WorldWalk-Peacetour

Breaking [News]

2011-06-04T17:12:00.005+02:00

WorldWalk-Peacetour's last confirmed stop was Pasto, Columbia, on January 19, 2011. They stopped walking for various reasons explained in the previous post.

From Pasto the brothers took a jump to Caracas, Venezuela (spending their last reserves), where they got some help from locals, including the Hungarian community. After painting some window frames and doing other odd, and less odd jobs for three months, they managed to build enough background to take another leap, to return to the grounds of the European Union.

In this case, to the island of Martinique (under French authority). So they went "home", right now they don't have to worry about visas, deportation and (somewhat less about) work permissions. So, at this moment they are (we suppose) in Fort de France, looking for a job. They are pretty much able to do anything, except brain surgery and particle accelerator programming. In the meantime, they are on their way to better their French as well.

Update

2011-03-02T11:04:00.000+01:00

Sorry guys. We apologize for the current lack of updates. Thank you for your concerns. Due to budget and time issues the flow of information has been clogging.

Again, we break the time-flow of the blog posts and give you an instant update on the situation.

The brothers walked down to the town of Pasto, at the Colombian-Ecuadorian border. The Colombian stages of their walk were extremely hard on them, and they decided to put on hold their mission. After some 12.000 miles they thought that they cannot go on like that. Without proper meals, with their ruined equipment, without having a budget that covers at least a few months of their future, in one word: without a sponsor, they cannot go on.

So, for the third time they break the walk, and head to the French Overseas Departments and Territories, where, as citizens of the European Union, they expect to find some jobs. They hitchhike and they try to contact local Hungarians everywhere they go. In this moment they are in Caracas, Venezuela, and they do the temporary jobs the Hungarian community provide them.

They made a list about what they would need to follow their walk. This is just a list. They are really thankful to everyone who helped them, with food, with words, with money, but they cannot go on if these requirements aren't met with the help of some major sponsorship. Right now they try to regain some weight and their optimism, but optimism by itself is not enough. So:

Clothes
Backpacks
Shoes
Tents
Sleeping bags
Camp stove
A dozen teeth fixed
40-45 pounds weight gain
Visa and ticket to Australia

They made a video report in late January, please watch it, share it, comment it at Youtube.

Oh Christmas Tree

2010-12-12T19:11:00.003+01:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Instead of tropical jungles we've walked more than a hundred miles in pine forests. It wasn't something we had expected. It seems that the Pacific side of Honduras (and Guatemala and Nicaragua as well, for that matter) is dryer, and the Atlantic part is more humid with swampy jungles and sometimes impassable roads, loads of insects and a higher probability of infectious diseases. Tropical storms approach from the Atlantic coast as well. But here, it's fresh, breezy pine forests... Not bad.

Real World, Schocking Covers

2010-11-28T09:41:00.003+01:00

by FERENC IVANICS
We arrived in Santa Rosa somewhat tired. I was in bad shape, though getting better from my intestine infection, István, my brother was starting to feel bad with similar symptoms. We assume it's inevitable, one have to deal with it.

We took a break just before Santa Rosa and I started to thumb a newspaper we had found somewhere. Three homicides that weekend. We weren't really surprised, it's like that here in Central America. But there's something that shock us: newspaper and magazine covers. There's a lot of violent deaths in Central America. Homicides and fatal accidents. Photos of the dead are exposed on full pages and covers in color, without any blurring or cloaking. Total horror. A father wants to by some cigarettes at a stand, and his 4 years old child, while licking an ice cream, observes the "real world": a farmer crippled with a machete, a businessman shot in the head, a prostitute cut open, a youngster crushed with his motorbike, etc. This is absolutely normal in Mexico, Guatemala or Honduras. We don't like it.

The center of Santa Rosa is basically in good shape. The suburbs are to avoid. Garbage, stench and extremely suspicious faces. When we arrived they were preparing for the Easter Holy Week with some tinted sawdust pictures on the main street. It requires a lot of patience but the result is spectacular. We spent the night at the Red Cross, my brother threw up during the afternoon hours and got better instantly, maybe it was just an indigestion. Lucky for him.

Cloud Forests

2010-11-10T09:01:00.001+01:00

by FERENC IVANICS
By looking at the roadside milestones we knew that we had walked some 13 miles uphill. But we didn't know how high we had managed to climb. We asked some locals. It was strange, none of them knew. A young lad said that he had a gadget in his car that showed our exact altitude. He checked, returned and said proudly: 33 miles. Ah, sure, 33 miles... We thanked him and moved on. Later we learned that we were shivering about a mile above sea level (some 1600-2000 meters). Downhill it was easier, but since the movement worked on different groups of muscles, after a while it hurt the same.

They call the forests we saw near the pass, and every forests alike: humid rich, full of springs and tree-ferns, cloud forests. These cloud forests are under national protection.

From a gardener's perspective it was an interesting experience to see what local farmers grow. Apples, peaches, strawberries, even first-class vegetables! After another seven miles we were down in the semi-desertic valley again; full of hopes that we wouldn't have to climb another behemoth like this. How much we miss the plains. :)

Up in the Clouds

2010-11-02T10:25:00.005+01:00

by FERENC IVANICS
At a gas station in Ocotepeque we had a conversation with a casual guy. First we tried to distract his interest in how much money we had with us and if we had a gun, and then we asked him how was the road to Santa Rosa. He said that there are some really tough mountains over there and he didn't want to believe that we would walk to Santa Rosa. We didn't really trust his judgment, but did not ask other locals; it's hard to get objective answers here.

The next day we started the Ocotepeque-Santa Rosa stage. The man at the gas station was right. Brutal mountains with cloud crowns started to rise right in front of us. We were walking on a steep pass that was hard on the vehicles as well. After six miles the air started to get cooler around us. We saw pines and dark green coffee-plantations. We knew we were setting a new "record", we had never climbed this high before in one day. And my diarrhea wasn't helping... After ten miles it was getting really cold. Our breath started to fog. My belly started to cramp and sweat was all over us. We didn't dare to stop: we were afraid we would catch a cold.

István remembered those days when he traveled around the mountains in Austria with the 30 years old moped of our gramps, and sometimes he had to push the bike for a whole day uphill and had to stop every 25 yards. It was hard even to think, we were walking in a hypnotic trance. After twelve miles we glimpsed the place where the road, and the cars, disappeared into the dense fog.

We decided not to spend the night in that fog. There was a small house by the road and we asked for permission to spend the night in the yard. It was a cold night; we slept in clothes and sleeping bags. I don't have to mention that my night was restless. But all this suffering was worth it, we had the chance to taste a coffee made from locally grown, locally roasted coffee beans for the first time. It was an extremely warm feeling. Next morning we finished the last two miles and we arrived, up in the clouds.

God Created Nature Garbage-Free (First Steps in Honduras)

2010-10-28T18:59:00.008+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
On the last mile in Guatemala we had to make a choice: many miles in El Salvador and a few in Honduras, or many miles in Honduras and none in El Salvador. We took the second choice. We found out looking at the online maps that Honduras has many high mountains and we will zig-zag around them. We changed our quetzals to Honduran lempiras (there's no official change rate at the border, and if you are a "tourist" then, you know...), and we headed for Ocotepeque. While walking mildly uphill we discovered something.

There's no such thing in Honduras as waste-management or waste-transport. But what's really scared us was that people didn't really think that it would be nice to have something like that. There's garbage everywhere: in the streams, in the valleys, at the side of the road, and yes, in the private yards of their houses. And they say this is their waste-management, their collect garbage in small piles. Many small piles.

And don't be surprised: in Honduras everything is wrapped in plastic. Biscuits in the biscuit bag are wrapped individually, we've seen soft drinks of less than 2 ounces (50 ml), all packed nicely in plastic. In almost all the diners you see plastic plates, forks and knives. There's plastic waste virtually everywhere. And high mountains, of course. But I'll save that for next time.

What "the Future" Brings...

2010-10-21T19:58:00.001+02:00

After having some teeth removed and having some fences painted, the boys move on towards Colón and then El Porvenir.

Thank you all who made this possible. The blog flow will return to normal.

Breaking [the Barriers of Time]

2010-10-18T18:35:00.000+02:00

As our twitter followers already know, István and Ferenc have Arrived in Panama. The delayed blog posts will catch up with them (on the blog they are still in Guatemala), since they will spend a few days in Panama City.

They asked us to break the flow of blog posts with an announcement, here it goes.

by FERENC IVANICS
We have reached Panama City in Panama. We cannot keep going, the Darién gap blocks our way. We cannot take on tha Darién walking, it's unpredictable, it's extremely dangerous and we don't have the kind of expeditionary equipment needed either.

Right now we're analyzing two possible crossing options: via boat or via plane. Both options cost money, money we don't have. Until we don't find a solution, we're prisoners of Panama, we're stuck in Panama City. If anyone can help, please show up and contact us. We talk about accommodation, a chance to wash our clothes, some food. But if you are able to help us raising some money, that's the biggest help. Thank you.

Rotary International

2010-10-18T18:34:00.003+02:00

Those who've been following the blog for a while already know what's the boys' approach to money worries. They drifted to the edge of distress various times in the past, and on a few occasions they almost gave up.

It's been like that in the past and it seem that it's going to be like that in the future as well. So far they've managed to go on, but not without frustration and pain. At this very moment they are trying to raise money to be able to cross the Darién Gap, but sometimes they do receive great and vital help as well. This is a story from April, some five months ago. With this donation they made it through Central America.

by FERENC IVANICS
So far we've survived. I don't like that word, to survive. During these hard periods we suffered, both physically and mentally. Despair, nerves, bleak prospects, madness, but first of all starvation came down hard on our bodies.

But at the very last moment there always came a friend, an organization, a foundation, a corporation, and sometimes: a stranger. A few times it was pure luck that saved us, but another times we worked hard the get a chance to go on. We're still here, we're still walking. Our main propulsion are smaller and bigger donations. We would have stuck here in Central America if we didn't get a push.

An old friend of ours from our hometown, Palić, understood that our "whining" is not theatrical, there's bloody reality behind our words. He understood that we were in deep sh-t this time. And he brought Rotary Club's attention to our mission. This friend is Varga László, and we cannot thank him enough.

We feel honored to receive help from Rotary. We think that they help causes that they believe in. They believe we will make it. The 850 USD donation we received is an impressive help compared to our budget. So, for a while we can forget our worries and focus on our task. We must thank this tranquility to Rotary International. And we appreciate the faith they put in us.

Volunteer Firemen

2010-10-04T16:31:00.005+02:00

by ISTVÁN IVANICS
From Puerto Barrios it's some 100 miles walk to reach Zacapa, a small town surrounded by arid mountains. When we arrived to the city borders, we bought some six pounds of bananas and started looking for a campsite for the night. We were calculating our chances at the church yard when Amilcar, the owner of the nearby rubber-shop approached us to help. He tried to reach the man responsible for the church for hours, without luck. When it started to get dark, he escorted us to the fire department. He told us that they would surely help. And he was right. Thanks to him we met the staff of the fire station and their captain, Valdemar Madrid. While we were waiting for a small monetary help in Zacapa, we were allowed to stay in the classroom of the F.D, that was used to train new recruits.

Most of the firemen are local volunteers, and the youngest of them was a 16 years old lad. In Guatemala firemen are often the ambulance as well. And they do not slack about too much, they take care of Zacapa, other 42 small villages and the families living in the mountains. Volunteers work a day for free every week to help their fellow citizens. Hats off to them. We cannot thank their help enough and we wish them good luck and peaceful shifts.

Tamarind

2010-10-03T10:44:00.004+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Tamarind is a really fancy and popular fruit. Kind of. Since Mexico it's been on the shelves of grocery stores as a soft drink. The tree is resistant and grows well in full sun. The fruit or pod is a legume, some five inches long and it has a hard, brown shell. The fruit has a fleshy, juicy pulp.

Its flavor is, how to put it, unique. It has a quite strong aroma, tastes acidic and mildly sweet. It's so acid that it's impossible to eat more than a handful at a time without damaging your mouth. But anyways, it's fine and produces a great soft drink.

Semi-desertic Guatemala

2010-09-28T12:44:00.001+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
We hadn't really learned about the climate of Central America before crossing its boundaries. We thought that it surely would be a lush green tropical jungle all around us. Well, we thought wrong. A while back, in Belize, James Jr. told us that we would see some arid areas in Guatemala with cacti taller than buildings. And he was right.

When we entered the country we saw what we had expected: green, tropical vegetation, humid climate, rain. New, unseen species, a lot of them fruits. But as we moved inlandwards, vegetation become poorer and the air drier. By the time we arrived in Zacapa, we found ourselves in a semi-desert, with bare mountainsides, cacti and scrub everywhere.

The only thing that eased the heat (of course 100 degrees F and above) and the burning sun were the dusty gusts. Well, no problem, we weren't scared, after all we had managed to cross the Sahara desert as well. And to look on the bright side of it: we had left behind legions of bloodsuckers.

Food of the Gods

2010-09-10T11:28:00.002+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
We saw cocoa plantations in southern Mexico and Belize as well. But in Guatemala this strange-looking little tree is common as a garden plant. It's not the leaves that look surprising, rather its fruits. These American football shaped fruits appear on older branches and on the trunk.

Well, we have to confess that so far we haven't found really tasty chocolates on the American continent. Which is sad, since we both would love it. And when you walk 20+ miles a day, you must afford a luxury like fine chocolates. In Europe we consumed "enormous" quantities of cheap, but tasty tablets of chocolate. And here, we see these beautiful plants all around us, but there's no good chocs anywhere. It's a shame.

Natural Rubber

2010-09-04T07:37:00.002+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Natural rubber is extracted from the sap of rubber trees. When we first saw a rubber tree forest, we immediately recognized it, thanks to the pictures we'd seen in story-books and on TV. But it's not the shape of the leaves... They make incisions on the bark of the trees and stick a bucket below. You cannot miss it.

We picked a small piece of the sap collected in the buckets: It's thick, yellowish, and really elastic. My brother, István said that its smell reminded him the scent of a recently opened pack of balloons. Yep, it smells like that.

Banana Trucks

2010-08-23T11:32:00.003+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
There's only one major port in Guatemala, and it's Puerto Barrios. And there's only one major road leading to this port from the inner regions of the country. Guatemala is a world leader, at least in banana production. The world's most important banana companies are all here: Chiquita, DelMonte and Dole. We're talking about millions of tons of fruits here.

It all meant that we had to walk some 100 miles in extremely heavy traffic. We've seen long truck convoys. Sure, they were speeding, passing each other wherever they could (and I mean, in unbelievable places). I suppose a faster ride means more money for the driver.

First we were a bit scared seeing all those "almost-crashes", but later we got used to the action. Still, walking along the side of the road we had to keep all our eyes open.

Boat Trips

2010-08-16T08:27:00.007+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
From Punta Gorda, Belize to Livingston, Guatemala we traveled by a motorboat. First we though that 50 Belize dollars for the crossing (which takes less than half an hour) is a bit costly, but when we realized that the trip lacks any comfort we felt that it was indeed, expensive.

The vessel was a traditional fisher boat converted to a passenger boat. The seats were rock hard, and it wouldn't have been a problem if the water were still. But the boat practically rallied through the waves of the Caribbean.

First it was almost funny, but after fifteen minutes we were sitting on our hands to ease our bottoms. We left the boat in Livingstone black and blue... And we were so happy, we were finally on the road, in Guatemala. But the custom officer put us off. It was impossible to go on from Livingstone, but by boat, again.

There were two options: an express boat for 50 quetzals (some 7 USD) or a collective boat for 30 (4 USD). We chose the latter, and thanks to the help of James Jr.'s mom, we could afford it (if we didn't have that money, who knows what would have happened). Later we found out that the express boat is nothing faster, it just has a more frequent schedule. Hurray, we were finally able to start walking, from Puerto Barrios.

PeeJee

2010-08-11T17:05:00.005+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Our last stop in Belize was Punta Gorda a.k.a PG as locals call it. We had only a few days left of our so called visa. The only way to leave Belize is by boat. You have to pay for the boat and you have to pay a leaving-fee. So, it was 25 bucks for the boat and 20 for leaving the country. That's 90 for the two of us.

If you stay longer than 30 days, that's 25 bucks more. We haven't seen anything like that so far, it's a pretty unfriendly way to say farewell to the tourists. We were simply broke when we arrived to the border. We were expecting some support, but it became obvious that it wouldn't arrive in time. We were stuck in Belize.

So, we went to the competent office to explain our situation. The officer told us that he was only a pawn, that he wasn't able to help us. That we should go to the capital, Belmopan, and talk to some kind of a minister. Really. Explained something about jail and deportation if we wouldn't do anything to resolve the situation. Wasn't really convincing.

While we were stuck in PG we had to sleep somewhere. We were exploring the place when we saw lots of coaches parking in a nice, grassy yard. We started to chat with a woman, and she sent us to the house of his son. James Jr. had an even bigger yard and lots of coaches, too. He is an entrepreneur with a large coach fleet.

The story is quite amazing, they transport people all-over Belize, and it started with James, the father and with a single coach. He had a single trip every week to the capital (Belize City, back then). But later he bought another coach, and another one. Right now they have lines in every corner of Belize. James' mother kept us well, and they organized our trip to Belmopan and back, and right before we left, James' mom gave us 50 dollars. The whole stay at James Jr.'s place was a positive patch to ease our somewhat painful and struggling stay in Belize.

Breadfruit: A James Cook Fail

2010-08-03T10:27:00.005+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Well, here's another fruit. Lately we've mentioned a lot of fruits and vegetables on our blog. My apologies to those who find that boring, but we think that it's interesting to see what there's to eat around the world. And it's definitely interesting with the eyes of a gardener. There's a lot more to try, but the ones we present here are the most important plants. Such cool tropical plant is the Artocarpus or Breadfruit. It was the famous Captain James Cook, who tried to spread it on the American continent (to provide high-energy food for slaves).

Its fruits are huge green balls, rich in starch. In Belize they fry it and they fry it; and it tastes good. Its flavor reminded us to roasted nuts. It's quite tasty and nourishing.

Milk Powder: Love and Hate

2010-07-22T10:43:00.010+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
We started to consume enormous quantities of milk powder in Africa. On one hand, during our long desert walks we needed nutriments that are rich in nutrients. On the other hand, its protein/calories/price ratio is exceptional. To put it another way: we'd love to eat meat and cheese, but often we don't have the means to pay for that kind of food.

During the last months we've eaten lots of milk powder. Milk powder + sugar + water + biscuits, we were on that diet for weeks, sometimes. And believe me, on that diet one starts to feel a light break down quickly: strange stinging abdominal pain, painful defecation, dull ache in the joints. You learn to hate it. But we love it, no matter what. We have to. I think if there's no milk powder, there's nothing else that provides a chance of survival at this price level.

Cassava, Yuca, Manioc

2010-07-17T08:28:00.002+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Three names in the title, but it's the same plant. And it has dozens of local names. We saw it first in Africa, most Senegalese fish dishes come with a piece of cassava. I read somewhere that in tropical regions it is a wide-spread potato substitute. Well, cassava is rich, cooked it is practically as rich as potato. Why call it a potato substitute? As far as we can tell potato could be a cassava substitute. Their flavor is so close that it's almost identical, but the texture is a bit thicker. They say it can be grown in temperate zones as well, like in Hungary.

Around the house it might raise some problems, since young plants look eerily like hemp. You better tell the neighbor first, if you are starting to grow cassava in your garden.

Bamboo Didgeridoo

2010-07-14T17:46:00.012+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
My brother had brought his didgeridoo and he lost it after some 6.000 miles in Houston, U.S.A. Didgeridoo is an instrument, kind of, it doesn't play tunes, rather emits a constant esoteric vibration. It was a traditional instrument of the Aboriginal people of northern Australia. Nowadays it's used by various electro, psychedelic or genre-hopping bands.

While walking in Belize we found a nice little pack of bamboo. We spent the whole afternoon cutting and carving two didgeridoos, using our cheapest Chinese knives.

Didgeridoos are magical stuff, they work only with their master, which is not surprising, since that master forms the instrument's mouthpiece to match his own mouth.

We've been adjusting our new didgeridoos for weeks and now they sound pretty fine, though we have a lot to learn and practice about playing a didgeridoo.

Sapote

2010-07-07T14:40:00.003+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
We saw sapote fruits first time in Mexico. The sapote tree is nice, robust and tall, but it looks obvious that it doesn't like cold. It's really a tropical plant. We found some fruits along the way but they were unripe and hard. The fruits that fall from the trees are quickly swiped by animals.

In Belize we carried two unripe sapote fruits for three days in our backpacks. When it finally softened, we tried it. Under the skin (that looks like a hardened human skin) there's an orange-red flesh and a huge black stone. It's juicy and pulpy, faintly sweet with a scent of cinnamon. Not bad and it yields high.

There's at least a dozen different types of sapotes, the one you see on the picture is, hmm, well, one of them...

Beards

2010-07-01T08:53:00.003+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
Some of you might have noticed that we've been avoiding shaving. Yep, we are growing beards, we've been doing that since crossing the Mexican border on the 15th of august. We'll have a shave when leaving Chile. I assume we'll have extreme beards by that time.

Belize Rasta

2010-06-29T08:19:00.003+02:00

by FERENC IVANICS
At the end of Hummingbird Highway there's a Garifuna village called Dangriga. Its population have mixed ancestry, but their origin is mainly black African. Many of them are Rastafarians. We haven't had the chance to visit Jamaica but we believe that this is the closest we'll get. Compared to the quiet mestizos Rastafari people are noticeably communicative, talkative and friendly. Sometimes it's hard to understand their creole-English. We haven't seen so many Bob Marley T-shirts, haven't heard Bob Marley singing from so many houses while walking down the main street.

So we decided to take here a haircut. A Garifuna barber, loud reggae music, Bob Marley posters, a perfect way to lose your hair. In ten minutes the breeze caressed our bald heads. It's easier to stand the heat this way.

And about weed, since it seems to be closely related to the Rastafari movement: as we understood there's an unspoken agreement between the state and the Rasta people, you won't be disturbed if you smoke pot at home, but don't you ever dare smoke marijuana at a public place...