CHANGE OF THE PLAN: I´M GOING SAILING

Karaka

I found this boat randomly http://karaka.voila.net/ and joined the crew so now I will be sailing to South Pacific and French Polynesia until mid September. Leaving today from Panama city...Wish me good winds!

Will post about Venezuela, Panama and Costa Rica ....I guess some time this year :).

The crew

COLOMBIA PART 1. Volunteering in Colombia

Cocora valley

December, 10th. The official at the border was nice enough to place the stamp above the Ecuadorian one (of course I had to use my charming smile). Im running out of pages in my passport so if I wanna make it all the way to Mexico, have to be extra careful, plus Colombia already used a whole page for the visa). I reckon that if I manage to fit 6 stamps on every page, I will be alright.

Ipiales is the town at the border with Ecuador where no one stays more than a night. They have one thing though that is worth the stay - El Santuario Las Lojas, a church, build in the rocks. An image of Jesus or the virgin appeared there one day and for that reason it was built at such an unusual place. Met a guy from Holland and together we went looking for a place to stay. Found an ok hotel room for 30 000 Pesos for both (18 US$) and next day headed together to the bus station to take buses to Popayan and Ecuador respectively. 

Tried my first arepa (corn cakes) here, the most typical Colombian food.

Cheese arepas

VENEZUELA (Part 1). Dead or alive?

Playa Grande. Choroní

Is he still alive? That was what everyone was asking in Venezuela when I arrived and still when I left. No one knew, some people were convinced that he was already dead and lots were hoping that was true. Officially Hugo Chavez was still in Cuba trying to fight the cancer.

On 11.01.13 I crossed the land border at Cucuta - San Antonio de Tachira.

ECUADOR. Coast, mountains & jungle, all in the same day

On the Inca trail in Ecuador

The second smallest country in South America but the most diverse one. The locals say that you can be in la Costa, la Sierra, y el Oriente (Coast, Mountains and Jungle) in the same day. Distances are small, transport is cheap (1$ for every hour on the bus) and hitch hiking also pretty easy. And it has absolutely everything, just takes much shorter to get to it (compared to Peru for example). In just two hour distance from the jungle to the mountains or from the mountains to the coast, you really can feel the climate changes and you see completely different landscapes.

PERU. MUCH MORE THAN JUST INCA RUINS AND MACHU PICCHU

A little friend on the bus in Iquitos

And of course Machu Picchu

Puno

Got to Puno on the last bus leaving from Copacabana, Bolivia. It was freezing cold in the town and the hostel. The guys I met in Isla del Sol in Bolivia - Vicky and Cristian from Chile and Roger from Peru, came to pick me up from my hostel and we went for some pisco sour which gave me pretty good headache the whole next day.

BOLIVIA. THE RICHEST AND THE POOREST

Salar de Uyuni

Isla del Sol

Isla del Sol, Lago Titicaca

A country of statistical extremes, landlocked Bolivia is the highest and most isolated country in South America. Also considered as the poorest one in South America but one of the richest in natural resources.

It has the largest proportion of indigenous people, who make up around two-thirds of the population and most of them speak Quechua. 

Bolivia has it all, apart from beaches (the Chileans left them without a sea outlet after La Guerra del Pasifico). 

CHILE - THE NORTH. Highlands, deserts and waves.

Back to CHILE, from Santiago to Arica

La Portada in Antofagasta - reminded me so much of The Great Ocean Road in Australia

Atacama desert

I came back to Santiago after a month in Patagonia, wandering between Chile and Argentina. The smog was quite startling again, especially after the immensity of Patagonia.

PATAGONIA. Meandering between Chile and Argentina

Perito Moreno Glacier

Stretching from the southern end of the Andes Mountains in Argentina and Chile to Cape Horn, the Americas’ southernmost tip, lies the storied land.

To say the landscape is dramatic would be an understatement. A visit to Patagonia could include a hike around the legendary granite mountains of Torres del Paine camping on the shore of a glacial lake, or strapping on crampons to trek across a glacier. You could travel the plains where cowboys still roam by horseback, and hit the road all the way down to the land of fire, Tierra de fuego, at the southern end of the inhabited world.

Magellan dubbed the local Indians Patagones, meaning “big feet.” The name stuck and gave Patagonia its moniker.

Torres del Paine. Chile

Fitz Roy. Argentina

We left New Zealand at 4pm on the 16th (April 2012) and after an 11 hour flight we landed in Santiago at 12 o´clock midday the same day. Long day, isn't it? Actually the longest in my life!

LOBITOS, LA CASONA AND THE GOOD VIBES

Not my photo but I hope the owner doesnt mind 

Chronologically, next post has to be about Chile but Im skipping a few countries in South America in order to post this one cos I wanna  record it while all the memories and images are still fresh in my head.

After 5 days on a boat coming from Iquitos and a 24 hour bus marathon, I finally made it to Talara, a small town in the north of Peru. Checked my email quickly cos I knew that my mum was probably going crazy (didn’t use internet for 11 days while in the jungle, the longest so far) and got a minivan to Lobitos where I was supposed to volunteer in a surf hostel. That’s all I knew apart from the few photos they had posted on the website. (Volunteering in Lobitos). 

La Casona

It turned out to be the best decision I’ve made. More than 15 months of travelling and not spending more than 4, 5 days at one place I was getting a bit tired. And La Casona just happened to be my little paradise. And not only mine J.

No wonder no one wanted to leave, everyone (guests and volunteers) stayed much longer than they planned. The views, the waves, the people...everything counts and makes you wanna stay forever. I don´t wanna bore you here, the photos speak enough. 

AUSSIELAND - Perth to Adelaide or London to Moscow?

Bunda cliffs in Nullabor plain

Eucla sand dunes

One of Foo´s photographic masterpieces 

So cute and lazy

London to Moscow or Perth to Adelaide? 

Not m we didn’t stop at Adelaide, the last stop was Melbourne.uch difference, distance wise, 2700km. And

The driving distances are mind-boggling, the terrain can be challenging but it is so big and offers such a big variety of things to do and see that you easily forget that your bum hurts after a 800 km drive...One of the countries on my "I would always want to go back" list. So many things you can see or do only here and nowhere else around the world. If i have to describe Australia shortly it would be: drive, drive, drive and WOW, amazing. Drive, drive, drive and again: amazing!

Western Australia (WA). On the 16^th we flew to Perth to meet Foo at 10 am on the bridge in Northbridge – Foo’s great planning as always…Of course it didn’t happen - our flight was delayed, we got there too late to make on time, couldn’t let him know cos he didn’t have a mobile…Well, there was a backup plan thanks God, so we met up at a hostel nearby. All set..after filling us in on the hostel situation in Perth (everything was full because of the miner’s invasion due to the tsunami in the north) we started looking for a dorm with 3 available beds which was impossible to find. Fortunately, a guy from CS responded positively and we all headed to Lookbelup, a small town near Fremantle.

New Zealand - no predators land

Classic in NZ

There are three ways to travel in NZ – doing the Kiwi Experience which means lots of bus rides (also called the “fuck bus”, won´t explain why), renting a car or hitchhiking. We pitched on the second option – just providing much more flexibility, you see more and turns out to be cheaper too.

Low population density = empty spaces, good personal security, brilliant roads, fantastic I-SITE visitor information centers, DOC ((Department of conservation) camp sites everywhere make it easy to get off the beaten track. Only the weather could fuck things up cos in NZ you never know, it changes rapidly, you might experience the four seasons in just one day.

Milford Sound

We were told that pure Maori people don’t exist anymore but a few times we saw some that looked pretty Maori to me (all the face was tattooed) but of course Im not able to tell. There are lots of places to get familiar with Maori culture if someone is interested or the Maori traditional dance “haka” (the well-known dance performed by All Blacks before rugby matches). The kiwi´s knowledge of Mauri language is usually limited to “Ke Ora” (Hello).

The kiwis are quite shy and distant at the beginning but once you get to know them they are the nicest and friendliest people. Pretty often after meeting someone shortly on a bushwalk or just a short break in the mountain, you end up staying in their house like old friends. They would go out their way to help you, open up their home, introduce you to their family and friends and make sure you taste every bit of this kiwi hospitality. The first 2 weeks we found difficult understanding the accent, especially when “e” was involved, like ten, tent, Ben, bed, bread, egss (they pronounce it as if it was iggs)…

INDONESIA – Komodo dragons and Manta rays

My first ever manta ray

Temple in Bali

Bromo

Komodo dragons

Indonesia is one of the largest island nations on earth, spreading from Irian Jaya in the east, Sumatra in the west, Timor and Roti in the South, and Kalimantan (former Borneo) in the north; these 13 000 islands stretch almost 5 000km. The history, culture and beliefs of these islands are so different and multiform that one has to visit all of them to fully understand it.

This post is just a brief introduction to the whole island nation and may not necessarily be true to each individual island (since I didnt go to Sumatra, Sulawesi or Kalimantan).

There are incredible volcanoes to climb, Komodo dragons, Orangutans, phenomenal scuba diving, huge mosques and temples, etc etc etc… Indonesia is home to numerous of the world’s best waves.

Food is pretty good - Nasi goring (fried rice) is the most popular dish and its pretty good, I ate it all the time, with chicken, seafood or only vegetables..but it was always good. The soups were not bad either.

I skipped Sumatra and flew directly to Jakarta. Got my 30 day visa on arrival (20 $ - try to have the exact amount and in US$)

JAKARTA 10.12.2011

SRI LANKA - so much in so little

Beaches and....

....mountains

You might say Sri Lanka has been hiding in plain sight. Countless scores of travellers have passed overhead on their way to someplace else, but years of war and challenges such as tsunamis have kept Sri Lanka off many itineraries.

But now the war is over and Sri Lanka’s looking up. If you’ve ‘done’ India, spent months in Southeast Asia or simply want to explore a place whose appeal and pleasures are myriad, then it’s time you dropped in.Few places have as many Unesco World Heritage Sites (eight) packed into such a small area. Its 2000-plus years of culture can be discovered at ancient sites filled with mystery. Legendary temples boast beautiful details crafted by artisans through the centuries.

Colombo

With around 6 million inhabitants, Colombo is not even close to being one of the larger cities in Asia – yet there’s no denying that the city is full of vibrant energy and always action packed!

The Philippines: Beyond beaches

The Philippines is still one of Asia’s relatively undiscovered countries and only now are people beginning to discover its paradisiacal islands, golden beaches and aqua marine seas. However, although its beaches are one of its major draws, the Philippines has many other stunning and interesting sights waiting to be explored. Clearly 21 days are not enough but lots of foreigners extend the visa and get another month (but it was pricy I think). There are more than 7000 islands within the country and the flights between them are relatively cheap. It is heaven for scuba diving and…sex tourism.

Got my 21 day visa on arrival (free). Arrived in Manila on the 7th of November (2011).

Malaysia. The best food in Asia

Landing in Kuala Lumpur – the first one of many future stops. At this point I didn’t know that next 3 months the city (or better said the airport) would turn into my base in South East Asia. The reason - Air Asia of course.

Smog or fog in Hong Kong??

I took a train from Shenzhen where my 28 hours train trip from Beijing ended and went to Fung’s flat. It was early in the morning and he had taken a day off for me so we had the whole day to play with. I met Fung in Barcelona  in June 2011, he contacted me on CS, I couldn’t host him, don´t remember the reason now but we met up for a drink (I made him try “clara”) and I showed him a bit of the Old town. At that stage I didn’t know whether or not I would go to Hong Kong on my trip but I´m really happy I met him. He lives in a small flat with too other guys called “Fung” as well. All three of them, at least it was easy for me to remember, whoever I wanted to turn to, I always got it right. And the weird thing was that he just moved there a couple of months ago, and the guy who was living there before him and recommended him to the others, was also called Fung.

It is like China but not exactly. Much more advanced, more modern, more expensive. I liked it! Maybe because I was there just short enough not to get bored with it or because I had a local guide all the time of my stay, I don’t know… but it had everything, including nice beaches and surfing.

ONE MONTH IN CHINA

One of the world´s oldest civilizations! Very vivid and full of colour and smell…but.. Im not planning to go back there any time soon. Im happy I was there, happy I saw it but still would prefer to go back to other counties. One of the biggest put offs for me was the smog. Especially in big cities you cannot see the sun and the sky at all, its grey all day long. In the Lonely planet I read that 20 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world are in China. And I kind of trust the authors this time.

Another one, we all know about the notorious hygienic condition – one of most disgusting toilets ever (and Im not a delicate one :)), actually you are lucky if you find one. You will find dirty squat toilets, which are the worst aspect in the country. In remote, rural areas you might be forced to relieve yourself above a long trough – privacy, if any, made by low, fragile walls – maintained with regular flushes of water from a source at one end. Riding on buses for hours, they would just stop in the middle of nowhere; women would just go to the right, men to the left, and the rest of the details you probably would not want to know. 

And what´s with all the spitting?

KYRGYZSTAN - a quick passage through mountains, valleys and desert

Issyk-Kol

What do you know about Kyrgyzstan or Kыргызстан? That´s right...nothing. Same here...before I went there.  Monster mountains and their associated valleys, glaciers, gorges and ice-blue lakes dominate 90% of the country. The average altitude is about 3000m. I know now that I wanna go back for sure, it´s one of the countries that after you leave you have the feeling that you´ve missed so much. At least I have to go skiing in Karakol, I heard so much about it.

Not a famous destination for Europeans, I guess lots of people got scared after the riots in 2009 but it looks that its all under control now. Even in Uzbekistan I was warned a few times when mentioning going to Kyrgyzstan.

Uzbekistan - the cradle of Silk Road culture and history

This simple, earnest hospitality can be disconcerting at first (what are they after?), but soon becomes super-enjoyable, the care shown for a guest (visitor, foreigner,etc) is amazing – certainly changed the way I try to act as host and guest.

Samarkand

September 9th 2011 – crossing the border, Turkmenista to Uzbekistan

TURKMENISTAN at a glance. Getting into Central Asia

University students in their "blue" day

After Iran the next stop of my Silk road trip and the entrance to Central Asia is Turkmenistan. The government made it extremely difficult and expensive to get a tourist visa, so most of the backpackers arrive on 5 day transit visa. It is the most difficult visa to get in Asia, together with the one for Buthan.

BORDER CROSSING

I arrived on the 5^th of September. After being almost kidnapped by a local journalist who wanted to make an interview with me and also marry me, I finally got to the border. The Iranian border was alright, I was the only tourist, so the policemen were quite interested to see me I guess so they invited me to their office, offered me some tea, biscuits and dates while checking the passports of the others. When leaving, they insisted to take the rest of the biscuits and dates with me and as I kept saying no, no, no.. he just dumped everything in my bag (without putting it in a plastic bag first)! So never say NO to Iranian policemen J, they were nice though, and one of them really handsome.

IRAN. Through the eyes of the locals.

Azadi tower

Sorry guys, this will include lots of reading but Iran impressed me a lot, no chance to make it shorter.

I couchsurfed all the time there and probably because of that I didn’t meet even one foreigner during my whole stay. For that reason I had a lot of time to ask all these questions I had about the country because the truith is that in Europe, we don’t know anything about it. Or just accept the easiest version – a land of terrorists and criminals. Before leaving Spain, I remember telling the people what countries im going to go to and the reaction when mentioning Iran, was always the same: “Iran!?! Why? Don’t go there! Be careful!”.  But what I found, was just people like all of us, educated and curious about the rest of the world, and incredibly nice to the foreigners. One common thing was that all of them hated the government and very few of them saw a way out of the current situation. No wonder most of the young, educated Iranians want to emigrate (buying just one way ticket)...Sad but that’s the Iranian reality.

My only inconvenience was the dress code – it was hot, and the fact that someone tells you how to dress up, was even more annoying than the heat.

And the lack of ATMs... There are a lot of ATMs in cities in Iran but none of them accept foreign credit or debit cards, the only option for us is the cash. It was quite frustrating cos i didn’t have much cash left. And I was told that  crossing the Armenian-Iranian border (the most beautiful border i’ve seen so far, but It wasn’t allowed to take photos there), at the Armenian side there was an ATM but NOOOOO, no ATM there. So I had to be very careful how I spend my money, especially going to Turkmenistan afterwards where I knew I would come upon the same problem.

But what I received there, was just hospitality and generosity that Europeans would never show to a stranger (unless they are “imported” Europeans). I got that everywhere and from everyone – buses, trains, street, my hosts, their families and friends....By the end of the bus journey from Yerevan to Tehran, the whole bus knew I was from Bulgaria and they all were so friendly and nice. Even at the border as my shirt wasn’t long enough (apparently it has to cover your ass and half of the thighs at least) I was given an appropriate shirt by a nice family from my bus. Another girl gave me her scarf (she had another one) because mine was falling down all the time. And everyone was giving me their phone numbers in case I need some help...So nice..

Armenia and Radio Erevan :) August 2011

Geghard Monastery

A few facts first

There are only 3 million Armenians living in Armania while 8 million live abroad. The relations with neighbors could definitely approve -peace with Azerbaijan seems as distant as ever and the Turkish land border looks no closer to being opened, Georgians hate them and Armenians don’t like Iranians. Money comes in from all around the world to keep the country alive – sons in USA, daughters in Moscow, cousins in Paris, Sidney and Germany.

The language and alphabet are another story, impossible to figure out if you are there only for a few days. The sad thing is that I didn’t interact that much with Armenians during my stay there. I only met a few locals when I usually spend most of my time with them wherever I go.

People stare at you, just like in Georgia. Most of them speak good Russian so communication is possible. And women don't drive in Armenia, only a very few exceptions.

To me, Georgia and Armenia were really similar – climate, nature, people, culture, traditions…but, of course there is a but…In Georgia everything was more full of life and positive energy.

The Cascada, Yerevan