International Mankini Challenge

It`s with great pleasure that I can tell you that STA Travel has chosen to follow my progress on the International Mankini Challenge.

Through STA Travel Buzz, a forum that shares travellers tales from across the web, I have been selected as one of the STA Explorers, tagged ‘Mankini on a Mission`.

Hopefully this will encourage some more people to take up the International Mankini Challenge!

Nicaragua has many great places to see and things to do. You can surf in San Juan del Sur, climb volcanoes on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua, dive in the Corn Islands, board down a volcano in Leon or… run with the bulls in Granada!?

Generally when picking locations to Mankini within countries I do one of three things: 1) Ask other travelers and friends who have been to the country before, 2) Check the Lonely Planet Guide or 3) Ask you guys! Nicaragua however is proving to be a tough one. Not because there´s not a lot to do, but that so far suggestions don´t seem suitable or haven´t quite worked out.

With a number of countries to go on the current leg of the International Mankini Challenge an idea like surfing or diving in a Mankini has to be reserved for countries with few other notable features, like maybe El Salvador or Belize for instance (no offense El Salvador. I´m sure once I arrive I´ll find things other than surfing to see and do. Likewise Belize, I´m sure there´s more than the Blue Hole). While Ometepe Island has two big volcanoes that dominate the landscape, it´s rainy season now and so visibility is poor and therefore was scrubbed from the list. Volcano surfing in Leon is a definite possibility, but with a friend now on crutches for the rest of her travels after she tried, it does make you a little skeptical! So when Granada, famed for its architecture, was having a bull run through the city, a la Pampalona, as part of the fiesta of the Patron Virgen de la Asuncion (sorry, I have no idea what the festival is in aid of), I thought ´great, what a Mankini opportunity this is!´

As I wandered down to the start with Abbey, my faithful photographer, I voiced some concerns that had popped into my head once the initial excitement had subsided. As I´ve said before, when doing any Mankini of a country I consider security (chance of arrest), the audience (e.g. will children be about), danger (to both me and Mankini) and the chance of rain (due to Mankini shape holding issues). With the whole town shut down for the festival so everyone could attend, the National Policia out in force, evil laughs by locals as they made horns on their heads with their fingers and dark clouds gathering, the alarm bells were ringing!

These alarm bells were both fortunately and unfortunately proved to have a sound foundation. Before the bull run had even started the Policia banned a friend in a Lion suit to run with it on.

Granted it had a furry penis, but I´m sure children have seen plenty of animals fornicating in these parts. With the threat of handcuffs being issued, running in a Mankini was put in some doubt. This doubt was confirmed once we saw the bulls and the mayhem that ensued!

With thousands of people, from infants to grandparents, lining the streets, a false sense of security on our behalf was established. This was quickly wiped away as the bull came striding down the street chased by a pack of people on horses and others on foot armed with branches trying to whip the bulls behind and get away. Unfortunately, for the people on foot at least, they weren´t always successful in the last part.

Unlike Pampalona, the streets aren´t all walled for a natural route. The bull could pretty much go where it wanted, taking any street it deemed appropriate. Limited control was exercised by ´cowboys´with lassos to guide it down the course. To add to the chaos there wasn´t just one bull running, but about six in total that were let out of a truck when the guys in the truck had either lost a bull down a side street, got one tangled with ropes round a tree or just wanted to spice things up a little!

This resulted in people fleeing en mass to try and get out the way of the bull. Anyone and everyone was trampled in the hysteria to get away. The smell of adrenaline was high. To try and have achieved a Mankini picture/video of this would have bordered on suicide. Indeed, having seen one person and a horse killed myself, and hearing after that four people in total died, it turned out to be a good decision not to have tempted fate.

My thoughts today are with those who lost loved ones, as tomorrow I turn my thoughts to Leon, and boarding down a volcano in the Mankini.

You voted for me to Mankini Costa Rica on a zip-line, so that´s exactly what I did, on the countries longest line, Monteverde Extremo – 2250 feet long and 450 feet high! Let me tell you though, a harness and Mankini really shouldn´t be mixed!

Having listened to you guys about where you wanted to see the Mankini pictures taken, I also listened to those who commented on the International Mankini Challenge Facebook Group about the ´offensive pubic hair´ on display, and so undertook some manscaping. With this being a delicate operation I invested in a ´Top Quality Instrument´(see the picture below) to do the job. I hope the results are to your liking?

With it being rainy season here in Central America I was pleased to arrive at a sunny and clear skyed canopy tour location as the Mankini really doesn´t hold shape well in the wet. For those unfamiliar with a canopy tour, this one consists of 16 metal lines of various lengths and heights that are attached to trees. You are then essentially strapped onto the line via your harness (which is around your waist and groin region) and slide down the line from one platform to another.

With there being 16 lines I took 13 runs fully clothed to get used to what I had to do. Genital safety was paramount here! After number 13 I explained to the instructor I needed to get out my harness, change and then put it back on. He seemed a bit confused by this and a little unsure; that was until I showed him the Mankini strap under my clothes.

With two practise runs in my Mankini on shorter lines I was ready for the big guy, 2250 feet and 450 feet high over a lush green valley – the longest zipline in Costa Rica. The practice runs were a great chance for me to understand the harnesses benefits (keeping the Mankini in place) and shortfalls (chafing intimate areas). They were also a good opportunity for my photographers, the newly employed Nick from LA (US), and Mankini veteran of Colombia, the San Blas Islands and Panama, Abbey, to get their eyes in.

The one thing I didn´t really comprehend about big number 16 was that I´d be doing this one like Superman i.e. front first hung underneath the line, much to the amusement of the guides.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the video!