I’m going to Brazil with no plans of returning in the near future.

Wow… I really don’t know where to start. I just booked my flight, with one stop in Panama-to Rio, Brazil last night. This post will probably be all over the place. There are a lot of things I want to get out!

This is quite a random post after having just completed my postings for a trip in Eastern Canada I finished, but what the heck.

To make sense of it more…

The idea to go to away for school  came from a friend who got back on a university exchange program a year or so back. Think he went to Australia and of course had a blast. He always had good marks though, and told me you needed at least B cumulative grade average. Which was true and a reason I never tried to apply for a whole year (I was about 5% off from a B)

This was something I didn’t have because I screwed up my first year like many students do! Although the last 3 years have all been over a B average.

I had never considered studying abroad, because I was slightly ignorant in thinking that my marks could never be good enough.

But anyhow, I figured I’d give it a shot, this was my last chance (with only 4 elective courses left). I went to an info session in December 2012. Everyone seemed interested mostly in Paris (I live in Quebec), and Sydney, Australia. Both uninteresting to me and way too expensive at that. PUC Rio in Brazil though, offering only 8 courses in English, fairly cheap living/food looked bloody awesome! So I was all in at this point..

So after months of filling forms, applications, letters, interviews, obtaining references and WAITING. I got it….

Photo by:  Ivars Krutainis

About 8 or 9 students applied for the university in Rio de Jeneiro while there was only one spot. I don’t think i’ve ever been so grateful and ecstatic in my life. It may not seem like I’m excited but I have no way of showing this in writing. Let’s just say everyone around me-whether I knew them or not-  at the time got the biggest bear hugs and kisses of their life!

The semester starts on July 1 and goes till December 2013. After the semester I’m going to float around Brazil surfing, eating great food, meeting interesting people and photographing and filming it all for another 6-8 months. I will be graduated from university and FREE.

Thinking I will couch surf for the first two months ( I already have willing hosts), meet people, and then find someone that I can rent an apartment with.

I hope to make a couple documentaries over the 1 year period (or more).

Some broad ideas right now are: Freight Train Hopping in Brazil, Graffiti culture, Reggae Culture in Rio, beer & food in brazil, and maybe a general one about the diversity of people of Brazil.

I’ve learned from a 30 day cycling tour that planning too extensively and in too much detail is stupid. On the contrary, I have had such amazing and memorable times while acting spontaneously and going where the wind takes me, so to speak. I am going to Brazil with an open mind and that means wiping the stereotypes of the people from my mind. I am not going to do nearly as much planning or research on the  areas as I did for my bicycle tour. I’ll let the locals teach me the ways and point me in the right directions. They are the ones that have lived in Rio their whole lives. Much rather listen to them than taking pointers on a forum from someone who stayed at an all-inclusive beach resort for 7 days. Of course, I do not look Brazilian and this may cause issues. For the most part, I don’t think anything can be done about this. And anyways I don’t even know what it means to be or look Brazilian. Like saying your Canadian? What is that supposed to mean anyway? The idea that Brazilians and Canadians look a certain way is absurd and is a product of our love for generalizations. Brazil has  a very diverse range of inhabitants. I’ll blend in, hopefully knowing some basic Portuguese by June!

My experience with  answer forums have been mixed. They can be misleading and from the ones I’ve seen so far about Brazil are outdated and quite bias.

Everyone likes to travel in their own ways. Some people prefer to sit in a pool for 7 days in a row and drink at their hotel with the friends they came with. I met some university students who enjoyed this type of thing in Mexico this past February. I tend to find happiness in little things like a train rolling by, a neat scribble on a dumpster, or chatting with grandma at her families’ chip stand. These types of activities will be highlighted in some way through my films.

Anyways, I’m rambling.

But just to make you aware! There will be some interesting photos on the way

Cheers,

Charlottetown, PEI- Wood Island, PEI- Stellarton, NS- Antigonish, NS (200 km)

Not a difficult ride.

There was the odd dip or two, but at this point they were of no concern.

I stopped for ice cream for the first time during the trip.

On the stretch, I really came to realize the strong farming culture in PEI.

Wood Islands was nice. It was some holiday so I couldn’t buy booze from the liquor store. I got on my second ferry of the trip with no problems. Of course, I was the only cyclist and with my dark skin color and “homeless” look, I was asked many questions and looked at in strange ways.

On the other end, I was greeted by a couple- Chrystal and her husband. They agreed to take me in for the night a week or two before.

One of my Couchsurfing hosts in Quebec City, Scott, has generations of family all throughout eastern Canada. He called a few of them up and luckily got me this hook up near New Glasgow. I stayed with Scott’s brother and wife Chrystal. They picked me up in their truck and we went back to their place and then headed to a family BBQ. Very interesting at that. Nonetheless, good meat, corn, potatoes and beer. I think by the end of the dinner, although I introduced myself to everyone, they still couldn’t figure out who the hell I was!

Thanks again for having me guys. I know it was a real stretch to have a complete stranger stay over. I hope that your ideas of “travellers” have changed now.
I hit the trans Canada the next day at 7am. I was flying. Morale was boosted once again and nothing could stop me. The 53’ trucks flying by me at 120km/h up the hills with no shoulder freaked me out a bit, though.

Sometimes you just have to give it hard and not think about how stupid an idea that was. Needless to say, I felt cycling faster and with less stops was going to reduce the chances I get hit by a sleepy truck driver. I was lucky and made it to Antigonish in less than 3 hours from New Glasgow.
I met up with a nice university at her house as soon as I got into town. I was her first couch surfer. It must be something about the friendly pictures on my couchsurfing profile. Nonetheless, she was a really sweet girl, and was eager to show me around the whole town. She is very involved in her university and is a radio host at the school (Saint Xavier). It was the students first day back to school after the summer break, and I was invited out to party with the students. Let me just say, I stayed another night.

Cabot Beach, PEI- North Rustico, PEI (44km)

This was a rough stretch. A very hilly and gusty 44 km along the northern PEI coast. I had no idea PEI was home to so many god damn hills. You think it would be flat. There were no places to eat for almost the whole way, and I was running low on water too.

I eventually came a across a pretty traditional lobster joint; The New London Seafood Restaurant. A tad expensive for my liking but a good experience all in all. Definitely gave me the fuel to carry forward on what was a very windy,hilly, and rainy day.

I stopped in Cavendish on the way to Blaines house in N.Rustico. The beach was awesome and is a must see for any tourist swinging through. The weather cleared up and I wish I could have spent two more sunny days there. I felt like I was in Mexico or something. This beach just killed the many Canadian stereotypes I had of the east coast.

 

Anyways, it was about 2pm, and Blaine called me asking where I was. I planned to be at his place around dinner time. He said he would pick me just down the road. Long story short, Blaine was a real cool guy and is a handy man. He does contracting work including painting, interlocking, and builds houses from scratch (including his own). His side business is in the fire wood market. He orders huge logs to his lot, and then using a bulldozer and chainsaws, manages to cut them up into 16 inch pieces, and delivers quads of them all over the island. He does very well, and needed some big help the few days I was there. A lot of large rush orders to prepare and deliver. With no time to waste, I was working at “the wood” as he called it, for the next two days. Cutting and chucking the wood and everything in between. Labour of this type never felt so good. This had to be one of the coolest “jobs” id ever done. I felt like a champion wielding a gas powered chainsaw for the first time.

Blaine was at the wood most of the time, but otherwise it was Sheldon and I sawing the wood and loading the bulldozer.

I could go on and on about how interesting the two of these guys were. But I won’t. I’ll let the documentary film (in process) speak those words. I met him through http://www.CouchSurfing.org

Blaine treated me, along with one of his girlfriends at a local restaurant; By the Bay. They specialize in steak and fresh seafood. Most people were overweight by a long shot, so you know the customers couldn’t get enough! Sort of had a flashback to Houston, TX

A storm came in after my second day at the wood. Man was I happy not to be cycling. Instead I went out the windy peer, picked up some oysters, and long story short I ended up on Blaines brother’s tuna fishing boat. We went about an hour into the middle of the ocean to bring in his fishing nets so they would not get swept away in the storm. We dropped the lines in because there was a 600lb Bluefin Tuna below us. We didn’t catch him, but we caught a bunch of Mackerel (bait for tuna).. but I ate them when we got home! A couple Cod, a lobster, a sharp weird looking fish, and a couple Mackerel came in on the nets. All food for the birds. It was not a lucky haul in the brothers opinions.

Third day I met Blaines close family. His sister owns a family farm with a cow and chickens.

All in all. These three days were some of the most exciting and interesting of the trip so far. Not hard to believe I wanted to stay for another week or so… But I wasn’t going to make it Newfoundland sitting on my ass. Time to say goodbye.

Albany, PEI- Summerside-RIchmond-Cabot Beach Park, PEI (100km)

So it was rough go leaving my hosts Ben, Kat, and her family in Albany. I was even starting to miss their dog the moment I said goodbye.

The weather was pleasant, clear skies, but a tad windy.

Actually, the wind was the whole reason my plans drastically changed.

My next location was Alberton, PEI. About 100 km straight to the northern tip of the island. It is supposed to be beautiful there and I had a place to stay with a friend of a friends uncle or something like that.. Long story short, the winds picked up big time, i was cycling on relatively flat roads but was surrounded by flat barren farmland after Summerside and the airport near Miscouche. 1. It was boring 2. I was getting fried by the sun and 3. I  couldn’t get going much quicker than 10 km/h.  So after about 15-30 km outside Summerside I decided it was going to be to much of a hassle to get up there. I made the executive descision to turn around, go back the way I came and head to the central northern coast, where I was headed to in two days anyway.

Funny enough that the man who had the house in Alberton told me that day he wouldn’t be there because he was getting married on Sunday. I would have felt weird staying in his house alone, while he got married, and then leaving the next day.

Cabot Beach looked nice and from the pictures I could tell you that the beaches looked very inviting at that point. Really, I was just getting fed up with the cycling  and wanted to get away from the farmland and lay out in the sand. In some more exotic looking areas.

So I did.

I got to the beach, which is part of a provincial park, layed out, swam.

It still felt weird knowing I’d be sleeping on the beach or in some trees. So I waited around till it got dark and managed to get by the front gates without being seen. I found a tight little spot in behind some trees, to keep visibility low, allow me to tie up my tarp tent, and keep me the set up out of the wind.

This was one of the loneliest nights. Just waiting for it to get dark was painful in itself. I was able to get some footage of the area with all the time I had to kill.

Not only was it lonely, but extremely windy, and it rained through the night to top it all off!

Day 16-17: Moncton, NB – Shediac, NB – Albany, PEI (120km)

The weather was clearing up quite nicely and even though Moncton was quite cool, I needed to keep on moving. The sun was out full throttle.

This stretch was one of the most efficient of the trip yet. I had rested for almost 5 days; my muscles had time to recoup.

I left Moncton via the “old Shediac Road” It was quite smooth with a small shoulder and many rolling hills. A nice ride all in all. Shediac was a nice town, home to a large lobster monument. The city claims to be the “lobster capital of the world”. With the seaside-lobster- statue so large, I did not challenge the claim. I decided to have lunch in town and put some loonies and toonies into the local economy.

Norm’s Pizza really did the trick. Cheap and delicious.

As soon as I started following the coastline toward Cap Pele I could smell the fresh seawater. It was energizing and motivating to say the least. I was so far from home but felt right in place. The winds picked up increasingly toward the bridge.

On the “scenic” route 950 I struggled with about 5-10km of heavy construction. Deep and heavy pebbles littered the road. I guess they were in the process of repaving the stretch. This was the third time during the trip where I wish I had a cross country bike with thick knobby tires.

I am not the type of guy to turn back though even if I had wiped out. There were only close calls, thankfully. Thinking it was the trailer that gave me more stability.

The Confederation Bridge was one of the most outstanding bridges I’d ever seen. I think it is now the 2nd longest bridge in the world. It takes about 15 minutes to get across by car and is 13km long.

 

Unfortunately it is illegal to cycle across because of the high winds and traffic. They offer a free shuttle service on call from the information centre.

At the shuttle I randomly met up with some other touring cyclists. The third encounter with cyclists on the trip. They were from Montreal, but had taken the train with their bicycles from Montreal to Moncton. They cycled from Moncton to the bridge where I had bumped into them. They were on their honeymoon and were going to tour PEI.

We would have cycled together on the island, but I got the impression the husband didn’t want me tagging along on their honeymoon! I respectively informed them I was headed to the North Eastern coast and couldn’t join.

When we got to the island I met up with Ben who was also a cyclist. He and his girlfriend were my hosts that night not far from where the shuttle drops you off in Borden Carleton, PEI.  We connected months before on Couchsurfing.org. He rode to the bridge and was able to pick me out from the small crowd getting out of the shuttle bus.

We rode back to their summer home in Albany, PEI which was 10km away. That was a touch 10km in the high coastal winds.

The house was beautiful and the view was amazing. The whole family was into healthy eating. Lot’s of local greens. I was able to indulge in some alcoholic treats like Potato Vodka and the Lighting Moonshine from the area.

The lighting had me burning and spinning at the same time. It would be very similar to the island moonshine developed during prohibition.

The whole family was over and we all got along great. 

 

I was their first “couchsurfer” they’ve hosted. The couple, Ben and Kat,  are in New Zealand right now, surfing on couches and waves.

Wish I could have stayed another night.

A 4 day retreat to Northern Ontario

I’ve taken some awesome footage too (pre-trip-Documentary). Which I will share with you all in september when I make a teaser for the film.

 

Hope your enjoying these pics. I am learning everyday.

 

Cheers,

Deer Lake, NL – Toronto, ON

I’ve ranted quite a bit about the big bike tour I am going on (and currently saving up for) in late August (Montreal, QC- Deer Lake, NL) a total of about 2000km over 26 days.

Although I knew I had no choice but to fly back from Newfoundland, I would never have predicted booking the flight last night…

Damn, so this is it… 5:45 am on September 14th. It is final, got to make it out there now, eh?

To me it seemed a bit early, but it sort of made sense to have booked it already. I had points (AirMiles) from previous travels and need to be back to school for Sep 16th at the latest ( I will have missed 9 days of school by then.. oops). In other words, I needed this flight back, and Air Canada does not fly from this remote location everyday you know. Was not going to take the chance of the flight being full..

It was going to cost me upwards of $400 to fly back, and all I coughed up last night was some hefty taxes totalling $80.

I actually planned on buying the ticket halfway through the trip. What was I thinking…?

To get an idea of where im headed, take a look at this:

The reason I am not flying back to MTL is because the flights automatically went to Toronto anyways (Deer Lake-Toronto-Montreal). I would be backtracking, and it made sense to visit with family in Ontario for a couple days before I went back to my fourth year of university in Montreal. Will take a 5 hour bus back to Montreal on the Sunday. Whew.

At least one things’ outta the way… just 999 other things to prepare for now..

Cheers!

Wind, Snow, Rain, Cold, and a kid on a Bike

School completed Thursday, April 26th at 10:30pm. Work start: Monday, April 30th 7:30am.

What to do for the 3 days in between? Hmmm, it was a bit of a braintwister. There was not enough time to bike to say, Mexico, but still enough time to go soemwhere significant! One thing was certain, I was not going to sit on my butt at home. I just needed to get out, clear my mnd, do something active, and burn off all that winter fat.

I flipped a coin and picked one of the many places I wanted to see “close” by. I called heads, and I was heading to Trois Rivieres, QC- only 140km away. It occurred to me that camping right now in this wet and cold spring spring weather would not be the smartest idea, so i figured I’d take the oppurtunity too try out Couch Surfing for the first tme. I got in contact with a nice host, Caro, who offered a place to stay Friday night.

I headed east from downtown Montreal at 8:15am Friday morning in hopes of getting into TR by dinner time. And was I ever mistaken… It was a rough trek, much rougher than I anticipated. My overly optimistic goal was threatened by a bunch of factors; Wind,distance, carrying a heavy load by trailer, lack of strength/sleep ,extreme cold, snow/rain, 20km of backtracking-confusion, and un-motivating scenery/sky.  I saw a total of 2 cyclists the whole day (and they were travelling into Montreal only 20km east of the city) on the busiest cycling route through the province. I felt stupidly foolish and proud at the same time.

 

On top of it all, my wheel popped off not even a 1km out of town slowing me down of the start. Trailer was running OK, but a weird feeling using it for the first time.

It was snowing, -5C, and the winds were so heavy and gusty that I barely got going past 20km/hour off the island. It was definitely damaging my enthusiasm of making it to Trois Rivieres, QC-still 135km away at this point. Hell, this is even a “haul” in perfect conditions. I did not help that this was my first time doing long distance for almost a full year, and got 5 hours of sleep the night before, but i was able to put that aside-humming tunes that reminded me of the beach.

Bob Marley

Ahi Pohaku

After getting off the island and arriving at the Harvey’s near Charlemagne, I made 1 really bad choice, I followed the bike path. More specifically, the route verte #5 (I love you, and hate you even more).

East. I thought it was taking me east like it was supposed too. But damn, it was confusing in that area. I followed all the signs (when they were present), and landed in Lachenie 40 minutes later,  a total back track of about 10km (with all the winding of the path). Logically, I go back the opposite way I came, in hope that I would see a sign that could take me to Repetigny (the town east of the Harvey’s restaurant). When I realized how far out I was, I almost turned back home knowing that i’d have to cycle an additional 20km on top of the 145km. A record breaking trek even for a lot of experienced riders in perfect conditions. Anyways, I ended back up at the Harvey’s just after the bridge, said f***k the route verte #5, and followed Notre Dame  until I met up with the path again, I was in no mood to go on a Easter egg hunt to find the right signs/path near the Harvey’s. No time for that nonsense anymroe, I will just take the dangerous road est.

The winds were reaching over 35km/hour and were extremely amplified travelling along the river,farms and across bridges (90% of the trip). They hit me from all sorts of directions.

Now two hours behind schedule, I continued to bike east until I needed a little rest (50km later). I sat in front of la trattoria la volta (an italian restraunt) about 35km out of the city to eat a sandwhich, at 11:30am.

I continued for hours and hours, battling the heavy direction-changing winds, which never seemed to blow in my favor. But that’s life.

I made it to Lanorie by 2pm. In the next couple hours I hoped to get to Maskinonge. It took me more than 3 hours. I was averaging 10km every35-50 minutes. Not very fun.

I almost got blown off the small shoulder twice by the gusts, and finally got blown into a ditch by a transport truck along a stretch of the 138 before Maskinonge which injured my upper right thigh.

I was still 35-40km out of town. I brought no camping gear with me, and envisioned saturday morning waking up in a damp field, half frozen to death. There was no shelter anywhere in sight, and none of the hosts in Trois Riveres had cars, or friends who had cars at the time to come pick me up. I started to ask around for a ride into the next town at the local pharmecie in Maskinonge. No luck for over an hour. I needed to be 10km east in order to “possibly” catch a bus. The wind at this point must have been blowng close to 45 km/h, enough to blow over an elderly person or small child.

An awesome man and his daughter over heard me asking a resident for a lift into the next town. They offered to give me a lift. It was like an angel magically floated down in front of me despite the heavy winds which seemed to have blown all my good luck away. Great conversations with the two of them. Hopefully we get to meet again when there is more time to chat.

It was getting dark,windier, and even cooler.

I boxed my bike up at the convenience store/bus stop and within an hour off I went on a moderatley filled bus. Riding the bus along the 138, I pictured my self struggling at -10,0000 X the speed of the bus in pain. I was so happy to be insde. I got into town by 8 15pm.

Trois Rivieres was awesome, my host and her friend were  really great. We went for dinner at some belguim frite place downtown of Forges street and had a beer at the Gambrinus Micro brew pub near the university. The IPA and Rousse were great.

Took the bus back Saturday afternoon and was greeted by an old friend Cam who came out to visit me Saturday night. Before I left though,   I had to find the train tracks….

When we met in Montreal, Cam and I had a couple beers and started to repeat the same shanigans we were known for back in the day.. It was a hoot and we met some real characters throughout the night. Went to bed this mornng at 6am.

I think I got my fix of excitement and physical activity for a few weeks now…

So my dream bicycle tour is starting to become a reality

So as you may or may not know, I have been riding a single speed 70′s steel frame touring bike around Montreal for the past couple of years. The frame is an original that my dad bought from a guy he met in Hawaii in the 80′s. I had put a lot of time and effort into the bike over the years and it has gone under many changes.

It is obvious for any cyclist that my bike would not be well suited for a 2000km loaded bike tour mostly due to the fact it has 1 speed.

This meant out with the old and in with the new, sort of. These parts don’t belong to me anymore

http://imgur.com/a/YcHP0#0

On March, 1 I put these parts up on http://www.craigslist.com, but lost some hope when I hadn’t gotten any bites for 4 days.On the 6th day though, a nice lady contacted me and made a reasonable offer. I delivered them to her place this afternoon and officially in her hands now.

Although I miss my sexy rear gold rim already,  I can deal without it, and look toward building up a touring rig now.

As my good friend/cyclist Phil would say, “you can’t get emotionally attached to your parts!”

I just found an Ultegra crank set and 9 speed rear derailleur that looks decent on http://www.pinkbike.com for 150$, I might go for them.

Anyways, I would have a hard time getting from Montreal to here with the whole one speed setup!

Photo by Natalie Lucier: http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalielucier/

Check out the link below for more information on this exotic and underrated location in Newfoundland, Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Morne_National_Park

This is an important day for me as was Feb 9, 2012 when I bought my used Burly Nomad Trailer. I have to keep going at this pace if I want to make it out to Newfoundland efficiently and make a superb documentary at the same time.

Please follow me on the journey!

Got the Job… Hopefully!

So- apparently I’ll be working the “night shift” starting April 30… this is good news I guess. Money is Money.

Bring it on…