Taco meeting #4

On June 17, the adventurers have met at earlier announced Bye-bye party at Fredovito’s mansion four days before the very last Taco meeting. They introduced their new shirt with Expedition Maya logo and talked to many friends they won’t see for a few next months.

On Monday, June 21, final Taco meeting was held at the same place as the party. The adventurers were again cooking one of their mysterious non-repeatable but always delicious dish. This time it was a mix of sausages, Indian spices and yoghurt. Even Fredovito’s parents got a chance to taste a bit!

The movie and fun part was, however, shortened as the explorers had a plenty of points to discuss. Among the most important were:

1. Team spirit on the expedition
2. Planning vs. improvisation regarding the route
3. Expectations on the level of comfort
4. How to behave in dangerous situations
5. How to prevent health complications

Next time they will see each other will be the day of departure – Monday, July 5.

May the Maya be with you! :)

El Fredovito driving a car, Miguel Hudeiro navigating and Don Madonarra trying to jump to a starting car after forgetting himself.

Preparations well in progress

18 days left till departure. That’s closer than it may seem!
Preparation stage of Expedition Maya trip is in its peak days. Let’s have a look on what has been keeping the adventurers busy since the last Taco meeting #3 (May 14th):

Broadening the perspectives
In last couple of weeks the expeditioners met several fellow travellers, who provided them with valuable recommendations, warnings, and various observations directly from the South American destinations. Sincere thanks go especially to Martin Rey, Paja Beckova and Edu Miranda.

Madonarra, Paja, Edu, Miguel

Shopping
Although most of the necessary equipment is already available from Fatal trip and/or Czars Reunited, some items had to be bought again – particularly sleeping bags and garments.

Miguel and El Fredovito swamped with sleeping bags

Vaccination
The last vaccination shot against the rabies is still missing, and scheduled for July 1st. Another vaccination has either been already done (yellow fever, first 2 rabies shots) or doesn’t have to be revaccinated yet (hepatitis A+B, typhus, meningitis A+C).

Don Madonarra concentrating on his yellow fever shot

School engagements
All voyagers managed to acquire their university degree - Miguel Hudeiro, MSc. (June 8th), Don Madonarra, MSc. (June 10th) and El Fredovito, MSc. (June 14th)! Now they can fully focus on the expedition.

The Maya crew celebrating on the subway platform

Monitoring the situation online
Another source of information on the dynamically developing, politically not very stable, yet very touristy region of South America is internet. Naturally, positive (Peru, Colombia…) as well as negative (politics, safety) news are found. Hard to sort out.

El Fredovito browsing the web for some more useful information

Bye-bye party
Legendary barbecue pool party is taking place tomorrow, on Thursday June 17th, in the garden of El Fredovito’s hacienda. Let’s use this occasion to have fun and say bye to the Maya crew. It’s going to be long 4 months since then till the Maya trip will finish (October 17th).

The Maya crew in their new Maya shirts!

Despite all this preparation, the task list is still rather full. Get insurance, exchange money, follow up on the development project engagement, obtain bank cheques, finalize the equipment list, meet some more people and many more things to handle. The next and the last Taco meeting is planned for this Monday June 21st already.

May the Maya be with you! :)

Taco meeting #3

Few informal meetings were held after Taco meeting #2, the most important being a dinner on 10th March 2010 in Thai restaurant Modry zub. After typical 2.5 hours of ice-breakers, a couple of things regarding financing of the trip were discussed, together with time frame of the expedition, which was firmly set to 5th July-16th October 2010. The adventurers plan to work for about 3-4 weeks on a farm in Ecuador and travel across the region for the remaining time.

On 14th May 2010 Taco meeting #3 took place, once again in casa del Fredovito. Miguel Hudeiro and Don Madonarra had some difficulties on their way there and thus arrived a bit later than planned. Since proviant had to be served prior to the summit, there was not enough time to watch another educational movie.

All in all, the explorers debated lively and efficiently, with following points on the agenda:

• discussing and concretizing the itinerary of the expedition
• deciding on corporate
• financial issues during the trip
• immunization plan
• insurance
• bye-bye party
• tuning-up the equipment list

More news coming soon!

May the Maya be with you! :)

El Fredovito and Don Madonarra out at grass, Miguel hiding nearby

Fight for the flight

The first real test of expeditioners courage and persistence came unexpectedly from an innocent direction. The adventurers agreed at the last Taco meeting on the final dates of the trip so the flight tickets could be obtained. But the series of coincident events complicated it more than anyone thought.

It all began with sudden failure of internet connection at El Fredovito’s hacienda. As the expeditioners could not meet personally, El Fredovito established emergency connection from the nearest tavern. Magically, he took control of Miguel’s and Madonarra’s computers and successfully bargained the tickets with French company called Govolo for a very convenient price (as usual when El Fredovito negotiates). They all soon received confirmation that the tickets were booked.

What a surprise in the morning when another email came. Govolo informed that transaction was not finished and asked for identification numbers of other credit cards to be sent by email. That’s when the adventurers took the first suspicion. Still it could have been just French illogical way of doing business.

But they decided to check it anyway. New doubtful facts emerged. Govolo had no single phone number in the whole company, its bank looked like it does not exist and there were some rumors about cheated customers in the past. It was time for a swift action. The expeditioners temporarily blocked all internet transactions on their cards.

After a few days, El Fredovito found a new tickets for about the same price from a more trustful company called Travel Papa. This time everything went smoothly so the tickets are finally in their hands.

May the Maya be with you! :)

Miguel Hudeiro holding the flight ticket.

Taco meeting #2

24th February 2010, Prague. Two months after Christmas, the adventurers have met for second planning meeting in casa del Fredovito near Prague to discuss another steps to be taken regarding their expedition.

Adventurers enjoying tasty dinner: nachos with salsa and beer (nachos con salsa y las cervezas)

After watching thematic movie Diarios de Motocicleta depicting journey through South America and munching on nachos con ajo, they talked about topics mentioned below and came up with following conclusions:

1. Preferred timeframe of the journey will very likely be from beginning of July 2010 to October 2010
2. Start of the journey has been shifted from Panama to Caracas, Venezuela for cost reasons.
3. Flight ticket will be purchased around middle of March 2010
4. Surprisingly, no pre-arranged visas will be needed
5. The expedition will need additional vaccination against yellow fever
6. Budget has been updated
7. Travel plan has been revised (see the map below)

The expeditioners are going to meet next week for a lunch to confirm the timeline and flight ticket purchase.

May the Maya be with you! :)

Second revised version of the expedition map

Holy book finally found

"Real travelers love South America. It's as if the continent was built for travel; it's the sort of place that presents you with challenges every step of the way and rewards you with euphoria you've never imagined. Sweat yourself dizzy on an Amazon canoe ride and be rewarded with a cool evening of caiman-watching on a black-water lagoon. Brave a white-knuckle bus ride down Peruvian slopes and be astounded by endless Andean vistas. Face the chaos of a massive metropolis like Bogotá or Santiago de Chile and feel the elation of comprehension when the city suddenly makes sense. Endure Patagonia’s wind-driven rain while chasing life-affirming sunsets.

The real reward, however, is the South American spirit. It seems like the entire continent approaches life with the enthusiasm of an old-fashioned road trip: the windows down and the stereo blaring. It's a subtle approach to uncertainty that will surely infect you. And as for the music - it's one thing that never leaves your side. With every adventure there is a soundtrack. Samba spices up the sandy streets of Brazilian beach towns, panpipes liven Andean markets, Argentine folklórica (folk music) trickles out of truck radios in the pampas, and the jolting rhythm of cumbia makes those Andean bus rides even more absurd.

In the end, don't think of South America as a place. Rather, it's something you turn yourself onto, that engulfs you and changes you - your state of mind, your outlook on life. As soon as you step foot on South American soil, the transformation begins."

- From the holy book of Don Madonarra, Miguel and El Fredovito

Boat ride around the waterfalls. Rest of the explorers bathing nearby.

Taco meeting #1

11th December 2009, Prague. The city is filled with Christmas atmosphere and everyone is in expectation of upcoming feast days, and the New year. It was not a coincidence that El Fredovito, Miguel Hudeiro and Don Madonarra got together in a cosy hacienda in Prague satellite on this special day. They had a serious business to cope with... they came to debate over another thrilling adventure!

The destination of the next trip, codename Expedition Maya, is going to be Central and South America.

Main outcomes of the meeting are:
1. preparing and consuming delicious Latino dinner
2. coming up with the codename of the trip
3. discussing preferences regarding countries to visit
4. creating the budget
5. setting up the blog
6. taking some arranged photos

Many aspects have been discussed, but many other ones are still to be considered. The preparations are at their very beginning!

Let's wish good luck to our Latino crew & stay tuned for further updates!

May the Maya be with you! :)

The first version of the itinerary.
Colour dots express individual preference for visiting respective countries: blue ~ El Fredovito, green ~ Miguel Hudeiro, purple ~ Don Madonarra, orange ~ mutual interest, but may possibly interfere with scope of the trip.