Category Archives: Travel diary

En el Desierto de Atacama

by jose

There is something timeless, something grander than the human notion of time, something beyond reach of the comprehension of mere animals in the crushing silence and vast expanse of the desert.

The stillness of everything — rocks, salt, lakes, even grass unmoving in the immobile air — is contagious. It gets at you. It starts with a nudging feeling, poking inside your mind, telling you something is abnormal in the surrounding environment. There is no sound at all, no chirping birds, no rustling leaves, no scurrying rodents. You slow down, and then you stop cycling altogether, as if moving in such a fixed landscape were insulting it.

That moment is the one you begin realizing the immensity, the infinite age, of the place you find yourself in.

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Taking a break

by ladina

Were you afraid that we had given up our blog? Not at all (though the idea of it occured to Jose from the very first days of its existence…) and we are sorry for the lack of updating and publishing posts. We were just relaxing like this cute sloth we spotted near Isla de Bastimentos in Panama. I guess we were merely taking a huge breath in Central America before flying to South America and starting the last three months of our trip, beginning with Ecuador together with my sister Flurina. So again, I apologise in advance if we will not be frequently publishing during the next three weeks.

We are just busy travelling, enjoying life, and soak in every minute of this special time of our lives.

An evening in Panama

by jose

The first mouthful was a heaven-sent indulgence. After weeks of eating boiled carrots and tomatoes, we had eventually allowed ourselves chicken fillet to go with our cheap pasta. With bell peppers and marinated in cream cheese.

We were feeling like kings.

Across the water in front of us, we could see the faint lights of Carenero Island illuminating the bay. After a day of rain, the clouds had finally given us a respite and the full moon was brightly shining upon the Bocas del Toro archipelago.

“It actually could be quite pleasant here. If it were sunny.”

“I guess so,” answered Ladina.

A dive and surf center doubling as restaurant/bar, right above the water across the street, was giving a soundtrack to the moment. Smart electro with a summer mood and contagious beats. A group of Panamanian locals passed on their bicycles, loudly laughing and joking in their Spanish flavored with a Caribbean accent. The whole world seemed to tell us the rainy days were over.

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Seclusion in Montaña Grande

by ladina

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged
to find ways in which you yourself have altered.

 — Nelson Mandela

 

The smells are still the same: the smoke from the burning fire in the kitchen, the steaming dark Costa Rican coffee in the mug, the scent of the dogs and of the horses in the garden.

The sounds are still the same: a rooster crows, a dog barks, Angela shouts unintelligibly at Macha’s house, Rigo hammers a nail in a log, the telecaster babbles along though nobody watches.

The earth is still mercilessly scorched by the sun. No wind stirs. There is no escaping from the heat.

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Couchsurfing in NYC

by jose

 

After a week in Brooklyn, we were in for another move. We packed up and sat for two hours in the train, all the way to the northern end of the Bronx, to meet our new host: Kyle.

Although Kyle had never had any formal Couchsurfing guest — so this was more or less a new experience to him — he nevertheless was more qualified to be a host than many I have encountered. Opening up his door with a broad smile, he welcomed us in his apartment, made the presentations with his cats Luna and Yuuki, showed us how to get our airbed settled, and left in a hurry for his night-time work after giving us advice and recommendations — and keys to his place. He had in fact woken up early to see us, cutting on his sleep time to welcome us.

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Brooklynites for a week

by jose

 

“I hadn’t even mentioned Airbnb because I thought you already knew, what with you two being globe-trotters and all!”

Liza had been unable to host us, but had looked into a number of alternatives to help us, although without success. Fortunately, Madleina, Ladina’s cousin whom we had visited two weeks earlier in the Silicon Valley, had told us about Airbnb, a community-based platform for subletting and subrenting everything from a bed to a villa. We had ended up finding the cheapest bed we could possibly hope for, given New York’s crazy accomodation prices.

Liza (Elisabeth by her real name, but it’s damn too long!) was another old friend of mine, who happened to be in New York at the same time as us. She was greatly enjoying her stay, and, as an art lover, loved the fact that she was able to go to all the museums of the city for her work. We took the opportunity to spend a fabulous evening and make a few cultural visits together.

“So now you’re staying in Brooklyn?”

We were, de facto, Brooklynites for a week.

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Wiederseh in New York

by ladina

Wär hätti je dänggt, wo mir uns vor über mne Johr in Basel verabschiedet hän, dass mir uns in New York wieder träffe würde?

Damals sin d USA nid mol uf unserer Reiseroute gstande. Won ich allerdings ghört ha, dass dr Kaspar und d Fabienne im April uf New York göhn und d Salome au in däm Monet uf ere Studiereis dört verbigo wird, han ich plötzlich afo Plän schmiede. Worum au nid uf New York — e Wältstadt wo mich scho immer greizt het — wenn mir das au no mit mne Träffe vo däne liebe Lüt verbinde könnte? S Flugticket nach San Francisco hän mir jo scho ka und vo dört an d Ostküste isch es fascht e Katzesprung.

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