2 Frenchmen one Canadian one belgin and one Aussie equals one hell of a night

After a 5 hour bus ride to Mendoza I got to the Monkey hostel by cab from the bus station dropped  off  my things and went to explore my surroundings I passed by a beautiful market and a nice restaurant where I bought a sandwich and a bottle of wine and went back to the hostel for a nap. I awoke to 3 American Girls from Minnesota complaining about how outraged they were that to find a man sleeping in the room.

I went downstairs and assured them I was not a rapist and that that the hostel had put me in the room I did not have much else to talk to them about so I went to checking email and the news back home only to learn that Dalton Dickhead McGuinty was back in power. This made me close my laptop at 10pm and put it in the room trying not to wake the sleeping yank girls. I then went down to the bar downstairs where I met 2 Frenchmen and one girl from Belgium and one from Australia we sang songs and shared many bottles of  wine until 3am when the girls and I decided to go out to a local hotspot that packed for a night of debauchery.

Holy Shit three years since my last travel post this is not turning out to be much of a travel blog.

I have spent the last two years and change starting a business in Canada and for anyone who reads this  I will catch you up on what's happened.


After I got back from South America I was broke yet had my eyes wide open to new possibilities.
 I did not know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to do something different. I took a trip to visit my father in Florida and became restless as fuck as I often am.

 Sitting and reading a book relaxing often just gets me frustrated and thinking about how much I can't stand the government or the morons at UPS, my cell phone company or my insurance company. 


I have learned that it is better to keep busy and on the go and exploring all the time in order to maintain some level of sanity and not sweat the small stuff.

This exploration led me to a really cool grocery store which became the inspiration for my company

This place had great food and a lot of dried peppers on the walls which I just started buying for no apparent reason.

I flew back to Canada 4 days later and the peppers stayed on the shelf in the kitchen for the next three weeks until I went on you-tube and figured out how to make a basic hot sauce recipe.
a few months later Mad Gringo Hot Sauce was born.
It started with a local farmers market in Orillia and two sauces Original and Chipotle Standoff. 

Now Mad Gringo hot sauces are in over forty retail locations and my fiancee and I did four  
 farmers markets  a week in the summer. 

I have grown the line to 7 different products secured a commercial kitchen space and am concentrating on big shows and larger stores. 

It's been a lot of fucking work and I have met a lot of cool people in the process and a and few jealous dickheads  but all in all a worth while experience.

If I can give any advise to people starting a hot sauce or condiment business don't waste your time with small farmers markets unless they turn huge crowds. You spend so much time trying to get into them and dealing with a board of directors that will do anything they can to keep new people out so fucking grandma Mcgillicutty can sell her shitty preserves that she has been selling for the last 10 years without any new innovative products coming in that she views as competition. 



  Don't focus on the assholes focus on the good people and ignore the wackos.
  When you start to succeed at least one dickhead  will  have a problem with it.
  if you are a threat to someone this just means you are on the right track. 


I have learned that the magic number is 30,000 people I don't care if is a car show a bike show a sex show a dog and pony show.

If you have a product that is good and and an event that has draws 30,000 people  relates to your product  or more write the $500 or $1000 cheque or whatever it is and you will make money.
 

If you don't make money at an event like that you can't sell and you should close your business and go get a headset and and work customer service at the phone company and annoy the hell out of anyone that calls because you have no idea what you are doing.

Better yet just shoot yourself because you are taking up valuable space on this earth for those of us that want to get something out of life and work hard.

Ok that was a little harsh but you get the Idea.

This is a fun sometimes frustrating  interesting journey and I hope it starts to make more cash so I can make a living off it one day. 

Making people sweat from peppers always brings me some sort of sadistic enjoyment and If it starts to pay all the bills and let's me travel more I have hit the jackpot.


In other news I got engaged to a cute Japanese girl that puts up with my shit on a regular  basis and is is great with saving money and just an all around good person.

We have a great time poking fun at each-others cultures and I have learned quite a bit of Japanese profanity. 

It's 12:27am  December 29th and I have officially hit 32 which is a kind of a who gives a flying fuck birthday not really a milestone by any stretch all I can really ask for is a nice steak and a glass of Makers Mark Bourbon and for all my stores to send cheques for invoices that are due. 

I will be selling my wears at the Motorcycle show after New Years  and boarding a plane for  Tokyo to get into some trouble with my other half in Japan.
I hope to post lots of pictures and videos in the next few weeks as this will be my first of many trips to  Japan. 

2013 was full of hard work and travel success and a few failures and I aim to keep fighting the good fight and bringing the heat in the new year.

Another Reason why my dog is Awesome I took this video and I had to post it

I don’t like to use this space to rant but since it is a travel blog of sorts I feel the need to express my disconcert over what I believe to be the worst airline in existence. The day started on December 27th,

I had arrived at Pearson International, incredibly early for my flight, cleared customs in a flash and settled in to the lounge. I always find airport lounges a good place to kill time before a flight as the drinks and food are unlimited and even if you do have to pay thirty to fifty dollars for a few hours it’s well worth it. Two hours and a few cocktails in I discovered that Continental flight 4946 to Newark had been canceled due to weather.
I glanced out at the clear sky and the pristine runway as planes took off and recalled upon a similar situation when I heard this excuse on a sunny cloudless day in South Padre Island.

After 3 people telling me what they could not do I finally found someone that could get me on a United flight to Dullus International airport in DC with a one hour layover until I caught my flight to Orlando where I would pick up my rent a car and drive to Bradenton where my folks live. I arrived to the airport in Orlando to find out that my luggage never left Toronto.

The events that transpired after can only be described as an example of the worst customer service I have ever experienced from an airline.

January 28th Glad I was in the sunny south I got up and got on the phone to the airline and found out if you lose a bag in Canada or the USA you have to talk to someone in India. The standard answer to “when will my bag be delivered” is I don’t know sometime maybe. Sometime maybe was three days after I arrived so I obviously had to purchase clothing, which I was assured I would be reimbursed for provided I sent receipts.



Jan 4th As notified by the representative in India I sent an email to customerrelations@united.com with scans of my clothing receipts and airline tickets. Jan 6th Sent a Tweet to United Airlines Twitter account which apparently nobody looks at


Jan 13th Still no response from customerrelations@united.com or United’s Twitter Account. I placed another call to United this time I got someone in the Philippines that had a different email for me to try.


Jan 17th I get this email



Dear Mr. Engman, Thank you for letting us know about the expenses you incurred due to the temporary loss of your property. Your correspondence was received in our Claims office on January 06, 2012 and is being forwarded to a Claim Representative for resolution. You will be notified by the Claim Representative upon conclusion of your claim. Our commitment is to conclude your claim within 45-60 days of receipt of your written claim. For additional inquiries, we can also be reached via email at web-baggage@united.com Please accept our sincere apology for the inconvenience you experienced and thank you for your patience during this process. Yours Sincerely, United Airlines Central Baggage Services It does not surprise me that they have been rated worst customer service and they are merging with Continental, which has the 2nd worst customer service. In this day in age I can’t believe that companies can operate like this.


Have an Airline Rant post a comment in the comment section

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The Midg From Lima

I met Claudia after a 13 hour bus ride from Cuzco at The Point hostel in Lima.
I was having a beer at 11am and she told me that she hitchhiked from Brazil to Lima and got all her accommodation for free.

She showed me some of her videos and we ended up partying the next couple of days and the rest as they say is history.

Claudia and I have kept in touch and she will be doing Asia for 0 dollars in the next few months.
Her website is http://www.adventurousasf.blogspot.com/

She is one talented chick take a look at some of her videos below.

Back in Canada and insanley broke

I saw some amazing things and met some great people on my trip across South America and now it's time to get back to reality. Hello reality where the fuck are you?
Oh right you are in my bank account and my maxed out credit card and passed due car loan.

This really fucking sucks I came back to Barrie Ontario that has the worst fucking unemployment rate in all of Canada and the bills are piling up in my inbox.

The question is was it worth all this financial doom and gloom should I have planned differently and saved for my return "maybe".

I don't think my experience would have been quite the same or memorable if I had.
No matter how shitty things get I tend to always bounce back and I will always remember long bus trips from country to country, Biking down the death road and dancing with girls from cuzco Peru on top of the bars at nightclubs.

Short term pain for long term gain I suppose.

Some things are comforting about coming back like seeing good friends and realizing that wherever you go you always have friends and family to come back to and although they may not change much and what they did last week sounds boring compared to paragliding in Mendoza or touring the salt flats of Bolivia.
Sitting down and shooting the proverbial bullshit with people you have known for over ten years is something more valuable then gold and it does not cost a dime.

La Paz

Spazzed in Lapaz
Here are some Photos of LaPaz

Downtown La Paz

Witches Market La paz Lama Fetuses

Death Road Bolivia

Conquering the death Road

Sunburnt in San Pedro Atacama

Missed my passage to Bolivia via the salt flats due to a late night rave in the mountains. I bitched enough in Spanglish and convinced the tour company that I thought it was Tomorrow and they told me to come back at 2 pm so I hope it works out.

I had planed on sleeping early but the Germans were not having it and insisted that I come party with them.

We took a cab crammed with 2 Chileans 2 Germans one guy from Spain out in to the middle of the desert to a bonfire and loud house music.

Guys were selling mixed drinks out of plastic bags and the night got messy after that.

We arrived back at the hostel at about 6am and I set the alarm but it was useless at this point as I was awoken by es hora de revisar o mover a la habitación de dos.
cinco minutos I protested but it was useless 3 Frenchmen had arrived and I had to get the fuck out.

So I rolled my lobster red booze soaked body off the top bunk and went in search of Alo Vera and agua.

Worthless change ahhhgh

Pics from Chile

My travels by bus so far

Traveling to the border in Chile

I will miss you Mendoza but I will see you again soon

Here are some pics crossing the Andes to Chile

I jumped off a mountain today

I went flying today what a rush

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Why the Ontario mentality is backwards

Why the Ontario mentality is backwards

Throughout my travels I have cooked girls from Belgium and Australia, drank wine with people from France discussed politics with people from Holland a and Span and spent late hours into the night with Women from Brazil and San Juan Argentina and South Africa.

Throughout many conversations the question what do you do was never mentioned
I realize how boring the discussion of work is yet it is the first thing that comes up when you meet most people in Ontario Canada.
I also learned that in Holland and Belgium and France one month vacation a year is standard rather then the garbage two weeks that most Canadians get I am truly surprised that our suicide rate is not higher then it is.

I have made the lifestyle choice not to get locked in to the mortgage bullshit when I have concluded my journey in South America It will be back to the grindstone frugal living and saving to Vagabond around Asia.

One common exuse is I wish I could but I don´t have the money

Let´s put it into prospective 5 nights in Mendoza Argentina Many nights out at one of the disco 3 nights out at a 5 star restaurant ordering steak and wine a tour of the Vineyards on Bicycle with lots of wine and absinthe and a semi cama bus ticket to Chile can be had for what most Canadians pay for 2 weeks of gas petrol for a gas guzzling unnecessary SUV.

I would love to write more but I am going to explore more of Mendoza before my night bus to Chile and sitting at this Internet cafe is about as appealing as eating paint chips.

Ciao Amigos I will update you from Santiago

They hate politicians here as well

My Amigo From Paris

My amigo from Paris