Haarlem - WWOOFing (again) - Ruigoord

Haarlem was so amazing. I really like biking the streets. This was my second Couchsurfing host!  It was also the first time I used the itinerary function. So you enter the dates and cities you'll be visiting and then locals can contact you!  This makes it a little easier when bike touring as I can provide general timelines of my trip and then if I get an email I will bike to that city!!

The first morning I volunteered at the organic garden where my host also volunteers. We picked cherry tomatoes all morning and then prepped a new area for onions. It was great to get my hands dirty again, and I literally had a green thumb folks. Try picking a few hundred tomatoes, you'll see...

It was great to learn about farming from the owner!  She had an amazing partnership with the schools where kids come in to learn about gardening, planting, compost, and bees!  It was a very rewarding experience and we went home with tons of fresh veggies!

Then we went to the Ruigoord festival and my mind was about to be blown!  http://ruigoord.nl/evenementen/landjuweel-2014/

Dubarray was the best show of the night!!

It was so much fun to see a music and art festival in Amsterdam. This is a self proclaimed Anarchist village where artists and musicians work together. It is right in the middle of an industrial park, with oil tanks, and container ships everywhere. Yet, it has held on and they refuse to leave. Every year they host this festival to celebrate their home. At 10pm all the stages stopped and the "parade" starts. This was unbelievable to me, I mean we're talking thrashing dancing and electronics music, crazy fun vibes, noises everywhere and it all just stops. Then everyone is given a torch and we all form a line and EVERYBODY does a lap of the village to honour the space. It was an experience I will never forget. We spoke with an older women that had been attending for over 20 years. She said the parade is very ceremonial " and most of the time it ends well ;)". This last photo will only give you a taste at how special this event was. The butterfly leads the people... 

Thank you to Ev for taking me here as it was only locals. I also want to add that I tried hard, I mean I searched to find a cell phone, and there wasn't one to be found anywhere. Heaven. 

BUONGIORNO and BUONASERA - Travel day to Haarlem

Gorgeous park West of Amsterdam, even had WIFI 

I found out that most of Amsterdam was warehouses and factories.  So the buildings were never mean to be lived in as residences.  So they built everything straight up and quite narrow as they were just holding goods.  So when the city started to grow these old buildings became occupied.  The stairs are so steep and narrow that you have to hoist up your furniture from outside.  At the top of each building you can and arm jutting, that's where the pulley is to bring your furniture up to the top floor and then in the window.

I met a couple of Italian guys outside this bakery, they were on vacation for a week.  We talked about the World Cup, were were all in agreement Balotelli needed to put the ball in the net more.  I always like to pick up a few words in another language, so today I learned how to say good morning and good afternoon in Italian.

Classic shot in Amsterdam.  Bike parking everywhere!

First travel day on the bike!  Was a quick and easy 23km to Haarlem.

Photos of Amsterdam

Dutch aircraft

Dam square where we met up with another CouchSurfer Deniz 

Deniz and I hit it off right away.  Mainly because we both love chess!  He's from Turkey and was the 12U Turkish National Champion!  Plus, he actually played Gary Kasparov!  I guess he paid a visit to Turkey to play in a 25 simultaneous game demo.  Kasparov won 23 of 25, and the rest were draws.  Deniz lost, but he had one hell of a story to tell. 

This was from the breakfast window where Deniz and I met.  This woman had her 7 year old child in that cargo area up front.  She had pulled the tarp down and when she arrived he just popped out.  It was amazing to see the different ways the Dutch travel with their children by bike.

German chessboard in the museum

Chess museum has an outdoor board.  The chess museum was on Max Euwe Straat named after the Dutch GrandMaster.

Battle ship

So some artist named Vincent was kind of a big deal in the Nederlands.  This whole room was full of his paintings, Van G...something...I don't remember ;)

Mexico to Amsterdam - 48 hour travel day was awful, but the price was right!

Sunset somewhere over the US

I found a great deal on tickets and was able to get from PV to Amsterdam for under $1100.  In addition, I had to schedule a layover in Toronto so that I could go and pick up my bike.  I had previously boxed up my bike and sent it Purolator to Toronto, that way I wouldn't have to haul it around in Mexico.

This is outside the Amsterdam airport.  I packed all the tools I needed and I built the bike on the sidewalk.  You can see the bike box to the right.  I broke my record and had everything put together and panniers packed in 1h15m, this photo and the accompanying game face is the result of that effort.

This is where I stayed in Amtserdam, my Couchsurfing host has a place next to this clock tower.  The bells rang once on every half hour and then rang on the hour.  Which translates to 12 shattering ringing of the bells at midnight.  Amsterdam never sleeps they say...maybe that's why?

 I flew Air Transat, not the best choice.  There was very little, to no leg room at all.  It was a discount air line but I don't think I would fly with them again.  Although I did get a nice blanket, neck pillow and eye cover for 5Euro. 

This is the view from my window at Talia's place.  It was wild to connect with a Lithuanian.  I played professional volleyball there for a year, and we had much to talk about.  It was fun to try speaking the language again!

It's hard to find a Couchsurging host in Amsterdam.  As you can imagine it's quite a popular tourist destination.  For that reason, hosts in Amsterdam will routinely receive over 10 requests PER DAY!  Many of people I've heard back from won't even consider you unless you completely read their profile and send a custom message explaining why you want to stay with them.  This is always how I request couches, but when you're sending out over 15 requests in Amsterdam and you're getting nothing back, a little "copy and paste" happens now and again.  Talia said the only reason she accepted me was because I spoke Lithuanian.  Labai aciu Talia!!

More views

Houseboat on a canal somewhere in Amsterdam

The Pacific coast of Mexico

Pacific Coast of Mexico

So Dominique and I stayed at this great Air BnB thanks to my sister's negotiating skills.  I don't know how she did it but somehow we got the whole house to ourselves for $75/night.  It was so great to have a relaxing space to come home to!  Dom and I cooked up some fierce Mexican food and enjoyed the pool during the day.

Tacos

View from the hammock

My dad actually graduated from High School in Mexico, believe it or not.  He spent his final grade 12 year in Mexico City.  Later in life he would make many more trips to Mexico with his partner Lourdes.  Now I see why they like it so much!  The people are incredibly friendly and gracious, the food is flavourful and fresh, the beaches are beautiful, and the seafood is delicious!

It was great to be with Dominique for the second stop on the journey.  Once again we chose kayaks to get us out over the water.  We both said a few words, and we did what we promised to do.  It was a very touching moment, and even more meaningful because my sister was there with me!  Knowing that I'd be continuing on without her for the next destinations made it a little bittersweet.  I'm going to miss her a lot on this trip, and I'll be thinking of her often.

Ils nous quittent jamais...

Sailing the seas in Thailand.  From left to right: Gilles de Chantal (my father), Dominique de Chantal (my sister) and Alex de Chantal (me!)  This is likely circa 1994, I was 11 years old and we were near Krabi on the west coast.  We were being homeschooled by Papa while living on Koh Samui.

That picture above is the first trip I took.  I was 11 years old and we moved to Thailand.  I've taken many trips since, but this next one will be my first independent voyage and by far the longest.  I'm writing this blog for my Papa, to celebrate the undertaking of this journey!  We talked about this trip many times.  I remember the way his eyes looked when we talked about travelling.  They just lit up, they were full of excitement and desire...I could see him come alive again.  We would often sit down by the lake around the fire and discuss the trip.  Papa travelled the world, a few times, and I definitely got the travel bug from him.  Merci mon Papa.  Not only did he visit many countries, he spent most of his childhood moving from one place to the next.  Actually my grandparents picked up and moved from Quebec, Canada to Accra, Ghana at a moment's notice.  Out of nowhere...pack your bags, we're moving to Ghana!!

In conversation with my Grandmaman, we talked about how United Nations contracts came up and all of a sudden they'd be living in some far off land.  Just like that, on y va!

So that's what I did, I took 6 months off and I packed my touring bike and I booked a plane ticket.  It's an around the world trip, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be going with my dad.  One last trip together...

I saw this sticker on the bathroom wallet my Couchsurfing host's place.  I haven't stopped thinking about the message since I read it...

Bumpy Buses to Bucerias

Beachside restaurant in the small town of Bucerias

This is my sister Dominique, we're escaping the heat in Bucerias in this photo.  I kid you not when I state that with the humidity today it hit 49 degrees!  Wow, I can't even believe how impressive that sounds, and I'm living it right now.  It is like a huge weight on your shoulders at all times of the day.  It's always there, and I'm always sweating.  I think the best part of this heat is that I'm slimming up before my bike touring trip in Europe!  I swear I've lost 5 lbs already, I'm going to be one lean, mean, cycling machine when I arrive in Amsterdam!  I'm starting to understand why all the Snowbirds fly south in the winter, because they would all melt if they came in the summer!

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to spend time traveling with my sister again.  I haven't traveled with her since we were home schooled by my dad in Thailand, that was over 20 years ago.  She has grown into an incredible woman, and one hell of a traveler.  She is a very experienced in the art of translation and direction, and it has been obvious these last few days that she is very comfortable on the road.  Her sense of direction is amazing, she has navigated the streets of Puerto Vallarta as if she's been here her whole life.  It's been great to connect with her again after some time apart.  I'm really happy we've made time to do this trip together.  Love you sis!

I need to talk about the bus system here for a moment.  It is one of the most efficient and streamlined transportation systems I've ever seen.  I did some research to learn about how it's setup and here's the quick run down.  Each bus is owned by the driver and they must purchase "passes" from the transportation authority.  They buy the passes and then charge each rider 7.5 pesos.  I'm not sure what they make on each ride, but it must be decent money or they wouldn't be so many buses on the road.  If you get to the bus stop first; then you get all the riders waiting.  So this makes for some rather exciting rides, but it also means that the system is extremely efficient.  All this adds up to a bus arriving every 3 minutes at a bus stop.  That is no exaggeration as I have not waited more then 2 minutes yet.  Very fluid, and very organized, muy bueno!

Our first day we ventured down to the beach in PV and watched the tourists come and go.  It was very busy, and the beach is lined with all inclusive resorts.  Not my cup of tea, but interesting to see what all the fuss is about.  We stopped in at one of the resorts to have a cold drink and the bartender didn't even know what to charge us for a beer and a lemonade.  He looked at us shocked when we asked for the bill, then he realized we didn't have a bracelet on, meaning we are not part of the all inclusive.  People just come and go drinking as much as they like, something to see but not for me.

Here's a photo of me waving my sweat soaked tshirt in the air.  I am melting in this photo, you just can't tell because of the poor iPhone camera quality.  

On the road again...

I'm really excited to be heading out on another trip!  The photo above is to show the route I'll be taking.  It took a lot of time to decide the best route for this trip around the world, I found that having a map in front of me really helped.

Red pin denotes the start and finish of my trip.  It's hard to see but there is a light white string linking each pin to the next.  I just wanted to get this blog updated again by logging in and updating a few things.  Upward and onward!

I've found myself thinking about how fortunate we are to be Canadian.  As I walked through the grocery store on my last day and looked at the abundance of food, I can't help but think that a large majority of the world doesn't have access to the food that can be found in a Superstore in Canada.  It's just incredible to think of how lavish and spoiled we are...

Getting ready for work the other day, I remarked to myself how lucky I am to have a long hot shower...knowing that I'll be in some hot countries, it may be my last for a while.  This triggered thoughts on how lucky we are to live in BC.  A province that has virtually unlimited amounts of water.  Not only do we have clean water, we also produce reliable electricity with it.  Which led to me thinking about how we water our lawns.  People walk for hours to get to a well in places in Africa, there are countries that I will soon be visiting where this is their reality.  We use a lot of our water to keep our lawns green, seems so wasteful and a little ridiculous...I don't know where I'm going with this but just the thought of travelling has me starting to analyze how I live.  That's why I love to travel because it challenges our understanding of our living situation and changes our perspective on important issues.  Travelling is an education on the human condition, I believe it brings us closer as a species, and that my friends is priceless.

Peace be with you,
WW

Earth Democracy

I just had to share some of the opening from this book with you.

An 1848 speech by Chief Seattle of the Suquamish tribe:

"How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.

If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pie needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites us all. All things are connected."

Sketching out

First yurt on the left is my current home, 20 ft Yurt. It has big french doors and lodgepole pine rafters. It's really an amazing gathering spot. It's where I sleep as well so I'd like to move my things into my master bedroom yurt so I can free up more space in the big yurt. The proposed second Yurt Will be a 12ft Yurt with a 15 ft platform. This Will leave a nice three foot porch all the way around. This second yurt will also be raised quite a bit higher, to allow for a ground level lounge area. This screened in feature will allow for a bug free and dry environment. A ladder leads you up to the yurt master bedroom, from the hammock area downstairs. The round door to the outside is shown here. The goal would be to collect the rainwater for the plants and vegetables. I think having the yurt up high will give it the treehouse effect I'm after. I can't wait for my first night sleeping in the trees!
More to come!!
Peace and love
WW