Vagabond Community News Update, 9/22/07

Vagabond Community News page: http://canciondelvagabundo.googlepages.com/vagabondnews

September 22, 2007 *Vagabond Community News Update*

Andy the Hobotraveler, http://www.hobotraveler.com/

Andy is still in West Africa, or so I think, his last posting was from Bobo Dioulasso or Bobo, Burkina Faso, but he ominously hinted in his “African Guidebooks” post that he was on his way to the long distance bus station to, “see what my options are.” We all know what this means.

He also added that:

“I am thinking of turning the speed up, and taking some just the cream off the top taste of Mali, Guinea, etc up to Morocco in a quick sprint. Morocco is not my favorite country, so more or less in the way, and obstacle. . . How far am I from Morocco? The Kilometers is not important, it is the bus time that counts, the on the seat time. I am going to the one long-distance bus station today . . .”

Any day now I expect to see Andy on my front doorstep. I think I would recognise him, as I have a pretty good image in my head of what he looks like. A long time ago I decided to search through his voluminous website to find a picture of him. This is a seriously daunting task for anyone who has ever tried it. But I think that I remember finding one that did not have his face blocked out. . . I think. I guess I will know for sure when I finally meet him.

Adam Katz: World Traveler,

Adam has just returned home to San Francisco after travelling for the past four years in Asia, Northeast Africa, and the Middle East. He is now planning on buying an island in Nicaragua to begin an intentional traveller community. The webpage for this project is:

This is what Adam has to say about returning to the USA and his plans in Nicaragua:

Two years ago, I landed in Egypt. In many ways, after exciting Sudan,
touristy Egypt was a huge disappointment to me. I stopped in Egypt to
figure out some things, and landed an unexpected job.

After quite a bit of lazing about, and reflecting, I came to a couple
of answers.

1) I have something of an addiction for excitement and danger. With
each country that I travel to, I have an urge to travel to the next most
remote or next most dangerous place.

There is one obvious problem with that. If one keeps going that way,
at some point you run out of more dangerous places to go to, and spend
all of your time in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. I know people like
this, and decided while it would be exciting, it wasn’t quite the life
that I wanted to lead.

2) I also realized that I don’t like the cold — the warmer the country
the happier that I am.

With these two thoughts in mind, I slowly decided to abandon my plans
to travel overland up to Russia and beyond, and set about coming up with
a new plan, which is less dangerous than traveling through all the
worst of the war zones, but equally interesting.

Years ago, I used to go to Burningman and loved it. But Burningman is
only one week a year. Back then, I dreamed of creating something like
Burningman, except as a year-round community. I decided to revive that
idea. And after two years in Egypt of throwing around ideas and
planning, it’s starting to look like that crazy idea is actually going to
happen.

I’m working to bring together a bunch of other crazy artistic freaks to
buy our own private island in Nicaragua. We’re accepting applications
now – 100 shares are available @ only $3000 each.

Check out Adam’s website, as it has a large amount of travel stories, tips, and, in general, good resources. He is still updating it and maybe someday he will be all caught up.

Loren Everly.org,

Loren has just finished his wanderings through Asia . . . for now. He is currently at his family’s home in Hawaii for the first time in years and is probably confused as hell about why I am sending him interviews (soon to be posted on the CanciondelVagabundo site) haha. Check out his blog, as there is a lot of writing on it from all over the world. He also has a photo collection of telephone booths and license plates from all of the places that he has travelled through (over 70 countries) on his website that is pretty interesting.

He is now preparing to embark on a teaching job in Saudi Arabia. Read his blog for updates.

Mira

Mira is currently in Philadelphia, PA searching diligently to find all of the items on a shopping list that I sent her. It is all stuff that we will need when we cross the Sahara into West Africa (well, and stuff that I forgot to bring with me). She will be joining up with me in two weeks in Morocco and I cannot wait for her to get here. She has a way of being able to pull me up to breathe . . . I also miss her always trying to kiss me.

Itinerant Witness Mark

I sometimes send Mark emails, as we are both wanderers who grew up near Rochester, NY, but I think that I creep him out a little haha. He is currently in the beautiful hills of Central New York working at a winery “without an escape plan,” as Andy put it. It may be hard for us to get him out of there- it is a really beautiful, though hidden, part of the world. He still writes on his website though, so check it out.

Craig, http://www.travelvice.com/

Crag got a girl in Peru pregnant and is running towards the epicenter. I have never talked to Craig, but I commend him for his righteousness and valor. He is still updating his blog and I am curious to find how this all works out. I don’t know the guy, but I sincerely wish him the best. Little kids are funny and, from what parents tell me, are worth the sacrifice.

Stubbs

Stubbs, my brethren, one time side kick, and hero is currently working on the bridges of the Erie Canal. As usual, he is planning a journey to somewhere cold this winter.

Erik

Erik is tearing through flight school and will soon be able to fly all of us dirty vagabonds around the planet. He recently got his instruments rating and is now working on his commercial license. Any women out there who are looking for a good man, and want free flights to anywhere in the world, he is your captain. He is my best friend, how could he not be a high quality specimen of a man?