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STRAIN HUNTERS LIVE THREAD! - TRINIDAD - St.VINCENT


franco
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I can imagine the cold dry early morning air at shiphol as the team anxiously awaits their first flight, the thick hot caribbean air hitting your faces upon arrival. The excitment driving the tired jetlagged souls onward.

The only thing better than reading this thread would be being there with you guys! This reminds me of the national geograpic expeditions I used to read as a kid. Your photographer is certinaly talented!

Eagerly awaiting more!

OGK

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DAY 3

My alarm goes off early, but I am already awake because of the adrenaline and the jet-leg. The room is hot and sticky, the air-conditioning stopped working at some point during the night. When I went to bed I was literally finished, and the few hours of sleep really helped getting back some energies. I take a fast shower, roll a small, tasty joint and open a hot can of Red Bull. We will stay in this hotel for the next 2 nights, so I can leave my luggage and focus on preparing my backpack for the day. Radios, shoes, t-shirts, cap, sunscreen, sunglasses… check. Rolling papers, weed… check.

When everyone is ready we get the cars and drive in the dawn light; the sun is not up yet, but the air is already very hot, and really humid. We reach a small house in the suburbs, where we link-up with Punka, our guide for the day. He's a cool local rasta, and he will guide us to a field of local landrace. We drive for about an hour on main roads, then we take a turn and head for the green, lush mountains. We leave the cars at a rasta camp camouflaged in the bush, along a dirt-track. Time to begin the first walk of the mission! We hike in the thick forest for just over an hour, until we reach a large cannabis field hidden deep in the mountains. We meet incredibly large fire-ants along the way, and huge spiders. The walk is not long, but proves to be really hard because of the heat and humidity. As soon as we reach the field, we need to rest for a bit and drink some water before filming.

The plants in this field are very sativa-like, with long branches, and most of them are budding. There are several different crosses, but most of the field is local landrace, a sativa derived directly from Colombian Santa Marta genetics and Venezuelan crosses. Some individuals are very different than the rest, and we are told they are crossed with Jamaican imported genetics. We are impressed by the planting technique the growers deploy: the field is located on a steep hillside, and plants are well spaced; seeds are planted on top of piles of earth at least 2 feet tall, to avoid flood-damage. It rains a lot in this part of the world, especially between September and November; but the weather today is good, no sign of rain yet.

After shooting several scenes, and smoking several joints, we walk back to the cars; before driving we stop at the rasta camp to drink some coconut water and smoke some more herb.

We are getting hungry, it's past lunch time; so we drive to a small local restaurant on the side of a country road. Food is great, spicy and very tasty. We pick up some newspapers and read crime-stories. The island is really violent, there are lots of guns around, and gang-related shootings are a daily routine. Hijackings, drive-by shootings, massive police raids on growers, it's all normal stuff down here.

After lunch we drive for a couple of hours until we reach another local contact, who we name BC. He is an old-school grower that keeps his fields very hidden in the bush. We drive with him on a small, steep mountain track, until it's not possible to go forward with the jeeps. We keep walking in the thick jungle, following a path that only BC can see. It's raining lightly now, and the path is very slippery. After almost an hour of sweat and tears we finally get to the field. It's a large side of a hill, surrounded by the thickest forest I have seen in a while.

Plants are young, planted just few weeks earlier; the genetics are local sativas, likely Santa Marta from Colombia. BC explains to us that the threat from police-helicopters is a constant problem. If growers plant parcels larger than a quarter-hectare the choppers come and the cops burn everything down. Growers get harsh sentences around here, cannabis is very illegal on this island. The government of the island is cracking down on cannabis more than any other caribbean government at the moment. And the visible consequences are the large cocaine trade and the huge amount of gangs, weapons and violence. There is even a curfew enforced between 11pm and 5am in some areas of the island, and that really shows how bad the situation is.

It's time to walk back to the jeeps and to drive back to the city through mad traffic. Road congestion is a real issue on the island. Finally we get back to town and we make a final stop to get some sandwiches and some pizza to take back to the hotel for dinner. My bed is the only thing I want to see. I am still jet-lagged and it's very late for my body-clock…;-)

Big spliff of Sour Diesel, imported from the USA for a few privileged….. and tomorrow is another day.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clK0TExWPPM&feature=player_embedded]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjUc0rnDFGI&feature=player_embedded]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Gi2kWxIEs&feature=player_embedded]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwcZtjrgAKA&feature=player_embedded]

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really really no words just a very big smile .........

thx for all the effort and maybe stress between the hole shooting and searching for a good and stable genetic thx green house ...........franco arjan simon and hole crew

pretty cool

and carefully with the shower it could be that u might feel some electricety shock with that kind of run thru heater ;)

well take care and have fun

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vey nice view of the jungle side, everything is green, since the live thread started the first thing i do in the morning is check the forum to wathch some of the expedition new updates.i would love to see some of that amazing sativa crosses

hope you have nice weather this days so everything can go as you planned, take care

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Awesome, this trip does look amazing the pics of the beautiful landscapes and jungle, maaaan it only gives me ideas enlightened

i have to say though what a mean looking spider but what lovely looking plants hehe can't wait for tomorrows now, happy hunting :D

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DAY 4

After another hot night the alarm goes off pretty early, way before dawn. The air-conditioning in my room is useless, while some of the other rooms are like a fridge… lucky bastard that I am.

Today we have a very intense program, so there is no time to waste. We pack the bags and we start driving towards the closest petrol station to tank the cars.

Unfortunately we can't find the key for the fuel-cap of the Land Rover, and it takes several phone calls and the directions of the owner of the car to find it, hidden in a door panel.

After the sun rises we stop to get breakfast at a popular roadside stand that serves "doubles", then we drive towards our next contact: a guy with several indoor grow operations, one of the few on the island.

When we arrive at the meeting point, outside a fast-food outlet, we realize there is a lot of tension in the air. Our contact is very nervous, and wants us to follow his very visible rally-style car.

After driving for a quarter of an hour we arrive at a property in one of the wealthiest parts of the capital suburbs. We drive up a steep driveway, and hide the cars in the backyard. We sit for a cold drink and a smoke, and we are informed by our contact that three of his indoor rooms have been busted recently, and his entire organization is at risk.

All they can show us today is a few outdoor plants growing on the property, very camouflaged in the bush around a well-tendered vegetable garden. It's another confirmation of the seriousness of the situation on the island: cannabis is the top-priority for law enforcement. The island crawls with guns, but the police seems to have a hard time finding them. Almost never you read of the police taking guns off the streets; cannabis busts, on the other hand, are very common, almost a daily routine. The local police employes 7 helicopters to spot outdoor fields, and they fly every day, all day.

We take some time to film some of the plants hidden in the bush, very well camouflaged; they are fine genetics, mostly imported seeds from Amsterdam and the US. The growers use specific feedings, and have a good knowledge of advanced grow-techniques. As soon as we finish filming we get in the cars and we leave as fast as we came.

The drive to our next appointment is about an hour long. When we reach the location, our contact Eric is waiting for us.

Eric is a true rasta, and he belongs to the Boboshanti sect. He lives in a rasta compound on the side of a mountain, in a very dense forest-area. He guides us up the mountain, to see some fields he knows.

We walk up steep paths in the bush, and then we enter a thick forest. If you don't have somebody showing you the path it is impossible to find the way. It's hot, really hot, and the air is thick, wet and sticky. Mosquitos are really annoying when it's not raining, and my legs are covered in bites from sand-flies, and they itch like mad.

As we walk, Eric explains that the Rastafarians are the only people on the island that grow cannabis for their own religious ceremonies and do not get involved in business too much, so the police is a little more tolerant with them (as long as the size of the fields stays very small).

After a walk of about an hour a light rain begins to fall, making every step a slippery experience. After the last few hundreds meters pushing ourselves and our gear through really thick jungle, we reach a field of a hundred plants, plus minus. It is very hidden, off the beaten path, and guarded day and night.

The plants look sativa, but there are many different crosses. Surely some high-grade seed made it to this side of the island as well.

Most of the plants are at the end of the flowering, but some show clear signs of regrowth. Eric explains it's due to a very wet season, with too much rain. It's not the first time we hear this comment, the growers we spoke to yesterday said the same thing. For us is a learning process: we always attributed regrowth to photoperiod issues or to fertilizer unbalance, but several growers from totally different locations on the planet are now telling us that in their environment regrowth, or revegging, is related to rainfall and water.

After filming the field we walk through a large bamboo-forest.

The bamboos are more than a hundred years old, massive. We sit and have a rest, and it's the perfect chance to film a nice conversation with Eric about cannabis and Rastafarianism.

When we walk back to the cars, Eric invites us to attend tomorrow's prayer celebrations, allowing us to film parts of it. We accept, glad to have a chance to film a very private event, something no tourist has ever witnessed on the island. It's still daylight, and we are starving.

We decide to drive to a very famous tourist spot, perhaps the most famous on the island, where they make world-famous shark-burgers. The drive is truly spectacular, the road follows the profile of a rugged, lush and pristine coastline. I am completely used to driving on "the wrong side" by now, and I enjoy pushing the Land Rover rough engine to its limit.

We reach a very popular beach, where we find the famous shacks selling shark-burger.

We organize for filming, and we finally get to eat. The shark is amazing, very soft texture and smooth taste, and very crunchy on the outside after the deep frying. It's a very tasty meal, and the sauces in this part of the world can be hot, seriously hot! I sweat like I'm running the marathon, but I really enjoy it.

The drive back to our hotel is slow, traffic jams are killing our average speed. People drive like mad here, passing on all sides, and taking absurd chances at every corner. But it's not as bad as India was, after all. We stop for filming a couple of scenes at Wicked Wings restaurant, then we drive again.

When we reach the hotel we sit outside on our cozy balcony, overlooking a dodgy alley. We smoke weed and drink beers and grape-soda. Then we go to bed, tired, stoned, happy for the amazing experiences of the day and for those awaiting us tomorrow.

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Nice day you've had again my men, thanks for taking time to share it, i'm pretty sure where you are now ;)

As you are our official live thread reporter, i'll be your MOTO GP live thread reporter ;) If anything happens to VALEEEE you'll know it ;)

Thanks for the work again

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