Bunker Cuzco

/in /by

It’s been five days having URI symptoms. I don’t feel like doing shit. I just want to stay in bed until I leave. I’ve been a connoisseur of tea and soup.  I really enjoy Cuzco though. It’s just a shame I can’t shake this cold.


I got back from Machu Picchu and I went searching for Bunker Cuzco.  I ran into Diego Yule. He runs Bunker with Nico Culrich.  It was good to exchange Jiu Jitsu stories and have a local show me around.  He showed me the Mercado de San Blas.  Little things like showing a traveler a local market means a lot.

I trained three times. I’m proud of myself for training but feeling of being sick when I’m not training isn’t good.  Some techniques Nico and Diego went over were an omoplata from spider and half guard/ knee shield. When I went to open mat we exchanged GI and NO GI. Diego was preparing for a No Gi tournament in May. We discussed how leg locks is now a system everybody needs to study. If not you will be behind the curve, especially as purple belts.


I met a Helene at the Open Mat on Saturday, a fellow BJJ Globetrotter. You can follow her blog. She has over 400 days on the road. She gave me some advice on traveling. She is truly an inspiration.

@helenebjj. Follow her on instagram @helenebjj and her blog

As a former US Navy Hospital Corpsman, I self diagnosed myself with acute URI (upper respiratory infection). (Note: self diagnosing yourself is a running joke in the medical field. Why? Nearly all patients google their symptoms and think they know what they have.)  I have decided its viral and that I will just ride out the symptoms.

I fly to Lima then to Cuzco in a few hours. I hope the weather will be better for my symptoms.

Coco beach, Costa Rica. Joining the Coco crew.

/in /by

When I crossed over the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica it was like stepping into a new world. A gate to another dimension filled with long lines, paperwork and more lines. I went from running after way too crowded chicken busess who are just reused american looking schoolbuses, to stepping into an air conditioned bus with way too many seats and drivers who actually speak English! Well I take the bus and head to my first location in Costa Rica, Coco beach. It was the longest I stayed in one place so this blog could be longer then usual.

When I arrive me and Jimmy, a brown belt in town who had invited me to come and train, decided to meet up at his family restraunt, Jimmy’s Burger. Offered me any burger on the menu and of course I went for the juiciest one! So good. He showed me the town and told me the history of the BJJ in the town, how trainers and affiliations had come and left. Now they had a decent setup in a new gym with a Brazilian black belt driving from Liberia to teach few times a week.

That night I go and roll with them but there wasn’t an official class so we were only 4 guys. Me, Jimmy, Thomas who would be so helpful and nice for the next days and then Yann the gym owner, super fit guy who had only been training 5 months but was so pumbed to learn as much as he could and was already starting to show serious progress. That session they wanted to see some judo stuff so I tried to cram as much information and moves at them as I could, hoping something would stick.

The next day I went to an official class, I met Jean the coach who did not speak a single word in English so I had to have everything translated for me. I was really excited to meet an legit Brazilian black belt and he was everything I expected him to be. He asked if I could teach an 1 and a half hour class and I was honoured! He did ask me if I had my black belt so I wasn’t teaching wearing my blue belt… sadly no. For the first 30 minutes I felt his eyes on my the back of my head and I thought he was judging my teaching, it wasn’t until he gave me a big compliment that he liked everything that I was showing that I was able to relax a little. My favourite part was after the 1 and a half hour he says “We did judo, now we do Jitsu” with this notion that he was gonna show me how it’s done. He proceeds to show the class one move and then points me to the corner which got me kind of confused. He wanted to have a private lesson with me. Awkwardly I step out of the group into the corner and wait for him. He then comes over rolls with me and shows me some really cool moves that I’m not sure I’m ever gonna use but still I’m never going to forget that experience. 

On my last day I join the crew to drive to Liberia and train with an larger group there. When we arrived the power went out and it wasn’t until after 30 or 40 minutes of sitting around that the lights come back on. We rushed to the mats ready for action and then I hear Jean talking to the class and notion in my direction saying “Gringo” and then Jimmy said that he told the class I would show two throws. I planned on just joining the group for a normal class but I showed the two throws, easy ones for most of the people didn’t even know how to breakfall. The rolling starts and two pairs go the mats, of course me being one of them. Then Jean keeps sending more guys to roll with me and I end up staying on the mats almost the entire time. Memorably rolling with both Jimmy and Thomas and they making me work for it. Thomas was so enthusiastic and I could see that he had so much potential, being a really good blue belt. I did enjoy Jimmy’s style as well, a brown belt who had nothing too prove to anybody else and just rolled for the enjoyment of it.

In the end I want to thank all the guys at Coco beach for making me feel so welcome and it was seriously hard to leave that town. I stayed there for almost a whole week and I already felt like an part of their gang. 

Got my open water diving certificate while I was there

Apparently gringos can’t be trusted with a plate for grownups

Ofcourse we went out and got green beers on St Patrick’s day

Fredericton and Moncton New Brunswick Canada

/in /by

Greetings from Fredericton New Brunswick Canada…kind of…

I made it to Fredericton easy enough, there were a few bus transfers over the night and I didn’t get much sleep but I still made it to the destination on time and without any real problems, which is the important part. Originally when I booked the tickets I didn’t look at the map that closely and booked the bus from Montreal. I then booked a train from Quebec City back to Montreal to catch the bus, with a 4 hour layover, even though the two stations are side by side. Also, the bus goes up to Ste Foy on it’s way to Fredericton, which is just outside Quecbec City, and 10-15 minute drive from my friend’s place. So rather than spend the whole day backtracking, I threw out the train ticket to Montreal and the bus ticket to Ste Foy, they were non-refundable, and caught the bus that night, saving me half the total time on a bus and/or train. I’ve been looking closer now with my planning transit routes.

On the road again.

Catching up with Friends

It has been 15 years since I last saw Aaron and Danielle, who I stayed with while in Fredericton, I was still in highs school and they had joined the military and been posted out. With social media so common place in our lives now a days we met up on Facebook and when I started planning out where to go and stay I sent Aaron a message. Next you know we’re sitting in a car with his family reminiscing about the good ole good in high school and talking about where everyone is now a days. They had set me my very own room in the basement, well almost, I shared it with the cat, who had decided I’m her new best friend. I spent a good deal of my time sitting in the front room working on blogs and planning things for the UK, when they were home we talked about all sorts of things, like my journey and life leading up to it or what they had been up to in the past 15 years, at one point Aaron brought the fact he and Danielle had a discussion of what we’d talk about, being that we hadn’t seen, or spoke much, in 15 years. Aaron had made the comment that it’d be just like picking up where we left off, like it was yesterday. He was right. It’s something we’ve noted about the people we grew up with back home, we can not see or speak or one another for years on end, show up one night and continue on like those years a part never happened. A true sign of real friendship, although it did make me miss a few old friends I haven’t talked to in years.

Leila sent me some American Girl Guide Cookies! They were so good!

Another friend I hadn’t seen since high school was Greg, he and I were in the same classes for the first half or so of school, and had met up a few times during the Christmas get-together at the bar back home. We had kept in contact online and he had even offered me a place to stay, but I had already made plans with Aaron. we met up for lunch one day and grabbed some food at a local diner. Since I last saw Greg he had released from the military and was now sporting a huge red beard, suitable enough to have a spot on the TV show ‘Mountain Men’ and shaved, or lost, the curly hair I remembered him having in highschool. As we talked caught up on life and talked about all sorts of things he brought up something that is dear to him, volunteer work he does with an organization set to help soldiers with PTSD with medicinal cannabis, called Marijuana For Trauma. It’s something I also believe in and think should be more widely accepted to help out our men and women that serve us. I in turn told him about al the accounts of those who have done Jiu-Jitsu helping them deal with PTSD and the different programs I’ve seen out there for teaching soldiers to cope through Jiu-Jitsu. We both agreed, if more people did Jiu-Jitsu and smoked weed there’d be a lot less problems, and a lot more happy people in the world. Seriously though, I believe both medicinal cannabis and Jiu-Jitsu therapy can help cure, or deal with, a lot of problems we are facing today.

It was great to stay with and hang out with Aaron and Danielle, thanks to much for taking care of me, feeding and even giving me drives around town! Also, thanks Greg for the pizza, it was great to catch up with you, too. Until next time guys!    


The Snow Storm..

the snow storm. I tried going for pizza. I make it to the corner store. what you don’t see is the tractor clearing out the intersection of snow 30 feet away from me. The lights were green, but no one could see, luckily no one was driving either.

As I was staying in Fredericton at Aaron and Danielle’s word that a huge snow storm was coming in was going around, and each day was dumping a lot of snow, but intermittently, and it wasn’t quite enough to stop me from training (Thanks Aaron for the rides!), or my bus to Moncton, although we were an hour late. But once I got to Moncton the snow came down hard! I believe it was a total of more than 8 feet of snow that dropped in a period of 24 hours. The entire east coast of Canada was shut down, businesses were closed, and I was trapped in the hostel I was staying in. With the weather as bad as it was I was unable to train at all, in fact this section will cover my stay in Moncton, which is why I grouped it in with Fredericton. Other than a run through the blizzard to the corner store I only made it out once while visiting the town, I walked to the movie theater and watched Lego Batman and John Wick 2, both were great movies and well worth the long walk, but it would have been nice to train as well.  

Chocolate river. It’s level with the top during high tide, right now it just looks like a icy muddy pit.

The hostel I was staying in was pretty nice and cozy, feeling more like a bed and breakfast. It was a big house turned into a hostel, with one co-ed room of 8 bunks. There were 2 guys who were staying long term, paying rent, and an Vietnamese woman, Mary, who was from Vancouver and had a boyfriend who trained BJJ, we talked on Skype once for a few minutes once to see which friends we had in common, showing that the world is indeed a small one. Mary was only staying a short while and was on her way to Vietnam to see her parents, and her flight left just before the blizzard hit us, lucky for her. She had a book, like a diary, but filled with all the places she’d been to, travel brochures and local currency taped to the pages and notes about getting around or ways to save money or sights to see for each place. It was a pretty awesome book to look through. She had been to Tokyo before and we talked about how great it was and what sights we each had seen. It was a fun time of conversing with other hostelers and and backpackers.

The hostel staff having fun with the weather. 

Through this conversation I told the guys of my blog and my journey so far and intentions for Europe and Asia. I guess there is a journalist for a local paper that likes to come by and cover stories of the interesting people that stop by at the hostel, one of the guys had told her about me and my journey, she wanted to do an article on me and interview me for the paper. I never heard from her again before I left, I figured the storm put a stop to our intended interview, oh well, it would have been cool but I guess it’ll have to wait for another time. Luckily the roads were cleared in time for my bus to Halifax, and only one destination was ruined.

The snowbank behind me is actually over 7 feet tall. When I got into the town in Moncton it was barely up to me knees. That’s a lot of snow in 3 days!

Synergy BJJ

Back when I was training in Quebec while I was on course for work for a month last year I posted about my experiences training at BJJ Quebec with Prof. Louis Berube. I got some responses on Reddit telling to check out some other BTT clubs in Canada and Synergy BJJ in Fredericton New Brunswick was one of them. Another one was Victory BJJ in Moncton but the snow storm cancelled that visit. I e-mailed the club soon after getting the referral on Reddit and talked to Melyssa about dropping by, which was no problem, and we kept in contact as I planned out the Canadian Odyssey.

The brave few that made it out to class on a snowy night. 

The first night I made it out to the club neither Melyssa or Dana, the head instructor, were in for class but I did get to meet a few members of the club, who were all welcoming, during the no gi class. The next night both Dana and Melyssa were there and I was able to introduce myself and thank them for welcoming me. Dana seemed genuinely interested in my blog and journey and had even been reading it before class, unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to talk about it and never found time to set up an interview. The club is in a gym, but it’s not your usual gym, it’s a dynamic conditioning center, or cross fit gym if you will, what ever you call it it was a great training atmosphere. There was a stretch of fake grass for pulling sleds and flipping tires, squat racks and other equipment on either side, with the mat space being in the back corner. Each time I showed up to class there would be music blaring and people working away at all the stations of the gym, they had a good set of dedicated gym rats, but every night, at 8pm I think it was, everyone would suddenly be done working out and leave, with the Jiu-Jitsu club being the only ones left in the gym.

No gi class getting some rolls in.

Classes were welcoming and casual at Synergy, we started with some warm up drills then moved into techniques, adding to a chain of moves as the night went on. I wasn’t able to do everything as I had hurt my elbow when in Quebec, so using my one arm was quite restricted for most my time there, I only rolled one night and quickly regretted it the next day, remembering to let me body rest and heal and take days off is going to be the biggest and hardest thing for me to deal with while on this Odyssey. One the bright side I for the first time ever was able to do a set of berimbolos between a standing partner’s legs, it was during warm up one night, they took to time to get me to learn the proper movements and get them down right. Now you can be thinking “That’s not a big deal” or “Who can’t do berimbolos at 4 strip blue belt?!” or even “Who cares about berimbolos?!” I could go on about not caring for them because it doesn’t fit into my game style or what ever but really I’ve always had problems with them because of my shape, apparently being round makes rolling upside down harder, and so I never really cared for them. I will say though, weather for the use of berimbolos or not, they are great for drilling to really get to learn body movement, and because that class I feel I have a higher sense of my body movement, or lack of in some cases.

Dana Teaching class.

One class Dana decided to put us on Facebook live and gave me a mini interview so I could make a shout out for the blog and the journey, It was a fun ‘Panda Sighting’ to make on the spot, which is what I’ve been calling any pictures or videos of me showing up on other club’s or people’s social media accounts while on the Odyssey. I have the feeling there are going to be a lot more ‘Panda Sightings’ in the future. In fact if you have videos or pictures of me visiting your club let me know, I have a Dropbox folder to collect all the ‘Panda Sightings’ once I get a bunch I’ll see about putting together a photo album on the site.

After having fun hanging out with old friends and making new ones at Synergy BJJ…and then get stuck in a blizzard in Moncton…it was time to Head to Hailifax Nova Scotia and meet up with another old friend of mine Michael McCoag, who I met when I first joined the Canadian Navy and hadn’t seen in 5 yrs.

It’s either an At-St walker and the rebel base on Hoth is being attacked by the Empire, or it’s a wind mill and I’m on my way to the east coast on a snowy day. 

Until next time, see you on the mats!

OSSS!!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA’S ODYSSEY!

Sign up to the Panda’s Odyssey Patreon Account.

Buy Panda’s Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.

Buy the Panda’s Odyssey T-shirt.

Heart of N’djamena

/in /by

 Part Two: N’djamena Has Heart

Meet Basile. Basile is an approximately 6’2″/ 188cm tall 220lb / 100kg Judo black belt with 1o years of combined Judo and Wrestling experience. I stand at a staggering 5’8″ / 172 cm and 170lb / 77kg after leaving a buffet and I’m about to introduce Basile to BJJ. I haven’t trained or competed in several months so admittedly I’m a tad intimidated. If Basile is able to just rag-doll me then myself and BJJ might lose our credibility. In most of the world these days it’s universally accepted that BJJ is a highly effective martial art. However, In many place of Africa it’s a different story. Without practitioners and limited media this is much of a ‘that won’t work on me’ mentality that existed when people first saw Brazilians turning people into pretzels. Just two days after finding INJS I was meeting Basile accompanied again by Doug and Zabra. We’re meeting at the modest gym that he does fitness personal training and I’m hoping we’re able to do some training there. The small gym is near what could be considered downtown just off a bumpy dirt road. It even has a bayside view of a well littered river. The gym itself is clean with realistic paintings of fitness specimen on the walls. Basile’s English is good and he invites me into his training room which is scattered with workout equipment. Much to my surprise there is a hefty stack of worn mats in the corner. The Judo Federation has done well for Tchad. Basile agrees to do some training and I set out mats as he finished with a client. Zabra joins in and we do a introductory no gi class. Basile has an idea of what BJJ is but this is Zabras first time with grappling. I teach seminar style showing what makes BJJ different from Judo and other martial arts emphasizing the guard and submissions. We successfully do some live guard passing / retention drills and finish with a few rolls. Basile and I had some great rolls! My previous worries were unwarranted as I was able to submit him several times using efficient technique over strength. He was intrigued and both Basile and Zabra were on board to continue learning. We scheduled a time to begin N’djamena’s first BJJ class within a couple days


(post training pic taken with my phone that has the same camera quality as a toaster) 

I arrive at INJS ready to teach. I have a pretty solid idea to run through warm ups, basic fundamentals of an armbar from guard and passing the closed guard, live drills, and finish with a couple rolls. Unfortunately, INJS had other plans. I come in to see the familiar boxing and TKD classes going on and find Basile is there with bad news. The Chadian national Judo team is scheduled to train at the same time we had planned. Fortunately, the coaches agreed to allow us a shorter time to use the mats before they kick us off. I meet and greet everyone the has come to see what this weird new martial art in Tchad is. Thanks to Zabra’s social media skills, there is a pretty good turn out of 6 Africans that have come to join. Once the mats are ours I quickly get started to begin the condensed version of my lesson plan. Warm ups are simple with the added confused faces at the sight of a ‘shrimp’ movement. I explain in as few words as possible and demonstrate the techniques. Having Basile help translate is invaluable although I’m still not sure how much is lost in translation. I enjoy watching everyone smiling and struggling to get the moves down. I found that it’s almost impossible to correct mistakes without physically moving their bodies into the right spot and saying “Ici” here in French. Then, “Ceva” good. That’s about the extent of my French but it works and eventually everyone is armbarring or tapping. We’re able to just get a few minutes of live drilling before our time is up. The group is very physically strong and it’s difficult to explain how they need to use 50% of their energy or strength to properly learn so most of the drill is a lot of flopping around. The young Judo team trickle in and gaze at the fiasco as if there were gazelles playing soccer in the room. After we finish, I consider it a success and thank everyone for coming and set up the next training date. While packing to leave Basile informs me that the Judo professor would like to invite me to teach ‘newaza’ or Judo ground game to the Chadian National Judo Team. I’m thrilled to accept! 

I arrive again at INJS with Gi in bag and mind racing with info from all the youtube vids I used to try to figure out what works in Judo. When the class is ready to begin I Gi up and feel awkward in my BJJ blue belt at a Judo class. Basile eases my suffering by explaining to the team who I am and why I’m there and letting me know that after warm ups I’ll lead the class. I’m going to show some submissions and details of kesa-gatame  I work through the techniques with Basile on the side so he has an understanding of how to translate. The class is about 14 students from varying ages from about 10 to 17. As I teach the class is very respectful and responsive. We go through the series slowly to emphasize the importance of the small details. There are several very experienced students and I move around the room working with everyone a bit. Some of the students had good English and many questions. After we finish the successful instruction the Judo professor Najitan Koumninga takes back control of the class for a cool down and the bow out. I stand on the side with Basile and participate in the ending respects which are much longer than any I’ve had in all the BJJ schools I’ve trained at. It really hits me as this is going on how much discipline these kids are learning here and what that kind of structure will do for their future. I feel very proud at this moment to be a part of this Lionheart Initiative project to help spread these kind of qualities to Africa. I’m given a chance to speak to the class and I keep it short just saying how honored I am to be invited to teach them and I really hope that my BJJ will be able to help their Judo. 

As this has been happening I’ve also been preparing for a trip to Dakar, Senegal to meet my KOA Team coming all the way from Virgina, USA to teach BJJ in seminars and run the Dakar open tournament for the competitors there as they’ve been doing every year since 2013. My next story will be of that amazing adventure!

Nicaragua, The hidden sensei in San Juan del Sur

/in /by

After my incredible week in El Salvador I flew over to Nicaragua to truly start my backpacking experience. No safety net from a pre-paid organized camp where I don’t have to think about anything except enjoy. I had already did some research online about BJJ in Nicaragua and found out that there wasn’t much of it. I do admit that I did not ask anybody in the Globetrotters community for tips on it and I kinda decided that my Nicaragua trip was gonna be mainly touristy. While staying my one night in Managua, not really an interesting city I did see 2 MMA gyms with probably some BJJ but didn’t have time to investigate further.

Met some great people along the way.

Did a photoshoot in a middle of a lake.

So I spent about 2 weeks in Nicaragua, I enjoyed my stay there to the fullest, touristing around and travelling with other backpackers and for my last weekend I had worked my way down south to a town called San Juan del Sur, close to the border of Costa Rica. I planned to stay there only 2 nights.

So now I was already missing BJJ so much that I wanted to head straight into Costa Rica and train. One night while planning there was someone who commented on my status in the Globetrotters Facebook group talking about BJJ in Nicaragua and that there was this guy called Jacked Jitsu on Fb coaching in San Juan. I was leaving the next day and already planned everything from that, checked out his Fb but left it at that.

San Juan del Sur, surfing and party town.

That day I go surfing, saw this guy with a Yin&yang tattoo that looks so familiar. Came back to the hostel looked up Jacked Jitsu and what do you know that was him! Now I’m too curious and I have to stay one more night and check out his training. Shot him a pm and got an open invitation.

So next day I show up there and this super buff guy, the trainer, real name Eric, that greats me and we talk for a bit and I realise that this guy knows his stuff. The training confirmed that, he was one of the best guys I’ve seen! We rolled, he stayed passive until he apparently got bored and submitted me. These two other people join late in the training and are both black belts staying at Eric house and helping him train for the worlds. I roll with the woman, Cindy, Gracie black belt if I understood it correctly. She had such an unique style to her and it was an awesome roll. Showed me her signature sweep that I already started using in my game.

To make this long story short, that surprise training was one of the best ones I’ve done and I’m so happy that I decided to go for it! Really teaches you to grap the opportunities that come your way and don’t be to fixed in what you are doing.

ps. My phone/camera was out of battery and I was without a charger for 2 days. So I completely failed on pictures from that gym.

London Again

/in /by

London AGAIN!

It’s getting boring, it’s London again. Sorry nothing new, why do they have to host the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in London? 

No, I like London, it’s a great city and if you started with BJJ and traveling, it’s likely that you will know someone in such a big city. In this case, it’s always great to see your friends, visit his gym and at this time do a little competition. First stop was Fightzone London from Checkmat, great Gym the level is really high and you will get some competitive rolls in. Good for me, they just did open mat and no mat fees, because a lot of the guys went to the competition. During the open mat, I got folded together, smashed and had an amazing time and left very tired, that’s always a good sign for BJJ.

The next day was the competition day. Everything was so good organised by the UAEJJF, I went to a lot of BJJ tournaments and I have to say this one was the best organised so far. Everything was on time, they had a large warm up area with a lot of screens to follow the on-going matches and as well the timetable for your own match. For the spectators they had a huge stand, so everyone could easily follow the matches. The show was great not so my performance, I didn’t survived the first round, you win you lose, just get better to win more, going back to improve for the next time.

No, the tournament was over, London without a pub visit wouldn’t be right, no happy drinking but a lot of drinking for my little liver. J Watching the UFC Fight night live would have been better but in a pub was still very good, even better because it was held in London. The only thing was, I had to pay the price the next day, good old hangover. Some sightseeing famous Bricklane a little bit different, if you wonder of the touristic paths you can see a lot of amazing street-arts, there are some free tours, if you get the chance take one! 

And soon the weekend was over, new training, new experience and seeing old friends, almost can’t be better.

BJJ at first sight – Woman view

/in /by

The Jiu jitsu is predominantly practiced by men.

Fortunately, in recent years, it has become more popular with women.
Kick boxing fitness and self-defense are very popular, but the Jiu Jitsu is still a bit in the shadows. When I talk about Jits in my surroundings, people often look at me with big eyes: huh ???
What is that?  
I discovered this sport because I practice a another combat sport (Taekwondo).
The Jits didnt attract me at first sight.
Bizarre (sexual) positions on each other, body to body often with people you know barely.
The sweat of the other that flows on you, the crotch sometimes very close to your face.
No thank you, I will stand and continue to kick.  
When you concentrate and practice the techniques, the discomfort of the beginning fades.
You focus on the technique and not on the buttoms of your opponents in your face.  
Women should pay more attention to Jiu jitsu because is an excellent defense without receiving or kicking.
Yes, you end up having bruises all over the body, but it hurts less than fists or kicks in the face.

 

I was happy and surprised to see several girls in kick boxing classes and jiu jitsu in Australia.
In some places, you could be 6 to 10 girls on the mat.
Determined and confident women.  
It takes courage to step into the door every
session knowing that there are 10 big guys waiting for you.  
I always liked being surrounded by men in the practice of my sports.
It challenges me, pushes me to be stronger, more powerful.
I want to show them that I am capable too.  

But sometimes I’m discouraged. I also want to be on top of the opponent in control and attack.
It’s quite normal at the beginning to be in survival mode since you dont  have all the tools to live or even to hunt.  
It will come with lots of practice and hours on the mat.
Again, I have to work my patience.  

Like any sport, it’s not always easy and it has phases of discouragement.
Moments where you have to take on you and continue, persevere despite frustration or injury.  
This sport is wonderful, it’s a constant learning.
I dont go to college, but I learn every day.
There are millions of situations and techniques to get out of trouble and attack.
A sport in constant evolution with diversity and creativity. It’s what it’s catch me.  I want to learn more and more. 

N’djamena welcomes BJJ

/in /by

At first it was just a crazy idea.

I woke up hungover on a Sunday in the middle of a desert for about the third week in a row. I hadn’t trained at all for months and I felt terrible. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be on the mats it’s just that there wasn’t a BJJ class going on for probably about 1,500 miles/2,500 KM. I’m in N’djamena, Tchad smack dab in the middle of Central Africa. I finish pouring myself a hangover cure and a dim lightbalb goes off somewhere in my mind. “Why isn’t there BJJ here?”


Enter Lionheart Initiative

I’ve known about the Lionheart Initiative(LHI) for about a year simply because Professor Kelly Grissom who awarded me my KOA Team blue belt had been traveling to Dakar, Senegal in support of the project there once a year since 2013. Lionheart Initiative is a movement to bring Mixed Martial Arts to areas in Africa where it doesn’t exist to allow the people to benefit from the same life changing qualities that you and I share. The Initiative has brought many professional martial artists of MMA, BJJ, and Muay Thai to several countries in West Africa to help teach eager young learners. I quickly got in contact with the Coordinator of LHI about starting a project to spread BJJ to Tchad. LHI was definitely on board but there were still many obstacles standard to life in Africa. In Tchad everyone speaks French and very little English. Unfortunately, my French is limited to about 4 words. It’s also nearly impossible to get anything shipped here let alone bulky mats and finding mats here would be a needle in a haystack.  None of these issues were going to stop me from trying.


(Hilton N’djamena. My temporary home away from home while in Tchad)

My first breakthrough came about a week later after a coworker put me in touch with Zabra who is a Cameroonian boxer that was working as a bouncer in the city. Zabra’s immediate enthusiasm about doing any sort of training was the kind of encouragement that I needed at this point! His efforts made him nothing short of a miracle worker. He quickly used his many local connections and scouted possible places for training.  Finally, on a Sunday that I didn’t have work, we were ready to go see what Zabra had found. I call up Doug who is the reliable local taxi driver that charges a fair price (and has shown me some of the hidden gem parties in N’djamena) Zabra, Doug, and I meet at my hotel for drinks and hookah to be introduced and discuss in broken English what the plan is for the day. While we are on the way the trip ends up being a short drive through unregulated traffic and a turn onto a bumpy dirt road. The road goes on just long enough for me to believe were lost before we begin to turn of the sand and into a fairly well painted gate with a sign over it that read in French ‘Institute of Junior Sports‘ INJS. The compound is large, well gardened, and filled with kids running around playing futbol. Doug parks his small unmarked car from the mid 90s and we venture inside. 

I found my needle.

I received many curious glances being the only white person strolling into the compound but everyone greeted me friendly. Zabra and Doug spoke with a large group that appeared to be training boxing and TKD. After the French exchange, I was informed that they were the wrestling, and boxing coaches at INJS. They were thrilled about the idea of having another coach help teach a new martial art! Their welcoming seriously still startles me it was almost surreal and I couldn’t have been more thankful for the opportunity. Yet, there were still many challenges to come. They allowed me to explore the compound to see the facility and ask questions about things I believed might be necessary prior to starting training. Through the wrestling coach I was put in contact with Basile a Judo coach of the Chadian National Judo team. We left INJS after a short time very satisfied with the new connections we had made.

N’djamena is off to a great start.

The notorious El Salvador

/in /by

I had heard so many things about El Salvador, it was filled with gangs, crimes and over all a very unsafe country for a tourist. However the Globetrotters camp just looked too good to not go there.

It was a Sunday night when I landed in El Salvador, a man greeted me outside the airport holding a sign with my name on it and pointed me to his car. With his limited knowledge he tried to make small talk, asked where I was from and when I answered “Iceland” I got the look that I have gotten used to here in Central America. It was a dull reaction indicating that he had no idea what Iceland was. My whole world of 320.000 people who think they are center of the universe means nothing here.

After an almost one hour of driving in pitch black, with potholes all over the road, seeing pickup trucks filled with people and dogs running all over the road. I arrived. I see this really nice looking house and as soon as I step in, a man approaches me. This man has the biggest smile on his face, walks right up to me and gives me a hug, giving me such a sincere and warm welcome. For the rest if the week it was rare to see this man, Luis, not having a smile on his face.

That introduction was what shaped my week in El Salvador, it was an paradise on earth. My schedule was surfing in the morning and BJJ in the evening. The days mostly consisted of hanging around in hammocks and enjoying the company of the people who were there and had arrived with really similar thoughts as myself. 

When the rolls started you could feel how the different styles mixed with different experience. Everyone was different on the mats but at the same everyone was so eager just to enjoy themselves. I did not have one roll that week that I did not enjoy. 

When the week was coming to an end I had made friends all over the world, from different backgrounds and I had invitations to train and even coach. This made me see how strong of a force BJJ can be, connecting different people with the same passion. 

 

I’m going on an adventure! My first step.

/in /by

For months I had gone through an rollercoaster of emotions, getting overexcited and then stressed out of my mind over my decision. I had decided to leave Iceland for a 3 months journey based around my love for BJJ. Of all places, I decided to travel through Central America, having my first stop in the beach camp in El Salvador. I’ve travelled decent amount in my life, I would leave Iceland at least 1 or 2 times each year for a vacation, competitions or rescue work… but this was different. Everybody kept asking my what I was thinking, these countries are so dangerous, why am I going alone, etc. But I stuck with it, I knew that I needed a new challenge, a way to open my mind after realising that I didn’t want to go down the beaten path. Somedays I would seriously doubt my decision and other days it made 100% sense.

The day finally came, me living in Iceland and being used to bad weather I was not surprised when we had a huge storm on the day of my flight. All the roads closed down, planes were grounded and nothing was going anywhere. I thought to myself that this was typical and that the start would probably represent the rest of the trip. I had to give it my all to keep calm and wait for an update. Finally the weather cleared, I made it to the airport, had to rush through everything, didn’t buy one thing at the airport that I had planned to buy. I got aboard the airplane and waited.

As soon as the airplane took off it was as all my worries had been left behind. This peace came over me and I knew that I had taken the right decision. Ahead of me was a weekend of travel through Canada thanks to the storm, but all I had to do was to focus on what was in front of me. Now I understand why travelling is addictive.

Planning the next steps from Canada

Quebec city, Quebec, Canada

/in /by

Greetings from Quebec City Quebec Canada!

Although This trip from Montreal to Quebec City was uneventful, it was my first time taking a train, so at the risk of sounding really boring, I was excited to travel up to Quebec city this way!

Crossing a train bridge on the way up to Quebec City, pretty cool view of the river freezing over.

In Quebec City, had my first train ride!

Also, given that the biggest winter party was about to start in this city all the hotels were booked but my friend, who lived out of town and was moving that weekend so unable to host me the whole time, helped me out. Given that I have served in the military before I was able get accommodations on the base in Old Quebec, but not just any base, The Citadelle de Quebec, home of 22e Regiment or ‘Van-Doos’ as they’re called, which is next door to the Plains of Abraham, the deciding battle ground for the fate of Canada in the Seven Year’s War. It was pretty cool staying at a piece of Canadian history.    

Entrance to the Citadelle, home of the ‘Van-doos’ where I’ll be staying for most this visit.

Old Quebec and The Winter Carnival

Bonhomme, the Carnivale mascot, seeing us have a great winter!


Since all the classes were in the evening I had all day to rest up, work on my blog and wander around the check out the city. I took a bunch of pictures of Old Quebec and the events going on around the area. If you didn’t know, the Quebec Winter Carnival, or just ‘Carnaval’ to most Canadians, is a huge festival in the city with all sorts of activities like the toboggan slide by the Chateau Frontenac you can race down the hill on. there’s all sorts of maple toffee booths where you pour hot maple syrup in the snow and as it cools wrap it around on a stick. And what most people love the most, the ice sculptures and structures that get built around the city, in fact if you venture north of the city you’ll find the Ice Hotel. I took what pictures I could of the city and events, but I wasn’t around for the main events on the weekend, but I was there for Jiu-Jitsu and seeing friends, not being a tourist.  

Sound stage made of ice. there were several ice structures around town, to promote the ice hotel up north. 

A snow statue, they had a few of these around too, behind him is a sugar shack, boiling maple syrup to make fresh maple toffee.

Fresh maple toffee, your pour it hot over snow and as it cools you wrap it up on a stick to eat it. 

The toboggan slide, you can’t tell from this picture but the hill is a pretty tall and steep.

The chateau Frontenac, giant old hotel.

Frozen flowers, in front of stores. 

 

The National Flags at half mast in respect to the horrible even of the shootings that took place the weekend before. 

Yoseikan Jiu-Jitsu Quebec


Last year I stayed in Quebec City for a month and Dojo Yoseikan Jiu-Jitsu Quebec was one of the clubs I trained at while there. I wasn’t familiar with Yoseikan Jiu-Jitsu, I never it had Aikido roots but that was about it. Has it happens it’s much ‘harder’ than Aikido and more similar to the traditional Jiu-Jitsu I practice. In any case, Sensei Dominic Toupin was more than happy to have me and the club was very welcoming, and so when I returned this time I had to drop by and visit my friends once more! Once I settled in at the Citadelle I checked the schedules and realized that I only had one class I could it make it out to see the Yoseikan guys and it was that night, so I got ready and took off and made an unannounced visit to the club. Luckily most the guys I remembered from the club made it out the night I dropped by, I was worried that I might miss a lot of them. After saying hello to everyone and catching them up on my travels so far we started class.

Toupin never does the same warm up, as I’ve noticed, there’s always some sort of running, and stretching, but he also throws in different dynamic movements and core exercises that could anything from sprint one side of the mat as we do laps and doing crunches and sit ups, to the shuttle burpees we did this night. The switch up makes the warm ups interesting because you never know what you’re going to be doing but you know it’s going to be at least 15 mins long. We got into hitting pads, working our jabs and crosses and different kicks as well, front snap, side, even spinning back to name a few. Once the limbs and joints were warm from striking we then worked defending them, moving to safety and countering, blocking and taking them down, etc. It was a lot of fun, although my hips were killing me, not used to kicking so much anymore.


After some randori of defending using some of techniques we trained in that night we had some time rolling. Every class I’ve been to Sensei Toupin usually ends the night with some sort of rolling, I think he does it as a courtesy to me and I always love to show them something to play around with, just as they have spent the night showing me techniques to use in the stand up game. Class goes for 90 mins, but by the time we left the mats it was closer to 2 hours because after class we were talking away about martial arts philosophy and the advantage to learning different styles and being versed in both stand and ground games. Even before the discussion started class was running late because we were having a good time, I’m sure if there wasn’t a clock in the gym we would had been training a lot later, Sensei Toupin seemed to be in a mood to train all night. It was great seeing everyone again, I love meeting clubs like Yoseikan Quebec where they have an open mind to take from other styles and share knowledge and the importance of a well rounded defense for all areas. I will happily keep going back to places like that. Thank you Sensei Toupin and the guys at Yoseikan Jiu-Jitsu Quebec for another great night!    

BJJ Quebec


This was another club I trained at before when staying in Quebec City earlier this year. BJJ Quebec is a Brazilian Top Team affiliate and is run by Prof. Louis Bérubé, it’s also where my friend Yannick trains, in fact it’s where I met him in class one day and we’ve kept in touch ever since. The club is in with a kickboxing club and you might miss it if you didn’t know where it was hidden. Inside it pretty cool, a row of heavy bag long one wall, a long rectangular mat with the boxing ring at the far end. There’s stairs to another smaller mat space, that overlooks the main floor. I always think of Rocky III when I visit this place, I’m amazed I haven’t heard ‘Eye of the Tiger’ played in the gym yet.

Class first looked to be a bit small, people slowly showing up, but ended up a good number out, some familiar faces and a lot of new faces too. We started with the warm doing usual things like running and shrimping and break falls etc. then got into drilling. There’s a lot of drilling at BJJ Quebec, with the timer running to to give each partner a set time to do reps in. We worked some open guard passing then moved on to butterfly sweeps, both of which I’m guessing are favourites of Prof. Louis as he’s added them to pretty much all of his classes that I’ve attended. The guard passing is usually part of the warm up, rep’ing as many at you can within the time limit to get the dynamic movement going and warm up the joints, as well as drill a practical technique. Each class I’ve been to of Prof. Louis starts with an idea, say the butterfly sweep, and gradually grows into different counters and eventually a submission, like say they post so you go X-guard, take their back, and lapel choke them, or they post and you move straight into taking the back via underhook and then as they defend the seat-belt you go fro an armbar. I’ve seen other clubs do those kinds of series as well, I like it as oppose to just training techniques from one position, like different attacks or defenses from back take, and just showing singular techniques instead of chaining to the end goal of a submission. Of course there are nights where things aren’t working for you and just drilling a single technique to get it down might be preferred.

After class it was time to roll, I had a match with another stalwart blue belt, it was a even match, our styles matching each others perfectly, it was a friendly match that had us both tired. I also got to roll with my friend and host for the past few days Yannick, who had been out of training for a while, and it showed, I remember before he was at my throat out for blood, but this time around he was pretty tired and defending most the time. He knew this would happen, it happens to the best of us, life gets in the way and take time off from the mats and the mats always kicks our ass when we make it back. The important thing is getting back, and I’m glad I was a positive force to get Yannick back out. Keep it up and you’ll get your blue belt one day, maybe even before we meet again!

Louis Bérubé

Thank you Louis, another great session together!

Prof. Louis is a really friendly guy who’s great to talk to talk before and after class, he usually has some good stories or insight on things. During class he’s even better to approach, if you have any questions he’ll be happy to break it down and find the problem you’re having. I say this while he teaches is French, and I am not a francophone, to be able to bridge languages and help in that capacity says a lot. Being a fan of his teaching,  and general attitude I thought it’d be great to do an interview with him, but as it happens Prof. Louis is pretty shy about talking English on camera, so I got Yannick to translate for me, making this a first for my interviews, having a translator. It worked perfectly. I got to learn how Prof. Louis got into martial arts and what he went through to get his BTT black belt and his philosophy on running his club. His story about breaking his leg is crazy, he only skims over it in this interview but we talked about it in more detail afterwards, you’ll have to ask him if you his club.

If the video doesn’t load you can watch it here at the Panda’s Odyssey YouTube Channel, and please show some love, like, comment, share and subscribe to the channel, thanks!

After some time in the city at the Citadelle and the last few days hanging with my friend Yannick it was time to take a series of buses to make my west to the beginning of the East Coast to Fredericton New Brunswick to see some old friends I haven’t seen since highschool and train at a gym I was told about on Reddit!

Thanks again for everything Yan, see you again next time!

Until next time, see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA’S ODYSSEY!

Sign up to the Panda’s Odyssey Patreon Account.

Buy Panda’s Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.

Buy the Panda’s Odyssey T-shirt.

Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the NEW BJJ Globetrotters blog section.

WELCOME TO UKRAINE!!!

/in /by

Let’s continue our journey through Ukraine.
Today our way lies in the city of Skadovsk. This small, resort town is located on the Black Sea coast at a distance of 100 km from Kherson.
When there is no holiday season, Skadovsk is quiet, cozy and a small town. In the season, of course, here as in a colony of penguins, there is nowhere to fall an apple.) Many tourists.
The city is very inexpensive, but during the season, prices are rising very much. The sea here is shallow, for surfers of interest is not. Opposite Skadovsk, at a distance of 4 km in the sea, is the largest and uninhabited island of Dzharylgach. Island reserve. There are large bird colonies. From the city embankment there go regularly small private boats, water taxi. The island is open for tourists.
In Skadovsk there is a wonderful gym for BJJ. Simply huge and very convenient. Once it hosted very large international wrestling tournaments. Instructor Ivan Dibrov, purple belt. Very nice and kind person. There are blue belts in the gym. Very friendly team. You will always be welcomed, will have the maximum attention and you will have fun and usefully time. Friendliness and hospitality, this is generally a Ukrainian character trait on a par with love for fat.))
On the way from Kherson to Skadovsk you can turn slightly to the side, very close and you will get to the biggest desert of Europe “Aleshkovsky sands”. Of course, caravans from Scheherazade’s fairy tales you will not see there, but it’s easy to get lost and experience all the delights of thirst. And you can arrange safaris on ATVs in the desert, a very exciting activity.)
On the way from Kherson to Skadovsk, the city of Golaya Pristan is located, where an annual watermelon festival is held there in the summer. Watermelon is the largest berry in the world. And very, very tasty.) Even a monument to her was put in Naked Pristan.
In general, you can ride on mats and have a good rest and eat watermelons.

WELCOME TO THE UKRAINE!!!

/in /by

WELCOME TO THE UKRAINE!!!


Hello, friends. I want to introduce you to an amazing, hospitable and beautiful country of Ukraine. I will tell you about the nature, sights that are in this country and of course about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Together with you, we will be on the pages of the blog, travel around Ukraine, through the jiu-jitsu halls and get acquainted with Ukrainian cuisine. I will tell you about many halls. We will make a stop in different cities. I hope this will interest many people and travelers practicing BJJ, will definitely visit this country and include it in their routes.
FIRST STOP CITY KHERSON.
This is my hometown. Therefore, we will start our journey with him. Kherson is in the south of Ukraine in the delta of the Dnieper River. A lot of water, islands overgrown with mists and at the same time, under Kherson is the largest desert in Europe, Aleshkovsky sands. The city, by Ukrainian standards, is not very large, with a population of 300,000 people. Kherson region is famous for its vegetables and fruits, especially strawberries and watermelons. Watermelon is a chip of Kherson. Even the watermelon festival is held in the summer. A traveler from Europe who wants to visit Kherson, will pleasantly surprise the prices. A night in an inexpensive hotel will cost $ 5-10, and you can eat at an inexpensive restaurant for the same amount. And if you know the places, then you can eat very tightly and tasty, just for 1-2 $.) City transport, by European standards, very cheap, travel by bus costs 3UAH. 1 $ = 27UAH. The nearest international airport is in Odessa. It is 200 km from Kherson. Kherson airport accepts flights only from Turkey.
In the city there is a gym of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu https://vk.com/bjj.skif.kherson
I will tell a little about the creation of this gym. The club was ounded by Father Igor and his son Sergei. It happened in September 2015. Prior to that, Igor looked like a small, old, fat gnome.) I never did any sports. Previously, he worked as a diver, he was in uniform. Then retired, made friends with the sofa and computer and looked like a Kherson watermelon.)) It’s time, decided to take care of yourself and started running. Then it so happened that he went to Kiev and got to workout on BJJ. And I fell in love with him. It was love at first sight. He returned to Kherson and rented a room together with his son. They opened the club, found like-minded people and began to study. Technicians took from the Internet, visited a couple of seminars, so slowly and train. We also have the results. Son Sergei is already a champion of Ukraine. Many of us are winners of regional tournaments. The process is under way. In this gym, all white belts. There are no colored belts yet.
In this gym, everyone is always welcome. If someone wants to include Ukraine in their route, be sure to visit Kherson. You’ll like it!!!
This was the first stop. The journey continues. Soon we will be in another city and tell you about it.)

A little photo. Landscapes of Kherson. Kherson embankment at night. SK BJJ SKIF gym.

Blogging on Globetrotters!

/in /by

My first blog post for BJJ Globetrotters!
Hello everyone! Let’s start this first blog off with information about myself. I’m a 4th stripe blue belt from Canada and I love martial arts. I have been blogging on my own for a while now, talking about all things jiu-jitsu while I researched, planned, and then began my mission to travel and train around the world. I write a weekly article on my experiences and adventures as I travel and train, and sometimes even have interviews with the cool people I meet along the way. I have named this journey of mine, and the blog itself, Panda’s Odyssey. I’ve been writing about my adventures for some time now and am thrilled to be able to now post those stories here on BJJ Globetrotters, especially since the Globetrotter community has helped me so much and I’ve met so many other fellow Globetrotters along the way.
To fill you in, I started in November and have traveled across Canada, spending 4 months (during the winter!) training and meeting and making all sorts of new friends along the way.  During that time I trained at 42 different clubs across the country. Now I’m in the UK as a start to my goal of a year across Europe and Asia. I’m about 3 weeks into traveling through the UK and Ireland and it’s been a blast so far!
I look forward to posting my adventures here now as well as continuing on now own blog and I hope this gets more people following my adventures and messaging me to meet up. If you want to catch up on any of my past adventures just check my blog at http://pandasodyssey.blogspot.ca
there’s also a map that shows all the clubs I’ve been ever trained at, with contact information for each one. 

United Kingdom!

/in /by

I have been training BJJ and working in Singapore since 2014. While at work, i have always been thinking about travelling and also training(im sure this happens to many of us here). The idea of training and travelling  came up to me only around 2015 and that was before i found globetrotters. After few years of saving money, i finally embarked on my journey to travel and train BJJ! The first stop was london(the one way ticket was the cheapest from malaysia). While in  london, i managed to train at WaveBJJ under Lorenzo who unfortunately was away. 

Underground training at Wave

After a week in london, i traveled up north to Stafford where i had my first matsurfing experience under Chris Paines. He teaches at fighting fit grapplers. Obviously i learnt a ton from him and his students. I also stayed with several of his students where they took turns hosting me. I will be forever grateful for that. We also went for gymnastics which was a new awesome experience for me!  

Chris teaching kids class

As for the next destination, i headed for blackpool where i would be training at blackpool UTC under Scot. Here i got another new experience of staying overnight at the gym which was kinda cool! Luckily for me, the weather was good during my stay and i managed to have a nice stroll along the beach. Here i also crossed paths with fellow traveler Robert Barker from Canada who was doing a trip similar to mine. 

Camping at UTC blackpool

Finally, I took a train up north to Glasgow and stayed with Giles and Cristiana where we trained at Marcos Nardini BJJ. We trained almost everyday and they fed me with tons delicious food. They are both great cooks by the way!

After UK i will be moving to Amsterdam to train but i shall leave that for another post. So far i have been enjoying hospitality and warmth. I was a bit nervous before i embarked on this journey but once again it was just because off me getting out of my comfort zone. To Amsterdam for more weed! Erm i mean rolls….