My Blog

My Blog
Next Country: Unknown -Spring 2012
Most Violent Region in the World? January 20th 2012
Real planning for future countries that I might visit in the next few months have already begun. My last two trips included a visit to Eastern Europe followed six months later by an important trip to Oceania in order to conquer another one of the Seven Summits. It's been over a year since I visited one of the most dangerous countries, my last one being Yemen in January 2011. I've been getting a lot of emails with both people agreeing and questioning my choice of Haiti as the most dangerous country in the western hemisphere. I've done a lot of research on this and while there is no doubt that Haiti has some serious competition in Central America as far as danger goes, I still haven't been able to find an obvious pick. Some data or stories I come across make one country stand out as more dangerous than another, while on another site or government report I'll find other information that makes the same country seem not so bad after all. Conclusion being, maybe the best way to find out is to simply visit one of these places for myself and see what all the hype is about. I did read a US government report that said Central America is one of the most violent regions in the world, the Peace Corps also pulled out their workers in Honduras after being there for decades. Doing some more research, I found that statistically Central America has the highest murder rate in the world after Southern Africa. This doesn't mean much to me because though South Africa has high murder rates, it's easy to safely visit while a country like Afghanistan has some serious and unavoidable risks in nearly all parts of the country. Anyway, long story short I'm considering doing a trip to somewhere in Central America to personally inspect the situation there and come up with my own conclusions. Since there is a lot of turbulence in the area I haven't made any decisions on where, when, or how long I'll go but this very well could be my next trip. Until then I am trying to raise money for my next expedition to Antarctica, with my current most dangerous threat being such creatures as the cookie on the right that I ate. Too sugary, but somehow I couldn't stop eating it, fortunately I don't have an expedition anytime soon and I can let this mistake slip by.
Future Operations December 17th 2011
After finishing my 5th of the 7 Summits, I sadly feel like there might be some long break before I do an adventurous trip again. Of course for me a long break is a year, and even if that turns out to be true which I hope it isn't, I would still continue to travel to other countries in such places as the Americas or Europe. With Massif Vinson as my next 7 Summit, I need to get extremely creative with ways to raise money if I'm ever going to set foot on this mountain. This along with planning the most dangerous countries still remains my travel priorities. Other changes that are coming along with my website are splitting certain pages in half such as making a Indonesia page 2 and an Afghanistan page 2. This allows me to add more photos, help loading time and no longer feel restricted with the amount of content I have. I'll continue to update my site with changes like this along with more details on personal experiences while traveling instead of focusing on describing the photos I took. Until then, I expect to stay in Virginia and relax after the torturous trek to Carstensz and will eye a short trip to central America or maybe the Caribbean.
Mission Accomplished November 8th 2011
Wow! I cannot believe I have climbed another one of the 7 summits. Carstensz Pyramid was a serious dream for me, and to have actually been on the trip and stand on the summit still seems surreal to me. The trip was pretty damn rough to be honest. Physically Denali was way harder and colder of course, and Aconcagua obviously devastates Carstensz when it comes to altitude. For those who take the helicopter and make Carstensz a day hike there is little challenge to this peak, but for the rest of us who trek to the mountain the hard cold rain and muddy rainforests and meadows provide some serious misery. Extremely steep and difficult terrain and no rest days means your body is always working hard and has little chance to recover. Anyway, of course I stuck it through and I reached the top of Oceania on November 2nd, almost a week ago! Now I'm still in Indonesia and plan to explore some of this country and head to East Timor and maybe even poke my head back into Singapore. When I get back home I'm going to have to take a serious look at future travel plans and find out how in the world I can get to Mt. Everest or Vinson Massif in Antarctica. Until I do that, I have absolutely no idea what my future travel plans are!
Return to 7 Summits July 24th 2011
My last accomplishment regarding the 7 summits was way back in 2009 when I reached the top of Denali on June 7th, what I believe to be the second hardest of the entire challenge. It looks like everything is in place for me to push forward on my goal and attempt the 5th summit Carstensz Pyramid this coming October. There are plenty of reasons for me not to go, my job is looking less stable than ever, I'm in the process of buying a house which I don't have enough cash for a required down payment, the severe beating I've received the past month from the stock market, and a bunch of other issues that any reasonable person might say it's best to wait for a better time. Fortunately though, I learned long ago that there are always these issues and waiting for a better time usually means not going. For things to get done you have to realize you'll likely always have major obstacles in the way and to accomplish your goals sometimes you have to 'just do it'.
May 8th 2011
To me I feel like it's been years since my last trip, but in reality I was in Yemen only 90 days ago. Now it's time for my next adventure, and I'm doing an unprecedented trip to Europe of all places! I've been to Europe many times for different reasons, but never for a real backpacking trip, so this is going to be a first. In a way I'm kind of relieved that there is nothing to be scared of in Europe and I don't have to worry about this trip being my last, since my previous trips have been to Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan etc. With my luck though, I'll probably somehow die in Europe but some freak accident so I better keep my guard up. Anyway, I wanted to go to Kosovo for some reason, but because of the recent gas prices every flight I looked up in Europe was over $1,000! Hungary was lower by $400 and easily beat out all competition, so they won the contract for my next vacation; at least the flight. I plan to land in Hungary and explore that country before heading south to former Yugoslavia countries. I think I'll definitely hit Croatia, I'm considering fixing up Slovenia on my site since I can't bear to look at it anymore, and if I have time I'd love to make a visit to Bosnia & Herzegovina. This keeps a potential trip to Carstensz Pyramid on track for October, I can do a cheap trip to Europe and then save money and vacation time for another 6 months and be ready in the fall.
April 13th 2011
I've been talking about Carstensz pyramid for a long time now, and I still haven't changed my mind about making that happen. The next expedition date that I can join is set for October, I'm more optimistic that I pull this off since it gives me time to save my and I hope my job will get me the time off then. In the mean time, I must pick another destination to keep me sane, and I've been thinking about a trip to eastern Europe, say some random countries like Kosovo, Bosnia or Montenegro? Honestly it's not looking good time wise with my job, but I've canceled a lot of trips for work purposes so I'm going to try to push this. I should know in a few weeks if and where I'll be going.
Watermarks March 14th 2011
In the past year or so I've seen several of my photos appear on other websites without my permission. Of course it's annoying, especially when the photos are hot linked which means another website displays them but I get charged with the data transfer, but despite that I never took any actions and just let people steal a few photos here and there. The other day I discovered a website that had completely duplicated one of my pages along with the text and without any reference to my site! Another time I was searching for something in Google images and by chance I found some of my photos on some commercial websites well. Sadly I think I have to follow the advice many people have been giving me for a long time and watermark my photos. I hope this doesn't ruin the content of my site, but it's about the only thing I can do to keep photos on my site. I've also been converting my site to another format, so all you Mac users will finally be able to view my website without any major bugs.
Lost! February 11th 2011
With some major changes coming ahead in my life I'm finding it difficult to choose my next destination. These changes could be anything from a layoff to having to move with my job and/or some other major decisions at home in Virginia. I think overall it's going to be a good thing, but I wish it'd happen sooner than later so I can start focusing and planning again. I'm pretty busy right now with work until June, after that I have no idea which direction my life is going to go. I'd like nothing more but to attempt to climb Carstensz Pyramid this coming summer, but in all honesty I feel like it's not going to happen. The expedition that leaves exactly in 2 weeks from today, February 27th, I couldn't join due to my work schedule. The price was reasonable, but it looks like the next expedition that is rumored to be in going in July is going to cost an additional $2,000. Since I barely came to terms with accepting the old price which would have been the most expensive trip of my life, I think the new price is out of the question. I'll either have to wait for it to drop or hopefully get some type of sponsorship in the future. Aside from the price, another issue with Carstensz is time. While the mountain itself only takes a week to climb, the 200km jungle trek takes two weeks round trip, and if you add some days for airfare, domestic flights etc that's another week, coming to a total of a month. I can probably get a month off work no problem but I'd like to do much more than Carstensz. Ideally I'd have two months off, well ideally I'd have two years off, but with two months I could visit other islands of Indonesia, parts of Papua New Guinea and even pop up in the new country of East Timor. Two months won't be possible, so with no mountain to climb that leaves conquering new countries, and I'm in the unusual situation where I'm drawing a complete blank. I think the main reason for this is not knowing what I'll be doing in a year from now, but regardless I think I can go somewhere in July. I did have an idea about putting a voting system on my website, and then I'd no longer have to worry about these things and simply let people vote the next country for me and I'd go to wherever people sent me. The only two drawbacks I can think of for this are seasons and the fact that most people will probably pick their own country. As far as seasons go, I don't want to be sent to a tropical country in the rainy season or to Europe in the winter when things aren't so pretty outside and there is much less to do. I could avoid this by only putting a limited number of countries to pick from, like 30 or so instead of the remaining 175 I have left. Check back for this, I've been thinking about it for a while and just might do it.
Back to the Badlands December 7th 2010
I hate to admit it, but I think I'm finally coming to terms that Carstensz Pyramid won't be my next trip this coming winter. Not saying I'm not going at all of course, just not as soon as I'd like to. This still isn't officially over, but since my planned work schedule for the next 5 months has gotten busier instead of slowing down, getting the 4 or 5 weeks off of work that I'd want is all but impossible. Getting two weeks off will be difficult, but since any other trip I take won't focus on specific dates hopefully I can plan it with a small break in my schedule. I was getting excited about possibilities in Colombia since it's close and cheap, but as I thought more and more about it I felt like I was losing focus with visiting the top 10 most dangerous countries. After considered which of the remaining 6 on my most dangerous list I could possibly knock out, I came to the conclusion that with visas and flights, Africa is too expensive for me to consider for such a short trip and with both Pakistan and Iraq I'd want at least 3 weeks each to reach most places of interest there. This leaves behind Yemen as a good country to knock off my list (I no longer believe Palestine to be a most dangerous destination), and I've given a quick trip to Yemen some serious consideration. This would probably take place in early February or even late January which isn't too far away, so I'd need to start the planning process pretty soon. Flights to Yemen aren't that bad, probably several hundred cheaper to Africa, but I still have to hire armed escorts in Yemen and would need a domestic flight to Socotra which is high on my list, so all this will add up to an expensive trip that I might be able to pull off if i get a Christmas bonus this month. Aside from the cash, the time is another issue, since two weeks isn't that much to begin and I'll lose a day or two here and there from jet lag and domestic travel so I need to also figure if this is even worth it. With all that said it's a lot to consider, but the possibility of being in Yemen in a matter of weeks from now is pretty exciting, but does have some serious drawbacks. All in all, I'll put it at 50/50 right now between Colombia and Yemen for my next trip.
Following my Dreams - Literally November 20th 2010
As the idea of Carstensz pyramid grows on me, I find and more and more difficult to accept that I probably won't be able to go this March due to a schedule conflict at work. I remember after climbing Elbrus I had given up on trying any of the other 7 summits since I figured the cost and vacation time was too much to handle and not realistic. I slowly got back into the 7 summits, around 6 months later I began to have dreams of Aconcagua. Some of these dreams were about me simply being on the mountain, other dreams were random things like me walking from Virginia to Argentina for the purpose of finding the mountain, and others were me being Aconcagua but clinging on a vertical face of the mountain. After Aconcagua, I wondered if I'd dream of Denali next, and eventually I did. It took 18 months since Denali, but last month I had my first dream of Carstensz Pyramid which just encourages me to make this my next trip. Now those annoying problems with cost and vacation time are what are holding me back, but I know I'll just dream more and more of Carstensz and the only way to stop is to stand on top of the summit. Hopefully a worst case scenario for this trip is to be able to do it later in the year if another opportunity arises. The Carstensz pyramid expedition leaves on February 27th, so I'd need at least 8 weeks notice if I can go or not, so if by January 1st there is still uncertainty then I'll have to call the trip off and maybe make a short trip somewhere locally like Colombia or El Salvador to keep my sane.
Return to the 7 Summits October 30th 2010
Alright, I'm back to the drawing board as far as my next trip goes. As I quickly approach the age of 30, I feel the pressure of time and realize I need to push more for climbing the 7 summits. I've gotten a lot of things accomplished by having a plan and moving forward and not letting all those annoying challenges that pop up along the way stop me. Despite having a good chance of losing my job in 2009, being in the middle of a recession, not even having a bed and many other reasons why I should have canceled this climb, I still went ahead and conquered North America last June. In order for me to be successful, the remaining 7 summits are all going to be similar, I'm going to have a lot of reasons why I shouldn't climb and 'wait', but it's in my opinion that things get more complicated in life not easier so the sooner the better. Now that Denali was over a year ago, I worry about the consequences of several more years passing by and losing focus with the seven summits. So with that said, I'd like to make Carstensz pyramid, the summit of Oceania, my next destination of Spring 2011. Unfortunately there are a lot of things beyond my control in order to pull off this trip, but if it doesn't work out it won't be because of a failure on my part. If I can't go to Carstensz I suppose I'll have to reluctantly head back to a dangerous country, either middle east or more than likely west Africa this time. I say reluctantly since honestly I don't feel like traveling to a place like that, at least at the moment. Since it must be done though, I suppose I have no choice and I'll continue moving forward and hopefully scratch another difficult place to travel off my list. Otherwise, if I do pull of Carstensz pyramid, I'll only have Mt Everest and Vinson Massif remaining, and I hope being so close to completing the 7 summits will make sponsorship become easier, especially since the earliest I could do the next mountain would be in 2012, and hopefully the economy will be stronger by then as well. The next step for Carstensz is to find out how many climbers are willing to go and when. I should get more information in late November, hopefully if I find the total price and dates, then I can start trying to get the time off from my job.
Vacation to North Korea June 16th 2010
I have my next intended vacation to North Korea at the end of August, only two more months away! The longest I'm allowed to visit North Korea is 8 days, so 8 days it will be. I'll also spend some time in China, but not nearly as long I'd like to, especially for such a large and diverse country. I should at least be able to knock out Beijing and if I'm lucky then some surrounding areas. If I go to North Korea, then next on my travel list would be another one of the 7 summits; Carstensz Pyramid. I could do this in November as I have the money, the motivation, and the gear and the only thing I lack is the vacation time from my job! The stock market has been bad to me the past two months, but overall since I began my initial investing in Jan 2009 I have been mostly on the green side. Not too bad coming from someone who has no idea about investing. So my risky plan of investing in the market to get me up another one of the 7 summits has worked out so far. If I can get Carstensz done then I'll only have Vinson and Everest left!So, realistically it's not likely I'll be attempting Carstensz this November due to a lack of vacation time. Since I really want to do this, I will attempt to take unpaid vacation or maybe even a sabbatical since I worry about not having this opportunity in the future. If I'm able to take unpaid vacation, then I'll certainly take a lot of time off to make it worth it. I'd use all that time to backpack parts of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and maybe even East Timor. I'll contact HR at my job soon to begin negotiations!
Vacation to Somalia February 27th 2010
With Iraq canceled several months ago I have switched my next destination to western Somalia. I arrived to Addis Ababa last night but with jet lag I found myself fully awake at 4am in my guest house. Today once the sun arrives, I plan to explore this capital and try to immediately arrange a way to enter Somalia. Flying is the best option, but I wasn't able to book any flights online and a road trip will take several days. Hopefully it will all work out, but right now my greatest fear is coming all this way and either not being able to make it to Somalia or having most of this trip being taken up by planning and waiting instead of exploring.
Vacation to Iraq December 20th 2009
I've officially chosen Iraq to be my next destination and if all goes well I'll arrive there March 6th. My dates aren't very flexible, and since March 7th are the presidential elections I'm expecting car bombs, drive by shootings and all the other chaos that Iraq sees. I'm not sure if this trip is a good idea, and I have to say I don't feel nearly as confident about this trip as I have with trips to Afghanistan and Sudan. But my impatience and need for adventure is making me go ahead and do this anyway, so I hope I'm not getting too complacent with dangerous trips. Since Haiti was the last time I left the US, it's going to be an incredible 14 months since my last international vacation! Horrible! Especially when I was going somewhere every 4 months in the past. But if you count my expedition to Denali in Alaska then its still been 10 months. Places on the list in Iraq are Baghdad, Kurdistan, Erbil, Babylon, and the marsh villages in the south. I'd have about 3 weeks there, so plenty of time to see the country if all goes well.
Post Denali November 29th 2009
I guess 6 months is a little excessive to call this entry post Denali, but nevertheless it's still my most recent trip and still fresh in my memory. To date, I consider Denali by far my most challenging and greatest accomplishment. A major step forward in my quest for the 7 summits, only one mountain, Mt. Everest, remains more difficult. The remaining other two mountains, Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia and Vinson Massif in Antarctica are challenging but easier. These two will still be hard work, but for me it's now a matter of finding sponsorship or creative ways to make money. Realistically, I don't expect to be able to raise tens of thousands of dollars in the next few months or even year or two, especially while we are still in a recession. So that means that I'll be focused more on my other challenge of knocking out the most dangerous countries in the world. I have made some significant progress in the past two years by visiting Sudan, Haiti and Afghanistan. I intend to visit Iraq this coming March, but in all honesty I would prefer to visit somewhere else just because I feel like I have put too much emphasis in the middle east. A better alternative which recently started to seem possible is a trip to western Somalia. Even though Somalia is just right outside the middle east I'd feel better going since it is Africa and I haven't been there in almost two years. I have found some interesting things to do in Somaliland and I found some people to help me, so it seems that this trip is mostly a matter of making a decision to take the risk.
Denali Prep March 4th 2009
So here I am in Washington state about to go on my Denali prep course this weekend. I can't believe the day has finally come and I'm officially training for Denali next week. Fortunately this course does its best to simulate how life is on Denali including the physical challenges, so it will give me an idea of what is to come in May. The course should be both fun and miserable at the same time. I will be spending a week on the mountain living in cold conditions and doing lots of hard work like setting up camps, learning to cook in the cold weather, and traveling through the glaciers. So despite just being a course, this will be much harder than and even a longer trip than climbing Kilimanjaro! I can't wait to finish the course and hopefully it will leave me very confident about attempting Denali. The weeks before this course I have been training by hiking with a big pack and recently started dragging a tire as seen below. This should help me get used to the sled dragging, but I have been doing it on relatively flat terrain and with lighter weight, so I expect the prep to be much much harder. I can't wait to start the course just to see what it is really like and what I'm going to be up against.

Mountain Man January 18th 2009
Now that I've gotten Haiti, another dangerous country checked off the list, my next adventure is the Denali climb in May. I returned back from my short trip in Haiti to find the economy slightly worse which was pretty much expected. It does affect me and I find it harder to motivate myself and go to the gym etc. That might sound silly but I have more responsibilities and payments to make as a result and it all takes a toll. I did run 7 miles yesterday at a fast pace which was harder than it should have been. I slacked off during the holidays and obviously in Haiti since I was traveling, but I think in a few weeks I can make it all back up. My next trip is going to Washington state in March for a one week climbing prep course. It's expensive so I honestly don't want to pay for it but I'll do whatever it takes to increase my chances on Denali. I am almost determined to do the presidential traverse this winter in New Hampshire, it is basically a 20 mile trek across the white mountains in some of the harshest weather in the country. The next few months I need to become a mountain man and climb and train as much as possible. I did also put my life savings into the stock market after they declined for a week straight. I read some good economic news and was hoping they would rebound but instead some idiot got on TV with some bad news which sent them crashing. This is more of a long term investment anyway, so if the stocks/economy ever recover hopefully I can make some $ to pay for some expensive adventures.
Haiti - Jacmel Day Trip January 4th 2009
One of my last days in Haiti I set out to find the famous Bassin Bleu waterfall that I had read a lot about online. Actually this day trip from the capital was more about going to the city of Jacmel but after I found out that Bassins Blue was nearby I figured I'd add it to the list. My driver yesterday did not initially agree with the price I set on Jacmel. Originally he set a 'good price' of $250, I guess he thinks that's what I get paid per hour back in the US! I cut it to a fraction of that price but I could tell he wasn't happy with it. He did have to rent the vehicle and pay for gas which was very expensive, but aside from that he was still making a lot more than he would have if he just stays in Port Au Prince and shoots guns all night. In the morning he never showed up, I kind of figured he wouldn't come though so wasn't shocked. I did find another guy in the morning who seemed somewhat sane and agreed on the same price. He took me to the bank first since I needed to get money and said he had to go home which was walking distance and gave me the key to the van which was a good sign of trust. After we were done we headed off on the 2 hour road trip to Jacmel, located on the beach south of Port Au Prince. The two hour trip was mostly uneventful except for a police roadblock who gave the driver a ticket for having missing side-view mirrors. Once in Jacmel things were going well, I visited some places of interest and had a late lunch at a nice restaurant on the beach. Afterwards I decided to walk along the beach for a while and I passed by a group of kids about 12 years old and playing soccer. Most of them had clothes but one had nothing on but tighty whities and another was completely naked kicking the ball. I think at this point I decided if I ever am bored at home I'll remember what I saw today. There are always a million things to do at home, sometimes people are just too lazy even to have fun. If this kid can't even afford clothes and plays soccer buck naked on the beach then I don't have much excuse to be bored at home! So after doing a few more things in Jacmel we decided to head out to the waterfall, and we both had no clue how to get there. I should add that my driver began to act weird ever since the police gave him the ticket. He seemed to go on about it for a long time as if I would feel sorry for him and then maybe agree to pay for it. Our first stop to see where the waterfall was, was at a gas station right outside Jacmel. I went inside to get water and when I returned the driver was talking to a bunch of people who apparently said they would take us to the waterfall. I hoped he didn't volunteer me to pay anyone so I asked if it was for free and he said yes. The next thing I know we followed a guy on a motorcycle who brought some girl back and began talking to my driver. After waiting I asked the driver what they were talking about. He told me he told the girl she was ugly and not sexy and she had responded with hysterical laughter and got into the back of the car. Apparently this guy was using his hard earned money to pick up a prostitute. I had assumed we were going to the waterfall now but instead we went into some shabby neighborhood and stopped near a house that literally had at least 20 gangster guys sitting on the corner. Another girl came out from a house and a few minutes later a guy on a motorcycle with sun glasses pulled up with another one on the back. I made it clear I wasn't doing anything with them or paying anything and the driver seemed to think it was my responsibility. Well you can at least buy them a beer right? I told him he could do whatever he wanted but I wasn't going to pay anything or get involved. We drove off with the three prostitutes in the van while the gangster guys stared at us as we passed by. The first guy on the motorcycle began to lead us to Bassins Bleu, and I questioned if he even knew where it was. We passed through a shallow river that the driver was scared to cross. There were lots of people taking baths here and collecting water for drinking. He had a small boy walk through the river in front of us to guide us threw and paid him some money. Once on the other side we began to drive up hill on a steep mountain which our van barely seemed able to handle. This whole time the prostitutes who didn't speak a word of English were ruffling my hair and asking me things that I didn't understand. I didn't pay them much attention, because I didn't want them to think this was my idea but I worried the driver had already told them it was. Eventually the hill got too steep to where the van couldn't take it and the driver refused to continue. He told me to ride with the guy on the motorcycle and he would wait here. I got the driver to translate and the motorcycle guy said it was a 15 minute ride on the bike followed by a 30 minute ride in a boat. Online I had read that there were people offering mule rides up the mountain like the citadel, and this road seemed to be going no where. I also hadn't heard anything about a 30 minute boat ride, and I questioned what body of water this high up on the mountain could last 30 minutes anyway. My driver kept saying George go with him! He had told me earlier one of his Haitian friends ruined his life by cocaine, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did the drug also. Ever since I had paid him he had started going crazy with buying small things along the markets and now the prostitutes. At this point I was pretty confident I wasn't going to make it to the waterfall, and after a failed attempt I could only imagine what the situation might be with my driver and the girls after I returned. I don't think this is a good idea I told him, and surprisingly he didn't argue but agreed and we returned back. He gave the girls some money for coming along and then we headed back to the capital. The road back through the mountains was done in the dark, we did pass by a flipped truck and saw some a huge mob of people surrounding another car crash. I guess today was a partial success and partial disappointment, but that's the way traveling is in these parts of the world.
Haiti - Hike to the Citadel Jan 2nd 2009
My day started at 8am with my driver Mael arriving on time. We spent about an hour going east from Cap Haitian to a small town, briefly passing the Sans Souci palace on the way. The road was actually pretty nice, and made of cobblestone surprisingly. It took us a while to climb the steep hill and without a 4x4 I don't think we would have made it. There was a place to park, and from here on I was on my own. I had a 7km hike to the castle, and I was immediately bombarded by people trying to sell souvenirs, offer me a ride on a horse, or simply be my guide. I felt terrible because how many tourists can possibly come here, but I preferred to walk, didn't want a guide and I rarely take any souvenirs. Two Haitian guys walked with me the whole way trying to be my guide anyway, and they did point out a snake along the way so people dropped behind. The two guys with me stayed and one couldn't talk and was out of breathe and the other finally asked me to slow down. I guess I'm still in decent shape considering I haven't worked out in a while so catching up for Denali shouldn't be so bad, small confidence booster! Anyway, the hike was pretty good since I did it at a fast pace, but it still did take some time to reach the castle. Once there, a man who was sleeping outside said something I didn't understand about the guy with the key to the castle being in the village. I kept asking what he meant and he eventually took a key out himself and opened the door, guess he had just wanted a donation. Once inside I found the castle completely dark. I almost fell a few times and even the light from my cell phone did little to show the path. There were some PVC pipes lined up along the walls inside, maybe they were eventually planning to use those as a conduit for cables to get electricity inside. I spent several hours here, I could write about all the rooms I went into but that would take forever since this place was so big. One of the most interesting places was on the roof were you could get some amazing views of surrounding landscape, and even views of other parts of the castle like the courtyard. The roof had no guardrails, just a drop straight down which would guarantee anyone's death. In a way this is what I liked about exploring these countries. I was free to do whatever I wanted in the castle, no guides, rules or rails, no rooms off limits. Of course I would respect the castle and not do anything that would damage it but I literally had this whole place to myself. The guy who wanted to be my guide was still following me around sharing what he knew about the castle. I realized this would lead to him asking for a tip later on which was fair I suppose since he did have some good info. He showed me the prison, and a small drawbridge that they had, things that I would have otherwise overlooked. When it was time to leave and we began down the trail he pulled me aside and demanded $60. I was pretty offended that he would ask for so much but still I gave him a little bit of money while I explained I had never wanted a guide. He was really pissed, or was at least pretending to be thinking I'd give him more. This was my 43rd country not my first, I never have a problem giving generous tips to people in places like this, but I'm not stupid and won't be taken advantage of. He walked with me down the path complaining the entire time and saying how he had 8 siblings and 6 of his own kids. The more he complained the more I got annoyed. Once back in the village an old man with a flute walked beside me paying some crazy song and soon after the mob of people attacked me once again. I jumped into the truck and ordered the driver Mael to pull out. I did give the old man with the flute some change but the rest of the people were all pissed off and disappointed. Earlier in my travels I'd feel really bad but I had gotten used to this. To them, I was simply a naive cash cow and they were all doing everything they could to squeeze a dollar out of me, so we were all doing what was necessary to survive. We drove back down the mountain and the driver dropped me off at Sans Souci Palace. This was one of the president's palace, the same person who had ordered the citadel built. Both of these places were designed and built by freed slaves, and it was impressive they could come up with something like this. The palace had been destroyed in an earthquake, that had also destroyed Cap Haitian also. There were no rooms deep inside the palace unlike the citadel, so I didn't spend nearly as much time here. I also had this place to myself to explore except for two men in suits who passed by. They looked serious but after I said bon jour to them they smiled and said it back. There was a main palace structure, and some other surrounding buildings, all that have been destroyed. Most of the vegetation was taking back the palace, and I didn't trust the mossy stairs going up to the second floor so I left that unexplored. I did spend a little bit of time at the church next to the palace which I thought was just as interesting before heading back to Cap Haitian. I spent the rest of the day back in the mountains until it started to get dark. Then I ventured out alone again into Cap Haitian to find internet. The cafe I went to was still closed but a guy about 30 who was dressed up walked with me for about 20 minutes until we found another one. By the time I was done it was dark, but the guy I met picked me up in a taxi cab because I had taken his number. He was super nice and I was surprised he helped me no questions asked and didn't want anything in return. So today I had accomplished my goals, seen the citadel and palace, as well as a short hike out into the city, where we both had a beer after I returned.
Pre Haiti Trip December 15th 2008
Two weeks from today I will arrive to Haiti's capital of Port Au Prince. There is no doubt in my mind that Haiti is the most dangerous country in the western hemisphere, but the scariest part is that as of now I have no reliable contacts or any type of plan or person to help me out there. Normally to places like this I'd never just buy the ticket and plan everything out later but sometimes it's good to be spontaneous. I read some more scary news about Haiti the past few days. Apparently when you arrive to the airport some gangs are already looking you over for a kidnapping or some other crime, not good for me since I'm traveling alone and as of now have no one to meet me there. The state department says there is a kidnapping of an American every two weeks in Haiti with some resulting in murder. And of course, like all the dangerous countries I go to something has to happen right before I get there or will be there. For Sudan there was the teddy bear, for Afghanistan there were news reports of it being the most dangerous since the US invasion, and for Haiti it isn't so bad but definitely on the negative side. I've read reports about increased murders and random acts of violence during the Haitian New Year and following days which seem to make it one of the most dangerous times of the year to visit. Still, overall I think I'll make it out of Haiti fine but as I get closer the danger of this trip is starting to become a more reality. My biggest concern is kidnapping, not much I can do about that since I'll be walking around the shape and do well. Right now the biggest threat to my Denali climb seems to be getting injured in Haiti but hopefully that's not likely. In the next two weeks I will get more ambitious about finding help in Haiti and already have several ideas.
Post Thanksgiving November 29th 2008
Ever since I returned from Afghanistan I haven't been nearly as consistent at eating healthy or going to the gym. Fortunately I have still been working out and my run times and things like that have actually gotten better, but I know for sure my body fat has increased. After thanksgiving I feel even nastier, and so I hope for the month of December I'll go back to my hard core training schedule I was doing from May to Sept. With my Haitian trip exactly a month from today, I plan to focus on eating better and doing more cardio work outs. If and when I get back from Haiti safely, I can then focus on more specific mountain training programs like carrying a big backpack which I can do for Jan and Feb and then take the Denali prep class in March and then the actual climb in May. I find myself stressed about Denali, the climb itself seems overwhelmingly hard and its such a big investment with money time and training I definitely don't want to fail. It will be interesting to see how hard it really is, but six months seems so far away.
Surviving November 23rd 2008
Nothing has really gotten better, but for whatever reason I feel more optimistic about the future. I also decided to continue traveling regardless of the economy and what ever other warnings signs I should be paying attention. I realize it could be a mistake that I might regret later, but I think I'm more likely to regret putting my dreams on hold and not knowing when I'll pick them up again. How I travel might change, maybe I'll stick to my hemisphere for a while which is actually fine since I haven't done much in Central America or the Caribbean except for one country in each region. I expect 2009 to be a nasty year but I'm prepared for it, stocks went up 500 points Friday which is a good sign. I do expect them to drop more overall, but hopefully they won't go down 400 points a day anymore and things will get better or at least start to stabilize. I am learning how to use my macro lens, and took the photo below about a week after the first one, definitely enjoying it!

A New World November 10th 2008
Something I did go ahead and buy even though I shouldn't have is a new macro lens. I did at least get the cheapest one I could learn I'm excited about all the new photos I can take of small objects such as this insect. And happy birthday to all the Marines...

The Mini Depression November 1st 2008
Since the whole world seems to be heading towards what I hope is nothing more than a mini depression, I have found myself worrying a lot about what might happen in the future. I have always been a big saver of any money I make, with traveling being the only exception. Right now one of my parents is completely out of work so money for travel has been diverted to help out and I've seen a significant chunk of my savings disappear. Since Denali is already paid for there is no backing out of climbing that mountain in May 09, but honestly a part of me already wishes I could cancel it just because of my current situation. First off I know there are plenty of people who are losing their jobs, homes, and having their families break, so I'm still extremely fortunate and grateful that I can even be considering future trips. However, if things stay the way they are now, then I definitely will have to stop traveling for a while, and even the thought of that really depresses me! More importantly if I lose my job I will definitely lose my house and have no idea where I'll be living or working. I have always been very good with saving money, so good that I haven't even had a bed in several months! For right now I'm fine, but its the real possibilities in the near future that worry me. Mostly the worry is about the rest of my family, otherwise I'd probably be happy about being completely free and know one way or another I'll survive and be fine. My current plan is to buy some important things I need, and afterwards try to save up more in case things continue to go downhill. And so I just realized that I began my blog on a depressing note, but at least it shows that traveling itself is a challenge and not always easy. But the good news is if I lose the house and job, then I could work overseas, maybe a place in Europe or the Middle East. That's of course easier said than done, but its just one of many ideas I have that can put a roof over my head and keep me exploring.