Kilimanjaro blog post 3 of 4: Packing List

Below is my packing list for 5 weeks in Africa. I tried to indicate which of the following items was or was not used on the Kili climb. Because I climbed in July, which is the coldest month on the mountain, and because I get cold very easily, the list below is full of warm clothes and warmth accessories.



Luggage and backpacks:

• 32L light comfortable daypack.
• Two light large sturdy duffel bags that fit inside each other. Leave one duffel at the hotel and the other for the porters to carry on the mountain. Make sure all mountain gear, including the sleeping bag, fit inside the duffel you’re taking on the mountain.
• Stuff sack for the smaller duffel (optional).

Electronics:

• Big cam & accessories. – Not brought on the climb.
• Small laptop & large-capacity usb keys & accessories. – Not brought on the climb.
• Baby cam & accessories. – Used on the climb, left the charger at the hotel.
• Backup baby cam. – If you’re paranoid about your camera failing on summithike.
• Cell phone & accessories – I actually rented a satellite phone for the climb because I wanted to call my family from the top of the Kili. Cell phone coverage BTW is awesome on the African continent.
• Headlamp. – Used on the climb.
• Batteries for the headlamp, multiple sets. On summithike, it is recommended to use a set of lithium batteries because they last a long time.
• Backup headlamp. – If you’re paranoid about your headlamp failing on summithike.
• Travel adapters: types C, E, D, G, and M cover the African continent. – Not brought on the climb.
• Watch. – I wore mine everyday and used its alarm to wake me up in the morning.
• Mini music player. – I didn’t bring one, but some people had one and used it while hiking.

Small purse items:

• Small purse. – Not brought on the climb.
• Passport. – They ask for the passport number at the climb entrance gate. I kept mine with me on the climb.
• Mini travel wallet (at any point, mine contains some local $$, some USD, and a credit card). – Not brought on the climb. On the plane, I carried the exact amounts needed for airport visas.
• Mini canadian wallet (Canadian $$ and Canadian medicare card). – Not brought on the climb.
• Mini travel journal with pen and backup pen. – Used every night before bed on the climb.
• Mini lens cleaner cloth. – Always in my pocket.
• Whistle. – Always in my daypack.
• My mini St-Christoph key chain. – Always in my daypack.

Water related items:

• Camelback bottle for the backpack. – Used on the climb.
• 1 or 2 stainless steel bottles. – On summit night, the steel bottles took longer to freeze than the camelback.
• Electrolyte tablets. – I used them inside the stainless steel bottles. They gave the water some nice flavor.
• Water purification tablets. – Optional. I used them in case the water didn’t boil properly at high altitude and never regretted it.

Sleep related:

• Sleeping bag (or bags) in a compression sack, with optional liner and optional pillow(s).
• Sleeping mats are usually included in the gear provided by the company, but some people like to ask for an extra sleeping mat.
• My climbing fellows used earplugs in the noisy camps. For nights on a slope (sloped campsites), I kindof wish I had some kind of sleeping tablets.

Toilet related:

• Ziplock “toilet bag” kept in the daypack all the time. Contains:
• a roll of toilet paper,
• some wet wipes,
• and some hand sanitizer.
• Keep extra toilet paper/ wet wipes/ hand sanitizer in the duffel bag carried by the porters.

Thin fabric bag for the underwear & socks, containing:

• Several non cotton top and bottom underwear for the climb.
• Several any-material top and bottom underwear for the pre/post climb.
• Merino or double layer socks for the climb – I used one pair every 2 climbing days.
• Cotton socks for pre/post climb.
• Thick socks with a liner for summit hike.
• One pair of super thick wool socks for the nights.
• PJ undies and PJ shirt.
• Not for the climb: bathing suite.

Thin fabric bag for the pants, containing:

• Merino base layer for cold nights and for summit hike.*
• Fleece pants as PJ and for summit hike.*
• Light hiking pants for the first two days.
• Sturdy hiking pants for the remaining climbing days.*
• Rain pants: carried all the time on the mountain in the daypack, but luckily never used!
• Not for the climb: shorts.
• Not for the climb: 2 light comfy capris.
• Not for the climb: light comfy pants.

Thin fabric bag for the tops, containing:

• 1 short-sleeve Merino base layers – Wore as main top on the first 2 days of the climb with a thin sleveless cycling gilet on top.
• 2 long-sleeve Merino base layers – Wore as main top on the first remaining days of the climb with a thin sleveless cycling gilet on top.
• 1 more long-sleeve Merino base layer – for cold nights.
• Not for the climb: 2 tanktops.
• Not for the climb: a small number of comfy summer shirts.

External top layers:

• Thin hoodie. – Not brought on the climb.
• Thick fleece. – Used on cold days.
• Thin fleece*. – Always in the day pack, and for summit hike.
• Thin down jacket*. – For summit hike.
• Medium thick down jacket*. – For summit hike.
• Rain shell*. – For windy days, and for summit hike.

Gloves:

• Fleece gloves – for the climb. Used on all cold days, and used as inner gloves on summit hike.
• Glove covers (first tried big waterproof gloves but they were too tight above the inner fleece gloves, then I tried big mittens but they also were too tight above the inner fleece gloves, finally I tried a pair of socks with a hole cut out for the thumb. They worked perfectly).
• Chemical hand warmers to put between the inner and outer gloves on summit-hike – mine did not work but many other people had them.

Other accessories:

• Gaiters – for the climb. They were recommended but I did not need/use them.
• Balaclava and/or bandanna. – I didn’t have one. But some people used it on the climb to protect their neck from the sun and/or to breath through it on dusty trails.
• Sun hat – for the climb and for the rest of the trip.
• Winter hat – for the cold days and for summit hike.
• Sunglasses. – Always in the top pocket of my daypack.
• Microspikes for the bottom of the hiking boots – brought them for the climb but did NOT use them.
• Walking poles – I used to never hike with them before the Kili, but I found them essential on the Kili. Also, it’s good I brought mine all the way from Canada, because some of the rental ones were not in their best shape.

Misc items:

• Quick dry towel. – Used on the climb.
• Light mesh bag for the laundry. – Used on the climb.

Shoes:

• Hiking boots – kept in carry on luggage during international flight in case luggage gets lost. My "Solomon" boots were not high at all: just the minimum above angle length required to call them boots!
• closed shoes – for the evenings at camp.
• Sandals – for the pre/post climb.

Essential Objects:

• Reusable rubber twists, or tie wraps, or pieces of string. – Very useful everywhere!
• Enough USD to cover the mountain tip. – Used on the climb.
• Folder with all the travel docs: copies of passports and visas, itineraries, maps, receipts, immunisation record, travel insurance info, etc. – Not brought on the climb.
• Meds: pain killers, diamox, immodium, anti malaria pills for the post-climb safari, anti acids, ginger chews, motion sickness pills for vehicles, etc.
• Hiking snacks. – More important than it may seem. Especially small bite-sized ones for summit hike.
• A few thin supermarket fruit bags. – For daily tent garbage on the mountain.

Toiletteries:

• Sunscreen. – Used every day on the mountain. Remember to bring some for the way down from the summit.
• Bug repellant. – Used on the first two days on the mountain.
• A small pair of scissors.
• Mini comb. – Used on the climb.
• For the girls: sanitary pads (used on the climb), hair removal items (not brought on the climb), a simple pee-while-standing device (I didn’t use mine on the climb, but girls from other groups did. There is even one lady who used it inside her tent with a “pee bottle” so she wouldn’t have to go out in the freezing cold at night).
• A few pairs of daily contact lenses.
• A case for normal glasses.
• Mini mirror for the contact lenses.
• Soap (for post climb), a few millileters of campsuds for the climb (didn’t use it because they gave us soap).
• Tooth brush and tooth paste.
• Shampoo. – For post climb.
• Dry shampoo. - I didn't even know what it was, but I saw other hikers use it on the mountain.
• Dental floss.
• Lip balm. – Very important on the mountain. I ran out and boy did I regret it!
• Tweezers.
• Qtips.
• Hair ties.
• Earrings. – Not brought on the climb.

Other Objects, most of them not essential:

• Large recycling/garbage bags. – Even though the duffels were put inside dry bags before being carried by the porters, some hikers preferred to line the inside of their duffels with garbage bags to ensure waterproofness.
• Micro compass/thermometer combination on a mini keychain – non essential but fun to have.
• Home keys. – Not brought on the climb.
• Some clothpins to hang wet clothes outside the tent. – Not used on the climb.
• lock. – Not brought on the climb.
• Mini disposable emergency toilet bag. —Not used on the climb.
• Catchy book.
• Small light fabric bag for little things to keep (entrance tickets, mini rocks I’m allowed to keep, etc).
• Mini sewing kit. – Brought but not used on the climb.
• A few safety pins.
• A small carabiner or two.
• Ziplock bags.
• Sharpie pen.
• extra shoe laces.
• Binoculars. – For pre/post mountain use.
• String attached to glasses to make them not fall.
• Swiss army knife.
• Small roll of duct tape.
• plastic eating utensil (combo of a knife/fork/spoon). – Not needed on the mountain.

First aid kit:

• Band aids and/or small bandages of various sizes.
• Alcohol wipes.
• Medical tape.
• Gauze.
• Moleskin for the blisters (I prefer bandaids myself).
• Rehydration tablets.
• Possibly polysporin.

** Pant layers used on summit hike: merino wool base layer, fleece pants, sturdy hiking pants.

** Top layers used on summit hike: merino base layer, thin fleece, think down jacket, thick down jacket, rain shell.

Kilimanjaro blog post 2 of 4: Physical Preparation

At the time I climbed my real age was ~35.5 years. However, due to the absolute lack of any physical exercise as a kid, in the course of my life, including when I was in top shape, I always lagged behind the majority of the people when it came to fitness: when I compared my fitness level to that of other people my age, I always felt about 7 years older.

At the time I booked the climb, I was in terrible shape: I take my teaching job very seriously, work a very large number of hours, and don’t sleep much. This doesn’t help with physical fitness and doesn’t leave much time for exercise.

In the two months preceding the climb date, this is exactly what I did as physical exercises:

• Six full-day hikes.
• Twice a week band practices (playing Brazilian drums which require dancing and playing at the same time)
• Once a month weeding the family garden at the family house.
• One run in the neighborhood.
• Ten serious visits to the YMCA gym.
• One four-day canoe-camping trip.

The training hikes that I did were always uphill, but never too strenuous. During these hikes, I always took my time and never hiked fast.

I did what I had time to do, but when trip-time came, I was dead scared of not making it to the summit. I was still easily winded, and my body mass index was 27. To make my fear worse, several people at the pre-climb hotel stated that the Kili climb was the hardest thing they have ever done. One man even stated that each day of the climb was the hardest day of his life. Young and older people both said it was “so hard”. So understandably, I was scared.

But I did make it to the top!

Dry weather surely helped, and being prepared against the July cold also helped. But what really helped is the “pole pole” (pronounced poleh poleh), magic words continuously said on the mountain. They mean “slowly slowly”; and that was generally the pace set by the guides: slow.

I was in a group of six climbers. Four of them were in good shape and would always walk at the (slow) speed set by the main guide of that day. I was slower: after the first couple of days we figured out that if I walked at a comfortable pace that does not leave me breathless, it takes me about an hour and ten-to-fifteen minutes to cross a distance that the others would cover in an hour. Since our group of six people had three guides, splitting the six of us into two groups, a slower and a faster group, was not a problem. The four fast climbers walked at the pace set by the main guide on that day, and I walked at my pace with a different guide. Every hour and a half or so the fast group would stop and rest, which allowed me to catch up with them. Everyone was happy with the arrangement.

Here’s how I felt (physically) on each of the 8 climbing days. Hike times shown are *my* hike times:

• Day 1: trail head to big tree camp. 3h30min hours of afternoon/evening hiking. Hike not too strenuous, I stopped briefly when I was out of breath and felt fine.
• Day 2: big tree camp to Shira1 camp (not Shira2 as the website claims). 3h35min of hiking before lunch. 2h10min of hiking after lunch. The ups and downs on that day were very strenuous for me. Difficult day.
• Day 3: Shira1 camp to Moir camp. 3h30min of hiking before lunch. 2h30 of hiking after lunch. Hike not too strenuous, I stopped briefly when I was out of breath and felt fine.
• Day 4: Moir camp up to lava tower for lunch then down to Barranco camp. 3h20min of hiking before lunch. 2h50min of hiking after lunch. I was comfortable on the way up. I felt a little rushed on the way down.
• Day 5: Barranco camp, up the Barranco wall, down-&-up Karanga valley to Karanga hut +acclimatisation hike. 2h25min of rock scrambling on Barranco wall, 2h35min down-&-up Karanga valley, ~2h acclimatisation hike. Up the wall was fine because I was allowed to go slowly. I felt a little rushed on the way down the valley but not too much. For the acclimatisation hike, I kept slipping on small loose rocks on the way down, so a guide helped me.
• Day 6: Karanga hut to Barafu Camp +acclimatisation hike. 3h00min of hiking before lunch, ~2h acclimatisation hike. Hike day not too strenuous, I stopped briefly when I was out of breath and felt fine. For the acclimatisation hike, I occasionally slipped on small rocks on the way down, so a guide helped a little.
• Day 7: Night hike from Barafu Camp to Stella Point to Summit (7h45min). Morning hike from summit to Barafu Camp (4h30min or 5h30min). Afternoon hike from Barafu Camp to Mwenka Camp (3h30min or 2h30min). I’ll describe the summit climb and the subsequent descent in another lengthy blog post. But I would like to say here that once again, I was allowed to climb up slowly, so I was not out of breath, which was awesome. My main enemies were the lack of sleep and the leg muscle very serious fatigue. Coming *down* from summit hike really was the hardest physical thing I've ever done.
• Day 8: Mwenka camp to Mwenka Gate. 3h00 of down hiking. Once again I was slipping on the wet compressed mud, and once again a guide helped me on the way down.

Injuries sustained: Aside from minor blisters, the big toes on both feet were extremely bruised from the post-summit descent. I am writing this blog post one full Moon Cycle after my Kili hike, and my two big toes still hurt every time I go to the swimming pool. Also, since summit hike, my knees now hurt every time I sit still for more than half an hour.

Finally, except for a mild headache on one day, I never felt any altitude sickness, possibly partially due to "diamox" prescribed by my travelling doctor to prevent altitude sickness. Dosage: each standard 250mg diamox pill is usually broken into two halves, one half to be taken in the morning, and the other in the evening. In total, I took six and a half diamox pills, starting on the evening of the day before the climb, and ending on the night of day 6, just before summit hike.

Out of the six travellers in my group, 5 of us took diamox. The 6th girl had a cold, and on the first night, she took a diamox pill at the same time as an anti-cold medicine, felt strange, and vomitted. When she tried diamox again a few days later, she was fine. As far as I know, the only side effect of the diamox felt by our group was the tingling of fingers/toes.

Kilimanjaro blog post 1 of 4: Choosing the Climbing Route and the Climbing Company

Kilimanjaro image #1: the three volcanos that make up Kilimanjaro




Kilimanjaro image #2: the entrances to the various Kilimanjaro climbing routes




Kilimanjaro image #3: summary of the Kilimanjaro climbing routes




Kilimanjaro image #4: summit night ascent routes





“Mount Kilimanjaro” is located in Tanzania, not far from the border with Kenya. The highest point on the mountain, called "Uhuru Peak", that's the peak of the "Kibo Peak", stands at 5895m above main sea level. It is Africa's highest point, and the top of the world's highest free-standing mountain --when height is measured from main sea level.

In February 2014, I started the research process for the Kilimanjaro climb. The plan was to climb Kili sometime in summer 2014, with a schedule that allowed me maximum moonlight during the climb, yet did not interfere too much with the 2014 worldcup game viewing.

The first part of the preparation involved carefully choosing a climbing route. Here are a few things that I learned while choosing the route:

• Kilimanjaro is oval shaped, extending from west to east, see image #1. The west part, the beeeaaauutiful "Shira Plateau", is a caldera (collapsed magma chamber) of an extinct volcano called "Shira". The middle part is occupied by the dormant volcano "Kibo", the highest point of which is "Uhuru Peak". The east part is occupied by extinct volcano "Mawenzi", which looks skinnier than Kibo, but as ominous as Mount Doom in Mordor. The three peaks are marked in image #1.
• The kilimanjaro climb is not a technical climb, it is a hike. So the best way to prepare for the Kili climb is to go hiking.
• There are *seven* STANDARD routes, entering the mountain at various points, but all of them do the final summit approach from the EAST. The route entrances are shown in blue on image #2: Marangu (entrance #1), Rongai (entrance #2), Northern-Circuit (enters through the west but skirts the northern edge), Shira (entrance #4), Lemosho (entrance #5), Machame (entrance #6), and Umbwe (entrance #7).
• There are *four* NON STANDARD routes, also using entrances 4-5-6-7 above, but doing the final summit approach from the WEST, through a path called the "Western Breach". The Western Breach is considered unsafe by some climbing companies due to falling rocks; specifically the rocks that were imprisoned by the glaciers of the Kili that became loose as the glaciers melted.
• An additional night at “Crater Camp” near the summit can be added to any of the 11 routes, but it not recommended by many companies because of the dangers of sleeping at high altitude.
• Image #3 is a table I made of the 11 routes with some info.
• The climb can be done in as little as 5days-4nights ("Marangu" or "Umbwe" routes), however it is possible to take more time using either of these two routes.
• The climb can be done is as much as 10days-9nights ("Northern Circuit" route), however it is possible to take less days using this route.
• For the seven standard routes, the final climb to the summit is attempted at night.
• For the seven standard routes, the standard progress of summit-night, shown in image #4, is as follows:
  • "Shira/Lemosho/Machame/Umbwe" climbers leave "Barafu Camp" (south east of the main peak) around midnight, arrive to "Stella Point" around sunrise, and to "Uhuru Peak" an hour later.
  • "Marangu/Rongai" climbers leave their "Kibo Hut" camp (east of the main peak) around midnight, arrive to "Stella Point" around sunrise, and to "Uhuru Peak" an hour later.
  • "Northern" climbers leave their "School Hut" camp (near "Kibo Hut") around midnight, arrive to "Stella Point" around sunrise, and to "Uhuru Peak" an hour later.
• Summit hike is attempted at midnight appearently for the following reasons: climbing in the dark makes you not see how scary and steep the path is, sunrise from the top of "Kili" is stunning, in some seasons the peak starts to get foggy around 8AM, scree slopes are easier to ascend when slightly frozen (this is soooo true), and, after the climb up, the hike down can be time-consuming and must be done during daylight hours.

So there you have it. After some more reading about the routes, several google image searches, talking to two friends who had already done the climb, and keeping acclimatisation and safety and crowds and steepness and the number of days on the mountain in mind, I was pretty much decided to do the Lemosho route. But I needed to find a climbing company that offered this route: not all companies offer all routes.

Finding a climbing company is more time consuming than deciding on a route: there are dozens of companies offering the climb, many of which have a web site.

The prices for the climb (not including tip and the fees for the rental of non-essential gear) vary from ~$700 to ~$6000. The average price seemed to be about $1850-$2600. The price variation is partly due to the level of luxury-camping/ luxury-climbing that these companies offer --later when I was on the mountain, we really did see companies offering fancy tents and everyday hot lunches, etc.

I had been warned by many ex-climbers to not book a climbing company online, and instead, to wait to go to Tanzania, and book the climb then, with a cheaper local company. But since this was my first time on the African continent, and since I did not yet have a grasp of how safe or unsafe everything there was, I decided to go ahead and book online, like the majority of international travellers.

After comparing a dozen companies or so, making use of reviews on tripadvisor, reading various blogs, and paying particular attention to the companies’ safety record and to how well the mountain-staff/porters are treated, I decided to book the 8-day Lemosho route climb with “ClimbKili” (Climbkili.com).

I emailed ClimbKili, and they responded promptly with detailed information. After some back and forth discussion, sometime in march, I booked the group-of-6 climb starting on Thursday July 03, 2014. July is the driest but coldest month on the mountain. The chosen date allowed me to watch all worldcup group stage matches and the round of 16 important matches while in North America, and provided an 86% visible moon on summit night (night of July 10 to 11). In retrospect, after talking to other climbers on the mountain about how much they paid and about the level of service that they were offered, and after talking to one of our guides about how well the mountain staff was treated, I am really happy to have chosen this company.

Opening Game

Watching football (soccer for the north americans) is extreeeemely popular in the middle east (or was when I grew up there some 20-30 years ago). Most families have supported specific international teams (like Germany, Brazil, England, and Argentina) for generations!

When I was a kid, everyone in my large extended family (except for one uncle) supported Brazil. So I've been a supporter of the Brazil football international team all my life. Therefore, today is a big day. The first game of the 2014 worldcup starts at 4PM. I am going to the family house at 2PM to start watching at the start of the coverage. Happy worldcup!

No longer free

It had worked for years: visiting the outdoor section of the Montreal Botanical Gardens was FREE after 6PM on summer weekdays. You could enter at 6PM and stay until sundown (~9PM).

This is no longer the case. Ticket sale now closes around 6PM, and no one can enter the gardens after 6 PM. If you're already inside, you can stay until 7PM max before they kick you out. Early morning free admission no longer exists either.

I'm still fuming about all this. I don't know who is the stupid person who came up with this. Why can't the city inhabitants keep enjoying the gardens until sundown?

Reset

• Blog "Agaricus Augustus is also known as The Prince" lasted from October 2007 to March 2010 (~650 posts, with 12 posts imported here).
• Blog "Eucalyptus" lasted from April 2010 to September 2012 (~350 posts, with 69 posts imported here).
• The first version of blog "Pockets with Zippers" lasted from february 2013 to August 2013 (~10 posts, none here).
• This is an attempt at a second version of "Pockets with Zippers".

Anything prior to this post is imported from an old blog.

Brazil Trip, Days 48 to 64

** Places I visited in Brazil that I've talked about already:

Salvador (& Boipeba), Rio, Niteroi, Paraty, Ilha Grande, & Foz do Iguaçu.

** Places visited in Brazil on the second part of the trip:

"Bonito" (where I swam with dorado fish and snorkled in a river where the water was soooo clear), and the "Pantanal" (the famous Brazilian wetland, visited in the dry season. I saw caymans and capibaras, slept in hammocks, photographed the milky way, and did some light-painting with fire-sticks around camp fires). After the visit to the Pantanal, I, and the friends from the adventure tour that I had joined, crossed the border into Bolivia.

** Places I visited in Bolivia:

The city of Santa Cruz, the city of Sucre, the town of Potosi, the town of Uyuni, and, one of the most interesting excursions of my life: a three-day excursion into the Salar de Uyuni (first day) and the surrounding region of the Salar de Uyuni (days 2 and 3). The amazing scenery kept changing every half an hour as we drove throughout the three days. The colours and the geological formations were incredible. I haven't been this much in awe in front of a natural place since visiting "Torres del Paine" park in southern Chile at the end of 2010. At the end of the excursion, we made our way into Lapaz.

After all this, on the night between August 21 and August 22, my plane landed home, after 64 days spent in South America (Brazil and Bolivia). It's good to be travelling, but it's also good to be home =o).

Brazil trip, the first 48 days

I am in the lobby of a hotel in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, close to the Brazil/Argentina/Paraguay triple-border.

It's Sunday August 05, my 48th day in Brazil.

My trip has been eventful so far:

First, I spent 3 weeks in Salvador da Bahia, a city in the North-East of Brazil. In Salvador, I saw the famous festivities of the Festa de São João, took intensive portuguese classes (agora falo melhor), lived with a host family (grand-mother, mother, daughter, and female dog), regularly played percussion on the streets of Pelourinho, visited the small and rustic island of Boipeba, visited a couple of historic monuments, and did two day-tours with a French tourim agency where I met "F", a nice French guy, 7 years older than I am.

Then, I took the plane from Salvador to Rio. I spent a day visiting some touristy places in Rio, then spent the next 4 days at the house of a friend of my dad. My dad's friend lives in Niteroi, a suburb of Rio. I meant to work on my scientific paper during these four days, but didn't get much done.

Then I spent a week volunteering in favela Rocinha in Rio, one of the largest favelas in Latin America. I volunteered at a daycare center run by a group of women. The kids were not orphans, the parents came to pick them up at 5 PM. The center was clean, and the kids ADORABLE. I got to dress them, feed them, and play with them. The other volunteers and I slept inside the favela, in a clean house next to the daycare center. The streets of the favela were very dirty and stank. The view of the favela, from inside the favela, illuminated at night was amazing. I returned to Niteroi for the weekend.

I was going to do a second week of volunteering, but then I cancelled it to go be with "F" and his son on Ilha Grande, a beautiful big island where no cars are allowed, near Rio. I spent 8 fantastic days there. It was real vacation. The three of us woke up every morning at 8 AM, and decided which little hike to do or which beach to visit. We only had to make sure that we were back on the main part of the island at 5:30 PM, sunset time in the winter on the Brazilian coast. We played mimes and word games, wrote a mini musical, and took crazy pictures.

A few days ago I left "Ilha Grande" because I had booked (back in February 15) a G-adventures tour that starts near Rio and ends in Bolivia. And "F" and his son went back to France. I made my way west, slowly, with the G-adventures group. After "Ilha Grande", we visited "Paraty", then we visited "Foz do Iguaçu" (where I am right now), and tonight we leave on a night bus to visit "Bonito".

To be continued!

Quick Synopsis of the Tibet-Nepal Trip

On June 03, I came back from a 3.5-weeks trip to Tibet and to Nepal.

At the start of the trip, I landed in Beijing. Walked on the great wall of China. Took the world's highest railway (46 hours in a train that smelled like noodle soup) to Lhasa.

Beautiful beautiful Lhasa. Friendly people. Colourful prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Soft tingling tiny bells hanging from rooftops. Incense... And armed Chinese soldiers at every street corner...

After Lhasa, I slowly made my way south west. And on my second to last day in Tibet, hiked the everest basecamp (on the Tibetan side).

I then crossed the border to Nepal where I spent 7 days visiting Kathmandu, Chitwan National Park, and Pokhara. In Chitwan, the temperature was over 40 degrees celsius in the shade. That's one of the reasons I had a shower while sitting on top of an elephant. I will NEVER EVER EVER forget the shower with the elephant =o).

I am now home for 2 weeks. On June 19, I leave again. This time, I am going to Brazil.

They don't make weeks like this anymore!

Thursday evenings I have an awesome salsa class. Sometimes, if I am lucky, the salsa teacher plays one or two forró songs at the end of the class, and we dance to them. And if I am even luckier, I get to dance with someone good, like the teacher himself, or the teacher's assistant 'D', a really nice guy.

Today, at the end of the salsa class, the prof announced that they were short two GIRLS in the upcoming forró workshop (hurray: space for me!), and then he played for us *TWO* forró songs (lucky me!), and I got to dance with the 'D' for *both* of them (hurray again!). By the end of the second song, I was walking on clouds! I made sure to reeeeeeeeeaaaally thank 'D', and walked to the metro station with a huuuuuge grin on my face. =o).

And this happend just two days after "Amazing-Tuesday"! (the day I was asked if I was interested in joining a samba-reggae band). I tell you, they DON'T make weeks like this one very often!!!!

My concerts with the choral society

Not much beats the sound of a very big choir. What seems like a loooong time ago, I was a part of a big choir. It was a non-audition choir, and the level varied greatly from person to person. I am totally spoiled because the very first time I was with that choir, we sang Mozart's requiem. After that, who can quit?! haha =o).

Anyways, this is what I sang with that choir while I was a member:

• Concert1: November 1998, Mozart's requiem,
  +Excerpts from the musical "Rent", at the "EA church".
• Concert2: April 1999, A.L.Weber's Requiem,
  +Excerpts from the musical "Les Miz".
• concert3: December 1999, Opera Excerpts,
  +Excerpts from the musical "Ragtime", at Eglise "St-Enf J".
• Concert4: April 2000, Schubert's mass in G,
  +Excerpts from the musicals "Joseph" & "Superstar", at the FACE audit.
• Concert5: Nov/Dec 2003, Dvořák's mass,
  +International Xmas carols.
• Concert6: April 2004, Fauré's requiem,
  +Excerpts from the musicals "Oliver" & "Miss Saigon".
• Concert7: November 2004, Lord Nelson's mass,
  +Traditional Xmas carols.
• Concert8: April 2005, Mozart's mass in Cmin,
  +Excerpts from "Abba" & 70's music, at Eglist "St-Denis".
• Concert9, November 2005, "Carmina Burana",
  +Xmas carols
• Concert10, April 2006, Brahms's requiem,
  +Excerpts from the musical "Superstar".
• Concert11, June 2006 benefit summer concert:
  "Inspirational songs".
• Concert12, Nov/Dec 2006, Handel's Messiah,
  +??
• Concert13, April 2007, Mozart's requiem again,
  +Various multicultural music.

I miss it sometimes...

Coffee

I used to say "I never drink coffee". Or "I've only drank coffee three times in my entire life". Well, it's the end of an era. Last summer, on the last day of my mediterranean islands trip, I drank a large mochaccino. Now I drink Mochacchinos several times a week, and on some days, more than once a day. Ah well. It had to happen one of these days.

One more song

**I think the date of this blog post got messed up**

MMMmnnnngngngngnngngnnnn why did my dance class have to end??!! I could have danced all night!! During class today, I wanted to pinch myself at least five times --I could NOT believe how much fun I was having!!

Thursday's class is the advanced salsa class, and I still don't look good when I dance (even when I am doing the steps right), but I manage to look ok I think, and boy I am happy to be there!! Today, I got to dance at least once with at least four out of my favorite dancers in the school!!

I'm not sure I've felt this way about an activity since 2003!! Baaaaaaack in the days, I used to wake up on tuesday/thursday mornings and think "yessssss! kali day!" (Kali= Filipino martial arts). Well, now I wake up on Tuesday/Thursday mornings and think "yesssss! Salsa/forró day!".

I wish I could be friends with these people outside of class the way I was friends with the kali people back in the days. But for some reason I have the strange feeling that I don't fit. Maybe this will improve. Maybe it's only in my head. But in any case, the thursday classes especially are like a very intense daydream.

TWICE today I thought the class was finishing. And TWICE today the prof played "one last song". One of them was forró!! I was SO grateful!! But the third time, it really was true: it was the last song. And I had soooo much energy after that, that I could not just sit quietly in the metro. So I went for a walk. And now I have to waaaaaiiiit aaallll the way till Tuesday for another dance.

Dancing faster than light

An email is when I first heard of it. I got home tonight and there was an email in my inbox from my officemate: faster than light neutrinos. And you know what?! I KNOW WHY THERE ARE FASTER THAN LIGHT NEUTRINOS: IT'S BECAUSE TIME ITSELF GETS SHORTER WHILE I AM IN MY DANCE CLASS!!

Let me explain: speed=distance/time. Smaller time means a faster speed. The one-hour-and-20-minutes of my dance classes are sooooo short ((compared to any other one-hour-and-20-minutes)), that anything moving during that time travels at a speed significantly higher than its usual speed. But since neutrinos already travel at near the speed of light, the time anomaly happening during my dance classes made them break that speed and reach their destination a few nanoseconds earlier. See?! QED =oP.

New Comic

New comic discovered!! An awesome one too!! It's called "The way to your heart". I spent the entire night between monday and tuesday reading it!!

Lucky stars

Somebody up there likes me!! Not sure if it's the maker of the universe, or the universe itself, but I am so grateful!!

Forró is a kind of Brazilian music that I've liked for years. At first it was because of the accordion. Then it grew on me during "the days of the old gym". But I had never danced to it. In any case, it so happens that my two favorite dance teachers are appearently into it these days!! The samba teacher played forró music for the warmup on Monday. So today, wednesday, on the way to my last salsa class of the summer ((I am leaving tomorrow for 5 weeks)), I was thinking: wouldn't a forrozinho be niiice as a goodbye to the dance classes?

Yes well we ended with a forró!! Actually more than one!! And you know how I am always sad at 9:20 because the prof is about to stop the music? Well, I had just started to dread what I thought was the impending end of the last song when the prof said "change"!! Meaning, switch dance partners and dance for one more song!! Hurray!! The next guy just happened to be my very favorite dance partner at the school ((I soooo hope he doesn't think I'm annoying)). And I was *already* in dance-heaven *before* that dance because of the forró music. So imagine afterwards. Lucky lucky me. I once again had the idiotic smile on my face throughout the metro ride and all the way to the apartment door.

Aaaaaand I got the chance to say bye to all 6 of my favorite people at the school including the two profs. The salsa prof even hugged me. So maybe he doesn't think I am as annoying as I thought he thought. In any case, I'll really miss these people, but if all goes well, I'll see them at the end of the summer.

My veggies

My veggies in my garden at the family house. My dad will take care of them while I am away travelling. Tiny-tim baby tomatos, mini chili peppers, sugar snap beans, and green beans. I hope there will be some left by the time I come back!

If life were like a melting candle

If living were like melting a fixed-weight candle, and something fun made you feel like your soul was on fire ((I guess I am feeling poetic)), would you die sooner because the crazy fire melts the candle faster??

I was having so much fun in salsa classes today, twirling and stepping and feeling the beat, that when the class ended, I felt like the floor just crumbled under my feet! Was it already 9:25PM already?? Really really?? where did time go?? I had so much energy to spare, I had to take a walk before taking the metro home.

It's the start of the summer session at my dance school, and once again, I am taking two salsa classes in a row, this time on wednesday evenings ((and two non salsa classes on mondays)).

The beginners' class, which I am retaking just because I can't get enough latin dancing, is from 6:45PM to 8PM. Today, everyone was new, except for me ((but nobody knows I am not new and it's better this way)), and except for the two teacher's assistants, both nice people that I really really really like. The girl is my very favorite person at the dance school. She's ammmazingly good and nice and humble. And the guy is my favorite dance partner, and I would dance with him forever if given the choice. Man I wish I could be friends with these two people. In any case, I did not have forever: I had to content myself with one or two dances with the guy because of the partner rotations.

I don't interact much with the girls in the class. I dance with the guys. And I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Some of the new guys were nervous today. As usual, I tried to be friendly. I counted two who were nearly my height and who had clearly eaten cheese before the dance class. Sigh. When the height is more offset, things like that are easier to deal with. I also counted one snob ((ewww)). The rest of the guys seemed normal and friendly. The teacher was great as usual: decent explanations, funny, kept the class as dynamic as he could. Gotta give him credit for his phenomenal energy. I know that dance is dance, and physics is physics, but I could not help but draw various parallels between things that the dance teacher says/does and things that I do in my classroom. And I also kept thinking of my old martial arts teacher. Maybe more on that later.

At 8PM came the time for the intermediate-level class. It was a little crowded. The two assistants had left. There were many guys that I recognized from having taken either a beginner-level or an intermediate-level salsa class with them. There also were several guys that I had never seen before, and among them, wearing a green shirt, this one blondish shorter version of Kimi Räikkönen. The guy has got style! And attitude too unfortunately: I don't like it when someone counts the beat for me (he did) because I *already* have a very high rhythm conscience, and am already annoyed with myself when I happen to not step on the beat.

In any case, in salsa, good or bad, one dance never lasts very long. You either enjoy it or you don't. And then the next dance comes with a different partner. This evening, some of the dances were so enjoyable I felt like I was on a magic carpet. One guy noticed that I really liked a certain move and said, smiling, "shall we do this over and over?". I really wish I could do salsa every evening. But salsa isn't offered every evening. If I found a second good dance school, I could even try alternating the schools on alternate evenings. Maybe then I could become part of the select clique at this school who always seem to know what they are doing. But then, what would happen to my grand plans of returning to martial arts? I really really really really miss punching and elbowing focus pads! And I always dream of turning Filipino stick-fighting partner drills into a dance *sigh*.

Station V3

Station V3 is the name of a minimalistic sci-fi web comic. I discovered it in January 2010, and I liked it. Spinoffs of Station V3 include Z7, Q16, and Ebb's Children.

Since I haven't read V3 (and the spinoffs) for a while, I don't remember where I had last stopped reading. This blog post is just an attempt for me to keep track of what I did or did not read.

COMIC Z7: last strip read is strip14 (20040414). The crew is complete.

COMIC Q16: read all illuminated strips until strip 100 (20070709).

COMIC Ebb's children: Read all 34 strips. Ebb's ch's live on K7.

COMIC V3: Stopped around Sept12 2009 when the V3 system moved from the Milky Way to the Triangulum Galaxy!

World Map

I've been wanting to put up a world map in my apartment for a while. At first I figured I'll just buy one at the annual poster sale (Imaginus) in September. Then I decided that I wanted something better. So I went to the online National Geographic store, and looked at their "Earth-toned Atlantic-centered World Political Map". It turns out this map is available in 10 different formats:

• Paper (46X30in,$12.95)


• laminated (46X30,$24.95)


• mounted (46X30,$249)


• Postersize (24X36,$12.99)


• Postersize and laminated (14X36,$24.99)


• Postersize and mounted (26X38,$149)


• Enlarged (70X49,$29.95)


• Enlarged and laminated (70X49,$59.95)


• Enlarged and mounted (73X48,$499)


• Mural (116X76) $99

I did not get a framed version because they are very expensive. But I did get a laminated version, and I can't wait for it to arrive!

Galápagos Itinerary

Below is the short version of the itinerary of my upcoming trip to the Galápagos. Refer to the map above for the location of each island. I'm looking forward to the wildlife encounters!

• ***
• 01 May21 Arrive to Quito in the Evening
• ***
• 02 May22 Flight to St-Cristobal , all day St-Cristobal
• 03 May23 St-Cristobal
• 04 May24 Speed boat to St-Cruz, all day St-Cruz
• 05 May25 Speed boat to Isabela, all day Isabela
• 06 May26 Isabela
• 07 May27 Isabela
• ***
• 08 May28 Speed boat to St-Cruz, all day on my own on St-Cruz
• 09 May29 All day on my own on St-Cruz. Will try to take a day trip to Bartolomé.
• 10 May30 Bus then ferry on my own to airport, flight to St-Cristobal, all day St-Cristobal
• ***
• 11 May31 St-Cristobal
• 12 June01 Sail to Floreana, all day Floreana
• 13 June02 Floreana, sail to Isabela, Isabela
• 14 June03 Isabela
• 15 June04 Isabela, sail to St-Cruz, St-Cruz
• 16 June05 St-Cruz
• 17 June06 St-Cruz, fly to Quito
• ***
• 18 June07 Depart Quito Early Morning
• ***

Blue Bison

I almost fell off my chair when I discovered this site a few moments ago!!!! Their drawings are UNBELIEVABLY CUTE!!!! Waaaaaaaaaa!!!! And you can get magnets and mugs and mouse pads and clocks and journals with the drawings on them too!!!! There is always room on the fridge for more cute magnets!!!!

Cream of Mushrooms Soup

Years ago, this recipe was found on some yahoo forum I think. One of the greatest mushroom soups in the galaxy! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces mushrooms.
• 4 tablespoons margarine or butter.
• 1 medium onion, chopped.
• 1/4 cup flour.
• 1-1/4 cups water.
• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) chicken (or vegetable) broth.
• 1 cup half and half (that's the "10-12%" cream found in the grocery store).
• some salt.
• 1 teaspoon white pepper.
• Chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

• Slice enough mushrooms to measure 1 cup, chop remaing mushrooms finely.
• Cook and stir sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 3-quart sauce pan over low heat until mushrooms are golden brown.
• Remove sliced mushrooms with slotted spoon and put them aside.
• Cook and stir chopped mushrooms and onion in remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until onion is tender.
• Stir in flour, salt, and white pepper.
• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly.
• remove from heat.
• Stir in water and broth.
• Heat to boiling stirring constantly.
• Boil and stir 1 minute.
• Stir in half and half and sliced mushrooms.
• Heat just until hot (do not boil).
• Sprinkle with parsley.

The original recipe stated: "Yield-- 4 servings; about 1 cup each; 260 calories per serving; Credits-- Recipe shared by: Andrea Rice".

Bon appetit!

Two Chocolate Cakes

One of the best chocolate cakes that I have ever eaten was made by my aunt M. who lives in the middle east. I wish I had that recipe, but I don't. In the mean time, I found this "Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake" recipe in several places online. I tried it twice (with a scale factor of 1.5) and I thought it was great. Not as great as the super chocolate cake that I don't know how to make, but great anyway!

Cake #1:
Ingredients:

• Butter 0.5 cup
• Sugar 0.5 cup
• eggs 2
• Flour 1.75 cup
• Cocoa 0.5 cup
• Baking SODA 1 tsp
• Salt 0.25 tsp
• butter 0.5 cup
• Milk 1 cup
• Vanilla 1 tsp

Instructions:

• In large bowl, cream butter and sugar "until light and fluffy".
• Add eggs, and start beating.
• Sift separately the flour, cocoa, soda, and salt.
• Add half the dry ingredients, and keep beating.
• Add milk and vanilla and keep beating.
• Add the other hald of the dry ingredients, and keep beating.
• Pour batter in a greased pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

A few days ago a friend made me a birthday chocolate cake that also tasted great. Recipe below.

Cake #2:
Ingredients:

• Flour 2 cups
• Sugar 1.5 cups
• Cocoa 0.5 cups
• Salt -- a dash
• Instant coffee 1 tsp
• Baking POWDER 1 tsp
• Baking SODA 1 tsp
• Milk (or orange juice or water) 1.25 cup
• Eggs 3
• Oil (canola) 0.75 cup

Instructions:

• In a processor bowl, process the dry ingredients for 10 seconds.
• Add milk and eggs and start processing.
• Add the oil while processing.
• Process all for 45 seconds (do not overprocess).
• Pour batter in a greased pan and bake for 55-60 minutes at 325F.

Cartoon Bread

Middle-Eastern bread. Indian Bread. French bread. Round, square, and funny shaped bread. Black, brown, and white bread. Multi grain bread. Whole wheat bread. Thin bread. Bread in slices. Bread in buns. Bread in bagels. Do you like bread? I do. As long as it does not contain any dried fruits that is.

When I was a small kid in the middle east, I grew up mostly with what people in North America call "pita bread". This kind of bread is what every family had around the house, and people just called it "bread". There were many other kinds of bread too, but they were more rare and we did *not* call them "bread". They mostly resembled elongated buns and French baguettes.

But when I watched foreign cartoons and/or the muppet sketches on Sesame Street (the muppet sketches were dubbed), the cartoon characters and the muppets always ate bread in slices. *Square* slices!

Then I came to North America. And what do I see in the grocery store? Cartoon bread! A million and one kinds of cartoon bread!

My favorite kinds of cartoon bread these days are the multi grains ones. This "épicerie" article claims that no matter how many exotic grains the bread is made of, at least 80% of the bread is usually made from wheat flour (not necessarily whole wheat flour), and the funny (ground) grains only make the remaining 20%, otherwise the bread would not rise.

I also like reading the names of the grains on the packages. Example: for the "Bon Matin 14 grain bread" the first ingredient is "whole wheat flour", and the second ingredient is the "14 grain mix". The mix includes: Wheat (blé), Barley (orge commun), Corn (maïs), Buckwheat (sarrasin), Oat (avoine), Sorghum (sorgho commun), Rice (riz), Rye (seigle), Millet (millet commun), Triticale (triticale), Sunflower seeds (graines de tournesol), Flax seeds (lin), Poppy seeds (graines de pavot), and Sesame seeds (grained de sésame). I had to google a whole bunch of those because the words were unfamiliar. But it was fun.