A Tribute to Mother Earth

For a sampling of some of Mother’s Earth’s most blessed creatures, click below…

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/4562282854-1208888874-30732/

Jeepers are Keepers

Rigged up with all my winter gear – mitts, touque, boots, wool blanket and even a plastic snow shovel courtesy of my Mom - I set off for the Caribbean tropics on Boxing Day in my soft top ’92 Jeep YJ.

It would prove to be an adrenaline-induced, 10-day, 8,000-kilometre trek from the snow laden slopes of Silver Star Ski Resort in Vernon, British Columbia to the sun drenched coconut trees of San Ignacio, Belize.

I managed to survive the various rituals needed to stay warm while piercingly cold winter winds whipped their way through my soft top enclosure, such as every handyman’s secret weapon, duct tape; to stripping the Jeep down to its bare essentials just to beat the searing heat. I’ve always loved contrast though, and from start to finish on this trip that’s exactly what I got.

I just bought the Jeep in Nanaimo last June. For as long as I can remember it’s been my dream vehicle, the ultimate wheels for anyone with a truly adventurous heart. In my vivid imagination, that’s moi. And while it took me my current lifetime to finally acquire my coveted prize, the wait has been well worth it.

When you’re in a Jeep, in the Wrangler class especially (you know, the provocative model that goes topless), it’s a highly sensitized experience: you see, hear, smell, and can virtually reach out and touch everything around you when the top is off. You become a part of the whole driving experience rather than being neatly enclosed in a pleather-covered, fiberglass cage talking on a cell phone or blasting the stereo with your AC on.

For nearly six months I explored Vancouver Island in my new toy, but not really pushing it too much. You know how it is when you buy a set of wheels, old or new, and you really try hard to keep it looking as stylin’ as when you bought it…at least for a little while. It was my dream Jeep after all, and it just looked so damn good with its shiny new black paintjob that I didn’t want to rough it up just yet.

Have no fear though my friends, I did manage to have some good old fashioned 4×4 fun with the Jeep back in Canada, especially during one of those extra vengeful snow storms in December. I grinned the whole time as I took on snow and ice like Homer in the Snow King episode of the Simpsons.

Enticed to drive to Belize with a group of Vancouver Island do-gooders to help promote a new eco-community and school called Better in Belize (http://BetterinBelize.com), I shared much of that amazing journey with seven other people and three more vehicles: a Landcruiser, Forerunner and 32-foot motor home.

The Better in Belize concept is actually being played out right now on 130 acres of jungle land on the edge of the Macal River in western Belize. The idea is to incorporate eco-friendly people into the land using the latest green technologies: organic concrete and other building materials, solar power, biogas, rain water cachement systems, permaculture strategies, environmental education and the like. One acre lots of land are now available to people who buy into this model of sustainability, and eventually an eco-school will be erected to back up this philosophy.

To me, I couldn’t think of a better excuse to sign up. And it was either going to be me flying down to some country in Central America and hoofing it around on my own selfish agenda for a few months, or the whole travel experience was going to unfold where I saved my Jeep from months of damp, West Coast winter storage, only to embark on the road trip adventure of a lifetime and to help a good cause. It was a no brainer.

After four months of being in Belize now, the adventure continues to unfold in the most unpredictable ways…and one thing is for sure, the locals love that “bad ass” Jeep.

Just to be clear, I’ve never put much stock into cars as status symbols. So what if a person went into debt up to their yingyang just to cruise around in an overpriced luxury car or SUV simply to impress the boss, a client…or imagine this one…a pretty woman?

I have to be honest though, I now believe that driving a particular kind of vehicle, such as a Jeep; can in fact say something about the person driving it. You’re likely the type that doesn’t mind having your hair whipped around at a 100 kmh as you hit the open road. Maybe you like sleeping under the stars, exploring unchartered territory, photographing elusive critters, overcoming challenges, climbing new heights, standing out in a crowd, who knows? But when you’re in a Jeep, you are a special breed that’s for certain.

Shiny black with not too many frills, my Jeep is the ultimate vehicle in Belize. It’s a four banger, it grew up on paved Canadian roads, it will boldly go anywhere you’re brave enough to venture, it’s like eye-candy to the opposite sex (no lie), and after decades of trying, nobody can replicate the rough and tumble persona of a rugged, sexy Jeep.

Where I’ve Been…

1. San Ignacio, Belize
2. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
3. Prague, Czech Republic
4. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
5. Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
6. Trogir, Croatia
7. Budapest, Hungary
8. Krakow, Poland
9. Ljubljana, Slovenia
10. Paros, Greece
11. Florence, Italy
12. Puerto Escondido, Mexico
13. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
14. Banff, Alberta, Canada
15. Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada
16. Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
17. Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
18. Telegraph Cove, British Columbia, Canada
19. Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
20. Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
21. San Antonio, TX, USA

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Journey to the Jungle

In the cooling aftermath of a refreshing late afternoon rain shower, I’m sitting under an open-air, thatched roof lounge enjoying a cold, and may I say delicious, Belikin beer while I watch nature unfold before me. The fleeting, yet in-your-face downpour arrived as glorious liquid sunshine. It couldn’t have come at a better time with the searing tropical heat just reaching its daily high.

I am firmly planted on the humid, fertile soil of Belize, a gorgeous little English-speaking country in Central America, indubitably enjoying myself, indulging in the national brew and reflecting on how I got here…physically, mentally and even emotionally.

A scarlett macaw ventures out after the rain shower  

The Ultimate Road Trip: BC to Belize

It’s approaching week 12 since I departed on my own personal cross-continental odyssey from British Columbia to Belize in my ‘92 Jeep YJ. Honestly, I just couldn’t sit still any longer. In the white collar world of public relations, where desks and their computer overlords rule the kingdom, I had to get off my duff. “Never lose the grace of motion”, as a wise Mayan once told me.

Central America has always been in my sights. Go due south, without having to cross any great ocean divides, and you’ve got some of the most concentrated critter habitats on the planet. Not to mention the dramatic archaeological remains of countless Mayan civilizations, a staggering number of adventurous pursuits from the gutsy to the serene, and beautiful, friendly home grown people.

In preparation for this trip, which has had no real boundaries or any kind of set time lines (it’s kind of become my travelers MO over the years), I became more of a minimalist than even my current bachelor existence had dictated. I sold the condo, found a good home for my cat, unloaded my furniture and packed the rest away in a closet-sized storage locker. At this stage of the game it was just me, the Jeep and my bank card.

Setting off from a crisp, snow-capped Silver Star Ski Resort on Boxing Day, with only the soft top to keep out the elements, a wool blanket bundled around my legs and a Christmas survival pack from Mom, the speedometer went from 166,000+ kms to 174,000+ kms in 10 days.

The Coolees of Washington State 

The Jeep and I held our own through southern BC, Washington and Oregon that first day and into the frigid night for a total mileage count of about 1,200 kms. It was kind of like going from Vancouver to Calgary for Christmas…sometimes treacherous but mostly doable. Besides the total frisking of my Jeep and I at the US border crossing, it was a pretty satisfying day of determined driving. I even crossed the 45^th parallel, the exact equal distance between the north pole and the equator.

Foot note: Funny enough, I had left that morning from Vernon, BC and by the time I was ready for some much deserved shut eye near midnight, I had inadvertently cruised into a sleepy little Oregon town called Mt. Vernon where I finally spent the night. Trippy.)

Racing for Vegas

The next day’s ambitious highway itinerary took me through the scenic, low-lying mountain parks of Oregon into the craggy and desolate Nevada landscape, past row upon row of military tents in the many outposts along the highway, past an endless parade of red, jagged rock formations, all the way to the king of the desert, Las Vegas.

That leg of the trip cost the Jeep nearly 1,300 kilometres of scorching hot, 130 km/hr engine wear and a couple of gallons of used up motor oil. My wear and tear on that stretch of road was numb fingers from white-knuckling the wheel for more hours than I could count, strained eyes from squinting at passing headlights through the glare of my archaic windshield at night, and getting a stiff dose of reality for just how far 800 US miles across a mostly barren countryside could really be.

The Convoy Begins

It was in the heart of that madness known as the Las Vegas strip that I hooked up with the first installment of my new transcontinental posse: Michael, Elly, their grown daughter Jess (who happens to work for George Stroumboulopoulos of CBC’s The Hour...arguably the coolest talk show in Canada!), her friend MC, and Karl, our resident “junglesexual” (kind of like a metrosexual but they prefer to live in the bush) who I’ve come to know as Jambola or Jam for short.

Driving into the apex of Vegas at night, with no friggin’ idea of where I was going, was one of the most hair-pulling, curse-your-face-off driving experiences of the trip. My hellish travail didn’t last long though, having to unceremoniously break some of the cardinal rules of the road just to survive and find my people. But with a gazillion cars on the strip and no crash-free zone to gather my wits, I consider myself lucky to have the side panels of my Jeep still dent-free and no Vegas-style road rage incidents to tell stories about.

Mexico Here We Come…

It was like we were rally driving. Michael was usually in the lead with the Landcruiser, and the prevailing attitude was: put on as many miles as possible, drive as much as you can at night, don’t dilly-dally, don’t crash, and make sure you have some good stories to tell at the end of the day.

We sailed through New Mexico (where I had to use cat like reflects to dodge a flying bbq hurtling through the air at us at 125 kilometres an hour from the back of a pickup truck), across the hot, rugged plains of Arizona and into Texas, home of the 80 mile/hr speed limit, the road kill capital of America.

By San Antonio, our caravan had grown to eight adventurous people in four sturdy vehicles with the arrival of Duncan-based Matt and Arlene, who drove a Forerunner down from Vancouver Island, and picked up a 32-foot long, extra wide motor home, dubiously called Rex, from a dealer in Pheonix.

Together, we were about to embark on the infamous driving conditions of beloved Mexico, where the faint of heart have no sane reason to get behind the wheel. Where the more formal rules of the road are tossed out like a discarded cigarette butt out the window. Where cars older than 15 years are not eligible for insurance, yet they’re everywhere you turn, dodge and weave.

But being the tease that I am, that’s another installment on Wild4life.org…check back in soon for the excitement of the Mexican driving experience and beyond…

Until next time,

Mark is…Wild4life.org

Wildlife of Belize

Since arriving here in January, the Better in Belize Team has spotted the following animal species either on a trek or sitting right in the backyard: Peccaries (wild boar), jaguarundis (small jungle cat), mantis (like praying mantis), python and other snakes, howler monkeys, coatis (Central America’s raccoon), geckos, tarantulas, iguanas, bats, butterflies, nurse sharks, sting rays, moray eels, baracudas, fire flies, feral dogs and cats, cave fish, frigate birds, vultures, pelicans, toucans and dozens of other exotic birds to many to mention.

What a country!

Intrepid Adventures at Wild4Life

Wassup all you children of the wild?

Welcome to the very first posting on my new blog site Wild4Life.org! (By all means add it to your favourites if you enjoy it.)

Although I hail from beautiful Vancouver Island, Canda, a writer and photo journalist by trade, I am presently creating a new life for myself in Cayo, Belize. It’s a spectacular part of the world with more than its fair share of natural treasures, a potpourri of colourful and gregarious people, and plenty of opportunities, especially with regards to eco-friendly pursuits. As my contribution to making the world just a little bit better place to live in, I’m part of what is best described as the Better in Belize Team.

True story: Eight of us in the Better in Belize Team, who were drawn together by a sense of adventure and new opportunities, drove down from the West Coast of Canada to the Caribbean Coast of Belize starting Christmas Day. It took 10 days of often rally-like driving conditions through four countries (all the stories you’ve heard about driving in Mexico are true, no offense to Mexico) in a motorized entourage aptly named TJ the Jeep, Lucky the Landcruiser, Fiona the Forerunner and Rex, the bulky yet nimble 32-foot Pheonix motor home. We racked up nearly 8,000 kms and dozens of often hair-raising stories to tell on that road trip of a lifetime! You’ll be happy to know we all made it relatively unscathed but with much more character.

On a personal level, my current goals are to grow the number of countries I’ve traveled to (I’m at 18 if you’re curious), to capture the essence of Belize and other stunning destinations around these parts with my Nikon, to become a more successful entrepreneur, and to meet as many of my fellow traveling Earthlings as possible. Call me selfish, but the reason for this web site is to make it easier for me to connect with you.