Baden Campbell, Author at How are you? Where are you?

01 Dec

HAYWAY Podcast 27 – Medellin, Colombia

Seriously, if you are planning to come to Colombia with the sole aim of snorting cheap crap up your nose, you are massively missing out. It’s a cycle touring paradise and in this week’s How Are You? Where Are You? podcast we team up with our new buddies Shaggy and Lenin to discover all the joys of the beautiful Antioquian countryside.

After eight months on the road, a new style of touring has dawned on us and we’re bloody excited. We share all about that. We discover a perhaps little known link between Colombia and New Zealand and go cattle shopping in downtown Medellin.

Viva Colombia!

Clockwise from top left: Lenin and Shaggy in front; road near Uramita; cycling buddies, notice how Lenin’s bike doesn’t have panniers! View on the road to Santa Fe.

Clockwise from top left: feijoas; Baden ready to brand his new cattle at the market; Lenin’s aunt and the coconut rice cooking over a fire; coco rice covered with banana leaves.

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12 Nov

HAYWAY Episode 25 – Santa Clara, Panama

Baden has a run in with the Panamanian health system and his marriage comes under strain in this How Are You? Where Are You? podcast.

We’re in Panama, slogging our guts out pedal stroke by pedal stroke to reach the nation’s capital and the end of the Central American part of our journey.

On the way, we get lots of honks and toots, we meet an interesting Oklahoman living off his land, we try to fit a Panamanian hat atop Baden’s significantly-sized head and we give you the crucial lowdown on the banana situation.

Clockwise from top left: Baden’s search for a Panama hat; truck load of bananas; sugar cane press up close; Charlie and Nai in Charlie’s house; Nai teaches her Dad to make cane juice.

Clockwise from top left: the finger trapped by wedding ring, Doctor Espinoza files the ring; finger freedom; Shell outside Gualaca fire station; friendly motorcyclist Nick and Baden trying to fix brakes on brand new, still closed bit of highway.

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04 Nov

HAYWAY Episode 24 – Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Don’t ya just love conquering a fear? Shelley’s phobia was a bit of a weird one: the cute, furry, slow-moving, completely unthreatening mammals that are sloths. Tune into the How Are You? Where Are You? podcast to see if Shell could overcome her very own fear factor in Costa Rica.

Our bestie Terry the Tent has had a rough ol’ time of late. We fill you in on his trials and tribulations involving a frog.

All this and more as we take you on a bike trip across Costa Rica, up hill and down dale, scoffing down rice and beans and yelling out “Pura Vida!”

Clockwise from top left: the imposing Arenal Volcano; Baden deals with all sorts of mechanicals roadside; Shelley rides through banana plantations, harnessing wind power on Lake Arenal; and more bananas (they’re everywhere on the Caribbean coast).

Clockwise from top left: watching the World Cup final in a bar in Puerto Viejo on my laptop; Costa Rica has the coolest money (whack a sloth on there); the drummer from Sloth Leopard has only got one arm; Marco helps Shelley overcome sloth fears; Baden clutches a fresh baguette handed to him by a kind Costa Rican, “Pura Vida.”

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22 Oct

HAYWAY Episode 23 – San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Sorry for the delay in bringing you episode 23. We’ve been on the road pedalling our legs off riding across eastern El Salvador, before zipping through the south of Honduras and travelling the length of Nicaragua to our recording place of San Juan del Sur, down in the south of this interesting land on the Pacific Coast.

We are joined by a special guest this week. He’s another cycle-touring drifter out drifting. Ivan Said (aka Pistache Radioactivo García) has ridden here from his hometown of San Luis Potosí in Mexico and will join us in a mini peloton as we head into Costa Rica and beyond.

We compare travelling tales from the last couple of weeks on the road and share with you, our dear listeners, a Nicaraguan folk story. There’s also perhaps the launch of an exciting new segment: Poetry Corner. Hey we’re drifters out drifting so why not?

Clockwise from top left: recording; Pistache, Shell and Baden; the Christ on the hilltop, can you see it? Can’t be that big then eh?

Clockwise from top left: Jose tries to help Baden with a broken spoke; at Ramon’s bike shop; Yummies; kids along the Pan-American Highway in Honduras; school named after Morazan.

Left to right, top to bottom: we think this model at the museum is of Nicaraguan rock star poet Ruben Dario; Take your Tit, outrageous dummy for an outrageous folk story; the death cart or La Carreta Nagua; Cathedral in Granada; notice to customers of abandoned ferry service; ferry to Isla de Ometepe.

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12 Sep

Rigours of the Road

We love getting feedback from our podcast listeners. A couple of months ago, after we finished cycling across Europe, Michael from Christchurch, NZ, wrote saying that listening to us made cycle touring sound like “sunshine and roses” and that it can’t always be like that. He was keen to hear more about the physical demands of riding our bikes every day and how we cope with maintenance issues.

As I wrote out my thoughts, I decided it might be worth whacking them out on the blog so that everyone can see how we deal with the rigours of cycle touring and provide some reassurance that there are sometimes sucky days. Read More →

07 Sep

HAYWAY Episode 19 – Dangriga, Belize

After a period of gallivanting, we are finally back on the bikes and rediscovering the joys of cycle touring. We have the country and people of Belize to thank for this. Sure it’s stinking hot but we are pedalling with coping strategies in place and they seem to be working fine. We visit the amazing zoo, the prison and ride the glorious Hummingbird Highway.

Clockwise from top left: Causeway at Crooked Tree; Belizean currency; Belize Central Prison; Pam and Jeff in Burrell Boom; Tony’s Cool Spot in Burrell Boom.

Clockwise from top right: Junior Buddy the jaguar sleeping in the afternoon; Carlos the puma; the ‘pond croc’; Belize Zoo sign; Indy the tapir.

Clockwise from top left: Baden cooling off; Baden excitedly heading for baked goods; recording the podcast in Dangriga; Hummingbird Highway selfie; valley along Hummingbird Highway.

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28 Aug

HAYWAY Episode 18 – Puerto Escondido, Mexico

We’re having a holiday from our holiday in this edition of the How Are You? Where Are You? podcast. Our bikes are safely stored in our beloved Chetumal (Chets), in the south of the Yucatan Peninsula, while we flew to check out a bit more of this amazing country.

We traveled to Mexico City and then Oaxaca before washing up on the Pacific coast in Puerto Escondido. We’re joined by a special guest this week: fellow Hutt kid Nathan Taare. Check out Nathan’s creations here: https://entsound.bandcamp.com

Back on the bikes next week. We promise. We are currently scouring over dodgy maps of Belize as we plot our route south towards Panama.

Clockwise from top right: Nathan Taare chilling in Puerto Escondido; Lucha Libre poster; market near Oaxaca; Baden blobbing out in PE; garden at Frida Kahlo museum.

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02 Aug

Podcast 16 – Cuba

Our stint off the bike continued with a holiday in Cuba. It’s our third time in the country so we discuss our observations as the socialist paradise begins to open up to change. We also speak with Shelley’s parents who joined us on tour for the month of July and what went wrong with Baden’s cycling plans for Cuba?

Clockwise from top left: Havana taxi, Sheila at La Ceiba, Che, street scene, Sheila and hibiscus, old school, bar in Santa Clara

Clockwise from top left: Havana taxi, Sheila at La Ceiba, Che, street scene, Sheila and hibiscus, old dilapidated school, bar in Santa Clara

Clockwise from top left: Sheila and Baden in Trinidad, dancing in Santa Clara, waiting for bus tyre change, cycle taxis, pig on a spit in Las Tarrazas, cabana in Las Terrazas, John Kerry on Cuban tV

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