After 3 days in Uruguay, I am slowly realising that I have left Brazil. Montevideo is a nice, quite city, people speak Spanish and drink maté all the time. I am liking it here, but my heart and my thoughts are still in Brazil, the first country of my trip, the country I fell in love with.
It is difficult to express with words the incredible variety of landscapes, people, feelings I experienced during the 3 months I have spent in Brazil. So I won't even try...What I can do and I have just done is to create a photo collection of my time there. The result? 50 unforgettable pics repsresenting 50 unforgettable moment of my trip.
Many more thousands memories will stay in my heart forever.
Thank you Brazil, see you again in June 2012!
Best of Brazil, 21.9-17.12.2011
After this moment of grateful review of the time in Brazil, I feel ready to continue my trip.
8 more days in Uruguay, then Buenos Aires.
I love my life on the road!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Time is running out: last day in Brazil!
Nearly a month has passed from my last post in the blog! The time has passed so quickly and I still can't quite belive today is my last day in Brazil, at least for the moment.
I have spent the last weeks mostly in big cities (Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre) and I am missing nature. But in a couple of weeks I will leave for Patagonia so it will compensate, I guess ;-)
I don't have many words now, only the big desire to enjoy the last hours in Brazil and, as soon as I find time, to write a text to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people I have met in the last 3 months.
Here a few pics from:
Sao Paulo
Curitba and Morretes
I have spent the last weeks mostly in big cities (Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre) and I am missing nature. But in a couple of weeks I will leave for Patagonia so it will compensate, I guess ;-)
I don't have many words now, only the big desire to enjoy the last hours in Brazil and, as soon as I find time, to write a text to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people I have met in the last 3 months.
Here a few pics from:
Sao Paulo
Curitba and Morretes
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Visiting Don Bosco schools in Rio
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| Hugs with the sweetest kids on earth :-) |
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| Group pic with the whole class |
Rio is not only Corcovado, Pao de Azucar and Copacabana. Rio is also „famous“ for his many favelas, where hundreds of thousands of people live. During on the my last day in Rio, I had the opportunity to visit two Don Bosco Centers and have a closer look at one of the biggest favelas, the Jacarezinho. I spent the morning in the Youth Center of Riachuelo. I met manye children and youngsters there, playing football, table tannis, capoeira, etc. They all live in the favela, which I visited in the afternoon. Walking there with a Salesian priest (it is too dangerous to go there alone, he said), we reached the other Don Bosco center, a school right in the middle of Favela. There I spent 2 hours visiting all the classes and I was welcomed by the children like a rock-star: everybody hugged me, wanted to make pictures with me, asked me many questions and even autographs. And manye said with my new haircut I look like Neymar, a famous brazilian young football player, star of the moment.
What a fun and at the same time touching experience! I promised them to visit them again and I want to keep my promise in June 2012, when I plan to be back in Rio for at least one month.
What a fun and at the same time touching experience! I promised them to visit them again and I want to keep my promise in June 2012, when I plan to be back in Rio for at least one month.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Hiking to the Corcovado
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| Christ the Redeemer...and me :-) |
What did I do? I hiked on the top of Corcovado, until the statue of the Christ the Redemeer.
Not alone, but with five other people: my dear friends Mathieu and Anne-Therese from France and three argentinian couchsurfers I have met in Rio: Laura, Meli and Emanuel.
To go up, it was a 3-hour hike in a street first, in a narrow path in the forest then, and along the train track in the end. With around 30 degrees temperature not the easiest walk, but definitely a beautiful one. Turning the corner you never know what to expect, it could be another part of the forest or a breath-taking view of the coast!
Once reached the top, we spent around 2 hours at the base of the Christ statue. The landscape is so incredible that I could not stop looking at the most incredible combination of nature and human buildings I have ever seen!
We walked back using another path which brought us to the park Loge, near the Lagoa, where we also met a few monkeys.
Overall, a glorious day and some more unforgettable memories to add to my unforgettable trip!
More pics from the hike to Corcovado
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| the wonderful six :-) |
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| An amazing view from the top |
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
My first week in Rio
Rio is a big city, no doubt about it. More than 8 millions people, so basically all of Austria in one city!
I arrived last Tuesday and after 1 week here I have the impression I only saw a small part of the city. At the same time, I already feel completely at home.
I was hosted for 6 days by Mathieu and Anne-Therese, old friends from the Vienna time and it was wonderful to spend time. We saw each other for the last time in February in Vienna with the idea of meeting somewhere in South America and I am really happy we realised our wish :-)
The weather was sunny at the beginning and rainy in the last days, so until now no classical tourist places visited like the Christ and the Pao de Acucar, but we I went to Copacabana, Ipanema, Forte do Leme (with wonderful views!), I had a crazy party night in Lapa and I was at theater in the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil on Sunday night. Moreover, I read two books, spent a lot of time with old and new friends, had great food.
Life is so great here that I decided to stop for a longer period, until 20th November. Last night I moved to another part of the city and I was welcomed by my new cs host, Thalia. She is a wonderful person, complete trust at first sight and immediately went along very well. This morning when I woke up after a confortable sleep on a real bed, she left me a note with perfect description of basically any information I might need about the city and...a lot of delicious fruit in the fridge (ananas, mango, kivi, papaya) which she extra bought for me knowing I am vegetarian. As if this was not enough, I could use her washing machine to wash all my dirty stinky clothes ;-) I guess they were really happy to be washed well after the last 3 hand-wash I made in the last weeks!
I feel so thankful for all the wonderful experiences and people I am meeting on my trip, they are giving me a lot of energy and trust in a better world!
Well, I think I have writenn enough for now. it is raining outside so I will go to visit some museums today. I am looking forward to another day in Rio!
Here are some pics from my first week in Rio
I arrived last Tuesday and after 1 week here I have the impression I only saw a small part of the city. At the same time, I already feel completely at home.
I was hosted for 6 days by Mathieu and Anne-Therese, old friends from the Vienna time and it was wonderful to spend time. We saw each other for the last time in February in Vienna with the idea of meeting somewhere in South America and I am really happy we realised our wish :-)
The weather was sunny at the beginning and rainy in the last days, so until now no classical tourist places visited like the Christ and the Pao de Acucar, but we I went to Copacabana, Ipanema, Forte do Leme (with wonderful views!), I had a crazy party night in Lapa and I was at theater in the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil on Sunday night. Moreover, I read two books, spent a lot of time with old and new friends, had great food.
Life is so great here that I decided to stop for a longer period, until 20th November. Last night I moved to another part of the city and I was welcomed by my new cs host, Thalia. She is a wonderful person, complete trust at first sight and immediately went along very well. This morning when I woke up after a confortable sleep on a real bed, she left me a note with perfect description of basically any information I might need about the city and...a lot of delicious fruit in the fridge (ananas, mango, kivi, papaya) which she extra bought for me knowing I am vegetarian. As if this was not enough, I could use her washing machine to wash all my dirty stinky clothes ;-) I guess they were really happy to be washed well after the last 3 hand-wash I made in the last weeks!
I feel so thankful for all the wonderful experiences and people I am meeting on my trip, they are giving me a lot of energy and trust in a better world!
Well, I think I have writenn enough for now. it is raining outside so I will go to visit some museums today. I am looking forward to another day in Rio!
Here are some pics from my first week in Rio
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| Por-de-sol in Copacabana |
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| Mathieu, me and Anne-Therese in Forte do Leme |
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| Amazing view of Rio! |
Friday, October 28, 2011
My last days in Bahia...see you again 2012!
21st September - 24th October: Massi in Bahia
Incredible but true, more than a month has already gone and my time in Bahia is over, at least for this year.
The last places I visited were Eunapolis, Porto Seguro, Arraial D´Ajuda and Santa Cruz Cabralia.
Very beautiful places, probably the first ones to be ever seen by Portuguese eyes in the year 1500, as Cabral arrived on these coasts.
It rained a lot,basically around 10 times every day! So I was going out with rain jacket and putting it on and off all the time. I made a wonderful 11km beach walk from Arraial to Trancoso and there were nearly no people in the beach. The only bad thing: the ocean looked dangerous with high waves and dark water, so no swimming this time.
Thanks Bahia for the wonderful experiences and now it is to go to Rio de Janeiro!
See more pics here: Brazil Pt. 4 - Eunapolis, Porto Seguro, Arraial D`Ajuda and Santa Cruz Cabralia
Incredible but true, more than a month has already gone and my time in Bahia is over, at least for this year.
The last places I visited were Eunapolis, Porto Seguro, Arraial D´Ajuda and Santa Cruz Cabralia.
Very beautiful places, probably the first ones to be ever seen by Portuguese eyes in the year 1500, as Cabral arrived on these coasts.
It rained a lot,basically around 10 times every day! So I was going out with rain jacket and putting it on and off all the time. I made a wonderful 11km beach walk from Arraial to Trancoso and there were nearly no people in the beach. The only bad thing: the ocean looked dangerous with high waves and dark water, so no swimming this time.
Thanks Bahia for the wonderful experiences and now it is to go to Rio de Janeiro!
See more pics here: Brazil Pt. 4 - Eunapolis, Porto Seguro, Arraial D`Ajuda and Santa Cruz Cabralia
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| Colonial building in the upper city of Porto Seguro |
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| Wonderful empty beaches in Arraial D´Ajuda |
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| Street art in Santa Cruz Cabralia |
Sustainable Couch in Eunápolis
On Friday 21st October I had the opportunity to present Sustainable Couch for a second time in Brazil!
This happened in Eunápolis, a small city in Bahia where I surfed for 2 days the couch of the only couchsurfer there, Rodrigo. Being a sustainability professor at a federal college, he invited me to present my project in front of his class.
So during the day I tried to train my Portuguese for the event! On a late Friday evening - from 9 to 10 pm - I started giving an introduction of what CouchSurfing is (no one of them knew about it), followed by the presentation of the Vienna Sustainability Groupd and Sustainable Couch. In the end, I also presented some pictures about my sustainable surfing & volunteering experience in the Chapada Diamantina.
The audience seeemed very interested and I feld very confortable while talking. A few questions were posed, but many people were already thinking about the weekend and ran away right at the end ;-)
Overall, a very positive experience for me: I am learning more and more with every presentation!
Thanks Rodrigo for the invitation and for hosting me!
An audience of nearly 40 people listening to my presentation on a late Friday evening!
Speaking Portuguese with the helo of Spanish, Italian, English words...and of my hands!
This happened in Eunápolis, a small city in Bahia where I surfed for 2 days the couch of the only couchsurfer there, Rodrigo. Being a sustainability professor at a federal college, he invited me to present my project in front of his class.
So during the day I tried to train my Portuguese for the event! On a late Friday evening - from 9 to 10 pm - I started giving an introduction of what CouchSurfing is (no one of them knew about it), followed by the presentation of the Vienna Sustainability Groupd and Sustainable Couch. In the end, I also presented some pictures about my sustainable surfing & volunteering experience in the Chapada Diamantina.
The audience seeemed very interested and I feld very confortable while talking. A few questions were posed, but many people were already thinking about the weekend and ran away right at the end ;-)
Overall, a very positive experience for me: I am learning more and more with every presentation!
Thanks Rodrigo for the invitation and for hosting me!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
It is hard to leave Salvador!
It has been already 2 weeks since I have arrived in Salvador...and it is getting hard to leave this wonderful place!
I feel so at home here, with the wonderful Salvador CS community inviting me from event to event: bike rides in the park, culinary meeting, weekly meeting, theater group, etc. etc.
The people are friendly, the language sounds amazing and it feels just good to spend time with these wonderful people :-)
I spent the last 3 days in the island Morro de Sao Paulo, a real paradise on earth (fotos will follow) and I came back last night with a sunburn - I forgot to put sun prtection three times a day and only put twice, so I had to pay the consequences ;-)
Still, I know it is soon time to go on. Tomorrow I will leave Salvador and work for 10-14 days as a volunteer in an eco-project in the Chapada Diamantina, a wonderful natural park. I will leave in a mountain refuge at 1200 meters, with no electricity: Eco Project Chapada Diamantina
(in the gallery nr. 2 you can see how it looks like)
But now I am still in Salvador, and I am going to enjoy my last day here!
Brazil Pt. 2 - Salvador 26.9-2.10.2011
I feel so at home here, with the wonderful Salvador CS community inviting me from event to event: bike rides in the park, culinary meeting, weekly meeting, theater group, etc. etc.
The people are friendly, the language sounds amazing and it feels just good to spend time with these wonderful people :-)
I spent the last 3 days in the island Morro de Sao Paulo, a real paradise on earth (fotos will follow) and I came back last night with a sunburn - I forgot to put sun prtection three times a day and only put twice, so I had to pay the consequences ;-)
Still, I know it is soon time to go on. Tomorrow I will leave Salvador and work for 10-14 days as a volunteer in an eco-project in the Chapada Diamantina, a wonderful natural park. I will leave in a mountain refuge at 1200 meters, with no electricity: Eco Project Chapada Diamantina
(in the gallery nr. 2 you can see how it looks like)
But now I am still in Salvador, and I am going to enjoy my last day here!
Brazil Pt. 2 - Salvador 26.9-2.10.2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Presentation of Sustainable Couch in Salvador
On Thursday night I presented Sustainable Couch during a CS language exchange meeting called Tower of Babel. It was a great opportunity for me to show my project. Thanks to my host, Amaury, who brought a projector, I could hold my presentation with slide and pcitures.
It was my first time ever talking in front of an audience in Portuguese, so it was quite challenging but I think it worked out well.
At the end of my presentation - based on Sustainable Couch in general and on the experience of the Vienna Sustainability Group in particular - there was an interesting discussion.
Good news: the group is interested in creating a Free Box and a few people would like to create and design their own reusable shopping bags in order to avoid getting plastic bags all the time (a huge problem here).
Altogether, a wonderful evening with nice people and I am looking forward to organising more meetings like this!
It was my first time ever talking in front of an audience in Portuguese, so it was quite challenging but I think it worked out well.
At the end of my presentation - based on Sustainable Couch in general and on the experience of the Vienna Sustainability Group in particular - there was an interesting discussion.
Good news: the group is interested in creating a Free Box and a few people would like to create and design their own reusable shopping bags in order to avoid getting plastic bags all the time (a huge problem here).
Altogether, a wonderful evening with nice people and I am looking forward to organising more meetings like this!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Age of Stupid - a video evening at the Goethe Institute in Salvador
Last night I went to the Goethe Institute of Salvador for a documentary evening.
Two movies were presented:
Das Rad - The Wheel
The Age of Stupid
"Das Rad" is a fun 9-minute animation film. It shows the importance of the wheel with the perspective of...a stone! And at the same time that time has the power to destroy everything, also the biggest and more powerful human creations...
"The Age of Stupid" in a interesting film, showing a man in 2055 looking back at the past and wondering in a slightly desperate way how mankind could be so stupid to destroy itsself. A sort of suidice of the stupid, not of the ignorant, as we know exactly what are the problems to face. But maybe it is not too late yet...
Altogether, it was a very good evening in a confortable room. Pity that there were only 5 people and no space for discussion after the movies...
Two movies were presented:
Das Rad - The Wheel
The Age of Stupid
"Das Rad" is a fun 9-minute animation film. It shows the importance of the wheel with the perspective of...a stone! And at the same time that time has the power to destroy everything, also the biggest and more powerful human creations...
"The Age of Stupid" in a interesting film, showing a man in 2055 looking back at the past and wondering in a slightly desperate way how mankind could be so stupid to destroy itsself. A sort of suidice of the stupid, not of the ignorant, as we know exactly what are the problems to face. But maybe it is not too late yet...
Altogether, it was a very good evening in a confortable room. Pity that there were only 5 people and no space for discussion after the movies...
Monday, September 26, 2011
My life in Salvador
I arrived in Salvador on Wednesday 21st September. My trip began in the early morning from Frankfurt. A 10-hour direct flight took me to Salvador. A new part of my life thus started :-)
Today, 5 days later, I want to describe my first impressions of my new life on the road. Outside it is raining (actually there is nearly a storm), so it is perfect weather to write.
But where is it "inside"? It is a small room where I have lived since my arrival. I am travelling with CouchSurfing and I was very lucky with my first host: Liane, a 45 year old lady living with her son Gabriel, 18. Extremely nice and welcoming people, I immediately felt at home!
I spent the first days visiting the city and meeting local couchsurfers. Salvador is a very lively city, there are many people on the streets, you can hear loud music coming from radios, shops, mobile phones...
There are very beautiful beaches, extended over several kilometres. I already tried two and swam for the first time on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Very warm water, high waves, a few people were surfing, a fisher was fishing close so I paid attention not to get caught...
The local CS community is very warm and welcoming. Yesterday I went to the bike ride organised in the park of Pituacù. What a great experience! We were 20 people and cycled 15 km in a path which crossed the Atlantic forest. Great landscapes, flourishing vegetation and a wonderful lake. We made a break to have a coconut. I first drank its juice, then have it opened and eat the white flesh inside. So yummy! Afterwards I ate a vegetarian mexican burrito and had a swim in the ocean. In the evening I skyped with closed friends and with my parents, thus concluding a wonderful day!
So far so good, one more week to stay in this wonderful city. It is great to be on the road, and at the same time it feels great to already feel at home in Salvador!
See my first pictures album from Salvador:
Brazil PT. 1 - Salvador 21-25 September
Today, 5 days later, I want to describe my first impressions of my new life on the road. Outside it is raining (actually there is nearly a storm), so it is perfect weather to write.
But where is it "inside"? It is a small room where I have lived since my arrival. I am travelling with CouchSurfing and I was very lucky with my first host: Liane, a 45 year old lady living with her son Gabriel, 18. Extremely nice and welcoming people, I immediately felt at home!
I spent the first days visiting the city and meeting local couchsurfers. Salvador is a very lively city, there are many people on the streets, you can hear loud music coming from radios, shops, mobile phones...
There are very beautiful beaches, extended over several kilometres. I already tried two and swam for the first time on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Very warm water, high waves, a few people were surfing, a fisher was fishing close so I paid attention not to get caught...
The local CS community is very warm and welcoming. Yesterday I went to the bike ride organised in the park of Pituacù. What a great experience! We were 20 people and cycled 15 km in a path which crossed the Atlantic forest. Great landscapes, flourishing vegetation and a wonderful lake. We made a break to have a coconut. I first drank its juice, then have it opened and eat the white flesh inside. So yummy! Afterwards I ate a vegetarian mexican burrito and had a swim in the ocean. In the evening I skyped with closed friends and with my parents, thus concluding a wonderful day!
So far so good, one more week to stay in this wonderful city. It is great to be on the road, and at the same time it feels great to already feel at home in Salvador!
See my first pictures album from Salvador:
Brazil PT. 1 - Salvador 21-25 September
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| My first couch in Salvador: a confortable bed and my own room: thank you CouchSurfing! |
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| The first beach I saw in Salvador |
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| CS bike ride in the wonderful park of Pituacù |
Sunday, September 25, 2011
2 days in Roma
On 19-20 September I was in Rom for the first time after 5 years. What to say about the city? Love it or hate it!
I think I was able to both love the fascinating beauty of its monuments and to hate the senseless city traffic ;-)
The highlights of my visit:
"all roads lead to Rom"...for me it was definitely true, right at the beginning!
Here a few more pics: 2 days in Rom, 19-20 September
I think I was able to both love the fascinating beauty of its monuments and to hate the senseless city traffic ;-)
The highlights of my visit:
- the meeting with the Salesians who invited me to talk about my trip in South America. I have their support and I am going to visit many Don Bosco projects in the next months
- meeting my old friends Marco and Riccardo, ex-colleagues from Kosovo
"all roads lead to Rom"...for me it was definitely true, right at the beginning!
Here a few more pics: 2 days in Rom, 19-20 September
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Let's start!
What an emotion creating my blog "Massi On The Road".
It will be my travel companion for the next 12 months.
Here I want to share my experiences and thoughts with my friends, my family and any other person who might be interested. This is going to be a non-fictional travel blog :-)
Looking forward to start writing...and even more to start my trip!
It will be my travel companion for the next 12 months.
Here I want to share my experiences and thoughts with my friends, my family and any other person who might be interested. This is going to be a non-fictional travel blog :-)
Looking forward to start writing...and even more to start my trip!
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