Saturday, 31 December 2011

New year my dear

Καλή Χρονιά - Bonne Année - Happy New Year - Feliz Año Nuevo - Guten Rutsch - Buon Anno - Gott Nytt År - Shana Tova - Stastny Novy Rok - Onnellista Uutta Vuotta - Feliĉan Novan Jaron - Godt Nyt År - Gelukkig Nieuwjaar - Sawatdee Pi Mai - Heri za Mwaka Mpya - Unyaka Omusha Omuhle - Xin Nian yu Kuai - Gëzuar Vitin e Ri - Gott Nýggjár - Selamat Tahun Baru - Boldog új Evet - Kia Hari te Tau Hou - Nav reh Mubarakh - Godt Nyttår - Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku - Srečno Novo Leto - Sanad Wanagsan - Heri ya Mwaka Mpya - Gelukkige Nuwejaar! 




Best wishes for an incredible year!



Tuesday, 29 November 2011

I need stamps...

..for my brand new passport



Spinning around the joy of living!


Monday, 24 October 2011

Planning ahead...

...for another amazing year!






33 and counting..

Sunday, 25 September 2011

The next big thing!

There are trips, and then there is THIS!!



Round The World 2012




Starting from London in mid-January, we will land in busy Bangkok. After staying few days to get our first 'hit' of Asia (and delicious Thai food), we will move towards the east and enter Cambodia. We will visit amazing Angkor Wat temples and few other highlights before entering mighty Vietnam. From the capital Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) the idea is to get our own transport (see Top Gear Vietnam) and travel from the south to the north of the country, aiming for the stunning Ha Long bay! From Hanoi, we will head towards Laos seeking the jungle beauties and the Mekong river. They say, 'tubing' on the river is a must! We will leave Laos and re enter Thailand this time from the north, Chiang Mai. On an over night train we will head back to Bangkok and our way towards the south city of Phuket and few other beautiful small islands. We will enter Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur before jumping onto a ferry to the primitive Indonesian Sumatra. Our next flight is from the neighbouring city-state of Singapore.

We will land in Cairns, north east coast of Australia, off the coast to the Great Barrier reef. A dive is a must there! A three week journey, mostly on the coast, and through the capital of Sydney, will end up in the Greek populated city of Melbourne. Flight from there and off to Christchurch, at the south island of New Zealand. I've been told renting a campervan and drive along the country's both major islands is the way to do it. We want to visit some glaciers and national parks while moving towards the north island. Our next flight is from Auckland and over the Pacific ocean to another world, Latin America.

We will land in Santiago de Chile. After acclimatising to the new environments, we will move south and aim for the wild and some national parks. We expect the weather as we will be moving south will be getting less and less welcoming. We will explore the southern Andes cordillera and enter Argentina and the town of Bariloche, the entry point of Patagonia region. A number of glaciers and national parks at the southern parts of Andes will be tiping points to this trip. We will travel to the southest place on earth, the town of Ushuaia, at the tip of the Land of Fire. There is only way north from there and the city of Buenos Aires. From there we will look for the amazing Iguazu falls before shortly exploring Uruguay and Paraguay. We will try to reach Salar de Uyuni in south Bolivia, an out of this world spot we missed in our previous trip. Brazil is the next and last country. We may need to take an internal flight if we want to see more of this enormous country. Our trip will end in the city of Rio de Janeiro where we take the flight and back to Europe.

Flights confirmed and carbon offseted. New passport at hand as well as australian visa. Psychologically, I'm still trying to realise where and what I will be going through the next few months. I am now looking for iNGOs to try and get involved in some projects along the way. It's a big thing for me. But still this trip is not my ultimate target, my ultimate dream. It is the means of becoming aware about our world, to see with my own eyes, the means of becoming a better man by finding and realising there more cultures and beliefs other than those we live in.

I'd rather get you motivated than envying or jealous. I hope this can motivate those who can do it and most importantly those who think they can't!! 



Everything is possible! 


See you soon






Nektarios~




p.s Have you been, done that? Do you have good insider's info for any of the places mentioned above? Any tips? Do's and dont's? Please come in touch! 

Friday, 12 August 2011

Greek summer time

Joy and happiness. Happy times. An incredible few days in Greece, included everything; work, two weddings, bike riding, sea, sailing, sun, good food and good friends and family. Whatever you read on the news, whatever you might think why Greece is in this economic trap, this is the country to adore the magnificent natural beauty of an ever changing landscape; lush green mountains, flat plains and plateaus, volcanoes, islands, open seas, peninsulas, small bays and secluded beaches. Adding to it the glorious spectrum of history and myths, gods and deities, someone could say that yes, Greece is the exotica of Europe.

The country's political situation is indeed in turmoil. Insecurity of what's coming, especially to younger generations, injustice, inequality, confusion and despair. Working relationships to unacceptable levels, employer-employee never happy with each other, when at the same time skilful people are forced to the unemployment agency. Where are we going, everyone asks?

The question does not only apply to Greece. It applies to worldwide scale. The so called financial 'crisis', it's again nothing more than the rich to get richer, the poor poorer, and the middle classes to vanish. The 'markets' drive the game and governments will do as they wish to keep their A credit ratings. Masses of people, cultures, societies are transformed in force, rapidly, for the gain of the rich, the multinational corporations, money launderers, bangsters. I am sick to watch politicians unable to lead, to take initiatives and stand against the flow and give hope for something better to the people. They are all players into an unspoken underground game, where very few have already accumulated enormous amounts of power and influence, globally. Sounds scary but I hope the headline stories of the last few months/years to awaken the masses that we are all driving to a wall if we continue like this. Constant positive index of growth is unsustainable, earth resources are diminishing while we pay higher taxes for everything, borrowers buy from borrowers and they borrow to others and there is no real value for anything any more.

Recently, I had an interesting discussion with a colleague in regards to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa. While the 'markets' are happy to bail out Greece with 105+110billion euros there is absolutely no intention to fund just 80million to philanthropic organisations who work there and save millions of people and children dying from famine and starvation. And these are real people, like you and me, in year 2011. Well, bailing out Greece it is just a change of some numbers in the state accounts but helping the poor is not. Real money needed to buy supplies, food, water, pharmaceutical material and assist with major improvements in infrastructure. The conclusion was that there is no profit there for the 'markets', the money will not be returned back with interest, with gains. So let those people die. 0% interest in people. At the same time fund Greece to acquire more debt, put Greeks to austerity, force privatisations, change the country as they want it. Greeks, as well as the rest of the world, are anxious. The weeks coming we are going to see a very fragile situation, with many countries risking default sooner rather than later.

How do we escape out of this? Well this is a big question, that even a group of nurtured, educated, 'visioners',  global leaders cannot solve. They are all trapped to a vicious cycle of short term visions, addiction to power and of course money. In Greece, the 'traditional forces' such as the family and often religion are bouncing back strong to keep people together, stronger.

Επίσης, θα ήθελα να πώ σε όλους τους φίλους και αδερφούς εκεί στην Ελλάδα πως όσο κι αν η κατάσταση σήμερα είναι οδυνηρή, άδικη, όσο κι αν επικρατεί ατιμωρησία, πιστεύω πως τα πράγματα θα καλυτερεύσουν, πως σε αυτό το σημείο που έχουμε φτάσει δεν γίνεται να πάει πιο χαμηλά. 'Εστω κι αν η χώρα πωλείται σε πολυεθνικές, έστω κι αν το βιοτικό επίπεδο του μέσου 'Eλληνα περικόπτεται συστηματικά, θα πρέπει να μάθουμε να 'παίζουμε' με τα καινούργια δεδομένα. Να κατανοήσουμε πως η εποχή του άληκτου καταναλωτισμού πέρασε, και είναι ευκαιρία να δώσουμε πιο πολύ βάση στο πνεύμα παρά στην ύλη. Να αισιοδοξούμε και να είμαστε χαρούμενοι. Ίσως να τα λέω εκ του ασφαλούς, αν και στην Αγγλία η κατάσταση τείνει να βγεί κι εδώ εκτός ελέγχου, και για να είμαι ειλικρινής, μου μοιάζει πολύ δύσκολο να επιστρέψω πια στην Ελλάδα σύντομα. Με όλους όσους συζητώ, ακόμη και με τον οικογενειακό μου κύκλο, με αποθαρύνουν. Ωστόσο, ήμουν ήδη 24 όταν άφησα τη χώρα για το Λονδίνο, και πρόλαβα να ζήσω, να δουλέψω, να κάνω φιλίες μιας ζωής. Γνωρίζω, δεν είμαι αουτσαιντερ, και γι αυτό θα πρότεινα ηρεμία και έμπνευση απο το πνεύμα και όχι το σώμα. Το περιβάλλον, η φύση στην Ελλάδα είναι μοναδική για έμπνευση και περισυλλογή. Κλείστε την τηλεόραση και απολαύστε το! :)

Here in England, riots spread all over the country in just few days. Shops, businesses, small and big, were looted and burned down. Youngsters most of them excluded from well paid jobs, unappreciated and faced with the government's budget cuts, tried to show off their powers to the police(=state) by burning the livelihoods of their fellow citizens. In fact, only few of them had a reasoning behind, the majority just wanted to confront the police and steal clothes, electronic equipment, cigarettes and whatever else was on 'offer'. The absurdity of our days. Sad.

Only recently, Bhutan's representative to the UN suggested to make happiness a development indicator rather than the GDP or other indicators showing happiness is money and vice versa(!). Indeed his vision is 'utopian' but has already the backing of another 66 member countries in the UN. We cannot measure prosperity with GDP, it shall be replaced by the GNH, the Gross National Hapiness.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-14243512

Anyhow, it is not my intention to analyse solutions to exit the crisis in this blog. This is only a wish for something new, something different. Money can't buy anything. When aaaall the money of this world run out then we will realise we can't eat money. We will realise there is no price tag for what it really counts in our lives, for what it makes all people happy. Love, appreciation, a healthy living (in body and mind), the grounds for people to flourish, to devise novelty, to expand on their talents, to create and feel good. To be able to give without the requirement to take back. To love one another, unconditionally.


Atmospheric refractions


I didn't really see the misery I was expecting. Maybe because I stayed only for a short while or because weddings are a good occasions to cheer up, and not to talk about problems. My very good friend Zacharias got married to Evangelia. Lovely couple. I really wish them the best of life and as they grow older together to get happier and happier. The night before the wedding, went out for drinks with him and after a few we decided to go for a serenade to her house. At 3am, we arrived  five of us, including the groom-to-be of course, with a guitar (none of us knew to play the guitar), couple of shakers and an uplifting mood. The bride was at the fourth floor so we had to take the lift and go up. We sang couple of songs, we woken up the whole block and then left.. haha it was such a good fun! Next day at the church for the ceremony was hot and sticky but it was a nice summer wedding..


Megara_In church



Alepohori_Happy couple



The ceremony was followed by a big fiesta in a beautiful country house in Alepohori. Loads of people turned up and the spirits were up and high! The food was amazing, the music, the people, the newly weds, everyone, including me, was really enjoying the night. After dinner, the dance started and ended early in the morning. Many good friends were there as well all my brothers and sister and girlfriends and boyfriend. It was probably the nicest evening/night of this summer.     


Alepohori_Wedding fiesta



Alepohori_Sis and Bro's (Panayiota, Sergios, Nektarios, Christos)



Alepohori_Early morning after wedding



After all this, next day I got my bike and went to Lefkada island. My good friend Angelos was there with his daughter Eliana. His father and grandparents are from the island, so there is a nice house in a beautiful mountainous village available. I have visited Angelos in Lefkada many times and also been in the past again but the beauty of the island is tempting to go back again and again. The island is so close to the mainland that there is no need of taking a ferry, instead there is a bridge connecting the island with the mainland, making it easily accessible without the hassle of waiting for a ferry boat. The island is in the Ioanian Sea and features some of the best beaches in Greece, if not in the world. Long white sandy beaches with clear blue waters. The island also features the best honey in the country.


Lefkada island_Egremni beach (search this on google images for more:)



Lefkada_Summer time



Lefkada_Leave (not live) your myth(!)



The beauty of the island is that someone can go to an amazing beach and after drive up the mountains and visit some lush green traditional villages. Certainly this is not unique to Lefkada but having the option to leave the sea and go to the mountain in 20 minutes is a great advantage. Karia, the village Angelos has a house, has a leafy large open plaza where all villagers spend their evenings talking, drinking coffee or eating in the nice warm summer weather. The food was delicious whether that was from a fish tavern next to the sea or a taverna up in the mountain villages. Of course we had the typical Greek souvlaki and few other local delicacies like Karsaniki salata (see below).  


Lefkada_Traditional alley way



Lefkafa_Karia plaza



Lefkada_Giant 'Karsaniki' salata



After few days in the island, we had the fine idea to go get a boat and sail a block of small islands around Lefkada. We visited Meganisi, Madouri, Thilia, Skorpidi, and the privately owned, Skorpios island. It is owned by the late Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis. It was the site of his wedding to former US first lady Jackie Kennedy. As it is private, we could not walk on the island and allowed to moor only in one location. We had the motorboat for a full day, so there was plenty of time to stop to places, dive in and then continue to other secluded beaches. Angelos daughter Eliana was the main captain and she performed her role   perfectly! The waters were warm and crystal clear. We arrived in a taverna by boat, the waiter drop a rope to catch us and we had nice food and drinks. We continued our tour until sunset..  


Lefkada_Our sailing playground



Lefkada_Secluded beaches



Lefkada_Out sailing (well, speed boating) :)



Lefkada_Fancy a dive at Skorpios?



Back in Athens the weather was warm and nice, the city was on its summer moods and despite the recent events, people were out and about. Although, from discussions someone could feel the tension, the disappointment people have, including me, from the situation the country has been in. I was lucky to be in Athens when Thievery Corporation were playing in Lycabettus hill, an open theatre on top of the hill opposite Acropolis. It was a top concert, very uplifting, quality performers and music and lyrics.We danced all night. The two rasta men bang the crowds with a song dedicated to the people of Athens called Vampires. A song against the IMF (International Mother Fuckers) as they were saying. Everyone went crazy! I think when people are under pressure, with money worries, over worked, without a bright future to look forward to, then celebration and partying gets intense and it is used as a form of resistance against those you wants us to be dejected and under constant fear. Thievery's new album is called Culture of Fear, tottaly worth listening. 



Athens_Lycabetus hill theatre 



Athens_Thievery Corporation in action



Athens_Thievery Corporation in action (against IMF)



The sunset below was captured with two different filters, with seven minutes difference from the same spot, Psatha beach, Alepohori. I like the sky colours and the fading mountains on the right. Nobody could resist of taking a photo of this and I sometimes wonder if we should start clapping when the sun disappears, as the tourists do in Santorini. I really couldn't decide which one to choose so I post both of them. The first is sharper, with more warmth and light as the sun is higher. The second includes movement from the two guys with the canoe. It was a nice beautiful moment, happy I captured it.    


Alepohori_Sunset1



Alepohori_Sunset2


I hope all of you are enjoying the summer and the starry night tonight and the August full moon tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying your time, enjoying the beauty of life whether you are in rainy England, hot Greece, monsoonal Nepal, or gazing the majestic Grand Canyon. 


Πάντα καλά

Bisous


Νεκτάριος~

Thursday, 30 June 2011

British summer time

As you can see, I tried to update the template and backgrounds of this blog; it is not an easy task for someone with my web design skills. I will keep looking for nice templates, there are some external to blogspot so it needs some research to find nice ones to fit the purpose. Then it needs to be applied to the site which is another pretty complicated thing to do.. Today I have done my best to refresh this place so makes it more interesting and easy to read. I hope you like it!

Well, as the title say so, welcome to the British summer time! Long day hours, the smell of grass at the parks, lots of festivals, lots of rain and unpredictable weather! The last few days, there are four seasons in a day, it can start with sunshine and end up on a storm. A bit confusing especially when it comes on what to wear in the morning before leaving home. I don't complain, it is nice whatever the weather and summer rain is mostly enjoyable as long as it is not cold and windy.

Life has turned back to normal since I came back from the trip in Latin America. Last week I received the alpaca piece from Peru I bought and sent with the post. I was relieved to see it was finally arrived, I spent some good cash on it and I was concerned it may never arrive! It took sometime but I am glad I now have it with me! I am thinking to put it up somewhere in the house, maybe in my tiny room, it will cover the whole wall side.

Mum Vaso came to visit me in London for few days, it was really nice to be with her, it was about 6 months since I last saw her in Greece. We spent some nice time together, she did all the cleaning/cooking to keep herself happy and we've done some museums and sightseeing (under the rain). My housemates were away on holidays and I had the house on my own, well along with 3 cats and mum for few days. I am happy to say I met Clarisse, after quite long time, we had a wonderful Sunday, sunny and hot in the park, it was like we were on holidays!! We were lucky to meet up in the only real summer day so far this summer, certainly that assisted to keep our moods up and high! :)

I had also the opportunity to visit Northern Ireland on a business trip with work. I stayed for three days in Belfast and did few energy surveys in some big supermarkets. Now I am looking forward to go to (troubled) Greece. I am flying next week and staying for about two weeks. The situation in my homecountry is out of control (again) and I am very very concerned about the future of my fellow country people especially the young generation like my twins sister and brother. It is a long topic for discussion and I will not expand in this post about it. My very good friend Zacharias is also getting married to Evangelia and it will be nice to see them and all friends back at home.

 

London_June'11 from my window


I had the chance to go to a nice festival, the Sunrise Celebration festival. http://www.sunrisecelebration.com/  It was a fine British festival. Not too many internationals, I felt it was only myself non british in the whole festival! It was very well organised with many stalls, tents, stages, different kinds of music and lots of children facilities! It was not only about music, and this is what I liked most. There were all sort of different talks, presentations, demos on how to grow stuff at home even dance lessons before you hit the main dancefloors! The photos below from the first day, because the next one Sunday, a big storm brought havoc to the fest..



Sunrise fest_Tipis and yarts (for rent)



Sunrise fest_On a fest spirit



Sunrise fest_Chilling



Sunrise fest_Ikran from Avatar?


I've listened to few nice artists, inlcuding Banco De Gaia, Mirror System, Eat Static and some more. James Monroe was also playing, the dj who I've listened to in some of the most amazing locations in Greece when I was a rebelious youngster. He is still good but not as good.. :) His legendary record label Flying Rhino is not releasing any more tunes. Lamb were playing in the main stage, they came out an hour late, played for 45 minutes and that's it! Not that I was sad to see them go but I would prefer to listen few more songs of theirs.   

Sunrise fest_James Monroe and Mirror System (System7)



Sunrise fest_Toby Marks (aka Banco De Gaia)



Northern Ireland was really nice! Belfast is such a lovely city. I was prepared for the worst but it turned out to be way better than I thought! First of all, the weather was great! It was sunny and, unlike London, warm and bright! I stayed in very nice hotel at the Botanical Avenue. Queen's University was only 5 minutes away so there were many students living in the area. People were out and about, in good spirits and despite what I heard, there was not a sign of violence or paranormal activity. Local independent coffee shops were full of students. Certainly different city culture comparing to London. I was lucky to find out the Belfast book festival was running, so I checked the programme and went to see an 'improvised' comedy performance at the Crescent Arts centre. There was a group of people playing sketches derived from stories suggested by the audience! No script or time to prepare anything! It's a very hard thing to do and as the director said, actors walking on 'a dangerous edge' in this acting. It was very funny, I liked it. Not all of the plays were top notch but some were spontaneous and indeed very funny!    



Belfast_Fort at Carrickfergus



Belfast_City Hall



Belfast_EC is moving elsewhere


Belfast_Become a Spartan in Belfast!




In the evenings, after finishing work, I attempted some sightseeing. I went to the Botanical Gardens nearby. It was beautiful. I spent hours walking around. The sun was up and it was perfect for staying in the park. I found a beautiful roses garden. Many many different kinds of roses in a kind of labyrinth shaped garden. Got my camera out and used macro to capture the detail of some fascinating roses.

Belfast_Botanical



Belfast_Roses garden



Belfast_Rosy1



Belfast_Rosy2



Belfast_Rosy3



Belfast_Rosy4



The next couple of photos are from within the Queen's univeristy campus. I turned my attention to this sculpture below. Amazed to see its name was the same as my favourite band I was listening at the festival (Mirror System). The other photo is a fine representation of how new modern elements can be incorporated onto an old church building. Well, it is not a place of worship anymore, the university use it as a library.


Belfast_Mirror system



Belfast_Digitally connected church



And of course I flew with Air Lingus as their logo is the same as Panathinaikos!! olee

Belfast_Panathinaikos Air Lines \o/


Best wishes to all


Nektarios~

Friday, 3 June 2011

Andes to La Paz

We left the Amazonian jungle behind, again an 11hrs bus journey back to Cusco, from the green carpet to the green mountains, on the Interoceanic Highway, a controversial project due to its environmental impacts to the rainforests. It aims to connect Brazil with Peru and the Pacific Ocean thus with the Chinese markets. This time we had surprises on our way… We got in the bus, very happy it was half empty so we got two seats for each one at the back. Really cool, we thought it is going to be an easy one this time. After 3-4 hours driving in the night, our bus broke down. They told us to get off and wait for another bus which was coming after us. We didn't understand much, we were half asleep, so the people got out, got in the next bus and gone! It was us, the driver, the attendants and 2-3 more people. We spent sometime contemplating our next moves. No bus, no next bus, in the middle of nowhere, and another 4-5 hours to Cusco. They told us they will come to pick us up but that would be in many hours. We tried to hitch-hike but there were only heavy trucks going slower than walking speed! As all 4 of us are engineers, we tried to fix the problem by replacing the broken belt in the engine with one of the attendant’s tights. It did work! For 5 minutes... We were condemned! We started hitch-hiking every passing car! Luckily enough, about an hour later two relatively modern small trucks stopped and we got on the back, open air. It was freezing but the views of the landscape, the snow peaks, the valleys and the villages were well worth it. In fact, the delay made this trip a day trip which otherwise we would have missed in the dark. Four five hours on there it was exhausting but rewarding at the same time! Unfortunately, there are no photos from this part as all our camera batteries were flat. In our minds only…


We stayed another couple of days in Cusco, to recover and get ourselves sorted to leave for Bolivia. After five days in the rainforests and the open air journey, we were kind of exhausted! On top, we had to acclimatise ourselves again, travelling from sea level jungle to 3450m in only few hours, some of us got sick (not me) :)This time we took it easy and we had some nice relaxing days, with good food and sleep…


We arranged our tickets and got in yet another bus towards lake Titicaca and Bolivia. We changed bus at Puno and from there to the border, went through customs and head towards Copacabana, a touristy village on the shores of lake Titicaca, at the Bolivian side. We exchanged our Peruvian Soles to Dolares Bolivianos and got boat tickets to Isla del Sol.

Peru - Bolivia crossing



Peru - Bolivia crossing



Lake Titicaca_Lago sagrado


Lake Titicaca was beautiful. A high altitude lake, with a landscape that reminds Greek islands! Even Lonely Planet says so! Certainly wasn’t as beautiful as lake Yamdrok Tso in Tibet, even if the setting was very similar. We got on a boat for a 3 hours sail to the north part of the island. The boat was full of hippie travelers seeking a place to relax and take it easy. Titicaca is one of most sacred lakes in the Incas civilisation. We explored the Bolivian side.     


Lake Titicaca_Traditional (touristic) boats




Lake Titicaca_Snow peak mountains surrounding the lake


According to the Inka legend, Isla del Sol is the place where the sun was born. Indeed, there was plenty of sun here but during the night it was freezing! At an altitude of 3600m, the night is cold whatever the season of the year might be. In fact it was freezing, and very windy. We didn't even dare going outdoors, even if we wanted to. Not much to do in the island villages apart from couple of basic restaurants. We did not get too excited about the place and next day we got in (last) the boat and back to Copacabana shore.

Isla del Sol_Sandy beach

 

Isla del Sol_Elafonisos looking like beach



Lake Titicaca_Ferry boat


We left Titicaca behind on a bus ride to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The 3 hours journey took us through some more amazing landscaping. The altitude from here did not go lower than 3200m until the day we departed Bolivia. Snow peaks were visible from literally any angle you were looking from. 

 
From Titicaca to La Paz

 

La Paz from above

 

La Paz is the highest in altitude capital in the world (3,650m). Again our breath was sort, getting tired in the smallest effort. The city centre was beautiful, with lots of churches and flea markets. The local buses were old american Dodge, really cool but noisy and dirty. Here there were only very few people speaking English so we had to try even harder to communicate. Bargaining artifacts and t-shirts was such fun especially when none of the involved parties could speak each other’s language! We managed to achieve some good bargains!

La Paz_Dodge bus(1)



La Paz_Dodge bus(2)

 

The architecture was pretty similar to the previous cities we visited, like Lima and Cusco. There were lots of colonial buildings and churches. The city center was buzzing, very busy and our city tour walk was breathless, not really because of what we were seeing but because La Paz is not on a flat plane and it was really difficult to breath especially when you go upwards.. :) We did some nice sightseeing. We also visited Coca Museo, a small exhibition about coca leaves, the powder as well as information about its cultivation through the centuries and other controversial stories about the drug use in US and elsewhere.


 
La Paz_Atrium within the hotel we stayed



La Paz_Catedral

 

La Paz_Coca museo(!)



La Paz_1st of May demonstrations



La Paz_Hail stones



La Paz_City architecture (1)

 

La Paz_City architecture (2)

 

La Paz_Local periptero

 

La Paz_The struggled rooster



The following picture is from San Pedro’s prison main gate. This is one of the weirdest institutions in the world! Prisoners in here pay their own cells, they have to work to earn their living, and they even do tourist tours inside the prison! This is the book I was reading through this trip, Marching Powder, written by Rusty Young. It tells a real story of an Englishman drug trafficker who was convicted for trying to sneak 5 kg of cocaine into Europe. He became the prison’s tour guide, he had a restaurant and a small shop. The book shows the dark side of life in such place, someone cannot believe these situations exist. We didn’t get in for the tour, the guards did not even allow us to take photographs, but I manage to sneak one. If you wanna read more about or see some photos check http://www.marchingpowder.com/


La Paz_San Pedro prison




As they were only few days left, we sadly decided that we cannot visit Salar De Uyuni, unfortunately. We needed another 2-3 days to travel south of Bolivia and return to La Paz to get our flight and simply we did not have enough time for this. Instead, we decided to do the mighty Death Road! A 63km downhill bike ride into the most dangerous road in the world!

 After a ‘heavy’ night out, we got up at 7am, got in the van with all the gear and head to the mountains. We went up to 4700m, had a brief from our instructor and we started the downhill ride.




Starting point

 

Death Road_Tarmac section

 

Death Road_We can make it!


The landscape was amazing! The first section was on tarmac so it was easy to drive and at the same time to look around and use the camera for some short filming (!) There was our instructor guide in front and the support van was following behind us. We had clear instructions not to overtake our guide. We asked for an ‘aggressive’ ride and we pushed him to his limits!


Death Road_Action preview (lower your volume plz)

 

Death Road_Pare!


The gravel section was a dangerous, adrenaline high activity! We had such great fun! We drove our bicycles through a narrow road, with no barriers whatsoever and cliffs over 300m high! There have been numerous fatal accidents (deaths, thus the name) including buses falling over. Today the gravel section is not used by the traffic which is now diverted to a newly constructed road. There were many groups cycling the Death Road. Sometimes it was even more dangerous when we had to overpass them. I loved the activity from the beginning to the end! It was grrrreat and we couldn’t believe it when our guide said this is the end of the route. We wanted to get the van and go back to start over again!


Death Road_Majestic views

 

Death Road_Narrow crossing



Death Road_Steep hills

 

Death Road_Survivor

 

Death Road_In style..



Death Road_On the edge



 
Death Road_Waterfall passage




Death Road_Messy

 

Death Road_Our downhill group

 

Bliss on the way back to La Paz (1)

 

Bliss on the way back to La Paz (2)


Back to La Paz the same evening, none of us was too happy about leaving. We did our last minute shopping and prepared our back packs for the long return flight. Our flight was early in the morning and again we manage to sleep only 2 hours so we sleep in the plane. I was flying with Angelos to London and the other two back to Martinique; all of us through Miami where we separated.

It has been an amazing journey, a journey of landscape contrasts, from dessert to lush green mountains, to snow peaks (well we didn’t climb them though), to the jungle and Amazon by-rivers, to high altitude lakes and capital cities! Additionally, the food was great, the culture, the history, people were friendly and even with our limited Spanish we did not face any problems throughout the trip. It was a journey of a lifetime to remember, a journey I would recommend to everyone to do it at some point in their life! I wish I could stay longer to do Uyuni, then Chile and Argentina, but I don’t want to be greedy. I had great time, great moments and I believe I am very very lucky having the opportunity to do something like this. I wish to all of you reading this that one day you make it happen! And if so, please let me know, I can give you some really good tips!




That was a nice trip guys! 







Hasta luego amigos!


Nektarios~