Come to Australia!!

I’ll share this little video, to show many good reasons to come to Australia for your vacations!

non scrivo piu’ sul blog…

non scrivo piu’ sul blog perche’ non scrivo piu’ sul mio diario…

non scrivo piu’ sul mio diario perche’ sono in ritardo di 70 giorni…

sono in ritardo di 70 giorni perche’ faccio un sacco di cose…

le cose che faccio sono visitare, girare, nuotare, camminare, spalmarmi crema solare, spruzzarmi repellente per insetti, ridere, sorridere, dormire, prendere bus, tentare il piu’ possibile di guardare il mondo con gli occhi di un bambino, ascoltare quel che dicono le persone con tutta l’attenzione di cui dispongo, guardarmi dentro con la sincerita’ che posso.

Capite bene che tutto cio’ richiede tempo, ma siccome il diario e’ una buona valvola di sfogo per l’analisi obiettiva di pensieri, direi che presto lo recuperero’. Ed allora ricomincero’ a scrivere piu’ spesso anche il blog!

A look back, and a step ahead!

Ice climbing, sea kayaking, stunning nature, nice people, good car, a fine for speeding and Japanese food!

All this and more, which I can only sum up with a few pics -> North island and South Island!

This has been a country that surprised me, amused me and amazed me! From the stunning nature to the inability to do good rounding when paying (if I have to pay 11,90 I give you 20 and ask you ‘do you want 2 more?’ and you ask me ‘why?’ something isn’t right… ); from the incredible range of activities you can do to the amazing amount of sheeps and cows you can see around; from the slowness of the 100people town to the rush hour of the 1million people city; from the multicultural presence of so many nationality in just a couple of blocks to the niceness pervading (almost) everybody you meet.

“There are places you leave and places that never leave you”. That’s just right. New Zealand is one of those…

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Tomorrow I’m flying out again, to my next destination: Australia! I don’t know what to expect apart from the heat! Is it a good thing? I’ll let you know when I discover!

Natale ad Auckland!

Un Buon Natale da Sand-man e Babbo Natale!

P.s. L’acqua era piacevolmente tiepida!

A ‘Kiwi’ welcome

New Zealand is kind, New zealand is nice, New Zealand is green, New Zealand is mixed…

Trees from thousands of years ago don’t let you untouched. You walk in the middle of the green forest, almost at dark, for so dense it is the vegetation. You can’t see past the next curve, but 4 steps more and there it is… Huge, tall, un-huggable… You awe, your jaw breaks open and your heart skips a beat. You can’t describe it, you can’t take a picture of it. You can only stay there looking at it feeling small and young like a baby, wondering how could you not understand before how old is this planet? You turn your head looking around now, and you see… All the others trees and twigs and bushes around, they’re all looking at it too! They, in the shade, it, under the sun like a spotlight. It’s the speech of the father of the forest, and when he speaks all others listen…

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Civilisation, on the other side, has some surprises as well!

They, the people: real nice, real welcoming, you just can’t understand what they say! They’re mixed a lot, Japanese, Maori, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Europe-descendent! It’s good to see such a variety of faces and cultures!

It, the hostel: no breakfast and you pay for f*cking everything!! Wifi, internet, storage, laundry, detergent! The only things free are the TV (yeah, like I’m interested) and book-exchange (but you have to leave a book of yours, so it’s not really free).

We, the hungry: we’re happy, for thanks to the mix of people there’s an incredible mix of food! I almost ate only sushi and japanese for 4 days!

The land instead of tiring… All hilly (later you’ll discover they’re all volcanoes, some active, some not, but you don’t know exactly which ones! ) and spread out. Although it doesn’t seems so the city is big! You walk for hours and you have lots to discover! The good thing is that you’re literally surrounded by green and trees and parks everywhere! And where they end, the sea begins and on the other side there are other greener smaller islands!

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New Zealand Buena Onda!!!

long due stories #2: Iguazu Falls

Here I better say nothing, but leave word to the pictures…

Only a side note: certain German guys are really German! :-/

Long due stories #1: what happened after Uyuni

After those three days in one of the most incredible places I’ve ever been, it was time to move on…

Hence, once gotten back to the “city” of Uyuni, just the time to get back the backpack and take the bus, after a few hours beside a (I’m sure he was a good man!) fat bloke, eating cheeseburger every-bite-a-drink-of-coke, on a road I couldn’t quite believe, in a smelly wagon stopping every 3 hours in the middle of nowhere, we eventually got to Potosi’ around 3am!

There, this guy tried to save us from the terrible, evil white-taxi drivers (“son todos ladrones! yo fui mochilero tambien, creenme!”). All just to end up again with the same driver which was instead good. He only had over-developed jaw muscles, due to way too many coca leaves… It started then a weird ballet, made of taxis and buses… We won a third passenger, this thus leading us to Sucre around 6am, only to discover that the bus was leaving no earlier than 4pm!

To cut it short, we got to Santa Cruz and we found an amazing hostel: pool table, foosball table, swimming pool, barbecue and internet! There the ‘fat’ surprise left, leaving me alone again to figure out what to do! It was time to get to Iguazu, but still there was time for a short stop in Paraguay!

I thought that Santa Cruz – Asuncion would have been a piece of cake, but reality has its own way to disappoint you… On the worst bus I experienced in 4 months of South America, from the 30something degrees in Bolivia after only 3 hours we got to around 5 (with me still in shorts and t-shirt! It felt a bit like reliving Los Angeles – San Francisco! )! I can rightly say I breathed dust and sand for about 24 hours, it’s been a miracle if I didn’t get sick, especially stopping in the middle of the night, at pitch black to the Bolivian border, talking to a poor guard:

him: “what day did you enter the country?”

me: “Sept 19″

him: “and now it’s the 29″

me: “right”

him: “………….”

me (thinking): “why the hell is he staring at me not talking??”

Anyway, we passed it, reaching the other border just 6 hours later, where I met another brilliant mind:

him: “what have you got in the backpack?”

me: “just clothes”

him: “do you have drugs inside?”

me (thinking): “of course! do you want pills, dust or syringes??”

Well, all this to see the biggest contrast between rich and poor I experienced, another good CS meeting, another weed offer in that big open-air market that is Ciudad Del Este and my first language shock: I was in Brasil and after more than 3 months travelling understanding everybody around me all I could do was gesturing trying hard not to insult kind passers-by! (foda-se S.!!! )

Si riparte

Infine, dopo quasi 4 mesi di peregrinazioni, bus, aerei, barche, giungle, cordigliere, persone, amici, isole, montagne, oceani, spiagge, sentieri, cieli azzurri, incontri e sorprese anche il Sudamerica mi da l’arrivederci.
Mi mancherà la sua natura, la sua gente, il suo cibo, le sue lingue.. Ma tornerò, oppure no. Perché ciò che ti entra nel cuore non ti lascia, ma ti accompagna silente e ridanciano.

L’esperimento #2

Comincio a sentirmi stanco, stare dietro a tutto a volte si fa pesante… Viaggiare, pianificare, conoscere persone nuove, tenere contatti… Ho sonno, ho voglia di staccare, stare a guardare per un po’.

Ci riprovo, sto giro per un paio di settimane, magari la Patagonia e una guida (ebbene si’, ho comprato una guida dopo 4 mesi) mi aiuteranno.

Why so?

There are people on this planet that don’t deserve the sadness life has in store for them.

They’re hearty, they’re kind, they help you out when you most need them. And still they’re unlucky, although they keep on smiling.

Life’s a bitch, but sometimes I think she’s also unfair…

I love these people, and I wish I could give them more than just my words and my hugs…

In the last year I learnt something: stand up, smile and laugh: everything will be better! For example, a horse gets in a bar and the bartender says: “why the long face?”

Be strong, you’re not alone!

(ripropongo un video gia’ postato )