Bicycle!

New Blog

2009-08-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hiya folks!

Ive recently recieved word that knowledge of my new blog isnt as wide-spread as I had hoped. So, here's the URL:

www.mytb.org/squidsickle

Checker out, brothas and sistahs!

With love and spastic expressions,
Tyler

Notes from the Road draft for Stacey

2008-08-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well holy toleetoes. Its been a while, hey?

Our apologies for the delay. Internet access has been hard to come by for some time. But finally.. here's your next installment of the Kootenay NFTR!

We've made it as far as Cranbrook. And holy crap have a lot of things happened since our last post, and the fateful climb up Anarchist's Summit.

Let's start from the top. After caressing the sweet sweet slopes of Anarchist Mountain, we decended down to the loverly town of Grand Forks, where we had our mid-tour retreat. Our retreat was centred around breaking away from our ridebikes-sleep-eat-perform-repeat routine, and focusing on how well our group was working together as an Otesha touring team. The farm was run by a wonderful woman named Mihaela, and featured countless energy-and-environment-saving ideas in its design, including composting toilettes, south-facing windows for maximum sun exposure, and solar panels. On one evening at the farm, received an awesome gift from an awesome friend of ours, Donald. He happened to bake us a pair of VEGAN, LOCALLY-PICKED HUCKLE-BERRY PIES! Holy crow what a nice guy. On a similar night at Mihaela's farm, she was kind enough to share with us some circle-dancing rituals, which were magical in their own accord, let alone the spiritual significance of them.

After leaving Grand Forks, our next destination was Christina Lake, where we had a lovely performance on a beach, nearby a sand-castle building competition. That night, we slept on a baseball diamond, next door to a community hall hosting a wedding. And what could be better than attending a wedding, you might ask? FREE HOT CREPES, in the morning! (Hot crepes are only one small example of the counltess food donations we have recieved.)

The next day, our destination was Castlegar, which involved climbing the steepest, and highest hill of our entire trip! Paulson's Summit had an elevation of around 1550m, and after cresting the hill riders were rewarded with saltery 30km. long section of down-hill. Some members of our tour opted for a scenic route around the peak, along the Trans-Canada Trail, which involed passing through a 1km long tunnel. Unfortunately due to rough trail conditions, beautiful scenery, and an extra 10km or so of distance, the "alternate route" crew crusied into town roughly 4 hours later than everyone else, almost causing us to miss our performance at the Community Church!

After staying at the Katimavik house in Castlegar, we cruised NE to Nelson, possibly one of the coolest cities in BC. Amongst Mate' Cafes, sweat-shop-free clothing stores, and vegan pastries, we gave our utmost in a sunny afternoon performance in a public market. We performed again the next night, in a skatepark, for all those who dared to watch our awesome play. Nelson is truely an awesome town, with a wonderful community radio station, called the Kootenay Radio Co-op. They intereveiwed many members of our team, three of which were interviewed live on the air on a morning news cast!

From Nelson we town-hoped to Harrop-Proctor, where we toured a Community Forestry Operation. That night whilst camping on a nice family's property, we were hit by our first heavy rains of our trip. That night, and over the next 24 hours, we were hit by not one.. not two, but six (count 'em!) seperate roving thunder-and-lightening storms.

The next day we were off to Creston, our longest ride to date, totalling 97kms. While dodging storm after roving, pummelling rain storm, many of our tour members spotted black bears! After Creston, and Yahk, we've finally arrived in Cranbrook, where we'll perform at a community centre for a host of youngsters tomorrow night. And what could make Cranbook any cooler, than being able to stay with the parents of one of the Sunshine Coast tour members?! We'll say hi to your family for you, Joel.

Thanks for listen an readin' y'all.

Peace and Zesty Soy-Cheese,
Tyler, Stacey and the rest of the Kootenay Tour.

Otesha?

2008-07-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hey kids,

Im tying out a new blog. The address is www.mytb.org/squidsickle, check it out! I did a post a few days ago, with pictures.

Im leaving on my bike in 5 minutes to go meet OTESHA!!!!! YEAH!!!! Short 20min bikeride on my touring bike, and then my life will be nothing but Otesha for the next 2 months. Holy fricking sweet.

Take care. Eat cake.

Tyler

A directionless movement of energy.

2008-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

A Final Goodbye..

2008-03-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

My team.Above: Bruiser (left), Muk-luk (right). This is Muk-luk's third time running in the lead position, EVER, and she did amazing. Running lead demands intelligence, maturity, and the ability to focus on one's job when there are other things going on around (mainly behind) them. Muk-luk is two years old, and has come a long ways from the skiddish and fearful dog she was at the beginning of the season. If I guide trips here next here, I hope to train Muk-luk to be an expedition leader.

Below: Merlin (left), Moon (right), two brothers who really kicked ass on my team. On long days, often I found the only dog left actually pulling on my team was Merlin. He can pull my entire sled (and me on it), just by himself. There are bigger dogs who can't do nearly as well. Merlin and Moon are both one year old. Behind them is a dog named Nina, left, and my boy Torque, right. On the sled is an old friend of mine from the UofA, Audrey. These are photos I took of my team, on a last fun-run on my last day of work at Chocpaw. Im happy I have these photos, Im going to miss those dogs.

Tyler

Everything Cool and most things superbbeular.

2008-03-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Excellent. Just excellent.

My fundraising for Otesha has begun! How freaking awesome is that?? How freaking awesome is it that Im going to be riding with them this summer? How freaking awesome is it that Ill be rolling in clumps of BC dirt and foliage again soon?

Pretty freaking awesome indeed, I tell you.

As far as my plans go for this year, I have 3 months of workingmybuttoffmakingasmuchmoneyasIcan coming up, followed by 2-4 months of bicycle touring (depending how successful I am at workingmybu...sIcan), followed by another smackintheface season of working for Chocpaw.

Working at Chocpaw has been great, the job is really progressive as there's tonnes to learn. Not just about the dogs, how to work with them, how to correctly feed them, etc., but Ive found there also has been tonnes to learn about myself. For example, I learned that Im really feaking defensive sometimes, due to feeling insecure about myself. It was pointed out to me. I didnt really have any idea. That issue made other staff not want to work with me, and so I didnt make a whole lot of money this season. But all is well, Ive discussed my progress and my performance many times with senior staff and my boss, and things are looking positive for next season.
The biggest reason why I want to return to Chocpaw, however, is the dogs. I love them. I love them huge amounts. I love working with them. I love watching them learn, and grow. Its great being there with them as they get over challenges, overcome fears, and really excell at being what it is that theyve been bred to do. The trusting relationship that one builds with ones team is a relationship that Im very happy to have in my life. And Id love for it to keep building.

Anyways, peace fleece and abakazeese,

The one and only,

Tyler Walker

Dogsledding!

2008-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

So.. as many of you know, dogsledding is my newfound profession. I have a little extra time tonight (even though its going to still be a long night, I have a daytrip I need to prepare for for tomorrow), so Im FINALLY including some photos.. or trying to. I dont know if this will work.

Love you guys.

Ontaaaario

2007-11-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

And dogs. And.. big cities, with tonnes of trams and subways and frickin sweetass streetcars (AKA Toronto).

RIGHT now, Im at the Chetwynd Basecamp for Outward Bound Canada, taking my Wilderness First Responder course. The first day of the course has been awesome, Im learning tonnes. Its a very thorough course, going into the anatomy of what is actually happening inside a person when they become injured/ill, and in-depth explanations for why certain things are done in caring for the patient. Its going to be an awesome 80 hour course.

At this basecamp though, they also have dogsledding. I have not been yet (there is no snow), but they have a kennel of about 50 dogs here. They're awesome, and it gets my adrenaline going thinking about the job Im going to have all winter. Chocpaw, the company Im working for, has about 300 dogs.

I havent taken any pictures off of my camera yet of Ontario. So Im posting other pictures Ive taken. The pictures below are of a sweet snowball fight I got in with Darien, my 7 year old brother (Darien IS 7 now.. right?)

And these next ones are of a moment, that I had, en route to my sister's house.

And that is a rosehip. It kind of looks like a space pod.

Besides dogsledding and Ontario happening in my life, I also went to England for 2.5 days. I was in england for almost the same amount of time it took to travel there.

And I rode a horsie. His name was .. buttercup? He liked to kick, so he was in the back. the horse Morwenna (the reason I went to England) was riding liked to bite, so she got to stay next to the instructor.

Nice horsie..

And that is all. Farewell.

2007-09-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Got crabs?

When I move to Ontario, Im going to miss living by the ocean.

So, I found a job for this winter. Im going to be leading multi-day dogsledding trips into a place called Algonquin Park.

Is that not the coolest shit ever?

Take care everyone, sorry for the delay in posts.

Love,

Tyler

Aliens?

2007-08-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

Look at this guy! He's so cute! This is what your brain looks like on drugs.

For those who are interested, I KICKED ASS in my bike race.. wow, like holy crap I did really well. Well, long story short is, is that I passed hordes of people, people on bikes worth a lot of money, passed them while riding my lovely quaint little Apollo, rescue'd from a ditch. I even had people criticizing my bicycle and its components, the day before the race. I bet I passed them too :)

Out of the 40 cyclists that did just the cycle portion of the triathalon, I placed 8th. Not too shabby, Im happy with myself. It makes me want to race bikes more. Makes me want to get a bike thats more fancy-pancy-race-like. Too bad it would be useless for anything else but racing.. oh well.

Anyways. Work is work. Life is life. Im currently applying for a position that would take place this winter... in Ontario.. leading sleddog expeditions!!!! I'd be a superhero if I did that. Thats just so, truely, badass.

Peace and love and peanutbutterbrittle.

Tyler

Things That Are Cool

2007-08-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

Things that are cooler..

Victoria

2007-08-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

These are just some recent nice pictures I thought Id share. I took them, so I thought maybe Id post them too.
This is the view from the sundeck directly in front of the computer Im using. I grew up here, its a place called Metchosin. A beautiful farming community a half hour west Victoria. And this is what I look like, right now.

The 40km bike race, which Im going to be in, is tomorrow morning. Im so excited!!

Take care, Im trying to do so myself.

Tyler

Bump.

2007-07-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Big moth. Big, big moth. One of a whole swack-bracket of 'em that invaded our centre.

Below.. Hornby. Heliwell Park to be more specific.

And the start of a moderately epic but not very long bike journey.

This last weekend, I road to Cowichan River, from Hornby. It took me 2 days, and about 200km. I left at 2pm on friday, and arrived in Nanaimo at 8pm. That night, I managed to luck out, as I found some people that lived there with a very pleasant apple orchard..

So, when I was first thinking about riding to Nanaimo, I was sure that my arrival would consist of me rolling into a nice blingin hostel, where Id make friends, maybe go out to dinner, maybe even have a shower before falling asleep in a cozy, ready-made bed. But when I got there.. even before I arrived, I started thinking, that if I didnt need a hostel when I was way the hell in the middle of nowhere in Central America, I sure as peanuts didnt need a hostel up here in 'safe' Canada. Man, I think I got a waaaay nicer experience, having avocado/tomato/cheese sandwiches, going for a moonlit swim in a steaming warm lake after to wash off, and crawling into my tent under the shelter of dozens of apple trees.. as opposed to paying money to sleep somewhere. Sheesh.

Bike touring is still fun, after being back in Canada for almost a year.

Take care

Tyler

Some friends I've made

2007-07-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

I cant believe how fun it is to take these pictures..

The really fun thing, was that I was being paid the entire time :) Go team (after taking those photos I spent 6 hours laying concrete.. fun times.)

Campfire

2007-07-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

The above picture would be more badass if it was in focus. I like the reflection coming out of the centre of the dot... this was a Ying-Yang on a chinese medicine ball.

So, some friends and I had a beachfire last night. We roasted tofu dogs, and baked potatoes in tinfoil, and drank wine and rasberry lemonade, and had a wonderful time. And, I took some pictures.
Below, something you find from time to time where fire has been (this object was no more than 3cm in length):These two pictures are closeups of the crack on the right.. probably only a mm or so in width. go camera go.And this one is of some fire.And this one is of a dinosaur.

And... yeah. Thanks for looking :)

tyler

Whats this you say?

2007-07-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

So, I, umm..

I purchased a camera. Finally. Im really enjoying taking pictures with it, the last two are of my friend Alan, and myself.

The camera is a Canon somethingsomething, but all I know is that it has incredible zoom, has decent battery life and was cheap ($150!). Cheap, but definately the best camera Ive ever owned.

Pictures

2007-06-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is me last fall, wearing very cool pants from Guatemala, riding a bike which, since then, Ive done many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of kilometers on. Lots and lots of kilometers. Just this weekend, Ive ridden 100km.

And this is me, attached to a rope, which is normally used to keep climbers safe as they climb very high into trees.

And below, are the people I work with.Snow.Moving fallen tree debris, while in snow.A group photo while hiking on the north edge of the island. Notice the thick coats and pants. I was just back at that same spot this last week. This time, the little kids I was with (and myself for that matter) were suffering from dehydration and some heat exaustion. Fair bit of a change.. it was very, very hot.

Seagulls. During whats called a "Herring Run". Basically, tens of thousands of herring flood by the island, in huge underocean schools. Their milt turn the water a beautiful, creamy blue. In tow, behind the thousands of herring, are thousands upon thousands of seagulls.. along with fishing boats, eagles, and HUGE sealions. Pretty intense.

Another high ropes activity, this one call the Giant's Ladder. This ladder goes 30-40 feet in the air. The rungs near the top are spaced 8 feet apart, one needs to work with a partner to make it all the way up.

Me, leading a bicycle repair workshop.
Pants from Guatemala.

Camera?

2007-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, a friend of mine left for her hom, Quebec, for a couple of weeks. This friend is named Llsa, and she's the Project Leader of the Katimavik group in Courtenay. Katimavik is a youth volunteer program (www.katimavik.org) that sends youth all over the country volunteering. It means that Llsa's job is to lead and mentor a house full of 12 youth, all from different parts of the country, as they live together, and volunteer in the surrounding commmunity.

In order for Llsa to get to her plane to Quebec, she needed to do some travelling on the ground first. As Im a super awesome and nice friend, I decided to do part of the trip to the airport with her. We got into Nanaimo late last night, and started heading over to a hostel where we were going to stay.
One part of my friendship with Llsa that makes it more unique than others is the fact that she also speaks spanish (although my spanish is getting rougher as the days progress :P) It was an awesome head trip, to be walking through a town that I dont know so well, carrying a pack full of stuff, speaking a language that I associate very much with globe trotting.
It made me think about what I want to be doing with my life right now. Travelling is definately a great lifestyle that lets you meet people, and feel unhindered and very free, but I realized that I am happy doing the job that Im doing, and living where Im living.
After checking into a hostel we went out for martinis.. but since she had to leave first thing this morning to catch a ferry we couldnt stay out too long.

Im very happy indeed with where Im living. Its beautiful here.
A few mornings ago, I decided to go for a run (Im in training, supposedly, for the Times Colonist 10k run in Victoria). I ran along some cliffs away from the outdoor centre towards Heliwell Park. Heliwell park is infamous for its loverly rolling hills and steep oceanside cliffs. It was raining lightly, and although there was a breeze I was warm. From the cliffs out over the ocean, I could see patches of stormcloud belting down rain. It looked vaugly like alien motherships hovering around, wreaking havok on the unsuspecting villages below, by heaving volley after volley of pummelling, shrieking... rain.
I continued to run. After some time, I happened upon what looked like a seal. A large one at that. Curious, I ran up the trail 100 more metres or so, and to the edge of a nearby cliff to get a closer look. I quickly noticed that this seal was very much in reality a VERY large bald eagle, and not a seal at all. This thing was huge. Ive never seen an eagle that large. After sitting and watching it for some time, I called to it, using some of the bird calls Ive learned recently. Both of my impressions of raven and owl calls caused it to look around in a panic-y way, but it wasnt until I tossed a rock into the water near its perch that it took flight and glided down the coast. As I turned to continue my 'run', I turned and noticed some real seals.. 3 of them, surfacing every 30 seconds or so, breaching like whales, as they cruised down the shoreline.
However, on my trip back, I came across something even more spectacular. As I came around a bend on the cliff trail, I was suddenly confronted by a pair of huge and thick.. rainbows. There was one rainbow starting at the base of the cliff to my left, rising up and over the trail, and back down into the shrubery lining the forest to my right. The rainbow made near to 3/4 of a full circle, and consisted of a bright colour pattern that REPEATED 1 1/2 times. Intense. The second rainbow was only a third of the length of the first, and was holding itsself just slightly higher.

I would have squirmed if I had a camera to take pictures with that morning. Maybe I should purchase one.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Tyler

2007-02-23T23:47:00.001-08:00

Blog, blog blog.

Blog blog blog blog.

I havent talked to you in a while. crafty how that works.. crazy, in fact.

Life is a tad different now, than when it was when I last posted.
Im much more employed, and have in fact been working since the beginning of February. I am a happy employee of the Tribune Bay Outdoor Education Centre. I live on Hornby Island. I eat tofu most days, and heaps of vegetables when I dont.
I am a trained outdoor education specialist. I know bunches of cool facts about the forest and wildlife around here, I can safely lead and instruct groups of youth/children/teenagers on potentially dangerous activities, and I can give myself a fair-sized poney tail (I have no real plans of cutting my hair).
Yep, life is good. Hornby is getting warm too, its been sunny most days, we can finally start wearing less than 2 sweaters in combination with 2 or 3 thick shirts. Dont have to wear longjohns every day anymore (although I could have used mine today). And the lack of rain... man, that makes things nice. No more climbing in the rain.

Other notes.. my road bike is dying. Slowly but... more or less surely, its components are becoming more and more worn.. I had to replace my front chainring last weekend. The teeth were too worn to grip the chain properly. They were worn because the chain is stretched... I tried to replace the chain, but the new chain didnt grip the rear chainrings properly. So, when it comes time to replace the rear chainrings, Im going to need to replace my wheel, because of the style of hub I have and the lack of parts (this is all information people probably dont need to know).
Basically, long story short, is that once my roadbike dies, Im going to start scheming about how to get my hands on the bike that might take me.. around the world (or atleast as far as I get :) ).

My brother's metal band is going to be playing their first real show in a bar this month. Im so excited for him. Im really excited for him, because he is so proud of what he is doing. The fact that hes focusing so much energy into it, and chasing something that is really important to him, is great.. honestly, Ive felt like my brother has been living a life with not too much direction by working a job that he doesnt enjoy much. Hes also apparently going to be signed on as an apprentice at his woodshop, if he doesnt leave to go be a BOAT CARPENTER... frickin sweet.

This monday, I recieved a $1400 check from the government. It made me happy. It made VISA happy with me. $400 is going to Visa (Im still in debt fron travelling.. sheesh), $500 is going to an RSP savings account that Im going to open up, and $500 is going to Maya Pedal, the place that I volunteered at for 3 1/2 months in Guatemala. I havent talked to them for some time, I hope they're still around.

Anyways... besides all that... Not too much has changed. I might get another tattoo soon, on my back.. but thats money Id rather not spend.

Ta ta, until next time, I suppose. Thanks for reading.

Ty

Unemployment is funner than you’d think.

2007-01-29T01:47:00.000-08:00

So, currently, Ive been unemployed for 38 days. And Ive been loving it. I cant remember ever having so much free time. On the flip side, of course, spending money that you’re not earning back kind of burns...

Recently, I found a posting for a job as a youth program leader on Hornby Island for the outdoors centre there, teaching youth and kids how to do cool things like rock climbing, mountain biking, ocean kayaking.. you know, the usual KICKASS OUTDOOR kind of stuff. Im happy about the opportunity of working there.. except for the fact that Id be moving AGAIN, and leaving all my new-found friends here in Victoria, in addition to living on Hornby Island for a minimum of 7 months. Ive met a huge number of people here in Victoria over the last couple weeks, through volunteering and working at the local community bike shop.

Either way, whether I move to Hornby to take the job or not, I figure Ill be happy. Life is pretty good for me right now, I feel happy being me and having the freedom in my life to take it where Id like to.

In other news… well, I don’t really have any other news. My mom made some super awesome lasagna the other day, 11 pans of it. That was pretty memorable. And my step-dad cooked a steak lunch for me, for no apparent reason. Family is nice to have. Ive also hooked up with a couple of old friends of mine, whom I havent seen for about four years. Its crazy thinking back to previous years of my life. I feel like a lot has changed for me.

Anyways, I apologise to all who were waiting for an update on my blog. Im pretty good at procrastinating, as it would turn out.

Peace and love and pretty flower postcards.

Ty

Update

2007-01-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

The post was REALLY written on Jan. 13th, 07.

. . . .
So, currently, my pastime activities include:
1: House hunting. Looking for a place to rent. Not the easiest thing to do, because Im also
2: Job hunting. People dont like having tenants who are job-less. But not having a job, or a home to take care of, leaves me very veeeeery fleeeexible. In the Karma-Sutra forest yoga sex scene kind of way.
3: Crashing on bicycles. Due to ice. My last two crashes have been because slick road tires and ..ice, dont stick together like sand and custard, like they should.
$: Haveing fun in the winter conditions that are everywhere, Victoria, Courtenay, and alberta too.

Two cool stories Id like to share:

1:
A while ago, in Calgary, Alberta, I went climbing outdoors for the very first time in my whole entire life. Although.. Ive done random redneck climbing without ropes and things, but this was the first time Ive ever climbed using rope.

The Story...

We are in Kananaskis (how do you spell or say that word) Country, just west of the Rocky Mountains. The roads are covered in ice, the sheer, clear as glass, frozen rain kind. Enormous mountains in the background loom, their seemingly endless rock faces almost unbelieveable for a coastal boy. The red VW Golf glides elegantly into a vacant parking lot, which shows evidence of lacking visitors for some time. Wisps of snow and ice turn the surface of the parkinglot into a moving sea of coke; gusts rock the vehicle as it pulls into a convenient spot and stops. The 4 of us climb out of the car, and quickly collect our harnesses, helmets and rope, while fighting off the strong winds and peircing cold. We begin walking, heads down, gear held tightly, trudging through the crusted ice, up a valley against the pummelling wind. The road and our vehicle fade around a corner behind us, and all signs of human presense fade away with them. To our right, across a long-frozen mountain stream, a large hill engorsed in pinetrees ripples as if clearing itsself of the ice that coats it. To our left, mustache'd by a stand of trees, tall, grey rock shoots skyward, accented and occasionally divided by crags and cracks.

We cut left, weave between a few treetrunks, and gaze up at a route on the 50' rock face before us. We drop our packs, and begin to assemble the gear needed for scaling the wall. We talk of who will climb first, and I volunteer. After some discussion of how to 'lead climb', and reassurance that it was easier than it sounded, I saddle up with my harness full of metal contraptions, and tie myself to one end of our rope. The other end is fed through an ATC (air traffic controller/belaying device), and attached to my good friend Jenn Bundy. After putting my feet into my freezing rock shoes, I trudge through several metres of icy snow to the base of the rock wall. A thought flashes through my mind, "What a kick-ass way to start my outdoor climbing career, lead-climbing for my first time up an icy rock in high winds!! Fookineh!"

The Legend...

I begin climbing. Very quickly, I notice a tingling sensation in my hands, but choose to ignore it. Several minutes and four vertical metres later, my hands feel similar to a pair of meaty 5-finger'd bludgeoning tools. Try as I might, I cannot even vaugly feel what it is that Im gripping. Not so fun, when climbing a rock face. I also note that the coloured, painfully obvious handholds of the climbing gym have been exchanged for flat, featureless, grey rock. I glance upwards, the next fourty feet seem daunting, and perhaps... a little over my head. The happy thought of a successful first-time-lead-outdoor-climbing floats back in to my brain. I hold it there for a moment, taste its milky goodness, and then swallow it down, deciding that perhaps what's best for my general well-being isnt best for my personal records book. I call out for tension on the rope, and I decend back to the safety of the icy turf, momentarily defeated, but far from conquered.

The Summary...

In the end, I climbed the sucker, but only after someone 'more-experienced' climbed the route first, and set in the necessary hardware for the rest of us. The hardware basically made it impossible for us to hurt ourselves, if someone fell. The wind added an extra obstacle however, as if needing to warm your hands in your groin every few minutes wasnt difficult enough. We were occasionally forced to throw ourselves against the rock to keep from being tossed off the face (with rope-attached). It was by far the coolest climbing experience Ive had to date.

Jennifer's real name isnt Jenn Bundy.

2.
This is the first time that Ive ever heard of U.E.. U. E. stands for Urban Exploration, and apparently has followers world wide. UE followers all have one thing in common; a love for going places that people usually don't. Some thrive on exploring storm drain systems, others love sneaking into abandoned buildings, just to see whats to be seen. The UE followers that I met up with happened to have a love for old mines.

On saturday morning, a group of 5 of us donned rented snowshoes, collected our backpacks of caving gear, and began hiking up a mountain in the Rockies near Field, BC. It wasn't snowing, but it was still really windy. The powder went up to our knees, even with the snowshoes on. We climbed for an hour, hiking the one kilometre to the entrance to the Kicking Horse mine. The secondary entrance we used to gain access to the mine was hidden from view from the outside. Tucked in the bottem of a rock face on the mountainside, one had to roll over a bank, and dissapear down a steep hole between the rock and the snowpack. As one entered the mine, there was an immidate climate change. In seconds, the blizzardy deep powder of the howling mountainside gave way to a noiseless, snow-free room, complete with benches, and plenty of room to kick back and dry out. Railroad ties littered the floor, along with some random articles left from previous splunkers. We took the time to mutate from snowshoesing outdoorsmen into cave-dwelling heroes, as sweaty clothes were torn off, and thigh-high gumboots were pulled on.

I dont have the gumption to finish off this story in full detail, but that cave was amazing. Huge underground walls of ice, hundreds of feet of ancient wooden ladders, bottemless pits, hidden rooms, and a mining cart! We spent 7 hours inside that mine, and only explored a fraction of it.

Thanks for reading, eh.

T

Space Invaders are something all people should be in their lives, at one point or another.

2006-11-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

Things that are new in my life:
- I experimented with spaceinvader-isms, and approve.
- I no longer am certain that carpentry is what I will follow when I move to Victoria. I realized that carpentry may make me happy, but a job like working for Search and Rescue (Id likely have to persue volunteering for a large amount of time first), would be endlessly and profoundly more rewarding.
- I feel like my mind is continually opening to the reality of my relationships with the people around me, what those relationships mean to me, and how my past misconceptions of those relationships were causing some anxiety in my life.
- I love my bicycles, more and more every day.
- I realize that at any given point, no matter how lost or confused I feel, my attitude towards my life, and my life itsself, are never far enough out of my control that I cannot comfortably reach out, wrap my fingers around the controls, and drive them.
- I realize that a person who is happy, optimistic, and positive, can feel depressed, pessimistic, and negative, without the world blowing up. These emotions are just as much a part of me as my positive side. And Ive realized that these are heathy ways to react to problems, as long as they are not a permanent state.
- Ive discovered the group called Otesha as a possibility (and concrete destiny) for myself.

Otesha (http://www.otesha.ca/the+project/index.en.html):
This group uses touring cyclists to project and support the ideals of enivironmentalism. They have positions available for people to lead groups of 10-15 people around certain parts of Canada, talking to communities and schools about simple choices and changes they can make in their daily lives that help protect and conserve our resoureces and home. The tours start this summer, and go for 2 months. I would like to lead one of these tours.

Ill likely add more to this particular entry in the days to come. Its past my bedtime right now.

:D

Update

2006-10-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

So, here's a quick once-through of my life right now, just to get all those getters who are away and about some up-to-date information on my current outtings.

My current future plans:
Im planning on persuing a carpentry career in Victoria after newyears. Id like to start an aprenticeship. Its a skill that I think would be useful to have in life.. in addition, your workspace is constantly outside, and I hear the pay is quite nice. Another option Ive thought about is continuing my Lifeguarding/Swiminstructing career...

Since Im persuing work in Victoria, Im going to be moving out of the Comox Valley, and returning to Victoria. I like Victoria much better. Its much bigger, and there is a bigger range of the kinds of people that are living there. And henceforth, its generally more interesting. In addition, the distances between locations in Victoria are generally farther. That means that I can ride my bike more than 15km and not run out of town/civilization! So yeah.
All this is not to say that Im not planning on persuing my explorations of South America. This is just a slight change for me for now. Once I have my debt paid off and have a little in savings, Imma go :D Perhaps this summer, or end of summer/fall.

My life right now:
Right now, Im sitting in a chair, slightly sore from the waist down. However, when I stand up, I become very, very uncomfortable. I did my first half-marathon (21km) yesterday morning. I ran the entire thing, and even managed to sprint to the end (some guy even started to race me!). I did it in a little over 2 hours. A good time had by all. But I still hurt, and will for a few days.

My life in Courtenay/Comox consists of several things. I sleep, I eat, and I bike. And when Im not sleeping or eating or biking, Im working. Some of it is paid, some of it is not.

My paid work involves my position at my Dad's computer company, doing many, many different tasks, from documentation to electronics assembly to various construction projects to .. anything that anyone needs to have done there but doesnt have time to do themselves.

My non-paid work involves volunteering at a therepeutic garden, which is a garden that is created to be accessible to the disabled and senior-ly. Namely, some elevated garden beds, a natural butterfly garden (where only plants that naturally attract butterflies are planted.. it really works!). I really enjoy digging in the dirt.. because Im volunteering, and so therefore if I wanna stop and talk to a friend, I CAN (as opposed to paid work. Where you shouldn't).

I also semi-volunteer for a group called Katimavik. Katimavik is a volunteer organization that sends newly graduated high-school kids all over the country volunteering with different communities. There is a group of these kids in Courtenay. I have been hanging out with them, because they've been closest thing I could find to a group of people my age.. I 'volunteer' fixing their bicycles. Its really a more than fair trade off for what I get from them, the first night I was there they invited me for a pretty massive fresh fish dinner. We also played ultimate frisbee, and generally just had a good time.. the night after that, I got my first (and so far only) french lesson from them! It was awesome, I love learning languages. Their bicycles are a group of four old bicycles that are in need of many a repair.. so far (due to fish dinners and sweet french) I havent made a whole lot of progress.

Im also going to be fixing bicycles for a group called the Comox Valley Transition Society, which is a group created to protect women and children from dangerous family (or otherwise) situations by providing a safe house. Im also going to be volunteering for the Comox Valley Boys and Girls Club, co-leading a hiking group of 8-10, 8-13yr olds, every sunday, for the next month.

And that is what's kind of going on in my life right now.

Other cool things involve FINDING A SWEET ROAD BIKE FRAME ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WHICH I CARRIED HOME ON MY BACK AND FIXED UP AND AM NOW RIDING.. its not fancy new sweet, its super oldschool but super working really good kind of sweet. Its rediculously fast. Also, recently, I was almost hit by a boat on this bike. ..(pause for laughter and bewilderment).. I approached a busy road, planning to make a right hand turn, to go with traffic. As I neared the road, I glanced left, and noticed a large truck, which had already pulled away from the curb, in order to give me room (so I thought...). I pulled on to the road, hugging the gutter as I sped when the truck started passing me, with the room I noticed before. And then, its trailer started passing me, which was quite a bit closer to me.. and then THE HULL OF THE BOAT IT WAS PULLING WAS ABOUT A FOOT ABOVE MY HEAD AND MOVING VERY FAST and I had very little room and I did not like it.

Aaanyways.. Id also like to say that Im really excited still about moving to South America. But, as I was discussing with someone earlier today, as long as Im happy with what Im doing and the direction Im going, then Im completely open with change happening in my life. In regards to travelling to South America, or doing the carpentry apprenticeship for a little while.. or even moving to a different part of Canada.

As always, thanks for reading.
Tyler

And on to.. new beginnings. Or something.

2006-09-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

This post was written about a week after I returned to Comox, just was not posted.

______
So, more thoughts. Just because a blog will always listen, and my siblings usually wont.

Clothes. I just brought back to my cabin that my sister and I are sharing, close to all of the posessions that I own on this planet. In the form of boxes, and bags, and things of this type.. all posessions that I deemed necessary to keep before I left.
Now, for the short of it, Im giving atleast half away. I might be trying to sell many more things, and Im basically draining myself of personal posessions because I feel I dont need them.
One thing that has stirred a brain wave or two, has been clothes. Its like, the cultural wear of this culture. Until now, I felt like I didnt really fit in, with my constantly dirty batman shirt, and my ripped-and-repaired-and-ripped-some-more grey jean shorts. But BAM! All of a sudden, I have all the trendyness that was me before I left. Clothes. Clothes that people here wear. Clothes that will make me actually seem like Im part of this culture. At last! I can fit in!

But then I opened up more boxes. Boxes of phyics texts. And boxing gear. And mountainbiking equipment.. why does none of this stuff interest me like it did before? Why do I feel like Ive changed so much? I dont know. Its just weird.

I opened up my University Physics book, the be all and end all of deadly super head exploding physics, the very book that I bore my head into time after time, loving the kind of knowledge I was pulling from it. But this time.. I read, and then I read some more, and I thought to myself, "Who frickin needs to know this stuff? So what if I know the angular momentum of a swinging watch?"

My life has changed indeed.

An Ode to Farewells

2006-09-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

So.. here is my semi-official fare-well. I dont think my blog is going to see too much more action over the next while.. maybe a random post from time to time but with far less frequency. Im back in Comox, my first day of work is tomorrow, and besides new volunteering ventures I may seek out here, my life seems that its going to be more boring for the next while. But I suppose Ill keep updating random things, like my thoughts on my next trip abroad, my steps towards it (like selling most of my posessions), and other such fancy novel things.

Some random thoughts on being back in Canada.. I do indeed see it under a very different light. The trees are greener, the ocean is bluer, the everything is ultimately more beautiful. The small gulf islands that dot the Strait of JDF, the peircing snowcapped peaks that make up the horizon on most sides, the pines, the rampant deer, the deep blue of the ocean, the inconcievably completely rediculously SAFE environment that surrounds everything (a man rides his $5k mountain bike onto the ferry to Quadra Island. He gets off. He leans it against a wall. He walks away and up some stairs, without giving the bike a second thought. I ride my bike on. Mine is worth significantly less, and I didnt put more than 10 feet between me and it the entire time. Holy frickin lack of armed (and unarmed) robbery batman).

Ive also noticed that Canadians (when they dont look at you like youre a pirate) are really pretty rediculously friendly. Like, super awesome friendly. Random deep conversations. Random.. favours. Curtosy in the roadway (sometimes). And in general.. well, we also complain a lot. There's a lot of random bitching. If youbump someone with a backpack that happens to be quite large while in a moving train thats full of people with aisleways which are really quite thin and the conductor is indecisive as to where to put your bags and youre tired because you just got back from Central America, its like, "Fuck you who the hell do you think you are, the Queen?" ("No, sorry, Im not the Queen, it wont happen again.") In Guatemala, aslong as someones not sitting on your head and taking a crap while you're riding the bus (there are no trains), you dont even notice, let alone complain. Busses are just full there. Im not saying theres a culture that's better, but there's definately one that I fit into better than the other.

Im happy people dont have guns here.

As always, thanks for reading.. hope your north american hamburgers are as tastey as they always were.

I might be going hardcore vegetarian soon.

Tyler

Metchosin

2006-08-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

Im back in Metchosin (and Canada) tonight. Holy shit. Holy shit.

It.. I.. um, dont know how I feel. Partly it feels like I never left. Partly it feels like Ive been away for years, and I dont have a home here anymore.. Although, as far as my home in Metchosin goes, definately feels like I never left more than the latter.

On the ferry over, I tripped out pretty hard, staring at the loonie, and other Canadian montary things.. and then, I put beside it, a Quetzal (mainly used guatemalan coin). I felt like my brain was trying to shift back to being used to Canadian coins, and that my entire trip was more or less a dream.. as I sat on BC Ferrys.. but then, there beside the loonies and toonies, was this Quetzal. A coin which is now more familiar to me than anything Canadian. Its hard believing the two sides of my life exsist together.

Anyways. Im crazy tired, and kinda sick.

Thanks fer readin an carin.

Tyler

Something more.

2006-08-21T12:01:00.001-07:00

I also miss the pine needles.

I miss the warm winds and the smell of freshly cut lawn.
I miss the ability to lay listliss on a carpet indoors for hours, then get up, pee, eat, and do it all over again.
I miss Andy, Stewart and Darien. I miss Angelena. I miss sitting and talking and sharing experiences and opinions with all of my parents.
I miss walking through the woods, semi-aimlessly, through alpine meadows, west-coast rainforests, and straw-filled feilds.
I miss living with my sister, in our cabin, on the ocean.
I miss tormenting the general public with my brother.

So, I guess I miss Canada too... really difficult to keep from crying right now. Its been a while, Canada seemed so far away for a long time.

*deep breath*

Anyways, in other news.. lately, well.. actually for a while, Ive given many an hour of serious thought to coming back down to Latin America, to do it all over again. This time, South America..
Banking on taking a year or more to do it. Banking (heh) on saving up money beforehand, but also... working, perhaps as much time as I am biking, to keep a travelling net balance of Zero.

Anyways. Worlds still spinning. Life is a time warp, shake your ass and just do it.

tyler

And now for the present tense.

2006-08-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

Im back at Maya Pedal, alone in the Guatemalan bike shop, for now.

And I return to Canada, in 10 days. Thats one week, and 3 days. Thats 240 hours. Thats a really short time.

And I realized that I missed Guatemala, and I love the town that I lived in here for near 4 months. And I love (and am biwlidered and excited by) the fact that I can actually COMMUNICATE with the people around here.. I can have conversations, and get to know people!
And I hate the fact that I am fairly sick. Ive been sleeping rediculus amounts (more than 12 hours in the past 24, and Im ready to walk back home right now and go to bed all over again).

And, I wish I could stay, and work in Guatemala, all over again. If I could afford to, it would be a really, really tough decision.

But lifes bound to change, and I suppose that Im only 20, and I have the time to do this all over again 50 times in a row, if I so desired.

Anyways. Adios, hasta luego, vamos a vernos en poco tiempo.

A reminder: I can again be reached by telephone (long distance :P). (502) 7849 4671, best to call in the evenings (after 5) during the week, or any time during the weekend. I am one hour ahead of BC time, and in line with Albertain time.

I IS A SkooBASharK.

2006-08-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

Time to get tough. Real fuckin tough.
Meet Tom Roberts (aka Rob Canada). This guy´s balls, are almost as big as a milking cow on a lard diet. So big, infact, he barely fit inside.. that small whole, the one by his knees.
On May 14, a team of four of the most dangerous, hard-assed ambitionators scraggled inside this hole, loaded down with food and water, flashlights, rope, and ..snorkel gear.

This is their story.

Above: Golden Orb Weaver Spider, one of hundreds on the Bay Islands of Honduras.

Unfortunately, its a short story.
After several minutes of squeezing through the tunnel, the four emerged, faces covered in mud and bat guano, into a small room, just big enough to stand. They were ancy; The day before they had spotted a large tarantula in the place, on the ceiling, at face height. After having poked the tarantula several times after discovery, they believed that it was possible that the tarantula could be planning revenge..
But he was nowhere to be seen, and so the group relaxed. But only slightly.
Before them, near the edges of the cave, layed several pools of water. Upon examination with a flashlight, the pools revealed their lure: All were significantly more vast than the open air space they now stood in. A vote was taken, and it was determined that Tyler, the guinea pig of the group, was to enter first.
After dawning his snorkle and fins, and being handed a dive light (underwater flash light), Tyler started to carefully lower himself into the largest of the pools. This step was difficult, as the entry point consisted of a steep wall covered in sharp rocks, not to mention that the bottem of the pool dropped off immidately from the edge of the wall. As Tyler entered the water, he searched for the continuation of the wall under water, and found none. This resulted in a sketchy jump into the water. Once entered, the intense truth of these pools came blundering out: There was only one pool. There was no underwater wall, because the entire platform that they had been standing on, was indeed a bridge. The pool had many visable entrances. And many tunnels, leading to other rooms entirely. And.. one fish (seen by Harry).

All in all, 3 hours were spent underground here. We used a rope to keep track of the person diving, as once entering other underwater rooms, other air pockets were found, and a fair amount of distance could be covered without needing to return to the origional room. We had a maximum submerdged time set for us, 4 mintues (meaning that if the diver didnt return in 4 minutes, someone else went into the water, followed the rope with our spare light, and looked for him).
We explored much of what we could see, but we left many a dark scary tunnel untouched, as fears of light failure and large tarantulas haunted us.
Above: North (open Atlantic Ocean) side of Utila, the beach was covered in the most jagged rocks imaginable.

Take care.
Tyler

And then, things changed quite a lot.

2006-08-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

We played with this guy for a long time. No, I didnt transform into a praying mantis, but that would be cool.

So, as the days progressed, I found myself having a different view of my current status of travelling through Nicaragua on bike. I found that, after Panama being reached, and after my brothersisterRobart being met in San Jose, travelled with, and left, I really didnt have too much of a goal to ride towards. I found myself finding it almost pointless to spend many hours pouring through the hot sun, riding by groups of people who all looked on with awe (or confusion, or amusement) as I passed. I found the short conversations that I had with people as I rode by not exactly fulfilling. And an idea, that I had thought about numerous times before, crept back into my head...
Why not give away my bike?
After arriving in Leon (and riding all of 33km that day, finishing the 120km sprint), I spent a night in the city outside a school with a friendly security guard. The next morning, taking note of the increased amounts of squeaking in my bike as the kilometres progressed, I took it to a bikeshop, spent 4 dollars US and regreased and bascially rebuilt the entire beast.
After leaving Leon, I road north, passing through the volcano chain in Nicaragua, and covering a total of 45km that day as I crashed in my tent behind the house of a motorcycle mechanic.
The next day, after beginning to climb off of the sealevel dryzone in western Nicaragua, I found myself stopping more and more often, for snacks, to chat, or to look and find where newly discovered sounds where coming from. And then, I stopped again, saw a group of people and thought;
Why not give away my bike? To them?
.. I sat and pondered for almost half an hour, on the side of the road, relaxing in the shade, snacking on the sweetbread I had bought that morning. I had such a strong draw, to just go up, make friends, and say, "Here. You can use this." I felt like I had finished this bike trip already. I felt like that I was just wasting time, trying to live cheaply while I waited for the days to tick by before I returned to Canada. I felt like my bike had served me well, and our time together was finished. There wasnt a bone in my body that thought sourly of the thought of just handing it over, for someone else to enjoy, to give the bike yet another life.
In the end, purly because I felt like I was giving up if I stopped then, I decided to keep climbing.
After about 200m, I came across another tienda (small store), and the entrance to a small town. I stopped, again, walked over, and purchased a bag of milk, because milk is tastey. I smiled to the people in and outside the shop, and stopped and talked. After a few minutes, it was revealed to me that there were open gold mines in the area, and that the children there could take me on a tour of them if I wanted. I was sold.
After a night of being treated like a son, again, by the family I had just met, I walked up to the mother of the household, and handed over the keys to my steed. I stripped her (.. the bike.) down of all my gear, did some last minutes maintenence and upkeep, leaned her up against their wall, and smiled at how pretty that bike really was. Frickin caddilack.
That night consisted of a small semi-intentional party by the family (which was well recieved by me, as I had just finally ended my epic bike trip). It also consisted of a little (at first..) random gift giving to me. I took them as a kind jesture at first, but when this poor family started handing over personal belongings to me, I started feeling quite ackward. In order to accept the gifts that were being pushed towards me (in exchange for the bicycle), I managed to trade some of the belongings that I already had, just so I did not feel as strange taking so many gifts from this family, whom I had not wanted anything in return from except continued friendliness.
In the end, I left with food (both in my belly and in my bag), some jean shorts, many a bag of tasty home-made chocolate banana milk in my stomach, an english-as-a-second-language book in spanish, and a toy horse.

So, that was then. From then, I travelled north to San Rafael del Norte by bus with all of my crap (heavy, heavy crap), met borthersistaRob and proceeded to have a currently continuing awesome time here with the Nicaraguan friends I had already made. Our current plans are to leave here either tomorrow or the next day, by bus towards the Bay Islands of Honduras, and then to Guatemala, where we will proceed to have a killer time till its time to header back to the freakishly cold climate of Canada. Man. This trip feels like it began such a short.. well, no. Feels like a long frickin trip. Well, it doesnt even feel like a trip, not any more. It feels like life.

Photos:
Above and below: A very large lizard. That was captured, killed, cooked, and then eaten, by us. To celebrate.Hey Michelle! A bull! Frickin gargantuan head.

Harrison, walking near San Rafeal del Norte, on one of our many awesome experiences that weve had here.

Anyways, take care. Thanks for continuing to show an interest in my well being and do-goodings.

Tyler

Merp

2006-07-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Stuff Added!

So, things have indeed changed significantly. After leaving Granada and the comforts of hostel life behind, I am biking again, but this time solo. Right now, Im in the town of Leon in Nicaragua (still), and after leaving here I will be heading north, passing though a chain of volcanoes, to eventually end up in San Rafael del Norte.
I dont have time to add connotations for each photo right now, but.. they´re more or less in chronological order, and Ill hopefully be adding descriptions to them later.

PEace

So, this is the Costa Rican side of the Panamanian Border. This sight made me pretty frickin happy.. was a good time crossing the huge rickty bridge across the river that forms the border here. Kinda scary actually.. because I had a very heavily-laden bike at the time.This is my sister´s tent, looking out towards the beach on the Carribean Coast of Costa Rica, 5km south of Puerto Limon, at Eddie´s house. Harry´s schwanky tent is to the left, with his tarp.This is a grandson of Eddie, nicknamed Chokie, looking back from the same spot towards Eddie´s house, the small shack where a fair portion of his immidiate family lives.A shot on the beach, trying to show how crazily jungly the area was. Many animals were seen and caught, including boa constrictors, posion arrow frogs, scorpions, large toads, large crabs, and... other things.

Below: Random pitstop, first day of group mob-style biking.This is a shot of part of the family who took us in that first night. With Natalie, and the spot where we camped, in the background.Random swerving on a pretty road. A very, very pretty road..Natalie busting up a bad ass salad with my machete while we waited for Harrison to fix his bike again. This time it was legit, you can see his bare rim to the right of the pic, he busted up his tube pretty good. Good enough that we couldnt patch it, and he had to use a pocket knife to widen the valve hole in his rim to change from using a Presta tube to a Schreader tube. For those of you who dont know nuttin, we had to cut away part of his rim to fit the Schreader valve, because its wider.Dangerous pocket snake (large, smilerly werm.)Monkeys who maimed and robbed us on our way out of camp in La Fortuna.Another attempt at catching the "very pretty road" that we road around Lagoon de Fortuna in Costa Rica.AFTER I LEFT GRANADA.. solo riding again. This was a shot from a large hill I climbed, after I reached the town of Masaya, some 18 kilometres away. As I entred the town, I got buzzed by some spandexed-up road biker Nigaraguans, who smiled and waved. I of course gunned it and caught up, being pretty speedy on a relativly gnarly bike. We road through Masaya together, I asked them about a potential place to camp (wanting a different experience than the previous one I had there). I followed them to the base of a large, off-the-beaten-track hill outside of town, they told me it was an easy climb. It was frickin steep.
They told me I might be able to camp on the grounds of the park we had entered, and asked for me about it once we reached the top. Turned out I couldnt, because it was dangerous, so they lead me back down, and eventually to a Nicaraguan Boy Scouts Camp (I didnt know they frickin exsisted..) where I awesomely (but reluctantly by the owner) was able to use a big room for my self complete with a very comfy cot, and a toilet and shower, all to my self.Next day.
From my journal:
Left Managua, after fixing some more spokes with a not-so-good bike mechanic. After a short time of riding, made the turn (or lack of a turn) that determined that I was indeed not going to ride north to San Rafael del Norte, immidiately as I had origionally thought, but west, up the coast of Lago de Managua towards Leon.
I found myself wanting to cover a lot of ground that day. I felt that I wanted to arrive in Leon in one day (120km), even though I knew that it was better if I slept a ways outside of the City. I found myself starting to push myself, as I road hour after hour in the hot sun. I found myself starting to feel pretty shitty, as I started to exaust myself slowly, the sun starting to get to me. Because I was feeling shitty, I started to need to slow down. And because I was starting to slow down, I got pissed off, speeded up, and felt worse.
I found myself partially conciously wanting to arrive in Leon so I could sleep in a hostel, even though I conciously knew that once I arrived there I knew I would not want to pay, and search out somewhere (possibly desperately) to sleep for free. I found myself repulsing the idea of camping in an unknown place and location, in comparison to the comfort of an assured shower and a bed in a hostel.

Basically, it was a hard task, getting myself to accept the necessities of travelling on bicycle.
The above shot is of a spot where I took a dip, to stop and think, in Lago de Managua. Behind my bike (with Natalies fancy saddle bags) are the peaks of Volcan Mombotombo in the distance, and the island of Mombotombito in the lake.
The below shot is from the door of the gate of the amazingly large family I stayed with that night, looking out into their town.

And thats me, in my tent, alone. Perhaps too alone.

Sista's blogg

2006-07-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Check it out. It doesnt have pictures either.

natalive.blogspot.com

Screw you camera. New, very nice, very free camera from my brother.. Screw you.

2006-07-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

So... (deep breath)
No photos. Maybe a little later.

We´re biking. And Im biking, again. It hurts. Rain, sun, all of it.. bussing and hostels and clean clothes, life was so easy a little while back.
But, it was also expensive. We´re living a cheaper life now, which is a lot better for my wallet. And, to boot, its a lot better experience..
My brother, Harrison, is rediculosly good at spotting animals. We´ve seen more animals in these days of travelling together than Ive seen in my entire trip.. almost. Well, no.. not even close. But we´ve seen a lot.

Evening Before, and Day One (after several days of hostel hopping, and a 4 day stint with my best bud Eddie, who lives on the carribean coast of Costa Rica):
We bussed to San Jose the night before. Had to ride around the city some with our bikes, as many hostels were full. That night, and including most of the morning of the next day, we discussed our options of departure. It turns out, we are a horribly indesicive bunch (is it just me, or has my spelling been getting progressily worse? Damn you lack of school.. maybe lack of reading books too.). For us, it was a toss up of leaving the country by bus, or leaving by bike, or a combination of the two.
But in the end, we left on bus, for a place called Ciudad Quesada, which is north west of San Jose. From there, we hopped up our hoppy bikes and scoodled down towards a town of La Fortuna. After a withering and breathtaking (literally) 28 ish kilometres, we were nearing La Fortuna, when we noticed a sign saying "Hand Made Guitars" in front of a house.

So to be honest, it was kind of tough, adjusting from riding solo, and comfortably riding for long hours, and not needing to spend any money really on food... to riding with a group of people, and having opinions matter other than my own, and riding with people whos general biking speeds differ from my own.. and, jeepers, spending so much money on food. I feel my dealing with this was showing from time to time, so I said to them:
"Hey, you guys wanna go back there and check out that guitar shop?"
This differed from my earlier postion of thinking, "I think we should ride as long and as fast and as hard as we can because I think we should be riding 70km a day, and not thirty, because I know that I can, why cant you?"

So we stopped. And we went inside, and asked about the guitars.. the fella there said the man would return in the morning, we said that we could come back. He asked us, "You guys are going to sleep in La Fortuna?" I answered, "No, well, perhaps. Were looking for a place to put our tents and camp." And he said, "Well.. you could put them underneith that roof over there. Id be okay with that."

And there we were. Our first group hola-awesome-generosity experience. After talking to the family of them a little more, they offered us the option of showering, which we happily took up, and they offered us dinner, which we politely turned down due to our fooood(Im hungry as Im writing this) laden bags that we carried from a near by store. We set up camp, after they happily weed-wacked us a trail through the shin-deep grass to the roof.
The next day, after they cooked breakfast for the four of us, they took us for a walk around their farm.. describing how it was that they did things.
First off, they cooked with gas, that they created. From cow manure, from the cows that they had there for milk.
The cow waste is mixed with water, and drained into 20 foot plastic tube, which is sitting in the sun. The manure ferments, and as it does, it releases methane. The methane rises to the top, and is extracted by means of a valve connected to the top-most point.
The manure, after fermented, is exactracted at the other end of the tube, mixed with minerals and a few other natural ingredients, and is used to fertilize their crops, some of which are grown purely to feed the cows.
In addion to the large amount of vegetable and fruit crops that they were growing, this family also had crops for medicinal use, and had a special garden for such plants, containing around 10 different plants with different properties.
Their goal is to become self-sufficient, and to encourage others to do the same. They feed themselves almost entirely from their land and animals.

Day 2:
Busted out, crossed La Fortuna. Got rained on. Climbed up part of Volcan Arena, got rained on some more. Climbed some more large hills, got hit with more relentless torrents of rain. Arrived at some hotsprings, tired and needing lunch. These hotsprings were supposedly the only ones in the area accesible by the unpaying public. We discovered them to be a torrent of chocolaty-brown water and debris, due to the intense amount of water that had fallen. We bathed anyways, it was still very warm. Warm, brown, chocolaty water.. kind of like Willy Wonka's house..
After a lunch of tortilla chips, random sweets and bean paste, while being pummelled by yet another monsoon, we started riding again, continuing our awesome trend of climbing.
In the end, we passed by many a mudslide, all of which had happened that day.. lucky that we didnt end up underneith one.
That night, after realizing that our current pace would not get us near a town until late that night, we decided to find a place to camp. It so happened, that amongst all these terrifyingly expensive Costa Rican hotels, there was one family who had a relativly bare concrete building in their yard, which they frequently rented out to budget travellers such as ourselves. We paid 2 dollars a person for the night, in return for a roof, running water, and a toilet.

The following days included more camping, more rain, some sun, Tucans, and a lot of monkeys.

4 or 5 days ago, the lot of us crossed into Nicaragua. It was an emotional moment. The next day, we hopped the ferry to Ometepe, recieved some free beer(!) from some other travellers, and proceeded to throw a camp down on a beach infront of a hotel.
That night was one of the buggiest nights Ive experienced in Central America. The sand we were camping on turned out to be a flowing mass of these small, round, grey insects. They didnt bite, but were really strange none the less. The more memorable ground dwelling insects were those of the ant variaty. There was a variaty, to some extent, but the most present were ants of a small, black, very painful stinging bite variaty. There were numerous encounters, including some very invasive actions by the ants, as they attempted to quickly build homes out of our trash, our backpacks, and Rob's tent.
Another memorable species of insect were of a small, fly type varity, which were very successful at filling all and every crevece on a persons face, and which provided a living, moving coating for any other portion of skin that was not covered by clothing. They did not bite either, and only seemed to be so forward in their actions when you attemped to use a flashlight at night. I lost on of my flashlights in El Salvador, and the other in Panama, so I was in luck.
But all in all, we lived, we managed to outsmart the ants (after some time), and Harrison was subject to a full force monsoon without a fly on his tent (his tarp blew of in the worst part of the storm that night).

Last night we took the middleofthenight boat to Granada, from Ometepe. Slept in some very fishy smelling wet fishish stuff on the cargo deck of the boat.
Yesterday, we arrived at the area to catch the midnight sailing to Granada approximately 12 hours before we needed to. So, after double checking departure times at the dock, we backtracked and headed for a beach with a big Canadian flag painted on a sign next to it.
It would turn out that a group of girls from Quebec came, and over a period of 3 months, built a large playground next to the beach we were at. That was in 2003.. unfortunately, now the playground is beginning to be overgrown, and the only creatures that play on it are the monkeys that live by (according to the woman that lives near by).
More on that woman.. an old woman called Natalie over to her, as Natalie was wrestling with her bicycle on the beach. I came over to say hi aswell, and translate (as I usually do). After helping her carry some things to her home (which was about 20 feet away from the beach), and meeting her family, they spontaneously invited us into their home, to wait out the hours until the ferry.
That evening, we watched two movies with them, made an enourmous dinner (the family was 11 people strong BEFORE we showed up), and had somewhat of a party, all talking and laughing, taking turns telling stories, and comparing the qualities of Nicaragua and Canada. This family had previously housed two of the volunteers from Quebec.
They also had a pet parrot, who yammered at us continuously in spanish. I could only understand a little bit. But he liked being on the heads of people, so that is where he stayed for some time.

So, that is the past. We are now staying in a relativly cheap hostel in Granada. The next weeks will unfortunatly be different than the past weeks, as time constraints and wishes to do and see certain things have put a limit on the amount of biking that may take place. For part of our group, I believe that it may just end here in Granada. But thats life.
For me, I will be riding for perhaps one or two more weeks, thanI will be bussing my last stretch back into Guatemala, to ensure that I once again can volunteer at Maya Pedal, before we all fly home.

Sorry for the delay. Take care all.

Tyler

Brazil

2006-07-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

So, once apon a time. A time that was really a long time ago, almost 4 or 5 days long. Well, less.

Kristy, my partner in awesome adventure making. Yes, hes holding a machette. Our guide, hacking away like a mad man, and cutting us a trail. While standing in a canoe.A beautiful and large spider.A shelter that was built by our guide, in about half an hour... we slept in hammocks in the middle of the amazon. These branches that are leaning over our hammocks are actually the "leaves" of the trees we cut them off.. I think.. Manaus, Brazil. Headquarters for all that is the Brazillian Jungle Amazon Experience.. according to our guide books.

So, yes, we went to the amazon. It kicked serios hiney. Seriously.
Except for the strange jungle bees, by which we were stung. It felt like a small hole had been drilled into my neck, into the muscle.. Very strong pain. I then learned that the very large bee that stung me (size of an obese horsefly) was actually the small, less dangerous kind.. There is apparently a larger kind, 2 to 3 inches long, capable of giving a person intense fevers and muscle pain for weeks. I felt lucky to be stung by the less serious kind...
And then I learned about a third kind of bee, which will swarm and chase you if you pass through the vacinity of their nest, and follow you for miles. The only way to escape, is reach a body of water, submerge yourself, and wait. But if they catch you, more than 15 stings from these can kill you.
Again, I felt lucky.

Ive decided that the amazon would be an amazing place to grow up. Besides the bees, the dozens of types of highly venomous snakes, frogs, and lizards, and the billions of venomous ants, I believe the overall experience would be an awesome one. Many of the trees are very thin and tall, perfect for building sweet things like forts for battle with said venomous creatures. And then there´s the palm leaves, which are easy to cut down, light enough to drag around, and strong enough to do many things with (like build shelters for hammock sleeping).. the possibilities are truely and utterly (heh.. udder) endless.

The above pictures of the forest filled with water, and us in canoes, are.. cool. The forest is 2/3rds submerged, 2/3rds of the trees are under water. At times, it felt like we were paddling through treetops. Truely awesome.

The night before, we canoed through a portion of that forest aswell, in search for piranas (went fishing with chunks of raw chicken on our hooks.. :D). Got bites, we fed them up good. But they didnt fill up us, we caught none.

my BROTHER AND SISTER AND ROB MADE IT TO COSTA RICA.. my god, I was so happy to see them. Lots of tears. And random huge group hugs. And smiling so much our faces hurt. And random statements of, "Man, I love you. I missed you."
Things are good. Our plans are to bus tomorrow to the place where my buddy Eddie the blackman lives, to chill out with his family and him for a couple days while I retrieve my bicycle from Panama. From there, we ride north to Nicaragua, in search of adventure and cheap spanish school. The next two months are going to be amazing.

Anyways, Im going to take my little brother to a bar. He hasnt been to one before.

Take care family/friends and world.
Love,
Tyler

The Southern Hemisphere

2006-06-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

Truely definately the fatherst Ive been away from home. Smack full of awesome.

I cant believe that Im in Brazil..

I cant believe that Im rapidly learning to speak Portugese!!! (because it is quite similar to spanish)

I cant believe that I crossed the equator the day before yesterday.. I thought the equator was supposed to be crazy hot. I suppose Im just climatized.

And to think, in the beginning, my plans were to never leave Guatemala..

Today, were taking a boat into the Rio Amazonas. And into the Amazon. Where we will be staying for 3 days... I hope its as pimp as all the hype :)

Anyways. Keep it real.

Tylyer

Guyana

2006-06-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Im still zoned from the plane.

I managed yesterday to do the 17 hours of travelling to get from the hostel in San Jose, to the place where a good friend of mine Kristy, was volunteering, in Anna Catharina, Guyana. Holy crap.

It was an interesting trip aswell, because due to the nature of my arrival (I arrived exactly 24 hours before I said I was going to. Big surprise for Kristy :D) it was somewhat difficult to get information of exactly what I was getting myself into. So many details of my final arrival in Anna Catharina werent taken care of.. I still had very little idea of what Georgetown was like until I got there.

So, as I was sitting on the plane, doing the last leg of the journey from Barbados to Georgetown, I overheard two men talking behind me. One was living and working in the states (I had to fly to miami to get the connecting flight to Georgetown... ..) but had a family in Georgetown, the other was from Georgetown but living somewhere else entirely, and just visiting.

Anyways, I asked them if they knew of the place I needed to go. They thought for a while.. and said no. And strongly advised me that if I didnt know where I was going, I should just find a hotel to sleep in in Georgetown. Because it was dangerous, and soforth. I questioned them more, about cabfare, about the dangers of the area, and about prices.. wow! Hotels were normally USD$40-50 a night here. I couldnt afford that, I didnt really bring enough money, and atms are a very rare commodity here.
But one of the guys, named Daam, said that a good friend was coming to pick him up from the Airport. He would likely know the place where I wanted to go.
After we landed and went through customs, we asked, and his friend did not know. So, Daam, after giving me a free ride into Georgetown with his friend, let me repeatedly call the place where Kristy was volunteering on his cellphone. No answer, I was hoping I could maybe get some helpful information from one of the other volunteers. Daam then called his sister in law, who was a dispatcher for a taxi company. He asked her to question all of the cab drivers, if they knew where it was. We drove to the dispatch office where his sister worked, and it turned out they did know, and it wasnt far. Daam then gave me cab fare(!!) (I did not have any local currancy, as the tourist office was closed when I arrived) as I thanked him profusly for all the help. He told me I could give him a call and stay at his house that night, if I didnt end up finding where I needed to go.

So we hopped in the taxi, and tore across a mile long bridge over one of the massive rivers near Georgetown. After driving for about half an hour more, we arrived in Anna Katharina. We began asking people, and hunting around for the Sunshine Woman and Youth's Centre, and.. we found it! With lights on! But.. empty. And locked. After flying for so long, and getting so lucky with actually GETTING to the frickin place, where I could possibly immensly surprise this good friend of mine.. no one was there. Shit.
But, the night wasnt over yet. After talking about what we were going to do, the taxi driver helped me ask around about when the volunteers of the place where getting back. It turned out that the caretaker of the place lived next door!! And offered to lend me her couch to rest on, as she assured me they would be returning that night.
Later that night, they arrived. I snuck in, and was lead my some of the other volunteers to where Kristy was. She was happy to see me :)

I must say that NONE of this wouldnt have happened without my awesome friend, Heather Baron. She kicks some serious ass. And helped me get sneaky info about where Kristy was volunteering.

And tomorrow, Kristy and I, along with other volunteers, hop on a night bus bound for the border of Brazil. 12 hours when the roads are good, 20 when its the rainy season... and, its the rainy season. After, we get another bus, and headpunch our way into Brazil, and the Amazon. I hope I eat atleast one large amphibian.

Love for all when all is free and fruitfull.
Take care

Tyler

And now for something completly different.

2006-06-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

No pictures. Camera still broken.

Panama was amazing.. a very different country, they have unique laws that set it apart from all the other countries in Central America.

Im back in Costa Rica now, I left my bike with some friends I made.

This friday, Im flying to Guyana. Shortly thereafter, Im bussing into Brazil, into the Amazon.

No joke.

That is all. Ill write more later.

=D

Hey look!

2006-06-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

I arrived. :D

That is all.

Purple-headed Yogurt Squirter

2006-06-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

And plasma death rays.. and stuff..

(both pictures of me and my tent in Los Chiles, Costa Rica)

Yay! I have more time!
I had to come back to the internet cafe, because I conviently managed to leave all of my money in my tent.. minus just enough change for the bus. So, I had to come back. Had to pay for the internet.

So, before, my camera´s ability to take pictures was very very limited (it automatically took one picture every time I turned it on) but now, I cant even rely on that.. the pictures all have this awesome tint of green that I cant do anything about (maybe I could with a picture editor, but Im not going to brother trying.) Its broken.

I am, however, going to try to bribe someone to take a digital picture of me when I get to Panama City and the Canal.

(the boat into Costa Rica. Notice the bike.)

Update:
Okay. So where Im staying right now is on a beach (more or less). My tent is actually on a palm-tree covered area just before the beach. Which lead me to a discovery.. palm trees shed their huge 100ib branches much more frequently than normal trees do. Their brances are kind of like leaves in that way. But just a lot bigger. And kind of dangerous. As I was eating dinner at a friend´s house near by, I watched a huge branch plummet from about 20 feet up and do an almost direct hit to my tent.. one of the poles is a little bent, but I was impressed. With all the crazy sub leaves on the main palm tree "leaf" that fell, its final velocity before it struck my tent was considerably less than what it could have been. Part of it also struck the ground, so that helped too. But.. my tent survived.. and I got to drag the leafbranchmonster over to where a firepile was and hack it up for firewood. Machette = 1, palmtreebranchdeath = 0.

When I arrived here in Puerto Limon, I had the knowledge from other friendly people that I met that Limon was realitvely dangerous. So, I passed through it quickly.. and then, after counting my money, and realizing that I have a long time to go before I could get more, I headed back in, and quickly waited in a long line for an ATM with my bike. And then.. quickly used the atm. And left. Not so quick. None of it was quick. Thats what I was trying to get across.
But um, I have noticed that my sence for dangerous places is being hightened. I noticed that I can read it in people, how the people hold themselves in the street... what the street looks like.. what people are doing.. After passing through certain parts of Limon, I felt very safe in certain parts, and in other parts I felt like it was not the best place to be. And after talking to these friends that Ive met and am staying with more or less, outside of Limon on the beach, I was right. It was cool, and I am happy.

After leaving Limon for a second time, I rode.. and was feeling progressivly more and more drained. After a few km, I realized that I had eaten very little that day, and decided that the first thing I was going to do was track down some dinner. So, I rode into the first bar-restaurant that I found (the only thing that I found), pulled up my bike, sat down, and asked for a menu.

Sitting next to me, was this shirtless, crazyteethed (trying to use a nice term), shaggy-haired black man. A thing about the Atlantic cost and the carribean in general, is that there are a lot of black people here. Im not going to pretend that I know a lot about the history of the place, but I know that the spaniards where the ones that "discovered" this new world and that the black race exsists in Central America because of the slaves that were brought over.
Anyways. I quickly learned that this black man´s name was Eddie. He addressed me immidiately in English, which was nice. And after about 15 seconds of talking with this person, I knew that I did not want to find another place to sleep that night.

Eddie (I dont have a picture.. I wish I did) is the father of four children, 2 of which live in his small home on the beach. His youngest son and his second youngest son lifare the ones living with him, his youngest son being 25 and having a wife and two kids (with a thrid on the way), and his second youngest son being ..older, and living in a room on his own. The two grandchildren, the son and daughter of his youngest son, each have their "own" rooms, the daughter sleeping with the grandfather and the son having a room to himself. The married couple (.. i dont actually know if theyre actually married) have their own room.
So, there are 6 rooms in the small, one floor cabin. The livingroom, which has the couple´s room on one side and the oldest son´s room on the other, and the kitchen, which has the grandson´s room on one side and the grandaughter/Eddies room on the other (confused yet?). And here, they live happier than many people Ive met in Costa Rica. In fact.. I would have to say all of the people Ive met.
My tent is currently outside of their house, on the beach, and I am allowed to use their shower and kitchen. Today, I went fishing with the grandkids and couple, in a dugout canoe, in a river that feeds into the ocean near here. They had slingshots.. and the father of the couple and the grandson were using them to shoot at birds.. until they killed one. A fairly large duck. Immidately the two of them both dove out and swam to the shore to where the duck was, picked it up, and brought it back. I asked, "What are you going to do with that?" They replied, "Eat him." And I thought it was fun and games.

Today, after sleeping long, hard and beautiful yet again.. I woke up at around 10. 10! Frickin awesome. I looked out through my tent door and the fly, and I saw beautiful sand and trees basked in the carribean sun. And I felt absolutly no urge to leave. I slowly dragged myself out of my tent, and pulled some clothes on.. and thought, for yet another time, "Bike travel is very difficult."

Theres been two phrases that seemed to keep coming back to me since I started travelling on bicycle.
The first one, that came to me more in the beginning of my trip, is, "Exsistance is a funny thing." I kept thinking about this, because, my life was(/is) changing so much, even from day to day. I was meeting new people, travelling different places, dealing with different circumstances and finding places to sleep on a day to day basis. But, through all the change, and all the crazy things I was seeing/experiencing/feeling, one thing stayed the same, me. In the sence, that Im the same person (although I believe I have changed some). But, Im still the same person that was living, as before, and the same person that was exsisting, dispite all the crazy worlds Ive been swimming through. Exsistance is funny.. because one person can exsist in a world (on this world) under so many different circumstances. There are so many different lives that are being lived.. you ge to meet so many of them while travelling.
Wow, holy rant. I guess Im in the writing kind of mood :D I have energy.

The second phrase is, "Bike travel is very difficult." The physical part of bike travel is managable, I can handle the physical part. But the part of this kind of travel that is so difficult is that I keep finding all these amazing people and places, and sometimes is so, so hard to pick up and leave. Eddie says if I want, I can stay with them for months. So hard to leave.

(what a very, very top-heavy bike continuously does. In a hostel in Granada, Nicaragua)

Anyways, continuing on with my story, this morning, as I was slowly putting my things together, packing up my tent, looking at the beautiful sun, white sand and relaxed atmosphere, Eddie came up to me. He said, "Why you goin and doin dat nonsense fo´? Its too late in the day to leave now. The sun is faar to hot (prounounced like Ho but with a t) and its far better fer you ta leave te next mornin. Bright n early. If ya leave no yo gunna git cook´d in th´ sun and youre not gunna make it very far and.. its no sense to leave t´day. Besides, the young´ns are gunna go fishing and they want you to come." He went on like that for about 5 minutes, before I finally told him that I definately did not want to leave. Him asking me to stay.. well, him telling me to stay was definatly enough to convince me to stay another day. And here I am.

Another interesting event that happened recently:
Last night, after I got home from using the internet, I went back to my tent to look for where I left my money. I noticed that I left my inner tent door open in my tired state, when I left. I started groping around to find my flashlight..

I still remember the brief almost-a-second feeling of confusion of the random sensation of something grasping my left thumb.

And I still remember the intense pain of the realization that followed, as I flailed and yelled something like "AAAANDTHATSACRABFUCKNGSHIT"... wow those fuckers are strong. He drew blood, and dispite the continued tenderness my thumb its healing nicely. In the passion I also conviently ripped his arm off, after which he nicely obliged and released me. (Mental note: crabs let go of you really fast if you rip their limbs off.) Im not cruel, it was self defence.

(he is a man that helped me find a place to stay, in Mayasa, Nicaragua)

(Also some people that helped me in Masaya. They bought me lunch, for no particular reason other than Im doing what Im doing... I also have their contact information, "If (I) ever need anything when (Im) here next, just call. Anything.")

(verybigtree)

(Michelle (yes you Michelle!), this Bull´s for you. ..But you have to come get him)

Here is one more story I want to include.. wow this is a long entry. Some of you have recieved this story already, in one form or another.

The climb of that volcano took me 2 days to complete. I left the sea-level sort of area around the middle of the day, from a town called San Miguel. I started climbing.. Im lazy. Here´s a version of the story Ive already written (sorry Kristy, I stole it).
It was getting dark, and there was a fairly intense storm going on all around me (and on me), and I had been steadily climbing this volcano on my bike for 4 or 5 hours. I was freezing. I was hungry. I had no food, and I was out of range of my planned destination for the night. It was too dark to ride, because there was no visability due to the intense rain. So.. I last-resorted it (heh.. resort) and went up to this hotel and asked if I could put up my tent under their outdoor roof. The reception called the manager.. as they were talking, some guests walked by. It turned out that they were there (here) on their honeymoon.. and they were paying $120US a night..!!!
The responce I usually recieve from hotels is basically, "Screw you, no you cant sleep here for free, but you can pay for a room." And.. something like this was what I was expecting from this luxury hotel I found way up in the mountains. But.. instead, they said, "Weve decided we´ll give you a bed instead. And dinner, for free." I just about pooed myself.

The next night, after managing to summit Volcan Poas, I was decending the first part of the volcano when.. pop! pop! Two more spokes went, following the ones that had already broke when I was climbing. My wheel quickly became near-unusable.
After riding many dangerous kilometeres in yet another storm, with a wheel that looked like a taco chip (not quite) and wet non-exsistant brakes, I arrived into a town big enough to have a bike shop.
Thats one thing about Costa Rica.. its normal here for people to have cars. There are not many bike shops around.
But, I fixed my wheel, and a really good friend here ended up helping me out.. I think Im going to have to continue this story next time. Holy blog.

(Ethne once asked me what the desersts look like here. This is what they look like (and what I have ridden through))

(And below.. thats me.)

So, umm...

2006-06-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

First things first. My camera has crapped out. I may be able to get pictures off of it, the ones that I have taken, but my ability to take pictures has been diminished fairly effectively. And, um, shit, this compter doesnt have USB!! so I cant do that right now.

As some people may have already assumed, Im in Costa Rica. But not for much longer. Day after tomorrow, Im planning on crossing into Panama.... getting close, I can almost taste the desiel.

Something I wrote in an entry I had going a few days ago:
Wow. So tired right now. Last night, I barely slept, due to a slarge of mosquitos in the night. And then today, I felt sick once again.. which was aggrivated by my lack of energy and lack of stamina from not sleeping. And.. since Im back in the lowlands of Costa Rica, it was convienently hot and humid.. which, all combined with needing to make more distance towards Panama on my bike full of stuff, equalled a very painful start to today.

Yeah.. still feeling shitty. I decided to take an off day, I havent road my bike at all today. But still, I have no energy, I think it might be due to my diet or something. Hard to eat right when youre focusing on making distance, I guess. It loooks like that Ill easily have enough time to reach the Canal before my brother and sister and Rob get here, but I might have to bus part of the way back. Travel is slower since Ive been trying to go faster.

I slept long and hard last night. Felt a liiittle better, this morning.. and I was feeling that it would be best for me to get up and put a few Kms under my belt. So I started packing up my tent.. but felt a little light headed so I laid down for a second.. and woke up 3 hours later. So I stayed.
But I dont feel bad enough that I think Im actually sick.. I blame how Im feeling on diet, heat/humidity, and the fact that Ive gone ten days without stopping to catch my breath. Been riding hard every day, and it killed me. Thinking back, this is the longest stretch Ive done to date aswell, so.. maybe thats it.

So.. Update..
Right NOW, Im in Puerto Limon, in Costa Rica. Ive seen the San Jose International Airport, exactly where Im going to meet brothersisterRob. Ive counted and recounted the days still I get to see them (Im not anxcious or excited. Im frickin screaming to see them.) I climbed a volcano (2798m) on my bike with stuff, took me 7 hours to finish. 7 hours of climbing, kick me in the balls please. Ive broken 12 spokes, in total. And Im 98km from the Panama Border. Hell yeah.

Besides being sick, Ive had some really great experiences here in Costa Rica. Ive also noticed how differnt Costa Rica is from the rest of Central America.. including the people. Dont have time right now to discribe them, as some people who came into Limon with me are waiting (Limon is dangerous, and they were nice enough to escort me in).

Anyways. The black death panther of the neon brown lagoon is again taking the waffle-sized bite out of the fistfull of pretty yellow hornets I fed him.

Keep on keepin´ on. Peace and love.

Tyler

No pictures, buuuut..

2006-05-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

Update time. Internet is too slow to get photos on here.

So, Im still alive.. horray!! Once more still kickin the mule of death in the face with my dirty leather hiking boots.

Things Ive done recently:
Rode from the town of Masaya to Granada, where I stayed in a HOSTEL for 2 nights. It was a nice break.... a break, from, eh, taking a break.
Took a boat 4 hours from Granada to the Island of Ometepe, where I stayed on beaches hostels for 1 week.. another break, from breaking.
Took a boat 10 hours overnight from Ometepe to San Carlos, and the Costa Rican border.. thats right! Im about 200m from the Costa Rican border! Too bad its in the form of a big murky river.

Other things Ive done recently:
Noticed that chicks actually do dig guys with scruffy hair, beards, and bikes.
Not showered.
Not cut my hair in any way, shape, or form.
Swam a very long ways, until the nearest shore was moderately hazy..
Swam naked.
Met people from pretty much everywhere on the planet.
Walked alone down streets of a town Id never been to, pushing my bike and making loud chicken noises.
Howled at howler monkeys.
Climbed large trees.
Climbed a volcano.
Again realized that Im riding a very large distance, by myself, and I love every meter of it.

More on the volcano that I climbed.. I climbed it on the island, Ometepe. It was absolutly beautiful. There was no ash-filled crater at the top, with hot boiling mud and lava... it was forest. Dense, thick, wet forest. Green, muddy, with trees interwinding, roots you can climb up, fallen trees with other tree splurting out of them.. it was, in fact, very much a BC coastal forest. I loved it so much. How great it felt to be in a forest like that. It was beautiful.
Very much BC except for: Volcano, double the humidity, spanish, and ridiculus amounts of tropical wildlife such as leafcutter ants and howler monkeys and parrets and frogs.

Anyways, gotta fly.

Keep the love juice flowin, just remember to change your pants when you´re done.

Tyler

Jeepers.

2006-05-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

Added text in blue.

This was me, way the hell back on the 12th (or so) of May.

Orlando Zelaya, and wife Yonai Salgado.
I spent 5 days with this couple, and their daughter, Elgin.
The story:
So, as it would be, I was happily riding by on my way to San Rafael del Norte, when I happened upon a large, well-kept outdoor bar and restaraunt. The name of the place was Los Encuentros. After riding the moderately-harrowing 18km from Yali, I felt I was well-deserving a cold beer and some tastey bread (the bread I had with me.) So, I cruised into the place on my bike...
My relationship with these people was a very good one. They not only accepted me into their home, but accepted me into their family aswell.. They provided me with a room and a bed, that was currently not in use, and provided me with food the entire time I was there. I didnt know what to think.. Im still unsure of my feelings towards this. Purely because I feel like Im not appreciateing how generous they were to me. There have been many experiences of this nature, but these were the only people who actually told me to stay. They told me that I should stay because Orlando had friends that I needed to meet, and they had things planned for me to do. I said okay.
At first, I accepted the food they gave me, because I had become somewhat acustomed to people being generous with food. I asked if there was any thing I could do to help, they said no. I asked if there was anything I could buy for them, they answered with a no once again. After the second day, I ended up looking for work to do there.. I swept, I helped them set up and take down the restaraunt, I helped prepare food, I helped was dishes. I didnt ask, I just did. And they didnt stop me.. I felt better about the situation. Modesty is an interesting thing, I felt uneasy when they were giving me these meals of food, and a place to sleep, while asking nothing in return, and not taking advantage of it when I asked to help them. I felt much better once I started atleast partially earning what I was recieveing.
Anyways.. that being said, Orlando is a great man, and his wife is very gracioius. Their daughter is adorable. She helped me with studying spanish.

This is Orlando´s best friend (and family), Señor Giovanny Blandon. I was introduced to him the second day I was there. What an awesome guy. Giovanny is who talked to me most about the war, he was the one who showed me a nice scar from a mortar. Giovanny and Orlando, along with Orlando´s daughter and Giovanny´s son, took me hiking into the mountains. This is where I met the self sufficient families, saw the tucan, and road in the back of a big dumptruck.

Giovanny´s son.

Dumptruck!!
Waterfall!

Elgin.
This tractor is having its water tank filled up by the women-with-buckets technique. The tractor is used to water down the roads, to keep the dust down... I think. Maybe to water crops, I dont know. Didnt ask.

Orlando and Elgin, in San Rafael del Norte, the morning before the hike.
Helz yeah they´re eating tortillas. These parrots were at the nice house I stayed at for 5 days, in San Rafael.
I hate you sun. And I hate you too, road. Ive seen enough of you for today.
Today was another long day, 100 plus kms.

After I left San Rafael, I road, I guess.. 30km? I left really late. That place is so hard to leave, especially with how great the people were.
Things Ive come to realize:
I realize, more now, that this isnt so fun and games kinda trip.. Yesterday, after putting some more serious kilometers under my.. tires, I found my self thinking, "Wow... I wasnt kidding. I actually am going to ride all of Central America." Same sort of epiphany today, even right now... holy crap. Is this my life, where all this crazy shit (sorry parents) is happening? Is this me thats riding a bicycle solo through mulitple countries of a different language, covering eventually a couple thousand kilometres, finding friends and a safe place night after night in towns of people I have absolutly no connection to? I guess so, I find me telling myself, "Who else could it be?"
Right now Im in the city of Masaya, some 12kms from the city of Granada, on Lago de Nicaragua. Supposedly its the centre of all sorts of beautiful Nicaraguan traditional articles and trinkits, which would be cool to see, but I havent yet. Granada, is again the place I would catch a boat from.. but I still havent decided if Im going to ride north to Leon before I go. Ive had serious conflicting feelings.
Leon is the place of Quetzal Trekkers, Nicaraguan chapter. It would be cool to check them out, say hi, apologise that Im doing different things other than volunteering with them. Also, apparently Leon is quite a pretty city, but the surrouding environment is somewhat.. brown and dry.
On the other hand, I could stay in this area where I am now, and catch that boat to San Carlos and Costa Rica next monday.

Upda... bwa??

2006-05-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Taken a couple of days ago.

Taken of a spot where I slept after I entered Nicaragua.. its a fighting-pit for roosters.. it smelled.. odd. Kind of like old blood and dead chicken.

Update time again, althought not complete, because the internet is crazy dodgey.
Im in that same Elementary School, as before. Why? Because, that nice family that I thought was maybe going to offer me dinner offered me a ROOM WITH A BED, food, and a beautiful place to stay in since last friday (I think it was friday.) Yet another place I have to visit on my way back up north.

My brother and sister and a friend named Rob are due to drop in to Costa Rica in 7 weeks. Im very, very exctited. Seven weeks is still a long time.. since Ive only been riding for about 2 1/2. Ive started thinking seriously about my trip continuing north to Canada aswell.. and Ive realized that if I do it, I dont want to do it alone (being solo has its thrills, but I think the 4 months Id need to ride from Guatemala to Vancouver Island would be a lot funner with a friend). Ive started dropping polite hints to my friends, but then again... Im only 2 1/2 weeks into it. True, Im liking it more and more, the longer I do it, but who knows, I have a long time to go.

Yesterday, the family that Im living with took me for a walk.. well, no. A hike. Our destination was a waterfall, way up in the mountains, took us 5 hours to get there, another bunch to get back. On our way up, we stopped and talked with and ate snakc with a bunch of their friends, living in homes only acessible on foot and by horse (and over-powered dirtbike with large knobbed tires and river jumping capabilities, if you had the money). It was really.. moving to meet all thes people, who had so little. There homes were beautiful, and very simple. I was told that money really didnt exsist in that area, people traded with food and other things. I felt myself kind of form this mental shell around myself, as if what I was seeing was just a movie or something. But I forced myself to actually let myself believe what I was seeing.. even the machette, that I bought for CDN$4 in Guatemala, would have been greatfully recieved by some of these families. These families were all so happy, aswell. They recieved us with big smiles and cups of juice and fresh-cows milk and other such things. The people that I was with knew everybody, and explained that when Nicaragua was at war (with its self) they fought side by side with these people in the very hills that they live in now. They showed me how they patrolled the steep mountain roads, talked about events that happened in the area, and showed scars they obtained from different events. They showed me the house where Sadinistas operated out of in San Rafael del Norte (where I am now), and I saw the graffiti that was left over from the war years.

All in all, Im happy its safe here now..

I saw a Tucan yesterday too. Score one more for the Tylerseescoolshit box of tastey treats.

Anyways, Ill get more pictures up here later. Tomorrow, Im heading out of the mountains.. my next plan is to take a 13 hour boat ride across a lake WITH FRESH WATER SHARKS from Granada to San Carlos, and the Costa Rican border.. I figure Ive earned it. That being said, its going to take twice as long as it would on bike, and probably be more taxing, as its likely to be a very basic-needs kind of craft.. go team go :D

Tyler

A more recent set of happenings.

2006-05-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

So, Ive realized, that because theres so many things that happen to me, and that after said things Im often only capable of sleeping, that its going to be very difficult to continue narrating my trip with the same level of detail as I have previously included. I will however include little blups of narration, describing different events and happenings that are more noteworthy than others. Not to say that the entire trip hasnt been noteworthy.

Right now, as in.. right... NOW, Im in Nicaragua. Right NOW, Im in an elementary school, using the internet. My bike trip as of late has switched gears, the last couple of days have included some very physically demanding climbing of steep, loose gravel roads. Im up here in the mountains because I decided that I wanted to change from travelling on the large highways, and most of all, I wanted to get out of the DESERT. I want to see other parts of the countries that Im visiting, other than the parts that are easily accesable. Where I slept last night (and the night before), on average theres about 1 foreigner every month or two. And I happened to be one of them. I really doubt there´s very many bicycle tourists that took the same route I did, since the Panamerican parallels this road that Im taking, and is much flatter and paved. On the Panamerican I can easily do 70km in a day, where as after 20km of these mountain roads, Im pooped. Today, I road 18km. And thats all Im riding today. Tomorrow, Im thinking about doing 22km. Thats the distance to the next town. However... from this town on, the road is paved, and flat again.. so, potentially, the 22km will take me only an hour, where the 18km today took me 4. (Thinks back this morning..) wow, that was so brutal. There was points in the climb, where I knew, I KNEW, that I didnt have it in me to keep going. The road was so loose (which is really very difficult to deal with when riding a top heavy loaded-down bicycle), and so steep, and it Just. Didnt. Stop. (The climb was likely around 6 or 7km). But then.. I told myself, if its not in me, its gotta be somewhere, because Im going to keep going. I stopped and smiled when the busses went by.
This, in comparison to the 25km long hill I hit when I was leaving Honduras, was much more difficult, and took me longer.
My trip right now is slower, aswell, because after examining my average speed through contries versus the amount of time I actually have to do so, I have extra time, even with my plans to head to the Panama Canal, and back to Costa Rica before my brother and sister get here. I like it where I am right now, henceforth Im not making motions to leave quickly.

Interesting things that have happened:
Gained slightly more facial hair.
Met some Jehova´s Witnesses, from the states and England, with whom I stayed with that night. That night I ate Kraft Dinner, played Grand Turismo 4 on PS2, and watched some Simpsons episodes on dvd, before falling asleep on a comfy matress. Holy frickin culture shock, that was a change from sleeping in my tent in the desert.
Started to realize just what it means to "Ride a very, very long ways."
Gained a new appreciation for Kraft Singles cheese slices. And shrink-wrapped sandwich meat. And clean laundry. And.. streams without large masses of garbage (thats the norm here in Central America. Man it feels nice to swim.) I also gained appreciation for a nice cold FREE beer after riding a bike for hours in the sun.

And now, a blurb from my story in El Salvador, an experiece which even now has not been matched by other countries:

After leaving Tomas Alfaro Lemos, I again pressed for the border of Honduras. I made it a fair distance, about 70km, and was decending through a valley before I crossed a very large river, that looked just about perfect for camping.
I stopped by a roadside stand, which had several people in it selling pop and various snacks, and asked about the river, if it was safe in the night and so on and so forth. I explained I had a tent, and was thinking of camping there for the night.

This man piped up, and explained that the area I was in was quite safe (go figure, I was 40km from the nearest city), but said that it would probably be safer if I slept at his house, he had room out front for a tent. He said that if I wanted to head down to the river to bathe, he would wait for me and take me to his house. I said that sounded great.
I went down to the river, laid my bike behind some rocks, stripped down, and jumped in. I swam out to the middle, dove down to the bottem, and laid down on my stomach. I was in abouth 5 feet of water, and had the warm river streaming over top of me, while I laid relaxed on the bottem. It was an amazing feeling.
I then headed back, and was led a little ways to his house. It turned out his house was quite small, and quite.. honesty, quite bare and extremly basic. But, it was beautiful, it had a window overlooking the river and some huge trees. He didnt have a yard in any sense, besides the 4 feet of concrete in front of his worn door, but he did have a hammock. He pointed to it and said I could sleep there. Below is a picture of a door to their home, with his wife, my bike, and the hammock I slept in.
Dispite how little money this couple had, they catored after me as if I was a special guest they had been anticipating for a very long time. They fed me delicious meals (which I helped cook on occasion) and really took care of me, all because I was travelling by on my bike. I offered to pay them, they politely turned me down. I oftered to help them in other ways, such as moving wood and cleaning, occasionally they let me. But in all, they said that I was a part of their family.. I was accepted so unquestioningly and graciously. I stayed there for 2 nights. That was also the place I saw the scorpion.

This is a picture of the last breakfast they made me. Those fish made me laugh, they just fried them whole. I ate them whole. Mmm.. food...

So, Im heading off now, to find some food, although Ill likey be given a dinner of some sort at the place where Im staying tonight, it seems to be the trend. I met a wonderful family that owns a bar, I drank a beer there after riding today, and they said I could definately spend the night outside in my tent.

Considering all of this, my trip, the people Im meeting and the experiences Im having, one thing that Im afraid of loosing is my appreiciation for what Im being given. I dont think it will happen, I hope it wont. Its so overwhelming, how generous people the people are that Ive met. ç

Anyways, a blurb from my head.

Tyler

Huge crazy screaming balls of..

2006-05-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

Bread. Mixed.. with plastic bag, and some mango. And another ball of plastic-bag-and-honey. That was my lunch a while ago.

Thats a sign with a rattlesnake, with my bike, taken earlier today, a ways after reaching the border of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Continuing on..

So, I woke up, and left the guard shack after thanking them. They said I could have stayed another night, if I wanted. I ate a breakfast of Papusas, these chees/beans,chees/otherstuff filled tortilla kind of things, 4 for US$1. Very awesome breakfast. I briefly considered the option of living and working in that place.. there were these beautiful feilds of crops, and these amazingly friendly people living there. It was a very good feeling atmosphere. I believe I could have offered to work for free, in return for a place to sleep, possibly some food.. it would have been amazing.

But, I wanted to travel. And travel I did.
I didnt ride too far that day, managed to get off the highway and bike around some nicer neighborhoods. I came across an internet cafe, and lo and behold three hours of sitting behind a computer came and went.

Wow... thats the biggest cockroach Ive ever seen (moves his bag as to not to tempt it, and watches it scurry under the computer desk).

Anyways, I left the internet cafe, and after noticing that it was getting late 5pm, I started a hunt for a place to sleep. I asked a police station if I could sleep inside, they said no. But, they said I could keep riding, as the road I was on and the place I was in was quite safe... safe, strange word for nighttime in Central America. But, I continued on.. after asking some more people from the area, and again being told that I definately was not in harms way, I finally started to believe that I was in a decent place after all.
And then...
A car pulled over. And some men got out, they had machetes. They looked at me. I looked at them. I offered them some mangos, they ate them, and then left.
And then..
I.. continued on riding, looking for a place to sleep. And I came across a group of nice people sitting outside of a house with a large area in front (fit for tenting) and asked if I could have a sleep there. They said they knew of a better place, and sent a little girl along with me to show me where. I offered her some bread.. she ate it. We rounded a corner in the road, and then entered a fence.

And so it would happen that I came across the house of Tomas Alfaro Lemos.
After questioning me with intimidating but amusing questions for half an hour, and me doing my best to provide decent answers, Tomas Alfaro Lemos laughed hard at my question of a possible sleeping at his house, once more. But this time, the grand Tomas opened the door to his house, pointed to a hammock, and smiled. I laughed sheepishly, and took of my helmet. I wiped the rest of the breadcrumbs off of my face, and began to derobe my bike of its grand rop-es. He brought forward from behind his back, a grand golden mango, a true jesture of heart. I ate it greedily, smileing through the juice. We walked around back of his house, him, a bold man with a bold gaut, and me, a face full of mango strait from a fruit-based porno flick. I glanced up at the grand fruit trees that populated his back yard space. Hundreds of Mangos, Oranges, and these new fruit, Meloncoton (thats what the spanish people call them). He grabbed a large bamboo pole, and after my approval, began to pummel the branches of the trees around us. Mango, orange, and meloncoton came hurtling down, I ducked for cover. He gathered some of the various fruit in a large plastic bag, and handed it to me (that fruit lasted almost a week).

Above, Tomas and his wife, of La Fuente, Tonacatapeque, El Salvador. Notice the heavily-laden bike in the aftground, with the large bag of fruit. This couple also gave me a large dinner, and a large breakfast, swore me into their family as a new family member, and demanded that I return ;).

Putting a hold on the story for now.

2006-05-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, I need to get an update out, so many things are happening and its hard to keep it up to date, even in my journal. This trip has been such a wicked time.

A recap of whats happened:
Thursday, May 27th
Left Itzapa. Road through some beautiful areas, did about 70km. Beautiful areas included a 15km climb in the pooring rain while overlooking an awesome lake.. a feild of coffee plants, where I stopped for a snack and a break, with some very intesely noisy insects. That were big. And flying around me. Kinda scary. That night was the first night I actually camped, found a beautiful spot on the side of the highway above the road, surrounded in FIREFLIES.. didnt see anyone else the entire night.

Friday
Road over 100km to the El Salvador border.. wow, that killed me. So brutal, so hot, so many hours of riding (I cant remember how many but it was a lot. Left early in the morning and the sun was going down when I got there.. took a couple of short breaks in the day.) It was all on the PanAmerican highway too.. which, as it would turn out, is a very nice highway to bike on. Often the paved shoulder for cyclists is as wide as one of the actual car lanes.
In the afternoon, I noticed that my rear tire was starting to riiipp.. shit! Not good when you have many many kilometers to go, and A LOT of weight on the back of the bike. But, one of the coolest things about Guatemala is that because so many people are forced to commute on bicycle, there are more bike shops than there are gas stations. Even on a highway in the middle of nowhere, I got a replacement tire for CDN$6 in abnout 2 minutes from noticing the rip. I didnt change the tire, however, it was still ridable.
That night, I actually slept between the border for Guatemala and El Salvador. It confused the border people the next morning, when I had stamps from the day before. I paid three fifty US that night to stay in a small room in someones building.. it looked like a hotel that had stopped being used as a hotel.

Saturday
Pedaled very, very slowly into El Salvador. About an hour into the ride, I stopped and asked a woman for some clarification on the roads I was meaning to take. She gave me the directions I needed, and than asked if Id like some water. I said yes. As we walked to her house near by, I was offered fruit. And then bread with a yogurt filling. These things were brought out to me by her son. I ate all very happily.. as I hadnt found breakfast yet that morning..
I was then offered a shower. being on my third day of crazy sweating while riding for hours in the sun, I definately said yes. They helped me bring my very heavy bike inside and gave me a towel. I showered.. wow, it felt really weird, and awesome to be clean. I even wrinsed out some of my clothing.
Sidenote: The showers here in El Salvador are mostly of the pila kind. A pila (pronounced Peila) is a large concrete sink (probably 200L cap.) that is filled up with water, and then used for bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, and in some cases, storing live fish... so, I showered by using a pail and a bar of soap. Rinse, scrub, rinse some more.
After I showered, she offered to wash some of my clothes. I couldnt bare to do that, they stunk so bad.. (maybe thats why she offered) so I said no. Her son tried to track down a map of El Salvador for me by calling one of his friends, but it didnt work out. As I was leaving, she gave me a big bag of mangos for later on in the day (they lasted me 3 days) and frickin US$5 which lasted me 2 days.
Unfortunately I didnt get her name, I should have. Ill be going back to visit her on my way back through El Salvador (I have to go back through. I was made to promise, by numerous people.)

So, later that day, after buying an El Salvador tourist map (which really, really sucked.. or, maybe just El Salvador in general sucks for navigation, if youre not interested in takeing the route everyone else is taking) I stopped for a break in a small town to change over my tire, which was progressivly getting worse. A couple of people off the street (which turned out to be very awesomely bike savvy) helped me out, and the process of stripping down the gear off of my bike, wrestling with my overly large/heavy/burly rear rack, putting my decent front tire on the rear, putting the cheapy tire on the front, and getting it all back together took only half an hour. As I was loading the stuff back on to my bike an elderly woman (whom I guess had overheard the details of my epic adventure as I was talking to the people who were helping me with my bike) came out and asked if I was hungry. I said.. yes! She envited me inside, and her and her husband sat me down at a table where a very very tastey looking beautiful lunch had been laid out for me. I ate until my stomach hurt.. wow.. food was so good. I still cant really believe that two things like that happened in one day. And I wasnt even staying the night! (foreshadowing..)

Her name is Edna Torres, from Turin, Ahuchapan, El Salvador.

I thanked these people so much, what an awesome experience to have while riding by your self for a first time through a foriegn country.

So, that night, I ended up in a little bit more dangerous area of El Salvador (lets not forget that this is a very violent country, as far as gang warefare goes) so I was forced to sleep in.. a dance club. And, as I wrote in my journal later that night, what can you do when youre exausted, sweaty, smelly, and needing terribly to rest? DANCE! I slept about 2 hours that night, I was up very late helping the guys there set up and take down sound equipment, flirting with strange girls, and crazy dancing to disco music with a good friend I made.

Sunday
Woke up, crazy groggy, stumbled around physical exertion and lack of sleep, and slowly packed my stuff. Due to me sleeping there and all the employees going home I had to drag all my gear and my bike over a 6 foot concrete wall.
Started riding, in search of breakfast. Started feeling better, fresh air an exercise work wonders. Met up with a random sandex-bearing overweight roadbiker dude (theres a lot of them here. In Guatemala too.)

Sat down outside of a gas station for an hour, and ate some pizza.. it was there where I made the decision to continue on riding, and not go back and persue the job offer that I had in Antigua. I could have road back the way I came, and caught a bus from Santa Ana, El Salvador, to home, and made it to work on that monday morning, which I probably needed to do if I wanted that job because getting ahold of them by phone and email was not working. After I left that gas station, I felt so, crazily happy.

That night, I found a guard shack that was watching over a horse ranch.. or rather, they found me. I was wandering around with my bike looking for a quiet place to camp when I guy wandered up to me, with a shotgun in hand. He asked me what I was up to, I told him I was looking for a place to sleep.. he offered me a bunk in his cabin with him and his son.
I said.. sure!! It was awesome, apart from the bugs in my bed that were biting me all night. There was also one of the most violent storms Ive ever witnessed that night.. lasted all nite. I was happy to be inside.

My times running out for today, but theres 2 important things were said to me before I left on this trip, and I wanna repeat them:
Never give up and stop, and
Never refuse help that is being given to you along the way.

I have refused help, someone offered me a ride in a car. And there was the clothes washing thing. But this trip has been so challenging and difficult at times, from all the heat and bugs and things..

El Salvador has proven to be one of my favorite countries. Ive had continuous amazing experiences with people being incredibly generous and welcoming, wherever Ive gone. Sure, the cities are dangerous, but the countryside is not, people welcome you with open arms. Ive stayed away from the cities, and so far the most dangerous situation Ive been in is when a BIG SCORPION.. yes, SCORPION, 6-8" long.. cruised out from underneith a set of drawers I was sitting near, and started walking towards me. I stopped what I was doing, my mouth dropped open, and I just stared.. as it cruised along, the elderly man I was staying with yelled at me saying it was dangerous and pushed me out of the way, and gave it a thunderous stomp. His wife was laughing at me, because of how much in awe I was of it.. It wasnt moving fast or anything, he was just cruizing along doing his cool scorpion thing when a large rubber boot removed his internal organs.

Anyways, right now Im about 25km from the Honduras border, and probably 150km from the Nicaraguan border (!!!) . So Imma bust out. Love you guys, until next time.

Tyler

Who needs a job, anyway?

2006-05-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

So, I made a series of decisions in life, within the past few days.

And none of them involved work.. well, thats not true. I made the decision not to work. Except the kind of work that involes pedalling.

Last thursday, I left at 10am, on bike, with everything that I brought down to Central America. Ive done about 300km so far, Im about half way though El Salvador.. its been an awesome trip.

Ive had several experiences of people calling me into their houses off of the street, providing me with food, often showers.. and in one occasion.. money! It was $5US, but that bought my food for 2 days down here.

Ive also been sleeping for free, as Ive found many safe places and homes to sleep with the tent that I bought.

My life has definately taken a big sharp turn - and I love every second of it.
My desination has changed from Nicaragua to Panama, I want to do the whole frickin thing.

Anyways. My hearts still beating, and Im happy as ever.

Love,
Ty

So, Guatemala is changing.

2006-04-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

And so is the rest of Central America, I think.
Its beginning to be a daily occurance, big rain storms, often with lightening. And Im still planning to go riding a very long ways. Rain like this I havent seen in Guatemala, up until now. I was actually bombarded with mud on my ride in to Antigua this morning, and I thought, what the hell is this? But its so, so beautiful to see rain and storms again..These pictures were taken from the roof of Maya Pedal. We can hear and feel the storms long before they get to us.. the increased humidity and decreased temperature.. and the booming thunder. Its very intersting, because the storms always seem to come from across the flatlands in front of us.. we can see the huge sheets of rain and lightening before we even get wet.

So, today I hiked my first ever Volcano. Her name is Pacaya.
To get the facts strait.. I would potentially work for a company called Guatemala Ventures, not the Old Town Outfitters shop. This one does the same sort of things though.
The volcano hike (more of a walk) was free from Guatemala Ventures.. along with a free tastey lunch... and a free testride on a halfway-decent mountainbike.. and a free really good frickin pinapple danish thing which Im eating now while using free internet. Hmm. Along with a free place to live (Im allowed to continue living in Maya Pedal, for free).. this aint half bad. Wow.

But still, I have this crazy drive to actually do what I set out to accomplish.. to ride to Nicaragua. And I really dont know where either option ahead of me would take me (speaking non-geographically), so this is a really hard decision.

For right now, Ive decided to leave for a couple of days on bike, to just get a feel for travelling around with a tent and a backpack in Central America. Itll give me some more clarity of thought too, I hope.

The funny thing too is that my two options that Im currently thinking about, are just some of the things I could do. I could head off on bike and try and get a job in another country, I could actually go and volunteer with QuetzalTrekkers like I wanted to..

So many possibilities.

Thunder's picking up again, already started raining. Peace out.

¿Whats happening with me right now?

2006-04-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

Semi-recent photo.. a couple weeks ago, I think. Before Monterrico. Oh right.. second time riding to Antigua for Spanish school, about 18km, and that time on kids bikes.. what a hell of a ride. A lot of steep downhill between us and there.
So, as some people may know I have this crazy plan to ride to Nicaragua. As of right now, tonight, Im almost ready. Ive bought nearly everything I need for my trip, the only thing I really need to buy still is some.. toothpaste, and... Um, I have to find some spare bike tubes. I also need to finish welding part of the crazy rear rack I have right now on my bike, it has two big wire boxes, one on each side of the bike.
But Im basically ready to go.. if I wanted to, I could leave tomorrow morning, and start riding south. But Im letting a couple things stand in my way; one is an issue with aquiring a plane ticket home, Im getting that underway before I leave. The second is a potential job.
Last monday I went by a place called Old Town Outfitters (www.bikeguatemala.com) and said that I had many skills they could use, as far as their multi-day mountainbike excursions go (bike mechanic, mountainbiker (I wont tell them I have a reputation of destroying bikes), etc.). Since then there has been some phone tag, and now I potentially have an interview on monday (Im going and talking to them again on monday, its not officially an interview. Actually, now that I think of it, they already said that they have a job for me, but Im going in to see actually what it is and other details like that.)

Keeping the pictures going.. above is a picnic we had, to show appreciation for some volunteers who were leaving. I was in the middle of some serious Piñata asskicking.. but as soon as the candy started falling out some of the kids that were around went crazy. The piñata murduring continued until I noticed that I was surrounded by kids..

Me returning from some spanish school in Antigua.

Some 6 inch spiders from Honduras..

and some cool pictures

of trees.

Phase One Complete

2006-04-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

So this is my weapon. This is the bike that I bought to ride to Nicaragua. Shes a beast, weve already done a few epic adventures. The grandest of which would include a trip to a place called Motericco, on the pacific ocean some 150km south of here. And we (a few other volunteers and I) rode there. A pretty wicked time. Above: One of many fishing boats waiting to head out off of the beach in between waves. Waves were a little smaller in the morning, and it was the only time they could forseeably go out.. around 11am the waves got huge.. bigger than Ive ever seen, anywhere. What a crazy adventure to go swimming in them.. they beat the crap out of the waves at Tofino.

Above: The shack we lived out of for four days. For free. So sunny and warm.
This was similar to a shack we were to stay in the night before we got to Monterrico, in a place called Puerto San Jose´. We arrived into town just as the sun was setting, and on our way in we met a guy on a bike who said he had a friend with a cheap hotel on the beach. We followed him, and soon we were pushing our pack-laden bikes though a sandy beach, with the pacific ocean right infront of us. In front of us aswell were some of these shacks, and he told us that hed only charge us Q30 a person (CDN$6). This is fairly expensive as far as Guatemalan prices go, for a shack on the beach.. we decided that if we were going to sleep on the beach, we wouldnt be paying for it. So we walked away.. then noticing the huge half empty drinking stalls that surrounded the place we were thinking of sleeping in. The time was around 7pm, plenty of time for them to fill up.. As we were walking off the beach, wondering where we were going to go to maybe find a hotel, we were approached by a man who immidiately started speaking french to one of the volunteers. The particular volunteer (named Matt) was from Montreal, so they picked up a happening conversation.
It turned out that the particular town we were in, at that particular day of the year (but not yet quite the particular hour), was one of the more dangerous places we could have put ourselves in, in Guatemala anyways. There were huge parties lined up to happen that night around were we were thinking of sleeping, and people had travelled from all around central america to come to this town for the parties. The troublesome part was that none of them were white (which meant that we appeared like walking sacks of money to most, with bikes). The man who spoke french turned out to have a friend who lived close by, and we were quickly ushered away from the growing crowds. We ended up sleeping in a tent with a rooster directly behind us, in the walled-in yard of the friend of the man who came and rescued us.

Above: A very large pelican, that was pretty pissed off.. was blocking traffic, both vehicle and pedestrian.

So a recap of the timeline of our trip: Wensday morning of April 12th we left on bike, heading south from Itzapa and Antigua, passing through Esquintla. We took a longer route as to avoid the large highway heading to the coast, and after nine hours of travelling (we had several long and drawn out breaks), and 120km, we arrived at San Jose´. The next morning we rode the 30-40 km East to Monterrico. We stayed the entire time on the beach, leaving only to buy food, and spending most of the day in the very warm ocean. We left and rode back on the following Sunday, via the very-long-and-incredibly-hot open highway, about 130km or so.

Economy boat storage.

Lanquin & Semuc Champey

2006-04-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

Semuc Champey and Lanquin are located West about 50km of Coban, and like 6 hours by bus North of Guatemala City. I went here on.. erm, the 11th to the 13th of Feburary.
What Semuc Champey is is a large fast-moving river, that magically obtained a 400m long chunk of limestone on top of it.
My trip out there was fairly mindblowing at the time, because I went from a very dry, and hot climate to a very humid forest. We left Coban at 5 in the morning, and we were greeted by a lightening storm and pounding rain (I handnt seen anything that resembled humidity or rain since I got there). It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive the 50km in the cramped oversized van, the roads were quite intense and washed out.

Side note: I have a new-found appreciation for intensely overloaded, 4x4 Toyota passenger vans. Those things kick ass.
So, Semuc Champey was gorgeous. Nuff said.
The Caves near Semuc Champey were absolutely astounding (I love that word). One needed us to swim in as we entered, holding candles (it is not the above picture, unfortunately). The other was absolutely massive, and after the lights were turned off (7km of cave, first 50m conviently had overhead lighting), there were a healthy amount of bats. From my mass email at that time:

We went caving there too and saw bats so thick that it was similar to beingcovered in honey in a swarm of bees (but its toxic honey so they dontactualy land on you, but you could probably breathe one in if you tried. They were really, really thick.)

Where we stayed..

Wow, look how clean my clothes are.. that shirt is now somewhere in Honduras, doing its own shirt kinda things.

Maya Pedal & San Andreas Itzapa

2006-04-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

Above: A sweeet bike that Steve just finished making, and the new exterior of Maya Pedal, thanks to two awesome people Tova and Ky.

So, two weeks after I got into Guatemala, I moved to a town a half-hour away called San Andreas Itzapa, where Maya Pedal is located. Maya Pedal (www.mayapedal.org ) and Izapa have been one of my favorite places on the planet, and I plan to return, if not once than numerous times. Im already planning to come back and visit on my way out of Central America, and have tenative plans in mind to come down next year...
The people of Itzapa are definately noteworthy. Id like to think they represent the larger population of Guatemala, but I dont really know. From what Ive seen though, they do pretty well. They´re very friendly, and generous, and trusting.. the children of Itzapa are equally, if not more noteworthy (that being said, I communicate a lot more often with children than I do adults). I have many good friends under the age of ten (which is a norm for me, even in Canada..).

The children are potentially the greatest part of the experience of living in Itzapa. No matter how long you leave for, no matter how tired and miserable you feel when you return, the children run and excitedly greet you in the street yelling your name. No matter how long youve been working for, no matter how many bikes kicked your ass that day in the shop, the children always come by asking if you can come and play.

There´s a family that lives close by to Maya Pedal, which the volunteers have come to support. The three kids in the above photo include them. We often cook food for them; Maya Pedal is kind of a second home it would seem.

Recent picture of me.

Aaaantigua!

2006-04-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, rightous!
So, I lived here for the first two weeks in Guatemala. The emails associated with this time are fairly amusing.. it was such a shock. Guatemala, you raped my outlook on.. a lot of things.

Above: One of the three volcanos around Antigua. Below: A buddy named Al, and I, and Elliot (behind the camera), and a few bottles of rum (in various locations throughout the city).

A beautiful cathedral, in ruins (angle head left for clarity).

General street in Antigua, with the infamous arch, and the same volcano in the background. Please note that theres no where else in Guatemala (that Ive been) that looks like this city, so clean and european looking.

Miami

2006-04-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

This is my attempt to share some of the things Ive encountered with the world.
These photos are of when I got into Miami, on my way to Guatemala. I had a 6 hour layover. What a frickin shock, 3 or 4 days before I had been fighting huge blizzards in a small 4 wheel drive vehicle. And then all of a sudden Ive been awake for 30-40 hours, and Im thrown into this crazy humid way warm frickin everything place.

This is a tree I avoided climbing (very high), because I felt drunk from lack of sleep. I have scars from such things..

Very different than BC...

Info

2006-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

So, this blog entails my current trip to Guatemala and Central America. Im here volunteering with a group called Maya Pedal (www.mayapedal.org). Its a sweet Guatemalan NGO that builds pedal-powered machines such as grain millers, water pumps, and (now) washing machines. Ive been in Guatemala since the 16th of January, and I dont really have too much plans as far as leaving Central America goes...

The two long posts below entail what Ive written in my mass emails, since I arrived in Central America. The bottem set is more recent, the above set is what I wrote when I first got here. I personally think the first entries are the most entertaining..
Who knew that everything in those blogs would appear on the same page. Well.. go ahead and read them, if you like.

Take two of all my entries from Central America

2006-04-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com]
Sent: February 10, 2006 10:32 AM
Subject: MP is da place ta be

So here's the long-awaited spheal on Maya Pedal, although its not as long as

I origionally wanted. (www.mayapedal.org) Maya Pedal is basically a bike
shop that takes thrown-out bikes, uses volunteers to fix them up, and then
sells them.
My experience: I was really intimidated in the beginning, but Ive managed
now to have my own little bowl of confidence here. The other volunteers
here are really well-rounded, well-centred people. Many of them are
currently in the middle of bike tours of Guatemala.. I think this could be
something I might do before I leave. One pair of volunteers just arrived
here from India on Wensday. They were riding around in India for 3 months..

another pair of volunteers, brothers, are doing a loop from Oregon, and
are riding around all of Guatemala. Its really, really awesome to talk to
these people. Its really inspiring. Now I just need to find someone crazy
enough to tour the world on bicycles with me... .......
The food we eat here in Maya Pedal is definately a memorable and noteworthy
part of the Maya Pedal experience. Clearly, it is the people that live here

that make Maya Pedal what it is, but what MP is right now is an emporium of
fiendishly extravagent and delicious meals, 3 meals a day.

Most of the volunteers at MP are vegitarians. In addition, most of the
volunteers at MP are rediculously good cooks. In additionaddition, fridges
in San Andreas Itzapa dont really exist all that much (due to energy costs),

so almost all food is picked fresh daily.
Most of our meals here are preceeded by a "Dear god this looks/smells/tastes

fuckin' fantastic."

The building we're living in is upkept by us, and we clean it almost daily.

We all share the tasks of cooking, cleaning, and working. Its really cool
seeing how much respect we all have for one another, the maturity of the
whole group definately lets things work more smoothly.

The bikes. Theres currently around 250 bikes here at MP, most of which are
in a state of disrepair. They were all either thrown out or donated by
their previous owners, so theres a lot of work that needs to go into each
one to get them ridable again. Its a really cool experience bringing life
back to these things that were origionally trash. We spend usually about
6-8 hours a day fixing bicycles. As volunteers we are allowed to comendeer
the bikes we want, and use them until they are sold, or keep them until we
leave MP. Its a pretty sweet arrangement, and Ive actually befriended a
couple of serious BMXers living here in Itzapa from riding around some of
the old BMXs. They're my first spanish friends!!! ITs pretty sweet, but I
need to learn more spanish. I taught them some sweet BMXing trials stuff.

So, Id have to say, overall Im having a pretty frickin amazing time. I
really, really like the people Im living and working with, I love the people

of the town we{re in because theyre really friendly and accepting, and I
think its amazing that I get to spend my days in a absolutely beautiful
country, helping out with something that I really love to do.

On to other stuff. Last weekend, I did a sort of weekend excursion about
200km (took 7 hours or so) north to a place called Coban, and Semuc
Champey/Lanquin. I mentioned this in my last email...but this time I have
pictures!! Snap it was pretty. The forrest was beautiful and very
different. There was a lightening storm both nights I was there.. it was
kind of magical. What an awesome trip. Semuc Champey is basically a 400m
limestone bridge over a roaring river, most of the river goes under it. we
went caving there too and saw bats so thick that it was similar to being
covered in honey in a swarm of bees (but its toxic honey so they dont
actualy land on you, but you could probably breathe one in if you tried.
They were really, really thick.) This weekend, Im going to a place called
Lago de Atitlan, which is a fairly large lake, which Ive heard is pretty
fantastically pretty.
Oh, and before I forget. I can recieve long distance phone calls here!! 1
502 7832 0860. But I wont be getting back to this number till next monday
night, its a lot better to call in the evening too. I feel bad for not
calling back home regularly, but I have been really busy, and I now have to
go to a different city to do so..
I dont really have time to talk about each picture, but they{re of maya
pedal, and semuc champey. I came to a different town to use the internet,
but its still relatively slow, and Im running out of time.

I also included one picture from a whole set of pictures we took during a
fun night in antigua. We went into the shadiest bar we could find, bought a

bottle of rum, and started from there. It was a long night.

Anyways. Im alive! a little sick, but alive..

Love you guys.

Tyler

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 8:40 AMSubject: Ola

I havent had a chance to write a group email lately, I have been really
busy. And tired. And kinda sick.
Im still having an amazing time though. Slowly adjusting more and more to
Guatemala. Its hard, Im still having a tough time with spanish. The
communication barrier is making things tough for me, but Im still trying.
A little on Maya Pedal..
I actually want to write a full out email on Maya Pedal, soley. Its been an
absolutely amazing experience. Its everything I could have realistically
hoped for. The fact that Im volunteering with 7 other really amazing
people, eating these amazing meals (most of the people there are wicked good
cooks, and vegitarian, we do 3 group meals a day that cost overall 70Q or
about $14CDN a week. Cheap living indeed.) ... and building bikes for 8
hours a day is frickin fantastic. Im also teaching some of the other
volunteers about bikes, which is really awesome, because Im the new guy!!
I have lots of pictures, but Im not sending them right now.

I did some travelling this weekend. I made it up to the city of Coban
(which is beautiful), and Lanquin and Semuc Champey. I went on a cave tour,
that mostly involved swimming in warm water through underground caverns with
candles... it was amazing. There were some kind of sketchy parts where the
guide told us to slide down a couple tiny little holes where the water was
rushing through..
Got to swim in two different caves yesterday. Both were amazing.

Anyways, gotta catch a bus. Letting you know Im still alive and kicking.

Tyler

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 4:43 PMSubject: ! more (2)

Guatemala - The land of obnoctious, completely unecessary, continuously
present unstopping noise.

Its a custom here to celebrate people´s birthdays with fireworks at dawn.
People in general seem to just be bored here in addition, fireworks are a
common background noise at all hours of the day, on all days of the week.
Especially on weekends.

As I stated in an earlier email, there arnt any real traffic rules here.
That means, people seem to act like.. sheep. With horns. Purely and soley
in the sense, that if one person honks, everone around them honks, as if to
communicate that they too have horns.
Its not quite like this. But drivers have to be very agressive (people in
general are very agressive here due to the crowded situation.. another story
kinda) and so horn use is about as common as using brakes (which is also
very common. Just to clear up my point making).

This rule also applies to the ´public tranist' aka chicken busses here.
But, it applies two or three fold.
The public transit system here is amazing. Its very low cost, very left
wing (am I using that right Jenn?) and could be considered unsafe (they're
likely extremely unsafe, if not the bus then the style of driving), but
amazingly effective. The busses are all old bluebird school busses, but
painted very extravagently. There are usually busses heading in pratically
every direction, leaving every 15 minutes, from most locations. These
busses are made to contain about 40 or so school-sized children, but they
are very regularly full of around 60 or so adult-sized persons. There are
no bus stops either, you just have to wave the bus down as they drive by.
This works amazingly well, because there is no overseeing Public Transit god
that all the bus drivers answer to (there might be). The busses WANT your
business. The drivers yell to you where they´re going, and if they think
that you atleast MIGHT be wanting to get on, they´ll slam on their brakes
just to get your business.
Back to the point. They advertise their business by honking, almost
constantly. They also honk to eachother, and there's a lot of eachothers.
Its a lot of honking.

Car alarms. Due to the amount of poverty in guatemala, the people who can
afford to have a moderately decent car want to protect them. These car
alarms seem to all be super sensitive, as many are usually triggered by the
passing of a bus (a public bus.. there´s a lot of busses.. you can see the
chain of happenings). Even some of the little 80cc scooters, of which there
is a large amount of here (in Antigua), have alarms. Also, since the
majority of cars here are barely drivable (litterally held together with
tape, on the verge of falling apart), mufflers and other such unecessary
things are usually neglected. More noise.

To top it off, besides the noise of being around a lot of people all the
time, I slept in a hostel last night. To which, it would appear, they were
doing heavy construction work to until about 3am. I forgot my earplugs.. it
was hellish.

So yeah. For those wondering, life is good. Im looking forward to going to
San Andreas Itzapa next week (TO WORK ON BIKES.. sorry), because Im starting
to see just how touristy Antigua really is (I havent left antigua too many
times yet). Time to see the real Guatemala (endless agriculture, efficient
and cost-effective ways of life, no consumerism). I got to climb some 300
year old spanish colonial ruins today too, it was sweet.

Pictures:
A few pictures of the friends Ive made here, some from Britian, some from
the US, some from Germany, one from Switzerland.
A beautiful spot overlooking Antigua with more of above friends, and the
volcano behind the town.
A shot of Ronald Macdonald in the large garden-laden courtyard of the
McDonald´s in antigua, its fucking huge, and is very nearly the nicest
looking restaurant in Antigua.

Im off, dinner time. So tired. Time to get ready for a saturday night in a
shady Guatemalan bar (no joke)

Cheers
Tyler

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 2:04 PMSubject: A few more words than last time (2)

I went to San Andreas Itzapa yesterday, where Maya Pedal is. The village is
virtually the opposite of Antigua. Antigua is a very artsy looking tourist
town with a small tinge of Guatemala. There are forieners everywhere, and
you dont have to walk more then 2 or 3 minutes to find someone who speaks
english. Itzapa has a similar population (Antigua has 40,000), but, there
are only around 10 or so white people that live there. That means, no
englih. No friendly tourist lady who speaks fluently to you and makes you
feel so relaxed (and much more willing to purchase items in her tent). And
a whole lot of Guatemalans that make it very obvious to you that you´re not
from around there.

I visited Maya Pedal, and it is everything I wanted it to be. The main
floor is pretty much entirely a workshop. Various devices for welding,
machining, and fixing bicycles crowd the walls. There are some of the
bicimaclinas (I cant spell it.. or say it for that matter) sitting around,
but the shop is moderately clutter-free. There´s a kitchen with a gas(?)
stove and few other things, but no fridge. Which means I cant cook a bunch
of junk and eat left-overs for an entire week.
The second floor has the showroom (a cleanish open space) and the rooms for
which volunteers can live in. Ill be staying in a room with a bunkbed and a
window (horray!).
The third floor is open, like many of the multi-story buildings in guatemala
(I havent seen one that wasnt.) It has a bunch of racks with bike frames
and stuff hanging from them, and offers an amazing view of Itzapa.

Itzapa is a little higher than Antigua I think (in regards to the ocean),
but its still fairly warm. The temperature these past few days have been
similar to early fall, although it still heats up a lot around noon till 2
or 3pm. (Sweet note about Guatemala.. common buisness hours are from 8
till noon then 2 till 6 or 8. They break for two hours, because it
regularly gets too hot for people to work. 2 hour lunch breaks rock.) The
city is pretty hilly its self, the centre of town being more or less the
bottem with hills going up on most sides. Maya Pedal is on such a hill.
Past Maya Pedal is a dirt road that apparently goes all the way to Antigua.
Im looking forward to making the trip on a bike. The road heads up into the
mountains (more just like very, very big hills by canadian standards), which
are pratically entirely culivated for agricultural use. Its really cool
seeing ´fields´of cabbage and stuff on these rediculusly steep hills. A
friend of mine (from Germany, he happily acted as a frickin translator for
me most of the time while we were there) and I decided to hitchhike further
up into the hillmountains in the back of a pickup truck. It was pretty fun
hitchhiking in a direction where we had absolutly no idea of where we were
going. We passed a large group of ´farmers´ all carrying various kinds of
rifles (note to self, I need to find out why they were carrying rifles), and
the pickup truck stopped to pick them up and drive them back to town. We
kept walking higher and ended ùp coming across some large manmade caves (dug
into compacted sand), a lot of really pretty butterflies, and some AVOCADO
trees (I learned that avocados grow on trees..).

After many hours of hiking random trails in the mountains, we headed back.
Didnt get back till late last night.. slept for 11 hours. It was awesome.

Anyways, I know I said Id write a journal. But definately most of my energy
for that kind of thing goes into these emails.. so maybe.. NATALIE (or
someone else?) could keep a record of them, as hotmail doesnt easily have
that capability.

Including couple of pictures. They´re from our treck in the mountain.
And.. one of my dinner table in Antigua, with the three other students Im
living with (from Switzerland, US and England), and my host father.

My coca necklace tastes like wood.

Talk to you guys later,
Tyler

Yes, yes Im still alive.

The pictures included are mostly of the crazy trees in Miami. They were
really near the airport, where I had to wait for 6 hour, I cant even imagine
what the actual forests would be like. The trees were amazing. The ´roots´
that are ´hanging´off of the branches are actually as strong as the branches
them selves.. I climbed a couple, but the fact that I hadnt slept for 30-40
hours kept me from doing too much of that. (When Im tired I feel kind of
drunk, and do things with out paying enough attention to what it is that Im
doing. I have a few scars from such things).
The weather in Miami was really humid, it felt very very much like Butterfly
World (super humid) and smelled like Id imagine a jungle would smell. Super
awesome place to see a sunrise (I was there from 6am to 12pm.

The pictures of Guatemala include the yellow church, the yellow arch over
the street, and the ones of the strange wooden animals. The one on the
street shows what the streets look like in Antigua. Super bumpy
cobblestones. Behind the yellow arch is one of threee volcanos that are
visable from Antigua. The streets outside of Antigua look a little more
north american, but because of the surroundings you´re till very obviously
in Guatemala.

StewartAndyDarien - remember those masks in Jen´s pictures, I found a store
with an enormous collection of them!!! And those crazy wodden animals! The
masks cost about $10 CDN each.. hmm..

There was something else I was gunna say but I dont remember.

Hasta lluego

Tyler

January 16th

So yeah. Letter one of many. I made it!!!!!! And I spent a total of about
..12 minutes in customs. That includes the states, guatemala, and airport
security.. things went really smooth. I coulda easily smuggled things in in
both occasions (except for the airport security.. sheesh). I have been
awake for a very long time. Far too long.
On to more important things. Guatemala is the most beautiful and amazing
place, its so.. incredible. The flight in was amazing, everything I could
see from it was so beautiful, so different. I was so nervous and ancious
through my whole trip through the states..
The forrest.. is like jungle. I havent ventured in there yet, but it is
eons different than BC forrests. And the people, and the city I landed in,
and the.. driving. The driving is basically like having absolutly no road
rules at all. It would seem that the country constantly assumes the police
are on holidays. Even the police (who were weaving in and out of traffic
doing 30-40 over with AK-47s on their backs) are pretty confident that they
donty have to do anything. The only rules are the ones that are (seemingly)
common sense, such as, dont turn across a lane of traffic if theres a wall
of traffic coming at you.
The place where Im staying is also unbelievable. Most of the house is
outdoors. I have my own room (has a ceiling and a lock), thankfully.
Although Id trust Delcia (mother whos house Im at) with my life and all of
my belongings I think.
Anyways. I want to go back and help out with making dinner. I have taken
some pictures, but Ill work on sending them another day (maybe tomorrow).
Maybe Ill even have time to send a few individual emails.
Im smiling so much it hurts.

Denada
Tyler

Everything that you ever thought could possibly have something to do with me.

2006-04-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

These are the latest emails. Im going to cut the entries up to keep blogspot from crashing.

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 1:14 PMSubject: Update time

Not too many epic adventures lately, mostly just volunteering. FYI because
a couple of people have asked, Ive been volunteering 1 1/2 months out of the
2 1/2 months Ive been in central america, and Ill continue to be with Maya
Pedal until the beginning of May.

Since my last update, Ive confirmed my stay here until the end (or so) of
Augest. Who knows, I might stay here past that aswell.

My brother and sister have further confirmed that theyre going to come down
to Central America in the beginning of July. My brother is buying a one-way
ticket, so he says... maybe they like my trend, ´go away and plan to return
in a perpetually exsisting ´couple of months´´.

Âfter I finish volunteering in May, Im going to travel down to Leon,
Nicaragua to start volunteering with QuetzalTrekkers. I miiight travel down
there, via, BICYCLE.. 4 countries, 500km or so, frickin booya.

Rainy season is coming up soon aswell. Which means that the environment
down here I know to date is likely to change, and get much wetter and
greener. Im really looking forward to it, becaue you can basically clasify
where Im living right now by the colours Blue and Brown, blue sky brown
everything else. Except of course for man made things, but the above
statement is really just a generalization anyways.

Ive realized that in the lizard picture I sent a while ago it wasnt that
difficult to spot the lizard. Seemed to just be one friend ;)

PICTURES AND VIDEO include a video of a market where I got to act as a
vendor with my boss carlos and sell bikes,
a cool picture of some trees in the hills near itzapa,
and a couple of photos of a sweet rasta hat. I want dreads.

Hasta la vista baby,
Tyler

PS I may soon move my mass email sort of set up to a more advanced web-blog
sort of set up..maybe just send emails when theres updates or something.

Keep the flow.
Bergn

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 4:33 PMSubject: Carri bean!

Once upon a time there was this beautiful Island, about 11km off of the
coast of a town called La Ceiba, Honduras. The Island was called Utila.
The water we passed over on our way to Utila was the oddest colour; blue.
But, a blue Id never seen an ocean be before, not this light tropical ocean
blue-turquoise crap, but a deeper, creamier blue. If purified water were
ever to be given a colour, it would be given this colour.
Utila was about as warm as could be, very humid, and very salty. The
approach to it was over open Atlantic ocean. I didnt wear a shirt for the
entire four days I was there. I only wore shoes after my feet were
repeatedly burned on the soles from hot pavement. The ocean near the
island was almost hot, literally, definately a very nice warm bath. This
was in the sheltered areas, in about 4 feet of water. The water off of the
island was that of a very warm lake, easily warm enough to swim in without
any kind of wetsuit (or bathingsuit, depending on the company). It was
unbelieveable.
Although, evidentally, the saltiness of the water was a shock to my system.
I was in the water a lot the first day I was there, and that night I became
quite sick. Im quite sure it was from digesting all that salt.

Things I did in the Carribean:
Went on a "dolphin" search with a local diveshop, we didnt see any. But
something cool did happen. We were crusing along through open ocean, when
the captain suddenly asked if anyone wanted to see a shark. We immidiately
drastically changed course, and became aware of a large black dorsal fin
about 200m ahead of us. We tore towards it, and soon we were floating along
side this huge black shape in the water, the same length as the dive boat
(close to 10m). We were all unprepared, and it turned out by the time that
the message got across that we were going to snorkle with it and people
started getting ready, the creature had dove and was no longer visable.
About 2 minutes later it was spotted again, and again we tore towards it,
this time the guide from the dive shop yelling at us to put our snorkle gear
on. By the time I was geared up, pandemonium was breaking out as both the
captain and the guide were frantically yelling "GET IN THE WATER!! GET IN
THE WATER!" I rolled backwards off of the side of the boat, and as I blew
the water out of my snorkle and untangled myself from the 2 other people who
jumped in next to/on top of me, I noticed the shark about 2 meters below
me..
The thing about Whale Sharks is that they dont really look like anything
else on the planet. The rows and rows of small white dots that cover their
deep blue skin look very magical when super-imposed on the cool creamy blue
of the carribean ocean. The size was intense, and the smoothness of how it
moved made me feel I was watching some kind of movie. I managed to follow
it as it dove aswell, because it was still visable due to the dots. For a
while, it was just me and the Whale Shark..

It turns out, that the captain of the boat is obligated to recieve a $10 tip
from every person on board, if they get to see a whale shark. With a boat
of 20 or more people, it became obvious to me why they bypassed pretty much
every rule they have about greeting whale sharks, such as not jumping on top
of it, and not getting within 3 meters, and always staying behind it.. it
really bothered me.
There was another boat in the area too, they were following the same
rushandattack style of whale shark watching that we were.

Okay, so the next thing I did in the caribbean (I really dont know how to
spell it):
Snorkling (in a coral reef). It was really, really amazing. Natalie, you
would poo yourself. And a lot of other people would too, Im sure. The
colours of the fish were almost blinding. The coral was absolutely
spectacular.. so huge and plentiful. Brain coral is the shit. The water
was crazy warm. I dove down and tried to swim through a coral tunnel and
realized why ships get screwed up in reefs like this, its crazy sharp. It
was really awesome, because the reef was off the island. You poked your
head out of the water, and it looked like you were 100m off shore in open
ocean, in a fair sized surf. Under water, it turns into this colourful
tranquil world of ... stuff. I dont know. Looks at some pictures of coral
reef, I dont have any.. so much life, so beautiful. Also, we saw a moray
eel about 5 feet long.. huge gaping mouth, just chilling next to a rock..
pretty awesome. I need an underwater camera.

Thing number 3:
Walking in a jungle. I dont have any good pictures of the jungle on the
island, I didnt have enough time to see it close up. Got a nice look of it
from the dolphin boat. The spiders we came across were very very plentiful.
Apparently there are all kinds, the ones we saw are in the photos I sent.
The number of them that are visable in one are goes from about 6 or 7 to
around 50 in the summer. They werent very dangerous either, a bite being
about the equivalent to a bad bee sting apparently. If I had seen one of
these things on a wall in the room I was staying in, I think I would have
either had a seisure or screamed like a girl. The way they moved and looked
was just.. poison. That discriptive term seems to fit them really really
well.
There were also those huge lizards every 15-20 feet, flopping through the
bushes and stuff. Pretty sweet.

So, Im running out of time. There were a lot of amazing things that
happened. Just for the record, The Bay Islands of Honduras (Utila is one of
them) I believe are the cheapest place in the world to learn how to dive.
The diving there (I did two dives) was as beautiful as the snorkling, lots
and lots of life.

Im beginning to line things up for staying in Central America until the end
of Augest. If it all works out, then Im staying. Im positive I want to.
The longer I stay here, the more I love it. Even occasionally asking around
if I can work somewhere as a paid bike mechanic down here..

Anyways, spread the love.
Peace out
Tyler

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 6:32 PMSubject: About a boy

If you dont want to read all this, read the first part, and the few
paragraphs at the end. Only real important parts.

Okay.

So, once upon a time there was this guy named Tyler and a super cool friend
named Ky. Together they biked up into the majestic mountains behind San
Andreas Itzapa. It took about an hour to ride the 10km uphill to a
viewpoint.
There, they sat and ate strange Guatemalan food that didnt really taste all
that great, and picked forien objects out of their trailmix. After an hour
of chewing the fat, as one might say, they were happened upon by some merry
policemen, in a jolly black pickup truck. One of the policemen leaned out,
using his rifle as a conch, and a conversation ensued:

Where are you from, Antigua?
No, we live and work in San Andreas Itzapa.
You should leave. Its very dangerous here.

They sped off, out to oust banditos out of their evil plots (moderately
known fact, the policemen in Guatemala can be nearly as bad as the
banditos). Ty and Ky considered the advice, and deciding there was time
already well spent, they mounted their respective bicycles and headed for
home.

Then there was a jump.

More like an over-sized rut in the road, which Tyler got sufficient enough
speed to pull an impressive full-ridged-bike-with-seat-high kind of jump.
The rest happened in a matter of seconds.

Tyler, aided with his apparently bald tyres and the dusty loose nature of
the road, began to initiate a non-intentional two-wheel slide (note that
bikes indeed ONLY have two wheels.) The slide was a long one, and was in
the form of a sweeping turn, but resulted in both bike and rider eventually
on their side, skidding and bouncing.

Ky was surprised at the sudden reduced visability. She was choked
momentarily by dust, while baralling full-tilt down the rutted road.

Tyler thinks: I wonder how far back Ky is?
Ky thinks: There is a bike in front of me.

KyandbikehitTylersendsKysailing10feetdownroadtolandonhersidewhileTylerwrastleswiththetwobikeshesinfusedto.

Ky and Ty note later that the Police were right.

But all is well, we both had road rash, and mine is almost healed. That
was... um, a week and a half ago. Before I left for Xela and
QuetzalTrekkers.
As some people have heard, my experience with QuetzalTrekkers was
absolutlely amazing. Heres the itinerary:
Wensday March 8th
We left Xela at about 8am. 7 hour bus ride through Quiche, Chichicastenango
and other places, to a town called Nebaj. There we ate a tastey dinner, and
watched part of Blazing Saddles. We conversed with the large american that
owned the place, and thanked him for the banana cream pie.
Thursday
We woke for a frickin huge pancake breakfast, and were outside hiking
towards the mountains by 7am. The first ascent was about 400m vert, very
painful (for muscles) when you havent done too much walking due to a knee
scraping. We got a beautiful view of Nebaj, the random rediculusly steep
`feilds`on the side of the mountain, and met a few locals on our way up who
gave us strange looks. On top, we laid in the sun for an hour. We filmed
some really strange looking catapillars that looked kind of like goats, and
ate food (one of the two pics I send earlier today). After, we walked down
into the next valley, a green lush paradise compared to the crazy dry desert
kind of place we just left. People insisted it looked much more like
Austria.. We ate lunch at a cheese farm which produced fresh cheese by hand
from the dairy cows there. They got mad at us for not buying beer but using
their patio. We left, walked by a large bull (who seemed very interested
with us) which was tied to.. some, grass. Very safe.
Anyways, we started our slow ascent to Xexocom (pronounced Shieshowcom), and
happened upon some random guatemalans who asked us to take pictures but
couldnt stay long because they had to go back to work (another picture..).
We arrived later that night, and slept well. We got to use something called
a ... I dont remember. But it was a Guatemalan steam bath, which looked
like an over-sized concrete dog house, which they built a large fire in and
let simmer down to hot coals.
Slept well under the stars, awoken only occasionally by big turkeys. Those
suckers are ugly.
Friday
Wow.. this is long. So, first thing friday, after a hearty breakfast of
porridge, we started climbing some more. We rose about 900m in 2.5 hours,
wow, that hurt. Passed more random near-vertical feilds, and rose to meet
the top of the mountain.. a huge limestone rock garden. I couldnt believe
how different everything suddenly looked. It was as if a huge frickin
meteor shower had hit.. And after climbing a little more (without my pack)
I stumbled across, way away from any sort of road, at around 2800m, a
thriving village. The guides of course knew about it, but wow... what a
sight. After being way out in the middle of nowhere, and thinking we were
pretty solitary up there.. bam, in the face. Beautiful village, amongst the
limestone. We ate some food and hiked through it, saying hi to the locals
as we passed, and recieving more smiles and weird looks.
The next four or so hours passed very, very slowly. Our `mountain`was way
much more of a plateau. The heat was .. very irritable, and our plush green
forest had quickly yeilded to limestone-strewn deserty hills. After nearly
collapsing from the altitude, we sat down for a very tastey lunch we had
brought. An interesting thing happened about a half hour into it..
We were sitting, conversing, muching, when we all noticed a single horse
approaching from the west, along the trail we were due to head out on. It
walked slowly and lazily towards us, gave us a bit of a berth off of the
trail as it went around us, and continued on the trail away from us. It
looked, tired. Noone followed, just the horse by itself, heading home from
an early morning at the horse bar... but, wow. What a spiritual place.
Anyways, after lunch, we walked through more beautiful desert and trees
until we came to the end of the plateau. We were confronted with this
immense valley, which one of the guides proceeded to tells us we would
cross, strait down, and strait up. About a third of the way down, we
stopped at a school (still no roads here), whipped out our sleeping bags and
had a very cold nights sleep.
Saturday
We continued down the valley to have breakfast at the bottem, where we all
jumped in the ice cold stream, some were nude. We watched a Guatemalan
family come down to wash their clothes in the stream, they looked at us just
as often as we pondered after them, both parties in wonder. We hiked out of
the valley, and noticed that the climate was getting indeed drier. By 12pm,
we were hiking through full out, cactus strewn desert. It was hot, but not
too hot. I got sunburnt. We passed very brightly coloured homes, and
brightly coloured cemetaries (most guatemalan cemetaries look like some kind
of childrens playground, crazy colourful with all the graves above ground in
concrete condiminiums). We hiked up one last large hill, which I proudly
made it up much faster than everyone else, and decended down to lunch, a bus
ride with some drunk Guaetmalans, and a place to sleep with another Teneskul
(the Guatemalan steam bath/sauna).
Sunday
We had a nice hike up to the highest non volcanic point in Central America
(3832m), a 400m ascent from where we slept. We ate lunch, talked some
smack, and looked out towards our final destination, Todos Santos. We
watched a volcano eurupt.. twice.. spewing huge mushroom clouds into the
air. Unfortunately, it was about 100km away (there is a hike one can do
with QuetzalTrekkers, where they hike up the inactive volcano next door to
it, at watch it.) Todos Santos was a vertical 1.5km decent through thick
forests, cliffs, rivers, and feilds. My knees hurt bad, once again. Got
vertigo a couple of times, from walking down thin paths with a heavy pack on
loose dirt, with a cliff right next door. We got into our hostel,
collapsed, exmained blisters, and slept hard, needing to wake early for the
bus home the next day.

So here´s where you can start reading again, if you skipped all that, Im
playing with the idea of staying here till Augest so I can volunteer with
QuetzalTrekkers. The volunteers there not only guide the hikes, they run
the entire business.. there is no overseeing coordinator or anything like
that. PRetty amazing opportunity, I think. Well see how money goes though.

Right now Im in La Ceiba, Honduras. I met 7 other random travellers today,
on the bus to here. We all got a big room together at a cheap hotel, and
got it cheap because were a big group! go team! Tomorrow morning were
heading out to Utila, one of the Bay Islands. I, atleast, am going there to
do some cheap diving in the Atlantic/carribean ocean... hell yeah!

Anyways, I wrote too much. Miss you guys. Night.
Tyler

March 8….
Hey. Havent had a chance to do a mass email lately (because of computers which cant support my camera), but things are awesome right now.. I took a bus with a group of people to a crazy town way in the middle of nowhere. It is absolutely beautiful... huge endless pine forests and big cliffs and rolling hills.. it sounds like Canada, but it is so, so different. Everything is so jagged here, theres s And Im going hikeing till next monday starting tomorrow. Were going to rise above 4000m above sealevel, and we will cover 50km (strait distance, point to point...) Frickin I cant wait schewannabamb! Oh. And something else. The group Im hiking through (call QuetzalTrekkers.. they have a website) accepts volunteers, I read this on their website. From talking to volunteers, I found out that the entire organization is run by volunteers, who come and go. Im going to put some very serious inquiries to STA Travel to see if I can postpone my flight home till the end of Augest, with minimal cost. This would mean that I would be forgoing any university next fall (which I kind of want to anyways, I wanna travel!!), I would have to extend my travellers insurance, and I would have to renew my MSP from guatemala. I would also have to look and see if I could fund it, I might put a request forward to all relatives on van island for a possible loan of $500. The volunteering costs are a quarter of what they are at Maya Pedal. Instead of paying around $80 a month (for living costs, not sweet adventuring costs) I would be paying $20 a month, for food, housing, and my entertainment.. most of the costs are covered by the tips of the people they take. My entertainment, would be leading groups of people on hikes, such as the one Im going on tomorrow, 4 times a month. Ive been interrogating the volunteers since we left, and it turns out that the volunteers are responsible for the operation of the business, the advertising, organizing hikes and benifit dinners for the school that they support and EVERYTHING else. There is NO overseeing god who owns the business.. it is completely the volunteers that come there. The minimum time a volunteer can spend with them is 3 months, the tenative plan being from may till augest. Its three months, because the training needed for new volunteers takes a lot of time. There is also a similar group in Nicaragua, thats also needing volunteers. So I might go down there, I dont know. I just know that this is something I really, really want to become involved with. Anyways, my times almost up. Just thought Id through that idea out there.

Love you guys.
Tyler

-----Original Message-----From: Tyler Walker [mailto:sondaybludysonday@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 6:21 PMSubject: MASS EMAIL INC

Maybe some people will get that. Maybe some people wont. If you dont,
you´re not missing out.. ;)

Id like to say before you read the following story, that Im not even really
roadburnt, I gotta little patch on my elbow, nothin else. No problema.
This´ll make sense in a sec.

So. Once upon a time (yesterday) I decided to try and ride a particular
small silver bike fairly fast down a really steep hill, in order to film the
bike that some people associate with me. It was a good run, I got up to
sufficient speed but was faulted by a fact that became more obvious to me as
a decended: there is a very large truck in front of me (it was sitting in
the instersection ahead of me, about 40 feet or so away by the time I went
into emergency braking procedures). I origionally was planning to use a
couple blocks to slow down.. because the back wheel of this particular bike
likes to lock when someone over its designed weight rides it, and brakes.

Id also like to express that this is no busy street. Its waay more rural
than even metchosin.. as far as the roads go. There´s cows walking down it
several times a day.

So, there I was, still tearing down the hill, with my back wheel locked.
Then something kind of interesting happened. I happened upon a large patch
of water on the road (which I was planning to avoid prior to the braking),
and the bike suddenly moved out from underneith me, and began to act as more
of a sail, I suppose, on top of me. Surprisingly, there was no loss of
speed at all, likely due to the mixture of mud, in this 30 foot long patch
of water. I more or less stayed in the same orientation too, although some
spinning was evident towards the end.
When I hit the dry road again, I slowed down very quickly (and did not hit
the truck.)

It was sooo rad.

Anyways, the video if you can or cannot see it, contains said silver demon
bike, about 7 minutes after the event. The video of me crashing didnt
happen. People weren´t concentrating on the camera.

The other picture is of a cool bike (Pedal Power being the group who started
Maya Pedal), and a picture of three children whom Ive come to love sitting
atop my steed.

I hope everybody is having as much fun I am.

Love you all.

Adios,
Tyler

Original Message -----
From: "Tyler Walker"
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 10:45 AM
Subject: schtuff

> Some random photos, some photos of the beautiful lake I went to last
> weekend. I rented a 150cc dirtbike for $10/hour, cruized around a portion
> of the lake on the roads... soo, so pretty. I dont need a liscence to
drive
> a motorbike herr, either :D But, unfortunately, bikes higher than 200ccs
> are really uncommmon here in Guatemala. Ive seen a 600cc street bike, a
> 350cc dirtbike and a couple of 200s.. and I think the police bikes have a
> bit more goose to em too, but most of the bikes here are around 150. Gas
is
> expensive, and I suppose a big bike is expensive to run.
>
> I think I mentioned part of the above before. I cant remember.
>
> Other random photos include one more from the drinking night in Antigua, a
> couple from the plane when I was flying in to Guatemala, and a sweet
> branchy-leafy thing I found in Miami.
>
> This weekend Im working with a couple of new volunteers from Alaska.
We're
> going to weld up a cargo bike for MP, is going to be fun. We had a
birthday
> party last night for two volunteers, and had a piñata, it was really
funny.
>
> Im slowly becomming famous in San Andreas Itzapa for riding a very, very
> small bike very quickly down the hills in town. Its now my commuter bike,
> and I can tuck it underneith my arm when I go into stores. I need
pictures
> of that thing.. jeepers.
>
> Anyways, peace out for now.
> Tyler

Every time I open my hand I find a huge gaping hole

2006-04-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Just a beginning. Hold on to your frickin reins already.