lunes, 29 de octubre de 2007

Welcome and Farewell



Gracias por la pachanga y por la comida, ya nos vemos pronto ojala con dos rancheras mas...

viernes, 26 de octubre de 2007

Se acabo

And I write from the airport and I say not goodbye but so long to all of you I’ve met here, and to all the ones on the other side of the pond: I’m coming!!!! And all of us together: Salud, salute, Cheers, skin of your nose, prost, shucram, topa, saude, sveikata y demas! And yes Igor: this one is so we don’t forget our names in the morning!

miércoles, 24 de octubre de 2007

Auschwitz


Por que podemos ser tan mierda?

martes, 23 de octubre de 2007

De Moscu a Polonia





The path I followed after leaving Moscow has been a path of history, more than a leisure trip, it has been cold water thrown at my face about the reality and the truth of some historical events.
Going to the political museum in St Petersburg, the Occupation museum in Riga, the KGB museum in Vilnius, the Refugee’s museum in Kaunas, and meeting the road museum that is the people walking the street...
People tell you history as they lived it. Seeing the distance growing bigger and bigger between Latvians and Russian Latvia residents breaks me. Such a small place with two faces totally opposite from one another. It seems to me like nothing more than a time bomb.
Destruction, genocide, murder... just pure hate. Coming into this trip and despite my cynicism, I didn’t believe, or didn’t want to believe, that actual evil could exist. Pure and unaltered evil, not just times when somebody does something bad, but true, consistent, planned evil. I´ve come to realize it does exist.
And these people have lived it. Walking through the streets you can see the uneasiness, uneasiness of a society who has been free for less than 20 years, uneasiness of a society that has their freedom taken away more than enough times, uneasiness of the possibility of it happening again as this world moves “forward.”
Tomorrow, the last piece of this trip through history, Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. Not a happy spot but one I believe is necessary in everybody’s life to understand the past…

jueves, 18 de octubre de 2007

Dosvedania Russia



After all this time (15 days later) trying to leave Russia I’m finally able to do so today, and as I wait for my train out of here I take a long stroll through the city that has seen me day in and day out for 5 weeks. And it's just today that I realize I don’t really want to leave... the irony. Plus today is Thursday Tango so what better a reason to stay just one more day…
I’ll miss the crowded metro, and the babushkas elbowing you in the ribs to get in front of you in the queue... I’ll miss Pasha saving me his last rotisserie chicken at 9 o’clock, and Masha with her everyday smile when giving me my blini (pancake) with nutella...

 I'll miss poor Anya giving me rides back from tango so I won’t have to leave at one o’clock with the last metro... Russian bands playing Spanish songs, really!!... Igor, the receptionist, who is never to tired to drink vodka... Sveta trying to convince me to learn pashtu… I’ll miss the sight of St Basil early in the morning as I stroll back to the hostel from a short salsa night, early in the morning, when there is nobody at Red Square; just a few drunks, St Basil and I… but I should return next year and hope everything stays the same, or not, at least till I see them again…

viernes, 12 de octubre de 2007

That time of the year

Its that time already. Like every year, time to unplug my phone and cut the virtual umbilical cord of emails. Just for a few weeks... will be ok, promise... talk to you from Peru....

jueves, 11 de octubre de 2007

Around Mockba



Finally left Moscow and went for a bike ride along the golden circle. Marvelous, just what i wanted to see and the people i wanted to meet. Pity the weather was truly awfull: rain, rain and freezing rain, but the sights were incredible. Just like back home all this small villages with astounding churches are just incredible. Getting a bit homesick but is the last strecht, few more countries, few more days and grandma here I come....