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Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #31  
Old 6 May 2008
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I am a novice GPS guys and heading that way. But I will never give up "real" maps.
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Last edited by mollydog; 24 Mar 2009 at 19:16.
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  #32  
Old 6 May 2008
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Originally Posted by mollydog View Post
Lastly, most have never been more than 10 kms. from their home village.
Unfortunatly this is true for most of the worlds population.

Dangerous places for Maps -
Morocco .. they don't like maps showing 'Western Shara' ... they consider it to be part of Morocco. And then there are other disputed places .. best not to display maps around those parts ...
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  #33  
Old 6 May 2008
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Oh, thank goodness I'm not the only one with a map fetish! I love looking at maps and remembering places I've been and things I've done there. You can look at somewhere you got lost and realise how easy it was to get back to where you needed to be instead of the thirty mile detour you took!!!
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  #34  
Old 6 May 2008
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map fetish
I think the map fetish might be common factor amongst our kind of travellers! I was born that way. I remember when was very young, 10 years old or so, reading books of the great explorers with on one side a world atlas and on the other side an encyclopedia! How about that for a predisposition

cheers,
Noel
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  #35  
Old 8 May 2008
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Originally Posted by mollydog View Post
This may be one reason folk learned other languages!? Asking directions?

In rural central Mexico (and many rural areas of Latin America) asking directions is always interesting. First off, few read. Secondly, they most likely have never seen a map, so pointing something out on a map is like ministering to the blind.

Lastly, most have never been more than 10 kms. from their home village.
The one sure thing is they WILL tell you where you need to go .... even if it's totally wrong!

So the trick is to find a trucker or someone who owns a vehicle and goes to town on a regular basis .... and speaks Spanish ... not an indigenous dialect.

We had three maps in Mexico. The bible (Guia Roji) the AAA map and another. None matched the other and none were correct. There is a reason for this. The Mex. govt. are not fond of maps and discourage any sort of accurate representation of geography matching reality. Other places in Latin America are the same. In Colombia I was arrested just for having maps.

In the US we don't get the many good maps like you get in EU and UK. The National Geographic ones are good and I traveled with them all over S. America.
When ever I find a nice map now, I color Xerox it onto good paper. Most US maps are crap and leave out stuff, are difficult to read and disintegrate shortly after purchase.

I am a novice GPS guys and heading that way. But I will never give up "real" maps.

Patrick
Yes what you describe comes towards the idea of a journey without maps - I'm thinking of your 3 map situation where none agree. Also the point about many people having no idea of what exists much beyond the village touches on the medieval mind too. Yet, all through the Middle ages, on the great pilgrimages, thousands who couldnt read or write or speak anything more than their local dialect managed to make it from say, Scotland to Santiago in NW Spain. It seems they followed natural features like river valleys, and asked directions (somehow) to the next church. Everyone knew they were pilgrims (and a bawdy, randy lot they were) so the peasant could give them an idea of how to get to the next church.

I think I might try this one day when I have open ended time to spare. I mean the mapless journey. Of course I have some idea in my memory of, say, a map of Europe, which I cant erase......still, it would be interesting to find out.....
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  #36  
Old 9 May 2008
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Thank god - people are comong out !!

I was a navigator in the Merchant Navy - maps & charts - powerful things full of information. I have my copy of nautical tables - every destination in the world I have been to is marked. World map marked up for posterity. Sextant gathering dust, but I wouldn't part with it. GPS - for the boys - & me when I feel the need.
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  #37  
Old 9 May 2008
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Its not a fetish, its normal
I've just always pored over maps, right from age eight or thereabouts, working out how to get to Cannon Hall on my pushbike, around 18 miles round trip. I've been doing it ever since, its the ones who don't that are odd
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  #38  
Old 7 Jun 2008
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Originally Posted by noel di pietro View Post
A friend of mine glued all Michelin maps of Africa together, cut the shape of Africa out along the shorelines and glued it to the wall like wall paper! Really nice! I might do that too, just need some space!

Cheers,
Noel
exploreafrica.web-log.nl
I am Noel's friend who glued the map to the wall. It is really great to look at also because I like the design and colors of the Michelin maps. Of course I use white-board markers to mark the last stage of my trip (I travel through Africa in stages and fly home every time). One tip is to use see-through gift-wrapping plastic which sticks to the map and wall by static electricity. This way I can use the marker to plan the next stage and change by taking a new piece of plastic.
I too am a map freak. The most expensive thing I bought when I was 13 years of age was a Times Atlas Of The World (yes, capitals). It became my bible, I still use it whenever I want to dream about remote places.
Cheers Andre
Imaginature
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  #39  
Old 7 Jun 2008
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I admit to map fetishism too. I have done Panamerica, Transafrica and 'London to Sydney' many times - on paper.

My wife makes fun of me, that I am carrying my maps behind me, like Linus his blanket.
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