Manufacturing Content

Absence

Hello blog.  I’ve been busy, uh, traveling.  Too busy to keep up with my travel blogging.  It would be much easier if I weren’t traveling, but unfortunately I am.  It would also be easier if the smallest, most remote places we’ve seen so far, the villages along our four day trek through the Usambara mountains in Tanzania, had internet access.  But, since most don’t even have power, I guess we can forgive, eh?
 
It would also be easier if we weren’t busy lazing on Kendwa Beach in Zanzibar for a week, which I guess is less forgivable.  But, I mean, when beer is about $2.50, and the sand is flower soft and white, I almost forget what a computer is.
 
If we hadn’t spent all of that time camping in Kenya, looking at wildlife and watching out for the most dangerous animal in Africa, I might have blogged.  But alas, the hippo is an elusive foe, and one prone to striking when you are using a mouse.

 

If the South of France wasn’t so damned comfortable, with the house, and the kitchen, and the lovely beech, and the friends from home who braved the French hospitality and joined us.  If only, but again I am beaten.

 

I hope, with the gift of these photo albums, you can forgive me, blog.  I treat you better.

 

D-man.

Rewards

When I checked my email a few days after finishing the Camino, I had received the following poem from my Mom.  It was a very sweet gesture, and one that deserves to be shared - hopefully she won't mind!

D & K Pilgrims

 

Once there were too happy souls

Very young and very bold

 

Out to walk the Pilgrim's Way

Determined no matter what to stay

 

Through sun, rain and pain

This challenge was theirs to gain

 

St. James was kind, pious and modest

Setting an example for this great progress

 

Blessed are you D & K

For having reached the Camino today!

D.

Walking and Thinking (conclusion)

Well, we've been finished walking for almost two weeks now, and it's time to wrap this sucker up.  The Camino was a fantastic experience, that much is obvious.  I mean, how much more can you really say about getting up at six a.m. every morning and walking about thirty kilometers.

This tends to change the way you think about a lot of things; the baggage you carry, the difficulty of everyday life, the importance of all the superfluous things that ordinary life brings.  I won't preach or elaborate on these things, but they are very important lessons to have learned, and I'm sure that they will come through in the things we do during the next six months.

From here, we go to Africa, India, Nepal and South East Asia.  There, we will see some of the most challenging and beautiful thigs, and they will be a test to the tests we've overcome on the Camino.  Will we feel diferently about being a tourist in the poorest of the poor countries, where food crises threaten to take away even the most basic elements of life?  Will we stop and help, or get back on the tour bus and go on.  Heavy questions indeed, but the world is a heavy place, and the heavier your backpack is, the harder it is to get through it.

D.

Walking and Thinking (part two)

Pre-script: I totally ment to post this, like last week.  But due to a lack of internet, and clicking the wrong button, here it is now.  While today is actually day 26, with only 65 km left, most of this still holds true.  Look for more in a few days when we wrap this puppy up. 

So, today marks day fifteen of the Epic of the Camino, which is just about the half-way mark (or at least that's what I am telling myself to feel better).  By now, we've sent a second load of gear to be picked up at the end of the road, which has made our packs a feathery eight or ten kilos.  Our legs are longer screaming at us, and our feet have blistered, healed, and calloused.  We are officially pilgrims.

And so, as a pilgrim, I find myself pondering the Camino in various ways.

1) Mathematical - Today, on a stretch of paved road with signs marking the distances, I counted the number of steps I take in a kilometer: 1200.  A quick bit of mental math shows that this means each day (about 30 km) yeild 36000 steps.  Stretch that out to the full 30 days, and you have 1.08 million steps.  Now, flat paved road steps are the longest of all steps, so in theory, there are many more.  I think that by the time we finished, my feet will have hit the ground over 1.1 million times.  Which brings us to...

2) Physical - What is this trek doing to my poor body.  Well, besides the feet, there is the legs, knees, back and shoulders to worry about.  Most are good.  I forbid myself to complain about the physical (except to K, who has a fantastic knack for releiving pains) because of the number of old people walking the same distance.  I met a seventy-year-old who's been walking since somewhere in France, over 1200 km already.  But, once you get used to waking up at six a.m. every morning, and walking until about one p.m., you start to feel really good.  And not only physically good, but also...

3) Karmic - So far, I've returned two cell-phones to pilgrims who lost them along the way (what kind of pilgrim has a cell-phone, anyway).  I picked up a pair of lost walking sticks that K has been using in the hope of finding their original owner (two days later, and no takers...) and we've been walking with an Italian preist for about a week.  I like to believe that a direct result of these things is that we have not yet been without a bed along the Camino, a misfortune that many have faced with the innondation of Germans on the trail this year (due to some German commedian writing a book about it, from what we understand).  But our patience for ze germans is wearing thin, and I fear some karmic fallout will ensue.  Until then, we try to play nice, and we try to keep our heads together for...

4) Self exploration - Oh, I've done a lot of thinking on these first fifteen days, about the future mostly, but also about the opportunity we've had to travel the world, the things we've seen, and how I will approach the next legs of the trip.  I think there's a whole different post coming at the end of the Camino on this subject, so I'll just leave it at that.  Because we are, after all, only half-way done.

D.

Walking and Thinking

So, we're on the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James, le Chemin st. Jacques.  A path known by many names, and travelled by many people.

Ostensibly, this is a pilgrimage - a word that has evolved beyond the traditional religious meaning.  It is thirty days of walking westward towards the supposed remains of St. James, of apolstelistic fame.

So what is a pilgrimage but a chance to think, ponder and reflect.  For anyone thinking of undertaking this pilgrimage, here are a few handy subjects for your mind to dwell on while you are walking:

- why didn't I spring for the super light-weight sleeping bag

- how did that part of my foot get a blister

- who decided the path should go directly up this hill, can't we just go around

- why is down so much easier than up

- who is this god person, anyway

- did I really need three pairs of underwear?  Wouldn't my pack be lighter if I only brought two?  And would my wife mind the inevitable smell?

- am I on the right path (both in life, and towards Santiago de Compostela)

- would I reach spiritual enlightenment faster if I paid someone 8 euros per day to drive it to the next village

...and so on.  Of course, the answers to all of these questions are in many ways beyond the scope of average human comprehension, but I intent to discover them by day 6 (just finished day 4 now).  Once these are checked off, I'll start to ponder the meaning of life and all of existence stuff.  One thing at a time.

D.

South American Roundup

So, how was South America, in ten words or less?
Although an eternity for a vacation, two months and ten days is a short time to be in one continent.  We’ve met people who are spending a year in one country down here, working, leaning the language and getting to know the people.  Sometimes I envy those travellers who can pick a country and see the shit out of it.  I’m a bit too ADD to spend so much time in one place, and this constant changing of surroundings is heaven to me.  Although I’ve been to Peru before – and thought I was somewhat prepared for South America – I’ve seen places, landscapes and people I would never have imagined.  I can’t wait to get to those places that I never thought I would visit, like Africa and India.  Even out next stops in

Spain and France will be incredible new experiences.

Was that ten words?

Not really, but I’ll talk to the editor and see if we can’t clean it up.
Right on.  Make me sound smart, if you can.

I’ll do what I can.  So what were the high and low points of South America?
Do you mean literally or figuratively?

Um, both?
Okay, well literally, the high point was Aconcagua, Argentina the highest mountain outside the Andes.
Figuratively, the high point would probably be, of all things, the bus ride from Copacabana to La Paz, Bolivia during our first month of travel (which was not an overnight, by the way).  I don’t know if I can explain why - the scenery, while picturesque, was easily trumped by countless other landscapes.  The bus wasn’t particularly comfortable.  If I had to guess, it was probably just the first moment on the trip when I felt at ease, and started to get into the groove of traveling.  I had the love of my life at my side, a jar of Pringles, and all my belongings in a bag under the bus, and that was all I needed.  This feeling has come and gone many times since, but that first time was special.

Wow, deep, bro.  And the lows?
Well, the literal low point was probably doing yoga on the beach one morning on Iha Grande, Brazil – looking out into the Atlantic and keeping an eye on the forest behind me in case any pumas decided I looked tasty.
And the figurative low was eating the bad chicken on Ilha Des Sol in Bolivia, and staying in a hotel room with no heat.

How about your fellow travellers, how have they been?
Great.  I’d say the best travel friend we’ve made remains Simon the dog in Bolivia.  But the people are good company too.  I’m particularly impressed with the old folks trekking along down here.  Mom, Dad (not that you’re “old”, of course) take heed: you can travel anywhere, do it!

And how many Canadians have you met?
Only about four groups, two of whom were from Quebec.  C’mon Canucks, start representing in South America!  Tough it out in Peru and Bolivia.  Party it up in Brazil.  And eat steak with a spoon for $10 in Argentina (oh, the steak is sooooo good here).  And do it now because already prices are starting to go up.  Argentina has doubled in the last two or three years (but still cheep) and Brazil is already ridiculously overpriced.  Bolivia and Peru are still cheep like chips, but not for long.

What’s been your biggest complaint about the trip so far?
Well, in Peru and Bolivia, it was “Why don’t they just charge a little bit more for tourism and do it right!”  This was in response to shoddy tour operators and hostels that were only concerned with getting the most tourists through as quickly as possible.  However, Argentina has erased that complaint completely.  For just a few more pesos, you get a fantastic tourist experience.

Will you be back?
I’d love to go back to Bolivia and Argentina.  Bolivia was a great growing country, and I’d jump at the chance to go back and help in some way.  Argentina needs to be visited again with the luxury of taking K shopping.

For shoes?
Yes, for shoes.  The poor thing has to survive the whole ten months with only three pairs of shoes – none of which make her taller than me, or have sparkles.

Sounds like you’re really roughing it.
You bet!

D.

Surviving the long haul

Overnight bus rides are a simple, unavoidable reality of travel.  In countries like Argentina, whose "distance between population" index is highest in the world; in Africa, where even a 300 kilometre trip can take three days; and in India, where you'll probably get stuck on a train for a week before a space in the crowd appears for you to escape through, you need to be prepared deal with and thrive during these adventures.

Focusing on recent experiences in South America (because that's as far as I've been so far), I will hereby enlighten and inform about the best methods for conquering the overnight.

Words of warning

In case it isn't immediately obvious, overnights are evil because they involve sitting in one uncomfortable bus seat for anywhere between twelve and thirty hours.  Your feel swell, your knees hurt, your bowels ache, you thirst and you starve, and your brain goes numb from either squinting at too many English subtitled movies or reading too many bouncy pages.

And you can forget getting any natural, comfortable sleep.  Rough roads, crying children and livestock will dash any hopes of that.

Remedies and consequences

The best way to conquer the overnight is through unconsciousness, which many travelers achieve through sleeping pills.  While guaranteed, in the right doses, to knock you out for the desired amount of time, they are not ideal.  First off, they are addictive.  Secondly, they don't actually give you natural sleep, so you will wake up groggy and confused.  And lastly, being comatose for the duration of a bus ride leaves you prone to banditos (on sketchy rides), vandalism (when traveling with ass-holes carrying permanent markers), and missed all-important pit stops and smoke breaks.

Now, speaking from experience, some of the best nights sleep I've had have been caused by late nights in the bar.  Recreating that experience on a bus is tricky, especially if your idea of a "night out" differs from a few brews at the pub.  I strongly recommend against hard drugs, especially any amphetamines, on overnight bus rides.  No one wants to sit beside someone who just swallowed two happy blue pills for twenty hours.

After extensive testing, the best mixology to follow is two to three cans of beer, one of which should be a tall can, or sharing a small bottle of whiskey.  Be careful to avoid dark beers (too meal-y), as well as very light ones (too quick to get through the system), as well as rye (too anger inducing), tequila (too party animal-ish, unless traveling in Brazil - see geographical indicators below), and absinthe (too hallucinogenic).  A two to three beer range ensures grogginess, without excessive drunkenness, minimizes potentially nasty visits to the loo, and reduces the hangover threat.  It also allows for a comfortable sleep that is easily interrupted by dangers.

The final coping strategy is a technological one.  An iPod, or other inferior music-listening device, should be listened too the whole distance of the trip, with noise-cancelling inner-ear headphones.  The key to this is to have a good selection of music - which should include nothing by Yanni, or any boy/girl band whatsoever - so that songs may be listened to at random throughout the night.  If trying to learn the local language, a few language lessons are also good to throw into the mix (¿done hay lugares gay?). 

A shout-out is in order to all those whose play-lists enriched my iPod before we left.  Thanks to you, and the extraordinary battery-life of my iPod Touch, I once listened to 264 songs straight over a 27 hour trip, without having to skip a single one.

Geographical indicators

Now, whichever method of dealing with the long-haul bus trip you choose, the shock of an unfortunate wake-up in the middle of the night can be disorienting.  Here is a short guide to a few South American countries, should you ever find yourself busing through the continent.

If you wake up in the middle of the night and the DVD intro screen to a bootlegged version of John Rambo is playing, and has been paying for the last three hours, at top volume, you are probable in Peru.

If are woken up at a rest stop that has no washrooms, no resting places, and only one small wooden booth last seen being used by Lucy to give psychiatric advice at 5 cents a pop, and is staffed by someone very closely resembling the bus driver, or maybe the bus driver himself, and at which pop is, coincidently 5 cents, you are probable in Bolivia.

If you are awoken by a lively fiesta on wheels consisting of any two of the following elements, you might be in Brazil: music from cellphones, small battery powered radios, or the buses speakers; food, both cold and barbecued somehow; dancing; disco balls, strobe lights, or black-lights.

If it is two am, and you are woken up by the stewardess and offered a tray of dinner, or a friendly game of bus bingo, you might be in Argentina.

Recovery

Your best chance at recovery lies in finding the nearest ex-pat pub run by either Dutch, British, or American hippies, eating something woefully unhealthy, and drinking too much beer.  Only at this point with the shaking stop, and will you be able to shake off the weariness, and residual wariness of the overnight bus trip.

D.

What a Trip!

Our first gap tour has ended, and without so much as a day to adapt to life without a shepherd, K and I flew off to Buenos Aires and had to fend for ourselves to find a place to stay, and transportation from the airport.

It was painfully obivous how rusty we had become, as I rushed into the airport shuttle without realising that a cab for two people would be only a dollar more, and would drop us off wherever we wanted rather than at the bus station.

For the last 24 days, we've had all of our toughest decisions made for us, all of our logistics, safety concerns, meals, and translation done for us.  Not only did we escape unscathed from the trip, but we made fast friends, learned a thing or two, and saw so much more that we ever could have on our own. 

We had a fantastic guide, who never let us down no matter how hung-over she was.  She managed to keep our diverse group together, made sure each and every one of us was included, and always made sure we knew what time the free hotel breakfast was being served.  Thanks, P!

D.

With a grain of Sugar

One night in Rio de Janiero was all we needed to realize that big scary cities aren't the place for us.  But depsite our reservations about the sanctity of our stuff and the safety of our travel-weary selves, I have to tip my hat to the city because it is indeed the most beautiful city in the world, as many have said.

But it is so only from a certain angle, and a certain distance.  If you ever get here, do yourself and your camera a favour and see the city from the spectacular decks atop Sugarloaf mountain.  Or, better yet - and if your wallet allows you to - see it from a hangglider.

But whatever you do, don't try to see it on foot, at night, while trying to find random bars in sketchy quarters...

D.

Falling for Brazil

Given my recent visit to Niagara, I was ready and eager to judge the rest of the world’s so-called waterfalls.  Victoria Falls, Iguazu Falls, bah. 

Maybe I should have seen Niagara in the summer, when I wouldn’t have been pelted by sleet in minus-twenty degree cold, but I couldn’t help but be impressed with Brazil and Argentina’s shared Iguazu Falls.

It took two days to take in the whole thing, which spans a huge area, and is made up of two main chunks, with many little falls and areas along the way.  Day one was spend in Argentina, and day two in Brazil.  The difference between the two sides is that the Brazilian side is like watching a movie, while the Argentinean side is like being in one.

To contrast with Niagara, the first thing that struck me was the lack of casinos.  Brazil and Argentina each allowed one hotel to be built on the falls, along with the well laid out parks on each side.

Argentina’s park took a whole day to navigate, mostly because the Easter Sunday crowds were oppressive.  But despite the throngs, the traffic moved well, as the park is laid out with very easy to navigate walkways and boardwalks along the rocks, allowing you to get to the best viewpoints without being in danger of plunging over the edge.

The Brazilian side was short and sweet, with only one path to walk down to view the falls.  Although we weren’t as close to the falls, we were able to get a grasp of the size of the fall area and appreciate just how magnificent they were.

We were blessed with good water levels (about 120,000 m³ per second, whereas sometimes the water can be as low as 70,000) and great weather.  The natural park surrounding the falls was pristine, clean, and full of wildlife, and after seeing Niagara, I have to say that it is truly better to have such a natural wonder surrounded by nature, rather than tourist traps and industry. 

More (many, many) photos have been posted in the Brazil album.

D.