International Mankini Challenge

My extended travel around South and Central America may have come to an end, but the International Mankini Challenge lives on and is going from strength to strength thanks to those who have picked up the gauntlet. As more people take up the challenge to wear a mankini in iconic locations in every country of the world, I feel that as the instigator of the madness I should continue to do my bit in achieving our goal. With this in mind the mankini took its rightful place in my backpack on a recent trip to Berlin, the capital of Germany.

For those of you who don’t know, the International Mankini Challenge started when friends challenged to wear a mankini in every country I visited. If the daunting fact of having to wear something that could barely hold a squirrel’s daily nut intake wasn’t enough, as a lone traveller I had to find willing people to take the pictures for me in the 17 countries I visited. I opted for the mankini pictures to be taken in iconic locations so I could prove their country of origin and disprove any alleged cheating. In some places I had the challenge of actually finding an iconic location, but in Berlin there was a wealth of alternatives, such is the variety of things to see in a city with so much history.

Having three days to explore the city started with the All in One City Bike Tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours. This would both give me my bearings and help me identify the best location to get the mankini shot. Having done a bit of research on the things to see and do in Berlin, thanks to SpottedByLocals.com, the bike tour seemed to tick off a lot of the major attractions that are a must do for Berlin.

Berliners are extremely broadminded and trusting people. There are no barriers or ticket inspectors on the underground train system, it’s assumed you’ll buy and validate your tickets from self-service machines. This trust extends to the bars and restaurants too. Fran Rosa is one of four locations where you can drink as much wine as you like, eat a three-course meal and decide how much you pay by dropping the amount in a jar on the bar. And all this from a city that is €84bn in debt. Every niche interest and type of person you can imagine is welcomed into a stirring pot of diversity, never judged or stared at. So wearing a mankini would be nothing out of the ordinary then!

Having enjoyed a great day seeing Berlin’s highlights and getting a great insight into German and Berlin history I decided that the Berlin Wall was to be the place for the mankini shot. Not only does it have Berlin in its title, but its collapse is known throughout the world to have freed swimwear god and Baywatch creator David Hasslehoff’s musical career and line in men’s leather trousers.

On the last day of my Berlin trip I went to the East Side Gallery, in the light rain, for the mankini picture. The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall still standing. On the side facing the old West Germany it displays recreated murals (painted and graffiti) that once appeared along the wall when it stood in its entirety. On the side facing the old East Germany it is blank, as it would have been when the two Germany’s existed (the Berlin Wall consisted of two walls with the so called ‘death strip’ in-between. People seen in the ‘death strip’ would have been shot if seen by East German guards).

I don’t take pictures in places that will offend people or where children are around and so I nipped around the back to the “deathstrip” to get the Berlin Wall mankini pictures you can see here in the mankini gallery.

I hope they put a smile on your face and that one day you make the time to go and visit the fascinating city of Berlin. Please find a list of places I’d recommend you visit while you’re there.

1. Checkpoint Charlie – One of the main checkpoints for going in and out of East Germany. The museum here is a little disorganised, but the free information outside where the checkpoint used to be is good

2. Topography of Terror – The free information at the site of the former headquarters of the Nazi ‘Gestapo’ and SS is interesting (but there is a lot of it)

3. Luftwaffe Ministry The old airforce building is now the German tax building (not the proudest building history), but is located by a good piece of Berlin Wall

4. Reichstag – The old parliament building is impressive and set by a nice park

5. Brandenburg Gate – Crowded but worth seeing as it’s an iconic part of Berlin

6. Arthouse Tacheles – An old bombed out shopping centre that is now home to numerous artists’ studios and is itself an interesting construction

7. C/O Berlin – A great photography gallery which is opposite a bar that serves over 300 different German beers (great for museum/gallery fatigue)

8. Unsicht Bar – A restaurant where you eat in complete darkness and are served by blind waiting staff

Latin America is famed for its natural wonders. There seems to be at least one amazing thing to see in each country. I unfortunately missed out five countries in South America and so the list below may change once I get to travel through Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana and Paraguay.

You’ll also notice that two of the sites listed below were mankiniied as part of the International Mankini Challenge. You can see the mankini pictures in the mankini gallery (of course).

Top 5 Man-made Sights in South and Central America

1. Machu Picchu (from Huayna Picchu), Peru – an incredible feat by the Inca’s in a pretty inaccessible but beautiful landscape (just avoid the security guards if you’re in a Mankini)

2. Christ the Redeemer statue, Brazil – iconic Brazil. The view over Rio is unrivalled

3. Boca Juniors football match, Argentina – watch out above and all around as you get swept up in the ecstasy that is football in Argentina

4. Tikal, Guatemala – you can understand why Star Wars was filmed here, this Mayan masterpiece is like the land that time forgot (again, security aren’t Borat fans here)

5. Potosi mines, Bolivia – the highest city in the world plays host to a breathtaking (literally) silver mine where conditions are tough. Lit dynamite gets passed around for fun …

You can also follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/mankinimalph

Following the great mankini pictures sent in by Flo Areal when he was in Antarctica, the word countinues to spread about the International Mankini Challenge and this week reached Milwaukee in Wisconsin (USA). JB Poplawski heard through his boss, who had seen some details on twitter, about us and sent in a few pictures of his own efforts.

JB told us that he “… wore the mankini for a Cancer benefit called Angel on my Shoulder and raised a little over $300 for the cause. Additionally (he) included a picture with the Milwaukee Police Department on Halloween of 2009.” Great effort JB. My experience of the US PD departments hasn’t uncovered a great sense of humour, but you certainly seem to have them laughing. 10/10 for bravery!

Inspired by the challenge set JB goes on to tell us that “we should have another entry from the UK coming as my co-worker heard of my antics and said he bought one. I’m not traveling overseas anytime soon, but I’m sure I can get some more sites in the US. ” Nice one. Hopefully others will follow your lead sir!

Check out JB’s mankini picture here.

When Robert Falcon Scott landed in Antarctica in 1901 and set out on his Discovery Expedition, I bet it never crossed his mind that 109 years later another Englishman, Flo Areal, would arrive even more unprepared for this hostile continent than him. With all that we know about Antarctica today and the advances made in extreme weather clothing, you’d think the fact that Flo turned up in only a luminous green Lycra Mankini to be madness. And you’d be right! But that ladies and gentlemen is a demonstration of the extraordinary efforts people will go to for the International Mankini Challenge!

Having heard of the International Mankini Challenge (IMC) from a client of his in Switzerland, Flo emailed the IMC to double check that Antarctica hadn’t been mankinied yet. With confirmation that the green lycra flag hadn’t been flown in the coldest of continents, Flo flew over to Argentina and headed to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, looking for a boat to take him through the treacherous Drake Passage (considered to be one of the most dangerous stretches of ocean in the world) to Antarctica.

The cost of such a trip can easily be in the region of US $5000 when booked in advance. But if you can be flexible by a few days, then the best way is to travel down to Ushuaia independently and see if you can get a last minute berth. As Flo says, you can then usually secure a spot for around US $3000 – not a bad saving! With the quota on the number of people being able to do this trip being cut for environmental reasons, these prices are only going to rise too.

Following Flo’s initial contact, the next we heard of him was on the International Mankini Challenge twitter page when @DodgyLodgey (a Kiwi backpacker) mentioned she’d seen a lad in a mankini while on a trip to Antarctica and was that anything to do with us. After telling her about Flo we established it was him. Sure enough a few days later Flo emailed us to confirm he’d become the first person to wear a mankini in Antarctica (and by doing this he’s completed the southernmost Mankiniing of a country). He then uploaded a couple of great pictures of him in the mankini by Wordie House (a British scientific research station) to the IMC Facebook Group as proof.

To see the pictures of Flo in a mankini in Antarctica, check out the Mankini Gallery.

Flo’s achievement has meant we now have mankini pictures from 24 different countries, covering six continents and involving eight different International Mankiniers. While this is a great achievement, we want more! We’ve yet to have a mankini picture from Africa (a World Cup one would be great) and with all the backpackers in Asia, I’m surprised not to see any more from there. So come on guys, it doesn’t take up much room in the backpack after all.