iBankCoin
My name is Rob and I'm a gregarious gentleman who travels and blogs. http://stophavingaboringlife.com/
Joined Jan 9, 2014
222 Blog Posts

Happy Birthday Alta Vista

Greetings,

I have no idea why I’m checking here now, considering I haven’t in ~3 months and in a few hours I’ve got a flight to catch but here we are. June 3rd was Alta Vista’s first birthday and she got a big old concrete cake aka we poured more of the ground floor.

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I figured I’d share this video and make a post so I don’t get axed, I seriously thought I was axed so it was a welcome sight to see me still holding my spot in the prestigious  peanut gallery. Tomorrow I’m off to Italy and writing this from just outside Athens in a place called Palaio Faliro, it’s nice.

I’m sorta fed up with all this building jazz and being in Europe is a nice break from it all. The build is moving slower than I thought but then I look around and remember I’m building on Little Corn and kindly demanding a high standard so yeah, good things take time.

If I had built a regular house which wasn’t over kill on everything it would have been done ages ago but since I didn’t, it’s not. The photo above is from the rooftop which is basically done now and they are doing septic stuff and building the closets under the stairs. When I return I need to buy bars for the windows, doors and windows then it’s on to the finishing stuff.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this video and god speed.

Tips hat,

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DRONE OVER PARADISE & SUCH

Greetings,

Below is a video which could best be described as a drone over paradise aka a drone over Little Corn Island. You’ll also see my latest project “Alta Vista” in the mix with someone you may know wearing typical camouflage on the roof with two others. Naturally, my camera has sand in it so instead of looking at the drone I’m trying to get the piece of garbage to operate properly; oh well.

I might be going to South Africa next month but we’ll see about that. Looking at this drone footage makes me realize how crazy a place it is that I live. Also how crazy it is that I managed to get the structure I’m seen standing on in the video to the spot. Remember, there are no cars and all the materials came up on carts along what could best be described as a sidewalk.

It’s 5am and I’m on Big Corn sleeping on a cot in a room with my parents, I know. They visited for three weeks and had the time of their lives. My father even said candidly “If I wasn’t married to your Mom, I’d just move here permanently” much to her chagrin. She changed the topic and it was never mentioned again. I think they’ll be back next year for six weeks.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: If your bathroom is tiled, how many mm are between each tile? Two or Four?!

I love spending time with my parents and believe that if they come for a month or so each year, we’ll spend more quality time together in a year than we would if I was raising a family while being deeply depressed down the the road a few miles. There is nothing more depressing than not doing what your’ capable of. Some people do nothing with their lives and are happy, that’s because they’re not capable of more.

If you know you’re capable of doing more, you must or your soul will suffer until your last breath. I’m flying to Managua today and on the early flight. Parents are on the later flight. I made a mistake and forgot to book a ticket for myself, whoops. I will try and trade with someone at the airport this morning and spend the day showing them around, if not oh well and as I often say; such is life.

Thankful they could visit and that my father is so handy. I also think it improved our friendship on a number of levels and they now realize that I may not be “handy” and I could care less about small stuff but I’m big picture kinda guy. I like to throw up structures from scratch and that’s good because there are plenty more people on this planet who are capable and willing to do the final caulking…

Have yourself a wonderful day.

Tips hat,

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A Crazy Concrete Roof Pour

Greetings,

This video says it all and my parents are down visiting so I need to move. I need to move as my father is 100x busier than myself and he has no distractions online. Anyways, the roof is up and this video gives you a glimpse of one of the craziest days of my life; glad it’s over.

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Alta Vista’s Rooftop View

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Greetings,

I’m writing this from Little Corn Island, big surprise…

Anyways, we’ve poured the roof at Alta Vista and it’s a huge relief. Now the hardest part of the building is done and we’re cruising to the finish line, sorta. We still have a long way to go but we’ve come much further than we’ve got left which is cool. If this was a baseball game and I was stealing second base, I’d be close enough to second that regardless of the outcome, I’d charge it and hope for the best; that’s exactly what I’m doing.

The pour was brutal and took 13 hours with 16 gents. We mixed 146 sacks of cement with ~560 sacks of aggregate; half sand and half gravel. Then it all had to be brought up twenty feet to the roof. It was cold and damp with a light rain and we ran out of water so gents had to carry garbage bins full of it to the spot. I hope none of you ever have to go through anything like this and if I didn’t already know the “value of a dollar” I definitely do now.

The good news, I now have a 1224 sq foot patio on on my roof with a panoramic view of the Caribbean Sea and front row for my favourite event of the day, sunrise. The home is 3672 sq feet including patios which usually aren’t included but should be if you’re in the Caribbean as that is where you spend most of your time. So basically it’s 2080 sq feet of interior living space with two 23 x 8 ft patios on each floor and then the entire roof is a patio.

The bad news is I’m sick as a dog and have locked myself inside my house for the last ~36 hours. I always get sick then feel better and go full only to become seriously ill. I’m like a boxer who gets knocked out, gets up and forgets he was just knocked out if that makes sense. Either way, now that I have 3G at home it’s not so bad and I’m already making plans for my departure.

I’ve realized that I don’t want to live anywhere, living somewhere is boring. It’s cool to have roots and homes places but actually spending your entire life there, really? What are we, trees? We were given feet and big brains to develop fast means to transport ourselves around this planet for a reason, yes? I’m hoping this whole deal should be wrapped up before my 36th birthday at the end of June and then I can be “re-released into the world” with a new outlook and same old life mission – to stop having a boring life. If you’re looking for a little inspiration to get traveling, check out this list of inspirational travel quotes to get you going.

For those of you sitting around in an office looking at the stock markets as a way to get out of your current situation, I feel you. I too was in your seat and I can’t give you a road map but I will tell you that if you don’t stop looking, you’ll eventually find what you’re looking for. Just remember, most think they have gone the distance when they have just merely started; commit and go the distance and the rewards will be beyond anything you ever imagined possible.

Tips hat,

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2015 in Review

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Greetings,

It’s 3:42 am and I’m at a cafe along the coast of Little Corn Island. You see, this place has the fastest connection and there is nobody on the network. People think I’m weird for living these hours of late but I could care less, weird is what small minded people label different and different is good. It’s like the rest of the lot jumps in the passenger panga and pays the 140c toll to ride with 40 other people in a weighed down vessel. I prefer to ride it free at three in the morning with full 400hp working for me without even thinking of the fuel.

This video sums it up; as of now I’m laser focused on getting Alta Vista done, increasing my presence online again after a lame / forced / avoidable break in 2015. I’m eager to start seeing the world again and as much as I love it here, will regret forever if I traded the world for a spot on this small island. It’s paradise for some but a prison for my web creativity and we keep getting the “fast internet is coming soon” an I still believe as I have no choice but my faith is being tested.

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Either way, if I know one thing it’s that where there is a will, there is a way. Also, I bought almost EVERYTHING in Managua to save cash on these houses except sand and gravel. Guess what, sand and gravel are what make a cement structure. I just met this gent who is building here as well, haven’t seen him in two years and he has a line on sand that is 30-40% cheaper. Couple that with me being kicked in the face on a 1.39 exchange to the CDN dollar and I was temporarily very annoyed at myself.

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Then I realized, losers care bout the past. I still need sand so this new line I might be getting will be a blessing. Also, it opens up the door to further real estate projects of the cement kind. I love cement, wood is no good where I live but that’s just my opinion and we’re all entitled to one. Anyways, I need to get back to organizing my online life as much as I can in the witching out. I sit here alone with my bright screen harming my eyes with my trusty machete which resembles more a sword to my side.

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As one reader commented on my blog “Oh what a life without a wife…” Something cool is that once I’m done with the second building, I’ll have two assets on a unique Caribbean island that are appreciating rapidly and which can provide me with cash flow all going well until the day I die. Part of me thinks I’m resurrecting SHABL this year, another part of me thinks that the party which is endless world travel and doing whatever the F%$! you want with your life is just about to get going…

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P.S: If you’re not a depraved degenerate and you have a holiday home somewhere and might want to “house swap” sometime, let me know.

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An Update of Sorts

Good day,

Pardon my prolonged absence but I’ve just been busy with lots of things and not having the internet that is usable at home besides sending whatsapp messages is a real drag. Some people work in cafe’s and some people shoot krokodil for that matter; I’m not into either.

On the topic of the internet, I was up at Alta Vista the other day when I heard some banging from another part of the hill. I went to investigate when I saw people working on the tower. I asked what was happening and they said they were upgrading the equipment. I asked if meant faster internet, they said faster everything. I was ecstatic.

Let’s get back to that in a moment, alright?

I’m listening to this house mix and suddenly this song came on which was the exact song which was playing when I was in Krakow, Poland visiting a woman who I thought could have been the one. You see, we met in Vietnam in 2010 and it was “love at first sight” if that even exists. We spent a crazy time together and then even crazier times in different places.

I went to visit her in Krakow, Poland a few years later and everything had changed. The moment I saw her I knew I wasn’t even interested anymore and then when we got further into the evening I realized she had changed. We met as travellers but three years of living different lives changes people; she had become a boring lawyer with all sorts of stress and talking about how tired she was; snooze.

I was exhausted after finishing a string of press trips which occupied all of my time. The reality is, neither of us were who we were when we met in Vietnam but she had become a lady with a mind filled with other people’s problems. I used to be a lobbyist and what I realized was that all professions are crap. They all get paid well to take care of other people’s problems; you want to be the other person. The person who hires a Doctor to heal them, a lawyer to defend their rights, a night security guard to protect their estate and whatnot.

Let’s get back to the tower, shall we?

So I run back after a little while and ask “Will we have 3G?!” to which they replied “No, 4G”. Wow… I might actually get 4G in my house. You realize I came to the Corn Islands when there was basically no internet except one cafe. Then I got E on my phone, then once I saw 3G on my phone and it went, than we got 3G on the coast, then other places got ~ok internet and now we’re going to get 4G island wide. You realize I can get back to what makes me happy and that is creating, making money on the internet is a hobby of mine.

You can also count on seeing me more active everywhere, which I’m thrilled about. As much as I’m happy for taking this big risk on the Corn Islands, a part of me has been dying, my online presence which I love has been fading and that’s not cool. Anyways, enough of that depressing garbage and back to updates, yes? I’m getting 4G and that’s killer. Also, I’m interested in investing on Big Corn Island as well. I’m not going to diversify but intensify because I’ve got a winner here but more on that later.

I never hired a cleaning lady, I don’t like letting acquaintances into my house, let alone some spy. Everything worked out for the best though, oddly enough. A friend of mine is a golf course architect turned disc golf architect who is developing courses in Nicaragua. I met the guy at Victoria’s Pulperia aka the cheapest place to drink on Big Corn Island in 2013 or so and we hung out for an evening while his friend who was there photographed a blood moon from the top of Mama Lola’s which if you look in Lonely Planet has a different name because well yeah it’s a guidebook.

Suffice to say he came here to talk with town council and I was like you can crash at my house; he ended up staying close to a month. A few days in he was like, do you mind if I organize your place, I’m a bit of a neat freak in not so many words. I said “please do” and over a few days the house got organized; now I’m super particular about keeping everything in its place; crazy how things work?! He left a week or so ago but quite glad he came and if Little Corn gets a championship disc golf course as well as a free 9 hole to get people interested; I’m all for it.

Little Corn needs more land activities.

I never did get a Movistar connection and it worked for the best. I know I already went over the whole 4G but the morning I found out; I was in talks of splitting one with someone and they were like I need to know now. Then I came up with all these ideas and he was like “I don’t need to complicate my life” to which I was like “screw you” and thought no, I’ll go with someone else than find out I can get what I need on my phone; go figure. Imagine if I had a @#$@# tower on my property paying $1K a month when I could have 4G on my phone spending ~$40-$80 a month and nothing when I’m not around?

Alta Vista is officially entering beast mode and it’s the strongest house I’ve seen built almost anywhere. It reminds me of houses from yesteryear which were built by lunatics who cared not about cost or “standards”. Standards are the lowest of the low, the lowest acceptable form. I’ve built strong because once it’s done I don’t plan on doing anything more than having people paint it once a year or so. I’m 35 now and plan on living until I’m 90 something so I need it to last 55+ years then I can pass it down in a will.

The kids might like it or hate me for not allowing them to sell it and squander the cash on stupid stuff because they have no business sense. Sadly, there are no guarantees that your kids will be smart with cash. Lots of people I see who are successful breed stupid kids when it comes to money; it’s like a coin flip really. The house is eating materials like it’s nobodies business and still oh so hungry. I’m getting ready to start pouring the roof in the next few weeks. I don’t like wood, it’s no good and a poor choice for Caribbean construction and if a strong wind comes, I don’t want to find my roof on the other side of the island.

I’m in a cafe now waiting for a Youtube video to finish uploading and tomorrow at 6:30am I’m off on the panga to Big Island to catch a plane to Bluefields to renew my visa. I’ve never had to do that as I usually come and go but my lack of online presence and serious commitments here have made me a bit boring – for now. It’s like I’m back in school or just loading up to spring past where my former self would have been if I had never taken on this project once it’s done.

That or I’m a tree planting serious roots and soon we’re going vertical; it looks like not much is happening but beneath the surface it’s pure bedlam. I’ve written 1284 words without even looking back once so I’ll cut it here. Just thought I’d keep you all posted so I don’t lose my spot in the Peanut Gallery which is where I belong due to my poor attendance around the hallowed halls of iBankCoin which will always be my favourite blog and the blog which started everything for a gent named “Dubz” around these parts.

Tips hat,

P.S: Subscribe to my Youtube channel for updates; it’s all I want for Xmas. That said, be aware it’s ~1 month lagged. This is on purpose for reasons some of you may be able to figure out.

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INSANE FLOOR POUR

Greetings,

I’m sitting on a blazing connection and no, it’s not at my house. We’ll get into the whole tower drama later but for now, know that a restaurant called Desideri on Little Corn basically got the connection I wanted at the rate I wanted and I’m using it now…

You never know what’s good or bad or what’s bad or good and depending on perspectives things change but usually end up resting on one.

I digress.

Below is a video from pouring the second floor of my house called Alta Vista, it was an insane day.

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GIVE ME A TOWER ALREADY

Greetings,

I’m writing this from the sports bar that I loathe, sure enough a few couples and some dude reading a book with his back to the sea; what’s up with that? Back to the topic, myself and a local friend received good news about getting a cell tower installed on my small property; they even offered to give it to us for free… Interesting, right? Next week my friend and I are flying to Managua for another face to face meeting, one where hopefully we sign a deal.

Thing is, some people get paid to have a tower on their property because really, who wants one? That said, the one I’ll receive won’t be as big as the other one on the island but still. I’m going to use that to leverage a better deal with hard hitting questions like – is this MY TOWER or are you going to use it to service other clients? If it’s the latter, I should be getting something for opening up this business avenue, right?

My friend is going in as the good cop and I’ll play the bad cop pushing for as much as we can. I’m not leaving with less than a 10MBPS connection which should be sufficient. Ironically the tower is a bit of an eye sore and it’s going to taint my view but whatever if I never have to enter this sports bar again that’s ok. I’m quite excited about this as it would let me go from surviving to thriving online again; I miss the online world and I think lots of other people will want to get hooked up.

I don’t really have to go but I totally have to go. I can’t sign anything but I want to be there to make sure the best deal gets cut. Should I get us a better deal, the ticket will quickly pay for itself, right? To say I’m not in the mood to go to Managua would be an understatement but what’s the alternative?! I would like to spend less than $1000 a month on internet. I know it sounds high but you’re talking to a guy who has no car, no mortgage or debt. Fast access to the internet is like buying good mining equipment when you’re sitting over a big gold stash; there are so many opportunities online it’s beyond comprehension.

The internet is the biggest game in the world; I need good season tickets.

Another option is having sole use of the tower and than selling bandwidth to people, not really in the mood to do business of that manner but my local friend might be keen on it and if we can make a few hundred on the side and get free fast as f$ck internet, why not? So that’s what is happening these days. Other than that the second storey of Alta Vista is being built and it’s looking better by the day.

Not feeling very verbose right now so I’ll go back to staring at the sea while I wait another 123 minutes or so until this 1.3gb upload is done. I realize I could shrink the size of my daily vlog but I’m in no mood to do that. In closing, a friend filmed some amazing drone footage of the island and I’m going to edit the video sooner or later, I’ll be sure to share it.

Oh, what are the health risks of such a tower? Thoughts?

Tips hat,

P.S: Thanks for all the suggestions of the cleaning lady variety.

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Cleaning Lady or No Cleaning Lady?

Greetings,

Should you find yourself traveling lots and living in odd parts of the world, the idea of a cleaning lady will certainly cross your mind. I am currently living in squalor and it’s pathetic but there is one thing I hate more than walking over my own trash and filth to get to the fridge; that’s inviting a spy into my house.

All cleaning ladies will spy on you just like all general contractors will overstate their talents; you can count on that and if you don’t believe me than by all means go find out for yourself. You see, the term “cleaning lady” is actually a synonym for the word spy. They will spy on you and how can they not? They are bored as shit cleaning up your stuff and if something goes missing, usually a good person to start interrogating.

I don’t like cleaning ladies for the same reason I loathe living with other people; you see I like to spread out like a diseases, a mold of sorts whenever I have a space to call my own. The concept of putting stuff away after yourself never really grew on me and now I’m all grown up with the habits of a lazy seven year old. I also hate garbage as the tropics are filled with small insects so I am considering buying a small fridge, ripping out the shelves and using it to store trash.

I digress.

So I want to ask you, the distinguished gentleman and degenerates alike of iBankCoin, what are your thoughts on cleaning ladies? Have you had one? A good way to deal with them? I could in theory put everything in my room then lock it but if I’m going to go to that trouble, why don’t I just clean the place myself? The small house is 625 square feet and the patio is 70 square feet so only really 555 square feet to clean. These are the issues I’m facing on this Thursday morning as I sit by the sea watching couples eat over priced breakfasts.

There is this one sports bar which I loathe because the waitresses literally make you feel like you’re an unwelcome houseguest. The kind of person who stays at a party long after the host has been making it clear that your company is not wanted and their hospitality has finished. These ladies are more of the non-verbal communication style and their long faces tell stories which will shun most customers; which is their plan. You see, this is the fastest place for me to upload so what is a man to do?

Apart from that, I’d also like to mention that holiday destinations have a real couples problem. They swarm these places like locust stinking up all the good joints. They speak to very little people besides themselves or “friends’ on their fucking phones and usually one of them looks like they wish they had broken up years ago. Anyways, these couples are a real hassle and I don’t see the pleasures in traveling as a couple, talk about taking sand to the beach. I once traveled with a girl named Marissa and I had to break up with her on Mirissa Beach despite it being known as a romantic get away.  From the moment I landed in Sri Lanka and opened the hotel room to her waiting, I immediately knew I had made a grave error.

I’m literally surrounded by couples and none of them look like they’re having fun. I’ll tell you how their day has gone so far. The man or woman woke up early to the other one is lazy and wanted to stay in bed. The active one would have loved to have a breakfast and explored the island but they waited because they have been trained to be a submissive to their lazy partner and then had that common and boring chat of what the other wants for breakfast. They are both being overly polite so they end up settling on somewhere neither wants. Than they strolled here at a snails pace and came to stink up this cafe with no character.

There is one girl here who is single and quite friendly. The only problem is she was a bartender in Banff for three years which is the STD capital of Canada and that makes me cringe. My insane 900mb upload at a 0.28u speed is coming to a close, it’s time for me to leave and sit in my filthy kitchen staring at my mess while deciding what to do about it. Later it’s time to see what the work crew is up to, Alta Vista aka “High View” for those of you who don’t speak Spanish is well under way – stay tuned.

That’s enough for now, so your thoughts on cleaning ladies?

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Nightlife in Tirana, Albania

This video is from Tirana, Albania. Myself and a friend Alex who now lives here too went to Tirana and decided to go out as we arrived on a Saturday. Albania is insanely affordable, fun and relatively safe. We went out and got into it, deep into it. He spilt a drink down the back of a man who could beat Marc David up while drinking a beer and he just turned around and said “no problem”.

Later, we went to this Irish bar and not shown on video I spilt an entire pint on our table but the girls still invited us to the club at the end. Albania is high on my list of “GO TO SPOTS” and one I will return to. The Balkans are the new cool even though that word is lame, the new “GOOD”; going to Europe? Look into it.

Albania is the FTK of the area; it’s only going up over the coming years and that’s a fact.

In other news, I’m looking into a commercial internet connection from one of the major providers here in Nicaragua. I’m willing to pay up to $1,000USD a month for a connection that makes the data flow like fine wine at a party held by an aristocrat of yesteryear.

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