Central America - 'Because it's there' tour

Central America
15 January - 12 March 2017

Politically tumultuous, chaotic and unfortunate in terms of geography, Central America has been the unfortunate ‘play thing’ of the USA, predominantly in the late 70’s and early 80’s, when Communist revolutions started to spark through most of those countries.

The USA has feared that any victory by Communist forces in those parts would lead to an isolation of South America, where it had ‘other’ interests. Hence it acted as a major protagonist in the Nicaraguan Revolution, Salvadoran Civil War, Guatemalan Civil War and the ongoing manipulation and coercion in Honduras and Panama.

Again, the spike in my interest for Central America came from the awareness of troubled part of the world in between North America and South America. Of course as an early teen I didn’t really understand the root of the conflicts but one moment that made the greatest visual impression on me was the United States invasion of Panama. During this invasion the defacto Panamanian, military and dictator Manuel Noriega was deposed.

So it was with this knowledge and these images that I put the idea forward to Inga for us to do a tour through Central America.

The attraction to this part of the world, admittedly, was never strong. I’d never had an overwhelming desire to visit these countries and neither had Inga, but, the desire for us to travel far outweighs our desire to see a city, country or area, and so we decided to put together a few months of budget travel. We designed a Central America on a shoestring adventure based upon back backing adventures that neither of us had really had and the fact that we thought that Spanish speaking countries as a whole are pretty cool places.

So I bring to you Central America – ‘Because it’s their tour’.

Riga (Latvia) - home for Christmas

Riga (Latvia) 
23 December - 27 December 2016

Inga & I made the deal that in alternate years Christmas would be spent in Riga or Belgrade. That deal was meant to last for as long as we were living in Belgrade, or indeed Europe, had that move eventuated. Our deal came within a whisker of failing at the first attempt.

Riga was going to be our first Christmas with family, be it Inga's or mine, but the idea unraveled so rapidly and abruptly on the afternoon of the 23rd of December whilst in terminal 1 of Nikola Telsa airport in Belgrade that the minor Christmas miracle that took place immediately after I believe has now ensured us for some time.

We had booked flights out of Belgrade to Riga, from memory, at about 16:45 that afternoon. Now these flights had been booked months in advance, so much so that from the booking date to the actual date, specifics tend to either become a little hazy or get mixed up along the way. For what seemed to have been weeks, the 16:45 departure time stood steadfast in our minds. In fact both of us had independently written down the time in support of our own understand of travel requirements.

Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Spa treatment Christmas present - Riga - Latvia

Riga - Latvia

Arriving at the airport around 15:20 we casually strolled into the terminal. Considering Belgrade is a small airport with low traffic, especially on the route we were flying, checking-in is usually a casual process. Over in 10-15 mins before easily passing through the 1st security check and passport control. This is what we had mentally prepared for.

The first thing you do when entering the airport is check the departure board.

DESTINATION            FLIGHT NO              DEPARTURE              

VIENNA                       JU604                       15:45                      FINAL CALL

ALERT - ALERT - ALERT - ALERT

I knew exactly what that meant. For those of us that travel enough a 'final call' is the death-knell if you've not completed the necessary stop of check-in, or, if you haven't checked-in online.

I could see that rush of panic on Inga's face and I knew where the realisation was going to end up. First, there was going to be a rush for the check-in desk, only to be told, I was certain, that checking in at this late stage was going to be impossible.

Correct - we tried, and yes, we failed.

I knew now that the scramble for a resolution would inevitably dive into why we tricked ourselves into believing that the departure was later than we thought, and in addition, had we know lost what we had paid for our ticket.

Yes, on both counts.

It's an entirely unsettling situation to be at an airport with your flight still at the terminal, not having even moved an inch but still, being forced to concede that you'd already missed it. It's infuriating and drives your anxiety levels through the roof.

Riga - Latvia

Where it all started in 2010 - Shot Cafe - Riga - Latvia

Where it all started in 2010 - Shot Cafe - Riga - Latvia

Doing some shots at the Shot Cafe

So now what?

Well, this is where we kind of flipped it. From being angry, to feeling defeated and accepting something of what our fate should have been we both stepped up to the flight and decided to treat the situation like an episode of Race Around the World.

Initially thinking that we could head for home, jump in our car, drive to Vienna and be there in time to catch the connecting flight to Riga, the reality of the situation and our own common sense prevented us from making a true hash of the situation. What we did was took up residence in from of the departure board and analysed all flights leaving Belgrade that evening, where their destination were and how likely we could get a connecting flight later that night.

There they were, Rome, Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Frankfurt. We quickly processed them all and then each undertook a connecting flight search via Skyscanner. This is where the 'tricky' part comes into play. In this circumstance don't just have to be able to get out of Belgrade but you have to be able to locate a Riga flight from that location a delay long enough that would allow you to pick-up luggage and check-in at your next location in order to make the flight in the allotted time.

 A Kelpe family Christmas lunch - Riga - Latvia

Christmas in Riga - Latvia

Christmas in Riga - Latvia

That time when I got myself a MULLET!

Riga - Latvia

We must have scanned the board for 30 mins, filtering through connecting flights before we landed on a possible option. An Air Serbia flight to Frankfurt and then a connecting Air Lufthansa flight to Riga - could this work? Did we really have the skills to make this? Could we actually have the skills to be successful contestants on Race Around the World? We headed straight to the Air Serbia counter to find out.

With our online Skyscanner connecting flight from Frankfurt to Riga ready to go, the Air Serbia agent confirmed that there were seats on the flight.

'Book 'em Danno'

I think the Hawaii Five 0 reference was lost on him as he asked, 'Would you like me to confirm the flight for you sir'

'Yes, yes I would Cha Chi'

Once Air Serbia was confirmed we immediately booked our Lufthansa flight online, and HEY PRESTO - we were locked in to make it to Riga. All we needed to hope for is an on time departure by Air Serbia from Belgrade - which thankfully happened.

Christmas in Riga

Christmas in Riga was really very nice. Aside from the city itself, which I find to be very attractive, it lends itself brilliantly to this time of year. Somehow Christmas in a Northern country, specifically a north European country, feels much more appropriate and real than being under 40 degree skies in Australia. With that said, I have missed having an Australian Christmas every now and then, so admittedly I try to have it both ways.

Skyline Bar  - Radisson Blue Hotel Latvija

The view from the bathroom - Skyline bar - Radisson Blue Hotel Latvija

Inga's family was fantastic for Christmas Eve. We had a nice family dinner and enjoyed on another's company. It was a far my pleasant experience than what has historically transpired in the Elisher house hold. Our Christmas Eve's were very predictable, boring and at times unpleasant. My mother, as great as she is, would often drink way too much, my aunt would be demanded and sometimes nasty. There were many times that I wished Christmas Eve's away...I mean they weren't bad, they just weren't anything that I really looked forward to.

Of the next few days I got to meet Inga's extended family as we had a post Christmas lunch to celebrate the time of the year and the newly engaged couple. From memory by that stage I do recall that we had nominated Summer of 2017 at the time that we wanted to get married. Outside of a rough time frame we really didn't have too much additional planned - with only 6 months to go getting everything together, I had assumed, was going to be quite
 chaotic. 

The new style of boutique barbers  - Wood Religion - Riga - Latvia

Inga's father at Wood Religion - Riga - Latvia

A Christmas Ginger bread house - made by Jurijs Nadiradze

Heading back to Belgade - Riga Airport

Somewhere over Poland - this is my Terminator look?

...and that was that....

2016 was an incredible year for travel. We had a lot of great experiences, celebrated some major events and were setting ourselves up for an even bigger year in 2017.

Not a bad life 

San Antonio (USA) - The American dream...?

San Antonio (U.S.A) 

04 December – 10 December 2016

I should have known better.

I should have known better than to have gotten involved with a bunch of shysters like Brian Payton &Ying Payton.

I should have known better to have bought into the garbage ideas and promises of 10%, 15% or 20% returns that ATW Investments (American dream renovations and construction) propounded.

I knew the trouble I was in when ATW Investments transferred their clients to Trinidad LLC.

I wish one day to get my hands around the neck of Brian Payton, that would be an interaction that I’d very much enjoy having.

If anyone has encountered these shysters all you need to do is look at the number of threads to realise that these ball lickers are worthless pieces of crap – worthless pieces of crap on the best day they have ever had. That’s means they're shit, literally shit.

Unfortunately I found myself taking a risk in the same way that you run the risk in a casino, with the idea that losing in a casino is much, much more likely than a real estate investment.

Flying over Montreal - Canada

The Lone Star State - Texas - USA

How Texas does this look!?!

My properties, like all the other ATW investors that had been promised ‘Property Management Services’ on their investments, took an almighty dive into oblivion from 40,000 feet. The buyers of my property didn’t make a single payment,  property taxes on the property had not been paid, the properties were utilised for whom knows what reason – it looked in the end that squatters had utilised it for their own bong block parties. I mean these properties had been brutalised. The legal trail of ownership was so convoluted that the chain of owners, for some time, did not easily find its way to me and I spent countless months nervously thinking about a financial debacle, that really, I should not of entered in the first place aside from my mental desire for the want of ‘things to be ok’. 

My failure, which I have to call out, is that I didn’t undertake an due diligence and I was stung fiercely. I still now have strong desires to take these two down legally, but I’ll save that for another day.

Now, lets get back to San Antonio for a moment. 

A major city in the south-central Texas has a rich colonial heritage. The Alamo, an 18^th-century Spanish mission preserved as a museum these days, marks an infamous 1836 battle for Texan independence from Mexico. I didn’t have time to see that.

9779 Hidden Falls - Helotes Creek - San Antonio - Texas - USA

9779 Hidden Falls - Helotes Creek - San Antonio - Texas - USA

Yup, I owned THIS place for a few months....promises for renovation work NOT COMPLETED, promises to market my property, NOT DONE, promises to Manage my property, as in, for ATW to provide a service for their clients... NOTHING

All you did Brian Payton was rip me off! 

9779 Hidden Falls - Helotes Creek - San Antonio - Texas - USA

I was an San Antonio for a 5 day boot camp for ATW Investments to show me buildings that had been repossessed, I assume after foreclosure, which ATW had acquired. When I say acquired, I believe invested in an option to acquire, which in turn they would sell to investors such as myself who would buy the property in cash and then, with the assistance of ATW Investments, locate buyers who would purchase the property with a capital gain and would a mortgage to me, the owner, at a rate higher than which the banks would loan out funds…because these cats…these cool tenants, who weren’t tenants but rather owners of the property, but in debt to me, would effectually be paying me a rental. And the property managers, ATW investments, would look after the property on my behalf…which of course immediately shows a logical break. What is there position in a property that is owned not by me but by someone else?

9107 Cold Harbor Drive - Adams Hills - San Antonio - Texas - USA

So 'apparently' this was sold, to me - which meant that when it was sold to me mortgage payment should have been made. This never happened, was never managed and the property, in the end, was completely trashed.

Brian Payton you are a fraud!

9107 Cold Harbor Drive - Adams Hills - San Antonio - Texas - USA

9107 Cold Harbor Drive - Adams Hills - San Antonio - Texas - USA

9107 Cold Harbor Drive - Adams Hills - San Antonio - Texas - USA

I f**ked up!  I f**ked up out of a desire to generate cash-flow for my family and in my want to believe that being caught out in a scheme such as this happens to other people mostly through bad luck or bad management.  I denied myself my own intellect and need to investigate, and I denied myself the necessity of doing the work to realise the flaws in an opportunity that was nothing more than a blatant fraud, because, aside from my own negligence the real author of destruction were those that perpetrated the fraud. Not just on me but to so many.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/202341-has-anyone-invested-with-atw-investments?page=2

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1853800.html

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Fighting-foreclosure-and-hoping-for-a-free-house-2176320.php

…And this link to the heart of the issue which shows the problem in Texas – 

the foreclosure problem, as they call it, has grown to include issues of not properly assigning mortgage notes…and not being able to trace the line of ownership as the note is packaged and resold through a secondary market – and the allegedly phony documents created to reconstruct the line of ownership where its broken.

Personally I believe there’s a ticking time bomb here, so watch this space. 

The flag of the Republic of Texas - San Antonio - Texas - USA

Here's a small nod to Pearl Jam and their great album, Yield - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

Hard Rock Cafe San Antonio - Texas - USA

Anyway, onto some lighter stuff now.

I was driven around San Antonio and Corpus Christi. I bought into San Antonio, twice. What I lost on that investment would have allowed me to have purchased 2 Mustang Eco-boosts, the car that I currently drive. So yeah, I could have had three in the garage.

What did I like about San Antonio?

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

Texas BBQ is legit. What they do they do so well.

The San Antonio River Walk is truly a gem, it’s marvellous. This outstanding tourist attraction is both a city park and a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio river, residing one story beneath the streets of San Antonio. Lined with bars, cafes, shopping outlets, restaurants and public artworks, this is a real draw card and quite an attractive feature in a large city that to me, has no real soul and feels kind of empty.

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

The River Walk - San Antonio River - San Antonio - Texas - USA

Flying over Detroit - Michigan - USA

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport - Detroit - Michigan - USA

...and back home - Belgrade - Serbia

The River walk winds and loops under two bridges, had a number of tourist boats cruising up and down it,  and at night comes alive with its attractive lighting. Without question, THE highlight of San Antonio and would be the only reason I’d ever utilise to make a return the city, and I’m not calling it out as a bad city, it’s just not inspiring, it has no spirit…and it’s the home of a couple of shysters who still need to be brought down a peg or two.