The Vagrant Gypsy Life

Tue Sept 13 – : Thu Sept 15 Poznan (D16 – D18)

Poznan is a very pretty town, but there is not a whole lot to keep a tourist around for long. It is the 5th largest in Poland and used to be the capital a long time ago. I decided to take it easy and rest a day after 2 weeks of non-stop tourism.

I met a Welshman who had been living in Poznan for 5-6 years. He gave me a tour of Poznan and also took me to a food fair. Bob had lived in India for two years and had been to Kerala and I got the impression he enjoyed meeting someone fro there. Interesting life he has had!

In my time in Poland, I ran into quite a few Polish folk who spoke Spanish and it gave me the chance to coninue to practise my Spanglish. There are also a lot of Spaniards studying/ travelling in Poland.

Fri Sept 16 – : Sat Sept 17 Warsaw (D19 – D20)

Spent just the two nights in Warsaw as it didnt quite capture my fancy. It is pretty big and people seemed on the move, much like every capital city! I liked some parts of the town, and enjoyed the days I spent there and covered a lot of ground on foot.

I met a Georgian lady at the hostel who, when I told her I was from India, rattled off names of famous actors and actresses from Hindi movies and songs from the movies. Indian movies used to be extremely popular in the old soviet union.

Sun Sept 18 – : Wed Sept 21 Krakow (D21 – D24)

I took an early train to Krakow and got to Krakow around noon. It was a bit cloudy and cold, but I walked around a bit. Also met up with a couple of Danish girls whom I had spent a day with in Berlin. We walked around for a couple of hours before saying goodbye as they were off to Slovenia that night.

I loved Krakow! It seemed lively and quiet enough to suit my style. I cooked, but also did eat out a few times. I walked around Krakow Monday and visited the Jewish quarter. Jews were a big part of pre-WW2 Krakow. The Hebrew school, the synagogues, all worth a visit.

I had planned to go to Aushwitzh Tuesday. Woke up with a headache and spent most of the day in bed. It was a rainy day and I reckon I didnt really miss much.

Wednesday morning found me on my way to Aushwitz. I caught the 6:00 train to Osweicim. I got directions to the Auschwitz museum from a friendly girl at the train station. It is only about a km from the train station. There are plenty of tours to Auschwitz, but having read about Auschwitz, I wanted to be on my own, without having tell me what to think and what to see. The two concentration camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau (about 2 km apart), are open to public. The main camp, Aushwitz is free to public from 08:00 – 10:00 and 15:00 – 18:00. Birkenau is open to public all day long.

Auschwitz, on first view, looks like a university campus. The buildings that have seen a lot of horrors like dorms. They have quite a lot of information to offer a visitor. I hadnt quite expected it to be as overwhelming as it was and I am glad I had some time to myself to deal with it before waves of crowds arrrived. The first set of prisoners sent to Auschwitz were Polish prisoners, German prisoners (homosexuals and others that the Nazi state deemed undesirables), Russian POWs. It wasn’t till later that they had European Jews & Romany folks sent to the camp. But looking at the numbers, the casualties among the Jews outnumbered the others by a significant amount.

Each of the buildings deals with different aspects. One dealt with how the Polish were affected by WW2 and the camp, another dealt with the sufferings of Jews in the Netherlands, another with the treatment of the Romany people….

The museum has re-constructed a lot of the areas, since the Nazis tried to destroy as much evidence as they could, of their brutality. The museum also does highlight the prejudices in the European nations and doesn’t absolve them of blame either. Maybe we are all to blame, all of us, for the cruelties that were bestowed. Reading about how some people made money off the sufferings of others cannot really help your breakfast sit well in your stomach. Even through all that, the courage of some people to help those in need, even at a cost to their lives, does give the visitor some hope.

The museum has reconstructed the public hallows, where folks were hanged to death or by their hands, as a punishment for all to see. The gas chambers, the courtyard where they shot prisoners, they are all quite gruesome. But the one thing that touched me was the suitcases with names on them which were displayed in a room. That building also had on display, Jewish prayer shawls, shoes, hairbrushes, combs, etc.. Enough to give one a small idea of how many people were murdered. The human mind does have difficulties dealing with millions!

After I had spent about 3 hour at Auschwitz, i had to leave, and I missed seeing the gas chambers, the quarter of the German officers and a couple of other things.

Birkenau is set in a beautiful region, in the woods, and looks benign too, till one remembers and sees the remains of the buildings. The poor living conditions of the prisoners make even some of the slums in Mumbai look like resorts. Birkeanu dwarves Auchwitz. There is a railway line which brought in trains filled, busting to seams, with prisoners, mostly Jews from other parts of Europe. The women and children were sent straight to the gas chambers, while the men were sorted, according to health and ability to work and withstand long, cruel days.

Auschwitz

Thu Sept 22 – Tue Sept 27 (D25 – D30) : Zakopane and the Tatras

After about 6 weeks of city/ town life, it was lovely to get to the mountains and hike a while. 5 days! I walked everyday and averaged 5-6 hours of walking. The Tatras is beautiful, but it was crowded, even at the end of the season and the trails were terrible. It made walking downhill a chore, and not a pleasant one, either. However, the crisp mountain air, some of the solitary trails, and the views put me in a good mood. I also stayed in a hostel near the park, which did all to make the guests feel at home. It had a homely feeling to it, with the staff and the other travellers.

My last night in Zakopane, I went to dinner with a Polish chap and took him up on his invitation to try some Polish vodka. Bad idea! I dont remember much of the night after my head hit the pillow! Woke up tired and listless. Arrived in Krakow to realise that I had left my converter, charger for the camera and some cables back at the hostel. Had to go back to retrieve it since it was mroe convenient and cheaper to do so than to buy new ones. 4 hours added to my journey, quite unnecessarily.

Wed Sept 28 – Thu Sept 29 (D31 – D32) : Krakow

I enjoy being back in a town I had visited previously. It does provide the illusion of being home! Knowing the streets, some shops etc, makes one feel at home! I recovered from my days spent in the woods, in the bustling city of Krakow.

Fri Sept 30 – Oct 2 : Wroclaw (D33 – D34)

The train journey from Krakow to Wroclaw is the longest one I have had in Europe. The train was late as well.

Wroclaw is small and is more of a University town, full of bustling young college kids. It has a nice vibe and is charming, even if there is not a whole lot to do. Well worth a visit, and I spent two nights. Celebrated becoming older with a nice lunch and a quiet evening.

On a stroll on my last afternoon, I ran into someone with whom I played football in Dresden. Small world…

Off to the Czech Republic and Prague.

Wed Aug 31 – Fri Sept 2 2001 : Leipzig (D3 – D5)

The train journey was extremely comfortable and there were only a handful of people in my compartment.

I found Leipzig delightful. Located in eastern europe, it is a bustling tiny city with a famous university (and a few Nobel prize winners in the faculty) and plenty of students. On a couple of occasions, locals came up to help me when I had my map spread out in front of me and a lost look. One of them didnt speak English, but still managed to show me how to get where I was headed. I was warned that Eastern Germany still has a bit of Neo-Nazism and that I might encounter racism. I must admit that for about half a day, my first in Leipzig, I did look at every man with a close cropped head with suspicion.

I wandered the streets of Leipzig and managed to visit most of the tourist sites. The architecture in Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin and even parts of Poland looked quite alike to me. The visit to the Stasi museum in Leipzig was the most memorable of my activities in Leipzig. It shows in great detail how the Stasi spied on the people and kept an iron fist till the people revolted in 1989. They even have the banners that people used during their rallies and the night they stormed the Stasi building in 89.

There were plenty of tourists in Leipzig, but the numbers were dwarfed by the foreigners I ran into in Dresden and Berlin.

Sat Sept 3 – Sun Sept 4 : Dresden (D6 – D7)

Got to Dresden before noon on the train from Leipzig – only about a couple of hours of journey. Spent 2 nights there before heading off to Berlin.

I liked the new part (Neustadt) of Dresden more than the old part. The old part is lovely, full of tourists and lacked character. Neustadt made up in charm that it was lacking in sights. I had a conversation with a German who was delighted in having won a paid holiday for drinking beer – he won some contest and his trip was sponsored in its entirety by the beer company.

Sunday afternoon, I played football in the park with some Germans and some Spanish speaking forlks – from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Spain & Chile. It was lovely to be able to practise my Spanish and I enjoyed the couple of hours of kicking the ball around. (Update: I met one of the lads while walking around in Wroclaw! He was there visiting his Polish girlfriend. What a surprise!)

Mon Sept 5 – Mon Sept 12 : Berlin (D8 – D15)

I had a lovely week in Berlin. The city is huge and has much to offer a tourist. I stayed in a really good hostel. The staff were fantastic and I had a wonderful time at the hostel.

The weather was quirky to say the least. Rain, sun, cloudy days… ran the entire gamut. It was cold at night.

There are so many things I remember with pleasure about Berlin. The city and the sights, the multi-cultural neighbourhoods, the people I met at the hostel…. I had dinner with the mother of a friend of mine one night. She has been living in Berlin for a couple of years and had some exam at work, which meant she only had time to meet me for dinner. Her English is better than my German, but it was halting conversation with frequent references to the dictionary. We managed to still have an enjoyable evening and share a few laughs.

There are plenty of museums, but I only managed to visit a couple. One dealt with the history of Berlin after the allied forces captured Berlin. The other museum dealt with the history of the Nazi party, how they came to power and the sufferings they heaped on the Jews and other folks they deemed not worthy of living in their Aryan society.

East side gallery is amazing. The 1km odd stretch of the old Berlin wall still standing along the river Spree (?), in a stark neighbourhood devoid of much beauty, was opened up to artists and it is well worth the visit.

East side gallery, Brandenburg gate, some parks, the Holocaust memorial, … there is so much that is memorable in Berlin. My favourite day was that spent with a few folks from the hostel when we visited the Holocaust memorial, and then to a park in the afternoon to listen to Karaoke. There was a flea market in the park as well, but the people came to see the Karaoke. Every Sunday afternoon, an Irishman rolls his machine out to the amphitheatre at the park. A lovely Sunday afternoon before the clouds vented their pent-up fury on the city!

Frankfurt photos

(Sun Aug 28) Mon Aug 29 , 2011 – Day 1 Frankfurt

After two weeks of taking a break from travel, I starting to get restless when the day of my flight rolled around. It was a short flight, leaving Calgary at around midnight and getting to Frankfurt at a quarter to five. About 8 hours. The immigration took next to no time and I was at the hostel in time to take a shower and join Julia on a hostel-sponsored free night walk. The tour guide is from a village next to Frankfurt and had been living in the city for about a year. The tour took about 2 hours and we got an intorduction to the history of the city as well. After the tour, the entire group went out for drinks. The special of the day was a metre beer! The measure made no sense till the lady brought the beer out. There were 11 glasses of beer in a holder that was a metre long.

Tue Aug 30 – Day 2 Frankfurt

Spent the morning walking around town, taking photos like the tourist that I had almost forgotten to be after a fortnight of being a homebody.

At noon, I headed back to the hostel to meet a native of Frankfurt that I had met and made friends with in Colombia. We had lunch and walked around to some of his favourite spots in town. I was quite tired by the time I returned to the hostel and my left ankle hurt!

Frankfurt is a big city and seemed the financial capital with a LOT of banks! I do miss the easy camaraderie of Latin America. My hostel was in the red light district and there are plenty of sex shops all around the hostel. It is also the area with a lot of international markets. The city is quite multi-cultural and based on the number of Turkish markets and restarants, has quite a large Turkish population.

I catch a train to Leipzig tomorrow. Most of the folks I had met, German or otherwise, didnt have much to say about Frankfurt, but I found myself warming to the city! A day more would be nice, but the hostel is expensive and I already have my train ticket.

Day 334 Wed 3/8

Bus, taxi, boat. Chat with Nic security guard. Arrive in Merida, sunset; read

Day 335 Thu 4/8

Altagracia, walk, sunset

Day 336 Fri 5/8

Change hotels, el porvenir, Playa domingo, walk, hostel, read IN A lovely garden with amazing views

Day 337 Sat 6/8

Transportation all day. 2 hour bus to Moyogalpa, 30 min cab ride, 1 hr bus ride to Penas Blancas, 30 minutes or so for border crossing, 6 hour bus ride to San Jose. Conned by taxi driver who “called” my hostel.

Day 330 Sat 30/7

Wake up early as has been the norm this trip; head for a walk up some steep roads surrounding the hostel for the views of the green rolling hills around the town; breakfast of gallo pinto and eggs (typical Nica breakfast); walk around town; lovely catedral! back to hostel thanks to rain; read; wander around when rain stops; Xmen at night.

Day 331 Sun 31/7

Had breakfast with an American girl who is voluteering with the peace corps in a village near Matagalpa. We had planned to go hiking, but cancelled the plan due to rain. It poured cats and dogs most of the rest of the day! Gave me an excuse to watch a couple of pre-season friendly football matches, read. Dinner with a bunch of Germans, including a lass whose dad is from a town near the town where I grew up.

Day 332 Mon 1/8

Had planned to go for a 2 hour hike in a natural reserve nearby, but ended up taking a wrong turn and 5-6 hours later, found ourselves half an hour bus ride away from Matagalpa! Back at the hostel and off to a pizza dinner to recuperate. The food was exceptionall good and I ate as if I hadnt had any food for months.

Day 333 Tue 2/8

2 hour bus ride from Matagalpa to Tipatapa; hour bus ride from Tipitapa to Masaya and then another hour bus ride to Granada. All 3 buses, like most buses in Central America, were old (American) school buses.

The young lad who collects money from passengers wanted an extra 10 cordobas from me for my “mochila”, but that made my neighbours angry and they shouted him down, after telling me not to pay. Dishonesty from the young man leading to a few locals helping out a foreigner.

Wandered around Granada for a bit and bought some nice dark chocolate at an organic coffee/ chocolate store. There are no dark chocolate bars in supermarkets in Nicaragua!

Off to bed early, since it is a long haul to my last stop in Nicaragua, Isla Ometepe.

Day 327 Wed 27/7

A couple of buses from Granada, I arrive in Leon after about 2.5 hours. The taxi driver who drove me to the hostel spoke to me about Leon, sports and the people. Apparently Leon is the safest town in Nicaragua and there is a strong sense of community, which discourages “delinquencia”.

Leon is another colonial town, bigger than Granada and while pretty, not quite as pretty as Granada. It has the reputation of being more liberal than Granada.

Walked around town for a couple of hours before the heat drove me to the hostel for a rest! Luckily it rained in the evening and cooled things down.

Day 328 Thu 28/7

Wandered around most of the morning till the heat made it quite hard to continue. I was sluggish most day and was more than happy to spend the afternoon on the hammock reading.

When I did go for a short walk at ninght, there werent too many people out on the streets.

Day 329 Fri 29/7

After breakfast, which included pancakes at the hostel, went for a walk for a couple of hours and then spent quite some time reading since my bus wasnt to leave Leon till 14:30. 2.5 hours later, I was in Matagalpa. The scenery changed for the better. SO far Nicaragua hadnt been pretty, but the scenery around the highlands of Matagalpa changed and for the better.

The taxi driver tried to charge me double the normal fare for a ride, but luckily I had asked someone how much I should pay. His excuse for over-charging me was quite amusing: apparently the extra bit was for my backpack. I refused to pay the extra.

The hostel, Hostal Buena Honda is a really nice place, with an amazing collection of books for exchange. I met a girl from Indiana, who was working for the peacecorps in Matagalpa and we had a nice long chat over dinner. Off to bed with a book soon after.

Day 324 Sun 24/7

Another day spent mostly on the road… Left Liberia at 06:30 on a bus to the border (Peñas Blancas). Arrived in Peñas and the border crossing was smooth and the folks extremely efficient and friendly. The cops would carry on conversations while checking your luggage.. Welcome to Nicaragua, but now please pay USD 12.00 to enter the country and oh, another USD 1.00 to get into the bus “station”. There was a bus getting ready to leave for Granada/ Manaus when I was done with the formalities. Granada was about 2 hours away, but I managed to fall asleep and woke up in Manaus. Off at the terrible bus terminal at Manaus and on to a smaller bus to Granada. It is strange to see so many “retired” school buses from the US doing duty on the roads in Central America. I have now seen quite a few of them in Panama and Nicaragua.

Arrived in Granada around 13:00 and was told by the taxi driver that it would cost me 20 Cordobas (about $1) to get to the hostel, but he settled for 10: developing quite the bargaining skills now!

Granada is another very pretty, tranquil colonial town. It is enjoyable to wander the streets.

Day 325 Mon 25/7

Spent most of the day at a crater lake called Laguna Apoyo. A very restful day indeed. Also wandered around Granada a bit more and managed also to get a nap during the day. Exciting life!

Day 326 Tue 26/7

Visited a coupel of villages named the Pueblos Blancos after some of the houses that used to adorn the villages. I didnt see any of the old houses in either of the villages. The main draw of San Juan de Oriente is the pottery making. There are a lot of workshops around the small village of around 3000 people. Catarina is another village that seems to be right on top of SJdO and the walk there took me less than 5 minutes. The main draw in Catarina is the viewpoint over laguna apoyo and Lago Nicaragua.

After a hearty lunch of vegetable soup and tortillas, I visited the CHocoMuseo, which had the same display as the one I visited in Cusco in Peru. Made for a very short visit, that!

Spent quite some time chatting with a couple of fellow travellers at the hostel. Didnt sleep much the night since I was kept up by something that bit me during the night: not sure if bed bugs or mosquitos.

Day 323 Sat 23/7

Since I had but barely around 17 or 18 days, I figured I’d rather make it to Nicaragua than spend the time in Costa Rica. The decision made for a long day on the road!

Woke up at around 05:30 and left Isla Colon by the boat at 07:30. It was, as usual, pouring cats and dogs at that time. The boat was luckily covered and the boat ride, surprisingly smooth! I expected it to be a bit rough. Managed to find more folks and shared a cab to Changuinola where the bus to San Jose would leave at 10:00. The taxi got there with time to spare.

The border crossing between Panama and CR is the longest I have had to wait to cross borders in my entire trip and I have crossed borders more times than I care to remember! The Panama side was quite inefficient as they only had one queue to handle both exists and entries, not to mention the fact that there was only 1 person working there! Had to also pay USD 3.00 to leave Panama. The Costa Rican side was a bit quicker, since they had 2 folks working. A glance at my passport, no questions asked, and voila, I was in CR after spending about 2 hours at the border!

Arrived in San Jose around 04:30 local time (an hour behind Panama). A total driving time of about 5.5 hours. I decided that I would try and get closer to the border and hopped on another bus to a town called Liberia in the north. When I arrived there, I was told that there was a festival going on there, which meant that it took me a while to find a place to crash and at $12.5, quite expensive for about 6 hours of sleep.

Day 320 Wed 20/7 – Day 322 Fri 22/7

Left Boquete around 10:00 am and arrived in David at 10:30 and hopped on a bus to Almirante at 10:40. The ride to Almirante lsted about 4 hours and then it was time to hop on a boat to Isla Colon! The folks are friendly on the island and I was directed to Spanish by the sea, which in addition to offering dorms, also functioned as a spanish school for tourists. The school/ hostel is owned by a Dutch lady whom I never saw. The hostel was run by a lovely French lady, whose dad is Brasilian. I dont think I ever saw Nathalie without a smile on her face. She was full of helpful hints. Watched the sunset bestow some lovely colours to the skies before heading out to dinner and a restful evening. The hostel was very quiet and I was glad, since the island does have a reputation for attracting folks who revel in carousing.

The weather pattern in Bocas is quite the reverse of what I had been getting used to in Panama. The rain was relentless in the mornings, but the afternoons were clear.

Thursday, I rented a bicycle and made it out to Bluff beach, about 8 kms out of town. The beach was nothing special, but the bike ride was enjoyable.

Friday: after waiting a while for the rainfall to subside, lost my patience and headed to the piers to enquire about possible tours. Nathalie had recommended a trip to Zapatillas 2. Managed to get a trip out in a lancha for a decent price of USD 25, which included the entrance fee to the island. The lanch owner was garrulous and the 1 hour ride passed by fairly quickly. The ride itself was rough, with some rough waves. The water levels had risen due to the rains. Z2 was an island paradise and there were only a couple of tourists on the island. I walked though a tropical jungle (where I managed to provide significant nourishment to the innumerous mosquitoes) and spent 2-3 hours swimming and snorkelling. I managed to see 3-4 starfishes and some fish that were foreign to me (well, I probably wouldnt be able to recognise most species of fish, anyway!). The rain had subsided well before we made it to the island and it was an extremely pleasant day. Dinner and early to bed to wrap up my time in Panama.

Day 316 Sat 16/7 – Day 319 Tue 19/7

After the 6 comfortable hour bus ride from P City, arrived in David at 06:30, and managed to get the bus at 07:00 to Boquete. Boquete, a small coffee town reminiscent of Salento and Mica in Colombia, offered a bit of respite from the heat and the humidity. There are a lot of foreigners living there, as in Panama City. A lot of folks from the USA, as well. The tourists were mostly from the states as well. I dont recall seeing so many folks from the states in south america.

As in Panama city, it rained every day! Mornings were dry, followed by showers in the afternoon. A couple of the showers lasted an hour or two!

Went for a few hikes in the region, frequented a few of the bakeries and watched a bunch of movies in the afternoons, the funniest of which was “He died with a falafel in his hand”. The last spot of slow travel before I switch gears since I now only have about 20 days before my flight to Calgary.