Our first impressions of Bucharest, capital of the former Eastern European state of Romania, on walking out of the airport terminal was that it was a bleak, foreboding place where you had to watch out for yourself and your belongings at all times. Having been warned about airport taxis preying on new arrivals, we decided to take our chances on the public bus. Once on board, the locals regarded us and our backpacks with attitudes ranging from complete indifference to mild amusement. About halfway through the long trip into town, it began to pour with rain - not ideal considering that [View Full Entry]

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Hi guys, long time no see! Well what about last weekend? Did I ever said NO to a mountain trip invitation? So let’s summarize: last Friday I resigned my current job! After a quick gathering with some friends we all agreed I need to get out of the city and relax my mind after such stressful decision. Its end of May and the mountain area is best get away! Saturday at 7 o’clock in the morning we all were in front of train line No 9 waiting the ride to Busteni. I havent slept all night but I hardly waited to [View Full Entry]

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To be fair, before I started this trip I had no idea about Brasov or anything regarding what there could be to do here or in the area. That is the joy of hostels - somebody says something and you go. Interestingly enough, that means that you end up meeting the same people over and over again in the hostels, but that's a good time, too. Also, in the interests of full disclosure, I am not now, nor have I ever been a sweet transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania. So, Brasov, great little town. It looks like it should look. It is [View Full Entry]

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Greetings one and all, so the big update is that we are staying in Romania post-peace corps. We have decided to take a leap and start some new things on this side of the pond. Alecia will start a small business in wild gathered products, Chris will manage the community foundation he started and we will both do some editing and consulting on the side. More on all that in the next blog but in the meantime, Wish us luck! Once again we’ve let our blog go into hibernation… I’d blame it on a busy schedule, but who doesn’t have one [View Full Entry]

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Last days in beautiful Romania.... ....Estos fueron los ultimos dias en Bucharest....Me quede los ultimos dias en casa de mi amiga francesa Magali y Lucy que son lo maximo....me recibieron con los brazos abiertos como cuando nos conocimos en el mar negro.....por ahi nos fuimos a pasar el tiempo a "Carturesti" una biblioteca/tea room www.carturesti.ro .....entre paginas y paginas de libros de viajes y mapas se me van las horas queriendo llegar mas y mas lejos..... ....Tambien me pase mucho tiempo, caminatas al parque y alrededores con Belen la hermana de Maria Eugenia que llego de visita de Espana donde es [View Full Entry]

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Bucharest is an interesting city. I, like most people, had no love for the town, but some really found the place great. That is not to say that there is nothing interesting there - that is anything but the case - it is just that it s difficult to get a grasp on what makes the city. There is no "there" there architectually speaking, by which I mean that one can get no sense of what the city's past was by studing the buildings (at least no earlier than the mid-20th century when Ceaucescu tore most of the city down). Friday, [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everyone, We made it to Rome! Not overnight, of course, considering that it took us 22 hours just to get to Venice. We left Romania on Friday, May 9, Bethany’s birthday. We had birthday cake with Peter, Hailey and the team, and then had a cake at Vasili and Ana’s place, a wonderfully hospital couple. They live in a typical Romanian apartment building; very interesting! Not exactly what we are accustomed to. We left Peter and the team at the Sibiu Airport. It was then that we had to drastically alter our travel plans; we had planned to drop south [View Full Entry]

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Daytrip to Sinaia, Romania - Peles Castle & Mountain Hiking .....Y aqui vamos de nuevo pa'la calle...una vez que se empieza no se puede parar, es como heroina este deseo incontrolable de comerme el mundo, de ver y absorber todas las cosas tan impresionantes que solo se viven y se sienten viajando.....Este va a ser mi ultimo blog en Rumania ya que este Domingo continuo mi "journey"....(aparte necesito encontrar la razon por la cual las fotos estan saliendo un poco estiradas en el sitio).... ....Hoy me siento particularmente feliz de haber recibido tan lindo correo de la Ire y aparte ese [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everyone, This is our last day here; we've not had internet connection since Monday to blog, thus you haven't heard from us. We've had a great couple last days. On Tuesday I went with the nurse to various homes to visit elderly people in the little outlying town of Lunca. It was amazing to get inside their homes and listen to their stories. (through a translator). The houses were very, very poor. One room in the house serves as kitchen, livingroom, bedroom. The room was probably about twelve by twelve. The house was made up out of two rooms, but [View Full Entry]

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Our third night in Romania was the first night we had to set up camp for the night. At Sofia and Bucharest we stayed in hotels...albeit slightly dodgy hotels!! I was amazed at how much crap is stored on that bus and how quickly the campsite is put together. You have to remember that there's 50 people on the bus. Thats: 25 tents; Nearly 100 mattresses (you get through them quickly); The Cook tent; All the food and drink for the next few days; all the cooking gear (stoves, water containers etc); All the food; plus all the shit owned by [View Full Entry]

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