ChompChomp Chomp

"Paris, je t’aime"

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:54:17 +0200

“Paris, je t’aime”

- It’s true. We have been here so many times before, and it’s still amazing. Today we walked for hours and hours and hours….so we felt great. Thanks, Camino, for ruining our feet and making us feel like we HAVE to walk for hours. Discovered some new neighborhoods, some sweet cafes, and enjoyed the parks Parisian-style - with our feet up on chairs, watching the boats get knocked around by little kids. We’re here til Thursday, then off to Stuttgart to see Karl, finally! Miss you all, but see you REALLY soon!

Love, Emma & Andrew

"880 km later…"

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:56:30 +0200

“880 km later…”

- We´ve finished!!!!

We´ve been to the end of the world, and it was cold and rainy the whole time. BUT, it was an amazing feeling to have made it so far, something like 880kms in 36 days, and we bought champagne to celebrate (well, a 2€ cava doesn´t really count as champagne…). So, we spent one day in Santiago at a pilgrim´s mass where the priests swing a massive 54kg incense burner over the heads of the devout (really impressive, but too touristy to be in a church, in our opinion), enjoying ourselves and taking a break, then we walked the four days (90km more) to Finisterre where we sat in the rain on the rocks of the furthest edge of the Old World, contemplating our lives and what we had done to get to where we were. We´re currently back in Burgos, one of our favorite cities, getting ready to make a journey back to Saint Jean Pied-de-Port to pick up our stuff and then we´re journeying on to Tarbes for a 10-day helpx with a French-English couple before heading to Germany for 5 days to see Karl, Andrew´s good friend who´s at university there for a year. We´ll try to post some photos when we get some more time, but just wanted to let you know that we´ve finished el Camino and we´re very happy/at peace with the world and we´re on our way to the next adventure. See you all in the coming weeks, we hope!

Love and smiles to all of you!!!

Yay early mornings in Spain. It´s amazing that we´ve seen a...

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:43:27 +0200

Yay early mornings in Spain. It´s amazing that we´ve seen a sunrise every morning for the past three weeks, and not stayed up past 10:30 on account of being physically exhausted all the time. It´s a new feeling for us, after an easy life of walking dogs or helping prepare meals, but we´ve gotten to know our limits pretty well. About 25km a day is perfect, 35km is too much and 20km feels like we haven´t done enough. Scary. 202.5 left to Santiago, and 290.5 left to the END OF THE WORLD! Exciting!

We´re in Leon...

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:35:59 +0200

…meaning we have only 310km left on the Camino! It´s hard to believe we´ve done 400 plus already, but we are planning to finish somewhere around the 13th of September. We´ve been having a good time with our traveling companions, though most are surprised that we walk so fast. Andrew´s reasoning is pretty sound, “if you don´t walk fast in our American cities, you get run over.” We´ve had amazing luck running into one day only Spanish festivals: so far we´ve been to a running of the bulls, a Ricky Martin wannabe concert, a tomato throwing fest, a make your own floatable contraption race, end of fiesta dances…it´s all in the life of a pilgrim. :) Thinking of you all a lot, and getting really excited to see everyone when we get back home!

Fiesta time in Spain! It was just our luck that August is the...

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:46:18 +0200

Running of the bulls fiesta in Los Arcos

Hilarious musical fiesta in Granon

This is how the Camino is waymarked...

Fiesta time in Spain! It was just our luck that August is the time for small villages in the North of Spain to celebrate all day and all night with paella feasts, concerts, firecrackers, and dance…good luck trying to sleep…

El Camino de Santiago 106km down and lots to go…

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:30:41 +0200

Climbing over the clouds

A massive albergue in an abbey

Cooking tortillas for 14 people...

El Camino de Santiago

106km down and lots to go…

WE MADE IT UP THE MOUNTAIN!!!!

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:35:51 +0200

Yay, first day on the Camino de Santiago finished. We walked through the clouds up a mountain pass rising 1200 metres throughout the day. We´re sunburned but happy, and we´re off to bed by 10pm. More to come and pictures too!!!

"Took a free “taxi” on a 9 hour overnight journey from Cappadoccia to Istanbul this..."

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:54:47 +0200

“Took a free “taxi” on a 9 hour overnight journey from Cappadoccia to Istanbul this morning and are spending another day or so here. The plan is to then take an overnight bus to Sofia, Bulgaria, where we will catch a flight to Milan, take a train from Milan to Nice, Nice to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Bayonne, Bayonne to Saint Jean Pied de Port. Then we walk 780km along the Camino de Santiago. Photo updates to come of the past few weeks.”

Photo

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:02:50 +0200

View from our patio in Ortahisar

The hermit cave room

Our cave room

One of the many valleys where we hike

The remnants of a church and the valley

Photo

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:57:36 +0200

View from our patio in Ortahisar

The hermit cave room

Our cave room

One of the many valleys where we hike

The remnants of a church and the valley

View from the tall chimney rock (kale)

Taking Ali's moped for to see the sunset

Sunday night in Ortahisar

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:01:00 +0200

Crazy Ali graduated high school in 1969 and left his notebook and pencil to collect dust in some abandoned corner of his mind. He now owns an antique shop in the middle of the small town of Ortahisar and for the past ten years has found a calling in poetry. After spending two years in the Turkish army he traveled to Germany, to Holland, and to Belgium. “98 percent same culture,” he said between the “West” and his concept of the true Turkey. But to him, the concept of hospitality and true personal exchanges are key differences between the two worlds.

Ali is generous to a fault. In the past two days he has offered us two rounds of Turkish coffee, three Turkish tea times, “Holy Waters” (Cappadocian red wine) and a traditional pide (pronounced “peeddah”) lunch. On our arrival our host, Evelien, introduced us to him as we all sat around a circular metal-etched table, sipping Turkish tea. He ordered us pitas and argued with Evelien that he should pay the bill as it was his porch that Emma and I had landed on when we arrived from Istanbul.

Two days after our arrival and several “merhabas” later, we had our first lengthy conversation with what we have found to be an impressive and progressive human, from a conservative and often short-sighted corner of the world. “Five times a day gives my God a headache,” Ali said disprovingly about the billions of Muslims who pray for this or that everyday. “I only go to Mosque twice a year, so, when I ask my God for things, He thinks to Himself, ‘Hmm, Ali doesn’t give me such a headache, so, I’ll give him what he wishes for.’”

We sat down sipping (to avoid drinking the grounds floating around in the cup) on Turkish coffee for only three minutes before his eyebrows raised and his pointer rose into the air. “I have an idea,” proclaimed Ali. “Can you drive a moped?” he asked me. I nodded and explained as long as it didn’t shift, I would be okay. He smiled and practically threw the keys at me. The sun was setting and our mission was to catch it at the sunset panorama about three kilometers up the main road. We were both shocked, but couldn’t miss this opportunity. We turned off before the official sunset point and went down a white sand Jeep road to where a small gathering of like-minded individuals had come to watch the pink sun dip below the peaked horizon.

On our return, we were grinning ear to ear and found ourselves completely humbled by his generosity. We sat and drank “Holy Waters” out of Chinese tea cups, as this is a Muslim country, where drinking is “officially” not allowed. He told us of many stories, with fantasy woven in with history and where sad endings become happy beginnings.

His imagination is a delight to watch unfold as he tells tales of going to the moon with elephants and camels before the American’s took it from his imagination in 1969. I thought of telling him that maybe America took the moon so that he would have to dream of more distant places that he couldn’t even see from his porch, but tonight, I just listened.

Before leaving he invited us to listen to some of his poems and we eagerly accepted. We stood there in his shop, surrounded by beautiful objects listening to beautiful words. He stared at us both from beneith his black, typically-Dutch hat, and swung his arms in the air as if he was throwing a lasso to catch our imaginations too. With animated gestures, Crazy Ali recited three poems for us.

Ali thanked us for listening and invited us to his porch, which he likens to a train station, anytime we are passing. He is genuine, kind, and we are both extremely excited to hear and see Cappadocia through the eyes of this Turkish, local gentleman.

Istanbul is the New York City of Europe. We felt absolutely at...

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:40:00 +0200

Blue Mosque

The famous rendez-vous fountain.

When inappropriately dressed...

The Grand Bazaar

Lunch with friends we met in Bulgaria!

Last hours in Europe

Crossing the Bosphorous Strait

Istanbul is the New York City of Europe. We felt absolutely at home here, and had a really great time over our two day stay. Our first night in Istanbul could have been a nightmare: our bus took 9 hours to make a 5 hour trip, we didn’t have a phone to call our CouchSurfing host, and when we finally did get one of our fellow passenger’s phones, the number would not connect. Arriving in a city at 11:30pm is not our idea of fun, but we found an internet cafe and found a hostel. In a moment of clarity, one of us emailed our CS host saying we couldn’t reach her and sorry and all of that, and she wrote back within minutes saying it was her fault - she gave us the wrong number - and she could meet us at a hotel at 1:30am! Amazing. So, we ended up in a penthouse apartment with an 26-year-old American lawyer who gave us the keys to her place and let us roam free over Istanbul.

The next day, we had plans to meet up with my cousin Alex who is currently teaching on a Semester-at-Sea cruise, and who was in Istanbul at the same time. We thought we were supposed to meet at the Blue Mosque’s Ablutions Fountain, and waited there for about an hour before deciding something must have come up. We visted the mosque, and since I was “indecent,” I had to wear a long blue cloth around my lower half - weird experience. Later that day, I realized that I had written down the wrong mosque to meet Alex - completely my fault. However, we eventually overheard some Americans in the Grand Bazaar and I figured they were students from the cruise. They said they would deliver my message of apology to my cousin personally - who knows if they did… We spent the majority of that day shopping and sight-seeing. Maggie (our CS host) cooked us a very spicy tomato curry, and we went to sleep to the sounds of the Bosphorus and the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer.

Day Two - surprise! Two of our good friends from our last HelpX site in Bulgaria were in Istanbul for two days - we met up with them for the day at the spice market, then Andrew had lots of souvenir shopping to do, so we spent some more time at the Grand Bazaar. We had lunch with them in the middle of the textiles square awash with covered Muslim women and lots of men carrying cay (tea) trays every which way. (That’s them in the picture: Jack from England and Hannah from Australia - they are making an overland (no flying) trek from London to Australia!!) A few hours and a few cays later, we said goodbye to them and set off for our new destination: Asia! Or at least, the other side of the Bosphorus. Our last minutes in Europe were spent on a boat with a final cay and big smiles. All in all, our stay in Istanbul was great - good friends, great sights, smiling Turks, and lots of delicious cay.

These are all photos from our stay in Bulgaria, one of our most...

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:03:47 +0200

Tortoise and the Hare

Dave's Happy Day

OSTRICH BABIES!!!

First ever supermarket in Kardzhali 2008

Biweekly meeting of the Snackers

Devil's Bridge

These are all photos from our stay in Bulgaria, one of our most treasured hosts yet. The days were long, the work was hard, but the people and the food and the outings made it all worthwhile. Thank you to Dave and everyone else - we’ll be returning to Lutovnik!!!

THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES/ECARDS EVERYONE! I figured a blog...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:08:53 +0200

The ex-communist school where we live

Where we bathe every couple days or so..

Where we sleep

My first communist bday cards! Aw.

THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES/ECARDS EVERYONE! I figured a blog update was in order because yesterday was pretty eventful, the internet is in stable condition, and I KNOW you all must be dying to know about the life and times of me on the 13th.

Yesterday, Dave and Laura (our hosts) didn’t give me the usual, loud “Bongiorno” wake-up call, but instead allowed me to sleep in. When I woke up and went downstairs, there where two bday cards in the kitchen, a block of Bulgarian-imitation Roquefort cheese (which tastes amazing), beer, and wine from 1999 (apparently one of Bulgarian’s finest). After attacking the plastering job we have been working on for 5 days now (it’s a big place…), Emma and I snacked on ice cream sandwiches and beer in the sun. Cheffy (a Turkish Bulgarian who is Dave’s neighbor) sat outside with us and told stories (through Dave’s translating abilities) of finding deadly snakes in his garden, how much Leva he will get for his male turkey at the market, and his luck at catching the wolf that is killing his sheep; he is always seen wearing a smile through the few teeth that are left, and is a very warm and friendly person. Later on, Emma baked me a delicious cocoa powder cake with espresso icing (not pictured as it is currently being eaten). Dave decided it would be appropriate to get some traditional food in the town of Momchilgrad. We sat outside on the patio and had a Bulgarian specialty: ducks hearts and fried Bulgarian white cheese. It was actually pretty good, but I don’t think I would have a craving for the hearts… All in all it was an unusual birthday. Thanks for all the wishes and I am excited to see you all when we get back!

Much love,

Andrew

Here, at The Happy Hippy Ecohostel, we’re HelpXing by day...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:18:04 +0200

Here, at The Happy Hippy Ecohostel, we’re HelpXing by day and making things like Rakia by night. Click the photo for a link on what Rakia is.

Italy denied me, Croatia wasn’t open to the idea, but HERE...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:06:50 +0200

Italy denied me, Croatia wasn’t open to the idea, but HERE in Sofia, Bulgaria, $7 can buy you an appointment with a trained professional to make out a contact prescription!

And then we took an overnight ferry across the sea, in a roomy...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:32:52 +0200

And then we took an overnight ferry across the sea, in a roomy cabin for two with a toilet and shower all to ourselves - FOR 20 EURO EACH! Amazing deal. We saw Split, with Diocletian’s Palace full of crazy, Escher-like staircases; stayed on Brac, an island off the coast; hiked into the middle of a national park that would have cost us $50 to get into; saw Plitvice Jazera, the national park with amazing waterfalls and ridiculously blue water; then spent a night couchsurfing in Zagreb before our overnight train through Serbia to Sofia. We were surprised to see shanty-towns right outside of Beograd (Belgrade) in Serbia just like the ones we saw in Morocco. And then a statue that looks sort of like Lenin welcomed us to Bulgaria, with all of its Cyrillic writing and non-Latin spoken language.

A site of “A Beautiful Life.” We tried to get to the...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:13:05 +0200

A site of “A Beautiful Life.” We tried to get to the Medieval Festival one weekend, but tickets had been sold out for a while. Note the awesome flags and banners on the walls - they are all over the city for the fest.

Emma’s nightstand for our whole stay there - the one...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:58:43 +0200

Emma’s nightstand for our whole stay there - the one consistent suggestion is BLUE CHEESE WITH SPARKLING WINE, especially a creamy, tangy blue with an aged vintage sparkler - but any ol’ brut will do as well. Try it and let me know if it’s amazing, because we won’t be having any champagne on our trip til we get back to the West.

This HelpX site was one of our favorites because we got to be a...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:53:08 +0200

This HelpX site was one of our favorites because we got to be a part of the ENTIRE process - we herded the goats, milked them, processed the milk into curd, made 8 different kinds of cheese, stabbed air into the blue cheeses we made, salted others, and wrapped some for aging (with tobacco leaves - see photo). THEN, Andrew got to even sell the cheese at the Italian markets and local restaurants with our host, Brent. All of which we did while happily eating cheese, which made it all the better.