Germans in the lobby earlier. They asked me if I knew where any good restaurants were. I said, ¨No, but I´m hungry¨. We chatted for a bit, they grabbed their guide book, found a spot, and then they all turned to me and said, ¨OK, see you later¨.

Yeah, it was nice talking to you........assholes.

Mom, you will be proud to know that I got a hair cut today. You could imagine what it was like trying to communicate with the girl about what I wanted. I told her that I only wanted a little off, and then she grabbed the clippers. I was like, ¨Woh, woh, woh......slow down....slow way down.¨. I told her to only use scissors (by ´told her´ I mean, I made the scissors motion with my fingers and said ¨solo¨). All the girls in the shop were getting quite the kick out of it. Turned out OK though.......I think. Well, what can you expect for a dollar.

Heading out to do some mountain biking tomorrow with an organized group. They drive us up to the base camp of the largest mountain in Ecuador (Chimbarazo), and then we get to bike down the paths for 5 hours. Should be fun. Supposed to be pretty easy though, as they have other paths for the advanced types. If elevation becomes an issue, then we end up getting a nice ride in the truck.

Anyway, that´s all for now. I have another big night planned of hanging out by myself again. Here´s to hoping for a good movie on the tube..............in english preferably.

PS - I watched Law and Order in Spanish the other day.........it´s amazing how useless all the character´s lines are. It´s pretty much the same shit.....show after show. In fact, I think I like it better without the English.....its not as annoying.

Heading to Peru

2006-08-27T21:42:00.000-04:00

Going to try to make it to Mancora on Monday. It is another little surf town on the Pacific side. Not sure if I can make it the whole way, so I may end up staying in Guayaquil for a night. Will be sure to check in once I get established.

UPDATE
Just rolled into Guayaquil. May actually stay here for a day, and then head to Mancora. Staying at a hostel called Dreamkapture Hostal. Will get back in touch Tuesday.......hungry....tired.

STILL IN GUAYAQUIL
Hey all, my apologies for the late replies, but I´ve been feeling a little under the weather the past few days (as they say in Nfld, ¨Dems da breaks¨). Lots of rest, lots of fluids, and some perscription drugs, and I´m back on my feet again. Going to try to get out of here tomorrow. May actually stick around Ecuador for a bit, as I don´t think I´m ready for surfing again just quite yet. Will try to get some more pics posted, but the computers here aren´t the most cooperative ones that I´ve come across. Anyway, I´m off to find a nice meal......and some more water.

PIcs from Quito

2006-08-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

Stayed in Canoa, Ecuador for a couple of days. Nice little beach town. First day was cloudy, but 2nd was stellar. Got to do some surfing, and then just hanging out at the beach. Couple nice pics of the sunset. Stayed at a hostel called Cocoloco, owned by a dutch guy named Franz. Cozy beds and nice hot showers. Was awesome getting back to the beach again, and just spending a couple of days relaxing.

Have now landed in a small little surfing town called Montanita, in Ecuador (further down the coast). It is an awesome little spot that is nice and cheap. Probably will be hanging out here for a few days.

Here are some pics from Quito, and from my trip to the cloud forest in Mindo. Little heavy on the scenery side, but what can you do. It also has......´THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD´!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.6rpqmwc5&x=0&y=dzcuen

Quito, Ecuador

2006-08-21T14:26:00.002-04:00

Hey,
Finally have gotten the motivation to leave Quito. It is a super cool little town, and I have been staying at a sweet little hostel called El Centro del Mundo. Nice cozy little spot. Had a nice big living room with cushions all over the floor, and full cable! Actually got to watch the end of the PGA Championship......nice to see Weir back in contention at a major. This hostel also has free Rum and Coke nights, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As you can imagine, it turns into quite the little party.

I did a trek into the cloud forest here a couple of days ago, and got some pretty good pics. The trek led to some nice little waterfalls that we got to jump off of. Also went to visit the equator. They call it the ´Centre of the World´here.......the most entertaining part of the whole thing is getting to ask the bus driver if he is going to the ´centre of the world´.

Equidor is much, much colder than Central America. It actually gets quite chilly down here at nighttime. The daytime isn´t too bad (25 to 28 range), but I have been freezing my ass off at night. Had to go out and find a big sweater.....have also gotten rid of some of my warmer clothes. The great part here though, is the warm showers. I´m told that this is pretty common in South America.

I am heading for Canoa tonight on a night bus. This is supposed to be a nice little beach town on the Pacific side, just up from Manta. Looking forward to getting back to the beach and relaxing. Going to try to stay at a hostel called CocoLoco.

Here are a few pics from Panama, just to proove that I actually did go check out the canal.

Talk to you later.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.6gx58oux&x=1&y=-c70gdj

Bocas Pics

2006-08-19T18:51:00.001-04:00

Still in Quito, Equador. Have been pretty lazy the past few days, but getting ready to head out soon. And yes, there was an eruption here in Equador, but it is quite south from here. As I said in the comments on the last post, I saw some pics of it and it looked amazing. The guy who was there showed me what the volcano looked like the next day. He actually got woken up in the middle of the night and told to grab his stuff and run. The volcano was actually spraying rocks on the town. It was also cool to see the pics of the bunker that they put everybody in.

I asked him if he saw Pearce Bronson driving by in a Jeep, but still no luck.

Headed back through Granada, and went back to Lac Apollo. Lac Apollo is the giant crater lake that I went to last time I was in Nicaragua. It is a pretty amazing spot.......nice enough to head back there. It was great bumping into friends that I had met last time I was there (Graham the Irishman, Cara at the Hut, and Dave from Ometepe). Had an amazing time, and was super relaxing. I actually slept out on the dock one night on a mattress so that I could catch the sunrise (they only have so many beds at the Monkey Hut, so most people just sleep on mattresses whereever they can find space). Dave owned a farm on Ometepe (the island in the middle of Lac Nicaragua) so it was pretty tempting to actually head back there for another visit, but I had to get going to Panama.

Its funny here, because none of the locals can get my name. They don´t really have a similar sound in the Spanish language, so I usually get called Reee-on, or some other mangled pronounciation. At the border crossings, they just call me Mr. Douglas (my middle name). I guess I can´t complain though, given that my spanish is so horid. Its funny, because when I´m on the local buses and I hear the loud speaker come on announcing something, I always take my earphones off to listen. I don´t know why though, becuase I never understand what the hell they are saying. Habits I guess.

When locals say things to me, I usually just say ´Si, si´, unless they stare at me afterwards, then that means theý´re asking me a question, so then I say ´No se¨. Seems to have worked so far. My many sound effects go a long way for me down here....if they don´t understand what I´m saying, they at least get entertained by it. The only real frustrating part for me, is having to rely on whatever spanish speaking person I´m travelling with to negotiate for me. It kills me, because I´m used to doing my own negotiating........ah, and getting my own way! Ha.

The trip through Miami actually made me a bit homesick. I was craving a couch, armed with a pizza, a converter, and some proline tickets for the football games......the REAL football games, not this soccer shit. Caught some preseason football highlights, and I was almost jumping out of my chair. I don´t know WHAT would happen if I got to watch a Bruins game right now. Especially since they are finally going to win a cup now (by 08-09 season). Patrice, Boyes, Kessel the future star, Timonen in the nets, and of course, big Chara being the anchor on the blueline.

Anyway, its siesta time for me. Bye for now.

Here are some pics from Bocas, and Nicaragua.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.7v15asux&x=1&y=bgn213

Attention All TD Bankers

2006-08-17T14:50:00.000-04:00

Scott Sterling is an international superstar!!!!! (I forgot to tell you)

When I was in Guatemala, I was heading towards the Bay Islands, which took about 2 days to get to. As the bus was running behind, my Aussie buddy and I ended up in some little shit town in the middle of nowhere. Given that the buses can be a little painful at times, we decided to treat ourselves to a hotel room with a TV (note, treat meaning $9 each per night.......oh and by a room with a TV, I mean that the family wheeled a couple of beds into their living room for us, and then sat out in the hall all night). After grabbing a bite to eat and getting settled in, we crack on the TV and who else is on there, but the great Scott Sterling!!! It was hilarious. Scott, you were being interviewed about some dye company thingy (can´t remember the details). At first I was impressed with your fluent Spanish, and then I realized that they were dubbing you over. I couldn´t believe it!!! We watched it for about 5 minutes, and then my Aussie buddy made me turn the channel out of boredom (only because of the spanish part though....I swear!). Anyway, I thought that you would all like to hear that.

Scott, if you ever decide to go to Guatemala (for a nice family vacation), I´m sure that you will be welcomed with open arms. Given that they play the same programs 50 times over, I´m sure that you would be quite recognized by late night Guatemalan TV watchers. That, and your fair skin, should put you somewhere amongst the ranks of royalty down here.

Panama City

2006-08-14T10:41:00.000-04:00

In Panama City staying at a hostel called Hostal Lyons House. Got in late last night, after being on busses all day yesterday. Had been pretty exhausted for some reason over the past few days, so I´ve spent most of the time sleeping. Slept the whole way on the bus to David (4 hours), on the ground outside the bus station for an hour, most of the way to Panama last night (6 hours), and then fell asleep with my guitar on my bed when I got to the hostel. Feeling nice and refreshed today though!

Bocas were awesome. Wish I had more time there. Met some awesome people and had a blast. Didn´t get a chance to do any surfing though, as I spent most of the time just relaxing. Was there for 4 days, but it didn´t feel like it. Hung out at the Mondu Taitu lots, which was a cool little party hostel with cheap White Russians (the drink). Also got to hang out at the famous Shipwreck place.....a cool little bar with a big ass dock. The dock had a part that was cut out in the middle, where people would eventually get drunk and jump in. I was also lucky enough to hook up with a local who took me out on his boat for a day. Checked out a bunch of the other islands, and got to do some great snorkeling. All he asked for was a few bucks for gas. Pretty awesome considering that the islands were super expensive. It seemed like everything you wanted to do cost 10 to 15 bucks. Some of the other islands there looked amazing though, so I think that you would definitely need a few weeks there.

Today I have met some friends here at the hostel, I am going to try to check out the Panama Canal. I have my flight early in the morning. Heading for Equador to start South America and I´m pretty excited about it. Don´t have much time today, but may be able to jump on tomorrow, as I have a long layover in Miami (don´t ask, Round the World ticket thingy).

The comments that you guys are posting are hilarious by the way.

Made it to San Jose

2006-08-08T23:58:00.000-04:00

Just had an amazing time in Granada again. Actually spent most of it at the lodge on the giant crator lake just outside of the city. I got to know all the owners of the hostel who also happened to own the lodge. We just went out for the afternoon to hang out at the lake, and ended up staying for two days. As there were no beds left, I actually slept on a mattress out on the dock. Made for a nice sunrise. Went back to sleep, and then woke up with people all around swimming.

Ended up bumping into my buddy who landed the bartending job there. Was nice to see some familiar faces. Due to a late night of partying with them, I missed my 7.00 o´clock bus, but I did eventually end up making it to San Jose. Staying back at the Pangea Hostel (remember, the very first one that I stayed in when I got to Central America). Going to try to head for Panama in the morning. Want to get to those islands called Boccas del Torro. If I can´t pull it off, I will most likely end up staying in Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica. The bus that I had today was probably the nicest one that I´ve been on, so I´m actually in quite the good mood. Ha.

Anyway, I will be sure to check in once I get to Boccas in the next couple of days. Talk to you then!!!

R

UPDATE
Have made it to Bocas del Toro. Stayed at a spot called Casbar the first couple of nights, but it was bordering on disgusting, so I have since upgraded to Hotel Heike, which is a beauty of a spot. Things are a little more $$$ once again, so I´m back to ham sandwiches.......well, and a damn good peanut butter and banana sandwich this morning.

The islands are beautiful. Little tough to get to though.......actually got here on a speedboat that cruised through this narrow little jungle river. The ride was pretty damn cool. The border crossing for Panama was pretty dramatic too. They actually make you get off the bus, and then you have to walk across this shitty old bridge yourself. Welcome to Panama! Will check in soon.

Back in Granada

2006-08-02T20:24:00.000-04:00

Well, after a couple of painful days on the bus, I'm back in Granada. Was tough leaving the islands though I tell you. What a cool spot. I was pretty tempted to stay for the big Sun Jam party on Saturday. I actually got offered a job of working a shift there behind the bar. Could have been my first appearance on Wild On! Ha.

Although it was full the first night, I am now in the Bearded Monkey........my favorite hostel in Central America. Feels kind of cozy being back at a place that is familiar. Actually bumped into a couple of people that I dove with in Utila. My Aussie travel buddy Ross has now moved on to Mexico. It was a pretty emotional goodbye:

"Alright, see ya bro"
"Yeah, alright, take it easy"

Its amazing how 2 girls can get together for an hour, and know each other's complete family, medical and emotional histories, and then how 2 guys can know each other for a month and a half, and still not know anything about each other (except how many beers it takes them to get drunk). Was actually kind of strange getting back on the road by myself again. I kept thinking that I was heading to meet someone, and then I remembered that I didn't actually know anyone where I was going. It helps to be self entertaining on these trips. I just rolled out a couple of my old jokes, and then I was fine. Its funny how I never get sick of hearing them (and those catchy punch lines get me by surprise everytime!).

By the way, what's with this whole Mel Gibson thing, getting caught drinking and driving and then blaming it on Jewish people???? When he goes to court, I wonder if he's going to give one of his emotional speeches like he did in Ransom........"GIVE ME BACK MY LICENSE!!!".

Personally, I would love to see them try to send Braveheart to jail. I feel bad for whatever prison got stuck with him.........."THEY'LL NEVER TAKE........OUR FREEEEEDOM!!!".

That would be awesome.

Anyway, as you can tell, the internet here is free, and I don't really have anything intesting to write about. Will probably hang out here for the weekend, and then start heading for Panama.

Toodles.

Ryan

Bay Islands

2006-08-01T10:49:00.000-04:00

Have been in the Bay Islands now for just over a week (staying on Utila, in Honduras). Was only planning on staying a few days, but its tough to leave. And the good news is (drumroll), I am now a fully certified Open Water Scuba diver. Actually, as of today, I am now an Advanced diver!! Not bad eh. I have been going to dive school for the past week. The Open Water course was a lot of class time, a lot of tests, and a lot of confined 10 foot dives for practising skills. It is pretty funny when we all first got under water. Everybody just sits in a row looking like dummies, with our arms floating out in front of us. It takes a bit of getting used to breathing through a mouth piece. It was comforting though, knowing that the surface is only a few kicks away. It is also funny trying to communicate under the water. You all just sit there staring at each other with dumb looks on your face. When you are underwater and you can't talk to each other, every little movement seems urgent. My favorite trick would be to stick my left arm out and wave at one of the other students to get their attention, and then I'd point down to my other hand where I'd already be giving them the finger. It was a bit hit.

I have since done 9 dives! I can't believe that I never thought of trying this before. We did our wreck dive a couple of days ago.......a big ass cargo ship that is about 110 feet underwater. It starts getting pretty dark down there, but these carribean waters are so clear, that you can still see perfectly fine. The reefs here are amazing.....considered to be some of the best in the world. And the best part, was that we got to do a night dive last night. Was a little creepy at first (they gave us little lights to use), but I'd have to say that it is probably the closest feeling that you can get to floating in outer space. We came across another crew of divers with lights and it looked like they were a bunch of astronauts coming our way. Once you get adjusted to the weightlessness, it kind of feels like you are floating over giant mountains. The best part is that the marine life under water don't give a shit about you being there......they just keep carrying on with their routines. Got to see tons of awesome fish. No whale sharks though, but apparently they are tough to find. And yes Thor, I didn indeed pull off an underwater air guitar, but unfortunately we didn't have any cameras to catch the moment.

This island is pretty awesome. Main mode of transportation is golf carts and four runners. We actually caught the island in the middle of carnival which is cool. Lots of street festivals and late night beach parties (check the pics). The island actually doesn't speak Spanish. Instead, it is this weird version of carribean english. Apparently it was settled by pirates many a years ago (don't hold me to that one....there are a lot of myths here too). The big party is actually this Saturday. One of our Dive Masters throws a party called Sun Jam. Its on its own little island (they actually have little islands here that are just sand with a few palms trees.....looks like they are out of a cartoon). They are expecting 1500 to 2000 people. The best part is, is that the show Wild On is coming to it (for all those late night TV watchers). I would love to stay, but I have to get moving.

Going to start heading to Panama. Want to get to Bocas del Torro.....some island on the carribean side. It is going to take me a bit to get down there though. Will have to head through Tegas (Teligucipa), then through Managua in Nicaragua (may stop into Granada for a night or two), then through San Jose, Costa Rica, and then on to Bocas. May be a little painful, but what can you do.

Anyway, here are some pics. Talk to you soon!

Ryan

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.9hkylws9&x=1&y=-tynvpz

Previous Pics from Tikal

2006-07-25T13:33:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics from Tikal and from Finca Ixobel. The ruins were quite impressive, especially the amount of them. There was a massive town of them, and we didn´t even get to see them all. We busted our ass to find a guide that could get us into the park before it opened, so that we could catch sunrise from the top of one of the pyramids. We managed to pull it off (3am start time!), but unfortunately it was cloudy, so we didn´t get the full show. It was still cool listening to the jungle wake up....especially the howler monkeys.

Finca Ixobel was a great spot. The best part were the giant buffets that they served, all with fresh food grown on the farm. They also had a pingpong table, which got a lot of use from yours truly. Was kind of like a summer camp kind of feel to the place. I also got to play my first game of soccer. No goals to speak of, but definitely an E for effort.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.c42hd5r5&x=1&y=-jazmk7

Moustaches Are Back!!!

2006-07-24T21:06:00.000-04:00

YEEEEYAH!!!!

Semuc Champey

2006-07-19T10:24:00.000-04:00

Could be the nicest place that I´ve been yet. Hopefully the pics will show that. Twas a little bit difficult to get to. We drove for a couple of hours north of Coban (nearest decent sized town) through winding mountain roads, and then it was another hour into the jungle on crazy little dirt roads. Scenery was stellar. The jungle has a real deep vegetative smell.....especially when it gets hot. We got in late our first night, and just hit the sack.

Description of a first day in Semuc Champey:
Woke up in the morning and headed for the natural pools that we had heard about. First thing that we got to see is where the river went underground. The power was amazing......incredibly loud too. This massive river just all of the sudden disappeared. The little water that did make it by though, trickled into these amazing torquoise pools. They were unbelievable. It really looked like something out of a fairy tale. We ended up hanging out there for the whole morning, until about 2:00.

Then at 3, we headed for the caves to check out the underground river. The caves were awesome, but definitely not for the faint at heart. We were given candles to use as lights. When we first entered, the water was freezing, and the bats were flipping around in full force. Ha!! It was pretty funny. And then, things got tight. There were literally points where the roof of the cave was only a foot and a half above the water level. We also had to do about a 30m swim...........holding the candle above the water!! We then got to crawl through a crack about 2 feet tall, and ended up at an underground waterfall, about 10 feet high. You usually can crawl up the waterfall, but the water levels are too high right now due to excessive rains (a couple of girls in the group after us got hurt). We also got to find spots where we could jump off a ledge into the water. Whole trip took about an hour and a half.

After the caves, we hiked up to the lookout point, and then it was time for the tubes. The sun was out in full force which was awesome (since we were freezing from the caves). Got to do about a 2 km tube ride down the river, right through the middle of the jungle. The tube ride ended at our hostel, where they had beers waiting for us.

Not too bad of a day, eh! Guatemala is awesome......pretty much on par with Nicaragua. Unfortunately, you can´t get pics of the caves, because it would wreck your cameras. I got lots of pics of the river and the pools though. We spent another day at the pools, and then we also got to do some bridge jumping (probably just under 20 feet). Was pretty stellar. Hostel that we stayed at was pretty cool......little crammed in the loft that we slept in, but the place had one of those old showers that you had to pull the rope to use. The menu options were pretty simple: yes or no...........do you want dinner or not?

Went to check out Tikal yesterday....supposed to be the nicest Mayan Ruins in Central America. Was pretty impressive. Couldn´t believe how much there was. We had busted our ass to find a guy that could get us into the park before it opened so that we could catch the sunrise from the top of the highest temple (3:00 start time, not bad eh Dad). Unfortunately the sun was covered by clouds. Was cool to listen to the jungle waking up.

Anyway, in a place called Finca Ixobel now (close to Poptun). Cool little farm type of place with amazing homecooked food. Will probably be here for a few days.....then may start heading for the Bay Islands in Honduras. Here´s the website for the place:

http://www.fincaixobel.com/

Here are some pics. And oh yeah, I added some pics to the Antigua ones, just of my home stay and my spanish school. Will have to post the pics of the ruins later.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.9s3o3scx&x=1&y=-ehmi4z

Bye for now.

Ryan

PS Heading to Bay Islands. Going through Rio Dulce, Puerta Barrios through border to Puerto Cortes, San Pedro Sula, and on to La Ceiba. Then its a ferry to the island of Utila. Will probably take a couple of days, so going to see how far we can get today (still travelling with my Aussie buddy Ross). Hoping to make it to the islands for the B day baby!!.

Update
Made it to La Ceiba. Has been a painful couple days of travelling. Didn´t make it to the islands yet, as the locals were smart enough to only have one ferry per day, thereby guaranteeing that we have to stay another night (those Hondurans are sooo smart). You can probably sense my cynicism after a few long days on the bus. Looking forward to getting to the bay islands in the morning. Going to head to Utila.....supposed to be the fun backpacker island. Need to grab a bite to eat, and to sleep. My back is killing me from all the shitty buses. Bound for the beach baby!!!

Bye for now.

Made it to Flores

2006-07-17T10:04:00.000-04:00

In Flores now staying at Youth Hostel Los Amigos.

Spent a few days in Semac Champey, just NE of Coban. Probably the nicest spot that Ive hit so far on this trip. Caves were amazing and river was stellar. Will update later when I have more time.

Heading to the ruins in Tikal today and tomorrow. Going to try to stay outside the park, so that we can get in and catch the sunrise in the ruins. They are supposed to be spectacular.

May head back to Flores afterwards, and then will be heading to Livingston. Going to try to get back to Honduras.

Will check in later.

Ryan

UPDATE

Leaving Flores today and heading for Finca Ixobel. May stay there for a few days. I think that it may be a little remote, so I´m not sure if I´ll have access to email. We are going to try to head to Livinston (SEeast Guatemala) after that, and then head for the Bay Islands in Honduras. Will check in when I can!

Heading Northbound

2006-07-12T17:54:00.000-04:00

Have finished Spanish school, and have my last night with the family tonight. My buddy Nick has already moved on to Honduras a few days ago, but me and my other buddy Ross are thinking of heading north. Will probably head to Guatemala city in the morning.

Going to try to head up to Flores (in the Peten region), so that we can make our way to Tikal. Tikal is supposed to have some of the best Mayan ruins in Central America. Have heard tons of good things about it.

We may also try to stop at a place called Finca Ixobel on the way though. It is another one of these organic farm type places that is supposed to be super nice. Apparently the woman who runs it makes awesome homecooked buffet dinners at night. I think that we may be able to do some tubing through the underground rivers, which sounds super cool. If we do stop there, I won´t have access to email for a few days.

As for my goings on, I actually went and took some Salsa lessons the other night. Was a little embarrassing at first, however, the math was on our side............probabaly about 15 to 20 women, and then just 4 of us guys. It was pretty hilarious! There is a lot more to the Salsa then what I expected. Will need some major practise in order to get good. I tried a little last night, but after a few near death experiences and a healthy debate about the dance steps, I eventually had to just throw the thumbs up and do the old fashioned bump and grind. I´m sure that I´ll have plenty of opportunity to practise over the next 4 months, when travelling through Central and South America.

Spanish school was quite painful. I am somewhat questioning my tutor's Spanish grammar skills, as whenever I challenged her, she would go look something up and then make a change to the sentence. It made it painful for me......my little mathematical mind was craving charts and tables. After conjugating yet another bizarre verb (that only gets used when the both people are facing southbound, one person knows the other person better than the other, the object on the floor can be picked up, and a small child is running past the door), I finally said, ¨Listen, I will NEVER EVER use this verb when I´m travelling over the next 4 months. How about we get back to catching buses and finding hostels????¨ She eventually caught my drift, but our enthusiasm levels had been somewhat depleted by that point.

Well, with a pack full of clean laundry, some broken Spanish, and a new pair of flashy Puma sneakers, I am ready to depart Antigua. I´m actually pretty enthusiastic to get back on the road again. I´ll be sure to check in when we get to Flores.

Will talk to you all soon.

UPDATE

We actually may head to the underground tubing tunnels in the morning. They are just northeast of Coban. Can´t remember the name of them, but they´re supposed to be nicer than the ones by Finca Ixobel. Hoping to stay at a hostel called Maria´s something. Will be sure to get tons of pics!

What in the hell is a Reflexive Verb??

2006-07-08T11:39:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

Things are going well in Antigua. Have now completed a couple of days of tutoring. Not sure if I´m making progress, or if I´m just getting more confused. I spent the majority of the day doing verb conjucations using verbs and nouns that I have no clue what they are. It also doesn´t help that I have absolutely no clue about English grammar. My tutor keeps referring to all these English terms so that it will make it easier to understand the Spanish. I finally had to tell her that I had no clue what the English terms actually meant. She has her work cut out for her.

The tutor is great though. She is super nice, and she speaks fabulous English (unlike the first one). She´s a 28 year old mother of one. She gets about $60 for tutoring me for the week, which is enough to keep her in the middle to upper class range in Guatemala (judging by her Razor cell phone). She has been pretty patient with me. When I was going over my notes this morning though, I think I may be slightly more lost. I may have to just stick with the grunt and point.

Things are great with the family that I´m staying with. The lady keeps trying to speak Spanish to me, but all I keep saying is ´Ci, ci´. Hopefully shes not asking me anything too complicated! First meal at the house: mini potatoes, white rice, and (drumroll)..........a fried egg. Ha! Pretty tastey though actually. Now that I think of it, I haven´t had meat since I got into the house. Last night´s meal was beans, some kind of salad, and fried bananas.

I´m loving the fact that I have my own room. Have been sleeping A LOT over the past couple of days. Naps before class, in between class, and then after class. Kind of reminds me of my first year and UNBSJ (Chris, remember taking those naps out in the old green Celebrity in between classes.....Ha!!).

Loving the fact that I now have my own guitar. I wouldn´t accuse it of being too concerned with staying in tune, but it´s a nice little guitar anyway. Still adjusting to the nylon strings.....definitely a different sound. I´ve already started writing my first song in Spanish, ´Quisiera un Batido de Banano´ (I Would Like a Banana Milkshake).

I´ve posted some pics from Antigua. The volcano pics are included. I realized afterward that I went a little crazy with the camera when I was up there, so I only posted a few. Enjoy.

R

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.ccq2aj3l&x=1&y=mayj2f

The Rest of the Nicaragua Pics

2006-07-08T11:17:00.000-04:00

Thought I´d just post the rest of the Nicaragua pics. Some of these are from that giant crater lake that I went too. Couple others from the giant local market that they have there. I lot of the stuff of the main part of the market was shit, but there were some off the beaten track parts that were pretty cool.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.6ooyr9v5&x=1&y=-dhay1t

Antigua, Guatemala

2006-07-07T11:05:00.000-04:00

Have been in Antigua now for 6 days. As I said before, it´s probably my most favorite little town that I´ve found so far. Cobblestone streets, super small, nice markets, cool shops, friendly people, and decent nightlife. Lots of travellers around as well. I´ve been staying at a hostel called the Blackcat (www.blackcatantigua.com), which is a super social spot. Still running into people that I had met from all over, including in Costa Rica over a month ago. Things have been super chill, which has been nice. We have got to watch a lot of World Cup since we got here. There is a place across the street called Cafe2000 that uses its whole back wall to show the games. Place gets packed everytime.....its pretty exciting. Its also a cool place to grab dinner and watch a movie in the evenings. Watched American History X the other.....what a great flick....can´t believe that I didn´t watch it before. Have been hitting up the markets, but its tough to find stuff in Central America. I have been looking for a cool pair of sneakers, but most places don´t have my size. Lots of awesome T shirts here, but I don´t have room in my pack for them. Have to be picky and choosey.

Went on my first Volcano hike a couple of days ago......Volcan Pacaya. It was absolutely amazing. The hike was only 5 hours in total, but I couldn´t believe how awesome it was when we got to the top of the lookout point. Note that Pacaya is still fully active, so you can´t actually climb to the top. The pics don´t do it justice, but it is actually really intimidating looking. This perfectly conical mountain, that is just dark volcanic rock. Some cool views of it on the way, but when we came over the ridge, it was amazing. We got a full view of this gaint lava field. It looks like it was another planet. There actually were these slow moving lava rivers going right through it. AND, the best part about it is that we actually got to walk out into the middle of it!!!! It was unbelievable. We walked to within 5 feet of the lava flows!!! You´ll get to see it in the pictures. It was absolutely amazing. Crazy hot though, so you could only stand there for a second or two. The soles on our shoes actually started to feel like they were melting. It was super eerie to walk across as well........it sounds like it was almost hollow underneath (some parts more than others!). And there were deep cravasses everywhere, where you could actually see the lava flowing underneath you. And the whole time you´re out there, all you here is the crumbling all around you. Was very impressive.

So I finally found a guitar! The price was right too.........$47 for guitar and travel case. Not too shabby compared to the $150 I was thinking that I was going to have to spend. Its not too bad actually either, although it will take a few weeks of playing it to really know how it holds up. It is actually a classical guitar (nylon strings, wider neck) that is a junior size, with a cut out. Thor, you would get a kick out of it! I will get a picture of it shortly, and be sure to post it.

And so today is my last day at the Blackcat hostel. Yes, I´m actually finally starting Spanish school today!!! Ha! I told Mom and Dad yesterday on the phone....I think they were in shock! I´m going to be staying with a family for the week. I got to meet them yesterday.....super nice people. Absolutely no English. Ha! The woman just wanted to make sure that I was going to be there for lunch today! Ha! There are actually a couple of other students that live in the house too though, but hopefully everything will stay Spanish. God knows I need it. Anyway, that´s all for now. Have a bunch of great pics (of the town this time too). Will try to get them posted sometime soon.

Ryan

Pics from Granada

2006-07-04T14:36:00.000-04:00

Hey, just wanted to link in the pics from Granada. As you can see, most of them were taken in bars......or maybe even all of them.

I´m currently still in Antigua, Guatemala. I actually hiked my first volcano. It was phenomenal. Will have to tell you about it later. Back is a little sore today, but not too bad. Was an early night last night though.

Anyway, enjoy the pics. Don´t worry Mom and Dad, I was perfectly sober the whole time........kinda.

Pics

Zedeno Chara in the Hizzo!!!!

2006-07-03T10:20:00.000-04:00

Yeah Baby!!!!! The big man has come to Beantown!!! It's a sad day for Sens fans (notably Stinch), but let's all rejoice that the Boston organization has made one giant step (6 foot 9 to be exact) back to becoming the old Big Bad Bruins!!!

Us B's fans are probably the most neglected fans in the league, so it is nice to be able to celebrate any victories that come our way. Nothing wrong with signing the #1 free agent available!!!

Not sure about signing Savard at $4mill, but 1 for 2 ain't that bad.

Too bad about Gill as I actually liked the way he was coming along, but hey, there's a new big man in town (note to hardcore fans: recall Chara rag dolling Gill around like a little girl, one foggy evening in Boston last fall).

Can't wait to see Chara in that B's uniform......brings a tear to my eye.

Leon and El Salvador

2006-06-29T21:05:00.000-04:00

Have now made it to Guatemala.

After partying it up in Granada for a few days, I decided to start heading towards Guatemala. Ended up going to Leon, and stayed at a hostel called Big Foot. Was a cool town.......it is considered to be more liberal than the colonial Granada (the university is there). As I had said before though, I was pretty exhausted from Granada, so I actually packed it in early both nights that I was there. Made it to the beach one day, but didn't get to do any surfing. Still trying to find a decent guitar to buy, but haven't had any luck. The ones here are all garbage, and they're still looking for over 100 bucks. Tried to buy one off a guy at the beach, but he wouldn't sell it to me.

Next day, we caught the Tico bus to Honduras for $25. It is a little more $$$ because it is basically a luxury coach (like a Greyhound), instead of the standard school buses that I've gotten used to. The border crossing is still a little nerve wracking. They have a line up of heavily armed military dudes waiting for you. They clear everyone off, unload all the bags, and then line us up in front of the bags. After that, they go through each pack and question you. As soon as they see the Cdn flag though, they crack a little joke, and then send you through.

We just ended up passing through Honduras, and then into El Salvador. Stayed at a hotel in San Salvador. It is very Americanized......they actually still used the US$ as their currency. It was pretty pricey there too. Had to pay $13 bucks each for the room. It had A/C and a TV though.....AND, most importantly, it had warm showers! I forgot how amazing they feel. I took one of my patented 25 minute showers (I don't care what any of you say.......us North Americans take these awesome warm showers for granted! Ha). The funniest part about San Salvador was the amount of armed guards everywhere. Even the Sushi shop next to our hotel had a guy standing outside with a shotgun. Literally every single store on our road had an armed guard. We actually also saw some crazy looking dude with a machine gun walk out into the middle of the road, because he was protecting the people that were pulling out of their driveway in a Benz.

Made it to Guatemala the next day. Guatemala city was even more Americanized than most American cities......if that makes any sense. Just watched the soccer game there, and then jumped on a heavily overcrowded school bus to Antigua. They literally fit 3 to a seat, with people standing. It is quite the experience. Some of the buses actually still have the school rules listed (no standing up when the bus is moving).

Made my next major translation/pronounciation error the other day. After coming out of the bar, I was starving and was looking for something to eat. I wanted to tell the cabbie that I was hungry (tengo hambre), but instead I pronounced it as 'tango hombre', which basically is like saying I wanted to tango with a man. These spanish folk are so damn picky with their pronounciations. The little French that I know is more of a hinderence than a help. I think the cabbie got the point though when I started making the gesture of eating my hand.

Have been watching lots of world cup. Starting to really get into the games. Actually got nervous today watching the England/Portugal game, when it went to penalty kicks.

Back is doing OK. Good days and bad. The beds here are pretty good, but once again, they are about 2 inches too short for me. On average, I crank my head here about 2 to 3 times a day. I think that I'm starting to get numb to it.

Anyway, in Antigua now. Probably the coolest little town that I've been to since I got to Central America. Guatemala in general is good and cheap as well.....probably on par with Nicaragua. Will probably be hanging out here for a little while. Staying at the Black Cat hostel. Cool spot.

I'll check in soon. Bye for now.

Ryan

Granada

2006-06-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a party town. I´ll have to say, that the Bearded Monkey hostel was everything that we hoped it was going to be. I have tons of pics, but unfortunately, the majority of them were taken in bars.

Granada is actually supposed to be the nicest town in Nicaragua.....very colonial. It used to be the capital of the country, but it has quite the history. It was actually burned down by an American (William Walker anyone) over a 100 years ago, but lots of it survived. (Nicaragua has been plagued by US intervention for most of its recent history.....the states wanted it for moving goods between the 2 Oceans. There are still anti Reagan signs around). Pretty cool markets here, but I still havent found a decent cheap guitar. The vendors are looking for 130 bucks.....basically 3 months salary for them. My spanish still isn´t good enough to negotiate yet (Eso es muey caro amigo!!!!)

I showed up here with 6 of us from Isla de Ometepe (Nick, Ross, Amanda, Cecilia, Sandra). We then hooked up with 4 or 5 others that we had met in Costa Rica, along with the Cdn contingent (the girls from Alberta). Translation- I partied 4 nights straight. We have been buying the local rum (Flor de Cana) by the bottle. The 2nd night a full force ice war broke out in the bar (jamming ice down each other shirts-pants). Not high on the maturity scale, but damn, I forgot how fun it could be. AND, just as the owner was giving us the warning about being kicked out, the waiter brought the next bucket of ice. The pics are classic. Nick actually delivered an atomic wedgee on one of the girls (Greg, I think you can explain what that is).

I´m getting too old for 4 nights straight though. I have now been to bed at 10.00 two nights straight. Drinking lots of water. AND, taking 1 hour siestas.

Nick wanted us to buy him a gift at the market, so Cecilia and I found a deck of naked women playing cards. Well, they turned out to be a lot more hardcore than I expected. We have been playing poker with them......aka. porn poker. No real gambling though......just units of country pride. PS - the Irish have no pride.

I bought a CD at the market that reminded me of listening to the radio when I was younger.....country´s greatest hits. Lots of Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, and a little ´Playing with the Queen of hearts¨. Was a big hit at the hostel.

Greg, I rolled out your quarter quarter dollar joke. It was a big hit. The power was out and we were all sitting around the bar with candles....was the perfect time.

We all watched Old School and Team America yesterday. A bunch of the crew hadn´t seen Team America before, so you could imagine the laughs. Unfortunately it was the rated version, so they didn´t get the best part.

We went to another crazy place called the Monkey Hut (same owner). It was amazing. It is a cottage like place on a giant crater lake (natural spring lake in the crater of an old volcanoe......20 million years kind of old). The water is so crystal clear, that you can open your eyes underwater. The scenery was stellar. We spent the afternoon lounging in hammocks, jumping off docks, and paddling around in tubes and kayaks. Tough life I tell you. Amanda took a stellar pic of us jumping off the dock and mooning the camera. The girl working there said she wanted a copy for the website.

Anyway, I´m now in Leon staying at a hostel called Big Foot. Plan was to head for the Pacific to go surfing for the afternoon, but the old back has been a little cranky, so I may be just left watching from the shore.

Talk to you later.

Ryan

Nicaragua

2006-06-24T11:32:00.000-04:00

Back in civilization.

As I said before, Nicaragua is awesome. It is exactly what I was picturing when I planned this trip. People are super nice (locals are called Nicos), culture is authentic, food is great, scenery is stellar, and there is a solid backpacking curcuit. So far, the weather has been fantastic. It would be pretty tough travelling during the dry season with the crazy heat. Temperature now is perfect and everything is super lush and green. Nicaragua used to be pretty unstable about 10 years ago, but now it is being built up everywhere. The auzzie was telling us the land values have gone up 10 fold over the past 5 years. Century 21 is all over this place, and they have actually starting buying up a lot of it.

The first night I stayed in a town called San Juan. Hostel was a little rough.....well, on me anyway. It was my first real dose of poor living conditions. Basically a dumpy garage, literally on the side of the road. My head was practically hanging out on to the street, separated by a couple of steel bars (a parade actually went by, about 7 feet from my head....good view I guess). During the night, the guy in the bunk below me rolled over and I jumped up thinking that somebody was reaching through the bars and shaking my bed. Definitely an adjustment. Also, you have to become one with the bugs, or else sleep becomes even more of a rarity.

Next day we heard about a beach about a half hour away, called Majagual. It was stellar. Basically a hostel with its own private exotic beach. Living conditions were a step down from the previous hostel though. Set a record though for the largest dorm that I´ve ever been in......32 beds. And, I wouldn´t call it a dorm........more like a prison camp. I actually spent one night with water dripping on my forehead. The place was damn cool though. Cool swinging chairs, awesome sunsets, and some pretty good surf. I cant get over how giant the waves are here. We actually couldn´t go surfing for a couple of days, because they were too crazy. Got to watch some awesome surfers though. We actually had a cool night there where a few Spánish dudes put on a show with some latin music. Hostel was owned by a cool Auzzie guy named Paul. Got to play cards and hang out with the local Nico dudes working there.

Nico Time
This Nico time thing is pretty funny.....you definitely have to adjust. It is pretty much pointless to be on any kind of schedule. For the ride back to town, we were told that 2Can the truck was leaving at 5 (it was me, the Irishman, and an Aussie looking to get the lift). Five turned to 6, then 7.30, then another 20 minutes. We finally left at 9, after sitting around for 4 hours (cars canÂ´t handle these roads). Then, about half way through the ride back, the truck stops and turns around! I asked my buddy what the hell was going on and he said that they had decided to go for a beer! Ha (after waiting 4 hours.....I guess why not). We ended up hitting this hole in the wall bar on the side of the road, and pounded beers with the owner of the hostel, and all the Nico workers that we had met when we were there. It ended up turning into a pub crawl. One of the spots we hit actually had a jukebox.......no windows, doors, or flooring, but a giant jukebox! I threw on some Paradise City from Guns n Roses and the Nicos loved it.

The funniest part is, is that by the time that actually got us into the nearest town, it was about midnight and all the hostels were closed for the night! We actually had to go all the way back to Majagual with them!!! Ha (impossible to leave). That of course, after hitting a few more bars. Was probably the highlight of the trip so far. Me the Irishman and the Aussie have been travelling together ever since.

Isla de Ometepe
Super awesome spot. Its an island with 2 twin volcanoes on it....one of them still being active. My love of mountains has now expanded to volcanoes. They are the coolest things. I got a stellar pic of the sun setting behind one of them. The locals put a cross at the top of one of the volcanoes in Nicaragua as they had thought that it was the gateway to hell.........a look at this picture and you can see why.

The first night, I stayed at a resort at Chaco Verde. Felt amazing to get a shower and a nice meal after my 2 day pub crawl. The lake is giant (10th largest fresh water lake in the world) and the beaches are wicked. Everything just runs free here......chickens, pigs, horses, dogs, monkeys. I then moved on to a plantation that accepts backpackers. Super cool spot called Zopilote......run by hippies. Everything was organic. By this time there was a group of 7 of us who had met on the ferry. They were happy to see us, because it meant that they could fire of the stone oven and do a pizza night. We didn´t have power in the evenings.....so it was all by candlelight. Kind of felt like summer camp or something. Beds were shit though, so I didn´t get much for sleep. And yes, I got to experience my first outhouse of the trip. Strangely enough, it was actually much nicer than most of the washrooms that I´ve had the pleasure of using.

We did a guessing game about each others ages (there was about 10 of us in total staying at the plantation). They decided that I was 23!! Ha! It ended up that I was the oldest at 28. The Aussie asked me what the midlife crisis was like.

If I ever end up owning a farm, the first thing I´ll do is lay a beating on all the rosters, and train them to shut the hell up in the morning. The howler monkeys are little bastards as well. They sound like giant apes. Pretty eerie actually.

Have learned to play the international backpackers card game.......its called shithead. Its pretty cool, because it transcends language........and pretty much everyone knows how to play it. Given my lack of Spanish, its nice to be able to interact, although, I must admit that IÂ´m becoming somewhat of a master at sharades.

Got to do laundry yesterday.....thank God. Showers were becoming pointless, given that my towel smelled so bad.

Anyway, my pictures have now uploaded, so I´m out of here. Happy hour just started.

Updates are a little tougher when I´m going through the more rural areas, but keep checking in as I can update when I hit the ¨cities¨. Loving all the comments. I´ve been showing some of my travelling friends the blog and they can´t get over it......especially that there was even another MLA who posted a comment!

Here are the pics. Note that I have posted the rest of the Tamarindo pics on the previous post.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.1ujkvsnd&x=1&y=-sjkuu8

Talk to you soon.

Ryan

Quick update and the Rest of Tamarindo Pics

2006-06-20T16:01:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update to say hello. Difficult to find internet connections.

Nicaragua is amazing. Having an absolute blast. This county is so much more authentic than CR. Scenery is awesome. These places can be a little remote, and the roads don´t always allow for easy access back into the nearest town. The bus system is pretty damn good though for the main areas...........all old school buses shipped down from the US. Reminds me of junior high.....running across the park and watching them drive away as I just missed them.

Living conditions have been somewhat similar to prison camps, but they are always about 100 feet away from a private exotic beach. Food is stellar. Stomach is feeling much better. Have typical travelling cramps, but pain is gone. Currently staying on a plantatation that is located on Isla de Ometepe, called Zopilote close to Magdalena.....the couple are making us pizza tonight with veggies from their giant garden. Much nicer than my 32 bed ´dorm´ from last week. Locals are super friendly. Have some funny stories, but will post them later.

Thanks for the well wishes. Should be back on line within the next week. Thinking of heading to Granada, although, I´m liking this little farm more and more. Have been taking tons of pics. Will try to get them posted soon as well.

R

HERE ARE THE REST OF THE TAMARINDO PICS

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.5r4wlocp&x=1&y=7044jp

Arrived in Nicaragua

2006-06-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

Surrived my first border crossing. Was a little nerve wracking to tell you the truth. Travelling with a group of 5 though, with a couple of them being fluent in Spanish. After making it through, we rented a cab who let us throw on some Foo Fighters for the trip in. One of the highlights of the trip so far. Got to see Isla something Empe island............2 twin volcanoes on an island. Pretty amazing site.

San Juan is a cool chilled out little town on the water. Nice little spot, and no hustle and bustle.......or Burger Kings. The hostel I stayed in last night was probably the most run down place I´ve ever slept in. Basically creaky old bunkbeds stored in a shitty garage on the side of the road. Ha. First night that I actually had trouble adjusting from the old lifestyle. Dad, it is safe to say that I´m no longer living the highlife as far as hostels go. Not to worry though, town is super friendly and super safe. The locals definitely have an open door policy, being that most of them don´t actually have doors.

Anyway, we´re leaving here and heading for Managua........I think its called that. Supposed to be a chilled out beach about a hour away from here. The hostel there is supposed to be a little nicer.

Stomach is still in constant pain. Have managed to keep the food down though, which is good. No fever or anything either.......just stomach pain. Hoping that it goes away soon.

Katey and Kye.......got your messages, but I won´t be able to respond until I find a better computer. Tara, I saw that you sent pics, but I can´t view them here.

Can´t believe that the Oilers won last night. They are making me lose my pool (those damn Carolina players keep getting more points).

Anyway, will update this post once I find a better connection.

R

Heading to Nicaragua

2006-06-13T20:31:00.000-04:00

Have been sick for the past day. These aren't the most pleasant washrooms to throw up in either, as you've heard from my previous posts. And no, it wasn't from the booze. I think that it was some kind of bug or food poisoning. Starting to feel a little better today though, and have managed to keep lunch down. Was trying to find somebody to play with my hair today on the couch but didn't have any luck. I just went down and caught the sunset though, and had a quick swim in the ocean, so this is the best I've felt all day.

B/f getting sick though, I managed to pull off watching the hockey game at the hostel. I started spreading the word a couple of days ago, and had gathered 14 Cdns by the end of it.....a few were from Edmonton. Too bad they lost, but was a blast regardless. The folks from the other countries got a little shock when they got to see what its like to watch hockey with a bunch of Cdns. I have been catching lots of the World Cup soccer, which is cool b/c there are usually people from those countries watching. Starting to understand it a little more, but still a little shady on a) the referees miss most calls, b. the players get kicked in the shin and look like they're dying from flesh eating disease, and c. the losing team doesn't seem all that interested in tying the contest up near the end of the games......maybe its b/c nobody actually knows when the games actually are going to end. Aside from that, I think that I'm ready to start gambling on the sport. I still think that it is miraculus that the favoured teams actually win, given that the best team in the world still only beats the shittiest team 1 - 0. Sookhoo, congrats on the Trinny tie.....I didn't know that that was your first World Cup.

I learned a new word in Spanish yesterday.......mañana.....it means 'tomorrow'. It was about 3 days too late though. I had been saying bañano......which basically means that when I was leaving the surf shop each day, I was saying 'banana', as opposed to 'Tomorrow!'. No wonder the guy was giving me funny looks.

Maybe he thought I was hungry from surfing all day, and that I was going to get a banana.

Anyway, me and an Irishman named Nick are heading for Nicaragua in the morning. Planning on going to San Juan del Sur. There is a hostel there called something de Oso....which we're hoping isn't full.

Will report in when I get established.

Bye for now.

R

Blog Tips

2006-06-12T12:20:00.000-04:00

Hey all, be sure to check in on old posts that you have made comments on, as I will eventually reply to them there. This blog thing definitely has a learning curve to it, but it has been working like a charm for me. Good to see that you are all figuring out how to use it.

Pics from La Fortuna and Tamarindo

2006-06-09T21:08:00.000-04:00

Thanks everybody for all the messages!!! Couldn't believe it when I logged in. Feeling very loved! Ha! I will try to keep the posts as interesting as possible! Also, I'll respond when I find better internet.

Spent my first day surfing in the Pacific. Didn't catch many waves, but still was a success. Got some tips from some other surfers. Sun is really strong and it is difficult to not get burned (spf 45 doesn't do the trick when surfing). Had to take the day off from the sun, but will be back in the water in the morning. The beach is beautiful, waves are awesome for learning, and water is warm.

Tamarindo is an awesome little surf town with a good night life. Already bumping into people that I've met in other cities. The hostel here is a true top of the line hostel......nice kitchen, TV for watching movies, cozy living room, guitars, etc. Called Playa Tamarindo hostel. Diet has largely been comprised of peanut butter sandwiches. As you know, I don't really care that much about food when travelling......just something in the stomach.

Watched the World Cup here today with the locals (called Ticos). CR lost 4 - 2 but it was awesome to see them score a couple of times. The place went wild....that had TV's set up outside. The locals still celebrated even though they lost.

My Spanish is getting better. He been kind of fun picking it up. Somewhat similar to French, which is good for recognition, but not good for pronouciation. The locals in general appreciate any efforts. The greatest part is, is that I ask them to speak slower (Podria hablar mas despazio), but then I don't understand what the hell they're saying anyway! What can do, eh.

My accent is getting made fun of alot. I told some people that we were 'out and about' the other day. They all got quite the kick out of it (oot and aboot).

Eh.

Anyway, I have to go hit the showers. Dinner plans for 8......and its not peanut butter sandwhiches tonight. Ha. Here's some pics.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.al55fe9l&x=1&y=qbwugn

Ryan

Tamarindo

2006-06-06T23:59:00.000-04:00

In Tamarindo now. Getting used to the budget thing too. I had the option of getting here by jeep for $35, but instead used the public buses (10 hours) for $10. Ha!

This is a super cool beach town, considered to be the 'surf mecca' of Costa Rica. Crazy touristy, but I just got done watching the sunset on a stellar surf beach, while kicking back on a lawn chair having a beer (most expensive beer that I've bought since getting here.....$1.75). Needless to say, I may be sticking around here for a little bit. Found a nice hostel.....it's a little pricey at $12/night, but hey, I'm still in vacation mode.

Travelling with a buddy from Spain (nickname Fes b/c of the way he talks). I have been teaching him English ("Don't be shy, show me your boobs"). We are heading out surfing in the morning, so its going to be an early night tonight.

Had an awesome time in La Fortuna. Spend another afternoon at the tarzan rope swimming hole, and got some good pics. Will get them posted at some point. Last night, we hung out in the natural hot springs in the rain forest.

NOTE: Mom and Dad, don't panick here. The Arenal volcano thing was actually way more amazing than what I thought is was going to be. The Humanitarian Early Warning Systerm now has the mountain coded as Orange Alert, which is one step down from the worst (code Red). It has now erupted twice in the past few days....and we actually witnessed the 2nd one!! It was one of the craziest things that I have ever seen. We saw the lava spray into the air, and then there was a giant boom that made us all jump back. After that, the volcano got covered in lava.......top to bottom. I've never seen anything like it. The rumbling on the rocks pouring down the side of the volcano was eerie. The road is now lined with cars watching it. Here's the website.

http://www.hewsweb.org/Volcanoes/default.asp

I have been working on my Spanish skills. They are coming along, slowly but surely (Como si dice hungry en espanol). Met some people from Quebec on the bus. I tried to bring French into the mix, but it quickly turned into a disaster. I cruised through a few towns today that didn't have any English, so it was some good practise for me.

Think that I may head to Nicaragua next week to go do a home stay with a family and to go to Spanish School for a week. The families only speak Spanish, so you don't have much choice. Ha.

The only internet that I've been able to find is a little $$$, so I may not have that much access here. Will try to find something better.

Anyway, I'm going home to watch some TV at the hostel and hit the sack. Thanks for the all the comments, love reading them.

Ryan

Hockey Updates

2006-06-05T20:15:00.000-04:00

Looking for hockey updates. Not just scores, but looking for the low down. Who´s hot, who´s dominating, what are the story lines, etc. etc.

La Fortuna

2006-06-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

I´m staying in a little town called La Fortuna. It is at the foot of the 2nd most active volcano in the world, Volcan Arenal. It actually had a small eruption yesterday, so there was tons of lava flowing down the mountain last night (don´t worry mom, its been doing this for 12 years, very safe). It was phenomenal. I couldn´t believe how much was coming out and how quickly it bombed down the mountain, destroying everything in its path. We knew that it was awesome, because all the locals were coming out to see it. Tried taking pics but the camera doesn´t pic it up.

I¨m staying at http://www.arenalbackpackersresort.com/main.htm

Once again, not exactly roughing it.

Mom, you are not going to beleive this. I met a girl today from PEI who said that Father Bob did her confirmation. How hilarious is that!!! Meeting a lot more people here then I expected.

This afternoon, we hiked into the mountains to a giant waterfall and had a beer at the base of it. This place feels so exotic. The mountains are huge, but they´re also very green and lush. We also found a swimming hole with a wicked tarzan rope. Twas an awesome afternoon.

Now the afternoon showers are hitting, so its time for my ciesta.

Bye for now.

R

Pics from San Jose

2006-06-03T12:48:00.000-04:00

Hey Folks,

Here are some pics from San Jose. Have met some awesome people. The crowd last night had some good diversity.......1 Holland, 2 Swiss, 2 Americano, 1 German, and 3 Canucks. English is the language of choice, however, I´m going to need to pick up some Spanish if I want to get to know the locals. Have taught myself about 30 phrases. Went to check out guitars ($20) but they were garbarge. It is amazing how dark it is in the hostel room. The first night I almost pissed my pants because it was so dark I didn´t think that I would successfully be able to make it off the top bunk and make it to the washroom. I waited about a half and hour until a chick in my room woke up with a light.

¨Are you going to the washroom¨ ¨Do you mind if I follow you¨

She was probably a little creeped out. I now sleep with a little flashlight tied to my pinky finger. Need to find myself a headlamp.

I met a few people yesterday by the pool and it turned out that one of them was from Fredericton. AND......it turns out that he used to speed skate with my cousins Heidi and Simon. Then another girl said, ¨Do you mean Simon Campbell, the RCMP officer¨ How funny is that. Day 2 and have already met someone from NB. I figured that wouldn´t happen until NZ.

San Jose is now exactly the town that I was expecting. Little more run down. Hard to find things (no english book stores around). Some cool markets though.

Thinking of heading to Volcanoe Arenal tomorrow (active volcano that you can see lava at night sometimes). Supposed to be some great waterfalls and hotsprings to lounge in. Still in vacation mode.

Anyway, that´s all for now.

R

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8ab2nqp.b12o3c75&x=1&y=o6micg