The City of Passion

Well here I in Buenos Aires. At first glance it seems very 'westernized' having Mc Donalds and Burger Kings sandwiching the people together in the streets. But they don't seem to mind getting a little up close and personal here. I appreciate a culture where everyone kisses each other when they meet. Makes me wonder why we got stuck with the hand shake.



The kissing rule down here is: there is no rule. I walk the streets and see couples sucking faces like vampires; the big difference is vampires only suck at night. Not only is this accepted, but it's expected; and I'm all-aboard. I have to say, it's refreshing to see true passion between couples of all ages here. At home I might have cringed to see two 60 year olds making out at a bus stop, but here, it makes one smile. I think there is a lot to be learned from this, so I'm bringing it home.



So the next time you and loverpants are at the movies, a coffee shop, waiting to cross the street, or standing in line at the bakery, grab them 'buns' and make them forget where they are with a nice big juicy kiss. Make them feel like they are the only person in the room for a moment and give them a taste of South America for me, cause that's what happens here.

I'm pretty sure the passion comes from the amazing music and dance they have here. The nightlife here is unreal and things 'start' happening full steam at about 1am. I've stumbled in and out of some really cool bars here. Monday nights they have a drum group named 'La Bomba de Tiempo' that blew the minds of me and a few thousand people. Not my footage, but check them out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncTiB94d4mA&feature=related

Not too often I'm up till 6am on a Monday night.. err Tuesday morning. Straight to the hostel to cash in the complimentary breakfast and then hit the sheets. I think I will have to be here to bring in the New Year.

There was a night where a few friends and I ended up on someone's rooftop where there was a huge party with a band that did a Christmas play. Baby Jesus was played by a 30-something year old hairy fat guy wearing a diaper. The Three Kings poured beer on him and the manger, just like in the bible.

The director for my next volunteer project in Mendoza, Thubten Kundrol http://proyectomonasterio.blogspot.com/, was nice enough to send me VIP to a concert this week. They are still looking for help of any shape or form if you are interested. I saw the Gilberto Gil concert where I met with him after the show. I didn't know who he was before, but he was very friendly and sincere. If you don't know him check him out:

http://www.gilbertogil.com.br/ - Great guitar work.

`

As of right now I'm shipping off to Uruguay to hit a beach for Christmas. There is a place called Cabo Polonio that I'm going to end up at for a few days. My body could use a couple thousand push ups right now, but that's okay. I might not send alot of e-mails from there considering they don't have electricity. http://cabopolonio.com/

Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone and I'll see you in the New Year!

Mat

Habitat Phase Uno

First off.. thanks to everyone that donated to this project. We are building an addition onto an orphanage here to give the kids some more room. It's nice to see that even though they don't have a lot, that the kids are still happy... and 'king of the castle' is played down here too.

The 'king of the castle' champion ponders the equations of life and love and thanks the stars for the Habitat crew for making her hopes and dreams come true...

The Habitat girls are not afraid to get a little dirty.

Can you dig it? Word. I have to say that the work has not been easy; it's gotten up to 45 degrees here while we're digging trenches for the foundation in the smoldering sun. There aren't an abundance of backhoes here and things are done the old fashioned way. However, it's been very rewarding.

The kids decided that I look like Wolverine. It got kinda milked throughout the week and I think I really turned into him. It probably didn't help that after finding this out I shaved my beard back into the Wolverine chops. Unfortunately for me, the kids knew that Wolverine is able to heal any wounds he endures and gave me a bit of a pounding betweem wheel barrow runs.

As happy as I look.. I was scared shittless.

One of the Axe-Men... Magneto.

The kids helping us all grow stronger.

The National Geographic shot.

The Wolverine Minions.

At the end of the week the kids put on a tradional preformance for us at the school. It was pretty damn good actually.

Break it... beat street style.

The cast and the crew.

R & R weekend. We had a shuttle take us to Agrentina to see ruins and the falls.

Rightside-ways.

The old Jesuit church entrance. What's left of it. The Spanish liked to destroy and conquer.

A lot of it was reconstructed but still looked pretty legit.

It's refreshing when your guide speaks English. The first language here is actually Guaraní; it's the only country down here that has a marriage with Spanish where they are both spoken.

Chasin' waterfalls.

I was able to keep my feet grounded without the current pulling me over. Risk-reward.

Wet smiles.


I don't recommend wearing denim here.

The edge of awesomeness... live it.

The classic candid shot... stay tuned for week 2.

La Paz.. A Thing of La Past

Hey kids!

I wanted to give a quick update so everyone knows that I'm not in a cult and that La Paz actually is a wicked place to hang out despite what my last blog says. I spent another week there and it was quite sensational actually. I moved to the Adventure Brew Hostel which was probably the coolest one I've been to thus far. I may have made a mini 'cribs' episode about it. It was $7 a night and this is what it includes:

-firepit on a terrace overlooking the city
-all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts
-all-you-can-eat nightly dinner buffets for $5
-3 movie rooms with a big DVD collection for the lazy times
-a brewery onsite and you get a free one daily (we call it the mandatory beer)
-when that's tapped you can buy 2 for $1.50 (and it's actually quality.. none of that 25 cent draft crap)
-this can be purchased at the bar on the top floor which has 4 player Mario Cart
-free internet
-kitchen access... and so on... blah blah blah


There were 4 of us that had guitars at the hostel and we would play at the fire almost every night. Travelling with a guitar is easier than it sounds and it's definately worth it. Also if you want cheap electronics.. La Paz is the place.



View from a hike.. Breath it all in.. on the right is the Devil's Mountain. There is a river seperating the two sides. There is a big contrast between the two sides... looks to be good vs evil... maybe this is where it all goes down... or up.


The translation to this abandoned building is 'The House of Democaracy'


The unexpected

Well, I'm in Paraguay right now and I start my Habitat project in a few days. I'll take some pictures and keep you updated. I bought a cheap electric razor as I've decided to become my own barber... I've always wondered what I'd look like with a bic'd head... hmmm..

Also, in case you havent figured it out.. if you click on the pictures they will enlarge...

Hasta Luego

The Shaman

As I was sitting on the rooftop terrace in my hostel in La Paz up came a mysterious person. He had a shaved head with a mini braid off the back.. We started to chat in Spanish.. since that is all he speaks.. after hacking through some of my shitty Spanish he showed me his tattoos he told me how he is a Shaman from Argentina. I found it interesting and I wanted to know more. As the days went by we spent more and more time chatting. We went on a few walks to some cool ruins and viewpoints. He taught me some meditation techniques and he talked alot about the universe. We seem to run into a few coincidences throughtout our walks.

I thought this was a cool way to expand my horizon and inspiration.

After I told him my birth date he told me that I am a Red Dragon. A Red Dragon is to remember information and spread the knowledge.. . He told me that I have been 'sleeping' for a long time and am now starting to 'wake up'. I thought it was kinda cool to hear.

However, the more I hung out with him the more I saw different sides of him. He was not consistant. We would have good talks and we seemed to connect.. but if I started to do anything he didnt appove of it would make him upset. He decided he wanted me to be his apprentice and he would teach me what he knows. He was very connected and knowledgable in Spiritual and historical things from South America.

After awhile he wanted to hang out all day with me and started to act a bit controlling.. he told me it was my destiny and that he sees something different in my eyes... I said it was because they were blue... he didnt laugh. He started talking pretty heavy how he was both good and evil and how he needed to bring out the good in me. Red flags were flying. Apparently my brain is damaged and needs repair. He sees the devil in me and I need 'a treatment'. He wanted to take me into the mountains for 5 days to drink cactus juice and wash my brain. The more I learned.. from what I know of Spanish.. he was in a cult. He started telling me about his 'community'. That is when things got serious... I was in deep and needed to get out.. I was at the hostel and he had, what I believed to be, other members with us.. it was me and 4 of them... Last night he told me that he can't leave me alone... he sees the dragon in me but he is afraid that if I go to sleep then the devil will take over again. WTF. He tried his hardest to mindfuck me but I guess I am too stubborn.. he told me this would be freedom.. but it seemed like he wanted control.. I played along like everything was cool for that night then went to bed anyways.. he waited outside my door all night.

Today was my escape. I told him that I had to do some stuff for my Paraguay visa and took off and never returned. I checked in with the Canadian embassy and got a different place to stay. I still have my guitar at the hostel.. I gotta go get it sometime....

The weird thing is.. looking in his eyes.. he truely believes everything he said.

I now have my guitar back... still in La Paz though cause a bank machine ate my card.. got wait to get it back.. I think ATMs should always give you the card back before the cash.. here, after getting the cash... it waits for 5 seconds then asks you if you want another transaction... at that time I was gone with my money...

I also have to mention that at my new hostel... I 've run into Barry and Tommy from Grandpa Fight... Barry said that night he felt like he was drugged from the first bar we were at..

The Candle

I
gotta
move this
candle is waxed

look at the time
no time to relax

calender calling

tell me my day

tells me I'm late

and when to
go play
would
it
be
cool
if I took a break?
could use a vaca'
if nothing's at stake
why would you ask?

you're already late

you wanna be poor

or wanna be paid?

then what is my task?

how long will it last?

my body's insane

and my mind
feels the same

I know the date

the minute of the hour
but what if I don't? then I have the power

Back to the start, his hands will unwind

time with no meaning, no reason or rhyme
cause his clock is internal and turning inside

it's randomly clever, all-knowing and wise
he tells when he's ready, but not from a tick, his body will talk to the clock from within

A Song

Hi.. I'm in Bolivia right now in La Paz.. I guess I'm guilty of not updating my blog too often lately. Computers here are slow and annoying... it helps when I am capital city so I can find a really nice hotel and pretend to be a guest so I can use the internet for free... and it's fast. I finally met up with Craig and Jana in Peru and we had a wicked time hanging out at a desert oasis for several days. A wine tour, sand boarding, sand ninjas, sand yoga, late night sand fires, sand hiking, sand drinking, sand getting into my camera, sand in the beds, sand jams, sand dune buggies, and sand... you get the idea....

I got my visa to Paraguay and I will probably stay in La Paz until I got do my habitat build there on the 22nd. Halloween is tomorrow and since I already have ninja costume..

Lost in Profit

V 1
Tactics are in place
with the subject in position
here it's always been
so we just tend to listen
There once was a vision until they pulled it apart
broken but rebuilt now we're wearing the scars

CH 1
The problem that I see
pretending to be free
I still see the reigns
to which we're numb to the pain
Pounded to the ground
yet barely makes a sound
bound by the hands
working someone else's plan

Following distractions makes it take longer to feel
playing along too long and the game becomes real
and we're trapped in the wheel

V 2
When the future sees today
we're gonna seem so unknowing
how we're racing to the top
of a big burning building
There once was a vision until they pulled it apart
broken but rebuilt now we're wearing the scars

CH 2
Awaken in a trap
fighting profit on attack
now a mission of escape
compounding at the gate
Threats are filled of fear
when a revolution's near
cause evolution grows
the more we choose to know

Following distractions makes it take longer to feel
playing along too long and the game becomes real
and we're trapped in the wheel

BD
Pure intentions are lost unconscious
the main idea is lost in profit
this place is in change
so in change I will remain
no longer will I wait for something else to blame...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1176743/Donald-Rumsfelds-controversial-links-drug-company-Tamiflu.html

Grampa Fight

I'm in Peru right now in Lima.

Last night at the hostel I met a 58 year old grandpa from Pittsburg named Barry. He is on his pention and spends less money than he makes as he travels. He was a talkative fellow in the dorm room and very friendly.

There were three of us solo travellers that decided to go for a beer.. being Friday night and all. So Grandpa Barry, a 25 year old South Korean virgin named Tommy and I (with my new mohawk) hit the square. Lima didn't see it coming.

The first drinks were in a bar that had cheesy girls that came and talked you that worked there.. then they wanted you to buy them drinks.

Next we went to the bar on the roof of our hostel. As we sat on the open window Barry started squinting and complaining... I looked over and I noticed a red light on his face. He spotted a grey haired man 150 yards away in his 60's by a fountain with a red light laser pointer. He instantly threw up two fingers to him out the window and stared at the man as the man walked away. He was pissed and had no problem telling us all about.

We finished our beer and left the bar. Immediately Barry started speed walking and got ahead of us; he was tracking his prey. We decided we should follow him incase he got into some kind of trouble. He cut across traffic and we briefly lost him down a busy strip of restaurants. When we finally caught up he had actually found the man with the laser and began to call him out of the patio for a fight.

The man confessed to having a laser pointer and then said 'so what?' Barry lost it.. snapped.. cold cocked the guy in the middle of the patio on a busy area. While Tommy and I were saying 'WTF'.. Grandpa Barry was threating this man's life and trying to chased him swinging at him as the other man was threatening to press charges..

'You assulted my with a laser you son of a bitch! That's illegal!'. Being the guy that knew him the longest I had to grab him and try to calm him down. He would pretend to calm down then all-of-a-sudden dive towards him swearing. Security had arrived tell him the cops were coming when he finally decided to leave.

When we talked with Barry afterwards he was laughing and proud that he had scared the other man. Tommy and I kinda looked awkwardly at each thinking he was nuts. Tommy and I went for a beer and Barry wanted to stay put standing at the wall and waiting for the man... we didnt wanna encourage him any further and wait.

When I got back to the hostel... there sat Barry with a completely different outfit on. He had shaved his beard and had his bags packed. Apparently he went back to try to fight the guy again. 'I'm sick of being the fucking nice guy!' Barry calmly explained. When he went back the other man, the other man had video tapped Barry barking at him and had called the cops.

Barry, who was going to stay in Lima to teach English to the children for a few months, had left the very next day.

We saw the other man on the way home from our beer.

He was okay.

Just a night out in Lima.

I'll update more soon.. just wanted to share that story..

The Meaning: Don't Barry, be happy.

North to South

In case you´re wondering where the heck I am now... Colombia still has me. At least for a little longer. I´ve been heading down South from the North beach to check out some new cities here. Medellin was the next stop on route which was a very refreshing place to be. It made me realize how touristy Cartagena was. Walking down the streets there was a gauntlet of people looking for your money there.. I was a walking wallet. But Medellin brought a way more comfortable atmosphere for me.. both tempurature and people. I was there on a weekend and took advantage of the wicked nightlife there. I even found some good air guitar moments and a good mix of locals and tourists. It also has a great transportation system and Sharman and I did a bit of exploring on the metro during the day. Lots of good sites and art there... One thing though... it´s an expensive place to be for a backpacker. With that being said I wasnt there for too long. I took a bus to Cali on the Sunday to start making my way back to Peru.

Cali was a similar feel to Medellin... nice and expensive. When I went to my dorm room there was only one other guy in there. We started chatting and it turns out his name is Matthew and we both grew up in St. Albert. I graduated with his sister Megan Myers and we were both heading to South Colombia. Before leacing we checked out the zoo here which has a rep for being the best in Colombia. Then his friend there that took us to a cool lookout point above where I met Jesus, them to the mall to go babe hunting.

At the zoo

A 9 hour night bus ride with broken seats brings us here to Pasto for a much different type of experience. There are some political uses here with how the government wants to put an American military base here. There is alot of graffity here protesting it. We seem to be the only ¨gringos¨ here and it definately has more of a local feel. There are a few weird looks at us, however, Matt (goes by Ryan) has some friends here too so we´ve been hanging with some locals. They took us for a tour around the city, had some good cheap food, and ended up trying the local pasto at the University and watched some football (Soccer). Then went we drank cheap liquor out of the bag on a porch and ended up playing guitar in someone´s apartment till 5am. Today I had a nice big lunch for $1.50 CAN... that´s more my price range... Not sure how much longer I will stay here.. I know the locals want to go camping by a river here in a couple days.. I´ll go if I´m still around.. could be a good experience.. different... if not I´ll be heading down to a beach in Ecuador or Peru.

Gremlin lookin´ Monkey

Habitat

Reminder

From November 23rd to December 4th I will sharpening my house building techniques in Paraguay. I have to pay for this right away and if you would like to help me fund this with a donation please visit my Habitat for Humanity Giving Page at: (PS - please write my name in the subject line so they know it's for me)

http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=4628

And here is what I'll be doing:

http://habitat.ca/tripschedulec235.php?PJID=139

Thanks!

Cartagena

This place used to have some problems with pirates.. I feel like I was one of them and now they´re taking everything back.. I may have gotten robbed again.


Check mate... you win.. you always do.



Neat


The night I got robbed again. Apparently 6 locals expect you to pay for a 2am drunk jam session on the street... and I thought it was about the love of music.


The old city.. muy bien

Dr. Juice is in juice heaven here..

babe.

Part of the old wall they built to try to keep us pirates out.

Spanish torture museum... also how I may have died as head pirate

Option 2

Sending Lena off back to Canada with class... FIRE!