Category: Viaggi

Woro Woro

woro woro is the yellow taxi.
It’s the collective one, goes on prefixed routes, claxoning all the time to attract passengers.
You pay among 150 and 250 CFA francs, not too much.
It is better than the orange taxi (the personal one), as you travel with other people and feel more inside the picture.
The other day the woro woro drivers organized a strike to protest against the police. Police (allegedly) take advantage of the check points and the verification of documentation to ask for money.

Abidjan

Abidjan seems to be a good place where to stay.

This season is always cloudy and not very hot, so that the onset is smoother.

The town is westernised, but I got the impression that are there places and things to discover.

Of course, there are militaries on the road, check-points and the ‘traffic managers’ are heavily armed, but, all considered, the atmosphere is quiet.

I still didn’t get to know the people, but there should be no problem.

I’m looking for an accommodation, furniture, may be a car.

The Ivorian flag is everywhere, similar to the Italian one, but with orange instead of red.

I went to the National Assembly, a nice space. The debate was harsh but ordered.

I am watching for fabrics, they produce a lot of them, and looking for a tie tailor, for the new collection.

Picerno

I am happy I was born in Lucania. It is a small region in the South of Italy, quiet and still undomesticated.
Picerno is not the smartest village, but the air is fresh, the food is good, and just in front of it lies the Monte Li Foi, surrounded by woods.
Our house is just on the piazza, where life goes on regardless.
All the characteristic figures are disappeared: the goats’ shepherd, the lady wearing the traditional costume, Mastro Vicienzo the local inventor.
The countryside has changed dramatically, especially after the earthquake.
I generally come on Christmas, sometimes in summer, once I came by motorbike.
Today there is a balmy, congenial sunlight.

The fight among the bull and the donkey

Travelling through Spain you can’t avoid remarking the big black figures of bull disseminated along the road.

Starting as an advertisement for an alcohol company, the bull has become the symbol of a certain Spain, and you can find it stuck on the back of many cars (mainly red cars).

Then the donkey came, spreading out from Catalunya in order to propose an alternative identification of Spanish soul.

As shown below, the outline is not dissimilar, the bull’s horns matching the donkey’s ears, but the message is rather inconsistent.

We opted for the donkey (our car is gray).

Riferimenti: Catalan donkey web-site

HAITI

I am at Paris Orly waiting for my flight to Port au Prince.
Haiti has never been my preferred destination, but let’s wait to know something more.
I wear a striped shirt and heavy boots, ready to adventure.
Bye bye

Home exchange

Our apartment in Barcelona is not very large and not very central. But there are two bedrooms and a living room and the metro station is only 300 meters away. The Ramblas, Port Olimpic and the Barrio Gotico are only 10-15 minutes away. There is a sea view from one of the windows and we have an old bicycle you can use to get around.

From May to September our neighbourhood will be the very centre of the town, as we are just 500 meters from the Forum 2004 (Forum Universal de las Culturas) where are scheduled concerts (Sting, BB King,Cheb Kaled, Bob Dylan, Cesaria Evora) Expositions (the Chinese Xi’an warriors, “world voices”), debates (on peace, development, globalization, cultural diversity) and all sorts of activities.
For the programme go to http://www.barcelona2004.org.

We would like to do a house exchange for 1 to 3 weeks, anywhere in Europe, during the summer season.

Riferimenti: Home exchange

Travelling through La Mancha

During the Easter holidays we went to Manzanares, at the hearth of the Mancha region, to call on the family.

We visited the mills, bought the cheese, ate any kind of traditional Easter cakes.

The space is huge and boundless, well cultivated, everywhere fields, green or brown, olive trees, vineyards, plough tracks.

We went to Ciudad Real and Toledo, beautiful but wrapped up in pointless shops, and many little pueblos.

We followed the processions, observing the masked cofradias, the crucifix and the sacred images carried on people’s back.

Allusion to Mexico and America, amplitude and traditions, colours and loneliness.