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Lucas “LazyLegz” Patuelli

ReaTech 2008, Sao Paulo, Brazil

By Craig Grimes

ReaTeach is now over and I’m back in Nicaragua, here a few highlights of the exhibition:

One particular stand was a group of PwD’s that mouth and foot paint (Pintores Com a Boca e os Pés) that although I’ve seen this at other exhibitions it’s always great to see these guys doing what they do. On another stand there was “Movimento Superacao” a PwD reclaim the streets movement. This charity organise huge street parties to raise awareness about the fact that access needs to be improved in Sao Paulo for PwD’s. Their next street party is on the 6th December and this type of event is exactly what we need to raise awareness and get younger people involved….. Revolution through fun

The other obvious stands that were of interest to me were to do with Inclusive Adventure Tourism including Aventura Especial, offering inclusive adventure and ecotourism in Socorro, EcoAcao in Brotas and Juquitiba, Mao, na Borda and Escola de Surf do Pirata, offering surfing courses for PwD’s in Brazil. There was also a great stand for a company called Mog who build accessible jeeps, known as the Mog Rampa. These are just a few examples of some of the great projects that are happening in Brazil, I thoroughly encourage everyone to attend a local disability exhibition to see what is going on in their country.

Some of the international contacts that I met face to face for the first time include, Scott Rains the author of the Rolling Rains Report and a well respected pioneer of Inclusive Travel projects and studies, Jani Nayar from the Society of Accessible Tourism and Hospitality (SATH) and Nélida Barbeito from TTS Viajes (Argentina) that have a department that specialise in holidays for PwD’s.

More importantly than the international contacts, ReaTech had a small ranch where I got to meet some sheep! They also had horses where people with disabilities could try horseback riding.

For me, even though I’ve been to too many disability exhibitions in the UK, ReaTech was interesting to see facilities for PwD’s from a Brazilian and South American point of view.

Below more photos of ReaTech courtesy of Scott Rains:

Posted in Exhibitions, Brazil, Adapted Sport, South America, Travel | No Comments

Corte Cabelo

By Craig Grimes

Although this article has very little to do with traveling for people with disabilities, I just thought I’d share it with you. I was wrong yesterday when I said that the taxi drivers were the scariest part of Sao Paulo.

I was let down by my hairdresser in Nicaragua before I came to Brazil, so todays main objective was to get my long scruffy hair cut. I found a place just near my hotel and after being carried up a coule of stairs they agreed to cut my hair. Language was the first problem although we could kind of understand each other. To make matters simpler, the hairdresser gave me a magazine and told me to choose a style!

I think the scariest bit was where he took all of the hair on the top of my head in two bunches, twizzled it around into kind of a pony tail (like Bam Bam from the Flintstones) and then just cut it off! When he’d finished faffing around, cutting bits here and there it didn’t even resemble the picture that I had shown him!

Anyway, not a total disaster, below you can see my hair as he left it and then the other photo is after a Craig-Style rescue session……

P.S. I’ve managed to work out how to make the resolution smaller on the camera! Oh and Happy San Jordi!!!! (St. George’s Day).

Posted in Brazil, South America, Travel | No Comments

A Strange New World

By Craig Grimes

For the last couple of days I’ve been wandering around Sao Paulo and just trying to get by. It’s wierd being in a non-Spanish speaking country, they just don’t understand me very well, nor me them! I ventured out to a local bar the other night and even with miscommunication I managed to meet some locals, one of which, decided it would be best to tal to me in Czech rather than Portuguese! Hmmmmm not sure I understand the philosophy behind that!

I went into the centre of SP today and visited the Paulista area, I was a bit concerned about getting lost, but all went well. The day started off amazing with blue skies and sunshine but rapidly turned into a massive thunderstorm in the late afternoon. By this point I figured it was time to go back to the hotel and write my blog.

People tell you that Sao Paulo can be dangerous and while I don’t doubt that for a second, the scariest thing I have encountered so far is the taxi drivers. They’re Nuts!!! I guess it’s the same all over the world, but a taxi ride here is more frightening than any roller coaster that I’ve been on!

Tomorrow the rest of the posse turn up and it will be good to meet them all. A few friendly faces and people that speak Spanish and English! Reatech starts on Thursday and I’ll be sure to write about it.

I’m having some minor problems with the camera that I’ve borrowed for the trip as the memory card fills up after taking about 9 photos, hence the lack of photos and lots from the hotel window as I can download them onto the laptop and empty the card. There must be a setting somewhere to lower the picture quality and make the files smaller but I’ll be damned if I can work out how to do it! I’ll have another look and hopefully the photos will come through thick and fast in the next few days…….

Posted in Brazil, South America, Public Transport, Travel | No Comments

Matagalpa, Nicaragua - Sao Paulo, Brazil

By Craig Grimes

Well, I’m on the road again, I’ve come to Sao Paul, Brazil for Reatech which is a Latin American disability exhibition. Their should be suppliers from all over South America and I’m quite looking forward to seeing what’s going on in this part of the world as well as meeting people face to face for the first time that I’ve known and worked with through the internet for the past few years.

The trip down was fine, I decided to do an overnight flight from Nicaragua - Panama - Brazil and try to sleep through it. The journey to Managua International Airport was uneventful and so was the check-in, however, the staff at the airport were just a little over bearing and wouldn’t leave me alone for 2 seconds! A word of warning, Panama International for some reason do not have aisle chairs, so make sure that the company that you fly with have one on the plane. I flew with Copa Airlines and the experience (at least coming here) was fine, nothing special, I’ve flown with better and I’ve flown with worse. The main thing is that me, my wheelchair and my bags all got here safe and sound.

I arrived at Guarluhos International at 5.30am and I’d booked 1 night in the IBIS Congonhas Airport so that I knew I had somewhere accessible to stay the first night. I’d already decided to catch the shuttle bus from one airport - the other and then catch a taxi but while at Guarluhos I decided to ask the price of a direct transfer to my hotel just in case and it was R$98, so I stuck to my plan and bought my R$28 shuttle bus ticket instead. When I was buying the ticket I asked if the bus was accessible and I was told that it was, of course, it wasn’t. A couple of guys helped me on and off the bus with no problems and as we arrived at Congonhas Airport I could see my IBIS just over the road. There was an overpass to the hotel but it had steps so I had to catch a taxi for R$11 instead. A total cost of R$39 rather than R$98, not bad I thought!

I was expecting to just to drop my bags off at the hotel as check-in wasn’t until midday and it was 7am, but they gave me the room key which was a great relief as I was shattered and my spasm was terrible. I crashed for a few hours and now, refreshed and revived I’m going to go to try to find a cheaper hostel.

Posted in Accommodation, South America, Brazil, Public Transport, Flying, Nicaragua, Central America, Travel | No Comments

POR LA VIDA DE LAS MUJERES, NI UNA MUERTA MAS

By Craig Grimes

POR LA VIDA DE LAS MUJERES, NI UNA MUERTA MAS

Darlin Flores, Guadalupe Chavarría, Xiomara Molinares, Amparo Avilés, Carolina Rivas, Xiomara Pérez

Estas 6 mujeres han sido asesinadas en este año, en el departamento de Matagalpa

No te quedés callad@

Mostrá tu rechazo a la violencia contra las mujeres

Participá en el PLANTON CONTRA LA VIOLENCIA

Hoy y todos los Jueves,

En el Parque Morazán

4 de la tarde

HASTA QUE LOS ASESINOS SEAN CAPTURADOS, JUZGADOS Y CONDENADOS

CARCEL PARA LOS ASESINOS

JUSTICIA PARA LAS MUJERES

Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa – Red de Mujeres del Norte – Movimiento de Mujeres Lidia Espinoza

Sumate a esta convocatoria y circulá a tus contactos

–
Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa

Posted in Women's Rights, Demonstrations, En Castellano, Femicide, Discrimination, Nicaragua, Central America, Hate Crimes, Politics | No Comments

¡¡¡ALERTA POR FEMICIDIOS EN MATAGALPA!!!

By Craig Grimes

Estamos alarmadas por el avance de los femicidios en nuestro departamento. El domingo 13 de abril otra joven fue asesinada en el Barrio Guanuca de Matagalpa.
Son 5 las mujeres asesinadas en el departamento en lo que va del año (al menos de esas tenemos conocimiento).

Darling Flores, Matagalpa - febrero
Xiomara Molinares Pérez.- San Dionisio en marzo
Amparo del Socorro Avilés Torres- S. Ramon, en marzo
Carolina del Carmen Rivas Lopez. Matagalpa, en abril
Xiomara Pérez de El Bàlsamo 1, Muy Muy en abril

Sólo el asesino de Amparo, con el nombre de Marvín Ubeda Valdivia, fue sido capturado y el juicio esta programado para el 16 de junio.

Cuando estábamos en la audiencia preliminar por el asesinato de Amparo Avilés, ocurrido durante la Semana Santa, las compañeras de Muy Muy nos avisaron de la muerte de Xiomara Pérez, de 35 años… esta mujer falleció a consecuencia de la última paliza que le dio el marido de nombre Juan Alberto Dormus, delegado de la palabra de dios en su comunidad, Xiomara estaba en silla de ruedas a consecuencia de golpizas anteriores.

Ante esta situación, La Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa y la Red de Mujeres del Norte Ana Lucila, convocamos a toda la población de Matagalpa a un plantón para manifestar nuestra condena por estos asesinatos de mujeres, y demandamos justicia y acciones urgentes para frenar esta violencia.

Exigimos a la Policía, Ministerio Público y sistema judicial, mayor beligerancia y eficacia en sus investigaciones y en el proceso para que estos crímenes no queden impunes.

Demandamos de igual forma a toda la sociedad matagalpina que tome conciencia y se una a este plantón para demandar que las mujeres no queremos más violencia.

Todos los acusados por estos feticidios fueron compañeros de estas mujeres asesinadas, es decir que los asesinos están dentro de las casas. Lo cual nos alarma y nos pone en alerta a proteger nuestras vidas.

La convocatoria al plantón es para el jueves 17 de abril a las 4.00 p.m. en el Parque Morazán.

LAS MUJERES EN NICARAGUA ESTAMOS EN ALERTA PORQUE NUESTRAS VIDAS CORREN PELIGRO.

EXIJIMOS JUSTICIA POR EL FEMICIDIO DE

DARLING FLORES,
XIOMARA MOLINARES PÉREZ,
AMPARO DEL SOCORRO AVILÉS TORRES,
CAROLINA DEL CARMEN RIVAS LOPEZ y
XIOMARA PÉREZ.

Y CÁRCEL PARA EL O LOS ASESINOS

SÍ AL RESPETO DE NUESTRAS VIDAS…

NO MÁS FEMICIDIOS

JUSTICIA PARA LAS MUJERES…

CÁRCEL PARA LOS ASESINOS

¡¡¡POR LA VIDA DE LAS MUJERES

NI UNA MUERTA MÁS!!!

La Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa

Red de Mujeres del Norte Ana Lucila
16 de abril del 2008

Posted in Women's Rights, Demonstrations, En Castellano, Femicide, Discrimination, Nicaragua, Central America, Hate Crimes, Politics | No Comments

Antigua, Guatemala - Antigua “Sin Barreras” (Happy Birthday Josefina!)

By Craig Grimes

Friday 14th March 2008

Normally when I’m using a level access shower I sit on a plastic patio chair as I find them stable and easy to transfer in and out of. I’d asked the hotel to provide one, but instead they provided me with a plastic buffet which was no use whatsoever so I jumped out of my chair onto the floor and that’s where I showered. Luckily the floor wasn’t too bad so it wasn’t all that disgusting.

After my new shower experience, I went out with the girls and helped them explore a little with all of my whole two days worth of experience……. Firstly we did the typical Craig thing and wandered around looking at the various churches and the main archway in Antigua. We also came across the “Antigua Sin Barreras” (without barriers) signs in the streets indicating dropped kerbs for wheelchair users, how you are supposed to get across the cobbled street easily to the other side is anybody’s guess, but the intentions are there.

After the square we went to Antigua’s market, where the access was quite good (apart from a couple of steps) as the floor was well paved.

Surprisingly, after the market, we carried on wandering around, popped back to the hotel to meet Edurne and then….. kept on wandering around and bumped into Easter procession.

After sooooooo much wandering I began to get tired and so I chilled out in the Kafka bar (mentioned yesterday) to have a couple of cuba libres and try to get information for the rest of our trip. Whilst I was relaxing and making notes and friends the girls came across an Easter concert in the Central Square and a couple of Soldiers…..

The girls came back to find me and after a swift drink we went out to celebrate Josefina’s birthday at a Japenese restaurant and another couple of drinks before going wearily back to our hotel.

Posted in Antigua, Guatemala, Accommodation, Central America, Travel | No Comments

Antigua, Guatemala - A day of Rest

By Craig Grimes

Thursday 13th March 2008

This day was pretty much a rest day and chilling out after a tough Wednesday while waiting for Laia, Roser and Josefina to arrive. I got up and left Edurne’s hotel and went down the street until I came to the end where I stumbled across a small café/community centre. Although the front of the building was a café offering food and drinks to the general public, it was also kind of a community centre where people could take art and music classes. It was a strange kind of mix, where in the café area they were selling art and musical instruments, a bizarre accompaniment to hamburgers.

Afterwards, I continued my aimless wandering and exploring looking for a bank to change money and after a few hours I got bored so I went back to the Black Cat to have a beer. While I was there I met a group of 4 backpackers, 2 from Canada, 1 from Holland and 1 from N. Ireland, we sat around talking and exchanging travel stories until I decided it was time to go see if the girls had arrived from Nicaragua.

On my way out of the Black Cat I realised that my worst dreams had come true and that it was raining. I’d already thought about the issues of trying to get around Antigua when the cobbles were wet and it was just as bad as I thought it would be! Just trying to get from one side of the street to the other was a complete nightmare, slipping, sliding and stumbling all over the place. Luckily for me a youngish Guatamalan guy (in his mid 20’s) saw me struggling and ask me if I needed help. As he helped me we got chatting and, although this isn’t very advisable, (what can I say, he seemed and was harmless) he accompanied me back to Edurne’s hotel. I say it isn’t advisable because you never know what can happen in a strange country when you meet someone you don’t know on the street. In this case, he was just a genuine person that was trying to help, and after meeting up with the girls, he helped us take all of our bags to the new hotel, Amigos 3.

Meeting up with the girls that had arrived from Nicaragua was great in so many ways, firstly because it meant that I didn’t have to relay on strangers to help me in the street and secondly because I could move into our new building site hotel which was slightly more accessible. To say thank you to our new found friend, we took him out for a cocktail when we had dinner and after we went looking for a night cap. We came across another place which turned out to be the Kafka Hostel on 6th Avenue Norte, No.40. I’d already heard about the hostel but hadn’t managed to find it and although it had a step to get into, I could easily get into the women’s’ WC without any problems. The ambience was great, lots of young friendly travelers and staff with great music, I really recommend popping in if you get the chance.

That was about the end of the evening, a couple of Cuba Libres and off to bed. I took very few photos in the first couple of days that I was in Guatemala, but now the photo fest begins………

Posted in Antigua, Guatemala, Accommodation, Central America, Travel | No Comments

Antigua, Guatemala - The search for an accessible hotel

By Craig Grimes

Wednseday 12th March 2008

The first thing that hit me in the face (thankfully not literally) as I went out of the hotel door on Wednesday morning was the cobbles… The streets in Antigua are basically all cobbled, not just your standard annoying cobbles either, super irritating cobbles made of volcanic rock that are spread just far enough apart to get your casters stuck in and very slippery when wet as I found out the following day.

Below: Antigua Cobbles and a “Chicken Bus”

As I was wandering around by myself trying to find a hotel the situation with the streets made it even harder. This combined with the blistering sun made the whole experience exhausting. We had decided that our budget for the day was $20 per day for everything including, food, accommodation and any travel costs (We soon found this impossible upped the budget to $30 per day), so finding a relatively accessible hotel within our price range and that had availability the week before Easter proved very hard. After going to a few hotels and finding the price way too high or that they were fully booked I decided to stop of for a well earned breakfast.

I found a small arched entrance and decided to investigate the café inside, there were two small steps to get into the courtyard but then there was a level area where I could sit. The courtyard to the café (Rick’s Bar) was beautiful with plants and trees all around. There were a small group of 3 Americans sat having breakfast too and so I decided to ask them where they were staying and if the hotel had availability. They were very helpful and after another coffee I set off to the hotel where they were staying. Once at the hotel, it turned out that they were also fully booked, but they had another hotel that wasn’t yet open but there were willing to rent me rooms. I decided to investigate and went with the owners to the potential building site.

We entered through a garage door into the area that would eventually be the reception and towards the back of the building. Although the rooms were basic, they were clean and already had beds in them, the kitchen didn’t have anything, but they offered to put in a fridge and a cooker if we stayed. The bathroom wasn’t big enough for my wheelchair so I couldn’t shut the door behind me, but I figured that I could jump across from the WC into the shower and that it would be good enough for a couple of days. I told the owners that I’d go back with Edurne later in the day so that she could approve my chosen hotel.

I carried on roaming the streets of Antigua and asked at a few more hotels and hostels but nothing came up, however I came across another great little place. Bacchus, wine, cigar and martina bar is located on 3rd Calle Poniente, No. 12 where they have wine and cigars from pretty much all over the world. After a glass of red, interesting conversation with the Canadian owner (who advised me to try the Black Cat Hostel) and an elderly Mexican customer I carried on my journey to look for the Black Cat, although the hostel was totally inaccessible I decided to stay and have a quick beer there. They advised me to try the Jungle Party Hostel, so I popped in there on the way back to Edurne’s hotel. The hostel really wasn’t my cup of tea, rooms with two bunk-beds in and I could only see 1 shared bathroom for the whole hostel with 2 showers and 2 toilets (1 of which was out of order) and the price was higher than what I’d been quoted at the building site hotel which will be called Amigos 3 when it’s open.

After meeting up with Edurne, we went together to Amigos 3, negotiated the price down slightly and agreed with the owners that we needed 2 rooms for 2 nights starting from the day after. Business was concluded and we went back to Edurnes hotel, had dinner and then crashed after an exhausting day of cobble hopping…..

Posted in Antigua, Guatemala, Accommodation, Central America, Travel | No Comments

Getting to Guatemala from Nicaragua

By Craig Grimes

Tuesday 11th March 2008

As mentioned in my previous post “Traveling to Guatemala” we left home in Matagalpa, Nicaragua at about 3am with Geni (a colleague of Edurne’s) and our driver to Sébaco in order to meet our bus at 3.45am. The journey to Sébaco was uneventful and we arrived at the petrol station where the coach stops in plenty of time and unloaded our bags. After about a 20 minute wait, we saw the bus approaching and then drive straight past us at high speed! We couldn’t believe that it didn’t stop and stood shell shocked for a few seconds before quickly mobilising, throwing the bags back into the pick up truck and the chase was on!

We had to catch the bus at it’s next scheduled stop in Estelí otherwise we would have to chase it all the way to the Nicaraguan border. Our driver in the pick up put his foot down but the speeding bus was nowhere to be seen. When we got to Estelí, we managed to find the bus at the petrol station and our driver strategically parked the 4 x 4 in front of the coach so that it couldn’t escape. It turned out that there had been a problem with the travel agent and even though we had our ticket, we weren’t on the manifesto of passengers so the coach driver didn’t know he had to stop in Sébaco. After showing the driver our tickets he agreed to allow us to travel, at which point his assistant turned, looked at me and said “Is he traveling too?” in a surprised tone…..

It was decided that the best way to get me onto the “Kings Quality” bus was if I got onto someone’s back and they carried me up, a technique which, in short, didn’t work and was never repeated! After lots of fumbling and a close call, they managed to plonk me in a seat unharmed and then we were off. The trip up to Guatemala seemed to pass fairly quickly even though it was about 13 hours, I thought that I was going to see El Slavador through the window of the coach but managed to sleep through most of the country! The difference between the infrastructure of roads in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala became quickly apparent as they are much better than in Nicaragua in general. There were actually dual carriage ways and smooth road surfaces!

On arrival in Guatemala City we were supposed to be met by other delegates of the meeting that Geni and Edurne were attending to take us to Antigua, but they were nowhere to be seen. After a few phone calls it was established that there were on their way and we waited patiently until they arrived an hour later. Trying to leave Guatemala City was even worse than trying to get into it due to the evening rush hour traffic. I hadn’t been in a city for over 5 months and the whole experience was overwhelming and a bit stressful. There were cars, buses and motorbikes all over the place, beeping their horns and generally just mayhem and anarchy every way you looked. The contrast between the wealthy and the poor in Guatemala City is striking, in the suburbs there are massive Condo complexes, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire with 24 hour security, McDonald’s, Zara and Pizza Huts fill American style shopping malls which are brand-names I hadn’t seen since leaving Barcelona. Crossing the city you see the old abandoned train lines, shanty style houses made of wood and corrugated iron and people cooking on open fires within a stones-throw of the shopping malls, probably a very typical Central American capital city, of which, I have little experience.

Once in Antigua we were exhausted, the original plan was that I would look for a hotel on the day we arrived, but I ended up crashing in Geni and Edurne’s room as it was getting too late to start wandering around Antigua. It was a welcome relief, but as the shower and toilet weren’t particularly accessible, I would have to try to find another hotel the following day.

Posted in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Accommodation, Public Transport, Nicaragua, Central America, Travel | No Comments