(Thanks to Subb-an for the photo.)
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Different Professions of Faith
In Sicily, many people openly display their Christian belief by putting up images or statutes of Jesus or Mary next to their front door:
The neighbour at number 59 counters with a completely different but equally public profession of faith:
(Both photos were taken in Syracuse in Sicily.)
Posted in Italy, Photography, Politics, Religion, Sicily, Travel
Tagged communism, Syracuse
10 Comments
Next move: Arequipa in Peru
The more often you move, the more you find out what you like and what you don’t like. It has been emerging that I love mountains and grassland more than the sea or the tropics. Huge cities are impractical because you lose too much time in transit, but small villages become boring too easily. Mid-sized cities between a few hundred thousand a million people are perfect. If the climate is one of constant spring, one could almost want to stay forever. Like here in Cochabamba.
But because I am illegal in Bolivia since my visa expired in March and I am thus living under the constant threat of going to prison, it’s time to get moving again.
Looking for a city in South America with a similar quality of life, I have stumbled upon Arequipa in Peru, where I will move to in August 2016 and stay until the end of the year.
As you know, I am a great fan of natural disasters. It is therefore a further benefit that there are almost daily earthquakes in Arequipa and that I will have a view of volcanoes from my window.
The volcanoes Misti (5,822 meters) and Chachani (6,057 meters) are relatively easy to climb – when they are not erupting – and I will try to set new altitude records there.
Colca Valley also seems to be predestined for hiking.
But apart from that, I actually want to take a slow approach over the next six months. Less traveling, more sitting in the garden in the shadow of palm trees and finally putting the stories of the last few years to paper.
For my readers in Arequipa: I have rented a room for the first month of August, but I am still looking for an apartment for September-December 2016. Something furnished and quiet, so I can write there. Because of that, I am looking for an apartment of my own, nothing shared. Location almost not important. I hope to find something for less than 800 soles/month. Gracias!
Video Blog: Final of Football World Cup 2014
Some people use their annual holiday for the Football World Cup. I only noticed that there even is a World Cup after planning my trip to Greece, Macedonia and Albania. I didn’t care, as long as it wouldn’t lead to trains being cancelled.
Thus, I was in the Albanian capital Tirana on 13 July 2014, the day of the final match between Germany and Argentina. The whole day I had seen people in Germany jerseys, German flags in front of restaurants and bars and on cars, and other black-red-golden markings. During a hike on Mount Dajti, I had met an Albanian who had pointed out that the parents of one of the German players, Shkodran Mustafi, actually came from Albania. But the enthusiasm for Germany seemed to be more general and independent of one player (who had to drop out due to an injury anyway). Already the day before, the lady who owned the pension where I stayed, had told me that she couldn’t wait for this World Cup to be over because she couldn’t bear the constant talk of “Germany, Germany” by her husband any longer.
The match was shown in every bar, ever restaurant, every garden. I could walk through all of Tirana without missing a second of the match. The largest congregation was in the center, where several huge screens had been put up, back to back, to that the viewers could watch from both sides. Each 50 or 100 meters there was another one of these sandwich screens, all the way through the pedestrian zone.
This is where I happened to pass by when the only goal of the match was scored:
And this was no neutral jubilation just because a goal had been scored. Even prior to that, the cheers had obviously been for the German team. I was however shocked to see that even in Albania, which had once been occupied by the Nazis, someone ran around with a “Deutschland über alles” placard. Lack of historical knowledge is a global phenomenon.
This boy couldn’t wait until the final whistle and started burning his flare prematurely:
When the match was finally over, the crowds were dancing as if Albania had become world champion:
Someone had brought along some fireworks (and I wonder if he would have used them for Argentina as well):
From the minaret of the nearby Et’hem Bey Mosque, the muezzin called “Allah u akbar”: God is great. That was really over the top, I thought.
Keep in mind: if you plan to escape the football frenzy during future European or World Cups, Albania is not a good destination. Apart from that, it is a very likeable country.
Posted in Albania, Cinema, Germany, Sports, Travel, Video Blog
Tagged football, Tirana, world cup
3 Comments
My Donations to Public Libraries
My steadfast refusal to read e-books even in 2016 has two practical disadvantages:
- Each year, a few trees are felled just for the books I read.
- Whenever I stay at one place for a few months, I am gathering a small library, to which I have to say good-bye when moving. Shipping chests full of books simply is too expensive.
Therefore I often leave books behind on trains, in parks or in restaurants if I happen to finish them there, hoping that another bookworm will discover them.
Despite this method, during my last year in Romania there were still quite a lot of books that had accumulated:
In Târgu Mureș I had too many friends who would have argued about who gets what if I had tried to distribute the books among them. Thus, the most obvious solution was to bequeath this treasure to the public library in Târgu Mureș.
So please consider this: If you send me books, you are not only making me happy, but hundreds of other readers too. The next library that will be blessed in such a way is the one in Cochabamba in Bolivia. (There is even a German library for those who mail me books in German.) Each of your book shipments can thus change the lives of poor Bolivian children. It can be your book that makes them discover their love for literature, science and the wider world, makes them stop toiling in the silver mines in Potosí, makes them go to college instead, to study and to become successful and happy.
Video Blog: Unicorns
For thousands of years, mankind has been divided between those who believe in the existence of unicorns and those who don’t. Those who are convinced that unicorns are more than mere creatures of legend have been exposed to ridicule and malice. I myself used to be rather skeptical, but I have to concede that the absence of evidence is no proof of the non-existence of something. (Whole religions survive on this principle.)
But then this happened: When I was in Palermo in Sicily, I wanted to spend some time in nature. I hiked up Monte Pellegrino and discovered an enchanting forest, so quiet, so green, so lush, so suffused with light that it felt like in a fairy tale. Through the trees, the sea glistened in the distance, birds were humming happily, and no noise from the nearby metropolis reached my ears. An experience of complete happiness.
It was then that I heard a noise between the trees. Not having my rifle with me, I pulled out my camera instead and thus became the first human being to record unicorns in the wild:
At this point, I had to cut the video because it became too brutal. The two unicorns fought ferociously (I could never find out what had sparked their controversy, but it might have been an argument about their existence) and wounded each other enough to ultimately die on the spot. I buried them both.
Based on my scientific exploration, these two were the last two living unicorns, resolving the disagreement to the satisfaction of both parties: there are no (more) unicorns. End of discussion.
(Natürlich gibt es diese sensationelle Enthüllung auch für meine deutschen Leser.)
Monkeys are Humans too
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels.
Recently there has been a renewed discussion about the nature of monkeys and apes and how we should view and treat them. I was reminded of this when I was at Machía Park in Villa Tunari in Bolivia, where among other animals, monkeys live. But it’s not a zoo, so the monkeys are free to show up or leave into the nearby jungle.
At first, I was alone in the park and trod silently, not wanting to scare the monkeys. But I only saw one, high up in a tree. When I was at a vantage point overlooking the river, a group of young travelers showed up who were less silent than me. I was hoping they would leave soon because I wanted to see monkeys, not some hippies. But I underestimated the monkeys’ longing for social interaction. After they had heard humans, they actually came jumping through the trees, lowering themselves and joining us at the wooden structure.
At first, they climbed on the roof, looking at us with some timidity, then they came down and closer.
Now the monkeys were so preoccupied with the other group that they didn’t notice me approaching from behind.
One monkey sat down next to a guy and later fell asleep on his leg.
Another monkey apparently was a fitness freak who did his work-out and his stretching in front of everyone else.
When the group left, something more beautiful happened. A boy had shown up who took the same approach to nature as me: be quiet, enjoy the view. He stood at the rails of the terrace silently, staring into the distance, when a monkey approached him cautiously.
The boy didn’t say anything, so the monkey turned away, not wanting to disturb him. But when a second monkey showed up, the first monkey moved closer towards the boy and put his arm over the young man’s shoulder and around his neck, as if to signal “don’t be so lonely! You can be part of our group too.”
It was a beautiful thing to watch. The distinction between human and animal became blurred at that moment. At least with monkeys, we have much more in common than separates us. Not knowing their language doesn’t give us any right to lock them up in zoos. Otherwise, we might as well lock up many Chinese or young children because I cannot speak with them either. This might extend to many other animals too. They may not have the same ability to express emotions as monkeys and humans, but it doesn’t mean that a cow or a pig are not attached to their calves or piglets that you kill for your barbecue tonight.
Posted in Bolivia, Philosophy, Photography, Travel, Video Blog
Tagged animals, monkeys, Villa Tunari
1 Comment
Next trip: Tipnis National Park in Bolivia
My Bolivian housemate Henry is a computer and telecommunications expert who likes to watch football and drink beer. From time to time though, he says “let’s go into the wilderness” with the spontaneity of someone who wants to play a computer game for a few hours. And with the same lack of preparation. Two weeks ago, this almost got us killed in the mountains in Tunari National Park, when we were stuck in a canyon which we had reached by sliding down a waterfall which we couldn’t climb back up. We had to scale a 150-meter wall with loose rock, which took us more than an hour and a half. I was so scared to die (any wrong step or wrong grip would have been enough) as never before in my life. Once I slipped and only saved myself by holding on to a small tree growing out of the steep face of the rock. That day, I got grey hair and a new appreciation for life.
So when this week Henry suggested “why don’t we go into the rainforest for a couple of days?” I immediately said yes.
We are leaving today, because waiting would just mean that we could get prepared or even get useful things like tents, sleeping bags or mosquito nets. “No, we don’t need any of that. We’ll find some place to sleep,” my guide reassured me before mentioning that it’s his first time in Tipnis National Park, too. But I have learned over time that the most important things to look for in a travel partner are optimism and humor. With these two tools, everything else can be worked out.
And indeed, people live in Tipnis National Park, so why shouldn’t we find shelter? Ok, it’s the center of the cocaine production in Bolivia and some of the drug producers might not appreciate a nosy foreigner with a camera. On the other hand, drug smugglers have planes, so we might catch a ride out of the jungle if we get lost.
If not, we’ll have to wait for a boat
or walk through the rivers.
Which is only scary because there are snakes, crocodiles and dolphins.
If I won’t be back by Sunday or so, you know where to start looking for me. And if I never come back, I am sorry for all the articles I haven’t had time to write yet. Now you’ll have to travel and explore the world for yourself!
The Happy Hermit 