International Mankini Challenge

At 28 years old I set out on my first extended backpacking adventure taking in South Africa, South East Asia and California (USA) in a little under five months. At 32 I decided to travel for longer still undertaking the International Mankini Challenge and being an STA Travel Explorer in Latin America and beyond. As I come towards the end of this trip I wonder if this will be my last as a backpacker or if I have any more travelling in me given my age.

In 2006 I left the UK for what turned out to be a great adventure. Compared to a lot of friends my trip was overdue by 6-10 years as they had travelled either side of university. Despite having 6 months free after university before I started on a graduate programme however, I decided to work in the university bar to extend my student life rather than check out STA Travel to see what was on offer overseas. Why you may ask? Because I didn’t have a latent desire to travel at the time and, to be honest, the thought of backpacking around the world scared me.

Nine years on and I wonder if my second trip will be my last as a ‘proper’ backpacker. During my first trip I noticed in hostels, on tours and on the buses in between that I was either the oldest or one of the oldest travellers in my group. This didn’t worry me unduly as I often get aged four years younger than I am and I was still below the magic 30 barrier. Also, aside from the occasional friendly jibe, I was accepted without question by my fellow explorers. Second time around and it’s rare that I’m not the oldest out of the travellers in my posse. While Latin America, especially Central America, attracts a generally older crowd than SE Asia and South Africa, there are still a small number of people in their 30’s travelling.

As I mentioned in my earlier post The changing face of backpacking – travelling in 2009, on this trip I’ve noticed a trend of second time backpackers, like myself, and generally a much larger percentage of older travellers i.e. early 30’s and above. But I wonder if this trend will continue in line with my ageing or if it will soon reach a plateau and I will be considered to old to backpack in the traditional ways?

Now I’m sure there are people out there who will say that you’re never too old to backpack and you can do anything you want no matter how old you are. Others will say mid to late 30’s nowadays isn’t even old. And to those people I would say I largely agree. However for me backpacking is about travelling around the world by staying in hostels (or camping, couchsurfing etc), using public transport (or ridesharing on craig’s list) to get from A to B, not denying yourself any new experiences or opportunities to submerge yourself in a country’s culture (whether that be going to the Carnival in Brazil or Volcano boarding in Nicaragua) and meeting people from all over the world. While using public transport generally isn’t too much of an issue whatever your age, though some journeys I’ve experienced definitely suit the younger and fitter person, there are certain challenges to staying in a hostel and meeting new people and not denying yourself the opportunity to undertake new experiences when you are older.

Whether you’re 18 and just left home, or 21/2 and just finished university, you revel in being away and not having your parents looking over your shoulder. There is a lot that goes on while travelling that never makes its way on to Facebook statuses and twitter feeds for fear of others deeming it not appropriate. From my perspective as a 32 year old, it matters not how old you are, but what you’re like as a person as to whether I want to hang out with you or not when I’m backpacking. But as a younger person the perceived age of someone undoubtedly plays a part in whether you’re invited to the bar or asked if you want to join them on a tour or excursion.

You only have to people watch while in a hostel to see how lone older travellers are treated with a sense of trepidation, and I’m no different from from an 18 year old in this. They are spoken to initially in the same way that a friend of your parents may be. While this is polite, it generally lacks rapour or results in an invite to your current backpacker social group. You’ll often see the older traveller eating on their own, being the one who speaks to the travel guide more than anyone else as they seek some sort of companionship (the guide has to talk to them as it’s their job) and the one who goes to bed early.

Rarely is this treatment malicious, but hostels are seen as a reserve of the young. Questions are asked as to why older backpackers are staying in hostels and not hotels. Unfair stereotypes can also be applied as people shy away from any social interaction or try to limit the amount of time they spend with the more mature traveller. A lot of times this is because younger travellers feel they can’t relax and say and do as they please.

Apart from the opportunity to socialise with fellow younger backpackers in a way that is genuine and not awkward, I wonder whether a lot of the activities I’ve undertaken in Latin America I’d still physically be able to do over a sustained period, or even want to do, in 5 years time. Trekking to the Lost City in Colombia, cycling the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia and climbing up Volcano Villarrica in Chile to name a few (and all wearing the Mankini may I add), is not for the faint hearted. Experiences like this have been a key part of why I love to travel and why I have had such an amazing trip. Like a professional athlete, the idea of undertaking lesser challenges doesn’t hold the same appeal.

And so as I sit here in San Francisco 11.5 months into my trip and after what has been a great two weeks in the United States so far, I’m left to wonder if my first Thanksgiving will be my last as a proper backpacker and if the International Mankini Challenge will have started and ended with this trip or if as a future lone older traveller I’ll be able to find other backpackers to take the pictures without thinking I’m a weird old pervert!

The former British colony of Belize, in Central America, was once famed for being a pirate haven. Now it’s now better known for the diving around its cayes, specifically the world famous Blue Hole and the second largest coral reef in the world. And so the first underwater Mankiniing of a country seemed appropriate.

With only a week planned for Belize (it’s a beautiful, but a little rich for my budget) my main concern was being able to get a dive in. September/October is bang in the middle of hurricane season and so there are few divers around. I had the added challenge of getting an underwater camera and someone to take pictures of me! My fears were to prove unfounded though as I headed out to Caye Caulker with Dan, a Swedish lad I met in Flores (Guatemala), who both wanted to dive and had an underwater camera – thank you Mankini God!

The Blue Hole is a 125m deep sink hole in the Caribbean Sea. Once above water, the Blue Hole was a limestone cave whose roof fell in once sea levels rose and it was submerged. Divers go down to depths of about 40m here to swim through the stalactites and stalagmites and see the Belize Reef Sharks that frequent it. It’s about two hours by boat from Caye Caulker and so Blue Hole dives consist of three tanks, taking in the world’s second largest reef on the other two to make the most of the day.

Heading out with Frenchie’s Dive Shop I was told by the guy on land that the temperature could get a little cold in the hole (so to speak) as we go so deep (sorry, this is loaded with unintentional innuendo). Having never been beyond 31m before, and with there being a very real danger of nitrogen narcosis for Dan (my photographer) and me, it was the obvious decision to concentrate on enjoying the dive and monitoring our depth rather than worrying about getting pictures of me in the Mankini.

While it would have been great to get a shot here, it proved a wise decision. Being at that depth in a 300m wide hole meant the light was pretty minimal and so getting a good picture would have been tough. Add to this an 8 minute bottom time and it would have been a dive that neither of us would really have been able to properly enjoy.

Back onboard the dive boat, with the relief and joy of having completed the famous Blue Hole without incident however, I introduced the Mankini to my fellow divers – much to their amusement. Kitted up I rolled back into the sea to dive Half Moon Caye.

Belize’s diving and snorkeling is some of the best in the world because of it’s abundance of large fish (they eat well here). While this is usually a bonus, with only eye catching neon green lycra between my ‘worm’ and the big hungry fish, I was a little nervous of unwanted aquatic attention and relations – especially from the massive barracuda who aren’t shy and can be aggressive!
To cut a long story short(er) both the dives at Half Moon Caye and The Aquarium were done without any fish related incidents. The only damage done was to my fellow divers’ eyes.

Thanks again to all those involved for making the first underwater mankiniing of a country a reality! And now it’s on to Mexico for the last Mankiniing of my trip in Latin America – arrrrribbbbaaa!

Check out the Belize mankini photo gallery by clicking here.

What started out as a bet by my friends seems to have caught the imagination of the world. Let me share some stats from The International Mankini Challenge (IMC) website.

Number of countries Mankiniied to date – 18 (and 4 more soon to be announced)

Number of people who have taken up the IMC to date – 3 (another couple to be announced soon)

Number of countries from where people have visited the website – 72

Number of new (i.e. doesn´ t include returning) unique visitors per week – 104

Number of sites with links to the IMC – 99

Average time spent on the site – 2 minutes 18 seconds

Average pages viewed – 3

This is a great start, but there´s obviously a long way to go. Thanks very much for your support so far, but please keep telling people about the The International Mankini Challenge and please countinue to show your support by following us on www.twitter.com/mankinimalph, on Facebook by joining the IMC group and on the Mankini on a Mission page at statravelbuzz.co.uk.

Since the International Mankini Challenge went global in June 2009, there´s been a relatively slow take up by you guys to add to my efforts with only Phil Ling from the UK contributing any pictures (by Big Ben in London). This is understandable. However Ireland´s very own Bernard Sloan has also now taken up the challenge.

I met Berno in March 2009 where he was working behind the bar in the Loki Hostel in La Paz, Bolivia. I´d just come back from cycling the World´s Most Dangerous Road in the Mankini and unlike others who shook their heads and said I was mad, Berno just smiled and told me it was a great effort.

Well Berno´s now down in, as he calls it, “Ireland´s 33rd County” – the Cock and Bull Bar in Bondi Beach, Australia. A certain drinks company was having a promotion night with Mankini´s being given away. Everyone was wearing theirs on top of their clothes, but Berno decided he´d contribute to the challenge and wear it properly.

Good on you Berno! Hopefully this won´t be his first and last Mankini endeavour and we`ll be seeing him in other locations around the world in his newly acquired Mankini.

Check out the pictures of Berno in the Mankini here!