Where the Gypsies go to Blog

Its times like today, after watching last night’s episode, that I feel really privileged to have met every member of the No Limits team and proud to call them my friends.

After finishing the 7th stage of the expedition, we had a chance to really evaluate the condition of Ike’s ankle and if he’d be able to continue. Our relationship with No Limits has gotten to the point where we don’t want them to leave. Even in the midst of the biggest competition in our lives, and them being one of our biggest threats, we wanted it to be No Limits and The Gypsies to the end. At this point, sitting in camp with Ike in a ton of pain and Jeff (an emergency room physician assistant) betting Ike’s ankle is broken, that picture looked bleak.

Ike and the boys were carted off to the hospital and we were told we might not see them again. We were bummed. I remember trying to sleep that night and waiting to hear the sound of the ford explorer bringing our buddies from No Limits back. Finally late in the night I did hear truck return. Everyone was asleep but me and I yelled out to Ike to see what the prognosis was. He yelled back “Good to Go!” and I hooted in excitement waking everyone up.

The next morning, as we wake up and get ready to race, we see the Ike had been fitted with a cast. The remaining cast members all sign it and we head to the starting line. Luckily for Ike and John, a lot of this day is on the water, the hard part is getting there. The terrain down to lake bin el ouidane was hard. Lots of narrow paths with sharp cactus and tons of loose ankle breaking rocks. John ended up rolling his bad ankle again on the way down and was in a lot of pain. We get to the shore of the lake and pump up our kayaks. Two per team, so I take one and Eric and John spoon together in the other. We maintained a good pace across the lake where we turned our Kayak into catamarans and attempted to sail to the next checkpoint. We started of pretty good! We had good wind and our plan was to tack back and forth. All of us have little to no experience with sailing , but I saw it in a movie once! No Limits and the Cops had a more direct approach and ended up blowing right past us.

The Island we camped on that night was hit by a big storm! It was gnarly, many of the Moroccan tents had collapsed from the heavy winds and we were very close to having production pull us out of there. Luckily the storm passed and we were able to stay and start the next day’s leg on schedule. The next day was pretty brutal and I couldn’t imagine how much pain Ike was in. We ended up passing no limits on the swim off the island. Ike was really struggling in the water with his cast and the make shift shoe they made for it. The shoe fell off in the water and Eric helped put it back on for Ike. What a buddy!

We made a quick transition between the swim and the hike and gained some ground on the other teams. It was a long day of hiking and even some rappelling that day! Ike had to be dying. By some miracle, No Limits passed the Cali girls on the compass challenge and avoided elimination! We were so stoked! We get to spend more time with our friends, but with Ike’s injury, we didn’t know how long it would last.

Watch the latest episode “Never Give Up” HERE on ABC

This past June I had the opportunity to go with my crew at Nika Water to Nairobi. Other than the trip to Morocco for Expedition Impossible, this was my first time in Africa. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. First off, it was with a group and the trip was “pre-organized.” This went against all of my gypsy instincts. As a modern gypsy one of the scariest words to hear is “itinerary.” In all of my previous journeys I strove to just show up and then figure it out. However, my mind quickly changed after checking out the itinerary, which included, hanging with Maasai Warriors, building schools and participating in a water walk in a local village.

The trip to get to the Maasai Mara only took roughly 24 hours of flying! This was a long haul for any seasoned traveller. We flew from San Francisco, to New York, to Zurich, to Nairobi and then chartered a flight out to the Maasai Mara. The Mara is a large game reserve in South Western Kenya. When you see the stunning images of the serengetti; lined with acacia trees, fire glazed sunsets and big cats, this is the Mara. One thing that I noticed about the Mara were the sporadic red dots throughout the landscape, these are the formidable, but extremely awesome Maasai Warriors.

Hanging out with the Maasai was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. At first glance, these dudes look like some badass mofos. They are clad in bright red cloth, draped with beaded necklaces, armed with machetes and still manage to smile all of the time. I remember shooting the shit with Philip, one of the most memorable Maasai Warriors. He would talk casually of killing lions in order to become a man and spoke passionately about his soon to be wife. I would try to explain what life in San Francisco was like and he was presumably interested, but the level of intrigue was just not the same. I mean, I may have slayed a few cougars, but lions…that’s a whole other ballgame!

The most surreal moments for me on the trip, were early in the mornings. We would wake up just as the sun was peeking through the Acacia trees and burning off the mist. This was our time for the morning Serengetti runs. We couldn’t run outside the gates on our own; lions apparently have a keen sense for white people in running shoes. So, the warriors would join us. They would arrive in their traditional dress, complete with rubber sandals and still managed to fly past us! I remember at one point on a run, jogging behind Philip and thinking, “I am in the middle of the Serengetti, running with Maasai Warriors.” I’ve always tried to live my life for unique experiences and this one was close to the top of the list (I think number one was when I thought I was going to die, after getting bit by a sea snake in the Telo Island off the coast off Sumatra…..that’s another blog though).

I also spent much of my time in the village of Pimbinet. Upon arrival I was bombarded by smiling, jumping, dancing, singing, yelling, children. It was a sensory overload; the color, the people, the music…this was Africa. I have been many places, but I can confidently say that the African people are the most uniquely beautiful people that I have seen. They have a spirit that is undying, no matter what hardships they face. This became very clear to me in Pimbinet. I was proud to be a part of the Free the Children school building project here. I put myself to work and continually shoveled red dirt, rock, concrete, then mixed and repeated. Philip was always close by, smiling at me and watching me shovel like a madman. I liked to think he was proud…although I’m sure he was laughing at how ridiculous I looked.

One of the most rewarding parts of the trip was being part of the ribbon cutting of the new well installation. Nika Water is a company that I am proud to work for. They donate 100% of their profits towards clean water projects around the world. This well was one of many they have contributed to. It was a magical moment to be surrounded by smiling villagers and to see what all of our hard work was going towards. They would now have access to clean water for a lifetime; this is a feat I will always be proud of. Throughout this experience, I also learned of the hardships that many of the Kenyan people face everyday. Philip explained how the drought affected the crops and the water supply; it is a continual problem that is not easily solved. Because of this, many people in the villages have to walk 4,5,6,7 miles to a water source. When they get to the source, it is often contaminated water. Not too mention that children are usually fetching the water and thus are not able to go to school. They also have respiratory problems due to cooking inside their homes with open flame. Unfortunately there is not proper ventilation and this causes many health issues (our friend Greg is doing some amazing things at Paradigm Project and working to bring clean burning, efficient stoves to these homes; check out WEBSITE)

After learning about these different hardships and seeing them affect people first hand, I wondered if there was hope. These issues are huge and will not be answered by a single group or organization. However, as I learn more about these organizations like Free the Children, whom are taking a holistic approach to solving social issues, I can start to see the difference. Free the Children operates under four pillars; clean water, healthcare, education and alternative income. When these four pillars are put into place, it provides a sustainable model for these villages to thrive on. It provides these people with “a hand up, not a hand out.” That is something I can get behind.

I wish I would have gotten to spend more time in Kenya. For me, it simply was just too short of a trip. I will always remember my talks with Philip and I’m sure that he is now a happily married man. This is a magical place and the land is alive. There is so much to see, taste, feel, learn, experience….get out there, be a gypsy and travel with a purpose. This is definitely a land for compassionate adventure. Visit our projects page and vote on our next Philanthopic Cause!

This was by far one of the most fast paced, fun stages yet. Gypsies had a great race
and the day was definitely owed to Taylor! “Normally I just hold the sunscreen”. Eric
made me laugh multiple times with his little rock, paper, scissors, happy dance and then
losing the skydiving to Taylor.

As fun as the actual expedition was, a few tragic events
put a damper on my spirits. Ikeʼs ankle and losing the Country Boys. Weʼll get to that.

Episode 7 was different from any other stage of the expedition so far. This is the first
time we have been in any kind of city… It was chaotic after all the days we spent
crossing the tranquil desserts and mountains of Morocco. We’ve gotten used to long,
grueling, physical legs split up by big challenges. This stage was fast! We were thrust
into the vibrant city life of Northern Africa with no warning. Different types of challenges
in a different environment with lots of short sprints between. Mark Burnett may still have
a few tricks up his sleeve after all!

Right from the start we are thrown into a challenge. Itʼs a big equalizer because the
teams start the challenge together. Anyone could solve it first and be off to the next
checkpoint. Luckily Taylor has eagle eyes and was the first person to spot the symbol
on the ruins! Iʼve never heard a more beautiful sound than one of my team mates
saying “I got it!” Weʼll get to hear Taylor say it a few more times today!

The Gypsies are first to the market place but we can see the Cali girls right behind us. Iʼve
been in many hectic markets in developing countries around the world. I think we
definitely set a record crossing this one. We must have scared more than a few
vendors… a bunch of mustacheod white dudes running full speed through their stalls
with big old cameras chasing us! Iʼm sure they donʼt see that everyday. We grab our
next set of instructions plus a one way plane ticket to an unknown destination.
Skydiving!

The Gypsies all wanted to jump and we had a gentlemenʼs game of rock, paper,
scissors, to settle who would go. Taylor crushes both of us, much to Ericʼs
disappointment. The Cali Girls and No Limits show up at the same time. They didnʼt
realize that the first two teams to hand in their tickets get to take the first plane up. I
love the Cali Girls but I may have made a few quick hand gestures and “hurry up” head
nods at Jeff spurring him to the counter with his ticket first. Couldnʼt help myself… love
those boys.

It was when No Limits caught up with us at the skydiving that we found out about Ikeʼs
injury. This far in the expedition, one small mistake has huge consequences. I almost
put myself out of the race with a similar mistake and it was really tough for us to have to
watch another team go through worse. It was great to see the genuine concern from all
the teams gathered around Ike at the airport. It was hard for us to leave them behind
and refocus on our race.

Taylor and Jeff agreed to share the clue if one of them didn’t spot it. So as they canopied down to earth, they both spot the river crossing symbol and give each other the swim sign of flapping their arms around. Doesn’t Jeff’s was tandem partner look like Barack Obama?

After crossing a
freezing glacial melt river, we arrived at the sign puzzle. We honestly werenʼt there for 2
minutes when Taylor got it. Brilliant! I think Eric was counting the number of diamonds
around the boarder of the sign and Iʼm just standing with my mouth open.

Climbing to the finish line, we knew that we had a pretty healthy lead. The boys want to
stop for tea but Iʼm not so keen. Normally I would love to, under many other circumstances, but in
an Expedition like this, you never know what is going to happen or when those seconds
are going to count. Iʼve already been injured once only a half mile from a finish line and
I want to make sure we cross this one. I have to say though, Berbers make some damn
fine tea! Also, Iʼve never seen a pot of water take so long to boil.

In the end we get to have our tea and still finish first. Weʼre stoked to see No Limits
coming in second. Especially after the gnarly climb to the finish. Ike is a true legend
and an inspiration. Itʼs hard to one up Erik W for inspiration but Iʼm pretty sure he did!

We were waiting to see who would be last and, to be honest, we were really rooting for The Country Boys to beat Fab3. We considered Fab3 one of our toughest competitors, so to have them evacuated would put us in better position to win.
It was a big disappointment to see our Country brothers come in last. This is the first
team being sent home that we have a real bond with. These are good guys and weʼve
been through a lot with them. They went out with style and to the sound of applause.
Great friends.

To watch the whole episode go to abc.com here:
http://abc.go.com/watch/expedition-impossible/SH55126301/VD55138106/rock-the-kasbah

And check out our friends from the show’s blogs too!
Erik-No Limits
http://www.touchthetop.com/blog/