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Surfer’s guide to the Algarve Coast, Portugal

Photo: Ashley Jordan Gordon

PORTUGAL’S ALGARVE COAST is sometimes mentioned in the same sentence as Cancun or Benidorm in Spain – synonymous with the package tourist and concrete resort hotel.

But the Algarve has two things going for it that Cancun and Benidorm don’t. One, most of the ugly resorts and their clientele in the Algarve are confined to enclaves out of sight and out of mind. Two, it has some serious surf.

Whether gentle white water rollers, hollow beach breaks, or thumping reef breaks are your thing, the Algarve offers it all.

Where to stay

Photo: Carlos Reis

The Algarve region stretches across the south of Portugal. With both south and west-facing coastline, it’s perfectly angled to pick up Atlantic swells from almost any direction. It also means that to escape an unfavourable wind on one coast, it’s just a short drive around the southwestern tip to beaches facing the other way.

Lagos is a good compromise between enjoying Algarve culture and being close to the surf. The consistent beaches of the west coast are a 30-minute drive away.

If you can look past the English language menus and throbbing backpacker bars, this historical port town offers a laid back existence among the narrow cobblestone streets and whitewashed terraces. Dorm beds at any of the several hostels (Lagos Youth Hostel is among the best) start at around €10. Rooms in guesthouses start at €30 per night.

Sagres is another option, located near the south west tip of Portugal and home to a variety of beach breaks in medium to big southerly swells. Unlike Lagos, Sagres has retained its fishing port roots and apart from a few surfer bars on the one main road, it remains a quiet town outside of peak season. Rooms in guesthouses start at €20 per night.

The west coast is dotted with a variety of pleasant beachside towns: Carrapateira, Arrifana, and Monte Clerigo are all excellent surfing options. Arrifana’s new youth hostel, Pousadas Jueventude offers beds from €10 per night.

Bring your own board, or rent?

Photo: Kyle Taylor< /a>

Surf schools are a great option for people who are backpacking through Portugal and are keen to get into surfing for a couple of days to a week.

The schools provide wetsuits, soft foam mini-Malibu surfboards, and coaching. In some cases, schools also provide accommodation, like the long-established Surf Experience in Lagos.

Surf schools also have the added benefit of surf instructors’ local knowledge: many spots in Algarve are hidden at the end of rough dirt tracks or beneath steep cliffs.

Experienced surfers should consider bringing two boards. If the rocks at a spot like Arrifana Reef don’t get your board, the shallow beachbreaks just might.

Tides

Photo: Kyle Taylor

The Algarve beaches experience a huge a tidal range, so knowing when to go is almost as important as where. A beach break at dead-low tide could be one long close out and six hours later be miraculously transformed into a series of beautiful peaks.

As a a very rough guide, the southern Portuguese beaches tend to be best an hour or two either side of high tide. It’s for this reason that you’ll arrive at midday and find no one around until, like clockwork, surfers start arriving en masse for the high tide session before disappearing just as quickly again.

Learn the language

Some guidebooks encourage learning a few simple phrases of the local language to endear the traveler to the local population. In Portugal, this is more of a necessity than simply a nicety as English is not widely spoken outside of the main tourist and surfer haunts.

A basic grasp of Portuguese might help you find that hidden surf spot or order lunch successfully.

Post surf refuel

For a filling snack, try a bifana, a bread roll filled with garlic roast pork, which is sold at most cafes for a couple of euros. The Algarve also has some of the best, freshest and cheapest seafood in Europe.

Budget on €8-10 for a main course dinner of whole grilled fish with salad and vegetables. The Portuguese wash it down with medronho, a local moonshine made from fruit served in a small brandy balloon that goes well with a strong espresso.

Localism is alive and well.

It’s worth mentioning that while the majority of Portuguese are friendly, some are less than stoked about having their waves regularly invaded by touring surfers. Sagres seems to be the worst area of the Algarve for localism, with reports of drop-ins, intimidation, and occasional damage to cars.

Problems often stem from European surfers traveling in large groups and hassling for waves. By traveling alone or with a friend and showing respect, you should have no problems.

Four great waves

Arrifana Reef is perhaps one of the best rights in the country. This point break needs a big swell before the wave breaks wide enough to clear the rocks sticking out of the water halfway down the line. Entry and exit is relatively straightforward through the fishing harbour, but watch out for the currents.

Just next door is Canal, which offers both an intense right hander under the shadow of a cliff and a more mellow right further south breaking over sand-covered boulders.

Zavial is one of the best spots on the south coast when there is a huge swell running. It can also be one of the most crowded. Zavial is a right hand point break that, in northerly winds, peels cleanly for a couple hundred metres.

Another protected spot in big swells is Beliche in Sagres, a beach break that can throw out perfect lefts and rights depending on the sand banks.

This article was originally published on December 11th, 2008

Changing the face of the outdoors

James Edward Mills is a freelance journalist, independent media producer and founder or The Joy Trip Project. Working in the outdoor industry since 1989 as a guide, outfitter, independent sales representative, writer and photographer, his experience includes a broad range of expeditions that include mountaineering, rock climbing, backcountry skiingm and kayaking. He is currently a contributor to several outdoor-focused print and online publications that include National Geographic Adventure, Rock & Ice and Alpinist. His first book, The Adventure Gap (Mountaineers Press) is available here.

BA: Tell us about yourself. How would you describe your work?

JM: I’m a freelance journalist specializing in creating stories about outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving and practices of sustainable living. I also have a direct interest in issues of diversity and environmental justice.

I recently decided that I’m not a travel writer. I’m a writer who happens to travel. I don’t think they are the same things. Travel writing is a very specific genre of literature that doesn’t often include the things that I write about. The same goes for adventure writer but to a lesser extent. I definitely write about adventure, but not for adventure’s sake. My focus is primarily on individuals whose work includes a higher purpose in adventure or exploration that has a humanitarian focus or an interest in environmental protection.

For example I’ve written a lot about Shannon Galpin who has done quite a bit of work in Afghanistan on behalf of the empowerment of women and girls through the creation of the first national female cycling team. Travel, adventure definitely, but in the pursuit of a much higher cause.

So what was the spark that got you in the outdoors in the first place?



JM: When I was 9-years old my brother and I joined a Boy Scout Troop in Los Angeles that was heavily into backpacking and mountaineering. From then on through high school I spent at least one weekend every month camping somewhere, primarily in Southern California. When I graduated from college I took up rock climbing and then got a job doing outdoor retail at REI in Berkeley. From there I worked for the North Face in sales and started my own agency in the midwest in 1992. I’ve been here ever since.

Awesome. Was there a particular instance that inspired you to start writing with a “higher purpose” in mind?



JM: It was right after 9/11 when I decided I wanted to make a career change from sales into journalism. At the time I felt like no one was really doing much to tell the stories of people trying to save the world while there seemed to be plenty of those trying to destroy it or capitalize off of the suffering of others. Since I started writing professionally those are the topics that I’ve felt most drawn to and passionate about.

Which leads us to your first book, The Adventure Gap. Could you tell us more about how the project came about?



JM: I’d been writing about diversity in outdoor recreation for a while. I produced a documentary for an NPR program on the Buffalo Soldiers as well as several magazine stories. I was working on a piece about diversity in the National Park Service when I became acquainted with the newly appointed director of diversity and inclusion at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin. I was originally interviewing her on her role in making the most prominent outdoor education institution more relevant to people of color.

That conversation led to a much deeper discussion on what practical steps one could take toward achieving the goal of great inclusivity. A few weeks later I got an email from her asking me what I thought about putting an all African-American team on the summit of Denali. I naturally thought it was a great idea and asked what I could do to be a part of it. I knew right away that it would make for a great story and of course a book.

Expedition Denali was a game-changer! What are your hopes in how the book is received?



JM: Well I hope that it will sell a million copies! But the reality is I’m concerned that it will fall on deaf ears. Our modern world is too full of people today who simply won’t understand why this was such a landmark event. Even though the team didn’t summit, it set in motion a conversation about a critical issue that each of us, regardless of race, will have to face at some point in the future – a profound lack of support for environmental protection among the majority of the US population. But because there are so many people prepared to deny that diversity in outdoor recreation is important, we’re going to face an uphill fight to create a movement toward greater inclusion. I can only hope that I succeeded in writing a compelling enough adventure story that will captivate readers’ attention long enough to make them think about the book’s primary message and overall theme.

Addressing the whitewashing of adventure media is one thing, but how do we effectively continue a conversation around environmental and conservation issues within our own communities of color? You’re challenged with getting white outdoorsy people and urban-dwelling people of color to agree on something.



JM: As a person of color by definition if I continue to travel, adventure and write my way through life I’m contributing to the diversity of outdoor recreation. I can also try to tell the story of people of color out there pushing the boundaries of the field and illustrate their efforts to defy notions that suggest that these are things the black and brown folks don’t do.

I’m pretty cynical to the belief that I’ll ever convince anyone to think differently about these issues. As a writer and a journalist all I can really do is tell the truth as I see it. As an athlete, now that both my legs work properly again, all I can do is push the boundaries of my abilities and do it with style.

Why do you think that lie — that black and brown folks just don’t care about nature — is so pervasive? Do you think that’s just the fault of poor representation in media or an intentional notion of white supremacist thinking?



JM: Unfortunately it’s a lie that we perpetuate among ourselves. Young people are given a very clear message that unambiguously says, “black people don’t…” There are stereotypes that we impose upon ourselves and people in our community that are so thoroughly entrenched that to do anything contrary to this common belief is to be “less black” or trying to “act white.”

The consequence of going against the accepted definition of what it means to be black in America today is to be ostracized by one’s peers or even one’s own family. Who wants that? So we perpetuate the lie in order to fit in, but we deny ourselves the opportunity to experience something that is not only wonderful but part of our birthright as human beings, spending time outdoors in pursuit of something extraordinary, an ecstatic experience in the natural world.

What are your plans for after the book release?



JM: Sell, sell, sell! I’m coming full circle on my career, but now I’m pushing a product of my own creation. I want to write popular fiction and hopefully create compelling characters – people of color – who exemplify the best qualities of stewards dedicated to protecting and preserving the natural world.

Sounds like a plan!

This interview originally appeared at Everywhere All The Time and is republished here with permission.

Flight attendant on your behavior

Photo: Austrian Airlines

You needy people asking for free upgrades

When I smile sweetly and tell you that I will have to check if there is space in Premium or First, what I am really thinking is, “Have fun in Coach, bissssh.” I know this is a telltale sign of a needy person, and the LAST thing any cabin crew ever wants to do is create more work for themselves, or their coworkers. It is actually against the policy of many airlines to upgrade passengers for free. As always though, the inflight team leader has jurisdiction after the aircraft doors close. So, it can happen, but upgrades will never happen if requested as a complimentary addition.

You yoga stretchers in the galley

Ok, the ONE space on the ENTIRE aircraft intended for my use, you just took up with a downward dog. I do have more than a few ounces of sympathy for you, as I know what it is like to sit crammed in a middle-middle seat on an 11-hour and 20-minute flight. It’s quite uncomfortable, and I myself have been quite uncomfortable on flights before. But I also know I didn’t make my way to any galley and plant myself Vinyasa style in everyone’s way, forcing all to watch my meditation practice. Fuck. I’m going to be the bigger person and walk away. I need to check the lavs.

You overhead bin lurkers

You board the aircraft, block everyone else from finding their seats, take an ungodly amount of time to place your bag in the overhead bin, then you sit down for a minute, and upon sitting, realize that you forgot your book in your bag, that’s back up in that overhead bin. You stand, blocking all passengers once again. Then you sit. Then you stand. You stand because, well hell, I don’t really know the reason why, but you are standing again, and now we are in flight, and I am trying to pull a cart through a very small aisle.

If I had the power as a flight attendant to lock the overhead bins, I would.

You dorks flirting with us flight attendants

Oh great, another asshole who thinks he is going to get somewhere by asking how many people join the “Mile High Club.” Chatting with passengers is nice, but when asked inappropriate or awkward questions, there aren’t many places for me to run and hide. Be professional. Assholes don’t stand out in this industry, and what I am really hoping to find is that one traveler that is kind and respectful. Then maybe, I will appreciate your advances and stop thinking that you are an idiot like all the rest.

More like this 19 universal truths you learn as a flight attendant


You people going to the lavatory barefoot — no shoes OR socks

I will try to keep the cringe away from my poker-face-plastered smile, but I can’t think of one good reason why you wouldn’t take two and a half minutes to slip your shoes back on those toes. But sure, by all means, if you want to be disgusting and slip barefooted on pee splatters, I’ll roll my eyes and continue to think you need some serious counseling.

You, yes YOU, walking around the cabin during turbulence when the seatbelt sign is illuminated

Apparently, it’s really hard for you to follow important and yet simple rules. I don’t understand why you think that the seatbelt sign does not apply to you, and you are immune to the effects of turbulence. This is not only stupidity on your part, but a complete lack of care for the safety of yourself and everyone around you. I want to say I don’t care if you get hurt, but I do, even though you do deserve to get knocked flat on your ass.

You parents changing your baby’s diaper on the tray table.

What I’m really thinking when I say, “Umm, there are two baby changing tables on this aircraft; one in this lav and one over there,” is that you are stupidly selfish, and disgustingly oblivious. At your house, right before dinner, with food on the table, and people ready to enjoy a meal, do you whip out your cute little baby’s bottom, letting all sorts of smells blend with what was once deliciousness? I would hope to God not. That tray-table you are now utilizing as a changing table is technically part of “my house,” and I don’t appreciate what is happening at the moment. By the simple fact that you do not even realize that what you are doing with that baby, the diaper, and those wipes right there is NOT ok, has me thinking that you should be kicked off of the plane, not for the diaper changing, but for a complete lack of common sense.

You folks excessively requesting special dietary options

You knew you were vegan way longer than I knew you existed: take care of your own travel needs and don’t expect anyone else to pick up your slack. I understand we all forget things sometimes, but if you are vegan or gluten-free, and you yell at me for not having food on this aircraft that you can eat, I am not going to be sensitive to your sensitive dietary needs.

You worldly “I travel all of the time so I know everything” passengers

Wasn’t that a fun fact? Am I supposed to think more highly of you or something? I travel all the time too, and I have yet to receive a medal for it. I feel sorry for you, because this air travel life is a shit show. So, I’m really glad we are in this fun together. Oh, by the way, just because you apparently know EVERYTHING about air travel, doesn’t mean you are above the rules.

You people wearing “onesies”

This trend with Onesies needs to stop. It’s not cute when you are not at home, and I know I practically live on an airplane, but you shouldn’t be moving in anytime soon. If you can live a normal life, do it. Living in a Onesie is NOT normal, but I’m a flight attendant, so I didn’t exactly expect you to be normal.

You guys ringing the flight attendant call button continuously during the flight

That button is not to be used to summon me as your personal maid for the purpose of taking trash at your demand. Or should I have to play the role of Siri, telling you what we are flying over right now. And don’t get mad at me when I don’t know — just check your inflight entertainment screen. I’m the flight attendant! I’ll get you soda or cup of water.

You ingrates putting your feet on the tray table.

You have no concept of what ‘shared’ or ‘respect’ means. No, it is not a great idea to put your smelly, yucky, airport trodden tootsies right where people eat. Just like that baby’s bottom, I am sure the passenger in seat 23A on the flight immediately following yours would be thrilled to know about your inflight table dancing. For the love of air travel, have a little decency, use your brain, and be respectful of the shared space.

You people creeping two inches behind the flight attendant while she/he is trying to serve food and beverages

When I bend down to reach for a food tray and accidentally and awkwardly butt-check you somewhere in the lower portion of your body, this is not the type of action that I was hoping to score this evening. If it wasn’t obvious that my colleague and I are in the aisle for a purpose, to serve you and the likes of you, let me tell you that that is exactly what we are doing. And right now, you are making our task more difficult than it needs to be. I realize that there is somewhere that you want to go, but you can wait. And ESPECIALLY while working. You need to leave, and I will make sure that you know you need to do just that with the very directive instructions of “Go sit down now!”

You people putting your garbage on the galley counter

Trash goes in a bin. Not on a counter. Not on the floor. Not in a seat-back pocket. In a bin, with the its trash friends. Where do you put trash when you are at your house? On the table? On the bathroom counter? On top of the TV? I would hope not, but from the way that you act on this airplane, I think so. Trash goes in the bin, and if you don’t put it there, or let me put it there for you, my opinion of you is that you are a manner-less slob.

You people drinking your own alcohol on board.

You know that when you fly, you cannot consume your own alcohol on board the aircraft. I know you don’t listen well, but it was announced three times, and now you are playing dumb when I caught you drinking. I know you are actually dumb, but I am not, and I don’t appreciate your sneaky behavior.

You hippies sleeping on the floor

Your ticket purchase did not include “flatbed floor sleeping space,” you are not five years old, and I don’t appreciate you making my gracefulness so transparent. When you decide to sleep on the floor, and I trip over you, I will fall. And, I will be furious. You just cannot sleep there. Stand-up or sit-down, but whatever you do, travel like a man (and it’s mostly men I see sleeping on the floor of an airplane).

You entitled folks boarding and immediately needing everything from a blanket to a foot massage

Whoa, honey! If you want to pay me extra to be your personal assistant, maybe we can negotiate. Actually, we probably can’t come to any agreements. I know your type, and you can’t pay me enough to want to spend time with you. My colleagues and I will be forever wary of your requests, advances, and neediness, as we clock watch, counting the minutes until we can watch you walk your pretty little ass off of our flight. We will smile and sing-song, “Have a good day, those words actually translating in flight attendant-speak to, “Good riddance!”

You people asking the flight attendant to carry or lift your bags.

If you knew that you could not lift, pull, push, wrestle, or tussle your things along without assistance, you should have packed less or hired an assistant. You think that’s where I step in as the flight attendant? Absolutely not. You pack it in, you pack it out.

You parents with spoiled kids

This is the one situation where I have a little bit more sympathy, but the child that says to you, “I don’t like that woman right there” — and this child is obviously referring to me — doesn’t have my condolences. This kid then continues with, “This food is terrrrrible,” while I am left wondering what happened to make him such a little devil. I feel sorry for you, but also question your parenting capabilities. No one asked him for his little smart-ass opinions, and I can only imagine the adult that he will turn into.

13 endangered species in 2015

BRITISH BROADCASTER and naturalist Sir David Attenborough once asked: “Are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?”

This year marked the 100th anniversary of the death of the last passenger pigeon, Martha, who managed to survive only 14 years in captivity after her species became extinct in the wild. More recently, Angalifu, a 44-year-old northern white rhinoceros, died at the San Diego Zoo, leaving just five other white rhinos worldwide, all in captivity. Chances are our grandchildren will never get to see this remarkable creature.

In fact, the world is losing dozens of species every day in what experts are calling the sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history. As many as 30 to 50 percent of all species are moving toward extinction by mid-century — and the blame sits squarely on our shoulders.

“Habitat destruction, pollution or overfishing either kills off wild creatures and plants or leaves them badly weakened,” said Derek Tittensor, a marine ecologist at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge. “The trouble is that in coming decades, the additional threat of worsening climate change will become more and more pronounced and could then kill off these survivors.”

About 190 nations met last month at the United Nations climate talks in Lima, Peru to discuss action needed to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions. It ended with a watered-down agreement that seems unlikely to help much in the battle against global warming.

Corruption and illegal online trafficking also threaten conservation efforts. The illegal wildlife trade is an estimated $10-billion-a-year industry. It’s the fifth largest contraband trade after narcotics, fueled by the rising demand for animals as pets, trophies, and ingredients in medicine, food and other products.

There’s no doubt that we’re facing an uphill battle against mankind’s unsustainable greed and consumption, but it’s a battle we can’t afford to lose.

“The thought of having to explain to my children that there were once tigers — real, wild tigers, out there, in the great forests of the world — but that we let them die out, because we were busy — well, it was bad enough explaining about the Tooth Fairy, and that wasn’t even my fault,” said English comedian Simon Evans.

Here are a few of the planet’s most endangered animals who we may have to say goodbye to in 2015:

1. Amur leopard

(SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images)

Poached for its beautiful, spotted fur, the Amur Leopard is possibly the rarest and most endangered big cat in the world. Found along the border areas between the Russian Far East and northeast China, this species also faces habitat destruction and a loss of prey animals — i.e., food — due to poaching. Today, around 30 individual Amur leopards remain in the wild.

2. Sumatran elephant

Wikimedia Commons

The smallest of the Asian elephants, the Sumatran elephant’s numbers have declined by an astonishing 80 percent in less than 25 years due to deforestation, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict in Sumatra. Around 2,400 to 2,800 individuals survive today.

Male Asian elephants have relatively small tusks, but poachers still kill to sell them in the illegal ivory market, thus skewing the sex ratio among wild elephants and making future breeding and species survival difficult.

3. Javan rhinoceros

As the most threatened of the five rhino species, Javan rhinos were killed by trophy hunters during colonial times. Since then, poachers have continued to target them for their highly prized horns, which are used in traditional Asian medicines. With just 35 individuals left in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia — you can see them in the above video, shot in 2012 — this species is extremely vulnerable to extinction due to natural disasters, poaching, diseases and low genetic diversity.

4. Leatherback turtle

(Cameron Spencer/AFP/Getty Images)

The largest sea turtle species and one of the most migratory, the Leatherback turtle population has severely declined in recent years due to overharvesting, fisheries bycatch, plastic ingestion, egg poaching, habitat loss and expansion of coastal development that continues to disturb and destroy turtle nesting beaches.

5. Western lowland gorilla

(World Wildlife Fund/Courtesy)

Although hunting and killing of the species is illegal, western lowland gorillas continue to be killed for their meat, which is considered a delicacy, while baby gorillas are captured and kept as pets. The deadly Ebola virus has also devastated the wild ape population. In Gabon’s Minkébé Forest alone, the virus killed more than 90 percent of the region’s gorilla and chimpanzee populations.

6. Saola

(World Wildlife Fund/Courtesy)

Known as the Asian unicorn, the saola is rarely seen in the wild, and none live in captivity. (The photograph above represented the first time in 14 years that a saola had been photographed in the wild.) The current population is estimated to be between a few dozen and a few hundred. Saola are hunted to supply growing demands for traditional medicine in China and food markets in Vietnam and Laos.

Habitat loss and reduced genetic diversity also threaten this species’ already dwindling population.

7. Vaquita

(Wikimedia Commons)

As the world’s rarest marine animal, the vaquita is on the brink of extinction with fewer than 100 individuals left in the world.

Found in the upper Gulf of California, one out of every five vaquita gets entangled and drowned in gillnets that are intended to catch another critically endangered species, the totoaba, whose swim bladders are illegally sold for about $4,000 a pound.

As long as this illegal international trade thrives, the vaquita population will continue to decline.

8. Siberian tiger

(Justin Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images)

Also known as Amur tigers, Siberian tigers are the world’s largest cats, hunted for their use in traditional Chinese medicine on the black market or even as trophies.

Hunting, mining, fires, poor law enforcement, forest destruction and illegal logging also continue to threaten this species, leaving an estimated 400 to 500 individuals in the wild.

9. Mountain gorilla

Mountain gorillas are found in the Virunga Mountains that border Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Poaching, destruction of habitat, disease, and charcoal production that destroys gorilla habitat has left around 880 individuals struggling to survive.

10. Greater bamboo lemur

Found in southeastern Madagascar, the greater bamboo lemur is the most endangered lemur species in Madagascar with as few as 60 believed to still exist in the wild and no more than 150 in captivity.

Climate change, illegal logging, lemur hunting and severe depletion of bamboo mean this species might not survive much longer.

11. Sumatran orangutan

(Sutanta Aditya/AFP/Getty Images)

Orangutan habitats in Sumatra are depleting at an astonishing rate due to forest fires, development of oil palm plantations, illegal logging and other agricultural development, posing a serious risk to this species.

Hunted for food and even captured alive to be kept as status symbols, this species is facing a downhill spiral due to inadequate law enforcement and an increase in illegal trafficking. About 7,300 individuals are left in the wild.

12. Black rhino

(Horst Ossinger/Getty Images)

During colonial times, black rhinos were killed daily for their prized horns, food or just for sport. One of the oldest groups of mammals, this species is considered an important source of tourism in many African countries.

Sadly, even the most fervent conservation efforts are being hampered by habitat change and increases in poaching due to severe poverty and rising black market demand for rhino horns, particularly in Asia. Just 4,848 individuals are left in the world.

13. Yangtze finless porpoise

(Wikimedia Commons)

Known as the “giant panda of the water,” these clever creatures are one of the most famous species found in China’s Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia.

Due to overfishing, decrease in food supply, pollution and changing conditions caused by dams, only 1,000 to 1,800 individuals remain. The finless porpoise’s close cousin, the Baiji dolphin, has already been declared functionally extinct due to human activity.

By: Hyacinth Mascarenhas, GlobalPost

This article is originally syndicated from GlobalPost.

17 of the coolest heritage sites in India

Matador Network contributor Arun Bhat guides us around 17 impressive heritage sites in India.

INDIA’S CULTURAL AND HISTORIC sites are numerous and spread across the entire country. Many have a legacy dating back more than a thousand years.




1

Diskit Monastery, Ladakh

Located in rugged, mountainous terrain, Diskit Monastery was established in the 14th century and is affiliated with the yellow-hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery overlooks the Nubra Valley, one of the greenest places in the otherwise arid landscape of Ladakh. Image by alex hanoko.

2

Cenotaphs of Orchha, Madhya Pradesh

These tall cenotaphs stand in memory of Bundela kings who ruled from the small town of Orchha for nearly 300 years. They are just some of the many ancient structures around Orchha built during their reign. Image by Raffalg.

3

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Although the current structure is about 400 years old, the Meenakshi Temple is known to have a history of more than 2,000 years. Even today, it's one of the most important pilgrimage sites for people of the region. Image by opalpeterliu.

4

Lamayuru Monastery, Ladakh

One of the largest and oldest monasteries in Ladakh is the Yung-Drung Monastery in Lamayuru village, affiliated with the red-hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery stands in a rugged landscape which was once under the waters of a deep, high-altitude lake. Image by Zuki.

5

Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Mehrangarh Fort was established in the 15th century on the top of a hill to provide safety from attackers. The current structure, built in the 17th century, now showcases opulent interior palaces and houses a museum of cannon and other arms. Image by Manuel Menal.

6

Mysore Palace, Mysore, Karnataka

One of the most luxurious palaces in the region, Mysore Palace will celebrated 100 years of existence in 2012. The elaborate lighting arrangement, which is turned on only on Sundays and festival days, adds to the glory of the site.

7

Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Initially built in the last decade of the 16th century, the Amber Fort has since gone through many makeovers. The interior is generously decorated with murals and mirror work. Image by Aris Gionis.

8

Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

The 18th-century Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala is known for its large monolithic idol, its pathways decorated with series of pillars, and intricate wood carvings. Image by -Reji.

9

Temples of Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh

Khajuraho is a small town with dozens of ancient temples dotting its landscape. They were built here over a span of 200 years, between 950 and 1150 AD. The temples are known for the erotic sculptures and intricate carvings on their walls.

10

Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh

Founded in the 15th century, Thiksey Monastery is noted for the similarity of its structure to that of Potala Palace in Lhasa. The stupas, or chortens, seen in the picture above are commonly placed in front of Tibetan monasteries to ward off evil forces. Image by Teseum.

11

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka

The nine-tiered tower of Virupaksha Temple is about 50m high. Commissioned in the early 16th century, it stands as the only unspoilt structure in the middle of the vast ruins of an ancient city. Image by Kirk Kittell

12

Hulikere Tank, Karnataka

Hidden in a small hamlet in South India is this beautiful tank surrounded by niches on all four sides. It served as a bath for queens in the first half of the 12th century.

13

Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral, Thrissur, Kerala

This cathedral was built more than a hundred years ago; its towers still stand tall in the center of Thrissur town.

14

Thanjavur Temples, Tamil Nadu

The tall Brihadeeswarar Temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva and built from sandstone in Thanjavur, recently turned 1,000 years old. One of its more interesting features is the large stone dome on top of the temple tower, which weighs more than eighty tons. How the stone was lifted to such a height remains a mystery.
Image by Feng Zhong.

15

Patwon Ki Haveli, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

This site is a cluster of five private residences that once belonged to a merchant family, now declared a heritage monument. The oldest of the five is just under 200 years. Image by Garrett Ziegler.

16

Bathing Ghats, Varanasi

Varanasi is often called the oldest living city in the world. The bathing ghats and temples along the bank of the River Ganges are visited by thousands of pilgrims every day.
Image by jeeheon.

17

Taj Mahal, Agra

This list wouldn't be complete without the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It's now one of the most well-known monuments in India and finds a mention in the list of new wonders of the world.

Guide to skiing the Himalaya

Photo by Marco Joerger

THERE ARE MULTIPLE SKIING / BOARDING options in the Himalaya: Leh, Auli, Kufri, Narkanda, Gulmarg. Most of these are in either India’s Himachal Pradesh province or Jammu & Kashmir, a region contested by India and Pakistan. Even at Malam Jabba in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, the authorities have recently wrested control of the pistes from the non-skiing Taliban and are trying to transition the area from an army to commercial resort.

Most skiable slopes are also on the Indian-subcontinent side of the mountains, where the monsoon rains collide with the peaks and fall as deep powder. The Tibet side, even without the red tape of Chinese bureaucracy, is not really an option; it’s just too dry.

I decided to go up to Solang Nullah, which I’d heard about from another traveller on a night train in Rajasthan. It’s not as developed as Gulmarg but was close to Shimla, my starting point, and seemed like a good bet.

First, however, I had to get to the hill station of Manali, about 150 miles north.

Trip basics

The normal northern hemisphere snow months are when to go: December to March. This is also the best time for visiting the southern regions of India and Pakistan, before the heat becomes uncomfortable in the buildup to the monsoon.
Leh and Gulmarg are in Jammu & Kashmir — much of the region is travelable; however, localised outbursts of violence do occur, so keep up to date with the Indian or your own government’s travel advice for the area.
Malam Jabba is in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, and at the time of writing is still officially an army training ground, though the Pakistan government repeatedly threatens to open it to the public and recently held a national competition there.
Solang Nullah, Narkanda, and Kufri in Himachal Pradesh, and Auli in neighbouring Uttarakhand province, are politically stable and safe.

Getting there

Bus and train travel is erratic. It’s not uncommon to hear a platform announcement that your train is 15 hours late. Buses, especially smaller ones, often leave when they’re full, not at an appointed time. If you want to leave sooner, help the driver tout for passengers.
Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, once the summer seat of the British Raj, is a good departure point for Solang Nullah, Narkanda, and Kufri. Only place I’ve ever seen monkeys in the snow. From Delhi, Shimla can be reached by smaller turboprop aircraft, the train via Kalka, and numerous buses (~15hrs).
Leh can be reached by bus from Manali (~12hrs) or Srinagar (~12hrs) or plane from Delhi. Gulmarg can be reached from Srinagar (2-3hrs).

Photo: dave watts

My bus from Shimla to Manali took about eight hours, and I arrived at 3am with snow on the ground — the first I’d seen in India. A hotelier immediately grabbed my pack as I splashed about in the slush and made with it towards his hotel as if I had a reservation. I was in no mood to argue. I collapsed under warm blankets and slept for eight hours straight.

The second morning, after a day spent exploring Manali, the sun was beaming. I walked up to a line of little Daihatsu jeeps waiting in the market square and haggled a price of 400 rupees to go the 10 miles up to the Solang Valley. This was on the same road that zigzags to Keylong and eventually on to Leh in remote Ladakh.

We climbed and climbed, and in a small village stopped at one of the few ski schools in the area, where I rented a board, boots, trousers, and gloves — all in pretty good condition. One of the instructors there was a Nepali who’d somehow won the Indian national championships.

I paid the driver and with the champion drove as far as a hamlet of shacks where the snow had blocked the road, meaning we had to walk for a beautiful last mile to the valley.

Photo: dave watts

Avoiding a great swindle

This author didn’t make it to the Solang Valley on his first attempt. From where the road was snowed in, he reluctantly paid and left the driver, who told him the local men would point him in the right direction. It was pretty clear what was going to happen.

According to said locals, it wasn’t just an extra mile to the valley, but 10. Options? A horse or a snowmobile, or a walk into the woods alone. The author selected the horse as that sounded cheapest and most romantic. But of course the snow was too deep for the horse, leaving only the snowmobile. Price? Not capable of being repeated with a straight face.

It wasn’t until he refused to be extorted and walked back down the road a couple miles that the author found the ski school instructors, who confirmed it was indeed only an extra mile to the valley from the blockage, and suggested trying again with them the following day.

Roughing It

The ‘resort’ of Solang Nullah sits at about 6,000 feet amongst the pines of the 20,000ft Hanuman Tibba. It consists of half a dozen hotels. There’s a Tibetan restaurant selling momo, and next to it another where any young people around — local or visitors — cluster in the evenings to drink hot water and whisky and sing songs around one of the few stoves I saw in the village.

The crew for the week I was there was a mixture of Indians, Nepalese, Tibetans, Irish, Italians, British, Americans, and Australians — maybe two dozen total. But choice spot next to the stove always went to a white mutt called Jadu (“magic” in Hindi).

With a wandering Italian called Alessandro, I shared a room in a breeze-block shell that was pupating into a chalet. There was no heating. Warmth was purloined from a portable bar heater with one bar. There was no hot water. Actually, there was no water. We brushed our teeth in handfuls of snow and every other day collected a bucket of water from a drainpipe near the owner’s warmer room. Into this we put an antique heating filament he’d given us, and after half an hour had a tepid bucket to strip off and wash in.

I don’t think this was representative of all Solang Nullah’s accommodation, but it seemed to be par for the course for the stove crowd.

Photo by ThierryB

Tip: Yes, India gets cold.

Don’t underestimate how cold this part of India can be, even in non-mountainous areas. It’s not so much the nominal temperature, but more the fact that travellers travelling on a short and decrepit shoestring will often end up in unheated rooms.

Over time the cumulative effect can be quite draining, so splash out a few extra dollars for a warmer place if you feel yourself flagging.

Skiing on the Roof of the World

But if that was the more brutal side to the experience, each day we also put on rackets and walked from 9 to 12 up the mountain. We ate palak paneer with aloo or paratha, then shot down backcountry against the backdrop of Hanuman Tibba and the higher Himalaya, loosing off little avalanches of packed snow while trying to take long laterals through the woods to traverse as much of the mountainside as possible and prolong the drop.

The trees were well spaced for slaloming, and there were rocky outcrops where we could stop and take in the massive vista. The last part of the afternoons we spent at the slope near the resort on a jump we built.

Obviously, Solang Nullah and similar resorts in the region aren’t for everyone. There’s just no way of getting to them quickly, and most offer very limited on-piste options — there was only one button-seat ropeway on the mountain I rode.

But given time and whisky and a good set of friends, or the desire to make them, it’s difficult to replicate the uniqueness and camaraderie felt up there near the roof of the world. It’s also hard to replicate the beauty I enjoyed without the crowds or pretension of many resorts in Europe and North America.

If this is what you’re after this winter, a flight to Delhi and the sketchy trip through Shimla to Manali or further are worth looking into.

Photo by Lars Bergstrom

Costs

Compared with any European or North American resort, rental costs are almost negligible. Expect to pay no more than $20 a day for all gear.
Prices for lifts, if there are lifts, are also very cheap: a few dollars a day.
Accommodation is in line with other places in these countries, which are some of the cheapest in the world.
Buses and trains are typically reasonable even for long journeys, provided you stick to 2nd class (hard sleeper) on the trains.
Shared taxis can vary enormously, and the price depends on your negotiation skills / how desperate you are.

2015 resolutions for social change

Photo: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

We are all global citizens: each of us belongs to multiple communities that overlap with a common center. Our goal? Social justice. Here are some steps we can all take to enact social justice in the New Year.

1. Assume responsibility for your participation

As global citizens, we participate in our immediate and broader communities — whether we mean to or not. Do you know who is making decisions on your behalf at the global and national levels? Do you know if you like those decisions? As peace activist Paul Chappell says, “A democracy is as wise as its citizens.”

Start by educating yourself about — and introducing yourself to — your local representatives. We may be used to being removed from the process, but our elected officials are human beings with websites, phone numbers, and email addresses: hearing from constituents matters! In the United States, visit websites like Open States and Gov Track for updates on current bills and decisions impacting social justice or injustice.

2. Live responsibly

Global citizens know that our lives affect others and how others’ lives affect ours. The local environment is made by and makes us. Do you know where your water comes from? What happens to your waste? Are you nourished by what you eat, and does the way in which it was grown nourish the environment?

If you don’t already shop for produce at local farmers markets, check out Local Harvest for community supported agriculture (CSA) opportunities in the US that empower small farmers. Signing up to support them with year-round funding — or a light volunteer commitment — in exchange for a weekly box of produce. Follow Barbara Kingsolver’s advice and eat seasonally, easier done with cookbooks that match seasonal markets. Finally, ask author Joel Salatin what he thinks about the food industry.

3. Become what you consume

If actions speak louder than words, how loud is money? Being an informed consumer can take many shapes. Visit Behind the Brands to find out who actually owns the brands you consume and how they rank on social justice issues — from women’s and workers’ rights to the protection of the environment and transparency.

Let’s look at the other end of consumption: trashing compostable material should be — and in some countries is — a crime. Many areas in Europe, as well as in the United States, are banning plastic bags in grocery stores. What about using clean, drinkable water to flush our toilets? There is a better way. Check out green living blogs to learn about global citizens’ cutting edge ideas, and to demand that our interaction with the planet is a healthy one.

And if you think recycling can’t be beautiful, check out Wasteland, a 2010 documentary about artist Vic Muniz’s work with the world’s largest garbage landfill in Rio de Janeiro.

4. Question what you think you know

…and then question it again.

Who is the authoring your news? Consider checking into alternative sources like Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! and Human Rights Watch. Even reading news coverage of the same event from different parts of the globe can be illuminating!

Equally important: who is writing your history account? Hindsight isn’t always 20/20. Ask yourself: “Whose voice isn’t being heard?” It can be difficult but necessary to hear the other perspective of a scenario. Start with Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, and continue by following the work of activists like Dorothea Lange, Eva Golinger, Nicholas Kristof, and countless more. Get inspired and dig in!

5. Take smart action

Not every shovel-wielding foreign “do-gooder” actually helps to enact justice in the newest disaster zone. The misconception that Western nonprofits can “save” the Third World implies that the recipients of “First World” aid have both little skill and little say in how they are helped. As Jessica Alexander describes in her poignant 2013 memoir Chasing Chaos: My decade in and out of Humanitarian Aid, the Band-Aid approaches of the aid world are regulated mostly by the private and governmental money donors — not by the recipients — making the non-profit field uniquely not consumer-driven.

Certainly everyone is equipped to contribute differently — whether through time, money presence, expertise, or ideas. Most importantly, ask how is my contribution best utilized? Then find the network that resonates with you, like the countless international organizations such as Amnesty International or Oxfam. Alternately, scour your neighborhood for local, grassroots organizations working on issues you care about, like an action network or the local chapter of an organization you care about. See what your local radio station has to stay about your community and then get involved — in a smart way.

6. Accept complexity

These problems didn’t appear overnight, and the solutions require faith. Here. As German poet Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote in a correspondence with a young, doubtful poet: “Try to love the questions themselves…perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

How to annoy someone from Virginia

Photo: Gary Cope

1. Say that NoVA sucks.

Yes, we’ll admit that a large portion of Northern Virginians spend most of their time chasing paper and running the far-reaching powers of the government, but NoVA is much more than that. This happens to be a unique area in the eastern United States where you can live in the country and still maintain career ambitions in a big city. What’s wrong with that?

Most people who live in NoVA resent the traffic and do everything they can to escape to the countryside as often as possible. Besides, do you really want to insult people who started the internet, work at the Pentagon, and have the highest income per capita of almost anywhere in the country?

Worst case-scenario, you’ll get detained by the CIA and disappear forever.

2. Talk shit on TJ.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, is a sensitive issue for most of us in the commonwealth. Although some people take it a little too far — just walk onto the campus of the University of Virginia, and you’d think The Apostle of Democracy was alive and well, holding office hours, and teaching classes.

Everyone knows our boy Thomas was a bit of a player — there are claims that he has descendants from multiple women, one of which, Sally Hemings, is claimed to have been his slave. But, let’s be honest, nobody’s perfect. TJ left quite a legacy everywhere he went, and the Louisiana Purchase alone is enough to celebrate him as an exceptional American. That being said, every president catches some heat, so Virginians should let it come. Don’t forget that they’re the ones who streaked across the lawn and peeped in on a statue of him to say hello — would Tommy boy really appreciate that? Actually, he probably would have. Keep up the good work.

3. Comment on how Virginia is so southern.

The unfortunate position that Virginians took on slavery during the Civil War should not define us today. As a former Yankee living south of the Mason-Dixon, I can assure you that you’ll get along just fine with most people. Accept the fact that everyone in Virginia believes they’re more northern, and move on. We align ourselves more as a Mid-Atlantic, or Appalachian state. Take one trip to South Carolina, come back, and you’ll see why people here resent that remark.

4. Call us country bumpkins.

We understand that much of our state is undeveloped countryside. However, our rural pride has built the local food movement and helped put Virginia on the map for wine, beer, and other booze. You will often be surprised at how refined our ‘country folk’ can be. However, if you’re driving down a road and it starts to narrow, eventually turning into one lane as it winds up into a holler, you should probably turn around. The hills have eyes around here, and we all know a few folks who don’t take kindly to you people trespassing.

Incidentally, this is often where the best shine and quality herb come from.

5. Ask if we know anyone who makes moonshine.

Of course we do, who doesn’t?

6. Ask us where we can buy it.

You can’t. It’s illegal. However, we can guide you to one of hundreds of truly boutique wineries, local breweries, and new distilleries that are fully legal. In the past 30 years, Virginia has become a true destination for booze. Mostly just because the demand for it was so high — have you ever heard of a Wahoo?

Virginians love to drink, so much so that they almost ran George Washington out of politics for cracking down on local taverns who served his regiment. The pursuit of a good buzz has become an artform here, and we intend to keep it that way.

7. Associate us with West Virginia.

Every state has their rivals. West Virginia however, is not ours. Although we have a great deal of respect for our mountainous neighbors to the west, there’s a reason we don’t live there.

In terms of, well, everything, West Virginians ain’t got shit on us. First of all, we care about our mountains too much to strip mine, deforest, and frack. There’s a better way to create jobs, and it doesn’t involve sending your best and brightest into deep dark holes to harvest limited resources. Generations of resentment exists between these two states, but the culture and weather in Virginia puts WV to shame every time. Besides, how many presidents grew up in West Virginia? ZERO.

8. Ask someone where the Mayflower landed.

Check your history people, the Mayflower did not make it to Virginia. Which is a crying shame, because the original Colony of Virginia was inclusive of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina, but the winters down here are much more mild. Having lost more than half of its passengers before the end of the first winter, I’m sure the pilgrims would have put in the extra effort to get here. Jamestown later became the first pre-eminent English settlement in America and served as the capital of this territory for over 80 years. It’s worth a stop on your way to ‘the Beach’ or to escape the stress of I-95 for a few hours.

9. Tell us how great it is out West.

Yes, we know. Many of us have lived in Colorado or traveled through Northern California for a stint, but we end up back in the fertile lands of the Old Dominion. You won’t have any trouble finding active travelers in much of this state — we know the world is a big place and we get out there. Virginia however, has a unique combination of everything we want. 112 miles of Atlantic Coastline, 550 miles of the Appalachian Trail, and some of the most historic, culturally-rich places in the country.

Our central location on the eastern seaboard also makes it easy to reach NYC, Philly, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Charleston within a day’s drive. With Dulles and Richmond offering international flights, the entire world is open to the affluent Virginian who may just get more powder days than you will this year.

How to keep your NY resolutions

Photo: Anthony Quintano

Every year around January 1st, my inbox gets filled up with language learners excitedly declaring to me their New Year’s resolutions. They tell me, this is the year I will learn French! Learn Spanish! Learn Chinese!

To all you resolved language learners out there, hoping to make 2015 the year you finally reach your language-learning goals, I’d like to offer a bit of guidance in making your New Year’s resolutions and actually keeping them.

To do this, I’ll share my own goals for 2015 with you — both those I have for my languages, but also my other goals as well — and I’ll tell you exactly how I plan to achieve them. The strategy is the same for both.

Bad New Year’s resolutions to avoid

Generally, most people’s New Year’s resolutions tend to revolve around the same themes. Here are some examples, that are all technically things that I want to do in 2015:

Read more
Exercise more
Eat healthier
Learn to swing dance
Perfect my French
Speak Chinese better

These are all bad goals to have, mainly because each one lacks specificity. This is a general theme with New Year’s Resolutions, and it’s why I don’t even use the term myself, and always prefer to model my life improvements around goals.

I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating: To reach your goals, you have to actually have a goal. You need an end-point that you can visualize and know for sure whether or not you’re on track, and when you’ve achieved it.

If your goal is to improve your French, how will you know when you’re done? If you want to read more, how will you know if you’re on track? Have you reached your goal if you read for 1 day? For 30 days? How can you gauge your progress?

The trick to making a New Year’s resolution that actually sticks to is to visualize your resolutions in concrete terms. Here are some examples.

My 2015 New Year’s goals

To show you what I mean, here are several of my own genuine goals for 2015, all of which are much more specific versions of the vague “resolutions” above:

Read 60 books by November.
Run a half marathon by March.
Run a full marathon by November.
Restrict pasta, chocolate and sodas to 1 day per week (Saturday only)
Be ready to swing dance confidently as a very solid beginner by November
Take a mock C2 (mastery level) exam in French by July.
Reach B2 (fluency) in Mandarin by November.

Tip 1: Create goals that are specific and measurable

One reason I like the word “goal” over resolution is that it has a idea of measurement behind it. A goal is something that can be reached – something I can check off my list and know exactly when I’ve reached it.

Note how each of the goals I’ve chosen is both specific and measurable. There’s no way to be unclear about whether or not I’ve read 60 books. I’ve either run a half marathon or I haven’t. But “read more” and “exercise more” are nebulous and quite useless because of this.

You will also notice that (apart from the weekly eating restriction) all of my goals have a specific deadline. December tends to involve travel and time with family, so if I am taking on a longer-term goal (as you can imagine I prefer three month goals…) then it ends in November at the latest.

Tip 2: Allow yourself to feel a sense of accomplishment and progress

Each of the goals I’ve created means something real to me. For example, when I say I want to learn the basics of swing dancing, I say this because I’ll be attending a wedding in November and I hope to be able to swing dance at the reception.

Do I expect to be amazing at it? Do I want to compete at world-competition levels? No. Not for now at least. I just expect to be able to dance well in a casual setting. This is a realistic goal, especially since I will be living in multiple places and can only realistically get a few classes per month.

Maybe for 2016 or 2017 I can have more hefty goals like training for dance competitions, but realistically dancing at a specific wedding is all I want to care about for now, and that will make further improvement much easier.

In my running goals, I’ve also included two separate benchmarks. First a half-marathon, then a marathon. I’ve broken this up into separate milestones so that I can feel progress in the smaller wins, rather than focusing only on the biggest possible endpoint.

If you’re a member of my email list, you know that I ended 2014 by taking a mock C1 exam with my French teacher, and that I’ve decided to make fluency in Chinese a priority for this year.

I’ve been studying French for years and this goal is a single point on a much longer road.

Imagine if, when I started studying each language years ago, my goal was just to “learn French.” I still wouldn’t be there! Instead every language project I’ve ever had has been based on milestones.

Tip 3: Know your limitations and don’t let setbacks derail your momentum

One of my goals, for example, is to eat healthier, but I’ve chosen to measure my progress here by allotting one day a week as “cheat day”. For me, Saturday is cheat day. And I know that if I eat a gnocchi or a chocolate lava cake on any other day except cheat day, then I haven’t met my goal for that week.

But when that happens, I don’t just throw the whole plan out the window, because cheat day comes around every single week. Every week I’ll still have my Saturday cheat day looming over me, holding me accountable, giving me another chance to succeed.

Don’t expect yourself to be a super hero. Don’t give yourself unrealistic expectations like “stop eating chocolate”, because when you inevitably give in to temptation, you’re likely to give up your goal entirely because you’ve already “failed.”

My goal of “running a half marathon” might also be an unrealistic goal for me if I was a total newbie at running. Pretty much every successful marathon runner I’ve come across has had smaller milestones.

For instance, the picture at the top of the post is me getting ready to run my first ever 5K last year in Valencia. It took me two whole months to train myself to be able to run that much more modest distance, and I was exhausted at the end of it!

I’ve since pushed my boundaries up to running 10k, then running the same distance and feeling great afterwards and continue to improve my endurance and speed, so that a half-marathon within 3 months is realistic.

When you make your goals measurable, you can recognize your progress rather than your failures, and use that to keep up your momentum. Celebrate all the weeks that you make progress. Focus on your wins!

Use tools to track your progress

The tools you use to recognize your progress will make a huge difference in your success. Having looming reminders, social competitions and other psychological motivators help a lot. Here are my favourites!

Language goals

My current favourite social tool for language learning is Memrise because I find the daily/weekly/monthly scoreboard to be an excellent motivator. This tool is great if you have a specific number of words you want to memorize, with of course the excellent mnemonics that help you remember. Follow me here.

Overall to-dos

I use Couch.me (formally Lift) for my daily to-dos. I like this tool because I can search for specific daily tasks that may be key to my longer term goal, that an entire community has grown around, and I can tick each daily task from my smartphone.

You can follow me here or check out the plan for language learners I made for that site here. I have public goals I don’t mind others seeing for social feedback, and can make other goals private.

Pretty much every goal you can imagine has a community around it on that site!

Reading goals

Goodreads is by far the best community for sharing reading goals, with the most in-depth reviews of books. Once you track enough books read on the site, it starts to give you exceptionally good recommendations based on your interests. People like your updates (you even update progress within books and how far you are in each one you are reading) and can send you personal recommendations.

I keep my Goodreads up to date on what I’m reading. Follow my profile here!

Exercise goals

I use Endomondo to track my jogs, and help me plan how much I should run to realistically reach my goal, based on my past progress. Then when I run, I have my smartphone with me and my speed and distance are tracked automatically through GPS updates.

Now it’s your turn! What are your goals for 2015? How can you adjust your goals to be measurable, or to create milestones to measure your progress?

This article originally appeared on Fluent in 3 Months and is republished here with permission.

Lies about moving to Portland, OR

Photo: Adam Zeek

1. Portlandia is just a hyperbole.

For better or for worse, the accuracy with which this sketch comedy portrays Portland is frightening. Remember the episode with the four-way intersection where two drivers are insisting that the other one go ahead?

“No, you go…”

“No, YOU go…”

Portland drivers exchange smiles and waves with fellow neighbors of the road with more fervor than Manhattan drivers exchange obscenities.

“Put a bird on it!” Remember that one? Walk into any gift shop, book store, or car mechanic and count the number of cute animals decorating their surfaces. It’s like walking through a Disney movie, but with irony.

Okay, so maybe there isn’t an “Allergy Pride Parade” in Portland…just yet. But the rest of the show? One-hundred percent fact.

2. I’ll finally become a vegetarian.

Yes, it’s true. Portland is very veggie-friendly. And you’ve probably been meaning to take that healthier, greener approach to eating for years. But Portland is also friendly to those who dream of bloody-rare steaks. There’s the pork-belly sandwich from Lardo, the spicy wings from Pok Pok, and the peanut-butter-pickle-bacon burger from Killer Burger. Not to mention the fried chicken from Screen Door. Forget quinoa and spinach smoothies — these carnivorous meals MUST be sampled if you’re truly trying to immerse yourself in the gastronomy of Portland.

Unless, of course, you’re already a vegetarian. In that case, enjoy the abundance of fresh-pressed juices. You’ll love it here.

3. I’ll go hiking all the time.

It’s something to strive for, of course. With the awesome accessibility to the outdoors, from Mount Hood to the Columbia Gorge, outdoor activities are a draw for many newcomers. But Portland, like most cities, has a special ability to suck you in and make you forget that land exists outside of city limits. Sure, you could go for a hike this weekend. But then again, everyone is raving about that cute little brunch spot that just opened down the street.

Don’t beat yourself up over it. You’ll still enjoy gazing at Mount Hood from your patio table while eating eggs florentine and sipping mimosas on that rare, sunny day.

4. I know how to recycle.

It’s 2014 — everyone recycles. You saw An Inconvenient Truth, you’re on top of these things. But then your new Portland friend goes to throw something away in your kitchen, sees a cereal box on top, and says: “I’m sorry, this is your cardboard recycling, not your garbage, correct?”

Luckily, he can’t see the rotten produce that you haven’t figured out how to compost, lying just below the flattened vessel of Lucky Charms. You tell him: “Yes of course!” and discretely toss his garbage in another plastic bag that’s lying around because you haven’t stocked up on reusable shopping bags just yet, either.

5. The rain will make me more productive.

The rain will make you sad. The rain will make you restless. The rain will make you wet.

Eventually, you will acclimate to the incessant drizzle. But at that point, rain will be such a constant in your life that it won’t make you stay in and be more productive — it’ll just make you stop noticing.

Someday, maybe, the rain will inspire you to finally start writing that memoir of yours instead of hanging out at Powell’s Books because jumping over car-sized puddles to get downtown sounds exhausting. But not before you’ve developed the pallor of a vampire and completely restyled your wardrobe to a point where you always look like you’re about to go hiking.

6. It’ll be hard to meet new people.

One upside to Portland’s lack of services is the fact that it forces you to interact with people. Which is great, because Portland people are ridiculously nice.

Not that you’ll necessarily become best friends with your pizza-delivery boy, but the openness and friendliness of Portlanders makes moving here far less daunting than most cities. Walk down the street and people make eye contact and smile. Call a customer service line and the person on the other end will chat you up like they’ve just discovered you’re second cousins.

If you’re looking to make friends, it’s easy to get out there and do all that in Portland. Whether you’re sitting at a bar or standing in line for groceries, people here reach out to strangers with refreshing kindness.

7. I am not a hipster.

Of course you don’t call yourself one. But denying the title is the first sign that you are (at least a little bit) of the hipster persuasion.

If you felt drawn to Portland, then you probably have an appreciation for things like bike lanes, organic soaps, beanie hats, beards, plaid, vinyl records, thrift stores, fair trade coffee, and craft beer, all of which are available aplenty in “Stumptown.” And liking a combination of these things probably puts you somewhere on the hipster spectrum.

But fear not. Because once you move to Portland, you’ll realize that hipsters have it goin’ on. Girls look cute in thick-rimmed glasses, guys look sexy with beards, and we should all recycle more. So what’s everyone harshing on the hipsters for? They (you) are just trying to make the world a better, more bike-friendly place! Hipsters LOVE Portland. And once you’ve bought yourself a sensible rain jacket (from a thrift store), you will too.