Nicaragua Adventure - Feugo y Agua

I have a healthy obsession with volcanoes, mountains and the great outdoors. Passionately curious of what the planet has to offer and of what human beings are capable of. It all happened a few years ago when i did the diagonal of fools on la reunion island and seeing the active volcano erupt on the run, it was magic. Afterwards being curious of what other volcano trail races existed, i stumbled upon a great report by Christian Griffith's on a trail race named Feugo y Agua. Translated fire and water from Spanish, it is a 100km wilderness run up two volcanoes on a remote volcanic island in lake Nicaragua, central america (the piece joining north and south america).

When i saw this race a few years ago i knew i just had to do this race no matter what, by looking at this island on Google earth you will see what i mean, it is quite unique. So i drooled over the lakes and volcanoes and always had it in the back of my mind. The race was canceled last year because of financial reasons, but the date was set for February 2012.

As this place is very far from South Africa and takes up allot of jet fuel and money i added more adventure to the mix to make it even more worth it. I always wanted to fly somewhere far and unknown and ride out of the airport solo with my mountain bike and explore, and this was the perfect opportunity for me to make it happen.

 Nicaragua lies on the pacific ring of fire and is bordered by Costa Rica on the south and Honduras on the north, it has undergone periods of political unrest, military intervention by the United States, dictatorship and earthquakes but has reached a period of stability and are described as the safest in the region. I did my research, and even though people tried to scare me with all sorts of stories, they didn't manage to scare me. I was gonna see for myself, armed with my mountain bike, running shoes, super potent bug repellent, antibiotics and hammock, i was well prepared and on my way.

So packed with the bare essentials like any adventure racer would as hand luggage and only booking my bike as checked baggage on the airplane, i left for two weeks traveling on the 4th longest nonstop endurance flight in the world 17 hours directly to Atlanta with a slight detour near bermuda avoiding a storm (these airplanes are amazing), so touching US soil for the first time i connected to Managua Nicaragua with another 4hour flight. On the connecting plane to Nicaragua, a German guy saw me stand out in between the american missionaries with my south african passport, somehow he knew i was not a missionary and not from the us, and seemed keen to chat, we swapped seats and talked nonstop for 4 hours, what an awesome coincidence, this guy turned out to be an epic German cartographer that has mapped large parts of Nicaragua, central and south america and other parts of the world, a true adventurer. I showed him my topographic map on my tablet and he was impressed how well i was prepared and showed me the best way to get up some of the volcanoes in the arch. On one of this mapping expeditions he told me he traversed a large section of the volcanic arch on foot. His name is Klaus Wiesner and he gave me one of his own maps he made of Nicaragua for free, he said i need it more, what a cool guy!

Coming in over lake Managua for a landing at the capital with the same name he showed me momotombo volcano (they actually have a geothermal power plant there) and it's tiny offspring volcano inside the lake, momotombito. This was very cool, and he told me that the US marines used to do combat training there. We landed at the small but modern new airport in Managua that lies on 11 seismic faults, in 1972 an earthquake occurred here with a magnitude of 6.2 at a depth of about 5 kilometers beneath the centre of the city. The earthquake and after shocks caused widespread damage, among Managua's residents, 5,000 were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 were left homeless. Even though no recent earthquakes took place large parts of the city was never rebuild, and made the country even poorer.

I booked into basecamp for my biking and running adventure, the best western hotel opposite the airport after crossing the pan american highway with Huge trucks like you see in trucker movies, hectic trucks, trucks you want to avoid getting your bike close to. But my plan was to take back roads and stay away from cars and experience the country from the top of my seatpost in style. Double story buildings in Nicaragua are rare, and because of the earthquake you can understand why. The settlements around the airport and next to the hotel looked similar to the townships we get here in south africa, very poor.

So i mounted a small bike carrier on my seat post to carry the heaviest stuff and took the rest on my back leaving my cardboard bike box at basecamp. I had my GPS and had semi planned were i wanted to go each night, but seeing a country with google earth you can only plan to a point and the rest is up to adventure. It was quite a liberating feeling riding out there with my bike into the unknown on dirt roads in a strange country that only speaks Spanish, but i ended up having the time of my life experiencing tropical living in one of the poorest but richest countries in the region. Poor money-wise but rich in volcanoes,natural beauty, passion for poetry, art and friendly people.

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say.  "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."  ~J.R.R. Tolkien

My goal was to get to the island Ometepe in lake Nicaragua in time to do the 100km Feugo y Agua race and then cycle back, i ended up cycling more or less 30km every day, taking it easy before the race, exploring and having my own adventure.

I cycled through very poor areas seeing very interesting landscapes, interesting people and funny heat struck dogs along the way. A couple of nights i stayed at a biological research centre inside the dormant apoyo volcano crater with clear blue lagoon inside hosting Cichlid Fish found here and in lake Malawi, i swam inside the lagoon most mornings, a very inspirational place with awesome people running it. It was a little though for me to get out of the crater with my bike in the mornings but this place was so awesome that it didn't even cross my mind. I also cycled past the active volcano of masaya where i peeked inside the crater seeing the raw earth at work, one night i went with a group to explore it at night, we went into old lava pipes looking for vampire bats and found some, on our way out we had a peek into the main crater to see the glow but were quickly overwhelmed by the sulfur and quickly left the reserve.

From the port of granada on lake Nicaragua that hosts fresh water bull sharks, i took the weekly 2pm ferry witch was a 4 hour ferry ride to ometepe, the twin volcano island on lake nicaragua. My bike was loaded with the cargo and i spend most of the time in my ticket to the moon hamock outside on the upper deck of the ferry hanging and looking on my gps were i was.

We saw spectacular views of the active volcano, la conception and arrived at altagracia just after sunset. Waiting for us at the port there were locals with stacks and stacks of banana's or plantain that would be exported off the island with the ferry continuing through the night to the south of the lake. I got off and i managed to get my bike after a while, and then there were nothing, no lights just a pitch dark 3km road i knew i had to take to get to the little town from the port according to my gps. Here after 100m i went over the handlebars with a heavy backpack on my back after trying to turn on my red back light and not looking, hitting a big rock my bike stopped and i bought land like we say when you fall off your bike, it was quite funny. Then out of nowhere locals on bikes came riding past and trying to stay in my light as they had none or very basic lights, i must have looked like a spaceship to them with my gps and all my lights. My gps helped me allot. All towns in Nicaragua are small, they basically have a central plain surrounded by a few settlements. Altagracia was even smaller, but i managed to find my accommodation and eat something and get a nice nights rest in a very basic room with a bed and a fan, this day was full of adventure for me.

The next morning i took some 16km of rough dirt roads directly to mayogalpa on the foot of the huge la conception volcano, mayogalpa is where i were gonna stay for 4 days while doing the 100km fuego y agua ultra marathon, this is also where the race would start the next morning.

I settled into a room that looked like a converted horse stable with a door, bed and fan.

Skyrun 2011 Soul Survival

Living in the city, pure adventure is hard to find, we get so used to having it easy that we forget how it was when nature was raw without any human interference.

However there are still a few places left on our planet that are unspoiled and pure, these places you need to fight for your survival and make use of your primal instincts just to survive. Last weekend, the mountain ridge in the eastern cape where the annual 100km Salomon Skyrun took place was my escape to reality.

Running to me also represents something wild and primal, it is something that makes us human, we are born to run but the city and modern lifestyle got in the way of it for most of us.

SKYRUN is a HARDCORE race is many ways: weather, terrain, remoteness and altitude. But the energy you get from the mountain makes anything the rest of the year possible.

Running on the Dragons Back is always allot of fun for me, and i always try and run as much as possible on this narrow ridge, because it is such a thrill and feeling of freedom.

The night was long and freezing cold and i had to keep on moving in order to stay alive.

Skyrun, the longest and purest day of the year....

The spirit of running in the Alps, my UTMB experience:

Once every year for a week in a valley completely surrounded by the
Alps and glaciers, a little town named Chamonix Mont Blanc comes alive
and gets transformed with a special vibe and passion for human
endurance. Mont Blanc is a mountain high in the Alps on the border of
of France,Switzerland and Italy at 4810m, it is the highest point in
the alps, with the Chamonix valley at 1024m. It is a mountain that
needs your respect like all mountains, it is a weather maker.
Mountains are awesome!... Chamonix is the starting point for many
climbing trips, downhill mountain biking, skiing, ice climbing and of
course the start and finish of the Ultra tour du Mont Blanc.

So, after doing my first 100 mile trail run on reunion island last
year, i found a new passion for ultra trail running and specifically
100 mile races and decided to train and enter the Ultra Tour du Mont
Blanc (UTMB), having gathered enough points i got an entry i was super
stoked. UTMB is a super though 100 mile trail race around the Mont
Blanc Massif ascending high mountain passes and passing though
France, Italy and Switzerland in pure mountain wilderness. It is more
than a race, it is a journey, an experience.

I spend a week before and after the race in the alps, and it was an
experience to see this little town get transformed into trail running
heaven for a week. I decided to buy some of the less available in
south africa compulsory gear over there before the race, and i wasn't
disappointed. Chamonix is outdoor shopping heaven for those looking
for outdoor gear for climbing, mountaineering, trail running, downhill
mountainbiking and many more. Almost every second shop is an outdoor
shop with rooms dedicated to each mountain sport, some jaw dropping
followed by drooling will happen if you are a gear junkie. So i easily
picked up waterproof gloves and rain pants witch is some of the less
than ordinary compulsory equipment i am used to.

I stayed in a youth hostel, and i met quite a few interesting people
and trail runners from all over the world ranging from Taiwan and
Russia to Spain. Some did CCC a unique 100km race starting in Italy
while others did UTMB. The CCC race started a few days before UTMB but
also ended in Chamonix. Then 4 days before the start i got sick after
coming down from a high altitude 3800m cable car ride up to aiguille
du midi, i panicked a bit but tried to recover myself hoping each day
the next day i would feel better. I remember some Spanish CCC runners
that finished and shared the room with me with me feeling worse than
them and this is before I started the UTMB race. But i was very
excited and recovered every day, and race day when i felt better but
was still sick i decided i am going to start, but take it a bit
easier.

Now, Clear your mind ....... It is 23:20 in Chamonix Mont Blanc, the
race start was postponed from 18:30 to 23:30 to miss a bad weather
system and storm passing through that brought in some snowfall.
It is still raining, and you can feel Mont Blanc's presence even
though it is dark, I walk into town with my backpack and rain gear and
the vibe hits you in the face. I worm myself thought the crowds of
supporters to get to the starting line with 2300 other UTMB runners.

It is as if the mountain is alive and watching all the runners line up
in the rain before the world famous trail running stage and arch while
tension is building..... and then as if it is coming straight from the
top of the mountain, the famous music of the DOMINO song gets pumped
though the speakers ... goosebumps! but also respect is the feeling
... It is as if the mountain is talking to you and saying respect me i
am big or else, but if you respect me i will reward you with more than
you can ever image. This is every emotional, and then we start and we
all touch a band above the starting arch on our way out, to say
respect and to this point i shall return after conquering 100 miles of
mountain.

The crowds are amazing, the first 2km of the start is just goosebumps
trying to run but working yourself though the supporter crowds with
people taking photos, very emotional, and then you get going, it gets
dark, it is still raining and we are on our way, the journey has
started!

Then 9km into the race we start to go up climbing 800m in 5km to la
charme, it is muddy and very slippery, 90% of people are using
trekking poles, my gortex salomons keeps the cold water out, soon i am
forced to put my waterproof gloves on as the temperature drops as we
go up. Then we go down 800m, the mud makes it very slippery but if you
trust your feet you don't slide. Reaching St Gervais 21km into the
race the rain stopped and the vibe of supporters was amazing, there
would be groups of supporters that would go absolutely crazy if you
pass them, you can't help to get a kick in your legs and run twice as
fast automatically while they blow horns ring alpine bells and shout
at you. Then there are silly french people shouting "O, la la!, O le
le!" the whole time very funny.

Then we started a huge climb to 2486m, I made the cutoff time by 5min
and had to exit the water point gate immediately without getting
water, and i was starting to feel very sick with a bacterial infection
brewing. I asked if i could at least get water, but they refused as i
had already exited the point, so up i went seeing a stream high above
me i though i will just have to look after myself. So up we went and i
got water, and then ice rain started witch turned into snow as we went
up col bonhomme, it was quite something, and you realize your are on
your own on the mountain.  After coming down the mountain at 50km i
missed the cutoff, witch i think was a good thing as i would have
carried on with my sickness witch would have been bad for me. They
stopped me, and i was taken from the breathtaking beauty of italy
though the tunnel in the mountain back to chamonix where i tried to
recover from a now hectic sickness. Bad stuff happen, that is life.
So i have unfinished business, that is fine. I feel i would have
definitively finished the race making the cutoffs if i weren't sick.

Now being a spectator at the finish line of UTMB is a very emotional
experience. When runners enter Chamonix they don't enter as persons,
they enter as absolute heros with an emotion of heart moving pride
having found the reason making life worth living,  whole families
would escort runners in where some runners would carry all 3 their
children on their back after 100miles!
Then when they go though the finish line arch the DOMINO song plays
and everyone are in tears... I still am, and not because i got sick.
Because it is such a beautiful race.

I will be back for this race, for sure, it was an amazing experience!

Batrun 2011

Last weekend i did Batrun starting 19:00pm and finishing 1:30am, this was a hardcore night run as the weather on top of table mountain was very bad with gain force winds and rain that wants to blow you off the mountain and slippery wet rocks. The whole experience was well worth it, and i was running very fast downhills in sections, witch got my adrenaline levels up. Seeing the city lights from the top of leeukop at 1am in the morning was priceless.

2010 Highlights

Riding 1100km though Tibet via Mount everest basecamp back into Nepal, 

priceless.

Diagonal of Fools 163km 9600m+ reunion island, out of this world,

doing this epic race and seeing the active volcano erupt priceless.

Extreme chess and Ironing in the drakensberg. Riding ostriches in Oudshoorn.Adventure Caving Congo, Sudwala and Batcave sterkfontein.Attakwas extreme, Sabie ultra, Baberton ultra , Southern Skies 24h, Parys Jakalsdraai 6hour 46km night run, Mnweni marathon, Otter trail run, Mount aux sources run, Garmin Wartrail (Epic), Ystervark&Lekker AR, Yestervark&Hoonatand AR, Kenetic Full Moon AR, Swazi Extreme Pro. Noon2Moon. Snowboarding Afriski.

What a great year filled with fun and adventure!

Exotic Island Hobby:

Coming to think of it, I have been to quite a few Islands doing some adventurous stuff recently. So in my hobby of collecting islands, all these islands are special, but two stand out as extra ordinary. Catba and La Reunion.

The Islands are:

Vietnam (2009): Cat Ba Island and Vin purl Island

Indian Ocean (2008/2010): Mauritius and La Reunion

China (95'): Hong Kong Island

Cat Ba Island is an island approximately 140 km2 in Ha Long Bay, Northern Vietnam. Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba Langur. This langur is rarely seen, as fewer than 100 specimens are thought to survive in the wild. The Park covers both land and marine areas and has a high biodiversity. We spend two weeks on the island climbing, see full article in sa mountain sport: http://www.samountainsport.co.za/articles.php?p=53 ,Deep water solo climbing off sea stacks, sports climbing off beaches and at butterfly valley on Cat Ba, the nature and beauty on this island and the Ha Long island system is mind blowing and the climbing phenomenal. We kayaked in Ha Long bay, saw breathtaking secluded sea lakes islanded in the sea but surrounded by green lush and limestone cliffs only reachable via kayaking though caves during low tide. Unbelievable amazing i am tell you!!!

La Reunion is an island of true contrasts, the French department of Reunion is unknown to many of the world's travelers. That's unfortunate! This unique island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is simply one of the most intriguing spots on earth. With an active volcano on its south coast, 17 miles of warm, welcoming beaches in the west, and lots of mountains and forests in between, Reunion Island offers vacation opportunities ranging from relaxing to truly insane. If you're looking for a place to "chill out", you'll find it here. But if you're the kind of vacationer who prefers an adrenaline rush over a sunburn, the possibilities are endless. From hiking Reunion's unique "cirques" or canyoning the island's many waterfalls to scuba diving or surfing in the clear waters that surround this tiny 30-mile-wide island, adventure activities abound for vacationers hoping to do something a little daring while on their Reunion holiday. See more on my Reunion BLOG http://traileruption.blogspot.com/

Report: Grand Raid 2010 – diagonal of fools

It is cold, my hands are starting to shake, but it must be because of the excitement unfolding before my eyes, I am on  the grand raid 2010 – diagonal of fools. It is 4am and everybody stops on the rim of the caldera at 2250m, we hear the volcano rumble and magma coming through the pipes,  we peep over the edge and see a big lava fountain squirting lava, with chunks of plasma falling far over the edge, hitting the ground and then forming lava rivers. People shout out manjefique in french, and we are all stunned for a moment. Did i see hypothermia starting to set in? the answer is no, i was distracted, ok!! ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lqw37mj3FU

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The Diagonal of Fools is a highly technical non-stop run/hike of about 163km over Mountains with 9643m meters of elevation gain approximately diagonally across the island of Reunion from south to north through the foothills of the Piton de la Fournaise (active volcano) and calderas Cilaos, Mafate and Salazie, primarily via the hiking trails of the GR.  The maximum time of test, to be filed, is set at 66 hours (sixty six hours), including all breaks, subject to passing the various checkpoints before closing time. See http://traileruption.blogspot.com/

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We started the race 21 October 10pm from the south of reunion island at sea level at cape mechant. It was a mild tropical 22 degC outside. 2634 crazy people entered the race mostly from mainland france and reunion, i were the only south african. We were driven by busses to the sport stadium , where kit check was done, snacks were served and the fools given a last show of local island dancers with a guy blowing flames out of his mouth in true french glamour. Did I mention nobody speaks english on this island, Nobody. You need to improvise, use body language or learn french to survive. It was a huge mission for me to just get to the start of this race...  The moon was full and we were at the foot of the volcano, the vibe in the stadium was starting to get electric with a slight kink of crazyness, it is what I live for.

The gun went off and off we were, everybody starting to squash each other trying to get ahead, it looked like the start of comrades combined with a bull stampede, completely crazy. We climbed mildly for the first 15km to 700m, and the next 7km through dense muddy forest to 2250m. Every few hundred meters you would find a guy throwing up, that wern't eating or going up to quickly, I took it easy and felt good. You expand so much heat going up,  so I didn't wear anything warm.

I reached Foc-Foc, the CP just before the rim of the volcano, here even at night you can see the landscape changing to something simular to mars. Volcanic formations out of this world. It was slighly cooler here but with me still hot from the climb I carried on. I was running feeling good, and then we started hearing the volcano. This was so amazing, a noise I never heard before. Reaching the edge we saw the amazing specticle and I stopped to make a movie, eventualy I got a good shot using my gorilla pod (mini tripod) and putting my camera in night mode. What I didn't realise was that it was 3 degC outside, and my hands was starting to lose feeling. When I wanted to stop my movie and unclip my tripod I couldn't, I got a big scare. I couldn't open a energy bar with my hands and had to use my mouth, I couldn't put on my rain jacket. I had to get moving very quickly.

I reached the volcano observatory and refreshment point where I manged to get some lukewarm soup out of them but I couldn't open my bladder to refill, and had to beg the french guy that didn't understand me but eventualy saw my hands were freezing. I kept on going, the sun came up and my core temprature restored.

We were high above the clouds with very unique landscapes unfolding constantly, volunteers waiting en-route were encouraging you with ale-ale, this was great, and after another climb with magnificent scenery I reached a downhill I could run fast and passed a lot of people, this was great.

It is impossible for me to describe a race like this in every detail, but what I can tell you this island is out of this world diverse dramatic and like nothing you have seen before, and the trail condition differ constantly as does the landscape. The people racing can be described as lemmings as in the highly addictive computer game where thousands of little fools get send over an extreme obstacle course and only a few surviving to the end.

The main volcano on the island is 3000m high and extrinct, around the volcano lies 3 calderas, basically sucken in land masses around the volcano dropping from the edges from +-2300m sleeply down to 1000m, each caldera has a community of people living inside it completely surronded by mountains.

We aproached the first caldera Salazie though dense forests of rolling hills, and I followed a group of french people. My mind started playing tricks on me here and I though the french people were conspiring against me, remember I was just hearing french since my arrival on the island and I didn't understand a word. We dropped steeply into Salazie the caldera with the most water, waterfalls everywhere hundreds of them. This is rivendale, but better and home to the iron hole (Trou de Fer) http://www.crystalcanyons.net/Pages/TripReports/TroudeFer.htm, one of the canyons I will have to come back for canyoneering. I reached the town of Hell-Bourg and the 70km mark 16h7m into the race having done 3600m of climbing. Then we had to get out of the caldera climbing from 1000m to 2480m via cap anglais, this climb plays mental games on everybody, it is steep short switchbacks through dense forests that never seems to end, and you can't see the top. I reached the top just before nightfall and opted to move on and get down into the next caldera where i would take my first sleep break.

The next caldera Cilaos drops down via technical switchbacks over 5km to 1400m, i joined a group running a nice pace, and enjoyed this technical downhill at night. Your mind in deep concentration as your body negotiates the rocks at speed. This was an awesome mind blowing downhill, made for technical trail running. I reached the Stadium in Cilaos the 90km mark 22h31m into the race, and slept for 2 hours. I rested well ate something and headed out just before midnight. Each caldera is so unique. We skirted canyon walls and climbed out of the caldera using switchbacks, it was another challenging climb and i reached the top just before sunrise, before dropping down into Mafate.

Salazie and Cilaos are barely accessible via roads from the coastline, but these roads are exgeneering feats and very sheer mountain roads.  Mafate is totally inaccessible via roads and the community relies on a chopper flying in food and solar power.

Dropping into Mafate as the sun came up was amazing, this is an amazing caldera, very remote and very beautiful. I reached the bottom feeling extremely good and started running fast deep into the caldera, i enjoyed the technical running and special feeling of complete isolation. It was a long day, seeing out of this world beauty, but somewhere along the way in mafate i picked up a knee injury running a downhill that would make downhills not runnable anymore but uphills ok. I reached Deux Bras the 126km mark slowly after i got hold of a wooden stick to support me. It was 41h41m  into the race having slept 2 hours, and i was doing reality checks in my mind if i can survive another 40km on a swollen painful knee. I got a medic to massage my legs strap my knee, ate something, and slept for 2 hours.  I refused to give up even though the pain was excruciating, and i knew the inflammation was just gonna get worse. I left just before nightfall.

It was amazing here, some very steep scrambling holding onto cables at places we used steep switch backs and traversed up a cliff, i loved this and uphills wasn't that painful for my knee as the downhills. When we got to the top we reached a remote town on the escarpment with locals cheering us on. Then we had to go down again and it was a single track going steep down. There were hundreds of people before and after me, and it was gonna take me all night with my knee and i wouldn't have made progress as i would have to let everybody pass the whole time. So i just had to block out the pain and run the downhill without passing out. Here i found that your body can actually handle allot more pain than you think before you pass out. It was a long night, but i reached Possession 142km just before 2am,  51h 54m into the race, where i slept another 2 hours to normalize the pain.

The rest of the route i would do uphills as fast as i can, and go slow on downhills trying not to pass out. I eventually reached Colorado high in the mountains above St Dennis, where people indicated to me i am starting to drift (swing like a drunk person) across the paths. Colorado is 5km before the finish and i reached it 60h43m into the race, where i got some pain pills to get me to the finish. The view here is out of the world, and the vibe of the locals cheered me up tremendously. High above the clouds a very special place, so close but yet so far.

The pain pills helped allot, i got moving going down the very steep switchbacks and reached the finish in 62h49m37s. I made it!! and got my photos taken and received the medal of my dreams. It was all worth it, and an experience i will never ever forget in my live.

Victories often occur after you see no way to succeed but refuse to give up anyway...

1189 lemmings (fools) (people) almost 50% abandoned the race, and I made it, despite a terrible knee injury that made downhills outpassable painful, I could have had a better time if I didn't injure myself.

Spaniard Kilian Jornet won the race in an astonishing 23h 17m 26.

No report can do this race justice, It is also more than a race, It is also a celebration of French-Reunion culture.

Though I'd share some of it with you adventure minded people.

See ya

Jacques Booysen

--

"Dream big and live those dreams. Why ration passion. Pursue Passion. Death and/or old age is coming, we must live sweet. The time is now. It is not only life, but the quality of this life." - Mike Libecki