One Hell of a Year

Well, it's the end of another year. I remember when New Year's came last year I spent the night doing nothing, and once again, I spend the night doing nothing. Funny how things come full circle like that. Well here's to another year of living and complaining!

Have a safe night, don't drink and drive.

RIP David Pollatsek

I learned just moments ago that a great man passed away recently and nobody knew about it. I can't let such an injustice stand, so I'm taking the time to tell people about this great man.

First off, I did not know David personally. However I am very familiar with the work that he and his companions have created in recent years.

David was one of the founders of Monster Games, a small independent video game developer located in Minnesota. In 1996, David and his friends formed the company and created games based on their racing passion. To be honest, their early games were underwhelming, but soon a once in a lifetime offer came that would put David and his friends on the map.

Smokin

On Christmas Eve, I was heading to bed when I heard some fireworks. That's nothing new, I hear them all the time, however this time they were louder than ever. I looked outside and the sky was being lit with an intense show of fireworks. Braving the cold, I stepped outside to the bow of the boat to take in the whole show.

The moon was shining brighter than I had ever seen. it was like a flood light illuminating the entire boat. I had taken a flashlight with me so I could see, but the moon was so bright it was unnecessary. I sat down at the front bench. and looked up at the sky full of flames. It seemed like everyone was firing their own fireworks at the same time, because no matter where you looked, fireworks were launching.

The president of this country has a place down river from here. I hate to say it, but he had by far the most disappointing fireworks of all. Just these little things that go up a little bit and make some small light. Better step it up El Presidente.

The most amazing thing however was all the smoke. When I went out, I thought that it was foggy at first, however all of the smoke from everybody's fireworks was filling the river with a blanket of smoke. The bridge about one kilometer away was covered with smoke, and all you could see was its silhouette.

Christmas Dinner

Continuing from our experiment with cooking a chicken in the BBQ, it was time to do the big bird. That's right, for Christmas we cooked a turkey in a BBQ, the first time we had ever done so.

This was much more challenging than the chicken. First off, the bird cannot touch the metal of the grills, so we had to soak some pieces of wood overnight, and place them underneath the roasting pan (they did burn to a crisp after about 3 hours). And about every ten minutes we had to check the temperature, as a BBQ is not sophisticated enough to keep a temperature like an oven. After around 4-5 hours, the bird was ready to eat.

Ingram Asked - End of the World Edition

Well, it's finally here, December 21st, and I here I am in the center of Mayan society, Guatemala. Two hours away from here, a huge party is raging in the tourist trap known as Tikal, and instead of joining in. I'm going to answer your questions instead.

Q: Will you ever post a video? 

A: Ha, ha, ha! Silly Shauna, I don't have the bandwidth to post videos. However, you may have these photos instead.

 The living room. 

The Final Hours

The end slowly comes...?

Riding on Fumes

Today we were out replenishing our supply of drinking water when we ran out of fuel. Seriously, we ran out and we had to tip the fuel can on its side to get the last few ml of gas left in the tank. As luck would have it, the nearest gas station was out of fuel, so we had to go to one a few minutes further. Somehow, we just made it before the tank ran completely out, and refilled to max.

Always make sure you have a good supply of fuel when going out. Who knows when things will go wrong?

Professor Michael's Fantabulous Feature on Famous Folks 1

I've complained before (that seems to be common theme lately) that people don't know enough about Canada, and the people who have helped shape it many different ways. Well, there is little worse than a person who is all talk, and no action. Therefore I've decided to put my money where my mouth is, and started this little side section. So without further ado, let's begin.

Part 1 - Ted Harrison

When I was in elementary school, I was introduced to works of Ted Harrison when we studied the Canadian north. Harrison is famous for his use of bold vibrant colours, while also using simple shapes and imagery to create something beautiful.

Harrison is not actually born in Canada, but was in fact born in Durnham County, England, on August 28, 1926. As a youngster, his teachers recognized his art talents, and encouraged him to enroll in Art College, and in 1943 he was accepted at Hartlepole College of Art. Following a brief stint in the military during World War II, Harrison graduated with a Design Diploma in 1950, and began travelling the world with his family.

Serious Business

It's started, the final countdown to Christmas. Beginning tonight, and going for each night till the big day is a fireworks show. Yes that's right, I have the pleasure of dealing with nightly firework displays, and warm weather. These also aren't those stupid firecrackers I complained about earlier, these are the real deal.

Damn Mosquitoes

If it's not one thing, it's something else. It seems like the roach population has dramatically reduced in the last few weeks, but now the mosquitoes are out like crazy. I'm no longer content with just slapping them, I now literally punch them out of the sky. Feels good, except for the blood they leave behind.

Splash

It's officially the dry season now, so there should be no more concerns about heavy down pours. We had gone on for days without any rain, so figured it would be ok to leave my bedroom window open. Well, it wasn't ok. At 6 a.m., I woke up to the feeling of water splashing in my face. I look down to the floor, and there's water everywhere!

...

I get a towel and washed up the floor, way too early to be dealing with this. Minutes later I crawl back in bed and go to sleep.

Christmas Lights

One of my favourite things in the Christmas season is all of the lights. I do love Christmas lights, especially the way they reflect off of the snow and ice. Down here, not too many people put up Christmas lights. Most folks simply can't afford them, and put up small plastic decorations. Don't get me wrong, Christmas is very important here, as much of the population is Catholic. However I do find it hard to get in the spirit of the season. After all, it looks no different from my arrival in July. No snow, no cold, no lights, no Christmas food stuff.

As that may be the case, we actually have bought some Christmas lights and have hung them around the boat. They're not perfect, but they do look nice. Nothing like a little colour.

Propane

There are lots of things here that are very different from back home. Some things are logical in their differences. I can understand something like apples being hard to find, but one thing very strange, is how propane is sold here.

Now back home, I remember when we had a propane BBQ, when the tank was empty, you just brought it to the store and had it refilled no problem. Over here, it's not so simple...

Oh my God!

Guards

One thing that place has a lot of, is guards. They come in all shapes and sizes, however I would have to say that the other guards at Tienda Reed take the cake. TR actually has a whole bunch of different ones, but these guys are by far the best and most intimidating.

 See them?

Tis the Season

Like in the north, people down here are fully in the Christmas spirit. However, down here there is a hidden ugliness which goes with the season that I learned of today.

For all of December, Hugo, the guardian of this marina sleeps in an exposed hut every night. The reason for this is that thieves are very active this time of year, looking for gifts to steal. Last night at around eleven thirty, I heard three quick bangs. This was Hugo, firing his shotgun into the air to scare away people who were coming too close to shore. Wow, what next? Pirates? Oh, wait, I already saw those...

Please leave your questions for Ingram Asked in the comments.

Ain`t What it Used to Be

I've come to terms with some of the things here, but there is one thing which I cannot abide by. It might be ok for the old folks, and the locals generally don't even notice, but I have.

Over time, the internet has been getting worse and worse. Where it was once bountiful, we're now finding bits and pieces. We used to have stable connections, now it flickers on and off. I believe that over the past few months, the telecoms have been changing how much bandwidth people get, and just being dicks in particular.

What can a guy do?

Venus

The next lesson in Art Academy was a sketch of the classical Venus de Milo statue. Here it is for your enjoyment.

Please post your questions about this trip soon. After December 21, the world will end, so you'll never have an answer!

Fireflies

We were in town getting some food, as we didn't want to cook anything. We went to some pizza place we never heard of before, but it had a good name, so why not? It's name, Pizzeria. That's it, so we headed on in.  I swear that the building was about the size of a bathroom. All it is was an oven (same as any kitchen oven you have), a fridge, and some chairs. Despite that, it was probably the best pizza I've had since coming here. Good crust, not overly greasy, but still lacking sauce.

After our order was finished, we returned to our boat, and headed for the yacht. At this time, the sun had already set and we had to make the short trip in darkness. The pizzeria is located on a minor stream located off the main river, and it's covered with thick foliage. As you can imagine, without even the stars and the moon, it became even darker. There is one part of the stream where lily pads block half of the navigable river, and the trees thin out. In this area, I saw some bright white lights, and I figured they must be boats on the other side.

Oh no, they aren't boats at all. What they were was a whole bunch of fireflies living in the lily pads. I've seen fireflies before, but never with this colour. These guys were a bright white light almost like an LED. I had no idea that they could glow like that.

Remember to post your questions for Ingram Asked.

Morales

Today we traveled to the city of Morales, a city about half an hour away, and said to be the roughly the size of Fort McMurray. I was told that there are lots of stores and things to buy which can't be bought here, so I was reservedly looking forward to going.

The trip to Morales is actually fairly nice. Lot's of rolling hills, but only one or two villages and no speed bumps, so getting there is fairly easy. Once in the city however, everything becomes a mess. They really need to hire a city planner, as roads go wherever, become narrow in an instant, and street signs are missing. I guess that's the third world after all, but still.

Anyways, to keep this brief, I'll just say that Morales is very disappointing. Yeah, it's big, however it's all the same stores constantly repeating. If you want to see creatively bankrupt people, go to Morales. Everything we got there, can be bought here for the same price, no difference at all.

I AM in Sweethaven!

I know this place is a little odd, but I've also found something even odder. Popeye actually does live here. He's very old, very strong, and has a deep raspy voice. I also don't see him very often, he only seems to appear when something very heavy needs to be moved. Popeye is actually very friendly too, as I was out on the deck he called me and waved. How nice.

Want to see a picture of him?

Ok!

A Better One!

Today we had tacos for supper, but we changed one thing about them. We made the taco up, then painted the tortilla with butter and threw it onto the frying pan. We wanted to use the BBQ, but the propane ran out, so stove it is.

Anyway, after a few minutes of cooking them, they were ready to eat. Let it be known that this is the superior taco. The tortilla had a nice crunch, but it wasn't overdone.

Perfection.

Remember to submit your questions for Ingram Asked.

Good Fireworks

Remember that time when I was complaining about fireworks and noise?

No?

You mean all I DO is complain, so it all blends together?

Ok, fair enough, I do complain a fair bit. Perhaps even too much. However tonight I am not going to complain about anything!