Closer to the sky, another life

Bus ride for 7 hours. Breathing became just a little bit more difficult than yesterday. But still no real problem. I will survive for sure. Landed at sunset in the middle of the city. Puno is quite ugly and dirty. I have a weird feeling, it's doesn't really feel like home, not like Cusco. Oh well, let's see what happens.





I woke up in the middle of the mountains, the amazing Andes mountains, at the altitude of 3800 m...sailing on a small boat, to a paradise island. I never imagined that mountain (3800 m) and sailing could go together. It seems lake Titicaca makes it happen everyday.
We first visited the floating islands, made by hand by the local communities (Peruvians-ancestors from the Pre-Inca civilization) who ran on the water long years ago, to protect themselves from the Inca civilization that came to take over the lands. The families on the islands are living an extremely simple life, using their boats everyday to bring supplies from the mainland. They mainly live from tourism fishing and handcrafting.

Moving a little bit further from the mainland, around 2.5 hrs by boat, is the beautiful Taquile island, a natural island serving a community of 2900 people. A community that lives by its own rules, quite different than ours. Besides the fact that they don't pay any taxes or utilities, they have an own government which they elect every year by raising their hand in the main square. They grow their own food, eat tones of fish and rice, use solar electricity for cooking, but still have a few schools and a doctor from the mainland during the week (hopefully nobody gets ill in weekends)  Their main sources are tourism (you pay 3 USD to get on the island) handcraft and the traditional fishing thanks to the lake.

It's funny to call it lake cause this huge pile or water looks like a sea, a sea at 3800 m above...sea level :)))
After one full day in such a place, after visiting such a different kind of lifestyle, it kind of makes you want to go back to your roots, life can be so beautiful without many useless shit we have everyday.

Post written on 26 May 2013 at 15.30 Peru time, 23.30 Romania time.

Head in the clouds

10.000 m up in the sky since 9 hours. After 8 hours of only water and clouds view, the ocean encountering land is a magical scene. Like I woke up especially to see that.
The land is dry, no vegetation, only sand and stones. We passed Venezuela and Colombia and are now heading slowly towards Peru where the vegetation is starting to show up in the high tops. Me? Overwhelmed! Others around me? Snoring like bears. I suppose they don´t care, the pilot doesn´t care, only about the air around his plane, but I care. Who knows what life is down there under me, what amazing beautiful things are happening. I would be so happy to try one, at least one.
Rare conglomerats of white spots appear from time to time in the scene. The cities are quite rare in this corner of the continent it seems. The water is invading the scene again and clouds are back. The sky above us is getting crowded and grey; looks like autumn. Well what do you know, it is autumn in this part of the globe.
Land again, this time all green, different types of green even. I might say it looks familiar now, European somehow. You know, I just realised that every continent has a different view from the clouds, and these views give me unique feelings everytime.

I remember first time I got into a plane, it was my flight to India. When I started flying over the huge dunes of sand I started to panic. I was passing over Iran or Afghanistan and I couldn´t stop my mind from thinking how would it be if we were to end up there for any reason. In the desert, maybe miles away from civilization, in a country that from TV does not seem very friendly or welcoming (not that I would know that for real) I was scared, my hands turned cold and I could not wait to change the view. When the plane started flying over India my muscles relaxed. I could see green fields and houses and that made me feel good again. Till I landed in Delhi that is :)))) The flight to Dubai was less scary, cause I´ve been there before, over the golden sands. But the flight to Brazil was one to remember, cause most of the time we flew over Africa. I was watching the map and hoping that we would need to land anywhere on the way. The scene was all green, thin lines of water appeared from time to time, I was closing my eyes and imagining that I am down there somewhere, in the jungle, with wildlife all around me, with monkeys and tigers and beautiful birds singing. Of course it was a nice dream, cause none of the animals were about to chew me, on the contrary, they were receiving me in their environment.
But getting back to reality, 2 hours and a half till Lima. Let´s sleep it away!

* This article was written on 17th of May at 15.30 Peru time, 23.30 Romania time.

I'm a traveler not a tourist

So many month since I have not moved my figure to another country, since I did not spent hours breathing another culture's air. 4 month since I am home and I'm happy about it...but sad also. Sad because I feel the world is not mine anymore, it belongs to those who's turn came to make the bold step and discover it.
In the meanwhile, going back to the places I've been, the people I met, I realized that I am one of the lucky ones, cause I went there and enjoyed  the journey as a traveler, not a tourist.
Just to define the meanings, absolutely from my point of view, the traveler gets involved in the journey, while the tourist sees it somehow from outside. The traveler takes a bus and doesn't hire a car, goes by train or bike not by plane. The traveler eats the traditional food from the food stall on the sidewalk not from the restaurant, he learns a few words and impresses the locals, dresses like them and sings their songs, while the tourist prefers pasta and jeans wherever he goes. The traveler, by default, travels a lot inside the journey to discover more and more places, does not lay on the beach and plays golf all day. He looks at the inhabitants as if they are his brothers and sisters, not locals. He walks in nature and gets impressed by every living piece, even though he saw it before. The travelers feels the journey and makes friends with it, the tourist does it for a change. The traveler is there to learn, learn about himself, life, people; to get inspired, to relax and discover himself among the million others. The tourist is looking for a vacation to get out of his routine, to have fun, drink a lot and smoke a joint (not that it's bad and the traveler would not do that but in different circumstances and different implications :)
Me? I'm a traveler for sure, even though I ate french fries in Rio and McDonalds in Singapore, that was a lack of money :P But from all these places, from all their magic, their culture, I became what I am. They are guilty for me having these thoughts, they are responsible for my daily activities, for my reactions to the life around me, they are responsible for me dressing so colorful or wearing such a long hair. They make me smile and cry sometimes, them, the cultures, their traditions and religions. They make me want to walk a lot and spend time with old people. They make me have strong feelings and love my friends so much but not show them.
You? I suggest to you beautiful reader, be a traveler not a tourist, and your life will pay up.

Impressed by Budapest

Just to let you know, I am home, for good, moved 2 months ago (I know I am a huge bastard for not writing since sooo long), relaxed and very much happy with my choice. Dubai? We divorced, things were not going well between us, so to stop ruining our lives, especially Dubai mine, therefore I decided to split up and he didn't had anything to say about it. Emirates? We're still good friends, but not working together anymore, at least for now :P
Current location: Timisoara, Romania (a.k.a. HOME); weather: autumn, 25 degrees; feeling: damn good; in a relationship with my true love: theatre, adaptation status: complete, current job at NESsT Romania.
And because at very beginning of a job you get a training, just to have a rough idea what the hell is going on in that new place, my very short 3 days training happened in Budapest, Hungary, the place where my foundation started activating a few years ago. You can imagine that after 1 year and some months of Emirates, and quite some travelling and so much of heat I am tired like hell, and sick of travelling, but since there was no choice, hop in the train, route: Timisoara - Budapest. After 4,5 hours of train ride I finally made it to my destination to get out of the big train station to find...a huge construction area. Did I end up in the right place? Is there another station where I was supposed to get off? Apparently not, just this is how the historical Hungarian capital welcomes you since a few months, with a pile of wholes and metal junk in front of the station, extending the metro line... First impression...obviously not so pleasant, until I got in the metro and reached my boulevard. That is where the view changed completely, I discovered a beautiful city, with old well preserved buildings all around, with bicycle tracks all the ways, with trees and noisy cars moving around, with fancy girls and boys walking relaxed on the large streets, with tones of places to visit and such a short time. 2 evenings I had in my pocket, and after 2 long days of learning and listening to different kinds of stories about what I'm supposed to do, I felt a big joy when the sun started to go down, knowing that my short journey will start.

First stop: Margarit Island, a small but good looking island in the middle of Danube river, connected on Margarit Bridge. The place is perfect for a warm evening walk but the thing that I enjoyed most was the "dancing" fountain (not as big as in Dubai of course), a small round fountain that was dancing on classical music. I laid there on the warm grass, looking at the water dancing and inviting me to dance too. But I just stood there and dreamed away. Mirifique! The boulevards you cross till you reach Margarit Island are absolutely beautiful and the view from the bridge is incomparable, sitting there between Bupa and Pesta and thinking of all the history and stories that happened maybe in that exact spot where you are sitting...

Second stop: Budapest city hall. The reason why I went to see this place is because of it's beautiful architecture. I'm not really the kind of a person to go in a city and visit the buildings (except if it's Gaudi or Hundertwasser of course), and even here, in Budapest, well I was not that much impressed by this city hall, no matter how many centuries old it is, or how many times it was renovated and still standing. But you might see it different, so it's worth of a visit :)

Third stop: Buda Hill. Now that I liked. Starting with the fact that I had to cross Chain bridge to get there, which is by the way a great construction, so big and imposing, continuing with the way up to the hill, which you can choose to make in a cable or walking (the second options was more relaxing) and ending with the view on top of the hill and the greatness of Buda Castle, all worth a visit. Imagine the castle was first completed in 1265 and it hosted a great number of Hungarian kings. Pure history, pure beauty!



I must admit though that I started missing travelling, as I got to the conclusion that it't quite tiring to travel, but when you stop...it's quite boring...
And I'm damn curious where will my next vacation will be :)

Ready for Rio - part 1

For those who maybe don't know, the craziest part when you work for an airline are the air prices, which end up with a discount of even 90% for staff, with the condition that you have to pay full airport taxes. Well, this was not our case, cause our ticket was free, so we only payed about 50 euro Brazilian airport taxes. Now the even craziest part in this is that you are on a standby, and the oldest you are in the company the highest priority you have, so if there are any seats available in the flight you get in, if the flight is fully booked, you wait in line for the next one :) This was our case cause the flight to our destination was booked and we were waiting at the staff check-in counter along with other few employees, with our names listed on a big board and a yellow light showing that we were on standby. We stared at that board for about 10 minutes continuously, the normal check-in for the flight was already closed and we were still yellow. Again when the board refreshed, my friend was green, confirmed for the flight. That is when my breath stopped and I only heard "Oh my God, I hope you get confirmed as well". The next page of the board had my name on it, with a green light next to it. I got my seat confirmed...destination...Rio de Janeiro.
Did I tell you that I wanted to see this place since I was little, as in it was my biggest dream to see the statue of Christ on the top of the hill? I didn't? Well, now you know :)
We had a long flight, about 14 hours, no stops, with the longest day in my life, cause the time difference between UAE and Brazil is about 7 hours; therefore we started our journey at about 07.00 local time in Dubai and we reached Rio at about 14.00 local time Brazil.

Weather in Rio: aprox. 27 degrees, season: winter, atmosphere: perfect for us to visit :))
Yes, in Brazil it was winter, at least this part of the country, but the weather was just great, a little bit of sun, a little bit of clouds, thank god no rain in this vacation, the ocean really cold, and anyhow waves were to huge to take a bath, but you can surely do other stuff than just laying at the beach all day. We ended up in Copacabana homeless, we did not book any room, just went from a hostel to another until we found 2 beds available, and that happened quite fast I must say, cause by evening we were ready to explore the surroundings.
Copacabana is a long beautiful beach and neighborhood, one of the safe areas in Rio, full of tourists, luxury apartments, budget accommodation, cheap and expensive shops and restaurant, perfect for any traveler. So yeah, we booked 2 beds in El Misti hostel and started our vacation.

The first impression: happy people. So many young and old aged people walking, jogging, biking, playing volleyball on the beach and boulevard in Copacabana. Second impression: expensive. Comparing to other destinations and even with Dubai, the prices in Rio are damn high for the conditions offered. The city is not really developed, even though some areas are getting improved, many people are poor, favellas in every neighborhood. Overall impression: beautiful. An amazing combination of Atlantic ocean with high hills which I like to call mountains :))

A few facts about the city in general: almost all of the buildings everywhere in the city are protected by tall metal fences, even in the touristic areas, all the buildings were jailed :D; people are walking their cute little (sometimes huge) dogs everywhere, we saw more than 20 breeds of dogs in just 5 days; people actually use public phone, which I thought were completely replaced nowadays by mobiles phone, but not in Rio; there are quite a few poor people coming from favelas (click on the word to understand the meaning if needed :) in the touristic side of the city, whom are quite friendly and not at all dangerous as everyone warned before getting there; if you stick to day walks (even night walk but in large group) and populated areas in the city you might leave Rio alive :)), we did not face any dangerous people or places, we in fact had a great vacation with no incidents.

Bottom line is that we enjoyed our time there a lot, and about the places we've visited in Rio, well, stay tuned, soon to be told, the story of Christ the Redeemer on top of Corcovado Hill...

Mauritius island and the Seven coloured earth

This was for sure one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited in a vacation, but it's definitely after taj mahal on the worldwide atraction list :P Since we stayed in the south of the island, it was quite easy to reach this place, just hopped in a public bus and in one hour we were in the small village of Chamarel, from where we took a not so cheap taxi till up the hill where the Seven coloured earth park is. On the way to the coloured sands we were delighted by the extremely green and wild nature, waterfalls all the ways, climbind up and down on the hill, between rocks and palm trees, just enought walk to make you tired so that when you reach to see the sands, you will feel as free as them and enjoy it to the max. Aparently the composition from the soil is giving the coloures, which is iron and aluminium, from red colours, brown, violet, green, blue, purple to yellow, and even doe the heavy tropical rains from the island, they don't wash away, mix, dissapear...since more than 1960. Now the bad part about this small trip was the weather. Do not let yourselves fooled by the island weathers, cause if there is no sun, just appearing from time to time between the clouds, that does not mean that you won't get tanned...or burned....like I did :D Wear scarfs or cover you neck if having a loose t-shirt and even your nose and forehead if possible. My experience, a cruel neck, forehead and nose burnt...which still shows off after 1 week :| On the way back from the beautiful colours, next stop was Rochester water falls, a hidden place in the middle of the sugar cane plantations, where on the way we found some lovely south african people about which I'm gonna tell you soon.

Singapore part2 ~ wildlife ~

Such a difference, such contrast, in such a small place. Cause let's face it, Singapore is not that big city-country to visit in weeks and still not see everything. And if first day of the trip was dedicated to the modern side, second day left us breathless and...wet :))) Breathless because of the amazing nature and wild life from the 2 places we visited, wet because it rained like hell but in the same time it was so hot that we sweated like crazy under the plastic rain coats :)
The Botanic garden of Singapore was more than expected. We entered the place, free of charge (there is no fee at entry) and we did not get out for 4 hours, imagine. 4 full hours of walk in the green fresh nature, with waterfalls, with trees, flowers, from palm trees valley to ginger garden, from evolution garden (as in dinosaurs era rain forests) to orchid garden where we paid 5 SGD to enter (5 singapore dolars), with an expensive lunch in the middle of the tropical nature which was totally worth it even doe we paid 100 SGD, the place is a must see if visiting Singapore. We filled our lungs with so much fresh healty air and we took so many pictures that we left the poor cameras one without memory, one without battery, so we decided to keep it down :)) Rain eventually stopped, so we got rid of the plastic rain coates, rested our feet and continued our journey to the another wildlife place, Singapore Zoo. And man what a Zoo. We were imagining we might see all the creatures of the world there, but not running free between the people :)) Monkeys in the trees all around, no cages, parrots singing over our heads, well the white tigers and elephants were separated not left to run around between the people but still, no cages, so much space and so much freedom for the animals, hippos with a huge aquarium and a real stone cave just for themselves...what can I say...lucky to be an animal in the Singapore Zoo. The place is closing at 1800 and we did not have the time to see the entire place, so I missed the zebras and giraffes, but hopefully I'll get to see them in Africa soon :D
So after one full day of nature and animal life, we finished out trip cyclic, back in Chinatown for some more souvenirs and some chinese noodles, after that rushing to the airport to catch our Emirates flight back to Dubai desert, with a huge regret of having to leave such an amazing place so soon...

Surprises

Few days back, tired of work and bored of staying in Dubai, a bunch of fun people decided to make a trip, somewhere quite close but still out of the "country". This is how we ended up in our neighbour country, Oman. The interesting part of the whole story is that Dibba-Musandam, the place where we've spent our day, is a small part of land and water pertaining to Oman, but surrounded by United Arab Emirates. We only needed to show our passports to enter the place.
4 people and 3 digital maps were enough to get us there in time, without getting lost on the long & many UAE highways.
UAE surprised me in a very pleasant way, with the landscapes and big mountains. After half year of no vegetation and only sand, as I keep writing in every post :)), the road to Dibba took us through some lovely hills, mountains, not all green, but new views for a change. The 2 hours drive was fast at one moment, then became fun on a undefined road where all cars and big trucks were driving however (kind of Indian style :P ) and on the way back scary, on the same "undefined" road all dark with car/truck lights blinding you all the way :| The moment we reached the main highway on the return our hearts came back to the normal rhythm and we managed to enjoy the rest of the evening.
For the first time in my life I saw, live, the amazing underwater life, the one that I always used to admire on national geographic or animal planet. Our cruise included snorkling, so of course being a fish most probably in a past life, I did not got out of the water for at least one hour. The snorkling equipment did not "fit" me at all. I panicked when I started breathing throught that long tube so I went under water just with glasses and a deep breath of air. All the fishies were looking at me curious. Different plants, corals and spiky sea creatures at the bottom of the sea were living quietly in the not too salty water. A memorable picture and experience I must say.
The last surprise of the day happened in Dubai, in the restaurant called Fridays. Funky waiters with funky place decorations, funky food, and at one point, a funky happy birthday song with a small candle cake showing at our table. It is so beautiful when you have dear people around to give you such presents on your birthday, so beautiful that not only the birthday girl was surprised but me too, so surprised that my mouth could not hide a big impressed smyle.
Life? is full of surprises. All you have to do is... believe :)

The story

Indian babe

Someone told me that dreams come true only...if you're living in a dream. Of course I refuse to believe that because I am now, for real, living whatever I was dreaming about. Because dreams do come true, but only when you really believe in them.

So here I am, after one year and a half, back in India, the place that I loved the most from all my journeys till now.

I landed in the city called Hyderabad yesterday morning, here to visit my dear friend Zahraa, who was anxious like a baby to see me again...just like me actually. I flew with Emirates (duh), and as expected I had a great flight, with goodies and nice atmosphere and friendly faces there to serve you anytime.

Hyderabad is a quite big city, bigger than my old Nagpur anyways, all green (comparing to the deserted dubai :))) ) and as I expected, very crowded. Dust is everywhere, cows walk freely on the streets, people walking on the sides of the road, just like I knew it :)

So my Indian adventure started with a long walk in the city, looking guess for what, a damn exchange house. If you can easily find exchanges in any place of the world, here we had to go 30 minutes with an auto ricksha and another 20 minutes walking. Can you imagine! Colors everywhere on the streets, women in sarees walking around, fresh fruit at every corner, fried Indian snacks all the way and lots of cars and bikes. I was just walking around, breaking my neck to catch every part of the world around me, to see every move, every shop, every person passing by. The lovely but tiring day ended with a shopping session in an open kind of park-bazaar and fresh fruit. But the most adventurous experience was the way back from the open market, traveling in the auto ricksha. The traffic went crazy by evening, so besides not being able to bargain to get a good price till home, we found ourselves "squeezed" between ten of cars, bikes, and a huge buss who was about to squish us for a couple of times. Amazingly this never happens, because the ricksha drivers, as crazy and as illegal as they move around, they never get stopped or have accidents. Or at least I never witnessed one, thank God :D

Irrespective of whatever people say or think or imagine about India, I know that this is a place where I will always love to be. And this came clear to me now, when I found myself here for the second time.

Tomorrow new adventures await for us, and after a traditional romanian lunch with polenta and cheese and onions today, and Zahraa wearing traditional romanian clothes (IE), we are ready to go out there once again!

See u laters alligators!