a l'autre bout du bout du monde:

i haven´t been up to much, due to lack of money to move around (THANK YOU to the people who donated, you have saved my life from VISA the EVIL).. i was hoping to go to rosario this weekend but it is my trashbag sister´s last weekend so i´m staying on. i´ll go there when i leave for bolivia.

i plan on leaving buenos aires on the 24, giving me about 4 weeks to go through bolivia and get back to lima.

in the meantime i continue living life the porteño way.

about the travellers

girl: narfette

real name cat, is twenty three.

francophone d`origine, she also speaks english y se habla español, bastante.

cat is both a french and canadian citizen, who although now stable in buenos aires, spent most of 2007 houseless, travelling around the americas. in a previous life, she spent 2002- 2004 doing the same, around europe.

from 2004 until 2007, she was home based in montreal, quebec, where she actively participated in promoting underground culture through pounding basslines and neo-nomad tribalism with tekno collective neurotik.

some people may think that founding ones existence on party culture and a philosophy consisting of "pick up, pack up and go" is not the way to live life, but to her, having a desk job in a sedentary existence is equivalent to a slow, painful death.
for cat, home is where her heart is and her heart is on the road.

cat likes to believe she is a nomad, having inherited the travelling bug from her globe trotting father. young but already well travelled, her passport has been stamped in 29 countries across 5 continents : asia (china and turkey), northern africa (egypt, morocco), europe (france, england, belgium, luxembourg, netherlands, germany, switzerland, spain, italy, andorra, monaco, portugal, austria, poland, czech republic, lichtenstein, greece), north america (canada, us, mexico), and south america (perú, argentina, chile, bolivia, brazil), a trip which is documented in this blog as well.

dog: tiago

aka el boli, was adopted at the age of four weeks in may 2007, in a little bolivian village named samaipata. her best friend and travel companion, he accompanied her through bolivia, peru, canada, the us, and mexico, until he passed on in mexico city on december 17, 2007. his death was untimely, quite unexpected.. but his spirit lives on, and even though he is no longer around to protect cat and backpack, he did a damn good job of it alive.

without tiago, much of this trip could not have happened - he was a protector, a nomad, a true latino callejero.

backpack: el monstro

aka "trusted companion" is a sixty litre black, purple and green serratus backpack that can actually fit twice as much as advertised, purchased at M.E.C. in 1995 before embarking on a whirlwind trip across eastern europe.
it was home for three years while couch surfing, squatting and travelling through france and most of western, central and eastern europe, and has accompanied cat across the world during the past 13 years. it also attended boarding school for two years and was taken along on a (botched) attempt at running away. it has served as a pillow, as camouflage from evil SNCF train conductors and as a weapon -- it has served well.

about the journey

cat is currently lost somewhere in latin america, an adventure started in february 2007 - so far the trip has taken her approximately 30 000 km (no air travel included!) by bus, boat and thumb, travelling from montreal to lima, peru, from where she crossed into chile, down to ushuaia, argentina, back up through bolivia and a jump into brasil; across the andes once more to discover the ucayali amazon..
after two weeks back in montreal, she did a cross canada road trip to the canadian west coast in july.
in september 2007, she left olivier, b.c., canada, with 1.50$ in her pocket and one goal: go as south as possible, hitchhicking...
she was able to reach buenos aires for christmas, via the usa, baja california and mainland mexico, thanks to an amazing amount of luck and help from various people (see below.)

as of january 2008, all adventures are on hold... for now.

how you can help

cat is a make-shift artisan, living off of the sales of hair wraps and various jewelery and crafts. this means some days money flows, and some days, money does not come. by donating you help with transportation funds (less hitchhiking), feeding the dog (cause cat can survive on beer alone), eventual hotel fees (because cat is a master at finding free places to crash), beer (because it`s safer to drink it than water in some places) and the like.

if you would like to contribute to the narfette does south america fund, please click on the button provided below.

the button, it likes to be clicked.

mmmmm....

... thank you.

You can also request a post by the author:

without you, i'm nothing...

thank you to everyone who has donated: Tamara, Sarah, Vinca, Oligau, Pierre, Celine, Morgan.

Thank you to those who have helped me along the way, in one way or another:

Moums and Liza, Papa et Scott. Without you, I'm non existent. Thanks for breaking out the turkey baster.

CHILE: Kimy, for the roof, for the food, for the reggaeton and pisco fueled nights on the beach... y la banda Ariquena - Josee, Jorge, Kike, Mauro, Marcelo, Cristo - thanks for the drinks, thanks for the smiles, catchay huevon!

ARGENTINA: Carry for his hammock space, his surprised faces, his "no es tu eres, es vos sos" and everything else, TE AMO PUTO!!! ;my sisterlove for being there when needed, for being my only braincell when i had none and for naked mate; Takito for the scars, and the best laugh ever (tm); Kythe for not letting me pass out on the street albeit me saying I could, for lemonade in a bag, OMG! Splooge! and taco flavoured kisses; Kor and Anyi for being the best cooks ever.
OoS tribe for blowing my eardrums: Frances for the cow cadavre, Polak cause he's an ardilla and i can throw mani at him (pepas y bigotes y mani.. o dios!), Mirko for being Mirko, there can only be one... wankito!; Che B for "che boluda... hijo de puta!", mate and helping me discover Patagonia while singing "estaba la catalina a bajo de un laurel...".

BOLIVIA: Che Sergio, Pablo, Anais - you guys made Samaipata fun, you never taught me shit like you promised but we had a lot of laughs; Elodie, without whom I would be boli-less; Tibo, for looking after my sick when i was sick, for putting up with tiago, for Boys Dont Cry and dolla fitty caramel rum, for "putain les filles, vas y partez pas a Copacabana.. on se met tous a poil dans le lit et on fait l'amoooour"; Maria jose ("EL TIAGO SE COMIO EL CHUPACABRA EEEEEE!"); Isa, for curing my arm with her nifty grapefruit seed extract and cause you rock, hermana.

PERU: Teo for his enlightenment via la madre ayahuasca, Aritz el Basco for introducing us to Teo, la banda loca de Barranco - Alex "Mowgli" ("Tienes que METERTE en la selva.. la selva es la vida"), Maicold (cactus didgeridoos and staying up way too late), Enrique (crazy juggler with beautiful dreads), Kathleen; Tibo (Pico Pico Botta Botta) and Isa... "Haha, Tibo, I bet your bag fell out of the bus" "Actually, Cat, YOUR bag fell out of the bus"; Moises, "HIPPIES... BWAAAAAA!", best. smile. ever.

CANADA: To all the fruit pickers, to all the rides, to all the punks, hippies, rainbows, vagabonds, city kids; to all those who scream KAPANG, hey hey, whaaaaaaat, ok!; to the "dans ma rue on appelle ca UN MEUUUUUURTRE", the roots, reggae, ragga, the camisa negras, the lo que paso paso.. there are too many of you, but you made my summer great, and i'll see you next year to continue the rhaaa rhaaa rhaa!
Thanks to Kao for the falacos, or the talafels, whichever, and the comfy bed and LOST!, to PTS HAUS for letting me crash, to that douchebag doorman for giving Sooz and I the laugh of the summer.
Everyone in the WWF (World Wankers Federation), MTL and TO crews - keep on making some noise!
And to my family, the ultimate wanker crew, Neurotik Sound System...
NTK forever in my heart, no matter where I am and where you are.. Ame et Crevette (NO BABIES PLEASE!), Niko, Marcin, Mat, Karin, Louis, Kat + Zim, Lili et Ugo, Ben, Sacha, Mark, Sunday, Moohk, Meek, Barbu, Mutante, Julie D (et Zak!), Dunzy et Cess, Tom-Tom, Bast.
Je vous aime, bande de fucking wankers, bougez vos culs hors du speaker et retrouvez moi... en Colombie? ha! j'ose meme pas imaginer le carnage. Mais viendez quand meme, vous me manquez, me semble qu'il n'y a pas assez de moustachus dans ma vie.

USA: Everyone in Venice Beach in general but especially to Aram, Sat3rn, Shane, Stiffy, Aleks and Buddy; Aeon and Courtney (tennessee whiskey's got me drinking in heaven...) for picking me up in Garberville and dropping me off in LA two weeks later, and for the whiskey; 5lowershop collective for letting me crash in their buses and hump their speakers; Julie for driving me up and down the 101; Matteo, the hobbits and Stefan for our trippy free meal in the park in willits, for making me think differently of the rainbow family, and for the good times.

MEXICO: random people in El Rosario who showed me towards abandoned ranch while shoving beer down my throat; Giulia (long live big balls), for so many things, for her insight, especially...; John, for letting me use his interwebs and crash on his roof; Alan for being cool, out here on the island of the stoned..; Ale for his songs and constant flow of words.. "Che, cosita.. TENES QUE PROBAR EL ASAAAAAO", "Pinche reggaeton.. rompe rompe rompe, si oue, me rompes las pelotas oue".. de veras como sos divertido, Leonard Cohen forever oue!; Mau for being there when I needed someone, for letting me crash in his bed (mmm, lavender), for his hospitality and generosity, for his amazing cooking and for that gorgeous smile ("stay beautiful, porque lo sos!"); Diego for putting up with hurricane Cat and all the boli bullshit, once again, so sorry i gave you my sick and thattheboli bit your contractor; Emiliano for Mexican Curious, introducing me to what tacos should be, campechanos (TENES QUE RESISTIIIIR), for squirtear, for poutine tacos, for everything!; Juan Carlos and Alberto for the yummy food and the place to crash.

a l'autre bout du bout du monde:

4.12.2007

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about the travellers

about the journey

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how you can help

without you, i'm nothing...

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