Traveling

Do you know of a boot or shoe related event that might be of interest? Hear Ye, Hear Ye...
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jake
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Re: Traveling

#26 Post by jake »

Dee-Dubb,

The reason we don't have the AGM meeting in Quintana? Well Ol'Buddy....there "ain't-no" boots down thar!

Hope you and Randee have a relaxing visit. By the way, have a great Birthday too!

Take care!
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Re: Traveling

#27 Post by dw »

Well, the "ramblin' boy" is back from his warm water vacation. Image

As you may have heard or read we went to Akumal in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. This is on the Caribbean side of the Yucatan peninsula and is what is known as the the Mexican Riviera. It is where Katrina made landfall before hitting New Orleans and Wilma hit there too. Quite a bit of damage resulted and there is construction everywhere...the north-south coastal--Mexico 307--was being expanded from two lanes (actually two in each direction if you count the right-hand-side "passing" or slow lane) to four lanes. Trucks hauling cement blocks--for building structures--ran constantly and in both directions. A tremendous amount of clean up in the wake of the hurricanes was going on (and still a lot more to do) but the area is so inherently beautiful never-the-less. The ocean was a true turquoise or aquamarine and the weather was in the mid to upper 80's most of our time with a lovely breeze almost all day and night. Not a sign of mosquitos although there are plenty of geckos on the wall in the evening to eat them if any should be buzzing around.

On this trip as on the trip last year, we (or I did, at least) felt a certain curiosity, or maybe even desire, to purchase in the area both for investment purposes and for a place to vacation. A two bedroom condo (in a larger building with starting management fees of over $500.00 a month) will cost you $300k-$450k...and up! Americans can't legally (technically...although there are some work-arounds) own land in Mexico. So most opt for a condo in a resort area such as Akumal or Playa del Carmen or even Cancun. I kind of wish I had enough to buy a condo or a time share down there though. I've had more than enough cold weather to last me the rest of my life. I love the tropics, always have. Randee's not too sure about all that heat--Norwegian to the bone, I guess. But it won't be too many years and it will be hard to get in down there, at all...anyone buying in now would undoubtedly triple their money in three years or less. Prices and demand are rising so fast.

We got lots of sun, which was the whole point of the rip, and loved every moment of it. Although we did have a day or two of clouds and rain. No sunburns though...thankfully. We worked up some good colour in the tanning salons well before we left, so we never gave it much of a thought. We laughed at the sun, basked in the sun, reveled and par-tayed in the sun. I got a bit red one day out on the cat but a little Aloe Vera gel and a nights rest and what redness there was was subsumed into the bronze glow of the rest of my body. No sickness either. The water was not potable...and we knew that ahead of time. We drank bottled water, as does everybody...including permanent residents (ex-pats) and wealthy Dons from Mexico City. We washed all out vegies and fruits in a weak iodine solution (made especially for the purpose) and rinsed all our dishes and utensils in a weak solution of water and chlorine bleach.

We ate a lot of seafood in Mexico--from a great fresh ceviche, to a lovely grilled wahoo, to some wonderful "camerones"--huge, 8-9"shrimp that tasted better than the best Maine lobster you've ever eaten. These last were fresh from the boat (as it turns out illegally, but we didn't know that when we bought them--off the truck) and better than anything we've gotten stateside, fresh or otherwise.

We also had a "run-in" with some "bandidos. We went on a Robinson Crusoe "adventure"--sailing, fishing, lunch on a secluded beach, snorkeling, etc.--on a 36 foot catamaran, and the skipper--Angel and his first mate, Luis--ran the cat into a secluded lagoon/cenote that was fed by an underground river (all rivers in the Roo are underground) for some snorkeling. We hadn't been there more than 30 minutes or so when suddenly there seemed to be a lot of commotion up on the shore--lots of yelling and guys with machetes and bandanas tied around their faces and imprecations flying back and forth between the shore and Angel and Luis. We all got back on board but it looked just a bit ugly there for a few minutes before Angel took the cat back to sea. According to him, the people up on the shore were hired "guns"...squatters...trying to claim the land and the cenote for some rich patrone in Mexico city or somewhere. Never did get the full or accurate story--not enough Espanol.

"Akumal" (the resort area we stayed at) means "place of the turtles" in Mayan...and our condo was Hacienda de la Tortuga. So we were hoping to see some sea turtles. After a week of being there we thought we might have come at the wrong season or that the hurricanes might have damaged the ecology so severely that the turtles we no longer there. But fortunately, after three-four days of frustration and disappointment, we did manage to swim with two moderate size tortugas/turtles and I got photos. Also got a photo of a fair sized manta ray--an Eagle ray. But only one..it was fast and somewhat concerned with us swimming around it. But we used sealed, disposable, underwater cameras for our water pics and the film is 800ASA. They went through the x-ray machine in Cancun with no one the wiserat least partially because there was no warnings on the camera packaging or anything. But when I got to Denver, security warned me that high speed film might be destroyed going through the scanner. They wanted me to open the cameras and take out the roll of film. Unfortunately, it took over an hour to get through customs in Denver and we had, at that point less than a half hour to make our connection. So, I not only didn't have the time to strip the camera but figuring that the film had already passed through a scanner (the damage was done if there was gonna be any) I just went on through. I got the photos back the day before yesterday and all I can say is...never, ever use a disposable underwater camera if you can help it. The photos were there--the scanning didn't seem to affect them--but the resolution was crappy on most. I think it's because you're shooting through a cheap plastic lens. Enough of the turtle shots came out to drop a few into the photo album but the eagle ray was fuzzy as were most of the others...grainy too.

We also toured the Mayan ruins at Tulum. There are bigger ruins--Chitzen Itza and Coba--but they don't give you access to the ruins the way they used to. No climbing the temple steps, for instance and Tulum was a major capital and one of the few coastal cities in the Mayan empire so it was both interesting and beautiful--set on a high cliff overlooking the crystal blue water of the Caribbean--no insects or jaguars either , like you might have in the deeper jungle. We also did a walking tour of an ecological preserve and saw spider monkeys and several toucans, parrots, lorikeets and a couple of capybaras. Of course the animals were all on a preserve and quite used to humans if a little shy. But except for the toucans and, to a lesser extent, the spider monkeys, they were in their natural environments. The hurricanes drove all the birds out of their natural ranges and when those that survived came back there was little food left for them. So the toll was pretty great among the birds.
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Tight Stitches
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Re: Traveling

#28 Post by dw »

BTW, the last photo is of two baby spider monkeys (although you only see the one fully) that fell asleep or into full quiescence when I started "grooming" them. They were rescued from poachers and were to be found only in a "park"--an ecological reserve. Most of the interesting wildlife has retreated inland even though the coastal areas are natural habitat. Spider monkeys are new world monkeys and have prehensile tails...cute little buggers.

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Re: Traveling

#29 Post by tomo »

Hey DW,
It's good to see you had a great time. it's hard for us to get our heads around stuff being that old. The oldest building in this country is the Stone house at Kerikeri and that's about 150 years old, but that's definitely the exception.

Those beach loungers look interesting, if you had a skinny butt I bet you'd be looking between your feet at the view though. Is that your forelock in the top of the picture???Image

One thing about the tropics is that they bounce back quickly after natural disasters like hurricanes. It's the man made stuff that takes the biggest hit.
Thanks for shareing those with us DW.

More power to y'awl.

T.
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Re: Traveling

#30 Post by shane »

I just returned from a nice trip to Sedona, Az. I took the time to look up Paul of P K boots. I really enjoyed visiting his shop and meeting him. I wish I could do that more often. Thanks Paul for letting me invade your shop and impose on your time.
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Re: Traveling

#31 Post by paul »

Shane,

It was great meeting you and your family. You're welcome back with your kids anytime. They're all very well behaved. That oldest son of yours, Stetson, is gonna be a great leather worker, my guess.

I was honored to have you stop by.

Thank you,

PK
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Re: Traveling

#32 Post by sorrell »

I'm looking for a ride to the Wichita Falls Boot and Saddlemaker's Roundup on Thursday evening (Oct. 5) before the show starts. Dale can drive down Friday after school with the kids, but I'd like to be there on Friday AND not have to take two cars. If anyone's heading south on I-35 and wouldn't mind a passenger let me know.

Lisa
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Re: Traveling

#33 Post by hrst »

Greetings all, or I guess Hola and Ciao! In 6 weeks my wife and I will be visiting art galleries in a few European locations and I wondered if anyone could suggest any shoe related sites along the way that might help broaden the education of a novice like me. I'll be in London, Barcelona, Sicily and Rome. Thanks in advance, and I'll post any relavant pics that I get.
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Re: Traveling

#34 Post by dearbone »

Ron,

Northampton shoe and leather museums are must see,the town is a about an hour or so train ride from London,a morning trip will give you enough time to visit both museums and some lunch and some sight seeing around town.

Nasser
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Re: Traveling

#35 Post by hrst »

Thanks, Nasser. We'll be in England for a few days and, as the Museum gallery website offers a pretty fair looking art collection as well, it'll make for an easier pitch to the boss.
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Re: Traveling

#36 Post by sorrell »

Here are a few pictures of my recent trip to Wiesbaden, Germany and Stockholm, Sweden. This is me in Wiesbaden with my boots on display.
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Re: Traveling

#37 Post by sorrell »

My friend Carina who's a master shoemaker in Sweden made these beautiful shoes for the competition and won a silver medal.
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Re: Traveling

#38 Post by sorrell »

I taught a class on inlay and overlay while we were in Sweden. These are some of my students hard at work.
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Re: Traveling

#39 Post by sorrell »

These are a couple of my students with the leather cuff they made in my inlay/overlay class.
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Re: Traveling

#40 Post by sorrell »

Here's a shot of Carina, me and Marcell. I was so pleased that Marcell had the opportunity to come to Stockholm while I was there and I got to meet him. He's such a knowledgeable and talented shoemaker and I miss his unique voice and point of view on the forum.
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Re: Traveling

#41 Post by sorrell »

Finally, here are the souvenirs we brought back for Morgan and Paige. Morgan's are 5" platform sandals and Paige's are 5" spike heels with a small platform. The shoes and their reactions after they got them perfectly illustrate their personality differences. Morgan put hers on and immediately began bouncing around singing, "I'm big, I'm big!" Paige put hers on and began slinking like a runway model.
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Re: Traveling

#42 Post by janne_melkersson »

Lisa,
congrats on a very nice pair of boots and the gold medal. I guess it was a long time ago since a US bootmaker wonn a gold medal in Europe, very cool!

To bad I couldn't join the course in Stockholm because of the chicken pox I got, kind of strange to get it when old as I am. Anyway, I hope to see you in Sweden another time.
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Re: Traveling

#43 Post by romango »

I am going to the International Leather Show in Bologna April 3-5 http://www.lineapelle-fair.it/en/index.php

I've talked this over with my buddy, Jeff (not on HCC) who has been there twice. Leather vendors will have samples of stock items, seasonal offerings and leather they will maybe make based on interest. Apparently the show is huge and difficult to even take in in 3 days.

The vendors want to take orders for samples (not free), which they will then ship to me. At the end of the last day, I may be able to get them to part with some of those hides (for cash).

The show is 3 days but I will be in Italy for 2 weeks. Does anyone have suggestions for other she related destinations I could consider?

... or things to look for at the show?

... or any other advise or input about Italy? OMG!
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Re: Traveling

#44 Post by frank_jones »

Rick

Do enjoy your time in Bologna.

I think some general information might be useful for anybody thinking of visiting an international trade exhibition. There are two types of exhibitions in the footwear trade. The first, and much the biggest group, is what I call footwear selling exhibitions. Probably the biggest international one is GDS in Dusseldorf, Germany but there are similar examples in the USA such as WSA, Ffany and Magic. What you see there are hundreds or even thousands of boots and shoes. If you are a shoe buyer for say Macy’s or Kohl’s department stores, these are the events you visit.

Boot and shoemakers nearly always find the second group more interesting. I call these “Shoemaking” exhibitions, although they come in many different names. There used to be such exhibitions in the US and almost all the larger European countries, before most of the footwear manufacturing went to East Asia. The US one was called ShoeTech. It was held in Boston and the last one I am aware of was in 1998. What is special about such exhibitions is they are not about the finished product but the process of getting to it.

The only one still running in Europe is held in Bologna, Italy. It is held on the same exhibition ground as Lineapelle. Lineapelle is run by the tanners and is held in April and October each year. However, I find the October event much more interesting.

In October, alongside Lineapelle, another exhibition is held on the same site. This is called Simac and is run by the Italian shoe machinery makers association. This adds a whole range of stuff interesting to boot and shoemakers. There is a lot of machinery on display and much of it is powered up and you can try it out. There is also a wide range of booths covering things like Lasts, Hand Tools, Heel stiffeners, Soling materials, Lasts, Heels, Shanks, Laces, Eyelets, Duster Bags, CAD/CAM, Trade Magazines, Reinforcement Materials, Buckles and Bows, Threads, Adhesives, Spare Parts suppliers. and many, many more.

Both exhibitions run for three days and are free to anybody with a business card which relates to making footwear. People come from all over the world. The general public are not allowed in.

I attend most years but then I do not have to fly from the USA.

Frank Jones
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Re: Traveling

#45 Post by Taidef1972 »

tmattimore » Sat Apr 13, 2002 12:05 pm wrote:Mick When you get ther put aside time to visit the museum. Make sure you say hello to Gaye Frazer she is the nicest person in the bussiness and will be set up there too. If you pass near laramie stop in Tom Mattimore
Why did you asked to stop near the Laramie? I could not understand it.
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