Travelling with JD

Here is a short video about my travels I edited along with my brother the other day. Hope you enjoy it!

Going Home

“O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?”
-Walt Whitman

The sun’s rays came in through the window and woke me up. It must have been around 6am. I stayed a little longer in bed.
I got up later, refreshed. I got off my bunk bed while trying to decide wether it was worthwhile to stay for the 8am breakfast provided at the Salvation Army Refuge I was in. I usually like to start my hitch hiking days early but free food is always a good argument. In the end I got impatient and just got a coffee and some cookies and went on my way.
These Salvation Army Centers are definitely lifesavers especially in winter for many homeless people.

Outside the Salvation Army Centre

So out I went, walking out to the main street (which I forget the name now). The sidewalk was quite icy as was the wind. I walked for maybe 2 km till I reached the intersection with the Loop. It seemed like a good spot with adequate space for cars to pullover. The air was chilly but I was quite stoked about the day. After a few minutes I noticed a guy approaching, he was holding a large cup of coffee. ‘Here’, he said handing me the cup, ‘I didn’t have cash on me so I brought you this coffee, the morning is quite chilly!’ I thanked him and we each went on with our days.

Happy Coffee

The minutes went by and nobody stopped. At one point a truck stopped, he said he was going to Winnipeg…on Sunday. So no luck. After maybe 1 1/2 – 2 hrs a police car stopped and told me not to hitch hike in the city. So I started walking for maybe another 1km and a half till I reached the end of the city. I stopped right at the last traffic light and stood there. Here because I lacked the protection of the city buildings the wind was much stronger and the cold was more intense. I thought maybe the cold weather would help me get a ride faster. Alas! I was wrong. People passed by and waved at me, or pitied me out in the cold, but they would not stop. I reached the record waiting time here in Regina: 3 1/2 hours. Finally I got a short ride about 20km up the road, enough to warm up a bit. The guy who gave me a ride dropped me off at an intersection and told me I could probably get a free coffee and pastry at the restaurant in the corner.
My cardboard sign I had made in BC was getting torn up because of the wind, so it was time for a new one. Remember, a sharpie is part of the essential equipment of a hitch hiker! So I went in the restaurant and asked for some cardboard to make some signs, and I got a free coffee as well.

I walked back across the highway and stood again, hoping not to wait another 3 hours. Soon enough an SUV stopped and picked me up. He wasn’t going exactly east through the No.1 Highway but rather north east toward Yorkton. Being tired of waiting all morning I agreed, it was about an hour ride. Ron owns a farm in the area and is active in Organic Farming. He recommended me the following sites for travelers interested in working for some periods of organic farms or volunteering in a variety of settings (www.wwoof.net and http://www.helpx.net). I invite you guys to check it out it seems like an awesome way to save on lodging when travelling, plus you get the satisfation of working and you get to know the locals by being hosted.
Anyways so we chatted along for an hour till we arrived at the intersection of the No.17 trans-canada that runs between Saskatoon and Winnipeg. The highway seemed fairly busy, unfortunately most of the traffic was either big trucks (which hardly ever stop to pick up hitch hikers) or really local traffic going from one town to the next. Still I did’t have to wait more than half an hour before being picked up by a young guy going home from work. He was just going up ahead a few towns, but every kilometer counts especially after having such a crappy morning freezing out and waiting for most of the day. When he dropped me off he was kind enough to give me a $20 bill. “Next time a see a descent place to eat I’m getting something” I thought. It was the middle of the afternoon already and I hadn’t eaten anything since the 7.30am cookies. The prairies really are flat. As they joke here ‘it is so flat that if your dog ran away you could still see him running after two days’.

Waiting for some love

Flat Saskatchewan

Here I must have waited at least an hour before being given another ride, this time a lady on her way home from work. She was going up the road only one town away, but in the end she decided to bring me over to Russell in Manitoba (about 30km farther down, so thats 60km extra just for me!). I must say, in spite of the very slow progress the people that gave me rides today have been exceptional! Arrived in town (around 6pm) she even gave me a tour of the town showing me the places I might be able to spend the night for cheap in case I didn’t find a ride later on. At the gas station where she dropped me off there was a subway restaurant so I finally went and bought a meal. I was famished. Still, I couldn’t get myself to each all of my subway quietly while sitting down. There wasn’t much daylight left and as long as there was light I had to be out there with my thumb up. So I ate only half my subway then went out to the highway, muching on my meal while hoping for a miracle to get me to Winnipeg. The day before I got my last and longest ride of the day around 7pm, so I didn’t lose hope yet.

About an hour later I saw this red car try to stop but because of the traffic behind it enden up not stopping. Why do people do this? I thought. But a few minutes later I see this same car coming back and turning around and this time it stopped. It was an aged woman, probably close to 80 years old. Grandmothers have a heart. I guess they imagine I could be their grandson and would love someone to pick him up, so they do. I was very thankful. She wasn’t going east, but south. Back to No.1 Highway. I figured this was probably a good thing to do to get a ride tomorrow. So we chatted along for about an hour. The sun was coming down. We saw many deer in the fields. I had never seen so many deer together like this in the open, I must have seen over 50 deer in one field and twice smaller groups of about 20 or 30. Over in Quebec I had never seen more than 5 at a time.

By the time we got to the No.1 the sun was setting below the horizon, I had just about 30 minutes of daylight left. Unfortunately she was now going west toward her hometown and the closest town towards the east was the town of Virden, about 6 or 7km up the road. So I started walking. There was a train to the right, I walked over to it to check out the crew wagon to see if I could get a warm place to spend the night, but it was all locked up. So I kept walking on the highway. Soon the darkness came over. The temperature dropped, but as long as I walked I wouln’t get cold. After maybe 40minutes of walking I could see the welcome sign out in the distance, about one more kilometer and I would be there, hoping to find something open 24 hours. A bad day overall I would say. If I had kept going on the No.1 this morning I would have advanced about less than 300km. And now I was there walking at night hoping to find a place covered from the wind in this desolate prairie.

But then, it all changed, as life on the road always does.

A small Tercel car stopped. I had stopped asking for rides because at night it is difficult for people to see your face, therefore they are much less prone to stopping. But this guy stopped, I ran to the car and happily put my pack in the trunk. I got in the car and was asked wherabouts I was headed, I answered Winnipeg since that was my goal for the day. Mark, the friendly stranger who picked me up, said well I am going all the way to Montreal. I couldn’t believe my luck! Not many people travel across Canada this time of the year, and after spending the day in detours and mostly freezing outside, now at 9pm I get across this guy going all the way. I was so happy and he was also glad to have someone for company. Right there, in my mind, my trip was over, it was just a matter of time before arriving.

That night after passing Winnipeg we crossed the geografical center of Canada, we were now officially in the East. We drove all night for lack of finding an open motel. Since we are crossing about 4 time zones we didn’t exactly figure out what time it was and most likely by the time we started looking for a place to sleep they were all closed, so we drove.

Sunrise on the road. Going East.

In the morning we reached the city of Thunder Bay on the coast of Lake Superior. Lake superior is over 1000km long. In any other part of the world this is called a sea. It is the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface. From Thunder Bay on we had a 700km drive just on the shores of the lake. But first we stopped to make the oil changed on the car and to eat something. Then we continued.

part of Lake Superior

The province of Ontario is a really long drive. We would take turns driving every couple of hours. And along this road it is mostly rural with the scenery basically looking alike for 2 days. Obviously in summer this is a popular tourist destination aas you can enjoy camping or hotels on the lake shore and all kinds of activities. Now it was just cold, and the lake was actually still frozen. Thankfully the weather was nice all day. In the evening we arrived to Sault-St-Marie, where we stopped to eat. It was dark when we continued our way, but we only advanced about 70km till we arrived to a small motel by the roadside in the town of Bruce Mines. Finally some rest. A good warm shower and then we hit the sack. The next morning we left around 9am. It was snowing. The rest of the day was just a long drive. We listened to the whole collection of audio cassettes Mark had in the car, reliving the 90s. Here you measure distances by the time it gets to get from one Tim Horton’s to the next.

long drive

Of course we talked alot, we both have interesting family histories. Mark was originally from montreal with a colourful family background being an Anglo from Franco-Ontarian and Italian ancestry.
After a long drive we finally arrived to Ottawa, the nation’s capital around 6 or 7pm. We stopped to get a coffee at Bridgehead coffee house. Reputed to be Canada’s best.

 About an hour and a half more of driving we finally made it to Montreal. Mark dropped me off close to a metro station. I said goodbye to my new friend Mark. Spending two days with a stranger you either get to hate him or you get along great. I really got along with Mark and enjoyed our drive across. Half of my trans-canadian trip I did with Mark, so I owe a big thank you to him, for his kindness and good humour. Obviously without all the other people who gave me a ride I wouln’t have made it either. They are the faces of my trip.

I bought a ticket, called my brother and went on the metro till the Longeuil station where my brother picked me up. Only 250km left before arriving home. Since my parents moved since last time I was around I had only a sketchy idea of where they lived. So the next day I just waited for my brother to get out of classes and then we drove over with his friend to my parent’s place.

I travel alot, and I generally feel at home anywhere, but there is nothing like getting home, being welcomed into your mother’s arms…and fresh home made pizzas.

So this is how my trans-canada trip ended. Unexpectedly faster than I thought.
About 5000km, 7 days of travel (only!) and total of 11 days from my landing at Vancouver and arrival to Quebec city, most time spent waiting: 3 1/2 hours (Regina), shortest time waiting: probably 5 minutes (twice, once in Boston Bar, BC and once in Kamloops, BC), shortest ride: about 5km in Surrey, BC, longest ride: 2,851km from Virden, MB to Montreal, Qc. Average travel distance per day: for the first 4 days: around 700km per day, then from Ontario on about 1,200km per day. Total cost: about $140 of which $60 were given to me.

Trans-Canada Trip 2014

Trans Canada Trip 2014

So you see, it is not so expensive to travel if travelling is what you want. Go out and adventure out into life. Even if you don’t try out hitch hiking or extreme things, go out. Take that job opportunity in Asia, or that student exchange program in Europe, go on that trip of a lifetime you have been thinking about, take that invitation from your Latin American friends to visit them, they will be delighted and so will you. The thing is to go out, out of that imagined comfort zone. You will experience many wonderful things out there. It is not more dangerous to travel than to commute to your workplace day in and day out. Let me tell you what is dangerous: to regret the things you never had the courage to do. You have one life, don’t waste it living in a box, be free.

Free Man

By the roadside I see a man.

A man travelling for pleasure.

Not in luxurious boats or expensive cars, nor sleeping in expensive hotels.

No, he does not travel for the physical pleasures, but for the pleasure of travelling.

And that pleasure can only be found spontaneously, unexpetedly, on the road, in the chaos of improvisation and the struggle to survive. The fact that he does not know where he will spend the night, wether here or 400km down the road, keeps him attentive, as if he was reading a novel, but about his own life, and he does not know how it ends. It is then that he realizes that he is alive, he feels it in his veins, in his lungs and legs…The pleasure of travelling is the pleasure of living.

This pleasure of living is found in uncertainty. For when the future is all resolved, when all dogmas are certain and all questions have answers, the spirit of man feels overwhelmed, a prisoner in the cell of its own security. But when the future is unknown, the dogmas uncertain and the answers produce more questions, then the spirit of man feels its freedom.

Certainly he feels more pain, doubts continously stalk him, and he knows fear. Yet only this way can he feel with all his faculties the euphoria of love, the vitality of an objective and the joy of success.

Hard work of body and mind strengthen him, the storyline of his life and the unexpected plot twists it presents keep him alert, they are the vitality of his existence. In them he finds the motivation to live, even if he does not understand the reason of his existence. His security does not lie in his having all existential problems of life resolved, but rather in an internal motivation that is not affected by life’s events.

This man, they call him homeless, but he has found his home in all the world. His home has been the hospitality of a stranger, a shack on the beach or even a dirty sidewalk in a metropolis. His companions have been rich and poor alike, drunkards and children, the young and the old. He has made of the world his classroom, of the different cultures his teachers, and of languages his treasure.

This free man who walks by the paths of the world, he says he travels for pleasure, but he knows  deep inside of him that he travels to live.

J-D Marcoux

Frozen Prairies

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

-John Krakauer, Into the Wild

After spending a splendid week-end in the frigid city of Calgary, I set out on foot to continue my journey to the East. After finding a way out of the city (this is the hardest part of hitch hiking, the one that dosen’t involve actual hitch hiking!). When I reached the trans-canada highway #1 I started walking along the road to find a suitable place to hitch. I finally found a spot and I stood there in the chilling wind for almost two hours. Finally a gentleman picked me up and gave me a ride about 40 minutes down the road till the town of Bassano.
The dryness and windiness of the region makes for a very cold experience. Happily, I had come prepared from Mexico. In fact most of the items I packed with me were related to cold weather.

Trying to get to Regina

After approximately one hour of waiting an older lady, ex-hitch hiker herself, picked me up. She lived in Medicine Hat and had to go to a doctor’s appointment once a month, and today happened to be that day. Incidentally, instead of her appointment lasting 2 hours, it lasted only 15 minutes (for which she was quite pissed but for which I profitted). As one travels hitch hiking, one begins to see how life is made up of many small coincidences. Call it providence, luck or destiny, the thing is that quite frenquently in my trip I became aware of these small coincidences and how without them my day might have been very different (although it is not possible to know how things might turn out otherwise). So she drove me to the entrance of Medicine Hat. Here I waited another hour before a friendly young guy who loved travelling offered to bring me across to the other side of town. He bought me a cup of coffee and we parted. It was already 4.30 pm and I had only under 300km tallied for the day, far from my goal of 757km to reach Regina, SK.

About an hour later (you can see now that my average for Alberta is about an hour) a man picked me up. His name was Albert. Albert from Newfoundland. Newfies are notorious for their accents, and I now understood why. This man worked in Medicine Hat, but lived over an hour away in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. Unfortunately Maple Creek is quite a small town, and in fact on the highway it is nothing more than an intersection with a small gas station and a motel across the road, and the sun was going down, as well as the temperature. And even though I travel this way for the love of it, I also happened to have very little money so spending it on a motel was out of the question. So I only had the prospect of either a cold night out in the prairies or a miracle ride.

The flat prairies

Hitch hiking the prairies

At approximately 7.15pm (on my whole trip I was always confused as to the actual time since I went through 4 time zones and since Saskatchewan is ont on daylight savings time, it was actually like 5) a man stopped and picked me up. And here is the coincidence of the day: this guy told me he saw me in Calgary around 1pm (but obviously didn’t stop to pick me up). He worked 21 days on, and one week off, today was his last day and he was on his way home to Regina (who gets off work on a monday?). So he didn’t stop in Calgary, but his car broke down in Medicine Hat where he had to stop and fix it. In the meantime I had passed him, and now he saw me again in Maple Creek and decided to give me a ride. I dind’t actually tell him, but I was quite glad his car broke down in Medicine Hat, otherwise I might have had a very cold night ahead of me. This just shows that one can never know what is ahead. Sometimes hitch hiking can feel quite long and boring, and one might be tempted to give up. But as long as there is light (generally), your luck can change in any instant. It is an excersice in patience and in one’s ability to keep his spirits up. So in the end I reached my goal which was Regina. I even drove for a couple of hours while my host slept and rested from his day’s work.

Sunset in the cold prairies

We arrived in Regina at around 11pm, and he kindly drove me downtown to the Salvation Army refuge. So not only I rode 340km with him, but he also found me a warm place to sleep for free.
I entered the refuge with my backpack and my cardboard signs in my hand. I registered at the counter, my backpack was stowed away in a safe place, I was shown my bed and given blankets. Breakfast at 8, I was told. I brushed my teeth, wrote down my day’s progress and went to sleep. When I started my day in the morning I wasn’t sure what to expect. It had been quite a day, with an unexpected twist at the end. Good stories have plot twists at the end I thought, I guess good days are like that too. Nevertheless the next day’s plot twists still caught me by surprise, despair, hope and rescue all in one day. But that story I will tell later!

At the Salvation Army refuge in Regina.

[I want to thank all the people who contributed to this trip, especially the Riloba family in Calgary as well as all the great people I met and who lended a helping hand to a travelling stranger! They make this world a better place.]

West Coast and Rockies

“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.”
― Tom Hiddleston

I landed in Vancouver’s International Airport on a rainy afternoon. The flight had been long, and my backpack had been damaged by the handlers. I had not eaten all day.

I wearily walked to the currency exchange counter and changed a $20 US dollar bill and 70 MEX I had in my wallet. I bought a small Tim Horton’s coffee and a muffin. It was around 8 degrees Celsius outside, warm enough for some Canadians to be walking around in sandals and shorts. I went outside and felt the cold air on my face.

At Vancouver airport

A few hours later my friend Philip came by to pick me up and a new intern coming in from the UK. We then headed south towards the US border where A Rocha’s property lies.

A Rocha is a Non-profit conservation organization founded originally in Portugal but now with many international centers now. It works in environmental conservation and education as well as sustainable agriculture.
I loved the place and the people here. The next day I helped around in their daily activities, we did some water quality testing in the river, then in the afternoon we did some amphibian egg mass survey in some ponds. I was delighted to be introduced to some of these conservation projects they have. As someone who loves nature, conservation is a subject that is close to my heart.

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The next night was spent in Vancouver and the next morning after walking a bit around the downtown and Stanley Park I started my cross country adventure. I took the sky train eastward to Surrey. From here I started walking hoping to find a bus to take me towards the Trans-Canada Highway. As I was walking I randomly stretched my hand and thumb out, and lo and behold! A mini cooper stopped. A friendly guy about my age picked me up and drove me to the highway, a super start to my trip!

I rummaged through a recycling bin for some cardboard and improvised my sign and stood there on the on-ramp. I stood there for over 3 hours. In the end a local guy in a pickup gave me a ride, he was going over to Abbotsford to visit his mother on her birthday. He used to hitch hike back in the days, he dropped me off and gave $40 to help me on my trip. I decided to buy some chocolate and water and then stood again on the on ramp. I stood there less than 30 minutes before a young “redneck” type family picked me up.They drove me up to Chilliwack. Here I stood maybe some 40 minutes before an older guy in a van picked me up. He seemed like a grumpy guy but was actually quite friendly and I learned a lot about the province in our ride to Hope, BC.

Hoping to get a lift out of Hope,BC

Here we start entering mountainous country, and I noticed many First Nations people were living around here. It had rained during the way here, but when I hopped off the van the rain had stopped. The air was fresh and I was excited to enter the mountains. I was hoping it would not rain as the weather was very overcast. I waited here for more than 2 hours and was thinking I might have to spend the night in a little shack that was beside the road. Finally a pickup stopped and another friendly man gave me a ride about 50km up the road till Boston Bar. He had worked extensively down in Mexico, a Canadian making Tequila in Mexico. When I arrived to Boston Bar the sun was already going down, and the prospect of sleeping in a tiny railroad town was not too cool. Luckily a pickup truck that had passed me back in Hope saw me and this time it stopped. Two girls and a small dog from the Vancouver area. We squeezed in the small cabin and we drove 200km up till Cache Creek. They went on their way north till Prince George. Night had fallen, and I walked to a 24hr petrol station, I ate a bit. Then I decided I might as well try my luck and went outside and stood under a lamp post. A drunk native came by and told me that was not a good spot, he then led me up the road to the spot were they hitch hike out of town. He went on his way and another one came by and asked where I was headed. I mistakenly understood he worked in the Motel across the street so I asked If I could use his internet connection, he agreed and we walked to his house. By the time we got there I realized he was a bit drunk himself, though not too much. So I went in, sent an email, and he then offered that I stay there overnight as the night temperatures would drop down to -15 degrees Celsius.

So I spent the night warm enough and protected from the cold. The next morning I left at 6.30am back to the road. Unfortunately there wasn’t much traffic at that hour so I stood there in the freezing weather for almost two hours. It even started to snow, a powdery kind of snow that blows over the surface of the road. Finally around 8.30 a fine lady picked me up, probably the only one that pitied me out in the cold, as it is unusual for women driving alone to pick up hitch hikers. We drove through the valley (I believe it is the Fraser valley but I’m not sure), with it’s movie like scenery from the wild west. The mountains around it produce a meteorological phenomenon that pushes away the clouds making for very little precipitation year round. So it is a semi-arid region, with cows, valleys, and the railroad following the edge of the river, on the one side runs the Pacific Railroad tracks and on the other the Canadian National tracks. 85km later we arrived to Kamloops. Here I was dropped off at an exit ramp, and there was no on-ramp there, so I started walking along the highway hoping to find an on-ramp. I kept turning my head back and holding out my sign hoping someone would stop, though I was not betting on it. Surprisingly enough about 5 minutes later a small truck stopped and I hopped in. The driver was a very nice fellow who regularly picked up hitch hikers. We had quite the chat for over an hour till we arrived to the small town of Salmon Arm. It was around 10.30 am. I thanked him and he went on with his deliveries and I went to grab a cup of coffee for the morning. I was quite stoked about how well my morning had gone, and I expected a short wait. So there I stood, smiling at all the passing cars, receiving many smiles and waves back but no rides. And since smiles won’t get you anywhere I waited and waited. The people all seemed really nice, smiling and waving but none picking me up. After about an hour a young kid finally picked me up. And as luck would have it, today was his birthday and he was on his way to Calgary to celebrate in fashion. So the wait was worth it. I hitched over 500km with him. We went through Sicamous, Revelstoke, and Golden and a few National Parks before crossing into Alberta. The Rockies I must say are magnificent, and unfortunately pictures taken from a moving vehicle are more often than not incapable of accurately representing the majesty and awe they inspire. And so we reached and drove by Lake Louise and Banff, then on to Canmore until we reached Calgary. I was dropped off in the SW part of the city. I immediately felt the frigid cold running through my body. It must have been around minus 20. I phoned my long time friends that live here and luckily I was not too far away from their home. I hopped on a bus and made my way home.

Rockies

I was very content with my progress in the day, In the morning I was not sure if I would make it to Calgary that day, and as it turns out I reached it before sunset. I must say, British Columbia is very hitchable even though it is technically illegal to hitch hike. I loved the province and its people are in excess polite. It was quite the culture shock coming from the metropolis of Mexico city with all its noise and traffic, to find the polite Canadians complain about people changing lanes in traffic and how that was unacceptable driving ethics. I was glad to have been saved from spending the night out in the cold, and was agreeably surprised at the kindness and politeness of the people. So it is not a myth, Canadians really are polite. Yet as I arrived to Calgary on the first day of spring, spring was nowhere to be seen, it appeared I had gone back in time and it was still January. Oh well, such is the Canadian weather. Here I will spend the week-end before continuing on my journey across Canada.

So stay tuned, as they say, for more adventures are coming up!

Stanley Park

Stanley Park

Vancouver

My first ride of the trip!

Patience is the key

Hope, BC

my ride to Cache Creek

Headed towards Salmon Arm, BC

Mountains

Crossing the Rockies

Going to Calgary

Me and the Rockies

In frigid Calgary

Preparing for my trans-canadian adventure!

Here are a few pictures of my preparation for my trans-canada hitch hiking adventure!

Hitchhiking in Mexico

In November and December of 2013 I undertook a little dream of mine, which is to get to know better my beautiful Mexico. During the course of September and October I took a couple of hitchhiking trips in northern Mexico. Seeing it was indeed very feasible to hitchhike in Mexico in spite of all the violence which plagues the country I decided to go for it.

So on November 8th I packed my tiny backpack and went on my way. I left Torreón, Coahuila and went south. My itinerary was roughly as follows: Zacatecas-Aguascalientes-Queretaro-Mexico City. I was still unsure as to where I would head to after Mexico City, my choices were either Cancun or Oaxaca and Chiapas. As it turns out I ended up going to Oaxaca. So the second part of my trip was Mexico DF-Cuernavaca-Acapulco-Puerto Escondido-Mazunte. My method of travel was improvisation, meaning whatever would get me there the cheapest. So it was mostly hitchhiking with a few instances of paying for a bus (not the regular fare, but the ‘pay the bus driver instead’ fare).

I can say Mexico is one of the most beautiful countries I know (if not the most). With a vast array of varieties in food, landscape, weather and customs as one could find in a whole continent. I traversed deserts, mountains and jungles. Slept in ditches, cozy beds, hammocks and on the beach. Went from cold and rainy to warm tropical weather. Even the culture varies. For me, a northener, the south has different customs and strange foods we do not find up north. I went through some states where the violence is notorious, yet everywhere I went I met nothing but good and kind people. In the areas where there is more violence (according to the news) is where I found the people more eager to help, more quick to lend a hand (or a drink or food). Undoubtedly Mexico is still characterized by its warm and hospitable people. Hear what you may in the news channels, Mexico is still beautiful, Mexico still has its good people, its great food, its magical towns, and world renowed beaches. I found many europeans still willing to trade their modern lives to come and live a quiet life, living at the sea’s rythm.

So here are a few pictures of this amazing trip I had. I hope they inspire others to go out and experience life on the road, and especially to come and visit this magical country of mine called Mexico. Forget the TV, come and get to know it yourselves. Come and meet our villages, our people, our food.

In Queretaro

Hitchhiking out of Queretaro

In Cuernavaca, Morelos

Aguascalientes

Sunrise in Mazunte, Oaxaca

The ‘Quebrada’ in Acapulco

hitchhiking across Guerrero

Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca

Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca (capital of big wave surfing in Mexico)

The Year 2013 in review

The year 2013 has been one of my busiest years travelwise so far.

I started the year in Israel, then in the summer I hitchhiked in Turkey, Spain and France. Spent a month in Canada, came down to Mexico and I have basically been hitchhking in Mexico since October, covering from the north all the way down to the state of Oaxaca.
Here are a few pictures of this year’s adventures.

Diving in Eilat, Israel

Skying in Mt. Hermon, Israel

Akko, Israel with my brother

Judean Desert

Sultan Ahmed, Istanbul, Turkey

Hitchhiking in Spain

Costa Brava, Catalunya

Train hopping in France

Wilderness Camp, Waskaganish, Canada

Fishing at Rupert River, James Bay Canada

Riding my bike from Torreon to Cuencamé, Mexico.

Collecting Honey in Mexico

Old church, Pedriceña Mexico

Hitchhiking from Durango

Hitchhiking en route to Aguascalientes Mexico

In Mexico city with this rad girl and fellow globetrotter.

Acapulco Mexico

Hitchhiking acrros the state of Guerrero

In the Jungles of Oaxaca

Punta Cometa, Oaxaca

Last hitchride of the year.