we hate work

moving on

2009-03-06T11:59:00.002-05:00

this was colin and i five months ago, ridding our lives of everything.

yesturday, i observed the landscape through an airplane window. the colours changed from greens to greysandwhite. i'm home now, it's cold and my dog is old. likewise, i have acquired some wrinkles myself on this trip. it was everything you would expect me to say, so here's some random things i can share with you.

1. if you're doing america, do it by car.
2. learn spanish.

top places in no particular order:
1. puerto escondito, mexico
2. lanquin, guatemala
3. puerto viejo, costa rica
4. sunzal beach, el salvidore
5. isle de ometepe and san juan del sur, nicaragua
6. San Fransisco, duh

neat-o careers of people i have met:
1. self employed gum ball machine distributor.
2. nyc emergency situation controller
3. factory production revolutionist
4. 10 year traveler
5. professional sand sculpture artist
6. linguistics prodigy

touching survival stories:
- first hand account of the thailand tsunami disaster of 2004
- botched kidnapping attempt

and that's it. thanks for reading this blog. seriously.

casco viejo and steps on the hill

2009-03-04T01:44:00.000-05:00

--based on true events.

the sun broke through an open window this morning and seared my skin. uncontested, i rose to my feet and put on some levis and a white button down shirt. from there, i reached for the kitchen. pancake batter covered bananas were on the menu - a self-made recipe.

out the door and into the street, i look both ways and head into the jungle. i give my change to the poor and my bills to the rich. i drink a bad coffee in the park and watch a woman get slapped and thrown into a car door. noone does anything so i walk the other way. a pigeon shits on me off an over-hang. "its karma," i say to myself, "i should have shield my eyes.

i hop on a bus with nowhere to go and end up in the industries. it's a desolate part of town, cars wizz by and skin my teeth. by 11am i'm hungry again. i step into the nearest kitchen, full of grit, grime and poverty. it smells good in here.

i must have ate a bad borrrito because upon my return home, i'm glued to the porcelain. i imagine my ass hair curling over like a-thousand happy hands griping the dried piss from the seven last men - like mustard layed on thick, it sticks.

wet-paper-bag stomach, night falls and i head to the bar.
"a beer!," a good-for-nothing demands, slamming his fist into the wooden counter-top, sticky and puddles. "a beer!," again. the bartender succumbs with an awkward smile. not twenty minutes later and a fight breaks loose round' back. blood and scurvy. a man is left for dead on the tile with a broken bottle in his hand. i look over my shoulder and take another drink.

it's panama city.

no boundaries in drip drop ville

2009-03-02T12:06:00.001-05:00

for the past few days i've been hangn' out with some cool girls from cali.
we went to a national park and hiked around the jungle. a monkey threw a fairly large branch at us. we got lost. against my advice, one girl climbed a power-tower. they made me lunch. i found a long hair in my mouth.

we ate at an even better vegetarian restaurant than the one previously stated back in november. in general, panama city food is cheap, large portioned and moreorless good. 30cent freshly squeezed anything. 1.50$ plates for lunch and dinner. 40cent icecream. and all the pancakes i can eat in the morning. buttt, im officially over pancakes now.

in the best news, i learned how to crochet. i can't put it down. im cookn' up some warm gear for that rediculus -16 weather back at home. i really can't believe that's going on.

home in 3 more days.

listen to your stomach

2009-02-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

pizza, sandwiches, milkshakes, fishmarkets, sundaes, pinnaple juice, grime shops and malls.

48 hours with nicole kelly.
------------------------
.. an old man promoting his everything-type store announces to the street,
"hey mr., buy your wife some sandels."

bocas to panama city and carnival

2009-02-25T02:06:00.000-05:00

crossing the boarder into panama was literally a walk over a bridge (with gaps to fall to your death). nice.

after that was over with I headed over to bocas del toro, possibly the most popular beach town in panama. this place has received a lot of hype from fellow travelers but did not live up to my expectations. on the plus side i bumped into a friend i met a few weeks back, bocas local, carol. she took me in and prepared a delicious chicken dinner for us. mmm chicken.
also,
carnival is going down (more on this later). this is the largest celebration of the year for panama, and comes second to rio, brazil for intensity. i think the idea here is drink for 5 days straight, resting from 4 till 8am daily. beyond drinks, there*s a lot of music, water cannons, and monster costumes who lerk the streets whipping people... "it*s tradition."

on the second day in bocas, complications had ursina and myself out of accommodation. through a stroke of kind-heartedness another local, joshua, took us in for the night. he even weaved me a super headband in under an hour.

--side story--
i have repeatedly seen this couple throughout my trip. first time in northern mexico, a few times through the next 3 countries and finally in bocas. i screeched my bike to a hault infront of them while they were trying to cross a road and explained the situation. they loved it and took me out for a drink.
------------

due to ursina*s flight back to the states in a few days, we opted to head for panama city in class, by plane! trying to be a little more gucci, i sipped on scotch and smoked long cigarettes while listening to the course hum of the 40 passenger mini, completely satisfied with the idea of skipping 15 hours of boat and bus travel. still, i feel a great accomplishment making it from van to pan city by bus (with a small cheat..). i will live out the rest of my days here in panama city until my flight home and hopefully rendezvous with and old friend from mexico, ms. puerto escondido bikini contest winner, nicole kelly.

>>>>> fast forward a few hours..
and so i did, nicole is here and the last day of carnival is here, which was absolute madness compared to bocas. millions of people strong, it was all about confetti and throwing it in little kids faces. ha

life is hard sometimes..

2009-02-22T08:43:00.000-05:00

recovering from an injury is hard,
especially when you have beautiful woman from around the globe feeding you grapes on the vine.

the spot i am in has arguably been the best to date.
a few days in puerto viejo turned into 11 and i have finally mustered enough travel energy to leave this vortex; massive collaborative dinners and breakfasts-zs have left me a greasy/sandy beach blob.

and the people i have met here have been top dollar. one of which i will continue onto panama with - swedish ursina. its 'carnival' this weekend, so things might be a bit twanky over there.

last night we had an ugly fire. instead of small twigs, we kicked it off with a bottle of lighter fluid - yikes! almost lost my eyebrows.

tales from the crypt

2009-02-18T15:02:00.000-05:00

last night, a crew of us from the hostel went to check out 'ladies' night. going into this, i knew that 'ladies' night really meant 'man's' night, fueled by testosterone and the perpetual fight to procreate. and fight they did. bar fight!! a local mashed another one's head with a beer bottle, and i received the shrapnel. covered in blood, the club cleared out into the street. and upon further review, some bystanders pointed out to me that i was bleeding from the neck and the hand.

another night in the clinic, 2 internal and 4 external stitches later and i'm back on the streets.
i had a small army of friends with me, i'm on the drugs and everything is fine. it's good to be a sailor.

all good things come to an end.

2009-02-17T15:21:00.000-05:00

(poison dart frog)

got my flight booked for the first week of march outa panama city.

i'v just been kickin' it in puerto viejo.

life without colin b

2009-02-14T19:43:00.000-05:00

here i am, the caribbean coast. it's warm, i can see the ocean, i am consuming mangoes like they're going out of style. for me, the best part about this place is the large population of rastas. there's one guy in particular who slowly walks around town with a cane trailing behind him. as we approach he says something inaudible. i reply with a "boi!," or a "YAhchh," like raekwon would, and we laugh and he likes it.

this morning i went to an organic farmers market where i purchased some tastey treats
and
afterwards i attended a free yoga workshop. most of my energy went to containing my laughter while the class hummed like 'bumblebees' during a breathing excercise. "go from high to low - high to low..." this was almost as funny as the time i let a lawnmower of a fart off against the wooden floor in one of my jasper sessions.

soo conversational spanish is slipping because everyone speaks english around here and i didnt open my mouth for 5 straight days in san jose. however, my reading is stronger than ever because im surrounded by spanish popular mechanics magazines and newspapers.

here's a picture of my new tattoo (sorry mom). i got it in the back of a surfshop for cheap. it was a good move because the entire town stopped by to check it out. get a tattoo, meet the world.

happy v-day

2009-02-13T23:43:00.000-05:00

return to Canadia

2009-02-10T18:51:00.000-05:00

so i finally came back to Canada.
flight was actually pretty quick and easy. obviously got sent to the special section to get my bag searched in Canada...which is becoming a normality..they wrote r 76 on my page...someone told me thats a percentage of your risk...so im 76% maybe...thats not bad...they were a bit miffed by me not having a job or house and only having 9 dollars..thats normal right?
those motherfuckers make me nervous, but i guess they had to let me in.

being in Canada is not so so bad. i never get this culture shock that everybody talks about. the only bizarre thing is walking around in the suburbs of Barrie where it appears im in a ghost town..but then again i always thought the suburbs were shitty.

i wish i was warmer, but its not so bad and its nice to see my people again.
i can feel my knowledge of the spanish language falling faster than my parents' mutual funds
and ive been looking at jobs realizing that im not qualified for anything..
anything.
its all good though.
i've been enjoying the luxuries of canadia such as hot water, consistent electricity and peanut butter..been getting smoked under the table by my chronic friends....

things learned on the trip
1)determination is more important than diet
2)im a basketball superstar...
3)pay the premium for good alcohol
4)don't trust peope with gold teeth...or people without pockets
5)if you think you know a lot, your probably just an asshole

peace!

colin w blacoe

i knew it was going to be a bad day when i woke up to cher

2009-02-10T12:58:00.001-05:00

i got electricuted.

ive been using this deep-dish-hot-plate type deal. you plug it in and its got a rod you insert into the bottem of the pan with a dial to control the temperature.. you know what i mean?

after lunch i took the rod out, cleaned the pan and went out for a jaunt. it just so happened i left the rod not touching but pointing at a can of beans i intended to use later on. later in the day i went over for that can of beans, and i cant quite remember if i actually picked it up or not but in a flash it was on the floor. in through my finger tips and out my right foot, my leg began to rise and shake like a dog would after peeing. afterwards, my heart was racing and my entire body had the sensation you get after hitting your funny bone.
my scientific hypothesis is that the rod (still plugged in but turned off) was zapping super electricity into my can of beans all day. genious.

here i am trying to be all yogi in this secluded apartment and i get electricuted by a can of beans. i am taking this as a sign and departing for the caribean coast tomorrow morning.

the last time we met was 12 years ago.

2009-02-08T16:19:00.000-05:00

i have been locked away in the mountains for too long. last night the bouncing souls killed it. the oi´s, the high fists, the sweat, the smell and all those memorable songs from the 90´s. it´s all coming back to me. the white lights, i´m drenched in beer, my lungs, the smoke, i can´t breath.

surrounded by the spanish, for an hour and a half the band converted them to english in a 4 count. the crowd sang so loud i could hardly hear the band. it was wierd like that. music is the real universal language. 20 years of history was laid out infront of my eyes - from gutter punks to international fame. it was nice to see.

i hate work

2009-02-06T16:04:00.001-05:00

for we hate work s final night we went out for beers and bailys. we talked past, we talked future, we talked politics. tears were shed. goodbye old friend.

colin is gone. mat is gone. i am alone in the city. i watched the hills last night - whoa drama.. bouncing souls tomorrow. i think colin is going to do an ender blog.

plans: no plans.

desayuno y bye-bye

2009-02-06T15:50:00.000-05:00

a thom berry idea

2009-02-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

here's a rough track of our trip from start to finish - about 8,000km.

_____________________

and another idea,
we were thinking that we would commit to the americas and never step foot across the oceans for the rest of our lives.

plans for an east coast tour will commence in 2012.

feb 2nd part 2

2009-02-02T13:11:00.000-05:00

-10:55am
jon eats cereal.

grand slam and the weak bowl

2009-02-02T09:09:00.000-05:00

nadal takes his 6th grand slam title and the cardinals suffer a devastating loss - two great games in fact.
however, yesturday we both fell asleep at around 530 in the am, and missed the final 2 sets. this was upsetting.

later in the morning, we short circuited an entire suburban block by taking 3 hot showers in a row.* san jose is modern, but apparently still needs some work.

and,
we're pretty darn connected these days in mat's apartment.. we got satalite tv, internet and all that other fun stuff, so if you like us, maybe we can chat on the interweb soon. colin will be here until the 6th and i will be here until the 9th for a bouncing souls 20th anniversary show. this was one of my favourite bands in highschool, so it's going to be a pleasure to see them down here in the latino americas.

* yesturday's hot shower marks the first since mid october in SF - it was an interesting sensation that i havent felt in a long time.
but,
just for the record, in hot tempertures i would prefer a cold. hot showers are overrated down here.

the festival

2009-02-01T05:19:00.000-05:00

we sit and observe the australian open final at 4:29am.
40-15 federer / 4-3 in the second. nadal up one match.

prior to san jose we reserved two seats in a private shuttle. the destination: "a festival." on this night, as planned, we took the shuttle to the festival. it was indeed a festival. similar to the Ex in toronto, the festival had rides, games, food and people. the only significant differences were: more beer, more meat, more clubs (of the dancing sort), and more stilettos. we spent the majority of our time at the bumpercars. i think the cars might be juiced up a little down here because a little girl got knocked out of one and possibly got crushed. she caused a big traffic jam that i couldnt get out of and that really pissed me off (she came out o.k.).

meat sticks were a dollar, so mat and i consumed a number of those.
i also ate: chocolate covered strawberries, 2 pieces of pizza, cotton candy and ice cream.

i really hate it when YMCA comes on, and what i hate more is when people do that dance to it. unnecessary. is that how you spell that?

i dont trust people with gold teeth

2009-01-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

so we've been hainging in san juan del sur. you know, living the surfer life, brah.
this place was recommended to us by none other owen wilson (jons hero)...also rayce darlington bigged it up.
its kinda turisty..but good, and not expensive like everyone says. we rented a little room/apartment for 6 dollars a night from a cool ass lady named 'mama sera'..we had a balcony which we sat on a lot and enjoyed the wind. and rum.
the milkshakes were spectacular and cheap. they had real coffee.
or if you want, you can just sit on the beach and watch girls get stung by jellyfish.

for our last night, we went to a bar with live music. while there, we played a danish drinking game with a swedish poker master and some norwegian anarchists. the game was stupid and terrible but it worked.
i ended up playing with crabs and a swedish girl on the beach.
jon ended up talking to a spanish sand artist.

today we endured a 12 hour trip from south nicaragua to san jose, costa rica.
our bus was stopped three times in the first hour, by policia looking for illegal nicaraguans. stupid. as if suddenly nicaraguans are going to appear on the bus after the first check. but when have cops ever been intelligent?

also some motherfucker was farting the whole trip. we think he was at the front of the bus cause you could see effects ripple down the bus. people would successively start covering up and opening the windows as it faded back. so youve got the option of farts in the bus or burining garbage outside. both bad.

we made it here to san jose. paid too much for a cab, but we;re chillin with our boy matt in his apartment.
getting ready for the big match on sunday. our boy nadal is gonna kill it!

*the title of this blog has to do with the fact that down here its very common that people have gold or silver (not real) teeth/fillings whatever.
so whenever people smile at me they have this mouth full of goldish silver. and something about that makes me not trust them or think theyre sneaky bastards.

ps. im coming home on thursday, feb 5th.
need a place to sleep that night.
holla at me.\

food and other things

2009-01-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

we accidently set course for san juan del sur due to a financial situation.
during travel and confusion i forgot it was my bday. after confirmation we splurged at the bakery and ate large quantities of cookies.
we gota hella´cheap/rad hotel (shown below) and we´re dippin´in 2 days for san jose to meet up with mat again.

we´re back / this is going to be hard to swallow

2009-01-25T12:46:00.000-05:00

a lot has happened in recent days, so i am going to make this snappy...

we are currently situated on that island in the center of the map, isla de ometepe (there are turantulas here!). it´s really f-ing cool, but we didnt bring any money and there´s no ATM so we´re breakn´for costa rica real soon. this island´s got 2 active volcanoes, one of which we climbed yestuday.
there´s a good story behind this but perhaps i will save the extended version for a next post. basically we were way up in a cloud forest with monkeys, knee high in mud. we chilled in the volcano hole with some austrians and had a stretching party in our underwear. anyway..

prior to this we spent two days in grenada with mat. he comped most of our food and drink on his tour company. colin bought a foot long burrito and i bought a white t-shirt and a single one-time-use pack of head and shoulders for $2.25. mat also bought a burrito but fed the whole thing to a dog. his hotel was pimped and i got to use skype with jake for the first time.

the mission to the island was a 3 hour boat ride on the fresh water/shark inhabited lake nicaragua. here, we bought ´second´class tickets to ride along with the working class. 100´s of people packed into the lower deck of the boat. it was like that scene from titanic where kate winslet goes down into the basement with jack and parties for a night with the poor people and has a lot of fun doing it. but in our case there were more nicaraguans and the travelling circus was there. seriously. accordian, balancing acts and acrobatics. it got annoying after awhile because they sucked at what they did.

upon arrival we hitched a ride with 3 unrelated americans. one´s claim to fame was his roll in teenage mutant ninja turtles as a footclan extra. im going to rent this when i get home.

another one was this 75 year old firecracker from boston, henry. he had been travelling by himself with a broken rib and a missing toe cut off by the italians in the 40´s. he was a compelling man with lots to say.

we dined and drank with these three, which led to a lot of tomfoolery. i had to walk henry back to his farmacy-hotel at the end of the night. he was banging on the door, ¨let me in you motha fuckers!¨ he yells in his boston accent. the woman inside sounded abit worried. fastforward, she pointed to the side gate. henry, stumbling into just about everything falls into a ditch and loses a shoe. ¨im going to knock you out when i get in there!¨ of course the woman has no idea what he´s saying and im trying to cool everyone down in broken spanish... you get the idea.

___________________________________

so that was that. but.. news from the frontline.
we hate work´s darkest hour is afoot. the end of the line.
one plane ticket has been purched for early february. someone´s comin´home in the middle of the storm. i dont got the details.

see you next time.
- juan

the wildlife

2009-01-21T10:06:00.000-05:00

wesley snipes

RETIRED

2009-01-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

fourty-one beds later

2009-01-20T10:44:00.000-05:00

moving on to grenada this morning to meet up with mat.
but more importantly, australia open began 2 days ago.
viva rafael nadal!
this guy is my hero.. along with jaimi oliver and Dick Proenneke from alone in the wilderness. check that out.

ok, good.

2009-01-19T19:25:00.000-05:00

yay. departed leon to masaya last afternoon. i think colin had a rough travel day again for unknown reasons...

hopefully spontaneity picks up again.

____________________

¨wear comfortable shoes on inaugural day¨
- cnn

uncle binny

2009-01-17T14:44:00.000-05:00

jon and colin would like to announce that they second bin laden´s call for a jihad against the israeli aggresion.

thats all for today.

una vida ocupada

2009-01-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

so, as you can see, me and jon are getting pretty occupied these days..seriously, we try to do stuff sometimes.
Last night we attended a rock concert. I had seen flyers around town and they had skeletons, so i figured that was a good sign. We showed up relatively early to acoustic music and a room full of older Nicas. We stayed cause litre beers were 2 dollas.
Next, another guy came with more acoustic. He really liked singing songs about Nicaragua or god. Or how Nicaragua was good cause god made it.....yep.
Um, finally a ´rock´group came on. They warmed up playing metal solos ( i think dragonforce would kill it down here)....and there first song was rock..whoo. we found it.
but then the rest of their set was covers...particularly awesome covers>!
in this order....3 doors down, u2, acdc(badly), the doors (amaZING), and of course ending of with the rockinest of all rockers....bon jovi (that song where they go whoaaaa alot)...dope.

anyways, we left early.

after that jon bought pizza off of a girl who wanted to kill him.
you see...mostly people are cool when we interact with them...they are either nice, laugh at us, or dont understand us...or all three.
but a certain amount appear to be absolutey disgusted with us...they just arent having us...and i dont really know why...we´re pretty normal people. i think.

jon- how much is a piece of pizza?
girl starts taking the pizza out to give to him (of course with a hateful look)
then starts to get a bag
jon-no bag please
girls puts the slice in the bag and ties it a lil extra tight

she probably just hates work. so its all good.

real tourists

2009-01-15T14:59:00.000-05:00

my adventurous spirit is deteriorating here in leon. it´s 38 degrees and the shower is broke. my matress´s capacity to retain sweat is showing through the underside. i have little reason to leave the house. i eat cookies and icecream for breakfast and dinner. the internet only brings bad news from hamas. sirens wake me in the morning. and mosquitos and owls wake me at night.

at any rate, here are some photos from our day entitled, ¨lets try to be real tourists.¨
we went to a sad, sorry and poorly maintained ´legends´museum, which by the look of it hadn´t seen a tourist since the time of its creation. afterwards, we hung out in between the decayed walls of a historic monument, which doubled as a garbage dump/hobo hide-out. finally, we headed over to a really big church that was closed for the day.
all-in-all we wanted to see some things and do some stuff but failed.

so, without further a due, this is that.

- juan

rainbows, promises, new beginnings

2009-01-13T13:14:00.000-05:00

apparently today is the 3 month anniversary...thats what jon tells me anyways
so i felt the obligation to blog..
things are relatively slow down here, we are basically living between meals...which is pretty nice.

At night, usually a few drinks to get to sleep....its pretty hard...i sleep with no covers and almost no clothes, and still im am actualy sweating the majority of the night...meanwhile, mosquitoes are fucking raping my exposed skin while i am helpless. Needless to say sleeping isnt my favourite part of the day.

i hung out with a shoe shiner in the park yesterday. in a cruel act of fate, he was working as a shoe shiner so that he could buy shoes (he had none). he told me that he likes white girls cause they have large breasts and that he listens to christian reggae (?)....also that he attends university for natural science, i think maybe the no shoes thing would be a problem...

anyways, keep hating work, say yes to life, live like a stray dog.

people certainly don´t go on vacation to relax

2009-01-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

___________________________________--

we are living in leon and not much is going on.
i´ve been spending the majority of my days in a rocking chair, thinking about lunch and dinner options. im reading mason´s, a history of the sciences, and bukowski´s, dangling in the tournefortia. did you know galileo measured the elevation of the mountains on the moon by looking at their shadows through a telescope he built himself?? isnt that interesting?

last night a drunk homeless man tried reaching into our pockets for change. we let this happen for fun, but it wasnt that, so we left.

this morning i told a child i didn´t speak english in spanish, but he didnt believe me.

so really, that´s what´s goin´ on.

interview with juan

2009-01-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

Interview Part Two:

Its time to meet the other half of this dynamic duo, Jon (aka Juan) Lee.
Jon is not just our trip photographer but also has many fascinating thoughts and ideas. Lets see what he has to say.

1) Jon, I´ve noticed you take a lot of naps. I´m wondering if you can explain the importance of this, maybe tell us what kinds of special powers this gives you.
naps are definitely an important part of my daily regiment -namely for the purpose of averting the displeasures of everyday life!

2) You´ve been known to befriend dogs and name them things like Steely Dan or Wesley Snipes. Can you talk about your canine connection. How do you come up with those names?
yes, i have made a number of long lasting and meaningful relationships with dogs in the past. they like me because i keep sausages in my pockets. and they usually whisper their names to me late in the evening.

actually, i remember wesley snipes sleeping under me and having that tax evading look to him. that´s where he got his name.

3) We all know your a bit of a food conniseur. Central America and food. What have you got to say?
i like to compare central american food with thanksgiving. blend it all up and it still tastes the same!

4) What would you rather ride, a horse or a packed Guatemalan shuttle van?
i fear horses. next question.

5) How has Henry Chinaski changed your life?
i know you know, but for the reader i will try to explain. this man has influenced the way we speak. for example, when inquiring about going for a drink, we say, ¨chinaski?¨

6) Can you explain to our readers the t-shirt rotation program?
wear it till it stinks no longer. the life cycle of shirt goes from clean to stinky and back to clean again. it´s a phenomena i can´t explain.

7) What would the world be like without hats?
a puffy hair populous of baseball haters.

8) Name three songs you never want to hear again.
anything by bob marley, summer of 69´ by brian adams, and save a horse ride a cowboy by big and rich.

9) Leo Tolstoy or Leo Dicaprio?
i really enjoy being swept away to 19th century rural russia, but dicaprio stole my heart in growing pains the television series. im going dicaprio because i´v known him a bit longer.

10) What have you learned about religious celebrations in your time down here?
that´s easy. one word: fireworks.

Parting words en español?
no hablar a las personas no te gusta.

pork

2009-01-08T14:55:00.001-05:00

spent a few days on the coast. it was really hot and i saw a pig on the beach.
________________________________

a few days back on one particularly hot day, colin and myself went out for some strawberry milkshakes. after a long discussion with the shop owner, we were offered a place to stay in the back for 25$ (15 nights). we accepted and now we´re hanging out for 2 weeks.

¨i am impartial to this happening.¨

mathieu roy

2009-01-05T18:38:00.000-05:00

i would like to introduce everyone to mathieu roy. we met in jasper, alberta during the summer of 07´ and till this day remains a good friend of mine. for the last half year or so he´s been living in san jose, costa rica with his girlfriend gabriella. he works as a tour guide and for the next month he will be showing some french people around the country.

for me, it is my top priority to meet up with this man, as he is the world´s friendliest asshole.

mucho amo mi amigo,
see you soon.
- juan

cut short

2009-01-03T17:37:00.000-05:00

holy shit. its 2009.

2009-01-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

omg 2009. who cares?
we spent our new years eve in a posh area of San Salvador, El Salvador.
there was a huge mall and an overabundance of burger kings...we decided to live large and get a private room with a tv! holla.

on the last night of 2008, we didnt really know what to do. i got a bottle of smirnoff for 5 dollars.
our back up plan was to go to some bar down the street..which we did but of course it was closed.
so we drunkingly wandered around for a long time and everything was closed....i guess we were in the wrong area?
eventually we found an establishment that was open. it was BOOMING.
there were almost 15 people in there!..also by the tiime we arrived new years had already passed without our knowledge. but whatever, they had cold cervezas.
there was also maybe..i dont know, 2 womyn in there?
so of course we had a little dance party...all four of us, in a empty bar with a little audience.
luckily i got the good looking girl as my dance partner...she was a good dancer.
Jon had to take one for the team and dance with the less attractive female, and she wasnt a very good dancer (and she had missing teeth).
thats about all i remember.
celebrated new years day with terrible fast food and saw the new kenau reeves movie! wow.

we just arrived in Managua, Nicaragua today. so far it sucks ( not nicaragua, just managua)...i think its just cause were in a kinda sketchy neighbourhood....

mucho tiempo con nada hacer

2008-12-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

i'v had a lot of time to myself in these parts. days filled with eating, reading, surfing/swimming, eating, napping, interneting and repeating. i'v learned how to sew and code html in the last few days, so here's the fruit of my labour. be bedazzled by the new look of our blog!

tomorrow we will try our luck at celebrating new years in san salvidor (capital city), homicide capital of the world (15-24 years of age). lucky for me, im turning 25. that's too bad for colin. not to worry brenda, we will be staying in the poshest district of them all, boulevard de los heroes. there will be malls and muchas fresas (wealthy latino girls).

interview with colin

2008-12-29T08:53:00.000-05:00

colin and i aren't just two pretty faces, you know; we have really neat personalities too! it is now time to meet the creators through a series of interview questions conducted by juan (me), and answered by mr. blacoe.

interview below..

1. why do you like the middle east so much?

Well Juan, firstly the food. I'm a bit of a falafel addict..hummus too...chick peas in general
And I've also been turning into a bit of history nerd in the last year...and they've got quite a large history n those parts.
Finally, the west versus east conflict (however misconstrued it is), is sure to be one of the main driving forces in contemporary world politics and conservative propaganda.

2. if you could only eat food of one colour, which would it be?

Wow, thats even harder than the last question......I would prolly go with green...its ALL about the green.

3. what should american football really be called?

Who really cares? Football sucks...we all know that, right?

4. who killed the electric car?

I forget how that movie ends.....the vietcong?...right?

5. who's got the best haircut of all time?

Probably a tie between your drivers license picture and Nick Rivera's helmet circa 1999

6. best run country of 2008?

I dont know man!..they're all terrible....I like what the greeks are doing with themselves right now!

7. first thing that comes to mind:

1997 - high school, skateboarding, so cal punk rock
guatamala > tortillas, garbage, mountains, coffee
'gasolina' (the song) > me dancing to shitty music in latin america
mexico > hot as fuck, good food, better buses than Canadia
alcatraz > didnt nick cage escape from there?,....i saw it!

8. where are you in 2 days, 2 months, 2 years

chillin in latin america or playing music and smoking dank in Toronto

9. fourth last and first ever book read?

First ever book read? who can remember that?....I remember reading a book when i was really young called 'the rookie', about a baseball player...
fourth last?...um.....i know it was by Pramoedenya Toer

10. who can conjure more wizardry power:
christian slater or john travolta?

This is obvious! Travolta!..hes a scientologist...that means he has all of science on his side!
However...scientists usually dont believe in wizardy...they want things like 'proof' and 'evidence'
sooo. im gonna have to go with slater...im pretty sure all his power is in his eyebrows

otra dia en el peligroso

2008-12-28T16:42:00.000-05:00

colin almost got spearheaded by a testy free range bull today.

blame it on the cities

2008-12-27T19:14:00.000-05:00

uninspired note on the last 4 days -

travel time >>>
lanquin to coban. coban to guatamala city.
observations >>>
GC is ugly. our hotel creepy. infinite exhaust and markets. colin unintentionally ate eggs and beans 4 meals in a row. i ate a salad at burger king. popped our heads in a mall for xmas-sakes - bad!

travel >>>
cross boarder to san salvadore, el salvadore - ZZzzZZzzz
observations >>>
easy boarder crossing. ripped off on exchange. man with shotgun guarding our hotel. mass food for 2$. cheap beers. prostitution offers. fireworks from 12 till 1am.

travel >>>
SS to la libertad (back to the pacific coast - *la mar)
observations >>>
hot. unusual skatepark. football fight. helped push a truck.

travel >>>
LL to sunzal beach.
observations >>>
finally, a place to rest our heads. great hostel, surf and food. we suck at surfing.

------------------------------------
* "he always thought of the sea as 'la mar' which is what people call her in spanish when they love her. sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman."
- Hemingway

nana nana nana nana batcaves!

2008-12-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

lanquin, guatemala.

so were chilin in a small town called lanquin at a great hostel called el retiro
great buffet dinners and a dope river right beside..all the rooms are made with wood and thatch leaf roofs
one close by attraction is the grutas de lanquin (caves)
we checked that shit a few days ago and....damnn!
these caves are huge..you can walk back for maybe like half a kilometer..
plus there are many small sections that you could squeeze into...we chose not to do this because the ground is covered in a consistent layer of guana (bat shit)...and me and jon are not real men,,so we dont take rrisks like that.
and shit...holy stalagmites in there!.....they are like the size of a small building
at close to sunset we walked out to the entrance to watch the exodus of the bats.
this was amazing/terrifying
there is a constant stream of bats (tons of them) flying out for maybe like 30 mins.
and they are flying extremely close...if you try to look staright at the stream, it appears there about to hit you in the face but they always seem to turn at the last second...also, they are so fast that its almost impossible to photograph them.
so there was a group of israeli kids just hanging out there like it was nothing...and there was me and jon crouched on the ground with our hands over our heads yelping like little schoolgirls..
bats are mothafucking scary! have you seen pictures of these things? they look bloodthirsty!
anyways...we didnt get eaten...just exhilirated....
so we bought a litre of liquor for 5 dollars to cool down...yep.

we cant post pictures up right now cause the ineternet is too slow in these parts

ps. props to thomas berry for all his blog comments!

danger to the east

2008-12-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

recently found out that "bufete popular" is not a popular buffet. it does however have something to do with law..
-----------------------------------
did some hiking in the highlands (nebaj). a two hour hike took us to an extemely small town well known for being the worst hit by the military in the civil war. lots of sad faces round here. nights were cold and wet / the elevation was high enough that clouds engulfed the town. 5am morning wake ups by church bells and explosives, sometimes lasting up to 30 min. minimal tourists / our presense in the streets attracted more looks and laughs than usual. and, we ate 7 meals at precisely one restaurant.
-----------------------------------
spent the majority of the day taking shuttle vans east (the alternative to busses but not the better of the two). the 2nd of 3 had over 30 people in and on it, which beats our current record of 22. not an inch of space could be called my own. even my lungs were at half capacity. more, we spent half an hour riding the roof with the baggage. funandscary. this was probably the only time in my life i was preparing for the most painless exit route (m.p.e.r). to make matters a bit more exciting, like our last chicken bus excursion, the roads were... a-hem, eccentric? bumps, curves, cliffs and massive rock/land slides in frequent intervals. danger man. i didnt blink once.

at any rate,
arrived at "the famous" el retiro lodge in lanquin tonight. we were welcomed with a well deserved hearty buffet.. we will probably spend some time here.

buses, mountains, hangovers

2008-12-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

hi there.
today Jon and I left the tourist stained cobblestones of Antigua and decided to head up in the mountains. this required roughly five different buses. all of which were fairly sketchy.
guatemala is very mountanous...so your constantly driving up and down these mountains...this usually occurs with zig zag roads/switchbacks...whatever you wanna call them.
to preapre for this journey we drank a bottle of the cheapest rum we could find in antigua. neither of us remember what happened that night...only that we bought chips at some point.
so here we are riding these suspension-less buses which are sending us flying off our seats every few minutes or so...zig zagging back and forth, feeling like the bus should probably tip over at any point, with drivers who seem to enjoy passing others cars on dangerous blind corners....extremely hungover.....

but the views were nice.

also we managed to fit 22 people into our mini van at one point. thats a personal best in my experience!

lava!

2008-12-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

we gone done a volcano tour a few days back. it was really special to see lava. so warm and inviting. what made the tour even more special were the hyper-cautious elderly americans that joined us. one woman inparticular was on a lot of uppers and pounding back 3 liters of grape soda. she ultimately did not make the summit.

the shuttle to the volcano was an adventure in itself. we had to pull over due to white smoke and someone yelling ´fire!´ the americanos almost killed each other to get out the door. colin and i sat there quietly.. after much argument, 50 onlookers and the fire departments arrival, everyone piled back into the van.

i have photos but the internet is hurting in these parts.

-------------------------------

just outside of antigua,
spent a few days up in the mountains at a cottage like getaway called the earth lodge. got some hiking in and witnessed some serious local culture. not much else to be said here. they had some alright dogs and avacados.

san pedro

2008-12-11T16:06:00.000-05:00

dec 8 - witnessed a wacky religious procession in san pedro la laguna a few nights ago. people crowded the centro to catch a glimpse of the shrine they call maria. her heavy float-like carcus was carried by 20 elderly women who slowly made their way around the streets. the most entertaining aspect of this procession was not maria herself, but the firework display leading her on. every 10 feet she would settle and the ´pyro-technicians´ (kids) would unroll carpets of fire-crackers. they must have lit millions of them because the sound didnt stop.
after 20 minutes of loud and smoke and earplugging, things got a little tiresome.. good thing it was a 3 hour ceremony! and in the not so far distance, la policia and others were setting off mortors into the powerlines.. smart.

and that´s when the bull came out.. just strapped with dynamite, a man dressed like a bull ran through the crowd. his explosives would occasionally fall off near our position and we would do our best to protect our eyeballs.

the highlight was when they busted out the big mortors that misfired. i only caught the after-sights, but a man got blown into a store by a faulty fireball. he came out ok but his sombrero was all chard up.
(a few shitty pictures to come)
_______________________________________________________________

finished with school for now and bounced over to antigua, an old colonial style town surrounded by active volcanoes. feels really good to take control of my diet again. no more tortillas.

garbage in guatemala

2008-12-08T16:47:00.000-05:00

guatemala has some garbage problems.
environmental consciousness here is not too high, so its quite common for people to throw wrappers and bags on the ground after using them...not to mention the´pristine´lake we are on has quite a bit of disgustingness floating around in it.

yesterday i saw an old man picking up garbage on his on accord..and i thought, its nice to see someone doing something.
right after i pointed his actions out to jon..the garbage he was picking up of the concrete street..he proceeded to throw on top of the coffee plants growing in someones lawn.

:)

layn´ low

2008-12-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

layn´low for the time being. both got our own families. school mon to fri, 8 to 12. a few friends from puerto escondido made an appearance on the island. no toilet seats. been eating nothing but tortillas for the most part. mmm suffered the most agonizing 20 hours of my life yesturday. 12pm to 8am i was incapacitated with cold sweats.

working class heroes

2008-11-30T12:15:00.000-05:00

7am- we meet up with antonio and 4 other students for a hike into the mountains. we piled into a large flatbed truck with 30 other labourors (and a dog - shakey jim), all of which were wielding machetes. the 20 minute drive took us uphill to an extensive network of cornfields, coffee and avacado plantations. periodic stops were made to allow men and boys of all ages to disembark.

our hike took us into the peripheral of a diciduous forest. we stopped at a religious shrine..and if what i understood from antonio s spanish explination is correct, a certain sect of people from the area gather twice a year, drink, and sacrifice some animals. whoa.

murrrrrrrder.

2008-11-28T15:44:00.000-05:00

after guatemala we´re headin to el salvador
i just found out its the leader in murder for ppl between the ages of 15 and 24

on a personal accomplishment note
after el sal....i´ll have been to the top 4 murder countries in the world

check the link
send us a gun if you can

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7750054.stm

YOUTH MURDER RATES PER 100,000
1. El Salvador: 92.3

2. Colombia: 73.4

3. Venezuela: 64.2

4. Guatemala: 55.4

5. Brazil: 51.6

15. South Africa: 16.6

70. Greece: 0.5

76. Japan: 0.3

Source: Ritla, Instituto Sangari

mike bell

2008-11-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

internet cafe´s are more common around these parts than honda civics in etobicoke.

more people make use of them.

letter to family

2008-11-27T17:57:00.000-05:00

as much as i am joking, this is no joke; i am renting a guatamalan family here in san pedro.
i just moved in today. im living, eating, breathing spanish with descendents of the ancient mayan civilization.
i am really out of my element right now, but my spanish is sky rocketing. beyond the family stay, im doing 4 hours of class per day for 5 days a week. this whole program cost 120$ USD per week, probably the cheapest in the world.

the house is very minimalistic and rustic. its a bit worrysome at first but after the lunch maria (mom) made for us, my nerves settled down a bit. its a family of 4: father, mother, 14 yearold brother and 2 year old sister (and a young girl the hire as slave kinda?¿). they all call me Juan. yikes. in the family s spare time they sew backpacks (mochillas) for Jansport. what the hell, right?

if you want to see some pictures and read some commentary of my trip so far, visit.. www.jonandcolin.blogspot.com
it starts from the bottem and works its way up (so my newest postings will be at the top).

i have a really cool picture to send all of you, but i forgot my chord, so i will send it later.

take care.
i still love you all. this new family of mine is only for the experience.

- Juan

kings of the court in Gtown

2008-11-27T17:40:00.001-05:00

today.
colin and i paired off against two young girls in a good ol game of AMERICAN BASKETBALL. needless to say, we slaughtered em.

this picture is a very accurate discription of the match. even an average 5 ten-er like myself has skysraper advantage in this part of the world - feel my rath.

"in-yo face sucka!"

San Pedro...we have new familes

2008-11-27T17:19:00.000-05:00

Yo.
Were in San Pedro. Still on the same Lake...only better.
tried to bargian for a cheap boat here but only recevied a smile of silver teeth and a no.
We now directly beside the volcano...and there are almost no cars..mostly because there arent really streets...a lot of navigation is done through little alleys about 5 feet wide...however some people still rip through on their motorbikes.
there is also coffee trees growing everywhere...which is good for colin (me).
on the newsfront.
Jon and I have new familes....we are staying with familes as we attempt to learn the spanish language. theyre pretty tight...they cook us food and talk to us..ive got a personal rooftop terrace..and a crazy white dog named terry.
more news on this as it becomes more awkward..

impressions on guatemala
positives
1) lots of cofee
2) pretty cheap
3)incredibly beautiful
4)50 cent rum and cokes
5)dope traditonal clothing
6)lots of basketball ( at least in our town)

negatives
1) everyone tries to sell me weed (should be good but i dont trust anyone)
2) everyone tries to sell me prostitutes after i say i dont want weed
3) a large majority of guatemalans are eveangelical christians ( same religion as Geroge W and the southern USA)
4)falafels are expensive

TORONTONIAN (24) MAULED BY 3 SPANISH STREET DOGS

2008-11-25T10:04:00.000-05:00

Guatamala - sustaining lethal lascerations to the neck, pelvis and 3rd lumbar, Jon Lee, was carried by coconut throne to the nearest hospital.

"I begged for mercy but they were unrelenting.. so blood thirsty. or perhaps they couldn t understand english."

back to reality, yesturday we peeped a natural reserve just outside of town. for about $6 USD we got to check some butterflies, waterfalls and spidermonkeys. truthfully, i was more focused on the 3 tacos for $1.25 waiting for me back in town. later that evening i ate an argentinian empenada and a whole coconut for about $2. i lost $6 on peso exchange and ripped off for $2 more at the hotel. that s a fine day.

behind the buildings is a volcanoe..

guat-E

2008-11-24T10:54:00.000-05:00

misprint in last blog.. not 2000 ft. - 7800 ft.!
---------------------------------------------
it recently occured to me that oaxaca was our first trip inland since jasper, ab. that was almost a month and a half ago - wow!

further,
goodbyes to mexico. hasta lluego. you have allowed me to see large quantities of hair jel, and in recent days, children{s boxing matches (unethical, yes. but they were too young and weak to actually hurt each other).
---------------------------------------------
guatamala is lush and tropical. there are plenty of children intentionally flying kites next to powerlines. the woman are swinging the hoe in the fields (with two babies on their back), and the men are tearing up city streets with a chizle and hammer.
also,
similarly to the girls in south east asia, the water quality here is the pits. so we are watching our anus s very closely now.

that little lake on the bottem left corner of the map is where we{re at - lake atitlan.

Guatemala...wow

2008-11-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

we spent one night in san cristobal de las casas...it was really nice..but we just didnt know what to do (i did mange to get a falafel though)
so we hopped in a van for guatemala.
i kinda fell asleep for the exit of mexico..so i cant say much about that
but guatemala is crazy..its weird the sensation you get crossing a border..i mean its not real at all....just some bloody lines...and yet you get this excitement because youre entering into "new place".
first imprerssion of guatemala is that is incredibly beautiful...we came in through the highlands so everywhere you look a large hills/mountains with a powdery covering of green foliage...everything is incredibly lush and fecund.
so far ive noticed a lot of speedbumps, indigenous people, cool ass stray dogs, and handicrafts

we{re currently at panajchel....which is a 300m deep lake (actually a volcanic crater) surrounded by hills and volcanoes.....its a pretty breathtaking spot..

jon. post some pics yo!

colder still...

2008-11-22T15:03:00.000-05:00

oaxaca to san cristolbal, 2000 ft. in the sky. got into a car (or bus) accident last night on a curvy mountainous road. rear-ended by an 18 wheeler. all is well, though. only minor damages.

there´s a lot of hippies and reggae here. can´t say how i feel about that... tomorrow or the next day we´re over to guatamala.

monte alban ruins

2008-11-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

saw some ruins, napped on the grass.
its cold in the morning. first time i{v been cold/worn socks in a month.
colin... write something.

have you any children?

2008-11-19T18:42:00.000-05:00

a little more PE..
it has been our longest stay of about 5 or 6 nights. and, beyond the hostel and people that made the stay what it was, i met a cool street dog named stealy-dan. he liked stealing people´s towels and blankets right from underneath them, and i liked that.

other highlights include:

-hitching a ride on the back of a bumper from a distant surf spot. we needed a ride, and he needed directions.

-most of time, poop-tickets go in the waste basket.
_____________

this morning we arrived in oaxaca, capital of oaxaca state. in the underworld, oaxaca is acclaimed for its one-of-a-kind hot chocolate. this is the first thing we bought upon arrival. mmmm. switzerland´s got nothing!&%·

stealy dan and I

puerto escondido

2008-11-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

we just spent a week in puerto escondido...didnt do much blogging cause we were busy doing nothing...
vans surf contest....our freind from the hostel won the bikini contest (props nicole!)
we made friends with lots of stray dogs on the beach,,,surfed a bit...you tube parties...lots of nights on the beach.....sunburns
i dont really know how the rest of the days past....7 dollars for a litre of gin maybe?..
i also learned that i hate sandals.

one good thing about acapulco

2008-11-14T21:24:00.000-05:00

so yeah..this place was shit.
but one good thing is the buses..
theyve been privatized which i usually dont like...but it has had some cool effects in acappulco.
so every bus you see has been uniquely decorated by the operator.
some examples would be stuart little., apocalypto, little boss
all of which have coresponding designs...usually spray painted on the inside and the outside.
they also play really loud music sometimes..
one was blasting reggaeton and soulja boy through a bassy beefed up systems...all the while random business people and families are riding beside you.
the other one played pretty much all disco..which was fun.
the highlight being a sweet remix

girls just wanna have fun....but boys just wanna have sex.

puerto escondido

2008-11-14T18:20:00.000-05:00

one night in acapulco and we took off for a little surfer spot called puerto escondido. there{s a vans international surf competition going down, amongst other things: motocross, skate and cockfight competitions. we began spanish and surf lessons today, both of which were a success. i like this spot, it looks like we will hang out for some time.

jl

passing time till 11

2008-11-12T16:34:00.000-05:00

acapulco?

2008-11-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

took a 22 hour bus ride from PV to acapulco. we watched a nickalodeon style teen movie, a romance about cancer patients and i am legend (all in espanol of course). actually, while waiting in pv for our bus we went and saw max payne with marc walburg. its a good laugh.

so far, acapulco sucks wieners. its too conjested and i cant make it 3 feet without being hassled. no i dont want your hotels, drugs or bars. no no no. F-off porfavor. cant see us staying here for too long.

forgotten tales of mazatlan

2008-11-09T20:11:00.000-05:00

had to litteraly run away from the dengue (a truck spraying for dengue fever). eerie..

and,
climbed a big lighthouse. actually, it wasnt a big lighthouse. it was a small lighthouse on top of a big hill. liars!

and,
FORGOT MY 1995 ITALY WORLD CUP CHAMPION SHORTS IN MAZATLAN!!!"·$"·%
i have nothing to live for anymore.

hit up sayulita today and went surfing. good call by the russian princess.

jl

a friend of nick rivera`s?

2008-11-09T18:50:00.000-05:00

we stayed at hotel mexico in mazatlan. nice place..very open..lots of concrete...less cockroaches and a toilet seat.
it was all seeming so good.
so we were drinking some big beers on rocking chairs outside our room.
and then we meet the guy across the hall. says hes from Canada as well...cant remember his name.
anyways...we start talking..well..he does most of the talking..and really fast.
quickly brings up that if we wanted...he could get us some coke.
but says he doesnt want to force it on us...it just that lots of dudes visiting mexico want it and he wants us to be safe while attaining it. (no doubt lots of being do coke down here...especially this guy who is constantly talking rapidly!)
we say no...then he offers us hookers...we say no.
wes an alright guy and all nut then yhe goes on about how he has some many connections down here...he knows everybody....he makes lots of money...blah blah blah.
and of course...the next morning he asks to borrow money.
despite all his connections he has to ask 2 backpacking canadians for the 10 dollars to pay his bill cause apparently he cant get money til 3 o clock.

we said no...dont trust coke heads.

the title of this story is due to the fact that Nick always ends up talking to these sorts of people on the bus ad on the street.

face hair: article one

2008-11-08T11:21:00.000-05:00

colin takes the lead with distinctive handle bars, but lacks in the moustache zone.

puerto vallarta

2008-11-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

second day in the toursit epicenter and we decided to splurge. we bought into an 8 hour boat cruise that included: a murky snorkling tour to the los arcos underwater caves, a 2km hike through mud and dokey shit to swimmable waterfalls, breakfast, lunch and an open bar. although i couldnt see anything snorkling, and although i ate a meal after watching a girl puke and having my face stuck in donkey ass, the arduous task of being around so many worthless toursits (i know..) did not come without reward. the experience was quite enjoyable. we hung out with an 18 and 19 year old newly wed couple from the central states, and together, listened to questionable new wave. it seems to me that this type of music is popular around here. maybe it,s for the tourists, or maybe mexico is lagging a few years behind in music and television - my opinion lies with the later. anyhow, upon our arrival back to the center, we returned a can of beans that cost us $5.50 CND. what the F?! we took this money and put it towards our second visit to maybe the world.s greatest veggetarian buffet.

facial hair report coming soon.

2008-11-04T20:53:00.000-05:00

news report

2008-11-04T20:32:00.000-05:00

- four more pics added to ´baja california section
- and here are a few extras that i didnt have time for.
- avoided getting hussled this morning
- got burnt today
- tomorrow we will probably climb a big lighthouse and take off for puerto vallarta

the mainland

2008-11-03T15:32:00.000-05:00

whoo whoo
we made it to mainland mexico.
we had been told that the ferry was broken...so we decided to go try and take it anyways.
We managed to make it to a samll town called Topolobampo.
We got in fairly late at night which is always good....decided to walk around a bit of course.
Its a pretty crazy little spot...lots of tin housing hanging off of hills and cliffs.
Lots of garbage and chairs strewn about on the street..and lots of people sitting in shadowy areas.
i dont think they were impressed with our presence so we left..managed to score a ride to Los Mochis ( a city 20 kms away)...mainly because i had a skateboard in hand...and the driver used to skate...
they proceeded to tell us it was not a good idea to walk around there.
lesson is don´t walk around stange towns late at night when you have no idea where you´re going...i think ive learned that one many times but it doesnt seem to stick.

anyways. we´re Mazatlan now...looks pretty dope..lots of beach area...nice architecture..
pretty cheap too.

cb

baja califonia

2008-11-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

goin jasper

ferry to topolobompo. refer to
´the mainland´

1000000000,00000 degrees

cockroaches the size of my arm.

vancity to san diego

2008-11-03T14:42:00.000-05:00

anna and ross´apartment.

final days with brooke and
sally in stanley park

mcginnigans?!? troutdale oregon
or portland

burnside

SF.

SD

more..

la paz

2008-10-31T19:30:00.000-04:00

the beaches are beautiful here in la paz, but i get bored easily. i think i would rather see a car accident or some funny looking hats. sunday we will take a 10 hour boat cruise to the mainland to see what´s going on in mazatlan. we have the opportunity to stay with a freind-of-a-friend´s mother in guadalajara, but we have yet to commit to this. guadalajara is a large city, something we are trying to stay away from, however the offer sounds too sweet to kick aside. afterall, a chauffer would be picking us up.

a blackmarket WWOOFING assignment is currently being uploaded to me via internet by some canadians met on a bus. for those of you unfamiliar with this term, like i once was, WWOOFING generally takes the form of volunteer farming, usually green or organic opporations. it looks like ´we hate work´ is going BACK to work... oh the irony of it all. it isnt all that bad though. usually the compensate you through food and shelter, and if this girl i´ve been talking to is on point, spanish lessons and yoga?!

yesturday, while desperately looking for our favourite home cooked meal ingredients (rice and beans), we turned one too many corners. an english speaking cab driver noticed our looks of dispair and offered us some help. miscommunication lef us to a street solely dedicated to the sale of dog food. at any rate, senior kept a close eye on us and came back a second time to lead us in the right direction, which ended up being the wrong, but no matter. third time is a charm, and we got what we wanted.

jl

mexican boarder crossing

2008-10-28T14:45:00.001-04:00

what's crossing into mexico like you ask? we walked the san ysedro (US) - tejuana (mx) boarder, the busiest boarder crossing in the entire world, with ease. literally. we just casually walked through with the masses - no questions asked. i saw precisely ONE mexican boarder cop, but he was just chillin'. i guess people don't really run away to mexico like i originally thought.

i got my first taste of culture shock though. I realized the sole languauge i speak, the one tool i have for survival.. is more or less useless. colin took the reigns with a most impressive display of spanish conversation, and we were off to encenada, home of the world's largest mexican flag. wow it's big!

today we make a small 20 hour journey to la paz, the southern tip of los cabos.

san diego

2008-10-28T14:34:00.000-04:00

first off, i gota mention that i saw queen latifa in SF. yesssss!
second, we had bus delays in SF, a motorcycle gang barricade in LA and more delays in LA terminal. we got fogged out until oceanview and totally missed sights in compton. bummer.
reached san diego.

at first glance, SD is a mellow hippy/surfer town. nice beaches, active people and and 80's strip. noon rolls around and all the party bro's fill the bars and scuffle about whos football team is better. colin and i roll to the skatepark. it's a winner but admission fee and helmet are required. dumb! we hit it anyway.

still cant post pics...

Nightmares of Greyhound

2008-10-28T14:15:00.000-04:00

we couldnt find a lift to San Diego so we had to bite the bullet and take the overnight greyhound.
that was fine...actually no...it wasn't
everything seemed fine until this guy gets on and sits in front of me.
immeadiately upon sitting down he starts to sort jerk/convulse around and gasps/coughs/grunts with every breath...so i thought he was probably a crackhead
i seem to be a magnet for these people on the greyhound....
i'm sitting right behind him..and im pretty tall.
he wants to put his seat back but my legs are in the way
he just keeps smashing the seat back and trying to get it to stay (which it wont cause of my lankiness)
he starts freaking out and hyperventilating cause the seat wont go back
then..nice guy that he is.. says "is that seat smashing you?"
since i have two seats to myself i move my legs over and let him have his way
i was hoping at this point that he was done and would calm down.
and he did....to some extent..
for the rest of the trip he would give off a little grunt or startle with EVERY BREATH HE TOOK
cough here and there and fluctuating in intensity(also mumbling words) as if his whole life was a nightmare....so he would start with some little grunts and every so often get louder and louder and then peak and get quieter again
jon had a theory that someone out a curse or hex on him so he was doomed to do this for life
i dont know what his deal was...maybe its not his fault...
but fuck was it annoying!
oh yah did i mention it was an 8 hour busride?

UPDATE

2008-10-25T01:42:00.000-04:00

our original intent was to buy a 30 day trainpass in van, however AMTRAK revoked this offer. we decided to train to portland, andfrom there, use any resource available to bounce south. craigslist rideshare postings have been a valuable resource for us. it only cost us 25$ to get to SF (635 miles!). although the weather is amazing here in cali, we are both anxious to make it to central am and hit the surf. tomorrow we're making moves to san diago.. i think..

more >
SF has been my favourite american city to date. the burritos, climate and street skating are delicious, perfect and dangerously exciting. and more, i learned how to wiggle. if you ever visit SF, you will learn too, its human instinct. i will leave it at that. did i mention we're staying in the red light district? last night, a bunch of people from our hostel went out for dollar drinks. i think it was a gay bar, judging from the posters and the bartenders, 'the cats club' - woops.

-can't figure out how to post pictures around here.

jl

Portland!

2008-10-24T02:40:00.000-04:00

ya..i know we in cali..but portland desrves a little respect
portland is dope!
i think perhaps my favourite in america so far
best transit system ever...free in downtown
the bus drivers are mad nice...they even say hi to you!
the city is super skateable....lotsa downhill and decent pavement
burnside skatepark was dope.....lotsa vert.....really small...but super flowy if you know the spot.
hmm....what else?
the food is real good...prolly due to the fact that portland is serious about using local food
our hostel was sweet...it had a green roof....and 1$ pancake breakfast
cant beat that.
portland= green and freindly
.....but really white

welcome to califonia

2008-10-23T21:35:00.000-04:00

after a few phone calls we were heading south with 4 strangers to san francisco, california.
the driver, some kind of naked elvis impersonator from LA. A later 20's girl from oakland, a dominatrix/humanitarian. a younger girl, 18, also from LA, real essentric. and a hesh skater/chef from portland. we stopped a few times for snacks and pisses over the 10+ hour drive. the ride was quite enjoyable. we're in san fran now. bright vibrant city. lots of colour, music and interesting people. street skating is dangerous.

in a hurry... explain more later.

portland

2008-10-22T02:28:00.000-04:00

after 12 hours of travel by bus, train and foot,
we finally made it to our Portland accommodation ONLY TO BE DENIED.
the hostel was full. so were the others. it appeared we were sleeping on the
street this particular night. luckily, we got tipped off by a nice motorcycle enthusiast.
colin used his godlike-public-transit-navigation skills to get us out to the country.
it was as if we bused from dtT.O. to oakville. morale was at an all time low. we werent
even in portland anymore. low and behold, the accommodation turned out to be gatsby's
american dream. a huge estate featuring its own vineyard, brewery, distillery, spa, golf course, vegetable garden and JERRY GARCIA sculpture. we laughed like dracula for awhile in our white
robes, soaking it up in the huge hot tubs. that night we wet our whistles with some seattleites and a selfproclaimed kewi. wake up was followed by a 12 oclock wine tour - ha!

pictures to come.

boarder patrol

2008-10-21T23:25:00.000-04:00

some conversation highlights between
the boarder patrol officer and myself:

bp "do you know anyone in denver?"
jl "...what? ..why?"
bp "do you know anyone in DENVER!?!!"
jl "no."

after tearing apart all my belongings, the bp officer
pulls out a ziplock bag full of multivitamins.

bp "so what do we have here"
jl "multivitamins?"
bp "that's what i thought. im going to send you
back to canada."

i was eventually granted access to the US, not before
a long drawn out affair. me alone, and the drug sniffing dog.

vancouver in words

2008-10-20T00:04:00.000-04:00

people dressed in black.....scenesters

girls in tights

exercise

flowers(cheap)

sushi(cheap)

"green" condos (expensive)

glass buildings

people arent fat....just asian

everything is new

everyone is really rich....or homeless

starbucks

bye-bye canada

2008-10-19T21:21:00.000-04:00

yesterday i stepped on a young girls toes.

she was standing eerily close to me as i made a quick pivot to the side.

my momentum kept my weight back and i couldn't

step off; her cries of anguish were extended for longer than i

would have liked. to make matters worse, she was wearing barebone

flats. her toes must have been destroyed - i refused to apologize.

some highlights....

mark emory in the flesh, a free man.

18 pieces of sushi for $6.

street skating

the foundation - veg. cuisine

colin and i getting MEC tech.

can't escape the great white north

2008-10-18T13:39:00.000-04:00

we're still in canada.

some unexpected news from the mainland

had us flee vancouver island in a hurry.

two more nights in the city and we're off

for PORTLAND, OREGON by train.

tofino pics

2008-10-18T13:23:00.000-04:00

Mears Island -

the pacific rim coastal temperate

rainforest. its got some really

big trees.

clayquot sound/tofino

2008-10-16T20:32:00.000-04:00

yoyo.
we're in tofino after a long ass bus ride
it hasnt stopped raining yet since we've been here (a day and a half)
the tree are ridiculous....they look like apartment buildings (we'll post some pictures)
we're spending way too much money...canada is too expensive
gotta pick up the pace and get out of north america....

this place is dope though....so lush and tropic-like
just rains a lot.....doesnt look like we'll get to surf in tofino...but whatever..

we ate chinese food from Garys kitchen last night..
afterwards we decided its the last time we'll ever eat chinese food

vancouver

2008-10-14T16:03:00.001-04:00

two nights in vacouver so far.

had to buy backpacks and repack.

we got too much stuff.

goodbyes to leah and the katia.

lots of walking, lots of eating.

heading west to victoria and tofino.

close call

2008-10-14T15:54:00.000-04:00

as a final fairwell to jasper, we climbed our favourite viewpoint, old fort point. uptop, a heard of bighorn sheep grazed the grassy meadow, almost unaware of our existence. 40 minutes later upon our descent we stumble upon the heard at a lower elevation. they were occupying an area that formed the shape of a bottle neck. beyond them was the long stariway to ground level - the only safe passage down. we cautiously side stepped the heard only to find another renegade further down. he looked spooked by something out of sight. suddently, without warning, not one, but two well developed males come barreling over a hill 20 feet from us. we were trapped in a 10 foot gap, backed by a steep incline stariwell and parallelled by two cliffs. there wasnt anywhere to go. last second, the sheep took a sharp turn left, one after another. they were being chased by dog. all three animals bolted out of sight leaving me breathless, bent forwards, hands on both knees. if i were struck at the speed they were running, i would have been sent into outerspace. close call..

final day in jasper

2008-10-11T14:21:00.000-04:00

last day of an 11 day homeless

sprint. bedhopping is tiresome.

tomorrow morning at 1:2o am we journey west to vancouver by bus with two friends, brooke and sally.

we hate work

2008-10-08T19:39:00.000-04:00

2 more days of employment at maligne lake.
we're cold, tired and ready to leave.
the plan is Amerika. 30 days. train.
than central america for as long as possible.
staying warm. living messily. hopefully some tennis.