Pulcherius life

2007-11-14T16:37:00.000Z

nao em encontro em budapeste mas sim em ljubliana, decidi fazer uma grande viagem de 15 dias mas as coisas nao me correm la muito bem.
no domingo dia da minha partida, entrei no comboio erradopara zagreb so dei conta disso quando o certo ja estava bem longe.
tive de apanhar o comboio seguinte para zagreb 6 horas depois.
comecou a nevar. o comboio teve parado 2 horas. antes de chegar a zagreb tive de apanhar um autocarro porque havia problemas na linha. a unica oicsa boa foi que tive quem me acolhesse e isso foi bom.
na segunda tomie decisao errada,vim mais cedo para ljubliana e o meu amigo so me esperava no dia seguinte,ou seja foi sem necessidade q quase nao vi zagreb, mal entendidos.
ontem ate correu tudo bem, estranho.
hoje dei conta que me falta a minha maquina,que nao e minha mas da minha associacao,vou ter de pagar uma nova maquina mas o pior e que tava la o trabalho de uma colega minha. bolas.
passei o dia sozinho e por minha culpa pois fui lento a dar respostas,odia ter tido companhia.
agora tou desterrado em ljubliana,nao sei como vou fazer para ir para cas. que treta.gosto de ivajar mas esperem sempre o inesperado.
ainda nao tenho onde ficar manha a noite.
por isso se conhecem pessoal na croacia
ajudem me

david

Turkey

2007-11-11T09:41:00.000Z

Pessoal vou viajar outra vez mas antes deixo aqui o relatorio da minha viagem a turquia em ingles.

The trip: I took the plane Budapest-Istanbul on Sunday morning; the trip only took around 1.4 hours. We spent all the afternoon in Istanbul but I didn’t see any of the city monuments only people in the streets showing their support to the attack of Turkish army to PKK positions on the east of the country. It was also interesting to see so many big flags everywhere. At night we took the 12 hours bus to Antalya; we crossed the entire Anatolian peninsula from near the Black Sea till near the Mediterranean Sea. Before we took the final bus to Olympus, our final destination, we stayed all the afternoon in Antalya; we did a little bit of sightseeing, admiring the old town, the beautiful landscape of mountains combined with the very beautiful sea. Here we also saw people demonstrating the support to the Turkish government. We arrived in Olympus in the middle of the night and with no notion where I was because I had slept the entire trip.

Olympus is a tourist resort; some years ago a backpackers' paradise, nowadays everybody comes, and it's very famous between climbers, while we were there, there was a climbing festival. There are no people living there besides the pensions and restaurants, known by the houses made of wood. Olympus is the name of an old Lycian city where now there are only ruins. We had to cross this ruins in order to reach the stony beach in a very nice bay. The place where we were was in a valley surround by big mountains that were covered by forest.

The group: The youth exchange was between Hungarians, Polish and Turkish. The Hungarian group, our Messzelato group, was the most international group because of the EVS volunteers from Italy, Estonia and Portugal, me. The Polish group was coming from the south of the country, 8 people just like us and ages from 15 till 28 years old, very nice people. I had to share my room with one of them, a crazy, beer, wine, vodka fan and very nice young human rights lawyer. The Turkish group was smaller but still very nice. My working group was constituted by one Estonian girl, me, my secret friend (a Polish girl of 16 years old and very nice), by my other secret friend to who I gave a lot of stones, our veteran Turkish guy that took us to visit Antalya in the day before the exchange and Zoli.

The work: We had to prepare some presentations at home about endangered species in our countries in order to present to the other groups. We presented viper, imperial eagle and beaver, Poland chose the bear, the wild cat, the wolf, the hedgehog, the beaver (just like us), the mink and Turkey chose the turtles because in the summer they come to put eggs in the beaches of Olympus.

We had multinational working groups, the first task was to create 2 posters about one or more endangered animal and make publicity of our theater, and each group also had to create a short play. Our group chose the eagle while the other two picked bear and turtles and beaver. Our play was a typical short act, we pretended that we were filming a movie about an eagle that is shot by a hunter and rescued by an environmentalist, we repeated this story five times, one fast, one slow, one happy, one sad, and finally good. The other groups made about ninja turtles and a drunken bear.

Leisure: We made several games, some of them to wake us up, other to let us meet better each others. One of the games was made so we could recognize where we were, going to the ruins, to the beach, the story of Olympus. Every night we had the secret friend game, I had to give a present or message to a person but she didn’t know who I was and I also received from someone I didn’t know of. I received very nice presents but like I said I almost only gave stones.

The first trip was to Myra, another Lycian city known for the well preserved amphitheater and necropolis and also where the Saint Nicolas church is, the famous Santa Claus.

On another day we trekked in the mountains till Chimera, a place where there are small fires coming from the interior of the earth. This happens because of gases that enter in combustion when they reach the surface of the earth. In the ancient times this was a religious site. On the last day we were supposed to see the national celebrations but when we arrived to the place it was over, so we spent the morning at the beach. Before we left Antalya we visited the museum of archaeology.

The free time: Besides the trips we also had great fun interacting in parties especially in the Bull bar, going to the beach or just enjoying the place. There was time to listen to a traditional Turkish instrument around the fire and have the international night where each country showed a little bit more about their own culture.

It was a very nice experience. It's a pity I'm not young forever.

David

Mikulov e Valtice

2007-10-18T18:21:00.000+01:00

Depois de deixar Brno e antes de ir de regresso para Budapeste decidi seguir um pouco mais a sul e ir para o seio da regiao vinicula da Moravia e visitar Mikulov, uma pequena vila muito perto da fronteira com a Austria.
A cor amarela domina a arquitectura da vila e depois no topo o grande castelo de onde podemos ter uma boa perspectiva da paisagem circundante. Eu limitei-me ver o castelo, algumas igrejas por fora e pouco mais, acabei por almocar por la mas perdi muito tempo para ir até Valtice.
Entre Valtice e Lednice existe um jardim enorme patrimonio da humanidade, um dos maiores jardins da europa.Em ambas as vilas existia um castelo pertencente aos LIchenstein que mandaram contruir ao lonog dos anos um grande jardim floresta nos terrenos entre estas vilas, com lagos, passadicos, palácios no meio do bosque. Eu gostei de lá ir mas só vi o palacio de Valtice que alberga agora umas famosas caves onde se pode provar vinho da regiao. Nas traseiras do palácio existe outro jardim mas de muito menor dimensao que pode ser visitado sem se pagar.
E foi assim um fim de semana bem passado na Républica Checa

Kromeriz

2007-10-17T16:15:00.000+01:00

O meu primeiro sitio que visitei apos chegar á Republica Checa foi Kromeriz a poucos km de Brno.
Pouco ou nada sabai sobre a cidade a nao ser quer era patrimonio da Humanidade, pelo menos o seu castelo e jardins.
Mal sai da estacao dos comboio senti-me um pouco desorientado pois nao ha uma unica informacao de ajuda aos turistas ao pe da estacao mas com alguma sorte conheci duas polacas que falavam checo(estudantes de checo em Brno) e com a ajuda delas dei com o castelo e com o jardim.
Sui a torre e pude ver a vista panoramica da cidade, a praca principal onde estam localizadas duas igrejas e ao longe os montes.
Os jardins também sao muito belos e organizados valendo estarem na lista da unesco.
Quando voltei para Brno conheci uma Chinesa no comboio que me fez companhia.

mais tarde ponho aqui as fotos

Brno

2007-10-16T13:41:00.000+01:00

Eu gosto de viver em Budapeste, é bom estar perto de tudo e numa cidade tao bonita mas ao fim de 7meses apetece-me sair da cidade sempre que posso por isso neste fim de semana sai da Hungria até Brno.
Brno é a segunda maior cidade da Républica Checa, capital da Morávia, apenas 4 horas de comboio de distancia de Budapeste, é uma cidade universitaria cheia de vida e como eu pude constatar sem Youth Hostels no Inverno.
Cheguei á cidade por volta das 9.30 mas rapidamente sai da cidade para visitar os arredores, só voltando no final do dia. As primeiras horas na cidade foram passadas na companhia de uma chinesa que estava a ter formacao na cidade. A cidade nao é plana e acenta sobre varios montes tendo um deles o castelo de Spilberk,a cidade é atravessada por uma rua pedonal que vai desde a estacao dos comboios até a praca principal onde podemos ver um marco com um santo. As principais atraccoes sao as igrejas, só visitei a igreja de Sao Pedro e de Sao Paulo que fica num alto perto da linha do comboio.
Na noite de sábado dei a minha tour pela cidade, indo de igreja em igreja de praca em praca, indo desde a camara municipal até a opera, passando pelas portas de vários museus, sendo um deles em memória de Mendel o pai da genética moderna, foi aqui nesta cidade e no seu mosteiro que Mendel fez as suas experiencias com ervilheiras no jardim, ainda se pode ver uma reproducao no jardim da igreja.
Acabei de ver a cidade no domingo visitando o morro onde está o castelo de Spilberk, este tem vários museus tendo eu visitado o museu da antiga prisao. As masmorras do castelo foram usadas no passado como prisao e agora foi feito museu com algumas descricoes e pormenores do seu uso, durante a segunda guerra o castelo foi utilisado pelo Nazis como quartel ainda se pode ver alguns vestigios desses tempos.
Antes de partir queria ver o famoso museus das caves da igreja dos capuchinhos mas acho esta encontrava-se fechada.
Gostei da cidade a unica dificuldade foi em arranjar onde dormir, varias vezes pensei fazer directa ou dormitar na estacao de comboios mas como acabei por achar uma pensao isso ja nao foi necessario.
Romei pelas ruas da cidade em busca de um hostel mas estava tudo cheio, pois estes hostels sao durante o inverno residencias universitarias. Nunca andei tanto e ao frio mas por fim recebi abrigo.

Viena

2007-10-11T19:04:00.000+01:00

Antes de vir para a Hungria e nao conhecia nenhum dos paises a minha volta. Logo na primeira semana fui a Graz no sul da Austria e em Maio fui pela primeira vez á sua capital ficando lá apenas algumas horas. Tive lá em missao, entregar umas amostras de água para serem analisadas pela Greenpeace Austria.Acabei por ficar lá mais tempo porque perdi o comboio.
A segunda vez já foi com mais calma, tive com os meus pais e uma noite, já deu para conhecer melhor uma das cidades preferidas de uma amiga minha e agora também da minha mae.Para quem nao conhece Viena, o seu principal simbolo é a catedral que fica mesmo no centro da cidade, outro grande simbolo é Sissi, a famosa princesa que está por toda a cidade, em chocolates e tem direito ao seu museu.
Mesmo no centro também temos o palacio real que agora alberga vários museus, eu visitei o museu dos instrumentos musicais, das armaduras e o de um templo grego que nao me recordo, para dizer a verdade isto tá tudo num só museu:)
Ao lado do palácio temos o parlamento, um pouco acima a camara municipal. Nao podemos esquecer da ópera, por todo lado temos pessoas vestidas de mozart a querer vender bilhetes.
Um pouco fora do centro a residencia de verao real é sem duvida o mais turistico e a nao perder no caso de quererem cuscar os aposentos reais e os seus jardins.Eu gostei.
Existem inumeros museus pela cidade tal como igrejas acho que a minha mae queria ve-las todas. Espreitei o rio mas acho que a vista de Budapeste é melhor.

1.A avenida pedonal
2.opera
3.palácio real no centro de Viena
4.catedral
5.camara municipal
6.praca no meio do palacio

Visegrad

2007-10-10T20:04:00.000+01:00

Ao fim de 7 meses existem locais onde acabo sempre por voltar por forca do destino, Visegrad é sem duvida um deles.
A primeira vez que estive aqui foi no Domingo de Páscoa, a minha primeira saida sozinho da cidade, como esta cidade fica apenas a 60 km de Budapeste é um optimo destino de domingo.
A segunda vez foi após uma pequena caminhada nos montes Pilis que apanham ainda a cidade, foi uma bela caminhada pelo bosque vindo de Piliszentlaslo terminando em Vizegrad.
A terceira vez foi de canoa, Vizegrad foi uma das paragens da viagem que eu fiz em Maio desde Estergom até Szentendre. Foi bom chegar á cidade vindo do rio.
A ultima vez foi este domingo novamente através de comboio e de ferry como na primeira vez.
Vizegrad foi uma antiga capital Hungara e a o seu principal simbolo é o seu castelo que lhe dá o nome(Grad), em ruinas mas bem no topo do monte.Este castelo e as suas torres tinham também como funcao controlar todo o tráfego do Danúbio, é por isso que se encontra tao bem localizado mesmo em cima da curva do rio.
Outra das atraccoes sao as ruinas do antigo palácio real na base do monte que precede o castelo. Dentro do antigo palácio podemos ver uma antiga fonte que figura nas notas de 200forints.

Vác

2007-10-09T19:14:00.002+01:00

Se se pode dizer que tenho uma segunda casa na Hungria essa será sem margens de duvidas Vác, uma pequena cidade 40km a norte de Budapeste, ainda no condado de Pest.
Em Vác pode se dizer que se tem uma qualidade de vida maior que em Budapeste, é cheia de jardins, tem um lago artificial onde as pessoas vao pescar,é calma, tem um centro historico muito bem preservado e considerado dos mais bonitos dos arredores, com várias igrejas e museus e por fim uma bela paisagem, pois fica junto ao Danubio nao muito longe do local onde ele se curva. De Vác podemos ver as montanhas a norte e a Este e no meio do rio a ilha de Szentendre.
Foi aqui em Vác que tive o trabalho mais duro, recuperar o percurso de natureza que atravessa uma área pantanosa do Danúbio. Segundo uma amiga minha a floresta nao tá muito bem conservada mesmo assim gosto de lá ir. O percurso tem muito do meu suor. Lá tive de carregar madeira,pedras, andar no pantano e por fim fazer uma barragem.

Szentendre

2007-10-03T15:21:00.000+01:00

Um dos locais mais famosos para ir durante o fim de semana é sem margem para duvidas, Szentendre. Para ir basta apanhar o Hev(comboio urbano) na Margit hid.
A viagem dura quase 40 minutos,apesar de ficar apenas a 15km de distancia.O comboio é muito lento, mas é agradável pois por vezes vai junto ao rio.
Szentendre mantém a sua arquitectura original do século XIX, fazendo lembrar uma aldeia de bonecas. Vive quase só para o turismo, por isso é dito que a cidade pára durante a semana no Inverno.
A Vila está repleta de igreja quer Sérvia Ortodoxa quer Católica, nas Ortodoxas paga-se paa entrar nas outras nao. Existem também vários pequenos museus de arte e um grande museu etnográfico ao ar livre a poucos km do centro.
Daqui também se pode ir aos montes vizinhos ou mesmo até Vizegrad e Eztergom um pouco mais a norte. Podemos no verao vir de barco até aqui vindo de Budapeste.
A primeira vez que vim aqui foi no dia dos meus anos de bicicleta, demorei 2 horas , mas foi um passeio agradavel.
A segunda vez foi só de passagem, quando fui ao encontro dos voluntarios em Pilliszentlaslo.
A 3 foi também de passagem quando desci o rio da canoa vindo de Eztergom.
Por fim, a ultima com os meus pais, ai já pude disfrutar um pouco mais da pequena vila e ver cada uma das igrejas, a minha mae adora igrejas.

Budapeste

2007-10-01T18:24:00.000+01:00

Nestas ultimas semanas tive a visita dos meus pais e de amigos, por isso tive de pensar numa tour para mostrar Budapeste.
Por isso decidi por neste post os locais onde levei em Budapeste os meus amigos.
Da praxe é ir ao parque da cidade,a poucos metros da minha casa.a segunda paragem é o museu da agricultura(podemos passar pela ampulheta gigante de um ano), que é a reproducao de um castelo na Transilvania.O parque é bastante grande,é aqui o jardim zoológico, o parque de diversoes e uma das mais famosas termas da cidade,Szechenyi.
A sul temos a praca dos herois,com dois museus de cada lado, o museu das artes e o fine art museum. Na praca podemos ver as estátuas de todos os reis da Hungria e também um monumento em honra de Arpád, o lider Magyar que liderou a expedicao das 7tribos até á bacia dos Carpatos vindos dos montes Urais.
Apartir da praca dos herois temos Andrassi, a principal avenida de Peste e da cidade.Nesta Avenida podemos econtrar dos mais belos edificios da cidade e também a casa do terror,antiga prisao do tempo do comunismo e antiga sede do partido fascista nos tempos da 2guerra, para além de outros museus e da Opera.
No final da rua tempo Deak Ter, unico ponto onde as 3 linhas de metro se encontram.Deste ponto podemos seguir em encontro da Basilica de Sao Estevao ou para o museu Nacional,onde se conta a historia da Hungria ou mesmo seguir pela rua pedonal e terminar no maior mercado da cidade,ou ir até ao bairro judeu ver as fachadas dos edificios e a maior sinagoga do mundo fora da Nova York.
Antes de deixar Pest, é importante admirar o belo edificio do parlamento perto do rio,o Danubio.
No meio do rio, temos o parque, ilha margarida, um dos melhores locais para descansar antes de partir para Buda.
Em Buda temos duas grandes atraccoes: o complexo do castelo de Buda e por fim a cidadela.
No castelo de Buda, temos o antigo palácio real, agora alberga a biblioteca nacional e dois museus, o monumento aos pescadores, o museu militar entre outros e a igreja de Sao Mathias.
Na Citadela, é principalmente a vista que leva as pessoas a subir o morro até lá acima. Podemos ainda encontrar uma antiga fortaleza e uma grande estátua quase simbolo da cidade.Na base do morro temos o Hotel Guelert com as suas termas e tambem duas igrejas dentro do morro da citadela.
Existem muitas mais coisas para ver dentro da cidade, tais como admirar as estacoes de Keleti e Nyugati ou mesmo ir até Obuda ver Aquicum as antigas ruinas romanas da cidade.
E assim fica a sugestao.

Humusz

2007-09-30T16:48:00.000+01:00

Há algumas semanas atrás participei na minha 2 accao da Humusz, a primeira foi em Keskemet na primeira semana em que estive cá.
As accoes da Humusz tentam ser cómicas mas tem sempre uma base e reinvidicacao séria.Para quem nao sabe a Humusz é especialista em residuos.Nesta accao, em frente da agencia nacional para a gestao de residuos fizemos o jogo da corda, de um lado que era a favor de centrais de reciclagem e do outro os que eram a favor da incineracao.a apoiar de um lado muita gente do outro apenas alguns executivos.A meio do jogo pedimos a alguem da agencia viesse cá fora ajudar o pessoal da reciclagem, e no final veio mesmo e a reciclagem ganhou.
A agencia prometeu só fazer uma incineradora para materiais nao reciclaveis e apoiar centrais de reciclagem.
Esqueci-me de dizer que cada participante tinham nas t-shirts as vantagens da reciclagem e os outros as desvantagens da incineracao.
Nesta foto eu tou lá atrás com um cartaz.

Limpar o ribeiro

2007-09-28T16:34:00.000+01:00

Tanta coisa aconteceu nos passados 7 meses,por isso vou escrevendo do que se passou á pouco tempo e vou caminhando em direccao ao passado.desculpem o portugues mas o teclado é um atrofio.
No passado domingo a minha associacao teve uma actividade,limpar o pequeno ribeiro que passa perto da casa do nosso presidente, no terceiro distrito, em Óbuda. Ele quer preserva-lo e torna-lo protegido, na minha opiniao a importancia daquele ribeiro é o igual de todas as linhas águas, é importante que seja mantida mas nao tem nada de especial.
Parte do ribeiro ja está enterrado passando por debaixo da estrada e as casas que o rodeiam vao aos poucos ocupando as suas margens, o ribeiro é pequeno mas tem muito lixo, encontramos maquinas de lavar, pedacos de carros, muitos sacos de plastico entre outras coisas.
No fim tivemos todos direito a almoco.

Para quem nao sabe. O terceiro distrito fica na margem direita do rio Danúbio e o seu nome é Óbuda. É bastante grande e pode ser dividido em duas partes distintas, o monte e a margem do rio. Na margem do rio o declive é nulo e é nesta parte onde está o centro historico e também onde vive o cidadadao comum, muios em edificios comunistas horrorosos. O monte é a parte fina, constituida maioritariamente por vivendas algumas delas bastante luxuosas.Tem uma bela vista sobre a cidade.No topo dos montes está o pulmao de Budapeste.A este montes chamamos Buda Hills e fazem parte de um complexo montanhoso que se estende ate á Eslovaquia.

A equipa de limpeza

O ribeiro antes

O ribeiro depois

Accao da Greenpeace

2007-09-27T19:36:00.000+01:00

hoje escrevo em portugues pois é a minha lingua e também porque ando sempre a escrever e a falar em ingles que até ja chateia:)
ha imenso tempo que nao vinha ao meu blog,ha imenso tempo mesmo mas o mais triste é que podia já ter escrito aqui tanta coisa pois nestes quase 7 meses aconteceu tanta coisa.
A utlima foi uma accao da greenpeace, eu nao sou activista mas por vezes ajudo no que é preciso.
Na terca feira de manha junto com outros voluntarios e activistas dirigimo-nos a porta do ministerio da economia e descarregamos janelas, este acto simbolico tem como objectivo reenvidicar mais ajudas a populacao para que esta tenha o direito de renovar o sistema de isolamento das suas casas.existe uma verba que ajuda as pessoas, mas essa verba que é dinheiro que é devolvido as pessoas apos o pagamento de impostos, tem sido reduzida ao longo de diversos anos e dificl de se obter.poucas pessoas a utilizao por desconhecimento e por muitos bancos que deveriam conceder emprestimos apoiados nesta verba nao o fazerem.
um grande abraco de Budapeste.

After 19 days.

2007-03-21T19:14:00.000Z

Time goes fast, i just feel i just arrived, just a bit lost not shure what is going to happen next and with very few knoledge of the language.
I have to confess i have been around the city but i cant say that i know the city of Budapest.
i have been around, near the castle and the parlament and also in the city park and in the heroes square. i have tried the tram,metro,troley sistem. i have been in Buda, Obuda and Pest.
I have cut the grass and have been a translater for humusz.
i have been a gardener, a bench builder, a wales researcher for greepeace.
i have help building a experimental circuit.
I have been at the anual meeting of green organizations in Keskemet
I have met people from around the world, France, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Argelia, Peru, Spain, Austria, USA, Scotland, Belgium, Germany and incredably from my own coutry,Portugal.
I have been in the Budapest woods catching wood. i have been at the Budahills. i have taken lunch near the Danube Bend.
i have been in a Zoo, to strange partys in kekeskemt
I have been in Graz, i have skied and been to Austria for the first time.
i cooked my first rice and egg.
i have drunk palinka and eaten tutrorudi.
i have met the small portuguese comunity of Budapest.
I have met already two hungarians that speak portuguese.
I haven been to very few bars, but i have been to simpla dupla, a bar built in an abandoned warehouse,with very special enviornment, i felt like i was going to plan a revolution.

All this in only 19 days

Budapest

2007-01-09T12:07:00.000Z

Budapest is the capital of Hungary and 9th biggest city of the european union, with 1.7 million inhabitants. Budapest result from the merge of 2 cities, Buda and Pest, located in diferent banks of the river danube. Nowadays Budapest is considered one of the most preaty city in Europe and is in the UNESCO world heritage list.
Budapest is going to be my home for one year. i am leaving Lisbon in March so i can discover how is to be far away from home during one year :)
At the end of this month i leave my job and then start thinking about my new adventure.
It's great that hungary is sorounded by 7 countries and i only have been to one.
Austria, the country of the Alps and culture, the home of Mozart.
Slovakia, the land of the Tatras, i have been there only for a few hours in Bratislava, a very nice city.
Croacia, know for the beautifull landscape and misterious islands.
Romania, the Transilvania with the folk tales.
Ukraine, one of the biggest countries in europe, famous for their culture and also because of one of the most famous enviornmental disaster.Also kknow for Krimeia.
Slovenia, one of the most fast economy growing and the new country of the Euro zone.
Serbia, the pearl of the Balkans.

This is only one overview of this coutrnies that i will try to visit in detail.

So in March here i go to budapest.

Welcome to 2007

2007-01-03T11:49:00.000Z

And here we are for a new year in our lifes.

this year started in a different way for me. just me and a friend looking to the river seeing lisbon on the other side, watching 3 diferent fire works at the same time, and intead of drinking champagne and eating grapes we just drunk wine. then we crossed the river to see a concert of the past and that i normally wouldn't go but had a lot of fun.
it was a night different of i imagined but at the same time for me magic.
But the world doesn't stop. the crisis situations degrated in some countries and the majority still didn't resolve their problems. the situation just improved in one country.
When i look to the crisis group report the same countries appear a lot of times like sudan and israel.
on the month of december a lot happened in the world. the situations deteorated in Basque Country, Bolivia, Egypt, Fiji, Iran, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan.

i wish a good 2007

I wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year.

2006-12-21T15:51:00.000Z

Now the year is ending we have to try remember what happened this year!

a lot of things happend in 2006 and the newspapers next week will remind us for shure of that.

my memorie is very bad but i will try to remember some things.

2006 started in Algarve, in albufeira for the fist time for me and problably will finish in Almada, first time also for me.

2006 is the year of Ojda, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris and Japan. I met great new people and had the opportunity to see old faces.

2006 was the year of the discovery of my country and had the opportunity to be in places where i had never been before.

2006 if everything goes right started the beggining of a new experience.

2006 is also the year of concerts ( gaiteiros de lisboa, pearl jam, deathtones, Tool, Alice in Chains, Placebo and primitive reason) and one i missed because of a friends wending(kings of convenience)

Now the year is ending so i wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year!

Conflicts in the world

2006-11-02T14:45:00.000Z

It’s the beginning of a new month so it’s time to see which situation got worse during October and which are better or in risk of war.
13 countries saw their situation getting much worse and four is in risk of war and in only two countries the scenario got better (North Ireland and Haiti).
Bangladesh, Fiji, DR Congo and Somalia are in risk of a major conflict

Bangladesh: the appointment of interim caretaker administration till the January elections has been in the center of the conflict. The rivalry between the two major parties continues. In October 20 supporters of awamy league were killed during a protest. Awami league is against the person nominated by the government to control the elections, saying that he is partial and a supporter of BNP. Democracy is very important since if they loose control there is the risk of the Muslim extremist and other religious groups take control. There has been a lot of progress in this country but there are still a lot of problems that need to be solved.

Fiji: Dispute between the government and the military forces. There is a risk of a military coup. The military want amnesty to the people involved in the military coup of 2000.

Somalia: situation continue to deteriorate between the Islamic courts and the transitional government
There is a risk of full regional conflict. There are already Eritrea and Ethiopian troops inside Somalia territory supporting each one of them a different side.

Democratic republic of Congo: there is risk of conflict because there were0 the presidential elections. There have occurred small cases of violence between rival supporters.

IN the next countries the situation got worse:

CAR: There were reported attacks of rebels near the Sudan border.
Chad: There have been attacks of rebels based in Sudan. Sudan blames Chad of supporting rebels in Darfur.
Iraq: Sectarian violence continues. Us reported a lost of 103 people. New regional law was approved growing the risk of destroying the Iraq unity.
Israel/occupied territories: Fattah and Hamas don’t understand each others. Israeli incursion to Palestine continues.
North Korea: There was the first nuclear test in the country that was not supported by any of the security council of the United Nations. There is a risk of humanitarian disaster if food stocks not bolstered before winter.
Philippines: Manila government blames the rebels for an attack that killed 7 people in 10 of October. The Supreme Court rejected the government petition for a parliamentary system.
Serbia: It was approved a new constitution by referendum but the opposition say that there were some irregularities. Serb radical party re-elected their leader Vojislav Seselj that is in Hague on war crimes. The Serbian president and prime minister say that they have the right to defend their borders and territory and that they will consider every country that recognizes Kosovo independence has enemy.
Sri Lanka: Violence between the government and the Tamil rebels

Elections

2006-10-30T17:39:00.000Z

One new week and in two days a new month. Yeasterday the president Lula da Silva of Brasil won again even he was supposed to had won in the first round he had to go for a second round.
In Bulgaria the president Guéorgui Parvanov won again.
In the Democrat Republic of Congo there were also elctions, everyone was afraid of riots but in a overall, the elections went threw with out any major problems, even so two people were killed by the police, in a riot because they said there were urns full of votes for the president Joseph Kabila. the results are still not avaiable.
well, i am bored so tomorow is another day.

ESA-Lisbon

2006-10-26T11:44:00.000+01:00

This is the city where i work and born but not where i live, Lisbon(Lisboa). i live in the other side of the river.
in the image the big green area in the left side of the image is the Monsanto park, near bye you can see the 25 of april bridge that cross the river Tagus(tejo) to Almada. The green area near a round about is the Marques pombal square and Parque Eduardo Sétimo. The expo 1998 took place in the area near the river in right top side of the image.
This image shows the palce where i work the IST faculty and the D.Afonso Herinques Avenue.

ESA IMAGE- Niau

2006-10-25T14:02:00.000+01:00

Niau is a small atoll in the French polinesia and belongs to the Toamotu islands in the South Pacific. The atoll is very small with only 160 inhabitants registered in 1996. the land is very fertil and you can gorw fruits like oranges, lemons, bananas, coconuts.

the sorce of the picture is http://earth.esa.int

sorry

2006-10-24T15:07:00.000+01:00

sorry i had to take out for personal reasons the last post but i promise to put it back later in January or February.

Amsterdam

2006-10-20T11:40:00.000+01:00

I left Japan and just ten hours later i was in the other side of the world in a completly diferent society, i was in amsterdam.
i had 6 hours till my flight to Lisbon so i caught the train and went to the city center.
it was bit late and i was a bit tired after so much hours so i decided just have a walk around the city.
it was the first time for me in Amsterdam and everything seemed very strange for me, because everything was so diferent from the place where i was for 4 weeks.
it was like i was just in another world, lots of turists, white people, it was cold, the sky was with a different tone, the streets look dirtier, the letters were normal for me again and i had people asking for money, the cars moved in a different side. i was alone again after so much time in a different country and different society.
a bit hungry i hate the first meet i finded, for my suprise after leaving the restaurant i realised i was in the famous red light district what contributed for my strange dream. after a few minutes i was in a coffe shop and all the rest of my trip was a very strange trip.

Last moments

2006-10-19T09:34:00.000+01:00

The end was very near. i said goodbye to my irish friend in Kyoto and went back to Tokyo with my slovenian friend.
the 24th of August was the day of goodbye and of the 9 hours travel back to Tokyo. We arrived very late to Tokyo and almost all transports are over at 0:00. we went around the Tokyo main station and think that the dream was over and that in the next day we had to go back to Europe.
The first hours we wanted to use internet so we walked in the empty streets till we find some strange shop that said internet 24 hours. it was not a internet cafe but a pornoshop that had internet. each one of us stayed in a private room and used internet when normally the japanese men see strange movies.
After this strange experince we were back to the streets and went to our finnal onsen at 6.00 a.m in shybuia, where the big Tokyo towers are. At 11 o'clock we were in the airport and i said goodbye to my friend, Tokyo and to my friend.

Amanohashidate

2006-10-18T10:38:00.000+01:00

After visiting Kyoto monuments and a bit tired of temples and shrines our main objective was now to see the sea. I had seen the ocean so the choice was the Sea of Japan in the other side of the island.
we saw in the maps that there was a park in the coast line and also one of the most beautifull landscapes in Japan near by so we caught the train and went to Amanohashidate.
Amanohashidate meaning the road of heaven is a 3.6 kilometer long, pine tree covered sand bar.
we arrived to the train station that is in the south side and that has a temple near bye. finnaly we tested the water and went to the beach, but i have to say that the water was not very clean. We also met a strange american that took a picture of us.
after one hour we were back to Kyoto and drinked in a way to say goodbye to the last night we were the three of us togheter.

Kyoto-Day two

2006-10-17T09:41:00.000+01:00

After recovering from the hard trip, we started the monument track.
We were not very lucky sincce it started all day long.
the first stop was Kinkakuji -the golden temple.
Kinkakuji is one of the major atractions of Kyoto and is included in the unesco list. Kinkakuji is a Zen temple. The construction started in 1397 has a new residence of a retired shogun, being after his death converted to a Zen temple. The main building is the golden temple but has also minor temples and a big garden and lake.The actual golden building like much in Japan is a reconstruction because the original was burned by a crasy monk in 1950. i really thought that Portugal has fire problems but for sure is not the only one.

The second stop- Ryoanji. Ryoanji is another Zen temple not very far from the first one. the main atraction here is the rock garden. the garden only has rocks inside. they say that is very philosofical, and everyone has it's own interpretation. I realised looking to this stones with my friends, that this is too strange for me and that i looked like and idiot looking to stones. i am empty and very ignorant for sure. There is also a big lake a normal garden and a main building besides this beautifull rock garden, one of the oldest one in the world. i they are looking for a gardener.

The final stop, after so much culture, gardens and rain, it was shrine but this time much far of the center. Inari is the god of rise and the shrine is full of foxes it's messanger.
The main atraction of this shrine is the hundreads of Torii gates that cover the hiking trails of Inarisan the moutain behind the main building. it has also a lot of mosquitos so be carefull.
in the night we drunk a beer and back to bed.

Kyoto- day one

2006-10-16T09:44:00.000+01:00

After leaving Kofu and making Tokyo a meeting point with my friends of Ireland and Slovenia e went on the direction of Kyoto.
After 9 hours of traveling in local trains in a surreal trip that loooked like we were in a total diferent country since we had to stand almost all trip and that if we had taken the fast but expensive shinkashen in 2 hours we had arrived in Kyoto.
Kyoto is one of the must go places in Japan and one of the most turistic spots known all around the world because of it's beauty and also because of the proctocol signed in this place because of the global warming.
Kyoto was the Japans capital and emperor home from 794 till 1868. The city is now the 7th biggest city and has about 1.4 milion people. the city has inumorous monuments in the unesco world heritage list and has undreads of temples and shrines.
I spent 3 nights in Kyoto but i did't see all the most important monuments. In the first day we were very tired so we just decided to see Kyoto Imperial Palace garden but unfortunely we only saw walls since all the complex only can be visited in guided tours and is sorounded with big walls. Then we went to an honsen just to take a deserved bath. While i was waitng for my companions i went to one of the many temples.
In the night we went to one of the main points of the modern arquitecute in Kyoto, the Kyoto train station. just near we could see the Kyoto Tower the tallest building in the city.
Even we were exausted we went to the river side to one of the most known streets but we didn't stay long. we saw to many tourist and we like to be the only white people around. Finnaly bed.

The camp was over. Kofu

2006-10-13T14:20:00.000+01:00

After 15 great days, the camp was over and here i was again on the road. i was suposed to go to Tokyo but i stayed one night in Kofu. The stay in Kofu was good because i was in good company. i ate shushi, saw fireworks, sing the karaoke, ate in a good restaurtant, saw more temples, heard Japanese drums, it was just great. Kofu is the capital of Yamanashy and has total of 193 795 inhabitants. The castle is like many in Japan a rescontruction of the old one and now has a very nice park inside. The city also has many temples and shrines. I miss that day, i only now give the appreciation that i didn't give that time. Writing this post after comming makes me sad but is good to look back. in that day i disapointed a friend in Tokyo for not going there and i regreat that i hurt her very much, has a punishement i got out of money in Japan and discovered that i didn't remember the code of my ATM card. After this day was a bit hard to live in Japan so i really have to say thanks to my friends there because they helped me very much.
The next day i went to Tokyo to meet my companions of Ireland and slovenia and went to Kyoto. I had to say the last goobye to a nice person unsure if i will see her again. Saying goodbye is very hard everytime but travellers have to be strong :-)
since we are citisens of the world.

The camp

2006-10-12T11:53:00.000+01:00

After leaving the east i stayed a night in Tokyo with a good friend of mine that is now mad with me. She was great and helped me to reach the work camp people.
For 2 weeks i was ina work camp in the Yamanashy region, just next to Tokyo. the main atraction of this region is mount Fuji, in the south limit of the region. The capital is Kofu and the camp was in a small village not very far away near Enzan.
The camp was located in themidle of the mountain and we could see Enzan down in the valley. the hills were covered with forest in which we had cut trees in order to build tables and a swing for young kids park.
In the camp we had people from Ireland, Greece, Portugal(me), South Korea, Greece , Slovenia and Japan. The camp was great, the people, the landscape and also for other reasons that i won't tell in the blog. In this two weeks i went to Mont Fuji even i couldn't go to the top because of the bad weather, treking, to onshen( tradicional japanese baths), to Shrines, etc. it would take a lot of time to describe erverything that ocurred in 15 days.

Kakunodate

2006-10-11T09:59:00.000+01:00

My last day in the east started in a diferent way. My plan was to go to Kakunodate but i took the wrong shinkashen and ended in the midle of nowhere.
Because i was in the wrong train i got out in the first station after Morioka, unfurtenely i had to wait one hour and half. instead of staying in thte station i found a turism post that sent me to a great art museum.
the art museum had a very beautifull garden with a lot of sculptures.
Happy to find this museum i left the town, back to Morioka and then to Kakunodate.
Kakunodate is a small town well known for it's samurai district where you can find some old samurai mansions. Kakunodate has also one of the most famous cherry blossom paths but in the summer you can't enjoy it very much.
This small town is know has the small Kyoto of the East. You can visit 6 houses and some are for free. There is also temples and shrines you can visit. you can also go by the river and give the hand to your girlfriend( only this the rest is very rude, just give the hand nothing more ok). After Kanodate, a good friend of mine was waiting for me in Tokyo station.

Tono Valley

2006-10-10T13:47:00.000+01:00

Iwate is one of the prefectures of Tohoku Region, in the biggest Japanese island, Honshu.Tohoku is the most eastern region in Honshu, on the way to Okaydo island.
Iwate capital is Morioka, the place where i stayed for 2 nights, that is located like many bigger towns, in a big valley where the shinkanshen train passes. one of the main atraction of Iwate is Tono Valley that has the main point in Tono town. The Tono Valley is the home of many Iwate legends, and very well known for the Kappa creatures(" A kappa is a creature about half a metre tall with a shell like that of a tortoise on its back. It also has a depressed dish on its head to collect water, and a red face with round eyes. It is said that, like monkeys, kappa have opposable thumbs on their hands and feet. Kappa are mischievous creatures and like to bother people by trying to sumo wrestle them, by stealing their livers and by dragging horses into rivers. )"
The best way to visit the valley is by car or bicicle but since i had none of this things i had to continue in the Tono town.
Tono main atraction is the legends museum and some old tradicional houses has well for it's shrines and temples.
After Tono i just go around by train to the coast. The Iwate coast line is full of small port towns with small beaches being isolated of everything.

Morioka and Matsushima bay.

2006-10-09T13:34:00.000+01:00

After departing from hiraizumi i moved to Morioka a larger town where i stayed for 2 nights and was my base of operations.
i didn't see much of Morioka but when i arrived at Morioka train station i could see some tradicional dance.
After finding a room to stay the night i caught the train again and went to Matshushima bay, one of the 3 greatest scenary in Japan and see the Pacific Ocean.

Hiraizumi

2006-10-04T10:07:00.000+01:00

After leaving Aizuwakamtsu i went to Hiraizumi, a small village that is very famous for their two temples, Chusonji and Motsuji.
Till the XII century, Hiraizumi was a very important city competing with Kyoto in importance, and the home of the Fujiwara clan. Unfurtunelly the city was all destroyed by a rival clan in 1189 and never recovered.

Motsuji was a long time ago a big temple complex but like many things in japan, it was burned and destroyed. nowadays is famous for their beautifull garden complex and still has a small temple and a youth hostel. It was in this youth hostel where is stayed for the night, where there was only vegetarian food and i had my first experince with japanse breakfast( im astill recovering) and had at 6.am free zen meditation. i was so tired that i just stayed sleeping.

Chusonji is nowadays the biggest temple complex in the area. it's located in the hill and has many small temples and is famous for the golden hall, a temple covered in gold.

Aizuwakamatzu

2006-10-03T10:45:00.000+01:00

My second day in Japan started in visiting the famous town of Aizuwakamatzu, the hometown of the samurai clan White Tigers. there is a legend that in the war between the samurais and the emperor at the the Meiji Era, that a group of young samurais commited suicide when they saw from the top of a hill, their castle on fire. this story is told almost has a joke about blind loyalty, because in reality it was not the castle on fire but the sorounding houses, and the castle resisted one week more.
in the old times the all village was sorounded by walls being the clan castle in the center, nowadays we can see the reconstructed castle ( the real one was burned during the meiji wars), old samurai houses, farms and a monument in the hill where the samurais commited suicide. Me, i just visited the castle and one of the oldest tea houses in the region, just behind the castle.
the city is sorounded by hills and is located all inside the valley, being all the hills covered by trees. Inside the castle walls we can find a small park with tennis courts and a camp where you can shoot arrows. there is also a small school for kids to learn martial arts and a small temple. then i pciked my things and catch the train going even more east of Japan in direction of Ichinozecki.

First day in Japan

2006-10-02T16:40:00.000+01:00

It was about 2 months ago but finnaly my friends gave me back the pictures i took in japan so i can start my cronicles.

the adventure started in Lisbon, when i was waiting for the check in to start i looked to my feet and realised that i was wearing tennis instead my travell boots( i always use boots and never tennis shoes when traveling it's part of my uniform).
the trip was great the only problem was the pain in my ears for being with a cold. a very nice feeling when you land.

Finnaly Narita airport, after 17 hours with a stop in Amsterdam on the way. i was really like i was in other dimention basicly because i was still on myself that i had arrived to Japan.
panic came just after few minutes of arriving, i had no money with me and all the atm refused to give me money, anyway i managed luckly to buy the train ticket with my VISA . ( in japan cash rules credit cards don't).

i took the train to tokyo and then...................i fall a sleep and missed my stop, good start no. with the help a japanese women i found my way back.
in tokyo i tryed again to get money and found out that i was asking for too much money and finnaly i got some yens.
i left tokyo in direction of aizuwakamatsu.

i arrived to aizu, at almost dark, it was about 18:00 and tryed to find the youth hostel. the youth hostel is located in the midle of nowhere in a place that i would never dream that there was a hostel, with almost no people on the streets. it was hard to find the place so i asked for help. i found an old japanese with me, that was very happy to help me, even he didn't speak english, he was great and phoned the hostel and then he took me there. just great, really great, this was just the beggining of the famous japanese hospitality.

i was very afraid of not having a room, since i didn't book, but soon i realised that i was the only guest there. my room companions arrived in the midle of the night, scaring me out.

here i was my first night in japan, sleeping on the floor in the midle of nowhere. i was really happy.

picture 1- the shinkanshen the fast train
picture 2 - try to understand the destination of each train
picture 3- my first bed at the hostel

Paris

2006-09-08T17:07:00.000+01:00

For the 3rd time in my life i ended up in Paris, but this time i was there for a work meeting. after 3 years in my job finnaly i got the opportunity to go somewhere in work outside Portugal.
i arrived to Paris on Saturday night and left on Tuesday at midday, so i only worked on Monday, so i got sometime to travel.
Saturday night was quite boring, being all alone in Paris, really depressed me but on Sunday my ood was better.
Like a good turist i went for the first time inside some monument in Paris i went to the Louvre.
it was the first day of the month so i didn't pay anything. i started in trying to find the Mona, yep, Mona Lisa, that girl that looks like she is always watching you and was painted by Leo.
After stayed there trying to figure out why the hell she is so famous(me and all the others looking with the mounth open to the paintign for 10 minutes with mouth open) i went to see the Africa, South America and Oceania exibit.
it was nice you can group the all sculptures in 4 groups:
-reproduction( everytime that there was a man pointing down or a woman with two arms down that ment something about sex)
-social status( sometimes they anounce that some of a bigger social class lives there)
-religion( gods, and something from the the other world)
-passage from child to man.

i continue to see the muslim art and the babilon has you can see in the picture.
finally i ended in the egip and in the louvre dugens.

in the afternoon nothing that go to the fountain of saint michel, and walk near the Sen, just enjoying Paris with a friend.

Finally to end the good trip nothing has to see Jim at his home, yep, i went to a cemetery and almost lost my plane. i tryed to find edit but i think she had just left, i even tryed to see chopin but time was not enought so i have to go back to Paris for a 4th time.

September

2006-09-06T16:15:00.000+01:00

i hate september even in the last 2 septembers i had good experiences and nice travels but it's true i hate september.
in august i have my freedom, my travles, my fresh air, the new peoples, new cultures and then everything ends and comes september.
it's a month that normally brings bad luck and i get sad and frustrated about life.
the only thing that makes me happy is to remember the past, the good things of what i already acomplished in only 5 years of international travelling.
there is nothing compared that dancing in a spanish fiesta or going to a concert in valladolid, riding a bike in the french viniards, stay by the river in prague admiring the river, go to a ska festival, stay in a terrance in the colorfull neighbourhood of berlin, teatching english to tchechens, treck in the midlle of japanese mountains, discover archeologics monuments in the midle of the jungle in bangladesh, watchinh portuguese team playing the worldcup in morocco with everybody supporting the other team, trecking in the italian alps, the many landscape and people you had met and you never saw it again, memories.......
i have done already so much things and i am happy with it.
life is good after all.
but there are so many that didn't and continue to do the same boring things and i really think that they are not completly happy with their life, always following the norm, the majority, the fachion, well maybe they are happy.
but maybe because i question myself why should i do this only because everyone does it, why should i wear the same cloths and be has tidy has the other becuase someone will do remarks about you, why you have to like all the music that is on top, why you have like the same movies, the same food, go to the big beaches, the main monuments, the turists spots. why.
you can do so much if you go just to the other path.
maybe in a few years i change.

GPPDBYE JAPAN I

2006-08-24T19:23:00.000+01:00

I DON T WANT TO GO HOME

TODAY IS A SAD DAY, I AM LEAVING JAPAN TO GO BACK TO REAL LIFE, THE LIFE OF RESPONSABILITIES , WORK AND PROBLEMS
ITS GOING TO BE NICE SEE MY FAMILLY AND FIRENDS BUT IF I COULD I WOULD STAY MORE TIME. I LOVE JAPAN, THE PEOPLE
I HOPE ONE DAY LIFE SENDS ME BACK.THANKS FOR EVERYTHING AND I WILL NEVER FORGET
I LOVE BEEING A BAGPACKER AND GOD SAVE THEM
GOODBYE JAPAN HELLO \NETHERLANDS EVEN ONLY FOR FEW HOURS

after three weeks in japan.

2006-08-19T08:27:00.000+01:00

yep.
three weks in japan, long time for sure. i arrived on 31 of jully. the first week i went to the north of hoshu and the second week i went to yamanashi region for a workcamp. it was a great time but now is over, but i am still in japan till 25 of august. i just changed my plans at the last minue and i will stay one day in kofu a small city in yamanshy but if everything goes well i will go to kyoto in the night.
japan is a great country even i think they have too much rules, but the people are nice, the food good, the landscape beautifull.
have nice vacacions

Goodbye

2006-07-28T19:26:00.000+01:00

goodbye everyone!
adeus a toda gente!
i am going to leave to the other side of the world, and like always the adrenaline is rising and here i go to conquer japan.
wish me luck :)

bye

My route in Japan

2006-07-27T10:21:00.000+01:00

i leave on Sunday 30 of Jully to Tokyo. i will arrive about 9.30 am of 31 of Jully. i am little ansious since i am going to be bymiself in the beggining. i am going to visit the north of hoshu, i only have an idea in my head of what to do, i hope to find a place to sleep that is not very expensive. i still have to buy the train ticket.
after the north of hoshu i leave to to Toquio just for a few time then here i go to the Yamazaqui region, not far from mont Fuji, for 14 days in the camp. in the end i still think in going to the kyoto, nara. but like traveller i will let the destiny show me the way. i hope everything is going to be ok. i will try to tell my adventure here.

Adventure in Morocco II

2006-07-25T15:19:00.000+01:00

after one full day of travel here i was in Oujda, the biggest city of the Northeast Morocco. Oujda is a big frontier city very close to Algeria border, the majority of the population or works for the state or works in commerce. Oujda is the capital of contraband. Even the border is closed the import and export is very big in this sides. Algeria doesn't have restrcitions to chinese products so this products are much cheaper in algeria than morocco. there are markets with only products from Algeria. when the border closed some years ago there was a crisis in the city, many midle size hotels closed and the development slowed down, but now there is a hope that the border reopens next year.
after arriving and meeting my friends house and familly i went to the enviornment day celebrations at Oujda main park. there was an a activity with children, in wich one of them had to write or draw. the theme was desertification. many drawings had trees and i still don't know why.
in the end of the day i went for a walk in Oujda and see the game of Portugal-Angola for the world cup. it was funny to see that everyone were very intense wisshing that Angola won.
in the second day in Oujda i went to tagerhalt. the beginning of the day was not very good because there was fog everywhere. tgerhalt is inside a natural park and is sorrounded by hoods and hill. there i went to the ruins of the resistence headquarters. this fort was used by the morocan indenpendentists against spanish troops. even this part was french it was very near with Spanish border.
The main atraction of the park are the caves, and the landscape, that is very beautifull, after the fog went away finnaly we got the opportunity to see the view. the most funny part was when we had crooss a small water line and i realised that there was a fish crossing the road.
while we were eating in the midle of the park, a truck stoped and my frineds and the men from the truck started to talk and after some seconds this men were eating our food and talkin like they knew us for a long time. it was strange for me this but in the end they sold us some orange.
On thurday i didn't do much, we decided to see Oujda. Oujda is a modern city so old historic parts are very few. the main atractions are the walls of the old medina. inside of the medina instead of a lot of houses you have a giant souk. there you can buy everything you want. Inside the medina near the souk you can also see the oldest mosk in the city and of morocco and the courthouse and the first secondary school. in the night i went to see Brasil-Croacia, drunk some milk and got sick.
it was the worst possible getting sick i spend all wednesday vomiting and to increase my bad health i received an e-mail of my boss to go to work that day in Portugal.( in the end it was not important)

Thursday was great! i was feeling a litle better and i went to the beach, Saidia.

Saidia is coastal town that is developing very much their turism, my friend also wants to go live there. Near this city there is going to be a very big turistical project, with marina, golf course, houses, villas and Zidane is going to have a house there, for this they destroyed a big part o~f a mediterranian forest. near this turistical place there is a very important place for birds.
after admiring the destuction of the enviornment we went to cape del eau, a very nice port with great view and great fish. from there i could see the chafarine islands( three small islands near morocco that belong to Spain, there are no town in this islands only military units) . here we notice some problem of Morocco with Spain. Spain uses the islands to control ilegal imigrants and drug traffic, specially hashix.
not much has to be said about firday it was the goodbye of my friends and here i was on my way to Tangier, but now by bus.
to show how ilegal migration it's a serious problem in morocco here goes the example. in oujda you can see southsarian people beggining for food near the mosks, some of them came walking from Algeria, that is accused of not controling the migration, this men are travelling for months to the holly land, Europe. then after reaching morocco or other african mediterranian countrys they try their luck to cross the sea or try to enter Ceuta or Mellila. when i caught the bus there was an ilegal subsarian imigrant inside, that was expeld by the driver. all the way to Tangier the were police controling for imigrants.
other thing that is very easy to find in the road is people selling contraband gasoline from Algeria, in the way to Saidia we stoped in one of this ilegal gas stops.

On saturday morning i arrived to Tangier, took the fast ferry to Tarifa and then the bus to Algeciras.
i spent all day in Algeciras. there are a lot imigrants here. the main parts of the city is plaza alta and the market, i found there a very nice place to eat and mingle with locals. in the afternoon i saw Portugal win against Iran.
the problems came later:
i went back to the port to take the bus to Sevilla and then take the bus to Lisbon. i was stitting there waiting for the bus, calmelly, there was one more girl going to POrtugal, we saw the bus passing and then...............we lost the bus. it was very stupid but its true i was in the station and i lost the bus, in panic i tryed to fix the situation but the women responsible for the bus was stupid. the next bus to lisbon was only 24 hours later. so i decided to take the next bus to seville and then catch on sunday the first bus to Lisbon and i did it. finnaly on sunday iwas back to Lisbon.
worst than me was the other girl, she had no money and she already had sleept in the street ion the night before, i had to give her some money. she was nice but a bit crasy. she came from a litle town in the south of portugal but studied in Evora( a bigger town), and she sometimes decided to travell with very few money. this time she went to visit her boyfriend in Morocco, her boyfriend was in jail because of drugs traffic. in the way of algeciras to Seville there drug control on the road to see if people were carring drugs.

so here i was back to Portugal.

i leave on Sunday to ~Tokyo.

Adventures in Morocco I

2006-07-20T10:04:00.000+01:00

In june, finnaly, i picked my bag, put my headphones, my cap, my guidebook and here i went in direction of Morocco.
When i entered the bus to Algeciras, i had nothing planned, no place to stay and only one idea of what to do, but just before leaving Lisbon, i had the idea to call my marrocan friend, and finally i got and obejctive, go to Oujda to visit my friend.

on the way to algeciras i had to change bus in Seville. at 4 in the morning me and the other people that were going to algeciras had to leave the the bus and stay in a small local bus station in seville, for 3 hours. with the surprise of having to change bus( i didn't know) and bit asleep i picked my bag and left the bus i a hurry. it was only after the bus had left that i realised that i had my guidebook in the bus.
in the station there were about ten people. a south american girl and a old man that misteriously disapeared and came back just in time to catch the bus. the geek group, very clean and i think they were very excited with idea of going to the dangerous Morocco even they were going first to Ceuta, the "droug dealers", 3 very strange guys, very big fans of smoking maria, one of them had the five dot tatoo, and the others looked like freeks that didn't have money to chave for a year or even take a shower and a nurse that a mali boyfriend waiting for her in Tangier.
finally i arrived to Algeciras and went on direction to Tangier. it was then that i discovered that the nurse was going also to take the train, i had finnaly a travel companion, even for a wille. during the cross of the gibraltar straight i discovered that this girl was a nurse in Faro, she had been in Africa for some months has a volunteer. in the slow ferry(4 hours) we also met the models, 3 girls that where going for photo session in Casablanca.
finnally we arrived to Tangier! the girls boyfriend was there. it was funny, because he was jealous of me and really in bad mood, so i had to go alone to the train station, because the girl was staying with him in Tangier. he was very short and had llike a gangster wana be loook.a funny character.
finnaly in the train station i started my day in train. because the train to oujda only left at night i decided to take the train in Casablanca.
and here i go sidi kassem then Casablanca and in Casablanca i took the train to Oujda. in the train i had the opportunity to analise the people. the girls are very preatty and lot of them use western cloths. the number of men with tradicional cloths is very few. people are very nice and talked with each others like they knew each others for a long time. at trip to oujda people warned me about the thiefs and a women was iin charge of sending people away of the carridge. in the end there where only 4 people, me a men and 2 old womens. they spend almost all trip talking and sending people away, then one took my water and started wining territory in the bench. she started siting in the bench with small space in the end it was me the one sitting with very few space.
finnaly i was in Oujda with my friend two days after leaving Lisbon

2006-07-06T11:22:00.000+01:00

for a long time that i didn't wirte in the blog but i am still alive. it was this blog birthday on the 4 of Jully. one year ago i was on my way to Blangadesh and now i have a new destination on my mind. in june i was in morocco and now i am going to ......................look to the photo and guess

the image is from http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/images/EO/highres/ISS008/ISS008-E-17326.JPG .

i am going to Japan. i will land in tokyo and then i will be near the fuji mountain in a workcamp for 14 days. i hope to see the north of honshu and also kyoto and nara.

i will describe my adventure online

Somaliland: Time for African Union Leadership

2006-05-24T10:11:00.000+01:00

"The dispute between Somaliland and Somalia will become an ever-increasing source of friction, and possibly violence, unless the African Union (AU) engages in preventive diplomacy. The self-declared Republic of Somaliland is marking fifteen years since it proclaimed independence from Somalia, and if Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) expands its authority across the shattered country, the dispute over Somaliland’s status is likely to become an ever-increasing source of friction. The AU should appoint a Special Envoy to consult with all relevant parties and report on the legal, security and political dimensions of the dispute and offer options for solutions within six months. Its Peace and Security Council should organise an informal consultation round with eminent scholars, political analysts and legal experts. Pending final resolution of the dispute, Somaliland should be granted interim observer status at the AU."

source-http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm

dispare

2006-05-23T15:07:00.000+01:00

i don't know where to go this summer, every country i think about it's too expensive! i don't know where to go.so many country, so few time and money.

New independent country in Europe!

2006-05-22T13:37:00.000+01:00

After yeasterday referedum the indepence suporters won. if everything is going ok, Europe is going to have in a few time a new country, i am talking about Montenegro. The only republic that didn't leave Serbia in the old Yougoslavia is now moving to independence. So, there is going to be a new country to visit in Europe. i hope that this way to independence will go calmly and no crisis will come from this. If the majority is in favour of independence they should be independent.
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/yugoslav.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montenegro

Image of the week

2006-05-19T11:24:00.000+01:00

"The south-western area of the Republic of Kazakhstan is captured in this Envisat image, which highlights the south-western province of Mangistau and the Caspian Sea. With an area of 2.7 million square kilometres, Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest nation in the world – the size of Western Europe. It borders Russia to the north, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the south and the Caspian Sea to the west. Prior to gaining independence in 1991, Kazakhstan was part of the former USSR.
The Mangyshlak Peninsula (the tip of which is seen in the lower left across from the half-moon shaped island) is often referred to as a treasure peninsula because it has a wealth of mineral deposits, including coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, uranium and gold.
Petroleum and natural gas, however, are the main riches of the peninsula. Production of oil in Mangyshlak is expected to increase with the planned sinking of new oil wells in Buzachi, located in the northernmost cape of Mangyshlak. Advanced methods of oil extraction are needed in Buzachi because the oil’s high viscosity makes it difficult to extract, despite it occurring at relatively small depths of 300-1 000 metres.
In 2001, the Caspian Consortium pipeline opened from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea. And work has begun, in cooperation with China, on the construction of an oil pipeline that will extend from the Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border.
Also located in Kazakhstan is the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Russian-operated space launch facility, in the south-central part of the country about 200 km east of the Aral Sea near the town of Tyuratam. The former Soviet Union intentionally gave the launch facility the misleading name of Baikonur, which is a mining town located about 320 km northeast of the space centre, to conceal the actual location of the site.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome will be the launch site of MetOp-A, developed by ESA in collaboration with the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). Scheduled to launch on 17 July 2006, MetOp-A will be Europe's first polar-orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology.
This image was acquired by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) in August 2005. "
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMONC9ATME_index_0.html

the more p,nb and less p.n.b in europe

2006-05-19T09:24:00.000+01:00

Yeasterday was divulged results of a eurostat study about rich and poor regions in E.U.. for 2003. The acceptable value for a region is 75% Portugal, my beautifull country has 4 regions under this value that means that is very bad. The study also considers very good if a region has more than 125%. The poorest region of E.U 15 is the Portuguese region of Norte, the north of Portugal bordering the Spanish region of Galicia and Castilla Leon.

the 10 richest regions per capita in E.U. are: The 1o poorest regions in E.U. are:

Inner London (UK) Lubelskie (PL)
Bruxelles-Capitale (BE) Podkarpackie (PL)
Luxembourg Podlaskie (PL)
Hamburg (DE) Świętokrzyskie (PL)
Île de France (FR) Warmińsko-Mazurskie (PL)
Wien (AT) Opolskie (PL)
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire (UK) Észak Magyaroszág (HU)
Provincia Autonoma Bolzano (IT) Východné Slovensko (SK)
Oberbayern (DE) Eszag-Alföld (HU)
Stockholm (SE) Dél-Alföld (HU)

If you analise the top ten regions you will se that 6 of this regions are capital region including Luxemburg that only has one region.
The two german regions that have greater pnb are located in the west, being Hamburg an autonomus city in the north and
Oberbayern the region in the south wich Munique is the biggest city.Berkshire,Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire are located in the South East near London.
Bolzano is in the north of Italy bordering Austria.

Analising the top 10 of few p.n.b you find 6 Polish regions and 3 in hungary and 1 in Slovakia. 5 of this regions are the most East regions bordering Ucraine and Bielorrussia and Russia. The only exception is Opolskie that is in the south a bit more west and borders Tcheque Republic.
the Hungarina regions are also the most eastern regions bordering Ukrain, Romenia, Servia and Slovakia.
The Slovake region is also in the East bordering poland and Ukrain

A good exercise is to map and compare the values in europe and see wich parts of the countries are richer and poorer.
in Spain the bordering regions with Portugal are the poorest being the Extremadura the poorest of all. you can say that the west of, more far away from the center of Europe is poorer than the west.
In Italy the diference is not so much west-east but is more North South. the poorest region in Italy is the South region of Calabria.
In France Corse and Languedoc-Roussillon are the poorest if you don't count with the outre-mer departements( this 5 departments of France are under 75%, being the poorest the French Guiana with 57.6%.)
In Germany the East is poorer than the West and in the U.k the West has less P.N.B than the East.
europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/

Côte d'Ivoire - Crisis Watch

2006-05-18T11:33:00.000+01:00

"The four-year crisis in Côte d’Ivoire could finally end if the government of national reconciliation continues to make progress toward presidential elections, meant to occur before 31 October. However, no political actors have yet given up the capacity for violence or committed themselves irrevocably to elections they may lose. The government should embark on a nationwide campaign to inform the public of necessary preparations, including identifying citizens entitled to vote and disarming and reintegrating ex-combatants. Major donor support is needed for all these steps. Prime Minister Banny should continue an inclusive dialogue with all political actors and social sectors to mobilise opinion behind the government and should continue working with President Gbagbo, who may be tempted to delay elections to prolong his power. If concrete results are achieved in the next few months, peace may finally be within reach."

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/cote_divoire_ref04.jpg

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm

"Afghanistan’s New Legislature: Making Democracy Work"

2006-05-16T15:03:00.000+01:00

International Crisis Group report Afghanistan

"The fledgling National Assembly can play a vital role in stabilising Afghanistan and holding President Karzai’s administration accountable but only if it gives voice to the country’s diverse population and gets major help from international actors. Its oft-delayed inauguration in December 2005 completed formation of the country’s main governing bodies but marked more the beginning of a political transition than its end. The parliament has potential to draw the regions to the centre in a way that has never happened before but if it is considered impotent, citizens are likely to lose faith in democratisation. Unfortunately the Karzai administration appears to calculate that a weak, fragmented body would mean more power for itself rather than a loss for the country. The executive and legislative branches must not approach their relationship as a zero sum game." in http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4108

image from www.worldpress.org/ profiles/afghanistan.cfm

ESA-image of the week EL Salvador

2006-05-15T10:15:00.001+01:00

Last week i showed the vulcano image of Peru, this week the image of the week is of San Salvador,about 65 km west of San Salvador.
this vulcano last erupted in 2005 killing 2 peoples.

international crisis group weekly resume

2006-05-12T10:47:00.000+01:00

This week there were two important breefings about two situations in the world that have now a good oportunity of getting better. this two situtions are Haiti( carabean country in the west side of hispañola island bordering Domenican Republic where passing the year there has been great problems because of corruption and the difference between rich and pour and also forener influence) and Nepal (this country is located in the Himallays in Asia between China and India, two superpowers of the region, had problems involving the king that wanted to abolish democracy and the maoist that want a maoist state)

Haiti-"If René Préval, who is to be inaugurated as president on 14 May, acts decisively in his first 100 days and receives international backing, he can capitalise on an improved security situation to address some of the underlying causes of violence and crime. His government needs to disarm and demobilise gangs and strengthen the Haitian National Police (HNP) by professionalizing it and purging it of corrupt officers and politically-linked cells. The judicial system must also be overhauled, beginning with establishment of a joint international/national panel to review the cases of prisoners detained for long periods without trial. Haitians have high expectations that the new elected government will quickly improve their lives, and Préval needs to take advantage of a rare moment of optimism or the much suffering country could become the hemisphere’s first permanent failed state."

Nepal-"King Gyanendra’s capitulation on 24 April 2006 in the face of a mass movement marked a victory for democracy in Nepal and, with a ceasefire between the new government and the Maoists now in place, the start of a serious peace process. Forced to acknowledge the “spirit of the people’s movement”, Gyanendra accepted popular sovereignty, reinstated parliament and invited the mainstream seven-party alliance to implement its roadmap – including election of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution in line with the parties’ five-month-old agreement with the Maoists. The international community lost credibility by attempting to pressure the parties into an unworkable compromise with the king and must now work hard to support a difficult transition and peace process while avoiding similar mistakes."

source:http://www.crisisgroup.org/
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_collection_guide.html

ESA-image of the week Malasya

2006-05-11T10:13:00.000+01:00

The image of the week of Esa is from part of the Malysian peninsula in southeast Asia(unfurtunelly i have never been there). this image was acquired on 23 february 2005 by Envisat with spatial resolution of 300 metres.
http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMCNF8ATME_index_1.html

Latest image of Nasa

2006-05-10T13:41:00.000+01:00

Latest image of Nasa
The image shows Mount Ubinas Vulcano in Peru.
This volcano forced the evacuations of the sorrounding villages after eruption in the past 21 of april. the fumes caused respiratory problems and poisoned lifestock.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3

radio

2006-05-08T17:56:00.000+01:00

it's very easy i get tired of earing the same music that is why i don't hear so much mainstrim music, i like diferent music, i like alternative music. i like hearing radio becuase i get tired of the cds with all the same groups, style and voice. radio for me is good because i don't have to do downloads or do a big investigation of what i like. i don't like the majority of the radios and i don't like the majority of the internet radios( too much american music and doesn't have portuguese music) that is why i am all the time earing to http://www.radarlisboa.fm/ a radio now avaiable online from my city Lisbon. i like the majority of the musics and i don't get tired of this musics so easally.
have a great sound where you are

the clash

2006-05-08T14:52:00.000+01:00

do you know the clash?
who?
that is the answer that the majority of the time i hear from people, but then i say "should i stay or should i go " and everyboy say, oh, that one, yes i know and i like it!
i have to confess that a few years ago i was like that, and only after borroing the best of the clash i discovered how great this group was and after how important it was.
the clash is considered one of the greatest punk bands of all time. the clash are from the beggining of the british punk. if you listen to the lirics of this group you understand that they are very political and very concern about the problems of the british minorities and working classes, all because of their roots. the clash were also one the first bands to mix rock with reggae and other minorities associated music. that is why i think is important to divulge this great band.

"Formed in the summer of ‘76, The Clash rode the wave of the punk scene and went beyond it in so many ways. Under the guidance of manager Bernard Rhodes, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Keith Levene were on the lookout for a frontman. Joe Strummer was in a pub rock band called the 101ers. When he saw The Sex Pistols play live, he knew the 101ers days were over. He was approached by Bernard Rhodes and asked to leave his band and join a tough new band that would rival The Sex Pistols. Terry Chimes took the drum seat and the group became The Clash.
Malcolm Mclaren asked his ex business partner Bernard Rhodes for The Clash to join The Sex Pistols on the now legendary ‘Anarchy in the UK’ tour, by this time Keith Levene had left The Clash.
Their Eponymous debut album ‘The Clash’ was recorded over three weekends in ‘77. This pounding, high velocity record captured the urgency and passion of the times and received huge critical acclaim. The single ‘White Riot’ inspired by Joe and Paul’s participation in the Notting Hill Carnival riots was indicative of the social activist attitude that the band would have throughout their career.
At this time Topper Headon joined the line-up replacing Chimes, and in ‘78 they played what has become a hugely celebrated gig in front of 80,000 people at Victoria Park in east London for Rock Against Racism. The band hit the studio after this to record their second album ‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ over three months in the UK and the US with production by Sandy Pearlman. It reached No. 2 in the UK charts in ‘79. With a tougher expanded sound moving on from the immediate music of ‘The Clash’, this second album confirmed the band as the leading light of the Punk movement.
‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ catapulted the band onto the US scene and they set out on a tour of the states with Bo Diddley in support. The influences they experienced from this tour were apparent on their return to the UK from a new musical direction, and their classic rock and roll quiffed up look. Whilst in the studio in the US they recorded a cover of ‘I Fought The Law’ (Bobby Fuller Four), now regarded as a classic Clash track.
Other musical influences including dub, reggae, ska and jazz have always been at the heart of the band. When the band re-entered the studio in the summer of ‘79 under the guiding hand of producer Guy Stevens, many of these styles were found in the songs that the band created. These sessions produced ‘London Calling’, voted in Rolling stone magazine as ‘The Greatest record of the 80s’.
The band went back to the states for a six week tour taking Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and the Cramps in tow amongst others. They then embarked on a recording frenzy in New York, Jamaica and London using music styles from rap and funk to dub that the band picked up from their touring and travels.
The band recorded the single ‘Bankrobber’ but the record company would not release it in the UK, huge public demand meant the company had to capitulate. The wealth of material produced around these recording sessions created the triple album ‘Sandinista’, named after left wing freedom fighters in Nicaragua, which was released in 1980.The band insisted upon releasing this album at budget price and its success in the UK was matched and exceeded for the first time by the US.
1981 saw the re-appearance of Bernie Rhodes as manager who they had parted ways with in 1978. Back on board he organised a celebrated run of dates in New York’s Times Square. Threatened with closure by the fire department riots ensued, but to the joy of the fans the shows were allowed to continue. New York was alive with the sounds of funk, dance and early electro and the band listened with eager ears as ever and took many of these influences with them to the studio when they recorded ‘Combat Rock’. Produced by Glyn Johns the album spawned two of the bands most famous songs ‘Rock The Casbah’ and ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’. On release in 1982 the album reached No. 2 in the UK and jumped straight into the top ten in the US. The band then went on a massive stadium tour culminating in the historic show at Shea Stadium with the Who.
A period of change within the band ensued with Headon being sacked from the group to be replaced by Chimes again, who was subsequently replaced by Pete Howard. The band continued to tour but by 1983, after years of constant touring and recording the strain took its toll and Mick Jones was asked to leave the group, he went on to form Big Audio Dynamite. Nick Sheppard and Vince White were hired and the group continues to tour throughout 1984. The Clash then released ‘Cut The Crap’.
In 1986 The Clash split permanently, Strummer went on to collaborate with Jones on BAD’s album ’10 Upping St’ and wrote and produced his own solo material, Simonon went on to form Havana 3am. The Clash were never forgotten by fans and music pundits alike, constant speculation as to a re-union was always rife. In 1991 Levi’s used ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ in a TV commercial which launched the single to the No. 1 position in the UK when it was re-released by CBS, and introduced the band to a whole new generation of fans.
The Clash were a band that changed lives, with shows that literally ripped up auditoriums. Their political and social ideals were always represented within their songs and never wavered, they were innovative and never afraid to embrace different styles or learn from music of the past and present.
Sadly Joe Strummer died in December 2002, a tragic loss to the world of music; however The Clash will always live on through their music and in the memories of their fans. The band will also be inaugurated into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003 - a fitting legacy for a band who totally changed the face of music for their generation and continue to inspire and excite to this day. "source
http://www.theclashonline.com/ biography

My first camp

2006-05-05T11:19:00.000+01:00

in the day of my birthday i decided to do a totaly diferent day and go to the place where all my workcamp. i was 16 years old and nowhere to go and nothing to do in the summer hollidays so i applyed for my first camp. the chosen place was Vila Viçosa, that was not very far away from almada and i could go from Almada there by bus. it was the first time i travelled alone to somewhere and i was all by mishelf. i choosed also this camp because of the nature of the work, food and place where i would stay was everything perfect and in the end the camp was really great.
so in my birthday day i went back to vila viçosa after 9 years. i was in the association that organised the camp and talked with the guy responsible for all those things, he didn't remember me but he remember all the great things we had done, it was also good to talk about the problems that they have now, knowwhat happened to some people along this time and see pictures of me with 16 years old. i didn't recognise my self.
the day continued goign well, and i was invited for lunch in a restaurant that i was 9 years ago. i went to the castle where i still remember seeing a lot dead hunting animals, going to the gardens where i talked with my friends, the places where i danced for the first time and drunk a lot of "abafado", sweet wine. i was in front of the palace where i played games. i remember it was there that my musical culture started growing, the first time i heard pixies, tithersticks and viollent femmes. i was just a kid and everything there changed my life.
this year my birthday day was really special.

Snow

2006-05-04T13:07:00.000+01:00

A long time ago in winter i decided to go east of my country and buy olive oil. this was in a day that will be forever on my mind, it was the day that there was snow in Lisbon, the last time was about 40 years ago.
This picture was taken in the dry plain alentejo near the calm town of Estremoz not far away from the Spanish border.
It's very rare to snow in Portugal, normally only snows in some certain areas and not in all country. On the south and near the coast is really, really rare.

international crisis group month report

2006-05-03T13:20:00.000+01:00

Last month was a dark month in the world, the political situation got worst in 13 countries and only got better in 2 countries. there is a very high risk of conflict in nigeria, somalia and sri lanka.
but there is also a peace oportunity in Nepal.

Afghanistan:"Taliban "spring offensive" saw increased suicide attacks and bombings in south and east; more expected amidst transition from U.S. control to NATO in south. U.S., UK and national security forces launched its largest operation since 2001 in eastern Kunar province. Heavy fighting erupted in Kandahar as international and local forces clashed with anti-government elements: casualties included 6 police, several civilians and reportedly over 40 Taliban; 4 Canadian soldiers killed in roadside blast 22 April. Earlier 14 militants killed in attacks on checkpoints in Zabul province while 5 Afghan health workers killed in Badghis province. Suspected suicide bombers targeted Italian base in Herat - killing 4 - and U.S. bases at Bagram and in Helmand province. Voting on Cabinet confirmation took place 20 April in lower house of National Assembly. New foreign and defence ministers won vote of confidence in perceived government victory; transport and commerce ministers among 5 rejected".

Chad : The rebels atacked the capital and the goverment accused Sudan of backing up the rebels and cut diplomatic ties with this country and shut the borders. The president threath to shut pipelines if not given acess to funds to buy weapons and at same time France recognised the country goverment.

Egypt:3 explosions in Dahab resort in Sinai 24 April killed 18. No group claimed responsibility but same organisation that carried out 2004 Taba and 2005 Sharm El-Sheikh attacks suspected: 1 suspect killed during police operation 30 April. 2 suicide bombers killed in further attacks on Multinational Force and Observers post in northern Sinai 26 April. Earlier, sectarian
attacks on 3 churches in Alexandria killed 1 and sparked 3 days of protests by Coptic Christians and violent clashes 14-16 April. Hundreds arrested, but government criticised for initially downplaying attacks. 2 judges who had spoken out against
irregularities in 2005 parliamentary elections summoned to 27 April disciplinary tribunal; hearing adjourned to 11 May; police arrested and beat activists protesting summoning. Interior ministry announced over 900 Jamaa Islamiyya members released from prison. President Mubarek pushed through parliament 2-year extension on 1981 emergency law allowing indefinite detention of prisoners 30 April. Wafd party survival in balance after factions clashed over leadership in Cairo 1 April following attempt by ousted party president Noman Gomaa to seize party headquarters by force.

Guinea : a power sturgle inside the president cabinet.

Iran IAEA said Tehran had successfully produced enriched uranium but had defied UN Security Council’s 28 April deadline to stop process. U.S. said would seek new UNSC resolution requiring Iran to stop enrichment or face sanctions. Rhetoric on both sides heated up. with U.S. warning of consequences of continued Iranian defiance, and Tehran vowing to strike U.S. interests around the world if attacked. UNSC permanent members and Germany to meet 2 May to discuss next steps. Iranian forces reportedly shelled Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq.

Israel/Occupied TerritoriesViolence escalated between Israelis and Palestinians while tensions rose between Hamas and Fatah. Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Tel Aviv 17 April killed 9. Hamas government called blast “self-defence” and “natural result” of continued Israeli depredations, leading to international condemnation. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on Gaza reportedly killed at least 6 children and several militants, in reprisals over continued Qassam rocket attacks. EU and U.S. suspended funding for Hamas-led government but Gulf
countries and Iran pledged over $200 million, and Arab League said to be preparing to transfer 2-months’ wages direct to government employees. Tensions between Hamas and Fatah worsened after new Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siyam announced formation of shadow security force comprising members of militant groups to be led by militant faction leader Jamal Abu Samhadana. Mahmoud Abbas issued presidential decree nullifying proposal, leading to angry Hamas response and clashes between supporters of both sides. New Israeli coalition set to take power, composed of centrist Kadima, left-leaning Labour, ultra-Orthodox Shas and Pensioners’ parties.

Kashmir:Upsurge in attacks by separatists in first major violence since November 2005. 22 Hindu villagers killed by militants in Doda district 1 May. Wave of Srinagar grenade attacks 14 April and gunbattles in Srinagar and Jammu and Kashmir killed at least 17. Kashmiri radical separatist groups claimed responsibility. Senior opposition politician Ali Mohammad Naik wounded and 2 guards killed 17 April in attack claimed by Islamic Front militants. By-elections held for 4 seats for Jammu and Kashmir state assembly. 3 politicians reportedly killed by insurgents. Indian PM Manmohan Singh to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi early May.

Kyrgyzstan "President Bakiyev came under increasing pressure to deal with crime and corruption after prominent pro-democracy activist Edil Baisalov seriously injured in attack by unknown assailant. Baisalov had organised demonstration against criminalisation of politics ahead of 9 April parliamentary by-elections in which alleged organised crime bosses were candidates, including Ryspek Akmatbayev (who won despite questions over legality of his candidacy). Alliance of opposition politicians and NGOs issued 18 April ultimatum to president to tackle problems or resign. 29 April opposition rally ended peacefully after Bakiyev unexpectedly addressed crowd and appealed for patience. President threatened closure of U.S. Manas airbase if new agreement on rent payments not reached by June. "

Myanmar/Burma :Army intensified offensive against Karen communities near new capital Pyinmana and along Thai border: thousands reportedly displaced. U.S. condemned campaign, saying military regime threat to region. Ruling junta threatened National League for Democracy with dissolution, claiming links to terrorist actions. Series of small blasts targeting Yangon infrastructure 20 April came week after government called exiled pro-democracy groups terrorists. ASEAN ministers agreed to continue policy of engagement despite lack of progress on "roadmap to democracy", and failure of ASEAN envoy’s March visit.

Pakistan Pakistan Security situation continued to deteriorate as at least 57 killed in worst terrorist attack in Karachi’s history: suicide bombing of congregation of Sunnis celebrating Eid Milad festival killed entire leadership of Sunni Tehrik group, as well as many leaders of Jamaat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) - both Barelvi religious parties; JUP also partner in Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal 6-party religious alliance. Responsibility for blast unclear: observers suggested intra-Sunni rivalry, others, Deobandi extremist groups. Pro-Taliban militants attacked paramilitary troops near Miranshah, main town of North Waziristan region 20 April reportedly killing 7.

Solomon Islands PM Snyder Rini resigned after 8-day tenure marked by violent riots in capital, Honiara. Demonstrators claimed Rini, elected via secret ballot by newly elected members of parliament 18 April, too closely linked to previous tainted administration, and had used money from Taiwanese or Chinese sources - in context of continuing cross-Strait diplomatic battle over recognition of Taiwan - to bribe his win. Riots targeted Chinatown and left large areas in ruins. Government implemented curfew while Australian-led peacekeeping force - bolstered by additional 110 troops - patrolled city to prevent further violence. Curfew lifted 27 April, with new elections due first week May.

Sri Lanka Fears of return to full-scale civil war after major upsurge in violence left over 100 dead, and with both government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) threatening immediate retaliation for further attacks. Government launched air strikes against Tamil positions after suicide bomber injured army chief and killed 10 in Colombo 25 April. Bombing followed 2 weeks of violent attacks against civilians and inter-communal rioting between Sinhalese and Tamils. Before suicide bombing, LTTE had "indefinitely postponed" scheduled second round Geneva talks with government, citing violence against Tamil civilians and restrictions on movement of LTTE leaders.

Timor-Leste Protest against government sacking of 600 soldiers turned violent 28 April, at least 2 killed; was latest in series of demonstrations by troops - many from west of country - claiming discrimination in military.

The sorce of this info is crisis international and was not writen by me.

almada tour

2006-05-02T16:02:00.000+01:00

my tour in Almada started in the 25 of april avenue( the day that portugal became a democracy again) the most important artery of the city. the stile of this avenue is very 70s in one part and very 50s in the other.

the second stop was the center point of the city, near S.joao baptista square or also known has red square. its here where you can find two schools a urban garden and the library and also Macdonalds.

the 3rd stop was near the work courthouse and the garden. it's here a good example that is not uncomun to to see comunist symbol everywhere. the text in the statue says "the comunists only work for the hapiness of the people and don't want nothing in exange and i have to be proud to be part of this party".

the 4th stop was in rua capitao leitao the street that used to be the most impotant one. here you can find the cinema that is loosing importance for the big cinema groups) and the old part of almada. this is the important streets to find bars. in the end of the street you find the old city hall and the place where i used to do some theater.

the last stop was to see the lisbon view, near by you have a elevator and the museum of modern art of Almada.

so this is my city

almada

2006-05-02T15:40:00.000+01:00

one day a long time ago i decided to go for a walk in my hometown.
Almada is located in the southside of tagus river, the biggest river in the iberian peninsula, and is conected to Lisbon by the 25 of April bridge.
almada is nowadays the biggest city in the southside of river tagus with 156746 inhabitants and also the biggest comunist city in all country. The majority of the population work in Lisbon and in the other citys outside of the Almada. The most important activitys in Almada are connected to 3 sector, comerce and turism. it's in Almada that there are one of the favorite lisbon metropolitan beaches(costa da caparica) and cristo rei, a small replica from the original in Brasil. here you can also find the arriba fossil protected scenary.
Almada is very old and the name come from the arab and means "the mine". almada growth was always conected to the river and to Lisbon. almada had an important riverin port and drydocks, importance that with the passing of year desapeared almost compleately.
the major boom of population to Almada was after the construction of the 25 of april bridge, where people moved to the southside of the river hoping to buy cheapear houses, and also because it was in almada the biggest drydock in europe( this drydock doesn't exist anymore). The drydock explains the reason why the city is comunism being directly connected with working forces.
i like to live in almada but i have to confess that could be better.

italia2

2006-04-28T15:28:00.000+01:00

The last day in the Alps i went for a barbakue where i ate puleta, it's a kind of corn flower thing. after lunch we went to see the vajong dam: The story of vajong is a good example that impact studies have to be done and that not only engeneers are needed. the vajong dam was built in the 60s and was one of the biggest dam in europe, it was built by a private company that was trying to sell it to the public electric company has an hidroelectric. The public company said that would only buy the dam if they emptied all the dam. before emptiyng the dam an german geologist said that if they emptied the dam, part of the hill valley would colapse. The people responsible for the dam didn´t care and part of hill really colapse. When part of the hill fell in the water, it created an giant wave that passed over the dam(that reamained undamadged)and destryed all the villages near the dam, over 2000 people died. nowadays the dam doesn't produce energy anymore and there is very few water in the dam, it's now a turistic place of interest.
After this dark moment we went to visit a city near by. in this city we discovered that this was the home of Mauro Corona, an famous sculputure, mountanist and writer and also a big drinker.
the group decided to talk with this curious character where he talked about ewverithing possible and even showned us that he knew jose saramago and Fernando Pessoa( 2 famous portuguese writers) writings.
The day ended with us all having dinner with this character and then leaving to Paduva.
My journey reached to end on wednesday morning went back to milan and then to lisbon.
here i am back to my normal life but always thinking on my next trip.

Italia

2006-04-28T11:38:00.000+01:00

I was in big stress in the passing months, i was tired of being in the same place doing the same things for more than 3 months so i decided to take 5 days of and i bought a plain ticket. I went to Italy.
On saturday i took the easyjet fligth to milan, for the ones that don't know how easy jet works here it goes, you have to pay for all food and drinks and you don't have a amrked seat, you choose the seat has you enter the airplane, so it's like a jungle to see who arrives first to the seat!
i arrived to milan and then directly i went to the train station where i took the train to venice!
i arrived to Venice in the night and was incredible to see the city full of light, the next adventure was to find the right vapureto so i could arrive to the youth hostel. After 30 minutes mission acompliced and i arrived to the youth hostel.
Sunday: the great venice adventure! after putting all my things in the baggage room at the train station i went to the center of venice. i tried to go near the central canal but by land, crossing the most desert street and smeally ones has possible. during this time i saw all the great ancient houses, the fish market, the casino. i only visetd one museum, because i had very few time, so i entered in the museum of modern art and oreintal art. the first was full of paintigs that won or were adquired in the venice bienal along the years, the museum of oriental art was a big collections of artifacts from japan, china and indonesia.
after the museums i continue near the canal until i found a pleasent restaurant only for 6 euros, i was happy. i continued to cross venice, passing the rialto bridge, see the peggy museum building, till my last stop the saint marcus square.
All venice is great and you still can find some deserted streets even in the main streets there is a croud. people are like cheep that only follow the marked signes, me i prefer going to the places where the majority won't go.

after saint marcus square, famous from movies like the indiana jones, i really felt like him, trying to find the holly graill, i even had my personal soundtrack( i was earing massive attack).

At 17.30 i took the train to the Italian Alpes the dolomites where i would stay with my great friend Sandra and her italian familly. The dolomites are part of the alps but the big difference is that they are maid from sediments origin, they are from sedimentary rocks, where today there are mountain a long time ago the was water and i not uncomon nowadays to find fish fossils.

On monday it was great to go with my friends like the great walkers and adventures wal in the mountains, going to the top, walking on snow, raining, in the midle of the woods, beatifull landscape.

February

2006-02-06T14:22:00.000Z

The crisis group indetified 6 situations that deteorated in January:

Nepal: the violence between the goverment and the maoist continues

Sri Lanka: is more and more closer to civil war, that confronts the goverment and the tamils

Côte d'ivoire- had 4 days of violent roits

Nigeria(and i thought in moving there)- several attacks to the oil industry in the Delta region

Kyrgyzstan - a string of political of political murders continued

Iran - the novel about the nuclear research facilities

3 situations got better:
Somalia- there was signed a declaration uniting rival factions
Liberia- there is some hope about the new president
Kuwait- was the first gulf state to democratically replace a leader using a constitutional process

Friday, 27 of January

2006-01-27T15:02:00.000Z

The weekend is here and i am very happy about it. Today

Issues that i think are interassant for me in the current times

-Hamas won the palestinian goverment. The first thing that happened was the confrontation between Hamas supporters and Fatha supporters. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4654220.stm

-The Chinese map of the world that is said to have 600 years old and says that the Chinese knew the world in those times might be fake. Specialist say that this map might be a version of XVII century french map. Historician specialist also say that the possibility of the Chinese were the first to arrive to west Africa is also fake, the maximum that the chinese might have arrived was South Africa http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0123%5F060123%5Fchinese%5Fmap.html

Have a nice week where ever you are are what you are.
i have just joined the http://www.geekcorps.org/ i really hope i am chosen.

Açores2

2006-01-25T10:00:00.000Z

S.Jorge is another of the central islands, the product more know for the comun people is it's cheese, "queijo de S.Jorge", and in my opinion a very good one. The main towns in S.Jorge is Velas with 5546 and Calheta with 3976 inhabitants

Terceira is the second more important island in the Açores. Angra do Heroismo is the second more important city in Azores and has 34941 inhabitants. Like i said in previous posts Angra is Unesco patrimony of mankinde. The second more important town in Terceira is Praia da Vitória with 20055 inhabitants. It's near Praia da Vitória where there is the American base of Lajes where took place the bad meeting that preceded the invasion of Iraque.

São Miguel is the biggest and most important island in Açores. The main Açores City is here, it's Ponta Delgada that has 64616 inhabitants. The other main towns are Ribeira Grande, Vila Franca do Campo, Nordeste, Lagoa and Povoação. the main atractions include the cozido das furnas, a dish that is cook inside the soil, the land is so hot because of vulcanic activity that food can be cooked by putting the food inside a hole. the second big atraction is Lagoa das Sete Cidades, an old vulcano mouth that is now a lagoon.

Santa Maria is a small island, with São Miguel they are the eastern Açores Group. Santa Maria was the first island to be colonized by the portuguese, much because of her location, it's the most southeastern island. The most important town is Vila do Porto and the all island has 5490 inhabitants.

I really dream to go to Açores, see the vulcanic view, eat the good food, drink the good wine, enjoy the calmness and the green fields, the ocean, the birds, the wales, the tipical portuguese architecture.

The source of the photos are from city halls

Açores

2006-01-24T16:13:00.000Z

Now I am working for a project to Açores without leaving my room and that it's a big torture.
I want to share the beauty of Açores islands, the most remote Portuguese region, in the middle of the Atlantic. All the photos belong to the Açores city halls. Corvo is the smallest island in the Açores and i also the most remote island, this island only has 435 inahabitants.

Flores island is just near Corvo. Flores and Corvo constitute the western group. Flores has two main towns, Lajes das Flores and Santa Cruz das Flores, in the all island there are about 3949 inhabitants.

Faial is already in the central group of islands, a group that is constituted by Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa and Terceira island.
It's in Faial that you can find the Capelinhos Vulcano, that nows is inactive but last eruption was in 1957.
The main city in Faial is Horta, the 3º most important city in the Açores. the island has 14934 inhabitants.
The pico island is the second bigest island in the Açores, and i spoke about it in previous posts.Pico has great viniards and is also the where it is the higgest point in Portugal, the pico mountain with 2351 m.
the main towns in Pico are Madalena, Lajes do Pico and São Roque do Pico, each one with 6074, 3605 and 4900 inhabitants.

Graciosa is a very small island but not the smallest, it has about 4706 inhabitants. The main town is Santa Cruz da Graciosa. Graciosa is the most north island of the Açores.

Tomorrow i will show the rest, Terceira, S.Jorge, Santa Maria and S.Miguel

WHO calls for an immediate halt to provision of single-drug artemisinin malaria pills

2006-01-23T14:03:00.000Z

This kind of articles always reminds me of the constant gardener film

New malaria treatment guidelines issued by WHO

19 JANUARY 2006 WASHINGTON, DC -- The World Health Organization (WHO) today requested pharmaceutical companies to end the marketing and sale of “single-drug” artemisinin malaria medicines, in order to prevent malaria parasites from developing resistance to this drug.
The use of single-drug artemisinin treatment – or monotherapy – hastens development of resistance by weakening but not killing the parasite. When used correctly in combination with other anti-malarial drugs in Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs), artemisinin is nearly 95% effective in curing malaria and the parasite is highly unlikely to become drug resistant. ACTs are currently the most effective medicine available to treat malaria.
"It is critical that artemisinins be used correctly," said Dr LEE Jong-wook, WHO's Director-General. "We request pharmaceutical companies to immediately stop marketing single-drug artemisinin tablets and instead market artemisinin combination therapies only. The new treatment guidelines we are releasing today provide countries with clear and evidence-based direction on the best treatment options for malaria."
According to the new WHO malaria treatment guidelines, uncomplicated falciparum malaria must be treated with ACTs and not by artemisinin alone or any other monotherapy.
“So far, no treatment failures due to artemisinin drug resistance have been documented, but we are watching the situation very attentively,” said Dr Arata Kochi, the newly appointed director of WHO's malaria department. “We are concerned about decreased sensitivity to the drug in South-East Asia which is the region that has traditionally been the birthplace of anti-malarial drug resistance.”
In Thailand, sulfadoxine-pyrimethanime (SP) was initially almost 100% effective in curing malaria when introduced in 1977, but within five years was curing only 10% of cases due to drug resistance. The once-popular chloroquine has lost its effectiveness in almost every part of the world. Between 1999 and 2004, 95% of African children treated for malaria were given chloroquine, even though the drug only cured half of malaria cases in many countries. Resistance to atovaquone developed within one year of introduction in 1997.
WHO also announced other measures it will take to maximize the benefits and correct use of ACTs. In order to contain the circulation and use of counterfeit antimalarial medicines, WHO plans to strengthen its collaboration with international and national health and regulatory authorities. It is estimated that up to 25% of medicines consumed in developing countries are counterfeit or sub-standard. In parts of Africa and Asia this figure exceeds 50%, according to a WHO report on counterfeit drugs.
Additionally, to anticipate and prevent the onset and spread of drug resistance in the long term, WHO urges the global malaria research community and the pharmaceutical industry to rapidly invest in the design of the next generation of antimalarial drugs. By creating ACTs with multiple-drug combinations and transmission blocking components, resistance can be prevented.
“Our biggest concern right now is to treat patients with safe and effective medication and to avoid the emergence of drug resistance. If we lose ACTs, we’ll no longer have a cure for malaria,” said Dr Arata Kochi,“ and it will probably be at least ten years before a new one can be discovered.”

Unesco 2004

2006-01-20T09:41:00.000Z

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

The Portuguese people are directly connected to the wine culture, the last landscape to enter the Unesco list shows it very well. This is the second landscape that enters because of the wine culture.
The last one I talked about was in the north of Portugal in the Douro valley, this one is Pico Island in Azores.
Pico is the second largest island in Azores but with very few inhabitants. The wine landscape consists of 987-ha site of long linear walls running inland parallel to the rocky shore. These culture remotes from the first times of occupation of the island in the 15th century and is considered a very good example of response of viniculture on a small volcanic island.
All the area is beautiful, the Wynyard’s, the island, the houses, the wine cellars, churches and ports.
I have never been in Azores but more time passes more I want to go there.

http://www.cm-madalena.pt/

Hamas is coming to power

2006-01-19T10:54:00.000Z

I can't talk much about this matter compared with one great friend of mine that lives there, and I hope that one day she sends me photos from HAIFA.Israel is again, has always in the news. For the past few weeks the health of the prime-minister was everywhere, and then there was an interview with the chief of Palestine where he said he doesn't think to stay more that this current time. This with the constant attacks from parts, problems near Palestine politicians home, problems at the border with Egypt. Problems are a constant in Israel and Palestine.Now the problem has always, its Hama’s power and possibility of him joining the Palestine legislature. The main problem is if Hama’s joins the Palestine authority, Israel and the North countries threat to cut ties with PA (Palestinian authority).Hama’s is very powerful now and has won the majority of urban areas in the municipal elections. But contrary of someone would expect the Hama’s rule at local level has been similar to the former rulers. The local politicians emphasize good governance, economic development; social and personal conflicts leaving the Israel and religious conflicts conflict behind.Hama’s seems to be less radical, calmer, and more political than terrorist. The west is still a bit suspicious with this behavior and believes that Hama’s is just waiting for the right moment to attack back. Has a response to the winning power of hamas in local power the west cut aid to these places.After reading the crisis group report I have to agree with the group, I think is wrong and mistake to cut aid to this cities, this will only increase the hate that this people have to the west. If the west continues with the aid, and this aid is managed properly this may be a way to encourage the Islamists to "focus on day-to-day matters and facilitate a process of potential political integration and gradual military decommissioning".If its people will that hamas enters the government, international governments should accepts in the limits of the reasonable and only act if they are really a risk.I really enjoy reading the crisis group summary and I advise everyone to read it and I agree totally with their recommendations but I think that no part in the process will care or do anything that is there.Safaa if you read this I would like to know what is opinionhttp://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=3886p.s. I am against any act of war. Violence is no response to anything. War is only good for the weapon builders and to the war bosses and greedy man not for the people

Unesco-Portugal(2001)

2006-01-18T15:20:00.000Z

Some time ago i started to post the portuguese world patrimony but i didn't finish so today i am going to post 2 of the last to join the list.
In 2001 2 more sites entered the list and both of them are from the north of Portugal far away from Algarve and not even very near the sea.
The first one i want to talk about is Guimarães Storical center (it's always the storical part because the new is normally ugly has hell). Guimarães is called to be the nest of Portugal because it was here that was born the first king of Portugal, D.Afonso Henriques, a nice guy that fought his mother so Portugal could be now a indepedent country. This took place in 12th centrury.
The second is associated with most famous Portuguese export, the port wine that become famous expecially because of the english that apreciated it so much.
The Alto Douro Wine Region joins the list because of it's beauty and human, cultural landscape. It 's shows how man addapted to the clifs and to the Douro Valley.
This region is in general associated to wine.
An advice, there are two very good ways to enjoy the douro valley, the first one is the historical train trip that you can do in a track very near the douro river. The second one is going on a very nice cruise in the river douro.

dakar is over

2006-01-17T09:44:00.000Z

Lisbon-Dakar 2006 is over and was full of adventure and difficulty and unfurtunely with some sadness because of the death of 2 children and one motorcicle pilot.
The winners of moto and car were diferent from last year, this year the big winner of cars was the French Luke Alphand that assumed the first place only in the last stages after his team mate in MITSUBISHI, PETERHANSEL. The winner in motorbikes was the spanish Marc Coma in KTM. Finnaly the winner in trucks was the Russian VLADIMIR CHAGIN in Kamaz.
The best Portuguese in cars was the pilot Carlos Sousa that is from my city Almada and was 7th. The best Portuguese biker was Helder Rodrigues that was 9th.
Next year we will have more.

Women Rulers

2006-01-16T13:28:00.000Z

Good afternoon!
A new working week starts today!
yeasterday was elected for the first time a women for president in South Latin America, her name is Michele Bachelet and was supported by the left in Chile. She is going to join the short list of women liders that include the first african women president( the Liberian Ellen Jonhson) and the prime-minister of Bangladesh.

The full list of current women presidents and prime-ministers:

Presidents:

Michele Bachelet- Chile

Tarja Kaarina Halonen-Finland

Ellen Jonhson-Liberia

Mary McAleese-Ireland

Vaira Vike-Freiberga-Latvia

Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo -Philipines

Prime-ministers:

Luísa Dias Diogo -Mozambique

Khaleda Zia -Bangladesh

Helen Elizabeth Clark - New Zealand

Angela Merkel -Germany

Maria do Carmo Silveira- São Tomé e Principe

Queens:

Elizabeth II - UK

Margrethe II- Denmark

Beatrix-Netherlands

Governor-General:

Dame Calliopa Pearlette Louisy -Saint Lucia

Dame Sian Seerpoohl Elias - New Zealand

Dame Ivy Leona Dumont - Bahamas

Michaëlle Jean -Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Bachelet

Macedonia

2006-01-13T10:23:00.000Z

Every day i enter in train i imagine i continue my trip till the end of the world, continue traveling with out stoping.
One the countries i would like to visist would be Macedonia, this country that i thought it was so quiet with no problems and that i saw yeasterday in the crisis reports.
The modern macedonia came from the extintion of the Yugoslavia being the poorest. Problems came imeadiatly after the indepedence:
-albanian minority asked for autonomy in some parts of the country asked for autonomy(this was ignored)
-Greece feering that Macedonia would like to have the Greece region of Macedonia demanded that name would be diferent that is why Macedonia is now "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
In 2001 the problems came back, when Albanian National Liberation Army(ANL) started riots and atacks with the goverment. This short conflict ended with the recognition of the Albanian language in the country and the end of NLA.
Nowadays Macedonia is applying to belong to EU and there is hope that something changes, but the report of international Crisis group still indentifies some very serious problems being them the corruption and the need of reform the police and the judicial system.
Did you know that Macedonia is appointed has a major human and heroin trafic transhipment point?
http://www.macedonia.co.uk/client/index1.aspx?page=378
photo origin:

Uganda

2006-01-12T11:12:00.000Z

Just last month i saw some volunteer position to this country UGANDA, to teatch gis for 2 years but like must of the volunteerships you have to pay everything (food, accomodation, etc).

I am just in the newsletter of international crisis group for a week and already received 3 reports about conflicts in Africa being Uganda the last one.

The Uganda Conflict is connected with the LRA(Lord's resistance Army) that has about 20 years old. The LRA is responsible for attacking humanitary aid agencys.
The International Criminal Court has sent warrants for the arrest of the LRA commanders of this movement for atrocities crimes but unfortunely nobody is putting it to practice.
LRA fights the central goverment with excuse to represent the Acholi people in North Uganda and has also the support of Sudan. In this years LRA has been responsible for abduction of children and teenagers to serve has soldiers or cocubines.
It's really needed to end LRA and stop war in North Uganda
for more information and how international crisis advice how to end the conflict
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=3864

for more news about LRA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord

Just a interesting thing is that the lider of LRA proclaims himself has a spirit medium and wants to establish in the Acholiland region a state based on his unique interpretation of the Bible. How can a man that kills inocent people talk about religion? did he knows the madament that says "you shell not kill"

the picture is f the uganda turism site http://uganda.pukweb.com/

Pulquerio at the movies

2006-01-11T16:26:00.000Z

Yeasterday i started in London to leave a some minutes later to kenya and then passed to germany and stop in sudan finishing my trip in Tanzania, this happened all without leaving Lisbon.
I went ot the cinema yeasterday and saw to very good movies: The constant gardener and Darwing Nightmare.
The first one was great for me in all the main aspects, the story, the actors, the scenary, and in some parts i was thinking "what a hell i am doing here i should be there" looking at the action taking place in Kenya. The constant gardener was directed by Fernando Meirelles the director of Cidade de Deus, the main actors were Ralph Fiennes "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , Schindler's List " and Rachel Weisz ( Constantine and The Mummy ) and was based on the John le Carré novel. The main plot is about the death of the wife of a english diplomate and his investigation to know what is behind her death. Great film
The second was the documentary Darwin's Nightmare that is passed in Tanzania. This movie follows all the activities and life that is conneted with the Nile perch fishing in the Victoria Lake. This movie shows the cruelty of the world and in some way how the rich north affects the poor south, and how contradictory is a country to be the main exporter of fish to Europe having misery and famine in their country, how food is being trade in change of wepons, how the supposed Tanzina economy is better because of this comerce when the truth is that the big ones get rich and the majority of the population wins less than a dollar per month, how all this fishing activity is based in a fish that is not original from the Lake Victoria and is killing all the endemic fishing, and one that most irritated me is to see the fat powerfull guys.
i recommend this film to everybody to wake up and see really how world is outside Europe.

The photo of the kenya slums present in the constant gardener taken from this website http://www.imcworldwide.org/index.shtml

Cascais

2006-01-10T14:07:00.000Z

Lisbon metropolitan area is the biggest metropolitan area in Portugal and is composed by the folowing local goverments(include cities and towns), Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cacais, Lisboa, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra, Vila Franca de Xira.
I am 100% from this metropolitan area, i was born and i work in Lisbon, live in Almada and my roots are from Sesimbra. So i am a true metropolitan guy.
The metropolitan area can be also divided in 2, the south and north, being separated by tagus river and then you can also distinguiche between the more rural areas and the urban areas.
Cascais is located in the west of Lisbon and is knowned has one of the most rich area. This fame comes mainly because it's here that you can find some of the most richest neighbourhoods and big houses. It's also in Cascais that there is the biggest comunitie of E.U.15 imigrants in Lisbon.
Cascais is a good place to go a for a walk, you have here the most western point in europe(cabo da roca), you have part of Sintra-Cascais natural park, some beaches and the most known casino in Portugal, the Estoril Casino.
So some weekends ago i took the train and i went there and visited the public garden and city hall

RD Congo, Sudan

2006-01-09T15:52:00.000Z

i just want to divulge for 2 international situations so people can aknowledge what is hapenning in the world.
Sudan- There is big risk of agravating the conflict in the east of Sudan that can be worst than darfur and also can spread to Eritreia and Ethiopia

Democratic Republic of Congo- katanga conflict at the most rich mineral region in the country that is risk of becoming bigger after the march country elections. in this regions there are 3 main conflicts; north against south, natives with outsiders, mai-mai militias and national army. Can you see how much conflicts you can get that are always directly or indirectly with money.

A pilot in Dakar (Andy caldecoot) died this morning he was in 10th palce at general classificiation and had won a previous stage.

good news: a professor from my course is going to be responsible for a international study in antarctida about permafrost(soil that is permanently frosen)

if you have a good news for today it would be great

Not everything is bad

2006-01-06T13:33:00.000Z

Last post i put here wich conflicts are agravating but in the same report you can also so find that some situations area had a litle improovement.

Democratic Republic of Congo-Had the first democartic vote in four decades and the majority aprouved the draft of a constitution

Afghanistan- The country has a new parliament in 30 years

Bolivia- For the first time in history the head of the state is an indigenous
Curiously he was the leader of coca plant production( not all the coca is for drugs)

Ivory Coast- all the partys accpeted the new prime-minister.

It would be great that the improvement was everywhere and not in only some states.

Have a nice weeked

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/i/it-peace.jpg
(sorce of the flag)

The conflicts in December

2006-01-05T10:00:00.000Z

The year is beggining but a lot of things go wrong in the world.
Folowing the International Crisis Group report of 2 of January, 11 conflict situations around the world deteriorated in December of 2005.

-Sri Lanka, this beautifull country that suffered a lot in the end of 2004 with the Tsunamy and a long time ago belonged to Portugal, has now the potencial to restart the war between the tamil and the goverment, the tamil want the independece of the west side of the island based in the diference between the tamil and the indian descendent population.

-Palestine,internal divisions inside Fatah, conflicts in the border with egipt, this is not new but the truth is that hamas has won the biggest cities in West Bank and now people fear the January elections, and even this morning i heard i heard that the israel prime-minister is not very well.

-Egipt, the parliamentary elections was replect with violence

- China, the tensions continue to increase in the rural areas, more and more there is two Chinas, the one of the big developed cities and the other form the poor countryside.

-Bangladesh, the tensions between the major partys are big, but the problems with the radical muslim minority has increased, only this summer exploded around 300 small bombs wile i was there.

-Chad, conflict between the rebels and the goverment that suffer an increase because of the refugees coming from sudan has well has tentions between this 2 countries.

-Colombia, the complicated conflic between the milicia, rebels and the goverment much conected with the droug trafic

-Lebanon, a very complicated situation that started with the death of an ex-minister and still continues, for more details http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3818&l=1. journalist and MP Gibran Tueni killed by car bomb 12 December, latest in series of political murders. Cabinet called for international probe into killings. In protest, 5 pro-Syrian Shiite ministers suspended participation in government, putting already fragile coalition in jeopardy. UN investigators presented second report into assassination of ex-PM Hariri, confirming Syrian officials key suspects. UN Security Council extended Hariri investigation by 6 months; asked UNSG Annan to look into expanding commission’s mandate to investigate other attacks on top Lebanese officials."

-North Korea, the continued tensions between this country and the outside world, and continued intention of continue with their nuclear program and the problem with

-Peru "Government declared state of emergency after Shining Path guerrillas killed 8 police 20 December in Huanuco region northeast of Lima; earlier guerrillas killed 5 police near southern town of San Francisco. Former army officer Ollanta Humala, leader of brief revolt against former president Fujimori in 2000, registered as Peruvian Nationalist Party candidate for 9 April presidential elections"

-Pakistan "Violence escalated in Waziristan tribal area and Balochistan province. In South Waziristan 12 killed by market bomb in Jandola while 22 killed in separate clashes between Islamist students and bandits in neighbouring North Waziristan. Balochistan unrest worsened as insurgents attacked railway line, fired rockets at government buildings and blew up bridge in response to military operation launched 18 December; unconfirmed reports of heavy casualties. Madrasa leaders rejected government deadline to expel foreign students from religious schools by year-end."

the message between ""the sorce is http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm

Lisboa - Dakar 2006

2006-01-04T12:12:00.000Z

This year the ancient motorsport race to dakar has started, and guess where did it start? Yes, Lisbon. In a couple of years Lisbon has been in the center of important sporting competitions, if people don't know portuguese will thing that we are really sporty active.
Since Dakar race is Portugal i decided to go see the cars, i promise that one day i am going to participate and get somethings first
-driving licence
-good car
-mecanical knowledge
-money
-team
The photos were taken not in Lisbon but in Portimão at the end of the first stage. here goes the link with all the info about this race, and since i am portuguese FORÇA CARLOS SOUSA (portuguese best car driver in competition), FORÇA FARIA (the best classified portuguese in Motorbikes), FORÇA JACINTO(portuguese women in trucks)
http://www.dakar.com/

Albufeira

2006-01-03T11:56:00.000Z

This new year i went south, to Albufeira in the Algarve region one of the most turistic place in all Portugal. During summer Algarve is full of people because is well known because the sun and beach, during winter the new year day is the exception day of a region without anyone. Now to avoy the desertification during winter the turism operators are betting in golf.
Albufeira is a good example of what can happen to a place when there is no management, with the savage conquest of the coast by ciment, and even if this is not enought the sea continues to erode this part of the coast.
In April i was in a very interesting conference about coastal managment and i learned some very interesting things, and one of them was that the erosion is being increased because of marinas that are km aways that change the normal function of the currents the sea increases inthis place his power of taking the sediment transporting them more to east. So here the beach and clif disapears and near the marinas the sand increases.
One funny thing is that you don't see in the pictures is that some new hotels are beiing built very near the clifs.
!I love ciment!

New Year Again

2006-01-02T16:16:00.000Z

Here we are in 2006, a new year in life. I really hope that this year wiil be better than 2005.
How was your new year night?What would be the perfect night for you?
The perfect night for me would be in an exotic country, in the midle of nowhere, in the midle of the desert or mountain, just be and the perfect girl, i don't need fireworks or music, or crouds or drinks, for me this components are essencial.
This year i was sorrounded by people, i had fire works, i had music, i was with some friends, i had a good view of the ocean i was even on the beach, i had drinks, but this was not enought for me.
Well, i hope next year will be better and i really hope to continue to change my life.

Happy new year for everyone

Best of the best

2005-12-29T18:07:00.000Z

Folowing the wave of making in the blogs the best and worst of 2005 here goes my list:
The best moments of 2005:
-The greatest of all was my trip to Bangladesh and the top was to play drums in an hindu ritual
-The course in Rostock(was great to be sorounded by people of similiar areas of knoledge)
-Week in a conference in Sesimbra(was good to feel a forener in my own country)
-karting
-weekend in Valladolid

The worst moments in 2005:
-when i received some stupids messages
-master studies
-work
-when i was sick
-when i was low

The best films:
-old boy
-aquatic life of steve siszy
-garden state
-jeux d' enfants
-before the flood

The best shows i saw:
-ran kyau
- street teather in Almada
-street teather in Rostock
-Xutos concert
- "Jantar de Idiotas"

To all a better 2006

Would you go to Nigeria?

2005-12-28T10:24:00.000Z

Imagine that:
-you love traveling
-you love adventure
-you want to start form the beginning
-you want to run away from all you problems
-somoeone offers you a very good job in Nigeria
-and Nigeria is very unstable
-and you hear news of people being kidnaped
-and your helth is not 100% but when you have to go to nigeria will be
-and leave all your familly and friends behind

WOULD YOU GO?

The gentle art of making enemys

2005-12-28T10:12:00.000Z

It's very easy to make enemys more easy than to make friends but there is a big diference between people you just don't like and enemy.
Enemy can appear everywhere in your work, neighbours etc but the real, worst enemy are the ones you were friend in the past.
How to make a real enemy?
It's very simple , you win the simpaty of the person and has closer the person is to you better it is. Then one day just do the most stupid thing in a world, doesn't matter the motive and hurt the person real bad, then moove on and leave her.
If everything works well this person that is still a bit surprise with your reaction will hate so much that makes them your perfect enemy.
To increase the bad fillings just ingnore the person and let time work.

I just want to say sorry to all my enemys and i just hope not increase the number has fast i am doing now.

South side of the peninsula

2005-12-27T18:24:00.000Z

Setubal is a very beautifull peninsula, is where i live and i have my roots, is where the mountain meets the ocean, so everytime i can i go to the southside of the peninsula and see the view, i just have to cross the peninsula and run away for my city.
Arrabida the place where i took this photo is one of the last place to have the mediterranian forest.
Enjoy the scenary

Weekend in valladolid

2005-12-04T17:18:00.000Z

i was tired of being in the same city, so last wednesday i decided to go visit my friends in valladolid, i tokk the train exactly at 4 o'clock. the trip had to be for train because there is no more bus going directly from lisbon to valladolid. The train trips are always intersting, bacuase you are nver alone and you can always make an conversation to someone that is also alone like you. This time i had dinner in the restaurant, i wnated to try it, so this could be different ( the dinner is expensive like heel but it was good to try). I arrived to valladolid at 1.30 am were i had no one waiting for me, my frined forgot i was comming. i had to call him, only at 2.30 i arrived to a hot place.
I slept all the morning on thrusday and in the afternoon i met more friedns fo mine. it was interesting to attend a lecture about was the school in the times of Franco, i laghut a lot but it made me mad to see that they have portugal in their maps has part of spain, that i hate.
In the night i discovered more about the night in valladolid.
Friday i went to the arquitecture party that started at 11.30 and went all day., driking, dancing and talking, well it's better to forget the dancing part. One more night to discover the good things of valladolid and to play sonig in the sega megadrive( a new model).
Saturday was interesting, morning don't have a meaning for me in this city, i went to show this spanish guys that we also have the risk game, i almost win but in the end nobody won.
Today i still didn't get out and i am preparing to go to the cinema. i have to say i didn't see much of the city, but i already knew it so no problem
my train to Lisbon leaves at 3.20 in morning

goodbye valladolid

Life goes on

2005-11-14T13:26:00.000Z

One more day, one more week, life goes on and everything goes the same has always, that may not be bad but it's not good also. I continue imagining my trips all over the world, now i dream with Morocco but i also have Stonia in my head. I recall all the people i have met in this time, and i question what are they doing, are they alive, married, what happened to them. What happened to your best friend in the kindergarden or the first girl you kissed, or the persons you met in the interrail or in the bus on the way to other country.
life goes on. Work, master studys, going out in the weekend and then comming back to work. Head full of dreams, ideas, problems, wishes, duties that you should do like taking the driving licence or finnish some papers.
Of corse something diferent happens sometimes that allows you to skip the routinejust ofr a litle, a small detail, like going to tv casting or going to boysband concert that you don't like with your nice and see all the girls screaming for you.
One more day, one more week life goes on.

Public transports

2005-10-21T14:29:00.000+01:00

Public tranports are very interesting places and if you are a writer is certainly a source of ideas and characters and i confess i am a character.
Have you imagined how diferent public transports would be if nobody wore cloths, if nowadays is a good place to catch flue imagine without cloths would be for shure a place to catch other kinds of deaseas and a new kind of conversations would appear like "i hate going on public transports, i am pregnant again".
The transports are so packed sometimes that we really become initimate with the other passengers, we even sometimes share our complains with the others and we become brothers against the bad public transports.
Public transports are good to meet people that we don't see for a long time and share the things that had happened all this time, normally not much happened, only if you really didn't see htis person for really long time. Normally when someone askes me what you have been doing i always compealed to imagine a more exiting story than just saying working, walking around etc. Wouldn't you like to say like, well, in this years i was arrested but finnally i run away and now i picked this bus so i can have hosteges so i can reach Morocco.
Public transports are also a place to see people that you really don't want to see anymore and someotimes you are compeled to speak and be the most sinick has possible, like having a very big conversation like this: Hi. Hi
You always could not speak with that person and be more true with yourshelf but then you become anti social.
When you really hate someone, you don't see him or her for long time and you see them in the bus there is always a feeling of frustantion "dam, he/she is still alive".
Public transports are good to see what is in fashion, cloths, smells.
And then is good to see that are more ugly and crasy people than you (you think they are craiser and uglies than you).

the photo is form Banlgadesh but no taken by me source:: http://www.theblisspages.com/travel/bangladesh.php

Book tips

2005-10-20T13:21:00.000+01:00

Yeasterday i bought finnally a book that i read a long time ago that i really liked it and that i recomend to every teenager. The first time i read, i didn't know anything about it and i just tooked it from the library and started to reading. At the same time i was reading i was listening to Soul Asylum so it was a great feeling. The book i am talking about is "Flash" by Charles Duchaussois. For the ones that don't know this is the autobriography of the autor telling aboutt the time he was a junkie and travelled around the drug world between 1968 and 1970, going from France to Nepal. for me this a travell book instead of a drug book.

But now i am reading another book,"In the South Seas" by Robert Louis Stevenson the writer of the "Treasure Island", this is about a trip he took to the Marquesas, Paumuts and Gilberts Islands in the south pacific. Like many travel books the writer instead of only descibing his adventure also tryes to describe the society, culture, history and problems of the places that he visit. This even more interesting because the book is from the end of the XIX century and some of the places he visited had just left the cannibalism behind and started to open more to the western world.

If i can't travel i have to read about it and imagine being there

The photo is once more of me travelling somewhere this is a way to share Bangladesh with rest of the world

Before the flood

2005-10-19T09:26:00.000+01:00

Imagine you live calmmly your in city, in the valley, with a great view, a river near by and one day the goverment tells you that your house is going to be under water because they are going to build a big dam flooding all the valley submerging thousands of houses. This is the story of the documentary that i saw yeasterday, "Before the flood" by Yu Yan and Yifan Li from China. This documentary focuses in all the process wich haim is to destroy all city and moving the inhabitants to a new city that has been built from the ground. The director focoses mainly in three cases, the anglican church, a familly hostel people and the resident council. You see how the new houses are atributed, how the compensation money is given to each familly, the differences in amounts between cities, the despair of the ones that won't have money and see their past being all destroyed with very few hope in the future, the resistance of the ones that don't want to leave, and more the film develops more you see the city moving to the end.
A very interesting film that i recomend, for more details do a film search because i am not a film critic :-)
legend: it's not a war zone, just the last days of the old city.
Image from: http://www.salzgeber.de/index.php?presse

Finnaly weekend

2005-10-14T17:17:00.000+01:00

Finally is weekend! And is time to shave and try to look preaty to go out at night!
i am tired and bored to death! this week was very dull.
I miss traveling. I am making a new atlas colection but the books are very bad. The maps are in very bad scale and of corse the information is very few, and the description of the country is wrong has the legend of some photographs, ex: gives bad information about the exports of bangladesh and in one picture says that is a rice field but in reallity is a tea field.
I have finally the google earth in my pc, and i have marked all the places i have been but i think they are very few so i have to go to more places, there so many coutrny without any of my marks

Today i spoke with a friend of mine and i am thinking on going to morocco next december. Only this dream of travelling makes me going on and happy.

Today i applyed to work in Tailand for the UN so if know someone there, please tell them to hire me
Pulquerio

please, i also take nice photos.

The bad weather is back to Portugal

p.s.next week i will work hard

It's rainning again, o no i am loosing a friend(supertamp)

2005-10-12T12:40:00.000+01:00

It's rainning, since last sunday that is rainning and the expalnation is simple, it's rainning because there were local elections in Portugal and Saint Peters(the guy upstairs that controls the weather and the people that enters in heaven)is still crying with the results. Did you know that one of our local presidents was suposed to be arrested but ran away to brasil and only came back to years after only to become president again, and she is not in jail, great. I understand saint peter very and i think because of this is going to rain all week.
Last saturday i went to see world press photo http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/ and i recomend it to everyone that likes photo jornalism. i am also a very good photo jornalist, one of the greatest has you can see by this picture.
This photo shows the dispare of a portuguese in the midle of nowhere at Gedser(danmark) in the dark sorounded by strange charaters and spirits. Enjoy the darkness

MTV

2005-10-07T11:10:00.000+01:00

The place in the photo is going to receive the G8 meating in a few years and is one of the most expensive baltic coastal resorts. It a nice place to have a big party, like a rave, people dancing on the beach, on the top of the castle in a totally anarck way. I love music but not all, i get tired of hearing the same things very easelly.
I like hearing and watching portuguese music but unfortunelly that kind of music is an minority compared to american music and passes in the radio or Tv. MTV Portugal is interesting,when arrived passed some portuguese videoclips but now you have to be lucky to find one. The excuse could be that Portuguese music sells very few that can be true, but when i look at the portuguse chart and see that the in first place is a portuguese group(i don't like it very much it's young girls music) and that the 4th, 7th and 10 place is also portuguese i have to ask if it's true or not that portuguese don't want to see portuguese groups, then i see american groups that i never seen or heard and or not in the top of sails.
We have MTV Portugal but is almost the same thing that having MTV Europe in my opinion

Photos

2005-10-06T15:45:00.000+01:00

One more day goes bye and i remember the good days i had in the this two past months, yeasterday i was reading my atlas and i was counting the coutries that i have been, Portugal included. Only 13, there are so many that i still have to go and so few time.
The first time i was out of Iberian peninsula was on 2002 and since then i am trying to recover time and discover the much countrys possible.
Before 2002-Spain and Portugal
2002-France and Germany
2003-Monaco, Malta, Italy, Holly Se
2004-Slovaquia,Poland and Cheque Republica
2005-Bangladesh and Danmark
My main objective now is to go to every independent country, big or small
i leave hear more photos from my vacations

One walk around

2005-10-04T17:45:00.002+01:00

One day in my summer corse i went
for a walk around warnemunde. i started in the beach, where there is
the big problem of the stormsurge. The autorities are recovering the dunes has a natural protectcion against the sea waves.

More east of Warnemunde we have a lot of erosion caused by the sea, many of the sand deposit in wanermunde beach comes form near bye clifs. One of the ways men found to fight the erosion was puting this stone protection

This photo was taken in one the first beach resort in the world, during the times of the east germany all this old buildings started to degradate and look abandoned, nowadays this resort is once again a place for very rich people, this two buildings are going to be recovered and in 2008 this place is going to have the G8 meeting.

This last photo i put here is form wisma a city that is in the list of world patrimony of UNESCO
Wisma is known for the three big churches, in the photo you can see the only one that wasn't all destroyed during the second world war.
The other two churches were recovered but only after the reunification of Germany

Goodbye Radio 91.6(now cidade fm)

2005-10-03T15:20:00.000+01:00

i am very sad today!
i tought it was because of my horocope or because i stayed all sunday at home but today i discovered that was because one of the only two radios i listen i over.
The radio that i could here in 91.6 is over, one of the few radios where i could listen the clash or Sex pistols or even some strange groups that till today i don't know who they are! now this is all over. Now in 91.6 is the cidade fm one of the most comercial radios possible.
like i said there are only two radios i listen and the other i can't listen at work, so now i have no good music to listen. you could say i could listen to internet radio but for me is not the same, i could try to get mp3 but that means research work and internet at home.
So today is a very sad day.

And radio didn't have any publicity or stupid dj coments

East Germany

2005-09-22T15:20:00.000+01:00

After leaving Gedser i took the ferry to Rostock where i stayed for two wonderfull weeks.
Rostock is the largest city of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, situated in the old Eastern Germany, with a population of 200 000 residents.
In the Eatern Germany times, Rostock was the main port, with an incredible traffic, with reunification of Germany the port lost importance for the other bigger ports has Hamburg. Nowadays is more common to see a ferry full of turists from Scandinavia than a ship carring products. The all state is in crisis, the young people imigrate to west because there is no job, there is about 20% of unemployment in the state, agriculture is disapearing and industry is dead, the only hope is on turism, that is more intense near the baltic coast, supporting cities like Rostock and Wisma, but even here the crisis is felt. Nowadays is least expensive for a German turist to go to the warm coast of Greece than stay in the Cold and rainny shores of the baltic. The number of women in the state is decreasing more and more beacause of immigration. Did you know that even this State is still controlled by PDS( the old left party of the east) the racism and extream right has more power in this state than in the others. The differences between east and west are very big, here is not so common to find an english speaking person.
The city of Rostock was completly distroyed during the second world war, the cty because was small and compacted served has a test point by the allies to see how to atack the other cities. the bomb attack was very effective and destroyed all the city just in a few hours. After the war the city was recovered but not all, some buildings were left the same in a way to show how things were before the war. After the reunification of Germany all the main cities were totally recovered and the number of falling buildings is much smaller, now you can see the big churches totally recovered. People say that during the comunists time the country was falling appart, the state of the houses was very bad. One of the heritage from the comunists time were the very big dormitory, worker houses. Some of the buildings reminds me my city, the social neighborhoods.
Rostock is a very old city and has one of the oldest Universitys in Europe. The city used to be surounded by an old wall and we still can see some of their remainings. The main buildings are the gate doors and the city hall. One of the most funny things about the city is that in some churches there are people living there like they were in a flat.
There are some interestings parques and churchs, in of the churches you can go to the top of the tower and see all the city, in other church you wilol find a very strange clock that tells you hours, days, zodiac signe, sun set, etc but doesn't say the minutes. The other great sight is to see the harbor by night.
When i was there it was a special day, it was shopping day, so stores only close at midnight. It was really a great day i even saw a very nice fire show.
http://www.rostock.de/Internet/stadtverwaltung/default.htm
for more info about rostock and w(good luck almost everything is in German)

photo:University of Rostock
Fountain in front of the University
Diferent views of Rostock