http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Melchior/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Melchior en-us Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:57:51 +0000 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:57:51 +0000 PlopOh no What was thatWhat was that thudWhat just landed on my bed in the middle of the nightShould I just not move and see if it goes away Was I dreamingHeyIt moved I felt something and heard it tooOk have to reach out from under the covers and turn the light on...Click.Nothing.Plop PlopYesThere it isPhew Not a snake falling on my bed after allA frog trapped in the lampshadeA http://www.travelblog.org/Antarctica/Antarctica/blog-453635.html On the road...againShe ducked and dodged watchful eyes alert dark black.Studying waiting learning...Then the light changed the look was another.She knew.She was ready.Uh oh time to get out of hereToo late.She weaved like a cobra hypnoticShe was coiled and poised to strikeOne two three you were hit by a treeFull speed different angles no chanceShe is small she is light she is cl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-East/Lugano/blog-446275.html Today is wonderful... AlwaysJust returned from an adventure in Cordoba Argentina ten days of unexpected surprises.Funny how life is one huge adventure that we walk into backwards semi blindfolded looking for clues in front of us all the while continuing to move into the unknown ahLove itMeans nobody really knows anythingNow how's that for a liberating thoughtWell let me see I think s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Cordoba/Cordoba/blog-362072.html Now WhatSo here I am stranded in South America... Stranded from the German Strand which means Beach... which I loveWell I could just wander the amazon or make necklaces to sell on the beach or set up a facial reflexology corner or work in a bar maybe even teach English work as a receptionist in a hotel or make American pancakes the fluffy ones at the square...Or head out to a monaster http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Santa-Cruz-Department/Santa-Cruz/blog-355170.html Of Endings and of new BeginningsSo with a note of tristesse I must officially inform that my roundtheworld ticket has just expired... On November 22nd exactly a year had passed since I had gotten on the plane at Heathrow on my way to Antananarivo.This last leg was from Salvador de Bahia Brasil back to London effectively closing the loop.End of trip. Basta. Finito.For a nostalgic recap http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-350662.html We had last seen each other a cold January night in New Delhi...Jordi and Vanessa went to the Andaman Islands while Alberto and I headed the opposite way to Goa and onwards. They returned to Ibiza to work the Summer season.Now here we were reunited at the other end of the World another bustling city cold and rainy tooSao Paulo Brazil Jordi waiting at the airport we stranded in Bolivia tha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Santa-Catarina/Florian-polis/blog-338371.html The air is very good hereAfter eating rice and soup in the Andes it was off to La Argentina to the city of so many friends... Buenos AiresGrowing up on Ibiza I had the wonderful good fortune of having a volleyball court in the garden where the Saturday afternoons assembled an eclectic mix of youthful adventurers from all corners of the world.Men and women young and stillyoung all eager for http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-329422.html Time and Time AgainThis time every second was painful every step a step back in time.I love fun and games adventure and sunshine the beach and coconut treesso......what was I doing in the freezing cold Andes walking along a trail into the cloudsA trail so Ancient that even the Inca's had a legend for that place the birthplace of the Empire. Decidedly a timeless placeBack to those steps... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-325693.html Finished Work The final touch to the gruelling schedule of the past couple of months was to handdeliver all the players to their connecting flights in Miami... without losing anySounds easy enough unless you have a three hour delay a surprise fuel landing in Cali and a Bolivian shopkeeper calling the airport policewoman to arrest three of them just before takeoff That was before landing in http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Santa-Cruz-Department/El-Fuerte-de-Samaipata/blog-303681.html Work.Almost forgot about that wordNow I am fully immersed in it and funnily enough time is flyingEverything is taken care of sort of.I mean everything is taken care of except for the unexpected... which seem to happen dailyAlberto and I are living with a Bolivian Family maid included.We are fed twice a day our clothes are washed and our rooms cleaned and there have even been a couple of p http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Santa-Cruz-Department/Santa-Cruz/blog-299320.html Time TravelsWhen I was 19 I decided to try to make a vague dream a reality and received a chance of a lifetime...I could spend three months with Academia Tahuichi in Bolivia...I would train with the team that was preparing for an international tournament the Dallas Cup.My investment was to quit my job pay for my flight my food my lodging and sweat like I had never sweat before.I paid gladly.A http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Santa-Cruz-Department/Santa-Cruz/blog-293736.html Voices from the past...I wrote my mother after the last entry asking where she and my father had parted ways... ... it was in a small town on lake Atitln called Panajachel near the river...I know that this borders on the ridiculous... I wrote that blog from PanajachelEither my subconscious knew this and pushed me this way or it was just serendipity or simple coincidence quien sabeThe funn http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Isla-Mujeres/blog-287684.html GUATEMALASomehow she has been calling since childhood when I first visited in 1973 still in cloth diapers where my parents decided to travel different ways...Guatemala has been beckoning since I was one.Perhaps by returning I can be One again...Since the beginning of this voyage there has been a sense of awakening of dreams not yet dreamt becoming real of finding myself while shedding bi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Lago-de-Atitlan/Panajachel/blog-283068.html Lovely Planet not Lonely at allAs I have already mentioned I am an extremely lucky person.Lucky to have met so many marvellous people been to so many places even to have seen it rain in paradise.Paradise in the rain remains... ParadisePeople have made the world my oysterMy nonclusion avoiding any conclusions... is that paradise is any place where you connect with the people and vicevers http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Yasawa-Islands/blog-279750.html Wandering the World Wondering Wistfully Why We Wander Wonder....Ok okI guess it could just go on foreverWhatever.Am in Queenstown South Island New Zealand the other side of the earth from Europe waiting to see if the weather clears so that Alberto and I can jump out of a plane from 12000 feet or four kilometers see the bottom of the earth from above at 200 kilometers per hour... then ho http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-271340.html How do you make decisionsHow do you know what to chooseI haven't got a clue what to write about as I sit at a sidewalk cafe' in Bondi Beach sipping a deliciously aromatic black coffee and nibble at a brownie savouring the decadent chocolate taste...almost too sweet yet the perfect accompaniment to the bitter liquid... bitter yet tasty ever since a decision to stop adding sugar to anything I http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Bondi-Beach/blog-258853.html Cambodia what's it like anywayTwo weeks in two days... a bit of delicious decadence includedAngkor Wat was on my list of places to go when I was planning this roundtheworld trip then Felix casually mentioned that he was running the Cambodian Children's Painting Project so I pledged to visit him. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.Of course Felix said that I would never get all t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-262849.html Rest and RecreationAfter a few days rest in Goa to let Alberto get a bit acclimatised to the sun fun and surf we went on our minimissions.Alberto intrepid travel newcomer managed to get on a train halfway across India to adopt a girl in Andhra Pradesh at the Vicente Ferrer NGO with train changes and confusing information he made it without a hitch had a great time even finding time to pl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Allepey/blog-255046.html After the Sun...MumbaiWhere everybody is zooming along trying to pay for one of the most expensive living areas of the world not shy about asking for tips or of saying that they consider what you have given to be radically less than what is warranted expected or even correctAfter a daylong tour of all the typical sights our driver was very disgusted at our 200 rupee tip. Strange because wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-245836.html Connections and Printouts Back to some of my rootsMy fifth time to India marked by adventure as usualFrom Cape Town to Johannesburg to Mumbai to Goa with three different airline companies and three different tickets... which meant that were any flights to be delayed I would be in logistic troubleThe flight out of Cape Town was delayed... by ten minutes but you know that feeling of col http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Anjuna-Beach/blog-240220.html