Hitchiking down the Carretera Austral in Chile

Fall was almost over and I needed to get down south as soon as possible. There were only 2 ways to get to Southern Patagonia; down the Ruta 40, which traverses all of Argentina parallel to the Andes mountain range or down the famous Carretera Austral, a road that runs about 1240 km from Puerto Montt to Villa O´Higgins in Chile. Either one seemed like an interesting journey. I heard from other travellers that the Carretera Austral had more beautiful sceneries but that it was hard to go through it because of the number of disconnected remote villages, reduced number of buses and road problems.

I had just came back from beautiful Parque Nacional Los Alerces in Argentina, the park bordered the Chilian border at Esquel, a medium sized town located at the footsteps of the Andes. I had options to go either way but I decided before hand that I would hitchike all the way down south and see what happened. It was my goal, even if it would take several weeks, it was my target and I refused to do otherwise. I had never hitchiked before and it was something I always wanted to do. Many people today think negatively of hitchiking, but I wanted to reduce this prejudice and believe in the good of humans. Furthermore, I think against the widespread opinion that hitchhiking isn’t just bumming. It means also “Giving” like “Taking” to me.

So anyways there I was on the side of the road in Esquel, Argentina with my thumb up in the air and my backpack down near my feet. Up ahead, I could distinguish 2 road signs, on the left one it was written on the right it was written I was more in favour of the
second one so I tried only to put my thumb up when a Chilian licence plate showed up. That ended up being harder than I thought so I went to a nearby store and bought a piece of paper and a pen and wrote After about one hour, one Argentinian fellow stoped and told me that he would bring me closer to the border. He brought me close but I noticed that there was very few traffic going in this direction. I got a second ride from a Bolivian couple that worked on one of the many farms in the area. They were very friendly but unfortunatly the ride was only about 10minutes long. The next ride was really hard to get, I had to walk about 10km with my 25kilo travel bag on my back. I finally got to this small restaurant and ordered some food, I was starving, I only brought some bread and was pikking apples on the trees to satisfy my hunger. Many cars passed by the restaurant and none of them stopped. I had an idea, why not propose some Mate (a Tea that is drinked out of a special cup, very popular with Argentinians and people that life in Patagonia) for passing drivers! So I made myself a sign that said witch translates into South with some mate! It worked! Unbelievable! The first car passed by and took me, it was an argentinian couple that were heading to the border for some paper work. Nice! It was pretty funny because they did not converse much, they were only really asking me for mate. I did not care as long as I got to the border with no problems. After leaving me at the border, I walked for 3kms and crossed into Chile. Here I made friends with a border officer that was warning people about some sort of bad algae that distroyed rivers. He talked to several people that were crossing and this Chilian ended up picking me up on the back of his pickup truck. An epic journey, going down through the mountains was amazing. I was just chilling on the back of his truck, with my shades on, taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, I could not ask for more! I stayed the night camping outside in the small town called Futaleufu. Here I met some cool Canadians that were biking the entire Carretera Austral, pretty intense stuff! The next morning, I started my hitch again, I waited for a while here, at least 4 hours until finally this local Chilian picked me up and dropped me in the middle of nowhere 40kms down the road. Here I had to walk to the scorching sun for 2 hours, until this group of young Chilians picked me up, they were really cool, they worked as rafting guides in the Futaleufu river, one of the best in the world for rafting. One of them had just broken his arm that day. They dropped me off next to their home and told me that if I did not get a ride, I could camp out in their garden. But I got lucky, after 20minutes, these 2 americans, father and daugher picked me up, they had actually passed by me one time and did not pick me up but they recognized my peace sign that I always did to every single passing driver. A trick I learned from an Argentinian guy in Esquel. The hitchiking angel had fallen on my head…they drove me on for the rest of the day until 9pm, some 300kms! We got to this small desered town called Cerro Castillo. It was raining hard when we got there. I said my goodbyes and tried to find a farm to camp at. It was pretty hard to put my tent up, raining, all wet and the wind was strong, southern Patagonia was approaching! I was happy and excited, probably because I get such a nice hitchike. I stayed the night in my tent, woke up the next morning, no rain, I bought bread and coffee from the farmers and thanked them to let me put my tent on their property. I got my next hitch pretty easily from a park guard. He wasnt all that into talking but played some great argentinal beats in his truck. He drove me pretty far actually, I must have fallen asleep because we got to the main city on the Carretera austral called Coyaique. Here I bought some supplies, food and got to rest in a warm coffee shop for a couple of hours. I tried to hitchkike that afternoon but it was nearly impossible and the sun was about to set. I went to a private camping group, made a nice fire and cooked some pasta. I got a ride the next morning from a tour bus, luckily, the driver did not want me to pay and drove me all the way to Rio Tranquillo. Here I set up camp straight away so I could take advantage in touring the area. This place was pretty sweet, there were nice walking paths that led to viewpoints were magnificent Lago Carretera could be observed. The camping ground was owned by 2 guys, father and son, they also worked as guides and owned a couple cows. It got really cold at night so they let us stay in their home. Here I met more bikers that were doing the entire 1200km road. 4 french people from Paris that already travelled the world, a japanese guy and 3 brits. It was surprising to see the number of people doing this.

I got my last 2 hitchikes to make it to the border crossing with Argentina. Here I took a bus to El Chalten down the ruta 40.

In the end, I thought my hitchiking journey to the Carretera Austral deserved an entry of it’s own as it has been pretty epic. Hitching is not only the most inexpensive means of transport but also the most social one, The intimate atmosphere in the car guarantees almost always a friendly conversation! I would recommend it to anyone!

Los Alerces – Connecting with Mother Nature

Parque National Los Alerces, Esquel, Argentina

I hitched out of Epuyen to reach Esquel, the gateway town to Parque National Los Alerces. This National Park was created in 1937 to protect the “lahuán” or larch, typical and massive tree of the Andean-Patagonian flora. It is also the largest alerce forest of Argentina. Alerce is one of the longest-living trees in the world; some in the park are around 3,000 years old, with many of them over 1,000 years…

I reached Esquel in the late afternoon. Set up camp in an abandonned camping site. Esquel was nothing special, very dusty with unpaved roads it looked like a cowboy town from the wild west. It did however have the epic old patagonian express train line that runed through the foothills of the Andes between Esquel and El Maiten in Chubut Province and Ingeniero Jacobacci in Río Negro Province. Apparently pretty important in historical context as it was once described as the railway at the end of the world.

Anyways, I got up early the next day to catch a small bus to the park. On the way, there was a sweet and irresistible smell from the wild trees. We kept driving into the woods, leaving civilization behind. The sound of the river was getting closer and the birds kept singing their melodies which gave me a warm welcoming feeling. I could feel that this park was special but special in what way? I had to figure it out…

Parte Sur – Around midday, I got to the camping site and planned my first 8 hour day hike. I started in a wild bushy zone, then a bamboo forest and finally to open fields underlying huge mountain peaks. Towards the top of the mountain, I was albe to see the magestic lago Futaleufuken. Calm, blue water, reflecting other mountain ranges. It was a hard ascent so I refreshed in cold glacier water. Was not over yet! needed to reach the top…no track but had to be done! A dangerous climb on unstable rock but so rewarding, you can’t even imagine…the most amazing place I have ever been too…

The sun was going down fast, not good! I did not want to get stuck up here so I rushed down the mountain as fast as possible, so fast my ears popped from the descent. Felt like I was part of a native tribe trying to kill and capture a large animal with my bamboo stick.

Powerful climb, touched some glacier snow, admired extreme Andean landscapes, swam in ice cold water, learned a lot about the flaura and fauna of the region. It was a start, a start to my journey down Patagonia and a start to my connection with wildlife and nature.

Parte Norte – The next day, I walked to the northern part of the Park. Reached a very basic camping site. A perfect place, next to a lake, peaceful, no one in miles. A place made of lakes surrounded by cypress carpeted hills, lenga and coihue woods, as well as lots of rivers and streams that begin and end in these lakes, conforming a beautiful lacustrine system. I set up camp with Christian, a local argentinian, whom I met on the previous trek. Stayed here for 3 days. A short stay in the middle of nature. Cooking on fire, hearing animals at night, having simple conversation about life, waking up to a heard of wild horses…a special place. Eye openning, a feeling of change and enlightment.

Trekking Hielo Azul

For my 24th birthday, I thought it would be a good idea to go on a 60km, 4 day treck in the central andes. I wanted it to be a small solo getaway and a birthday to remember.

On Friday, I took the afternoon bus from Epuyen to el Bolson. El Bolson was a small town, were many hippies settled during the 1970’s and 80’s. It is located at the foot of Piltriquitron Mountain, in the southwest of Río Negro Province, Argentina. With an unlimited number of organic markets to choose from, small handycraft shops and camping stores, the town itself was very charming and trekking friendly. Most of the houses were made out of wood, resembling swiss chalets in the alpes and there were plenty of mountain refugios and clubs were you could get all the information needed to go trekking. I got my 4 day supplies of food and snacks for the trek, mainly rice and onions for dinner, tuna for lunch and bread for breakfast.

The first walk was a hard 8 hours uphill climb with a 900meter ascent. Under the hot summer sun, many people were unable to continue. Water was also unavailable so you had to make sure you had enough liquid to replenish those lost liquids. The trail was relatively well marked and passed through a forest populated with cypress and ñires trees. It was pretty difficult and demanded great physical effort, especially when carrying a 25kg backpack full of supplies for 4 days.

After 7 hours, I reached river Teno, bordering the beautiful Refugio Hielo Azul. The refugio was surrounded by a forest of large crystalline stream lengas and Teno. The warmth of the shelter and hot tea that was served to us was well worth the effort.

The next morning, I was off to the next refugio, a 6 hour walk across a moutain plateau with lakes, glaciers and beautiful mountain ridges. I joined a group of Brazilian travellers for the walk. We went up to the glacier together and had lunch up there. A splendid view, with other peaks in the distance. We finished the day with a short walk along a dry riverbed, then a sharp climb on rocks near the side of a river with waterfalls. From the refugio we were able to see a frozen lake and the glacier Hielo Azul. That night was a night of mate, vino tinto, bread, books and long conversations. Dinner was polenta with sauce and cheese, delicious! and a great sleep. I could not ask for more on my 24th birthday. Def a change from all the usual parties in bars and not remembering my bday nights…

It was a painful walk down on day 3. My knees were absorbing all 5 hours of decent… tumbling loose rocks, thorns, sweat and almost no water…we all felt super mushed at the bottom…we needed to cool off. Thankfully, we spotted a river that lead us to a river bed. Here we were able to dive into the cold glaciated river water and appreciated the cooling off. Being alone, all 3 of us screamed with nature’s sounds and for that moment in time, connected with mother nature. We had conquered the mountain, appreciated its natural beauty and put all of our effort into it…a trek and birthday to remember for sure!

I hope to update everyone on my following treks in Patagonia. My next stop will be Esquel to Parque National Los Alerces.

Suerte to all of you!

Farming it up in the Patagonian Andes

From Puerto Madryn I took another overnight bus to Epuyen, a small town on the footsteps of the Patagonian Andes. Epuyen was recognized for its apple, cherry and red fruit home made marmelades. Many organic Charcas (farms) produced dulces and sold their products on nearbye markets. The people were very friendly, open minded and lived a simple heathy life. Opportunities for walks, runs and treks were endless. Getting off the bus, I was greated by this small, beared man who looked like he had worked the land for a long time. His name was Gabriel, my host on the farm. He drove me to his farm on his oldruned toyota pick up truck. We drove through other farms and into wide open fields used for grazing. His farm was very well kept. It was very hard to follow him because he carried a strong spanish accent. After serving me some mate, he showed me around the farm.

Tailken farm, Epuyen
The farm I worked on had 9 small market units. All fruits and vegetables. Very well taken care of and all irrigated through a central underground pipeline. I was really surprised how this small organic farm was maintained so professionally. Among the vegetables there were 3 different kinds of green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, raddishes, potatoes, squash, pumkins, salads, and celery. The main fruits that grew on the farm were cherries, apples, strawberries and prunes. Gabriel also had 4 chickens, one male roster and 6 baby chicks. He also had 14 sheep which he used their feces as organic fertilizer.

My daily tasks varied day by day. Very flexible, I worked an average of 4 hours per day whenever I wanted. Usually waking up pretty early because of the roster doing his morning duties. I always had my morning fresh bread with the farm´s jam and some mate as a hot drink. Mornings were usually cold so that made it extra hard getting out of bed but after 11am, the sun was sometimes unberable and I had to take many water breaks to reduce the chance of dehydration.

Semana 1 – learning farming basics, picking vegetables, trying to understand what the heck the farmer was asking me…Picked some cucumbers (2 types) Gabriel, the farmer showed me which ones were ripe and wich ones weren’t. He also showed me the art of weighing, conserving and preserving the vegetables. At night, in my little private hut, I memorized some spanish vocab and read the organic farming manual. It seemed like I needed to make my own food. Alright with me because there were plenty of vegetables to be picked and eaten! Breakfast: one piece of bread with home made dulce and mate. Lunch: usually 1 or 2 fresh eggs with a soup. Dinner: Rice with vegetables. Went down to el Bolson a few times with Gabriel in his pickup truck…sold his other old school van and was very happy about it, he kept on telling me “Muy Bonito!” and I just smiled and replied “Si, es muy bonito!”

Semana 2 – First week was pretty hard, I had to get used to waking up early to work, food was very basic and I got hungry all the time and it took me a while to understand rural argentinian spanish. Starting week 2, I met Gabriel’s employee, Freddy. He was an expert in cutting out strawberry thorn branches and placing them around young growing fruit trees. I started getting used to early working hours and my new vegetarian diet. Going on long evening runs helped me sleep at night. Thinking of having my own little vegie garden later…Its pretty nice to eat what you grow!

Semana 3 y 4 – A mix of jobs: more picking, making dulces at night, cutting out bad plants, gathering the sheep…Got a few electric shocks while working on the digging of random holes in the garden.

My favourtite activity was picking fruits and vegetables. As it was harvest season their was plenty of pickings to be done almost everyday. My other main task was making home made dulces. After cutting up the red fruits, I mixed 1 litre of water for every 1kg of fruit. The fruits were heated up for a good 3 hours in a large pot, after that I added the required sugar amount and stired slowly the entire batch for another 20minutes. Finally the best part was to add all this warm fresh dulce to individual glass jars. Theses were then sold on the market for 14 pesos each.
Unfortunatly picking was not the only task. Digging random holes, cutting down spiky vegetation, bringing back the sheep to the farm, taking out bad herbs and getting stung by bees were the other tasks on the farm. Some more enjoyable than others of course. I did remember this one day were I was digging out small tree trunks out of the earth for about 6 hours in the hot burning sun. Another day, I had to machette these huge spiky plants with thornes the size of a baby´s finger. I then had to place these evil plants over baby trees for their protection. A pretty bad experience, I had thornes stuck into every part of my body. Even the thick working gloves were no match to these devil plants. The worst part was that I had to handle them with care so they could be used on the trees. But honnestly, it was a great experience even though I had some hard days. Eating fresh produce every single day, 3 times a day was worth it! Working the land and eating from it changes your perspective on the food you consume. In our society we have become addicted to all these packaged foods and processed meats full of msgs, additives and conservatives. Eating fruits and vegetables localled grown is now a thing of the past for much of modern society. Im glad I was able to work on an organic farm for 3 weeks and enjoy fresh organic food. I hope to keep this going when I get back to montreal. So to everyone, buy locally and make sure you eat plenty of fruits and veggies!

Ciao Ciao de Epuyen, Chubut, Argentina

Down the Atlantic coast to Puerto Madryn

After 2 weeks in busy Buenos Aires, I headed down the Argentinian Atlantic Coast. My first stop was Mar del Plata, a 5 hour bus drive from Downtown BA. You had to be careful in the retiro bus terminal in Buenos AIres…I did keep a eye on people and held my bags close, especially after talking to this Korean girl who got both her bags stolen in broad daylight. When I got to the station, it was chaos, over 300 bus companies, with destinations all over South America! I should have planned and looked online, too late! I walked like an idiot for 2 hours trying to find the bus company that tailored the Atlantic coast. Finally, Argentino Rapido, the company to Mar del Plata. I upgraded myself to full cama, why not! for an extra 10 us dollars, I had to see this high class bus suit that everyone was talking about. Ohh I can tell you, it was def worth the extra few bucks! you had full retractable seats, a complementary lunch and all you can drink tea or coffee, not too bad for a 30 us dollar ride down the coast!
The seats where so damn confortable that I slept most of the way and missed some potentially valuable scenery.

Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata, here I was, no plans really, just wanted to enjoy and relax at the beach for a while. I was really surprised how busy it was. It got even busier when I got on the main street while trying to find a hostel for a couple nights. At one point I was actually dodging people. It seemed like the Capital had migrated 400kms south. I looked for the first Hostel, one room left, I went for it. Nice hostel, basic. A group of French people in my room, we exchanged stories over wine and cigarrettes. Went to the beach the next day. Way too crowded, I needed to get the hell out ouf of this place. Too many tourists, food sellers all over the place, noise and lots of fumes from local buses…it was a mad coastal resort, similar to the south of france or Ibiza in the busy summer times.

I woke up early to catch the first bus to Bahia Blanca, not much charm to this place but it was one of the main bus connection routes that I had to go through before getting to Puerto Madryn. I was unlucky because my bus was at 11pm and it was 9am local time. With time to kill I decided to try and hitch a ride. Several travellers told me this transportation method was easily done in Argentina and Chile. I managed to find a couple sheets of paper and a dark permanent marker. I placed myself next to a petrol station and put my sign up. After 4 hours, lots of traffic but no luck. Got several taxi cabs yelling something to me in Spanish…i guess this wasnt a good place to try this. Went back to the bus station, finished my bookm took a nap and go in the overnight bus to Puerto Madryn.

Puerto Madryn

Arrived early in the morning. I booked a hostel a few minutes from the beach. Amazing place! Huge kitchen, nice rooms, friendly staff and a big outdoor gardn with 2 hamaks. Finally a calm place were I could relax, enjoy good company and tour the Peninsula Valdez. Again more Frenchies…damn they were everywhere. Had drinks and ended up at this small local bar called la Margerita.
In the morning, I was off to the Peninsula Valdez. A natural conservation area, protected by Unesco. Famous for wale watching during the reproduction season from September to December. Unfortunalty, I wasnt in luck but it was alright because their were plenty other creatures to admire in the beautiful place. The entre Peninsula was about 400km, so it took us most of the day to complete it with some stops to observe wildlife. I saw many sea lion colonies, penguins, killers wales and Guanacos, these Lama creatures that jumb around and eat dried grass all day. I loved it! great place to observe marine wildlife in their natural environment.
The following day, we rented a car with 3 other swiss people. The plan was to go to one of the biggest natural colonies of Penguins in the world, Punta Tumbo. A very enjoyable expedition through desert roads. Walked in the middle of hundreds of pinguins. The spectable was both surprising and funny! The site was enclosed by huge rocks and beaches.¨”Des Penguins a perte de vue” incroyable About half a million penguins come to Punta Tombo every year.

2 weeks in Buenos Aires

I was planning on staying in Buenos Aires for 1 week but this wonderful city had so much to offer. I found this simple hostel for 3 nights in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires. San Telmo: Kind of a hippie/bohemian area with lots of small cafes, restaurants, street markets and the famous milongas (tango bars) My first visit in San Telmo was the street market. Very busy market that took place every Sunday of the week from 10am to 9pm. Here you were able to find all kinds of goodies, souvenirs, antiques, pictures, football jerseys, random artifacts and tango music records. It was just plain fun barganing with the local vendors even though you did not need buy anything, especially when travelling so light! With its friendly staff and easy going atmosphere the hostel was perfect for meeting fellow travellers, called Mochilleros in Spanish.

Late dinners and all night parties was one of the main attractions in Buenos Aires. After having some nice steak, cooked on Asado grill with local argentinian wine, we were off to one of the many dancing clubs in the city. You had to make sure you werent in line before 3am, only a couple gato negros before that. The Party always ended around 6 or 7am, heading back to the hostel early in the morning for some coffee and toasted Bread with the traditional marmelade spread called Dulce de Leche. Its a very different lifestyle. Everyone in Buenos Aires is into the “party” and going out scene. Im not sure how people manage to get to work the next day, but they do somehow. Im pretty sure they sleep twice a day and keep up with the caffein intake..they do love their heavily caffeinated beverage called Mate! an addiction amongst Argentinians! A herbal beverage served in a small mug with warm water. It has a bitter taste but in my oppinion it is very easy it get used to. I loved it!

Palermo: Some of the other interesting things I did in Buenos Aires was renting a bike and going around the famous Buenos Aires districts, called Barrios here. The first was Palermo, an upper-class barrio of Buenos AIres, colourful with lots of trees, parks and open areas to relax and enjoy the summer weather. Mostly appartments, nice trendy shops and small outdoors coffee terraces. Cruise biking across the city is a must! I saw many historical and national monuments, including La Casa Rosada and the Congress in the Micro Centro Barrio. La Boca was by far my favourite. The buildings were of all coulours and the streets were all lively with music, shops, markets and tango dancers. This is also the Barrio were one of the most famous football teams in the world is located, The Bocal Juniors. The famous stadium is called La Bomborera, which was a great visit.

In the end, what I thought of Buenos Aires in 2 weeks was that the city was not so much of a culture shock especially after living and travelling around Europe for quite some time. A very busy city, noisy,with its classic large metropolitan attitute, Buenos Aires is either a transit from “l’etranger” to the other touristic destinations in Argentina or it can be the town in which travellers have decided to expatriate themelves for quite some time. For everyone, Buenos Aires will be the most European capital of South America. From Barrio to Barrio, the city opens up, many activities in the micro centro, a sence of nostalgia in the side of San Telmo and la Boca and nice and open in the Palermo district. It was hard for me to appreciate and like Buenos Aires at first but after some time, I fell in love with it… to me, every area of town represented a step in time and it did take time to discover. Everything in this huge city seemed to melt in a busy lifestyle and it will always have many secrets to be disovered.

Montreal to Buenos Aires – Departure

I was finally off on my 2011 South American adventure! I boarded my Air Canada flight from Montreal’s Pierre Elliot Trudeau to Buenos Aires Eiza International with a few stops in between. Total travelling time was estimated to be 17hours, with just over 9900 Kms between the cities. I was getting exited! The first leg was from Montreal to Toronto, then Toronto to Santiago, an 11 hour overnight flight with a 1 hour refueling pitstop in Santiago. In the plane, I was mostly intertaining myself with movies, thinking about my trip and mind mapping what was in my travel 60litre treck pack. I bought a 60lt pack second hand in Vancouver for $45. It was in excellent condition and provided much back confort when fully loaded (the weight was aprox 30kilos). The last flight was from Santiago to Buenos Aires, a 2 hour flight across the Andes. The skies were of clear blue colour and we were flying pretty cloes to the Chilian white peaked mountains. It was a fasinating lanscape and I wanted to see them for myself from down below (that will wait until I get to Northern Chile for some hicking) The range just kept on extending and extending; it never ended… The last flight was over pretty quickly, I arrived in Buenos Aires the next day with only about 3 hours of sleep…I did meet this French entrepreneur living in Montreal at the customs border. I was lucky, he offered me a free taxi ride and gave me plenty of travelling advice. He was heading to the Uruguayian coast, a high-class destination for rich and upper class South American families. It sounded pretty nice but when the prices compared to the south of France, I was like no thanks! I will keep my beach experience for Peru! I was freaking le Tired! He let me check the internet in his nice rented appartment and I wrote down 3 hostel adresses. The first 2 were full, damn! finally found one, pretty sketch and dirty but whatever, I slept the entire day and woke up early the next morning, the starting of my stay in the city of tango, its lively nightlife and beautiful citizens

Mochilla Checklist for 6 months
– Clothling for 3 days
– Swiss Gear Tent and Sleeping Bag
– First aid kit with malaria, anti sickness and aspirin tablets
– Rain Jacket and Rain pants
– Gore Text shoes
– Sandals
– Toiletry stuff (soap etc..)
– Swiss Army knife and tool knife (bottle and can opener included)
– Spork and plastic tupperwear (fit 4 sandwiches or 300 grams of cooked pasta)
– Water Purification Tablets for 350litres of water
– Travel Book, with diary, 2 novels and spanglish dictionary
– Cap and sunscreen (spf 30)
– SLR Camera with trypod
– Universal adapter
– Small towel
– Flash light
– Travel documents

Western Canada for the Winter Holidays

Many consider the western region of Canada to be a place with extreme natural beauty, great mountains, and an easy going population. I had to see the cultural, physical and historical differences within this vast and varied region of Canada for myself. I was off to Vancouver for the winter holidays from the 28th of November to the 30th of December.

My first week in Van City – What I remember the most from my first few days here was how non-poluated and fresh the air was. Breathing the air made me feel good all around and probably gave me more motivation to go running in those vast green forests on the west side of town. I was getting exited for the next few weeks…
While walking around the downtown core, I noticed how young, dynamic and multicultural the city of Vancouver was. Currently ranked 4th for the most livable cities in the world, “Il fait bon vivre” a french saying for good living conditions. With its moderate winter climate, the thermometer rarely went below zero degrees celcius. Hard to compain after living in Montreal for 5 years! It is therefore possible to ski, eat at the bottom of those downtown skyscrapers and relax on the beach all in the same day. It is true because I tried it for myself, I woke up around 9am one day, had breakfast around UBC campus, then headed to wreak beach, where I took some wonderful pictures of the shinny roockie mountains. Around 2pm, I headed back to my friend’s appartment, put on my ski gear and took the bus to Cypress Mountain, one of the 3 local mountains of Vancouver island with Groose and Mt Seymour. Cypress hosteld the 2010 Olympic moguls and half-pipe events. One that ski evening, it started snowing around 6pm, which made the snow nice and soft. It seemed like I was the only one on the slopes, having the chair lift to myself most of the time, I glided through the slopes at great speeds until the station closed late around 10pm…An unbelievable experience to remember!

My second day of ski of the season was in late november. Me and my friend were heading to whistler for the day. It was hard to wake up…5am but it did not matter because the fresh powder and sunny skies were waiting for us…Skiing for the first time in Whislter was out of this world. The plentiful powder was light and dry, you were able to glide through it with no problem; all day! all the time! You must do Whistler at least once in your life if you are into skiing. There is so much terrain, forrests and backcountry to choose from and on top of that you can go get your apre-ski beer at one of the many restaurants and bars the town has to offer.

During my stay in Vancouver, it did rain most of the time so on the occasional nice days, I went running in the vast green forests on the west side of town. It was probably one of the nicest running terrains I ever experienced. There were uphills, downhills, creeks, rivers, huge green trees and the occational little animals walking along the path. While running you could also look to your right and observe the majestic roockie mountains, plunging into the Vancouver bay, a picturesque landscape. Vancouver truely benifits of a execptional geographical situation.The city is at nature’s doorstep, and nature is also found in the city itself. During my stay, I went stanley park, where cyclists and runners train all day.

Walking to the east of the downtown core, the “city of glass” takes the many airs of hong kong. Vancouver is first and foremost a large multicultural city where you will hear mandarin in the morning, persian in the afternoon and english in the evening.

More to come soon…

10-day experience in the UAE

After 20 hours of travelling, I finally arrived at the Abu Dhabi international Airport on the 19th of February 2010. The flight itinerary was Montreal to Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi. I was part of a group of 24 McGill Management Students lead by Professor Karl Moore. This trip was the second part of McGill’s Desautels Faculty “5 Hot Cities of the World Tour” I was looking forward in meeting important governmental officials, CEO’s, professors and getting to discover a new captivating region of the world. How exiting!!

Day 1: I started off the day with a huge big breakfast buffet in our 5 star hotel. The hotel was located next to the Abu Dhabi formula one racetrack. With its modern design, luxury service and steamed showers there was no complaining amongst the students! After packing my plate with about 6 croissants, 3 eggs, 2 pieces of ham and a bit of cheese, seated myself on the outdoor patio next to the swimming pool. Montreal’s forecast for the day was probably snowing, 20km/h wind gusts and temperatures falling to -20C. I definitely was not thinking about that over breakfast when the warm morning middle eastern sun was shinning on my face…glad I brought my Oakley’s on the trip! After breakfast our plan was to visit to the Sheikh Zayed mosque. This was the largest mosque in the UAE and 8th in the world. The mosque opened in 2007 and was named after Sheikh Zayed, the founder and first President of UAE. It was the first time I went to a Mosque. The ladies were required to cover themselves at all times in the mosque with the Abaya. Obliviously the question or issue of oppression was brought up. I think that most of the girls in our group did not feel oppressed in any way having to wear it. Personally for me it was more about respect than anything else. To have a better understanding of the Muslim culture you have to dress modestly and that’s how it is. Obviously for women its much harder but the UAE is not as conservative as other parts of the Middle East. Anyways, the evening activity consisted of a dinner with McGill Alumnis at the Hotel; the menu was Indian food, my favorite! Everyone was pretty tired by then so the night ended early.

Day 2: With a slight change of plans, we had our morning open to sleep and relax by the poolside. We then headed to downtown Abu Dhabi to meet with the Canadian Ambassador, Kenneth Lewis. He gave us an introduction to the UAE, a run-through of its economy, the laws and how living here affected the near 26 000 Canadian expatriates. After this first visit, we went to SNC Lavalin, a Canadian construction company. Here, we received more insights on working in the UAE and to be honest the benefits of working here seem pretty interesting for foreign workers. Additionally, the economy here seemed to be doing very well and private companies were looking for foreign skilled workers to take up positions here. I mean why not…beautiful weather all year round, good pay, a minimum of 6 weeks paid holiday, moving benefits and more…

That afternoon was my favorite part of the trip. We visited Masdar City, the very first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city in the world. Currently in its development phase, it is largely an experiment for renewable technologies. We were lucky to have a full VIP tour and I thought this was amazing! They just finished implementing 3 full football fields of solar panels, which are connected to large solar firms. They also have university and institute for research and development and enough sustainable building space to house over 100 000 people. If you are interested you can see more of this on http://www.masdar.ae/en/home/index.aspx

To complete our wonderful day, we ate dinner at this outdoor Lebanese restaurant and meet some local managers and CEO’s that were working in Abu Dhabi. Most of them told us that Dubai was not that much in trouble and that is was recovering pretty past from the housing bust. Dubai was also diversifying in other key sectors to ensure its economic viability. With a focus on the service and IT sectors Dubai should remain globally competitive and continue to attract skilled foreign workers.

Day 3: Our first visit was at Ethiad Airways. A newer airline company which connects North America, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Australia. Ethiad is taking advantage of its hub location in the middle east to become a hub of the world such as in Singapore. We met with the CEO, CFO and other managers who gave use great insights on the future of the airline industry and a nice VIP tour of the company’s facilities. In the afternoon, we met with the Director of the National, the official Abu Dhabi English language newspaper. The rules of the media are quite different in a place controlled by a monarchy, and news is more about in-depth analysis than breaking news, as everything has to be passed through the government.

Day 4: We went for a very interesting visit to the largest public hospital in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center, managed by the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. As we were listening to one of the hospital’s managers, the afternoon prayer made the visit even more relaxing. We also went to the New Medical Center, a hospital started by a Dr. Shetty, an entrepreneur who owns 26 horizontally integrated businesses and is one of 3 people in the Emirates to have been offered citizenship. In this private hospital, they had a special room for the VIP’s (very important people) and VVIP’s (very very important people). Here, LCD widescreen TV’s with video consols are placed on the walls. The washrooms are painted in gold and have wooden features that make it seem like a French king’s palace. There were also rooms, which are used for the family to discuss the condition of the patient. This is different in Canada as there are laws that don’t allow doctors to disclose information about the patient without their consent. It is therefore important to know that the UAE has very different laws and customs that affect how people do business. Culture has definitely impacted the business climate in this part of the world.

Day 5: Being a relatively new city, the ruler established the country only in 1971 and had a vision for growth and diversification. What I noticed in this city was the amount of construction going on everywhere. Abu Dhabi was growing at a fast pace. Backed by its huge oil supplies it is able to invest in other sectors to further its economic growth and to surpass Dubai. This is were we visited Mubadala, a huge state-owned company that invests the government’s money to deliver a positive financial return. There main activities are the acquisition of new companies, strategically holdings in existing companies, diversify investments and make strategic partnerships. They have invested in energy, telecommunications, aerospace, health care, real-estate and automobile sectors. Emiratization was strongly accepted and seen in this company.

Due to its 85% expatriate population, the local Emiratis are the minority in their own country. The forces of globalization have made their culture harder to preserve because of their position as a global economic hub. Cultural maintenance is therefore a growing concern for local Emiratis as their country is currently managed by a huge influx of foreigners. In response to this, Emiratis has implemented an Emiratization initiative which encourages companies to employ its citizens in a meaningful and efficient manner in the public and private sectors. Results have been seen in the public sectors but the private sector is still lagging behind, with locals only representing 0.34% of the private sector workforce.

Economic Growth in Dubai

Locals (emirates) represent only 15% of the population and own the majority of the firms in the country. Expats represent 85% of the population and consist of occidentals who have the management jobs and of Asians/Indians/ pakistanians who work as construction workers, at the bottom of the social ladder.
Culturaly, I doupt that locals, which represent only 15% of the population, will be able to preserve the traditions and values of the country in the long run. Economically, I believe that the country will not be able to sustain its economic growth if it continues to rely on expats to provide know-how considering these expats need to leave the country when their work visa expires. Can an economy evolve if there is no corporate memory and no internally developed strength? Can a country really thrive on a comparative advantage that it purchases from abroad? I honestly do not think so. People and firms come here to take advantage of the country’s resources and tax regulations (no taxes). The economy heavily relies on expats whose life here is only temporary, which creates short sighted growth strategy. In order to grow in the long run, I feel like the country will have to be more open concerning the residency status of foreigners.
Furthermore, the government of Abu Dhabi seems to be trying to build a comparative advantage in tourism (etihad), medias (two four 24), environment (Mazdar), manufacturing and high tech (according to the Canadian ambassador). I get the impression that by trying to specialize in so many industries, they will simply spread too thin and not be able to build a consistent brand image of the emirate.