International Mankini Challenge

It´s with great excitement that I draw your attention to the report on the BBC website on September 1st 2009: ´Lexicographers prefer a mankini´. Yes that´s right people, the word ´Mankini´ is now in the dictionary!

One of 267 new words added to the new edition published on September 3rd 2009, it´s great to see recognition for this small piece of neon nylon. We can only hope that having been welcomed into the literary world more people will see sense and take up The International Mankini Challenge. If a Mankini is now acceptable in the library, why not on the street, in the park, at various tourist attractions …. the list goes on.

It´s official, the Mankini exists!

Adidas say Impossible is Nothing, but have they really researched this to the full? Because hiking in Parque Imposible, near the town of Tacuba in El Salvador, is definitely something! Just ask Manolo who runs Imposible Tours and whose guides made it possible for me to Mankini El Salvador on the Las Vistas tour.

Having been disappointed not to get the Mankini shot in Playa El Tunco, in the heart of El Salvador´s surf region, due to a poor swell and many a jellyfish (I have stings to prove this), my options were limited. I’d already visited Alegria, the beautiful town that is El Salvador’s highest and where its volcanic lagoon could have been an option, and Perquin, where the then rebel FMLN were based during the 13 year civil war and where a great museum is located. And so without having seen another traveler for a week I relied on the travelers bible, The Lonely Planet, to provide the solution – Tacuba, specifically Parque Imposible, an hour from the Guatelmalan border (and my next stop).

Tacuba is a quaint small town on the doorstep of the privately owned Parque Imposible. With a name like this how could it not be a justifiable location for the Mankini shot? Upon arriving at Hostal de Mama y Papa, Manolo’s family home, we perused the variety of tours on offer and picked Las Vistas. According to the information it provided both great views and a tough hike. We weren’t to be disappointed.

After a hearty breakfast, myself and Joe, my trusty new photographer (after Abbey’s departure to Colombia), set out with Miguel our guide for what would turn out to be a strenuous 7 hour trek. In the nine months I’ve been away I’ve hiked in many a country and on various terrains. While Las Vistas wasn’t the most tiring of hikes, it was defiantly one of the most precarious under foot. And with it being rainy season the mud and tree roots became all the more slippy and the sheer drops we frequently navigated beside looked all the more daunting. However we didn’t let this deter us and clambered on regardless.

The pictures you see on the link below were taken at our lunch spot that overlooks Parque Imposible. Later on the cloud rolled in and limited our views. Again, while this may not be as impressive a shot as those taken at The Lost City in Colombia, or look as dangerous as the World´s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia, these shots took work to get. I challenge anyone to do that hike and tell me that Parque Imposible is Nothing! See the pics here.

N.B. The pictures of me waving my hands about are because I got atacked by a load of flies as we tried a different view!

The International Mankini Challenge is all about firsts. So visiting a country currently in the midst of a military coup, such as Honduras, presented me with a great opportunity – the first Mankini-ing of a country under military rule. The only problem was where and how?

Ask people to tell you something about Honduras and they are likely to say “the military have staged a c

As I told you in my last post, Nicaragua was proving a tough nut to crack. And with Leon my final stop before the journey to Honduras, the pressure was on to Mankini Nicaragua by boarding down the Cerro Negro Volcano, all 728m of it!

Traveling from Matagalpa, known for it’s great little organic chocolate factory (El Castillio del cacao) and it’s coffee region (Selva Negra offers hikes and tours), I was a little worried. Not only was the pressure on because Leon was my last chance to Mankini Nicaragua, but I’d been stuck in bed for two days with a high fever and diarrhoea and thus had delayed my bus journey for a day. As you can imagine, with the territory the Mankini tends to tread, a bout of the runs is the last thing you need!

Fortunately my current able photographer, Abbey, works in healthcare (when she’s not travelling or taking pics of me in the Mankini) and was able to patch me up. Whilst I was in good enough working order when we arrived, the opportunity to wear the Mankini in the ring at a local cock fight (pardon the expression) had to be passed upon. However we signed up with the Bigfoot Hostel for the volcano boarding the next morning, despite mates saying I couldn’t, or shouldn’t, attempt it in the Mankini.

Having taken the truck out to the Cerro Negro volcano and climbed up with our boards and protective suits under our arms, taking in the sulphur vents and crater on route, we gathered at the summit of the 41 degree slope we were to board down. The laughing and joking notably subsided and everyone listened intently to the briefing on how to safely navigate down to the bottom as quickly and safely as possible. What had taken us 45 minutes to climb would take us less than a minute to descend thanks to speeds of up to 80 KM/H being reached!

The plan was that I’d go last so that I didn’t hold anyone up getting the videos and pictures I needed. It was also in the plan for me to change into the thick orange protective jumpsuit at half way before the fast and most dangerous section kicked in. However plans are supposed to be flexible right?

Kicking off from the top I felt a lot more confident and comfortable than I had been peering over the edge with the advice of my friends ringing in my ears. I was in full control of the board and its speed, and though I knew that could all change in a second if I hit one of the larger volcanic rocks, I was pretty sure I could control any mishaps and minimise any injuries. What I couldn’t control though was the amount of lava rock that was gathering in the ‘gusset’ of the Mankini (you see evidence of me clearing this out at the end of the video below). While my goggles protected my eyes, nothing was protecting my… Mankini!

At half way I stopped and convinced the chasing guide that I’d be fine doing the whole thing in the Mankini. To be honest I’d have felt a fraud if I’d only done the top section, and so I kicked on again into the fast section. Unfortunately this didn’t quite go as I planned. Hitting a big rut early on sent my board off in one direction with my weight going the other. A corrective leg was thrown off the side of the board to try and right my angle of descent, however an over correction on my part meant that the whole of the fast section was a battle to stay straight and fully planted on the board.

I was met by a generous round of applause from my co-volcano boarders, who recognised that coming down a 728m rock covered slope in little more than dental floss was a decent, if not weird, achievement. However I was disappointed I hadn’t brought out a big finish and been able to fly down the ‘fast’ section to register a surprisingly fast time on the speed gun.

Nevertheless, I achieved what I set out to and I hope you enjoy the video below as evidence of Nicaragua having been Mankinied!

See the pics here

N.B. My thanks must go to Joe Smith who I met volcano boarding in Leon and who edited various videos taken on the day to make the one you just watched!