Monday, January 05, 2009
ENGLISH
pico mogoton
driving on dirt road
walking the river
cam & carmen
carmen and a friend
cloud forest
peligro campo minado
Mogoton's summit marking
We have successfully climbed "Pico Mogotón" yesterday. We found a very friendly guide named Roberto to show us the way between the landmine fields witch were at some point potentially on both side of us. The trail is well hidden but our guide knew the way. We left around 5am and drove up to a dirt road washed up by heavy rains. we crossed just about 3 or 4 small rivers to get to a small coffee farm. from there, we walked in a beautiful pine forest to a steep river with big rocks. we've jumped from rock to rock for a long time. meanwhile we got to know our guide, his cousin and a man that joined us for fun. We left the river for a trail so hidden I would of never found it by my self. For hours we made good climbing up the slope. A cool chill told us we sere entering a wonderful cloud forest. Near the top, were stripes of yellow plastic marking making the separation of the unsafe zone for landmines from the last civil war on both side of the trail. It has been a wonderful day and it was a luck to have Roberto to show us the way.
finka las nules
cam picking coffee Roberto took us to the family farm today so we could see how coffee grains were picked, separated from the fruit, washed and dried before getting roasted. The coffee of his farm won the 2nd best price of Nicaragua making the family very proud.
Posted at 03:59 pm by rudecam
Saturday, January 03, 2009
ENGLISH
east coast of Nicaraguasmall boat used by fishermen without the sailWe were supposed to go to a popular tourist destination named "Corn Island" to spend Christmas but we decided instead to go to a less popular place. A lagoon located on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is populated with a population of Caribbean English speaking blacks who demarcate themselves by their boundless friendliness. Most of them live by the sea and the product of their fishing trips although some of them have diversified their income into public places. One of them places is a bar nicknamed "stiff cock" by the local "rudeboys" (Littles gangsters). All around the lagoon are small communities of fishermen and farmers transporting themselves with small canoes powered by a self made sail made of pieces of tarp sowed together. An old man told us it was not the way it used to be back in his younger days: he used to go fishing early in the morning and at 9am sharp the wind would shift back towards the village. Nowadays, the wind shifts at all time with variable intensity. All the same for the rain season, they used to know exactly when to plant seed and to harvest but everything has become unbalanced now.Leon & his trees
In a place named "Laguna Perlas", I�ve met with an american named Leon working on a ecological project aiming to restore some of the natives trees. I helped out planting a few seeds inside plastic bags and it helped me relax a lot. Who said that being a tree huger wasn't cool?http://laecorestoration.blogspot.comAtlantic coast of Nicaragua
The plan was to reach Tasbapauni, the northern village of the lagoon, and catch rides northbound to Puerto Cabezas along the coast. Technically the coast would be walkable since it is a beach all along but locals patiently explained that it was not so safe. Drug traffic from the south is making it's way up the Miami and other northern destinations. Who say drugs say police! Drug traffickers push their precious goods overboard moments before authorities search them. The "gifts" are washed off to shore for people to find them but witness are not as desired. The only option left to us was the boat but we couldn't find any other one than the one we missed. We simply got pissed off and decided to go by land. sea turtles
sea turtle1
sea turtle2
While we were in Tasbapauni, nothing else than turtle meat was presented to us. It tastes like salted beef. We were feeling uneasy to eat an endanger animal and it is partly why we didn't want to stay any longer. It seems to be an usual part of the diet of the locals. next adventure: Pico Mogot�nthe highest mountain of Nicaragua is named Pico Mogot�n with 2106 meters (6909 feet). It is a volcano located at the boarder of Nicaragua and Honduras. The mountain has been filled with landmines back in the 80s by the Sandinistas. the army were demining the area back when the last climber has done it a couple of years ago. this suggest that the area is getting safer. despite the remoteness of the mountain, there seems to be a trail going up there. The mountain has not been climbed very often, so it would be an adventure with a lot of tales. FRAN�AIS
nouvel anApr�s avoir savour� la mer, les habitants anglophones de la cote Atlantique et la viande de tortue, ma blonde et moi nous sommes dirigés vers Matagalpa. C'est une ville propre situ�e dans les montagnes o� un vent frait s'y infiltre. C'est l� que nous avons passe le nouvel an. En fait, nous �tions tellement fatigués de nos nombreuses aventures pendant la journ�e que le lit a �t� notre seul d�sir bien avant minuit. Par contre, les gens du Nicaragua f�tent grandement a coups de p�tard, feux d'artifices et coups de klaxon. Les d�tonations des "obus" qui explosaient, r�sonnaient dans notre cubitule de b�ton arm� (notre chambre dans un bordel). Le tout ressemblait plus à un d�but de guerre civile qu'à toutes autres f�tes. la moto
Pour 15$us / jour, nous avons trouver une moto asser particuli�re. Cette vieille moto de 185cc n'avait pas de klaxon, pas de lumi�res de signalisation, pas de miroirs, pas de lumi�re de frein arri�re, pas de cadrans fonctionnels de vitesse ou de RPM et le pneu arri�re en avait vu d'autres. Mais pour le prix, c'�tait quand m�me un bon deal. Nous sommes parti au nord vers la jungle et je me suis senti revivre. Depuis mes d�buts en moto, j'en ai r�v� et j'en veux encore. prochaines aventures: Pico Mogot�nLa plus haute montagne du Nicaragua se nomme Pico Mogot�n du haut de ces 2106 m�tres (6909 pieds). C'est en fait un volcan situ� � la fronti�re du Nicaragua et du Honduras. Les faces du volcan ont �t� remplies de mines anti-personnelles dans les ann�es 80 par les Sandinistas. Lors de la derni�re assention r�pertori�e il y a 2 ans, l'arm�e �tait en train de d�miner la r�gion. Malgr� l'�loignement du volcan, il semble y avoir une trail pour monter. Le volcan n'a pas �t� gravit souvent, ce sera donc remplis d'aventures et d'histoires � raconter.
Posted at 07:18 am by rudecam
Monday, December 22, 2008
FRANCAIS
les pieds mouiller
En partrant de Quebec, je me suis vetu d'un coton wate et de mes vielles bottes de montagne qui prenne l'eau. apres une heure, la slush pleine de calcium des rues a eue raison de mes bottes. jai du donc passer les prochaines 30 heures avec les pieds mouilles. j'ai fait une escale a New-York ou j'ai passe la nuit a semi-dormir dans un fauteuil du Hilton. Arrive au Costa Rica, la seule chose que je voulais cetait de voir ma blonde. j'avais 8 heures de route a faire sans savoir ce qui allait m'attendre. les bus etaient toutes pleines car cest le temps de noel. j'ai quand meme reussi a trouver une bus qui m'a amenee a 50 km au sud de la frontiere du Nicaragua. A 5am le lendemain matin, je marchais vers l'autobus qui allait m'amener a la frontiere apres ma 1ere nuit de someil sans mes bottes. le sourir aux levres, les pieds presque sec, j'y suis arriver seulement pour voir une file de 1km aux douanes. parceque la marde arrive seulement avec un soupcon d'ironie pathetique, il s'est mit a pleuvoir torrentiellement. il etait 8am. ... ce fut une journee ou le soleil tapait tres fort et les milliers de gens etaient un peu agressif dans les files et tous bougeaient tres lentement. ... je m'en suis sorti a 4:30pm et j'ai reussi a prendre un bus pour Managua ou m'attendais patiemment ma blonde. la morale de cette histoire est que je me suis acheter des sandales des le lendemain matin et que je refuse de porter mes bottes depuis... je crois quelles sont encore mouillee lorsque j'y pense.
PHOTOS
Les ordinateurs ici sont tellement lent, il m'est impossible de telecharger des photos ou des videos et meme d'ecrire avec des accents.
ENGLISH
LEARNING SPANISH
It was about time for me to learn spanish. I weanted to do it for so long but never had (or never took) the opportunity to do so. On Dec 19th, i made an ass of myself in the public bus trying to talk. on the 20th, i learned little insignificient words. on the 21st, Carmen (my girl-friend) has been with me and she helped me count in spanish up to 999 999. Today, I've learned how to conjugate regular verb at the present tense. I can now ask way way around and with Carmen's help talk to people around us.
PICTURES
the computers are so slow here, i cannot upload any sort of media from my camera.
Posted at 05:46 pm by rudecam
Sunday, May 27, 2007
 ENGLISHafter asiaafter I got off the plane roughly a year ago, I hitch hiked to Québec city (2.5hours drive) and hid. I don't know why some of us travelers do that but most of my friends and I seems to seek a peaceful state of mind when we come back from most travels.
So I hid until my friends found me asleep in a hostel.
I've been doing the same thing ever since those first few days. I looked for a job that I found in a restaurant nearly a week or two after my landing and for a place to stay. Then I also had to figured out a new plan to go to school.
Before I knew it, I had a job that took the rest of my summer (12hrs a day and a short brake in the middle of the day) and part time when school started. I set myself in an adult school to get a couple sciences courses i was laking. Add on top of that a part time course at the university. No need to say, I was busier than a farmer on a ranch.
In January, I didn't have to look for a place every month (eating lots of time) and I was set in college full time with my adults courses part time and work also part time. That is why I do not write too often on this blog.
Posted at 07:14 pm by rudecam
Sunday, July 30, 2006
ENGLISHKrabiIt was a 5 minutes decision taken while still half asleep. The nightly bus ride from Chiang Mai to Bangkok tired me much and I was on the go again for an other night to end up in Krabi this time. Fortunately for me, I met with a traveler from Germany. We got along well and shared a room. That night of the day we arrived, we got wasted. We knew we were right on the Lonely planet tourist route in some lame beach filled with tourist resorts. The cost of living was 3 to 5 times more expensive than in the normal Thailand. That place was created and built to accommodate rich tourist and the prices followed.
Truly there was nothing to do there. We've seen many of the richest young adults in the world coming to "the beach" to show off. Mindless pretty American girl holding a fashion magazine in her hand "well in L.A. I don't go outside, I stay in AC rooms or in my car or I go shopping". That is my favorite example. Most people were so snobby, it wasn't worth starting a conversation. So many people walking around showing paper stacks of cash. It was all about status. The nicest your clothes were the better.
These people had nothing to say for the most part and they sure didn't know anything about the country they were in other than they came here to read a book on the beach. And this I say with no exaggeration.
**Yes,... off course, there might be a few exception of people who've been there before and knew much about Thailand... BUT! I haven't met none of those people on that beach.Krabi part 2cam & chopper We didn't stay long with those mindless tourists; we left the next day and ended up further out there about 25km from Krabi. Every single night (except for one because i needed sleep) we partied our ass. At this point there was no difference between us and any other tourists. We were not travelers anymore, we had stoped to party. We stayed in a backpacker place which is quite rare in the area now. Lucky for us we got along very well with 2 staff from our hotel. One was the bartender and the other was the hostess. These 2 girls were actually cousins. Every night at 12am, the end of there shift, we would pick them up and party with them until sunrise. that's why us boys were so tired after a few days of that but we didn't let go; we kept on.
During the day, I had my chopper to ride around. The loud noise of farting thunder rose in the town every time. Our 2 staff girls took us discretely to cool places off the tourist route before they went to work or else, my German friend and I would make a road trip to explore the province. The fun I had on that bike!
It was all there for us, we had a cool province to explore with a nice bike, our cool girls at night and in the morning, enough partying to make us feel old, the ocean with small waves but big enough to bodysurf them, good food and all...
That's what made me stay so long in one place. Although I wouldn't be happy playing the tourist for long, it was a very nice splurge of providence and good intentions. Puket road trip from KrabiI had just gotten the chopper and met the girls the night before. I left anyway and drove nearly 200km (one way) to get to Puket. I knew right from the start it wasn't my scene but I wanted to see such a place as a learning experience.
Like I expected, It's a town built on tourism. The dream of the rich yoppy families and the nightmare of the traveler on a budget. Got an overly expensive room (note this despite low season time) and went out to see the "legendary night life of Puket". Met 2 cool dudes that were the only positive highlight of the night as they were very interesting and had cool stuff to say. The rest of the night was me getting more and more wasted as all the other tourists in the bars. Any time I tried to make a walk in the street, I was harassed by lady-boys who would firmly grasp my drunken arm and hang on to it. Always the same things they say: "Hello handsome man, where you go? You want me? I go with you!" It never matter what you tell them in English or in Thai, they are firmly attached to you like a nasty leach for the next 10 meters. I even got to see a fight down on the same street, a rare thing in the Thailand I've seen.
It seems to me that all the bad stuff that is been said about Thailand is coming from places like these. And it is perfectly understandable; If I would of only seen Puket and nothing else of Thailand, I too would say nasty things about Thailand. Unfortunately, many foreigners come from all around the world, flying to Bangkok then flying to Puket and flying back to where ever they come from after 3 weeks of partying and laying around on the beach. Puket is the only thing they know about Thailand... makes it very unfortunate.
The next morning I was driving back towards my german friend and the staff left behind... what can I say?
The nice part of all this was the 400km of driving in beautiful country I've done on a well running bike. I turned it back yesterday and it already seems like a distant yet finally realised dream. What now?I took the night bus to Bangkok after much days of laughter and quality time. I got over my little depression and dissappointments written in my last post. And I actually made it a learning experience. As my mother says: "[...] you have health...... and some cleverness to take care of yourself....."
Posted at 02:19 am by rudecam
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rudecam@gmail.com
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